We will be looking at the second
epistle of Paul to Timothy this morning, 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I'll
be reading the first four verses. I've entitled this message, A
Charge to a Young Preacher. This is the old experienced apostle
to a young man named Timothy. However, this is truly God's
Word. The Apostle Paul may have written
this with his hand, but God led him to write this. This is God's
Word, and it's God's Word to every young preacher. And verse
1, the Apostle says, I charge thee, speaking to Timothy, a
charge to a young preacher, a command, 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, I charge thee before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ." He says to young Timothy, it
is not men you work for, but it is God. It is not men you
seek to please, but it is God. It is not men you answer to,
but it is God. That's what he said in chapter
2 of the 1 Thessalonians, verse 4. He said, We speak not as pleasing
men, but God, which trieth our hearts. Now, Scripture calls
men who preach as a job who preach, who are preachers as a vocation. Scriptures calls them hirelings. That means they've been hired
by someone. They work for pay. P-R-O-F-I-T. Prophets. But no true prophet
from the scriptures, in the scriptures, no apostle or no true preacher,
then or now, ever applied for the job. Romans 10 says they
are sent. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Because if God calls and God
equips and God sends a preacher, then that man will say what God
says. But if men call one and send
one, then they will say what men want them to say. They are
hirelings. Well, Paul says to young Timothy,
whom God had called, whom God had saved whom God had equipped
for the ministry, he says to young Timothy, God, I charge
thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge
the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Paul is speaking of a different
God, capital G, a different God than the peanut God, small g,
that hirelings work for today. a different Lord Jesus Christ
than the pitiable Jesus being preached today. You see, the
true God, the God Paul believed, the God Paul preached, the God
of Scripture, reigns and rules and does as he will with whom
he will according to his unchangeable eternal will. But the poor God
today can't do what he will. but is subject to man's will.
He wants to save, he wants to help, but he must wait on man
to do something. Well, the true Lord Jesus Christ,
who sits on a throne, is overseeing the universe which he reigns
and rules and owns, and he is making certain that all he died
for will most certainly be saved. Well, the poor Jesus being preached
today is walking the floor over you, knocking on doors and can't
come in because there's no handle on the outside. Well, the scripture
says, Paul says to young Timothy, the true Christ who is coming
again comes to judge. He's the judge of the quick and
the dead. He's king. It's his kingdom.
But the poor Jesus being preached today wouldn't judge a plea.
But Paul says to young Timothy, a truth preacher, I charge thee
before the judge. Verse 2. Preach the word. Preach the word. I want everyone who's listening
to this this morning, I want you to stop and think. What do
you see on the bulletin boards outside of these so-called churches
all over the land. What do you see posted on these
bulletin boards? What do you read? What do you
see? Answer this honestly. Do you
see God's word quoted on those bulletin boards? Or do you see
man's clever sayings or cliches? Look at them now. What do you
see? I'll tell you what you'll see.
You'll see blasphemous, flippant, clever little sayings about God. Little sayings, little clichés
speaking about God as if He were a man next door and not a king
on a throne. The Scripture says, now listen
to me, the Scripture says God's Word is quick, that means live. and powerful, it is called the
word of his power, sharper than a two-edged sword. Why, God created all things by
his word, and God regenerates or recreates by his word, not
man's clever sayings, The Word says man is born again by the
incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. Christ says heaven and earth
shall pass away, but not one word of His shall fail. God saves by His Word. God keeps by His Word. God causes us to grow by His
Word. not man's clever sayings. The Word of God, the Bible that
is, filled with thousands of verses of infinitely wise and
glorious truth, which the Word says is able to make one wise
unto salvation. The Word of God enlightens those
in darkness. The Word of God instructs the
ignorant. The Word of God opens the eyes
of the blind. The Word of God opens the ears
of the deaf. The Word of God is life to those
dead in trespasses and sin. And one word, just one word of
God sent in the power of God's Holy Spirit can give life Yet men use their two-bit sayings
instead. And so I say without apology
before anyone and everyone who hears this, I say without apology
that that religious organization, whoever and whatever it may be,
which thinks more of their clever cliches than the word of the
living God, is a false church. Write Ichabod on that door, which
means the glory is departed. And so Paul charges this young
preacher named Timothy, preach the word. be instant, that is
consistent, or always doing it, in season, out of season. The Word of God is out of season
today. Well, Paul tells the young preacher,
God's word to the true preacher is, preach the word. What is it to preach the word?
Peter says, this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. And so Paul tells young Timothy,
preach the word, or that is, the gospel. The word. Don't be taken up with social
issues, political issues. Paul told young Timothy in 2
Timothy 2, verse 4, that no man, no man that woreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life. A preacher is not a politician
or a socializer or a dwelling on social issues and things of
that sort. are the same today as from the
beginning. No matter that this is almost
the 21st century. The issues are the same today.
For God is the same. Man is the same. Salvation is
the same. The need is the same. The issue,
the message, the one thing needful is the gospel. And so Paul tells Timothy When
he says, Preach the Word, he is saying, Preach Christ, because
Christ is the Word. John 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Wow, there are people today,
I mean millions of people, that don't even believe that Jesus
Christ was and is God Almighty, because they are ignorant of
the Word, because men are not preaching the Word. And John
1 verse 14 says, ìThe Word was made flesh.î It says, ìThe Word
was God.î And verse 14, ìThe Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us.î Preach the Word, Timothy. and
all preachers. Preach the Word. Preach Christ. You see, all that Jesus Christ
is and does and did and said and says is all that God has
to say and do and did. All that Jesus Christ is and
does and says is all that God has to say and to do for human
beings. As God said to the disciples
one day on that mountain, He said, This is my beloved Son,
hear Him. No one else. Him. Hear Him. This book, the Bible, God's Word,
is a Him book. H-I-M. It's all about Him. The Old Testament says someone
is coming, speaking of the Christ to come. The Gospels say He's
here. Here He is. The epistles and
the revelations say He's coming again. You see, Jesus Christ
is the Word, the Word incarnate. Jesus Christ is the first and
last Word upon any subject. God became a man. Jesus the Christ
is his name. And he declared who God is, what
man is, what salvation is. Jesus Christ the Word said, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father,
to God, but by me. And so Paul says to young Timothy,
preach the Word. Preach Christ. Be instant, be
consistent, be constantly about it, in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they
will not endure sound or true doctrine, but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers. Hire them preachers
to tell them what they want to hear, having itching ears, and
they'll turn away their ears from the truth. shall be turned
unto fables." Well, what we need to do is dust off our Bibles
and start listening to what God's Word says. I challenge you, try
the preachers. Do they preach God's Word and
only God's Word? All of God's Word? Do they preach
Christ? Until next Sunday, may the Lord
bless you.