Believers are called to run the Christian race with endurance, laying aside hindrances and sins, and fixing their gaze on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of faith. The sermon emphasizes remembering the faithful examples of past runners like Noah, Abraham, and Moses, who endured long periods of waiting for God's promises. It urges listeners to prepare by shedding unnecessary weights and ensnaring sins, and to actively participate in the race by running with patience, just as Jesus endured the cross and hostility for the joy set before him. The ultimate application is to persevere in the race God has set before each believer, finishing well for His glory.
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Harry Baubach saying that Dr. Wagner's prospective grandson or granddaughter had died. He said, would you be willing to go up and fill the gap for him? And I said, certainly. I said, where am I going? And he said, well, you're going to park of the palms. But I've heard that they've changed the name to pound of the poems. I don't know whether that's true or not, but somebody told me that the other evening. And I think on the basis of what we do after the meetings, I've put on a few pounds, but they've been good. But I thank the Lord that he planned on me being here a long time ago.
And I thank him for the fact that he planned on me getting saved and made all that happen so I could spend the some great days with you folks and they have been for me to open the word of God and to share it without any any sense of restriction that's just a blessing to me and you've been that I want to thank you for having me and for listening to me how many are you here for the first time tonight how many are here for the second time tonight how are you here for the third time tonight well a few of you have been here all three times I wondered whether anybody would come back after the first time, but some of you were brave enough to do it more than once.
But thank you for coming, and I appreciate the opportunity to be here in fellowship with you and to share in the study of the Word of God. Thank you for your prayers, because I know that throughout the time I've been here and when Dr. Wagner was here, you've been praying for me and prayed for him and for others as well. I appreciate that. Thank you, too, for your fellowship and hospitality. I've just felt right at home. I wish my wife could be here these days to share that with me. She has a friend from college with her down at Hudson, down at Word of Life. But Lord willing, we want to come up Sunday, she and I, and spend part of a service with you and visiting with our good friends, the showers. And I'd ask one thing of you, though, as I finish and leave and go on to other ministries, Would you pray for me that I finish well?
That's a concern of mine, that when I go on in ministry and I've seen other men grow older in ministry and lose it. And I pray that God would maintain me in a faithful place the rest of my life till I die. Just pray that I finish well. And I'll pray that for you as well, because that's what God desires us to do. Now, having said that, I want to tell you a story about my daughter who has four grandsons. From the very early stages of their lives, my two grandsons, when only two, developed a tradition. And I would go to visit them, and they were living in near Washington, D.C.
then. But they would come to visit us, and we were in Lancaster. We would take a morning and go out for coffee and donuts. Now, they didn't drink the coffee, I did, but they would go with me and they could pick out any two donuts they wanted out of the case and whatever they wanted to drink. And we did that two or three or four times a year as we visited. But then three boys came into the family and we did it with three. And then four came along and we've done it with four. On one occasion, all nine grandchildren were at house at one time, so I took all of them out for coffee and donuts to a place called Achenbach. Now, to many of you, that doesn't mean anything, but Aachen Box is a bakery in Lancaster County in Loyola, and they make great pastries of all kinds, but they make one very special kind called Long Johns.
And so last summer when Rhonda, our daughter, was up from Texas visiting us, she decided she wanted to take some Long Johns back to Texas for the boys. And I made arrangements to get them early in the morning, and She caught a plane out of Philadelphia and somebody said, you're going to Texas? What do you have in the box? She said, well, I've got long johns in the box. And I said, and I'm taking them by sons in Texas. And they said, long johns for Texas. She says, no, you don't understand. There are pastries and they love them. And so over the years we've developed that tradition with all the grandchildren, but especially the boys. And when I get there or they come here, they say, when are we going out for breakfast, my dad?
And we usually have that early in the routine. And so my daughter took long Johns of Texas in the middle of a hundred degree summer, but they ate them rather than wore them. Now, this evening, we've been walking a while. through the New Testament and probably what I ought to do tonight is preach on resting. Well, I'm going to preach on running because God not only wants us to walk, but He wants us to run. When you turn in your Bible to look at Hebrews chapter twelve, where the writer to the Hebrews instructs the readers of the need to be running well.
It's interesting that, as I've said before, the word walk in the New Testament talks about one's lifestyle or conduct or progress in life. The word run is used that way sometimes, too, in a metaphorical sense, where it talks about running the race. Paul says this in Galatians chapter two. He says, I went up to Jerusalem and pleaded my case, lest I'd run in vain. In chapter five, he says, you were running well. Who hindered you? And so running is a biblical concept of the way of life of a believer. And in the book of Hebrews, the writer discusses the whole matter of running in light of where they were in their life and their relationship to God and to Jesus Christ.
And if you know the book of Hebrews and I believe you do, these were some very weary saints. They had been standing faithful to Jesus, the Messiah, but they were being blasted from many sides, especially by the religious legalists who were saying, you're trusting this no account Jesus. He's a fraud. That's what many of the Pharisees thought about him, and that's why they crucified him. That wasn't true. And so these dear brethren are going on saying, Lord, we believe in you, and we're looking for the day when you establish your dominion on this earth. But we're getting tired. It seems like we're being bombarded. So I think the writer wrote to encourage them.
It says that in chapter thirteen. He wrote to encourage them. But in chapter twelve, he pauses a while after a whole discourse on doctrine of Jesus, the high priest and other things. And he says, I want to remind you of your responsibility while you wait for Jesus Christ to come. Let me read the verses. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnars us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and the finish of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endored the cross, despising the shame that sat down at the right hand of the front of God.
For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraging your souls. And then he goes on and reminds him of God's work and their life. But this evening I'd like you to think with me about the whole matter of running the race as a Christian. And I want to take it from these verses and I've outlined it to suit me. That's one of the prerogatives of a preacher. You can take the text and say, well, as I'm going to present it, I'm going to outline it the way I see it. I'm not sure that's the outline the writer would have given, but it works for me, and I trust will help us in our understanding of this particular biblical text.
Now, before you can get into a study of it, you have to look at some key words, and I want to point them out in here. There are two key words that are used several times in the verses I've read. One of them is a word endure. You see it in verse twelve. with endure and verse one with endurance you see it in verse two he endured the cross you see it in verse three for goodness him consider him who endured such hostility and the word in both the noun and the verb form basically means to hold up under very stressful conditions it's the word used over in James chapter one where it talks about Count all joy when trials fall upon you, for they bring the product of endurance.
And so that word, as it's used throughout the New Testament, means basically to be able to live in a situation that's beyond your control and to handle it or to hold up under it. One man has written this, a person who endures, the characteristic of a person who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety, to persevere, to hold up under difficult and dangerous situations or trials or circumstances. It means to hang in there. It means when the going gets tough, the tough keep on going, the idea of endurance.
And as I said, these believers were under a great trial of faith. Now, it's interesting as you start in chapter twelve, you have to find the context of chapter twelve in chapter ten. Would you turn back there with me and just note the statement of the writer in light of this whole matter of enduring. hanging in there persevering waiting patiently for the Lord but in chapter ten you have some very interesting words therefore verse thirty five therefore do not cast away your confidence which is great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God you may receive the promise for yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry now the just shall live by faith but if any draws back no my soul has no pleasure in him we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving the soul in chapter ten you have the
the context for chapter twelve endure in chapter eleven the writer gives illustrations living illustration of people who endured in the past and came up victorious on the basis of their faith. You heard this chapter called, I'm sure, God's Hall of Faith, God's Hall of Fame. And so when the writer writes in chapter twelve the words regarding the witnesses, he says, I've already told you about them in chapter eleven. people who endured in the faith and had God bring to them the things He promised, but not all of them yet, because they will not receive all the promises of God until we receive them with them.
Now, having said all of that as background, and that's just background, I want to give you an outline. I outlined the passage this way because it works for me. The first thing the writer does in chapter twelve, he says, remember the previous runners. Remember the previous runners. And chapter eleven talks about some of those runners. He next tells him in chapter twelve, verse one, make preparation for the race or the preparation of the runner. Get yourself ready to run. And then in chapter twelve, verses one and two, he says, I want to talk about the participation of the runners.
You have to be involved in the race, and he will lay out some guidelines for that. And then in chapter twelve, verse two, he talks about the preoccupation of the runners. And then finally he concludes in verse three, in my outline, the perseverance of the runners. Now, as I said, that's my outline. It helps me hang some things mentally from the chapter and from the verses in my way of thinking. But let's look through this now. In chapter twelve, verse one I read, therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, remember the previous runners, I think the writer is saying, God has already had men and women who are testifiers, that's another word for the word witness here, are testifiers to the fact that faith is the basis of victory in the will of God.
And you read chapter eleven, verse one, we see that stated very clearly. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a great testimony. By it the ancients, Our forefathers obtained a great testimony that is by their faith in God and in the promises He makes. Now, I've gone through the chapter and I've counted, I think, seventeen different proper names that are used to identify some of the previous runners, some of the runners of faith. But beyond that, there are untold numbers of people mentioned and unnamed people mentioned, such as the prophets and others.
And he can say to these Jewish believers, there are a number of people in the past that you know about that have trusted God and have run the race successfully. They're your testimony people. It doesn't mean that These people are saying, well, there are a lot of people watching us in the way of witnesses as we see people do at the Super Bowl and other places by the hundreds of thousands across the country. They sit and they watch twenty-two people run up and down the field. That's not what it's talking about. It says not so much people looking on, but people who have already testified to the fact, witnesses the fact that faith is a means.
of victory. And so the first reminder is remember the previous runners. I've picked out three out of the list. Examples of faith and endurance. One would be Noah. You know the account of Noah, Genesis chapter six and thereafter. Noah believed God. It says in Hebrews eleven. and he was instructed by God to build this huge barge when he began the building or soon after when he began the building we know he was about five hundred years old when he finished the building he was about six hundred years old the flood came in his six hundred year of life let's assume for a hundred years He's doing what God has told him to believing in something that nobody else would believe in.
There's not going to be a flood in this barge. What's the purpose of it? For a hundred years, he trusted God, and then God rewarded his trust. A hundred years is a long time to wait on God. But then another man that becomes prominent in this account is the man Abram or Abraham. He was seventy-five years old when God called him out of the early Caldeas. And Genesis twelve made him these great promises. He had a wife who was barren, seventy-five years old. And God said, I'm going to make your descendants to multiply more than the stars in heaven.
But he didn't have a son. In the course of Noah's life, twenty-five years later, He'll have the son Isaac. Ishmael came along before that as Sarah and Abram's plan to somehow help God do his thing. And God says, no, Sarah is going to have a son. Twenty-five years is a long time to wait patiently. Another one that I could mention is Moses, and he's talked about in chapter eleven. Moses, of course, you know, grew up in the home of Pharaoh, was a prominent young man in Egypt, though he was a Jew.
But when he was forty years old, he decided that he would take things in his own hand, and you know the story, and for forty years he spends time out of Egypt in the wilderness. Forty years is a long time to wait for God to fulfill his promise. And then he will eventually go back after the encounter at the Burning Bush and begin the liberation movement. They should have made the trip into the promised land in a matter of weeks to months. It took them forty years to get in the land of the promised.
Forty years is a long time to wait for God to fulfill his promise. And that's the point that's being made here in chapter eleven. God makes us promises, and though he doesn't always work on our time schedule, he will keep his word. Keep on waiting. Keep on trusting. Keep on being patient with God. And so the Hebrew Christians, the believers talked about here in the book of Hebrews, are saying, oh, You expect us to keep on waiting, too, don't you? And God says, yes, I do. Your times are in my hands.
My plan is my plan. I will do it the way I want to do it. Trust me. Now, that's the testimony of the previous runners. But that's not all the race yet. There's the second part of the outline. preparation for the race or the preparation of the runners. And it's given to us in verse one of chapter twelve. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnared us. Interesting statement. The word that is used here is used other places in the New Testament about taking things off.
It's used in a figurative way in the book of Ephesians where it says, laying off the old man, putting aside the old man. It involves action of the mind and will to say, this must go. This can no longer be a part of me. Two things are mentioned that they are to lay aside. Very interesting, too. First, let us lay aside every weight, every encumbrance, The word that is used here in verse one of chapter twelve is only used here in the whole New Testament. And it means basically let us lay aside any unnecessary bulk, bulk, I have some, baggage that makes it difficult for us to carry out the assignment.
It doesn't relate to sin as much as to encumber things that are not morally wrong, but are things that interfere with your ability to do the things God wants you to do. There are a number of things that are very, very good, but they are replacing the best because they take control of our lives. And so he says the first thing that they need to lay aside are the things that are hindering them in their progress and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It may be traditions they're hanging on to. It may be people that have somehow brought them under their control. It may be attitudes that are incorrect in the sight of God, not necessarily sins, but just things that hinder.
In our day and age, I suppose you and I could name some things that are hindrances to us. that keep us from going on running the way God wants us to run. And it may be attachments with certain people. It may be attachments with certain things that I just don't want to let go of. I love the line that Corey Tambun wrote in her book when she was talking about the loss of the things that she had possessed. She says, you have to learn to hold the things of life loosely. And I'm afraid in America, many of us don't hold them very loosely. Whatever the encumbrances are for you or for me or for these, he says, they must be put aside.
They hinder your performance, your ability to run properly. But he moves on to a second thing that must be laid aside, and he names it sin, and the sin which so easily ensnars us. I don't know what that sin was, but I think I know. I think these believers, as well as believers over the ages, were suffering from the age-old disease of impatience, which brings about unbelief. Go back with me to Exodus thirty-two in your thinking. In Exodus thirty-two, Moses has gone up to the mountain to listen to God and to receive the revelation for the nation.
Not many days before they'd come across the Red Sea miraculous and God had done miracle after miracle to let them know that He was indeed going to take care of them and fulfill His promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to them. But it says in Exodus thirty-two that while they were waiting on Moses to come down, they grew impatient. Where's Moses? Why isn't he back? Why isn't God moving us on? Aaron, make for us a calf who can be our God. We need a leader. They became impatient. And because of their impatience, they entered into idolatry of the worst kind.
They worship an image that God had forbidden them to worship. The disease of impatience, the disease of unbelief, may be the disease that's being talked about here, the sin. But it could be something else. And I don't know what it is. But I would suggest it. It might be any sin that very easily entraps you. Now, I know I'm among some fine Christian folks. But I wonder if any of any have any pet sins. The things you really don't let go. And they sort of catch you sometimes at your your most vulnerable time and you fall back into the same old thing you did before.
If the verse is talking about that, I have to think about some that ensnare me, some that sometimes come again in my life, not because I want them to, but because I am human and I fall to the flesh. The writer is saying, if you're going to prepare yourself to run, You have to be mindful of what you have to put aside, the incumbrances and the sins that hinder your ability to run the way God wants. Now, you and I know that the ones who run in various contests, Olympic Games more recently, they barely wear anything.
Why? Because bulky clothing will impede their progress in running. You can't win if you have too much baggage. And the writer is saying, you can't really run the waste properly. You can't prepare yourself without putting aside these things. The third thing that is mentioned here is the participation in the race. End of verse one. Let us run with endurance, with patience, the race that is set before us. Participation in runners. It's one thing to say that you're supposed to run. It's another thing to run.
I told my wife here foolishly about three weeks ago that I'm going to run in a five-K race with my daughter Tammy and her daughter, Jamie, at Gettysburg later this year. Now, five-K is not real far if you've been running a while. But can you imagine what I'm going to have to go through to keep my word on that? I wish I hadn't said it now that I think of it, but I'd like to do that. They're going to run in Gettysburg, and that'd be a nice place to run because of the history there. I'm not sure that my legs can carry this bulk that far, but I'm going to think about running and attempting to not win, just finish in that race.
The race that is talked about here in verse one is a race that is, I believe, a race of endurance. And probably the most prominent endurance race in our world today is a marathon. Twenty-six plus miles. I'm not going to run a marathon. I'd be a cardiac case long before I got to the end of the race. But God is saying to these people and to us, I have a race for you to run. It's a long distance race. And every day there's another lap that you have to finish. And you finish one and the next day God says, we're going to run again today because I want to see you complete the course.
run the race it says with endurance putting up with the difficulties of running the race of life when i was in college i went to college to play football and they gave me a grant and aid to play football i wasn't very good but it was a way to get a college education with very little cost and so i decided that in the off season during the spring i'd go out for track Two reasons. One, because it would help me get in shape for football in the fall. But number two, I realized that if you were out for track, you got to eat at the training table and go on trips to eat at other places. So I went out for track.
Made sense. Better food and opportunities to go away and see things. I went down to the track in the spring and I went up to the coach and I said, I'd like to run a track. And I said, well, okay, what do you run? I said, I don't want to run too far or too fast. He said, well, why don't you run the four hundred meters? If you know anything about running four hundred meters, you run far and you run fast. And so he asked me to run around the track with one of my fellow football players, Pat Tarquinio. And I ran very well with Pat Tarquinio for about two hundred and fifty yards.
And then my legs turned to iron. And my heart said, go, and my legs said, no. And Tarquini was only five yards away. I thought, I'll get him. I'll get him. I could never catch him. He didn't go much faster, but I couldn't move anymore. When you run the long race, it's a grueling race. That's why endurance is necessary. And I don't know what God has in the way of your cross-country race or your marathon. But every day he has some course for you to complete. And you hang in there. You endure. You finish the assignment that he wants. It's one thing to run.
It's one thing to run far. But would you note in this race, verse one of chapter twelve, let us run with endurance of the race that is set before us. Remember Ephesians two ten? or we His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works which God has before prepared that we should walk in them. In the same way, God has planned out a life for us to live, to run, if you will, using that metaphor. And He wants us to finish it well for His glory as well as for our good. He has set forth the race that He wants us to run.
Think with me now about the preoccupation of the runner. It's in verse two. It reads this way. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, and the word set before him, verse two is the same word that you have up in verse one. The race is set before us. He had set before him. The cross. Despising the shame. and sat down at the right hand of the front of God. In this verse, the writer reminds the runners about their preoccupation.
I've done some running in my time before I went to college. I was in high school and I ran and running was a joy. Run long and far. No pain at all. Those who have gotten older, that's not the case. And as the writer here is talking about looking unto Jesus, he's saying there are going to be a lot of distractions while you run. And he's saying to him, fix your gaze on Jesus Christ. The word that's used here in verse one of Chapsu is used only here in the New Testament. Rather rare word, isn't it, if it's only used once. But it's the idea of taking your eyes off of this and fixing them on that.
Another way to put it, we focus on Jesus. And isn't it interesting that he uses just the name Jesus. He was the God-man. And he's calling into account of the readers the life of Jesus Christ who lived his life every day for God the Father and finished his race well. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. Gaze upon Him as you go through the daily routine of the race. And then He tells us why in verse two. First of all, because of who He is.
And second of all, because of what He's done. Why should I spend my time thinking about, occupying my attention with thoughts about Jesus Christ? Why should it be the center of my attention? They may have asked that. And the writer tells them. First he tells them because of who he is. And he uses two terms that are rather interesting. It says he's the author and the finisher of faith. They knew him as Messiah. He proclaimed that he was. They knew him as God's son. He proclaimed that he was.
But the writer doesn't use those terms. There are two terms I want you to think about that describe him. And the one term authors use in the New Testament, in Acts it's called translated prince. In the book of Hebrews chapter two, it's translated the captain. It's a word that basically means somebody who goes ahead of everybody else and shows them the way. He's the chief leader. And so this is saying that Jesus Christ is the foremost one in the faith. Do you realize that our Lord Jesus Christ as a man lived by faith on this earth?
He trusted God the Father the same way. We must trust God the Father. He was a man of faith, the epitome of faith in his life, in trusting God. But he adds a second word to describe him, and he says, it's translated the finisher. The word could also be translated the completer or the perfecter. And this word is only used once in the New Testament. But listen to what it says. The one who has in his own person raised faith to its perfection. And so set before us the highest example of faith, he's the perfecter of faith.
If you want to see somebody who's lived by faith and is he a pity to the man, lived by faith, don't look at chapter eleven, some good models there. But the best model is the Son of God, who for thirty years walked this earth totally sinless in attitude or action with a heart absolutely committed to doing everything God wanted in trusting him completely. The trust is borne out when you come to the cross of Calvary. He knew that he would die physically. And he had to believe that God the Father would raise him up.
And he says that in John chapter ten. And so the writer says, if you want somebody to really focus upon, focus upon Jesus, the author, the initiator, the pioneer, the captain, the leader, and the perfecter of faith, he's the epitome. Focus on him. Because of who he is. And then he adds, because of what he's done in verse two. who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, there's our word again, held up under, endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down at the right hand of the front of God.
For consider him who endured, there's our word again, such hostility against sinners. Why should we focus on him? Because of who he is. Why should we focus upon him because of what he did? And two things are stated here in these verses. Number one, it says he endured the cross. He remained on the cross. Do you remember the scene at the cross when Jesus was hanging there between heaven and earth? And his antagonist, the religious leaders and others would say, if you're the son of God, come down off the cross. Have your God deliver you from the cross.
And you know, he could have done that. He could have said, this is enough. But he endured the cross. He hung in there. in spite of the circumstances and said this is god's will for my life and for mankind i will stay on the cross and fulfill my father's will and provide redemption through my death and resurrection and the writer says he endured the cross despising the shame of it and has been elevated to the place of god's right hand and then in verse for considered him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself.
It wasn't just the agony of death and separation. It was a ridicule of people who should have known who he was. Their vitriolic comments, their blasphemous statements about him. Would you turn to the book of First Peter because there you see Peter's record of what they said in those days, those hours really, before and during the cross. First Peter chapter two. Verse twenty one. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
who, when it was reviled, did not revile and return, when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we having died the sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes we were healed, or you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your soul. The writer in Hebrews says he endured the hostility of his enemies. He put up with it. He held out under those unbelievably cruel circumstances, endured the cross, and endured the cruelty of those who despised him.
Why? Because that's what God wanted him to do. That's the race that God had set before him. And this evening, as I think about you and me, in light of the fact that God has indeed set out before us an opportunity to run to his glory, to complete the course to his honor, he says, while you're doing it, remember my son, fix your gaze on him. Let him be the one who encourages you when all others may discourage you. Let him be the one who picks you up when it seems like the weight of life is down upon you.
Remember, he's the one who's the author and the completer or the perfecter of faith, the faith that he's passed on to you so that by faith in him we can have a relationship with God that goes on forever and ever and ever as his Son. This evening I ask you the question, how are you going to run? for the glory of God. I ask you earlier to pray for me that I finish well. Pray for yourselves that you finish well, that you complete the race that God has laid out for your life. And one day when we're in the presence of our blessed Lord, it'll be good to look at you and you'll be far different than you'll be.
You'll be perfect. I will be too. And to say, isn't it great how God enabled us to run the race that he laid out for us so that he could be glorified and we could have some of the blessing of the glory of Christ in our lives. Run the race well, my brethren. How long would it be? I don't know. I hope not very long. And I believe that one day Jesus could come, and as I said at dinner tonight, I wish he would come in the prime of my youth. You can laugh at that. And if He doesn't come in my life, I mean, it's the best time ever, as far as I'm concerned. And I don't mean that tritely either.
I think a lot of things are coming together in the province of God that may indicate that, you know, the return of Jesus Christ isn't very far away. But until that comes, we're enjoined to run the race that God has set before us. Let's pray. We come, our Heavenly Father, to thank you for wanting us on your team, for wanting to save us from our sins and to set us free so that we could serve you, so that we could live for you, so that we could live our lives in ways that would bring honor to you. We thank you that you've thought over how you want us to live and laid out a plan.
We thank you that you've given us the Holy Spirit so that we can fulfill the plan as we walk under His headship, under His control. And I pray for these men and women, I thank you for them for what they mean to you, for what they mean to others and to one another, and pray that we might finish the race well to their praise and glory of our blessed Savior. Father, there may be someone here this evening that has heard all that I've said and they've never come to realize that indeed the Jesus of whom we spoke is the one who died for their sins on the cross of Calvary. Because he wanted to, because you wanted him to, and he offers to that person salvation, forgiveness of sin, acceptance with God on the basis of faith, faith in the redemptive, the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Help them to understand that, that they might go out from here tonight as never before, with freedom in Christ Jesus, free from their sin, free from their condemnation, accepted into the family of God for time and eternity. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.