Run The Christian Race

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

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My name is Mike Abendroth. It is, I believe, Wednesday. It is April 8th, 2020.

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It's the end of the world as we know it. I feel fine. Remember that song? I'm here at the church today, just working on Hebrews chapter 12 for my sermon this

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Sunday. And, you know, they have these bags of chips here at the church. And so I ate like a third of this today, this

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Cheetos bag. It's got to be really low carb, right? Oh, the trash doesn't seem to be getting picked up around here because there are no janitors.

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There's no anything. What are my predictions when it comes to all the COVID restrictions and recommendations?

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My guess is through May. So we'll figure that out then. I decided to post this today on Facebook, just the regular channel.

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And so this isn't in the Gnostic Insider Group. It's just regular. Today, I'd like to talk to you probably more serious than the last show, but I want to talk to you about the

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Christian race. Now, you're thinking there's a new race, right? Caucasian and a new race for Christians.

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No, no, no, no. The race you're in, the race of faith, your spiritual race.

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Whether you believe it or not, you're in a race. And that race is more of an, as you've heard, more of a marathon than it is a sprint.

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Now, some people get saved later in life and they don't really live that long, or it might be like the thief on the cross.

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He gets saved and then later within hours, most likely he's dead. But typically, people get saved and they live and they run the

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Christian life. But it's a marathon type of thing, not a sprint. For many, you've been running 10 years or more, 20 years or more, 30 years or more.

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I got saved in 1989. So this is, what, is this 30 years? 30 years this year,

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I will have been running the Christian race of faith. Some people have been running for 70 years.

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And therefore, if you're going to run for a long, long time, you need motivation. What's the motivation for you to run the

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Christian faith race? Race faith? Why is this changing all this stuff up here?

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I have no idea. Since it's a long race, we need motivation. I mean, if it was short bursts, you could just kind of get it done.

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I've only ran one marathon in my life. I only really wanted to run one, per se. And you need to have motivation for training, then you need to have motivation when you're running the race.

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And what we do in Christianity is essentially this. We come up with motivations that don't last because they're from our own imagination and they terminate with us.

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And if I was going to joke around, we could talk about sola bootstrapsa, and that's one of the solas of the deformation.

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And that is, you just pick up yourself by your own bootstraps and run. Or maybe you do a lot of Jocko stuff with Navy SEALs and how are we motivated with the getting up early in the morning and shame or fame, kind of a military boot camp type of deal.

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Maybe you just need to grin and bear it. It's just, you know, duty all the time. But really, in all sincerity, how do you keep up the

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Christian faith, the race that you're in, the agonizing spiritual marathon with these kind of peppy, uppy...

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I need a motivation that lasts. That's my point. How many times can you have an experience or get a zap or get slain in the spirit or have some kind of wonderful experience or maybe you just think, you know what,

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I just can't do it anymore. I'll just ignore it. God will do whatever he wants anyway. He's sovereign and I'll just lay back and let

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God. So whether you're really active in your motivation for the Christian faith or if you're passive,

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I need to tell you that there's a faith motivation, a motivation for your

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Christian life that will last. That's what we're after. Listen to what Stuart Oliot said in his book called,

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I Wish Someone Would Explain Hebrews to Me. What a great title. I wish someone would explain it to me.

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Quote, standing on the touchline are people who are shouting to us, telling us that we will never get anywhere in the

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Christian life unless they forcefully warn us that all real progress is impossible unless we receive the baptism of the

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Holy Spirit or unless we are sealed by the Holy Spirit or unless we are fully consecrated to the

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Lord or experience a revival or pass through a crisis by which our old man dies.

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The terminology changes, but the message is always the same. We will get nowhere in the Christian life unless we have some sort of memorable special experience quite distinct from our own conversion.

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And then Stuart said, I plead with my readers to listen to God's word and not these voices.

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I would also plead with you as well. When it comes to motivation for living the Christian life, the writer of Hebrews would also plead as well.

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Stick to scriptures and look to the Lord Jesus. Hebrews chapter 12 is really going to help us to figure out what motivates a

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Christian to die to self daily and to live to the Lord Jesus. And tomorrow is another day to die to self and to live for righteousness.

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What can motivate, what can sustain my motivation for living the

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Christian life and honoring the Lord Jesus? Of course, this is for Christians only if you're not a Christian. You need motivation to believe, not motivation to progress in the

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Christian faith. Motivation to keep believing is not what you need. A motivation to believe is what you need. So Hebrews chapter 12 is pretty much the solution for this treadmill like,

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I've got to just keep motivating. What's my motivation? What can motivate me long term?

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And the answer really is going to be probably better phrased with a question, who can motivate me?

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Hebrews chapter 12, one to four, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

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That's why I'm talking about the race. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

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Consider him, Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted in your struggle against sin.

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You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. The focus is on the

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Lord Jesus. Our focus left to ourselves happens to be ourselves. Luther said we're curved in.

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There's a Latin term for it, but I'll just use the English. We're curved in on ourselves. I know if you're a

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Christian, especially the no co -Christians, they're extra mature, right? You want to live a life that's holy, that's pleasing to the

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Lord. You want to live a life of faith and a life of consecration and obedience and love.

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That's wonderful. How do you go about doing that? Because this is a long race.

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My dad used to say, I'm sick and tired of what? Being sick and tired. Well, you could become sick and tired.

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This writer knows. You could grow weary and lose soul, or the English is lose heart, because it's a long race.

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These people that received this letter, Hebrews, remember they were getting persecuted. There's been persecution in the Christian faith for a long time.

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You might think you're persecuted because you can't go outside very much. But here we have real persecution.

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And what do you do? Especially when you're bombarded daily with these little nuggets from the internet that says, you know what, here's how you make gains in the

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Christian life. And if they don't have Jesus tied into them, that is looking to Jesus, it's not going to work.

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The entire book of Hebrews is set up for this very purpose, that you keep

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Jesus front and center, that you don't take your eyes off who Jesus is, that you don't navel gaze, that you don't inwardly, with morbid introspection, gaze at your navel all day long.

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The theme of Hebrews is, Jesus is so great that you should keep trusting in him throughout any kind of trial, and that it should motivate you not to drift into some kind of lethargic coasting, laying back and let

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God. No, you need to keep focused, but your focus isn't internal.

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It's not where you think it would be normally, and that is yourself. I personally get tired of living a holy life.

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I personally would like to take a break and maybe relax a little bit. I personally would like to let my guard down some, take a little break, you know, at mile marker 19, have a little swig of Gatorade, and sit down and have a little massage or something.

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I didn't do that, but that's what I would like. Hebrews is going to help us. The old advice from Mike Ebendroth, and maybe a lot of people, when things are tough, carry on, buckle up, keep going, biblical exhortations.

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I'm not complaining about biblical exhortations, but the new advice is, let's take those things and add, or put over as an umbrella, looking to the

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Lord Jesus as you run the race. That's exactly what Hebrews says, Hebrews 12, 2, looking to Jesus.

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These people here that got the letter, they're running back to Judaism. It's a temptation.

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Running back to the temple that was right there. It's a temptation. And he says at the end of chapter 10, you need to endure.

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He's talking about walking by faith and you need to endure. How do we endure? How do we run the

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Christian life? And the answer is, you run the Christian life focused on Jesus. It's not that you run with endurance and the next step you deal with sin and the next step you look to Jesus.

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Let's put everything together. Run your Christian life with endurance by faith in Jesus.

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I want to take those two and pull them apart, what God has put together, let no man put us under.

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We only have one verse taken out of context today. Looking to Jesus. You run the

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Christian life with endurance, looking to Jesus. Don't let anybody ever tell you anything that's different.

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You run the Christian life with endurance by looking to Jesus. That could be my new mantra, giving it to people who are struggling with sin or struggling with a counseling issue.

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It's back to who Jesus is. Remember, walking by faith in the object of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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The just shall live by faith. That's shorthand for faith in the Lord Jesus. Now in Hebrews chapter 12, it says, therefore.

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Remember there are 13 chapters in Hebrews and we just went through Hebrews 11, which was the hall of faith.

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All these people had faith in who God revealed himself to be up to that time. They're thinking about types and shadows and who the

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Messiah would be, and they're trusting in that Messiah. Those things are to show you that even frail and weak and less than faithful people can still have faith in the

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Lord Jesus. There's a conclusion drawn in Hebrews 12, therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, therefore, based on all these things that are going on in earlier chapters, yes, but especially chapter 11, you people that are receiving this letter, this sermon letter, you are new covenant people.

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We're on this side of the cross, and therefore, there's a way you should think about the Christian faith and the race that's a little bit different than the people that went prior to you.

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The difference comes in Jesus that they were looking for is now here for you people.

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Right? And everybody since Jesus' life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, session, and we're waiting for his soon return.

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There's a motivation here. There are people in the old covenant that looked by faith, and we want you now with more privileges, with more benefits, to look by faith.

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Those people in chapter 11, they didn't have every promise fulfilled, verses 39 and 40 of Hebrews chapter 11, but they kept running.

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All the promises have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus, the eternal son who adds human nature, and then he comes and he's born under the law, born of a woman, and he perfectly obeys the law.

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Then he dies on the cross for our disobedience to the law, and then he's raised from the dead.

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And since you have him now, if these others could do it when they were looking for Jesus, and now that you have him, you need to run this life.

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These people in the Old Testament, they were commended for their what?

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Faith. Who commended them? God did. Who gave them the faith? Of course, the Lord did, but these people believed.

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God commended them, and it says in verse 40 of Hebrews 11, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect.

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There's something better for you, New Testament Christian, the fulfillment in Christ Jesus. You have a great advantage.

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You have the new covenant, and so, therefore, if they could do it back then, you could do it now. Jesus is the one who perfects his people, and they needed endurance, you need endurance, and therefore, you should be motivated.

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Now, here's the fascinating thing. It says in verse 1 of Hebrews 12, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.

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Now, the writer of Hebrews likes to say, by the way, you're motivated by things that you have.

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Chapter 4, we have a great high priest. Chapter 10, they have confidence to enter the sanctuary, and now you have this great cloud of witnesses.

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There's a big, it's in a commentary, so I'm not making up the word, but I like the word throng.

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There's a big throng of people. Now, there's two ways to look at it. They're all up there clapping when you're running around the stadium.

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Is that what they're doing? Go, Mike, go. Go, Mike, go. Okay, I fell,

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I'm hurt, I'm distracted, I'm backsliding. Go, Mike, go. Well, is that it?

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Well, one thing we do know, if you look at the text, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, there's a lot of them. There are many.

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They weren't all named in chapter 11. There are more, but there are a lot of witnesses.

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That's where we get the word martyr, but that's a martyr as a witness, but there are a lot of witnesses. Are they watching us, or should we be looking to them as they look to Jesus?

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What do you think the point is? I think here's the point. They did it. You can do it.

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Because it's not them, and it's not you. It's the one they're trusting in, and it's the one you're trusting in.

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They did it, and so can you. Go. You can do it. Other people in the past have done it who are frail and weak.

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Samson, Jephthah. I know David had some victories, of course, but David had some major sin as well.

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You can run. There's encouragement to know other people have made it. They've overcome more than we have, but it doesn't matter who

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I am or who they are or what they've done, because whatever trial that the Lord has put me in, the just shall live by faith.

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He's leading up to the greatest example of this is going to be the Lord Jesus. SOS Johnson says, many picture the saints who have gone before as spectators in the stadium, so we as Christians are running a race with the spectators observing us.

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Even your loved ones may be looking down, and they're watching you carefully. This may be a motivation for you to run well.

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If I knew that Moses, Paul, and all the prophets were watching, that would indeed be an incentive for me.

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However, that is not what he is talking about, as Lewis says. Rather, it is the lives which faithful men have lived and stories found in the scriptures which are witnesses to us.

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It is not that we see in our spectators that is to move us, but what we see in the scriptures.

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So, as we look at these men and women, there should come to our minds this conviction, that the

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God of yesterday is also the God of today. In other words, the things that God did through Enoch, through Noah, through Abraham, through Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, the things that God did through them, he is able to do today through you and me, my beloved, end quote, as Lewis Johnson.

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There's a word for spectator. This isn't it. They're not up there saying, go Michael. Just keep thinking of OJ and Hertz or whatever rental car, go

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OJ, go. Witnesses offer testimony. They're giving testimony.

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God's faithful. Keep running. Keep running. God's faithful. Let's just stop there for a second and make it practical.

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You're going through a difficult time. Keep running. Why? Because you're looking to whom they looked to, if that makes sense grammatically, the

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Lord Jesus. Did they trust in vain? Did they have confidence in vain?

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F. Bruce says, it is not so much they who look at us as we who look to them for encouragement because they're trusting in the same

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God, contrary to the false teachers who say the opposite.

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We're trying to tell you it's worth the run. People can do it. You can do it. Not because of the circumstances are better or worse for you.

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Not because you're better or worse as a person, but you dear Christian have received the gift of faith and that faith has its object, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And so you're in a race, run, be encouraged. If other people could do it, you can too.

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That's why I read biographies because I say to myself, um, you know what, uh, they should motivate me because when

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I look at Adoniram Judson and what he went through, that should motivate me. William Carey, et cetera. But they also encouraged me because these people were sinful people, just like I'm sinful, right?

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We're not talking about, well, they're the super saints. And then I just, you know, I'm a what?

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Super ain't, right? A hooper ain't. No, no. He's saying, run the race.

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Other people have done it. That's a good motivation. And he tells you how to run it here. Do you see the text?

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Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that's so easily entangled.

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So it seems like he's saying, all right, when you run, you know, you don't want to have a blanket when you run.

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I remember when my daughter was little and she tried to run with her blanket and then she'd step on the end of it and of course would fall over.

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But there are things in life that are indifferent, everything that hinders and things that are sinful.

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And therefore you're just supposed to, you need to get rid of both of those when it comes to running. Things that burden you down and are impediments.

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I used to have ankle weights all the time and I wanted to be able to dunk. I only dunked not that many times, but could for a while.

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And I wanted to just work out my legs and I'd wear ankle weights all the time. Well, that's fine when you're trying to work out, but for games,

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I'm not going to wear ankle weights. I want to get rid of those. When I ran the marathon, I've done one 10K, one half marathon and one marathon.

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And when I ran those, I didn't want to have anything except light shoes. I remember there's a place on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles called

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Fidipides. I didn't know who Fidipides was, but I know now. And I got some special shoes.

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I think they were like a hundred dollars, but they were light and they were good. And you wear a light shirt and light shorts and all that stuff.

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Get rid of those things. I mean, this is a common theme in scripture, right? Lay aside deeds of darkness,

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Romans 13. Lay aside old self, Ephesians 2. Lay aside falsehood, Ephesians 4.

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Lay aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, abuse of speech, Colossians 3. Lay aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness,

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James chapter 1. Get rid of all guile and hypocrisy, envy and slander, 1

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Peter 2. If you're going to run the race, look into Jesus. You want to be lightly equipped and you don't want to get bogged down by sin, with different kinds of burdens and the lust of the flesh and the pleasures of this world.

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And it's hard to run with those things. You're in a race. And when you train for a race, there are some things that you could have, but you deny yourself, right?

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A .W. Pink said, the principal thoughts suggested by the figure of race are rigorous self -denial and discipline, vigorous exertion, perseverance, and endurance.

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The Christian life is not a thing of passive luxuriation, but of active fighting the good fight of faith.

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The Christian is not called to lie down on flowery beds of ease, but to run a race. And athletics are strenuous, demanding self -sacrifice, hard training, and putting forth every ounce of energy possessed.

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I'm afraid that in this work -hating and pleasure -loving age, we do not keep this aspect of truth sufficiently before us.

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We take things too placidly and lazily. So that's

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A .W. Pink. If you only say, I'm going to deny self and deal with sin and forget the rest, verse 2, you're smoked.

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What's my point today? My point today is verses 1 and 2 read together. They are, after all, a sentence.

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Things that hurt you in your Christian life, you should get rid of. The things that are weighing you down, you should toss.

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You say, you know what? I just want to keep that thing, but it's holding you back from your race, whether it's sin or not sin.

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The writer's saying you need to get rid of it, and then you need to look to Jesus, because you are in a race. I think of 2

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Timothy chapter 4, which I alluded to earlier. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

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1 Corinthians 9, do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives a prize?

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So run that you may obtain it. You're in a race. Well, my name is Mike Gabendroth, and we're racing to the finish now.

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You want to tell your friends about the show, that'd be great. On the air today at NoCompromiseRadio .com

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is my interview with John Harris, J -O -N Harris, and I think you're going to be encouraged, and maybe mad as well, because he gives us a lot of inside scoop on social justice theory and all this racism stuff in the

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Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Seminary, Southeastern Seminary. That's John Harris. You want to just tune in to NoCompromiseRadio .com,

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pull it up. It's the interview today for April 8th, and it's an extended interview too. Anyway, you can write us info at NoCompromiseRadio .com.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.