In this guest sermon by our supported missionary, Ken Newton examines part of the charge given by the apostle Paul to Timothy as Paul was about to die. Specifically, Ken Newton examines 2 Timothy 4:7 and explains the three main responsibilities Christians must fulfill if Christians are to finish well and gain Christ’s reward: fighting the good fight, running the course, and keeping the faith.
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our long time missionaries with us today I will not be preaching today ken Newton will be preaching he has been our missionary for a long time well I I think I know ken over 30 years about 30 years and so they were of course in the if you don’t know who they are they were in Colombia for over 40 years ministering there and of course they were a blessing to the tribal people if you know anything about new tribes they actually go into tribes that many times don’t even have an alphabet or anything written in a language and they go in there and they bring linguist in there and they learn get an alphabet and they put words together and then they put it into a Bible and they begin to preach them sometimes the processes between five to seven years before you could ever preach the gospel and and so they were a support to those missionaries and then of course they have been a great blessing to us here at Calvary and if I think of any people who are faithful I think of the Newton’s if I people I think of people that endure through thick and thin I think of the Newtons and they’re kind of my soldiers in Christ Jesus because they’ve battled they’ve kept they fought the fight right they kept the faith and they’re now retiring retreading or and they they’re never going to stop ministering you know and they’ll never stop so even though they’re retired and now they’re back in the United States and Georgia close to their daughter and be able to see that’s one thing when you’re a missionary’s when your missionaries sometimes your family gets split up and you’re all over the place you don’t get a chance to see them and grow see them grow and so that’s part of being a missionary and so now they have a chance to be in there any other kids and that’s they’re going to do but I know that Ken and Carlene are always going to be minister and every time Ken and they come on low i’m always blessed by them always blessed by kens preaching and and it is bringing the Word of God to us so I’m going to ask him now can come and preach to us this morning and let’s be ready have our Bibles ready to wherever he brings us to and be ready to listen to his message today good morning for those that speak Spanish buenos dias and if there are any brazilians here this morning in Portuguese bond gia first of all Carlene who’s here this morning to sitting here out front and supporting us financially over all these many years I think this church took us on for support back in the 1980s the middle 80s and how faithful you folks have been you talk about us being faithful you as a church have been extremely faithful to us and to other missionaries that you helped support and so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and your support continues to this day and words can’t really express how grateful we are for the many times you’ve prayed for us and held us up before the throne of grace and you’ve prayed on our behalf and interceded for us and you’ve given to us and so we’re just so grateful now as many of you know these last seven years we’ve been in Brazil caring for carlene’s mother who is a missionary in Brazil for over 60 years I think it was like 66 years and carlene’s parents went down to Brazil as missionaries back in nineteen forty nine and her dad went to be with the Lord in an automobile accident there in Brazil in 1989 and so her mother was a widow and she continued on in Brazil as a missionary and then her later here is in in her 90s she began to to show her age and she was taking some Falls and breaking some bones and so in one of our visits to her there in Brazil it became apparent that she was going to need help from here on out until she crossed the finish line and so after praying and analyzing the whole situation the Lord gave His perfect peace and made it evident to our hearts that we were to be the ones to have the privilege of caring for her and so that’s the way it was these last seven seven a half years there in Brazil before us as we did that I think our last time here we ask for your prayers for us as caregivers rhiannon we went into it quite naively not knowing just how hard it would be but it’s not easy it’s not a piece of cake so to speak to be a caregiver for someone who can’t care for themselves and as time went on she began to get progressively worse until she was totally dependent on what we could do for her and back in probably july or august of last year it became apparent to us that she was nearing the finish line and the Lord directed me to this passage that i’ll be sharing with you this morning if you’d like to turn in your Bibles to second Timothy chapter 4 second Timothy chapter four and just hold that open and then we’ll read this in just a few minutes but as as carlene’s mom coorah Taylor was approaching the finish line of her of the race as a Christian and as her lover life here on earth this passage really became alive to us as caregivers and we had the privilege of seeing her across the finish line and words can’t express the privilege that we had of being a part of her her last years in her last days in her last breath and knowing that when she crossed that finish line she was absent from the body but present with the Lord what a great joy and yet at the same time one has mixed emotions because we were so attached and it was an emotional time but yet a time of great joy knowing that she was in the presence of the Lord Jesus so thank you for your part and all of that through your prayers you’re giving now in ancient times long before medical processes could cause a person to live well beyond consciousness people often planned their final words as their death neared some of the most telling words a person can speak or words that come at or near the time of their death what we might call their final words and I call this message this morning the sermon final words on finishing will perhaps you’ve been in a hospital room or in a nursing home or beside the bedside of a loved one and their final words to this day bring encouragement the last conversation you have with someone is significant especially if you find that they’ve passed from this life to another soon after and shortly before he was martyred some of Paul’s the Apostle Paul’s final words to Timothy and the body of Christ at large are found in this chapter second Timothy chapter 4 will start with verse 1 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 be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine and we’re certainly living in those days but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and 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 for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come I fought the good fight I have finished the course I have kept the faith in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award me or to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved disappearing shall we pray our Father we give you praise for your precious word this morning and we commit it to you to use and each one of our lives as we’re gathered here as the local body of Christ and we look to You Lord to use your word to equip us to edify us to encourage us our lives but throughout the world where your word is being preached in truth and correctly interpreted and applied and may it be for your glory and for the up building of the body of Christ in Jesus name Amen Paul and I what i’m going to say now is a quote from Pastor Steven Davey who is the senior pastor at clonal colonial Baptist Church in Cary North Carolina and in his one of his sermons on this chapter he said Paul was not a threat to the kingdom of Rome he had encouraged the Romans to pray for Nero and for all those in authority and even to pay their taxes to Nero Paul was the best that Rome could ever hope to have but Paul was a threat not to Rome but to Satan’s Kingdom of this world Paul was an obstacle to the doctrines of demons he was an enemy of the Prince of Darkness so put him to death Nero ordered it God allowed it lcb asst the historian recorded for us that poll was taken one mile outside the city of Rome and on that road called the Austin way was told to kneel down the sword was raised by the Roman soldier and it flashed in the sunlight for a brief moment and then came down and the apostle of grace the champion of Christ finished his race looking at our text here this morning in chat and verse 6 verse 6 says for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come and this verse Paul looked around at his present situation and his impending death I am already in other words it was impending it was imminent being poured out as a drink offering and his time of departure was at hand so he looked around and then in verse 7 I have fought the good fight I finished the course I’ve kept the faith here we find that Paul looked back he looked back over his life his past life and his ministry as a believer ever since he was gloriously saved on the road to Damascus until this very hour in this dungeon in the city of Rome he looked back and pinned these words about notice that there in the past tense I have fought i have finished i have kept and then in verse 8 Paul looked ahead he the verse eight starts in the future so here as he looked ahead he looked to the rapture of the church he had hoped that it would be in his lifetime but I think you realized that now that wasn’t going to happen and so he was looking at his physical death but more importantly he was looking at beyond death to the rapture when Christ would come as the bridegroom and snatch up his bride in the clouds and take us to heaven to be with him forever and that event immediately beyond or past the rapture of the church known as the judgment seat of Christ and Paul refers to that here in verse 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness that the judgment seat of rice is a time only for believers there will be no unbelievers at the judgment seat of Christ only those who are in Christ who had gone to glory either by physical death or by the rapture of the church and the judgment seat of Christ is not about who’s going to be saved and who’s not going to be saved no that was already determined the moment we placed our faith only in Christ and in his finished work at Calvary and his resurrection from the dead and on that basis we were saved forever in Christ forever and our our future with God was eternally determined and so it’s not about salvation it’s all about here the judgment the judgment seat of Christ is for is all about rewards or lack thereof so Paul looked ahead to the rewards for believers at the judgment seat of Christ and these three tenses present looking around looking back past looking ahead future give us the context of these verses and especially verse 8 but also for all who have loved his appearing so let’s look back in verse 7 and this is going to be where we’ll be for the remainder of our time together this morning in verse 7 first of all we see here in verse 7 he said I have fought the good fight every believer from the moment we were saved from the moment we were baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ and into the body of Christ we have a war to fight we were born from above the moment of our salvation we were born again and we were born into battle we were born into a spiritual warfare we didn’t realize it at the time we thought everything was going to be hunky-dory we thought everything was going to be a-okay as far as our Christian why we didn’t have any idea what we’re going to face did we when we first got saved but here we are in a war we’re in a war zone and Paul says looking back he says I fought the good fight the words fought is an athletic term in the Greek and it referred to the Olympic Games those who were wrestlers or boxers and they were in a fighting mode to see who is going to win and now why is it called the good fight why is it called a good fight that is intriguing me for a long time and as I began to meditate and investigate and pray over this passage I came up with 6 reasons why Paul called this war that we’re in this spiritual warfare this fight why he called it a good fight number one first of all it’s a good fight because we’re on God’s side in this war God is for us and he’s the one that gives us the victory as we fight this good fight of faith secondly it’s a good fight because our enemies are also God’s enemies and who are our enemies and who are gods in me actually they’re all the same and who are God’s enemies first of all one of his in there we can reduce it down to actually three enemies that God has and that we have the first one is this evil world system known as the world this evil world system in which we’re living controlled by the god of this world Satan the second enemy is Satan himself the arch enemy of God dating back to before creation when he rebelled against God and wanted to exalt his throne above the throne of God and back when he was known as Lucifer so to this day the devil or Satan is God’s enemy and our enemy as well the third enemy is an internal enemy the flesh our old corrupt sinful nature which as all of you know was not eradicated or taken away from us the moment we got saved we’ve still got it the old nature the old disposition to sin that gravitates to sin and Paul says in my flesh there dwells no good thing and the more we live the Christian life the more we realize how true that is because we’re in the spiritual warfare we have these enemies and we face them every day the world the devil and the flesh so God’s enemies are our enemies and when we think of our enemies I think of if he what it says in Ephesians chapter 6 in verses 11 and 12 where Paul says put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil now the devil has two major tactics or schemes one is deception and the other is to accuse he accuses us and he also tries to deceive us so we need to be on the alert for his schemes as tactics but notice what it says in verse 12 for our struggle and there we have the element of warfare back to that word in second Timothy 4 where it says I fought the good fight this struggle our struggle is not against flesh and blood it’s not again our struggle is not against people it’s not again against physical person many times we’re tempted by our flesh and by Satan to start struggling and striving and like we say in Spanish luchando against people even brothers and sisters in the body of Christ in the Fellowship we if we aren’t careful if we’re not only alert if we’re not walking in the spirit we can find ourselves walking in the flesh and struggling and striving and fighting against our brothers in Christ and even against the unsaved our fight is not against flesh and blood but where is it our fight is a spiritual warfare against who verse 12 he says but against the rulers against the powers against the world Force’s of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places the world the devil and our own flesh our own sin nature the back to the reasons why it’s a good warfare what are the first to the first one is we’re on God’s side in this war he is for us secondly our enemies are also God’s enemies thirdly our weapons are not carnal which means our weapons are not physical the believers weapons are not pistols and rifles and automatic weapons and mortars and and so on all the way up to nuclear bombs our weapons are not carnal not physical but they’re nevertheless mighty we have weapons that are mighty and that are powerful through God second Corinthians chapter 10 if you’d like to turn there in your Bibles second Corinthians chapter 10 and I’ll read starting in verse 3 second Corinthians 10 3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war again according to the flesh in other words we’re not battling we’re not doing warfare according to the flesh to the physical world in the physical realm verse 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of this flesh or none of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses verse 5 we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and all how many lofty things are being raised up in our days in our nation against the knowledge of God oh it’s just it’s overwhelming i was talking to pastored Bobby this morning before the service it just blows our minds when we stopped to see the lawlessness and the immorality and all the things that are being raised up against the knowledge of God and against his word it’s just breathtaking at the speed that this is taking plate and so here in verse 5 it says and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ know that’s what we have to do on a personal level each of us individually as believers must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ we are responsible individually as born-again believers to bring our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ we can’t rely on other people to do that for us the pastor the elders the Deacons can’t do that for us we have to do it ourselves in the power in the strength the enabling of the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit needs our cooperation in order to be able to do it but we have these weapons and what are these weapons that he has given us like it said here in verse 44 the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction and leads us to mention that the weapons that God is entrusted to us in this warfare are twofold they’re mainly first of all the Word of God and prayer these are our two weapons powerful weapons that we must use in this warfare that we’re in the word and prayer how do we know that Ephesians chapter 6 we could turn quickly back there to Ephesians 6 where we just were a few minutes ago and look at verses 17 and 18 such as the shield of faith the breastplate of righteousness the belt of truth and so on all that’s for our defense but in verse 17 and in verse 18 Paul begins to talk about our offensive weapon these are weapons that God has given us to go on the offense against the world the flesh and the devil and these two offensive weapons that we can use to attack or the Word of God in prayer verse 17 and take the helmet of salvation and thus the sword of the Spirit there it is the sword of the Spirit and Paul identifies it here he says which is the word of God the scriptures because it’s in the Word of God that we find the truth that we need to disarm the lies and the deception of Satan it’s the thing that we need in order to disarm the lusts of our flesh and so we need to employ the Word of God in our mind and with our lives one bible teacher dr.
Charles Rory said that this phrase which is the word of God in the Greek it implies the spoken word of God as we take the written word of God and incorporate it into our lives and as it renews our mind and we make the written word of God a part of our lives we can begin to do spiritual warfare in a way that pleases God and in a way that will be effective for us to stand firm against the wiles of the devil and to defeat the onslaughts of Satan the world and our only right now no here thank you Noriega the Armed Forces is it I think call that operation just cause if i’m not mistaken well that can pretty well sum up the spiritual warfare that we’re in its believers Noriega the Armed Forces is it I think call that operation just cause if i’m not mistaken well that can pretty well sum up the spiritual warfare that we’re in its believers its operation just cause for us as well it’s a Just Cause because God’s good plans and purposes are always good and they’re always righteous and he will ultimately prevail how true is that God’s plans and purposes will ultimately prevail and victory is assured we are more than conquerors through him that loved us according to Romans chapter 8 verses 35 and 37 and then in first career it’s 1557 it says thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ our war is good because it’s a just cause and then the fifth reason is it’s a good fight is because God has enlisted us to fight in this good fight God has enlisted us how do we know that second Timothy back to second Timothy and this time chapter 2 and verse 1 you there for my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus now why do we need to be strong in the grace of Christ Jesus why is that rather than say be strong in your own strength were there are many reasons but one of the primary is look what it says in verse 3 suffer hardship with me that’s what as a good soldier of Christ Jesus here again we encounter our warfare as Christians this spiritual warfare that we’re in were to suffer hardship as good soldiers we were born into battle in our case born again into battle and God wants us to endure hardship the key word there is suffer or endure ok as good soldiers he wants us to be good soldiers fighting the good fight the good fight of faith verse 4 no soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life why is that why should we not be entangled in the affairs of this life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier I our primary duty and purpose as soldiers of Christ is to please our commander-in-chief is it not and so we need to be very careful about what we entangle ourselves in in this life we need to be free in our spirits and in our souls in our inner man and even physically to war and to fight the good fight of faith as good soldiers and to please our commander now why do we need to please him well there’s many reasons why he’s worthy number one he’s worthy of being pleased and of receiving the honor and the glory but secondly one day we’re going to have to stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ and give an account so God has enlisted us to fight this good fight and lastly number six this the sixth reason why it’s a good fight is because this good flight increases our dependence on God and His Word back to verse 1 of chapter two my son be strong in the grace that’s in Christ Jesus that speaks of our dependence on our commander and his grace strong and His grace strong in his mind strong in his power when we’re in the heat of the battle it should if we’re wanting to please our commander it should cause us to run to him and begin to consciously depend on him for the mercy and for the grace that we need to help us in our time of need okay now in chapter four we’re back to our main text in verse 8 Paul says that he had finished the race first of all he says he fought a good fight secondly I finished the race every believer has a race to finish and we could get some perspective on this race as we look at a passage like Hebrews chapter 12 and verse verses 1 2 3 Hebrews 12 and verses 1 to 3 therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart now that’s our tendency is to grow weary and lose heart but what does God want for our lives he wants us to run this race of the Christian life with endurance endurance again is the key and where does this endurance come from it comes from being strong in the grace that’s in Christ Jesus second Timothy to one that we just looked at it comes from looking to him who is the source of our strength strong in the Lord and in the power of his money now as we’re running this race what do we have to do it says here in Hebrews 12 lay aside or cast off every encumbrance the things that are waiting us down what’s weighing us down in this race well for some it’s stubborn habit overcome in the power of the Holy Spirit for others it may be bitterness and an unforgiving spirit for others it may be even a physical habit being undisciplined and our eating habits or or whatever for others it may be the area of pride or the love of money I mean we can just go on and on and the flight our flesh our old sin nature is capable of committing any sin and our flesh one of the descriptions or our flesh is the lust of the flesh what are we lesting after and these the lusts of our flesh are things that can wait us down and can hinder us and running this race so we need to maintain a walk in the spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and don’t need to turn there but Paul to the Galatians in chapter 5 verse 17 who has hindered you so that you have turned aside so that you have gotten off the race course and gotten out of the will of God who has hindered you well it’s a rhetorical question because Paul knew that it was false teachers now for some believers it may be that this is another thing that we need to set aside our false teachers who are leading us astray and hindering us from running the race with endurance first Corinthians 9 we’re not going to turn there but he talks about fighting boxing and running as if in the Olympic Games and Paul says he had to learn to discipline his body for what purpose so that he would not be disqualified from the race so that he would it was not talking about losing his salvation of losing rewards at the judgment seat of Christ ok we have a battle in a war to fight we have a race to finish and the question is how do we want to finish this race do we want to finish well so that when we enter the Lord’s presence in heaven he can say well done there’s the judgment seat of Christ well done you good and faithful servant is that what we really want to hear I hope so and I know that’s the desire of your heart as well and that should be our goal one of our goals is to hear that from from our dear Lord but we not only have this battle we not only have this race to finish well but we have as Paul terms it we have a faith to keep I have kept the faith now when we find in Scripture the article before the word faith the faith that’s not talking about our personal faith in Christ it’s talking about the faith which is the body of scriptural truth known as sound doctrine and God has committed to us the faith this body of truth of sound doctrine of sound words to guard to keep to use for the glory of God but he wants us to preserve it to pass it on to the next generation and Paul says that he had done that he had kept the faith the truth of the gospel and the truth of how to live the Christian life and all the truth found in the old and new Testament and so in 1st Timothy 614 it says so that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ now God wants us to keep the commandment in other words the truth of the word of God the body of sound doctrine without stain without reproach right up until the rapture or right until our physical death when we cross the finish line whichever comes first and then in verse 20 of the same chapter it says Oh Timothy guard here we have that same word art or keep what has been entrusted to you avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing of arguments of what is falsely called knowledge in other words we regard the body of truth of revealed Scripture and to keep it to guard it to oversee it to preserve it in all of its purity so that our generation and in the generation to come if the Lord tarries will be will have in their possession this great treasure this body of sound doctrine and it will be preserved from false teaching this was a great concern to Paul and should be our great concern as well in Jude verse 3 it talks about contending for the faith were to contend for the faith were to defend the faith and not to be passive in this warfare and in this guardianship that we have to maintain the purity of the Word of God and the gospel of grace and there’s many more verses that we could look at but may the Lord in conclusion this morning may the lord continue to impress upon our hearts these three important responsibilities and what are they again we have a war to fight we have a race to finish and hopefully finish well because many have started well but there are many two who don’t finish well so with God’s help and by His grace may he help each one of us to finish well this race that we’re in and then thirdly this responsibility of a faith to keep the guard in purity and integrity the body of truth sound doctrine that he’s entrusted to us may the Lord impressed these three responsibilities upon our hearts that will be taken into account at the judgment seat of Christ when we stand before him these are three things that the Lord’s going to three standards the Lord’s going to be looking at as he as he’s not going to judge us for our sins because that was taken care of at the cross but he will take into account how we have lived how we have behaved what has been our lifestyle as Christians in this life after we’ve been saved and as we consider these these three responsibilities this spiritual warfare this race to finish in this faith to keep I think of that great hem in title our shield we try we rest on thee our shield and our defender it goes like this we rest on thee our shield and our defender we go not forth alone against the foe strong and vice strength safe and thy keeping tender we rest on thee and then thy name we go yea and thy name o captain of salvation and the idear name all other names above Jesus our righteousness are sure foundation our prince of glory and our king of love we go in faith our own great weakness feeling and needing more each day though grace to know yet from our hearts a song of triumph peeling we rest on thee and in thy name we go we rest on Villar shield and our defender thine is the battle and we might I had dine as the race and thine is the guardianship thine shall be the praise when raining in the kingdom of thy splendour Victor’s we rest on thee through endless days may God help us let’s pray our Father we we can’t praise you enough for yourself for your greatness for the greatness of your grace thank you for entrusting these three responsibilities to us this warfare this race and this guardianship and father we don’t take this lightly and we pray that you will continue to help us to be strong in the grace that’s in Christ Jesus and that this body of believers here each believer will be able to take this these responsibilities seriously and to heart in too long to hear as we all do your words well done my good and faithful servant we thank you and we praise you in Jesus name Amen stand together for final thought