Since we have installation this morning, I thought it would be appropriate to consider something from the pastoral, 2 Timothy chapter 4 is what I had in mind, and you'll see how it all ties together with what we do. Next week, we'll come back to our series in Genesis. So, 2 Timothy chapter 4, the first five verses. Actually, I'll read through verse 8, 1269 in your pew Bible. Let's hear the word of the Lord. I 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, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, 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 race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, 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 have loved His appearing. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. As we are installing new elders and deacons this morning, this is an important time in the life of the church, especially as we come together at the beginning of a year to think about this and what the Lord has said regarding this. It is a great opportunity to reorient us as to the nature of ministry and exactly what we are doing here. It's so important to be reoriented to that. There is no doubt in my mind that today in our day, in these last days, these latter times as the scriptures call it, that an understanding of this, a deep and great understanding of how weighty the gospel ministry really is, that is something that has been lost today. It's something that's not valued today the way that it should be. We really are kind of naive about what is happening behind the scenes and what really we are being exposed to, the influences and the ideas that are attacking the church, as the Lord has called it, as the pillar and the ground of the truth, where the deposit of truth is found. And 2 Timothy chapter 4 is really a great sounding of the alarm, blowing of the trumpet, if you will, as to what is happening and as to what is coming. And it's something we should pay close attention to, realizing that this passage is given to you this morning to help you think through this and to ward off and to prevent and to protect the sheep from the very dangerous attacks that are constantly coming upon us. Obviously, it has immense implications this morning for the elders and the deacons, who, when the apostle was writing this, had his eye on his young protege, Pastor Timothy, but he's thinking of office bearers. This is a book for office bearers. That's what these pastoral epistles are for. And we really do see it laid out for us this morning at the very end of verse 5, where he's telling Timothy to fulfill his ministry. That's your calling, Timothy. I want you to fulfill your ministry, the ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ has set you apart to. Why? Because the time is short. The time is short. And there are all sorts of things going on right now in the kingdom of darkness, things that you may not see with your own eyes, but the things that are going on behind the scenes in the demonic world that are trying to desperately undo and wreak havoc on the church of Jesus Christ, especially the one which you are ministering, Timothy. And so you need to think about this. If we don't watch, if we are not given earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints contending, if our priorities are all wrong, if we fail in the calling, if we take it lightly, we effectively open up a door for the devil to come in, like I've said before, like a dirty dog, and track mud all over a very nice living room. I have a simple goal in this sermon this morning, is that we would be reoriented to what this about, that the elders and the deacons this morning would have a weighty sense of the calling and that we all together would engage, and I'm really highlighting that word this morning, engage in the warfare for the truth and do not be ashamed. I want you to think about that. Don't be ashamed. Be steadfast in who you are. Continue in it. Because the salvation of you and your children is at stake. That's pretty serious. Beginning at 3.1 and extending through 4.8, there is a complete section here that is bracketed by, I believe, this central command that the Apostle Paul has really been driving to. This is at the end of the second letter to Timothy. And he says in verse one, I 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 complete patience and teaching. why is paul so concerned about this it's interesting in chapter one that he began by saying to timothy don't be ashamed don't be ashamed of the testimony of our lord nor of me as prisoner i don't want you to be ashamed of this but i timothy you need to share in the sufferings for the gospel. Share in it. Paul was concerned about this young pastor. He's called timid Timothy for a reason. He had a timid spirit. He was a kind of guy that would retreat. And Paul is saying, you're not considering this, Timothy. Look at my chains. I am bound up in chains for this. I am held in chains for this gospel. and I want you to join with me in suffering. Now, that's not the kind of thing I really want to say to you guys today, by the way. I really don't. I want to say, you know, would you guys all join with me in the joys of this? You know, but that's not what he's saying. I need you guys, Paul says, to join with me in the suffering. 2 Timothy 4 is Paul's concluding thoughts to his young trainee. In verse 6, he says, My departure is at hand. You notice this. He's saying, I'm done. I'm dying. I'm going to be, it's over for me. He knows it's coming. The time for me to be poured out as a drink offering, it has come. And the time of my departure, I fought the fight, I finished the race, and I have kept the faith. I want to be able to say that at the very end of my ministry when I'm fully gray. I want to be able to say that that is what's happened. I've done that. It's every pastor's goal and dream. I've kept the faith. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but all who've loved his appearing. This is Paul saying this, and when he wrote this letter, which if we receive it at about AD 68, there's some discussion, we know that two years later, there would be a bloodthirsty emperor, Nero, who was going to begin a very intense persecution of the Christians. History goes, Paul himself would be martyred. This is coming. You're a few years away. He's saying this to Timothy. Paul's burden. The only thing that mattered to Paul at the end of his life was this, that the word of God would continue to sound forth. Why is he so concerned about this? Because ministry is incredibly hard. It's difficult. No one likes to offend. No one likes to confront. No one really likes to do it. And Paul cares that Timothy would remain faithful to fulfill his office as a faithful ambassador and a steward of the stewardship in this gift he had been entrusted with. This is a gift God gives to those who serve. And Paul, from the beginning of these pastoral epistles, is describing the ministry in a way that we never think about, that we never really want to think about. From the beginning of 1 Timothy, he laid it out right at the start, and he said, Timothy, you need to wage the warfare. warfare. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. So now here we are at the very end and what is the great, great charge that he is getting at the very end from his mentor pastor who's about ready to die. I charge you. Forceful here. This is an order from the Lord. This is God's directive. Before his face, Timothy, before the face of God, I charge you. Who will judge the living and the dead? Notice how before he's getting to the charge, he's building this. we forget what's at stake. There's a judgment coming. And this truth drove what the apostle did. I can't get over in 2 Corinthians. In 1 and 2 Corinthians, Paul was emphasizing this, but he said in one place, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. What a powerful verse. Knowing that there is eternal punishment coming, we do this, we persuade, we give our lives to this. And the whole drive of what he's saying is, you are entrusted, Timothy, with the means and you are entrusted with the message to rescue people. That's what this is. So this is his grand concern for gospel ministry. I charge you, I give you this order from God, Timothy, before whose face you are, who is soon to be here to judge the living and the dead, preach that word in season, out of season. You preach it. Be ready in the good times and in the bad. When things are going really well and when things are really bad, every opportunity you have, you just preach it. You keep your head in the book and you preach it. And what is the goal with that? Well, he gives that here. He says, in it, the design of your preaching is to be, and you'll see how this all gets to elders and deacons. This is not just about the pastor today. Convince or reprove, warn them, bring them under conviction. Conviction of what? Well, sin, of course. Rebuke it, address it in their lives so as to bring change, repentance, that's what we call that, change and turnaround. And then you'll notice that as he says that, convict people of sin, rebuke it with the goal of drawing out repentance, and exhort them. The word means comfort them. Give them comfort. Give them the peace of Christ. And it's not going to be easy, Timothy. Keep doing this with all kinds of patience. Do this with all kinds of abiding under, the sense of persevering. Endure in the reproving, the rebuking, and the comforting as they turn and be balanced in that, but do that. These are sheep. Sheep's never been a compliment. That's the charge. Now, do you see how weighty this is this morning for elders and deacons? This comes as a charge to the pastor, but what is the function of elders and deacons? That's where all of this comes together this morning. The elders are set apart to oversee, to protect, to pray for the ministry of the Word. And the whole diaconate came about because of all the general needs in the life of God's people. That office exists to give relief to the elders and the minister to be able to see this go forward. That's why the diaconate is in place. such an important office so both of your offices exist to enable a platform for this calling to go forward for this mission and mandate to happen and it's really a beautiful thing because all over the scriptures the lord tells us that it pleases him by the the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe anybody believing here today god is saving you through this message through this means so this is a grand encouragement this morning to continue in something that is remarkably difficult to maintain and that's where i want to focus on the reason for this necessity to keep preaching he says the reason you are to persevere in this are because of the perilous times the dangerous seasons verse 3 a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching the time is coming when they will not endure it there will be times when things are going really well and the word is really being heard and then there will be hard times and there will be dangerous times dangerous seasons you ever thought about how good we've had it in this country i don't take that for granted i hope i don't i mean we get to come here today and nobody has a knife put up to their throat to be here and you in the course of your life have known a very good season of freedom. A lot of Christians throughout history have not. And a lot of Christians throughout the course of the world today aren't enjoying what you're enjoying right now. Bad seasons come. Hard seasons. Difficult seasons. You could have a whole range of what these could be. I always thought John the Baptist was a good example of this. His ministry was up front a powerful ministry and thousands are flocking out to hear him preach. This preacher was a powerful preacher of the gospel. John the Baptist is out in the wilderness. Thousands are flocking to hear it. He's bringing about great repentance all until Herod. Remember what happened? For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her for john said to herod it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife in season john preached and then out of season john preached and as he spoke god's word herod bound him up and it's interesting what god his head put on a platter of all things it's not lawful for you to married your brother's wife he took a stand lost his life over it head on a platter in season out of season Paul is helping us understand this in fact in chapter 3 he went into the characteristics and personalities of these people who bring about the dangerous seasons remember what he said in chapter 3, verse 1, know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come. There will be days of difficulty for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents. They completely write off the former generation. ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, they don't love good. They're treacherous, they're reckless, they're swollen with conceit. They live for loving pleasure rather than loving God. Is that not our, is that in a hedonistic society and we live? Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, Avoid them. Now, Paul has not stepped away from confronting them. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul said, now the Spirit expressly said, and that has always amazed me that when the Spirit expressly says something, that's something we better listen to because he doesn't often do it like that, worded that way. The Spirit expressly is telling you something, that in the latter times, Some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Paul's saying this is going on. He understood the conflict. Did you catch in verse 12 that he said, All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer some form of persecution in the course of their life. He goes into describing to Timothy some of those that happened to him. He said, persecutions at afflictions that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. Persecutions I endured because the Lord delivered me. But remember what happened to him. He was stoned in one of those cities. What is the danger at times like this? What is the danger that we face at times like this? We retreat. We retreat. i've never been able to get over what paul said to the church in corinth in second corinthians chapter 11 i this is so bewildering to me listen to this i fear lest somehow as the serpent deceived eve by his craftiness so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ for if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached or if you receive a different spirit which you've not received or a different gospel which you've not accepted you put up with it and then Paul goes on to say listen you can't be that naive do you realize that he says that Satan has ministers in Christian pulpits? Do you realize that Satan has ministers? And do you think they look like wolves? No. They're demons in pulpits. What did Paul do? He called it out. 2 Timothy 2, be diligent to present yourselves approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane and idle babblings for which they increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort. Can you imagine if a pastor did that today and pinned up two preachers of the gospel and said, they're of this sort. They have overthrown the faith of some, saying the resurrection's passed. The Spirit says contend. Contend. Paul knows that we begin to look at the church a little bit like the Lions Club. This is a club. Lions Club's a nice place to be from what I hear. I've never been in one, but I hear they're just nice guys. I think sometimes we're afraid to engage the warfare. We could stay out, but then we've not really enlisted as a soldier, have we? What does Christianity become if we retreat? I'm sure you've noticed that there's a giant censuring happening in this country right now. It's a giant censuring that if you speak out against anything or anyone, you're labeled. You saw it with this Duck Dynasty thing. Giant censure. How much has that filled the church? We see it in society. We see it happening in society. But have you ever thought how that translates to the church? I was blown away this last week to read in the Wall Street Journal of a leftist feminist lesbian, Camille Paglia, who wrote an article called, A Feminist Defense of Masculine Virtues. This is what she said. The idea that all gay people are born gay, that's the biggest canard. She's a lesbian. This PC gender politics thing, the way that gender is being taught in universities in a very anti-male way, it's all about neutralization of maleness. The result, upper middle class men who are intimidated and can't say anything. They get the agenda. In other words, they avoid goring certain sacred cows by never telling the truth. She goes on. Politically correct, inadequate education, along with the decline of America's brawny industrial base leaves many men with no models of manhood, she says. Masculinity is just becoming something that's imitated from the movies. There's nothing left. There's no room for anything manly right now. The only place you can hear what men really feel these days, she claims, is on sports radio. Now, why do I quote that? She's not a good example. She's bolder than the church in many respects right now. We're afraid. We're cowering. And God will speak through Balaam's donkey if he has to. We're almost like a sports team today that huddles up and says, I don't want to leave the huddle. It's comfortable, you know? And if we go outside of the huddle, we actually might have to hit the other team. And we're afraid we're going to get kit back. And so we say, well, let's just play flag or we're like a general going to the president and saying president you know the troops are ready we're ready we're in the soldier we're ready we're soldiers are ready we're ready to go we you know we've heard about what's going on out there who's the enemy i can't tell you who the enemy is just fire at random and i hope you hit them because we don't want to offend the enemy that's not the biblical world of christianity that's ashamed of the gospel hit the target Janice and Jamborees did this Philetus and Hymenaeus are of this sort Demetrius the coppersmith did me much harm my point is this we need people today who are zealous for the truth that's all I'm after in this sermon who care about the truth enough that look like our Lord to some degree who was eaten up by his father's house being turned into a den of thieves and wouldn't put up with it. Today I think we're not zealous enough for the Lord's name. Isn't his name the one that's being trashed today? isn't the name given above every name the one we're not defending the way we should? I'm not promoting being jerks. I've seen reformed jerks. They're not nice people. But we can't be afraid of offending men because that's what the message of the gospel brings. Offense. So Paul goes on in verse 3. he warns of the most damaging and destructive epoch that arises in the life of the church. For the time will come when they're not going to endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. Here's what you can expect. Here's future, which is now. You will undoubtedly face a time in your ministry, Timothy, And when those who are around you in the church of Jesus Christ are not going to want to put up with or bear or listen to sound teaching, which is doctrine, they're not going to endure it. They will have heard it. They will say, we just don't want that. It's not what we want. It's not what really matters. They don't like it. They will reject it. And instead, what they're going to do is they're going to heap up for themselves the kind of teachers that are pleasant to them, the kind of teachers that will never convict them, the kind of teachers that will never bring to bear God's word on the conscience that convicts them to turn. And they're going to want a tailor-made ministry, a tailor-made like the golf club, A tailor-made ministry that suits their own passions. Why? Because they have itching ears, they will do this, turning away their ears from the truth, and then they will be turned aside to fables. I've always been amazed by that word, fables. What is that? Myths. I've always thought in our day it's most helpful to just translate it short stories. The dangerous seasons where you won't hear anymore the need for the new birth and the need for repentance and the doctrines of the Christian faith and the gospel of Jesus Christ and instead all people will want when they come to worship are fascinating stories. It's what they want. How much preaching do you get in the course of a year? I think I've done this before. You have 52 Lord's Days. If you make it one service a week, your pastor, if he preaches 30 minutes, now I know you get a little bit more, and everyone's told me that. 26 hours of preaching a year. If you will agree, if that half-hour sermon turns into storytelling time, what did that do for your souls and your children's souls? Shouldn't there be some kind of righteous zeal against that? When Paul is saying, preach the word, it's a dangerous season you've entered into if we accept that. Here's a great necessity then, and we'll close with this. You must continue in the things which you've learned and been assured of. Verse 14 of chapter 3. I love this verse because I've always thought it's so countercultural to our thinking. You must continue, he says in verse 14, in what you've learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you've learned it, and how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Isn't that a powerful verse? Paul was saying, you have it. Your great job is, hold on to it because men are trying to rob it and take it from you and your children and you've known this because you can look back Timothy at your grandmother and your mother there's been generational love for Christ in your family and they've held firmly to it and they've not wavered don't think that the next generation's wiser look at the older generation Timothy look what you've been handed. Look at what's in front of you. Look at how I preserved that through the generations to bring it to you. You just hold it. You just, just hold it. And that is our greatest challenge. And that's your great responsibility as elders and deacons. Some of you have had the blessing of having faithful preachers sent you for years from childhood. Continue in it. That's where our identity must be. And don't be ashamed of it. One of my greatest griefs in the ministry has been to see the next generation walking away from the conviction of their parents. And I'm not talking about just the young people. I'm talking about the older generation and that next generation. Paul calls us today, notice this, with a verse we all know so well. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that you may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All Scripture is God-breathed. This is God's message to you. And this comes from the mouth of God, profitable to shield you and save you, to instruct you, to hold you, to keep you. And when that is maintained, he says, you are made complete. And do you know that's our goal as pastors and elders? To present every man perfect in Christ on that day. Confidence in the Word of God is what we need. So Paul concludes in verse 5, be watchful in all things. And what a verse for all of us. Endure the afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Hold fast, not being ashamed, and continue with boldness. Remember when the apostles prayed for boldness, the ground shook? Let's pray for boldness. God gave us a wonderful church, the body of Christ to be members of. And what a blessed privilege every week to come together and to receive from His mouth the words that are able to make you wise and your children for salvation. Let's hold fast to that. Let's pray. Oh, Lord, our God, we bless your name and ask that you would give us boldness in this day. Boldness not to cower, not to retreat, but also wisdom to do and speak these things in love, considering ourselves, knowing from where we've come. Because we know, Lord, when great persecutions come in times of persecution, it all starts by silencing people who are afraid to speak anymore your truth. And so we pray in this late hour that there would be great conviction again of people who love your truth and speak your truth in love and who are bold to do it. Bless these men. Give them your spirit and strength to lead with passion and diligence to minister the word of God to the saints in this place. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Transcription by CastingWords