Run the Race, Hebrews 12:1. Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hebrews 12-1 offers this encouragement, Grace becomes when we carry the weight of sin along with us.

We can only run effectively when we surrender the baggage of our own self-will. Listen as Pastor Rich encourages us to press toward the mark with our eyes on the Savior. People living by faith are the ones that are described in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews gives us a great picture of what faith is and what it means to live by faith. And it's defined not so much by what it is but by what it does.

And what a grand picture it is. And we've narrowed it down to four statements about what faith does as the examples that were given to us in Hebrews 11. People living by faith have a single ambition and that single ambition is the pursuit of God. People living by faith take action on the information that they have from God. So if we are living by faith then we take action on the information that God has given us. You don't live by faith just by knowing something. You live by faith by taking action on what God has revealed to you. People living by faith move toward the goal, meaning they live with the end in view. They're moving towards it. They do not allow themselves to be defined by their environment or by their circumstances.

They're moving towards the goal. They live with the end in view. And people living by faith therefore make bold choices. And often times in the context in which we live, those who observe those bold choices will consider us doing unusual things.

But this is what people living by faith do. And it follows then that the writer of Hebrews begins the 12th chapter with what word? Therefore. That means there's some imperatives coming. That means since this is true, then this is what it ought to mean about you and me. And he includes himself therefore we, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, the writer includes himself with the readers, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, it's important for us to understand that these witnesses are not just people who are spectators of us.

They're not just looking at us for what we do. That's not the idea of witnesses here. But it is people whose lives are testimonies from their own experience. The word witnesses here is Martus.

It's the word from which we get martyr. And the idea here is that these lives of old, all these that are recorded in the Old Testament encapsulated in Hebrews chapter 11. That these lives of old on record, they have a common message that encourages us, that spurs us on as they have passed on to us the baton of faith. The hymn that we sang this morning, the old hymn, did you see when it was written? 1665. Any of you alive back then?

Not even, not even Chuck. You see the baton of faith has been passed on and yet a song that was written that long ago, we sing it today with the same fervor, with the same meaning, with the same adoration of the same God, the same object of faith. And what is the message of these lives of old on record?

It is this. It is worth it to make the I am the object of your trust and satisfaction. The record of the Old Testament encapsulated in Hebrews chapter 11. The record, their lives on record gives to us the message.

It is worth it to make the I am the object of your trust and satisfaction. The I am being the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, who appeared to Moses and Moses asked him his name and he said, I am. Meaning, he is the eternal self-existent one. It is the same name that was given by the Lord Jesus Christ when he was dealing with the religious leaders of his day. And he said to them, before Abraham was what?

I am. It is worth it to make the I am the object of your trust and satisfaction. And that is this great cloud of witnesses that has gone on before us. That is the testimony of their lives on record. And we have that testimony to spur us on.

I like what C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity. If you read history, says Lewis, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.

Let me read that again. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.

Aim at earth and you will get neither. We sing it often in one of our songs here entitled, O Church Arise, as saints of old still line the way, retelling triumphs of his grace. That's what they're saying. It is worth it to make the I am the object of your trust and satisfaction. So keep running the race with endurance and don't be distracted. Don't let anything trip you up from that. Run the race with endurance. There is a picture here in this of running towards the finish line with cheering witnesses saying, keep on, endure. The prize is before you. It is in view.

Don't be distracted. It is so great a cloud of witnesses, again not just spectators, but their lives encourage us and cheer us on towards the object and the objective of our faith. So he says then, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses therefore let us, verse one, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. This cloud of witnesses, it is what Paul writes to the Romans in 15.4, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

The testimonies of their lives. And therefore, what do we do then? If we are to run the race with endurance, cheered on by this great cloud of witnesses that has gone on before us and has passed on the baton of faith. It is a relay race, if you will, of faith. Because they have passed on the baton.

They are no longer in the race, but we are. So what do we need to do? Therefore, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. We need to shed the weight. Lay aside, we need to shed the weight. The word here means bulk.

It means a bulging mass. A runner gets in shape if he is to run a race. And a runner does not pick up a bunch of stuff and carry it with him while he is running the race.

He sets it aside. Paul used the word temperance when he was speaking of such a race in 1 Corinthians 9. The word weight has an implication to it then.

What is the weight? It is the propensity to look for something other than Christ for my trust and satisfaction. And what would I look for?

Something that I can see and manipulate. Whether it be myself, whether it be my stuff, whether it be people in my lives. Am I trusting myself? Am I trusting my stuff? Am I trusting the people in my lives? Am I looking to the people in my lives or my stuff or myself for my satisfaction?

They don't measure up. And they will distract you from the objective of your faith. And so the weight that we are to shed, that bulky mass that the writer says to lay it aside, is the propensity to look for something other than Christ for my trust and satisfaction. And isn't it a curious thing that day in and day out we have to battle that? Why is it that I, a new creation in Christ, a regenerate one born of God, why do I still have to battle the flesh?

Why do I still have the propensity to drift away from the one who is my soul's reward? It is because you and I live in these corruptible tents. And this corruptible must put on incorruptible. And this corruptible tent is selfish. It is inherently selfish and it is habituated in sin.

And the old man that has been done away with, he is sidelined. But he continues to holler at me, to distract me away from the objective of my faith. You have to realize that that goes on in your heart and mind day after day after day after day. Which is why we are exhorted to run the race with endurance.

We all have this propensity to look for something other than Christ for our trust and satisfaction. Which is why we are called to lay it aside. There is action. There is action on your part in mind here. Lay it aside.

You don't just drift in a forward motion in a race. You have to lay it aside. You have to put it off. You have to take the deliberate action of putting off that which would distract you from the object of your faith. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.