Finishing Well

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.