2 Timothy 4:1-5 – “1. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:” (When Christ appears, He will usher in the judgment and His faithful will be gathered into His kingdom.)

“2. Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” Always be ready to preach God’s Word, whether the time is advantageous to preaching the gospel or not. This is the charge to a Soldier of Christ!

“3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4. and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” Because so many have become tolerant of sin and more into self-gratification, they have a strong desire to turn to many different teachers of novelty and lies. They are no longer content to hear the sound teachings of the Bible. Look around at all the many different sects of churches today that do not preach the gospel according to God’s Word, in fear of losing members. God’s Word convicts hearts. Too many so-called Christians do not want to be convicted to repentance, they want to feel good and stay in their sin. They are not Good Soldiers of Christ. How can one choose to live in sin and share the gospel? That is hypocritical!

The Comfort of a Soldier of Christ

A Good Finish to Life:

2 Timothy 4:6-8 – “6. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” As a Good soldier of Christ, Paul kept the faith (the recognized body of Christian doctrine, Jude 3). He kept the faith in two senses: he was obedient to it, and he passed it on as he received it. He has the comfort of knowing he has a home in Heaven forever. There will be no sickness, nor sadness, nor evil of any kind.

The Comfort of a Good Future After Life:

2 Timothy 4:8 – “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Wow, even though Christ died because of our sin, we have the promise of a reward of a royal crown of righteousness simply for loving the coming of Christ. I so look forward to laying that crown, as well as all other rewards I may receive when I get to Heaven, at the feet of Jesus. After all, it was He who took my filthy sin, He being sinless, so that I may live in Paradise with Him for eternity. What a comfort!

Since Daniel had experienced literal fulfillment of prophecy in his life, this was a great revelation for him. He had been praying for many years that Israel would be restored, and he knew that God would fulfill his promise in Jeremiah. Daniel was also a very strong man of God who prayed to Him three times a day, every day; he knew how to move God in prayer.

The following is the prayer Daniel prayed for God to fulfill his promise and deliver his people. Though it was a prayer of confession of the sins of the nation, he did not judge the sinners. He associated himself with the sins of his people 32 times, acknowledged their deserved judgement, and petitioned God for mercy. He approached God on the basis of his loyal love and humbled himself with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:3-19(NKJV): 3. “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5. we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.”

7. “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day–to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jeruselem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.”

8. “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.”

11. “Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore, the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judge us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such never has been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.”

13. “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.”

15. “And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day–we have sinned, we have done wickedly!”

16. “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.”

17. “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.”

18. “O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.”

19. “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Bold type added by author)

We could very easily substitue “Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem” with the words “The United States” and pray this same prayer for the recovery of our nation’s Godly morals and values. DO YOU EVER WONDER WHY OUR NATION IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION?

There is a difference in those types of judgments and critically judging others for their lifestyles; being judgmental.  That is not to say that we must tolerate practices that we feel are immoral or go against our own beliefs. It is Biblical to try to, lovingly, talk to our brothers and sisters who are living a sinful life, but not to gossip about them or demean them. God does not wish for us to shove our beliefs down their throats either.

Are we perfect that we should be so critical because we do not agree with someone else’s choices? Of course not. The only perfect one is God and it is His job to do that kind of judging. We all will be judged by Him one day, and rightfully so.

I think Matthew 7:1-5 (KJV) says it pretty clearly:

1   Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2   For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3   And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4   Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5   Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.