1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. Not, of course, as providing the salvation or applying it; the first is done by the Savior, the second by the Holy Spirit; but in working out the salvation - in making use of all Divine means and instrumentalities. I. PERSONAL SALVATION. "Save thyself;" for in the heaven-voyage the captain is not to be lost while the company and the crew are saved. In this war the enemy is not to pick off the sentinels and the captains alone. No; Divine grace is sufficient for pastor as well as for people; but it would be a terrible thing - alas! not an unknown thing - that the minister who has taught others, himself should be a castaway. Next follows - II. THE SALVATION OF OTHERS. "Them that hear thee." A simple word, "hear." The pulpit must not be the place for the airing of personal crotchets, or the use of arrows and shafts of mere wit, or the discussion of mere critical themes. "The things that ye have heard" are such as the apostle defines - august and real, vital and eternal realities. To hear may seem a light thing, and so it is if the message be light. But the true minister does not tremble before his audience, any more than Paul did before Felix. If the congregation be his patron, he may please them to secure his living; if they are his Sanhedrim, he may be heard before them in test of his judgments; if they are his guests, and not the Master's, he may cater for n banquet suited to their tastes; but if he is the minister of God to them for good, if woe is his if he preach not the gospel, if he has the sacred responsibility of one who is put in trust with the gospel, - then hearing is a solemn thing. On that may hang character, influence, destiny. He is not there as lord over God's heritage. He is not there to have dominion over their faith. He appeals to reason, to conscience, and all that we mean by heart and soul. But he does not create a gospel or propound some new philosophy - he is to preach (1 Timothy 2:5, 6) "one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus," and yet Christ Jesus the Lord; the God who was "manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). "And them that hear thee." Ours is a solemn relationship; but it may be a sweet and sublime one too. In the far-away land we may greet each other as victors in the same war, winners of the same race, companions on the same pilgrimage. Saved with the ancient swords stored in the heavenly armory. Saved, with the great sea behind us and Canaan in possession, with sweeter grapes than those of Eshcol, and more triumphant strains of victory than those of Miriam. I say it may be so with us, and with some who have heard and whispered the sacred words to themselves as on the last pillow they went home to God. The very sentence, "them that hear thee," has in it all the pathos of the past, as well as all the realism of the present. The lips that speak are only these of man, but the message is the Word of him who "would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Is it true of us, as we face each other, that we shall see one another again - yea, years to come - and that these words may rise up against preacher, and hearers, or both? Is it true that waiting angels will bear back the message, "This and that man [woman, child] was born there"? The living Church of God is holy ground. Then truly we need no meretricious aids to make our ministry pleasant, or to make the Church harmonize with the age. Eternity will reverse many of the verdicts of time. Much of our judgment now is touched and tarnished with the worldly ideal. The hour is coming when he who said, "Go... and speak in the temple... all the words of this life," will call us all alike into his presence; and then it will be seen and known before God and the holy angels whether we have both saved ourselves and them that heard us. - W.M.S. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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