If you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter
one. We're so delighted to have Ron
Meadows back with us. Everybody's happier. Maybe Ron's
at the door and come in here. I can just tell when Ron's here.
So delighted he's back. The Lord willing, this afternoon,
Lovi Sparks would be going to Cincinnati Children's Hospital.
They're going to begin running the test to prepare to do a kidney
transplant for her. Her kidney function is going
down, and they may even be planning to do some dialysis at home.
So she's a sick little girl, and let's hold her up in prayer. Lord willing, this week, Tuesday,
I'll be preaching in Danville, Kentucky, and Wednesday at Lexington. Elder Eric Floyd will be preaching
here Wednesday evening. We covet your prayers. She'll also pass this news along. Lynn Nyberg is still in Columbus.
They have an apartment or condo or something there. She has to
stay close by the hospital, but she's feeling well enough. I'm
sure Aubrey or somebody is with her today. But Todd is preaching
all three services at Todd's Road today. I know that will
be a very special time. All right, Philippians 1, we'll
begin our reading in verse 19. For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the
spirit of Jesus Christ. According to my earnest expectation
and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that
with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ should be
magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For
me to live is Christ. and to die is gain. But if I
live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I
shall choose, I want not. For I ministrate betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance
and joy of faith. that your rejoicing may be more
abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I
may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel,
and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them
an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that
of God. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in me and
now here to be in me." We'll thank God for his word. Let's
stand together now as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song, the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. Thy grace, all-sufficient, from
first to the last, Has won my affections and bound my heart
fast. Without thy sweet mercy I could
not live here. Sin soon would reduce me to utter
despair. To Thy free goodness my spirit
revives, And He that first made me still keeps me alive. Great Father of mercy, Thy goodness
I own, And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son. All praise to the Savior, whose
offerings divine. Make mercy and pardon and righteousness
mine. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 168, Even Me. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
Thou art scattering full and free. Showers the thirsty land
refreshing, Let some drops now fall on me. Even me, even me,
let Thy blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O tender Savior,
let me love and cling to Thee. I am longing for Thy favor whilst
Thou calling, O call me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Blaspheme not, O mighty spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free, Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. ? Pass me not, thy lost one bringing
? ? Find my heart, O Lord, to thee ? ? While the streams of
life are springing ? ? Blessing others, O bless me ? ? Even me,
even me, let thy blessing fall on me ? You can turn in your Bibles to
the book of 2 Timothy 4. Our scripture reading this morning
will be from 2 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 6. 2 Timothy 4, verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Do thy
diligence to come shortly unto me. For Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica,
Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with
thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And Tychius
have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Taurus
and Carpus, when thou comest, bring it with thee, and the books,
but especially the parchments. Alexander, the coppersmith, did
me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works. Of whom thou beware also, for
he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first answer no
man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it
may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might
be fully known and that the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered
out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me
from every evil work and shall preserve me unto his heavenly
kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salute Priscia
and Aquila and the household of Arnimysa. Erasius abode with
Corinth, but Trophimus I have left to my Liamsic. Do thy diligence
to come before winter. Ebullus greet thee with Prudence
and Linus and Claudia and the brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ
be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our great Heavenly Father, holy
is thy name. Holy is thy character. Thou art
holy. And Lord, we're so thankful,
Father, that Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you've provided
us the righteousness in him to stand before your throne of mercy
and to call you Abba Father. To approach thee in love, what
a blessing that our sin is put away and we're made righteous
in Christ. Father, Thank you for bringing
us here this morning. We pray that you would leave
us not alone, Lord, but give your pastor, our pastor, your
under shepherd, give him a word from thee. Leave us not alone
in this place, Lord, but send your spirit to anoint the words
to our hearts. we seek to worship our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, we thank you for bringing
us through this journey of life, and we pray that when the world
overwhelms us, that you would set our eyes on the finish, on
Christ, that you would show grace to us and mercy to know that this world is fleeting,
but thou art eternal. We pray that you would bless
our young people as they go out into this world, and our young
families, and Lord, all our families. Give us Christ-centered homes.
We pray, especially for those who are going through deep waters,
difficult trials. We think of Novi, Lord, and hold
her up to you as she faces this dialysis and the possibility
of a transplant. Lord, you've given these means,
and we know that thou art the great physician. We pray for
her doctors and nurses and caregivers. We pray for her family and her. Give, Lord, comfort. Give healing. Father, we pray All those who
stand today to preach our Lord Jesus Christ, give us, give them liberty of
speech. Give hearing ears and receiving
hearts to your people. Let the gospel continue to flow
forth from this place for many, many years to come. Call your
sheep into the fold. Father, we're so thankful for
all that you've given us. We pray that we would show that
thankfulness and gratitude in this world, that we would show
that we're nothing of ourselves, and that our righteousness is
not from our works, but through our Lord Jesus Christ. Give us
humble hearts to show forth thy word, We ask all these things
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. when peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea Thou hast taught me to say, It
is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this blessed assurance control. That Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate And hath shed His own blood for my soul It
is well with my soul It is well, it is well with my
soul My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul And Lord, haste the day when
my face shall be sighed, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend, It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. All right, let's turn again in
our Bibles to the Book of 2 Timothy. The passage Brother Dan just
read for us. I have a very serious subject
this morning. The subject of death. The title
of the message is, When the Finish Line Draws Near. In verse 7,
the apostle says, I finished my course. He knew that death
would soon come for him, his race would very soon be over. Death is not something we normally
like to think about, but death is an appointment that each one
of us must keep. I would say most of you already
today have not thought about dying, and the Lord willing,
none of us will today, but we might. I want us to be well taught
in the word of God, be prepared for that day when it comes. This
week, Janet and I were talking about some different things over
the course of our lives. She made a comment. I just now
remembered it sitting up here. She said, well, she said, Henry
prepared us for that, taught us the word. I'd like for us
to be prepared for this day because it's an appointment we all must
keep. But I don't believe this, I mean, this is a fact, we're
all gonna die unless the Lord returns, but I don't believe
that we should live our lives moping about the fact I'm gonna
die someday. I don't think we should just
sit in the dark and say, well, I'm just not gonna do anything,
it doesn't matter, I'm just gonna die. I don't think we should
do that at all. But I do think this, I think
we should live like we're dying, live like we will, Someday die
soon, and after that the judgment. We should live preparing to die.
I thought of this illustration before I go on a trip. I start
preparing days in advance. Some people I know pack at the
last second, not me. I prepare days in advance. I
think of everything I'm gonna need for the trip. Sometimes
I even make lists. I make lists of things gotta
be done before I leave on my trip. I pack at least a day. in advance, and then you know
what I do before I leave? I go back through it all, look
at everything, double check everything, make sure I've got everything
that I need. I check the fluids in the vehicle, I look at the
tires. Last month I did all of that before I went to a conference
in Cottageville, West Virginia, just two hours away, just staying
for two nights, and I did all of that. How much more should
I prepare for a trip into eternity? I made those preparations before
I went and met some friends. Hope to be able to worship together.
How much more should I prepare to go meet God? I made all of
those preparations just to go away for two nights. How much
should I make preparations to go away knowing I'm never coming
back? Now we can live preparing to
die. A person can live a productive,
active life, going to work, taking care of your family, take care
of all your earthly responsibilities, and at the same time, prepare
to go meet God by worshiping God, by attempting to learn more
of Christ, by being where his word is taught, by being taught
to trust him more fully. We can prepare to go meet God
at the same time we meet all of our other earthly responsibilities,
and if we do that, It'll keep all these other earthly responsibilities
in their perspective. Do them, absolutely do them,
but keep them in their perspective. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter
seven, hold your finger there, look at Ecclesiastes chapter
seven. Now I'm talking to believers now. Believers should not live
dreading death, dreading the fact that it's coming like it's
this horrible, horrible thing that's going to happen to me.
For the believer, The death of this body is all victory, all
victory, because Christ our Savior has already taken the sting of
death away for his people. Death can't sting you, harm you.
Christ already took the stinger out of it. And look what Solomon
has to say, the wise man Solomon has to say about this matter
of death. Ecclesiastes 7, verse one. A good name is better than precious
ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth. We got that backwards, don't
we? How we celebrate the birth of a baby. We're going to be
celebrating one soon, aren't we? Oh, we're going to celebrate.
We're going to be so happy. And we mourn when someone dies.
Solomon says for the believer, that day of death, when you leave
this sinful body behind, you leave this sinful world behind
and go be with the Lord. Oh, that's far better than day
one's birth. Our little one's gonna face a lot of tough days.
A lot of tough days. For the believer
of God, never a tough moment again. Oh, it's better, isn't
it? It's better. And listen, those are not just
good religious sounding words now. That's the truth. Word of
God for the believer. In our text, back in our text,
2 Timothy, it gives us several ways that we can change our attitude
about this matter of death and to live preparing to die. And
we should live in such a way, prepare now, that we can have
this attitude when the finish line draws near for us like it
was for the apostle here as he's writing to Timothy. And the first
word I want us to look at is offered. Verse six, Paul says,
for I am now ready to be offered. And what he's talking about there
is the drink offering of the Old Testament. The drink offering
usually was good, the best, strong wine, almost a quart of it. And
it would be poured out. Sometimes they could just pour
it out on a rock or something, but usually it was poured out
on the animal sacrifice, the burnt offering. And it was offered
as a thank offering to God. Now the drink offering wasn't
necessary. It wasn't required to help the sin offering atone
for sin. The sacrifice of the lamb, the
bullet, whatever it was they were offering, that was all that
was required for the sin offering. But sometimes the drink offering
was poured out and added to on top of that as a thank offering
and thanksgiving to God. And what Paul's doing here, he's
likening his life. He's likening his life of service
and preaching and all the, everything that he went through, the difficulties,
the heartaches, the beatings, the shipwrecks, the jailings,
all of that, the hatred, persecution that he suffered. He likens all
of that himself in the service of every believer, he likens
it to the drink off, being poured out in thanksgiving to God. Whatever
it is of ourselves that we can give and just be poured out to
God, it's not because we have to do something now in order
to add to Christ's sacrifice to help make sure our sin is
put away. That's not it at all. The sacrifice of Christ is all
it takes. All it takes to put away all
of the sin all of God's people. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. One offering. We
don't need to offer anything else in order to put our sin
away. But the believer can be the drink offering. We can sacrifice
of ourselves, sacrifice of our time, sacrifice of our money
and our talents and these things to serve the Lord and serve God's
people. And we do it out of thanksgiving,
out of thanksgiving. The Lord has been so merciful,
so incredibly merciful to me. I'm just very happy, very happy
to do whatever it is that I can do in his service. Just very
happy. Can't you see that? Whatever
it is, and he's been so merciful to me. Just whatever it is I
can do to serve him, help his people, I'm very happy to do
it. That's being the drink offering. And Paul was ready even to be
martyred. He was soon going to be put to
death for preaching the gospel, and he knew it, and he wasn't
gonna quit. He wasn't gonna quit. He could have saved his life
if he wanted to, but he'd rather pour it out as a drink offering,
as a thanksgiving to God. He's ready to give his life for
the sake of Christ, for the sake of the gospel, as a thank offering. And a believer will be happier
and more useful if we live thinking about this, being the drink offering.
We should live our lives to serve the Lord, to serve His people
and not serve our flesh. We really do need to learn this.
We weren't put on this earth to make ourselves happy and to
do, you know, these things. No, we're not here to serve our
fleshly desires. All those things are going to
die and soon be burned up anyway. We're to live to serve others,
to serve God, to live in thanksgiving to Him. Now take care of your
family. Take care of your family. Take care of your earthly responsibilities. Take care of your job. Do it
good, so you continue to have a job. But do all that, looking
to serve the Lord. Take care of your responsibilities.
Those responsibilities are real. You better take care of them.
But do it keeping an eye. He's coming. He's coming. The day is approaching that we're
going to reach the finish line ourselves. And I'd like to reach
the finish line knowing that I was willing to give of myself
out of thanksgiving to serve God. All right, number two, the
second word is time. Verse six, Paul says, I'm not
ready to be offered the time that my departure is at hand. Now, the time of our death, that
time was appointed for every human being before God ever said,
let there be light. He pointed that time. It's an
appointed time, it's a fixed time, and it will surely come. Now, we don't know when that
time will be, but we know it's coming. I might live to be 80.
I might live to be 56. Somewhere in between. I don't
know. I don't know which it is. But I do know this. It's good
that I don't know the time. It really is good. The time that
the Lord's fixed for me and for you, whatever that time might
be, it's right. And it's best. I don't know when
it's coming, but I'm by God's grace. I can tell you this. This
is the truth. I'm determined. I am determined to live whatever
time God's given me. In faith. In faith. What a pleasure. I mean, it's
like this is this great sacrifice to live your life in faith. What
a pleasure. What a blessing it is to be able
to live this life in faith to Christ, looking to Him, depending
on Him, loving Him and worshiping Him. What a blessing. What a
way to make this journey home so much nicer and easier. I'm
determined to live the time that God has given me, serving God's
people, helping them in any way that the Lord might enable me
to do it. Isn't that a blessing? To be able to help God's children,
to help your brothers and sisters on your journey home. You know,
in ancient times, people traveled, if they were going especially
any distance at all, in large caravans. They all tried to get
as big a group as they could together to travel together because
there's safety in numbers. And as they're traveling, you
know, they didn't have, you know, horse-drawn carriages. Mostly
they're poor people. They might have some sort of
cart or something they're pulling their luggage or whatever on,
you know. If somebody had a broke wheel on one of their little
carts, everybody would stop. Somebody help him fix it so they'd
all stay together, they'd all keep up. If somebody got infirmed
and lame or something, somebody else would lighten their load
for them, carry their pack or put it on their cart or, you
know, whatever, lighten their load so that everybody could
keep together and everybody could arrive safely together. They
did that for the safety and well-being of the whole group. Now our time's coming. Let's live
our lives just that way. in this great caravan of God's
people. We're going to the finish line. Let's go together, help
one another, look out for one another, because the time's coming. The third word is departure.
Paul said, the time of my departure is at hand. It's interesting
here, Paul doesn't talk about death as being torn from this
life, kicking and screaming and not wanting to go. He talks about
it as a departure. I tell you what I thought of
as I think of this every time I see this verse, departure.
I think about traveling by air. When I fly, traveling by air,
I am constantly checking the departure board. Now, you can
even check it on your phone. When we would go to Merida, We
would ride the bus from Medina back to Cancun. I checked that
departure board on my phone. I mean, I want to know. And we
get there to the, get all checked in, get down there at the gate.
I like to sit in a place where I can see that departure board.
I mean, I want to know the most up-to-date information. Is my
flight leaving on time? Because I can tell you this,
the last place I want to get stuck is an airport. I mean,
how horrible. I'm watching that departure board. Janet tells me, you ought to
stop and smell the roses. I'm going to tell you what, the
roses are where I'm going. Not here. Not in this airport.
I want to know. Is my plane leaving on time?
And when it finally comes up and it changes from 215 to boarding,
I've never one time been sad about that. Never one time. And
they call my row, I'm lining up. I'm lining up to go. The
time of the departure's here. I've never been sad about it.
For the believer, this is a good thing. The time of our departure's
come. Been waiting for it. Been watching
for it. And I'm happy about it. It's
sad for our loved ones who are left behind. Sad, sad. But happy for us. Happy. Time of our departure's come.
This is a good thing. Death is a good thing for the believer.
Also, in verse seven, Paul says, I finished my course. That's
a good thing, to finish your course. It's something to be
happy about. I used to run road races. I loved, I loved to run. Oh, and in that race, I mean,
you're just fighting and surging and pushing for everything you
got, you know, and you're so tired. But I see that finish
line every single time. Every race, I surged ahead. I ran a marathon one time. I
had a bad day. I mean, it was a bad day, bad
day. I walked for miles and miles. I mean, probably, I think I literally
walked nine miles. I got to that 26-mile mark, and
I could see the finish line up there. Guess what I started doing?
I started running. The finish line's close. Bet
you felt that way, didn't you, Sam, yesterday? Oh, just surged
ahead. It was a good thing, wasn't it?
It was a good thing. The finish line is coming. There's
a finish line for every one of us. Let's run our race, ready
to surge to the finish line. Let's run our race with patience.
Until that finish line arrives, let's run our race with patience,
looking unto Jesus, depending on him, looking to him, the author
and finisher of our faith. This time of death for the believer
is a good thing. And between here and there, Jan's
right, there's some roses to smell in there. There's some
good things. There's some good things for
the believer to enjoy in this life. You got your family, you
got friends, good food. You got the beauty of nature.
You take a walk on the beach or take a walk in the mountains
or just look at them, you know. You enjoy those things. Don't
feel bad about that. Don't feel bad that, oh, I shouldn't
enjoy these things because I got to run my race and finish, you
know, all religious. No, wait a minute. God gave these
things to his people to enjoy. Who else should enjoy them but
God's children? Enjoy them. Don't make it your life. Don't
make it to be all and end all, but enjoy those things. Ready
to let them go and to depart. Because the time of our departure's
coming. It's far better. These things are enjoyable. Enjoy
them. But I'll tell you what, it's far better to leave these
things behind and go be with Christ. The finish line's coming. The
time of our departure is at hand. Live to be ready for it. Live
looking for it. All right, here's the fourth
thing. The life of a believer is a fight. It's a battle. Verse
seven, Paul says, I've fought a good fight. I finished my course
and I've kept the faith. Now the life of a believer is
a constant fight, constant. Battles from without and battles
from within. Within every believer, there's
a civil war going on constantly between the old man and the new
man. That old man, he'll never quit. He just constantly trying
to bring us back into captivity to the law. He's constantly preaching
self-righteousness, constantly preaching. If you do this better
than somebody else, God will love you more. You'll be more
accepted. You'll be better, you know. All that is is the old
man. It's self-righteousness. It's
the only religion that he knows. And that old man is lying. He's
lying because he can't tell the truth. He doesn't know the truth.
He can't tell the truth. He doesn't love the truth. He's
lying. God will never accept us in our
works. Never, ever, ever. And the new
man knows that, loves that, and believes that, but we've got
to fight against it all the days of our life until we draw our
last breath. Now that's a battle that you're
in. You know how to win it. Huh? You want to win that battle?
If I'm in a battle, I want to win. We win by looking to Christ,
by depending on Him. He's our only one able to enable
us to defeat this flesh. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul
just told about this civil war and he got to the end of it and
he said, oh, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He said, here's how. I thank God. through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. That's how by looking to him.
Paul said, I fought a good fight and I fought it by faith. By
looking to Christ, I kept the faith. I kept the faith. I kept
believing Christ. I kept trusting him and the Lord's
one enabled me to do it. Now believers keep the faith
in this way. By continuing to preach it, this is the only message
we got. Salvation by grace through faith. And we keep the faith
in this way too. by not giving in to our flesh
and to the enemies of the gospel, to the enemies of Christ. See,
those are the battles from without. And people in false religion,
they're easy to spot. They're easy to spot as God's
enemies. And we cannot give in. We cannot give in to their message
of free will. We cannot give in to their message
of religion that appeals to the flesh. Whatever it is, however
they want to exalt the flesh, I cannot give in to that. Paul
said, I faced it. I faced it from the day God unhorsed
me on the road to Damascus to right now. That's what I faced.
That's why he's in prison where he's at. Paul said, I've kept
the faith. I haven't compromised with them an inch. Salvation
is in Christ. It's through faith in Christ
and never by our works. God help us to never compromise
it. Oh, you could compromise and
get a bigger crowd. You could compromise and do this, that,
and the other. But it's not worth it. It's not worth it to compromise
the truth. And we'll face enemies, and these
are the more difficult ones, from people who used to be our
friends, from our family. They use friendship, they use
family ties to get us to compromise the gospel so we can keep our
friendship, so we can all get along, you know. I say this to this congregation,
to every single one of you here. I love you. I do. I love you
dearly. I give my working hours, I'm
just kidding, tell you how many hours a week, to finding a message
to give to you, to help you, to point you to God, I love you.
But if our friendship ever becomes contingent on compromising this
gospel, we don't have one. We can't compromise the truth,
we just cannot do it. And Paul faced that many times.
He said he faced it with Demas. He says in verse 10, for Demas
hath forsaken me. Now we don't know much about
this. We know Demas had been a close friend of Paul's. He'd
been a preaching companion of Paul's. And Demas had left Paul
in his hour of need. Here Paul's in prison and Demas
left him. Paul is facing being put to death
for preaching the gospel. I mean, he needs a buddy. Demas
left him. And we don't know. We don't know,
did Demas apostatize and just completely deny Christ? I don't
know. I sure hope not. It could be
Demas was just afraid of this. If he hung around Paul too long,
he's going to suffer the same fate. Maybe he just, you know,
he loved this present world in this sense. He just wanted to
save his own skin. And hopefully, if that's what
happened, hopefully Demas came back. And if he did, he would
be forgiven and be accepted. For whatever reason, though,
he departed. It sure doesn't sound like another
one of Paul's so-called friends did that, Alexander. He did deny
the gospel. He did seek to cause Paul a lot
of harm. In verse 14, Paul talks about
him. He says, Alexander the coppersmith
did me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou ware also. You beware him too,
Timothy, for he hath greatly withstood our words." He greatly
withstood our preaching. And in this study, we've seen
Alexander, Paul talked about him several times. He denied
the gospel, he had this false doctrine, again, which exalted
the flesh, exalted him. He sought to call, he used to
be Paul's friend. Now he's seeking to cause him
harm. I mean, he really is out there to seek to try to harm
Paul and harm these other faithful preachers. And Paul gave us instruction
on people like that. He said, you shun them. You shun
them. Don't you think they won't cause
you harm too? If it will ever benefit them
in any way, they're gonna harm you the exact same way or turn
on you the exact same way. Now these men have been Paul's
friends at one time. And it's harder when it's a friend.
I mean, if it's an enemy, you know it's an enemy, you see him
coming a mile away, okay. But somebody used to be your
friend. It's just a harder battle, isn't it? It's harder not to
compromise the gospel. It's harder not to compromise
the truth for the sake of an old friendship. Brethren, I'm
telling you, we cannot, we cannot, we cannot compromise this matter
of preaching the gospel Salvation by grace through faith. Salvation
in Christ alone. We can't compromise that to save
an old friendship now. The truth of God's at stake here.
People's souls are at stake here. Let's remember this. The end's
drawn near. The finish line's coming. The time of our departure
is going to arrive. And these enemies of the gospel,
whether they're our friends or not, they're not worth a relationship
with God. God help us. to keep the faith
to the end and hold fast to confidence and rejoicing of the hope, the
hope we have in Christ firm and to the end. You may have some
friends. You may have to fight this battle
of loneliness. You can have some friends. They're
still your friends. They're still your friends, but maybe the heat
got turned up a little too much and they're just afraid to be
around you. Look at verse 16. In my first
answer, no man stood with me. but all men pursue me. I pray
God that it may not be laid to their charge. Now these people,
they're God's friends, or they're Paul's friends, probably believer
sounds like, and they should have stood shoulder to shoulder
with Paul for the gospel's sake, for his sake. They should have
stood shoulder to shoulder with the man who literally gave his
life to preach the gospel to them, but they didn't. Now that's
gonna be a tough battle to fight. Your feelings are going to be
hurt, you know. But this is what Paul is telling us. They couldn't
help it. He prayed God not to lay it to their charge. Listen,
who knows what we'd do if we were in their shoes, huh? I don't
know what we'd do if God didn't stop us from doing it. I do know
that. But God helped us not to compromise. Paul didn't compromise
even when he stood alone. He didn't compromise. And you
might have some real good true friends, but still be alone.
Paul talked about Crescens and Titus and Titicus. They're Paul's
friends, but they weren't with him. They had to go other places
and preach. Paul's finish line was near.
The time of his departure was at hand, but not theirs. They
had to go preach and leave Paul alone there. And that loneliness
is a tough battle to fight. Tough battle. But don't compromise. You feel alone, but remember
this, you're not. For the sake of your promise. I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Everybody else will, your father,
your mother might, but not me, he said. I'll never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. And I have a thought on this,
and I think something this teaches us, as the time of our departure
draws near, enjoy the friends that you have. Enjoy them, and
listen. More importantly than that, be
a good friend. Be a good friend. Paul mentions
many names here at the end of this epistle. And you know these
people, they're special to Paul. He's thankful for them. He mentions
them here. How thankful he must have been. How special Luke,
the beloved physician, must have been to him. Luke stayed with
him. Paul was looking forward to seeing
John Mark. John Mark. He said, bring Mark
with you. That's John Mark. Remember John Mark? Paul and
Barnabas split. And as far as we know in scripture,
they never came back together as friends. They split over this
matter of John Mark Barnabas, his uncle, I believe, was to
John Mark. He wanted to take John Mark with
him on this trip, this preaching trip, missionary trip. Paul said,
no, he's gonna be a hindrance. He's unstable, we can't trust
him, and they split over it. Now, John Mark's gonna be a great
help to Paul. Not gonna be a hindrance. Lord
granted some growth in grace, so it'd be a hindrance. Or he
wouldn't be a hindrance, he'd be a help. As Paul's departure
arrives. Paul says, you bring him with
you. Bring his friends with you. He said, Timothy, you come. I'll
be a help to you. It'd be a help to me to see your
face, make this trip, this journey a little easier to take. Then
here's the fifth thing. Death is not something for the
believer to dread because there's a crown that awaits every believer
at the death of this body. Verse eight. Henceforth, there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. which the Lord,
the righteous judge, should give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Now
the crown that Paul is talking about here is not a literal crown
that you wear on your head, you know. You go on in glory and
you gotta look at everybody's crown. See, that's the nicest
crown, whoever's got the most jewels in it, whichever crown's
the shiniest, you know. And you know, who was the best
Christian, you know, in the previous life below? No, no, that's worse,
that's worse, that's all it is. The crown of Paul is a covering.
It's a mark of royalty. And the crown is Christ's righteousness. It's not our righteousness. It's
not our obedience. It's the righteousness of Christ. And believers are
covered in that. If you believe Christ, you're
clothed in His righteousness inside and out right now. Right
now. It has to be Christ's righteousness
because it's the only righteousness that there is. His righteousness
is ours if we believe Him. If you believe Christ, if you
trust Christ, You're as righteous right now as you ever will be.
Your body's not, but you are. That new man is. And here's the
good news. After the death of this body,
there's going to be no more civil war. There's going to be no more
old man. In glory, we're going to be made
perfect. Body and soul. Just like Christ. That's something
to look forward to. And not just for Paul. Not just
for the other martyrs. Not just for the apostles. Not
just for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There's a crown and there's a
throne, not just for King David, but for every believer, for everyone
who loves his appearing. And I'm telling you, I can't
wait. I can't wait. There's lots of
things I'd like to do between now and then. I mean, I'd just
like to preach to you and to your children and see God bless
you and God bless this work and this area. There's a lot of things
I'd like to do, but I'm telling you, I can't wait to not be like me anymore. and
to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. I cannot
wait. Now let's live. Let's live. Claim that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness that I got. The only one I want.
Let's live looking forward to being made just like Christ.
Oh, to be made like Christ. That's gonna be a whole lot better
being covered with this flesh in it. So much better. It's just
not gonna be a bad thing right now. Our problem is this body,
this flesh is the only thing we know, but it won't be a bad
thing to lay it down. All right, sixth, live looking
to Christ. Live seeking to worship him and
learn more about him as the end draws near. Verse 13, this is
interesting. The cloak which I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee and the books,
but especially the parchments. Now the parchments Paul is talking
about here is the Old Testament scriptures. They were written
on parchments. Paul knew the end was near. But you know what
he wanted? He wanted the scriptures. He
wanted to be able to read the scriptures. He needed them. And
we do too. It's these scriptures that will
comfort our hearts. It's these scriptures that will
enable us to face death without dread and fear. I told you I
want you to be prepared. The way you're prepared is the
Word of God. Being taught the Word of God. Live reading God's
word. Live hearing it preached as much
as you possibly can, because that's what will prepare us for
what's to come, whether it's sorrows or joys, whether it's
valleys or mountaintops, whether it's life or death. It's this
word that prepares us for it, comforts our hearts. And here's
the seventh thing. When the end arrives, we're gonna
look back when we reach the finish line. The time of our departure
arrived. We're going to look back, and you know what we're
going to see? The Lord was always with us. We're not going to look back
like that silly poem says. Oh, there's two sets of footprints,
and then there's one set of footprints. That's when I could walk by my
own self, by my own steam, by my own power. And then there's
one set of footprints, and I thought, oh, that's when the Lord left
me. And the Lord said, no, that's when I was carrying Him. There's
one set of footprints the whole entire way. from the time God
found us and laid us on his shoulder and carried us all the way home,
we're gonna find he was with us every step of the way. He
never one time left us. And he delivered us from ourselves
at every turn. And he delivered us from every
other danger too. Look at verse 17. Notwithstanding, see this
is what Paul said, he said, I thought I was alone, notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching
might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear.
And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord
shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me in
his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. Now Paul was ready to be martyred.
He was nearly martyred one other time before he nearly killed,
how many times, we don't know, but he was nearly martyred apparently
by Nero at one time. Somehow he was delivered from
that. It was a miracle he was delivered from that. He talks
about the lion here. Maybe he was delivered from being
eaten by lions in the Colosseum. Maybe. Certainly he was delivered
from Satan at that time. The old roaring lion. And the
Lord delivered him. He's delivered. The Lord delivered
him. Now listen. The Lord's not going to deliver
us from every trouble in this life. He's not going to deliver
us from every heartache, from every trouble, from every danger.
He'll deliver us from many of them, but not all of them. Something's
going to kill this body someday, isn't it? The time of our departure
will arrive. Something's going to kill this
body. The Lord will not deliver us from it. But at that time,
we're going to look back and we're going to see it's the Lord
that brought me right to this point. Here I am laying on my
deathbed, getting ready to draw my last breath. And it's the
Lord that brought me to this very point. And we're gonna say with Jacob,
the Lord shepherded me all the days of my life. He's the one
that brought me here. He brought me safe through every
danger, every toil, and every snare. And now he's brought me
to the point of the death of this body. Now you hang on to
this, you remember this. When that time comes, the Lord's
not gonna leave you. He's not gonna bring you all
the way to that point, then leave you alone. The Lord's gonna see you safely
across Jordan, bring you into the land of glory and rest. The place that he purposed for
you from the foundation of the world. And when you finally get
to that Jordan's other bank, now you can look back and say,
the Lord delivered me. The Lord's shepherded me all the days of
my life. Then, on that other side, from that other bank, you're
gonna look back and you say, oh, now I see. Now I see the
Lord did do everything exactly right. Exactly. We're gonna see
then truly, the Lord could not have done anything better. Now
we know it, don't we? We know it. We know that's so.
Sometimes it's tough to see. There you see it perfectly. There
you'll see it clearly. I hope that'll enable us to live. Live our lives. Live it right.
Take care of your family. Take care of your job. Take care
of your responsibilities. Take care of this congregation.
Take care of one another. Live worshiping, serving God.
Live looking forward to that finished line. It'll be a blessing
to us all to believe very well. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for this instruction
from your word. Father, I pray that you'd apply
it to our hearts. that you enable us to live, looking to and trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to serve and help one another,
to enable us to live our lives by faith, to enjoy living, depending,
resting in Christ our Savior. Cause us to be a help and an
encouragement to one another. Father, we pray, we beg of you
that you'd bless your word to the hearts of your people. that
you'd use it to show us the glory of Christ our Savior. Is it his
blessed name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would turn to song number
242, Jesus I come and stand as we sing. so Out of my bondage, sorrow, and
night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come, Into Thy freedom, gladness,
and light, Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of my sickness into thy health,
Out of my want and into thy will, Out of my sin and into thyself,
Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my shameful failure and
loss, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into Thy glorious gain of Thy
cross, Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of her sorrows into thy balm,
Out of life's forms and into thy calm, Out of distress to
jubilant song, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come, Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of myself to dwell in thy
love, Out of despair into raptures above, Upward for aeon wings
like a dove, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into the joy and light of thy
home, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of the depths of ruin, one
untold, into the peace of thy sheltering fold. Ever thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to thee. you