Preaching as a Means of Grace (4)

Introduction: The Repetition of Error and the Need for Foundational Truths

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, August 29, 1993, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter 1,

0:26 Ecclesiastes chapter 1, and hear the words of the preacher who was king over Israel in Jerusalem, according to chapter 1 in verse 12, and follow as I read verses 9 and 10 of chapter 1.

0:47 Solomon writes, That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing, under the sun. Is there a thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new. It hath been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

1:20 Now let us pray and ask God's blessing upon the study of his word this morning. Let us pray. Holy Father, we do worship and magnify your great and glorious name. We thank you.

1:37 We thank you that we have known communion with you in this place already today. We thank you for coming to our hearts in the teaching of your word in the Sunday school hour. We thank you for drawing out our hearts in this hour that we have known at least in some measure what it has been to worship you in spirit and in truth with the spirit of God. We thank you, the psalmist, to say our hearts are fixed, that we will praise you with the whole heart.

2:15 We thank you that you have delivered us from merely dragging ourselves to this place, plunking ourselves down in the pew to go through a round of religious motions and rituals and to go out no better than when we came. But we bless you that our hearts have known the touch of your grace, and our minds have been enlightened and our wills challenged. Oh, Lord, you have been good to us, and yet we know that you have not exhausted the infinite supplies of your grace nor the gracious purposes of your heart to us, and we are therefore bold to pray, come again, oh, Lord, in the ministry of the word of God in this hour. Hear our cry and minister to us, all we plead through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

3:15 And by the way, I will be preaching two sermons soon on the amen in the public worship of God because it's well nigh been lost among us, and I think our consciences need to be honed afresh that this is part of the will of God, that we affirm that what those who lead us in prayer have expressed is the expression of our hearts, and we do it not by silence, or by a mumbled amen that hardly a well-tuned ant sitting on our shoulder could hear, but by an amen that shares something of the enthusiasm of vital religion. But that will come, God willing, as we get into the fall ministry. I read in your hearing those rather strange words that perhaps some of you did not know were in the Bible because we have often heard people say there is no new thing, under the sun. And this observation of Solomon that there is no new thing under the sun has a thousand specific manifestations and legitimate applications to life in general. However, these words have very grievous and manifold manifestations and applications with respect to spiritual realities as well,

4:38 to the issues of right and wrong, of truth and of error. And the errors comprised of aberrations and defections from the word and ways of God are in reality repeated generation after generation. It has been wisely and accurately stated that today's errors and heresies are nothing more than the errors and heresies of past days dressed in contemporary clothing. And it is because of this sad fact that God can warn new covenant believers in the first century to avoid the very sins which plagued the ancient old covenant community centuries before. Therefore, even as Paul so clearly did in 1 Corinthians 10 verses 5 through 12. Furthermore, with a realism that is both shocking and humbling, both our Lord Jesus and his apostles were continually warning the people of God to beware of the influences of error. In Matthew 24 and verse 14 or verse 4,

6:02 the Lord Jesus warns his disciples that they be not led astray. The apostle Paul in Romans 16, 17 and 18 speaks of those who will teach false doctrine and cause divisions and will beguile the hearts of the innocent. Peter warns in 2 Peter 3, 17, lest the people of God be led away from their own steadfastness, through the influence of error. Now it is these biblically based realities that there is no new thing under the sun, that current errors and heresies are really old errors and heresies dressed in new clothing, and that there is this constant vulnerability of the people of God to be led away from the truth and ways of God that have warranted, warranted our present lengthy series of studies. This series entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church is a series in which I'm attempting to bring into sharp biblical focus those foundational truths which have determined the nature of our life together as a congregation

The Threefold Cord Demanding Centrality of Preaching and Teaching

7:25 for more than 25 years. We're presently engaged in a careful consideration of the major facets of the biblical teaching of the Christian life. And at this point in our study, we have been focusing our attention upon this principle that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life. Having examined the major private or individual means of grace, we're now applying ourselves to the subject of the major corporate or public means of grace using Acts 2.42 as a basic outline of some of those major corporate means of grace. It is said of that early church in Jerusalem that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the...

8:33 And having expounded that text in a more general way, we have now gone back with the zoom lens of more concentrated and detailed exposition and application and stated that the reading, teaching, and preaching of the word of God must be central in the ordinary services of the gathered people of God. In two messages, we examine the biblical teaching with respect to the centrality of the reading of the word of God in the gathered church. And then we began to examine the biblical witness with respect to the centrality of the preaching and teaching of the word of God in the midst of the gathered people of God. In doing this, we've looked at two strands of a threefold cord of...

9:34 Why the teaching and preaching of the word of God must be central in the public gatherings of the people of God. The first, because the changeless commission of the sovereign Lord of the church demands it. Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20. The embodiment of the task of the church in the words of Jesus is this, to make disciples, to baptize them, and then to teach them.

10:08 That is not a detailed, comprehensive description of all of the church's mission, but it is a summary of the heart of its mission as delineated by the Lord of the church himself. And therefore, if we are to be obedient to the sovereign Lord of the church within the gathering of disciples, who have been marked out by baptism, the teaching of the word of God must be central. And then secondly, teaching and preaching of the word of God must be central in our corporate life because the consistent pattern of apostolic example and practice demands it. Not only the changeless commission of the sovereign Lord, but the consistent pattern of apostolic example and practice demands the centrality of preaching and teaching. From Acts 2.42 to the very closing words in the book of Acts, we looked at some eight or nine strategic passages in which it was clear that the early church, under the guidance of those foundation builders, the apostles and New Testament prophets, placed, the teaching and preaching of the word of God

11:37 as a central issue in seeking to bring the churches to maturity in Christ. Now today, our two strands that have been twisted together will become a braid. I didn't know until I looked up the word braid to see that I could use it as a verb that you don't have a braid unless you have at least three strands. I didn't know that until my preparation for today.

12:06 So we're going to have a braid when we are done and hopefully it will be a braid in which these three strands of biblical argument will be woven together in that three-fold cord of which Solomon speaks in Ecclesiastes which cannot easily be broken. And the third line of biblical evidence is this. The preaching and teaching of the word of God must be central in the life of the gathered church because the compelling thrust of apostolic instruction demands it. Not only because the changeless commission of the sovereign Lord demands it, the consistent example and pattern of apostolic practice demands it, but because the compelling thrust of apostolic instruction, demands it. You see, from what our Lord said we should do to that which the apostles actually did in obedience to their Lord, we now focus our attention on what the apostles taught on this issue of the centrality of the public teaching and preaching of the word of God in the corporate life of the church. And as we take up this third line of evidence, we'll do so under three major headings.

Apostolic Instruction: Centrality in Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14)

13:36 First of all, the centrality of teaching and preaching in the most crucial treatment of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. In the most crucial treatment of spiritual gifts in the New Testament, we find an unmistakable emphasis upon the centrality of teaching and preaching in the...

14:03 in the apostolic instruction. Now, if I were to say to you, what is the most crucial chapter in the New Testament concerning the doctrine of the bodily resurrection from the dead, I hope that the vast majority of you would say, well, that's 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And if I were to ask you, what is the chapter which contains the most crucial treatment on church discipline in the New Testament, I would hope that you would say either 1 Corinthians 5 or possibly 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Well, the moment I say the most crucial treatment of spiritual gifts in the New Testament, your mind ought immediately to think of 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14. And I want you to open your Bibles to that portion of the word of God. And under this first heading, we are concerned to see whether or not in this most crucial treatment of spiritual gifts in all of the New Testament, there is a compelling thrust to this teaching with respect to the centrality of the teaching

15:26 and preaching of the word of God. Now, the subject of these chapters is explicitly, set before us in the opening words. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

15:47 So the subject of spiritual gifts is very explicitly introduced by the apostle. And then after giving two very vital principles, one with respect to the nature of how these gifts, operate in contrast to their pagan religious experiences, in which there was a mindless overpowering of the human spirit by demonic spirits. In the exercise of true God-given spiritual gifts, there will not be mindless ecstasy, will less jumping into the realm of subjective mystical experiences, in which the mindless, overpowering of the human spirit, He says, no, when you were Gentiles, you were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever you might be led. You were passive as you gave yourself over to the powers of darkness. And then furthermore, in the realm of spiritual gifts, whatever comes of their exercise, if they are of God, they will always be accurate in their confession and assessment of the identity of Jesus Christ the Lord. Wherefore I make known to you that no man speaking in the Spirit of God said,

17:12 Jesus is anathema or accursed, and no man can say Jesus is Lord but in the Holy Spirit. So after introducing the subject of spiritual gifts and these two vital principles, then the apostle goes on to emphasize in verses 4 to 11 the subject of the Holy Spirit. The sovereignty of God in the distribution of spiritual gifts.

17:40 Then in verses 12 through to the end of the chapter, he emphasizes the unity and interdependence of the various members of the body with their diversity of gifts. So after introducing the subject, giving these two major principles, he concentrates upon the fact that where these gifts appear, they are made. They are manifestations of the sovereign will of God implemented by the executive ministry of the Holy Spirit within the church. However, this diversity which is of God and an expression of his sovereignty is not meant to fracture the body any more than the differing function of the hand and the ear are meant to split up this organism of the human body. There is interdependence, mutual recognition of the need, one member of another. And that's the emphasis of that large latter section of the chapter. And then he transitions into that which is the focus of all of chapter 13 in verse 31.

18:54 But desire earnestly the greater gifts and moreover a most excellent way show I unto you. Then we come...

19:05 Then we come to 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, in which the apostle emphasizes primarily one central truth. And that is that the grace of love is greater than any individual or combination of spiritual gifts. And without the grace of love, one may have all kinds of spiritual gifts and be utterly devoid of the grace of God. So he begins his treatment of spiritual gifts, in chapter 12, with the matters that we've already addressed.

19:39 Then he brings this emphasis on the excellent way, the way of love, without which any gift, even gifts that would cause people to ooh and to ah, mean nothing and cause us to have a cipher standing before God. If we this, if we that, and have not love, we are nothing, it profits us nothing. And then in chapter 14, he transitions back into the subject of spiritual gifts. In verse 1, follow after love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.

20:24 And here in chapter 14, the focus is now going to be upon two particular gifts, namely the gifts of prophecy, and of tongues, and in addressing those two particular gifts, it is evident that the apostle assumes that they are going to be exercised and are being exercised in the gathered church, where the people of God are present, and where even unbelievers may come in. Look at verse 23, If therefore the whole church be assembled together, and all speak with tongues, and there come, come in unlearned or unbelieving, will they not say ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving. So the whole setting here in the term in the church is here in the passage and parallel emphases, it is clear that Paul is envisioning his treatment of tongues and prophecy in the context of the gathered church, and that, in focusing upon tongues and prophecy, he is focusing upon those gifts, which, though peculiar to the apostolic age,

21:48 are the closest to the ordinary standing gifts of teaching and preaching, which are found in those men whom Christ gives to his church. They are the communication of the word of God. They are the communication of the word of God. And here in chapter 14, without attempting again anything like a detailed exposition, I want us to catch the major thrust of the apostle's argument.

22:19 Here in chapter 14, in his very opening words, you will notice that he speaks of the primacy of prophecy. Follow after love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. He that speaks in a tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth, but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries.

22:51 But he that prophesies speaks unto men edification, exhortation, and consolation. He that speaks in a tongue edifies himself, But he that prophesies edifies the church. Now, I would have you all speak with tongues, but rather that you should prophesy. And greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret that the church may receive edify.

23:30 Now, could words be clearer that there is in this comparative treatment of tongues and prophecy a primacy of importance given to prophecy because it brings optimum edification to the church. You see that now by the simple reading of the passage, without answering the question precisely what was this prophecy, what were the tongues, were they known languages, were they a heavenly language, one thing is clear, whatever the prophecy was and whatever the tongues were, prophecy has the place of primacy. And it has the place of primacy because by it edification is given to the people of God. Men are edified as they are exhorted, comforted, encouraged, consoled, instructed, in a known language. In a known language with reference to the revelation of the mind and will of God. Prophecy was bringing the word of God in a known language in the gathering of the people of God and therefore brought edification and tongues could only match it as a means of edification

24:53 if translated or interpreted into a known language. It then became prophecy. It was prophecy in two stages rather than one. It was prophecy in that it became the word of God communicated in a known language, but first of all communicated in another language or tongue.

25:18 But now that clearly establishes the primacy of prophecy. And that emphasis carries all the way through the entire chapter. Notice verse 12. So since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound unto the edifying of the church.

25:42 Your great concern should be the edification of the people of God. So if a man speaks in a tongue, let him pray that he may interpret. Otherwise, there can be no edification. Without this, if a man is...

26:00 If a man is praying in tongues, verse 16, if thou bless with the Spirit, how shall he that fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen? He assumes they will say the Amen. Not think it, not wish it, but say it. How shall he say it intelligently as an act of faith, seeing he doesn't know what you've said?

26:22 He may sense that you're caught up in great spiritual fervency and worshiping and praising and supplicating God, but he doesn't know what you're saying. You could be merely repeating the alphabet backwards in some unknown language, and he says, Amen. He may be affirming your folly and your stupidity and your irreverence. The Amen must be said in faith.

26:47 It cannot be said in faith unless it is said as the response of an intelligent affinity of spirit with the known communication conveyed in a known language. Further on, in the chapter, verse 19, Paul says, How be it in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding that I might instruct others also than ten thousand words in a tongue? Paul says, I'm committed to seeing the church edified. Therefore, I'm committed to speaking words that can convey to the listener in tongues.

27:32 Therefore, I'm committed to speaking words that can convey to the listener in tongues. Then he goes on to give specific directives concerning the number of those that should prophesy or speak in tongues with an interpreter, then the order and even the gender. Even the gender. And when he's all done, look at verse 37.

27:58 If any man thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things, plural, which I write unto you, that they are the commandment, singular, of the Lord. But if any man is ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues, but let all things be done decently and in order. What is the capital?

28:34 The capstone that he puts upon this chapter. The capstone is this. He is saying that the instructions I have given to you Corinthians regarding the primacy of prophecy in comparison to tongues is not my prejudicial opinion. It is not because in my temperament there is something that is averse to whatever this tongue speaking was.

29:02 No. He says, The things I've delivered unto you in their entirety are the commandment, the revelation of the mind and the will of the Lord.

29:20 And if you profess to be a prophet, that is, someone who's under the impression of the Holy Spirit upon your spirit and your mind to speak the words of God, if you profess to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, then the proof will be that the Spirit who is at work in you will recognize the Spirit who is in work in me as an apostle and you will acknowledge that my directives are in total a deposit of divine commandment. Now he says, If you're going to be so ignorant that you reject what I say and so spiritual that you say, Oh no, I'm not going to be bound by those rules. The Holy Ghost comes. The Holy Ghost comes upon me. I've got the who and the son, the what, the to, the who, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

30:12 I've just got to. Paul says, If you're so ignorant as not to recognize the divine rationale and the divine authority of my directions, you're pitifully and hopelessly, spiritually ignorant and perverse. Go on in your stupid ways. Any man is ignorant.

30:32 Let him be ignorant.

30:36 Wherefore, my brethren, believing, he says, the majority of you to be truly spiritual, and ready to receive the words of the Lord, desire earnestly to prophesy. And while there are yet valid tongues, so long as they are exercised in the way that I've prescribed, that is, with an interpreter, with a translator, in the assembly, and only by two, and at the most three, within those directives which are the commandments of the Lord, don't forbid. But he said, If you covet anything, covet prophesy. And why?

31:16 Because prophecy has the primacy in the great end of corporate edification. In Wilson's excellent little commentary on 1 Corinthians, as many of you know, he has choice quotes from many commentators, there is this observation on verse 3 of chapter 14. Paul uses the terms edification, and to edify no less than seven times in chapter 14. Verses 3 to 5, 12, 26, and verse 4 twice, and in verse 17.

31:54 This shows that he subjects all events of worship to the single and clear criterion of the edification of the congregation. The edification of the congregation. And I would go further and say, edification how?

32:16 By the intelligent communication of the word of God in the understanding, understandable language of the people. That's what he's been talking about. So in these chapters, which are the most crucial chapters on spiritual gifts in the New Testament, what is God saying to us? Now that we no longer, have prophets, for we have this more sure word of prophecy, all of the prophecy that God will give until the coming of his Son is here in this book.

32:59 These are words of prophecy. They are called that in the book of the Revelation. It is when this prophecy, this word of the living God is communicated in a way that is, in the book of Revelation, in a known language by men equipped by the Spirit of God for that task, that optimum edification is imparted to the people of God. You see, it is not a matter of us saying, well, I'm really edified when someone sings with a torchy throat ethos, oh, how I love Jesus.

33:43 And I'm so edified by Amy Grant. Oh, are you? You may feel good, but feeling good is not the biblical definition of edification. You see, Paul is saying, let all things be done unto edification, but in the context, the congregation was not free to determine what edified.

34:11 By the guidance of the Spirit, speaking the word of the Lord says, optimum edification comes by the ministry of the word of God in a known language. Now, what's the closest thing to that we have in our day? It is the teaching and preaching of the scriptures by competent, Spirit-filled servants of God. And I find these chapters then compelling in their pressure upon my spirit as I, with my fellow elders, wrestle with the issue, how shall we structure our public gatherings and whatever cosmetic changes we make, we come back again in the Holy Spirit, and again to the centrality of the reading, the teaching and preaching of the word of God. Why? Not only because the changeless commandment of the head of the church demands it, the consistent pattern of apostolic practice and example demands it, but because the compelling thrust of apostolic instruction demands it, first of all, in these most crucial chapters regarding spiritual gifts to be found anywhere in the New Testament. But then my second line of argument is this.

Apostolic Instruction: Centrality in Church Order (1 Timothy)

35:33 The centrality of preaching and teaching in the most crucial epistles on church order in the New Testament. The centrality of teaching and preaching is found in the most crucial epistles on church order in the New Testament. Now, what epistles come to your mind when I say, the church order? That is, ordering the life of the churches.

36:02 Well, I hope what are called the pastoral epistles come to your mind. First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus. And they're called the pastoral epistles not because Timothy and Titus were pastors in the strict sense that we now use that term and that it is found in the scriptures. They were apostolic representatives they had a direct link with living apostles and were, in a sense, the alter ego of the apostles in implementation their mind and their will, however, the directives coming when they come to the close of the apostolic age. When the Church is being brought into her steady state configuration by the guidance of apostles. Then the Church, Churches envision in her long-term haul through the ages until the coming of the Lord Jesus, what are the emphases given by the apostle to these two men, Timothy, whom we have reason to believe, according to the scripture, was laboring, not reason to believe, we know, was laboring at Ephesus, chapter 1, in verse 3, and Titus, who was laboring in the Isle of Crete.

37:29 Well, you see, these are of tremendous importance. You're an apostle, you know that your days are limited. By the time he writes 2 Timothy, he says, the time of my departure is at hand. You're burdened for the church as it faces its present responsibilities and dangers and enemies.

37:49 You're concerned about the church in successive generations, should the Lord delay his return. And Paul had successive spiritual generations in mind, where he said, things you've heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Well, you see, those epistles there, which are written to men, who are ordering, who are shaping, who are fashioning the contours of the churches, both at Ephesus and in Crete, are of tremendous importance. Now I want us to turn and see what that emphasis is.

38:31 Turn, please, to 1 Timothy. And what we will see, and I trust will carry your judgment, is that in these epistles, the most crucial epistles on church order, there is a recurring emphasis on the centrality of teaching and preaching in the gathered church. In chapter 2 and verse 11, a text that is a watershed text with regard to male and female roles, within the church, we can often overlook a very powerful secondary emphasis of the text. Paul is speaking about the gathered church and what it does when it gathers. Notice chapter 2, verse 1, I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication, prayers, intercession, thanksgiving be made for all men. According to verse 8, I desire that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing. He's giving directives for the church in its corporate life, where prayer should be central, and that prayer should have a preoccupation with the great concerns of the kingdom of God as it is established among the nations.

39:54 He is concerned that the men pray, take the lead in prayer, that they do so as holy men, but now he's concerned, that when the women are gathered with the men in corporate assembly, that their outward demeanor bespeak the power of the gospel upon their hearts, in like manner that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. And then he says, assuming it's in the gathered assembly, let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection, but I permit not a woman, to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. Now my point is this, as Paul envisions the men and the women gathering in their corporate assemblies, assemblies where prayer is one of the central activities, and the great burden of that prayer is the progress of the gospel among the nations, and therefore prayer is made for kings and rulers and those in authority, that God would keep us in a stable framework, where gospel progress is most likely to be realized, he envisions in that gathering what activity as, if not the dominant, a primary central activity. Well obviously, after addressing how the women should appear,

41:25 then he says, what the women should do when they are in the assembly. And what are they to do? They are to learn. Well the whole assumption is, as you see, that in the gathering of the people of God, there is a primary place being given to instruction.

41:43 Now I must confess that I missed that for years. And it was only in reading through these epistles, in preparation for this ministry, that it struck me with a ton of bricks. Of all the things the apostle could have emphasized, he says, these women who come to the public assembly with their outward demeanor and clothes, moving, reflecting, true inward godliness, let these women learn.

42:15 Well the assumption is, there is something to learn. And someone there who is teaching, and someone who is instructing, and those someones are never to be females in the mixed assembly, but they are to be males. But the issue is, that instruction was a dominant element assumed, by the apostle, when the church would gather. But what is there as a kind of hidden assumption, which I trust, you see, is not reading something into the text, but highlighting the apostolic assumption, is so clearly given by way of directives to Timothy himself. And chapter 4 contains the greatest concentration of that instruction. Look at verse 6. After stating that in later times men will fall away from the faith, seducing spirits, demonic spirits will spawn heresies, he says in verse 6, if you put the brethren in mind of these things, you shall be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith,

43:38 and of the good doctrine that you have followed until now. Timothy, if you want to be a good minister, then this is what you're to do. You're not to learn the unholy art of being a clever stroker of people, to make everyone feel good. You're not to learn the unholy art of being a PR man, who can always make a good impression.

44:03 Timothy, if you would be a good minister, put brethren in mind, in the mind of these things, teach them what I've told you, give them the word of God that comes through me as an apostle, and in so doing you yourself, Timothy, notice, will be nourished in the words of faith and of wholesome doctrine that you have followed until now. Timothy, as you give yourself to the centrality of teaching and preaching, that deposit that I've entrusted to you, not only will you be a good minister of Christ, good to the people, but Timothy, you'll do good to your own soul, because as you feed upon the words of God and of wholesome teaching that I've delivered to you, and as you ponder them, and seek to impart them to others, you yourself will become a more thoroughgoing Christian, as you exercise your ministry with Biblical priorities, namely the centrality of teaching and preaching these things. Further on in the chapter, verse 11, these things command and teach.

45:30 Timothy, what are you to do with the things I've imparted to you? Are you to simply sort through them and say, well, this will be palatable and this will be a bit unpalatable, and we've got some rather wealthy widows who are a bit showy and had quite a wardrobe before they were converted, and so I don't want to emphasize this business of women addressing in modesty and with a sense of holy reserve in the assembly, lest they distract from the worship of God that would offend these wealthy widows, and we can, no, no, he says, you take these things and command them and teach them. They are the word of God through me, his servant, the apostle Paul. Further on, verse 13, till I come, pay close attention to what? To the reading. The definite article is there.

46:26 It refers to the public reading of the scriptures. Till I come, pay close attention to the reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Be diligent in these things.

46:45 Give yourself wholly to them that your progress may be manifest unto all. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this, in doing what? Paying close attention to his own walk before God as a Christian man and giving himself to the ministry of the public teaching and preaching of the word of God with increasing efficiency and usefulness.

47:16 Continue in these things, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those that hear you. Timothy, would you be the instrument of God to see his saving purposes realized in men? Then your task is that primarily of a teacher and preacher of the word of God. And I say this.

47:39 I will not be a teacher of God until I come. Give your concentration to the reading of the scriptures, to exhortation based upon the scriptures, to instruction rooted in the scriptures. Don't neglect the divine gift to give yourself to these things, but rather in the language of second Timothy, stir that gift into flame. But the assumption is that as Timothy functions in the church, there will be a primacy of the public preaching and teaching of the word of God.

Apostolic Instruction: Centrality in Church Order (2 Timothy)

48:13 Then when you come to the second letter, the same emphasis is found. Second Timothy 2 and verse 2. I've already quoted the text. After exhorting Timothy to find his strength in Christ, not in himself, the naturally timid, physically weak, sickly man we know from the scriptures, yet he is told the things you have heard from me among many witnesses.

48:42 That is, my openly declared apostolic testimony is not something that is only whispered in a corner. It is my ways as I teach them in all of the churches. Timothy, those things you are to commit to faithful men who shall be able to do what? To teach others also.

49:06 Timothy, you are to have a passionate concern. To perpetuate if anything else is dropped along the way. The teaching office, competent preachers and teachers must not be absent in the church. Timothy, take what has been given to you and commit it to proven, trustworthy men who in turn will teach others.

49:32 Paul's great concern for the perpetuation of the health and well-being, witness and usefulness of the church at Ephesus was that a teaching ministry be perpetuated. He says nothing about corporate executives, slick PR men, strokers and psychologists and all the rest. But he says teachers, Timothy, yes. Men able to teach others also.

50:03 Then lest Timothy grow careless and forget some of his earlier exhortations. Notice what he says in verses 14 and 15. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them in the sight of the Lord, that they strive not about words to no profit to the subverting of them that hear. Give diligence to present yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, literally cutting a straight course in the word of truth.

50:42 Shun profane babblings. They will proceed further in ungodliness. Timothy, put them in remembrance in the very sight of God, that they not move away from the central substantial issues of the revealed word of God, the lodestone truths of the gospel, the person and work of Christ, the necessity of a life of holiness, the manifestations of practical godliness. All of the things, Timothy, that I've emphasized in my letter to you, put them in remembrance, charge them not to turn from these things.

51:20 And furthermore, Timothy, you keep giving diligence. That very vigorous Greek word, spoudazo, give yourself with great energy and vigor to present yourself a workman who stands in the presence of the God who's commissioned him and has no just grounds for shame, that you've cleverly manipulated the scriptures, glossed over the parts that might bite and sting, bypass the truths that humble man and pinch the raw nerves of his pride and love of sin. No, Timothy, give diligence. Be a workman who can stand unashamed in the presence of God because you've cut a straight course in the word of truth. You have taught, you have preached the word of truth. You have labored and bent all of your energies to this great end that when you are done in any given assembly of the people of God, they leave if they have listened with any diligence and received with any degree of faith what has been said. They leave with a deposit of the words of God by which alone they will be nourished and built up in their most holy faith.

Paul's Final Charge: Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4)

52:36 And then you come to chapter 4. Here is the apostle's spirit-inspired swan song. He knows he's on his way out. He's already being poured out as an offering in the language of verse 6.

52:54 And he's giving his final charge to Timothy. He's bringing near the presence of God, the presence of Christ, the day of judgment, the consummate setting up of God's eternal kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. These are the most sobering realities the human mind can contemplate. What is more sobering than to think that we are in the presence of the living God?

53:20 Here in this place this morning, there is a personal being who reads every thought even before it is framed in our consciousness, knows every word, could rehearse to us if he desired to send us an angel to do so this morning. Every word we spoke last week, every thought we thought, every deed we did in the most secret places. Now I charge you in the sight of this God and of his Christ, this one who shall judge the living and the dead, the day of judgment. What a sobering thing.

54:04 Have you ever tried for ten minutes to concentrate on what the day of judgment will be like? To just say for the next ten minutes I'm going to think of one thing, the day of judgment. The millions who have lived and died and gone to their graves, all resurrected, all standing before God. Eternal faith about to be righteously pronounced, eternally fixed.

54:37 My friend, if you can yawn and titter in the presence of such realities, God have mercy on you. These are sobering realities. And he says, Timothy, I'm charging you. Here is my final charge to you, Timothy.

54:54 And I do so in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus who shall judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. And what is the central thrust of this charge? Here it is. Preach the word.

55:16 The word. Urgent in the season. Note of season. Be urgent when things in your own life are such that your mind and your spirit are free to be carried out with the truth.

55:33 It's a seasonable time in your own spiritual experience in the divine providence that dictates your health and the health of your wife and children and all the factors that make up your world. Timothy, in season, in season as far as your own personal world is concerned. The world of the life of the church it may be a time of divine smiling and sinners are being converted and saints all love one another and nobody is miffed with someone else and there are no walls of unresolved difficulty. In season.

56:07 Be urgent, Timothy. But out of season, still be urgent. The word of God is not changed. Men's need is not changed.

56:16 Your task is not changed. Pre-season. Out of season. Look at the text.

56:26 Reprove. Bring things to the test. Rebuke. Point out sins.

56:33 Specifically. Fearlessly. Exhort. Encourage.

56:40 Seek to motivate. To gospel obedience. And do it with all longsuffering. Notice now.

56:47 And teaching. He's not to be a ranter or a raver. And would to God that we would capture the Pauline emphasis. He brings together urgency and teaching.

57:02 Action on fire. And fire. Being kindled by the solid well-cured logs of truth. And do it with longsuffering and with teaching.

57:21 And look at verse 3. Here's what I call the shocking realism in my introduction. The time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine. The time will come.

57:38 The time. And may God help the younger generation to hear these words. In Trinity Church, if the Lord delays His coming, when there will be a growing number of people who will not endure the healthy. And in that context, what is that?

58:07 That's everything of the apostolic body of truth found within the pages of our Bibles. I'm telling you. The time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine. But having itching ears, all of their attachment to the church and involvement of the church is an expression of this chronic, horrible, incurable disease of itching ears.

58:37 And the only place they get relief is to come into church and hear teachers that they have heaped up. Look at the language. It's graphic. They will heap to themselves teachers.

58:52 Oh yes. They voted them into their position. What dictated the kind of men they set over them as teachers? Not the word of God, but their own lusts.

59:07 You see, they were inveterately religious, but their lusts were not mortified. Can you be religious? You've got to heap up teachers who have learned the demonic art of tickling and relieving the itch of the ears of these kind of people. Their message has just enough of God, of Christ, and of the Bible to satisfy the sense, Oh, I've been religious.

59:43 I've been in touch with the gospel. I don't need to be afraid of hell and of judgment in the age to come, when in reality there's been no soul-transforming, life-changing experience for the grace of God. ...people employing what they had done to labor, to ground men in the truth, and to warn them whoever they are in the Trinity Church to think that time will not come and that time will not come. I refuse to be arrogant. I refuse to assume that truth will just go on being preached. I refuse it.

60:37 It would be gross arrogance, spiritual irresponsibility. What is the emphasis? Timothy Preach. The word, the message.

61:00 Do it urgently. Do it when you feel like it, when you don't feel like it. When the church is flowering with spiritual hunger, when it's caught in the doldrums of spiritual dullness, in season, out of season. Timothy!

Apostolic Instruction: Centrality in Church Order (Titus)

61:17 Go on doing what God's called you to do. You say, well, what about Titus? Well, I don't have time to open it up, but just look at the words of 2.1.

61:29 Speak thou the things which befit the sound doctrine. What are you to do, Titus? The things befitting sound doctrine. 2.15.

61:41 These things, read the context, practical instruction concerning all kinds of people, ending up with great gospel truths concerning Christ's death on behalf of sinners and the purpose of that death. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise them. Titus, here to give yourself to speaking these things, exhorting, reproving, not doing it in a simpering, whimpering, apologetic manner.

62:18 Do it pompously. But speak with authority. Do you believe that what I told you, Titus, is the word of Christ the head of the church that I, as his apostle, have given you directives that are the very commands and instructions of your Lord? Then how can you traffic in those things in an apologetic, timid way?

62:39 No, no. No timidity. No tentativeness. No simpering, whimpering, sneaking a little bit of truth in here or there on the tail end of belly laughter while you play the clown.

62:54 No, no, Titus. These things speak, exhort, reprove with all authority. Verse 1 of chapter 3. Put them in mind.

63:08 Then he gives specific ethical and moral instruction as to Christian conduct. What is that? It's directions about preaching. He assumes that Titus' great work will prove to be that of preaching and teaching.

Conclusion: The Peril of Neglecting Preaching

63:25 I'm going to leave the third line of arguments since I've taken up my hour. But I do want to close with this very simple observation. Preaching and teaching of the word of God must be central, we have seen, because of the changeless commission of the sovereign Lord of the church which demands it, the consistent pattern of apostolic example and practice that demands it, and the compelling thrust of apostolic instruction. So what conclusion do we draw?

64:06 As I sat at my desk last night, I experienced inward pain writing these words, but I believe it's the only conclusion we can draw. If the time ever comes in Trinity Baptist Church and the teaching and the preaching of the word of God is pushed aside, rivaled, are you listening to my words carefully? Pushed aside for other things. Kicked out but pushed aside.

64:41 Rivaled or replaced. You know what the price will have been? It will mean that Christ in his rightful sovereignty expressed in his changeless commission has been treated with contempt in his house. Frightening thought that in this place, in this living temple of God's people, who profess to be taken to heaven on the grounds of the sufferings of the Son of God, that that Jesus will be treated with contempt.

65:23 Because remember, his commission is changeless. Make disciples, baptize, and and if the teaching and preaching of the word of God is central, it will be because Jesus Christ has been treated with contempt. Secondly, the apostolic pattern and example will have been ignored or set aside as outmoded or irrelevant. That to me is one of the most blasphemous elements of the modern evangelical church growth marketing the church syndrome that is among us today.

66:06 It says that this apostolic emphasis on the centrality of preaching and teaching in the gathered assembly won't wash in 20th century America. Then I say if 20th century Americans are so proud and arrogant and in love with their own thoughts that they won't gather to hear the mind of God, they deserve to sink into hell. The church must not conform to this society, but stand against it. The time ever comes when the teaching and preaching of the word of God in this place is rivaled, replaced, or set aside. It will be because apostolic instruction has been snubbed and jettisoned as junk. Now I ask you, if Christ is treated with contempt, apostolic example regarded as irrelevant, and apostolic instruction treated as junk, will you have the gall to gather on Wednesday night and ask the Holy Ghost to bless whatever you're doing in this place? You get the force of my question?

67:23 Will you have the gall to gather on Wednesday night and pray the Holy Ghost to bless whatever you're doing? No, I dare to prophesy if that day comes there'll be no Wednesday night prayer meeting. The whole show will run with the Holy Ghost! And that's why there'll be no prayer, because this is the most foolish exercise in the world to preach, doing something which is speaking into the air unless God the Holy Ghost comes and sits on those words and rivets them to the hearts of men and by his powerful influence makes them a means of salvation and sanctification. And dear people, I think the case from the word of God is compelling to you. Prepare to pay whatever price you must pay. Maintain the centrality of the preaching and teaching of the word of God as a means of grace appointed by God for which there is no defective.

Prayer for Preservation and Conversion

68:37 We thank you for your word. Oh, how we bless you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. And oh God, as our hearts have been made to feel at least in some little measure the awesome realities in which we've trafficked this morning, we do beg of you that the Holy Spirit will take your word and so write it upon our hearts that as long as we have life and breath we shall be determined to seek no substitute for this appointment of your own sovereign design. May the centrality of the teaching and preaching of the word of God mark the life of this congregation even until our Lord Jesus returns in glory and in power. We pray for those who've never been humbled before that word. May its very preaching this day arrest them in their arrogance and in their pride and confusion.

69:51 May they be driven to start reading their Bibles and seeking your face in earnest. And may they look upon this day as the day when they began to seek you while you may be found. Oh Lord, what can we do but beg of you to preserve the work of your own hands among us. Hear our cry.

70:14 Dismiss us with your blessing. Receive our praise for your presence with us. In Jesus' name. Amen.