Keep Going

Hebrews 12, I’d like to start reading there in verse 1. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Sports are popular in the New Testament. We’ve got wrestling, boxing, training, competing, and maybe the most popular of all is running a race. At least ten times in the New Testament our life of faith is compared to running a race. You know, that’s unfortunate because that’s my least favorite part of sports. I was a basketball player, and I think of running as punishment, right? If we did something wrong, “Take a lap. Take two.” I don’t like to run. In fact, I remember most of our practices ending with the whole team lining up on the baseline, each one of us would shoot one free throw, and if you missed the free throw, you had to run a suicide! How many of you know what a suicide is? Talk to me afterwards if you need enlightenment. We were recreating free throws in a game situation when you’re tired and there’s pressure. When I think of running, that’s what I think of.

In the New Testament, this running of the race, this is a picture of a life of faith; and the encouragement here in the Scriptures is you just gotta “Keep Going,” so that’s my title tonight. I want to encourage you to keep going. That’s what’s happening in verse 1. He’s painting a picture, verse 1 began, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” He’s picturing a stadium, this great cloud of witnesses, and he’s just finished Hebrews 11. You maybe have studied the “hall of faith” where he lists all the Old Testament saints, and “By faith,” they did this, and “By faith,” they did that, and he’s saying, “You know, they’ve gone before us,” and now I think two thousand years of church history down the line we can add all the church saints, that there’s this great cloud of witnesses sort of cheering us on like in a stadium.

In the first century, in the Roman Empire, they were sports crazy. I’ve had a chance to kind of go along the Mediterranean coast, largely in the country of Turkey (in the Bible, Asia minor), and when you travel through these cities from the first century, they all have sort of a basic plan. They all have the same sort of look—there’s a main street, and then there’s a marketplace they called an agora. There would often be a theater, but always, always there was a stadium for sports. You could just tell by looking at it, even in its current condition, how many thousands of people would gather to see these races. He’s saying, “In faith, you’ve had people that have gone before you. You have the Old Testament saints, the New Testament saints, and they’re there to cheer you on.” I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that thrill of just sort of being lifted by a crowd where you can just do extraordinary things, if you’re encouraged to keep going.

As a basketball player, I could never dunk, except in the pregame—not in the game. I couldn’t do it then. Pregame is when the crowd is kind of going crazy. You have the band, the cheerleaders, you’ve got the student section. All of the sudden I felt like my vertical leap would go up several inches. I find myself getting up around the rim (you know, when there’s no defense), and you’re doing your practice layups and all of the sudden, “This is it!” I could get up there and the crowd has this power to lift you.

He’s saying, in the life of faith you need to be aware that many have gone before you. Many have finished the race. They’ve gone through trials, and they’ve gone through all of that life can throw at them, and the enemy, and if you could just get a vision of, “You’re not alone. The Lord is with you.” There’s this great cloud of witnesses cheering you on to help you rise above the life circumstances that would tempt you to just quit and to stop. He just sort of paints this picture of being lifted up.

In the middle of verse 1, he says, “ . . . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” It seems like even in the first century, in the training for races, that they would use leg weights. Does anybody every use leg weights? You put some leg weights around your ankle and you train, so that when you take them off, you feel like you can fly. When we’ve got baseball season going you see the batters in the on-deck circle put a little donut—anybody know about these donuts? You put a donut on the bat, a weight on the bat, and you’re swinging that bat because when you take it off suddenly that bat feels like a feather, and you can swing faster and harder. He’s saying, “You gotta take off. When it’s time to run, ‘ . . . lay aside the weight,’” But then, he says, “and the sin.” That’s what he’s really talking about. In the race of faith you have to be careful that sin doesn’t trip you up, that sin doesn’t take you out of the race, that sin doesn’t disqualify you.

Can you turn back to 1 Corinthians 9. We’re going to be running all night, and I’m going to look at some of Paul’s passages on running the race. First Corinthians 9, towards the end of the chapter down in verse 24, 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul says, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

This is one of those paragraphs where so many words that refer to sports. You know, Paul understood that they would think in these terms, and he’s taking these things from their culture and applying them to the life of faith. Jesus did it, too, where in Israel He would often talk about agricultural things and everyday things in their homes and apply them to spiritual principles. Here, Paul is speaking to this Roman audience, and he’s pulling out of their culture words that they would readily understand coming right off the fields of competition, right?

In verse 24, you’re running a race, but notice you’re trying to get the prize. Verse 25, that you’re competing for the prize, and again you’re going after a crown there at the end of verse 25. The winner of the race would get a little olive wreath around their head. It’s called the stéphanos, this wreath that you would put on the winner’s head. That’s what you’re going after, but not just an olive wreath that perishes, but in the life of the Spirit you get an imperishable crown. It’s fun to think about standing before the Lord someday and having something to give, something to worship. Here we have that picture of the 24 elders in the book of Revelation casting down their golden crowns before the throne of God. I sort of wonder if you get caught up in this idea of the crowns, I think there’s five different crowns mentioned through the New Testament that you may obtain in the race that you could actually throw at the feet of Jesus. Does that sound good to anybody?

He’s saying, “This is kind of what we’re after,” and so verse 26, he’s running again, he’s fighting; but then, verse 27, he’s disciplining his body. There’s a training involved. The whole reason you do that, the end of verse 27, is that you should not become disqualified. You gotta lay aside the weights. You gotta lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares because if you don’t compete according to the rules, and again, in the first century, this was all very well developed. This was the time where the Olympics, the whole concept of competition, was brought to this high level where you had to compete and train according to the rules. If somehow, it was found out that you cheated - right? - you were disqualified. That last word there of verse 27. It’s just so huge, “disqualified.”

I don’t know how often you’ve seen it, but many times after the Olympics are over, athletes have to give their medals back. Have you heard about this? You know, when people receive their medals, that tends to be on the front page of the sports, but when people have to give their medals back after the competition is over, they’ve actually already been given a medal, but then they get tested for different performance enhancing drugs, and we find out later that, “Oh, wow! This person actually cheated. They were juiced!” When that’s found out, it’s a brutal thing—you’ve actually got that medal, but you have to give it back. Some of our most famous athletes have had to give their medals back because it was found out that they were cheating.

Here, he’s talking about the life of faith. I find this verse very heart-breaking. We often hear - don’t we?- about people in ministry, our pastors, well-known people that have run a race. We find out later they were cheating. They’re disqualified. The have to step out. But this could happen to anybody, right? When I’m running the race, I have to compete according to the rules. I have to discipline myself. I’m going after the prize. I want the crown. I want to do it the right way. I want to follow Jesus. I don’t want to have those secrets. I don’t want something to come out later that actually discredits me, disqualifies me, actually takes me out of the race. Here, Paul kind of sees his life in light of this. It just becomes his goal.

How many of you remember Dr. Dobson? Many, many years ago, back when he was living in Southern California. He was living in Arcadia, not far from where I live. I remember he said once…He had already achieved that level of ministry where he was well-known, and we had the Focus on the Family radio show. I remember him saying that the number one goal for the rest of his life in ministry was not to disqualify himself. He wanted to finish his race. He wanted to practice what he preached, and I was checking in with Dr. D not long ago. I think he’s 89 now, and he’s still doing what he does. He’s near the finish line, but he’s kept the faith. He hasn’t disqualified himself, and I thought to myself, as a young man I read that, and thought, I’m going to make that my goal right now. I got a long ways to go, and I want to finish this race. I don’t want to get to the end of it and suddenly be found out. Be disqualified. I gotta be like a runner. I gotta discipline myself. I gotta do it the right way.

Go back to Hebrews 12. We’re still working on verse 1. Can we go to that last part, the last bit at the end. He says, “ . . . and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” This is what we need is endurance. It’s the Greek word hupŏmŏnē. Hupŏ means under, and mŏnē means to remain or to stay; so literally to stay under, to stay put, to stay in the race. I’ve gotta have endurance. This little word “race” is the Greek word agṓn which is short for agony. It’s talking about how hard it is to keep running and to be faithful.

You know, when you talk about the life of faith, we’re not talking about the shorter races. We have the 100 meters, perhaps the shortest; but then you’ve got the middle distances, the 10k; and the granddaddy of them all, the way the Olympics usually ends, the marathoners, 26.2 miles. You think about life, what would you expect life to be if it’s a race, if it’s an agony? What are we doing? Are we doing the 100 meters? Is that life? Ten seconds and it’s over, or maybe for some of us 20? Or is it just a middle distance where I can just putt putt along and do my 10k? No. I think…yeah, I think it’s a marathon. I think that to actually finish this race I’ve gotta think long term. I’ve gotta think a pace that is maintainable. I’ve gotta dial that in.

You know, when I was in elementary school, I had a friend that lived right across the street from our school. His name was Stratemeyer, and his dad, Mr. Stratemeyer, used to come home from work every day. He would get out of his car, and he’d put on his short shorts. Is it true that short shorts are making a comeback? Watch for it. This was short shorts, and he would come home and he would run. Back then, he would jog. It seems to me, somehow in my childhood memory, that that was a thing. There was like a jogging craze. Jogging was like invented in the 70s, correct me afterwards if you have more information. But we used to make fun of Mr. Stratemeyer—short shorts, and his jogging; this little jog that he would do. My friend Mark and I would just mock him for his jogging.

Then, he said, “Why don’t you boys come running with me sometime. I’d love to run with you guys. Come run with me.” “Oh, yeah! You’re gonna run with us!” We were like two jackrabbits, you know, with our quickness and our speed. Finally, one day, we did it. We went running with Mr. Stratemeyer. This was out in Thousand Oaks, by California Lutheran University. How many of you know Cal Lu? It’s where the Dallas Cowboys used to have training camp back then, and there was a cross-country training track out there by the football stadium that went up and down and up and down all the hills out there around Thousand Oaks. He took us out on the cross-country training area. At that time, I’m like, “I didn’t even know what cross-country was.” Of course, he didn’t tell us.

We’re running, and of course, what did my friend and I, we just took off like a couple of jackrabbits. We just took off running, and Mr. Stratemeyer started doing his jog. You know, somewhere out in the mountains of Thousand Oaks he left us there. He kept going. We could not keep going. We burned out. I don’t think we even made it halfway through this track, ten miles long or whatever it was, up and down the mountains. By the time we got back home, he’s sitting out there on the front porch with a lemonade, you know, “How you boys doing?” We learned our lesson. Mr. Stratemeyer, he’d been in training. He’s an old man, he was probably 40, he’s an old man, and he could run all day because of his training and his pace. He could run circles around us. I remember thinking, even as a young man, I want to grow up and be like Mr. Stratemeyer. I want to be able to run like that.

This is kind of what we’re talking about in this life that is like a race. It doesn’t mean a thing to take off and run quickly for ten seconds or even maybe a middle distance. You know, we’re talking about you gotta train. This is like an everyday sort of thing. And then, you’d have to develop a pace where you just keep going.

I’ve got one of my closest missionary friends, I’m an old missionary, who just is going to turn 80 years old here in July, and we just had a little meeting and prayer and we’re talking about ministry and where we’re going, what we’re doing. This man has a pace where he has no intention of stopping. He’s like a Caleb! Anybody remember Caleb? He’s just going to keep going, and I think to myself, That’s it. I want to be in this. I need endurance. I’ve gotta develop a pace and a training where if the Lord calls me and sends me, that I just keep going and nothing, nothing’s going to stop me.

This is what he’s talking about. But now here listen, verse 2, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” You have to have a goal. You need to be fixed on Jesus. Some translations translate “looking” as fixing your eyes, and it’s because the word literally means just to stare, just to keep your eyes fixed on one thing, and that one thing would be Jesus! “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” “ . . . the author and finisher,” He’s the beginning and the end, and so you know we know we begin our life in Jesus by putting our faith in Christ and we’re born again. Can I get an, “Amen?” But then, do you ever quit focusing on Jesus? Do I grow and move past Jesus? No. He’s the author and the finisher. That’s how I began my life in Christ, it’s how it ends—it’s all focused on Him. And ultimately the great key to running this race is, “I’ve gotta have my eyes fixed on Jesus.” A runner in a race is going to look unto Jesus. That’s my goal. That’s where I’m going.

Some people kind of stumble over this “great cloud of witnesses” because they wonder, Is that something to pay attention to or that I should somehow get caught up in the crowd? The answer would be, absolutely not. The surest way to lose the race is to get distracted. If you start thinking about the crowd…no, you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to even get distracted by other runners. There’s all kinds of distractions in a race, but he’s saying here, “Don’t let that happen. The way to do this is to keep looking at Jesus,” no distractions at all. “ . . . author and finisher,” it's how I start, but it’s where I’m going, it’s where this race ends.

Can you flip back again to the book of Philippians 3, another passage where Paul is running again. He seems to run all the way through the New Testament. Here’s like that secret how to keep going, how to keep running. It’s Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” He’s running again. There’s a lot more sports in the New Testament than you might ever guess. All of these words are kind of picturing an athlete, and he gets to that place where he wants to give you the secret there in verse 13. He says, “ . . . one thing I do,” I do have this sort of focus, and the focus is I forget “ . . . those things which are behind.”

How many times have you seen a race lost because the person in front, before the finish line, took a look over shoulder. It could even be as simple as like a sideward glance at the right or the left. They’re in the lead, and you’re thinking, They’re gonna do it! They’re gonna win! There they go, there they go, there they go! And then, suddenly there’s this looking behind, or again, just in the shorter races it can happen in just a blink, just a sideward glance, and that person next to them surges, puts out their chest, and SNAP! breaks the tape and wins the race.

This is Paul picturing himself trying to finish the race, and he’s saying, “Forget the things that are behind. Don’t live in the past.” Well, let me finish what he said, “ . . . forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward,”—it’s like leaning in—“to those things which are ahead.” You’ve gotta lean. You want to stay focused. You want to keep moving forward. What is God doing next? And, let’s not worry about the crowd. Let’s not worry about other runners. I need to be obedient to the Lord. I gotta fix my eyes on Jesus, and then notice, verse 14, again, “I press toward the goal.”

You know, they didn’t have a tape at the end, it was more like a marker, so you would fix your eyes on the goal. I want to reach the marker, the goal, and he says it’s “ . . . for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul is saying that focusing on Jesus may be the most important thing. If I focus on something else, I might not be able to finish this race. If I start looking around and I start getting overwhelmed by circumstance, if I start looking around at other people, or things that discourage me, if I get overwhelmed with what’s going on in my life, if I get caught up in the past—all those things—it doesn’t work for a person running the life of faith. If I’m going to stay fruitful and healthy, if I’m going to keep running, if I’m not going to be disqualified, no, it’s gotta be all about Jesus. I gotta keep it simple. I gotta keep my heart right. I gotta keep my heart focused. Jesus kind of keeps me going. He’s the goal. I mean, I know where I’m going. I need like a tunnel vision—I gotta keep fixed on Jesus. And if I do that, well then the blessings and the things God wants to do in my life, they’ll happen, if I stay focused on Jesus.

But if I get focused on other things, I could get bitter. I could get tangled up in sin. I could get disqualified. Anything could happen, if I’m focused on other stuff. But here, Paul’s just saying, “This is how I do it. I don’t worry about the past. I forget those things. I’m looking ahead. Actually, it’s a goal that I have as I’m running to Jesus. He’s the One,” and somehow that focus….

Sometimes we wonder, How did Paul do it? Have you ever wondered, How did the Apostle Paul do it? You read these letters about his trips and his travels. He’s traveling in the first century. He doesn’t have an airplane. He doesn’t have a car. He doesn’t have a train. He doesn’t even always have a donkey. He’s walking! Maybe a couple of times he gets on a boat and goes across the Mediterranean, but how did he do it? How did he travel so far? How did he go through so many trials? You just think, This man is quite an example of serving Christ, but what’s the secret?

Well, he might’ve just told you, “I forget the things that are behind, and I keep looking to what’s ahead of me, but my focus is on following the Lord. I just don’t let the crowd bother me. I don’t even worry about other people in this race. I’m just running for Jesus, and I’m running to Jesus. He’s my goal. He’s the One that I’m after.”

Again, back to Hebrews 12. Now, we’re right there in the middle of verse 2. He says, “ . . . who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.” I confess, this was my Good Friday message this year because I’ve been teaching through Hebrews this year, and I got kind of stopped. Have you ever been reading your Bible and you hit something that hits you so strong you just stop? Help me. “ . . . for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” I thought to myself, That must mean there was joy present at the cross. I preached a lot of Good Friday messages, but I’d never really preached one about joy. I’m not sure that I ever really thought about this verse, this fact. You know, we know about the suffering. We’ve preached the suffering and the power of the suffering of the cross, and the victory, and the blood of the Lamb. We’ve preached these things, but I thought to myself, This verse just told me that there was joy there. I thought, Where? How? Where did it come from?

I began to research joy, and I found joy is one of the biggest topics in the Bible. I took those cluster of words, “joy,” “joyful,” “rejoicing,” “rejoice.” Do you know how many references I found for “joy” in the Bible? 453. Four hundred and fifty-three references to “joy” from Genesis to Revelation. I thought, I’ll just check “happy,” and “happiness.” Guess how many I found in the King James Bible? I found 25 references to “happy,” and I found zero references to “happiness.” So, we know, and maybe you’ve been taught, I’m sure Pastor John has done it, there’s just this tremendous difference between “joy” and “happiness.” There are hardly any references to “happiness” at all; there are twenty times more references to “joy.” It’s something deeper and more powerful. “Happiness” is circumstantial. “Happiness” is how I feel, and it’s very much dependent on my circumstances.

“Joy” is something deeper, and isn’t this what athletes do? If you’re running a race, you’ve gotta dig deep because it is painful. You’re stressing your body. You’re sacrificing. How do athletes push through? How do they keep running? This kind of gets into this realm of the mind of Christ, and I thought, I could only go so far in understanding where this joy came from, but I know Christ had it because “ . . . for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,” but it’s like that, isn’t it, that you have to dig deep. You find a motivation. You find a joy to keep going, and Christ, He had it.

You know what I did was I went ahead and read all 453, and I forced myself to pick the top ten; so on Good Friday I preached the top ten reasons for joy, even on the cross. Of course, a lot of them were things like: He was paying for our sin; He was glorifying the Father; He was defeating sin and death and hell and the grave and all of that. As I just kept going, the number one reason for joy in the cross ultimately, I think it’s actually you.

One of the definitions of “joy,” you can look it up in the Greek dictionary, is the people that bring you joy. It’s actually one of the definitions. Paul used joy that way. He would say to people, “You are my joy.” Do you remember that? Do you think that it’s possible that Christ on the cross could actually see you? Can I do a little deep dive here? Look at these words. Again, verse 2, “ . . . who for the joy that was set before Him,” that phrase “set before” is talking about in your mind’s eye, what you choose to think about. That’s where it is, “ . . . set before Him endured,”—that’s that word hupŏmĕnō, again. He stayed. He remained put. He stayed on the cross. It’s often been said that nails did not hold Him there, it was the love of God. You know that.

“ . . . despising the shame,” this is what was so interesting to me. The Greek word is kataphronéō. Phronéō means to think, but kata is a preposition that means against. So, literally “despising” here, it’s kind of hard to translate it. Literally, “despising the shame,” is He was thinking against the shame. In other words, instead of focusing in His mind on the circumstance and what was going on, and obviously the suffering and the death of the cross, He had a source of joy from within, a deep resource of joy that in His mind He was actually dwelling on that and thinking against the rest and ultimately this idea of joy that you could make a list, like I did, of all the things, sources of joy, they’re actually in the Bible; but ultimately, the joy of seeing us, seeing believers, looking and realizing, “He’s doing it for us and our salvation,” that is it possible that Christ on the cross could see that victory, that He could see the people who would come to faith because history is consummated in the book of Revelation with the gathering called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where He’s going to gather people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and there’s going to be this rejoicing at that supper, that place where all of God’s people gathered. It’s like the anticipation of heaven, the anticipation of the victory that the cross would win that, but what was out there ahead that was a source of joy that if you park your mind there in the ultimate reality of the victory of the cross and the victory in heaven and what is coming, that you could actually have a source of joy, even hanging there on the cross.

Would that work for an everyday believer like you and me? Would it be possible that we would be suffering, not a cross but just suffering, and actually in our minds park our minds on the truth of the promises of God that promise me victory, promise me a place there before the throne? “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,” - right?- “and to present you faultless before,”—His throne with singing. Anybody know this? Could I get through difficult, hard things. Could I keep running? Could I keep going for the joy set before me? Could I so fill my heart and mind with the truth of God that when I am suffering and going through it that I have something to feed upon, like an athlete digging deep for a reason to keep going? Would I have a lot of reasons? Could I actually store up and kind of tank up on the joy of the Lord that would be my strength? Could I have so much truth in me of the ultimate victory that God has promised us so that I just, “Okay, Lord, I’m going to keep on going.” Jesus did that, and He’s our example.

“ . . . for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,” and then that last bit of verse 2, “and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Pure victory, you know, He did it. This is that you crossed the finish line and you’re running, but then there comes a point that you’re done. Most human runners, we just sort of crumble and fall apart when we cross the finish line. This is Jesus, the One who “ . . . sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” What does that look like? For us, could you go one more time to Paul, 2 Timothy 4. You know this is Paul’s, these are the last words of Paul that we have, 2 Timothy, and when you get to chapter 4, we’re, yeah, the final words, the last words of all, and he’s still thinking about running. I get emotional sometimes reading these words, so bear with me. I feel the weight of 2 Timothy 4. Go down to verse 6. Paul says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the,”—help me—“race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” I love that part!

It’s not too hard for us to imagine Paul victorious. He’s saying, “I finished the race! I’m there.” Jesus said it, too, in John 17, “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” Isn’t that amazing? Here, Paul says, “I’m done.” “ . . . I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” It was a race in the life of faith, and there’s this crown—the prize, the gold medal—“ . . . the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,”—like the umpire in a sporting event, He—“will give to me on that Day,”—I’ve not been disqualified—“and not to me only”—this isn’t for apostles or the super apostles or only for pastor-teachers, no—“and not to me only but also to all”—everybody—“who have loved His appearing.”

If I’m running the race, and I’m getting there to that point where I’m seeing the Lord, and the Lord is coming, and getting closer, if I have that love for His appearing, if I’m running to Him—I’m running for Him and I’m running to Him—if that’s in my heart, he says, “That’s what’s waiting for you, too.”

You know, I started this sermon by telling you how much I don’t like running. Can I get an, “Amen?” But I do remember this, my only positive feeling from taking those laps is that when you round the curve, I do remember the feeling of rounding the curve. Anybody on the track with me? I mean, I’m talking high school here. I have not touched a track since. But I remember the feeling when you round the curve and the track straightens out and then there’s the finish line. That feeling of, There it is! I can see the finish line, and feeling a burst of just, There it is. I can make it. And, finishing (as much as I didn’t like it), I would finish strong because there’s the end, and there it is.

You know this is what the apostle here is saying is that, “I’m done. I see the end. I’m ready to meet the Lord.” He’s triumphant. Have you ever noticed that?

We have the prison epistles written ten years earlier where he talks about being in prison, but this is that second imprisonment. This is death row. This is a man that’s going to be executed very soon, yet do you ever feel that he’s downcast or confused or…. No, these are words of triumph, “Hey, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith. I’m about ready to stand before the Lord, the righteous Judge,” but in this case he’s saying, “I’ve got grace. He’s actually here to put the medal around my neck. He’s going to put the crown on my head. I’m going to run to the Lord,” and I think there’s this burst. There’s almost a joyous feeling like, “The Lord has been faithful, and here I am. I’m finishing the race that was designed for me,” but he encourages us and says, “You know, it’s not just for me, it’s for everybody who loves His appearing.”

Everybody, if you stay focused on Jesus and don’t worry about other runners and the crowd, just the Lord, I can keep going. I might even experience a burst the closer I get to the Lord, the more I sense His coming, that I actually feel the strength of the Lord. I feel the Holy Spirit helping and enabling me to just run to the finish, and that’s all I want. I want to finish well. I want to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen.