And you know when you, verse
1, it says, I charge thee therefore, therefore. Wherever you see a
therefore, you got to go back and see what it is there for.
So you got to go back to what he was saying to make the connection. Like I've told you time and again,
the Bible wasn't written in books and chapters. It's just one letter,
one continuous letter. paragraphs and sentences and
So you have to go back when he says therefore therefore I charge
you before the Lord Jesus Christ So you go back to see what the
therefore is for and all because he's taught teach. He's telling
him that preach the word So you got to go back to verse 16 and
that's where it really starts at all scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is propped for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, instruction, and righteousness, that the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing." And
so what this, therefore, does is connects the scriptures before
to the scriptures that we're dealing with now. And that's
what he's talking about. He's talking about preaching.
And when he says there in verse two of chapter four, he says,
preach the word. So he has to go back, see what
word he's talking about. He's talking about all the word
of God. And you know, since all scripture is breathed of God
and it's necessary, the scriptures is necessary, absolutely, utterly
necessary. There ain't no preaching without
the scriptures. And all scriptures God breathes
is necessary and is profitable. It's profitable to us, it'll
be profitable to us tonight. It'll be profitable to us tonight.
It's profitable for doctrine. And that word doctrine just means
teaching. That's all it means, teaching.
It's profitable for reproof. You know, sometimes we have to
be reproofed. Reproved, and you know, whenever
I go here preaching, I always listen to preaching for myself.
I don't listen to it for nobody else. And I don't never try to
preach to people that's not there. Because that just don't even
make any sense. To preach to people that's not
even there. But all scriptures, they're good
for reproof. They're profitable for reproof.
To reprove us. You know, sometimes we need reproving.
And for correction. Oh, there's lots, we all need
correction at one time or another. We need correction in our understanding. We need correction in our spirit,
correction in our attitude, correction in our understanding of the scriptures.
We need correction. And instruction, we need instruction.
That's what the Bible's for, to instruct us and to teach us.
And I'll tell you what, and it's especially made for the growth
of believers. Believers cannot grow without
the scriptures. They can't do it. He said, Peter
says, desire the sincere milk of the word where you may grow
thereby. And then Paul talked to the Hebrews
and he said, the meat, you have the meat of the word of God.
So you got to start out on milk and then you grow a little bit.
And then the next thing you know, you're eating meat, but you can't
grow without the scriptures. You can't do it. And so we must,
that's what Paul said to me, you must preach the word. You
know, without the Bible, without the scriptures, we would have
no wisdom whatsoever. We'd have no understanding. And
so whatever's contained in the scriptures, that's where we get
our spiritual wisdom. That's where we get our spiritual
understanding. Now you keep this and look over
in Isaiah chapter, I believe it's chapter eight. I want you
to see this over here in Isaiah chapter eight. You know, none of us, nobody
ought to use any source, any source, when we're preaching
or reading of the scriptures. Well, all my, you know, I use
other sources, but when it comes to preaching, we have to use
the scriptures. And look what he said here in
verse 19. Isaiah 8, 19. And when they shall say unto
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits. You know, people's
gonna come and tell you that. Go to a soothsayer, go to a fortune
teller. People have familiar spirits.
That means that they can talk to other spirits or say they
can talk to other spirits. And under wizards, That peep
into the darkness and come back and tell you what they saw. And
that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God? Would you
go to the living for the living to the dead? Would you go, you're
a living person, you want to find out about somebody living.
Would you go to a wizard? Would you go to a soothsayer?
Would you go to a fortune teller? Would you go to somebody that
just mutters and say, oh, I see your father way out there in
the distance. And he said, would you go for
the living to the dead? You know, people read their horoscopes
like it's really going to have an effect on their life. Read
your horoscope today. Oh, my goodness. I'm not going
to get out of the house. It's got bad news for me. Look what else he said here,
but he says, but now here's what you look to, the law and the
testimony. Now the law and the testimony
is the word of God and what God says. If they speak not according
to this word, God's word, it's because there's no light, no
understanding, no wisdom in them whatsoever, none whatsoever. And I tell you what, Reading
scriptures, I recommend it. I recommend it for myself. I
recommend it for you. But I tell you what, people reading
for themselves does not negate, does not negate or make void
the ministry of people gathering together for the Word of God.
And that's why God gave us pastors and teachers. And here Paul tells
Timothy, he says, charges him. And this word charge means a
command. I command you. Paul charges Timothy, and he
does every minister of Christ, every preacher of Christ, before
God. He says, I charge thee before
God. He's talking about before God
Almighty. Timothy, I charge you. I give
you a commandment before God. God who chose us, God who inhabits
eternity, God who loved us with an everlasting love, I charge
you before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who
loved us and gave himself for us, the one who redeemed us by
his precious blood, all who saved us, and I charge you before God,
the judge of all the earth, and he says, you be faithful, you
be diligent, and you be true to the word. Because there's
coming a time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in his kingdom,
he's gonna be the judge. You know how many times it talks
about him being judge of the quick and the dead? Now that
could have two meanings. The word quick means that those
that are still alive, And the dead means those that are still
alive. Or it could mean those that are
alive by Christ, quickened by Christ, and the dead in Christ. And so when Christ comes, he
raises those dead. But anyway, when you look at
it, when Christ comes, he's gonna be the judge of those that are
living and those that are dead. Well, if you're living now, and
you're died in Christ, he's gonna raise you from, but he's the
one who's gonna be the judge. And he said, I tell you, you
gotta pay attention to this, and I tell you, everybody, every
preacher needs to be faithful, true to God's word, because we
all have to give an account, give an account to God when he
comes again. We're gonna have to give an account,
that's why he said, gonna judge. You know, Over in 1 Corinthians,
it says there that a preacher, you know, when he preaches, he's
either preaching wood, hay, or stubble. Those are elements,
those things that will perish. Wood, hay, and stubble. They
got no substance to them. But he says, then there are those
who preach silver and gold and precious stone. And when those
things will stand the fire. So that's why there's lots of
people preaching wood, hay, and stubble. But God helped us to
preach the jewels, the glory of Christ and His preciousness. And I tell you what, when He
comes again, I have to give an account of my ministry. I have
to give an account of my ministry. I do, I have to give an account
for it. It says that in Hebrews 13, and it also says in 1 Corinthians
3, 13. And I do know this. Why does
it matter what men think of us when it comes to the gospel,
when it comes to Christ? And Christ is the one we're going
to be held accountable for. You know, when I go off and preach
somewhere, no matter what anybody else preaches, And I love to
listen to good preaching, I love it. I got to hear seven in a
row before I had to preach myself. But I tell you what, it doesn't
matter what anybody else says or what else they preach or how
they preach it, it has nothing to do with what I have to say
when I get up. I have to give an account of
myself for what I say while I'm there. Not for somebody else,
for them, not for myself. And so that's why it's so important
to do this. And then look in verse two of
chapter four. Preach the word. Preach the word. What in the
world were you talking about? All the scriptures, all the scriptures. 2 Timothy 4.2, preach the word. You know, they said in season,
out of season. You know what that means? Whether
you feel welcome or whether you don't. Whether you got great
liberty or whether you don't. When it comes time to preach,
preach. And it's the content of what
you have to pay attention to. It's not so much how the preacher
preaches. But it's the content of the message.
Whether you're welcomed by the people or you're unwelcome by
the people, be instant when you got an opportunity to preach,
preach! And so that's what he's talking
about, to be earnest about it, constant about it, engaged in
it at all times. And here's the thing about preachers,
and I've talked to a lot of preachers, a preacher's always, he's preparing
to preach or he's preaching one or the other. You know, when
you preach three times a week, With men of preachers, we talk
about this. We're under the gun all the time. By the time we
get through Sunday night, we started getting ready for Wednesday
night. And by Wednesday night, all we can think about is what
we're going to come up with Sunday and Sunday night. So there's
never a time that you're away from it. So you're either preparing
it, or thinking about it, or praying about it, and preaching
one or the other. You're either preparing or you're
preaching. And that's why he says, and he says, and in all
seasons, in season, out of season. You know, and then look what
he says. Reprove. What does that mean? Reprove
errors. Reprove errors of doctrine. Reprove
errors of spirit. And how do you reprove people?
You use the scriptures. You use the scriptures. Let me
show you something what our Lord told some people over in Matthew
22. Look what our Lord told some folks over here in Matthew 22.
I had to look this up right before service tonight because it'd
come to my mind while I was looking at my notes again. You know, Reprove errors of doctrine when
a person goes off on a doctrine and a spirit Use the scriptures use the scriptures
You know there's having this conversation they come and ask
the Lord Jesus Christ all kinds of questions And they ask him
who's going to be whose husband whose wife and all that in the
resurrection Look what I said Lord said in verse 29 Jesus answered
and said unto them Ye do err. Listen to this now. Not knowing
the Scriptures, and you certainly don't know nothing about the
power of God. Because the power of God is in His Word. It's in
His Word. And He says, you err. You don't
know the Scriptures. You don't know them. And I tell
you, rebuke, reprove, rebuke doctrine and spirit using the
Scriptures. Rebuke sin. Rebuke error. Sometimes you have to talk to
somebody probably other people you deal with it according to
the scriptures from the from the pulpit from the pulpit And
I tell you what and then he said exhort man Exhort that word exhortation
that that's that's what I'm kind of doing tonight exhorting people
exhorting people exhortation means to exhort people to listen
and Exhort means to be diligent in what you're listening, and
listen to what you're to do from that exhortation. Paul said,
I exhort you to love one. I exhort you by the mercies of
God. And so he says, I exhort you
to pay attention to what's going on, to pay attention to what
you're to do as a believer. And we exhort to love one another. Oh, exhort to love one another.
Exhort people to do good works. To do good works. Oh, my. And I tell you what, and then
exhort people to walk as becomes the gospel. You know, how's a
person, you know, people talk about, how you gonna walk in
this world? Well, I know one way we walk by faith. That's
first and foremost. We walk by faith. And then we
walk as becomes the gospel of Christ. What does the gospel
teach us? The gospel teaches us that we're
to love one another, that we're to be gracious to one another,
to be kind to one another, be tender one to another, forgiving
one another, upholding one another, praying for one another, and
exhorts us to do these things. And I tell you, when you walk,
what becomes the gospel? That would honor Christ and glorify
Christ. That's how we're to walk in this world. And I tell you
what, and walk and hold fast, whatever you do. Hold fast to
your profession of faith. Hold fast to it. Don't let nobody
come along and talk you out of it. And then by God's grace,
do it with gentleness, kindness. And I do know this. that all
the reproofs and all the rebukes and all the exhortation in the
world will utterly fall and fail if they're not based on the Word
of God. If they're not based on the Word of God. It won't
fail. You can tell folks all the time. I've got things that I'd like
to say, but I can't say them because I'd be bringing folks
under works. I'd be bringing them under to
legalism. I'd be exhorting them to do things
to be a certain way. But if the grace of God and reproving
and rebuking from the scriptures don't help a person, then me
telling them what to do will not do any good at all. Only
the word of God can do that. Only the word of God can do that.
No man's to obey us what we say, but because God said so. We don't
do what I say, we do because what God said so. And I don't
wanna ever, I know I get pretty stirred up sometimes, but I don't
wanna deliver the word in harshness. I don't wanna irritate hearts,
I don't wanna irritate minds. May we have one source, one foundation,
for everything that goes on, and that's the Scriptures. The
Scriptures. Preach the Word. And then look
what he says there in verse 3. And this is why he says you got
to preach the Word. This is why he says, you know,
you're going to have to, Christ's going to judge the quick and
the dead, not charge you before God. This is the reason this
solemn charge was given to Timothy. He says the time will come, And
verse three, the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine, but after, after their own lust, they're gonna give
teachers and heap teachers to themselves, having itching ears. My ears wanna hear something
different. My ears are itching. I want somebody
to come along and do something for my ears. And that's what
the next verse says. And they shall turn away ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto paper. But this is the reason
for that solemn, solemn charge. The time will come, and it has
come, has come, when they will not endure sound doctrine. They
won't endure it. In fact, there's people that
make fun of doctrine. They make fun of people who said,
oh, I just want to hear about the love of God. I don't want
to hear about doctrine. Oh my, you know, they'll not
receive and believe the gospel of God's grace in Christ. All
men by nature are self-righteous. All men by nature are self-righteous.
All free willers. You could go out here and somebody
that don't go to a church nowhere and never set foot in a church
building. You could ask them how God saves
a sinner. If God was gonna save you, how
would he do it? And you know what he'd say? He'd
say, well, first of all, he'd have to give me a chance. And
if he gave me a chance, then I'd have to cooperate with him. And he would naturally accept
me on the basis of how good I've been all my life. And naturally,
I've been good. I ain't been perfect, but I've
been good. I may have made a few mistakes, but that's only harsh
mistakes. And they'll tell you, I mean,
you ask somebody that ain't never been inside of a building, and
they'll tell you what an Armenian preacher would tell you. But
everybody's born a freewheeler. Everybody's born that way. You
ask it sometime. You just stop and ask somebody,
say, do you go to Beaton anywhere? No, I don't. That's what I believe
when I, but listen, when I was 22 years old, I said, if God's
gonna save anybody, He's gonna save me. I've done suffered enough
in hell, He can't send me to hell, I've already been to hell
enough. So He's gotta save me. And He's a good prophet. He's
a good teacher. But oh, He had mercy on me, He
had mercy on me. And I tell you, they're not gonna
believe the gospel of God. Men by themselves are proud,
boasters, And I tell you what, they're
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and they even
express indignation at it. They treat the gospel with ridicule
and contempt. When I first started learning
the gospel, I can tell you places that I went, and when I got through
preaching, I was preaching up in Chapmanville, West Virginia.
And I'd go down to see Henry while I was up there, because
it's a little over an hour and a half drive down there. But
anyway, when I'd get to preaching about man's utter inability to
save himself, and how desperately wicked the human heart is, the
pastor of that church got up, and after three days of that,
he said, boy, you all, he says, we're all wicked, ain't we? And
just laugh about it. He looked at another fellow and
said, you know how wicked you are? They made fun of it. And
then there was a group up in Indiana, said they believed the
grace of God, but they said, we're tired of being told we're
sinners. We're tired of being told that we don't have no ability.
All that grace meant to them was that they're saved forever.
That's all grace meant to them, that eternal salvation. And I
went to another place to preach, and after three days, the preacher
come to me and said, we can't take this, we can't take this,
we gotta shut this meeting down. And I was down in Nashville,
had to drive home, didn't give me a penny. They was glad to
see me go. Another time I was preaching,
and this is what I'm talking about. I went up in Kentucky
to preach one time in a big church house full of people. And the
preacher that was there, I'd known him for quite a while,
and he invited me up there and I began to preach. I began to
preach, and after four or five days, this woman stood up and
she said, listen, you know what this fellow said about you all?
He said you're all a bunch of sinners. He said, John, no you're
not. I've been knowing you all your lives, and you're not nearly
as bad as he says you are. So that's what I'm telling you
about. That stuff goes on all the time. That goes on all the
time. And I'll tell you what. They'll
turn their backs on the message of grace. They'll be indignant
about it. They'll treat you with ridicule
and contempt. And you know what it says here?
It said, after their own lusts, they have a desire, a great desire,
Listen, I don't like that preaching. I don't like that. I tell you
what kind of preaching I won't I'll find me a preacher. That'll
suit me That'll preach what I want to hear make me feel good about
myself make me feel good about my hope make me feel good I'll
get me a bunch of preacher and they'll just my ears are itching
and I want them to come and do something for my ears And they
get them teachers and to teach them exactly what they want to
hear. I And I've often said this, if this preacher don't suit you,
go to the next one. If he don't suit you, go to the
next one. If he don't suit you, you just keep going and eventually
you'll find one that's the one I like. Let me show you something
in Ezekiel 33. I seen this today. Look in Ezekiel
33. You all enjoy this, I believe.
I believe you enjoy this here. In Ezekiel 33, in verse 22. 32, excuse me, 32. You know, oh they want false preachers
and teachers who preach what they want to hear, promote their
doctrines, huh? They say peace, peace, when there
is no peace. But look what He said here in
verse 32. This is what God said about Ezekiel. And he says, oh,
you are unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant
voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear your
words, but they don't do them. They don't do them. Oh, you guys,
you're just. And I tell you what. And that's
what Jeremiah said. He said, they cry, peace, peace,
when there is no peace. Oh my. Seek preachers to scratch
it, to scratch it. And then look what it says there
in verse four, back over in our text. Look what it says here. And they shall turn away their
ears. You know, a preacher told me, he told me this, and he says
when he gets up to preach, And this is a grace preacher. I mean
a really, really wonderful preacher. Got a wonderful congregation.
But he's got a man that when he gets up to preach, that fella
turns around like this and does like that all the time he's preaching.
Looking away. Turns his back to him. What would
you do if you was in a congregation where a fella turned his back
to me all the time I was preaching? Would anybody say anything to
him? What he said is, I'm here, but
I don't like what you say. I'm here, but I ain't fixin'
to leave. I'm gonna aggravate you to death. That's what he
said. I'm just gonna make life as rough
as I can for you. Rough as I can for you. But they'll
turn aside their ears from the truth. Oh, here's the truth.
Oh, listen, I'm gonna turn my ears back this way. That's what
it amounts to. I'm gonna turn my back on that.
I'm gonna turn my ears away from that. and be turned unto fables. And you know what fables is?
Any of y'all in school remember those Aesop fables? And what
they are is they're just myths. They're myths. They're made up
things. They're fiction. And he says that's what they
want. They want fiction. They want myths. And that's what
that word fables means. And oh my, they'll be not able
to receive the truth They're used to vain, empty, useless,
and unprofitable, unprofitable religious fables and myths. The
only, only remedy for this wondering is for ministers to adhere closely. When people don't do that, adhere
closely to the pure doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then
look what he says there in verse five. I've got to hurry, hurry,
hurry. And look what he says, but now
you watch in spite of these folks when they want to endure sound
doctrine, go after different teachers, turn away from the
truth, but you watch. You watch, Timothy, you watch. You watch in all things. You
watch everything around. You watch in all things. Oh my. Endure afflictions, you're going
to have them. Do the work of evangelists, make
full proof of your ministry. And what he's saying, the more
error and false teaching prevails, the more earnestly we must labor
to preach the gospel, the more we must preach the truth. The
greater the danger, the nearer the danger and the division at
hand, the more diligently we must watch. And then he says,
you know, to make full proof, watch in
all things, be steady, be calm. Performing your business as a
preacher. Don't seek your own, but seek
the things of Christ. Preach the gospel. Administer
ordinances. Baptism in the Lord's Supper.
And be a faithful and true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when we get to the end of it, we'll not be ashamed. And then
look what he says here. Now I tell you, this is going
to be another message here. I'm just going to rush through
it. In verse 6, 7 and 8. For he said, I'm now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought
a good fight. I finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. When
he says, I'm ready to be offered. He said, I'm ready to be sacrificed. He says, my life is about to
end. That's why, you know, when he's
talking to Timothy, Timothy knows that Paul's days are numbered.
He's in jail and he knows he's going to die. And he said, I'm
ready to be sacrificed. My life is ready to be poured
out just like a drink offering. And it shows us that Paul knew
that he was going to be martyred. He said, my life does not matter
to me. That's what he said. And knew
he'd be offered. He didn't fear death. He didn't
shrink from it. You know what he said? It's a
departure. I'm going to go from one place
to another. I'm leaving here and going someplace
else. I'm departing this place. He
said, for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. And he said,
I'm leaving here and I'm going someplace else. I'm departing
from here and going somewhere else. And oh my. Then he says
this, he said, I fought a good fight. Oh my. I fought, I have fought
tooth and nail with my flesh, fought tooth and nail with false
preachers, fought tooth and nail with false doctrine, fought tooth
and nail with Jews. And he says, oh my, whatever
the opinion of the world, he declares that his fight for the
truth, his fight for the gospel, his fight for the glory of Christ,
He said, I fought it, and I fought it very well. I fought it. I fought a good fight. And he
said, I'll tell you this, he fought valiantly and honestly
and truthfully. And then he says, listen this
way, he said, I finished my course. I had a course. And I'm fixing
to cross the finish line. My race is about over. The race
is over. My days and my years are finished. I'm leaving. I'm finished. I'm
done. Oh, I finished my course. And listen to this. I love this
right here. I've kept the faith. I kept the
gospel that Christ taught me. I kept that faith. I kept the
faith, the doctrine of faith, the truth of faith, the faith
that Christ taught me, the faith that made Christ precious to
me, the doctrine that was committed to my trust. And he said, I've
kept the faith. I've been faithful to everyone
I've ever preached to. He said, I'm pure from the blood
of all men. And listen to this now. Henceforth, since I'm leaving
here, henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. A crown of righteousness. Oh my. Which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me in that day. And not to just me, but
everybody else that love his appearing. And this crown of
righteousness shows the glory and the future state of all believers
is signified by a crown. And why do we get a crown? Well,
it's a crown of the glory and the excellency of it. It's called
a crown. It's in agreement with us being called kings. And it's
also, and he said, we're set among princes and we inherit
the throne of glory. And it's a crown of righteousness
because Christ is righteous, and all He can give us, and He
has given us is righteousness. And this crown is given by God
Almighty, and not just to Him, but He says to every believer
who's looking, looking, and love His appearance. And you know what, when we went
through Revelations, when we had those crowns, you know what
it says? Everyone that got around there, they cast their crowns
at his feet. Cast their crowns at his feet. All right. Our Father, in the precious name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us to meet here
tonight. Thank you for your precious word. Lord, I wish we had more
time with it, more But people work, and they're
tired, and they're weary. And Lord, we got to use some
wisdom, some understanding. Lord bless you, dear people.
Those who are not in the service tonight, I know they would be
if they were able. I know they would be. But all
this flesh and this body gets sick. It gets weary. It has afflictions. And Lord, we pray that you and
your sovereign mercy, as seemeth good in your sight and according
to your will, restore them. Give them their health as it
seems good in your sight. And God, as these dear saints
depart here tonight, Lord, go home with them. Give them a good
night's rest. Wake them up in the morning and
give them a day, a day of honoring and glorifying you. Give us all
that. And we ask you in our Lord Jesus'
name. Amen. Amen.