5/31/26 - THE RACE & 7 CROWNS

There's a race to be run. There's a race to be run and a price to be had. There's a race to be run and time's slipping away. A prize that before you, a victor's crown. There's a race to be run and a price to be had. The race has begun when you called on Jesus. Salvation is free, but its life must be lived. Press toward the mark of His high calling. Cast off the weights and any sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us to run. There's a crown waiting for you. Let God finish what He has begun. Just fight the good fight and finish your course. Sow us blessing in your faithful race. And take up the time of thank you holding and run and never let go. 'Cause it's time that you choose to reach for the best and let the rest go. It's 'cause there's a race to be run and a price to be had. There's a prize set before you, a victor's crown. There's a race to be run and a prize to be had. A crown is offered by grace to you, a crown to be cast at the Lord's feet. A race to be run with life evermore awaiting for those who awaiting for those who believe. Amen.

Good evening. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our God and our Father, we say hallelujah for such a savior as the Lord Jesus. We say hallelujah that you've given us your word. Guide us through it, we pray tonight. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, we've been looking for some time at scriptures that deal with examples and analogies, symbolism that the Lord uses in order to help us to understand spiritual things. And tonight we'd like to continue with that, and we want to talk about sports. Now, who would ever think that sports or athletics would be part of the Bible message? But they're in the Bible. And God uses sports, uses athletics, particularly running, racing, and wrestling or fighting. He uses those two analogies to help us understand the Christian life. And that's what we'd like to look at tonight.

So, first I want to read 1 Timothy 4:8. It says, "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, both in this life and the one to come." So, what is godliness? We see, we know what physical exercise is, but what's godliness? Well, godliness is spiritual exercise. Godliness is to live a life for God. And the Bible places before us the Christian life, a godly Christian life, as a race. It begins, just like every race is a timed race, we've only got so much time here. You know, reminds me of the acrostic for Bible: Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. Well, we don't know when we're going to be leaving Earth. We hope the Lord comes tonight, hallelujah. But, we don't know when we're going to leave Earth. And so, we have a limited amount of time. It begins when our salvation begins, as far as living for the Lord, as far as running our spiritual race, begins when we're saved, and it's got a limit on it. We don't know what that limit is. And so, this is a great analogy. That's my point. Great analogy in using athletics, a race, to describe the Christian life.

In Hebrews 12:1, it says, "Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." The witnesses are from the witnesses of faith, of what living a life of faith in chapter 11, how that's the only way to live. It says that we're compassed about so great a cloud of witnesses, "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." We all have a race set before us, and we are to run that race. This is not for a few Christians. This is the Christian life pictured as A RACE. Oh, my friend, get a hold of this. This is so, so important.

And so, when you think of it as a race, he says, "You know, when you go to a race, you don't take weights. You don't put weights on you. You might when you're training, but you're not when you're going to run a race. You want to be as light as you can." And so, let go of those weights. You know, we're talking about sports and athletics. For many men, and maybe some women, sports is a weight. It's not a sin, but it's a weight. It's something that's spent too much time with, and it holds you back from using it in other things that are more godly, more profitable. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with sports. It just means that whatever you do, you have to do it in moderation, with the end view that you're in training. Always remember you're in training.

And then he goes on, he says that we have certain sins that can easily beset us, and we have to get rid of those. And so, you know, it may be that we are gossips. It may be that we're materialistic. You know, it may be a thousand things that we're involved in that are not right. Well, we can't be running this race unless we're right with the Lord. And so, that's very, very important.

And then in Philippians 3 and verse 13, Paul says this, "Brethren, I count myself not to have apprehended, but this one thing I do." Listen to this, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before." Right? I mean, if you're going to run a race, you don't look back. You got to look forward. And he says, "I'm looking forward." And he says, "I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize. Hallelujah. The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Oh, what a calling on high we have. God has called us saints. Oh, praise the Lord. He's called us ambassadors for Christ, called us sons of God. So many exalted privileges that we have by grace in Christ. And Paul says, "I press toward the mark. I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize." See, that's focus. We got to be focused. If you're a Christian, that's why those weights, we can lay aside the weights, 'cause when we're focused in training, when you're training as a Christian, how important that is that you build your endurance and that you want that prize. Then, and this is, I mean, this is the way God sets it before us so we won't be lethargic, that we won't be lazy, that we won't just plod along going to church every Sunday. Uh-uh. No, no, no, no, no. That's not the Christian life.

And so, Paul goes on, and I'm going to read in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I'm going to read a few verses right here. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24. "Know ye not they which..." Oh, I should say this. Now, Paul is writing to the Corinthians. He lived in Corinth and ministered for a while. Corinth had their own games, competitive games that they were involved in. And so, everybody understood the analogies he's going to use about running a race and about wrestling. It was a big thing in the Greek games. And Corinth, of course, was Greece, present-day Greece.

Verse 24. "Know ye not they which run in a race all but one receiveth the prize." Now, that's in a worldly race. Only one person's on the podium. But, he says to all these believers, all these believers, "So run that you may obtain." In other words, every believer can get the prize. Hallelujah.

Verse 25. "And every man that striveth for mastery or competes in the games is temperate in all things." You got to be self-controlled. I mean, you know, when you're in training, I have someone I know, my son actually, that when he cooks, he has a scale. Now, I've never seen anybody do that. Maybe a lot of people do it when they're in training, but he has a scale. He weighs his food. He knows exactly what he's eating. So, when you're serious about training, it affects your life. I mean, you're focused, and Paul was focused. He says when you're seeking to win that prize, you're temperate in all things. You're self-controlled. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. Listen to this, "But we an incorruptible crown." In fact, that's one of the seven crowns that he's going to speak about. Corruptible crown, not for us. Incorruptible. Hallelujah. One that doesn't fade away. One that never gets old. You say it's not a crown from the Lord Jesus. It's not something you put in a trophy case. You cast your crowns before Him. Hallelujah. We'll look at that in a moment.

And so, Paul says in verse 26, "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly." I so run, but I'm focused. I'm certain. And then he changes the example and he says analogy says, "So fight I. I also fight. Not as one that beateth the air." I'm not boxing the wind. I make every punch count. So, he is, he's a runner, he's a wrestler, he's a fighter. He says, "But I keep my body in subjection. Lest by means, when I have, by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified."

Now, this is so important. I want to say something about being disqualified as a believer. Samson, for instance, was a man of faith. We find him in Hebrews chapter 11. But when you read his life, you know, he disqualified himself many times from the life that God had for him and the prize that he could have won. I'm not putting Samson down, but God tells us his story, and in the 16th chapter, I think it is, of Judges, Samson went into the devil's barber shop, Delilah gave him a haircut, and he ended up filling with the Philistines who blinded him and then put him in prison and put a harness on him like an ox and had him turning, grinding the wheat. And so, he fell a long ways. But, you know, there's always recovery with the Lord. Hallelujah. And he ends up killing more Philistines in his death than in his life. It's a feeble picture of the Lord Jesus with Samson's outstretched arms as he grabs the columns. But, in any event, the thought is being disqualified. And you have to understand that the Bible gives us rules to how we're to conduct ourselves, moral rules, how we're to conduct ourselves as Christians. You know, there's Christians that are involved in fornication. They don't even know it's wrong. They're living together. They don't even know it's called fornication. I mean, there's many things that Christians are doing that are immoral and they don't even know it. Right? I mean, what about gambling? Oh, oh, oh, sorry to say anything about that, but the Bible talks about gambling. Anything that gets a hold of you, that's not to be.

So, in 2 Timothy 2:5, listen, this very thing we're talking about. "And if a man also competes in athletics, yet he is not crowned except he competes according to the rules." Right? I mean, you're running a race, you can't cut across and leave the track. No, you have to stay on course. But, how are you going to know what the course is? That's the word of God. You have to know the word of God. You have to be ruled by the word of God. And so, he says, you're not going to be crowned unless you know the rules and you play by the rules.

And then second crown, this is the second crown of seven. First Corinthians 9:25, we mentioned it, well, we already read it. And that's the incorruptible crown. You know, and that's for those that will practice self-control and the discipline of living for the Lord.

Third crown in 1 Thessalonians 2:19. And he's talking about these believers. Paul says, "For what is our hope? Our joy? Our crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming?" Paul says, "Listen. You are our crown of rejoicing. When the Lord comes and you're taken up to glory with Him, that's the joy of our hearts. That's a soul winner's crown. Hallelujah. And I want to tell you tonight if you're without Christ, we want to be a soul winner tonight also. We want to give you the gospel of Jesus Christ. How He died for your sins, He was buried, rose again the third day, and in His name forgiveness is preached to you tonight. Eternal life is offered to you tonight through Christ. You simply have to receive Christ. Oh, praise the Lord.

So the next crown is the fourth crown. 1 Peter 5:4. "And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Well, here's a crown for those that love and care for God's people. Now, we might think that's the preacher, the elders. Listen, my friend, we are to have care for one another. Everyone in the body of Christ is to care for one another. And so there's a crown of glory for those that really have upon their hearts to help the people of God, to encourage them, just to try to meet whatever need that they might have.

And then in James chapter 1 verse 12, we have the fifth crown. "Blessed is the man that endure a trial. For when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." Here's a crown of faithfulness. We go through problems and we face them by faith. We don't put our tails between our legs and run off. We don't put our heads down and grumble and get depressed. No. What we understand is that this is a race that we're in, and we got to keep our eye upon the prize and not let anything, anything slow us up. We just got to keep going. Keep going. And if you're going through something tonight, you remember that you're in a race and you just need to keep going forward. You say, "I don't have strength." Oh, my friend, that's perfect. He said, "My grace is sufficient for you. My strength's made perfect in weakness." You just depend upon Him and that you continue on. Hallelujah.

And then the sixth crown, Revelation 2:10, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you in prison, that you be tried. And you shall tribulation 10 days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Now, we already saw a crown of life for going through trials, but now is a crown of life with a special trial unto death. This is the martyr's crown. Oh, my friend, there's so many believers today, particularly in Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu countries, when they stand up for Christ, oh, they risk their lives, and multitudes are losing their lives in those places. They're going to receive, hallelujah, the martyr's crown.

And the seventh crown then is 2 Timothy 4:8. You know, Paul, he started his life when he got saved out running that race. And he says, "You know, I've been reaching out for that. I'm not looking behind me. I'm looking before me, and I've been reaching for that prize all my life." And he says this at the end of his life, "I fought a good fight, right?" There's that thought about that wrestling and that fighting. "I have finished my course." There's the race. He says, "I've run the race. I've come to the finish line. Hallelujah. I've kept the faith." You know, in a race where it's a relay race, you better have the baton in your hand when you cross the line or you're going to be disqualified. Henceforth, and so he says, "I kept the faith." I'm using the example of the faith as a baton. "Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing." Here's a crown of righteousness, and it's based upon those who love the Lord and are watching and waiting and hoping for His return. Oh, in this moment, my friend, if you're a part of that race, if you're looking down the way and you see the finish line up ahead of you, remember we only got a certain amount of time. Just remember, because you love the Lord and because you're living for Him and you're running this race and you're wrestling, you're fighting for Him, you are going to receive, just as the Apostle Paul, this crown of righteousness.

Now, I want to say something about the crowns. There's two kinds of crowns in the Bible. There's one that's the victor's crown. That's the seven crowns we've been talking about, a victor's crown, stephanos. If your name is Stephen, your name means crown, victor's crown. And so, the other one is a diadem. That's a ruler, a king's crown. That's the crown of the blessed Lord Jesus, the King of all kings. Now, we don't get a diadem, we get the stephanos, we get the victor's crown. Well, I say we get it. We don't want to assume that, but we have to purpose in our hearts to run this race for the glory of God.

And then what happens? What happens with those crowns? Revelation 4:10, "The four and twenty fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne." When do they do it? They fell down before Him. They're worshipping Him and they cast their crowns before Him, realizing that whatever they've received in reward, it's only been by the grace of God. And once again, this has nothing to do with salvation. Jesus paid the debt for us. This is only after you're Christian that this wonderful race that God set before us that we can run it. If you're without Christ tonight, you might be at the beginning of the starting line, and when the gun goes off, you're not going to go anywhere 'cause you're chained there to your sin. You got to come to Christ so you can be set free. Hallelujah. So they go on and they say, "Thou art worthy." Why do they cast their crowns before Him? Because there's only one that's worthy. Oh, hallelujah. May you trust Him tonight. May we run the race if we're not already running. May we honor Him with our lives. It's a time to vent. God knows the time, we don't. Let's live for Him and redeem our, redeem the moments of our lives in Jesus' name.

Let's pray. Our God, thank you for tonight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for this great analogy that's so helpful in considering the Christian life as an athletic event, as running this race, as wrestling and fighting. Oh, we should all take note of it, Lord, that this is not just for some Christians, this is for all of us. May we take heed in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.