My brother-in-law has lung cancer that has spread to his brain, vertebrae, colon, and many lymph nodes chest. how much time does he have?

Uncertain: It's not possible to give you the time frame but it appears advance disease.

Limited: The ability to control metastatic lung cancer to one location such as a solitary lesion in liver or adrenal or bowel can be managed. When the lesion spreads to bone control over a long period of time with chemo is difficult. When the lesion is present in brain chemo offers little and the use of RT when helpful is usually limited to months.