If you would open your Bibles
with me to the book of 2nd Timothy. Chapter 4 2nd Timothy Chapter
4. Lord willing, Janet and I will
be leaving for vacation following the service. Today we're looking
forward to that. It's been two years since she's
seen the ocean and that's too long for Janet, so we're looking
forward to that. Lord willing, Eric Floyd will
preach here Wednesday night and Brother Luke Coffee will be here
to preach both messages next Sunday. We'll be, Lord willing,
traveling home on Sunday. You're also, I want to make sure,
it's in the bulletin, I want to make sure you see this, invited
to a baby shower for Sailor James Simpson. I think everybody knows
Luke and Michaela are the parents, but you know, we're going to
have a baby shower for her, the date and time is here in the
bulletin, so we look forward to that and we look forward to
her arrival. Luke, we're praying for already.
Already. I know you are, too. Also, let
me pass this along to you. Lynn Nybert was put back in the
hospital yesterday or the day before. She has developed a fever.
Todd said they ran cultures. They found no signs of infection
or anything. There is some sort of air pocket
has developed in one of those organs. And so she's back in
the hospital. They're monitoring her. He says
she feels pretty rough, so let's continue to remember them in
prayer. All right, 2 Timothy chapter 4. I charge thee. That got my attention. I charge thee. Therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lust, shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry,
for I am now ready to be offered And the time of my departure
is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. Timothy,
you haven't finished yours. You've got a course ahead of
you. He said, I finished my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge should give me at that day. And not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. We'll
end our reading there. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. Let me, my Savior and my God,
on thy free grace rely, and own tis free because bestowed on
one so lost as I. Free grace alone can wipe the
tears from my poor weeping eyes, and raise my soul from guilty
fears to joy that never dies. Free grace can death itself outbrave,
and take the sting away. Can sinners to the utmost save,
and give them victory. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to song number 448, He Ransomed Me. There's a sweet and blessed story
of the Christ who came from glory just to rescue me from sin and
misery. He in loving kindness sought
me, And from sin and shame has brought me. Alleluia! Jesus ransomed me. Alleluia, what a Savior, who
can take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay,
and set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory. Hallelujah, Jesus ransomed me. From the depth of sin and sadness
to the heights of joy and gladness, Jesus lifted me in mercy full
and free. With his precious blood he bought
me. When I knew him, not he sought
me. And in love divine, He ransomed
me. Hallelujah, what a Savior, Who
can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry clay,
And set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory. Alleluia, Jesus ransomed me. By and by, with joy increasing,
and with gratitude unceasing, lifted up to be with Christ eternally. I will join the hosts they're
singing in the anthem ever ringing to the King of Love who ransomed
me. Alleluia, what a Savior, who
can take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay and
set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory. Hallelujah, Jesus ransomed me. Open your Bibles with me this
morning to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. We'll begin
in verse 13 and we're going to read through into a few verses
into chapter four. Gavin asked me the other day,
how do you load? How did, how did they know God's
name? I thought that was a good question. Exodus chapter three, beginning
in verse 13. And Moses said unto God, behold,
when I am coming to the children of Israel and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, they shall
say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? God
said unto Moses, I am that I am. He said, Thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, I am, hath sent me unto you. God said, Moreover unto Moses,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Lord God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever, and
this is my memorial unto all generations. Go and gather the
elders of Israel together, and say unto them, the Lord God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob appeared
unto me saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which
is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring
you up out of the affliction of Egypt under the land of the
Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the parasites
and the high bites and the Jebusites unto a land flowing with milk
and honey. they shall hearken to thy voice.
Now shalt come thou and the elders of Israel unto the king of Egypt,
and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath
met with us. Now let us go. We beseech thee three days journey
into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.
And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go. No, not by a mighty hand. I will
stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which
I will do in the midst thereof. And after that, he will let you
go. And I will give this people favor in the side of the Egyptians.
And it shall come to pass that when you go, you shall not go
empty. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor and of
her that sojourneth in the house, jewels of silver and jewels of
gold and raiment. shall put them upon your sons
and upon your daughters, and you shall spoil the Egyptians.'
And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe
me nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath
not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What
is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. He said,
Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground,
and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before him.
And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take
it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and
caught it. And it became a rod in his hand that they may believe
that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob had appeared unto thee. The Lord said furthermore
unto him, put now thine hand into thy bosom. He put his hand
into his bosom. He took it out. Behold, his hand
was leprous snow. He said, put forth, put, put
thine hand into thy bosom again. He put his hand into his bosom
again and, and plucked it out of his bosom and behold, it was
turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass if
they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall
come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs,
neither hearken unto thy voice that thou shalt take of the water
of the river and poured on the dry land. And the water which
thou takest of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the Lord,
O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since
thou has spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and have
a slow tongue. And Lord said unto him, who hath
made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing
or the blind, Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. We'll
end our reading there. Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, what
a privilege it is that we have the right to address you for
Christ's sake, bow before you, and to be heard for Christ's
sake. Father, we will this morning
that thou make thou name known in this place this morning. Reveal
yourself in Christ according to your will, according to your
mercy, according to your good pleasure. We pray that you reveal
yourself here this morning. What we pray for ourselves here,
we pray for our family, for your children, for the redeemed who
are meeting everywhere, wherever that be, You bless the message
that your name be revealed to us poor sinners or helpless sinners
that you would see fit to reveal your name in mercy. Allow us
to see Christ. We pray for that comfort, that
faith for ourselves. We pray for that same comfort
for those that are undergoing trial, wherever that trial may
be. Father, if we could see a glimpse of you, The trial is put in perspective. Father, we pray that we see your
face in holiness and in truth and in mercy this morning. That
you bless our pastor and bless the other pastors with a message
from you. That those of us who are listening,
that you give us a heart of faith to believe and give us eyes to
see. Give us a heart that would come
to Christ for mercy. We'll never come unless you call
us. Father, we pray that you call
us here this morning. We thank you for this time. We
pray that you be with us and bless during this service. We
pray this in Christ's name and for his sake. No work of mine may take, dear
Lord, the place of Thine. Thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me. And glorified I too shall be,
yeah, justified, O blessed ? And sanctified salvation wrought
? ? Thy blood hath poured and bought for me ? ? And glorified
I too shall be ? ? Complete in thee, no more shall sin ? ? Thy
grace hath conquered pain within ? the tempter flee, and I shall
stand complete in thee. Yet justified, O blessed God,
and sanctified, salvation wrought, thy blood hath poured. for me
and glorified I too shall be complete in thee each one supplied
and no good thing to me denied since thou my portion Lord will
be I ask no more Yet justified, O blessed thought,
And sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood hath poured and bought
for me, And glorified I too shall be. Dear Savior, when before
Thy bar All tribes and tongues assembled are Among Thy chosen,
will I be At Thy right hand complete? It justified, O blessed thought,
And sanctified salvation wrought. Thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me, And glorified I too shall be. If you would open your Bibles
now with me to 2 Timothy chapter four. I sigh because I feel the enormous
weight of what we're getting ready to do. The title of the
message is The Importance of Preaching. We were getting ready this morning,
and we're leaving on vacation after the service. And I had
the car pretty much all packed up, was getting dressed, and
Janet said, you're almost in vacation mode. And I said, yes, but I have two
very important messages to preach first. I feel like they're both
very important. And it struck me. If we're preaching
the word, as Paul commands us here, the Holy Spirit commands
us here, every message is very important. Very important. Preaching
the gospel is the main part of every worship service that we
have. It's the focus, the focal point.
And I'll tell you why that is. It's because sinners can only
be saved by the preaching of Christ. God's people, can only
be fed, their hearts can only be fed and strengthened and encouraged
by the preaching of Christ. And I'm not saying that to exalt
myself or to exalt preachers. I say that because it's true.
It's true. God's people will only be saved,
they'll only be fed, they'll only be comforted, they'll only
be taught by preaching, preaching of Christ. God has the power
to save his people any way you can think of. God has the power
to do that, but he won't. God has the power that he could
just, out of the clear blue sky, make you understand the word
without anybody even teaching it to you. He could do that,
but he doesn't. He doesn't do it that way. The
Ethiopian eunuch was a smart man. He had to be a smart man
to be the treasurer, have the job that he had, a smart man.
But he told Philip, I cannot understand what I'm reading,
except some man should guide me. And when some man, Philip,
guided him, he understood, he believed Christ. The word is
understood and is believed in preaching. Look at Romans chapter
10. Hold your finger there. We'll
come back here in 2 Timothy in just a moment. Romans chapter
10. God could just strike you with lightning and make you suddenly
know who Christ is and suddenly trust him even though you've
never heard of him before. God has the power to do that, but
he doesn't do that. Romans 10 verse 13. For whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Gavin asked his daddy an interesting
question this week. How did they know God's name? Well, God told him. God spoke
out loud and he told him. How do we know God's name today?
This book. Look what Paul says here, verse
14. How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? Oh, the importance
of the preaching of God's word. That's how God's people know
and believe him. Somebody's got to tell them who
Christ is. God could save his people through somebody preaching
a lie. God could do that, he could,
but he doesn't. James 1 verse 18 says, of his
own will begat he us. It's by God's will and God's
power he begat us, isn't it? How'd he do it? By the word of
truth. The word of truth. Somebody's
got to preach the word. And our text this morning gives
us some understanding of the importance of preaching the word
in truth. This is how God is pleased to
save his people. The importance of preaching the
gospel. We're gonna see how important
that really is, I hope. And the first point is this.
Preaching the word is so important, because God's charged us to preach
it. Now look back at 2 Timothy chapter
four, verse one. I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, Preach the word. Preach the word. Paul gives Timothy
and us a charge, a charge before God to preach God's word. Preach
and just say what God says. When we preach God's word, we're
going to have to just say what God says. We're not to preach
our own ideas. We're to preach the Word of God.
Preach what God says. Thus saith the Lord. You go back
and look at all those Old Testament prophets, how many times did
they come to Israel and say, thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. We're not to preach to get people
to come to our way of thinking. We're to preach so people come
to God's way of thinking. So that they bow to Christ and
believe on Him. When we preach the Word, the
written Word, We're to preach Christ. You can't separate Christ
and his word. We're to preach Christ the incarnate
word. When we preach the word, whatever
page God leads you to, whatever page that is, whatever verse
that is, whatever line that is, I promise you this, the subject
is Christ. He's the subject of the whole
book. And we are to preach the person of Christ. We're to tell
folks who Christ is with this purpose so that they'll believe
him, so that they'll trust him. We're to preach Christ our righteousness. Not our works of righteousness,
but Him. We're to preach Christ the Savior
who did all the work of salvation. He shouted, it's finished. Now
you know what that means? It's finished. It's complete.
Rest. Rest in Christ. I've been kind
of looking ahead. We'll get back to this in a few
weeks. When I get back on a Wednesday
night, we're going to look at the seventh day of creation.
You know why God rested? There was nothing left to do.
It was all done. And He tells us, now you rest
in Christ. You know why you rest in Christ?
There's nothing left to do. He did it all, now you rest in
Him. We're to preach Christ, who He is, so all of our faith,
all of our hope, all of our trust will be in Him alone. Paul tells us, preach the Word.
Preaching the Word means this. We're to preach the gospel every
single time we preach, with no other agenda, but that people
know the word of God, that they're taught the word of God. Every
single time we preach, we preach. We are to preach the three R's
of the gospel. You know what they are? The first
R is ruined. Men, all men are ruined in the
fall of Adam. When Adam fell, when Adam sinned,
we did too. We fell in him. We sinned in
him because Adam is our representative. He's our father. That's how we
got in all this mess in the first place. We died in Adam. We just became ruined. When something's
ruined, it's beyond repair. It's beyond repair. We were ruined
in Adam, beyond repair in sin. The second R is redeemed. We're
redeemed. by the blood of Christ, and that's
what we're to preach. We're to preach the blood of
Christ. There's a forgiveness of sin
in the blood of Christ. There's atonement with God in
the blood of Christ. We are to preach a bloody, bloody
gospel, the blood of a sacrifice. Oh, but there's good news in
that blood. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. We died in sin. We were made
sinners in Adam. But the blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. The blood of Christ takes away
all the sin that makes God angry and brings us back to God. And
the blood of Christ tells us that Christ died. It's not like
he went down to the Red Cross and gave a pint of blood. That'd
be a good thing. People need blood. But the blood
of Christ tells us he didn't just donate blood, he died. He
gave all of his blood, all of his blood offered on the altar
before his father. He died and the death of Christ
satisfies God's justice. That's how God can forgive the
sin of his people and still be just. That's how God, a holy
God, can forgive the sin of his people without violating his
holiness because there's already been death for sin. The substitute
died and all of his people died in him. That's how God can be
both just and justifier of the ungodly. It's through the blood. We're redeemed by the blood.
The third R is regenerated. And this is what we're to preach.
We're regenerated. God's people are given spiritual
life by God the Holy Spirit. When God saves a sinner, remember
that sinner's ruined in Adam. So God doesn't take that old,
even God doesn't take that old nature and fix it up. No, God
gives his people a brand new nature. He causes a new man to
be born who's never existed before. And that man is holy. He's righteous. And you know how, how, why he's
holy, why he's righteous, why he cannot sin? Because he's born
from righteous, holy, sinless seed, the word of God. See, that's
why we're to preach the word because it's this word that God
uses to give life to his people. And it is that new man that born
of God, who will appear in glory. One day he's going to escape
this body of death and he's going to live. He's going to go be
with the Lord and nothing can ever make him perish. That's
the ruin by the fall, redeemed by the blood, regenerated by
the spirit. It's called successful salvation of his people. When
we preach the word, we're to tell people who God is. God is
just. He's holy. He's merciful. He's
gracious. We are in God's hand. This is
the truth of the matter. We're in God's hand. He'll do
with us as he pleases. It's not the other way around.
False preachers make it sound like you got to decide. God's
in your hand. No, sir. We're in God's hand. He's going
to decide what to do with us and whatever he does is right. Well, thank God it pleases him
to show mercy to his people. Aren't you glad to be in His
hand? It pleases Him to show mercy to sinners. That's who
God is. And when we preach the word,
we're to tell people the truth about them. We're to tell the
truth about man. We're not to brag on folks. We're
not to get them to feel good about themselves. We're actually
to get them to feel bad about themselves. Since we're ruined
in sin, you and I can't do anything but sin. Everything we do is
sinful. Everything we do. Everything
we say, everything we think, everything we want to do, it's
all sinful. Nothing sinners like you and me can do will ever please
God. Ever, ever, ever. So we need
somebody else to do all the saving for us. We can't please God.
We need somebody else to come please God for us. Our death
don't amount to a hill of beans. As far as God's justice is concerned,
it's not. We need Christ to die in our
place. We need his blood to atone for our sin, because we've got
nothing to pay. And when we preach the word,
we're to tell folks who Christ is, who God is, who we are, and
who Christ the Savior is. Christ the Savior is not some
hippie with long hair that's just walking around like he's
in a fog of marijuana. He's the successful Savior of
sinners. He's the sovereign savior who
saves whom he will, when he will. And he has saved all of God's
elect from all of their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
almighty. His name is the eternal father. And that what Isaiah told us.
He won with the father. He's God. So I can tell you this
since he's God, he did exactly what he came to do. And the angel
told us what he came to do. He's coming to save his people
from their sins. And that's exactly what he did. All of God's people,
everyone for whom Christ died is completely and fully saved
and justified. And we're to preach that Christ
so that sinners will believe him, so that they'll run to him
for mercy. But we're also to preach that
Christ so that God's people will be taught how to walk. how to
conduct themselves as they walk through this world. I touched
on this in a lesson this morning. When a believer is born again,
regenerated by the Spirit, a new man born has never existed before,
that new nature believes God, loves God, trusts God, that nature
trusts Christ. And it can't not trust Christ. It can't believe in anything
else. But this is also true. We're to be taught to trust Christ. Well, how's that happen? By the
preaching of the word. The believer has a loving nature.
God's people love. You can read all about that in
1 John. But yet we're taught, we're to be taught to love. Well,
how are God's people gonna be taught to love? By the preaching
of Christ. By hearing of his love for you.
That'll make us love him. Same thing with forgiving. We
had a whole lesson on this just a little bit ago. A believer
has a forgiving nature, but yet we're to be taught to forgive.
How's that happen? By the preaching of Christ, seeing
who he is. A believer has been given a giving
nature. They will give, they'll give
of themselves, they'll give of their time, they'll give of their
money, they'll give of their talents, but yet we need to be
taught the grace of giving. Well, how's that happen? by the
preaching of Christ who gave himself for us. That'll teach
the believer to give. When we preach the word, we're
to preach everything, everything that God says in his word, and
say it boldly, say it clearly, and say it without apology. It's
the word of God. That's what we need to hear.
Look at Hebrews chapter 13. This matter of preaching, Mighty serious business. Mighty serious business. It's
a charge from God, who is our judge. God's going to judge me
on what I preach to you. It had better be the truth than
hadn't it. Hebrews 13 verse 17. Obey them that have the rule
over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls
as they that must give account. that they may do it with joy,
not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you. Obey them. They watch for your soul. Those
who preach to you, they watch for your soul. I assure you of this. I sit in
my study every single day, seven days a week. And you wouldn't believe how
you're on my heart when I do. I'm seeking God's message. I've
seeking God's face. But I'm seeking a message for
you. Watch for your soul. I can't
make you believe it, but I'm responsible for what you hear.
God's going to judge me on it. I'm accountable to God and I'm
accountable to you. Well, it better be true to that.
For God's glory and our good. And how I pray you listen and
believe this word preached. Because Paul says God's going
to judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead. What's
the difference between the quick, the living and the dead? What's
the difference between the two? Believing this word. Believing
this word preached. If you believe this word, if
you believe the Christ that you hear declared unto you, you know
why you believe it? You already have eternal life.
That's why you believe it. And if you do not believe this
word, if you do not believe this Christ who we declare unto you,
then the reason you don't believe it is you're spiritually dead.
I hope you won't remain that way, but if you don't believe
this, it's because you're spiritually dead. And preaching this word
is so important that we're to do it at all times. Every single time God gives us
the opportunity to preach, we're to preach this word. Paul says
in verse two, preach the word, Be instant, in season, out of
season, in season and out. You know, I told you I sit in
my study every day, but I never have to wonder what to preach,
never. Now, I have to seek a text that
God would have us here for the hour, but I never have to wonder
what to preach. I never have to wonder what the
subject of the message is because the subject's always the same.
It's Christ. From just different passages
of scripture, the subject's Christ. Brother Eric's gonna preach here
Wednesday night. Y'all pray for him. You see how important this
is, this matter of preaching. Y'all pray for him. You come
here and preach. It's important. Important to hear. I don't know
what his text is, but I can tell you what his subject is. It's
Christ. It's Christ. That's who we need
to hear. And we're to preach that message at all times. When
everything's going our way. And everything's against us.
Preach Christ. We're to preach Christ whether
we're rich or poor. We're to preach Christ whether people
love us or hate us. Whether they love what they're saying or whether
they hate what we're saying. Whether we got a big crowd or
a little crowd, we are to preach Christ. We're to preach Christ. We're to preach the word when
children are born and when old men are dying. We're to preach
the word every time God gives us the opportunity to preach.
And I'll tell you the reason for it. It's everybody's needs. People come to the worship service
from a wide variety of walks of life. They come here with
a wide variety of needs. There are lots of needs, but
there's a wide variety of them, and physically speaking. Some
people come to the service in the depths of despair, in the
valley, valley, valley of trial. Some people come on the mountaintop.
God's just blessing them, and the sun's shining, it's warm, People who are old come to the
worship service, and people who are young come to the worship
service. I don't care who you are, whether you're rich or poor,
whether you're old or young, whether you're white or black,
whether you're on the mountaintop or in the valley, whether you're
happy or you're sad, I don't care who you are, where you're
coming from, what's going on in your life right now, I can
promise you this, we all have the exact same need. It's Christ. It's Christ. That's not just
words. I look at you, and I know some
things. I know things you're going through.
I know what's going on in so many of your lives. I'm telling
you, the answer to what you need is Christ. Now, you look to Him. You look to Him. We need to hear
Him and believe Him and rest in Him. I don't care what other
circumstances we got are. We need Him. We need to believe
Him, trust Him, and rest in Him. And I'll tell you why Paul is
giving this charge to Timothy right now. We believe this is
the last epistle the apostle wrote. He's sending this charge
to this young preacher because Paul knew he's not going to be
here for long. He says in verse six, I'm not ready to be offered.
And the time of my departure is at hand. Paul knew he soon
leaving this world. You think, what a preacher this
man must have been. He's an apostle of Christ. He
learned the gospel from Christ himself. And boy, he went preaching,
didn't he? The spirit moved him to write
the lion's share of the New Testament, the epistles. Oh, the preacher
this man must have been, the teacher this man must have been.
We have his epistles. Can you imagine him preaching
to Timothy? Here's this young man, this young preacher, concerned
about the burden of preaching. How am I supposed to preach God's
word to God's people? And Paul takes him under his
wing. Can you imagine the conversations that the two of them had? Oh,
how he wanted to teach Timothy. And you know what's on Paul's
heart this time? He's not worried about himself. He didn't say,
I'm going to have this horrible death, and I'm going to have
this trial, and everybody's going to be mean to me. He said, Tom, my departure
is at hand. I'm leaving this place. Time
of our departure to go on vacation is pretty close. You ain't sad
about it, are you? I'm not. No. Paul's not sad about this.
Time of my departure is at hand. But you know what he wants? He
wants the preaching of Christ to continue. He wants God's people
to be fed and encouraged. He wants God's people to continue
to be called out. And it's only going to happen
if somebody keeps preaching. Somebody keeps preaching. We
don't always need Paul, but we need somebody else. We've got
to send somebody else. And the job, the charge that
God has given us, Hurricane Road Grace Church, the charge God's
given us, not just me, but all of us, is to preach the word,
to preach Christ to our generation. I remember growing up and being
a young man and hearing Henry say this, and it just, I was
so young and I thought, I just thought that time of life
was going to go on forever. And I thought it was kind of
odd how often he said this. He told us, listen to today's
preachers. Listen to today's preachers.
Reading and listening to the old preachers of the past is
fine. I do it every week. But I'm telling you, God's speaking
to our generation today. through preachers preaching today.
They're God's messengers to you, to you, today, 2021. What a blessing it is. We got a lot of them. We got
maybe more than in any time in recent history. We got more men
faithfully preaching Christ. What a blessing. That is what
Paul was wanting for his day. He wanted Timothy to continue.
Oh, it's so important. All right, number two. The rest
of my points aren't near that long, but I told Jen, getting
ready to go on vacation, Paul says, preach the word. I said,
I just might preach the whole thing. I mean, it's just hard
telling how long I'm gonna preach. I'll get to rest for after this.
It's just hard telling, but I won't. Here's the second point. The
preaching of the word is so important because only God's word can help
us. And Paul gives us here three
things that the word of God does that nothing else will do. In
verse two, he says, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long
suffering. First, the word reproves, and
the word means to convince, it means to convict, and it also
means to expose. We're to preach the word so that
people are convinced, not just convicted, but convinced of their
sins, that their sin nature is exposed but their need of Christ
is exposed, that they're convinced that they need Christ. We're
to preach the word so that people are convinced Christ is the savior
and they'll run to him, begging him to save their sinful soul.
And you know how we convince people of their need? It's by
exposing the glory of Christ. Look over a page at Titus chapter
one. First nine, holding fast the
faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by
sound doctrine to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. That word convinced translated
convinced there is the same word translated rebuke in our text. We're to convince people by exposing
our need of Christ. Second, or the, I'm sorry, it
was the same word reprove, reprove. I'm sorry. The second thing that
the word does nothing else can do is rebuke. And it means to
admonish, to charge sharply. Now we preach the word, we are
to sharply charge the flesh with sin and error. We must constantly,
sharply, plainly, directly, so nobody misunderstands what we're
saying, we're to sharply correct wrong ideas about God. Wrong
ideas about salvation, righteousness. And we're to do that for the
believer and unbeliever alike. You know why? Because we all
got the same sinful flesh. And our flesh, even the oldest,
strongest believer in this room still has sinful flesh that loves,
that loves error, that loves self-righteousness, loves it.
And we're to constantly, sharply rebuke that in our text. And
not by screaming and yelling at people, by exposing Christ
to them, by preaching Christ to them. That'll correct them.
That'll correct them. Believers need to be corrected. We do. And you know the difference between
believers and unbelievers? When you correct a believer, a believer
will be thankful for it. An unbeliever will be mad at
you. That's the difference. But this word rebuke also means
to bring honor to. When we preach the word, we're
to bring honor to Christ. to bring honor to Him, to show
how glorious and wonderful and perfect that He is. We know all
of our wrong thoughts about ourselves and our personal honor and our
personal glory that will all get corrected right fast if God
lets us honor Christ, won't He? We see the honor of Christ. I
see I don't have any. It's all His. And the third thing
the Word does, nothing else will do, is exhort. Exhort. And the Word means to comfort.
and encourage. It means to call to one side. I remember Brother Nyberg saying
this in his preacher school. Don't ever preach from an ivory
tower like I'm so far above you and how fortunate you are that
you can come here and I can dispense all my knowledge to you. Call
to one side. I want to preach in such a way
that I'm telling you, come here beside me. We have the same need. We have the same need. Come here
beside me and let me tell you. Let me tell you about Christ.
Let me tell you what saved my soul. Come up here beside you. Let me tell you this week what
God showed me. It comforted my soul. It'll comfort
yours too. Let me tell you what fed my heart
this week. It'll feed yours too. It'll be
a help and a blessing to you. I know it will because we have
the same need. I can tell you this, whatever
blesses the preacher's heart in the study is going to bless
you when he preaches it. But we've got the same need. We have the same need, and only
God's Word can do that. Somebody needs corrected. Somebody
needs comforted. Somebody needs taught. And the
exact same message will fit all three needs. Only the Word of
God can do that. Alright, here's the third thing.
Preaching the Word is important. But you know, the manner in which
we preach the Word is important too. Paul says here, preach with
all long-suffering. Be patient. Keep preaching the
same message over and over and over and over again. Don't get
discouraged. Don't get discouraged if you're
not seeing results. Maybe you're not seeing the results you want
in growth of numbers. Maybe you're not seeing the results
you want and seeing evidences of growth and grace in God's
people. But just be patient. You keep preaching the same message
over and over and over again. You know how God's people are
going to grow? Keep watering. Just keep watering. Keep preaching
Christ. And be patient remembering this. Growing up takes a long time.
Done. Growing up takes a long time.
For our children, it takes a long time. Sometimes when it's over,
it seems like it happens so fast, but growing up takes a long time.
It seems like a long time you're going to be growing up. He's
21 years old. That sounds like forever away.
Growing up takes a long time. It takes a while for God's children
to grow up too. But they will. They will. Be patient. Don't
beat people up for growing slow. Just keep pointing them to Christ.
Brother Henry said this. He said reproofs, rebukes and
exhortations, that's what we're to do. Paul told us to do that.
But Henry said they'll utterly fail if they're not based on
the word of God. And they're not given in a spirit
of humility and meekness and patience. And that's pretty good
advice for not just the preacher, but all of us, isn't it? Don't
believe this because I said it. Believe it because God said it.
And you know God said it if I'm preaching the word to you. People
may not know why Christ was smitten, but they're sure gonna know that
you had smitten them. So be patient. Be patient. Have
some understanding, folks. And second, Paul says, preach
with doctrine. And the word means teaching.
Now, if we're going to teach, we've got to have something to
teach. We've got to have something true to teach. And the only way
we can do that is preach the word. Teach Christ who is the
truth. Just constantly teach people
who Christ is. Constantly teach people Christ
is all we need. Constantly teach people trusting
Look to him, trust him, rest in him. Oh, the manner in which
we preach. The content of what we preach
is so important, but we've got to preach as one beggar to another
beggar, as one leper to another leper. It's the only message
people will hear. And then fourth, the preaching
of the word is so important. It's so important you do it with
patience and with doctrine and over and over and over and over
again. It's so important because the flesh will not hear it. Won't,
verse three. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they
should turn away their ears from the truth and should be turned
unto fables. And Paul warns us the time will
come that they're not gonna endure sound doctrine. And I thought
I know when that time came, when they will not endure sound doctrine.
It's when Adam fell. The time will come, the people
will have itching ears. I thought, I know when that happened.
It's when the serpent came to Eve. She had itching ears. That
lie scratched and itched, didn't it? Well, the flesh has always
hated the truth. The flesh has always hated the
message of Christ. The flesh has always hated the
truth about men. I mean, it just puts us in such
an awful, horrible light exposing what we are. Of course the flesh
hates it. You know, the Word tells us you
and I cannot save ourselves. The only hope of salvation we
have is in Christ. We can't even do something to
make ourselves more savable. We can't even do part of the
work. We're completely and utterly dependent. We're dependent on
God to choose us. We're dependent on Christ to
save us. We're dependent on God the Holy Spirit to give us life.
If they don't do that, we won't be saved. We're completely dependent. And the only way that God's people
will turn away from their desire to hear somebody brag on their
flesh, and that's the natural desire we all have, somebody
brag on it. The only way we'll turn away from that is if God
the Holy Spirit enables us to hear Christ and to believe Him,
to believe Him. If you believe Christ, you know
what your desire is? If you believe Christ, you know
why you came here this morning? You need to hear somebody brag on
Him, because that's your hope. Brag on him. Tell me how great
he is. Tell me how wonderful he is. Tell me what a successful
Savior is. Tell me how he cannot fail. Brag
on him. Because that's your hope. That strengthens your hope, doesn't
it? The more men turn to fables, the more they turn to the fables
of their own works, their own merits, and their own decision,
the more boldly and the more clearly we need to preach Christ
is all. Christ is all. The more men want
to trust in their good works, all their merit, the more boldly
we need to proclaim man's depravity. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's preaching the word. By
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that
death passed upon all men. Death passed upon all men when
Adam sinned. Do you know why? In him we sinned. In him, all sinned in Adam. The
more men claim that they have the ability to choose Jesus as
their personal savior, the more boldly, the more clearly we need
to preach the word, the unconditional electing love of God. Preach
the word, what the Lord say. You did not choose me, but I
chose you. That's election. For he sayeth
to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not
of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And that's good news if you can't
will and you can't run. The more men claim that Christ
died for everybody, that Christ died trying to save everybody,
but you know what? He failed to do it because some
people that he died for are in hell and they're in hell because
they wouldn't make that decision to accept Jesus. I'll tell you what that doctrine,
false doctrine means. That means the death of Christ
alone is not enough to put away your sin. But you got to add
something to it. That's what it means. The more
people try to say that Christ died for everybody, but he failed.
The more boldly and the more clearly we preach the limited
atonement of Christ. Now the atonement of Christ is
limited. but it's not limited in his power to save. He's able
to save to the uttermost all that come into God by him. It's
not limited in his power. It's limited in scope to save. Christ died for the elect and
only God's elect. And we'll tell folks that if
we preach the word, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them, which thou has given me for their vines. It's for their sakes I sanctify
myself. And I told Whitewater, for their
sake, for those whom he has given me, for the sake of God's elect,
and those people shall be saved. That's preaching the word. The
more men claim that they've got to beg sinners to accept Jesus,
to walk an aisle, be saved, if you do those things, you know
you'll be saved. The more they do that, the more
boldly and clearly we must preach the irresistible call of God
to Holy Spirit. I know this. I know this, I don't
care how persuasive I am. Those that God did not choose
to save will never come to Christ by the power of my preaching,
I know that. And no matter how much I stumble and bumble and
am weak in preaching, if God the Holy Spirit will bless it,
not by my power, his power, God's elect will always come running. Willingly and lovingly, they'll
come running to Christ. You know how I know that? Because
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Thy power. Those people will come to Christ.
You know why they'll come to Christ? Because the Savior said,
other sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I
must bring. Oh, he's gonna bring them then,
isn't he? He's gonna bring them. And they're not gonna be resistant.
The flesh will, but they won't. He's going to make them willing
in the day of his power. And you know how he's going to
do it? You know how he's going to call those people and bring
them? By the preaching of Christ, by the preaching of the word.
The more men claim that they have to keep their salvation.
Yes, God saved me by grace, but now I've got to keep my salvation
by my good works and my outward morality. I've got to give outward
evidence, as you know, of righteousness and faith. If I'm going to keep
my salvation and if not, then I'm not really saved. The more
people preach that lie, the more boldly and clearly we must preach
God's preservation of his people. God's going to preserve his people.
I know that by the word. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither should any man pluck
them out of my hand. My father, which gave him to
me, he's greater than all. And no man's able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Oh, they're secure. God's people
are secure in Christ. And when God's elect hear that
gospel, they're going to believe it. They're going to believe
it. Sooner or later, they're going to believe it. They might
not believe it today, but you be patient. You keep teaching
them. You keep preaching. You keep pointing them to Christ.
They're going to believe it sooner or later. They're going to believe
Christ and they're going to come to Him and they won't be able
to help it. God's going to see to it. And the way He's going
to do that is through preaching the word. And when God's people hear of
Christ, they're not going to have itching
ears anymore. I can't tell you how many friends
I have that have told me they were in false religion And for
some strange reason, they started to realize, what I'm hearing
is not right. This is not right. They said,
I don't know what is right, but this is what I know. This isn't
right. And they got itching ears. They got itching ears. And they
went looking for a message. They went looking. And they found a man who would
dare preach Christ to them. And they said, That's it. I didn't know that was right
until I heard it, but that's it. They didn't have itching
ears anymore. They didn't have to go heap to
themselves other teachers and other teachers and other teachers
and other teachers. They didn't have to heap to themselves anymore
because they've been taught Christ. And God's servant. Just plainly
and simply. He may not be as dynamic. He may not be as famous as some
of these TV preachers and internet preachers that are out there,
you know. But he plainly and simply preaches Christ. And they say, I don't have an
itching ear. That's all I need to hear. Tell me that again. Tell me that again. They're not
going to be chasing their lusts anymore. They're so satisfied
with Christ, with Christ. All that comes from preaching
the word, preaching the word. And by God's grace, let's preach
it. Let's preach it. and pray God
give us the faith to believe it. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank you for your
word. We wouldn't have anything to believe, we wouldn't have
anything to preach, we wouldn't have anything whereby we could
hang our souls in complete rest and trust if it were not for
your word. How we thank you, you've given us some understanding
of your word. that you've pointed us to Christ
and given us faith to believe him. Oh, how we thank you. And Father, the best that we
know how to do it. It was weak, it was stumbling,
but the best we know how to do it, we preached your word. And
Father, you promised that your word would not return unto you
void. Father, I beg of you that you'd send your word forth in
power that it be your purpose to take this word preached to
bring glory to Christ our Savior, to call out your sheep, to call
them to Christ, to strengthen and edify the hearts of your
people, that we could leave here in full rest, fully resting in
Christ our Savior, rejoicing in Him. It is in His precious
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would please stand
and turn to song number 266, Fade, Fade, Each Earthly Joy. Fade, fade each earthly joy,
Jesus is mine. Break every tender tie, Jesus
is mine. Dark is the wilderness. Earth has no resting place. Jesus alone can bless. Jesus is mine. Tempt not my soul away, Jesus
is mine. Here would I ever stay, Jesus
is mine. Perishing things of clay, Born
but for one brief day, passed from my heart away, Jesus is
mine. Farewell, ye dreams of night,
Jesus is mine. Lost in this dawning bright,
Jesus is mine. All that my soul has tried, Left
but a dismal void, Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine. Farewell mortality, Jesus is
mine. Welcome eternity, Jesus is mine. Welcome, O loved and blessed,
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest, Welcome, my Savior's breast,
Jesus is mine.