What should we expect as we live our life for the Lord in this kind of a world? I'm going to point out this morning four practical applications that this chapter makes for those Hebrews who were also experiencing hostility and persecution, hatred for the sake of Christ. 

The first thing I want you to notice, we've read several times this morning, when the race is long and tough the secret is looking unto Jesus. That's the major point of Hebrews chapter 12, really the major point of all of the Bible. When this Christian marathon is long and tough, we're called for endurance. It's not described as a short sprint or a carefree relaxed Sunday afternoon stroll, but it's described as a demanding lifetime marathon through a hostile, crooked, and perverse world. And this statement, Hebrews 12:1 and 2, explains the possibility of continuing and winning this long marathon race. 

I've been reading about various races that take place in our world, and the race that I found to be the most serious and difficult race that people perform and become involved with is called the Bad Water Ultra Marathon. I don't know if some of you have read or heard about that. That race is described as the toughest foot race anywhere in the world. It's a 135-mile course. Think of this, a hundred and thirty-five-mile course starting at 279 feet below sea level, and it starts at the place in California called Death Valley, the Bad Water Basin. 

It starts at that low spot of 279 feet below sea level, and it ends up at 8,680 feet near Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mount Whitney. That race takes place in mid-July, mind you, when the conditions are most extreme, when temperatures reach as high as a hundred and thirty degrees. That's the Bad Water Ultra Marathon. That 135-mile race begins at 8 p.m. in the lowest point of North America, and getting to the finish is no small feat. Not only do the runners have to cover the distance in 48 hours or less, but they have to do so while battling scorching sunshine, blistering pavement, so hot that you could fry an egg on the pavement, and steep climbs. 

After you've run 45 miles, you start steep climbs that will climb up to 8,360 feet. It's called the hardest race in the world, and when it began, only five people lined up for the race. 30 years later, in 2019, 95 runners entered the race. Not all of them complete the race. Friends, we're looking at Scripture today that teaches us how to run the Christian Bad Water Ultra Marathon. It's not an easygoing Sunday afternoon stroll through the park. It's a severe race, and the Bible is telling us today in Hebrews chapter 12, we can win the race. 

Usually, there are about 90 people who enlist for this race, and 40% of them don't complete the race or come to the finish line. But we can win this race that God is describing for us in our text today. This statement is talking about the possibility, even the promise, that we can continue this marathon Christian race. You may say, Pastor Crens, you're sure giving us a tough description of the Christian life. But the Bible teaches us the only thing that keeps us running with courage, endurance, and thankfulness, looking unto Jesus. That's the only way we'll continue, and we will endure. 

Please turn in your Bible to Paul's testimony in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 about his involvement in that race. 1st Corinthians chapter 9, look at verse 24. He said this, writing to the Christian believers about this ultramarathon of the Christian life. He said, "Now Paul is saying that some believers, hopefully it's not a large percentage, but some believers become disqualified for the race. They don't win the prize. And the reason is, the reason they don't endure is they quit looking at Jesus. The name of our eternal salvation, remember, is Jesus. He's the name of our salvation. And the name of our triumph in the Christian marathon, this Christian race, is also Jesus. The only way we'll win the race is keep looking to Jesus." 

So the first thing that he tells us in this chapter is that we're running a race, and the secret is looking unto Jesus. Remember those words. It would even be well to mark those words in your Bible, looking unto Jesus. 

Then the second thing he tells us is about chastening. He talks about when chastening comes to a believer in this Christian life. When chastening comes to him and it seems so painful, it seems so worrisome, how do we deal with that? It's almost identical. Now he tells us, we'll begin in verse 3 and read through verse 17, when chastening comes to a Christian and seems so difficult, so tough, so painful, the solution is consider Jesus. Look at chapter 12 of Hebrews at verse 3. I want us to notice that statement. 

Every one of us who believes in the love of Jesus Christ experiences chastening. Every one of us is scourged by our Heavenly Father, and sometimes it seems so painful and so worrisome, and sometimes it's hard to determine what is chastening in my life. Look at verse 7. "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you're illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." 

"Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." 

We've seen two things concerning the Christian life. Run the race with endurance, looking unto Jesus. And when we experience chastening, and it's painful, and wearisome, and we feel like we're going to collapse, consider Jesus. Every child of God is chastened. You ever wonder what chastening is? Proverbs 22:6 is a familiar verse. "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it." That's chastening, training a child. God chastens every one of us. 

As I preach to you today and look into your faces, I realize every one of you who is a serious Christian experiences some kind of chastening from time to time. Every one of us is discouraged, and it's painful, and it's wearisome. "Train up your children in the way they should go," says the Bible. Think carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. Think carefully about the chastening. The merciful, loving purpose of our Father's chastening is that we will believe, we'll understand, and we'll experience His grace. That we'll come to the throne of God and experience the grace of God. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, "God told me in the midst of all my suffering and chastening, my grace is sufficient for you." 

Maybe someone is here this morning, deep in your heart you've been experiencing some kind of chastening. Maybe you don't even understand what is chastening. God's purpose is for you to experience His grace, and the purpose of repentance, the purpose of chastening is to bring us to repentance, where our heart is turned contritely to Jesus, even as a prodigal son turned to his father. And we accept His chastening as a gift from God that we might know and enjoy His grace. 

I was reading Dr. A. T. Robertson's comments in the Greek language on this text, and he said this, "Chastening is the cure for doubt and hesitation." And so if we are experiencing some kind of chastening, and most likely many of us are, the secret is to consider Jesus. Look at the chastening He experienced. Consider Him. Look to Him and trust Him. 

Then the third thing in this 12th chapter about this long Christian life, he talks about what I'm going to call it when we are terrified in life, when our heart is struck with fear and terror. The solution, again, is simple. Come to Jesus. Follow me as I start reading in verse 18 of Hebrews 12. "And so terrifying was a sight that Moses said, 'I'm exceedingly afraid and trembling,' but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." 

We're living in a time of terror. But the most fearful reason for inner terror for any person is the wrath of God. I want you to turn with me to a passage that when I read it, it sometimes is very disturbing. Revelation 14. Please turn there for a moment. Revelation chapter 14. And I'm gonna read a statement that speaks about the worst terror that anyone can experience. 

Revelation 14, verse 11. "The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast in the image and receives the mark, his mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.'" This is talking about the worst kind of terror that men can experience. "He shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." 

The worst kind of terror that I can imagine is the terror of the wrath of God. And in this short paragraph, beginning at verse 18 through 24 of Hebrews 12, he's talking about the times when men experience personal terror of some kind. And he gives us two possibilities. He said you can either come to the mountain where God gives the law, and you'll be stricken with great terror, or you can come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. 

When we choose to come to the old covenant mountain, we're terrified. I'd like us to turn to Matthew right now, to chapter 7, as a commentary relative to this. Matthew chapter 7. This is the end of the Sermon on the Mount. After Jesus has preached the Sermon on the Mount, he gave this application. It's Matthew 7, verse 24. Just take a moment right now and ponder what that part of the chapter is saying. Come before Jesus as he preaches the Sermon on the Mount, and his ultimate application to the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5, verse 48. "Be perfect as God is perfect." 

Suppose you come there this morning, and that's how you're going to worship the Lord. Your way to worship the Lord is to keep the law, to keep the Ten Commandments, for example, and to strive to be perfect. And what our text in Hebrews chapter 12 is saying, any person who comes to that mountain will tremble with terror because we're not able to do it. We can't be as perfect as God is perfect, and so it will cause us to tremble. 

And so when you're terrified by the law, the demands that God makes in the law, there needs to be something in your life that changes. Instead of coming to that mountain, now you need to come to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and it'll take away your fear and your guilt, and you'll sense what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. You're washed. You're cleansed. You're justified, because Jesus is your Advocate. He's your Savior. 

So, we've seen these three things. When we're weary from running the race, and we think we're not going to make this marathon race, we're not going to survive, look unto Jesus. When we're experiencing any kind of chastisement that's causing inner pain and wearisome, consider Jesus. Think about Him. Set your mind on Jesus. And when you're terrified because of your inability to keep God's truth, His Word, His law, leave that mountain, the mountain where God gave the law, and come to Jesus, just as you are in simplicity. Just come to Him with a sense of thankfulness, Lord, for your mercy and for your grace. 

And there's a fourth thing he talks to us about in Hebrews chapter 12 that I'm going to emphasize as we conclude this study today. When things are shaken, serve the Lord. I'm going to start reading, please, at verse 24 and have you follow on your Bible. "To Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel, see that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.'" 

Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire." 

I'm impressed that we're moving toward that time when things are being shaken, and I want us to read a long commentary by Jesus relative to this. Turn in your Bible right now to Luke chapter 21 and read about the time when the earth and the heavens are going to be shaken. Luke chapter 21. And we're going to start at verse 7. 

"So they ask him, saying, Teacher, but when will these things be? And what signs will there be when things are about to take place?" He's been talking to them about the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the age, and the time of great tribulation of the world, and so they're asking him, Lord, when's this going to happen? Verse 8 of Luke 21. 

He said, "Take heed that you be not deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'the time has drawn near.' Therefore, do not go after them. But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately." 

Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences. There will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You'll be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore, settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist." 

"You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you'll be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall be lost by your patience. Possess your souls. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her, for these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, for there'll be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people, and they'll fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." 

This chapter, Luke chapter 21, tells us about that period of history in the near future when the world is going to be shaken. I'm not trying to be dramatic or sensational when I say that today, but when I read Hebrews chapter 12 about the age when God is going to shake the world, I'm so impressed that we're at the brink of that time, and what should we do at that time? He said we should serve God. 

Do you know what that means, friends? That means I recognize I belong to Him. He bought me with the blood of Christ. I belong to Him. I'm His servant. I'm not my own, and I should make a choice in my mind and heart that I want my life to be available, continually available, to the Lord for whatever is His plan for the imminent future. Cling to His grace and make your life available. He said let us have grace and serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. That means with our life, we cling to Jesus Christ, and we make our life available for whatever is His plan. 

I've had a fervent desire in my heart before I'm finished with preaching at Living Home Church to talk to us about the book of Hebrews, and I've done that each time that John has not been able to be here. I preach from the book of Hebrews, and the reason I love this book and I want for all of us to be familiar with it is because it's the new covenant book. It's the book that causes us not to come to the mountain where people would die if they touched it, but to come to Jesus and to obtain all that He has promised us in His word. 

As I run this race to the finish line, I've been running the race for almost 70 years. I am thankful for God's promise that because of Jesus my Savior, I will win the race. I'll finish the race. He said I'll finish the work I started in you until the day of Jesus Christ. And the book of Jude says He'll cause us to stand until the end of the race. 

But I hope this morning somehow these four points from Hebrews chapter 12 have been practical. When the race is long and tough, look unto Jesus. That's a continuous thing, looking unto Jesus. That's a choice, looking unto Jesus. When chastening is painful and wearisome, consider Jesus. That involves studying the word to know Him better and to trust Him. When life seems terrifying, the future seems terrifying, don't come to Mount Sinai where God gave the law. Come to Mount Calvary. Come to Jesus where He died for our sakes that we might be saved forever. 

And when things are shaken, it seems the world is shaken, the future is going to be shaken. Serve Him and trust Him for His grace. That's the message of winning the race. We can win the race. 

Let's bow and have a prayer. 

Father, I thank You so much for Your word and Your promises, Your truth You've given to us. I pray for each person here today who is serious about You, about Jesus our Savior. Cause these words from this new covenant book to have a very vital, practical, meaningful meaning to our life. Thank You so much, Father. We love You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.