Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews 12, beginning at verse
1. And the title of the message
is Running the Race of Grace. Running the Race of Grace. And
this is where the writer of Hebrews was inspired by the Holy Spirit
to speak of the Christian life, the life of a believer, as running
with patience the race that is set before us. Now you know in
the Bible, the Christian life, living like a believer, is described
with several different metaphors. One of them is like a farmer
sowing seed. The farmer is the believer, the
seed is the gospel, and we sow the seed, we preach the gospel,
and God gives the increase. And so that's one analogy of
the part of the life of a believer in witnessing and evangelism.
And then another analogy is the analogy of a warrior, a soldier,
one who's in a battle. Our warfare, Paul talked about
the warfare of a believer. He said our warfare is not fought
with carnal weapons. That is swords and knives and
tanks and guns. But our warfare is the God. The weapon of our warfare is
the gospel, the truth, the Bible, the sword of the Lord. And the
battlefield is the mind. And that would include the heart,
the mind, the affections, and the will. And that's how we go
to battle. And the analogy of that carries
on in Ephesians chapter six. For example, he talks about putting
on the whole armor of God to withstand the wiles of the devil.
And he speaks of all the pieces of armor there that's related
to the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Well here, he uses
the analogy of running a race. Now Paul had done this, back
in in the churches at Corinth talked about it's those who finish
the race who gain the prize not those who just begin it and of
course what he's talking about there is perseverance in the
faith not as a condition to earn the prize of salvation and glory,
but as an evidence of one who has been given by the grace of
God and the power of God all things in salvation that bring
us to glory and eternal life and all the blessings. And of
course, a lot of people, they talk about this race that we're
in, it's not a hundred yard dash, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And I like that analogy, that's
okay. We run the race of grace, if we're saved by grace. And
that's the first thing we need to see. In order to run the race
of grace, it begins when we are saved by grace. And that's the
only way of salvation. He talks about patience here.
We'll look at the verse here in just a moment. But that patience
is the endurance, the patient endurance of running the race
not by our own power, not by our own goodness, but by the
power and the goodness and the grace of God. Salvation is by
grace. And grace means salvation was
and is conditioned on Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible
says in Romans 5.21 that grace reigns through righteousness,
just as sin hath reigned unto death, grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, if grace reigns
through righteousness, if it rules, motivates, energizes through
righteousness then it cannot be conditioned on me because
in me there is no righteousness. Paul wrote about that in Romans
3 10. There's none righteous no not one there's none that
doeth good there's none that seeketh after God. The only righteousness
I have is Christ's righteousness the merits of his obedience unto
death as my surety, substitute, and redeemer, and preserver,
imputed to me." So if I'm going to run the race of grace and
grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, I better understand
it's by Jesus Christ our Lord. So running this race is not a
condition that a believer has to meet in order to attain the
prize, which is eternal life and glory, and all the blessings
and benefits of that. But it is an evidence of the
power of God and the grace and goodness of God in Christ to
bring us through. Now, in Hebrews 11, he talked
about several Old Testament believers who had suffered for the gospel,
some who were killed, some who were tortured. And he spoke of
them in Hebrews 10, 38, that the world was not worthy of them.
And all these, in verse 39, this is Hebrews 10, 39, he says, and
these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received
not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they, without us, should not be made perfect. Now what he's
talking about there is this, those Old Testament believers,
they looked forward to the time, to the promise of Christ coming
into the world, to obey unto death, to put away their sins. And when he says they had not
received the promise, that means they didn't live during the time
that Christ had actually come. They looked forward to Him coming.
They had the promise, the promise of Abraham, which is the promise
of the Messiah, the gospel promise. They had that promise and they
believed the promise. David said it was a covenant
ordered in all things and sure, And so, why? Because it was conditioned
on Christ to come. And so, when Christ came, all
of God's elect, Old Testament and New Testament, were redeemed
by His blood. Having been chosen before the
foundation of the world, falling in Adam into a state of sin and
death and depravity, but redeemed by the blood of Christ, and then
born again by the Spirit, They are made complete. That's what
that means. So he says, look at our text
now, Hebrews 12, verse one. Wherefore, or for this reason,
seeing that we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. Now the great cloud of witnesses
is all these Old Testament saints who believed and who persevered
by the grace of God, many who were tortured and killed. They're a witness for us today
who believe the gospel. He says, let us lay aside every
weight, every burden, anything that would hinder us in running
this race, running steadily, persevering in the faith, because
we're preserved by the grace of God, energized and motivated,
living by the grace of God. So lay aside every weight, anything
that would hinder it, Anything that would get in the way of
me as a believer running this race, I don't care what it is. It may be something good, but
if it gets in the way of me running this race, I need to lay it aside.
I need to put things in their proper order. And then he says,
and the sin, lay aside the sin, which doth so easily beset us. easily hinders us. Now what sin
is he talking about? Well you got to consider the
context. He's not talking about particular sins that plague different
people. I've heard preachers preach this
like the sin for you might be alcohol or the sin for you might
be drugs or the sin for you might be listen all those are may be
sins that hinder you and whatever but what he's talking about here
is sinful unbelief and doubt. The hall of faith back here in
Hebrews 11. What's the idea here? Persevere
in the faith. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And every true believer, sinner
saved by grace, who is not in a state of unbelief, but we're
still plagued by the flesh, which causes us to doubt whenever we're
going through trials and tribulations, testings. We all do that, and
we have to continually lay it aside. We have to fight that.
We need to promote the assurance of salvation that comes from
looking to Christ. So look on. He says, lay aside
the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience
with endurance the race that is set before us and that race
is is seeking eternal glory to be to we have a life to live
we have a death to die we have a judgment to face we have an
eternity to spend that race that is set before us and so that
race set before us, run it with grace and here's how to do it.
Now he explains in verse 2 how we're to run with patience that
race that is set before us. He says, looking unto Jesus,
this is so important now, we run the race of grace looking
unto Jesus, the author means the beginner and the finisher,
the completer of our faith. How do we run the race of grace?
Not by looking at others and a lot of people try to do that
who claim to be believers. They'll look at everybody else,
they'll compare themselves with others. They find somebody who's
worse off than them and they'll say things like, well, I'm not
perfect, but I'm not as bad as so-and-so. That's foolish. That's a bad way. If you run,
if you're running that kind of race, it's not the race of grace.
And some people spend time looking at themselves, feeling their
inadequacies. Now there's nothing wrong with
examining ourselves. The Bible tells us to do that.
Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith, And what he's
talking about is not examining yourself to see how much you
measure up because the Christian race looking unto Jesus always
has the standard of perfect righteousness by which we're to measure ourselves.
You see two things that are common to all false religions. is number
one, they always make salvation conditioned on man, men and women,
sinners, in some way, to some degree, at some stage. That's
false religion. The gospel is salvation conditioned
on Christ alone. who fulfilled those conditions
by his obedience unto death, to put away the sins of his people
by the shedding of his blood, bringing forth an everlasting
righteousness whereby God is just to justify them. He fulfilled
all the conditions to secure the salvation of all for whom
he died and was buried and rose again the third day. That's the
gospel. But false religion will put the
burden of salvation in some way, to some degree, at some stage,
on you. And I'm gonna tell you, if that's
the way it is, that's a false gospel, you'll fail because we're
sinners. Even sinners saved by grace.
In times of doubt, that's unbelief. Now we're assured in Christ that
the believer, that when we have those times of doubt, that Christ
will not forsake us. He won't let us go. He will not
let us totally apostatize, fall away from the faith. As one preacher
said, he has us on a leash. And so he'll pull us back. But
sometimes we get bogged down in unbelief. So understand that
now. Now the next thing false religion
does is it will measure righteousness and holiness on a sliding scale. But the race of grace, the gospel,
does not measure righteousness on a sliding scale. It measures
it by Christ Himself, the God-man. God manifests in the flesh. That's
who He is. And by what He accomplished on
the cross, He kept the law perfectly and obeyed it unto death. The
perfect God-man never sinned and brought forth that righteousness
by which God justifies the ungodly. And that's how we measure righteousness,
the perfection of Christ. So that when I look at myself
and examine myself and ask myself, do I love God? I can say yes,
but not perfectly. You see, it's still all of grace.
I don't love him like Christ loved him. And Christ's righteousness
is the standard. Bible says in Acts 17 and verse
31, that God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained in
that he had given assurance unto all men and they had raised him
from the dead. So understand it this way, when
you stand before God at judgment, the standard is not how well
you've done because that's always gonna come short. The standard
is how do you stand before God with Christ? Are you in Christ,
washed in His blood from all your sins so that they cannot
be charged to you? Who shall anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again. Do you stand there washed in
the blood of Christ? Do you stand there wrapped in
His robe of righteousness, His righteousness imputed? Because
that's the only way we'll pass any test of judgment. Anything
short of that is going to be, Christ will say to you what he
said to those false preachers in Matthew 7, depart from me,
you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. So how do we run the
race of grace? How do we enter the kingdom of
God in salvation? Looking unto Jesus. looking unto
Jesus as my righteousness, as my hope, as my savior, as the
one upon whom my salvation was conditioned, and the one who
fulfilled those conditions. How do I run the race of grace?
Look at chapter 12, verse 2 again, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And that looking there is not
just a glance, It's not glancing at Him, and then glancing over
here, and then glancing at ourselves, or glancing with Him. It's a
perpetual, continual, focused gaze on Christ. The Bible says
back in Isaiah, I think it's chapter 32, well let me just
go over there and read it and I won't have to mess it up. It's
the book of Isaiah, which is a book of Christ, prophecies
of Christ. And it says here in Isaiah 32,
17, it says, the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect
of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. And my people,
verse 18, shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings
and in quiet resting places. Now all of that is resting in
Christ as our hope, as our salvation, as everything. And yet we're
resting, but we're running. We're running the race of grace. Christ is our salvation. He is
everything that we need. And the Bible says that all whose
eyes are stayed on Him are at perfect peace. Now it says in
Hebrews 12 and verse 2 that the name Jesus means Jehovah God,
our Savior. He's the author of our faith. We're not the author of faith.
Faith is not natural to the natural man. The Bible says the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
If left to yourself to muster up the faith that you need to
believe, you would fail, I would fail, we all would fail. Faith
is the gift of God, which comes to us by virtue of a union with
Christ. The Bible says, for by grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
then it speaks to a believer, a sinner saved by grace, this
way in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. So Christ is the
author of our faith. He's the author of our salvation.
We're not the author of it. It's not a matter of God loves
everybody. Christ died for everybody. He's
trying to save you. Will you do your part? No. He's
the author of it. He brought it about. He created
it. It was created in the mind and
the purpose of God before the foundation of the world. 2 Timothy
1 verses 9 and 10 speaks of a salvation that was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And even though we fell in Adam
into a state of spiritual death and depravity and unbelief, and
although we deserve and have earned nothing but condemnation
and hell, We have that salvation, which is the gift of God, that
was authored, created, started, begun by Christ. Now the Bible
says that what God has begun, He'll finish. So Christ is also
the finisher of our faith. He'll complete it. He didn't
get us started and then just leave us to ourselves to finish
it. If He had done that, we would
all be lost. He started it, He continues it,
and He'll finish it. I think about it this way when
I think about Christ and all what He accomplished. He's the
representative of His people before God. He's the surety of
His people before God, which means the sins of His sheep,
His people, God's elect, were imputed, laid charge, accounted
to Him. He is the substitute of God's
elect. He came to this earth in the
likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. He was made likened
to His brethren. The scripture says that's God's
elect, the sons of God adopted by grace. And He came to this
earth and was made likened to His brethren, which refers to
His sinless humanity created for Him in the womb of the Virgin
Mary. He is God manifest in the flesh. And he had to be made like unto
his brethren without sin in order to die. God cannot die, but this
person who is God, Jesus Christ, the God man, did die. And that
death is to be attributed to his humanity, but it was an act
of his entire person. So he's my substitute. He is
my redeemer. That means He paid the price
of my redemption. He paid the price of my going
free and being saved. And He did it by the price of
His precious blood, the incorruptible, spotless Lamb of God, the incorruptible
blood of Christ, the just for the unjust, who was made a curse
for His people. And then He is our mediator. our intercessor. When Christ
rose from the dead on the third day, He met with His disciples
and later on He ascended unto the Father. And the Bible said
He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living
to make intercession for His people. He pleads for His people. He stands for His people. And
so nobody can lay a charge to our account. We're righteous
in God's sight. And then he's our mediator and
intercessor. He's also our preserver. We cannot keep ourselves. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy chapter
one and verse 12, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. And he is the glorifier. He will
come and get us and glorify us. in Himself. So He's the author
and the finisher of our faith. That's how we run the race of
grace. Look at verse 2 of Hebrews 12. It says, Who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God He
went to the cross, and it was a joy because of the glory of
His Father, and the salvation of His people, and His own exaltation. Verse 3 says, for consider Him
that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. If you think that you're
being treated badly, think about how we, man by nature, treated
Christ, who was a perfect, sinless God-man. What a contradiction. So you think you're really, really
being unjustly punished or whatever? Think about it. Consider him.
And verse four says, you have not yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin. Now, the writer of Hebrews is
talking about believers in Israel, in Jerusalem specifically, Hebrew
believers, who are going through some very hard persecution. over the gospel. But he says,
you've not yet been killed. You've not yet been murdered.
Now granted, some of them probably were later on. But he said, thank
God that you still have a witness. And while you have that witness,
run with patience the race that is set before you, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, continue in Him by the grace of God, energized,
motivated by His grace, His goodness, His power, and keep your eyes
focused on Christ. It's kind of like a runner of
a race who sees the finish line. If you look around at the other
runners and all that, you'll probably lose some time. They'll
probably get ahead of you. But if you'll keep your eyes
focused on that finish line, That's the key. And the only
way we're gonna do that, again, is by the grace of God, the power
of God, the goodness of God. We cannot do it of our own power,
our own goodness. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, that's how to run the race of grace,
realizing that we're powerless, that God is all-powerful, that
we're sinners who deserve nothing but death and hell. But Christ
has removed our sins. He has redeemed us from our sins. If we're believers now, I'm not
talking about everybody without exception here. When I say these
things, I'm talking about those who are saved by the grace of
God, not you who even claim. There are many people who claim
to be saved by His grace, but they are not. They think salvation's
conditioned on themselves in some way, some stage, to some
degree. They measure righteousness and
holiness on a sliding scale. They do all of that. But you
keep your eyes focused on Christ, the God-man, the Lord our righteousness,
the Redeemer, the Lord of glory, and not anywhere else. Run the
race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. That's the only way to win this
race. It's the only way to finish it. And when you cross that finish
line, you'll give God the glory. You won't take any glory for
yourself. Hope you'll join us next week for another message
from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.