Are You a Finisher?
Heb 12:1-3
Intro
This morning I want to ask a question…what’s more important, how you start a race or how you finish?
Doesn’t matter how you start the race but more how you finish the race!
Story of Bill Brodherst
The year was 1980, Bill Brodherst who hadn’t ran in any race since his high school days decided to begin training for a marathon known as the Pepsi Challenge 10k in Omaha Nebraska. Sending in his application, he wasn’t sure they would accept him as a participant, but soon the approval came back and he was a designated part of the running pack. His major reason for wanting to be in this race was that Bill Rodgers, a nationally known runner was also competing in the challenge and Brodherst wanted to be able to tell others that he had run in a race beside the great Bill Rodgers. The reason that Brodherst had not run in races since his high school days was that he had been cruelly struck down in the prime of his life with an aneurysm that caused doctors to question if he would ever walk, let alone run. But with determination that only a few may ever understand, Mr. Brodherst continually took on the impossible and met the challenge. Eventually he did learn to walk... but always with a need to drag on foot behind him as he progressed. His running was not much different. One foot ahead, drag the other up... one foot ahead, drag the other up.
At the beginning of the race Brodherst joined the other runners and as the gun went off, the hundreds of competitors trotted off and Bill slowly followed. For a while he could still see them in the distance, and then the crowds cheered him on for a while. Eventually, he heard the sounds of their feet... coming back towards him and towards the finish line. Then the crowds gradually disappeared, and Bill Brodherst ran on alone towards the halfway point. When he reached he found that everyone had left, assuming there were no other runners. But Brodherst doggedly half ran, half dragged himself to the marker and placed his hands on it so that there would be no question that he had reached that destination.
Turning and making his way back toward the final marker he found that he was the forgotten man: the police stayed with him for a while but then they had to leave to return to their duties. Children came out to taunt and imitate him as he painfully made his way on. The markers that had laid out the course had been taken down. But Brodherst trudged on to the goal. Finally, it was in sight... although the crowds had disappeared and all that was left was the line that had been painted on the street. Bill Brodherst struggled on with no one to watch his victory over his personal obstacles and he crossed the line several hours after he had begun the race.
Then out of the alley came a sound of applause and cheering and out came several of the race’s participants... led by Bill Rodgers - who had won the event. Rushing forward, they took Brodherst up on their shoulders and carried him for a distance and then set him down. Then Bill Rodgers took the medal that he had won from around his own neck and placed it over the head of Bill Brodherst saying "you’re the real winner of this race."
Paul said it like this in II Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Christian life is a race and Paul says in 1 Cor 9:24 that we are to run to receive the prize
What is the prize? Paul tells us in 2 Tim 4:8 “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day— and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Too many so-called Christians that I have known – started the race with grit and fire – but today – they are no longer running the race…
God expects us to run – no matter how long it is or how many obstacles get in the way – with Him everything is possible
Read Passage in Hebrews 12:1-3 / Pray
Remember with Bill, there didn’t seem to be anyone to cheer him on…at least not that he could see…but when he finished…there were great cheers for him
TRANS: The same can be said of you and me…we may not see them but we do have…
1. FANS OF THE FAITH
Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (fans of the faith)…”
Let me stop right there…if Paul is saying “THEREFORE” here-- there had to be something prior to this
Look at Heb 11:39-40 “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what was promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
THESE were all commended – who were THESE FANS? Let me name just a few from Heb 11
By faith, Abel offered and better sacrifice than Cain (Abel called “righteous”)
By faith, Enoch was taken and did not experience death – commended as one who pleased God
By faith, Noah built an ark – found favor with God
By faith, Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice – he was counted as righteous
By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for 3 months after he was born – they saw God’s handiwork
By faith, Moses refused Egypt’s throne
By faith, Moses kept the Passover
By faith, Moses delivered Israel from Egypt’s bondage
By faith, Moses performed miracles from God – Red Sea parted, manna from heaven, water from rock
By faith, people marched around the walls of Jericho and after 7th day – shouted – walls came down
By faith, Rahab the prostitute was not killed for helping God’s spies – ON – ON – ON
Heb 11:32 “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about…all of the others!”
Vs 39…These were all commended for their faith – in other words “THEY BLAZED THE TRAIL OF FAITH AND THEY FINISHED!
Even at the cost of their lives by stoning and other ghastly deaths
STORY OF PICABO STREET
Picabo Street first joined the U.S. Ski Team when she was only 17. She went on to become the only American skier to ever win the World Cup downhill championship. In 1996 she tore a crucial ligament in her left knee. The 30 year-old Street went through extensive rehabilitation just to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Street said this about her Olympic experience: "The last four years for me have been about that one moment coming into the finish when I heard the Americans roar and saw kids' faces painted red, white and blue. That's when I felt the pride of being an American in an American Olympics." Picaboo Street did not win the gold, or the silver, or the bronze medal this year. She finished 16th in her downhill competition. But the crowd cheered for her just the same. The Americans screamed and cheered because one of their own had finished the race.
You and I have a crowd cheering for us. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)
We are not alone – we are surrounded and being cheered on by those who have FINISHED the race!
Trans: But, Saints of God, the only way you can finish the race is to first…
2. ENTER THE RACE
God did not call any of us to be sitting on the sidelines…we are also not the fans…we are to be the runners; running the race
Paul says in 1 Cor 9:24 to run the race to win – we should run expecting to win (Rom 8:31)
You can’t win if you don’t enter the race – and the only way to enter is to sign up at the entry gate post that is marked by the blood of the Lamb – CAN I GET A WITNESS
No other way to enter in John tells us in John chapter 10
If you are not running the race with God – you are then running against Him
Matt 12:30 Jesus said “Whoever is not with me is against me…”
So, have you entered the race yet? If not, you are against Him.
Trans: Once you do enter the race, I can promise you that…
3. Obstacles Will Come
Heb 12:1 “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us…”
NLT says to “strip off every weight that slows us down”
Try to run with weights? (sluggish, weak, drudging, quicksand)
Many of our lives are entangled and weighted down with the bondage of sin in our lives
What is it that God is putting His finger on this morning that is weighing you down?
Keeping you from running the race?
Satan is going to try to do everything possible to trip you up – to weigh you down…he doesn’t want you to finish…He doesn’t even want you to run at all but…
God has already a marked out a course for our lives and we must enter the race and run to win
You may fall and get knocked down…
Prov 24:16 “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again…
Heb 12:1, last part, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”
The author of Hebrews knows we are going to have to endure…persevere…to overcome some obstacles in order to finish the race
Trans: The good news is, that when we do fall, we have the assurance that…
4. We Are Not Alone
Story of Derek Redmond
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Derek Redmond of Great Britain was considered a favorite contender for a medal. It was the evening of August 3, 1992 as Redmond was pitted against seven others in a semi-final in the 400 meters. Redmond knelt poised, waiting for the race to start. As the gun went off, his body was translated into a human locomotion, feverishly charging against the other runners.
As Redmond prepared to round the curve after the halfway mark, however, he suddenly heard a pop. It was his right hamstring. Redmond soon found himself trapped by the searing pain of his leg.
The other runners finished the race as he desperately continued his painful trek to the finish line. He waved off the stretchers, however, determined to finish the race.
From the stands, his father had been watching. He pushed his way past security guards to meet his son on the track. He then reached his weeping son. “Look, you don’t have to do this.”
Redmond then replied: “Yes I do.”
His father then said: “Well, if you’re going to finish this race, we’ll finish it together.”
With his arm locked around his son, Jim Redmond helped his son to the finish line to the sounds of a cheering stadium.
We have to remember that God is like that in the race we are running.
Sometimes we may get injured in the race, but God is always there ready to come out of the stands, put His arm around us, and help us to the finish line.
Heb 13:5 “God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (NLT)
Not only that, this race that we are running in…has many members running with us CAN I GET A WITNESS?
We are many members…but one body PRAISE GOD!
Eccl 4:9 “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one falls, the other can reach out and help…”
Prov 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
1 Pet 5:17 tells us that we can cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us
When we run, we are not alone…and Paul says we are to run…
5. Focused on the Prize
Turn to 1 Cor 9:24-27
Paul says that he runs to win…focused on the prize…it is his focus that keeps him in the race
It is easy to get focused on the wrong things…world’s pleasures…temptations…things
But we must keep our focus steady on the prize…
Hebrews 12:2 tells us “we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…”
The prize is eternity with the one who is our forerunner…our champion…our deliverer…our Savior – CAN I GET A WITNESS?
We must stay focused on the prize as we run this race so that we can finish!
Trans: Let me close with some life application
APPLICATION/CONCLUSION
1. You must enter the race to win – MUST BE SAVED! There is no other way to run or win!
2. Understand – He began the work – He will complete it – I must trust Him (Phil 1:6)
3. Trials, obstacles will come – James assures us of that in James 1
4. No matter the obstacles, we can overcome them – by the blood of the lamb – He has overcome the world
5. Rest in Him – keep our focus on Him – that’s the key to finishing strong!
You may have started out strong…but my question this morning is …Will you finish strong?
