2 Timothy 4

0:00 hello church good to be together just a little personal note I wouldn't normally do this in a sermon but yesterday was the funeral for my father and church your kindness and love and prayers were evident to all and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that, for both me and our whole family.

0:36 Dad loved the Lord. He was 95 years. He lived a long and fruitful life. He was ready to go to his heavenly home. And it makes it a lot easier to preach today. And I'd like to point out something that's been on my mind. I've been pondering this. Month, months ago, we selected this date for me to preach. And months ago, we selected the text for today, which is 2 Timothy 4.

1:09 I've come to see that it's God's providence. That is, it's not an accident that directly after my father's death in burial, I would preach on Paul's death. Truly, the Lord orders our lives in our days so I'd like you to take it seriously that God's word for us is his word for us right now today here's a little recap of where we've been we looked at Paul on the road to Damascus two weeks ago when he met Jesus he was converted and then commissioned to carry the gospel the name of Jesus to the Gentiles even to their kings last week we looked at Paul's travels on other roads between Troas and Corinth and Miletus as Paul called the Corinthians to gospel faithfulness using the image of a parade on a road led by Christ.

2:07 Paul reminded the believers in Corinth that they were the aroma of Christ. Today we see Paul at the end of the road in Rome. As he writes 2 Timothy, It's likely he's mere weeks away from his death. Early Christians record that Paul was beheaded by the orders of Nero, the wicked and demented Caesar.

2:41 When Paul writes 2 Timothy, he is not under house arrest. That was a previous imprisonment in Rome. He was released from that arrest, given a couple more years of ministry. Paul desired to preach in Spain. Perhaps the Lord made a way for him to do that. That's unclear. But what is clear is that when we read Paul's second letter to Timothy, it is in his final arrest in Rome. And it is far different than the more comfortable house arrest.

3:15 As you piece it together, this arrest included what Paul called his first defense. It would be somewhat like an arraignment in our legal system. He was in a dank, dark cellar with a single hole in the ceiling, which was his only light, the only air. Tradition holds it that that's the Mamertine dungeon in Rome. Maybe it was. You can actually go there and see it today. But back then, it was hard to find. So Onesephorus searched hard and long to find Paul, to locate this hole in the ground.

3:52 Paul had chains on his hands he had iron bars on his feet he was cold he was lonely and he was bored but he writes he writes to Timothy his friend his brother his co-laborer in the gospel and so 2nd Timothy chapter 4 is a treasure to us Paul had 30 years of gospel ministry through amazing, miraculous days, heartbreaking discouragements, and horrific, horrific sufferings. So we should study with wonder the aged, wizened apostles' final words. 2 Timothy 4 on page 996 in the Pew Bible. I'm going to read just the first five verses and read more text as we go. 2 Timothy 4 verse 1. I charge you in the presence of God

4:55 and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober-minded endure suffering do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry so here's here's the main idea preach the word in season and out of season and and by main idea when when we do that from the pulpit. It means the idea that the rest of the passage and the rest of the sermon orbits around. So, the main idea, preach the word in season and out of season. I have four points.

5:57 Number one, Paul's charge, just the first two verses. Second point, the reason for the charge, hard times are coming, verses three through five. Third point, the second reason for the charge, Paul's impending death, verses 6 through 8. And then the fourth point, superintending the charge to others, 9 through 18. So, first point, Paul's charge to Timothy, verses 1 and 2. There's a lot of students here.

6:29 If you're a student, wave at me. Wave at me. I just, wow. Oh, man, I'm so glad you're here. I'm just thrilled. Hey, guys, when your graduation comes and when it happens, there's going to be a commencement address for you. And I know, especially for you freshmen here, that seems like a long way away. But it's coming, and it's coming quicker than you know. And at the commencement, the speaker will give a charge that's supposed to be weighty and important.

7:05 I've heard a lot of them. I was involved in campus ministry for 30 years. I never heard a commencement charge that I remember living up to expectations. I remember a couple snippets, one or two. But, oh my word, I just, I don't know, maybe it's just me. Paul, on the other hand, is giving a charge. An urgent and weighty and memorable charge. Paul gives no one else in the entire New Testament a charge like he gives here to Timothy.

7:42 And notice there are two witnesses to this charge in verse 1. Two witnesses, God the Father and God the Son, Jesus. Paul spends much time before Roman judges in a Roman court. And no doubt, when he's sitting there, he's thinking of the false charges being made against him as he stands before a compromised human judge. The legal claim against Christians in Rome is that they were atheists.

8:16 And in one sense it was true because they didn't believe that Caesar was God. But that claim is deeply ironic in Jehovah's God view of the world. It must have been encouraging as Paul sat through the sham trial to envision the ultimate judge, Jesus Christ. He will be the one who is the judge of the living in the dead. Verse 1. In other words, Paul is saying that every person who has ever lived will face the judgment of Jesus, his perfect and complete judgment.

8:53 That's the dead. Dead Roman judges, dead Emperor Nero, my father, and the living, you and me. You know, in today's world, it's become unpopular to think of God as a judge. God is a God of love, right? In popular culture, that means he's a kindly and tolerant, grandfatherly, celestial God.

9:30 One who provides a compulsory heaven for everyone, regardless of religion or creed. Well, of course, it is true. God is a God of love. And do you know what he loves? He loves justice. He loves righteousness. He loves holiness. But that means you understand that he hates sin.

10:06 He hates injustice. He hates unrighteousness. And he casts it from his presence. Which, of course, is not a problem if you're perfect. It's not a problem if you've never sinned, right? So, you and I have a big problem. What do we do with our sin? There's only one who lived a perfect life and he died to take our sin upon himself on the cross so that we could stand before the perfect judge forgiven and filled with the righteousness of Christ.

10:44 And he will gather his people and love them eternally because He has cleansed them such that they can do that. Paul says in verse 2 that this Jesus will appear with His kingdom, which means He will set the broken world to rights in all its wars and political hate and poverty and racism and sin and destruction. He will set that to right as the world's judge.

11:16 First time Jesus appeared was as a baby, weak and meek and mild. That will not happen again. The next time he will return in might and glory, and he will come with far greater power than any human emperor in Rome. His kingdom will be established with justice. And Paul, understand, holds to that truth as he faces his sentencing and jail in that courtroom trusting to the very end that Jesus the risen Savior is the way the truth and the life and that he is worth dying for because he died for all who would turn from their sin and put their faith and trust in him Jesus said I am the only way to the father so fix your minds on the two witnesses that stand behind Paul as he gives this charge to Timothy.

12:21 And what's the charge? What's the charge? For all the things that he could have said. For all the things that he could have said over his lifetime, he has three words for us. Preach the word. Now, Paul doesn't need to add much more to that for Timothy especially. he's already written this letter with that word in it. Timothy knows it. In this chapter alone, the word is sound teaching in verse 3. It's the truth in verse 4. It's the faith in verse 7.

12:55 It's the God-breathed Old Testament, as Paul explains in the previous chapter, chapter 3 in verse 10, together with the apostolic teachings which Timothy has believed in chapter 3 verse 14. And it continues, brothers and sisters, for us in the church today. The Word of God is a sacred trust. So, when Paul says we're to preach the Word, it's not only from the pulpit. It comes with teaching.

13:27 Preaching from the pulpit, of course. Preaching the Word from the pulpit is critical. And it's the immediate application for Timothy. But we all have the Word. If you know God, you have the Word. and you must be able to think it through and explain it and live it out and talk to others about it. That's why Paul in this passage sandwiches his charge in verse 2 between two critical thoughts. Preaching the word at the start and then teaching the word at the end.

13:58 And then in this sandwich, there's some meat in between and we're going to look at that because he tells us how to do it. So I have four sub points. This is a way to sneak points in. Four sub-points. First, in season and out of season, you must be ready to share the truth of Jesus. Paul means for us to be ready with a word, regardless of how busy you are, how little prep you've done, how caught off guard you are. Years ago, Leanne and I directed a short-term mission trip with university students to Kenya.

14:36 And I got to speak in countless secondary schools or high schools, what we would call high schools. I spoke at them across the country. And let me tell you how this would go down. I would be in an assembly with hundreds of students, say a high school. It could have been a church. It happened in church. I would be greeted as the director of the short-term team from America. And then it would be announced that I was the one who was to bring the sermon for the assembly.

15:10 And I had no idea that was coming. My best friend, Ole Kishoyen, a Maasai man, would whisper to me, a dear brother, Mac, a prepared heart is better than a prepared talk. I was in my 20s. I would think of a text of Scripture as I walked up to the podium. Hopefully, I'd had a quiet time that day. And then I would talk about it.

15:43 That is preaching out of season. Paul says, be ready for that. It was, by the way, for those of you in seminary or voice, it was the best homiletics course in the world. And by the way, just for free, Leanne had it worse. It was announced once that she was going to sing a solo. And she had never sung in a crowd before. She only sang in the shower. And make it worse, it was announced which song.

16:14 It was, as the deer panted for the water. So, what could she do? She stood up and warbled away. We can't sing that song to this day without thinking of that. In season and out of season. You know, it's a sacrificial calling, especially for pastors. I know many of you here desire pastoral ministry. Listen, don't go into pastoral ministry unless you're unwilling to be interrupted in the day-to-day. Ministry is hard because it's 24-7.

16:48 Now, sure, pastors need to set boundaries. I understand that. Yes, you must see your family as your ministry. So, pastors, or future pastors, teach your family about the nature of your work in pastoral ministry. It's essential for your family. My father was a doctor. He was the first orthopedic surgeon in Owensboro, Kentucky, and he was available as the emergency room doctor.

17:20 We knew that as a family, he had to go sometimes because he had been careful to explain to us the nature of his work. And he helped us see that we were a part of that. Occasionally, he would take me with him. Now, I don't think they let 14-year-old boys in the emergency room anymore today, but he did. And I saw it as important work. Do that. Do that for your family. Let them see how they're a part of important work. There are times when sacrifices are called for out of season.

17:55 Dad would set broken bones so people could walk again. Pastors straightened hearts out for eternity. And if you're a child of a pastor or future pastor, take part in the work and support them. Second point, three words, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Paul gives three critical words here. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort. As you preach and teach. The first word, reprove, is as its root, proof.

18:30 We reprove something at its root. It's good to think of this as strengthening those with doubts. For the non-Christian, is to have them put aside doubts, steering them towards a point of repentance. For the Christian, is to bring them to the point of retrieval. Put aside those doubts. Come back in. Come back into solid belief. Paul's second word here is rebuke.

19:03 That's to help someone who's fallen into sin. Get out of that. Stop it. Stop getting drunk. Get off the porn. Slay your pride in your heart. Stop muttering and grumbling and complaining. Don't take offense to a rebuke. That's a rebuke. Don't take offense to rebuke. It's commanded in Scripture and helpful for our walk with Jesus. Those are rebukes. The third word is exhort. That is to urgently encourage.

19:35 Come on, guys. Let's pull together in prayer on Sunday night. Taken together, these things can seem negative. But reproofs and rebukes and exhortations are not negative because Paul is a grumpy old man. The problem was with us, with our hearts. We're prone to doubt, so we need reproof. We fall into sin, so we need rebuke.

20:07 We need a push to do the right thing. That's exhortation. And notice that these words require application. That's why every sermon at third, you'll hear applications for us or teachings from the Word about how to live the spiritual life. There are actually pastors who don't believe in putting application into their sermons. Here's an application. If you meet one of those people, ask them about 2 Timothy 4.2.

20:41 But do it patiently because that's the next word, third word. with complete patience, our third understanding. Paul understands reprove, rebuke, and exhortations need to be coupled with patience. Patience is required given the complexity of human communication and the different personalities and the fact that we're bound to make mistakes in these things. One way to help think about patience as a practical way is to think about developing pain tolerance.

21:18 So, I'll demonstrate with my hands. You know, Paul demonstrates with his hands in Acts 20. So, in my, this will be hard for people who listen to this in recording, but in my left hand, right here, if you love Jesus, you're my friend. You're my friend. On my right hand, I've had years and years to think through what is biblical Christianity.

21:50 I have a high ecclesiology. I have a high Christology. I have a high commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible. And so when someone whom I love on the left hand says something dumb, like I'll give you an example. So I was doing a Bible study with a kid, freshman. Genesis 1 and God said let there be light and this kid sweet guy said oh that's that's when God created Jesus you know Christology you know existent forever with a you know third person second person you know so the distance between my my left hand and my right hand is called pain.

22:42 This is pain. Right? And some people have very low pain tolerance. You know, bang, wow, all over them. But Paul calls us to be patient in those things. It's so important to get this. By the way, there are further applications for you as you raise your children about that. But that's another sermon. So, it's a tricky line to walk, right? It's good to develop high pain tolerance with others. So, take your time.

23:14 Keep at it. Keep up your relationships with people. Don't accept their disregard of you. Don't let that happen. And maybe you're wrong. You know, humility goes with this, with patience. Don't look for immediate results. These four words, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with patience helps fill out Paul's charge to Timothy in practical terms to preach and teach. And just one comment about teaching. I was talking with my sister, and she told me how she loved, she's in a different city now, but she loved her pastor and the elders and how they taught about what they were doing. And I asked her to give me an example. And she said, well, she said the pastor said at the end of the service, now we're going to have a benediction. And I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know the word meant a good word.

24:14 That's what it means, just a good word. But he said, the reason we have a benediction at the end of the service is we want to give God the last word. I thought that was really good. And I love that he taught everything. She said he did that all the time with everything that they did. You know, almost everything we do here at Third has an underlying purpose tied as much as possible to scriptures and biblical principles and godly wisdom. We want the name of Christ to be exalted.

24:49 There are reasons why we don't do interpretive dance on the platform, besides just being a little cheesy. If you do interpretive dance, I'm sorry. It's okay. Personal opinion. There are reasons why we call it a platform and not a stage. The point being, we want to follow scriptural principles as much as is possible. So we sing the Word. We read the Word. We order our prayers around the Word.

25:20 We preach the Word. And these two verses are first-order business as we preach the Word in church and life on a day-to-day. And one more comment about teaching in verse two. You know, it's easy to think of these instructions for the preacher, the guy in the pulpit, as you should. But Paul's regular way of preaching the gospel was a teaching method. So understand that Paul's instructions are not just for preachers from a pulpit, but for anyone who shares the word with friends or neighbors or co-workers or fellow students.

26:02 Which brings us to our second major point, point two. Paul gives the first reason for this charge. Hard times are coming, verses three through five. Let me read it. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth. And wander off into myths.

26:34 As for you, always be sober-minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. So Paul now moves from present to prophecy. He sees what's coming. And he's not describing a one-time future event. Paul is describing a nasty church cycle. Here's how it goes. Gospel churches are started, they start with the gospel and with gusto.

27:08 There's joy and vigor and new fellowships. It's exciting. People are coming to faith. The work is significant. The preaching is rock solid. But while the church grows, people begin to join the church for other reasons than gospel ministry or right preaching of the word. They're more interested in friendships or business contacts or getting votes. Or having a place for their children to learn moral values. Sound teaching tends to take a back seat. The next generation isn't always excited about the teaching of truth.

27:43 They assume truth. They want to hear about relevant things. And what's relevant is their passions. When Paul uses that word here, he means that human desires are replacing desires for God. The gospel becomes boring. They want a church that's got some pizzazz. They have itching ears. Another way to say itching ears is that they want their ears tickled with the new and the innovative.

28:17 Music begins to focus more and more on creating an atmosphere than making a gospel point in song. Preaching that makes you feel good about yourself. social interactions that are hard to distinguish from any secular get-together. Now, this happens so slowly, it's barely noticed. People at this stage in church tend to migrate to parachurch ministries to get the teaching they need at a conference or with dynamic Christian speakers, podcasts.

28:55 And listen, as a 40-year veteran of parachurch ministries, I am for parachurch ministries. I can say there's nothing bad about those things. They encourage the church. But it's wrong when they become a substitute for membership in a local church. They pile up teachers, Paul says. That is, they accumulate teachers who don't challenge them in their sin, but comfort them in their passions.

29:27 They give more thought to methods and business standards than biblical principles. Business models guide the church's leadership rather than biblical models of leadership. Leaders are far more sensitive to public opinion and the spirit of the age. And you know what? These things sort of work for a time. This pattern is as old as the prophet Ezekiel. Read Ezekiel 33, starting in verse 32.

29:58 You can read it when you get home today. Where God tells Ezekiel, people love to listen to you. They come as those who attend a musical performance. But they will not do what you say. I suspect Paul is drawing from God's word to Ezekiel. You can draw crowds, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't change lives. And ultimately, because the word grows less important and less authoritative, people wander into myths, verse 4, which are ideas of their own liking.

30:34 It gives birth to the phrase, well, my truth is, and then just fill in the blank. I mean, we have presidents of Ivy League schools saying such nonsense, such foolishness. I mean, could there not be a more bald statement that I am God? Is there not a more obvious example of this? As we see entire church denominations cast off biblical norms of human sexuality to embrace myths about who we are as men and women.

31:10 I'm not talking about society here. Society does what society does. I'm talking about churches. Maybe you know a church where this has happened. that's the prophecy in verses 3 and 4. And what's the answer to this bad cycle? Paul turns from congregational waywardness to what Timothy needs to do with four instructions for him in verse 5. Just one verse, verse 5, four more sub-points.

31:49 One, be sober-minded. Now, being sober-minded doesn't mean don't get drunk, although it would certainly include that. I was in New Zealand speaking at a conference there, and a dear brother there was lamenting the shape of the church in Auckland. And he was going to a Baptist church, and he said it was probably the best one in town, but the problems in the church really came into sharp focus when he realized his pastor would preach when he was drunk.

32:22 A clear violation of this command. But the term sober-minded is meant in a broader sense. Keep your head on straight. Keep your head on straight. Think clearly. Keep in mind what's at stake. And then preach clearly. Watch word. What's misty in the pulpit will be foggy in the pew. We need to be clear about what we're talking about. Second sub-point, endure suffering.

32:59 Persevere through hard times. Suffering, of course, is the central theme of all Paul's writings to Timothy, and a constant theme woven out through Paul's teachings. Don't give up when hard times hit. Cling to the cross. It's during those times that the grace of God shines most. And the love of brothers and sisters is most meaningful. When suffering, when it hits, as it has for our family this week, I find it the easiest time to tell others about the goodness of the Lord Jesus.

33:45 Suffering sharpens our spiritual minds. So, people ask me, which of my seven grandchildren do I love the most? And they're teasing, of course. But I tell them, well, it's easy. The one I love the most is the one who needs me the most. The one who's hurt or scared or sick or embarrassed.

34:25 You know, there's a parallel with the Lord for you and me. When we go to him, when we are suffering, he draws close to us when we're hurt or scared or sick or suffering or embarrassed. He loves the downtrodden. And after all, he knows suffering better than any of us. And remember, there's a reward of righteousness for those who endure in this life and the life to come.

35:03 Third, be an evangelist. Now, Paul is probably referring to the work of faithfulness to the Great Commission to the Gentiles. It certainly means preaching the gospel. It means that we should make sure that when we preach or pray or sing, we have an eye on the gospel. We should take care to remember that there are people who come to our service, our fellowship, every week who are seekers. Those who have not yet come to faith yet are inquiring about Christianity.

35:35 we need to speak to them and to let them know that we're glad they're here. And if that's you, I'm glad you're here. I'm so glad you're here. We love talking about Jesus. Grab me or anyone else that you see on the platform or the person that brought you or the person that greeted you at the door, anybody here. Our favorite thing to talk about is Jesus. The gospel is the core message of the Christian faith. All biblical teaching radiates in and out from the gospel. So the best way to preach the gospel is by going through texts of scripture like we're doing this morning and showing how it relates to the gospel message. We do that here week in, week out. That's what we do? We look at the Bible. We talk about what it means. Now, here's the test for you. If I ask you, can you tell me the gospel in a minute or two? Just a minute. Could you do it? Could you say it?

36:40 Can you say in simple terms who God is, who you are before a holy God, what Jesus did on the cross and who he is and what it takes to follow Christ. Just, can you do that? And if you can't, get Greg's book, What is the Gospel? and commit the gospel to memory. Fourth and the final sub-point, Paul says, fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry.

37:15 Actually, I don't know what that's about. I don't know. I've thought a lot about it. not sure what it means so if you can help me about it you can later but I think maybe it means just all of the above you know preach the word patiently reprove rebuke exhort teach remember that misty in the pulpits foggy in the pew get your head on straight endure suffering don't forget the gospel understand the times are coming that are going to be hard especially don't give in to human passions I think it's Paul kind of saying, when he says, fulfill your ministry, Paul's saying, let's do this.

37:53 Even in the face of hard times coming, fulfill your obligation to Christ and his people. But notice in verse three, there's another obligation. Your obligation as a congregation. Notice that pastors are not here ultimately the problem. It's the congregation, it's you guys that lets churches go astray. Paul says congregations gather preachers they want to hear in verse 3.

38:26 You, church, church, are the ones that should make sure the church sticks to the Word of God and does the hard thing of exhortation and reproof and rebuke and making sure that you approve of that. You, church, need to require the preaching of sound doctrine and the gospel. And as a congregation, think, if I brought my non-Christian friend here, would they be able to turn to Christ in faith?

38:59 So the obligation for you as a congregation is to listen for the gospel in sermons, in prayers, in songs. And especially, you're sitting here maybe years and years from now, you don't hear the gospel once from the pulpit, be patient. If you don't hear it twice, go to service review and ask about it. Be attentive. Be patient. But you, church especially, must never, ever allow the world to move the gospel out of the church.

39:38 Now, I usually find it unhelpful when someone fresh out of Greek class quotes Greek in a sermon, or even worse, when someone like me quotes Greek who doesn't even know Greek and they act like they do, so I don't know Greek. It leads to chaos, which is from the Greek word chaos, which means chaos. But, with that said, you can make a case that the entire book of 2 Timothy can be summarized in two tiny Greek words.

40:24 Su-di. It's repeated four times in this letter and right here in verse 5. It's the call for Timothy to resist the call to be like the world. It's translated, but as for you, we're called to be different. Churches get lost because congregations give way to the grinding pressure to be like the world.

41:01 Which brings us to our third and much shorter and fourth points, point three. Paul's departure, the second reason for the charge, verses six through eight. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 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 me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

41:39 Paul picks up this image of a drink offering, the ritual act in the Old Testament of worship when wine was poured out on the altar as part of the sacrifice, of the sacrifice in verse 6. Paul's thinking of his own blood being spilled out as a drink offering. Paul knows he won't be there for Timothy. So this call to Timothy in verses 1 and 2 is a call for Timothy to step up. You know, every generation must take hold of the charge Paul gives to Timothy.

42:12 Preach the word in season and out of season. And when Paul spoke to the Ephesians, this is years, years before this writing, but when he spoke to the Ephesian elders in Miletus, In Acts 20, verse 24, he said, and I quote, But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I can finish my course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the power, to the gospel of the grace of God.

42:48 Now many years pass, and now he can say it's happened. That desire, he fought the good fight, he finished the race, he's kept the faith in verse 7. And he looks forward to the crown of righteousness that Christ will give him. You know, the great reward in heaven is the righteousness that we gain that allows us standing before God. The righteousness that we could never afford on our own, we can't purchase that.

43:21 And he holds that out for all believers, all those who have loved his appearing in verse 8. Notice this phrase, loved his appearing. You know, that day will come for us all, all of us. If the Lord delays his return when we die, the other way to see this, this is when Christ Jesus returns in power, when he splits the sky open. And the question is, will you love him when you see him?

43:56 Or will you shrink back? Those who love him, those true followers of Jesus, will love his appearance. And as you can imagine, heaven and death have been on my mind much this past week as we put my father in the grave. I trust that my father saw Jesus and loved his appearing. What was once faith now becomes sight.

44:27 What joy. Now, perhaps you've never thought about your life being less important than testifying to the gospel of grace, as Paul says here. I mean, it's a phenomenal statement. Maybe it's the thought that frightens you. But you should consider it. Life is short. Eternity is long. It's worth it. I was at the checkout line in Home Depot with my father, and he ran into an old friend, and they started talking.

45:03 And the conversation somehow turned to how suddenly they felt like they'd gotten older. They laughed about it, and then my dad said to her, you know, Billy Graham once said that the biggest surprise in life was how short it is. When he said it, I was middle-aged and I didn't relate. I'm not middle-aged anymore unless I live to 140. I felt at the time I could have found many things that I thought were bigger surprises, but in time and now I know what he means.

45:43 The end comes more quickly than you know. There is nothing more important in life than finishing the race Christ sets out for you. Let me read the rest of the chapter. We'll speak of our final point, point four, superintending the charge to the end. Do your best to come to me soon. for Demas in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

46:19 Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me in ministry. Tychius I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

46:54 May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through the message and through me, the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever.

47:28 Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onsephorus. Erastus remained in Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Ebulus sends greetings to you as do Prudence and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. You know, sometimes it's easy to skip over the ends of the epistles, but they're filled with important teachings for us.

47:59 I'll just highlight a few. Paul, notice, is working to the very end. He's supervising the work of gospel ministry while he has breath. He's setting up Timothy, most importantly, as his replacement. There's pain in these passages. Paul longs for fellowship with Timothy. There's betrayal. Demas has foolishly decided he loves the world more than the heaven and deserts Paul. Winter is coming. Paul needs warm clothing. He sent co-workers to various places of ministry, which is sacrificial for Paul, to make for others.

48:36 We see he's reconciled with Mark. who left Mark in the lurch years before. There's some sad personal story here about Alexander the metal worker. It's speculation, of course, but there might have been one of the men in a church who had been put under church discipline by Paul, and he betrayed him to authorities, perhaps. Perhaps Paul was arrested in Troas and forced to leave his cloak and parchments and the scrolls and the house of Carpus. Regardless, Paul warns Timothy to avoid Alexander.

49:13 He was alone at his first defense, the arraignment. Most likely they deserted him probably because they were afraid, they were scared. He prays for their forgiveness in verse 16. And it reminds us of Stephen's prayer before he was murdered. A prayer that Paul had witnessed some three decades before. yet Paul says the Lord stood by him in verse 17, and God used him to proclaim the gospel.

49:45 Talk about an example of preaching the gospel out of season. He's alone. He's before powerful, cruel people, yet because the Lord was with him, he preached to the rulers, and even we suspect the emperor Nero as promised by God when Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. In verse 20, Paul is thinking of others. The little note to Timothy is sort of a note to check in on Trophimus, who's sick in Miletus, and then he gives final greetings to his friends.

50:25 He desires for God to get the glory, and he ends with a note of grace. Grace be to your spirit. And those are the last words recorded by Paul. You know, I keep coming back to this phrase in verse 17. Paul says he was rescued from the lion's mouth. Now, it's easy to start thinking that he's talking about the Colosseum and being thrown to the lions.

50:56 But Paul would not have been thrown to the lions as a Roman citizen. Maybe in court, it came to light that he was a Roman citizen. Maybe he was threatened with that, and it comes to light that he's a Roman citizen and spared that end. Maybe he's got the prophet Daniel on his mind with the lion's den. But I think it's Psalm 22. I think that's what's on Paul's mind. The scripture that we read before, It contains a promised deliverance from the lion's mouth.

51:37 Psalm 22 is messianic, as Mike said, a messianic psalm that points to Christ and His deliverance. But notice in Psalm 22, it's not a deliverance from death. It's a deliverance to heaven. And Paul, too, looks to heaven as a rescue in verse 18. He says he'll be safe home. And yesterday at Graveside, that phrase kept going over and over in my mind. He's safe home.

52:07 My dad is safe home. He persevered to the end. Christian, remember something. It's not how you start. It's how you end. Postscript. Something very interesting happened to Rome following Paul's death. Horrific persecutions broke out of Christians all across Rome in the reign of Nero.

52:45 He was wicked and cruel, and Christians were murdered in large numbers and despicable ways. However, the resilience and determination of Christians who died for their beliefs was a pivotal moment in the history of Christianity. It transformed the faith from a relatively small localized movement into a global religion. The courage and resilience of early Christians in the face of suffering became a powerful testament to their beliefs.

53:19 Their suffering was the aroma of Christ that spread everywhere, the knowledge of God. And it spread to the nations. The rise of the early church has no parallel in the world. And historians who study it and who are honest certainly must consider God's work in the church of Christ. From those days till now, the faith has spread like wildfire.

53:51 And the church will continue until Christ returns. He promises that. And so you, Third Avenue Baptist Church, are part of that legacy. For it to continue, preach the word in season and out of season. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you.

54:24 We thank you for your great and glorious gospel. Lord God, we thank you for this charge that you gave to Timothy and to us. Lord, we pray that we would be faithful to your word in season and out. Lord, we know hard times are coming. You promise it. And so we pray for that. We pray that as generations pass, as we're put into the grave ourselves, we'll be mindful.

55:01 We'll be mindful of this charge and help us persevere in gospel faithfulness, gospel ministry to the very end. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.