II Timothy 4:6-7
"For I am now ready to be offered, (that is his life) and the time of my departure (that is from this life) is at hand. (Here it comes.) I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"
What do you suppose he’s referring to? The boxing matches in the Olympics. That was always his illustration. "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course." Now what’s he talking about? The race. See? The course for the race. Whether it was a half-mile or quarter-mile, the training for a fit or whatever, it was a prescribed course that those runners followed. And Paul says, "I’ve run it." There is no short cut, no easy road, no easy gain it'll cost us all that's in this world even our natural life for the cross is our first goal, then our resurrection as from the dead. For its the purpose of the cross to bring about our willful separation from the influence of Satan and sin, not to mention the sting of death or the fear of it. For when we've properly applied it to our lives God sanctifies us, makes us Holy for His indwelling. We're to be receptive of His Grace activity (the perfecting of His character through the essence of Christ restored) to become the man of His intention, throughout our life here on earth. Where He begins our training and trials that perfect that training the working out of our salvation, if we faint or stall not. This is what Paul is here saying.
I have run the race, "I have finished my course, (I have gone the prescribed way that God laid out for me.) I have kept the faith." Now listen, go back with me to II Corinthians chapter 11, and in this passage, Paul isn’t bragging. This is what he did to defend his apostleship. This is what he went through constantly for almost 25 years for the sake of this Gospel. Well, the Lord will expect some of us to do the samething. All right, II Corinthians chapter 11 and I’ll just jump right in at verse 22. And remember, he’s defending his apostleship. Some were saying, "Well who are you? We’ll follow Peter or we’ll follow Christ." But you see this was his reply to them that said that, and questioned his Apostleship.
II Corinthians 11:22-23a
"Are they Hebrews? (speaking of the Twelve back there in Jerusalem) so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (now in parenthesis his humility comes in even though it’s inspired by the Holy Spirit. He said,) [I speak as a fool] (but here’s the truth of the matter. Compared to the Twelve he’s what?) I am more:…"
As far as I’m concerned, he’s more the minister of Christ than all Twelve put together, and here’s the reason.
II Corinthians 11:23b
"…in labours more abundant,"
Now we’ve got to know our book of Acts. What did he mean here when he said, "he had labors more abundant?" How much do you hear of the Twelve after you get past Acts chapters 2 or 3? Almost nothing with the exception of Peter, James and John. The other nine you hear nothing of. Why? They never left Jerusalem. All Twelve of them just stayed right there in Jerusalem, for the most part. They didn’t go out into the Roman world. They weren’t out under all the pressures and the afflictions of the Roman Empire. Hey, they stayed in Jerusalem. In spite of all the persecution that was upon those Hebrew-Christian believers, they all scattered except who? Except the apostles. They didn’t leave. They stayed in Jerusalem. But this man is out amongst the Roman Empire, and now look what happened.
II Corinthians 11:24
"Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one." (or the thirty-nine.) And listen, none of us can even have the foggiest notion of what a horrible experience it was to be beaten with those thirty-nine stripes. Most ordinary men couldn’t even survive one of these whippings, and he went through five of them. Imagine, with the whole torso from the belt up, front and back, was made like hamburger. With no antibiotics. Can you imagine what that body looked like by the time he died? Scar tissue on scar tissue on scar tissue. But that’s what he suffered for the sake of the true Gospel. But that’s only a part of it. Reading on.
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