Hope

How do we endure through trial? How do we continue to press on with suffering in our lives? Open with me to Hebrews chapter 12 as we consider those questions together. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one.

Hebrews chapter 12 is right near the end of your Bible. Open to the very last book, the book of Revelation, and turn to the left; you'll find the thirteen chapters of Hebrews. We are in the twelfth chapter.

I was reminded of God's love for me this week as my kids are going back to school. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 states, "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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

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 are illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had human 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 peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight the paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Father, we come before Your word today asking that You would teach and instruct us by Your Spirit. Jesus, You promised that You would send the Spirit of Truth, who would guide us in all truth and teach us all things. Teach us those things that are important and necessary for our lives of faith.

I pray that You would continue to do that work of teaching in us. Open our hearts and our ears that we would be receptive to Your word, and that our hearts would be like the ground that is well prepared and ready for the seed of Your word. May it spring forth and bring forth fruit in our lives, so that we would see what this passage speaks of—the peaceable fruits of righteousness being grown in our lives as we are trained by the working of Your Spirit and by the power of Your words.

So, God, do that work in us. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

One of the most brutally grotesque evidences of the deep depravity of humanity is the horror of the Second World War, especially the Holocaust. Names like Dachau and Treblinka are indelibly scripted on our minds here in the West after the horrors of the Second World War. When you look at those things, hardly anything good is associated with their memory.

However, out of the ash of that horror, there are a few gems that have come from humanity. One such gem is a book that was written by a concentration camp survivor.

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish neurologist and psychiatrist who lived in Vienna, Austria. In the mid-1940s, he and his family found themselves in German concentration camps. It is amazing that he even survived for a time in Auschwitz. His award-winning and best-selling work, which he wrote after the Second World War, took him just nine days to complete. It has been a best-seller ever since, selling millions of copies in many different languages. The book is called "Man's Search for Meaning."

It has been on my reading list for a long time, and I finally was able to read it over the last couple of weeks. Some of the themes he discusses in that book are connected with the passage of Scripture we find ourselves in here in Hebrews chapter 12. I highly recommend it to you; it is not a very long book, and it would not take you long to read. It is powerful.

The first two-thirds of the book chronicle his experience in the concentration camps, while the last third explains his theories on the mind and will of man. Through all that he endured, he illustrates the amazing ability of man to survive horrible things. The wicked experiences he and many others faced in the concentration camps were tragic, and sadly, many people died. However, there were those who survived. Among all the horrific conditions designed to lead to death, many also died of natural causes in those camps.

Frankl writes about how many of the people who died from natural causes—illness, disease, famine, starvation, and the cold—were those who lost hope. He recounts one experience he had while in a concentration camp, where he and the other men were enduring severe punishment at the hands of their captors. They were all together in a hut, suffering from typhus, freezing, and starving. It fell to him to try and speak encouragement to the men around him.

There was a moment when I was there with him in this hut, and he wrote this. He said, "I asked the poor creatures who listened to me attentively in the darkness of the hut to face up to the seriousness of our position. They must not lose hope." I said that someone looks down on each of us in our difficult hours—a friend, a wife, somebody alive, or someone dead, or God. He would expect us not to disappoint Him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly, not miserably, knowing how to die.

A couple of paragraphs later, he says the purpose of my word was to find a full meaning in our life. Then, in that hut, in a practically hopeless situation, I saw that my efforts had been successful. When the electricity came on and the bulb flashed again, I saw the miserable figures of my friends limping toward me to thank me with tears. Hope is essential to life; that's one of the things he points out in his book. Without hope, we give up.

It's an amazing thing that can happen in the mind and the soul of a human being when they have the hope that what they're going through has some sort of meaning, purpose, or value, or that there's something else on the other side that they're going toward. It's absolutely phenomenal.

A good friend of mine, who is a pastor here in this area, spent 12 years in the Navy SEALs. When he started BUD/S, there were about 150 people in that group, and only 18 of them made it through. I asked him at one point what it was that kept him going, and he said he would get back to me on that. A few days later, he got back to me and said, "I honestly can't tell you. I think I put it out of my memory." But there was something that kept him going, something that kept him pushing through all the brutalities they had to endure because there was some sort of prize on the other side. Whatever it was, it's amazing what hope can cause us to do.

There was a very odd transition, but a study was done in the 1950s by a researcher from Johns Hopkins on the issue of hope. They conducted this study with laboratory rats. They took the rats and put them into a jar filled with water to see how long it would take for the swimming rat to give up and succumb to drowning. In their study, they found that, on average, it was between 2 minutes and 15 minutes.

Very long, and yet they thought that they would add a little bit to their examination. Just before these rats would give up and die, they would take them out, dry them off, and give them a little bit of rest. Then they would put them right back into the water. They found that those rats that they gave some rest to swam for sixty hours straight. There was something triggered in them that gave them hope; they thought that maybe they might get out of this. It's a twisted study, and I'm sure that PETA would have a field day with that one today. But there was hope in all of it, even in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.

Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," and there are many people who have experienced the sickness of heart through hope. Another Johns Hopkins University study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February of 2005, was not as twisted as the one from the 1950s. Researchers at Johns Hopkins chronicled what came to be called broken heart syndrome. Broken heart syndrome can be brought about by acute or long-term stress and hopelessness. A person going through a very stressful situation, whether acute or long-term, has their body responding by releasing hormones and chemicals, such as adrenaline. These can actually break down the arterial walls and the heart. If a person endures that hopelessness and stress over a long period of time, it can mirror heart attack symptoms, and people can die from a literal broken heart.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but that's not the whole of the verse in Proverbs 13:12. It continues, "But when desire comes, it is a tree of life." When desire is fulfilled, it brings life. Not only does it bring life, but point number one on your outline is that hope for a better future compels our endurance through present trials. Hope for a better future compels our endurance through present trials.

Now, someone going through buds or going through SEAL training has a hope of a future that is still in this life, and it causes them to endure whatever trial they are going through. People who are suffering...

They have hope for what is coming after this, which helps their endurance. However, the people who were receiving this letter 2,000 years ago found their situation utterly hopeless. They couldn't see a time in this life where their hope would be fulfilled. Yet, the author of this book encourages these readers to continue to endure, to press on, and to not give up or throw in the towel.

The original recipients of this letter had already endured trials. Some of them had been disowned by their families, disavowed by their Jewish society, and excommunicated from their Jewish community within the synagogue because they had put their trust in Jesus. On top of being disowned, disavowed, and excommunicated, some of them had been beaten, tormented, and thrown in prison. They had lost a great deal because they put their trust in Jesus.

This letter was written around the mid-60s AD, nearly 2,000 years ago. At this point, persecution was beginning to ramp up against followers of Jesus. It was not just the persecution that came from their Jewish community, which they had left because of their faith in Jesus; now, the Roman Empire was redirecting its attention toward Christians, focusing intense persecution upon them. It would be a very short period of time after this that the Apostle Peter would be crucified for his faith in Christ, and the Apostle Paul would be beheaded for his faith in Christ.

For these Christians, the future in this life did not look very good. There was not a lot of hope here. Yet, the author says, "I want to encourage you. I want to exhort you, believing brothers and sisters, to press on in your faith and endure."

Looking back just a couple of chapters to Hebrews 10, we see this at the very end of chapter 10. Hebrews 10:35 states, "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back..."

The soul has no pleasure in Him, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition. We are of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Press on! Don't draw back. Don't give up. Endure until the end. Hold your confidence, for in the end, there will be a great reward. There's a promise coming, so run the race with endurance, just like those of old who ran this race with endurance.

In Chapter 11, if you were here last week, we went through the Hall of Faith. If you weren't here, you can listen to it online. In that passage, the author chronicles men and women of faith in times past who ran the race with endurance, looking forward to their hope being fulfilled. The promise of hope wasn't in this life; they never received it. People like Enoch, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Sarah, Rahab, Joshua, Samuel, and David are all mentioned in this passage, along with many others whose names are not given. They experienced severe trials; they were mocked, scourged, beaten, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, thrown to beasts, and killed for their faith in God.

Then he says in Chapter 12, verse 1, "Therefore we also," bringing home to us not just the people who received this 2,000 years ago, but us today. Therefore, we also are surrounded, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and every sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Since we're surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, I think of those words of Viktor Frankl from his book: "Someone looks down on each of us in difficult hours, and they would not expect us to disappoint them. They would hope to find us suffering proudly, not miserably, knowing how to die." Timothy said we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. Who is the cloud of witnesses? It's all of those people who came before us in the faith, those mentioned in Hebrews Chapter 11—men and women of faith who followed God faithfully and ran the race until the end, persisting and enduring through great trials of faith.

He says we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, so run this race proudly. They are watching. Run with endurance! Don't be hindered, weighed down, or tripped up. Lay aside anything that might keep you back from running this with endurance.

Being reminded of the race run by faithful men and women of old is not enough. He goes on and says this in verse 2 of Hebrews chapter 12: "Looking unto Jesus." What is the focal point in our race? 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Just like the men and women mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11, we run this race by faith. It is our faith in God, our faith in Christ Jesus, and our trust in Him that gives us hope and helps us to run. It is a hope for a future that is better than our present, even the best present that you could imagine in this life. It is a hope for a future that is far better than that.

In addition to that, point number 2 on your outline is that the suffering of Christ reminds us that our suffering is temporary and purposeful. The suffering of Christ, which Timothy brings up here in Hebrews chapter 12, reminds us that our suffering is temporary and purposeful. That's why he says, "Looking unto Jesus."

Now, the word translated "looking" in the original Greek language means to turn one's eyes away from one thing and to fix them on another. In Colossians chapter 3, Timothy's master teacher, Paul, wrote this: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

Here, Paul is saying that we need to remove our focus from here and set it on things above, the same thing that Timothy is saying in Hebrews chapter 12. However, if you've ever tried to do that, you know that it's difficult. It is difficult to remove our focus from the suffering.

Trial, whatever it is that we're going through, and to set it on things above, to do what the Scriptures tell us to do, is very, very difficult, but it's essentially important. It's difficult because suffering has this amazing way of affecting us to the point where it turns us inward. We become very myopic when we're suffering. The temptation of our nature, our human body, our flesh, is that when we are impacted by suffering in a broken and fallen world, every single one of us, at some point in some way or another, will be impacted by suffering.

Now, relatively, it may not be like that which Viktor Frankl went through; by God's grace, may none of us ever have to suffer that. However, every one of us living in a broken and fallen world will be affected by suffering to some degree. When we are, our human nature causes us to turn inward, become myopic, and focus on our suffering to the point that oftentimes people who have been suffering begin to identify themselves by their suffering. That becomes their entire identity.

The thing is, it becomes kind of an echo chamber because it causes you to turn inward and examine the suffering, which then doubles in size. This causes you to turn inward again, and it just keeps doubling and doubling until it becomes the most engrossing thing in a person's life, to the point that they identify themselves by their suffering. The author of the book of Hebrews says we need to, by a decision of the will, choose to remove our focus from that and fix our focus on Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

It's necessary, difficult but necessary. Necessary because, looking unto Jesus, we realize that He is the perfecter of our faith; He is the pinnacle of it. All of those who are written of in Hebrews chapter 11, who walked with God by faith during trials, were looking forward to Jesus. He was the promise that was to come from Abraham, the one who would bring salvation, the light that would shine in darkness to bring joy to all peoples.

He is the one that they were looking forward to. In the same way that they were looking unto Jesus as they ran the race, the Apostle says we need to be looking to Him, setting our focus and our affection upon Him. He endured the cross, the cross of Calvary, the center point of Christianity. That's why the symbol of Christianity has long been the cross—a reminder of the passion, the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Christ was not only the physical pain that He endured on the cross; it was also the spiritual heaviness of bearing my sin, your sin, and all of our sin upon Himself, bearing the judgment of Almighty God and the wrath of Almighty God upon Himself on the cross. The physical pain was nothing in comparison to that wrath of God being poured out upon Jesus for our sin. We can't even comprehend it in the least. He endured the cross, its pain, its suffering, and its shame. He didn't like the cross; He didn't enjoy the cross. It says He despised the shame in this passage, but He endured the cross. Why? For the joy that was set before Him.

We are told what that joy was: He understood that the cross was the brutal path to something greater, and there was a joy set before Him. There is much discussion among Bible teachers and commentators about what the joy set before Jesus is. A common interpretation is that the joy set before Jesus is you; we often have a very man-centered gospel. The joy set before Jesus was your salvation, and that is one way to read this passage. However, I think it is really helpful to read the passage and not just read into it.

So, what does the passage say? "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." What was the outcome of the cross? Yes, our salvation, but more than that, the glory of God. He looked forward to the glory, the joy of being there in the presence of God at that throne. The suffering of the cross was the path to glory; it was a necessary horror. The cross of Christ had a purpose, and thank God it is temporary; it’s not forever.

Our sufferings also have a purpose. The text tells us that, anyway. We sometimes think they are completely arbitrary, that there is no purpose in them. We wonder how they could possibly have any meaning whatsoever. Yet, the text here is telling us that there is meaning and purpose to suffering. So, it is purposeful, but it is also temporary.

A really good friend, and some of you who have been at this church for a long time knew him, was an usher here for many years and was a great man of God.

His name was Mike Callahan. Mike Callahan suffered for the last seven years of his life with a very large brain tumor in his head. He ultimately died from this brain tumor. I remember sitting down with Mike on a number of occasions. He always had a big smile on his face and loved to serve Jesus. He enjoyed helping people find a seat at church, among many other things. He loved to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord.

One of Mike's favorite passages of Scripture that he shared with me on several occasions is found in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. You can note it down or turn there if you'd like. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 16 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

This was Mike's favorite passage of Scripture, and what a powerful passage it is. We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen. The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal. Our suffering, in light of eternity, is for a moment, and it is working for us. It is doing something in us.

It's hard for us to grasp this because our flesh doesn't like it one bit. My human nature does not like the concept that suffering is purposeful and that it is working for us. However, here's one of the heavy things I've come to realize in walking with Jesus all these years: God is far less concerned about my human flesh than I am. That doesn't mean He doesn't care for me, but He realizes that this is temporary; it is not eternal.

Because it's the thing I look at every morning when I look in the mirror, I think this is really important. God is far better than what is expendable. We need to be reminded to consider Him.

Chapter 12 encourages us to consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest we become weary and discouraged in our souls. We are reminded to turn our attention from the things that absorb us—those trials that are trying, taxing, bothering, irritating, harassing, plaguing, and upsetting us. Whatever that irritation may be in our lives, we must shift our focus and consider Him.

As I was studying this passage and writing out my notes last Friday, I had music playing in my office, as I always do when I study. A song came on that I hadn't really noticed before. In the middle of it, one of the lyrics caught my attention: "Fix my eyes on You." I found that interesting because it was exactly what I was typing about at that moment. I skipped back to listen to it again, and the lyrics continued, "The things of the earth are dimming in the light of Your glory and grace. I'll set my sights upon heaven; I'm fixing my eyes upon You."

It is necessary that we fix our eyes upon the Lord so that the broken fallenness of a dark world grows strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. This focus helps us avoid becoming weary and discouraged in our souls. Weariness and discouragement can lead to despair, which is defined as the complete loss and absence of hope. Despair is the harbinger of hopelessness.

In verse 4 of Hebrews chapter 12, we read, "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." We are reminded that we have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to us as sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives."

I have been a fan of Pixar movies ever since I was in high school. I loved Pixar movies so much that I would go to the theater to watch every one that came out.

Out a number of years ago, maybe you saw it, there’s a movie called Ratatouille. It features a little rat who knows how to cook, and there’s this guy who doesn’t know how to cook. The antagonist in the movie is a food critic named Anton Ego. Remember Anton Ego? There’s an awesome scene where he comes to the restaurant because he wants to taste the food of the cook. He won’t even call him a chef; he refers to him as the cook.

The waiter approaches and asks, "What would you like to have tonight?" Anton Ego replies, "You know what I’d like to have tonight? I’d like to have some perspective, some fresh, well-seasoned perspective. Can you recommend a good wine with that?" The waiter looks at him, puzzled, and asks, "What perspective?"

This right here, Hebrews chapter 12, verses 4 through 6, is perspective: "You have not resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." Jesus took your sin and my sin upon Himself, and He fought against sin to the point of bloodshed. We have not had to do that, and we never will; He did it for us.

The passage continues, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves, He chastens.'"

Point number three on your outline: Sometimes our suffering serves God's purposes. Let me suggest to you that sometimes is more often than we’d like to realize. Our suffering serves God's purposes. My flesh doesn’t like to suffer; my flesh likes comfort and ease. Can I get an amen?

Amen! We live in California, where comfort and ease are the norms, except when it’s so hot that we have to have air conditioning. Our flesh loves comfort and ease; it does not like suffering. It hates to suffer. But again, God’s not interested in sustaining my flesh or yours either; it needs to die.

So when God’s chastening, His scourging, or rebuke comes in the form of earthly suffering, He says, "Do not despise it. Do not reject it." This is God working in your life through suffering.

Actually working through it, I don't like being disciplined. I don't like being chastened, but it's a part of the process of discipleship. I don't know about you, but I don't chase and discipline other people's kids; I chase and discipline my own kids. They're my kids, and I love them, so I discipline them. I chasten them, and that's exactly the way it is with our Father. He loves us, so He disciplines and chastens us.

Look at verse 7 in Hebrews 12: "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons, as children. For what son is there whom the father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which you all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons." Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits who lives? For they indeed are earthly fathers; they chastened us for a few days as seemed best to them. But He, for our profit—would you underline those words in verse 10?—He, for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

What's He doing? He's trying to make you and me more like Him. So, for our profit, He chastens us. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present; it is painful. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The King James Version says "those who have been exercised by it."

Point number four: our suffering is for our profit. This is our hope, at least one of our hopes—that the suffering we are going through is not meaningless but purposeful. God is doing something in the midst of it; He has a plan and a purpose with the things that we suffer. If we take seriously the words written here, if we believe them, then this has to change our perspective on suffering. We have to say, "Lord, maybe this is for a purpose. This is for a reason. You're trying to teach me something; you're trying to do something."

Now, I need to make it very clear: I do not hold to a deterministic view of God. A deterministic view of God believes that every single thing that ever happens throughout the universe, every suffering, is orchestrated, planned, and determined by God. I don't think you can...

Get away from the view that God is a monster. If every suffering is determined by God, if every child death is determined by God, if every rape is determined by God, then He is a monster. I do not hold to a deterministic view of God, but I also do not believe that God is a distant deity, absent and uninterested, existing somewhere out on the edge of the universe.

Somewhere in between these extremes—God being out on the edge of the universe and not caring, and God determining every detail of every suffering—that's where I'm at. He knows what's going on, and He knows how to take the suffering that happens in a wicked, fallen, broken world and use it somehow, in some way, for His purpose.

Many people hold as a memory verse, or a life verse, Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." This drives our hope through suffering. We often say that God has something He is doing here, even though I can't see it in the near term, or maybe I'll never understand it here on earth.

The Bible drives home the point that God knows and is acquainted with our sufferings and is doing something in us through the suffering, whatever it may be. He has a purpose. I may not understand it, but God desires our endurance in suffering because He is not trying to destroy us. He is not trying to break us to pieces; He is trying to grow us. Through our endurance, God is growing us more and more into the image of His Son, Christ's likeness. He wants to make us more like Him.

If we understand this, if we're able to grasp this, then we can maybe get to the point of rejoicing in our suffering. You might say that's insane, and I know; I think so too. But Paul said it in Romans chapter 5. In Romans chapter 5, verse 3, he said, "And not only that, but we also glory in our tribulations." I haven't gotten there; probably you haven't either. If you have, give me the secret. I've not gotten to the point of rejoicing in suffering, glorying in tribulation. How does that work?

Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. There’s a process happening here: tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. What is hope? Well, hope does not...

Disappointment is an absolute certainty of coming good. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 12 states, "Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight the paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed." He says to encourage yourselves in this truth, in this reality: God is working in the midst of this trial. Strengthen yourself in this whole thing.

Point number five: knowing that there is purpose and profit in suffering motivates our hope until the end. Therefore, verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 12 says, "Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."

We must look carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. We should be cautious of any root of bitterness springing up, causing trouble, so that many may become defiled. We should also be aware that there be no fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 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.

What is he saying here? If you're able to grasp this, God is working through your suffering. Therefore, keep running the race. Pursue peace with all people and seek holiness in your life, without which no one will see the Lord.

Be careful not to let go of the grace of God. Hold on to God's grace and do not become bitter at God or at others because of what you are going through. Do not turn to carnality for the cure to try and escape the pain, like Esau, who is not mentioned in the Hall of Faith because he was not a man of faith. He lived by sight and sought only what he could receive from this world, which is what the world is all about until you become a follower of Jesus and realize there is more than just death—far better than just this.

He continues in verse 18: "For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that they would not hear the word."

You should not be spoken to anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded. If so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned and shot with an arrow. So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling."

What is he talking about? He takes us back to the establishing of the first covenant, which is recorded in the book of Exodus, chapter 19. He reminds us that we have not come to the first covenant; we have come to something better.

Verse 22 states, "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 of the 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 the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."

Timothy reorients our focus from the physical, from the temporal, from the natural to the eternal glory of heaven. Your name is registered in heaven; that's good news!

Verse 25 says, "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 in heaven." Again, he is calling his readers to continue to press on in their faith with Christ, from Him who speaks from heaven.

Verse 26 states, "Whose voice then shook the earth, but now He has promised, saying, 'Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven.'" This "yet once more" indicates the removal of the things that are being shaken and the things that are made, so 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.

This world can be shaken. Your world can be shaken by trials, by suffering, by the terror of the brokenness of a fallen, sinful world. It can be shaken, but we are looking forward to a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, that cannot be shaken. Our hope is not here. If your hope is here, you have every reason to have shaky hope, but our hope is with God in heaven. Your name in Christ is registered there.

Grasping this helps me to comprehend the great reality that the end of my suffering is not the end of my story. Think about that: the end of our suffering is not the end of our story. One day, we will come into a new place, a new Kingdom with God in Christ, a place prepared for us where there is no sickness, no sin, and no death. Every tear will be wiped away. This place does not shake with war; it does not shake with anything because there is no sin and there is no death.

He says to run the race with endurance, looking unto Jesus. Amen. Would you stand with me for a closing prayer?

God, would you help us? We need your grace to lift us up and to carry us through. I recognize and know that, relative to other people and other places, suffering, famine, starvation, and persecution make our situation seem pretty easy. However, in this room, there are people who are suffering—people who are going through severe trials that don't seem to be letting up and just seem to compound.

God, would you encourage them today with your grace? Lord, help us to recognize that the sufferings of this time and this place are temporary, and they are working for us a far more eternal weight of glory. Lord, help us to see that the suffering we're going through might be serving your purpose and that it is for our profit. So, God, help us to run this race with endurance. Support your church by your Spirit. In your name, we pray.