If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to be in part 2 of part 3 in the first 3 verses. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1, 2, and 3. Reading out of the NASB, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray for guidance. We pray for your Holy Spirit to teach us, to open our eyes, to shape our thoughts, our emotions, our will, that it may all be surrendered to your word. We pray, Father God, that your spirit would guide us, Lord God, that we may be sanctified, that it would go forth and that your word would not come back until it has accomplished the purpose you have ordained it.

We ask for your guidance in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so this is part two of what we started last week about running this race. And as we mentioned last week, the main imperative in this text is to run with endurance. In English it says, "Let us fix our eyes, let us do this, let us do that." And those are all supporting ideas of the main idea of let us run this race.

So the question I want to start with you this morning is, what race are you running? And I'm not talking about what race did you sign up for. What race are you actually running? We call the race of this life, what do we call it? What does the world call it?

What kind of race is it? Dog race? No, we call it rat race. And there's a reason why they call it a rat race, right? And rat race, everybody is in some kind of a race, right? Competing, trying to get ahead, trying to be somebody. That's why we go to school.

That's why we work hard to get promotions. And we invest money so that we can be at a next level. And so every one of us is competing in some way. And we are in some kind of a race. But are we in the race that the rest of the world is in, or are we in the race that has been set before us, right?

The rat race is basically constantly living for the next goal. So if you're a college student, your primary goal is to graduate and get a job. If you got a job, your primary goal is to make sure that you get a better job. And then if you're making enough money, your primary goal next one is to find somebody to settle down.

And if you're married, your primary goal is to have children and to raise them a certain way. And then if you lived for a while, your primary goal is to have enough money in retirement to retire. And then your primary goal is to make sure that your children are taken care of and your grandchildren are taken care of.

And so that's the rat race. And it's not necessarily sinful. Nevertheless, it is a race that we're constantly concerned about. And each stage of our life has some other thing that we need to shoot for. And we're constantly told that this is what an average 30-year-old has, an average 40-year-old has.

And by this age, you should have this because that's what everybody else has. And so if that's what is driving us, you are in the rat race. But the race that he has set before us is a race, he says, that we ought to run with endurance. Now, we have 11 chapters of him telling us that this is the right race that you need to go to.

And then so chapter 12 and 13 is reminding us that in considering, in considering knowing who Jesus is, if you confess that Jesus Christ is truly worthy of all our worship and attention, then we ought to be running this race. So basically, what he's saying in these three verses is to be calling us out of the rat race and to make sure that we're running the race that have eternal consequences.

You know, last week, I finished a message about that man who ran the race in Mexico, Marathon, and I asked him, "Why did you suffer through with all the injuries that you had for over 13 miles in order to finish this race?" And again, he said, "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race.

They sent me 5,000 miles to finish it, even if it took much longer." So the call this morning to finish the race, you know, most of us have started the race at some point, whether it was when you're a child, maybe in your 20s or 30s or 40s, at some point, you met Christ, your eyes were open to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you began this race.

But the challenge now is that these listeners, these recipients of this letter, they weren't rejecting Christ. They were in danger of apostasy, not simply because they woke up one morning and realized, "I don't know if I want to follow Christ." That wasn't their problem. Their problem wasn't one day they woke up and realized, "I don't know if I believe in these doctrines." That wasn't their problem.

The pressures of life, the concerns for this world, for the safety of their children, for the well-being of their future, caused them to get distracted and begin to ignore this great salvation that they have, and they began to drift back into the rat race. This is not a danger of just a few Christians.

This was not a danger just 2,000 years ago. This is our primary danger today. We talked about last week when he challenged us to run this race with endurance, that we ought to keep our eyes on the race that we're in. Which race are we actually running, right? That we may run this race to finish this race, and then to look back and see the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us who have finished the race as well, that we would see them as examples and inspiration for us to persevere in our race.

Today we want to look at verse 1 at the end of it, and when he says, "Let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles." Let us look within, right? You know, I did a quick search about the persecution, and I've been mentioning, and if you've been following the news, the persecution against Christians has been rising rapidly in the last few years.

And even in this country, we've been hearing more and more rumors of our government targeting Christians that if you believe in biblical Christianity, if you do not submit to the liberal views, and again, that's not a Christianity at all, but if you don't submit to that, we're going to take away your license.

We're going to take away the ability to be able to do church, your tax exemption plans, and your schools, and even homeschooling. Anybody who goes against the indoctrination that the government desires, we're going to come after you. And they're openly saying this. This is for the first time in this country, Christians are actually being targeted.

But in comparison to what's going on around the world, I mean, we're still living in comfort and safety. According to Open Door's ministry, they said over 250 million Christians are severely persecuted around the world today, 250 million. We're not talking about people who are just living in a place where it's not popular to be a Christian.

We're not talking about people who just get shunned at work for your faith. We're talking about, he says, severe persecution, meaning that you're literally risking your health, your life, your children, your sustenance in order to follow Christ. 250 million Christians. One in nine Christians live in intense persecution. There's been a 14%, 14% rise in this intense persecution in the last few years.

4,136 Christians were martyred for their faith just in 2019, according to record. Martyrs, people who've given their life because they follow Christ. Five years ago, North Korea was the only country on the list of the extreme persecuted countries, North Korea. Today, there are 11 that fit that category. Out of the 11, India has become number 10.

The country after that is Iraq. If you remember, seven, eight years ago, when we first started going out to India, India was ranked number 30 or 32. Every year it's been rising. Now they're at number 10. They're in the category of the 11 countries most severely persecuted, meaning that they are literally risking their health and their lives.

Again, you've heard stories about our pastors there, right? It was tied up and literally left for dead. And so that is not unique to them. That's happening to all these pastors who are trying to share the gospel in remote villages. But as bad as this situation is, that's not where the rubber meets the road for me and you.

It may shake us up and cause us to be concerned when the government threatens to shut us down because we will not do certain things. And they already tell us that it's coming. That's not where the rubber meets the road. Most of us are not shaking in our boots day to day because of the threats that the government is making.

We feel bad and we pray for the persecuted church all around the world, but that is not the primary problem that you and I face day to day. John Piper describes it this way in Hunger for God. The greatest enemy of Hunger for God is not poison, but apple pie.

It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated videos, but the prime time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. It's not the persecution, it's not ISIS, it's not even our own government that is the greatest problem for us.

Our greatest source of distraction, which destroys the church today, destroys our faith, is the endless, tireless, day to day need to be entertained and amused. You know, this is probably the only country, at least that I know of, that I hear regularly people are bored with their faith. They're bored.

They're bored because they're comparing it with entertainment. Everything else seems exciting except their faith. And part of the reason why is because, just like John Piper says, that we are constantly nibbling at the world. We're not feasting at the world, we're nibbling at the world. So by the time we come to church, there is no longer an appetite.

As I mentioned last week, when people backslide, that does not happen overnight. You don't wake up one day and say, "You know what? I don't want to follow Christ anymore." You see a gradual decline of interest toward Christ, a passion for the lost, and then the singing of the songs, and when you open up the scriptures, it just seems like dull literature.

It feels more like homework than feeling like you're being spiritually fed. And you see a gradual decline, and you just accept it as being normal. So a month passes, weeks pass, years pass, and next thing you know, you become a great Christian on surface, but inwardly, there is no spiritual hunger.

You remember what you were like when you were younger, but you become cynical. Even when young people are passionate, it's like, "Yeah, I was like you one time. I used to do that when I was young, but you wait until you have kids. You wait until you have a job." And this is the pattern.

This is where the church is being destroyed. We're not simply being distracted. The church is being destroyed, not by persecution, not by ISIS, not by the threat of the governments, but the constant dribble of nibbling at the banquet of the world. And we will say we're not in the rat race, but every indication is that's exactly the race that we're in.

We're competing. We're perfectly fine with the house that we bought until we see what other person has. We're perfectly fine with the retirement fund we had until you hear that your friends have a bigger one. We're perfectly fine with what our kids are doing until we compare with what other kids are doing.

And if we are not careful, we drift into this rat race. You didn't commit to it. You just find yourself one day waking up. First Corinthians 6.12, it says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." In this race, the first thing that he calls us to is not, "Is it sinful?" But the first thing that he tells us is, "Is it helpful?

Is it helpful?" If all you did was just sign up to the race, and your goal is not to finish the race. Or to win the race. We're just satisfied that we're in the race itself. If you can put up the next slide. The next slide. Yeah, there you go.

So this is what we would expect runners to look like. They got the proper shorts on. They're not carrying any backpacks. They got the right shoes. They got the shirts, and all of them are even wearing tank tops. It's not even short sleeve, because they don't want anything encumbering them.

So all they have is a number that shows that they're in the race, and everything else, outside of being naked, is necessity. In fact, a long time ago, when they first started the Olympics, they ran naked. Because they didn't have shorts. They didn't have shoes. So the only way to run without encumbrance is to take off whatever it was that they had.

And they competed in the Olympics. They wanted every edge. And even the swimmers, some of you guys who swam, those of us who experienced swimming just casually, you're not that intense. But if you've ever competed, if you've ever known anybody who has really competed as a swimmer, they'll shave off their head if they have to, to get that little edge.

Because whatever encumbrance that they have, that's going to slow them down to not to win, it's worth getting rid of. This is what we would expect. If you can go to the next slide. This guy clearly is not in the race to win. My guess is he's just having fun, or maybe his wife told him to lose some weight, and then he signed up, but he really wasn't interested, so he just kind of in the race.

And then the next guy, these guys clearly don't care. They're in the race probably to get their picture taken. That's their goal. So as soon as this picture is taken, I don't believe they may have finished their race, right? 26 miles, I don't think so. But you can tell just by what they're wearing, they're probably not that serious.

I looked up to see if these marathons have rules and what they can and cannot wear. And I realized that there are some marathons were very strict. You can only have certain things on. And there are certain marathons where they don't have any regulations. So you can wear this if you want.

And so if we're asking the question in our pursuit, in our race, is it sinful? And if that's the standard, and that's the only standard that we use, is it sinful? Then it's just like a marathon runner, it's like, well, is it legal? Is there anything in the books that says that I can't be dressed like a chicken?

There is no law. There's no rule. I can pay it and get the sign, get my picture taken, and I can say that I ran the marathon. So on paper, you ran the marathon, but you didn't actually run the marathon. You just entered the marathon, right? Oftentimes, one of the most common questions that we get is, is it sinful?

And the reason why we get that question is, can I do it? How far can I go to the line before I cross it? And many people are living right on that line. And they say, I don't know if that's profitable. I don't know if that's helpful. It's like, oh, you legalist.

Where in the Bible does it say that? See the instruction that he's given us, in order to run this race with endurance to win, he said first and foremost, he says, every encumbrance. So our standard of running this race to win is, is this helpful? Not is it legal?

Not is it sinful? But is it helpful? Or does this cause me to slow down? In 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3, it says, therefore putting aside all malice, not some malice, not certain malice that bothers you. He said, all malice, all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the word.

You know, if you've ever been in the room when a child comes into this world, and it's amazing because first thing that they do is they want food. I don't know who taught them. They didn't have special training to drink milk. Because if you think about it, for nine months, it's been fed to their stomach.

So they don't know. No one's taught them. It didn't come from training. So as soon as they're born, they come sucking. So they clean up the baby. They clean the nostrils. And one of the first thing they did, they gave it to the mom. And then the baby comes out wanting to drink.

How did he know that? So instinctively, the baby is born knowing how to survive. He needs to drink. And so he's using that as an illustration as a child, as a newborn baby, long for the pure milk, because that's the way he's going to live in this world. Instinctively.

He says when we are spiritually born, he said we ought to long for the milk, not just casually attend. Right? Somebody who is satisfied with just having their number on their chest. Bible study is just homework. Because you're not eagerly trying to find who Christ is and to learn to apply and to win this race.

You're just trying to appease other people. Oh, this church tells me I have to do this, and this is what's expected, and other people are doing this. And so we're just jumping through the hoops to be able to belong in the community that I'm in. And so it's just homework.

There's no life sustenance coming from that. There's no eager list to know. There's no digging in the scripture. There's no excitement to see what the word of God says. It's just homework to be done week after week. So we just get it done and get it over with, and then I'm okay for the next week.

That's an individual who just has a number plated on their chest and say, I'm in the race too. I'm number 456777. He's saying, run to win. Our greatest hindrances in our walk with God is not external. It is the constant compromise and constant need of being entertained 24/7. Ephesians 5.15 says, "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." Making the most of your time.

You know, one thing I realize is, you know, when we get older, I don't know exactly at what age that happens, you start having this old man's mentality. You know, oh yeah, when I was a kid, I did that. When you did it, oh, when I was in college, I used to do that.

And you live off of the passion that you had when you were younger and thinking that all that God required of you, you've already done. Now you're just here, I'm going to raise the kids and I'm going to give my offering and just kind of give it in. I'm just sitting in the back and you retired spiritually years ago.

And there is that temptation when we start to get older, just look for retirement. I'm just going to ride into the sand. I can't wait to get to heaven. Not realizing the short time that we have, this is the only time that we have to share the gospel with the lost, especially the people who are not Christians in our family.

And then when we're young, we have a tendency to think we have all the time in the world. You know, you can waste a month, year, maybe even a decade. I got you, you got the next 10 years. It goes by just like that. I know that this is a cliche.

I know you hear that all the time. Your parents may have said that, the previous generation have said that. It really is a myth that comes and it disappears. It just goes. In Psalm 90 verse 12, "So teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom." You know what he's saying?

God remind me that I'm going to die. Everything in this world, when we pray for people, we say, "Oh, may the Lord bless you and have a wonderful long life in this world." That's what we say when we bless others. May you have a long and prosperous life. He's saying, "Lord, help me to know that my life is short.

Help me to number my days." In fact, in James 4.14, it says, "You do not know what your life is going to be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." That's depressing. If you don't really believe in eternity, this is a depressing thing.

To come to church to be reminded, you're going to die. 100%. A few of you may have gotten COVID. And a few of you got sick. But 100%, you're going to die. God bless you. Have a wonderful life. What a depressing thing to say if you don't understand the context in which he is saying this.

He's saying, "Help me to number my days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom, that we may have a perspective on the race that we're running, that this is going to end." There is a finish line. Which finish line are we trying to cross? Which race are we competing in?

What are the values that we are pursuing? Are we in the rat race in the name of Jesus? Are we actually running this race that is set before us by Christ? That's why in numbering our days, knowing that we're just here temporarily, that we invest in eternal things, not simply the temporary things.

We need to be wise. It's not saying that you can't have nice things. But in our pursuit, what do we value the most? You know, whenever we go to India, we have regulations for people. Because it's a very conservative culture, we have to tell the ladies, "You have to wear a skirt." I know skirts are not popular.

I don't know how many of you are wearing skirts today, but people just don't wear skirts today. It can't be a mini skirt. It has to be a skirt all the way down to your ankles. They can't see your feet. On top of that, you have to wear a scarf.

You have to wear a scarf. If you're indoors, you have to wear the scarf at all times or they get offended. You can't have a one-to-one conversation with men unless you're in a crowd. It's a very conservative country. Even for the guys, even if it's 105 degrees, I can't wear shorts.

I have to wear long pants and I have to wear conservative clothes, even if we're sweating it out. I've never had anybody on our team say, "Well, there's nothing in the Bible that says that. I have freedom in Christ. I'm not going to wear this scarf." How dare they?

Male chauvinist pigs. I mean, it's 105 degrees outside. I'm not going to wear jeans. I'm not going to wear long pants. I've never had anybody struggle with that. They say, "Okay, what else? What else?" If they give you this, make sure you take it. Don't shake your hands with your left hand.

There's all these rules that we follow for one purpose, because we want to be effective in sharing the gospel. So we don't want anything that's going to hinder this race, anything that's going to make us ineffective, where they're going to be offended or it's going to be awkward, and then cause us not to be able to share it effectively.

But for whatever the reason, when we come back home, we turn that off. And the common question is, "Well, I mean, where did the Bible say that?" So all of a sudden, our standard of what we choose is right and wrong, all of a sudden it's turned on and turned off when we come home.

Why is that? It's because when we are going out to India, we have a wartime mentality. We're going into a fight. We're going into war to bring people to Christ, and whatever is going to hinder that, we're willing to give up. Any encumbrance, anything that I do or say that's going to be offensive to somebody there that I want to share the gospel, and so he raises the standard so that there will be no encumbrance.

But for whatever the reason, when we come home, we're not struggling in this battle anymore. I'm free. You know, he died for us so that I can have liberty. I have the freedom. And all of a sudden, my freedom supersedes anything else. Don't judge me. If you're in a position constantly saying, "Well, they're judging me, they're judging me," my guess is they're judging you for a reason.

That's my guess. I could be wrong. Probably not. If you're in a habit, if your life is constantly, "They're judging me, they're judging me," at least take a step back and ask yourself, what is it that you're doing that's causing them to judge you? What is it that you're ...

How are you running this race? How are you living this life that makes it seem like you're not that interested? You can't have a chicken suit running this race and then say, "Hey, I don't know if that's going to be helpful. Don't judge me. I don't know if you should be wearing high heels." Where does it say?

Where does it say I can't wear heels? There's no law on that. But clearly, you're not that serious about running this race. So he said, first and foremost, he says he's not to examine the sins, but examine every encumbrance that gets in our way to run this race with endurance, to make sure that we're running the right race.

We're running it to win, not just casually have signed up. Secondly, he says to throw off the sin. Throw it off. He's not checking away. He says, "Throw it off, every sin that's so easily entangled." These are sins that are constantly stumbling us, repeatedly, over and over again. Easily entangles.

Those sins that are constantly near, coveting. The thing that we struggle with, especially us being a young church, is that pornography has become so prevalent and almost even acceptable because it's spoken of so freely in the media. So if you don't watch porn, you're weird. Before it was like, "Oh, you're a virgin?

You're 20 years old and you're a virgin?" Now it's like, "What? You don't watch porn? What's wrong with you? You prude." So it's almost weird for people not to be watching porn if you are in a secular arena in any way. And that's kind of slowly crept into the church where it's become an acceptable sin.

"Oh, everybody sins. Oh, struggle." Where I think in the previous generation, when we said we were struggling, we just meant that we had impure thoughts, that we struggle. Something that we saw years ago is kind of being replayed in our head. Today when young people say they're struggling, they're in porn, in hard porn, day to day and say, "Oh, I'm just struggling." If that's a pattern in your life, you're not struggling.

You've given in. Struggling is trying to get out. Struggling is working and confessing and laboring, asking for accountability. That's struggling. If you've accepted a certain amount of pornography in your life, you're not struggling. You've accepted it. You've allowed it. You're okay with it. You've justified it. He says, "Every sin that so easily entangles." But again, our struggle isn't just porn.

Even though porn is an issue, before it was just, for the most part, it was men, but now even women are struggling with it because it's in our pockets. And I thank God that I wasn't a teenager in this period. And we pray for you guys. And again, this is not just for young people, but especially for younger ones.

The fact that you have access to anything that you want on this phone at any time, the temptation that you guys are in, are intense. This is not something that you can conquer just by saying, "Oh, I'm struggling." And then next week you come, "I'm struggling." A week after that, "I'm struggling." Well, after about a month of that, you're not struggling.

You've accepted it. You've allowed a certain amount of it in your life and you're okay with it. He says to struggle, but it's not just porn. You're looking at Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and whatever else is out there, and they're constantly presenting the perfect life, the rat race.

Where before we would hear about it or we go to someone else's house and we see it, but now it's on your phone constantly. "Oh, I want to eat that." "Oh, I want to have that." "Oh, I want to go there." "Oh, I want to have this." "I want to buy this." When is Disneyland opening?

Constantly. The constant things that distract us get our minds off of Christ so that there is no longer any appetite for Christ. And so we covet in our hearts. And we're living every day coveting. "Oh, I'm going to get this. If I save enough money, I'm going to get this.

Oh, if I save money, I'm going to do this. I'm going to go here." And so what has filled our hearts is constant coveting that we've allowed. We've allowed day to day, every single day, so that our mind is no longer consumed with the things of God, but they're consumed with this rat race.

This bucket list that we've made that has nothing to do with Christ. The sin that so easily entangles. In Psalm 139, 23, 24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." You see, this prayer is not enough.

If you are a religious person, and you have the right number, and you happen to be a little bit ahead of other people, that's enough. And you spend the rest of the time ridiculing the people who aren't running as fast as you. You may have the chicken suit on yourself, but your whole focus is not to win this race, but your whole focus is, "I'm better.

I'm running faster than you." But you're not carefully searching your own heart. As long as you're doing Bible study, as long as you're tithing, as long as you're active, but in your heart, there's judgmentalism, there's bitterness, there's slander. And we're not aware of that. Other people's sin is a stink, but the odor that's near us, we've just kind of gotten used to it, and we think it's okay.

See, the psalmist comes before and says, "Search me." The Word of God judged the thoughts and intentions of my heart. It's not given to us as like, "Hey, I got these verses that you need." I did this Bible study, and you need these. Oh, man, this would be a great sermon for that guy to hear.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, test me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any hurtful ways in me, even my heart, my attitude." If you can put up the next slide. Some of you guys may have seen this before. Everyone has four areas of their life.

The first area is me and others. That's your public life. That's your presentation. They see how you look like, how you behave. Are you an introvert? Are you extrovert? That's your public life. Most of us spend the most of our energy on that part because you get judged right away.

You're a jerk. People say, "You're a jerk." You say, "Okay, maybe I shouldn't be a jerk." That's your public life. Maybe the way you talk, the way you present yourself. When we think about sanctification, that's usually where people put the most attention. That's why sometimes prayer life kind of gets the back burner because we don't walk out with a, "I prayed this much today." No one sees it.

Whether you prayed hours, two hours, or you prayed none, no one sees it. But when you do certain things about the Bible, it's like, "Oh, yeah, I did this and I did that." So we have a tendency, if we're not careful, to give all our attention to that area.

But the second area is your private life, me only. They wouldn't know if you don't confess it. You could be struggling with porn, but on the outside, you're doing great. You're leading, you're telling, you're serving. But your private life, and this is an area that others would not know unless you revealed it.

You brought it to light because they don't know it's there. That's why the Bible says to confess your sins to one another. So if you're an individual who genuinely is running this race and you want to compete to win, you have to go beyond just the surface and seek accountability in areas and to confess your sins and, "Hey, I need help.

I'm struggling with porn. Can you keep me accountable?" And so that's your private life. And it doesn't have to be just with porn. If you're struggling with materialism, if you're struggling with competing, if you're struggling with bitterness and anger, then maybe you've done a good job to cover that up.

You confess your sins and ask for accountability and run this race together. Third area is the others only. That's your blind spot. This is an area that others see better than you. And this is an area that no one likes to be pointed out. So that's why it's so hard at home because your parents probably know this really well.

You may have done a great job presenting on the outside, but your parents kind of like, "Hey, what about this?" It's like, "I don't want to hear it." Your siblings will say it. And then usually they'll say it in a way that you don't like it. And then you come to church or a community and other people begin to kind of, "Hey, what about this?

How about this?" And so what ends up happening, you're a Christian, so you can't say, "I hate you." You're a Christian because that will ruin your public life. So what ends up doing is, "These are my acquaintances. You stay where you are. You stay where you are. I don't want to be in your small group.

I don't want to be near you. I don't want to go where you are. We'll keep a distance, but I'm a Christian. So I can't hate your guts." But we've done that until we get married and all of a sudden our husband starts to poke at it or your wife begins to poke at it.

And so in the past, you just kind of shun people and kept them at a distance, but you can't do that anymore with your wife and husband. And that's where the strife comes in. And that's an area where others only, that's your blind spot that we not only need to openly confess our sins, but be willing to be corrected by others when they say.

So if you are constantly saying, every time somebody says something you don't like, you say, "Ah, stop touching me." Maybe you should take a step back and ask, "And why do they keep saying this?" Because that may be your blind spot. So when an individual comes before God and asks, "Search me and know me," you're opening yourself up saying, "Lord, what is it in my life that is hindering me that maybe I know of that I'm hiding from other people?

Maybe I don't know of that other people have been trying to tell me. Search me and know me. What are the hindrances? What are the sins that so easily entangles?" And then there's an area of our life that only God knows. This is our hidden life. These are the things that we don't even know ourselves and other people don't see.

And when you get married and have children, you have no idea what kind of mother you would have been. So this is an area where when all four areas are exposed to God and we're asking God, "Lord, search me," then that's an individual who truly is trying to run this race and to win any encumbrance, anything, any sin that easily entangles.

In Matthew 24, verse 7, it says, "Because lawlessness will increase, most people's love will grow cold." You ever think about why with the increase of lawlessness, most people's love grow cold? You would think that because of wickedness that the church would be on fire. But he says, "No, most will grow cold." Why does it grow cold?

Because there's compromise. In order to have some of the world and some of God, and the more that they shift further away from God, you have to move further away from God too in order to have both or in your mind to have both. And that's why the increase of wickedness causes the love of most people will grow cold, meaning most people are living compromised already.

Most people are running the rat race and they've convinced themselves that they're not. That's why when the wickedness increases, we just naturally shift that direction. We drift toward that direction. First Timothy 1, 18-19, Paul tells Timothy, "I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concern you that by them you fight the good fight." He calls them to fight.

Let me ask you, would you say you're fighting for your faith? Or did you just sign up? You just happen to be on this boat that's coasting somewhere. What are you fighting for? Are you fighting to make the right investment? Are you fighting so that your children will be healthy and wealthy?

Are you fighting to have better retirement? What are you fighting for? Are we genuinely fighting? You know, when it says in Matthew 18, 8-9, I'm not going to read it for you, but in that passage where it says, "If your arm causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eyes causes you to continue to stumble, gouge it out." I mean, wow, that's pretty violent.

That's pretty gruesome. The point that Jesus was trying to make is that's how much he hates sin. That's how much he hates sin. God did not hate sin in the Old Testament and was fine with it in the New Testament. In fact, there's more required in the New Testament because we've been given more in the New Testament than the Old Testament since.

Because now we see clearly what Christ has done. Knowing everything that we know and we say, "Ah, okay, whatever." Every once in a while, we'll talk to a young guy who's struggling with porn and say, "Hey, why don't we put Covenant Eyes on?" So you guys know who Covenant Eyes is.

You put it on the computer and it kind of keeps each other accountable and shows other people what they're watching. Every once in a while, we'll get the answer, "I don't want that because it slows down my computer." So this sin of pornography is acceptable, but a slow computer is not.

You're not serious. So what you mean is you want to conquer this sin, the easiest path possible with the least sacrifice, enjoying everything that I enjoy, and I want this gone too. It doesn't exist. It does not exist. That statement in and of itself is like, "Fast computers are more important to me than purity.

Having easy access to everything that I need on the internet is more important to me than my walk with God." And that's why he says if these sins cause you to continually, repeatedly sin, he says we need to struggle even to the point of shedding blood. That's what he says in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 4.

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faith when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.

If you are allowing this sin to easily entangle and exist in your life, you are doing two things. One, either you are waiting for the discipline of God to come. You are allowing sin where because of the love of Christ, discipline will come. Or you're proving that you don't believe to begin with.

So it doesn't matter. Even if I live in sin, what matters is what you think of me. What matters is where I belong in this community. What matters is that I feel a sense of safety. But what God thinks doesn't matter, because I don't really believe. So it's either one or the other.

And either place is not safe. Every sin that we are so easily entangled with. In Matthew chapter 6, 11-13, I want you to pay very close attention to this Lord's prayer that we all know and many of you have memorized, and you may not have really understood what you were saying.

He says give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Meaning I'm going to depend on you. Don't give me wealth so I can have abundance in my bank account. Give me this day our daily bread. When you are praying that, you are not praying for wealth.

You are not praying for safety. You are not praying for comfort. You are not praying for retirement. You are praying that you would have just enough that you would depend on him daily. So you weren't praying for long, safe life. Give me this day our daily bread. You sure you want to pray that prayer?

And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. As we have forgiven our debtors. If we refuse to forgive other people, and then you say, Lord, forgive me of my sins, but punish them for their sins. You can't pray that prayer. You can't. He says, when you come before God asking for forgiveness, he says, as I have forgiven them.

So you can't ask for forgiveness if you are unwilling to forgive. Did you know that you were praying that? Here's a third. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. You notice here he says, he doesn't simply say deliver us from sin. Deliver us from temptation.

Deliver us from anything that is going to tempt me away from you. So you know when you pray that prayer, you know what you are asking? If this girl, if this guy is going to tempt me away from you, deliver me. Take me away from this. If this business is going to make you a lot of money, it's going to tempt you away from Christ, you are asking God to deliver you.

Take that money away from me. If this house that you are going to buy is going to tempt you away, where your heart is going to be filled with desires that have nothing to do with Christ, this Lord's prayer is asking, Lord, take that away from me. Take that away from me.

Deliver me from temptation. Lead me not into temptation. So when you are asking this prayer, you are praying that your primary thing that you desire more than anything else is to depend on him, to practice forgiveness, and to take off all encumbrance and all sin that entangles. Did you know that you were praying that?

Did you know that you were praying that you may be praying for poverty? You may be praying for sickness because maybe your health is causing you to be proud? Maybe your fat bank account and your nice life is causing your heart to draw away from Christ? And so you are praying, deliver me from this temptation.

Whatever temptation that you allow in your life that causes you to have your heart be hardened, Lord, deliver me from this. If you are not running the race that is before us, you do not want to pray this prayer because you don't want God to answer this prayer. You can only pray this prayer if you actually mean it, if you are running this race.

There is a story of a man who was struggling with purity and he decided to go to a bar where he knew that he was going to be solicited by prostitutes and he was sitting there by himself and a lady taps him on the shoulder, soliciting him, turns around and she is not very attractive.

So he turns around and prays, Lord, deliver me from this evil. So she disappears. Second one comes, taps him on the shoulder and soliciting him, he turns around and she is very attractive. But this time he turns around and says, Lord, let your will be done. He is already compromised when he went there.

He is already determined in his heart that that is what he wants. So many of us live in this juxtaposition of I want it all, I am going to have it all, I am going to keep it all, and I am going to go after all, but the Lord deliver me from this evil.

Let your will be done. I want to be pure but I don't want to have a slow computer. I want to honor Christ and I want to live all for Christ but Lord protect all that I have. Protect all that I have, all my children, everything that I have, that it would be under your umbrella of blessing.

When he says every encumbrance, every sin that easily entangles, the standard that we ought to be asking is are we committed to this? What fight are we fighting? And part of the reason why people don't ask and they don't have a problem going to India and giving it all up is because they recognize that we are in a battle.

Soldiers who are going into battle are not worried about the fluffiness of their pillow. Because the only single-minded focus is, is this going to help me in this battle? Or is this going to hinder me in this battle? And so that's what he is calling us to. It's because they were drifting back to a civilian life and that's why he tells Paul, Paul tells Timothy, right, to run in such a way, not to live like a civilian, as a good soldier of Christ, to persevere.

So let me finish with this. In Psalm 119 verse 9 through 11 it says, "How can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word? With all my heart I have sought you. Do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against you." Is that, can you say that that's your prayer?

With all my heart I have sought you. The problem, again, the temptation, the struggle that you and I have in this, where we live, yeah, we're seeking God, but not with all our heart. We pray, but not with urgency. We share the gospel, but we're not desperate. We're just doing it.

There's a difference if you've raised children when a child wants his mom or dad, you know, you ever get on the airplane and this child is like, "Mommy!" And then the parents just kind of shut it off, right? And then, you know, if you don't have kids you kind of like, you know, you get very impatient, "What's wrong with these parents?

Shut that kid up!" But the parents have a tendency, have a way, there's a mechanism to turn that off because they can't survive. Because if you have even one child or maybe you have five children or six and they all go through a stage where they're like, "Mommy, mommy," you know, they want your attention constantly.

You know, I drop my Cheerios, "Mommy, my Cheerios, you know, my brother took the bigger spoon. I wanted the bigger spoon. You know, he took more vanilla. I wanted vanilla. He took the chocolate, mommy." So because you hear that 24/7, you recognize what needs your attention and what doesn't need your attention, right?

So you have to learn to shut that off because you can't be jumping every time, "Oh, man, what do I do? I wanted to use that chopstick. You got my chopstick." You just can't turn it off. You just go do your business, right? But there's a kind of cry that your child cries that even if it's three in the morning, you know this is not a dribble.

This is not casual. "Mama! Daddy!" Even if it's three in the morning, even if you're sick, even if you didn't sleep at all, when you hear that cry, you jump and you pay attention because you know they need you. In the way that we live our lives, we may be, "God, there's a house again, and a house." And say, "Oh, God doesn't answer our prayer." Maybe that prayer doesn't need to be answered because I don't think you really care.

We haven't decided in our heart. We haven't decided to follow Christ. We've decided to be in the race. We've decided not to be judged, but we haven't decided to run this race to win. That's why if you're an individual who's not fighting to finish the race, anybody who's a cheerleader is like annoying because you're just trying to relax.

You're just trying to watch a movie. And then you hear somebody say, "Let's go! Let's go one more mile. We're almost there. Let's go. Don't do that. Don't stop for that. Put on the right shoes. Get in the work." And so if you're committed to this race, you want a cheerleader.

You want somebody to pump some energy into you to go. But if that's not you, you're just kind of like casually just like, "Come on, calm down. Dim the lights a little bit. Lower your voice. What's so important?" Even the way you listen to sermons is different depending on which race you're committed to.

If you're running to win, fellowship looks different. Your prayer life will look different. Your Bible studies will look different. Your evangelism will look different. But first and foremost, we have to decide, right, which race are we running? Are we in the rat race? Are we committed to the race that He has set before us?

Let's pray.