I'm reading this morning from
the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4, if you want to follow along
with me, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and I'm reading the first four
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 longsuffering
and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall
turn away their ears from the and shall be turned unto fables."
The Word of God is described in God's Word as a hammer, a
fire, a sword, and other things. The Word of God is the power
of God. God's Holy Spirit uses the Word
of God to accomplish God's purpose. It is called a hammer, able to
break the hardest of hearts, a fire able to warm the coldest
heart, a sword, a two-edged sword, able to cut to the bone, or that
is, convince, convict, and able also to heal that same heart
which it breaks and remove the disease. It is called milk. It's milk for babes to suck,
to grow thereby. It's meat for men and women to
chew on. It's called the water, water
of life. All life exists because of water,
so it is spiritually the Word of God. It is called the seed
of God, or that is, that by which life is conceived. The Apostle
Paul, or God that is, through the Apostle, charges young preachers
such as Timothy. He says, Before God I charge
thee, and before the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he says preach
the Word. Preach the Word. God's Word. Declare it. Set forth God's Word. Pronounce it. Expound it. Rightly divide the Word. The
Word, line upon line, verse by verse. Thus saith the Lord. Preach God's word. Not man's
wisdom. Not man's opinions. Not man's
thoughts. Not the philosophical views of
the day. Not the homilies laid down by
some reverend. But preach God's word. He says
be instant. That means consistent. Or that
is always doing it. Always ready to do it. in season
or out of season, he says, whether men want to hear it or not. Not
just on Sunday either, but at all times, apt to teach or ready
to teach. Preach God's Word, he tells the
young preacher, all preacher. Preach the Word. Be instant,
consistent, always ready. to preach, in season, out of
season, whether popular or not, whether men want to hear preaching
or not. This is what God is pleased to
use, he said in 1 Corinthians 1. He gives three things which
the Word of God will accomplish, and only God's Word will accomplish
these things. He says, preach the Word, be
instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, And he says to do this with all
longsuffering and doctrine. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, and
the way in which you are to do it and the means by which you
are to do it is with all longsuffering and doctrine. If reproving, if
rebuking, and we are told to do so. Do it with patience, do
it with understanding, do it with meekness. One place says,
considering thyself, because even the preacher needs the same
reproof and rebukes and exhortation. And he says, do it with doctrine.
The word doctrine means teaching. It means instruction. The word
chasten, chasten is not punishment. for children, that is, for God's
children. Chastening is a lesson that is
learned. It's often a painful one, a difficult
one. But the object is not to punish,
but rather teach a lesson that they won't forget and correct
them that they might learn and not err. All right, it says these three
things. Reprove with doctrine. rebuke with doctrine and exhort
with long-suffering and doctrine. Reprove. The word reprove means
to admonish or convict or convince. Now, there are three things which
the Lord Himself said that the Holy Spirit, when He comes, when
the Holy Spirit operates on a human being in salvation, three things
that the Holy Spirit convicts them of. or the same word, reprove,
or convinces them of. I read to you from John 16. The
Lord said, When he is come, the Holy Spirit, he will reprove
the world, not just Jews but Gentiles, but of people out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue. He will reprove all
whom he operates upon. He will reprove of three things,
sin, righteousness, and judgment. And the Lord went on to say,
of sin, because they believed not on me. This is the chief
sin. This is the sin which God Almighty
charges human beings with. God is not going to send you
or anyone to hell for smoking a cigarette, or drinking a beer,
or wearing a skirt too short, or stealing a watermelon. not
for such minor things as that. No. The sin which God Almighty
charges the world with is unbelief and ingratitude. Unbelief. Put it very plainly, men don't
believe God. Peter said it very plainly. He
said they are willingly ignorant of God's creation and the flood
and so on. Willingly ignorant in spite of
the clearest evidences sent forth by God. God says this in Romans
chapter 1. He said the invisible things
of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, understood
by the things that are made. His eternal power and Godhead.
Men are without excuse. They can look at this marvelous
world and everything in it and clearly see that an all-wise,
sovereign Creator created all things. But no, they don't want
God. They don't want a God. That means
He owns them. That means they answer to Him. So they don't want a God. And
verse 21 says that when they knew God, that is, these things
are clearly seen, they glorified Him not as God. That is, don't
worship Him. thankful, but they became vain
in their imaginations. They conjured up all sorts of
ridiculous notions such as evolution and so forth. And so he says,
their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise,
they became fool. What God charges this world with
and what He is going to damn this world for is they hate God. They don't believe God, and God
who has sustained their lives, given them everything, And I'm
speaking to you out there who don't worship God, don't love
God, don't believe God. God has given you everything
you are and have, and yet you don't thank Him for it in gratitude,
unbelief. Why, men would believe everybody,
everyone but God. Everyone but God. And it's to
not believe God's Son. God sent His Son to this earth.
No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son hath
declared him, Scripture says. He came to this earth, came to
his own, that is, those he made, and they received him not. He
came to this earth, and men and women who do not worship him,
do not believe him, as if to say, I don't care if he came
here or not. So God is going to send them to hell. This is
one preacher who is not going to tell you God loves you. Those
who do not believe God, who do not believe Christ, who have
no interest in God's Son. This is one preacher who is not
telling you that God loves you. I am telling you you are under
the wrath of God. And you better beg God for mercy. Well, he will
come and reprove, the Scripture says, of sin. Rebuke. He tells young Timothy to rebuke. Rebuke. The word rebuke means
censure. It means to straightly charge. To straightly charge something. Now, this is for the believer.
This is for those who get in a bad state for one reason or
another. Believers, true, God's true people,
They get in bad states. If you read through the Scriptures,
you'll see endless examples of how God's
people, being sinners that they are, being human beings that
they are, get in bad states, cold or lazy or indifferent or
worldly or so on and so forth. Roots of bitterness that spring
up. Any number of bad ways that a believer can get into. Well,
the Proverbs says, Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. So
the Scripture rebukes those. Open rebuke is better than secret
love. That is, holding it in. The Scripture
rebukes us, those who get in a state of self-pity. Believers do that, feeling sorry
for themselves. The Scripture says, Look not
on the things of others, Now, look not on your own things,
but on the things of others. Don't pity yourself. Pity others.
Be pitiful, or that is, full of pity for others. Those who
act childish, the Scripture rebukes by saying, act like a man. Be you perfect, or that is, complete,
whole, mature. Those who are sluggish, the Scripture
says, awake thou that sleepest. Let us not sleep as do others.
Those that are irresponsible, he says, go to the ants, thou
sluggard. If you don't work, you can't
eat. To the fathers, the Scripture rebukes by saying, be a priest,
be an example in your home. To a mother, it says you are
to be a keeper at home, not a career-oriented person, but a leader and a guide
of the home. To the members of the church,
to the body, it says, don't look to serve yourself, but serve
the body. The Scripture rebukes those that are overly sorrowful
by saying, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice. The overly happy
are too full of mirth. The Scripture says, Let your
laughter be turned to mourning. To the rich it says, Set not
your heart on these things. To the poor it says, Be content
with such things as you have. To the married it says, Seek
not to be loosed. To the unmarried it says, Care
not for it. Time is short. That those that have wives be
as though they have none. And then he says, exhort, reprove,
rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. This is also aimed
at the believer. Exhort, he says in the Hebrews,
so much more. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works. That means exhort. Exhort means to invoke, to implore,
to console, to beseech, to be comforted. Exhort, he says, so
much more as you see the day approaching. Exhorting one another.
Not to quit. Not to lay it down. To hold fast
the beginning of your confidence, steadfast unto the end. Don't
quit. Don't turn back. Christ is near. The gospel is
true. In this world you'll have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. Well, I hope these things have
been a blessing to you. Until next Sunday, may God bless
His Word. Amen.