the book of 2nd Timothy chapter
4 and I want us to look here at the Word of God this morning
beginning with verse 1 in chapter 4. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom And then verse five,
but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. And then verse
17, 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. The Apostle Paul is writing to
Timothy, and this Timothy, he charges before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who he says is going to judge the quick and
the dead, those who are alive when the Lord comes back, and
those who have died and have been buried in their graves.
And he says, at his appearing and his kingdom, Christ is coming
back. And so Paul charges Timothy.
Now this Timothy is the one that is mentioned in the book of 1
Timothy chapter 4 in verse 14 when he said, Paul said, neglect
not the gift that is in thee. Timothy was gifted of God to
preach the gospel. He was gifted of God to carry
the message of redeeming grace unto those in his lifetime that
he was to serve. He was gifted of God. The gift
was inside of young Timothy. God does give various gifts unto
men, and we will not impart any gift unto Kevin this day. There's no way this church or
that any preacher can impart a gift. We see that this gift
was given him by prophecy, meaning that there was some elder in
the church where Timothy grew up that recognized in him that
God had put something special in that young man and that he
had the gift to minister, that he had the gift to proclaim the
gospel, he had the ability to set forth the things of God and
to feed the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had God given
ability and the Bible says that if any man minister let him minister
with the ability which God gives that God in all things may be
glorified and then he says which was given the by prophecy so
someone some elder in the church had prophesied this man is gifted
of God And then he said, with the laying on of the hands of
the presbytery, which means that the brethren gathered around
the elders in the church and laid hands on Timothy, which
was symbolic of their belief, which was a confirmation of their
belief. that this man had been called
to the ministry and that he was gifted of God and able to go
forth and to preach the gospel. And so here in chapter 4 of 2
Timothy, Paul said, I charge thee before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now this charge here is more
than a command. It's more than a command because
it carries with it the moral obligation for it to be carried
out. Beloved, we do not stand here
today to charge this man to go do something that he actually
has not already decided or believed in his heart God would have him
to do. This is a moral obligation placed upon you, brother, to
preach the Word. And Paul says that in verse 2,
he said, preach the Word. preach the word. Now I believe
that what this means is that you're to go forth as a king's
herald would go forth and give a message in a authoritative
way. The king has sent you. The king
has gifted you. The king has sent you out to
preach or to herald forth the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to preach His message with His authority. And the Bible says
where the word of the King is, there is power, there is authority,
there's power behind that. And if you go forth in the name
of the Lord, we charge you to go in the name of the Lord and
to speak with authority, no man hindering you. Now then, Paul
says also in verse 2, be instant in season, meaning that you're
to be consistent always at this. You're to be consistent in the
preaching of the word of God, in the spreading out of the gospel
feast before men and women. Be consistent in doing this. This is not something that you're
to do in a spasmodic way, but you're to do it consistently.
You're to spread the table and to show forth. You're to bring,
as it were, the alabaster box in and open it up that it might
that everybody in the house will smell the sweet fragrance of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you're about. You're
to go and to spread out the message or to spread out the gospel feast
and to give out and tell out the message which God has laid
upon your heart. And then he goes on to say here
in this verse that you're to do this in season, out of season,
and reprove, he says, be willing to reprove men that need to be
reproved, rebuke those, and exhort, exhort, and you're to do this
with all longsuffering, with long patience. You're to do this
considering yourself. considering your weaknesses,
considering your situation as you attempt to rebuke and reprove
others. Be mindful that you're in the
body like they're in the body, and don't be afraid to reprove
and rebuke, but you do it with long patience, and you do it
being mindful of your own weaknesses, and also that the grounds for
reproof And for rebuking and exhorting is not your own feelings
about things, but it's the doctrine. It's the doctrine. It's the teaching
of Christ. It's the teaching of the word
of God. It's not what you think. It's not what I think. It's what
God says. And the only authority that a
preacher has to rule with, and the Bible does say, obey those
that have the rule over you and submit yourself unto them. Because
they're those that must give an account of that ministry the
Lord has given them. And so, as you go forth into
this world, you must not just use your own opinions to reprove
and rebuke. I know that sometimes you might
have an opinion. But you're to stick to the Word
of God, to stick to the teaching of the Word of God, and you're
to give what God says to men and women, and preach the truth.
Now we skip down here to verse 5, but he said, but watch thou
in all things, and endure afflictions. He means here when he says, but
watch thou in all things, he means to be alert and sober.
Always be aware of what's going on around you. Always be conscious
that you're in this world and that God is at work and that
God will be leading and that God will be directing. And sometimes
when you least expect it, The Lord will direct your heart.
The Lord will show you something that he wants you to know. The
Lord will lead you. So be alert, be watchful in all
things. And remember this, that Satan,
he says, endure afflictions. Remember that Satan is not playing
games and that he's going to put up a fight. He always will. Satan means business. And if
he can put you out of business, that is his business. And he
will do it if he can. He will put you out of business. And a preacher needs to remember
that. And they must endure, you understand, affliction. Endure
it. Endure it, not run away. The
preacher must not get discouraged and run. He must be faithful
in all that God has directed him to do. He must be faithful
and he cannot turn and run because somebody is opposing him or his
message. He must endure and be steadfast. All right, in verse 14, Paul
said, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, and the Lord
reward him according to his works. God hears and knows about what
goes on, and he knows about those that are hindering his preacher,
and those that would shut the mouth of that man who is the
herald of the king. He knows about it. And Paul said,
this man who greatly withstood our words, in verse 15, he says,
the Lord reward him according to his works. God will deal with
those that oppose you and your message. But then in verse 16
he said, At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men
forsook me. There will be times when you'll
feel like you're all alone in this thing. You're absolutely
all alone when there isn't anybody else that's standing with you. Now God's people will be standing
with you. The true people of God will be
standing with you. And they will be praying for
you. And bless God for all of the faithful in Christ Jesus.
And for all of those who endure and stand behind and put up with. the various weaknesses and frailties
of their preacher, and stands with them. God bless them, and
God encourage them. But Paul said, at my first answer,
no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. But I pray God
that it'll not be laid to their charge. He didn't get bitter
about it. He didn't get bitter about it. He just prayed, Lord,
don't lay it to their charge. And in verse 17, he says, notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me. He always will. He always will. Hebrews 13 tells us that he will
never leave us nor forsake us, so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper, and we need not fear what man shall do unto
us. The Lord will not leave us. forsake
his servants, and he is all we really need. But brother, sister,
we need him, do we not? We must have him. We must have
him to stand with us. And if you ever feel, and there'll
be times when you will feel, that not even the Lord is standing
with you. And if you ever get in the pulpit,
and you feel like you're there all alone, God pity you. I've
been there, and I know that this is a time when it's a real trial
of your faith as to whether or not God ever called you, whether
or not God ever owns you or not, whether God ever put anything
in you or not. It'll be a real test of whether
or not the Lord is the author of all of this. And then he said
this, that by me the preaching might be fully known. First of
all, he said that the Lord had strengthened him. Strengthened
him. Now, the Greek here means that
the Lord poured strength into him. The Lord poured strength
into him. And I like to say it's always
available and there's no need to give in or give up because
the strength of God is available. God will bless His servants,
and God will put strength in them, that by me the preaching
might be fully known." That was the purpose of it, that the preaching
might be fully known, that the Gentiles might hear, that this
despised race, that the gospel message might come to them. And
you would think, you know, as you read about Mexico and as
you know something about what the situation is there, you would
say maybe those people so backward in some areas, so very backward,
you would say they don't deserve anybody preaching to them. Well,
do you know of anybody that really does deserve anybody preaching
the good news of the gospel to them? Well, certainly the Gentiles
do not deserve it. But God, you remember, He cut
off the Jewish people and grafted in the Gentiles. And they are
hearing the message. And God does have some people
down in that country that He intends to save. Now then, he
says in this last part, he says, and I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion. And what that means is that Paul,
being as he was at that time in the hands of Nero, expecting
to die at any time, and what it simply means is that he was
not immediately executed after his trial, and so he could write
this letter. that we just read part of here
this morning, and we're much richer for it today, are we not?
In that that God delivered him out of the mouth of the lion,
out of the hand of Nero, and spared his life so that he might
write this letter. Now I want to, that's the background. I want to just give you a few
things that I think is very important. There's three basic reasons. We've talked a little bit about
the preacher. and give you the charge that the Word of God gives
you. Now there are three basic reasons
for preaching. Now, I suppose there are thousands
of reasons for preaching, but there are three basic, fundamental
reasons for preaching the Word of God. And I want to give you
this, and I think that the people that hear me this day, that you
will agree with what I have to say, and I think that it's good
for us to be reminded of these three basic, fundamental reasons
for preaching the Word of God. Number one, we preach for the
glory of God. This is the only acceptable motive
for preaching the gospel. Now, beloved, we must be aware
of the fact that This generation needs to hear
the truth about God. They need to hear the truth about
God. They need somebody who will stand
up in their face and tell them what the Word of God literally
says about the God of the heavens, the God of the universe. Now,
if we only just want to be seen of men, if we only want to just
be out in front of people, or out in front of the public, God
have mercy on us. This is a weighty charge, a weighty
obligation. What we're about? We're those
that are to glorify God. We're those that have been called
of God to set forth His word and His glory. And you'd be better
off being in jail, brother. If you've got any other motive
for going and preaching the gospel other than glorifying the God
of the Bible, if you have any other motive other than the glory
of God, if you think it would be an easy life, just an easy
life, and let me remind you to whom much is given, shall much
be required. And my brethren, James said,
be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the more
severe judgment. And so if you think it would
just be an easy life, or if you want to live in a pastorium,
or if you want to play golf on Monday, you'd be better off,
my friend, just to shut your mouth and do something else,
if that's what it's about. But my friend, what we're about,
whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we're to do all for the
glory of God. And one of the things that we
must keep in mind, Kevin, if we would preach for the glory
of God, is to see to it that we do not ever misrepresent God
to those that we preach, regardless of how we feel. When we come
in before the Lord's people, we must always sanctify the Lord. Regardless of what happened last
week in our families, we must come in and sanctify God. We must come in and honor the
Lord. We must glorify His name. Now, I recognize that many, many
times Preachers are greatly affected by what happens around them.
They're greatly affected, they're greatly moved by the various
trials that come into their lives, and the great tests that come
into their lives. They're greatly moved, and they're
bothered, and they're disturbed. but when you come into the pulpit
you must have the victory and you must elevate God and sanctify
him before the people and you must never act like in any way
shape or form that God is a failure or that God in any way is not
in full control of every situation that you've got to do with now
it may be that you don't understand what the Lord is doing And it's
certain there are so many, many things that we do not understand.
We just simply do not know. Now you remember on one occasion
in the book of Exodus that Moses asked God, he said, Lord, show
me thy glory. Show me thy glory. And the Lord
said, now I will not show you my face, but I'll show you my
backside. I'll show you my hinder parts,
but I will not show you my face. Now what that means, Kevin, is
this. That we know what God has done. We see his hinder parts.
We know what he has done. We know. And we've experienced
much that God has done. But we cannot see in front of
God. We never know what he's doing.
We know what he has done, but you cannot know what he's doing
and what he will do. And many, many times, when you
look at your situation, you will say, I'm ruined. I'm going to
be ruined. This is going to ruin me. This
is going to finish me off. You don't know any such thing
as that, and you must be aware of that. You do not know what
God is doing now. Now, you may come into your congregation,
and you may look at the people, and you say, God's not doing
anything here. You do not know what God's gonna do. You don't
know what God is about. You may look out over the congregation,
you might see somebody, and he's maybe weeping, and he may be
feeling terrible, and he just may just be broke down, and you
say, God's really dealing with that person. Well, that might
not be it at all. Him and his wife might have had
a fight. Or he might have ate something yesterday he shouldn't
have ate. Or he might be sick. There could
be something wrong. You can't judge and say God's
doing a great work in that man's life. God's doing something.
Because we can't see in front what God is doing. All we can
see is where he's been. And he leaves his footprints,
does he not? And we can see that the Lord has done some things
up to this time. And if the Lord puts you there,
wherever he puts you, you know that he puts you there. If you
know that, then you just wait until you're able to see the
hinder parts of God before you make a judgment. And don't get
up and tell the people, God's not doing anything here. And
I know of a lot of preachers that have run run simply because
they could not see the front of this thing because God's doing
something he will be doing something and if you're if God called you
and if God owns you and put you in a place that he has every
intention of accomplishing his will and his purpose through
your life and he will do that he will do that but you must
always remember that you must you must always rightly represent
God unto your people. Always have the victory. You
may not feel you got the victory, but when you get before the people
of God, you must have the victory, and you don't ever let on like
you don't have it. You have the victory, because
there's many times only when you get up and begin That's when
the victory will come down in your soul. And you must remember
that. And we must not lie on God. We must always tell the truth
about what the Word of God says to men. We don't tell men what
they want to hear. We tell them what God says. We
tell them what the Word says. And God will have to support
His own Word, and He will. And He will. Like somebody said,
what do you do with a lion? Do you try to get it and hold
it? No, you just let it loose, and that's what you do with the
Word of God. You just let it loose, preach the Word, and God
will bring to pass His will and purpose. We need not apologize
for God or His truth. Never apologize. We must seek
His glory at all times. Well, that's the first reason
and I've got to hurry here. The second reason for preaching
is the conversion and the growth, the edification and the instruction
of His sheep. We're on the trail of His sheep. That's what it's all about. Paul
said, I endured all things for the elect's sake. Endured all
things. Everything I had to endure, I
did it for the elect's sake that they might obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul in Acts chapter
18 was in Corinth, and he was undergoing a great deal of trial,
a great deal of test, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision
at night, and said, I have much people in this city. And he said,
I'll be with you. I'll be with you. I have much
people in this city. Many of the Corinthians hearing,
believed, and were baptized. And Paul ended up, when he thought
he was going to be run out of town on the rail, ended up staying
there 18 months. preaching the Word of God. Now,
beloved, listen, let's get this. These people, Paul said, or God
said to him, I have much people in this city and these people
must hear a preacher. They must hear a bold, courageous,
honest preacher, not an organizer. A preacher of the Word, not a
promoter, but a gospel preacher is what these people must hear.
God speaks to men and women through a man. It is through His Word,
but He uses a man. In Romans 10, 14, how then shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? How shall they
believe on him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And the Lord said, Paul, you
just stay here. You just stay here. I have some people here
that need to be converted, that need to be edified, that need
to be instructed in the word of God. And you need to endure
what you have to endure for the elect's sake. They must hear
the gospel, Paul. They must hear the gospel. 2
Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14, but we're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory that is in Christ Jesus. Where unto
he called you by our gospel? He sanctified you and called
you. You were elect of God, chosen
of God, but you had to be called and called by the gospel. And
then after they hear the gospel, and believe the gospel, then
they grow by the hearing of the word of God. In 1 Peter 2 and
verse 2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word,
that you may grow thereby. John 17 and 17, sanctify them
through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Psalm 119
verse 9, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways, but by
taking heed thereto according to thy word. So this is the second
reason why we preach. for the conversion and the growth
edification and instruction of the sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ
and you say preacher how do you know they're going to hear they're
going to how you know they're going to hear 1 John 4 verse
6 says we are of God do you know whether you're of God or not
If you don't know whether you're of God or not, whether God sent
you out or not, if you don't know the Lord's in this thing,
then you better not go. But if you can say, we are of
God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. God's true sheep. will hear us. You believe that? I believe it.
All right now thirdly and lastly we preach to fulfill our responsibility
to all men. In Matthew 28 verses 18 through
20 Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given
unto me in heaven and on earth go ye into all the world or all
nations and teach them, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
Son, and the Holy Ghost, and lo, I'm with you always, even
to the winding up of the ages. We have a commandment, and we
have a commission to preach the gospel to all those who will
give us a hearing, and we must do that. A man said to Spurgeon
one time, if I believe what you do, I'd just preach to the elect. You know what Spurgeon told him?
He said, you go around and mark them, and I'll do just that.
You see, we don't know who the elect are. We do not. So we preach
to everyone that will give us a hearing. Now this is what puts
a man in the ministry. First of all, the gift of God
in him. And secondly, these three reasons
that we have given to you today. You preach for the glory of God.
You preach for the conversion and the salvation, the instruction,
the edification of the sheep of Christ. And then you preach
to fulfill your responsibility to all men. That's your obligation
as a man whom God has laid hold of and put into the ministry. Well, there's so many other things
that could be said, but I do believe that if we keep those
three things straight, and surely we'll remember that there's,
in our message, there are three R's that must be stuck to in
our message. Ruined by the fall. You must
know what happened at the fall, and you must stick to that message
that man is ruined, that he's ruined, totally, utterly ruined.
He's not partially disabled, he's ruined. Secondly, redemption
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. E'er since by faith I
saw the stream, the flowing womb supply. Redeeming love has been
my theme and shall be till I die. Redemption by the blood. And
then the third thing, of course, is regeneration. Regeneration
by the Spirit of God. Everybody must be born again.
Everybody must be brought from death, spiritual death, unto
life. And through the preaching of
the gospel, God is pleased to raise up dead sinners and put
his life in them. Do you have a life of God in
you this morning? Well, remember those three things.
Remember substitution and preach that. I remember hearing a story
about old brother Scott Richardson. He's up in years now. and uh... he was preaching over in franklin
tennessee and and it was in the summertime and some fellow went
to turn the air conditioner on and he turned the furnace on
instead and turned that thing way up and boy it got hot in
that place so hot old brother richardson he got up and uh...
they said he preached seven minutes and that's all he could stand
and as he was going back he told this one brother that was sitting
on the front pew there he told him he said well at least I got
to say the word substitution. I just got to say the word substitution. So don't forget substitution.
That's the very pith and mirror of the gospel. Well, we're thankful
for this day and whether the Lord takes these folks on into
Mexico or whether he sends them right back up our way, we're
thankful for them. Kevin, you come now.