Famous Last Words
II Timothy 1:8-12
Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People teaches that one of these habits is to
“Begin with the end in mind”
Covey encourages his listeners and readers to write their own epitaph now, and to use it as a driver for everything they pursue in life.
I would ask you to envision with my your final days on this earth.
The final days and hours of a man are often some of the most telling
One of the strong benefits of being a Christians-we die well!
Consider with me tonight some parting words from some great men of God:
John Wesley preached his last sermon of Feb 17, 1791 on the text “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isa 55:6). The following day, a very sick man, he was put to bed in his home on City Road. During the days of his illness, he often repeated the words from one of his brother’s hymns: “I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me!” His last words were, “The best of all is, God is with us!” He died March 2, 1791.
Thursday, December 21, 1899, after cutting short a Kansas City crusade and returning home in ill health, D. L. Moody told his family, “I’m not discouraged. I want to live as long as I am useful, but when my work is done I want to be up and off.” The next day Moody awakened after a restless night. In careful, measured words he said, “Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me!” His son, Will, concluded his father was dreaming. “No, this is no dream, Will. It is beautiful. It is like a trance. If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”
As I spent the night in the hospital with my own father, I witnessed firsthand the sweet peace of a dying Christian.
Tonight, we look at the parting words of one of the greatest of God’s Generals, the Apostle Paul.
Paul has been arrested by order of the emperor Nero, and is in prison as he writes sometime around AD 66.
He knows in his spirit that he is “about to be poured out like a drink offering” (4:6)
Nero, one of the most godless, anti-Christ figures of all human history had launched a systematic persecution of Christians;
This persecution provides the backdrop for both I Peter, and II Timothy.
The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that Nero made Christians the scape-goats for the burning of Rome.
To give you an idea of the tactics of Nero, Fox’s Book of Martyrs tells us that Nero took cruelty to new heights which disgusted even the pagan bloodlust of the Roman people at times.
Fox tells us that some of his noted cruelties to Christians included:
· “he had some sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and worried
by dogs till they expired”
· Others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them
Christian tradition says that the saints who were to be burned as Nero’s human torches would raise their hands and offer a wave offering as praise to God as they burned, as a testimony to his “sufficient grace” to those who were next in line as human fuel.
The Neronian persecution cost Paul his life on Nero’s chopping block about AD 66 or 67.
It also took the Apostle Peter to the upside-down crucifixion for his undying faith in His Master .
Paul is in prison this time for trumped-up criminal charges against the Roman Empire.
He speaks throughout the letter of friends who have deserted him. Many are ashamed of their association with a common criminal in chains.
Point: do we understand that persecution will cause many to abandon The faith?
Phyllegus and Hermenes (ch 1), and Demas (ch4) had deserted Paul.
They are the shallow rooted ones that sprang up from the seed in rocky soil that Jesus told of in Luke 13.
Matthew 24:10-12 tells us that in the end times, many Christians will not pay the price:
10And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
But the good news is that the Church is victorious!
Christianity is not now, nor shall it ever be, “in crisis”.
Verse 14 tells us that in the face of the greatest hour of trial…
14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Church history shows us that the blood of the martyrs is like fuel on the fire of the Gospel. Persecution is a refining fire. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:10-11
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Church’s finest hours have been during times of the strongest persecution!
Hallelujah! The Church of Jesus Christ is triumphant! The gates of hell shall not prevail against it!
As Paul sits shackled in a dungeon he begins to think about his real family, the Triumphant Church! In his spirit, he knows the end is near for him.
The Holy Spirit begins to come upon him with revelation.
His thoughts and heart immediately are fixed upon his “adopted son” Timothy
He longs for young “Timotheus” to come to him as soon as possible
His thoughts run to another of his dear “sons” Mark, the missionary evangelist.
His thoughts and heart are with his dear friends Priscilla and Aquilla, Onesiphorus and Erastmus in Ephesus.
His dear friend Dr. Luke is there with Paul in Rome.
Paul sends greetings from the brethren who are by his side, the ones who have been faithful...including Pudens, Linus and Claudia.
The church is alive and beginning to experience the fires of fierce persecution!
On a very practical and almost funny note, the feisty Apostle, now getting on in years, and realizing that the time is near indicates his view of the times by telling Timothy….look at verse 4:13…
My translation:
“oh yes…and don’t forget to bring my favorite coat (I just loaned it to Troas) and my favorite study Bible!” (my translation of verse 4:13)
He knew the time was near for him to be poured out…but it was no time to quit!
There was work to be done! To live, is Christ, to die is gain! (Phillipians 1:21)
Point: Christians are not to retreat in the face of persecution! Is there a mindset among Christians today of “don’t polish the brass on a sinking ship?”
Shackled in a Roman dungeon, at the order of the cruelest and most powerful man on the face of the earth the Apostle was ready to preach! Ready to disciple! Ready to build the Church!
In his final hours, the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul instruction that was as fresh today, in AD 2001, as it was in AD 66!
Every one who aspires to Christian leadership should know the two Epistles to Timothy.
But just as important as the practical, how-to instruction of the letter itself, is the attitude and the mindset which could pen such words in the face of a cruel, imminent and unjust death.
The key to the letter, and to the Apostle Paul’s motivated lifestyle is found in II Timothy 1:12
12For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, 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.
PREACH!
My friends, if we can get internalize the truth of this familiar passage of scripture, it will change our lives. No longer will we be focused on the raging storms around us…
I would like to share with you tonight, three very basic, yet incredible, life-changing and majestic truths that I believe the Lord would have us see in this key verse.
These truths are spoken to the Church…and they will empower the people of God on to victory during times of trial and persecution!
Paul gives us a testimony of
I. A Christ-Centered Confession
nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed
Paul is suffering grave injustice. The Great Apostle had been reduced to the status of a common criminal.
If we could envision the most despised, capital criminal sitting on death row today,
perhaps Timothy McVeigh or Theodore Kazinsky, then I believe we would have an
understanding of what Paul’s social standing and “approval rating” had been reduced
to.
He was the most controversial character everywhere he went.
His preaching was a “dividing line”; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks…it enraged Jewish religious leaders and threatened Gentile politics.
It was the Gospel, the “power of God unto salvation”.
In I Corinthians 4:12-13 NIV Paul says:
12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
Scum of the earth! That’s what this mighty man of God had become for the sake of the Gospel!
Apparently some had abandoned Paul because they were ashamed to know him, to be associated with a common criminal in chains.
You find out who your friends really are when you go to jail!
But Paul, ashamed? Are you kidding? Paul says “ I know Him!”
He knew the one who had called his name and revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus.
He knew the One who had preserved him through every trial and persecution.
He knew the One who had caught him up into the third heaven and shown him things so glorious, they are unlawful for a man to utter!
We must also notice that the context of this letter is that of a pastoral letter.
Paul is writing to Timothy, his adopted son that he loved, but also to the Church at Ephesus. Once again, Paul is saying “follow me as I follow Christ”.
A few years ealier, also from prison, Paul had written to the Phillipian Church:
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul had once said “ I want to know Christ, and here is how I am pursuing Him”. At the
end of His life Paul says “ I know Christ”.
Point: Church, do you know Whom you have believed? Are we pursuing “knowing Him” with everything in us?
Verse 8 tells us
8Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
Here, at the end of his life, Paul is telling his spiritual children to “Share with him in the sufferings for the gospel”.
I hear a corporate call! I believe Paul’s call is to the Victorious Church to stand together against all obstacles and enemies, to come together in fellowship, through suffering, to be the Body of Christ that He has called us to be!
Do you want to know Christ? Are you willing to suffer, to not be ashamed?
You’ll never really know Him apart from taking a stand for Him.
In Romans 1:16 Paul says:
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel £of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Knowing Him is worth all suffering!
My friends, I believe that there may come a day when the church will suffer for His Name! Would that we be counted worthy to suffer for Him!
Not only does Paul testify of a Christ Centered Confession, but also
II. A Confident Conviction
and am persuaded that He is able
Paul was persuaded, convinced (NIV), absolutely certain, that Jesus Christ was able!
How convinced are we? Fifty percent? Thirty three percent ? Ninety-Nine percent?
Anything less than 100% certainty is unbelief.
Are we resting in absolute certainty that He is able?
It was this absolute certainty, this concrete persuasion that caused Paul to ask for his
coat, his scriptures and some pastor friends in the face of certain death at the hands of
the most powerful and notoriously cruel man on earth!
Absolute Certainty? How can we be absolutely certain? Let’s turn our attention to Mark 4:35-41, and understand what being persuaded and “absolutely certain” entails..
Mark 4:35-41
35On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
40But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How£ is it that you have no faith?” 41And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
When Jesus decreed “Let us cross over to the other side” it was a done deal!
The most violent forces of nature were powerless to stop it.
The most vile demons of hell cannot stop it.
The “I AM”, the self-existent One had spoken, the one who holds creation in His hand.
The disciples didn’t understand that “He is Able”.
Peter understood it, some forty years later when he was nailed on the order of Nero to a cross upside down rather than cease to preach Jesus.
Paul understood it as lay his bare neck upon the chopping block at the order of Nero.
about five years earlier, Paul had taught the Phillipian church:
Philippians 1:21-23
1For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23£For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Paul had complete and confident conviction that Jesus Christ was able! Death had no power or authority in His life…to live was Christ, to die gain!
That’s the kind of faith that will cause you to give your life.
That’s the kind of faith that will move mountains.
It’s 100% unwavering confidence! The Lord God has decreed it…and we are persuaded that HE is able!
Not only do we find a Christ Centered Confession and a Confident Conviction, Paul had
III. A Consuming Commitment
to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
Verse 13 sheds some light on just what “commitment” Paul is referring to:
13Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
A two-way trust relationship is developed here, with a one-way grace and ability to keep the commitment alive and well!
The Holy Spirit had committed to Paul the sound doctrine and principles of the Christian Faith.
Paul had given his life to the call of God and had planted churches and discipled leaders throughout the Gentile world in strategic centers of commerce and populations, as the Holy Spirit led him.
Now it had come time for Paul to go home to be with Christ.
He had fought a good fight and kept the faith.
First and Second Timothy is a charge to young Timotheus, to “guard the deposit”.
The letter is also meant for the church at Ephesus, and ultimately it was entrusted to the Church at large as God’s providential hand guided it into the canon of Scripture.
Paul, a leading voice, the Apostle to the Gentiles, responsible for thousands of converts in dozens of churches across the known world was about to pass on, this he knew by the Spirit.
But who would carry on? How could they replicate His work?
Would the ministry, the doctrine, the discipleship become fragmented, corrupted and would it eventually die?
Already, so-called people of faith were “bailing-out” in the face of persecution. The times were perilous, and all of hell was coming at the young Church.
Is this something that plagued Paul in his final days on earth? Not on your life!
Paul declares that He knows that He, the one who first committed the charge to Him, is able to keep the commitment!
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to charge young Timothy with “carrying the torch”.
This clarion call was not just to Timothy, but to the church at Ephesus.
The call travels through the halls of church history and reaches our hands, tonight, as the people of God, in a Bogart cottonpatch!
This commitment is a sacred trust that we hold in our hands for a brief and passing time.
The same Holy Spirit who entrusted it to Paul as now entrusted it to the Church of today.
The same Holy Spirit has entrusted it to Grace Fellowship Church of God in Bogart, Georgia.
Do we want to be “history-makers”?
Do we realize the legacy that goes before us?
Do we realize the sacred trust that has been committed to us, along with every church today that preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
The Faith Once Delivered…is passed from generation to generation
Jude 1:3
3Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Church is not a social club, it is not a charitable organization, it is the local expression of the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we, as a part of the body are endowed with a sacred trust!
This generation of believers is responsible for this generation of lost souls in this earth (Keith Green).
We are sacred guardians of the Gospel of Grace, the “faith once delivered to the saints”.
It is not entrusted into us so that we can build monasteries and cathedrals to celebrate a religion…
It is entrusted unto us so that we might impart life to a lost and dying world!
Grace Fellowship is a small cog in the God’s plan for today. We have been entrusted with the vineyard around us.
By the power of the Holy Ghost, we can “guard the deposit” and work the fields He has given us!
Do we understand that among us walks young Timothy?
Along these halls walk young Peter, James and John ?
Do we understand that among us walk great saints of the faith who have fought the good fight, who have kept the faith?
We are at the same time carrying the torch, and passing the torch to the next generation .
He has committed to us His Life, and we have committed to Him our Lives!
He is the One who is able to keep the commitment, and we can rest in our Consuming Commitment, because HE IS ABLE!
