with you tonight and maybe God
might use that for His glory to exalt His blessed Son and
just to encourage our hearts. It said, they that wait upon
the Lord, verse 31 of Isaiah 40, shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as equals. They shall run and not be weary. They shall run. Paul said, I run not as uncertainty. I'm not just beating the air,
I run. He told the Galatians, he said,
you did run well. Who did hinder you? They shall
run, not that they might run. They shall run. Who shall run?
They that wait upon the Lord. They shall run and not be weary. These are God's words to his
people. Now left alone and unto ourself, We would all quit. We would all turn back, but they
that wait upon the Lord, they shall run. My brother, Tommy
Robbins, he has run his way race, the race that God set for him,
the run. They shall run and they shall not be weary. They shall
walk and not faint. Now turn over to the book of
Hebrews chapter 12. Read a couple of verses, then
look at some other scripture, and then finally, Lord willing,
come back to this passage in Hebrews 12, beginning in verse
1. Wherefore, seeing 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. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto 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. For consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
minds. You've not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin." As I was thinking along the lines
of us running this race, In the Song of Solomons, chapter 1,
verse 4 says, she said, draw me. We will run after thee. If he ever draws you, you will
run after him. Not after everything else. You'll
run after him. This world is running after everything
else. They are running for fame. They
are running for popularity. They are running to be seen.
They are running to be heard. They exercise a whole lot of
energy and saying nothing. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
18. I want to show you something.
2 Samuel chapter 18. We'll begin at verse 19, but
I want to give you just a little bit of history, a background
on this chapter. You know, David was king now,
and Absalom, his son, was up in rebellion, rebellion against
the kingship of Christ. And David had sent out his men,
and he gave them orders to fight against Absalom's men. But he
said, you be careful. how you treat Absalund. Well,
Absalund's, the war began to get kindly hot and Absalund's
riding down under these oaks and everybody knows Absalund
had this long locks of hair and his hair got hung up in this
oak tree. And they came and they told Joab
and Joab went and threw darts into Absalund and killed him.
Then they came and buried Absalund. And after all this happened,
somebody must go tell David what's happened. Someone must go run
with the news of what's happened. And now we begin in verse 19
of 2 Samuel 18. You bear with me as I try to
pronounce these names. Lindsay's a whole lot better
at them than I am. He read back in this study. Then said Ahimehaz,
the son of Zadok, let me now run. and bear the king tidings,
how that the Lord hath avenged him of his enemies. And Joab
said unto him, Thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou
shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear
no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Now look at this. This man wanted to run. This
man, Ahaiames, he wanted to run. Joab said, no, today is not the
day to run. But he says in verse 21, then
said Joab to Cushi, go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed himself unto
Joab and ran. He sent this man. Why? He said,
you go tell what you've seen. Then said Ahimeaz, verse 22,
the son of Zadok, yet again to Joab, but howsoever let me, I
pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready? You really,
you don't have anything to say. But what's howsoever, said he,
Zadok, he just kept being persistent. Let me run. He just wants to
run. Does that not sound like religion?
Could not be deterred. All he wanted to do was run,
and Joab done told him, said, you don't have anything to say.
And Joab gave in and said, well, then just run. Now watch this. Then Ahimeaz ran by the way of
the plain and overran Cushah. Cushah left first. This man outrun
him, said he went by the way of the plane. I don't understand
what all that means, but what I see there that he ran a different
way. This world's running a different way. They're going to make sure
they get there first. Like you said this morning, those
that are first will be last and the last shall be first. Verse 24, when David sat between
the two gates and the watchman went over, up to the roof, over
the gate, and to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked,
and behold, a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told
the king, and the king said, if he be alone, there is tidings
in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near. And the watchman saw another
man running. And the watchman called unto the porter and said,
behold, another man running alone. And the king said, he also bringeth
tidings. And the watchman said, methink
the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz,
the son of Zadok. And the king said, he's a good
man and cometh with good tidings. And watch what happens when Ahimaaz
comes. Ahimaaz called and said to the
king, all is well. Peace, peace, where there is
no peace. He fell down to the earth upon
his face before the King and said, Blessed be the Lord thy
God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their
hands against my Lord the King. I want to show you something
in verse 29. The only thing that David was
interested in was news about one thing, and that was Absalom. And the king said, is the young
man absent and safe? And him I has answered, when
Joab sent the king's servants, and me thy servant, I saw a great
tumult. But I knew not what it was. This world, they talk of Christ,
they talk of the crucifixion of Christ, but they have no understanding
of what it means. None. And the king said unto him in
verse 30, turn aside and stand here. And he turned aside and
stood still. And look, and behold, Cusha came. And Cusha said, tidings, my lord,
the king, for the lord hath avenged thee this day of all thine that
rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cusha,
is the young man absent and safe? And Cushaw answered, the enemies
of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do
thee hurt, be it that young man. And the king was much moved,
and went up into the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, thus he said,
oh, my son Epsilon, my son, my son Epsilon, would God I had
died for thee in that old Epsilon, my son, my son. Those that God sends to run,
they have a message, and they only have one message, and that's
about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He's done for wretched,
unworthy sinners. In this world, all they want
to do is just waste energy. Paul said they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. They just want to run. Said,
let me run. Let me even outrun Cusha. I'll do everything I can to just
prove I'm right. and have no message about Absalom,
have no message about Christ. I know you can see a lot of different
things here. I know Absalom was in rebellion,
but what I see here, David's main intent was about Absalom
and him alone. Our Lord said, those that honor
me, I'll honor. And our main objective in running
this race that God has sent us to run is to glorify and magnify
the Lord Jesus Christ and everything else is just Fleshy attempts,
just working out fleshy energy. Something else I see, and someone
else that ran, in John chapter 20, if you want to turn, after
our Lord was crucified, and after the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene
came early to the sepulcher. It came when it was yet dark.
The stone was taken away. In Luke's account it says the
angel said unto her, go quickly. And she ran. In verse 2 of John
20 it says, then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter. Can
you imagine how she felt? What have they done with my Lord? Walking wouldn't do. She must
run. And she come up to Simon Peter
and the other disciples whom Jesus loved and said unto them,
they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know
not where they've laid him. Peter therefore went forth and
the other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both
together. And the other disciple did outrun
Peter. and came first to the sepulcher. Now just remember,
it's not been that long since Peter stood and denied our Lord
three times and said, I don't even know him. Before we's too
critical of Peter, that's a good picture of us, denying our Lord. But here now that he hears news
about our Lord, he doesn't understand everything, but he's running. Can you just picture him? John
might outrun him. Some said Peter may be a little
sluggish because of a guilty conscience, and a guilty conscience
will make you linger. We have so much to be guilty
for. But if we can just imagine the
Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the grave, delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification, that would
put you to running. I've got to go see, I've got
to go see what she's talking about." Verse 5 said, he's stooping
down, John, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet
he went not in. Then come a silent Peter, following
him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeeth the linen clothes
lithe, and a nepkin that was about his head, not lying with
the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then when also that other disciple, John, which came first to the
Deseprecher, he saw and believed, for as yet they knew not the
scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Something about
running, it shows great energy. Some never do anything. but half-heartedly,
just halfway. Others throw all their soul into
everything they do. Someone said, I think I did get
this from some Spurgeon, he said, they not only strike while the
anvil's hot, but make the iron hot by striking the anvil. Most
of you don't know what an anvil is if you've ever seen a blacksmith
shop. He'll take either a horseshoe or whatever he's working on and
he'll hold it with a pair of tongs and he's got a big hammer
and he's sitting there striking the anvil. Instead of just waiting
until the anvil's hot, he's going to strike it. He's got effort. He's got some energy in what
he's doing. God help us. Everything that we do. that we
would run with all of our heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. Like
the song they sung, should others sail through bloody seas and
we just sail on things of ease. When we think about those in
chapter 11 of Hebrews, we'll look at in just a little bit,
all those that suffered all the things they did by faith in Christ. It was not their faith, but the
faith that God gave them to trust Him. They not only wait for opportunities,
but accept the present event as an opportunity. I think about
the four men who brought the man to Christ one day. They was
concerned for their friend and they come to the house and they
can't get to where Christ is at. And they could have just
said, oh, it ain't God's will for him to heal that man today.
Let's just take him back home because there was so many around
the house, they couldn't even get to him. You know what they
did? They got up on the roof, they peeled the roof off, and
they left their friend to Christ. They said, if we can get our
friend to Christ, maybe God might do something for him. That's
energy. But doesn't that describe us?
Many times we would have just said, well, let's just go on
back. Don't wait for opportunities. Accept what God's given you.
Let me tell you this, everybody that's in your life, Everybody
that's in my life is in my life in your life for a reason They
cross your path for a reason And that right we get so wrapped
up in things that just don't matter Just don't matter If the
Lord's work is worth doing It's worth doing well By running I mean doing it with
great zeal And give you several illustrations of people in the
Bible that ran. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah, he just
stood up on Mount Carmel, just had all those false prophets
brought up, prayed and God rained fire down from heaven. And Elijah
had all those prophets destroyed. And after that, God is going
to send rain back to Israel. And he tells Elijah, he said,
you go eat. He said, I think God's going
to send rain. Elijah went up on the mountain. He told his
servant, he said, you go out and you look over the sea and tell
me what you see. He went the first time and said, I don't
see nothing. He said, go back seven times. And we just looked
one time and said, well, I don't see nothing. Let's just go on
back. The seventh time, he said, Elijah, I see a little cloud. About the size of a man's hand.
Elijah said, that's all I need. It's amazing how God uses something
so small to bring such a great blessing. And Elijah, you know
what he told Ahab? He said, you better get on your
chariot. He said, rains are coming. Elijah got on his chariot, is
riding to Jezreel. And you know what Ahab did? He
said, he girded up his loins. and outrun Ahab on a chariot. You said, do you really believe
that? I believe it just like that way. You mean a man outrun a horse
and a chariot? I believe it. Elijah was a man
just like us, of like passion, just like us. You say, oh, he
was a supernatural man. No, he was a man just like you.
Of like passion, just like you. A man that growed weak and discouraged,
just like you. But he girt up his loin. He got
rid of everything that was a hindrance to him, and he ran. I can just
see you. You know what it said? It said,
the hand of the Lord was upon him. That's the difference. That's the difference. People
run in the flesh and just get wore out. But if God ever lays
his hand and his power upon an individual, it's amazing what
gets done. It's not by our might, it's not
by our power, but it's by His Spirit. It's like preaching of
the gospel. Unless God anoints it, unless
God uses it, it's nothing but dead words. I don't care how
true it is. Like Barnard used to say, it
can be just as straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. It
takes the power of God to make it effectual. But he ran. He laid aside every
burden. God help us to lay aside the
burden of the law. Get rid of every burden, every
hindrance that would hinder us from running. Running shows eagerness. Abraham, there in Genesis chapter
18, he saw three strangers passing by his tent door. And he said
unto them, turn in my Lord. He ran and fetched a calf and
killed it. Some believe that was an incarnation,
a pre-incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ran and he fetched
a calf and killed it. Someone else, Eleazar in Genesis. When Abraham sent, remember,
Eleazar to find a bride for Isaac and he goes down to the well
and he prayed this prayer and he don't know who the bride is.
And he prays, says, you let me know, the one that comes by,
that she'll water not only me, but she'll water my camels. And
he opened up his eyes, and here comes somebody. And it's Rebecca. You know what it said? He ran
to her. And it said when he spoke to
her, that then she ran and hastened to draw water for him and his
camels. She ran. When God runs to you,
you run to him. That's how he works. The only
time I ever see God getting in a hurry, in the Bible, is when
the prodigal son came back and it said the father ran to him. Ran to him. Ran to him. Another one, when young Samuel Gonna be God's prophet, done
ordained to be God's prophet. When young Samuel thought that
Eli called him by night, he arose and it said he ran to Eli and
said, here am I, for thou didst call me. That little boy laying
in that bed. Maybe God called him. He couldn't
wait. I ain't gonna wait till in the
morning. jumps out of that bed and he runs, said, Eli, did you
call me? And Eli said, you go lay back down. He said, if it
comes again, that's God calling you. And I tell you, let me tell
you this, when God calls, he gets your attention. And you
run. Run. God help you. God help us to run. In the gospel of Mark, The Gospel
of Mark, God's inspired Mark to write and describe our Lord
as the servant, and he uses the word straightway and immediately
often, is one of the attributes of a good servant that is prompt
at once to do the Lord's bidding. He said, when Mary and Joseph
come to him when he was 12 years old and he was in the temple,
He said, I must be about my father's business. We ought to say, whatever it
is, we ought to do it straightway and immediately for our Lord. Let me tell you this. If this would grip our hearts,
I mean, not just our head, but our heart, you and me both do
not have the promise of tomorrow. Oh, that we would do it immediately
and straightway. Someone else. Now I want you
to turn here, I want to show you this. 1 Samuel, back to 1
Samuel, or it was in 2 Samuel, we're meant to go 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 17. Give you a little bit of history on this
one. It's about David. The children of Israel were in
battle against the Philistines. The Philistines were on one mountain.
The children of Israel were on the other. The Philistines had
a giant called Goliath. He'd come out there every day
and just mock them. mock them, intimidate them. King Saul and
everybody in Israel were afraid of him. He said, choose you a
man. That's what Goliath said, choose
you a man that he may come down and fight against me. If he defeats
me, I'll be your servant. We the Philistines will be your
servant. But if I defeat him, you'll be my servant. David had
three brothers. His three oldest brothers were
in the army for Saul. They were all afraid, even David's
brothers. It says here in this chapter,
you go back sometime this week and you read it. Just take time
and read it. It said, when David came down, David's oldest brother
mocked him. He said, David, what are you
doing down here? Who's watching that little bunch
of few sheep? Said, you just come down here to mock the battle.
You know what it was? They didn't have no courage. They were so ashamed. They were
a bunch of cowards, afraid to go fight this giant. You know
what David said? David said, is there not a cause? David said, do you not see this
man? He's defying the armies. He's
defying the Lord God of heaven. David was a, the world would
have said, was a nothing and a nobody. And they begin to hear
what David said. And David inquired, said, what
will happen to whoever kills this giant? And they said he'll,
and the king will enrich him with great riches. He'll give
him his daughter to be married and his family will be set free.
And Saul said, David, let me put my armor on you. Can you
just imagine how that armor looked on little David? They said Saul
was a head taller than any man. David, they put it on David,
and I see it just swallowed him. It's like the world saying, you
need to wear our armor. It's impressive to everybody
else. This is how you need to do it. You know what David said? David said, I must put it off. I've not proved it. Here's where I want to get to.
Verse 47. In all this assembly, David's
saying, you shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and
spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give it into
our hands. It came to pass when the Philistines
arose and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened
and ran toward the army to meet the Philistines. You said this man runs toward
that giant? Let me tell you this, there are
so many pictures here, it ain't even funny. David, the perfect
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the man that God chose to come
down to this world and defeat our enemy. If he hadn't, we'd
still be subject to the Philistines. And David ran. And David, look,
put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and sling it,
and smote the Philistines in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone,
and he smote the Philistine and slew him. But there was no sword
in the hand of David. Therefore David ran. and stood
upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of
the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith.
And when the Philistine saw their champion was dead, they fled. I've always tried to picture
my mind. Here comes David. It's all he can do. He can hardly
pick up that sword. And in the other hand, I can
just picture, he's got his hands wrapped in the hair of Goliath,
carrying that bloody head, saying, I'll shut him up now. He was not afraid. Our Lord set his face like a
flint to Jerusalem. In essence, if you want to say
he ran to do our bidding, he ran to die in our He ran. He ran. 1 Kings chapter 19, another example. After Elijah had got to feeling
sorry for himself, this is just chapter 19, right after chapter
18. God told him he had 7,000 that
had not bowed to the image of Baal. Elijah was going to give his
mantle to a successor, a man named Elisha. Someone said that Elijah didn't
find Elisha in the school of the prophets. Now I want you
to see this, 1 Kings 19, verse 19. So he departed thence and
found Elisha, the son of Shabbat, who was plowing. with 12 yoke
of oxen. How many of you that are old
enough to ever seen anybody plow with a team of horses or a yoke
of oxen? Raise your hand. There's a few. I've never done it, but I can't
imagine how hard a work that is. I bet it's hard enough to
drive a horse, much less an oxen. They said there was 12 teams,
and Elisha had one. He was plowing. working with
12 yoke oxen before him, and he was with the 12th. And Elijah
passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. In verse 20, and Elisha,
he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me, I pray
thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.
Elijah said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to
thee? Elisha and he returned back from him and he took the
yoke of oxen and slew them and bored their flesh with the instruments
of the oxen and gave them to the people and they did it. Then
he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. He ran
after Elijah. Let me tell you this. He left
it all. Left it all. Our Lord said, if. If you love your father. And
your mother. Your daughter. your son, and
I'm going to paraphrase a little bit, your job, your family, anything
else that you want to fill in the blank on. He said, if you
love anything more than me or yourself, you're not worthy to
be my disciple. When he came and he called his
disciples, you know what they did? They left all and they followed
him. Some people say, well, that costs me too much. That's exactly
right. You know what it costs you to,
you know what it will cost you to come to Christ? Everything. That's right. Everything. Elisha left it all, left it all
and ran after Elijah. Elijah. You want a few more? In Acts
chapter 8, another man, a man named Philip. God sent him
from Samaria and told him to go down to this
place. In Acts 8.26, the angel of the
Lord said unto Philip, saying, Arise, go toward the south, the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose and went. Behold, a man of Ethiopia, and
eunuch of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of her treasure, had come to Jerusalem for to
worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah,
Isaiah the prophet. Watch this, and the Spirit said
unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And
Philip ran thither to him. and heard him read the prophet
Isaiah and said, understand this what thou readest. And it goes
on to say that he took that very same scripture and preached unto
him, Jesus. He ran. God help us to see the
earnestness and the seriousness of the hour. Someone else, Aaron in Numbers chapter 16. God was sending this plague upon
the children of Israel because of their rebellion against God. This plague had broke out among
the people and they were perishing. And Moses told Aaron to run and
get the censer, verses 46 through 48. He put the holy fire in that
censer and he ran in between the living and the dead. and
made an atonement for their sin. I don't think he was just walking.
Unless Aaron did something, they were going to perish. Moses said,
Aaron, you go get a censer, put some fire in it, and go make
an atonement. I can see him run as hard as
he could run. standing between the living and
the dead. Let me tell you this, we're living
in a world that is under the wrath of God, under the plague
of Almighty God. Oh, that God would open up our
eyes and we could get some zeal in our step and run to God and
beg that He would have mercy upon them. I have a family. Most of my family are so religious
and yet do not know God. Many times we... We get so wrapped
up in everything else, it just doesn't matter. Just doesn't
matter. Spurgeon said, God help us to
be like a ship, waiting for orders. With our steam ready, our anchors
are up, our sails are up, waiting for our orders to put out to
sea. When he says go, we're going. The Bible always describes the
believer like a pilgrim. You know what we do? We get our stakes down so deep. Someone said that in the depths of winter, when
a man runs, he seldom complains of the cold. I never could run much thought
since I was a little boy. Now, when I was a little boy,
they said I was something else. That's been a long time, no life. But
I remember when I was a little boy, I had an older sister. Man,
she was fast as lightning. And that was my goal, was to
outrun her. And boy, I can't, I remember
the day. I was probably in the sixth grade or something the
day I outrun her. Boy, I thought I was something. But then when
about a year later, Something happened, I broke three bones
in one leg, two bones in the other leg. That was the end of
my running. But I've seen people down home,
they'd run a day in the winter just to sweat. I say, how does
he do that? He's not worried about the cold. He's just thinking about one
thing, that's running. God help us not to be worried
about anything else. Nothing. Running is a place,
someone's a pace that clears our minds of obstacles. Spurgeon
said the more slowly a traveler goes, the more likely he will
be to notice the rough places in the way. It's like if you're
walking down the road, you're going to watch, you're going
to notice every bump in the road. But a man that's running, he's
going to jump over the logs, he'll jump over the creek, he'll
jump over everything. It just doesn't matter. He doesn't
pay attention to them. While he was running, he didn't
have time to notice the road. He had his eyes on the prize.
This world is running for a prize. Now, they're running for a prize.
It's a crown that they can strut around and say, oh, look what
I've done and I've got more diamonds and rubies and everything and
more in my crown than you do. A believer runs for a prize,
too. Paul said, I pressed toward the mark. for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He is my prize. He's all I want. He's all I need. When we look to him, nothing
else doesn't matter. Nothing else. You don't see anything
else. You don't see like David's brothers
just criticizing him, saying, why did you come down here? You
just come down here to mock the Bible. That don't matter. It
doesn't hinder us one bit because we're looking to him. Looking
to him. Looking to him. Someone said running cheers our
pace. When a man advances leisurely
to face a difficulty, doubts and fears have time to work.
When a man comes forward at a run, he doesn't have time to think
about getting discouraged. David didn't. You know, if he
could have just been walking down there, he said, I can't
do this. There ain't no way I can fight
this, John. There ain't no way I can do this. Man just takes off running. He
don't even think about it. Back to Hebrews 12. I bet you
didn't think I'd ever get back. I've been running as fast as
I can. I didn't think about it until
right now. Verse 12 says, wherefore seeing we also can pass about
with so great a cloud of witnesses. You know what I've just tried
to give you? An illustration of those great cloud of witnesses. We are encompassed about. They
said in those great games that those that had run in the races
before they would get on the outside and they would cheer
those down in the races. Look at all those that went on
before us. Peter, Paul, David, Elijah said, I run my race. Run my race. It's worth it. He's worth it. We're encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every
weight. And what's this? The sin, singular,
sin which does so easily beset us. You know what's the besetting
sin of every one of us? I can tell you exactly what it
is. It's a thing called unbelief. I've heard that a lot here today.
Our biggest problem is unbelief and fear and doubt. God help us to believe God. Believe
God. Lay aside, lay aside every weight. Elijah, when he ran, he girded
up his loins. You see a man running, he's not
running in a three-piece suit. He's going to get rid of everything
that encumbers him, anything that hinders him. Paul said,
no man that woreth entangles himself with affairs of this
life, but that he may please him who had chosen him to be
a soldier. Lay it aside. It does easily. besets us. It easily hinders
us. Don't you wish you could just
get rid of it? Boy, I do. Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us. This race set before us is your
individual life. I can't run your race, Ron. You can't run mine. But with God's help, I want to
run it with patience, trusting Him, waiting upon Him. Verse 2. This is it. Looking unto Jesus. If you get to looking at everything
else, you'll get discouraged. You might get to looking to the
next guy and say, boy, I'm outrunning him. I'm doing a whole lot better
than he is. No, just gets to lift it up for
pride. Ain't nobody standing you. Or you might be, compare
yourself to somebody else who seems like they're running a
little bit better than you are. And you envy them. He said, looking
unto Jesus. The author, he's the author,
the originator, and the finisher of our faith. He's the author
of your faith. He's the author of your faith.
He's not just the author. He didn't just author it and
then leave it up to you. Thank God he's the finisher.
He will increase your faith. They that wait upon the Lord,
they shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
of eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall run,
and they all shall run. This is not just describing a
few. This is describing all God's children. All God's children,
listen to me, all, A-L-L, all God's children shall persevere. They shall run their race. and they shall finish their course. Gotta see to it. If it's not
up to us, thank God it's up to Him. There might be obstacles
in the way, and there will be. There may be times of discouragement,
and there will be. But keep your eyes on Christ.
The psalm says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of
the world will grow strangely dim. The author and finisher of our
faith wants this, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied, despising the shame and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him." Think what he endured. Not just
physical pain. He made his soul an offering
for sin. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. Now watch this. Why
should we consider him? He tells us right here. We should
keep considering him, lest you be wearied. Lest you just decide
I can't do it anymore. It's harder than I can stand.
Wearied and faint in your mind. The Amplified Bible read it this
way. Therefore, then, since we are surrounded by such so great
a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the truth,
Let us strip off and throw away every encumbrance, unnecessary
weight, and that sin which so readily, cleverly clings to and
entangles us, and let us run with patience, patience enduring
us in steady and actively persistence the appointed course of the race
that is set before us. Let me leave you with this. when
you think you can't go on, and the next time you think you can't
go on, consider Him. If I've got you tonight, by God's
grace, to consider Him, it's been worthwhile. May God bless
you.