Click here to view the entire service
2 Timothy 4:5-8, But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Starting well doesn’t win races. It’s how faithfully you end the race that really counts. Some Christians take off like a missile, screaming toward the goal, only to run out of fuel shortly after takeoff. Others go a good distance, but then quit before the end. Why do some professing Christians quit running the race?
- Some get discouraged. Some little remark or turn of events, some trials come along, and they just get tired and quit.
- Some get disillusioned with other Christians or with the church. They expected perfect people and found flawed sinners and so they turn sour in their faith.
- Some get disappointed because they aren’t recognized for something they’ve done.
- Many get distracted by the lure of the world. They stop reading the Word, forget to pray, start letting other activities keep them from fellowship. Their spiritual lives cool down and the world seems attractive. Soon they find themselves spiritually cold and dead.
- Some turn sour because a trial hit them that they didn’t think they deserved. “What did I do to deserve this?” or “I’ve served Christ all my life and this is what I get?” We’ll see that thought never crossed Paul’s mind as he waited for his execution in that miserable Roman prison.
If you know the Lord, you’ll want to finish well. Like Paul, you’ll want your life to count for eternity. I’ve been interested in how men of God finished. George Whitefield was one who finished well. In the 1700s he crossed the Atlantic 13 times preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. His last sermon on September 30, 1770, when he was only 56-year-old, was given on a stairway heading up to a bedroom in Newburyport, Mass. He preached until the candle he was holding flickered out. Then he retired for the night and woke up in the presence of Christ. He finished well!
This was Paul’s testimony. We don’t know exactly how old he is while he awaits his execution, maybe 60, but he finished well. Imagine if he would have quit. Imagine the impact his quitting the race would have had on that first century church. What impact would your life have on others if you turned away from the Lord, jumped ship, and went awol?
Paul finished well and he wants Timothy to finish well as a victorious athlete and soldier for Christ. That’s why he writes these lines in verse 5-8! He has something to teach us about finishing triumphantly, even if it be by the sharp edge of a Roman sword. Let’s plan to finish well to the glory of our Savior! Each verse here in 2 Timothy 4 has a powerful message for finishing well.
TO FINISH WELL YOU NEED A LIFE OF SPIRITUAL DEVOTION AND DISCIPLINE.
2 Timothy 4:5, But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
We covered this last time, but I want you to see it in the context that these are Paul’s final words. Here he exhorts Timothy, “But you…” In verse six he says, “For I.” Paul’s saying, “You’re staying, I’m going, and I’ve got a final word to you, Timothy.” These words from Paul are to all of us. He gives the path to finishing well. What does it look like? We know the Christian life isn’t easy. We face all kinds of disappointments and distractions in this world. But God has given us all we need as believers to please God. He gave us His Spirit and His Word that we may live a life of devotion and discipline to love and obey Jesus Christ. Paul gives Timothy four quick directions for finishing well.
Be sober. Don’t let the world with all its temptations seduce or intoxicate you. Take your Christian life seriously. This isn’t a game. There are enemies and pitfalls and difficulties along the way. Stay clear-headed and sober about seeking first the kingdom of God!
Endure hardness. Some people are going to let you down. If you stand for Jesus Christ in a world that hates Jesus Christ, you can expect opposition. All those who live godly in Christ Jesus will have challenging times. Sometimes it’s lonely living for Christ. You may take a stand for Christ at school or work or even in your marriage or family and suffer hard consequences. You may be interested in a young lady or young man, and then you find out they aren’t interested in your Lord. Be ready for this! Decide now how you will respond before you’re snagged into emotional confusion. Endure whatever hardness comes with devotion to Christ and personal discipline, maintaining those godly habits of prayer and worship and Bible reading and fellowshipping with God’s people.
Do the work of an evangelist. An evangelist is someone who especially spreads the gospel. Keep Christ and His cross center in your heart. Are you concerned about the spiritual condition of your friends and associates, people you meet at the bank, grocery store, in your neighborhood? Are you praying for them? Be ready to give an answer!
Fulfill your ministry. Be fully committed to serving Christ. For Timothy, for a pastor, an elder, a missionary, for all of us, this means keep making progress, keep ministering to others, doing the best you can by the grace of God.
To finish well, you need devotion and discipline to love and obey Jesus Christ.
TO FINISH WELL VIEW YOUR ENTIRE LIFE AS A LIVING SACRIFICE IN GOD’S HANDS.
2 Timothy 4:6, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
“I am already being poured out.” Paul knew his execution was imminent. He calls his death a departure. The word is analusis, our word analysis. Departure was used of a soldier breaking camp and heading out, or of a ship pulling anchors and setting sail. You see the verb form analuo in Philippians 1:23, “to depart and be with Christ.” Paul is basically saying, “I’m ready to go!” The time is at hand. He’s ready to set sail into the glorious future with Christ. Paul applies in these verses what he taught us in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18, For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
God in His sovereignty has a timeline for every one of us, and we are truly immortal until that time is fulfilled. Of course, the older we get, the closer that time will be. A helpful book by Jay Adams for aging saints is entitled Wrinkled But Not Ruined. But death comes to both old and young people. Did you ever wonder how you may die if the Lord doesn’t return first? “In my sleep!” Yes. The fact is, none of us are exempt from the reality of dying unless the Lord comes first. The real issue is, are you confident about that minute after death? Do you know for sure that you will go to heaven, or do you have some doubts? As a believer, how do you face death? We’ve never done it before, have we? So, we’re learning from Paul how to face our departure.
We’re studying the Reformation in England right now in our Saturday morning Reformation class. Many of you know that Henry VIII’s daughter Bloody Mary ruled in the 1550s and tried to stamp out Protestantism in England. She had at least 300 Protestants burned at the stake. How these men faced their final hours is instructive. John Rogers was the first martyr. A French ambassador who witnessed his burning wrote, “He went to the stake as if he was walking to his wedding.” Another was Rowland Taylor. A sheriff asked him, “How are you feeling?” He answered, “God be praised. Never better. I’m almost home.”
Notice in verse 6 that Paul knew his death was so certain that he saw his life as a drink offering already being poured out. The drink offering in the Old Testament was poured out along with the sacrifice. First you killed the animal and sacrificed it, and then you poured out prescribed amounts of wine with the sacrifice. Paul lived as a living sacrifice and now he pictures his life as finally being poured out like the priests poured out a drink offering along with the sacrifice. Give yourself to God every day! Do this until you die, and you will finish well!
This whole passage in 2 Timothy 4 resounds with glory and victory. Faithful to the end. Paul was living triumphantly even in the shadow of this one remaining enemy, death. He faces the Roman sword, but he’s not focusing on that. He’s focused on his departure and arrival in the Lord’s presence. That’s how we want to exit this world, with bright hope. Charles Gabriel put it like this.
When all my labors and trials are o’er
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore
Will through the ages be glory for me.
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me!
TO FINISH WELL, DON’T QUIT UNTIL YOU’RE FINISHED.
2 Timothy 4:7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;
While we are saved purely by the grace of God, it matters how we live our lives. You can look forward to seeing Jesus with great joy and confidence, or you might be awfully embarrassed. Paul is not boasting in himself here. He clearly told us that everything he was and did came about because of God’s grace. The amazing thing is what God’s grace did in the heart and life of the chief of sinners. The grace of God gave Paul confidence as he pondered his coming departure into eternity, and that grace is available and sufficient for all of us. Paul tells us in verse 7 how to finish well.
1. He fought the good fight to the end. Literally, he wrestled that unavoidable spiritual agony (the Greek word for fight is agon) or wrestling match and didn’t give up. Here is a noble, glorious fight that every believer faces. You don’t coast into heaven. J. C. Ryle says where there is grace there is conflict. There’s no holiness without warfare. You are fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil every single day. Paul fought against Satan and demons and false teaching and violence and paganism and against his own flesh, the law of sin within. Remember Romans 7. Paul fought right up to the end. He didn’t go AWOL. I hope I can say the same. Christians get Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, arthritis, and hardening of the arteries just like the rest. Keep your thoughts on God now so you don’t have all these nasty thoughts coming out when you are aged and feeble.
2. He ran the race and finished. He expressed this hope in Acts 20:24, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course (or race) and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” And back in Phil 3:14 he said, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Like a skilled runner, his eyes were riveted on the finishing line, the glory of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You and I have the same race to run.
Hebrews 12:1-2, 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, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of 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.
Paul finished the race joyfully. He wasn’t grouching, griping, or grumbling his way along. Let’s not quit before the race is over. God will give us all the grace and strength we need to run with endurance the race set before us and do it joyfully.
3. And he kept or guarded the faith, like a precious treasure or vital medicine. He hadn’t altered it or allowed it to be tampered with. He was as committed to the faith that he preached then as ever. Imagine having written the book of Romans. There is the faith Paul kept right up to the end. Justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone, for God’s glory alone, based on God’s Word alone! Back in 2 Timothy 1:12 he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded He is able to keep what I’ve committed to Him against that day!” He fought off with confidence every doubt and distraction he may have known because he knew Jesus is the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. I don’t think a day went by that Paul didn’t review the work of Christ on that cross for him.
Imagine getting to the end of your days and looking back over a life that was lived mostly for yourself. And now you must face God. John challenged us to avoid that shame.
1 John 2:28, Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
Paul’s thoughts on finishing the race aren’t only for the elderly. No one knows when death may come. So, whether we live to be 60 or 16, we aren’t here to live for ourselves. We are here to fight, run, and keep the faith right up to the end, whenever that may be and whatever that end might be – a sword, a stake, a car accident, a heart attack, a slow or sudden disease, or a senior citizen’s residence. God’s mighty grace will be sufficient as we live for Him and depend on Him.
TO FINISH WELL KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE.
2 Timothy 4:8, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Along with Paul, we should be looking forward to that day when the Lord descends from heaven, the dead are raised, and the living are instantly glorified, made like His perfect body. We get our name Stephen from this Greek word for crown – stephanos. This crown of righteousness is the victor’s crown. Paul fought a victorious fight, ran a victorious race, and now he awaits that day when Christ will award him with this crown because of his righteous or godly life. Paul will hear, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” There is a strong personal element here – the righteous Judge will award me! He knows each of us and will reward us accordingly. Imagine that? We won’t be strangers there. He knows your name. He will confess your name before the Father and the angels – Revelation 3:5. What a privilege.
We will give an account to Christ. Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Paul was unjustly treated in this world. The world simply doesn’t understand Christ and His ways. Millions of Christ’s people have been unjustly treated, many martyred in horrible ways. But the Lord is a righteous Judge. Here in this world Christians are mistreated. There at the judgement seat of Christ they will be highly honored and, “It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus!” Amen?
Who will be given these victory wreaths? Those who love His coming again. Do you look forward to His appearing? Do you love Christ and desire to see Him? Paul puts it another way in Philippians 3:20 – we “eagerly wait for a Savior.” Christians who are walking with their Savior by reading His Word and communing with Him in prayer may not understand all that’s coming, but they know they are loved by their Savior Jesus Christ and are looking forward to seeing Him. That’s one definition of a Christian! If all you think about is yourself and this world and what you can get out of it, you won’t be looking for Christ’s return. Beware of sinking your roots too deeply into the fading and temporary stuff of this world. It won’t last.
CONCLUSION
Will you finish well? By the grace of God, I hope everyone of us will. There are some who have a longer or harder race to run than others. You’ll be tempted to get discouraged, disillusioned, disappointed, and distracted. Determine to fight the good fight every single day. Keep those scripture verses in your mind. Let them guide and strengthen you. Run the race with endurance every day. Stay firmly committed to your faith in Christ every day. Determine to FINISH WELL. And if you’ve never even started out on that race, God calls you to repent and bow your heart to Christ as Lord and Savior. He came to rescue sinners from eternal damnation.