Running The Race Of Faith by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Doctrinal Foundation: Hebrews 12:1 in Context

Hebrews 12:1 — Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

The first phrase — therefore we also — signals that this conversation begins in Hebrews 11. The word "therefore" always points backward. To understand what is being said in Hebrews 12:1, you must first understand Hebrews 11.

• The cloud of witnesses refers to the heroes listed in Hebrews 11 — Abraham, Sarah, David, Rahab, and the others — and how they demonstrated their faith.
• The weight he speaks of is the weight of the ceremonial law — the law of ordinances.
• The sin that easily ensnares is unbelief.

Understanding the Book of Hebrews

The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who were under pressure to abandon Christ and return to Judaism. The writer is writing to convince them that choosing Christ is the right decision.

The entire book is structured as a counter-comparison:

1. Hebrews 1 — Introduction to the person of Jesus
2. Hebrews 2 — Jesus is greater than angels
3. Hebrews 3 — Jesus is greater than Moses
4. Hebrews 4 — Jesus is greater than Joshua; he is our Sabbath
5. Hebrews 5 — Jesus is greater than all the priests in the Levitical priesthood
6. Hebrews 6 — The human weakness and the divine strength that Jesus manifests
7. Hebrews 7 — Jesus is the priest after the order of Melchizedek
8. Hebrews 8–9 — The priest and the sacrifice of the new covenant
9. Hebrews 10 — Sacrifice once and for all
10. Hebrews 11 — The hallmark of faith
11. Hebrews 12 — Chastisement and the church
12. Hebrews 13 — Final admonition and warning

The message is consistent throughout: if you think angels are great, Jesus is better. If you think Moses is great, Jesus is better. If you think Joshua is great, Jesus is better.

What the Weight Is — and What It Is Not

A common misunderstanding in our generation is what the law actually refers to. The idea of the new covenant is that God writes his laws in our inward parts. Grace does not remove the law. Grace helps us to do the law by the Spirit within us.

Romans 7 shows the helplessness of the man under the law — how the law amplifies sin in him. Romans 8 brings the hope: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ.

When the Bible says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, it is not talking about the Ten Commandments. It will never be acceptable to kill. It will never be acceptable to commit adultery. Remove the Ten Commandments and you destroy society.

The law Christ redeemed us from is the ceremonial law — what Paul calls the law of sin and death:

Hebrews 10:1 — The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of those things — the same sacrifices which they offered year by year could not make those who approach perfect.

Ephesians 2:15 — Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

The weight in Hebrews 2:1, Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 10:38-39 is the weight of these ordinances — the ceremonial laws. This is also confirmed in:

• Acts 15:10 — Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

That yoke is exactly the weight the writer of Hebrews speaks about.

The Sin That Ensnares: Unbelief

The sin that easily ensnares is unbelief — and the entire book of Hebrews confirms this.

Hebrews 4:2 — The word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

The ultimate sin is unbelief — what some call the sin of omission. The sin of commission is what you do. The sin of omission is what you fail to do. And it is the sin of omission that takes people to hell — they did not give their life to Christ.

Noah condemned the world because he preached the gospel to them, and they did not believe.

Consider what Noah preached:

• At that time, it had never rained. He said water would come from heaven — typifying the living water that comes from heaven at the second coming.
• He said the ark was the only way to be saved.
• Noah alone found grace in the sight of God, yet eight people entered the ark — because the seven believed what Noah preached.

The ark itself is a type of Christ:

• It was made of wood.
• The first living thing that came out after the flood — signifying new life — was a dove.
• There was no window left or right, only upward.
• The Bible records that a wind came and shut them in — God himself sealed the door.
• In the Hebrew, the word used when the ark floated on the flood is kala — meaning the ark was walking on water. That is why Jesus had to walk on water. He was declaring: I am that ark.

Once you come into the ark, you are delivered from the wrath of God.

Faith in Hebrews 11: A Type of Christ in Every Story

When you read Hebrews 11 carefully, every person listed believed in a typology of Jesus:

• Abel — At a time when human beings were vegetarians, Abel kept lambs for sacrifice. Why? Because in Genesis 3, God had killed a lamb to cover his parents. Abel gathered lambs for his priesthood — pointing to the Lamb of God.
• Sarah and Isaac — God insisted that Isaac come from Sarah's dead womb, to typify that Christ would come from the deadness of the womb of the earth — the resurrection.
• Rahab — She told the spies, "I have heard what God did in Egypt, and I believe he will give you Jericho. Save me and my household." She believed in the power of God. Romans 1:16 says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. She put faith in the gospel, in type.

Hebrews 11:1 — Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is the faith of the Old Testament saints — faith in the Christ who was to come.

Romans 1:16–17 — For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written: the just shall live by faith.

The faith to faith means:

• First faith — faith in the promised Christ, as announced through the prophets in the holy scriptures.
• Second faith — faith in the Christ who came, died, and was resurrected.

Our faith is not the substance of things hoped for. Our faith has come — it is Christ himself. And if God did not withhold Christ from us, if he did not spare him, by him he can give us all things.

Faith Without Works Is Not Faith

In Hebrews 11, God describes faith with actions. Notice the pattern:

By faith, Abraham offered Isaac. You are not in faith if you are not doing something.

If someone says it will rain tomorrow, you do not truly believe it if you walk out the next day without an umbrella. That is called works of faith.

This is how salvation works — not works for faith, but works of faith. The children of Israel did not have the Ten Commandments to leave Egypt. They received the commandments after they left. The law comes from salvation, not for salvation.

Ephesians 2:8–10 — We are saved by grace through faith, not of works, but for good works.

The implication is clear:

• If someone is truly saved, they lose appetite for sin.

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• If the appetite for sin has not diminished, what has occurred is a false conversion.
• If someone is truly saved, they are dissatisfied with imperfection — not claiming perfection, but knowing when something is wrong and not seeking theology to pacify their conscience.

I do not go to God and declare New Testament realities over my sin. I go to God and say, "Woe is me." He sanctifies me by his word. Then, when the devil condemns me, I speak to myself — I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I am telling myself, not telling God.

Three Observations from the Text

Hebrews 12:1–2 — Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before 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 sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1. We are not the first to run.

   We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The implication is that the standard of God stands sure. There is no modern Christianity where God drops his standard for a new generation. If it is an ongoing race, he cannot change the rules mid-course. If God has always required sacrifice, yours will be no different.

2. We do not serve God how we like.

   We serve God based on what he demands. This is the error of Cain. Cain put more work into his offering than Abel — he tilled the ground, he came with the fruit of his sweat. Abel simply brought blood. God rejected Cain's offering not because of the lack of effort, but because God had not asked for it.

   • The same error cost King Saul his throne.
   • The same error struck King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26 — he went into the temple to offer incense, a duty that was not his, and he became a leper and died a leper.

   We do not serve God on our terms. God demands, and then we offer.

3. It was not done without pain.

   The example given is Jesus himself — who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. The anointing is a call into affliction. If you do not understand this, you will miss what God is doing in your life.

The Anointing Is a Call Into Affliction

Consider what it meant for each person God chose:

• Mary — God told a virgin to conceive a child. No one believed her. Joseph nearly divorced her. God did not vindicate her immediately. She gave birth to Jesus — and her son died on a cross. He is God, but he was her son.
• Moses — Spent 40 years in the wilderness leading people who did not like him. When the children of Israel sinned in Exodus 32, Moses went to intercede for them. When Moses later struck the rock and was barred from the Promised Land, no one prayed for him.
• Joseph — Chosen by God, and the first thing that happened was that his brothers sold him into slavery. He carried the burden of preserving their lives at the cost of his own freedom.
• Job — The book of Job is the doctrine of suffering. God looked at the earth and said, "Who can I use to help the world understand the doctrine of suffering?" And the anointing came on Job. They mocked him on earth. God was boasting about him in heaven.

When people think the anointing is about big cars and prominence, they are missing it. Once God picks you, everything starts to go south — and that is exactly where he wants to work.

Why did Jesus choose twelve apostles, and all but one died as martyrs? Have you ever considered that if God is sending you a Comforter, it may be because you will need comforting?

Faith is not only about what we can receive through God. It is also about what we can lose for God.

The person who received the revelation that God is Jehovah Jireh — the Lord who provides — did not go to the mountain to collect something. Abraham went to the mountain to sacrifice. The revelation came in the act of giving, not receiving.

The Danger of Starting Too Late

When you read Deuteronomy 1, God told the children of Israel that it was time to possess the land. They refused out of fear. Then Moses preached and stirred them up. But God had already moved. They went anyway — without God's command — and were defeated by the Amorites. They came back with wounds. God had said, "Don't go," and they went in their own strength, in their own timing.

There is a time for every assignment. When God opens a door and you delay, you may arrive to find the water has stilled.

There is an urgency to the race. The longer you wait, the fewer your options:

• Everyone in the body of Christ who is doing significant work started on campus — in their youth, with no resources, just faith.
• Mileage matters. You cannot begin at 60 what should have started at 20 and expect the same reach or the same result.
• Your generation cannot be gathered if your generation has already been taken.

An illustration: An 80-year-old woman was standing with a 5-year-old boy. A 64-year-old woman who had been praying 35 years for a child saw this and declared she was done with God — that he was unfaithful. The 80-year-old asked her to look at the boy. "How old do you think he is?" The woman said, "Maybe five." The 80-year-old replied, "You are correct. He is five. And he is my firstborn son."

What God did with that woman was to make her a Bible — that people would read her life as a testimony.

When you have waited 75 years and not yet seen the answer, only then judge God unfaithful.

Run — Do Not Walk

The text does not say walk with endurance. It says run with endurance. There is a difference.

• There is no profit in spectating. You pay attention even when you do not pay money.
• Urgency is a part of faithfulness.
• Commitment to faithful people who will carry what they have received — that is discipleship.

2 Timothy 2:2 — The things you have heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also.