_PREACH THE WORD!_ ‘I charge thee … before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead … preach the Word.’ 2 Timothy 4:1 You remember the context. St. Paul is near his last hour. He is dictating what is for us his dying letter, and he is close to that letter’s end. He i... [ Continue Reading ]
_A FOUR-FOLD CHARGE_ ‘Be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry.’ 2 Timothy 4:5 (R.V.) Here are four distinct thoughts. They are thoughts of St. Paul the friend of St. Luke. Each thought comes straight and warm from one of the largest hearts e... [ Continue Reading ]
_‘READY TO BE OFFERED’_ ‘I am now ready to be offered.’ 2 Timothy 4:6 How many of us can say this? Do we not often feel in a strait betwixt two? I. THINGS WHICH MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO SAY WITH ST. PAUL, ‘I am now ready to be offered.’ _ (a) The enjoyment of life_. _ (b) Attachment to friends_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_KEEPING THE FAITH_ ‘I have kept the faith.’ 2 Timothy 4:7 This was the satisfaction on which St. Paul’s mind rested when he contemplated the close of his earthly work. I. WHEN ST. PAUL SAID THAT HE HAD KEPT THE FAITH, HE EVIDENTLY BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS A FAITH TO KEEP.—We hear much about a Pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE LOVE OF CHRIST’S APPEARING_ ‘And not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.’ 2 Timothy 4:8 The ‘love of Christ’s appearing’ is not a simple idea, but one composed of many parts. I would separate four, which four at least go to make it. I. MANIFESTATION OF THE SAINTS.—T... [ Continue Reading ]
_LUKE THE EVANGELIST_ ‘Only Luke is with me.’ 2 Timothy 4:11 There is a pathos in the words which those who are much alone, or who have suffered the loss of friends, will not fail to appreciate, and as we think of St. Luke thus comforting the prisoner at Rome, has he no lesson to teach us? I. S... [ Continue Reading ]
_MARK_ ‘Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.’ 2 Timothy 4:11 Our text is one of the few personal references we find in the New Testament to the writer of the second Gospel. He was the son in the faith of St. Peter, and he was clearly a man of great spir... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE LORD’S PRESENCE_ ‘Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.’ 2 Timothy 4:17 In the terror of that time, when to be a Christian was to be at least, in public opinion, an atheist and an anarchist, none dared hold a brief for the leader of that abominated sect; St. Paul had to... [ Continue Reading ]