Running the Christian Race (Part 1)

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

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. 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 King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Running the Christian Race as a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. I think I do the same thing every time. I say, �Welcome to No Compromise Radio. This is Mike Abendroth, and then I adjust this spit diphthong reflector.

You can always write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com, or mike at nocompromiseradio .com. We still plan on going to Israel in 2021. I don�t know. The crazier this thing gets, the less sure I think we might go.

Who knows what�s going to happen in international travel, but you can always send in your deposit, and those are refundable through October 15th, so anyway, I guess that�s not a big plug, really. That�s I dare you to send your money in.

We have, I think, 10 slots open, so still planning to go with Omaha Bible Church, my brother Pat Abendroth, to Israel. You call Israel the Holy Land? How holy is Israel today? What�s the Holy Land like?

But I know what you mean. I, in the old days, used to run quite a bit and train for long distance runs, races. What is it if you don�t really try to win? You just try to finish. That�s the way it works.

I don�t try to win a race. I just want to try to finish, and when I first started running in the mid -80s, probably, I was never a runner, but I thought, you know, I think I could just force myself to do it kind of mind over matter.

I remember there was a man named Jim Fix. Do you remember Jim Fix? He wrote several books, and he was the kind of running guru, the complete book of running, and I think it was read. He told you how to run and how to train and everything else.

He started running when he was 35 years old. I think he�d gone through a divorce. He was a smoker. He weighed 214 pounds, and before you know it, he�s down 60 pounds, and he is a New York Times bestseller.

Jim Fix, F-I-X-X, kind of reminds me of the band, The Fix. Remember the band, The Fix? Anyway, James Fuller Fix died. He was 52 years old, and he died of a heart attack, and you say, well, everybody dies except Enoch, right?

That kind of exception, but it was 1984, and he died while running his daily run up in Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick, Hardwick, Hardwick, and it was interesting because he was a runner. He was in such good shape at 52 years old, and they found out that it was really a genetic thing with coronary blockage, and his father had died when he, the father was 43.

Anyway, today I want to talk about running the Christian life with endurance, and if I wanted to kind of make it, I don�t want to make it cheesy, but the author of the book that I want to talk about that will help you run the Christian life, he also died, but he didn�t die from a heart attack.

He died from crucifixion. As the apostle Peter said, �Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Today on No Compromise Radio, I want to talk about running the Christian life with endurance, even though there are trials in your life, difficulties, hardships, pain, toil, issues. Sometimes these difficulties make the Christian want to give up.

You might be tempted to say, �Well, is this really worth it I have good news for you today. The Lord knows your struggle, and he has given perfect advice and counsel for you to run the Christian life, the Christian race, all the way until the end.

God has ordained the end that you, Christian, would be glorified, and the means of sanctification and discipline and running the Christian life with endurance. And so we're in Hebrews chapter 12 today, running the Christian life all the way until the end.

And instead of having trials and difficulties make you want to throw in the proverbial towel, those things, if you think properly in light of what God says in Hebrews, you'll think, �Oh, that's why this is happening.

Now I understand it. I don't need to know the details, but I know that God is working. And that's what we're going to learn today in Hebrews chapter 12. I keep coming back to this passage over and over and over, kind of almost like Romans 12.

I met a guy once who came to my Bible study, and this is in Los Angeles, before he threatened me bodily harm. How do I get into these situations? Anyway, he originally was in one of my Greek classes at the Bible Institute at Grace Church, and I kind of befriended him.

I'll change his name to Peter. And I tried to be nice to him, and before you know it, he went off the deep end. But he would do all kinds of strange things with numbers, like John 3 .16 is a wonderful passage.

Well, 1 John 3 .16 is a wonderful passage. What about Revelation 3 .16? What about Galatians 3 .16? And everything was, you know, those numbers aren't even, chapter and verse things weren't even in the original Bible, right?

They're put in later, chapters first and then verse divisions. Anyway, he ended up giving me all kinds of weird voicemails about what he was going to do, and that was crazy. That was my first time I thought, do I really want to be a leader in the Christian church?

It's fun to teach the Bible. It's fun to say, oh, we love this, that, and the other, but it's not so fun to be on the receiving end of some of those things. But anyway, like Romans 12, Hebrews 12 is one of those passages where you just come back to over and over and over.

Chapter 12, verse 1, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And the writer, whether it's Paul or someone else, of course, we know it's God, the Holy Spirit, the divine author, we must not forget. If you do forget about the divine author, you'll lose the unity and the organic sweep of redemptive history as we have all these different writers, human authors, but we have the one divine author.

Anyway, the writer wants you as a Christian, he wants me as a Christian, to grow in grace, to strive, to live holy lives. He uses this language of running, and it's hard to run with weights and things that drag you down, and so he doesn't want you to run that way.

He wants you as a Christian to live up to your name. Ephesians 4 might say, walk in a manner worthy of your calling. And so since you're in Christ, since you have forgiveness, since you have redemption, since you have the seal of the Spirit, then therefore live up to your name, right?

Don't earn your name, but since you have that name, Christian, try to live up to that name. And the language he uses here in Hebrews, it's language of striving and toil and difficulty and sweat, and you're in a race, and so you need to run, and it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

So how can I keep running this marathon when there's all these difficulties? It's very, very difficult. Difficulties are difficult. He, the writer, knows that you need encouragement because life isn't easy.

And so how do we get people from justification to glorification? Well, we don't. But the Lord, the triune God, does. He justifies and He glorifies. And throughout the sanctification process where He's sanctifying us, He uses the Bible, and as the Spirit of God applies the Bible, to get us to final glory.

And here He gives us this exhortation, get rid of liberties and get rid of sin that will cause you to not run well, right? We love Christian liberty, but here, do you notice the text? It says, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

So I think pretty much with the commentators that I have read, and as I just look at the text, just if anything's tying you down, if anything's waiting, you know, bringing you down, weighing you down, not waiting you down, but weighing you down, then you ought to get rid of those things.

Every encumbrance, to use a different translation. You don't see passive life here. You don't see lay back and let God. Things that cause slowing you down, get rid of those things. By the word, the word weight is where we get our word oncology.

Oncologists deal with tumors that are weights in the body. And if you know about cancer, there's a mass, right? A tumor. And therefore, get rid of any kind of weight. Even if it might not be by definition sinful, just get rid of that.

It's hard to run in formal attire. It's hard to run with a suit and tie. It's hard to run with a long gown. And therefore, you need to get rid of those things. And of course, back in those days, many think they ran naked, right?

Because they don't have anything to hold them down. I read one writer and he said, is what I have, you know, like a hobby, let's say maybe gardening's fine, but what if you garden to the extent that you didn't run the Christian race?

Is what you're doing a weight or is it a wing? That's pretty good. Does it help or does it hurt? And therefore, if it hurts, then you should get rid of it, right? Even if you have a liberty to do it, the writer says, you've got to run this race.

He also says in Hebrews chapter 12, if you've got sin in your life, you need to get rid of it. John Owen said, let not that man think he makes any progress in true holiness who does not walk over the bellies of his lusts.

And the writer is saying, since you have such a great high priest, the Lord Jesus, who not only offered himself, right? Priests make offerings. He offered himself. He was a sacrifice. And he prays, priests pray, since he prays for you, he lives to make intercession for you.

Hebrews 7, run the Christian life, right? God saves you and he sanctifies you and he glorifies you. And our response to all this out of gratitude and thanksgiving is to run the Christian life. And he says, you need to get rid of sin.

That's what he's saying in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. If it's a liberty that's bogging you down, get rid of it. If it's a sin, which clings closely, get rid of it. So, from porn to pride, to self-righteousness, to covetousness, to greed, to anxiety, whatever it might be, you just need to repent and move forward.

With an eye to, chapter 12, verse 2, with an eye toward, I've been noticing people say towards a lot. I think it's toward. My daughter said to me the other day, firstly, secondly, thirdly. I said, just say first, second, third, right when you're writing.

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. Ben just typed in here on Facebook, Owen at the outset, run in the best possible context.

That's right. Run for your lives. And so, the writer is saying, okay, as you run, you need to be looking to Jesus. So, it's fascinating to me that the word Jesus is used and not Christ. And he wants you to make sure you realize that there is a human runner, Jesus, who has gone before you.

Of course, he now is seated at the right hand of the father. That's what the verse says at the end. He's at the right hand of the throne of God. He finished his race. And so, you should follow him. You should keep your eyes on him because it's easy to be distracted.

And he calls Jesus the author and finisher. So, keep your eyes on the author and finisher. I think it's very clear that when we even take a... I mean, even when you're a brand new Christian, you know the story.

When Peter sees Jesus walking on the water, and the Lord calls Peter to come to him. The account reads, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Jesus said, come. So, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, when he wasn't looking at Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, he was afraid and began to sink. And he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son of God. When you run the Christian life, there are going to be trials, and you need to put away sin and anything that might entangle you, but you need to have an eye toward Jesus, the founder, the trail blazer, the one that goes before.

Just imagine, you're in the jungles of Vietnam, you're in the military, and there's somebody before you with a machete and chopping down things, and you're going right behind the guy. You need to keep following that leader.

And the text is saying when you become fainthearted, when you grow weary, you need to make sure you're thinking about and keeping your eyes on the Lord Jesus. He's not just the author, but he's the perfecter, the finisher.

Lots of times people don't finish jobs. How many jobs have you done in your life are things that you have now, projects, where you don't finish? I mean, half of my house is sited. Well, it's all sited, but with the new siding, it's just half done, because then it became winter, and then I had knee surgery, and so it's not quite finished.

I hope to finish it, but it's just one of those jobs left undone. I think about books. I probably could sound like I'm bragging now, but I, and this is nothing to be bragging about. I have, I mean, if I just pull up any book that's around here, I pull up here this great book by Beza, The Christian Faith, Theodore Beza.

Anybody named Theodore must be good. Bezer. I'm not finished. I probably have 50 books that I've started that I haven't finished, but I'm trying to finish. And by the way, if you read 50 at a time, the bad news is you don't really finish any, but when you finish them all simultaneously, it's a pretty good feeling.

I finished 50 books this week. Well, how long did it take you? A year. I haven't been doing it lately, but for a long time on my nightstand, I had John Owen, Volume 5, Turreton, Volume 1, Vitsios, On the Lord's Prayer, and Will Helmus, A. Braeckel, and I would just read a little section of each one of those, because they're not really meant to be read like books.

Well, they are meant to be read like books, but not like fictional books or easy-to-read books or something like that. By the way, here's a little side note. If I were to look at the books that you have, would I find more books about how-to or would I find more books about who Jesus is, who God is?

I mean, I just look at... I'm just looking. I think that's my how-to section. I don't know if that's my Jesus section. I don't know. I think I'm pretty much done buying how-to books. I've got how to pray, how to have a good marriage, how to raise children, how to run the church, how to overcome anxiety, how to stay up when the chips are down.

I just have enough of those. So, I'm pretty much done. The how-to books that I do read, Method of Prayer or something like that, it's going to be by Matthew Henry or somebody who has some wisdom that is a few hundred years long gone.

Anyway, Mike Ebendroth here, No Compromise Radio. To whom do you look when you run the race? If you look at Abraham, you're going to see eventually his failings. If you look at Moses, you're going to see his failings.

If you look at any of the Bible characters, any person, even somebody in your family that you love and you see that they've run the Christian race fairly well, they will eventually let you down. That's why the writer is saying, troubles happen.

You're a Christian. Run the race. Don't drop the ball. Don't drop the baton. Honor the Lord. Keep your eyes on Him. He will be both the author and finisher or perfecter of faith. Jesus did this run for the joy that was set before Him.

You can imagine the Father's pleasure as the Lord finished the work that the Father gave Him to do. My will, my meat, my food is to do my Father's will. Not my will, but your will be done, said Jesus.

Therefore, the Father, even here in this verse, has exalted the Son for that obedience. You need to look to Jesus, which reminds me of that great story about how Spurgeon got saved. Remember how Spurgeon got saved?

Spurgeon was in England, and it was snowing. By the way, today is April 17, 2020. It's supposed to snow three to five inches tonight into tomorrow here in central Massachusetts. It's my daughter's birthday today, Grace.

She turned 19. Happy birthday, Grace. It's a white birthday. Spurgeon goes to this little church. There's only about 10, 15 people there. He's in the chapel, and the story goes that he's up in the balcony, and he doesn't even know the guy's name who's preaching.

I think if memory serves me, it was just a deacon or something. The pastor couldn't attend or was sick or couldn't get there in the snow, and so the deacon, he just kept repeating over and over and over a verse, even though he couldn't really say much about it, because he probably didn't study.

He didn't know, but he just kept repeating it, which is better than running your mouth about stuff you don't know. Look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved. He just kept saying it over and over and over.

This is the language of Hebrews, essentially. Look to Jesus, looking at Jesus, the author and perfecter. Look unto me, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved. And the account, at least one account, says that he looked up at the balcony, this deacon preacher, and he says, you look miserable.

Look unto Jesus. And Spurgeon said that was it, converted through a poor preacher with a wonderful Savior and God's perfect word. Look to Jesus. So, this is good advice for unbelievers, of course, and believers looking to Jesus.

Don't forget that in this world that you live in, that I live in, we see lots of an exaggeration of a whole harvest of what we call exemplary preaching. And I don't mean that was wonderful preaching, but I mean example preachings.

Exemplary preaching is the way maybe I could say it so we understand. And that is we take a character of the Old Testament or new, could be Paul, Peter, anybody, John, and then we make them the standard.

So, Daniel, he prayed three times a day. You pray three times a day. We take other people who aren't even in the Bible, and we say Martin Luther said he had to pray three hours a day because he had such a busy day.

You pray three hours a day. That's the wrong way to preach it. All those people in chapter 11 in Hebrews, you have to make sure if you talk about David, if you talk about Samuel, if you talk about Abraham, if you talk about Moses, if you talk about Sarah, whoever you talk about, whomever you talk about, make sure you don't just stop there with them.

Make sure you look at them. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying Joseph fled sexual immorality. You should too. I don't think there's anything wrong if you keep going, if you go farther than that.

As one writer said, an exemplary sermon on David's faith is incomplete and misleading if it does not bring us to David's greater son, who is both a subject and object of true faith. It is not legitimate for a Christian simply to imitate an Old Testament character unless this character's significance in some way is refracted through the prism of the gospel.

That's right. And I think that's what you'll see here with Hebrews 11. Sadly, Hebrews 11 and 12 are chapter breaks. They're really together. They should be one section, and you can see that in Hebrews 12, verse 1, with therefore.

Otherwise, what we end up doing with the book of Hebrews, especially chapter 11, is instead of it being the hall of faith, it turns into the hall of faithfulness. And then I ask you questions like, are your sacrifices acceptable to God like Abel's?

Do you walk with God like Enoch did? Are you faithful for 120 years or more like Noah was? Do you imitate Abraham? And where God calls you, do you go? Are you like Sarah, trusting in the impossible? And the list goes on and on.

I don't mind if you talk about some of those men and women, as long as you drive it to looking to Jesus. And therefore, when it comes to how do you get through trials in Christian life, which I guess that was my introduction, and I've just gone on a deviation.

Hey, but you get what you pay for, right? You got your money's worth today. He, the writer, wants you to endure trials, and so therefore, he says in the next verse, consider Jesus. The looking part was, it was a participial statement, but now we get the command.

Consider Him. Look to Him. Fix your eyes on Jesus. And that's really the key to the Christian life, is keeping your eyes on Jesus and thinking about Him, and then accepting the discipline and the trials and the tribulations that come as coming from your loving Father.

We're going to talk about this in a few minutes when I do show two. People have trials in their life, and they say this, God, why don't you love me? Because they think it's not from a loving hand. And I just want you to know, Christian, when you receive trials from the Lord, they are from the God who loves you, and they're to discipline you and to train you so that you can endure.

And that's what Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 11 is going to talk about. So we're going to do that next time. My name is Mike Gabendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. We do some of these YouTubes.

I don't even know if our Facebook Lives or whatever they are. I don't know if they help you. I don't know if you like them. I've got the whopping one person watching today, so maybe, I don't know. It's easier for me to do shows when I can just look down at my notes.

I never have to look at the camera. But hey, we're here to serve. Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. If you've got show suggestions, I just got one today in the email. Would you please do a show on such and such?

I'm happy to entertain those things, and we want to help you in any way we can. God bless you.

The Discipline of a Loving Father

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

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