Marching Orders for the Man of God

find ourselves once again in
chapter four. The passage is there in the bulletin,
if you so desire, with places for notes. As I said, we return if you haven’t
been with us, we return to this passage and in a sense, as I
announced a couple of weeks ago, we’ve purpose to preach it upside
down. I did it for a reason. I didn’t
just stumble into 2nd Timothy 4 verse 3. I purpose to drive
home the point or the context of the situation that Paul and
Timothy were facing with the demise, as it were, of the church. I purpose to point out to you
the situation that Timothy was in which occasioned Paul’s exhortation
to him there in verses one and two. We looked over the last couple
of weeks at what I entitled marks of a spiritually decadent society,
and we saw that there were four distinct phases that the church
found itself or that Paul saw the church degenerating into. I likened it to what I called
the swirl, that vortex at the drain that creates this ever
downward spiral. First of all, we saw, as we looked
at the passage there in verse three, that there would come
a time when people would be intolerant of doctrine. And the most disturbing
thing of the whole passage is I believe that what Paul was
pointing Timothy to was his own congregation. That there would
be people that in time would be doctrinally intolerant. They
wouldn’t want to hear about the deep things of God. They wouldn’t
want to hear about challenging things. They wouldn’t want to
have to put in the labors to study. The church was caught
in the swirl. And we noticed that it was a
downward swirl and the next step is further down in that vortex. Not only would they be doctrinally
intolerant, they would be impudent towards teachers. They would
simply pick and choose, they would if they didn’t get what
they wanted here, they would go somewhere else and onward
and onward it would go. If people didn’t tell them what
they wanted to hear, they’d go elsewhere, wanting to have their
ears tickled that what an appropriate illustration that Paul uses for
those that are doctrinally intolerant and impudent towards their teachers.
Not only that, but thirdly, we noted that they were insolent
ultimately to the truth. And that word insolence has it
has that childish ring to it that they don’t get their way,
and when they don’t get their way, they go elsewhere. They
don’t want the truth. They are insolent toward it.
They are impudent little children with regards to truth. And once
having turned their ears away from the truth, they find their
self at the bottom of that vortex when they begin to embrace the
fanciful. They are intimate with foolish
things, with myths and stories and all kinds of ridiculous things,
Paul told Timothy. And as we look, We saw that even
the day and age in which we live is not unlike what Timothy was
facing. Timothy was facing a world that
was a new day, new world. The apostles were fading from
the scene. Christ had long since been resurrected. And now Timothy
faced, as it were, a new day, a new generation of leadership
in the church. New doctrine. And he was pressed
for new methods, a new way of advancing the church. And in
that sense, not unlike the history in which we find ourselves, a
day and age in the church that is given to change, that is yearning
for change, that sees anything that is old and has any kind
of a history to it is archaic, is outmoded. The most grievous area where
that is true in our own day and age is with regards to preaching
and more specifically, the Word of God. What is the modern church’s
view of the Word of God? The modern church doesn’t see
the gospel as the means to people’s salvation. They see the church.
They see their methods. They see their beautiful multimedia
presentations as the means. And as I said, the perspectives
on preaching is what really begins to grieve my heart. And I’ll
tell you, I searched the week this past week, looking at different
quotes and anecdotes and advertisements from various churches and situations,
and I realized that I was running the risk of filling this message
filling our sermon today with illustrations from people that
are essentially telling us how it shouldn’t be done in what
they advocate and what they proclaim. Essentially, why would I spend
my entire day, my entire time here this morning telling you
what I don’t want you to know? And so I’m going to spend the
bulk of our time today talking about the word and really just
a few little words. And I want to talk about really
what God says is the method. What is the method for 21st century
ministry? Is preaching outmoded? Is the
worship service as we know it passe? Nevertheless, I wanted
to set the tone. I wanted to remind you, or if
you weren’t here, bring you back in as to what is going on in
the church. What do men in ministry today think of preaching? Think
of the word. As we began to look last week. And as I’ve already said this
morning, there is this mentality that anything that is traditional
is necessarily bad or passe or outmoded. Listen to what some
very prominent pastors have said about preaching and the word.
Of one one person said of his service, there is no fire and
brimstone here, no Bible thumping, just practical witty messages. That’s what we want, isn’t it?
Wit. Another said services at the
church have an informal feeling, you won’t hear people threatened
with hell or referred to as sinners, the goal here is to make them
feel welcome, not drive them away. That’s the case. And they would
have been very critical of Christ’s method. Who warned you to flee,
you brood of vipers, is what Christ began his ministry with. Another proclaimed of his church
that the sermons are relevant, and we talked about that last
week, what relevant means is anything that isn’t doctrinal,
anything that isn’t heavy, anything that isn’t exegetically derived,
nothing deep. Just keep it on the surface,
make it relevant. The sermons here are relevant,
upbeat and best of all, short. I better not hear any amens. You won’t hear a lot of preaching
about sin and damnation and hell and fire. Preaching here doesn’t
sound like preaching. That’s because it isn’t. that
is sophisticated, urbane and friendly talk. It breaks all
the stereotypes. And see, that’s where it begins.
It begins with a stereotype of what Christian ministry is and
moves downward from there. Another, still another, said
the pastor is preaching a very upbeat message. It’s always a
salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved
from the fires of hell, rather that it is being saved from the
meaningless and aimlessness of this life. It’s more of soft
hell. as if there is such a thing. Unless I go away from my purpose
this morning of not giving them more time than is warranted,
I want to go to look at what Paul’s advice is in the face
of this kind of decadent society. In the case of much of the church
caught in this spiritual downward spiral, What is Paul’s advice
to young Timothy? Remind yourselves that these
are Paul’s last words to Timothy. This is the last epistle that
Paul wrote. Some of the last words he ever
penned. The most important message, you
might say, that Paul ever had to impart to this young pastor
and to all who followed in his footsteps. What strategy does
he impart? to a young pastor facing a new
generation of ministry. What is the first element of
the shepherd’s ministry? If you would. Read along with
me, beginning in verse one of chapter four. Where 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
with their own desires and will turn away their ears from the
truth And we’ll turn aside to myths. What a sad and desperate
day that Timothy already found himself in. Paul, in a sense,
speaks of these things, forecasting what Timothy was going to face,
but in a very real sense, he was already in it. He was already
facing some of these challenges and pressures. When Paul opened
chapter three, and if you’re there in your Bibles, just flip
back to chapter three. When Paul opened chapter three,
he speaks to this thing, speaks this scenario to Timothy as if
it’s something far distant, way down the road that he’s going
to be facing. But it wasn’t that far. Wasn’t
that far away. When Paul said, realize this,
that in the last days, difficult times will come. And for centuries,
people have said, you know, because they looked out on the landscape
and they saw these things, that they were in the last days. In
a very real sense, it’s been the last days since the time
Christ departed. And it’s only going to get worse.
Watch what happens. And 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, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious
gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous,
reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God. Listen to this one. Holding to a form of godliness. These are, as it were, church
going people, but their lives are not transformed. And in any
century of the church that we’ve ever experienced, we have seen
this. It has been the last days kind
of ministry. There has been this degeneration
in the church. There is need of constant reform. We all want to look back to the
16th century and look at the reformation of the church and
say that that was the day when the church was saved, when in
reality it is a constant need for the church to reform. Paul
transitions from that dark and foreboding forecast. to Timothy
to the classic, but you admonitions in chapter three, verse 10 and
verse 14. Look at these. He said that there
are going to be those that rise up and deny the very truth itself. That shouldn’t surprise you,
Timothy, but verse 10, but you. Paul is concerned about their
about what’s going on about Timothy and with others, but he’s most
concerned with Timothy. Because if Timothy caches it
in, the church in Ephesus is lost. But you followed my teaching. Conduct, purpose, faith, patience,
love, perseverance, persecutions and sufferings. He says you’ve
been there. And he says it with a desire
to shake Timothy out of his complacency and shake him out of this doldrum
that he was in spiritually. And to put him back into the
ministry that God had called him to. Paul goes on to say,
you know what? There’s no denying that evil
men will proceed from bad to worse. The world is not going
to get better, Timothy. The world is only going to get
worse. Verse 14, you, however, Paul
acknowledges Paul doesn’t want it to be that way, but he acknowledges
that evil men are going to proceed from bad to worse. He doesn’t
wish it so, but it is the case. It’s the fact. But his focus
is on Timothy. You, however, continue in the
things that you’ve learned. Don’t give up, Timothy. Don’t
cash it in. Continue in the things you’ve
learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you’ve
learned them and that from a childhood you’ve known the sacred writings
which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation
through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. There was only one way.
for Paul. There’s only one way that Timothy
had known. And for Timothy to be blown off
course by the evil winds of change was unthinkable to Paul. And with that, Paul points Timothy
to the only source of hope. The only source of hope for his
own life in ministry and the ministry, the salvation of others.
What was it? Verse 16, all Scripture is inspired
by God. Paul takes Timothy back to Sunday
school and he says, Timothy, listen and remember what your
mother and your grandmother taught you when you were a baby on your
mother’s knee. What did they use? They used
Scripture and all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable. And people, let me tell you,
this verse goes both ways. Paul wanted Timothy to remember
that it reached down into the depths of his heart and changed
him. And remembering that, he wanted
Timothy to know that it’s changed you and it will change others.
Don’t abandon the word. It’s profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness,
that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good word.
Don’t leave off the word, Timothy. Don’t give up on preaching the
word. Don’t give up on declaring the
whole counsel of God. Here’s the landscape, if you
will, where we find ourselves as we transition into chapter
four. Chapter three stresses to Timothy or Paul stresses to
Timothy that he’s going to be confronted with this developing
opposition to the truth. No surprise, every generation
has faced the same thing. Chapter four brings into prominence
Timothy’s duty in response to that. That he is to proclaim
God’s Word. Look, if you will, now at chapter
four, verse one. Where Paul says to this young
pastor, who we’ve verified through looking at his own writings to
Timothy, he was struggling. We don’t know what was making
him timid. We don’t know what was with all the things that
were going into those things. But we do know that he was struggling.
Otherwise, Paul wouldn’t have issued his last epistle to this
one pastor for the sole purpose of encouraging him up in the
faith. Wouldn’t have done it. And Paul pulls out all the stops
here. Watch what happens. I solemnly
charge you. Those words, we don’t use much
anymore. Paul used them in a number of
occasions. And in a sense, not only Timothy is charged here,
but any pastor, any shepherd, any elder, anyone who would do
the work of the ministry, they are in focus here in this passage.
But ultimately, it was Timothy before Paul. That word charge,
it’s one of Paul’s regular phrases. It literally means to solemnly
protest. It is a holy summons, is what
it is. It is a call before the God of
the universe. It is a call before a holy God
who placed Timothy into the ministry in the first place. Paul, as
it were, hauls him into the office and says, sit down and listen
before God. When he says solemn, I solemnly
charge you, it points to the seriousness of the situation.
And it’s what a contrast this is to so much of what ministry
is now or what ministry is claimed to be this frivolous kind of
lighthearted, what one guy described as a holy hangout. What is a
holy hangout? I mean, you can hardly hear those
words even being in a conversation with Paul and Timothy. I solemnly
charge you. It talks about appointment. It
talks about discipline. It talks about the administration
of the pastoral office always being conducted with the full
awareness that God is watching your every move. Paul reminds Timothy that God,
the Father, Christ Jesus and the chosen angels are watching
him. They’re the ones to fear, not
the reactions of his congregation, not the reactions of the society. The Apostle, the Apostle Paul
and his divine wisdom was charging Timothy and all the teachers
that would follow in his path to be faithful and zealous in
their work. And that they’ve got to keep
that at the very forefront of their mind all the time. People from time to time. Howard
Hendricks used to call this greeting at the door when everybody comes
by. Oh, that’s the best sermon I’ve ever heard. All pastured. Howard Hendricks called that
the glorification of the worm. You know, it’s an interesting
thing. I get caught up in it from time
to time, you know, preparing, oh, how they’ll like this illustration.
Ultimately, though, God is the one that I need to please. God
is the one that a preacher needs to please. God is the one that
really sifts through our sermons. God is the one that ultimately
is going to judge our sermons and our work. One pastor said of this passage,
it is difficult to imagine a more solemn appeal. Every syllable
of it tells its own tale. God, the judge of all who without
respective persons judges every man’s work. Christ Jesus, his
holy servant, now reigning as the glorified mediator. The elect
angels are now around his throne as ministering spirits sent forth
to protect his servants. These are the heavenly spectators. He brings Timothy face to face
with the deity. With the redeeming God, with
the Savior who died for him and commissioned him into office.
And he charges him. He reminds him of his high and
holy calling, and look at the four elements of this charge,
God, Christ, his second Christ, second coming and his kingdom.
Those are all brought into view. And Paul, as it were, says, look,
Timothy, look at what’s at stake. Look what’s at stake. Timothy to take his ministry
lightly was to face the beginning of the end. It is a downward
spiral from there. Paul said, look, one day we all stand before the
judgment seat of God, but how much more the shepherds of God’s
people? Paul, I believe, there had Timothy’s
attention. I mean, if that didn’t work,
nothing would. Nothing would have secured Timothy’s attention
like being brought before God Himself and Christ and all the
holy angels. And Paul says, let me tell you
first and foremost what your priorities, what your marching
orders are. We’re not going to make it very far today. We’ll
look at one of these priorities. First of all, proclaim the truth.
Proclaim the truth. Paul said it so simply. Preach
the Word. I mean, how is it that we could
mess that up? One church that I preached in,
it was quite ironic. On the front of the pulpit, it
had these verses, the verse carved, Preach the Word. Three little
words. And then the pastor got up and
he proceeded to do exactly the opposite. He didn’t read the
text. He didn’t expound the text. He
didn’t preach the word. He gave us plenty of stories
and he gave us plenty of fluff, but he didn’t preach the word.
And even when it came time, when it was right there and there
for the taking. He fell short, which led me to
believe that instead of having preached the word carved in the
front of the pulpit, it ought to be carved right here in front
of us. The reminder is not to the congregation,
although the congregation, as it were, can hold our feet to
the fire. The reminder is to us, to any
who stand here and seek to speak on God’s behalf. The mandate
is simple. Preach the word. And it’s not surprising that
Paul goes here, it’s not surprising this is this is ministry. This
was the means of ministry. And Paul had just reminded Timothy
of the veracity, the glory of God’s Word, the truthfulness
of it, the inspiration of it. What other means of ministry
would there be if we leave out God’s Word? Are we creative enough? Are we genius enough to come
up with some other method of reaching people and saving souls? It is the word of truth. It is
the gospel of salvation. It’s the word of righteousness
and peace and reconciliation by Jesus Christ our Savior. That’s
what Paul said is to be the focus of a man’s ministry. That and
nothing more. The word preach means to herald,
to declare, to proclaim. And sadly, we’ve gotten into
this day and age where we suggest We pontificate our own little
opinions. We orate. We entertain. One pastor from another era said it this way,
public and continual preaching of God’s Word is the ordinary
means and instrument of salvation for all mankind. By preaching
of God’s Word, the glory of God is enlarged. Faith is nourished. Charity is increased. By it,
the ignorant is instructed, the neglected exhorted and incited,
the stubborn rebuked, the weak conscience comforted, and to
all those that sin the sin of malicious wickedness, the wrath
of God is threatened.” That’s the means that God has given.
We are not We’re not the creators of the message. We are merely
the heralds. And that word herald is a lost
one. It means to it’s almost as if
you were announcing the prince or the king. You don’t come up
with a message, you just declare what’s written there and it goes
on to describe that it’s open public and with a loud voice
is this heralding of the gospel. It is a speaking out of the whole
message of God, keeping back no part of it, and that with
all courage and boldness.” That’s what preaching is. That’s what
heralding is. That’s what a public proclamation
of God’s Word is. We don’t apologize for what God
says in His Word. We don’t mince words. We don’t
try to water it down. We don’t hold anything back. Martin Lloyd-Jones, faithful
man of God, said it this way regarding this concept of heralding. Any true definition of preaching
must say that a man is there to deliver the message of God. I mean, how humbling is that? It’s a message from God to these
people. The man has been sent. He is
a commissioned person and he is standing there as the mouthpiece
of God and of Christ to address these people. He is not there
merely to talk to them. He’s not there to entertain them.
He is there to do something to these people. To produce some
kind of various results. Preaching should make such a
difference to a man who is listening that he is never the same again.
This is a man who had a high view of preaching. This is a
man who caught Paul’s vision to Timothy that there is no higher
means of ministry in the church. There is no greater means of
effort. Talking to young men, Martin
Lloyd-Jones said elsewhere, what are you doing? When you stand
up here and you impart a message to God’s people, what are you
doing? You’re not simply imparting information. You see, that’s
what so much of the modern church would have us believe that it’s
just this how to informational sermons, you know, nine ways
to do this, how to be happy, how to be a happy spouse, how
to be happy if your spouse is unhappy, how to how to manage
God’s money, all these kinds of things. That’s not what you’re
doing. You’re not simply imparting information. You’re dealing with
souls. What happened to that mindset?
You’re dealing with pilgrims on the way to eternity. You’re
dealing with matters not only of life and death in this world,
but with eternal destiny. Nothing can be so terribly urgent. You get a man, you know that
Martin Lloyd Jones had a grasp of this passage as he uttered
those words, I solemnly charge you, Timothy, preach the word. This heralding, this preaching
is the preaching of the divinely authorized proclamation of the
message of God to men. That’s our material. This heralding
is, as it were, it’s an exercise of ambassadorship. The herald doesn’t bring his
own message. He brings God’s. Disheralding, as one said, it’s
a lively, not dry, timely, not stale. How can anything that
comes from God word be judged as irrelevant? Preaching of God’s word, Charles
Bridges. One of my heroes in the faith,
there is no better commentary on the book of Proverbs than
Charles Bridges. In his book, Christian Ministry,
which no No man ought to even be involved in the ministry without
a thorough digestion of Charles Bridges. Charles Bridges said
this, because therefore the want of the knowledge of God, the
lack of the knowledge of God is the cause of all iniquity
among men. And the cause of all of our unhappiness
and the seed of whatsoever perfect virtue grows from us is a right
opinion touching things divine.” Did you hear what he said in
his old English way? That if we don’t have God’s counsel
on the matter, we’re doomed. said, this kind of knowledge
we must we may justly set down for the first and cheapest thing
which God imparts to his people and our duty of receiving this
is his merciful hands. Therefore, the first of those
religious offices were with we honor him on earth for the instruction,
therefore, of all sorts of men into eternal life is necessary
that the sacred and saving truth of God may be openly published
to them. which open publication of heavenly
mysteries is by an excellency termed preaching.” Charles Bridges
looked out at his own spiritual landscape. He looked out at what
was going on in the church in his day with all these other
means and all these other ideas coming to the fore. And Charles
Bridges looked out and he said, look at all these people. Look
at them wallowing and struggling in their sin. And the only thing,
the only hope that they have for their soul, the only hope
that they have for righting the ship is a clear preaching of
God’s Word. That’s it. Preaching has become unpopular
for much of the modern church, judged as old fashioned, outmoded,
but it wasn’t for Paul. Neither is neither is it for
21st century ministry, what was to be the content of
Timothy’s preaching? You see, some, they get the preaching
part right. Oratory is a fixed element in
nearly every pulpit in America. But Paul wasn’t merely urging
Timothy to oratory. He wasn’t merely telling Timothy
to stand up there and talk for 45 minutes to an hour. Timothy had a very gracious congregation. He wasn’t telling Timothy just
to get up there and yak. Preach what? Preach the word. Open the Scriptures, open the
Bible and get into the passage and explain the passage. This
is what made our predecessor, our hero, Jonathan Edwards, so
successful is he got in and preached the Bible, the whole Bible. All
the parts. Anytime you ever read Jonathan
Edwards exposition of anything, he read the text, he explained
the text and he applied the text. That’s what Jonathan Edwards
did, and that’s what made him the greatest pastor that America,
at least, has ever produced. You see, Paul had already instructed
Timothy on what he was not to talk about. Paul told him in
his first epistle, I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia,
remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men
not to teach strange doctrines. Nor pay attention to myths and
endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather
than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith.” Paul
had told Timothy what not to talk about. And the exhortation here clearly
harkens back to chapter 3, verse 16, as we’ve seen. All Scripture
inspired by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for training,
for correction, for training in righteousness. What he points
Timothy back to is essentially what we call now expository preaching
of the word. Open a Bible, get into the passage
and tell the people what God is saying. What a simple equation. And Paul did this with great
faithfulness. Remember there to the Ephesian
church, he said, I declare to you the whole counsel of God.
I didn’t shrink. I didn’t shrink back. I didn’t
cower. for man’s opinion. In fact, consider the contrast
of the modern advice to preachers compared with Paul’s. Modern
advice would tell you, be careful what you preach so as not to
offend anyone. That’s I mean, where else would you get an illustration
like I opened with where people are so afraid to talk about hell
and judgment? Be careful what you preach so
as to not offend anyone. But Paul said, I didn’t shrink
from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Modern advice would say if you
must preach, make it entertaining. Spice it up. Use multimedia,
you know, use all these every means available to us. Paul said when he preached, he
preached not in cleverness of speech. He preached the word. The Word didn’t need any man-made
embellishment. Some of the modern advice would
even tell us that preaching is optional. That maybe we can get
by without it. There’s plenty of other ways
to communicate God’s message. Paul said, woe if I do not preach
the gospel. We are to preach the Word, not
opinions. Not notions and fancies, not
stories. That doesn’t mean illustrations
in and of themselves are not bad. But when a sermon is one
running illustration after another, that’s hardly can be judged as
preaching the word. Not supposed to preach our worldly
wisdom, not our own agenda, not our philosophy, not pleasant
and humorous anecdotes, not life experiences. So many sermons we’ve heard Or
those were a man reads the passage and jumps off and even ends up
contradicting the very passage that he’s read. One pastor used or professor
used to say, studying a passage ruins more sermons. What he meant
by that is most men come to the passage with their sermon already
in their head. All they want to do is find a
few words to hang it on. And studying those passage will
ruin those man made sermons. Timothy’s main work was to preach
the word of truth, to preach the gospel. And with the whole
counsel of God, he was to set forth what God’s mind was from
the scriptures. He was to be on the alert in
reinforcing these opportunities of those gospel opportunities
that he had. I mentioned Jonathan Edwards
a moment ago. Here’s what made Jonathan Edwards
so genius. Jonathan Edwards had the simplicity,
if you will, to hear what God said and to take God at his word.
Oh, you mean the word? Here’s what Jonathan Edwards
thought of God’s word. You all have by you a large treasure
of divine knowledge. When was the last time you thought
of your Bibles sitting over there on the shelf, gathering dust
in that kind of terminology? A large treasure of divine knowledge. In that you have the Bible in
your hands, therefore, be not contented in possessing, but
a little of this treasure. God has spoken much to you in
the Scripture. Labor to understand as much of
what He says as you can. God has made you all reasonable
creatures. Therefore, let not the noble
faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected. He’s talking to
His people. And He says, do you realize what
you have in your lap? Content not yourselves with having
so much knowledge as is thrown your way. And you receive in
some sense unavoidably by the frequent inculcation of divine
truth in the preaching of the word. He said coming here isn’t
enough. But let it be very much your
business to search and and that with the same diligence and labor
with which men are want to dig in mines of silver and gold.
You see, Jonathan Edwards knew that what was in here was worth
far more than silver or gold. And that’s how he conducted his
ministry. That’s what drove his ministry.
Those were the words to his basic flock. See, the problem with so much
of the thinking today. is that successful ministry is
determined by numerical, not by pardon me, successful ministry
is not determined by numerical success, but by content. Faithfulness
to God’s methods and God’s word is what determines success or
the lack thereof. I remember early on in the ministry,
One seasoned pastor said, you take care of the depth of your
ministry and leave the breadth to God. And that would be great
counsel for any young man. There are always going to be
those. Who can? Pull together a good message
once in a while. Who can be amusing in the pulpits?
who can sound dynamic and tell interesting stories and draw
a crowd. But if you leave out the Word
of God, it can’t be the true preaching that God commands in
His Word. Why else would Paul insist on
staying within the bounds of Scripture? I’ll tell you why.
Only the Word of God, only Scripture, only the Bible promotes sound
doctrine. healthy teaching. Only the Word of God performs
its work in you who believe. 1 Thessalonians 2.13 Only the
Scriptures are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation.
2 Timothy 3.15 Only the Word is inspired by God. 2 Timothy
3.15 Profitable for teaching, reproved for correction. Only
the Word is going to make you adequate, equipped for every
good work. Only the Word of God is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword. Only the Word abides forever,
Isaiah 40, 6-8. Only the Word is truth, John
17. Only the Word presents Christ
accurately as all that He is and presents mankind and humanity
accurately as all that we are in desperate need of a Savior. Only the Word does that. I’ll tell you about a man with
another high view of Scripture, a man named Thomas Cranmer. It’s men like these that should
be our heroes of the faith. It’s men like these whose feet
we should sit at for the counsel on how to do ministry. Thomas Cranmer faced some of
the most heated fires, quite literally, of persecution. Thomas
Cranmer eventually was forced into seclusion because of bloody
Queen Mary. Ultimately, his house was burned,
his family was imprisoned. He brought on the rage of this
evil queen because of his desire to preach the word. He was ultimately
sent back to prison, imprisoned in England, degraded to the point
where he was dressed literally in filthy, disgusting rags, ultimately
and eventually to be brought to the fires of persecution.
He had already seen two of his dear friends, Hugh Latimer and
Nicholas Ridley, burned at the stake. And when he was brought
there, He stood solidly for what he believed, he said, as for
the pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy. And as soon as as one
records upon the conclusion of this unexpected declaration,
amazement and indignation were conspicuous in every part of
the church. There were those that came to
him and tried to get him to to downgrade his comments or to
recant, but he was steadfast and immovable to what he had
just professed. A chain was wrapped about him and fastened him to
the stake. And once it had fully encircled him, a fire was put
to the fuel and the flames began to ascend. The only loose part
of his body was his hand and he reached forth his hand into
the flame to hasten his departure. And as his body began to burn. One historian notes that his
body did abide the burning with such steadfastness that he seemed
to have no more than the stake to which he was bound. In other
words, he was a fixed pole, much like the stake. His eyes were
lifted up to heaven and he repeated, oh, this unworthy right hand,
That’s Thomas Cranmer. This is Thomas Cranmer’s advice for ministry. In the scriptures,
one finds the fat pastures of the soul. Therein is no venomous
meat. Therein is no unwholesome thing.
They are the very pure and dainty feeding He that is ignorant shall
find there what he shall learn. Herein may princes learn how
to govern their subjects, subjects, their obedience to their princes,
husbands, how they should behave to their wives, how to educate
their children, wives, their children, their servants to their
duty, their various duties. Here may all manner of persons,
men, women, young, old, learned, unlearned, rich and poor, whatever state or condition they
be, may in this book learn all the things that they do.” Thomas
Cranmer had a high view of the Word of God. What has happened
in our day and age when we are told to concentrate on felt needs,
not the true and genuine needs of mankind? Martin Lloyd-Jones,
in closing, said, the moment you consider man’s real need
and the nature of salvation announced and proclaimed in the Scriptures,
you are driven to the conclusion that the primary task of the
church is to preach and proclaim this to show man’s real need
and to show the only remedy, the only cure for it. No wonder Paul said in closing,
Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. And
even to the last dying breath, there are men in our history
who did just that. How can we be such cowards in
our own day and set aside God’s means for reaching souls? Let’s
examine our hearts. Gracious God, We have been critical. Critical
of those who have set aside God given methods. The Lord, it’s
our own hearts that we want to consider now. How do we treat
the preaching of the word? Is it really the highlight of
our week? Do we really yearn to be fed
here? Do we really long for that kind
of Divine instruction. As our forefathers called it. Lord God, examine our hearts.
And lest we be caught unawares by looking all around us and
criticizing everyone else. Let us examine our own hearts.
With regards to your God given the God given means of ministry
in the preaching of your word. Use us father for your glory.
Humble us that we may be usable. We thank You and we praise You.
It’s in Christ’s name that we pray, Amen.