Until the Last Horn Sounds

Ken Loucks - Until the Last Horn Sounds - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeIXpSHtGpI

Transcript:
(00:02) How many of you are familiar with what a gun lap is? If you've run track, you know it's called a gun lap. Okay. If you run track, you you'd know. It's it's for longer races when you'll have a group of people that are circling the ra the the the track enough times, you will let them know they're on the last lap by a gunshot.
(00:28) Okay? And so everyone knows when you hear the gun during a race that this is the last lap. And everybody who's in this race knows this is it. I if if I'm going to win this thing or even place, I have to put every ounce of energy I've got left right now to finish this lap as fast as I can.
(00:53) In fact, when I was my coaches when I was running when I was in high school were like, if you have anything left in your tank when you cross that finish line, you did not run correctly. Like that's the whole point is you have to finish with everything that you've got. I've been I've thought a lot about that analogy as it's been used in the church over the years.
(01:20) has been used as a as a kind of expression for the attitude that uh that it that it is intended to invoke the attitude that you can't take off any anything now. You can't slack off at all. Uh Christ is going to return. Uh we don't know when, but we know it's got to be soon. And so don't take your foot off the gas. Put everything you've got into it now. It's probably just me, but I've had a problem with that for a long time.
(01:48) The problem I have with it is how hard it is to maintain that energy. How exhausting the very idea of that to me is. If you try to apply that spiritually, you don't need any downtime at all. You don't need to breathe in and out once in a while. Take a break. Put your feet up. Like, what does that even mean spiritually? You're in the gun lap.
(02:16) No breaks. Put every ounce of energy you have into finishing strong. I didn't like it a few years ago. I still don't like it. But a few years ago, I decided to look for a better analogy. The the problem that I have with with I I I suppose this the biggest problem that I have is a gunlap tells you where and when the end is.
(02:47) Do we know when the end is? I don't know when the end is. I know it's when Christ returns and I know there are things that have to happen before that. But I don't know when those are going to happen. So what am I rushing towards? What am I putting all of my energy into running towards? I don't know.
(03:11) I I know what I'm supposed to be doing as a as a spiritual walk with God. See, it's called we call it a walk. How now it's a run. So I'm either walking or I'm running. Which is it? Like see that I get confused about how to perceive this idea and I and I look at things like Hebrews 12 and verse one. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one.
(03:30) I want to begin here today sort of lay this idea out for you where the author of Hebrews makes the point having finished up giving us all this body of witnesses of the faithful in chapter 11. We come to the beginning of chapter 12 of Hebrews. And he says, "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 and snares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
(04:05) " Well, what's he talking about? Well, he's obviously talking about our conversion, our journey to the kingdom. He calls it a race when he says run. And he's also telling us something about how how far it would be because he says you have to run with endurance. You know the kind of endurance that it takes to win a sprint is different than the kind of endurance it takes to run a long distance run. Couple of ideas I want you to think about.
(04:37) The fastest 100 meter time is 9.58 seconds. Okay, 9.58 seconds. Pretty fast. The fastest 400 meter time is 43.03 seconds. The fastest 1500 meter time is 3 minutes and 26 seconds. Okay, now let me ask you a question. How come the 400 time meter time isn't the 100 meter times 4? That would be what? 38 seconds.
(05:16) The 100 meter time would be 30. If if that was 100 m* 4, it would be 38.3 seconds. So, how come the fastest 400 meter time is 43 seconds? Well, what about the 1500 meters? Fastest time recorded by human being is 3 minutes and 26 seconds, which is, by the way, I would be lapped on that.
(05:43) When I was in high school, the fastest time I ever recorded was 4 minutes and 56 seconds. By the way, that was when it was a mile. Just in my defense. It was a legit mile then, not a lousy 1500 meters. But anyway, I'm just saying if I ran 1500 meters, I'd probably get slapped by whoever did this time.
(06:01) The question I was asking myself is, well, how come the 1500 meter time isn't four times the 400 meter time? Four laps. That would be 2 minutes and 39 seconds. Why why why aren't why aren't those multiplied as what the actual speedy runs are? because it's different what it takes to run a sprint of 100 than what it is to run a sprint of 400, which is different than what's required to run a race of 1500 m. What's required is different.
(06:35) What's required for for what it takes to run 100 m is physically impossible to match to run 400 m. You cannot physically match that speed for that duration of time. No one can primarily because rapid fatigue and anorobic energy systems wipe out. So you can't maintain that pace. And of course the 1500 meters is slower than four times the 400 meter because the runner cannot maintain a top sprinting speed for that distance.
(07:11) Even though they're fast. I mean they're running fast. If you've ever watched these guys are running fast but it's not dead sprint fast. There's a difference due to the body's inability to sustain peak speed and the accumulation of fatigue over distance. So this is our reality spiritually. How far we have to go matters. We don't measure our journey in distance, do we? We measure it in time.
(07:42) How long do we have to do this? Not how far do I have to go. How long do I have to do this? Do what? It all matters, doesn't it? When you think about it, what I'm doing right now in conversion, I have to be able to continue to do this until Christ returns. So, I have three points I want to bring to you today.
(08:12) There's point number one, there's a better corollary for our race. I found I found this a few years ago. It's this strange race that I I that I I found in a running magazine. It's called Big Owl's Backyard Ultra. Big Al's Backyard Ultra. Okay, this is a last person standing race built on a simple rule set. The rules are straightforward. Runners complete a loop of 4.
(08:44) 167 miles every single hour. Okay. So, at the beginning of every hour, a horn sounds and everyone who's lined up in the corral, which is the starting place, begins the race. You have less than one hour to finish the 4.167 miles because at the top of the next hour, the horn's going to sound again. And whoever's lined up and ready to go begins doing the next lap of 4.
(09:16) 167 miles. And you do that hour after hour after hour with everyone who's willing to step up to that line at the beginning of the next hour and run that 4.16 miles again. So it's not a fixed distance in the sense of we're going to run 1500 miles or 1500 meters and then it's over. This isn't a fixed distance.
(09:44) This is how many times can you rerun that same distance mult you know added together for the accumulated distance that you finally achieve. You live between horns in this sense because you start, you run, you finish, you reset, you start again. Sounds exhausting to me, but I've I've run, you know, we used to when you run the mile and two mile, your practice begins at 500 or at 5 miles. Like that's your average everyday run.
(10:27) You got to you got to do that every day. But here's the thing, you have no idea how many hours are left either. No one knows because everyone who wants to run the race for the victory is going to get up to that starting line again at the top of the next hour. Repeat that as long as you can. And here's the thing, it goes until the last person steps up to that line alone or with someone else or maybe more than one else, but he either runs that race alone because no one else stood up there with him, but you have to be the one who finishes. or some people just can't
(11:04) finish and so you're the one who wins because no one else could finish the run. You can't have any help. No one can go out there with a wheel barrel and scoop you up and then race you to the end and then dump you out across the line. Nope. You got to run it. So, you can begin to see how this is interesting and and there is a stronger correlary here to what we do than an endurance race with a known finish line.
(11:31) Our walk with God does not hand us a public timeline or a visible banner to sprint towards. We We don't have a a a a target that we're aimed towards that has a ribbon across it that we run through and hey, we've made it. That's not our race. God calls us to a faithful readiness without telling us when the last horn will sound. Matthew chapter 24.
(12:08) Matthew chapter 24 and verse 36. Verse 36. We know this. But of that day and hour, the end of the race, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. So, no one on the track who's there to assist and facilitate the race knows. No runner knows, not even the person who organized the race knows when the race is over.
(12:48) It's similar, isn't it? So if we think about this as our corollary, this might change the way we think about endurance. If we could see the finish line, if we knew exactly when our race would end, how does that change your view? Do you know what happens to the mind when you're when you're in a when you're a runner like this? There's a there's an interesting thing that that those of us that have had to do this before have realized and learned, especially marathoners.
(13:15) your body, your mind and your body will budget all of the energy and resources and reserves that you have for the distance that you've told it that you're going to be running. So for I'll give you an example. If if two people go out to run together, let's say they agree to run five miles and only five miles and it's a friendly competition to see which one of them can run the the five miles faster.
(13:45) So they run the five miles and maybe one of them is a little bit faster than the other one, but but they both they know five miles was the race and so they're done. They they put all in it because they were racing each other. Well, what if one of them says to the other one or somebody comes along and says, "Oh, no, you need to run another five." Just hypothetically, you you need to run another five.
(14:05) The problem is is that they've already mentally and physically budgeted for the five they ran. They've if it was racing then they've expended it. If I were running a 1500 meter or mile back in the day and somebody and you you burned everything you had and then they said, "Oh, sorry. We meant that you have to run two of these to to actually win or whatever." It's like you've already budgeted it.
(14:28) And so your mind changes. Everything changes. The moment you realize you're not done, your body goes, "What?" Your mind says, "What? I I don't have anything left. I've already used it all up now. I have to do more. And so that's it's very important to consider that that is the reality of what it takes when we begin to look at a race with a finish line that we can see as though that's the correlary to our spiritual run. It is not.
(15:03) We have to keep going no matter what. We can't afford to set temporary deadlines or something that's short of the goal and then not have enough to get to the goal. Does that make sense? Well, unfortunately, God tells us that we don't have a choice. We have to run until the next horn every single day. So, every day we have to get up. There's no finish line for us. It's just a new day in front of us.
(15:34) Luke 12 and verses 35-36. Luke 12:es 35 and 36. I want to just grab these two verses to get this idea. Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master. When he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately, that you're ready, that you're there.
(16:05) You're where you're supposed to be because you made sure you had what it took to get there. You didn't burn it all up and fall short. Big Al's backyard ultra forces the habit of showing up. Every hour is a fresh decision to be present, prepared, and purposeful. And that's our spiritual assignment, isn't it? We don't live on yesterday's effort.
(16:35) We show up again every single day. Hebrews 3:13. There's some there's some interesting differences here. Hebrews 3:13, it says, "But exhort," Hebrews 3:13, "but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." We're not in competition with each other, are we? Even in Big Al's backyard, the competition isn't with other people during the lap in which you're running. There's no race to be the fastest time.
(17:23) The fastest time doesn't matter. It's completing the lap that matters. There's there's an advantage, I suppose, that the quicker you take the lap, the more time you have to recuperate before the next lap begins. But there's no sleeping. This race runs every single hour until the last person finishes. There's no naps.
(17:52) There's no what a maybe a catnap. You get 10 minutes to try to get some kind of a few winks, but there's no 8 hours off to get a good night's sleep and then start up again because if you miss the next hour cuz you're sleeping, then you lose the race. So, it's not about competing necessarily on a lapbylap basis. It's the accumulation of laps that matters.
(18:16) That you continue to show up every single lap. You continue to show up. The difference between big owls is you hope to be the last one to do it. Well, we're not in a competition with one another, are we? I want to make sure you finish the lap, too. We want to make sure each of us so we would help each other get through that lap that day if we could.
(18:36) There's a difference that isn't there. We're not competing here. We're helping. We're not alone on this journey. And so there's, you know, even in big owls, there's no advantage to cheating or tripping somebody up because, you know, get myself a little advant. There's no advantage. It's an interesting thing to contemplate because we are pursuing faithfulness together. Philippians chapter 2:es 3 and 4.
(19:10) Philippians chapter 2:es 3 and 4. Let nothing be done through uh through selfish ambition or conceit, but in loneliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
(19:36) It just gives the sense of what our actual spiritual journey is. It's not a race against each other to a finish line that only one of us can win. It's about getting all of us across that finish line together when Jesus Christ returns. Another reason the backyard model is better is because it exposes the false idea of of timeline mastery for us.
(20:08) In fixed races, you have splits which confirm our plan is on schedule. In other words, at especially high level uh endurance races when they're training in particular, the coaches are watching for split times. So, where are you at halfway through? That's going to tell them how you're going to finish.
(20:28) If your split time isn't right, your finish time won't be right. So, we look at these markers to say, are you on target or are you not on target? But we don't have that in this life because we're not based off of a distance that we have to achieve over a certain period of time. In fact, our marching orders are relatively straightforward.
(20:48) Back to Christ's comments here in Matthew chap 24 and verse 13. Matthew 24:13, he simply says, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Just finish. That's the deal. But what's the finish? Well, it isn't the end of the 4.167 mile loop because that's our day. Maybe that's our hour today. And maybe another hour today I'm going to have to do it again.
(21:24) or maybe tomorrow is going to present something that's going to make it seem like it's that same loop. I've got to do it again spiritually. Endurance when it's used in scripture, endurance means patient continuence. That's not just survival, but it's a steady active faith that keeps choosing obedience when the body and the mind would rather quit.
(21:51) Here's the reality of running long distances. When when you are under stress and you're running a long-distance race, your body begins to lie to you and tell you things about how hard this is, about how you're not really up for this, about how it's time to take a break. Your muscles hurt, you ache, you're cramping maybe even, and your body wants you to stop.
(22:26) But we don't have that option. And here we are living in this pressure vessel of this life as first fruits. But Galatians 6:9 reminds us, Galatians chapter 6:9, where Paul says, "But let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we don't lose heart." We have to ignore that part of us that would give up.
(22:51) So every day we get up and we choose to keep going and we don't let ourselves get weary while we are trying to do good. And of course the last thing the big owls does for us is it clarifies what victory looks like. In a sprint victory is this like explosive power driven conclusion to the race and it's measured in seconds.
(23:16) But in God's race, victory is a long obedience measured in hours and days and weeks and months and years. Second Timothy chapter 4. This is what I think all of us would like to have which is Paul's attitude when he realized he he had done everything he could do in 2 Timothy 4 7 and 8 he says 2 Timothy 4:7 he says I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing.
(24:14) And so Paul just like each of us is cheering for the rest of us in the same way we cheer for one another to to finish to make it to endure. What do you need? How can I help? I'm a fan of you making it. How do I help you make it? Because every one of us wants to be able to say, "I have fought the fight. I have won the race.
(24:40) I have a crown set aside for me." So, how do we do that? How do we endure when there's no finish line? Well, maybe I should say, how do we endure when we don't know where the finish line is? Because that's not our choice. That's not even our decision. That's God's, which we just read earlier. This isn't about physical toughness.
(25:06) That's what back that's what the backyard ultra teaches. You've got to be mentally and physically tough to win that race. But it does show us what steady endurance really looks like when no one knows how long the race will last. What was fascinating about the article that I read was there's a men's and women's category.
(25:29) You don't have to run separately because it's one lap. Everybody running a lap. There's this lady, her name was Courtney Dowalter. Courtney Dowalter. She won Big Al's Backyard Ultra in 2020 by running 68 laps. One per hour totaling 283 miles. Now, her actual running time was 56 hours and 52 minutes. No sleep.
(26:17) I'll just tell you, we flew back from Australia and by the end of that 30 hours, you know, the eyes just don't want to stay open, right? They're closing on me. I can't imagine stepping up to a starting line to run 4.1 miles feeling that fatigue. Yet, she did that hour after hour after hour. Well, I have a question then.
(26:41) I have several questions, but the beginning question is, how on earth do you do that? Well, I'm not the only one who had that question because she was interviewed by a running magazine. The guy had the same question. I'm used to running marathons, the guy says. How did you do this? How did you do that many laps and run that far? And she actually answered carefully.
(27:03) She had four four things that she focuses on. This wasn't her first time doing it obviously or you don't have four things that you know you have to focus on. But I want to share the four things that she said she focused on. This is my second point. How do we do how do we endure when there's no finish line? Four things to think about. Number one, change the focus.
(27:25) Do what you can do now. Change the focus. Do what you can do now. You know, no one thinks when they start the race. You go back to the beginning of it, no one thought anyone was going to run 200 miles. Like that's a lun that's just that that's outside of the conceivable number that you would be able to do.
(27:48) What you do is you get up to the running line, the starting line, and you run that lap. That's what you think about. I don't have a lap after this. I have this lap right now. This lap. So, she says, "What you do is you question, what matters? What can I do right now? Where is my focus? It isn't on the lap next. It isn't on the lap behind.
(28:12) It's on this lap right now." That focus keeps a runner from being crushed by the distance ahead. See, it's that thinking that, oh, I've got so much of this that overwhelms. It's like saying, how do you eat an elephant? The answer is one bite at a time, right? Well, we're not allowed to eat elephants. I'm just saying it's an ex it's an idea. All right.
(28:37) How do you eat a whole cow? One bite at a time. But if you sat there and envisioned what it would be like to eat a whole cow, it's overwhelming to think about. That's just one silly example to give us some perspective. If you thought or knew in advance that you were going to have to run 283 miles, some people wouldn't even start.
(28:54) It's too much. It's too far. I can't do that. No one can do that. You talk yourself out of it real easy. God doesn't tell us how far we have to go. I suspect that's probably part of the reason why the rest of your life. Let's go with that. So, how do you do that? Focus on the day that is today. Yesterday's gone. All of its mistakes are gone.
(29:25) You can't do tomorrow until tomorrow comes. So, why are you thinking about that? Sufficient for the day, right? So, focus on the day. today, right now. That's her point. Endurance comes for us spiritually when we bring obedience into the present moment. This prayer right now, this act of service in this moment, this sin rejected maybe this hour of being faithful.
(30:03) Psalms chapter 90, this is a great principle for us to just kind of keep in our minds at all times, but Psalms chapter 90 and verse 12. The psalmist says in uh Psalms 90:12, "So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Why would it be important for us to number our days? That gives us perspective. I don't know how many days I have left. I have today. I woke up alive.
(30:42) I have today. And that means I have the choices of today. I don't have the choices of tomorrow. I have the choices of today. Yesterday I made the mistakes that I made. So I can repent and make better choices today. So when the Bible talks about endurance for us, there's an added layer to that because it's not just surviving.
(31:18) It's it's remaining steadfast and continuing continuing with purpose under pressure. What pressure do we have? We live in a world run by Satan every single day. his world, his way. We have to resist that. That is pressure. Every single day we resist that. We have to make choices against everything this world wants us to do to do what God wants us to do.
(31:55) This is the privilege and the problem, the challenge of being a first fruit. Do we have to overcome Satan and this world to be a first fruit? So yes, we're under pressure. That makes this calling special and hard. That's why it's a good correlary to look at old big owls. I'm not going to be worried about the next lap, the next day, the next week, the next month.
(32:20) I'm going to worry about today. Let's focus on what I can control today. The second thing she says is to separate emotion from reality. Assess the facts as they are. So separate emotion from reality. Assess the facts as they are. In long races, fatigue makes the mind dishonest. I was explaining that the longer you run and and especially if you're at pace and the longer the distance is you have to go, your body gets fatigued and it begins to tell you, "You can't do this. You need to stop. You need to take a break. This hurts. You don't have enough
(33:02) in your tank. You're not going to be able to finish. You might as well quit now." Wouldn't it be nice to quit now? Boy, wouldn't that be great? Let's, you know, if we quit now, we could just sit down and all this pain would just go away. This difficulty would just instantly evaporate.
(33:23) You'd feel so much better in the short term. But that's what Satan offers us, isn't it? Relief from the difficulty of this journey. Relief from the challenge of trying to be a first fruit. Just give up. Quit. It's too hard. It would be so much easier if you just stopped. go along with everyone else. But faith examines reality through God's word, not through our emotions.
(33:54) Endurance means to see what is true and to correct what is off course. I'll just read it to you here for the sake of time, but 1 Thessalonians 5:21, if you want to make a note of it, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, "Test all things. Hold fast what is good." It means to evaluate yourself even right now.
(34:14) What is it that I'm struggling with? What's the problem? Why am I feeling tempted to give up? Or what is it I'm really battling here? What what is what is it that I need to overcome today? And assess what's preventing you from doing that honestly and then deal with it. The word test means to prove something genuine by examination. It's what we talk about all the time as we come into the days of unleven bread.
(34:40) It's it's that honest evaluation of where am I spiritually? Where am I falling short? What do I need to work on to get better, to overcome, to be more like Jesus Christ? And that's a part of what we're supposed to be doing. So really, we're just examining an item or an issue that we are supposed to normally be doing. Testing ourselves, checking ourselves, examining ourselves.
(34:59) Where are we in our walk? not how we feel about it, but what's legitimately going on and how do I deal with it. The third piece of advice she has, hold timelines loosely. What she means is avoid brittle expectations. Brittle as in fragile. You know how many people have you have you guys heard some talking about the year 2027 prophetically? I've heard some doing this and it reminded me uh going all the way back in time to 1972 when the church began in earnest to set a timeline. And I think some maybe looking at there there are some math things going around
(35:52) and I can see where people are intrigued by this idea. And there's nothing wrong with looking at these numbers and saying that's interesting. That's interesting. Where that moves to a problem is if you start investing in that as being something that we ought to think is actually going to happen.
(36:08) Why? Because setting timelines is a fragile thing. What if it doesn't happen? A lot of people left the church in 1975 when Christ didn't return. Why? It undermines your faith when you set dates aren't that aren't given to us. When you make decisions that aren't your decisions to make about timelines that are God's to decide, not ours.
(36:35) So, we can look at it and say, "That's interesting." Or we can look at it and begin to see, oh, a finish line. Let's sprint to that spiritually. and let's burn up the rest of our resources spiritually because when we get there and we're ready and it doesn't happen, where does that leave us? For the person who's invested in that as the timeline that it must be so, it's crushing when it isn't so.
(37:11) That's why she says for her as a runner, don't set brittle expectations. I'm going to do 900 laps, right? Some unfathomable number. So that you somehow prepare yourself to be able to do that. She says disappointment drains endurance. Runners who set mileage goals often fail when that goal passes.
(37:40) She's simply saying that in the big yard, some some some will set a a mileage goal of let's say 100 miles. They can't imagine the race will go longer than 100 miles. And so they put everything into getting that 100 miles in. And then they they look at the starting line and half the crowd is going back up there for the 101st. And they put a lot into the idea that no one was going to pass 100. It's a brittle expectation.
(38:03) What's it caused them to do? Become disappointed and disillusioned and ultimately quit. That's why it's important for us to contemplate what that means spiritually. God has not told us the hour of Christ's return. So enduring faith surrenders the schedule to God while keeping the heart fixed on his promise. James 5:es 7 and 8.
(38:33) James 5:es 7 and 8 where James really encourages us. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. It's going to come.
(38:58) It's going to come if we don't lose heart. If we don't give up. We don't undermine our journey. You know, this word patience in the Greek describes calm strength under delay. Calm strength under delay. I'm not worried. Christ is going to come. It's on God's timeline. I'm going to keep doing every single day the same thing.
(39:23) I'm going to get up and I'm going to work on myself. I'm going to endure. I'm going to get another day done. And I'm not going to quit. This is that settled confidence that God's timing serves his purpose and that we're okay with that expectations that we set are fragile and easily broken.
(39:48) So if we let go of brittle expectations that keeps our endurance flexible and our hope alive. We don't set timelines. We let God worry about that. Her fourth piece her fourth piece of advice is to simply surrender the rest. Control the controllables and let everything else go. That just means control what you can control. Don't worry about everything else.
(40:14) You know, a runner can't control the weather. A runner can't control what anybody else is doing on the field. All you have is what you can do. What's under your control. You can manage as a runner. You can manage the fuel that you use. You can manage hydration. You can manage the rhythm of your run. You can manage the form of your stride. You can manage your attitude, which is the hardest part.
(40:40) Believing in yourself and being confident that you can finish and then let everything else go. And spiritually, this is the discipline of disciplehip. God gives us authority over our own obedience, but not over outcomes. He's in charge of that.
(41:09) So, we're responsible for what? Our repentance, our prayer, our study, our treatment of other people, our own integrity, but not over anybody else or over any timeline. Deuteronomy 29:29 helps us to have a perspective about this. Peter tells us in his writings that we have everything we need for salvation. And Deuteronomy 29:29 affirms something for us. It says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God.
(41:44) But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law." That he's talking about salvation. God has given us what we need to know for our salvation. Let's focus on that and let the rest go. So these four lessons which means to focus on the now today.
(42:14) Evaluate yourself carefully. Don't set brittle timelines or expectations and manage what you can control. These describe the mindset of the faithful servant Christ commended. The one who keeps doing what is right until the master returns. Let's go back to Luke 12 and finish what we didn't read earlier.
(42:39) Luke 12:es 35-4. Now, we read uh 35 and 36, but so let's pick that up and then let's read through verse 40. It says, "Let your waist be gerted and your lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately because they're ready.
(43:07) " Now he says, "Blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching. Assuredly I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so blessed are those servants. But know this that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
(43:43) Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. My last point is endurance finishes what it starts. Now, I'm going to help you to see that finishing in the way that we normally think about finishing isn't what's meant here. If we're going to run with endurance, we also have to understand what it means to finish with endurance.
(44:15) This is what the parable is helping us to see. Watching in the second watch, watching in the third watch. The implication is you're not watching for the sake of falling asleep. You are alert. You are paying attention. And you are looking with expectation for what's coming. Jesus Christ's return is what we are looking for.
(44:39) For us, the finish is the complete fulfillment of the race set before us. It's the mission. It's our growth. It's our overcoming. It's us developing the character he wants us to have. That's the finish for us. All of that completed. So endurance for us then isn't just about lasting until Christ gets here.
(45:04) It's about completing the work of becoming like Jesus Christ to the best of our ability. But we can't do that. God does that through us. The Greek word often translated finish in this context means to bring to full completion, to reach a goal or end stage. It's the same word used in Hebrews to describe Christ being made perfect.
(45:40) Turn over to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. It says, 'For it was fitting for him, for whom all are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect. How? Through sufferings. It's not that Christ was imperfect. So the word doesn't mean perfection the way we're thinking of it. It means complete.
(46:20) It's complete fulfillment through what he endured. That's the pattern for us. Complete fulfillment of the job of the race. And how do we do that? Well, we're given a great clue in Proverbs chapter 4. How do we do this? What do we do? We're every single day we get up to do this race. Here's a bit of advice. Proverbs chapter 4 verses 25- 27.
(46:59) Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the left or to the right and remove your foot from evil. This is how you run a long-distance race. And in that sense, this is the example that I used with big owls.
(47:33) The endurance required to keep going, keep going, and keep going. And it's essentially what she said, isn't it? Keep your eyes focused on the goal, the objective of this day, of what you need to do today. Not tomorrow, today. Stay focused on that. Don't divert left or right. Stay focused. Make sure that you're doing what you need to do to finish the race today, this lap, this day, this hour.
(48:03) So, we're here to finish a race that was marked out for us by the one who began it. And that means we have to have persistence. We have to have purpose. And it means resisting every distraction that would undo our race. Now, scriptures filled with examples of people who started a race but failed to finish.
(48:21) Maybe one of the greatest examples is Solomon himself. We all remember how he started out asking God for wisdom to rule such a great people as the people of Israel. And it looked great, didn't it? All the way up through the temple period and beyond, something happened. Scripture says that his many wives turned his heart. The man who had all of the wisdom that God had given him, greater than any other human being who ever lived, who ever will live, turned and failed to finish the race.
(48:59) Well, what about somebody like King Saul? Much lesser example, isn't he? But even King Saul, the first king that God picked, what did he say about Saul? He said, you know, I picked you because at the beginning you were little in your own eyes. And then something changed. It looked great when he started, but it didn't take long for him to utterly fail.
(49:28) Lukeapter 9:62 is Christ's urgent warning to us. Luke chapter 9 verse 62. Verse 62 says, "But Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." If we agreed to start this race when we were called, we were baptized, we were given the Holy Spirit, then God expects us to finish.
(50:12) There's no excuse that he's going to accept from us to not finish this race. If it's up to him, we finish, right? He who begun a good work in us. So God calls us to finish with faith and that faith keeps its grip on the plow no matter how hard it is to do so. We're deliberately being called now because we are being called to be first fruit. So it's supposed to be hard.
(50:52) It's supposed to be hard. And we're supposed to hang on, not let go, and not give up. But our endurance also must be guarded because it's not guaranteed. What's the weak link in our calling and conversion? I'll give you a hint. Go home and look in the mirror. We're the weak link. I mean, there's no doubt about that. If I don't finish, then we don't then I don't finish.
(51:22) And that's the way that it is. You you remember we read earlier about becoming weary and welloing which was a warning that Paul gave to the Galatians about what can happen to us as Christians becoming weary. I look around a room like this. Of course, every room like this in the church that I have been to looks like this.
(51:51) a lot of hory heads, some good-looking bald ones like I don't need to say names because you all know over there. But I see a lot of people who have been doing this a long time. And that's my worry for you is don't get weary in welloing. Don't take your hand off the plow now. Keep going. Hold on because it really depends on you. God is not going to fail us. It's only us who can fail ourselves.
(52:22) So we have to hold on. Romans chapter 13. Let's read that. Romans chapter 13 11 and 12. Romans 13 11 and 12. and do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand.
(53:03) Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. It's easy for us to say, "Yeah, we're a day closer." And every day that comes by and passes, we're a day closer. Of course, that's true. It's true. So, that ought to help motivate us as well. Don't let go. We're a day closer. A day longer of holding on to that. That gets us a day closer to Christ's return. Don't let go.
(53:34) Because ultimately, Philippians chapter 1, Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. So, we know that if it's up to God, the work gets completed, but that's through us. And we're the only reason it won't be. So, we have to hold on. We have to endure.
(54:14) God is not going to finish this work in us without us. He does that work through us. It's a partnership of endurance. lap after lap, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year until Christ returns. We're holding on to that plow. We are not letting go. We're going to complete the race that is set before us.
(54:44) That's what the Feast of Tabernacles pictures us. Christ descending at the sound of the last horn. And what does he have with them? His reward, our resurrection or change to become eternal spirit beings. When we get to help Jesus Christ establish the government of God on this earth, you know what Christ doesn't need? He doesn't need us to be plumbers or carpenters.
(55:23) He doesn't need us to be electricians or builders. He doesn't need any of that. You know what he really needs from us? To be ready to serve those people in the millennium who need us as kings and priests. Our focus in this life needs to be on learning compassion and love and mercy and kindness. how to teach God's way, how to shepherd people.
(55:55) We're not the the vision of us with a rod beating somebody into submission is a false idea. That's not what they're going to need. They're going to come out of the tribulation and they're going to survive the day of the Lord. What they're going to need is love and compassion and mercy. Someone to be there that whispers to them, "Hey, don't go that way. Let's go this way.
(56:15) " That's what we're called to do. That's what we need to be focused on learning in this life. So for us, there is no countdown. There's no finish line we can see. There's no final lap that we can perceive. It's just one final horn we look forward to when the race is over. And when that happens, the question is going to be, did we endure? Did we hold on to the very end? Endurance is faithful obedience hour by hour until Christ returns or we die in Christ in this life. So every day we show up again. We run
(57:02) the next lap. We hold the course. We keep our eye on the prize. Because the one who called us is faithful and he's with us every step and he's bringing the reward with him. That crown of life we look forward to. I'll just read you Revelation 3:11 as I finish. Revelation 3:1. He says, "Behold, I am coming quickly.
(57:28) Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown." Let's be ready. Let's finish. Let's endure to the end.