chapter 9 and the verse number 16. And so let's hear God's word as it is before us. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing, nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me, yea, woes unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward But if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? Verily, that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews, to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law, to them that are without the law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I, as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainty, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Amen. And we conclude our reading at the conclusion of the chapter number nine. running. It really was never my cup of tea. I was really never that keen on it and I was really never that good at it. Some people in my family circle would say that the only running I ever did was running away from work. When you heard that there was a cattle house that had lay for a couple of years that needed to be dunged out, you soon found yourself taking to your heels, only to find that you were quickly turned back by a father or by a mother. Park runs are supposed to be the whole craze in these days. How people have the time and the energy to engage in such activities is beyond me, but as the saying goes, horses for courses. In the New Testament we find that the Christian life is often compared to a race. The Apostle Paul is the one who uses this image so often in his epistles. He uses it for his own personal life as an apostle and also for the Christian life in general. And this is one particular passage in which the Apostle Paul employs such imagery. If you look there at the verse number 25, Paul writes, Know ye not that they which run a race run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. And that running metaphor is again employed in the verse number 26 by Paul. I therefore so run, not as uncertainty, so fight I, as one that beateth the air. when nearing the end of his own personal and earthly life. We find how Paul spoke when he wrote to Timothy how he had fought a good fight and how he had finished his course and how he had kept the faith. The finishing of the course is again the metaphor, the imagery of the runner as it were pressing through the tape, the finish line, finishing the course finishing the race that had been set before him. Paul not only used this running metaphor for his own life, but he used it to speak of the life and the ministry of John the Baptist. Speaking in Acts chapter 13 in the verse 25, Paul said that John was a man who himself had finished his course. Let me read that verse to you. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. The free is there, finished his course. Again, it's referring to the finishing off a race. And here's John the Baptist, and he's just beginning his public ministry. And he's actually finishing his public ministry. in nearly the same breath. He begins his ministry and he finishes his ministry in almost nearly the same or in a short period of time. Paul employs the running metaphor when writing to the Galatian believers in chapter 5 in the verse 7 of his epistle. There he reproves the Galician saints or some of them with those words ye did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth. One of the most familiar passages in which this running imagery is used is in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. There the writer of the Hebrew epistle, he paints the picture of a crowded stadium and some of the Hebrew Christians down in the track running the race and so he writes these words, wherefore seeing we are all so compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking on to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. throne of God. So this comparison of a Christian as a runner is one that finds traction in the New Testament. It finds itself being employed a number of times in Holy Scripture. And so taking then this image of the Christian life being like a race and the Christian as a runner in that race, we want to think about a few things before we go to the Lord in prayer. Let's firstly think and give some thought to the participants in the race. The participants in the race. Every race needs its runners and the Christian race is no different. Every born again Christian is a runner in the Christian race without exception. We are all encouraged in Hebrews chapter 12 to run with patience the race that is set before us. Nobody gets to sit on the sidelines. Nobody gets to, as it were, put in a sick note in order that you can't run the race. No, everyone, everyone is engaged in the running of the Christian race. All are active participants. Now, lining up beside us in that Christian race are runners from every nation. from every kin group, from every people group, from every tongue. And so there is an international flavor we read about or we think about international meets that take place, the Diamond League and the Olympics. There's an international flavor to the runners who come to run in the particular sprints and the marathons and the various distance races. And so as with that, so there is an international or a We would call a universal flavor to the entries of this race. Every nation has its representatives in the heavenly race. We're told of that in the book of the Revelation that there will be those from every kindred and people and tongue and nation will be found around the throne and singing on to the Lamb. We also remember that we are not the first people to run this race. We're not the first people who has ever run the race and we'll certainly never and we'll not be the last individuals to run the race. Others have run this race before us and they have won the prize and we are to do the same. And as we run the race, we are to encourage our fellow competitors. We are to encourage those who are running the same race that we are running. We are not to discourage them, we're certainly not to trip them up. As you know, there's nothing as lonely as running a race without any other competitors in that race. While we are not in days of revival today, and while there are fewer than ever Christians running the race that is set before us in these days, we have not yet reached the point in church history where nobody else is running the race. Just look around you tonight, look in front of you, look behind you tonight, and what do you see? Well, you may say, well, I see a body of believers, but really what you see tonight is a small representation, a small representation of the field of competitors who are running the same race as you are running as a Christian. Some have been running the race for decades. Others have been running the race for a few years, but all are running the Christian race. And surely the presence of other individuals running the race with us spurs us on. Spurs us on to keep running the race as well as to keep up the pace. You think of individuals who have tried to break records. What do you have? Who do you have running with them? They're called pace setters. Those individuals, they're on a fast lap. The individual who's trying to break the record, he keeps up with the pace setter. And then they drop out and another pace setter, he comes in, he keeps up or she keeps up their energy in order that they might then finish the race or in order for the individual to break the record. And brethren and sisters, that's what we are to do. We are to encourage others to run the race. with as much vigor and energy and strength as they possibly can. We all should be pace setters. We should all be striving to win the prize. And we should always be on the lookout for others who have stopped running the race. We should draw alongside them and encourage them to re-enter the race. These are the participants in the race. But in the second place, let's think about the period of this race. As with every race, there is a start and there is a middle and there is an end to the Christian race. We begin the race when we are born again, when we profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's whenever we start this race. And the middle of the race is really the rest of our lives on earth. And the end comes a death when we rest from our labors and we go to be with the Lord or if it comes first, the Lord comes for us at his second coming. And so we begin it when we're born again, we continue it for the rest of our lives on this earth. We're running this race and the end of the race comes when we leave this world and we're brought into the presence of the Lord. And so what we learn from this, brothers and sisters, is that the Christian race is no sprint, and it's no short distance race. It's even more than a marathon, it's an ultra-marathon. It's an ultra-marathon. The Christian race is one whose duration will last until Death calls us from this scene of time. And so this race, it's a lifelong endeavour. It's a lifelong pursuit. Now it's important to start the race. No doubt about that. And I trust we've all done that. But it's also important to continue in the race that is set before us and important for us to finish the race. Remember, child of God, that the start is not all that there is to the Christian race. The start is not all that there is to the Christian race. There is a going all. There is a finishing of the race if we are to win the prize. And someday, someday we will come to run the last lap of this race. And we want to run it well, don't we? We want to finish well. It may be possible that for some here tonight that you're in the home straight. For others, you might have many laps still to run in this race, but however long or however short the race is left for us, let us continue to keep the pace and not lag behind, lest we are nearing the finishing line sooner than we even imagine. Isn't it a sobering thought to think that we might be, or someone here might be in the home straight? But that's well possible. Let's run it well. Now since the Christian race is a lifelong race, that race is going to require something that many of us don't have. It's called stamina. Stamina. We all grow tired and weary. But this race, being lifelong in duration, it's going to require stamina on our part. And that really brings us to a third point, another P, the perseverance we need in the race. The running of any race is a strenuous exercise. Man and woman put forth all their strength in their bodies in running. And the Christian race is no different. The Christian race is a laborious race. It's a strenuous race and we must therefore put forth all our strength in the race. In Psalm 63, in the verse number eight, the Psalmist said these words, my soul follows hard after God. I wonder, could we say that about ourselves? Are we following hard after God? Are we following hard after him, running after him? Now the writer to the Hebrews speaks about running the race with patience. The word really means with cheerful endurance. And that is how we are to run the race. We're not simply to endure the race, but we're to cheerfully endure it. And there is endurance that is required. Solomon in his wisdom, He wrote in Ecclesiastes chapter 9 in the verse 11, I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. Solomon said, the race is not to the swift, the race is to the steady. You're familiar with, is it Aslup's Fables? I think that's, I don't know if that's how it's pronounced, but I'm sure you all know of the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The story's concerned a hare who ridicules the slow-moving tortoise. And so tired of the hare's arrogant behavior, the tortoise challenges the hare to a race. Well, the soon race is called, the day is set. They start their race together and the hare soon leaves the tortoise behind in the race. And so confident is the hare of winning that it decides to take a nap halfway through the race. Whenever the hare awakes, he finds that his competitor has crawled slowly but steadily and has crossed the finish line before him. We're to be like the tortoise, steadily, slowly moving forwards towards the finishing line. The race is not to the swift. How many do you not know? How many do I not know that began all guns blazing? Where are they tonight? Where are they tonight? We need to pray for such people. Oh, that steady, plodding pace in this race. Remember, it's not to the swift, but it is to the steady. And so, child of God, don't be giving up. Persevere. You're probably more, as we all have, most of us, we have probably more years behind us than we do before us. No good in giving up now. No good in quitting. No getting stopping. Keep on, keep it on. You see, it's one thing to begin the Christian race. It's quite another thing to persevere in it and to finish the Christian race. As the chorus says, it's not the first smile that you'll be judged by. I used to sing that many, many years ago. It's not the first smile that you'll be judged by. It's the last smile when day is done. In 1992, the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona, and they witnessed the resolve and the perseverance of one athlete to finish the race at all costs. His name was Derek Redmond. He was a 400-meter runner. In the semifinal race, 250 meters from the finishing line, Redmond tore his hamstring and he fell to the ground in agonizing pain. However, just before the Red Cross workers reached him on the track, Redmond got to his feet again and continued limping towards the finishing line, resolved in his mind to finish the race that he had commenced. From the stand, his father was watching on. His father, Jimmy Redmond, decided to jump over the barriers and reached his son, and when he did reach his son, he urged his son to stop running the race. Derek refused, and his father responded with these words, well then, we're going to finish this together. And finish it they did, with Derek leaning on his father as a crutch. At the time they crossed the finish line, the 65,000 spectators in the stadium had all risen to their feet to applaud the man who had resolved to finish the race that he had commenced, whatever the cost. I'm sure very few know who won that particular race, but most people will remember the name Derek Redmond, the man who finished the race at all costs. Well, may God impart to me, may God impart to you the grit, the determination, the holy resolve to persevere in the Christian race. It's not easy at times, not easy. And so we want to think about that in a fourth point. Think about the problems that we encounter in the race. You see the race to heaven and home is one that is fraught with many dangers and many problems. And these we must be alerted to. There is the problem first of weariness. Exhaustion, weariness is something that sees to many a Christian runner slackening in their pace in the race that is set before them and so what is the remedy for such? Well the remedy for such weariness is awaiting upon the Lord. Isaiah chapter 40 verses 30 and 31 we read, Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. It is God who imparts strength to the weary one. And thank God he can enable us to keep running free from weariness as we wait upon him. There's the problem of underfoot conditions. There are various kinds of running that a person can do. There's track running, and there's road running, and there's cross-country or fell running. And that latter kind of running, that cross-country running, it takes runners over all kinds of different terrains, sometimes smooth, sometimes rough. Well, the Christian race involves that type of running. Times the course is smooth and pleasant. the feet, while at other times we find it rough and difficult. And whenever it is, what happens, our feet grow foot sore, they blister as it were, when the road continues to be rugged and whenever the road continues to be hard, we find that our feet grow foot sore and we like just to sit back and throw up the feet and let them as it were recover. children of Israel in Numbers chapter 21 verse 4 we become much discouraged because of the way. Well what is the remedy for that? Is the remedy not for that a recalling to our minds the pathway that our Savior trod? His was rougher than ours will ever be. And as those who follow in his footsteps, we must be alerted of the fact that the road at times is going to get rough, but it's better up ahead. Our weary, soul swollen, blistered feet will someday stand on heaven's streets of gold. And so keep that in mind, child of God, when the pathway gets hard, the best is yet to be. And then there's the problem of impediments. We're alerted to that in Hebrews chapter 12 where we are encouraged to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We must cast away therefore everything that hinders us in running the race, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, the love of riches and pleasures and honors. We must cast aside a spirit of lukewarmness and apathy and carelessness and indifference about the things of God. All must be rooted out and forsaken if we are to run with success and win the prize. Slothfulness and ease and laziness must be cast away. We are to run the race that is set before us. And then there is the problem of the satanic antagonist. We have an enemy who seeks to put us out of the race. every opportunity with one who desires to put us out of the race, the devil, and at times he lays in our pathway snares and traps and stumbling blocks to impede our progress and then at other times he erects diversion signs. that craftily diverts us down into some aimless cul-de-sac or dead end in our Christian lines that we need to quickly reverse out of. Sometimes he takes us into by-path meadows, and we find ourselves out of the King's Highway. And so we must not be ignorant of his devices. We must be alert to his schemes and his machinations. These are the things, these are the problems that we encounter along the road, this race that we're running. Let's consider a final point. Let's consider the prize for all who compete in the race. You see, that's what Paul speaks of here in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Know ye not that they which run a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. And every man that striveth for the mastery, or for the prize, is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, a crown that decays. He's speaking here about these ancient Grecian Gaeans. They would have had a low wreaths put over their heads, that was their crown. But that wreath, that laurel wreath made of laurel wreaths, that would have quickly decayed and decomposed. And here's these individuals, and they're tempered, they're self-controlled in all things, they're not giving themselves to access. No, these people are entraining, these people are giving themselves to this running of the wreaths, and they're simply doing it to obtain a corruptible crown. And yet, brethren and sisters, we are striving for the incorruptible crown, a crown of glory, a crown of glory, a crown that will never decay or will never age or never tarnish. Now all of us have a race to run. I have my race to run. Do you have your race to run? And it is your race that you need to focus on. Were not to run another person's race, that would be foolish. I'm sure you've watched the times or you've listened to times when winning athletes are interviewed at the end of a final and they've won the race. You often hear them say something like this, I ran my own race. You ever hear them say that? I ran my own race. You see, by indicating what they're saying, what they're indicating is that they weren't focused on what the other competitors were doing. They simply concentrated on the execution of their race plan. Or it might have been that their competitor was well ahead of them. But that didn't matter because they had, as it were, a race, a plan to run. They had their own race plan. And so they just ran their own race. And that's what we're to do, we're to run our own race if we are to win the prize. Now what makes the Christian race different than any other race is that we are not competing with others in the race. I'm not competing with Paul, the Apostle Paul. And I'm not competing with Spurgeon or Wesley or Whitefield. I haven't been given the gifts and the talents that these men have been given. And so comparing ourselves with others is not what we are to do in this Christian race. We're not running against each another. We're simply running to finish the race. That's it. That's the success. It's not that you beat someone else, but it's that you simply finish the race. Another difference in this race from all other races is that everybody wins the prize. Now I know that that's like that at school nowadays. Everybody's the winner. Prize day or whatever it is or sports day, everyone gets a prize and that happened. I know with Abigail's first, second year, everybody won a prize. Everyone won a medal. She didn't win the race, she didn't deserve it, but she won a medal anyway. Everybody went, well, I suppose that's like the Christian race, everyone will win the prize. You see in earthly races there can only be one winner, one wearer of the gold medal, one contestant standing on the first place rostrum. But not so in this race. Every competitor who finishes the course wins the prize. So what is the prize? Some say heaven is the prize. Others eternal life. Others the eternal rest of heaven. Others the crown of life or the crown of righteousness. Others that incorruptible and that undefiled inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us. But I would submit to you this evening that the prize is Christ. Paul testified of that. Philippians 3 verse 8, Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but doubt that I may win Christ. You see, to win Christ is to win all of the above. It's to win heaven. It's to win eternal life, and I speak of eternal life in a broad sense. It is to win the eternal rest, the crown of life, the crown of righteousness, the incorruptible, the undefiled, inherent. To win Christ is to win all of the above. And so, let us then look on to Jesus and see to our winning of Him. Now sadly today, too many Christians find themselves running excessively after the world, after its pleasures, after its possessions, after its plaudits. But let us not be found among that number, brethren and sisters. Instead, let us run after Christ. Let's take the words of the bride there in the song of Solomon and let's make Her words are prayer tonight. What did she say in Song of Solomon 1 verse 4? She said, draw me and we will run after thee. Draw me and we will run after thee. As runners in the Christian race, let us run to win the prize. And let us encourage all other competitors in this race. And let's finish our course, let's finish our race as Paul wanted to finish it, with joy, with joy. How do we do that? We do that by keeping or by looking on to Jesus, who is the author, and finisher of our faith. And so who are we as Christians? We're runners in a race, running for the prize, Christ himself. Christ is the prize. And so may God help us to let us run the race that is before us. What was the hymn we sang tonight? I think it was one of the verses. I'll just look it up here as I close. May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe, looking only on to Jesus as I onward go. May God help you and I to do that as we run this race together. And may we finish well for the glory of God. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. Our loving Father, we come once again to Thee in prayer. We're so thankful for helping tonight. The Word of God has been brought in our considerations, Lord. We pray, O God, that, Father, Thou wilt help us to run the race with joy and with patience. Help us, Lord, to finish, not only to start, but, Lord, to continue. There's a need of that, Lord. There's a need to endure and to persevere. Lord, at times our feet grow weary, and, Lord, they grow tired, and, Lord, at times the road gets rough, but, Lord, we thank Thee for the one who is our companion in the race. We thank Thee for the Lord who draws near And Lord, we praise Thee for that. And we pray that we might encourage one another to run the race, O God, with patience and with perseverance. And Lord, we pray that we'll win the prize. O God, help us to win the well done of God. And Lord, we pray that we'll cast, then, our crowns at Jesus' feet and we'll crown Him Lord of all. And so bless our time around the throne of grace in a few moments. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's holy name. Amen.