2 Timothy 4:1-5

1. I Accept the Charges
2 Timothy 4:1-5
Heritage Addition church of Christ
by Jim Bradshaw
Sunday Morning, January 25, 2015

2. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:1-5 NKJV I charge you therefore before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing
and His kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out
of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and
teaching. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; (4) and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
(5) But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

3. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:1 NKJV I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
I charge you in the Presence of God
1. Literally “I call you to testify thoroughly in the presence of God.”
2. Not all evangelists, but all must testify.
Heb 11:4 NKJV By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he
was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he
being dead still speaks.

4. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:1 NKJV I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
I charge you in the Presence of God
1. Literally “I call you to testify thoroughly in the presence of God.”
2. Not all evangelists, but all must testify.
2Ti 2:24-25 NKJV And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel
but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, (25) in humility
correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant
them repentance, so that they may know the truth,

5. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:1 NKJV I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His
kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
I charge you in the Presence of God
1. Literally “I call you to testify thoroughly in the presence of God.”
2. Not all evangelists, but all must testify.
Act 4:18-20 NKJV So they called them and commanded them
not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. (19) But Peter
and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the
sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. (20)
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard."

6. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:1 ESV I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his
kingdom:
The Judge of the Living and the Dead
1. God the Father and Jesus separate but equal; John 1:1
2. Christ Jesus (ESV correct in order) to emphasize His Title.
Joh 5:27-29 NKJV and has given Him authority to execute
judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. (28) Do not
marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the
graves will hear His voice (29) and come forth— those who
have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have
done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

7. Called to Testify Thoroughly
2Ti 4:2 NKJV Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.
Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
Preach the word!
1. Lit. Herald the word, like the town crier; A message of Authority!!!
2. Be ready in season or out of season.
3. Be ready – urgent (ephistēmi) lit. to stand upon.
4. When the word is preached it: convinces, rebukes, and exhorts.

8. 2Ti 4:3-4 NKJV For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; (4) and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
1. We live in “unhealthy times.” Sound doctrine lit. healthy teaching.
2. Today we worry about too much salt, fat, calories, artificial
preservatives, and yet we should worry more about unhealthy
teaching.

9. 2Ti 4:3-4 NKJV For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; (4) and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
1. Teachers who tickle the ear – Say what people want to hear.
2. 2Ti 2:15-17 NKJV Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth. (16) But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will
increase to more ungodliness. (17) And their message will spread
like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

10. 2Ti 4:3-4 NKJV For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; (4) and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
1. Fables – muthos our English word “myths.”
2. Myths are sometimes easier to hear. Modern myths are evolution, big
bang, that there is no God.
3. Turned aside – comes from medical language speaking about
dislocated limbs.
4. Truth is truth; Genesis 1:1; 2 Timothy 3:15-17

11. The Work of an Evangelist
2Ti 4:5 NKJV But you be watchful in all
things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
1. Be watchful – lit. be sober; of sound mind.
2. Eyes wide open!
3. Evangelists (Christians as well) often
suffer hardships.
Mar 10:28-30 NKJV Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left
all and followed You." (29) So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I
say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the
gospel's, (30) who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—
houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

12. The Work of an Evangelist
2Ti 4:5 NKJV But you be watchful in all
things, endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
1. Be watchful – lit. be sober; of sound mind.
2. Eyes wide open!
3. Evangelists (Christians as well) often
suffer hardships.
4. Evangelists must work.
5. Evangelists must make their ministry full.