Paul's Final Instructions for Young Preachers

Q: What does the Bible say about preaching the Word?

The Bible emphasizes that preaching the Word is essential for spiritual nourishment and growth. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul instructs Timothy to 'preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.' This underscores that God's Word is central to the life of the Church and the spiritual growth of believers. Paul emphasizes the importance of sound doctrine and warns that a time will come when people will not endure sound teaching but instead seek teachers who say what they want to hear. The preaching of Scripture is not merely a suggestion; it is a command that reflects God's authority and purpose for His people.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of grace is true?

The doctrine of grace is confirmed through Scripture and the experience of believers transformed by it. In Ephesians 1:4-5, we learn that God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world and predestined us to adoption as His children through Jesus Christ. This biblical teaching signifies that our salvation is not by our works or merit but is a gift of grace bestowed by God. The transformative power of grace is also evident in the lives of those who have experienced true regeneration, showing the truth of this doctrine. The message of grace is consistent throughout Scripture, culminating in the work of Christ on the cross for our redemption.

Q: Why is holding fast to sound doctrine important for Christians?

Holding fast to sound doctrine protects believers from false teachings and strengthens their faith. Paul urges Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13 to 'hold fast the form of sound words' which he has learned. This instruction highlights the importance of grounding oneself in the truths of Scripture to prevent being led astray by false teachings that could distort the gospel. Sound doctrine is essential for stability in faith, especially in times when many will promote a different message that caters to personal desires rather than Scriptural truth. It is through sound doctrine that believers are able to discern truth from error, encouraging a mature walk with God and enabling them to edify others.

Q: What does it mean to be strong in the grace of Christ?

Being strong in the grace of Christ means relying on His power and mercy through all challenges. In 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul instructs Timothy to 'be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.' This strength comes from understanding and appropriating the grace provided by Christ, which empowers believers to endure trials and maintain their testimony. It emphasizes that our ability to persevere in ministry and withstand hardships is not rooted in our strength but in Christ's grace, which sustains us. In times of difficulty, this grace serves as a reminder that our sufficiency comes from God alone, encouraging us to lean into His provisions and to live in accordance with His will.

Q: Why should young preachers focus on the gospel?

The gospel is the central message that brings salvation and should remain the focus of preaching. Paul's final instructions to Timothy stress the necessity of the gospel as the foundation of his ministry. He emphasizes in 2 Timothy 4:2 to 'preach the Word,' meaning that the gospel message should be front and center in all preaching. The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16), and by focusing on this message, young preachers can ensure that they are communicating the core of Christian faith. As they preach the gospel, they provide hope, challenge, and transformation to their listeners, which is vital in a world filled with competing ideologies.

All right, let's open our Bibles
now to 2 Timothy. Now this epistle, which is addressed to Timothy,
whom Paul called his son in the ministry, was written when Paul was in
the last months of his own ministry, when the Apostle was a prisoner
in Rome, knowing that he would soon be martyred. So it was written just a short
time before his death, to which he mentions in the last chapter
of 2 Timothy. And the design of this epistle
as I understand it, is really fourfold. In chapter one, if
you look first of all at chapter one, verse six, the design of
this epistle, number one, is to stir up young Timothy, stir
him up to the faithful discharge of
the ministry God's given him. In verse 6 of 2 Timothy 1, Paul
said, Wherefore I put you in remembrance, that ye stir up
the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands. It's so easy for us to get lethargic
and careless and indifferent and to be taken up with unimportant
things. And this is what Paul is saying
to Timothy, I want you to stir up this gift of God, which is
in you. You have a gift. You have an
ability. God's given you. Stir it up,
because verse 7, God has not given us the spirit of fear,
but God has given to us the spirit of power. and of love and of
a sound mind. So do not, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the gospel of our Lord. Don't be ashamed of the
gospel, the testimony of our Lord. Don't be ashamed of me,
Paul said, his prisoner. Don't be ashamed of those who
preach the gospel. But you be a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel. according to the power of God.
So I believe that's the first design of this epistle, to write
to Timothy and tell him to stir up that gift of God in him, what
God's done for him and taught him, and faithfully discharge
the ministry God has given you with all your might, with all
your strength. Sometimes we older folks get
a little bit tired And we get a little weary of the way. And
maybe we can become a little careless and indifferent about
the things of our God. And it's not to be. All right, the second thing,
I believe in verse 13 of this same chapter, the second design
of this epistle is to encourage Timothy to hold fast. Get a good
grip on sound doctrine and the sound words which he had heard
and which he had been taught. Listen to him in verse 13. Hold
fast the form of sound words. I tell you, men often turn away
from their teachers and turn away from those who taught them
the gospel. And sometimes they turn away
from the truth. Sometimes they feel like that
their methods and their means are a little more advanced than
the old teachers. And maybe that they can be more
successful, but it can't be. It's the same Bible. It's the
same gospel. Men are the same. And the means
we use and the methods we use and the message we preach is
the same message Paul preached 2,000 years ago. Don't succumb to your day. Don't succumb to the ways of
your day. Don't be conformed to the things
of your day, thinking that you can put this message in a different
dress and make it more attractive, can't do it. And when you take
the edge off the gospel, you take the strength out of the
gospel. When you take the offense out of the gospel, you take the
strength away. Paul said one time, he said,
he said, if I have taken the offense out of the gospel, then
why do I suffer persecution? This persecution comes because
of the offense of the gospel. Now the third thing. The third
thing. He urges him, and I ask you to
turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2. He urges
Timothy to be strong in the grace of Christ. and endure whatever
trials and sufferings he may be called upon to bear. He says
in 2 Timothy 2, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses," I'm not the only preacher of
God's grace, he said, there are many witnesses. The same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Whatever trials
that you're called upon to bear, whatever sufferings you're called
upon to bear, do it as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. And
then verse 4, he says, Timothy, now here's the thing to avoid.
No man that woreth entangles himself with the affairs of this
life. There's no such thing as a part-time
soldier. He does not become entangled
in the things of this world and promoting the things of this
world and giving himself to the things of this world. It just
doesn't fit the gospel message and the gospel testimony. So
no man that really wore it that's in this battle entangles himself
with the affairs of life that he may please him who chose him,
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Now turn to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. And here's the fourth
thing. He wrote to Timothy. Stir up
the gift of God that's in you. Hold fast sound words and doctrines
that you've been taught. Hold fast to them. You can't improve on the gospel. The word is finished, it's complete. God's absolute, indisputable,
Infinite sovereignty is established and you can't improve on it or
take the edge off of it. Man's utter depravity, God's
covenant of mercy. It's not palatable to this world,
it never has been, it will never be, and we're not going to make
it so. Hold fast. Be strong in Christ
and whatever trials and suffering you're called upon to bear, bear
them like a good soldier. a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Now, in 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns him of false preachers and false
religionists that would arise in war against the gospel. It's
always been so. Peter said that as there were
false prophets in Israel, there would be false teachers among
us. It's always been so. Look at chapter 3, verse 1. This
also. It's just so, it's always been
true, it's true now, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own self. They don't love God, they love
themselves. They love God as they're able
to make God serve their purposes. They're covetous, boasters, Proud
people, blasphemers, so careless about the use of
the name of God and the word of God. Disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. Truth-breakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure. more than lovers of God, that's
our day, having a form of godliness, but denying the power, denying
the power, the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit,
the power of Christ, the heaven, impotent God now, denying the
power that from such turn away, turn away. You can't walk with
them, you've got to turn away. For of this sort are they which
creep into houses and leave captive silly women." This refers to
the feminine influence in religion then as well as today. In the
pulpit, on the television, God never called women to preach
the gospel. He never called women to lead
his church, not in any shape, form, or fashion. to usurp authority
in any way. He called men to do that, and
women to be in subjection to those men. If they would learn
anything, let them ask their husbands at home. But I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority in the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not so. And that's these
silly women, laden with sin, emotionalism. superstition, led
away with diver's lust, ever learning, always studying and
teaching and learning, but never, never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Now he warns that those days
will arise. Look at verse 13. And evil men
and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving people and
being deceived. He's talking about religion now.
evil men, seducers, merchandisers of souls, hucksters, who wax
worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now then, there
should be no chapter division between chapter 3 and 4. There
should be no division. There are Paul's, and I've entitled
this message, Paul's final instructions for God's And so he says to Timothy
in verse 14, here's the, I'll give you three or four words,
here's the first one, but, but, continue, that's the word, continue,
that's the first word, continue. Although wickedness prevails
and false doctrine abounds and the enemies of Christ rise up
in religion and outnumber those who preach the truth, temptations
arise Timothy, continue thou, listen, continue thou, continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned. Stay there. Stay there. And you have those
things that you've learned and you have been assured of, knowing
of whom you learned them. Stay with the gospel. Now then,
God does not call a man. and then reveal the gospel to
him. God does not call a man and save him and even call him
to preach and then teach him the gospel. That's not so. If
the Lord is pleased to call a man to save him, to put him in the
ministry of the gospel, the first thing he'll do is teach him the
gospel. Now that's so. He'll teach him the gospel. I
want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. If God saves a man and calls
him by his grace, he saves him and calls him by that gospel,
by that gospel of grace. You can't continue in what you've
never heard. You can't continue in what you've
never learned. And Paul is saying to Timothy
that you've learned the gospel, you've been taught the gospel.
And that gospel doesn't change when God saved you, when God
called you, when God revealed himself to you. He called you,
saved you, and revealed himself through the gospel of his grace.
You stay in that gospel. You'll grow in grace and you'll
grow in that gospel, but that gospel never changes. You stay
right there in that gospel. Now listen to 2 Timothy 2.13. But 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 and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you,"
how? By our gospel. Not a gospel,
our gospel. And Paul was so so taken up with this gospel
and so certain of this gospel, he said, if anybody preach any
other gospel, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven, let
him be accursed. That's the gospel he's talking
about. And God called you by our gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Called you by our gospel. Now,
you continue in that gospel. You can't continue in something
you've never heard, something you've never learned, something
you've never been taught, and something hasn't been revealed
to you. But when it is, and when it has
been, stay with it. Look at Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. Listen to the apostle here. Ephesians
chapter 1, and he talks about the the work of the Father and
our redemption, the work of the Son and then the Holy Spirit.
He says in verse 13, in whom you trusted after that you heard
the word of truth. That's when you trusted. After
you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
that's when you trusted. When does a man say, Well, he's
saved when it pleases the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. That's
when he's saved, when it pleases God to save him. Not when he
makes his decision, not when he turns over a new leaf, not
when he joins the church, when it pleases God. And a man's saved
when God Almighty, through the Spirit of God, reveals the Gospel
to him and gives him a Redeemer to trust. That's when he's saved,
when he learns the Gospel. of his own will, beget he us
through the word of truth." Now go back to my text. But God uses
human means. It's the Holy Spirit that reveals
the gospel to the heart and brings a man to believe on Christ, but
God uses human means. Now look, look at verse 15. He told Timothy in verse 14,
you continue, continue thou in in the things which thou hast
learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom you have
learned them." You learned them of the Holy Spirit of God. You
learned them from the Word of God. You learned them from the
preacher God sent you. And then, watch verse 15, "...and
Timothy you, from a child." Now, there are a whole lot of young
people sitting here tonight who can identify with Timothy right
here. From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, not
that you were saved from a child, not that you believed them, not
that you had received them, not that you had committed to Christ,
not that you had passed from death unto life, but you knew
those scriptures which are able to save your soul and make you
wise to salvation and bring you to trust Christ. You've known
them from a child. That's true of you young people sitting here
right now. You're hearing things. And they don't grip your heart
yet. You don't really, preacher talks about sin, you don't see
it in the light that God sees it. Some of these folks that
have come to faith in Christ, you don't see sin in that light. You don't see your need of a
Redeemer. You don't see your need of a
Savior. You don't see and fear death and judgment and hell. About all you're taking up right
now, taking up with is school and books and friends and play
and fun and games and that's alright, you're young. You go
on, I think we try to make them grow up too fast. I think they
need to be children. I think some of you mamas make
your daughters grow up too fast. Let them be children. Let them
be 13, 14, 15 years old. They don't need to date and run
around and try to act like a grown woman. They're not grown. They're
children. And you daddies don't need to put burdens on these
boys. Let them be boys. Let them play. Let them have
fun. But Paul tells Timothy here, as a boy, you heard the gospel. You heard the scriptures. Let
me show you, hold that right there and turn to 2 Timothy 1.
You know from whom he heard it? It says in verse 5, I call to
remember us the unfeigned faith that's in you, which dwelt first
in your grandmother. Some of you children identify
with that right there, your grandmother, grandfather. And in your mother,
your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And I'm persuaded
now, and you too. But from a child, they read to
you, and they taught you. That's what we're doing here
in these Bible classes. And we don't pull decisions out
of these children. They hear the scriptures, and
they can know, memorize these scriptures. And they're in God's
good time. Leave them alone. Don't put the
pressure on them. Pray for them, teach them the
word of God. Paul said, Timothy, from a child
you've known the scriptures, you've known the truth that are
able to make you wise unto salvation when God's pleased to reveal
them to you. That's exact, when God's pleased. Your ears, you're
hearing them with these ears. Someday you'll hear them out
here. Someday. I don't know when, but someday.
that these scriptures are able to make you. Now, Timothy, you
learn from your parents, you learn from your mother and grandmother,
you learn from me, you learn from the scriptures, you're taught
by the Holy Spirit, now he says you continue in these things.
Continue. Ah, it's the good life, it's
the good hope, stay in it, continue in Let me show you a couple of
scriptures. Turn to Colossians 1. Colossians chapter 1, continue. That's a big word. Through these
years in the ministry, I've seen a lot of folks that didn't continue. And I guess you could say if
they don't continue, they never were in the faith. That's what
John said. But he says in Colossians 1 verse
21, listen. And you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, if you continue, if you continue in the faith
grounded and settled, the faith, one faith, the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And be not moved away by whatever
influence. Do not be moved away from the
hope of that gospel, which you've heard, which you've heard, which
was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, have made a minister." Continue in that gospel. Continue in the Word of God.
All right, back to our text, 2 Timothy. Continue. Continue. You know, Paul, when he wrote
the book of Hebrews, says, Christ is a son over his house whose
house we are if we continue. Hold fast the profession of our
faith firm unto the end. Continue. A lot of folks don't. Now then,
here's the second thing he said to Timothy. Continue. That's
the first. Here's the second one. I'm going
to start reading with verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All Scripture is God breathed.
Scripture says holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Spirit to write these things. God breathed. All Scripture.
All right. And it's profitable for doctrine.
Scriptures alone, that's where we get our doctrine. Not what
we think, not what our church believes, but what God says.
And the scripture is profitable for reproof, reproof of error
and heresy, false teaching. And the scripture is profitable
for correction, correction of attitude and spirit and practice. And the scripture is profitable
for instruction in regard to every duty, every deed. I walk
in regard to men and God, that the man of God may be mature,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now, watch him, he's
coming to this. So I charge you, I charge you. Here's the second word. I charge
you therefore before I charge you before God who chose us.
I charge you before Almighty God who called us by his grace. I charge you before God who made
you his own, if he has. And I charge you before the Lord
Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, who died
on the cross for us. I charge you before Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead, I charge you before Christ the King, who shall judge
all men at his coming." He'll judge even the quick and
the dead. He'll judge those who are alive
and those who are dead when he comes. I charge you. Verse 2,
preach the word. Preach the word. There's Paul's final instructions
to young Timothy. continue, continue. Spurgeon said one time, he said,
when God revealed the gospel to me and I started preaching,
16 years of age, I have not moved one tithe, that's a tenth, not
one tenth from that position to this present day. when he
was fifty-six years old. Forty years. I have not changed
my message one iota. I have not changed in one...
I'm sure that he grew in understanding of the Word. But he contended
he had not moved one-tenth of an inch from where he started
when God revealed the gospel to his own. Continue. If it's so then, it's so now.
If it's the gospel that saved you, it'll take that gospel to
save people to whom you preach. If God redeemed you by His grace,
by His mercy, by His sovereign power through the blood of His
Son, then that's what it'll take to save anybody to whom you witness. They'll be saved the same way
you are. So you continue. Now he says, and you preach that
word. You preach that word. How can
we do otherwise? One of the men said this morning
going out, he said how he enjoyed and how he appreciated the verse-by-verse
treatment of God's Word, how we read it and we preached it.
How could we do otherwise? For it's the Word of God that
reveals our God. This is what our Lord did. Turn
to Luke 24. Let me show you something here. You know, the Lord didn't call
his preachers to be clever. He called them to preach Christ.
He didn't call his preachers to entertain people. We're not
entertainers. He called his people to edify,
his preachers to edify his people. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
sat down with his disciples, do you know what he did? Listen
to Luke 24, verse 44. Luke 24, 44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, in the prophets,
in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. Preach the word,
Paul says to Timothy. Preach the word. It's the Word
that reveals our God. It's the Word that reveals Christ's
covenant. It's the Word that reveals His
will of redemption. It's the Word that reveals His
purpose in Christ. It's the Word that reveals our
state and nature and sin. It's the Word that convicts men
of sin. It's the Word of God by which
men are quickened to life. It's by the Word of God that
faith comes. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. It's the Word of God and the
preaching of that Word by which men are saved. I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation.
God is chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. It's by the Word of God that
comfort comes. It's by the Word of God that
we grow in grace, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that
you may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I'll tell you this. It's this Word that's going to
judge us. I want you to hold your place and turn to John chapter
12. John chapter 12. Listen to this.
John 12, beginning with verse 47. And not only the preachers
here. Paul said to young Timothy, preach
the Word. preach the Word, preach the Word. But I say that to every believer
here, get in the Word, get into this Word and study it. Listen to verse
47 of John 12, And if any man hear my words,
and believe not, and I say this, We're going to be held responsible
and accountable, not only for what we heard, but what we could
have heard. If any man hear my words and
believe not, I judge him not. I didn't come to judge the world,
I came to save. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I've spoken. I'll judge you. The word that
I've spoken. But I didn't hear it. You could
have heard it. But I was busy on something else. This is most
important business. But I didn't have the interest.
Could have had. There it is. The words that I've
spoken, the same will judge him in that last day. Verse 49, For
I have not spoken of myself, And I think every God-called
true preacher of the gospel will say that. I haven't spoken of
myself. But the Father which sent me, he gave me the commandment. He gave me the Word, what I should
say and what I should speak. And I know his commandment is
life everlasting. In his Word is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, Even as the Father said unto
me, so I speak." Preach the Word. Preach the Word. All right, back
to our text, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 2. Preach the Word. And be instant,
in season, or out of season. There is no season for preaching
the Gospel. There's no special season at
all times. Preach the Word. Preach the Word
of God. Rebuke. Reprove, exhort with
all patience and doctrine. Now watch verse 3. For the time
will come when men will not endure sound doctrine. And that time,
if it ever has been, it is today. They will not endure it. In fact,
they'll tell you, we don't want to hear doctrine. Tell us about
Jesus, but don't preach doctrine. Well, there'll come a time when
they won't endure it. They don't want preachers who speak with
authority. They don't want preachers who
preach the Word of God. They want preachers who will
preach what they want to hear. Entertain them. He says, listen
to this, after their own lusts, they'll heap to themselves teachers
having itching ears. It's not only the people who
have the itching ears. What are itching ears? They like
to be pleased. They like to hear what they want
to hear. That's what they enjoy, and the
preachers enjoy being complimented for pleasing the people. They enjoy it. It works both
ways. The preachers preach what people want to hear, and folks
want to hear it, and so everybody's happy. The preacher's happy,
and the people are too, and the blind's leading the blind. They're
all falling in the ditch. So that time's coming, verse
4, and they'll turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned to fables. Fables. Alright, here's the third
word, and last word. First, continue. Continue in
the things which you've learned. Stay where you are. Don't change
your message, if it's God's message. If it saves you, it'll be what
saves anybody. There's just one gospel. A man
learns that gospel. It's traumatic, climactic. It's a new life. It's a new view. It's a new heart. It's a new
nature. It's a new Bible. It opens up, you'll know. I said,
how do I know when the Lord saves me? Well, how do you know when
the sun comes up? You can see. You can see. You can hear. Have some understanding. Well, I saved way back, John.
I just came to this understanding. No, no. No, you weren't saved
back then. You've always been one of God's
sheep, if you are now. But a person is saved and called
when he hears the gospel, when he learns only one gospel. That's
when God saved him. Now you can write that down.
You can't be saved worshiping a false Christ. You can't be
saved worshiping an impotent God. You can't be saved thinking
you did it. He did it. It's of grace or it's
of works. It's not both. That's just so. But once you learn that gospel,
continue it and hold fast. And preach that truth. Now here's
the third word. In verse 5, and watch. Oh Timothy, watch. Watch thou
in all things. God calls his servants, what? Watchmen. I have made thee a
watchman. That's what it says. I've made
you a watchman. Watch. And this goes for God's people
too. Well, what does a watchman do? Well, first of all, a watchman
has a trust committed to him. God has entrusted me with the
gospel. The master has given me a great
responsibility. The master has given to me, and
to this church, and to you elders, and other young preachers, God
has given us a grave and great responsibility. The care of his
gospel, the preaching of his gospel, and the care of his precious
sheep. God has entrusted me with the
gospel. What would you say is nearer to the heart of God than
anything else? I'd say his gospel. The gospel
of his son. That's his chief glory, the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. And he's given that to us to
preach. To preach. Dare we compromise
it? Like Paul said to Timothy here,
he talked about him being able to teach other men. You know,
he said, be strong in the grace of Christ and what you've heard,
the same, commit to faithful men. Take that gospel and pass
it on. Don't water it down. Pass it on in its purity, in
its beauty, in its truth, the gospel. You've been trusted. I tell you, you know, A person who's trusted with a
man's greatest treasure has a tremendous responsibility to discharge his
duty and to do it with all his heart. Something that's been of great
concern to me through the years is when I run into folks that
don't feel this responsibility like I feel like they ought to. that maybe if they have time
from all their other activities, they'll discharge a duty that
God's given to them in his name. You know, I think about, well,
I come up here, and whoever comes up here also, or wherever we
serve our God, if we were going to address the congressional
assembly, We'd probably prepare two or three days, wouldn't we? We'd probably give it a lot of
care and thought. Well, this is more important than anything
you might say to them. If you were going to do anything in this world to maybe secure
your job a little better or your other things, you'd give a great
deal of care. But to me, this is far more superior
That and anything you can do, it really is. It's a heavy responsibility. Secondly, what does a watchman
do? It's his responsibility to feed the sheep. Ezekiel 34, let
me show you something over here. A few more minutes and I'll wind
this up. Let's turn to Ezekiel 34. Listen
to this. Ezekiel 34, verse 1. a watchman, he has a trust committed. His master has given him a great
responsibility. Second, it's his responsibility
to feed the sheep. Listen to Ezekiel 34.1, And the
word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy against them, and say
to them, Thus saith the Lord to the shepherds. will be to
the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not
the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, where do they
get the fat? From the sheep. You clothe you
with the wool, where do they get the wool? From the sheep.
You kill the sheep because they want some mutton or whatever. You feed yourself, but you don't
feed them. What do you? It's the shepherd's responsibility,
first of all, to feed the sheep. That's what Christ said to Peter,
feed my sheep. And then another thing, a watchman
gives the time of the night. And fourthly, a watchman looks
for danger, and he warns people. They don't always heed his warning,
but he warns them. They don't always listen to him,
but that's his responsibility, to warn them. To warn them. They better listen. You know,
he said over there in Hebrews, let me show you this in Hebrews
13. Hebrews 13, 17. You see this thing of preaching. If God's not in it, it's a waste
of time. But if God's in it, if God's
in the preaching, I've said this many times, if I'm not His man,
you'd be wise to find the person that is. If these men who are preaching
here, elders, are not speaking for God, then we'd be wise to
get someone who does. But if they are, And they speak
a word of exhortation, and a word of rebuke, and a word of reproof,
and a word of instruction, a word of warning. We don't hear them.
Listen to this, Hebrews 13, 17. Obey them. That's listen to them. Do what they say. They guide
you. They have the rule over you.
Submit yourselves. They watch for your souls. They're going to have to give
an account. A watchman has to give an account.

Paul's Final Instructions for Young Preachers

What does the Bible say about preaching the Word?

How do we know the doctrine of grace is true?

Why is holding fast to sound doctrine important for Christians?

What does it mean to be strong in the grace of Christ?

Why should young preachers focus on the gospel?

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Paul's Final Instructions for Young Preachers

What does the Bible say about preaching the Word?

How do we know the doctrine of grace is true?

Why is holding fast to sound doctrine important for Christians?

What does it mean to be strong in the grace of Christ?

Why should young preachers focus on the gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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