Finishing the Race

John Akhwari, was a marathon runner from Tanzania who finished last at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. No last-place finisher in a marathon ever finished quite so last.

He was Injured along the way and hobbled towards the finish line with his leg bloodied and bandaged more than an hour after the rest of the runners had finished. Only a few spectators were left when Akhwari finally crossed the finish line.

When asked why he continued to run despite the pain, Akhwari replied, "My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me here to finish."

As Christians we have entered into a race by the sovereign will of God. This race is life and we are expected to run it in a way that is pleasing to God and to finish strong in spite of life’s difficulties.

By grace through faith in Jesus you start the race and by grace through faith in Jesus you finish it. So stay the course and finish strong! Finish Faithfully!

The book of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is superior to all things. This was an important lesson for the original audience that had been through much troubles because of their faith in Jesus. This Jewish audience was tempted to abandon their Christian race and return to the Jewish sacrificial system. But, Hebrews 10:1 tells us “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.”

The sacrificial system was a shadow of what was to come, It was merely a band-aid but Jesus is the substance, the only person who can truly save and secure the worshipper forever!

This text is full of imagery, like today, athletic contest was a popular part of culture and this would not be lost on the original audience perhaps they could see themselves halfway through their race, they had come so far why stop competing now.

CPS: By faith each of us has entered the race and the key to finishing the race is removing the things that keeps us from competing and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus!

I. To finish the race well you must remove the sin that hinders you. (1)

By grace through faith in Jesus you are saved and by grace through faith in Jesus you are sealed and secure in your salvation. Jesus said John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

Everyone who starts the race finishes but not everyone finishes well. Had the Hebrews returned to the sacrificial system they would have been secured in Jesus but they would not have pleased Jesus. John Akhwari though injured continued to run.

This world is full of trials and troubles, this is nothing new. He points the Hebrews back to the cloud of witnesses that have gone before them. Cloud is the Greek noun nephos which refers to a huge mass of clouds beyond numbering.

These clouds are the men and women of faith in chapter 11 who went before them, who in spite of what life dealt them finished their race in faithfulness.

These men and women are called the Hero’s of Faith. Sometimes the faithful life is so difficult that we don’t think we can keep going but we can look to those who have finished their race well.

16 people are named who endured, followed by a plethora of unnamed witnesses. These witnesses were faithful and endured baring witness to the possibilities of the life of faith.

These witnesses were not perfect but they loved the Lord and wanted to please Him. What pleases God? Obedience! In order to finish the race well you must race according to the rules.

Sin is the one thing the Lord hates, it brings separation and compounds trouble for His people. We are told to “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us”

Lay aside simply means to take off. We are told to take off the weights of sin because it impede you!

There is not a rule that states a runner can not carry a supply of food and beverage during the Olympics. However, the runner would never win the race that way. Nor would the runner wear wights around his ankles, so why do we run our race with the heavy weight of sin?

While in the Army I went to Germany and trained with the fallschmagers. While there I had to take the German P.T. test. It consisted of a number of events including a 1K swim. A solider beside me stripped down to nothing. When the whistle blew he jumped in and started swimming and finished first. Later we asked why he stripped naked and he said his P.T. shorts caused drag so he took them off!

Like the solider who took off his shorts we must take off our sin! But, sin not only impedes us it trips us up! Notice the term Beset Us. It is a Greek Adj (euperistatos) that means to control tightly. It is the idea of being cleverly encircled and AMBUSHED.

The author is speaking of the loose fitting robes that were common during that day. Have you ever noticed in Ancient Greek art that the statues of athletes are almost always naked? That because their clothing would trip them up! So why do we run our race under the entanglement of sin?

For us to finish our race well we MUST get rid of the sin in our lives! We must confess our sin and God promises to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Today we need to make a conscience effort to ask God to reveal our sin to us that may out it where it belongs.... the cross of Calvary!

Jesus died for our sins! They are nailed to the cross so why must pry them off and put their dead weight back on our shoulders? We will never finish the race well as long as we are carrying sin upon ourselves. REMOVE THE SIN THAT HINDERS YOU!

II. In order to finish the race well we must fixate our eyes on our Savior (2-3)

Our race is difficult, the word race is the noun Greek agon. It is where we get the our word agony. It means to struggle. Life is hard but we must be steadfast is we run our race.

When I first got to the army the long distance runs were a struggle for me. But I learned to fixate my eyes on a fixed marker way ahead of me, and vowed to not stop running until I made it to that marker.

The key to finishing is fixating our eyes on Jesus. “Looking unto” means to have a steadfast, intent, and continuous gaze. It’s the idea of looking from afar with your eyes fixed on Jesus seated on the throne of God. Because He the “author and finisher of our faith”

Philippians 1:6 , that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” He is the beginning and the end of our faith, as well as the object of our faith so we must Look to Jesus.

The previous chapter gives us many examples of faith however none of them were perfect. They all stumbled! Abraham lied about Sarah, Moses was a murderer, David an adulterer. But Jesus is perfect and the only perfect example of faith.

The saints of old had a difficult course, to run and so do we but no one had a course like Jesus.’ Though faultless and perfectly innocent He endured the agony of the cross. Endured is the Greek verb hypomenō, it means to reside or stay!

The Cross was the most shameful and painful death, it was reserved for the lowly of the world, for those who had no value, yet the King of kings and Lord of lords allowed himself to be cursed and hung upon the timbers of the cross.

As He bore the nails and struggled to breathed those around Him cast insults and abused Him, they shouted (Mark 16:30) “Save Yourself, and come down from the cross.” But Jesus endured. Though He could have called all the host of heaven, though He could have levitated off that cross, HE STAYED RIGHT THERE!

The sins of the world was cast upon Him and He died there. But Death held no grip on Jesus and He burst out of that tomb on the 3rd day and now He is seated at the right hand of God.

Why did He allow it? “For the Joy that was set before Him! Jude tells us what this means Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,” Jesus did this for us! It was the Father’s will and Jesus loved us! He died our death and gave us the perfect example of faith so that we may run our race well!

Conclusion: We have a race to finish, and we must run it well! We must run it unimpeded by the weight of sin and with our eyes fixated on Jesus who is tried and true and seated on the throne so that we don't get off course, grow weary, and lose heart.

We have a race to finish will you finish it well?