plan to observe the Lord's Supper
tonight. Now, if you will, let's open
our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and looking
at the first five verses. 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 long suffering and doctrine. 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
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure heart afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make
full proof of thy ministry. The title of my message today
is A Solemn Charge. A solemn charge. You notice the
Apostle Paul charges Timothy, and he charges him before God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach the word. Preach the word. Before we look at the charge,
let's notice what is said here about the Lord Jesus Christ.
At his appearing. His appearing refers to his second
coming. And at his second coming, the
apostle tells us that he shall judge the quick and the dead. No one should doubt his appearing,
his second coming, for he appeared the first time, as the scriptures
had foretold, as God had declared and promised. He came the first
time. No one should doubt or question
his second appearing. All through the Old Testament
scriptures, God had declared that he was coming, the Messiah
was coming, the son of the woman who would bruise the head of
the serpent. And he came in the fullness of
the time. God sent forth his son made of
a woman. If you look over just a few pages
in Hebrews, go towards the end of the Bible, Hebrews chapter
nine, and look at these verses here. Just as he came the first
time, so he shall come the second time. Hebrews chapter 9 and verses
24 through 28, we read, for Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
entered into a tabernacle or temple that was made and set
up here upon the earth as the high priest of old did, but he
Those were figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as a high priest entered into the holy
place every year with blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now, once in
the end of the world, That is, that old dispensation, the Jewish
economy, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared, and
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Aren't
you thankful? Aren't you thankful? He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He didn't appear
to teach men how that we could put away our sins, or how the
church could put away our sins, or how any other man or priest
could put away our sins, but He appeared once in the end of
the world to put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself.
Now notice, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment at His appearing, His second coming, He shall judge
both the quick and the dead. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He came the first time in reference
to sin, to put away the sins of his people. But when he comes
a second time, It's not going to be in reference to sin. He's coming then, as our text
tells us, to judge the quick and the dead. Now what does that
mean, the quick and the dead? When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
again, there shall be men and women alive upon the face of
his earth. They are quick, they are alive.
The dead shall be raised when he appears. So he's coming again,
and at his coming, and his kingdom, when his kingdom shall be made
manifest. He's already king of kings. He's
already entered into his kingdom, but it's not visible. He said,
my kingdom is not of this world. But when he comes a second time,
the next time, it will not be in reference to sin, but he shall
come to judge the quick and the dead, those who are alive when
he comes again, and those who shall be raised the dead, those
who've already died, shall be raised, and we all, as it is
appointed unto men, wants to die, but after this, the judgment. Now the solemn charge. Timothy,
I charge, I charge you, 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. Preach the word. Now understand that this charge
pertains to all men, all men that God puts into the ministry,
all men that the Lord Jesus Christ gives unto his church as gifts,
pastors and teachers. This charge applies to me, and
it applies to every man that God puts into the ministry. I
charge thee, preach the word. Now let's look at this this morning.
I pray that God will bless the message to all of us. First,
what word is to be preached? Preach the word, but what word
is to be preached? Well, there can be no doubt,
no question in any of our minds that by the word is meant the
scriptures which were given by inspiration of God. Remember
now, the New Testament as well as the Old Testament was divided
into verses and chapters. But when Paul wrote this letter
to Timothy and he charges him here to preach the word, naturally
it would refer back to the word which we read in verse 16 of
chapter three, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It is the word of God which is
able to make one wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
That's what he said. Notice that in verse 16 of chapter
three. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. And above that, he had told Timothy
in verse 15, that he had from a child known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith,
which is in Christ Jesus. So the word which we are to preach
is the inspired word of God. In other words, from Genesis
to Revelation, preach the Word. Preach the Word of God. Preach
the inspired Word, the Word which was given by inspiration of God. Preach God's Word. Preach God's
Word. When the Apostle Paul, this is
recorded in Acts chapter 20, when he appeared to the elders
of the church at Ephesus for the last time in this world,
Part of what he's told them, I'll read to us. He said, and
now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. The word of his grace, which
is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among
all them which are sanctified. So Timothy, preach the word. Now here are some truths that
I thought about this past week as I prepared this message, as
I see this to myself as a solemn charge. Preach the word. Here
are five things. Number one, if I preach the word,
I will be declaring the truth about Christ. I'm charged and
every other preacher is charged to preach the word. Very solemn
word before God, Almighty God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This
charge comes, preach the word. And if I preach the word, I will
be declaring the truth about Christ. And I know this is so
because he himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was here
in this world in the flesh, speaking to some Jewish people one day,
he said this about the scriptures, about the word. He said, search
the scriptures. Now listen, for they are they
which testify of me. If I'm preaching the word, as
I'm charged to do, I know that I'm going to be preaching about
Christ. Because the scripture tells us
that he must have the preeminence in all things. That's what Paul
told the church at Colossae. that God has determined, my friends,
that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He have the preeminence
in all things. Well, part of the all things
is the Word of God, is the Bible. He has the preeminence. And if
I'm preaching the word, I'm going to be preaching about Christ. We saw that in 1 Corinthians
2 just a few minutes ago when Paul told the believers there,
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. All of the benefits, and I know
most of you know this, who are here today. But just in case
there's someone here who doesn't, let me remind us that all of
the benefits, all of the blessings that God has for sinful men and
women, they're all stored up in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
the blessings, all the benefits, that God has for sinful men and
women, where are they to be found? They're all found in His lovely
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle said, for all the
promises of God in Him are yea and amen unto the glory of God. The promise of eternal life,
the promise of our sins being forgiven, being pardoned, The
promise of being adopted into the family of God. The promise
of enjoying God throughout all eternity in heaven. All the promises
of God are yea and amen in Christ. If I'm preaching the word, number
one, I'm going to be preaching about Christ. Number two, if
I preach the word, I will declare the truth about God and His sovereignty,
who He is. I'm not here to represent, I'm
not here to present some wannabe God. If I'm preaching the word
of God, I'm going to tell the truth, I'm going to declare the
truth, about the sovereignty of God. The God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ is the triune God who knows the end
from the beginning. That's what James tells us in
Acts chapter 15. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. He's sovereign. He rules. He
reigns. over all things at all times
and all places. The prophet Isaiah said this
about God. He said, he sitteth upon the
circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. Man, mighty man who thinks he's
so great, so big. I'll tell you what God thinks
about him. He's like a grasshopper. He that
setteth upon the circle of the earth, that is God, who reigns
and rules everywhere at all times, the inhabitants of the earth
thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as
a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. At
our house, in our bedroom, we have some curtains and sometimes
I go in there and I Pull them open so I can look out into the
backyard, and I always think, just as easy, easier, easier
than I can pull those curtains back. So the Lord has stretched
out the heavens. By the word of his power, he
has created all things. And all men and women, we live,
we move, we have our being in him. He's sovereign. The psalmist David said, he's
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Nebuchadnezzar, he learned, God
taught him that no one can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? If I preach the word, I'm going
to be preaching that God is absolutely sovereign in all. Sovereign in
creation. He could create or not create.
He was free. He was happy. He was perfect.
He was complete. He was whole in himself. He needs
nothing. According to his own pleasure,
he created. And he's sovereign in providence. He reigns and rules. And yes,
my friends, he's sovereign in salvation. He saves whom he will,
and whom he will, he hardens. The apostle Paul said this about
him in Ephesians 1, who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, all things. Number three, if I preach the
word, I will be declaring the truth about man's responsibility. Yes, God is absolutely sovereign,
and I must declare that, but at the same time, I must tell
men and women, we all are responsible before God. All men are responsible
to God concerning our relationship with him. Lord Jesus told those
unbelieving Jews, search the scriptures. Were they not spiritually
dead when he said that to them? Of course they were. They had
no life and yet he told them, you do this, you search the scriptures. And I tell you, living in this
country, every one of us and everyone around us, we all have
the money, have the opportunity to buy a Bible for a dollar or
two dollars, and we have the responsibility to search the
word of God and find out the truth about God. That's our responsibility. We have the responsibility to
repent Because the scripture says he hath commanded all men
everywhere to repent. And we have the responsibility
to believe, to trust in Christ. There is no salvation apart from
Christ. And God's not going to believe
for us. He's not going to repent for
us. We have the responsibility. And if we go to hell, we have
no one to blame but ourselves. And if we go to heaven, we have
no one to praise but God. You say, well, how do you explain
that? I don't try to explain it. I'm to preach the word. And the word of God declares
in no uncertain terms that God is absolutely sovereign, and
yet man is absolutely responsible to God. Number four, if I preach the
word, I must warn men. The Lord Jesus said, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which
is in heaven. Salvation is more than lip service. Salvation is a heart work. The apostle said, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. Believe in thine heart. I must warn men and women if
I preach the word of God. There's judgment coming. You're
going to be there. I'm going to be there. And I
tell you one thing, I don't want to be, I don't want to have the
blood of the souls of men and women on my hands. Men and women
that I've preached to, I want to declare just as clear as possible
every time I can, yes, there's salvation in Christ and you must
flee to him. You must run to him by the mercy
and grace of God. Embrace him. And salvation is
more than just having your name on a church roll. Salvation is
a hard work. It's a new heart that is given
unto us, a heart that fears God. Not a slavish fear, no, no. Oh,
he's too good. He's too kind to be afraid of
him once you know him. But oh, there's a reverential
fear. He's so holy. He's so high. He's so much above us to reverence
him. Yes. To be afraid of offending
him. Be afraid of standing against
such a kind and good and loving heavenly father. I must warn. And when I'm warning
you, I'm warning myself. And number five, if I preach
the word, I must comfort God's people. That's a pretty big job,
let me tell you. That's a pretty big job that
the Lord's given me. Paul said, if any man desire
the work of a bishop, of a preacher, he desireth a good work. It's
not only a good work, it's a difficult work. I must comfort God's people.
Because you see, God's people, all of us here today who are
saved, we are compared in the word of God to a bruised reed. One of those reeds that just
grows up there in the marshland and someone's come by and stepped
on it and bruised it and it's kind of bent over. And we're
compared to a smoking flax. God's children. We have so many
doubts and so many fears, so much trouble as we go through
this world. We've got the old man that's
still with us, who continually is suggesting doubts and fears
and sin. We've got Satan against us, who's
got those fiery darts he's casting at us. Have you ever Believer,
child of God, have you ever been down to pray and some awful thought
just come into your mind, some blasphemous thought? Where do
you think that comes from? And we all live here in Vanity
Fair, the world, with all its allurements and all of its golden
trinkets to attract us and cause us to turn back. I must comfort
God's people What you are going through is not new, is not something
no temptation has taken you, but that which is common to man.
But God is faithful, who will with the temptation make a way
to escape, that you may be able to bear it. I must comfort God's
people because God said, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Tell them their warfare is ended. Salvation is a finished thing,
isn't it? We still are experiencing it.
I understand that as we go through this world, but as we sang just
a few moments ago, living for me. Christ is there living for
us, praying for us, interceding for us, and in Him who is our
head. If you just think of the church
of believers, the true church of God, we're all members of
His body. And where my head goes, the rest
of me goes, right? And He's there in heaven. He's
our head. And we too are seated in the
heavenly places in Him. That's a mystery in itself. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Now here's the second thing.
Why is the word to be preached? The word is to be preached because
God commands it. God commands it. Go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. but go and preach the gospel. Why must we preach the word of
God? Because God commands it. Number two, the word is to be
preached because as we read just a moment ago here, it is the
word of God that is able to make one wise unto salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. The word of God itself is not
salvation. A man may know, a man might memorize
this whole book. He might have it up here in his
head and still go to hell. The message of the book is Christ. In him, there's life, eternal
life. The scriptures are able to make
a man wise unto salvation. which is by faith in Jesus Christ,
in Christ. That's the reason the scripture
must be preached, and the scripture must be preached, the word must
be preached, because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Do you want to be saved? You say,
I have a desire to be saved. Then be where the word of God
is preached. I'd say, first of all, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, I just can't believe. Well, then be where the Word
of God is preached, where the Word of God is proclaimed, because
faith cometh. You don't have any faith naturally,
but God gives faith, and He gives faith as we are hearing the Word
of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching. That's what the world would say
about what I'm doing here today. Oh, that's foolish. That's foolish. We've got to do something. We've
got to have some ceremonies here. We've got to burn some candles. We've got to have some incense,
whatever. No, God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save those who believe, and faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And number four, the
word is to be preached because it contains all the promises
of God, all the promises that God has for his children, and
we need these promises to live upon. Preach the word. The third thing,
when is the word to be preached? Well, the apostle charges to
do so in season and out of season. This is to be the man's constant
work that God puts into the ministry. As John Gill said, always and
wholly in it, either preparing for it or performing it or doing
those things annexed to it. I heard someone say one time
that there are seasons for hunting certain animals. There's deer
season, I guess there's duck season, whatever, turkey season. And you can only hunt for those
animals during that particular time. You can't hunt for them
out of season. But my friends, all season, all
the year long, it's a season for hunting for God's elect. Preach the word, be instant,
in season and out of season. And Paul warned Timothy that
the time would come, and I want you to see this, it's very, very
important. The time will come, verse three,
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own
lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears
Now notice this, and they shall turn away their ears from the
truth and shall be turned unto fables. You see that? Men turn away from the truth
and they are turned unto fables. It's a serious thing to turn
away from the word of God. Look back in 2 Thessalonians,
just a few pages back, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And here the apostle
is speaking about the man of sin. But notice, beginning with
verse 9, the man of sin, even him whose coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Now notice
this, because they receive not the love of the truth that they
might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. Turn away from hearing the word
of God and then they are turned unto fables. Here's a man, here's
a woman, here's a boy, here's a girl. who goes out into eternity believing in a fable, trusting
in some foolishness that's man-made. Oh, your faith, my friends, it must
be in Christ. It must be built upon the Word
of God. Preach the Word. And here's the
last thing. How is the preacher of the word
to conduct himself? Verse five, watch, but watch
thou in all things. The word watch reminds me that
God's people are sheep. And one part of the shepherd's
work was to watch out for the sheep's enemies. And this entailed
long hours and constant diligence, watching. because the sheep have
many enemies. David was a keeper of sheep,
you remember? One time a lion came, one time
a bear came, and he had to rescue those sheep. The constant charge
of the pastor. Watch therefore in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. Preach the word, a solemn charge. May the Lord bless his word to
us here today. I want us to sing this hymn,
number 103. Preach the word.