Hebrews 12:1-3 - Homiletics

The life of faith, and its supreme Exemplar.

In these verses the apostle gathers up the practical lesson to be derived from his historical demonstration of the power of faith contained in Hebrews 11:1-40 . The figure of the passage is that of a race which the believer is required to run, the reference being doubtless to the foot-race in the Grecian games.

I. THE CHRISTIAN RACE . ( Hebrews 11:1 ) Glance here at the points of analogy, or truths intended to be taught by this figure. The life of faith is:

1. An arduous struggle. "The righteous is with difficulty saved" ( 1 Peter 4:18 ). The Christian calling is not a stroll or a saunter, but a race. It entails strenuous effort.

2. A struggle which involves fixedness of aim. It is "set before us." There is a goal to be kept in view, and a prize to be won; and there is, accordingly, a prescribed path of faith and duty.

3. A struggle which involves perseverance. The believer must "run with patience." He must not allow his ardor to decline. He must not desist until he finishes his course.

4. A struggle which will soon be over. "Yet a very little while," and the Christian shall have reached the goal, and won Christ.

5. A public spectacle. "We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses." We run this race under the eye of God himself. Other spectators are the holy and the fallen angels, "the spirits of just men made perfect," our fellow-believers on earth, and the ungodly world around us.

II. THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL RUNNING . ( Hebrews 11:1 ) The Olympic runner put off his flowing robes, and everything else that might impede his course. So the Christian is to "lay aside,"

1. Weights. This word denotes whatever would put one to disadvantage in running, whether it be in itself innocent or not. Of course every evil passion is a weight, which can only clog the believer's heavenward progress. But even that which is in itself lawful may become, if we abuse it, a heavy load. We may pervert a good gift of God into a dead weight. And some habit which is no hindrance at all to my Christian brother may have proved to be a great spiritual cumbrance to me. There is, e.g. , the weight of prosperity, of care, of sorrow; the weight of worldly business, of earthly ambition, of human affection. "The things which are seen" must not be allowed to lie heavy on the soul, if we would successfully run the Christian race.

2. Sin. This is the essential burden. It "easily besets us," i.e. cleaves to us, wraps itself round us like a cloak, clings to us as a parasitical plant to a tree. It is sin in general which the apostle characterizes as "easily besetting." The adjective in the original does not rotor to the particular sins, whatever these may be, to which individuals are most prone; although, of course, in taking home the exhortation to the conscience , this thought will naturally be suggested. The writer probably had in his mind just now (indeed, be never forgets it throughout this letter) the sin of apostasy—the danger to which the Hebrew Christians were exposed of drifting back to Judaism, and thus of" falling away from the living God" ( Hebrews 3:12 ). This sin, and all others, must be laid aside. If we do not renounce sin, we give up the race.

III. ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PERSEVERE IN RUNNING . In the midst of affliction and weariness, as well as of powerful temptations to apostatize, how are our fainting hearts to be revived? Two great motives are presented.

1. The presence , as spectators , of the former heroes of faith. ( Hebrews 11:1 ) The Old Testament saints are "witnesses" now of the race which they once ran themselves. They not only testify to the power of faith; they are also spectators of the struggles and conflicts of their successors. The apostle's language is not that merely of poetic imagination. He seems to say that "the spirits of just men made perfect" are cognizant of what is done upon the earth, and take an absorbing interest in it. We are to think of them as hovering over us in the heavens. They circle and crowd around us, tier upon tier, on both sides of the race-course. On the one side is the gallery of the saints before the Flood, that of the Hebrew Pilgrim Fathers, of the heroes of the Exodus, of the judges, and of the prophets; while on the other side is the gallery of the apostles, that of the Christian confessors and martyrs, of the missionaries of the Church, and of our own departed friends who have gone to glory. These spectators are a "great cloud "—multitudinous in number; they are radiant with the brightness of immortality; and, having themselves passed through the same experience as we, they keenly sympathize with us. We should therefore take heart, as we hear their heavenly greetings, and realize the fellowship with us which they claim.

2. The example of Jesus , the Leader and Perfecter of faith. ( Hebrews 11:2 , Hebrews 11:3 ) While gratefully conscious of the presence of the men of faith, we are to gaze fixedly only upon Jesus. The writer refers to the Savior here in his human nature, as the Pattern Man, and as our supreme Exemplar. His portrait is the grandest in the whole exhibition of the heroes of faith; indeed, none of those in Hebrews 11:1-40 . can for a moment compare with it. This noblest picture is arranged in two divisions; we see Christ on the one side in his humiliation, and on the other in his exaltation. And the inscription set over it reads thus: "Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith." He is the Author , i.e. Captain, Prince, Head, or Leader, of all the men of faith. He exhibited, during his own earthly life, an absolutely perfect example of trust in God. By faith he waited at Nazareth, with his high destiny stirring in his heart, during thirty years. By faith he assumed the burden of the world's sin. By faith he conquered Satan in the wilderness. By faith he performed the labors of his three years' active ministry. By faith he endured the agonies of Gethsemane, and the "gainsaying" ( Hebrews 11:3 ) of Gabbatha, and the soul-darkness of Golgotha. Jesus did not "shrink back unto perdition," notwithstanding his unparalleled temptations. So he is also the "Perfecter of faith;" for in him faith has had its perfect work. No other man will ever appear in our world equal to him as a specimen of faith. Therefore he is our great Model. The early Hebrew Christians were to "consider him." That very "cross" at which they stumbled, he "endured." If they were being treated by "sinners" ( Hebrews 11:3 ) as renegades from the religion of Israel, much more had he been. Their sufferings and temptations were not nearly so dreadful as his. Seeing, then, that the Man Christ Jesus, for the sake of the eternal reward in store for him, persevered to the end in running his appointed race, why should any of his followers allow themselves to "wax weary, fainting in their souls"? It was his endurance of the cross that gave him his place "at the right hand of the throne of God;" and all who follow him as their Leader in the race of faith shall eventually sit with him upon his throne.

CONCLUSION .

1. Life or death depends upon whether or not we run the Christian race.

2. Christ will give us strength to run well, if we ask him.

3. He will crown us at the end, bestowing himself upon us as the Prize.