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Well, as you think about your faithful pastor, the late John MacArthur said, “The role of the pastor in Christ Church is vital, and God has ordained that his people be taught and shepherded by spirit-gifted, spirit-led, and spirit empowered men.” The spiritual life and faithfulness of a congregation always is closely related to the spiritual life and faithfulness of its pastor. How true that is. And we’ve seen that, right, for 40 years.
And how you guys have grown. I’ve heard testimony on how much you guys have grown in this church because of Pastor Joe preaching faithfully the word of God. I invite you, if you have your Bibles to turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4:es 1:5.
Hopefully you have an outline. If there’s an outline for this message, 2 Timothy 4:es 1:5. Let’s go ahead and read 2 Timothy 4:es 1:5.
The Apostle Paul said, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For 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.
Verse four says, and will turn away their ears from the truth and return aside to myths, but you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Let’s pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to look into your word. And father, we heard so many times last night during praise and even this morning how your son Jesus Christ willingly went to the cross to die for our sins, all of our sins, past, present, and future. And thank you, Father, so much for your grace in our lives by allowing us to to look into your word, to study your word, for giving us your word, which encourages us and makes us more like Jesus Christ. Thank you again, Father, for the Bobbies. I pray you bless them, bless this church, encourage them, and now, Father, please help us, please illuminate our mind as we look into your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Well, as you look at second Timothy, just a little background there, a brief background of second Timothy. This was a personal letter written by the apostle Paul around AD67 to 60 around 6667 in Macedonia to his protege Timothy before Paul was executed under Nero’s persecution.
And this was the third and last of the pastoral epistles, first Timothy and Titus being the others. And as commentator D. Ed and Min Heert said this was Paul’s last will and testament.
Well, Paul in his first missionary journey led Timothy to Christ. Timothy was ordained by God and commissioned through the lay of the hands of the presbyter. So Paul was about to pass a baton of faithful ministry to Timothy who was pastoring the church in Ephesus.
Well, like a loving father, Paul wanted to write this letter of encouragement to Timothy, his son in the faith, because maybe Timothy’s faith was shaken. Or maybe he was about to quit due to the heavy pressure within the church and also the persecution by Nero.
Well, Timothy, whose name means one who honors God, as you know, Timothy was despised for his youth, as 1 Timothy 4:12 tells us, he felt inadequate. He had a timid spirit, didn’t have a strong personality like the Apostle Paul in order to debate the false teachers that he ran up against. So, Paul wanted to remind Timothy to defend the faith, to be strong in doctrine, and be excellent in his service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, in our text this morning, there are nine commands Paul gave to Timothy, right? Pastor Dave Dave said I had two hours. So, we got nine commands we’re going to go through this morning. I’m just kidding. But nine commands. And you’ll notice uh Paul’s last command there in verse five. Paul said to fulfill your ministry. Fulfill your ministry. The last command he gave to Timothy before he was martyed.
But what did Paul mean when he said to fulfill your ministry? What does that look like? Well, in the New Testament, there are many requirements and you you know how pastors can fulfill their ministry of mercy as 2 Corinthians chapter 4:1 calls it. And these requirements are for you, the congregation, to make sure you hold your pastor, true to these requirements to honor Jesus Christ. Well, Paul gave Timothy three other requirements on how he could fulfill his ministry.
And I believe if pastors do these things, they will fulfill their ministries. Well, the first requirement for taking notes for a pastor who fulfills ministry is to proclaim God’s truth. Proclaim God’s truth. And we’ll spend a good amount of our time here in our first point. But look at verse one.
It says, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus. But notice before Paul charged Timothy to preach the word of God, he wanted to remind Timothy of something very important. The word solemnly charged is from the Greek verb which is dia martrami. You hear the word martyr in there. Dia marturami, right? Which speaks about witnesses like the apostles who preached on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
However, the use of this verb in our passage speaks of an earnest appeal or a warning. And the preposition dia attached to the martrami intensifies its meaning and brings a directive, a stern warning almost like a command to Timothy.
MacArthur again says the solity of Paul’s charge is drawn from the fact that is tied directly to the awesome majesty of the one who commisss men to divine service. Those who are called to proclaim and interpret the word of God have the most profound responsibility that the Lord places on any man.
John Stodd said the verdia marturami has legal connections and can mean to testify under oath in a court of law or to adjure or demand a witness to do so.
And this phrase solemnly charged was also used in 1 Timothy 5:21, warning Timothy not to be biased or partial when disciplining church elders. Also in 1 Timothy 6:13 that despite persecution, he is to be faithful to confess Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And also in 2 Timothy chapter 2:14, not to argue with false teachers. It’s kind of like a waste of time. Continue on with your ministry. fulfill the ministry.
Well, what was the reason? What was the reason for this charge to Timothy? Well, what was the reason that Paul charged Timothy to follow these nine commandments? Well, the first reason that Jesus is watching.
Jesus is watching. Look at verse one. I slely charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.
The word presence means before the eyes or sight of a holy God. It’s like in Isaiah 6 before the prophet, right, was commissioned by God to preach. Remember what he said? He said, “Woe is me for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.” As he stood in the presence of a holy God.
Paul is saying every time you preach and minister, scrutiny is taking place because you are in the very presence of God and Christ Jesus.
You know, sometimes it’s easy for us to to focus on the critical command, right?
to preach the word and the other eight commands we’ll take a look at at but bypass verse one which which has some serious details and it applies not just to preachers but applies to every believer who currently ministers for Christ like you all do here at Calvar’s equipping ministry you know Hebrews chapter 4:13 I like what the New King James Version said and there is no creature hidden from his sight but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
For example, when Missy and I allowed our children to use the computer, right?
Remember those days? I want to use a computer, mom and dad. Right? Well, the password we gave them as they logged in was God is watching.
And if there’s any hackers out there, we don’t use that password anymore. Okay?
So, just we changed it. So, anyway, but God is watching. just to remind them that watch out what you’re doing in that computer cuz God is watching everything that you do. But you know, it’s interesting enough though, Paul was not thinking about his own execution, which was imminent, but wanted to remind Timothy that Jesus was going to evaluate his ministry.
But you know grammatically the phrase in the presence of God and Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus could also say maybe your version says this in the presence of God even Christ Jesus. He wanted to highlight Jesus Christ. Very interesting there. He wanted to exalt Jesus Christ who is Yahweh the great I am. Ago, as we just sang, the root of David, right? The line of the tribe of Judah, the second person of the Trinity, the son of man, and Jesus is the first fruit of our resurrection. One day we will be resurrected, too. You know, Pastor Joe Bobby in part two of his excellent sermon called the battle rages, the outcome is determined said, and I quote, “Our atonement is complete, and that atonement is that sacrifice of Christ.
where Christ’s death was a substitution for our sin and for sinners. And God imputed the guilt of our transgressions to Christ and then punished him for it.
And then of course that was the full payment for the price for our sins.” Well said. And not to exclude God the Father who is the orchestrator of history, right? And also God the Holy Spirit who illuminates our minds as we read through the scriptures. They are also watching as we minister for Jesus Christ. It is truly an audience of one.
And when I think about the presence of God, there’s also a positive side, right? There’s also a a grace side that God is always with us, isn’t he? As we go through trials and tribulations and suffering and pain, God’s presence is there with us. He knows exactly what we are doing, what we’re going through. As Hebrews chapter 4:15 tells us, with this accountability, Jesus should bring a healthy fear. However, there’s one more reason to have reverential fear here.
The second reason for the charge to Timothy is because Jesus would not only be watching, but look what verse one says. Second part of verse one says, who is to judge the living and the dead. The pronoun who refers directly back to Jesus Christ. His judgment is imminent.
Why? Because within that in verse uh who is to judge the living and dead the Greek word mellow is included and that means about to which means imminency that Jesus Christ is about to come maybe today maybe before the worship service is over. He is coming back soon and Jesus will be the judge of the living to those who died in Christ before the rapture. And as believers, we will not be judged, right, for our sins because there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, right? We’ve been declared righteous. We sing about that and we talk about that, right? Romans 8:1. So after we hear those words, well done a good and faithful slave, all believers come before the beac seat of Christ and our works while serving in the body of Christ will be judged as 1 Corinthians chapter 3 12-15, 1 Corinthians 4:es 1:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us and then we will receive our eternal rewards. So the question is this morning, how are you are you prepared? Are you prepared to be judged by your works of Jesus Christ in the church? Well, if you think if you’re not serving God and using your giftedness, repent and confess that sin to God and he will forgive you and start serving him before he comes back. Right? Well, speaking of Jesus being a judge, do you remember the event in John 5:1 17-22 where Jesus declared to the Jews that he was equal to the father? Do you remember that? Well, turn with me very quickly to John 5.
John chapter 5, we look at verses 17 to 22. I want you to turn here. Let’s let me just give you a little background.
This was during Jesus’s Galilean ministry as he went up to Jerusalem after healing the noble man’s son in John chapter 4. But in chapter 5, after seeing the he seeing the lame man and healing him on the Sabbath in verses 1-6, which by the way made the Jews furious, didn’t it? They didn’t like that he healed on his on the Sabbath and they wanted to kill Jesus because Jesus called God his father and said his essence and his works were identical to God’s proving himself to be equal with God. Well, let’s take a look at John 5 verse starting with verse 17.
Jesus says, “But he answered them, my father is working until now, and I myself am working.” For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Verse 19 says, “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing.
For whatever the Father does these things, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the Father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son also give life to whom he wishes. So you see the equality there, right? Whatever the Father does, Jesus does also. Equality with God.
Great verses to use against Jehovah Witnesses or anybody else that thinks Jesus Christ is not God. But look at verse 22. For not even the father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son. He has given all judgment to the son. Well, why did the father give all judgment to the son? Well, we know that Jesus was rejected by so many people, right? Not because of his amazing miracles. They love that. They love when he healed and they followed him, right? All over the place. They love they love that. But it’s because of what he said. They did not like his words. His words cut deep into their heart and they did not honor Jesus as the son of God. In fact, look back at verse 22 and 23. For not even the father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son. So that purpose, right, the purpose clause so that why?
So that all will honor the son even as they honor the father. He who does not honor the son does not honor the father who has sent him.
This is the reason why the father has given all judgment to the son because people reject Jesus Christ and they say that he is not the son of god you may have seen this I don’t know in in California I thought it was prevalent only in California there are billboards you may have seen it on the freeways we call freeways in California or highways here I guess I checked on the internet I guess it’s kind of all over the country have you seen these billboards that said one says are you committing idolatry have you seen that scripture says God is one, not three and one. We’ve seen that implying we shouldn’t be worshiping Jesus Christ as God or the Holy Spirit.
And there’s another one that says Jesus is not God. Scripture says Jesus did not preexist in heaven. Well, I like for them to tell me the chapter and verse.
Well, they found that, right?
No scriptures. They don’t have any scriptures to back up what they are saying, but they’re all over. You see these billboards as you’re driving all over. Maybe it was just in wacky California. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe.
Actually, I heard I I heard it was like in Mississippi and and other places also. But one day they will be judged.
They will be judged by Christ because they did not honor Jesus Christ as the son of God. Well, if you go back to our text, Old Testament saints will be judged after the great tribulation as mentioned in Daniel 12 and Revelation 20. Unbelievers will be judged at the sheep and go judgment of the nations. in Matthew 25 and the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20. I just want to take a moment just to to to ask you if hopefully and I don’t know everyone here hopefully you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you haven’t, I plead with you, I beg with you to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. That he died on the cross for your sins. He was on the cross. He was buried. He rose again. And he loves you and he can give you eternal life. You can do that right now, right where you are sitting. Come to know Jesus Christ.
If you look at the third part of verse one, I slemly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is the judge of the living and dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. This is a visible appearing of Christ during his second coming to set up his millennial kingdom and eventually the eternal state. So Jesus is watching and he’s coming back to judge soon. And as I mentioned, there are nine commands that Paul gave to Timothy. Five are in verse two and four are in verse five. And I believe again these nine commands form the basis of a faithful ministry. A faithful ministry for the pastor but also for you also for a faithful ministry by which you will be uh judged on by Jesus Christ. This is the criteria criteria that he will be using. Well, first command verse two is preach the word. We’ve heard that so many times, right? Preach the word. preaches from the Greek word keruso meaning to proclaim means to herald right herald it out word is from Greek word logos meaning the entire word of god not partial word of god right but the entire word of god is what’s supposed to be preached and this is what a herald did he fearlessly loudly clearly proclaimed the king’s message exactly as the king wrote it down that’s what the herald did so a preacher a teacher Sunday school teacher, you must proclaim with urgency the exact message of Jesus Christ without compromising one single word at all. You know, a pastor friend of mine heard this from his seminary professor who said this, “The herald who changes the message of the king is a traitor to the king.” The herald who changed the message of the king is a traitor to the king. We don’t want to be traitors, do we? No. We want to teach and preach Jesus’s exact words.
But did Jesus teach and preach his own words?
When John 12 49 to 50, here’s what Jesus said. For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
Jesus preached God’s exact words. And so should we. The exact word of God. And Jesus exalted the word of God in John 17:1 17, the high priestly prayer.
Remember what he said? He said, “Sanctify them by your truth.” You know the verse, “Your word is truth.” Psalm 19:7, we see the power of the word of God, how it changes. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise is simple.
Right? This verse defines to us what the word of God is and its benefit to us.
Psalm 119:1 says, “Your word I have treasured or hidden in my heart that I may not what? Sin against you.” The word protects us from sin. Right? Why wouldn’t we want to read the word of God? It protects us from sin. And there’s some other biblical themes you could preach, teach about Christ’s deity in Colossians 1:15. You know, Jesus never refused worship. Remember when he healed a leper, he came back and worshiped Jesus. He bowed down and worship. Jesus didn’t say, “No, no, no wor.” No, he bowed down and worshiped Jesus. You teach on his deity. Christ is the eternal God. You preach about Christ’s humility and his incarnation about taking on human flesh and becoming a man. As Philippians chapter 2 6 and 8 says, you show Christ humanness, how he wept, he was tired, he fell asleep, and he prayed to God the Father for strength. You explained the passion week of Christ’s suffering leading up to his crucifixion, his burial, and his glorious resurrection. All for who?
First for God’s glory, right? That’s why he died on the cross. Then for us secondarily, you expound on Christ’s attributes, how he knew thoughts, he knew actions, his compassion, his mercy, his grace to love, to love us dearly. And you talk about Christ preaching about sin, heaven, money, and how he warned people about hell because hell was not created for us. It was created for who? The devil and his angels. Not for us. Not for us. What about the Apostle Paul? Did he teach and preach the entire word of God? Remember what Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and what and him crucified.
In Acts 20 27, he said, I did not shrink from declare to you the whole purpose, the whole council of God.
And Paul taught on I like to say he taught on all theations, right?
Justification, sanctification, glorification, there’s election, adoption, substitution. He taught on all that, the entire purpose of God.
And before the pastor preaches the word of God, how should he approach the text?
We’ll just turn a page back with 2 Timothy 2:15. This is how the pastor or anyone teaching the word of God should approach the text.
2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately cutting it straight, handling the word of truth.” That’s what that phrase mean. accurately handling means cutting it straight. It’s like taking a pair of scissors and cutting a piece of paper straight. Right? We want to cut it straight. We want to interpret the word of God exactly as God wanted it taught. We interpret it correctly and we preach it correctly. Right? It’s like setting a broken bone, right? Greek word is ortho tomato, right? Ortho, bone, tomato.
Setting it straight. Interpret the word of God straight before you teach it. And what is the purpose of teaching preaching the word of God? Just a couple verses back there in 2 Timothy chapter 3:16. All scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for proof, for correction, for training and righteousness. Purpose clause. Why? So that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. That’s the purpose. That is the purpose we it should be desire our desire for every pastor and teacher to make every single believer in their congregation as Colossians 1 25 and 28 says mature in Christ. We want mature believers. That’s what we want. They will know more about God and the glories of heaven. You know, that was one of the things I believe that uh John MacArthur his desire was to teach word of God and teach us how to learn and and study the word of God, right? But also I heard one of his desire was to have us to increase our appetite for the word of God. That was his purpose so that we could have a a hunger for his for the word of God, right? He wanted us to know more and more about the word of God. I think I was talking to Tony about that earlier this morning, how his appetite for the word of God, how MacArthur helped him in that sense. But John Piper said, “A church is a body of people who minister to each other.” Part of what preaching does is equip us for that. And how true that is. Well, Jesus taught and preached to a generation and he passed the baton on to Peter and the other apostles to teach God’s divine revelation. The baton went from Jesus to Paul who taught Timothy who taught other faithful men, right? Second Timothy 2:2, who would teach and pass the baton on to other generations.
This baton was also passed to Pastor Joe Bobby who has faithfully taught and preached the word of God to those when he first arrived at Calvary and to so many others who came and left as God used him to continue the process of spiritual reproduction and transformation from one generation to the next. Right? Faithfulness there.
Well, Paul followed the command to preach the word with four other commands which speak about the actions of preaching the word of God. We’ll go through these kind of quickly. Second command, be ready in season and out of season. Basically means preach it all the time, right? Whether it’s popular or not. Be ready means is an attitude of urgency to guard the truth also and preach the truth. Guthrie said the word was also used in a military sense to stay at one’s post. But here it means to be at one’s task and and indicates that the Christian minister must always be on duty all the time.
Seasons means eras or periods of time, not chronological time like on your watch or on your eyew watch. Eseason in season means when it’s popular, when it’s convenient, right? Out of season when it’s not convenient, right? But you always preach the word of God. It doesn’t matter under persecution, whatever. You always preach the word of God. And aren’t you thankful that we can still preach the word of God freely in the United States? Thank God we can. And yes, guys, even in wacky California, we can still preach the word of God. So, you know, I don’t know. John McCarthy just passed away. So, I don’t know.
We’ll have to see, you know, just being in California. We’re still we’re still going to preach for God no matter what.
Doesn’t matter what Newsome says, right?
So, but three other commands when preaching. Third command to reprove and rebuke. Kind of the same words there mentioned back in 2 Timothy 3:16 means to confront sinful behavior and wrong doctrine beliefs by using the scriptures to bring heaviness heaviness to the sinful believer’s heart. Whereas the fourth command, rebuke, brings an idea of using the word of God to correct a person’s sinful motives and to have them confess and repent of their sins. Our fifth command, exhort. After correction, you are to preach encouraging them to keep living for Jesus Christ. You want to make sure you convict, but you also want make sure you encourage, right? In some you bring them down and make sure you bring them up, right? We always want to make sure we do that as we preach the word of God. And how should a preacher reprove, rebuke, and come alongside one who is sinning? Verse says, “With great patience.” Great patience. Right? Aren’t you glad God is patient with us? He is so patient with us. I know some of you are involved in biblical counseling and a manner in which you interact with your counsel should be with great patience.
It takes time, right, for the heart to change. I mean, sometimes I know I know we want to take a hammer and chisel and chisel that hard, right? That hard heart. But it takes patience.
You know Jesus was so patient with James and John. Remember in Mark chapter 10 verse 45 when they asked Jesus if one could sit on his right hand and the other on his left hand in glory.
Remember that. So what did Jesus teach them? Well, he taught them humility. He taught them servantthood and self-sacrifice which is what we should be doing also.
Pastors, we cannot change a believer’s heart overnight. Doesn’t happen. In fact, the Holy Spirit is the one I was talking to someone said, “I just can’t change it.” Remember, the Holy Spirit is the one that transforms the person’s heart through the use of the word of God. And speaking of that, we have patience, right? And also great patience and also instruction, skillful teaching, using the word of God skillfully from one who has been trained. So if all these five commands are followed, everything in ministry will be perfect, right? Peaceful, right? Paradise, right?
No problems, right? Ask Pastor Joe, right? No problems. Well, this leads us to the second requirement for a pastor to fulfill his ministry. So that um well, let’s say it this way, to prepare for adversity. Prepare for adversity.
You know, there’s an article in the expositor seminary that says this. Half of the ministers beginning their pastorate will not survive five years.
They will self-destruct or be chewed up before the ink on their seminary degree is dry. The average tenure in a church is less than three years. 40 years. Wow.
Amazing. If these statistics are even closer to reality, then the lifespan of an average pastor in one church is all too brief. That is well said. Well, if you look at verse three, the conjunction therefore expresses Paul’s concern for future difficulties that might personally affect Timothy and also the church. And this is the reason why Paul commanded Timothy to be so faithful to preach the word. Be ready in season, out of season with proof, rebuke. That’s why because difficult times are coming. A time will come, as verse three says, when they will not endure sound doctrine. They will not endure sound doctrine. And I believe verses three and four describe what preaching out of season looks like in many churches today. Time again refers to seasons or periods of time.
It’s a time when nominal believers in the church will battle you and will not put up with or tolerate sound doctrine that you are preaching or teaching.
Sound doctrine means healthy, demanding, confrontive preaching about sin, guilt, holiness, progressive sanctification, forgiveness.
preach again all the cations. We preach all of that.
Well, DM Heert said they will not put up with doctrine that is healthful, useful, practical teaching which gives health and soundness to the spiritual man.
And this isn’t the first time that the Apostle Paul warned Timothy what difficult times will look like in the future. Remember, just turn a page back in 1 Timothy 3:es 1-5.
Difficult times are coming, Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter 3:1 says, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy.” Verse three says, “Unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They hold to the form of godliness, although they have denied its power. avoid such men as these. And that’s happening in our churches today. We know that. We see that even as you interact with with unbelievers today or believers maybe unbelievers in a church might be happening there. But I think we got to be careful kind of a warning for us here that we don’t point the finger at them because we can be guilty of this too, right? Whenever somebody preaches or we hear scriptures that confront us about the sin of pride or not forgiving someone or not loving someone as we should, we can kind of reject that teaching too, right? We kind of give the, you know, the whole Heisman trophy approach like stay away, right? We do that. No, we want to make sure if there’s sin in our lives that we are confessing that sin, repenting of that sin to God, and he will forgive you immediately.
Not only that, verse three says these nominal believers, they will want to have their ears tickled. Speaking about teaching that gratifies or comforts a person, and it looks past sin. You hear that, I don’t know if you you turn on the live stream, right? You see churches today, they don’t talk about sin.
Threeletter word sin is not even mentioned here.
Commentator Kenneth Reese said, “This describes a person who desires to hear for mere gratification.” Like the Greeks at Athens who spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear not some new thing but some newer thing. That’s what they did back then in Athens.
And you can find this type of preaching as you live stream churches today as I mentioned everywhere today. They will tickle your ears to death and please you but will not lead a sinner to Jesus Christ.
And then they will what as verse three says they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. It means accumulate teachers right these false teachers motivational speakers whose desire is to please their selfish materialistic lustful desires that they want to hear. And you guys know this social media is going crazy with all this. Have you seen in social media just just crazy about guys who are trying to teach the word of God speaking about end times. They haven’t been trained and are trying to talk about revelation and everything. I remember our son showing us a clip on YouTube and the guy was totally off regarding the book of Revelation. Totally off. Be careful with these false teachers.
You know, the prophet Jeremiah witnessed this, didn’t he, in Israel in Jeremiah 5:30-31. You know, like I said, there’s nothing new under the sun. Why? It happened in Israel. It’s happening today. He said, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests rule on their own authority and my people love it. So, so it happened back there in Israel and it’s happening today.
One commentator said, “People want teachers who will allow them to live like they desire in their lust.” The attitude of loss is make me feel good about myself. Tell me something sensational, entertaining, or that builds up my ego. It’s all about me, right? You hear about e me. We got to be careful too. Even our worship songs should be about me me, right? and be so careful about that. They want teachers who might even disagree or debate whether the word of God is inherent, infallible and without error. Or maybe this or tell the preacher what to preach. Maybe telling the congregation, the pastor is telling the congregation who to vote for. Have you heard that from I heard you can from the pulpit tell you know your political favorite or whatever who to vote for? or maybe having a pastor preach on the LGBTQ QQ agenda, woke feminism, social, all all of that. Be very careful. And in verse four says, they will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths. Meaning, stop listening. They’ll take both hands and put it up on their ears and say, “I don’t want to hear the word of God.” When a person turns away from sound doctrine, it’s just a matter of time till they what? They turn to myths which are fables, legend story, man-m made up stories, not true. Right?
These stories again cannot lead a sinner to repent of their sins and to save them from their sins. But despite all this hardship, what does Paul exhort Timothy to do? Well, this leads us to our third and last requirement for a pastor to fulfill his ministry. And that is to be persistent in his behavior. Persistent in his behavior.
A pastor is not to be swayed in what he preaches. He is not to be influenced by rich or powerful men. And I’ve heard that that has happened in a number of churches of today. Or even to be relevant. Be careful. It’s not to be relevant today. You know, when you think of the Bible’s relevant for all times, isn’t it? I mean, we don’t need a 2025 Bible and a 2026 Bible. No, it’s relevant for every time.
It needs to be uncompromising and be committed to God’s unchangeable truth.
This brings us to our sixth sixth command in verse 5. But you be sober in all things. Now Paul gets personal. He says, “But you be sober in all things, Timothy.” He gets personal with Timothy as he contrasts the lifestyle of nonominal Christians and their irrational behavior with how Timothy should be behaving and to fulfill his ministry. The word sober means pastor be alert. level-headed, calm, have self-control, steadfast in your judgment, clear-minded, awake, unwavering, immovable, and what’s the phrase? Having one’s wits about himself, right? Hold your pastor to this. This is how he should be behaving.
Well, Paul wanted Timothy to be in total control of his thought process and not surprised when nominal believers suddenly turn from the word of God to myths. So pastor, be firm in your actions, honor God, and do not be disqualified.
That’s one of the sad stories when you hear pastors being disqualified.
Right? Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 26-27. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim.
I box such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be what?
Disqualified. We don’t want to be disqualified. Not just for pastors, could be believers too. We don’t want to be right. We want Jesus tell say well done thy good and faithful servants.
Right? The seventh command endure hardship means pastor be willing to suffer evil and bear it. Don’t quit. Be a man. Right? Be a man. You know, one thing I would say in California, I don’t know if Missy likes what I said, but I always say don’t men. Don’t be mammy pamby. You know, be men. Let’s go. Be men. You know, as believers, we are going to suffer. We are going to suffer in life because Christ suffered too. And we know suffering is part of the whole maturing process to make us more like Jesus Christ. Well, early in second Timothy chapter 1:8, Paul asked Timothy to partner with him. Remember, and suffering for the spread of the gospel according to the power of God, even through Nero’s persecution.
But did Timothy, listen, did he suffer evil at the hands of wicked men?
Hebrews chapter 13:23 says, “Take notes.
Notice that our brother Timothy has been released.” So yeah, Timothy did go to jail for the sake of the gospel or eighth command, do the work of an evangelist. Timothy, Timothy did not hold the office of an evangelist, but like Timothy, we all must continue to carry out the great commission, right?
In Matthew chapter 28, share the gospel.
And I know your church used to go. I know if you still do go to the mall, right? Set up tables, go to the mall and evangelize. Still do that. Excellent.
Very good. And take every opportunity to share the gospel. Your car breaks down, we go, “Oh, no. First, I got to take it to the mechanic.” Great. That’s a great gospel mini sharing opportunity, isn’t it? Or I’m sick. I got to go to nurse or doctor. Share the gospel. Right? Take all those opportunities to share the gospel. Well, the ninth and final command of Timothy before Paul was executed. And he said to fulfill your ministry. This means to complete it with eagerness, urgency, and wholeheartedness.
So what does a pastor’s fulfilled ministry look like? Well, if you follow the nine commandments we just studied, you will fulfill your ministry. And that’s for pastors and also for believers. Our first point was proclaim God’s truth. Secondly, prepare for adversity. And lastly, be persistent in your behavior. And hopefully we can say like the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 4:7, look what he said. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. That great. That’s what we want to say. Amen.
All right, let’s pray. Our heavenly father, we we thank you for allowing us to look into your word this morning. And it is our desire to glorify you and your son and the Holy Spirit. Father, we pray, Father, that we will hear the words that were spoken this morning or even in our text, we apply it to our lives, Father. But thank you for the word of God which is able to mature us and to transform us from one level of glory to another to make us more like Christ. continue to make us more like Christ, Father, whether it’s through suffering, trials, tribulations, we desire that. We pray that we will be faithful to fulfill the ministry that you have given to us. And again, Father, we wanted to take a moment to honor two of your faithful servants today, Pastor Joe and his wife Jane. Thank you for their faithfulness for all these years.
Bless them, their family, and Calvary Community Church. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
