Well, it's with considerable
joy I look at you. Last week when I had my throat
stretched, the doctor found a polyp and he told me it was nothing.
But of course, I start making something out of it and start
thinking and thinking. By this afternoon, I was persuaded
that I had cancer. I was thinking, oh, what am I
going to have to go through? I can't deal with all that. Don't
want to. I think I'm going to die. And
I want to preach the gospel to your children. And you called me at 615 right before
the service. I said, nothing's wrong with you. Praise the Lord. I'm thankful. I said, what do
I do? He said, paint your house every
six years. I thought, OK. But I'm very, I'm very thankful
for that. Thrilled. Also, tomorrow, I'm
going to St. Croix. I don't fix this schedule. People say, why do you always
do that in the winter when you go to places like that? Well, I didn't fix
it. He asked me and that was his date. So I'm going to a warm
place tomorrow. Y'all remember me. Second Timothy, chapter four,
I want to try to preach on Paul's charge to Timothy. Paul's charge to Timothy. We're going to look at the first
eight verses. Now, Paul and Timothy had a very special relationship. Hold your finger there and turn
to Philippians, Chapter two. Philippians, Chapter two, look
what Paul says about Timothy. Beginning in verse 19. He says to the church of Philippi,
but I trust in the Lord. That he shall send Timothy shortly
unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your
state, for I have no man like minded. Who will naturally care
for your state? For all seek their own. not the things which are Jesus
Christ's. I don't know of a more sad passage
of Scripture than that, when Paul gives his assessment of
the way things were then. I don't have anybody. All seek
their own. Verse 22, But ye know the proof
of him, Timothy, that as a son with the father, He had served
with me in the gospel. Look in 1 Timothy, chapter 1. He writes unto Timothy in verse
2, my own son in the faith. Look in 1 Timothy 6, verse 20. Oh, Timothy. The depth of this
cry, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding
profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely
so-called. Look at 2 Timothy 2, 1, Paul. 2 Timothy, I mean 1, 2, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to
the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my
dearly beloved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I
served for my forefathers with pure conscience, that without
ceasing I have remembrance of Thee in my prayers night and
day, greatly desiring to see Thee, being mindful of Thy tears,
that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in Thee. which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that it is
in thee also. He says in chapter 2, verse 1,
thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that's in Christ
Jesus. So you see that Paul felt a very
special bond and a very special kinship with this young man,
Timothy. Now, the The epistle we're looking
at, 2 Timothy chapter 4, is Paul's last epistle. And he knows he's
getting ready to die. Look in verse 6 of 2 Timothy
chapter 4. For I am now ready to be offered,
to be poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure
is at hand. Now, I love the way Paul uses
this word departure to describe the death of a believer. The
time of my departure is at hand. Now, the word means literally
to let loose. It's a nautical term to let loose,
to set free, and the other dictionary meaning is to dissolve into separate
parts. Now, I want you to think about
death in this light. Right now, Matt, you're praying, you're
burdened over your sins. My sin is ever before me. What a burden. Living this life
as a sinner, there's such conflict involved, there's such, it's
troublesome. You see, a believer has two natures. He has a holy nature, a nature
that doesn't sin. Let me push this up. He's got
a holy nature, and he's got a sinful nature, and it's all mixed up
in one body. And that's why, even with this
holy nature, you can't see anything that's plum holy. You can't see
holiness because you've got this sin always with you. Both natures
are funneled into this one person. But when I die, that means there's
going to be a dissolving of these two natures. The old nature is
going to be put in the ground, sin is gone, and I'm finally
set free. You see, my sin is what I feel
in bondage to. Paul said, I find a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. But when I die,
This old nature is going to be put down, and I'm going to be
set free. Truly, Paul said, to die is gain. If you're a believer, the best
day of your life will be the day of your death, because that
is when you're going to be set free. Isn't that a wonderful
thought about death? It's a departure. Now, if the
righteousness of Christ is my righteousness before God, what
do I have to worry about? If his precious blood actually
wiped away all sin, what do I have to worry about? I was reading
a book today, and the fellow said, only, he gave some kind
of poem, but at the end of it, it said, only what's done for
Christ will last. What have you done for Christ? Let me tell you, the only thing
that lasts is what Christ has done. Not what you've done. What He's
done. And I find such rest and anticipation
of death in that I'm going to see the Lord. I'm going to see
Him. I'm going to behold His face
in righteousness. I'm going to be without sin.
I'm going to be set free of this sinful nature that I despise
so bad. Death is departure. Isn't that
a wonderful way to describe the believer's death? Now, Paul knows
he will soon be departing and going to be in the very presence
of Christ, but Timothy will still be here, so he's giving him this
charge, this solemn charge. He says in verse 1, I charge
thee, therefore, before God. Here's the ones who are witnessing
this charge, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom. Now, the Lord is the judge. He's
going to judge the living, the quick. That's what the word quick
means. It's talking about the living, those who have spiritual
life. They're going to hear him say in judgment, well done, thou
good. and faithful servant, enter thou
in to the joy of thy Lord." Every believer is going to hear that.
Isn't that just to talk to your believers? No, no. If Christ
did well, I did well. And it was me doing it if he
did it, because I'm united to him. And that's what every believer
is going to hear. As he is, so are we in this world. Did he do well? So did I. Well done. Thou good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And he's also going to judge
the dead. They're going to hear, Depart from me, ye cursed. I never knew you. Paul said in Acts 17, verse 31,
he hath appointed a day in which he shall judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained. Now, I'm giving you this charge
before God, before the Lord Jesus Christ, the great judge who will
judge the quick and the dead. Now, hear the charge in verse
2. He says, Timothy, preach the
word. Preach the Living Word. You see,
we preach a person. The Word is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Preach the person. Only when
the person is preached do men take what is said personally. So preach the person. Timothy,
preach the Word. Preach the Gospel message. Every
time you preach, I don't care what subject you're dealing with.
Preach the gospel message. If ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, it's no good. Yes, we deal with every subject
the Bible has. It's all important. But every
time we preach, no matter what that subject is, we're to preach
the message. The Word is the gospel message. Timothy, preach the Word. Timothy. Preach what the Scriptures
declare. Preach the Word of God. Preach
the Bible. Preach everything God says. Does
the Bible declare, does the Word declare that God is sovereign,
absolutely in control? Then preach it. Does the Bible
declare that men are dead in sin? with no hope in and of themselves,
totally dependent upon God to do something for them. Does it
teach that? Then preach it. Don't apologize
for it. Preach it. Does the Word declare that God
in His sovereign will elected who would be saved but before
time began? Then preach it. Does the Word
declare that Christ is successful in what He did, that everybody
He died for must be saved? Then preach it. Does the Word
declare that God's grace is invincible and irresistible and must say,
then preach it. Timothy, preach the Word. Don't apologize for it. Don't
soften up. Glory in what you're preaching.
Glory in who you're preaching. Preach the Word. Look what he says next. Verse
two, be instant. That word means be ready, be
on hand. Be instant in season and out
of season. Be ready to preach the word at
the stated time and every other time. Always be ready. You're a preacher publicly and
you're a preacher in private. When you're In the act of preaching
and when you're eating supper, you never change hats. Be instant
in season and out of season. This is what is involved in preaching
the word. Be instant. Be ready in season
and out of season. And then he gives three words
that describe what preaching is. Preach the word. Be ready
in season and out of season. Reprove. Rebuke. and exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. Now, here is what goes on in
true preaching. First, he says, reprove. Now,
what that word means is expose. Convince. That's what's going
on in true preaching. I'm telling who God is. I'm telling
who man is. I'm telling who Christ is. There's
exposition going on. There's bringing to light the
truth. Now, that's that's got to come
first. Expose, convict, convince. That's what's going on in true
preaching. And then next, he says. Rebuke. And true preaching, there is
rebuke, there is the correction of faults is what that means.
You know, I want to be corrected, don't you? May God give me the
attitude and the spirit where I'm willing to receive correction
all the time because I need it. And you do too. And this is what's
going on in true preaching. Correction. And then next he
says, exhort. That means encouragement. Encouragement. True preaching is always encouraging. It's encouraging because it means
call to one side. There's this true encouragement
going on in true preaching. Now, may God enable me to preach
the word just like that with proof, with rebuke and with exhortation. And he gives the manner of preaching
in this second verse and do so with all long suffering. Patience. Long tempered. with all long-suffering. I tell
you what, if you love people, you'd be patient with them, won't
you? You realize that they're just as sinful as you are. You
feel sorry for them in a sense. They're like me. If they have
a reason, I have a reason to feel sorry for them. Patience. And
doctrine. That means teaching. Teaching. Now, I think this is interesting.
You don't need to be taught. You already know everything.
If you know Christ, you know everything, don't you? You know
the truth before you even hear it. You know it's true because
you know the truth. And you need to be taught. I
need to be taught. Both things are true. Do you
need to teach believers to love? No, they know how to. Do you
need to teach believers to love? Yeah, you need to teach them
over and over and over again. Doctrine. Doctrine teach you.
long-suffering, patience, and teaching. Now, here's how it
comes. Look in verse 3. This is a very sad verse. For the time will come when they
will not endure, they will not put up with, they will not bear
with sound doctrine, healthy doctrine, whole doctrine. But after their own lusts Shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears? They'll want to have teachers
who will tell them what they want to hear after their own
lust and corrupt desires. Now, I think of what the Lord
said in John chapter six, this is what came to my mind when
after our Lord gave this wonderful message in John chapter six,
I've never been a greater message. The people's response, and they
claim to be his followers. They tried to make him king earlier
in this chapter. They said, these are hard sayings. These are harsh sayings. These
are inhumane. Who can hear them? We don't want
to hear stuff like this. We don't like hard sayings. And
that's exactly what Paul is saying will happen. The time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
wanting to hear something else. Finding no satisfaction, no love
for what they're hearing in the gospel. Verse four, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. He will give them what they want
and they will choose fables, myths and fictions over the truth. Now, listen to me carefully.
What you want to hear tells a whole lot about what you are. What do you want to hear? That
defines who you really are, what you want to hear. Now, these people no longer want
to hear the truth. They've turned to fables. They've
turned to fiction. But he says in verse five to
Timothy, but watch thou in all things. Now, that word watch
is be sober. Be sober. Don't become intoxicated. Now, notice he says be sober
in all things. What happens when you become
intoxicated? You're under the influence of
something that controls everything. He's saying don't become intoxicated
with the world. Don't become intoxicated with
the maxims and the values and the desires of this world or
this fallen flesh. Don't be intoxicated. Be not
drunk with wine wherein is excess or prophecy, but be ye filled
with the Spirit. Don't be intoxicated with it. You know, it's easy to happen,
isn't it? To just become so enamored with the things of this world
when they're so temporary, when they're so unimportant. Watch
thou in all things. Don't become intoxicated with
this world. Endure afflictions. They're coming. Persecution. Trouble. Sickness. Heartache. Disappointment. You could go
on and on to name all the afflictions that a believer is called upon
to bear. Endure them. Find your happiness and your
contentment, not in circumstances, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. You endure those afflictions. They're going to come, and therefore
you're good, and therefore His glory. And endure them. Persevere all
the way through the end through them. endure afflictions, and
then he says in verse 5, do the work of an evangelist. Declare
the good news. Now listen, your purpose here
on earth, my purpose here on earth is to be an evangelist. To declare the gospel, to declare
the good news to everybody I can get to listen to me. That's your
purpose here on earth, to be an evangelist. a proclaimer of
the gospel. That doesn't mean you're called
to be a pastor, but you are called to preach the gospel, to be an
evangelist. He said, do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry, fulfill thy ministry. I think
of that passage of scripture where he said to Archippus in
Colossians chapter four, he said, say to Archippus, take heed that
you fulfill your ministry in the Lord. Evidently, he was acting
in a way that it didn't seem like he was fulfilling it. Make
full proof of thy ministry, verse six. And now we're going to get
a picture of what a fulfilled ministry looks like. He says,
for I am now ready to be offered. I'm ready to be poured out like
a drink offering. I'm ready to die. Are you ready
to die? Right now? Are you ready to die? If Christ is enough, you are. I'm ready to be offered, and
the time of my departure is at hand. And he says in verse 7,
I have fought a good fight. Now, the life of a believer,
and you know this, the life of a believer is a fight. It's a
conflict, it's a war, it's a fight that goes on every single day. What is the fight with? Well,
the first thing is dealing with my sin, my old nature. Galatians
5.17 says the flesh lusts against the Spirit. And the Spirit lusts
against the flesh. And these are contrary. They're
at odds with one another so that you cannot do the things that
you would. And that's conflict. That's a
fight every single day. That's the main enemy, isn't
it? Self. The old evil nature of the world
hates our God. The world hates our Gospel. There's
a battle. There's a fight to not fight.
What do I mean by that? We'll get into arguments. But
for fleshly, that's a fight. Endeavor to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul said to Timothy, fight the
good fight of faith. And look what he says when he
says, I fought a good fight. Here's how you fight a good fight.
Verse 7, I finished my course. Now, You have a race to run. You have a course that the Lord
has given you. Hebrews 12.1 says, Wherefore,
seeing we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight And that sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Now, what is it to fight a good
fight? It's to finish your course. He
that endureth to the end, he that continues, he that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. Our Lord said, if you
continue in my word, then are you my disciples. Indeed. I'm
called upon to finish this, whatever this course is that the Lord
has given me. And you have a course. You have a race to run. Finish
it. And Paul's looking at the end
of his life and he says, I've finished my course, and here's
how I did it. He says, I've kept the faith.
I've kept it. That means two things. Now, the
faith is the faith. It's the truth. It's the faith
of God's elect. It's the gospel. Now, when he says, I've kept
the faith, first he means I've obeyed the faith. I've kept the
commandment. I believe the gospel. I really
am Looking not to myself, not to my feelings, not to my anything
in me. I'm looking to Christ as my righteousness
before God. I kept the faith. I'm believing
the gospel. I'm resting in him and I'm guarding the faith. I'm
not going to tolerate someone who tries to change it or tries
to introduce something else. I'm guarding the faith. He says
I've believed. And I've kept the faith now. I've got partners at hand, I've
fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith.
Henceforth, verse 8, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Is this crown of righteousness
made of Christ's righteousness or Paul's personal righteousness? Both. What do I mean by that? Christ's righteousness is Paul's
personal righteousness. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. Revelation 19, 8 speaks of the
fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of
the saints. That's Christ's righteousness.
Now, Paul says henceforth, there's laid up for me because I finished
my course, because I kept the faith. And that's been by the
grace of God. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
Now, the reason this crown of righteousness is laid up for
me is because I'm righteous before God. That's what the gospel does.
It makes a sinner righteous before God. There's laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day. Look what he says next. And not to me only, I'm not the only one that's going
to get this crown of righteousness, but unto all them also that love
his appearance. Not that can give you the accurate
information about His appearing, but then that love His appearing. Now, I want to ask you a question.
Do you love His appearing? Now, the Lord Jesus has made
a lot of appearances. The first appearance I think
of is his appearance as the surety of God's elect. When he appeared
in your behalf before time began and said the same thing, Judah
said, send the lad with me, I will be surety for him. At my hand shall thou require
him, if I bring him not unto thee, and shed him before thee,
let me bear the blame for ever. When he agreed to be my surety,
God ceased to look for anything out of me, and looked wholly
to my Redeemer." I love that. I love his appearing. I love the first appearing mentioned
of him. In Genesis 1, 2, where it says,
let there be light. And there was light. Do you know
the sun and the moon didn't come until four days later? That light
is the light. That's not a created light. That's
the light being. And light was. I love his appearing. I love his appearings in the
Old Testament. I love the way he appeared to
our first parents after the fall when he comes to them and gives
them the promise of the seed of woman that shall bruise the
serpent. Said it was the Lord Jesus that
came to them. They heard the voice of God. I love this name.
That's the word of the Lord, isn't it? They heard the voice
of God walking toward them in the cool of the evening and he
gave them the gospel and he took away their fig leaves and gave
them clothes of skins representing the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I love his appearing to Abraham in Melchizedek, when
Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek of all that he possessed. I love
his appearing to Jacob when he wrestled with Jacob and gave
him a new name. You're no longer Jacob. You're
Israel as a prince. You've got power with God and
prevailed. I love his appearing to Moses
in the burning bush as the great I am. I love his appearing to
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they're in the fiery furnace.
And Nebuchadnezzar said, didn't we throw three men? Lo, I see
four. And the fourth is like unto the
Son of God. Don't you love his appearing?
Oh, I love his appearing in the wild. And how I love his appearing
in the Incarnation. When the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, God became flesh. What did He do it for?
Now once in the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. Do you love that appearing? I
love His appearing as He was raised from the dead. and walked
out of that tomb. He went into that tomb with my
sin, and he walked out of that tomb without my sin because my
sin is gone. I love his appearing. I love
his appearing as I think of his ascension back to the Father.
I love his appearing now as he's, the scripture says he's now in
heaven appearing before God for us. Don't you love his appearing?
I love to think of his appearance on judgment day when my name
is called and he'll answer for me, present and accounted for. I love his appearing. And I love
the thought of his return. When the scripture says he'll
return like lightning gliding from the east to the west, every
eye is going to see how I love his appearing. Now, if you love
his appearing, you know whether you do or not. I do. I love his
appearing. If you love his appearing, then
this crown of righteousness that he's speaking of is yours. You have a crown that fades not
away. His righteousness. Now, do your
love is appearing? Then keep this charge. Preach the word. Be instant in
season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. Watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work
of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. Let's pray.