Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
four. 2 Timothy chapter four. Begin reading with verse one.
2 Timothy four. Verse one. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering 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 to
fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry, For I'm 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, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. Let's
go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you again for
this opportunity to gather together. We're thankful that you've brought
us here this morning, and we pray that you'd be pleased to
bless us with a word from thee. Lord, take these things written
in thy word, and Lord, reveal them to us. Lord, grant it that
we might see something of our sin, our need, our depravity. And Lord, cause us, cause us
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant it that we might rest in
him and him alone. Lord, we pray that you would,
Lord, be with our people. Lord, so many are in a time of
trouble and difficulty and sickness. Lord, you know the needs of your
people. Lord, comfort, strengthen, encourage. And Lord, in all things,
cause us to seek thee, to rest in thee. Now again, we pray that
you would be with us in this hour. Lord, bless us. Bless us with your presence.
We ask these things in Christ's name and for thy glory. Amen. You still have your place there
in 2 Timothy. Look again at verse 2. 2 Timothy 4, verse 2. Paul writing to Timothy, he says
this. Preach the word. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering, with
patience, and with doctrine. That's the title of the message
this morning, Preach the Word. If you look back in God's Word,
it's surprising, I don't know why, but it's surprising how
many men know how to build an ark. And that's what he's typically
known for. But Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
even in his day. All those years that he was building
that ark, he was declaring the truth about God. In Psalm 40,
verse 9, David said, I've preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I've not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared. What did David
declare? He said, I've declared thy faithfulness
and I've declared thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness. I've not hid those things. Thy loving kindness and
thy truth from the great congregation. Solomon. Solomon who wrote the
book of Ecclesiastes. You go back and just look at
the title. Right under Ecclesiastes it says,
The Preacher. And he begins that book in Ecclesiastes
1 and it says, The Words of the Preacher, the son of David, king
of Jerusalem. Jonah. Jonah was sent to cry
against that city Nineveh. In Matthew 3 verse 1, John the
Baptist came preaching. That's what he did. He came preaching.
It says, In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. For this is what is spoken by
the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight. Paul asked this question. He
said, how shall they hear? How are men gonna hear the gospel?
How shall they hear without a preacher? In Luke chapter 4, our master,
he came back to Nazareth where he was brought up as his custom
was and he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood
up and he read. And there's no mistake, it was
no coincidence. This is purposed by God. He picked
up Isaiah chapter 61. It was a prophecy regarding his
office. He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God. Turn to Luke 4. Hold your place
there. Turn to Luke 4. I believe it's verse 18. Luke four, verse 18. Listen to the words our Lord
spake as he read from Isaiah 61. He said, the spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach. To preach. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. The Lord himself says of himself,
he hath anointed me. God had anointed Christ to do
this, to do what? To preach the gospel, to preach
his word. It's the word in which God at
sundry times and diverse manners spoke in times past under the
fathers by the prophets and in these last days. has spoken unto
us by his son. It's the gospel, that word which
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even asunder the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow,
a discerner of the thoughts and intent of the heart. Back, let's
go back to 2 Timothy 4. Again, verse 2, he says, preach
the word. Be instant, in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and with
doctrine. Why is it so important? that
we preach the word. Why is it we preach this word?
That we're instant in season, out of season. You know, there's
times when it seems the gospel just flourishes and men are eager
to hear it. And there's other times that
are times when men don't. But that doesn't stop the word.
We continue to preach the word. It's the command. Think about
that. It's the command of the Lord
himself. He told his disciples. In Mark
16, 15, he said, go ye into all the world and do this one thing,
preach the gospel. Preach the gospel to every creature. We love this gospel. We have
a desire to hear this gospel, not just for ourselves, but for
others. For others to hear this word,
to love his word, to love him. And this gospel, listen, the
emphasis of it is this, it's to be preached and it's to be
preached in truth and in simplicity. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3, Paul
said this, he said, I'm afraid, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind would be corrupted
from the simplicity. the simplicity, the oneness that
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel is profound. There's no mistaking that. There's
nothing simple about how God could become a man. We can't
wrap our minds around that. How God in heaven, how God who
created all things could become a man. There's nothing simple
about him becoming a man and then dying on the cross. How can God be made flesh and
die for our sin? There's nothing simple about
his resurrection. How can a man that lay in the grave be risen
to life? redemption, regeneration, justification,
sanctification. These are all great things. They're
all great mysteries. God's word says this, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, He was received up into glory.
These are deep things, aren't they? Truly, who is sufficient
for these things? But his word, his gospel, is
simply stated. And it must be. Listen to these
words of a familiar hymn. Tell me the old, old story. of
unseen things above, of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his
love. Tell me the story how, simply,
as unto a little child, for I am weak and weary, I'm helpless
and defiled. When the gospel is preached,
when it's preached by his command, that was his command, preach
the word. It's to be preached in truth.
It's to be preached in simplicity. And I have three reasons here
this morning found in God's word why we preach his gospel. First, it's for his glory. All that's said and done should
be to the glory of God. Second, it's for the conversion
of his sheep. the calling out of his sheep.
It's by this gospel that sinners are called to Christ. And third,
it's for the comfort, the comfort of his people. First, the glory
of God. This gospel, listen, the purpose
of this word is not to exalt the flesh. Now there's a lot
of places you could be this morning where that, I'm confident that
would take place. The flesh would be exalted. But that's not the purpose of
the gospel. He must increase and I must decrease. And listen, this message, that's
true of the messenger, and that's true of those who would hear
it. The Lord Jesus Christ must increase,
and we must decrease. That'd be a good attitude for
us to have, I think, in just about everything. These things
found in our heart, our petty feelings, our ambitions, our
jealousy, our self-glory. All of those things must decrease. He must increase. This is the will and purpose
of the Father. Paul writing to the Colossians,
he said, for by Him, by Him, by Almighty God, were all things
created. things in heaven, things that
are in earth, things that are visible, those things that we
can see, the things that are invisible, that which we cannot
see, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and
by him all things exist. He's the head of the body, which
is the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. He must increase
and I must decrease. I imagine, I think this would
be a safe thing to say, most problems occur when we think
that we're maybe just a little better than someone else, that
we have a little more knowledge than someone else. He must increase, I must decrease. The more we're occupied with
Christ, The more that we're taken up with him and what he's done,
I believe the less we would be occupied with ourselves and the
things of this world. I believe Brother Henry said
this at one time. He said, humility is the byproduct
of genuine faith and love for Christ. Listen to these contrasts
between the Savior and his servant. John said this, he said, he's
the Christ. I'm only the one just, I'm just
sent before him. He said, he's the bridegroom.
I'm just a friend of the bridegroom. He said, he must increase and
I must decrease. I'm on the earth. I speak of
those things which pertain to the earth but he is the Lord
of heaven. He has no limitations. He knows
all things. And we certainly don't need any
encouragement to exalt this flesh. We're more than capable of doing
that on our own, aren't we? Remember when the Lord sent,
he sent Naaman the leper to Elisha, And there's Naaman, you know
he's dressed up in just the finest apparel. And I'm certain he had
long sleeves on and maybe even gloves to cover, trying to cover
his leprosy. But he comes with those changes
of clothing. And he comes with his gold and
his silver. He even has a letter from the
king. And Elisha just sent a messenger
out to him and told him. go dip seven times in the River
Jordan. And Naaman's pride, that was
just about more than he could bear, wasn't it? He was furious. He was wroth. And he said this,
he said, I thought, I'm somebody, right? I've got a letter from
the king. I've got gold and silver. I've
got changes of raiment. I thought he would come out to
me. And he just put his hand over
that place where the leprosy was and that he would recover
me. That wasn't the case, was it,
huh? Naming had to be brought down. Contrary to popular belief, this
isn't all about naming, is it? And this is not all about us. We tend to insert ourself into
everything. And at some point, I don't know
when, but Naaman's servant came to him and he said this. Just, if he'd asked you to do
some great thing, you'd have been happy to do that, wouldn't
you? Why not just wash and be clean? Just wash and be clean. Just like Naaman, we have to
be brought down. We have to be brought to know
our sin. to know something of our depravity,
the fact that we are nothing, that we know nothing, we can
do nothing before God, that we are dead in trespasses and sin. I'm nothing and he is everything. Ephesians 1, 6 says this, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the Beloved. Does that glorify God? Are those
words in truth and simplicity? Listen to these, huh? Listen
to just these four-letter, four-word statements, huh? Glory of His
grace. Those are all simple words, aren't
they? Glory of His grace. He says this, He hath made us. Here's the next one, accepted
in the Beloved. Just simple, aren't they? Four
word phrases, and each one of those exalt Him. They're about His glory, His
grace. He hath made us, accepted in
the Beloved. Great meaning, aren't they? And
yet, in simplicity. And the word again is preached
to the glory of God. Who gets the glory? I tell you,
if it's about man, we've went down the wrong path, haven't
we? To God, to God be the glory. Second, we preach this word for
the conversion of his sheep. It's by the foolishness preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Over in Acts chapter
3, Peter and John, they were speaking to the people and they
declared Christ. They declared faith in Him. They
declared faith by Him. The perfection of Christ. And
some people, when they heard that, they were grieved. They were grieved that they taught
the people. That's how some folks react to this gospel, isn't it?
Grieved. Not just grieved, sometimes just
right out angry. Some were grieved that they taught
the people, that they preached the resurrection of the dead.
Listen, to the point, They didn't just idly sit around and be upset
about it. They were prepared to lay hands
on them and hold them. Sadly, not all men love this
gospel. I heard Brother Todd say this,
if you don't hate a false gospel, you don't love the true gospel. Acts 4 verse 4 says, how be it
There were some that wanted to lay hands on, some that were
grieved about, but Acts 4 verse 4 says, how be it, many which
heard the word believed. They believed. This word that
declares his righteousness, it declares a God who is sovereign
in all that he does, who's holy and reverent. I hear men take that title. There's only one who is reverend. Holy and reverend is his name. His name. It declares man. This
word declares man is sinful. Sinners by birth, sinners by
choice, sinners by practice. His word declares Christ and
him crucified. He came to this earth and he
died. He died for his people. It declares the power of his
blood. Just listen to this passage of
scripture. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanses us from all sin. It declares the only mediator
between God and man. Who is that? The man, Christ
Jesus Christ. And listen, one day, one glorious
day, this word declares that he is going to return and receive
his people unto himself. We preach Christ and him crucified. Now, 1 Corinthians 1.18, it says
this, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, them
that are perishing, Foolishness. But unto them which are saved,
what is it? It's the power of God. Salvation by grace alone. Salvation by Christ alone. We have peace. We have reconciliation. We have righteousness by his
blood, by the blood of his cross. He's the sufficient sacrifice. Think about the atonement of
Christ. He offered up himself on the cross in our room instead. That death that we deserve, that
punishment that we deserve, he took it upon himself. And that righteousness that we
could never attain, that we could never have, His perfect righteousness,
He clothes His people in it. We're made the very righteousness
of God in Him. That's foolishness to those that
are perishing. I ask you, is it foolishness
to you? Do you think that to be foolishness? To us who are being saved, Saved
by his power, saved by his grace, this gospel, it is the power,
the power of God. We preach to the glory of God,
to the salvation of his people. It's the power of God unto salvation. Back in the book of Acts, you
remember the story of the eunuch? Remember how that eunuch, he'd
been to some type of religious meeting, and he was coming back,
and he sat in his chariot, and the Lord sent Philip to join
himself to that chariot. And as that eunuch sat there
reading through the book of Isaiah, Philip asked him this question.
He said, do you understand what you're reading? What was his reply? How can I? How can I except some man should
guide me, should teach me? Here's what he read. He was reading
this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb
done before his shear, so opened he not his mouth, In his humiliation,
his judgment was taken away. Who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the
earth. And that eunuch, he answered
Philip. And he said, I pray thee, of
whom speaketh the prophet? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about some other man? I love these words. Philip opened his mouth and he
began at the same scripture and he preached unto him Jesus. That's the message of this word. From cover to cover, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He preached unto him Christ. And as they went on their way,
they came to a certain water. This man believed what he heard. He believed what had been declared
to him. They came to a certain water
and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me
from being baptized? What doth hinder me from being
identified with Christ? And Philip said, do you believe
with all your heart? If you believe with all your
heart, thou mayest." And he answered. He answered. He was reading about
a lamb, wasn't he? He was reading about one who
suffered. And he said these words, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot
to stand still, and they went, both of them, both of them, down
into the water. Both Philip and the eunuch and
he baptized him. We preach this word for the conversion
of his sheep. And then last, this word is preached
for the comfort of his people. Isaiah 40, you're familiar with
it. He says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. This whole world and everything
in it is God's. The heaven of heavens. is the
Lord's. He reigneth among the children
of men. And yet there's some, not all, but there's some that
he calls my people. Those that he chose. those that
he purchased for himself, those that hear his voice, those that
he knows their name. They're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that they should
show forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness
into his marvelous light. He says, my people, my people. And this is the command. Comfort
them. Don't beat them. Comfort them. Speak comfort to them. He comforts
in times of trial. in times of trouble, in times
of heartache, there's no question about that. We've seen that over
and over again in God's people. But listen to these words. Turn
with me to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul writing to the Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
of the spirit, belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you've been taught, whether by
word or by epistle. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good work and word to comfort you. And go back and
look at just some of these words. Tell me these aren't comforting,
huh? He says, you're beloved of the Lord. Beloved of the Lord, is that
comforting? God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's comforting, isn't it? He's given us to believe, to
believe the truth. He says, I called you, He called
you by our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read on, he says, he loved us. He loved us and hath given us
an everlasting consolation and a good hope. Where? Through grace, through him. He
says, comfort your hearts, establish you in every good word and work,
his gospel. It's for his glory, to glorify
him. It's for the conversion of his
sheep. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. And for the comfort of his people. I pray he'd bless his word to
us. He would continue to preach his
word. Give us a love for that word,
a desire to hear it. All right.