I wrote this sermon on 2 Timothy 4:7 for a preaching class at Bob Jones University.
Introduction. The story is told of a woman who was informed that she was very ill and would not live much longer. Educated in the ways of the world, she had lived a godless life. As she lay dying, surrounded by the friends with whom she had indulged in sin, she cried out, “Do not follow my example. Do not do as I have done. Do not indulge in the pleasures of the world! Oh, if I had only heeded the warnings.” Then came her last words: “I am lost, lost forever!” What a sad testimony of a wasted life. What a contrast to the apostle Paul, who approached the end of his life with great confidence—no fear of death, no sorrow over lost opportunity, no regret of past sin. What a difference between the woman who said, “Do not do as I have done,” and Paul, who said, “Imitate me.” How did Paul have such confidence in the face of death, and how can we? The answer is found in 2 Timothy 4:7 (read in the context of vv. 6–8): he could face death like this because he realized that you must compete well in order to complete well. Jonathan Edwards captured the same idea in his seventeenth resolution: “Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.” Paul lived every moment with eternity in mind. This passage gives three analogies for that life: the fight, the race, and the guarding of the faith.
I. We must fight the fight. Whether Paul has in view a soldier training for battle or an athlete preparing for the games, the image is the same: the Christian life is a struggle that takes preparation, disciplined training, and much effort.
1. We must be disciplined (1 Cor. 9:25). As an athlete must be temperate—self-disciplined—so must we. Discipline and self-control are essential to success. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team; he became what he was through hours upon hours of hard work and discipline. The same is true in the Christian life. Think of the godly men of the past—the apostles, Spurgeon, Edwards, Moody—all of whom lived disciplined lives. Many will spend hours a day to succeed athletically; how much effort and discipline are going into your pursuit of godliness?
2. We have God’s enabling (Col. 1:29). While Paul labored hard, he knew it was God working in him: “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). All the credit for his labor went to God, and he could count on God to enable him for everything to which he was called. We fight and labor and discipline ourselves because of God’s mighty working in us.
II. We must run the race. This is not a sprint but a long cross-country race over every kind of terrain—valleys and mountains, desert and swamp, dark places and beautiful ones.
1. We must run with perseverance (Heb. 12:1–3). The Christian life was never meant to be easy. We persevere because others have done it—the great “hall of faith” of chapter 11 proves it can be done. (David Brainerd, a missionary to the Indians, lived only twenty-nine years amid almost constant sickness, recurring depression, and hardship, yet was “consumed with a passion to finish his race and honor his Master.”) We persevere because God is sovereign—our race “is set before us,” perfectly planned, so that even a desert experience is part of His good plan. And we persevere because Christ is our example, who endured suffering greater than we ever could.
2. We must run with purpose (1 Cor. 9:24). We are not to jog aimlessly but to fix our eyes on the goal and run with everything we have—to finish (Acts 20:24; there is no glory in dropping out) and to win (Phil. 3:13–14; Paul would settle for nothing less than the prize).
III. We must keep the faith. Paul may have in view a guardian protecting the purity of the gospel, or an obedient soldier keeping his orders; both are true of his life.
1. We must protect the faith (Jude 3). The faith is the gospel and the sacred truth of Scripture, and since the time of Christ its purity has been under attack. Today things are worse. Men inside evangelicalism like Billy Graham are preaching another gospel. As the preachers and teachers of the next generation, we must earnestly contend for the faith and, like a soldier, defend the precious treasure of the gospel entrusted to our care.
2. We must persevere in the faith (2 Tim. 3:14). In his letters to Timothy, Paul repeatedly warns of those who have strayed from the faith while holding “a form of godliness.” Whatever you believe about the perseverance of the saints, you must admit that apostasy is real; there are far too many scriptural warnings to the visible body of Christ for us not to take them seriously. So we continue on in the faith.
Conclusion. We must fight the fight, disciplined by God’s enablement; we must run the race with perseverance and purpose; and we must keep the faith by protecting it and persevering in it. Paul could face death with confidence because he realized that you must compete well in order to complete well. Edwards resolved “to live with all my might, while I do live.” Who will you be like when you reach the end of your life—the woman who said, “Do not do as I have done,” or Paul, who could say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”?