In Olympia, Greece stands the ancient ruins where
the first Olympic Games were held.
There in the Olympian Stadium, the athletes competed
for the prize, which was a wreath to
wear on the head.
When I was a young man, I visited
that site and there on that athletic field,
I ran a race for fun with some
other men.
I saw the bima seat, a stone bench
where the judge sat, observing the participants who
ran unencumbered because they ran naked in that
competition.
I ran on that field when I was
in my twenties, when I still had physical
strength and vigor.
Now I'm an old man and looking back
on my own Christian race for the Lord
Jesus, and the prize is still before me,
up yonder in heaven.
I'm at the age where I have more
friends up in heaven than I do here
on earth, and it makes me reflect on
how I want to finish my race for
the Lord.
The title of my message today, friends, is
Finishing Well, and my text can be found
in the book of Hebrews and chapter 12.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We will be in verses one through three.
Let me read this striking passage of scripture
to us at this time, and may the
Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of
His holy word.
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.
Let me pause here to say, in this
passage we see a crowd in heaven watching.
We see a race that needs to be
run, and we see a sin that trips
us up and hinders us in the race.
Some scholars say that the cloud of witnesses
referred to here makes reference to the worthies
just mentioned in chapter 11 in that great
hall of faith, and we are to follow
their example.
Other scholars say that those in heaven are
observing our race and cheering us on.
There is a painting by Raphael which pictures
the clouds, and if you look closely at
that painting, you will see the clouds are
composed of little cherub faces, and it's a
picture of those who have already witnessed and
suffered for God as they gather around us
as a great cloud like the amphitheater of
the Olympian games, and we are still in
the arena running and striving and sweating, and
they observe our every strain and sigh as
we run that race which is the Christian
life.
I believe both of those observations are true.
They are our example, and they are our
cheering section as well.
We are told here that the race is
set before us.
God in his sovereignty knows all the things
that we will pass through in life.
He knows the heartaches and the battles which
we will encounter before they ever occur.
He knows the end as well as the
beginning, and our race is set before us
by his providence.
We are told to run with patience and
to run freely, laying aside every weight, every
hindrance.
The robes that the ancient Greeks wore would
have tripped them up if they ran in
them, so they cast them off entirely.
There is mentioned here in our text of
sin which so easily besets us.
The devil knows what that sin is, and
he knows how to bait us and trap
us with it.
Jesus knows what that sin is as well,
because he spent his very blood on Calvary's
cross bearing our sins, and we know that
particular sin area in our life which seems
to be like an Achilles' heel.
In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby,
it was foretold he would die young.
To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took
Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed
to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his
body into the water.
However, as she held him by the heel,
his heel was not washed over by the
magical properties of the water, and it haunted
him all its life.
We each have an Achilles' heel, that sin
that so easily besets us.
If you're honest with yourself, friends, you know
how wicked your own heart is, how prone
to sin the human nature is, and you
know that sin that so easily trips you
up.
We are instructed, in our text, to lay
aside that sin, so we can run the
Christian race better, and run it unhindered, to
the glory of God.
Our passage also tells us how to do
this, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction as
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and
faint in your minds.
The Christian life, friends, is a race to
be run.
How we run it is up to us.
How serious we take eternity is up to
us.
How burdened we are with the souls of
men and the glory of God.
But we are encouraged by this passage from
the word of God that we are not
alone as we run this race of endurance.
We are exhorted to follow Christ, and the
book of Hebrews ends with a great encouragement
to us to finish the race well.
Now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every
good work, to do his will, working in
you, that which is well-pleasing in his
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the
glory forever and ever.
As we run the race, friends, let each
of us keep our eyes on the prize,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and let us each
finish well.