Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the chapter that we read,
1 Corinthians chapter 9, and reading for our text just part
of verse 24. The last clause or so of verse
24, so run that ye may obtain. The whole verse reads,
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth
the prize, so run that ye may obtain. This is the one verse really
in the chapter that is a direct challenge and a direct command
unto the Corinthians and unto us. And so much of the chapter,
it hangs and fits around the word of our text so run that
ye may obtain. The conversion of the Apostle
Paul on the Damascus Road was a very notable event, completely
taking away from the Church of God the persecutor and turning
him into a preacher of that very name that he hated and persecuted
people for calling on. And yet though the conversion
was so clear and his ministry he testifies is clearly given
by the Lord, yet he makes the statement at the end of this
chapter that may seem a strange one, that there could be anything
that could mean that he would be a castaway. But he says that
those things that he does concerning his body and bringing it into
subjection, lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself
should be a cast away. There are several things we'd
mention on this. One is that God's people, chosen
from eternity and called by grace, cannot finally fall. Nevertheless,
The proof that they truly are the Lord's, dear people, is that
they do not fall and that they do endure unto the end. The second
thing is this, that there must be the right use of means. It is not that we should live
carelessly and indifferently, but pay attention to the exhortations
warnings and cautions in the Word of God. We're not to say,
well, I am the Lord, I shall endure unto the end. The preacher
can warn what he'd like, he can admonish, he can speak to us
severely, but, well, it doesn't really apply to me because I'll
be all right in the end. If we truly are saved, we will
not treat the Word of God in that way. It is that we should
be constantly searched and tried and testing our ways by the word
of God. The third thing is this, that
we are not to rest upon how we are used. Like the apostle here
was not resting on his apostleship nor on his preaching as being
an evidence or as being a title to glory. Everyone that is truly
a minister of the Lord must also be a child of God and be called
by grace and their standing before the Lord is the same as their
hearers. It is not more higher standing
because they are preached and those have been blessed under
their ministry. We rely upon that sheltering
beneath the precious blood of Christ, upon his grace, his mercy,
upon his work in us. And that is to be our title for
heaven, what the Lord had done for us, not what we have done
for the Lord. The apostle then is setting before
us and he uses several examples in this passage. And I want to
just briefly look at these examples before we come to our main points. But his whole aim is, is an aim. It is that whether it is in the
preaching of the gospel or whatever other way, there is to be an
end in view, an aim in view. And so it is with us in our walk,
our conduct, and in our life. If we have not got a prize or
a name or object in view, we're likely to just drift and not
achieve anything at all. And so, I mean, we could use
many examples in this, just in secular life and in my design
experience, if there was not a an end in view, you had a timeline,
you had a machine that had to be able to do this and that,
functions, and all the time, everything that was done in that
design, you had to have a budget, you were keeping all those things
in mind, keeping it in time, on budget, made sure it worked
and performed. And all that we did was to that
aim. And so we have many examples
of whatever you're doing, whether you're sewing or baking a cake,
or if you're driving a car to a destination, you're keeping
that destination in view. But the apostle uses specific
examples here in this passage. The first one is his own example
in actually preaching. He sets himself forth as an apostle
and vindicates himself against those that were false apostles
or those that would question his apostleship. And obviously
there were those that were serving this church or that were using
the church, taking money off them, And because the apostle
didn't, he was actually despised for him. But he clearly sets
forth the principle that a minister should live of the gospel. He uses those examples there
of, in the law, thou shalt not muscle the ox that beateth out
the corn, and that God there is teaching that One should live
of these things. And of course, the Levites, they
lived off the offerings that were brought to the temple. And
so he says, now in these gospel days, we haven't got the Levites,
they're not living of the bullocks and that that are offered, but
the ministers of the gospel, they live off the provisions
and the freewill offerings so that they can give themselves
solely to the Lord. So he says for that first, but
then, and this is the aim that he had in view, He did not want
to hinder the preaching of the Gospel. So in this case, he says,
no, this is the teaching, this provision is the teaching, but
because I am teaching it, I do not want to partake of this benefit,
though I could and it would be right for me to do so, but because
people would take license and say the apostle is only saying
this to feather his own nest, he says I will not partake of
it so I can preach it, so I can have it established and really
It is in the Word of God to the end of time. None adversary to
the truth could say, here is Paul. Just all he's after is
the monetary gain. That's why it's in the Word of
God. No. It's in the Word of God because
it is the Word of God. And the Apostle Paul then says
before us, that he did not want to hinder. He says in verse 12,
if others be partakers of this power over you, others are taking
money of the Corinthians, are not we rather? Nevertheless,
we have not used this power, but suffer all things lest we
should hinder the gospel of Christ. His aim was the gospel of Christ
having free course and the doors be opened and he be able to preach
Christ. And then he has in verse 19 as
well, made himself a servant unto all. And again, it is for
the gospel's sake. So what does he do? He says,
His aim is that he might gain the more. To the Jews, I became
a Jew. If he was preaching to the Jews,
he could bring the Old Testament types and shadows and bring them
and preach them before them. And he could seek to clearly
show that the types and shadows are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But when he comes to the Gentiles,
he can't preach in that way. They don't know the law. They
haven't been under it as a nation. And so he uses a different method. He sets forth his own experience. He sets forth what happened in
the Lord Jesus Christ, what he's accomplished at Calvary. And
his letters to those Gentile churches don't have the references
back to the Old Testament. And so he changes. that not changes
his message, but changes how he delivers it according to the
people that he is speaking to at that time. And so he gives
his own preaching as an example of having an aim in view and
then seeking to walk according to that aim. As if he would say,
it's not enough to me to be just a preacher, but I must be a preacher
that gives heed to my own walk, how I behave, how I walk, because
these things will affect the gospel. And so we have that as
the first example, his own preaching. Then we have the example of the
verse where our text is, which is thinking of the Olympic games,
those that are running, Again, it's a very obvious thing. There is an aim, an aim to reach
first, an aim to have that prize. Of course, with the race, there's
only one to obtain it. With the people of God, it's
all the people of God obtain. There's not just one that is
going to obtain it. But again, it is an example of
having an end or aim in view and running according to that. The third example is those that
are fighting for the mastery, striving. In verse 25, every man that striveth
for the mastery, what does he do? He's temperate in all things. So his aim in view affects how
that he lives. And then he says, they do it
to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible crown. And so then he speaks of himself,
himself as a Christian. He says in verse 26, I therefore
so run. Not as uncertainly, so fight
I. So he's using these two previous
examples of the running in the race and the fighting, striving
for mastery. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly,
so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my
body. And he speaks there of how he
deals with his own body and own life. as running this race. Now that is where we want to
look more at the points we now consider in this text because
we come in with the Apostle Paul here, come in with him not as
an apostle or as a preacher, but as a Christian, one that
is also running the race that is set before us, one that comes
under his own exhortation in our text, so run. that ye may
obtain. So the points I desire to bring
before you are these. The first one is the aim in view. The words in our text, that ye
may obtain. And then secondly, how to run. The first words of the text are
so run, in this manner run. And then thirdly, really deriving
from the writings to the Hebrews and also Philippians as well,
where our help is to come from. But firstly, the aim, the aim
that is in view. When Paul writes to the Philippians
in chapter 3 and verse 14, he says, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So himself,
in his letter to the Philippians, gives us that prize, which this
is not just the ministry, but it's a prize of all of the people
of God, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There's no greater
calling, there's no greater blessing than to be called by God's grace. We know our election by our calling. And in that sense, how vital
is calling? You could label it under a different
name, conversion, or being born again of the Spirit, quickened
into life. Ye who were dead in trespasses
and sins, hath he quickened? Or be saved, by grace ye are
saved, Through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. But in his epistle to the Philippines,
he says it is a calling. A calling. You know, we're familiar
with that with us in the ministry. The ministry is a calling. That
means it should be the principle aim, occupation, as it were,
that takes precedent over everything else in life. It means that we're not thinking,
well, how much are we going to be paid? How many hours a week
are we going to work? It is a calling. It is a life's
calling, that we live for that calling. And wherever the Lord
chooses to use us, whenever, then we obey that call. We're
his servants. And that is so as an individual
Christian as well. You're not just a Christian at
home and not in the workplace, not just a Christian in the midweek
service and on the Lord's day, but different elsewhere. A calling is a lifelong calling,
called by grace, God's grace. And the prize, the aim in view
then, is that high calling of God that those looking upon our
lives may see. The desire should be firstly
that which is here below. The blessings of holiness. Without holiness no man shall
see the Lord. Peter says, Be ye holy as I am
holy. That is what the Lord says. That
is what the Lord of God says. Called sinner is not called to
unholiness but to holiness of life, to communion with the Lord
and with his people, to have a clear conscience before God
that we're willing in all things to live honestly and openly The
aim should be, as the apostles was here in verse 23, this I
do for the gospel's sake. We read of some that by means
of such and in their lives, the way of truth is evil spoken of. And so the aim is that the way
of truth might not be evil spoken of, because of our actions, what
we have done, how we act and what we do. The desire should be, the aim
should be, that we do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
we are sealed unto the day of redemption. But then the aim
should also be for heaven itself, They that say such things, that
they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, declare plainly
that they seek a country. Apostle Peter, he says, that
there is reserved an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled
and reserved in heaven for you, those who are kept by the power
of God unto salvation. a desired haven, how oft in the
letters to the churches is the apostle pointing them that they
should look for his Son from heaven, expecting that glorious
time when this mortality shall put on immortality, this corruption
in corruption, if in this life only we have hope in Christ with
all men. most miserable. And so that aim
in view is heaven itself, is not losing sight of that crown. See that no man take thy crown,
that we might not come short of that glory of God, but that
we might be found at last with Christ forever. And so in time
The Apostle says that I might be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of
God by faith. A Christian man, woman, child,
should be one that does have an aim and is not just drifting
along and pulled aside by every temptation, every lust and every
allurement of the devil and sidetracked into a way that ends up by Path
Meadow and will prove to be a sorrow and grief at the end. This whole chapter, the examples
that we've given, speaks of an aim. And many of us, and I certainly
feel to fail very much in this, and many things in life would
be done so much better if there was a clearer aim and clearer
object. Instead of just saying, well,
we will get around to it one day, but never do. How often
in the word of God we're exhorted, especially in Hebrews, Today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. There has to be an aim though
that is in view. If the apostle has the preaching
of the gospel, if the Olympic runner has the prize at the end,
if the one that is fighting for the mastery, if he shall obtain
that mastery, then surely we also must have that aim, that
we might have Christ, we might attain unto that promised rest
and that eternal life that the Lord has to give. Do you have
an aim? Do I have an aim? Do we keep
that aim in view or have we lost sight of it? There no doubt are many other
aims that we may have according to the scriptures of truth and
may, from this evening as we read the Word of God, have this
in mind, where we come across things that are said before us
in the Word as being an aim. Think of the hymn, I think it's
988, in our book, that is the seeking after happiness only
to be found in thee. Him crucified, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well then, if we have an aim,
how are we to run to obtain that aim? So run that ye may obtain,
that we may obtain those objects and aims. Well, I want to keep with the context
that is here, if we can for this point. So run. In other words, there is an example
here in this passage. The first is what we've just
covered. So run having an aim, not uncertainly. In verse 26 we read, I therefore
so run. Do you have those same words
again? So run. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. So fight I, not as one that beateth
the air. The first is this, that we run
with that aim in view. That is how we go from day to
day, hour to hour. That is how we live, keeping
that aim in view. Years ago, we used to do sailing. And of course, you don't have
lions out on the sea, But you've either got a compass, or generally
we sailed within sight of the land. And you take one site,
one particular landmark, and you'd keep that in view all the
time. And yes, with a sailing vessel,
you often had attacks. So you're going not directly
to that aim, but it is because you knew that you had to Go first
one way zigzagging if the wind was directly against you, but
you never lost sight of that aim. So run, says the apostle, not
uncertainly. But then, using the illustration
of fighting, he says, so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air. That is not imaginary, but real
foes. I often used to think of those
at school, when I was at school, you'd have a person bragging
and saying how good he was and he'd be dancing up and down and
punching in the air making out that he was a great boxer, a
great fighter, but there was no adversary. His punches didn't
land on anyone. It was just an imaginary fight. It might have looked quite impressive,
but nothing was done. No deliverance, no conquest at
all. And very often, the one that
was boasting in that way when he did have a real foe, fell
before him and had no strength or ability at all. It was just
imagined. So we can be like that as well.
But the Apostle says, no, not like one that just beats the
air, just punches into the air and fights the air. and nothing
is ever landed or accomplished. But it is to fight effectually,
fight with those things that are threatening our faith, that
are threatening our peace with God, that are threatening our
witness, the things for which sake the wrath of God cometh
on upon the children of disobedience. We have adversaries all around
us. The Christian does. In the world
you shall have tribulation. And we have the world and the
flesh and the devil and they are all adversaries to a child
of God. And the pathway is a fight. And you may come this evening
and say it is a fight, a fight against wind and tide and storm. Many things seem to be against
me, many things cast down, many things discouraged. You think
of dear David, the things that he suffered by his own falls
and his own sins, then his own household, then the men that
were with him, and then Saul and then the Philistines. all
the time, right the way through his life, and he is a man after
God's own heart. Always something was rising up
against him. So it is to fight effectively
against those real, very real adversaries, to actually identify
them, to recognize those things. You know, when Elisha sent Gehazi
in front of him to lay his staff upon the Shunammite woman's son,
he said to him, that if any man salute thee, salute him not again. He's not to be sidetracked or
turned aside from the mission that he was on. But then he says in the last
verse there, deal really with our own sins, our own flesh,
our own lust, our besetting sins. He says, but I keep under my
body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when
I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. You know, in Romans 8, he speaks
very much of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. Well, Romans 7, the good that
I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that
I do. The wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me? from the body of this death.
And you know the very law, the very commandment that brought
him in as a guilty sinner was, thou shalt not covet. And so it was by that commandment,
he says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. The commandment wrought in him,
all manner of concupiscence. That's in the flesh and that's
what he means here. I keep under my body, not like
some that would go into a monastery or afflict with fasting or some
other way. And we read in the scriptures,
in no way satisfying to the flesh. Many choose out what they're
going to afflict the flesh with as if God would be pleased with
that, denying themselves things or doing things that are unpleasant
for the flesh. The Lord doesn't require that,
but what he does require is that holiness and that fallen nature,
corrupt, depraved, wicked, fallen, godless nature that we have. does not have the ascendancy
and it is actually kept under. And so the apostle says in verse
13 in Romans 8, if you live after the flesh you shall die, but
if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body
you shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God they are the sons of God. And the way of not being
under this objection of the flesh is by following the Spirit, shunning
the flesh, not giving it the attention that it craves. So run. Another way which is
implied here is to pay particular heed to the sin of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is where we say things,
but we don't do them. And when our Lord was on earth,
this was what he charged the scribes and Pharisees with. He
said that they laid great burdens upon men, but wouldn't take them
off. And as regards the law, The Lord
said to his disciples, he says, whatsoever they command you do,
but do not do as they do, for their works are evil. James, when he writes his epistle,
he speaks of faith, true faith. And he says that faith without
works is dead. Thou hast faith, I have works,
You show me your faith without your works, and I will show you
my faith by my works. And so the running of this race,
how we are to run, so run, the apostle says, is to deal, deal
with those sins that do so easily beset us. deal with those things
that are of our old nature, deal with those things that the Lord,
when he called us by grace, separated us from, put us in the right
way, brought us in the love of Christ to crucify sin. One of the charges with the Church
of God in the letters to the Revelation was that they had
left their first love. No, what the Lord's dear servant
said before us here on the Lord's Day was that there is not only
a straight gate, but that there is a narrow way the other side
of it. We're not to think that the way
into the way is very straight and narrow, but as soon as we
become a Christian and get in the way, then we can have many
things along with us along that way. No. And so the apostle,
he says, looking at the way, in the way, and this is how I'm
running in this narrow way. And these things are set before
us in this chapter. Well, how is it then, if we are
to run in that so run, where shall we get that help from to
run such I want to look at this in our third point. In the epistle to the Hebrews,
and in chapter 12, we read this. Let us, in verse 1, let us run
with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus. Now in one way, you might say
that is the aim. But, whereas it may be the aim
and should be the aim, I put it under this head of where our
help is to come from. Because he says, let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith. Now we spoke in the chapter where
our text is of the example of Paul, how he ran as a minister,
as an apostle, but here we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our
example, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. And really this, what he's setting
before us in our text, so run, is a life striving against sin. It's not an automatic thing that
a child of God is free from sin, he's not. It is a life of striving
against it. And it is an evidence of a child
of God, not that he does not have sin, but that he mourns
over it and strives against it and struggles with it. You know,
you might have someone who's not very strong at all and they
have a very strong, large man adversary coming against them.
Well, you'd see them fight and kick and struggle, and they'd
have no hope of really completely gaining the mastery over him,
but it'd be very, very evident that they were unwilling to go
his way and that they were really resisting and fighting. That
would be very different than seeing him come along and just
pick someone up and there'd be no resistance and no fighting
and nothing at all. And so the Lord, he knows the
struggles that prevail with his people. However ineffectual you
and I may feel to be, he knows what sore temptations means,
says the hymn writer, for he has felt the same. And he knows
how weak that we are. But in this way, where our help
is to be coming from, We look to Jesus. We run the race looking
unto him. Our help is in the name of the
Lord. We are not to lose sight of him
that is the way, the truth and the life. How can we run without
looking at him who is the way? And it is he as well. The Lord
is the author and finisher of our faith. At conversion, at
calling, that is where faith is given. And when death comes,
faith shall be turned to sight. But while we are here below,
we walk by faith, not by sight. And that faith comes from the
Lord. This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even your faith. Faith that looks beyond these
earthly things, faith that looks beyond the creature and all its
lusts and all those things that are the downfall of so many,
and views the crown, the prize. That's where our help is. By
grace, you say, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. May we be helped to look, to
look unto Jesus, to look unto Him, They looked unto Him, their
faces were lightened. And then, if we're looking unto
the Lord, it'll be a path of prayer, won't it? Psalm 107,
again and again, they fell down, there was none to help. Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out
of their distresses. you and I are running rightly
and seeking help rightly, then we'll be praying souls. Oh, says Jabez, that thou would
bless me indeed, that thou would keep me from evil, that it do
not grieve me, that thou would enlarge my coast. And we had
those petitions that the Lord would do these things for him. How many things do we make a
matter of prayer so that we are able to run the race set before
us to obtain the prize? And we view these things as being
hindrances and obstacles, and we make them a specific matter
of prayer. That temptation, that lust, that
temptation, That thing that the flesh so loves, that thing that
the Lord has reproved us for, maybe over the years, more than
once. That thing that our conscience
tells us, this is not for your soul's good. And that the flesh
says, but yes, don't worry, I still want to indulge that. Those things that we are approved,
we're told to approve all things. Those things that we have proved
to be damaging to our souls. Abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul. War against the soul. Our help
also is in the grace of God. The Apostle Paul, you remember,
had the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet
him. Three times he prayed, yes it's
right to pray, but he prayed that it might be taken away.
But the Lord said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. You and I need grace, daily grace. And blessed be God, the word
says he giveth more grace, and grace for grace, grace to pray. Maybe we're struggling to pray,
And our flesh doesn't like us to pray. We find it irksome,
we find it hard to stay in prayer for many minutes at a time. But
as we groan out our poor prayers, the Lord is pleased to give us
more grace and strengthen our faith and help us to resist on
and to continue on, strengthened by his grace. Jesus, the author of faith, as
also ordain the means of faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Do we look for that help from
the word, that the Lord send his word and heal us, the Lord
send his word and strengthen our faith, when we see clearly
what the Lord's will is and the way that he'd have us to go.
Dear friends, you and I need help. In ourselves, we're weak,
and no doubt you as well as I have proved it many, many times. The
hymn writer says my weak resistance, ah, how vain. How ashamed, how
ashamed I am of my life, my following, my running, my race. So much
sin, so many failures. How need we of such exhortations
as this, so run that ye may obtain that we desire to attain that
promised rest and obtain the blessings along the way and the
assurance and comfort of knowing that he that hath begun a good
work in us is continuing, is performing it, to have those daily conquests
over sin and death and hell. May the Lord be pleased to bless
this word to us, this exhortation to us, so run that ye may obtain. And what a blessed thing to obtain
that prize at last, to gain that haven to be found in Christ,
and to be found with him in the countless ages of eternity. Oh, that precious blood that
was shed at Calvary, every blessing comes to us through that. And
the Lord has purchased that right to help his dear people in all
that they stand in need of and all that cry unto God through
his dear name. Yes, he is the helper of the
helpless. He is the only one by whom we
shall attain that promised haven at last. Our captain, says the
hymn writer, stood the fiery test and we shall stand through
him. Amen.