The Call to Run the Race Well - Part 2

Now if you would please take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews chapter 12. We will be in verses one to three this morning. Now last Lord's day we moved from our study in Hebrews chapter 11 into Hebrews chapter 12. And I explained how the author was making a big shift in his teaching in his letter. As we have seen up to chapter 11, the author has unfolded some of the greatest truths of the Christian faith by exalting the person and the work of Christ Jesus. He has proven that Christ is infinitely superior to the angels, all of those Old Testament saints, even the entire Levitical priesthood.

And through his once and for all sacrifice on the cross, Christ accomplished what the Old Covenant sacrifices could never have accomplished. That is the complete removal of sin and the full reconciliation of sinners to God. And we have been seeing how the author emphasized faith and the life of faith in chapter 11. By examining these saints in the Hall of Fame of the Faith, we have seen how they were commended by God because they possess faith and they live by faith. Faith and the life of faith is what God has always looked for in his people and they all knew that faith is the way to life and faith is a way to live.

And now we've moved into chapter 12, where the focus shifts from the reality of faith into the practice of faith. From chapter 12 on, the author shows us that genuine faith is revealed through personal obedience, through holy living, through endurance and a steadfast devotion to Christ as believers faithfully carry out their Christian responsibilities. And last week we saw how the author began this work by using a teaching tool that was familiar to that original audience. This is familiar to us. That's a race, running a race, a foot race. I don't want you to make the mistake to think that the author's talking about NASCAR.

But he compares the Christian life to a race so as to illustrate how the life of faith is to be lived. Now in our message last week, we began verses one to three, which are all about the call to run the race well, the call to run the Christian life that is set before us. And the title of that message was, The Call to Run the Race Well. The call to run the race well. And last week was a part one and this morning will be a part two. Now at this time I want to remind you of my approach to the verses. Then I will recap what we covered in verse one. I'll give you some new information as well.

And then we'll finish up by dividing verses two to three. First of all, we saw how the Christian life is compared to running a race. And then second, we saw the motivation for our race. And then third, we saw the obstacles we can call these hindrances to the race. That's all out of verse one. And this morning we'll continue with the outline. So fourth, we will see our supreme example for our race. And then fifth, our great encouragement for our race. That's in verse two and verse three. Now let's read verse one. Then I'll recap the verse. But I'll go ahead and let you know I'm gonna change the order of the verse.

I'm gonna change the order of what we looked at last week. And this is where I'll give us some additional information that we just didn't have time to look at last week. Verse one. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. And let us run with endurance, the King James says patience, the race that is set before us. So number one, notice the call to run the race. And you can see I'm starting with the last part of the verse that reads, let us run with endurance and active persistence, the race that is set before us.

Of course, I'm quoting the Amplified. Now we know who was in this race. It's really only true believers. But those who are not born again are called to come to faith in Christ and come into the race which is the true Christian life. And we know what this race is. The author is using an example of a foot race to illustrate the Christian life and how it is to be lived. But I want us to revisit how the race is to be run, the nature of the race and where it is to be found. Again, this is review, but this is some new information as well. Now the modern translations use the word endurance. The King James uses the word patience.

The Amplified is very, very accurate saying endurance and active persistence. But we must see that this endurance, it means steadfastness, it means constancy, it means endurance. This speaks of a steady, consistent and constant determination to keep on keeping on and to keep on going in the Christian life. God, it may seem strange to you, but right now I'm thinking about the Energizer Bunny. Some of you know who the Energizer Bunny is because I heard some groans and some snickers. The Energizer Bunny is the long running advertising mascot for the Energizer Battery Company.

The Energizer Bunny is a pink toy rabbit wearing sunglasses and beating a bass drum. It was introduced in 1989 and became famous for its slogan that it keeps going and going and going, symbolizing the long lasting power of Energizer batteries. The mascot first appeared in television commercials that parroted other advertisements. In the ads, the bunny went unexpectedly, marched through scenes while beating its drum, continuing long after everything else had stopped. Over time, the Energizer Bunny became one of the most recognizable advertising mascots in the United States.

And the phrase like the Energizer Bunny has entered popular culture and thought as a way to describe a person or a thing that seems to be tireless and just keeps on going without stopping. And that is how we should endure with active persistence, hard work and consistency in the race, in the struggle, the conflict, the contest of our Christian, of our Christian life, excuse me. We just keep on going, we keep on going, we keep on going. But there's more here that tells us how this race is to be run. We see it in the nature of the race.

The word race here, it referred to any athletic struggle or contest, but it came to speak of any kind of struggle, conflict or contest that demanded work and effort. But again, look at where we find this race and this is very important to see. It is right here before us. Let me explain. Within the language here, in this phrase set before us, this speaks of a certain type of race that is set before us. The idea in the picture in the language is of something lying before someone or something that is laid out right in front of someone. Some of you know where I live. Been to my home, live on Hikes Retreat Road.

You know, there's a joke in certain parts of Lincoln County, if you don't live in Hikes Retreat, you can call it Hicks Retreat. But when I turn out of my driveway and I turn east and I'm headed to town, I do not have to ask where is the road? It's laid out before me. Even though it's Hicks Retreat, the road is paved, there are ditches, there's a line right down the middle of the road that tells me when it's safe to pass slow traffic, the county has Hikes Retreat Road clearly laid out before me. And this phrase set before us in our Bibles, it should be highlighted, underlined and remembered.

And church, my translation of this part of the verse goes like this, Grace Life Church, let all of us run the race of the Christian life by faith. Well how, with great consistency and constancy, and with the discipline, endurance, and work of a long distance runner, because this race called the Christian life, it is a strenuous life that demands discipline and hard work, and it has been laid out right before us by God, just like a road, we're gonna ride down and go home today. And look, brothers and sisters, God has you right where you are on purpose. God has you right where you are in your family, by design.

God has you right where you are in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your community. God has you right where you are in this church to run the race that is laid out before you. And look, just like my road, Hikes Retreat Road is clearly laid out before me, your Christian life is clearly laid out right before you. Do you see it? I wonder if any of you are in sin. Let me explain. I wonder if any of you are sinning against God because you are rejecting the life and the race that he has right before you.

You realize that some of you could have the race laid out right before you, but you're rejecting that and you want some other kind of race? You realize you could be sinning against God. Next, number two, the motivation for our race. Here we go back to the beginning of the verse, like I said. I'm taking the verse out of order this morning, but I'll be shorter here. He says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded "by so great a cloud of witnesses, "who by faith have testified to the truth "of God's absolute faithfulness." That's the amplified. Now this is quite simple.

We are not necessarily to see these Old Testament saints as spectators in the grandstand of heaven watching us run our way snow. The point is that these witnesses are speaking accurately of what they have seen and heard and know and lived. They are witnesses, they are examples, testifying to the greatness of the life of faith as seen in them and testifying to the greatness of God who enabled them to live their life of faith as they did. I like how William McDonald explains this by saying, "This does not mean that they are spectators "of what goes on on earth.

"Rather, they witness to us by their lives of faith "and endurance, and they set a high standard "for us to duplicate." I like that part. These saints here of Hebrews 11, they set a high standard for us to duplicate. Now a question here, an application. Have you ever been compared to someone and been embarrassed? Have your efforts or accomplishments been compared to another's and you have been embarrassed? Well, the one who answered no will learn one day that they'll have to answer yes. That I'll let you straighten that out later. That's the risk you take as a pastor when you ask rhetorical questions. But let me turn that around.

Have you ever been compared to someone and you've been proud? Have your efforts and your accomplishments been compared to another and you have been proud? Well, when we put our lives up against these great saints of Hebrews 11, how do we measure up? But it is not that we compare what they did to what we are doing, no. The race that God laid out for Moses is much different than the life of faith and the race of faith that he's laid out for us and so on. But the comparison is in the how, you see that? Abraham was willing to sacrifice his one and only son of promise, the most important thing in his life.

Well, are we willing to sacrifice what is precious to us like Abraham? See, we need to study their lives and how they live and we need to be willing to do the same. Rahab, she willingly walked away from a pagan family, a pagan people and a pagan culture to run her race of faith. Are we willing to do the same? Walk away from so much? Are we doing the same? The next number three, the obstacles and hindrances in our faith. Now, before we get too excited about our race of faith, we have to remember and revisit those obstacles that certainly hinder us in the race. We saw the author gave us two, weights and sins.

First, we saw the weights that hinder us in the race and the meaning of this weight is simple. It speaks of some mass or bulk, it's a weight. Of course, the imagery here is that of a runner and weights and weights for a runner can be good and bad in their day and hours. In training, a runner may use weights to hinder them for the purpose of gaining muscle and strength so that they can run faster. Not today, sometimes runners use weighted vests for the purpose of gaining strength and muscle. Sometimes runners use leg weights for the purpose of gaining strength and muscle in training.

I heard the story of a guy one time who had some leg weights and he was training and he took them on a flight, on a vacation and when he went through customs, he kind of got into trouble because they didn't know what they were. The bad is easy to see. A runner would run a race with excess weight or some kind of training vest, no. But ultimately, the author is not talking about physical weights, a physical race. These are weights and encumbrances in the life that hinder in the Christian life and race and these weights are not necessarily sin or something clearly sinful, no.

This is anything in the life that would impede the Christian in the Christian life. In defining what McDonald says here and MacArthur says here, these things may be harmless in and of themselves but they hinder the believer in the race. These things weigh down the believer in their Christian race. These things divert the attention. They sap the spiritual energy and they squelch the enthusiasm and excitement for God and the Christian race. Some probing and thoughtful questions here. Is it safe to say that all of us have some weights in our lives? Think on this.

What weights and hindrances do you have in your life that hinder you and your Christian life on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis? Second, we saw the sin that hinders us in the race. Now remember, the new American and the legacy standard is more accurate here. In the original, there is the article translated the before the word sin. The original literally reads the sin and the point is simple. Scholars tell us the author was aiming at the sin that was hindering many of the original readers of this book, the sin of unbelief.

Simply many held onto the sin of unbelief which hindered them from running the race of the Christian life that was laid out before them. But we can see that it's not wrong. It's good to make a broader general application here. Sin and even numerous sins will hinder the believer from running their race as they should. Sin and a particular sin may be a hindrance, even a great hindrance to the race. Again, some rhetorical questions. We may need to be careful here. Is it safe to say that all of us may have sin or sins in our lives that hinder us in our Christian race? Would you get into the scriptures? Would you pray?

Would you talk to your spouse? Would you talk to someone in your small group? Maybe your small group leader and be honest and open about a sin that you have in your life. Now last week, I did not mention how clever these weights and sins are at hindering us in our race in the Christian life. The English Standard Version says, "Let us also lay aside every weight and sin "which clings so closely." The Legacy Standard says, "Laying aside every weight and sin "which so easily entangles us." In this phrase, "easily entangles or clings closely," it literally means skillfully surrounding and besetting. This means easily and skillfully entangles.

The Amplified gets it right by saying, "Stripping off every unnecessary weight "and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us." You see that? "Which so easily and cleverly entangles us." Now think on this some folks. It's almost like the author is telling us that sin is like a thief in the night stalking us. He seems to animate sin. Well, back in Genesis 4.7, God told Cain that sin was like a predator waiting to attack him. And God called him to master that sin. In the verse, God said to Cain, "Sin is crouching at the door.

"Its desire is contrary to you, "but you must rule over it." In Romans 7.11, sin is portrayed as an active deceiver and murderer. Paul says, "For sin, seizing an opportunity "through the commandment deceive me, it killed me." Hebrews 3.13 says that sin actively deceives people and hardens their hearts. The verse says, "But exhort one another every day, "as long as it is called today, "that none of you may be hardened "by the deceitfulness of sin." And Luke Church, I believe we must be honest here and we need to work to deal with this properly. Again, some questions.

Do we see that we have weights, things in our lives that may not be sin, but they are hindrances and they hinder the progress of our Christian life? But what about these sins? What sin or sins are cleverly, maliciously, and skillfully entangling us in our Christian life? And look at how it works. These sins seem to cleverly and sneakily come into our lives at certain times from certain people and in certain ways. And it's more than just a coincidence. There's a thief in the night that sneaks into our lives, sin and sins, that are meant to throw speed bumps and roadblocks in our Christian life and walk.

And ultimately, Satan means these sins to cause a crash in our Christian life and race. Now church, I know this has been some repeat and some new information, but I believe we really needed to revisit verse one in this teaching again to get it all in our minds. I was thinking of this quite a bit this week, and I'm gonna give you this message here just in Hebrews 12.1 and the message from Wednesday night in Acts 16.25. Wednesday night we dealt with prayer and praise in the prison. I believe the call to run the race well and prayer and praise in prison, it needs to be revisited from time to time.

If you didn't get Wednesday night's message, you need to go back and do that. And if you didn't get last Sunday's message, you need to do that. Now let's get into verses two to three. Let's read the verses and then we'll jump right in. Let's read verse one again. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. So number five in our outline, notice our supreme example in our race. This is from verse two. Our supreme example in our race. Now here we can see that the author directs our attention to Jesus, but notice the change. Before he called our attention to the Old Testament saints of Hebrews 11, but now he calls our attention to Jesus. And I will come back to show us how to rank these examples. But notice that the author calls us to look to Jesus, and I want us to see what this means by making three observations here.

First, how we are to look to Jesus. Notice the English standard says looking to Jesus. The New American says fixing our eyes on Jesus. And this looking, it means much more than seeing, and it means a lot more than a casual glance. In the original, this looking, this fixing, it really has two sides to the meaning. It means to turn one's eyes and attention away from certain things, and to turn one's eyes and attention to another, and fixing their eyes and attention there. I'm going back to a running illustration.

In a foot race, the very second a runner takes their eyes off the finish line, and directs their attention on something or someone else. And they are knocked off their pace and their effort in the race. Well, it is the same in the race of the Christian life. The very minute a believer takes their focus, takes their effort, their ultimate focus and effort off Jesus, and puts that focus onto something else, that is when their progress in the Christian life slows down, that's when their progress is endured. Question, do we need to ponder?

Was there a time in your Christian life when your focus and effort towards Christ was stronger and better and more faithful? We need to hear that again. Was there a time in our, I'm including me, Christian life when our focus and effort towards Christ was stronger and better and more faithful? Well, if we answer yes, that means something has entered our race. I know I've quoted the Amplified quite a lot, but it really nails it here, listen to what it says. Looking away from all that will distract us in focusing our eyes on Jesus. I couldn't help but think of another illustration and help me, I hope it helps you, marriage.

When we get married, we look away from all others and we fix our eyes, our attention, our efforts, our efforts are all on the one we marry. It does not mean that we do not have other activities and interests and friendships in life. Things like work, things like hobby, recreation. We have family relationships, we have friend relationships, we have work relationships, those things are okay, but our spouse is number one, isn't that right? Our spouse is to be the very center and the very focus of our life, even above our children. And we cannot allow anything or anyone to become a hindrance so as to pull our number one focus off our spouse.

And we definitely cannot allow sin to become between us and our spouse. I think you get the illustration and the application. Second, who Jesus is. Here the author says that Jesus is the founder and the perfecter of our faith. The new American, the legacy standard says the author and perfecter of our faith. And to see what the author is getting at, we have to see what this founder or author means and what this perfecter means. The word founder or author, it means chief leader, pioneer and captain, the one who takes the lead. And it can mean author or originator.

So when the author says that Jesus is the founder or author of the faith, he is saying that Jesus is the pioneer who completed the course of his race of faith perfectly. And the word perfecter here, it means to carry something or some project or some task to completion or perfection. So when he says that Jesus is the perfecter of the faith, he is saying that Jesus in his life of faith became the perfect example in the life of faith. I like how John MacArthur sums these things up and how he applies these things to the Hebrews 11 saints and to us, I'm really putting it in my words.

Jesus is the author and originator of faith and the life of faith. He takes the head, the lead as the author in the originator. Think about it, he originated Abel's faith. Think about it, he originated Enoch's faith, Noah's faith, Abraham's faith and so on. And he is the author and the originator of our faith. MacArthur says and I'm quoting, the focus of faith is also the originator of faith. Let me say that again, the focus of faith is also the originator of faith. Question here, who was and is the author in the originator of your faith? Was it you? I hope not. Who was and is the author in the originator of your faith? Well, who should be?

What should be the focus of our race of faith? This all Christ folks. And Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith and the life of faith. He was the one who carried out faith and the life of faith to perfect completion. He is the only one who carried out the life of faith to perfect completion. And we see this in two places in scripture. In John 19 30 when he said it is finished and in Luke 23 46 when he said, "Father into your hands I commit my spirit." Now think on this, who was it that enabled those chapter 11 saints to finish their life of faith well, all the way to completion? Who enabled them to do that?

Well, think on this, who was able to lead us and to help us to live and finish our life of faith to the very end of our life of faith to completion all the way to death? And then third, notice how he ran his race. Look at the last part of verse two. "Looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Now some of you study on your own and if you do that, you will see that some of the language here in the original is ambiguous and there is some debate as to what this joy means.

I will explain it rather quickly. The English standard says for the joy and in the original the word for sometimes has the meaning of instead of. Well, if that is right, the author is saying that Jesus left behind the joy that he had before the incarnation in heaven with his father. He left that joy behind in order to come to earth and go to the cross. But this word for in the original can mean for the sake of, which is why the English standard version says for the joy. If that is the meaning, the author is saying that Jesus looked past the cross.

He came to earth and he endured the cross because of the joy that bringing perfect salvation for sinners meant to him. Now, which is it? Did Jesus leave the joy of heaven and all that heaven was with his father? Yes. But I agree with the Bible scholar Leon Morris that says it is best to lean to the second meaning. So with the joy of providing complete and perfect salvation for a man before him, Jesus went to the cross and he willingly endured the shame and the suffering of the cross. He was looking to the cross and passed across and the joy he would achieve after the work of redemption was finished.

And now he is back in heaven and he possesses two joys. He returned to the joy that he enjoyed before he left heaven and came to earth and he possesses the joy of having provided perfect and complete redemption for men and men. Now it's been a lot but look at what we have here in verse two. We are to fix our gaze. We are to fix our attention. Our greatest focus on Christ our Lord. He is the originator and perfecter of faith and the life of faith, his and ours. He left the joy of heaven and willingly went to the cross enduring its shame for the joy that would be his in providing redemption for men and men and for us.

And he is sitting at the right hand of God now revealing his deity and the fact that redemption is complete. But notice how all this comes together. Yes, the heroes of the faith in chapter 11 are meant to be our motivation for our Christian race but there is much we can learn from their race and how they ran their race. But even at their best, their examples are no comparison to Christ and his example. Christ ran his race of faith perfectly and he is the author and perfecter of the life of faith for all of these people.

Our faith and race of faith originated with him the completion and perfection that is ours at the end of our faith is made possible by and through him living in us and empowering us. So we look to those Old Testament saints as examples to learn from them and for our motivation. But we look to Christ as the supreme example not for motivation but to follow personally.

I like what Al Mohler says here and I'm quoting, "The great cloud of witnesses "encourages and inspires us, "but the one who keeps us in the race is Christ alone." I will add to that by saying, "The one who keeps us in the race "and the one we follow in the race is Christ alone." And last, number six, our great encouragement in the race. Verse three, let's look at the verse. "Consider him who endured from sinners "such hostility against himself "so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted." Now before we get into the verse, we need to ask why these believers in this congregation needed this teaching.

You may say, "Pastry, you've taught us this over and over. "Many of them were being tempted to go back "to their old life in Judaism under the old covenant." Well, that's true. Many of them were under tremendous pressure to go back. So the author was calling them to run their way. Well, looking to the great cloud of witnesses as motivation and looking intently to Christ as the supreme example to follow. And here in verse three, he continues by calling them to look to Christ for encouragement. And he does this by calling them to look to Jesus in a different way than he did in verse two. Notice he calls them to consider Jesus.

All the translations say about the same thing. He's using this word consider. And the consider has a different meaning than to look. Consider here, it means to think over, to ponder over and much more. This speaks of a careful and deliberate thinking over that involves deep reflection, careful calculations and comparisons. The Amplified says, "Consider and meditate on Christ." Well, what are we to consider? What are we to meditate on? What are we to consider and meditate on deeply? Well, you might say Christ, but look at what the author says.

He says, "Deeply meditate on and carefully consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself." And what that means is this. He was calling them to deeply meditate on and carefully consider in a very calculated way the sufferings that Christ went through on earth and more specifically on the cross and to compare his sufferings with their sufferings. He was calling them to see that they were not alone in their sufferings. Christ their Lord had suffered at the hands of sinful men. As one commentator said it, "They were not called upon to put up with something their master had not first endured." So what about us?

Are we suffering? Do we encounter trials, tribulations, and sufferings in our walk with God? John MacArthur ties all of this to us very well and I'm quoting, "He is the divine Son of God, but while on earth he did not live in his own power and will but his fathers." You need to hear that again. MacArthur says, "He thus Christ is the divine Son of God pointing to his deity, but while on earth he did not live in his own power and will but his fathers." Notice MacArthur is pointing to Christ in his humanity. You see that? Continuing with the quote, "Otherwise he thus Christ could not be our example.

And unless by the Holy Spirit we are truly able to live in the same way as he lived, his life would not be an example, but an impossible ideal to judge us." You see it? You notice that church? You see what I'm aiming at? By looking at Christ's humanity and the fact that Jesus had to look to the Father for power and strength in his suffering on the cross, that tells us that he can be our example in our encouragement. Simply he knows, he knows what we are going through. He went through everything we could go through and much, much more.

So we should consider and study and meditate on the sufferings of Christ and compare our sufferings to his sufferings and look to him for strength and encouragement. Look folks, you cannot do this unless two things are happening or have happened in your life. First, you've been born again and you have a personal relationship with God. And second, you are living the Spirit-filled life whereby you spend time with him personally. And notice why he called him to do this. In the last part of the verse, we see why. We see the goal, the reason for this. Look back at verse three.

"Consider him who endured from sinners "such hostility against himself "so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted." Here the author goes back to a teaching tool, a metaphor. We may not see it, but these verbs grow weary and faint-hearted. This is athletic language. I ran across this from more than one commentator, but scholars tell us that Aristotle used this to describe runners who relaxed and collapsed after they had crossed the finish line of a race.

I don't know if you've ever been to a 5K or maybe a high school cross-country race, but when those runners finally crossed the finish line, those who have run hard and run well, they will faint, they will collapse, they will just fall out. Now, what is my point here? The author was calling them to carefully consider and meditate deeply on Christ and his sufferings. He was calling them to compare their sufferings to his sufferings and to look to him personally for strength. He knows, he knows, and why do we need this encouragement? So that we do not relax and collapse and quit the race before it's done.

And I'm not referring to a foot race, but the race of the Christian life. How foolish would it be to train for a race and to run a race only to relax and collapse before the finish? Or maybe just halfway collapse and not finish strong, but how much more foolish to grow weary and faint-hearted in the race of the Christian life, therefore we walk across the finish line at death instead of running across the finish line at death. You see that? Some of you need to let that sink in. So look at how verse three is connected to verse two.

We look intently to Christ as our supreme example, not for motivation like those Hebrews 11 saints know, but to follow personally and we carefully consider and deeply meditate on Christ's sufferings so as not to grow weary, faint-hearted, and quit or halfway run the race of the Christian life. Now two observations and application here before I close. First of all, this tells me that true believers can grow weary in the Christian life and become faint-hearted and collapse in the race of the Christian life and not finish well. See that?

How many true believers run the Christian life well, hard for 20 or 30 years and they grow weary and faint-hearted therefore they finish the race of their Christian life at a crawl. Second, and I believe this is one of the greatest points of application in the entire message. When we are struggling in our walk, when trials and tribulations are wearing on us, and if we are suffering in a race of faith, the best thing we can do is study deeply and meditate deeply on the cross and the gospel.

How many true believers, even mature believers, grow weary and weak under the trials and sufferings of the Christian life and they turn to the wrong place for help. Too often we look within ourselves for strength or we look to other people for answers. Yet the greatest thing we can do is fix our eyes on Christ, meditate on the cross, and immerse ourselves in the gospel. There we find the strength, the hope, and the grace we need to endure. And I believe so many true legitimate Christians miss that. Now in closing I will be short. Listen again to the title of the message.

Verses one to three are about the call to run the race but we can't stop there. This is about the call to run the race well. And I conclude by just one short question. Grace life, brother, sister, are we running our race well? Are we running our race hard? Are we running our race consistently? Are we running our race well? Let's pray. We'll commit these things to the Lord and as always, we'll close out the song of praise and worship to our Lord.