That I May Finish My Race

At this hour I want to speak to you about the apostle Paul's running his race and finishing his ministry well. I think that this message will be important for us to hear so that each of us will be able to do the same. The apostle Paul says in 1st Timothy 1, verse 16, that the reason that he obtained mercy from God was that in him first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Paul was saying that Christ had called him as sinner to learn, very really and very practically the truth about the greatness of the grace of Christ, not only in his conversion, but also in living his Christian life.
He would testify of the greatness of God's grace to him, and in Him. In this regard he would become a pattern for all those who are going to believe in Christ. To understand how he was a pattern, we must look more carefully at these words of our text. 1st of all – Paul is a pattern to all Christians in his going bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem. 2nd – Paul is a pattern to all Christians in his seeing his Christian life as a race. And 3rd – Paul is a pattern to all Christians in his testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. The Lord wants us to learn from Paul's life experience, and live it out in our lives so that we might glorify God. May each of us here receive these truths.