This I do. He tells us why. For the gospel's sake. This, in verse 23 there, is certainly
referring to preaching the gospel to them as he's established well
in this chapter without any support from them, why would somebody
do that? Well, it's not for the sake of
gain that he did what he did anyway, but for the sake of the
gospel. That's why he was able, by God's
grace, to do that. It's what God puts in your heart
that motivates you. And it was for the gospel's sake.
This I do for the gospel's sake, not for the sake of what you
think, what many of them, or some of them at least, thought
that Paul was just in it for himself. The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Also, this
I do, referring to what he said in verse 18 about his reward
for preaching the gospel being that he might preach it in such
a way as to not bring any reproach upon the message itself. I make
it without charge. By God's grace, that's the reward
that I receive from God, that I may make it without charge,
do it without any temporal compensation so that no one could discredit
him and thereby discredit his message. If the messenger is
corrupt, then nobody's gonna hear his
message. And that's, so you see how that applies? This I do for
the gospel sake. I make it, I do this in such
a way that there's no way you can rightly accuse me of being
in this for profit, for myself. If I take no money from you and
thereby the message itself is, can't be reproached either or discredited. Now definitely
this, I do, refers to what he just wrote about being servant
unto all, though he was free from men. We talked about him
saying, I'm free from all men. He was not accountable unto man.
for what he did. He was accountable unto God.
God is the one that put him about the business of preaching the
gospel, not man. He said, I didn't receive my
gospel from man. I wasn't sent by man. Nevertheless,
he made himself servant to all. Why did he do that? For the gospel's
sake. This I do for the gospel's sake. And he adds here, that his desire
was to be partaker of the gospel with them. Of course that was
his desire. He loved the gospel for a reason,
because it gave hope to a wretch like him. We love the gospel
for a reason, because therein lies all of our hope that Christ
accomplished what he came to do, and that was the salvation
of his people, his elect, his sheep. and we trust and hope
in Him by that message. And that thought brings us to
this next passage. Look at verse 24. Know ye not that they which run
in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may
obtain. Now this teaches us of course what Paul is teaching
in the context, but also it teaches us something about studying the
scriptures. And we would never presume to
give a lesson on how to study the scriptures, but it teaches
us something here that is echoed throughout the word of God in
the way these analogies are used. So bear with me on that for just
a second. He's making the clear analogy
here of running in a race. They had the Olympic Games even
back then, and there were public races run and crowns, awards
given for that. And he's comparing the preaching
of the gospel to that, but I want you to notice that there's not
just the comparison that he makes, and it's one point. There's one
point in which the gospel is like a race. One. You can't just
take these parables that our Lord told and make every comparison
imaginable with regard to that subject. Look what He uses it
for. Look what the Lord is teaching
when He tells the parable, or in this case, the Apostle Paul
when he gives this analogy. There's also contrasts, and we'll
see that too. So that's important to understand.
Don't just You say, well, it's not like a race like this. He's
not saying it's like a race that way. It's not a game. The gospel
preaching is not a game. That's not what he's saying.
And when he says only one wins, that doesn't mean one person's
going to heaven and everybody else is going to hell. That's
just foolish. We know to focus on the point that Paul is making
here. The gospel is not a game. It's
the point of everything. It's life and death, it's vital. The gospel's not about prizes,
it's about Christ. But Paul uses the analogy of
an Olympic event to teach one thing about that which applies
to the preaching of the gospel. And it'll be crystal clear what
that one thing is. And here's what it is, and we'll
see it all through this passage, it is the earnestness the carefulness,
the urgency, the wholeheartedness, the commitment with which it's
done. That's gonna be real clear. This
I do, he said in verse 23. And he's about to tell us in
these next five verses the manner. He told us why he does it for
the sake of the gospel. He's about to tell us the manner
in which he does it and why. And this is where he begins to
use these analogies. And he argues here from the lesser
to the greater. We've seen that in scriptures
often. This is true in this lesser example. And so much more true
in the spiritual situation before us. Arguing from the lesser to
the greater. This is what separates a game
from the gospel. The lesser being this Olympic
event and the greater being the vital nature of the gospel here.
Look at verse 25 with regard to that. Every man that striveth for the
mastery is temporary in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we an incorruptible. You see the lesser, they do it,
they strive and they're temperate about it. They give some thought
to the way that they do it. They're committed to it. Their whole life revolves around
how they're performing in this race, if that's what they do.
And you see that, but they're doing all of that just to get
a crown that's just gonna rust or decay or, And he's not just
saying, he's not referring only to the physical crown that they
might receive, whether it be a laurel made out of leaves or
some kind of metal, even gold, it doesn't matter. What also
is corrupt and perishing, and that's the word here, a corruptible
crown, it means perishing, it means decayed, it means worthless. But what's also corrupt is not
just the physical award that they receive, but the honor that
that crown represents. The game is useful as an illustration
in this one aspect of the great care that is taken, the all out
commitment that's made in order to win it. But the contrast of
what the stakes are, is just as important as the similarity. When the race of life is run,
what will be the value and significance of earthly accomplishments then?
You see, it's not just the crown that is corruptible, decaying,
worthless, but it's the honor that it represents. Who's gonna
care what anybody thought of you when you're fixing to meet
God? What will the honor and accolades
of this world mean to you when you've got to do business
with the God that made you? That's corruptible. That fades
away. The applause of men fade quickly. Will it matter how many corruptible
crowns you want? when you're faced with an eternity
of shame and dishonor and horror and wrath. And when Paul says, this is that
I might be partaker with you, that's the goal, that we might
not only preach mercy, but obtain it. You see, the preacher is
in on it. He's got to be. He's just harling
if he's not. I believe the gospel that I preach,
and I live or die by that gospel. That's what Paul's saying here.
I want to be partaker of it. I want to share, or I do share
in this with you. Your only hope is Christ. My
only hope is Christ. We might not only preach grace,
but obtain it, but find it in the eyes of the Lord like Noah
did. In other words, Christ has employed
me. I'm free from men because Christ
is the one who called me. Christ is the message and Christ
is the prize. And he's telling them to run,
but he is the example in that he offers himself as an example.
I'm running with you. I'm running for the same reason
you are, to obtain. to reach the goal. The incorruptible crown is described
in 1 Peter 5.4, when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of
glory that fadeth not away. That's the opposite of corruptible,
that fadeth not away, It not only doesn't cease, but it doesn't
even diminish. That glory with which we are
crowned never even diminishes. It doesn't fade at all. And that
word glory there means honor. The honor of men is one thing. You can give me a medal or a
gold watch for working a long time, and I got a gold watch
one time. Whoopee, I think it got stolen.
A couple of months, I went to a hotel and it disappeared. I
didn't really care that much. But whatever the earthly honor
is, that fades away. That's corruptible. That really
doesn't mean that much. The same people will applaud
you one day and curse you the next. But that means honor. And glory, judgment, a judgment
has been made. That word glory means judgment
in the sense that when a winner is pronounced, There's a judgment
made. You accomplished this better
than anybody else. We judge you to be the one worthy
of the honor. Excellence, preeminence, majesty. This shows what the shepherd
thinks of you. When the chief shepherd shall appear, you're
gonna receive a crown of glory. That's how he sees you. Beautiful
through his comeliness Precious in his sight Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints That's when we
receive the crown that matters When all earthly judgments have
been made And are long over with magnificence, excellence, majesty,
signifying how high an honor it is to be crowned by Him. This word glory also means this,
a thing belonging to God and a thing belonging to Christ. It's interesting that that Definition,
of course, means that this word is used when attributing glory
to God and Christ. But the way that it's worded
reminds us of something too. It's a thing that belongs to
Him. If He ever puts a crown on my head or your head, it's
a thing that belongs to Him. And He gives it freely. This reminds us that He's the
one who earned it, not us. It's a thing belonging to Christ. It's Christ by what he accomplished
on Calvary for us. It's him that's worthy of the
crown and he wears it. He wears the same crown now.
As he is, so are we in this world, but he doesn't take the crown
off of his head and put it on that. He wears the crown too.
His name is exalted above every name. He has been judged to be
excellent and majestic and glorious. And he's been crowned as such.
And he sits on the right hand of the majesty on high and the
whole world is his footstool. They sung a new song saying,
thou are worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou was slain. And listen now, and has redeemed
us to God. Not that was slain and did all
you could do for us. When he was slain, he redeemed
us to God. He redeemed his people to God.
By that blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation,
and has made us under our God, kings and priests, crown wearers. You've made us crown wearers. kings and we shall reign on the
earth, the new heaven and the new earth. And I beheld and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Worthy, why? Because you died. because you
gave yourself, because you were slain and redeemed. He wouldn't
be worthy of this honor if he was just slain to show how much
he loved us. And then we all go to hell anyway.
Where's the glory in that? The Jesus of the false religion
of our age and every age. He's pathetic, he's a failure,
and he's not worthy of any glory at all. He's worthy of condemnation,
and rejection, and even ridicule, according to the scriptures. Our God was slain and redeemed
us. That's why we're singing worthy
is the lamb. That was slain. Worthy. to receive power and
riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He wears the crown. Now we are
crowned with glory and honor by virtue of being in him. I'm
gonna have you turn to some scripture, but let me just read you this
one, Romans 8, 16. The spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then
heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. The glory he receives, we receive. The reward he receives, we receive. That's impossible to even imagine. If so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified. Together, that's the word from
our text, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory, same word, which
shall be revealed in us. By virtue of being one with Christ,
we receive glory and honor. We're crowned with it. Christ
is the only one worthy of honor and yet we're crowned with honor,
incorruptible honor that never fades because of him and his
redeeming us with his precious blood. So then it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth. Salvation is not of him that
runneth and yet Paul says, run. Run, so run, run like this. Run like somebody that has dedicated
themselves so much to running and winning that it's changed
their whole life. They're temperate, they do things
a certain way. Run as though the only thing
that mattered in all the world was to win, because to lay hold
of Christ. Turn with me to Philippians three,
we have to look at this passage. And what a blessing to look at
it. Philippians three, verse seven. But what things were gain to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. So that word gain is
advantage, and he's already entering in on this same analogy. What things were advantaged to
me in my heritage and as far as my earthly honor, everybody
looked at me and said I was blameless. He received honor from men. But
what things were gained in that, those I counted lost for Christ.
I counted those as weights, as deterrents for Christ. Yea, doubtless and I count all
things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. Now when he talks about obtaining
and running and this analogy proceeds through this passage,
remember those words right there, this is it. What's the excellency? What's the majesty? That's part
of that word glory, excellency. For the glory, for the honor,
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. He's gonna say that several other
ways throughout this, but he starts with that one. I wanna
know him. And I'm not gonna quit till I
know him. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and do count them but done, that I may win. You see how the analogy's already
started here, that I may win Christ. What does he mean by
winning Christ? The excellency of knowing him. You see what he means by, I'm
in this to be partaker with you. The gospel is vital to me for
the same reason it's vital to you. And be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, That's what's
involved in knowing him, the excellency of his knowledge,
is by faith to lay hold of him and abandon my own righteousness,
lay hold of him as my righteousness. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith in Christ. And here he repeats it, that
I may know him. That I may know him. The glory
is knowing him. The excellency is knowing him. What I run after, what I want
to win, the prize is knowing him. And the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his
death. In other words, to know him and what he did. his sufferings, what he accomplished
when he suffered. He suffered for sins that just,
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. I wanna know
him in that. I wanna understand perfect substitutionary
redemption in Christ. And if by any means that I might
attain, I'm running, I'm striving. It's not of him that striveth,
I'm not gonna reach him and know him and obtain him by my striving. He's gonna say that in a minute,
but we do strive, we do run, we do want to attain. I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
I don't act like I'm, well, I'm saying I know that I'm saved,
that I'm saved, that I know that I know that I'm saved. I'm just
as saved as if I was already there. I'd be careful about that.
I wouldn't look to an experience and trust that all the way to
the end. I'd ask myself, and we do, we examine ourselves,
whether we'd be in the faith. Do I believe on him? Am I looking
to him alone? Either we're already perfect,
but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Now, he's already laid hold of
me. That word means to lay hold of.
I strive, the attainment is to know him, to lay hold of him
by faith. He's already laid hold of us, but I sure do wanna lay
hold of him, don't you? Brethren, verse 13, I count not
myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind. And that's the best thing to
do with it, isn't it? Remembering what you were,
what you've done, there's not a whole lot good about that. And reaching forth under those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A lot of times
we'll stop there. Let's read a couple more verses pursuant to our text. Let us
therefore, as many as be perfect, mature, grown up, know the Lord,
be thus minded. I mean, what minded? forgetting everything else and
running to Christ just as fast as I can. May that be our mindset. And if in anything you'd be otherwise
minded, God will reveal that to you. Has he ever done that
for you? Oh, Chris, what are you doing? What are you thinking about?
What are you striving? What are you worrying about? How in the world could you take
your eyes off of God's son in all of his glory? Nevertheless, where to we have
already attained? He said, I haven't attained.
I'm not gonna sit back as though I had already attained. I'm gonna pursue Christ today
as much as I ever did. Let us walk by the same rule.
Let us mind. The same thing, wherever we find
ourselves right here tonight, remember that rule. Forgetting
those things which are behind, reaching forth into those things
which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's a high calling, it's
a high calling, and it's in Christ. God, take my eyes off of everything
else. Don't let this world charm me. Thank God for how he uses
this world to bless us, but don't let this world take my attention
away from that which is vital, from him who is glorious. Run
as though the only thing that mattered in all the world was
to know and lay hold of Christ who has laid hold of us. The runners of this world They run that way. That's what
Paul's saying. They run that way. They run like
all that mattered was getting more money, more prestige, gaining
the approval and applause of other sinners. They run like
that's all that mattered to them. Run like that, but not for a
corruptible crowd. For an incorruptible. This I do. for the gospel's sake. Not for the honor and applause
and approval of men. Not for gain that comes from
this world. Not for the honor which sinners
bestow on other sinners. Listen to John 5.44. Our Lord
said in John 5.44, how can you believe? How can you believe
on me? Which receive honor one of another
and seek not the honor that cometh from God. That's what Paul's
talking about. Seek the honor that comes from
God. How in the world can a sinner
be honored by God? Well, we know how, can't we?
And that's why we press toward the mark. Turn with me, please, to 2 Timothy
3. Just another comment or two tonight.
2 Timothy 3. Verse 14. What's he talking about? What's
our text about? Verse 14, but continue thou in
the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. What's the excellency? What's
the glory? Knowing Christ. Continue. Strive, continue to
desire, like Paul said, to know him. Don't you know him, Paul?
Yeah, but oh, that I might know him. And that from a child thou
hast known the holy scriptures, verse 15, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
This is life or death, this is everything. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
That doesn't say, now when it says the scripture's profitable
for doctrine, that doesn't mean, oh, well I can use the scripture
and come up with some great doctrine. That's what people do, isn't
it? It's exactly what they do. All of our doctrine is based
on the scripture. No, he's saying the scripture is profitable for
doctrine. If the scripture is your doctrine,
you've got good sound doctrine. Where was I? Instruction and
righteous that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished
unto all good works. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.
That's what Paul was talking about in our text, right? Preach
the word. But that's pursuing the Lord in whatever capacity
he's given you. whatever way he's gifted you,
wherever he's put you in his body, in his kingdom. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering in doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good
fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. And henceforth,
not therefore, People read that like it says therefore, and they
feel like they have to apologize for Paul. He doesn't say therefore
because I've done such a great, henceforth, what happens next? I'm ready to die. What happens
next, Paul? Well, there is laid up for me
a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge. Remember that word judgment in
the definition of the honor of being crowned? shall give me
at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love." It sounded like to me in Philippians
3 there where we read where Paul said, everything I ever was and
ever am is done I need Christ. I've got to have Christ. I count
everything but loss that I might win Christ. I'm pressing toward
Christ. I must attain unto Christ. I've
got to lay hold of the one that, sounded like he was in love with
Christ. Almost sounded like nothing much
mattered to him, but his Lord and master and savior. that love his appearing. And then Paul said, in verse 26 of our text, I therefore
so run, not as uncertainly, He told them to run and he said,
look what I'm doing. That's what he means by being
partaker with you. I need him just as bad as you do. I'm telling
you how bad you need crap. Me too. Me too. I'm partaker
with you in that. And I'm running, just like I'm
telling you to run. Not as uncertainly. We don't
know where we're, you know, religion, these two analogies give us a
great lesson about how to run. One of them is not uncertainly,
not just running for the sake of running, and not as one that
beateth the air. So first of all, we don't run
around just for this. So this is religion and it's all of its
zeal. They have a knowledge, a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. They just run it. They don't know where they're
running. One minute they're running on the fact that God loves everybody,
and another minute they're running on what they say that if you
don't live the Christian life, God will throw you in hell. That
doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? They're just running.
I'll tell you where they're running, I'll tell you what their direction
is, what people wanna hear. They have itching ears, we just
read that, didn't we? They have itching ears, they wanna hear
certain things, and that's the direction they take. What's going to benefit me? What's
going to make people like me and give money to me? It is an uncertain zeal. Not us. By God's grace, we press toward
the mark, the mark. We're foreseeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us and let us run with patience or steadfastness the race that
is set before us. Where are we running? What's
the goal? Where's the finish line? Looking unto a person,
Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. That's our text. It's clear as
a bell. Beating the air refers to those who before a fight, and this is in the language of
the text here, before a fight, they want to show how big and
bad they are by putting on an exhibition. their punching ability. Whether they're punching a punching
bag or it's some kind of a promotional event to get people hyped up
for the fight. I always think, you know, when
two boxers and then they do that standoff at the promotional event,
they're trying to intimidate each other, you know, looking
as mean as they possibly can and showing as much contempt
for the other one as they possibly can without just right out punching
them in the face and starting it right there. I always think
one of these fools is fixing to get a beating. I wonder which
one it's going to be. One of them is going to be probably
laying on the ground crying for his mama here pretty soon. He
looks tough now. And then what's all that swagger
going to mean when they're drooling on themselves on the ground? We don't boast of self. God help
us not to do that or put on vain displays. You know, that's religion
also. They wanna show their doctrinal
superiority. We know more than you. Let us
help you out. Fleshly religious show. What
does any of that actually accomplish when it comes to the salvation
of sinners? All the trappings of religion. Who's saved by some
man in a dress? going through religious motions
like they do, or counting plastic beads. How's that gonna save
somebody? Or arguing doctrine with somebody.
How's that gonna help anybody? It's about making a show in the
flesh. That's not how we run. Paul said, I don't run like that.
I don't fight that way, just to show how big and bad I am. Look at verse 27 in closing.
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, a reprobate, lost. So Paul says, I'm not just beating
the air. Somebody is actually taking a
beating. I'm not just beating the air. Somebody's getting whooped, you
know who it is? Paul said, it's me. I keep under my body. The words
keep under mean to beat black and blue. That's the very first
definition of the word. Look it up. I guess that's where
the term black and blue, I'm gonna beat you black and blue.
I think my mom might've said that. She was too nice to say
something like that. Now we were able to make, a nice
mom can turn into, when provoked, I'm gonna beat you black and
blue. That's probably where that came from. Cause that's the definition
of that word. I'm gonna beat myself black and
blue. Not just beating the air. That's
a real enemy. It's a real opponent. And he's not talking about his
physical body. He didn't go around whipping himself like, Stupid
religious people do. His opponent was himself and
he knew that. Are we even in that fight? That's
what I want us to think about tonight. Are we in that fight?
Do we see ourselves as the problem? I'm not sure that many people
do. I pray that we might because that's the problem. It comes
down to us. I don't think we lose this if
Satan, because Satan is so strong. I don't think we lose it because
the world is so horrible and evil. I think it's down to us,
don't you? By the Lord's grace, it's gonna
be something we experience in ourselves. Not that it depends,
it's not of him that runneth, it's not of him that striveth.
Let me stress that again. And yet Paul says, strive, run,
Fight, fight the good fight of faith. And that's the way the Lord works
this out now in us. That's the way he works it out. He's the one that does the saving.
He does all the saving. Our fighting and striving doesn't
add anything to his righteousness, which is our only righteousness.
It doesn't add anything to his sacrifice, which is our only
offering before God. And yet he exhorts us, having
been made righteous by his blood and having been redeemed by that
precious blood. He says to us, go up. The battle's been won, go up. You can't lose, go up. And stakes are high, aren't they?
Lest I myself should be found to reprobate.
Do we have that concern at all?
I mean, I'll tell you how to not be worried
about that. Look to Christ. Strive and fight and work and
serve and pray as we are so thoroughly exhorted to do. But it's not about us being better
or tougher or stronger or wiser. What we're fighting for is to
know Him, to be found in Him, not having
our own righteousness, not having our own striving and fighting
and serving, not having that as a righteousness before God. Our striving is to find in Him
all that we need. I hope the Lord will make that
clear to us.