All right, I'm going to begin in 2 Timothy 3 this morning. And we have finally come to the end of our study on eschatology, the study of the last things, God's plan for all of history, and where it's all heading and how it's all going to culminate. We've been over a year in actual time, and we've been 48 weeks total now, including this week, in studying this particular subject. And we have, as you can imagine, covered a lot of territory. Like I said last time, though, we haven't covered everything that's worth studying together in God's Word on eschatology. There are whole sections of God's Word that I really would eventually, someday, if the Lord gives us time together, In studying his word, I'd like to get to we haven't really opened up the book of Revelation yet. We've referred to specific passages. We've studied individual verses in context of other passages that are the focus of our study. But as you can imagine, the book of Revelation deserves its own detailed study. We haven't studied yet the book of Daniel, which is one of the more important prophetic passages in the Old Testament. We haven't studied the book of Ezekiel, and there's just reams of important prophetic information in the book of Ezekiel. But what we have studied, as I said, is touched in all of those books and more, and hopefully has given you at least a good overview, foundation, for understanding this subject in God's Word. And I think we have accomplished that. And so today what I want to do is two things. I want to briefly review and overview what we have covered. And of course I'm not going to be able to, in detail, cover everything we've covered in 47 previous weeks. But I want to just remind us of some of the most important things that we established. And then I want to leave us with a couple of passages of scripture that should shape our perspective as we go forward on the basis of all that we have studied together. 2 Timothy 3, we're going to read from verse 13. And this is to answer the question, that I hope none of you are asking any longer, but might have asked at some point during the course of this study, and that is, why did we spend so much time studying this particular topic, this theme, this subject? Why did we spend over a year of our lives in our church Bible study together focused on this? 2 Timothy 3, verse 13, But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now, this is something that Paul is describing to his young coworker, Timothy. It's a problem in their day and age. Can we say, thank the Lord, we never have to deal with this issue in our day and age. Evil men and imposters proceeding from bad and worse, deceiving and being deceived. That was something that they had to deal with and they took care of that problem back then. We don't have an issue like that in our generation. Now, evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, meaning, if anything, they're worse now than they were then. And they were bad then. And they were proceeding to worse and worse then. But they've gotten even worse now. And they are deceiving who? Anybody that's capable of being deceived. Anybody that doesn't know the truth. At any point that your heart and mind is uninformed in the principles of God's Word, you are open and subject to the possibility of being deceived. This does not exclude the subject of Bible prophecy. There is probably as much, if not more, deception that's prevalent in the wider body of Christ on the subject of Bible prophecy than just about any other topic that's out there. And you've heard me describe that in some detail at the beginning of the year. But let's read on from verse 13. You, however, in contrast to being deceived and deceiving others and the evil men and the imposters and all of their influence, you, however, continue in the things you have learned. and become convinced of. The implication here is that as we focus on particular topics in God's word, even on this topic of last things in eschatology, you learn new things. I guarantee you, I know this for a fact. Every single person in this room has learned something new about eschatology in this last year. Would you say that? Is that an honest evaluation? And some of you, in the process of learning new things, have begun a process that both I and Jerry described by way of a personal testimony, a process of becoming convinced of a new perspective. And that's what Paul describes here. Not just learning new things, but becoming convinced of these things that you've learned. knowing from whom you have learned them. And I hope that I've demonstrated enough faithfulness to you in the teaching of God's Word over the course of years that you've been able to sit, even if I've taught you some things that you've never heard before, some things that have been a difficulty for you to hear for the first time, I hope that there has been enough of a deposit of trust. in my teaching you God's Word, that you've been able to sit and listen and understand, even if I don't necessarily automatically agree with what I'm hearing Tim say, that I know at least he studied it out. He's become convinced of it. I need to look at this for myself. I need to evaluate this. I need to consider this. And I hope that's happened for you. And verse 15, as Paul describes Timothy from childhood, You have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. When Paul says to Timothy, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for these purposes that he lists out, these four main purposes, why God has inspired his word and given it to us, revealed it to us. What he's saying is that every single part and section and category of God's word is profitable for these things. That includes Bible prophecy, that includes eschatology, it includes the topics that we're calling the last things. God has preserved in His Word specific portions that address the future. Just like we know, and we've even talked about this morning, there's some parts of God's Word that talk about the past, almost exclusively. Other parts talk about our present experience with the Lord. But there are certain parts of God's Word that are exclusively future-focused. And those parts are profitable to teach us what we should believe. They're profitable to reprove us, that means to correct our thinking, to convince us of a new perspective. They're profitable to correct us, and this is more emphasizing our heart's need to be corrected. course adjustments in the direction of our heart, because we live our lives out from the level of our heart. And sometimes the attitudes and perspectives of our heart need to be adjusted. And they're adjusted by the teaching of God's Word, including how God says we should think about the future. And the passages of God's Word that talk about the future are profitable to train us in righteousness. so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." You've heard me emphasize many times before that each one of you is called by God to serve Him in some specific areas of good works. You will not be able to fulfill the good works that God has called you to do in this world in the way that He's called you to do them with a misunderstanding of the last things. Why? you can have a 50% right understanding of God's Word and you can still serve God and do the works that God has called you to do. You just won't be able to do them with 100% of the equipment that God designs and desires you to have to serve Him. Our understanding of every part of God's Word has a huge impact on how well we serve Him and what kinds of things we choose to do in our service of Him. So, where do we go from here? Well, let's talk a little bit first about where we've been, what we've covered. Probably the most important thing I taught you out of this entire year about the study of the last things in God's Word is that there are two basic categories of teaching. Teaching material in God's Word on the last things. And I think most of you remember this, but I want to just briefly rehearse it. There is material in the study of the last things that we should consider to be essential. And there's material in the study of the last things that we should consider to be non-essential. And therefore, does that mean that it's unnecessary for us to study? No, it's not essential, but it's still important. And of course, when I say important, important is kind of it's almost A weak word to describe the level of importance. It's very important. It's tremendously important. But it's still not rising to the level of what is considered to be essential. Something that's essential is what? It is fundamental. It is so important that without it, something critical has gone wrong. Something critical is missing and you and I were in trouble if we don't have the essentials down. Now, how many things are in the study of the last things, the study of where God is taking history, how many things can we identify as essential? How many doctrines in the study of the last things are considered to be essential to our faith? Because we did talk about this in great detail. I don't hear a lot of answers. And I would have wanted, I would have hoped that after 40 weeks, I would have heard some chorus of voices saying, I know the answer. These are the essentials. There's one essential thing. The second coming of Christ. There's one essential thing. Now, flowing out of the second coming, as we have studied recently, there are parts or elements of the second coming in that when Jesus comes, he's coming to do three basic things. He's coming to raise everyone from the dead. who's ever lived, he's coming to judge all people, both those that are currently alive and those that have died in history and are waiting for that day. And he is going to, in that judgment, as we have identified and studied in great detail, there are different categories of that judgment in which he is going to separate all of humanity into two basic groups. Metaphorically, he describes those groups as sheep and goats. And he's going to judge each group differently, on a different standard, based upon whether or not they have a certain relationship to one piece of information that has been given to them and that they have embraced and believed. That is the gospel, what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. And whether or not they believe that and are living according to that will determine which group that they're placed in in that judgment, whether they're in the goat group or the sheep group. And then beyond the judgment, we've just recently studied that He's also coming to make all things new. That, in a nutshell, the second coming of Christ to accomplish those three things, that's the only essential element of the study of the last things in God's Word. Now, you will listen after me to many teachings on Bible prophecy in the rest of your Christian life. You'll hear many people on the radio, there'll be people in churches, there will be books that you will read, magazine articles, there'll be all kinds of information that you're exposed to on the study of the last things. But if anyone tells you, that it's essential for you to believe some detail of the last things, other than something that's related to the second coming of Christ very directly, that Christ is coming to raise all from the dead, judge all, and make all new, then you can know that that person is not telling you the truth. Okay? That they're misusing and even abusing God's Word. Now, there are non-essentials, and the non-essentials, as I said, are very important, but the very fact that we're calling them non-essential means what? It means that it's not as significant as what belongs in the essential category. And while the essentials, our attitude and our perspective should be, we all need to believe the exact same thing about the essentials of the last things. God allows us, God has given us room to differ and to see things differently on the non-essentials. Why does God do that? Part of the reason is that God uses this to provide an opportunity for us to, in a sense, rub up against one another in our differences, our disagreements, our lack of full understanding, and to help one another to come to a greater understanding of the truth and also to sharpen one another. Now, what kind of non-essentials are there? Well, some of the things that we studied together in the non-essential category would include things like we studied the Great Tribulation. In popular Christian teaching on Bible prophecy, everyone virtually is telling you that the Great Tribulation is an event in our history to come, in the future, right on the verge of some great tribulation event in the world today. You've heard me say, hogwash, not true, not going to happen. Tribulation has already happened. It's already occurred. 2000 years ago, the Great Tribulation took place from 66 AD to 70 AD, prior to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the destruction of life as the old covenant people of God knew it at that time. and the final transition into the fullness of the new covenant. But you may not agree with me on that. Even after you heard everything that I had to say on that, not that I said everything that I know on that subject, but you may have heard everything I said and at the end of that said to yourself, that's an interesting and fascinating theory you've got there, Tim, but I just don't agree with that. So what's my attitude about that? Okay. You know, I hope that you come to see it differently because I think it's important. I think it's significant. I think it will affect and change your life to see it differently, but it's not essential. And so I'm not going to, I'm not going to, you know, knock you on the head to try and get you to see it differently. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, you know, get you in a headlock and be rubbing your head until you cry uncle and say, okay, I accept your view of the tribulation. What else have we studied? Well, you know, this we've studied, you know, the whole subject of the rapture. This teaching that Jesus is, and this is the popular teaching of course, that Jesus is going to at some future point to us, secretly come and catch away the Christians from the face of the earth, leaving behind a bunch of unbelievers shaking their heads and wondering where millions of people suddenly disappeared to. What do I think about that? Hogwash. Ridiculous. The Bible nowhere teaches that. Zero. What do I believe instead of the rapture? I believe in what the Bible calls the second coming. that the Lord is going to return. It's not going to be secret. It's going to be pretty noisy. It's going to be pretty blatant. It's going to be pretty obvious. It's going to be pretty dramatic. And everybody on the face of the earth will see it at the same time. And when the Lord comes, I believe that the Christians will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, but not to go somewhere else for seven years and just kind of wait. But while some great tribulation is happening here on earth, but we're going to immediately return with the Lord to the earth and the judgment to come is going to follow that. So What if you don't believe my view of the so-called rapture? Well, okay. You know, that's your loss. But I can live with that. Just like you, you know, you're shaking your head at me and saying, that's your loss, you know, and you can live with that. I hope. I hope we can. And these non-essentials were called to be gracious to one another and to give allowance to one another in our differences. If you and I had a difference on whether or not Jesus was returning to judge, returning to raise all from the dead, then you and I would have trouble even fellowshipping at a fundamental Christian level. But on these things, we can differ and have good, healthy Christian fellowship. What else did we study together? We studied things like the Mark of the Beast during this Great Tribulation period, this whole concept that is so popular right now, and you've heard teachings on this before, that there's coming a anti-Christ figure who is going to take over the political system of this world, and is going to rule over this world in the future, and he's going to establish this new economic system in which you will have a digital identity that's going to somehow be marked directly on your forehead and on your right hand And without that, you're not going to be able to buy and sell. And as a result of that, you know, things are going to get really, really scary in the next few years. What do I think about that? That's just ridiculous. It's not going to happen. And I say that, but I mean that. OK, why? The Mark of the Beast did happen. It's already come and gone. There were Christian people that had to deal with this issue. in the years 66 and a half A.D. to 70 A.D. in first century Roman culture, as they were required to honor the emperor in a very particular way, or lose their ability to buy and sell, lose their ability to be a healthy part of the economy and the culture and the life as they knew it, and even lose their life if they refused. And those things were part of that tribulation period during that particular time. We studied in detail the millennium, the whole concept of the millennium. The millennium is, of course, a biblical concept. There's no doubt about that. The question is, you know, what does it mean? And what is it going to be like? And when is it? And how does it work? And all of those things. The most prevalent and popular view of the millennium is that when the Lord returns in His second coming, that there is going to follow a thousand year period here on earth. where the Lord is going to rule and reign for that thousand-year period from Jerusalem, and that there is going to be kind of a mixed population on the face of the earth. There are going to be people that survive the Great Tribulation, that are living in their natural physical bodies, and then there are going to be us with the Lord in our glorified bodies, just like the Lord Himself will have His glorified body. There's all kinds of strange and unusual teachings that are commonly connected to this. view of a future millennium here on earth. Like, for instance, one of the little known but absolutely taught theories is that Jesus is going to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, the physical temple, and in doing so he is going to reestablish animal sacrifices in the future as a memorial of his death on the cross. And so what do I think about all that? You guys are catching on fast. That is hogwash. It is ridiculous. There's not going to be any animal sacrifices that the Lord will ever institute again. It's just contrary to the teaching of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. That's the one and final and only sacrifice forever and ever. There's not going to be a population of people in the future that are going to be half natural with these present natural physical bodies and half glorified mixing together. Everybody that's in the future kingdom of God following the second coming, the resurrection, and the judgment, and the making of all things new, everybody that makes it through that process is going to be glorified. And God's righteousness is going to be interwoven throughout the entire creation and every single person that is in that creation. Now, we talked about many other things like these. I just hit some of the highlights. But what I want us to see is that Even if, on these non-essentials, you disagree with the things that I've taught you, that is okay for you to disagree, as long as you and I can recognize that we are given freedom, we are given room for us to hold different perspectives and draw different conclusions, and that we don't allow the non-essentials to divide us. If I had time, what I would do is I'd go through just the history in the church, not this church, I'm talking about from day one in the book of Acts until today, and show you how many splinter groups of Christians have been formed just over the issues of the disagreement on the non-essentials of Bible prophecy. I mean, there are literally dozens and dozens and dozens of church groups. I'm talking about denominational splinterings that have occurred because Christians just couldn't handle the disagreement that they had with one another on non-essentials of the faith. And yet, people disagree on the essentials and they don't consider it any big deal. You know, it's kind of like sometimes we get things turned inside out. So, what I want us to see is that on the essentials, it's critical for us to agree. On the non-essentials, God gives us room to see things differently. Now, Why is all of this so important, even the non-essentials, at least very significant and very important? I want to ask you a question. Why is it, do you think, you ever wondered about this, why do people commit suicide in this world? Suicide's on a rise. Okay, hopelessness. People commit suicide. There's more people committing suicide now, nowadays, than ever before. And the bottom line reason is that people who commit suicide are plagued with what Todd is calling hopelessness. What we're really dealing with here are people who are suffering in their present life circumstances. Life is difficult. Life is hard. And for people that are considering the possibility of suicide, life is so hard that they can't imagine living another day with the pain or the circumstances that they're suffering under. And it's not just present suffering. Because if present suffering caused suicide, then most everybody would commit suicide at some time or another in their life. Because at some time or another, you're going to deal with severe pain in your life, whether it's physical pain, relational pain, emotional pain, mental pain, whatever the pain is, you're going to at some time or another deal with that. What happens is not just the pain, but the idea that it's never going to change for the better. There's no hope for the future. I just see never-ending pain ahead of me and so I might as well end it because at least right now it'll end the pain. Now the problem with this of course is that from a higher level perspective of understanding life and death and eternity, we understand that suicide doesn't really end pain for people, does it? No, it doesn't really end pain because there's greater pain to come. For us as believers, the reason why a believer should not be plagued with even tempting thoughts of suicide is that we are called, above all people on the face of the earth, to be a people that are established in a hope for the future. We are to live for the future with a sure and certain hope established in our heart. Why is it that we can live through whatever pain life brings our way? It's because we believe that history has a specific end point, and that our lives have a specific end point, and there is not just kind of like high in the sky kind of hope for the future, but that the God that we believe in, the God that we are living with, the God that we worship, that we serve and that we obey, is absolutely totally in control of not just our life, but all of this world and all of history. And he is working all things in all of history to the conclusion that he has planned out and that his conclusion is an awesome and glorious future, as we just the last couple of weeks briefly looked at. And so whatever we deal with now is endurable because of what we know is coming. And if we didn't have that hope for what we know is coming, we wouldn't be able to deal with the pain that we have to sometimes go through. Now, I'd like to just share with you to end this study of some 48 weeks, a few passages of scripture that are my personal favorites about the future perspective that God wants us to live out our lives with, one which we studied together. And I'll just read it to introduce this last little section here. Second Peter, chapter three. If you want to turn with me, you can go there. We read this just recently. I won't read the entire chapter, which is taught the whole chapter is really talking about the last things. I just want to read the verses from verse 10 to 14. These are passages that establish for me, personally, a solid and secure, unshakable hope for the future. They shape my perspective for the rest of my life. I hope they shape yours. 2 Peter 3, 10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" We talked briefly about this the last time when we studied this passage, but the concept here is that if you know, just take the house that you live in, and however you've got it furnished and whatever's important to you in that house, if you know that that house is eventually going to burn, it's going to be gone, it's going to be ash, it's not going to exist forever and ever and ever, then how should you live in your house? How would it change your perspective about your house? And it's not just your house, it's your entire life. Everything of importance to you in your life, and I'm not talking about people, I'm talking about things, Everything that matters to you is eventually going to be burned up. How will that change if you understand that, your perspective about that thing, your attitude about that thing? It shapes it into a different perspective. Suddenly that thing is in a different priority position in my life, if I understand this is coming to an end. And something, of course, that's greater is going to replace it. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? In other words, the perspective of the future shapes the kind of person that you become for the rest of your Christian life. What Peter is seeing here is that if you see the future correctly, you will be a different Christian than you would be without seeing the future correctly. He's not talking about unbelievers here. He's talking about the differences in believers. A Christian is going to live a different kind of Christian life if he's living for the future with a strong hope and a sure knowledge of what's to come in the future than he would be if he's oblivious to those things. Verse 12, and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless." Peter tells us that this is how a Truly informed, biblically oriented Christian lives out their life. They live out their life looking for something. Having a perspective that as with all the fullness of what the Lord has done in our lives, our lives are not yet complete. The work is not yet finished for us. There is a fullness that's waiting, that's coming. There is a completion, a culmination of all things that's yet ahead of us. And Peter says we're to live out our lives looking for that day, looking toward that day, living out our lives with that as our priority perspective in life. Okay, turn with me from there to 1 John 3. I'm just going to give you five quick passages. that I'm identifying as my personal favorites in terms of shaping this future-oriented perspective, and the practical effect that's meant to have on our hearts and our lives. 1 John 3, verse 1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God. And this next part identifies what I was just describing. As glorious as what the Lord has already accomplished in us, our lives are not yet complete, spiritually. There's still something more to be done. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet, what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. All right. John tells us that it does not yet appear what we will be. But we have an idea what we will be. We will be like He is. But the reason it doesn't yet appear is because we've never, except by faith, we've never seen exactly what that's like. None of us here have yet seen the fully glorified, resurrected, and ascended Jesus. None of us have seen that, except by the eye of faith, by the descriptions in God's Word. But whatever that is like, that's exactly what we're going to be like. And he says, if you have that hope in your heart that you'll be like him, how should that shape and affect what you do from now on with the rest of your life around this world? Well, how it should affect you is everyone who has this hope, the hope that's focused on him, fixed on him for this future, being made like Him, everyone purifies himself just as he is pure. Purifies himself isn't implying that somehow you can cleanse yourself of your sins. The issue of sin is dealt with on the cross. What this is talking about is the same concept as we read this morning for communion for the marriage supper of the Lamb. The bride has made herself ready. It's heart preparation for that day. The perspective for the future. And our future life and what is coming is meant to motivate us to make some changes today. God doesn't want us to think, OK, the Lord is coming. There's going to be a second coming. There's going to be a day of judgment. There's going to be a great resurrection. He's going to make all things new. And when that comes, that'll have a big change in my life. But until then, I'll just continue to live the way I've always lived. He means for that perspective to shape us now, to cause us to take stock and evaluate and change some things about how we live today. From here, let's go to the book of Titus, chapter 2. I'll read 11 to 15. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." What is the appearance of the grace of God that brought salvation to all men? Jesus came to planet Earth, and when He came, He came with salvation in His wings. This is just a metaphorical way of describing the coming of the Lord Jesus in His first coming. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us To deny ungodliness. And the word deny, does anyone here have the New International Version that you're reading from? I'm reading from the New American Standard. What is the word that's in your translation instead of deny? Teaches us to say no. I really like the way the New International describes that. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, teaching us to say no to ungodliness and worldly desires. and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. See, we live out our lives in this present age. We're on this timeline that started with Adam and Eve. And, of course, Jesus died on the cross and he rose from the dead. that starts a new timeline, a new creation that's running parallel with the old creation. But there's coming a point when the Lord is going to return, as we've talked about recently, and He's going to end, once and for all, the old creation timeline. The old history is going to come to an end. And the new timeline is going to continue on beyond that point. And we live out our lives in this in-between time, where we live at the same time. in the old history and the new history, the old creation and the new creation. And while we're in this old history and this old creation, we're living out our lives with old physical bodies that have old habits and that have old memories and have old acquired tastes. And while we're in this circumstance, we're tempted with things that are described here as ungodliness, worldly desires. and all kinds of things that belong to this old world. And so what do we have to learn how to do? We have to learn how to say no to those things, and at the same time, say yes to living sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. And we have this phrase again, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds." The Lord desires that his people during this in-between time would be a purified people, a people that are his own possession, meaning they're set apart, nothing in this world owns them, they belong to him, to him alone. And they're zealous for His glory, for His namesake, and to serve Him in all of the ways that He has appointed for them to serve Him. The only way that can happen is if they're purified of the things that would undermine the Lord's purpose in their lives. The things of this present age, the things of ungodliness, the things that are described here as worldly desires. They have to learn right now how to say no to those things. so that when the Lord comes, he'll receive unto himself what he expects to find in his church. Let's turn from here to 1 Timothy 6. Just two more passages and we'll end our study. 1 Timothy 6. I won't read all of this, but I'm going to write down 10-19. I'm going to begin reading in verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. And you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without staying or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. which he will bring about at the proper time. He was the blessed and only sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." A couple of elements in this passage I want to emphasize briefly. First is in verse 13. Paul is writing to his young co-worker Timothy. And he is giving him a special personal word that Paul intends to shape Timothy's perspective for the rest of his life. And what Paul says to Timothy, certainly by extension applies to each one of us, Paul says, I charge you in the presence of God, and the charge is in verse 14, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. There was a book that our president published a few years ago, maybe three or four years ago. Good book, well worth reading. The title of the book struck me as I was thinking about this particular passage, and I'll ask our resident George Bush fan here, Megan, what's the title of George Bush's book? A Charge to Keep. What is the president trying to, even if you haven't read the book, What's he trying to communicate with this title? He's describing his own life calling. And he does, and this is one of the really beautiful things about our current president, is he views his role as President of the United States as a calling from God. That God has put him in this position and that he is to serve the Lord in this role of being President. But in doing that and having that perspective, he sees it as a charge to keep, that God himself has charged him with the responsibility of being, for this short period of world history, president of the most influential nation on the face of the earth. What an awesome and glorious responsibility and privilege he's been given. But each one of us has been given a charge to keep from the Lord. And that charge is along these lines. And sometimes when I read passages like this, it just staggers me. Have you ever read a passage of scripture, and if you're standing up, you feel like your knees are going to buckle because of the weight of what you've just read? This is the charge of the Lord to each one of our lives for the rest of our lives, that you keep the commandment without staying or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a stain on the commandment of God is some degree, some area in which you compromise the commandment. But to keep the commandment without staying means that you have obeyed what God has called you to obey for the rest of your life. And God has charged us as His people to live out the rest of our lives here on earth until the appearing of the Lord or until the Lord ends our personal lives to keep the commandment of God without Stain or reproach. Can you imagine, okay, I don't know how many years you have to go, I don't know how many years I have to go, but can you imagine the possibility of just for the rest of your life, I don't care how successfully you've done this up until now, just the rest of your life living, keeping the commandments of God without stain, without reproach. Can you imagine that though? Carl says it's impossible. And humanly, physically, naturally, of course it's impossible. We all have such a tendency to fail and to compromise. And yet this is a charge that the Lord has laid upon us. He doesn't want us to be motivated by anything less than that. We're to live with that perspective for the future. Turn to one last passage, 2 Timothy chapter 4. We'll end here today. Paul wrote this, as you probably remember, this is the last letter of Paul the Apostle. He knew when he wrote this that he was about to die and not just die of old age. He was about to be convicted of stirring up trouble in the Roman Empire, and he was going to be given a death sentence and he was going to be executed. The manner of his execution was that he had his head chopped off. by a Roman sword. And he knew that was coming. The Lord had shown him that was coming. This was his perspective. Chapter four, verse one. Again, the terminology of a charge to keep given to his young coworker, Timothy. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Now, I just want to emphasize in verse one briefly what we touched on already this morning. Paul does not charge Timothy by virtue of Timothy's view of the rapture. He doesn't charge him according to his view of the millennium. He doesn't charge him according to his view of the mark of the beast or the great tribulation. What does he charge him by? What we are calling the essentials of the faith. in regards to the last things. He charges him in light of the appearing of the Lord Jesus in the second coming of Christ, and the resurrection of all, and the standing judgment of all men in his presence. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Now, this was not something that is a commission and a charge to each and every one of us. We each have our own assignment from the Lord. But this was Timothy's assignment. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they, and you've heard me say this before, the they here is not they unbelievers. This is they in the believing community of Christians. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. This includes, of course, prophecy teachers of different varieties. And they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." And those words absolutely do apply to each one of us. We've each been given an assignment. Ours is not Timothy's assignment, but ours we will give an account for. We're called to fulfill the ministry assignment that the Lord has given to each one of us. Paul says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. The time of my departure has come. He uses an imagery here when he uses the word departure. It was an image from sailing. And it referred to not a ship coming home to dock after a long voyage. It referred to a ship that was loosing its moorings and getting ready to sail on a great journey. And that's what was happening to Paul. The implication is, this is not his home. His home is out there, ahead. in the future. Knowing that his life was coming to an end here on this earth, the time of his journey is at hand. He's loosing his moorings to this present world, to this physical life, and he's getting ready to sail into the great journey of being in the presence of God for all of eternity. He says in verse 7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. The course You've heard me mention this again, is the specific course that God has marked out for you to run in your service to him. Paul's course was not my course, and it's not your course, but he has marked out a course for you. The question is, will you finish the course that God has given you to run between now and the time of the end of your life? In the future, and this whole message is that we are to live for the future, live in perspective of the future, live in mind of the future. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Paul was facing getting his head chopped off. in the very near future. And he was doing it with a perspective that enabled him to not be afraid of that event that was coming. Because he saw that there was something greater waiting him after his execution of his physical, natural body. What was awaiting for him is the day that he will stand before the Lord and be judged for how he finished his course, his assignment, and be rewarded. And he absolutely expected and believed and had hope in that future reward that the Lord had reserved for him. Because of that, he was able to smile at his circumstances. because he was living already in the future. Even though he was having to deal with the reality of his present life circumstances, he was living in his heart and mind in the future. Let's pray. Father God, I just want to thank you for the blessing and the grace of these 48 weeks of study. I ask that you would take all of these things that we studied together and that they would be in your hands seeds that would produce good fruit in each one of our lives. Make us, Lord, a future oriented people. Cause us to live out our lives for the rest of our lives, shaped and molded and changed because of our expectation and our hope for the future. And I thank you for that. You're able to glorify your name through us for the rest of our lives. in anticipation of that final day. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I ask it. Amen.