2 Timothy 4:7
~16 min read
TRANSCRIPT
2 Timothy is the last epistle, the last letter, the last words of Apostle Paul before he was beheaded. But how long did it take to reach Timothy for this epistle? We do not know. It could be days, it could be weeks, it could be months. But with the last words, usually it is very important.
So as we consider 2 Timothy 4:7, as we have considered verse 6 on the Lord's Day - ‘How We Are To Prepare To Die.’ And so, in verse 7, we are to ‘Fight A Good Fight’. And this is total part of how we ought to finish well. To finish well is to be prepared to die.
But you're not prepared to die unless you have prepared to live. And so, what kind of a life have we lived? It must be a life that is for the Lord. And so the life for the Lord is a fight which we all have to take up. The moment we enter into the new day, it is a spiritual battle. It's a battle to fight. So in verse 7, Apostle Paul focused on how to finish well by fighting a good fight.
The Christian life is not an easy life. It is often described in the Bible as a battle, a race, and also a struggle. And so when Apostle Paul reflected on his life near the end of his ministry, he did not speak about comfort. He did not speak about the great success or how many churches he has founded, how many believers he has led to Christ. But he focused on how he had been faithful.
Now faithfulness is ascribed to God. We can say God is faithful because God is faithful. He is God. Even before we see anything by faith, we know He is faithful, and that is God. But as for you and me, can we be called faithful? Maybe not yet. Because we have not been proven. So our faithfulness is yet to be seen. And until it is seen, then we can be called faithful. And even then, it is only for that moment, okay, because we still have to continue. So will we be faithful all the way to the end? That is to be seen.
I. The Fight For Truth
And so over here in verse 7, Paul says, "I have fought a good fight." Well, the Greek word for fought is where we get the English word agonise. We know what it means to agonise, to struggle, and usually it involves pain, a lot of effort, a lot of discipline, a lot of perseverance. So that's why we have to make it clear the Christian life is not an easy life. Let no man, whether pastor or elder or deacon or spiritual leader, tell you, ‘Come and believe. God will take away all your trouble, there will be no more struggles’, or that will be a big lie. That will be a great deception.
And so when we come to embrace the faith, welcome to the battle of faith. That means we have to put on the armour of God and fight, not for show, not to look nice, not to look strong, but you have to be engaged in spiritual battle.
Of course, in Australia, going to the army is not compulsory. So for me, in Singapore, every male born in Singapore, we are obligated. Only the male is obligated to give to the government our two years to be soldiers. Soldiers under the Singapore flag. We wear the uniform, and we will be trained to defend and to protect Singapore. For two years of our life, we have to go through training, and the training will be difficult, covering almost every aspect: the mental, the physical, the emotional, every aspect except spiritual.
The world will not be able to deal with anything that is spiritual. But for us who are believers, we know we are able to understand why we go forth to protect our country, and it's all because we are also engaged in the warfare. In fact, for the Singapore army, you have to be well trained. They train you in every aspect, whether navy, army, or air force, all around, because Singapore is a very small island. So they need to protect the people. But only two years, and of course after that, every year you have to go for training again until the age of 45. Then they will discharge you. So if Singapore goes to war, as far as you are discharged, you will not be called.
But for us who are believers, whether male or female, young or old, you don't wait to reach 18 to fight the spiritual warfare. And even after you retire, maybe 65, 70, 75, you're still in the warfare. You still have to fight. And we fight until we breathe our last. Male and female. So females are not exempted.
So we all have to fight the spiritual warfare, and so over here it is full of the language of war. It is not about violence. It's not about anything that we try to fight for the sake of fighting. No, there is a cause because we are living in this world. We are not of the world. We are living in this world. And so we have to fight a good fight of faith. So the Christian will face enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. And this enemy will constantly attempt to weaken our faith, okay, and to draw us away from God.
And so Apostle Paul experienced this warfare throughout his life and ministry. I'm sure we have experienced that as well, from the top to the last member of Bethel BP Church. All of us, all of us have our battle to fight. In fact, maybe just a thought in our mind, maybe a temptation comes by that easily causes us to fall into temptation just by the thought. We have to fight. We have to fight to keep that thought away, and we have to fight to help ourselves remain faithful unto God. Okay. So let us fight.
And then the word good. It is not just a fight. Paul says, "I have fought a good fight." And this word good means honourable, worthy. So it is an honourable fight, a worthy fight. Why? When you compare all other fights, maybe you're fighting for promotion, maybe you're fighting for the last drumstick on the table. All these are meaningless.
You're fighting for a place, maybe in school, fighting for something in your life. But for our Christian faith, no. When we fight, we're fighting for the Lord. You are in the Lord's army, and there's a cause. The cause is to be faithful to the end. It is the greatest meaningful fight of our life. And why? Because we are defending something that is precious, valuable, the fight for truth.
And we have probably experienced how false teachings can easily stumble us, can easily shake our faith. How errors have split the church, caused once-professing believers to fall away because they are not firm on the foundation of God's Word. So very easily any falsehood, any error that comes by, if of course, it is also a good way to test our faith, whether we are true or false.
So we need to examine ourselves. We need to know that all this will come. When it comes, you will not be caught unprepared. During the Reformation, Martin Luther stood against all the corruption and the false teaching of the church. So when pressured, not by the pope, by the emperor, but by all the leaders, all those powerful leaders, all he said when he stood before them was, ‘Here I stand. I can do no other.’ Martin Luther understood the truth that he was defending and that he was fighting. And it is a good fight, and he's willing to give up his life for the fight.
Well, maybe we may not be in the same position as Martin Luther, having that kind of opposition, but every day we are faced with all kinds of struggles, the weakness of our flesh. We have people who are placed by God in our lives, and our faith is being challenged. So all these are good ways to help us always look up to God, knowing that we have this fight to fight.
II. Running The Course
Well, remember how Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife again and again. The temptation that Potiphar's wife brought to Joseph was not just once, but again and again. But then what did Joseph say? "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9)
Like Joseph, we must also fight. We must continue to fight. There will always be temptation that comes. So a race, as we compare our life, or the spiritual fight, is also a race, isn't it? So that's why Paul says, "I have finished my course." (2 Timothy 4:7). The goal is to finish it faithfully.
So every runner, as they begin, they won't halfway through go somewhere else. They want to finish the race. Whether it be first, second, third, they just do their best. They just run. They want to finish the race. He did not say, ‘I have finished someone else's course.’ He finished his own course.
So, in other words, we all have our own course to fight or to run, to finish. A lot of times I wish I could run the race on behalf of my children. Because I know how to run, but they don't. So a lot of times we struggle, isn't it? Parents and children, we all struggle. But I have to admit the fact that they have to run the race because it is their course.
God has designed and customised the course for them. I cannot run it on their behalf. Just as no one can run my course for me, I have to run my own course. And so, to be able to say, ‘I've finished my course,’ it's not something so easy because there are so many who did not finish their course. They gave up. They threw in the towel. They're not going to continue the race.
So for us who have understood what we are, what we have been called, we are called to fight a good fight. We have started the race. The moment we put our trust in our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, we have started a race.
And this race is most interesting because every runner probably had to train day and night for weeks, months, and probably even years just for that competition. But for us, our race has already started. It's not as if we are training now for the race to come. No, the race has already started. And we are training as we are running. And we are running as we are training, receiving the training.
That's why it's most unique. Most unique because, as a runner, we have to make sure that there's nothing that holds us back. A good runner will know the clothing will be as light as possible. You make sure that you are not carrying anything heavy that will hold you back or slow you down because we want to run for the Lord. We want to finish the course well and faithfully.
So God has appointed a course for every one of us. So God knows what He is doing, and so our course will not be the same as others. Every one of us will have a different course. So there's no need to compare.
But the uniqueness is we can help one another. We can strengthen one another, how we can encourage and support one another. And to finish well is not looking to who finishes first or who finishes last. So it's not about first or positions, who will end or who will finish the race first. It is about finishing well.
You may finish the race first. It doesn't matter. What matters is whether you finish the race well, whether you finish the race faithfully. We can liken the course as our life. When we finish our course, that means our mission is done. So the Lord calls us home. Our mission is done. So the Lord will call us home. Our mission on earth is completed. Well, that's why the Lord on the cross, how He has finished the work of redemption. "It is finished:" (John 19:30), not, ‘He is finished.’
Sometimes we like to say, ‘Oh, I'm done. I'm finished,’ in a very bad sense because maybe we have done something wrong or I've destroyed myself. No, we finish the course. We end well for Jesus' sake.
Now Paul says in Philippians 3:13–14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
So that's how he looked at his own course, his own way. There will be a lot of distraction, but you need to focus so that you will be able to finish your course. There will be obstacles. There will be troubles, really tough. That's why when the runners run, they will show the kind of face, when you see the way they run. Wow. You know, agonised, isn't it? Now their expression is not the happy expression or the relaxed expression. No. It's, wow, it's a very intense, great struggle.
Now that's how we must run because our Christian race is not going to be easy. There will be obstacles in front of us, and we have to overcome them. And even at times we may fall, and we have to get up and continue to run. So let us be like Apostle Paul. He says with great confidence, "I have finished my course." (2 Timothy 4:7)
III. Guarding The Faith
The Christian life is not only a race to be finished, a battle to be fought. It is also a faith to be guarded. So Paul says, "I have kept the faith." And that is Paul's concern, isn't it? Remaining faithful to the Lord all the way to the end because the Lord is the One who gave him the faith, the precious faith. How many times we started the race? Wow. Because when we started the race, we were full of energy, full of excitement.
But then as we run, when we fall, when we perhaps see how other runners run, we may get affected. And then as we run, because it is sometimes not a sprint, it is a marathon, or it's a long journey, we may get tired. We may feel lethargic or we may feel burnout. We may feel something that tries to extinguish the fire.
But Paul remained steadfast, and the word kept carries the idea of guarding. Although we need to guard the faith, we need to protect the faith. Now the faith Paul refers to is not merely his own personal belief. It's the body of truth according to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jude calls it, "That ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 1:3) The same faith.
So the Christian faith is a sacred trust given by God. So we are responsible for how to guard this faith. It's a precious faith. Not that you will lose your salvation. Because if you truly possess the faith, this faith will lead you to Christ, all the way until you see Him face to face. So you will not lose your salvation, but your faith may be injured because you have failed to protect it. Although we have to do our part, that's why we need strengthening of the faith. We need building up of the faith as well so that we can be a blessing. Well, if we take our faith for granted, how can a wounded faith be a blessing to others? You can't. It'll be a weak faith. Yes, a weak faith is still faith, isn't it? You will not lose your salvation.
What is in your life that impacts others? We are here to give. We thank God for those who have given. When the youth have their YPG camp so that they can have their meals, they give. They give, they cook, they prepare. All these are hard work. Well, would they say, ‘I'm cooking’? No. They don't announce it. Everybody knows. No, I believe they did it all. No, they are happy to do it. And why do they want to do it? Because of their faith. They have the faith. ‘I want the children to enjoy the camp so that they can study God's Word. They will build up in their faith. So I am doing all that I can do so that they can be built up in their faith through God's Word.’
So we are here to help one another. So when Paul says, "I have kept the faith," how many believers had he helped? And he himself must be strong. If he is not strong, how can he help others? So when you say, ‘I've kept the faith,’ what a great encouragement to all who receive this epistle. Now, of course, not only to Timothy.
Even now this epistle is to us, and we are encouraged when Paul himself has kept the faith. Now there are also bad examples or sad examples. Those who have left the faith. And those who left the faith can only mean that they did not possess the faith in the first place. But we will not know until the end, isn't it?
The example is Demas, even in 2 Timothy 4:10, Apostle Paul writes, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;" Demas had left Paul. But what does it mean? It doesn't mean that he left Paul but remained in the faith. No. He left Paul, meaning to say also that he had left the faith. Why did he leave Paul? Because he no longer believed. He loved this present world. He doesn't want to continue in the gospel ministry. It means to him he himself is not saved. It's going to be a great struggle.
Imagine when you are hearing Apostle Paul preaching the gospel day and night, and then you yourself are following him but not believing. You will be a vexation of spirit. Why? Because you are also called to believe. You are also called to receive this faith.
But you refuse because, as 2 Timothy 4:10 says, "having loved this present world." So that kept him out. He doesn't want the faith. But everyone who looked at Paul, seeing Demas also with Paul, they would think that Demas was also with him, having the same faith. But it's only proven when he left Paul. It is actually that he never possessed the true faith in the beginning, in the first place.
And so we need to stand firm. We need to make sure that we have this faith from God. Sometimes we may have to stand alone, like Daniel stood alone for his faith. Not all the time were his three friends with him. In fact, many times he had to stand alone.
Well, in church history, in the 4th century, there is a Christian leader called Athanasius of Alexandria. Maybe you know him. He defended the doctrine of Christ's divinity in his time. At one point he stood almost alone. Not against the whole world. No, the whole world under the powerful leaders denied Christ's deity. And so it was so well known that they said, ‘Athanasius against the world.’ He's just one man. One man.
If we were to put ourselves in his shoes, probably you will say, ‘Why rock the boat? The whole world is going this direction. What can one man do, isn't it?’ But no. He stood because of his faith. He stood firm alone.
Of course, we believe God is with him. And do you know what Athanasius? We probably may not hear of him very much, but we know John Calvin. John Calvin was influenced by Athanasius. And through John Calvin, well, we received the Calvinic doctrine, not especially on the nature of Christ.
Christ is 100% God and 100% man. Fully God, fully man in one person. And this is fundamental. This is our doctrine. Can you imagine without Athanasius? Of course, God can raise someone, but God chose Athanasius to stand alone. And then how he influenced John Calvin. Now the world may change. The challenges may be different from time to time. But we need to keep our faith all the way to the end. We do not know what will happen tomorrow.
What will happen to Bethel BP Church? Will there be another challenge, another struggle that God will put in Bethel BP Church? It doesn't matter because I want to keep my faith all the way to the end. To finish well is to fight a good fight, to finish our course, and to keep our faith. So may God help us to finish our race, our Christian journey on earth, and be found faithful when we meet our Saviour face to face. Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word. How Thou hast given us the precious faith that indeed by grace through faith we have come to know the Saviour and what He has done to save us from our sins, and all by Thy grace and mercy.
We do not deserve anything good because we are all sinners who are undone, condemned, and how we have rebelled against Thee. But Thou hast loved us with Thy everlasting love. And may Thou help us to fight a good fight of faith, that we may finish our course and to keep the faith all the way to the end. Help us, O Lord, to remember Thy Word in our heart, that we might not sin against Thee, and to do Thy will faithfully, happily, willingly, to the glory of Thy name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
THE BOOK OF 2 TIMOTHYEncouraging the Spiritual SonEncouraging the Spiritual Son2 Timothy 1:1-5
Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 1)Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 1)2 Timothy 1:6-7
Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 2)Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 2)2 Timothy 1:8-12
Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 3)Not Ashamed of Christ (Part 3)2 Timothy 1:13-18
What Would You Want to Be in the New Year?What Would You Want to Be in the New Year?2 Timothy 2:1-7
Message 6: The Church & Disciple-makersMessage 6: The Church & Disciple-makers2 Timothy 2:2
Remember The ResurrectionRemember The Resurrection2 Timothy 2:8
Our Motivation for Serving SacrificiallyOur Motivation for Serving Sacrificially2 Timothy 2:8-13
The Importance of Bible StudyThe Importance of Bible Study2 Timothy 2:15
An Honourable Vessel Fit For The Master's Use (Part 2)An Honourable Vessel Fit For The Master's Use (Part 2)2 Timothy 2:20-22
An Honourable Vessel Fit for the Master's Use (Part 1)An Honourable Vessel Fit for the Master's Use (Part 1)2 Timothy 2:20-22
The Danger of Self LoveThe Danger of Self Love2 Timothy 3:1-4
Be Strong and CourageousBe Strong and Courageous2 Timothy 3:7
The Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - Godly ExampleThe Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - Godly Example2 Timothy 3:10
The Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - Godly ConvictionThe Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - Godly Conviction2 Timothy 3:11-15
Knowing Our Precious BibleKnowing Our Precious Bible2 Timothy 3:15-17
The Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - God’s WordThe Christian’s Defence Against Apostasy - God’s Word2 Timothy 3:16-17
A Charge to KeepA Charge to Keep2 Timothy 4:1-5
Message 8: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Always be Ready to Preach and Teach God’s WordMessage 8: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Always be Ready to Preach and Teach God’s Word2 Timothy 4:2
Prepared To DiePrepared To Die2 Timothy 4:6
Live as I Have LivedLive as I Have Lived2 Timothy 4:6-8
Fought A Good FightFought A Good Fight2 Timothy 4:7
Receiving The CrownReceiving The Crown2 Timothy 4:8
Are you Faithful or Unfaithful?Are you Faithful or Unfaithful?2 Timothy 4:9-11
Are you Faithful or Unfaithful? (Part 2)Are you Faithful or Unfaithful? (Part 2)2 Timothy 4:12-16
Notwithstanding the Lord Stood with MeNotwithstanding the Lord Stood with Me2 Timothy 4:17-22
