Hebrews 12:1-3
The Believer is not alone in the Christian race to eternity. The Christian race is run among other believers, with Jesus’ encouragement and power, not alone. Sometimes, while running this Christian race, we feel alone and have no one to help us keep running toward the finish line. Especially after we get saved. When we first get saved, we are filled with emotions and want everyone to know what God has done for us. We want to get to know the new church family God has given us, and we want to learn more about this God who changed us. Still, life keeps happening, our emotions calm down, the excitement of the ‘new life’ wears off, living holy as God wants His children to live becomes a reality, and we feel our walk with God gets too difficult.
When that happens, we start saying things like, I have given my life to Christ, but I can’t feel Him working in me. I attend church, but I don’t feel God as strongly as I once did, and when I leave church, I don’t have the same sense of peace as I go about my daily life. However, we must understand that the saving power of Jesus includes the sustaining power of Jesus. Jesus saves and sustains. We Are Not Alone. Life happens, life goes on as we know it, and sometimes disturbs our movement in the Christian race, but I want to encourage someone never to give up and never stop running this Christian race. We Are Not Alone. I understand that being alone is scary. Yes, it is frightening and can debilitate the Christian runner. The devil wants you to feel alone so he can talk you out of the race that is set before you. He wants you to give up and quit, but we must understand that we Are Not Alone!
In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, we find the Hall of Fame of those who lived their faith and obtained a good report with God. Men and women believe in God to the very end. However, the Bible says they did not receive the promise of the coming of the Messiah, Christ Jesus. They kept the faith to the very end but are still waiting for us to complete our race while waiting for Jesus’ return (Heb 11:39-40). They were waiting and searching for a city not built by man’s hand. God called them out of this world into His marvelous light, and they knew that God had something better for them. Their faith guided them along the way (Heb 11:13-16).
This earth is not our home nor our permanent residence. We should be seeking those things that are above and not things on this earth. God has a better place for His children, and Jesus is getting it ready for our homecoming (John 14:1-3). Those who went before us held on through their faith. They kept their faith even when the world was against them. Through the good times and the bad, they never gave up. They believed God’s word without reservation. They said, ‘Yes to the God of the Universe’ when the devil was telling them to curse God and die. They kept believing despite their circumstances. They lived the Scriptures. Heb 10:35-36 says, ‘Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.’ The great cloud of witnesses kept their confidence and had great patience as they ran the Christ race.
The questions come thin, “How can one hold on while running this race with my faith?” How can one be like this cloud of witnesses who held on to the end? They must have had Super Faith to accomplish what they did. I only have regular faith, and I don’t know if it is enough to finish the race. How can I live as they did? How can I hold on as they did? No one knows what I’m going through and how hard it is to hold on. All these temptations I’m facing, and when I want to live right, sin is always there trying to draw me back in. I’m trying to hold on, I’m fighting the best I can, but my flesh is weak. How can I stand for God in a world that doesn’t want God in any way, shape, form, or fashion? How, how, I feel so alone when I am not amongst the believers. I feel defeated. Have you felt like this in your walk with God?
Faith For the Race.
First, we must understand what faith is. The cloud of witnesses used their faith to finish the race and address the questions above. Hebrews 11:1 reads, ‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’
The word “substance” (hupostasis) means the foundation, assurance, title-deed, and guarantee of things hoped for. The word “evidence” (elegchos) means conviction. According to most commentators, this is what is meant by these two words. Therefore, faith would be defined as: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.[1]
Look closely at what is being said and note that faith is being described as an act, an act of the mind and heart. That is, our heart and mind believe something, and we have assurance and conviction that it is true. This is undoubtedly true; faith is an act of the mind and heart. But many of the earlier interpreters understood “substance” (hupostasis) to mean real being, the substantial nature of a thing.[2]
Scripture seems to be saying that faith is more than an act. Scripture seems to be saying that faith is the actual possession of reality. Is this not what the definition of “title-deed” is saying? The person who holds the title deed to a property actually possesses the property. It is his already. Indeed, from God’s perspective, we already possess His promises; He has already seated us in the heavenlies, and we already possess eternal life. It is not that we are going to possess it; we already possess it. The point is this: holding the title deed to a property and possessing it is more than mere assurance and conviction. It is possessing reality: actually having something substantial and real.[3]
So what is faith? Faith is trusting and possessing all that God is and says. Faith is believing and possessing all that God is and says. Faith is having confidence in and possessing all that God is and says. Faith is hoping for something and possessing it because God exists and has promised it. True Biblical faith deals only with truth and reality. It is knowing what is real, experiencing it, and possessing it.[4]
When it comes to having true Biblical faith in God through Christ Jesus, we possess, own, and receive all the promises of God, even though they have not yet manifested. There are certain things that God has promised to believers, such as eternal life, that if we endure to the end, which is our hope, they shall belong to us. Biblical faith says we actually possess eternal life through faith right now at this very moment, because faith is the actual possession of things hoped for, the conviction and confidence in the reality of things we haven’t seen.
The cloud of witnesses didn’t receive the promises, but their faith told them they were real and that they possessed them for a surety. Whatever you are believing God for, according to His will, you have it right now; it only has to manifest itself. This is Biblical faith being used correctly.
The Biblical witnesses are cheering us on as we run this race. Their victory run encourages us to keep running and not to give up, but there are some things we must do to finish the race. Hebrews 12:1 reads, ‘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,’
We must lay aside the weight and sin that so easily traps us. Lay aside in this Scripture means to take off, strip off, and to remove, as in taking off clothes. The believer must train like an athlete to shed extra weight that can weigh them down and keep them from finishing the race. Anything that does not edify us to live godly will weigh us down. Whatever it is, we must strip it off and put on the things of God. We must be active in doing God’s work to finish the race. The Scripture tells us to be active in 1 Cor 15:58, which reads, ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’
We must understand that that is why we attend church and fellowship with other believers. The cloud of witnesses is not just in the Bible. We have some witnesses living among us who want to see every believer cross the finish line. Jesus established the church, which the gates of hell cannot stand against, and we encourage each other to stay in the race and run to the finish. Eph 4:11-12 explains it like this, ‘And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:.’ It’s every believer’s calling to encourage their brothers and sisters to stay in the race and run to the finish. I know we get tired, and sometimes we want to give up, but I pray we hear and do the Word of God. (Heb 10:23-25).
Jesus is Our Model
The return of Christ will happen, and we must encourage one another to keep running this Christian race until He comes. Weights are going to try to stop you; sin is ever-present, giving you trouble; the cares of the world will weigh you down; and the devil will try to pull you away from God. We are fighting all of this as we are running this Christian race. We might feel overwhelmed as we are running, and the enemy is encouraging us to give up. The cloud of witnesses is not encouraging us to keep running as they should; our flesh is weak and getting weaker as we run, but the Hebrews writer encourages us to look to one who overcame everything we would ever go through in this Christian race. His name is Jesus, the Son of God. Heb 12:2-3 tells us ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.’
The cloud of witnesses can encourage us, but only Jesus can sustain us. If you feel like throwing in the towel, if you want to give up the race, if you’re going to stop fighting, remember and meditate on what Jesus did for us all. Our faith helps us know what He went through and what He did for us. Jesus is the author of our faith. He created our faith and gave it to us. Our faith helps us know the joy that overshadowed Him as He completed His mission to save the world. That joy gave Him the courage to endure the pain and everything that went with dying on the cross. Jesus showed us that the race can be won. He never stops running His race, and we must never stop running ours. When we feel we can’t go another step, we must look unto Jesus and get a fresh wind, we must look unto Jesus and get a new attitude, we must look unto Jesus and get a new focus. Only He can sustain us, only He can give us the strength to keep running, only He can provide us with the power to finish the race. The Word of God explains in John 16:33 ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ Rom 8:37 ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.’ 1 John 4:4 ‘ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.’ 1 John 5:4 ‘For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’ And Rev 12:11 ‘And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.’
Jesus is with the believer all the days of their life, so they don’t have to give up the Christian race. Keeping our minds on Christ helps us stay in the race, no matter what comes our way. I may not run as fast as you. I might not fight as well as you. I may come in last and have bruises all over my body, but I will not quit. I will finish the race, because I know “I Am Not Alone.” Ecc 9:11 reads, ‘I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Matt 10:22 tells us, ‘And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.’
I don’t have to give up, because I lost my job, I don’t have to give up, because my home got hit by a hurricane, I don’t have to give up, because my children aren’t acting right; I don’t have to give up, because my spouse is acting funny. This one thing I know is that I’m never alone. Jesus said in Heb 13:5 ‘Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ The Christian Race Can be Difficult, but I know, and now you know that we are Not Alone!