Our text for this morning's message is taken from 2 Timothy chapter 4:1-5. We have come to the last chapter of 2 Timothy. Soon, this book will come to an end. By now, the Apostle Paul must have realised that he himself was already dying. He said this in verse six: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." These were the last words written by Paul, a chapter that was supposed to be his last final thoughts. You can imagine these words were filled with great emotions because soon Paul will be martyred. He was a man of faith. He was the one who said, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He was also the one who said, "I have fought a good fight of faith." So, this passage contains some very important words spoken by a faithful servant of God to his spiritual son Timothy, who was supposed to continue the work of the Ministry. I believe this passage is by far the most preached upon text at the ordinations of pastors and ministers as they assume their responsibilities and duties in the church. But this passage is not only for those who are called into full-time Ministry. It is for all of us who are believers. God wants all of us to know and understand the importance of this charge. The title of our message is "A Charge to Keep."
I. The Church Given Before God
There are three points in our message, and our first point is the Church Given Before God. Let us begin with verse one: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." The word "church" is a very strong word. It is to testify under oath. What is even more significant is in whose presence was this church given. You see, verse one has this picture of a court. In a typical court, you will always have the judge who sits at the top. Everything that is being discussed within that room is extremely vital because it is done in the presence of a judge. In a sense, Paul was telling Timothy that he was not testifying to him alone, but he was testifying in the presence of a judge. And who was this judge? He was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. Jesus said in John 5:22, "For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son." The Son of God would be the ultimate judge. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ; that everyone receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead. "Quick" means living. In other words, He shall judge the living and the dead. This is a reference to the Bema Seat judgment of all believers. We are not condemned because we have received salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, but as believers, we'll be judged for our works. And this judgment will take place when we are all raptured to meet our Lord Jesus. The Bible says, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, and those who are alive will be caught up to meet him in the air." So, we have this phrase "judge the living and the dead." Jesus, the Son of God who came in the flesh, lived a perfect life, suffered, died, was resurrected; He will ultimately be the judge of what Timothy had done, whether good or bad. He will be the judge of Timothy's life and ministry. Let us all be reminded that He will also be the judge of our lives and ministries. All of us, whether we are pastors, preachers, elders, deacons, parents, church members, regular worshippers, we must all stand and give an account before our Lord Jesus, who is the final judge. Do you remember the parable of the talents? Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who is traveling to a far country, and before he goes, he called his three servants. He gave the first servant five talents, the second servant two talents, and the third servant one talent. The first servant was faithful with what was given to him and he made five more talents. The second servant was also faithful with what was given to him; he made two more talents. But the third servant, who was given one talent, he went and hid that one talent. When the lord of the servants returned, he was very happy with the two servants who used their talents wisely, but he was very angry with the third servant who hid that one talent, and he was punished. Very often, the problem with the one-talent person is that he thinks that the one talent is so small, it is so insignificant, that it is good for nothing but to be buried. My friends, the point is not about how much we have been given, but rather how each and every one of us handles what we have been given. God has blessed us so abundantly. Take a moment and consider our lives. Take a moment and consider the opportunities He has given to us—the opportunities to teach, to evangelize, to minister to the lost, to serve and worship Him. He has blessed us so much, but how have we used our resources? How have we used our talents? One day, we must all stand before Him and give an account of all the things we have received, whether we used them for good or for our selfish means and reasons. God knows; He will deal with us. This church was given in the presence of God. It was an awesome responsibility. Timothy must realize that it was not the Apostle Paul who had saved him; it was not the Apostle Paul who had called him; it was God Himself. Very soon, the Apostle Paul would die and be taken home, but the ministry must continue, the preaching must continue, the worship must continue. Timothy must remember that his allegiance is not to a person; his allegiance is to none other than Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. Isn't it sad if our children will no longer attend church and serve the Lord anymore the moment we are taken home, the moment we draw our last breath, that very Sunday, they will stop coming to church? That would be most devastating. That is the reason why we must always remind our children, our faithfulness is not to daddy and mommy; it is not to the pastor. Our allegiance, faithfulness, accountability, responsibility is always to the Lord Himself. We want to be faithful to Him, and He knows everything about us. He will judge us accordingly. One day, He will judge us whether the things were done rightly or wrongly. He would deal with us. Those of us who have done well, we will receive rewards from Him. Praise be to God. Our second point is the Content of the Church. Verse two: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." Preach the word. Don't hear this and think it only applies to preachers and ordained ministers. This command is for you as well as for me. We hear "preach," and we often think of a sermon delivered during a worship service like this. But to preach the word simply means to proclaim the word, to declare the word, to tell others about the word. All Christians are called to preach the word. As believers, we have only one business in this world, and that is to tell others about Jesus, to preach Christ. If we truly believe that we are living in the last of the last days, our Lord Jesus, the Redeemer, is coming soon, all the more we have to be faithful in preaching the word. We have to be constant. I know of some Christians who will go out for street evangelism or even for short mission trips once in a while. Each time when they go out for evangelism or for mission trips, they will preach the word fervently, and when they come back, they will feel very good, thinking that they have done something for the Lord. Then they will be at rest; they will stop preaching the word until the next street evangelism or mission trip. That is not what the Bible commands us to do. We are commanded to be instant, which means to be constant, to be ready always, on standby. We must never have this time clock mentality, like those people who go to work, you know you have this punch card, and you punch the card. In other words, there are times whereby you are on the job for the kingdom of God, but at other times, you are mentally punched out for the job. We must never do that; we must throw away our punch cards. Here we are being told to be ready all the time. Whatever opportunity God gives to us, we must be ready. Let's say one day you call the pastor and say to him, "Pastor, my mom has passed away, and can you come and guide us with the word of God on what we should do?" Or, "My dad has just been admitted into the hospital; he's very depressed; can you come and encourage him with the word of God?" Or, "My wife and I have a disagreement on certain matters; we need biblical instructions." And then the pastor said to you, "Well, this is after office hours, and I don't work after office hours. Please call me from 8 to 5." That would be horrendous, right? God forbids. But it does not only apply to the pastor; it applies to every believer. Think about this: we will never know when our unbelieving loved ones will open their hearts to hear the gospel. We will never know when a church member will need to be comforted by the word of God. We will never know when our children will fall into sin and need our counsel. We will never know when our children will ask a question, a deep question pertaining to their salvation. That is why we must always be ready, always be on standby. It may come anytime, and we are ready for it. Today, we live in a world which is drowning in words. We turn on the radio, the television, the computer; we find words being written, spoken all the time, especially sad news, devastating news, whether it be news about the war between Russia and Ukraine, COVID-19 news, words, words, and words. Sometimes it is tempting to think what difference will our words make. Our words spoken in Christ can make a difference. Our word spoken in Christ can bring a sinner to eternal salvation. Our word spoken in Christ can bring hope to a lost soul. Our word spoken in Christ can turn a life around. Our word spoken in Christ can be very powerful. Not because of us; we are just instruments. It is because it is God's word. We must never overlook or play down on this command. Preach the word. God Himself said, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." A preaching ministry is not based on just our gifts, intellect, or personalities; essentially, it is the penetrating power of God's word. God's word is so powerful. A story was told of Charles Spurgeon, the preacher. One evening, Spurgeon was invited to preach in an auditorium. Early in the morning, he went into the auditorium; he presumed there was no one around. He stepped onto the pit; he wanted to test the auditorium in preparation for the evening's message. So, he spoke loudly, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." He was happy that everything went well, so he left and went home. Unknown to him, there were two men working on one corner of the auditorium; both were unbelievers. One of them was struck by the verse Spurgeon quoted, which was taken from John 1:29, and he wondered, "Who is this Lamb of God who is able to take away the sins of the world?" His heart was stirred; he could not rest the whole day; he came back to hear the evening message, and he became a believer that day. Such is the penetrating power of God's eternal word. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." To be instant means when the opportunity is good, to be out of season means the opposite when the opportunity is not there. What Paul was trying to say is we should preach the word whenever there's a good opportunity, but there were times whereby there could be hindrances and obstructions. Even then, we still ought to be ready. So whether the condition is good or bad, our responsibilities, our duties, are to be ready, to be instant in season and out of season. "In season" has the idea of a military god, always on duty, no holidays, no off days; he's driven; he is compelled; he's always ready. We can see this attitude characterized in the life of the Apostle Paul. Read through the epistles, for example, he says in Romans 1:15, "I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." He has preached at Ephesus, at Corinth, at Thessalonica, at Berea, all over the place, and he says, "I'm ready to preach to you even at Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." You see, there's always this constant readiness, no hesitation, no reluctance, always ready, always eager. What about us? Are we ready? Are we eager to tell others about Jesus Christ? Some common excuses why people are not ready is that, well, they cannot find time or it is inconvenient. Those excuses are unacceptable. Others will say, well, I'm not prepared or I'm unequipped. The Bible tells us, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Again, no excuse. The second part of verse two says, "Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." That's the difference between reprove and rebuke. To reprove someone is to expose his errors, to rebuke someone has to do with the conviction that he is guilty. So when you preach the word, you actually reveal the sinfulness of sin and then you reveal the sinfulness of the sinner. In a similar fashion, our Lord Jesus, this was how He preached against sin. So did John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, so must every faithful believer. It is our responsibility to reprove sin because sin violates God and His word. And then we rebuild the heart of the sinner, and by the grace of God, through the wonder-working of the Spirit, that heart may be convicted to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. But we must not just only reprove and rebuild; we also exalt. To exalt is to encourage; it is to call the sinner to restoration. And we must do that with great patience because people do not change overnight.
Think about this; it is a very difficult spiritual battle. You confront sin, you rebuild the sinner, and then you encourage the recovery. And you just cannot believe how long it takes. That is why the Bible tells us exalt with all long-suffering. And lastly, it is again back to doctrine because reprove, rebuild, exalt without teaching leaves the people with no understanding. They may know that they should not be doing this thing; they may know that this is the wrong thing to do. But they do not know what they should do next; they do not know where they should turn to. That is why we must teach, and we must teach the whole counsel of God's word, not just speak and choose what we want to teach. Preach through, God willing, the entire holy scriptures. Remember what we have learned in our previous message, Second Timothy 3:16: 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.'
Our final point is the urgency of the church. So firstly, the church given before God; secondly, the content plan of the church was to preach the word; and thirdly, there's a sense of urgency in the church. Look at verses 3 to 5. Allow me to read for you: 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.'
The time will come, surely it will come, when people will not listen to the truth. So preach while you can, preach when the congregation is still listening and they are responding. Preach when your children are still willing to listen because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; they will prefer to turn to strange doctrines which are contrary to the Christian faith. Take a moment and consider the society we are living in today; people are living in sin, immorality, and spiritual deception. When people are living in sin, they will not endure the sound doctrine you preach; there will always be resistance and often even persecutions. They do not like to hear you preach that homosexuality is a sin; to them, it is an alternative lifestyle. They do not like to hear drug addiction is a sin; it is a social disease. Adultery is a norm; everyone practices it. To them, they believe so; divorce is just a matter of personal preferences. So, they do not like to hear all these things that you preach.
It's interesting; the Bible added the phrase 'after their own lust.' Everyone of us is uniquely different. Even in our weaknesses, even in our sins, we are different. Different people are tempted differently, even in the things we like to hear. So, our sins, our lusts are different. Because of that, we want to hear different things; so, we choose preachers who will preach according to what we want them to preach. So instead of saying we want faithful preachers who will teach us to control our passions, we want preachers to preach in accordance to our lusts, in accordance to our itching ears. Several years ago, there was an elderly woman who professed to be a believer. One day, she got to know a man, and she wanted to live with that man. They did not want to get married; they just want to live together. So, I said to her, 'Please do not do that; that is wrong. That is not what the Bible teaches. If he's a believer, you are the believer; if it is God's will, then you should get married, prayerfully.' She refused to listen; she said to me something I will never forget. She said, 'I know this is what you're going to say; I know this is what Battle stands for; that is why I'm planning to go to another church.' I said to her, 'Is there another church that is agreeable to this lifestyle?' Apparently, there is, and she went there.
There will always be people who will compromise the truth; there will always be people who will tickle the ears of the people. They will say what you want to hear; they will accommodate your lifestyles. They will not teach you to control your passions, but they will go with your passions. There are those, as the Bible tells us, they will twist the word of God into fables, stories, myths, to suit those sinful lifestyles, to suit those itching ears. So, they will twist and turn; they are just like the story of the little boy. I think I've used this illustration several times; allow me to do so again. This little boy came back from school after Sunday school. Mother asked him, 'What did your teacher teach you at Sunday school?' The boy said, 'Our teacher taught us the story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.' The mother said, 'Well, that's good; tell me what you have learned.' The little boy said, 'While Moses and the Israelites were being chased by the Egyptians, they ran all the way until they reached the Red Sea. In front of Moses was the Red Sea; behind him were the Egyptians. Moses cried out to God for help, and God sent the army to build a bridge across the Red Sea, and Moses and the Israelites quickly hurried across the bridge to the other side. Then, God sent the helicopters and fighter jets to destroy all the Egyptians.' The mother was shocked and horrified. 'Is that what your teacher taught you at Sunday school?' The boy replied, 'No, but would you believe me if I told you what my teacher taught me at Sunday school?'
That is an illustration of what some of these false teachers would do. They have no qualms twisting, turning the word of God into fables and stories and say things the Bible did not say. Under the influence of these ungodly men, the people would turn from the truth to stories, to fables. The Bible is nothing but just a bunch of stories, and they will continue down the slope to doctrinal departure. We are living in such times; it is so sad to see the spirit of this deception prevailing in this world. Surely, you are sent disappointed, discouraged, but we must remain faithful to the church that God has given to us. To remain faithful, four things for us to remember, and this was how Paul ended this section
. Four things, look at verse 5: First, 'But watch thou in all things.' The word watch means be sober, be someone who has self-control. The servant of God must control his passions; he must be sober in every aspect of his life, whether it be family, work, personal life; he must be alert. Think about a soldier; a soldier cannot fight well when his senses are blurred, right? Likewise, a believer cannot serve the Lord well, cannot fight a good fight of faith when his spiritual senses are blurred by sins and compromises. First Peter 5:8 says, 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.'
The devil is like a lion, watching over all of us, without exception, including the little ones in the Sunday school, and he's waiting to devour anyone who is not sober, who is not vigilant. Secondly, 'Endure afflictions.' One way or another, the believer who is watchful in all things, faithfully serving the Lord, doing the things of God, will inevitably face afflictions. There will always be afflictions; in fact, the more faithful you are, the more afflictions you will face. I think it was John Wesley who said every time when he preached a sermon and if no one threw stones at him, he was afraid that he was not doing the right thing because he knew in his heart that if he did the right thing, there would be afflictions. It does not mean that we love trouble, but we must be prepared to face trouble; we must be prepared to endure afflictions.
Thirdly, 'Do the work of an evangelist.' Notice Paul did not say be an evangelist, but he said do the work of an evangelist. Paul has sent Timothy to be the pastor of the Ephesian church, but evangelism remains the cutting edge of his life and ministry. In fact, evangelism would always be our cutting edge in our lives and ministries too because what is most important is it not the salvation of souls? Most certainly, so our first and foremost thinking must always be evangelism. The fact that Paul says do the work indicates that it is not easy; evangelism is never easy. But it is impossible for us to follow Jesus Christ without being fishers of men. Do you realize that Jesus sent His disciples out for the Great Commission? Those who are saved and received salvation so rich and free, they cannot help it but to be fishers of men.
Whenever we read our prayer list, our prayer meeting has a long list, and then you see this prayer items regarding the salvation of our loved ones, our grandparents, our parents, our children, our friends, our colleagues, all listed there. Why? Because we all know that nothing is more precious than eternal salvation. But the problem is that we can ask people to pray; we ourselves may also pray, but we do not do the work of evangelism. We forget to evangelize; we do not share with our unbelieving loved ones the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of us must do the work of an evangelist; it must be the cutting edge of our lives and ministries. Lastly, 'Make full proof of thy ministry.' In other words, fulfill your God-given ministry. As we have said in the past, it is one thing to end our lives; it is another thing to finish it.
For some people, their lives will come to an end, and their lives have ended, but not finished because they have always lived their lives only for themselves, pursuing their own dreams, aspirations, ambitions, fulfilling their retirement plans, building up their homes, playing with their children, grandchildren, going for holidays. Well, all these things are not sinful in and of themselves, but they have done nothing for the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they are lying on their deathbeds, do you think they can say, 'I have fought a good fight of faith?' No, never because there was never any fight at all. God forbid that we will live such a life. My friends, if we are true believers, we have a God-given ministry; we have a God-given responsibility.
The word ministry is from where we get the English word for deacons. Remember, deacons are people who serve tables; they are people who serve in specific ministries. God, in His appointment, has designed certain ministries for certain people. Think about how you and I are saved; the Holy Spirit indwells in us, blesses us with spiritual gifts. All believers have spiritual gifts, at least one; some have multiple spiritual gifts. And then God would place us in a local church. For what purpose? That we may exercise our spiritual gifts, whether it be one or many, to glorify Him. Some of us have five talents, others have two talents, yet others have only one talent. But remember, never bury your talents.
If the Lord were to take you home tonight, ask yourself this question: Have I made full proof of my ministry? Have I fulfilled my God-given ministry? Am I able to say, I have fought a good fight of faith? If not, your life may have just come to an end; you have not finished. All of us have a church to keep. This church is given in the presence of God. The content of this church is to preach the word, tell others about Jesus Christ, to be instant in season and out of season, to reprove, rebuild, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. And the urgency of this church is that the time will come when people will not want to hear; people will not endure sound doctrine.
So preach, teach while you can, be watchful, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of your ministry. So when the Lord calls you home, you can say with all your hearts, with all your souls, with full understanding and convictions, 'I have truly fought a good fight of faith. I have made full proof of my God-given ministries, all to the glory of the almighty God.'
Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for Thy word. Indeed, we need to be instructed by day, not just on the Lord's day service, every day of our lives. We need Thy word; teach us. We are living in the last of the last days; Jesus our Redeemer is coming soon, and we want to see Him face to face. And we know that He is the ultimate judge. For thou hast said in thy word, thou hast reminded us yet again that our Lord Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead. Oh Lord, if our Lord Jesus will to come tonight, we be caught up to meet Him in the air; we want to be faithful.
Today, even if our Lord wills in His return and death will knock on our doors, we want to live our lives to the very end to be faithful until thou wilt call us home. For we want to be faithful to Thee, likewise; so teach us. It is not by chance nor coincidences that we are put into a church like this; this is a local church, and thou hast a purpose to put us here. And thou hast blessed us with spiritual gifts; help us to exercise our gifts, help us to remember the church that was given
so solemnly, and help us to always tell others about Jesus Christ. To be ready to share the gospel, whatever be the circumstances; we will be bold and courageous.
We will be watchful; we will be willing to endure afflictions. We'll be focused on evangelism because it is the most precious thing to be saved, and we will make full proof of our ministries, our lives. Help us to keep this church that thou hast given to us. We give thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen."