Be a useless redeemer if he wasn't faithful and he weren't true. That's a great, great message. Well, hallelujah. I'm very happy to see you tonight. Thank you very, very much for being here, being in your place and then friends and guests that have come. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. You've honored us by coming person that invited you to come. They are really blessed that you came and then pastor is thankful you came and I'm very glad you're here. I love preaching to people. I have preached to chairs, and I preached to, when I first started preaching, I preached to our dog regularly. And that dog never did get right, but anyway, anyway. I'm glad you're here tonight. Thank you very, very much. I want to encourage you about tomorrow night. I, Pastor mentioned it anyway, I'm going to preach what we might call our testimony tomorrow night, or another way to look at it is why, why do bad things? Why do bad things happen to people? And maybe why do bad things happen to good people? What is going on? What is happening? I'm gonna show you tomorrow out of Hebrews, I'm gonna show you four things God is doing when bad things happen. And then I'll show you our response to what God is doing tomorrow night in that. But I am glad you're here tonight. I've told you either last night, Monday night or Tuesday night is the night I think that you ought to come. I personally think tonight is the night, and I'm glad you're here. Thank you very much for coming. So I'll tell you what, if you got a marker, a ribbon thingy-bob for your Bible, if you would put it in the book of Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7, put a marker there, and then turn over to our text passage is Hebrews chapter 12. If you'll turn to Hebrews chapter 12, after you put a marker in Romans 7, and I want you to know up front, in a little while, when we turn to Romans chapter 7, we won't even be close to finish. Not even close. We still got a lot of work to do when we turn to Romans chapter 7. All right, now let's go to Hebrews chapter 12. If you're able, I ask you to stand with me. I ask people to stand that we might give reverence and give honor to the eternal, infallible, inerrant. It is the perfect, preserved word of the living God. Hallelujah. And He is faithful and true. Amen. Amen. Hebrews chapter 12. Now, look up here a second. As I read these verses, I sure hope that you're going to have some visuals, some pictures in your mind of A few of the things that we've gone over, and tonight we're going to add some more to it, but I hope you'll see some pictures as we go along. Verse number one, Hebrews 12.1. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let me pray with you again. Our Heavenly Father, I come to you again, and I just wanna again say thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for salvation, and we can know it. Thank you for your word that gives us good instruction and complete instruction. God, we can have total confidence that you have given us your message, and we just wanna tell you thanks. God, thank you for your plan for church services and for preaching and for membership and for service. God, thank you. Thank you for health that we get to be here tonight. Praise your name. Hallelujah. Thank you for every heart that's here. I pray you would speak to us, please. I pray every one of us, our hearts are open, we're ready. God, we want to hear, we want to encounter you tonight. For those that are not saved, I beg you to touch them, convince them, convict them. I pray they'd be honest about their need. And tonight might be the night that they finally yield, surrender to you, and receive forgiveness of sin. So Jesus, thank you for loving us. Thank you for what we've already enjoyed. And thank you for what you're about to do. It's in the mighty and the holy and the precious name of your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, that we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. In our text, we've been emphasizing and speaking of this every night, is that it is a metaphor that is describing Christianity. The metaphor is a race, and the race is a description, it is a metaphor of Christianity. So to be in the race, you must get the jersey, you gotta get the number. Everybody's not in the race, only those who've received Christ as their Savior are in the race. In the race, we've learned that we're supposed to run. There's supposed to be some exertion. We've learned that it's supposed to be with patience. We're not supposed to be bellyaching and complaining. We're supposed to have a calm spirit, an unruffled spirit. We've learned that. And we've learned that the race has guaranteed, guaranteed Discomfort. It's an agona. Amen? It's an agony, the race is. We also learn that we're supposed to lay aside the weights. How many weights? Oh, every weight. Then we've learned that we're supposed to keep our eyes on Jesus. The goal, the finish line, the goal of the race is to become like Jesus. The goal of Christianity is that all of us that are Christian, we're supposed to be becoming like Jesus. Amen. You know, I mentioned the metaphor of the race is that there are parallels that are obvious. And so we're talking about them. I just want to bring it up to you. In a race, in an athletic event, and it doesn't just have to be a race, but in an athletic event, there's going to be times of great rejoicing. There should be times of great celebration. Amen? Some of you aren't with me. It used to be that you could have great celebration if you were a fan of the Colts. It's an athletic event and there were times it was exhilarating. Now there's happiness, joy, But the truth is, there's also the other half. There's time of great disappointment. There's time of heartache. There's time of sadness. One of the things we've learned about the race, for those that are in the race, there could be strenuous hardships. Yeah, we've gone over that. I'll just go ahead and tell you that, and these messages that I'm preaching, when we talk about the race, I don't hardly spend any time on the celebration. Because the part I'm speaking about is the agona. And it seems like the entire week is all about the yucca stuff. In the race, We have weights. That's yucca. Sometimes the coach puts us in the sand. That's double yucca. Amen? Also in the race, we have this other problem. If you look up here, I'll show you another problem we have in the race. It's our flesh. Do you know when we got saved and got the jersey and got the number that our spirits, that's what's got saved? That's what was born again. My flesh didn't get borned again. And so in this race, I've got the weights and then I've got to deal with me. Not only do I have trouble with the flesh, I also am going to have to deal with the arch enemy of God. When you get saved, when you get the jersey, when you get the number, Satan doesn't say, okay, I'll leave you alone. No, Satan goes, oh, if that's what you're going to do, watch this. And he will, listen, he wants to destroy you. You're not getting this. He wants to destroy you. If you've got the jersey, if you've been born again, he's not satisfied with just messing up your life. He wants to destroy your life. Since you brought it up, let me just go ahead and tell you. Some of us, we have this inclination that we go, it would just be terrible if so-and-so, and we name somebody that we consider like a spiritual leader, if they messed up. And it would be heartbreaking that Satan would get in there and destroy their ministry. Is everybody with me? And we look up to those people, and I'm going to mention the heroes in just a bit, but we look at them and we go, well, it would be horrible if they messed up with timeout. Satan doesn't care if you're well known or if nobody knows your name. He wants to destroy you. He wants you to think you're unimportant that you're unnecessary and you might as well give up and get on the sideline You hearing me? He's a liar friend. He wants to destroy. He wants to destroy you He wants to destroy you just as much as he wants to destroy pastor McNair Devil's not more interested in me than he is. What's your name? Why are you not paying attention? What are you doing? He was paying attention. He just wondered what he was doing with that pen. It's okay. That's okay. You can have a pen. I'm not mad about it. Satan wants to destroy you just as much as he wants to destroy me. If you were born again, are you born again? Are you saved? Are you sure you're saved? Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Do you have the jersey? Okay. Satan wants to destroy his life. Satan's not saying, well, I'm not interested in him, he's too young. No, Satan would love to destroy him when he's young. Some of you old people, you go, well, it won't matter, I'm so old now, people, I'm not necessary, they don't need me. You know, Satan wants you to quit, he wants you to get on the sidelines. Is anybody hearing me? Mercy. We have to contend with that. We're in the race. He says, wherefore, seeing we are compassed about, compassed about, with so great a cloud of witnesses. You know the word wherefore in the Bible, whenever you read it, you need to understand that it came from somewhere. Wherefore. So when you read wherefore, you need to find out why for it's wherefore therefore. Or therefore, why is it wherefore therefore? Or wherefore, why for would it be therefore? Are you with me? So wherefore and therefore both are conclusive words, that is saying something was said, so therefore, or something was said, wherefore, saying we're compassionate about this, so great a cloud of witnesses. Who's the witnesses, who are they? Well, they're everybody in Hebrews chapter 11. All the heroes of the Bible. Do you know that someone called Hebrews 11 the hall of fame? It's the hall of fame of faith. These people did great exploits by God by faith. They're heroes. They're awesome. I don't know who your favorite character in the Bible is, who you really like to see what they do and what's going on in their life, but everybody, as we read the Bible, people come up. I'm the kind of person that people ask me what my favorite food is and I go, whatever I'm eating right now. My favorite character in the Bible is whichever I'm reading right now or studying right now. I like them all. I like David because he was named after me. Or not. But I have characters in the Bible I love. They are heroes. Excuse me, they're heroes. It is not wrong to have heroes. In fact, I believe God gives us historical evidence about people so we can look at them and go, they're heroic. I want to be like them someday. Thank God for what they did. Thank God they hung in there. Thank God they got back up. Hallelujah. They're heroes. Whoever your hero is tells a lot about you, doesn't it? If your hero is Donald Trump, it tells a lot about you. Sorry. I'm thankful he's president, but he's just not my hero. I want God to screw his head on right or unscrew it and maybe he'd be better off. Maybe, I don't know. Anyway, don't get me started on politics. But we ought to have heroes. Do you know that somebody looks up to you? Somebody looks up to you. That's the weirdest thing. If you're 12 years old, there is some kid, there's a little child that's five or six that looks up to you and they go, you are so awesome. They look up to you because they don't know any better, they're stupid little kids. They can't help it. But then they get up to seven, eight, nine, 10, then they look up to those that are teenagers. And teenagers don't look up to anybody except other teenagers. You're awesome. I want to be like you. That's so weird. But anyway, don't get me started. It's not wrong to want to have a hero. It's not wrong. Somebody's going to look up to you. It's not wrong to say, God, I want to live in such a way. I want to run the race that others could see in the race that they'd say, hey, I want to stay in the race like they are. Amen. These people were heroes. But did they ever mess up? First of all, I need to do this. I've almost left this out. It says, we're compassionate about what's so great, a cloud of witnesses. Number one-o, that means great-o could be how many are there-o. Amen? How many are there? It's a great cloud. It's a huge number! Hallelujah! And I think that's probably what it means. But I do think that it could mean this, they're great because of the exploits they did for God. They're great in their faith. They're great in their attitude and their life that they live for God, amen? Hallelujah, it's a great cloud. Now I'm gonna put this in your ear, is that these witnesses cannot see us. Well, that's a bummer. Now my dad, he's been in heaven now five years. He was my preacher. I've been a student of the Bible. I began to read the Bible. I began to be a Bible reader when I was in the fifth grade. I started being a Bible reader. And I haven't read it through every year since I was in the fifth grade, but I knew I was supposed to be a Bible reader, and I have been a Bible reader. Whenever I'd come to Hebrews 12, and I'd see this great cloud of witnesses, in my head, I'm thinking the stadium is full of people. They're cheering, they're going, hey, go Dave, don't give up, you can do it, and they're all cheering for me, yay! That's why there's a great cloud of witnesses, they're cheering us on. But they can't see us. I told you my dad's been in heaven five years. If my dad could see me right now, if my dad could see me the last six months of this year, just this year, only this year, if my dad could see me, you know what he'd be doing in heaven? What are you doing, boy? You're out of your mind. God sends someone down there to knock him in the head. My dad, that was one of his favorite sayings, knock him in the head. and he would have God send somebody. Do you know that if God, if my father, if my dad was in heaven, he could witness my life, heaven would cease to be heaven. It'd be a heartbreak to him. I'm not the only child he has. Are you hearing me? If heaven was watching us, heaven would just be crying all the time, be heartbroken. Brother Dave, sorry about that, but the Bible says we have a great cloud of witnesses so they can see us. Well, let me just explain to you what that word means. When it says that we have a great cloud of witnesses in our head, we think about them in the stadium and they are watching us, they are witnessing us, but there is another way to understand the word witness. When you have a courtroom and you bring a witness in to come and sit in the witness stand, they give their testimony. They give their testimony. And so what the Bible is saying here, these witnesses, what it is, we have their testimony. We have this humongous cloud of testimonies. And all of these people that are in heaven, their testimony is saying, I did it. You can do it too. I fulfilled it. I hung in there. I stayed in there. You can do it too. And their testimony encourages us. That's why we like to read the Bible and find out about them. Their testimony helps us in this race. That's what the witness is talking about. So when he says we can pass about with this great cloud of witnesses, these testimonies are encouraging us. I wanna read you some of their names out of Hebrews 11. Listen to these people's name. They're witnesses. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Is everybody with me? These people did great exploits. For God. Now I want to ask you this. Did any of them ever mess up? Abraham and his son, Isaac, were both liars. They didn't do a little dinky lie. They did a big honking lie. Is everybody with me? They looked a wealthy man, a powerful man in the eyeball and go, uh, no. Does the guy ask, is this your wife? No, it's not my wife. What do you think their wives said to them that night at home? I bet their chest was bruised where she's going, what are you talking about, boy? You got to get your act together. Why are you lying about that, boy? Well, I don't want him to kill me, take you away. They're liars. Samson, Samson, Samson. He is in the Hall of Fame of Faith. Samson. He's the guy with the long hair. He's a womanizer. He's proud and arrogant. He's in the Hall of Fame. You know, you and I wouldn't even know Samson went there. If all we had was a book of Judges, we'd go, well, that boy, he didn't go to heaven. If that's all we had. But if his name was not in Hebrews, we wouldn't know he's in heaven. And God says, nope, he did this exploit by faith, by Faith Samson. It's incredible, isn't it? It's amazing that he gets to do that. David, the giant killer, he's a hero for us. Now he committed adultery, and then he committed murder to cover up the adultery. You're missing it. You know what God said about David? He committed adultery, he committed murder, and then God said later on in David's life, God said, and he's a man after mine own heart. When I read that about David, you know what I thought about in my head? I got a chance. Maybe I can do that too. It's incredible. Isn't it wonderful that God gives us another chance? That God forgives us? It's incredible. The woman with the worst name of all history. The woman with the worst last name of all history, I guess. I don't know if anybody has a worse last name. Rahab the harlot. That's a crummy last name, isn't it? Got the harlot family coming in, come on in. That's a crummy name. We don't know what her real last name was, but every time you read her name in the Bible, it's the harlot, every time. And she's in the Hall of Fame. Isn't that awesome? Noah. Noah is in the Hall of Fame. Well, he should be. He built a big boat. It took him 120 years. If you've never been to the Ark Experience over there in northern Kentucky, I just suggest that you ought to go. It is worth it. My brain, I learned and I experienced all kinds of new things by going to that thing. I loved it. But anyway, Noah builds his big gimongous boat with three sons. Took him 120 years. In my brain, where did they get all the money for the lumber and the other stuff? Here's one. The engineering feat, the engineering skill that it took from four men to build such a craft. It's incredible. It's incredible. Here's one. There was one door, one window, three stories. How do you get air down to the bottom story for the aminals? That's some kind of engineering thing. And then the boat is full of aminals. People used to say, what'd they do with all that poop? I had an answer. The answer is, they didn't poop. They slept. God put them in hibernation. If he can bring them on the boat, he can put them to sleep. Well, except this year in March, I went to see the ark. I actually read the Bible while I was there. You know what the Bible says? God says, hey Noah, I want you to get enough food for your family and the aminals. That means they ate. And if you eat, because if you don't poop in 12 months, you're going to die. You'd be really sick. It takes what kind of engineering feat was that to get rid of all the poopage? Mercy. Now wait a minute, 120 years, four men are in charge, let me just ask you a question, do you think they had any bad days? After 120 years of preaching and building a boat, the floods came, lift up the boat, move the boat to Mount Ararat, the boat sets back down, the waters assuage, and then finally it dries up, Noah comes out of the boat, he brings his family, he builds an altar and worships God! That is the right thing to do! Amen! A few weeks or a few months later, Noah gets drunk out of his mind. So drunk, he has no clue what happened to him. That blows my mind. I can't understand it. Now, to me in my head, if he was going to get drunk, he'd got drunk while he's building the boat. Hey, guys, I can't take it anymore. I'm out of here. I'm going to go get drunk. It's not recorded that he did. He gets drunk after all the miracle stuff happens. And he's in the Hall of Fame. Isn't that weird? What about the guy who wrote the book of Hebrews? The Apostle Paul. Did he ever mess up? Look at Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 and we are not even close. What's this? This is incredible. The Apostle Paul, my dad considers him the greatest Christian that ever lived. Jesus is the Christ. And so outside of Christ, my dad says Paul the Apostle is the greatest Christian that ever lived. And his service to God is unparalleled and so on. But did he ever mess up? Listen to what the Bible says in verse number 15. The Apostle says, for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, That do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Mercy. Look at verse 19. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Does it sound like to you that Paul's a schizo? He's a schizo. He says, when I want to do good, I don't do good. When I don't want to do evil, that's the very thing I do. It's hard to believe in mind and your brain that the Apostle Paul would struggle as a Christian. But look what the Holy Bible says. Watch what he says in verse 18. For I know that in me, then he adds a parenthesis, he says, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Now look up here, look up here. Paul says, In me dwelleth no good thing, then he goes, he clarifies, and he goes, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You know what, I believe most of us in this room, we would do this to the Apostle Paul and say, sorry, too bad for you, because I'm actually a pretty good person. I do a lot of nice things. I help people when they need help. I occasionally am benevolent and I give to people that need for something that I can help them with. I'm not a big liar. I'm honest with my taxes as much as I can be. You can trust me. I don't cuss people out unless they really deserve it. I am pretty good. And Paul goes, in me dwelleth no good thing. And we're going, well Paul, I'm just sorry about that because I'm actually a pretty nice person. You know what the Bible says about our flesh? Our flesh is at enmity with God. Our flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Our flesh is at war with God. Hear me you can say all you want to about how good you are and everything But the Apostle Paul is right in our flesh dwelleth. No good thing. Look at your Bible. Let me show you this. Let me show you something Verse 21. He said I find then a law then when I would do good evil is present with me I Don't look up here. This is wild Paul says every time I want to do good I Evil's present with me. It's a law, it's just like gravity. Every time I want to do the right thing, evil's present with me. You know why evil is present every time Paul wants to do good? Look up here, I'll show you. Because everywhere Paul goes, Paul goes. Everywhere he goes. Is everybody with me? Every time Dave McCracken wants to do right, Dave McCracken comes too. And he is an aggravation. He's trying to trip me up. He's trying to get me not to be submissive to God. He's trying to get me to do my own thing, not God's thing. Can somebody say amen? Paul the apostle can't take it anymore. He can't take it anymore. So in verse 24, he says it out loud. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Mercy. What is that about? First of all, you got to get it right. He asked the right question. He admits he's wretched. He admits he's fleshly. He admits he struggles. He admits he stumbles. He admits that. And he says, oh, wretched man I am. Listen to what he said. Who shall deliver me? Listen carefully. He does not say what shall deliver me. Most of us are asking the question, well, I know I struggle. I triple up. I fall down a lot. What should I do? Should I read the Bible more? Maybe I should read the Bible more. Oh, well, maybe I'll just attend church more. Maybe even go like on a Tuesday night. Maybe if I give more money, maybe if I give more money, that will help you a lot if you'll give more money. But anyway, should I give more money? Should I pray more? Should I pass out more tracts? What should I do? What should I do? It is not what you can do. It is who, who shall deliver me. I thank God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. The only way, the only way to be delivered is by a person and his name is Jesus. It's Jesus. Honey, listen, it's already done. There's nothing you can do. He did it. He's the author and the finisher of our faith. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look to Jesus. He delivers us from the body of this sin. He delivers us from our flesh. Amen. How can I serve God? Well, you've got to do it through Jesus. Amen. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I'll show you this. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I would like to read this passage and then ask you the question, who does this sound like to you? But because I don't want to struggle with the answers and so on, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you it sounds like Jesus. Paul the Apostle, his personal testimony, sounds like Jesus. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19. Look what he says. For though I be free from all men, Yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without the law, as without the law. Then he has a parenthesis to explain it, but not without the law to God, but under the law to Christ. that I might gain them that are without the law. Now timeout, let me just give you a brief, tiny, tiny brief explanation. Some people go, I'm trying to reach everybody, so that's why I hang out at the bars. Well, Paul says, I wanna reach those that are without the law, that are lawless in their behavior and their attitude, you know, the drug addicts, the drug dens and all that stuff. He said, he's not saying that I hang out with them to reach them. He said, I'm still under the law to God. I still, Christ is still, he's my captain. I'm still surrendered to him. I don't live how I want to so I can say, I'm just trying to reach these people. Can I try to reach them? Yes. Should I try to reach them? Yes. But that doesn't mean I live with them and live like them so I can reach them. That's what the parentheses is about. But anyway, keep going. Verse 22, to the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Why? Verse 23, and this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Paul said, I've committed my life in the race to try to reach as many people as I can for the gospel's sake. Amen? My life is given to others. I want to reach them. I want them to know Jesus Christ too. Sounds like Jesus. Now watch what the next verse says. Look what it says. Verse 24, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all? But one receiveth the prize. Now look up here. Does it make sense to you if there's a race and they blow the whistle, how many people run? They all do. Amen. Well, how many win? One. Paul says, hey, don't you know when they run the race, everybody runs, but only one gets the prize? Is everybody hearing that? You know what I do? Dave McCracken, I've done it since I was just a boy. If I can't win, I don't want to do it. If I know I haven't got a chance, I'm pretty sure I ain't going to do it. If I've got a chance, maybe I'll try. There's a good-looking girl. I want to talk to her, but I don't think she'll talk to me. You know what I would do? I won't talk to her, but I'll talk to people next to her. And I'll mess around hoping that maybe she might say, hey, weirdo, want to talk to me? Or she'd be nice to me. If she's just nice to me, if she's only nice to me, then I'll go, green light. But if I'm pretty sure there's no green light, I ain't even going to try. That's my personality. That's who I am. And it's wrong. It's not good. It's not good at all. Because there's so many things you and I could do if we weren't afraid. So we're afraid we won't win, we're afraid we won't look good, we're afraid we'll miss it. Paul says, don't you know that in a race they run all but only one receives the prize? Look at the next words at the end of the verse, he says, so run. Hey, hey, hey, hey, only one receives the prize, so run. What do you mean, run? Well, only one gets the prize, so run. that ye may obtain. You're missing it. You're missing it. He said, forget about looking at anybody else. You get your eyes off of them. Get your eyes off yourself. Get your eyes on Jesus and run as if you are going to get the prize. If you get your eyes off everybody else and get your eyes on Jesus, you can run. You're not going, I'm probably doing a real bad job. I'm probably going to lose. I'm in the race. I'm the only one here. So run. that you may obtain. It's an awesome philosophy. It's an awesome scripture reference that gives me and you the idea, hey crybaby don't act like you're going to lose, act like you're the winner. You're in it? Go win it! Amen? Keep reading the Bible, watch this. Verse 25, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Now time out, time out. Every man that's striving for the mastery, now here, look up here. Every person that's in the Olympics, that's one way to look at it, okay? Every person that's in the games, that's striving, wants to win the mastery, striveth for it, they are temperate in all things. They have self-control in all things. Excuse me, why do they do it? They get a corruptible crown. You know what happens if you won the Olympic Games in Rome? You know what you got in the Colosseum? You know what you got? You got an olive branch wrapped up like a wreath put on your head. I was the winner. How long does that olive thing last? I don't know, a couple weeks, a couple months, then it's gone, it's rotten, it's no good. Today, at least, they get a gold medal. Back then they got it. He said, it's a corruptible crown. It won't last. But we are in the race. And when we finish the race, we get an incorruptible crown. The Lord himself. Can you imagine Jesus himself handing you a crown? And here, good job. Well done. Is that awesome? Mercy. They do it for a corruptible, we do it for an incorruptible. It says that we're temperate in all things. So I want to read you what Mr. Robertson said. He helped me when I was studying this. A.T. Robertson says, the athlete then and now has to control himself. Training for 10 months was required under the direction of trained judges or trained coaches. Abstinence from wine was required and a rigid diet and a regimen of habits. The regimen of habits means they're gonna have a regular workout. Everybody with me? Epictetus of the first century, he said these words, thou must be orderly, living on spare food, abstain from confections. I had to look that word up. I didn't know what confections was. I found out confections is chocolate cake. It's sweet food. You cannot have chocolate cake if you're going to be on the team. If I joined a team and they said, now, wait, before you join, you got to tell you something. You can't have chocolate cake. I go, I ain't going to be on your team now. I'm going to be on another team. You cannot have sweet food. Mercy. I don't know if you're getting this or not. It sounds like self-control. Self-discipline. Self-sacrifice. Now, I am a person that I do like chocolate cake. I love chocolate chip cookies. They're my downfall. I can't resist them. I can resist stuff. I can resist pie. I can resist chocolate cake. But if you've got a chocolate chip cookie in front of me, uh-oh. When I pastored, people would give me candy bars. I had a Milky Way, a Snickers, an Almond Joy in my bottom drawer. It was there. It was there for over a year. I don't have to eat it. But if someone brings me warm chocolate chip cookies, I'm going to eat them. I can't help it. Just a month ago or so, I was in New Mexico. We were having dinner at the preacher's house. He has three daughters that were there. The middle daughter made chocolate chip cookies that are this big. When you put them in your hand, they kind of bend over just a little. She brought them, after we ate, she brought the plate, there's probably 12 or so, 12 that were on the plate, she set the plate in front of me. Are these for me? Well, if you want to eat them all, I guess, but you could share. Okay, I'll share. So, three people took one. So, I ate nine. I ate all nine of them right then. Nine. It was a happy day in my life. It was a happy day. I will tell you, I did preach that night. And that night in bed, I was going, Oh, boy, man, I'm a little bit uncomfortable. I might have eaten just one too many cookies. Mercy. I can't resist them. They're good. I can't stop putting them in my face. The next day, we went back to the house. We had dinner again, and the girl brought in another plate of cookies. She's walking in. I said, get me behind me, Satan. I do not want to look at those cookies. And I'm telling you, I had great self-control. I didn't eat one, because I still was having after effects from the day before. But if they had brought them the next day, I'd probably eat them all again. I just cannot hardly resist. They are so good. If someone says, OK, you can't. I don't know if you're getting this. Listen to what he said. He said they must sustain from confections, make a point of exercising at the point in time and heat or in cold. Mr. Horace of the first century said that usually would win the race had born and done much. He had sweat. He had been cold. Is everybody with me? Watch this, this is amazing, you gotta watch the Holy Bible, this is so good. Verse 25, every man that's striving for the mastery is tempered in all things. Excuse me, I don't know, time out, I wanna hit it a couple more times with the hammer. Look up here, tempered in all things. No, no, self-control, boom, in all things. Chocolate chip cookies, boom, self-control. Is everybody with me? I don't know if you guys have them up here or not, but Krispy Kremes. The most I've ever eaten at one setting was 16, 18. At one setting. It's like air. It's air, it's just sweet air. But it would be okay to practice a little self-discipline. Is everybody with me? Look at what he says, temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. Look up here. He says, the way I run is the way they are. They're temperate in all things. I run. I'm temperate in all things. I have self-control, self-sacrifice, self-denial in all things in my Christian walk. Why? That by all means I might save some. And we go, well, Christianity, you guys are going to have rules. If you're going to expect me to have self-discipline, that's not the kind of Christianity I want. I don't want a Christianity where they're going to have services during the week. Sunday morning is enough. Is anybody hearing? self-discipline. He says, I'm tempering all things. He said, I'm not running as uncertainly. I know exactly what I'm doing. I got my eyes on Jesus and I'm trying to be all things to all men that by all means I might save some. And my goal is to become like Jesus. Amen. It's not uncertainly. Look at the next words, friend. You got to watch this. I've lost my Bible this second. I found it. Here we are. Verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I. Time out. Did anybody notice what he just did? He changed the metaphor. The metaphor was what? Run. Now the metaphor is? He changed it from a runner to a fighter, to a pugilist, a boxer. Bam, bam, bam. So fight I. Not as one that beat at the air. He said, I'm not beating the air. I'm not shadow boxing. You can tell I'm not a boxer. I was thinking if I did shadow box, I would be doing this. I would trip. I'd chip a tooth or break an arm. I would lose. In a shadow boxing match, I would lose. Paul says, I'm not fighting uncertainly. I know exactly what I'm striking. Look at the next verse. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Now I think the second half of that little phrase there, bring it into subjection, sounds like that my body's not going to control me, I'm going to bring my body into subjection. That first part of the phrase kind of messes us up, I keep under my body. What does that mean, keep under your body? Well, to help us with that, I got another word study, and Mr. Robertson Plummer, he says it like this. Well, let me do this first. The Greek words, for I keep under my body. are these words, allahu papazio moi tu soma. The reason I'm reading those to you is because Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Plutarch wrote down the same words, allahu papazio moi tu soma. When they were translating Aristotle or Plutarch, it means to buffet. It means to buffet the face. to strike under the eye. Boom. That's what keep under my body means, to strike the face, to strike the eye, to beat black and blue. Robertson and Plummer, they were trying to help us see the picture, and they said it's like this. It's like horses in a chariot race, which must be kept well in hand by whip and rein if the prize is to be won. Can you picture the chariots going around, and the dirt's flying, and the mud's flying, and the chariot driver's... And he's trying to keep my horse under control. That's what the idea of keeping my body under control. Then some word studies says it means to strike under the eye, give one a black eye. Paul knew what he was talking about. The games were not foreign to people. The Colosseum games and the fighters, Paul knew exactly what these pugilists, these fighters did. They fought to the death or near death. That's how they fought. I have an explanation of their boxing gloves from one of my word studies, Vincent Word Studies. Listen to how he says this. He's describing, this guy's name is Rodolfo Lasagna. He describes the boxing glove. The construction of the fur line boxing gloves secured by thongs round the forearm to the elbow. The gloves cover the thumb and the hand to the first finger joints. Now another fellow named Virgil is describing a boxer he's watching. And the boxer he's watching is Entellus, and Entellus is throwing his gloves into the ring. Here he goes. He says, So Entellus throws his boxing gloves into the ring, formed of seven bull's hides, with lead and iron sewed into them. Now, Vincent says, the cestus, the glove, consisting of oxide bands covered with knots and nails loaded with lead and iron. In Paul's day, when someone put up their fists and they were the fighters, they were so fight-eye and they were striking each other with nails, knots, iron. I'm telling you, I think it would leave a mark. Paul is describing, saying that this kind of fighting, this kind of boxing is what I'm trying to describe to you. Is everybody hearing me? Maybe you're missing it. You know what Paul is saying? The race I'm running, hold this for a second, look over here, the race I'm running, my flesh is not in charge. My flesh, I will beat it black and blue. I will not let it win. I will not let it have its way. Here's another way he says it. Here's another way he says it. I die daily. I am crucified with Christ. Paul is saying that this flesh will not control me. It will not win. I surrender all. I commit to Jesus Christ. I keep my eyes on Him. You and I go, well, Christianity is kind of hard. I don't know. I can't read the Bible and be at all them services they want me to come to. This is just really hard. I want to go to one of those churches where they don't have any demands. Paul the Apostle says, no, the Christianity I am, the race I'm in, has serious demands. It's so demanding that I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Can somebody say amen? All right, did our heroes, did our heroes of Hebrews 11 do any good things for God? Go to Hebrews 11, I'll read a few verses pretty fast and I'm getting close to the end. Hebrews 11. I want to read this verses fast because I don't want to be disrespectful, but you can get the picture and then I want to get to the conclusion here. Alright, I'm going to read it fast, verse 32. Hebrews 11, 32. And what shall I more say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David also, and Samuel, the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the alien. received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourging, gave moreover of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder and tempted. They were slain with the sword, wondered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. And time out. Look up here. Look at that. Can you imagine these people serving God and they're wondering about in sheepskins? They're tortured? Well, too bad for them. No, you know how they did it? By faith. They were in the race, they kept their eyes on Jesus. If you were in Denver, Colorado, Denver, Colorado on Interstate 25, and you're headed south out of Denver, headed toward Colorado Springs. On your way to Colorado Springs, there's a state highway called State Highway 24. It goes west, it goes up into the mountains. There is a park up there called the Cave of the Winds. And the road after a while turns into a serpentine or serpentine, it turns into this snaky road, goes back and forth, a lot of switchbacks and going up. As you get closer, you're almost there, there is a sheer rock wall on one side of the state highway, and a sheer rock wall on the other side of the highway, and it goes right in one of those hairpin turns, and many, many people put on the brakes and stop their car, their truck, they stop right there, and they go, well, you can't get through there. It's an optical illusion that it looks like you can't make it. And many people put on their brakes and stop. And as they sit there, there is a sign up about 25 feet up the side of the cliff, outside the sheer wall there, a sign there that's a large sign, and it says these words. Oh, yes, you can. Thousands already have. What I'm telling you tonight, you can stay in the race. You can keep your eyes on Jesus. Thousands already have. I have a little piece of poetry I want to read to you. It's just one page here. It's front and back of a little page here. I'm going to read this to you. I'll be finished. After I read this, I'll make a couple of comments. I'll be done. It's written by a lady named Dee Groberg. The name of the little prose here is called The Race. And she explains where the portrait came from, how it happened, and she gives this portrait. Let me read it to you. Quit! Give up! You're beaten, they shout at me and plead. There's just too much against you now. This time you can't succeed. As I start to hang my head in front of failure's ugly face, my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race, a children's race. Young boys, young men, how I remember well. Excitement, sure, but also fear. It wasn't hard to tell. They all lined up so full of hope, each sought to win that race, or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place. And fathers standing on the side, each cheering for his son, and each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one. The whistle blew and off they went, young hearts in hopes of fire. To win and be the hero was each young boy's desire. And one boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd, was running near the lead and thought, My dad will be so proud. But as they speeded down the field across the shadow dip, the little boy who thought to win lost his step and slipped. Trying hard to catch himself, his hand flew out to brace. Amid the laughter of the crowd, he fell flat upon his face. So down he fell and with him hope he couldn't win it now. Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow. But as he fell, his dad stood tall and showed his anxious face, which to the little boy so clearly said, get up, run the race. He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit, that's all. He ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall. So anxious to restore himself and to catch up and to win, his mind went faster than his legs, he slipped and fell again. He wished then he had quit before with only one disgrace. It's hopeless, says the runners now, I shouldn't run the race. But in the laughing crowd, he searched and found his father's face. That steady look which said again, get up, run the race. So up he jumped to try again, ten yards behind and last. If I'm going to gain those yards, I'm going to have to move really fast. Exerting everything he had, he gained eight of the ten, but trying so hard to take the lead, he slipped and fell again. Defeated, he laid silently, a teardrop from his eye. There's no sense running anymore. Three strikes, I'm out, why try? I've lost, so what's the use, he thought. I'll live with my disgrace. But then he thought about his dad, who soon he'd have to face. Get up, an echo sounded loud and long. Get up and take your place. You weren't meant for failure here. Get up, run the race. So if he rose to run once more, and with him a new commit, he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn't quit. So far behind the others now, the most he'd ever been, so he gave it, still he gave it all he had, and he ran as though to win. Three times he'd fallen tumbling, three times he'd rose again. Too far behind to hope to win, but still he ran the end. They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place, head high, proud and happy with a smile upon his face. But when the fallen youngster crossed the line last place, the crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race. And even though he came in last with head bowed low and proud, Well, you would have thought he'd won that race to listen to the crowd. To his dad, he sadly said, I didn't do too well. To me, you won, his father said. You rose each time you fell. And now when things seem dark and hard, the memory of that race, in spite of all life's ups and downs, I cannot quit the race. See, ladies and gentlemen, the question is not this. This is not the question. Are you ever going to mess up? That's not the question. The question is not, are you ever going to fall down? Are you ever going to fall and mess up? That's not the question. Because every one of us are going to mess up. We're all human. Our hero's messed up. The question's not if you're going to mess up. Here's the question. Are you going to get back up? That's the question. Will you get back up? You know why that David's our hero? He got back up. You know why Samson is in the Hall of Fame? He got back up. Rahab, she got back up. Is anybody hearing anything I'm talking about? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you the question is not are you gonna mess up? The question is will you get back up and say God, please forgive me and get your eyes on Jesus and take off running Amen, that's the question The Satan is so Such a liar and manipulates us that many of us go, well, I've messed up so much. This church doesn't need me and Jesus doesn't need me. I don't want to be a big mess and be an obscene person here. No, no, no. Here's the deal. When you get back up, you know what the Savior says? He'll forgive us our sins. There's nobody in here. I'm telling you, he wants to forgive you. You just got to make up your mind when you get back up. I'm sorry. It's a personal decision. You have to decide. Your wife can't make the decision for you. The parents can't make the decisions for you. Us parents, we want to make the decision for our kids. It won't work. They have to make the decision. Will you get back up? If you're not saved, number one, you need to get the jersey. You need to get saved. If you are saved, you need to make the commitment. Some of you are down. You're down right now. You need to get back up. Some of you need to make the commitment and say, Jesus, right now I think I'm running. I'm in there, but I'm going to make it the commitment to you. I'm going to get back up. Will you stand with me, please? Thank you. Thank you for listening. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our great God, I come to You again.