Church of Christ Studies

The Power of God's Word Continued...

The presence of an audience like this on Saturday evening is indeed an inspiration to me, and I rejoice to know of your interest in these lessons that have to do with things eternal.

 

I want to get before you Paul's charge to Timothy as found in 2 Tim. 3:14-17 and 4:1-8: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 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. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 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; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 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."

 

At the time Paul wrote this he was a prisoner at Rome, not knowing as yet what would be the verdict of the higher court, to which he had appealed.

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Paul penned, perhaps, two-thirds of the New Testament; but out of that there are just four personal letters addressed—viz., a very short message unto Philemon, another short letter unto Titus, while two are directed to Timothy. This of itself shows the apostle's interest in this young man.

 

Here is a rather unique picture presented. As a rule, both men and women select for their associates and companions those of similar years; but in this case there is presented an aged apostle, his hair frosted by the passage of the years, bearing in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and also his most trusted friend, closest associate, a young man just budding, blooming, and blossoming into the full power of manhood.

 

In writing unto the Philippians, Paul said: "But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me." (Phil. 2: 19-23.)

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The most solemn charge ever delivered to mortal man or clothed in human words was announced by Paul to Timothy when he said: "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; preach the word." I have attended some courts in the country where I chance to live, and have heard the charges of the judge delivered to the jury and to the gentlemen of the audience at large. Many of them were impressive and attractive; but when I think of this one, delivered by the peerless apostle, in which he called to witness both God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, I can but be impressed with its weight and importance. "I bid you preach the word."

 

I am sure that Paul yearned for Timothy's greatest possible success; that he earnestly desired that his life should be spent in that which would bring him the highest joys possible and render him of the greatest service to his fellows. There are many activities of life that are attractive.

 

There are many positions in which wonderful good can be done. The world needs its men in business affairs; likewise those that till Mother Earth, thereby supplying the needs of life. There is a place for the honorable, the upright, professional man of the world; but, according to the apostle's idea, it appears that to dedicate and consecrate one's life to the proclamation of the word of God is the highest type of men's affairs upon the earth. The one who faithfully, loyally, and earnestly devotes the best of his powers "hereunto has not made a failure.

 

I am especially conscious of the responsibility that I assume when I rise in the presence of dying humanity. I must give an account to God for my deeds, my acts, and for the effort I make in your presence to-night. Therefore, the solemn, serious obligation of preaching the word.

 

O, there is much preaching in the country every day, every week throughout the year. Unfortunately, sometimes men that claim to be preachers are attracted by the exciting things of the earth—things which appeal to sentiment and to popularity. Men fail to recognize that the gospel is God's power unto salvation, and sometimes drift into the discussion of those things that are foreign to God's word. But I want to say to you, ladies and gentlemen, that the business of living, the matter of passing along through life, fulfilling the mission that God intended, is no child's play. Preaching is not a matter of mere entertainment; it is not a matter of passing away the time; but it is a solemn, serious obligation. I do appreciate the fact that there is a disposition on your part to patiently, earnestly and encouragingly listen to what may be said just along this line.

 

But when Paul said to Timothy, "Preach the word," I have often wondered and studied just what is meant thereby. Three short terms, monosyllables, in the charge; and yet how much is comprehended therein I Will you go with me upon a little survey of the word of God to find out just what that means, if possible? After the stoning of Stephen, the Bible says the disciples at Jerusalem, except the' apostles, were scattered abroad and went everywhere preaching the word. This account is found in Acts 8: 1-4 That is the very thing that Paul told Timothy to preach but I have learned nothing especially as to what it means be that quotation; but in verse 5, immediately following, the writer of the book of Acts takes up the story and says "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, anc preached Christ unto them." Did Philip preach something different from the rest of them, guided as he was by the same spirit? We do not believe that there was a difference in their preaching; so we have learned that when the apostle said, "Preach the word," it is equivalent to saying "Preach Christ." But after Philip reached the city of Samaria, the record says in verse 12: "When they [the Samaritans] believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ." Now, what were they all doing? All were preaching the word Philip, what are you doing? "I am preaching Christ. I am preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ."

 

In conclusion, these three things, therefore, are inter. changeably used to express the very same idea.

 

But presently the angel of the Lord appeared and bade Philip go down southward from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert. He arose and went, and came in contact with a man anxiously trying to learn his duty. In verse 35, therefore, the record says that "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Hence, there are four terms—"preach the word," "preach Christ," "preach the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ," and "preach Jesus."

 

But that is not all. Paul said in 1 Cor. 9: 16: "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!, Hence, the five expressions, characterizing identically the same thought when he said to his beloved son: "Preach the word." Well, he might have said, "preach Christ," or "preach the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Christ," or "preach Jesus," or "preach the gospel"—all of which is the embodiment of that upon which the salvation of the souls of men depend.

 

I would suggest to you that out of the multiplicity of sermons proclaimed by various ones, there was not a single contradiction or discrepancy regarding any of the statements thus made. The reason therefor is the fact that all were guided by the spirit of God. They spake the same things and were of one mind and one heart.

 

If you will let me say it, I think there is no more productive field of infidelity in all the world to-night than the fact that sometimes professed preachers of the gospel proclaim doctrines that are contradictory, one arguing for one point and the other denying the same, and both of them claiming to be governed and guided directly by the Spirit of God. Make me believe that God is back of that contradiction, and I am ready to raise the black flag of infidelity and blight the hopes of mankind the rest of my days. God is not the God of confusion, but his word runs in parallel lines. It is the truth. One statement therein never contradicts another.

 

But Paul said: "Preach the word." I raise, perhaps, the most important query of the night. I want to ask: Why did Paul thus charge his son, Timothy? Why spend the days of the long life that was promised in preaching the word? If there be no power, no force, or no effect to be accomplished thereby; if in the matter of conviction and conversion men and women are saved independent of the gospel of Christ, then I raise the question: Why did Paul thus charge Timothy? Why not say: "Timothy, engage in some other line of activity. Spend the rest of your days in other fields, and let the preaching of the gospel take care of itself; and in God's own time and manner, separate and apart from the gospel, men and women will be saved ?"

 

Well, as a matter of fact, under the commission that was given by Christ to the twelve, the record fails to make mention of a single case of conversion in all their dealings unless in connection with said conversion God's word was there proclaimed as his power unto salvation. I know that sometimes men now—thoughtlessly, perhaps, claim to have been converted before they ever heard of the gospel, before they knew anything about the gospel. Just put it down, once for all, that such a case of conversion is unlike those recorded in the book of God.

 

But when I ask, "Why preach the word?" I am ready to make before this splendid audience this statement as a matter of challenging your investigation (hear it): There is not a single step that man is called upon to take, from the time he leaves the world of sin and wickedness and woe until at last he sweeps through the gates that stand ajar to receive the golden crown, but that said step in affected either directly or indirectly by the word of God.

 

I will be in your city for several days yet. If any man should find an exception to that, it would be a favor rendered to let me know it, because, if I know my heart, I have but one supreme intent, and that is to be true in the proclamation of the word of God. I cannot afford to speak other than those things which careful study and prayerful investigation have led me to believe to be true.

 

I know that in this audience and in the world at large there are differences among people that ought to be one. While that is true, there are some things of common interest and general acceptation agreed upon by every man that professes to love the word of God. I want to speak to you, therefore, plainly about some vital questions that you and I have to answer. I do it with the greatest degree of kindness and with the earnest hope that the truth may be seen and that all may speak the same thing.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, all of us believe that before a man can enter the kingdom of heaven he must be begotten preparatory to a new birth, without which the Savior said he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact, no person accountable unto Jehovah has ever been saved on earth under the reign of the gospel that has not been begotten and born again. Nobody questions that statement. People of all religious faiths grant the truthfulness of that sublime statement. Is it not strange that when I raise the next question, confusion results and opinions prevail? But it must be put. How is a sinner begotten?  

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There are, doubtless, sinners in this congregation who will grant that, according to the Bible, they must be begotten. I am here as your friend, trying to fulfill that which I believe God would have me do—viz., to assist you in finding out heaven's manner of accomplishing that thing. I would do you no good if I were simply to try to impress upon you the necessity of your being begotten, and yet leave you without information as to how the thing is done. And I want to say to you in advance: I propose not to give my opinion nor my interpretation nor my comment upon the word of God, but simply and plainly to repeat the passages, believing that God means what he says and says what he means.

 

How is a man begotten? In Heb. 4:12 there is a passage that indicates some characteristics of this question. Paul said: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." But that does not tell how man is begotten. That just gives a particular feature of the word of God. Well, let's try again.

 

This time I call your attention to 1 Cor. 4:15. Paul said: "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." My friends, that is what I believe about it. Why? Because that is what Paul said. How is it? "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." How? "Through the gospel."

 

But let me ask James what he has to say on the same thing. James (1:18) says: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth."

 

I can now begin to see why Paul wanted Timothy to preach the word. It is that by which men are begotten.

 

But in 1 Pet. 1:23 there is this statement: "Being born again." How? "Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." "And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (Verse 25.)

 

How is a man begotten? Paul says, "Through the gospel;" James says, "With the word of truth;" Peter says, "By the word of God." And so I pass that question as settled to all that believe God's word and know that these passages are correctly quoted.

 

But, in addition to that, a man is dead in trespasses and in sin, and before he will ever pass to the golden glories of the by and by he must be quickened into a new and holy and higher life.

 

Without making the matter long, I simply call your attention to Ps. 119:50, in which David said: "This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word bath quickened me." Then in verse 93 he says: "I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me."

 

But not only must a man be begotten and be quickened, but the Bible says in Heb. 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

 

A question of vital importance, then, is: How do men and women get faith? Paul says in Rom. 10:13-17: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who bath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

 

"Timothy, I charge you to preach the word, for it is that by which men are begotten; it is that by which men are quickened; it is that from which we get our faith." But, in addition to this, Peter said in Acts 16:7: "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe." Not only that, but man must have a pure heart: for said the Savior in Matt. 5: 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

 

You ask: "How is that accomplished?" In Acts 15: 9 Peter said that God "put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." That faith comes by the hearing of God's word. Not only so, but man must have a pure soul as well as a pure heart. Peter said (1 Pet. 1: 22): "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

 

Not only must the soul be thus made pure, but I suggest to you that the soul must be converted. I but speak that which you already grant. How is it done? When David marched out under the bending blue of heaven's vast expanse, he said (Ps. 19: 7): "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Timothy, "preach the word."

 

And that is not all. Every man that expects to walk the streets of that celestial city must be sanctified. How is it done ? In John 17:17 we have an account of the last prayer our Savior ever prayed before his arrest, in which he said to the Father: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." If you, as sinners, expect to be clean, Jesus has told how; for he said in John 15:3: "Now ye are clean." How ? "Through the word which I have spoken unto you."

 

In James 1: 21-25 God said: "Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

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This is not all. After man, by the word of God directed, has been begotten, has been quickened, faith engendered, and thus the steps all along the line continue, at last becoming a child of God, a newborn babe, God's law and heaven's order is that he shall grow and develop and unfold larger and larger unto the perfect man and stature that God intends. You ask: "What is the process?" Let me call your attention to 1 Pet. 2:1: "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby."

 

"Timothy, the young Christian will need food, he will need strength and support. Preach the word in season and out of season; continue to reprove, to rebuke and exhort; for, be it remembered, the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Continue to preach the word, regardless of the ways of men."

 

But, my friends, we are on the journey toward the pilgrims' home above. God knows that humanity needs a guide and a light along the path by which their weary footsteps may be safely directed to reach the goal intended in the Divine plan. David said (Ps. 119: 105): "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

 

Back in the country from whence I came they used to go to meeting at early candle light, and brethren and citizens in general carried their old lanterns. After the services were over, I have seen them go out the front door, strike a match and light up; and as they held the lantern up to view, because it did not threw the light all the way home at a single flash, they did not throw it to the ground and despise it. They understood how that was. Each one said: "I will light it; and as I start across the hollow and over the hill and through the skirt of woods yonder, if I will but hold on to the lantern, it will by and by show me every pitfall along the way, every gully, every stump, every rut in which I might fall. If I will but do that, at last I will have reached my humble home ready to pillow my head for the slumbers of the night."

 

Will you not, with that illustration, get an insight into God's word? When I become a child of God and rise to walk in newness of life, God's word does not picture all the pathway before me. There are many tempestuous scenes through which I must go that are not then portrayed; but I rejoice to know that if I will take God's word in my hand, and, as I start to march down the darkened aisles of time, if I will but hold fast "hereunto, it will guide my footsteps Bright, keep me ever off the barriers and from falling over the precipices that are along life's way. May I climb the steps of life's ladder at last, cautioned and guided by God's word, until it fades away into the superior grandeur and luster and brilliancy of the perfect day in our Father's house above.

 

"Preach the word." It is that which is adequate to man's begetting. It is that by which he is quickened. It is that from which he gets his faith. It is that by which his heart is made pure. It is that by which he is sanctified. It is the food of the Christian.

 

But, finally, we all realize that life has its sorrows and its sighs, its tears and its joys, its sunshine and its shadows. I recognize that in every life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary. Regardless of who we are, the burdens of life and the difficulties are certain to fall heavily along our pathway. And when troubles come, we are so constituted that we love comfort and consolation to sweeten the bitter experience by which we are made to taste the disappointments characteristic of the lives of men. It may be, perchance, that into some home a precious babe has been born, and for some reason or other it is snatched from its mother's bosom to blossom on the other shore. When it is torn away, friends may rise up to comfort her; husband and sisters, father and mother, may offer words of consolation; but all these words are inadequate to the demands of the mother's heart. Then what? She can turn to the book of God Divine and hear our Savior say in Matt. 19: 14, for instance: "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And with that glad announcement and splendid promise, like a halo of light flashed across life's pathway, hope springs eternal in the human heart.

 

It may be, my friends, that an older one, a companion, a father or mother, falls by the wayside. We carry their remains out to the silent city of the dead, and tears unbidden flow down our cheeks because of the grief and sorrow we feel. Friends try to comfort, but they largely fail. But God's word says: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Such splendid promises enable us to walk out to the silent city and there deposit the beloved form of one that is nearest and dearest and still realize that behind the darkened cloud the sunlight of God forever shines. It is because of such that we can bury a father, a mother, a brother, or a sister, and erect the sacred mound. God's word is the source of the sweetest joys that earth can give and a foretaste of the bliss that lies beyond.

 

I want again tonight to commend that splendid message and that word of truth Divine to this audience. I wish that I had the ability to impress upon you the necessity of respecting, in a practical way, the word of God Almighty. You ought to be in humble subjection to God's authority, to Heaven's will, to say with all your heart, "I believe it;" earnestly declare that from your sins you will turn away; have the courage to march down the aisles and extend your hand and publicly confess your faith in the crucified One; be buried in the name of the sacred Three, and then rise to walk in newness of life; and walk in it, my friends, until by and by God's finger will touch you and angels will gather and encamp around you to bear your spirit home to glory, to nestle in the bosom of God's love, while eternity rolls its endless ages on.

 

If there are any here tonight who have that disposition to render obedience to the gospel call, it is a pleasure once more and evermore to grant that privilege. Now, while we stand and sing, won't you come?