2 Timothy 4:1-5 Preach the Word

2 Timothy 4:1-5 Preach the Word
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 having 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.
What preaching does: It exposes sin. It warns regarding sin’s consequences. And it pleads for sinners to repent and trust Jesus to heal them.
The preacher of God’s Word is to proclaim God’s Word in such a way that it exposes our sin. Now let me just say, there is nothing pleasant about this.
We don’t delight in the painful scalpel of God’s Word. We delight in the restoration the surgery is meant to bring about.
Preaching is intended to expose our sin so that we repent and turn to Christ and receive His mercy. There is no transformation apart from our sin being exposed. And the God who saves, loves His people to much to leave them untransformed.
The second thing preaching does is rebuke or warn. The next step in the preaching of God’s Word, after exposing our sin is to warn us of sin’s consequences. There is absolutely nothing popular about this. But again, this is meant to be good medicine. It’s one thing to have the MRI done and the cancer exposed. But if the doctor simply tells you what you have, alright Joe, it looks like you have cancer of the heart. Have a good day. But fails to tell you what needs to happen next and the consequences if you neglect suggested treatment, what good does that do?
Loved ones, we have cancer of the heart. That’s what sin is. But there’s a treatment regimen far stronger than the best chemotherapies. It’s called the gospel. But get this, one dose of chemotherapy isn’t going to do it. This cancer runs deep. It will take the rest of your life to rid yourself entirely of this disease. But with a steady dose of this gospel treatment, you’ll notice the cancer of sin gradually go into remission, to where it no longer reigns in your members.
But if we fail to sit under the preaching of God’s Word, how do you expect to fight off the cancer of sin? Do you really think yourself wiser than the great Physician who prescribed this regimen of preaching?
The last thing preaching must necessarily do is exhort. After exposing and warning, is to plead with one’s hearers to act… respond. Repent and believe the good news. Certainly, there are words of comfort. But only so far as there is a positive response to the message of the gospel. Timothy, urge your hearers strongly and urgently, “Flee from the wrath of God, and flee to the stretched out bloody nail-pierced hands of Jesus that are ready to receive you.
It's not enough to disclose the MRI results, and warn the patient, it looks terminal, and then walk away. We plead with the sick, “You don’t have to let this thing take you out. You don’t have to allow that cancer, that sin, that addiction, lead you to hell. There’s help. There’s hope. Don’t fight this thing on your own. You aren’t strong enough. But Jesus is.”
That’s what preaching does. It exposes sin. It warns regarding sin’s consequences. And it pleads for sinners to repent and trust Jesus to heal them.
A distorted gospel, where we’re all God’s children and He loves you just the way you are, saves no one! The pure unadulterated Word of God alone makes one wise for salvation because is exposes sin, it warns of sin’s consequence, and it pleads for sinners to repent and flee to Christ for refuge.
Church, I hope you understand, I can’t stand up here a proclaim to you fluffy messages. Pull up your pillows and relax. I wouldn’t be loving you if I did. I understand the average church wants everyone to feel comfortable, have a lot of laughs. But there’s an edge to God’s Word that’s there for a reason. That’s meant to prune us, removing those areas in our life that aren’t yet conformed to Christ. And there’s only one way you and I will be conformed to Christ, God’s prescribed means, through the faithful preaching of this Word and the Spirit opening our hearts to receive it.
You see, this sharp double edge sword of God’s Word is what pruned Jesus. Jesus was the tender shoot from the stump of Jesse who came and bore the full penalty of God’s Law in order to fulfill all that was written, including being cut off from the land of the living, not for his transgressions but ours. And Jesus Himself is the Word, who not only prunes you, but prunes that which is dead in you, that you might have life in Him.