Preach the Word
March 12, 2019 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
Drawing on Paul's final charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, this teaching urges believers to faithfully and patiently proclaim God's inspired Word—even when the world is not receptive. Like the prophets of old, the persistent sower endures seasons of drought and continues the work until the harvest.
- The Scriptures were inspired by God not merely to be read, studied, or memorized, but to be proclaimed.
- Paul charges Timothy before God, who will judge the living and the dead, to be ready and persistent with God's Word whether circumstances are favorable or not.
- Every believer should be ready to give a defense (apologia) for the hope within them, with meekness and reverence.
- God's Word works powerfully but not instantly; we must labor with all longsuffering, like the prophets who often saw little fruit.
- A time will come—and recurs throughout history—when people will not endure sound doctrine and instead seek teachers who tell them pleasant things.
- A lack of receptiveness never justifies withdrawing from the work: be watchful, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
Readable is a lightly edited reading copy; Verbatim stays close to the spoken words. The audio and video are the record of what was said.
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. ()
Paul's last words to Timothy press us to preach the Word with patient persistence, even when the world refuses to hear it.
A Flyover Passage with a Deep Truth
It is written in that for three years there was no war between Syria and Israel. In the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah visited King Ahab of Israel, and Ahab proposed they go together to recover Ramoth Gilead from Syria. Jehoshaphat agreed, but added, "First let's find out what the Lord says." Ahab summoned about four hundred prophets, and they all said, "Go up, the Lord will give the king victory."
But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not also a prophet of the Lord here?" Ahab replied, "There is one more man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him—he never prophesies anything but trouble for me." When Micaiah came, he first answered sarcastically, then told the truth: "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd." Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, "Did I not tell you he never prophesies anything but trouble for me?"
This is one of those "flyover" passages in the Old Testament—the kind you skim when you're three weeks behind on your read-through and just trying to check the box. But there is powerful truth here, and it sits at the very center of our text in . Like it or not, it is part of our nature—our fallen nature—to only want to hear good news. We don't like challenging, hard words, and the Scriptures are full of them. Paul knows this, so he gives Timothy a simple but very serious charge: Preach the word!
Therefore: The Charge Looks Back
The passage begins with the word "therefore," which always sends us back to what came before. In , beginning in , we learned that the Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and that they are inspired—God-breathed. For 2,000 years Christians have held in all their creeds that holy men of God wrote as the Holy Spirit moved them, that we would know the mind and will and heart of God. And the Scriptures are useful—profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
Therefore—because the Scriptures are inspired and useful—Paul gives the most solemn admonition. Remember, this series is called Last Words, because these are the final words the Apostle Paul wrote. He penned thirteen letters over nearly twenty years, and here are his last, written under duress from prison, knowing he would soon be executed for his faith—not for anything evil, but simply for being a faithful messenger of the gospel against the powers of his day.
So to Timothy, his son in the faith, Paul gives a stern charge: "I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom." There is a compelling calendar event ahead. Just as a vacation on the calendar gives us a compelling reason to get into physical shape, the promise that we will one day stand before the Lord is a compelling reason to get into spiritual shape. The statistics are staggering—ten out of ten people die. There will be that day when we stand before Him.
The Scriptures Were Inspired to Be Proclaimed
The Lord had a purpose in inspiring the Scriptures. The words were not given merely to be read, studied, memorized, or known—they were given to be proclaimed. Of course, to proclaim them effectively we must read, study, memorize, and know them. That is why Paul earlier said in , "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The unashamed gospel worker rightly divides the word so as to help others, that they may be made wise to salvation and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This was Paul's entire aim. In he writes, "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." This is why Paul says, "Preach the word." The Scriptures were inspired to be proclaimed.
Be Ready, In Season and Out of Season
Paul does not only say preach the word—he says, "Be ready in season and out of season." To be ready means to do this with persistence, whether or not the circumstances are favorable. And when Paul wrote, the circumstances were not favorable.
We have been a privileged people. In our lifetime, here in the United States, we have enjoyed freedom of religion, freedom of worship, freedom to gather, and freedom to declare what we believe in the public square. That has not been the case for many throughout church history, and it is not the case for many today, where being a public witness for Christ is against the law. But Paul says: because it is becoming difficult, you must be ready and persistent even when circumstances are unfavorable.
This is a recurring theme in both letters to Timothy, because reading between the lines, Timothy was timid, worried, reserved. And I suggest many of us are the same. Even though we face no persecution, we still grow a little reserved when a coworker mocks the things of God, belittles faith, and we feel a stirring to speak up—but we shy away, afraid people might look at us funny. That is not abnormal; Timothy had it too. So Paul gives him this stern charge. We must stand ready and persistent with the Word of God.
Always Ready to Give a Defense
How do we do that? Peter gives an answer in : "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." Lift God high in your heart, value Him and His Word, and then be ready—the same readiness Paul commands—to give a defense.
The word "defense" is apologia, from which we get apologetics. Give an answer for your belief and your hope, with meekness and reverence. You don't have to be a jerk about it. If you are a Christian, you trust in God and in Christ who rose from the dead, and you have a hope of being redeemed for eternity. People in our culture think that is nuts, and they have questions, opinions, and views they are quick to share. Be ready to give an answer.
You may say, "I don't know the answer to that question." Then find it. There are volumes of books and hours of teaching from faithful men and women of God who have studied these things for centuries and produced incredibly good answers. Every difficult question about faith and God has a valid, good answer. If it did not, that would call into question the truth of God Himself. I have found that every time someone brings me a hard question I had not considered, and I look into it, there is a good answer that satisfies not only their question but the question they planted in my heart. If God is real, He should be able to stand up to questioning.
People do ask, and they genuinely want to know. Often those who are the most skeptical, with the biggest questions, are those who never got a satisfactory answer when they were younger. They went to church and found no one to give them the apologia, so their biology, psychology, or philosophy class seemed to offer a better answer—not actually better, but better to them.
Convince, Rebuke, Exhort—With All Longsuffering
Back in , Paul says to be ready to "convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." There are three imperatives here. Because the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, we must be ready at all times to use them in the way they are most effective. Doctrine establishes the true plumb line of what is right; reproof exposes where we are out of alignment; correction brings us back; instruction trains us in righteousness.
Now, some people think the Bible's value is as a moral code. Listen to the political pundits who speak of the Judeo-Christian ethic on which the nation was founded, and who say we are in a mess because we have drifted from those values. There is some truth in that. Others see the Scriptures as a helpful aid to understanding history—and there is truth there too. The Old Testament is one of the longest written histories of the ancient Near East, giving us much of our knowledge of Babylon, Assyria, Syria, the Medo-Persian Empire, and Egypt. Still others treat the Bible as allegorical mythology that proposes important truths about human nature, as taught in many universities today.
All of those views contain some truth. But I suggest to you the greatest value of the Scriptures is that they are most profitable for establishing what is true and right—doctrine by which we measure our lives, reproof to realign our beliefs and practices, correction to lead us into rightness before God and man, and instruction in righteousness. That is why I urge you, my students, and everyone I meet to read, study, memorize, and meditate on the Scriptures: so we can be made wise to salvation, and so we can patiently convince, correct, and call others to trust in Jesus Christ.
They That Sow Reap Only by Patience
Notice those words: "with all longsuffering." One of our biggest problems—both with ourselves and with others—is that we want instantaneous results. We feed our impatience in American culture in a big way. Remember when, if you wanted to see a movie, you had to drive to the theater, wait in line for a ticket, wait in line for a seat with your feet sticking to the floor, and sit through previews? Then came the little black boxes with tape inside, but you still had to drive to a store, find the title, and rewind it before returning it or get charged. Then came discs, then mail-order envelopes that took days, then streaming—and now we get angry waiting three minutes for it to buffer. We live in the 21st century; we want it now.
We want the fruit of God's Word in our lives and others' lives immediately. But God's powerful Word is not quick—it is effective and powerful, yet it works over time. I have seen it in my own life and in yours: as we submit to the teaching of the Word, its doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction, our lives change and transform for the better—but not all at once. They that sow God's Word reap only by persistent patience.
James understood this. In he writes, "My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience." Take Isaiah, who prophesied to Judah some 2,800 years ago through the reigns of four kings over fifty to sixty years—and nearly nobody listened. Or Jeremiah, who came after him, with some forty-five years of ministry and essentially zero converts.
At the very start of Isaiah's ministry, in , God told him: go preach to people with hard hearts and dull ears who will not listen at all. Isaiah's response was the same one we would give: "How long, O Lord?"—hoping for maybe five weeks. And God answered, "Until they are all consumed and destroyed." One commentator summarized it: "Isaiah, this is your calling—preach them to hell." That is sobering. Yet God promised a remnant—a tenth would remain. Let patience have its perfect work in you, that you may be complete, lacking nothing ().
The Time Will Come
Why must we maintain this patience? Look at : "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Underline the word will. It is certain.
Many read this as an end-times prediction. But I suggest this is not merely an eschatological forecast. It is a statement of a recurring reality throughout all the seasons in which the church works in the world: there are times when the world is simply not receptive to the Word of God. We saw it already in , in the days of Jehoshaphat and Ahab. Ahab kept four hundred prophets of Baal—soothsayers who spoke soothing words to make him feel good—because people would rather hear that.
It was the same in Isaiah's day. In , the people say to the seers, "See no more visions! Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel." The New Living Translation puts it bluntly: "Tell us nice things, tell us lies." And in Jeremiah's day, : "The prophets prophesy falsely... and My people love to have it so." People would rather hear lies because it makes them feel better. It happened then; it will happen again; it is happening now.
The Sower Expects Seasons of Drought
Paul says, "Timothy, I don't want you to be unaware—it will happen. It is inevitable. They will not accept what you have to say." The persistent and patient sower expects seasons of drought. There are times of famine. I believe it is in the book of Amos that Scripture speaks of a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord.
We do not live at a time when there is a famine of the Word of the Lord—we have an unprecedented wealth of good resources, with solid Bible teaching available online twenty-four hours a day. But there is a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord, because people can shut their ears and harden their hearts.
What should we do in such a famine? : "But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." A lack of receptiveness on the part of hearers does not justify a withdrawal of the workers from the work God has called us to. We live in a day when people say, "I don't want to hear what that has to say. What does a book written thousands of years ago on another continent have to do with my life in 2019? That's just the ramblings of people in the middle Bronze Age. We're so progressive." But the unreceptiveness of the hearers does not justify our withdrawal.
The Persistent Sower Endures Until the Harvest
If the farmer wanted instantaneous results, he wouldn't be in farming—he'd be a grocer. Paul wrote in , "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Paul gives Timothy four exhortations.
Be watchful. Our tendency is to fall asleep, like the disciples in Gethsemane. Jesus said, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation," and went off to pray. Each time He returned, He found them sleeping—offering a "sleep offering" to the Lord. I'm right there with Peter on that one. Paul says in , "Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."
Endure afflictions. Timothy, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." If you stand on the side of Scripture and boldly proclaim the truth, even in a culture without physical violence against your faith, you will suffer affliction at some level—the derision of a coworker, being thought a fool. Our natural inclination is to flee difficult things; Paul says endure.
Do the work of an evangelist. You may not feel gifted or called as an evangelist. An evangelist is simply one who speaks forth the gospel. You picture Billy Graham or Greg Laurie and say, "That's not me." Timothy was probably geared as a pastor-teacher and didn't see himself as an evangelist—which is exactly why Paul had to tell him this. Not seeing yourself as gifted does not excuse you from the work of evangelism.
Fulfill your ministry. Another translation says, "Make full proof of your ministry." One commentator put it: discharge all the duties of your ministry until the work is done. In the next section, Paul immediately models this: "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."
Paul says, "Timothy, the race is yours now. I've finished mine; my departure is at hand. But you carry it on." And Timothy faithfully discharged the duties of his ministry—how do I know? Because we are here today. The baton has been handed down, generation after generation, for twenty centuries. Now it is ours, in our day, to preach the Word, to be ready in season and out of season, to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine—even when people are not receptive to the truth.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we need Your grace and Your strength, Your empowering, to discharge the work You've called us to—to make full proof of this ministry, to do the work of evangelists. You have called every one of us who have trusted in You; as we have freely received, may we freely give to others this week. You have good works prepared before the foundation of the world that we would walk in them, and I pray that by Your directing and empowering we would walk in those things for Your glory, because there are many people here in our county who need You, Jesus. God, help us to be a light to those in darkness, for Your name's sake. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those who agreed said, Amen.
All exhorted Timothy to preach the word and to be ready to do so. I believe that calling and exhortation is for us as well. Open with me to Second Timothy, chapter 4, as we consider that together. You don't have to sit down just yet. If you would take out your Bibles, if you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We're going to be in the New Testament book of Second Timothy, so open to about the very end of your Bible and turn to the left. You'll find Second Timothy, chapter 4.
As you are turning there, I have a little bit of news to share with you. The race was closed near the end, but Cross-Connection Church is in first place for the Walk for Life. Thank you to our team captain, Diane, who is somewhere here. Yes, as you can see, for like forever, it's just the way it is. We love those other churches, but they'll just have to do better. Next week, we'll be talking about humility, so thank you to all of you who helped with the Walk for Life.
Obviously, the winner in all of this is the moms who are helped through Alternatives Medical Center, and we are grateful to partner with them. Thank you for your prayers for the ministry and for giving to the ministry as well. We think it's a very important ministry here in Escondido, especially as you look at the things that have happened in legislation and judicial decisions over the last three months. It reminds us how important the Walk for Life is and the work that Alternatives does. So, thank you very much. We can give a hand to Alternatives for sure.
Now, Second Timothy, chapter 4, . There, Paul says, "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound
Turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you, be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Father, as we consider the Scriptures together today, I pray that the exhortations of this passage would ready our hearts to receive them. I ask that you would continue to do the work in us that is brought about by the working of your Word and by the power of your Spirit. Jesus, you said that you would give us the Spirit of Truth, who would guide us into all truth and teach us all things. So, Holy Spirit, we pray for your instruction. We pray for ready minds and ready hearts to receive it.
Lord, we pray that just as the Scriptures say, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church." We want to be open and receptive to your Word because we believe that your Word is living and powerful, and that it has the ability to transform us by the renewing of our minds. This transformation enables us to show throughout the week what is your good and perfect will in this world.
So, God, we give you this time. We pray for your wisdom, and we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.
It is written in the Old Testament book of First Kings, chapter 22, : "For three years there was no war between Syria and Israel." During the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel. During the visit, King Ahab of Israel said to his officials, "Do you realize that the town of Ramah Gilead belongs to us, and yet we've done nothing to recapture it from the king of Syria after they have taken it from us?"
Then King Ahab turned to King Jehoshaphat and asked, "Will you join me in the battle to recover Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "Why, of course! You and I are as one; my troops are your troops, and my horses are your horses." Jehoshaphat added, "But first, let's find out what the Lord says."
So the king of Israel summoned the...
There were about 400 prophets, and the king asked them, "Should I go to make war against Syria at Ramoth-Gilead, or should I hold back?" All four hundred prophets replied, "Yes, go right ahead. The Lord will give the king victory."
However, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, asked, "Is there not also a prophet of the Lord here? We should ask him the same question." The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "There is one more man who could consult the Lord for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me. His name is Micah, the son of Imlah."
Jehoshaphat replied, "That's not the way the king should talk. Let us hear what he has to say." So, King Ahab of Israel called one of his officials and said, "Quick, bring Micah, the son of Imlah."
King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah dressed in their royal robes and sat on thrones at the threshing floor near the gate of Samaria. All of Ahab's four hundred prophets were prophesying there in front of them. One of them, Zedekiah, the son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, "This is what the Lord says: With these horns, you will gore the Syrians to death." All the other prophets agreed, saying, "Yes, go up to Ramoth-Gilead and be victorious, for the Lord will give the king victory."
Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micah said to him, "Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with their promises." Micah replied, "As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say."
When Micah arrived before King Ahab, Ahab asked him, "Micah, should we go to war against Ramoth-Gilead, or should we hold back?" Micah replied sarcastically, "Yes, go up. Be victorious, for the Lord will give you victory."
But the king replied sharply, "How many times must I demand that you speak only the truth to me when you speak for the Lord?" Then Micah told him, "I had a vision. I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, 'Their king is dead.'"
Has been killed. Send them to their home in peace. Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, "Did I not tell you he never prophesies anything but trouble for me?"
This is one of those flyover passages in the Old Testament. I say "flyover passages" because you know how it is: you make a commitment to read through the Bible in a year, but by the time you get to First Kings, you're kind of cruising. You're already three weeks behind, trying to catch up, and so you just kind of fly over a passage like this. In flying over a passage like this, you can miss that there are some really important, deep truths found here, written many thousands of years ago.
We are prone to quickly move through the Scriptures, just reading because we have a checkbox to mark off that we said we would read this passage. However, there is some powerful, important truth here, a point that happens to be right at the center of the text we are looking at this morning in Second Timothy chapter 4.
Like it or not, it's part of our nature—probably part of our fallen nature. I would suggest it is part of our nature to only want to hear and receive good news. We don't really like challenging, hard words, but the Scriptures are full of a lot of challenging words for us. Because we have this tendency, this propensity to only want to hear good news and not challenging bad news, we can sometimes quickly skip over things.
Paul knows that this is true in our nature, and therefore he gives Timothy a very serious, albeit simple, admonition—a very strong charge here in Second Timothy chapter 4, . "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word!"
The passage begins with the word "therefore." You see it just a few words in: "I charge you therefore." That word almost always reminds us to look back and consider what was said before. So, when the writer says "therefore," we look back just a few verses to chapter 3, the passage we were looking at last week together, beginning in , where we find that the Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation by...
Faith in Christ Jesus is essential because the Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. In of chapter 3, it states that the Scriptures are inspired, which means they are God-breathed. For the last 2,000 years, Christians have held this truth in all of their creeds. They believe that the Word of God, the Canon of Scripture, was inspired as holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write these things. This allows us to know the mind, will, and heart of God.
The Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. They are inspired, God-breathed, and useful. In , it mentions four specific uses, which we examined in depth last Sunday. You can find that message online if you missed it. The Scriptures are useful for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
When we read in chapter 4, , the word "therefore," it reminds us that because the Scriptures are inspired and useful, I charge you. Paul writes to Timothy with the most solemn admonition. This series of ours is called "Last Words" because these are the last words that the Apostle Paul wrote. He wrote extensively in the New Testament, including Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and so forth—13 letters written by Paul over nearly 20 years.
Here are his last words, written under duress. He recognizes that he is in prison and that it is very likely he will soon be executed for his faith in Christ, not for any evil he has done, but simply because he was a diligent messenger of the gospel. This was in opposition to the emperor of the day and, ultimately, to the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.
He was speaking a word that was the Word of God, but it was against many of the things taking place in the world during his time. Facing a hard path ahead, these are his final words to Timothy, who was his son in the faith. He says, "Timothy, I charge you," and he gives this solemn admonition and exhortation with a stern warning. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge.
The living and the dead will stand before Him at His appearing and His kingdom. I put you to account before God, who will one day stand before you. You will stand before Him, and He will stand as judge.
If you're looking for a compelling reason to get into spiritual shape, that is a pretty strong reason. Sometimes we need a compelling reason to get into physical shape, right? It’s nice to have an event on the calendar, like a vacation. You have that vacation planned three, six, or eight months away, and you want to fit into a bathing suit. There’s a compelling reason to lose some weight and get ready for it.
In like manner, we have a compelling calendar event regarding our spiritual lives. We have this word predicted to us that one day we will stand before the Lord. The Bible describes a day that we believe is yet future, where the church corporately is gathered to be with the Lord. We will see Him and stand before Him. However, even if we don't see that event ourselves, each of us will individually have a meeting one day with the Lord. The statistics are staggering: 10 out of 10 people die. There will be that day when we stand before Him.
Paul puts Timothy in mind of that day. There is a compelling calendar event. I charge you in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word.
Point number one on your outline is that the Scriptures were inspired to be proclaimed. That is why the Lord gave them; He had a purpose in inspiring the Scriptures. The words of Scripture were not given merely to be read, studied, memorized, or known; they were given to be proclaimed. Of course, to proclaim the Scriptures effectively, we need to read them.
Study them, memorize them, and know them. That's why Paul gave the previous exhortation a couple of chapters before in 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, : "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." We have to read, study, memorize, and know the Scriptures if we are going to do what God has called us to do, which is to proclaim them.
The unashamed gospel worker is one who diligently and rightly divides the word of truth to help others proclaim and preach the inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are useful and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, so that the people would be wise in Christ Jesus and thoroughly equipped for every good work. We gather together corporately, and then we hopefully study the Scriptures individually and diligently so that we are ready to do what God desires us to do.
The Scriptures were inspired to be proclaimed, and this was Paul's purpose; his life was dedicated to this mission. We see it spoken of in another one of his letters. If you are in 2nd Timothy, turn to the left just a few pages to find another one of Paul's letters called Colossians. In Colossians, chapter 1, near the end of the chapter, he writes in : "Him we preach," speaking about Jesus, "warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end, I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily."
Paul says this has been his aim: to preach Christ, warning every person and teaching every person in all wisdom so that they might be presented before Christ perfect. This is why Paul, in 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, , says, "Preach the word." Not only preach the word, but be ready—in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Be ready.
Be ready. It means to do this with persistence, whether or not the circumstances are favorable. One Greek lexicon says of this word, "Preach the word; be ready. Do it with persistence, even if the circumstances are not favorable."
At the time when Paul gave this exhortation, the circumstances were not favorable. We have been privileged to live here in the United States of America, where there is freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom for us to gather together to study the Scriptures. We also have the freedom of speech to declare what we believe in public spaces. We have been a privileged people throughout our lifetime, not having been under duress while giving forth the Word of God. We have favorable circumstances, but that has certainly not been the case for many throughout church history, and it is certainly not the case for many today in other parts of the world.
There are places in the world where being a public witness for Christ is against the law. Paul would say, because it was becoming difficult for him to do it in his day, that we need to be ready and persistent in this work, even if the circumstances are unfavorable. This has been a common theme in Paul's letters to Timothy. In First Timothy and Second Timothy, he challenges and encourages him to be bold, to be strong, to preach the Word, and to speak forth sound doctrine.
You can read between the lines, and it is very clear and important to recognize that Timothy was timid and worried. I would suggest that there are probably a number of us here who find ourselves in similar situations. Even though the circumstances are not unfavorable and we are not facing persecution, we may still feel a little reserved and concerned about speaking up.
For instance, when a co-worker is speaking against the things of God, mocking, or belittling faith, religion, and Christianity, we may feel a stirring to speak up and say something. However, we might hesitate, thinking that people might look at us funny. This temptation to shy away is not abnormal; Timothy had that struggle, and it is very clear in the text. Paul had to give him this stern charge: "I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead."
Appearing preached the Word and be ready. The Scriptures were inspired to be proclaimed.
Point number two: we must stand ready and persistent with the Word of God. We've got to be ready; we've got to be persistent with God's Word. How do we do that? Well, I think Peter gives at least some answer to the question of how in one of his letters. It's to the right in your Bible. If you'd like to turn there, you can find it in First Peter, chapter 3, . There, Peter says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear."
So how do we prepare? How do we stand ready to be persistent with the Word of God? Peter says to sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. This means to lift God high in your hearts and to highly value the Lord and His Word. Then, always be ready. This is the same wording that Paul uses in this passage. Ready to do what? To give a defense. The word "defense" there is "apologia" in the Greek; it's where we get our concept of apologetics in Christianity. Apologetics is to give a defense or an answer.
He says to always be ready to give a defense or an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear. You don't have to be a jerk about it; do it with meekness and reverence. But give an answer for the belief, the faith, and the hope that you have.
If you're a Christian today, you have belief in God and trust in Christ, who rose from the dead. You have a hope that He is going to redeem and save you to be with Him for eternity. So you have this belief and you have this hope. There are people, obviously, in our culture who don't believe that and think it's nuts. They have questions, opinions, views, and ideas, and they are very quick to share their views with us. Often, we find ourselves just kind of nodding along, thinking, "Yes, that's a good point."
Give a defense; be ready to give an answer. You might say, "Well, I don't know the answer to that question." If that's the case, find it.
Realize there are volumes and volumes of books and hours and hours of teaching by faithful men and women of God who have, for centuries, studied the Scriptures and have come up with incredibly good answers to the hard questions. Every single difficult question that someone will bring to you about faith and God has a very valid and good answer. They all have good answers, and if there is not a valid and good answer, then it calls into question the truth and veracity of God.
I have found that every time I'm confronted with a difficult question, I have some pretty challenging questions myself. In fact, you could text your questions to us, and we'll try to give an answer. Every single time someone brings me a challenging question, I think, "Gosh, I hadn't thought about that yet." I take the time to look into it and think about it. You know what? Every single time, I've found a good answer that not only satisfies their question but also satisfies the question that they planted in my mind and heart.
If God is real, then He should be able to stand up to questioning. So, always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks for a reason for the hope that you have within you. They will ask, and they do ask, because they genuinely want to know. That's what I have found in talking with people who do not yet have faith in Christ. When they have questions, they actually want to know if there is an answer to this.
I've also found that a lot of times, those who are the most skeptical and have the biggest questions are those who never got a satisfactory answer to a tough question when they were younger. They probably went to church, and there was no one to give them the apologia, a defense. So, they just said, "You know, this over here in my biology class or this over here in my psychology or philosophy class seems to have a better answer than you have." It's not a better answer, but it seems to them to be a better answer.
So, be ready to do what? Well, back to 2nd Timothy chapter 4, it says, "Be ready in season and out of season." That means at all times, to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. You can count these up in different ways; these are three exhortations or four here. But very clearly, there are three imperatives.
Is a command. He says, "Timothy, you need to be ready to convince people with the Scriptures." If we back up a little bit, we see that the Scriptures are useful; that is, they are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. If the Scriptures are effective for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, then we need to be ready at all times to use them in the way that they are most profitable and useful.
He says they are useful for doctrine. As I mentioned last week, this establishes the true line, the plumb line. They establish what is right and true, and because they show what is right and true, they expose and reprove our areas where we are out of alignment, where we are not measuring up. However, they also have the ability to correct us and bring us back in line, and then to instruct us in righteousness. The Scriptures are useful and profitable for these purposes, and if they are, then we need to be ready to use them in the way that they are most effective.
Now, some people, when thinking about the Scriptures, believe that the Bible has value as a moral code. If you listen to some of the discussions in our day, it is interesting to note that there are a number of political commentators in our nation who often talk about the Judeo-Christian values, morality, and ethics of the United States of America. The United States was founded upon a Judeo-Christian ethic, and they say the Bible has value for its morality; it establishes a moral plumb line. They argue that this is the value of the Bible.
I would suggest there is some truth in that statement. There are those political pundits who say we have drifted away from the Judeo-Christian values of the Scriptures, and that is why we see the mess we are in as a nation. You can make a case for that, and I think there is some value and truth in it.
Some people think that the value of the Bible lies in its role as a moral code. There are others who see the Scriptures as a helpful aid in understanding history, which is certainly true, especially when you study the Old Testament. The Old Testament is one of the longest written histories of the ancient Near East, and virtually all cultures sprang from the ancient Near East.
The Bible gives us a great wealth of understanding of the history of the ancient Near East, including places like Babylon, Assyria, Syria, the Medo-Persian Empire, and Egypt. Much of our knowledge of ancient Near Eastern history comes from the text of the Bible. Therefore, some people argue that the value of the Scriptures lies in aiding us in understanding history. There is some truth to this view of the Scripture.
On the other hand, there is another group of people who seem to think that the Bible's strength or value is in its role as a good allegorical mythos. They view it as mythical literature that proposes important truths about human nature. This perspective is especially prevalent in many of the four-year universities in our nation today. When discussing the literature of the Bible, they often frame it in terms of mythology, suggesting that there is value in this mythology.
Some people see the Scriptures as being useful in various ways: as mythology, as history, and as a moral code. All of these interpretations can hold some truth. However, I suggest to you that the greatest value of the Scripture lies in its ability to establish what is true and right doctrine by which we measure and judge our lives. The Scriptures serve for reproof, helping us realign our understanding, beliefs, actions, and practices. They provide correction so that we can be led into rightness before man and before God, offering instruction in righteousness.
Since the Scriptures are most profitable in this work, we need to be prepared and willing to use them to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. I encourage my students at the Bible College and the people I interact with on a regular basis to read, study, get to know, meditate upon, and memorize the Scriptures. This is essential so that we can be wise to salvation, which is by faith in Jesus Christ. It also enables us to learn how to patiently convince, correct, and call others to trust in Jesus Christ. That is why we need to know the Scriptures. Paul said to Timothy, "You have known the Scriptures from childhood."
Know the Scriptures; therefore, preach the Word and proclaim the Gospel. Before we leave the truths of , I want to key in on those words: "with all longsuffering." Be ready to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering.
One of the big problems that we have, both in dealing with ourselves and in dealing with others, is that we want instantaneous results. We don't like to wait for anything. I mean, we live in a culture that has a real hard time with waiting, and we just kind of feed our impatience in American culture in a big way.
Maybe you remember a time when, if you really wanted to see a movie, you had to wait until it came to the theater. Then you had to actually drive there and wait in line to get a ticket. After that, you had to wait in line to get into a seat, as your feet were sticking to the floor. You had to wait while watching all those previews. But we could do better.
Then we got these little black boxes with winding tape inside. Remember those? But you still had to go to a store, look around to find it, and hopefully it was there. If it wasn't, you'd put your name down to wait for it to come back. It was just terrible. Not only did you have to get the device that played it, but you also had to get the device on top of that to rewind it. Remember when you had to do that? They would charge you if you brought it back and it wasn't rewound.
We are so impatient. You get home, and you realize it's not rewound. You have to rewind it, which is totally inefficient. So we didn't like rewinding. Then we got discs, but again, we still had to go to the source. We thought we could do better.
Eventually, you could subscribe, and every few days, they would send you some envelopes in the mail. Do you remember that? You would put a stamp on something, and it would come in the mail. But you still had to wait a few days. Sometimes you'd get that disc, put it in, and it wouldn't read very well because someone else who used it before you had scratched it. So you had to send it back and wait some more.
We are so impatient. We think we could do better. Now we can stream these things over the internet.
Internet is slow, and now I have to wait like a full three minutes. It just makes me mad to stream that thing because I need a faster internet connection. This takes way too long. I don't want to wait; I should not have to wait. I live in the 21st century. I want it now, and that's the way we are. We want it immediately, and we want the fruit of what the Word of God does in our lives and in the lives of other people right now. We want instantaneous results.
However, God's powerful Word is just not quick. It's effective; it's powerful. I know this because I've seen it in my own life, and I've seen it in the lives of others as they submit themselves to the teaching of the Word of God—its doctrine, its reproof, its correction, and its instruction in righteousness. We see our lives, over time, begin to change and transform for the better, but it doesn't happen immediately. It doesn't happen all at once. The work requires complete patience. We must stand ready and persistent with the Word of God, but we must do so with all longsuffering.
Point number three on your outline: they that sow God's Word reap only by patient or persistent patience. The Apostle James understood this truth. He wrote in , "My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example." He says to remember the prophets of old—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Obadiah, Malachi, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Habakkuk. Take them as an example of suffering and patience. They faithfully, day after day, gave the Word of God with patience.
I'll take Isaiah and Jeremiah as an example. Isaiah prophesied this 2,800 years ago.
He prophesied to the people of Israel, specifically the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, through the reign of four kings over the space of probably 50 to 60 years. During that time, nearly nobody listened to his message; they all rejected it. Jeremiah, who came after him twenty-five hundred years ago, had about forty-five years of ministry with zero converts.
Now, God told Isaiah, as recorded in , "I want you to go preach to these people. They have a hard heart; they have dull ears. They’re not going to listen to you at all." This was at the beginning of Isaiah's ministry. God says, "This is my calling; they’re not going to listen to you."
What was Isaiah's response? It’s the same response you would give. As recorded in , he asks, "How long, O Lord? How long do I have to do this?" He probably hoped for a short duration, maybe five weeks. But God responds, "Until they are all consumed and destroyed." One commentator on that passage said, "Isaiah, this is your calling: preach them to hell." That’s sobering. They will not listen to you.
However, God says there will be a remnant; a tenth part will remain. So, there was a remnant. God's Word reaps only by persistent patience. Let patience have its perfect work in you, that you may be complete, lacking nothing, as stated in . We need to maintain persistent patience.
Why? Look at . It says, "For the time will come"—underline the word "will" in your Bible—"when they will not endure sound doctrine; but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables."
Persistent patience is necessary because it is certain that times will come. The inevitability of this is clear: times will come when people will not endure sound doctrine. They will not be receptive; they will not accept the truth.
Sound clear teaching of the Scriptures establishes what is true and right. There will come a time when many will not accept it. Many people read , as a prediction of something that will happen at the end times, just before the Lord returns. However, I want to suggest that this is not predicting some end-times lack of acceptance or unwillingness to receive the Word of God. While that may happen in the end times, this is not an eschatological prediction. It is simply a statement of the general reality throughout the seasons in which the Church operates in the world.
There are times when the world's reaction to the Word of God is not very receptive. This was very clear in , which we discussed earlier. During the time of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and Ahab, king of Israel, we see this dynamic at play. You may not know the name Ahab, but if you have read through the Old Testament, you will become familiar with him and his infamous wife, Jezebel. Ahab was not a good man at all.
On the other hand, Jehoshaphat was a king who, in many ways, was trying to walk with the Lord in a right way. It seems he was attempting to bring some sort of restoration to the nation of Israel. The people had been divided into two kingdoms: Ahab's northern kingdom and Jehoshaphat's southern kingdom. Jehoshaphat was trying to promote unity in the nation, which is a commendable effort.
He reached out to Ahab, who said, "Hey, listen, we’re brothers. We’re all of the same nation. Yes, we have two different kingdoms—you’re a king, and I’m a king—but we’re still the same people. Will you come with me, and we will lay siege to the city? The Syrians took it from us, and we will go get it back." Jehoshaphat wisely responded, "Sounds great! Let’s ask God what He wants."
Ahab agreed, saying, "That’s a great idea! Let’s talk to my four hundred prophets of Baal, not of God." They all said, "Yes, go do it!"
Joseph, it says, "Yeah, I'm thinking that's probably not the word of the Lord." Dude, is there a prophet here we can inquire about? I don't like him; he never says anything that I like.
In Old Testament times, many of those prophets, like the four hundred prophets in First Kings, were called soothsayers. They spoke soothing words to make people feel good, and we would rather hear that. During the time of Jehoshaphat and Ahab, people did not want to hear what God had to say. This was also the case during the time of Isaiah, the prophet, 2,800 years ago. Isaiah records this in : "For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. They say to the seers, 'See no more visions.' They say to the prophets, 'Give us no more visions of what is right. Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.'"
The New International Version or the New Living Translation puts it this way: "Tell us nice things, tell us lies. Forget this doom and gloom. Get off the narrow path, stop telling us about your Holy One of Israel."
So, it's no different now than it was during the time of Ahab, Isaiah, or Jeremiah. About 2,500 years ago, Jeremiah wrote in : "An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own power. Get this: my people love to have it so." My people would rather hear lies and falsehoods because it makes them feel better. It happened then, and it will happen again.
Paul says that a time will come when they will not accept the sound teaching of Scriptures. It is happening now.
Point number four: the persistent and patient sower expects seasons of drought and is not surprised by this. Paul tells Timothy, "I don't want you to be unaware; it will happen. It is inevitable they will not accept what you have to say." But the persistent and patient sower...
He expects seasons of drought. There are times when there is a famine. In fact, I believe it's in the Book of Amos, where it talks about a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord. A famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord.
Now, we live at a time when it cannot be said that there is a famine of the Word of the Lord. We have access to a greater degree than probably anyone at any other time to a wealth of very good resources of the Word of the Lord. You can listen to and watch online endlessly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with endless good teaching from solid Bible teachers that I would highly recommend. So, there is not a lack of the Word of the Lord, but there is a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord.
Why? Because we can shut our ears and harden our hearts. But what should we do in light of a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord? Second Timothy, chapter four, verse five, says, "But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." Timothy, and church, a lack of receptiveness on the part of the hearers does not justify a withdrawal of the workers from the work that God has called us to.
We live in a culture and a day where people say, "I don't want to hear what that has to say. This has no bearing on my life in 2019. What's this that was written thousands of years ago on a different continent at a different time? This is just the ramblings of people who lived in the Middle Bronze Age." That's the view of some people who speak against the Word.
They say, "The Middle Bronze Age? What's that? We're so progressive; we're so far beyond this. How could you possibly think this is going to help you in any way?" That's what the world says. The lack of receptiveness of the hearers does not justify that we would withdraw from the work that God has called us to.
Point number five: the persistent sower endures in the work until the harvest. If the farmer wanted instantaneous results, he would not be a farmer.
Results: he wouldn't be in farming; he'd be a grocer. Let us not grow weary in doing good. Paul wrote to the Galatians in : "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you shall reap if you do not lose heart."
So, Paul gives Timothy four exhortations, and these are independent clauses. First, be watchful. Our tendency is to not be watchful, to fall asleep. We see this with Jesus's disciples. You may remember that Jesus calls his disciples to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane the night that he would be betrayed. He says, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." He goes a few yards away and starts to pray. When he comes back the first time, what does he find? They are solid in prayer? Oh, just fervently in prayer? No, they are sleeping. They are offering a sleep offering to the Lord. I'm good at that one; I like that one too. I'm right there with Peter.
So, he says, "Watch and pray," and he goes and prays again. When he comes back the second time, where are they? Sleeping. The third time? Sleeping. They are sleeping on the job. We have a propensity to not be watchful. Paul, in , says, "Let us not sleep, but let us watch and be sober."
Secondly, he says, "Endure afflictions." Yes, Timothy, if you do this, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer affliction. Persecution is a reality. If you stand on the side of Scripture and boldly proclaim the truth of the Word of God, even in this culture where we do not face physical violence against our faith in Christ, you will suffer affliction at some level. The derision of a co-worker may make you feel like a fool for your faith, but endure affliction. Our natural inclination is to flee from difficult things, but he says to endure.
Thirdly, do the work of an evangelist. You may not feel that you are gifted or called as an evangelist. What is an evangelist? Someone who speaks forth the gospel. You might say, "I'm not called to be an evangelist; I'm not gifted to be an evangelist," because in your mind you see Billy Graham or Greg Laurie.
Someone else may be doing that thing you say you're not called to do or not gifted for. I think Paul had to tell Timothy to do the work of an evangelist because Timothy was probably geared to be a pastor-teacher and didn't see himself as an evangelist. However, Paul says to do the work of an evangelist. You may not see yourself as gifted or called as an evangelist, but that does not excuse you from the work of evangelism. He says to fulfill your ministry. Another translation states to make full proof of your ministry. One commentator says to discharge all the duties of your ministry until the work is done.
In the next section, which we will look at next week, we see that Paul immediately turns from there and speaks of how he has fulfilled this work. He says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing."
So, Paul tells Timothy, "The race is yours now. I've finished the race, and the time of my departure is at hand. I'm going to die, but you carry it on." Timothy faithfully discharged the duties of the ministry. How do I know? Because we are here today, and the baton has been handed down generation after generation for twenty centuries. It is ours now, in our day, to preach the word, to be ready in season and out of season, to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, even if people are not receptive to the truth.
Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Lord, we need Your grace and Your strength, Your empowering to discharge the work You have called us to, to make full proof of this ministry, to do the work of evangelists. You have called every single one of us who have trusted in You, as we have freely received, to freely give that out to others this week. You have good works prepared before us.
The foundation of the world is that we would walk in them. I pray that by Your directing and empowering, we would walk in those things for Your glory. There are a lot of people here in our county who need You, Jesus.
So, God, help us to be a light to those who are in darkness. For Your name's sake, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
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