The Church's Call to Biblical Preaching | Steven Lawson

it's a privilege for me to be able to speak to you now on the church's call to biblical preaching as i was being driven home last night or to the hotel from our meeting last night and i enjoyed so much down in the gym being able to visit with so many of you as i got in the van and as i was being driven back the driver asked me this question he said what do you think is the number one problem in the church i said that is a great question and immediately it came to my mind i said i think the number one problem in the church today is unconverted unregenerate church members it is impossible for the church to carry out its tasks with unsaved unredeemed members i've tried that in a church before it doesn't work and then i thought as we were going down the road i said i guess i would add second to that just shallow superficial saved church members who are basically ignorant of the word of god and have zero depth in the full counsel of god and the things of the lord and then as i continued to think as i was driving back to my hotel i said in reality the number one problem of the church there is something that stands behind both of those and is the contributing factor for both of those there is a cause and effect and those two are the effect but there is one primary cause for unconverted church members and shallow superficial saved church members and that is the bankruptcy of the modern day pulpit it is a shallow pulpit that has produced shallow church members and it is a superficial handling of the word of god that has produced unconverted congregations and so to trace the stream upriver to the source and the beginning of the flow of the problem of the church i think we trace it back to a departure of the modern day pulpit from the preaching of the word of god and in his place exposition has now given rise to entertainment and theology has now been replaced with theatrics and doctrine has given way to drama and the church is suffering greatly and so as we're talking about the church and as we're talking about what the church must be and what the mission of the church is we must address what is at the place of centrality and primacy in the ministry of the church and that is the preaching of the word of god it is the preaching of the word of god that shapes the worship of the church you cannot worship a god you do not know and unconverted people cannot worship god it is the preaching of the word of god that establishes the transcendence of the worship in the church further it is the preaching of the word of god that sets the room temperature for the fellowship in any church it is the the holding forth of christ in the preaching of the word that the church comes together and shares in common the person and work of the lord jesus christ and it is the preaching of the word that equips the saints to do the work of the ministry and it is the preaching of the word of god that is to energize the congregation and to launch and to catapult the church into the work of evangelism and beyond to carry out the work of missions a strong pulpit produces a strong church and a weak pulpit produces a weak church and there is this trickle down effect and the preaching of the word of god must be what god desires it to be so having said that i invite you to take your bibles and turn with me to what must be the signature text on the preaching of the word of god second timothy chapter four verses one through five this will be our focus in this session it is a text with which we are all most familiar i know but i believe that we need to revisit this text yet one more time again and to have clarity of understanding regarding what god's standard is in the local church second timothy chapter 4 i want to begin reading in verse 1 the apostle paul is writing to his young son in the faith these will be the last words paul will ever pin he is the author of 13 epistles in the new testament second timothy is the last of those epistles chapter four is the last chapter of the last epistle to ever come from the pen of the apostle paul last words should be lasting words these are the words of a man who will soon have his head severed on the ocean way outside of rome he is suffering in solitary confinement in rome this is his second roman imprisonment during his first roman imprisonment he wrote ephesians philippians colossians in philemon he was in a house arrest where he paid for his own prison cell if you will he was chained to roman soldiers they were rotating he could have friends he could have associates come into the house with him he was dictating his letters he was subsequently released and now we come to the very end of the life of the greatest christian who ever lived the apostle paul he is in a hole in the ground in the mammantine prison in rome and we have these words now that come out of this hole in the ground to his young son in the faith timothy this is no time to discuss superfluous matters or secondary issues the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing and with his last words before he will depart to glory the apostle paul writes this to timothy and by extension by finding its way in the canon of scripture it now comes down to us over two thousand years later and this should be etched upon every pastor in this gathering today and this should be what everyone here is looking for in a church what everyone will devote themselves to pray for their pastor knowing that their spiritual life will be handicapped if this reality is not present in their pulpit on a weekly ongoing basis this will be the standard by which every man here today who is called by god into gospel ministry he will stand we will stand at the judgment seat of christ and we will give an account as a servant to his master for the divine standard that we find in this text of scripture and this passage could not be any more serious it is a text of enormous gravity and gravitas and so beginning in verse 1. paul writes i solemnly 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 exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to miss but you be sober in all things endure hardship do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry these words form the crescendo of this final epistle to come from the pen of paul and paul is re-establishing what must be the anchor point in any local church what must be a cornerstone if you will and everything else brought into alignment with this immovable placement it is the primacy and the centrality of the preaching of the word of god no church will rise any higher as i've said than its pulpit its worship can rise no higher than the depth of his preaching and all of its godliness and all of its pursuit of holiness and all of its fellowship and all of its evangelism and missions is really directly connected to the preaching of the word of god this is an emphasis that paul has been making throughout this last epistle if i could just walk us through these four chapters and just give a brief survey before we look at this text i want you to see that this is not an isolated emphasis that paul is making back in chapter one of ii timothy he says in verse 13 retain the standard of sound words these sound words are sound doctrine it is the apostles teaching it is the teaching to which you were committed it is in reality the sound words of the old testament scripture as well as the new testament epistles that have been written to this point in each subsequent new testament book that will be added and you must do everything to retain the standard of these sound words these sound words will be the plumb line by which the church is to function and by which the church is to carry out its business in verse 14 the next verse he says guard through the holy spirit who indwells us who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you and this treasure here is the deposit of truth that has been passed down from paul to timothy it has been passed down to you and me as well and there is a sacred trust a sacred deposit that has been placed within each and every believer and it is the faith that is once and for all been delivered to the saints in chapter 2 and verse 2. he says the things which you have heard from me referring to this standard of sound words he says entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also in other words we're always the middle man there is always someone who is feeding into us and we must always be feeding into other men who will take the gospel baton and preach it and carry it to the next generation in chapter 2 verse 5 he says if anyone competes as an athlete he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules and the rules are found in the word of god and the preacher is to be the herald who announces the rules at the beginning of the race in verse 9 of chapter 2 he says that he suffers hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal but the word of god is not in prison paul says i may be imprisoned but there will never be shackles placed upon a word uh upon a bible that is being preached it it cannot be stopped it is invincible and the greater the persecution the greater will be the proliferation of the word of god in verse 15 of chapter 2 he says be diligent to present yourself approved to god as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth you've got to cut it straight with the word of god because this is the the standard of sound words for the church in verse 18 he speaks of men who have gone astray from the truth and verse 24 he says that the lord's bond servant must be able to teach it's the only ability that is listed all the others really here are character qualities virtues of godliness there is only one ability that is mentioned in this list as well as in 1st timothy 3 and titus 1 qualifications for an elder and the one and only ability that he must have is he must be able to teach the word to be able to preach the truth and to refute those who contradict he says in verse 25 that perhaps god will grant repentance to those who are in opposition leading to the knowledge of the truth the truth is is everything you can't get anywhere without the truth you can't worship without the truth you can't fellowship without the truth you cannot be sanctified without the truth you cannot preach the gospel or share christ without the truth everything is dependent upon the truth truth is reality truth is the way things really are truth is what god says anything it is and everything beyond that is mere imagination in chapter 3 verse 7 he speaks of the knowledge of the truth in verse 10 he speaks of my teaching in verse 15 he speaks of the sacred writings referring to scripture the holy writings in verse 16. he speaks of of all scripture is inspired by god as theo nustas breathed out by god and that really is the mandate for preaching if the bible is what it claims to be if the scripture is inspired by god this is a mandate to every preacher to preach the word of god the preacher has nothing to say apart from the preaching of the word of god when the bible speaks god speaks and so he says in chapter four verse two preach the word in verse three he talks about sound doctrine in verse four he talks about the truth and in verse 7 he says i have kept the faith in verse 15 he talks about our teaching it is very obvious the dominant theme of second timothy is all about the primacy and the centrality of the preaching and teaching of the word of god in the local church and if any other ministry or any other emphasis or any other focus finds its place in that central place then that church has put its foot on the slippery slope and it will begin to descend it is just a matter of time and so today i want to talk about the preaching of the word of god i agree with martin lloyd jones the famed expositor of westminster chapel he said the most urgent need in the christian church today what would you say lloyd jones would remark the most urgent need in the christian church today is true preaching now that's quite a qualifier when you say true because it's not more preaching that we need quite frankly we need less preaching of a certain kind we have enough hot air as it is in the building we need true preaching and true preaching is biblical preaching true preaching is expository preaching lord jones goes on to say and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the church it is the greatest need of the world also think of a domino effect you push over the first domino and there is a subsequent chain reaction as the pulpit goes so goes the church as the church goes so goes the world the greatest influence upon the church is to be the preaching of the word of god and the greatest influence upon the world is to be the church we are the light of the world we are the salt of the earth we are to penetrate we are to bring the light and what sets that in motion is the preaching of the word of god and yet we live in a day of which amos spoke a famine and not for water and not for food but a famine for the hearing of the word of the lord and we live in days of drought theologian walt kaiser has said the famine of the word continues in massive proportions in most places in north africa and while we are a generation that has never been more concerned about health food and the kind of food that is put into our bodies we suffer from extreme malnutrition spiritually as we have been fed a steady diet of junk food i want us to look at this text again and i want you to see three headings i want you to see the sobriety of this charge in verse one i i don't think any charge could be more weighty than the wording of this charge in verse 1. in a second i want you to see the substance of this charge what is the essence what is the the constitution of this charge is at the beginning of verse 2 preach the word and then finally i want you to see the specifics of this charge and there will follow eight imperative verbs as paul will define for timothy how to preach the word it matters to god how his word is preached it matters to god how the preacher stands before the people and how the preacher preaches the word what we have beginning in verse 2 and extending through verse 5 is a series of nine imperative verbs they come in rapid fire staccato fashion because these are imperative verbs none of these are optional none of these are suggestions these come with apostolic authority to timothy and to every preacher who is breathing on planet earth and this will be the standard by which every preacher will give an account on the last day the first imperative at the beginning of verse 2 is like the topic sentence of a paragraph it is the umbrella it is the overarching command and then the next eight imperatives will define how to preach the word so this is where we're headed in this message now please note with me first in verse 1 the sobriety of this charge this charge could not be any more solemn any more serious any more sobering paul begins i solemnly charge you paul as an apostle speaking with apostolic authority from the lord jesus christ the head of the church himself i solemnly charge you timothy and every preacher down through the centuries who will stand in your shoes and carry out this sacred task and this verb solemnly charge speaks of a of a of a forceful order that is binding it was a a military term it it it is orders from headquarters it has come down from a commanding officer paula's judgment day serious is as serious as a heart attack there there is no room for any variation regarding what he will say to heighten this he says in the presence of god and of christ jesus in other words i say this with god in christ looking on i say this as from god and from christ now this could be translated in the presence of god even of christ jesus it could be a statement of the deity of the lord jesus christ himself it is binding it is authoritative it is compulsory he says concerning christ who is to judge the living and the dead and the implication is timothy that is you at the time of the return of christ you will either be living or you will be dead one of the two and when the lord comes you will be caught up to stand before him and give an account or you will be raised from the grave and you will give an account to the lord jesus christ but there is an inescapable day that is looming on the horizon timothy in which you will stand before the living christ james 3 verse 1 says let not many of you become teachers my brethren knowing as such we shall incur a stricter judgment and there will be a stricter accountability for the one to whom much has been given and much has been entrusted and because of the place where he is placed by god in the local church because of the far-reaching influence and effect that emanates from the preaching of the word of god there will be a stricter judgment and a stricter accountability that the preacher will have to the head of the church of the lord jesus christ the hottest part of hell will be reserved for false teachers who corrupt the one true saving gospel of christ hell will not be the same for everyone there will be degrees of of wrath and degrees of damnation and punishment and likewise in heaven there will be a stricter accountability for the man of god on that last day every man's ministry will be tested as by fire as to whether he built with gold silver and precious stones or wood hay and stubble and many ministers ministries and message will go up in flames because they built with wood hay and stubble it will not endure the torch test on the last day and others will have built with gold silver and precious stones and the fire will purify actually the gold the silver and the precious stones and their ministry will have an enduring and lasting effect every preacher's doctrine will be tested his motives will be tested his methods will be tested his exegesis will be tested his theology will be tested his gospel presentation will be tested his appeal will be tested his application will be tested every aspect of the preacher's ministry will be tested by fire on the last day and not only for what he said he will be tested also but what he failed to say as well half the truth is no truth and did he tell it all that's really what the word boldness means the word boldness as it's used in the new testament is two words that are are joined together again a main root word with a prefix added to the front and what the word boldness simply means it has nothing to do with the volume of the voice it has everything to do with this the word boldness means all speech did you bring every doctrine did you issue every warning did you declare every promise did you make every application required did you speak with all speech did you hold nothing back did you declare the full purpose of god the whole counsel of god did you deliver all the mail it's not enough that you just preached on your pet truth the full spectrum from bibliology to eschatology and every discipline of theology must be fully declared that's the sobriety of this charge and that day is coming for me and that day is a weighty responsibility that i should feel and that every preacher here today should feel that final day second not only the sobriety of this charge but now i want you to see the substance of this charge what is the essence of this charge in verse 2 the first three words contain the substance preach the word not act the word not dramatize the word on the day of pentecost peter did not dress up like joel and do a dramatic role play of joel it was not vbs for adults on the day of pentecost he stood up like a man and he spoke to people in adult language and he said this is that which is spoken of the prophet joel hearken unto me preach the word the verb here preach caruso it means to declare it means to raise the voice to cup the hands to to herald the message the word is drawn out of the culture of the day as caesar would make a determinative decree and he would dispatch a messenger from the royal throne who would go out to the perimeters of the roman empire in days before there was mass communication and the message was entrusted to him and it was a non-negotiable message he was to deliver the message exactly as it had been put into his hands he could hold back no part of it he could not add to it he would go into a village he would make the announcement he would gather the people around him in the market square and he would say something to the effect hear ye hear ye this message from the throne of caesar and he would give the message a great victory has been won and more nations have been annexed into the empire or the the the emperor now has a son there would be no q a afterwards there was there was really nothing to discuss the announcement had been declared and there were no negotiations and he would return back to rome where he would be given his next mission to declare the message that is the very word that is used here for preach the word he is not to share the word this is not a dialogue he's not to mumble the word he's not to talk it out he is to announce it and to proclaim it with the authority of the roman throne behind him as though the emperor himself were standing there he is to preach the word and please note the definite article the not a word not one of many messages this speaks to the exclusivity of the message that the preacher is to bring he is to preach the word and the word here refers to the written word of god that is mentioned in verse 16 of the previous chapter all scripture the word scripture refers to the sacred writings of verse 15 that which is inspired by god recorded by man recognized by the church and placed into the canon of scripture in all scripture there are two authors there's a primary author capital a and there is a secondary author small a the secondary author is matthew mark luke and john paul peter luke james et cetera but they were but instruments in the hand of almighty god and it is god himself who speaks in his word he is the primary author in this dual authorship as god uses human instruments to record all that he desires to be conveyed timothy preach the word no time for your personal opinions timothy no time for moral dissertations no time for political agendas no time for worldly philosophy no time for religious traditions timothy you are strictly to confine yourself to the word of god again timothy you have nothing to say apart from the word of god in the reformation there was so law scripture scripture alone there was also total scripture all of scripture you were to preach only scripture and you are to preach all of scripture the entire council of god so biblical preaching starts with a text of scripture it stays with a text a scripture it never departs from the scripture and moves consecutively through either a text or many texts reading it explaining it and applying it moving on to the next text reading it explaining it and implying it and as he does he is to instruct the mind he is to ignite the heart and he is to impel the will he is to explain the meaning of the text he is to inflame the affections of the listener and he is to enlist their compliance to the text biblical preaching involves both elements or expository preaching involves both elements there must be exposition and there must be preaching and when those two come together you have the most powerful figure on planet earth what if you have one without the other all exposition and no preaching is all content and no challenge it's all information and no exhortation all exposition meaning all teaching but no preaching is all cerebral and cognitive it is lifeless it is cold it is clinical it is calculating it is boring it is the bland leading the bland it is all lecture and no sermon it is all head and no heart it is all hearing and no doing on the other hand all preaching and no exposition is all style but no substance it's all theatrics but no theology it's all sizzle but no steak it's like what one preacher wrote in the margin of his bible weak point yell here all preaching and no exposition is shallow it is superficial it is all curb appeal but there is no house of truth in which to enter a young man once came to martin lloyd jones and he said can you tell me the difference between was that rattling thank you a young man once came to martin lloyd jones and said what is the difference between preaching and teaching he said young man if you have to ask me the difference between preaching and teaching it is obvious you have never heard preaching because if you had heard preaching you would not ask me the difference lloyd jones went on to say the difference between teaching and preaching is the difference between a lecture and a sermon all preaching stands on the shoulders of teaching all preaching begins with with teaching but it it must reach higher it must come with greater force and greater impact lloyd jones said a lecture can be given any time it can be given next week next month next semester next year but a sermon a sermon must be delivered now there is a sense of urgency about the moment in the bringing of a sermon because it calls for the verdict in the listener's heart so paul tells timothy young man you preach the word you strap yourself in the pulpit until i can come although i'm not coming this time and you preach the word the puritan view the pulpit embodied both the preaching and the biblical exposition the puritan said that there is to be a fire in the pulpit and a fire gives off two elements it gives off light and it gives off heat an expository preaching biblical preaching is to give off both the light of truth the light of knowledge the light of the understanding of sound words and sound doctrine but it is to be delivered and it is to come with the heat and the passion that only the holy spirit can generate in a man as he preaches and that fire is to be contagious and it is to spread from the pulpit to the pew as people catch fire from the preaching of the word of god that is what is so desperately needed in churches today and we have it from both extremes we have men who are such great exegetes who are such great theologians but they don't even have a pulse in the pulpit you almost want to put a mirror under their nose to see are they still breathing and then on the other hand you have preachers on the other end of the spectrum who are like gospel cheerleaders who who are just full of enthusiasm and excitement who could sell ice cubes to eskimos they just have no truth whatsoever they are an act unto themselves but when you bring this exegesis this theology this truth this sound doctrine and when you marry it with one holy passion for god now you have got an explosion in the pulpit that brings blessing to the people of god and that is how the church is to function it's like throwing a a rock into a pond that sends a ripple effect in a 360 degree circumference until it hits all of the edges of the pond it is the preaching of christ in him crucified it is the preaching of the word that is to be the rock that is thrown into the pond of the local church and it is to set off a ripple effect that is god's design for the church and he had only one son and he made him a preacher and sent him forth to preach now third the specifics of this charge it's not enough just to preach i i agree with john macarthur i think we probably need fewer churches not more churches we probably need fewer preachers not more preachers at least of a certain kind we can't get to the end zone for tripping over our own teammates this is the kind of preaching that god mandates and that god requires i want to say again it matters to god not only how you interpret his word but how you present his word none of us are free to redefine church and none of us are free to redefine preaching if it's new it's not true we're to go back to old paths so what we find now beginning in the middle of verse two extending to verse three verse five are eight imperative verbs when i say imperative you understand that means it is a command to fail to do this would be to live in disobedience to the one who has called you into the ministry also out of these eight this is not a multiple choice this is not a buffet line i'll have some reproving i'll have some evangelism but no thank you on the patience it really is all or nothing it's like these are links in a chain that have all been welded together regarding what has come down to us so let's quickly walk through these eight because these are the guard rails on the premature the road we we have to stay within these guard rails we cannot color outside the box we can't take a detour we can't go off on a different path and say well you know what i'm just going to be a christian communicator or i'm going to be a christian comedian or i'm going to be a christian whatever if you're going to preach the word this is what is required this is what is required of your pastor this is the charge that is laid at his feet this is the mantle that is laid on his shoulders and if you are a preacher here today this is your job description this is job number one this is first base and if you miss first base you're out it doesn't even matter if you get to second base or third base or slide into home you're out because you missed first base so let's look at these first of all he must preach faithfully he says be ready that's the verb that's the imperative verb it's one word in the greek be ready in season and out of season this word be ready carries the idea of alertness preparation readiness feeling the sense of of urgency that you are always locked and loaded and your finger is always on the trigger you are always ready to preach the word but more than that when he says in season and out of season and by the way there is no other season you're either in season or out of season there's not a third option and this is a this is like a proverbial statement drawn from the day that's another way of saying all day every day be ready to preach the word when it's convenient and when it's not convenient when it is welcomed and when it is not welcomed when it is well received and when it is rejected preach the word in good times and in bad times preach it to believers and to unbelievers preach it to princes and the paupers there is no time that is not in season or out of season for the preaching of the word of god your on button needs to always be on i believe personally we need more preaching in the church not less preaching i don't think we have any other services to give up anymore i mean it used to be preachers preached three times a week four times a week five times a week and i agree with george whitefield the more we preach the better we preach if you were trying to learn how to play the piano do you think less practice or more practice would help your cause i don't think most preachers preach enough to be to rise to the level of mediocrity because they don't preach enough they don't preach on wednesday night they don't preach on sunday night they don't preach during the week they have one shot and they're even rotating that paul says to timothy you preach the word always in season out of season you be a a preaching machine people need to call you preacher because you preach the word of god second you are to reprove this word reproof carries the idea of exposing what is implied is exposing sin in the life of the listener joel osteen ought to read this he needs to be exposing wrong attitudes wrong actions wrong beliefs he used to be exposing sin not as a mistake not as uh uh-oh but sin as sin as a violation of the holiness of god as a rebellion against the word of god his preaching is to be heart searching and and soul probing it is preaching that causes people to say search me o god and know my heart try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me george knight a towering commentator on the pastoral epistle says timothy is charged to speak to those who are in error or doing wrong to an attempt to convince them of that it is to reprove one who continues in sin is this not how jesus preached could there be a greater example than the sermon on the mount that first record that we have of his exposition and it was a bible exposition he was expounding the law every time he said you have heard that it was said but i say unto you he was not giving a new interpretation of the scripture he was giving the one true right interpretation of the scripture that the pharisees had missed all along you have said that that you shall not commit murder but i say to you that if you have hatred for someone you have committed murder already in your heart he was exposing their hearts to themselves and allowing them to see themselves as god sees them and then he says you have heard that it is said that you shall not commit adultery but i say unto you that if you have lust for another woman you have committed adultery with her already in your heart he was blowing the lids off of the hearts of those who were gathered there that day that's the kind of preaching that that jesus brought there was he was reproving there has to be the bad news before there can be the good news there is no good news without the bad news the bad news is like the black velvet backdrop upon which the diamond of grace is placed and without that black velvet backdrop grace is a yawner but with that black velvet backdrop all of the light bursts forth through that gem and it shines brighter than ten thousand suns in the sky and that is a part of the reproving and exposing of sin and that is one reason why god gave the law the moral law of god to expose sin in the heart then third the third verb that follows it's really number number four in the list but third under the specifics is rebuke when's the last time you heard a preacher rebuke in the pulpit he's too busy trying to be everybody's buddy and this word rebuke means he is charged to tell those doing wrong to stop that's what a rebuke is it's a sensor or to prevent an action or to bring an end to an action that's what jesus said listen if your right if your right eye causes you to stumble pluck it out it would be better to go to heaven without your eye than to go to hell with it if your right hand causes you to stumble chop it off cut it off take whatever drastic measures you need to take in order to stop this sin practice in your life it's like a patient just cobbling his cancer cut it out that's what the word rebuke implies it is to bring the listener under conviction of sin and to challenge the will to repent and to go in a different direction it is to warn of negative consequences if one continues in this direction jesus said everyone who is guilty with his brother shall be guilty before the court and whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell that's a rebuke when jesus said if you do not forgive others then your father will not forgive you that's a rebuke and when jesus said he hears these words of mine and does not act upon them is like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand and when the rains came and the winds blew and beat against the house great was its fall because it was built upon the sand that is a rebuke that if you continue in this direction there will be harmful and serious consequences for your soul repent and stop and turn around and pursue obedience and holiness fourth exhort exhort with great patience and instruction this word exhort is one of the most common words in the new testament para kaleo again it's two words joined together the main verb kaleo which means to call and pera like parallel alongside of it means to be called alongside of and as it relates to preaching it is as though i am to now step out of the pulpit and be called alongside of you and put my hand on your shoulder and connect and apply the doctrine and the truth directly to your lives that's the idea with exhort and and the word exhort also carries the idea not only of application but to do so with persuasion and urging and making an appeal this word exhort is is really the application with passion of the teaching of the word of god one of the old puritans said that the doctrine is simply putting the arrow in the bow the application is aiming it at the listener and letting the arrow fly one commentator describing jonathan edwards preaching and many regard him as the greatest preacher ever produced on american soil and who could argue with that said of edward's preaching that he had these main headings of instruction and then the doctrine from the text and then the application those were his main headings and in the doctrine he was merely putting the gun powder into the cannons but with the application he was firing the cannons too many preachers never get to the firing of the cannons they spend their whole sermon just packing bullets into rifles but they never fire them with the application they never try to connect it to the listener and to hit the target that's the idea here with with exhortation and to to to do so in such a way that you are persuading now he says with great patience we are to exhort with great patience the word patience here means to bear up under severe trial the picture here is not sitting at a bus station waiting for the bus to come the picture here is you are being afflicted and harmed but you bear up under the resistance the implication here is that everyone will not rejoice the first time they hear the truth from your lips and you're not necessarily free just to shake the dust off your feet and move on you are if you're an evangelist like paul from city to city but the pastor is to to drop anchor and he is to dig in and he is to exhort with great patience and he is to hang in there and he is to be marked by endurance and and steadfastness and and perseverance under difficult times and then he adds and instruction dedicate the careful teaching of the word of god and the idea is as you are being receiving push back from the congregation for what you are preaching you are to endure your trial and you are to keep on teaching if they don't like it give them a series on it martin lloyd jones was a doctor before he entered the ministry that's why he's called the doctor because he literally was a doctor before he entered the ministry became the great towering preacher of the 20th century and lloyd jones said as people were coming to him and trying to influence him to preach different subjects he said the doctor never lets the patient write the prescription the patient does not know the doctor knows and the doctor will make the diagnosis and the doctor will write the prescription that that's not arrogance that's just being a man of god charles hadn't spurgeon said if people do not like the doctrines of grace give them all the more of it lord jones says what is preaching preaching is theology coming through a man on fire it is theology on fire keep on keeping on giving the instruction don't back down with grace and mercy and patience and christ's likeness you cannot alter your course or change your message a w pink wrote years ago why doctrinal preaching declines he gave up he gave three reasons why this kind of instruction in preaching why doctrinal preaching declines number one he says laziness it is far more a far more extracting task that is called for and much closer confinement in the study to bring theology through the text it demands a far wider acquaintance with the scriptures and more rigid disciplining of the mind in a more extensive perusal of the older writers it's just plain laziness for many preachers why they are not more doctrinal more theological more precise in their presentation of the truth they're rounding off too many edges second pink writes why doctrinal preaching declines desire for popularity he quotes galatians 1 10 if i should be if i please men i should not be the servant of christ solemn words are those pink rights how they condemn those whose chief aim is to preach to crowded churches yet what grace it requires to swim against the tide of public opinion and preach that which is unacceptable to the natural man there's a reason why they martyred the pulp the puritans there's a reason for that uh in my preaching bible i have this wood etching of john rogers he was martyred in february of 1555. he is the first marian martyr he is the first martyr burned at the stake by bloody mary and there's a reason why they called her bloody mary his crime was translating the bible into the english language he finished tyndale's work and he would not go along with the idolatry of the mass and said it is not jesus being re-crucified again and again and again when he said it is finished it is finished i stood there this summer at the spot where john rogers was torched for his faith uniquely enough the plaque hangs on the back of saint bartholomew's hospital the hospital in which martin lloyd jones practiced medicine always a price to pay for being a preacher of the word of god someone as well said the problem with preachers today is no one wants to kill them anymore i mean they're just like the captain of the love boat that's that's how they see their ministry let's just love everybody the third and final reason pink gives for why doctrinal preaching declines not only laziness not only desire for popularity but a superficial top sided view of evangelism that for some strange reason theology will not convert the heart so you have to do deathbed stories and 20 verses of just as i am until someone finally walks forward just so we can go to lunch this is how god says his word is to be preached now i must hasten number five soberly you'll find that at the beginning of verse five but it begins with verse three and the imperative verb is found at the beginning of verse five but verses three and four is the is the set up for the main verb at the beginning of verse 5. this is the prelude to the verb in verse 5. notice verse 3 for the for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine and the they refers i believe to unbelievers in the church and shallow superficial believers in the church they will not endure sound doctrine they will not put up with it they will not tolerate it they they want jokes they want illustrations they want human interest stories they want cultural updates they want trends in society they want whatever their teenager wants so their teenager will keep coming to church they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled could there be a more metaphorical picture of the smooth talking used car selling preacher then to be the ear tickler you know what an air tickler is you just tell people what they want to hear you just make them feel good there's no reproof there's no rebuke there's no instruction there is no sound doctrine you're just tickling people's ears slapping their backs stroking their ego they referring to this lost religious crowd and this superficial religious crowd they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desire they will fire the bible preacher and they will go hire a comedian and so paul warns young timothy of the opposition he will receive and what it will be like in the ministry and you're going to have to be courageous timothy verse 4 and they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to miss they will turn aside to the health wealth prosperity gospel that they will turn aside to all kinds of religious superstitions they will turn aside to bumper sticker christianity they will turn aside to all kinds of old wives tales they will turn aside to that and they will resist the truth of sound doctrine that you bring but look at verse five but but but you you can just see timothy paul pointing at timothy out of that that out of that prison cell but you young man you my son in the faith you timothy be sober in all things and the word sober here obviously means to be free of intoxicants and the idea here is you need to be level headed and you need to be stable and steadfast and you need to not be swayed by what people want to hear from you you lock into chapter 1 verse 1 and you preach yourself through the entire book in the bible and you don't skip over any hot potato you bring the full counsel of god you be sober in this don't be caught up in this wave this tsunami with other preachers of trying to be popular on the last day jesus is not going to be measuring the preacher by the size of the congregation it will be by the depth and the reality of the congregation would you rather have a truckload of wood hay and stubble are a handful of gold silver and precious stones god's into quality and then sixth he says endure hardship well i guess so after reading verses three and four if that's the pulpit committee if that's the deacon board if that's the board of trustees if that's the charter members of the church if that's the the majority timothy you're gonna have to endure hardship listen when i was in high school i i played quarterback everybody cheered for me i'd go to the pep rallies they'd give me the trophies they'd call me out and that was fun i went to college i played football go to the pep rallies on friday night in the stadium you get the sororities there you get the cheerleaders there you get the band there get the fraternities there you get the student body there everybody's clapping and cheering everybody's for you everybody's with you i was in seminary had a little bible study everybody loved it everybody loved me everything was great i graduate i just think this is the way life is going to be i'm god's gift to the ministry this is i'm a legend in my own mind i mean this is this is wonderful i'm signing my own bible i mean this is [Laughter] man this is great where have i been soon as i graduate i i say okay i'm gonna preach through romans land mine city i had no idea what what was awaiting me i went to the next church [Laughter] now they were nice i got an apple and a road map and uh i go to the next church i go okay romans we're not going to run off tackle right anymore we're going to run off tackle left so i'm going to preach to the gospel of john i remember the chairman of the elders telling me he said you see more calvinism in the gospel of john than john calvin saw i said well i said thank you i think it's a very nice compliment i had no idea the the pushback i left that church i go to another church this is like dominoes and it was as one deacon told me he said pastor ever since you got here people are either coming or going but nobody is the same you walk into a room and it's either duck or pucker [Laughter] either people are going to take a swing at you or they want to kiss you on the lips and you're like the sun shining that is both melting the snow and hardening the clay at the same time people are either naming their children after you literally are they're naming their dogs after you it's endure hardship this is the way that it goes i remember one newspaper called me and interviewed me and said don't you just think it's a a misunderstanding it's a manner of some semantics for all this trouble that you have created i said no the problem is not that they did not understand me the problem is they did understand me that's the problem but jesus said whoa unto you when all men speak well of you a man is known not only by his friends but by who his enemies are you're gonna have to endure hardship i i know what it is to preach and be told they're going to take over the pulpit in the middle of your sermon they're just going to get up in mass and come and push you out of the pulpit and take over and vote you out on the spot now i know what it is have to go get a babysitter and keep the kids home so that they're not a part of this i i know what it is to have my twin boys drive the getaway car away from the church and to have them drive me away after i preached my last sermon i know what it is to stop in the parking lot and say stop andrew stop the car and to get out and to literally take my shoes off and shake the dust off my feet and say let's go home now it's par for the course that you have to endure hardship and if it doesn't come from this source it's going to come from another source or it's going to come from another source no preacher gets a free pass in the ministry there are no pretty boy preachers who are called of god and being used by god when i played football i remember our coach said you don't get a game jersey until you get some blood on your practice jersey you get some blood on your practice jersey we'll give you a game jersey you earn that game jersey and there is a sense you earn the right to stand in the pulpit to preach the word of god by the flack you catch as you anchor yourself with patience many a time i have left my house kiss my wife goodbye at the front door walk down the sidewalk to get in the car and she will say to me and remember with great patience i've got two more number seven do the work of an evangelist if you're not doing the work of an evangelist you are not a biblical preacher you're something else to do the work of an evangelist implies that your listeners are unregenerate and that the church's first mission field is its own membership not everyone who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father and who is in heaven many will say unto me in that day did we not cast out demons in your name perform many wondrous works in your name and i will say unto them in that day depart from me you who work iniquity i never knew you we must do the work of an evangelist we must expose sin we must exalt grace we must call for people to commit their life to jesus christ we must be like jesus and say enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it we need to be continually saying come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls for my burden is easy and my yoke is light we need to be continually saying come come to christ come to christ leave your sins and come to the savior tell him what a sinner you are he is a friend of sinners he will take you in he has come to seek and to save that which is lost if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink jesus was inviting jesus was summoning his arms were wide open today you will be with me in paradise we must preach like jesus with our arms open wide beckoning calling urging pleading come this very moment come to christ escape from the wrath of god flee to the cross flee to christ and be saved finally fulfill your ministry it's the last imperative verb and i just want to remind us all again that that that's not a suggestion that's not an option that's not a preference this is not one style of preaching this is not one style of of ministry this is the style of ministry this is the only style of preaching if you're not doing this you're not preaching fulfill your ministry it's the final imperative verb what does this mean fulfill your ministry literally translated it reads fill full fill full or fill to the full all that god calls you to say and do fulfill your calling to preach leave nothing unsaid leave no doctrine untaught leave no truth unexplained leave no sin unrebuked leave no warning ungiven leave no promise undelivered what paul is saying to timothy is tell it all preach the whole truth both doctrine and duty both explanation and exhortation preach the whole council of god timothy and you may end up in solitary confinement like me but when they chop your head off they will not head you off and you will just graduate to glory paul would say i have kept i have fought the good fight i have finished the course i have kept the faith at the end of the day and at the end of your life that's what matters at the end or toward the end of luther's life there in the 16th century in saxony some young men came to luther and they said explain the reformation explain what's happened you've turned europe upside down you have shaken the vac the uh vatican the pope is dismayed the university of paris oxford cambridge saint andrews are revibrating with students who are turned on to reform truth explain how how did you do this what was your strategy luther said this i simply taught preached wrote god's word let me repeat that i simply taught preached wrote god's word otherwise i did nothing and then i slept and the word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince and never an emperor inflicted such damage upon rome i did nothing the word did it all you hold in your hand the invincible weapon of the sharp two-edged sword unsheath that sword and wield the sword by the power of the holy spirit put down all those other plastic knives just throw them away and wield the sword of the spirit which is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and able to pierce as far as the division of soul and spirit and cut into the innermost parts of a man and when the word of god is preached by the man of god in the power of the spirit of god motivated by the glory of god god's blessing however he chooses god's blessing will be with that man god will honor the man who honors his word may it be so in your life and in your church let us pray father in heaven raise up a generation of bold biblical expositors of your word who preach with a sense of urgency who proclaim and herald and declare the unsearchable riches of christ who rightly handle the word of truth and who cut it straight and who tell it all now you set their hearts a flame with fire may there be a fire in their bones may they be dangerous may they be provocative may they be powerful in the preaching of your word in this generation and may you use them for the extension of your kingdom here upon the earth and may your people when they have such a man as their pastor may they gather around him despite whatever faults he may have may they hold him up may they pray for him may they strengthen him because he is a man who tells me the truth from your word in jesus name we pray amen

Channel: G3 Ministries

Views: 19,534

Keywords: g3 conference, steven lawson, g3 ministries, Steven Lawson, One Passion Ministries, Christ, Bible, Church, Jesus, Preaching

Id: DkhV5DCEr-w

Length: 86min 43sec (5203 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022