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Reference

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
From Start To Finish

That was Paul's perspective on life. Even though he'd been:

  • Pressed down, crushed, and abused
  • Slandered, criticized, and attacked
  • He wanted to finish
  • But he didn't want to merely finish
  • He wanted to finish WELL and finish STRONG
  • Not just to LIMP but to LUNGE across the line

No genuine Christian can indulge the body and its lusts and expect to win the incorruptible crown of the Christian life.

  • Hebrews 12:1 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,
  • 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

 

  • The Event That Paul Described
    • 1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
    • The qualifications for the race
      • Philippians 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
        • “Our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven!”
      • Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
    • The exhibition of the race
    • The scope of the race
      • Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
    • The event that Paul describes is a race that you:
      • Enter by a relationship with Jesus
      • Put on public display in baptism
      • Run for the rest of your life
  • The Endurance That Paul Demonstrated
    • The intense training
      • 1 Corinthians 9:25a And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things…
      • Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
    • The important trophy
      • 1 Corinthians 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
    • The internal trouble 1 Corinthians 9:26-27a I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection…
  • The Ending That Paul Desired
    • The declaration of his lips
      • 1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
      • The priority of Paul’s heart and the proclamation from Paul’s lip, was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
    • The dread of his life
      • 1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
    • The delight of his Lord
      • 1 Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased…