Why You Need An Eternity-Minded Pastor

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2 Timothy 4:1–5 Guest Preacher: Pastor Seymour Helligar November 12, 2023

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Well, you've heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words or that images are a better means of communication than words are.
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But have we profited from that change from reading and communication to images, pictures, social media, images?
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Well the answer is probably no. In general, anyone born after the 1960s may suffer from a reading or listening deficit.
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Experts who are in the field of learning and education compile data to support that position. That people in general, due to pictures and images, do not know how to listen well.
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So it's not just a matter of children or adults having attention deficit disorders.
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It is actually lack of listening skills undeveloped. The growth of television in the homes beginning in the late 1900s and the surge in social media harms the ability to listen well.
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So the God -given tools in His common grace for development are a gift of mercy, but they are largely ignored today.
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Now that is not what our text this morning says directly, but there is a correlation.
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There is a relationship between the listening deficit and the preacher. The pastor is interacting with a society that is largely underdeveloped in the basic skill of listening well.
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Well you couple that issue with the heart and the heart's inability or maybe unwillingness to heed the words of the living
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God and so the pastor's task is enormous. You have today in our society men and women who would rather hear something novel.
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They would rather hear something appealing. They would much rather be entertained. The dopamine expectation is so high they would prefer visual and emotional stimulation than the preaching of the words of the living
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God. Now we would agree that Timothy did not have to wrestle with advanced technology, but without question he had to wrestle with the diminishing desire for biblical preaching.
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So when a pastor steps into the pulpit or he's initiated into the pulpit ministry, he's dealing with not just a natural deficit, but a spiritual deficit of hearing of the
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Word of God and that is a common problem today as it was during the time of our text this morning.
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I want to turn your attention therefore to 2 Timothy, the fourth chapter. Please turn there with me. What God has to say in the answer in a world where the interest is surging, instead of the simplicity of preaching and the power of the preaching of God's Word, society tends to want less of preaching and not more of it.
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But what is the answer? What is the solution? What is God's supply? Well, it is more preaching, dear listener.
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It is more of the Word of God, dear listener, not less of it. And it is not more in time.
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I don't have to preach for two hours, although I can try. It is not the length of the sermon, it is the substance of the sermon.
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It must have within it the very words of our living God. So in our text this morning, in 1
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Timothy chapter 4, primarily actually 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 5, Paul's charge to Timothy is to preach the
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Word of God, to preach at all times, using scripture alone as the basis for preaching.
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The Word of God is a basis for correction, the Word of God for the basis of instruction.
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So God's generals, God's men, God's preachers are never at their best when they are contemporary.
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They're never at their finest when they are novel. They are at their best when they're faithful preachers of the
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Word of the living God. Now, a few observations leading up to our text for this morning, as you would know that this is
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Paul's second inspired letter to Timothy. The first epistle was written to encourage
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Timothy that he should command the church not to teach anything but what
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Christ has commanded his apostles to teach. Not to read, not to rehearse, not to recite anything but that which is the very words of God to his people.
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So as you would know, false teachers came into the fellowship and produced nothing but conflict and sin.
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But faithful preachers like Paul, their goal is far different. The goal of their command is love from a pure heart and a good conscious and unhypocritical faith.
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False teachers and those who follow them are not interested in those virtues at all. But a general of God, a man of God, a servant of God, a slave of Christ is interested in sound truth for the hearts of the listener.
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Now our second inspired letter we're in today and this morning to Timothy, the pressure is on young Timothy and he's struggling.
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He wants to give up. And this final letter is to encourage the young evangelist to keep moving forward in ministry.
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As you recall in the early part of this letter, Paul tells him, do not give up because God does not give to his servants.
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His ambassadors, a spirit of timidity. Another way to look at that word timidity is to say that God did not give his ministers an attitude of cowardice.
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Because a spiritual cowardice does not have the courage to stand for the truth under pressure.
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But God's generals are, even to the point of death. We can also acknowledge from the very beginning of this second epistle that Timothy has no power, no power in himself to withstand spiritual opposition.
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He has no power in his own might, in his own ability to serve the believers in Ephesus or in any church.
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But he can join in suffering for the gospel as Paul says, according to the power.
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It's on that anchor of truth that every pastor can serve, labor, pray, and preach the word of God.
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They can counsel, care for, and lovingly serve the people of God without giving up.
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Let us read 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 will be our focus this morning.
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Here the living, abiding, inspired, infallible word of our
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God. 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 teaching.
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For the time will come when they will not endure a 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 myths.
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But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
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Before we dig into this text, I want you to notice with me, dear friends and beloved in Christ, the first command in verse 2 to preach the word is the chief command.
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And then the method and the attitude of the preacher follows. But this is not just a charge to the preacher.
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This is just not a charge to the servant of God. This is also involved in the congregation.
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So I have good news for you. As you read this passage, you are in the text. But by appearance, it's not a good look, is it?
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In verses 3 and 4. But this analysis is born out of love for you and truth about the human heart.
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The preacher is charged with the task of preaching because the congregants are not always receptive of the truth.
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And so whenever you and I or anyone crave after poor preaching, the end is never good. So this text is urgent for us today.
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It is urgent for you today. It is a matter of eternity to hear and heed God's word because the preacher's task is eternal.
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And you must remember that. If he ever thinks of temporal progress or earthly success, he's no longer preaching for your soul.
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But a preacher who preaches for your soul is consistent in presenting the words of the living
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God to you. And so this morning, this is not just a charge for the preacher, but it's for the congregation.
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And so the sermon's goal or the message this morning or the lesson this morning is your pastor's eternal attitude and why you need him.
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Your pastor's eternal attitude and why you need him. So number one, we'll ask in the form of questions.
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They'll be like three main questions for our outlines. And the first question is this. What is his eternal attitude?
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What is it? Well, first of all. A true servant of Christ, a preacher, a pastor knows that God ordained him.
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That God ordained him. Notice in verse one, he says,
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I charge you. But he says solemnly charging some translations in the Greek word world to solemnly charge someone was to install them to an office.
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It is like taking the oath of office. But here it is eternally significant. This is a serious charge.
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It is a sovereign charge, a heavenly charge. It is an authoritative charge.
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God has foreordained Timothy. The Spirit of God enabled Timothy. Christ sanctified
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Timothy. But this call, this charge never precedes or comes before salvation.
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But the call to ministry is still a part of God's effectual call. This is not some general affair.
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The God who effectually calls sinners to salvation, effectually calls pastors to pastoral ministry.
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This is eternally significant. As you remember, Paul says that Christ strengthened him.
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But he says regarded him faithful, putting him into service. When God puts anyone to service, when
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God puts anyone to service for him, it is an eternal call before the foundation of the world.
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You remember Yahweh's words to Jeremiah in the first chapter of Jeremiah, verse five.
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He says before I formed you in the innermost parts, what
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I knew you. That is an intimate reference to salvation.
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That God called Jeremiah to salvation in an intimate fellowship with him before the foundation of the world.
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And he says before you came out of the womb, I set you apart. And then for Jeremiah, Yahweh declared,
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I have given you as a prophet to the nations. So there's an intimate reference to the call, not only to salvation, but to ministry.
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That is what we call the objective call to ministry. Where God, by his power and grace and sovereign goodness, calls a pastor to shepherd his flock.
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Now, men such as myself and others here who are pastors and pastoral ministries and our brother
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Rob, we didn't have the same experience as Jeremiah did. But God's call to ministry, and I hope you're listening, is before the foundation of the world.
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It is not an option. It is a necessity. It is a sovereign call.
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In a very similar way he calls sinners to salvation. Now, the subjective part of the call is when someone senses or somehow is aware of that call.
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There's a burden. It's a good one. There's a desire. There's a strong desire. But then his life matches the doctrine.
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And he cannot, he will not, dare not do anything but preach Christ. In paraphrasing the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, if a man has a desire for ministry but is comfortable doing anything else, do not pursue ministry, do that something else.
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But when he can do nothing else, the necessity is on him.
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And woe, if he does not preach Christ, he will and he must.
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It's a glorious call. It's a glorious charge because God ordained him to pastoral work.
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But number two, God will judge him for his pastoral faithfulness.
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God will judge him for his pastoral faithfulness. That is also in verse one, I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and his kingdom.
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So the charge in the presence of God, the Father and God, the Son, you see the bond between the man in ministry and God.
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So it's not simply something he picks up. It is not a hobby, it's not a secondary occupation. There's something significant about the office.
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And although that is true for everyone in a good vocation, who is charged with an office that demands an oath like this?
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No one, presidents and leaders take oaths, but it does not carry the same eternal weight.
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God, the Father and the Son stand as witnesses to this moment and recognize, as you look at this text, that the final lines in verse one are associated with the charge in verse two.
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That as the preacher considers the ministry, considers the calling, he sees the weightiness of the judgment of God, the weightiness of the reality that he has to stand before God to give an account for the deeds that he's done.
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Sometimes you have to wonder if false teachers don't realize the gravitas of this truth.
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What a judgment! Do not many of you become teachers because you will incur a stricter judgment? What severity?
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I remember a professor saying a few years ago that imagine standing before God and looking at all the texts that you got wrong as a preacher.
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What a gracious judgment! That's just using a sanctified imagination. What about those who continue to run rampant to the
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Scriptures with no sense of respect and honor? They read the word of God and say, well, I just, this is what
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I think and feel about it. Well, the preacher knows that there's a judgment coming. That he's going to have to give an account for every word he preaches, every cynical statement on the pulpit, every critical and harsh statement on the pulpit, every crass, cold, immoral joke in the pulpit.
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He's going to have to give an account for every drop of every ounce of every letter of every word. This Christ is coming to judge the living and the dead.
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Just as a quick observation, the true servant of God will recognize and acknowledge the
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Lordship of Christ over the preaching. Knowing the terror of the
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Lord, he says, I persuade men that Christ will judge everyone impartially.
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For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for the deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad, according to 2
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Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10. He says, therefore, knowing the terror of the
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Lord, we persuade men for the faithful pastor.
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This is not the fear of eternal judgment or torment. It is not the fear of punishment. It is a holy reverence for the
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Lord Jesus Christ. A faithful preacher is not interested in the applauses of men, not at all.
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It is good to encourage a preacher when he preaches well, that you're grateful for what he's preached. But it's almost always better to know that the preaching is transforming your heart.
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But the pastor may be aware also of the court of congregational opinion. But there's a greater affection than love.
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He wants to hear the words. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
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Oh, don't get me wrong. A true servant of Christ loves the people. But he only loves you to the degree that he loves
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Christ. He will only serve to the degree that he's serving Christ. And because he loves you, and if he truly loves you, he will always remain faithful to the word of God.
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Because God will judge him for pastoral faithfulness. But then there's a third eternal attitude.
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We just looked at the first of God ordained him to the pastoral work. God will judge him for his pastoral faithfulness.
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And number three, God called him to preach faithfully. God called him to preach faithfully.
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That is in verse two of our text. Notice that with me. Preach the word.
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Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all patience and teaching.
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Now you and I may know this, but it is worth repeating that God's priority for the pastor, dear listener, is to preach
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Christ from the pages of scripture. So Paul is stressing here this great sense of urgency in preaching the word of God.
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I do want you to acknowledge and recognize this, that a man can only draw from his well of interest.
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If the pastor is not interested in the word of God, he will notice the difference in the pulpit and in his life.
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Shallow preaching is a result of a shallow well. It is not deep.
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There's no depth. There's no depth in Christ. There's no depth in study. There's no depth in meditation of the word of God.
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There's no depth to understand the original meaning of the word of God. It's just shallow preaching because the heart is shallow.
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But oh, a man of God, a slave of Christ, is immersed in the word of God because God called him to preach faithfully, and he cannot do so unless he is devoted to the scripture.
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If you look back, for example, 2 Timothy chapter 3, just a few verses up in verse 14,
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But you continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
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All scriptures God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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See, the well of truth began for the preacher and the pastor when he heard the good news by the
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Spirit of God. The good news penetrated his hardened heart and his stubborn will, and the change that God brought about in regeneration produced this affection for Christ, affection for truth, and then from that grew this desire to preach the word of God.
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But listen to what Paul says, 1 Timothy 1, verses 15 through 17. It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom
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I am foremost. If you just observe this with me, because this is the gospel, this is the glorious good news that Christ came.
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That is a confession of his deity. He always existed as the eternal son of God from all eternity before the foundation of the world.
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But then to say that he came is also to imply that this is a reference to the incarnation in his humanity, truly
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God becoming the God -man to draw sinners to himself.
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He came as a humblest save, the son of a carpenter, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, to fulfill the law's demands of full obedience.
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So you have even in this text in 1 Timothy 1, two natures, divine and human in one body, to rescue lawless, rebellious, hostile sinners.
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Christ, Paul says, came into the world to save sinners. When he says that, it means that Christ came as a substitute to die in our place.
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A perfect savior, dying not just for imperfect people, not just for flawed people, not just for people who have these mess -ups and hang -ups, that's just human folly.
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He came for those who would mock him, ridicule him, accuse him, slander him, sin against him, the helpless, the weak, the sinner, the unable, the hostile, the rebellious, the sinner who hated
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God, spurned his law, spurned his truth, dishonored his creation, lived immorally, pursued sinful pursuits.
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These are the people that Christ came for. That would be us.
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See, the preacher acknowledges this, he recognizes that, he stands before the people, he sees himself as a sinner saved by the grace of God, and he wants to draw the unbeliever to this truth, that God will open their eyes, that they will turn from their sin, believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ for the gift of salvation. And it would be folly for me to assume that everyone among us is in Christ.
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The preacher never makes that assumption. He appeals, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.
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If Christ is calling to you from the preaching of the word of God, turn to him today. Tomorrow is not the day, because tomorrow could be the day of your death.
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Now is the day of salvation. Yes, you are that sinner. Yes, you are that rebellion, because all have sinned.
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No one is righteous, no one seeks God. The Spirit of God calls to the preaching of the word of God to turn and believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Today is the day, not this evening, not tomorrow, not tonight, not when you get things right.
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You will never get things right. You need the righteous ones to make all things right. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe upon him and be saved.
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That's the preacher, that's the servant, that's the vessel of Christ. He recognizes these truths, but then he will recognize and acknowledge, as Paul said, yet for this reason
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I was shown mercy, so that in me, as the foremost Christ Jesus, might demonstrate all his patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon him for eternal life.
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You know, dear listener, faithful preaching is natural to the redeemed pastor as breathing and ears to the lungs.
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But notice, in our text, it says preach the word, be ready, in season, out of season.
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The word ready, for example, when applied to the military context, means to stay where you are assigned and stick to the task.
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The task is to preach the word of God, the inspired word of God from Genesis to Revelation.
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And any preacher who dismisses any text of Scripture is not a preacher of the word of God.
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If any preacher denies the full inspiration of the Scripture, he's not a vessel of Christ.
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And we have so many cynical pulpiteers today, but they don't love the
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Lord. You cannot love Christ and not love the word, because he is the living word.
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And through him you come to understand the written and revealed word. God and his word are one.
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You cannot divide God and his word. When you do so, you don't love him.
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I know that men and women will see this, that God will open their eyes to see the hostile pulpiteers.
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I'm not going to berate them too long, they're not worth the time. But it is worth mentioning that you want a man who loves the word, who preaches the word, who lives the word of God.
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Well, if he is, then get ready for him, because the text says he needs to hold his position.
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No soldier in active services entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
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So for the pastor, you must stick to the task, remain in your post, stay in the trenches at all times, because guess what?
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The time will come when they want you out of the trenches. It says in the text that he must be ready in season, not of season.
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And here there is some tension with that. Both words, in season and out of season, are from the same
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Greek word for time. So Paul may be referencing a skill in the art of debate or debating.
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And so the skill is you need to know the best time to speak. So you're using your philosophical rhetoric or the art of communication to persuade the party who's listening.
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Well, they do say timing is everything. That is a bit of a stretch, but there's some truth to that. So maybe as a pastor, he's looking at the audience.
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And as he looks at the audience, there may be some level of disinterest in what he's saying. Maybe there's some bodily gestures displaying some lack of interest in what the preacher is saying.
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In those moments, the pastor does not use rhetoric to continue, because right now the congregation's response may be indifference, apathy, frustration, anger.
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And now he's going to employ a rhetoric to try to win them back over. Paul says, no, that's out of season.
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They don't look interested, but that's what they really need. Lovingly declare the truth that God has given you.
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It is in those moments the pastor's mind must be on Christ and scripture. He must rely on the
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Spirit of God to impact the listener. In fact, the Apostle Paul, as we look at the
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Greek text and study it even more, there's a great sense of urgency that methods of communication are important, but the content is essentially more important.
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Preaching well and the oration or the verbiage or the language, speaking in a way that people understand and not stuttering over your words, all important.
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But the content is infinitely more important. So what is relevant is a preacher's readiness to dispatch the
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Word of God faithfully under every condition, because he's as an ambassador of Christ commanded to do so.
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As you look at our text, under that very same point, he is to reprove in and out of season, rebuke in and out of season, exhort in and out of season with great patience and teaching.
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Just to give you an idea of what these words are, to reprove faithfully is to expose the sin. But you're not just exposing the sin.
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The goal is to bring about conviction of sin. Oh, that's an endangered word today, is it not?
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Preacher, don't convict me, make me happy. People want to leave worship happy instead of leaving holy.
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But that's not the preacher's task. He said, well, you know, I go to this church and I know someone who goes to church, and they're always coming home happy.
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Happy people are going to hell. The essence of the
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Christian life is not happiness. It's salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that produces a life of godliness.
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Happy people are going to hell. It is,
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Scripture says, the work of the Holy Spirit, for example, to convict or reprove the world of sin.
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So what is a preacher doing? The preacher is preaching the Word of God, and the Spirit of God is doing exactly what
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Jesus said will be done. To bring about this deep sense of conviction of sin and the desire to put that sin off.
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So the pastor uses preaching of inspired Scripture to reprove, and the truth comes with such power, it subjects the listener to the necessary conviction, producing the fruit of confession of that sin and a turning away of that sin.
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That's beautiful. That's encouraging that I can hear the
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Word of God. This to me is miraculous. Maybe you just grew up as a goody -two -shoes person, but I never had a pair of good shoes in my life.
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This is glorious that I can actually hear the Word of God and be convicted of sin and joyfully acknowledge that sin, sorrow over that sin, but yet joyfully put the sin off to put on the deeds of righteousness.
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Me? Maybe you can do it. I'm amazed. I'm amazed that I can obey
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God and do His will. I'm amazed that I can hear strong preaching from my hard heart and God softens my heart.
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That's amazing. It's miraculous. I mean, everyone will do themselves a great service to attend a place of worship where the preacher lays the truth out in love and kindness and tenderness.
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And there's times for encouragement as this text says, but today we are a lot short in conviction and too long in comfort.
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Our comfort is in the future, presently enjoyed in Christ, but because of present sin, this conflict.
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The preacher preaches so that the Spirit of God works with the preaching of the truth to bring about the necessary conviction and biblical change.
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Well, also faithful preaching rebukes. It says this in verse 2. In season and out of season, you're reproving.
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In season, out of season, you're rebuking. So it's not when the people want it, when they ask for it.
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This is not taking a straw poll. Which sermon do you want to hear today? No, that's not relevant.
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What's relevant is the preaching of the truth at all times. And so, rebuke here. It involves a very severe preaching addressing the congregation because the preacher is saying, ladies and gentlemen,
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God is disapproving of this sin. There's a way upon the heart of the listener that God is not pleased with this sin.
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When this happens, the congregation might start thinking, does the pastor work for the
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FBI? There's a tap in my home.
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He's literally in my business because God is. Sometimes I don't even want to have a conversation with the congregation before I preach or throughout the week because when
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I stand before them, it's not that I'll do that to talk to them. When I stand before them,
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I want them to know that these are the words of God. And if God has gotten into your business, then he wants you to know he doesn't approve of the sin.
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But this is true of biblical preaching because it is true of the word of God. The word of God is living.
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It is active. And it is sharper than any two -edged sword and piercing as far as division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
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And there is no creature hidden from his sight. But all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of whom we have an account to give.
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And here's the reality. The preacher preaches for an all -knowing and all -seeing
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God. And as he preaches the word of God, it penetrates your heart. You're rebuked for your sin.
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You're rebuked for your laziness. You're rebuked for your lack of response to the word of God. That's faithful preaching.
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But also, in and out of season, he exhorts. And that could mean exhorting to obedience to the word of God.
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It also could involve encouraging the saints. There's a time to exhort the believers to obey the word of God or to encourage them to remember the joys of their salvation in the times of sorrow, of suffering, of near death, that to be absent in the body is to be present with the
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Lord Jesus Christ. He's aware that the believers need encouragement. You should acknowledge them for their service to the
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Lord. And let them know that God is not unjust to forget their labor of love.
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And as a pastor, he's not blind to their labor of love. He encourages them to remain steadfast in the word of God and prayer, with all patience and careful teaching, the text says, because he will need to bear up with the challenges of ministry.
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But the kind of patience here at the end of verse 2 stresses an aspect of provoking.
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When he says, with great patience, and some would say great patience and careful teaching, it's a long process of bearing up with people who will provoke you not to bear up.
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But you know, this Greek word is found in Galatians chapter 5, where all saints share in this blessing, the fruit of the spirit, the preacher must have this, as much of his fullness as possible, because people will provoke him.
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And y 'all look like very nice people. I drove through Montana, got in the airport, and even the animals greeted me.
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It's just beautiful. The bear, the bear didn't bite. There was a moose bench. I mean, you guys have animals in the wild.
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You still have them in your homes, but okay, fine. Just really nice, nice people.
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But you're sinners, aren't you not? Nice sinners.
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Sounds contradictory, but that's what you are. You love yourself. You love your sin.
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You idolize your sin. You love enjoyment. You love pleasures. That's why there's such thing as mortification, because we have it.
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He has to bear up with that patiently, because he knows he too is a sinner saved by the grace of God.
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But I have some good news for you. We know that the pastor's eternal attitude is there because God ordained him to the pastoral work.
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God will judge him for his pastoral faithfulness. God called him to preach faithfully. But now let's talk about the beautiful congregation.
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At Laurel Bible Church, filled with sugar and spice and everything nice.
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That's what verse 3 and 4 says. You're spicy Christians filled with all the sweetness.
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No, no, no you're not. In all the kindness, there's a problem.
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Why do you need an eternity -minded pastor? You don't need an entertainer. You don't need a pulpit manipulator.
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And we've got to have a coffee break right now. We've got to stop putting our children in situations where they're just having fun.
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The word of God says that we're supposed to teach our children. When we're walking, when we're sitting, when we're eating.
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We're going by the way. You didn't say you hand them off to a local daycare center and they care for the kids eight hours a day.
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You drive by 30 miles an hour, you throw a McDonald's bag or whatever, a Montana McDonald's bag into the daycare center for them to eat.
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You're in a hurry, in a flurry, it's a flash, they don't see you, they don't hear about Christ. The coffee break is almost done.
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And then you drop them off to church so that they can have fun. And then as they get older, guess what?
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They want to go somewhere because they just want to have fun. It sounds like a secular song to me.
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A secular mantra. It is without question the philosophy of the world.
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And I'm quite comfortable saying that because I'm not your pastor and I don't think I'm coming back anyway. It's how the world functions, it's how the world lives.
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Our children are not here to have fun. They're here to hear about Christ.
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And then we pray that God will save them so that they can say that in his presence, here it is, there is fullness of joy and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
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We want our kids to know Christ. They can have fun anywhere else but here.
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The preacher says they must know him. That is true for the adults because why do you need an eternally minded pastor?
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The coffee break is done, you've endured it, praise God. Number one is the second question, the second outline, you lack spiritual endurance.
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You lack spiritual endurance. This is so profound.
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For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.
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Or the time will come when you will not think about your spiritual health.
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So you may not live that way all the time but because we are all prone to wander, we all have those seasons.
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We do, tis the season. Isn't it not to be jolly? It is right, isn't it?
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You guys think I'm tricking you. You say I want a center sermon this year.
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Lighten up on the incarnation. Talk about the presentation of the gifts.
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No, no, Thanksgiving is coming up. I want a turkey sermon with turkey stories, turkey themes.
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No, here it is. Pardon me. I want a national rifle association sermon.
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I need a break from just preaching the Bible. Let's talk about current events. The word for sound in verse 3 is a reference to good health.
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And so they would use that term to refer to doctrine and sound doctrine is consistent when it matches the truth.
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But it is from the word of God. What is right? What is faithful? Accurate that will lead to spiritual growth in comparison to false doctrines that usually lead others astray.
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But see what is involved in this? The time coming when they will not endure sound doctrine is the unwillingness to bear up.
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There it is. So patience in verse 2 of the pastor. He's going to deal with a congregation to some degree, lesser or more than other people, of their unwillingness to bear up with his preaching.
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And you know what happens there, right? There's always something wrong with the sermon, but nothing wrong with the listener.
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The pastor has to bear with people who will not bear up with biblical preaching. And one commentator says when you reach this point, you no longer listen willingly.
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You listen resistively. You listen as a critic.
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You listen as a cynic. You listen as a tutor, but not a student.
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When you do not bear up, it means that your tolerance level is low. So what is also implied here is a general sense, and this is so fearfully humbling because we are all prone to do this, is a general sense of rejection.
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But of course at first it doesn't seem as if you're rejecting. It could be just a subtle dismissive attitude toward the preacher's sermon.
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But it could be, as I said earlier, conveyed in bodily gestures to the point that as you even listen to the sermon, preach, you're imagining what a different preacher might sound like.
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And guess what? Everyone else will always sound better than your pastor when you get to this point.
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You would even prefer a bot preacher. You know those robots?
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You know this. Every satellite church is a robotic church. If someone attends a place of fellowship and the pastor's on a big screen, he's
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Pastor Pixel or Pastor Bot. He's not a man of God. He's fake.
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He's not real. He's a fraud. You say, well, a lot of them are preaching the truth. They can't be preaching the truth and deny the essence of pastoral ministry.
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I preach publicly and from house to house. Paul says in Acts chapter 20. He's touching, fellowshipping with the people.
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There's no communion with your pastor, and it's a satellite campus, and there's no communion. He's not a pastor.
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He's a fraud. But he preaches the Bible. He's still a fraud. Oh, you're too harsh.
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That's exactly what Paul's saying here. People's response will be like, oh, that's just unloving.
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At least they're preaching the gospel. Which one? The one that binds us together is the gospel.
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Not the one that builds enterprises. It's fake stuff. It's fraudulent stuff. But see, you would rather a pastor on a distant campus who's not actively involved in your life when you get this way.
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Why is it that people love those kind of meetings? It's because they have no endurance for a pastor who will rub life on life with them, preach the word of God, communicate to them, fellowship with them, and confront them when sin is involved.
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That's a lack of spiritual endurance. And number two, why do you need an eternally minded pastor? You prefer what makes you feel good.
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It says this in verse three. 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.
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And Burger King wasn't even available then. You had a Burger King congregation.
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Have it your way. But notice this text there, saints, listeners, friends.
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Desires are many, but they are personal. Their desires, your desires, my desires.
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But there are many personal and they're selfish. No, that's just not it. There are many personal, selfish, and they militate against God's will and that is the climax.
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That when you prefer what makes you feel good, you're saying that God's will for me on the
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Lord's Day is insufficient. I've got to find something for myself. See, when analyzing people and examining their decisions, we've got to let the word of God be the final judgment on what they're doing.
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We can't just say, well, they're looking for this ministry for that ministry. That's a bunch of bogus baloney, unbiblical stuff.
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It's just not true. When you hear a place where God is preaching his word,
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Christ is exalted, sinners are brought to saving faith. There's a great koinonia of fellowship, unity in the spirit of God.
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Oh, wait a minute. That sounds like a church. So why is the heart inclined to go elsewhere when the very need is met there?
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Right here in the text. There's a lack of endurance and folk want to feel good.
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So God gives his pastors, his generals their orders. But those with this desire will prefer pulpit personalities who defy
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God's order. And their choice of doing so is volitional. It's intentional. It's not circumstantial.
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It's not I need this for this and that. No, there's not some type of genuine need. It's the fact that they're repulsive toward the truth.
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But he says in this text that they will accumulate as if more is better.
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They will add more in number of the same kind of teachers in part to justify what they do. They will accumulate more to speak smooth words to them.
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And the point here is that if your favorite so -called preacher tickles your ear, or if the modern vernacular is
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I need a preacher who can relate to me. I don't like a preacher in a tie or a bow tie who dresses up in the pulpit.
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I was watching a video just recently of a cowboy church. Literally a cowboy church accommodating the masses.
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But not fitting the worship for Christ. What you're doing here is you're ordering in your playlist false teachers.
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Stacking your listing with a list of ungodly men. See if there is a man who itches ears and gratifies the human desires.
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Not only is he not a pastor, he's a false teacher. Not only is he a false teacher, but he's serving in the rim or the place of unbelief.
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And there's a lot of them. I don't know the average, but maybe for every one solid
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Bible teaching pastor, there may be 25 to 30 false teachers in the area. In fact, you look at the
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Apostle Paul when he wrote to Timothy. And he said in Philippi that I don't have many who are one soul united for Christ.
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As Timothy is, I have one guy I know, and he knew of a lot of men in ministry. They never got the agenda.
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When you're in this situation, you need a preacher who will preach the word of God because you want an entertaining preacher.
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You want a young and hip preacher. Tight jeans and tight shirt. You'd rather someone entertain you to hell than preach you to glory?
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That's in essence what's happening. Entertain me to the very gates of eternal damnation, but please don't urge me to look up to my redemption.
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See, when you have this spiritual itch, you do not want to expose the root cause. You don't want the root cause to be exposed at all.
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You prefer what makes you feel good. You need an eternity -minded pastor because he is not going to make you feel good.
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But boy, he will bring the love, the grace, the mercy, the goodness, the truth from the
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Lord Jesus Christ to your wandering heart. Verse 4. You will turn from the truth if left to your devices.
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You need an eternity -minded pastor because he will turn from the truth if left to your devices.
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This is profoundly sobering, and that is why we need sound preachers. And we'll turn their ears from the truth, and we'll turn aside to myths.
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So an itching ear never wants to hear biblical truth. And instead of having a desire for the truth, the truth is repulsive to them.
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And if you notice that in this text, Paul continues this ear analogy. They turn their ears from the truth.
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So here is the intentional refusal to listen to the truth and obey the truth.
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They don't want to know what God has to say. So I want to go somewhere where God isn't speaking from his word to my own heart.
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So if you and anyone thinks this way, you end up setting your heart toward counterfeits. It's like someone who's gripped by drugs.
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They desire it so bad they fail to consider how deadly it is. That's what you find in this text. And even poor biblical preaching is no big deal for you now.
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It says in this text they will turn from the truth and toward myths. Paul uses the word myths in his first letter, for example, in 1
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Timothy 1 verses 4 and 6. But it is always in contrast to what is eternal.
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So it's not myths for the sake of myths or stories or dabbling to the law and not knowing what the law says.
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He also says it in 1 Timothy 1. It has to do with replacing the sound preaching of the word of God with just a bunch of foolishness.
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It's like a circus on Sunday, a clown show for the unconverted. It is always in contrast to what is eternally important or true.
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So the problem is not just myths or fiction. Rather, it is that these conversations are spiritually fruitless. They're not written in Christ.
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They're not designed to teach. And so you can replace the word myth with anything that opposes the truth.
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And yes, dear listener, if the preacher does not have his charge from Christ and sticks with it, he will vacillate and he will weigh the opinions of the congregation, the opinions of the world.
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He'll look at the church growth movements and how they grow. They grow exactly how
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Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 4. It is the ministry of reductionism.
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They will reduce the word of God to its bare minimum. There's nothing left, stripped of its power, stripped of its veracity, stripped of its conviction, stripped of everything essential for truth and eternal life.
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And now you're left with a bunch of Monday morning nuggets. That grows stale with every adversity.
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It takes your attention away from Christ. Well, because spiritual endurance is low, personal and worldly interests will be high, so they will turn away.
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But, you know, the cure of this is not less preaching, but more of it, more doctrine, more conviction of the truth.
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But, you know, in some subtle ways, even as you're in a Bible teaching context, a Bible teaching church, there are the distractions that the preacher will have to deal with.
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It's not just a turning away from the truth into myths and fables, but turning away from the truth and turning to events and programs.
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So instead of studying the word of God, praying and depending on the spirit of God to enable him to study and to preach, crying out for the salvation of the unconverted, interceding for the flock, that's not working.
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So now let's talk about programs, Pastor. We don't need to exposit the word of God every Sunday. We can have a program, a play, a concert.
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Remove the pulpit as they did in Martin Luther King's days and put up a stage so people can have fun. Kids can come and they can perish in their sin.
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That sounds like a great church to me. Like you said, well, we're not going to do that here.
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We've had a strong history of biblical teaching, which is true. Praise God for that. But we need a preacher who will plan more.
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So we've got to have a little bit more going on here. We've got to have these community ministries, this community outreach, right? So here are the list of ministries that every church has to have these things.
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It's not biblical, but we've got to have it. You've got to have a basket weaving ministry.
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You just can't survive as a church without having a basket weaving ministry. You've got to have a tricycle ministry. There is a chicken ministry, a cowboy ministry, a rifle ministry, a hunting ministry, a bingo ministry, a chess ministry, a checkers ministry.
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You've got to have a hiking ministry, a biking ministry. And I dare not leave out the all -important, all -surpassing ministry, the crocheting ministry.
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Every church has got to have the crocheting ministry going. The women will not handle this. In the past, instead of preaching the word of God, meditating, praying, studying, he has to attend all the meetings.
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He's no longer doing soul care. He has to attend them, the ministries, the meetings, the gales for a successful ministry because they will turn their ears from the truth and will turn aside to everything else but.
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You lack spiritual endurance. This is a gracious truth by God's word. You prefer what makes you feel good, and you will turn from the truth if left to your own devices.
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That's why you need a pastor with an eternal attitude. But then finally, number three, the third question, which is the third part of the outline.
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What does your pastor need to persevere? Number one, he needs, by the grace of God, self -control. This is another one of the virtues of the spirit of God.
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Verse five, but you be sober in all things. To be sober, to exercise discipline, the discipline of examining everything carefully and biblically.
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So, brother pastor, to my brother Rob, to myself, other pastors here, brother Joe, even our great evangelist,
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Justin Peters. We cannot let our emotion or the success syndrome take us off of this course.
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This sobriety is to have the spiritual fortitude or strength to weigh everything carefully in light of eternity.
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I don't mean if a man is worth his salt. If he's human, after all, friendships are important to him.
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And we should cherish them. We should love them. But they could never be more important than the necessity of exercise and self -control to where even those who are close to you feel offended because the word of God has pierced their soul.
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Paul is encouraging Timothy, carry the spiritual fortitude to weigh everything biblically, to weigh it carefully.
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You need the spirit's self -control to view everything biblically. What's being asked of me?
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What are they saying? What are they thinking? How is the word of God processing this? Because you don't want to take people's responses or comments personally.
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The pastor must exercise this discipline of self -control.
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Number two, he needs this to persevere, spiritual stamina. He says in verse five, be sober in all things, endure hardship.
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You must bear up on the suffering, and the suffering here is twofold. There is a suffering for Christ to which the world would despise you, and that's every believer.
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But there's a suffering as a pastor to which the flock may not always like what you say.
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You're like, what, me? What? No, I'm not that type of person. Yes, you are.
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You don't like everything everyone says at every time. And there'll be some moments in the preaching, it's going to cut you.
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You think the wrong way, but it's cutting you the right way. Because whenever there's a sense, a feeling, or an angst, anxiety, or anger, there's a sin lurking onto the surface.
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And by the grace of God, the preacher's bringing it out. So you're not going to always like what he says.
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But if he preaches faithfully, you will need everything that he says. So how does he bear up?
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Paul says this in 2 Timothy 2, verse 3. Suffer hardship with me as a soldier of Christ.
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And how do you do so? According to the power of God. And we must remember this as believers, as pastors, that we will never suffer in our power.
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We will suffer in our weakness by his power. It's not our strength, it is his strength.
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The words we may hear, there may be harsh criticisms, slanderous statements, harsh responses.
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There is the online slander. There's a church gossip line because every church has one. How do
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I know? Because every church has people in it. That was easy.
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Q &A, how do I know that gossip is in the church because people are there? Smile, Laurel Bible.
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It says, bear up. Do not leave those sins unchecked.
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But remember that these attacks against you are ultimately attacks against the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Spiritual stamina comes from God. It is in the power of God that this comes. Pastor Rob, remember your
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Savior, Jesus Christ, risen from the dead of the seat of David. We just read this according to my gospel, for which reason
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I endure hardship even to change as a criminal. But the word of God has not been chained for this reason.
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I endure all things for the sake of the elect so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
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It is a trustworthy saying. If we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will reign with him.
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If we will deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself.
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Then number three, what does your pastor need to persevere? Self -control, spiritual stamina, and number three, a heavenly focus, a heavenly focus.
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Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Paul says to Timothy, he says to Pastor Rob, he says to those in the pastoral ministry, do the work
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God calls you to. So yes, there are saints, pastors, and you know this, but I need to say pastors are not fashion designers.
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They're not skit writers. They're not stunt men. They don't have motorcycles on the stage and bikes on the stage.
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They're not entertainers. Your pastor is an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's to love
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Christ, preach Christ, love the truth, love the people, serve you well by preparing for your soul well.
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Well, think about this. You do not want a doctor coming to perform a critical life changing surgery with oil on his hands and stains in his surgical attire.
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You do not want a doctor who had no time to sharpen the surgical tools because he was under the hood of his car.
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So all he has to this life changing surgery is a dull, blatant, exhausted mind.
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Will you have that? The doc comes in the office says, look, yep, we're going to have to have open heart surgery.
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This is the tightest I've ever been. I don't even know how to use a knife, a scalpel, scissors. I don't know how to use any of this, but we'll give it a shot.
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Will you stand that table? What about the preacher? If your soul is infinitely more important, should not the preacher set his life aside to the study and the meditation of the word of God?
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Your soul is infinitely more important than an unqualified, unprepared doctor. So therefore, the pastor's role is greater than the surgeon's life saving surgery.
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So make sure, dear friends, attendees, committed people at Laurel Bible, make sure he knows how to find his study because eternity hangs in the balance.
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Make sure he has a clear path to his study. Keep him from the world by removing distractions. See him off to the battle for the
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Lord as he wages war by the grace of God to apply the word of God to his heart. Said to him,
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Pastor, please do the work that God has called you to leave all the other tasks to us.
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What's left undone, dear pastor, we'll leave it up to the Lord. But as for you, please, by the grace of God, fulfill your ministry.
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Am I saying this because what Paul says in this text, what God is saying through Paul is that there's a great sense of urgency for this preaching because eternity hangs in the balance.
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For many do all other things, but this one thing.
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The preaching of the word of God. It is sad, but many pastors today look the opposite of preachers.
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They look like cheerleaders, civic leaders, and many of them protest like social justice leaders.
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But the work is incomplete. It is insufficient and it is deficient. If the man of God is not fulfilling, competing to its end, its fullness, that is what the sense at the end of verse five is to fill the work out completely.
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Until the very end. What is the end? Verses six through eight from already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure is at hand or has come.
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I have fought the fight. There it is. I have finished the course, fulfilled the ministry, finished the course.
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I have kept the faith. And then notice the eternal implication. Here's the judge in verse one. The judge in verse eight.
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In the future, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.
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And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Your pastor needs to be a man with a mind that is set on Christ and the future judgment.
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His eternal attitude should be a man who knows that God ordained him to the pastoral work. That God will judge him for his pastoral faithfulness and that God called him to preach faithfully.
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Friends, listeners, beloved in Christ, you need an eternity minded pastor because you lack spiritual endurance.
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You prefer what makes you feel good. You will turn from the truth that's left to your devices. And then to faithfully do and complete the work your pastor needs.
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He must have the spirit self -control, the Holy Spirit's endurance, and a heavenly focus to finish the work that God called him.
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So I say to this man of God this morning, man of God, preach the word.
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Preach the word of God. Be ready in season and out of season. And people of God, I cannot stress this anymore.
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That is the man that you need. A man who loves
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Christ, love the truth, love the word of God, love the people. And is unashamed to declare the gospel of our
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Savior Jesus Christ. Unashamed to compel sinners to believe in him and also to urge the believers to remain steadfast in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Stop hunting for a place of worship like you're hunting for your favorite wardrobe.
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Find a place where Christ is exalted. The word of God is preached. Love is practiced.
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And believers are looking with a great anticipation for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead.
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And just as a personal statement, and I may be biased. I do believe that you have one here in your midst.
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And our brother Rob Kimsey. I want you to remember that with every godly man next to him is a godly wife.
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And you have a marriage that exemplifies the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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As a wife submits to her husband, the husband loves his wife as Christ loves the church.
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And the man who pours his affection and his love toward his wife and his children will no doubt in Christ pour his affection to the church.
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That's the man of God. And I believe you have one here among your midst. Will you support him, pray for him, that God will keep him focused on the task at hand.
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Continue to love and to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And always remember that Christ is returning to give and render judgment for the deeds that he has done as his servant.