When I was a small child we would often travel to visit my family in Florida. Growing up in the mountains in Pennsylvania where the soil was always full of clay and rocks and everything, it always amazed me when we traveled down south to Florida to visit with my mother’s family how sandy the soil was. I would just want to go out and run in it barefoot but of course my mother always made me wear shoes and those shoes would fill up with sand that I would drag into the house and dump on the floor at every opportunity. I’ll never forget one hot, sunny day in the summertime. I was standing out by the road and I saw a snake slithering across that hot asphalt road. About the same time a car was going down and that car just ran right over that snake. Two tires hit that snake and sent it rolling. I watched that snake. That snake was wiggling and squirming and rolling around, just striking out at the air. It was quite frightening to me as a little boy to watch it and I ran away. In a few hours I went back and looked and behold there was the snake and it was still squirming, still wiggling. I thought surely it must be dead by now, after having been run over by that car, but it was just wiggling away. Toward the end of the day, before I knew that my mother would be calling me in to get a bath and crawl into bed, I went out and looked at the road for one last time. I saw the snake lying there in the road, it’s tail just barely twitching. All day long it was in the throes of agony and pain. All day long it’s defeat had been certain. Yet all day long it still could have been very dangerous for somebody to reach out and try to touch that snake. It could still bite. Finally, it was dead.
That’s the sort of picture we have of the writings of the New Testament. That’s sort of picture that is painted for us, if you will, by the words of the Holy Spirit given to the apostle Paul and to the writers of the gospels. The pictures they paint of the Evil One. The one with whom that we must be on our guard against. I am reminded of the hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Remember the verse where we acknowledge that we know that we live in a world that is filled with devils. We also know that one word shall fell them. That God has chosen his man who would be our hope, our life, and our salvation. None other than Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the cross brought the death, the certain death of that serpent. But even though the death of the serpent is sure, it still squirms and wiggles and strikes out in the air. Even though it’s defeat is sure it can still be dangerous for anyone to reach out and to touch it.
The apostle Paul is very much aware of that reality as he writes this closing letter to Timothy. He realizes that not only is he getting old but he’s been in prison for a while. Things are not looking good. The Lord has already spared him once to continue proclaiming the message to the Gentiles. But I imagine that he knows that the day of his own death is coming quickly. He writes to that young man Timothy. He says, “I know that the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Amen.” and Amen to that. We know that we are indeed fighting a fight and running a race and we rejoice with the testimony of the apostle Paul who was able to complete, who was able to complete that race, who was able to keep that faith. You see the watchword of this text for us today is perseverance. The apostle Paul writes that he knows that the Lord will rescue him from every evil attack. The Lord will rescue him from every evil attack. He doesn’t say that the Lord will eliminate those evil attacks. He doesn’t say that the Lord will prevent Satan from throwing his fiery darts. No, what he says is that the Lord will be there to rescue him. That the Lord has been there to aid him in the past. The Lord has been his strength and his shield, his sword and his helmet and his breastplate. The Lord has been there for all his needs.
Much earlier before he went to Rome, he wrote to them a letter. He wrote to the Corinthians something very similar. To these churches he reminded them that our war was against principalities, and rulers and authorities. In using that same language he asked the question, “What can separate us from the love of Christ? What can separate us from the love of God?” But he says, “Nothing, not authorities, not principalities, not rulers, not angels, not height, not depth, not even death itself can separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Perseverance, maintaining the faith.
The apostle Paul also alludes to a time as he was arrested. He says, “When I came to my first offense”, he said, “all here abandoned me.” You know he could have just started listing names. He could have been vindictive and spiteful. He said, “These are the people who could have come to my defense and did not. These are the people who turned and ran.” But he did not. All he did was, he said, “May it not be held against them. May it not be counted against them.” You see the apostle Paul did not want any division, any cause, any reason to be put against the children of God for any failing or any weakness they may have shown.
There is the text in Nehemiah where Joshua, the high priest, is shown before God by Satan and Satan is making charges against the people of Israel and he’s pointing to that high priest and he says, “Look at him. He is wearing filthy garments, they cannot come in your presence.” But the Lord says, “I will strip off his dirty clothes and I will put clean garments upon him. No more will that be an excuse to separate me from my people.” You see sometimes Satan can be a legalist and a moralist. He likes to point out those thoughts. He likes to put those seeds of doubt in our mind. `I’m not worthy. I can’t do it. I’m unable to. I’m not holy enough. I don’t pray enough. I don’t study the Bible enough.’ Whatever those seeds of doubt are that are being planted in your mind, he knows that he can push those and make you just give up completely. The response of the Lord is the same. “I can take off your filthy garments and dress you in clean garments.”
Fight the good fight. Finish the race. Keep the faith. Know that in every attack, the Lord is our strength. The Lord is our shield, and may he go with you. Amen
May God’s blessings be upon you.
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