Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
14 sermons cite this verse
… Hebrews 12.1. I'm going to read it in the message version. It says, do you see what this means? All these pioneers who blaze the way, all these veterans cheering us on. It means we better get on with it. Strip down. Start running. No more staying in the same place. And never quit. I love this one. No extra spiritual fat. And then this is my favorite. no parasitic sins do you know what a parasite is a parasite is something that sticks to you and it sucks you of all your nutrients many of you have not been able to do what god has called you to do because you've been letting unforgiveness bitterness cling to you and suck you dry of hope and faith and believing and i'm telling you that this is the year of release god is coming to set you free. And this is what we get as we stop holding. Everybody shout at me one more time. Release. I'm telling you, this is the word of the Lord for our church and for your life, if you would grab hold of it. The last one, as we stop holding and as we allow God to flow free in our life, the last release is to make public. This is about to be some of our coming out year. …
… in order to look intently at one object. he's looking to the reward. This same basic word is used in a few verses later in Hebrews 12, verse one and two, where he says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That word looking unto is this word, continuously say no to a thousand voices so I can give myself intently to the one voice that matters. It's not a casual floating through life. It's not a casual just adjusting to whatever circumstances come. It is this decision of the heart that says, I have a supreme value for one thing. That is the voice of the Lord. It's what he says. It's what he is doing. My heart is anchored in the continual expectation for God himself, for God to speak, for God to reveal himself, to show me what to do. My heart is anchored in this one thing. So to look to the reward, or in Hebrews 12, 2, to look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, looking to him is to say this. I have said no. In fact, the word means to continuously say no. To continuously look away from a thousand other options so that I might give myself intently with extreme focus and energy to the one thing I'm willing to say yes to. It's not casual. …
… you've heard this verse. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God. I like that this text here puts it in context that you got a lot of people that are cheering you on. Yeah, you're part of a bigger family. And all these people cheering you on because of all they've gone through and the faith that they had and now they've passed the baton on to us. He says, in light of that, your faith is not just some intellectual, it's not just something that you kind of process through personally and internally and it stops there. No, it actually gets lived out, worked out. …
… I'm going to start and end in verse one. He bush 12 verse number one. Let's read it together with uplifted voices. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about we're so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. I want us to read it again with a little bit more vigor and vitality. Come on to everybody. Wherefore, So great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. and the sin which does so easily beset us. And let us find the nations for grace that is set in for us. Bless the Lord. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Wherefore, seeing we are encompassed, we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every way. And the sin which so does easily beset us. Let's run with patience because there's a race that is before us. …
… I would use if my family says, Dad, your running shorts are too short. I say, they're just Roman, They're Hebrews 12.1 running short, is what they are. I just don't want to be entangled. But the idea, we can understand it. This sin that clings. The older language is of a besetting sin. A besetting sin is that sin that seems to always be right there. And your besetting sin may be different from someone else. It's very easy to look at someone else and say, why do they spend so much money on everything? And they're so greedy, and they're so prone to worldliness. Then you realize it's because you don't care about any of those things. You're just not wired that way, and your besetting sin is anger or self-pity. Here's what John Owen says about besetting sins. This sin is that which hath an easy access unto our minds. What are the sort of sins? You know, there's some that it's an unusual temptation. Or if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. …
… a reset, something heavy for something light, something burdensome for something glorious. What an opportunity. The writer of Hebrews reminds us, he says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, every weight that hinders, and every sin that so easily entangles us. So what's the message there? It's not just get rid of all the things that are sins in your life. It's get rid of all of the lesser things that you're tempted to worship. Get rid of anything that's slowing you down in your pursuit of Jesus Christ. That's a reset that we need today. Get rid of anything in your life today that is causing you to run with a limp after the things of God. If it's causing you to slow down, get rid of it so that you can run full speed towards the plans and purposes of God for your life. Paul is saying in Romans chapter 12, our response to the mercy of God should be total surrender to God. He says our sacrifice should be three things. It should be living, it should be holy or pure, and it should be pleasing or acceptable to God. Just a reminder, not all worship is pleasing or acceptable to God. …
… that will embarrass picasso and renoir can people in heaven see us now i believe they can uh hebrews 12 1 and 2 i believe that the god does not shut the blinds when someone goes to heaven have you ever i know you have you've been walking around going man i just feel my father who passed you know a couple years ago i feel my son or in our case our daughter or i just feel this encouragement right now that's a great cloud of witnesses cheering for you and me. They're not jeering in heaven. They're, they're, they're cheering for us. And we have a cheering section that doesn't sit down. I'm almost, I, I've almost gotten all these questions. This is incredible. Even though I'm out of time, I really don't care. Is heaven going to be boring? No, it sometimes, you know, kids, I'm bored, you know, we're just. No, that's not going to happen in heaven. I mean, when you're like wired and you're like engaged, that's the kind of vibe. …
… Now, this verse is exciting. Hebrews chapter 12, verse one. Therefore, remember when you see therefore, ask what is therefore. Paul says, therefore, since we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Now, he's talking about Hebrews chapter 11. He's talking about the hall of fame, which is really the hall of faith. He's talking about the fact that those matriarchs and patriarchs who've gone before us are in heaven right now. cheering you on and cheering me on. And to top that off, those people in our lives, our loved ones, like our daughter LeBeth, who are in heaven right now, they are cheering us on. It's a standing ovation that never sits down. Is that unbelievable? so Paul says that should give us great encouragement so I look back on my friend and I look back on his advice and in essence he was telling me this here's what he was saying and here's what Paul was saying if you're in the marathon keep on running I don't know if you heard me if you're in this race if you're a citizen of heaven Keep on running. …
… Hebrews 12, 1 to 2. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, and it's easy to feel in this room, however alone, however much in the minority you feel in your church, back at home, just take it in in this room take in the cloud of witnesses here bring it back with you in your mind in your photos in your imagination since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance how? that's what I want to know how do I run with endurance? that's our focus this weekend that's what we're getting after how do you run with endurance the race set before you looking to jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So here's this amazing statement that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. And now I want to ask, I want to finish up the session focusing on this by asking specifically, what joy could that have been? …
… He says, here's how. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ready? Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. He says, anything that would mitigate against you understanding and trusting that God is faithful and with you through this. He says, you just disentangle yourself from those thoughts. You cast that away. Don't allow, he mentioned sin. Don't allow the difficult times to cause you to depart from God because when you depart from God, it does not make your life better. It's just gonna make your life more complicated. And he says, let me give you a word picture. And I want you to run. He says, and let us run. Run with perseverance. the race marked out for each of us. So let's talk about this. See, right now, you might be in the section of the race that's the downhill section. It's the easy section. It's the wrinkle-free section. Everybody's in school. Everybody's dating somebody you like. …
… before but the thing that's lying before is not at hand it's in the distance look at verse one since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance same verb there endurance the race that is set before us. Hopefully you're familiar with that passage and the Christian life as a race. We have a race set before us in verse one and there is joy set before Jesus in verse two. These two belong together. They shed light on each other. It's an athletic image in these two verses. Runners in a race with a prize at the end. and a race has this future orientation to it there's a road there's a path there's a track and it keeps going on to the finish and so what's set before a runner in the distance is a reward he looks to a prize a joy to get to the end to the finish so verse one is a powerful powerful indicator that for the joy set before him in verse 2 is the joy he looks to not the joy he abandons the joy he looks to to endure the cross number two Esau's failure this is chapter 12 verse 16 just a few verses ahead later in the same chapter Hebrews uses this same preposition, auntie. …
… Hebrews 12 says it like this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us. The sin that so easily a little bit of yeast entangles us and let us run with perseverance the race marked for us, fixing our eyes not on the problem, not on the trauma, not on the pain, not on the diagnosis, but fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. For the joy that was set before him, the cross, he endured, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him. I wanna invite you today to consider him. there's some prodigals in this room and you've had life cut in on you or you've fallen away and at one point you were believing and you were running your race well. Who cut in on you? I'm convinced you'll take no other view. In fact, I prophesy it over everyone in this room, over everyone under the sound of my voice today that you will take no other view other than the view of the one who has called you. …
… Listen to verses 1 to 3. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." This is the writer of Hebrews calling us to the same kind of endurance in a hostile world, fixing our eyes on Jesus. He's our example, the author and perfecter of faith, and here's what I want you to hear, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. Why did He endure all that? Why did He handle the suffering the way He did? Because He knew that on the other side was joy. How did He know that? Because that was the promise of the Father, and He trusted the Father. We are to live as He died, forgiving, evangelizing, loving, resisting sin, sympathizing, finishing, and in all of it, trusting God in the moments of hell's most vicious assaults and Satan's most dangerous efforts, because set before us by the promise of God is eternal joy, as it was for Him. …
… in order to look intently at one object. he's looking to the reward. This same basic word is used in a few verses later in Hebrews 12, verse one and two, where he says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That word looking unto is this word, continuously say no to a thousand voices so I can give myself intently to the one voice that matters. It's not a casual floating through life. It's not a casual just adjusting to whatever circumstances come. It is this decision of the heart that says, I have a supreme value for one thing. That is the voice of the Lord. It's what he says. It's what he is doing. My heart is anchored in the continual expectation for God himself, for God to speak, for God to reveal himself, to show me what to do. My heart is anchored in this one thing. So to look to the reward, or in Hebrews 12, 2, to look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, looking to him is to say this, I have said no. In fact, the word means to continuously say no, to continuously look away from a thousand other options so that I might give myself intently with extreme focus and energy to the one thing I'm willing to say yes to. …