Let's open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians, and as you're turning there, I've been thinking about the center of that verse all week long. That verse says, for we must all appear, that's verse 10 of 2 Corinthians 5, before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive, now listen to this, for the things done in the body. Did you know that your body was made by God? Do you realize that if you are born again this morning that your body was purchased by God? And did you know that God is actually going to allow us to stand in this body that he made and that he bought and stand in front of him and tell him what it was we did in this body. It doesn't say with. It says in. the whole time we lived in this body what we did now the blessing is this is written to believers and so if you know Jesus Christ all you're going to have to worry about is what you did in this body from the instant that you were born again now if you haven't been born again you have much deeper concerns than what I'm talking about because the Lord says that every thought every word and every deed is going to be vividly displayed before the holy infinite God of the universe's presence and He is going to allow everything you did if you are unsaved To judge you and confine you eternally to the lake of fire So I'm only talking to believers and if you don't know the Lord don't worry about what I'm saying this morning You have far worse ahead of you but if you know the Lord from the instant of your salvation on what you did in the body of God is vitally concerned about. Because he says, I have bought you with a price, therefore I want you to glorify me. And he said that because there's a reckoning coming. There's a day that we stand. And it's going to be, this verse says, manifested to everyone what we did in the body. Now, why am I talking about the body? Well, because we're looking at what God wants from us as far as what He wants us to do with this body. He's very specific. His word tells us that our bodies are supposed to be doing something. In fact, the person that knows more about the Christian life than anyone else, the Apostle Paul tells us, back up to Romans chapter 12, and the man that knew more about the Christian life than anyone else compared our lives on earth to the presentation of our bodies to the Lord, and from that point of presenting our body onward, He calls our lives an agonizing race. And I don't know exactly why, but my wonderful wife, who doesn't struggle like I do with consumptivitis, that means I love to eat, she doesn't have that problem. And so, do you know what she got me for Christmas? She got me one of these machines. And you know what I've done? I've hung my clothes on it. I've put, you know, spread things over it. And every time I come home, I notice she's taken all the hangers off of it, unspread the stuff, and it just sits there, all put together. Now, I was talking to my doctor recently, and I said, what's a good exercise machine? He said, there's only one good one, one that's used. And I thought, oh, he's been talking to my wife. He knew that I've been hanging my clothes on. So I decided this week I was turning over a new leaf. And I got on that thing. I wasn't in an endurance race, and it was agonizing. I mean, I felt like I had lead in my legs. And that was only after two minutes. But boy, I'm up to 25 minutes now. hair started growing back. It's really amazing everything that happens when you exercise. But the Apostle Paul, and I want you to see this, he says, present your bodies, verse 1, as a living sacrifice. Okay, that's great. A living sacrifice. I mean, we don't have temples around here. We don't sacrifice. That doesn't communicate to me. So he didn't stop there. He said, I want you to be a living sacrifice offering your body in an agonizing race for the Lord. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 6. Keep going from, you're going to get all over your Bibles. 1 Corinthians 6, 19. And the same man, the Apostle Paul, tells us that the main examination that we as believers will face is the question, what did you do with the body that was made by God, that was bought by Christ's sacrifice? In verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 6 says, do you not know that this body of yours is the temple of the Spirit of God. Now, this is a beautiful worship center we have here. But you know what? When you're not in here, it's not a holy place. It's only a holy place when the saints gather, when the Holy Spirit comes in, because the Holy Spirit does not live in physical buildings. He lives in bodies. And we are His holy place. And you and I are walking around living, moving bodies that have become temples. And he says, this temple, verse 19, he is in you, the Holy Spirit, you have him from God, and you are no longer your own. Verse 20, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body. because it belongs to God. So we're looking at the body. What does God want from our body? God wants me to be fruitful. He wants me to transform my life in this body into something that's going to last forever. The Lord tells us that He wants us to do something so that we can produce that which is pleasing to Him. How do we do that? Turn back now to John 15. You're going to really get an exercise. I remember when I was little, we always had opening exercises in Sunday school, and that was we were having a Bible drill so everyone would find verses. Well, you're in the Bible drill section, our opening exercises. And this is what the Lord says in John 15. God says, this body I made, this body I bought, this body that's going to stand before my throne is going to be judged on the basis of some criteria I've laid down. And here's the criteria. I'm going to give you rewards for pleasing me. Now that should be something we all perk up our ears about. God says, I'm going to give you rewards based on how much you please me with your life. So what should we immediately pause and think? What pleases you? If you are going to reward me on the basis of me pleasing you, then I want to know how to please you, right? That should be our normal response. Well, he tells us that in John 15. Because this is what he says, I am pleased if you learn the secret of this two-way street. It's in the verses that we read six weeks ago. He says, abide in me and I in you. What's the two-way street? He says, you are to allow me to be at home and indwell every part of your life. And then, I want you to as you abide in me, live out that life. Let me in, and then let me out, flowing through your life. Now specifically, what did we see? Well, we saw that Jesus Christ is invited into every arena of our life. When He's invited in, my time becomes where He abides. My possessions become the way that I become rich toward God. My attitudes become His personality. And my body becomes a daily offering to run an athletic, agonizing race for Him. And that's where we've gotten to. We've gone through each of these. Christ wants to abide in my time in the river of 60 seconds a minute and 60 minutes an hour that's flowing by. He wants to abide in that. And He wants to transform my time into what pleases Him. He wants to abide in my treasures. He wants me to look at my money as if it was deposited in my account by him, and at the end of the month he's going to go over the checkbook and see what I did with it. He wants to abide in my treasures. He wants to abide in my attitudes. We saw that God says, I want to abide in the way you relate to life and the way you relate to people. He says, I want to captivate your thoughts. I want you to have your mind set on me. That was in 2 Corinthians 10. Then we studied, he wants to draw my affections. It says in Colossians 3, we begin to seek and desire and long for things above. rather than things that are earthly and sensual and devilish. Rather than that, our affections become lifted and drawn toward things above. And he wants to captivate and draw our affections. And then, we ended on this little study with, he wants to transform our personality. You've heard of heart transplants, and you've heard of liver and kidney and heart-lung transplants. Well, God says, I want to do a personality transplant. I want to transplant my personality into you. I want you to, instead of your love, which is deficient, I want you to let my love be in your life. Instead of your joy, which is so sporadic, I want you to have my joy, which isn't attached to circumstances. Instead of your peace, which comes and goes, I want you to have my peace. It's like a river. See, it's a personality transplant. He comes to live inside and lives through us. And Jesus says, I want to abide in your attitudes. Well, finally, Christ wants to abide in our actions. Romans 12, that we just read, he says, I want to control your body. I want you to give your body to me. And I want you to know that I am going to control you to the extent you yield, that you give up, that you present anew and afresh your body as a living sacrifice, alive to me. He wants to control my body. Secondly, he says, he wants to focus our life on what lasts forever. Now that's the problem we have. I don't know about you, but everything is wonderful. I mean, there's so many wonderful things. I was out yesterday, in fact, I even cut myself. I was trimming off all the perennials that need to be trimmed off, and I was getting those pesky whatever, you know, elm seedlings that have come in my flower beds and everything else, and I was just working away. You know, I went from that, and I was off, you know, pruning the roses and stuff like that. Did you know, I think I could be a full-time gardener. It's just so much fun. And if it's not that, I was off doing something else. You know, I was just working. My father is a craftsman. He left me all these tools, and I was looking at all the tools. And then you get up on the computer, and I mean, you can go endless. And there's so much in life that you can look at. And the Lord says, You need to get focused on what's important. Go to, you'll have to turn again for a long time, Hebrews chapter 12, okay? Now if you don't know where Hebrews is, if you're where we were, just start going to the right toward the end of your New Testaments. And it's Hebrews chapter 12, it's about 10 books back from the very end. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. And we're going to spend a long time looking at these two verses. Because these two verses are the Lord saying, I want to focus your life. Hebrews 12 verse 1, wherefore seeing we have encircling us, so great a cloud of witnesses. What's that? That's chapter 11. That's all those saints that are sitting up there and they're encouraging us onward and they're saying, yes, it works. I've done it. I overcame my past. That's what you would hear from Joseph. I overcame my lust. That's what you'd hear from David. I overcame my anger problem. That's what you'd hear from Moses. I overcame my quitting problem. That's what you'd hear from Mark. And they're all sitting up there saying, yes, His grace is sufficient, you can make it. So we're encircled by this cloud of witnesses. Let us put off all bulk weight. Your version might say encumbrances. Whatever, the word is onos. It's something that isn't bad, it just isn't necessary. So put off all that, he says, and the the loosely fitting sin, or the sin that so easily entangles us. He's talking about a race. We were racing, we were at an event last night at the Warren Center, and we were coming down, and all my children were there, and the elevator opened, and they all started getting off, and one of the children's shoelaces had gotten loose, and so as they stepped, they stepped on their shoelace, and it made this foot stick, and they just It was really a classic moment of seeing something entangling them. They had an untied up part of their life and it tripped them up. That's what he's saying. He's saying, watch out for the sins. It's an articular, it's very specific. Watch out for the sin that so easily besets you. Each of us have those, you know. We love to be against all the sins that don't bother us. And we loudly say, oh, look at those people doing that, you know. But we all have a besetting sin that easily besets us. And he says, I want you to focus on that. I want you to focus on the fact that others have made it. And I want you to focus on getting rid of the bulk and the extra stuff. And I want you to focus on your besetting sin. And what else? And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. And here's the focus, looking unto Jesus, the archagon, the leader. the pioneer, the first one off the blocks, whatever, it had many meanings. It was kind of like in car races, you know how they have the, they all line up and they have that beginning car and then it leaves or, you know, it's just kind of one that sets the, even in the Olympics, you know, they go, you know, on your mark and then, you know, that's the mark to go. Jesus is the archagon. He's the one that tells us how to go. He's the finisher. He's the judge at the end of the line. He says, I want to focus your life. Now, let's go through. There's basically three things he's telling us here that we need to focus our life. And I want to show them to you briefly. If you look at Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, notice what God says. He says, this is what I want you to do with your body, your life, your body that's in this race. By the way, this whole verse encircling us, a great cloud of witnesses, the word he uses is for the stadium. It's almost like we're in the Olympics, and all the saints of the past are sitting in the stands, and they're all wearing their medals, and they've made it. They are up there telling us, you're going to make it, because we have made it, and His grace is sufficient. So we're in the race, and this is what He tells us. Number one, drop whatever hinders your focus on Jesus. Drop it. That's what he says. He says, put off the encumbrance. Drop it right now. And he talks about two things. He says, drop, lay aside, ditch, get rid of, quit, avoid, flee, and forsake. Anything to get your eyes off from looking at the finish line. looking at Jesus. And if there's anything in your life that blocks your view of looking at Christ, any encumbrance or any besetting sin, Drop it. He says, lay it aside. Choose to get rid of it. So that's the first thing, drop. And we're going to study dropping. Secondly, run the race that God has marked. He says, run the race that is set before us. He says, God has marked a race for you. Persevere. Stay at it. Don't grow weary of it. And finish that race. So drop. Drop anything that hinders. Run. run the race that you're in. Wouldn't it be something if those little tiny young ladies and men that can just jump up in the air and flip all over the place, wouldn't it be terrible if they tried to do the weightlifting stuff? He says, run the race that you're in, not somebody else's. And then he says, look, look to Jesus. That's what verse 2 says. Look to Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author, the finisher of our faith. We're supposed to look at Jesus as our example to follow. We're supposed to focus on Him. We're supposed to follow His example. We're supposed to keep Him on our minds. We're supposed to see Him as the goal. We're supposed to await Him at the end of the race. We're supposed to see Him as the one that gives us the prize. You know, in the Isthmian games, those were the ones that were being run around Corinth where Paul was ministering. Did you know that at the beginning of the race, these are the precursors, the feeder to the ancient Olympics, they were held in Corinth, the Isthmian Games, and when the runners would come, or the boxers, or the chariot drivers, or the wrestlers, those early sports, when they would come to compete, before they competed, they would look off and right in front of them, hanging on a pedestal, was the award that they were fighting for. And they always, the runners would come and they would look at the award and then they would turn around because they had to run around the track and come by that pedestal to get their award. So they would look at it to see what it was. They were going to, you know, eat their insides out running around that track at full speed. They'd look at what they were going to get and then they'd line up. And then they would run around that track looking toward the finish line where they were going to get that prize. That's what he says. Jesus is the prize. Await Him at the end of your race. See Him giving you the prize. Await His smile and those words, well done. Okay, number one, drop. Look at verse one. Drop any hindrance. He says, let us lay aside, in verse one, Every weight. The word, as I told you, is the word onkos. And onkos means a bulk or a mass. It's not necessarily something that's bad. And we need to drop any hindrance. If you were going on a marathon race right now, let's say that most of us don't run very well. Let's say we're going on this bicycle thing. Can you imagine someone getting on their bicycle for a race and having one of those huge full backpacks? I mean, and having a shovel hanging off of that thing and having their cooking pot banging behind them. Can you imagine if they were in a bicycle race? You know, you'd say, you know, that backpack is really good if you were going hiking or camping, but not for the race. Why don't you let me set that off to the side?" That's what he's saying. It's not a bad thing. He's not saying these things are bad. It's something that will weigh us down, divert our attention, sap our energy, dampen our enthusiasm for the things of God, because we cannot win when we have excess weight. Now, there are certain habits in life, there are certain choices we make that are not bad. They are not sin. But you know what the problem with them is? They hold us back. They hold us back from fully engaging for the Lord. Think about that, because Jesus says, I want you to drop whatever is in excess. You know, we might say, well, what's wrong with that? The answer from the Lord is nothing in itself. The problem is not what the weight is, but that what it does, it keeps us from running and winning. in your life. It could be something as simple as a hobby that just seems to never get over and it consumes your time and you find yourself saying, if I ever get this restored or finished or finally done, then I can and you fill in, finally, you know, work in children's ministry or Sunday school ministry or get involved in that Bible study or finally, you know, start in this discipleship group, then that hobby or pursuit or whatever isn't in and of itself wrong, but look at the effect it's having. Look at the weight it is in your life, and that's what this verse is all about. Drop any hindrance. A hindrance is something that's otherwise good, but it weighs us down spiritually. It could be a friendship, it could be an association, it could be an event, it could be a place, it could be a habit, it could be a pleasure, an entertainment, even an honor. But otherwise, this good thing in and of itself drags us down. Remember Paul said, I'm convinced that nothing in and of itself is evil. but it's what we allow it to do to us, to distract us, to drag us down. That's the positive one. Look at the second half. He says, drop the dead weight. It's not bad stuff, you just don't need it. Reminds me, we're headed off to take the kids to school, and we're packing, and there's so many of us that Bonnie has a strict regimen. They have to show what they're bringing. And the kids try their hardest to sneak something extra in the car, and Dad always goes and carries it out and makes sure that Mom has inspected it. And we find the strangest things. They're rock collections. I mean, can you imagine taking in a car a rock collection? No. But we go through life with rocks waiting us down. See, it's drop that hindrance. But secondly, look at the middle part of this verse. And let us lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us. Now this is serious stuff. I want to talk about this for a moment, because all around our planet, God has made warning signs about the deadly nature of sin. There are terrifying examples if we think about them. Now, I'll just give you one from the world of plants. I love plants. I grow plants. In fact, I have to be careful I don't have dirt under my fingernails, because I love to dig in the dirt. I love to weed, and I love to divide perennials, and I love to plant, and I just love that. I love pruning, and I love cutting flowers for my wife and all that. I've loved it ever since I was little. I used to love to, you know, cut shoots. They used to let me in the greenhouses at Michigan State University with a paring knife and a plastic bag, and they said I could get a slip and cut of any plant in there, because they saw, as a young person, I loved plants. And I used to have the most exotic plants growing in my mother's basement in the southern exposure window, and it just was just flourishing. Well, from the world of plants, let me give you one terrifying picture of your entangling sin. Okay? Whatever it is, we all have one. The terrifying picture is one of the clearest I can think of, of the nature of sin, is a plant of the species that catch flies. Now listen to this. These plants offer alluring sweetness to a fly at the cost of death. Okay? And that's what sin does. Sin is an alluring sweetness that will kill us in the end. It's deadly. Here's one. Perhaps you've seen yourself, maybe out in the grass somewhere as you've traveled, a sundew plant. A sundew plant is one of these plants, or a venus, you might have heard of venus flycatcher, that opens up like this and it has glands that secrete this sweet, irresistible nectar that flies especially just can't They just can't get away from. And so it's out there just oozing this goodness, and it's like a trap ready to spring shut on them. And it's just there. And so the fly is flying around, and it gets a scent of this. And the fly will light on one of these leaves to taste of the glands that grow there. And instantly, three crimson-tipped, finger-like hairs bend over and touch the fly's wings. And as that fly is drinking the nectar, those little hairs have let this very, very sticky substance out, and the fly begins to feel as it struggles. And it struggles, but those little tendrils are holding it in a sticky grasp. And so as the fly struggles to get free, the more it struggles, the more it's hopelessly coated with adhesive, and soon the fly relaxes. But in its little fly mind, things could be worse, it's thinking, because it extends its tongue out and begins to feast fully on the sun-dew plant's sweetness. And the longer it sucks the sweetness, the more it is adhered to that plant and coated. And when the fly relaxes, it's held so firmly that it's entirely at the plant's mercy. And when that happens, the plant closes around it. And the fly is encased inside. And after about an hour and a half, the fly is an empty, sucked skin. And the sun-dew plant unfolds again to offer itself to another unsuspecting patron of its sweetness. That is a terrifying picture from nature. of the deadliness of sin that so easily besets us. It provides us pleasure, but while we're getting the pleasure, it's encircling and sucking the life out of our spiritual lives. And what he's saying here is, drop every sin. Don't let that besetting sin, as the older translations call it. We each have that characteristic sin that more easily entangles us than others. Some sins that tempt and degrade others have little appeal for us and vice versa. For some, sensuality is their Achilles' heel. That's for many men, but not for all. Another who has gained victory over such sin may regularly down jealousies, deadly necker. and they are sucked dry by jealousy, or another by envy, or another by materialism, or another by a lack of forgiveness. It doesn't mean that sins have to be the gross, abominable kinds, but whatever our besetting sin, whether it be that anger, or that impatience, or that jealousy, or that envy, or that fear, Many people are gripped by fear. They live in constant fear. And they're always trying to protect their health, and protect their assets, and protect their home, and protect their children. And they just live, and they don't confess the fact that they are bound by fear. And it saps. Dishonesty may never tempt some souls, for guile has no appeal to them, but just cross them and you'll feel Satan's temper. What sin is it that easily entangles you or me? covetousness, criticism, laziness, hatred, lust, unthankfulness, pride, whatever sin it is, it must be dropped. Drop it. Drop the weight, the good stuff that doesn't go along with your walk and run with Christ, and drop the bad stuff, because it's sucking the life right out of your spiritual being. Second thing he says, not only drop, but look at the next part of verse 1, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and look at this, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Second point, run. We're supposed to run our race. One great translation of this passage is, it says this, let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. The words are specific. It's a race marked out for us. God has planned a specific race for us to follow Him through life. It's not the same as another's. Our pathway may be full of deep valleys and steep hills. There may be storms ahead. And we look over at someone else and it's like, man, I'm going up and down through the valleys and it's hard. And they're just running along on flat ground. And sometimes we say, how come I don't get that race? And Lord says, I have a race that's marked for you. Let us run with patience. Look what that verse says. The race marked out for us. God has a plan and we're to follow that race track He has marked out for us. And we follow it to the end. We are supposed to run our race to the end. You remember what the Apostle Paul said? This was his testimony. We need to finish well. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. Now Paul's race is different than my race, different than your race, different than Timothy's race, different than Barnabas' race, different than Peter's race. We each have a course God has marked out for us. We're supposed to run that. We're not supposed to be looking and saying, man, it looks easier over there. I wish I had theirs. Or the opposite, how come they have to go through all that trouble and I don't? God has marked out our race and we're to run it. And finally, the scriptures tell us this is what we do. Look at verse 2 of Hebrews 12. This is how it's all possible. The only way to accomplish all that the Lord has planned for you and me is to obey this final exhortation. Verse 2, look to Jesus. First of all, as our example, notice we're supposed to focus on Jesus. It doesn't say focus on the name of Jesus. Did you catch that? God says, I want you to focus on Him. Jesus. What is that about? Well, God is calling us to focus on Christ's humanity as we see him in the four Gospels. We're supposed to focus on the fact that Jesus, Jesus lived a perfect life. He endured temptation and he knows what we're going through. We forget that so often. We see him high and lifted up and exalted and that he is, but he also had the perfect life and the example for us, being tempted in all things. We're supposed to look at Him as our example. We're supposed to have the message from this verse that God gives us, get totally absorbed with Jesus. We do this by dropping everything or anything that hinders us, and we do this by running the course, but that only happens by looking at Christ and looking at Him and being absorbed in Him. We run the race of life as we look at Jesus. We consciously focus and meditate on Him. How do you do that? Well, one of the best ways is to constantly read and re-read the Gospels and see how Jesus interacted with the events of His life and with the people that came into His life. And say, I want your love in my life to respond that way. I want your joy. I want your peace. I want your patience. That's what we need. We look to Jesus not only as our example, but keep looking at verse 2. He's the prize. He's the finisher of our faith. He's the prize we await. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, He despised the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of God. He is, as Paul talked about, He's the prize that we pressed toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus is at the end. He has already, as it were, run the race. And he is there waiting for us and cheering us on. And so many times it's neat when they've panned over and showed the family members or showed the teammates and showed how they were so earnestly cheering them on. That's all nice. But Jesus himself is the prize. He is waiting at the end of the line. He is welcoming. He is encouraging. He is saying, you will make it because I will give you the grace and the strength. Jesus is our prize. Who for the joy, verse 2 says, set before Him, He endured the cross. In those ancient Isthmian games, a pedestal stood at the finish line. On it hung the wreath that was the winner's prize. We expect something from the hand of Jesus. Well, let's go to one last verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I want to show you how we're supposed to look. And the scriptures actually tell us there are four looks we're supposed to have as we look unto Jesus. And the first one's in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Because Paul explains our whole Christian life using the image of a race. And he says the first thing we're supposed to do is to realize we're in a foot race. And if you're in a foot race, 1 Corinthians 9.24, look what he says. Do you not know, verse 24, that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way you that you can obtain it. The first way we're supposed to look is we're supposed to look around us. Foot racing reminds us we're supposed to look at the racetrack and stay in our lane. That was the big rule back then. They didn't know about steroids and they didn't know about drugs. What they knew was that people were tempted to cut the corners. And if you did not stay in your marked out lane, you're out. You might have been the fastest thing on feet, but if you cross that line, you're disqualified. And what he's saying is, the first thing we're supposed to do is look around. In the foot race, we're reminded we have to look at the racetrack and stay in our lane, and nothing can be tolerated that may disqualify us. It's interesting, the disqualifications. did your arm wrong, jumped too soon, whatever. It's so vivid. He uses actually in this word, if you keep reading, in verse 26, he says this, Therefore I run not as uncertainty, I fight not as one who beats the air, verse 27, but I discipline my body and bring it in subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become adokimasu, ejected from the race. Not losing, now remember one thing, the only people that could run in the Olympic Games were citizens. You were not stripped of your citizenship if you were disqualified from the Games. People have labored for years, they say, you lose your salvation. This is one of those verses, I'm going to be unsaved. That's not what he says. You lose your reward. You remain a son or daughter of God. You remain a citizen of heaven. you just run a great race but you didn't follow God's rules and it doesn't mean you didn't beat everybody else, and it doesn't mean that you didn't have a physically fit body, and it doesn't mean that you didn't look good, but you don't get the reward for all that. And see, that's the problem going on nowadays. It's so easy for us to forget that we can become disqualified. But look at verse 26, the second half, because he brings up a new sport here. Second look, we're looking around the racetrack to make sure we stay in our lane, but he says there's something else we're supposed to do. We're supposed to look within us. It says this, I box. He says, I box. At the end of verse 26, or I fight, the word is actually box, not as one who is beating the air. He says, I'm not shadow boxing. But I discipline my body to bring it in subjection. What he's saying literally, I'll read this to you, I box, pukteo is the word. He actually uses the Olympic word for Olympic boxing, pukteo. That's interesting, pukteo. You know, you puk it to them, I guess, is what they were saying back then. But I box, but not as a shadow boxer, someone that's just going at my shadow in the air. But I punch, and that word is hupiazo. hoop below yadzo, the eye. He says, I hit myself below the eye. Actually, he says, what I'm doing is, I'm looking at the enemy within me. What's he talking about? He's talking about his body. I'm punching my body. I'm treating it harshly. I'm beating it. Lest that I proclaim to others, I become a castaway. What he's saying is, I know that I have an enemy within and it's my flesh. I was listening to a conference, John Piper, the great author, and he was speaking at a pastor's conference. You know what he said? He said that a third of all the pastors in America are in some form of moral, either immoral or financial default of some kind. And he said the reason that they do that is that they get to a place where they're telling everybody what to do and they're kind of away from and they get in these huge, you know, kind of layered ministries where no one really ever gets anywhere near them. You know what the Apostle Paul says? I'm writing the Bible. I get my own personal tour of heaven. Jesus stands and talks to me. And I always remember I have an enemy within my flesh. And he says, I am looking within. And boxing, verse 26b, points to our opposition to our own flesh. That's our enemy within. Any contestant found breaking the training rules was automatically disqualified. You know, we have to be careful that we don't break the rules. We stay in our lane, we do ministry God's way, but secretly we're not knocking down our flesh within. We're secretly feeding whatever besetting sin that is. We're not dropping it. You know what the scriptures say? While they proclaim liberty, they themselves are the servants of sin. That's a danger. And Paul says, I'm aware of that. And he says, I look within and I box, I oppose my flesh. You know, in recent years, evangelical Christians have rediscovered the importance of personal discipline. And they realize a disciplined body and a spirit-filled life is important. And we, of course, avoid asceticism. But something is wrong when we do not see we must keep our flesh under. For example, we smugly congratulate ourselves that we're not addicted to various drugs or alcohol or smoking. But what about overeating and overweightedness? You know, one of the most interesting exposés the news magazines had recently was they just took pictures of people sitting on chairs. And did you know a lot of people don't fit on one chair anymore? The article opened, did you see it in Time magazine? It showed all these people and the chair was this wide and they were that wide. And it says, what is America coming to? We have so much money and so much stuff, we cannot control our consumption of it. It's not just overeating. Drive by most people's garages. It's over everythinging. I mean, we just can't resist. Go buy most people's storage in their closets. It's just like, we just can't stop with everything, whether it's eating or buying or having. Another one, we loudly proclaim our liberty in Christ. We say, yeah, we're not under the law, and yet we're so bound by our stress-overloaded lives that many Christians can't even discipline their time to have a consistent devotional Bible study with the Lord. We are slaves to our stress-filled lives and not to Christ. We have to look within. Our flesh wants more. You know what Solomon said? The eyes of a man are never satisfied. That's the mantra of America. We're never satisfied. We want a little more. A little more time, a little more possession, a little more security, a little more income, a little more assets, a little more possessions, a little more enjoyment, a little more whatever. Watch out, the enemy within. Then, let's go over to Go over to Ephesians 6. Paul talks about another one of the Olympic events, and I wanted to get to this. Look at verse 12. He talks about running the foot race, that's staying in your lane. He talks about boxing, that's what we do to our flesh. Thirdly, he says in Ephesians 6.12, for we do not pâle, pâle, p-a-l-e, wrestle. That's another one of the original Olympic events and he uses the exact word for Olympic wrestling. He says we do not wrestle, pâle, against flesh and blood, but against, and he starts talking about a whole new realm. See, we're supposed to look around us at the race, we're supposed to look within us at our flesh, but now he says I want you to look the other realm that's around you. We wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Wrestling refers to our fight with the powers of darkness around us. I was recently talking to someone And they told me that in their job, they're just starting a new job, and they said that they are just being bombarded. Their new supervisor's giving them a hard time, and the authorities over them are giving them a hard time, and they're having all kinds of trouble with their job that they're doing, and they're having all types of personal problems, and everything just seems to be going wrong. And I said to them, are you wearing your armor? Look what this says in verse 13. Because of this, take the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. Look outside and realize that you are not just wrestling and beating, boxing your flesh within. You're not just trying to keep within the rules and the lanes. But you've got to look at the bigger picture, that Satan is shooting fiery darts. His doubts and his fears and his distractions are coming at us. He's shooting at us. the fiery darts, and the only way to resist them is to wear the armor. So Paul says, you are running a foot race, you are in a boxing match, and also you're wrestling. You're in a foot race for the Lord, keeping your body in the lane. To keep your body from getting disqualified, you're punching it and boxing yourself. And to keep from someone tripping you up along the way, you've got to be looking all the time without at the wrestlers of the underworld, satanic minions who are trying to put doubt in our minds, put discouragement in our minds, to cause us to not think biblically, to cause us to live in fear, to cause us to not trust God. Did you know all sin comes down to a lack of faith? Think of any sin. Stealing. I think I need to get for myself and not trust God to get it. Lust. I think God doesn't know what he's doing, so I've got to get what I want, my pleasure. A lack of forgiveness. God doesn't know how to deal with that. I'm going to show that person. Bitterness. I'm going to hold that against that person. You just talk about any sin. Jealousy. I'm not content with what God gave me in my life. I want what they have. I mean, every sin is a lack of faith in God. I don't think God can give me the right person to marry. I don't think God can give me the right job, so I'm going to take this over. I don't think God can control this, so I'm going to take over. I don't think God can mend that, I'm going to take over. We don't trust Him. That is Satan's fiery dart. Make us doubt God. How do we resist that? Verse 13, we put on the armor. One last one, next book, Philippians, Philippians chapter 3. We're supposed to look around us at the race, the foot race. We're supposed to look within us at the wrestling or the boxing match. We're supposed to look without us at the wrestling of the fight with the powers of darkness. Here's the last one, Philippians 3.13. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Verse 14, I lean forward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is the last look. We look around, we look within, we look without, And now we look ahead. And what he's saying here is chariot racing, and that's the metaphor he's using, chariot racing looks forward to the heavenly prize, and it reminds us of the intense focus that we need to finish the race. Remember I told you that the ancient chariot races were just a little 18-inch wide little board. It was about a foot by a foot and a half, and it was hung on two little tiny wheels. and it had a little bar with a little t-bar and you would kind of lean your stomach on that little bar and you had the reins and you had to control your body to keep it on that little wobbling platform and what you did is you leaned forward and strained with the horses and actually became a part of their movement and you bounced yourself on that little tiny board to get to the end. That's what Paul's saying. Look at what he says in verse 13. Brethren, I don't count myself to have made it yet, but one thing I do, I'm forgetting the things which are behind. Do you know what chariot racers couldn't do? If you were leaning forward over your little T-bar, holding on to your reins, straining every muscle in your body to try and stand that little 18 by 12 little board, on those two little wheels that are bumping along and jerking through the race course. Did you know what you couldn't do? Check everything behind you and look. You know what you're sure to do if you did that? You'd fall right off your little... And see, he's got that metaphor in verse 13. He says, this is one thing I do. This is how I'm making it. Forgetting those things which are behind. I am going to lean forward. I'm going to reach forward to those things which are ahead. What is he saying? He says, I'm going to choose God's way to deal with my past. You know what derails a lot of Christians? I go out and speak at conferences. I told Bonnie, we just got done at Gold Lake. And after the first night, of course, I stayed after, I always talked to people. And I got back to the room, she said, who did you talk to tonight? I said, honey, I hate to say this, but in every group of people that you ever minister to, you'll always find the same types of individuals. And there are always those that come up. And this lady came up to me. As soon as I got done speaking, she came right out of her chair, came right to the front. I didn't even get down the steps. And she looked at me and she said, Sounds easy the way you say it, but it's not. She says, you don't know how hard life is. I mean, she's just really telling me. And she said, you said that I can forget my past. She says, I can't forget my past. I said, oh, no, I didn't say that. And her eyes got real wide and she says, yes, you did. And I'll buy the tape. She says, I know you said that. I said, no, God said that. Oh, that was a classic. I wish I'd had my movie camera. She went from wide-eyed fury at me to just You know, just stood there. And I said, yeah, look, I'll show you. He said it in more than one place. Forgetting those things which are behind. Paul says, I count all that in the past, but refuse, but manure. And she says, but how does it happen? I said, and I told her where I've taken you many times, it says in the book of Genesis that God, in Genesis 45, can make us forget. And the way Paul dealt with his past is he chose God's way to deal with his past. He says, I will forget. That's how we break the past power of our past life to live for the future. We allow God to let us forget it. Those people that have hurt us, that have abused us, that have ruined our lives or ruined our family or ruined our marriage or ruined our son or daughter or whoever, we can allow God to let us forget that. How does he do that? Well, we can't change the past, but we can change the meaning of the past. The events do not change, but our understanding of them changes. That's what he's talking about. Let me read to you one last thing. Genesis 45, okay? Genesis 45. This is what the Lord tells us that we are to do. Joseph was revealed to his brothers. Go back to the event, 4151. This is what it says. And Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, for God has made me forget all my toil in my father's house. Do you know how you are like a chariot driver pressing toward the goal of Christ Jesus? Let God make you forget. Make you forget the people that abused and injured and ruined and crushed and destroyed and made your life miserable. Did it mean he didn't know who they were? No. Chapter 45, he recognized his brothers. It's just the meaning of the past changed. What did he do? He said, I see that you, in all of your abuse, in all of your trying to kill me, in all of your hatred, in all of your evil speaking, that was part of what God was doing to shape my life so that I could become the most powerful tool in his hand. And that's why, look at the next verse, verse 52 of Genesis 41. In the name of his second son, he called Ephraim. For God has caused me to be fruitful in the place of my affliction. You know how we deal with our past? We let God make us forget, and we let God make us fruitful through those horrors of the past. We all have stories from the past. I do, you do. They're all different, but all of them involve someone that did something that deeply hurt us in many ways. God can make us forget that. Not global amnesia. He just changes the meaning of it. No longer is it an attack on us that destroyed us, but it becomes a way God made us fruitful for Him. What does God want you to do with your body? He wants to control it. and he wants to focus it. He wants to control it by you giving it back to him. He wants you to focus it by you looking around and make sure you stay on the track and follow his word. Look within and make sure you're beating down your flesh and boxing it every day. Look down and without us and see that we're in a spiritual warfare and the devil is trying to shoot us and if we don't keep our armor on, we'll fall. And finally, look forward to Jesus Christ. And he says, I have begun a good work in you, and I'm going to complete it. Let's let him do that today. Would you bow with me for a word of prayer? Father, I thank you that you have told us what you want from our bodies. You want us to present them to you. And then you want us to get in the race. And you want us to stay in our lane. And you want us to watch out for our enemy, the flesh, our enemy, the devil. But the way we accomplish that is look to you. You're the prize, you're the goal. If we know you, I pray we would decide that today, renew and refresh that goal. For any who don't know you, there's a bigger problem. There is an eternal payment for their sin due. And either they allow you to pay it, or they're going to pay for it forever. And I pray that any who have not yet met in a living, life-changing, born-again way you Lord Jesus that they might today and we'll thank you for what you do in and through us in the name of Jesus we pray amen