2 Timothy chapter 4 is where you'll find our scripture reading this morning. I want to talk to you this morning about focusing on the finish. Focusing on the finish. A couple of Sunday mornings ago, we looked at the preeminence of Christ, and the Lord has been holding me to certain messages for these final Sunday mornings. This morning, focusing on the finish, and then next Sunday morning, the preacher's final word to the church. And next Sunday night, the preacher's final word to the lost. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 1, Paul's writing for the last time. He's writing this epistle, this letter. He's in the Mamertine prison in Rome. I was almost there one day, very close to it. And it's just an underground, really a pit. The rats are there, the sewage is there, the vermin are there. And he's writing to Timothy as he passes the baton on. He says, "'I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant and season out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own last shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned on to fables. But watch thou in all things, endure affliction, do the working of evangelists, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth it is laid up for me, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. May the Lord help us. Let's keep our Bible open there at that particular passage, focusing on the Finnish. On the morning of the 13th of April in the year 1888, Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist who was the inventor of dynamite, opened the morning newspaper expecting to read the obituary of his older brother Ludwig. However, he was startled to read this headline, The Merchant of Death is Dead. The newspaper in Paris had made a mistake, and rather than reporting his brother's death, they had reported Alfred Noble's death. Alfred was shocked. Although he had made a tremendous fortune from explosives, he truly realized that had he been the one who had died, he would only have been remembered as the merchant of death and devastation and destruction. He was disappointed with how he could be remembered, and he resolved from that moment to make clear to the world the true meaning and purpose of his life. Alfred would only live eight more years, but in his last will and testament, he requested that his fortune of millions of dollars be used to create a series of prizes for those whose contributions greatly benefited mankind. The result? some of the most valued of prizes given to this day. We know them as the Nobel Peace Prizes. I wonder, have you ever thought, how will you be remembered? like a ship sailing on an open sea. Our life is weaving and leaving a wake of memories behind us. I wonder, was Paul pondering this question as he sat in this Roman prison awaiting execution? The year was about A.D. 68, and Paul was in what is known as the Mamertine prison in Rome. This man, who had once traveled the world, telling thousands of people how to come to faith in Christ, is now confined in this dingy space about 20 feet in diameter. This place, we're told, was known as the sepulcher, for many in it were eaten alive by rats. And so Paul here is in this small space, and it's filled with sewage, and it's filled with vermin, and it's filled with rats. And here in this small space, he's writing this last letter to his son in the faith, Timothy. He's writing perhaps within months, within weeks, within days of his own martyrdom. According to a fairly reliable tradition, Paul was beheaded on the Ostian Way, three miles outside the city of Rome. And so he's taking his pen, and under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he's writing to this young preacher boy, Timothy. And in so doing, he makes the greatest life-ending statement in human history. He says in verse 7, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Truly this great servant of God is at the end of the road. You remember he began on the Damascus road some 30 years previous, that time when he was suddenly and dramatically and miraculously humbled to the dust, converted and charged and commissioned. What a day that was. Paul could never forget that day. He mentions it, or Luke mentions it, three times in the book of Acts. How Paul could have sung that hymn with gusto. Oh, happy day that fixed my joys. I wonder, dear friend, this morning, do you have a day? Do you have a time? Do you have a definite period of conversion to God, of trusting in Jesus Christ, on which you can put your finger and say, that's when it happened. Paul would never forget that day. But now he's writing about another day. Can you imagine that his emotions must have been mixed? I mean, this was a difficult time for Paul, not only because of his physical predicament, but also because of the spiritual predicament of many of the believers for whom he had poured out his heart and life. There was Timothy. the young preacher boy who was the teaching elder in the church at Ephesus, and there was the false teaching in Ephesus, and there were all the problems of timidity and nervousness and apprehension that Timothy faced in his own personal life. Bishop Hanley Mole confessed that he found it difficult to read this letter without finding something like a mist gathering in the eyes. Like Paul, the time of my departure is at hand. It seems almost like a flash that nineteen and a half years have gone by so quickly. And I look down on some in this congregation this morning that I've had the privilege of kneeling with at the cross and leading to faith in Jesus Christ. Some that I have stood with in times of bereavement, some in times of tragedy, whose hand I've sought to strengthen in the Lord. This is a difficult time for us. It's a period of mixed emotions. It's a new chapter in the life and history of this assembly. The question is, is there any word from the Lord? Well, I want to talk to you this morning about focusing on the finish. I wonder, how will you finish? How will you finish? When you come to the end of the road, what kind of epitaph will they write for you? Now that Paul comes to the end of life's journey, he takes three last looks. Look at verse 6. He looks around at the present, verse 7. He looks back at the past, verse 8. He looks forward to the future. Notice, first of all, Paul talks about the present, the judgment before him. You say, are you talking about the judgment seat of Christ? No. Here's Paul in a Roman prison. He's in some underground dungeon with a hole in the top for air and for light. The preliminary hearing of his case had already taken place. Look at verse 16. He says, at my first defense, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be led to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. This is a judicial picture. Paul's waiting. The full trial now. But he was not expecting to be accredited. Death appeared to him inevitable. And I want you to see Paul in this prison cell, in this lonely dungeon, as he contemplates his present position, he realizes, first of all, there's a ministerial aspect to it. Look at verse 6. He says, I am now ready to be offered. Now, don't miss the link between verses 5 and 6. Timothy, watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. For Timothy, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. As for you, Timothy, fulfill your ministry. I'm at the point of death. The I in verse 6 is emphatic. It supplies the reason why Timothy is to watch, to endure, to do, to make. You see, up until now, Timothy and the other believers had been able to turn to Paul for comfort and for help and for guidance, but now the great apostle must be taken from them, and Timothy must brace himself and step into the breach. As Joshua had followed Moses, as Solomon had followed David, as Elisha had followed Elijah, so now Timothy must follow Paul. Paul knows that his days are numbered by the hours and his hours by the minutes, but he's not ashamed, he's not afraid. There's no fear of the shadow of death, just faith in the Shepherd of life. Dr. Alan Kern says, this is the great burden of this epistle. He says, I think of this epistle as the changing of the guard. Paul was dying. God was raising up Timothy to stand in his place, at least in some measure. Truly this servant of God is at the end of the road. Here's Paul. He's laying down his arms that Timothy might take them up. The old guard is passing. The baton of truth is to be handed to the next generation. You know, one of the things that encourages me greatly, and one of the things that should encourage us greatly in Lurgan, is the number of young men in this assembly who can wield the baton of truth. Thank God this has not been, nor should it ever be, a one-man ministry. And I looked down on some of you this morning, and you came to Lurgan, and you preached, yes, but you didn't preach that much. And with opportunity given to you, you're now elders. You're now deacons. You're now preachers of the Word. Indeed, is that not how Paul envisaged it? He says in chapter 2, "...and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." And thank God for the number of men who go from this assembly week by week as preachers of the Word of God throughout Ulster. The torch of the gospel is handed down to each generation. I mean, If I were to ask you this morning who led you to Christ, I wonder how you would respond. Who taught you the word of Christ? Is he growing old? The man who led me to Christ, my own father, is now in the glory. But you see, we cannot rest on the generation, on the leadership of a previous generation. The day comes when we must step into their shoes and take the lead. That day had come for Timothy. And as Paul looks at his present position, he realizes there's a ministerial aspect to it. And then look at verse 6. He realizes there's a sacrificial aspect to it. He says, I am now ready to be offered. I am already being poured out as a drink offering. No, the drink offering referred to the topping of an ancient animal sacrifice. What would happen was this, the offerer poured wine either on top of the offering or beside the offering, and the wine would be vaporized, and that steam symbolized the rising of the offering to the deity for whom the sacrifice was made. You see, Paul viewed his entire life as a drink offering. And just as he had offered himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God while he was alive, now he was offering himself to the Lord as a sacrifice in his death. This was the final sacrifice in a life that was full of sacrifices. In effect, Paul is saying here, Caesar's not going to take my life. Caesar's not going to take the head from my shoulders. I'm going to offer my life as a sacrifice to Jesus Christ. I have been living a living sacrifice, serving him since the day I was saved. Now I will complete the sacrifice by laying my life for him. What about you? Is your life a living sacrifice, a humble obedience of self to God? Are all the parts of your body laid at his disposal, placed at his readiness? Would you be ready and proud to die for such a Savior as Christ? James Murrah tells the story of John Ardley. He was brought before his persecutors who were about to put him to death, and they were trying to get him to deny the Lord Jesus. And they said to John Ardley, you'll not be able to bear the fire. The fire will convert you. The fire will change you. The faggots will be sharp preachers to you. And John Ardley replied, you can burn me if you choose, but I'll tell you this, if I had as many lives as I have hers on my head, I would give every one of them to Jesus Christ. I wonder, does the Lord Jesus hold that place in your heart? Here's Paul in the Mamertine prison in Rome. He had given everything for the Lord, his money, his time, his scholarship, his talents, his abilities. Only one thing remained, and his life was not being taken, it was being given. If you had asked the apostle Paul, Paul, do you have any regrets, you know what he would have said? I only regret that I had only but one life to give to Jesus Christ. As he looks at his present position, he realizes there's a ministerial aspect to it. He's passing the baton of truth to the next generation. There's a sacrificial aspect to it. But look at verse 6 again. There's a physical aspect to it. He says, the time of my departure is at hand. It has a variety of meanings. It's a loosing from. It's a release. It was a prisoner's word. It was used to remove the shackles from the prisoner. and set him free. Death, for Paul, was a release. He was going to be set free from the problems and trials of life. It was a farmer's word. It was used for the unyoking of an ox at the end of a hard day's work. For Paul, it was a relief from the toils of life. He was glad to lay the burden down. It was a soldier's word. It suggested the striking of a camp, the breaking of the camp, when the war was over and the battle was done. Oh, my dear friends, Paul had made many a journey through Asia Minor and Europe. He had sailed across the Mediterranean Sea, and now it was time to go home. It was a sailor's word. It pictures the unmooring of a ship that had been tied up on the harbor, losing the moorings and sailing for another life. Paul had sailed the Mediterranean. Now he's sailing home to glory. It was a philosopher's word. It suggests the unraveling of naughty problems and puzzles. My dear friends, our times in life, how many puzzles have agitated our minds, disturbed our hearts. Why? Why did God take him, and why did God take her? But one day in the glory, then shall I know even as also I am no more mysteries, no more confusion, no more asking why. That's what death is for the Christian. It's a release. It's a laying down of the burden. It's a striking camp in order to go home. It's a setting seal for glory. It's the answer to all of life's queries. It would appear, my dear friends, that the very best thing that can happen a child of God is to die. to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. You fear death? Think of it as a departure. Think of it as a setting sail for glory. Think of it as a release from the burdens of life. Think of it as a going home to the Father's house. Think of it as faith turning to sight when you'll see his loving face. The past. Look at verse number seven, and notice the present. The past the judgment before them, the present, the journey behind them. Paul's looking back now, over his life of 30 years, and he says this, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Had there been a tombstone, undoubtedly this would have been Paul's epitaph. What a testimony! What a statement! What a witness! To look back in one's life and say, no regret, no reserve, no retreat. Now I want you to know this. that Paul had lived a disciplined life. Look at verse 7. I have fought a good fight. The word fought and fight come from the same Greek word which gives us our English word agony. It means conflict. It means agony. Paul was a spiritual soldier in God's army. He was called to fight. He was called to a battle. He was called to a fight, not to a frolic. For all of his Christian life, it had been a state of war. What a wrestle life had been for Paul. You remember, he wrestled with circumstances, hardship and suffering and shipwreck and loss. He had suffered so much. You could look on that emaciated body and you would have been shocked. You would have looked at that worn, torn, worn-out body and realized that only one time had that body surrendered and that time was on the Damascus Road. He wrestled with circumstances and he wrestled with enemies. They'd dogged him all his life. If you'd have spoken to the Apostle Paul and talked to him about his struggles, he wouldn't have talked about the enemies. He would have talked about a deeper antagonism that he had with the world, the flesh, and the devil. And as Paul battled with these powers, it was a fight to the finish. Do I need to remind you this morning that you also are a soldier of the cross? Indeed, in this very letter, Paul says, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The problem is that many of God's soldiers don't even know that a war is going on. James Mirra tells us that The third largest fleet of ships in the world are the 768 ships vesseled in various harbors in the United States. They're called the Mothball Fleet. And these ships just stay in the harbor in case of emergency, and they could be ready in anything from 30 to 90 days, but they're inactive. And I wonder, is that you this morning? Are you just a Mothball Christian? Are you permanently anchored in some sheltered harbor called a church, designed for bottle, but completely inactive? I wonder, have you ever sweat one drop of sweat, shed one tear, given one ounce of energy for the cause of Jesus Christ? Should I be carried to the skies flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas." He's looking back. He's lived a disciplined life. Look at verse 7 again. He was not only living a disciplined life, he was a fighter. He was living a directional life. He was a finisher. I finished my course. You mustn't think that when we read this statement that Paul did what he wanted to do. This wasn't Frank Sinatra singing, I did it my way. Paul simply means that he followed the course, the plan, the direction that the Lord Jesus had set out for him since that day. He saved him on the Damascus Road, and since that day, he had been following the Lord, doing whatever the Lord wanted him to do. You see, this morning, God is not concerned about how fast you run, but how far you run. It's not how you start the race, but how you finish the race that counts. Do you remember when you ran the 100-yard sprint at school? For some of us, that was a long time ago. Do you remember winning it? Do you remember running 90 yards really fast and then stopping? Did you win the race? No, the guy who won the race was the person who hit the tape at 100 yards. And there are so many Christians today, and they've run 95 yards, and they've given up. They used to sing in the choir. They used to teach in the Sunday school. They used to engage in the ministry of visitation. They used to engage in door-to-door evangelism. They used to preach. Some of them preached, and they used to pray, and they used to be involved in the local church. Now they're losing the race, not because they're running too slow, but they've quit running altogether. I wonder, have you been deflected from your God-given course? wonder it's all because you've taken your eyes off the Lord Jesus. You remember what Paul says, let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You talk about finishing well. In 1968, Tanzania sent a man called John Stephen Eckward. represent them in the Mexico City Olympics. Along the way, he ran. As he ran, he stumbled, he fell. He injured his knee, and he injured his ankle, and he was bleeding badly. It was 7 p.m. at night now. A runner from Kenya had won the race. Most of the runners had come in, all of them, Only a few thousand spectators were left in that massive arena, and all of a sudden, a police siren caught everyone's attention. And limping through the gate came Stephen Ackward with his leg wrapped in a bloody bandage, and the people roared and they cheered. And a reporter at the gate asked him the question that was in everybody's mind, why continue the race? You've been injured so badly. Here's what he said, my country didn't send me seven thousand miles to begin a race, they sent me to finish a race. My dear friends, I want to tell you this morning that though my public ministry in Lurgan, as far as shepherding this flock, is over, another phase of ministry has just begun. And as God opens the doors and gives the opportunity, I'm determined to finish my course. Do you feel like that this morning? Are you determined to love the Lord more and serve the Lord more and give to the Lord more? Are you determined to be a finisher and not a quitter? Listen, pause looking back. He's lived a disciplined life. He's a fighter. He's lived a directional life. He's a finisher. Look at verse 7 again. He's lived a doctrinal life. He's faithful. He says, I've kept the faith. And in this context, which emphasizes so strongly the importance of guarding the deposit of revealed truth, Paul says, I have safely preserved as a guardian or steward the faith. the body of truth, which was once and for all delivered to the saints. Was it not this faith that Paul talked about time and time again in this little epistle? In chapter 2, he calls it the Word of God. In chapter 3, he calls it the Holy Scriptures. In chapter 4, verse 2, he says to Timothy, preach the Word! It was Paul who defended the faith against the Judaizers. It was Paul who defended the faith against the Gnostics, the philosophers. And now in the closing days of his life, he's able to look back and say, Timothy, I've kept the faith, he declared his faith, he demonstrated his faith, he defended his faith, and he never deluded the faith. He preached hell, hot, heaven, sweet, sin, black, judgment, sure, and Christ saved, and let the chips fall where they may. Fellow preacher this morning, do you realize that God has entrusted you with his word? Are you declaring it? Are you defending it? Are you earnestly contending for the faith? God has given me the grace over the years never to covet anybody's smile and never to fear anybody's fright. And my fellow elders, with whom I have had the privilege and honor, and believe me, it has been a privilege and honor, my fellow elders, when some in the assembly want to modernize the place and lower the standards, stand by the Word of God. And when pressure is brought upon you to modify the message by diluting the truth, remember it's not ours in the first place, it's God's. It may go against the world's grain, but we need to stand by the old-time religion and preach the old-time book and declare the old-time gospel. I have kept the faith. Can you see this old warrior? And he's looking around, and he sees the present, the judgment before him. His head is going to be taken from his shoulders. He's looking back, and he sees the past, and he sees the journey behind him. He has lived a disciplined life. He was a fighter. He has lived a directional life. He was a finisher. He's lived a doctrinal life. He was faithful, and now he's looking ahead. Look at verse 8. The past or the present, the judgment before him, the past, the journey behind him, the future, the joy before him. Henceforth, there's led up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing. I heard about an old preacher in Shelby in North Carolina many years ago. He went into the hospital, never to come out of it again. And the night before he died, he began to sing the songs of Zion. And then in the morning, just before he died, they could hear him singing. My latest son is sinking fast. My race is nearly won. My strongest trials now are past. My triumph is begun. Oh, come, angel band, come and around me stand. Oh, bear me away on your snowy wings to my immortal home. Oh, bear me away on immortal wings, on your snowy wings to my immortal home. That's what Paul's thinking about. He's looking ahead. And he sees a reward. You see in verse 8, it's the crown of righteousness. Crown of Stephanos. It's the victor's crown. We get our name Stephen from this word. We have seen recently in the athletics in London, we have seen them coming to the podium and the medal being placed around their neck. Well, it wasn't a medal in those days. It was simply a wreath. It's the Olympic Games. And the crown of righteousness is God's reward for a righteous and faithful life, and our incentive for faithfulness is the prospect of our Lord's appearing. He talks about loving his appearing. Do you love his appearing? Are you longing for his appearing? Are you living in the light of his appearing? Paul's looking ahead now. And he sees here a rejoicing. There's a day of a reward coming. But you'll notice that he not only sees a reward. Look at verse 8 again. He sees a return, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. What day? The day of resurrection and rapture, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. This is the day of the prizes. This is the day when we'll see the Lord. But what a tragedy if you and I would be present, but have no prize. Paul's looking ahead, and he sees a reward, he sees a return. And then he says, look at verse 8, And not to me only, but unto all them also that love is appearing. He sees a reunion. You see, there will be many crowns. Paul lists them in the New Testament. And many will be crowned on that day. You know, I can imagine Paul, when he'd written these words, just putting down his pen and beginning to sing, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus. will sing and shout the victory. And then the door opens, and they come to get Paul, and they put the manacles on his hands and his feet, and he walks slowly and he walks stiffly, but his head is held high. He's got a smile on his face, and they take him three miles out the city, outside the city. I've been past it, and they've taken him to the Austrian way, and they put him down on the ground, and they put his neck on a slab, And the soldier takes the blade, and in one blow he severs the head from the shoulders of Paul, and the head rolls into the dust, and somebody says, poor old preacher, he bit the dust. No, he didn't bite the dust, he hit the tape! and about that time I can hear old Paul saying, what's that I hear? I hear angels praising and saints shouting and Paul goes up to the Lord and the Lord says to him, Paul, well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou in to the joy of the Lord. He finished well. Is that not how you want to finish? I'll tell you that's how I want to finish. Not just here. but until God calls me home. I want to finish well. I want to fight the fight. I want to finish the course. I want to keep the faith. You feel like that? I was reading about Billy Sunday in this past week, and in the first half of the 20th century, Billy Sunday, America's greatest evangelist in those days, preached face to face with over 100 million people. He actually shook hands with over 1 million people that walked the sawdust trail and came to faith in Jesus Christ. Billy Sunday hit the booze big time in America, and they didn't like him. And from a professional baseball player to a preacher of the gospel, Billy Sunday touched the lives of millions and millions of Americans. Engraved in his tombstone in Forest Home Cemetery in Chicago are these words, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. When old D.L. Moody was old, they came to him and they asked for permission to do his biography. Do you know what he said? A man's life should never be written while he's living. What is important is how a man ends, not how he begins. That question this morning, is still hanging in the air. How do you want to be remembered?