Please turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. We're actually moving through 2 Timothy in our evening service or services, but this particular passage I thought was fitting for this particular morning. 2 Timothy chapter 4, our focus will be on verses 6 to 8. But I'll begin reading in verse 1 to set it in its larger context. Hear now the word of the living and the true God.
I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing in His kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist.
Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and
Encouragement to All Believers
not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Be diligent to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica. Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.
Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm.
May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of Him, for He has greatly resisted our words. At my first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever.
Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila in the household of Anesiphorus. Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophimus I have left, and Miletus sick. Do your utmost to come before winter.
Ubulus greets you, as well as Putins, Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for the Word of God. We thank You that You've not left us in this world without this sure guide, without this holy revelation of the mind and the will of God for us. We thank You as well for the Spirit, and we pray that even now He would be active in this place, that You would guide us in our thoughts and our studies, that You would help us to receive with thanksgiving Your Word. She would encourage us as believers and challenge unbelievers and cause them to reflect upon their state before the judge, the righteous judge, who will come on that day to usher in the eternal state.
We pray, Father, that Your Spirit would indeed bring conviction for sin and the realization that Christ alone is able to save to the uttermost. We pray now that You would forgive us for all of our transgressions and all of our iniquities, all of our sinful rebellion against that holy law that our blessed Savior upholds in the Sermon on the Mount. We transgress God and we do not conform to what it says. So we confess that now and pray for cleansing in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that You would wash us and purify us and give us a love to do those things You call us to.
And we pray these things through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, thus ends the reading of the last words of the Apostle Paul. 2 Timothy is the last epistle written by Paul. We see in this passage, specifically, as we'll notice in a few moments, his consciousness and the reality that he's going to die. He is about to meet his Maker. He is about to go the way of all flesh.
Now, if you're like me, Paul is one of your heroes. In fact, I think it would be hard to find somebody in the churches of Christ, especially in the Reformed churches that didn't see Paul as a heroic figure, this brother who did tirelessly serve the glory of God and the concerns of God. We truly ought to acquaint ourselves with what he says in this passage, and it's sort of his dying words. Remember the context.
It's the last formal, official command that Paul gives to Timothy, and thus to the church. It is found in verse 2. Preach the Word. Timothy, I don't want you to be the most handsome fellow in Ephesus, the most kind fellow in Ephesus, the most gregarious fellow in Ephesus.
All those things have their place, but Timothy, your particular bent, the very purpose for which you stand, is to preach the Word, to be ready in season and out of season, and do it with a specific manner. Convince people, rebuke people, exhort, and be a patient man, and do it with doctrine. And then Paul gives three reasons why Timothy and the Church are to engage in faithful proclamation. The first is that men will not endure sound doctrine.
There will come times in the seasons or in the history of the Church where the Church itself will not endure sound doctrine. So what is Paul's remedy? Preach sound doctrine. It's not up to the church to write their own prescriptions any more than it's up to the patient to write his own prescription.
You do what is most needful and most necessary for the church. You preach to them. As well, Timothy, this is your ministry. Timothy, this is what you have been called to.
This is what God made you for. Verse 5, you be watchful in all things. Endure affliction. Do the work of an evangelist.
Fulfill your ministry. So there will be defection from the truth, therefore preach it. Timothy, this is the very nature of your ministry, so preach it. And in the third place, verses 6-8, Paul is about to die.
Therefore, preach it. The Apostle wants that in every generation there would be a faithful proclamation of the truth of God's Holy Word. And that's the context of verses 6 and 8. I want to look at this under three considerations, as I believe the Apostle is doing.
He reflects upon his present situation in verse 6. and then his past perseverance in verse 7, and then on his future hope in verse 8. And that future hope is the hope of the resurrection. We see how it functions here, the doctrine of the resurrection, the reality that one day we will be in the presence of God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ. That ought to affect us in the here and the now.
Paul's Present Situation
So let's look first at the Apostle's present situation in verse 6. He says, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. Now the language that he uses is right from the Old Testament. It is Old Testament ceremonial language.
Remember that when sacrifices or offerings were presented, there would oftentimes be a drink offering. There would be a libation poured out to accompany that.
Poured Out as a Drink Offering
More than likely, the apostle is referring to his own blood spilled in martyrdom. As I mentioned in the last hour, brethren, we oftentimes get very offended when we are not fawned over by society. When we suffer the least amount of resistance to our profession and to our lifestyles as Christians, we just go blogging about it, or Facebooking about it, or tweeting about it, or telling everybody about it. The sorts of persecutions and afflictions that we have are certainly real.
But brethren, we're not dying for the cause of Jesus Christ. We're not having our throats cut. We're not having our heads chopped off. We are not, at this present moment, being poured out as a drink offering.
Paul uses the same convention in Philippians 2.17. He uses the same imagery and the same language there. But in Philippians, in his first imprisonment, it was a possibility, but it wasn't a certainty. Here in 2 Timothy, in his second imprisonment, it has now become a certainty.
Paul knows that he's going to die. Paul knows that he's going to be poured out as a drink offering. And the fact is, it's not an offering or a sacrifice, if your translation translates it that way, that is redemptive, it's not atoning, it's not anything like that. It's his service to Christ.
It is to confirm the faith of the church. It is to advance the cause of God and truth in this lower world. The fact that it is imminent or certain doesn't mean it is immediate, because in verses 9 and following, he tells Timothy to come and visit him. Bring my cloak.
It gets cold in a prison that's not heated by B.C. Hydro. And also bring the books, especially the parchments. Paul, in the eleventh hour, wants to study theology.
Isn't that beautiful? When we get there, I have a quote from Spurgeon that I think is most appropriate and most fitting. You know, he knows it's certain. He's going to die, but it's not immediate in the sense that it's going to happen that afternoon.
It may happen that afternoon, but more than likely, it will not.
The Time of My Departure
And then he uses another verb or another statement at the end of verse 6, "...and the time of my departure is at hand." The word departure is a metaphor. It's an image for death. Specifically, it essentially refers to loosening of something, such as the mooring ropes of a ship or the ropes of a tent. So it's that use in language, but it takes on the metaphorical meaning of dying.
So the boat is now loosed by the ropes and it's going to drift out to sea. The tent that has stood the test of time is now going to be taken down. Paul knows that his time for departure is at hand. John Fox records concerning the man who was the Caesar over Rome at this particular time when Paul wrote.
It was Nero. John Fox in his famous book, Fox's Book of Martyrs, writes, the first of ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about AD 64. This is about the time that Paul is writing. His rage against Christians was so fierce that Eusebius records, A man might then see cities full of men's bodies, the old lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked, without reverence of that sex, in the open streets.
Many Christians in those days thought that Nero was the Antichrist because of his cruelty and abominations. John Fox goes on to say, Paul also suffered under this persecution when Nero sent two of his esquires, Pharaoh and Parthenius, to bring him to his execution. They found Paul instructing the people and asked him to pray for them so they might believe. Receiving Paul's assurance that they would soon be baptized, the two men led him out of the city to the place of execution where Paul was beheaded.
So when he says, I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand, history tells us that the way of his departure was not in his sleep. It wasn't under the watchful care of the local nurse. It was through the beheading sword of Nero, that beast, that was ferocious against the very people of God Most High. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering.
The time of my departure is at hand. Do not forget the context. Preach the Word, Timothy. Be ready in season and out of season.
Because the church will defect. Because it's the nature of your ministry. And because I am going to die. In the eleventh hour, what mattered for Paul was not his personal effects.
In the eleventh hour, what mattered for Paul was not his personal peace or his personal comfort. What mattered for the apostle was the peace of Zion, the glory of Christ in his church. Timothy preached the word because I'm going to die and I don't want to leave the reins to men who are more about tickling ears. I don't want to leave the reins to men who are more about being fawned over by the masses.
I want you to be a faithful preacher of the truth, Timothy. I want you to convince, I want you to rebuke, I want you to exhort, and I want you to do it with all longsuffering and teaching, Timothy. Because I'm about to die. That's the context.
Paul's Past Perseverance
Now note, this causes him to reflect upon his past perseverance in one of the most sublime and most excellent statements in all of the Bible. I mean, as we read verse 7, and then we read verse 9, who do you want to be? Who do you want to be? I remember preaching concerning David and Goliath, and noting that Saul and the armies of Israel are hiding, and they're cowering, and they're quivering, and they're frightful, and they're fearful because they see this Philistine giant.
And David walks up and he says, who is this uncircumcised wretch who taunts the armies of the living God? And I pressed upon us all to consider, who would you rather be, a David or a Saul? The man who mans up and fights Goliath, or the man who's found behind the bush with his knees shaking. If you're a woman, what kind of a man do you want to marry?
Do you want to marry David, the hero of Israel, who cuts the head off of Goliath? Or do you want to marry Saul, this quivering coward that's hiding behind a bush? The same thing here, brethren. Verse 7, when Paul says, I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Do you want to identify with that or Demas in verse 9? Demas having loved this present world.
Demas who at one time made the good confession. Demas who at one time confessed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He turned his back upon Jesus and he sought out this world. What kind of a man or a woman do you want to be?
Well, I submit to you that Paul could only say what he says in the eleventh hour here, because he was consistent from the first hour to the tenth hour. You will never say, I have fought the good fight, if you're not presently fighting the good fight. You will never say, I have finished the race, if you are not presently running the race. You will never say, I have kept the faith, if you are not presently keeping the faith.
You see the direct correlation here. Paul is saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that alone. That grace, however, enables him to run. It enables him to fight.
It enables him to keep. It enables him, through those hours 1 to 10, to get to the 11, to be able to reflect upon his past. Notice he doesn't say, I've been perfect. Notice there's not a hint of triumphalism here.
He owes it all to the glory and the grace of God. He's not boasting. He's not an arrogant man at this particular point. It would be very hard to reconcile the champion of free grace with a boasting attitude in the eleventh hour.
Paul knew by grace he stood. Paul knew by grace he fought. Paul knew by grace he ran. Paul knew by grace he kept.
But in a very succinct statement, in verse 7, he's able to reflect upon his past history in this most sublime and most excellent way. He says, I have fought the good fight. Isn't that beautiful? Don't you want to say that when you're done?
Don't you want to say that in your eleventh hour? Don't you want to be able to look at your wife or your husband or your children and say, I have fought the good fight. And them say, wait, I never saw you do that when you were alive. I saw you give in to sexual sin.
I saw you give in to lies. I saw you give in to abuse. I saw you negligent. I saw you lazy.
How in the world can you ever tell me that you have fought the good fight? You see, none of us ever asks the question of Paul, what do you mean? We know what he means, don't we? We know what he means when he says, I have fought the good fight.
Imagery that he uses in 1 Corinthians 9. He says, I run with certainty, and I don't fight as a shadow boxer. I fight definitively, and I do so. I run and I fight, not so I can get a participation trophy, not so I can be acknowledged as egalitarian with everybody else, but that I may win.
When I run races, I don't run just to participate. I run to win. When I get in the ring with another man, I don't get in that ring simply to say, I did it. I do it to beat him.
That's Paul's attitude. I have fought the good fight. Again, brethren, will you say that in your eleventh hour? Not if you're not fighting it now.
Not if you're giving in to temptation. Not if you're giving in to Satan. Not if you're not, you know, doing the very things we were just exhorted from Matthew 5. Paul's able to say at the eleventh hour because in hours one to ten he plucked out right eyes.
He cut off right hands. He reconciled with brethren. He did what was stipulated concerning Christ's people. What's going to be your legacy?
What will you be able to say? Will you be able to have it written on your tombstone? This one, fought the good fight. Why is it a good fight?
Because it's God's fight. It's for the cause of God and truth. And Paul has admonished Timothy to function as a good soldier of Jesus Christ several times in his epistles to Timothy.
I Have Finished the Race
Paul says, I have fought the good fight. Notice, he says, I have finished the race. That's going to be a great time, isn't it? When he can say, I finished the race.
I'm done. I'm done. Again, he's not boastful, he's not arrogant, he's not saying, aren't I a great guy? He is indebted to sovereign grace consistently.
He fought because of God's grace. He ran because of God's grace. I have finished the race. Again, 1 Corinthians 9 is parallel, but there's a statement that is strictly parallel in the book of Acts.
In chapter 20, I mentioned this morning, it's the first pastor's conference when Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. And from Ephesus, he calls to Miletus and he tells the elders to come. And he preaches to those elders. And one of the things that Paul says to those elders, specifically in verse 24, he says, but none of these things move me.
You know what the none of these things move me in the context are? Its chains and tribulations and punishment and pain and affliction and suffering await you in every city, Paul. Remember, Agabus took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and says to the apostle, the Holy Spirit has testified, the owner of this belt will be bound. People are weeping and crying, and Paul says, why do you weep and cry and break my heart?
I've got ministry to engage in. Well, here in that first pastor's conference, he says, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself. Brethren, that is contra, oftentimes, the report of God's people. We oftentimes value our lives much higher than the kingdom of God.
We oftentimes crave our comfort and our ease, the least amount of discomfort, and we're willing to forsake God. I was musing on this recently, that time when Jesus heals that woman in the synagogue, and everybody starts to get all up in her grill, and they start to complain, and they start to whine, and they start to grumble, and Jesus silences the multitude, and He says to them, this daughter of Abraham has been bent over bleeding for 18 years. Y'all would fish your ox out of a trench on the Sabbath day. Is it not right to heal this daughter of Abraham, who for 18 years, and he even says, think of it, has been bound day and night?
Do you know what's really intriguing? Guess where she is? She's in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Bent over with internal bleeding, and she's in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
That's an ethic, brethren, that shouldn't just be confined to the New Testament. Our Christ is most glorious. Our Christ has infinite worth. Our Christ is most excellent.
And when our Christ bids us to come, to worship, to sup at the supper, Shall we say, oh, but I've got this malady, I've got this pain, and again, I don't want to denigrate anybody's maladies or pains, but we all ought to look inside ourselves and say, is there something like that woman in me? Or is there something like this apostle in me? Back to the text, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Again, he's able to say at the eleventh hour, I have finished the race, because he's ran successfully hours one to ten. Those who have been here for a long time will know what I'm about to say.
Many, many years ago, I read a meditation or a devotional called The Middle Mile. And the author of that particular devotional said, when you look at a running race, for instance, there's pomp and there's splendor and there's show at the beginning and at the end, isn't there? I mean, everybody wants to see how the race starts, right? They want to see who's involved in the race.
They want to cheer their guy or girl on. And, of course, the finish line. Everybody wants to be there to see who comes in first. It's that middle mile that nobody pays attention to.
You don't see persons, you know, halfway through saying, OK, go, Billy or Johnny. No, that's just not the case. It is the middle mile which breaks or makes the man. Right?
And Paul could come in victoriously because he was faithful in the middle mile. He got up every day, he sought the Lord God, he was faithful in his ministry, he went to bed at night. He did that for the 40 or the 50 years that he was a believer in Jesus Christ. He didn't whine, he didn't grumble, he didn't complain, he did what he was supposed to do.
The first mile, anybody can look good. The last mile, anybody can look good. It is the middle mile which breaks or makes the man. He said, I have finished the race.
Are you going to be able to say that? I was talking to Micah, my son, recently. He said, we have this shin dig for one of the commanding officers on the base. And when we have such shin digs, we have to stand at parade rest.
Parade rest simply means your legs are about shoulder width apart and you stand. Well, they give you some encouragement on how to stand there for an hour and a half. If you lock your legs, you may cut off circulation and fall over. I mean, this was a rookie mistake in basic training.
You'd see guys, you know, just drop like flies. Because they locked their legs, they didn't wiggle their toes, they didn't try to keep from having things seize up on them. Micah said, of course, at this parade rest, there were a couple of guys who fell down. And then Micah shared with me something interesting.
He said, Dad, I think that a record of that should be placed in their personal information file. And that when the military comes to cut persons, they cut them first. Because if you can't stand for an hour and a half, you're not going to march into battle against vicious enemies and cut off heads and break things and do what you're supposed to do. You see, brethren, everybody wants to be the victor.
But don't nobody want to get up early, deny their flesh, and do what God says? Everybody wants to be a hero in Christ's church, but gouging out eyes and cutting off hands so I can maintain sexual fidelity, that just seems to be a bit of a stretch. Brethren, that's what faithful fighters and faithful runners do.
I Have Kept the Faith
And then notice he says thirdly, I've kept the faith. This could go two ways. Subjectively, I have continued to believe the truth. Or objectively, I as an apostle have fought for and kept and defended the apostolic deposit of faith or truth.
I think it's both. Paul personally always believed by the grace of God the great realities concerning Christ's life and death and resurrection. Paul understood the continuity between both Old and New Testaments. Paul saw Jesus as the hope of Israel.
Paul saw Jesus as the answer to the Abrahamic Covenant, as the Davidic Covenant. Paul saw Jesus as the fulfillment and the realization of that skull-crushing seed of the woman from Genesis 3.15. He believed that day in and day out. And he fought for it.
He went into synagogues and he fought for it. He stood up against unbelieving Jews and he fought for it. He stood up against unbelieving pagans and what did he do? He fought for it.
So he personally believed it and he kept it. He kept it pure. He kept it intact. He garnered that good deposit that God had given to him.
The very same sorts of things that Paul urges upon Timothy. Keep that which has been entrusted to you. Guard that pattern of sound words. Retain the standard, Paul says to Timothy.
Why, Paul? Why keep the faith? Because if sinners don't hear the truth of the gospel, they'll perish under the wrath and fury of God. That's what moved him.
None of these things move me. My personal comfort, my personal leisure, my time on the tee. No, that's not what moves me. What moves me is the reality that I must testify concerning the grace of God, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because if sinners continue to live the way they live, they will perish under the wrath and fury of God. You see, Paul is the real deal. And before we move on, I'll ask you again, isn't this what you want? Isn't this what you want?
Isn't this what you crave? Do you want it to be said of you? Yeah, at one point, he professed the good faith, but like Demas, he has loved this present world. Now, we don't know what happened to Demas, but as Tozer says, the last recorded statement we have is that he loved this present world.
Did he repent? Did he forsake? Did he come back? We don't know, but the last recorded statement under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit ought to produce fear and terror in all of our hearts.
He loved this present world. What will be written of you? What will be celebrated of you? Will it be the case that at your funeral the minister or the family will be able to stand up and say, you know, he was imperfect, he was a wretch, he had his issues, he had his challenges, but the general tenor of his life was that he fought, was that he finished, and that he kept.
And he was able to do that in the eleventh hour because he had done it faithfully from the time he confessed saving faith in the Lord Jesus to the time he laid his head down in death. Brethren, that's what's missing today. We all want notoriety. We all want popularity.
We all want the easy way. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the little book called The Celestial Railroad. Remember Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress? How did pilgrims get to the Celestial City?
They persevered. They went through the slough of Despond. They went into Doubting Castle. They met Giant Despair.
They fought. They ran. They had to keep. Hawthorne writes the Celestial Railroad.
Oh, in these days, we take the train to the Celestial City. These days, we can't be bothered with the slew of despond. These days, we don't have time for, you know, giant despair. These days, it's all about comfort and leisure and ease, so we get on the Amtrak, and it takes us right off in to the celestial city.
Now, that was when Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, we've far surpassed trains. We take jets now, first-class jets. We like our champagne cool, and we like our roast hot, and we like our feet rubbed, and we like everything all tending to us and our comfort and our ease. That's not the tenor of the apostle.
I have fought, I have finished, I have kept. If our Christianity isn't of the militant sort that we find in the New Testament, it may not be the real deal.
Paul's Future Hope
Notice the Apostle's future hope. He speaks of the crown. Notice in verse 8, Finally, finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. The imagery of the games continues.
The runner in the race received a crown. In Paul's time, that crown would be a wreath of laurel leaves. That prize would involve tickets to the theater. That prize would be some fleeting moment in the limelight.
Paul uses the imagery both of the games and of the crown, or the reward that comes after having successfully run in the games, and here he refers to this crown of righteousness. He does something similar in Philippians 3, 13 and 14. He says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I love that picture.
I cannot but help when I am given that image in Philippians 3, 13 and 14, the runner who is just reaching. The veins are popping out, the heart is pounding, the sweat is dripping. He says, I'm not thinking about what's in the past. I'm not thinking about that, this or the other.
He says, I don't count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. Lloyd-Jones on this is beautiful. One thing I do. What's the one thing you do?
Comfort? Ease? Pleasure? What's the one thing you do?
Whine? Rumble? Complain? The one thing Paul does is he sees that there is this prize and he runs by the grace of God.
He is not going to stop. He is not going to be deterred. He is not going to be stayed. He is not going to be resisted.
There is a prize, and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has saved me to receive this prize, so I am going to run. I am going to run like grease lightning, He says, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Here in our text, he refers to this laid up for me, this crown of righteousness.
The Crown of Righteousness
Some see here something that we've done. You know, we've been righteous based on the light of knowledge that we've had, based on God's work in us, but that righteousness now entitles us to receive this crown. If we divorce this righteousness from the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we are fools. The only reason this crown of righteousness is handed to us on that day is because of the righteous work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gil says, and this is called the crown of righteousness because it comes through the righteousness of Christ. It is that which gives a right unto it and without which it cannot be enjoyed. Calvin deals with those who see that it's not only our faith in Christ, but to some degree, our works. He sees those who sort of mingle the two.
Yes, you've had faith. Yes, you've done well. Therefore, here's your crown. That's not how it works.
He cites Augustine, that early church father, and I love what Augustine says, commenting on this text. How would God render the crown as a righteous judge if He had not first given grace as a merciful Father? And how would there have been righteousness in us had it not been preceded by the grace which justifies us? And how would that crown have been rendered as due had not all that we have been given when it was not due?
It's because of the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ that when we, by grace, say, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, we lay our heads down in death, and we awaken the presence of the Lord, and He gives us this crown of righteousness. It's a beautiful image, isn't it? It's the hope of the resurrection. You see,
Christ: Motive for the Race
Paul didn't fight, Paul didn't run, and Paul didn't keep because he was a monk. Paul didn't fight, Paul didn't run, and Paul didn't keep because he was an ascetic. Because he thought somehow that there was good in pain. No, Paul fought, Paul ran, and Paul kept because of the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ. because of the excellence of our beloved Savior, because of the presence that we will have with Him when He welcomes us into that blessed place.
And notice that He ascribes judgment to our Lord Jesus, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me. You see, Christ is going to be the one. He tells us in John 5. We see it in Acts 17.
We see it scattered throughout the New Testament. The Lord God Almighty, the Father, has stationed the Son as the judge of the living and the dead. It is Christ you will gaze your eyes upon. And it's Christ that will be able to say, not at the crown He gifted, but on His pierced hand, the Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land.
But notice, Paul doesn't stop. This is where it comes to us. Very practical. He says, not to me only, but to other fighters, to other runners, to other keepers.
It's not just unique to the Apostle Paul. He's not the only one that receives this crown of righteousness. Paul holds out encouragement both to Timothy and to the church as a whole. Paul holds out at the end of verse 8 encouragement to each and every one of us.
Do we think like this, brethren? Do we fight? Do we run? Do we keep with a view to this crown?
Do we fight? Do we run? And do we keep with the knowledge that there was the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, that there are prizes and blessings and rewards and benefits and good things we haven't even begun to consider? Paul was right.
We have a momentary light affliction in comparison with the exceeding weight of glory that we will receive. You see, the Christian life isn't just about suffering. It isn't just about affliction. It isn't just about trial.
It isn't just gouging out the eyes and chopping off the hands. It isn't just about reconciling with brethren. It isn't just about attending to the means of grace. It is, at the very end, ultimately, to hear our beloved Savior say to us, well done, good and faithful servant.
And that's not because we're good and faithful, but because He's good and faithful, and we have union and communion with Him. And when the Father sees us in Christ, we are pleasing in His sight. It's truly amazing what lay in our future. So you see there's nothing noble about get up at 5 and read 15 chapters of the Bible and then go sit on a pole all day and suffer and sweat.
No, that's not what Paul did. You see what he says in Acts 20? When he runs this race, he does it with what? He does it with joy.
See, we have this idea that fighting the good fight and running the race and keeping the faith, we've got this scowl on our face and this grimace on our face and we look like the most miserable specimens that ever graced God's green earth. No, we do it with joy. We run the race with happiness that we're even in the race by God's grace. We fight the good fight with joy because it's a good fight.
We keep the faith because it is the cause of God and truth. And it's everything. There's a joy involved. There's a happiness involved.
You know, when Samson is battling Philistines, I doubt he's got a big smile on his face, but he is killing these Philistines for the glory of the God of Israel. There's a peace and a joy that comes from that. Brethren, that's what Paul communicates here. It's not only to me, but Also, to all who have loved his appearing.
The Apostle encourages Timothy and all believers with this statement. There is a crown in our future. So get up tomorrow. Be faithful today.
Fight onward. Fight manfully. I don't care what your status, station or vocation is. You say, but I'm a housewife.
Then fight the good fight. Run the race. Keep the faith. So those little children have a model of that.
They see it. You commend it in your life. You do it with happiness. You do it with joy.
You say, well, I'm a man and my job is pretty menial, and I'm not a pastor, I'm not a priest. This text has nothing to do with that. Wherever we find ourselves, in whatever vocation, there is plenty of fighting to do. There is plenty of running to do, and there is plenty of keeping to do.
Think concerning this crown of righteousness, which is laid up for you. I love the language. He personalizes. He says, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me.
And on that day, not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Believers! The appearing here isn't the incarnation. The appearing here is the second coming of our beloved Lord Jesus.
And the loving His appearing could also be rendered longed for His appearing. Do you long for the appearing of Jesus? Do you love the thought that Jesus is going to come again in glory? I know on a pretty bad day we all have that thought, don't we?
We get out of bed and we're miserable, and everything we do just seems to go wrong, and by 10 o'clock we're saying, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Deliver me from this day. It's probably the worst I've had, and I'd love nothing more than for You to come on this day. I'm sure we all have that, don't we?
Oh, no, not us, brother. OK, I've had that. You know, 9.30, I'm saying, OK, Jesus, you come at 9.31, I'd be ready to go. I just want this day to end.
Well, Jesus isn't our cosmic day-ending genie that does whatever we want. But is there in our hearts, is there in our Constitution, is there in us as believers this longing, this loving, This desire for the Lord of glory to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, to deal with His enemies, to bless His church, to vindicate His name and bring honor to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Is that what makes you tick? Is that what motivates?
Is that what fires you up? Or is it the latest release of the iPhone 6? Is it the high score on Candy Crush? Is it the Canucks?
What is it that drives us? What is that one thing? What is it that moves us to fight, to run, and to keep? It ought to be a view of the glory of our Lord Jesus.
It ought to be a view of the fact that He is going to gift us this crown of righteousness on that day. We are identified in the text as those who have loved His appearing, those who long for His appearing. We don't say, Lord Jesus, you can come in 23 years, because by then I will have built a great company, believe me. You won't come in 23 years because I'll have satisfied all of my educational goals.
Come in 23 years because I'll... No! He comes right now, we'd be thrilled! We would be joyous, we would be ecstatic because that's what we've been created for.
We've not been created for the new iPhone. We've not been created for the Candy Crush saga. We have not been created for the Canucks. We have been created to worship our God.
We departed in Adam. We died in Adam. Christ comes and saves us. He redeems us.
What's the grand purpose of our redemption? It's that we may honor and glorify and praise Him. That we may worship Him. That we may desire Him.
That's how Paul describes us in this passage. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing. It may not be the sense that every single moment, every single day, I mean, some of us fall downstairs and we get coffee, but as the tenor of our life, what is our focus? What is our motivation?
What drives us? Why do we chop off hands and why do we gouge out eyes, assuming we do so? And if we don't, why? Why aren't we dealing with our sin the way our Jesus commands us?
We have been saved to testify what a great and glorious God He is. We need to be about that. Fight. Run.
Keep. Say it in the eleventh hour because you said it every single day up to that hour. That's the grand design, brethren, in our Christian lives.
Application
Well, in conclusion, we learn. I hope we learn something of the example of the Apostle Paul. I maintain, I submit, and I'll say it until I'm dead, that the only reason that Paul could say what he says here in 2 Timothy 4, 7, is because every single day he was faithful. Notice I'm not saying he was perfect.
Notice I'm not saying that he floated on clouds and strummed a harp. Notice I'm not saying that. He persevered. He got up, he did what he was supposed to do, he went back to bed, he got up the next morning and did what he was supposed to do.
See, in my mind, brethren, the key, the trick, the help in the Christian life is to get it in your head that you've got to do what you're doing now, if you're doing it right, for the next 40 or 50 years. Because probably Jesus isn't coming back at 1231. I mean, if he does, that would be fantastic. But more than likely, you're going to go home, you're going to burn food, your kids are going to scream tomorrow, they're going to barf on you, they're going to say things to you.
If you're a man, you're going to get passed over for a promotion that you deserve. You've just got to be faithful. Anybody ever say, what's the key to the Christian life? I don't think there's a key.
There's a ring with a bunch of keys, as Albert M. Martin says. Certainly one of those keys is faithfulness. Certainly one of those keys is doing what you say you're going to do.
Human earthly commitments somehow get lost in the church. I think at times we deal with the church the way we wouldn't deal with our employers, we wouldn't deal with family. It's hard to believe that we're going to fight the good fight and battle ISIS if necessary, at least spiritually speaking, if we can't stand at parade rest for an hour. If we can't do the bare minimums that God asks us in the Christian life consistently and faithfully, why in the world do we think we're going to be Samson going toe-to-toe with a thousand Philistines?
We're not. Didn't Jesus give us the rule that those who are faithful in little are faithful in much? If you're not faithful in little, you're probably never going to be used for much. You say, well, that offends me, Pastor.
I'm sorry. Seek by the grace of God to be faithful. Fight, run, keep. Paul could say this in the 11th because he said it in hours 1 to 10.
Terms of believers. Don't you want to be able to say this? Really, take this home with you. I sometimes think, right after we say Amen, boy, all I hear is running and playing and yelling and I'm not saying kids just sit there like bumps on logs.
Do we remember sermons? Do we ponder the sermon? Do we think through things that we've heard? It's good exercise over lunch while you're enjoying your wife's cooking.
Not choking it down, but you're enjoying your wife's cooking. Hey, how does that sermon speak to you? You know, I haven't been fighting the good fight like I ought, man. I haven't been reading my Bible.
I haven't been praying. I miss Churchill. For no good reason. By the grace of God, I'm going to fight.
Are you running the race? Are you keeping the faith? Are you striving to be what Paul was by the grace of God? Or have you embraced this laziness, this North Americanism, this sort of, I can say Jesus, so all is well with my soul?
That's not what we find in the Scriptures. We find fighting men, we find running men, we find keeping men. Do you strive to live in such a way now that you will be able to say what the Apostle Paul said in the eleventh hour? Is this true of you?
Again, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to be an enemy. I had to preach this sermon to me. I got a lot of repenting to do myself.
I don't think any of us read a text, wow, that describes me. Boy, aren't I happy. That's not it. I am your friend this morning as a fellow runner, fighter and keeper to encourage us all to press on.
As well, do you love long for the appearing of Christ. You look forward to receiving this crown of righteousness. That's something you ponder on occasion. Again, I doubt any of us ever, all day long, think about the crown of righteousness.
You know, we've got things to do and we've got to do the things that our employers pay us to do. You're paid to make widgets. You don't stand there pondering the crown of righteousness. You make widgets.
That's what you're paid for. But at some point, in some context, in some relation, in some place, you're thinking about heaven, you're thinking about your Savior, you're thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ. As well, in this passage, and I sought to keep it in the context, we ought to be encouraged as a church, or exhorted as a church. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth, 1 Timothy 3.15.
The church is sustained as the pillar and ground of the truth by the Spirit and the truth. The church has been tasked with some simple things. Not changing the world, not being political revolutionaries, but being faithful to the calling that God has given to us. You ever just look out at the religious landscape, and I do with the political landscape as well, and you think, how could people be so foolish?
I mean, it's crazy, isn't it? You see news article after news article, you see people that just do foolish things. You know what? I can't worry about that.
I have to keep this heart with all diligence or whatever side it's on. Knowing that from it spring the issues of life. We can't fix the entirety of Zion, but by God's grace we can seek to be faithful here in Chilliwack. We can preach the Word.
We can be ready in season and out of season. We can convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. We can know that there will be seasons and times of defection and apostasy from the truth. And that does not change our marching orders.
We still preach the truth. Gospel ministers need to embrace what they were made to do, according to verse 5. They need to be watchful in all things. They need to endure afflictions.
They need to do the work of evangelists, and they need to fulfill their ministry. They need to understand that Paul is gone. Timothy is gone. Spurgeon is gone.
Gil is gone. We can't say, well, only if Spurgeon... We've got to take up the baton and be faithful. We'll never be a Spurgeon, we'll never be a Gil, we'll certainly never be a Paul, but we can be faithful in what God has called us to do.
And for any and all who are here this morning that are not believers in Jesus Christ, before you say, okay, there he goes again, picking on me, just listen to what I have to say. I want you to first consider the infinite worth, glory, and excellence of Jesus Christ. Why would a first century rabbi go what he went through? I mean, when we read 2 Timothy 4.6, and Paul says, you know, I'm being poured out as a drink offering, the time of my departure is at hand.
If we read 2 Corinthians 11, we're not surprised. We're not going, wow, how did these terrible things happen to this person? He's had a life of misery. He's had a life of affliction.
He's had a life of pain. He's had a life where he was stoned, where he was shipwrecked, where he was in trouble by his countrymen and by, you know, troubles in the church. He had a lot of challenges and issues. Why does he do this?
For the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. You've got to consider that. Look at Philippians 3 for just a moment, where Paul gives us a bit more concerning his own autobiography, his own life story. Paul, let us know what you're about.
He says, if ever there was a Jew who could have earned his way into heaven, I was that Jew. Basically, that's what he says in Philippians 3. Why? Because he wants to destroy the notion that people can think they can earn their way into heaven.
There's these people called Judaizers, and they're going to come to the church, and they'll tell you it's good to believe in Jesus, but you must also work your way to heaven. You must get circumcised, you must obey those ceremonies. You've got to mix faith plus words in order to be saved. Paul said, if that was the case, I could have done it.
I was a good Jew. I was born in the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin. Concerning the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted the church, I had everything going on.
If you looked at Paul before Christ in the first century, you would say, this is an accomplished man. This is a man with a religious resume that ought to be imitated. This is a man who is a sterling specimen of a human being. So why would he give that up?
Why would he go to being public enemy number one? Why would he go to being hunted and chased? Why would he go to being imprisoned and stoned and shipwrecked? Why would he do that?
Well, he says in verse 7, Philippians 3, But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. You see, if you're an unbeliever here this morning, you're living for something.
There is something that captivates your heart. There is something that holds on to you. There is something. It may not be as mundane as an iPhone or Candy Crush or the Canucks.
It may be a guy. It may be a girl. It may be a drug. It may be a drink.
It may be pride. It may be arrogance. It may be self-righteousness. There may be something that's got a hold of your heart, that has you enslaved. that has its foot on your neck, you need to consider the infinite worth, the glory, and the excellence of Jesus Christ.
He's much better than an iPhone. He's much better than any guy or girl. He's certainly better than Candy Crush. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord and the Giver of life.
That's why Paul did what he did. That's why Paul fought and ran and kept, because he tells us that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him. There's something more excellent to know than the things you presently know, and that is Him. So consider that.
As well, consider the certainty of the Day of Judgment. 2 Timothy chapter 4 not only holds out blessings to believers on that day, but conversely holds out terror to unbelievers on that day. Now, pop culture has taught us that the apocalypse will somehow involve zombies. Or the apocalypse will somehow involve the rise of the machines. or the apocalypse, which simply means revelation, will involve some sort of dystopian nightmare. No, it's a nightmare far greater than zombies, far greater than Skynet, far greater than any dystopia that they can weave in a book.
It is the righteous judge that Paul describes. He will face you on that day. And if you have not by His grace believed, He will cast you off. There will be no crown of righteousness given to you.
There will be no eternal blessing. There will be no eternal joy. There will be banishment from the presence of the Almighty God. That's terrifying.
I dare say, machines, zombies, or dystopia would be far more preferable than the one who is able to not only kill body, but to kill the soul in hell. Fear him, Jesus says in Matthew 10. And finally, consider the way he's described in our text. He is the righteous judge.
If you continue in unbelief, if you continue in your own path, if you continue as an idolater to any of the things that I have specifically mentioned or things that have gone unmentioned, if you continue attached to those things, you will meet the judge in his righteousness who will cast you off. But that righteous judge presently sits at the right hand of God the Father. And that righteous judge presently saves sinners. It's good news, isn't it?
That's a blessed reality, isn't it? You mean there's a way I can escape meeting the righteous judge and have him cast me off forever? Yes. And that way is to believe on the Lord Jesus now.
And you will receive by His grace and for His glory, both the forgiveness of sins, which you most desperately need, but you'll also receive His righteousness, because He always obeyed the law of His Father. When Jesus discourses on the Sermon on the Mount, He Himself had never murdered. He Himself had never lusted. He Himself had never engaged in the sorts of things the Law of Moses condemns.
Jesus Christ Himself fulfilled it. And that's the good news of the Christian gospel. The reality is, is he lived in obedience to his father. He died as a sacrifice at the cross.
He rose again on the third day. And he now sits in throne, such that any and all who believe in him will be both forgiven and given a righteousness that avails with God. That's why it's good news. That's why it's gospel.
And that's why Paul says to the church, preach the word. Preach it, because that's what sinners need today. They don't need to feel religious twice a year. They need to come to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing and for righteousness.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the Word of Truth, and we pray that you'd help us as individuals to fight, to run, to keep, and help us as a church to fulfill those things that are specified here, to preach the Word. We pray also, God, for any and all here that are unconverted, those outside of Christ. In our own experience, God, we didn't seek You, we weren't good, we weren't law keepers.
You saved us. You had mercy upon us. So we know if there is mercy to cover sinners like us, there is mercy to cover others as well. So we pray that You would wash and justify and do all those things that You have purposed in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we pray in His most blessed name. Amen.