THE TIME OF MY DEPARTURE IS AT HAND
1 Timothy 6:6-8, “For
I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me
on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing. “
2 Timothy is believed to be
Paul’s final letter. As our
text indicates, Paul realizes that his time on earth is nearly complete.
He has a few things he wants to “wrap up”, but he is ready.
In our text, Paul declares with complete confidence that he is
ready. He does this
with 3 descriptions of the journey that was his life on earth.
Let us examine these three descriptions.
“I
have fought the good fight.”
It is no secret that we are at war spiritually.
I am not one to say that the Bible predicts certain end time
events, but now, as has been the case throughout history, we are living
in spiritually perilous times.
In 2 Tim. 3:1-5 every characteristic of ungodliness that Paul
describes is thriving in THESE times.
Later in this same chapter Paul prepares Timothy for these
perilous times. He says,
“Yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer
persecutions.” (3:12) Then he warns him, “But
evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived.” (3:13) It
does not take a master’s degree (or even a high school education) to see
that over the past several decades we have witnessed a moral decline and
increased hostility toward God and his word in our society.
Satan has done his work well.
The world is under his sway (1 John 1:19).
Increasingly the world is hostile toward the truth even to the
point of hating those who stand for truth.
Jesus warned that this would happen in John 15:19 where He warned
His apostles that they world hated them.
Later John would tell us, “Do
not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.” ( 1 John 3:13)
That is why we are at war and need to fight this good fight.
Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy
6:12, “Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life…”
We must put on the whole armor of God because we are fighting
against wickedness and the darkness of this age perpetrated by Satan and
his minions. (Ephesians 6:10-18) We must use the spiritual weapons he
has given us to defend the truth and even to go out and engage the
enemy. (2 Cor. 10:4-6, Ephesians 6:17) And we must keep fighting even
when times are difficult (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
And we cannot surrender to Satan or quit fighting as long as we
live on this earth. Just
like Paul we must fight the good fight until the very end.
“I have finished the race.”
The New Testament also describes the life of a Christian as a
race. This is not a sprint,
but a marathon. Our race
with God begins when we obey the gospel and lasts until we draw our
final breath on this earth.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, we read, “Do
you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the
prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who
competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to
obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”
Paul here noted that this is a race with eternity at stake.
Therefore we need to run desiring to win.
While all who finish this race will win, the point is that you
run as if there is only ONE prize winner and you need to be it.
You cannot run this race casually, but it needs to be your focus.
We are about to see the 2016
summer Olympics. It will
showcase some of the best athletes in the world in their various sports.
None who win will do so without giving their very best.
And that includes intense disciple as they practice and maintain
their bodies in top physical condition to gain every advantage.
That is what we need to do spiritually.
Hebrews 12:1 reminds us, “Therefore
we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
In 2 Timothy 2:5 says, “And
also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he
competes according to the rules.”
During the upcoming Olympics there will be great scrutiny with
the winners to ensure they have not cheated in any way – whether it be
taking short cuts, taking illegal substances or trying to bend the rules
to gain advantage. All such
matters when discovered will result in disqualification.
In some cases, this may be true even years later.
Spiritually, we MUST follow the rules God has given us in His
word (2 Peter 1:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Matthew 7:21 says that only those who keep His commandments will
enter the kingdom of heaven.
2 John 9 warns that whoever transgresses (goes beyond) and does not
abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.
He is to be rejected (10-11).
Paul warned the Galatians that if anyone preaches a different
gospel he was to be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).
Even Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 spoke of keeping himself in
subjection by disciplining his body lest he be disqualified.
As we have seen, like Paul
told Timothy, we need to finish the race of life.
“I have kept the faith.”
Not only had Paul fought and run to the end, he did so standing
with integrity on the word that he proclaimed to others.
Faith is defined as firm persuasion or conviction.
It involves trusting God and believing Him (not merely believing
IN Him). It is demonstrated
by one who totally surrenders himself to God.
We must have faith in our lives. (Hebrews 11:6, 2 Peter 1:5,
Romans 10:17, etc.) It is
also a term that sometimes describes the whole of our lives as
Christians. Jude wrote in
his short letter that the brethren “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints.” (Jude 3) Paul challenged the Corinthians to “Stand fast in
the faith.” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
In 2 Corinthians 13:5 he said, “Examine yourselves as to whether
you are in the faith. Test
yourselves…”
In our text, Paul is
describing both. His
personal faith is well documented in Acts and throughout his epistles.
He had maintained his faith in God to the end.
Earlier in 2 Timothy 1:12 he demonstrates this by saying, “…
for I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him
until that Day.” But he
had also faithfully defended “the faith” of the gospel, even at great
risk to himself. In 2
Corinthians 11:23-28 he describes some of the sufferings he endured.
Even in 2 Timothy 4 he describes some setbacks he faces as he
writes this letter. But he
RESUSES to surrender and deny his faith.
Like Paul, we too need to keep
the faith and our faith until our journey here is completed.
Hebrews 10:38 says, “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has
no pleasure in him.”
What is the point of all these
things? We have to finish!
We cannot quit! Paul
knew his time was near. Not
all have this insight. But
whether we know or not doesn’t matter.
We must still be ready.
We need to keep fighting the spiritual battle.
Revelation 2:10 calls for us to “be
faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
2 Peter 2:20-22 warns of the fate of the one who having escaped
the pollutions of this world returns to it.
Of such we read, “the
latter end is worse than the beginning.
For it would have been better for them not to have known the way
of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy
commandment delivered to them.”
How tragic it will be to fight for God most of your life, only to
forfeit it all in the end because we fail to endure to the end.
We need to finish our race on the strait (narrow or restricted)
and narrow (difficult) path (Matthew 7:13-14).
We need to faithfully keep His word and our trust in Him to the
very end.
May we learn this message as
we read some of Paul’s final recorded words.
Consider this: If this day were your last, where would you
finish? Are you sure?
Think about it.
TATJR