Hebrews 12:1–13 A call to endurance
Truth & Light 10/27/02
The theme of this passage is the need for perseverance or endurance through trials and tribulations. I want to let you know Truth and Light that we are going to have to go through some trials and tribulations. I want to let you know that the race is not given to the swift neither to the strong, but it is given to he that endureth to the end.
The writer here develops the image of an athletic contest, the writer urges his readers to look to the great cloud of witnesses in ch. 11, for encouragement to run with perseverance the race of faith. As a climax to his presentation of the great heroes of faith, the writer recalls the endurance of Jesus in the face of extreme suffering, shame and opposition.
The Lord Never was, nor ever has been on the loosing side. He knows what it is like to stand in the face of opposition. He experienced it as he hung on the cross. I’m glad that the Lord knows first hand all the same things that I experience. He knows my pain because he has felt pain. He knows my sorrow, because he has felt sorrow. He knows how to be down. He knows how to shiver in our cold and how it feels to sweat in our heat. He knows what it feels like to be hungry and thirsty. I’m glad this morning that he knows all about us. So when you feel like you just can’t make it, you can be assured that he knows just how much you and I can bear.
The appeal to run with perseverance the race marked out for us suggests that the Christian life is more a marathon than a short sprint. We are to continue to press towards the mark. Paul says in Phil.3: V. 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The verb "I press" comes from a Greek word which means literally "to follow after." The Greeks used it to describe a hunter who eagerly and relentlessly pursued after his prey. You see, a person does not become a winning athlete by listening to lectures, watching movies, reading books or cheering at the games. He becomes a winner only when he gets into the race with a determination to win.
The Apostle Paul had a steadfast determination
He would not quit
He would not turn back.
He would not give in.
He would not throw in the towel.
He would not slow down.
He pressed toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If you want to be a winner in this race of Christianity you must have a
spirit of endurance.
Sometimes you have got to put some energy and effort in what you are doing for The Lord Jesus Christ. Victory doesn’t come easy. It takes a little sweat no, let me rephrase that, It takes a lot of sweat. But the Lord says, if I’m with you, I’m more than the world against you.
We are not to picture the great cloud of witnesses in ch. 11 as spectators in an amphitheatre, cheering us on in the race of faith. It is ‘what we see in them, not what they see in us, is what the writer wants us to look at today.
As contestants in the race, we are to look to their example for encouragement. If they could do it, you and I ought to be able to do it too. If they could hold out, you and I ought to be able to hold out. If they could cross the finish line, you and I ought to be able to cross the finish line.
The writer says that we are to throw off every weight that hinders us. We are to get rid of any association or activity that handicaps us— and the sin that so easily entangles us.
The greatest encouragement comes when we fix our eyes on Jesus. The bible describes him as the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus is the perfect example of the faith that we ought to express. We ought to be able to say that I can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength.
For a long time, I thought God was pleased knowing that I was more than willing to do what I could. I have always felt that if you can’t do what you want to, just do what you can. I thought that it was enough for you and I to live up to our potential. I never thought that it was reasonable to ask someone to go beyond their capabilities. It seems to me that it ought to be enough when one does what he can.
There aren’t many folk who do what they can, let alone what they can’t do. Very few of us have reached our potential let along exceeded it. We get annoyed when someone wants all that we have, let alone ask us for something that we don’t have. Yet, as I’ve studied this text this week and I’ve come to realize that God wants you to do what you cannot do.
God is not pleased with us just doing our best. God wants something more. Heaven rarely gets excited because we do all that is within our power. God wants us to do something that is above our head and beyond our strength. He wants us to do what we can’t.
That’s the mark of a Christian and the sign of the faithful when you are able to do what you can’t. When you are able to endure hardship as a good soldier. When you attempt the impossible and do the unbelievable.
It’s not enough to do just what you’re able to do, that’s the least you can do. It’s not enough to give all that you’ve got that’s just a down payment. In our lesson last week Paul tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. Somebody may feel that they cannot do that, but God wants us to do what we can’t. We serve a God who calls us to a mission impossible. He calls us to go into the hedges and highways and compel men to come to Christ. Christ does not call us to a religion of ease but he calls us to a service. He does not call us to convenience, he calls us to sacrifice.
God doesn’t want to hear, Lord I’ve tried. God is not calling us to be average. God calls us to be unique. He wants us to be the vessel that holds his power. The world knows what man can do. But God wants us to be an example of what he can do. Man already knows about our abilities but man needs to learn about God’s capabilities. Man already knows what we can do, but we ought to be a witness of what God can do.
Hebrews Vs. 1 says, Look around at the winners! (v. 1) The “great... cloud of witnesses” were introduced to us in Hebrews 11. They are the heroes of the faith. It is not suggested here that these men and women now in heaven are watching us as we run the race, like people seated in a stadium. The word “witnesses” does not mean “spectators.” Our English word “martyr” comes directly from the Greek word translated “witness.” These people are not witnessing what we are doing; rather, they are bearing witness to us that God can see you through.
One of the best ways to develop endurance and encouragement is to get to know the godly men and women of the Old Testament who ran the race and won. If you are having problems with your family, read about Joseph. If you think your job is too big for you, study the life of Moses. If you are tempted to retaliate, see how David handled this problem. If you are sick and you can’t get well you ought to look up old Job.
In Vs. 2 Paul says, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us… What are the “weights” that we should remove so that we might win the race? Everything that hinders our progress. It might be your car, it might be your house, it might be your job. It might be your bank account. Whatever it is that is hindering you from serving the Lord, you ought to take it of.
Christianity is not about what we can do, but it’s about being able to do all things through Christ who strengths us. Anybody can do what he can but it takes a child of God to do what he can’t. All of us are able to do what we can do even if we don’t do it.
I tell you this morning it’s good to do your best. But if you’ve been born again, if you’ve been washed in the blood, if the Lord saved your soul, if the angels done signed your name, you ought to be able to do what you can’t.
Whatever you can do, you and God can do it better. With God, your little becomes a lot. With God a handful of meal and a cup of oil is more than enough to feed a hungry preacher and a starving widow. With God, two small fish and five barley loves is more than enough to feed a hungry multitude. Whatever you got becomes greater whenever you hook it up with the Lord.
That fine house becomes a home when Jesus stops being a visitor and takes up residence. Knowledge hooked up with the Lord is turned into wisdom. A dream blessed by the Almighty becomes a vision. A career that yields to the spirit becomes a calling. A life that is dedicated to the Lord becomes an abundant life. When you trust God with what you can do he gives you power to do what you can’t.
IJSB if you are determined to endure, God will turn your cannots into cans. I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. I can run and not get weary. I can walk and not faint. When you give him all you got. He supplies you with whatever you lack.
A. When you are Incapable, He is Capable.
B. When you are Weak, He is Strong.
C. When you don’t Know, He Does Know.
D. When you are Powerless, He is All-Powerful.
E. When you don’t have an Answer, He Does!
I wonder is there anybody here who has reached the unreachable. I wonder is there anybody here who has carried a load that they thought was too hard to carry. I wonder has anybody here ever succeeded on a mission impossible.
Well, this morning I want to inform you that you can’t do what you can’t until you do what you can. You can’t handle heavenly vision if you are not faithful to an earthly task. If you are not faithful over a few things, he will not make you ruler over many. If he can’t trust you with the small things, he can’t trust you in the big things.
So the writer this morning tells us to endure until the end. Look unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Sometimes when trials and tribulations comes up, we sometimes find ourselves ready to give up. But if you look to Jesus. Who kept on running. He bared the cross, but he kept on running. They whipped him with 39 stripes, but he kept on running the race. They pierced him in his side, but he kept on running. They laid him in the tomb, but he kept on running. But early, one Sunday morning, he got up with all power in heaven and earth in his hand.
So, I urge you this morning to run. Run for your family, Run for your job. Run for your salvation. Run for your children. Run for your Mind. Run for yourself. Run for your life. Run for your God. Paul said I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind and pressing on toward the mark of the Prize of the High Calling Which Is In Christ Jesus. Because afterwhile, running days will soon be over. Afterwhile, we won’t have to run no more. Afterwhile we will receive a crown of life.
