Latest / Reformed Thinking / A Last Look-Out (2 Timothy 4:6) | Charles Spurgeon

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A Last Look-Out (2 Timothy 4:6) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine sitting in a damp, freezing cell in Rome.
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Yeah, we're talking about a literal hole in the ground.
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Right. A dungeon.
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And you know with absolute certainty that an executioner is
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coming for you. The trial is over.
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The verdict is in. The sword is sharpened.
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Yeah, the sword is sharpened and most of us would be begging for
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our lives, or at least, you know, completely paralyzed by
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the sheer terror of what is about to happen.
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Absolutely. But the Apostle Paul, he is
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using his final hours to worry about staffing issues at a
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church hundreds of miles away. It's wild.
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It is how does a man facing a Roman execution completely
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bypass the dread of his own death?
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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into a single source, Charles Spurgeon's sermon A Last
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Lookout, which is based on Second Timothy 4.6.
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A phenomenal text. Yeah, we are extracting the
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wisdom from this text regarding how we view the end of our
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earthly lives and how that specific viewpoint alters the
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way we live, You know, on a normal Tuesday morning.
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To really grasp the weight of what Spurgeon is doing with this
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text, you have to place yourself in that Mamertine prison with
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Paul, right? He is writing his final letter.
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He is not under any illusions about appealing to Caesar again.
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The end is quite literally staring him in the face.
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He knows it's over. He does.
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Yet when you read Scutimothy, you don't see a man frantically
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trying to cement his personal legacy or, I don't know,
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complaining about the you see a man obsessed with the
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continuation of the gospel. He wants Timothy to be strong in
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faith, to have dauntless courage, and to wield the sword
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of the Spirit when Paul's own physical hand is soon to be well
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palsied in death. OK, let's unpack this.
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Yeah, because what Paul is doing here breaks every rule of human
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psychology. It really does.
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I mean, when you or I face something even mildly
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distressing, say a bad flu or a minor outpatient surgery, our
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universe shrinks rapidly. We pull all our focus inward.
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We think about our physical comfort, our pain levels.
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Who is bringing us soup? Our world becomes the size of
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our bed. Yes, but Paul is facing
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decapitation and his universe is expanding.
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His primary anxiety is for the church in Ephesus, the
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preservation of the truth, finding a capable successor.
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It feels like he has completely detached his ego from his own
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survival. That detachment is the core
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tension, Spurgeon points out. I mean, men show us what lies at
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the bottom of their hearts when they come to die.
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The facade drops. Spot on.
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The facade drops completely for Paul.
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The ruling passion is strong in death.
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He is entirely consumed with the advancement of the Gospel, and
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the secret to how he achieves this psychological state lies in
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a specific phrase he uses in verse 6 and how it translates
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from the original Greek. OK, wait on me.
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So in our standard English translations, Paul says I am now
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ready to be offered. Right.
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And when I hear ready to be offered, I immediately picture a
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massive dramatic scene. Like what?
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By picture Paul seeing himself as a martyr, standing like a
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massive Bullock ready to be laid on a grandstone altar.
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It sounds like he views his upcoming death by the sword as
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this colossal central sacrifice to God.
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That's a very common reading. But my understanding is that the
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Greek text paints a completely different picture.
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It changes the entire tone of his mindset.
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Paul does not liken himself to the primary offering.
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He likens himself to the drink offering.
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The drink offering. Yeah, any Jewish Raider in the
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1st century would know the Levitical sacrificial system
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backward and forward. When a burnt sacrifice was
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presented at the temple, the Bullock or the lamb was the main
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event. That was the blood sacrifice
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required for a tournament. Right.
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But sometimes a small supplement was added.
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A priest would take a little oil and a little wine and pour it
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onto the altar over the Bullock. This was the drink offering
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detailed back in the 15th chapter of Numbers.
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So just a splash of wine. Just a splash.
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Paul does not venture to call his martyrdom the main offering.
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Christ is the offering. Christ is the spotless lamb on
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the altar. Wow, all views his entire life
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of suffering, his shipwrecks, his beatings and his impending
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beheading as only that little splash of line poured out.
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As a supplement, it is an addendum of thankfulness, the
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distinction. There changes everything about
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how we process our own lives. Well, if I view my life, my
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career or my spiritual output as the main sacrifice, the pressure
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is crushing. I have to be the unblemished
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Billick. I have to justify my own
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existence through my works, my legacy, or my morality.
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But if Christ is already the perfect complete sacrifice, then
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my life is just the thankful pouring out of a little wine it.
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Takes the weight off. It removes the pressure of being
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the center of the universe. You are not the main event, you
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are just the grateful response to the main event.
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And that realization eliminates the inward focus you mentioned
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earlier. Paul is not trying to generate
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the main sacrifice in that Roman prison.
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That space belongs exclusively to the Son of God.
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Amen. Viewing his life as a mere there
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as a simple supplement removes the terrifying burden of self
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justification. It brings immense freedom.
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He rejoices when he can say he is ready to be presented as a
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drink offering. Because it's a privilege.
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Right. He is more than willing that his
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blood should be poured on the very altar where his Lord and
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Master was the great burnt offering.
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He sees it as an honor, not a tragedy.
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If you are listening to this right now, look at your own
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calendar for this week. Look at your anxieties.
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That's a good exercise. Are you living under the
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crushing weight of trying to be the main sacrifice?
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Are you burning yourself out trying to earn your own
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salvation or build a flawless, indestructible legacy so people
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remember your name? We all.
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Fall into that trap. Or are you content being the
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thankful drink offering poured out in quiet gratitude because
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the heavy lifting of atonement has already been finished by
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Christ? That's the question.
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Getting that right alters how you view your daily work, your
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stresses, and eventually your own passing from this world.
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It leads directly into the vocabulary Paul uses for death,
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which Spurgeon highlights brilliantly.
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Because Paul sees himself as a drink offering, he doesn't speak
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of death with the terror common to his contemporaries.
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He doesn't use the gothic imagery.
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No, not at all. Spurgeon contrasts Paul's calm
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demeanor with the gloomy poetry of writers who depict death as a
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chilling blight or a violent rushing forth.
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Like being hurled into the void. Yeah, they describe it as
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hurling one's soul untimely to the shades, or a soul taking
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wing in a swollen, convulsive motion.
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Paul rejects all those terrifying images.
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He uses the word departure. The phrase is the time of my
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departure is at hand in modern English.
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When I hear the word departure, I think of an airport terminal.
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Sure. Like checking a screen?
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Yeah. You look at the monitor, your
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flight is listed, it is on time, and you walk to the gate.
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It implies a scheduled orderly exit to a specific known
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destination. It is the absolute opposite of
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being hurled into the void. The 1st century context is even
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more vivid. The nautical imagery behind that
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specific Greek word for departure signifies pulling up
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the anchor. Pulling up the anchor.
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Yeah, it means losing the moorings and setting sail from
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the harbor. Paul feels like a ship that has
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been lying at the dock for a while, taking on cargo,
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weathering some local storms. But now he knows the time for
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cutting the cable has arrived. He's ready to launch.
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He will soon be launched upon his true voyage.
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What's fascinating here is that he's not staring at the
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Executioner sword, he is looking at the result of the sword.
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He is looking past it. Yes, he is looking at arriving
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at the Port of Peace in the better country where his Lord
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has gone before him. I love the sensory details of
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that image. You were sitting at the dock.
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The thick ropes are pulled tight around the wooden cleats.
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You can almost hear it creaking. The ship is heavily secured to
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the land, bobbing slightly in the water, but then the harbour
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master gives the order. The ropes are cut, the sails
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catch the wind and you drift out into the open water.
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It is peaceful. It is deliberate.
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And Spurgeon uses some fascinating historical parallels
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to illustrate the courage required for sailing, doesn't
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he? He does.
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He brings up the famous Portuguese captain Bartolome
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Dais, who first sailed past the treacherous Cape of Storms.
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A brutal stretch of water. It was a venturous, highly
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dangerous undertaking. Nobody knew if a ship could
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survive those waters, but once he rounded it successfully, he
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renamed it the Cape of Good Hope.
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I didn't know that origin story. That's great.
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Spurgeon also mentions Columbus crossing the unnavigated
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Atlantic in search of the New World.
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Those men possessed incredibly brave spirits because they were
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heading into the absolute unknown.
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They had no maps for where they were going.
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They were staring over the edge of the world.
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But the believer is not Columbus.
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No, we aren't. That is the critical difference.
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You are not crossing an unknown ocean.
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Your route is incredibly well traveled.
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Christ sailed those exact waters first.
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He charted the course and. Thousands upon thousands of
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Saints have sailed that exact route since, Spurgeon says.
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The Atlantic that severs us from Canaan is white with the sails
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of the vessels that are on their way there.
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I love that visual. You are not sailing into
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uncharted waters hoping you don't hit an unseen iceberg or a
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hidden reef. Yeah, the route is entirely
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clear and the arrival is guaranteed by the one who
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commands the wind and the waves. We hear good news of their
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arrival constantly through the Scriptures.
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There are no mists, no countercurrents, and no
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quicksands on this route that can sink a soul secured by
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Christ. You just cut your moorings.
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You cut the moorings and with the Holy Spirit as your pilot,
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you reach your desired haven. Recognizing the route is well
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traveled takes the terror out of the passage and this perspective
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shifts our view of the dock. We are leaving the earth, yes.
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Spurgeon spends considerable time discussing the nature of
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the earth we currently inhabit, making a rather startling point
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that human life is intentionally shortened as a mercy from God.
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OK, that concept caught me completely off guard.
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It goes against everything we hear today.
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Our entire modern culture is obsessed with longevity.
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We spend billions of dollars on healthcare, biohacking,
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specialized diets, elaborate exercise routines, trying to
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extend our lives as much as possible.
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We view aging as a disease to be.
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Right and death is the ultimate enemy to be delayed at all costs
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but spurgeon looks at our 70 or 80 year lifespan, compares it to
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the early figures in genesis, and calls our rapid physical
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decline a Divine Mercy the. Theological logic here is
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airtight if you look at human history.
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Spurgeon points out that men used to live 8 or 900 years like
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the antediluvian fathers before the flood.
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Like Methuselah. Right, but the length of human
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life then led to unimaginable greatness of sin.
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Monstrosities of evil were ripened through the long
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continuance of physical strength and the accumulating force of
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eager, depraved passions. Imagine someone with the
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ambition of a ruthless dictator or the avarice of a corrupt
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modern billionaire. Now, instead of having 30 or 40
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years of peak cognitive and political power before their
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health fails, imagine they have 700 years to accumulate wealth,
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hone their malice, crush their opposition, and build empires of
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suffering. That is a terrifying thought
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experiment. The amount of damage a wicked
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person can do in a mere 70 years is devastating enough.
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Now multiply it by 10. You give a tyrant 8 centuries of
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uninterrupted physical vitality, the world becomes a literal
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hellscape of individual despotism.
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You would have warlords who could outlive dozens of
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generations of their oppressed subjects.
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A shorter lifespan clips the wings of human ambition.
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It stops the rapacity of invaders.
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It scatters the hoarded possessions of the rich to the
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next generation. It forces a reset.
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Exactly. The most reprobate men must end
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their career after their three score years and 10 or 4 score
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years of wickedness. Death forces a turnover in human
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power. The narrow span of life acts as
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a divine restraint on total human depravity.
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All things considered, it is a tremendous mercy that life is
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abridged and not prolonged to 1000 years in a fallen world.
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Let me push back on that though. Sure.
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If the world is full of such pervasive sin, and our time here
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is shortened purely as a mercy to prevent unchecked evil from
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destroying everything, shouldn't we just hate our time here?
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That's a fair question. Shouldn't we walk around
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miserable, viewing the earth as a cursed, miserable waiting room
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that we cannot wait to escape? It seems like the logical
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conclusion is to become entirely cynical about the human
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experience. That is a very common reaction,
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especially among those who study the darker aspects of theology,
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but Spurgeon explicitly corrects that notion.
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OK. How does he balance it?
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We must do justice to the earth. Yes, there is sin in it, and we
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are called to leave it. Yes, there are severe trials,
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sicknesses, and sorrows, but those sorrows usually spring up
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in our own rebellious bosoms. The land itself has been a
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theater of immense mercy to us. A.
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Theater of Mercy. Yes, Spurgeon argues that it has
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been worthwhile to live just for the joy and blessedness God has
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allowed us to experience right here in the midst of the curse.
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He is very firm about not speaking I'll of the dock from
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which we depart. We should not leave the world
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execrating it. We should not.
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Spit on the ground as the ship pulls away.
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Because here, on this very soil, we met our Savior.
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Here we received the pardon for our sin.
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We have seen our Lord, even if only through a glass darkly.
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That's beautiful. We have enjoyed the fellowship
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of the Church. We have gathered around the
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table for communion, tasting the bread and the wine.
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We have sung songs of ecstatic joy in the assembly of the
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Saints. God has not left us without
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massive comforts. When you lay it out like that,
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it balances the perspective beautifully.
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The earth was cursed in Genesis to bring forth thorns and
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thistles, and we feel the prick of those thorns every day.
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We do. But the existence of the Church,
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the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the intervention of God's
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grace make reparation for that plight.
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We should not leave behind a cold shudder or a sad
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remembrance. We should depart, bidding a dew
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to the scenes that remain, blessing God for the goodness
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and mercy that have followed us all the days of our lives.
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It requires holding 2 truths simultaneously.
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We don't idolize the earth building our permanent mansions
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here, but we don't despise it either.
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We recognize it as a place of temporary grace that prepares us
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for eternal glory. So we've talked about the dock,
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what about the destination? That logically moves our eyes
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from the dock to the destination.
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What is the land we sail toward? Spurgeon admits freely that it
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is partly unknown. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
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the Kingdom of God. Exactly.
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So flesh and blood cannot fully imagine it.
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The descriptions of streets, of gold, gates of Pearl and harps
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are given because they are the highest things we can
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conceptualize, but the literal reality is unrevealed to our
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physical senses. The physical senses cannot grasp
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it, but the spiritual mind already has a taste of it.
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This is where Spurgeon gets deeply pastoral.
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He really does. He talks about how you, the
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listener, already experienced the germs or the seedlings of
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heaven right now in your daily walk.
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It is not an entirely alien concept.
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Spiritual men and women know what it is to feel their newborn
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spirit living and triumphing within them over sin.
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We know what holiness is. Even in small doses.
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We are pursuing it even when we stumble.
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Perfect holiness is heaven. We know what peace is because
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Christ is our peace, calming our anxieties in the middle of a
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crisis. Perfect peace is heaven.
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We know what rest is because He gives us rest when we take His
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yoke upon us. Unbroken rest is heaven.
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We know what communion with God is in prayer.
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If someone says they don't know what it means to eat and drink,
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we would tell them they are lying or starving.
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Right. Similarly, a true believer knows
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what communion with God is as certainly as they know their own
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physical existence. It brings to mind the analogy
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Spurgeon uses, which I find incredibly helpful for
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visualizing this. Imagine standing in a dimly lit
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room and seeing a friend's face in shadow.
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Just silhouette. Yeah, even if you only see the
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silhouette against the wall, you recognize the person.
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You know, the outline, the profile, the posture.
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And yo, it's them. Similarly, our current spiritual
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joys, our times of deep prayer, our joy in singing hymns, our
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peace after repentance are the shadow of the destination.
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That's a great way to put it. When our ship finally docks in
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heaven, we will not be strangers stepping onto an alien planet.
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We will recognize it, we will say.
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I did surmise there would be something of this sort.
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I knew from the buddings in my soul down below that the full
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blown flower would look and smell like this.
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The peace, the holiness, the communion we feel in our best
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moments now are just the seedling form of what we will
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experience without interruption. That continuity is vital for
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removing the fear of the unknown.
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It really is Heaven is the perfect unhindered completion of
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the spiritual life that the Holy Spirit has already ignited
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within the believer. You are just stepping into the
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fullness of what you already possess in part.
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But if heaven is the full blown flower and this earth is just
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the seedling phase filled with trials, decaying bodies and
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shortened lifespans, why shouldn't we just demand to go
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there immediately? The temptation to rush the
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departure. Why stay if the port of peace is
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so wonderful and the route is secure?
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Why linger in the storm? Why did Paul keep fighting to
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stay alive and preach if the departure was so vastly
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superior? Spurgeon outlines a three-part
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framework for why our departure is necessary, but also why it
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must never be rushed by our own impatience.
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He says our departure is required by nature, desired by
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grace and demanded by glory. Let's break those down, starting
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with nature. Nature requires it.
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Nature requires it simply because our physical bodies
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decay under the curse of the fall.
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When men and women come to hoary age, they are not what they were
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in their brime. The bones start to ache.
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The staff is needed for the foot to walk across the room.
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The magnifying glass is wanted for the eye to read the Bible.
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The taste for food goes dull. Spurgeon brings up the biblical
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example of Barzilai from Second Samuel, who in his old age lost
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his senses of taste and hearing. He couldn't taste his food.
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He could no longer taste what he ate or hear the voice of seeing
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men and women. The whole earthly tenement gets
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crazy and dilapidated, as Spurgeon vividly puts it.
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He also references the bleak satirical writings of Jonathan
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Swift to make this point. Oh, the stroll brugs.
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Yes, Swift drew a hideous picture of a fictional race of
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people who lived on to 6 or 700 years of age age, but they
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continue to age physically and mentally the whole time.
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A nightmare. They lived in a state of
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continuous, miserable imbecility, unable to
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communicate, remember or function, yet unable to die.
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It's horrific. Kind nature says we may depart.
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She gives us notice and makes the departure welcomed by the
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steady decays that come upon our joints and our memories.
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We should be profoundly well. We should be deeply thankful we
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do not linger in endless physical decline.
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Then there is the element of grace.
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Grace desires our departure because a renewed heart
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naturally longs to see the Savior's face.
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It's a holy desire. It is a holy affection to want
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to be in the physical presence of Christ.
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And finally, glory demands it. Christ is in heaven interceding
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for us, praying that we may be with Him where He is.
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The Church Triumphant needs us. The Saints already in heaven
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cannot be perfect without us. The Grand Orchestra of Glory
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misses some of its intended notes until all the redeemed are
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gathered in. The Sopranos, the tenors, the
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basses, they all need to be present in the choir loft to
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consummate the worship of the. Lamb.
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But this raises a major tension regarding our attitude toward
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the time we currently have left. What's fascinating here is how
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we respond to that tension. Right.
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If nature requires our death, grace desires it and glory
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demands it. We might be tempted to just sit
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in the waiting room, fold our hands and stare at the clock
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until the anchor. Spurgeon fiercely warns against
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that specific attitude. He calls it the posture of the
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lazy Workman. The lazy, Yeah.
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The lazy Workman goes to the job site on Tuesday morning, picks
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up his hammer and immediately starts wishing it was Saturday
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night. He just wants the weekend.
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He wants to skip the sweat, the heavy lifting and the exhaustion
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of the week and just Fast forward to the rest and the
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paycheck. While longing for heaven is a
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natural holy result of grace, staying in the flesh to fight
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the battle, evangelize the lost, and finish the work is a matter
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of strict loyalty to Christ. There are times of rap devotion
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where we just want to go home, where the world feels heavy and
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heaven feels close. We all have those moments.
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But there are also times of strenuous activity where we need
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to buckle on the armor, pick up the sword and press to the front
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lines. We see a battle to be waged for
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truth, a victory to be won over our own sin, a work to be wry in
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our communities. To abide in the flesh for the
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furtherance of the faith is needful for the Church.
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It is idle and selfish to be crying to go home when the
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Master has explicitly assigned us a long life's work to do in
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the vineyard. Our willingness to work connects
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beautifully to the reformed concept of fixed Providence.
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It's a huge comfort. The exact time of our departure
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is unknown to us, but it is unalterably fixed by God's wise,
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sovereign and loving provision. We don't know when the
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harbormaster will give the order to cut the moorings.
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It could be tomorrow, or it could be 3 decades from now.
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But we know the order will be perfectly timed.
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Let me stop right there, because I have to raise a point of
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intense natural human fear. Go ahead.
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It is one thing to talk about a gentle, expected decline into
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old age. Like Barzilay safely in his bed,
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we can accept the fixed Providence of dying at 90 in our
21:51
sleep. It feels natural.
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But what about sudden, shocking accidents?
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What about rapid, terrifying diseases that strike a 30 year
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old? Yeah, that's the hard part.
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When a massive tragedy strikes out of nowhere, a car crash, a
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sudden stroke, a violent crime, how can a sudden calamity be
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seen as lovingly settled or wisely fixed?
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That is a massive theological and emotional hurdle for anyone
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listening who has lost someone suddenly.
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It is a massive hurdle, and our flesh will find absolutely no
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comfort if we try to analyze the secondary causes of a tragic
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the. Secondary causes will crush us.
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If we stare at the drunk driver or the mutated cells or the
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weather pattern, we will go mad with grief and anger.
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Spurgeon brings in the example of Job to address this exact
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paralyzing fear. Job is the perfect case study.
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Job experienced the most sudden, devastating, rapid fire
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calamities imaginable. He lost his vast wealth, his
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hundreds of servants and all ten of his children in a single
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afternoon. In a matter of hours.
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The destruction came from entirely different chaotic
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sources and unprovoked onslaught by the Sabians, a violent raid
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by the Chaldeans of freak fire falling from the sky and a great
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wind from the wilderness that collapsed a house.
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Disease, theft, natural disasters, Human malice, job.
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Face the worst of the fallen world simultaneously.
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Yes, the full spectrum of sudden tragedy.
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But look closely at Job's reaction.
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He doesn't focus on the Raiders or the wind.
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Job took very little heat of the different ways in which his
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troubles were brought about. He did not parse out the
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difference between the swords of the Chaldeans and the velocity
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of the wind. He didn't blame the weather.
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He did not curse the architecture of the House that
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Fell. One thought penetrated his
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shattered heart, and he recognized only one primary
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source governing the chaos. The first 'cause.
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He fell to the ground and said, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
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taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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Stating that God is the primary source, the first 'cause
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governing all secondary causes brings an immense amount of
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psychological relief if you can truly grasp.
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It it changes everything. If you trust God's sovereign
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Providence over the timing of your life, you can cease
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parlaying with feverish anxieties about exactly how the
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end will come. You don't have to live your life
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in terror of a plane crash. Or a sudden fever.
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Or a diagnosis. Whether the departure comes by
24:07
disease, quiet decay, sudden accident or violent assault, you
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know that your times are securely in his hand.
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The mechanism of death does not dictate the destination.
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Recognizing Providence removes the terror of the unknown
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method. We naturally prefer a peaceful
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departure surrounded by loved ones in old age, but Spurgeon
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notes that a lingering, painful illness in the vestibule of the
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grave is not necessarily better than a sudden dispatch.
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A sudden accident might spare a believer months of agonizing
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pain. To live in constant communion
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with God is the surest relief from all these bitter frettings
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about the future. You trust the perfect timing and
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wisdom of the first 'cause rather than obsessing over the
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unpredictability of the secondary causes.
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And because that timing is entirely fixed by God, but
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entirely unknown to us, it means the departure could happen at
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literally any moment. Spurgeon leans heavily into
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Paul's phrase at hand. The time of my departure is at
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hand. Knowing that the rope could be
25:05
cut today demands immediate, practical action.
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This theology of Providence is not just an abstract concept
25:12
designed to make us feel peaceful before bed.
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It is a sharp catalyst for how we organize their lives today.
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The first practical action Spurgeon urges is rigorous self
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examination. If our vessel is just launching,
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we need to inspect the hull to see that she is genuinely
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seaworthy. You have to check the ship.
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It would be a catastrophic tragedy to be near departing and
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yet to be just as near discovering that we are utterly
25:35
lost. Spurgeon states very bluntly
25:38
that it is entirely possible for someone to maintain a decent
25:41
religious profession for 50 years, occupy the highest office
25:45
in a local church, take communion every Sunday, and be a
25:48
reprobate hypocrite after all. That is a staggering thought.
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A50 year hypocrite. It happens.
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You can. Serve on the elder board.
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You can suffer through church splits, You can look to everyone
25:59
around you like you have all the grace in the world and yet be a
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Judas or a Demos on the inside. Outward actions don't guarantee
26:06
inward reality. All that looks like grace is not
26:09
actual saving grace. So look at your own soul right
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now. Do you possess true faith?
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Is your heart actually renewed by the Holy Spirit?
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Are you resting entirely on the finished work of Christ?
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Or are you secretly relying on your church attendance, your
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theological knowledge, and your good behavior to justify
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yourself? You have to verify your true
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face today because the departure might be tomorrow morning.
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That intense urgency applies to our families as well.
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Spurgeon uses a very striking practical analogy regarding our
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duty to care for our household. The mother moving to Australia.
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Yes, he imagines a mother in 19th century England who was
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about to move to Australia, which back then meant a
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permanent, irreversible separation.
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No flights back for the holidays.
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Exactly. If she had to leave some of her
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children behind in England, she would fret endlessly.
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If she had not secured their temporal comfort, she would be
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consumed with making sure they had warm clothes, enough food,
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and safe shelter before she boarded the ship.
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And Spurgeon uses that mother's natural anxiety to ask a
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piercing question. If we care that much about the
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temporal physical comfort of our children when we leave them, how
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much more should we agonizingly care for their eternal spiritual
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state? He looks the father in the eye.
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He asks, Will you pass another night without lovingly speaking
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to your wife about her soul? Are those dear boys of yours
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unregenerate 'cause that teenage girl still thoughtless about
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eternity? You're leaving soon?
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You can't do much more for them temporally once you are in the
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grave. You must do what you can for
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their spiritual state right now, while you still have breath.
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Don't let it be a thorn in your dying pillow that you neglected
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the eternal souls of the people sleeping under your own roof.
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Acting on the knowledge that our departure is at hand requires
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diligent order in every single aspect of life.
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Spurgeon introduces the historical example of George
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Whitefield, the great open air evangelist.
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Whitefield was incredibly orderly and precise in his daily
28:06
habits. Almost to an extreme.
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He used to say he would not like to go to bed if there were even
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a single pair of gloves out of place in the house, much less if
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his will was unwritten. A single pair of gloves.
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He wanted everything in his physical life perfectly right,
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so that if he never woke again, nobody would have cause to
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reflect on anything he had left undone, entailing needless
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trouble or legal chaos on his surviving family.
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That level of meticulousness regarding a pair of gloves
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sounds extreme, almost obsessive to our modern years, but it
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reveals a massive theological truth.
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He that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much.
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The physical chaos in our lives often acts as a heavy anchor
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that makes the spiritual departure terrifying.
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It applies directly to our financial and professional
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responsibilities today. Be your own executor.
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Do not leave a legal and financial mess for your grieving
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spouse or your children to clean up because you were too
29:01
disorganized or too afraid of death to write a will, buy life
29:05
insurance or organize your affairs.
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Time is fleeing away. Dispatch is urgent.
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The wheels of eternity are sounding right behind you.
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Organizing your temporal affairs brings immense spiritual peace.
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This urgency absolutely shapes our practical financial affairs,
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but it also radically alters our psychological reactions and our
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interpersonal relationships. How we deal with people.
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If the time of our departure is truly at hand, it changes how we
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handle minor irritations and major conflicts.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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Spurgeon talks about traveling in Europe and having to stay in
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a terrible hotel. A literal nightmare of A room.
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The room is tiny, the bed feels like a rock, the street outside
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is deafening, and it barely furnishes any basic
29:46
accommodation at all. But you're only there for one
29:48
night. Right when you were traveling
29:50
and you get a bad hotel room for one night, you do not spend
29:54
hours throwing a tantrum calling the manager and demanding a full
29:58
renovation of the plumbing. You sit on the edge of the hard
30:01
bed and say never mind, we are off in the morning.
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What matters it for one night? We can apply that exact mindset
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to the trials, the physical ailments, and the daily
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irritations of this life. You might live in poverty, you
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might deal with chronic sickness, or you might have a
30:17
job that drains you. But this earth is not your rest.
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You are away tomorrow as we are soon to be gone.
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We should not ruffle our tempers about trifles or raise evil
30:27
spirits around us by finding fault with every discomfort in
30:30
our temporary lodging. We put up with the hard bed
30:34
knowing the morning departure is coming.
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And it applies directly to the people we interact with too.
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Have you ever worked with someone who just has an
30:40
incredibly ugly temper? Plenty of times.
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Or a neighbor who is constantly irritable and picking fights
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over property lines, Spurgeon says.
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If your neighbor has an ugly temper, the Lord has to put up
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with him, and so you may as well.
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We are only here for a short time.
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If we were going to be stuck on this earth with these people
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forever, maybe it would make sense to fight every battle,
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assert your rights, and settle every grievance.
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But since we are leaving so soon, there is 0 value in
31:07
holding grudges. He urges the listener to be on
31:10
good terms with everyone as much as it depends on them.
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For the love of the brethren and the peace of the local church,
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we can tolerate a lot of peevish moods, perverse humors, and
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minor slights. Cover it with grace.
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If Christ loves them and covers their massive offenses with His
31:26
blood, why should we publish their minor flaws abroad?
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If you have a grievance with someone in your family or your
31:33
church, if there is bickering or jealousy, make it up tonight.
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Swallow your pride. You would not want to speak
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harshly to someone today and find out tomorrow they died in
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an accident. Or find out that you died and
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your last interaction on earth was a petty sarcastic argument
31:47
over a trivial slight. That's a sobering thought if.
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You were moving to another continent tomorrow morning and
31:52
never coming back. You would make sure to part as
31:55
good friends with your siblings. You would hug them and forgive
31:59
the past, since we are departing this earth soon and all strife
32:02
today dwell together in harmony until the harbormaster pulls the
32:06
anchor. This exact same mindset applies
32:09
to our wealth and our temporal successes.
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Oh, this is a big one. If your business thrives, if
32:15
your bank accounts swell, if your property lines are
32:17
enlarged, you must hold them loosely.
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Possessions, estates and stock portfolios dwindle into absolute
32:25
insignificance when you look out at the looming departure.
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It is so incredibly easy to build a comfortable house, plant
32:32
a beautiful garden, secure a great retirement fund and start
32:35
thinking this is it, This is my heaven.
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I have finally made it. We get enamored with our own
32:40
success. We build mansions in the waiting
32:42
room, but our lease is about to expire.
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Do not let your comfortable house or your prestigious career
32:48
become a substitute for heaven. If you get all your good things
32:50
here, you will not have them hereafter.
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Hold them as temporary gifts of God's kindness, not as idols to
32:55
be worshipped. That way, when the time comes to
32:58
leave them behind, you can take leave with total composure,
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knowing you have a better and lasting substance waiting for
33:04
you on the other shore. Recognizing the fleeting nature
33:07
of wealth brings us to the final practical point Spurgeon makes,
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which is a passionate call to bear our testimony for Christ
33:14
now, rather than waiting for some dramatic cinematic deathbed
33:18
speech. I think we all have this highly
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romanticized idea of the deathbed gathering.
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Oh. Absolutely.
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We imagine ourselves in our final moments, propped up on
33:27
pillows, surrounded by our weeping family, dispensing
33:31
incredible theological wisdom in our last few poetic breaths.
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It is a completely vain hope. Spurgeon brings up George
33:38
Whitefield again to prove this point.
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Whitefield was always desirous that he might bear a loud, clear
33:43
testimony for Christ in the very hour of his death.
33:46
He wanted to preach one last time from his bed.
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But he couldn't. He was suddenly taken I'll with
33:52
an asthma attack after preaching and very soon suffocated on the
33:55
stairs without a grand final statement.
33:58
Just sudden silence. But Spurgeon points out that
34:00
this sudden, silent death was not a tragedy to be deplored.
34:04
Why? Because Whitefield had borne so
34:06
many thousands of testimonies for his Lord while he was alive
34:09
and healthy. His life was the testimony.
34:12
There was no need to add anything in the last few moments
34:14
of oxygen deprivation. His entire exhausting life was a
34:19
consistent testimony. You can't undo the effect of a
34:21
lifetime of spiritual idleness, cowardice, and silence with a
34:26
few spasmodic, gasping breaths at the end.
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It doesn't work that. Way your dying testimony, if you
34:31
are even physically conscious enough to give one, will only
34:34
have force if it confirms a healthy, active, vocal career of
34:38
faith. Don't wait for the hospital bed.
34:41
Tell others what Christ has done for you right now.
34:43
Today in the break room at work or across the dinner table.
34:47
Work for Jesus while it is called today.
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Up until this point in the sermon, Spurgeon's entire
34:51
message is about preparation, comfort and perspective for the
34:54
believer. But at the very end of his
34:56
address, there is a stark, jarring shift in tone.
35:00
He turns his full attention to those in the pews who do not
35:02
know Christ. And he issues a terrifying
35:04
warning. The tone shift is severe.
35:07
Up until this paragraph, the departure has been described as
35:10
a beautiful, peaceful unmooring of a ship heading toward the
35:14
Port of Peace. Sails are full the water.
35:18
But Spurgeon makes it devastatingly clear that for the
35:21
unconverted, the unrepentant listener, the departure is not a
35:25
joyful voyage. For the unconverted, the time
35:28
for letting loose the cable is still drawing near.
35:31
The fixed Providence of God applies to them as well.
35:34
They can't stay on the dock either.
35:35
They must still set sail. Death comes for the wicked just
35:39
as surely as it comes for the righteous, but it is not the
35:42
voyage of a joyful passenger heading to a sweeter climb or a
35:46
happier home. It's the opposite.
35:48
Spurgeon uses a chilling metaphor for the unregenerate
35:50
soul. He says their departure is the
35:52
banishment of a convicted criminal.
35:54
The convicted criminal. They are heading toward a penal
35:57
settlement looming in the dark distance.
35:59
There is no hope, no light, only blank, paralyzing fear, because
36:04
the term of the banishment is interminable.
36:06
It is an agonizing image. The anchor is pulled, but the
36:09
ship grips straight into the abyss.
36:11
Hell follows death for those who reject the gospel.
36:14
The ship leaves the harbor, the shoreline fades and they are
36:17
left in outer darkness. It is a desperate, pleading call
36:21
for the listener to make haste to seek Christ, to repent of
36:24
their sins, and to lay hold on eternal life before the moorings
36:27
are irrevocably cut. It forces every single person
36:31
listening to ask themselves which voyage they are booked on.
36:34
The fixed decree of God guarantees the ship will sail.
36:37
You cannot stay on the dock forever.
36:39
The only variable is the destination you will arrive at
36:42
once the ropes fall away. So what does this all mean?
36:45
We have unpacked a massive paradigm shift today.
36:49
Viewing the end of our earthly life does not have to be an
36:52
exercise in dread. It is not a tragedy, it chill,
36:54
blight or a violent hurling into the shades.
36:57
For the believer whose sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb
37:00
is a deliberate, lovingly fixed unmooring of a ship.
37:04
It is a transition from the seedling joys of grace to the
37:08
full blown flower of glory. And because that exact moment of
37:11
unmooring is fixed by the 1st 'cause we don't need to live in
37:14
terror of the secondary causes, we do not need to fear the
37:17
disease or the accident. But that deep theological trust
37:20
does not lead to laziness or fatalism.
37:23
It leads to urgent practical action while we are still on the
37:27
dock. It means we act with intense
37:30
urgency. Today we verify our faith so we
37:33
are not 50 year hypocrites. We secure the spiritual
37:35
well-being of our households, speaking to our children about
37:39
their souls. We organize our temporal
37:41
affairs, our wills and our finances so we do not leave a
37:45
burden of chaos on our loved ones.
37:47
We tolerate the daily irritations of life like a bad,
37:50
noisy hotel room, forgiving grudges and refusing to fight
37:54
over trifles. And we hold our wealth and our
37:56
property loosely, knowing we cannot pack it into the ship.
37:59
We pour our lives out as a thankful, joyful drink offering
38:03
rather than trying to crush ourselves under the weight of
38:05
being the main sacrifice. We point solely to the atonement
38:08
Christ has already finished on our behalf.
38:10
I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over as you go
38:12
about your day. Picture yourself standing on the
38:15
wooden deck of that ship. The ropes are pulled tight
38:17
against the dock, creaking in the wind.
38:20
If the harbor master gave the absolute order to cut your
38:23
moorings tonight, what heavy, useless cargo of earthly
38:26
anxiety, grudges, or wealth are you desperately trying to hold
38:29
onto? That will only sink the ship.
38:31
And more importantly, as you look out across the dark water,
38:34
who's standing on the distant shore, waiting to welcome you?