Warm over with somebody shut the back door. It's open or somebody coming in and out or Back doors Josh. Did you leave it or open the doors open? Somebody was going out or coming in Remember next Saturday morning this our men's meeting prayer meeting come if you can let us know kind of let me know how many is coming so I can know I how many biscuits to get. Met a lady yesterday at the thing that didn't like biscuits, and I asked her if she was an American. Because that just sounds crazy to me, not to like biscuits. But we had a good time yesterday. I appreciate Jeff kind of leading it up and helping us to be able to do that. We need to do that more often, reach out to people and try to share the gospel. try to point people away from the things that they're facing to the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians nine, before I read the text, I want to ask you a couple of questions and I don't want you to answer those questions, but I do want you to think about them and just kind of contemplate them as we begin to read our text and look at some, the truths from this portion of your word. The first question is, what is it that moves you and motivate you in life? What is the most important thing in your life? What is the thing that is, you know, if you could like boil it down into a sentence or if maybe your children or someone that knows you were to be asked this question, what is the thing that is most important, most significant, what is the thing that drives them, moves them, motivates them to a greater degree than any other thing? What would be the answer to that in regard to your life? And the second question is, should that which motivates and moves the life of a Christian be something completely different than that which motivates and moves the lives of people that do not know Christ? Should the Christian be moved stirred, given over to something completely different than those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's read our text, 1 Corinthians chapter 9. We have come down to the end of the chapter. I'm going to read these verses in the English Standard Version, which is what I study and preach out of. And then I want to read the same verses to you from the amplified Bible. Verse 24 down to the end of the chapter to verse 27. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run? Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Now here are the same verses in the Amplified Bible, verse 24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run your race that you may lay hold of the prize and make it yours. Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness that cannot wither. Therefore, I do not run uncertainly without definite aim. I do not box as one beating the air and striking without an adversary, but like a boxer, I buffet my body, handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships, and subdue it for fear that after proclaiming to others the gospel, And things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit, not stand the test and be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit. And as I normally do. I would invite you to keep your Bible open to those verses and we're going to think our way through those verses and consider hopefully the truths that are in them for a little while this morning. Well, this morning we come to the end of this chapter that we've been working our way through for a few weeks now. And as I try to warn myself when I study and as I try to warn you when I'm preaching, we need to understand that just because we're Coming to the end of the chapter doesn't mean that we're coming to the end of a subject or a section of the letter and that we're necessarily entering into a new section or a new part of the letter. This section that we've been looking at began at chapter 8. The beginning of chapter 8 is where this section of this letter begins at. The letter's kind of blocked off in different sections. And we're in this part of the letter where Paul is answering questions that had been sent to him in a letter. And in chapter eight, he begins to deal with the subject of whether or not they as Christians should eat food that had been offered in sacrifice to idols. The question regards Christian liberty, Christian freedom. And also when Paul begins to address that question, he begins to tell them that they need to be careful that they don't let their knowledge lift them up with pride, but also that they live in love toward their brothers and sisters in Christ. And sometimes if you love your brother or sister in Christ, sometimes you have to give up your own privileges, your own freedom, your own rights for the well-being of others. And what Paul talks about in chapter eight, which the context goes all the way through to the end of chapter 10. But what Paul talks about, he kind of emphasizes the necessity that number one, we don't want to get lifted up with pride because we understand the gospel in maybe a more full and adequate way than some other believer does. And because we have different views of certain things than maybe other believers have, even though they may be the weaker brother. And even though they may be spiritually immature, sometimes we need to be willing, out of love to our brother or sister, sometimes we need to be willing to deny ourself, to set ourselves aside, to not do something for the sake of another because it might be spiritually harmful to them. And he basically calls on them as Christians to be willing to live a life of self-denial. Sometimes you gotta say no to yourself for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of brothers or sisters and their spiritual well-being. Now Jeff and I, Jeff talked to me about this one Sunday after service. Whenever we do that, it's not that we don't want them to grow or that we're not trying to help them to see the gospel more fully or to have a deeper understanding of the things of God. Christian freedom and liberty is a wonderful thing. We're not under the law, we're under grace. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And we want our brothers and sisters to be able to have assurance. We want them to be able to enjoy their walk with God and to enjoy their relationship to Jesus Christ. We want them to grow. We want them to mature. We want them to develop. And it should be our mission out of love to them to try to help them to grow and develop and to come to a deeper and more full understanding of the things of God. But sometimes because they've not yet grown or they do not yet see, sometimes if we persist and demand our spiritual freedom, sometimes we might do them positive harm and positive hurt. So sometimes for the sake of others, we've got to say, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to participate in that because it might be hurtful to them. I'm not going to go down that road because it might be harmful to another brother or sister. It might be harmful to my Christian family. So for the good of the family, even though I know in my heart, it's not wrong for me to do that. Even though I know in my heart that it's not, you know, it's not some issue that is an issue in which I would be sinning against God. I'm not going to do it for the sake of my brother or sister in Christ because I love him. Paul calls upon them to live a life of self-denial. He returns to the subject of idolatry and he returns to this subject of self-denial in chapter 10. And that's what makes chapter nine look like it's kind of a whole different subject and like it's out of place, but it's not. Because when you read the three chapters together, you figure out, you discover that in chapter 9, what Paul is doing is he's saying, I want you to understand, I'm not just calling upon you to live a life of self-denial and say no to yourself for the good of others. But in chapter 9, he's saying, I live that way. I practice what I preach. I don't tell you to do something and then I don't do it myself. And in chapter nine, he has used himself as an example of self-denial and sacrificial service. And he has shown them that even though he had rights as an apostle of Jesus Christ to expect that they would provide him the material means to live so that he could devote all of his time to the ministry, he had chosen to forego that right for the good of the saints, for the good of the church, for the sake of the gospel. He went to lengths, I think kind of great lengths, to prove that even though he had the right to expect material maintenance from the church at Corinth, he did not take it and he would not accept it so that he could preach the gospel to them and there could be no accusation made against him or the ministry or the gospel. He gave up his own rights for their welfare. And he did it for the gospel and he did it so that he could win as many of the Corinthians to Christ as he possibly could. The verses that we looked at last week, I don't know whether you thought about them anymore this week, but there are some tremendous statements that he makes in those verses. And one of them, he says in verse 19, though I am free from all people, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. In other words, even though I have no obligation to other people, I have deliberately and willingly made myself a servant to them so that I might win as many of them as is possible to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The other amazing statement he made is in verse 22 when he said, I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. In other words, I've done whatever I could possibly do without disobeying the moral law of God, without violating the will of God. I've done everything I could possibly do that I might win more people to the gospel, that I might see more people saved. Now let me ask you a question. Does it matter what a person achieves in this life if they perish in their sins and go to hell? Does it matter what a person attains? Does it matter what they possess, what they own? Does it matter how much pleasure they have or how many things they can enjoy in this world if ultimately they must leave it all at death and stand before God and have it all stripped away from them and spend eternity separated from God? What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his soul? So Paul is saying, I'm willing to do anything I can do without violating the word of God, without violating the command of God, without violating the moral law of God, without somehow sinning against God. I'm willing to do anything I have to do. I'll become anything to anyone that I might, you know, be used by God as an instrument He might use to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ. I'm willing to suffer whatever I have to suffer. I'm willing to forego whatever I have to forego. I'm willing to give up whatever I have to give up. I'm willing to go wherever I need to go. I'm willing to be whatever I need to be. that more people might be saved, that more people might hear the gospel, and I'll do it for the gospel's sake, and I'll do it so that men, women, boys, and girls might hear the gospel, that the Spirit of God might work in their heart, and that they might receive the gospel, and that they might be saved. what he's been emphasizing up to this point. He didn't just tell the Corinthians, you need to be willing to deny yourself for the good of others, but he says, that is the way I've lived. That is the way I'm living. That is the way that I exercise my ministry, and the example of that is the way that I've been willing to do anything. I'll work all night to put food on my table if I have to so I can preach all day and bring the gospel to you so that more people can be saved and be rescued from eternal doom and destruction by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that brings us to the verses that we're going to look at this morning, verse 24 through verse 27. This chapter closes with Paul drawing some pictures for us from a world that the people of Corinth would have understood. and the people of Corinth would have known. And I want you to look with me this morning and I want you to think with me about the series of pictures that Paul draws with words here. And there's more than one way to draw a picture. I can't draw a picture with a pen or with a marker, but sometimes I can draw a picture with words. And Paul is drawing pictures here with words to illustrate great spiritual realities and great spiritual truths. That's what I want us to think about this morning. The title of the message this morning is running to win. Now I'm going to tell you, you have to be looking at the worst loser that probably ever lived. I hate to lose worse than anything. Someone, my kids will not play, they're old now, they're not ancient, but they're older than they were. But they won't play Monopoly with me to this day because I wanted to win. I mean, I was, and it was, I was, I meant to win. I wanted everything on the board. I wanted the hotels. I wanted it all. And they were like, realized that it was hopeless for them and they wanted to quit. And I wouldn't let them quit because I wanted to make sure that they knew that I really did win completely. And I shouldn't have done that. But I'm a poor loser. I never do anything with the intent of it don't matter whether I win. I want to win. And this is what Paul is talking about here in regards to our spiritual life. He says if we're running, we should run to win. We should run. My dad told me when I was a kid, if it's worth doing it all, it's worth doing right, and it's worth doing with all your heart. And that's a great life lesson, isn't it? There's too much half-heartedness in a lot of things in the world in which we live in. And listen, I'm not the best at anything in the world, but I try to do my best at what I'm doing. You know, I want to do my best at my job. I want to do my best. It's one of the things that, you know, I put septic systems in. And you say, well, it's just a septic system. But I take pride in it. Because it's laying it out, figuring out how to get it on this particular piece of property, making sure that it works, making sure that it works for the family for many years to come. In all these years, I've only had one failed inspection. And I have to say, that wasn't my fault. It was because of the transit. We had a junky transit and something happened. And it didn't fail by much, but it did fail inspection. And that grieved me so bad, because I don't like being bad at anything and I don't like losing and I don't like failing. And Paul is drawing a picture from a world that the Corinthians could have understood, but he's applying it to our lives as Christians. And that's what we're gonna think about for a little while this morning. Now, first of all, he draws a picture from the games, the games. And the language here is athletic language in verse 24 through verse 47. And even to this day, the world has an athletic event every so many years that is connected to ancient Greece, the Olympics. My understanding is there were four very big and very important athletic events in the world of Greece. And two of them I can't remember the name of, but two of them I can remember the name of. One, because it's the most famous, the Olympic Games, which there are still athletic events today called the Olympic Games. But the other one, they believe the second most important and the largest games were called the Isthmian Games. And those games occurred at Corinth. They were right there close to Corinth. because Corinth, remember, set on the Isthmus, on a little narrow piece of land between the ocean, and it was a place where the sea, you know, the people would bring their wares from the sea on either direction, cross land at the shortest point, and then they would take shipping again, and that's how they shipped their goods, and that's why Corinth became such an important commercial center, and such a place of so many people coming and going in Corinth. And they had these games, they were called the Isthmian Games, named after the Isthmus, that little narrow stretch of land. And they would take place, I think every two years, if I remember correctly, they would take place at Corinth. And there were, in these games, it was like the Olympic Games. There were multiple games of different types. There was, you know, running and things of that nature. There was wrestling and fighting and things of that nature. And these were a big deal. Now, I don't like the Olympics. I don't care nothing. The only time I ever liked the Olympics is when I was a kid and the American team beat the Russians in hockey. That was a big deal. And I remember that. That was great. And that's the only time I ever got really interested in the Olympics. Other than that, I've never been interested in them. But yeah, we have to acknowledge that even today in the world, they're considered to be a big deal. And in the ancient world, in Greece, these games were considered to be a big deal. People would come from all over Greece to compete at these games, and a great amount of honor attended winning. If you won, you were honored. You were honored by wearing a wreath that was given as evidence that you had won the particular event, whatever it was. And then you would be honored when you went back home. One of the things that would happen when you would come back home, they would celebrate you much like a conquering general coming back from a victorious battle or a victorious war. The people that won these events became well-known, they became famous. They were honored when they came back home, and often they would be rewarded. One of the ways that they would reward them is that they would make them free of paying taxes. That'd be a pretty good deal, wouldn't it? Well, they would be, well, this person has made our famous city because they won this event at the Isthmian Games, and they would be rewarded maybe financially in different ways, and one of the ways they might be rewarded is that they would be, some of them in some cases, would not have to pay taxes. So this language, we need to understand that this language that Paul is using is very deliberate. He's not just making this up without purpose or without reason. You gotta realize Paul had been at Corinth for a good number of months preaching the gospel to the people there and founding the church at Corinth. So it's very likely that Paul may have attended the Isthmian games. It's also very likely that he would have probably heard much conversation surrounding the Isthmian games. It was part of the culture, part of life in Corinth. And when he uses this language, he knows that he's talking about something that they can understand. He's illustrating with something that they would know. and that they would be able to identify with. So that's the first picture. He's using the picture of the athletic events of the Isthmian games to speak truth to them. Now the second picture. He speaks in verse 24, and he gives the picture of a race. Look at verse 24. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain it. All who enter a race run, hoping to do what? To win, right? That's why you run a race, is to win. You don't run a race just to participate. And I'm not trying to be ugly, don't get upset at what I'm about to say. But I can't stand this participation culture. where everybody gets a blue ribbon just because they showed up. And nobody tries, and it doesn't matter because we're all gonna get to, that's not the world, that's not real life. I'm gonna tell you, most of us adults know what it is now to deal with these young people that are coming into the workforce out of the participation banner culture. And they don't get it. They don't get it. They don't get you gotta show up on time. They don't get you gotta perform. They don't get you gotta strain yourself a little bit and help out. They don't get that. Their attitude is I come to work and you're lucky to have me, don't expect much of me. You're blessed that I'm here. I gotta put out and I've gotta perform. That's not the world I was raised in and that's not the world I raised my kids in. And when I was a kid, when I was a kid, when they were a kid, they played soccer out here at the YMCA. And they didn't keep score, but I kept score. They didn't keep score, but I kept score. And I'll give them the same ribbon, and they would pat them on the head and say, it don't matter, you're just having a good time. And I'd take them aside and say, don't you ever let anybody tell you it's not more fun to win than it is lose. Because that's not life. That's not a lie. I don't want them to be a bad sport and I want them to be good losers. But when you run, you ought to run to win, right? Now you may not win because there may be somebody that runs faster than you. That's okay. But you shouldn't run to lose. You should run because you want to win. Now the reality is what Paul says, do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize. Now here's the thing about this. In every earthly race, if it's fair, you know, everybody runs, but only one can be the one that crosses the finish line first. And only one can receive the prize. But, In the Christian race, and the Bible does indeed liken the Christian life to a race, you remember when we were working our way through the book of Hebrews, do you remember, run with patience the race that is set before you? We all, as Christians, it's likened, our life is likened to a marathon, a race. lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset you and let us run with patience or endurance the race that is set before you. In Hebrews chapter 12 verses one and two, the Christian life is likened to a race. But in the Christian life, everybody can win. You know why? Because you're not running against other people. You're running your own race. You're running your own race. I'm not running against anybody else. I'm not competing with you. I'm just wanting to run as well as I possibly can and cross the finish line as strong as I possibly can so that the Lord might be pleased to say, well done, now good and faithful servant, when my race is over. I'm not running against you. I'm not trying to beat you or get ahead of you or look better than you or try to be more important or significant than you. But I do want to please my master. I do want to glorify him. I do want to honor him. I do want to run well. And I do want to run to win. He draws this picture of the race. Everybody is in a race, but in a worldly race, only one can receive the prize. But in the Christian race, everybody can receive the prize because we're not running against each other. We're running for the glory of God. We're running to please our King, our Lord, and our Master. So even though in earthly races only one can receive the prize. In the Christian race, all can receive the crown. But here's the thing. When he says at the end of verse 24, so run that you may obtain it, what he's essentially saying is to run and to live your life in such a way that you are wholeheartedly and with all purpose of mind and heart desiring to cross the finish line and to win the crown. Right? Live with purpose. Live wholeheartedly. Live a life of obedience. A life of submission. Now, think about this, and I want to make this clear to you. I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. I don't think you would, but I want to make sure that you don't misunderstand what I'm saying. What he's talking about here has nothing to do with salvation, because you're not trying to be saved, and you're not running to be saved. It has everything to do with your life after you are saved. It's about the way you invest your life and the way you serve Christ after you've been saved. Because I'm not running hoping I can, you know, earn my way into heaven. I'm running because I want to serve my King that died for me and rescued me and redeemed me and gave me eternal life. I want to honor Him and I want to please Him and I want my life to count for Him. The idea here is you're in a race if you're a Christian. And even though in earthly races only one can be crowned, in the heavenly race, every one of us could be crowned. But we are to live our lives wholeheartedly with purpose. And I'm gonna tell you, I hate to see people, you know, don't you hate to like, see people just kind of mailing it in and not being completely committed to whatever it may be, whether it be a sport or whatever it is. I forget one year, Luke played little league football one year, my employer talked him into it and he hated it and he wanted to quit and I wouldn't let him because that's another life lesson. Once you start something, you make a promise, you stay with it even though you hate it. And he wanted to quit and I wouldn't let him quit. They didn't score a touchdown all year. It was like, Just a bitter thing for me. Again, I hate losing. And I loved football when I was a kid. Me and Jason played football together. We didn't like losing, didn't we? We wanted to win and we played hard. And we wanted to be the meanest guys and the toughest guys out on the field. It was like, you know, it was part of our, I guess, whatever, manhood or whatever, boyhood. We were boys, we weren't men. And man, that year they didn't score a touchdown all year and I'd go to every game and I'd think, boy, I hate watching this. It just hurt me so bad. But you know, when you don't score a touchdown about three games in, guess what happens? You're beat before you get there. Because your heart's, you're already, you're mailing it in, right? You're beat before you get there. And I watched that whole season. And I couldn't wait for it to be over because there wasn't no effort. There wasn't no trying because they were already broken on the inside. We should run. We should run to win with all of our hearts. We should run and serve our Lord with everything that we possibly can to cross the finish line and be crowned. Third picture, not only the picture of the games, the picture of the race, but the picture of the runner. Verse 24, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives a prize, so run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. Now, he not only here is talking necessarily about the runner, but he's talking about any athlete. And he says that they exercise self-control in all things. I read that there was a 10-month preparation period for the Isthmian Games. But you're not just gonna show up at the Isthmian Games, but you prepared for them for months. Some of you my age will remember this. When we were young, boxing was a big deal. And it wasn't like pay-per-view, it was on TV. And it was when, Muhammad Ali was in his heyday and he had these great Fighters that would fight him, you know, Joe Frazier He was probably I thought I thought he was the toughest one Larry Holmes. I George Foreman, and I remember as a kid watching these. But not only would they have these fights, but they would have the build-up to the fights. And in the build-up to the fights, they would show these men training non-stop, day after day after day after day, preparing for this fight. Because the fight was going to be probably maybe 15 rounds. And they were going to be exhausted. They had to be strong, they had to have stamina, and they had to have skill. tirelessly work to prepare for this fight. That's what Paul's talking about here. An athlete exercises self-control in everything. They train, and they are careful what they eat. They exercise, they deny themselves, they discipline themselves so that when they step into the ring as a boxer, they'll be prepared. Or so that when they step up to the start line, they'll be prepared to run The race. They would strenuously deny themselves so that they could run well, and so that they could win. I remember this commercial years ago, and it was a guy, it was about weight loss, and I forget he was on it, he jumped up on a, he looked at his timer, he jumped up on a treadmill, he run like a madman for like 10 seconds, and he got off, went and weighed himself, like that's gonna do any good. Takes a little more than that, don't it? If you're gonna be, you know, it takes more than that. And he's saying that the runner or the athlete would practice self-control in everything so that they would be prepared to run well because they wanted to win the race. You realize you can't run well and win the prize when you live a life of self-indulgence. instead of self-denial. Usefulness and victory in the kingdom of God are not for the careless and the carnal. That's true. You're not gonna run with. And this applies in so many areas of life. The preacher that is lazy and won't discipline himself to study and to pray and to spend time with God, he's not gonna run well because he's indulging himself instead of denying himself or denying his flesh for the sake of being obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the missionary that says, I believe God's called me to be a missionary, but I'm not gonna sacrifice anything. I'm not gonna give up anything. I'm not gonna deny myself. How in the world can they run well? The picture here is of the runner. You hear these people that run these marathons. Listen, you don't wake up one morning and get to where you run 26 miles. I could wake up in a million mornings and get to where I could run 26 miles, but you can't just wake up one morning and do that. You have to prepare. You have to deny yourself. You have to be temperate. You have to have self-control if you're ever going to be able to achieve something like that. You can't run well and win the prize in your spiritual life if you're self-indulgent. and not self-denying. And you can't expect to be useful in the kingdom and to win spiritual victories if you're living a life of carelessness and a life of carnality. Fourth picture is the picture of the wreath. Verse 25. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They, the earthly athlete, They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Now, the King James Version, I'm correct, I think, Daniel, isn't it crowned? They use the word crown, but it's a wreath. It's a circular wreath that they would weave together. In the Isthmian games, most of the time, They were pine. They would design this wreath out of pine leaves or limbs or whatever. And they would design this wreath. And when they would win, they would put this wreath up on their head as a signification that they would win. You know what they would do? They would probably, you remember our Olympic games, they stand them up on these platforms, put a gold medal around their neck, and then they sing their national anthem, and they're given honor. And then they come back to America or whatever country, and they're honored there. Well, can you imagine they would put this pine wreath upon their head, they would be honored. They might be marched through the streets of Corinth and given some earthly honor and glory. They might be taken back to their city or their town and they would be given honor. But what would happen eventually to that wreath? It would begin to dry, right? It would fade and it would perish. It was just a thing of time, but not a thing of eternity. It would be like, have you ever driven down the road and a limb's been blown out of a tree and the tree is there and it's all lush and green and beautiful and the limb is laying at the base of the tree all dried and ugly and brittle. That's what would happen to this wreath. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I read one time or heard one time a story that a sports writer was interviewing Muhammad Ali And by then he had done got the effects of whatever the Parkinson's or whatever where he was had the tremors and his language and speech began to go and he was at his home and he was, you know, talking to him and Muhammad Ali took him out into a barn. behind the house and he went back there and all of his accolades and awards were back there and birds had been in there and had messed up on them and they were decaying and it looked terrible. And what I read was that Muhammad Ali said to him, at one time I had the whole world in my hands. And this is what it, then he couldn't, his hands couldn't even hardly hold anything, he was trembling. And it's a reminder to us, if you ever watched the movie Patton, the movie ends with, you know, George C. Scott walking away from the camera and they go through this thing where it says that when the Roman generals would win and they would be marched through the streets of Rome, there would be a slave behind them, whispering in their ear as they were being praised and honored, that all glory is fleeting and all passes away. And it does all things of this life. pass away. The point that Paul is making is that an athlete in the Isthmian games would deny themselves and live a self-controlled and temperate life all to win a crown that would only dry up and perish. But we are to be striving for a crown that cannot perish, an imperishable crown. He draws this contrast between that which is eternal and that which is temporal, that which is of this world and that which is of the world to come. And he's making the point, if people will give their lives, think about this, if people will give their lives for some fleeting, temporary, perishable, earthly glory, How much more we Christians should give our life for eternal things, eternal glory, eternal reward in comparison to the things of this life. We leave everything of this life behind us, don't we? Every award, every accolade, every honor, every possession, every single one. Most of us, you know, if you're ever looking at your phone, you'll see a picture of some person that back in the 70s or the 80s was some famous movie star that was, you know, so honored and so beautiful or so handsome. And you see the picture of them and now age has completely robbed them of everything that made them famous. and made them adored or made them honored. You can see that their life is coming to its end. It really is foolish, isn't it, to invest your life to win a crown that will perish and not to invest it in things that cannot be taken away. an imperishable crown. He also draws the picture of a boxer. Verse 26, so I do not run aimlessly and I do not box as one beating the air. He's saying, I'm not running without a purpose. I'm not running without a goal. I'm not running without a finish line that I'm focused upon. And he said, I'm not boxing like one that's just swinging around and hitting the air and not landing any blows on the adversary. He goes, I know what I'm doing. He's running, but he's not running without his eye on the finish line. He's boxing, but he's not shadow boxing without any purpose or any direction. He keeps his body, he said in verse 27, under control. Literally, the picture, my understanding is in the Greek language, the picture is of beating your own body into submission so that it doesn't get out of control. Right at the first year, Ruth and I decided we was gonna go on a diet. Now I'm going to tell you, there's only one way I can do it. It's just don't keep any food there. If it's there, I'm going to eat it. So I don't, you know, if there's cake there, I'm probably going to eat the cake. If there's not cake there, I'm probably going to eat peanuts, which is OK. I'm going to eat either way. I'm not going to starve myself. Sometime one time I think when Ruth was going to Michigan someone said what are you gonna eat? I said look at me Do you think I'm gonna not find a way to eat? Do you think I you got you think you got us don't sit at home worrying? I'm so worried Grover won't eat. You don't never have to if any of you're stressing over that Don't I'll be alright And I'm because I've known so many people there's always someone wanting to feed me believe it or not. I Bet I could go to Joe and Denise and then Denise and Joe would feed me I'm pretty sure I could go to Robin and Jason's, they'd feed me. I'd probably go to Deanna's and they'd feed me. I know I'd go to Tricia's and get some of that potato salad that I love and she'd feed me. So I'm not gonna, it's not that I'm not gonna eat, but I found out if you're gonna do it, you've gotta stay with it, you've gotta be disciplined. And what gets ya, what gets ya is, well a little bit here won't hurt. That's what always gets ya. A little bit of cheesecake, it's just a little bit of cheesecake. Yeah, and the next thing you know, you're in a corner with a whole cheesecake, hiding from people, and you got cheesecake all over your hair, all over your face, because you just can't stop yourself, right? Now that's hyperbole, but that's the point. Paul is saying, I want to win the crown and please my master so bad, I will do anything to control myself and to keep my body under control so that I don't become disqualified. And that's the last picture, the picture of disqualification. Now this is one of those verses that people use to try to say you can lose your salvation. but that's not what he's talking about. Again, the context, he's not talking about salvation. Salvation is a sovereign work of God's grace. It is through faith and by grace and it has nothing to do with your works. This is talking about your life post salvation and he's talking about how you invest your life and how you devote your life after your salvation. The language here in the original Greek, my understanding is, the language comes to us from the testing of metals. And it's, the idea is of like, you know, putting a test on metal to prove whether it's unfit and worthless or whether it's what it's supposed to be and of worth. Now I've never seen it, I don't know anything about it. But they say there's a thing, I can't remember the actual name for it, but it's called fool's gold, and it looks like gold, but it's not. And it can be tested and proven not to be gold. You may think you found gold, but really it's unfit. A test would prove that it's not really gold. That's the idea here. Paul is not talking about losing his salvation, he's talking about the fact that he lived a life of self-control and he would do anything to keep his body under control and to keep from allowing his fleshly and sinful lust to run away and ruin his testimony and disqualify him for service to the Lord. He denied himself so that he would pass the test and not be disqualified for earthly service and a heavenly crown in obedience to Christ. Wouldn't that be tragic after having preached to others to be set aside by the Lord, to be disqualified Wouldn't it be awful after you had preached to others and maybe for years you had faithfully served Christ and pointed people to Jesus only to disqualify yourself because you didn't deny yourself and keep your body under control? One of the most influential preachers in my past One of the most influential preachers in this community had that happen years ago. It wrecked him. Wrecked his life, wrecked his ministry, family. When he died, I went to the funeral home early one morning before anybody else would be there. I stood over his casket, tears in my eyes. I still loved him. I believe with all my heart he was saved. But I stood over his casket and said, Lord, please, please don't let this ever happen to me. Please let me cross the finish line faithfully and well. Please don't let this happen to me. Protect me. Now this goes to the heart of how we live our lives. Are we self-indulgent or are we self-denying? Are we gospel-gripped and Christ-centered? What do we live for? What's the most important thing? Here's what I fear. I fear that in many of our lives, Christ is not the most important one. He's one of many options or one of many competing things in our life. And I fear that in modern American Christianity, we want to go to heaven when we die. but we still want to be master of our own lives. And we want the Lord in our lives, but we want him as one of many things that compete and vie for mastery of our hearts and mastery of our lives. I've been convicted this week as I've studied this and I've been praying, Lord, help me to run to win. Help me to run with all my heart, not half-heartedly. Help me to run with all of my heart engaged in serving you, honoring you, glorifying you. Only the crown that He places on your head will last. No other ones will. Only the crown that He places on our head. And can you imagine what it would be just to have the King of Glory say, well done. You did what I wanted you to do. You lived as I wanted you to live. You served me in the place that I put you. You glorified me with the trials that you had to walk through, and you endured and persevered, and you loved me enough that you yielded up yourself that I might reign and rule in your hearts. That'd be a life well lived, wouldn't it? That'd be a life well lived. Now, it probably won't get you on the news or in the newspaper, and it won't get you in People magazine, but that's the life. The only glory and the only honor that will count in the end is that which God gives.