Show me the truth concealed within
the Word, and in Thy Word we feel Thy sweet comfort. OK, let's go back to 2 Timothy
chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4. Let's read verses 1 and 2
again, 2 Timothy chapter 4. I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word,
be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine." Now, everyone in here has been
faced with a difficult job before, and you have thought, this is
futile. It's too tough for me. I can't get it done. What's for
you? Everybody in here has been faced
with some seemingly impossible task. And you say, what's the
use? I can't do this. The fact is,
I feel that way nearly every time I stand up here. There's a room full of people
before me this morning. People of all different makes and from all walks of life,
male, female, young and old, in various states. various needs. We've got, there
are people in here who do not know God. There are people in here who
do, yet are very weak in effect, babies. They've got special needs. There
are people in here who are mature believers who have believed God
for many years, and they have special needs. There are people
in here who, well, you name it, and there are various states
that people are in. And I'm to stand up and address
all those needs, all those different people. It's no wonder that even the
Apostle Paul said, Who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient
for these things? I know for a fact, it's not just
I believe this, I know it, this is not just a Just a meeting,
just a Sunday morning meeting, because God said that his word
won't return void. God said his word is the incorruptible
seed. God said that his word would
accomplish something every time it's spoken. Whether we think
it is or not, it is. And so, this is why Paul then
said, when he said, who is sufficient for these things? This is why
Paul then went on to say, our sufficiencies of God. What, Paul, what sufficiency? What is it that God uses? What
is it that you lean upon? What is it that you depend upon? What is it that you're hoping
God will use to address all of his words? his work. So, while so many use so little
of this book, if we have fault, I believe it's it, we might use
too much. We can't take it all in. But this is the charge to me. Preach the word. Preach the word. The word of God is called, by
God, it is called the power of God. He upholds all things by
the word of his power. God calls his word a hammer.
A hammer. Many of you men, maybe ladies,
have used a hammer. It doesn't mean a little finishing
hammer. It means a sledgehammer that's
able to break the hard heart, the scripture says. If you've
ever, any of you, busted hard You know what it takes. It takes
a good eight-pound sledgehammer, and not one little tap will do
it, but a constant series of heavy blows. God said, My word
is a hammer. It's not meant to be used as
a t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t- It needs to be a heavy blow by
the hand of God. He calls his word fire. Fire,
set on fire. Things. Able to, to, to, fire
is the only thing that will totally destroy something. You know,
fire is the only thing that will totally destroy something. And we, we've got a lot we need
destroyed, don't we? All our old notions of who God
is and what the Bible says, most people don't have a clue. But
God's Word is the only thing that will effectively wipe out
everything they ever thought about God. Just burn it up. Some of you
have even told me this very thing. I used to think I knew God until
I actually heard him from the Word. God's word is called sword. Now, none of us in here have
been struck by a sword, I don't think, unless you've been under
the surgeon's knife. Now, it's not a pleasant thing,
is it, to be operated on? Somebody—you're getting ready
to face surgery, and somebody says, it'll be all right. That's
routine surgery these days. And you say, well, it may be
you, but this is on me. They're going to cut my body
open. And it's going to hurt. It doesn't
matter what surgery it is, it's going to hurt. Anytime you get
cut with a knife, it's going to hurt. And the healing takes
a while, because you have to heal on the inside. You may look
healed on the outside, but it's the inside that has to heal up
and takes a long time. God's Word is a sword. Scripture
said, able to pierce. We need God's Word to, not just
like the fellow told me one time, he said, every time my preacher
preaches, I go up and tell him after the service, you stepped
on my toes this morning. You sure did step on my toes.
As my pastor always said, I'm not aiming to pierce your toes. It's the heart of the issues
of life. God's sword or word is the only thing that will literally
break this hard heart, pierce it, so that you know you've been
pierced, and you'll never be the same. You'll never be the
same. A knife, a scalpel, does one
thing first. It cuts you open. It lays you
open to expose the malady or the sickness or the disease or
whatever. And then it heals. It cuts out that disease. God's Word is both. God's Word
is called milk. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow thereby. Little babies need milk. They
need the foundation fruit. They need to start all over again. with the truth. They just suck
from this book and grow from it. Meat, God's word is called
meat. Older people need meat. That's what the scripture said.
Meat, man to chew on. So, this is the charge to a young
preacher. Preach the word. This is God's
power. This is what God uses any man
that doesn't. Just inundate the people with
this book. That this is all he does. Any
man that doesn't do this, and that's all he does, God didn't
send him. And God's not going to use him.
I don't care how clever he is, how talented he is. I don't care
what programs he brings up. I don't care how much fun he
makes this thing. God's not in it. And God's not going to use him. He says in verse one, I
charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
that's who it is that I stand before. All of us stand before this morning. Paul said to the Corinthians,
he said, We are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but
as of sincerity. That is, I'm sincere about this
thing. Sincere about what, Paul? that
you might know Christ, know God. Paul wasn't trying to build religious
monuments to himself or make a name to himself. He said in
another place, who is Paul? Paul wasn't crucified for you.
Paul wasn't trying to see how many people he could baptize.
He said, I don't even remember how many. A couple, I think,
and I don't remember. He said, but I travail in birth
till Christ be formed in you, he said. That's what it's all
about. As of sincerity, as of God, as
of God, in the sight of God, in the sight of God, we preach
Christ. Paul said in another place, he
said, if I yet seek to please men, I am not the servant of
Christ. What the preacher, and what Paul
is telling young Timothy to do, Don't try to please people. Don't
try to pacify people. Don't try to make people feel
good about this. You're comforting my people,
yes, but there's no comfort until there's first great discomfort. Before God, I charge you. Verse
1, Before God, before the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge? the world, listen carefully now,
alright, there's a lot of talk about Jesus. The scripture here says, the
Lord Jesus Christ, that's what he's called, he's got three names,
and he deserves every one of them. Lord Jesus Christ. He's
not just Jesus, a man who died on a cross, he's right now seated
on a throne with every human being in his hand to dispose
of as he pleases. That's the Jesus Christ scripture.
And he says here, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge. It doesn't say he loves everybody,
has a wonderful plan for their life, and wants so badly, and
stands outside their heart door, knocking, hoping they'll let
him in. And if they'll just accept him, he'll just give them a yo-yo
in heaven with him, and pie in the sky, and meet mama, and everything's
just going to be hunky-dory, because Jesus loves you. No,
he's going to judge. He came the first time for one
reason. to die on a Roman cross as a substitute for his people,
to put away the wrath and the anger of God against their sin. And he went back to heaven, the
job done, finished. And he sends the Holy Spirit
to round up all those people by the preaching of the gospel,
what we're doing right here. And he's coming the next time. The
next time, it says, every eye shall behold him. He'll be seen
as a lightning from the east to the west, lights the sky.
Every eye shall behold him. It says, men shall wail because
of him. Wail. Come with the judge. The quick and the dead. Men are so ignorant of these
terms that they make movies out of them. They think it's a clever
statement, you know. What does that mean? It means
there are people who are alive and there are people who are
dead. That doesn't mean physically. That doesn't mean physically.
That means spiritually. Spiritually alive and spiritually
dead. There are some in here this morning
of both. I know it's some. He'll judge
the quick and the dead. Quick are those who are alive
unto God, live by faith. Faith is what quickens a dead
sinner. Faith is what makes the heart
begin to beat. As before, it was dead to anything
God said, anything to God. Very alive to this world, the
things of this world, but these are dead things. This quickening is what Spirit
of God, through the Word of God, plants it, cuts it, does all
those things, sets it on fire, quickens, makes it alive, opens
the eyes to see what never saw before, opens the ears to hear
what may have heard for years, but finally hear. Opens the mouth to call on God
for mercy and grace and salvation and Lord's help. Never cried
that before, except when they lost their jobs. This is all about the soul. You judge the quick, alive, and
the dead. God's going to judge them. Dead.
Either dead in sin or dead in religion. All right, here's the
charge. Look at verse 2. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. God's Word. Preach. There's a lot of them out there,
aren't there? There sure are a lot about them. And I've told you so many times
before that I don't introduce myself as a preacher. They'll
find it out soon enough. Without fail, when they find
it out, they've got to tell me how religious they are. And I didn't want to hear that,
and they didn't want to hear that I was a preacher, because it ruined
their day. Now, if there were more honest
fellows out there, I wouldn't hesitate to tell what I am. If
there were more honest, genuine, true, God-sent preachers out
there, fellows who weren't absolute idiots and fools and money-hungry,
name-hungry, glory-seeking, soul-butchering fellows. If there were more true
men, and they wouldn't go around telling everybody they were preaching.
They don't. If there were more of them, I
wouldn't be so hesitant to tell it. I wouldn't be ashamed of
it. But as it is, I'm ashamed to be linked with these idiots. I'm ashamed for people to think
that I'm one of these fools. But I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of the truth here. I'm not ashamed of God's
Word. God does have true preachers.
How do you know them? They preach the Word. Preaching,
what is preaching? It's not a bunch of religious
cheerleading, which is all that religion today is made up of.
Trying to pump people up, you know. You can have the victory. Mike, it's no different than
what Elizabeth is going to try to do before Benjamin Franklin. Cheer people on. Come on now,
get up, get up, come on. You got the victory. Give me
a V. V. Give me a jack, give me an
ape. Trying to pump people up. You
can have it, it's yours. Deliverance, deliverance, deliverance. That's not preaching. Preaching
is declaring. That's what the word means. Preaching
is setting forth. That's what the word means. Preaching
is pronouncing. Preaching is expounding what? Not man's thoughts, man's opinions. God's Word. Line upon line, precept
upon precept, that is, of God's Word. Verse by verse of God's
Word. The Word of God. Thus saith the
Lord. It doesn't matter what Billy
Graham said. It doesn't matter a hill of beans
what he thinks. It doesn't matter what Robert
Shuler said. For that matter, it doesn't matter what Paul Mahan
says, or Henry Mahan. It doesn't matter. But what really
does matter, and what God does use, and what every human being
better hear is, thus saith the Lord. It's not man's wisdom we use.
It's not man's opinions, thoughts. It's not cute little homilies,
but God's word. So he tells young Timothy, you
preach the word. Be instant. What does that mean? Many of these fellows think it
means instantaneous, spontaneous, you know. A lot of fellows believe
that you don't need notes or shouldn't study. When the very
Word of God says that, study to show yourselves approved.
And it's very obvious some of them don't study. It's very obvious
that they needed notes. Be instant. What does it mean?
Always doing it, ready to do it, apt, remember up there in
chapter two, apt to teach. Always doing it. In season and
out of season. Not just on Sunday, but at all
times, whenever the opportunity arises. In season, out of season. Not just because you're Sunday
morning, you've got your sermon ready, and now it's time to be
religious. You know, hirelings just work
when it's time to work. They just work when it's time
to work. Like the difference between a nurse and a mother.
A nurse will take care of that baby, an eight-hour shift, and
then go home, leave it to somebody else. A mother is with it all
the time, cares for it, loves it, and so forth. A hireling
goes to work, works eight hours, and he's off. He's off duty. Not a man who is alive. I'll
give you an illustration. Mindy's parents, years ago, before
the Lord revealed himself to them, before he revealed the
truth to them, they were prominent members of a so-called Christian
church in Ashmore, Kentucky. Ed Ballard, her father, being
one of the largest contributors and a deacon. Their so-called
preacher would come over and play cards with them. Yeah, he'd
play cards on Saturday night or whenever it was that they
got together. I don't know when it was. They
went over, he would go over and play cards with them. And this
actually happened. At about some time in that point,
Her dad and mother both began to be exposed to the truth through
tapes and through a man named Ed Stevens and others who were
talking to her father about the truth in a place where they're
really preaching and give them tapes. And they began to hear
it and begin to ask questions and want to know something. Life
was starting. Their eyes began to be opened. One of the first things God does
is make you real dissatisfied with religion. If that's all
you're in, religion, he makes you real unhappy there until
you find where Christ is, where the truth is. At any rate, they
were playing cards that night. And this happened. Joyce, her
mother, said, asked the so-called preacher a question from the
Bible. He said, Reverend so-and-so,
or whatever his name was. What about such-and-such a person
says this, and he said, oh, Joyce. He actually said, he said, Joyce,
we're playing cards right now. Isn't that what he said? We're playing cards right now.
Don't ask me that. That's a hireling. If he was a true man, he'd be
nothing wrong with playing cards. But he's hoping an opportunity
like that will open up. He's playing cards to have fun,
but he's hoping that something profitable will come up, that
he'll get the opportunity to say something worthwhile, that
maybe he'll put the cards down and do something worthwhile.
That's what the instant means. This is a rebuke to me, not by
cards, but that there's too much. Too many opportunities
wasted. Anyway, he says, preach the word,
be instant. Always doing it, ready to do
it, in season and out of season. Whether it's time or not, he
is. Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season. He
tells this to Titus, he tells it to Timothy, he tells it to
me. Reprove, rebuke, exhort. with all longsuffering and doctrine. This is what preaching the word
will do if it's done right. Okay? Now, first I need to remind
myself that he says, do it with all longsuffering. Reprove, rebuke,
with all longsuffering. Lord, help us. We're guilty. guilty of being mean and treating
people like they're not human or something. But he says, do it with all longsuffering. In another place, he says, do
it with patience and understanding and meekness, considering yourself.
He tells him to do it with meekness, considering yourself. This is
not your word. It's God's word. And it applies
to you, Timothy, as well as them. Because you need it as much as
they need it. So do it with long-suffering.
Do it with long-suffering. Patience, that is. Understanding. Putting up with. That's what
God does with you. He puts up with you. And doctrine. Doctrine being instruction. Doctrine
means teaching. Remember Brother Stoniker instructing
us as to what chastening means? I learned something when he brought
that message about chastening. Chastening is educate, educate. Chastening, when God really chastens,
he's teaching us, he's teaching his children. When fathers chasten
their children, it's not their object to just inflict punishment
on them. No, they want to teach them something.
Don't do that again. This is what's going to happen
if you keep doing that. Now, learn from this, he said.
That's the whole object of chasing it. Is that right? That's what
doctrine is, teaching. All right. Now, let's look at
these three things, OK? Reprove. Now, reprove means this.
Reprove means convict, convince. Reprove. Go with me to John chapter 16,
John 16. Reprove belongs It is pointed
mostly at those who don't know God. It's pointed at those who don't
believe the truth, who don't believe Christ. And it's pretty evident most
of the time when somebody doesn't know God or Christ because they
have no interest. It's obvious. Whoever you're
interested in, if you bring up their name, that person will
light up. No apparent love, no commitment. Love is commitment. The reason marriage is the ultimate
sign of love is its commitment. It's out-and-out commitment before
everybody, saying, this is the person I want to spend my entire
life with, forsaking everybody else. This is the one. Now, that's
love. Commitment. It's the same way spiritually.
A person confesses Christ and unites and joins with God's family
and says, this is my life. Christ is my life. These are
my people. Like Ruth said to Naomi. your God's my guard, your people
my people, I'm leaving Moab and this is where I want to be. It's
pretty obvious when people don't have that commitment. They're
there. They don't know God, not interested in God. Pretty obvious.
Not always, but most of the time it is. And this is the sin that we need
reproof for. Reproved of. Sin of unbelief. Number 1, John 16, verses 8 and
9, our Lord said, when he has come, the Holy Spirit, he will
reprove the world. It doesn't mean every single
individual in the world any more than John 3, 16 does. But it
means that people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue,
and so forth, language, in the world. The Holy Spirit does not
reprove every single individual. No, he does not. But when he
comes, he will reprove the world, the world of people, people out
of the world, of sin. This is what the Holy Spirit
does, reproves of sin, righteousness and judgment. Verse 9, of sin,
our Lord said, reprove of sin. What is the sin? What is the
sin of sin? What is God charging the world
with? The sin. Because they believe not on me. I believe in Jesus. Proof of sin, you know, and this
is what we were just talking about. Non-commitment. Like living with somebody. And if it doesn't work, they're
not out anything. That's a fact. It's the same
way in religion, spiritually speaking. People trying out church
after church and religion after religion never meets Christ and
the truth. I would lay hold on them like
love does. I've told the young people before,
you don't go out looking for love and trying out people like
the bachelor program. You don't do that. Love finds
you. and smites you, and lays hold on you, to where, I've got
to have this person. I can't live without, I can't
breathe without them. That's what love does. Tell me
about it. Stan, you and Sherry have been married a hundred years.
That's what happened, wasn't it? It's still the same, your
heart beating so forth. That's love. Try it out. You
don't try God. That's what preachers are telling
people. Try God. You don't try God. God Almighty
comes to a human being and says, I am that I am. You are. You don't try anybody else. You
know God. And you're never the same. And
you commit to Him. Lock, stock and barrel. Cost
what it may. Cost what it may. and a whole world full of religious
people trying God, and this is what the Holy Spirit better do
for us, reprove us of this part-time religion. It's with this love
for Christ, this need for Christ and Christ alone. It'd be better.
But we're dead. We're just in dead religion. There's some in here that need
reproof. And I hope, I can't do it, I
hope God Almighty will take this word, reproof, and smite between
the breasts of this heart and say, you don't know me, but you're going to. And now it's going to be life,
it's not going to be Sunday morning, it's going to be life. Ah, here's the danger now, he
that being often reproved and hardened at his neck, shall be suddenly cut off, and
that without remedy. No more. And there are those
that need open reproof for open sin. This is always Ditlin. stood
before Herod and said, You can't have that man's wife. You can't do this. It's wrong
what you're doing here. You can't break up a family. God will judge you. God's not going to bless that.
Is that right? For proof. Well, John got his
head cut off. Oh, buddy. And he told the truth. You can't do this. You can't
act like this. You can't put away your husband. You can't
put away your wife. You can't live like you want
to and do what you're doing and go where you're going and God
bless it. No, sir, you can't do it. This
is wrong. Now, you better put it down. All right, look at the next thing.
The word says, reprove, rebuke, rebuke. Now this, beloved people,
turn with me to Hebrews 12, Hebrews chapter 12, rebuke. And you know, while I want to
do that with longsuffering, I consider myself, I need reproving,
rebuking, I sure do. And while I want to do that with
longsuffering, I can't say it. There's only one way to say it.
You know, so one one way to say. The truth, and that's that now plain,
plainly say it. He told. Timothy, in another
place, hold fast the form of sound words. Whatever God said,
you say it, I know it sound old fashioned and people don't want
to hear it, repent. But that's what it says. So say it, loud
and clear. This is what God uses as a knife. We need a knife to strike it,
don't we? The only thing that will effectually
get the job done, an arrow. We need arrows, don't we? The
arrows of God. That's what David said, when
nine arrows stick in me. But do it with longsuffering,
considering yourself. Do it with meekness. Rebuke belongs
to God's people, believers. This is for the believer who,
the believer gets in a bad state. Everybody in here, there are
those in here right now that are in a bad state. There's those
in here who will be in a bad state, who have been, who will
be, including me. Get in a bad state. I mean a
bad state for various reasons. Cold, either cold, indifferent. Lazy, self-pity,
we all get on full of self-pity. Full of self-pity. Worldly, oh
yeah, God's people just get caught up in this world like everybody
else. Bitterness, there's a root of bitterness that sometimes
gets in God's people and they don't act like they've got good
sense. They don't treat people right. This bitterness just sprung
up and is troubling them. It's troubling everybody that's
around them. And we all get into any number of bad ways that a
human being can get into. All of us. Starting with me. Now, the proverb says, Rebuke
a wise man and he'll love you. He'll love you. Do you want to be rebuked? Do you want to be rebuked? If
we don't, it's bad news. Open rebuke. The Scripture says
open rebuke is better than secret love. It's better to be rebuked
than to not realize what you're doing. Look at Hebrews 12, verse
5. You have forgotten, he says,
the exhortation which speaketh unto you, as unto children. My son, despise not thou the
chastening, teaching, instruction, mostly painful, of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him." Sammy, don't you want
the Lord to keep rebuking you? I do. I do. Approaching 50 years old,
my father's getting toward 80, and there are times when he says
things to me that it's a rebuke. I need it. I still need it. When do you ever quit needing
a rebuke? I guess when you've learned everything.
Right in front, I guess if you don't need rebuke, you're perfect.
Don't need a thing. Learned it all. Been there, done
that. It's around you. Rebuke. People, we get into,
God's people get into this, these various states, as I said, like
self-pity. And here's what rebukes us when
we get like that. God's work. God's work. We get into self-pity, where
we think that I've got more troubles than anybody, and nobody ever
had troubles like I've got. If everybody knew how bad my
troubles were, they'd treat me differently. God's Word says, look not on
your own things, but on the things of others. There's somebody out
there with worse troubles than yours. Yes, sir. Guarantee it. I don't care how bad it is. And that'll get you out of some
self-pity. We all get into it. You look at so-and-so, somebody,
like down in Mexico or wherever. You say, oh, woe is them. Oh, my troubles are very light
compared to theirs, aren't they? That'll get you out of it. God's
Word is the only thing that'll do it. The only thing that'll
do it. We get in states of being very
childish, very immature believers. I'm talking to believers here,
those who profess to know the truth, know God's Word, know
We get into times where we're very childish, very immature,
act very childish. And the scriptures comes and
says, quit yourself like men. He said, be a child in malice,
that is, don't don't get your feelings so hurt so quickly like
some people do, but be like a little child who very quickly forgets
and forgives and goes on, you know, is not just brooding for
days. No. Be a child in malice. Be
a man in understanding. Understand. You need to understand
something. Whatever happens to you, take it. Take the bad with the
good. We become very sluggish. Very sluggish to the things of
God. Believers, I'm talking about.
Very sluggish. It says, Awake thou that sleepest. Let us not sleep as do others,
lest we sleep the sleep of death. This is not a sermon here. This
is life or death. If we keep on sleeping through
it, it may mean that we don't know it. That's how serious it
is. We get into states of irresponsibility. Irresponsible. As members of
the body, they're not Carrying our load. Huh? Rebuke. Just let me do it with
long suffering. Members of the body. Members
of the family. They're all members of that one
family. They all live in the same house. They all partake
of the same blessings, same benefits. They all have it. And they all
have choice. Work to do. Right? And we get in a state of irresponsibility
where we're not productive. The Word of God says if anybody
doesn't work, don't let them eat. How convict you are. Scripture
says, Go to the ant, thou slugger. Irresponsible. A man is supposed
to work eight hours a day out of the sweat of his brow. That's
what the Scripture says. We get into states of, well,
Scripture deals with fathers. There are fathers in here. What's
the purpose of a father in the house? What's a father to be
to his wife and children, first and foremost? A believer. I'm
talking about a believer. He's the high priest of the home. He's the spiritual high priest
of the home. He's the spiritual high priest
of the home. His number one priority is the
spiritual welfare of his wife and children. Yes, sir. And he does it by example. And
he does it by word. We need rebuke. You're going to raise a daughter,
Sam. It's a soul. It's not a baby. It's a soul. It's going to live
before God Almighty. Either lost or saved. Either
one of God's elect or not. That's how serious it is. It's not just another baby. It's
a soul. It's going to live before God
someday. And our priority. Do we need this rebuke? Our first
priority is not to provide things for our children. To bring them up under the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. To hear the scriptures that they
might be wise and selfish. Right? If they don't even, well,
I've got to go on. Mothers. Mothers. And I've got to quit. Mothers. Teach. Lead. Same thing. Children, by example, don't live
for ourselves, but our number one priority is their spiritual
well-being. Members serve the body. And on
and on I could go. The word of God rebukes those
that are rich. He says, don't set your heart
on it. Those that are poor, he says,
be content with such things as you have. Those that are married,
he says, don't try to be married. Time is going to come when those
that are married be as though they have not. And vice versa. Those that are married, he says,
don't seek to get out of it. The grass is not greener. Those
that are unmarried, don't try to be married. Don't seek it.
Seek it. If it happens, fine. Because
it's time to show it. Scripture rebukes, rebukes, rebukes,
rebukes. They're wise now, here. And I
close with this. He says, exhort. Exhort. And go with me. I had five places
I wanted you to turn. Let's go to, let's see. Hebrews 10, am I right? Hebrews
chapter 10. Let's go there in closing. Exhort. Now this also belongs
to God's people. Exhort them. Exhort, the word
means, the word exhort means to invoke, to implore. The word
exhort means to call near. The word exhort means to beseech,
to be comforted. When you exhort somebody, come
on, come on. It's not begging now, but it
means come on. Come on now. You ever exhorted
anybody? Come on. There's times when you
do it, but would you come on? Come on. You know, let's exhort. That's what the word means. Call
near. That's what it means. Come on! There's a time to do
it in different ways, isn't there? But you're still very serious
about it. Hebrews 10 says in verse 23 through 25, Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Hold fast means
to lay hold of something and not be willing to let go. You
can't have this. When you lay hold of something,
it means you've got a hold of it and somebody's trying to get
it away. I want you to drop it, and you
say, No! This is mine. I've got to have this. Let us lay hold of the faith.
What's the faith? It's Christ. It's eternal life.
It's the things of God that there ain't nothing in this world worth
dropping for. There's nothing, nobody worth
dropping this for. Because these things are temporal,
vanity of vanity. But this, now this is life. This
is forever. You love your children? If they
know God, and you know God, you'll be with them through eternity.
I'm telling you. But if you don't, you'll just
know them for a few years, and then your heart is broken forever. This is eternal. Huh? The things that are seen, the
Scripture says, are temporal, don't last. None of it, no matter
what happiness, no matter what peace, no matter what joy, nothing
in this world lasts. But the things that are unseen
are eternal. That means forever. Joy without
bounds. Happiness with no end, with no
cessation. Love, all-consuming, complete,
expressive, just totally. We're going to say, does this have an end? No, no
tears, no tears ever. One eternal smile on your face. There's only one way to enjoy
that. Only one way to be there. That's how important this is.
But the rest of it, it's not going to last. Oh, I'm so happy
now. We'll see. Give you a few years. We'll see how happy you were.
That's all. Oh, fast profession of our faith
without wavering. He's faithful. He promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love. I like that verse. We provoke
in many ways. Scripture says we provoke one
another. We do, don't we? I'm the chief offender. We just provoke one another. Get mad at one another. Provoke.
Well, he says we start provoking to love. Do something to make
them love us. And good work. Not forsaking,
verse 25, I close, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together.
Why, Paul? It's just a church meeting. No,
it's not. Christ said, I'm coming in the same way you saw me go,
where my people were meeting together, watching me leave.
He said, I'm going to go. I'm going to come back. My people
are meeting together, looking for me to come. That's how serious it is. Not
forsaking the assembly of ourselves as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another. Come on now. What are you doing? Where are you going? What are you after? You're going
to do what with who? Who? You're going where? You're
going to do... Now, long suffering. Long suffering. I got to remember,
I need to write that down right here. And big work letters. Long suffering. There's a lot
of things I like. And I know I have the liberty,
some liberties you don't have, to go at days of the week that
you can't go to work. I know that. There was a time
when I didn't. I'm not telling you to do what
I didn't do. I quit my job so I could worship. Yes, sir. Yes, I did. I quit my job. Potential to have $75,000 a year
15 years ago. Because it's taken me away from
worship. So I'm not telling you to do what I didn't do. I'm telling
you the truth. Is the Lord blessed me? Oh, has he blessed me? Has he
blessed me? But you see somebody, you know,
long suffering. You see somebody going after
this and that and the other, and you just want to say, why? Who? What is this? What is so
important to you? Who? What? Where? When? What? Why is this? The
Lord has promised all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. And all these things will be
added to you. That's God's promise. You can't lie. Can't make promises. And I'm living example. And some
of you are too. Living example. It can't be outgiven. Any kind
of sacrifice made for his glory and his honor, he's going to
reward. He's going to reward. Exhort.
Exhort. Come on now. This thing's short.
Time is short. Why are you playing around? You're
fooling around. There's too much at stake here.
Lives at stake, souls at stake, yours is at stake. And there's only one thing to
do. The Lord said, seek after him. You'll find him. Search
with all your heart. With him comes peace, happiness,
joy, and all these things added to it. That's his promise. Reprove,
rebuke, exhort. That's the word. Long suffering.
and doctrine. Time will come when they won't
receive that. All right, Brother Gabe, you have a hymn picked
out?