Verse 1 in 2 Timothy 4. First off, we're looking at a very, very impressive and powerful closure of 2 Timothy. And the Bible says, I charge thee, therefore, this is Timothy's last charge that he's going to receive from Paul. It's Paul's last will and testament, if you will. And this charge, there's three sets of threes that the chapter starts off with. So it says, I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing and his kingdom. Now look, here's the first charge in verse number two. Charge number one, preach the word. And within that charge, it's, first off, that's what he is going to do, preach the word. When he preaches the word, Paul tells Timothy, when you preach the word, you're gonna have to do three things. You're gonna have to reprove, you're gonna have to rebuke, and you're gonna have to exhort. That's the first set of three. By the way, preaching is a public, it's publicly proclaiming the truth of the Word of God. It's the exact opposite. It's the exact opposite of what the false prophets are blind to. Matter of fact, let's take a quick rabbit trail to the Old Testament. I'll go to Isaiah 56. I believe we need to have this thought. Isaiah 56, and look at verse number 10. Isaiah 56, look at verse number 9. It says, All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. Then it says, His watchmen are blind. It's the prophets. They're blind to what's going on. says, they are all ignorant and they are all dumb dogs. The prophet Jeremiah lets them have it. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. And then he blasts them again in verse 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough. and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his quarter." The prophet Isaiah, rather, not Jeremiah, the prophet Isaiah, he is bringing out this truth that there's false prophets and they won't warn the people. They won't warn the families of the dangers that are ahead of them. They're just in it for the luxury. It says in verse 11, everyone for his own gain. You see that where it says, where is it? In verse number 10, you see at the end it says, sleeping, lying down. Lying down, that's the easy life. These false prophets, Isaiah rips into them, man. They got the easy life. But the biggest thing is this. I've had dogs before. Some of you have dogs. If a stranger or, uh, comes to your house, what do you want that dog to do? It's job, bark, bark, Fido, bark. Jeremiah calls these, Isaiah calls these prophets, these false prophets. He gets, you guys are dumb dog. You won't bark. I hope we never get to the day where people are thinking they're sitting up there or somebody stands up and says, Bart, preach your bark. In other words, warn us. Isaiah, let these guys have it. Come on, bark. They won't. They're lying down like a dumb dog. They won't bark. So when we are in Second Timothy four, this first charge. Essentially, Paul tells Timothy, look, you got to bark. In other words, you got to preach the word. The second thing we see, the second charge in 2 Timothy 4 is this. It is to whom Timothy will preach to. And watch what it says in verse three. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Timothy. That's who you're going to preach to. So get ready. You are going to preach to people who will not endure the doctrine that you're going to preach to them. Look, preach the word. But the second charge is you better know who you're preaching to. So watch what happens in this second set of threes. Watch what falls under this category. Well, why? Why won't they endorse sound doctrine? Well, here's why, Timothy. It says they're going to heap to themselves teachers at the end of verse three. And then verse 4, the second thing they're going to do is, they're going to turn away their ears from the truth. By the way, look at 2 Timothy 3, verse 7. I know it's familiar. You can probably look across your page and find it. You see chapter 3, verse 7, it says, "...ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." That's not what's happening in chapter 4. Look, there are people that have not come to the knowledge of the truth. But what's happening in chapter four is people do have the truth. They know right from wrong. They've heard it preached. They're just not going to endure it. And so there's a distinction that's made there and. Man, it it's been happening and will continue to happen. People. will walk away or walk out of good Christian friends, good Christian fellowship, an evangelistic church, good Bible preaching, and all over where it's spotted across the country, churches that are standing for right doctrine. People hear it. They don't want to endure it. So what do they do? They turn away their ears from the truth. I don't want to hear that. on the channel, they just changed the channel. Done listening, done listening. And then the fourth thing is going to happen, or the third thing in verse number four is going to be turned into fables, fables. Uh, I hope you don't turn, I hope you don't turn your way to this, but, but I have to make this comment. So hear my heart on this. I'm trying to be, I'm trying to get us to see these things for what they are. The same people who are Christians or conservative that complain about all of the witch groups that are going to be in our town's Christmas parade this year, which they're going to be. Well, for year after year after year, when they weren't in the parade, nobody complained about Santa Claus, who is the big highlight of the show, who is a male witch. A male witch is a wizard. You see how there's a disconnect there? That's a disconnect. It's supposed to be about the birth of Jesus. then why are we highlighting a witch? And nobody complains about it. No Christians getting an uprise about it. Matter of fact, churches will have them in. To me, that's blasphemy to a holy God. The same Christians that complain that we're having the LGBTQ groups now in our Christmas parade, well, We have a family that moved from San Diego. That's the male designation of St. Diego. There are probably some Christians that moved from Santa Barbara. That's the female designation for St. Barbara. That makes sense. Why don't we call him San Claus? We've had a cross dresser and we've had LGBT in our parade for years and years and years in the form of San Claus as Santa Claus. And nobody complains about these things. Nobody barks about these things. We need to start seeing it. We need to start barking. We need to be consistent in our argumentation from the Bible. Sound doctrine, three things. They're gonna heap to themselves teachers, they're gonna turn their ears away from the truth, and then they're gonna be turned into fables. And that's why we're at where we're at now. Because people are more excited about a fable than they are about the truth of Jesus Christ. They're more excited about Some idol that's coming down a chimney that you don't have to give you gifts that you don't need. Then they are about a savior who wants to come into your heart, which you do have, and give you an eternal gift that you do need. That makes sense. Okay, and then the third, so we have three sets of threes here. The third one is, Timothy, look, you got to preach, you got to know who you're preaching to, but then you got to watch. Verse number five, he tells them, watch, but watch thou in all things. And then he gives that preacher three things he has to watch for. Number one, You're going to have to endure afflictions, you're going to have to do the work of an evangelist, and you're going to have to make full proof of thy ministry. Those are the three things that you're going to have to take watch of. And Timothy, all the preachers that come after you have to know, as you as the example, that things in our, right now in 2024, things aren't worse. Things are as worse. They've always been bad. That's what Paul's telling Timothy. You've got this going on now. How many years removed are we from Paul and Timothy? Look, we've got the same problems. There's better technology now, different. I mean, there's all that's different, but look, same problems. So the preacher today has to take heed. And by the way, have you told someone the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? You're a preacher. You're preaching the word publicly. You're giving it out. And you and I, all of us have to take heed to what's being said here. All right, let's look at another thing doctrinally. It says, Let's go back to verse 1. Watch what it says. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. So we have two judgments that are mentioned in verse 1. These judgments are different. They happen 1,000 years apart. They're not the same judgment. First off, there's the quick. Who is the quick? Well, you have to be quickened, right? who were dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2 talks about this, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace we are saved. So what God's going to do is He's going to call out His quickened, which is us, we've been quickened. We're going to have a meeting in the air. when the church is caught up, and then we are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We looked at that in Romans 14, and that judgment seat of Christ, 1 Corinthians 3 says, we are going to be rewarded for our works. That judgment seat of Christ for the quick has nothing to do with our judgment for our sin that has already been taken care of on the cross. We are free and clear. We are going to be in heaven with the Lord. Sin has nothing to do with our judgment as the quick. We are going to be judged and we are going to be receiving rewards based on the works that we have done for eternal value. And then the second judgment mentioned in here is for the dead. You don't have to turn there for the sake of time, but Luke one talks about how the Lord will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there shall be no end. And so at the beginning of the Lord's eternal reign, Isaiah nine says that he will establish that his eternal reign, he's going to establish it with judgment and justice. And that's going to happen at the great white throne judgment. You can read about that in Revelation 20. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. This is the judgment of the dead that 2 Timothy 4 is talking about. It says, and the dead were judged, and the sea gave up the dead, and death and hell delivered up the dead, and they were judged. So all that in Revelation 20, that is the judgment of the dead. So the quick and the dead. All right, verse 2. Verse 2, 2 Timothy. Man, it's so good. Preach the word. How many of you have really thought about how blessed you are to be able to have a copy of the Word in your hand? It's a blessing. Why would any of the men here come and preach politics when we get worn out all week on the radio and on TV? Who's coming for that? Sports? Who's coming for that? We're coming for the word. That's what we want. That's what we need. We need a break from all the other stuff and we want the pure word. So our opinion isn't important. What is important is what the word says. Now. We did a lot of this in family camp, we talked about Some of you were there, we talked about the diet, and the Word is likened to a lot of things. Go to Hebrews chapter 4, we're gonna look at, and some of you youngins, if you can take notes on this, or your parents can, you can review these during the week. Let's take a look at what the Bible says about the Word. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews 4, look at verse 12. The Bible says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word is likened to a sword. You know what that sword's going to do? It's going to cut you. It says, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That word as a sword, it knows your motive. It knows my intentions and it's going to, you know what it'll do? It will reveal our pride, our prideful obedience and humble us. That's what the word will do. It's like a sword, man. That thing will cut you. And it's designed to cut away our wrong and harmful motives. Because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. So it's like, off with that. Here comes that sword. Sword of the Spirit. And we need to... Why does it need to cut away a little here and a little there? So we don't ruin ourselves, which we will. So that word, the word of God has to step in. This is why it's so powerful. Preaching of the word, it's going to cut away all the stuff in your life and in my life that will ruin us. Go to Ephesians five. We'll see what else the word is likened to. First thing was a sword. Go to Ephesians five. You got to remember these young ones because I might give you a test at the end, see if you're paying attention. Ephesians 5, look at verse number 26. Husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church. And verse 26 says that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. The word is likened to water. You think about building up. Your kids are playing outside all day. They're all muddied up, all full of dirt. And you just think about lathering up a good, good bath. and it's gonna just cleanse them. And that water is gonna run over their body and wipe all that dirt away. You think about working all day on the farm and it's like, man, I could just use a good long hot shower. It's just refreshing. That's what the word serves to prove as. Do we need cutting away? Does that hurt? Well, look, it's a two-edged sword. There's many, many aspects to the word. It is also a refreshing thing. It's not just cutting away the bad. It's also serves as refreshment. Sanctify them through thy truth. What does it say on our sign? Thy word is truth. And we want to understand that. So it's like, It's like a sword, likened to a sword, it's likened to water. Go back to your Old Testament and get Psalms 119. Psalms 119. This is familiar, Psalm 119 verse 105. The Bible says, thy word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path. So we see that the word serves as a lamp and a light. If you walk around in the darkness, what happens? You stumble, you fall, you hit your toe, you get hurt. So we need to turn on the lamp so that we can get some light. Why? We don't stumble and we don't wander because we are prone, at sinful flesh, we are prone to wander. So God's Word, why we make a big deal about the Bible, the Word of God, because you and I need a light on our path to guide us where to go. Man, where do I go? I need some help. Show me where to go, Lord. Well, it's right there as a lamp and as a light. Prideful man, we wanna chart our own course. God says, no, I've got the word for you. That's your lamp, that's your light. And I'm telling you, life is just simpler. It's just simpler when you follow the instructions. And when we don't wanna follow the instructions, we wander and we end up hurting ourselves. Go to James 1, we'll see what else God's word serves as, not only as a sword, as water, as a lamp, and as a light. Watch James 1. James 1.22, James 1.22. All right, let's pick it up at verse, yeah, 22. Well, 21 talks about the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls, praise the Lord. And verse 22 says, but be you doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." So the Word of God works as a mirror. You put your face in front of a glass, and you see your reflection. This book, reveals who you are. This book reveals who you are. This book, man, that's an ugly looking fella. It reveals who you are. It shows us how much cleansing we need. It shows us who we really are. It's a truth mirror. That's what this Bible is. It's a truth mirror. And our flesh wants to hide our carnal nature. We clean our flesh up. We brush our hair. We shave. We brush our teeth. We put our best clothes on. We are always doing things to make our flesh look better. And the Word of God, when we look at it, it's just like, oh boy, I got a lot of... Lord, there's a lot of work that You've got to do with me. You know why we want to hide our carnal nature as Christians? Because we know it's a shameful thing, that's why. And the Word of God shows us. It uncovers our sin and it points us to who we should follow as our light and our lamp. All right, go to Jeremiah 23. If you've been here any length of time, you know one of my favorite Old Testament prophets is Jeremiah. One of the main reasons for that is because he stayed faithful to the Lord and saw no results. You talk about a whole book on perseverance and grit, that's your prophet right there. Jeremiah, chapter number 23, and he ends his life just, he's the weeping prophet. Lamentations is all about him just crying and weeping. And, uh, but he, he, he, he was a true prophet of God and Jeremiah 23, watch what, watch what the prophet says in verse, let's pick it up at verse 25. I have heard what the prophet said that prophesy lies in my name saying I have dreamed, I have dreamed same thing as Isaiah. Jeremiah is slamming these false prophets because people are being deceived and In a time like that, you have got to call out and slam the false prophets. It says, how long, verse 26, shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. Not only are they deceiving people, but their own hearts are deceived. What would you expect from a situation like that? which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal." Imagine. Jeremiah is trying to tell the people, you forgot our Lord for this false Baal God? Come on. Watch what it says in verse 28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. If you are a Christian, the application for us is stay faithful to God's word. Do not waver. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Look at verse 29. Here's the verse. Is not my word like as a fire? Why would he say that? Because fire is a purifier. It destroys all that is false. you have to melt down the metals for the dross to come up, and then you get rid of it. So God's Word is a cleansing Word. It's a purifier. It's like fire. It's there to purge sin. It's there to purify the heart. It's there to eliminate everything in us that isn't like Christ. And it's like fire, because all those impurities, the thing has to be melted down, all those impurities has to come to the top, and you've got to get rid of them. So it's like fire. And then it says, is not my word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. Well, what's a hammer used for? Boom, it's gonna crush. That hammer comes down and it's gonna crush apart everything with a powerful force and it has to break down evil in our heart, in our life, it has to break down that resistance that we have to the word of God. And so it comes down, you know, boom, that hammer breaks that rock into pieces. Now we live in the upper Cumberland. There's a lot of mountainous areas. If you wanted to get, if you wanted to make a road, either alongside of a mountain or through a mountain, what are you going to have to do? You're going to have to take a hammer, a jackhammer, And you're going to have to start busting that thing apart. Why? Because there's an obstacle in the way. And so you've got to break it apart. And as you do that, now you have a roadway that can be prepared. People can get on that road at night in their cars. They can turn on their headlights and they got their lamp and their light to see through. Now, it's both a lamp and a light, but then it's also a fire and a hammer. Look, when we were demoing this property, when we did the outside, Eric was doing the concrete. Well, I said, Eric, yeah, can we pour concrete? Well, he's like, well, yeah, we can. But first, we got to bust some stuff up. And we had to, we had hammers out there and everybody had to bust out all that concrete to prepare the surface. Well, if I show up, if I showed up the morning that Eric's got all the guys out there and I'm like with my flashlight and Eric's like, well, what are you doing with that? I'm here at my flashlight. He's like, yeah, that's great. Put it away. We're using hammers right now. Well, a flashlight's good. We turn that light on outside so everybody sees and they don't fall. It's on and it works and it's good. But the application of the Word of God has to be applied based on the situation that presents itself. So the same way you don't want to bring the wrong tool to the job site, is the same reason you wanna be careful on how you use the word of God. If you're doing nursing home ministry, you're probably not gonna wanna come in with the hammer, okay? If you're trying to minister to someone over a cup of coffee and share with them the word of God, probably not wanting to use it like a hammer. preaching the word from the pulpit or open air preaching or situations where, man, you just gotta grab somebody by the coattails and say, you know what, sit down, you gotta hear this. The word of God is designed to start breaking apart in an aggressive way as well. Most people's lives are dead end roads. And if we don't use the word as a hammer to break away all of those obstacles, they are never gonna see past that obstacle of what the true triumph can be. And sometimes people are right there. They're right there, man. And you're just thinking, man, just give me a few more blasts, a few more blasts. And it'd be like, man, you'll see that light right through it. You ever feel like that? That's the word of God. The other one you see in the book of Habakkuk, It's the fifth to the last book of your Bible. So go all the way to the back and flip back five books and you'll come to the book of Habakkuk. Old Testament. Last five of the Old Testament. Thanks for clarifying that. The book of Habakkuk, chapter number three. Habakkuk three. In this chapter, the Lord is presented as a man of war, and he is armed with a bow as a man of war, and the bow is the word. Hebrews, Habakkuk chapter 3, look at verse number 9. It says, Well, let's look at verse number 8. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst stride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Verse 9, Thy bow was made quiet, was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy what? Word. That bow is likened unto the Word. Why would you have a bow if you're a man of war? Yeah, to shoot it. You wouldn't go out without your weapon to fight your enemies, would you? You better have the word if you're gonna be fighting enemies. And it's likened unto a bow. It don't matter what type of public ministry you're doing. Make sure you've got the word. That's why we put a lot of it on our gospel tracts. Naked in this verse means that bow, it's not sitting in its case. It's out. It's out for all to see. And we don't hide it. The arrows are out of the quiver, and it's ready, and it's actively being used. It's actively being used as a weapon for war and it is unsheathed all the time. Does the church have a lot of enemies? The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have a lot of enemies. You know what it wants us to do? It wants us to put our sword in its sheath so it's not active. Never, ever, ever take that deal. always keep this thing unsheathed. This is our weapon of war. It's a spiritual weapon and it cannot be put away. It must always be ready for war because that's what we're in a war for souls. Um, but it is a weapon of chastisement and it is prepared to shoot at you. It's prepared to shoot. People say, you know, was that sermon for me, preacher? Well, yeah, you were here, weren't you? It's like, who else would it be for? It's supposed to be for us. It's supposed to fire at us. It's supposed to help us. That's the idea of the word. Last one on the word, and then we'll start to wrap up. Go to Psalms 19. Psalms 19. Psalms chapter number 19, look at verse 7. Psalms 19, verse number 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." I know I shared this verse with you at family camp, but the Word is designed to enrich us. It's another encouraging part of it. Look at verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. What an enriching passage about the word. That's what it's there for. All right, let's go back to 2 Timothy. Go back to 2 Timothy. Chapter number four, 2 Timothy four, Verse number two, preach the word. What if somebody says to you, well, I don't like that. Preach the word. Is it the word? Preach it. Now, if it's you, that's a different story. If you're the problem, that's a different story. By the way, don't preach the story. Don't preach your story. Preach the word. If a preacher has a story, or if a preacher has an illustration, it should be to illustrate and magnify the Word. It should point back to the Word. By the way, you tell your testimony, that's your story on how you were saved, but that testimony is pointing back to giving the Lord glory, and it's pointing back to the Word. People aren't coming... if they're coming for truth, we can't have If it's 40 minutes to preach, it can't be 40 minutes of motivational stories and jokes. It's the word, preach the word. Nothing new, Timothy. And by the way, don't try to keep up with the Joneses. You know, that saying is with, with in the, in the, you know, houses and in the material world, you got to have what your neighbor, the Jones has. Our job isn't to try to keep up with the Joneses of whatever's going on in the culture of Christianity. What are we doing here? Preach the word. Lastly, be instant. You have to earnestly and urgently keep pressing on in season. Is it convenient? Preach the word. Is it inconvenient? Preach the word. Is it a suitable situation or unsuitable situation? Preach the word. Well, what if the opportunity presents itself? Preach the word. What if I have to create the opportunity? Be instant in season and out of season. What if the appointment is made in season? Preach the word. What if I have to make the appointment out of season? Preach the word. I'm in the mood. Preach the word. I'm not in the mood. Preach the word. Be instant in season. Verse number two, and then it follows by out of season. I'm comfortable with it. Great. You're in season. Preach the word. Well, I'm not really comfortable with great. You're out of season. Preach the word. The answer is the same, whether you feel like it or not feel like it, don't get rid of preaching the word and the full scope of what it's going to take to preach the word is that you're going to have to rebuke. That means you're going to have to bring the fault to the offender. Uh, reprove rather is the first one. I'm sorry. Reprove is to bring the fault to the offender. And when you reprove somebody, although you are implying that that person is wrong, you are going to have to prove that they are wrong. In other words, a reprove is you're presenting arguments to convince that person that they need the truth. That's a reprove. It can come from the word. And then it says rebuke, man, that's stronger. That's implying a more authoritative approach. That's a rebuke. And some situations need to be dealt with a little bit. stronger. You don't have to admit any arguments into the court of law on a rebuke. You know something is wrong. And at that point, there's nothing to pray about. It's like the dad that comes into the room and it's just like, here comes the rebuke. There's not at that point. All the praying has been done. It's time for it. And it's like, here it comes. That's a rebuke. And then and then it says exhort. That exhort that exhortation is How many of you are like me where you've learned truth, you know it, you could pass it on a test, but you have absolutely no interest or motivation to apply the truth that you've learned? That's where the exhortation comes in. So the Word serves as an exhortation, and preachers, and if you've given the Word of God, you're preaching the Word, you're going to have to exhort people to take action on a truth that they've learned. And then long, watch what it says, with all long suffering, you have to do it all as a patient teacher, without getting irritated, without getting discouraged, without getting nasty and rude with people, without losing control of your emotions. Can I get a witness? You're gonna have to do it with long suffering. And then finally, end doctrine. Do you know that you can come up with different ways to teach doctrine? I use some examples of what we did, some work out there with concrete work, and if you're in the medical field, you'll be able to present the doctrine, the Word of God, using what is known to you in your field. That is, that's a good thing. We can have different ways of presenting and applying the truth. In other words, we don't have to use the same methodology for every situation. You don't have to preach like I preach. You don't have to talk to people one-on-one like Will talks to them. You don't have to be like Scott. Everybody has something different to offer. Nobody's changing the Word. Nobody's changing the doctrine. But it is a good thing to have all of these different elements in a local church so that people can see that it isn't all rebuke. There's some exhortation. and it's all not reproving, there's some doctrine. Make sense? If somebody's a new Christian, they might just need the doctrine. Teach them the truth. Once they have settled that in their heart, maybe three months or six months later, now they can get the exhortation. Hey, let's try to apply some of this in this situation. You see how both are right, but sometimes both don't need to be applied at the same time, and sometimes we use the wrong one and we should have been using the other. Can I get a witness on that? I've done that. I should have went this way, but I went this way. I used the wrong tool. All right, so that's 2 Timothy 4, verse 1 and 2 for tonight. Let's pray. you