with the aim of completing our study in salvation. This brief series before the holiday period begins, I ask you to turn with me this morning to two passages, to Romans and chapter eight, and to Philippians and chapter three. Romans chapter eight and Philippians chapter three. Our anchoring text, controlling text for this series is Romans 8, 28 to 30. 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. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. And then please, in Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Having spoken about the so-called or imagined credit that the Apostle Paul thought he was gaining by his birth and by his training and by his Jewish obedience, he says from verse 7, that what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him. not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brothers, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Let's pray. Father, will you guide us now both to understand what has taken place in the lives of your people, what is and must take place in the lives of your people, the realities that condition us and that carry us in a right way the blessings that we receive and to which we respond, that we, O God, may honour you, not just in hearing, but in doing also, for Christ's sake. Amen. Christians are those who have been predestined. God has chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world that we should be with him. He has called us. He's called us into the fellowship of his son. and he has justified us, he has given to us that righteousness which the Apostle Paul celebrates, not my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. And all of these blessings are with a view to glorification, whom God predestined, those he also called, whom he has called, those he has also justified, and all those whom he has justified, them he has also glorified. that they may be conformed then to the image of Jesus Christ, that he may have the preeminent glory. The whole of our salvation then connects us to Christ and carries us Christward for the glory of Christ and the honour of God as Saviour. And we are trying not only to trace out those acts of God toward us, but also to understand what life looks like in the spaces between those acts of God. When we say those whom God justified, these he also glorified, that leaves a great space in our experience. Justification is right at the beginning of the Christian life. God calls us to himself. He works faith in our hearts, gives us to us the gift of repentance. That is conversion. We turn to Christ. We lay hold upon him and his perfect righteousness and his cleansing blood. And on that basis, made clean in the eyes of God and made righteous in his sight. That is our justification. And we've said that there's now a need to understand what happens between our entry into the kingdom of God and the consummation of the kingdom of God. And in that space, we've talked about adoption, that we are made sons. And we've talked about sanctification, that God is working holiness in us, that not just ultimately, but immediately and increasingly, we are becoming more like the son. And this morning, we're looking at persevering. We're looking at persevering. And you might notice, if you're thinking about the one word titles of these sermons, that this is slightly different. Adopted. Sanctified. Now persevering. This is something that is now in a particular way engaging our hearts and hands. We have been called into union with Jesus Christ. We have been indwelt by his spirit and that spirit is at work in us. We belong to the family of God. There's that adoption language. We are sons, and if you remember the way that this picture begins to develop and the momentum begins to increase, because we are sons, we need to live like the sons we are. We need to strive in accordance with our calling. And so you've got this continuity, you've got this development, you've got this overlap. You've got Romans chapter 8, verses 28 to 30. And then you've got 1 John chapter 3 and verse 3. Are we sons? Then everyone who has this hope of the coming glory as a son purifies himself. just as God and Christ themselves are pure. And we've quoted from 1 Peter also in chapter 1 and verses 13 to 16. First Peter 1, 13 to 16, therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, be holy for I am holy. And the reason, or one reason, why I've put those three texts before you is because one comes from Paul, and one comes from John, and one comes from Peter, underscoring that this isn't some little obsession that Paul has got, or it's not some little hobby that John's got. It's not Peter's bee in his bonnet. The apostolic testimony with regard to the ongoing holiness of God's people is that God sets us apart to himself, and that God takes up residence in our hearts, and that it is the divine purpose that we should be increasingly made like his beloved son, and that that reality involves your whole-souled participation in and pursuit of the holiness that God intends for you. So you've got 2 Thessalonians 3 13 that we looked at last time. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you brothers beloved by the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember perhaps what we finished therefore brothers not sit down and enjoy the ride. but stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. And you hear that language, it's all layered up again, isn't it? You've got justification in there, you've got sanctification, you've got adoption, you've got calling, you've got glorification. In the minds of the servants of God, these hold together as a unit. You can distinguish the elements, but you cannot separate them from one another. For where the thing begins, the thing will end. What God has begun, God will complete. And now in Philippians chapter three, you've got Paul, as it were, having given us in two Thessalonians this, not so much theoretical, it's certainly not that, but this more descriptive view of the process. now communicates to you his engagement in the process. Not just I do this, but I am an example. This is my response to the grace of God in me. And this, Christian, must be the response that you make to the grace of God that is in you. Without this response, there is one conclusion that we're obliged to draw. that there's no grace in you. Because Christians respond to the grace of God. Now sometimes they find it harder, sometimes the work takes longer, sometimes there are distinct battles to face and we're not for a moment denying those. But the man or woman, boy or girl who says, I am a Christian and I am not engaged in the pursuit of godliness is not a Christian. We read, didn't we, at the end of Psalm 119, the section that we had in verse 32, I will run the way of your commandments, for you shall enlarge my heart. When God is at work in us to will and to do for his good pleasure, we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. And so Paul, gives us a window into his own spirit here. All the redeemed faculties of his humanity engaged as an example for all the saints. Remember he says, if you know what you're doing as a Christian, if you've grown up in any degree, if there's any spiritual maturity in you, you understand this. You get this and you're entering into it. And so with this earnest and this earthy and this intensely personal language, the Apostle Paul tells us, Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brothers, I do not count myself to have apprehended or to have laid hold, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So notice with me this morning, first of all, the reality that Paul is celebrating. The reality that Paul celebrates here, and it's right there in verse 12. Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. That's the starting point. That's always the starting point. There is no other starting point. There can be no other starting point. Christ Jesus laid hold of me. He did so with saving purpose and with this divine intent. Everything that we talk about with regard to this study in salvation and everything that we insist upon with regard to the pursuit of godliness in any Christian's life begins with God's grace in Christ Jesus. So you might think back to the Damascus Road. For the Apostle Paul, it is this very distinct moment. Here he is going out toward Damascus. He is against Jesus Christ. He wants to destroy this growing band of Christian people, these followers of the Christ, although they're not yet called Christians, these followers of the way. He is the human roadblock for the followers of the way, and he will destroy them, he will assault them, he will imprison them, he will torture them, he will put them to death, such is his hatred of and antagonism toward this Jesus of Nazareth. Until on the road to Damascus, a light shines before him so bright that it damages his eyes. He falls off his horse to the floor, and he asks, who are you? I am Jesus. Christ laid hold of him. In that moment and in the hours around it, Christ laid hold of him. Now you might say, well I wish I had a spectacular moment like that. I wish I could have had the heavens open and the gleams of glory beam upon my face and hear the words of Jesus himself, the risen Lord of glory saying, I'm saving you and I'm using you. Paul would have said more than that. Paul would have said from Galatians and chapter one, that he was separated from his mother's womb. Christ might have saved Paul in a particular moment. that he was predestined from before the foundation of the world, chosen in the sovereign purposes of God. And you remember what the Lord Jesus said to him on the Damascus Road. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. This isn't the first time Saul of Tarsus that you've come up against this truth. You've heard the men and women that you've been assaulting and accusing and sometimes abusing and torturing and even helping to stone them. You've heard these people. Testify that this Jesus of Nazareth, this is the Christ, and you've been kicking back and you've been pushing hard. Paul, I chose you. I set you apart, even when you were in your mother's womb. I've been preparing you for this moment. And even some of those conflicts and battles that you've had along the way, those have been to stimulate and provoke your soul so that now when the moment comes, when you understand the truth that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, that embracing him in faith, You understand that Christ has completed at this point what he'd always intended, that he might get his hands on you, that he might capture you for himself, that he might take you from the bonds of Satan, that he might take you from the horrors of spiritual darkness, that he might latch onto you with a holy grip that cannot and will not ever fail and make you his own child. Paul was grabbed by grace. For him it was sudden and it was outwardly spectacular. For you it is no less real and wonderful. Do not demand a Damascus road experience. Don't insist on a degree of misery to a certain depth before you're lifted up. Be thankful if God in his mercy reaches out through the gospel and Christ Jesus lays hold upon you for salvation. because that salvation is rooted in sovereign love, is an expression of sovereign mercy, is a demonstration of sovereign power. And Paul always has the divine purpose in mind. And so the first question that you and I need to answer this morning, and in some senses it is the vital one, is this. Has the Lord Jesus laid hold upon you? Not how quickly did it happen, Not how spectacular was it? Not were there gleams of glory? But have you known Christ by his Spirit, through his Word, speaking truth to your heart in such a way that you have said, Lord, I am the sinner, but you are the Saviour. I put my faith in you. What do you want me to do now? That is Jesus laying hold upon you. Now, the thing is that sometimes people look at that moment and they say, well, I thought that. Yes, you did. May I ask who made you think that? Well, I never thought that before. No, that would be the Holy Spirit. But I put my faith in you, you did. There's no doubt about it, that is your faith and you exercised it. Now, may I ask where that faith came from? That would have been worked in me by the Holy Spirit, yes. And when you repented, did you repent? Oh, I did, I turned from my sins with hatred over them and I looked to Jesus Christ. What was that repentance? Yeah, that never came until I was under the sound of the gospel, that must have been God's gift. You see, it's not wrong to say, I did these things. What you also have to ask is, where did that all come from? How did a dead man believe? How did a dead woman repent? Who was at work in you? Who got hold upon you? And the answer, my friends, is God in Christ. He reached out and he plucked you as a brand from the burning. He set his love upon you. And at some point in time, he got a saving grip upon your soul. And that is why you are a Christian. And once you've traced everything back to its ultimate source, you are led to say, salvation is of the Lord. And that's Paul's rejoicing. That's Paul's celebration. And that's where he begins. Christ Jesus has laid hold upon me. And if you cannot now say that, then call upon his name this morning. Trust him now. And you will find, as you do so, it's because the Lord Jesus has got you in his hands. that he is at work in you and your response to him begins with his operations toward you. Your business is to trust. The call I give to you this morning, the plea that I make with you is to stop trusting in anything else and to stop trying in your own strength and to stop relying upon the sorts of things upon which the Apostle Paul thought he should once rely upon. He thought it was his birth. He thought it was his background. He thought it was his best efforts. And he said, no, I've laid those all aside. I count them as muck, as filth, as the kind of stuff that you sweep up off the streets because I now have Christ and his righteousness. He laid hold upon me. And with that, then, goes the acknowledgement that Paul makes. And again, now, this is in opposition to his previous pride. Before, Paul thought he was doing his best, he was trying his hardest, he was making some pretty good progress. But now, taking account of the fact that Jesus has laid hold upon him, and despite his decades of faithful service and his profound spiritual experience up to this point, listen to what Paul acknowledges. I have not already attained. I have not yet apprehended. I am not yet perfected. And you say, Paul, Jesus Christ has got a hold upon you. Yes, he has. Paul, you've been labouring and serving and striving and growing for decades now. You have been the preeminent servant of your saviour, Jesus Christ. Yes. And I have yet to attain, and I am not yet perfected, and I have not yet apprehended. Now what does he mean? Well, Jesus Christ has got hold upon him, and Christ has got hold upon him for a reason, for a purpose. There's an ultimate destination. We already know what it is from Romans chapter 8, because all whom he has justified, these he will also glorify. And that's where Christ wants to bring his apostle, and all his other people. But Paul says, I'm not there yet. I haven't yet attained, I am not yet in full possession of that which God intends for me. I've got the down payment, I've got the reality, I've got the life everlasting, but it has yet fully to blossom. I am not yet perfected. The full development has not yet arrived. I am not yet in that consummate state. You might ask a little boy or girl, you know, have you been, you've grown up, my, how tall you've got? And they might say, if they're fairly precocious and honest, yeah, but I'm going to get bigger. Well, certainly you are, and that's what Paul is saying. I haven't yet come to full maturity. I haven't yet arrived at that complete state of health and strength which I anticipate. And I haven't yet apprehended. And the echoes of the language here don't always come out in our translations. It's this, that Jesus Christ laid hold on me. but I haven't yet laid hold on that for which Christ has laid hold upon me. Christ has grabbed me and he's put me in the way, but he's put me in the way so that I might get my hands on something. He's got his hands on me so that I might get my hands on something else and I haven't grabbed that yet. He's got his hands on me, but I haven't got my hands there yet. I haven't laid hold in accordance with Christ's saving intent. I haven't yet put in the effort that is required in order to reach that goal. There's still a gap, says the apostle, between where he now is and where Christ intends him finally to be. And there's something wrong with us if our conclusion is, see, the apostle couldn't do it, why should you expect anything of me? That's a sinful response. Rather, you should be encouraged. You know what? Paul hadn't made it yet. It's okay for me to still be striving. All right for me to say, I haven't yet attained, I am not yet perfected, I still have not apprehended. Not in the sense that it doesn't matter. But this is our reality, this is our confession. Brothers and sisters, is there anybody here who is insane enough to suggest that you have reached the pinnacle of holiness yet? That you're now living in heaven upon earth? That this is as good as it could ever get? That you have attained? I mean, the very language is nuts, isn't it? I've reached the end. I've done everything I need to do. I'm the finished article. I am the perfect man. You would laugh in my face and you should if I suggested that, that this is everything and therefore as good as it gets. No, no. Christ Jesus has laid hold upon me. And that is wonderful, that is marvellous, that is glorious, that's a cause for thanksgiving and joy, but I haven't yet laid hold upon that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold upon me. My friends, that's self-awareness, that's biblical realism, that's honesty and humility, and yet it implies a confidence. when your children are in the back of the car, and after five minutes and five miles down the road, they say, are we there yet? And you might be thinking, we've got five hours and 500 miles. But if you're gonna be positive, what at least are they assuming in the question? We will get there. Are we there yet? There's an end point in sight. And we're not there yet. And you might say to them, kids, we've only just started. At some point you turn around and think, my word, they've eaten the entire food for the journey. They're only five minutes down. Okay, this isn't necessarily gonna be fun, but there's a yet. We will, God helping us, get there. And that's what Paul says. There's the confidence. I have not yet attained. It hasn't already happened, but it will. I'm not already perfected. I have not yet laid hold of that for which Jesus Christ has laid hold upon me. My brothers and sisters, that's why this is fundamentally positive. Even though we grieve over the gap between where we are and where Christ wants us to be and where we long to be, even though every falling short and stumbling and foolishness and error and sin should grieve our hearts, this is not as good as it gets. I haven't already attained. I'm not already perfected. I have not yet laid hold of that for which Christ has laid hold upon me. And we need to make that humble, honest, hopeful acknowledgement that this is a work in progress. Now, because it's a work in progress, what is the pursuit Paul makes? What is the pursuit Paul makes? And again, notice what he does not do. And here are some of the wrong and foolish reactions. Despair. I haven't made it yet. What's the point? I haven't made it yet. I'll never make it. Abandonment. I haven't made it yet. Why even bother trying to make it? Or indulgence. If I'm going to make it, why work too hard? I'll just drift in the right direction. What is Paul's response to the reality which he celebrates of the salvation that Christ is accomplishing in him and the acknowledgement that he makes that he has yet to arrive at the prize? It is this, one thing I do. One thing I do. This is the pursuit of the apostle. One thing I do, and you notice, I forget those things, and I reach forward to those things, and then I press forwards. Now, he's already used that language twice, that verb. Notice in verse 12, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold upon me. And then the acknowledgement. I haven't yet attained, I'm not yet perfected, I'm not yet laying hold upon it, but one thing I do. This is the Christian's response to the space between where we are now and where we want to be because that's where Christ wants us to be. And there's these two sort of preparatory elements and then there's this great main thrust. What do we do with regard to the past? We forget it. forgetting those things which are behind. And this seems to be a sweeping statement. It seems to me that it covers everything that Paul was before Christ Jesus laid hold upon him in his own experience. All of that muck and filth and self-righteousness and arrogance and striving and misery that was characteristic of his life as a Pharisee. Paul says, I have left all that behind. It is buried in the tomb of Jesus Christ. It is swallowed up in the ocean of his forgiving blood. But I think he's referring to about everything that he's done since he became a Christian. He's saying not that it's worthless, not that I've got no gratitude for it, you know, you read the Apostle Paul, you see his appreciation for what has gone before, you understand how he values the work of Christ in him and in others, and the labours that he has undertaken. But his point is this, that I am not characterized by a constant grief and distress over the sins that lie in my past, and neither am I puffed up and boasting about the blessings that I have received. No, I always start where I am. We're in the middle of the ashes, aren't we? Some of you may not even know that. I happen to know that. Five, five-day cricket matches if they all go to their full strength, full length. What happens every day? They walk out and they're where they are. Now, the score's at a certain level, but they have to start over again that morning. The batsmen have to get their minds into gear. The bowlers have to warm up their bodies. They may be exhausted after yesterday. They've had their ice baths to get their systems back into shape. They've complained about the builders on the building site because they're waking them up too early in the morning. And when they walk out, it's not that they're not at a certain stage in the competition. But this is where we begin again. And I'm going to bowl this morning. I'm going to bat this morning. I'm going to field this morning as if this is the first over on the first day of the whole competition. And that's the kind of attitude that the Apostle Paul has spiritually. I'm leaving. I may have dropped three catches yesterday. I might have hit 100 yesterday. I might have bowled a fiver yesterday. But today I start again. I don't grieve over the drop catches. That's in the past. I'm not cocky about the five wickets I took. That was yesterday. This is today, and this is where I begin. Brothers and sisters, is that the way that you approach every day of your Christian life? I may have messed up yesterday, but I've sought the God of grace. He's forgiven my sins, and today I start fresh. I may have accomplished great things yesterday, but I don't rest on my laurels. Today I get up, I seek the face of God. Today I start fresh. I forget the things that are behind. And every day is a new beginning by the grace of God. And I am not crippled by my past sins because there is a God who forgives in the heavens. and I cannot coast on the back of my past attainments because I'm still striving as a pilgrim in this fallen world. So I forget the things that are in the past. What about the future, Paul? I'm reaching forward. Now, in the ancient games, my understanding is they ran for a finishing post, not a finishing line. You and I are perhaps accustomed in an athletics competition. Some of you have been doing your sports days recently. If you've got any sense at all, you're a running race, what happens when you get close to the finishing line, especially if there is somebody with you? chest out, chin forward. I mean, some people win by the distance of their chin beyond the person. It comes down to these infinitesimal distances, doesn't it? What are those people doing? They are stretching forward. The bit of their body that needs to cross the line first is as far forwards as they can get it. Now, if you're running for a finishing post, That's going to look... Imagine that you had to just get your hand on the finishing line. I mean, these days it's all electronic, isn't it? But, you know, imagine if there was a spot and as long... How would you run? You would run like this. You'd be straining forwards and your fingernails. I've got to get my hands on that before anybody else does. Paul says, that's my running. I'm not caring about what's happened, and I'm not, in that sense, too bothered about the other runners. Rather, I am stretching forward, I am straining. I'm not as young as I used to be. Even doing that, I start to feel the tension in my shoulders. You know, there's things I've done to my body. There are things that have happened to Paul's body. He's been beaten and battered and bruised and assaulted and shipwrecked and all these other kinds of things over the course of his life. And he says, I'm still running with all my might. Everything in me is pressing forward and pointing forwards. What are you doing, Paul? Why this forgetting? Why this stretching? I press on. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God. This is fierce language, brothers and sisters. This is what we're talking about in our classes on growing up. Christianity is not passive. Christianity is not careless. Christianity is not casual. Following Jesus is not a take it or leave it experience. I have been called into the kingdom of Christ. Have you? We have been brought into union with Jesus. Have you? What do we do then? I press onwards. I'm running with all my might. I want to win. I want to get my hands on the finishing post. I am eager for what lies ahead. I have a holy greed for holy attainments. I am incessant in my appetites and my engagements and my endeavors for the sake of the kingdom. Christ grabbed me so that I might grab that. and so I run to grab. That's kind of boiling it down. He grabbed me so that I might grab that, so I run like a grabber. I forget what is behind and I stretch forward to that which is ahead. I am constantly straining and striving so that I might get my hands on that for which Jesus got his hands on me. He died to make me his. and now I'm ready to die to get what he made me his to get. Salvation doesn't make us idle. Salvation doesn't make us careless. Paul is writing to these Philippians because there are people around them whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. My friends, your constant temptation in this world will be to slip back into the muck. to slide back into the ugliness, the wickedness, the messiness of life without Jesus Christ. And the remedy to that is not to sit around and hope it doesn't happen. The remedy is eager, active, and engaged Christianity, laying hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold upon you. And let me tell you, this has nothing whatever to do with your age. This is not young man Christianity. This is not, as opposed to old woman Christianity. This has nothing to do with your physical strength. You might be able to pick up anybody in this room and carry them around. You might feel your muscles straining thinking about picking up anybody in this room and carrying them around. This has nothing whatsoever to do with your gifts, public or private. It is quite apart from how God has bestowed certain capacities of mind or body or soul upon you for his service. This is apart from your experience. This is not how high you've been lifted or how low you have been brought. And this has nothing to do with your present circumstances, whether they seem to allow for this and open up a door, or whether they seem to militate against this and make your life difficult. This is all about your attitude, all about your spirit. Two boys. They think they're men, but they're boys. They're racing. Do you know why they're racing? They're racing because they've got the same car, and they've come up against each other at the traffic lights. And they race down the road. And when they get to the end, one of them winds down his window, and he leans out and he shouts to the other fella, it's not the car, is it, mate? It's the driver. My friends, it's not the car, it's the driver. Suppose somebody here had a terrible accident now. And we make a phone call and they say, sorry, there are no ambulances available. There'll be nobody here for 30 or 40 minutes. Are you ready to drive someone to the accident emergency? Which car are we going to take? Well, to be honest, it might not be Luke's van. Might not be Ryan's multi-person vehicle. Not going to be the Finn's white van. Might be the big black beast. That might get you through some of the... I think we'd probably choose the fastest car, wouldn't we? Because it's an emergency. It's important. What if we're all driving the same car? And you say, okay, I need the best driver. What if we haven't got any good drivers? What do you say then? You say, I'll do it. Put me in the car, and it can be a van, it can be whatever, but I will drive with all my might. I'm not a great driver, and I haven't got a great car, But this is important. And so I will get there as fast as I can. Now, you can dawdle in a Lamborghini, or you can thrash a Nissan Micra. Christians are ready to thrash the Nissan Micra. I'm not there yet, but I have got my foot to the floor. I haven't arrived. But it's important enough that I pour all my energies and my efforts into getting there. I'm told that Eric Liddell was once asked about his strategy for running the 400 metres. Now remember that Eric Liddell was not a 400 metre runner. He was a 100 yard dasher. And the reason why he was running in the 400 metres is because he refused to participate in a race that was being run on the Lord's Day. And they asked him, Eric, how do you go about running 400 meters? Mr. Little said this, the secret of my success over 400 meters is that I run the first 200 meters as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200 meters, with God's help, I run harder. That's the difference between someone who gets their hands on the finishing post and someone who doesn't. The secret of my success over 400 meters is this. I run the first 200 meters as fast as I can, then for the second 200 meters with God's help. Don't overlook that. With God's help. Notice not I run faster. If you run as fast as you can over the first 200 meters, are you gonna be tired at the halfway mark? Yes. Might you be able to not run, not be able to run probably? I can no longer run faster, but I can run harder. That's Christian zeal. That's perseverance. I run as fast as I can, as far as I can, and when I can't run any faster, I run harder by God's help. Some of you have heard me say before about the old Christian who toward the end of their life was asked how things were going with their soul, and their response was this, I am so close to the finishing line, I cannot help running with all my might. That's Christian perseverance. Age? and gift and strength and experience and circumstance, they do not make a difference to the spirit with which a Christian pursues this prize. You may be the weakest, the frailest, the most oppressed and opposed, persecuted, downtrodden, young or old, battered or bruised Christian in this room. and there is nothing to stop any one of us saying, this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press toward what? The goal that Paul pursues, the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. There is an ultimate purpose in this, brothers and sisters. It's not running for the sake of running, it's running for the sake of winning. And the winning, Paul uses this language elsewhere, that's a reward for effort. When Paul says, I'm looking forward in 2 Timothy chapter four to the crown of righteousness, it's not a righteous crown. It's the crown that you win because you've been pursuing righteousness. Some of you at sports day, you get the 400 metres gold, you get the javelin gold, you get the shot put gold, you get the discus gold, you get the cross country gold. It's the gold that is associated with your discipline. The crown of righteousness is given to those who've pursued righteousness and have attained to it. Paul tells the Corinthians, I don't run for a perishable crown. The Corinthians used to run for a crown that was made of a local celery. I always think that's utterly despicable. Why would I run to get a celery crown? Paul says, have you seen the effort they put in to get a crown made of celery that's gonna perish, that's gonna go limp and rot? I'm running for an imperishable crown. and I run to win. I run so that I, God helping me, might get there first. I run so that I'll get over the finishing line. And that's not a sort of a selfishness. That's not a willingness that the rest of you might not make it. Paul says, you should all be running as if you want to be first. You should all be striving for the imperishable crown. This doesn't simply happen, brothers and sisters. You receive this goal, this prize, because you've been engaged in it. You've been called homeward, you've been called heavenward. Where did God speak from when he called you? He called you from heaven, the upward call of God. God in glory has spoken to you on earth through his word by means of this good news. And he has said, come to me, come to my Christ, follow him and attain to the glory which is to come. And the call has come from the glory and the call brings us to the glory. It is an upward call. We are those who are striving ever onwards, ever upwards. Our path is that of the just man. It's like the dawning of the sun. It shines ever brighter unto perfect day. Brothers and sisters, have we got our eyes on the prize? Even the world uses that language, doesn't it? Eyes on the prize, boy. Eyes on the prize, young woman. Fix your attention on what lies ahead. Paul's always running with that in mind. He says, if I live or die, I go to be with Christ, which is far better. And that's stage one. And then he says in chapter three in verse 11, he says, I want to attain to the resurrection from the dead. The end of the chapter, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Paul says, that's what I'm running for. That's what I'm stretching towards. That's what I forget everything else in order that I may lay hold of it. Conformity to Jesus Christ. In spirit, if we die before his return. Body and soul together at his glorious appearing. I have not already attained, but I'm running because of the day when I will attain. I'm not already perfected, but I run for the prize of perfecting. I haven't yet laid hold of that for which Jesus Christ has laid hold upon me, but I'm running so that I will. The prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. My friends, the sweet encouragement is this, that you are running for that which God intends you to receive. Christ laid hold of us to bring us to glory with him. And this is persevering. And we could have called it perseverance. but I want you to think of it as persevering, something that you do, something which you are involved. This grace-enabled, spirit-dependent, Christ-united effort in life, unto death, and at the resurrection. Paul says, Paul says, As many as are mature, let us have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. He says, if you don't like this, and you don't understand this, or you don't want this, or you resent this, or you want to explain this away, it's because you haven't grown up enough. Because if you have begun to begin to understand what it is to be a Christian. You will have this mind. And if at this point you're ignorant or confused or mistaken, then God will teach you even this. And to the degree that you have already, however far you've got, wherever you are now as you sit here this morning, let us all walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. My friends, this teaching is never intended, not in Paul and not from this pulpit, to provoke us in any sense to resentment or despair or confusion or complaint. It is intended to set Christ and his glory before you so that you can embrace the race and you can run with endurance, so that you can say, with Eric Liddell, not for something as petty as an Olympic gold, but for something as wonderful as an imperishable crown of righteousness. I've run as fast as I can, and now, by God's help, I run harder.