I want you to open your Bibles
with me this morning to the book of 2 Timothy. I'll be speaking
from the 4th chapter of the book of 2 Timothy and reading verses
1 through 4. Now, here's our subject. I'm
speaking on the subject, Preach the Word. Preach the Word. In this 2nd epistle to young
Timothy, the apostle exhorts this young man to preach the
Word. He says in verse 1, I charge
thee therefore before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom, preach the Word, be faithful in season and out
of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts shall they gather to themselves teachers
and preachers to satisfy their liking and to agree with their
error. They will turn away from the
truth and be turned to fables and man-made fiction. Now, my friends, I am convinced
that God can send a people, a nation, a community, a church, no greater
blessing than to give them a faithful, sincere, truthful, God-sent preacher
of the gospel. Now, why do I say this? For several
reasons. The first one is this. Men are
saved through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what the scripture says,
men are saved through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said in Romans
1, 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. And then in 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 21, the apostle wrote, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And when our master
sent his disciples out to preach, this is what he said to them.
All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized. He that believeth what? He that
believeth this gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. So men are saved through the preaching of the gospel.
True faith comes by hearing the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans
10, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And then in verse 17 of that
same chapter, he wrote, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God. Men are saved by the preaching
of the gospel. True faith comes after hearing
the gospel. And spiritual growth comes through
the preaching of the gospel. In 1 Peter 2, the apostle Peter
said, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby. Not only that, but comfort comes
through the scripture. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul said,
after he talked about the the coming of the Lord Jesus and
the resurrection of the dead, he said, wherefore comfort one
another with these words. These words bring comfort. These
words bring comfort and strength to the hearts of God's people.
Whose words? God's words. And not only that,
but assurance comes through the word. In 1 John 5, 13, the apostle
wrote, these things have I written to you that believe, that you
may know. that you have eternal life. The hope of our day is that God
will raise up some preachers who will return to the preaching
of the gospel of his dear son. Now, just as the giving of a
faithful, sincere, God-called preacher is the greatest blessing
that God can send upon a people, I am convinced that the greatest
judgment that can fall upon a people is to be left in the hands of
blind, unregenerate, covetous, false preachers." Now, all the
way through the Word, we have warning after warning after warning
about false preachers. Our Lord said, take heed what
you hear. Take heed how you hear. Take
heed to whom you listen. Try the spirits, John said, whether
they be of God. Now, let me just show you a few
scriptures on this subject. I believe that Jeremiah warned
more about false preachers and false prophets than any of the
other writers. He said they're covetous men.
They seek applause, they seek fame, they seek praise, they
seek men's possessions. They're covetous men. He said
from the prophets even to the priests, they're all covetous. Not only that, but he said these
false preachers cry peace when there is no peace. They give
men false confidence and false assurance. They encourage men
in false refuges and in false hiding places by telling them
that they're all right, they have nothing to fear. And not
only that, he said they deny the judgment of God. They deny
the wrath of God against sin. But still further, Jeremiah speaking,
he says, they do not preach the word of God. God said, I did
not send them. And rather than preaching the
word of God, they preach their dreams, and their imaginations,
and their visions. And here's the tragic thing.
After all of that, Jeremiah said, these false teachers and preachers
are covetous men. They're men who deny the judgment.
They're men who give false peace. They're men who deny that God's
wrath is against sin. They do not preach the word of
God, but their own visions and dreams. And he said the tragic
thing is, people like it. The people love to have it so. This is what our master said.
He said, I've come in my father's name, and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive." This is condemnation. Light is coming
to this world. Christ is that light. But men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Paul warned the Galatians about false prophets. He said, though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that gospel
of Christ Jesus, let him be accursed. Peter, James, and John all warned
that false preachers and teachers would invade the church. And
they'd invade the church by creeping in. And they would draw away
disciples after themselves. But I want you to listen to this
now. The strongest warning, Jeremiah warned about false prophets,
Paul over and over again, Peter, James, and John. But the strongest
warnings in the scripture about false preachers and false teachers
came from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I want to read you a
few. Now listen to Matthew chapter
7. Our Lord said, Beware of false
prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by
their fruits. Then if you have your Bible there,
I want you to turn to Matthew 23. I would like very much for
everybody listening to this program today who has a Bible, to turn
with me to the 23rd chapter of Matthew. Our Lord Jesus Christ
deals with false preachers, false prophets, by bringing accusations
and charges against the false prophets and preachers of His
day. He speaks of the Pharisees. He speaks of the religious leaders
of His day and met the whole 23rd chapter of Matthew. The
whole chapter is directed toward these false prophets. exposing
them point after point after point. Our Lord Jesus levels
charges against these false preachers and false teachers. Now, I want
you to listen to some of them here in Matthew 23, beginning
with verse 2. He said in verse 2, do you have
it there? Matthew 23, verse 2. He says, they sit in Moses' seat. In other words, they pretend
to be prophets. They pretend to be prophets.
They pretend to be servants of God. My friend, it takes more
than a title to make a man a prophet. It takes more than calling him
a reverend, or calling him even pastor, or calling him by some
other title. It takes more than that to make
a preacher and a prophet. It takes more than an office.
It takes more than a position to make a man a prophet. It takes
God's anointing. It takes God Almighty setting
him apart and God Almighty giving him a message. What was said
of John the Baptist? There was a man named John, right,
but there was a man sent from God whose name was John. There's a lot of difference there.
There was a man named John is one thing, but there was a man
sent from God whose name was John. And this is what our Lord
says about these false prophets. They pretend to be. what they
are not. They sit in Moses' seat, but
they don't know Moses' God, and they don't have Moses' message.
And what's more, they don't have Moses' heart. Now watch another
charge in verse 5. He says, all their works they
do to be seen of men. They build impressive buildings.
They promote impressive programs. They advertise themselves. They wear special clothing to
attract attention. They do everything publicly to
get attention from men. They do their works, their prayers,
to be seen of men. They always want recognition
for what they're doing. They want to appear to be religious. Nothing is done in secret. Nothing
is done as unto the Lord. Everything is accounted for.
Everything is impressive. Everything is advertised. Everything
is revealed to the public. They do these things to be seen
of men. And our Master said, when men
see them, and when men praise them, and when men applaud them,
they have their reward. That's what they were seeking,
and that's their reward. Look at verse 6. They also loved
the chief seats in the synagogue, and they loved to hold high offices,
And they love to be called by religious titles. They like to
be called rabbi. They like to be called teacher.
In our day, they love to be called doctor, and reverend, and cardinal,
and bishop, and superintendent, and all these other names. But
our Lord Jesus said, he that's greatest among you, he that would
aspire to be the greatest among you, let him be your servant. Is not this a revelation of the
religion of our day? They love to be called by high-sounding
titles. They love to hold high positions. They love the high seats in the
synagogue. They like to run things and run
people. Not only that, but look at verse
14 and 15. Now, you listen to this right
here. They devour widows' houses. They support themselves and their
lavish programs and their dream worlds with money from poor widows
and simple people. I received a letter from a dear
lady in this television audience who told me that her mother was
on Social Security and her mother was sending out of her Social
Security check every week a certain amount of money to keep a man
on television who is a multi-millionaire. who wears diamond rings and thousand-dollar
suits and drives Cadillacs and lives in penthouses. This dear
Whittle, out of her Social Security check, sends offerings to this
man. They devour Whittle's houses. They support themselves and their
lavish programs and their dream worlds with money from poor widowers
and simple people. They do their praying, holding
hands in public to be seen and heard of men. They come from
sea and land to make converts to their brand of fundamentalism
and religion. And it's an abomination to God
Almighty and ought to be to every thinking individual. Not only
that. In verse 25, our Lord said, is
this not our day? Is this not a description of
our religious leaders? Their goal is reformation. He
said they make clean the outside of the cup. They appear righteous
to men. They appear beautiful to men.
But inside, inside, in their hearts, they're full of dead
men's bones. They're like a whited sepulchre
that appears beautiful to men, but within, They're like a sepulcher
full of dead men's bones. They appear righteous outwardly.
They're interested in making clean the outside of the cup
and totally ignoring and neglecting the inside. That's what we're
trying to do today. Most religious leaders are trying
to legislate morality. They're trying to clean up the
nation and clean up the world and clean up the outside and
clean up the cities that they may appear righteous to men.
But let me tell you something. You can't legislate salvation. You can't legislate a new heart. We're not in the business of
cleaning up the world. We're in the business of bringing
men to Christ. We're in the heart business.
That's where the work of salvation is done. God looketh not on the
outward countenance. And you can appear to be your
best in the sight of men, and that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God who looks on the heart. Keep
your heart, God said, out of the issues of life. That's my
business, that's my objective, and that's my goal. Not to put
all of the evil businesses out of business, but to bring men
to know Christ. And if men come to know Christ,
they'll go out of the evil business. That's the difference. We just
start in different places. Verse 29, listen to this. They
brag on dead prophets. They brag on Moses, they brag
on Abraham, they brag on Isaiah, they brag on the apostles, they
brag on Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and Huss, they brag on
Knox and Spurgeon and Bunyan, and kill living prophets who
are sent in the name of God to preach that same message. But
right in the middle of all of this, right in the middle of
it, our Lord Jesus Christ, right in the middle of all these charges,
that he levels at these false prophets and false preachers,
whose goal is their gain, whose objective is their own praise,
who know nothing of the glory of God, who seek not the good
of their hearers, but they seek the gold of their hearers. Right in the middle of all of
this, our Lord Jesus Christ levels a charge against these false
preachers that is the most convicting and powerful charge of all. It
sums up the whole religious problem then and now. I believe it's
verse 23. Look at it. He said, The weightier, what's that word? The weightier matters of the
word. You ignore the weightier, you
ignore the most important matters. You're very careful to set aside
your 10% of each thing. You'll give God what you call
God's part. You'll go to the services, you'll
carry on your ceremonies and your traditions and your customs,
you're very careful about all this outward form and ceremony,
but you neglect and ignore the weightier, the heavier, the most
important matters of the Bible, such as justice, mercy, and faith. Justice, mercy, and faith. I'm
asking you, is this not true today? Listen to the average
preacher as they harp on tithing. If you'll tithe, if you'll tithe,
especially if you'll send it to me, God will bless you. If
you'll do this, God will bless you. If you'll do that, God will
heal you. If you'll do that, God will prosper
you. If you'll do this, you can buy God's favors, you can buy
God's communion, you can buy God's prosperity, you can buy
health, you can do all of these things. All of these outward
forms and things, they appeal to men's flesh. But what do you
hear today about these weightier matters? When have you heard
a preacher preach on justice, mercy, and faith? This is the
Master speaking. This is our Lord. He said, I
know you. I know you false prophets and preachers. I know your objectives,
I know your goals, I know your hearts, and you've gone to all
of this extreme to tithe and fast and give alms and go through
the ceremonies, but you've neglected, you've ignored the weightier
matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. Let's look
at these three things. Let me deal with these three
things this morning. First of all, our Lord said justice, justice. What are we talking about here?
Justice. What's the Master talking about? Well, he's not talking
about justice in the courts. No, that's not what he's talking
about. We need justice in the courts, but that's not what he's
talking about. That's not one of the weightier matters of the law.
We're not talking about justice between men or nations. Christ
is speaking here of God's justice. God's justice. You're driving
bargains with God. You're trying to buy God's favors.
You're doing all these different things outwardly, and you've
ignored this question. You've ignored justice. You've
ignored a clear-cut question that's asked over and over again
in God's Word. Job 9, 2, listen. How can man
be just with God? Justice. Listen to Job 25, 4. How can man be justified with
God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, to the moon it shineth
not, the stars are not clean in God's sight. How much more
abominable and filthy is man who drinks iniquity like water? How can he be just, justice? How can justice be honored? How
can justice be satisfied? How can God receive such into
his communion? Pretty good question. In Romans
3.26, how can God be just and justifier of the ungodly? Psalm
85, 10, how can mercy and truth meet together? How can righteousness
and peace kiss each other? That's justice. You heard anything
about that lately? This fellow's been telling you
the tithe and God will bless you. Has he mentioned God's justice
lately? Has he mentioned the fact that
God will by no means clear the guilty? Has he mentioned the
soul that sinneth, it'll surely die? Has he mentioned that God
Almighty will punish every transgression? Every transgression shall receive
a just recompense of reward? There's justice to be met? There's
judgment to be faced? It's appointed unto men once
to die, after that, judgment, justice, righteousness, holiness? No, sir, he hasn't, because it's
never entered his mind, because God didn't send him. When God
sends a man, he deals with God's justice. That's his first purpose,
to deal with God's justice. God's holy. God's just and righteous. It's not possible for God to
manifest his love and mercy at the expense of his justice and
his holiness. God will by no means clear the
guilty. That's what the Bible says. Whatever
gospel you propose, whatever gospel you advance, whatever
gospel you preach to men, it must, must, I repeat, honor God's
law. That gospel must satisfy God's
justice. The living God cannot receive
a single person who does not have a perfect righteousness
before his law. A holy God can have no communion
or fellowship with a single person who is not justified before his
throne. Who shall stand in his presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. My friend, this
is why Christ came. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sins. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes we are healed.
By his stripes justice is satisfied. By his obedience the law is honored. Christ is our righteousness.
God requires it. God demands it. God shall have
it in Christ. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of one, we were
made righteous. Christ is our sanctification.
He's able to keep you from falling and present you before his Father's
throne, holy and without blame. Christ is our justification.
In the fullness of time, God sent his Son into the world,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
born under the law, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him, justice. Oh, our Lord said, you've been
preaching all of these legal things, keep a day, tithe, do
all these different things, and God will do this, and God will
do this, and God will do so. Wait a minute. God's justice
demands satisfaction. God's holy law demands to be
honored. And all your tithing and giving
and going and witnessing and all your ceremonies and forms
and religion will by no means satisfy God's justice nor honor
God's law. You're still a sinner and you
still got to face the judgment. But in Christ there is no judgment. If Christ has met God's judgment,
it's satisfied. If Christ has met God's justice,
it's honored. If Christ has met God's law,
it has been honored completely. justice. All right, mercy. I
know we're supposed to show mercy, be merciful as your Father in
heaven is merciful. But there's something deeper
here, there's something as Christ said weightier, weightier than
just mercy between men. What is it? Well, let's see,
Matthew 9, "...came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house,
that many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and
his disciples. And when the Pharisees or religious
leaders saw him sitting with these sinners and publicans,
they said to his disciples, why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? But when the master heard this,
he said, the well do not need a physician, but they that are
sick. Go ye and learn what that means. I will have mercy. I will have
mercy and not sacrifice. For I am come not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Most of today's preaching denies
man's guilt before God. That's right. Most of today's
preaching is addressed to the good, not the bad. Most of today's
preaching offers blessings in return for service. Most of today's
preaching calls on men to do something for God rather than
God to do something for men, showing his mercy. Our Lord said
the Pharisee stood in the temple and talked about how good he
was and how God was obligated to reward his goodness. And the
publican stood in the temple and would not so much as lift
his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast and called for
the one thing that Christ said, I've come to do. God be merciful
to me, a sinner. I will have mercy, Christ said.
I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners. I've come to show
mercy. I will be merciful. This is God's
glory, His mercy. We're not in the market for justice.
We're not in the market for rewards. We're shut up to mercy. We're
shut up to His mercy. That's what he's talking about,
mercy. Do you know anything about mercy? Have you ever sought mercy?
Have you ever cried for mercy? Have you ever needed mercy? Have
you ever required mercy? Have you ever been lost? then
you know something about mercy. If you haven't, you know nothing
about mercy. If you know nothing about mercy,
you know nothing about the fountain of mercy, who's Jesus Christ.
The last word, faith. Not works, faith. Not human merit,
faith. Not law, faith. We're justified
by faith. Four times in God's word it says,
the just shall live by faith. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. We're justified by faith. He
that believeth on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Let no man deceive you. If righteousness before God,
if acceptance with God comes by works, then Christ died in
vain. That's how serious it is. Faith,
faith, faith. If you can believe, all things
are possible to them that believe. Do you believe?