Let's pray. Lord, through the written word and the spoken word, may we know the living word. Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen. You may be seated. Turn with me, if you would, to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. I'll read from verse 14 through to Verse eight of chapter four. My dad's first name is Timothy, and my name is Timothy, so that makes me 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter three, starting in verse 14. Paul, speaking to Timothy, says this, you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God. and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 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, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. But the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, 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 has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing. This reads the word of God, in fact, the living word of the living God. 860 million. 860 million words. That's about how many words you and I will speak in our entire lifetime. Now, how do I know that? Because thanks to the British actor and self-professed Scrabble fanatic, Giles Brandith, who used the number as a subtitle to his book entitled, The Joy of Lex. how to have fun with 860,341,500 words. We know that we speak approximately 860 million words. You say, that's right, that's about how many words you use every time you preach. Touche. But it reminds me of the story of Samuel Clemens. better known as Mark Twain, who went to church one Sunday morning. When the service was over, he told the pastor, I have a book at home that contains every word you preach this morning. Feeling like he was being accused of pulpit plagiarism, the pastor emphasized that his sermon today was totally original, hot off the press. Mark Twain insisted that he had a book at home that contained every word that the pastor said in the sermon that day. No, sir, I can assure you I worked hard on this message. I did not get it out of a collected sermons of Charles Spurgeon or Billy Graham or Martin Luther King Jr. Mark Twain said, oh, I'm sure you didn't get your sermon from them. Well then, said the pastor, let me see it. See what? The book of collected sermons. Mark said, I don't have it with me, but I will send it over. A few days later, the pastor received a package from Mark Twain. He opened it up only to find a dictionary. And in the fly leaf of the dictionary, Mark Twain had written words, just words. So much of preaching today is words, just words. so much so that it has produced a deafness. Simply put, they aren't listening. Churches are filled with doodled bulletins, side conversations, snoring, words falling on deaf ears. They count the light bulbs in the ceiling, guess the ages of the people in the choir, make lists of things to do, tallying the amount of times the preacher says um or uh, See, poor preaching provides two benefits. It allows you the courtesy to take a nap or to talk, but only about how bad the preaching is. There was a teacher in Nashville who for eight years taught children with hearing disorders. Their ears were fine. The words just didn't make contact. He said, after eight years, I just could not stand it anymore. I went Home crying. I went to work crying. He said one year, right after Thanksgiving, there was this sweet little girl in the school. Heather was her name. She was seven years old. We were out on the playground and I went over to Heather, squatted down in front of her and said, Heather, what did you eat for Thanksgiving? Heather said, my shoes are red. He said, I just can't do it anymore. Fast forward a few years, he was in Dallas in a service in which the call to worship, the liturgy, the prayers, the songs, everything gelled. Everything was just right. He was in the presence of God. He just sat there after the benediction. He didn't want to move. He was immobilized by the presence of God in the service. He was just a guest. A man in the pew in front of him turned around as if to say, I haven't seen you here before. Is this your first time? But he didn't say that. He didn't say anything. So the man naturally said, what an incredible service. What an incredible message. You know what the man said to him? The man said, my shoes are red. Listen, a deaf church is a dead church. So many churches today are like Sardis. They have a name that they are alive, but they are dead. It was a dead church because it was a deaf church. And what wasn't dead was about to die. It had no spiritual life. And do you remember what Jesus says to the dead church of Sardis? He tells her to listen or else. But see the differences between the preachers of today and Jesus is that Jesus has something to say, doesn't he? So naturally our ears perk up. He says, remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Perhaps the pastor of Sardis didn't have anything to say. Or maybe he was preaching sermonettes for Christianettes or steer sermons. Have you ever heard of a steer sermon? It's a point here and a point there and a lot of bull in between. Or most likely he was preaching words. Just words. Like people, like priests, right? This is Sardis' wake-up call. from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Maybe this is Calvary's wake up call. Because see, even though there is no scarcity of words, there is a famine of the word of God in the land. We use words willy nilly, don't we? And yet the church is to be a house of words. Better put, a house of the word. And yet you go to some churches, and Sunday after Sunday, it's words, just words. Too many words, and not enough capital W word. I mean, you've been there, right? Let's say you're traveling across the country with your family, and it's the Lord's Day, and so you pull into a church that has an assuring title, and maybe a denominational affiliation, or perhaps maybe the word Bible in it. So you go sit down with your family, and you're all seated up front, perky, and ready to go. The text is read, and it's a marvelous text. The pastor gets up to preach, and lo and behold, words, just words. And you're left with Sunday indigestion, and what one pastor, R. Kent Hughes, calls dis-exposition. You've experienced that before, haven't you? And so what do you do? You keep coming only to play the Bible against the Bible game, Sunday after Sunday. Have you ever played that game before? Okay, it's just me. Here's the Bible against the Bible game. It's where you take a passage from the pew Bible, totally unrelated to the message and the text, and you read it. No, no, what are we supposed to do? What we're supposed to do is what Paul tells Timothy to do, and that's preach the word. That's precisely what Paul tells Timothy. He says, preach the word. Not only that, but he tells him what to do, how to do it, and why. There's our outline. What, how, and why. And what I wanna do this morning is show you is that this applies not just to Timothy, not just to Eric, not just to myself, but to you. to all of us, to the church. Let's look at the what. Verse two, Paul says, preach the word. Kerouksan ton lagon. Most pastors have memorized that passage. According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, a foremost authority on the meaning of Greek terms in scripture, the word kerouksan is used to describe a herald. Timothy was to be a herald. You could say every preacher is by definition a herald. The question becomes now, what is the preacher to herald? The dictionary notes that Caruso does not mean delivery of a learned and edifying or hortatory discourse in well-chosen words and a pleasant voice. It is the declaration of an event. Here's where the gospel comes in. Some years ago, I heard an evening sermon by Martin Lloyd-Jones on 1 Corinthians 15. You know, that great gospel text. And in this evangelistic sermon, he defines a herald in a way to me that is extremely clarifying. He says that there is a big difference between advice and news. The gospel is good news, not advice. He says advice is counsel about something to do, which hasn't happened yet, but you can do it. News, however, is a report about something that has already happened. It's one for the books, it's history, and you can't do anything about it. He says, now think this out. There's a king and he goes to battle against an invading army to save his people. If the king defeats the invading army, he sends back to the capital city heralds. He calls them, he makes up a word, good newsers. And what they come back with is a report. They come back and they say, it's all been done. We've won. Therefore respond with joy and go about your lives, conducting yourselves in this peace, which has been won for you. But if the king doesn't defeat the invading army and they break through, he sends back military advisors and says, marksmen over here, horsemen over here, we're going to have to fight for our lives. And it's going to be a bloodbath. Martin Luther Jones says, every other religion, listen to this, sends military advisors, but we send heralds because it's all been done for you. They shout at the top of their lungs for the whole world to hear. They proclaim the good news. Heralds are good newsers. If I were to try and picture a herald, or maybe even paint you a picture of one, I suppose it would look exactly like Preacher in Pilgrim's Progress. You recall that scene in which Christian enters the interpreter's house, and in the house he's shown many profitable things, the first of which is the painting of the Preacher. Bunyan describes it as follows, Christian saw the picture of a very grave person hung up against a wall, and this was the fashion of it. It had eyes lifted to heaven, the best of books in his hand. The law of truth was written on his lips. The world was behind his back. He stood as if to plead with men and a crown of gold hung over his head. Christian, stunned by what he saw, asked what the painting meant. Interpreter explained, the man whose picture this is is one of a thousand. He can beget children, travail in birth with children, and nurse them himself when they are born. And whereas thou seest him with his eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in his hand, and the law of truth written on his lips, it is to show you that his work is to know and unfold the dark things to sinners, even as also you see him stand as if he pleaded with men. And whereas you see the world is cast behind him and that crown hangs over his head, it is to show you that sliding and despising the things that are present for the love that he has to the master service. He is sure in the world that comes next to have glory for his reward. That sounds just like 2 Timothy 4. Now here's where you come in. Now said the interpreter, I have showed thee this picture first, because the man whose picture this is is the only man whom the Lord of the place whither thou art going hath authorized to be your guide." To be your guide in all difficult places. that you may meet along the way. Wherefore, take heed. He says, take good heed to what I have showed you and bear well in your mind what you have seen, lest your journey you meet with some that pretend to lead you right, but their way goes to death. He says, never forget what you saw. He says, listen to the preacher. There's a footnote on this section in my edition of Pilgrim's Progress. which reads as follows, this is a true picture of a gospel minister, one whom the Lord, the spirit has called and qualified for preaching the everlasting gospel. He is one who despises the world, is dead to its pleasures and joys. His chief aim is to exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus, his atoning blood, justifying righteousness, and finished salvation. And his greatest glory is to bring sinners to Christ, to appoint him, that is Jesus, out as the way, the truth, and the life, and to edify and build up the saints in him. That's a herald. And thus, according to Paul, according to Pilgrim's Progress, this is what it means to preach the word. As heralds, preach is what we do, and the word is what we preach. Tan lagam, the word. What do we preach? We preach the word. If you're one for list, here's a list. What do we preach? We preach the word of the cross. What do we preach? We preach the word of the gospel. What do we preach? We preach the word of truth. What do we preach? We preach the word of reconciliation, the word of Christ, the word of the kingdom, the word of God, the word of salvation, the written word, the word of life, the word able to save your soul, the word, here's my favorite, the word of Jesus's endurance. The true words of God. the word of life, the word of righteousness. Simply put, the task of the preacher is to preach the word. And I believe that with all of my heart. Simply put, preaching the word is the only way to preach. And when we preach the word of God, we are preaching the word of God, not the words of men. So it's not just words, words, it's the word. That's why Paul says, for this reason, we constantly thank God that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God. I love how the message puts it. It says, and now we look back on all this We thank God, a geyser of thanks. When you got the message of God we preached, you didn't pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God's true word to you. Now, what would Paul say about our church? Would he say that as I look back, I thank God, a geyser of thanks, because when the word was preached, whenever, wherever it was preached, you took it to heart, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God. That's the litmus test for the church. I love this little poem titled, Preach the Word. It goes like this, I'm greatly disappointed in the preachers of today with their logic and their ethics, their aristocratic way, with their science and their theories and their new theology full of everything but Jesus, his love for you and me. There is plenty in the Bible for preachers of today if they will but search its pages and for help divine would pray. For God's word is everlasting, it never will grow old, tis indeed a priceless treasure, far more precious than pure gold. If the preachers in our church would preach Jesus crucified, how through love for us he suffered, and through love for us he died, then our lives would not be empty as so many are today, but be filled to overflowing in the good old fashioned way. What we need is just plain gospel, just good old-fashioned preaching, not Emerson and Shakespeare or this modern liberal teaching. What care we for all they're saying or teaching true and tried? I want the dear old story of my Savior crucified. What we need is consecration and a good true man of God with a Bible education and a love for God's dear word, who can lead us and direct us to the truth, the life, the way, who brings peace to the soul and body through the burdens of each day. For this alone can save the sinner. This alone can set men free. Just a precious, dear, old story of God's love for you and me. This is what the people's needing. This is what they need to see. The preaching of the Bible they heard at their mother's knee. Simply put, preach the word. Preach Jesus. Preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Preach the good old-fashioned way, the plain gospel, the dear old story, the way, the truth, the life. Preach the Bible. Preach the Bible that we heard at our mother's knee, the one full of Jesus and his love for you and me. Well, enough said about preach the word. Let's look at the how, the how. Paul says back in verse one, 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, preach the word. Paul says, I solemnly charge you. This speaks of the seriousness of the task at hand. Simply put, preaching ain't no joke. Richard Baxter once said, I preach as never sure to preach again as a dying man to dying men. In other words, preaching is serious business. It's serious stuff. It's a strong word. It's as if he's calling Timothy to court, the divine courtroom to give an account. This is Paul's divine summons when Timothy is told to approach the bench to take the stand and testify to the truth. Timothy must stand before Christ, who is the judge, and give an account for every single word spoken. It's James 3.1. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that such we will incur a stricter judgment. Literally, greater condemnation. Put plainly, every preacher is directly responsible, not to the church, Not to the elders, not to the seminary he got his degrees from, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the judge. And this is a solemn subpoena. Scarier still is the fact that Paul says, your ministry here and now, right this second, is going on before his presence. Did you see that? In the presence of God and of Christ, Jesus, Paul says, In other words, there's nothing he does not know. There will be nobody to come in and testify against us. There will be nobody to come in and testify on your behalf. There will be no need to rehearse the facts. There will be no time for excuses. Well, Lord, they paid me so little. Or maybe if my wife was more supportive. Or the church never really gave me a chance. Or maybe if my church was bigger. There will be no need for any of that because see, Jesus, the judge, already knows. It's all in the book. This is quite a serious thing, isn't it? To realize that the one who is the eternal judge is the one who is aware of every single detail of your life. He's aware of every single life, every single human being. No one, nobody is going to have to rehearse anything to Him because He sees it all and He knows it all. That's why this is so serious. God is watching. He sees everything. Not one second of my life escapes his notice. Not one minute, not one hour, not one week, not one month, not one year, he knows. And he is the judge. Krino, from where we get our word critique, or critic, or criterion. And this judgment, Paul says, can come down at any time. It is stated in such a way as if he is about to judge at any moment. There's imminency here. It's as if it's about to happen. Therefore, Timothy isn't flippant. He isn't frivolous. He's serious. And you might ask, well, what's my role in all this? You do what one pastor said. You hold the pastor accountable to wield the sword, to hold forth the mirror of the word, to scatter the seed of the gospel, to serve the milk, to hold up the lamp, to spread the flame, to swing the hammer, to stop with the secular wisdom in the pulpit, to cancel the entertainment in the church and fire the drama team. to get rid of the silliness, unplug the colored lights, put the pulpit back in the center of the building, stand up like a man, open the Bible, lift it up, let it out, and let it fly. Here's what you do. You do what the Greeks said to Philip. Sir, we wish to see Jesus. That's how you'll know your pastor means business. That is how you'll know that he takes the call to preach seriously. This is a weighty matter. Preaching carries with it the gravity of eternity. And so Paul says, 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, preach the word. Paul goes on to say in verse two, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Apparently, Paul believes that ministry is time sensitive. Listen to the amount of times Paul refers to time in these few verses. He says, be ready in season and out of season. He says, for the time will come. He says, the time of my departure has come. He says, in the future. He says, on that day. I guess they're right when they say timing is everything. And it is in that vein Paul says, be ready. Timothy must be ready. It is translated in some versions, keep on your watch, be prepared, or whenever you get the chance. It's like a doctor who's always on call. That's the idea. No vacation time or holiday pay for the preacher. There are no off hours for the preacher. Paul says in verse six that, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure, literally, is ready, same word. It's not reluctance, Paul says, it's readiness. Paul says, if you want to be a preacher, you gotta be ready to preach, pray, or die in a minute. It's Jeremiah 20, verse nine. His word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like fire in my bones. I am worn out trying to hold it in. I can't do it. This is fiery zeal. This is burning passion. This is, as Martin Lloyd-Jones says, logic on fire. And the flame, it never goes out. That's why Paul says, be ready in season and out of season. Look, there are only two seasons, in season and out of season. There's no summer break like there is for teachers. There's no off season like there is for athletes or apricots or apples or avocados. Paul says, I don't care if you come into a town and it looks like these people are going to be favorably disposed to Christianity. So you say, okay, let's preach. But over here, there is a town that's not favorably disposed of Christianity, so you say, let's not go there. It doesn't work like that, in season and out of season. Look, the only way you can be said to be preaching the word in season and out of season is if you know how to talk to people about their sin. No matter who they are and no matter what they believe. Paul goes on to say in verse two, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. Paul says the preacher has both a positive and a negative ministry. In other words, there must be a balance in ministry. In a word, he must comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That's the word exhort. That's what exhort means. It means comfort. Parakaleo, it's the same word used of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John 14, 16, that I will ask of the Father and he will give you another helper. Parakaleo, that he may be with you forever. Now I'm not saying that we are to try to be the Holy Spirit. In fact, many pastors fall prey to that. But I am saying that we can learn a thing or two from the Holy Spirit about how we might comfort or exhort. You see, there's something about the promise of presence, isn't there? Knowing that your pastor is really there for you and loves you and cares for you and prays for you, that he's with you every step of the way. Jesus goes on to say in verse 26 of John 14, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I've said to you. And then later on in John 16, 13, Jesus said, speaking of the Holy Spirit, that when he comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come. Therefore, if the preacher is going to comfort, if he's going to exhort, he must be biblical, he must be helpful, and he must be practical. That's what the word means. It means to come alongside them, to take them by the hand, to lead them oftentimes back to the truth. It means when we preach the word or talk about the gospel, we must be careful that we don't stay up here with our theology. We need to be able to get down on their level and connect the gospel to people's needs and to their lives. You have to be a great listener if you're going to effectively exhort people. Really making sure you see what's really going on, what is really bothering them, and then making sure you bring the gospel to bear on their watershed issue. It's answering with the gospel the questions that they're really asking. You see that word instruction? Maybe your translation says careful instruction. It's didache, which means teaching. It means very intelligent, very nuanced, very thoughtful teaching. This is not just giving people slogans, but showing them how the word of God applies to their lives. And note all of it. The reproving, the rebuking, the exhorting, even the careful instruction is done with great patience. I love that passage in Jude 22. It says, be merciful to them that doubt. I'll never forget hearing one pastor glibly say that his method for counseling could be summed up in just three simple questions. What's the problem? What does the Bible say about it? And why are we still here? You see, that'll never work. That's terrible bedside manner. No, the way to be patient with people, macrothermia, is to listen and say, okay, let me think about that. Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? It's careful instruction, not just blasting people with the Bible, but it's over and over and over reassuring them, reminding them, reinforcing what they know to be true about a God who is faithful all the while, all the while knowing that in the end, verse three says, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. In verse four, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths. In verses three and four, Paul says, the time will come when people won't wanna hear it anymore. The familiarity of it all will breed what? Contempt. They'll be over it. They will not hear the Word of God. They will not listen. The word endure means to hold up, to bear with, to esteem. They will change from holding up the Word of God to holding themselves up. They'll be in it for themselves. They will accumulate for themselves teachings in accordance with their own lust, their epithemias, their epi-desires, their mega-desires, their inordinate desires. They will accumulate a mass of teachers who feed their appetites. They wanna be free, they say. Listen, if people desire a golden calf to worship, a ministerial calf maker is readily found. In other words, there's always an Aaron close by, isn't there? But see, Moses' are hard to find. It's truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne. And yet what should Timothy do? Paul says, preach sound doctrine. He should preach the truth. Sound doctrine literally means healthy teaching. It's the word from where we get our word hygiene. They turn a deaf ear to anything that smacks of the truth, even though they know it's good for them. It's like when Chelsea's in the kitchen preparing dinner, and I'm watching ESPN, and I smell the aroma. And what do I do? I start salivating. And instead of waiting for dinner, you know how it goes, I vow to eat just a few grippos to tie me over. And lo and behold, somehow I managed to eat the entire bag of grippos. And when the meal that Chelsea has prepared is ready, I'm not even hungry anymore because I'm full of all the junk food. The same is true when it comes to preaching. All week we fill our minds with the junk food of the world, and then we come to church and have no appetite for sound doctrine, for healthy teaching. So you see, some people don't want a good meal. They just can't handle the truth. And yet in the face of that, Timothy must put his hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help him God. Timothy is to speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. See, it's the doctrine that shines forth as one of the glorious rays of the gospel, and thus Timothy must be willing to die on the hill of sound doctrine and truth. He must preach the truth no matter what. By the way, it's the truth that sets you free. Jesus says in John 8, 32, and you will know the truth, and the truth will what? Set you free. People don't want to be confronted with the reality of their sin. They don't want to be cornered by the truth. They don't want to be told what to do. They want to be entertained. They want someone to tickle their ears. One woman has been quoted as saying, if I anticipate that a message might lay claim on my life, I will bring my three small children into the sanctuary with me. The distractions, she said, usually works. See, we'll do just about anything to go home scot-free, won't we? People naturally move away from sound doctrine, from the truth, from the word of God. It's like what God said to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33, 32. Indeed, to them, you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. The masses prefer myth to truth. And yet you and I must preach sound doctrine. We must preach the truth, even though they will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But there's more. Verse five, Paul says, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Alistair Begg came and spent a few days with us in my doctoral program at TMS. And I distinctly remember him quoting this very verse. He said a lot of things that struck me. In fact, Henry and I were talking about when he was there, how he was probably my favorite professor during my time in the program. In quoting this verse, he said this, but you be sober in all things. Endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Then he said, I increasingly find that verse to be an anchor point for all of my days. He said an anchor. I wake up on Monday and I say, what will I do today? And I say, well, I think I'll just be sober and all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill my ministry. Then he paused and he said, And when I'm lifted up by a little encouragement, and I'm tempted to say, what shall I do? The answer is, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill my ministry. And then he paused for a little bit longer. He said, when the waves beat on me, when I feel like running away to the hill somewhere, what should I do? Well, I guess, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill my ministry. Okay, three reasons, three lessons as we approach our landing. Here's the why. Application number one. Why should we preach the word? Because the Bible is the living word. Because the Bible is the living word. Second Timothy 3.16 says all scripture is inspired by God. It's theophanous. Literally, breathed out by God. Therefore, the Bible is a living book. Hebrews 4.12 says the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. In other words, it's alive. Verse Peter 1, 23 says, for you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the what? The living and enduring word of God. Does anyone know what this is? I feel like Vince Lombardi. This is a football. No, this is the living Bible. The living Bible. Charles Stanley in a talk on how to read the Bible said, and I quote, For my own private devotions, I read the living Bible because in so many words, it reminds me that the Bible is the living word. See, not only is it true, not only is it inerrant and infallible, not only is it powerful, it is the living word of God. Every other book is a dead book, devoid of life, but not the Bible. It alone is alive and therefore always relevant and never stagnant. Martin Luther said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands. It lays hold of me. There's a church right by my house in Pickerington that I attended when I was home from college called Lagos Bible Church. It's pastored by a faithful man named John Chase. I'll never forget every time he climbed those steps to preach, inevitably the first words out of his mouth were always the grass withers, The flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. The word of God is as fresh as the morning newspaper. And if you want proof that the word of God is living, look no further than Jesus Christ. John 1 14 says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. See, he is the living word. He is God's final word. Hebrews 1, 1 and 2 says, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers, in the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his Son. He is the Lord of the Word. And when he returns, do you know what we will call him? Revelation 19, 12 says, his name is called the Word of God. I mean, let me ask you, is Jesus dead or alive? He's alive. And so is his word. You preach because the Bible is the living word, but we also preach the word because preaching the gospel is how we biblically pay it forward. Know that when it comes to the gospel, we are debtors to all people. Here's the pay it forward part. We are debtors to everyone because the gospel is meant for everyone and we have it. This is where you come in. You might not be a pastor or an elder, but like Paul who says in Romans 1.14, I am a debtor both to the Greek and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. What is he saying? To be Christian is to be a debtor to everyone. You say, a debtor in what sense? In the sense that you have the pearl of great price. You have the treasure hidden in the field. You have the gospel. That's why Paul says in verse 15, so for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you. Your part is to pay it forward. And you pay it forward when you share the gospel. What does Paul say? For it is the power of God for salvation. to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Lastly, because in preaching and in keeping God's word, there's great reward. Why do we preach the word? We preach the word because in preaching and keeping God's word, there is great reward. 2 Timothy 4, 7 and 8 says that because Paul had fulfilled his ministry, in the future there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. The word for award is apoditomi. It's roughly the same word used in Psalm 19, 11, where it says, in keeping them there is great Apodytomy, there's great reward. And the them in Psalm 19 is the judgments, it's the scriptures, it's the word of God. Paul is saying, the psalmist is saying, there is great reward in preaching and obeying the gospel of God. Paul says you should preach the word because there is a crown of righteousness stored up for you. This is something fascinating. I believe it means something like when you were a child and someone praised you. Do you remember how that felt? Why? Why did it move you? Why did it melt your heart? Because deep down, we're made for God's affirmation. We're made for his applause, for his approval. We were made for God to say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. We were made to hear God say, this is my beloved son or daughter with whom I'm well pleased. We were made for that. Now I want you to think of the greatest moment in your entire life where you felt affirmed and praised, and then multiply that by a zillion, because that's what it'll be like to get that crown. That's why Paul was able to open his mouth and preach the gospel no matter what. That's what motivated Paul to keep on keeping on. But notice he says, not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Jesus says in Revelation 22, 12, behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to what he has done. Do you know what we must do if we want to fulfill our ministry? If you want to be able to say with Paul, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, you must cherish the old rugged cross. How does it go? On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for what? For a crown. As we close, One of my preaching mentors says often that great preaching is when the preacher is able to turn ink into blood. Well, if that's true, and I believe it is, then what kind of preacher does that make Jesus? I mean, he literally turned ink into blood through the old rugged cross. Jesus is the preacher par excellence. No one ever spoke like Jesus spoke. The Bible says when he speaks, gracious words fall from his lips. The Bible says he teaches with authority. The question is, are you listening? Will you buy what he's selling? Will you follow him? One night, sitting in a little rural church on a Sunday night was a visitor. It was a summer meeting, so it was hot. and the window was open beside his pew. The minister was preaching on some text, droning on and on. Really all the visitor heard was words, just words. But as he was listening to him drone on, a man came by the church building and stopped by the window and said, psst, psst. He said, what is it? I'm listening to the sermon. First grade lie. The man said, come with me. He said, where are you going? The man said, I know where there is a pearl of great price that's more valuable than all the other pearls in the world. He said, there's no such thing. The man said, in fact, where I'm going, there's treasure buried in a field. He said, you're kidding. The man said, where I'm going, bums and beggars are invited to sit down at the king's table. He said, that's ridiculous. The man said, in fact, they have great parties for prodigals who come home. He said, that's stupid. Well, he listened to the rest of the sermon, and after it was over, he told the preacher about how he was disturbed, and that he hoped that it didn't upset him during the sermon. The preacher said, well, who was it? The man said, I don't know, but he was telling me all this fancy stuff. The preacher said, well, was he getting anybody? The man said, well, none of our church went with it, but I noticed he had about 12 with him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. The call is clear. We are to preach it. As a church, we are to do the work of evangelists and share the gospel. We are to sow the seed of the gospel that it would fall on good ground. We would go to sleep and wake up and there would be flowers of your grace, there will be plants of your grace, there'll be trees of your grace, oaks of righteousness through the work, Jesus, that you've done for us on the cross. Help us as we think through as a church what it means to preach the word, to heed the word, to evaluate our faith, to examine ourselves, to plug into the grace that's found in the scriptures, to sit at the feet of Jesus, the true preacher. Holy Spirit, press these truths on our hearts that we may live in light of them every day, all the way up to eternity. And may we cling to the old rugged cross where our Savior, Jesus Christ, That's why we do it, for His glory. Amen.