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The Book of Second Timothy:
Message Thirty Seven
By Dr. Michael
Guido, D.D.
Milton said,
"To be a poet, one must make his whole life a
poem." To be a preacher, one must make his whole
life a sermon. It's a good thing to be able to find a
God-honoring sermon in letters, but it's a better
thing to find it in shoe-leather. The Bible must be
lived as well as loved, practiced as well as
preached. For a thrilling text let's take 2nd
Timothy 4:1 and 2.
Look at the
investigation. "I charge thee therefore before
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ," said the
apostle Paul to Timothy, "preach the word."
The word "before" signifies "one who
is in sight." "It's used," said Dr.
Wuest, "of one who does or says something in the
presence of someone else, and does it with the
consciousness that one has him in sight and
mind." Paul, the man who was the bitterest
persecutor but who became the boldest preacher,
delivered this challenging charge to Timothy,
conscious of the fact that he was doing so in the
sight of God, and he wanted the young minister to
keep that in mind. The work of the man in the pew,
and especially of the man in the pulpit, must be good
enough, not to satisfy men, but the Lord Jesus.
There's a cathedral in France that has a sermon on
stone. Beneath the pulpit there's a figure of a
recording angel, with a pen in one hand and a tablet
in the other. The face of the angel is turned upward
toward the pulpit, waiting to hear and to record what
the preacher says. Your words and mine,
preacher-friend, are being recorded. They're spoken
in the presence of our Lord. Is He pleased or
displeased with our words? Is He honored or
dishonored with our messages? Do our sermons merit
His commendation or His condemnation? Are they true
to the Gospel with which we've been trusted?
Listen to the
injunction. "Preach the word!" says the
Bible. A sermon without the word, is a sermon without
worth! A Bibleless sermon will always be a barren
sermon. "As there is no knowledge of God but in
Christ," said Dr. Marsh, "so there's no
knowledge of Christ but in the word of God, and this
only as we prayerfully seek the teaching of the Holy
Spirit. The reason why there's such a small result
from so-called Christian effort, is because there's
such a lack of the word of God in preaching. We may
safely say that the Holy Spirit is under necessity to
bless His own word." Dr. Crosby said, "It's
as preachers depart from the word, that their
preaching becomes barren and fruitless. The Divine
Spirit will only accompany the Divine Word. His
mighty power will act only in His own way, and by His
own means. The word is supernatural, and woe be to
the preacher who leaves the supernatural for the
natural, who sets aside the sword of the Spirit, to
use in its stead, a blade of his own tempering."
And Dr. Macartney said, "A preacher without
faith in the Bible, or one who doesn't make it the
ground of his preaching and teaching, is as useless
in the warfare with sin as a soldier who uses a blank
cartridge."
Listen to the
intensification. The Bible says, "Preach the
word; be instant in season, out of season." The
words "be instant" mean "to be
ready." That means a preacher should be ready at
all times to preach the word. The words "in
season" signify "opportune," while the
words "out of season" signify
"inopportune." So the preacher is to preach
the word when the circumstances are favorable, and
he's to preach the word when they're not favorable.
There's no closed season for preaching. He's to take
or make every opportunity to preach the word. That's
what our Lord did. He transformed a mountain side
into a Bible conference, and a boat into an
evangelistic pulpit. He turned a well side into a
counseling room and a flagrant sinner became a fiery
soulwinner. He turned the shadows of the evening into
an opportunity to lead an intellectual into the
experience of the new birth. There was a minister in
England who preached the word with such power that
everyone in his parish got converted. Then he became
burdened for the unsaved in other communities and led
them to the Lord. This upset the other ministers and
they complained to the Bishop. The Bishop sent for
this zealous man of God and said, "I understand
you're preaching all the time; you don't seem to be
doing anything else." "My lord
Bishop," he replied, "I assure you I preach
only in two seasons of the year." "I'm glad
to know that," said the Bishop. "What are
they?" "In season and out of season,"
he replied. That's the charge that comes to every
Christian, not only those in the pulpit, but also
those in the pew. So preach the word of God at all
times, whenever you get the opportunity, in season
and out, when it's convenient and when it isn't.
Let's make every opportunity count for Christ!
copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic
Association
All Scripture verses are
quoted from the New King James Version.
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the book of Second Timothy.
This series of messages on the
books of the Bible were originally written for
broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program, "The
Sower." They are collected and reprinted here
for your enjoyment and spiritual edification.
