FINISH WELL PT 3
2TIM 4 VS 1-8
2 Timothy 4:1-8 (NKJV)
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8 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.
KEPT THE FAITH
1. IT’S PERSONAL- THE WORD KEPT MEANS TO KEEP BY GUARDING, PAUL LOOKED AT HIS FAITH AS A CONTRACT BETWEEN HIM AND HIS LORD, IT WAS SOMETHING THAT IS VERY VALUABLE AND HE WOULD DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO GUARD IT:
Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
1 Peter 1:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)
3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NASB)
11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
"And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come....And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities" (Luke 19:13, 17).
"Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2).
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called" (1 Tim. 6:20).
"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10).
2. IT’S POWERFUL- BECAUSE OUR FAITH IS PERSONAL, IT IS POWERFUL…. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE FAITH IN ACTION BY A CHILD OF GOD:
1 Corinthians 1:20-25 (NKJV)
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
**STORY OF THE 3 HEBREW BOYS
3. IT’S PRECIOUS—NO GREATER STORY/TRUTH IS FOUND IN HEAVEN, ON EARTH, OR EVEN UNDER THE EARTH THAT IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN THAT THE SON OF GOD LOVED US AND GAVE HIS LIFE FOR US, THE BIG ROUGH APOSTLE PETER WAS SO MOVED BY THIS THAT HE LABELED FAITH AS BEING PRECIOUS:
1 Peter 1:3-10 (NKJV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
**BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS DID FOR US, DO WE NOT NEED TO RE-COMMIT OUR ALLEGIANCE TO HIM??
