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2 Timothy 4:1-5, 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: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 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, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Throughout 2 Timothy Paul has emphasized the importance of God’s truth, God’s revealed Word. In chapter one Paul told Timothy to be courageous to guard the truth. Chapter two, be diligent to teach the truth. Chapter three, be discerning to apply the truth. We ended last week with that great statement in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Now in chapter four Paul gives Timothy his last and greatest command. It’s wrapped up in three words: PREACH THE WORD! Have conviction to preach the Word. This has been the central, driving force of Christ’s church ever since. When biblical preaching has waned, the church has waned. When there has been powerful, vigorous biblical preaching, the church has been vigorous and strong. This can be proved by the preaching of the Reformation, the Puritans, the great awakening, preachers of the 19th century like Charles Spurgeon, and it’s true today. A strong church requires strong, God-blessed, Spirit-empowered preaching. And that’s what we intend to keep on doing here in Evansville Bible Church, God helping us. Someone said, “Nothing takes the place of preaching except better preaching.”
PREACHING IS GOD’S MANDATE FOR THE CHURCH.
Paul says preach the WORD, not your opinions, not philosophy, psychology, personal thoughts, and experiences. Not helpful hints for a happier life or skyscraper sermons – one story after another, or diving board sermons – jumping off a verse to a favorite topic. And not cotton candy, feel good inspirational talks. Preach one thing; preach the WORD! The Word is what God has revealed, as we saw in 2 Timothy 3:16. It includes the whole counsel of God revealed in the 66 books of these God-breathed writings. We are in an election year. We don’t preach politics directly, but God’s Word will help you vote for the most God-honoring, freedom-preserving platform. Far more importantly, the Word of God with its message of salvation is the only thing in this world that can prepare people to stand before God.
PREACH the Word. Preach is a strong command. It means to herald forth or proclaim. If an emperor or king sent the herald to a town, the herald was expected to deliver the king’s message exactly, without altering it, proclaiming nothing more, nothing less, and certainly not proclaiming what the people wanted to hear. The herald is duty-bound to deliver the message faithfully, with gravity and authority, accurately representing the king who sent him. So, Timothy and every man who stands up as a preacher must herald forth the Word. That means he speaks with enthusiasm, boldness, and authority, not softening or altering the message.
A preacher is one who speaks for God, no less. When the Scriptures are opened and proclaimed, God is speaking. That is why God despises false teachers. That is why James 3:1 says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”
Let’s add, when preachers or people aren’t interested in the Word of God or flat out reject the Word of God, they are slapping God in the face. You read of this often in the Old Testament prophets. Jeremiah 5:30-31 rebuked the people’s rejection of God’s truth.
“An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”
Preach the Word. Preaching is God’s mandate for the church. Paul gives us four strong motivations to faithfully preach the Word in this passage.
#1 A SOLEMN CHARGE TO PREACH THE WORD.
2 Timothy 4:1, 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…
In God’s Presence. First Paul solemnly charges Timothy in God’s presence. It couldn’t be stronger or weightier. Paul is dead serious. It’s as if God Himself and Christ Jesus, the central theme of all Scripture, were standing right there. Paul wanted this to keep ringing in Timothy’s ears. The Latin phrase Coram Deo means before the face of God. We can extend this to whenever we preach, we are Coram Deo, in the presence of Almighty God, including His Son and the Spirit.
In view of coming judgment. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said all preaching is designed to prepare people to stand before God. That’s why we preach Christ. Only Christ can bring you to God. And no one escapes this formidable appointment. Paul says the living and the dead. Achan thought he could get away with stealing those goods from Jericho, but God’s eye was on him. And just like Achan, we’re all accountable to God. You will stand before Christ either after the rapture of the church, after the tribulation period when God will separate believers from unbelievers for the millennial kingdom, or at the Great White Throne Judgment when all the lost dead will stand before Christ and be consigned to the lake of fire. This is why Paul lays this heavy charge on Timothy and every preacher. Richard Baxter said, “I preach as a dying man to dying men.” Every one of us is going to stand before God. The biggest issue you face is not whether you lost ten pounds this summer. It is at any moment you could die, and, as Jonathan Edwards put it, the only thing that keeps you alive this very moment is the patience and sovereign hand of God. Are you ready right now to stand before God? If you are not in Christ, you’re not ready.
In view of Christ’s appearing and kingdom. Preach the Word, keeping people fully aware that Christ’s return is imminent, at any moment. Titus 2:13 says: “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing (epiphaneia) of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” Hendriksen says, “His approaching footsteps can be heard. He is on the way.” James 5:9 says He is right at the door. In Revelation 22 Jesus Himself told us three times, “I’m coming quickly. I’m coming quickly. I’m coming quickly.” His kingdom is that glorious time when Christ returns to earth after the tribulation period and sets up His world-wide rule described in Daniel 2 and Zechariah 14, verse 9, “And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.”
This Word holds you accountable. Are you prepared to stand before God? Do you know that your sins are forgiven, that Christ has died in your place? Have you placed your trust in Him? This is a crucial, weighty thing. We may be different skin tones, sizes, intelligences, and nationalities, but we are all part of Adam’s fallen race, born sinners, and naturally under God’s wrath. No one will ever be accepted by God apart from personal faith in Christ.
I don’t know where I got this, but it carries a lot of weight.
Every pastor stands in the very presence of God as he delivers his message to his people. Someday he will give an account for what he has said week by week, sermon by sermon. There is a real sense in which the preacher has an audience of one—God. He first must preach so that the Lord is pleased with his message. If the Lord is pleased, it matters not what men say. If the Lord is not pleased, the applause of millions will make no difference.
#2 CLEAR INSTRUCTION FOR PREACHING THE WORD.
2 Timothy 4:2, preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
Be ready to preach all the time. KJV says, “Be instant.” The word has the idea of urgent, be at hand, on the spot, ready to go, in season and out of season, when it’s convenient and when it isn’t. Like a secret service agent – always alert, on the spot. Albert Barnes notes, “Never lose an opportunity to make the gospel known.” Be always ready. While I was in seminary our pastor, Ivan French, was a gentle soul. One time he asked me to bring a message for our Wednesday night service. When we arrived, he walked over and gently asked, “Are you ready?” I’m sure the shock in my eyes told him that I had forgotten all about it. Without hesitation he walked to the front of the group and brought a Bible message. He was instant and ready. I wasn’t.
Then verse two says preaching includes reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. When the Word of God is preached, God deals with you, with your soul. His Word is like a hammer that breaks hard hearts. It’s like a mirror that shows us our real selves. Sometimes it reproves us or shows us in what ways we are wrong in our thinking or our behavior. Strong preaching reproves and convicts. Sometimes it offends people. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, concerned about lost people in his congregation said, “Many, I fear, are sailing easily down the stream into an undone eternity, unconverted and unawakened. Brethren, they will not thank us in eternity for speaking smooth things.”
Reproving or convicting is the work of the Word along with the Spirit. We must have the Spirit of God at work in the preaching or it is a dead letter. The Spirit works in your heart with the power of the Word of God. Jesus said this of the Holy Spirit in John 16.
John 16:8-11, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
Job 5:17, “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”
Rebuke is a more severe word, calling God’s people to repentance for definite sin. “You are wrong, and you need to repent.” Nathan rebuked David for his adultery, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight?” David responded as a true believer, “I have sinned against the Lord.” That was the desired response to rebuke. That one thief on the cross rebuked the other one, “Do you not even fear God? We’re guilty, but this Man did nothing wrong.” Christ said in Luke 17:3, “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Clearly tell them where they are wrong.
J. C. Ryle tells of a time when George Whitefield did some rebuking. “Mr. Whitefield was preaching on a rainy day in America. One old man sitting in front of the pulpit had fallen asleep. Whitefield saw him and paused, ‘If I had come to speak to you in my own name, you might well rest your elbows on your knees, and your heads on your hands, and sleep…. But I have not come to you in my own name. No! I have come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts,’ (Then at this moment, he brought down his hand and foot with a force that made the building ring.) ‘and I must and will be heard!’ The congregation started. The old man woke up at once. ’Aye, aye!’ cried Whitefield, fixing his eyes on him, ‘I have waked you up, have I? I meant to do it.’ The hearers were stripped of their apathy at once. Every word of the sermon was attended to.” Now that is rebuking.
Rebuking sin is the loving thing to do. We Bible believers are sometimes charged with lacking love when we declare God’s standards for sexual purity. But it’s never unloving to tell the God’s truth. God clearly condemns all the sexual perversion going on today, from premarital to extramarital to transsexuality to abortion to pedophilia and every other perversion. True love desires the best for the other person and so rebukes sin and calls sinners of all kinds to repent. It isn’t loving to ignore sexual sins or affirm or even celebrate sinful behavior.
The third element is exhorting. It’s not just about denouncing sin as if there wasn’t any hope. Exhorting means urging people to repent and submit to Christ’s authority and live God’s way. God knows what is best for us and is ready to forgive as we repent.
Paul adds two other aspects of preaching that must accompany reproving, rebuking, and exhorting – all patience and teaching. Have you ever tried to teach something to people who aren’t interested? Maybe they disagree with what the Scriptures say. I recall a gentleman who just couldn’t believe that God would choose people to be saved without their choosing God first. We can’t change people’s thinking or hearts, but we can keep pointing people to the Scriptures which have the power to do so. In that case, I took that gentleman to Ephesians 1:3-4. People will resist the word, despise it, and follow error, but Paul says we must continue preaching and giving the Word with great patience and instruction. Notice the word “great.” Great patience and instruction are needed. Be willing to patiently take time to instruct others in God’s Word. Often time is needed for God to soften a heart and give understanding. This is where Moses blew it. He lost his patience, “You rebels! Do I have to strike this rock?” With all patience and teaching. Calvin said, “If we be carried away with our vehemence and impatience, we make ourselves ridiculous and annoy people.”
We don’t preach to gain people’s approval. We preach to glorify and exalt God and win people’s hearts to love and praise and obey Christ. The more people love Christ, the more they’ll be thankful when God exposes their sin.
#3 ANTICIPATE RESISTANCE TO PREACHING THE WORD.
2 Timothy 4:3-4, 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, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Let me introduce the ETS, the Ear Ticklers Society. Paul said the time will come, and it has been here for a long time. These are superficial religious people. They love feel-good preachers. They don’t want to be told they are wrong. They don’t like God’s authority over their lives. There will always be people who refuse to submit to Scripture. Let’s put this thinking in their own words.
“We really don’t like all this teaching from the Bible.” The ETS group won’t endure it or put up with it. They don’t want solid, healthy teaching about God as sovereign, man as utterly lost, Christ as the exclusive way to heaven, two destinies, heaven or the lake of fire. “We don’t agree with all that sovereignty of God talk or taking up our cross, dying to self, exposing sins.”
“We want to hear things that will make us feel good about ourselves.” Isaiah faced people who wanted their ears tickled in Isaiah 30:9-11.
Isaiah 30:9-11, For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; 10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. 11 “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
“We’ll find teachers that tell us what we want to hear.” Paul says they accumulate or heap up ear ticklers. One source said teachers of all kinds swarm like the flies in Egypt. Or they could be described as croaking like the frogs in Egypt. There is an abundance of these smooth talkers all over the place. They’ll say anything to get a following. Like the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day, as long as you keep the money coming in, they’ll keep the lies going out. But they will face a severe judgment.
Jeremiah 6:13-14, “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely. 14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.
Peter described these slippery preachers like this.
2 Peter 2:17-19, These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
Notice the fatal exchange in 2 Timothy 4:4 – they will turn aside to myths. There are tons of myths that have gathered around the ship of religion like those barnacles clinging on the hull. What is a myth? I like this simple definition: a myth is a manufactured story with no basis in fact. From the myths of the mass, infant baptizing, salvation through the church, to theistic evolution, God loves everybody, do your best and God will surely let you into heaven, calling sin a disease, same sex attraction is natural for some people, extra-terrestrials. A big myth today is applying “loving your neighbor” to so-called reproductive health care, getting on the environmental bandwagon, affirming gender transitioning, and more. These are ways our cultural exchanges truth for myths or lies. “There’s a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). I hate driving the wrong way. I want to know the right way to go and if I’m not on it, please tell me, okay? Multitudes are being fed myths as if they were gospel truths. They’re on the wrong way and the eternal effect is utterly tragic.
#4 STAY ON YOUR GOD-GIVEN MISSION TO PREACH THE WORD.
2 Timothy 4:5, But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
“But you,” says Paul. Whatever the world around you is doing, Timothy, stay on your mission. Be sober in all things. Don’t be easily swayed by some new notion that comes down the pike. Don’t let anyone or anything cause you to swerve from the path of God’s truth, even if it means enduring hardship. Paul says, “My calling hasn’t been easy.” And ours won’t be either. Keep Christ and the gospel front and center – do the work of an evangelist. It is only the gospel of Jesus Christ that has the power to save people. Keep on preaching it; be ready to give an answer to people who ask about the hope in you. Do these things and fulfill your ministry. Never give up. Never give in. And for those of us who are trusting in Christ, we can’t give up because we are convinced of the Truth in God’s Word. Therein lies our hope.
Let’s pray that we will have the courage as preacher and church to keep on faithfully preaching the Word without compromise. The preaching of the Word is the engine of the church. God uses preaching to prepare people for eternity, to bring them into submission to His will, to help them discern truth in a world of myths. We must not forget what one author said, “Churches don’t quickly find themselves on the garbage heap of apostasy. This does not happen overnight; it happens day-by-day, over a period of years, one compromise at a time.” I hope you love the preaching of God’s Word and have enough discernment to steer clear of the ear ticklers. Listen only to those who preach sound, healthy doctrine.