Please be seated and turn again to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Looking especially at 24 to 27. Know ye not that they that run in a race run all? but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. So run that ye may obtain. We are studying the doctrine of evangelical holiness. and our foundational definition as holiness, as heavenly mindedness. The purpose is to prepare us for life in the third heaven. And the end goal is to behold the glory of God in the beatific vision. This afternoon I want to come to that middle clause. The purpose of holiness is to prepare us for life in the third heaven. And this preparation is called the ascetic life. This is the ascetic life that John Calvin teaches in book three of his Institutes, which is often printed in isolation, which is called the Golden Booklet on the Christian Life. This is the ascetic life that Paul himself commands in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, 24 to 27. And we will look at the ascetic life under three headings. One, the aim of the ascetic life. Two, the exercise of the ascetic life. And three, the benefits of the ascetic life. First of all then, the aim. Now what do we mean by the ascetic life? When we hear that word, our mind is automatically drawn to the Roman Catholic view of asceticism. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that true holiness, true spirituality can only be gained as if you physically and literally separate your whole life from the world and live in a monastery as a monk or as a nun. that through extremes such as self-flagellation and a monopoly of ceremonies and rituals, someone will end up with a sort of beatific vision on earth. But this is unbiblical and false. The word ascetic is a word that comes from Latin that comes from Greek. The word means to exercise, to train, to strive, to exert. It is originally used for the athletic sphere of life. where in the Olympics on the arena, athletes would give themselves to 10 months of training, hard work, exertion, discipline, denial, to get themselves mentally and physically in the very best of shapes so that they may do their best in whatever sport, running, gymnastics, boxing, wrestling. The word ascetic is used in the Bible. For example, Acts 24 verse 16. Herein do I exercise myself. to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and towards men. Paul's saying then, I take seriously my holiness, therefore I engage in the ascetic life. I train, I exert, I work hard, I deny myself, I do everything in my life so I'm conscious of being free of offence before God and men. And so the Christian ascetic life is just like the athlete preparing for the Olympics, so the Christian preparing for heaven. The Christian ascetic life is to prepare for heaven with a life of self-denial, abstaining from all hindrances, moderating excess, mortifying the lusts and appetites of the flesh, in order to seek after the higher life of communion with the triune God, in anticipation of eternal life with him in heaven. And this is why in the Reformed church, They rejected the monastic life, but they did not reject the ascetic life in self-denial. Again, if you read book three of Calvin's Institutes, he'll show you how the early church were different to the Roman Catholic church, and men such as Augustine and Athanasius understood the ascetic life according to the Bible, and he, in five chapters, exhorts the Christian to the ascetic life. And this is exactly what Paul has here. The context overall is, do not offend brothers who believe eating meat offered to idols is sin. And there's a really long explanation for all that. And in chapter nine, he's saying everything he does is for the gospel. If I'm going to offend a brother or sister, I'd rather never eat food again than offend a brother or sister. In fact, in general, for the gospel sake, I am all things to all men. If someone's a Jew, I'm going to be a Jew. If someone's a Gentile, I'm going to be a Gentile. If someone's weak, I'm going to become weak. I am going to not be an offense so that the gospel can come to all kinds of people. And then he concludes with an application to the all of life, which is the ascetic life. 24, know ye not, so something you're to know, Christian. Don't have it out of your mind, don't have it at the back of your mind, be conscience in your knowledge. They which run in a race run all. The word race here is the word stadion, which means the arena, and 14 miles outside of Corinth was the second most important athletic arena in the Greek and Roman world. He says, everyone who runs in a race runs. That's obvious. But only one receives the prize. There's only one winner. You'll run so that you may obtain. So in the Christian race, it's not only one person goes to heaven, but all Christians are like the one runner who wins the prize. Because there's many people who will run the Christian race, but not all will go to heaven. Because there are many people who get on the track by profession, but they were never born again, and they cannot run the race rightly, and so they will not receive the prize. So it's not enough to be in the race. It's not enough simply to profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ. You must run in a particular way to receive the prize of heaven. Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. So those who win the prize are the athletes who give up their life for the prize. They will deny anything and everything in their life. They will say no to the greatest pleasures in the world so that they can be in shape and win the race. No, they do it for a corruptible crown. Just a wreath around their head for the ancient Olympics. A gold medal. It's corrupt, it's perishing. But we do it for a better crown, an incorruptible prize which is in heaven. Now he takes himself as an example for all Christians to follow. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, that is not aimlessly. I'm a boxer and I'm not shadow boxing. I'm aiming at my opponent and I'm going to knock him out. And so I keep my body under subjection. I deal with the appetites of the flesh, I deal with the desires of the heart, so that they're controlled, they're moderated, and therefore I seek the higher life. And I run in self-denial, I run in mortification, I run with self-restraint, I run with discipline, I run with holiness, and therefore I obtain the prize. So Paul's saying, live the ascetic life. Keep your eye on the prize and don't just get on the track, run in the right way. Now, how are we going to run the right way? We have to have the right aim and goal, the prize. As is the prize, so is the race. The prize here is called an incorruptible crown. He's simply speaking of heaven. Peter uses similar language in 1 Peter 1, verse 4, where Christians are redeemed by Christ to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. So where's the prize? It's not on earth. It's not on a new earth, and it's not on a renovated earth. It's in heaven for you. This is what the Bible calls the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12. The Bible uses picture language. The first heaven is the sky and the atmosphere. The second heaven is what we call space. Now because the place created where God dwells, where the angels are now, and where Enoch is, and all the saints are in the soul, that place is so high, so spiritual, so beyond words, it's the third heaven, if you like, beyond the space universe. Not physically, but metaphorically, the third heaven. and Paul and Peter and the Bible teach, that's the prize. Not earth, not a renovated earth, but the physical, local place called heaven. Sadly, this prize has been lost. Up until the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War, apart from just a few people there here and there, the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of all Christians of whatever stripe, all were agreed, where's our final state? Not on earth, not on a new earth, but always in heaven. And so they ran the race where they valued this life as a gift of God to be used for His glory, but it's so much less than the true things of life. Fellowship of God, communion with Him, ascetic life, beatific vision, pilgrim spirit. But then the Industrial Revolution came in, and the Civil War happened, and because present life was so terrible in the factories and terrible on the war field, people wanted a better life. And from the 1850s and onwards, Christians started to change their doctrine of heaven and believe we're gonna live on a new earth, it's gonna be like Eden, sinless and perfect. Gary Smith writes a PhD in a book called Heaven in the Imagination of America. I recommend that for you. He says our theism has become humanised, The end of God's providential concern is circumscribes by eminence. And this becomes true even of orthodox folk. Even people who held to orthodox beliefs were influenced by this humanization trend. Frequently, the transcendental dimension of their faith became less central because eternity is eclipsed and this worldly is amplified and swallows it up. Michael Allen, a professor at RTS Seminary, he says there's a change in the Reformed church. Once Abraham Kuyper, Hermann Bavink and the neo-Calvinistic movement comes in, the view of heaven changes. It's not heaven in heaven, it's a renewed life on earth. Quote, neo-Calvinists have often turned from focus upon communion with Christ, the presence of God, or the beatific vision, to focus instead on the resurrected body, the peace of the city, the renewal of the earth. Naturalism is no surprise in modernity, but eschatological naturalism ought to be a shock for us all. Too often a desire to value the ordinary and the everyday, the mundane and the material, has not led to what ought to be common sense to any Bible reader, that heaven and the spiritual realm matter most. Too rarely do we speak of heavenly-mindedness, spiritual-mindedness, self-denial, beatific vision, or any terminology that marked the Reformed tradition. So the majority of books you read today, Randy Alcorn and Heaven, all of it is about a better life now. sinless, glorified, but basically life on Eden will have work now. So what do we think looking towards that prize creates in the run? Worldliness. Worldliness. Because everything we do now is simply going to be glorified on the new earth. I remember hearing a sermon at a reform conference where the speaker is well known, I'm not going to give the name, and he spoke what heaven is going to be like. It's going to be a new earth and everything's going to be sinless and perfect. So we're all going to be able to write music like Bach and Beethoven. We're all going to be able to paint like the greatest painters and sculptors who's ever existed. We're all going to engage in the arts and literature or perfected mind. And because sin has ravaged our world and ravaged these things, these are all things that are gifts from God. And in the second coming, with the new heavens and new earth, the new earth, we will all dwell and we will all live that glorified life on earth. So what do we think holiness is? Doing everything in the world without sin, which always tends to worldliness. No distinction between secular and sacred, that's not a bad distinction, that's necessary. When I read my Bible and when I read a good novel, I'm doing two very different things. Nothing wrong with reading a good novel of the morality and the character and stories there, but it's very different to reading my Bible. Me going to church is very different from me going to another kind of meeting, even though it's good. There is sacred and secular is not a bad word. And so everything gets mixed and people become worldly in their lifestyle. Music, movies, entertainment, hobbies, interest. This world becomes the centre of all things because they're just preparing for it in a better state on the new earth. but I put it to you through Paul and Peter here, the incorruptible crown which is in heaven is in heaven. Let's look at this first at the place. Where's the place we're all going to? Heaven. This is a physical, local, spiritual place created by God from the beginning of creation. Matthew 25, 34, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Heaven existed before mankind. Job 38 speaks of the angels in heaven seeing the creation of God and singing for joy and praising him. The creation of heaven was before the fall. Because as we saw last week in our Genesis 2 sermon, when God rested, he did it in heaven. Anticipating all his saints going to their eternal Sabbath rest. Where does God dwell? Where does God rule? In heaven. Isaiah 66 verse one, thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool, where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? Not on earth, heaven. That's where his resting place is. That's why it's called a Sabbath rest. And that's why we desire to go there. When you pray, what are you praying? Who are you praying to? And where is he whom you are praying to? Our Father, which art in heaven. Where is Christ? Right here, right now. Hebrews 4.14, saying, Jesus, the Son of God, our great, has passed into the heaven. That's where he is. That's where the angels are. It's where the spirits of just men made perfect. It's where the heavenly Jerusalem is. They're in the place called heaven. When Jesus returns again, what's his promise? Come back to take us back to where he is. John 14, two. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would not have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you unto myself, so that where I am, you may be also." Where's the place he's preparing for us? Heaven. The Father's house. The Father's dwelling place. He's not preparing earth for us, or a new earth for us. He's preparing heaven for us. What's the hope of all saints? Never is it a new earth, it's always heaven. Hebrews 10 34, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance. Hebrews 11 10, for he looked for a city which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. See what they're looking for? The pilgrims, the exiles, the sojourners, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were not looking for the land of Canaan to be renewed. They were looking for heaven, which the land was a picture and a type. 2 Corinthians 5, 1. Why does Paul say he prefers to die? 2 Corinthians 5.1, we know if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And so the biblical hope is heaven. But the objection comes, what about the teaching of the new heavens and the new earth? There will be a recreation to purify because of the fallen sinful world. But nowhere does it say, and we're going to live on that new earth. People look at Revelation 21. And I saw a new heaven and new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And the angel stood on the mount and said, Come hither, I will show thee the bride the Lamb's wife. What do you see? You don't see the place, you see the church. Have you ever read Revelation 21, 22? Notice, it never tells you where the church will be, just the description of the church. And if someone says, yeah, but it's coming out of heaven, then I would respond, yeah, but it doesn't say where it goes. And what's the picture? The angels on a mountain looking. All of Revelation is using Old Testament pictures to teach ultimate truth. And so Moses was not allowed into the land of Canaan, but he was allowed on the mountain to see the land flowing with milk and honey, the land of rest, the man where they'll have rest from their enemies, the place where everyone has their own vine and their own fig tree, and the place God dwells. and therefore there's an angel on a mountain seeing the heavenly glorified church. But it doesn't ever actually say where this church will be. For that you need to go to other passages in the Bible and as we've quoted them and we could quote more, it is in heaven a place that's real and was created from the foundation of the world. And this is the universal testimony of the church. Larger Catechism 90. What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment? At the day of judgment, the righteous being caught up to Christ in the clouds shall be received into heaven. where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery, filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy, both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of the triune God. If you read the Heidelberg Catechism, if you read the Dutch Synopsis of Pure Theology, if you read any Puritan, any Reformer, if you read Augustine, if you read, just name your person, the hope is in heaven, not earth. Let's look at it from another angle, the nature of your resurrected body. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 please. Verses 38 to begin with. God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, and another of fishes, and another of birds. There are celestial bodies, bodies terrestrials, the glory of the celestial, and so on. He says you can have a human nature, but there are different degrees or even kinds of human nature. You can have physical material body of a man, of a bird, of a reptile. It's all physical, it's all material, but it's different. Think of stars and suns and moons. It's all light, different degrees of glory of the light. So the heavenly body, the resurrected body, is going to be far higher than you can conceive. It is physical, it is material, it is a self-same body, but it's going to be so heavenised because it's been created for a heavenly existence. Continue on. Verse 42 to 44. So also is the resurrection of the dead. Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption. Sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown in weakness, raised in power. Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Spiritual in the Bible does not mean invisible. Spiritual in the Bible does not mean immaterial. Spiritual means will of the Holy Spirit for spiritual use. Spiritual songs written by the Holy Spirit for spiritual use in worship. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. Now he brings in Adam. Adam had a natural body. Before the fall, sinless, perfect, holy, righteous body was natural, earthy, and not equipped for heaven. The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. Adam's body was not spiritual, it was natural body. But the second Adam's resurrected body is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are also that are heavenly. Sinless, perfect, holy, body of Adam, created in the garden, was natural, earthy, and if it was to be raised to heaven, would be destroyed. Again, last week, this is why we said the promise of life in the covenant of works was that Adam would be glorified and in a glorified body he would go to heaven. And so when we are raised from the dead, we are gonna be made after Christ's body, which could walk through walls, which could appear out of nowhere, which was being recreated for heaven. If Jesus Christ had Adam's body when he ascended to heaven, Jesus' body would have been destroyed. But his resurrected body is not just glorified, it's spiritified, if you like, and heavenized to capacities and qualities that we cannot imagine. Still physical and still material. but heavenly. Now why would your body be created like that if you're going to live on earth? You could have a sinless, perfect, higher capacity body to live a wonderful, eternal existence on earth. But you don't need a spiritual body or a heavenly body for that. But the reason why is because the final destination is heaven, not earth. Think about how disappointing it would be for all the saints right now to dwell in the very place of heaven and then their final abode on earth forever. It's amazing, Christ will be here, but it's still not as great as heaven. So the best place, they were there for a temporal time, and then they came to a lesser place on earth. And the objection is, well, what's the point of the new earth? Well, what's the point of the universe if we're never going to go there? What's the point of the universe if we as humans are never going to go there? It's a monument of God's glory. Now some Puritans like to speculate, maybe we can travel just like the angels from heaven to earth to the universe and study and discover and praise God. Another Puritan said, be quiet, don't go beyond scripture. We're going to go to heaven and there will be a new heavens and new earth and both things are true and we'll find out when we get to heaven what happens and what the purpose of the new heavens and new earth for. But the biblical, Reformed, Christian, universal teaching is, our prize is in heaven. And as we've been seeing all along the series, fellowship, communion, beatific vision, intellectual knowing of the glory of God. This is the prize that we are going for. This is our hope. but secondly, the exercise of the ascetic life. 24 again, so run that ye may obtain. If earth is your prize, run in an earthly way. If heaven is your prize, run in a heavenly way. This means we are actually pilgrims. Pilgrims, sojourners, the Bible uses that a lot. This is what a pilgrim is not. You live in a broken down house, you leave for a while so the house is renovated, and then you move back into your original home. That's not a pilgrim. A pilgrim is someone from another country and they're dwelling in another country, and they're yearning to go home, and one day they will leave their temporal dwelling place and go back to their actual home. We're pilgrims on this earth. Not just an analogy, but true. I'm not in this broken down world because of sin, leaving for a little bit of time. The builders are coming in to make it all new again, and then I'm coming back to live in my old home. The Pilgrim's progress is not that Christian leaves the City of Destruction and goes to the end, then the City of Destruction is removed and Christian moves back to the City of Destruction, but now it's the City of Glory. He goes to a completely different place, the Celestial City. And this is why Paul says elsewhere in Philippians chapter three, he says, the wicked whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things, but our conversation or our citizenship is in heaven. From whence we look for the savior. If you live on this earth and you want to live this life, fill your life with the appetites and even the lawful things of this world, because you're going to be satisfied, but not the Christian pilgrim. Because we're pilgrims and sojourners, and the things of this world do not salivate and satiate and satisfy. It's the things in heaven. So Paul says here, In verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I know as one. But hear there, if someone runs and they do not know who they're running against, and they do not know where they're running to, they're not going to win the race. A boxer who gets in the ring and just starts shadow boxing is not going to win the fight. You need to know the aim. The racer, that's the goal, right there, that line, head, stay in the lane, go. The boxer, I know my opponent, I know his weaknesses, I know his strengths, I know his strategies, I know if he's a southpaw or he's orthodox, I know him and I am going to hit him. So is the Christian life. What are we to do, Paul? Verse 25. Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. The word strive is literally agonize. It's the arena where the athletes have conflict, struggle, and fight with all their might. Mastery is actually the same word as temperance, and they're put together because of speaking, being the master of something. And the temperance is self-control, discipline, sober-mindedness, moderation, all things. So what are we to do? We are to agonize, fight, strive, exert all of our efforts to be the masters of self-control, discipline, and moderation. This is a lot of hard work, is it not? Because of indwelling sin. Sin in the soul. which still has the flesh lusting against the spirit and the flesh delights on the earth, is very happy on the earth, you're feeling down, you feel sad, so you go shopping and you feel better. Or like Saul, I'm not in a good mood, put the music on, I feel better. These things in and of themselves are not bad. But when they're out of control, they're awful. They're idols. And it means your heart finds more peace or joy in earthly things than God, who is our peace. How are we to run this race? The last verse, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. The word keep means to keep jabbing until you give someone a black eye. It's used of the persistent widow in Luke chapter 18. Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest her continual coming weary me. So he's using boxing metaphors here. When you're boxing, it doesn't matter if you're a powerhouse. If you just go in swinging, you're getting knocked out. You need to be intelligent. And the best boxers don't need big punches. All they need is the skill to persist in the jab. It keeps the person busy. He can't come in close for one of the big punches. And if you keep jabbing and jabbing at someone, no matter where, you're going to get bruised up and beaten and you'll lose. Body. Body here is not simply saying the material body, but the desires of the flesh as a whole. So Paul says in Romans 7.24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of his death? And if you read the whole chapter, it's the will, the good that I would, that I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. Speaks about the motions of the flesh, the lust of the flesh, the wrestlings inside him. And then this word subjection, it means to make someone a slave. I'm going to keep jabbing and jabbing and jabbing and bruising and bruising and bruising the flesh until it's my master, I'm the master and it's my slave and I control it, it does not control me. Romans chapter 6 gives the same sort of flavour in more theological language. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God." So my life, my desires, my cravings, my longings, my thinking, my speech, my actions, I'm going to jab and jab and beat down and beat down and give black eye after black eye until it completely submits to me and I'm in control. my desires, my cravings, my longings, everything in my life, I am the master of my body. The ascetic life. Now how do we do this? First of all, knowledge. Knowledge is your power. We are to have every thought obedient to the captivity of Christ. We need to know what is our prize. Unless we are regularly having the prize before our mind, we will never love or long or seek it above all things. So have regularly in your life the contemplation of the four last things. We've already spoken that. Have in your mind regularly heaven, its place, what it's going to be like, who will be there, what we experience, the beatific vision. Unless that's at the forefront of your mind, your flesh will be craving the things of the earth. Second aspect of knowledge, know thyself. You have to know your body, your desires, your cravings, what you like, what you don't like, what takes up your time, what takes up your energy, what takes up your effort, what takes you away from God, what takes you away from word and prayer and fasting and self-denial and mortification and restraint. What are these things? It's different from me, it's different from you. You have to know it or you are going to be controlled by your body, controlled by the flesh, controlled by your lusts and appetites and you're not running the race. No, your body and your soul do not belong to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 19 to 20. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Spirit of God, or Holy Ghost? What is in you which ye have of God? And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Your desires don't belong to you. Your body doesn't belong to you. You have no right to do what you want to do. You have no right to desire what you desire. Your desires belong to Christ. Now Christ's given much liberty here, hasn't he? 1 Timothy 6, God has given us all things richly to enjoy, but controlled in its place, subordinate, never idols. not mastering us, not taking us away from spiritual things. Enjoy in their right place, but then, body and soul, glorify God. Knowledge is the first step. Second step, mortify. Because we live in a sinful world, we have to kill Colossians 3, verse 5, mortify your members which are upon the earth, ornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness. We all have desires and lusts of the soul and of the flesh. The clear sins do not tolerate and wink. Do not play games. Don't allow it to continue. Don't think it's not that bad. Do not say God forgives and allow it to continue to happen. Romans 6. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Because if we allow sin and lust and sinful desire to continue and we say God forgives us, you are not obtaining the prize. So do not tolerate sin, but mortify and kill by the word and prayer. This evil concupiscence, that is evil desires that spring up in the heart for sin, don't allow them to act. Word and prayer, snuff out the sparks. This fornication, this lust, this greed, this anger, this worldliness, there's just a little tiny spark in the heart. Get the word and prayer and you strangle it. and don't allow it to live. Thirdly, moderate everything. Philippians 4, let your moderation be known unto all men. That which is lawful, moderate. Never allow your desires, your cravings, your longings, your appetites to control you, but to temper it and moderate it. Food is good. Gluttony is sinful. Gluttony starts with the heart, seeking peace, joy, pleasure, or meaning in food. or being discontent with the ordinary and seeking excess. That's gluttony. Do we wink at that little sin? It's wicked. It's evil. It's idolatry. So moderate food and enjoy it. Alcohol is a gift of God. Someone has the liberty never to take or to take it in moderation. But what happens if it's not moderated? Wickedness. Sinfulness. It's the master. Everything that's good and lawful must be moderated. Children can become idols and sin to the parent. That's why Jesus says, if you love your father, your husband, your wife, your children more than me, you cannot be my disciple. Moderate. We can love people too much. We can love our spouse too much. We can love our children too much. Why? We put Christ second. We put their desires and their needs before Christ. Moderate. entertainment, music, and movies. If they're sinful and unedifying, get rid of them. But if they're good and edifying, moderate them, or they'll take up your time. Fourthly, we must remove things from our lives. Hebrews chapter 12 says, let us lay aside every weight. 1 Corinthians 6.12 says, All things are lawful unto me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. There are good, lawful things in our lives that cannot be controlled and moderated, and they must be removed or they're weighing us down towards the finishing line. It's a silly illustration, but to show you, I remember Dr. Beeke giving a testimony of a student who came into his office weeping and crying. I have this sin in my life and I can't get rid of it. I'm not studying, I'm not praying, I'm not doing my work. What is it? Country music. I can't stop listening to country music. He had to remove it. Is country music wrong? No. But he couldn't go through the day without listening to it and he was putting off his seminary duties, his Bible reading, his prayer time, everything to listen to country music. He came under its power and Paul says it has to be laid aside. We live in a world that uses Christian liberty for license. The Bible doesn't say it's wrong, therefore I'm gonna do it. But what happens? The people are worldly and earthly, and they're not godly, and they're not spiritual, and they're not quick to repent. They have lawful things in their lives that are weighing them down, and they must be laid aside. So all of us, we need to get the body, the motions, the concupiscence, the desires, the affections, the cravings and the longings and moderate and control or remove as we look towards the prize of heaven. Thirdly, the benefits The benefits. Two benefits. Number one, you're running rightly. So run and let us obtain. You're actually running rightly. And this is because you can run wrongly. Someone who's not running the Christian life in an ascetic way, ascetic way, self-denial, self-control, moderation, discipline, seeking towards heaven, is running the Christian race wrong. And just like if you're driving and you put the navigation to the wrong destination, it doesn't matter how well you're driving, you're going to the wrong destination. That's why Paul says here in the last verse, when I have preached others, I myself should be a castaway. The word castaway means reprobate, disqualified. It's the same word in Titus chapter 1 verse 16 where he speaks of the wicked as reprobate and disqualified. He is saying, if I preach Christianity, if I preach the gospel, I preach discipline, I preach holiness, but I am not in control of the desires of my flesh, I'm disqualified from the race, and God will cast me into hell, and it will be proven, though I preached many truths, I myself was not a true believer. And so, Paul's saying, I am a true believer and I practice what I preach because I am living the ascetic life. I am living the spiritual athletic life. I am denying self. I am denying my self-denial. Take up the cross and following him. I am moderating. I am controlling. I am killing sin. I'm running rightly. So are you running the Christian race? Are you running the Christian race rightly or wrongly? If you are engaging in self-denial, moderation, mortification, and filling your heart's desire for heaven, and therefore you value worship, good works, obedience, word, prayer, meditation, fasting, all these spiritual exercises, then you can have assurance and comfort you're running the race. Second benefit, you will obtain the prize. So run so that you obtain. Matthew 25, there's someone who's been given a talent and he's not doing what his master has commanded. He buries it. Thou slothful and wicked servant. Out of darkness and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Compare to the two who had talents and did the master's will. Enter into the joy of thy Lord, thou good and faithful servant. Hebrews 12, lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us running the race. looking unto Jesus, the offerer and finisher of faith. Where's his hope again? Heaven. For the joy that was before him, he endured the cross, despised the shame, and went to heaven and sits at the right hand of most high. Therefore, look, follow, copy him. For all the shames of this life and all the sufferings and all the desires and all the earthliness and all the worldliness, how will you overcome? Just like Christ set the joy in heaven before Him, you set the joy in heaven before you and you will despise the shame and you will conquer and you will deny and you will moderate and you'll be disciplined and you'll be faithful and you will receive the joy. of heaven. Let us all keep our eyes on the prize. Heaven is our home and final destination. Let us live right here, right now, the race consistently. the life of the ascetic, the athlete, self-denial, discipline, mortification, repentance, fruit of the spirit, word, prayer, spiritual conversations, public worship, private worship, fastings, praise, contemplating the glories to come, meditating on the forelast, And as the Spirit enables us to persevere to the end, we will cross the finish line and we will receive that incorruptible crown. Let's pray. Father in heaven, all we pray, not a single professing believer would be a cast away. Everyone would be running the race, not aimlessly, but directly towards the prize and running in the right way. Help us to cultivate the biblical ascetic life. Help us to hear those beautiful words of Jesus. Deny thyself, take up the cross, and follow me. And say, oh, to profit this world is vanity, but to lose our soul is damning. Oh, we gladly, cheerfully deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. and give us greater understanding of the final state. Help us to search the scriptures and see all the blessed hope of the saints and give us a hunger in the soul to be where our true home is. In his name we pray. Amen.