Greetings, radio friends, in the ever-precious name of the Lord Jesus, our blessed, soon-coming Savior, whom I trust you know as your own Savior, and whom I pray you serve. We continue today in our epistle of Second Timothy, and we read in chapter two of this epistle, the fifth verse. And may I remind you as we begin our study today that we are finding the challenge to teach the Word of God and to conduct ourselves in these last days of the testimony of our God, which is the testimony of the Church, according to the characteristic features described by the beloved Apostle Paul in this chapter. We have found the desire of the Apostle stated that we should be faithful to the truth and teach it and press it on as well as practice it before others. But we are also finding there are certain characteristics in life that Paul takes to illustrate what should be the character of the Christian in the last days. We touched upon verses three and four and found we should be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We read now the fifth verse. For we have another characteristic feature describing what is the likeness of an athlete. And if a man also strives for the mastery, that is for the crowns, he is not crowned except he strives lawfully. Now the beloved apostle by the Spirit is telling us how to live, how to serve the Lord in these days. There are days of declension, the darkening days of Christianity. There is no question of doubt that when you read this second epistle of Paul to Timothy, the beloved apostle seeks to energize, to put power, to put emphasis, to put strength and energy into the divine testament. And you know it's needed. We have so many weak-need Christians, spineless believers, many believers who are failing to live for the Lord Jesus in these days, and many that are not faithful to the truth. Now we have two facts revealed in the conditions of today. We find men who may know the truth and will never give up that truth which they believe according to their hearts and minds. But unfortunately, on the other hand, They are not teaching it. They are not practicing it. They are not going on with it. And that is unfortunate that there are such Christians. Then on the other side, we have men who are willfully and openly denying the very truth of God and are turning their ears away from it. And beloved, these conditions bring a challenge to a believer to live and preach and teach the truth of God and be faithful to it. In other words, am I a good soldier of Jesus Christ? Now, in verse five, the beloved apostle uses the metaphor of an athlete. He takes out of that which we recognize is true in earthly life and brings that application with its spiritual meaning. My beloved friend, look. When God teaches us his word, he often uses earthly illustrations with a heavenly and a spiritual meaning. You know, as we have seen in our previous message, you know what a soldier is and is supposed to be. Now we have in the fifth verse the metaphor of an athlete. As you know, an athlete is well trained if he's going to win the coveted prize, the coveted honor. and the athlete he has before him a goal. And that goal is the mastery, meaning the victory, in whatever contest he may enter. And he gives himself wholly, mind and body, Just trying to win the coveted crown, the coveted honor. I don't care what it is in. You can name it. It could be in baseball. It could be in golf. It can be in racing, running, and whatever. Athletic activity that you wish to name, you know as well as I do that that athlete has to train himself. He must persevere in the proper qualification of health and strength to carry out He's determined purpose. And he has a goal, and he's striving to award that goal. He's striving not only to run in the race, not only to play in the game, but he says, I want to be on top. My beloved Christian, I wish we had Christians that had the same determination. They're not only willing to be in the athletics of Christianity, but they want to be on the top. to win the mastery. Oh, beloved, how we need it. It calls for discipline, as it does to be a soldier. And one recognizes that if we're going to be crowned, and listen, friend, can I read the words of Paul? Let me just read them as you find them in First Corinthians chapter nine. Listen to these words. For Paul realizes that the Christian testimony and the service of a believer is in a race that's being run. Here are the words in chapter nine and verse twenty-four of Pesco Indians. I read them to the end of the chapter. Know ye not that they which run in a race, they all run, but only one receives the prize. And there you've got the picture of the Christian race. We're all running. I don't know just how you are running, I'm not going to say how I am. I don't know just where you are in the race, either in the front or in the back. But says Paul, they all run, but only one receives the prize. Now he tells every one of them, so run, that you may win the prize. Now he says, now look, you go out to get the prize. Don't be satisfied just to run. that set your heart to win the prize. And you know, as well as I do, that's the desire of every athlete if he enters the contest. But now know. In verse twenty-five he goes on to say, Every man that striveth of an astray is temperate in all things. And you know that as well as I do, the athlete has to train himself. And he has to be temperate. He cannot indulge in things that would affect his physical strength, for it would beat at the loss of the coveted prize. My beloved Christian, I want to hit you between the eyes as well as my own conscience too. There's a lot of things in this world that for the sake of my Lord Jesus and for the honor of winning the prize, the coveted reward that the Lord will give at the end of the race, you and I better leave alone. and discipline ourselves to keep away from those things that would keep us from running well in the race of Christianity. And so the apostle says every man that strives for the mastery is temperate, not in some things but in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. That is a crown of earthly honor. We do it to obtain an incorruptible crown. My fellow believer, let me ask you something. What are you living for? What do you see at the end of your race? Do you recognize that there is a crown that will never pass away, that you can gain, that you can win, that will be your honor if you go on for Christ as you should? How many believers have dropped out in the race or dropped back as the case may be? Says Paul, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so finite I, not as one that beateth the air. And there you have him suggesting, one who is a boxer. And he says, I'm going to make every blow count, I'm not going to swing and just hit the air. But he says, I keep my body under, and I bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I preach to others, I myself shall be a castaway or be disapproved. Going back to our verse in Timothy, will you please know this? Second Timothy two five. If a man is going to strive to be crowned to win the prizes that the Lord offers at the end of the Christian race, he will not be crowned unless he strives lawfully. And the meaning of the expression is this. He must strive according to the rules. I think of a great athlete. who came at the end of the race to reach the tape first before all others. And he reached the end of the race before all the other participants. But he was not given the prize for which he was running. And he was disqualified because he had not kept the rules. Yes, he was at the end of the race first. But you know in every race, in every context, there are rules that one must abide by in order to qualify for the crown. And the breaking of any rule will disqualify the contestant from being given the coveted reward. Now my Christian friend, listen carefully. If you and I are going to run in this race, I thank God it doesn't say how fast we're to run, but it tells us we must run faithfully according to the rules. You say, what are the rules? My beloved Christian friend, the rules are the word of God. The rules are the word of God. God doesn't want you and I to run in the Christian race and disqualify ourselves by not keeping his word. For if you and I fail to keep the word of God in obedience in this Christian testimony of the Lord on the earth, we shall be disqualified for the first prize at the end of the race. And if a man is going to strive for that honor, he will not be crowned except to strive according to the rules. Now listen to it. Someday you and I, Christian, are going to come at the end of the race. Someday you and I are going to face the judge who's watching us in the race and who will determine the crown to be given. And that judge will be the Lord Jesus our Savior himself. And he will not only judge how fast we ran, but he will judge how we ran. Did we keep his word? Did we obey his precious truth? Oh, how we should realize. The qualification is not how long we live, not how fast we run, but how we live by keeping His precious Word. My fellow believer, don't you worry how fast you've got to go. Be more concerned that you keep the Word of God and live according to its truth so that at the end of the race you may be thus qualified. Oh, my Christian friend, get in the race wholeheartedly. And you are the not even in the race. Please. Why don't you get in the Christian race? Why run all the way to hell in the other direction? And you'll slide downhill that way fast. But come to Christ as your Savior. And make him your Savior now and get in the race for the Lord. Shall we pray? Father we pray. Bless thy word. To the stirring of the hearts and consciences of thy dear people. And their life. For we ask him. And also for the unsaved, in Jesus' name, amen.