How to Run the Race of Faith- Part II
Introduction:
• Last week, we looked at the first verse of the 12th chapter of Hebrews. We found that there are some very specific commands that are given for running the race of faith.
• We come to this practical chapter in the book of Hebrews, and we are told that because of the blessed covenant under which we live, the New Covenant, we ought to be living our lives for Kingdom of God.
• A new covenant brings about new requirements. We are longer asked to bring burnt offerings or sin offerings. Now we are asked to give ourselves in service to the Lord.
• Last week, we looked at two commands. The first one was to remove the weight and the sin that drags us down. God has called us to empty ourselves of all that is ungodly and unprofitable to our spiritual health.
EXAMPLE: IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WIN
• Secondly, we are called to run the race that has been marked out before us. We are to run this race with patience, endurance, and steadfastness.
• There is a great call and a great warning in this book against cumbersome and loathsome Christianity which leads to a drifting away.
• The commands we find today in verse two are more about where we set our mind and our attention than what we physical do in running.
I. Regard (v. 2a)
• The first thing that the writer tells us to do in verse two is to look. That word is defined this way “to determine; to fix one’s eyes.”
• It’s in the present tense which means we are to always be looking towards Him. What about this person we are looking to? There are two (2) things:
A. The Pioneer
The first description of Jesus we see is that He is the author, or the pioneer. He got this whole thing started.
The word author is defined as “originator or the instigator.” When we talk about being brought into the New Covenant, Jesus is the Mediator of that Covenant.
1 Timothy 2:5 tells us, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
When we talk about running the race of faith, not a race of the law but of faith, it all begins with the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
He is the mediator of this covenant, and He is the author. However, the writer is telling us something more with his word choice.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
This suggests to us that Jesus has pioneered the path of faith. He was the first to ever truly walk it and He showed us how to do it right.
We look to Him for guidance, and we look to Him for salvation. Why? Because looking is trusting.
When the Children of Israel looked at the serpent on the stick, they were healed. When we look to the Savior on a tree, we are healed.
Looking unto Jesus is not just an action, but it’s an attitude of living. It’s not something you do, it’s something you are. We are to be focused on Jesus. Why? He is the author and the pioneer.
He is the inspiration and initiator of our faith.
B. The Perfecter
Not only is He the author and the pioneer of our faith, but He is also the finisher and the perfecter of our faith.
What does this mean? Not only did He initiate the faith and author, but He also perfected it because He finished it well. In fact, He finished it perfectly.
Therefore, because He began it and finished it well, He can enable you to also do the same.
One translator renders the phrase this way “looking unto Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end.”
From the very start to the final breath and your crossing over, Jesus is the perfecter and the finisher of your faith.
How do you start out in this race? Jesus takes hold of you. How do you run well and finish well? You look toward and take hold of Jesus!
He has the ability to make us perfect. He has the ability to bring us to our desired end. It reminds me of Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
He has the ability to take us in to our rest. Hebrews 4 reminds us that the rest that the Children of Israel received is not the final rest. “There remaineth therefore a rest.”
II. Remember (v. 2b)
A. His Perseverance
We need to remember that He is the author and finisher of our faith. We also need to remember a few things about Him.
One of the things we need to remember is His perseverance. The Bible says that He endured the Cross and despised the shame.
I’m reminded of the despicable nature that cross had. Its association was with shame and disgrace.
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
So, He became a curse so that we might not be cursed. Jesus didn’t embrace the shame, but He despised it. However, He took it for us.
Psalm 69:7 says “Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.”
How did He endure? He looked forward towards the joy that was set before Him. The day when He would take His seat on the throne.
The writer is telling us that when Jesus compared the joy that was ahead to the cross that He would have to bear there was no comparison.
He remembered the coming glory when He would be King of all Kings. We don’t like it when we aren’t recognized for who we really are.
EXAMPLE: DR. HAND CALLED DOCTOR
Jesus was King, and He ought to have been recognized as King. However, He forgot that He had been humiliated and disgraced by the Cross because He was looking to what lay ahead.
He has called us to do the same thing. Philippians 2:5-9 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”
We endure the suffering and we run the race faithfully down here because we know one day we are going to be lifted up.
B. His Power
Not only do we notice His perseverance, but we also see His power. Notice the writer tells us that Jesus “has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus Christ assumed His position of power and preeminence. He sat down at the right hand of God and assumed His triumphant position.
From a biblical viewpoint, the right side was the side of honor. Jesus took a place of honor in heaven.
He indicated to us some very important things when He sat down. Hebrews 1:3 says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Jesus ran the race of faith perfectly. He made a sacrifice that was perfect. It was so perfect that He sat down. It was a finished, completed work.
The phrase “sat down” is in the perfect tense. It means He is still there.
This sitting down also prepares us for something. It begins to put our hearts in a mode of anticipation for a coming day.
God said in Hebrews 1 “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for you.”
It’s a reminder to us that when Jesus sat down, He began waiting. He began waiting for the day when judgment comes.
For those who know the Lord, we will be lifted on that day and given a new name, a new body, and a new nature.
I’ve got a new name written down in glory, and its mine. Oh yes, it’s mine.
