Matt's Messages - Stake Your Life!

“Stake Your Life!”
Graduation Sunday
May 21, 2006
2 Timothy 3:14-16

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me these last few weeks while I have been thinking about what to preach on next. I have decided that we are going to go back into the Old Testament and study together the prophecy of Hosea. Hosea, starting next Sunday, Lord-willing. It’s only 14 chapters, very poetic. You could read it easily this week several times before we come together next week to begin to work our way through this Minor Prophet. Hosea, starting next Sunday.

But this Sunday, we are going to 2 Timothy chapter 3.

As I was thinking about these graduates whom we’ve recognized today, I was thinking about last year’s graduation and baccalaureate, at which, I had the privilege of giving the baccalaureate sermon.

Does anyone remember the title of my message from last year’s baccalaureate? I stole it from John Piper’s book: Don’t Waste Your Life!

I told last year’s graduates that we’ve only got a short time to live on this Earth and we shouldn’t squander it. “What does it profit a graduate to gain the whole world and yet lose their soul?” Don’t Waste Your Life.

Well, this year, I thought I would say something about what our graduates (and the rest of us, of course) ought to do with our lives. We shouldn’t waste it. What should we do?

My message title, therefore, is “Stake Your Life!”

Stake Your Life on the Word of God!

That’s what Paul was telling Timothy.

Paul was leaving this life, headed towards the “ultimate graduation” before the Lord of the universe. This is his last letter in the Bible.

And Paul, in his last letter, was encouraging Timothy to stay faithful in the gospel ministry.

And this is his instruction for Timothy (that graduates and all the rest of us need to hear). 2 Timothy 3:14.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NIV)

This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.

It’s one of those passages that everyone should have memorized because it says so much about what the Bible itself is and what it is for.

There is only one command in this passage (v.14), “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of...”

The command is to continue in the teachings that Timothy has received and built his life upon. And these teachings are found in God’s Word, the Bible.

My phrase for this is, “Stake Your Life on the Word of God.”

Build your life on the Bible.
Build your life on the teachings that you have received from the Bible.
And don’t leave them.
Don’t depart from the teachings of the Bible.
Continue in them.

Stake Your Life on the Word of God.

Why do we need to do this?

You’ll notice that verse 14 begins with a “But as for you...”

There is a contrast here. Timothy is supposed to stake his life on the Bible in contrast to the false teachers that he stands in opposition to.

There are all kinds of other things out there to stake your life upon.

Jump up to verse 1 of chapter 3.

Paul says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days [Which have begun with the ascension of Christ.] People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

Notice all of the alternative things that you can stake your life upon.

That’s what Paul is contrasting when he says in v.14.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of...”

Don’t stake your life on those things. They won’t satisfy. They aren’t true. They aren’t lasting. They aren’t satisfying.

Stake Your Life on the Word of God.

Why? V.14

“Because (#1) you know those from whom you have learned it...”

Who’s that? Well, in Timothy’s case it was first his mother Lois and grandmother Eunice. Chapter 1 verse 5 says that those two godly women were full of faith before Timothy was and passed it down to them. [That’s a great encouragement, by the way, for those who are unequally yoked and still trying to raise Christian children. It can be done.]

And then, secondly, it was Paul who taught Timothy the faith. Look up at verse 10.

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings– what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.”

Timothy, you know me. You know that I am the real-deal and you know what I’ve taught you is real.

Stake your life on it!

Put down roots in it and never leave.

And not just because you know those who have taught it to you. You (#2) know the Scriptures themselves. V.15

“[C]ontinue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Timothy, you know your Bible. And you know what’s in it.

You were taught it at your mother’s knee.

Stake Your Life On It!

I remember the time at Moody Bible Institute when I decided to do this. I had struggled with the reliability of the Scriptures and whether or not I was going to submit to their authority over my life. It was a crisis point. I had always had a general knowledge and respect for the Bible, but I hadn’t really ever put myself completely under its authority and staked my life on it, come what may.

But I reached a point where I decided that I would believe it and live it and if God would allow me, to teach it.

I staked my life on it. And I have to regularly come back to that commitment.

“[C]ontinue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Stake Your Life on the Word of God.

#1. AS THE TRUE PATH TO SALVATION.

Notice that Paul reminds Timothy that the holy Scriptures (v.15) are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Now, interestingly, except for this and possibly a few other letters, there weren’t yet any New Testament Scriptures for Paul to be referring to. He was primarily referring to the Old Testament.

That’s what Timothy would have been taught from his childhood and what he would have had to read.

And Paul says that those Scriptures are able to point towards salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament points towards Jesus.

And it does so faithfully, reliably, dependably.

The Holy Scriptures “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Do you want to be saved?

You need to know this. [Bible]

This is where we find out the true path to salvation.

This is where we are made wise to get saved–the Bible.

There are a lot of false teachings out there about how to get saved.

Even about whether or not we need saving.

The Holy Scriptures teach us the true path to salvation.

And the name of the path is Jesus Christ.

And the way of that path is faith in Jesus Christ and His CrossWork.

The Bible says that trusting in Jesus is the only way to salvation.

Do you know that?
Have you done that?
Are you trusting in Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation?

The beginning of staking your life on the Word of God is staking your life on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The good news that the perfect Son of God became a sin-bearing man who sacrificially died for sinners like you and me and was raised to new life to save them from their sins and give them eternal life to His glory.

That’s the central message of the Bible.

And anything else is a load of hooey.

You’ve got to stake your life on that message.

Stake your life on the word of God as the true path to salvation.

#2. Stake your life on the Word of God AS GOD-BREATHED. V.16

“All Scripture is God-breathed...”

There is so much in that little propositional statement.

“All Scripture is God-breathed...”

All Scripture is “inspired.” That means more than just “inspiring.” It means that the Scriptures are sourced in God. They come from God.

The Scriptures are God’s Word.

You can stake your life on the Bible because it comes from God Who knows everything and has revealed Himself and His plan beautifully through His prophets and apostles and other Scripture writers, and can be trusted completely.

The Scriptures are God’s Word.

Now, that doesn’t mean that God didn’t use men to write the Bible. He did. At least 40 authors over a 1400 year period. The Bible was written by Godly humans utilizing their personalities, situations, and thoughts.

But God did it in and through them. God superintended the whole process so that what was produced is in fact God’s Word and not just the Word of Man.

2 Peter 1:21 says, “[M]en spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

The Greek word there for “carried along” is the same word as the wind filling the sail of a boat. The Holy Spirit filled the sails of the scripture-writers to take them to the destination that He desired.

God-breathed!

That’s what this is. God-breathed!

Stake your life on it.

That is not what the world says.

We’ve seen this last weekend that The DaVinci Code book and movie claim that the Bible is merely a human product of fallen men which actually hides the truth.

In chapter 55 of the DaVinci Code one of the main characters teaches, “The Bible is a product of man, my dear, not of God...Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times and it has evolved through countless translations, editions and revisions.”

That’s what the world says. Of course, it’s a lie.

But many people want to believe a lie. Even people in the church.

Chapter 4 says (v.3), “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” That’s what we have in the DaVinci Code, isn’t it?

Stake your life on the Word of God as the truth path to salvation and as God-breathed.

And third, stake your life on the Word of God (#3) AS USEFUL FOR ALL OF LIFE. V.16 again.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful [King James: profitable] for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

I love this passage of Scripture because it tells us how practical the Word of God really is.

It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

What is righteousness?

It is rightness. It is uprightness. It is what is good and pleasing to God.

We cannot be righteous on our own. We need Christ’s righteousness imputed to our account.

But after we come to Christ and get His righteousness as a gift, He begins to work out His righteousness in our lives.

What is true of us positionally becomes increasingly true of us practically.

And the Bible is one of the God-appointed means of growing in practical righteousness.

In other words, the Bible tells us how to live.

The Bible tells us how live lives that work.
Lives that please God.
Lives that are wise and righteous.

It’s practical. It tells us the most important things that we need to know.

It’s useful so that (notice this, v.17) “so that the man of God (you and me) may be thoroughly equipped (not just kinda equipped) for every (not just some) good work.”

You know we’re supposed to do good works, right?

Not to earn our salvation but flowing out of it.

How do we get ready to do those works? Bible.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

This is what we call the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture.

It doesn’t say everything that is true about everything. 2+2=4 isn’t in the Bible.

But it tells us the most important things we need to know about everything that we need to know.

The Bible is sufficient.

It is useful for all of life.

Notice the 4 ways here that Paul says it is useful. V.16 again.

“For teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”

Teaching is laying out the path.

How a Christian should talk, relate to others, do their work, and so forth.

Rebuking is stopping us when we’ve gotten off of the path.

The Bible rebukes us when we need it, praise God!

Correcting is showing us how to get back onto the path.

It doesn’t just say, “Don’t go there.” It says, “Get back here through this way.”

And Training is showing us how to stay on the path.

How to stay righteous and stay moving in righteous directions.

The Bible is sufficient. It is useful for all of life.

So many people don’t seem to believe this!

So many Christians don’t!

If you have a problem, do you run to the Bible for answers?

Or do you run somewhere else?

Pop psychology?
Oprah or Dr. Phil?
Doctor anybody!
The Government.
Your unbelieving friends?

Christians stake their lives on so many other things than the Word of God!

We need to repent of that and begin to build our lives on the sufficient Word.

So, here are three points of application.

And they were true for Timothy.
They are true for our graduates.
And they are true for all of us.

#1. Read the Word.

If we are going to stake our lives on the Word of God as the true path of salvation, as God-breathed, and as useful for all of life, then we need to know what it says.

Read the Word.

And I don’t mean just a little verse or two a day.

We need to read and re-read and study the Word of God.

Notice that Paul calls Timothy to continue in it. And he says that Timothy knows it. He knows that Timothy knows it. He’s known it since he was an infant!

Do you know it? Do I?

So often I feel so weak in the Scriptures. Like I’m just starting out.

We need to get the Bible into us so that we are full of it!

Read the Word.

Read all of it! Notice that it says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.”

That means Old and New Testaments. Not just the easy parts.

Are you involved in regular, systematic reading and studying of the Bible?

If you aren’t, you aren’t growing. Guaranteed.

This is one of the reasons why we are going to Hosea next Sunday. We are going to get into a prophecy that shows us Who God is from the Old Testament. And we’re going to see the love of God through the lense of Hosea. And the grace of God. As well as the holiness of God. And we’ll be pointed towards “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” as do it.

And it will be useful for our lives.

Because it is God’s Holy, Inspired, Inerrant, Sufficient, Authoritative Word!

What plan do you need to put in place this week to begin?

Read the Word.

#2. Heed the Word.

Don’t just look in the mirror and then walk away.

We need to trust the Word and obey the Word and bank on the Word and live out what we read in the Word.

Or it’s no good.

If we just read and don’t heed, then we’re building on sand.

We’ve got to do what it says.

That’s what it means to stake your life on the Word of God.

Heed it.

And #3. Speed the Word.

Share it. Spread it. Preach it. Give it away.

In the very next sentence, Paul says, “I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction” (4:1-2).

Don’t just read it. Pass it on. Share what you’ve learned with others.

They need just as much as you.

They need to know that God’s Word is the true path to salvation.

How are you doing at sharing the Gospel with others?

We were on vacation last week, and I am so ashamed to report how few times I took opportunities to share the Gospel like I’m trying to learn to do.

They need to know that God’s Word is the true path to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

And they need to know that God’s Word is God-breathed. From God. Trustworthy, Accurate, True.

Our kids just learned a new catechism question. “How can I discover what pleases God? Answer: God tells me what pleases Him in His Word, the Bible.”

And they need to know that God’s Word is useful for all of life. Sufficient. Helpful. Practical. Stake-worthy. Worthy of staking your life on it.

So, graduates and all of us, let’s believe it and build our lives on it and help others to do the same.

Don’t Waste Your Life. Stake It On the Word of God.