Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like to bring a message
to you this morning from 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I do want to encourage
you to grab a Bible and open it with me. We are going to look
at quite a few scriptures and I believe you would enjoy seeing
them with your own two eyes. Let's begin by reading the first
two verses in 2 Timothy chapter 4. They say, I charge thee therefore
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick
and the dead. This is a charge that Paul is
giving to Timothy before God. What a serious charge that is.
He said, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the quick and the dead. Christ is the judge
of the spiritually living and the spiritually dead. And he
said, 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. Now here's the charge. Preach the word. Preach the word. Paul said, Timothy, Paul loved
Timothy. loved him. He was a young man
who traveled with Paul and he said, Timothy, here's the charge
I'm leaving you with. Preach the word. Preach the word. That's the title of this message.
Preach the word. My prayer is that by the end
of this message, we understand the importance, the vitalness
of only preaching the word. Preach the word. Whatever the
Word says, whatever God has written, preach the Word. Preach the Word. Verse 2 says, Preach the Word,
be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. Now, we who have been called
of God to preach the word. Men who stand up and physically
declare it and congregations who gather to hear the word and
support the word and declare it with the pastor. We who have
been called of God to preach, we are not trying to preach a
doctrine. He said at the end of verse two
right there, do it with doctrine, long suffering and doctrine.
We are not trying to preach a doctrine. That is not the reason to stand
up in a pulpit and preach. We have not selected a doctrine
that we like best. Sometimes men and women will
go hear some different denominations, some different doctrines and
find the one that they like best. And that's not what we who have
been truly called of God to preach and hear and declare. We have not just selected something
that sounds good to us. I think we'll go with this. I
think I'll commit my life to this and and declare this and
support this. That's not what has taken place. What we, by God's grace, are
going to do and are going to endeavor to do is preach the
Word. Preach the Word, not just a doctrine. I'm not going to, by God's grace,
I'm not going to spend my life trying to convince myself of
something or convince anybody else of something if I cannot
find it in this Word. We're going to preach the Word,
whatever it says. God's Word is our doctrine. And I hope that that will sink
in a little bit. God's Word is our doctrine. Well, what do you
believe about this? And what do you believe about
that? The only answer is, what has God said about it? That's
our doctrine. We cannot, I see a lot of this
happening today, a lot of men and women do this today, but
this is something we cannot do. We cannot throw out one of God's
words just because we believe it does
not fit in with our doctrine. It doesn't fit into the doctrine
that I've convinced myself of. Every word of God's Word is our
doctrine. That's our doctrine. As He has
declared it to be in the context that He declared it in. We're
not going to take one little snippet of what He said out of
context and preach that and believe that. We're going to preach what
He said in the context that He declared it to be in. And by
God's grace, we're going to preach the Word instantly, in season,
out of season, whether it's popular or unpopular. He said reprove,
that means convict, convince. He said rebuke, that means correct. He said, exhort, that means comfort,
encourage, strengthen. And he said, do it with long
suffering, do it with patience. And he said, do it with doctrine.
Doctrine means, the word doctrine means words. It physically means
teaching, it means instruction. We're gonna reprove, rebuke,
and exhort, with patience, and we're going to do it with the
Word itself. The Word itself. God's Word will
do every bit of that. God's Word will accomplish everything
that needs to be accomplished in His people. Now I want us
to look at three things in this. Number one, I want us to look
at the warning against not preaching This is a serious, serious warning
to men who stand up and preach and to every person who sits
in a pew and listens to a man preach. This warning goes out
to all of us. The warning against not preaching
the word. Verse 3 says, for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, sound words,
sound teaching. But after their own lust, they
shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." They're
going to heap these teachers that will tickle their ears. They have itching ears. Bring in men who will just tell
them what they want to hear. Tell them the lies that they
want to hear. Verse 4 says, and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth. and shall be turned unto fables."
They'll be turned unto lies. We need to be warned of the great
danger. I mean the great eternal danger
of not preaching this word. We need to be warned of that
and not hearing this word preached. Make sure you are hearing the
word preached. Our Lord said, take heed what
you hear. That's the message of this morning.
Take heed what you hear, even from me. Don't just assume with
me, for your own good, for your own safety. Take heed. 1 John 4 verse 1 says, try the
spirits, try the preachers. Don't just take my word for it. Don't just assume because I'm
a preacher that I am preaching God's Word and preaching the
truth. John said, try the spirits whether
they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. Many false prophets. That's what
God's Word says. Many of the preachers you see
are not telling the truth. False prophets. How do we try
them? by the Word, by the Word. That's how we know, by the Word.
Turn with me, if you have your Bible there, over to Jeremiah
23. In Jeremiah chapter 23, verse
1 says, Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. That's a serious warning
to me. And that's a serious warning to every man who is standing
up and preaching to a group of people. God said, woe be unto
the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.
Verse 16, if you look right here in the same chapter at verse
16, thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of
the prophets that prophesy unto you They make you vain. They make you vain. How can we
identify the message of these, and as the word put it, ear-tickling
preachers? These preachers that tickle itching
ears. These preachers that are turning
men and women away from the truth. How can we identify them and
identify the message they're preaching? Here's the answer. It's all about you. It's all
about you. The men, the message, it's all
about you. It's all about how you can become
a better person in this world. That's their message. How can
you become a better person in this world? This is what they
say. They stand up and say, this is
how God wants you to be. Okay, let's look at his law.
Now, this is how God wants you to be. If you will start acting
like this, if you'll start doing these things and if you'll stop
doing those things, you will be a better person in society. This is the message they preach.
You'll be a better person. You'll be happier. Do this and
you'll be happier. Do this and you'll be healthier.
Do this. It's all about you. Everything
is about you. That's how you can tell. It's
all about you. Our Lord said, they'll make you
vain. Watch it. They'll make you vain.
The gospel is about Christ. The gospel is all about Christ. When you go sit down into a place
and you hear a man preach, If he's talking about you and it's
all about you and it's all about you, run, run. The gospel is all about Christ. The gospel, if a man is preaching
the gospel, he's telling you who Christ is and what he has
done. The truth is the warning against
not hearing the gospel. It's the warning, the danger
of not having Christ. Christ is the gospel. The gospel
is a person. In verse 16 right here says,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of
the prophets that prophesy unto you, they make you vain. They
speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the
Lord. They're preaching their own words
and not God's words. Verse 17, they say still unto
them that despise me, the Lord hath said, that's what they say.
They stand up and say, God says. The Lord has said when God didn't
say. The Lord hath said, you shall
have peace. And they say unto everyone that
walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall
come upon you. They cry nothing but peace, peace
to poor souls when there's no peace. Verse 21, he said, I have
not sent these prophets. I've not sent them. They're not
my called servants. They do not carry my message.
They're not speaking on my behalf to you. He said, I've not sent
these prophets, yet they ran. I've not spoken to them, yet
they prophesied. Verse 25, he said, I have heard
what the prophet said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying I have
dreamed, I have dreamed. They stand up and say, oh, I
had a dream. Verse 28, I love this verse.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he
that hath my word. Let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord. He that has my word, let him
preach the word. Preach the word. Just preach
the word. Don't listen to any man who will
not just preach God's word to you. Don't do it. Verse 29, the
Lord said, it's not my word like as a fire. saith the Lord, and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." When the Word
of God comes to a sinner, when God sends it to the heart of
a sinner, it comes like a ton of bricks. It just knocks him
down. Ask Saul of Tarsus. He had that
happen to him. Verse 31, he said, "'Behold,
I am against the prophets that saith the Lord, that use their
tongues and say, he saith, They stand up and say, now you know
God says, when God didn't say. He said, it's not in my word.
Search the scriptures whether these things be so. Verse 32,
behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, saith
the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their
lies and by their lightness, yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them, therefore, They shall not profit this people at all, saith
the Lord." What he's saying is, you cannot, in a message that
comes like that, when it's not solely the Word of God, you can't
say, well, I'll take the good parts and throw away the bad
parts. It does not work that way. God said, it's not my messenger.
He does not come in the Holy Spirit. He does not have my word
and he is not going to profit my people at all. No one is going
to be saved under that preaching. No one. As a matter of fact,
God says every soul who sits under that preaching and believes
it and the man who preaches it himself will be damned for not
preaching the word of God. So the great warning has gone
out to all of us. Preach the word. Preach the Word. All right? That's the warning
against not preaching the Word. Let's see four reasons to preach
the Word. Okay? The warning against not
preaching it. Now here's four reasons to preach
it. Number one, and I believe you
can well relate to this. You've probably heard this many
times growing up. A parent tells a child to do
something, and the child's answer is always, You know, a parent
tells a child, clean your room. Why? The response is, because
I said so. Well, here's the first reason.
God said so. Preach the word. Why do we preach
the word? God said so. There's no need
to comment on that. We just put a period behind it.
God said so. Period. Number two, we preach
this word because men and women are actually saved by it. actually saved by it. Somebody
can ask the question, well, weren't God's people saved before the
foundation of the world? Absolutely they were. God said
they were in his word. He said they were in his word.
Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Who chose us? Chose us in who? The Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Before the foundation of the
world. All of God's works were finished before the foundation
of the world. Somebody will say, well, weren't
God's people saved on the cross of Calvary at that moment in
time when Christ physically died? Absolutely they were. God said
they were in His Word on that very cross Christ cried, it is
finished. Having said thus, he gave up
the ghost. Christ must needs have suffered and died. But turn over to Romans 1. If
you have your Bible there, go with me to Romans 1 and let's
look at verse 16. It says, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, the message, the preaching of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. That's why we preach this word. That's the reason why. First
Corinthians 121 says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. It pleased God to use the means
of preaching. Our Lord said in Mark 16, go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. That's why
we preach this word. That's the very reason. The third
reason to preach it is in Romans 10, just a few pages over to
Romans chapter 10, verse 17 says, so then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing By the Word of God. By the Word of God. Hearing the
Word of God. We need more faith. We all do. All of us need more faith. The
apostles said, Lord, would you increase our faith? If God's
apostles said that, how much more should we cry that? Lord,
would you please increase our faith? We need to trust Him more. Just leave it in His hands and
trust Him more. We need to believe more. We need
to rest more and wait more. We need to be patient more. Wait
on the Lord, just be patient. All of that is called faith.
It's faith. How do we attain more faith?
By hearing the Word preached. Faith comes by hearing. That
goes hand in hand with the fourth reason to preach the Word. With
that faith comes spiritual growth in God's people. Spiritual growth. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse
18 says, Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Comfort one another. with these
words. God's word is where our comfort
comes from. We all need more comfort, don't
we? It comes from God's word. First Peter chapter 2, verses
1 through 3, say, wherefore, laying aside all malice and all
guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn
babes Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby. Desire that sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. If so be you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. This word is how we grow in grace. John 1 John chapter 5 verse 13
says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal
life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Our hope and our assurance grows through this word. It grows our
faith, our comfort, our hope, our assurance. Everything grows
through the hearing of the word. He said, these things have I
written unto you that you may know. So now we've looked at
the warning against not preaching the word. We've looked at God
given reasons to preach the word. Here's the third thing I want
us to look at concerning this. What are we preaching? when we
preach the word. What are we preaching? What has
God written in here? What is this word all about? What is our subject matter when
we preach the word? Here's the answer. All through
this word, from the first page to the last page, there is a
great question asked. A great question. In this word,
all through it, from the first page to the last page, there
is a great answer given. There's a question asked, and
there's an answer given. Here is the question. Job asked,
how can man be just with God? How can a sinner be justified
before God. How should man be just? I know I've sinned against God.
I know God's a holy God. How can a sinner be just before
God? Here's the answer. John said
in John 1 in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Down in verse
14, he said, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth, Christ Himself. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. Christ Himself. Preach Christ. That's the message
of the Word of God. That's the entire message of
Scripture. How can a sinner be justified
with God? Preach Christ. Preach the Word. Preach the glory of the Word. What is the glory of the Word?
The Apostle Paul said, I have determined to know nothing among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. That is the glory of the Word. That is how a sinner can be justified
with God. Jesus Christ crucified. Bearing the sin of every soul
God gave to Him. Taking all of their sin upon
Himself. Standing before the Holy God
and being judged for it. And being killed for it. Enduring
the punishment. Enduring the wrath. Paying the
debt. and setting His people free.
That's the glory of the Word. God forbid that we should glory
in anything save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
preach the Word. We preach the Word. We preach
the Word in the Word. We preach Christ in the Word. We preach the glory of the word. Who Christ is, what he has done,
where he is now. If we do that, if we hear that,
if we believe that, then not only will we know how sinners
are justified before God, we will be justified before God
in Christ. Preach the Word. Hear the Word.
Believe the Word. Till next week, may the Lord
bless the Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.