2 Timothy 42ti 4

The man of God is prepared unto every good work, in his having departed from iniquity and purged himself from the vessels of dishonor. In chapter 2 he is equipped, in chapter 3 furnished unto every good work, and in chapter 4 he goes to war. He is to "reprove, rebuke, exhort." This shows the signs of failure which the wisdom of the Spirit foresaw. It was not so much evangelizing as preaching "the word" among professing Christians who would not endure sound doctrine. All was to be done in view of His appearing and His kingdom. Then faithfulness would be manifested.
We should be more earnest than ever in living for Christ, as we are now in the shaking of all things, and the Lord may come at any time now. Worldliness among us is a sign and a source of weakness. It must be "with all long-suffering and doctrine." These are the elements that must give character to our service. If men were left to their own responsibility they would never come in.
So he concludes, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand" (v. 6). In Philippians 2 it had been, "If I be offered." Things have gone further here. "My release" is the thought, because he had been in the combat as an athlete. He can say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." It was the finishing of his race and wrestling of 1 Cor. 9:24-27. The Lord would preserve him to His heavenly kingdom, if he was not to be preserved on earth (v. 18). Earlier his desire was that he might finish his course with joy (Acts 20). Here he had done it: "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." May we covet the same grace!
A boy received a number of parcels from his father to carry. His brother said, "You have too many." "Never mind," he replied. "Father knows how many I can carry.”

Questions and Answers
QUESTION: Would you say that the wilderness journey dates from the new birth?
ANSWER: New birth, in the Epistle of John goes a very long way. That is the basis of everything with John—the new birth. Typically, it begins with what we know of the new birth rather than "Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation." Ex. 15:13. A proper Christian experience begins with the knowledge of redemption, and that God has brought us to Himself. Do not say, just the new birth, because you do not know when you were born again. You know when you got peace with God.
The blessedness of John in his epistle is the blessedness of being born of Him. But then he not only looks at it in his epistle as the mere implanting of a new life, as in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John, but he looks at it as the way that new life—that new nature—brings us into relationship with God: "born of God.”
We cannot systematize divine things; we would like to make a system and have everything A, B, C, and so on, but we cannot do it. We will either go too far, or stop too soon. It is all linked up as a whole. Divine truths refuse to be bound by a systematic code, and if we remember that, it will help us a good deal.
Then a little farther down He says, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory." But He sees it is necessary to have this experience in the wilderness. He does not ask that they be taken out of the world, but to keep them from evil.