Turn with me now in the Word of God to the second epistle of Paul to Timothy, and our text is in the fourth chapter, but I would like to begin the reading at verse 10 of chapter 3 to provide a little bit of context here. So let us read the word of God then from 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10 through to the 8th verse of chapter 4. But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, Because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Thus far, the word of God, and may the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Well, this evening, as has already been intimated, we are bidding a formal farewell to our pastor as he returns to Ireland for his doctoral work in preparation for coming back in a few years' time. training men for the ministry at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. When I was asked to preach on this occasion, I immediately thought of this passage that we've read, particularly these first verses of 2 Timothy chapter 4, where Paul, who is imprisoned in Rome at the time and anticipating his departure from this life in the near future, offers his parting counsels at a distance, at a great distance, to his younger colleague Timothy. What this means in the first instance is that for all practical purposes the apostle is giving his last words to Timothy. We don't need to be melodramatic and say, these are our last words to David. But that's what's happening here in the passage. And so, as he comes to the end of these parting councils, he brings this letter to a final and intensely personal exhortation. which aims to arm and encourage Timothy for effective service to the Lord in future years, long after the apostle has been taken home to glory. He's giving him encouragement in the Lord then. And before we come to the passage itself, I just want you to note this, that when we speak about this encouragement, or the encouragement of the brethren being shared with other brethren, brothers and sisters in the faith indeed, please note that such encouragement is not, and this encouragement in particular, is not a little human inspiration and warmth to sort of chivvy you up and help you to do things a little better in the future. We're not talking here about some kind of merely social transaction between two individuals or more individuals in which there is a bond of love to be sure and of the same interests and commitments. It isn't just a little bit of encouragement to give somebody a leg up, raise their spirits a little as they face something new and something perhaps difficult in their lives. That's how the world thinks about encouragement and alas, too many Christians think this way too. Christian encouragement, my friends, is not people strengthening people. It's not a man, Paul, strengthening a man, Timothy. What it is about is looking to Christ and experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word in the heart. And from the heart to the hand and from the Lord to his disciples, there is then this channel of power from on high. So, when we look at this, we're looking at not something that is merely a social caring exchange or conveying of warm sentiments, but we're looking here at something which is to do with the work of God in the hearts of both these men. And indeed, because it is in the Scripture, in the hearts of all of us, in all the centuries that have passed since, and in all the years that may pass before the coming of our Lord. And it's Him, it's the Holy Spirit, who is the only one who can truly encourage to strengthen us. Encourage, hyphen, to, hyphen, strengthen. Encourage to actually strengthen us. Paul testifies of this elsewhere in his experience. In 2 Corinthians 12, 9 he says this, and he, the Lord, and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. This is the thorn in the flesh passage, you'll know. My grace is sufficient for you. Thorn's not going to be taken away. And why is his grace sufficient? Because my strength is made perfect in weakness. My, the Lord's, strength in your, in my, weakness. Therefore, he says, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So look away from yourself then. Look away from your gifts. Look away from your feelings. Look away from your circumstances. And always be looking to Jesus. And whether you are giving encouragement or you are receiving encouragement from someone else, that is of the essence of the transaction. It is not simply the love of an individual, a brother or sister in the faith. It is about the love of God in Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He indwells the hearts of all His people. And this I want to put to you is basic to Paul's core message. It is Jesus who is both the author and the completer, the finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12.2. And what is the core message here? This is basic to the core message. The work of the Spirit in progress. And it is this. It is that the gist of Paul's last words to Timothy is that he keep his eyes upon the prize. Keep his focus upon his heavenward calling, his upward calling in Christ Jesus, Philippians 3.14. And I want us to note three points here if we have the time in this connection. First of all, there is a vital perspective to be adopted by us, in this case by Timothy. directly. A vital perspective to adopt, verse 1. A vital task with which to grapple, with which to engage, verses 2 through 5. And thirdly, a vital motive to impel us to faithfulness in this task. So first of all then we have in the opening verse of chapter 4 a word about a vital perspective. for the future of our brother who is leaving us, but for all of us, wherever we are in our life and callings before the Lord. Paul's saying to Timothy a couple of things here. The first is this. Timothy, remember, you live in the presence of God and of Jesus. Notice he says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, that kind of expression is so easily glossed over. Okay, that's how you start a sentence, with some felicitous, warm statement, but we want to get to the meat. My friends, the meat starts here. I charge you, therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not mere rhetorical flourish. It contains foundational doctrine to be believed and applied at all times and in every challenge. This is not about whether we feel the presence of Christ. Yes, we may feel the presence of Christ by His Holy Spirit, sometimes in strong ways, sometimes in more muted ways, but sometimes we have no feelings at all or our feelings are rather overwhelmed, for example, by the daunting task to which we have committed ourselves. We went, our family went back to Scotland in 1981 after eight years in Pittsburgh, my first pastorate, and I can remember the first night I'm going to sleep in my brother's home in South London, and my brain is going, never mind the jet lag, the brain is going feverishly, and I'm asking myself, what have I done? I've left the U.S., and I'm on my way back to a big question mark in my life. David knows where he's going. I didn't then. But here's the point. In the face of something like that, indeed of anything in life, any question, any change, any decision, any pressure, it isn't about whether we feel warmly, passionately, certainly of the presence of Christ, feel Him as it were by His Spirit, it is simply a fact that we are in His presence. It is a fact that we are before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a fact to be accepted even if we do not feel anything but the foreboding or the challenge or the difficulty or the uncertainty that nags away at our thinking, at our minds. It's the fact of Christ's presence then that is to be taken to heart by faith and then worked out in our attitude and perspective on everything in life at all times. We are not alone. We are before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's something else here too. This calls the Father and the Son, Paul calls the Father and the Son as witnesses to his charge to Timothy to be faithful. Look at this passage, this verse. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus. He's saying, as God and the Lord Jesus, God the Father, in light, inapproachable, in glory, and the Lord Jesus at the right hand of that majesty on high, before them I charge you. And you are before them, of course, also. They are witnesses of this transaction. Witnesses of these words, witnesses of your response, witnesses of this situation. And Paul is, of course, expressing his accountability in the most fundamental way. I'm not saying something to you, Timothy, that I cooked up in my own mind, which I think would be a great idea. No. This is something from the Lord for you, and it's something, by extension, through the inspired Word, in our hands, in our Bibles, it's something for every single believer on the face of the earth. And it has the widest practical application. For example, do you Realize and do you take account of the fact that every sermon that you have heard, every personal testimony that has been shared with you, every contact that you have had with the Scriptures, all that is that has been faithfully proclaiming the truth to you in one form or another, that all of these things have exactly this status and effect and implication. They are before God, and God is the witness. They are before the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the witness. Does it make you tremble just a little? If it does, then the answer is good. Even the devils tremble. How much more should we tremble? Not because we stand under the wrath of God, but we stand under this wonderful Redeemer who sent His Son to save us, to the uttermost, who have called upon His name. And yet many a Christian gets the shivers and doesn't like it, doesn't say, thank you, Lord, for shaking me up. Thank you for reminding me that I'm in your presence. Thank you, Lord, that you who are my Savior care about me, that you are there, that you are listening, that you are guiding, that you are going before me. And you see, if it turns you off and you don't want to think, that God has His eye on you, then you need a rethink of your relationship to Him. You live in the presence of God and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say this to Christians, you live in the presence of your Savior. And when you are asleep, you are in the presence of your Savior. And when you are ill, you are in the presence of your Savior. And when you are having fun, you are in the presence of your Savior. And when you are confronted with challenges, you are in the presence of your Savior. And the fact that He is your Savior is what makes all the difference. The second aspect to this perspective That's one part of it then, you live in the presence of God and of Jesus. The second is that you live in anticipation of the appearing of Christ and his kingdom. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Now if Paul's charge, the seriousness of his words to Timothy need underlining and it does because we too easily skip over the deeper implications of all sorts of things that God tells us in his word and all sorts of things he uses his ministers and our brothers and sisters to tell us also. We need this underlining Well, if it does, and it does, the Apostle here adds a word about the Last Judgment. Now, I mentioned the Last Judgment to many folks and they're kind of titter a little bit and get awkward. And alas, many Christians get a little embarrassed by that. They don't quite want, you know, they don't want to seem odd in the presence of worldly folks. And the result is that the idea of the Last Judgment tends to take on something of a comic flavour to it. It turns into a kind of toothless wonder. It's there, it's going to happen one day, but it's like the heat death of the sun, you know? We go to an expert and he tells us it's umpteen billion years into the future, maybe. And somehow or other that makes people feel better, they won't be around when the sun dies. Yes, they will, but they'll not be here. Just think of the day you die. That's not so far away. And that's inevitable. And a good number of you here will be here when some of us come to that day who are older. The day you die isn't a toothless wonder either. It isn't off there and will never come. We are answerable to the Lord, you see, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. And what is true of that great day when the Lord returns and the consummation of His kingdom takes place is also true with respect to our own eternal destiny. of the day in which we pass from this world before the Lord our judge. Now, you can go away from this first verse here and pass it over and say, well, this is just a flourish for a letter. You can go away shaking your head if you like, but ask yourself what you plan on telling Jesus when you do appear before him. Or maybe what your excuses are going to be for never thinking about it. Because this day will come, and it will come sooner than you know. And what it adds up to is, in the words of a great Scottish commentator, Patrick Fairbairn, in the 19th century, it comes to this, that, as he says, the great realities of the future world infinitely outweigh all the present. To all these millions of people who worried about the stock market because the British have voted to leave the common market. The EU, I'm sorry. That's just stuff that's going on now. It is eternal realities that we ought to think more seriously about. However seriously we take the events, the current events of our life. So this is the perspective then that's vital that we need to adopt. We're living our lives in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is an amiable presence for those who love him who first loved us. And you live your life in anticipation of the appearing of Christ and his kingdom. You live out of that future, in other words, in which he comes, and in judging the living and the dead, comes to save his people in completeness and fullness forever and forever, world without end. Point two. We have, meantime, a vital task. From this perspective, we have a vital task with which to grapple. Verses two through five. The question is, what is Timothy, and what are each of God's sent messengers called to do? And Paul here gives a three-part answer, and it involves preaching and preparation and purpose. Verse 2, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. He says to Timothy, look, preaching. is what I want you to focus on. First and foremost, preach the Word. And this, of course, is also the Apostle Paul's personal experience and testimony elsewhere. He says in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 16 and 17, he says this, For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship." That's quite a weighty statement. Bear's going back and meditating on it a little, perhaps. What he's saying to Timothy is that preaching is so vitally important. And why is this so? Because it is the proclamation of the whole counsel of God concerning Christ in all the Scriptures by the church, with the authority of God, and in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. And this is why we need God-sent preachers, not self-appointed preachers. Preaching. Secondly, preparation. He says, be ready in season and out of season. That is to say, whether you choose the moment or the moment is chosen for you. Whether you feel like it or you don't feel like it, or as the great English preacher Charles Simeon puts it, whether in public or in private, on the Sabbath or other days, early or late, whether in a season of peace or of the bitterest persecution, be ready. You're on duty 24-7. And that's true of Timothy the preacher, and it's true of all the preachers that have ever been, but it's also true of every Christian. You're on duty 24-7. You've not been invited to a party in some rose garden when you came to Christ, when He saved you by grace. You've been taken out of the world to be a shining light. And to be that shining light, you and I, oh, how inadequate we feel. I know this myself. We feel so inadequate. We know ourselves. to be falling short of the glory of God. But this is our calling. This is about who we are, one by one, in all our callings in Christ. And yet, so many Christians wander from church to church, hover on the fringe of the work of the gospel, seem to want to get through life doing as little as possible, for the Saviour they profess has saved them from a lost eternity and into eternal life by His grace, by His sacrifice, by His giving of Himself. Preparation. Think then practically. How can you be in season and out of season ready? That's the challenge. And thirdly, we have purpose here. Preaching, preparation, and purpose. Paul sketches out the practical aims in Timothy's calling as to both content and method. You see, this is also in verse 2. As to content, he says, we are to convince, rebuke, and exhort. Convince here is a verb form of the noun that's rendered reproof in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration, it's God-breathed, is the word, theonustos, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. Same word here, convince. I don't know why the translators didn't just put in reproof, reprove. I think they were trying to sound more positive because convince sounds like a good thing, whereas reproving is kind of uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be reproved. Convince me, yes, but don't reprove me. But it means reprove. And what is it about? It's challenging us. Challenging us to come to the Word. And to take it seriously. To take the Lord seriously who has spoken His Word. And then the other words that follow rebuke and exhort follow logically. So the content then of your preaching of the Word is aimed at transforming your hearers. reproving or convincing, rebuking, because there are things that need to be dealt with that are amiss in your life, and exhorting, which is the positive way forward. Once you've repented and you've turned your path around, exhorting is where you're going. That's what you're following. That's the content. And then the method is in the next couple of words. We need to be long-suffering, that's to say patient, and we need to focus on teaching. One writer says, a recent writer on this passage, says we need to be recognizing that true discipleship is a process and sanctification takes time. Patience and teaching. I once knew a preacher who was surprised when a brother of his in the ministry had to go away and prepare a sermon, and he'd been a good many years in the ministry by that time, and this fellow said, well, I don't know why you need to do that. I made all my sermons in the first five years of my ministry. Isn't that tragic? That's tragic. The Christian who says, well, I became a disciple, you know, in the first, I don't know how long, my first year as a Christian, or in my college years, and what's left for me to do? Well, just to be a great disciple, or a disciple maker, or a discipler, or whatever. No! Your purpose, Timothy, is ongoing. There is an infinite scope for growth. We will never fill that out in this life and indeed in heaven itself. We will always be growing and learning in our discipleship. We only think that that's not possible because we have low views of God. Our God isn't big enough. It's as if we go to heaven and we become God. No, you don't. You're still a learner. And the big difference is you're an even more willing learner than you've ever been in this life. So, you have to start here. Patience. Patience. And teaching. Teaching the scripture. Teaching some depth. This Timothy is your calling, and this every minister of the gospel is your calling, and this in its own place is part of the calling of everyone who names the name of Christ in truth, even if it is as simple as saying a word in season to somebody on the street in passing. Now why is this task so important? You see how Paul, there's a logic that follows through, a holy logic, a holy spirit logic that follows through the unfolding of his words. Verses three and four. Why is this task so important? Paul gives two answers. He says, the day is coming when they will not endure sound doctrine. they will not put up with sound doctrine. So in other words, you've got to start and you've got to continue to teach sound doctrine. Because if you don't start the way you should continue, you won't start it up later when people have gotten to the place of saying, oh, that's doctrine. And I don't know how many times I've heard that in 40 odd years in the ministry. Oh, that's doctrine, as if doctrine is something evil. All that doctrine is, Latin word for teaching. Same people wouldn't say, oh, that's teaching. But that's what it means, and that's what it is. And the truth is, that's what they mean when they say, oh, that's doctrine. I don't need to know that. Don't trouble me with it. Well, Timothy, you're going to find that there are lots of people, and it's in your ministry. It's not Joe Blow out there in the street who hasn't given a couple of thoughts to the things of God in 20 years. It's the people inside the church. And if you don't start as you ought to continue, you'll be compromised from the beginning and you'll never get to it. So when you go somewhere new, like our brother off to Ireland. He knows. He knows already. He's going to continue his ministry there. Even while he's learning, he's going to be teaching. They will not put up with sound doctrine. This task is important. You've got to keep at it. And secondly, note, as an ancillary point to this, that what they will put up with is unsound teaching and teachers. And Paul says because of desires, their own self-centered desires and their itching ears, they heap up for themselves teachers. And off they go, away, drifting away from God's revealed truth into fables, myths. And by myths, he just means errors. He's not thinking there simply of some crazy stories, you know, like the earth was created to rest on the back of an elephant or something like that. He's talking about anything but the truth. And anything that sounds like the truth but isn't. And that takes the edge off the claims of truth. That takes away something of the edge of the gospel. Takes away the edge of the gospel itself. Reduces Jesus from prophet, priest, and king. The one who dies on the cross to bear the sins of his people in his body on the tree. and reduces him to a fine teacher who will give you some helpful points to help you live a happier life. That's your ministry. That's why it's urgent. And then lastly, in verse 5, he asks, how should you fulfill your ministry? He says, well, you know, he wants Timothy to keep preaching sound doctrine He wants him to continue to minister faithfully in all the aspects of ministry. And he's to do that all the more because there are going to be people who don't want to hear God's truth. And there are going to be more and more false teachers who are going to sound as clever or more clever than Timothy. And he's going to have to persist against that background. How is he going to do that? Well, Paul gives him four practical charges. He says, but you, Number one, be watchful. Verse five, be watchful in all things. Keep your head and keep your wits about you. Number two, endure afflictions. Don't let the negatives get you down. Three, do the work of an evangelist. In other words, remember that you are a witness in this world for Christ. Keep up your witness for Christ. And fourthly, fulfill your ministry. Kind of a catch-on saying, fight the good fight to the end. Keep at it. And so when we sum that up, what is our task? This vital task with which we are to grapple, which is not easy, which is going to have tremendous discouragements along the way. But we have the promise of God to encourage us. You sum it up, we do have this vital task. It is vital. You all know the phrase, white unto harvest. The fields are white unto harvest. The woman at the well goes out to the village, says about this fellow, Jesus, that she just met at the well, could this be the Christ? Jesus tells his disciples, seeing them come out, the fields are white unto harvest. What's he saying there? He's not saying, look, they're all dressed in white clothes. I've heard that, by the way, as an exegesis of the passage. Looked like there were white coming, a field of white. Maybe it was, who cares? That's not what it's about. What it's about is, the corn in the field is getting ripe. And if you don't harvest it, it will rot. In other words, it's urgent. We must reap or the world will perish. But the great thing is, Galatians 6, 9, we shall reap if we don't lose heart. And God promises us, 2 Corinthians 9, 6, that he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. And so we have here the promise and the assurance of the blessing of God through all the ups and downs of faithful ministry. He's doing His work. He is King. And He is Lord. And He is not going to be thwarted by the opposition. A vital task. We're all involved in it in one way or another. So there's nowhere we can hide and say it doesn't apply to me. Thirdly and finally, a vital motive we have here to impel faithfulness. Paul's testimony about his present situation. And what he's saying here is, again, this theme, keep your eyes on the prize. Paul gives his personal testimony in the matter. He says presently, He says, I am, verse 6, already being poured out as a drink offering. That's a reference, of course, to the drink offerings in the Old Testament ceremonial law, Numbers 15, verses 1 through 10. Here's the drink offering. It's a poured out sacrifice to God. It's pointing to Christ, our sacrifice, and it's pointing on in its application To our calling as Christians, present your bodies as living sacrifices. Romans 12 verse 1, which is your reasonable or your spiritual service, rendered different ways. I'm being poured out as a drink offering. I feel myself, I am being, the Lord is giving me to this task. And you get the sense that that his jug is getting emptier as he gets tireder and older and he sees he's coming to the culmination of his earthly pilgrimage. And he goes on and he says, soon my ministry will be over in this world. He says, verses 6 and 7, the time of my departure is at hand. But notice he can say, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Oh, Christian, I know you don't want to come to the end of your days and stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and say, I compromised and I gave up fighting. I never finished the race. I dropped out. I still smart over having to drop out of the Scottish Marathon Championship at 23 miles. Dehydrated. Well that's nothing. That's nothing compared to dropping out before the entrance to the Celestial City. Before the throne of God. and saying, well, I tried to keep the faith, but I found it too difficult. Yes, it's too difficult in your strength and mine. Yes, we cannot finish the race under our own steam. Yes, we cannot fight the good fight in our own muscle power. So how can Paul say this? And the answer is because God has enabled him by his Spirit. Who is sufficient for these things, he says, in another place. And then he goes on to say, but we are made ministers of the New Testament. Not made ourselves, but made by God. Oh, that we may be able to say these same words ourselves in the great day. And Paul asks us, verse 8, Finally, he says, he says here, do you want to win the prize? Finally, he says, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. Verse 8. What is that crown of righteousness? Well, it is righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. That's what it is. It is Christ himself, the altogether lovely one. It is that righteousness which justifies the imputed righteousness of Christ, sealed to us, as it were, in this crown which is given to us before the very throne of God. Here is one who has fought the good fight. And they are accounted, have been accounted indeed, from the time that they were converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, as righteous in your sight, O Father in heaven. And now they have run their course. finished the race, kept the faith, and wear the crown. Christ is the prize, you see, ultimately. Christ is the giver of the prize as well. And the prize is all of grace in Christ and from Christ. And notice something else here. Remember, this is to motivate us. This is to strengthen us in our resolve. Notice that he also tells us, we're also told here in verse 8, who will win this prize. Now you know very well that the Olympics are coming up and there are prizes in the Olympics, gold, silver and bronze, and the rest of you, well, you get remembered in your home country because of some position, you got to the final, or you got to the semi-final, or you broke your own national record, and so on and so forth. But basically, the prize is either a gold medal, a silver medal, or a bronze medal. The rest go home with nothing in their pocket. But you see, this prize is for all who love the Lord. And he says, it's not to me only. Not to me only. but also to all who have loved His, Jesus appearing. One prize fits all. All who love the Lord and follow Him. All who fight the good fight and finish the race and keep the faith by His strength. Now when you draw all these threads together, we can say this, that the last words of Paul to Timothy are not only for our younger brother as he takes up his new work in Ireland for the next few years and in the future, God willing, in Pittsburgh, but is for all of us in one way or another in our several callings. And this is the issue of issues not only for Timothy and the ministers of the gospel, but for all the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it boils down to this, it boils down to what Paul speaks of in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10 when he says, speaks about knowing Christ in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. I wonder if George Barna does a poll on this one day, what he would come up with in the percentage of Christians who are quite happy to have the power of the resurrection but don't want, thank you very much, the fellowship of Jesus' sufferings. Think about it. The crown of righteousness. See, the promises, Romans 8, 37, that we shall be are indeed, we are more than conquerors in him who loves us. Our eye is on the prize, the prize who loves us, the prize which is the gift of love, the prize which is the very holiness of God, wrought in the unworthy, helpless sinner who cannot save himself. but who has come to Christ and received him as he was offered in the gospel and embraced him as Saviour and as Lord and has gone forward after him as his disciple. We have the promise then, and with it we have this great calling. One of Scotland's most renowned ministers of Christ was a young man named Thomas Halliburton. He was born on Christmas Day 1674, though he didn't regard it as Christmas Day. And he died aged 37 in 1712. And on his deathbed he gave this counsel to his young children. He gave much more counsel, but this is one sentence. My children, he said, I have nothing to say to you but that ye be seekers of God. Fulfill my joy. May the Lord so bless all of us here. Let us pray. Our gracious God and our Father in heaven, Oh, enable us to look beyond the mud and dirt of this world to the glory indeed of which we have so many testimonies in the beautiful things of the world that you have made. But enable us, oh Lord, to look beyond all the circumstances and the feelings and the challenges of life to you and in your presence to go forward as those who are determined to fight the good fight because it is a great calling and has a wonderful purpose and conclusion. Strengthen us, O God, in all our weaknesses and enable us, O God, to follow after you with gladness of heart gripped by the glory of the Savior, who came and gave Himself as a ransom for us, that we who were dead might live. and so forever in heaven itself, in your presence. And so, Lord, lead us in your path, we ask in Jesus' name and with the pardon of sin through his shed blood. Amen. This sermon was preached at Southside Reformed Presbyterian Church. If you would like more information about the church or to listen to more sermons preached here, visit our website at www.southsiderp.org. Thank you for listening.