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The End Times are coming! It is very evident from our readings today. In the Gospel reading, Scripture describes the Second Coming. The Gospel reading states that "THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING. We will see the "Son of Man" coming in clouds with His army of angels.

From the Book of Daniel, we hear his vision of the Judgment. God being described as the Ancient of Days, His robe is as white as snow and His hair like wool. The Ancient of Days takes His seat at the throne and opening up the books. It is interesting that we have the vision of God opening the "books". I am from the business world and if you want to know what a company is made of, or what it’s worth, or what kind of character the company has, ... the first thing you do is to audit the company by opening up the accounting books. In the last several years, there have been several companies that have fallen short when the books were opened up. The accounting books did not hold up to the court’s scrutiny. It must be stated that at the End Times, we are not talking about accounting books, but God’s book- that is the Book of Life. In John’s Book of Revelation (3:5), listen to Jesus statement: "He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." Is your name in the Book of Life? Will you measure up to the court! Your name is either in the Book of Life, or it’s NOT. There is no in-between! Heaven and Hell are very real places. This is the Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year and our focus is on the End Times.

We do not know when the Last Day will be, so what do we do in the meantime? The sermon text today is from the epistle reading in Hebrews regarding perseverance. Verse 1 reads:

1 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,

Listening to the words of the text, it describes a race with the grandstands filled with witnesses. I like to think of it as a marathon where the winner is not necessarily the person who wins the race, but the person who finishes the race. Victory is for those who finish the race; they are winners! Now, put yourself in the place of the runner. You are to run with endurance and finish the race. Will you finish the race, or will you drop out? It takes a lot of training to run and complete a marathon race. A marathon race is 26.2 miles. Most of us would not want to run a marathon, let alone walk it! This passage is telling you what we need to do while we wait for Christ to return. You need to view your life as a race,. . . setting aside things that will get in your way and keep you from winning the race? The Scripture says we are to set aside every encumbrance and sin that will get in our way. What sins in your life could cause you to lose the race? What sins could drive a wedge between you and God?

This week, I was at a local hardware store buying some pecan pickers so that my wife and I could enjoy picking pecans without having to keep bending over. I tell you, pecan pickers are great! While I was there, I enjoyed listening to a conversation between an older worker and a younger worker. The younger worker was talking about things you can do with pecan and walnut shells and how one local guy is always coming up with new ways to market the shells to make some money. It was at this point that the young man said that his life’s goal is to be a millionaire by the age of 31. This young hardware salesman has big plans laid out on how to accomplish this goal. The problem with his goal is that he has lost focus of God and gained focus on another god, . . . the god of money. When we are running the race, we need to set aside the sins that can trip us up and cause us not to finish the race. Are you chasing after dreams or goals that are not from God? We need to have a fighting spirit to resist things that will get in our way and cause us to quit. You need to stop committing the sins you commit through the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life. The process of becoming "Christ-like" is called sanctification. Many refer to this as "Your walk with God". Are you doing the things GOD wants you to do or are you doing the things YOU want to do? We often hear the phrase that "You not only need to talk the talk, but walk the walk". After all, Jesus rescued the adulterous woman from stoning and told her to "go and sin no more". We are to put off sin. Sure we will commit sins, but we are to turn from sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the "sanctification" process, but it is important to note that our desire, strength, and ability to grow in Christ through sanctification comes from God! It is God’s work in us and we do share a cooperation in sanctification. We cooperate in Sanctification, but not justification. It can become confusing because we say that you are saved by faith alone, and this is the work of God. This is true and it is called justification. When you are justified through the faith given to you by God, you are also sanctified by God and sanctification is a life long process. In the explanations of Luther’s Small Catechism, it describes this process: "The Holy Spirit sanctifies [you] in the true faith, that is, by faith He works a renewal of [your] whole life–in spirit, will, attitude, and desires–so that [you] now strive to overcome sin and do good works."¹ Getting back to the Hebrews passage, we are in a race and we are to set aside sins that entangle and encumber us. We are to run the race with endurance!

How many of us want to bow out of the race before it even begins? We are just ready to give up and go home? I ask where is the endurance? BEING A CHRISTIAN IS NOT EASY! We are to run the race and to run it with endurance. We are not talking about a physical race, but how we are to live our life. The book of John tells you "If you love Me, you will obey what I command." [John 14:15]

How do we run with endurance? This is answered in verse 2 of Hebrews reading.

^{"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God."}

Our endurance comes from fixing our eyes on Christ! We are to focus on Christ!

Keeping focused is vital in sports. I love baseball, and especially watching little league baseball. Many game winning scores are lost when the runner watches the ball in play instead of focusing on first base. There should be no other focus when you hit the ball other than looking at first base and running for your life as if a bear is chasing you. But..... many game winning scores are never made because the runner took his eyes off first base and watched the ball in play. The act of taking looking away and losing focus of first base caused the runner to slow down just enough to allow the baseball to reach first base before the runner. Also, in football... how many times do game-winning catches are dropped because the receiver took his eyes off the ball. This also applies to you. In your own life, we commit sins because we have taken our eyes off Christ. Sins are created when you follow your will instead of God’s will.

Why are we to keep our eyes on Christ? Because He has forgiven us and given us Salvation! It is Christ who gave you saving faith. Jesus is the author and perfecter of your faith. He loves you so much that he substituted His life to receive the punishment that you deserved. He endured the cross, despising the shame and He sits at the right hand of the throne of God. We are to run the race with endurance. In times of health problems, pain, family problems, marriage problems, work problems... KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED ON CHRIST. Don’t throw in the towel and quit! LIFE IS TOUGH! IS YOUR RACE HARD? . . . Focus on Christ! Jesus did not quit on you. He let the nails be hammered into His hands and feet. He died for your mistakes. We need to think of it from this perspective: Picture yourself doing something wrong and you got caught. You are sent to the bosses office to be fired, but instead... a new employee steps in and claims he did it and he is then fired. He took the punishment for you. That is exactly what Christ did for you on the cross. He took on all your sins and took the punishment for you. This is the Gospel. He died for your sins and instead of bring you punishment, He gives you faith, forgiveness, and eternal life! Jesus loves you very much. If you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, your name is in the Book of Life! You will not have to measure up to the courts standards because Jesus did it for you!

Jesus promised that He will return. Until he returns, that is...the day when "we see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory," we live each day for Christ by keeping our eyes fixed on Christ. The faith that Jesus has given you will endure to the end when you keep your eyes fixed on Christ. This faith comes to you today through His Word and brings you forgiveness of all your sins. You are forgiven!"