Proclaim The Word

Transcript

GR 1398
03/08/2009
Proclaim the Word
II Timothy 4:1-4
Gil Rugh


We're in II Timothy 4. We're moving to the conclusion of the main portion of this letter. The letter has had an introductory portion and then we begin the main section of the letter. It will have a concluding section which has a diversity of comments. The main portion of the letter will end with chapter 4 verse 8. So when we begin chapter 4, we are moving toward the close of Paul's specific instructions and commands to Timothy.

This really flows out of what he has said in the preceding verses in chapter 3. He reminded Timothy that it is the scriptures that give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. That's at the end of verse 15 in chapter 3, “the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” You understand that no one anywhere in the world will ever be saved who does not hear the message of the Word of God and the truth concerning the Son of God who came to this earth to suffer and die to pay the penalty for sin. There is only one way of salvation. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. That's the message of the Word of God.

Paul moved on then to talk about the fact that all scripture is God-breathed. Scripture in its entirety is not a man-made product. God used men in the communication of His Word, but He is the Author of His Word. It is inspired, verse 16, it is breathed out by God. He spoke it, and so it is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness in order that the man of God may be adequate. It brings us the message that produces salvation when it is believed. Then when we are saved, we become the children of God. The man of God refers to us as God's people, as a child of God. And it's the scriptures that are God's plan to make us adequate, as we saw in verse 17, that make us all that God wants us to be, bring us to maturity. It's the scriptures that equip us and fit us to do everything that God wants us to do. So you see the absolute complete sufficiency of scripture for the work of God. It's in the scriptures that we find how to be saved. We are saved through faith in Christ Jesus. It's the scriptures that take us in our life in Christ now and build us to maturity. It's the scriptures that prepare us to do everything that God' intends for us to do as His people. So above all, we must not be diverted from our focus on the scriptures, the Word of God.

As we come to chapter 4, Paul is going to make his final appeal to Timothy, give his final command. It's interesting in this closing section, the main portion of this letter, it is a very sharp word that he has to say to Timothy. He's going to give him nine commands in the first eight verses; they are all found in two verses. We'll only be looking at a portion today. In verse 2, he'll give five commands; then when you come down to verse 5, he'll give four more commands. We're going to look at the first four verses. These are sharp commands, strong commands, as we will see. It is a serious, solemn kind of setting as Paul gives this word to Timothy, the one that he had served with for many years, the one that he calls his child in the faith. We've seen he refers to Timothy, “I don't have anyone like Timothy who has the same heart I have; he's unique to me. When it comes to the ministry of the Word, this is serious business. This is not about our personal relationship Timothy, this is about the relationship that we have with God and what He requires of us.” And that's the setting as he gives these words to Timothy.

In these opening verses of chapter 4, he charges Timothy with his responsibility before God and warns him of the difficulties he is going to face. The reminder in this closing section is that the difficulties and resistance to the ministry of the Word are going to come from within the church, from among those who would profess to be believers in Jesus Christ. But they've developed an apathy, a coldness and a lack of interest in the Word. Timothy has great responsibility in this context.

Look how chapter 4 opens up, “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 and His kingdom”. Paul stretches out here a charge in the most solemn kind of setting. We have “I solemnly charge you,” words that have legal connotations. Here is a mandate placed upon him, required, like testifying under oath. I'm binding you with this obligation, Timothy; something that must be obeyed. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.” I am laying this responsibility upon you, Timothy, this serious, solemn responsibility. And I am doing it in the sight of God and Christ Jesus. Now, it can't get any more serious than this. He says I am charging you solemnly with this responsibility, Timothy. I, the Apostle Paul by the will of God, , am placing this responsibility on you, Timothy, and God the Father and God the Son are watching as I do this. They are eyewitnesses to the responsibility that has been given to you, the obligation that you have.

This is not the first time Paul has done this with Timothy. Back up to I Timothy 5:21. We have the same words here, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels,” here he adds the angels, “to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.” Timothy is to be faithful to the Word no matter who it involves, no matter who it offends, no matter who it upsets. These things are implemented because they are the Word of God. Paul charges Timothy and puts this responsibility on him “in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus and of the angels.” In other words, Timothy, there will be no escaping the responsibility, there will be no escaping the accountability. Heaven has witnessed this charge. You get the implication. It's a serious matter if you fail to follow through with exactly what you are about to be commanded to do.

In II Timothy 2, this is not just for Paul and then for Timothy because they are unique, sort of top level Christians. For those of us who are not on that level, we have a little more wiggle worm, so to speak. But then you come to II Timothy 2:14, “remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words,” and so on. Verse 15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God.” Paul solemnly charges them, the people, the members of the church at Ephesus and lays this responsibility on them in the presence of God. See when the Word of God is given out, God is the witness to His word. And when we hear the Word of God, we hear it with responsibility and accountability. It's not, nobody is perfect, I try to do my best. No, you understand this is serious business. We say we're believers now and praise the Lord, we're going to heaven, and the rest of it we take as it comes. No, you understand we are now God's people, we belong to Him, we are under obligation to Him. And the ministry of His Word is done in His sight. Those who teach it need to keep that in mind; those who hear it need to keep it in mind. As I teach it today, I am doing it in the sight of God and am accountable to Him. As James says, having a greater accountability because of my role as a teacher. But as I teach it to you, you hear it in the sight of God and are placed under serious obligation before God to submit to it, obey it and carry out its requirements.

Come back to chapter 4 verse 1, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead.” He adds a reminder here to Timothy. Jesus Christ, the One observing this charge placed upon you, He is the One about to judge the living and the dead. Living and the dead, all encompassing, everyone ultimately will stand before God, the Son of God specifically, and be judged. The living, those who are alive when He returns and sets up His throne of judgment, His kingdom; those who have died will be raised from the dead and judged. We'll look at some verses in a moment.

I want you to note something. Our Bibles in the translation I'm using says “who is to judge the living and the dead.” But it's even more specific than that. We have a participle here. Our participles usually have “ing” so I might translate it awkwardly this way, “who is being about to judge the living and the dead.” The participle is the word that means 'to be about,' about to do something, “who is about to judge the living and the dead.” In other words it's an imminent occasion. Understand, Timothy, as I charge you in the sight of the Father and of the Son, the Son is the One who is about to judge the living and the dead. In other words, Timothy, you will soon give an account to the Judge for how you carried it out. Jesus Christ is the Judge of the living and the dead. I'm charging you in His sight, Timothy. He is watching as this is given to you. And He is about to judge the living and the dead. Scripture is always clear, we live on the brink of the return of Christ, He could return at any time. Don't get lax, Timothy, and say, “I may not be into it yet but I have time and I'll make up for it down the road.” Understand, Timothy, He is about to judge the living and the dead. You need to get about His work immediately.

Jesus Christ is the judge of all men, no matter when they were born, no matter when they lived. From the time of Adam until the time of the end there is one Judge for all. Come back to John 5. We're not going into the distinctions of the judgments of scripture; we've done that on other occasions and we'll be doing it in our study of Revelation in particular. But the fact of the matter is that all will be judged by Christ; that's the point we're making. In John 5, this is in the context of the Jews having a problem that Jesus Christ made Himself equal with the Father in verse 18. And Jesus Christ does not deny that. He is the Son of God but He is God and thus has equality with the Father. But we come down to verse 22 for our point in this context. “For not even the Father judges anyone but He has given all judgment to the Son.” So it is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the One as God who has complete, perfect understanding and knowledge of all and the One who is also man, who was all points tested and tried as we are, yet without sin, who will judge. All will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

Verse 24, here's what the judge of all men says, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and has not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.” Now He is the judge of all men. In the context they don't come into judgment of condemnation. We will appear before the judgment seat of Christ even as the redeemed, but for a little different purpose. Or maybe I should say a big different purpose. But not for the judgment of condemnation. Verse 28, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth, those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment or condemnation.” So you see He'll judge the living and the dead. The living are those who are alive when He returns to judge; they'll be judged. Those who have died will be raised from the dead and be judged. He will judge all men.

Turn to Acts 17. You'll note Jesus Christ has made clear, it's a serious matter. We'll be judged, and not everyone is going to heaven. We like to have some kind of general idea that God loves all people; therefore, all people will be saved. You understand, there is a dividing line, He said, between those who believe the Word of God and those who do not. And that determines eternal destiny. In Acts 17:30 and 31, “God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Again you see it's Jesus Christ who is the judge. God the Father will carry out His judgment through God the Son. And you'll note here it is not open ended; it's on God's calendar; the day is fixed. Things are running right on schedule; it won't be a half day early; it won't be a half day late. It's a fixed time; He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. He has given proof; He raised His Son from the dead. We will stand before Jesus Christ, either to be welcomed by Him in to glory or sentenced by Him to an eternal hell. There are no other options. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. This is settled fact. People have their own ideas; that's your opinion; I think differently. Fine, but it doesn't change reality. God has fixed a day. He has determined to judge and He has told us what the judgment will be about. Jesus Christ is the judge.

Come to Romans 2. Here we're told even those who never hear the Word of God will stand and be judged and condemned. This will happen “on the day,” verse 16, “when according to My gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” You see the word 'gospel' is not just limited to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It encompasses the message of God concerning His Son. That includes the fact that He will judge. You'll note the secrets of men. We have courtroom scenes and judgments rendered, and we're always concerned, has all the evidence come out? There are things that haven't been made known or yet remain unknown. On this judgment there will be no secrets because the judge is the God-Man. Nothing can be hidden from His sight. All things are open and naked, the scripture says, before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Turn over to I Corinthians 4. This is in a similar kind of context that we're talking about with Timothy because Paul is talking about the fact of being entrusted with the Word of God as a steward, one who is giving account. And it doesn't matter what man's evaluation of me is, Paul says, verse 3, “it's a very small thing that I may be examined by you or any human court. In fact, I don't even examine myself” because I'm not the ultimate judge of myself. Verse 5, “Therefore do not go on passing judgment for the time but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness.” We think we did it in secret, nobody knows, nobody knew. He knows, it will come to light, there are no secrets. And He will “disclose the motives of men's hearts,” why I did what I did. It will be a perfect judgment—no secrets, no hidden motives. Then each man's praise will come to him from God.

One other passage, II Corinthians 5. Paul is writing as a believer here. Verse 6, “always being of good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” Verses 8 and 9, “We are of good courage, and I say prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” Then this awesome statement verse 10, “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” We as God's people will stand before Jesus Christ to be judged. This is a serious matter. We don't take it seriously enough. The world doesn't take it seriously enough to consider that their eternal destiny hinges and hangs upon their relationship to the only Savior and the One who will be their judge. But we as believers become casual and indifferent. It's going to be an awesome time when we stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be evaluated and give an account to Him.

That's what Paul is talking about to Timothy. I'm solemnly charging you with God the Father and God the Son as the eyewitness. You understand God the Son is the One to whom you will give an account because He is the judge of the living and dead. You cannot escape responsibility, Timothy; you cannot escape accountability, Timothy. This is serious business.

Come back to II Timothy 4. You see this is a very strong way to close a letter to Timothy, one he has led to Christ, one he has ministered with for going on twenty years. This is not about a personal relationship with you, Timothy, this is about my relationship to God, the One I serve, your relationship to God, the One you serve and the One to whom you will give an account. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge of the living and the dead and by His appearing and His kingdom.” His appearing refers to His Second Coming, when He will return to earth. “And His kingdom.” It's at that time that He will establish His kingdom. And as Timothy, having been taught the Old Testament scriptures knew, as well as what Paul had taught, that when Christ returns and establishes His kingdom, it will be a time of judgment. When John the Baptist came, what did he announce? Prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, “and His winnowing fork is in His hand,” Matthew 3:12. When He comes He will separate the wheat from the chaff, so the wheat can be gathered into the barn and the chaff can be cast into the fire. So remember, He is coming, Timothy, and He will establish His kingdom. And there is no escaping accountability.

With that as the solemn background, verse 2 of II Timothy 4 contains the content of the charge. There will be more to come later, but the prime content is here in verse 2. Five commands are given in the aorist tense; we call them aorist imperative. That's the sharpest, firmest way to give a command in the Greek language. Some commentators say it is like a military command. Paul doesn't have a softness here and say, Timothy, I hope that you will do these things. He tells him what he must do. There are no alternatives. God has witnessed the commands given and you will give an account, whether you obeyed them or not, to God Himself. So here is the content of the charge.

“Preach the Word” is the first command. Simple, clear instruction. Give out the Word of God, proclaim the Word of God, speak it out. The word to preach, kerusso, was used of a herald in New Testament times. Timothy would be well familiar with it. When the emperor wanted to send a message, you know they didn't have texting and computers and TVs, he would send out a herald who would go from city to city by the decree of the emperor. He would read what he had been given, give it out. That's what a herald was. He had received a message from one in greater authority; now he stood and proclaimed it, made it known. He did not originate the message, he added nothing to it, he took nothing away from it. He simply went out as the representative of the one who sent him and gave the message that had been entrusted to him.

Back in chapter 1 verse 14 Paul had reminded Timothy to “guard.... the deposit that has been entrusted to you.” God's truth has been placed with you. There is that repeated emphasis that Timothy is responsible to the Word of God and with the Word of God. Give it out; you are a herald. It couldn't be any simpler, any clearer. I don't have to become creative, I don't have to think of how am I going to make it interesting. My responsibility is to give it out as God has given it, to explain what He has said. I'm not to add my ideas. I'm not even concerned, quite frankly, to make it more interesting. I know many of you say I'm not interesting (or I'm boring?), I know that. But that's not my job. If God spoke boringly, what am I supposed to do? Am I to become His editor and say, people find this boring, Lord, but you are fortunate because I'm going to make it interesting for them? No, I'm not God's editor; I'm just His herald. Here is what He said, “preach the Word.” Timothy, do you have it?

The Word refers to the Word of God. Look in chapter 2 verse 9. Paul is talking about “my gospel for which I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal.” But note this, “but the Word of God is not imprisoned.” The Word of God, it's God's Word. Down in verse 15, “be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” It's the word of God; it's the word of truth; it's the Word. That's what you herald; that's what you preach. Preach the Word.

Turn back to II Timothy 1:8, “do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner. Join with me in suffering for the gospel.” Note what he is talking about—the Word of God. Down in verse 13, “retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me.” Hold onto the Word. Verse 14, “guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you, deposited with you.” Down in verse 2 of chapter 2, “the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust, deposit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” That's what it's all about, Timothy; herald forth the Word; proclaim the Word; preach the Word.

Sometimes when I've sent a letter to a fellow preacher, a pastor, at the bottom of it I'll just write the Greek words, karukson tong lagon. Preach the Word, that's our responsibility. You say, anybody can do it. That's doesn't mean we are not to intelligently study the Word, but our responsibility is very narrow and limited. When I came to prepare to preach the Word to you today, it was easy. We're in II Timothy 4; we're going to look at these verses. That's my responsibility. We preach in the sight of God as Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 2. I am conscious of that. If I give out this Word, He is observing. I am concerned to handle it accurately, not for your evaluation but for His. It's His Word. He would look at me and say, where did he get that? I didn't say that, that's not what I meant by that. Why did he put that in there? And you understand, you listen in the sight of God as well, as we've already noted. Preach the Word.

Second command, verse 2, “be ready in season and out of season.” Many of us have this fixed in our minds from the King James version, “be instant in season and out of season.” The word means literally to “stand by” or “stand near.” So it comes to mean readiness and that's the idea of the King James, be instant. You are always on the alert, always ready to take hold of the opportunity to give out the Word of God. And that includes in season and out of season, in the opportune times and the inopportune times. This is very important. We try to evaluate the times; we want to think of our audience; we want to think of our culture; and we want to think of this generation or that generation because we take polls and find out that things are constantly changing; each generation has its own interests, has its own agendas, beliefs. So if we're going to communicate to them, we must be ready, at opportune times and inopportune times. You preach the word when it seems like a good time and people are ready for it and open to it, and when they are not. And that's where we are going, when the people of God want to hear and when they don't want to hear it. We'll see in a moment that's the context of this “in season and out of season.” We're not even talking about the unbeliever and will the unbeliever want to hear the gospel. We're talking about people who profess to be believers, who have lost interest in the Word of God. Those are inopportune times. You have to preach to a church even if people don't want to hear it. Preach it in season, out of season. One person wrote, “when the time is auspicious, favorable, opportune, and also when the circumstances seem unfavorable.” Sometimes we try to figure out, is this a good time or is this not a good time? It doesn't mean we become rude and just walk up to people and interrupt and want to present the truth. But we are ready. Doesn't matter if I'm going to go speak to another group of people, am invited some place and I say, I wonder where they are; I wonder what they would want to hear. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter what they want to hear because I have to preach what God has told me to preach.

Third command, and it's interesting where we go. “Reprove.” We're talking about proclaiming the Word of God, but now let's narrow it down. We talk about “in season and out of season.” When it's out of season you're in the context of people who don't want to hear it. You know why they don't want to hear it? Sin. What this word reprove means is you have to deal with sin, you have to expose sin, you have to confront sin. This is true when you are presenting the Word to unbelievers because if they don't recognize their sin, how are you going to present the truth of the Savior to them? It's also true of preaching to the church. In our modern methodology there is nothing new, but it has become popular in our country and our culture that you don't preach about sin. I mean, people come to church after a difficult week, they don't come to be beat up. They come to be encouraged, they come to hear good things. You know what Paul says? You are commanded to reprove them, confront them about sin. One person put it this way, “the preacher is to deal with sin both in the lives of his unsaved hearers and those of the saints to whom he ministers.” And he is to do it in no uncertain terms. The word sin is not enough in the vocabulary of our preaching today.

I remember one preacher who said, “You will not hear about sin from this pulpit.” Well, he has a large church, but he doesn't have a biblical church. I shared with you my conversation a couple weeks ago with a man who said, “We got a new pastor in the last year. It's been eight months since I heard the word sin mentioned from our pulpit.” Something is wrong. What is the command? It says, “charge in the sight of God.” People don't want to hear it, Lord. They won't come if I preach it. And if I preach it and they've been coming, they'll begin to find reasons not to come. Preach the Word when it is opportune and when it's not; when it's in season and when it's out of season; when they want to hear it and when they don't want to hear it. Reprove, reveal sin, point out sin, make people aware of sin. One of the things that drives people away from the Bible is that it talks so much about sin

The fourth command doesn't leave this. “Rebuke.” This carries us on further. This moves us almost to a disciplinary action. It's a sharp command and word here. You've exposed sin; you've made people aware of sin. If they don't stop, now it is time for the formal rebuke, perhaps the public rebuke. It's getting more serious and stern now. To give you an idea how serious this word is, how strong it is, it's the word that's used when we're told in the gospels during Jesus' earthly ministry, He rebuked the demons. This is the word. They were reproving, were showing people their sin, we’re shedding the light of the Word of God on sin. When people don't turn from their sin then, they are rebuked, they are confronted, and sometimes this leads to public discipline. It's not a game; we're not talking about what people like and don't like. We're talking about what pleases God and does not please God.

If you want some references—Mark 3:12, Mark 8:33, Mark 9:25. Just examples of where Jesus used this word to rebuke demons. I mean, we get the idea that coming to church ought to be fun, it ought to be enjoyable, relaxing, and ought to be some laughs. You have to go away feeling better than when you came. You may go away feeling a lot worse than when you came. If there is sin in your life and the Word of God shines the light on that sin, you're going to be uncomfortable. If you persist in sin and you have to be rebuked from the Word for the sin, then you're going to be more uncomfortable. God never intended that we be comfortable with sin. That's what the Word of God does. We rebuke.

People say, “you're not loving; you should be more kind and thoughtful.” What's the most loving thing I can do? Tell you what God said as He has said it. Isn't it interesting, here he is telling Timothy, preach the Word and you be ready to do it in opportune times and inopportune times. And you reprove people and you rebuke people. That's not all we do. We exhort people, a word that means encouragement, comfort, exhortation. They are constantly challenged to respond to the Word, encouraged to respond to the Word, comforted by the Word during their difficulties. You do this with all patience, great patience, long-suffering. Paul never holds out a rosy picture for Timothy. You're going into the ministry, Timothy; you'll be preaching the Word; people will love you for preaching the Word, and they'll appreciate your ministry of the Word, and it's going to be wonderful, Timothy. No, you're going to need great patience, Timothy. You are preaching the Word, you are ready to do it in all settings, you are reproving, you are rebuking and then you are encouraging, and you'll have to stay with it. Keep encouraging them, Timothy, and challenging them and comforting them with patience. You can't quit, you can't give up. And you do it with all instruction, teaching doctrine. That's the context. It's the Word of God that we're constantly ministering. That word “instruction” is the word “teaching.” It's the word often translated “doctrine,” didache, teaching, doctrine. People say I don't like doctrine. Well, it's just teaching, instruction. You keep on instructing them, building the Word of God into them, comforting them with the Word of God, encouraging them with the Word of God, rebuking them from the Word of God, reproving them from the Word of God. You are about preaching the Word.

All right, why? Verse 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” These five sharp commands are necessitated by the reality of the ministry. It's already started. The church at Ephesus is having its problems: false teachers are there twisting the use of the Mosaic law, corrupting the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of the believer, conducting themselves in inappropriate ways. The time will come, it's a settled truth, when they will not endure sound doctrine. We're talking about professing believers here. Unbelievers have never been interested in the truth, healthy teaching, sound doctrine. “Sound” is the word “healthy.” We use it that way, too. We say sound in body and mind, healthy. We use Greek words for some of our words that involve health. It's healthy teaching. They will not endure healthy teaching; they won't put up with it; they won't be interested in it. One person put it this way, “The first distinguishing feature is described in terms of boredom, apathy, annoyance.” They won't put up with sound doctrine.

I talked with a new believer in the last couple of weeks and he asked for some material. It's exciting to see new believers. He's talked about how he's growing, how he has so much to learn; he just wants to learn everything he can, and has a hunger for the Word and wants to do more. What happens to us after ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, thirty years? Well, all my pages have marks on them, I just know it all; it's just not the same. I had a good reminder to me early. I was a seminary student and on the campus where the seminary was, there was a college. A man, who had been our pastor where we had been exposed to Bible teaching and known him and had a family connection (he's with the Lord now), was coming to speak at the college chapel, so I went down to hear him. This ought to be good; it will be powerful. He said, turn in your Bibles, and he mentions a very common passage, Romans 12:1-2. I have to be honest; my heart sank. I wish I hadn't come; I think I've heard Romans 12:1-2 backwards and forwards and inside out. I was hoping it might be something a little more interesting. But he opened up and taught Romans 12:1-2, and when he was done I thought, that is a fantastic passage; that is really good.

Isn't that the way the Word of God ought to be? I mean, somebody says I'm going to preach on John 3:16 and we say, not John 3:16; everybody and his brother can quote John 3:16. We don't think there's another thing we can learn about John 3:16. No, but isn't it fresh and new when you think about it again, when you hear it again? Do we ever get tired of hearing that God loved the world and gave His only begotten Son? Or do we say, we're bored? We have apathy, annoyance. You know what happens here, where we are going. Then when we get upset with the teaching and don't want to hear it, we don't want to hear the teacher anymore either. So what we do is look for teachers that will say what we like to hear, who can make it more interesting, more exciting, more enjoyable, does things a little differently. And what it is, is a move away from the Word.

I'm not talking about people who are going to move on to another Bible teaching church, as though if you don't stay here this is the only place you can hear the Word. We're talking about people who just grow tired of the Word. They usually don't say that; they have other reasons or excuses. But you'll note what Paul says, they will not endure, will not put up with sound teaching, healthy teaching. What do they do? Well, they don't quit going to church. They want to have their ears tickled; they want to hear something they like hearing. Now you know what the standard has become—do I like it, do I enjoy it, is it pleasing to me? Sometimes when people come to church we'll say, did you like it? Do I like hearing I'm a sinner? Do I like hearing I'll go to hell if I don't believe? Do I like hearing that as a believer, if I'm not walking in holiness I'm being disobedient to the Lord? No, I don't like it. I didn't enjoy it, but I needed it; it's what I needed to hear. What they do is they “want to have their ears tickled.” I'm looking for someone who will make it more interesting, more appealing, more enjoyable.

They don't say I'm against sound doctrine; I'm against biblical teaching. “They will accumulate.” This is a good word, a picturesque word. It means to pile up in heaps. They will pile up in heaps for themselves “teachers in accordance to their own desires.” Now it's no longer the Word of God that is the focus, it's what I want, my desires. That exact expression, “according to their own desires,” is used of unregenerate people in Ephesians 4:22, a letter that Paul had written to the Ephesians earlier. This is dangerous ground. Now we begin to wonder, these are professing believers but who are we dealing with now when they are pursuing their own desires, own lusts, own interests? The Word of God is not the center anymore.

When we get bored with the Word of God, we who profess to be believers lose interest; we just have gotten cold. This is what has happened in the emerging church and so on. People grew up in the church and they said it was cold; I didn't get anything out of the Word of God. They begin to think the problem is with the Word of God. The problem is not with the Word of God. You know what the problem is? Right here in me.

Remember the parable of the soils Jesus told? He was the sower. He went out and sowed the Word of God, and it fell on some hard ground, some shallow ground, some weedy ground and some good ground. Nothing wrong with the sower; it was Christ; nothing wrong with the Word of God. It was the condition of the heart. You know there are times in my own life, to be honest, I've come and I'm going to teach a passage and I read it, it just seems dull, uninteresting, cold. Sometimes you come to the Word of God and it's that way, and you say, I just can't find anything I really enjoy. You know what I do at those times? I realize the Word of God has not changed; I've changed. I have to close myself in by myself someplace and just start reading the Word. Lord, it's your Word; it's alive; it's powerful. You know my heart; you know my mind. It's not having that impact on me, but I know it's not your Word that's the problem, Lord; it's my heart, and I'm going to stay with the Word, Lord, until it begins to do its work that only it can do. And you know what I find? It may take a while; I may have read through many chapters in the Word and I find out it's really good; there is some rich material here. I don't want to allow my heart to grow cooler and cooler, my interest to decline. It's always easy to say, yes, it's not the Word; it's the way it is taught. I realize we as teachers and preachers can be boring. But the Word of God never is.

I remember my homiletics professor in seminary saying, “Men, it's a sin to bore people with the Word of God.” I can appreciate what he is saying. I want it to be clear, understandable and as interesting as I can make it, but I have to deal with what's here. Maybe you came wanting to hear how you could do better at work; maybe how you could be more successful in raising teenagers, hear “how to” messages. But I'm stuck. We are in II Timothy 4; this is what we have to deal with. That's why we go through the Word of God the way we do: start at the beginning of a book and go to the end. That way I don't get to avoid what I might otherwise avoid. I don't sit and think, I wonder what they'll think if we do this passage. It's just the next passage.

They want to accumulate. We're not talking about people who just never go to church; we're talking about professing Christians who are looking for people to teach them in a way they like and enjoy, their ears being tickled. Not concerned with whether the Word of God is being taught accurately and clearly, but whether they enjoy it; whether it's something they like, or find it helpful. That's where the church is today; that's why they take surveys, that's why we do polls. We're finding out what people like, what they don't like, what turns them off about church, what draws them to church. Why should I come to your church? Well if you come to our church you will hear the Word of God. That's it? That's it. Well I'm looking for something more helpful. You can't get anything more helpful than that, than what God the Creator tells you. What more could we want?

You understand, sometimes we are like children. Our kids don't understand why they have to eat this, why they have to take it. But when they are taking in good nourishment regularly, it's developing strong bones, a healthy body. And that's going on. Well, I don't know just exactly about this portion at this time. I look at this and say, I'm privileged to preach to a group of people who are responsive to the Word. Why does God give me that privilege, to just be able to preach the Word, and it seems it's always in season? In that sense I preach to people who receive the Word, who encourage me in the preaching of the Word. We have many of you who teach the Word and you get the same response. I don't want to take that for granted, but I have to come with where it is.

“The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” I want to be aware of that. There may come a time when our numbers shrink; I don't know. They may decide they are looking for a different kind of teaching. Maybe we'll only have half as many people in two years. Does that mean we have to look for a different way to do it? I hope that if there are only fifty people here in twenty years, we're still doing the same thing—preaching the Word. I've sometimes said, maybe I'm here and we'll be back to the sixty people that were here on the Sunday when I came. Whether I've been a success or failure will have nothing to do with how many people are here, will it? Remember what God said to Ezekiel? “You go and tell them what I told you. They will not listen to you, but you tell them what I told you.” What did they do? They went and found prophets who would tell them what they wanted to hear. “The prophets prophesy falsely and My people love to have it so.”

Now Paul warns the time will come when they won't want to hear sound teaching, but they will want teachers. These teachers don't stand up and say, I don't believe the Bible. No, they just adjust it to make it more interesting. And instead of teaching the Bible they talk about the Bible; they tell stories that are interesting, that I can relate to. But I'm not here to help you relate to my stories; I'm here to present the Word of God and let the Spirit of God work in you. You know who the teacher is? The Spirit of God according to I John 2. Now those who don't have the Spirit don't have any teaching, really, going on in their heart and mind. They are hearing things and they're just going by. No wonder they are bored, no wonder they lose interest. Real understanding comes from the Spirit of God.

So we wrap up with verse 4. “They will turn away their ears from the truth.” Ears is the connection. They want to have their ears tickled, so they turn their ears away from the truth because God never gave His Word to tickle ears. These are people who have sat under the ministry of the Word, but they just are not interested in it anymore. They think they have good reason but they just don't want to hear it anymore. So they turn away from the truth. I'm amazed. Some people go to another Bible teaching church; the Lord bless them. It's where He wants them, where He can use them, where they can grow. But some people go to places where the doctrine is not sound, the teaching is not sound. And they love it.

I remember talking to a well-known Bible teacher a number of years ago. We were having lunch and he was a little discouraged. He said, “you know Gil, people have sat under my ministry for fifteen years and they didn't learn one thing. They leave our church and they go to a place that teaches something totally different, and they are happy.” Sometimes it happens. They turn away their ears from the truth. This is very serious.

Now are we dealing with believers or not. Only God knows. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. You know what happens, if a believer gets into sin, the last thing you want to hear is truth. Even a believer in sin doesn't want to be reproved and rebuked. So pretty soon we find reasons not to attend Bible study, not to go to Sunday school, not to be in church. Pretty soon we move to another church. Why? Well, the preaching there just didn't help, the people weren't friendly. But you remember there are no secrets; the secrets and the motives will be judged; the Lord knows. If we are trying to escape the convicting work of the Spirit through the Word of God, you think God is fooled by the excuses we present? We can follow the pattern. If you are in sin you won't be happy here; even if you are a believer, you'll become more and more uncomfortable; you become more and more disgruntled; you'll find more and more faults, more and more reasons why you shouldn't come, why you would be happier elsewhere.

“They'll turn away their ears from the truth, they'll turn aside to myths.” Where do you go when you leave the truth? You go to man, myths, made up things. The big thing today is to tell your story; let's share our story. We used to talk about a testimony, a testimony that focused on how the Spirit of God brought you under conviction for sin and opened your eyes to see that Christ was the Savior, and you trusted Him. Now we're telling our stories, and sermons become a series of interesting stories. I like that; I can relate to that story. And we've moved away. We talk about the Word of God instead of teaching the Word of God. And after talking about the Word of God, pretty soon we're just talking. And we end up with emptiness.

That's what the church is going to face. Timothy, it's no bright picture. You are commanded to tell them. Keep preaching the Word, Timothy; you'll see success, people will come to appreciate it, and you'll soon find the church at Ephesus is overflowing. Let me tell you what it's going to be like, Timothy; they aren't going to want to hear it. That's why the commands are so strong; that's why Paul gives Timothy the commands in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, before whom he will stand to be judged. That's why he tells him these are things you must do. And you understand, you must do it. It doesn't have anything to do with audience response. This is the Word of God. To the best of my ability I want to fulfill my responsibility, not only to teach it, but to live in submission and obedience to it. It's your responsibility before God; you have heard it; He has been the eyewitness. There is no escaping accountability. We will give an account to Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for its clarity. You gave your Word that we might know and understand. Lord, because of sin men and women have blinded eyes, blinded to the truth. Yet in your grace you have opened our eyes that we might see the salvation that you have provided by faith in Christ. Now we are called to walk in obedience to the scripture. Lord, we would take this charge seriously to ourselves as a local church and our responsibility before you to be faithful to the Word and with the Word, that you might use your Word in our lives to accomplish your purposes, that you might use your Word through us as we share it with the lost to bring them to the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. May we be preparing ourselves for the time when we will give an account for our faithfulness to you, the One before whom we carry out our service. We pray in Christ's name, amen.