Back 2 School Sunday :: August 25, 2013
2 Timothy 3:14-16
Before we open our Bibles today, I want you to do something for me. I want everyone here to grab a Bible and hold it in your hand.
There are Pew Bibles in the rack in front of you. Most of you hopefully brought your own Bibles. Kids, grab your Bibles or one in the rack in front of you.
Some of you access your Bible on your phone, Kindle, or Ipod or Ipad. Get those out right now and put them in your hand.
Everybody doing it?
You are so privileged!
You are so fortunate.
You are so blessed among people on Earth today and throughout human history.
Because of “What You Hold In Your Hand.”
The Word of God.
And not only do you have it in your hand, but all of you have it in translated into your own heart language, your mother-tongue.
You are blessed to hold in your hand a copy of the holy Scriptures in a language that you can read!
For 1,000 years the Bible was chained up. Literally. Only churches owned copies of the Bible and they were translated into a language that very few people could read, Latin. And the one copy a church owned would be chained to the wall of the church so no one would steal it.
But now, you hold one in your hands.
And that’s what we’re going to learn about today in 2 Timothy 3.
Today is Back 2 School Sunday, when our students return to classrooms, hallways, lockers, desks, teachers, and textbooks. Books, books, books, books, books.
But there is no other book in the world like what you hold in your hands today.
I remember when I first got to Moody Bible Institute, one of our professors, Dr. Bill Marty took a pile of important books and stood in front of the student body and read the title of each one and then tossed across the stage.
It was startling to see him treat those books like that.
But then he held up his Bible and he said that this book was not like those books.
This book was the word of God. That’s what you hold in your hands.
And that’s what Paul was telling Timothy.
Paul was leaving this life, he was headed to meet 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 and it applies to us today. 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 at least v.16 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.
Paul is telling Timothy:
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 what you have learned and become convinced of from what you hold in your hands today.
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 going on 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 already 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 get caught up in.
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.
Build Your Life on the Word of God.
Why? V.14
“Because (first) 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. [By the way, that’s a great encouragement 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 true.
Build 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 also 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.
Build your life on it.
I remember the time at Moody Bible Institute when I decided to do this. I had been struggling with the reliability of the Scriptures and whether or not I was going to submit to their authority over my life. It came to 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.
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.”
What You Now Hold in Your Hand Make the Blueprint of Your Life.
Three reasons why.
Number One: Because what you hold in your hand.
#1. GIVES 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.
There’s a new book out this month called “Jesus on Every Page: 10 Simple Ways to Seek and Find Christ in the Old Testament.”
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 read what you hold in your hands.
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 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. That’s the gospel and that’s what we were trying to share yesterday with our community.
And any other path to salvation is a load of hooey.
Number two: What you hold in your hand:
#2. IS 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 build your life on the Bible because it supernaturally comes from a 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 you hold in your hands. A God-breathed book.
Now, that is not what the world says.
The world says that the Bible is merely a human product of fallen men which actually hides the truth.
It’s just a myth.
It’s just another religious book.
It’s just like the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita or the Book of Mormon.
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.”
But as for you (v.14) continue in what you have learned and become convinced up because all Scripture is God-breathed.
And third, what you hold in your hand is:
#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 very 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 reckoned 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 street-level 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. What you hold in your hand.
“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 and 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.
Facebook.
Christians build 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.
If what you hold in your hands gives the true path for salvation, is God-breathed, and is useful for all of life, then we need to do at least 3 things:
First, Read the Word.
This book is not magic. It is supernatural, but it is not magic. And it does not work by osmosis.
Just because you hold it in your hands or place it on your head does not mean that it is at work in your life.
You’ve got to get into the Word and have the Word get into you.
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.
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 start 1 Samuel next Sunday.
We will dive back into our Old Testaments to see what God wants to show us today about Himself, about ourselves and about Jesus.As we study 1 Samuel, we’ll be pointed towards “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
And we have the same focus with our new Sunday School classes and Kids for Christ and ABC Kids and Youth Group that is starting up again next week.
And it will be useful for our lives.
Because what you have in your hand 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.
Second, 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.
Jesus told a story about that, you know?
It’s a tale of two houses.
One built on rock.
The other house was built on [what?] sand.
Question. Which house encountered a storm?
Both did, didn’t they?
Both houses encountered a storm.
“The rain came down, and the floods came up.” On both of them.
But the outcome was drastically different for the two houses, wasn’t it?
The house built on the rock “stood firm.” It did not fall.
The house built on the sand “fell with a great crash.”
The difference was in the foundations wasn’t it?
Jesus said, “[Anyone] who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
“But [anyone] who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” Crash!
Heed the Word of God.
Is there some area of your life right now where you are in disobedience to the Word of God?
The storm will come. And then ... “Crash!”
I am amazed at the number of Christians who do not make the Bible the standard of their life and choices.
As if the Bible didn’t have anything to say about families, or priorities, or church, or relationships, or work, or education, or whatever.
We need to Heed the Word of God.
We’ve got to do what it says.
And Third, Speed the Word.
Share it. Spread it. Preach it. Give it away.
In the very next sentence of this passage, 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 it just as much as you do.
They need to know that God’s Word teaches the true path to salvation.
How are you doing at sharing the Gospel with others?
I read a scary statistic this week. A study has shown that 20% of non-Christians in North America (the United States and Canada) do not even personally know a follower of Christ.
That’s 13.5 million people who don’t even know someone who is a Christian.
The United States is a mission field.
And we need to go into that field and offer to others what you hold in your hand.
People 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.
And they need to know that God’s Word is useful for all of life. Sufficient. Helpful. Practical. Worthy of building your life on it.
So, yes, let’s go back to school and master the books that our teachers tell us to master.
But let us be MASTERED BY just one book the one you hold in your hand today.
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