Good morning, it's good to see each of you today. I'd ask you to please take your Bibles and turn to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. We have enjoyed our time in the book of 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul's last will and testament to his young son in the faith. And we've learned much about what is most important on the heart of the Apostle Paul. We know that he's facing martyrdom, he's in prison, and he urges Timothy to retain the standard of sound words. He wants to see the gospel handed down to additional generations. and we live in difficult days. There is a famine for the Word of God in our day. The method of preaching the Word and the simplicity of preaching the Word is under attack, but also the message of it is to be proclaimed. The centrality of the cross of Christ is under attack. One of the Puritans said, preaching is the chariot that carries Christ to the people. And really, I think what we have in our day is the frog in the kettle syndrome. You know, when you put a frog in boiling hot water, what does it do? Jumps right out immediately, right? It's not that stupid. But if you put it in lukewarm water, just slowly increase the heat, the frog will actually boil to death. Well, what has happened is in this pagan culture, there's been this shift. And if we're honest, sometimes it does seem radical and a huge move all at once, but it's actually by degree, by degree, by degree, by degree. So when you step back, it looks completely unbiblical. And that is what has happened. There has been a departure from the centrality of preaching and embracing of all these other methods to meet felt needs and to entertain in our day. You see, they rely on their own power and wisdom rather than relying on the power of God, and so churches often compromise degree by degree by degree by degree. Others can overreact to that error and preach law excessively, and that's wrong as well. I am thankful that there is still a remnant of gospel-centered qualified and called preachers who want to fulfill their calling in speaking the truth in love for the glory of God alone. You see, it is those, that remnant, that preach Christ and Him crucified. They preach in the power of the Lord. And we agree with Paul, for I determined to do nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 2 Corinthians 4, we read it just a bit ago, but this is the New English translation. But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness and distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God. You see, our great need today is pulpit clarity. Clarity coming from the pulpit and the clear exposition of the Scriptures, not creative cleverness and gimmicks. We need clarity in the pulpit. If the Scriptures are, as we discussed last week, all-powerful, and regenerating, and quickening, and converting, and making wise, and sanctifying, and producing hope, and obedience, and cleansing the heart. If there are all these, this is the diet that the people of God need. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, taking from the First Catechism, Question of the Shorter, What is the chief end of preaching? It is to give men and women a sense of the presence of God. I like that. He also said in his book on preaching, preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. And today, that is Paul's great concern for Timothy. So we're going to go back to 3.16, and we're going to read through 4.5. Our text is 4.1-5 today. This was originally going to be two messages. We're going to do it in one. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching and reproof and correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge of the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and they will turn aside to myths. But you, Be sober in all things. Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Let's ask the Lord's help once again. Father, we thank you for the clarity of the Apostle Paul's words contained for us in this, his last letter that he wrote. And Lord, as we sense the weight of the very words that we have read, as we covered last week, how all Scripture is breathed out for you and is profitable for us, and how ministers are to take that Scripture and to preach it. And Lord, we pray that there would be clarity even now. We pray, Lord, that you would work in us a greater love for your Word, a desire to hear your Word proclaimed for the glory of Christ alone. Amen. Well, you'll remember last time we looked at the Apostle Paul urging him to continue on in verse 14 and chapter and verse 15. He talks about how the sacred writings, that you have known them from childhood, from being a baby, and that they are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation in God. And then he goes on to explain how all scripture is God-breathed, that unique word that occurs only there related to breath, pneumonia, that's God-breathed. It's the out-breathing of God. And we talked about organic inspiration. All Scripture is profitable for God's people, and we are to proclaim that. Spurgeon said, a sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution. We are to preach Christ. Christ is on every page of Scripture. Remember, Christ told the Pharisees, you search the Scriptures and I am on every page, essentially. That's a paraphrase of John 5. And then it's profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training that the man of God would be adequate and equipped. And so in light of that high view of the Bible and the high view of Scriptures, it should by necessity lead to a high view of preaching that word. It's not something to be taken, well, we can take it or leave it type of thing. Sadly today, there's a celebrity mentality. Clap for me, I'm so cool, I've got the skinny jeans, and I crack jokes, and I do this. And then the latest thing is these pastors zip lining onto the stage, the platform, from the back. I looked at three YouTube videos, Phil Johnson mentioned this in his session at the Shepherds Conference, and it's true, there really are guys to Mission Impossible music, you know, Star Wars music, and they really do, they come in from the back. I asked Marlon if it was possible, he said, you'd probably hurt yourself, so I decided I wouldn't demonstrate, but that's the kind of thing. And one of these videos, and I'm not kidding you, is one of these big churches, an older church with a balcony, and of course the camera's starting in the back, right, and it's empty. There's like 30 people here. I mean, this guy's desperate trying to fill the church, but he's going about it the wrong way. Ziplining on stage to Mission Impossible music and getting on the stage and saying, woo! You know, I'm so cool is not the way to reach souls for Christ. Paul says again and again, study what he says on preaching. Be a student of preaching as we don't peddle the Word of God. We proclaim it. We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus is Lord. You see, this self-centered, narcissistic culture has crept into the church, and not only that, it has crept into, sadly, those that would take the form of being preachers and teachers. Preaching is to come from the Bible. The act of preaching is the very mouthpiece of God. It's speaking what has already been revealed, not giving new revelation. The Puritans are so helpful in learning about preaching. They gave us major contributions after the Reformation as they rediscovered apostolic preaching and sought to put that into practice. They addressed the primacy of preaching. It was to address the mind and to move the heart and to speak to the conscience. is vitally important. In fact, one of the early Puritans, William Perkins, wrote a book, The Art of Prophesying. It's a book on preaching. It was published around 1599 or something like that. He was one of the early ones. But this book influenced so many other Puritans through the 1600s. But he wrote of the importance of addressing the various hearers in his congregation. He lists seven. unbelievers who are both ignorant and unteachable. Number two, some that are teachable but yet ignorant. Number three, some have knowledge but are not yet humbled. Number four, some that are humbled. Number five, some that do believe. Number six, some that are fallen and broken. Number seven, there is a mixed group at any given time. And so to address each group is important. Not necessarily those seven, but you're shooting at the unbelievers. You're edifying the believers. You're seeking to bring conviction to those that are wayward into their own sin. Thomas Watson says, ministers knock at the door of men's heart, but it's the spirit who comes with the key to open the heart. It's not man. Man has no ability because man is depraved. So we're going to look at this text under four points. First of all, the serious solemn charge regarding the ministry. Secondly, preach the word completely and thoroughly. Thirdly, an urgency of the ministry, because many will turn away. And then finally, a perspective on the ministry in verse five. So first of all, verse one here, this is very, very strong language. Paul says, I solemnly charge you, and he calls these witnesses. This charge comes with these witnesses in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. He even recalls the very coming, the second coming of Christ, as he speaks about the judge, the living and the dead, by His appearing in His kingdom. And so it's very, very clear here that this is very solemn. Paul's upcoming death is imminent, and so he makes this solemn charge. The word can mean to exhort with authority, to make a solemn declaration. And so he exhorts him before the very presence of God. Literally, before the face of God is what that word means. Stop and consider the majesty and the holiness of God to whom we will stand before, and how much more for those who take the Word of God as preachers and teachers. It should be in the forefront of your mind every time you stand behind a pulpit. It's as though there's words right here that says, with my word, handle with care. Be a diligent student and to study the word. An interesting story from history in the 1500s, Bishop Latimer, who would end up being burned at the stake by Queen Mary, but before that, under Henry VIII, these bishops would come and speak to the kings and parliament and so forth. And so, Henry VIII, Bishop Latimer comes and preaches a sermon, and it despised his majesty. It displeased him, and he was ordered to come back next Lord's Day and to preach again. Well, after coming the following week and reading his text, the bishop thus begun a sermon like this. Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch, the king's most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendeth, therefore take heed that you speak not a word that may displease. But then consider it well, Hugh, dost thou not know from whence thou comest, and upon whose message thou art sent? Even by the great and mighty God, who is all-present, and who beholdeth all of your ways, and who is able to cast thy soul into hell. Therefore take care that you deliver the message faithfully." And then he proceeded to preach the exact same message that he preached the previous week. So with that introduction of saying this great fear of before this monarch, but then to go on to say, but wait, there's a greater one, the one in heaven that I have to stand before. The story goes on, I didn't pace in the whole quote, but essentially the king calls him, how dare you to do such a thing? And he explained his conscience was bound to God and the king ultimately commended him for doing what he did. Solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who, Latimer, had a sense of the very presence of God as he would preach the Word. And then it says, who is the judge of the living and the dead, recalling that each of us will stand before God in various ways. Believers are examined and judged in a sense, but there's a judgment of the nations, the separation of the sheep and the goats. And then, of course, the great white throne judgment, where unbelievers will stand before him in Revelation chapter 20. What a difference between the human courts. I want my defense attorney. Wait a minute, I've got a couple of excuses. I'd like to cross-examine that. No, there's none of that. You'll stand before that judge speechless and naked with all the charges clearly before you if you're an unbeliever. And he brings up his appearing in his kingdom. The appearing means to shine forth, literally, epiphany, a manifestation of something that is supernatural. And this would have some historical backdrop in the first century, because anytime an emperor would come or enter a city, there would be all this pomp and manifestation of royalty and dominion, as the sovereign would pass through certain towns. And so he's recalling this idea. to young Timothy. Robert Murray McShane, I was gonna quote, look at number 545 in our Red Hymnal later. Robert Murray McShane wrote this hymn, When This Passing World Is Done. When I stand before your throne, dressed in beauty not my own, he goes on to say that not till then will I know how much I owe a man that was faithful. So that's the first, the appeal, the solemn charge, but secondly in verse two, to preach the word completely and thoroughly. Look at how he says it. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. The Word of God is glorious. Here we have the content of this charge. I solemnly charge you with all of these witnesses and then this is the content of the charge. To preach the Word is the sacred scriptures. It's the good deposit handed down to Timothy. It is the sound doctrine of which he talks in verse three. It is the truth of which he speaks about throughout this epistle. Of course, we study the Old Testament, all of these prophets of old, thus saith the Lord. They proclaimed a message. We must be those that take this command to heart. those that proclaim the Word of God or aspire to the ministry ought to be like Ezra in 710, where it says, he set his heart to study the Word, and to practice it, and to teach it. And so to study, but then to actually practice, and then to teach the statutes to the people. This is why preaching of the Word is vital. It allows God to speak through His Word, accompanied by His Spirit. It carries its own authority because it's God's Word, not the very mere opinions of man. It promotes biblical literacy amongst the people of God. And here in this one verse, there's five commands, five imperatives here that Paul lists. the preaching the word, the being ready, and the reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Of the 33 imperatives, which I've highlighted most of those as we've gone through, there's nine in our text. Some 26, 27% of the imperatives occur in verse 10. In our text, verse two and verse five, there's actually four more. So first of all, keruso, to preach, to be a herald, to announce the good news, to proclaim. And again and again, Paul says, I was appointed a preacher in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy 1.11, that I was appointed a preacher. Some people ask, well, where do you get your sermons from? Well, it's not like you go and get them from somewhere. They're right here. You're simply expounding the Word of God. Our preaching should be gospel-centered. It's virgin again. If any man preach one sermon without mentioning Christ's name in it, it ought to be his last, and certainly the last of any Christian who ought to hear that person preach. Of course, we believe that expository preaching is the plainest in equipping the people of God and the clearest in giving us biblical literacy. Secondly, under this head, preach the Lord always. He says, be ready in season and out of season. Be ready, whether it's convenient or it's not convenient. He does a play on these adverbs of Kairos where we get time and it's in season or out of season. Whether the people are picking up rocks or they're applauding at your message, to be ready and to be faithful and to proclaim that message. whether there's great fear and trepidation, or there's a great confidence to be faithful with the message. In other words, how you feel about the reception of the Word does not dictate how you modify the message. Jeremiah in another place says, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot endure it. This means that there is a urgency in the message, brethren, in light of the truth that it contains. I'll share after the service when we have the presentation, but there was one of the places that I preached in India, which was obviously very unfriendly. There were no believers there. We passed through at least four villages way off the beaten path, had to walk quite a distance where the car wouldn't go any further. And this Hindu village, there's men sneering, and it's not a warm welcome at all. I had to preach Christ all the more. And God blessed that time as well. Thirdly, preach the word pastorally. What do I mean by that? Well, look at those three next imperatives. Reprove, rebuke, exhort. Those are things that are to be done pastorally. To reprove is to express strong disapproval for a certain type of behavior. A rebuke is a strong admonishment to change that behavior. And that's really summed up in biblical church discipline, isn't it? It's restorative discipline. But then also to exhort. Parakaleio is the Greek word. To call alongside, literally. And it's a very broad word in the New Testament. It can even mean to admonish. It can mean to call alongside, or to comfort, or to encourage the weary. It's a very broad word. And so it's a recognition that God's sheep need to be strengthened. They need to be encouraged. They need to be ministered to. They need to be fed, and sometimes with milk, sometimes with steaks, sometimes with tri-tips, whatever. But they need to be fed the Word of God. Some come with many anxieties, and many fears, and uncertainties about a broad, a range of things. And so we're to reprove, rebuke, and to exhort. Pastors must seek to build up the true Christians and fortify their faith to prepare them for suffering and difficulties and trials that we know will come eventually. If you're not in a season, just wait a while, it will come. And then how? How is the minister to do this? Preach the word, be ready in season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with no patience and firmness, no, with great patience and instruction. Great patience and instruction, the idea of bearing up under provocation and forbearance is this particular word for patience. In other words, these three imperatives, these things are not always warmly received, are they? Sometimes they're stubborn sheep. Sometimes they've got little horns and they like to wiggle around. You can get hurt. You've got to step back. But you've got to be patient. And that instruction, which we come in the form of counseling and one-on-one, is important. Charles Simeon was a pastor in Cambridge 200 years ago. When he was appointed pastor, the people hated him. The pews actually had little locks on the doors so you couldn't get in to sit in the pews. So a few people would come and stand, but for 12 years, The large part of the church refused to attend his church. How did he endure? A contemporary wrote of him, he would arise at 4 a.m. in the winter, he would make a fire, and for four hours he would spend in prayers and devotions and asking for patience. Well, those people warmed up to him eventually, and he ministered there for 54 years, the first 12 being very difficult. He also had trials later in life where his tongue was stopped up, but that's another story. And so a faithful preacher here is to be one that does not compromise, that actually understands what the Word is, proclaims the Word, is ready when there's a ready reception, or when it could be a difficult reception, but the message does not change, with the goal of reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience. In Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, there's that beautiful picture in Interpreter's House. The very first room is the Interpreter's, the picture of the Holy Spirit. The very first room, there's a picture on the wall of what is called a grave man. The description goes like this. It had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, the law of truth was written on his lips, and the world was behind his back. And he stood as though he pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over his head." A picture of what a faithful minister should be, of the world in the right place to be pleading with sinners and to be speaking the truth in love. So, the firm charge to young Timothy, that the content of what that charge is, is in verse 2, but now, verses 3 and 4, the urgency of your ministry is set forth for us here. This is the reasons for the charge. Many professing Christians will actually turn away from the truth. The very truth that could set them free and wishy-washy preachers with no biblical conviction and spines of jellyfish are ready to be those teachers that they would accumulate. Look at the text again. For the time will come when they And I take they to be lumped in with up in chapter 3, in the last days, difficult times, these men who are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, all of that. They, the general culture, will not endure sound doctrine, professing Christians were really goats, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. What a sad, sad picture. That is a sad picture. They will not endure. That is literally, they do not bear with sound doctrine. They don't want to hear about a bloody cross and a Christ who came and took on flesh and lived a perfect life and went to the cross and was crucified and took God's wrath upon himself to die and as a substitute for sinners, was buried and rose again from the dead victoriously three days later. They don't want to hear that. They want five ways to have a big bank account, three ways to raise successful children who will be doctors and impact the world. That's what they want to hear. They want to hear the five steps to being a better you. They want to hear the Joel Osteen type of messages. The narcissistic stuff that focuses on self rather than laying down our lives for the lost and for each other. Seeking to glorify God with our lives. No, instead the focus is me, me, me, me, me. In our selfie generation. they will accumulate, literally, they collect these teachers. The word in the original means to heap up these teachers. They heap them up and they multiply them. And boy, if that isn't true of our day, as certainly was true of many generations, it's certainly true of our day. And the characteristic of these who are willing to be these types of teachers, to mold into the accordance of their own desires, it says, literally their own lust in the original. These types are very self-focused, and there's certainly a lack of humility. Thomas Brooks, Dispensers of the Gospel of the Bridegroom's Friends. They must not speak one word for the bridegroom and two words for themselves. Oh, it's about Christ. Yeah, the preacher can make an occasional illustration towards himself, but if you're just talking about these stories and these experiences, and then I went down to the ocean and God spoke to me, and it's all about me and how great I am and how God speaks to me, away with such foolishness. Plug your ears and run. Entertainment is the order of the day. The goats, they get what they want. And they accumulate, the teachers that will give them what they want. J.C. Ryle said, an unpreaching minister is of little use to the church of Christ. Boy, does that need to be echoed today. An unpreaching minister is of little use to the church of Christ. Listen to what he says. He is a lampless lighthouse. He is a silent trumpeter. He is a sleeping watchman. Yay. He is a painted fire. Even the fire is phony. It's paint. It's oil. There's no heat. There's no real fire there. Some deny the miracles of the Bible, others embrace the drift of the culture, embracing homosexuality, whatever will tickle the ears. Thomas Brooks and other Puritans' starched oratory may tickle the brain, but it is the plain doctrine that informs the judgment that convicts the conscience and bows the will that wins the heart. We read from Jeremiah those strong words. Let him who has my word speak my word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain, declares the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, declares the Lord, like a hammer which shatters the rock? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steals my words from each other. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues to declare. The Lord declares this and that. The time will come. The time has arrived. We live in these days, brethren, and so we need to be those who are excited about biblical preaching, who support biblical preaching. And again, the Puritans are so instructive for us. It's preaching that relies on God's power alone, a recognition of the weakness of the one that stands behind the pulpit, The one that stands behind the pulpit doesn't take two hours in front of the mirror with a self-esteem lecture of how great I am so that I can come up here. No, it's an on-your-knees, face-before-God, an acknowledgement of the weakness of the one who will proclaim the Word. And then God is pleased, sometimes, to speak through and with power through the Holy Spirit. We need to address cases of conscience, the various difficulties and anxieties and fears and all of these various things, the sufferings of God's people. We need to plead with the lost to awake, awake and flee from the wrath to come. We need to, on the one hand, preach the very terrors of hell that await those who will stiff-arm God and not bow the knee to Christ, as well as the glories of heaven and the bliss that we will have there. a proclaiming of how His blood pleads for all of His people, that He will not leave us, He will not forsake us, that we have a high priest who's interceding and praying for us. This should warm the heart, this should stoke the coals in our heart to a greater devotion and worship to Him. And then in verse four, they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. Just picture that in your brain. What does that look like? Turning aside, turning aside their ears from the truth and turning aside to myths. I mean, could there not be something that is more foolish in this entire world? unwilling to hear the truth they turn away the root has related to apostasy and where do they turn to miss tales fables figments no truth they turn aside to that which is false that that which will damn them in hell and so Our first point, the solemn charge, verse 2, is the content of that charge. The urgency of the charge is in verses 3 and 4, because these days are coming, and they're coming with greater intensity. And then finally, our last point, the perspective of the ministry. And he gives a four-fold appeal here, but you. That strong contrast with all of these accumulating these teachers, but you, young Timothy, you do these things. And he gives a four-fold appeal, a rapid-fire appeal, and the first is to be sober in all things. Now, this word literally means to not be intoxicated, but it's also used figuratively almost exclusively in the Bible, and it means to be level-headed, to be well-balanced, to be self-controlled. You, Timothy, don't waver with the winds of doctrine. Be level-headed and keep focused at what you are to do. Paul could have alluded to his own description of himself in chapter 9 of 1 Corinthians where he says he runs in such a way not without aim. Looking at the Christian life and even the context of the ministry there is a race that he will win. Secondly, he says, endure hardship. We saw that same word back in chapter 2 and verse 9. Paul using it for himself, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment. But that theme has reoccurred again and again throughout this epistle. Chapter 2 and verse 1, be strong in the grace. That is in Christ Jesus. Verse 3, suffer hardship with me as a good soldier. A reoccurring theme. Don't be surprised. You're going to suffer Timothy if you're doing these things faithfully. To one extent or another. Endure hardship. Thirdly, do the work of an evangelist. What is an evangelist? A proclaimer of the gospel. Bringing the good news, right? The nouns only used three times in the New Testament. Once, speaking of Philip, the evangelist in Acts 21. The verb occurs many times, of course. And so to preach the word evangelistically. to preach the word and set Christ before the people, to preach it passionately and earnestly, to not just in a monotone type of voice, you know, where there's no urgency, where some would question whether you really believe the things that you're saying. John Angle James wrote an excellent book in earnest ministry in 1854. The subtitle was, A Want of the Times. And how much more in 2016? That is the need of the times, the want, the way it was used. Horatius Bonar, a Scottish Presbyterian from the late 1900s. How many souls have been lost for want of earnestness, for want of solemnity, for want of love in the preacher, even when the words uttered were precious and true? Now, of course, fool Calvinist, he knows that there were no souls lost because he didn't plead with sinners enough, but the idea here, and he wrote an excellent book, Words to Winners of Souls, I commend that to you, it's a short book, that we feel what we believe and we speak it in that way. In fact, the Puritans, if you read their sermons of their works and everything, they would plead with the sinner as though they had the ability to persuade the sinner to be converted, all the while knowing that there was no way that they have that power. But the goal was to out-plead the devil. Richard Baxter, I preached as never sure to preach again as a dying man to dying men. Martin Luther, I preach as though Christ was crucified yesterday, that He rose from the dead today, and that He's coming back tomorrow. Isn't that a good perspective to have? And so, if you're here today and you're outside of Christ, and there's probably some of you here, I plead with you. to flee to Christ, to come to God, to see that He's a merciful Savior extending His arms. Come unto Me, all you who labor in a heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Just take for granted your next heartbeat and the next breath that you will breathe in, for that can be taken in an instant, and you will enter eternity. Hebrews 12.29, the author says, our God is a consuming fire. It is a dreadful thing to stand before the living God unprepared to meet Him and to give an account for your life. But oh, the freedom that can be had of confessing your wretchedness, confessing your sin, admitting that you're a sinner, believing that Christ died for your sins, and to run to Him and to embrace Him, to know that the guilty conscience can be removed, to know that the shackles of enslavement to sin can be broken, that you can truly be free, and it's only in Christ. looking to Him, seeing your own unworthiness. Yes, you're an unworthy sinner, born in Adam as a sinner, and a sinner by practice. But oh, once we're saved, we're renewed. We realize we're the very children of God. We take on royalty. Oh, who could refuse such a gracious invitation to come to God? And the ninth command and the final command is a summary exhortation that he gives in this verse, fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry, literally to fill up to the brim, or even to overflowing, the related word can mean in the original, but to fill it full, fulfill it, diligently discharge your ministry. Be a minister of the word and in prayer on your knees for your people, to faithfully shepherd the flock of God. Beware of laziness in ministry. It's the gangrene that has spread through so many today. Powerless pulpits, ineffective ministries, people that are just coasting because they're getting a paycheck. There's no real passion and earnestness and labor and sweat and tears for the people of God. Oh, how we need a revival in that regard. Thornwell, a Southern Presbyterian in the 1800s, said, effective sermons are the offspring of study, the discipline of prayer, and especially of the unction of the Holy Ghost. Well, brethren, I've had to race through these five verses. We were running late with the songs and the service, and I've tried to race through them. I have so much more I want to say, but we need to begin to conclude now. Obviously, I think you know these things are very near and dear to my heart. I take them very seriously, and I'm passionate about biblical preaching. So how can we apply what we've heard First of all, give thanks for those that labor behind pulpits proclaiming the truth. Give thanks. How can you support even within the local church? Pray for those that would get up and labor. Pray for those who would lead the people of God. Pray for the musicians. Anyone that has a public role whatsoever to pray for them, to ask them, to be humble that the Lord would speak through them. I don't want a show of hands. How many of you pray Saturday night or Sunday morning for the word that you will hear? And it's proclamation. And come eager and ready to learn. Get proper rest. Show up on time. These are ways that you can support. to be a member of the church that if and when the church begins to drift and want to become way more seeker-sensitive and all of these kinds of things, that you would be one to say, wait a minute, what does Paul say? What do the Scriptures say? What are our methods to be? And I'm very concerned for the next generation. 30 years from now, who knows? Theological schools just have a way of going liberal, and I shared last week from reading from that book that there's so many examples I could bring up, but I'm concerned for the next generation. We should be thinking now and preparing men for ministry, good men, called men, men who can be courageous. and declare when it's not popular, thus says the Lord. This is the way of salvation. Don't give in to the world. Those who stand and teach and preach in various forms, James warns, let not many of you be teachers, my brother, knowing that we will incur a stricter judgment. To understand the weight of that, Spurgeon said, when we preach Christ, oh, then we are not putting out the plates and the knives and the forks for the feast, but we are handing out the bread itself. So to keep Christ central in all that we say and all that we do. And again, if you're outside of Christ, talk to one of us. We would love to talk and pray with you. If you're experiencing anxieties and fears and uncertainties, talk to Steve or myself. We don't know how long we have in this life. We need to be ready. And we would want nothing more than for every one of you to be ready to meet your God. Amos 4.12. Prepare to meet your God. Make preparations today. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you, Lord, that Paul's urgency in pleading with young Timothy right before dying is a loud and clarion call to us to not compromise the proclamation of your Word. We thank you, Lord, for 10 years of ministry here in just a couple of weeks. And Lord, that is your doing. We thank you that the message has not changed. Lord, we thank you that so many souls have been bettered and converted in baptisms, and we give you the glory for that. We thank you for how you're pleased to even use the sermons over the internet, around the world, and we give you glory for that. And Lord, help us to be those that are supportive of such a ministry, that are eager and come hungry, ready to be fed a spiritual feast. And Lord, we even pray for this evening's worship service and the one who will be speaking. Give our brother unction and the proper mindset and proper preparation, Lord, that he might feed our souls yet again. We thank you for this time. In Jesus' name, amen.