And now we pray for you to bless the preaching of your word this morning. As we consider your word and the testimony that you have kept pure for us through the scriptures, that you would speak through it. We pray that you would let us hear your voice this morning. As we consider the preaching of your word, that you'd give us a deeper understanding of what it is, how we should view it, and how we should respond to it. So again, we pray this morning for the sermon and for the preaching of your word. We pray that you'd be glorified and that we'd be edified. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So I am excited to be here this morning. We will be starting a new series as we completed our study of Jude the last time I was able to preach. And so the series that we will be beginning this morning is a series on the means of grace. And so while we reference the means of grace nearly every week in our services, I realize that we haven't had any time devoted specifically to examining what these means of grace are. And so this series will be looking at each of these elements individually. And so Lord willing, we'll be able to grow into a deeper understanding of what these are and how they function in our Christian life. Historically, the means of grace, or more specifically the ordinary means of grace, have been understood in the Reformed tradition as the typical or ordinary way in which God conforms us into the image and likeness of Christ. The ordinary means of grace include preaching, prayer, and the sacraments, namely baptism and the Lord's Supper. And so before we begin this morning, I want to emphasize that these are the ordinary means of grace. They're not necessarily the only way that God chooses to work within us. It's just the most normative, most ordinary way. And I think that we'll see that brought out as we examine each of these means individually. But my point is that I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying as that the other fruitful things in the Christian life are powerless to aid us. Things such as personal Bible reading, family worship, book studies, and even reading biographies of saints that have modeled a godly life in the past can and often do encourage us to press on and fight the good fight of faith. But what we are specifically concerned with in this series will be the primary elements of our corporate worship each Lord's Day and how God uses them as an ordinary means of sanctification. And so with that said, let us begin this morning by examining the first means of grace, which is preaching. And so please turn with me to 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Recently, our youngest daughter, Addie, has reached a new stage in her development. As the parents in here know, the really early newborn stage largely consists of eating and sleeping. They don't yet have the ability to interact very much. But after these early months, there comes a time when they start to become alert to things. Movements begin to interest them. Sounds become things of interest. Soon they're able to perceive things and even smile. And as a parent, one of the best feelings in these early days of our children's lives is when they hear you, they hear your voice, they look right at you, and they smile. They recognize your face and your voice. They hear you and they become happy that you are there. But while they come to recognize your voice and smile when they hear you, the opposite is true of the voice of a stranger. When an unknown voice is heard, especially when it's seen coming from an unfamiliar face, it's typically not met with a smile. In some cases, it causes the child to frown or even cry. This is because the voice of a mother and father are familiar. They represent comfort and safety. They're symbolic of hunger being satisfied, diapers being changed, and sleep enjoyed. The voice of a stranger, however, is foreign. It's unfamiliar. It has no good thing attached to it. It merely communicates to them mystery. It represents the unknown. And the reason for considering this is because this parallels the way the Christian hears the voice of God and the voice of a stranger, each respectively. And so this brings me to the main point of our sermon this morning, which is to hear the word faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. Again, to hear the word faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. Now with that said, please look with me now at our text this morning. 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. We read this, Now, the context here of this passage is the Apostle Paul writing his final epistle before he is martyred in Rome. He's writing to Timothy who previously he had called his true child in the faith. And he knows that his days are numbered. Look down at chapter 4 verse 6 where we read, So Paul understands he's nearing the end of his life. So knowing that his days are limited, he writes to Timothy, his child in the faith, who is pastoring the church at Ephesus. And as you can imagine, he wastes no ink on things of little importance. Paul is giving Timothy his final instructions before he's martyred. And it's in this solemn context that we find and read this solemn charge. He says again, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing in his kingdom. In other words, I charge you before the judge of all men who will return and render to those what is justly due to them. Whatever this charge is, is clearly of utmost importance. In the solemn, broader context of the letter comes a specific solemn charge. And so what is it that Paul reveres this deeply? Look with me at verse 2. Preach. We'll stop there. Preach. The charge to Timothy is to preach. Now, this word in the Greek is kērusō, which simply means to declare or proclaim publicly. It's the action of announcing something, to make a public proclamation. And it's worth noting that this verb in the Greek is in the imperative, which means that it is a command. The tense communicates that it's something that must be done. He's telling him to preach. He's saying, Timothy, I command you, in the presence of and by the authority of God, to proclaim. Declare publicly, Timothy. So Timothy, as a pastor, is commanded to preach. But, like many verbs, Caruso needs a subject in order to carry out the action. The command is to preach, to declare, to proclaim. But this leads to a very natural question, which is to preach what? Declare what? Proclaim what? If I walk up to you and I say, throw, you'll rightly ask me, throw what? Do I mean throw a ball or throw a punch? Because one of those is not like the other. The object of the verb matters, right? And so this imperative to preach requires a subject to make sense out of it. It doesn't make sense on its own. It's the command to publicly proclaim, but what is it? Proclaim what? Is it one's opinions? Should the substance of our preaching be the ideas of the preacher? Is it right for him to declare his experiences or his dreams? Luckily, the text makes this clear. Look back at verse 2. Preach the word. Preach the word. It's the scriptures. The scriptures are the substance of what Timothy, and then all pastors by extension of that same office, are commanded to preach. Paul does not leave this command to preach ambiguous as to what should be preached. Preaching as defined by the Bible is to publicly proclaim the Word of God, to preach the Word. The man of God is not instructed to declare opinions, However good they are in his own estimation, he is not instructed to use his dreams or supernatural encounters. No, he is commanded to preach. And the substance of that preaching must be the Word of God. Now, there is an important side note that I want you to understand clearly as it will relate to the rest of the series and why we do what we do in corporate worship. So I brought up the fact that this verb is in the imperative, and thus we should understand it as a command. And so the fact that this is directly commanded in scripture, the fact that preaching is directly prescribed by the scriptures, is very significant. You can trace almost all forms of modern day worship back to two schools of thought that were formulated in the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s. The first is the Reform view, and they held that principle, which is called the Regulative Principle of Worship. And the second is what came from the Lutheran streams of thought, which held to the Normative Principle of Worship. So, Regulative Principle and Normative Principle of Worship. And a simple way of explaining this is that the regulative principle of worship only uses those things which are positively commanded in scripture in corporate worship on the Lord's Day. On the other hand, the normative principle is that anything that's not forbidden in the scriptures is permissible to use in corporate worship. And this again was the view that was held by Lutherans. To be fair to Luther, Melanchthon and the other early Lutherans, they implemented a very conservative application of the normative principle. And yet, because of the freedom allowed within this normative principle, things have gotten very off the rails in some cases. Christian rock concerts, fog machines, altar calls, speaking in gibberish, self-promoting sermons, and various other distracting and unbiblical practices have crept into evangelicalism since these principles were developed in the 1500s. I'm sure you guys have seen a lot of that, past churches. And this, while I think is largely due to unconverted or at least very immature congregants and ministers, you can not argue against these things from the normative principle. These things are not forbidden in scripture, right? It doesn't ever say you can't use fog machines. It doesn't ever say you can't have a large production concert. You can't argue from that principle. So if it's not forbidden, then it must be okay to use, right? We would say that's wrong. Because God has commanded us to worship Him. And so if we believe in the sufficiency of scripture for Christian life and practice, then we look to the scriptures to find how it is that God wants to be worshipped. The worship belongs to Him. It's His worship. It's not left up to us to conjure up creative ways that we think God would like to be worshipped. No, it's His worship and He gets to define it. So needless to say, we do not hold to the normative principle of worship in this church. We hold to the regulative principle of worship, meaning we only include those things which are positively commanded in the scriptures in our corporate worship on the Lord's Day. And this is why, if you'll notice, we do announcements before the opening prayer, and we do things like voting and church meetings after the benediction. Because it is our conviction that from the call to worship and opening prayer and the beginning of service to the benediction, that's a sacred time. And we should only include those things in that time that God has positively instructed us to do. And so this is why I wanted to emphasize to you that preaching in our text and other places in scripture is commanded. It is a command. It's a commanded element of our worship, which is why it is part of our service here at this church. Now, look back at our text with me. And if you'll remember the main point of our text this morning, namely that to hear the scriptures faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. And notice the qualifier in that statement. I didn't say to hear someone preach is to hear the voice of God. No, it's not simply preaching or proclaiming that brings forth this promise. It is preaching the word faithfully. Faithfully, that's an important adjective. It is an important qualifier. And so where am I getting this idea that it must be preached faithfully? Let's look forward into verse 2. He says, So, within Paul's command to Timothy to reprove, rebuke, and exhort in his preaching makes this point clear that it's the accurate proclamation, the accurate, faithful preaching of God's Word that's in view here. Why do I say that? Let me ask you this. Does Timothy, or any other pastor for that matter, have any power in and of themselves to reprove, or to rebuke, or to exhort? You may say, yes, when they use the Scriptures to do so, and that's exactly the point. The pastor has no power in and of himself to reprove, rebuke, or exhort any person apart from the Word of God. He must rely on the authority found in God's Word to reprove, to rebuke, and to exhort God's people. If you look back into the last chapter of this book, chapter 3. In verse 16, I'm sure you're familiar with this passage. We read this, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Now notice that this list, found in the previous chapter, is almost identical to what Paul is now commanding Timothy to do in his preaching. He said right before he gives the command to preach that Scripture, and Scripture alone, has the power and ability to teach, to reprove, to correct, which is basically the same thing as rebuke, and to train righteousness, which is similar to exhorting. So you see these similarities between these two lists here. So right after he tells Timothy to preach, he moves on and says, your preaching must do this. You must reprove, you must rebuke, you must exhort with this preaching. And so Timothy must preach the Word faithfully in order for the Word to work powerfully, like Paul says it does. It's the Word that has power, not the preacher, not the preaching. It's the substance. And so that's why I say that it's only the faithful preaching of God's Word that can reprove, rebuke, and exhort. The Word has power, and when it is proclaimed publicly, it will work powerfully. Recall what the prophet Isaiah, what God says through the prophet Isaiah in chapter 55 verse 11. So will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. So God says his word will not return void and he has commanded us to preach his word. Therefore when it's preached faithfully it won't return void. It has power. So, we've seen that God has commanded preaching. We've also seen that the substance of this preaching is the Scriptures. And both within the command itself to preach the Word, as well as the further command to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, we see the truth that faithful preaching is what is in view here. So, from here on out, as I say preaching, I am meaning the faithful proclamation of God's Word, as the Bible defines what preaching is. And so now, with that said, and with preaching defined, I would like to move forward and examine the nature of preaching. the nature of preaching. I'd like to answer the question of what is it? What is it that we hear? When we hear God's Word faithfully preached, what is it that we're hearing? Is it simply the voice of the pastor? Or is it something more? So please turn in your Bibles again with me to Romans 10. Leave your finger in 1 Timothy 4 as we'll be returning there. But we need to look at Romans 10 and one other place in Scripture to help us to answer this question. Romans 10. We'll be looking at beginning in verse 12. So the context here in Romans 10 is Paul's desire for the apostate Jews who have rejected Christ, they've rejected the coming of their Messiah, to believe in the gospel. He hasn't given up hope for them. And so, in this context, we read this, starting in verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. For whoever will call the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Now, if you are reading along in something other than the American Standard Version, you may have an extra word included in verse 14. Your translation may read, How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Of whom. That extra of is in some translations. This, however, is not the best translation. The Greek literally reads, See the difference? Of whom and who they have not heard. Paul is saying that in order to believe in Christ, you must hear Christ. They must hear Him. Not of Him. They must hear Him. How will they believe in Him unless they hear Him? This is the argument, right? And what's the argument for? Look at the last part of verse 14. How will they hear without a what? A preacher. So they're hearing Him, but He's saying, how will they hear Him without a preacher? So Paul is saying they need to hear Christ Himself to believe in Christ, but they cannot hear Him without a preacher. And so the conclusion of Paul's argument is that hearing Christ is the only way of believing in Him, and hearing Christ can only happen how? In person? Must Christ physically appear before them and speak to them? In a vision or a dream, must Christ come in the subconscious to them? No. Paul says that it is through the preacher that Christ is heard. And so what the scriptures are teaching is that when God's Word is faithfully preached, as the Bible defines it, those that hear are hearing Christ himself. Now, I understand that this may be a new and seemingly strange idea for some, and some might even question the surety of this based upon it being built on the presence or lack of a single word in an English translation. It's understandable. It's a fair concern, but luckily, this is not the only place in Scripture that teaches this. Well again, keeping your finger in 2 Timothy, please turn over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We'll be starting in, we'll pick up in verse 11, but the main point I want to bring out here is in verse 17. So again, the context here is Paul writing to these Ephesian believers that had previously been dead in their trespasses and sins, and yet God, verse 4, God made them alive in Christ. He gave them grace and faith, which in previous studies we know that they are both gifts of God. And then Paul writes this in verse 11 moving forward. He says, Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called the uncircumcision, by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands, Remember, that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So that, in Himself, He might make for the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And now look at verse 17. This is where this point is drawn out from. And He, Jesus, came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. Do you see it? Paul, speaking to the believers in Ephesus, says, He, Jesus, came and preached peace to you who are far off. Jesus preached peace to them. He also expresses the same thing in chapter 4 of Ephesians. He says, Paul says that they have heard him. They have heard Christ himself. They have heard Jesus. Now let me ask you, when in Jesus' ministry did he travel to Ephesus? Where in the gospel records do we see Jesus traveling to the Gentile region of Ephesus to preach to them? The answer is nowhere. He never went to Ephesus to preach. Jesus' ministry, as well as the apostles in the first part of the book of Acts, was to the Jews primarily. Jesus taught in Jewish synagogues and during his ministry, and then he instructed the apostles to start with the Jews as well. In Acts chapter 1 verse 6 we read this, You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, in Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. So it's Jerusalem first, locally, then it's expanded out to all of Judea, then it's expanded out even more to Samaria, and then finally to the remotest part of the earth. So if Jesus focused on the Jew first, and then he instructed the apostles to do the same thing, how do we make sense of this? Jesus never came and preached to the Ephesians. And so since this is true, then has Paul made some historical mistake? Is this ammo for the atheists to attack the infallibility of scripture? Certainly not. Paul wasn't mistaken about Jesus not physically coming and preaching to the Ephesians. How do I know this? If you'll remember, while Peter and the other eleven were tasked with ministering to the Jew first, it was the Apostle Paul who was given the ministry to the Gentiles. Galatians 1, 15 and 16 read this. Paul says, But when God, who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Also in Acts, Paul recounts his conversion and commission by Christ. He says this in Acts 22-21, And he, Jesus, said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. So we see that it was Paul who was given the ministry to the Gentiles. It was Paul himself, therefore, who went and preached the Ephesians. Paul, in speaking his farewell to the Ephesians, says this in Acts 20 and 21, he says, So Paul was not confused. about whether or not Jesus physically came and preached to the Ephesians. He knew that that's not what happened because he knew that he himself was the one that preached to them. And yet he tells these Ephesians that he, Christ, came and preached to you. What he is saying is that through his own faithful proclamation, through his own preaching of the Word of God, the Ephesians did not simply hear his own voice, They didn't just hear Paul's voice, but they heard the voice of Christ. Remember our main point this morning that to hear the scriptures faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. So, we have seen that the Bible defines preaching as the faithful proclamation of the Word of God. The Ephesians did not simply hear Paul's voice, they heard the voice of Christ. And this command that was given to Timothy and all pastors by extension of that same office is to preach and to let the audience hear the voice of Christ. That's the command. We've also seen that the scriptures have power and authority to reprove, to rebuke, and to exhort the believer. And it is the duty of the preacher to pursue this end through the means of preaching. We then sought to define the nature of this preaching, and Lord willing, you can now see that faithful preaching of the Word results in hearing the voice of Christ. When the Word is rightly preached, you are not hearing the voice of the preacher only. It is not his own voice, however steeped in the truths of Scripture that voice may be. The Jews, upon hearing the sent preacher in Romans 10, did not hear the preacher's voice. It's not his voice alone. The Ephesians, having heard the preaching of Paul, did not hear the voice of Paul alone. It was not simply his voice. Because to hear the word faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. And so now, in conclusion, please turn back to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. So Paul charges Timothy in the presence of God to preach the word. And by this, we've seen that means the faithful proclamation of the Word. And in so doing, he is used by God to speak to his people. To reprove them, to rebuke them, and to exhort them. He then gives a reason why. Please look with me at verses 3 and 4 in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul writes, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, they being false converts, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. And so he is making a distinction here between true and false converts. The true convert are those mentioned above who will sit under Timothy's preaching. They want to hear the voice of God through the faithful proclamation of the Word. They desire to be reproved. They desire to be rebuked. They desire to be exhorted in godliness. They want that. That's what they desire. The false converts, on the other hand, want nothing to do with Timothy or this faithful preaching. Paul prophesies that those false converts will heap up for themselves false teachers. Sometimes we can think of false teachers taking advantage of people, and to an extent they surely do. They prey on those that are weak or immature in their faith. But there's also another reality in Scripture that we see here, that these false converts want false teachers. They're not victims to them. They desire them. They're the ones that accumulate and heap up for themselves these false teachers. They're the ones that put them up and listen to them and sit in their preaching. They empower them. by giving them their attention and giving them their respect. And so, while yes, false teachers do take advantage of weak and immature believers, there's also the reality that false converts are responsible for the false preaching that they subject themselves to. But, it is this reality that they don't want to be reproved. They don't want to be rebuked, right? They want to hide their sin. They want to be approved just the way that they are. They don't want exhortation and godliness. They want to feel good about where they're at. They want to be encouraged in their sinfulness. And so the imagery that Paul uses is helpful to contrast these true and false converts' desires. He says that these false converts have itching ears. They have itching ears. And they desire the scratching of false preaching. They have an itch, and the remedy to that itch is the scratching of unfaithful and unbiblical preaching. It's what they desire. It's what they want. We all know that when you have an itch, a scratch is desirable. It's a soothing feeling and it meets the need of itchiness. But what about when you don't have an itch? Does scratching sound appealing? Of course not. Scratching without an itch is undesirable, offensive and painful. Those that have itching ears find this false preaching desirable, and that's because they don't know God, and they cannot hear His voice. They don't want to hear His voice. But Christ sheep do know His voice. They hear His voice and they love it. They hate the voice of another. The scratch of false preaching is offensive to them, right? John 10 says this in verses 1 through 5. Jesus says, "...truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs in some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens. And the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. To hear the scriptures faithfully preached is to hear the voice of God. Christ's sheep hear his voice and they do not follow the voice of a stranger. And so now by way of application, let us consider two points. We have seen that Preaching is a command of the Lord. It's positively commanded in Scripture. We include it as a primary element of our corporate worship here at this church because it is positively commanded and because of its nature as the Bible defines it. We have seen that the Bible defines preaching as the faithful proclamation of God's Word, and that when it is done rightly and faithfully, the hearers are actually hearing the voice of Christ. And so what shall we do in light of this? How should we respond? Again, let us consider two points. The first and most pressing is to ask yourselves if you are among Christ's sheep. Have you personally laid a hold of Him by faith and trusted in Him for the salvation of your soul? He invites all to come and freely drink of the stream of life. You may be unsure. Well, we're given an indicator in our text this morning that can aid us in our assurance. Have you experienced the desire to hear faithful preaching? Do you like to be challenged towards Christlikeness? Are you among those who desire the effects of faithful preaching? Do you desire to be reproved? Do you desire to be rebuked? Do you desire to be exhorted? If in those things, and as a result of those things, you become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ, do you hunger and thirst for the Word of God? Does your attitude embody the sentiment that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God? And on the other side of the same coin, you could ask yourselves, do you find false preaching offensive? Is the scratch that soothes the itching ears of false believers an unpleasant sound to you? Do you find yourselves unable to listen to unfaithful preaching because in it you do not hear the voice of Christ, but rather you hear the voice of a stranger? Well, if so, then take heart. It's only Christ's sheep that hear His voice. A voice of a stranger they will not follow. Back to our introduction analogy, much like how young children hear the voices of their parents and smile, yet frown at the voice of a stranger. So, Christ's sheep long to hear his voice and won't listen to the voice of a stranger. That is the first question to ask yourself this morning. If you are counted among Christ's sheep, And if not, hear him call you today out of darkness and into marvelous light to follow him and not the voice of a stranger into life and life abundant. And the second question is for those that have believed and do know the voice of the shepherd. I would ask you this morning, What is your view of preaching? Do you simply view it as sanctified opinions that may or may not encourage you? Or do you view preaching as the medium through which Christ speaks to you, His bride, each Lord's Day as we gather? The Scriptures are clear that Christ uses preaching to speak to His church. as a primary and ordinary means of grace. Do you believe this? And if so, how high ought we to esteem the Lord's Day? The Puritans refer to it as the market day of the soul, and indeed it is. It is one sanctified day of the week where we gather and corporately worship and offer God praise together. but he also promises that while we give him our worship and praise that we will hear his voice. We ought to prize the Lord's day and come each week with anticipation that the living God desires communion with us and will meet us here and speak to us through the preaching of his word. And it is in this way precisely that we see that preaching is a means of grace. God uses preaching of his word to reprove, to rebuke, and to exhort us. And by coming to corporate worship regularly and sitting under faithful preaching, we are conformed more into the image and likeness of Christ as our faith is grown each week. For we know that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that You've promised to be with us in a special way. Give us your special presence each Lord's Day as we gather. And while it is our duty and our responsibility to come before you and to give you the praise and glory that you deserve for saving us, we thank you that you also give us promises that we can come and hear your word proclaimed and to hear the voice of Christ in it. We thank you that you are a living God who desires communion, who desires to communicate with us, to instruct us, to rebuke us, and that you've given us special means of grace that through which you use each Lord's Day to make us more and more like your Son. Thank you for this, and we pray that we'd have a deeper understanding of what preaching is. We pray that we'd have a reverence for preaching. We pray that those of us who do preach would have a great reverence for it, as there's a great duty and responsibility in faithfully proclaiming your word. And so we pray now as we continue in our worship to you this morning, that you'd bless this time And again, continue to use the elements that you've given us to conform us more into the image of your Son. It's in his name we pray. Amen.