Well, there we go. Deal with these first seven verses. Paul is giving instructions to
the church, to the Lord's people, to deal with, if they need to
call a preacher, a pastor, or an elder, He gives the qualifications
for it. And he looked down in verse 15
here of chapter 3, and his reason for writing to Timothy, Timothy's
still in Ephesus, Paul's down in Macedonia, down by Thessalonica. But he said, if I tarry long,
if I wait a while before I get there, I've wrote these things
unto you, that thou mightest know how thou ought to behave
thyself in the house of God. What is the house of God? Which
is the church of the living God. The church has its life from
God. It's the house of God. It's where God dwells. And it's
the church of the living God. Dwells in his people. He called
it the pillar. Everybody knows what a pillar
is. It holds something up. Something holds it up, then you
got to have foundation for it. The church is the pillar of the
truth, and then it's also the ground of the truth. It's founded
on truth, and it's upheld by truth. And so he said, I write
these things so you'll know how to act when you're among the
saints of God, among the household of God. And so he's dealing with
the qualifications of officers, leaders of the church. And here
in these first seven verses, he deals particularly with the
office of a pastor. When you find that word bishop,
it has three different meanings and interpreted three different
ways. It's interpreted as pastor. It's interpreted as overseer.
That's what it means. He's a pastor, overseer, or an
elder. So yet those are interchangeables.
Peter called himself an overseer, called himself an elder. Christ
is called the elder and bishop of our souls. And Peter, he encouraged
those that are elders over the church. And so when you're talking
about a bishop here, we're not talking about somebody like in
the Catholic Church or the Lutheran Church that's got an office different
from everybody else and has to wear all fancy robes and all
that kind of rigmarole. It's just the office of a pastor,
office of a pastor. And it's difficult, I'll just
be honest with you, very, very hard for me to deal with this
subject. And the reason being, you know,
that people say, well, he's calling attention to himself. I hope you don't think that,
but this is God's word. And I have to face and deal with
God's word, no matter where it's found and what it deals with. And we all have to face the word
of God and deal with it as we come to it. And this is the part
I've come to. And then look what he says in
verse one. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of
a bishop, elder, pastor, he desire the good work. Now he's already
established that women are not called to the ministry. They're
not called to the ministry. They're not called to speak publicly,
teach publicly, or usurp authority over any man in the congregation
over the work. But he shows that this work belongs
to men. Belongs to men. And yet it don't
belong to every man. Don't belong to every man. But
to those that the Lord is pleased to call and equip and put into
the ministry. Put into the ministry. Ain't
that what Paul said over here? Chapter one, verse 12. He said, I thank Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who hath enabled me, enabled me to be a preacher,
and taught me, for that he counted me faithful, listen to this,
who put me into the ministry. Not every man is those that God
calls and equips him. You know, if He calls a man,
He's gonna equip him. And I want you to see back over
here in Ephesians 4, you know Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter
8, Look in Ephesians 4, excuse me, in Acts chapter 13, the Holy
Spirit says, separate me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto
I've called them. So it's a work, he's called them
to a work. Paul said, take heed over the church of God, the flock
of God, take heed over the, oversee the church of God. lest anybody
come in, lest wolves come in, and lest false prophets come in. So you
watch and you take oversight of them. And that's what he's
talking about. But here's what this is talking about here, about
in Ephesians 4.11, talking about the ministry. And he gave some
apostles, gave some men to call to be apostles. And he gave some
to be prophets. And some evangelists, some travel
and preach, and some pastors and teachers. Pastors and teachers
is the same office. And the reason he does this is
for the perfecting, the maturing of the saints. For the work of
the ministry. And for the edifying, building
up, establishing the body of Christ. That's what we're called
to do. Called to do. And it's a work. He said it's a good work. And
he's given some qualifications and directions in regards to
men who desire the office and give any indication, gives any
indication that they, God has set them apart. Now there's men,
it's obvious that God set them apart. They start manifesting
gifts. And you call on them every once in a while. They'll manifest
gifts in reading the scriptures, manifest gifts in praying, manifest
gifts when they get up, they'll start using the scriptures and
talking about the scriptures and interpreting scriptures.
And you'll see some gifts start manifesting themselves in them.
And so when you start seeing these things happen, then you
know, now like me, When I was, I didn't know what a call to
the ministry was. I didn't have a clue what it
was. And I know I just read the Bible all the time. That's all
I've done, read the Bible. Day in and day out for three
solid years. And the next thing I know, people's
asking me to come and preach. And I'd go. And one more. I wasn't preaching much, but
I was preaching. I wasn't saying much. In fact,
I wasn't saying anything worth saying. But you give the indication. Those people have the gifts.
But the call to the ministry, he says, he that desires the
office of a bishop. The call to the ministry involves
much more than just a desire, though that's where it starts,
a desire, a desire. And he desires, it says, if he
begins, he said he desires it's a good work. He desires a good
work. You know why it's good? Because
it's by God's appointment. It's God's appointment. No man
takes this honor unto himself, but he that's called of God.
He that's called of God. So it's a good work. God's got
to call a man to this. A man would be a fool to get
into the ministry and not be called of God. Just be a fool. And then, a work. When he talks
about a good work, it's a work. And a work requires diligence.
It calls effort. And when you go in the scriptures
and find out about some qualifications for preaching, it's called a
husbandman. He's called a laborer. He's called
a soldier. He's called a warrior. He's called
all kinds of things. And so it's a work, and a work
requires diligence. You all that go to work, you
work, you work. You put in your eight hours and
you get your last break, but you do what you're supposed to
do while you're there. You're diligent. It's not just a desire
for an office. That's not what it is. It's not
just a desire for a title or an honor of being called doctor
or reverend or preacher or pastor or any of that. It's not a place
of profit, for a man's gonna profit and live off of the backs
of men and women. And a man called of God, he desires
and delights, and it's called a laborious work. I mean, it's
work. Paul says, we are laborers together. Listen to this, it's 1 Corinthians
3, 9. We are laborers together with who? With God. And he gives
two illustrations. One sows the seed. Another comes
along and he waters. So he that sows the seed is nothing.
He that waters is nothing. But it's God that gives the increase. And that's why we're laborers
together with God. God's the one that's got to give
the increase. There ain't no seed unless God gives it. There
ain't no water unless God does it. So that's the first thing. I mean, it's a work. It's really
a work. And I'll tell you something else
about this. You're never ever out from under it. Never. You
get done with Sunday night and by Sunday afternoon you're thinking
about Wednesday. Wednesday you're thinking about
Sunday. You just always got your mind on those things. And that's
why it's good to go through a book. That gives the preacher a little
respite. He can kind of prepare a little along. But not only
is it a good work, a work that requires great labor, but it's
an excellent work, a useful work, it's a necessary work, and it's
an honorable work. You know, I've said this time
and time again, and I would have to step down with just a few
handful of people, I'd have to step down to be the President
of the United States. I'd have to come down from the
most honorable position that God ever put a man in to become
President of the United States. And I believe that with all my
heart. This is something that God does. And it's an honorable
work. I mean it, yes. Could you find
anything? Of all the things that I've done
in my life, this is the most precious, most delightful. And
Todd and I was talking about today, said when the Lord blesses
you, that's the most wonderful place to be. But when you're
up there by yourself, it's the miserable space you've ever been. And you all know that. You know
how miserable it is when I'm up here in the flesh and you
have to listen to it. But there's a difference in when God blesses
and when He don't. You know that as well as I do.
And what it does, it involves, I mean it involves, we can't
play at this. A preacher can't play at being
a preacher. He can't play at being a pastor. Uh-uh. It involves, you've got to be
dedicated to it, committed to it. This is your life work. And I tell people all the time,
I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed
to be doing, and I'm gonna do it until I can't do it no more.
That's what I'm called to do. I'm what I'm going to do. When
I get too old, get you somebody younger. But here's the thing
about it. Not only is it a good work, a
laborious work, an excellent and useful work, an honorable
work, but it's a good work because of what it deals with. You know,
when a preacher is called of God, called to the ministry of
this work, it's the most blessed work there are. You know why?
Because first and foremost, we're talking about God. We're dealing
with God. The things of God. God's Word,
God's people, the Lord Jesus Christ and His blessed person,
the Lord Jesus Christ and His blessed Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ and His blessed death, the Lord Jesus Christ and His
burial, the Lord Jesus Christ and His ascension sitting at
God's right hand, taking care of us and watching over us. Oh
my, and I tell you, and then not only that, But I, and you've
heard me said time and again, I'm dealing with souls. We're
looking, I'm looking at bodies and you're looking at a body.
But we're living souls inhabiting dying bodies. So our souls is
gonna spend eternity somewhere. And so when you're preaching
and you're dealing with things, you're dealing with men and women
that's bound for eternity. Now you certainly, certainly
wouldn't play with a soul. You certainly wouldn't make jokes
about people going into eternity. So it's a work that takes, I
mean, it's overwhelming at times, just utterly and absolutely overwhelming.
And oh my, then we got that good news of the gospel. Christ Jesus
came into the world. What'd he come for? To save sinners. We got any of them around here?
Both hands goes up for me. Well, Christ came to save me.
Bless his holy name and all mine. Now listen to this. Listen to
the next one now. In verse two, a bishop then must
be blameless. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What are we gonna say about that? Well, I don't know of anybody
that's entirely free from sin or blameless in the sight of
God. Nobody that I know of. Shirley and I was talking about
on our way over here, we talk about this often, that we never
ever, we're constantly aware of our fallen nature, our flesh,
constantly aware of it. I mean, we're dealing with it,
it's just there. And by God's grace, we don't
give in to it. We don't give in to the flesh.
But the blameless here is talking about the meaning is that a man
should be of a good character, an excellent character. And he
ought to be that way among men. He ought to be a man of integrity. He ought to be a man of honesty.
He ought to be a man that conducts himself right, and he lives a
life, a manner of life that people would say, well, he's, I'll follow
him. I'll listen to him. I hear that's
what he's got to say. He's not blameless. Himself he's not blameless
in the sight of God except through Christ, but it just means having
a being honest Having a character that has some integrity Has some
some honesty and that's what it's talking about and he got
to have Those things is just and then
look what else he says The husband of one wife Now why in the world
would he say the husband of one wife? You remember in the Old
Testament, them men would be married to, you know, have three
or four wives, have a bunch of concubines. And it means to be
the husband of one wife. Don't have two wives, don't have
three wives, don't have four. And there's the Mormons, you
know, there's a group of them that believes you can have four
or five wives, and they do. They have four or five wives,
my goodness, I don't know what in the world man do. It'd be
awful. One's enough. And she's sweeter than sugar.
But you know, it means to be married to one
woman. But it means to have one wife,
be married to one wife. And you know, in these days,
and you know how they would divorce people in the New Testament and
how they would divorce people in the Old Testament? And our
Lord told them, He says, you know, you said, you know, that
Moses gave you divorce, that it was from the beginning, it
wasn't so. And all people had to do is just turn around three
or four times and say, I'm through with you. And that's it, you're
divorced. And they didn't have welfare,
they didn't have social security, they didn't have all the work
that people have today. So when a man just say, turn
around three or four times, I'm through with you. And that's
how easy it was. And so that's what he's telling
about, you know, to be married to one wife at a time. And you
know, a preacher, a pastor, a preacher doesn't even have to be married.
Paul wasn't a married man. Paul wasn't married. Never did
get married. And I know a lot of men that's
never got married. Women that didn't get married.
So he gotta be the husband of one wife. Now watch what else
it says now. You gotta be vigilant. Now what does that word vigilant
mean? Well, first of all, it means he watches over himself.
The person that I've got to keep watch over is me. First and foremost,
my own self, my own heart, my own mind, and all those things.
And then be vigilant about the people that you're preaching
to. Be vigilant about what you say to them. Be vigilant over
their souls. Be vigilant over the condition
they're in and what they're doing and how they're living and how
they're acting. Because He leads these people. And I tell you,
Martin, and you gotta be vigilant about the wiles of the devil.
That's why Paul says, you know, the devil is crafty. You know,
he deceived our mother Eve, and don't let him beguile you from
the simplicity that's in Christ, the singularity that's in Christ.
And I tell you, you gotta be vigilant over false doctrine.
And I'm diligent and vigilant about the Holy Ghost leading
a man in the ministry. And that's one thing, I'm different
than any other pastor or preacher I know of, the way we do things.
Other preachers and stuff, they'll pick out all the songs, and they'll
pick up every song that's gonna be sung in a certain meeting,
and when it's gonna be sung, and they pick out who's gonna
read scriptures, who's gonna pray, and all that. I've been
in a lot of meetings, and we've had a lot of them here. And nobody's
gonna know what I'm gonna do till I do it. I don't know what
we're going to sing. When we have our meeting in April,
I'm not going to sit down here and pick out a songwriter picks
out to sing. And if I decide, you know, if
I say I'd like to sing something else, I'd tell them ahead of
time, I'd like us to sing this. But I, you know, and the preacher's
going to preach when they're preaching. We'll sing what the
Lord leads us to sing. And I've called people, a lot
of times I've called people right off the, right out of the, right
out of the, and that, I'm different than, I don't know if another
preacher does that anywhere. And that don't make it right
for me, and that don't make it right for you, but that's the
way I do it. You know that's the way the Lord
leads me to do it. I just cannot comprehend sitting
down and figuring out everything that's gonna happen three weeks
from now. I can't do that. I'm not made that way. And then
look what else he has to be. Vigilant. Sober. That word sober
means better. And even a stronger word for
that is temperate. Temperate. Temperate in his eating. Temperate in his drinking. Temperate
in hobbies. You know, don't have hobbies
that's going to interfere in the ministry. And everything,
be very, very temperate in everything concerning the flesh. Don't let
the flesh rule you and hinder you in the ministry. So be temperate. And then look what else it says.
Of good behavior. Oh boy, sometimes I am, sometimes
I... No, seriously, of good behavior.
That means to be modest, considerate, kind, good behavior towards other
people. Kind and considerate towards
other people. Good behavior towards other people.
Good behavior towards other people. And then given the hospitality.
Given the hospitality. And that's something that every
preacher I know of, just about every preacher I know, they love.
They love having people. They love being with other believers.
And pastors and preachers who minister the words of the gospel,
the words of God's word and doctrine. Here's the thing about it, though
they're preaching the word, preaching doctrine, but yet we're dealing
with people. We're dealing with people. And
that's the thing about it, you know, we minister to people. I'm not ministering to just a
bunch of, I'm ministering to people that I know, I love and
I care for. And we minister people, so there
we're concerned over individual people. And so in our home, and
I'm so faithful that I've got a wife that loves this too, that
we love to have our home open. We love to have people in. A preacher opens his heart, he
opens his home, and he opens his hands. And especially to
all men, but especially, especially to the household of faith. I can't hardly wait till Rick
and Todd come spend a few days with it. I'm looking so forward
to that. And with the weekend we just had with David and Teresa
and John and Vicki. It was wonderful. Oh, it was
absolutely wonderful. We started talking from the time
we got there, and go ahead and get up and go preach, and get
back to the house and talk some more. And you know, we just loved
it. They were so hospitable. And
that's the way we love hospitality. And then look what else it says
about him. Apt to teach. Apt to teach. Now, you can't
teach what you don't know. If you're gonna teach anything,
you gotta know it. You can't teach something you don't know
anything about. And you got to have somebody that's got some
knowledge, and able to explain, able to illustrate, able to take
the truth and communicate the truth, and communicate the truth
of the gospel, and do it to people. And one who can refute error
when it's necessary. And a preacher has to have the
public gift of speaking. He has to have the gift of being
able to preach. He has to, he just has to. And
then look what else it says now. In verse three, not given to
wine. Now look at what that says in the margin. If you got a Bible
like mine, in the margin it says, not given to wine, ready to quarrel
and offer wrong as one in wine. Ready to fuss and fight because
you're drunk. That's what that's saying. Not
given to wine. The elder, the pastor, the preacher
is not to be intemperate in the use of wine. Not be addicted
to it. And use it and follow it. Shouldn't
do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. And then look what he says here.
Not given to wine. No striker. Now what in the world
is he talking about that no striker? Don't strike anybody with your
hands and don't strike anybody with your tongue. You know, this
tongue can be so poisonous and it can do, it can strike. It's
just like a poison that'll strike you just like a, your tongue
can just smart so bad with it, you know. Don't use your, strike
with your hand and don't strike with your mouth. Don't strike
with your tongue, huh? And you know a preacher shouldn't
be quarrelsome. A harsh person shouldn't be harsh.
But by God's grace, gentle and considerate of other people.
And then look what else he says here now. Not greedy a filthy
lucre. Filthy lucre means money. Not
greedy a filthy lucre. You know there's a lot of people
that are, they're greedy over filthy lucre. But look over here
at Titus, just go right to your right to the book of Titus and
look what he says here in Titus chapter 1 and verse 10. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers especially they of the circumcision, especially
they of the Jewish, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert
whole houses, teaching things which they ought not teach. Why? For money, for filthy lucre's
sake. For filthy, filthy lucre's sake. That's why. For filthy, filthy
lucre's sake. And you know, let me show you
this in 1 Peter 5. I want you to see this and I'll
move on. Let's look at 1 Peter 5. You know, when I go somewhere and they
give me money, I don't even look at it, don't open the envelope
for for a day or two afterwards, because you know why? I don't
want to know. I don't like to think about those
kind of things. I just don't. But anyway, look
what he says. Chapter 5, verse 1, the elders
which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder, and an
eyewitness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight, not by constraint, but willingly,
not for filthy lucre, but with a ready mind. With a ready mind. And I'll tell you something else
about preachers. God called preachers. People that know the gospel.
They're more interested in doing something for the ministry in
somebody else's life than they are for themselves. I know that
without a shadow of a doubt. You know, I'm so concerned about
Larry and Robin down there. So concerned for them. It just, you know, you just,
just money. Listen, give me $2 and I'm as
happy as if I had good sense. Give me enough to buy a couple
dozen eggs and I'm good to go. That's all I need. And then look
what he says here now, I got to hurry on. In verse 3, but
patient, not a brawler, not covetous. Now that word patient has to
do with bearing trials. bearing trials, bearing reproaches,
bearing injuries, and bearing them patiently, rather than quarrel
with people and argue with people, contend with men. That's what
he's talking about. And I tell you what, not a brawler,
not a brawler, not one who wants to just fuss and fight and argue
and go on all the time, arguing over everything that's happening.
And he has to be gentle. He has to reprove and rebuke
and correct and do it without fail or falter, but yet he got
to do it in a patient, not brawler, not a covetous way. And I tell
you, and when he talks about not covetous here, not covetous
is the praise and acclaim of men we don't have to be bragged
on. We don't have to, like I told
you Sunday, You know, that, you know a fella got down
out of the pulpit and he said, a woman running up to him said,
I won't be the first to tell you that's the best measure I
ever heard. She said, you're too late. The devil had told me before
I got to the first step. You know, me and Bruce Crabtree
talked about, you know, our head gets so big, nobody can see it
get big, but it does, God sees it. Do y'all ever have the big
head? All right, let me get on here
with it. And then in verse five, four and five. And here he goes, one that ruleth
well his own house, having his children in subjection with all
gravity. Well, I don't have any children
anymore. But as long as they was at home until they got 16,
17, 18 years old, they come to the services. And very grateful
for that. And because if a man can't take
care of his own house, he has no business taking care of the
church of God. If he's not a good father, not
a good man, not a gentle father, Not a committed father. And I'm
not talking about being mean at home and ruling people with
a wrought iron. No, doing, you know, teaching
these kids and raising them up. I used to, they'd get off of
school and we'd sit down and we'd either read Pilgrim's Progress
or I'd read them some other book or something for a while and
then, you know, and then of course the kids, they get older and
they don't wanna, you can't make them But anyway, I don't have
to deal with that right now. Not anymore, anyway. But I, you
know, some of y'all had your children, you brought them, and
now you got children that are believers. You cared for their
life, you cared for the soul, you cared for what they heard.
And there's, you got two children here tonight, believing children. What a blessing. Daughter-in-law's
a believer. What a blessing. You got a daughter
and a son sitting there, Lane. Ain't that something? And your
grandbaby comes with you all the time. That's why you do it. You bring them to hear the gospel.
You bring them to hear the gospel. And I tell you, and then let
me go on here real quick. You know, it's easier to take
care of a home than it is a pastor a church. And then look what he says in
verse six. Not a novice. Not a novice. Novice means a beginner. Somebody
just starting. A new convert. Not a novice. Don't put nobody in the ministry.
Don't have anybody take over the church. Don't call a pastor
or preacher that's a novice. Lest being lift up with pride,
he fall into the condemnation of the devil. A novice is a new
convert, a baby in Christ. And it takes time, it takes time
and work and study to acquire knowledge, to acquire some wisdom,
to acquire some understanding. It takes time to learn how to
subdue your temper, to hold your pride and try to Control your
impulsiveness. It takes time. Young men, when
I first started preaching, I don't know how in the world anybody
listened to me. I was mean, I was overbearing,
I was, oh, it's awful. A novice is such an honored and
important position. And what happens is, if you put
him in the ministry, he'll get lifted up in pride, get to think,
boy, I know something, and bam, down he's going. Down he's going. I'm gonna tell you an illustration
about that. Just recently, just recently,
a young man, he's only preached about 10 or 11 times. That's all he's preached, 10
or 11 times. And a church called him to be their pastor. And a couple of other pastors
says, now, you think that you're qualified to go pastor a church
now? You've only preached 10 or 12
times, 10, 11 times. But he's ready to go. They would
have ate him alive. You know people that's been in
a congregation for several years, you get a preacher in there,
and they preach 10 or 12 times, and next thing you know, they're
gonna be running him. He's not gonna be running him.
I know exactly how it works. I've seen it happen too many
times. But nevertheless, they talked to him, and he said, you
know, I probably ought to wait on that. I probably ought to
wait on that. Yeah, give yourself two or three
years. Give yourself two or three years, yeah. And okay, let me
wind this thing up here. Oh my goodness, I've been, whew,
I've been at this, ain't I? Moreover, he must have a good
report of them which are without, lest he fall into a reproach
and snare of the devil. A preacher or pastor has to have
a good reputation with men even outside the church. They may
despise what he has to say. They may despise his message.
And he got to be very, very careful not to give them occasion to
blaspheme our gospel because of being inconsistent or hypocritical
in any way. And certainly, certainly don't
be involved in questionable actions and behavior that will bring
reproach upon Christ, his gospel, and open the door for men. to
reproach you and reproach your gospel and to reproach the people
in your congregation and especially come into a snare of the devil
and say, look at it, ain't nothing to him. All right. Our Father in the blessed name,
precious name, glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you for allowing us to meet here tonight. Lord, I dealt with a
subject that's very hard to deal with, but Lord, I thank you for
the liberty to speak about it, deal with it. And Father, bless
these dear saints tonight as they go home. Put a hedge around
them, around their home. Put a hedge around their families. Preserve us all and keep us.
Lord, we're in your hands. And we'll take whatever you give
us, but Lord, protect us and preserve us. And Lord Jesus,
meet the needs of your dear people who weren't here and those that
are listening. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen, amen, amen. All right, I'll see you Sunday
morning, God willing.