A Daily Walk

John Randall: Maybe you find yourself ensnared, entangled, encumbered by a besetting sin and you want to be free from it. What do you do? You turn to Jesus, you repent of it to change direction, you cut it off, you're done with it, you remove it. You have to. And the Lord will give you the power to lay it aside.

Announcer: It is good to be with you today. This is A Daily Walk, and we hope you've got your running shoes on today. Pastor John Randall is about to show us how to run this Christian race with endurance so we can finish successfully. Well, the Olympics are right around the corner, and you can be sure the athletes are training hard even as we speak. Needless to say, to perform well in the Olympic games, you're going to need endurance. And so it is in this Christian lifelong race. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12 and see what will keep you going even when the going gets tough. First, there are some things we need to lay aside.

John Randall: Not only are the weights mentioned here, but folks, also the writer adds lay aside the sin that so easily besets us. Easily besets us. Sin always hinders the race of the believer. It even cripples the runner from enabling him to run at all. Trying to run the Christian race effectively while living in continual unrepentant sin is impossible. You're not running. If you are running, the devil's got you on a hamster wheel and you're just running inside a cage of the bondage that you're in. Oh, I'm running. You are. You're just in bondage. You may be running, but you're going nowhere. You're caged.

Jesus said you can't serve two masters. Why is it impossible to run a race effectively when you live in unrepentant sin? Because it says here sin easily besets us. It's a very interesting word that is used here. It's the words readily or cleverly. And the verbal form of the rest of the word means to place itself around or to encircle. It's the sin standing all around us. How do you run if you are encircled? There is nowhere to run. You cannot run. You are in a circle. You're blocked is what it's saying. It easily besets you. It encircles you and you can't go anywhere every direction you try to turn because you're trapped. You're trapped.

The only thing that frees you is Christ. You can't get out without Him. He's the only one that can liberate you and allow you to run free through Christ. The race we run in this sinful world, this world that is increasingly opposed to God, the sin that we're in bondage to before Jesus saved us can—has the potential to—easily ensnare us and take us out of the race. Again, perhaps that is why Paul said to the Galatians in chapter 5, "You did run well." You were. Somebody hindered you. And then he lists the things that were hindering them and you know what he calls them? The works of the flesh. Look at what it says.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. I mean there's more of which I tell you beforehand just as I told you in times past—don't miss this part—those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's the most sobering part about this whole thing right here. All these things right here he's listing, those who practice, those who live in it, will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's a wake-up call. Wow. I missed that verse for many years, but that's a reality.

The Galatians were believers that were running well, and now they had been encircled, beset easily by their sin. And this sin, these sins are to be set aside. The sins someone said that we place in good standing, sin that we easily justify or find excuses for or blame somebody else for. It's so easy for sin to get a grip on us in a moment of weakness of our flesh. We just find ourselves tripped up once again. We start going down that in our mental—"Oh, I know guys that do this and they're fine, I can"—you start going there and then before long, you're there.

Here's the test to know whether there's a sin besetting you. It's a sin that we tend to cling to. It's a sin that we get angry when it's rebuked or brought up, maybe even in a setting like this. A sin that we quickly defend. "Don't judge me, man. I'm totally free." We defend it. A sin that we are unwilling to part with. That's what I'm talking about here. It so easily besets us. It deceives us.

And here's the thing: those of you who maybe are more seasoned in your walk with the Lord, we can't think that, "Hey, that used to be something, that's not a big deal anymore." Really? It still has the power and ability to easily beset us if we give room to it. I don't want to give room to it. What, suddenly I'm just nothing affects me anymore? Am I just so spiritually astute that I'm not? No, no, no. Paul said concerning himself, "I don't want anything to disqualify me from running the race." He said, "I know that in me dwells no good thing. In my flesh dwells no good thing, and there is nothing but potential to wreck what God is doing that is good." I don't want to be disqualified.

Listen again, Olympics, may I? Isn't it amazing you watch somebody run the race, they get through, you're like, "Man, that was so fast, so powerful." And then they stand up on that podium, they play their anthem and they're crying and you're crying. Emotional. Man, I feel it. Only to find out next week they were on a drug that enabled them to run faster than everybody else, and there went their medals. Stripped from them. Why? They thought they could get away with it. "I just need a little something." And okay, yeah you won, but you lost. And now you're disqualified.

Again, Paul knew this danger, that is why in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 27 he said, "I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection lest when I've preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." Disqualified doesn't mean I lost my salvation, but it does mean I'm going to miss opportunities that I would have had because I'm content to live a disqualified life. It disqualifies me from doing that because of the life I'm living.

And so what are those sins that easily beset us? There's several places in scripture that call for us to lay things aside, and the same word is used in each verse. Let me give you some examples. Make a note of it. Romans chapter 13 verse 12, Paul writes saying, "laying aside the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light." Works of darkness. Ephesians, same word, chapter 4, "lay aside your former conduct, who you used to be, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." The old you. Lay that guy, kick that guy to the curb. That is the old person. Done with that guy.

How about this? Colossians 3:8, "But now you yourselves are to put off," there's the word, lay aside, "all these things like what? Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Lay it aside. Get rid of it. It's besetting you. It's disqualifying you. You don't want that." How about James chapter 1 verse 21? "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls." Lay this aside and take this in. 1 Peter, "laying aside malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking." These are the things that we are to lay aside that could easily beset us. These are the things that we turn from that can easily encumber us.

There's something else I want to say that I think encumbers us, that hinders us, and I've seen it in the life of believers. It's something that the devil uses quite often to hinder people's race. It is their past. The guilt over past sins, shame over a series of bad decisions. The apostle Paul himself experienced this in his own life within his own race. He wasn't proud of it, but he did something about it. In Philippians chapter 3, listen to this, and hindered runner, get ready to run.

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." That's definitely what I was. This is who I used to be. But I'm not going to live in that anymore because that's not who I am. And from this moment on, I am running. That's the same terms used. He's talking about running his race. I am pressing and I'm running hard for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The same energy that I used to put into all things carnal and fleshly and sinful, that kind of energy now filled and on fire by the spirit of God is going towards the things of God. That's how I'm running my race.

Maybe you find yourself ensnared, entangled, encumbered by a besetting sin and you want to be free from it. What do you do? You turn to Jesus, you repent of it to change direction, you cut it off, you're done with it, you remove it. You have to. And the Lord will give you the power to lay it aside. So we're in a race. We're inspired by the example of others. There's things that we want to look out for that could be impediments in the form of weight and or sin. We lay it aside.

Then it says we need to run with endurance. This is important. "And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Another word for endurance, folks, is patience. It means to remain under or to be steadfast and it portrays a picture of unflinchingly bearing up under a heavy load or burden. It describes the quality of character which doesn't allow somebody to surrender to circumstances or to succumb under trial or difficulty.

In a physical race, if you've ever done any kind of running or any kind of marathoning etc., you know that there does come a point when things become extremely difficult. Your muscles begin to ache and your feet begin to hurt. Your lungs begin to burn and your heart is pounding and you are, as they say, hitting a wall of fatigue. And you fight thoughts of wanting to quit. And runners who have been interviewed in that moment of hitting the wall of fatigue have been interviewed—how they get through it depends on what they focus on in the moment. The runner has to run with the proper focus and mindset to get through the wall of fatigue.

What are you looking at? What's your focus? What's the point? What are you setting your mind on? Oh, that brings us to verse two. Looking, focusing on Jesus, the author, the finisher of our faith. And the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. A runner in a long-distance race, what they often do is they will set their gaze on something in the distance. Maybe they look for a particular landmark. And also in their mind, they think about something encouraging, something pleasant, something that will cause them to press onward.

It's a mentality thing. It's a mental thing to fight through it. It's a spiritual battle and so often it's right up here. Right here. I've got to fight through that. And the way I fight through it is what I set my mind on. Set your mind on things above where Christ is seated, the Bible says. Look at Jesus. Yes, that's happening and yes, that's happening and yes, they're saying that and yes, there's pressure from this way, but my eyes are set, my gaze is on the Lord. I am going to keep running because, because I'm running for Him and I can see the tape. I know where this ends. My focus is intentional. This is where I'm looking. If I get sidetracked, if I look here, if I look there, it's not long before either I stop running or I quit running or I'm looking at somebody else how they're running. I need to look at Him. Look at Jesus.

The Bible tells us of those who ran their race. Abraham of old, he set his gaze on a landmark. And what was it? Hebrews 11:10 tells us the landmark. He said he waited for a city whose foundation, whose builder and maker is God. He had his eyes set on something eternal, not something temporal. And that's how he ran his race and finished it. Moses, the glory of God. It was the glory of God that kept him going. What keeps you going? Our mindset. Looking at Jesus. To look at Jesus, looking unto Jesus means to turn your eyes away from other things and fix them on Him. Your mind.

It's interesting, the minute that the Greek runner entered the stadium, if he took his attention away from the race that he was running and the goal which he was racing towards and he looked at another runner or he looked at the crowd, he slowed down. And the same is true in our race. The minute we take our eyes off Jesus and we turn them upon other things, it can slow us down. It can discourage us. It can sap our strength.

If you're weary tonight in your race or discouraged, look at verse two again. It says Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Oh, how I love that. You may be saying tonight, "I can't finish. I don't think I can finish this." Listen, Jesus put you in the race. He's the author. But He's also the finisher, which means He's going to get you to the end. He's the author, He started you there, He's going to help you get through it.

The Bible tells us in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, and mark this down weary runner, being confident of this very thing, that He who began the good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. He started it. He didn't just say, "Hey, go, you're good. I'll see you in heaven maybe. I'm not sure. Maybe we'll see you there. Do your best." He's going to get me there. He's going to get me there. The Bible tells us in Jude chapter 1 verse 24, "Now to Him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." We are going to make it. We're going to get there. The Lord assures us of this.

Then it shows us the example of Jesus again. These people were being distracted and turned from their race, and the writer says, "Look at Jesus who for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. He despised the shame." It wasn't easy for Jesus, but He made it. In His humanity, He made it. And now He's at the right hand of the throne of God. Interesting that phrase, the joy that was set before Him. As we look at Jesus and we look back at the race that He ran, which included the cross, and although He despised it, He endured it. And the word endurance is the same word used in the previous verse. The Hebrew believers had to run with endurance just like Jesus had to endure the cross. And why, why did Jesus run His race? This will really encourage you tonight. For the joy that was set before Him. What was the joy set before Jesus that He would run His race? You. You. Me.

In other words folks, listen, Jesus ran His race for me. I was the—you were the—joy set before Him so He endured. If Jesus ran His race for me, then I want to run my race for Him. I'm going to run my race for Him. Amen? And the joy set before me is getting to see Him. How about that? We run our race, He ran His race for you, hey let's run our race for Him. And with endurance. Jesus' love for us moved Him ever forward in His race. The Bible says, oh I love that passage, "having loved His own He loved them till the end." Jesus secured the victory so we could share in it with Him forever. He made it.

And the writer says look at Jesus. Hey runner. You stumbling? Cramping up? Hurting? Winded? Feeling like I think I've run as far as I can go. Interesting passage the Lord reminded me of tonight thinking about the nation of Israel when they were in the wilderness and they grew weary. There's that passage where the Lord reminds them, "I bore you up on eagles' wings." Meaning I carried you when you couldn't go any further. I picked you up and I carried you. Like an eagle would bear its young on its wings when it was falling and couldn't fly because it wasn't strong enough. The mother eagle would come underneath the eaglet, bear it up on its wings and carry it. The Lord said, "I did that for you. I did that for you."

Ever found yourself just like God's carrying me? I couldn't really go the distance but I sense Him bearing me up. I sense Him. And if that's you tonight, man He's there. He's bearing you up. He's with you. He's in the race alongside of you. And so the writer says finally, consider Him. Not only look at Him but consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You haven't resisted to bloodshed striving against sin. Consider means to think, it means to reckon, it means to count up or reason with thoroughness and completeness with careful deliberation. Think about it. Consider Him. Consider what He endured. Consider what He went through.

It's interesting because it's used in what's called the aorist imperative tense, which is a command calling the reader to give his or her utmost attention. He's saying do it now. Don't delay lest you become weary and discouraged. When you find yourself becoming weary and discouraged, what do I do? Consider Jesus. Think about Jesus. Look at Jesus. And when I look at Jesus and when I consider Jesus and I remember what He endured and what He went through, it puts things into perspective. He endured more than I will ever have to endure. I haven't resisted unto bloodshed. I haven't been crucified on a cross. And if Jesus ran His race for me, then I want to run my race for Him. And if His joy was seeing me in glory, then my joy, let my joy be finishing my race seeing Jesus face to face. Consider Him lest you become weary.

Final passage for this evening. Well two rather. But Acts chapter 20 verse 24 says this, Paul writing concerning his own race. He said, "None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." There were a lot of things that had the potential to move Paul: trials and afflictions and difficulties, but he said, "You know something? I'm not going to let those things move me. I want to finish my race with joy and I want to finish and complete the ministry that Jesus has given me and I'm going to do it for His glory." Whatever your ministry is, if you're a mother here tonight, you have a ministry to your children. Finish it. A dad, a husband, a wife, etc. Wherever you're at, man listen, don't let anything move you. Finish your race.

Finally, 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24 and 26, Paul likens, reminds us of the reward at the end of the race. And this is good to know as well. When he says, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but one receives the prize? Therefore run in such a way that you may obtain it." And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things and they do it to obtain a perishable crown but you for an imperishable crown. "Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight not as one who beats the air."

Paul said in this race that I'm running, I realize that there's a reward at the end. There's a crown that I'm going to receive that doesn't fade away. It's imperishable. It's a crown of rejoicing. The Bible calls it there's a crown of righteousness. There's a crown of glory. There's a crown of life. The Bible mentions five different crowns mentioned in the Bible. But just think of it. Jesus puts us in the race, He strengthens us to run the race, He makes sure we finish the race and then He rewards us for the race that He enabled us and called us to run. And what do we get to do? Well the Bible says we get to take that crown and we get to throw it down at His feet and worship Him, for He is worthy.

Announcer: You're listening to A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall and part of our study in Hebrews. We'll get back to John in a moment. We house our recent programs at adailywalk.org and at oneplace.com and you'll find them on our mobile app as well. Do a search for Calvary South OC and download it for free today. At the beginning of the new year, it is a great time to commit to go through a daily devotional, and we'd like to get one into your hands. It's *Until He Comes*, 365 daily devotions as we await His return. *Until He Comes* offers a devotion for each day of the coming year focused on God's steadfast affection for His people.

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John Randall: Heavenly Father, it's evident from the scriptures tonight that You knew of our potential to grow weary in running this spiritual race. You knew what it was, Lord, because You ran it before us. And therefore, we look at the encouragement to run with endurance. Lord, for those that are weary in the race tonight, Lord we pray that You would fill them with fresh power of the Holy Spirit. Remind them of what You endured and what You will enable and empower them to endure as well.

Lord, for those who are in the race but they're really not in the race because they're surrounded and beset by sin, God I pray that there would be a conviction to turn from sin, to run from it, and run free. Oh Lord please, let Your Spirit now just bring conviction that is needed and that decisions would be made tonight that would affect the trajectory of the entire life. I remember the day, Lord, when decisions were made in my life only by Your grace and by Your mercy which have impacted me to the present time and I say thank You Jesus. Hallelujah. And Lord, for those that are weighed down just by things that are distracting and causing hindrance to their race, Lord show them what that is and let them walk in obedience and set those things aside. Thank You and praise You this evening in Jesus' name. Amen.

Announcer: Next time on A Daily Walk, we'll learn how to endure through spiritual training as we bring you another study in Hebrews chapter 12 from Pastor John Randall. This program is listener-supported and presented by Calvary South OC. Find out more at adailywalk.org. Thanks for joining us. God bless you as you run your race. Tune in next time. Until then, remember what the psalmist says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Amen. God bless you. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.