28 January 2007: POWER CHALLENGE – The Race Set Before Us
TOPIC: Endurance; church health, commitment, perseverance, preparation
TITLE: POWER CHALLENGE – The Race Set Before Us. [Adapted from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening devotional; January 2 “Evening” and January 3 “Morning”]
TEXT: Hebrews 12:1-2 [Cf. Isaiah 41:1 & 49:8-10]
These two verses come directly on the close of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, a section we call "The Hall of Faith." Here God tells us He favors some real rascals of the past. He then turns to telling us these are "a great cloud of witnesses." Huh?
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How does God expect us to have the power to run such a race with endurance?
In the same way the LA Marathon and the Iditarod participants do! There are two areas of focus prior to the races:
It has all been prepared “beforehand” ...
Scripture says, "In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead …." Everything that is or will be is in Him to the fullest degree. No thing is lacking.
Believer, can you to ESTIMATE what you have received in Christ Jesus?
Consider the word "Godhead" and its context – INFINITY. Now, when you are finished meditating on infinity, turn to His ATTRIBUTES, and if you finish with those, turn to His atonement.
For all that Christ, as God and man … that glorious mystery we call the "hypostatic union" … is or ever was, or will be, IS OURS – out of pure free, unmerited favor, handed to us, to be ours FOREVER.
Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; doesn’t it comfort you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours?
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How does God expect us to have the power to run such a race with endurance?
The answer to this is found in who God is ...
O believer, God's ACCEPTANCE of Christ is ACCEPTANCE OF YOU [Cp. Romans 6:1-3]; do you not know the love the Father set upon His Son HE SETS ON US?
Christ is in the covenant. [see 1 Corinthians 11:23-25]
Now back to the MARATHON and the IDITAROD: How would it be if the organizers and sponsors did little or no preparation? or what if the athletes refused to train? What if those responsible for the dogs didn't feed them or love them?
In Isaiah 41:1, the Lord said, “Let the people renew their strength.” [For context read 40:31 “…those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”]
Everything on earth is RENEWED; no created thing is able to continue by itself. John Donne said, “No man is an island.” The Psalmist said, "You renew the face of the year."
Even trees, which are never anxious or let stress shorten their lives, drink up the rain, absorb nourishment from the soil, and anchor themselves to the rocks. Nor is man's life sustained without renewal as ordained by God; nor will he long last unless anchored to the Rock.
Without constant refreshing, we are not ready for the continuous assaults of Satan, or for threats of condemnation, or for the trials and testing of heaven, let alone our own self-inflicted strife.
Our spirits waste when we neglect the essentials of good spiritual health! What poor starving saints we are without the diligent and regular consumption of God’s Word and the feasting on prayer!
Let us draw near to God’s footstool of mercy, and realize the fulfillment of His promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”
RELATED LINKS: The SHEEP'S CRIB
TITLE: POWER CHALLENGE – The Race Set Before Us. [Adapted from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening devotional; January 2 “Evening” and January 3 “Morning”]
TEXT: Hebrews 12:1-2 [Cf. Isaiah 41:1 & 49:8-10]
“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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”TRUTH/CONTEXT:
These two verses come directly on the close of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, a section we call "The Hall of Faith." Here God tells us He favors some real rascals of the past. He then turns to telling us these are "a great cloud of witnesses." Huh?
[RACE] In Los Angeles, the LA Marathon runs at about the same time (4 March 2007) as the Iditarod (3 March 2007) is being started in Alaska. Both races are endurance races (one in hours, the other in days); competitors in both races are superior athletes … endurance is an understatement.Those of us embarking on this race that is set before us (the one we must “run with endurance”) will discover there will be no cancellation nor will God move the starting point if conditions are unusual.
Perhaps the Lord will give the LA folks some Alaskan weather for the 26.5-mile run; if He did, they would probably cancel the race.
Maybe the Lord will give this year’s mushers weather like in 2003, the warmest in 80 years. So much so, they moved the starting point 200 miles north (to Anchorage). There was nothing but slush at the official start point.
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How does God expect us to have the power to run such a race with endurance?
In the same way the LA Marathon and the Iditarod participants do! There are two areas of focus prior to the races:
FOCUS: 1 – the preparations of sponsors and organizers.In the same way, God, as the Creator, recruited Christ as Sponsor, and the Holy Spirit as Organizer.
FOCUS: 2 – the preparations of the competitors.
It has all been prepared “beforehand” ...
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."In Isaiah 49:8 [9-13] the Lord said,Ephesians 2:10
“I will … give You (i.e., His Son) for a covenant of the people.”HE IS OURS TO POSSESS; Jesus is THE SUM AND SUBSTANCE of this covenant, and the singular consideration of it. It is “of the people”; as such, He is the property of every believer.
Scripture says, "In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead …." Everything that is or will be is in Him to the fullest degree. No thing is lacking.
Believer, can you to ESTIMATE what you have received in Christ Jesus?
Consider the word "Godhead" and its context – INFINITY. Now, when you are finished meditating on infinity, turn to His ATTRIBUTES, and if you finish with those, turn to His atonement.
For all that Christ, as God and man … that glorious mystery we call the "hypostatic union" … is or ever was, or will be, IS OURS – out of pure free, unmerited favor, handed to us, to be ours FOREVER.
Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; doesn’t it comfort you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours?
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How does God expect us to have the power to run such a race with endurance?
The answer to this is found in who God is ...
I. Does God have JUSTICE?APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: Do you now see HOW we are to run this race? Can we imagine running it own our own power, perfection, righteousness, love, or scales of justice?Justice may seem a stern quality to modern man, with all his confusion, but even that is ours to possess. By his justice He will see that we receive all that is contained in His blood covenant of grace.II. Does God have LOVE?
Christ is His guarantee of a just outcome OUR race.
Without justice there is no love!There is not a drop of love in His heart that is not ours.III. Does He have RIGHTEOUSNESS?
We may leave the shore of this world and venture out into the ocean of His love, and we may say of it all, IT IS OURS.
Will He let us sink into the abyss? No! For His love says, "I AM is 'an anchor of [your] soul.'"That perfect righteousness which Jesus fashioned, when, through his sinless life, he fulfilled both the law and the prophets, that righteousness is OURS and imputed TO US.IV. Does He have PERFECTION?
This will allow us to run the race with an infinite measure of integrity.All that he has as perfect man is OURS.V. Does He have POWER?
As God’s perfect “Second Adam,” His Father's delight was upon Him. He stood accepted by the Most High. “Behold, My Son! In whom I am well pleased.”
If we abide in Him, He abides in us. O glory! So the race we run we should run with perfection … if, as Peter says, we are indeed in Him.That's like asking if lions growl; oh, friend, God is omnipotent - He is God almighty.
And His power is OURS to support and strengthen us, to overcome our enemies, and to preserve us even to the end of the age - or in this case to the end of the race "set before us."
O believer, God's ACCEPTANCE of Christ is ACCEPTANCE OF YOU [Cp. Romans 6:1-3]; do you not know the love the Father set upon His Son HE SETS ON US?
Christ is in the covenant. [see 1 Corinthians 11:23-25]
Now back to the MARATHON and the IDITAROD: How would it be if the organizers and sponsors did little or no preparation? or what if the athletes refused to train? What if those responsible for the dogs didn't feed them or love them?
In Isaiah 41:1, the Lord said, “Let the people renew their strength.” [For context read 40:31 “…those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”]
Everything on earth is RENEWED; no created thing is able to continue by itself. John Donne said, “No man is an island.” The Psalmist said, "You renew the face of the year."
Even trees, which are never anxious or let stress shorten their lives, drink up the rain, absorb nourishment from the soil, and anchor themselves to the rocks. Nor is man's life sustained without renewal as ordained by God; nor will he long last unless anchored to the Rock.
Without constant refreshing, we are not ready for the continuous assaults of Satan, or for threats of condemnation, or for the trials and testing of heaven, let alone our own self-inflicted strife.
- When the HURRICANE does come, woe will be its companion for those who have not stored up the Word’s sap and grasped the Rock of Ages.
- When STORMS assault our sails, woe to the sailor who has not strengthened his mast, brought an anchor, or sought His safe haven.
- When GOOD wanes EVIL waxes strong attempting to master us, woe to the runner who has come unprepared for the competition … a painful unhappiness and humiliation follows.
• by feeding upon (The Sword of the Spirit which is) the WORD of GodPaul spoke of buffeting his flesh in order to make it submit to him, so earnest was his desire to serve God in the best of strength and health.
• Or by LISTENING to the preached Word [Romans 10:17]
• Or by the muscle building personality of PRAYER
Our spirits waste when we neglect the essentials of good spiritual health! What poor starving saints we are without the diligent and regular consumption of God’s Word and the feasting on prayer!
Let us draw near to God’s footstool of mercy, and realize the fulfillment of His promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”
RELATED LINKS: The SHEEP'S CRIB
GENERAL TAGS: Homoletics, Preaching, Sermons
SPECIFIC TAGS: Endurance, Hebrews, Perseverance
Labels: Sermons
posted by John Gillmartin at 5:09 PM
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