The doctrine is this; they that will have heaven, must run for it.

I say, that they that will have heaven, must run for it.  I beseech you to heed it well.  “Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize?” So run ye.  The prize is heaven; and if you will have it, you must run for it.  You have another scripture for this in the 12th of the Hebrews:  “Wherefore, seeing we also,” saith the apostle, “are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”  “And let us run,” saith he.  Again, saith Paul, “I so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.”

But before I go any farther, let me explain the Nature and Reasons of this Running.

As to its nature, this running is called,

1. Fleeing.  Observe, that this running, is not an ordinary, or any sort of running; but it is to be understood of the swiftest sort of running; and therefore in the 6th of the Hebrews, it is called a fleeing.  “That we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.”  Mark, “Who have fled.”  It is taken from that xxth of Joshua, concerning the man that was to flee to the city of refuge, when the avenger of blood was hard at his heels, to take vengeance on him for the offence he had committed.  Therefore it is a running or fleeing for one’s life; a running with all might and main, as we use to say. So run.

2. Pressing.  This running in another place is called a pressing.  “I press toward the mark;” (Phil. iii.;) which signifieth that they that will have heaven, must not stick at any difficulties they meet with; but press, crowd, and thrust through all, that may stand between heaven and their souls. So run.

3. Continuing.  This running is called in another place, a continuing in the way of life.  “If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.”  Not to run a little now and then, by fits and starts; or half-way; or almost thither; but to run for my life, to run through all difficulties, and to continue therein to the end of the race, which must be to the end of my life. “So run, that ye may obtain.”  And the REASONS for this point are these: 

1.  Because every one that runneth doth not obtain the prize.  There be many that do run, yea, and run far too, who yet miss the crown that standeth at the end of the race.  You know that all that run in a race do not obtain the victory; they all run, but one wins.  And so it is here; it is not every one that runneth, nor every one that seeketh, nor every one that striveth for the mastery, that hath it.  “Though a man do strive for the mastery,” saith Paul, “yet he is not crowned, unless he strive lawfully;” that is, unless he so run, and so strive, as to have God’s approbation.