Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. I was reading on this particular
passage of Scripture. I had something prepared. I thought I was ready for tonight
to preach for tonight out of the book of Psalms. And this
passage of Scripture so stirred my heart this morning as I looked
at it and read. preach out of this passage of
Scripture. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I'd like
to read verses 6 to 8. And then after we read, asking
our Lord's blessing, I pray that this message truly might be an
encouragement to all God's sheep. This has got to be one of the
most helpful passage of Scripture that I have read to just settle
my heart on the certainty of the things of this life. 2 Timothy
chapter 4 verse 6, the Apostle Paul says, ìFor I am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.î 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 is appearing. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you this
evening for the blessed privilege to be able, Lord, to call upon
your name and to have our hearts settled by the Holy Spirit revealing
Christ to us. Lord, I ask you tonight Would
you bless these words to our heart? We pray for these that
have been mentioned. Lord, have mercy. And Lord, for
those in our midst, those in our families that know you not,
Lord, would you have mercy? Would you save our families?
Save our kids? Save our neighbors? Our spouses? Have mercy, we pray. Amen. I began looking at this passage
of Scripture, and as I read it, the first thing that impressed
me was our Lord's wonderful promise to never forsake His people. The Apostle Paul is a man that I truly believe is exhibiting
and verbalizing under the inspiration of God's Spirit, dying grace. I read these words. I read them again tonight. I
read them and I think, Lord, what mercy, what grace, what
compassion. Here is the Apostle Paul. And
he is looking toward the grave and he knows by divine revelation
that he is in a position to soon leave this world. And he says
this concerning that certain coming, for I am now ready. to be offered. Now the word offered
there means to be poured out. Be poured out like a drink offering
is what it was. Poured out as a sacrifice. And here he is saying, I know
this, that my time has come and I'm ready. I'm ready. He has said over in Philippians
1 verse 20, 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 shall be magnified in my body, whether
it be by life or by death. to be offered. Oh, what a blessing
to be able to read the words of a settled heart, one that
fully expects that he shall see his Lord soon. Without regret,
the Apostle says, and the time of my departure is at hand, It's
as a ship that has been tied in a harbor, tied to the moorings,
to the dock, and it's loosed. The rope's been taken off, thrown
back on board, you know. It's loosed. The time of my departure,
it's time for me to leave. There's a time to be born, there's
a time to die. The Apostle Paul says, my departure
is at hand. I mean, I would stop and think
if I truly believed that my time had come, I'm convinced that in that day
the Lord's grace is sufficient. Someone asked or told Mr. Spurgeon
one time, he said, I just don't think I have dying grace. And
Spurgeon asked him, he said, do you believe you're dying right
now? He said, no. He said, then you don't need
it. In that day, the Lord has promised, I will not leave you. I will not forsake you. Todd Nybert told me one time,
He said, Marvin, I was laying in a hospital bed. And he said,
I was fully convinced. I'm dying tonight. This is it. And he said, I just had Scriptures
just continually come to my mind. And he said, my heart was settled.
He said, I truly believed this was it. This is it. This is what
it's like to come to the end of your life and know that you're
going to die. Paul looked forward to the grave. So he said, I'm ready. I'm ready
to be offered. And the time of my departure
is at hand. And then under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, he began to look back and reflected back
upon his life after the Lord had called him out of spiritual
darkness. And this is what he said, I fought
a good fight. 1 Timothy 6.12 says, Fight the
good fight of faith. This life for a believer is a
warfare. And the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We understand carnal weapons,
knives, guns, bows and arrows and stuff. But spiritually, the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty, the
Scripture says. Mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds. I read over those implements
of warfare. Paul talked about the shield
of faith. He talked about fighting that
good fight and he said, you know, I believe God. The shield of
faith, I believe God. Come to that time in my life
when my departure is at hand and I believe God. The helmet of salvation. He could leave this world, soon
to leave this world, And know this, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all of grace. Not
by works of righteousness that I've done, but according to mercy
He saved me. The sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God, reflected upon those things that
were so knowing that God's Word is not going to return unto Him
void. It's going to accomplish the purpose for which it was
sent. And Paul had fought that good fight with both weapons,
loins girded about with truth. Christ Himself, who is the truth,
girded about with Him, robed in His righteousness, His feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Paul said,
This gospel that I preach, this is the power of God unto salvation. The breastplate of righteousness.
His righteousness imputed to me shields me. My heart is protected. My spiritual
being kept by him, I fought a good fight. Don't you know a man or
woman that comes to the end of their life and they're looking
at death, they're looking at the grave, ready to leave. And in those last hours, days, that he could look back and say,
I fought a good fight. He said, I finished my course.
The life of a believer, it has a course. It's a race. It's a race. It's a race ordained
of God, predestinated. When I was in high school, I
ran track and when I'd run, You'd have to stagger your starts. The guy on the outside looked
like he had a head start. He got just as far to go. But I had to stay in my lane.
I had to be in that course. Disqualify. If not, Hebrews 12
says, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth
so easily beset us. And let us run with patience,
perseverance, the race." I looked up that word, race. It's the
struggle. It's a struggle. Let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Paul said, I've finished
the course. of my life. I finished the race
that the Lord ordained for me." And then he said, I've kept the
faith. That is to say, his profession of faith, the truth of the doctrine
of Christ which was committed to his trust and his faithfulness
to those that heard him. I've kept the faith. Now in the
words of the Apostle Paul, When he was making this statement,
I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Those truths were not established. They were not maintained by his
own power and ability. Paul knew that. The Scripture
says, Luke 17, 10, So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all
those things commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.
We have done that which was our duty to do." Every man, every
woman called by God's grace to a position in the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is their duty. to be faithful
to that calling. Faithful where Almighty God has
placed them. Paul's triumph was Christ and
Christ alone. Paul the Apostle wrote in Philippians
2.13, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. So the Apostle Paul, looking
forward to the grave, Say, I'm ready to be offered. The time
of my departure is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've
finished my course. I've kept the faith. And then
in verse 8, he said henceforth, there's 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 is appearing." Paul, under the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, set forth that there is certainty of salvation to
the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Leaving this world in
full assurance of God's faithfulness, Looking back, thankful unto God
that Almighty God would keep a man faithful in the calling
where the Lord had put him. Paul knew that the Lord kept
him there. The only reason he fought a good
fight, stayed the course, kept the faith, he kept me. He kept me. I know that. according to His mercy that He
has shown to this sinner, granting me, giving me grace to look at
the grave and to be able to leave with a settled heart, to look
back, thankful that He kept me by grace and power. He said,
therefore, there is henceforth. There is laid up for me that
new me, that man created in righteousness, that man born from above, that
man regenerated, that new heart, new mind. Paul says something
awaits at the end of this race. The Scripture sets forth, as
he said, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."
Now you think about this. There is something there that
is laid up. That means it's finished. It's
completed. It's laid up to be given to all
those that love His appearing." What is that, Paul? Paul said
it's a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day. What day? Well, either in
the day of His departure or the day of God's judgment today.
It's a crown of righteousness. Paul says, and I know it. I know it. There is laid up for
me. Job said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. It's a crown. The word crown
there actually means to surround. That's what it means. It means
to surround. In the old Olympic Games, This crown was given to
the victor of whatever event that he was in in the Olympics.
Usually it was going to be a wreath. It was made out of probably laurel. It was a symbol of victory. It was the token of that victorious
winner. But this is a crown of righteousness. Get that wreath and this crown
out of your mind. The word crown means to surround.
Paul says, there is laid up for me the surrounding of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous
judge, The One that shall surely do right shall give to me at
that day the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ given."
A question went through my mind. I said, we are robed in the righteousness
of Christ right now. Yes, we are. But in that day,
it will be without sin present anymore. It will be in that day,
in the very presence of Him, in the glorious and eternal presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ, robed in Him, victorious, well done,
well done in Him. Well done. This crown of righteousness
is not laid up because of our own merit. You know that. It
was not because Paul kept the faith and fought a good fight
and finished the course. It was not because of Paul's
ability. This crown of righteousness was
earned by the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man mediator. The righteousness
in which we are crowned, encircled, surrounded is His righteousness
and it is deserving only to Him. Only to Him. He deserves it. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. He is the heir. And we're joint heirs with Him.
Heirs of God. And what is His is ours by grace,
totally according to our union and our interest in Him. All
that is His is ours in Him. The crown of righteousness. Would we ever lay claim to have
earned that? But being found in Him, Lord, found in You, robed in that which
You alone earned, Lord, this is truly glory indeed. Lord,
that by the grace of God, You would keep us in the fight, in
the race, and knowing that our departure being at hand, that
You would grant us dying grace to leave this world willingly,
ready. But He said, but not only to
Me, not to Me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. I know that there is coming a
day according to the Scriptures. I know there is coming a day. When the trump of God shall sound
and time shall be no more. I know that. Whenever the Lord comes back,
the second coming, That's it. That's it. Dead in Christ rises. Believers
on the earth meet Him in the air. Those that died without
Christ are raised. Everybody is going to stand before
God. The books will be opened. All
of those apart from Christ will be judged out of the books of
their own works And shall then hear Him say, Depart from Me,
you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And every one found
written in the book of the Lamb shall hear the righteous judge
say, Well done. There is a time coming when we
shall see Him. Every eye shall see Him. And in that day, truly the sheep
of God, God's elect, regenerated by the grace of God, will love
His appearing. You say, I look forward to that
day. And we do. But let me ask you
something. Do you love His appearing right
now in the preaching of the gospel? Do you see Him by faith right
now? Do you hear His voice right now
and love His appearing right now? He said, ìWhere two or three
are gathered together in My name, I am in the midst of you.î Do
you love His appearing with us this evening? Do you love His appearing and
the symbols of the bread and the wine that we will soon plan
to eat and drink. The emblems of His broken body
and shed blood. Do you love His appearing? We
see Him now. Do you love His appearing in
the conversion of His lost sheep and the professing of their faith
by baptism, by those that He has called out of spiritual darkness. Do you see the grace of God when
God calls one of His own out of darkness? Do you love His
appearing? Do you love His appearing in
the closet time of prayer when in the quietness of the day and
by the grace of God you are allowed the privilege to be able just
Get by yourself and just talk to Him. David said, Thou that hearest
prayer. What a title. That's a title.
Thou that hearest prayer. When the Lord that hears and
you speak to Him, and all the while you're speaking and you're
struggling, flesh doing its best to interrupt you. to remind you
of stuff. Things that you should have done.
Things you forgot to do. Things that you hadn't even thought
of in years. But while you're praying, while
you're reading His Scriptures, that you love His appearing then.
Lord, show Thyself to me. You that love His appearing,
and look for His appearing in that glorious day when we shall
meet Him in the air, forever be with Him. But love is appearing
right now in the ordinances, baptism, Lord's Supper, hearing
of the gospel, praying, seeking Him in the Scriptures. Your love
is appearing. There is laid up for you a crown of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, She'll give you in that
day. Lord, bless these words to our
heart, for Christ's sake. Amen.