Our loving Heavenly Father has graciously provided salvation for His elect. We who now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that our election is evident. Some people are elect and haven't yet come to Him. But we who are originally members of the sinful, rebellious race of mankind, that God would be fully justified condemning us all to eternal punishment without mercy. But in His amazing mercy, He sent His only Son to be our Redeemer. In obedience to the Father, the Son graciously offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross to atone for our sins and bore all of our shame and guilt. By this redemption, we are given all the benefits of salvation, justification, adoption, sanctification, the hope of eternal life, things like joy in the Holy Spirit and perseverance and grace, blessings without number. But in order for us to obtain this grace of salvation, we have to be delivered out of this state of sin and misery and brought into this state of salvation through Christ our Redeemer. This is accomplished by the working of the Holy Spirit who convinces us of our sin, enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renews our wills. This involves a dynamic working of the Holy Spirit in us so that we respond to the call of the Gospel with faith and continue in that faith into the end. The Spirit uses what we call the means of grace in order to bring us into this state of believing faith and to keep us in it. A means, of course, is a tool that you use to accomplish an end. A means to an end. To accomplish a goal or a purpose. A hammer is a means for driving nails. The means that the Holy Spirit uses to bring us to Christ and keep us living in union with Him after we have come are called the means of grace. In our sermon series on the Westminster Larger Catechism, We've been doing a thorough exploration of the means of grace. We've been introduced to them, and now we've been examining how God uses them in our lives, and how we are to make use of them. How He uses them sovereignly, how we are to come to the means and make use of them. Presently we're looking at the Word, the Scriptures, as a means of grace, and in particular at the preaching of the Word. Different ways that the Word comes to us, through the reading of the Word, the preaching of the Word, Well, we're looking particularly now, having looked at reading, we're looking at preaching. There's a lot of attention given to this topic in the Westminster Confession or Catechism because the Word is the primary means by which God communicates His grace to us for our faith. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And then it says, how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach unless they be sent? So it shows the importance of this means. Last week and the week before we looked at question 158. By whom is the Word of God to be preached? The answer is the Word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently gifted and also duly approved and called to that office. The Lord has given us many warnings as we saw about the persons that we admit into our pulpit. We are warned against listening to false teachers and we're given a method to follow by God in selecting and setting men apart for the work of the ministry of the Word. Ordinarily, no one is to preach in the church unless he has been found to be sufficiently gifted and has also been duly examined and properly set apart to the work in the way that God has appointed." So that was what we looked at really in the last two weeks, question 158. This week we come to question 159. which asks us, how is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto? The answer is, they that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word are to preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season, plainly, not in enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God, wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers, zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people, sincerely aiming at his glory and their conversion, edification and salvation. For our scripture reading, I have selected 2 Timothy 4, verses 1 through 8, where the Apostle Paul solemnly charges Timothy, preach the word. Now, perhaps you will wonder what purpose it will serve for you to look at the preacher's task since most of you are not preachers. OK, so why should you bother to sit here and listen to a sermon about the duty of preachers? But I tell you that it can be a great profit to you to look at this subject. It's important for you to know what the preacher is called to do when he preaches so that you will understand what you ought to look for from preaching. For example, we will see that a minister speaks as a herald of Christ. We're going to develop that later. Speaking in Christ's stead. And that tells you that you're to receive the word preached. It's the very word of King Jesus. As long as it's faithful to the scripture, whatever the preacher is saying. It's like Him speaking to you. It has that authority. It will change your life if you start listening like that. See, that would be one thing that would be helpful. It will also help you In praying for pastors, the scriptures call you to pray for the word and for those who preach it. And knowing what ministers are called to do will help you to know how to pray more effectively for them. It would be a great encouragement to me if some of you would take what is written in the larger catechism and pray that for me as a minister of the gospel. That I would preach sound doctrine diligently in season and out of season, plainly, not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, faithfully making known the whole counsel of God, wisely applying myself to the necessities and capacities of the hearers, zealously with fervent love to God and to the souls of His people, sincerely aiming at His glory and their conversion, edification, and salvation." If you would pray for me in that way, then that would be of great benefit to you. as well, if God would be pleased to answer those prayers. It will also help you to be able to provide advice to me as a preacher or any other preacher. If I'm not providing some of the things that preaching is supposed to provide, and you say, hey, it says here it's supposed to provide these things, you can bring that to my attention and help me improve, especially the role of the elders. I appreciate it when anyone helps Actually, the sermon last week was the result of a brother pointing out that these were topics that really need to be addressed that you would like to hear. And I was about ready to move on to question 159. I went all the way back and preached the whole sermon because someone said, hey, this is something that is needed in the church. And I hardly agreed with that. It will also help you to, well, no, I've covered everything now. So the point, do not tune out just because this is based This text is addressed to preachers and their task. If you're a member of the church, then there's much application for you also in looking at the preacher's task. So listen now as I read to you from 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 8. 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 8. Here is the Word of God. This is the Apostle Paul speaking here, writing here. I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. They will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. And not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. May God bless the reading of his word. So Paul sees that he's about to be taken away. He's about to be killed and taken out of the ministry. And in this passage is the senior apostle there gives a very weighty charge to Timothy, calling him to carry out his duties as a young preacher. You can see how he puts it in the form of a charge in verse 1. I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in kingdom. It comes with solemnity here that surely must have made young Timothy tremble as he read these words. He is charged to his task of preaching by the aged apostle before the face of the living God and His Son who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. His work as a preacher is constantly in open display before the face of God the Father and God the Son. And there is Jesus who shed His blood for the church, who dearly loves His people, watching is Timothy would open his word and declare what Jesus had done. How incensed Jesus is with those preachers who would lead his people astray and who would distort the Gospel that he paid such a high price to procure blessing for his people. How he rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. His strongest, sharpest words were reserved for them. because they led the people astray. Someone had committed adultery or some other sin, Jesus was often there to encourage them to restoration when they came with repentance. But those who were preaching false doctrine, who were leading His people astray, He was angry and incensed with them. If Timothy were not concerned that the same love that fueled his anger against false teachers, the anger of our Lord Jesus, was also there to help him as a sincere teacher, then he would not have been able to go on with his task. He would cry out, I cannot bear the burden of this work. But you see, that love for his people, where he is so zealous to confront those false teachers and to judge those false teachers, that same love is the love that causes the Lord Jesus to Bless those who administer His Word to His people. This charge here, it ought to ring in the hearts of every minister of the Gospel. Yes, it was given to Timothy, but it was given in the Word of God as it applies to every preacher that comes after him. Very solemn and weighty charge. The more this is understood, the more the preacher should be on his knees for himself, and the more the congregation should be on their knees for the preacher. Let's look at the task the preacher is charged to perform. My outline is very simple as we look at the preacher's task. First, that the preacher must preach. Secondly, that the preacher must preach the word. And third, that the preacher must keep on preaching the word. As I work through this simple outline that emerges really out of our text, you'll find if you compare with Question 159 in the Westminster Larger Catechism. And I'm really covering everything that's in Question 159 as we go along developing through the text in 2 Timothy 4. So let's get underway with the first point. The preacher must preach. You can see that in verse 2. Paul says, preach the Word. That's the first of a string of five imperatives that come out like a machine gun fire right there that Paul issues to Timothy in verse 2. Four more imperatives are given later on in verse five. It's definitely a charge. But all of these other imperatives develop out of the first imperative, preach the word. That's the central one. The other ones modify it. So the word preach is keruso in the original. It means to herald. We don't speak of heralds very often in our society. A herald is one who makes an official proclamation for the king or for some other official. In other words, it's the king's message that is delivered by the herald. It is his duty to proclaim the king's message. The verb keruso is defined by Thayer this way, to be a herald, to officiate as a herald, to proclaim after the manner of a herald. always with the suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed." So you see, the message of a herald has behind it the authority of the king. It's not a casual message. What he means when he says it's a formal message. Speaking on behalf of the king, take heed and listen. Thayer goes on to point out that the message is also proclaimed openly. It's a message that's published for people to hear. I'm sure that you can see how this applies to Christian preachers. They have been officially appointed as heralds to speak the message of none other than King Jesus. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5, they are ambassadors of Christ who speak in His stead, who officially proclaim His message. 2 Corinthians 5.20, he says, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making His appeal through us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making His appeal through us. See what I'm saying? This is from the English Standard Version, which brings out the point that God speaks His message in this way through the preaching of the Word. So this word, Geruso, indicates to us the manner in which God's message is to be delivered. It is to be delivered, therefore, with authority. The preacher is to take the stance. J. Adams refers to it as the preacher's stance. It's very helpful. Like, where does his position, where does he stand as he preaches? He's speaking for the Lord Jesus to the congregation. It's not a dialogue, not a conversation, but it's a proclamation with authority of the King's message. For this reason, preachers ought to frequently use the second person to say things like, repent, believe the gospel, or love your neighbor. Not merely, we ought to repent, we ought to love our neighbor. The imperative needs to be there, the second person. Preaching is God's way of speaking and being heard authoritatively. Jesus is our great King and God and His message needs to come with authority to you. You need to receive it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God that effectively works in all who believe. It's not the mere ideas or the suggestions of men that you're listening to. It's God's voice, as long as it's true to the scripture. God's voice. You have the privilege then of hearing King Jesus through preaching. It's a great benefit. It is the testimony of many that when God first opens their heart to the gospel, They feel as if the sermon is aimed directly at them. That everything is laid open from their hearts. I remember talking to a fellow we knew from Belize who gave a testimony that he was standing outside of a church because he was a little bit ashamed to go in. He was not a believer and he wanted to just stand and listen to what was going on outside. And he thought the preacher knew everything about him. It was just laying his heart wide open. The preacher didn't even know he was there. But you see, the voice of King Jesus was heard. by this man the authority came and he repented of his sins. In this way, King Jesus chooses to speak to his people. Pray then that you will receive the preached word like this. Of course, this is something that shouldn't just happen at first. You should hear the voice of God all through your life through the preaching of the word. Of course, it's not just the commands. It's also the promises and the comfort and the encouragements that come through preaching. so that you can receive them as that which is backed up by Him and His authority, by the One who has the ability to fulfill, to make good the promises that He has delivered. Preaching, then, is your time to hear from Jesus Christ. So the preacher must preach with authority. But, of course, the herald must also not only preach with authority, but be greatly humbled that he is put in such a position. He is but a spokesman. It is not for Him in any way to embellish the message, to trim it of its weight and power, to dress it up, to decorate it. It's not His message or His wisdom or His promises or His commands, but the King's message that He proclaims. It's an awesome responsibility and He needs to be on His knees because the last thing He wants to do is misrepresent the King's message. And you need to pray earnestly for preachers because the last thing you should want is to have the message of King Jesus misrepresented to you. You can see from this why we would oppose those things that are substitutes for authoritative preaching. You know, a lot of people would prefer in the church and the assembly to have an informal talk, or to have a drama to present truth in that way, or to have interviews of celebrities telling about their experience with God, or a dialogue, or a musical that would tell us the truth about God, Or maybe, as we've spoken about before, a puppet show that would be very entertaining and that everyone could watch. No, preaching is keruso. It's not musicals and puppet shows and dramas and interviews. It's the authoritative proclamation of the king's message put to his people by the ministry of the word and by those who have been appointed to do it. So now you can surely see the great force with which these words in verse 1 come when the apostle declares to Timothy, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in kingdom. Preaching is always done in the sight of the master. A preacher must recognize that the Lord Jesus will judge him. Jesus sees him when he preaches and Jesus will judge him for his work. Woe to him if he is negligent. Woe to him If He misrepresents the Master, it would be better if He had not been born. The bitterest words, as I mentioned earlier, that Jesus ever spoke were to those who misrepresented the Word in His day. In Matthew 23, He called them serpents and vipers who would not escape the condemnation of hell. In Matthew 23, verse 15, He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, And when He has won, you make Him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Jesus speaks like this because of His great love for His people. He poured out Himself as a sacrifice for their sins. And He yearns to have this precious good news faithfully proclaimed to His people. That is why He is so zealous. That is why He is incensed with anyone that distorts the message and puts forth some other righteousness. even when sickeningly sweet preachers, comfort sinners, telling them that they do not need an atonement for their sins, it may seem like a sweet message, but it is right out of the pit of hell. And Jesus will judge those men with the greatest severity, because they have distorted what He poured out His life to accomplish. It's a terrifying thing for us preachers to have to preach in the sight of King Jesus, knowing that every word will be judged. But judgment also goes the other way. Indeed, Jesus does indeed yearn for His Word to be preached to His people, and He promises a great reward for preaching it faithfully. And through His cleansing blood, He is very merciful to those who preach sincerely, despite their many blunders, their many distortions, their many errors, their negligence even. As they look to Him for His mercy and grace, His blood cleanses them, and at the last day they will be surprised with the rewards that He will give to them. It's hard to believe how kind and generous He is. How this ought to encourage the preacher along in his work. It's like I told you this morning with your singing. Your singing is pitiful if it were to be judged on the strictness of God's standards. Where your heart is before God is all open, laid open before Him. But yet, because we come before the Lord Jesus, trusting in Him for our righteousness, He's going to reward us for that singing. Pitiful as it was, if it is brought with faith in Him, He's going to delight in that. So the preacher must preach as one who knows that he will be judged by King Jesus, yet comforted because of the promises of mercy through King Jesus. That if he is endeavoring to preach the message and is preaching it as his ability is able, that things will be well. But that's not all. He must also preach as one who knows that the people that he preaches to will be judged by King Jesus. You see, it's in the sight of Him who will judge the living and the dead. So, the people he preaches to, not just the preacher, but the ones preached to, are also judged. This too is a terrifying thing. Those words we saw in Matthew 23, that the preacher is in danger of making proselytes who are children of hell. Terrifying words. The preacher has the potential of making covenant people stumble, of leading them astray. if he misrepresents the King's message. There is to be great urgency then in the work. He is to labor and expend effort to make the message plain. He is to plead with men to hear and to not neglect the hearing of the Word, not to be sluggish in their hearing of the King's message. Woe to the one who has more interest in the daily news story than in the Word of God, in the latest movie or the sports event, rather than the message of King Jesus. The Word is more to be desired than fine gold. But I venture to say that if we announced that in the next weeks, in the next year in our church, that every week that we're going to be dispensing gold bullion to everyone who comes, then instead of the Word of God, that you would be here with more regularity and enthusiasm each week than you are to hear the Word. If we knew that we were going to get $800 piece of gold bullion. People would come from all around and they would be very glad to be here. They wouldn't be too tired, too sick, too whatever to be able to come. They would go out of their way. Not that there are times when we are sick and we are not able to come. I don't mean to say that. But many times the excuses are really easy for us to make when they're not necessary. Standing before the preacher then are eternal souls. who are going to spend eternity in heaven or hell, and the word that is preached has the power by God's grace to convert them. So once again, though preaching is a terrifying thing to do, it is also a wonderful privilege, because the preacher speaks words of life that have the power to save, and that God uses to save, and the power to edify, and to preserve God's saints in the way, and to help them live for the glory of God, and to grow in the grace of God, and the comfort of the Scriptures, The preacher gets to preach that message that will turn the judgment for believing hearers from eternal curse to eternal blessing. How preachers ought to labor than to preach Christ, as Paul says in Colossians 1.28 that he does. He says, Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. Obviously, dear congregation, this has much application for you. Be careful to do what Jesus said. Be careful how you hear. Be careful that you hear. The gospel we preach is to you either a saver of life unto life or death unto death. It either seals life to you or it seals condemnation to you. You are before God as a hearer, just as everyone is before God, the judge of the living and the dead. as I am before God, as a preacher, and your hearing will either do you good or it will do you much harm. The day of judgment will declare it. Do not be slack. Do not be inattentive when the message is proclaimed. Do not suppose that you can walk away and forget without doing harm to yourself. Yet know that because of His great mercy toward you, that despite your poor listening, if you are resting in Jesus, His blood will cleanse you of your sin, as a hearer, and you too will be surprised in the day of judgment when the rewards are given, if indeed you are truly a hearer in living faith. How glad this makes the preacher to know of the gracious God that we serve and that those who receive the Word, despite His own failings and the failings of the hearers, that God will bring blessing to them. But woe to those who reject the Gospel. They come before Christ, what He has given to them for their good. In this sense that we preach before the eyes of Christ, the judge also has two other benefits for us. First, it is of great comfort to preachers when they are wrongly criticized. Let men say what they will. The preacher is before the face of King Jesus. He's the one that judges the living and the dead at last. If Jesus is pleased, it doesn't much matter what men say. Paul says, it's a very small thing to me that I be judged by you. Let them say the preacher is evil. Let them accuse him. Let them distort the message. God will judge between the preacher and those who wrongly criticize. This helps to keep us preachers on track. The preacher can say to his detractors, let the Lord judge between us. He can know that whatever wicked men take from his name, from the preacher's name, that God will add that to his crown of glory. That's something that Augustine said. Take as much as you want from My name. Say all the things about Me that you want to say, because everything that you say against My name is put on My crown in the day of judgment. Let them go on in their malice all they want. They only add to the reward and the privilege of suffering with King Jesus." I don't say this because of any problem in this congregation. I'm very thankful that we don't have, at least that I know about, criticisms going on, and I'm very thankful that God has blessed us in that way, but these truths you see stand that we're before God, and it doesn't really matter what men say. It matters what He says. Secondly, it is a great comfort to know that Jesus is seeing all that the preacher does, and is not a passive observer. You know, He's sitting before His face all the time. Well, He's not just standing there watching. He's engaged. He's involved. He's pouring out His Spirit upon the preacher as he preaches, upon the congregation as they hear, especially when we pray for the blessing of the Spirit. Paul says, who is sufficient for these things? Without the grace of God, no one is sufficient. That's the implication when he asks that question. But 2 Corinthians 3.5 says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything is being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant. So Jesus is not just an audience. Yes, we're before His face when preaching is going on, but He's there engaged to help us as we look to Him. He who sent us to preach and He who watches us and will judge us is not passive, but pours out His Spirit. If we are before His face in faith in the event of preaching, in the circumstance of preaching, we can be sure that we have His help. So recognize that the preacher is indeed a herald who speaks with authority for King Jesus and who will be judged by Jesus. Now let's consider what message he is to preach. The preacher must preach the Word. Verse 2. Preach the Word. It's very obvious from the context what Word he is talking about. If you look back at the end of chapter 3, You can see that he's just spoken about the Scriptures which made Timothy wise to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. He says in 2 Timothy 3.16 that the Scriptures are given by inspiration of God, that their God breathes, is literally what that means, and are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. In 2 Timothy 3.17 he says that they, the Holy Scriptures, are able to make the man of God, that is the preacher, complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. They have everything that he needs for preaching. I've mentioned to you before that this refers to, is a word that was used for equipping a ship when it was going out to sea. Thoroughly furnished, fully equipped, everything that's needed is in the Word. Don't have to go scratching around in the garbage bins of the world to try to find matter to preach. It's here in the Word. The Lord Jesus has entrusted preachers with this message. And woe to them if they do not preach that message. They are speaking for King Jesus and they dare not speak their own message. They've been given the message that they are to proclaim. Now, they are stewards of the mystery that is now revealed. That is the good news that God is in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. In 1 Corinthians 4, 1 and 2, Paul speaks of a steward. He says, Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. Now, a steward is a household servant who is put in charge of his master's goods, particularly of dispensing of his master's goods, of doling them out. He makes sure that the family and all the servants in the house are provided with food and other necessities in accordance with the master's directives. It would be a terrible thing for him to give them hay and stubble when his master had provided nourishing food for them. He would soon be called to account if he did that. Or if he stopped giving them anything at all. What kind of steward would that be? Oh, we're going to have a musical performance this week. We're going to dispense with the sermon. How angry the master would be. You're supposed to feed my sheep. And where are the sheep to come and eat as well? Our Lord, in His great love for His church, has given us His Word in the Holy Bible. Here is the precious Gospel of reconciliation and all that we need for life and godliness. And He has placed ministers as stewards who are responsible to what? Preach the Word. This is the way He wants them to dispense it. It is His impeccable wisdom. Our Lord has carefully measured out everything that His people need and deposited it in the Holy Scriptures. How arrogant and how wicked, then, is that steward who takes it upon himself to censure the Word, to cut out things that he doesn't think are going to be helpful, or to add to the Word those things that he found in the garbage cans of the world. Perhaps he decides the doctrine of election will not be profitable, so he's going to skip over that. I heard about a minister preaching through Romans. He got to chapter 9 and he just went, whoop, because he didn't think he should preach on that. Perhaps he fears that the Bible's teachings about God's judgment will cause unnecessary offense to modern men. You know, we're so smart now in our modern age. So he decides to leave that out. That wouldn't be good for modern men to hear that. Or maybe he himself struggles with how Jesus could have possibly been born of a virgin and have risen from the dead. And he fears that modern people will laugh at such unscientific things if he were to proclaim it. So he's embarrassed to preach them and he does not. He doesn't declare those things. He might read it, but he's not going to declare it and proclaim it. Or maybe it's the law that he finds offensive. Maybe he even preaches the gospel in a way, but he's afraid that if he shows people their duty, that maybe they'll misuse it somehow, that they'll trust in their works or something like that. So he neglects that part of God's Word, because in his judgment, this might be harmful. Such preachers need to repent. Some of them are not even converted. They have forgotten that the message is not their message. It does not originate with them. It is a message that has been entrusted to them from the Lord. See, a minister like that is an unfaithful steward because he's not dispensing of his master's things to the people. We ought rather to preach the whole counsel of God then. As I have told you before, that's how you test the message to see if it's from God. enticing words of man's wisdom? Is it a display of theories and ideas of modern men? Then it's not the message of King Jesus. And such a preacher should not be allowed in the pulpit. And you should refuse to listen to such a preacher." Why would you come to church to hear the wisdom of men? I think that's why the attendance in the United Church is down so much. What good would it do to hear the wisdom of man? You hear that all the time. Why go to church for it? You gather to hear the Word of God. You gather to hear from the One who is above you, the One who created you. The Word of God is what has to be our subject. Paul sets this forth as his boast, and it ought to be the boast of every preacher in Acts 20, 20-21. I kept back nothing that was helpful, he says, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God, in faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So you see, he was a faithful steward. He dispensed of his master's goods. And in 26 and 27 he says, Therefore I testify to you this day, I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. I didn't leave part of it out. I declared to you all that God has given. So you see that a preacher is to preach the message that God has given him, the Holy Scriptures. But there is more to being a steward than simply dispensing your master's good. The preacher must dispense the Scriptures to the needs of the hearers with wisdom. Not just dispense, but dispense with wisdom. Dispense them with wisdom. This is where preaching differs from just reading the Scriptures. Because if it was just to dispense the things, I could just read the Bible and we would be done. The preacher is not to speak as one who is blind, but as one who is aware of the times in which he lives. And in particular, as one who is aware of the particular people that he is called to minister to. is one who is mindful of their condition. If there are wolves that are threatening the flock at the time when the preacher is preaching, then the preacher should warn them. It's not time for him to talk about, let's go over and feed in this nice grass over here when the wolves are there ready to pounce. He needs to preach about the wolves if there's a danger there. What a stupid shepherd it would be. You know, hey, come over here and let's eat this nice grass and, you know, the wolves are there ready. Or if the sheep is wandering off, and there are no wolves particularly in the area at the time, he's not going to do a 12-part series on beware of the wolf. Because he's not in an area where there are wolves around. It's not the time for it. It's not the particular time. So he's going to... A steward, you see, he doesn't just dole out his master's goods as if he were blind. He gives something different to his master's servant who is going out to sea than he gives to the one who is going to speak to the king. Can you imagine if I'm going to go and represent my master and speak to the king about some of his dealings and he gives him a net and a boat and goods for lasting at sea and clothing that would be suitable for wearing out? No, he would give him fine clothing. He's going to speak to the king. And then this other one that's going out to sea, he would equip him that task. You see? The steward must never withhold what is needed. The master has given him What is to be applied, what the Master has given him is to be applied to the necessities of the receivers. In the case of preaching, to the need of the hearers. Now you see how this concept of applying the message is brought out in verse 2. When Paul says, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. Different things are needed for different situations. Convincing. is what is done to show a person what is true. Especially those things that they might struggle to believe in any particular time in history. Different things people struggle with. For example, it's very important in our day to convince people that they are sinners who need a Savior. And that Jesus is the only one that can save them. You say, well, isn't that always important? Well, it was always important, but 150 years ago, preachers didn't often have to do so much convincing of people that they were sinners. Usually what people struggled with in those days, it was amazing. People would come and say, Oh, my sins, my sins, I don't know what to do with all of my sins. You know, God would never be able to forgive someone like me. And they would preach the gospel to them and show them, no, God receives sinners. But you see, people in our day, well, of course God receives sinners. What problem do we have with me? No, you don't deserve to be accepted. You see, it's different necessities in different times. Today we have to convince them that they need to be forgiven. Because so many people think they don't. And rebuking. It's proclaiming sin to be sin that is done against God. Preachers must not be afraid to point out particular sins. To rebuke. Even if some people might be offended. Read the letters of Paul. Look at the preaching of Jesus. Look at Corinthians. All the way through. Hey, this problem, this problem, this problem, this problem. He goes one right after another. People among you that are quarreling. There's people at the Lord's table that are getting drunk. He's just going right through. This is part of the work of a faithful steward that he might rather prefer to neglect. But he's not faithful as a steward to the message of his King if he does neglect it. Luther once pointed out that whatever the particular necessities of our age are, that if we don't preach about those things, then we've not been faithful to the Gospel. And that's very true. Because you could preach about things that were really important You know, years ago that everybody agrees with now, you could preach that stuff all the time, but you've got to preach the stuff that people need to hear in your day as well. Exhorting, that covers everything. You know, we've run into this word in Acts before with Barnabas and Son of Consolation, parakaleo. It conveys the idea of coming to someone with whatever words are needed to help them. Words of comfort, words of exhortation. It's a catch-all word. Words of encouragement, words of correction, words of warning, Whatever is needed, parakaleo, the preacher is to wisely apply the word to the necessities of the hearer. That is the overall principle. If you look back at 2 Timothy 3.16, you see that Paul describes the word there as useful for these different things. For teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So the minister must use the word wisely. And note well, he has dispensed the word with all longsuffering and doctrine. Longsuffering means patience. Patience in the work, patience with the flock when they don't seem to get it. He's not to get angry with the flock and rant and rave at them. It's true that there are times when sternness is appropriate, even when anger and harshness, like with false teachers. Anger and harshness is the most appropriate thing for a false teacher. But he is to be gentle with the flock, to bear long with their infirmities, even as our Lord Jesus bore along with His disciples." You know, Jesus, He could have been all over His disciples every day about, what are you guys doing? They're quarreling about who's going to be the greatest, and all these things, you know, call fire down on the Samaritans, and all these different things. And He was very gentle with them. And even as He is also gentle with us preachers, And if we want Him to be gentle with us, then we need to be gentle with those that we minister to. We want Him to be patient with us, we need to be patient with the congregation. The Word is not to be used to crush people, but to lead them. Yes, there is correction, there is rebuke, and that stings. But all with a view to following after the Lord, to leading on to better things. Woe to the shepherd that turns against the flock. You know, I've talked to ministers before that have fallen into bitterness. They're angry with the people in the congregation, and there's a bitterness there. That's not right. With all long-suffering. Isn't that what happened to Moses temporarily when he was at Kadesh? And the very reason that he forfeited going into the Promised Land, that he was not allowed, not permitted to go into the Promised Land, because he did not regard the Lord as holy when he lost it with the people. Not that that was Moses' characteristic. He was the meekest of all men. But that was an inconsistency with him, a great inconsistency, and it cost him dearly. So that's what it means to dispense the Word with all longsuffering. But what about dispensing the Word with all doctrine? Well, doctrine means teaching. This is very important. It refers to the fact that the preacher is to explain what he's saying. He's not just to apply it in the way of telling the congregation what they must do, just raw commands, but He's to help them understand. This is what is described in the preaching in Nehemiah 8.8, where it says, So they read distinctly from the book and the law of God, and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. Our Lord has come near to us in His covenant, and He wants us to know Him. He wants us to understand who He is. He wants us to understand His ways. So through preaching, though preaching involves authoritative proclamation, it's not just a string of orders and commands. It's also teaching and laboring to explain who God is, why we should not covet, why we should not steal, what it means that we should not steal. You know, we're bringing out all of the meaning. Preachers have the privilege of presenting our Lord and speaking about Him and who He is and how He works. have to develop these things. So you see then that the preacher is to preach the word that he has been given, the message of the Lord, and he's to do that with wisdom as a steward, not bringing some other thing into the message, but what he has been given wisely dispensed to the congregation. And now lastly we see from Paul's charge to Timothy that the preacher is... They saw that on the outline. I've got to preach whether I feel like it or not. He may grow tired, though, or discouraged the way Elijah did. But what was the Lord's counsel to him? Remember when Elijah went up and was pouting on the mountain? God came and said, Elijah, why are you here? That's great, isn't it? What are you doing here? And then, what does he do? He tells him to go to work. He says, go and anoint this king. Go and do this. Go and do that. Get on with your duty, pal. Certainly our Lord is gentle with us, and He calls us to come apart and rest a while. He did that with His disciples. But a minister shouldn't forsake his work. In Ezekiel, we're told that if the watchman does not warn when danger is near, then he's guilty of the blood of those who perish when the invaders come in. A preacher may be rejected, and he may be unappreciated, But that doesn't change what He's called to do. You see, it can be in season or out of season. He has to always remember that He's there for the Master. If He feels dry in His soul, He still has to go on and preach and pray that God will use it and God will bless it, even when dry as a bone. If He feels that His preaching will do no good, He still has to preach. And you as hearers are to encourage Him to go on, in season and out of season. But this phrase, in season, out of season, I think, first and foremost, refers to something a little bit different than how the preacher feels. That's involved. But primarily, it has to do with the actual receptivity of the people. There are times when the fields are white unto harvest. Remember when Jesus said that in Samaria, when all the Samaritans came with the woman at Samaria in John 4, and they were all inquiring and saying, oh, here's the king of, this is the Messiah, and all this stuff. Many who lived there were ready for the gospel. And this was an impetus to pray for laborers. Jesus said, pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into his harvest. Because there's all these people that are ready to hear the gospel here in Samaria. There are other times when the fields are not ready for harvest. They're not white. Isaiah was expressly told that the people are not going to listen to you, Isaiah. They would have ears to hear, but they would not hear. God was going to judge them. But even though that was so, Isaiah said, well, I might as well not preach then. No, God said, go and preach. You've still got to stand by your task, in season and out of season, Isaiah. When Jesus preached the real gospel after the feeding of the 5,000, when they had entertained their false hopes concerning Him and what kind of king He was going to be and He told them how it was, they all went away. Not a very seasonable time for preaching. Jesus didn't pack his bags and go home. He continued to preach. But when Peter preached at Pentecost, on the other hand, there were thousands that responded. It was a seasonable time. Preaching must go on in either case. We may not see any fruit, but we're to keep on preaching in season and out of season. You know, the missionaries that I really admire the most? I mean, there's great men like Hudson Taylor, you know, that had such fruitful ministry in China. But the ones that I admire the most are the ones that went before him and that preached when nobody was listening and nobody was receiving it. They were the ones that prepared the ground. And to persevere and to continue to preach in such circumstances was a great difficulty. They had to preach out of season. Then another man comes after them and he preaches in season. You see? Not only that, but preachers must not be dissuaded from the preaching of sound doctrine. In 2 Timothy 3-4, Paul tells Timothy that some will not want sound doctrine. He says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. They won't be able to put up with it, Timothy. You know, that's going to happen. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. I know it's much easier to have fluffy sermons or to replace sermons with dramas and puppet shows and things like that. It's easier. It's an easier way to do things. Preaching sound doctrine is hard work, not just for the preacher, but for the hearers. It's hard work to really put yourself into a sermon, to listen to it, to understand it, to apply it, It requires diligence and effort, just as preparing that sermon does. So it's much easier to have fluffy sermons and to have puppet shows and things. Certainly there are comforts and pleasures in sound doctrine that are without comparison, but it's hard work to receive it. And it makes demands of you of things to believe and things to do. And so we naturally gravitate to what is easier. There is always a downward pull away from sound doctrine. There's the desire to lighten things up, desire for fluff. Paul is warning Timothy that the time will come when the members in the congregation will not want to continue in sound doctrine. They will voice their complaints and their discontentment when sound doctrine is preached. The itching ears that Paul speaks of are ears that want to be scratched or tickled. It speaks of people who want to feel good because we went to church and we worship God. But they want to soothe their consciences but they really don't want to be engaged with the voice of God, with the real message of King Jesus. The Lord accuses the people in Ezekiel's day of looking at Ezekiel's preaching as a lovely song that they could hear. Now, his preaching wasn't, but this is how they received it. He says in 33.32, Indeed, the Lord says, you are to them as a very lovely song. of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, for they hear your words, but they do not do them." See, we have churches today that have actually substituted lovely songs for preaching. That's what we go to hear. And even when there's sound preaching, we only hear the lovely song. Well, here, let's just do the lovely song. It's a lot easier that way. They want to hear that they are loved and appreciated, but they do not want to hear that they are sinners. They need to change. They need to believe. They don't want serious dealing with God. They really don't want to hear His voice. You need to guard yourself from such slackness because it destroys churches and it destroys people's souls. So many churches have exchanged fluff for sound doctrine. They have turned their ears from truth to fables. They bring condemnation, not always upon themselves fully. Sometimes they actually are people that have been converted, but on those who grow up in the generations after them. Preachers must not give in. Timothy's charge here is Paul saying, don't give in to the pressure to forsake sound doctrine. It's a great temptation because it's much easier to go fluffy. He does not have to work as hard to face opposition that comes from the truth. But you see what the Apostle says in verse 5. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. In other words, be careful. No matter what anyone does, keep on preaching the Gospel, keep at your task. That's what he's saying. And why is the Apostle so passionate that Timothy continued to preach the Word? It's because he shares the heart of Christ. Jesus deeply loves His people. We started with that. He yearns for them to hear the Gospel. He yearns for them to continue in His Word, learning to observe all that He has commanded. He is deeply grieved and angry with those who distort the precious Gospel that He has provided at such great cost to Himself. He knows the destruction that it will bring to His flock if the Word is not preached. How dearly He loves you, congregation. He wants what is best for you. And Paul loves his Lord, and because he does, he loves the flock that Jesus loves. He loves the flock that Jesus gave Himself for. So he's looking into the future and he's saying, Timothy, you're the next generation of preachers. Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Stay at your task. He passionately charges him as before the living God who is going to judge the living and the dead. This is our Lord's passion spoken through Paul for preachers. Pray that we will burn with this passion and that sound doctrine will be preached to the glory of God, the pleasure of Christ, and the good of the church. Please stand and pray that it will be so. Gracious Heavenly Father, we pour out our request to You that You would cause the Word to be preached faithfully in this congregation, not just this week, this month, this year, ten years, twenty years, but until the Lord Jesus returns. We pray, O Lord, that Your Word would go forth with power and plainness, that it would go forth to minister to the needs of the hearers, that it would go forth with diligence and with zeal and with power and with the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We pray, Father, that it would be true to what You have given to Your people. We pray, Father, that it would be done with long-suffering and patience and with all instruction and teaching. We pray, O Lord, that You would be pleased to convert souls through the ministry of the Word of King Jesus. We pray that His voice would be heard. We're so thankful that when Paul went to the Ephesians, who had never met Christ, that he was able to say, You have heard Him, because they had heard the preaching of the Word. And we pray, Father, most of all, this is our prayer, that Christ would be heard from this pulpit. And that the Holy Spirit would so work, that the Word would go forth, and the Word would be received. And that we be changed. We need to be changed. Some need to be saved probably. We all need to be changed and transformed by the renewing of our minds through the ministry of the Word. We all need to be preserved and kept by the Word. May the voice of Christ be heard. We pray in His name, Amen. Receive the blessing of the Lord. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. To God alone, wise, be glory. through Jesus Christ forever. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.