H.B. Charles Jr. | Preach The Word | 2 Timothy 4:1-5

[Applause] grace and peace be multiplied to each of you this evening and the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord let me publicly thank pastor Carl for the invitation to be a part of this year's conference and for the privilege of opening up God's Word for you during our time together I am most excited about the theme I have been preaching God's Word since I was a boy and you you ask how does a 17 year old pastor a church all they would let me do was preach which was fine cuz all I wanted to do was preach but over almost 20 years I'm a witness of how the the preaching of God's Word shapes the life of the church and even this season as he mentions how busy it is they really nothing to blame about my schedule except I just have a compulsion woe unto me if I preach not the gospel so I'm eager to preach glad to be here as he mentioned young man who is our pastor of worship his father who also as a pastor suddenly went home to his reward this past week and they'll be funeral izing him at our church tomorrow so I want to thank pastor for accommodating the schedule and know I was scheduled to speak and then between flights taking off from Atlanta I get a text message and asked if I'd be willing to preach both messages tonight I'm that my friend Jason Allen would not be able to be here I'm sad that Jason Allen is not here I'm so glad Jason Allen this here so that I get to preach God's Word twice to you tonight and that's so if you would get your copy of God's Word wouldn't get right to it tonight if you'd be turning with me to second Timothy chapter four let me breathe the word of prayer and ask God's blessings over our time together and then I want you to hear the reading of God's Word and we'll then listen for what God will say to us tonight through what he has already said to us in his holy word our Father in Heaven we praise you as holy holy holy and we worship you as we acknowledge that the whole earth is filled with your glory we praise you that you would graciously condescend to be reconciled to rebellious sinners as we are and even at the expense of your own dear son whose blood and righteousness opens for us a new and living way to you and for the privilege of gathering together tonight to sing praise to your high name thank you father for your word then there's a lamb for feet and a life for pathway we pray now that as we worship you by the study of your word that you would we pray open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things about the Lord Jesus Christ from the sacred scriptures and I pray that our worship would go higher as you deepen our understanding of your word help me to speak the word faithfully and clearly help each of us to lay aside all filthiness and rampant wickedness so that we may receive with gentleness the implanted word that is able to save our souls that was to be doers of the word and not hearers only we pray in Jesus name Amen second Timothy chapter 4 I will focus your attention tonight on verses one through five in the English standard version of the reading of God's Word is this I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober-minded endure suffering through the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry amen permit me to label the message tonight simply preach the word preach the world James Montgomery Boyce pastored the tenth Presbyterian Church in Center City Philadelphia for thirty years until his death in the year 2000 a noted bible expositor commentator Boyce also served as the leader of the International Council of biblical inerrancy this group of evangelicals came together to defend the inspiration and inerrancy and infallibility of the Word of God against attacks of the day after deeming their work completed 10 years in this council disbanded but several years later in a version of his book standing on the rock Boyce noted that he believed the battle for the Bible would continue he expected however that the battle would look different in the days to come he suggested that in the past the battle for the Bible had been over the inspiration of scripture but that in the days to come and years to come the battle over the Bible would be over the sufficiency of Scripture unfortunately friends that ominous prediction has come to pass in our generation there are many in our day pastors and churches who would readily defend the authority of Scripture yet they betray its authority by ignoring and rejecting and neglecting its sufficiency to save edify council lead and bless faithfulness in our generation requires that we earnestly defend the sufficiency of Scripture as well as the inspiration of Scripture and I stand this hour to say to you that the best way to defend the sufficiency of Scripture is simply for the church to preach the word unfortunately we live in a day when there is a conspiracy against preaching the unbelieving world dismisses preaching outright is foolishness many congregations these days prefer pulpit entertainment over biblical preaching then there are some pastors who would rather be life coaches whatever that is rather than preachers they should not surprise us and second Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 Paul writes but understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty Paul predicted to Timothy that as he went forward in his ministry there would be perilous difficult troublesome times but as you continue to read through 2nd Timothy you will note that as Paul predicts for Timothy how bad the days would come no matter how bad the days to come would be he is emphatic with sympathy that he does not need to find a new strategy for the changing times he would simply exhort Timothy to stick with the Scriptures no matter what the culture around him does he will tell him why in verses 16 and 17 for all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work the Word of God is sufficient to save the lost and to sanctify the church Romans 10 verse 13 makes a wonderful promise whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved Romans 10 verses 14 and 15 go on to raise a series of dilemmas that prevent lost people from calling on the Lord for salvation here's the lemma number 1 how can they call on someone that they do not believe in and how can they believe in someone they have never heard of and how shall they hear without someone preaching to them and I'll surely preach unless he be sent D Martyn lloyd-jones wrote that the most urgent need in the Christian church today is true preaching and as it is the greatest and most urgent need of the church it is the greatest need in the world also and so wisely here in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 Paul exhorts Timothy to faithfulness in ministry he exhausts Timothy to lead the church with faithfulness and he he does so by giving 9 imperatives in these five verses the first command is the most important it begins verse to preach the word the other 8 commands in a real sense just amplified the call to preach preaching is the central primary and decisive function of the church the church is and does more than preaching but biblical preaching is essential to all that the church is and does what difference does preaching make consider with me in this text first of all the significance of preaching the word second Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 says I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom let's just stop there for a moment this word charge means to solemnly testify this call to preach we see here is no personal X or tation based on close relationship between Paul and Timothy Paul is speaking here to Timothy with apostolic Authority Paul was Timothy spiritual father and ministerial mentor in a real sense all Paul needed to say to Timothy was I charge you to get Timothy's attention yet Paul points Timothy to transcendent realities look at the verse again the true and living God the Lord Jesus Christ the final judgment the second coming the kingdom of heaven he charges Timothy laying on him the gravity of eternal realities June 1989 I was sleep it was a Sunday night I was sleeping the home of dr. Roy Allen I had flown to Detroit that previous day and spent the day preaching several times for dr. at the Chapel Hill Church there in Detroit beginning of a week of a youth meeting he had invited me to preach I was fast asleep that night when dr. Allen knocked on the door to awaken me and inform me that my father was on the phone I can't tell you how excited I was to talk to my dad my father had gone into the hospital that previous week and he had come home from the hospital that Saturday while I was flying to Detroit and so I was I was concerned about my dad and I was eager to hear his voice and then to be honest I had my own problems I was a 16 year old boy preacher who had never been that far from home for that long to preach and so when I heard my dad's voice and he's asking me how did the day go and just simple stuff I just broke down crying and I interrupted him and told him that I'm ready to I'm ready to come home he reminded me that I had six more sermons to preach before I could come home and I told him man I don't care I'm ready to come home now and he's that son daddy wants you to do me a favor he says you you be a man and preach I said yes sir through tears he said no promise me that you'll be a man and preach I did we exchanged I love yous and good night and I went to bed and little did I know that that would be the last time on earth I would speak to my father as I was flying from Detroit back home to Los Angeles that following weekend God called my father upstairs from labor to refreshment and in the succeeding years now decades actually when I think about my father as I often do what most naturally comes to my mind is that final conversation be a man and preach sure I grant that that may have been nothing more than simple advice to get his frightened son through a the difficult week but little little would he know or I know that those words would be used of the Lord to press me on too many years of dangers toils and snares be a man and preach in the real sense this is what Paul is up to in the life of his son in the faith Timothy as he writes what would be his final words to Timothy here in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 must have been help Timothy felt as he read this letter but would you note that Paul did not charge Timothy on the basis of his personal influence in Timothy's life look at verse 1 again I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom Paul would not live much longer after writing these words but but listen to what he's doing here with Timothy he wants to methey to know that when I'm off the scene God is there when I'm dead and gone the Lord is listening God is monitoring your faithfulness and so is the Lord Jesus Christ this is the ultimate basis of ministerial accountability God the Father and God the Son monitor our ministries and will hold us accountable the Holy Trinity is the final tribunal the Lord sees when no one else is looking Doris first Timothy 16 verse 7 says the Lord does not see as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus this reference to Christ Jesus is significant as he is equated here with God the Father this just simply affirmed what Jesus said in John 10 verse 30 I and the father are one the fact that Christ is Co essential and co-equal with the father as highlighted here several ways listen he is the one who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom Jesus is coming again he is coming again to consummate the present but not your kingdom of God all humanity living and dead will stand in judgment before him these are the eternal realities that form the basis of Paul's charge to Timothy not sure if you're getting away to that what was so important that before he gives the instruction he's got a place on Timothy's shoulder the Godhead and the second coming and the consummated Kingdom well look at the text and if you will for a moment just exegete the white-spaces with me for a moment and consider what Paul does not say he does not charge Timothy to lead the meetings and visit the sick and build the buildings and plan the programs and oversee the events all those may have their place in the life of pastoral ministry but this is not what Paul charges Timothy to do the primary work of ministry is stated in verse 2 preached the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching Timothy I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the word a young preacher complained to charles haddon spurgeon that he did not have a congregation as large as he thought he deserved Spurgeon texts of how many do you preach to on the Sabbath he said only about a hundred angrily Spurgeon answer young man a hundred souls are enough to answer for at the judgment seat of Christ size and success and celebrity are not ministerial qualifications when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ the Lord will not ask us the size of anything we must give an account for how we have handled his word may the lord help us to end our ministries saying as Paul did in verses 6 to 8 if I may move ahead for I am already being poured out as a drink offering at the time of my departure is has come I have fought the good fight I have finished the course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing secondly would you consider with me for a moment then the substance of preaching the word verse to answer several key questions about the substance of preaching here's the first what should we preach verse two exhorts preach the word this obvious answer is a necessary reminder that the importance of preaching rests in its content not its function the power of preaching it's in the truth of the message not the act of preaching it's not it's not our preaching that makes the gospel work it's the gospel that makes our lousy preaching work and so notice that the charge here involves not just that Timothy preach but what he should preach preach the word what does it mean to preach the word it means first of all the content must be biblical to preach the word means the content of the preaching must be biblical the the pulpit is no place for political speeches therapy sessions motivational talks self-help advice worldly philosophy scientific theories or theological speculation The Herald delivered the message of the King not his own and he did not have editorial authority over the message he could not change the message to suit the crowd neither can we Martin Luther is right the pulpit is the throne of the Word of God so scripture must be the priority of our preaching I had the privilege of hearing on occasion dr. Walter Kaiser saying that Impe reaching the preacher should always keep his finger on the text and if you lift that hand the gesture put your other hand on the text it's just a subtle reminder that your preaching is to be rooted and grounded in the word and always be pointing to the scripture the content must be biblical but not only must the content be biblical the meaning must be biblical raise that distinction because just because a man is up reading scripture and talking about Scripture and referring the scripture doesn't mean he's preaching the word 2nd Timothy 2:15 says do your best to present yourself to God as one to prove the worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly handling the word of truth biblical preaching then involves more than reading scripture referencing scripture or mentioning Scripture in your sermon biblical preaching is to explain but the text means by what it says John Stott is right that ultimately there are only two ways to preach he's about exposition or by imposition he said the preacher stands and exposes the God intended meaning of the text or he has determined his own message and imposed it on Scripture and drug a text to the pulpit kicking and screaming to say something it never intended to say faithful preaching must explain what the scripture means by what the scripture says this is I pass to mention my third city preaching in this week and I'm glad for those who assist me in kind of managing the logistics of trips and I may know far off where I'm supposed to preach and the theme but the logistics of travel and stuff someone helps me with and they give me general information to get me ready I get a document every time with information and it's something that's not on that sheet that they give me that I never think about but it becomes key to my trip it wasn't on my document this morning but when I got to the airport this detail became all-important my flight airline daytime all that was already marked for me but and I got to the airport the gate number became real important you know think about the gate number weeks in advance but when you get to the airport the gate number is crucial you don't just say I'm here - right day at the right airlines around the right time I'll just get on a plane and go no I got to the airport and they told me to go to a three I went to a three you don't go to a four and get on the plane say well that's close enough because just one gate over just one gate from where you're supposed to be can actually send you on a flight in the opposite direction of where you intended to go and in a greater deeper higher way the slightest misinterpretation of Scripture can lead people away from God rather than closer to him the Bible is not man's thoughts about God that is God's self-revelation of himself to man and so when the preacher misinterprets scripture he misrepresents God the meaning must be biblical and then not only must the content and the meaning be biblical but the focus must be biblical when Paul charged Timothy to preach the word it was a reference to the Old Testament the New Testament Canon was not yet complete but yet Timothy was to preach as a minister of the New Covenant he was to read Old Testament text with New Testament eyes 1st Corinthians 1:23 says we preach Christ crucified 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 says for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord the focus of faithful biblical preaching is the Lord Jesus Christ if I may quote him again someone criticized Spurgeon's preaching claiming that all his sermons sounded alike and he responded by saying again so they should because in every sermon I do the same thing call the text and as soon as possible huh make a beeline to the cross indeed our preaching should unapologetically focus on the virgin birth righteous life substitutionary death victorious resurrection and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ but there's another question here when should we preach not just what should we preach verse verse 2 addresses the question when should we preach see the answer in verse 2 be ready in season and out of season the word ready here denotes immediacy and urgency and earnestness we must be ready to preach whenever a word from the Lord is needed in one since then this is a call to preparation - to be ready you must first get ready fascinated the Donald gray barn house once said that if he knew the Lord was coming in three years he would spend two years studying in one year preaching that statement fascinates me I think because I know a lot of young preachers who would love to spend all their time preaching and no time preparing but a passion to preach without a discipline to study is just the desire to perform you got to get ready to be ready now primarily this is not a call to preparation is to call to perseverance in season refers to an opportune time the term used in mark 14 verse 11 to describe how Judas waited for a good opportunity to betray Jesus and then out of season of course means an inopportune time and the play on words just simply means they that we're to preach the word no matter what preaching brings in a harvest of souls don't become preoccupied with building bigger barns like the rich fool just keep preaching and if the preaching doesn't seem to bring in a harvest but but by all means don't try to manufacture artificial fruit keep preaching Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 7 says and you shall speak my word to them whether they hear or whether they refuse to hear for they are a rebellious house indeed brothers and sisters the message of the Word of God is in season at all times even when it seems that it is out of season the idea that we should ask the church strive to be both faithful and fruitful indeed but but what Paul is saying here is that you must be faithful even when it seems like you're not being fruitful you live us refuse to measure our ministries by how people respond visible results are not an automatic necessary or essential sign of God's favor as Steve Lawson would say it's your job to fill the pulpit it's God's job to fill the building we must remember that the harvest is not at the end of the service or the end of the year or the end of a pastoral tenure it's at the end of the age and we must be ready in season and out of season one more question for verse 2 how should we preach what should we preach when should we preach how should we preach reprove rebuke and exhort these three imperatives here are significant reprove means to convince a person of his error to lead him to confess is wrong and repent were used in first Timothy 5 verse 20 where Paul instructs Timothy to publicly rebuked sinning elders rebuke here next word is to show a person his error regardless of how the person responds and two imperatives remind us that faithful ministry must both confront sin and exposed error but then the word exhort reminds us that we're not to be negative fault-finding hypercritical judgmental or fair circle faithful preaching warns that there is a way that seems right to a man that leads to death but it also beats the sinner to run to the cross where jesus paid it all it's an interesting balance how does how does preaching faithfully balance this call to convince the mind rebuked the emotions and exhort the will you see at the end of verse two was complete patience and teaching I don't really see a hard distinction in the New Testament between preaching and teaching faithful preaching necessitates doctrinal teaching and the Great Commission Jesus bid since Matthew 28 verses 19 to 22 go make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you disciple making requires faithful teaching yet teaching is not enough verse 2 says you need complete patience and teaching in a real sense Paul is saying I think here that we must care for truth and people this requires complete patience or more literally long-suffering this year will mark 30 years of pastoral ministry for me I started as a teenager I have served in pastoral ministry all my adult life I started with a commitment to 1st to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 I started my ministry with a a firm commitment to the beginning of second Timothy 4 and to preach the word over the years it took me some time to grow in my commitment to the end of verse 2 not just the beginning of verse 2 to preach the word with complete patience and teaching the word works it just doesn't work according to our schedule in our vision and our expectations yet the Word of God is sufficient Isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11 the Bible says for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I send it one more thing to note here consider with me in the remaining verses quickly the struggle of preaching the word the significance verse 1 the substance of preaching verse 2 and then I think in verses 3 to 5 what you see is the the struggle of preaching verse 2 tells us what and when and how to preach but now why this is so important is in verses 3 and 4 for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths the key here to understand this is to know who who Paul is talking about he's talking about unbelievers but he's not talking about unbelievers in the streets of Ephesus he's talking about unbelievers in the church who are walking in a false presumption of salvation and their religious hypocrisy will be exposed he says by their unwillingness to put up with sound teaching there will be an intentional rebellious and definite rejection of sound doctrine and in light in the place of life-giving truth that their sinful desires will lead them to promote false teachers to satisfy their curiosity for something novel and pragmatic and sensational I thought when when I started ministry that if you just faithfully preached the word it'll it'll draw people in Paul says here if you faithfully preached the word it will run some people off and he suggests here that they won't go home they'll go find a false teacher that'll say what their itching ears want to hear this bitching years as an idiom for just you know craving for something new and novel and I warned our church you get a preacher standing up and saying he got a you got a fresh word and a new inspiration grab your hat and run if the word is that fresh maybe you need to let it sit for a few centuries to see if it stands the test of time the Bible consistently condemns false teachers but this is the other side of the story Paul is saying here brothers and sisters that false teachers would not have a platform if it were not for the itching years in the church Marvin Vinson wrote that if people desire a calf to worship a ministerial calf maker is readily found we live in a time much like that described in Jeremiah 5:30 and 31 an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land the prophets prophesy falsely and priests rule at their own direction this is the worst part my people love to have it sold then the question what will they do when the incomes I think verse 5 gives for more imperatives that helps us to minister with the end in mind as for you be sober minded endure suffering do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry as for you this is the phrase that I go back to in this passage like Paul says to Timothy let the crowd do what the crowds gonna do but ask for you let the coach you do what the coach is going to do but as for you always be sober-minded the verb means to be sober it refers however metaphorically here to alertness not abstinence it is to be watchful it describes one who is steady and stable and serious the greek scholar kenneth least just puts it this way there is no place for clowning in the pulpit of Jesus Christ endure suffering to endure suffering means we must expect suffering too many would preach because they expect ecclesiastical prominence and material prosperity and worldly success they view ministry in terms of celebrity and privilege and affluence second Timothy 2:3 bids us to endure suffering as good soldiers of Jesus Christ Christian ministry is spiritual warfare and we must endure to be victorious do the work of an evangelist commentators debate whether Timothy had the gift of evangelism but that's not what Paul is referring to there regardless of Timothy's giftedness he must do the work of an evangelist so is every pastor teacher this is the essential nature of Christian ministry we must preach the gospel to the loss and teach the gospel to the church Colossians 1:28 says him we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ and then finally he says in verse 5 fulfill your ministry this final imperative summarizes the previous eight commands and it reinforces all the Paula said to Timothy in this letter in season and out of season Timothy was to faithfully accomplish his ministerial assignment likewise we must not allow fear pride laziness neglect or suffering lead us to be unfaithful to the divine message we must fulfill our ministry's I don't care what my kids say I'm still a relatively young man but this last imperative is weighing on me in these days of my life and ministry fulfill your ministry the closing command keeps barking at me and reminding me that we get no credit for how good we start anyone can start fast the question is will you finish strong regularly to keep getting news of mental shipwrecked their ministry by turning away from the truth betraying their commitment to integrity chasing the things of the world may the Lord help us feel fulfilled our ministry was the opening round of 1500 metres in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich there were 10 men on the track but focus was on the world record holder Jim Ryun he was undefeated for three years before losing to Kip Kano of Kenya in 1968 and the world was waiting 72 for a rematch between these two but but it was not going to happen during the third lap of the opening round Jim Ryun circling the track tripped over another runner and fell to the ground while the rest kept on running and he shocked the whole crowd watched to see what Ryan would do next they were amazed to watch Ryan get off the track started running and press on until he crossed the finish line of course he was not able to qualify but he gained a lot of respect that day his mindset was pretty simple he knew that he couldn't win a medal but he determined that he could at least get up and finish what he started may the Lord help us as his church those who have been called to preach the word to finish what we've started to fulfill our ministry to the glory of God father thank you for your word help us not not justice those who would stand behind prayer that's like this to preach it but that's the church who affirms it and embraces it and lives it to to shape our life around your word may your word be the authority the rock the foundation upon which we build everything so that when the wind blows and the rains come and the floods rise our faith will stand our labor will stand because it's been founded on the rock we do praise you for the total sufficiency of your holy word to save the Lost to edify the church the council the Troubled to comfort the saints and even to change the society may we not betray our commitment to the truth chasing the trends and ideas and isms of the world we praise you that we can rest assure that as the grass withers and the flowers fade your word stands forever and help us we pray to fulfill our ministries for the glory of Jesus Christ and for the good of the church and for the sake of those whom Christ has died in his name we pray amen you

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Length: 49min 12sec (2952 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 18 2020