2 Timothy 4:6-8 A Legacy of Endurance in the Faith (Sept 22 at Community Bible Church of Beaufort, SC)

⁶ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

After my father was killed in a USMC plane crash, this verse was found taped up in his locker. God had sovereignly been preparing him for death. Just two months before he had written my mom saying, “It is well with my soul.” My father is a giant in the faith to me. At my age he felt God calling him to seminary so that he could be an evangelist. He had a huge heart for the Gospel and the glory of God. On Sept 23, it will have been 24 years since the accident, but more importantly this year marks the year that I am the same age as my father (26). A moment that I have looked forward to since I was a boy. It’s hard to believe that I am now the same age as him, this spiritual giant... My father who was a legend and has been a legend in the faith to me, whom I have looked towards his example for guidance, did not live longer than I have lived now. This month has been a huge milestone in my life. I chose this passage of Scripture for this reason, and also because uniquely enough, the Apostle Paul, one of my other heroes of the faith was being prepared for death by God as well.

Just as God had sovereignly been preparing my father for his death, God was preparing the Apostle Paul for his. This letter was the last letter the Apostle wrote and these verses are some of the last words that the Apostle ever penned. These words were written from a Roman prison in 66 – 68 AD. In 64 AD Nero had blamed Christians for the burning of Rome and so Paul after he was arrested, knew that he faced certain death. It was now a crime to be a Christian (Christianity was seen by Rome now as different from Judaism). He also knew that the way he was to die was to be-headed because he was a Roman citizen. ⁶ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I think our passage of Scripture clarifies three huge points for living the Christian life. 1.) True believers should have assurance their salvation 2.) What type of faith should true believers have? 3.)We as believers MUST persevere in this faith.

1.) True believers should have assurance of their salvation.

Many so-called Christians today claim assurance, when they have no reason to do so, and those that have every right to live each day with an assurance of their eternal destiny are living in the fear of condemnation. Many think that because they have prayed a prayer, made a “decision,” or walked an isle that they are saved. Others claim salvation because they are church attendees. As my Uncle Keary says, “You know someone is NOT a Christian, when you ask them if they’re a Christian and they point to a church building. The Gospel is simply that we are sinners (something that American Evangelicalism has forgotten) in need of a Savior. And Christ who is the Son of God came, lived a perfect life, died for sinners, and rose for their ultimate glorification. A brief aside here, as Dr. Broggi says, “Not everyone is a Christian that knows the Gospel, but all Christians must know the Prepositional Gospel!” The Gospel is that and nothing else. It is not helping others. Or being God’s hand and feet…as Brian McClaren and Rob Bell and the Emergents would have you believe. You loving somebody in Africa never saved anybody!

If you have ever heard Dr. Broggi share the Gospel, one of the questions he asks is how sure are you on a scale of 1 to 100 that if you were to die that you would go to heaven. Listen carefully, if you truly are banking everything on Christ, you should say 100% because that means you have your complete faith in Christ! To not have 100% confidence is to not believe what Christ has promised and to not believe Christ’s promises is to not believe in Christ! As the writer of Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If you don’t have 100% conviction and assurance in Christ, how can you claim to have true faith? But friends, if you are a born again believer, and you have believed the Gospel and placed your faith in Christ and are resting in Him solely for your salvation, than you have every right to an assurance of your salvation. And that’s what Paul is talking about in our passage of Scripture.

In the prison, he is alone except for the physician Luke (4:11), but he is seeking Timothy to come see him (v. 9). He has every right to be desperate. He’s been deserted because of the persecution and he felt that the state of the church was sliding into sin(chap 3). But Paul finds a deep and satisfying hope in his assurance. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

Should the Lord tarry, we all face impending death. And I hope that each of you know that if you have faith in Christ, that you can stare death in the face and like Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 15 “O death where is your sting!” Don’t be like Ghandi who said, “My days are numbered. I am not likely to live very long – perhaps a year or a little more. For the first time in 50 years. I find myself in a slough of despond. All about me is darkness. I am praying for light.” Listen friends, many of us can live 50 years and hope on something less than Christ, but anything less than Christ will leave us in darkness! Be like the Apostle, and stare death in the face because you have confidence in “THE LIGHT!” Jesus Christ in whom you have placed your faith. But what type of faith gives that type of assurance?

2.) What type of faith should true believers have?

a. When we talk about faith in Christ, we should talk about it the way Paul talks about it in 2 Timothy 3:15 a few verses earlier“…and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” You see friend, our faith is in Christ! We don’t simply believe in what he accomplished. I think that’s where many falter. They think simply because they believe the historic facts of the Gospel, about Jesus’ life, and they believe them to be historically true, that they have faith. I have met so many who believe the historic facts of the Gospel but have not placed their faith in Christ! Many are also relying on works or some simply do not want to submit to Christ’s Lordship. Like the Rich young ruler, the costs of faith are too high! He doesn’t have complete faith in Christ, he also has faith in money and possessions. Almost in a condemnation of our easy believism, Jesus said “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” What Paul means is that we should bank everything and have complete trust in the person of Christ because of what he has accomplished for all those that believe!

b. Which leads me to this point about faith. True faith believes in Christ for all that he is and who he is revealed to be through Holy Scripture! That means Creator, Lord, Master, Savior, Friend, Pioneer, Provider, Teacher, Advocate, Perfect Priest, Judge, along with all of His other attributes. To believe in Christ, but to reject Him as Creator or your Lord is NOT saving faith! Don’t think that you can know about Christ and not submit to Him as your Teacher and your Mediator with the Father. That’s not how it works. True faith rests completely in Christ for all that He is.

c. In the text, Paul is looking back at his life in a sweeping reflection that gives him great confidence. Just as he has lived his life as a living sacrifice as an act of worship (Rom 12), he is now joyfully ready to give his life as a drink offering sacrifice to the Lord. But he has great confidence! Great confidence in Christ in whom his faith rests. Please draw your attention to verse 7. The “fight,” and the “race” are both incredible analogies for faith. We know this because in 1Timothy 6:12, Paul tells Timothy “Fight the good fight of the faith.” The Greek word for fight is best defined as a grapple or a match as in a grueling boxing match! So when Paul says he has fought the good fight, he means that he has fought the fight of faith! When he says that he has run the race, he means that he has run the race of faith! When he says that he has kept the faith, he means that he has not departed from believing totally on Christ! Paul taught that for you to be saved, you must continue in faith to the end. You might be thinking, wait a minute, I believe in eternal security from the moment I first believed and was justified! And so do I. But I believe something more, because the Bible says something more. The Bible says that we must continue in faith! Paul says earlier in 2 Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:11-13

The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

Mark 13:13

¹³ And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Colossians 1:23

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

These verses are often quoted in support of the Arminian belief that you can lose your salvation. But what we have to understand is this: those that are JUSTIFIED, WILL PERSEVERE. PERIOD. That’s why Keith Green wrote that song about 2 Timothy 4, “The Battle is Already Won. The Race has already been run. We just have to claim the victory.” True believers know they will win the face of faith. They know they will win the fight of faith because we are kept by Christ.

Jude 24

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

John 10

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me,is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

Romans 8:29-30

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The reason why you continue in faith is because you are kept by the Spirit of Christ! As John Piper says, The reason why you believe day in and day out is because Christ keeps you!

That’s the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. And Paul in our passage is rejoicing because he knows that he’s persevered and will inherit eternal life.

This leads me to the third point.

3.) Paul’s Assurance is his Perseverance

Paul is banking everything on Christ in whom he has put his faith. But here’s the incredible thing, in Paul’s assurance, he points towards the perseverance of his faith, not his Damascus Road experience. I know many of us, if we had personally been converted by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, would base our assurance on that fact. But Paul doesn’t, he points to the perseverance of his faith over all the struggles that he encountered. I think many of us, when we look for assurance look towards our initial conversion, and then that’s when Satan comes and brings doubt about the conversion’s genuineness. But that is not where Paul looks in this passage. He looks to his persevering, fighting, running faith. He knows that he’s in the fight of faith because he’s been fighting! He’s been running, his whole life and it’s been hard! I think of 2 Cor. 6

³ We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ butas servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions,hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Later on in 2 Corinthians 11:23 Paul exclaims “with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

He knows he’s been in the race of faith because he’s been running! Paul said in Acts 20:24, “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Have you ever been in a grueling wrestling match or fight. I think back to playing high school football, when every play is a sprint and also bone crushing hits. Agonizing…or a race. I love to run. Love to run. The Lord really speaks to me when I run. Many of you need to exercise more so you can understand these analogies that Paul is talking about…but sometimes, there are times when running that you don’t think you can take another step. 2 months ago, I went on a 10 miler that went up the mountain with other Marines. And every step seemed to be worse and worse. The other runners on the last couple miles were in noticeable pain, but I was disguising mine. So much so, that one of them said, “Look at Castleberry, he just keeps getting stronger the longer we run.” But really...I was in agony as well, which I conceeded to them when we finished.

To Paul it was finishing the race of faith that counted! Why, listen friends, the test of true Christianity is not how you start, but how you end the race. In Luke 8, in the Parable of the Sower, the seed that fell in the thorns and the rocky ground was not saved. And I think in modern evangelicalism, we rush to give assurance to these types of seeds even when they are not growing. Yes, there are times in Christian’s lives when they may not be growing. Like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, they’ve fallen in the Sloth of Despond. But the mark of every true believer is that they keep on fighting, running, and hoping in Christ. That’s how we know we are saved, when we are sustained daily in the fight, the race, the life of faith. Why? Because the Lord keeps true believers. Jude 1:1 says, “…to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” In the parable of the soils, the seed that fell on the rocks and the thorns did not grow. It started to grow, but was not kept. What does that mean? It means that some people profess faith, but they are never justified, because they do not truly believe, and they are not kept in the faith and they are not really saved and they renounce their faith. But we know that all true believers are kept by the power of Christ to the end. That’s what Jesus was praying for before the Cross (John 17:11) “…And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Application:

1.) Assess whether or not your faith in Christ is genuine.

2.) Look forward in your fight of faith. Paul was looking forward to “finishing his course.” Set milestones for yourself in your fight of faith and know how to wage your fight against:

The schemes of the devil

Ephesians 6:12

² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Know Scripture. Satan will tempt you the same way he tempted Adam. “Hath God said.”

Our own flesh

Romans 7:15-20

¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

John Owen said “Either be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” You have to have a time of introspection so you can know your own weaknesses and put that sin in your flesh to death.

The World

1 John 5:4-5

⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Fill your mind with Scripture, not Television.

3.) Use your own fight of faith for your own assurance and rest knowing that Christ will keep you from falling. Let’s pray.