In his sermon 'Receiving the Crown', Mike Davenport explores 2 Timothy 4:6-8, focusing on the 'crown of righteousness' that awaits believers. He describes the Christian journey as a life of fighting the good fight, running the race with endurance, and guarding the faith with watchfulness, culminating in receiving this crown. Davenport emphasizes that righteousness is a divine gift through faith, and believers are called to respond with faithful service. He explains that the crown is laid up for all who love Christ's appearing, not just for those who excel in their spiritual endeavors. The sermon underlines the personal assurance of faith and the role of grace, noting that the crown is a gift from the righteous judge, Jesus Christ, made possible through His sacrifice. Davenport encourages believers to look beyond earthly distractions and focus on their eternal reward, urging them to live zealously for God.

Well, we're back in 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I would ask you to open up there again to 2 Timothy chapter 4. We'll be looking now at verse 8, 2 Timothy 4, 8, and I will read the entire text, 6 through 8, as we come to this verse 8 together. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith. 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." Let's pray together. Oh, Father, we ask that as we continue in this passage that you would give us grace to understand that our hearts would be encouraged and we would leave this place with greater zeal to serve you because of all that you have done and will do for us. Lord, help us as we look at this passage. May Christ be honored in all that we say and all that we do.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, having looked this morning at verse 7, in the context of verse 6, we continue this afternoon with the culmination of the Christian's life. It is a life of fighting the fight with a strenuous effort, of running the race with a patient endurance, of guarding the faith with a careful watchfulness. But it ends with this sweet reality, receiving the crown of righteousness, receiving the crown. In his commentary on 2nd Timothy, Andreas Kastemberger states the following, those who competed in Greek athletic races and one received a victor's crown composed of olive branches while military victors were given special wreaths, and loyal subjects of oriental sovereigns received awards for services rendered.

Those who are faithful to Christ will receive the approval of Christ and attain full righteousness through the Lord Jesus Christ on Judgment Day. While righteousness is a divine gift granted on the basis of faith, believers must respond with a life of faithful, grateful service. So in this verse 8, note with me first the particular action, the particular action. There is laid up. There is laid up.

There is certainty in Paul's statement. It's not a matter of whether there may be one or not. No, there is one that's been laid up. You see, Paul was still in the land of the living, but there was something, a certain something that awaited him. Isaiah 53-12 declares the fact that Christ's people are the recipients of all that his death accomplished.

God says, therefore, I will divide him a portion, that is his Son, I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong Because he poured out his soul into death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." Dear brothers and sister, the Spirit was given, The Spirit was given by Christ as a guarantee of what? The inheritance that awaits. The inheritance that the Holy Spirit was given as a guarantee. If you have the Spirit, then there is an inheritance laid up for you. It is.

There's a particular action that has taken place, a laying up. Note next the personal nature, the personal nature there is laid up for me. For me. Paul cannot only say with certainty that something has been laid up, he can also say with certainty that it has been laid up for him personally. Paul is doing nothing less than applying personally the very doctrine that he taught in all of his epistles.

Just go back to Ephesians chapter 1. We mentioned it a few minutes ago that the fact of the Spirit being given as a guarantee of our inheritance, that's taken from Ephesians 1. Look at Ephesians 1 and see Paul is doing nothing here but taking all the doctrine that he's been giving in these epistles and he's applying it to himself. He is embracing the promises of God as his own. My dear one, is Christianity more than a religion to you?

Is it more than a religion? Is it a relationship, a living and vibrant relationship with God? Is it personal? Can you say, there is laid up for me, for me? Note third in the verse, the prize itself, the prize.

There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, the crown of righteousness. 19th century Scottish minister and theologian Patrick Fairburn wrote the following concerning this text, In plain words, it is that kind and measure of bliss which the wrestler in righteousness alone is either entitled or prepared to enjoy, the destiny to share in Christ's throne as having previously shared in his triumph over sin. It is reserved, therefore, till this triumph is completed. And then, in that day, the terminating point of the believer's struggles and exertions it shall be awarded by the Lord as the judge the righteous judge or arbiter of the contest. A crown of righteousness.

This is that imperishable crown that Paul referred to back in 1st Corinthians chapter 9. It was the thought of this very crown that caused him to declare, therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified." It is a crown of righteousness, an imperishable crown that we run for. Is that not enough to speed you on your way? To encourage you in the difficult days to strengthen you with greater resolve and zeal. Oh, meditate upon the saints' eternal rest and reward.

The godly man Richard Baxter spent a whole book doing nothing but talking about the Saints everlasting rest. If you become discouraged in the way, pull that book up, read it, Read a couple pages of it. If you read a couple pages, it will be hard to think that your heart will stay that way. It's very encouraging. Now note in our text the presenter of this prize, the presenter of this prize, this crown of righteousness.

Paul says, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day. This should astonish us that the righteous God, whose righteousness is the standard for every one of His creatures, that this righteous God, sitting as judge of the entire earth, can grant to sinful creatures a crown of righteousness. How can that be? How can that be? My friend, listen to me.

If you hear nothing else I have said today or will say, listen to this. There was a great transaction. There was a great transaction. Jesus Christ, who knew no sin whatsoever, became sin itself in order that we, through that sacrifice, might be made the very righteousness of God in Him. We can be granted a crown of righteousness because the truly righteous King of the earth took to himself a woven crown of thorns that was driven deep into his scalp.

Think, oh think of the cost of that crown of righteousness. Jesus, the truly righteous one, wearing a crown of thorns so that on that last day, His people whom He loved and loves and died for can wear a crown of righteousness. And then consider that it is simply given. It's given by that righteous judge. It's not earned, it's given.

It is given as the result of grace alone. I quote Mr. Fairbairn once again, Grace is not hereby superseded or made of no account. On the contrary, it is regarded as the basis on which the whole administration of reward proceeds in the kingdom of Christ. It is an economical arrangement made by God in Christ for carrying out the purposes of His salvation.

But as the salvation itself, so the bestowal of reward connected with it is all of grace to be thankfully received but never to be claimed as a debt. For without the Spirit of grace working both to will and to do in them that believe, there could be neither righteousness nor reward. And so, while those who as partakers of grace have faithfully done their part here, shall all, like the Apostle in the great day, receive their crowns from the Lord, and they shall again place them at his feet in lowly and grateful acknowledgement of the source where they have been derived, ascribing to him as alone worthy the honor and the glory. This is the day that will set all wrongs right. This is the day that will seal the fate of all men, of all women, and of all children an eternity in heaven or an eternity in hell.

This is the day that will reveal the glory of the sons of God. This is the day that will prove that the fighting, that the running, and that the guarding were not in vain. This is the day that will reveal to us how imperfect our fighting and our running and our guarding actually were? Could it be that the tears that are wiped away in part are caused by the realization of how foolish we were in this world, how negligent we were, how short-sighted. Well, That takes us lastly to the promise that is in this text, the promise.

Paul says, and not to me only, not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. How encouraging that the crown is not reserved for only the Apostle Paul's of this world. In fact, Paul does not even say here that the crown of righteousness is given to those that fight the hardest, that run the best, and that guard the most tenaciously. It is, he says, given to those who love Christ's appearing. It's given to those who love Christ's appearing.

How encouraging this is when we truly consider and are ready to admit how poorly we engage the fight, how slowly we run the race, how sloppily we guard what we have been entrusted with, We cry out with the Apostle Paul, Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Well knowing that the appearing of Jesus Christ will deliver us once and all, once for all, from this body of death. Our love, therefore, for this appearing should increase, and this love for his appearing will be reflected in an increased yearning, an increased watchfulness, and an increased desire for that return. Today, today we fight, often losing the battle but rising again for another day.

Today we run. Encombered by many weights, fighting against the remaining sin, tired and weary, but looking beyond ourselves to the One who is the finisher of the faith which he started in us. This crown is for those who love Jesus Christ and love His appearing. It's for those who cry out with the Apostle John, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Is that where your heart is?

Is that where your heart is? Is it? Is it? Can one truly love something that rarely preoccupies his thoughts and his desires? What will it take?

What will it take for us to long for and to love His appearing? And do this, do this, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand." Romans 13, 11, and 12. My dear brother, my Dear Sister, do you ever struggle with assurance of faith?

Do you ever struggle with assurance of faith? If you do, don't be ashamed. Don't seek to hide it. Even I, as a minister of the gospel, go through seasons of doubt and darkness. Sometimes a lack of assurance is actually the work of the Spirit drawing us away from complacency or self-reliance, giving us a test of what we are apart from Christ, thereby stirring up within us a thirst for the living water that only Christ can supply.

But at other times, at other times, and probably the more often, The lack of assurance may be due to our lack of zeal and our lack of carefulness in our fighting, in our running, and in our guarding. Consider the faults of Thomas Watson on this matter. He says, consider then seriously the more violent we are for heaven and the more work we do for God, The greater will be our reward. The hotter our zeal, the brighter our crown. Could we hear the blessed souls departed, speaking to us from heaven?

Surely they would say, were we to leave heaven a while and to dwell on the earth again, we would do God a thousand times more service than we have ever done. We would pray with more life, act with more zeal, for now we see that the more we have labored, the more astonishing is our joy and the more our joy and the more flourishing our crown. My friend, stop to consider. Do not brush aside the truths you have been confronted with today, answer truthfully. Answer truthfully.

Is there a crown of righteousness laid up for you? Is there? Can you say that? Can you say that? On the great day when the judge of all the earth reveals everything that ever was, every deed, every word, every thought, and every intent of heart, will you be found in Jesus Christ and will you receive that crown of righteousness?

Do you ever think of eternal things? Do you? Do you ever stop to consider that Christ offers you this crown? In Bunyan's second book of the Pilgrim's Progress that follows the earthly race of Christiana, the wife of Christian, as well as their children. We find these travelers just like their husband and dad there in the house of the interpreter.

The interpreter takes the family into a room where there was a man that could look no direction but downwards with a muck rake in his hand. He was just working head down with that muck rake. There stood also one over his head with a celestial crown in his hand and offered him that crown for his muck rake. But the man didn't muck-rate, muck-rake. But the man didn't either look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and the dust on the floor.

When asked by Christiana if this was the figure of a man of this world, interpreter replied, Thou hast said the right and his muck rake doth show his carnal mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up straws and sticks and the dust of the floor, than to what he says that calls to him from above with the celestial crown in his hand, it is to show that heaven is but as a fable to some, and that things here are counted, the only things substantial. Now whereas it was also showed thee that the man could look no direction but downwards. It is to let thee know that earthly things, when they are with power upon men's minds, quite carry their hearts away from God. Lift up your head, my friend.

Lift up your head. See today that Jesus Christ, the righteous one, holds out a crown. He holds out a crown for any who will receive him. Drop that muck rake. Drop it.

Be done with the muck of this world. Take hold of Christ and the crown He offers. May all of us here in this place be able to say from the bottom of our hearts, but what things were gained to me, These I have counted loss for Christ, yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the law oh no but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Fight the good fight. Run with patience the race that is set before you, guard what has been entrusted to you by Christ.

Cross that finish line. Fall into the arms of your dear Savior and receive the crown. And receive the crown. Amen. Oh, Father, may your church rise up and have done with lesser things.

Oh Father, we pray that you would give us grace to gather up our fickle hearts and to grant you all of our heart, all of our zeal, all of our passion, and all of our energies. Christ is worthy. Help us by your Spirit In Jesus' name, Amen.