Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Back in chapter 11, we were given many examples of men and women of faith. who believed God, and their faith was evidenced
by their works. Faith is an act of grace. It's not a passive grace. It's
active. It believes God, and the evidence of that faith
is works. If you'll notice, When I read
a portion of chapter 11 to you, all of them, by faith, and really
you can go on back to where it starts with Abel, did something. They were active. They believed
God. And things happened. It says
over here in the portion I was reading that they subdued kingdoms.
and wrought righteousness. Faith is an act of grace. And now we come to the chapter
12, and the writer of Hebrews is
calling for steadfastness in the faith. He's telling those
Hebrews, now you've had all these examples It's almost like he's
saying, you have all these examples, now it's your turn. Now it's
our turn to run this race. They have already ran the race.
They finished the race. They're with the Lord. They're
with him. You and I are still here. And
we have a race to run. And he will liken it to a race
as we see here. Because it's difficult if you
ever run in a race. It's not easy. It's not a stroll. It's not a stroll. It's a race.
Because it's vigorous. It's tough. It's difficult. Cross-country race. That's what
it's called. Cross-country race. It's not
like running around a tractor. This is a cross-country race
where there's obstacles. You know, when I was a kid, I
grew up on a farm when I was about 15 years old. Every now
and then we would be up in the woods and we would be up on top
of the hill and we would see who could get to the bottom the
fastest. I don't know if anybody's crazy enough to do that, but
we did it. And we would go at a breakneck speed. And we would
jump over trees, fallen trees, rocks, log, it doesn't matter
what, it would tumble, roll down the hill, jump back up, run through,
I remember falling through briars. And you didn't want to lose,
but you was on a downhill race. And there was all kind of obstacles.
And the race that we are in has a lot of obstacles in it. It's
like, really, I thought about this last night, it's like running
through a minefield. And sin is the minds. It's the
minds. And you're just running through
this minefield. And what the writer's doing here, he's saying,
now it's your turn and you be steadfast. You stay in the race. You don't quit. One thing I've
learned, and I've talked to this gentleman, we was talking about
this the other day about something. If you never quit, you never fail. You don't quit. Quitters don't
win. And that's taught here in the gospel. I'll show you this
over in Colossians. It was said here in Hebrews,
we are not of them which draw back. We don't draw back. We don't quit. It's forward.
The race is in front of you. This is not a backward race.
This is a forward race. forward. Pressing, Paul says
in Overclock, pressing toward the mark. Pressing toward the
finish line. Pressing. Not quitting. Pressing is not quitting, is
it? It's pushing. It's being vigorous. It's being
diligent. It's keeping after it. And that's
what he's going to teach us here in these few verses here. I'm
just going to deal with the first four verses. Now, he says, wherefore,
and he looks back to chapter 11, and he gives us these many
examples, as I've already said, of those who've gone before us, and their race was difficult.
Listen to this. And others had trials of cruel
mockings and scourgings. He had moreover bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawed
asunder. He didn't tell me that was going
to happen along the raceway. This is part of the journey home. They were tempted, were slain
with the sword. They wondered about as sheepskins
and goatskins being destitute. These people ran a tough race.
tough race, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. The world was not worthy to have
this group in their presence. They wandered in deserts. Can
this be God's people? Are we reading about the children
of God? Yes. This is God's children. These
are his children. They wandered in deserts and
mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And these all,
having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promised seed. Christ had not yet come. That's a tough race. That is
a tough race. And he points this out, how difficult
their race was and how they endured it. It does not set forth anyone
here in chapter 11 that started and quit. Every one of them finished. Every one of them finished. And
every one of God's children will finish the race because Christ
is the author and the finisher of the faith that it takes to
run the race. It didn't come from me. It didn't
come from you. You and I get weary. So often,
Peter said, I'm going fishing. I'm out of this, I'm going fishing.
Well, the author of his faith didn't allow that. The author
and finisher of it did not allow that. He said, no, you're going
to stay in the race. Peter, Satan has desired to sift
you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. I, the author and finisher
of your faith, have prayed for you that you're what? Your faith
fail not. You're going to stay in the race.
Peter denied him. And you know how that just ripped his heart
out. When the Lord looked at him and he fell down and he wept,
he went away weeping and crying. But he never left, did he? Why
did he not leave? The author of it wouldn't let
him. And he's not going to let any of his children leave the
race. You're going to finish this race. You might feel like
you're crawling, I told this to Vicki. I said, I'll tell you
what, when we get to the end of it, we might be crawling across
the finish line, but we're going to finish it. We won't be crawling,
but we feel like it, though, don't we? We feel like it. I
saw a marathon on TV some time ago, and this person was trying
to finish the race. I'm sure this has been on TV
several times. And I mean, they were doing that. They were wobbling. I mean, just wobbling and just
But they finished. They finished. We might be wobbling,
but we'll finish. I guarantee we'll finish. The author will not allow his
children to fail and not finish the race. They endured it with patience,
looking for the promise, that promised seed, yet not having
received it in their lifetime, they died in faith. It says back
over here in verse 13, these all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They all died in faith, not having
received the promises. How much more should we run this
heavenly race with patience? And that word can be translated
with endurance. Endurance. If you don't have
endurance, you're not going to finish anything. Anything. There's one thing that I've learned
about business, and it's just called staying power. You've
just got to stay in the fight. Sooner or later, it happens. Sooner or later, it happens.
If you stay in it. So how much more should we run
this heavenly race with patience, with endurance, seeing that we
have so many examples that we've been given in the Word of God
and examples of people that we've known in our lifetime who have
ran the race, endured the trials, and died in faith. We have examples
that you and I can reach back to in our lifetime of people
that we have confidence in. But especially since we have
received the promise, the promised seed, Christ has come. He has come, he has redeemed
us, he's gone back to glory, and there he sits at the right
hand of God to receive us at the end of the race. He's our
crown. He's our crown. Christ is our
finish line. He's our finish line. Paul said, I press toward the
mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Keep pressing toward Him. Now this faith by which we run
this race, it's not a blind trust. It's just not a... Faith, true
faith is built on knowledge. All thy children shall be taught
of God. We may start out ignorant, but
we don't end up ignorant. He removes that ignorance. He
gives us light and understanding, and by faith we believe God.
We trust him, and that's how we run this race, trusting God,
looking to Christ. Faith is more than a right view
of some truth. It's not holding some right doctrines. It's the spiritual man born of
God in action. It's life in the soul. It's the
life of God in the soul. Listen to these men here. By
faith, Noah built an ark. He'd never seen water, a flood,
or rain. I mean, he'd seen water, but he'd never seen rain or judgment.
But by faith, he believed God. And for 120 years, he built that
ark and put up with all the comments of the people, and he never quit. He never quit. And then when
the flood, God put him in the ark, God told him to come in,
him and his family. I bet his family's sure glad
he didn't quit. His wife's sure glad they didn't quit. By faith Abraham left his country
not knowing where he was going. He believed God. Moses forsook
Egypt. David, a shepherd boy, stood
up against Goliath and took him down. Faith is an act of grace. A spiritual
faith is not passive. It's active, it's fruitful, and
it's energetic. It's real. Now, seeing that we believe God,
he says this to us, let us run with patience. If you're going
to run a long race, you better have some patience. If you're
going to run a marathon, it's not going to be done in 30 minutes. You better have some patience.
And the word there, as I said, you better have some endurance.
That's what he's talking about, endurance. Run with endurance the race set
before us. It is a particular race for a
particular people. It has a particular course. It
has a particular end. It is a race that is set before
us. We're not just wondering which
way to go. By faith, we're going to Him. We're going toward Him. The Christian is likened to an
athlete here, ready to run a race. Now, I know something about athletics. I've played athletics. A lot
of you here know something about it. You participated in it. It
takes a lot of dedication. If you're going to run a long
race, it takes dedication. It's going to be a very rigorous
course. Tough. The life of a believer
is not easy. It's not happy all the time.
Are you happy all the time? No. No, you're not. Paul said we are distressed on
every side. every hand, distressed, cast
down, cast down but not destroyed, but cast down. It's rigorous. It's tough. And
if you're going to be successful in running a race, and that's
what he's likening this to, so we can get some kind of understanding
of what this spiritual race is about, there's going to have
to be some self-denial. You've got to deny yourself.
Scripture says, he that saves his life shall lose it. Are you
willing to lose it? This is natural life. It's earthly
life. You cannot serve God and mammon. You're either in or you're
out. You're either running a race
or you're out of a race. It's one or the other. It takes
discipline. You know, when I was in high
school, you know, I played in athletics, and one of them was
wrestling. And I had to go from 155 down
to 132. And I remember so well, so well,
sitting at the table, the families eating. I mean, they are chowing
down. And I'm nibbling, because I've
got to keep that off. And if I don't, you're out now.
You're just out. So I know it takes self-denial. He that saves his life will lose
it. It takes discipline. I'll tell you this. You cannot
eat like a pig and run like a rabbit. You can't do it. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. It takes proper diet, proper
training, and right here it is, the Word of God, prayer, preaching,
listening. This is it. Now, if you don't want it, well,
it's evident you're not in the race. You're not in the race. It is vigorous exertion. That's
what it takes to run this race. It's just that dogged attitude
that you're just not going to stop. You're not going to quit. And God has to give that to you.
Because by nature we would quit. We'd go do something else. One of the things that I have
found hardest in life is not quitting. One of the hardest
things I found in that business was not quitting. I mean, there
was times I just said, it would be so easy to quit. It would
be so easy just to stop. But no, you can't do it. You
can't do it. And that's the same with this
race. You don't quit. It's vigorous. It takes self-denial. It takes
discipline. And the Lord puts us through
the paces. He puts his children through the paces. Trials and
heartaches, disappointments. And every time that happens,
it makes you more fit for the race. Every time it happens. Every time he puts you through
a difficult trial, a heartache, a hardship, it just made you
more fit for the race. That's what he did. It takes persevering endurance.
No man is crowned that does not finish the race. No man is crowned. We know that. It says in Colossians
1.23. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel. If you don't continue, it's evident
you're not his. You're not his. He's never given you the gift
of faith. It was just a false profession. Paul says, we are not of them
who draw back. No, we fight the good fight of
faith. We're not called to lay down. We're called to run. That's
what we do. We run. It's a race. You know, the Scripture speaks
of life as a vapor. That's why he likes it to a race. It's like a vapor. It's like
a weaver shuttle. How fast life goes. I mean, really,
I can't believe that I'm 55. I feel like I ought to still
be 20 or 25, but it's just that fast. It's gone. That's been
a fast race. And, of course, I've heard everyone
say this, the older you get, the quicker it goes. Don't feel like it, but it does. Now, this race begins with a
new birth. It's your regeneration. And the
finish line is when we leave. There's no time when we can say,
well, I've been in the faith for 40 years. I've made it. No,
I tell you, when you've made it, when the Lord calls you home,
that's the finish line. When you are completely conformed
to the image of God's Son, that's the finish line. Now, no runner runs without a
goal in mind or in view. You don't go out there just running.
You know, this race, he said, it's a race set before us. It's
a particular course. It has a particular goal. It
has a particular end. We're not just out here running
around like a bunch of people who don't know where they're
going. Our number one goal is to finish and to be found in Him. That's what Paul said. Or to
be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is through
the faith of Jesus Christ. Is to be delivered from sin,
I mean the very presence of it. To be completely rid of sin. Boy, can you imagine how easy it would
be to run a race without sin? is to be completely rid of Satan. To be completely rid of him. Now, a good runner, if he's going
to run well, has to get rid of everything that hinders him.
You've seen these marathon people who run. You know, whenever I
run some, believe it or not, Whenever I run a little bit,
I wear jogging pants. That's how you can tell I'm not
doing much. I wear jogging pants and a sweatshirt. But if I was
running a marathon, I would not have that kind of garb on. You take off everything that
you can take off without being arrested. Am I right? Everything you can do without
being arrested. You lay aside the lightest shoes
you can wear. Everything. You get rid of everything
that's cumbersome. You get rid of all baggage. No one can run a race with weights
hanging about him. And I wrote on this last night,
as I thought about that, I thought, drop the past. You're going to
run this race. Paul said what? Forgetting that
which is behind and reaching forth. You drop the baggage. Well, I
have done this. It's gone. It's gone. You cannot, you absolutely cannot
undo what you've done. You cannot undo yesterday. It's gone. Drop the baggage. That's what he's saying. You
drop all baggage. You drop all extra weight and
you run. You reach forth. You keep going
forward toward Him. That's what it's all about. It's
Him. Getting to Him. Let us lay aside all those things
which hinder our spiritual growth. Lay it aside. Mortify the deeds
of the flesh, the scripture teaches us. Flee from those things which
hinder our communion with God. Baltimore Timothy, flee youthful
lust. That doesn't just mean something
sexual. You can lust after a lot of things. You can lust after
a good meal. You can lust after a car or a
home or jobs. You can be totally taken up with
it. He said, flee those things. Do everything in what? Moderation.
I tell you what, a good athlete does. He'll sculpt his training regimen
in certain areas. He'll do this, and then he'll
do this, and he'll just cross-train. But lay aside. Lay these things
aside and mortify the deeds of the flesh. Don't feed the old
man. He'll just drag you down. He'll drag you down. Whatever takes our time and strength
from the worship of God, the hearing of His Word, He said,
lay it aside. Lay it aside. Flee that besetting
sin. Set your affection on things
above where Christ sits, at God's right hand, not on the things
of this earth. The race we're in, the spiritual race, is not
an earthly race. It's not an earthly race. Now, God has given us things
to enjoy, but without moderation, they become weights, don't they? Without moderation, you know,
there's nothing wrong with ambition, as long as it's in its proper
place. But now when it takes the place
of Christ and it takes the place of the worship service and keeps
you away from these things, now you've messed up. You've messed
up. You're on another race. But God's given us these things
to enjoy. And the sin which does so easily beset us, I think there's
two things here. First of all, the first one has
to be unbelief. We have so much doubt that we
don't need to have. And then every one of us has
a dissenting thing, something that just troubles you and something
that gives you problems. He said, lay it aside, fight
it, put it off, drop it. And you don't have to drop it
tomorrow, and you don't have to drop it the next day, and you don't
have to drop it the day after that. You don't have to drop
it all the way to the grave. You just have to keep dropping it. Like bad habits you just hardly
get rid of. I think one of the reasons we do
not do more than we do is because of unbelief. It's like an anchor. It's like a boat anchor. It just
won't hardly let you go forward. He did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. Now, faith has an object. In this race, we have an object. Looking unto
Jesus, that's it, he's the object. He's, as I said earlier, he's
the finish looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. This race is a race that you
and I cannot run in the flesh. We cannot run this race in the
strength of the flesh. It will not happen. He must give
us strength to do it. Without me, you can do nothing. Paul said, through Christ, I
can do all things. Well, that's having it in its
proper perspective, isn't it? Without Christ, I can do nothing.
With Christ, there's nothing I cannot do. Jeremy and I was talking about
business the other day, talking about competition. You know,
I mean, there are chainsaws everywhere. And I was telling him, What I was telling you this morning,
I said, if the Lord opens the door, no man can shut it. If He shuts it, no man can open
it. If He opens it, I give you the
game plan. You can't beat me. If He shuts
it, then no one can help me. Not the most brilliant mind in
the country couldn't do a thing for me. And you have to realize
that. You realize that. Looking unto
Jesus, he is our strength in this race. The man is a fool
who thinks he can run this race, endure its hardships and win
the prize without him. It's a heavenly race, not an
earthly race, as I said. Now, what do we look to him for? Now, we don't just look to Him
as someone standing out there. We are looking to Him first for
righteousness. And like I said, you're going
to run the race, you've got to run it. You're going to run it clothed. We run this race in His righteousness.
He is our dress in this race. Then we look to Him for strength
to persevere. There's no way you and I can
run this race, persevere and endure it in our own strength. It just can't happen. Then we
look to Him for guidance. He set the course, didn't He?
But we look to Him for guidance on this course. Thomas said,
how can we know the way? How do I know which way this
course? How do I know which way to run? How do I know? He said, Thomas, I am the way. I am the course. I'm the course. I'm the course. You know, he
said, take my yoke upon you and learn of what? Me. He's not only
the teacher, he's the lesson. He's not only the author and
finisher of the faith, he's not only the one who sets us in the
race, he's the course in which we run. You shall hear her voice, says
Oberon Isaiah, you shall hear a voice behind you saying, this
is the way. You ever hear someone preach?
Say, that's the gospel. That's the gospel. I mean, without a
shadow of a doubt, that's the gospel. This is the way. This is the way. Christ said,
I am the way. And a voice shall say, you shall hear a voice say,
this is the way. Then we look to Him for a cleansing. Cleansing. Now he's washed us from our sins, but our feet still get dirty
and they need cleansing. We look to our Lord for wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything we
need to run this race finish this race, be accepted at the
end of this race, to be crowned at the end of this race, we have
already in Christ the forerunner. He's already ran the race. He's
the pace car. In the Indianapolis 500, there
is a pace car that sets the pace and all of them are behind. That's
what a forerunner is. We have a forerunner. We have
one who has already ran the race, who set the pace. And he didn't
miss a step. Looking unto Jesus. Looking. Continual. Constantly. Like the manor. Every morning they got up, they
went out and gathered the first thing in the morning. Looking unto Him. It's a continual
looking. Don't take your eye off of Him.
You'll find yourself in another race on a broad road. Those who don't look to Him,
they find themselves running on a broad road, not the narrow
road. We follow Him. He said, My sheep
hear My voice and they follow Me. We look to Him constantly, submissively, trustingly, lovingly. Constantly looking to Him. And we look to Him as the author
and finisher of our faith. Does that not give you comfort?
Seriously. This gives me comfort. Lord,
You gave me this faith. I often pray for myself, for
you, other people I know, Lord, I pray that the faith we have
is genuine. I pray it often. I pray that
the faith I have is truly from you, that it's genuine, it's
real. It's not a false faith. He's
the author of it. I look to him for faith. I look to him, Lord, I believe,
help thou my unbelief. Faith is a gift of God, for by
grace are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves.
That faith is not of yourselves. It's not something you and I
came up with. It's not something fleshly. There
is absolutely nothing fleshly about true faith. It's a gift
of God. It's a work of the Holy Spirit. We look to him as the author
and the finisher. What did you say? We look to
him as the author of our faith. Now, we have to finish. Here's our security. If he gave it to you, he's going
to finish it. Whatsoever the Lord doth, he
doth forever. If he's began faith in you, he'll
finish it. He'll not fail. He's the author
and the finisher of our faith. I'm sure he's so glad of that. He's the one who started us in
the race, and he's the one who will enable us to finish it. He's the one who will bring The faith that he's given us,
and it's our faith, but it's God-given. It's a gift of God,
but it's yours. The Holy Spirit works
faith in us, but he doesn't believe for us. He doesn't believe for
me. He enables me to believe. He is the one who will bring
it to maturity. You'll bring it to a maturity.
And give us that which is the goal of faith, which is eternal
life and the salvation of our soul. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Will
not quit. Let me wind this up. Now, in
this race, when you get tired, and if you're in it, and if you're
racing, you will get tired. You get tired and you're weary, consider Him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against Himself. When you get so tired that you wonder if you're going
to make it, consider Him. Set your mind on Him. whose sufferings is beyond anything
we'll ever endure. His sufferings, his pain, what
he endured far excels any trial that comes our way. Any trial. You can put all of our trials
together and it won't match what he went through. He has not called us to run a
race that he himself has not already ran. We run it with a cloud of witnesses. See, we have such a cloud of
witnesses, but I tell you what, he ran it alone. He tread the
winepress of God's wrath alone. There was a period where he was
left alone. You and I who believe the gospel
will never experience that. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. He said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? There was a point in the race
where our forerunner was totally left alone, and he didn't quit. He finished
the race. He finished it. And now we're
going to finish it. We're going to finish it. Look
into Him, and when we get weary and tired, let's consider Him
who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. And He ran this race. I want
you to notice this. Consider Him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
mind. Well, let me go back to verse 2. Here's what I want to
look at. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him, the joy of redeeming
the people, his pleased God to make you his people, the joy
of going back to heaven, having completed his work, the joy that a king would have
over his kingdom, the joy that a conqueror would have over his
foes, The joy that was set before him, he endured. The cross, the wrath of God,
despising the shame that it brought. You know, man glories in his
shame, doesn't he? That's what Scripture says. We
glory in our shame. He despised it. When he was made
to be sin, he despised that sin. He despised the shame that came
upon him, but he endured it. He didn't
quit the race over it. He didn't quit. He was stripped
naked on the cross. You and I were in this race dressed
in his righteousness. He came up to the end of that
race in this life, redeeming us, and he was stripped completely
naked. and nailed to a cross. That's
shameful, isn't it? That's so shameful. And is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. There is our guarantee, seated
at God's right hand, that we are going to finish this race.
We are going to finish this race. Or consider him that endured
such contradiction of centers against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your mind." It's easy to get weary and faint
when you don't personally think about yourself, isn't it? I mean, when you go through hard
times and hard trials, you know, that's... But he tells us, when
these things happen, set your mind on him. For you've not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. Has anyone here striving against
sin, striving not to sin? Have you resisted unto blood? Has your blood been shed over
sin? You're just resisting it. We either give in to it or God
takes it away. It's one of the two. We've not
yet resisted. No, you've not resisted unto
blood striving against sin. God either removes it or you
give in to it. That's one of the two things.
But Christ, Christ, blood was shed striving against sin. He never gave in to it. He put
it away. He put it away. God did not just
take it out of His way. He put it away by the sacrifice
of Himself. Now, you and I, as I said, are
in a race. It's a tough race. It's a spiritual race. It has many pits. As many, many places, many stones,
stumbling stones in the way. But you stay in the race. Continue. Continue in the race. Looking
unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. You know,
when you start in a marathon, you can't see the finish line,
but you and I can see the finish line. It's Him. Don't take your eyes off Him.
Don't we sing a song? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
into his wonderful face. That's how we run the race, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Be steadfast. Paul said unmovable.