Let's open our Bibles today to
2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. We're looking today at three
verses. Three verses which stand alone
in the sense that we have the subject Paul's words facing death. But I do want to mention the
fact that in the context, last week we saw that solemn charge
that he gave to Timothy. I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. A solemn charge, for I am now
ready to be offered. The Apostle Paul, who called
Timothy his son, his spiritual son, and Timothy had accompanied
with him on many journeys. We might say that Paul the Apostle
had been his mentor, and now he's leaving. He's leaving this
world. I charge thee, therefore, for
I am now ready to be offered. These words speak of the Apostle
Paul facing death. John Calvin said, it is part
of man's nature to dread and shrink from death, and he can
never completely free himself from it. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
to Peter about Peter's death, He said this, another shall carry
thee whither thou wouldest not. In other words, Peter, you wouldn't
go there, but another shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not. And in 2 Corinthians chapter
five, where the apostle Paul speaks of the believer's death
as leaving a tent and going to inhabit a building not made,
or made of God, rather, he said this, not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon. In other words, no one looks
forward to the process of being unclothed. We do look forward
to being clothed upon with that building made of God, eternal
in the heavens. Let me read you the complete
quote by John Calvin. He said it is part of man's nature
to dread and shrink from death, and he can never completely free
himself from it. We must overcome fear and refuse
to let it keep us from leaving the world obediently whenever
God calls. and the Apostle Paul recognizing
that God was calling him to leave this world, we see no fear, we
see no dread in his words, no shrinking back from death. For I'm now ready to be offered.
Our text, verses six through eight. For I'm 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." Here
are three things that I have for us to observe in these words,
the Apostle Paul's last words we might say. First, Paul spoke
of his death as both an offering and a departure. Both as an offering
and as a departure. For I'm now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. When we think of
his death as an offering, it seems that the Apostle Paul,
because this word actually literally means I am ready to be poured
out, that the Apostle Paul recognized that his death would be accomplished
by martyrdom, that he would be put to death. And just as the
law of Moses required drink offerings to be poured upon the altar along
with the lamb and along with the meal mixed with oil. So he
saw his death as being a life poured out. He was ready. I'm now ready. And he was ready because he spoke
of his death as an offering that he knew was not for sin. He speaks
of his death as an offering, as being poured out. Yes, as
the drink offering, the wine was poured out upon the altar. But he recognized and knew that
his death was not an offering for sin. He was ready because
he knew that there had been one offering for sin, one sacrifice
that did actually put away his sins. And so he was ready. And there's only one sacrifice
that effectually puts away sin. Men and women over the thousands
of years since Adam fell have invented and come up with all
kinds of ideas and thoughts, sacrifices to put away sin, to
somehow put away that awful thing that makes us obnoxious to the
wrath of God. And yet man has failed. He's
completely failed. And he always will fail because
God has put forth, set forth his son as the one and only sacrifice
that does propitiate God. And that word propitiate, it
simply means appeases God. God's angry with the wicked every
day, the scripture says. There's one sacrifice, one offering
that propitiates God, and that is the sacrifice of His Son.
The Apostle Paul, inspired of God the Holy Spirit, himself
wrote this in Ephesians chapter five, when he said, He gave Himself
for us. Christ, He gave Himself for us. We sang a hymn just a few minutes
ago, Stepping in the Light, and we do look at Christ as an example. But my friends, his death, he
didn't die to be an example. He died as a sacrifice to put
away the sins of his people. You say, well, did he accomplish
that? Absolutely. And how do we know? Because on
the third day, he was justified. He came out of the grave. Even
though he had taken the sins of his people and bore them in
his body, the scripture says, on the tree, he was made to be
sin for us, he who knew no sin. Yet he was justified, declared
righteous, on that third day when he walked out of that tomb.
I am now ready to be offered. And the reason Paul was ready
is because he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that the offering that
Christ had offered, the sacrifice of himself, had actually put
away his sins. Before Saul of Tarsus met Christ
on the road to Damascus, he thought that he, by his obedience to
the law, the law of Moses, that somehow he was going to put away
his sins. And probably looked upon himself
as without sin, being a self-righteous Pharisee. But when he saw the
Lord, he knew that his righteousness was no righteousness. And the second thing the apostle
says about being ready, not only did he see himself as ready because
he was being poured out as an offering, but he speaks of his
death as a departure. It was interesting looking again
that the Greek word that's here translated departure is spelled
in English, A-N-A-L-U-S-I-S. And it is our word, analysis. From this Greek word that Paul
used, speaking of his death as a departure, it is the English
word, or we get the English word, analysis. And the definition
of analysis is the separation of a compound body into its constituent
parts. Man consists of two parts, body
and soul. And so death, as the Apostle
Paul saw it, was the separation of its parts. That is, the soul
is separated or departs from the body. This is what we read
in the book of Ecclesiastes. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was. Remember, our bodies, man's body,
was made from the dust of the earth. And one day it shall return
there. But the spirit shall return unto
God who gave it. Paul used this same word in Philippians
1 in verse 23 when he said, having a desire to depart. Same word
there, only it's in the verb form. It means an undoing of
the connection. And it's often used concerning
ships. ships that are moored to a dock
by cables or something of that nature. And then the ship is
unmoored that it may sail away. And that's the way the Apostle
Paul looked at his life, his death rather. It is a departure. He knew that death was not the
end. And so many people like to convince
themselves that when a person dies, that's the end of his existence. That's not so. That's not so. The Apostle Paul knew that when
his death came, it would not be the end of his existence.
It would not be the end of his being. It would be like the unmooring
of a ship. from a dock that was allowed
to sail on to the other side, to the other part of the other
shore rather. He said to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. He would be with the Lord and
he knew that. Now his body, the elements of
his body are still somewhere here upon God's earth, but not
his soul. is so departed to be with Christ. I'm ready! The time of my departure
is at hand. He said, I'm ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand. I like to think of
the fact that when we go to the airport to travel, we see the
board up there, departure times and return times. And you look at the departure
time if you're going somewhere and you say, well, the plane
is going out of this gate at a certain time and it's on time. It's on time. And that's the
way Paul looked at his death. I'm ready. I'm ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand. That's the way that
all of us should look at our death. And it's all before us.
There's no one going to escape it. It is appointed, the scripture
says, it is appointed unto men once to die. I read a message
recently by Charles Spurgeon, taken from a text, I believe,
out of Job. The long journey, the long journey. We're all going to go on that
long journey. There's no discharge in that
war. And only those of us who are
trusting and looking to that one sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
to his precious blood and righteousness, and we too, with the Apostle
Paul, are able to say, I'm ready. I'm ready. Now the second thing,
Paul spoke of his life as if it were already ended in verse
seven. I fought a good fight, I finished
my course, I have kept the faith. You know, the Apostle speaks
as the Lord Jesus Christ prayed the night before his crucifixion.
You remember in that prayer that is recorded in John chapter 17,
he said this, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do, although he would not finished the work until the next
day upon the cross when he cried out, it is finished. But he spoke
as though it was already finished. And that's the way the Apostle
Paul here is speaking of his life. It was so near its end. He speaks as if it were already
finished. The days and nights of care and
toil, the temptations within and without, The buffetings of
Satan, plus the care of all the churches, is almost ended. And he speaks as though it was
ended. You know, in 1 Corinthians, the
Apostle Paul borrows those metaphors from the Olympic Games. As he looks back over his life,
he does the same here. The first thing he says, I have
fought a good fight. The world judges a thing by its
results, and the world would judge differently about the Apostle's
fight. It would seem to the world that
he would die a shameful death, a failure. The world would see
his death, dying a martyr, as a failure. But let the world
say what it would. The Apostle Paul was enabled
by the faith to look at the prospect of death and to be able to say,
I have fought a good fight. I fought a good fight. I fought
an honorable fight. Athletes in the Grecian Games
achieved what they wished only when they reached the goal. If
they stopped short of the goal, whatever it was, whatever sport
they were participating in, then they failed. So Paul, he saw
himself as reaching the goal. I have fought a good fight. And number two, he said he had
finished the course, the race of life that God set before him. And God is the one who sets the
race before you and before me and before all of his children. Keep your places here, but look
back to John chapter 21 with me just a moment. I mentioned our Lord's words
to Peter from this passage just a few minutes ago, but beginning
in verse 18 of John chapter 21. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hand, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus,
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, if
I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow
thou me. It's hard to run the race that
God has set before us. If we're looking over and here's
this other fellow over here, like Peter, he looked at John
and what about him? What about him? Don't worry about
him, Peter. What is that to you? It's hard
to run the race that God has set before you and before me
if we're always looking at someone else and their race. And I mention
this this morning especially because someone recently told
me that they saw various of God's children going through trials
and tribulations and they thought, well, what about me? What about
me? I just seem to be enjoying the
blessings of God and not, don't worry about someone else's race. You run the race that God has
set before you. That's the point I want to make.
And God will take care of the trials and the temptations. And
he has them already ordained in the race that you're going
to run. And if you look at others, I say this, especially because
I know how Satan works. You know, Paul said, we're not
ignorant of his devices. Well, sad to say many times we
are ignorant of his devices. But Satan has a way to tempt
God's children. First of all, if you're going
through trials and temptations, like James said, count it all
joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Those are trials
and difficulties. Satan has a way to suggest to
you, well, you couldn't be a child of God. If you were one of God's
children, one of His loved ones that He has loved from eternity,
one that He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world,
surely you wouldn't be experiencing this. And then if you're not
going through trials, He comes along and says just the opposite. If you really were, one of those
that God has loved from eternity, chosen in Christ, that you would
be going through trials. His approach is always the same,
to try to take the joy, to steal the joy from God's children. The way that we are to run the
race is, as the Apostle Paul tells us, Hebrews, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Yes, looking unto Christ, run
the race, but don't look at some fellow believer, some brother,
some sister in Christ and think, well, Well, my life is different
from theirs, or theirs is different from mine, and try then to determine
your relationship to Christ. Your relationship to Christ is
based upon your faith in Christ, that you trust in Him, that you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And
isn't that what the scriptures teach? Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. We start looking at circumstances
and situations around us, and then we lose the joy of our salvation. No. The apostle said, let us lay
aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us. I believe that's the sin of unbelief.
And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Paul said, I've finished the
course. And the third thing he says,
I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith. I fought
a good fight, I finished my course, and I've kept the faith. Thinking
of racing or running a race and keeping the faith makes me always
think of a relay race, a relay race. The baton must be passed
on to the next runner. And Jude in his letter tells
us we should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered
unto the saints. The faith, that body of truth
that we believe, it was once delivered unto the saints. It's
here in the scriptures for us. It's not something that's continually
evolving. We live in a day when people
are changing things and bringing inventions into God's church
that the word of God clearly, plainly speaks against. I was
speaking with a man just this past week, and he, well, I brought
the subject up about women preachers, and he said, yeah, that was hard
for me to get used to. And I thought, well, you know,
we don't need to get used to that. That's the very thing that
God tells us very clearly, that God has an order. And I know
that's not politically correct today, but our faith is found
in the word of God. It's not determined. It's not
being evolved as we go along. And the world certainly is not
getting any closer to the Lord. world is what it has always been,
a foe, a foe against God. The faith is not evolving. And
as men run in a race or women run in a race, a relay race,
it's very important, isn't it, that they pass that bar on to
the next runner. And many times races have been
lost and somehow in moving the bar, it fell to the ground. and the time was lost. The faith
that we have, Paul tells us, he said, I've kept the faith.
I've kept the faith. And that's important for you
and I, that we keep the faith. And the faith is found in the
word of God. Why is it that the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ has always believed in the sovereignty of
God, has always believed that salvation is of the Lord, that
God has chosen a people from before the foundation of the
world, not because they were holy, but to be holy, the apostle
tells us. That Christ redeemed his people,
that God the Holy Spirit calls his people, he knows his sheep,
and he calls them by name, And He keeps us. Now, these truths
have not changed. They are the same. And we continue. If we're faithful, if we want
to be able to say with Paul, or as Paul did, I have kept the
faith, then we must hold on to these things. Let the world do
what the world wants to do. Let the church of the world do
what the church of the world wants to do. But let us, by the
grace of God, let us be faithful so that when we come to look
death in the face like Paul, we too will be able to say, I've
kept the faith. And then thirdly, Paul spoke
of his expected future glory in verse eight. 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. Peter
wrote in his first epistle of this future glory of God's people
as an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away, reserved for you in heaven. Notice these three things
that Paul says about this future glory. First, he speaks of this
future glory under the emblem of a crown. a crown of glory. John Gill mentioned two reasons
as to why the future glory of God's people is spoken of under
the emblem of a crown. First, the glory of a nation's
crown would reflect the wealth of that nation. In other words,
a poor country, they might have a king whose crown was very poor. That would only be natural. But
a wealthy nation would have a king or a queen, their crown would
be full of diamonds and all precious metal and jewels and all of that.
Well, there's never been a nation on the face of God's earth, an
earthly nation, whose wealth could be compared to the blessings,
the wealth of heaven. This crown of glory. Think about,
I know this is a metaphor, but the city of God is spoken of
as being paved, the streets as paved with gold. That tells us
something about the riches, the blessing of heaven. And that's
the crown that God's people shall receive at death, a crown of
glory and the riches. gold and silver and precious
things like that. It's the blessed presence of
God, being in the presence of God, seeing God. It doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And a second thing about this
future glory compared to a crown that believers, the saints of
God, we have been lifted up and made to sit among princes to
inherit this crown of glory. Remember that verse of scripture
in Revelation, which tells us that he has loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests
unto God. That's what awaits God's people. It is a crown of glory. It is
indescribable, the glory that he has for his children. And third, notice he speaks of
the future glory as a gift. Henceforth, there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge shall give me at that day. He's going to give me this crown. God's people do not earn, they
do not merit, they do not deserve heaven by anything that we do
or that we do not do. Think about this, heaven is earned, heaven is merited, and heaven
is deserved, but only by Christ. He merits heaven. He deserves
heaven. Yes. And those of us who are
in him, we shall be given this crown of righteousness, this
crown of glory. And third, he speaks of this
future glory for all who love his appearing. 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. How
do you know if you love his appearing? This is clearly speaking about
his next coming, his second coming. How does a person know if we
are looking forward, if we love his appearing, his coming? How
can we know that? The best way I know to answer
that question is this. Do you love his first appearing?
Do you? Do you love to hear about his
first appearing, about his coming into this world to save sinners?
Does that rejoice your heart? If you love his first appearing,
then you are the one who also loves his second coming, his
appearing in glory. Peter said this to those to whom
he was writing, to believers, whom having not seen, you love. We've never seen our Lord and
Savior, have we? Seen him by faith, but we've
never seen him. Whom having not seen, you love,
and whom though now you seem not yet believing, you rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And we do. love his
first appearing. And by the grace of God, we look
forward to his coming again to receive us unto himself. Well,
I pray that God would bless this word and that we would take, take
it to heart that as the apostle Paul faced death on the very
verge of the grave, that he was able to look forward to it, not
with dread, not with fear, but knowing that he was ready and
ready because he was accepted in the beloved. I'm going to
sing this hymn number 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood.