The Main Thing

Introduction – True North

A seasoned sea captain was once asked how he found his way through storms and fog.

He pointed to a well-worn brass compass bolted to the deck and said,

> “That needle always points north—no matter how hard the wind blows or how thick the clouds are.

If I trust the compass, I know exactly where I am and where I’m headed.”

Our spiritual lives need that kind of true north.

Without it, we drift.

On a calm day we might not notice, but when storms hit—illness, disappointment, temptation—we discover how quickly we can lose our bearings.

Paul understood this better than anyone.

Writing from a cold Roman cell, knowing that execution was near, he gave his young protégé Timothy a final and urgent instruction:

> “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

That single sentence captures the heartbeat of 2 Timothy 1:3–14.

Paul urges Timothy to tighten his grip on the gospel, the unchanging compass of God’s saving work in Christ.

Let’s read Paul’s words as if they were written directly to us.

Take your Bible and turn to 2 Timothy 1:3–14.

Read it as if Paul is writing to you, and as if God Himself is speaking—because He is.

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Reading the Text as Timothy Would

Paul is in a Roman cell. Chains are on his wrists. He knows that execution is near. This is his final letter and his final exhortation.

> “I thank God whom I serve… I have been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice… For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God… Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord… but join with me in suffering for the gospel… This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel… What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

Paul is saying, “Timothy, I may die, but what can keep you is the gospel. Tighten your grip. Don’t fumble it. Don’t relax.”

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The Main Thing: The Gospel

Paul hammers home the charge with vivid verbs:

Keep it.

Hold it. Treasure it. Guard it.

What is “it”? The gospel—the good news of Jesus’ saving work.

The late John Stott once warned that “Christians and churches are in danger of letting the gospel drop from their hands altogether.” That danger is real.

Paul knew it and so, with dying breath, he restates the obvious. George Orwell, though not a Christian, once wrote, “We have now sunk to such a depth that the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” Paul is doing exactly that.

From his earliest letter (1 Thessalonians) to this final note to Timothy, the cross and resurrection remain the centerpiece of his life and theology. As Charles Spurgeon admitted, he himself “hammered at a single nail,” never assuming his congregation had sufficiently grasped the gospel. Neither should we.

Keeping the gospel is not a one-time decision; it is a daily discipline. Even Timothy—taught Scripture from childhood by Lois and Eunice, personally trained by Paul—needed to be told:

> “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead” (2 Timothy 2:8).

If Timothy needed the reminder, how much more do we?

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Four Daily Temptations that Loosen Our Grip

Paul unfolds four powerful realities that threaten to loosen our grasp of the gospel.

Let’s look at each and see how the good news of Jesus answers them.

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1. Forgetfulness

The first danger is forgetfulness.

We forget spiritual realities far more quickly than we imagine.

A 1998 article told of a skydiver whose parachute failed to open. He fell 3,000 feet—over a minute of free fall—and lived. The same article told of a man in Cairo who woke up alive on a morgue slab after twelve hours in a coma. Both stories illustrate our ability to forget the incredible. The author’s headline said it all: “How Soon We Forget.”

That is our spiritual tendency. Martin Luther said, “Each week I preach justification by faith alone because every week we forget.”

Paul presses Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ” (2:8). Not because Timothy was careless, but because the human memory is fickle.

Israel’s national epitaph could be written in three words: They soon forgot.

That’s why Jesus gave the Lord’s Supper—a fragrant forget-me-not—so we would never forget Christ crucified.

So the first reason to guard the gospel is simply this: every day we are tempted to forget it.