Christ Became a Curse | Paul Washer

it was announced that i would be teaching on christ and the curse and i have made that subject a greater part of my life study the cross the work that was accomplished there on behalf of god's people but as as this few days have passed an earnestness for another text just was growing in my heart and i felt like this morning i would be in disobedience if i didn't preach from that text so i set out with pen and paper and to preach what i'm going to preach to you tonight i do appreciate the kindness josh's kindness toward me but but i want you all to know that [Music] as there are no great men of god never has been never will be there are only small tiny weak faithless men of a great and merciful god and to whatever degree god uses you you must understand that he always chooses the runt of the litter always so that glory might go to him we're going to be studying first timothy chapter four and i'm going to read the text if if all of you would stand for the reading of god's word but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which god has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth for everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is sanctified by means of the word of god and prayer in pointing out these things to the brethren you will be a good servant of christ jesus constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women on the other hand discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness for bodily discipline is only of little profit but godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance for it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living god who is the savior of all men especially of believers prescribe and teach these things let no one look down on your youthfulness but rather in speech conduct love faith and purity show yourself an example of those who believe until i come give attention to the public reading of scripture to exhortation and teaching do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery take pains with these things be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching persevere in these things for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you let's pray father i come before you in the name of your son and i pray that you will help us that you will give us hearts one thing we ask hearts that are devoted to your son increase our fear of thee teach us to walk in your ways in jesus name amen you may be seated i want to begin with something of a with some history we are moving into a time in which the gospel and those who preach it are an ever increasing scandal not only to the world but also to to many who associate themselves with christ and the church but what i want you to see is this is not a strange thing that has come upon us it is commonplace throughout church history we need to recognize that and we need to live accordingly paul writes for the word of the cross is maurya foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of god there we see the great divide between two peoples those who follow christ and those who do not again paul says for indeed jews ask for signs and greeks search for wisdom but we preach christ crucified to jews a scandalon a stumbling block but to gentiles again morya foolishness but to those who are called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god in the annals of tacitus in the first century the gospel of the cross is described as a pernicious and harmful superstition in the letters of pliny the younger in the first century it is referred to as superstition problem emoticon a perverse and extravagant superstition in suetonius in the second century in the life of nero superstition et malifica a new and evil superstition in the third century in menusius felix in his dialogue of octavius figmenta malasana opinions a sick invention a sick delusion also vanna demin superstitio a vain and demented superstition and finally in his writings omnis religio de estraltur the destruction of all true religion [Music] that is the way the world saw the cross and saw those who proclaimed it in an oracle of apollo preserved in the writings of augustine a man asked the question what can he do to dissuade his wife from the christian faith and this was the counsel that was given to her let her continue as she pleases persisting in her vain delusions and lamenting in song a god who died in delusions who was condemned by judges whose verdict was just and executed in the prime of life by the worst of deaths a death bound with iron in origins contra celsus celsus declares what drunken old woman telling stories to lull a small child to sleep would not be ashamed of muttering such preposterous things and again and you do you not believe that the son of god sent to the jews is the most ridiculous makeshift of all in his parody de morte peregrini lucian mocks christians as poor devils who deny the greek gods and instead honor that crucified sophist and live according to his laws if you're amazed at some of these quotes i would direct you to a wonderful book by the by martin hengel called crucifixion it is a small summary of the first few centuries view of the cross of christ the contemporary stain for the gospel is not progressive it is not progressive it is regressive it is not a new form of christianity it is simply an ancient heresy and what was what must we do as preachers what should we do what should we do not just merely what should we think what should we be what should we do should we build a bridge should we hold out an olive leaf to our godless culture what should we do how can we avoid the scandal of the gospel today for the true christian to avoid the scandal of the gospel well it would be easier for them to go around the red sea or to climb the walls of jericho we cannot avoid the scandal we must embrace it and we must not compromise we must not compromise not one doctrine dealing with the blood of christ must be compromised i'll use an illustration from churchill that i have somewhat sanctified in his wranglings with other politicians regarding the whether or not to engage nazi germany in war he said to someone and again this has changed a bit said to someone would you betray our nation for a million pounds the person said well i would have to think about that then he said would you portray our nation for two pence and the person said no what kind of person do you think i am he said we've already determined what kind of person you are we're just haggling over the price we have no choice today not anymore times have changed we have no choice but to bear the scandal bear the opposition and go through it you say yes we must go through it with our heads down no we must go through it with our heads up drawing upon the strength of heaven and though no one else smiles when we look horizontally when we look befriend in front of us or behind us or beside us we see no smile we look to heaven because that's the only smile we desire the smile of christ we have no choice but to bear it and go through it preaching the gospel and believing that the gospel is the power of god for salvation to all who believe the jew first and also the greek the ancient man and the modern one the gospel of jesus christ and that's the title of this sermon it's directed towards christ ministers we are the king's men we are the kings men we have now moved in at into a time in the west my brethren when it is very possible that we are going to experience the solemn and terrible privilege of first century persecution but if we hold our course if we refuse to compromise we may also experience the first century power of the cross and the power of the holy spirit you say well i don't know i don't know if i'll be able to bear it i know you will be able to bear it if you belong to him i was a farm boy cast into the middle of a war for 10 years in peru saw atrocities experienced fears and dangers that i never could have imagined and yet i discovered something when the violent take you by force there is something that happens in the inner man christ does not depart he becomes real and he makes you strong he is faithful no matter what we have to endure in the coming decades we should not fear if we stay with him if we honor him if we do not break so here's my admonition before we take the text let's go forward let's go forward and not primarily to defend the gospel but to do what some of us have done now for decades proclaim the gospel and then stand to one side and admire as the gospel of jesus christ defends itself and proves its power but the gospel we preach must not be adorned with eloquence it must not be adorned with your intellect the raw gospel the real gospel the gospel of the cross the gospel of blood the gospel of vicarious suffering if we will proclaim it we will see the glory of god we will see the glory of god but but remember this to the degree that you trust in the arm of the flesh you will see less of this power of which i speak and the more you abandoned all these carnal trappings of modern evangelicalism the more you will behold the power of god a preacher standing alone defying the world with a message of love christ came to save sinners among whom i am chief before we begin i want to say this it's very very important i'm speaking primarily to ministers but it applies to all of us i am sure that you are all familiar with ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12. there's something very important about that text that is often overlooked it is one of the few places if not the only place in the new testament that tells us directly how the church is built up how it is strengthened how it is edified it is through evangelists pastors and teachers so if we apply reason properly we come to this conclusion if the church is weak it's not the fault of politicians the church is weak where christ's ministers are weak and i say that to you as a man looking in the mirror i do not have to run to politicians to find the problem i do not have to run to universities to academia to find the problem the problem are the ministers of christ that have dressed themselves in the armor of saul and laid aside the smooth stones of the gospel and because of that they can slay no giants conniving pragmatic always looking for strategy and a method and a new way no no no verse 1 but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons paul does not have to say this he does not have to say the spirit is explicitly saying why he's an apostle he's writing under the inspiration of the holy spirit what he writes is infallible inerrant but he speaks this way to give emphasis [Music] the spirit is saying present tense over and over and over that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith some will fall away some will fall away well then brother paul we must be in the latter times here's what you need to understand we've been in the latter times for the last 2000 years so do not tremble when there's even a mention of a possibility of persecution know this the true church has always been in a battle it has always been under attack always always always he says here but the spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith some will altogether remove themselves from christianity but there's a more dangerous group in our day of irrationality the dethronement of logic and the law of non-contradiction people can declare themselves to be christian even evangelical even reformed while denying some of the very fundamental doctrines of the gospel of jesus christ now he says in verse 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron this is the culture we live in the positive late 19th century atheist would be ashamed of our culture our culture is like those in hosea that contend with the priest our cultures like the harlot of proverbs she eats forbidden fruit and she wipes her mouth and then she brazenly says i've done nothing wrong now let me ask you a question how are you going to deal with that as a minister of christ what kind of power does your eloquence have to change the heart of people like this and all your strategies and gimmicks and parties and parades what can they do against something like this you need to understand the heart of man is like jericho it is tightly shut up no one comes out and no one goes in and so is this culture and you are not going to be able to carry out the work of christ you are not going to be able to advance the cause of the gospel with your silly little toys we must take up the weapons of our warfare and they are few but they are mighty unto god what are they what are they the proclamation of the word of god the fearless bold proclamation of the word of god what else intercessory prayer i am so happy that there are so many conferences on expository preaching and we need more of them but where are the conferences on intercessory prayer on men who hold the night watch men who stand in the gap men who wear themselves out holding on to the horns of the altar men who wrestle with god for their own souls for the souls of their people and for the souls of a nation where are they if you're not a man of prayer all your theology they're just marbles of little boys prayer what else godliness holiness separateness a young man walked up to a concert violinist one day as the story goes and said i would do anything i would do anything to play like you and the old man said i have done everything to play like me young man said i would i would give anything for the lord to use me then make yourself usable throw yourself into the scriptures until when they cut your veins you bleed the bible throw yourself on your knees spend more time with god and then discover in the scriptures all the things that god hates and avoid them like the plague and discover all the things that god loves and embrace them to your bosom you want god to use you the weapons of our warfare are these things these things and the man of god has no need of anything else so in verse one paul talks about deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons and then he goes on in verses three through five and describes these doctrines men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which god has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth for everything created by god is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is sanctified by the means of the word of god in prayer i have to admit this is rather unexpected and no place else is paul so extravagant with his language as in verse one talking about heresy in terms of deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons and then we come to verses three and four and he's simply talking about people who forbid marriage and abstain from eating certain foods we would think that paul would now go on to talk about maybe i don't know the worship of satan or the mark of the beast or gross immorality but he talks about these things that although they are aberrant and can be dangerous it's difficult for us to understand how they could be put in the category of doctrines of demons but what i want you to see is this paul's how do i describe it paul's radical violent zeal for the gospel of jesus christ is revealed in this you say in what way do you see what paul is saying and you listen to me any doctrine any principle any law any teaching that is placed beside the gospel are given more infancies than the gospel no matter how harmless it may be in itself immediately turns in to a doctrine of demons we can see especially in the book of colossians but also ephesians we can see in first in ii timothy paul was a steward of the gospel he was a guardian of the gospel and you know what he was doing if you read his epistles carefully he was not only preaching the gospel he was constantly constantly constantly giving it the preeminence and teaching the church about the preeminence of the gospel of jesus christ that of all things it stands first because without it all things fall apart fall to rubbish and we find ourselves no longer saved do you see this there are many good things there are many good ethics there are many good principles there are many good laws even in the scriptures but if your conversation is consumed by something other than the gospel then you are not understanding scripture you are not understanding the heart of paul you are not understanding the very mind of god the gospel is not just a doctrine added on to other doctors it's not just one among many it is the greatest manifestation of the attributes the person of god that has ever been given or will ever be given if you right now were standing in the place of isaiah in isaiah 6 if you were very beholding the very face of god upon the throne you could not understand him well unless you also understand the gospel because it is there he is revealed the greatest of all questions one of my favorite books that has ever been written it's rather lengthy but it's worth it it is 17th century william bates the harmony of the attributes of god in the contrivance and accomplishment of our redemption because it is in the gospel of jesus christ that the divine dilemma is solved that the problem of every theologian philosopher and thinker is finally answered how can god be a just god and show mercy to wicked men you see earth's problem is how can god judge heaven's problem is altogether different how can god save pardon wicked men and still maintain his righteousness and the answer is in the gospel where god becomes a man and goes to a tree and bears the sin of his people and with that sin the curse and with that curse all the holy hatred all the righteous judgment of god is poured down upon the head of god's son and he absorbs it he satisfies justice so it no longer has a demand against god's people and god can be just and the justifier of wicked men never put anything above the gospel of jesus christ verse 6 in pointing out these things to the brethren you will be a good servant of christ jesus constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following now in verse 6 he says in pointing out these things again present tense continuously pointing out this why because satan the world and many ministers who call themselves evangelical christian and reformed are constantly trying to pull god's people god's bride pull her vision off of the sun to something minor and it is a constant battle and one of the things that you and i are to do as ministers of christ is constantly turn the gaze of the bride back to her spouse that's our job that's our stewardship we are like well we are like we're like abrahams servant listen to me kingsmen listen to me you ministers of christ we are like abraham's servant who was sent to fetch a bride for his son that's us that's us and so we go into the hedges and the highways and we call to her we bid her come and she comes tender and afraid and then it is our stewardship and ours alone this does not belong to princes or politicians it's our stewardship to now lead her through the wilderness to her spouse that's why we live men of christ that's why we exist for her for her and every time we see a doubt in her eyes we take one more jewel of the gospel and we place it in our hand and we say he is worth it and every time she becomes afraid going through this terrible wilderness with all its monsters and she wants to turn back we pull out another jewel of the gospel and we lay it in her hand and we say he is worth it and every time every time some handsome young man passes by going in the opposite direction we catch her gaze and we turn her back and we place another jewel of the gospel in her hand and we said no no no he is worth it and every time bandits appear we show no mercy we draw our swords and we slay them and we do that until the day that he appears and she sees him and her face is all a glow because her garments are white and one last time she turns back and looks at us and then she runs and she falls straight in to his arms and we're the king's men and we say my work is done my work is done what a glorious and terrible stewardship unto us has been given he goes on says you will be a good servant of christ jesus if we do this if we do this with a congregation of 10 if we do this with a congregation of 25 if we do this with a congregation of 50 if we labor all our life over 12 people that are a part of that bride we are a good servant of christ jesus is that not enough for you is that not enough what other accolade do we desire and from whom is it not enough to stand before him and hear well done my good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your master enter into the joy of your master the word servant here diaconos he's not saying that timothy is a deacon necessarily but he's bringing out a very important aspect of the ministry the fact is that christ's men the king's men are servants we are ministers we are stewards now it says here servants of christ it's in the genitive and i believe that sometimes the genitive just kind of overcomes its borders it's a genitive of description we are our lives our ministries everything is defined by the person of christ it is a genitive of possession he owns us he owns us he owns us we belong to christ we've been bought by the blood of the lamb we are his men second corinthians 5 13 for if we are beside ourselves it is for god and if we are of sound mind it is for you for the love of christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf we have been bought with a price there is a sense when we came to christ that our bondage was gone there was another sense in which it was replaced with another bondage the love of christ and don't look inward on this paul was not saying the motivating force in his life was his love for christ he is saying that the motivating force in his life was christ's love for him your love like mine is up and down and back and forth it is nothing to find comfort in but christ's constant love for us now there is power there is power now i want you to look with me for just a moment we're in first timothy but i want us to go over to the book of revelation chapter 14. in verse 4 these are the ones who have not been defiled with women for they have kept themselves chased these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes these have been purchased from among men as first fruits to god and to the lamb and no lie was found in their mouth they are blameless now i do believe it is important many documents have been written many debates regarding who are these hundred and forty four thousand and it is a necessary thing to discover but what saddens me is in all the debate regarding who these people are not enough emphasis is given to the description that at least in some way applies to all of us and especially to the king's men minister you want to be used of christ is that true you want to be used for christ is that true you want to be one of the valiant ones who leads his bride through the wilderness is that true well then take this up as your own look what it says these are the ones who have not been defiled with women they have not chased after other loves they have not chased after other loves they have kept themselves chase they belong to christ and christ alone they'll not soil their garments with another these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes and how can you do that except by the word of the lamb the scripture follows the lamb wherever he goes not the culture not the latest fad in reformed theology no follows the lamb wherever he goes these have been purchased from among men no lie was found in their mouth they are blameless in another place of course they did not love their lives even unto death don't you see men in this world that is so mundane so colorless so blah so without purpose you and i have been given a purpose we have been given a stewardship we have been called in to battle we have a reason to live we have a reason to die and we can go forth [Music] seeking glory and immortality from the one who died and rose again from the dead something to fight for he goes on he says constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine how can we be this kind of man that i'm talking about how can we be such a servant he says a good servant and then he says sound doctrine in both those cases in the new american standards different words in english but it's the same word in greek carlos good and what does it teach us a good servant of christ jesus is the result of good doctrine but not just doctrine and this is somewhere where i want to plant myself for a moment dear brothers i have spent 30 years reading men that i cherish particularly the reformers but mostly the puritans i love the puritans i study the purp i i bring together passages of the puritans i i love the puritans but they're writing about something they're writing from what they know about a book i need to read the book i need to be nourished in the word and you young men listen to me listen to me i'm not talking about a 45 minute quiet time i'm talking about if you're going to go into the ministry you eat this book you consume this book you live this book this book is everything you bleed this book when they cut you it's not just knowing it's not less than knowing but it's more than knowing it is feeding upon the scriptures feeding upon the scriptures you say yes the scripture scripture scriptures but you need to understand especially from paul's prayers in ephesians 1 and ephesians 3 he had no understanding of learning anything from god where prayer was not included son get off the internet just quit it get off the internet get on your knees and in the bible hours a day and for all you young reformed guys the bible consists of more than the book of romans in the book of ephesians read from genesis to revelation over and over and over and over again i can tell you something in most cases if i have two men with the very same doctrine and i listen to them long enough i can tell which one learned it from a systematic theology and which one learned it from scripture now you need both to not misunderstand me but nothing trumps the study of scripture and nothing trumps prayer prayer not just intercession not just crying out for the nations not just crying out for your family communion with god remember he is a servant of christ jesus that is not just horizontal it's vertical ministering unto the lord the greatest missionary movement in the history of the church in acts chapter 13 occurred while men were ministering unto the lord let me say this your public ministry and i say this in the fear of the lord your public ministry should just be the tip of the iceberg of your life below the water is a man shut up to god while everyone else is playing while everyone else is conversing while everyone else is surfing the internet for the next great sermon the man of god is on his knees the man of god is in the word the man of god awakes in the night watch and he tarries there the man of god doesn't just pray to intercede he prays to see his face he cries out show me your glory i cannot live unless i see you in clearer light and i will tell you this i am reformed i am reformed baptist but i will not allow anybody to take the supernatural away from me and i'm not talking about these silly boys talking about silly gifts i'm talking about the supernatural nature of an intimate relationship with god in which god becomes more real to you [Music] than six thousand people in a room to dwell with him he is so precious and yes sometimes it's like a ceiling of bronze over your head how do you pray i'll tell you what was told me many years ago you pray until you can pray and then you pray until you have prayed you break through you'll give him no rest we're not just academics and if we are we are a pitiful lot we are men who walk with god men who meet with god and if you don't want to do this if you don't want to do this if you want to buy sermons and things like that then just please go away just just go away some of you are here and you're saying but my mind is so limited my heart feels so tight there's no broadness of spirit in me i know i know young man listen to me as now paul the aged the weakest man on the planet who will see his weakness and hide under the shadow of the almighty he'll it used at least be usable for something and that is enough isn't it let's go on he says constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following this is very important hebert makes a very important point here about the perfect tense timothy was not only learning and teaching sound doctrine but it had become the settled practice of his life teach them to do all that i commanded you training in righteousness part of that great passage in second timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 the word of god for training in righteousness to mold our lives according to what is written you see you misunderstand the reformed faith you really do some of you at least you think it's all about one doctrine of soteriology well that doctrine is important but if you really break it down the reformers were about one thing and all the other goodness came forth from that one thing and that is sola scriptura scripture alone to look at scripture that's why they said semper reformanda always reforming why always looking at scripture always seeing need for change always praying for change always striving for change to conform every aspect of not just our ministry but our lives and every aspect of our life to the word of god verse 7 but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women on the other hand discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness it says here have nothing to do with it can also be translated utterly reject now what falls into that category that's very simple everything outside of scripture everything that contradicts scripture and everything that some men seek to add to scripture i want to read a passage that really really grabbed my life as a young man it's in isaiah 8. when they say to you consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter should not a people consult their god should they consult the dead on behalf of the living to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word it is because they have no dawn christ and christ's wisdom needs no help from men not within the church and certainly not from without do you understand me the world has nothing to say to us about god or the will of god or the work of god absolutely nothing and even the smallest hint of it should be utterly rejected flee from it like a man fleeing from the plague to the law and testimony if they speak not according to this they have no spiritual light at all let's hurry through verse 8 for bodily discipline is only of little prophet but it is of prophet little prophet but it is of prophet i want to be i have had a massive heart attack my left knee is totally replaced both my hips are totally replaced and my wrist is made of metal it's held together with pens but i try to eat right ministers and i exercise daily ministers why to live as long and as strong as i can to give as much of me away to christ where do you find the time maybe i don't spend as much time in front of a screen as you do i'll give you a challenge every week i think somebody told me that you can know how much screen time that you've had on your phone and all these other things is that true well every day every week compare your screen time to your prayer time so he goes on and he says for bodily discipline as only of little prophet but godliness is profitable for all things and he will go on and that all thing is saying for this life and the next now godliness does it have to do with obeying laws yes it certainly does has to do with obeying the will of god i know in our culture today in evangelical culture that sounds like legalism every time someone mentions a command now they're labeled a legalist but i can assure you the bible is full of commands and jesus told us to keep them we do not keep them in order to gain acceptance before god we are accepted before god therefore we want to know out of appreciation god's will and we want to do it in order to please him and honor him but godliness is more than finding the commands and obeying i want you to look at it this way look first at godwardness godwardness when you study the scriptures read the scriptures it's god word i want to know you when you pray it's god word and if you maintain yourself in that discipline long enough do you know what begins to happen your daily life becomes godward and then you know what begins to happen you avoid certain sins or you avoid sin or you're seeking to avoid sin not simply because it is commanded of you but because you are a man who always stands in the presence of god because you are a man who is indwelt by the holy spirit and that precious person you do not desire to offend let's go on nine and ten it is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance for it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living god who is the savior of all men especially of believers now i do not have much time but i want to say something here that is so important and if if you're a church member here and you're not a minister and you have a minister that you love take this to heart but also take it to heart for yourself and take it to heart for your family and for all the believers around you and this is the truth i want to convey the essentiality of hope is entirely overlooked hope is foundational in the christian life my dear brother tom buck asked me today he goes how are you doing physically and i said well the physical kind of comes and goes but my main problem is often passing through the slew of despondency that it seems like things get hopeless and it weakens me to the point beyond what i would choose to share with you and then when someone comes to me with encouragement from the word it seems that my strength even is renewed i have in the last four years since my heart attack i have learned something of the power of hope hope founded on the scriptures hope founded on the promises of god hope founded on the character of god let me ask you a question do you not know a man can live 40 days without food he can live three or four days without water he can live some say five ten minutes without oxygen but how long can a man live without hope and this is another reason why christ minister must remain in the scriptures and must remain in prayer and another thing that i have been privileged because the lord knows how weak i truly am one of the greatest privileges in my life as pastor josh said i'm not an elder but i'm surrounded by elders and they watch me and they encourage me and they correct me and they warn me and they encourage me and i'm sure they get together in their room and say we need to encourage paul again i have a wife that encourages me see she wrote me a text before i got up to preach in spanish and she said which basically means i loved it i love you smack him around she encouraged me see many of you think i'm the meanest preacher no it's my wife actually behind me now look at verse 11 and we're going to get through this prescribe and teach these things now here's something minister listen to me again we have this present tense idea keep on commanding and teaching and notice that if you put these two together we're talking about teaching with authority and you cannot teach with authority based on your position or office you teach with authority only to the degree that you correctly interpret and communicate god's word but preaching is more than simply the transference of information we are looking for transformation and that's why we pray and that's why we not only teach and inform but we exhort and rebuke and correct verse 12 let no one look down on your youthfulness but rather in speech conduct love faith and purity show yourself an example of those who believe this is why in the non-negotiable qualifications of an elder in 1st timothy chapter 3 and titus 1 most of it has to do with godliness with character with character there is a sense in which the minister should be respected because of his office there is another sense in which the minister must earn the respect of his people and it is not a once and for all thing also the minister of christ must not only preach but he must be something of a walking sermon an example to the flock now we must go on verse 13 until i come give attention to the public reading of scripture to exhortation into teaching this public reading of scripture is greatly neglected i see in evangelical churches and baptist churches and where i go and i wonder where is the reading of scripture where is it in the meeting well if we read a chapter or two chapters in the congregation the people you know they're they're people of the internet they won't be oh i thought we were supposed to elect christianity change culture and not let culture dictate our christianity you teach them to listen you read the word of god public reading of scripture to exhortation and teaching now this seems backwards here doesn't it you would think he would say teaching and exhortation but he says exhortation and teaching why maybe timothy was timid you'll get in little trouble just merely transferring information to somebody the difficulty comes when you exhort them to obey what has been communicated we go on do not neglect the spiritual gift within you which was bestowed on you with through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbyter what does that mean do not be falsely humble with regard to what god has given you identify what god has given you man if he's made you a minister of christ he has gifted you to carry that out know what those gifts are but do not be apathetic toward them do not be passive but you must go forward and forward and forward ever honing ever improving character and ability [Music] this is one of the reasons why we study so that we are simply a sharper instrument verse 15 take pains with these things take pains it's not easy be absorbed in them of course the word absorbed is not there in the greek text it's simply be in them for the sake of time let me just say this you have a pool of water on a table there's the water everyone can see the water then someone brings a towel puts it over the water and removes the towel everyone looks at the table they can't find the water where's the water the water's in the towel where's the minister where is he he's in the word of god in prayer or is he a mover and shaker he ought to be in the word of god the ministry of the word and prayer when i was in peru many of the pastors would laughingly refer to my wife chado as la gran queruvina the great chairman they said she stood at the door of the house with a flaming sword looking this way and that way because they would drop by the house unannounced at nine o'clock or ten o'clock and say i just came to see brother paul my wife would say did someone die no did jesus come back no then you cannot see paul until 12 o'clock now i'm going to prepare lunch and you can eat with him if you would like but he's alone where is he he's in his study what's he doing in his study he's in the word he's in prayer i was very fortunate to be born again before many of the old old school men who hardly exist now before they passed away the old preachers you would not know their name but they had more knowledge of god in their finger than i have in my entire body you don't know their name they prayed for hours and you don't know their name they saw marvelous works of god you don't know their name they weren't we asked richard owen roberts one time what's the difference between the great men of god of old and the men of god today he said the great men of god of old had the power of god upon their life many of the men today are just very very intelligent where is he do you know the greatest most dangerous moment in the history of the church do you think it was caligula do you think it was nero was it constantine no it was a group of widows acts chapter six was the greatest most dangerous moment for the church when the ministers of the gospel could have laid aside the ministry of the word and prayer to do something marvelously important the caring for widows but they assigned it to godly men and they kept on with the word this is why deacons are so important and this is why elders are not only to raise up elders according to second timothy 2 2 but also to raise up deacons so they can do this kind of work so that the men of god can devote themselves to the administration of god's word finally verse 16 and i'm sorry i've kept you so long play pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching preserve in these things for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you do you realize that what we do is a matter of eternal life and eternal death even as i'm preaching it is very possible that i am looking at some people who will spend eternity in hell others who are on the long road glory preaching it's an oracle it's a burden it's crushing it's crushing because it's about life and death in heaven and hell minister of christ be encouraged providence may determine the size of your ministry and whether or not your name is ever known but you will not be judged based on that kind of providence you will not be judged by the pragmatic standards of evangelicalism you will be judged by your faithfulness within god's providence and your conformity to jesus christ i want to end with just one of my favorite hymns could we with could we with ink the oceans fill and the sky of parchment made where every stalk on earth the quill and every man ascribed by trade to write the love of god above would drain the oceans dry and the scroll it could not contain the hole though stretched from sky to sky that is very encouraging [Applause] you

Channel: G3 Ministries

Views: 290,649

Keywords: g3ministries, g3conference, paulwasher, voddiebaucham, joshbuice, stevenlawson, christ, bible, worldview

Id: BJxgRAV5Ki8

Length: 73min 11sec (4391 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 23 2021