Hebrews 12: Stanly Community Church

Transcription

1 Anyone who has ever participated in a foot race of any length understands the need to keep a steady pace. The distance and terrain will determine this to some degree, but the desire to finish well is the primary regulating factor. Resolve and endurance are necessary as the runner pushes steadily past both physical and mental barriers to complete the race. There is no more appropriate analogy for the believer s life of faith. It is a course that begins with salvation from sin and ends with glorification in heaven. Jesus Christ has opened this way to eternal life, and we must follow Him by faith into our heavenly Father s presence. By His perfect life and faithful ministry as our High Priest we believe and continue to believe that God provides the righteousness we need to cross the finish line into glory. That is the race of faith. And that is the essence of The Letter to the Hebrews. If we want to enter into heaven, then we must follow the sinless Son of God who has clearly marked the way. It is the way of trust in God and His promises revealed from the beginning of the creation and fulfilled in Christ (Heb. 1:1-3). He is heaven s greatest revelation of God s redemptive purpose and plan, which allowed for sin and provided for salvation (2:5-18). As the truly obedient Son and effective High Priest, Jesus is faithful to bring God s people into the perfection of righteousness in heaven (3:1-4:16).! 1

2 This must be the confession of everyone who professes faith in Christ. For, as the writer has been saying, only the perfect Son of God could fulfill the covenant of law to mediate the covenant of grace (5:1-10:18). Therefore, we must hold fast to that confession as we live by faith and follow the example of the saints of old who plainly believed all that God revealed (10:19-11:38). They were saved by faith in Christ, and so is everyone who believes the Gospel (11:39-40). Now the writer urges us to finish the course just as the saints who have gone before us. To do so, we must follow the biblical examples of faith who looked to God s Son revealed in Scripture. Finish the Course (12:1-2) Follow the Biblical Example (v. 1) The example of faith on the part of Old Testament saints was something the Hebrews should be willing to emulate. Their faith reflects God s promises (11:1), and it began with an understanding that the creation is the obvious stage upon which God intended the drama of human redemption to be played out (11:3). From the most ancient believers (11:4-7) to the Hebrew patriarchs (11:8-22) to Moses (11:23-29) and the nation s historic leaders (11:30-38), every highly regarded Hebrew in Israel s well-documented history had demonstrated absolute trust in what God revealed about Christ.! 2

3 Now we also are called to follow these examples of true faith to which God Himself testifies (11:2). Like a great cloud, these witnesses are surrounding us as it were. Not as spectators at the end of the race, but as the voice of an experienced coach urging us to keep pace. In other words, as we continue the course, we keep in mind how the saints of Scripture trusted, pleased and obeyed God; we remember that they were convinced there is a heritage for the heirs of God s kingdom. These endured the world while desiring heaven, and they relied on God, rested in Him, revered and remembered Him all their life. And their lives reflected God s promise as they prevailed over uncertainty, unrighteousness, suffering and imperfection. As we study the Bible, they encourage us to continue moving forward in faith; they remind us that heavenly glory is worth earthly suffering (Lk. 9:57-62). Their example demands something of us who now run the race that is set before us : Stay the course and finish well. As a runner conditions himself for an event, these saints learned to focus on what was essential. We also must lay aside anything that is unnecessary anything that hinders our pace. That is the weight to which the writer refers here. For first century Hebrews, a wrong understanding of the Mosaic Law hindered true faith. But any conflict with the clear revelation of Christ is simply religious baggage and must be set aside. The biblical saints only trusted the LORD s clear promises.! 3

4 We must also throw off the sin which so easily ensnares us. Because he is urging professing believers to cling to the truth of Jesus without compromise (10:23), this is a call to make certain their faith is squarely in the Christ of Scripture. The sin that snares so many who profess faith in God is actually the sin of unbelief in Christ (3:12; cf. Matt. 7:21-23; 12:31-37). They may call themselves followers of Jesus, but if their faith is not in the Son revealed by God in His Word, then it is not a faith that saves. Yet the saints mentioned in the previous chapter all unquestionably believed God s progressively unveiled promise of righteousness in Christ. The only way to run [the race of faith] with endurance is to ignore the extra-biblical, religious baggage that so often causes people to give up on the plain truth of the Gospel (Gal. 3). But such distractions are forsaken if we trust only in the Jesus of Scripture. As we will see in the next verse, when we keep our eyes on the biblical Son, we will reach the finish. Look to the Biblical Son (v. 2) If you are running the true race of faith, then you are looking unto Jesus and Jesus alone. There is no other way to the Father in heaven as this letter so wonderfully argues (cf. Jn. 14:6). Only Jesus is the author (i.e. originator; cf. 2:10) and finisher (i.e. perfecter) of our faith. We trust in Him because only He secures the perfection of righteousness we need. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.! 4

5 In His humanity, our Lord Jesus fulfilled the law of God by perfect obedience and satisfied its penalty of death for the sinner. And because of this, God can make sinners righteous by faith in His gracious promise of a truly righteous Son. Accomplishing the Father s purpose and plan of redemption is the joy that was set before [Jesus]. It is for this reason that He kept His eyes on the goal of heaven while obeying the Father even to the point of death on the cross (Heb. 2:5-18; Phil. 2:8-11). As the writer says here, Christ endured the cross, despising the shame because that was the Father s will. In order for us to be made righteous, He must first achieve that righteousness by perfect obedience and then atone for our unrighteousness by His sacrificial death (Heb. 9:15). There were no other options. Although bearing the guilt and shame of our sins was repulsive to Him as a truly righteous Son, Jesus nonetheless submitted Himself willingly because He viewed the Father s will to be of greater value than His suffering (Jn. 10:17-18). In this He despised the shame of the cross. We must trust Jesus for the very thing which He absolutely committed Himself to accomplish.! 5

6 And having accomplished it, He has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. That is the place of His ministry as the believer s High Priest. He had to achieve righteousness for us before He could assume His role as High Priest in heaven to mediate the New Covenant (Heb. 8:1-6). As the writer says in 1:3, it was only after Christ by Himself purged our sins, [that He] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It is there that our hope of perfection and heavenly rest is anchored (Heb. 6:19:20). So, in order to finish the course of this life of faith, we must follow the example of the biblical saints who trusted only in God s promise of righteousness in Christ. And we must fix our gaze upon the Jesus of the Bible who has secured this righteousness for us and provides access to the Father in heaven. By this we pace ourselves for the race that is set before us. The apostle Paul also used the analogy of running to describe a life of faith. With a disciplined athlete in mind, he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25: Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Are you on pace to finish the race of faith?! 6