This sermon by Pastor Clarence Veld is entitled, Listen Carefully, taken from 1 Timothy 4, verse 13. Please turn in your scriptures to 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4. We'll be reading the entire chapter together. As you're able, please rise for the reading of God's word. This is not man's word. I do not ask you to listen for a word from God, I ask you to listen to God's word to you. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. but reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself towards godliness, for bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of this life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, for to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to the reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of eldership. Meditate on these things, Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Thus far God's holy word, you may be seated. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, Sovereign God, You who reveals Yourself by Your Word and in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to attend to Your Word read and publicly proclaimed, that we might grow in our faith and sanctification and so be shaped and molded by Your Holy Spirit and made ready to enter Your Holy Presence, that we might praise Your wonderful name forever and ever. Amen. For many, a church today The central and most important part of going to church is the ambiance of worship, particularly the emphasis on worship music. Songs are sung that express our readiness to receive the Holy Spirit, that ask the Holy Spirit to fill us because we are ready for him to fill us. to elicit from us the mood of worship in the moment of church. The reading of God's word and even prayer, if it is present, is often seen as an addendum. Oh yeah, and by the way, God's word says, followed by a captivating story and illustration that often fails to open the eyes of the heart of the hearer to the beauty of Christ and what He has done. The careful exposition, interpretation, and application of God's Word is neglected. It is too hard to understand. and indeed when rightly understood demands more, much more than many are willing to give and to submit to. You see the Christian life is hard and requires much of the believer. But when the gospel is rightly understood, it also provides exactly that which many are seeking, but are unwilling to embrace. Where would you be if you had not heard of Christ and the forgiveness of sins through the faithful preaching of God's word? Paul in our text today shows us the centrality of God's word and the importance of the declaration of God's word in worship in the life of the church and its necessity for growth in Christ in the heart and then and in the life of the believer. The book of Timothy is in many respects a book of church order. It is a description of what the church is and how the church ought to function. Paul is writing to his dear friend and colleague, Timothy, who has been given oversight to shepherd a difficult flock. The flock is rife with division. There is much false doctrine that is being held forth as the truth. And it's no wonder that the people are confused. What is the gospel? What do we believe? Who's speaking the truth? How are we to live? There's conflicting messages. And Paul takes Timothy and he brings him back again, as we will see today, to God's word as the ground and the source upon which the church itself is built. Paul is seeking to encourage Timothy, a young pastor, one who loves Christ and has embraced the gospel and has been equipped and called to serve the church. And in our text today, you will see that Paul reminds Timothy of that which is central to our worship. Unlike the illustration, which I sought to bring out and which you find in many churches today, worship music and that is not the most important part of our worship. Now, having said that, singing and praising God is an important part of our worship. when we ascribe to him the beauty and glory and honor that is due to his name alone. You just have to look at, you know, like in the book of Revelation, Revelation four, I believe it is where we are told that the, the 24 elders and, and those that are surrounding the throne, they take their crowns, they cast them down before the throne of God. And they say, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power and dominion. We do come into God's presence and express our worship, but we come so that we might hear what God has to say to us. We come that we might be equipped as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ in our faith. We also come that we might be challenged to greater faith and that those who do not know Christ might come to know Christ by the proclamation of the gospel. The last time we looked at these passages, you saw that believers must live godly lives, which are well grounded in God's word. As we read here in verse 12, let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. And by God's grace today, I want to show you that you are to give careful attention to God's Word when it is read, preached, and taught. You are to give careful attention to God's Word when it is read, preached, and taught. First of all, we're going to look at the reading of God's Word, then the preaching of God's Word, then the standard which is God's Word. the reading of God's Word, the preaching of God's Word, and the standard which is God's Word. First of all, the reading of God's Word. As Paul begins in verse 13 here, �Til I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine.� He We see here what is central and indispensable in the life and the worship of God's people. And that is the reading of God's word is indispensable in the nourishment of your faith. And so in verse 13, Paul says, till I come. Paul has already expressed his desire to come to Timothy, to encourage him, to directly address the false teaching that has been taking place in the city of Ephesus in chapter three. He says, these things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly, but if I am delayed, right so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. Paul wants to come. He desires to come. But at the moment he is unable to come. And rather than wait and say, well, I'm just going to let things slide and let things go. Timothy, here are some things that you need to know. Here are some goals that you need to aim for. Here are some practices that you need to do in order that as a body of believers, you might properly worship God and encourage one another and live as sons, adopted sons and daughters of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul desires to travel to Ephesus. His desire is that he might encourage the church there But until then, Timothy, do not be idle. Take that word of God and and apply it to the hearts and the lives of your people. And he says, till I come, give attention to. I want you to continue in these things and pay close attention to these things. Occupy yourself and devote yourself to what I am about to write to you. because this is of central importance. It is of great importance, for without this, you may have a church full of people whose hearts are empty of the gospel of Christ. He says, Timothy, give attention to, expend much energy in this, rather than simply arguing with false teachers and false teaching, faithfully study and declare the truth of God, equip believers to stand in the face of godlessness and immorality. You are to, you are to provide a correct understanding and declaration and communication of the truth. And he says, give attention to you are to go to the source. These are what are fun. These are the things that are fundamental as you lead the flock of God. And what does he say that we are to give attention to? He says to reading, he gives here three what we call often the means of grace or two of the three means of grace. The means of grace are the means, the things that God uses to apply grace to the heart and life of the believer. And those means of grace are the word, the sacraments and prayer. And our confession asks this question, what are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption? And he says the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments and prayer, all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. Paul is wanting Timothy to focus on that which is central in your life and in my life, for your spiritual well-being in this life and in the life that is to come. And so he says, give attention to reading, to audibly communicating the written content of the word of God, to give voice to the written word. You see, this was a practice that was borrowed from the synagogue, but a practice that was commanded by God. God commands Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 13 to read the law of God once a year. Deuteronomy 31, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. You see, the reading of God's Word is not something that we do simply because the preacher needs something to talk about. We don't read the word of God in order to fill some time so that we can lengthen the worship service to an hour or so. No, we read the word of God because God has commanded us to read his communication of truth publicly, audibly, verbally, so that you might be equipped to know the truth and live according to the truth and when the people of Israel came back from the Babylonian captivity and Ezra and Nehemiah were there seeking to reestablish them in the promised land in Nehemiah chapter 8 we're told that they gathered the people together to worship and in verse 18 we read and Day by day, from the first day until the last day, he that is Ezra read from the book of the law and they kept the feast seven days. And on the eighth day, there was a sacred assembly. And a little bit earlier, we are told Ezra the scribe was told to bring the book of the law. And so he read the law. in the open square and the leaders gave attention or gave explication to that which was read so that the people could understand it. Something I want to emphasize here that the reading of God's word at all times in corporate worship is an act of worship because it is God directly speaking to you and to me concerning his truth. One of the reasons that we have as we go through our liturgy, and as you look in our order of worship, that we have the reading of scripture marked out a number of times. Because without the scripture, what are we doing? Are you coming to hear some man talk about his ideas? in some places that seems to be the case, that people are more interested in listening to a certain particular preacher because he's particularly well suited to and interesting to listen to. But you see, God has given us his word that we might know him, that we might know Christ. And as we read in the what I like to call the complementary text. We preach on the, we're preaching on a New Testament. So I like to read from a complementary Old Testament text because God speaks to us through the entirety of his word, Old and New Testament. And as we read the scriptures, we are reminded of whose word it is. That's why I have you stand for the reading of God's word, because it is God himself who speaks to you. God, our King, is speaking and you and I, we must pay attention to it. And any and every portion of scripture that is read is an act of worship. Even some of the difficult passages. I think of certain ones in Chronicles and in Numbers where there's lists of names and places and you're like, why in the world would God include these in his scripture? Well, just think about it. God has included those names. in the record of his holy word to say, look, it's not just Moses and Abraham and Jacob and Isaac, you know, and David that are men of, you know, worthy to note, but that God is concerned about ordinary people like you and me, men and women whose names no one may ever hear outside of this community, outside of this, body of Christ, and yet those names are included in God's word. That's just an example of God's grace and of God's mercy. You see, the reading of God's word is an indispensable part of Christian worship and nourishment in the faith. You are to give careful attention to God's word when it is read, preached, and taught. For you see, the reading of the word leads us then to the preaching of the word. For the preaching is God's appointed means to reach men and women with the truth of the gospel. In our confession, where we read, it is not only the preaching of God's word, but it is not only the reading of God's word, but especially the preaching of God's word that he uses to address your heart and your mind. So what is preaching, Paul says, till I come give attention to reading, to exhortation. Exhortation is the public declaration of God's word, where God's word is expounded, interpreted, applied, and exposited. Now those are big words, and we want to look at them briefly. You see, the preaching of God's Word, the exhortation of God's Word includes exposition. And exposition is the explanation of God's Word, setting forth its meaning and its intent. This is what the text means. This is what God would have you to understand from this text. It really answers this question, what does the text say? And there are two types of exposition that are often noted, and one is exegesis. Do you know what exegesis is? X comes from the Greek to mean out of, to read out of, and this is good. Where you read out of the text, what does the text say, the text itself say? There is another kind of exposition that often takes place, which is called asagesis. Asagesis is from the Greek, ace into, and what do you think that means? It means reading into the text. This is not a good thing. Because aceagesis is the idea of, you know, the way I've often illustrated in the past, you know, I want to talk today about some particular doctrine. And I want to tell the congregation point A, point B, and point C. Okay, and I've got my outline and everything is in order. All right, now what scripture can I find that will apply to the points that I want to make? That is not exposition. That is not drawing out of the text, that which God himself is communicating to us. We must read out of the text, the truth that God has revealed in his word. And often that truth is contrary to my natural desire, to what I want to talk about or what I might want to hear. You see, that's why the church is so frequently opposed where people don't wanna hear of the gospel because it's contrary to man's natural heart. It brings you back to the garden where the devil said to Eve, did God really say questioning God's word and God's truth? Eve saw the fruit and saw that it looked good. She figured it probably tastes good and she ate. She gave some to her husband, and then they knew the truth of what it means to be in rebellion against God. And men and women apart from Christ are in rebellion against God. From the moment we are conceived in our mother's womb, but by God's grace and the Holy Spirit's power, there is this new birth. When you hear the word of God read and expounded, declared, and you come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only is exhortation involve exposition, setting forth the meaning and intent of the scripture, what does the text say? It also involves interpretation. It is making clear the sense of the text. What does the text mean? We can have all we can read into the text all kinds of different meanings. But what is God saying in this particular passage? And exposition and interpretation isn't enough. We need to apply God's word. So application is driving the text home. It is taking what you know about what God has revealed in his word and putting it into practice. This answers the question, what difference does it make in my life? And this is the part where we often fall short, isn't it? There are a lot of people that know the scriptures, they can interpret the scriptures and interpret it correctly, but it has absolutely no value. It makes absolutely no difference in their heart and in their lives. Application deals with what action or what belief is called for. How are you to respond to the word declared? And then the word is expounded, that it is declared, explained in detail. It is made known. The truth is set forth. Expounding God's word is communicating the scriptural word Truth to the hearer, it is the preaching of God's word. You must understand the gospel if you would desire to live rightly according to God's word. But notice this, and remember this, understanding the gospel without application produces antinomianism. which is a presumed righteousness. It is a faith based merely on academic exercise involving only a head knowledge. I think I've used this illustration before. We had a Muslim friend to whom we gave a copy of the scriptures and the scriptures were in their house. And my wife went to visit our friend and her father-in-law, I believe was there. And you know what he was doing? He had taken the scriptures and was reading the scriptures. Why was he reading the scriptures? He was reading the scriptures to see, um, you know, what they had to say and how he could refute them. According to the Quran, he was not interested in hearing the gospel. Now we don't know God will use his word, but he wasn't, his intent was not to, to know Christ. His intent was to refute Christ. Understanding without application is meaningless, but application without understanding leads to legalism. And legalism is an earned righteousness, merely abiding by a set of rules, which if you abide by these rules, you are guaranteed a positive outcome. And so all you need to do is keep this 121 list worth of things to do and not to do, and you're a good Christian. And when you take that list and you show God all those check marks, there you are. God, here's my passport into heaven. That's the idea of legalism, based on works, based on merits. That is not what the gospel produces in the heart of the believer. What the gospel ought to produce in the heart of the believer is that application resulting from understanding is the fruit of true faith. What is true faith? True faith is not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed in his word, but also an assured confidence that not only to others, to those around me, but to me also. Forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits. Or as the Westminster Confession says, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. There is knowledge and application that is to be set forth in the exposition, the exhortation of God's Word. And so brothers and sisters, preaching is the authoritative public verbal proclamation of God's Word by a man whom Christ has set aside to the office. It is the public proclamation. in corporate worship, not in one's private discourse. It is an authoritative proclamation by one having the power and the right to call for obedience. It is a delegated authority, delegated by God and Christ to a man set aside for to that office. This authority is not inherent in the preacher. but is inherent in the office of one called to publicly and openly declare the will of God. It is a public and authoritative declaration, proclaiming the truth. I love it frequently as the elders meet before the worship service for prayer. One of the elders will pray, concerning and say, thus says the Lord. And why would he, why would he say, you know, in regards to preaching, thus says the Lord, because it is that declaration of God's truth to you and to me, by which you are to live and shape your life and your actions. You see, the prophets are filled with this declaration. I mean, you could go to some software, Bible software, and search, thus says the Lord, and see all of the references where that occurs, particularly within the prophets. Elijah to Ahab, for example, in 1 Kings 2. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tispite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab. You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord. And then he goes, you have murdered and taken possession of Naboth's vineyard. And you shall speak to him saying, thus says the Lord in the place where the dogs lick the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours. It's a declaration from God of the truth. And that's what preaching is. It's a declaration involving the exposition, expounding it. the teaching or equipping for service the people of God. It is the declaration of scripture, of God's word, not man's word, not man's opinion. It is rooted in scripture. It is formed by biblical thought. It is grounded in God's truth, which is the final source of authority. You must be Scripture must be understood, believed, and obeyed. And it is the public authoritative verbal declaration of the truth of Scripture by a man whom Christ has set aside for the office. Preaching is done by men in the public corporate worship. We saw that when we looked at 1 Timothy 3. It is done by imperfect men. I'm going to say that again, it is done by imperfect men, men who must be saved by grace, men who must believe in, must believe the scriptures to be God's word. There are many pulpits where there are men and others who are standing in the pulpit who don't believe the Bible to be God's word. How in the world can that be the preaching? How can that be considered preaching? It can't. because preaching involves the exposition of the scriptures. It is done by imperfect men. It is done by called men, those who have been summoned, dedicated, designated, and appointed to office by God through the church. and it is to be done by faithful men who live according to the truth, who subject themselves to the truth of God. It's not to be the idea of do as I say, not as I do. Sometimes we might say that to our children, because we recognize our own failings, that we don't want them to do that, but we ourselves are hypocritical in that sense and do it ourselves. It is to be done by imperfect men, called men, faithful men, and gifted men. men who have manifested the gifts of communication, each man having a different gift, receiving these gifts in different degrees and in different areas. Each man must be faithful to God's word. And as the word is publicly declared and expounded, you must heed that word. It's not an option for you. If you would grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, then you must hear what God has to say to you through the reading and proclamation of his word and live by it. You must fight against that tendency to drown out the preacher or to be distracted by the cares of this world, or maybe put your own, shall I say, prejudices As a wall in between the word and what is declared to you, you must elevate the word preached. And insofar as that word is faithful to the scripture, it is Christ speaking to you. It is Christ's word to you to be obeyed and lived. It's not the preacher's word. If you think that it's my word, then you totally misunderstand what I'm trying to communicate to you today. It is God's Word that you must heed. It is God's Word that I desire to set before you, because it is only in Christ that you will find salvation. It is only in Christ that you will be strengthened to live a holy and godly life. The effectiveness of the Word preached rests in the Holy Spirit, not in man. and you must attend to God's Word with diligence, preparation, and prayer. You must receive it with faith and love, and you must lay it up in your hearts and practice it in your lives. Brothers and sisters, do you, after you depart from worship, go home, when you leave the doors of this church, and practice what you have heard? Do you believe what has been declared to you? Or do you think, The pastor, he did a terrible job or all the pastor was just a great story. Wonderful. I was so entertained, energetic now and let's go. I'm going to carry on with the rest of my week. How does the proclamation of God's word impact you? Every opportunity you have to hear it and brothers and sisters, you have the privilege and the blessing to be fed not once on the Lord's Day, but twice on the day. make every opportunity to avail yourself of that blessing, that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I know sometimes we can't make it. Sometimes we're ill. Sometimes we're sick. But brothers and sisters, that ought to be the exception, not the rule. Why wouldn't you want to hear God's word proclaimed and grow in grace and be challenged to greater obedience? Why wouldn't you? What greater joy is there than to hear about your Savior and what He has done for you? And what does it say if we can barely bring ourselves to come to worship? What does it say about our view of Christ, who gave Himself for us, whose hands were nails were driven through and his feet and his side, the sword was pierced and blood and water flowed for his sin. No, for your sin and my sin. Why, why wouldn't, why wouldn't we want to be fed and be reminded of what Christ did for us? That's what the proclamation of God's word ought to do. in its weakness by weak men, imperfect men, called men. Pray for the Holy Spirit to take that word and apply it to your heart and to your lives. You are to give careful attention to God's word when it is read, preached and taught. Notice the standard is God's word. You must base what you believe upon the precepts of God's holy counsel. He says you are to give attention to doctrine. Doctrine is simply the right understanding of the whole counsel of God. Doctrine is teaching taken from Scripture, grounded in Scripture, defended from Scripture. God's Word is the ultimate authority for what we believe and how you are to live and how you would guide your life. If our teaching differs from God's Word, it is our understanding that is wrong and must be changed to conform to the teaching of Scripture. And the content of preaching, the content of exhortation, the content of the exposition must be God's Word, not philosophies and ideologies of the world. And this is exactly where the world has gone astray, accepting as true principles and ideas contrary to what God has revealed in His Word. Words like social justice and the social gospel come to mind, which is anything but presenting Christ and him crucified front and center. It is the communication of God's word, which is inerrant and infallible. When we say that God's word is inerrant, we mean it is without error. It contains no errors in its original autographs. There are no errors in the theology of the scriptures. And when we say it is infallible, we take that a step further. See, one of my children wrote a test this week. Is it possible for them to take that test and get 100% on it to get everything right? Is it possible? The answer to that question is yes, it's possible. But does that mean then that they are incapable of making an error? Well, you know the answer to that question, I trust. No, it is possible that they can make an error. When we say that this word of God is infallible, we are saying it cannot err. It is not even possible for there to be an error in the word of God. That's why we say it is inerrant, without error, and infallible. God's Word is powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, the writer of Hebrews says. For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow. It is a discerner of thoughts and the intents of the heart. God's word accomplishes its purpose, Isaiah 55, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void. Do you believe God's word is powerful? Invite others to come to sit on the preaching of God's word. It's God's primary means of grace. And God's word is powerful, it produces two results, doesn't it? It either produces a softening of the heart or a hardening of the heart. The first we rejoice in, the second dismays us. So you are to give careful attention to God's word when it is read, preached, and taught. For preaching is God's ordained means of addressing the heart. God uses the foolishness of preaching to redeem his people. And preaching is often done in weakness. Actually, I should rephrase that. Preaching ought always to be done in weakness. It always ought to be done in reliance upon the Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit that enlivens the word of God declared. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers the word of God to penetrate the hearts of stone. It is the Holy Spirit who takes that heart of stone and by his word removes it and replaces it with a heart of flesh beating out of love for Christ. Preaching is God ordained means. by which he has called you and me to faith and repentance, to rest upon Christ alone for salvation. And all preaching must direct you to Christ. If it does not direct you to Christ, is it really preaching? Is it really a declaration of the gospel? Is it really the good news of salvation? For Christ is the only hope any man, woman or child has. Of being declared righteous in the sight of God of having your sins washed and removed from you. And if you ignore the word of God, if you look down upon the word of God, or you think you know it, then I warn you that you are in danger of judgment. God is not interested in a disinterested hearing of his word. God desires a focused application of it, obedience to his will. In preaching, the beauty of Christ is set forth as a diamond. Some see God's word as a lump of dirt that has no value and throw it away. Others see God's word as fool's gold, teaching with no root in reality. Others see the value of God's word dimly, perhaps because of a lack of sanctification. Knowing there's some power in God's word has made some difference in my life. and yet others see the beauty of God's Word as it is exhibited like a diamond refracting the light, the beauty and glory of God. The preacher's task is to declare God's Word from God's Word, grounded in God's Word. Your task as the people of God, as a child of God, is to listen to God's Word, to hear God's Word, to obey God's Word, and to live according to it in every activity. Your task is to measure the preached word by God's word of truth, the only standard and ground of your faith. Brothers and sisters, remember this obedience is not a matter of merit, of earning your salvation. It is a matter of resting in Christ as he is offered to you in the gospel and acting upon the precepts and commands that have been communicated in God's word. It is the process of sanctification growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ. And it is achieved by the obedience to Christ, resting in his merits and trusting in the Holy Spirit to accomplish what he has promised in his word. Give thanks to God for the gospel and seek the strength of the Holy Spirit to respond in faith and gratitude to Christ's redemptive work on the cross. Brothers and sisters, let us not neglect the Word of God as it is declared each week and twice each week. Let us learn how to apply God's Word to our lives daily, resting in His promises in Christ. Until He comes, give attention to reading, to exhortation, and doctrine. Let us pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. your word, which is truth, your word, which gives light, your word, which brings us face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, may we find in him our hope and our strength. And Father, work in us that obedience of faith that brings glory and honor to your most holy name. Father, we cannot do this in our own strength. And so we ask for your spirit to work in us. And we ask these things in his name, in Christ's name. Amen.