Well, we certainly heard the
Word of God declared to us today, reminding us what we are by nature,
if any man should think that he has somehow arrived at some
particular place of holiness, he only needs look at the at
the tongue that's within his mouth that speaks forth cursing
and blessing. You know, a man can curse without
saying cuss words. And because when we speak ill
of someone, even if we do it in the nicest of ways, is still
in a measure or form of a curse. May the Lord give us a heart
and mind, and may he control our tongues, for there it is
indeed an unruly member set on the fires of hell. Looking in
Chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, Chapter four, I'm gonna read
the chapter. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ who shall judge the quick or the living and the dead at
his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant,
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering
in doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto
fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good
fight. I have 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, not to me only, but also
unto all those that love his appearing. Do thy diligence to
come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
this present world, and is departed into Thessalonica, Crescens to
Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark
and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for thy
ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus,
the cloak that I left at Troas with Corpus, when thou comest,
bring him with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward
him according to his works. Of whom be thou aware also, for
he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first answer, no
man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it
may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might
be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and
I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salute Prisca and Aquila and
the house of Anesophorus, Erastus, Abodic Corinth, Betrophimus,
have I left at my latum sick. Do thy diligence to come before
winter. Ubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens,
and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren. The Lord Jesus
Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. Now this is actually one of the
last things that Paul wrote, or at least that we believe that
was one of the last things. As he said here to Timothy, he
said, I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure is
at hand. Of course, he was at that time
in a Roman prison and had been condemned to death. And he was
not overly concerned with that because he knew that his time
was in the hand of the Lord. And such is the case with each
one of us. You know, we often look at things
that arise in our lives and we worry about our health and various
things that come upon us. But the comfort for the children
of God, as we understand the mercy and kindness of the Lord
to his people, is that our times are in his hand. Whether it be
as men would look at it as a good thing or as a bad thing, yet
we rest in the Lord. And so whether, Paul said, whether
I live or whether I die, we are the Lord's. It doesn't make any
difference. what befalls us in this life. And so he continues
his exhortation to Timothy as his son in the gospel and as
one whom he had believed or had imparted the knowledge that the
Lord had given to him and he understood that the Lord had
taught Timothy and so he desired for Timothy to continue in that
work that the Lord called him to and so he says, I charge thee
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick
and the dead, it is appearing, preach the word. So this is the
exhortation that he gives to Timothy is preach the word. And he said the reason and the
charge that he's given is because of the fact that Timothy as a
man, as someone has said, we preach the gospel as a dying
man to dying men. Knowing this, that there is coming
a day when all men without exception shall stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. All men are going to stand in
judgment. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. That cannot be overstated, and
it can't be overturned. It's just a fact. All men are
going to stand before the Lord. Now some men, religious men,
often look at that and think, well, man, that's a good thing.
because I'm gonna get vindicated and all the people that's done
me wrong, they're gonna get their comeuppance. But anybody who
has any understanding of who the Lord is ought to tremble
in consideration of that great judgment day. Now having said
that, You know the scripture does say the Lord's going to
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and at his kingdom.
Now we know and understand in the one sense of the word that
the kingdom of God is presently established. There is, the scripture
speaks about that kingdom which the Lord Jesus Christ would bring
in is not a future kingdom It does continue as a future kingdom,
but the kingdom is established in the coming of Christ into
the world. But there is a sense in which
the scripture speaks about, and I believe speaking about here,
at His appearing and at His kingdom. Now we know that He has appeared
already in the world. He has come and He has walked
among us. But He went away, but when He went away, He said, if
I go away, I will come again. And so when Paul's speaking here
about his appearing, he's not talking to Timothy about his
first appearing, but he's talking to him about the time when he
shall appear, at the end of the age, when this world is no more.
And at his appearing and his kingdom,
that is, he shall bring it in in such a fashion as we have
not yet seen it brought in. Now we've seen his kingdom, we're
in the presence of, this is, we dwell in the kingdom of God,
he has established his kingdom in the earth. And the gates of
hell can't prevail against it, but yet the full unfolding of
that kingdom has not yet been revealed as we see through a
glass darkly. But one day face to face, So
we shall come and he says here that he shall judge the living
and the dead. Now there's two ways in which
we might understand that. Number one, there are those who
have died and are in the graveyard right now. Their bodies are in
the graveyard. And then there are those who
are presently living. Now there are some who the scripture
says that when the Lord comes back that they shall be alive
at his coming. And they shall go into his presence
in that fashion. And so he's judging the living
and the dead. That is, there's nobody that's
going to escape. A man can't die and miss the
judgment of God. He is going to stand before Almighty
God. But it also has reference here,
I believe, to another distinction which the Lord makes between
men. And there is a difference in
the judgment between the one and the other. He says he's going
to judge the quick. that is the living and he's going
to judge the dead. Now, the dead are those who are
in a natural state. They are those who have not been
born again. They are those who live their
life and go into the presence of God without any consideration
of who he is or of any concern for their well-being. or that
they go there thinking that everything's all right with them because of
something they've done, or they're just generally good people. They're
the dead. They go there in a dead fashion,
and they shall be judged as dead men, and the dead shall be cast
into hell. The living, on the other hand,
the quick, those whom the Lord Jesus came to Nicodemus by night,
and he said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. They're those who've been given
life. Paul speaks about them in the book of Ephesians. He
said, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. A man doesn't have to do anything
to be dead in trespasses and sins. He's born that way. When he wakes up, when he first
comes forth from his mother's womb, he's dead in trespasses
and sins. Now you look at a little baby
and he's so innocent and pure and you look at him and you don't
think of him in that realm, but as the fact of the matter is
that we come forth in that fashion. And except a man be born again,
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And so it is that the
Lord judges the quick, the living, and He judges the dead. Now the
dead are going to be judged according to their works. Small and great. The Lord's going to judge them
according to their works. Now any man who thinks that that's
a good thing does not understand what he is by nature. Because
the works of men are as dung in the sight of God. Isaiah said
it. He said our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in the sight of God. So if you think or if any
man thinks that his good deeds are gonna mean anything before
Almighty God, he's gonna be quite mistaken. Because the Lord has
no regard whatsoever to your good deeds. Now I'll tell you
what he does have regard to, however, and the judgment that
shall befall those who are living has fallen on Christ. Now we come, there is a reckoning
when we stand before Almighty God. But should our crimes ever
be brought up, the Lord would look at us and say, These are my children. See, they're righteous. Because you see, we're judged
as righteous before Almighty God, not on the basis of what
we've done, but on the basis of what Christ has done. And
there's no other place for man to stand. He's either going to
stand in his own works, or he's going to stand in the works of
Christ. And if we stand in the works
of ourselves, then we shall surely perish. And the doom of judgment
shall surely fall upon us. But the judgment day shall reveal
those who are made righteous in Christ. And he shall say unto
them, enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Well done, thou
good and faithful servant. Now you know, when the Lord presented that
to the to men there, and he said, you know, many would say unto
him that day, Lord, when have we not done these things? I mean,
we've done good works. He'll say, depart from me, I
never knew. But there'll be some who'll say, well, Lord, when
did we do these things? I mean, our whole life's been
constantly not doing what you told us to do, even though we
knew what we should do. And even, you know, we're compelled
in our mind to know these things to be right and good. But Lord,
when have we ever done it? I mean, we've been such a failure. And the Lord shall say, Even
when you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren,
enter ye into the joy of the Lord. Because you see, the Lord
has regard unto that which Christ has wrought on the cross, that
which Christ has wrought in his life, and that which Christ has
wrought in his people. You see, the Lord is that one
who has provided all things for his people. He hasn't left anything
undone. And even though from time to
time our heart may condemn us, God is greater than our heart. What a glorious Savior He is.
What a Deliverer He is. He said preach the Word. Now
why do we preach the Word? Primarily we preach the Word
to glorify Christ. I mean, our whole purpose in
declaring the gospel before men is not to try to get folks saved.
And I know that's, today, that's what most people think the reason
for the preaching of the gospel is, is we're gonna go out here
and get all these people saved. Well, listen, the Lord's able
to save his people as he sees fit, and he's gonna do so through
the preaching of the gospel. I believe that to be true. But
the primary purpose of the preaching of the gospel is to exalt the
glory of Jesus Christ. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll
draw men unto me. And we know he was lifted up
on the cross, and Paul said, I came not knowing anything among
you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message.
We don't have any other message. You know, that's it. Christ died
for sinners. And he calls sinners unto himself. That's the glorious good news
of the gospel. He's made the provision. He said
preach the word. Declare Christ before men. Now we do that in the light of
two things. One is we do that in the light
of the glory of God in what he's done. But we do it with the knowledge
of the state that man is in by nature. I mean, a man can't preach
the gospel without a knowledge of those to whom he's speaking
are those who are perishing. Those who don't have Christ. You know, we've declared to the
world that Christ is the Savior, that He saves such as come unto
Him. Oh, what a glorious Savior He
is. Preach the Word with these things in mind. Be instant. He
said, be ready. That's what the word instant
means. Be ready to do it. Now, some people think that preaching
the gospel is something that requires, you know, hours of
study and all of that, and dear brethren, the Lord does indeed
teach us through His Word. He does direct us to His Word,
and we are to be students of the Word, no question about it.
God's people ought to hunger after the words that are in this
book. But I'm telling you the preaching
of the gospel is an instantaneous thing. You see, I mean a man
can get a sermon up and he can stand up and talk to people and
he can go through his outline and all of that, but I'm telling
you the preaching of the gospel, that Paul's talking to Timothy
about it being about instant, in season and out, is not something
that is about how much he studied. but it is that the Spirit of
God might be with him. Oh, be instant in season. The
end season is when it's convenient and when it's not. You know, we're a convenience-oriented
society, are we not? I mean, who would ever thought
that the predominant kind of stores that would be on every
corner in the world is what they call convenience stores and people
willing to go in there and pay twice as much for something that
they could go down the street and buy because it's convenient. It don't take the time, you know.
We're gonna go in there. But sometimes preaching the gospel's
not convenient. Sometimes hearing the Word of
God is not convenient, is it? I mean, like when Brother Thomas
was speaking to us today, that wasn't convenient, was it? It
was necessary, and I'm thankful for it. But you know, these are
those things, these exhortations, the reproofs. Preach the Word,
be instant, out of season, in season, out of season, reproof. We need to be reproofed from
time to time. Rebuke. We need to be rebuked. Rebuke is a correction. Saying
you're going the wrong way. You're doing the wrong thing.
You ought not to be doing that. I mean, that's what the Word
of God does, is it not? I mean, if you read the Word
of God and it just always makes you happy, I hear some of these
people on the radio and various things I read, you know, and
they just talk like every time they read the Bible, buddy, they
just, you know, jumping around for joy and it's just absolutely
great and everything. I'm gonna tell you, most times
when I read the Bible, my jaw just drops down on the table.
And I say, oh, woe is me, Lord, help me. I mean, this is more
than I can bear. I mean, this is a precious word,
but I see so little of it in my own self. So there is need
for rebuke for the people of God exhort. And you know one
thing I've learned over the time is that God, the people in whom
the Spirit of God works, they welcome the rebuke. They welcome
the reproof. Those who balk at being told
something that the word of God tells them that's contrary to
something they thought, they rebel against that. Now, everybody
has a little bit of rebellion in us, and you know, the first
time we ever hear some doctrine or something that we ever, we're
not necessarily gonna just jump at it, but you know, as the spirit
of God burns these things into our heart, we're humble to say,
you know, that's right. Whether I like it or whether
I don't, it's the right thing. Exhort with all long-suffering
in doctrine. That is, it takes time, see? We just preach the same thing
over and over, even if people don't like it. We preach the
same thing. We preach Christ and Him crucified
with doctrine. Some people don't like doctrine.
What is doctrine? Doctrine's just teaching. You
know, some people say doctrine is not important. Well, the Lord
Jesus Christ taught doctrine. It is important what you believe. It's important what you believe
about Christ. If you just think Christ is like
some big teddy bear and he just, you know, just waiting around
and like some puppy dog holding out for you to do something to
help him out, you've got the wrong view of Christ. That's
not the Christ of the Bible. He's a savior, but he's a sovereign
savior. He's a savior that calls his
sheep by name, and they hear his voice. And that's what he's
telling Timothy here. He says, exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. Because he says, for the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Now, I've
heard men preach from this, and this is like, yeah, there's coming
that time when men won't endure sound doctrine. You know, they're
gonna heap to themselves, teachers having itching ears. And I'm
thinking to myself, well, buddy, you need to look around. I mean,
that time's upon us. Paul's telling Timothy, look,
these times are here. He's saying the times come, he
says, you need to teach the truth of God, because there are those
that are going out into the midst of God's flock, not sparing the
flock. They're scattering tares among
the wheat. Now the enemies of the cross
of Christ, he said, and the time will come when men will not endure
sound doctrine, and brethren, we're in that time now. But they shall heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. They say, you know my ear itches
over here, would you scratch it? And there's plenty of, There's
plenty of preachers out there that'll scratch this ear. And
if you tell them this one's itchy, they'll scratch that one. They'll
tell you exactly what you want to hear. It's a mild message. It's a message that draws you
in. It's a message that comes with a smile on the face. And millions flock to hear it. But the time will come, he says
to Timothy, when they will not, but after their own lusts shall
heap to themselves teachers, and they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. Now, I would present to you today
that, brethren, we live in an age of great fables. There are
fables of every kind on every corner. And you know what all
of them have in common? Two things. But primarily the
one thing they have in common is they exalt the free will of
men. It's all up to you. I've heard
men preach great messages as far as doctrinal truth was concerned
and then get to the end of it and basically overturn everything
they said because they said, well now it's up to you. The
Lord's done all he can. Brethren, when the Lord's done
all he can and we're still not saved, brethren, we're in trouble. These are fables. Now the other
thing, they exalt free will of man, but they relegate Christ
to a position. in the salvation of his people. What do I mean by that? Well, it goes right hand in hand with
the doctrine of free will. You have a part and God has a
part. Now, brother, that's one of the
biggest fables that's ever been foisted upon men. You don't have a part. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior. And He saves whom He will. Now
He'll save sinners. I believe He'll save every sinner.
I don't think there's a sinner that won't be saved. The scripture
says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I
don't believe He failed. He's gonna save sinners. That's
the only ones He will save. And as we say so many times,
the sinner's a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost has made him so.
When a man's brought to the place where he knows himself to be
a sinner, and he begins to call upon the name of the Lord, and
he begins to cry out for mercy, then the Lord will hear his prayer,
hear his cry. Because the Lord will not despise
a broken and a contrite heart. But let not a man think that
he can make himself broken before the Lord. Job, I think if you'd
have asked him, he would have said he was an humble man. And
he probably was, in relation especially to his buddies. But
you know, the Lord was bringing Job to a place he needed to be
brought. And at the end of the book, and
the Lord appeared to him out of the whirlwind, And Joe didn't have much to say,
did he? He just had to sit there and
shut up. He said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear. But he said, now mine eye seeth
thee. And you know what he said? He
says, I hate myself and I repent in dust and ashes. And that's
the place the Lord will bring his people. I believe every one
of his children will come to the same place. They might not
come in the same dramatic fashion or whatever, but every man who
belongs to the Lord will come to the place where he believes
that Jesus Christ alone is his salvation. Because that's the
truth. That's not a fable. That's an
absolute fact. And anybody that comes telling
you anything else is telling you a lie. Because Christ is
the Savior. You're a sinner. And if the Lord
sees fit, He'll show you that you're a sinner. And He'll bring
you unto Himself.