Have you ever composed in your mind the last words that you were going to say to someone? Really—the last words. Or maybe it was a friend from another land. You knew that in parting, it was unlikely, unless the Lord brought about some extraordinary providence, that He would put the two of you back together in the same place; and you knew that in this world this might be the last time.
And you wanted to say just the right things: you wanted to say the things that expressed your love, and you also wanted to say the things that would give Christian encouragement and praise to God.
Or, maybe…maybe you've had a dying friend express to you his or her last words. It's one of the privileges that I've had here at First Presbyterian Church, to have dying saints say to me last words—things that they wanted to be remembered after they had left this world and gone home to be with their heavenly Father.
Some of them have literally left those last messages to me on voicemail, and I've played them over and over to myself, and even had them transcribed so that I can remember those last words: words of faith, words of encouragement. Last words are significant. If you've had an opportunity to give last words to a friend or a loved one, or to receive last words from a friend or a loved one, you are blessed, indeed; especially if that friend or loved one is one in Christ, one who's resting and trusting in Christ alone for salvation as he or she has received in the gospel.
And so, today I want us to be mindful of the fact that we are in the last of Paul's last words. We've said all along, this is Paul's last letter. The whole letter in a sense is comprised of Paul's last words to Timothy, but Paul knows now, by the time he gets to chapter three, that he's wrapping up his last words.
