The Apostle Paul was a faithful
and devoted preacher of the gospel. He was not a man-pleaser. He
was not in it for fame nor fortune, but for the glory of God. And
so he was zealous for the truth and bold to declare it, whether
anyone agreed with him or not. In 2 Timothy, Second Timothy, chapter 4. The
Apostle Paul writes a letter to a young preacher named Timothy
who traveled often with the Apostle, and he exhorts young Timothy
to be the same way in his preaching, to be bold, to be dogmatic, to
be firm and uncompromising. And here is his charge in 2 Timothy
4 verse 1, he says, I charge thee before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, or the
living and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom. I charge thee. What a serious and solemn and
weighty charge this was to young Timothy. And here is the charge. Verse 2, he says, Preach the
Word. Preach the Word. Preach all of
it as it is. Boldly. Authoritatively. You know, the Scripture said,
If any man speak, let him speak as the very oracles of God. Plainly. Speak the Word. Preach the Word
plainly. Clearly. Simply. Constantly. Preach the Word. The Word of
God is quick, the Scripture says, and powerful. It is God's voice. It is the bread of the believer.
It's water, it's milk, it's meat. The Word is God's power. Preach the Word, he says to young
Timothy. Not your thoughts, not your opinion,
not the opinions of your denomination, not bought sermons, but preach
the Word. And he goes on to say, Be instant,
or consistent, or constant, in season, out of season, whether
it's popular or not, in spite of the trends of the day. And
people today, the word is out of season. It's obvious. But
he says to young Timothy, Preach it. Go ahead and preach the old-fashioned
gospel. Word of God. It's still the power
of God unto salvation. Preach it. And he says, Reprove,
rebuke, exhort. Reprove and rebuke, he says. Call sin, sin. Rebuke, warn,
denounce error. Be intolerant of it. Reprove
and rebuke. Exhort, he says. Persuade men
of the terror of the Lord. Beseech, command, proclaim, behold
your God. Proclaim, all flesh is grass. Proclaim, God commandeth men
everywhere to repent. Do it authoritatively. Do it
with authority and do it with power. Preach the Word, in season
or out of season. You know, the Word is obviously
out of season so-called churches are more ready to use their own
clever sayings on their bulletin boards than they are the Word
of God. Think about it. If folks really believed that
the Word was God's power, that the Word was powerful, that it
was the very Word of the living God, the essence of truth, they
would use it. and not their own sayings and
not man's clever clichés. No, but it's out of season today. And he goes on to say, preach
the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering, do it,
put up with whatever you have to put up with, with whoever,
with all the gainsayers and backtalkers and arguers, do it, and doctrine. preach the Word. In another place,
he says, hold fast the form of sound words. Whatever the Scripture
says, Timothy, you say it. If the Scripture says election,
you say it loud and clear. If the Scripture says predestination,
say it from the rooftop. If the Scripture says man is
dead, say it. Whatever the Scripture says,
say it. Say it. with authority. Don't apologize for it. He goes on to say in verse 3,
and in chapter 3, Paul had just told us what the last days would
be like, perilous times. And these are those last days
and perilous times which he describes there in chapter 3. He says the
time will come and it is now. Right now this time has come.
He says, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
or real doctrine, or hard doctrine. Just like they said to Christ,
many walked not anymore with him, and they said, these are
hard sayings. Who can hear them? Peter said
that of some of Paul's writings. He said they are hard things
to be understood. which many that are unlearned
and unstable do wrest or twist or pervert or corrupt because
they don't understand it, because they don't believe it, number
one. Well, he says, preach. Timothy, the time will come when
they won't endure sound doctrine. They won't hear of a sovereign
God. They won't hear of the depravity
of man. They won't hear about election.
They won't want to hear about predestination or particular
redemption. But after their own lust, he
said, after their own lust, or that is, their own imaginations
or desires or selfish pride, will heap to themselves teachers. Heap teachers. Many masters or
many teachers. They'll find them a teacher somewhere
to tell them exactly what they want to hear. And thus there
are so many preachers today. Why, pay a mayor? Pay a man for what you want to
hear. That's what they do. Heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears. They pay a man to scratch their
backs and so they scratch his. That's the reason there's so
many of those fellows in business today. And itching ears that
they have is to hear of their own goodness. Man wants to hear
about his goodness. He wants to be congratulated
for what he's done for God. He wants to be thanked for coming
to church and doing God a favor. He wants to hear about his worth.
He wants to hear of peace, even though there is no peace. He
wants to hear of God's love and approval upon him. He wants to
see signs and miracles and wonders and prosperity, but not truth. Don't give me any of that truth.
Don't give me any of that old-fashioned dogmatic preaching. We're above
that. We're an educated society. Well,
he says in verse 4, they will turn away their ears from the
truth and shall be turned unto fables. Turn away their ears
from the plain Word of God, the truth, the bold, dogmatic truth,
the plain truth, and shall be turned unto fables, or make things
up, twist, pervert, rest the Scriptures. Make them say what
they want them to say. and will not say what they do
say." Well, here are some of the things that they have made
up. They have turned their ears away from the truth in favor
of their own opinion. Here is the truth, and here is
what man's opinion is. The truth, or God's word, says,
God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
But man says, well, no, man has a final say in the matter. The
truth, or the Scripture, says God will by no means clear the
guilty. But man just thinks God is too
loving to send men to hell. The truth says, the Word says,
the wrath of God abides on the ungodly. And men just say and
believe, I just believe God is love, that's all. The Scripture
says, the truth says, God hates all workers of iniquity. He says, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Not loveless, hated. But men say, no, God loves all
men without exception. The truth, the Word of God says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But men
say, no, I believe there is some good in everybody. The truth,
the Scripture says, man is dead. D-E-A-D. graveyard dead, dead, unable
to live, dead in trespasses and sin. That's what Ephesians 2.1
says. But no, man says that he's a
free, moral agent. Well, man's not free, he's bound
to sin, he's not moral, and he's not his own agent. The Scripture
says, If none righteous, no, not one. There's none that doeth
good, and men are forever telling other people that they're good
folk. Well, the truth says, the scripture
says, it's appointed unto men once to die, and after that to
judgment. The man thinks he's got his whole life ahead of him,
and after that to retirement. The truth says, Christ says,
who is the truth? The Word. He says, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. No man, and even Well-known,
worldwide-known evangelists say that you just go the way that
seems right to you and do the best you can, be sincere, and
you'll end up in heaven somehow. We're all going different roads,
but we'll all meet there. Calling God a liar, calling Christ
a liar, who said, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The truth, the scripture says,
by the grace of God we are what we are. No man, something good
happens, he says, I must be living right. The truth, the scripture says,
by grace are you saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. By grace you say, through faith. And that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. But no, men say, Well, I made
my decision. I decided to believe on Jesus.
I did this. I did that. The truth, or the
Scripture says, it is not of him that willeth or of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It is not of him that
willeth. Not of the will of the flesh.
Not of the will of man. But no, man says, I believe man
has a free will. Well, the truth, or the Scripture
says, God has chosen a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world. The Scripture says that the purpose
of God according to election must stand. But no, man says,
I don't believe in that election. Well, the truth, the Scripture
says, God has predestinated a people under the adoption of children
by Himself. Well, a man said, I'll believe
anything with that predestination. Well, he tells young Timothy.
He says, Timothy, these are perilous times, but you've heard, you've
known, and you believe the Holy Scriptures. And he says, you
continue in them. You continue. You preach the
Word. You be consistent in season, out of season, whether anybody
wants to hear it or not. And you do it with authority.
and you do it dogmatically, and you approve and rebuke and exhort
with all long-suffering and doctrine, because the time will come that
they will not endure the plain truth, sound doctrine, but they'll
make up fables. They'll turn their ears away
from the truth and make up stories, make the word say what they want
it to say. I hope you've heard this, and
I hope God will impress you with the truth. Until next Sunday,
good day.