So, we're continuing on with 2 Timothy chapter four, and verses six through eight this morning, but before we start, I wanna go back to where we've been before to review where we've been so far in the 2 Timothy. We're getting close to the end of the book. And so at the beginning of the book, several months ago, we started out with this summary statement. This is what I think the whole book of 2 Timothy is about. It's that 2 Timothy tells us that serving the gospel will be hard. It doesn't pull punches. It says it's serving the gospel hard, but it's always worth it. It's always worth it, so keep pressing into Christ. Now, as we've gone through 2 Timothy, we've kind of been going through the different sections. I said 2 Timothy is arranged as a set of six major exhortations that are broken into sets of three. And so we have the first three exhortations and then the second three exhortations. And the first three exhortations all had to do with being strong in the gospel. Paul looked at Timothy and said, Timothy, you're weak. You're feeling run down. You're even, we might choose the word burnt out. That's almost the word Paul used for Timothy. And he said, Timothy, here's where your strength is to keep going in ministry. It's in the gospel. So we heard three charges there. The first charge was, Timothy, you're burnt out, but what you need to do is to fan into flame the gift of God. The second charge was, yes, it's been hard, but don't be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. And then the third one, I think the third charge in each section is the chief charge. He says, be strengthened by grace. My child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Then we entered into the second half of the book. At the first half of the book, Paul looks at Timothy and says, you need to be strong in the gospel. Then in the second half of the book, he says, take that strength and be a servant of the gospel. Keep going with the path that God has given you to do. And so the second half of the book, the second three exhortations are about being a servant or being strong with the gospel. And so we heard three charges there as well. The first charge was, do your best to present yourself to one to God is one approved a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth. The second charge, Paul looks at Timothy and says, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed and knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings. And then the third charge, which we went over last week, is preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, recruit, rebuke, and exhort. with complete patience and teaching. And so that brings us to the end of the book. We're now ready for the kind of closing words of this book. And in the closing of this book, Timothy's gonna say, yeah, the service is gonna be hard, but the master is good. The service is hard, but the master is good. And so we'll have several things that go on in this conclusion. It's actually kind of a long conclusion of the book, but we're gonna start that today, and Paul's gonna look back at his own ministry and do some processing about his own ministry as he's calling Timothy ministry once more. So we're in 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8. If you have your Bibles, you can open them up with me, or I'll have the text up here on the screen. So 2 Timothy 4, starting in verse 6. For I'm already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. So this is kind of Paul's very short evaluation of his own ministry as he closes this book to Timothy. But even before we dive in, I want to notice that it starts with this word for. For, I am already being poured out. It's a word that connects it to what happened before. And actually, if we look at that word, it's gar in Greek. It means to give a reason why. It means I've said something, and now I'm going to tell you why the thing I just said was really important. Four, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And so to understand this passage, we need to relate it to the five verses that came before it. So we'll just go through 2 Timothy one, or four, one through five again as well. Paul had said, I 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. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endorse sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. So as we look at this, Paul just said, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. That's the reason for something, and what we had just left off As for you, always be so reminded, do the work of an evangelist. I'm sorry, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Why do you need to fulfill your ministry, Timothy? Well, because I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And he defined what that ministry primarily was. He said, Timothy, this is your ministry. Go preach the Lord. And so he's gonna give him reasons. He's given the charge, and now he's given reasons for why is this charge so important. And so as we take apart 1 Timothy 4, 6, 7, 8, that's the lens through which I want to look at this passage, is what does this passage tell us about why Timothy should fulfill his ministry, why Timothy should preach the word? And so my proposition, my main point out of the passage is this, is as Paul closes the letter, he gives Timothy reasons to preach the word faithfully. fulfill his ministry, even in the face of suffering and opposition." As Paul closes this letter, he gives Timothy reasons to preach the word faithfully and fulfill his ministry, even in the face of suffering and opposition. We're gonna have four points and then some applications at the end. So my four points are all reasons. What are the reasons for fulfilling your ministry, Timothy? And the first reason he's gonna list is this, my suffering has had purpose, Timothy. And he doesn't quite say this, but I think his echo is, my suffering has had purpose, and Timothy, yours does too. Second reason, Timothy, I've been able to be faithful to the end, with the echo, and you can too. The third reason is gonna be, Timothy, I'm anticipating a great reward with the echo, and actually this one isn't even echoed, it's actually stated in the passage, and you can too. And then the fourth reason is gonna be kind of a broader look at the passage reason and say, Timothy, the reason you need to keep going is because my work is almost done, and now you're going to need to take up the torch and carry on. So we'll go through those four reasons and then we'll close with some brief applications So let's start with that first point. Timothy, my suffering has had purpose, and yours can too, yours will too. Paul says, I'm being poured out as a drink offering. So we come to 2 Timothy 4 verse 6. He says this, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. So he starts with this. Timothy, why do you need to be faithful to your ministry? Why do you need to fulfill your ministry and preach the word? What's this? Timothy, I'm being poured out. And he says, I'm being poured out. I'm going to think about that a little bit, but he defines how. He says, I'm being poured out as a drink offering. So the drink offering, it was associated with other offerings. But it got poured over other offerings. And I want to think, what does Paul mean when he says, I'm being poured out as a drink offering? and the time my departure has come. So I went back to Leviticus. Some of you might remember we went through Leviticus a little while ago. As I went back to my notes, I was surprised at how long ago that was. It was all the way back in 2017. But we went through the different sacrifices and tried to define as we went through Leviticus what the different sacrifices entailed. So I went back to my notes, I pulled out my notes. What I realized is nowhere on this list was the drink offering. And I was like, huh, that's interesting, we defined all these, but that's because the drink offering isn't well-defined in Leviticus, as all the other offerings are. We have these other five main offerings, the burnt offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, and the great offering, which are all pretty well-defined in Leviticus. But actually, what we see with the drink offering is it just kind of appears with some other offerings. Often it just kind of mentioned offhand, it says, you shall present the burnt offering and the grain offering with its drink offering. And so the drink offering, you would put an offering on the altar and then you would pour usually wine or something similar to wine over the offering. But if we want to understand what the drink offering was about, we need to see that it was almost always associated with one of two other offerings. It was always associated with either the burnt offering or with the grain offering. And so you could offer a burnt offering with its drink offering, or you could offer a grain offering with its drink offering, or sometimes you offered a burnt offering and grain offering with its drink offering. And so as we look at what it means, I think what it looks at is actually that act of pouring out. That act of pouring out is really important to what the drink offering is about because it signifies pouring yourself out in this form of worship. And so it was associated with the burnt offering and the grain offering. In the burnt offering, it represented pouring oneself out to satisfy God's wrath. And in the grain offering, the grain offering was primarily an offering of worship, an offering to say, I'm bringing what my hands have done, what you have empowered me to do to come back and worship you. And you could pour out a drink offering over the grain offering to say, I'm pouring myself out in worship as well. I'm not just bringing the work of my hands, but I'm coming to bring myself in worship as well. And so as we think about the drink offering, I think it has two main significances. The first is in relation to the burnt offering. And the burnt offering, the people would bring an offering because they could not pay for their own sin. Something had to pay for their sin, but someone had to be poured out. It couldn't be them, but a drink offering had to be poured out. So the burnt offering is mostly about Christ and what Christ would do. He would be the one to satisfy sin, and in doing so, he would pour himself out to satisfy sin, literally to pour out his blood. And so the drink offering very closely associated with the burnt offering because of that. But then it was also associated with the grain offering because the grain offering is the one that we would bring in worship to say we come to worship our God. And when we come to worship our God, it says you need to pour yourself out. You don't get to claim ownership of yourself anymore. You pour yourself out in worship to say, as we just sung, God, your will be done, not my own. If I come to worship you to call you my God, I will pour myself out on your altar. And so as we come back to 2 Timothy 4.6, Paul's saying, Timothy, I'm being poured out like a drink offering. What he's saying is, if you're being poured out, it's to spend one's life in offering to God as Christ spent out his life in offering to God. Now, Christ was able to do so in a way that would wipe away sin, and we cannot, but we can look at him and say, he was willing to pour out his very life in order to do what his God desired. If I'm gonna come and worship to God, I can do no less. So I'm being poured out as a drink offering. I'm ready to spend even my very life in service to my God. And so I think as Paul enters with this, he's saying, Timothy, you need to fulfill your ministry. Why? Because that's what we've been called to. The emphasis here is that Paul has suffered much and was anticipating suffering to the end. He doesn't have any blinders on that things are gonna get better. In fact, he says at the end, the time of my departure has come. He thinks he's going to be executed by the Roman authorities. He doesn't have some rosy future anticipated for him. He suffered much, and he anticipated suffering to the end. But what Paul is saying is, Timothy, I'm suffering, but my suffering is not meaningless. My suffering has purpose. My suffering has been offered as worship to God, and it's been used by God to further the gospel. And so he says, you know what, Timothy? That's how I go and look back in my life and evaluate my own life is I've been being poured out as a drink offering, and now we're just about to drain it out to the end. And that might seem sad or hard in this world, but I don't mind because I've been poured out as a drink offering to my God. I've been poured out in worship to my God. And in fact, Paul would say this many times. In Philippians, this is rewinding a little bit in Paul's life. Paul always kind of had this on his mind, that probably I'm going to be executed for the gospel someday. Philippians, he says, you know what? I wouldn't mind if that came sooner rather than later, but I think God's going to keep me around for a little while because I've got things to do. But then he'll say this in Philippians 2, 17. Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering, so that same thing on his mind, I may be being poured out. Right now I'm being poured out and I might be poured out all the way to the very end. even if I'm being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. So he says, this is my conclusion, is I'm being poured out as a drink offering, but there's purpose to that drink offering. As I'm pouring out my soul and even up to my very life to serve you in Christ, that has purpose because it's serving your faith, it's the sacrificial offering of your faith, and my work, my service, my being poured out is poured out over that. And so I'm glad, I'm rejoicing with you all, even if it means I have to go to my death in order to worship my God. So as we come to 2 Timothy 4, 6, the first reason I think Paul wants Timothy to hear is this. If you suffer serving God, your suffering is never meaningless. It's not just suffering, you're being poured out as a drink offering. It's being a pleasant aroma offered to God. So Timothy, fulfill your ministry because in all your suffering, if you're suffering for serving God, your suffering is never meaningless. There's great purpose in it and your suffering is an act of worship to God. So that's the first reason. My suffering has had purpose, Timothy. I'm being poured out as a drink offering. But then we come to verse seven, I think we're gonna see a second reason. Paul looks at Timothy and says, Timothy, I've been faithful to the very end of my ministry. We're gonna hear him say this phrase, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. So if we look at 2 Timothy 4-7, he says this, I'm being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. So now he's able to look back and says, I'm almost at the end, let me do some evaluation of what's happened in my life. I need to stand still here. Let's do some evaluation of what's happened in my life. Timothy is, I look back on my life, what have I done? I fought the good fight. Timothy, what have I done? I have finished the race. Timothy, what have I done? I've kept the faith. He's giving an evaluation of what his ministry is like, and he uses three phrases. His first one is, I have fought the good fight. What is he thinking when he's saying that? He's doing this evaluation of his ministry, What does he mean when he says, Timothy, I fought the good fight? Obviously, he hasn't been going around being a gladiator in the Colosseum or something. So what fight is he fighting? Well, Paul uses this terminology several times, and he always has one thing in mind. So he could go to places like Colossians 2.1. He says, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have had for you. and for those that wear it is here, and for all who have not seen it face to face. And as we go through Colossians 2, we see that his struggle, his desire, what he's working toward is to see them built up in Christ to reach all the riches of full assurance and understanding in Christ. But it's actually the same word. Sometimes our English translations take words and translate them differently, and we don't see this. When Paul says, I have fought the good fight, he's using that exact same word in Colossians 2.1, for you know how great a struggle, how great a fight, how great a contest I have had for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen you face to face. Paul says, I've been fighting for your faith. I have kept going for your faith." Or we could say it again, 1 Thessalonians 2, 12. I'm sorry, 2, 1 through 2. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, As you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. Again, that word conflict there is the same word that Paul uses when he says, I have fought the good fight. So he says to the Colossians, I have fought for you. To the Thessalonians, he says, I came to you, you know how much of a fight it was to come to you and to serve you in the gospel. So when Paul comes and says, I have fought the good fight, What he's saying is something like this. I kept at my ministry. When it was hard, I kept preaching. When it wasn't easy to go serve the gospel, I kept doing it. I kept preaching the gospel, even when it was hard, even when it was a struggle. Timothy, I fought the good fight. I never stopped finishing. I never stopped fighting the good fight. But then he'll add two more phrases. That phrase is great, but he's going to have three pictures. First, I fought the good fight. I fought for your faith and the faith of those that I had served all of my life. Then he'll say, I have finished the race. Another word picture, he's not actually thinking about running a race. His emphasis there is on finishing. He's finishing the race. And actually, as we look at this phrase, we might hear some other echoes of things that Paul had said. Paul talks about running the race as one who wins to make sure that you go and run the race of the Christian life. But actually, again, this is one of those places where English translations might mislead us. because the word race that he used here is completely different than the word race that he uses in other places. In fact, this word could probably better be translated as, I have finished my course. There's been a course laid out and I've finished it. Or a lot of times in our English Bible, the word is translated career. I have finished my career. And I think what Paul's thinking of is, there has been a course laid out before me that I needed to run. My God had planned this out. In fact, my God told me what it was gonna be like. Ananias came to me when I was on the road to Emmaus, and I saw that, or not the road to Emmaus, the road to somewhere, Damascus, and I saw that bright light, and I was blinded, and then Ananias took me in. Ananias told me what my ministry was gonna be like. And if you recall, back in Acts 9, 16, Ananias was telling Paul, this is how much you're going to have to suffer for the gospel. And so Paul had known from the very beginning, my life in serving the gospel is going to be a life of suffering. And now he's looking, he says, I'm at the end. Guess what? I never gave up. I completed the course. There was a line laid out before me, and I was told that line wasn't gonna be an easy line to run, but I finished it. I kept going and I never quit. And so he's saying something like this, Timothy, I didn't stop until the very end. I fulfilled my ministry. I completed my course. And so, actually, as we hear Paul say, Timothy, fulfill your ministry, he turns around and then says, and look at me. I have fulfilled my ministry. And at the very end, I've completed the race. The echo is, Timothy, if I've completed it in the power of Christ, then you can complete it, too. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. So as we look at that, to keep, this word means to hold on to, to grasp on to, or in negative terms, to not let go of. And so if you would hold on to something, you're not gonna let it go. And so what he's saying is, Timothy, through all of this, my faith and my master has not wavered. And on the flip side, he's gonna say, and I've testified to that gospel without changing it. I've held on to that faith. Not only personally, I've held on to that faith, which is what kept me in the good fight, which helped me finish the course. But now I was able to testify to that faith, to that gospel throughout my entire ministry. So there's actually, the words, hold on to or keep the faith, are almost never found in the New Testament. We find it there in 2 Timothy 4-7, and we find it here in Revelation 4, 9-12. This is right before the saga of the woman and the beast, or the dragon, and it says, and another angel, a third following them, sang with a loud voice. If anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength in the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the land, and the smoke of their torment goes off forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast in its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. So we have this warning, there's a beast, a world system that is going to demand worship, and it's going to cause suffering for those who won't. But then it follows up with this, here's a call for the endurance of the saints. Those who keep, in this revelation it's gonna keep two things, those who keep or hold on to the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And so as we hear Paul say, I have kept the faith, He's saying something like this. I remain devoted to Christ. It was a hard road. It had lots of suffering. I knew that from the very beginning. Ananias came and told me, this road is going to entail a whole lot of suffering, Paul. It had a lot of suffering, but I remain devoted to Christ through all that I never turned to embrace what the world offered. I never turned away from my full devotion to Christ. So that's his evaluation of his ministry. Timothy, I'm at the very end, and I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. And Timothy, through all of it, I kept the faith. And so his emphasis in verse seven is, Timothy, I've remained faithful to the gospel and faithful to the ministry that God gave me. I've fulfilled my ministry. Which then, in the echo, gives Timothy a second reason. Reason number two for being devoted to his ministry is, even in the midst of suffering, I was able to remain faithful. You can remain faithful as well, to fulfill your ministry. If you're in Christ, it's not an impossible task. It might feel hard, and it might feel almost overwhelming. At times, Paul will write in other places, I was broken down almost to the point of despair, and yet I didn't despair. He doesn't say it's going to be easy, but he does, if you're in Christ, it's not impossible. I've done it. Timothy, you can do it as well. I've been faithful to the end. You can be faithful as well. Then we're gonna see a third reason. Paul's gonna tell Timothy, I'm anticipating a great reward. We're gonna hear that there is laid up a crown of righteousness. So we turn to verse eight, and it says this, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearance. So Paul's been looking back, but now he looks forward. He says, this is what my ministry has been like. I fought the good fight, I kept the faith. I finished the race, I kept the faith. And he looks forward, he says, this is what's left. there's a crown of righteousness right in front of me. There's a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge is going to give to me on that day. And he starts with this word henceforth. It's a funny word, probably one we don't use in normal everyday conversation. But what it means is this is all that's left. I've already walked the whole path. I've finished the whole course. It wasn't an easy course, but now that I'm at the end, this is the thing that's left, a crown of righteousness presented by my Lord, the righteous judge. And so Paul's saying this, Timothy, I'm confident that I have a future reward. I've run that race and I ran it the whole time because I saw if I completed that race, there would be a great reward for me at the end. So he says, Timothy, I'm confident that there's a future reward for my work, and I'm looking forward to that reward. In fact, that's a common exhortation. That's an exhortation in some places to believers in general, that we should look to the crown that Christ will offer. and in Revelation we see language towards that end, but it's actually used several times towards the elders, towards preachers and teachers in the church. Peter will say the very similar thing. He's been talking to the church in 1 Peter chapters 1 through 4, but in chapter 5 he then takes the elders aside and he says this, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." Then he finishes this, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading prayer. I think both these passages end that way because they said that's not an easy job, that's a hard job, but there is reward at the end. At the end, you will get to stand before your master and he will say, well done, my good and faithful servant, if you've remained faithful to that end. At the end, you will have a crown presented to you that you could never have earned but has been given freely to you if you endure into the end. And so Paul looks and he says, I'm anticipating that reward, I've finished my race. and now I get to step into that reward. But he doesn't just stop there. He's been talking about himself. Timothy, this is where I've been. This is where I'm going. But then he says, and this is where I get the idea, he wants Timothy to let these words echo in his mind and say, this is true of Paul. It can be true of me as well because he finishes with this. It's not only to me, but that crown will be offered to all who have loved his appearing. Paul looks at Timothy and says, I finished I was faithful until the very end and said, no, I need to anticipate that crown. Timothy, you can too, but you're going to have to be faithful to the very end. If you want to anticipate that crown, you're going to have to be faithful to the very end. And so the emphasis here, Paul has confidence that there is a great reward for his work. He's at the very end, he says, I can almost feel it. Henceforth, all that's left for me is to go and get that crown on that day. Timothy, here's your reason to endure. There's a reward for your work as well. Your suffering isn't meaningless. Faithfulness is possible in Christ, and there's great reward for the work that you're going to do. Timothy, I'm anticipating a great reward. You can too. But then I think there's a fourth reason. We've gone through the three verses of our text this morning, but I want to take a step back and look more broadly and say there's a fourth reason that Paul is really listing here as he's going through this. We're going to say, Timothy, my work is done. The time of my departure is near, and that means something for you, Timothy. So we go back through 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 8. He says, I'm already being poured out as a drink offer, and we thought about that. My life is being poured out as a sacrificial offering to God. My suffering hasn't been meaningless. Even now to the end, if I go get executed by Caesar, it's not meaningless. In other places, I'll talk about, you know what, if I go and testify before Caesar, then Caesar's gonna hear the gospel, and his household is gonna hear the gospel, and I'll write with praises that, you know what, many of the household of Caesar have heard the gospel. It's not meaningless, it's poured out. But then he says, and Timothy, it's at the very end. The last drips are falling out of that cup right now. The time of my departure has come. He says, I've struggled hard for this gospel for my entire life, and I'm just about done struggling. In fact, when he goes and evaluates his ministry, it's all past tense. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. These are no longer even active things for Paul. Paul's so sure that he's at the end of his life, he's like, I'm basically dead, Timothy. Let's look back at my life. This is past tense. I've done all these things, and now what's left is to go get the crown of righteousness. My life is past tense. Now I'm just looking forward to the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will reward to me on that day. Says Timothy, my time's done. I'm not gonna be the one to lead the charge anymore. I'm not gonna be the one who's carrying the torch. Timothy, my time leading the charge So somebody else is going to have to pick up that torch and keep running. Timothy, if you don't pick up that torch, who's going to? Timothy, you're the young man that I invested in. You're the young man that I trained. You're the young man that I sent out. And now, Timothy, I've given it all on the battlefield, and I'm about to die. It's your turn now. Keep going. Don't let the push of the gospel fail. Now, Paul isn't saying that God isn't sovereign. He's not saying like we would hear in Esther, you know what, if you don't serve your God, then God will raise up a deliverer from somewhere else. He's not saying God isn't sovereign, but he's saying in a practical sense, Timothy, you're the man. Timothy, you're the man. If you don't pick up the torch and keep going, then who's going to? You've been trained. You've been sent out. You've been equipped. You have everything that you need. So go serve the gospel, because I can't anymore. So as we come to this last overview, the emphasis kind of on the entire section is this. Paul's time serving the gospel was almost done. The next generation needed to take up the mantle, and Timothy, you're a big part. of that next generation. So why does Timothy need to endure? Why does he need to fulfill his ministry? It's because the ministry of the gospel must continue. The ministry of the gospel has to continue. It wasn't going to die with Paul and be done there. It had to go for the next 2,000 years. It came to us because the ministry of the gospel had to endure. So Timothy, if you're not gonna do that, who is? Who is going to go serve the gospel? And so as we look over, he's given Timothy, or Paul's given Timothy four reasons to fulfill your ministry, four reasons to go out and preach the word in season and out of season. It's Timothy, my suffering has had glorious purpose, and yours will too. Timothy, my faithfulness was possible in Christ, and yours will be too. Timothy, my reward is sure in Christ, and yours is too. and Timothy, my service is over, and now it's your turn to serve the gospel. So Timothy, listen, I 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 by his kingdom, preach the word. It's not a small charge, we thought about that a couple weeks ago. He says, you know what, the theological, we went over the theological reasons for that charge a couple weeks ago, but now he says, these are the practical reasons for that. you suffer, it has purpose. You can march all the way to the very end. You have a reward if you keep going and you're the one to keep carrying on this torch. So as we wrap up this passage, I wanna make just a couple applications. I think we've kind of been doing application the entire time, but I wanna bring it home and say, what does this mean for us? So I wanna make three applications this morning. First, as I've gone through the book of 2 Timothy, it's clearly been written to someone like an elder pastor, an apostolic representative. Like I said, it's a little hard to completely define Timothy, but somewhere in that range. But I've also tried to apply it and say, this book has meaning for all of us. Why? Because God has appointed to each of us a ministry. God has appointed to each of us a ministry. It might be that we're an elder or a pastor and this book is just super applicable on its face. But he's appointed others as evangelists, others as church members, which is an important role in the kingdom of Christ. He's appointed fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and friends and whatever place God has put you, he's put you there to have a representation of himself into the church and into the world. And so we ought to recognize maybe we don't have the exact same ministry as Timothy. Maybe not all of us are elders and pastors, maybe some of us are, but not all of us, but all of us have a ministry. And if we have a ministry that's been given to us by God, then we should hear that as well and say, we need to be faithful to that ministry. Fathers, you've been given a ministry to train up your children in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. You can't give up. I think this actually starts to make a whole lot of sense when we think about it that way. A father who says, you know what, kid, you're six, this has been hard, I'm done, is a father that doesn't understand what it means to be a father. Timothy, if you're like, you know what, I've done this for a few years and I'm done, you haven't understand what it means to be an elder to the pastor. Be faithful to that ministry. It gets hard. And sometimes decisions and understanding what the right thing to do is hard. But what you don't want to do is just be like, I'm done. I don't even want to do this anymore. Be faithful to the ministry. God has appointed each of us to a ministry. Be faithful to that ministry. Second, we should hear Paul. If each of us has a ministry, we have to recognize that ministry is going to be hard. There'll be times when it just wants to break us down. And we need to hear Paul's encouragement. We should remember that our suffering has purpose in Christ. Might have been a long road, but it's all worth something. It's all worth it because it doesn't feel great in the moment, but what I'm doing is I'm pouring myself out as a drink offering. I'm pouring myself out to my God. We have to remember, faithfulness is possible in Christ. It might seem overwhelming, I can't do this anymore. But Paul would look at you and be like, it felt that way to me a lot of times. In fact, I was shipwrecked, I was beaten, I was whipped, I was left for dead, I was thrown over walls, I was dragged before Caesar, and I was eventually executed. It felt like I couldn't go on a lot of times, but it was always possible. Even when I ran to the end of myself, the strength of Christ was there. And we have to remember, there's reward for faithfulness. A reward is sure in Christ. And those are the things that are gonna keep you going. When ministry gets hard, when what God has given you to do seems like it's an impossible task, we can always say, you know what? Whatever suffering I go for through Christ is worth it. When it gets hard, I know I can do it because of Christ. And if I keep doing it, there's gonna be a reward. So I'm gonna keep going. When our ministry is hard, we remember Paul's analysis of his own life and say, that can be my analysis at the end if I remain in faithfulness to Christ. But then the third application I want to make is Paul's come to the end of his life and he's seen real clearly now. He looks back and he says, this is my analysis of my life. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. He looks forward and he says, what's left? And he's telling Timothy that because he wants Timothy to live in that same light. He said, Timothy, you're a few steps back on that road. There's a little bit more of a course that you need to run. But look up, don't look down at the path, because looking down at the path is going to seem hard. It's going to seem impossible at times, but look up. You're almost there. Henceforth, there can be laid up for you the crown of righteousness as well, which the Lord, the righteous judge will present to you on that day. And so my last application is this, we ought to live our lives in light of eternity. to say there's going to be really hard days, really confusing days, really days that seem like they just cost us aside. But those days are temporal. Those days are very, very short. And if we remain faithful and just keep going down our path, our ministry and our suffering is short. The reward will be eternal. So those, I think, are three applications we can pull out of this. So kids, here's my kid's question as we finish up this message. Why should we persevere in the ministry that God has given to us? And it says three reasons. Because our suffering has purpose, our faithfulness is possible, and our reward is sure in Christ. Our suffering has purpose, our faithfulness is possible, and our reward is sure Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, we're once again grateful for these words that you gave Paul to give to Timothy. Father, we're grateful that you showed yourself strong in Paul's life, that you took him from a blasphemer to a preacher of your gospel, that you took him through all sorts of suffering to be an example of what the Christian life would look like. Father, we're grateful that you gave him the strength to persevere to the end. We're grateful that he was able to write these words down to give Timothy and to give us hope in the midst of whatever trials we're facing as well. So Father, I pray that as we hear these words that you would help us to grasp onto them, help us to recognize the reality of these things, that we would not be knocked aside by the trials and tribulations of this world, that we would remember what Christ has done for us and that we can keep serving Christ and keep suffering for Christ. Father, to do that, we need to be filled with your spirit, not only here as we come together, as we get sent out from this place. I pray that you would fill us with your spirit to keep us, keep reminding us of these things, to help us to live in these things and to live in light of eternity. In Christ's name, we pray.