Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4, title of the message, Paul's departing
words to Timothy. I envision, as I read this, two people standing at a train
station. You'll notice in verse six, he
says, I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. The train's pulling into the
station, and here he is talking. to his son. He called him his
son Timothy in the faith, his son in the faith. And you know
how solemn and serious this time is. He's not going to see him
again. He's going to depart. So this is what I had in mind
when I was looking at this. And he says to him, and let me
read first of all from verse 16, 17 out of chapter 3 before
I get to verse 1. He's writing to Timothy and he
says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed what we have in our possession. is so precious and so priceless. Every word in this book is true. It's true. I like reading books,
but the older I get, the more I like reading this book. But
this is the only book that I know I can read, and it is absolutely
true. There's not a lie in it. Not
a lie. All scripture from Genesis to
Revelation is given by inspiration of God and is profitable in our
day. This is not old stuff. It's relevant
to our day. It's relevant to every day. And it's profitable. Profitable
to us, profitable to our children. It's profitable for doctrine. You know, I think doctrine is
like the, it's like the, you know, you can't see this building. You can't see the inner structure.
You can't see the framework. You can't see the beams that
are holding this building up. You take away all that structure,
and this building's going to collapse. That's what doctrine is. It's
the structure of the building. You take it away, it'll all collapse. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, and that means me, for correction, and I need that,
there will never be a time that I will arrive at in this life
that I don't need corrected. Never a time. It's good for correction
and for instruction in righteousness. His righteousness. And how to walk in this life.
How we are to walk in this life. That the man of God, because
the man of the world is not going to pay any attention to it, that
the man of God may be perfect, mature, and truly furnished unto
all good works. Now, Timothy, I charge you. You can just see
this. Of course, Paul's writing to
him. I can just see this in my mind, him standing there at the
train station. I charge you before I leave.
Preach the Word. No matter what happens, no matter
what trials come your way, what persecutions, don't leave the
Word. Get in the Word. Study the Word
to show yourself approved, a workman that needs not be ashamed. And
every time you stand up to preach, you preach from the Word of God.
My opinion means nothing. My opinion is a good way to start
an argument, and a good way to end it is to keep it to myself. Preach the word, and that's not
my opinion. That's the inspiration of God.
And he puts this charge on Timothy and everyone who stands to preach
the gospel, to handle this book, Stand behind a pulpit. Here's
the charge. You preach the Word. Preach the
Word. I charge thee before God and
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at His appearing. He's not going to charge him
before the apostles or the elders of the church. No. He goes a
lot higher than that. I charge you before God. and
the Lord Jesus Christ. This charge is so serious because
we are handling the Word of God. I think if most young men realized,
if you really realized what we are handling What we're
doing here, they would be so fearful to stand in the pulpit, to handle the Word of God, to
handle such things as eternal life, death, judgment, God's
glory, the glory of God, the glory of His Son. I'm standing
here before God's children. Handling God's children. Now
what am I going to give you? God's Word. That's all you need. That's all I need to give you.
His Word. It's sheep food, isn't it? God's
Word is sheep food. You eat the husk of religion,
you're not going to find anything. You're not going to find any
peace, any joy, any rest. It doesn't give it. But when
God sends forth his word in power, you find nourishment, you find
food, you find peace, you find joy and rest, especially in time
of need, especially in time of need. And then it's such a serious
charge because it's, as I already said, we're handling the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are talking about the Redeemer,
the Messiah, God's Son. We are talking about the one
through whom God saved sinners. And we better be mighty careful
how we handle that name. You know, if you pray, when you
pray, be very careful in your prayer because of whose name
you're going to attach to it. When we pray, at the end of it,
we say we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
be careful. Be careful what you attach that
name to. And when we preach the word, we've got to be careful
because we are handling the glory of God and the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then it's a solemn charge
because no one's going to be saved without it. I want to see. I'd love to see
this church filled up with believing sinners, saved by the grace of
God. It's not going to happen until
the Word is preached. Getting up here and having an
entertainment service wouldn't save anyone. You can get some
false professions out of people, but no one will be saved, not
apart from His Word. Not at all. It is pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
then here's another seriousness of preaching the Word. I have
to give an account for it. You have to give an account for
hearing it. I've got to give an account for preaching it.
Turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. I read this today. It just adds a real solemnness,
a soberness about this. In verse 17, in Hebrews 13, Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls,
as they that must give account. They must give account. They
may do it with joy and not with grief. That is unprofitable for
you. But they must give account. I
have to give account for this night. I have to give account for what
I have to say tonight. That makes this very serious
business. I was telling Vicki the other day, I said, it's a
whole lot easier, and I mean this, I'm not just, I'm not trying
to get a pity party here and make you think I've got a tough
job. I said, it's a whole lot easier
running that business out there six days a week than preaching
here one day a week. I wake up, like I did this morning,
I woke up probably 6, 630. And I always, I do this, Sunday
morning, Wednesday morning, I wake up with this gripping fear that
I've got to come here tonight, every week. I wake up and I just
got this, I'm going to be standing here tonight preaching. And then
all day long, you know, I deal with it. Because I've got to
preach the Word, and I've got to handle God's Word, and I've
got to handle God's sheep. That's serious business. I've got to give an account.
And then also here, it's serious because Christ is the judge of
the quick and the dead. And everyone's going to stand
before Him. Everyone. Nobody's going to slip
around. No one. And I've got to be honest
with men's souls. With your souls, my souls, I've
got to be honest with that. Get told around something because
it might offend somebody, you're just going to have to get offended.
If the Word offends you. If I offend you, well, it'll
happen again. It'll happen again, that's me.
But if the Word offends you, pay attention to it. Pay attention. And he says here, preach the
Word. Here's what he means by this. Herald the Word. Proclaim it
loud and clear. Do not back down because of threats,
but do not back down because it's not that popular. Don't
back down. You herald. You be a herald.
Like the Herald Dispatch. Be a herald. Preach the Word. Preach Christ the living word
out of the written word. They go together. They go together. They cannot
be separated. You cannot know the living word
apart from this written word. Can't do it. It's not going to
happen. Can't be separated. Christ is the subject of this
book. He is the subject of our preaching.
He's the subject of our faith. We look to Him. He's the one
we preach. And I remember hearing him say
this years ago. We're not just here preaching
about Christ, we're preaching Christ. I think sometimes when God does
call young men to preach, I think there's some preaching about
Christ and one day they learn to preach Christ. with time and
experience and learning and study and trials and heartaches, and
one day they began to preach Christ and Him crucified. One day they began to actually
preach the Word, and not just about the Word. And when we preach the Word, We preach God. You cannot preach
from this book and not preach the being of God, the character
of God, the glory of God, the sovereignty of God, the immutability
of God. It would be impossible to say or to preach the Word and not
preach God. It'd be impossible to preach
the Word and not preach Jesus Christ, who is the Word. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. How in the world could you preach the Word and not preach
Christ as He's revealed in the Scriptures? It's not possible. And if you preach the Word, you're
going to preach what a mess we are. What a mess we are. Go over and
read Romans chapter 1. Let's go over there a minute. It says in Romans 1 chapter 8,
verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them or unto them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image like to a corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the
lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between
themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. That's an ugly picture, isn't
it? That's the human race. That is the human race. And if
we preach the Word, we cannot skip over that. We cannot skip over that. That
is us by nature. That's who we are. Now, there are three things to
be done in preaching the Word. And it gives them to us in these
verses. He says, first of all, reprove. Whether it's error of doctrine
or error of spirit, it's to be reproved. Not left alone. Say, well, you know, I don't
want to bother. No. I tell you what, if you're
a loving parent, well, reprove the child. And a loving pastor will reprove
where it needs to be reproved, if it needs to be dealt with. And you do it with the Word,
not to leave error unchecked. A little leaven leavens the whole
lot. Then it says rebuke. Rebuke sin, rebuke error, and
exhort. We do all this in preaching from
the Word. We reprove, we rebuke, and we
encourage. Come on. You ever encourage someone
to hurry up and follow you? Let's get there. Let's get there. You know, you watch children
will do that a lot. They're playing or they're doing something they
really love. They're excited about it. And they say, hurry
up. Let's hurry. You know, there's
hurry. Encourage one another. Encouraged
in faithfulness, encouraged in love, and to hold fast. The profession of our hope and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, in verse 3,
for the time is going to come, it will come, when they, who's that? I thought about that
today. It's not talking about false
teachers, the people out there that don't believe, because he's
not writing to them. I think he's saying this, Timothy,
there'll come a time when they, to whom you're preaching, will
not endure, tolerate sound doctrine. Where is the church at Ephesus?
What happened? What happened to the church of
Philippi? What happened to these churches written of here in scriptures
and churches we know of throughout history? What happened to them? Here's what happened. Well, the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine, the gospel. There'll come a time when the
tares will be a lot more than the wheat. When that wheat dies
off, they're not going to tolerate the gospel no more. That happens
everywhere. I hope it doesn't happen here.
I wish it never happened. But I do know this. History proves
that the gospel comes. It's like a wave. It comes through. The Lord saves his sheep, he
saves his people, and it moves on. It's proven throughout history. You have a congregation that
believes the gospel, and they die here, and the Lord takes
them, and the tares begin to outweigh the wheat. Well, you notice there's no wheat
left, and then they don't tolerate You will not endure sound doctrine,
doctrine that's of God, doctrine that's been proven over time,
doctrine that exalts Christ, because natural men, though they
be religious, will not tolerate the truth. Truth is just too
difficult on this flesh. It's too difficult. I tell you
the truth. I saw a friend some time ago.
He used to be a friend until he said something to me. But
he's still a friend, isn't he? He said, I haven't seen him since
school. He said, who blew you up? I only
weighed 150 pounds in school. I thought, you rascal, you. I
mean, you could have went all day and not said that. But you
know what? That's the truth. He told me
the truth. That was the truth. Truth is
very difficult on this flesh. Don't tell me that. Don't tell
me what I look like. I don't care if it is true. Don't tell me. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. And the time
will come when men will not tolerate, they will not want to hear the
truth. That's not what they want to hear. They'll go after creatures
who foster their errors that they believe. When you begin to tolerate a little error, next thing you
know, it's a big error. I was talking to Todd today.
He and I was talking some time ago, and he said something to
me. I think I was telling Frankie this the other day. that I hadn't
forgot. He was talking about toleration.
You know, we tolerate. We have to tolerate one another.
We've got, you know, you've got some weird things about you and
I've got some weird things about me. We tolerate each other. You've
got some things going on, you know. And we have to tolerate one another.
But we can't tolerate bad doctrine. We cannot tolerate error. And
here's what he said that just clicked with me. He said, there's
a point where toleration becomes acceptance. You know, we can tolerate one
another, we have to. But when it comes to error, and you begin
to tolerate it, before long it becomes acceptance. That's what's happened with this
homosexuality, isn't it? I mean, I think it's a prime example.
You know, you tolerate it, tolerate it, and everyone will teach you
in the school. It's just fine. It's just a different lifestyle.
No, it's still what it is. It's sin. Sin is sin. It never changes. But that's what happens when
you begin to tolerate error. Acceptance. The next thing you
know, the gospel's gone. It's gone. Let me go on here. In verse 4, And they shall turn
away their ears from the truth. I don't want to hear that. Don't
want to hear it. And shall be turned unto fables.
I told you this last week. You cannot turn away from something
without turning to something. You turn away from the truth,
you turn to a lie. Here it says you turn away from the truth,
you turn to fables. Fables is nothing. Nothing. Not have the gospel of God preached
to them. They don't want to hear it. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but they
don't want to hear that. And Paul says this, the time will
come. In another place he says, they'll
even be raised up from among you. They're not just outside
the walls, they're inside the walls. And he says, Timothy,
watch out for it. And you know the best way to
nip it in the bud? Preach the Word. Stay with the
Word and you'll nip it in the bud. They will turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned to fables. They will turn to
useless, unprofitable preaching that will not and cannot produce
faith and repentance. Can't do it. It can produce emotionalism,
but that's not faith. Feeling good is not faith. Believe
in God's faith. And then, but watch, he says
in verse 5, but watch thou in all things. Stay the course. That's the way it says. Stay
the course. Stay calm. Unmoved by these false preachers.
Stay the course. Endure hardships. Endure. Like a good soldier.
Don't run out of the foxhole when they start shooting. Stay
there and fight. And Paul's going to tell them
here, I fought a good fight. Now you fight one. You fight one. I ran my course.
Now you run yours. You stay on course. Don't get
off on it. Watch thou in all things, you
stay the course. We live in an ungodly world.
And those who follow the gospel, if you really follow the gospel,
and you tell what you believe, you tell on the one whom you
believe, tell them of the one you believe, I'll get it right.
You tell them, and you'll suffer persecution for it. That's what
it says here in verse 12, chapter 3. Yes, yea, and all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's not possible to believe
the gospel, to believe God, pastor this world, and not suffer for
it. Not possible. And then it says, if I am now
ready to be offered, and you know, he's really making reference
here to like, it's over numbers 15, 4 through 8. It's talking
about the drink offering. Pour it out. He said, I'm ready. It's not something he's dreading.
Paul wasn't dreading this. He was ready to be poured out,
like I think he squandered, poured out. Poured out like a drink offering.
And the time of my departure, I'm about ready to leave the
station, Timothy. It's at hand. Oh, if we could just reach this
point. He's saying my body is about to go back to the dust
and be dissolved and my spirit back to God who gave it. But I'm ready. I'm ready to depart. I'm ready to be poured out for
the sake of the gospel. I'm ready to be spent for the
sake of the gospel. I'm ready to die. I'm about to lift the anchor.
I'm about to lift the anchor and set sail for that better
country where the King of Peace is. I'm ready. I have fought a good fight. You
don't hear any fear and trembling in his voice here, do you? He
said, I have fought a good fight. You know there is such a thing
as a good fight. If it's a good cause, it's a
good fight. We've had to fight some wars.
That was a good fight. Saving this country. The land
we enjoy. He said, I fought a good fight.
I have fought for the glory of God. This good fight, you know, you
and I are in right now. We're in it. We are in it. You know, true Christianity, it's not just
coming together on certain days and going back home. It's a life. It's a life. It's a fight. It's a union to a person. That describes the believer's
life. It's for the glory of God. Paul
didn't quit. He did not leave the way. He
endured to the end. He endured all the hardships. You know, there was many that
followed the Lord, and they just said His words were too hard.
His words were just too much. They were a little too hard,
and they all went back. There have been people who have had
to endure some hardship over the gospel, and they left. And
Paul said in Hebrews, we're not of them to draw back. I fought a good fight. I have
finished my course. We have a course to run, a fight
to fight, and a death to die. He was given a ministry to fulfill,
and he fulfilled it faithfully. We've got one here. We've got
one here. I have kept the faith. This is the only way to depart
the station, believing God. I have kept the faith. Here you are, some of you, thirty
years, forty years down the road since you believed the gospel.
You look back. By the grace of God, you've kept
the faith. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. But you still believe by the grace of God. And here Paul is ready to be
poured out. He's ready to die. He's ready
to be offered up. He says, I'm ready to depart. I've kept the
faith. I've kept the faith. And now,
last of all, there's a crown of righteousness. I got this
from Henry's commentary. The happiness, the glory and
future state of all believers is signified by a crown. First,
on account of the glory of it. Secondly, it's in agreement with
the character of the saints, kings. We are made kings and
priests under God. Thirdly, because we are raised
to sit among princes and to inherit the throne of glory. And fourthly,
his crown is given by God. This crown is given by God. It's
a crown of righteousness. We stand before God righteous.
Accepted. Holy. Now that's a crown. That's a crown. A crown of righteousness. Those are Paul's parting words
to Timothy. Timothy, you preach the word.
You fight a good fight. You keep the course. And you
die in the face.