Alright, we're starting to wrap up our time in 2 Timothy, and as such, right before he switches to personal instructions and greetings that he wants to give to people, Paul has made one final statement, and really it's a command. He is commanding Timothy to do something, and for clarity's sake, which I don't think you'll miss this, you'll see it very clearly in the passage, The idea that Paul is getting Timothy to understand is that Timothy needs to preach the word. He says it very boldly, very bluntly, and then he embellishes it a little bit. Paul gives this command, and then he builds on that idea. Preach the word. You'll note that Paul's reasoning for this is really twofold. First off, because of the issue of false teaching, and secondly, because he knows he's going to die. Paul is in prison. He knows that he is to see Caesar, and he knows that there is a very real reality that he might not live. In fact, he's pretty certain he's going to die. In many ways, this is Paul's final words to Timothy. And his final words end up in a command for Timothy to stay faithful to the preaching and teaching of God's Word. Keep this in mind as we read 2 Timothy together. We're in chapter 4, we'll start in verse 1 and read until verse 8. This is 2 Timothy 4, verse 1. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. They will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing." As we study this passage, we're going to break it into two parts. The first one fits that same command I've titled it, Preach the Word. It's verses one through five. The second part is what I've titled the reward for faithfulness, six through eight. In the first section, Paul gives that command, and it is an abundantly simple command, and yet it has significance to this day. Paul's command is for Timothy to preach the word of God and for him to be ready to do this regardless of what's happening, regardless of if preaching God's word is looked in a favorable light or not, just like he himself did. just like Paul preached the word faithfully, which is what the second section is all about. It's Paul's example of faithfulness. Let's pray for the Holy Spirit to eliminate the words of scripture for us this morning. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you and we give you thanks. We are so thankful that we can gather together to read your word and to study your word. Most importantly, that we can get together and delight in your word and love your word. Father God, we are so thankful that we live in a time where we can actually read your word in our own language, that it's readily available to us, even digitally. We can Google your word and read it online. Father God, I pray that we never take it for granted. We never take for granted the availability of your word. Father God, we're so thankful for your spirit and how your spirit works within us. We know that your spirit convicts us of sin and it leads us to repentance. It draws us to you. It directs our steps. We also know that your spirit reveals your truth to us in your word. That your spirit opens our eyes and opens our ears and softens our hearts. And I pray that your spirit does that for us this morning. I pray that your spirit helps us to see your truth to know your truth and to apply your truth. Father God, we love you. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So our text starts with Paul's explaining of what authority he has to make the command that he's about to make. Now I will say, he doesn't really need to do this. Timothy already knows who Paul is, so he already recognizes that Paul is an apostle, and yet he still makes this statement. about to make is in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. What he does as he makes that statement is really twofold. First, he makes it abundantly clear that this is something more than just his opinion. No one says anything by the name of God if it was simply an opinion of themselves or if they do they're foolish. wait for what he's about to say. This is not just an opinion. This is not what Paul thinks. What Paul is about to say is something that he knows he needs to say because God has given that command already. He then describes just how weighty this is by defining who Jesus is by what it is to come. I charge you in the presence of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. Again, it's adding weightiness to what Paul is about to say and it helps us see the gravity or the seriousness of this command. we could say that this is the most important command that Paul gives in his letter to Timothy because of the weight and the seriousness that Paul adds to the command. And really, the command is simple. It's literally three words. Preach the word. Now, I say it's a really simple command, but the fact that Paul tells Timothy to do it with such seriousness and such gravitas means that there is a significant problem in the people that they will be tempted to not preach the word, despite such a clear command. Now, it could be that the individual decides not to preach the word of God at all, which truthfully, it doesn't take much to find churches with pastors who don't. But I think with the information that we know about Timothy, that this would not be an issue of him not preaching the word at all. Rather, think of Paul's exhortation to Timothy to not allow his youthfulness to deter him in ministry. Don't let those who try to use your age as a reason against you. For those that are younger in ministry, for those that might be a little more timid, like Timothy seems to be, there is a temptation to either dumb down the message, to adjust the message, the message to make it a little more palatable for people, especially for people who might disagree. There's also a temptation for pastors who preach to preach about anything other than the Word of God. That might be politics, that might be sociology, that might be philosophy, it might be psychology. There can be a temptation to turn sermons, which is supposed to be all about Jesus, into a stand-up comedy routine. that draws people in and entertains people. But Paul says that Timothy is to preach the Word and to preach the Word of God alone. Nothing else. And nothing more. Paul then says that he is to do this in a certain way. We see it in verse 2. We read that Paul is to preach the Word in season and out of season. He is to preach the Word by reproving and by rebuking and he is to preach the word with complete patience and teaching. Let's take a moment to look at those ideas. Paul says that Timothy is to be ready to preach the word in season and out of season, and basically all it means is this. There will be times in which it seems that people absolutely love the preaching of God's word. More likely than not, there will be more times in which people disdain the preaching of God's word. There will be times in which God's Word and the preaching of it will be seen in a favorable light, and there will be times in which the preaching of God's Word will be seen in a negative light. In the U.S., this light is shifting. And good biblical preaching and teaching is more often than not today being seen as negative things. We see this both outside of the church looking in, And we see this within the church itself, where people claim to believe, but then they don't actually want to hear preaching. They want to hear what they want to hear. We should anticipate the desire for good biblical preaching of the word to grow and wane, but even when it wanes, Paul says Timothy is to preach the word anyways. So even when people are angry with the preaching of God's word, even when they dislike God's word, he is still to preach the word anyways. Paul says that Timothy is to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with the Word of God, which means that there are certain uses for God's Word, and there are certain uses for preaching within the local church. We see that not just here, but also in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, where we're told that all scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for repudiation. reproof or correction than for training in righteousness. The idea behind reproving is that of exposing your sin and convicting you of your sin. It's that of correcting someone when they're in sin. The idea of rebuking is to confront people when necessary. The idea behind exhorting them is that of encouragement, almost with a sense of nurturing, and that's the idea of what the word of God is supposed to be there for. The point being that true biblical preaching and teaching of God's Word, it will convict you. And it will confront you. And it will encourage you. And note that it is God's Word that convicts, confronts, and encourages. If the preacher accurately preaches the Word of God, you will feel conviction. And you will be confronted. And you will be encouraged. If you never feel those, If you've never felt conviction from preaching, if you've never been encouraged by God's Word, if you've never been confronted by the person preaching, go find a new preacher. Because he's not preaching God's Word. Paul says that Timothy is to preach the Word. And even with ideas of people getting convicted and confronted, Timothy is to preach the Word with complete patience and teaching. Timothy needs to be patient, because there could be a temptation to be angry, or there could be a tendency to quit when there is pressure within the local church, and there almost always is pressure within the local church. He needed to provide teaching that's reasonable, because without sound teaching, reproof and rebuke will never fix the problem. You can point out the sins of people But unless you show them through Scripture why it's sinful, they will never change. In other words, what Paul tells Timothy to do here is that Timothy is to proclaim the Word of God, and as he does that, he is to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. And as he does all of this, he needs to do it with patience, and he needs to do it with teaching. This implies that he does not force people to think biblically. It just doesn't work. This implies that he doesn't yell at them when they disagree with him. This implies that he does not fight and argue with them, but that he patiently works with them. And he patiently teaches them. And he patiently shows them the way. He needs to be the type of preacher who actually gives reasons and teaching for the reproof and the rebuke and the exhorting of people, meaning that he says, when he proclaims the Word of God, actually needs to be the Word of God. It can't be his own thoughts and his own opinions. He can't just tell people how he feels. He needs to tell them what God's Word says. And then he needs to help them understand God's Word for themselves. As he proclaims God's word, he needs to be patient, he needs to be gracious, he needs to be merciful, he needs to provide the sound teaching needed to validate what he claims scripture says. Dwayne Litvin says this, the content of Paul's charge represents the central thrust of every minister's task. Timothy was to preach the Word. Because the Word is inspired and profitable for all aspects of ministry, proclaiming that Word was to be Timothy's business in season and out of season. That is, he was to stand by this duty whether the opportunity seemed right or not. Those in error he was to correct. Those who were sinning he was to rebuke. Those who were doing well he was to encourage. These are the facets of public ministry, proclamation, correction, rebuke, and encouragement, all of which must be done with great patience and careful instruction. Now the reasoning for Paul's command of Timothy here is more than just to remind him of the general purpose of the ministry. It is more than just to tell him what an elder does. It is more than just to tell him what a pastor ought to do in a local church. In fact, he has a more specific reason for Timothy to focus so much on the proclamation of the word of God alone, and it's found in verses three and four. He says, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into the midst. Paul's command is actually a preemptive strike. He's preparing. Timothy needs to focus intently on preaching the word and proclaiming the word alone because there will be a time when people don't want it. And they don't want to hear it. And they won't listen to it. And I will say in the first century when this was written, that happened rather quickly. Between the Judaizers and the Gnostics and other false teachers, there were plenty of people within the first century In our present time period, we see it all the time. People will leave healthy churches to go to an unhealthy church that instead of correcting and improving, they're referring. Or they'll stop listening to a pastor preaching God's Word because another church doesn't expect as much, so they'll just go there instead. Paul says that there will be a time in which people won't listen to sound teaching. Instead, they're going to intentionally go and find other teachers that suit their own passion. I've used some examples of people leaving healthy churches to go to sinful and unhealthy churches, but the idea of finding other teachers that suit their own passions can imply that some are leaving healthy churches to go to other churches that aren't necessarily sinful, but the preaching and teaching isn't as healthy as it ought to be. For instance, The preacher might be hyperfixated on one idea or one part of Scripture. They might rarely, if ever, preach and teach on the whole counsel of God. This happens a lot of people. This happens with a lot of people who really want to hyperfix it on the end times. Or the preacher might not say anything technically wrong, but they aren't exactly preaching God's Word. So they might pull up a passage of Scripture, but then they're not actually preaching that passage. They're pulling it up, reading the text, and then using it as almost like a launching stage for what they really want to say. You can tell when this is happening, when someone opens up to a passage, and he starts to preach, and you're sitting there, and you're following along, and you're like, I don't see this anywhere. That's probably because it's not actually what it says. Those examples focus a lot on the preacher itself, but from the viewpoint of Paul in 2 Timothy, the idea is that there will be people within the church that instead of intentionally choosing a healthy church with a pastor who preaches the whole counsel of God, they will choose pastors in which the pastor focuses on topics that they want to hear, or they'll find a church where the pastor makes the Bible say what he wants it to say or what he thinks the people want to hear. And these people will turn away from the truth because they'd rather listen to the things that they want to hear actually said. They want to be validated in their own thinking, whereas God's Word regularly offends our own thinking, and it ought to, because God thinks differently than we do. These people will turn away from the truth because they'd rather listen to the things they'd rather hear, and they'll wander into what he calls myths. But Paul's exhortation to Timothy is that despite the issue of people rejecting sound teaching, despite the issue of people wandering off into these myths, Despite all of this, Timothy needs to always be sober-minded, he needs to endure suffering, he needs to do the work of an evangelist, and he needs to fulfill his ministry. We might say it like this, Timothy needs to keep his head on straight, he has to remain steadfast, he has to continue proclaiming the gospel, he has to keep teaching and reaching unbelievers around him, he has to focus on fulfilling his ministry. Or in other words, he is to keep his head from getting confused or distracted by the things around him, and he is to focus on what he has been called by God to do. In many ways, it reminds me of the blinders that they put on horses sometimes, so that they can't look around. Paul wants Timothy to look directly at God's Word, and he wants Timothy to hyperfixate on the gospel, and he wants Timothy to focus on nothing but that. Instead of getting distracted by everything happening around him, Timothy is to be focused on doing what God has called him to do. In doing this, he has to endure suffering. Which, I don't know if you've noticed, it's been a reoccurring theme in this letter. Paul has repeatedly mentioned suffering and persecution and hardship in life. And that could just be because Paul himself is in prison while he's writing this, or it could be because he recognizes that while there can be times in which the gospel is especially well taken, most of the time it isn't. Most of the time, people reject the gospel and they reject the people who proclaim the gospel. There is a reason why Paul tells Timothy to be ready to proclaim the word in season and out of season. It's coming. Timothy used to do the work of an evangelist. And don't confuse this with our modern-day idea of a traveling evangelist. In modern America, we have people who are full-time pastors who travel the country, and they do evangelistic or revival services around the country. I actually have a couple friends that do this. I will admit, however, that that idea is starting to die out. It's not as popular of an idea as it used to be. But that is a very modern idea, having someone who is a full-time evangelist. But what Paul is referring to is not that. He's referring to the very duty of every Christian believer that we find in the Great Commission. We are all called to do the work of evangelism because evangelism is where the Great Commission starts. The proclamation of the good news, the gospel, is where evangelism starts. In fact, if you look at the word evangelist, or if you look at the word gospel itself, it comes from a very specific Greek word, and it refers to a very specific person. Think with me, in first century times, there's battles going on pretty frequently. If someone wins a battle, it's not like today where you can jump on X, formerly known as Twitter, or anything like that, and update everybody on what's going on. You can't do that. If you won a battle, you send a messenger back to the city, and that person goes and proclaims the good news that there was victory. The battle was won. That's the very concept of the gospel. That's what it means to evangelize. That's what it means to be an evangelist, is that the battle has already taken place, and Jesus has already won, And now we are proclaiming that good news. That's what it means to do this. Now there is a lot in what Paul has already said before he gets to his last three verses, and it kind of seems like he changes topics, but in reality he isn't changing topics. Let's look at those verses. This is verse six. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing." What Paul is doing as he wraps up this section of the passage is this. He just gave Timothy a command. Go and preach the word. Do this regardless of if it's fashionable. Do this while correcting those who are teaching wrong things, while confronting sin, while encouraging people. Be patient, be reasonable with it. And now he is essentially saying, look at me as an example of what this looks like. Look at me as an example of one who has proclaimed the word of God and preached it regardless of if it was fashionable. Look at me as an example of one who has corrected wrong teachings and confronted those who were in sin and encouraged people while still being reasonable and patient. He says this with this in mind because my time is up. I'm almost done. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering. The time of my departure has come. Note, as a side note, that despite his impending death, he is still fully confident in what is to come. He's going to be with Jesus. He's going to be with the righteous judge. He will be awarded for what he has done. The reason for that confidence is found in that statement that he makes, that he had fought the good fight, he had finished the race, he had kept the faith. Note that he's not resting on his own morals. He's not resting on what he has done. He's resting on his faith in Jesus. Now, if anyone in the New Testament really could have boasted about what they had done, it would probably be Paul. I mean, he wrote quite a bit of our New Testament. He proclaimed the gospel throughout the Mediterranean area. Many people believe he made it into Spain before he died. And yet, he doesn't boast in himself at all. All he says is that he had endured in his faith as a fighter who kept fighting or as a runner who kept running. And really what Paul is doing is he's using himself as an example for Timothy. He is using himself as an example of one who has experienced tremendous hardship, who fought against false teaching, who called out sin, who encouraged believers with complete patience and with teaching. He is using himself as an example of what it means to preach and teach the Word of God in and out of Caesar. He's using himself as an example of what it looks like to be sober-minded, to endure suffering, to do the work of an evangelist, to fulfill his ministry. And again, he's not doing it to puff himself up. Instead, he's doing it to show us that it is possible to endure through what Timothy is enduring, not because of Timothy himself, but because of Jesus. That leads us this morning into our application. And you might have been following along well enough and thought, well this is fine and dandy, if you still say the word dandy, but I'm not a young pastor in a city, nor do I have plans to be. What does any of this mean for me? And the answer is actually twofold. There are really two ways that we can apply this. The first is this. Despite the fact that you might never pastor a church or anything like that, the word that we translate, preach, that preach the gospel, can also be translated as proclaim the gospel. And proclamation of the gospel is something that not just professional Christians do. It's something that we're all called to do based off of Matthew 28. Go and make disciples. That's to every Christian. The second way that we can apply this is by looking at what Paul tells Timothy to do and then asking ourselves if we're willing to be on the receiving end of what Timothy is to do. So let's look at those two applications. First, As a Christian, you need to proclaim the Word of God faithfully. Now that sounds as if it ought to be complete common sense. It really does, doesn't it? Especially if you consider the great commission that Jesus gives us to go and make disciples. How do you do that if you don't proclaim God's Word? How do you make disciples if you don't actually tell people what God's Word says? And yet, for most of us, we struggle to make the idea of proclaiming God's Word to those around us as a priority. I think there's probably two reasons for this. First, and this might step on toes, you might struggle with this if Jesus isn't as big of a priority in your life as you think he is. And secondly, you might struggle with the proclamation of God's word if you're afraid. Now the first reason is really an issue of idolatry. You've placed something or someone or really anything ahead of God in your life, That could be a relationship, it could be your house, it could be some sort of substance. And the only way to correct that is to repent of that idolatry and return to Jesus. That's the only way you're going to correct that. The second reason that fear is a lack of trust in God. You fear man to the extent that you would rather disobey God because you don't trust God's ability to use every situation in your life for your good. You are making men big and you're making God small in your heart and in your mind. The reality is that we have to be proclaiming the word of God as often as we possibly can to anyone who will even listen to what we're saying. The idea of doing this in season and out of season really applies to us today. Consider 1 Peter 3.15 in which we're told to always be prepared to give a defense for our faith. Always be prepared to defend the hope that is within you. That is not just a statement for an apologetic defense of the faith, it is a statement that you ought to be ready and willing to proclaim the truth to anyone, if they ask. Maybe even if they don't. The same ideas of reproving and rebuking and exhorting are things that we all are charged to do. For instance, the whole idea of church discipline, where we confront people who are living in sin and call them out in hopes that they repent, That is a call for all of us as a collective body of Christ to rebuke and to correct. The commands throughout the New Testament to correct false teaching and false teachers is a call to reprove. The command for us to gather together to worship and to mutually build each other up is a call for us to exhort or encourage one another. And really the only way that we can do any of this is by accurately, lovingly, and patiently teaching the Word of God and presenting the Gospel. That's the only way we can do any of this. Friends, the reason we planted our church in the first place three years ago was because we noticed a significant problem concerning a lack of proclamation of God's Word in our area. We have over 100 churches within 15 miles of Phillipsburg. But when you remove the churches that have rejected the inerrancy of Scripture, the fact that God's Word is God's Word, the ones that have started questioning that if you pull them out, and you remove the churches that are blatantly teaching false things, what you're actually left with is a rather small group of churches that are proclaiming God's Word and they're teaching the whole counsel of God. You're left with, I think Natalie and I counted it, maybe a dozen, or seven, okay, that's even less than I thought, churches that we know of that are proclaiming the gospel, that are Bible-teaching churches, and they're, according to the Census Bureau, there are 55,000 people that live around Phillipsburg within 15 miles, and there are seven churches that are trying to preach the gospel and teach God's word. We planted our church three years ago because our communities need more churches that only preach God's Word and Him crucified. We need more churches that teach that God's Word is inerrant, that it is infallible, because it is God's Word. There's no error in it. We need more churches in our area that see the church not as a country club. but as a place for us to worship Jesus, get equipped for the work of ministry, and then go and make disciples. We need a church that is a place to be prepared for the mission. Our church needs to be a church that's all about Jesus, that's all about his gospel, that's all about his word, and it is all about proclaiming that And that can only happen when all of us as individuals are all about Jesus, are all about His Gospel, are all about His Word, and are all about proclaiming that to those around us. I think we tend to assume that the church, like the professional Christians leading the church, they're the ones that are supposed to do all this. But that isn't what the Bible says. Nor is it what Jesus taught. We all go and we all make disciples and we all go and serve with our spiritual gifts to the best of our abilities. That's how the church grows. Second, you need to be looking for God's word to reprove you and rebuke you and exhort you. You need to be looking for pastors who teach God's word in season and out of season that will rebuke you and reprove you and exhort you. Our sinful tendency is that any time that we go to a church or we open God's word, we don't typically want to be reproved. We don't typically want to be rebuked. And I call that a sinful tendency because it's rooted in our fleshly desire to be comfortable. We're alright with opening up the Bible or listening to preaching and teaching if it makes us feel good about ourselves. But the moment that we read a passage or we hear a sermon that we don't particularly like, something steps on our toes, we get upset. So we just ignore what the Bible says and we just obey God's word or we stop reading it completely. We stop going to the church that called us out. The issue with this is that the Bible, rightfully understood, is supposed to reprove you, and it is supposed to rebuke you, and it is supposed to exhort you, and a preacher who is accurately and rightfully preaching and teaching God's Word is supposed to reprove you, and is supposed to rebuke you, and is supposed to exhort you. When you come to church, or when you read your Bible, there ought to be times in which you feel conviction for your sin. There ought to be times in which you are called out for your sins. There ought to be times in which you know that you're wrong, not because the preacher has an opinion, but because that's what God's word says, and the preacher pointed it to you, and you saw it for yourself. There ought to be times in which you are encouraged and exhorted, not because the pastor makes you feel good about yourself, but because if he rightfully and you rightfully understand God's word, it will bring comfort and it will bring joy. Do you catch what I'm saying? Our tendency as sinful humans is to always look for the easy. It's to look for our own comfort. It's to focus on what we think makes us happy. So we tend to read the Bible or we tend to go to church looking to be comfortable, looking for things to be easy, looking for things that can make us happy. The reality is that our reading of Scripture and our time being taught from Scripture, it ought to convict and it ought to correct and it ought to exhort and encourage. Or put how Paul states it, there are those that won't endure sound teaching because they will try and find teachers that simply suit their own desires. By doing that, they will be led away from the truth, and they will wander in the midst. Make sure that you aren't one of the ones who are refusing to hear the truth. Make sure you're not one of the ones who will only listen to those who tell you what you want to hear. Be someone who not just endures sound doctrine, but wants to be corrected. and wants to be convicted and wants to be exhorted by sound doctrine. Be someone who wants to hear God's Word as it is intended to be taught. You need to be looking at God's Word not to make yourself feel good, but because God's Word corrects and it convicts and it encourages. You need to be listening to and watching preachers and teachers who don't just want to make you feel special, but they want to show you God's Word, and through a right understanding of God's Word, they want you to be corrected and convicted and encouraged. Quite simply, what 2 Timothy 4, 1-8 teaches is this. You need to be all about Jesus. You need to be all about the Gospel. You need to be all about His Word. Ultimately, He is all that matters. You need to read and hear God's word and be corrected and convicted and correct. You need to hear God's word and be changed by it. As a Christian, the most important thing about you is Jesus. It's his gospel, it's his word. So keep focused on him. Be changed for his word. Now, as I close in prayer, there are a couple extra requests that I want us to pray for today.