Latest / Chapel at Southern Seminary and Boyce College / Joel Beeke | ”Run the Best Race Ever”

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Joel Beeke | ”Run the Best Race Ever” · Chapel at Southern Seminary and Boyce College

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Good morning to you all.
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It's a wonderful to be here.
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Honored and humbled
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to
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give the Mullins lectures in these days,
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but also to have the opportunity to
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bring God's word to you in this
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beautiful chapel.
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And uh
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I don't deserve
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what Dr. Mohler said about me.
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Just a sinner saved by grace
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and I do highly highly respect you,
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brother. Thank you.
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I'm going to call this with my wife the
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the Mohler month because we had so much
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time at Shepherd's and now we have more
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time now. So that's that's wonderful.
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Turn with me, please, to Hebrews 12.
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Hebrews 12.
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I'm going to preach to you on two
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verses.
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You remember Hebrews 11
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is this roll call of heroes of faith.
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And I'm going to pick up on just read
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the last few verses there
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that you get a grasp of what those
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heroes of the Old Testament in faith
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suffered and then there's a call in
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verses 1 and 2 of Hebrews 12
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to run the race.
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Run the race set before us. I'm calling
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it run the best race ever.
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So let's read from Hebrews 11:37
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through Hebrews 12:2.
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>> [cough]
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>> Hear the [clears throat] word of God.
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They were stoned.
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They were cut in two.
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Were tempted.
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Were slain with a sword.
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They wandered about in sheepskins and
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goatskins.
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Being destitute.
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Afflicted.
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Tormented.
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Of whom the world was not worthy.
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They wandered in deserts
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and in mountains and in dens and caves
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of the earth.
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And these all having obtained a good
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report through faith
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received not the promise.
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God having provided some better thing
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for us.
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That they without us
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should not be made perfect. Wherefore
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seeing we also are compassed about with
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so great a cloud of witnesses.
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Cloud of witnesses is the Old Testament
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saints of Hebrews 11.
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Let us lay aside every weight and the
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sin which does so easily beset us.
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And let us run with patience the race
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that is set before us.
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Looking into Jesus,
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the author and finisher of our faith,
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who for the joy that was set before him
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endured the cross, despising the shame,
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and is set down at the right hand of the
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throne of God.
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May God bless the reading of His word.
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Let's have a short prayer.
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Lord God
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I pray that by the end of this chapel
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Thou wilt convince every person in this
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audience
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of the importance of running the race
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negatively by laying aside sin and
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positively by looking to Jesus.
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And that it may impact our lives, our
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ministries
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past, present and future
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for good.
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Make us
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runners
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in the best race ever.
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We pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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Never never never
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give up.
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Those were the famous words of Winston
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Churchill
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in one of his shortest but most
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important commencement addresses.
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The message was
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keep on
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keeping on.
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Through cross-bearing
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through office-bearing
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through weeping and tears our Lord Jesus
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preserved. Having loved his own, he
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loved them
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to the end.
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We are called
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to follow him.
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You see, it's one thing to begin the
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Christian life.
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It's another thing to persevere
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to the end in the Christian life.
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Someone asks you how you're saved.
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Often you will tell them how you were
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brought to repentance and faith in
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Christ and you stop
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as if that's the life of conversion.
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That's just the beginning.
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That's just getting in out on the
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racetrack.
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You've got to run the race. Conversion
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is a lifelong process.
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See, we admire
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the miracle of Pentecost in Acts 2:4.
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But we often forget that an equally
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great miracle is Acts 2:42
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and they continued
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steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine
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and fellowship and in breaking of bread
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and in prayers.
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When I was a young man, my dad often
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said to me
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after he knew I was called to ministry
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son
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remember when you become a minister of
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the gospel
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it's relatively easy to begin a new
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ministry in the church.
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The challenge is to maintain it.
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To persevere
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in zeal for it.
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Maybe you've discovered that personally.
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It's one thing to become a Christian.
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It's another thing to persevere.
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To endure the sufferings of being a
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Christian.
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How how can you
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endure? How can you persevere in
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believing in the absence of anything
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tangible to confirm your faith?
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How can you go on believing that God is
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light in the dark night of the soul?
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How can you persevere in paying the high
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cost of faithfulness, enduring
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persecution, affliction and loss
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merely for the gospel's sake?
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Every Christian
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faces numerous discouragements.
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That's going to be particularly true of
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you, especially you young men called to
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ministry. The Puritans used to say
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God often gives ministers
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somewhat more afflictions than
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non-ministers because they need to be
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identified
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with all the people of their flock. They
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need to be a good pastor and so God will
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often use a man greatly after he's
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broken him deeply.
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So
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how do you
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carry on when you're in the midst of
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discouragements, when your hands hang
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down, when you face personal failures or
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when others let you down or when
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providence frustrates your desires?
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Disappointment
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can promote discouragement.
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Discouragement
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however, brings us to our knees.
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We feel weak and tired emotionally,
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spiritually, tempted to give up and we
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say, "What's the use of continuing to
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fight temptation when everything seems
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to work against me?"
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And we feel like Asaph, "Verily, I've
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cleansed my heart in vain."
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So how do you endure?
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Endure not just through another
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semester, but endure in running the
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Christian race all the way
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to the end.
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Oh, the answer is simple and profound
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in Hebrews 12. We endure as Christ
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endured when he was tempted to surrender
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in the battle of spiritual warfare. We
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walk as he walked by his grace and by
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his strength.
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That's what Hebrews 12 1 and 2
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are all about.
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So I've got three simple points this
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morning.
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First
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this race, this best race ever that we
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are to run, I want to talk about its
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mission.
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Second, its manner.
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And third, its motives.
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Mission, manner, motives.
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So the author to the Hebrews
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is right on theme here in our text for
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the whole book. There are actually 96
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verses in the book
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of Hebrews. 96 verses that say something
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like this, keep on keeping on.
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Endure. Persevere.
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Why so many?
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Well, because the Hebrew Christians were
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being persecuted.
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They were being hounded.
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If there were several people that
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applied for a job
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the Christian was the one that was sure
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not to get it.
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Some of their pastors were at times
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being thrown into jail
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for preaching the gospel.
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The Judaizers
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were opposed to them. They marginalized
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them.
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It was a tough time to be a Christian.
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And the Judaizers would say, "Come on
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back to colorful Judaism. What what what
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do you have in Christianity? Just a man
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standing behind a desk saying some
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words.
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Your religion is boring. Come back to
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the color of all the Old Testament
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sacrifices and the blood and and and all
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the excitement
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of the ceremonial laws."
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But the author to the Hebrews is saying,
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"Don't go back.
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Even when you're persecuted. Even when
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you're marginalized. We've got something
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far better. Far better than the Old
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Testament saints who lived indeed by
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faith, but we have a more perfect way.
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The New Testament way. The way of Jesus
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Christ."
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And so the author
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of Hebrews
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writes this book
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to encourage them to go forward in
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running the Christian
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race.
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The theme
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of our text, the theme of Hebrews is
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endure.
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Endure.
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Keep on going.
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Now, the word endurance
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in my big multi-volume Oxford dictionary
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number one definition
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is this, to hold up and to remain, to
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continue on even under pain without
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flinching. It's a great definition.
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And that word endurance is actually in
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all three verses of the beginning of
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Hebrews 12. We are to run with endurance
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the race that is set before us. We're to
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model after Christ who set before him
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who had joy set before him, but endured
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the cross.
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And we're to consider him that endured
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such contradiction of sinners against
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himself.
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So, that's our mission.
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Much of the Christian life
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is not smiley joy sitting on a bed of
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ease. Much of the Christian life is
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enduring. Enduring. Running the best
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race ever with
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patience.
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So, Hebrews 12:1 and 2
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the author appears to be using the
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metaphor of a race having in mind the
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endurance testing relay races that took
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place in great coliseums
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in his day.
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And these races did not focus on the
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fastest sprinters
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but on which runners would actually
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cross the finish line.
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They were long races. Think of the the
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Tour de
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the France uh
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biking that goes on for weeks.
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They were marathon events.
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The contestants in the Christian race in
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the time of the author of Hebrews
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was something that would just go on and
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on and on and one runner would put the
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baton into another runner's hand
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and the race would seem to go on
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forever.
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And there would be fans in the stands
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cheering on the runners not to give up.
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That's the picture he's painting here.
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The Old Testament saints he's saying are
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like a cloud of witnesses around us.
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And they're encouraging us
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as it were by their own lives, by their
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own testimonies, the testimonies of
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Hebrews 11
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not to give up.
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To persevere. In fact, if they
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persevered when they were cut in two
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when they were tormented and wandered in
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deserts and mountains
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and really hadn't seen the cross yet
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how in the world, Hebrew Christians, can
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you
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stop running?
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How in the world can you give up? How in
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the world could you return to Judaism
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when you can look back on the finished
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work of Christ?
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When you can see so much more than they
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could see?
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Keep on keeping
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on.
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So, this race of endurance is to be run
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with patience, he says.
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That is steadily
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deliberately, actively every day.
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And today, of course, we have so many
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spiritual disciplines and means of grace
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by which we can run this race. Reading
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and searching the scriptures every day.
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Through personal intercessory prayer
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every day. Through reading sound
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literature every day. Fellowship among
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the saints every day. Keep Sabbath every
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week.
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The Christian life, you see, is not
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passive.
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We are to work out our own salvation
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with fear and trembling using the
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spiritual means that God has provided to
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run the best race ever.
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So, that's our mission.
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That's our mission. Now, what's our
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what's our manner? How how do we do it?
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Well,
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Hebrews 12:1
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tells us how we're to do it negatively
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and verse two how we're to do it
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positively.
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So, negatively
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we are to lay aside every weight, that
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is every hindrance
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and the sin which does so easily beset
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us.
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What does that mean?
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Well,
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there are actually three interpretations
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of the words the sin that so easily
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besets us.
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The first interpretation
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is that
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it's unbelief.
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Unbelief is the mother of all sins.
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And we just have a whole chapter
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of the Old Testament heroes of faith who
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all lived by faith, by faith, by faith
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and our sin, your sin
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Hebrew Christians, our sin today is that
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we falter in running, faltering that
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steady jogging in the Christian race,
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that marathon
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when we live by unbelief and not by
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faith.
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It is the sin
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that so easily besets us.
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Second interpretation is that the sin
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simply is all sin because all sin is
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monstrous.
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All sin is anti-God.
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Stephen Charnock, one of the Puritans,
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said
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"At that moment
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when we sin against our conscience,
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against God, knowingly sin, at that
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moment we are practical atheists saying
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God is not because all sin
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is anti-God."
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Sin is a monster.
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Sin is our great enemy.
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Jeremiah Burroughs, another Puritan,
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said this.
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"The smallest sin
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is a greater evil
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than the greatest affliction."
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We're to hate sin with passion because
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we love the Lord Jesus, our savior and
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Lord
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with zeal.
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You can't
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be strong in Christ
17:39
and not be a hater
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of sin
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against him.
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And so
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it's all sin.
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But then there's a third view.
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We're to lay aside
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the sin
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that so easily besets us.
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And this view means
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you have your own weaknesses, I have
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mine.
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Our forefathers, reformers, Puritans
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used to call them darling sins
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bosom sins
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besetting sins.
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That is to say
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I might have certain weaknesses that I
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have to avoid certain things.
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Whereas you
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have other weaknesses have no trouble
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with the things I have trouble with
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and you need to avoid your own set of
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things.
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And they can be things that maybe
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outwardly don't seem to be
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sin.
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Maybe you live with excessive fear
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or worry
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or love of things
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or cares of this life.
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Maybe it's
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connected with your recreational
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pursuits.
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Maybe it's connected with some lust of
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the flesh.
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Whatever it is, as you're running the
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Christian race, that tends to entangle
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you. You see that that that sin that
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seems to trip you up.
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That entangles you.
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It clings to you.
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It comes out onto the racetrack with you
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and hangs on your neck and clings to you
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like like like skin-tight clothing. That
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sin.
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You need to lay aside. Need to avoid it.
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Need to
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run from it.
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There was an old Scottish divine, Ralph
19:35
Erskine, who said
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"The way to approach sin is either fight
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or flight.
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You can fight it if you're strong in
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that area. Beat back the devil. But if
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you're weak in that area, you got to
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flee from it. You got to run from it."
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So, if you're a recovering alcoholic,
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God has not called you to evangelize in
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bars
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because you'll be too tempted.
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You could be sucked back in.
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So, what is What is your What is your
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sin?
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What is your weakness?
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What are you giving a little open window
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space in your life for that you
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shouldn't be that you should just shut
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the window on?
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When I was a young man,
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mine was pride in playing basketball,
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and I had to quit
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at the at the peak of my career
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because it became an idol.
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You maybe can play basketball without
20:40
that temptation, fine.
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But you see, the point is this.
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Whatever sin besets you,
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lay it aside.
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I had a man come to me one time, and he
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He was weeping walking into my study. He
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said, "I got this bosom sin I can't get
20:59
rid of. Help me." And I said, "Well,
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what is it?" He said, "I can't stop
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listening to country music."
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And
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you as a counselor, you're never
21:10
supposed to look surprised.
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But I mean, I hardly know what country
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music is. I mean, that's the last thing
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in the world that would tempt me.
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But for him, it was very real.
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Very real.
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And so, we worked on a plan
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how he could avoid country music. It was
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besetting him.
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It interrupted
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his walk with Christ. So, which of these
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three interpretations is right?
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All three, maybe.
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Because sin is monstrous
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in every form.
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So, we need When we get out on the
21:45
racetrack as a Christian, we need to
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battle our unbelief, we need to battle
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our bosom sin, and we need to battle all
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sin.
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Hate it.
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That's the way to run the Christian
21:58
race. Repent of it,
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but stay in that repentant frame of
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mind. As Luther said in one of his first
22:05
few theses, God will have his people
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live a lifelong
22:10
repentance.
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Lifelong
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repentance. Are you doing that? Are you
22:16
repenting every day
22:19
of the sins you commit? That's the way
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to run this race.
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And so, when you combine all three, you
22:27
see, then you see sin as your mortal
22:29
enemy.
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And you say to yourself, like Paul says
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to us in Romans 6:11, "Likewise,
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consider yourself
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to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
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unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
22:49
Do you know that Martin Luther or
22:52
rather, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said that
22:55
this text, Romans 6:11, helped him more
22:58
in running his Christian race than any
23:00
other text in the whole Bible.
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How so?
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Well, he said, "When I'm tempted to sin,
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I just say,
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'What? Are you kidding me?
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Sin's not my master. Christ is my
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master. I got no business sinning. I got
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no business sinning against the savior
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who died for me and who now intercedes
23:21
for me at the Father's right hand moment
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by moment.
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Be gone, sin. You're not my master. I'm
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dead indeed unto sin, the dominion of
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sin, and I'm alive unto God through
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Jesus Christ our Lord, and you're not
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taking that away from me, Satan. Be
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gone.'"
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That's the way
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to treat sin.
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So, every every morning when you get up,
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this is a very important part, I
23:48
believe, of our morning prayers. Lord,
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keep me from sin all day. Turn my eyes,
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my ears, my heart away from every
23:56
temptation. Help me to live wholly and
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solely for thee and thy glory today.
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Every moment, every thought, every word,
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every action.
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Will we fail? Of course, we will fail.
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But every night we repent of it.
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And we begin a new day
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longing for that day when we will be
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sin-free forever around the throne of
24:21
the Lamb.
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But you run the race
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all the way to the end.
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I'm I'm convinced that one of the
24:30
greatest problems of Christendom today,
24:33
and it's big time in America, is a kind
24:36
of practical antinomianism that looks at
24:38
sin lightly. Says, "Oh, well, God's
24:40
going to forgive me. He's a God of
24:41
grace."
24:43
And you don't hate sin
24:46
like God hates sin.
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And you see, what you want to do when
24:51
you run this race is you want to have
24:53
the same kind of thoughts of sin that a
24:55
holy, holy, holy God that we just sang
24:58
about thinks of sin.
25:01
So, that's a negative. But you can never
25:03
run the Christian race with any
25:05
semblance of success only by the
25:07
negative.
25:08
You need a greater power.
25:11
As Thomas Chalmers put it, a greater
25:13
power that takes you away from the
25:15
affections
25:17
by the positive The affections of the
25:19
world by the positive.
25:21
And that's exactly what he does in verse
25:23
two. He says, "We are to run the race
25:25
setting aside the sin which so easily
25:27
besets us by looking into Jesus,
25:31
the author and the finisher
25:33
of our faith."
25:37
When I was in high school many years
25:38
ago, I also ran track in addition to to
25:41
basketball, and our coach would often
25:44
say to us, I ran the I ran the what was
25:46
then called the 440,
25:48
and
25:49
basically, you run as fast as you can in
25:51
that,
25:52
and and you have a burst of energy near
25:54
the end. But he would say, "You You You
25:57
look You look at me. I'll be standing at
25:59
the end of the race. You run this one
26:02
for the coach,
26:04
and don't ever look as you're coming
26:06
around that last bend. Don't ever look
26:07
back. You'll lose a half a step if you
26:09
look back to see where the other guys
26:11
are. You just look at me. You run this
26:14
one for me with all your zeal and all
26:16
your might and all your power."
26:19
Yes, coach.
26:22
Well,
26:25
the only way you can run full bore
26:28
your whole lifetime
26:30
is by looking to Jesus.
26:33
But in this case, of course, it's a
26:34
marathon, so you're running steadily,
26:36
keeping your eye on Jesus, keeping your
26:38
eye on the positive. And
26:40
you see, by that, you not only will hate
26:44
sin, but you by loving Christ, by
26:47
viewing him as the model runner who went
26:49
before you, and by viewing him as the
26:51
coach who coaches you along through his
26:54
word and through all the spiritual
26:55
disciplines,
26:57
you, like the Old Testament saints, will
26:59
live by faith in the promises of God
27:02
surrounded by them as a crowd of
27:04
witnesses cheering you on.
27:08
But ultimately, it's Jesus, your
27:11
uniquely qualified supplier and
27:14
sustainer of faith, who by his spirit
27:17
will evoke and stimulate your faith to
27:21
run for him.
27:23
He is the pioneer
27:26
and the perfecter of our salvation. He
27:29
will not allow a single one of his
27:31
children to fall to the side of the road
27:34
because he's a finisher of the faith of
27:36
his runners. He who perseveres to the
27:39
end will persevere with you, too, dear
27:41
believer.
27:43
But run the race
27:46
by looking
27:47
to him.
27:48
He's the origin.
27:51
He's the continuation.
27:53
He's the completion
27:54
of the power of your ability, God-given
27:57
ability, to run the race to the end.
28:01
He's his ex- supreme exponent
28:05
of your faith.
28:09
My mother died at 92.
28:11
When she was 90,
28:14
she was a very God-fearing woman, a
28:16
prayer warrior,
28:18
she got dementia,
28:20
pretty serious.
28:23
Six weeks before she died,
28:25
I'm reading her Revelation 21,
28:28
and I asked her such a foolish question.
28:32
When I got to the verse,
28:34
"I am Alpha and Omega."
28:37
I said to her, "Mother, do you know
28:40
Do you know what that means?"
28:42
I I forgot for a moment she had
28:44
dementia.
28:45
Uh
28:46
Of course, she's not going to know. I
28:48
mean, Alpha and Omega, and she didn't
28:50
even know my name. She couldn't remember
28:52
my dad. She
28:54
But all of a sudden, she gets this
28:55
incredible
28:57
flash of
28:59
insight
29:01
that only the Holy Spirit could give her
29:02
that moment. And she said, "Oh, honey."
29:05
She called everybody honey cuz she she
29:06
knew nobody's name.
29:08
"Honey, doesn't that mean
29:10
that Jesus is the beginning of our faith
29:12
and the end of our faith?" And then she
29:14
did a little I said, "Jesus." And she
29:16
added to the text. And she said,
29:18
"And he's everything in between."
29:21
I go, "Yes, Mother. That's it. That's a
29:23
better answer than I was going to give
29:25
you."
29:26
And you see, that is how a Christian
29:30
runs.
29:32
He who began the good work in me that I
29:34
could never begin in myself, he is now
29:36
interceding for me at the right hand of
29:38
the Father. I will continue running by
29:41
his grace, and he will grant me to come
29:44
to completion. I will look to him. I
29:46
will look away from sin and look to him.
29:48
I will hate sin and love Christ.
29:51
I will persevere
29:53
to the end.
29:55
By the grace of God.
29:59
Now,
30:00
that raises, however,
30:01
my third point.
30:04
What really can keep motivating me to
30:06
run this race?
30:09
And that's the rest of the text.
30:12
Actually,
30:13
there's two sets of motivations here.
30:16
And the first set of motivations has
30:18
four parts to it. It's the example of
30:20
Christ. Look at verse two with me.
30:23
Four ways we have to be motivated by
30:25
looking to Christ to keep on running.
30:28
Looking unto Jesus, the author and
30:30
finisher of our faith, who for the joy
30:32
that was set before him endured the
30:34
cross.
30:35
So, first of all, we're motivated by
30:38
what he endured. By what he endured.
30:43
He was in the naked flame of his
30:45
father's wrath for six long hours on the
30:48
cross.
30:50
He endured to the end even through the
30:53
the cry of dereliction, "My God, my God,
30:56
why hast thou forsaken me?"
30:59
He endured even as he bore the essence
31:02
of what hell is on the cross, suffering
31:06
in such a way, so compacted, so
31:08
infinite, so horrendous as to be
31:11
seemingly unsustainable.
31:14
But he endured, undergirded by his
31:17
divinity in his suffering humanity.
31:20
He endured the cross even when abandoned
31:23
or felt abandoned by God.
31:28
Think about it.
31:29
When the son most needed encouragement,
31:32
no voice cried from heaven, "This is my
31:34
beloved son." When he most needed
31:36
reassurance, no one said, "I am well
31:38
pleased."
31:40
No grace extended, no favor shown, no
31:43
comfort administered, no part of the cup
31:46
of the father's wrath
31:48
against the sins of his people that he
31:50
was bearing removed.
31:53
God is only present as one displeased,
31:56
as one bearing down upon his own son. He
31:58
bruised his own son with profound wrath.
32:03
And every detail of it, every every
32:06
detail of it declares the irrationality,
32:09
the heinousness, the dread character of
32:12
sin. And yet he endured the cross to the
32:14
end.
32:18
And you can't endure your
32:20
little crosses compared to his big
32:22
cross?
32:26
We look to his cross
32:29
so that we can endure our crosses.
32:31
We get motivated by what he's done for
32:34
us, so that we're willing to deny
32:36
ourselves, take up our crosses, and
32:39
follow him.
32:42
Second motivation is by what he rejoiced
32:45
in. You notice that? Who for the joy
32:47
that was set before him endured the
32:50
cross. You see, he rejoiced under the
32:53
cross knowing he would ultimately be the
32:55
vic- the victor in the battle against
32:58
the powers of evil, soon be resurrected
33:01
by his father, taken home to glory
33:04
to receive his promised reward.
33:08
So, the joy that was set before him
33:11
was the joy of his own homecoming, the
33:13
joy of reunion with his father, the joy
33:15
of being crowned with honor and glory
33:17
and having all things put under his
33:18
feet. It was the joy of bringing many
33:20
sons to glory. It was the joy of saying,
33:23
"Here am I, Father." A joy that still
33:26
awaits him in his fullness, and all
33:29
those that thou has given unto me.
33:34
Because Christ endured to the end
33:37
with joy,
33:39
there won't be a single empty chair
33:43
in heaven.
33:46
And so we
33:48
we should persevere remembering this
33:51
life is just a little blip on the
33:53
horizon of eternity
33:55
remembering
33:56
that we will soon be with him whose eyes
34:00
we have never seen
34:03
nor has it entered into our heart what
34:05
God has prepared for those who love him.
34:07
Our future is to be spiritually married
34:10
to Christ forever. We will one day be
34:13
sin-free, one day be unable to sin, one
34:16
day to be focused wholly on Christ
34:19
without ever having a distraction.
34:22
Oh, the joy
34:24
of the perfect place that Jonathan
34:26
Edwards called
34:29
the love of God in heaven.
34:32
Because therefore heaven is a world of
34:36
perfect love.
34:39
Be motivated by where you're going. Be
34:42
motivated by the end of the race that is
34:46
soon coming.
34:49
Thirdly,
34:51
we're motivated not only by what Christ
34:52
endured and what he rejoiced in, but by
34:55
what he despised.
34:57
Isn't that interesting? He despised the
34:59
shame, verse two says.
35:02
Think about that.
35:03
He's hanging naked on a main
35:06
thoroughfare going out of Jerusalem. No
35:08
doubt there's mothers and with their
35:11
little kids walking by and saying, "Look
35:13
at those three men on the cross. They're
35:15
they're traitors, they're treasoner
35:17
trea- they committed treason. They're
35:18
murderers or whatever. They're notable
35:21
sinners. Don't ever be like them."
35:24
He was despised. He was despised by the
35:26
Romans, despised by the Jews.
35:29
They cast all kinds of accusations into
35:31
his teeth even when he's on the cross
35:34
for you.
35:39
How could he do it?
35:41
Well, because he loved and feared God.
35:45
And he loved you
35:48
more than he feared the frowns of men.
35:54
John Brown says,
35:56
"The fear of God means that you value
35:58
the smiles
36:00
of God more than the smiles of men.
36:05
And you value the frowns of God also
36:07
more than the frowns of men."
36:10
And because he knew he was doing his
36:12
father's will,
36:15
he despised the shame.
36:18
Stop also in your in with regard to your
36:21
future ministry, stop fearing the faces
36:24
of men and fear the living God.
36:29
And you'll save yourself a lot of sin, a
36:31
lot of heartache,
36:34
a lot of mistakes
36:37
in your life. Be motivated
36:39
by this shame despiser,
36:43
the Lord Jesus. And then finally,
36:46
we get motivated by what he's doing
36:48
right now.
36:50
Notice the end of verse two. Is set down
36:53
at the right hand of the throne of God.
36:56
And five chapters earlier it said, "He
36:58
ever lives to make intercession for us."
37:01
Have you ever thought about that? He
37:02
ever lives every single second to to
37:06
intercede for all his children
37:08
corporately in one mass, of course, but
37:11
also individually cuz he's infinite in
37:13
his capacity. He can remember
37:16
millions and millions and millions, all
37:19
his children at the same time.
37:23
So, there's never a second in your life,
37:26
if you're a true believer, where he's
37:27
not remembering you, interceding for
37:30
you.
37:31
What a what an amazing motivation this
37:33
ought to be.
37:35
Everything
37:36
shall work together for my good. He's
37:39
always in control in my life. All things
37:42
work together for good to those who love
37:44
God.
37:45
That's the whole first set of
37:46
motivations. Then let me conclude with
37:48
one more motivation. It's the witness of
37:51
the saints around us. Go back to 1A.
37:56
If I if I were to fall,
38:00
I wouldn't I wouldn't only destroy my
38:02
church,
38:04
I wouldn't only
38:06
destroy
38:07
or damage or blaspheme the name of God,
38:12
but I would I would destroy so much
38:14
more.
38:16
I would if I think of my father and my
38:18
mother now in glory,
38:22
wow,
38:24
how I'd be sinning against them.
38:27
How I'd be sinning against all kinds of
38:29
people.
38:30
And
38:32
who are in my stands.
38:34
You see, the New Testament saints had
38:36
the Old Testament saints in their
38:37
stands, but we have so much more.
38:40
We've got all the New Testament saints
38:42
in our stands. I'd be sinning against
38:44
Paul and Peter and and all the writers
38:47
of the New Testament. And and what about
38:50
the 2,000 years of church history?
38:53
It's
38:54
there's thousands and thousands of
38:56
people in my stands from church history.
39:01
Cheering me on.
39:03
Saying, "Keep running the race. Keep on
39:05
keeping on."
39:09
Martin Luther said, "Most of my best
39:11
friends are dead and they're sitting on
39:12
my shelves
39:14
and they're continuing to press me on in
39:17
running the Christian race."
39:21
The Bible, of course.
39:23
I mean, doesn't Enoch motivate you? He
39:26
walked with God. Doesn't David motivate
39:28
you in the Psalms? Yes, the Old
39:30
Testament saints are in our stands. The
39:32
New Testament saints are in our stands.
39:34
The the
39:35
all those in church history are in our
39:37
stands. And living people are in our
39:40
stands right now cheering us on.
39:45
Your own local church.
39:48
They're with you, but they're also in
39:49
your stands encouraging you, I hope.
39:52
Keep running. Keep running. Keep
39:53
running. And then those near and dear to
39:56
us.
39:58
Often while I'm preaching, I hear my
40:00
dad's voice ringing in my ears. Son, you
40:03
can never preach enough of Christ. Keep
40:05
Keep on preaching him.
40:08
He's in my stands.
40:12
Sometimes I'm driving to church.
40:15
Just with my wife.
40:17
Kids are all married now.
40:19
And I'm a little quiet.
40:22
My wife says,
40:23
"You got it again, don't you?"
40:26
Yeah.
40:28
Who am I?
40:29
Who am I
40:30
to be the mouthpiece of the living God?
40:34
I
40:35
To speak the word of God, it's a huge
40:38
thing. I don't care if you've been
40:39
preaching for 50 years.
40:41
You never get used to it. It's always
40:43
overwhelming.
40:46
And you always feel like you can't do
40:47
it.
40:49
And she'll
40:51
She'll put her She'll put her hand on my
40:53
wrist right here.
40:54
She'll say, "Honey,
40:57
I'll help you.
40:59
One more time.
41:01
Uh one more time."
41:04
She's in my stands.
41:06
You see.
41:08
Whose stands are you in?
41:11
Are you encouragers to others as you
41:13
run?
41:14
As you hand off the baton to others in
41:17
the race.
41:18
And who's in your stands? Consider
41:21
Consider the importance of being
41:23
motivated not only by those four ways of
41:27
that are Christocentric, but also by all
41:30
the followers of Christ throughout all
41:32
the ages down to the living people in
41:35
your church today.
41:37
And the living Christians you know in
41:39
society.
41:43
Run the race.
41:46
I often say to our students, let me
41:48
close with this. I say,
41:51
"You know what?
41:52
I just I'm really worried about you.
41:56
I I pray that none of you None of you
41:58
None of you
42:00
will fall and disqualify yourself
42:03
from ministry."
42:05
We've had We've had one student over the
42:06
years has fallen to serious sin.
42:09
And uh Oh, what a
42:12
It's like a sword going through my
42:13
heart. Sword going through my heart.
42:17
Let those around you motivate you. Let
42:20
your fellow students motivate you. Your
42:22
faculty motivate you. And faculty
42:24
motivate each other. Run the race. Run
42:28
the race all the way to
42:31
the end.
42:33
Well, I close then with this
42:34
illustration. In Grand Rapids, where we
42:37
live,
42:38
there's not much touristy attractions,
42:41
but there is the Gerald Ford Museum.
42:44
And uh when Gerald Ford died,
42:47
we were with thousands of other people
42:50
on both sides of the highway as the
42:53
limousine
42:55
went from the airport down to the Gerald
42:56
Ford Museum, where he wanted to be
42:58
buried.
42:59
He grew up in Grand Rapids.
43:01
And
43:03
there was a boy across the highway
43:06
that had a sign above his head that was
43:08
bigger than he was, and he was happy. He
43:10
was
43:11
moving that sign like this, and the sign
43:13
said, "Welcome home, President Ford."
43:18
I thought to myself, isn't that amazing?
43:20
This little boy is happy to welcome home
43:22
a dead body.
43:27
But how amazing will it be on that day
43:30
when the stands will be filled
43:34
for miles and miles and miles, speaking
43:36
figuratively now,
43:38
and you
43:40
will walk down that highway
43:43
through the open gates of Beulah.
43:47
And there'll be millions of people to
43:48
greet you.
43:50
Millions of people to say,
43:53
"Welcome home,
43:55
sinner,
43:57
saved by grace."
43:59
And then
44:01
to meet Jesus, as Rutherford said, at
44:04
the gate of heaven
44:05
with a soft cloth to wipe away every
44:07
last tear from your eye.
44:10
And to say, "Well done,
44:12
good and faithful servant.
44:15
You've run the best race ever
44:20
by grace.
44:21
And you will see him."
44:24
And what will you do?
44:27
You just worship him.
44:29
And love him
44:30
forever
44:32
and ever
44:33
and ever.
44:35
Keep on
44:38
keeping on.
44:40
Let's pray.
44:41
Great God of heaven, bless
44:45
Bless this chapel.
44:47
Bless us as runners. Keep us in the
44:49
race.
44:51
Help us not to fall.
44:53
Help us to look to Jesus.
44:56
Help us to crucify sin.
45:00
And help us to be motivated
45:03
to run all the way
45:05
to the end.
45:07
We pray in Jesus' name.
45:09
Amen.