Run for Your Life

Hebrews 12:1-4

     We're coming to Hebrews chapter 12 tonight in our study, and I encourage you, if you would, to turn to that chapter.  We're going to be looking at it for a time together.  Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 through 3, really, and 4 just kind of touching the last two verses.  The Holy Spirit apparently was well aware of the fact that good teaching, teaching where there is learning going on, boils down to effective use of figures of speech.  We need to have illustrations and figures of speech to help us understand what somebody's communicating; and so in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit very frequently makes use of multiple figures of speech; and, in particular, there are many, many of them incorporated into the subject of the Christian life.

     For example, the Christian life is pictured as warfare in 2 Timothy 2 verse 3.  It talks about enduring hardness as a good soldier; and in Ephesians 6, it talks about the armor.  And then the Holy Spirit speaks of the Christian life like a wrestling match.  Ephesians 6, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers and so forth.  And even the Holy Spirit speaks of the Christian life like a boxing match, as if it were a prizefight.  Paul says, "I fight not as one who beats the air," and he pictures the boxing there in 2 Timothy 4 verse 7a may perhaps also have the same reference.

     Then the New Testament also speaks of the Christian life as a kind of slavery in, for example, the Book of Romans, Paul says that we are slaves to Christ in Romans 6.  In Galatians chapter 6 in verse 17, the Christian life is seen as slavery; and then in 2 Timothy 2:6, the Holy Spirit speaks of the Christian life like a farming operation.  There must be diligence and toil in the cultivation in order to see the harvest.  In Romans 7, the Holy Spirit speaks of the Christian life in the figure of a marriage, how that we have by death been separated from our former husband, no longer married to sin, but remarried to Jesus Christ; and then many places in the New Testament, the figure of speech of a son and a father relationship is spoken of as we see God the Father, and we His children, who are to be obedient children.

     Now, all of these figures of speech are different aspects of the Christian life, but there is one other figure of speech that appears repeatedly in the New Testament; and that figure of speech is the figure of a race.  The Christian life is seen as a race.  In 1 Corinthians 9:24 to 27, and we'll look up these later.  In Galatians 5:7, in Philippians 3:13 and 14, and 2 Timothy 4:7, we have the indication that the Christian life is seen in the figure of a race; and that figure is what brings us to our text, Hebrews chapter 12, the Christian race or run for your life.  And in order to break the passage down, we're going to consider several aspects of the Christian race.

     As we look at this particular passage, we see that the first few verses break up very easily into different features of the race.  First of all, we have the event itself; then we have the encouragement to run; then we have the encumbrances which hinder us; then we have the example to which we focus our attention; then we have the end or the prize for which we run; and then we have a closing exhortation.  All of this composite becomes the picture of the race for Hebrews chapter 12, the first four verses.

     First of all, let's look a the event, beginning in verse 1; and we'll tie it into the former chapters as we go.  The event is a race.  Beginning in verse 1 we read this:  "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."  Now, that last phrase is the key to our first point.  This is a race that is set before us.

     Now, you'll notice to begin with, there is a little phrase, "let us."  Now, that little phrase, "let us" gives us an indication of to whom this passage is written.  Remembering that the Book of Hebrews was written to a community of Jews, we also must remember that there were two groups of Jews which we repeated over and over again.  First of all, there were some Jews who were not born again.  They were not saved.  They were only intellectually convinced.  They had come up to the edge of Christianity.  They were hanging on the edge.  They had some faith, but not saving faith; and they were beginning to drift back and to fall back into apostasy.  The second group were the truly saved ones.

     Now, as we look at the phrase "let us," we wanna be reminded of how the phrase is used elsewhere in the Book of Hebrews, so that we can see to whom he's talking right here.  The book is written mainly, and in the main sweep of the book, to the genuinely saved Jews; and as I shall show you in a moment, I think this passage does relate to them, as well.  But it was mainly written, the dominate character of the book is to these Jews who were saved.  They were recognizing their Messiah; but, for some reason, they didn't feel the new covenant was fully sufficient; and so they're kind of drifting back to Judaism; and so there is encouragement all through the Book of Hebrews that they put all their stock in Judaism, put all their faith in Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice, and let Judaism go.

     But then, periodically in the Book of Hebrews, there come these warnings to the group that is intellectually convinced, but never been saved; and very often those warnings are begun by the phrase "let us."  Lemme show you what I mean by that, and we're gonna study that for just a brief moment. 

     Hebrews 4, and I wanna show you just a couple of things.  Hebrews 4:1 starts out, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."  Now that, I believe, is a warning to unbelievers who are intellectually convinced.  "Let us."  Verse 14, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that has passed into the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession."  Again, he is saying to those who are intellectually convinced, "Come all the way.  Make the full commitment.  Hold on."  Verse 16, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need."  And, again, I think that has primary reference to those unbelievers on the edge.

     Chapter 6 verse 1, "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Messiah...which are Old Testament things...let us go on to perfection."  Perfection in Hebrews, I believe, means salvation.  So, again, he's talking to the intellectually convinced.  Chapter 10, we find similarly in verse 22, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."  And, again, if we study that context, we find that he is talking to those intellectually convinced unbelievers.  Verse 23, "Let us hold fast the profession of faith."  Verse 24, Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works."

     Now that may, of course, that last "let us" may go either way; but the...the "let us," as a phrase, has primary significance to the intellectually convinced Jew who has come all the way to the edge and not yet come to Christ; and each of those "let us" that we read followed a doctrinal teaching passage where he would teach them the importance of a commitment to Christ and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.  Then he would say "Let us respond by moving into this."

     Now when we come to chapter 12, it is no different.  "Wherefore," and then jumping to the bottom of the verse, "let us run."  What is the wherefore there for?  The wherefore takes you back.  The wherefore takes you clear back to 10:38, "The just shall live by faith," and from there on, he explains faith and how it works all the way through chapter 11.  Then he says, "Because this is how God's standard is set, that you live by faith, let us get into the race.  Let us run the race."

     So I think, to begin with, that "let us" here is used in a primary sense to the intellectually convinced Jews; and what he's really saying is, "The race is the Christian life.  Get in the race.  Come on.  You're hanging onto Judaism.  You're hanging onto works, but the just shall live by faith.  So get in the race."  And I think that's a primary consideration.  The entrance to the race is the new birth; and if an individual knows Jesus Christ, if he invites Jesus Christ to come into his life, by that very act of faith, he himself enters into the race.  Every Christian is in the race.  As we shall see, not all of them are running, however, and that's the problem.  Some of them are clogging up the track.

     But to get in the race is to be born again.  The race is really the Christian life.  So the Holy Spirit, then, calls out to these intellectually convinced folks who have heard the Gospel, who know the facts, but are reluctant to let go of Judaism, reluctant because of persecution and the price they'll have to pay; and he's saying, "Run for your life, because the just shall live only by...what?...by faith, so you've gotta get into the race of faith and get off the kick of works."  So to begin with then, he is calling out to those who need to come to Jesus Christ. 

     Secondarily, I think the injunction is important also to Christians.  He says, "Let us run with patience the race," and the word patience, hoopamoanay, is endurance.  Some Christians are in the race, but they're not running the race.  So I think we can safely say that the term "let us" used in the primary sense that it's used in the Book of Hebrews is used for the intellectually convinced, but it also has direct implication to the believer in at least one other passage, and, very likely, we would say it does here, as well.

     So what he's saying then is two things.  All that to say this.  If you're not a Christian, get in the race, because there's only one way to live, and that's by faith; and if you are a Christian and you're in the race, run the race with endurance.  So, really, the statement is general.  Now it's sad to say that most Christians aren't running.  A few are jogging.  We'll admit that.  Some are trotting.  A lot of 'em are walking.  Most of 'em are crawling or sitting, going nowhere; and some of them are going backwards; but the Christian life is not a trot.  The Christian life is not your morning constitutional.  The Christian life is not a loaf.  The Christian life is a race.  There it is.  Look at it.  "Let us run with patience the race."

     The Greek word for race, agone, from which we agony.  This is a race where you've gotta put out a little bit.  It's...it's not even a sprint, either.  It's...it's not a dash.  It's a marathon kind of race.  It is to be run with endurance; and like any good runner must train and follow rigid kind of standards if he's gonna effectively run, so must the Christian.  To effectively run, there must be self-denial, discipline, tremendous exertion.  The Christian life is not a...a thing of passive luxury. 

     Had a good illustration of that from a racing standpoint on Saturday when I was up at the field day where my little boy goes to school; and all the fathers had to run in the events; and I can remember when I used to run track; and I was religiously devoted to training; but I soon found out that you're not too good when you just sit around a lot and you get into the race.  There must be rigid discipline to be effective in running.  We are not called upon as Christians to lie around in flowery beds of ease; but we are to run in a race that is strenuous, that is self-sacrificing, that is hard training, and that is disciplined.  Putting forth every ounce of energy that we have.

     I think of the charge, you know, that...that God brought against Israel through the old prophet Amos in chapter 6 verse 1.  He said, "Woe to them that are at ease."  This is one army when the command never comes at ease.  This is a race that demands commitment, and to stand still or go backwards is to forfeit the prize.  Worst yet, if you're still in the bleachers and haven't gotten in the race, you're forfeiting eternal heaven.  And so what he's saying then is get into the race.  The Christian life is a struggle.  It's a battle against Satan, as we saw this morning.  It's a struggle against all kinds of odds.  It's a struggle against the system that is the world.  You've gotta be different.  You've gotta be able to butt your head against what's going on in the world, and you've gotta be able to go right through, and you've gotta do it with...look at the word...patience.  The word is hoopamoanay.  This is a long race.

     I'll never forget when I was in high school, the first time I ever ran in a...in a race longer than the...than the 100-yard dash, which was always my race, and I was put into a long race.  I can't remember, I think it was an 880, which is two laps, which is a horrifying experience for a guy who's never run further than a 100 yards.  I'll never forget, I was leading by a mile at the 100-yard mark.  I came i