We have had FIVE major revolutions in this country, that have brought about these drastic changes.
(1) THE COMMERCE REVOLUTION
When the commerce revolution came into existence, it replaced the agricultural age in this country. During the agricultural age, most people in this country farmed for a living. Year after year, they farmed and produced crops for their families, and for the market.
But when the COMMERCE REVOLUTION broke loose in this country, society began to change. Suddenly:
• New beverages came into existence, such as cocoa, tea, and coffee
• Stock companies began to open
• Banks began to multiply
The Commerce Revolution brought many changes to us. But that was only the start of things, next we had -
(2) THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
When the industrial revolution came into existence, the world really began to change.
Illus: Farmers that used to take days to plow a field, with the invention of tractors, could plow those same fields in a matter of hours. Factories began to produce more than they were ever able to produce in the past.
Then came-
(3) THE TRANSPORTATION AGE
When the transportation age came, men began to build cars, trains, and airplanes. People who had never been more than ten miles from their homes, began to travel hundreds and thousands of miles. People who had never been out of the county in which they lived, were beginning to travel all over the world.
Then next came-
(4) THE INFORMATION AGE
During this age, hand held calculators and crystal-controlled watches appeared everywhere.
Then next came-
(5) THE COMMUNICATION AGE
This is the age of computers.
Illus: If you had told someone a couple centuries ago that one day:
• We would be able to sit in our homes, and talk with someone on the other side of the word on a telephone, they would not have believed us.
• We would be able to sit in our homes with a television set before us, and we could watch a ball game thousands of miles from where we were sitting, they would not have believed us.
• We would be able to sit in our office, and dial a number into a fax machine, and send documents thousands of miles in a matter of seconds, they would have had a hard time believing it.
• We could type e-mail on our computer on the internet, and at the touch of a button, send a letter to someone who lives on the other side of the earth, in a matter of seconds. If we told our ancestors this was going to occur one day they would have had a hard time believing it.
We live in a changing world, and it is almost hard for us to believe the many changes that are occurring daily. The trouble is, many of these changes are not for the better.
Illus: It would be a shock to bring a man like Abraham Lincoln back, and show him around in this new age we live. It would be even more of a shock to bring back some of our spiritual forefathers, and show them what some churches have become.
They would be shocked in WHAT THEY HEARD, and WHAT THEY SAW!
• For example, it used to be that people dressed up to go to church, but now they dress-down.
• It use to be, the Bible was treated with respect, and it looked different from any book in our library. You could look at the cover and tell it was the Word of God. Today, many of these versions have made it look like any other book, filling it with pictures of young people playing soccer, and with cartoon figures.
• It used to be an act of disrespect to come into the house of worship with a piece of chewing gum in your mouth. Now they come into the worship service with soft drinks and snack foods.
The apostle Paul could see this dreadful time coming. Paul gives Timothy some timely advice about standing fast.
I. A CHARGE TO GOD’S MEN
In 2 Tim. 4:1-2, we read, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
These verses of scripture need to be examined very closely. There are THREE things we need to consider:
A. THE COMMAND
Look at verse 1a, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,...” This is an order, not an option! Paul said, “I charge thee…”
Paul is saying, I do not care if you are living in a changing world, DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO IT! WHY SHOULD WE NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD?
Because many of the people in the world are WRONG (sinful) in the way they live. And if we become like them, we will be WRONG, (sinful) and there will be no Christian witness before them.
One day, we are going to give account to God for how we lived our lives. Look at-
B. THE CONFRONTATION
Look at verse 1b, “...WHO SHALL JUDGE the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;”
Rom. 14:12, says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
Each of us will have to give account to the Lord one day for our life, but every preacher is going to be confronted by the Lord Jesus, and have to give account of what they preached. It is going to be a wonderful day for the preachers who have faithfully preached the Word of God. But it is going to be the worst day that some preachers have ever had, because they have not preached His Word.
WHAT ARE WE TO DO?
We looked at THE COMMAND, and THE CONFRONTATION, but look at-
C. THE CHARGE
In this charge, Paul tells Timothy two things:
(1) WHAT HE IS TO PREACH
Look at verse 2a, we read, “Preach the word;” Paul charged Timothy to PREACH THE WORD.
He did not say PREACH THE WORD:
• If it will make everyone happy
• If other preachers are doing it
• If it does not offend anyone
He simply said, “Timothy, I charge you TO PREACH THE WORD”.
PROCLAIM THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF THE WORD OF THE LORD! He said, (V. 2b) “be instant in season, out of season;...” Preach the Word.
(2) HOW HE IS TO PREACH
It is simply amazing today, to see the people who do not know very much about what this Bible teaches, but they know all about preaching. If a preacher will listen to some of these grandstand preachers, they will straighten them out.
Illus: One Bible preacher was having some difficulty in his church. A very affluent man was causing most of the problems. He said, “Pastor, let’s you and I go out for supper one night next week.” Thinking this might help the strained relationship, the pastor agreed to go. He came by the pastor’s house and picked him up, and they went to a nice restaurant, and had a nice meal together. They talked casually about some of the problems at the church, and as soon as they got in the car to come home, this man turned to the pastor, and said, “But you won’t listen to me!”
This is the attitude of a lot of people. If the preacher would listen to them, they could tell him how to preach.
The Word of God tells preachers HOW TO PREACH. Look what Paul said, under the inspiration of God. Paul gives Timothy a grocery list of things he was to do in the sermons he preached.
Look at this list.
(1) PAUL SAID REPROVE
This simply means that when evil prevails, do not ignore it. Somebody needs to stand before us and show DISAPPROVAL.
It is not enough to say we are against sin. We need to:
• Identify it
• Show disapproval
A preacher will never get into trouble saying, WE ARE AGAINST SIN! But when he starts to identifying WHAT SIN IS, and starts taking a stand against it, those who love that sin will rise up against him.
For example when you say that:
• Homosexuality is a sin
• Abortion is a sin
• Woman’s lib movement is an unscriptural movement
• Lying is a sin
• Drinking is a sin
There are going to be people who love these things and begin to retaliate.
This is the age when you can say I am against sin, but whatever you do, don’t identify something as sin. People want to live in sin, and then be told that:
• Homosexuality is not a sin, it is an alternate life-style
• Drinking is not a sin, it is a disease
• Gambling and playing the poker machines are not sins, these are now just GAME MACHINES
This is the age when you can say you are against sin, but do not IDENTIFY IT, and SHOW STRONG DISAPPROVAL OF IT.
Many preachers across this nation have fallen into this trap. They do not PREACH AGAINST SIN and IDENTIFY WHAT SIN IS, because they do not want to get into trouble with those who are involved in these sins.
There is so little of preaching against sin today, people do not know what sin is! We can hear the ungodly say, “I do not believe the preacher ought to name sin.” Well I beg your pardon. If you knew anything about this Bible, you would know that God’s Word commands him to face the ungodly, and “REPROVE THEM!”
THIS MAY NOT MAKE YOU POPULAR with most folks, but those who come to Christ will love you for it.
Paul goes further, and says not only is the man of God to not ignore sin, and not overlook sin, he is to REPROVE SIN. Then we see another thing the preacher is to do-
(2) PAUL SAID REBUKE
It is not enough just to point at something, and say that is a sin. He said, when you preach, REBUKE.
Illus: If someone comes to you, wanting to gossip about someone who is not there to defend themselves, you ought to be enough of a man or woman of God, to say to them, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You are making accusations against a person who is not here to defend themselves.” Then, even go further in the rebuke by saying, “Would you talk about a dead person who was not here to defend himself? Then why would you say these things behind someone’s back, when they are not here to defend themselves?”
Listen, if we had Christians like that today, we would not have all this gossip that we have in the church. And if we had ministers who would stand up and REPROVE sin, we would not have all the sin we have in the church today.
Paul was telling Timothy, do not just identify sin, the next thing you need to do is strongly stand before the congregation and REBUKE those who are sinning.
There was a time in this country when we had such preachers, but today we are cursed with preachers who are willing to turn their head, and never REBUKE or REPROVE sin. GOD HELP US! This new kind of preaching is a change that has taken place, but it is not for the better!
Paul told Timothy to REPROVE, and REBUKE, and-
(3) PAUL SAID EXHORT
It is not enough to REPROVE and REBUKE a man that is involved in sin, we must be willing to offer him some assistance.
Illus: Listen, do not just yell, “Fire”, show me a fire escape. Show me a way out!
Illus: If I am stuck in the mud somewhere, I do not need you to come along and tell me what I already know…I AM STUCK IN THE MUD! Help me to get out of the mud!
We hate the SIN, but we love the SINNER!
The words of instruction continue-
(4) PAUL SAID BE LONG-SUFFERING
Paul told Timothy to preach the Word with long-suffering. People may not respond immediately, but keep preaching, and one day they may come to their senses.
Listen, there are some preachers that think the ministry is like playing the game of baseball, THREE STRIKES AND YOU ARE OUT OF HERE! Aren’t you glad God is long-suffering toward us? There would not be a child of God here today, if God was not long-suffering.
Illus: I don’t mind telling you that sometimes, we all have been upset with God, because we knew people who had done some very evil things, and we got on our knees, and said, “God, send fire down from heaven and make them look like burnt toast”, and nothing happened. But as we seek the Lord as to why nothing has happened, God reminds us, that if He had not been long-suffering with us, we would not be a child of God today.
A church that is short on patience, is a church that God cannot use, because God told Timothy he was to:
• Reprove
• Rebuke
• Exhort
• But he was to be LONG-SUFFERING with the flock of God
But notice another instruction-
(5) PAUL SAID HE WAS TO PREACH DOCTRINE
Sometimes we hear television preachers say, “We do not want to be divisive, so we do not preach doctrine”.
Now anytime you hear a preacher say that, you ought to turn your television set off, or change the channel to a good western, because this man doesn’t know a thing about the Word of God.
It is true that doctrine is divisive, but doctrine is the Word of God.
There is not a preacher on the face of the earth, that does not want people to love him, and appreciate him, but listen, shame on the preacher that will compromise what this Bible teaches, to be popular with men.
Paul said, “Timothy, when you preach, tell them what the Word of God says. Preach the doctrine of the Word of God to them.”
Conclusion:
I. THE CHARGE TO GOD’S MEN (1 of 2)
A. THE COMMAND
B. THE CONFRONTATION
C. THE CHARGE
II. A CHALLENGE TO GOD’S MESSAGE (2 of 2)
III. A CHANGE FROM GOD’S METHODS
Note: You can hear some of these sermons preached by Dr. Odell Belger on Youtube…go to Youtube and type the word LYKESLAND
