Sunday Sermon: Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:1-8)

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You're listening to the Preaching Ministry of Gabriel Hughes, Pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series.

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Here is Pastor Gabe. I came across this quote from John Calvin for this morning.

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The difference between us and the papists is that they do not think that the church can be the pillar of the truth unless she presides over the

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Word of God. We, on the other hand, assert that it is because she reverently subjects herself to the

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Word of God that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others by her hands.

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And so let us hear this exhortation to preach the Word this morning, if you would please stand in honor of the Word of the

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King. I'm reading from the English Standard Version, 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 8.

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Hear the Word of the Lord. 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

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Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

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For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

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As for you, always be sober -minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

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For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

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Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

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You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to this passage this morning, we go from hearing that all

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Scripture is breathed out by God to receiving this imperative that the

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Word of God be preached. For indeed, if Scripture is breathed out by God, then it is the most authoritative word.

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It is over every person, whether they acknowledge that authority or not.

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And so certainly we, as the children of God, who desire to hear from the Father, who draw near to our

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Savior, moved by the Spirit, we so want to hear

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God's words this morning. And we want to have our lives shaped by these words.

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We sit under the authority of these words. And Lord, may we also be equipped and emboldened to share this word with others.

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For it is only by our hearing of the word that we have come into salvation.

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And so it is also by the hearing of that word that anyone comes to salvation in Christ Jesus. Continue to shape us and mold us according to these words, that we would be made into the image of Christ.

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Prepare us for that day, that we may rejoice, as Paul was saying here, with all who love his appearing.

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It's in Jesus' name that we pray, and all God's people said, amen. The 1960s were a time of crisis in the church, writes

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Stephen Nichols of Ligonier Ministries, one that centered on the doctrine of the authority of Scripture.

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Among many Baptists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians, there was a drift away from the position of inerrancy, which states that the

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Bible is without error. This drift would untether the church from her moorings.

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It would move the church out from under her authority in life and worship.

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So on October 26, 1978, in Chicago, Illinois, a gathering of 268 evangelical leaders met for three days to discuss the inerrancy of Scripture.

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These leaders were made up of scholars such as R .C. Sproul, J .I.

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Packer, J .M. Boyce, and many others, including representatives from 67 colleges or seminaries, 41 churches, and 38 denominations.

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At the end of the three days, they had drafted what would become known as the

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Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy. A landmark treatise on the doctrine of Scripture and the first statement of the

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Chicago Statement reads, quote, The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the

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Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying

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God's written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our

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Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

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When I was being interviewed for this position here at Providence, one of the questions that was asked of me is, what do you see as being one of the biggest issues in the church today?

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And I said, I still think one of the biggest issues is the inerrancy of Scripture. How very easily it can happen for any church, including this one, that has reformed in its name.

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How easy it is for any church to lose their grip and their understanding on Scripture being our highest authority because it is

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God -breathed. I've seen it happen even among reformed churches, whether Presbyterian or Baptist or otherwise, that they will place traditions higher than the

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Word of God. It must be our confession that we do everything by and the confession whether or not they would verbally say it, they put the confession higher than the authority of Scripture itself.

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It's a very easy thing for us to do. The Bible is our highest authority.

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And as I prayed this morning, it has authority over every single person, whether they acknowledge it or not.

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And so this morning we take what we read last week about Scripture being God -breathed and now give it legs, give it action, preach the

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Word, and do what the Word says. Reminding you, all Scripture, all 66 books of the

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Bible, 780 ,000 -something -odd words written by 40 different men over a period of 1 ,600 years, all of it is theanoustos, breathed out by God.

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As God is incapable of error, His Word is inerrant.

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Without fault in all of its teaching. Yes, the Bible was written by men, but as we heard last week from 2

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Peter 121, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. So what we look at in this section this morning, the impetus being on that action to preach the

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Word. In this section, you'll notice that we started and closed with something eschatological, there's a big theology word for you, simply meaning end times.

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We have a statement of end times teaching at the beginning and end of this passage.

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At the very beginning, I charge you by His appearing and His kingdom, right?

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And at the very conclusion, then saying that I'm going to be awarded on that day and not only me, but also all who have loved

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His appearing. And so in between those two statements about the coming of Christ, we also have an instruction to preach the

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Word, that's verses 2 -4, fulfill your ministry, verses 5 -7, and then coming back once again to the statement of reward in verse 8.

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So as we will see the outline this morning, Paul tells Timothy to preach the Word, verses 1 and 2, presses further to preach whether anyone is listening, verses 3 -4, and finally preach to receive the reward, verses 5 -8.

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And of course, Paul is giving this to his protege whom he has sent to Ephesus to do exactly that, to preach the

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Word. What is the application then for us? Not all of us are called to preach the

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Word, and we'll consider that at the conclusion as well, how this manifests itself and would be an exhortation in every

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Christian's life. So first of all, let's come back to the very beginning of this in verse 1, chapter 4, verse 1,

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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.

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You get the sense that whatever is going to follow this has a lot of weight to it, right? Consider who you stand in the witness of when you stand up and preach the

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Word. So as the letter nears its conclusion, Paul begins this last chapter with what is the weightiest imperative thus far that Paul has given in this letter.

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And remember, as far as canon goes, this is the last letter that we have from the apostle

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Paul. He is in a dungeon pit. He is encouraging his protege to continue in the ministry that he had been doing.

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We have this passing of the torch that's been going on ever since the beginning of the letter. And though we're going to see here toward the end that Paul is even going to beckon

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Timothy to come to him, I want to be able to see you in person. Nonetheless, this being his last letter, he gives these final words to Timothy on what he needs to continue doing in the ministry that he has been called to do.

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So you have what might very well be the last address Paul will make in writing, and he says and gives such incredible weight to the statement, preach the

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Word. I charge you in the presence of God. When you stand up in front of God's people and you preach

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God's Word, you do so in God's presence. As the famed reformer

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John Knox has said, I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time

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I enter the pulpit. And it is a responsibility that I have as a preacher that when

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I preach God's Word to God's people, I must handle it rightly. Rightly dividing the word of truth as we had heard previously from the

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Apostle Paul. If this is the word that saves and this is the word that sanctifies, we must be accurate in the communication of this word.

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Now, the statement of the appearing of his kingdom, this is in reference to Christ's second coming, which will be in judgment.

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The first time Christ came, his mission was to seek and save the lost, Luke 19 .10,

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and to give his life as a ransom for many, Mark 10 .45. The next time he comes will be as a conquering king to rescue his own and strike down the nations.

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You have in 2 Thessalonians 1, 6 through 10, the description of him coming back with angels and flaming fire to bring judgment on those who did not believe the gospel and to be marveled by those whom he will rescue.

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In Revelation 19 verses 11 to 19, we have the picture of Christ returning on a white horse.

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And this picture stands in contrast to Caesar, who exalted himself upon a white horse and would come into the

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Colosseum to shout to the people saying, hail Caesar, Caesar is Lord. Well, here comes

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Christ returning on that white horse for Christ is Lord. And he comes with a sword in his mouth and his garments dipped in blood and a name written on his thigh that is

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King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So this section that we read here is bookended with that reference to Christ being judge.

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He sits enthroned in heaven now and he will return to judge both the living and the dead.

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So it is important for Timothy to recognize exactly what is at stake and also to pass on to those other faithful men.

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We've seen that littered throughout this letter to build up other faithful men to teach these things.

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They would also be trained in the gospel and they likewise would understand what's at stake in whose presence you stand when you preach the word.

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Now this is especially important that Paul sets this up considering what he's got coming up next.

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For notice that he gets to a point where he says that a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

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What are you supposed to do then? You're still supposed to preach, right? So even if nobody is listening to you, even if it feels like the attitude and the temperature of the culture is completely against the preaching of the word, you're still to preach the word and you stand in the presence of God when you herald his word even to the unrighteous.

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And so after this glorious setup 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 because everything that you're going to do,

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Timothy, as a pastor is setting people up for that day. It is preparing them for the day of Christ and his appearing.

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Just as John the Baptist came into the wilderness baptizing and saying, prepare the way of the

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Lord, make his path straight. He was preparing the people for the coming of the king. That was but a small picture of what his next coming is going to look like.

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And so preachers today are to stand as though they were standing in the office of John the Baptist and preaching the word and preparing the people for the king who is coming again.

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And so after this setup, Paul lays it down. Here is the first function of your office.

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Verse two, preach the word. Now what does it mean to preach?

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Already used one word synonymously with preach. It means to herald or it means to proclaim.

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In 2 Peter chapter two, it talks there about how even in the midst of all the wickedness that was happening in the world before the flood,

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Noah was a herald of righteousness. So he preached and proclaimed righteousness and the people hated it.

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But his preaching that righteousness and their hating what it was that he preached was to their condemnation.

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It made the judgment that came upon them total or complete. So more literally,

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Timothy was being told to gospelize. I don't know if I'm making up that word or if it's a real word, but that's really what

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Paul is exhorting Timothy to do. That is the imperative. Stressing the victoriousness of God's gospel message in the totality of this good news.

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Good news, my friends, your sins are forgiven in Christ.

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Good news, you are made right with God. The holy, perfect, righteous

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God who has created all things, who stands above anything that exists, things seen and unseen, whom we have sinned against, we deserve his judgment.

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And yet he has made a way, he has condescended himself, even taking on the likeness of sinful man and dwelling among us and living a perfect, righteous life in which there was not even a single second that he was ever a sinner.

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Not one second. Can you imagine that? I know as it says in Proverbs, everybody wants to exalt their own goodness.

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Every person thinks he is right in his own eyes. But can you for a moment imagine that anybody can ever not be a sinner for even a moment of their life?

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And there was never a time that Jesus was guilty of anything. God in flesh, living a perfect, righteous life, who becomes the perfect, spotless, atoning sacrifice, the

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Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. He dies on the cross as an atoning sacrifice.

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And as said in Isaiah 53, it pleased God to crush him.

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And as we also read in that same chapter, all of us like sheep have gone astray.

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We have turned every one of us to his own way. And the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

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In 2 Corinthians 5 21, for our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

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Now, as John MacArthur has said, that verse does not mean that for any second Jesus was ever sinful.

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That's not what that means. But it means that when God looked at Jesus dying on the cross, he looked at the son as if he saw our sin.

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And for us who believe in Jesus, he looks at us as if we were his righteousness.

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For our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

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And now it is by faith in Jesus, by faith, the father has chosen to impart upon us, to impute upon us the righteousness of God that we need in order to stand in his presence.

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And the righteousness of Christ has been given to all who believe in him.

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This is the good news of the gospel, that you have now been made right with God, not because of anything you have done, because nothing you could do was ever going to be good enough.

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But it's because of what Christ has done for you. And now God in his grace, clothing you in this righteousness, that we might stand in his presence worthy.

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For he has made us worthy. Good news.

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Death has been defeated as Christ has also risen from the dead. And every one of us in Christ will also rise with him.

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The gospel message is not as it is most often taught by many preachers in America today.

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The gospel message is not doing nice things for people.

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You have probably heard this statement, preach the gospel, if necessary, use words.

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That quote is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. But those historians that know

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Assisi's writings and words well have said we can't find evidence of that quote anywhere in his history.

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So it's been attributed to St. Francis as though to give weight to it, but it wasn't St. Francis of Assisi who said it, wherever it came from.

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Now the way that quote gets you, first of all, the quote is, I'm going to tell you it's true, preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words.

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How is it true? It is necessary to use words, therefore preach the gospel. But that's not the way that the quote gets used.

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How does it get used? You just need to do nice things for people. The words aren't necessary.

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If the good works are not winning people over, then maybe you might have to say something.

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But abstain from the language, just tone it down a little bit and just do nice things for people.

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And that's what it is. It's going to be the love, that's what's going to draw people in. My friends, if you love people, then you will warn them of the danger that will befall them if they don't turn from their sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And that requires words. It's the word that Jesus spoke, the word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

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There was no one in the Bible who was more of a fire and brimstone preacher than Jesus was. Amen.

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And if he warned of hell and pointed to salvation that is found in him alone, then how much more does it behoove us that we would communicate these things to others as well?

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It is only by faith in Christ that we can be forgiven our sins and have everlasting life.

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And let me tell you, what an easy way of salvation. How easy is that?

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Can you do anything? No. Do you have to do anything? You wouldn't have been able to do anything good enough even if you did.

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This is the way that God is made, by faith in Christ. And if you believe in him, then you will show by your life that you love him by obeying him.

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But the obedience comes as a result of the faith. Obedience is not the faith.

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Obedience is not the action that brings you into a right relationship with God. God brings you into a right relationship with him.

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And then you show that you have this oneness with the

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Lord by displaying in your life the righteousness of Christ that you have been clothed in.

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Now, as Timothy is to go out preaching the word, it's not just the word. It's the gospel that he's preaching, although gospelized would be the action that he's supposed to be doing here in preaching the word.

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But it would be just as what Jesus had told his disciples in the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28.

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, he said to his disciples. And there you even have that eschatological statement there.

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All authority has been given to me. Just the same as Paul has said here that in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead.

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It's as though Paul is acknowledging that very statement that Jesus gave to the disciples before his departure.

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And in light of the authority that has been given to him, he says to his disciples, therefore, go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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So making disciples will require preaching the gospel. But even beyond that, you teach everything that I have commanded you.

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Now, in light of gospel living, what does that look like in the life of a believer? And then the last statement

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Jesus makes there in that Great Commission, and lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age.

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Same sort of thing there in that commission. You have these bookends. A statement of all authority has been given to me, and I will be with you until the end of the age.

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And in between, disciple and teach all that I have commanded.

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And so Timothy was to do the same. The gospel is not doing nice things for people. It is a message that must be openly spoken and without shame.

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Remember back to the start of the letter, Paul's instruction not to be ashamed of the or of those who have labored for the gospel.

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Now, this main imperative to preach the word is followed by four sub -imperatives.

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Paul says, first of all, be ready in season and out of season. So this furthers the charge to be ready for action, to prepare your minds for action, 1

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Peter 1 .13. In season, out of season. That's another way of saying 24 -7 -365.

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Like it's easy for us to look at that phrase and go, well, what's out of season preaching? I mean, what point of the year is he not supposed to be preaching?

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But it is to say that all the time. Whether it seems like the timing is right for it, is friendly toward it, the people will receive what it is that you have to say.

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Or if it's out of season, people seem to be the most hostile toward the gospel right now. No matter what season it might happen to be, continue preaching the word.

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Timothy must be ready at all hours, all the time. Not only in the church, but in public.

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Not only in times of success, but even when it seems all has failed. Not only when there is security and peace, but also when there are times of trouble.

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And he goes on to say, Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

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So what do these various words mean then? To reprove, rebuke, and exhort.

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So first of all, to reprove means to admonish. And to admonish means to correct with goodwill.

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So when you're correcting somebody, it's with the intention of wanting to make them better.

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It is not trying to lord your opinion over somebody else to make them feel small. It is because you desire to see them walking with Christ.

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And so reproving according to the word of God, to admonish, to correct with goodwill.

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If you continue in this path, it will destroy you. Turn to Christ that you may live.

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The next word, rebuke. And as we had considered the same word last week, to rebuke means to convict.

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It means that the heart would recognize its error. And a person understanding that they need to make some kind of a correction.

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And then the last of these three words, exhort. And exhort simply means to instruct.

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Now, if I just stood up here in front of you, and I just told you what all of these words meant, but I didn't give you any action to follow, that would be an incomplete sermon.

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For the purpose of preaching the word is not just to be informative. Look at all the Greek words that I know.

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Let me give you a few church historical references. I got a few quotes sprinkled in there.

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And now you've had what seems to be a pretty informed sermon. But without the exhortation, how do you know what to do?

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God's word doesn't exist simply to be informative, although it certainly is that. We know

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God through his word. But there is something that we must do in light of this word.

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How does it change you? How does it give you direction? And that's the exhortation.

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And so Paul, in telling Timothy to preach the word, says, don't just simply be informative. You must exhort.

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You must instruct. You must tell the people of God, here's what you are to do in light of the gospel that has been preached to you.

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And then this last part of this phrase, with complete patience and teaching.

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That looks familiar. We've actually seen that before. Notice in 2 Timothy 2, 24,

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Paul said, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil.

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So we saw that right there next to each other. Teaching and doing so patiently, with complete patience and teaching.

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What about this word complete? It means to be whole. There is, there's not parts missing.

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You're not excluding certain things in God's word because you don't like it. But you would do just as Paul said to those

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Ephesian elders in Acts 20, I have given you the full counsel of God.

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This is one of the great things about expository preaching. We considered this when we were going through 1 Timothy as well.

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To exposit means to expose. And when we go through entire books of the

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Bible like this, and we preach chapter by chapter, verse by verse, word by word, we're going to come to everything that the

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Bible says. And there's no part of it that we should neglect or be skipping over. I had a pastor friend of mine that did that.

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He would get to huge chunks, sections of scripture that he would just skip past. And I would look through his list of sermons on his website that he had done.

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And I would call him up and say, brother, I loved your series, but you're missing chapter two here. He goes, yeah, I just jumped from that into chapter three.

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Why? Why did you do that? I'm not accusing him of any ill motives or anything like that.

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But our commitment to the word, to preach all of it will bring us to a completed understanding of God's word and his will for us in light of what we read.

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So to be complete is to be whole. It is to be of the highest degree. And Timothy to do this with patience.

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Why patience? Because God will fulfill the purpose of his word in his good timing.

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I can preach the word and Chris and Alan and anyone else that becomes convicted by God to preach.

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But to make the change in the hearts of the people is not up to me. It is the

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Holy Spirit that does that work. And I'm faithful to my end.

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Brothers and sisters, you must be faithful to your end. And as stated in Romans nine, none of us can stand before God and say, well, why did you make me like this?

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Who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Or what is molded, say to the molder, why have you made me like this?

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But every single one of us has a responsibility to hear the word and respond to it accordingly.

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And so this is the first portion of this section where Paul tells Timothy to preach the word that was going to be the bulk of my lesson today.

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I said on social media this morning, a shout out to all the preachers out there who are going to spend 30 plus minutes on point one, and then try to squeeze the next two points into the next 15 minutes of their sermon.

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It just seems to be the mark of an evangelical preacher, I think. So this next one is to preach whether anyone is listening, verses three through four.

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So we have preached the word and now preach even if no one is listening. Consider verse three, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

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Not endure, meaning they're not going to stick with it. They might get into it because they like it at first.

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It's a popular thing to do. All my friends are going, someone bribed me with breakfast at this church, so I'm going to go because I like donuts.

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But they're not going to endure in the sound teaching, but they have itching ears looking to accumulate for themselves teachers that will suit their own passions.

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Meaning they're only in it for themselves. They were never in it for God. And to glorify

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God or to grow with his people, they did it for themselves. Notice that because people do not want to hear the truth, they'll desire teachers who speak lies.

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It's a destructive cycle. And these people, they're not led astray against their will.

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I mean, oftentimes we'll see these false teachers and we'll ask questions like, God, why would you allow these false teachers to be in your church like this?

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Look at how many people that they are leading astray. No, they go astray because it's what they want.

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They're going in the direction they want to go. They desire sin, so they choose to listen to teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.

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It's a kind of symbiotic relationship between the deceptive teacher and the deceived student.

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Remember, previously we saw in chapter 3, verse 13, they are deceived and being deceived.

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So you see the cycle that exists in the one who follows false teaching. Paul told the

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Thessalonians that these deceived people refuse, quote, to love the truth and so be saved.

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Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, unquote.

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That's 2 Thessalonians 2, 10 to 12. But this is not the way that we are to be.

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We are to be imitators of God as his beloved children, Ephesians 5, 1, not wandering away into lies, but walking in the truth.

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Being like Mary of the sisters, Mary and Martha, who would be there at the feet of the teacher, desiring to hear all that he said and desiring to do all that he says to do.

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Now, we considered this last week as well as we've been going through the letter. You've seen this pattern over and over again, a warning against false teachers, a call to walk in righteousness.

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Let none of us get puffed up with pride and think of ourselves as, well, I'm not those people.

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Those people are out there. I'm in here. Look at how good I am this morning. My friends, we were all among those people.

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All of us were at some point listeners of false teaching. I was at one point,

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God forbid, a teacher of false teaching. And thank

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God it is by the transformation of his spirit that has brought me from the darkness into the light.

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And so our desire then being in the light would be that we hope that we can draw people out of darkness into the light.

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For again, we know it is only by the truth that we are set free, that we are saved.

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Walk not by lies, live not by lies. These who go after those teachers that they accumulate for themselves, that tell them the things that they want to hear, they turn away from the truth and they wander off into myths.

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The word myths is mythos in the Greek, and it means a false account posing as truth.

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It is a fabrication meant to subvert or replace what is actually true.

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Remember the warning that I gave you several weeks back. We tend to have this tendency of thinking that false teachers are going to come in wearing black hats.

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They're going to have evil looks on their faces. And some of them do. Ken Copeland, I don't understand how anybody looks at that guy and doesn't think, wow, that guy is messed up.

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I'm scared of him. He's creepy looking. Some of them may have that look and that appearance, but most of them won't.

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Because remember, Jesus' warning to his flock is that the false prophets will come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

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They look like us on the outside, but you will know them by their fruit, he says.

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So we must be discerning. We must be careful about those lies that come presenting themselves as truth that we not be sucked in.

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Now, Paul only uses this word mythos four times in all of his letters, and all four times it's in the pastoral epistles.

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It's to his pastors, Timothy and Titus, that he warns to beware of these myths.

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His purpose in using it in this place, specifically here in chapter four, is not necessarily to tell

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Timothy to listen out for unprofitable doctrines that lead people astray. Rather, he's telling

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Timothy something matter -of -factly, that people will have contempt for the truth, and they themselves will turn to those things that flatter rather than reprove their way of life.

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I mean, correction's not much fun, right? If you ever have to be rebuked for bad behavior, do you enjoy that?

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And so people attempting to avoid that will go toward the teaching that flatters rather than corrects.

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Timothy was not to be alarmed by this, but to continue preaching even though he will witness.

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People turn themselves away. Don't be personally discouraged. The offense is not against you.

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It's not because they don't like you or your preaching. It's because they hate God. Jesus saying to his own disciples, remember, when they hate you, they hated me first.

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Remember that Paul had instructed Timothy to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. And that is not what false teachers do.

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False teachers approve, flatter, and deter. They approve of what you want and affirm what you're doing is right.

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You see this happening with the growing number of evangelical churches that are beginning to accept and approve the

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LGBTQ movement. They don't want to drive anybody away. So they flatter them and approve and say what you're doing is right.

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They flatter in the sense that they captivate with sweet talk and they charm a person's ego.

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You are perfect just the way you are made. God loves your sweet, beautiful face.

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Amen. Instead of warning a person that they are sinners headed for hell if they don't repent and turn to Christ.

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And they deter in that they do not direct you in the right way you should go.

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They would rather encourage a person to wander off into myths.

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You've heard a prophetess like Oprah say that there are millions of ways to God.

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I'm going to tell you something. She's right. There are millions of ways to God.

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Every philosophy, ideology, religion, psychology, etc.,

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etc. will get you before the throne in judgment.

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But there is only one way to God in friendship to be accepted by God, to be drawn to himself.

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There is only one way to dwell with God and that is through Jesus Christ.

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False teachers won't direct you that way. They will direct you in the ways that are pleasing to your flesh now and will destroy both your body and soul later.

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And so Paul has told Timothy to preach the word. He has said to preach the word even if nobody is listening.

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And finally, number three, he says preach to receive the reward. Verses five through eight.

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Look at verse five. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come.

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Paul says in verse five, as for you always be sober -minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

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These are not merely occasional instructions, but these are things that Timothy should aspire to do always in season and out of season.

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Now consider these three imperatives, the way that they're given. First of all, be sober -minded. What does it mean to be sober, not drunk, right?

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It means to be without the influence of intoxicating substances. But Paul is not merely saying here that Timothy should avoid drunkenness, even though a pastor should not be a drunkard, as we've seen previously in 1

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Timothy 3 .3. Rather, he must be free from the intoxicating influences of sin or of worldly thinking.

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And he is to be firm in the truth, filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the contrast that's given in Ephesians 5 .18.

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Don't be filled with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. And so Timothy must discipline his thoughts in such a way, discipline his ministry in such a way that he is not led astray by wild ideas, but continues to be fixed on the truth and the preaching of the gospel.

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The next one, endure suffering. What two words in the

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English language that we see here as endure suffering, it's a single word in Greek, kakopatheo, which means to experience a painful hardship that seems like a setback, but it's really not.

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Who knew that there was a Greek word in there that encompassed so much? And even in our

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English words, it doesn't quite capture that as well. Endure suffering. So we are going to go through suffering.

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Remember that Paul told Timothy previously that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

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But we are to endure, remain steadfast in the midst of that, no matter how difficult situations get for you, that you continue to hold fast to Christ and his promises, promises that are given here, even in this passage.

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And then thirdly, Paul tells him to do the work of an evangelist. Be sober -minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist.

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Very simply, somebody with a vocational calling from God to announce the good news of the gospel of Christ.

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Now, up above in verse two, Paul gave an imperative followed by four sub -imperatives.

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Here we have three sub -imperatives and then closing with the main imperative.

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And the instruction to fulfill your ministry encompasses the other three instructions that we have there.

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So Timothy was to fully carry out all of the many duties imposed upon the office of a pastor, that which

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Timothy had observed in Paul, now he was to continue on in doing. Now, looking at verse six, which

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I had read to you already, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come.

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Now, drink offerings, that's not something pagan, although there are pagans that do it, but there were instructions even in God's law with regard to drink offerings.

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They accompanied sacrifices as instructed in the law, Exodus 25, 29,

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Leviticus 23, 13, being a couple of those places. So Paul has sacrificed himself for the sake of the gospel to the point of being poured out.

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He has given his all. It would be like saying to somebody, leave it all on the playing field.

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Don't come out of the game thinking, man, if I had just given an extra step, if I had just reached a little farther for that ball, if I had just gone for the goal line instead of playing it safe, don't get out of the game thinking that there was more that you could have done while you were there.

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Leave it all out there on the field. Pour it all out.

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Give your everything. And Paul goes on to say, the time of my departure has come.

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And we get the sense that the spirit has told Paul that he is about to die. He said previously to the

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Philippians during his first imprisonment in Rome that he knew that he was going to come back to them and see them.

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So the spirit had communicated to him there, you won't die here, you'll get out and you'll get to visit all your brethren again.

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But here in this particular case, he doesn't say that. He says the time of my departure has come.

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And so in verse 7, Paul comes back to his metaphors of the soldier and the athlete and the farmer.

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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

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I have kept the faith. The Christian faith is sometimes likened to a battle or a struggle.

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It is not an unjust war, but it is a good fight.

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Paul has never shrunk back from the battle, but he has always been diligent to press on. He has even finished the race.

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He kept his eyes on the reward. Remember Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

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He has kept the faith. Another way of reading this is that he has watched.

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He's been watchful. And a farmer maintains his field, watching it for the harvest.

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And then in verse 8, henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the

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Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. What has Paul been addressing in this section?

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But those who will go after false teaching and Timothy's commitment to sound teaching.

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The Lord will punish those who went after unrighteousness, but he will reward those whom he preserves in righteousness.

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Though death will soon be upon the apostle Paul, he looks beyond it to the victory prize, which only the righteous person can claim.

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That is the crown awarded for righteousness. Not only will

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Paul receive this crown, but the hopefulness for all of us, also all who have loved his appearing.

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My friends, I've experienced such incredible blessings in my wife, yes, in my life.

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It is wonderful to have my wife back home again, praise God. But as many blessings as I have, as blessed in my marriage as I am, as beautiful as my children are, as much as I love this church and the fellowship that I have with the saints, being able to travel different places and encountering other

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Christians there and finding so much that we have in common because of the Holy Spirit that has brought us into the same family under the same

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Father. Yet as many good things as there are to experience in this life,

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I'm ready to go home. And when

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Christ comes, my friends, I'm not going to be standing here going, I got a few more things to do.

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No, I'm going to say, it's somebody else's problem. Get me out of here. And I'm going home to be with my

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Lord. And I want to train up my wife and my children to join me there.

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Not that I want to get out of any of the relationships that I have here. But let's all get together to meet

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Jesus in the air. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

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When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout the victory.

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Even Timothy will be able to claim this prize. And the faithful men that he has entrusted with the

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Word of God and everyone under the care of those who rejoice in the gospel, they have loved and longed for the appearing of Jesus Christ.

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Those who love unrighteousness will dread that day. For it means their destruction.

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But those who have set their eyes on Christ look forward to that day. For he is the great reward as we are promised in eternity.

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And so Paul says to Timothy to do that thing which saves the person and prepares them for that day when we will stand before God and receive the crown of righteousness.

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He tells Timothy, preach the Word. As we read in the

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Baptist catechism this morning, how do we know that the Bible is the

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Word of God? And the answer, the Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints.

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But the Spirit of God only bearing witness by and with the scriptures in our hearts is able to fully persuade us that the

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Bible is the Word of God. And whether you're reading red letters or black, whether it's in Leviticus or Matthew or Romans or 2nd

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Timothy, it is all God's Word. And my friends, the

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God on the left side of the book is the same as the God on the right side of the book. Know that God's Word is true.

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Be taught, be reproved, be corrected, be trained in righteousness so that you will be ready for every good work and receive the crown of life.

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And all God's people said, amen. I'm so glad I learned to trust him.

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Precious Jesus, save your friend.

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That he is with me, will be with me to the end.

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Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him.

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How I've proved him o 'er and o 'er.

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Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus.

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Oh, for grace to trust him more.

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You've been listening to the preaching of Pastor Gabriel Hughes, a presentation of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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For more information about our church, visit our website at providencecasagrande .com.

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On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, thanking you for listening. Join us again