Preach the Word

Sermon Transcript

Whenever I’m asked the question, “What do I see as the greatest need in the church today,” my answer has not changed for many years. It’s always expository preaching. The need is for the Word of God to be brought back into the churches of America. My answer hasn’t changed. My answer is that we need to preach the Word.

I want to read the text beginning in 2 Timothy 4:1, if you follow me in your Bibles. We’re going to just kind of really dig into this text. Paul says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick”—which is the living—“and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Paul tells Timothy, verse 5, “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry;” let’s read down to verse 8, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Paul tells Timothy in these last words…and this, by the way, we know as Paul’s Swan Song. Paul is in the dungeon, the Mamertine Prison. He’s expecting to lose his head to go to be with the Lord, that sense of the end of his road; and he’s telling Timothy what is uppermost on his heart, uppermost in his mind, “This is of essence, preach the Word.” He gives him the charge in verse 2.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, we’ve already heard this quote several times, and we’re probably going to hear it every day all week, said in his book, Preaching And Preachers, “To me, the work of preaching is the highest, greatest, most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” The most urgent need in the Christian church today is true preaching, and as it is the greatest need in the church, it is also the greatest need in the world also because the church is the salt of the earth, the church is the light of the world. If the church loses its saltiness, if the church loses that light, then it’s not going to be affecting the world around it.

What is “true preaching”? When he says, “Preach the word,” what kind of preaching is Paul talking about? There’s a lot of confusion in the church today about what preaching is, and I believe that “true preaching” is expository preaching, it’s preaching God’s Word—explaining the text, expounding on the text. That is the biblical mandate and model for us to do that.

Haddon Robinson, in his excellent book, Biblical Preaching, said, “The type of preaching that carries the most force of divine authority is expository preaching,” and the reason is why because the Scriptures are the authority, that we preach the Word, and we can preach and we do preach with authority. Paul’s last words to his young son in the faith charged him to “Preach the word.”

I want to note first of all the charge, and as I go through this, I’m going to actually model expositional preaching. It’s a little classroom kind of modeling, but the first point I want to make is the charge is made in verses 1-2. In verses 1-2, we have the charge, which is the first point in this text. Notice verse 1, “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: 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

Now, I want you to note the solemness of this charge. When he says, “I charge thee,” this is a solemn mandate which must be obeyed. He’s not saying, “If you feel like it and you’ve got nothing else to do, and you’re kind of bored, you don’t really like your job and just want a different change, why don’t you try preaching the Word, maybe if you want to.” No, he’s charging him. It’s a solemn charge. He’s bringing him into a courtroom before the Judge—God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ—and solemnly charging him, giving him a mandate to “Preach the word.” It’s not an option. Actually, there are nine imperatives in these first eight verses—nine commands, not options but commands—that Paul tells Timothy he is to keep. This is a solemn mandate which must be obeyed. It cannot be ignored or rejected. So, the pastor’s highest priority is to be preaching the Word.

Back up to 1 Timothy 4. We’re going to read this verse a whole lot, too. Paul says, “Till I come, give attendance”—give your attention and your focus—“to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

I love this here that Paul tells Timothy that he is to be devoted to, committed to, give attendance to (we already read this verse) “ . . . to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,”—reading the text, explaining the text, and applying they text; so it’s public reading of Scripture, Scripture is to be read publicly. He’s to preach the Scripture, to teach the Scripture, to explain the Scripture, to apply the Scripture; and in verse 15, he wants him to be wholly given to them. He says, “Meditate upon them; give thyself wholly to them.” That phrase “give thyself wholly to them” could mean be up to your ears in the Word of God, just devote yourself completely and fully and wholeheartedly.

Paul then calls two witnesses, go back with me to 2 Timothy 4, God the Father and God the Son. “I”—solemnly—“charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,” so God the Father and God the Son, “who shall judge the”—living—“and the dead.” When it comes to preaching the Word, we need to remember that we are going to give account to God for our ministry. We’re going to have to answer to God. We’re not going to get up to heaven and have members of our church standing before us in a courtroom saying, “You didn’t preach the Word,” or “You didn’t do this,” or “You didn’t do that,” or “You didn’t come to my potluck,” or whatever. It’s not going to happen. We’re going to stand before God and give an account over the stewardship of His Word that He entrusted to us. We need to keep that before our minds, and keep that in our hearts. Remember: I am going to answer to God for how I preached His Word—if I preached His Word, how faithfully I preached His Word, how thoroughly, how clearly I preached His Word. We’re charged in light of the fact that we’re giving an account to God. We will give an account to God.

I was going to do one of my sessions today on 1 Corinthians 4, the steward, which, by the way, just real quickly let me mention it; John Stott’s book, The Preacher’s Portrait, over there on my table, is indispensable. You need to buy that book, you need to read that book, and especially read the first chapter, the preacher as a steward. There are pictures from the New Testament of the preacher. The preacher, a steward, is fantastic, that God has entrusted His Word to us and that we are to faithfully dispense that to the church, the household of faith.

So, the statement of the charge is in verse 2, “Preach the word,” it’s the first of five imperatives in these first five verses, so the command that must be obeyed. The word “preach” is a Greek word kērýssō. It simply means to herald, and to herald with three elements, gravity, authority, and accuracy. It means to proclaim. What a herald was, back in the day when the guy would walk through the streets of the kingdom, “Hear ye, hear ye! Thus saith the king,” you know, and he would give the king’s message. He was given the message to speak. He couldn’t jazz it up, he couldn’t omit it, he couldn’t change it. He couldn’t, “Aww, the king doesn’t know what he’s talking about, let me fix it for him.” He had to actually pass on the message that the king had given to him, and he couldn’t change it one bit. He did that with gravity, because it’s important and this is serious.

We should always be serious about the importance of preaching God’s Word. We should take it very serious, and it should be done with authority because it’s the Scriptures. It’s a, “Thus, saith the Lord.” It should be done with accuracy because we’re going to give an account to God of our ministry some day, so we need to 2 Timothy 2:15, “ . . . rightly dividing the word of truth.”

What Timothy was to preach was, notice it in the text, “ . . . the word.” What he’s not to preach is philosophy, psychology, humanism, the things of the world. He’s not to preach his own ideas. He’s not to preach Oprah Winfrey. He’s not to preach other people’s sermons. He’s to “Preach the word.” He tells him what to preach.

Years ago I heard that statement what a preacher’s to be and to do should all be found in the Scriptures. What is a preacher to be? What is he to do? It should all be taken from the Scriptures. Here’s a classic what he’s to do, “Preach the word.” A pastor or a minister, a man called to preach, if he doesn’t preach the Word, what is he doing? This should be the priority, and he should preach it with gravity, with authority, with accuracy. So, he’s to “Preach the word.”

Now, what is “the word”? What does he mean by “the word”? Well, I believe that it’s a reference to the Holy Scriptures. Back up to 2 Timothy 3:15. In verse 15 he says, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy, from the time he was a young boy, knew the Scriptures. So, “the word,” which is to be preached, 2 Timothy 4:2, is the Scriptures, the Word of God that Timothy had been immersed in as a young boy, “ . . . which are able,”—to bring salvation—“make thee wise unto salvation.” That’s an awesome point.

Also, it’s called “sound doctrine.” Look at 2 Timothy 4:3. He says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;”—that’s another reference to the Word. So, the Word is Scripture, the Word is sound doctrine. Then, in 2 Timothy 4:4, the Word is called, “ . . . the truth.” In 2 Timothy 4:7, the Word is called, “ . . . the faith,” not just “faith,” but “the faith”—the body of truth that we hold to believe. So, what are they to preach? They’re to preach the Word.

How many of you have ever heard of Harry Allen Ironside? Anybody heard of Harry Allen Ironside? You’ll want to get Harry Ironside’s commentaries—Harry Allen Ironside, Ironside Commentaries. The first commentaries that I bought, that Skip Heitzig bought, were Harry Allen Ironside’s Commentaries. This is what he said about 2 Timothy 4:1-5. He said, “There are many ministers of Christ who have never learned that it is their business to preach the entire Word, and they are always trying to think up topics that may thrill, charm, and entertain the people. But the servant of God is not called to these things. He is to seek to make people acquainted with the mind of God, to preach the gospel, preaching the Word. He is to open up God’s Word to Christian people, showing them how they may be kept from sin and live daily in this life to the glory of God. This is the charge of the Holy Spirit to every minister of the gospel: Preach the Word! He who does this may never be highly esteemed among men as a great orator, but he should not mind that. His one object should be to glorify God in setting forth His truth in the way He Himself directs.” So, that is a minister’s calling just as Paul told Timothy, we are to “Preach the word.”

To preach the Word is to preach, I believe, I believe that this mandate, this charge is actually a charge to preach the Bible expositionally. I actually believe that. I believe that he’s telling Timothy, “You’re to preach the Word,” that it’s a mandate or a charge, and it’s applicable to all of us today, that we’re to preach the Word expositionally—reading, explaining, and applying the text. As Art mentioned yesterday, Nehemiah 8:8, Ezra the priest, “ . . . read in the book . . . gave the sense, and caused them to understand.”

So, let me define if I can expository preaching, and we’re going to be going over this quite a bit for a while. Haddon Robinson, in his book Biblical Preaching, here’s his definition of expository preaching, “Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary,” I would add theological, “study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.” We gave you the book, so it’s in the book. You’ll find it. But that’s the quote on expository preaching by Haddon Robinson. Robinson goes on to say, “Expository preaching at its core is more a philosophy than a method. Whether or not a man can be called an expositor starts with his purpose and with his honest answer to the question: ‘Do you, as a preacher, endeavor to bend your thought to the Scriptures, or do you use the Scriptures to support your thought?’” That’s a good question. Do you bend your thoughts to the Scripture or do you bend your Scripture to your thoughts?

I listen to a lot of preachers. I’m always analyzing preachers. I won’t tell you who they are, but I listen to them. I’m always asking myself, Is that what the text says? Is that what the text means? Is that how the text should be applied? Those are the essentials: is that what the text says, is that what the text means, is that how it should be applied? You can’t impose. You can’t do eisegesis, you want to do exegesis. Expository preachers exegete the text. It means they pull out of the text the meaning of the text. It’s really that simple, and they are completely, totally bound to the text in the communication of truth. That’s expository preaching.

Let me break it down for you by Jerry Vines. I have these same points in some other sessions that I will do, but I’m not sure what’s on the screen for you this morning. Jerry Vines, and he’s got a couple great books on preaching that I think are over on my table. This is taken from A Practical Guide to Sermon Preparation. He says these are the elements that should be found in an expository sermon. Listen carefully. The first is the meaning of the Bible passage must be found. The meaning of the Bible passage must be found. That is on the top of the list, and then we’re going to hammer this home for the next couple of days.

I actually got up early this morning and went through some old notes. I found some rusty, old notes on homiletics that are some basics that I may cover as well tomorrow or the next day. But, a homiletic principle is that the text of Scripture—listen carefully—has only one meaning—not multiple, one. This is what we call authorial intent. A text of Scripture has only one meaning, its authorial intent—what did the original author mean to say or intend to say or say. That’s your topic in preaching. It’s that simple. You want to tell the people what the original author who wrote the passage was intending to say.

Secondly, in element, Jerry Vines says, “The meaning of the Bible passage must be related to the immediate and general context of the passage.” That’s a fancy way of saying it must be put in context. That’s a hermeneutical principle. So, you never preach a text out of its context, it becomes a pretext. I hear sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon where they impose into the text a meaning the original author never had in mind, it wasn’t the real meaning of the text, and they take it out of context. That should never ever be done in the pulpit. You need to commit yourself to making sure that you preach the authorial intent, and you preach it in the context of the greater passage of the book of the Bible, of the New or Old Testament, in the kind of literature you’re in.

Here’s the third. The sermon must be drawn from the text itself. The sermon is drawn from, taken out of, the text itself. If you’re preaching a text that’s about prayer, what are you going to preach on? Prayer, right? If you’re teaching a section that deals with suffering, what do you teach? You teach on suffering. If it’s eschatological and it’s talking about the coming of the Lord, your subject is prophecy and you preach on the coming of the Lord. You don’t invent your subjects. You don’t invent your topics. You know, “What do I need to preach on? Will it make my church grow? Are people going to like me? I’m going to be cool, and people will come here.” You don’t do that. You go to the Scripture, and when I talk about the development, the first step is get a text, the picking of a text, the choosing of a text, how you get to a text. You’ve got a text, and that’s what you’re going to preach. You don’t usually start with a topic, you start with the text, and you find your topic in the text. That’s what you’re going to preach. So, the sermon must be drawn from the text.

Fourthly, the main points of the sermon must be drawn from the Scripture itself. The main points of the sermon must be drawn from the Scripture itself. They come right out of the text. That’s what’s so cool is when you’re making your points, you can actually take the people back to the Bible. You take them right back to the Bible. It frustrates me when I’m preaching, and I’m making points, and I want them to look in their Bibles, and they just keep looking at me. It’s like, “Look at your Bible. Look into the Scriptures.” The text is the message. So, the main points must be drawn from the text itself.

Fifthly, it’s best—not mandatory but it’s best, it’s ideal—in an expository sermon if the subpoints are also drawn from the text. So, you have a text that commands us to pray, then you look at the text and the text tells you how to pray, why to pray, when to pray, who should pray. I mean, there’s your sermon right there. You have your main points come out of the text, and we’re going to give you samples of this and walk through it. Tim’s going to go over stuff like this and so is Terry, but your points come from the text, and then look for subpoints. Ask yourself, who, what, when, where, why, and how. Ask questions. Bomb the text with questions, “Who’s to pray? Why are we to pray? When are we to pray?” And then, grammatically, what’s the word that he’s using for prayer here? Is it a present imperative? Get to the linguistic aspects of the text. If the subpoints, as well as the main points, come from the text, then you are preaching an expository sermon that’s the best.

Sixth, the hearers will be called to obey the truth drawn from the text. Good preaching aims at a decision from the hearers. Jerry Vines then gives his definition, and says, my formal definition of expository sermon is as follows, quote, “An expository sermon is one that expounds a passage of Scripture, organizes it around a central theme and main points, and then decisively applies its message to the listeners.” That’s a great definition of an expository sermon, which, by the way, back to our text in 2 Timothy 4:2, is what Paul is telling Timothy to do is to “Preach the word.” So, it’s an expository sermon that’s governed by the text.

The preacher’s first aim—listen carefully—is to discover the text writer’s intended meaning in its historical, grammatical, theological context. That’s the goal. So, that’s why a lot of guys don’t do this because it’s hard work. They have to study, dig in, and get the meaning of the text, which doesn’t always yield itself. Sometimes you’ll come to a text that you will never fully be convinced of what the meaning is. And, if you have to be honest with the people, even preaching after years and years and years and you come to a text and say, “I’m not sure what this means,” rather than try to just put one over on them, you know, try to convince them that this is what it means, just say, “I don’t know what it means.” They’ll respect that.

When you preach, you model how you should handle Scripture. You’re modeling for your people how they should interpret Scripture, how they should approach Scripture, how they should read Scripture. If you play fast and loose with it, then you’re telling your people that Scripture is not that important, that you can make it whatever you want to make it. You need to be bound by Scriptures.

So, the first aim is to discover the text writer’s intended meaning. The second aim is to let the text speak again through the sermon. The second aim is to let the text speak again through the sermon the same message of the text writer. I love that. Let the text preach. Let the text preach the sermon. Let the text speak the meaning of the text. Its foundation is a high view of Scripture. So, you’re not going to do this, as I did yesterday on talking about theological foundations for preaching, unless you have a high view of Scripture. Which, by the way, backing up into 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is where Paul says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works.” Without skipping a beat, then he says, “I charge thee . . . Preach the word.” He just finished talking about inspiration, now he tells him to “Preach the word.”

If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, and that it is sufficient, and that it is alive and powerful, and that God still speaks through what He’s spoken, then we would preach the Word. Remember the theological foundations: A conviction about God—that God is light, God speaks, that God reveals; that Scripture is the Word of God; the Church is born, sustained, nourished, guided, directed by the Scriptures, the Word of God; the pastor is mandated to preach the Word of God, and that preaching should be expository preaching. I don’t know where you could go anywhere else.

Paul gives us, verse 2, four more commands, still want to break this down, to show us what should characterize our preaching of the Word. First, verse 2, look at verse 2 with me. We should “Preach the word,” how? So, when you talk about points and subpoints coming from the text, here’s an example. The point is, “Preach the word,” the subpoint is how to preach the Word. Notice in verse 2, we should do it, “ . . . instant in season, out of season,”—we should—“reprove, rebuke, exhort,”—and we should do it—“with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

Now, let’s break this down. Our preaching of the Word should “ . . . be instant in season, out of season,” it means be ready, be urgent, and it means that it’s always in season to preach the Word. It’s not going to come and go. There’s no fads or seasons, always in season to be preaching the Word—good times, bad times—always in season to preach the Word. Whatever trends are going through the church, this is what will save you as a pastor, too, of not following trends. All the church growth trends, all the church growth fads, you don’t have to follow those because you have your mandate. It’s to “Preach the word.” You do it, “ . . . in season, out of season.” Secondly, it is conveying urgency. It conveys urgency. It should characterize our preaching, “ . . . in season, out of season.” It’s always be ready.

Secondly, look at verse 2, “ . . . reprove,”—it’s convince of sin. The Spirit of God, though the Word of God convicts and convinces of sin. The Spirit doesn’t work in a vacuum. The train runs on the track. If you want the Holy Spirit to be working through your preaching, fill it full of Scripture. Fill it full of Scripture. Fill your sermon full of Scripture, then the Holy Spirit’s got fuel to activate and to work through, so “ . . . reprove,” the power of the Word. Then, “ . . . rebuke,” verse 2, a stronger word, which means to chide, to lay censure or blame. So, we’re to rebuke with the Word of God.

I read a quote this morning by Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer. Talk about the power of God’s Word. He said this, quote, “I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. The Word did it all.” I love that. He simply taught and preached the Word, and the Word of God did it all.

So, we “ . . . reprove, rebuke,” and fourthly, how do we preach the Word? Look at verse 2, by exhortation—it’s to encourage and to comfort. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, the paráklētos, so He works through the Scriptures. How are we to comfort and encourage? Notice the text, verse 2, “ . . . with all longsuffering”—it means to preach patiently and lovingly, to trust God’s Spirit to work. When you’re preaching the Word and you want to see results, you can’t then get in the flesh trying to urge people or command people or boss people around. You give them the Word of God, you trust the Spirit of God to work, and you let the Spirit do the work. You don’t try to coerce or pressure people. You let the Spirit, through the Word, do the work; and you do it with patience and verse 2, you do it “ . . . with all . . . doctrine,”—teaching. Our preaching should be done intelligently, so it should be done with relevancy, it should be done with patience or lovingly, and it should be done intelligently—“doctrine,” didactic doctrinal truth. There should be intelligent biblical preaching.

Our preaching should be done, five things, verse 2, faithfully, “Preach the Word;” urgently, “be”—ready—“in season, out of season;” relevantly, “reprove, rebuke, exhort;” patiently, “with all longsuffering.” Let me stop right there. When you’re preaching the Word, and you want to see people grow, you want to see people repent, you want to see people change, you have to do it by faith and trust in the power of God’s Word and sufficiency of God’s Word. You can’t resort to again, fear tactics or pressure tactics. You’ve got to let God work. Be patient. God’s going to bring forth that fruit. You do it patiently, “ . . . with all longsuffering,”—and intelligently—“and doctrine.” That’s the summary.

Now, the second main point, and I’m kind of very awkwardly working through this text, but the second main point is verses 3-4, and that is the reason to preach. In verses 1-2, we have the charge to preach; in verses 3-4, we have the reasons to preach. Notice verse 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” There’s three reasons to preach the Word. First, verse 3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” There’s that word again, healthy doctrine. The word “sound” is a medical term. It means life-giving or healthy, “sound doctrine.” We get our word “hygiene” from that Greek word.

The reason we need to do this expository preaching is because there’s going to come a time, and we are in that time right now for sure, when men “ . . . will not endure sound doctrine.” When it says, “ . . . they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears,” it means they find teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, who will tickle their ears. Instead of saying, “Preach it,” they say, “tickle it.” They want their ears tickled. They want them to tickle their fancy, “ . . . but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” They “itch” for novelty. It’s an “itch” for novelty.

If it’s new, it’s not true; and if it’s true, it’s not new. Never feel bad about preaching the old truths of the Word of God. When you preach and they say, “Well, I’ve heard that before, that’s not new.” Do you know why you’ve heard it before? Because it’s in the Bible, because it’s true. When you say, “Wow! That’s deep! Wow! I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never heard that before.” Do you know why? Because it’s not in the Bible. If it’s new, it’s not true; if it’s true, it’s not new. You’re not looking for new things to preach on, you want new light on old truths. You want new light on old truths, not new truths, not to make up your own ideas. So, the first reason you should preach the Word, people aren’t going to listen to sound doctrine.

This is interesting to me, is you’re called to preach, you’re called to preach sound doctrine, but if there’s a bunch of ear tickling going on, people want to hear tickling. They want to be told, “God wants me rich. God wants me healthy. God wants me wealthy.” They want to be told the “happy stuff;” they don’t want to be told the truth. But again, your fidelity is to God—you’re going to answer to God, not to the people. So, you don’t poll the people, “What do you want me to preach on? Is it okay if I mention hell? Is it okay if I talk about sin?” You don’t do that. You’re answering to God. You’ve been given the message to faithfully proclaim, and you must not veer from that proclamation.

Here’s the second reason in the text, verse 3, “ . . . but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” So, “ . . . they will not endure sound doctrine,” they get people to tickle their ears. It’s an itch for novelty. Harry Ironside said they want preachers who will tickle their fancy, not trouble their conscience.

The third is in verse 4, “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” They shall be turning away their ears from the truth, and shall be given unto fables. The best way to protect the church from false teaching is to “Preach the word.”

Lastly, notice the call to duty, verse 5. So, we have the charge to preach, verses 1-2; we have the reasons to preach, verses 3-4; and then we have the call to duty, verse 5, “But watch thou in all things,”—which means to be sober in all things—“endure afflictions,”—which means don’t be discouraged, don’t quit. I heard the statement by V. Raymond Edman years ago that I’ve hung onto over the years. That statement is: “It’s always too soon to quit.” It’s always too soon to quit. There’ve been times I wanted to quit, and I wish I would’ve never heard that statement. “I’m going to quit. Wait, no. It’s too soon.” “I’m going to quit. No, it’s too soon.” I’m just going to quit. No, I can’t. It’s too soon.” It’s always too soon to quit, “ . . . endure afflicttons.” By the way, you will endure afflictions, if you preach the Word the way Paul describes here.

Thirdly, evangelize the lost. Notice Paul said, “ . . . do the work of an evangelist.” Evangelize the lost. When I do the kind of elements of steps to preaching, I’m going to talk a little bit about evangelistic appeal—how I give altar calls. Step-by-step we’ll go through that, but we should be giving evangelistic appeals.

Lastly, verse 5, we should fulfill our ministry. It means carry it to the end. Faithfully finish what God has called you to do. If God’s called you to preach, don’t let anything get in the way. Don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged. Continue to preach the Word. Let’s pray.