The Rule of the Race

The Rule of the Race

DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, AUGUST 5, 1888,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame and is set down
at the right hand of the Throne of God." Hebrews 12:1,2.

THE Apostle says, "Let us run." He has in his mind's eye the Olympic
games, where all the different tribes of Greece were gathered together
in general assembly to display the prowess of the race. Among the
athletic exercises were footraces. The Apostle makes this footrace an
illustration of the Christian life. We must run with patience along the
appointed course if we would win the prize of our high calling.

He stands with us at the starting block and earnestly says to us, not
"Run," but, "Let us run." The Apostle himself is at our side as a
runner. The presence of such a comrade is most inspiriting. It is good
doing good things in good company. "Let us run," says he, "with
patience the race that is set before us." Who will back out of a race
wherein so great a saint takes his place at our side? You who aspire to
be associated with the excellent of the earth, press forward side by
side with an Apostle! "Let us run," from Paul's lip, puts wings upon
our heels.

Before we start, with a wave of the hand the Apostle directs us to the
spectators who throng the sides of the course. There were always such
at those races–each city and state yielded its contingent and the
assembled throng watched with eager eye the efforts of those who strove
for the mastery. Those who look down upon us from yonder heavens are
described as "so great a cloud of witnesses." These compass us about.
Thousands upon thousands who have run this race before us and have
attained their crowns, behold us from their heavenly seats and mark how
we behave ourselves.

This race is worth running, for the eyes of "the nations of them which
are saved" are fixed upon us. This is no hole-and-corner business, this
running for the great prize. Angels and principalities and powers and
hosts redeemed by blood have mustered to behold the glorious spectacle
of men agonizing for holiness and putting forth their utmost strength
to copy the Lord Jesus. You that are men, now run for it! If there is
any spiritual life and gracious strength in you, put it forth
today–for Patriarchs and Prophets, saints, martyrs and Apostles look
down from Heaven upon you.

Our Apostle, anxious that we should so run that we may obtain, points
to certain burdens and impediments which he foresees will hinder us and
he says, "Let us lay aside every weight." Note how he includes himself,
so that his warning may not sound like upbraiding. We cannot win if we
are weighted–the pace will have to be very swift and we cannot get to
it, or keep it up, if we have weights to carry. Unloaded we shall find
the race taxing all our powers. But weighted, we shall be doomed to
failure. Oh, to lay aside all worrisome care, fretfulness, ambition,
anger, greed and selfish desire! These were never worth the labor they
have cost us.

Now that we have become running men, we must have done with them. Down
they must go till the last ounce is on the ground. Like the Greek
footman, we would strip. And instead of adding weight, we would
diminish even our own bulk, that we may fly along the course. O you
that would win, heed the caution and "lay aside every weight," whether
it be great or small. And press towards the mark! Run for it, Man! You
had need do nothing else but run.

Still attentively considering us, the Apostle notes that even when the
weights are laid aside there is a garment about us which will assuredly
twist about our feet and throw us down. Sin, as well as care, must be
laid aside. It does easily beset us and therefore we must be the more
careful to be rid of it. Our original sin, our natural tendencies, our
constitutional infirmities–these must be laid aside as garments
unsuitable for men who are running the heavenly race. We cannot win
Heaven and wear sin. Heaven is for the holy–"there shall in no wise
enter into it anything that defiles."

Darling sins must go first–these, as they are most loved, will have
the most power to hinder. Every kind of sin must be watched against,
struggled against and mastered. "Sin shall not have dominion over you."
We hope to see all our ten-

dencies to sin killed and buried–buried so deep that not even a bone
of a sin shall be left above ground. This will be Heaven to us. Do I
not hear you say, "May God help us"? This must be a tough race which
requires such stripping as this. If every weight of care must be laid
aside and every rag of sin, who is sufficient for these things? How can
we, poor limping mortals, run in such a race as this?

Even the starting is beyond us–how much more must perseverance in it
outreach our strength! See, my Brethren, how we are driven to Free
Grace–how we are driven to the power of the Holy Spirit? The race
which is set before us most clearly reveals our helplessness and our
hopelessness apart from Divine Grace. The race of holiness and
patience– while it demands our vigor–displays our weakness. We are
compelled, even before we take a step in the running, to bow the knee
and cry unto the strong for strength. We dare not retreat from the
contest. But how can we begin a struggle for which we are so unfitted?
Who will help us? To whom shall we look? Does not all this very
admirably introduce the verse which is specially my text–"Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith"?

But the Apostle has not quite done with us, for he warns us to remember
the rules of the course in these words, "Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us." You are not to run anyhow, or
anywhere–you must keep the appointed course, or you might as well
stand still. The way of God's command, the way of obedience, the way of
humble trustfulness, the spiritual way, the way of the life given from
above–this and no other way will do, for this is the race set before
you! Do you shrink? Does the way seem too mysterious, too contrary to
the flesh, too trying? All this adds to the force of the
precept–"Looking unto Jesus." Because the way itself and the rules of
the running are such as your nature will fight against–therefore look
the more earnestly to the great Captain of your salvation.

In a race, a great point is the way in which a man keeps his eyes. He
cannot run straight who has an eye to this or to that. Straightforward
is the best running. But he who has his eyes on this and on that will
run crookedly and waste his strength. Look to the end and then run in a
direct line. I have read of a competition between certain young plowmen
who were set to plow for a prize. The most of them made very crooked
work of it. After they had ended, one of the judges said, "Young man,
where did you look while you were plowing?" "I kept my eyes well on the
plow handles, Sir and saw what I had to hold."

"Yes," the judge said, "and your plow went in and out and the furrow is
all crooked." He asked the next plowman, "and where did you look?"
"Well, Sir," he answered, "I looked at my furrow, I kept my eye always
on the furrow that I was making. I thought I should make it straight
that way." "But you did not," answered the judge, "you were all over
the place." To the next he said, "What did you look at?" "Well, Sir,"
he said, "I looked between the two horses to a tree that stood in the
ledge at the other end of the field, right in front of me."

Now that man went straight because he had a fixed mark to guide him.
This helps us to appreciate the wisdom of the text, "Looking unto
Jesus." Run–run straight–you cannot run straight except you keep your
eyes on One who is always the same. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of your faith," you will have a sure preservative from
wandering. Spiritual plowmen, take heed that you look not back but plow
a straight furrow towards Jesus on the Throne! Spiritual runners–make
a covenant with your eyes that you will look only to Him who is the
great end of all your running! Looking unto Jesus means life, light,
guidance, encouragement, joy–never cease to look on Him who ever looks
on you.

To help us, the Apostle describes the mark to which we are to look in
four ways. "Look unto Jesus," the Savior, is the sum and substance of
it all. But He is set forth before us in four lights. First, the Author
of faith. Secondly, the Finisher of faith. Thirdly, the Pattern of
faith. And lastly, the Prize, or the end of faith. We must look to
Jesus Christ in each of these four respects. Oh, for the Holy Spirit's
help while I speak thereon!

I. First, then, we are to look to Jesus as THE AUTHOR OF FAITH. The
Apostle would have us view the Lord Jesus as the Starter of the race.
When a footrace began, the men were drawn up in a line and they had to
wait for a signal. Those who were in the race had to look to the
Starter. For the runner who should get first by a false start would not
win, because he did not run according to the rules of the race. No man
is crowned unless he strives lawfully. The Starter was in his place and
the men stood all waiting and looking.

At last he dropped his glove, or a handkerchief, and away they went.
Our word at starting in the Christian life is, "Look unto Jesus." We
must fix our eyes on "the Beginner of our faith." For if we do not
begin by looking to Him, however quickly we may hurry along, we shall
run in vain and labor in vain. To what purpose will your running be if
the umpire determines that you started improperly?

The beginning of faith is "looking unto Jesus." Let us consider this.
We have to look to Jesus, first, by trusting in that which He has
worked for us. It is described in these words–"Who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame." Jesus has
endured the suffering and shame which were due to us. O Soul, you can
never start on the road to Heaven unless you look to Him who "endured
the Cross" on your behalf! Your sin will make you to endure the wrath
of God forever unless you look to Him who bore our sins in His own body
on the tree.

You must get a faith's view of the Lamb of God which takes away the sin
of the world, or else you have not even begun the heavenward race. Do
you look upon your own righteousness with pleasure? This is a false
start for you–"As many as are of the works of the Law are under the
curse." Do you look to your frames and feelings? You will make a bad
start with these for they will guide you into a fog in which you will
lose the track. Look to Jesus, the suffering Savior. He by His bearing
the Cross has removed your heaviest weights and by His death has
destroyed your entangling sin. He can renew your nature by His
resurrection power and save you from the dominion of sin by His
glorious reign. If you look alone to Him you start well.

The Greek word for "looking" is a much fuller word than we can find in
the English language. It has a preposition in it which turns the look
away from everything else. You are to look away from all except to
Jesus. Fix not your gaze upon the cloud of witnesses. They will hinder
you if they take away your eyes from Jesus. Look not on the weights and
the besetting sin–these you have laid aside–look away from them. Do
not even look upon the racetrack, or the competitors–but look to Jesus
and so start in the race.

What have you to trust to but His blood and righteousness? Beware that
you set up nothing as a rival confidence. Look off from everything you
have ever relied upon in days gone by and say to your soul, "None but
Jesus." You must have a single eye and a single hope. "Christ is all,"
and He must be all to you, or you are out of the race altogether.

The instructive original has in it the word "eis," which is translated
"unto," but in addition has the force of "into." We shall do well if we
look unto Jesus but better still if we are found "looking into Jesus."
I want you, when you begin your Divine life, to take care that you look
to Jesus with so penetrating a gaze that your "unto" grows to an
"into." Read not only the outside of the volume of His life but loosen
the seals thereof and read His heart. Dive into the meaning of what He
has done for you. Look at His enduring the Cross–know what it
means–and enter into the fellowship of His sufferings.

Study well the sin-bearing, the curse-bearing, the forsaking and the
sorrow unto death. Think how the Lord Jesus came under shame for your
sakes and see how He rose above it all. Look to Him till you are
familiar with the different views of the one great Sacrifice. Under the
Law, a poor man brought his two young pigeons and the birds were
divided in the middle and so offered. A richer man brought a lamb or a
bullock. This was divided carefully and all its anatomy laid bare–this
was to be done with the leg, and that with the shoulder–and there was
an ordinance concerning the fat and the innards.

Thus some Believers know the details of the sacrifice and we want you,
dear Friends, to be among this better instructed class. May you discern
the Lord's body and penetrate into the secrets of His soul and so begin
your Christian life with an intelligent and instructed faith. This will
secure better running throughout the rest of the road. Still you must
look to Jesus only, whether you know little or much. It is not your
knowledge, but Himself, that must be your one ground of trust. You must
take Jesus to be Alpha as well as Omega. To you His name stands at the
head of the book and it is also the Amen which closes it. To your
experience the Scripture is true–"In the beginning was the Word." You
begin to run when you look to Jesus.

But then, dear Friends, we also begin looking unto Jesus because of
what He has worked in us. I would remind you who are a good way on in
the course of those first eager paces with which you started
heavenward. Did you not begin with looking unto Jesus? As you have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue in Him. The Lord Jesus
first called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He sweetly
inclined us to think upon Himself as the way and made us wishful to
become heavenly footmen. It was He that quickened us even as of old He
raised the dead. The Father quickens whomsoever He will and even so
does Jesus.

Even now I seem to hear His voice crying, "Lazarus, come forth!" Well
do we recollect when serious thought, anxious desire, deep repentance,
lingering hope and trembling faith entered our souls through "looking
unto Jesus." Did He not give us pardon at our setting out? It was by
looking to Him that the great load of sin fell from off our conscience.
With pardon of sin came a great loathing of sin–washed in the precious
blood we could not wantonly repeat the stains. Our earliest repentance
and its fruits came from "looking unto Jesus." Our heart of stone had
been hardened by looking elsewhere, but the vision of the sacred head
crowned with thorns did the softening work. We looked and were
enlightened, enlivened, enraged against sin and enamored of Jesus.

Our first acceptance with God came from looking to Jesus by faith. We
found ourselves accepted in the Beloved. O my Friend, do you remember
that rapturous moment when you perceived that the robe of righteousness
had covered you from

head to foot and that your filthy raiment had been taken away? You
cannot forget that time of love. At that moment you felt the love of
God within your spirit like a consuming fire burning up your sin. You
also were filled with love to the Lord your God. You wondered how it
came there till you perceived that you loved Him because He first loved
jou.

Then was every evil abhorred of your soul. Then were you ready for any
holy service. Then self-denial became a pleasure to you. Then you
forsook the company of the wicked and sought the society of the saints.
The love of Jesus had started you upon a race which otherwise you would
not have chosen–you were converted, turned, turned quite round. You
owned that henceforth you were not your own and could not run towards
self–you were bought with a price and therefore must run towards your
Redeemer. A sight of the Crucified did it all.

Thus, dear Friends, Jesus is the beginner of our race of faith by what
He has worked for us and by what He has worked in us. Have I any here
this morning who are about to start for Heaven? Mind that you start
aright. I pray you, do not fall into any delusion. Do not imagine that
your life will avail you anything–however good and moral it may have
been–unless you begin by looking unto Jesus.

Mr. Bunyan, in his "Pilgrim's Progress," frequently speaks of those who
tumbled over the wall, or came in by other irregular ways. But they all
missed the end. As they came in without Christ, so they went out
without hope. One who came near to the Celestial City, who had not come
in at the gate, was made to know that there is a back way to Hell, even
from the gate of Heaven. You must begin with looking unto Jesus, or you
will end with a fearful looking for of judgment. Does not Jesus say, "I
am the Beginning"? Would you set up another beginning? He must be the
first letter of your hope, or else you do not even know the alphabet of
salvation.

II. But now, secondly, we must look to Jesus as THE FINISHER OF FAITH.
As Jesus is at the commencement of the course, starting the runners, so
He is at the end of the course–the Rewarder of those who endure to the
end. Those who would win in the great race must keep their eyes upon
Him all along the course, even till they reach the finish line.

You will be helped to look to Him when you remember that He is the
Finisher of your faith by what He has worked for you. For the text
says, "He endured the Cross, despising the shame and is set down at the
right hand of the Throne of God." You also shall have Heaven–for He
has it. You shall sit upon the Throne–for He sits there. Look to His
passion on the Cross to begin with. Look to His session on the Throne,
that you may hold on to the end. Look to Jesus as dying for the pardon
of your sins but as living for the justification of your souls.
Incarnation and death have led on to intercession and endless

life.

Jesus has sat down–He takes His rest because He has completed His
work. Here on earth He was filled with shame but yonder in Glory He is
full of honor–for He is set down "at the right hand of God." Here He
was bound and led captive. There He is King of kings and Lord of lords,
for He sits at the right hand of the Throne of God. Here on earth we
see His manhood–born in a manger, living in poverty, dying the
ignominious death of the Cross. There we adore His Divine Glory–for He
is "at the right hand of the Throne of God." Think of your Savior as
your God, clothed with all power and authority. Surely this should urge
you to quicken your pace and never to become weary or faint.

You began by looking to Him as a sufferer, persevere by looking to Him
as a victor. "Be of good cheer," said He, "I have overcome the world."
In that fact He gives you an assurance of your own victory. The Seed of
the woman has bruised the serpent's head and therefore the Lord will
tread Satan under your feet shortly. The death of Christ is our death
for sin. But the life of Christ is our life unto holiness. The shame of
Christ was our shame and the triumph of Christ is our triumph.
Therefore, looking unto Jesus let us run.

We are helped to run to the end, not only by what Jesus has done for
us, but by what Jesus is doing in us. Beloved, you that are in the
middle of the race, remember that Jesus sustains you. Every atom of
your strength for running comes from your Lord. Look to Him for it. Do
not take a step in creature strength. Nor seek after any virtue, or
growth, or progress apart from His life and grace. He says, "From Me is
your fruit found." He works all our works in us and because He works in
us to will and to do of His own good pleasure, therefore we work out
our own salvation with fear and trembling.

We are not only sustained by looking unto Jesus but we are inspired
thereby. If we win a glance from His eye, our feeble knees are
confirmed. We catch our second and third breath as we behold Him on the
Throne and dash forward again. Those dear eyes of His are to us as
stars are to the mariner. Jesus says to us, "Come on, I am victorious
and so shall you be." A sight of the exalted Leader fires the zeal of
each Believer and makes him run like a young hart.

Looking unto Jesus you will get correct directions. For, as He sits at
the finish line, His very presence indicates the way. If our eyes are
up to Him–as the eyes of a servant to her mistress–we shall run well.
"Be you not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding,
whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." But say with David,
"You shall guide me

with Your eye." A look from the eye of Jesus is enough for a saint. And
if you, my Hearer, are indeed "looking unto Jesus," you will avoid
crooks and turns and will take the shortest road to holiness and
eternal glory. Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners
against Himself and you will not grow weary–neither will you miss your
way.

Look to Jesus, for by that look He draws you. The great magnet up
yonder is drawing us towards itself. Christ's cords of love give us
speed. The more in the power of the Holy Spirit you meditate upon our
Lord's passion on the Cross and His session on the Throne, the more
will you be drawn towards Him and the faster will you move. "Draw me,
we will run after You" is the cry of the Old Testament Church and it is
ours also. Lord, we would look that You may draw.

While we are running we look to our Lord as the Finisher of faith and
we see Him leaning forward and holding out the crown–

"It is His all animating voice That calls us from on high; It is His
own hand presents the prize To our aspiring eye."

The sight of the crown removes all weight from our crosses. The race
ceases to be severe when we see Jesus enthroned. I see Him today at the
end of the course holding out the wreath to me and saying, "He that
shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Oh that you may
each one see Him and feel that "the crown of glory that fades not away"
is worthy of a life's running. Thus will Jesus, by holding out the
reward, become the Finisher of faith.

When the race is over, Jesus will appear as the Finisher of faith by
coming forward to crown you with His own right hand. Yes, His hand
shall award the prize and His lips shall say, "Well done, good and
faithful servant." Jesus Himself will admit the faithful to the place
which He has gone to prepare for them. Therefore be of good courage and
run! Jesus at the end of the race will enthrone us with Himself–"Let
us run."

I invite you, taking the sense of the word "looking" which I have
already hinted at, to turn over in your mind these things. Look away
from all self-denials, difficulties, labors, sufferings, temptations
and persecutions. And equally look away from all pleasures, profits and
preferments and look to Jesus, who has won the race Himself and now
helps you in the race and holds out the crown at the end of it. Look
till you begin to look into Him and see somewhat of His inward glory
and of its out flowing to His redeemed.

Say to yourself, "All things are in Him for me. All spiritual blessings
God does bestow upon me according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Does the Father bless me in my enthroned Lord? Then my feet
shall not weary in the heavenward way. Does Jesus lean forward as if He
would crown me even now? Then I will quicken my pace to come to Him.
Does the Holy Spirit help my infirmities? Then will I run swiftly in
His strength."

Thus I have tried in my own feeble way to set before you Jesus as the
Author and the Finisher of faith–look to Him and

run.

III. Let us next consider our Lord Jesus as THE PATTERN OF OUR FAITH.
Run, as Jesus ran, and look to Him as you run, that you may run like He
ran. How did our Lord pursue His course?

You will see this if you first note His motive–"Who for the joy that
was set before Him." Jesus had a motive in all that He did. Men do not
do much if they act from mere feeling and have no underlying design.
Indeed, a life without an object must be a frivolous, useless life.
Jesus had before Him the great joy of glorifying the Father in the
salvation of His chosen. For this He lived, for this He died–it was a
joy to Him to think of accomplishing this object.

Beloved, if you want to run your race aright, it must be for the glory
of God and in the hope of the salvation of your fellow men. These two
things, blended into one, must be your joy. Oh that this motive took
possession of our entire being! The chief end of man is to glorify
God–let it be my chief end, even as it was my Lord's. Oh that I might
glorify You, my Creator, my Preserver, my Redeemer! To this end was I
born and for this end would I live in every action of my life.
Brethren, we cannot run the race set before us unless we feel this. We
must, like the Savior, seek the glory of God by saving our fellow men.
Live for this. Live to seek out the wandering sons of men and thus to
be a shepherd under the Great Shepherd.

Learn from Him to carry the lambs in your bosom. There is no running
heavenward unless the service of God is a joy to us. We run in an
approved fashion when we spend and are spent in glorifying God. May you
throughout eternity have to rejoice that you were not fruitless! Oh,
may none of you be written down as "creation's blot, creation's blank."
But may you all have the joy of glorifying God on earth and finishing
the work He has given you to do!

Wherein are we to imitate Jesus? First, we are to copy His endurance.
He "endured the Cross." Ours is a trifling cross compared with that
which pressed Him down. But He endured it. He took it up willingly and
carried it patiently. He never rebelled against it and never
relinquished it. He bore the Cross till the Cross bore Him and then He
bore death upon it. He

could say, "It is finished." Brethren, let us do the same. Are you
persecuted, are you poor, are you sick?–take up the appointed cross.
Christ ran with the Cross on His shoulder and so must we run. Do not
try to escape trouble–the followers of the Crucified must be familiar
with the Cross. Endure it patiently, joyfully, in the strength of God.

"Looking unto Jesus," behold His Cross whenever you begin to faint
under your own. Think of the bloody sweat, the scourging, the wounds,
the blasphemies of men, the forsaking by God! Behold and see if there
was ever sorrow like unto His sorrow, or endurance like His endurance.
Shoulder your little cross and run towards the Crucified.

Imitate your Lord in His magnanimity. He endured the Cross, "despising
the shame." Shame is a cruel thing to many hearts. Our Lord shows us
how to treat it. See, He puts His shoulder under the Cross but He sets
His foot upon the shame. He endures the one but He despises the other.
What? Shall His disciples make much of that which He despised? Are you
such gentlemen, that none may come between the wind and your nobility?
I wonder when I hear some people say, "I cannot stand being laughed
at." Does laughter break bones? "But ridicule is very sharp!" Is it? Do
the wounds bleed? "Well," cries one, "a keen sarcasm from a wit stings
you!" Does it? Have you no cure for such bites?

Some of us have in our minds been like Marcus Arethusa who was stung to
death by wasps. And yet we are none the worse but rather are we all the
better–for there remains no place whereon a new sting can operate. Oh,
that some of you, who are so tender, could have thicker skins in this
respect! I heard of a prayer the other day which I did not quite like
at first but there is something in it after all. The good man said,
"Lord, if our hearts are hard, make them soft. But if our hearts are
too soft, make them hard."

I know what he meant and I think I can pray that last prayer for some
of my friends who are so delicate that a sneer would kill them. May the
Lord harden them till they can despise the shame! Answer shame by
making it see that you are ashamed of the scorner. Laugh at the
laughter of fools–despise their despising. With glorious greatness of
spirit Jesus remained unprovoked amid the cruel taunts of godless men.
Run through the ribald throng. Shut your ears and run, despising the
shame.

Our Savior is to be imitated in His perseverance. For the joy that was
set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame and "is set
down." He never stopped running till He could sit down at the right
hand of the Throne of God. And that is the only place where you may sit
down. My Brother, Satan puts before you a comfortable armchair and he
says, "Take your ease." No, no! Run till you can sit down at the right
hand of the Throne of God. There are many dainty little arbors all
along the Hill Difficulty, with settles and tables. And men, if they
get into them, are very apt to fall asleep and lose their roll of
comfortable assurance–therefore, pass these arbors by.

Runners must not sit down–that were to throw the race away. The only
running that will save is persevering running. From starting block to
finish line there must be no pausing. We must practice daily obedience,
daily holiness, daily service. An off-and-on religion is a false
religion. We must keep to the running till God gives us rest. Our Lord
has won the victory. His enthronement "at the right hand of God" has
well rewarded the Man Christ Jesus for the depth of His shame and
misery. We must not cease our following of Him till we triumph, too.
When we have finished our course, then we shall receive our crowns. But
as yet we must copy the Captain of salvation by running steadily on.

Our Lord's body bore five wounds and these shall help your memory to
think of the five virtues in which you are to imitate your Lord. The
piercing of the right hand is the memorial of His faith. He believed in
God in the depth of His agony and trusted that He would deliver Him.
Oh, for more faith! The left hand wound is His patience. He "endured,
as seeing Him who is invisible," He reviled not again. He said "Your
will be done." One wounded foot reminds me of His humility and how He
was obedient to death, even the death of the Cross.

And that other wounded foot suggests to me His perseverance. His feet
were nailed to the wood–His soul was joined to His work. Best of all,
in the great wound in His side I see His love. The spear opened a
passage to His heart. Love as Jesus loved–loving God and loving men.
Then shall you triumph as He triumphed and He will crown you as He
Himself is crowned. God help you so to run.

IV. Lastly, our text sets before us Jesus as THE PRIZE or END OF FAITH.
We are to run "looking unto Jesus" as the end that we should aim at. We
go towards our Lord every step that we take. True faith neither goes
away from Christ Jesus, nor takes a roundabout road to Jesus. Nor does
it so much as dream of going beyond Jesus. We have wise men about us
nowadays who are going a long way beyond the Gospel. The old
faith–which inspired Apostles, enabled the glorious army of martyrs to
lay down their lives and produced the noblest of human characters in
past ages–is not good enough for the superfine sophists of these days.

This boastful nineteenth century demands a new God, a new Christ, a new
Heaven, a new Hell, a new Gospel and everything else new–except a new
heart. But we, Brethren, are not going to run in that direction. We run
towards Christ and that

is the good old way, "the way the holy Prophets went." We never expect
to get beyond the teaching of our Lord Jesus either in this life or in
the life to come. The end of our conversation is, "Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today and forever."

Now we are to run towards Him, looking unto Him. Looking to Jesus and
running to Jesus will look well and run well together. The eyes
outstrip the feet but this also is well. For the feet will thus be made
to move faster. Look that you may see more of Jesus. I have already
told you what differences there are in men's perceptions of Christ–now
I want you to keep on looking and running–that you may be among the
best instructed, seeing most of Him and in Him. Those who have seen
most of Jesus have only taken a cupful out of the great ocean of His
fullness. We who live in this land of murk and cloud may imagine that
we have seen the sun–for now and then it peeps out through a veil of
mist.

But ask an Italian who lives beneath the clear blue sky, where the sun
is at home and walks the heavens without a veil and he will tell you
that an Englishman does not see the sun. For myself, the sun seems in
those regions to brighten my nature and lighten my mind–the lord of
day talks to my heart and makes it dance for joy. Many a Believer lives
in a foggy atmosphere of doubts and fears. He sees his Lord now and
then but it is not half a sight. Oh that we could all dwell under the
unclouded skies of full assurance and see Jesus more nearly! I urge you
in your running to come nearer and nearer to Jesus–that you may see
Him more and more clearly.

Let us run towards Jesus that we may grow more like He. It is one of
the virtues of Jesus that He transforms into His own image those who
look at Him. He photographs Himself upon all sensitive hearts. There
are no mirrors that I know of which improve the looker's eyes. But this
mirror of God, as you look into it, enlightens your eyes and beautifies
your character. As you see Christ you become Christians. O Beloved, our
lives would not be so faulty, so wrinkled, so uncomely if our eyes were
more completely taken up with beholding the transcendent charms of the
altogether Lovely One! It would make us glorious if we saw more of the
glory of Jesus.

Run that you may come nearer to Jesus. Seek after more near and dear
fellowship with Him. He is not far away from us. He is absent as to His
corporeal frame but He is with us in spirit. He comes very close to us
at times when He finds us fit for the joy. We remember Him from the
Hermons and the hill Mizar. We can never forget the golden moments and
the hallowed places wherein He has manifested Himself unto us as He
does not unto the world. There are hours when our head is on the bosom
of Christ. There are times when we sit at His feet and hear His Words
and looking up behold His beauty and are ravished therewith.

Run towards Him till you are nearer to Him in communion than up till
now you have been. This is worth running for. But you will not have it
without running. Remember how the Spouse in the Song could not find her
Lord till she had gone through the streets of the city mourning till
she embraced Him. Keep on looking and running till you are with Him.
Oh, I talk to you now about being with Him and how soon this may be
realized in the most literal sense!

During my ministry in this place it has occurred two or three times
that when the service has ended dear Friends have attempted to go to
their homes but they have died in this House of Prayer. What must it be
to go from this congregation to the assembly above? What a change from
the poor talk of the preacher to the voice of the Well-Beloved! We do
not know how near to Jesus on the Throne we may now be. The sea fog is
around our vessel. Could we see before us, the white cliffs of our
native shores are almost within reach. Think not that we are far out at
sea. Within the next week, perhaps, some of us will see the King in His
beauty.

We may spend next Sunday in Heaven! Does anybody shrink from such a
prospect? No–each heir of Heaven says "Amen. So let it be." Then the
sweat of the race will be wiped away and the sweet of the triumph will
begin. Then the fatigue and distress will have ended and the rest and
the glory will have commenced. I would cheer you with the thought that
you are much nearer the finish line than you think. How soon you may
sit among the blood-washed throng! You older Brothers and Sisters in
the course of nature must be there soon–be glad of it. Do not talk
about being on the wrong side of seventy–you are on the right
side–for you are so much nearer Heaven.

Formerly when great ships went to the Indies, the passengers would for
a while toast the friends they left behind. But when they were in the
Indian Ocean, they began to drink the health of friends ahead. Though
comparatively young, I have many, many friends who are in the land
beyond, to which I am making my way. I salute the glorified. Some of
the dearest and best people that ever lived were members of this Church
but they are now safely landed on the celestial shore. They are waiting
and watching for us. We are coming, Brethren! We will be with you soon.

Best of all, our Lord is there! Once crowned with thorns, His head is
now radiant with the diadem of universal dominion. He will come to
welcome us on that blessed shore. Hasten, O time! Be like a seraph with
six wings and bear us swiftly to that golden strand where we shall see
the face of Him we love and shall be–

"Far from this world of grief and sin, With God eternally shut in."

Amen. Amen. Amen!