The Solution of Scripture

super rain kind of deal. And as I as I was coming down, I was thinking, "Huh, I many I I you know, I I just wonder how many people would show up." But look at you. You're all here. Amen. Thank you, brother. Well, we're going to pick up in second Timothy chapter 3. We're going to pick up where Pastor John left us uh last Sunday night. So if you are able, please stand with me out of respect of the word of God. And we're going to read read our text which is verse 10-1 17. Then we'll pray and we'll get into our message. In chapter 3:10, the Bible says, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lististra.

What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yay. And all that will come uh live godly in Christ, that's you and I, Jesus, shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has 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, truly furnished unto all good works.

Father, Lord, thank you so much again for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We especially thank you for your love as we come together tonight to see your the truth in this passage. Father, I pray for clarity and I pray for open hearts and open minds as only not to learn but to learn to to kind of think about how we can apply these truths in our lives. Father, we love you. We thank you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Please have a seat. So, I'm going to give you a little bit of a recap from the beginning of chapter 3. Paul warns Timothy about the perilous times that will come in the last days.

And Pastor John uh preached about that. He describes a world filled with selfishness, pride, disobedience, spiritual deception. People who have a form of godliness but deny its power. False teachers will creep into the homes and lead people away or astray. By the way, that's happening now. We live in a world today that is filled with confusion, moral decay, and spiritual deception. People are searching for answers. some in philosophy, others in science, and many in self-help areas. This is not just a description of the world out there. It can also affect us right here in church if we are not careful.

Some may within the church may struggle with spiritual compromise. Others may be tempted by worldly thinking or discouraged by the trials in your lives. Families may feel the pressure of cultural values that oppose God's truth. It is very evident in my life that I see this from the islanders standpoint. We are rich in culture and traditions and sometimes these are not of God. So as I consider all the things that's happening and and really looking at and studying chapter 3, Paul's solution is very clear. His solution to this whole issue of what's happening and what's going to be happening towards the end times is very clear and that is to cling to scriptures.

In a world of confusion and compromise, the word of our God should be our anchor. Tonight we will see why scripture is the ultimate solution for every believer. Paul reminds Timothy that in the midst of persecution and false teaching in scripture, the the scriptures are sufficient are sufficient to equip the believer for every work. Don't be like the rest of the world who's looking at science, looking at all the different kinds of places to try to get an explanation of how to live. Tonight, we'll explore four points, four short points. from the passage that show why scripture is the ultimate answer for guidance for stability and spiritual growth.

So the first point is a pattern of a godly life. A pattern of a godly life. us believers, as we understand more of the word of God, we ought to be able to see a pattern in our life that we are living a godly life. In verse 10 and 11, by the way, I'm going to read these scriptures uh as we go. In verse 10 and 11, the Bible says, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lyra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me." This is what Paul was saying.

So Paul begins by reminding Timothy of his own experiences, his example. He prefaces the list of his experiences with a quality of endurance which describes not the spirit which accepts life but the spirit which takes life and controls it. Often times I see a lot of believers trying to live a life spiritually but they're not using the spirit to capture and control life. Rather they deal with life and accept the situations there. See the the quality of conquering endurance is a necessity because persecution is an essential part of an apostle or a believer's experience in life. Timothy had observed Paul's doctrine, what he was what he taught and the manner of life, how he lived.

Notice the connection uh between truth and life. You cannot live apart. You cannot have those two apart. Really, Paul's life was marked by purpose, faith, and love. Even in the fi uh the face of persecution, he lived a pattern of godly living, and the Lord delivered him. That is a good example as we think and examine the life of Paul to follow to emulate. In Philippians 3:17, the Bible says, "Brethren, the followers to uh be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an an example." In Hebrew 13:7, the Bible says, "Remember them which have the rule over you, who has spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation."

Right here at Ohio Baptist Church, you've got the pastoral staff. You've got the deacons. You've got the leaders and the teachers of this church. Look to them. Look to them. Learn from them. So Paul's life was shaped by the word of God. But he warns Timothy that the world will not applaud such living. By the way, that still applies today. The world will not applaud when we live for God. Which brings me to our second point, the reality of persecution. The reality of persecution. And you know living here in the state the 50th state living here in the United States where sometimes we get we take freedom for granted.

You can see this very evidently in third world countries where you are persecuted because you believe in Christ. Next week or whatever that week is we're going to have missions and we'll we'll talk more about that. So in in verse 12 and 13, the Bible says, "Ye and all that live godly in Christ, you and I, Jesus, shall s uh suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers saw uh shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, folks. I'm not sure if you got it yet, but godliness attracts opposition." Let me say this again. Godliness attracts opposition. This is not optional. It is inevitable.

As a believer who lives for God, we ought to be expecting persecution, opposition from all the different corners. The world is moving in the opposite direction. Evil men and seducers are getting worse and worse, not better. And so this reminds us or ought to remind us that the human progress does not always equal to moral progress. The human progress does not always equal to moral progress. In John 15 verse 18, the Bible says, "If the world hate you," this is Jesus talking, "Ye know that it hated me uh before it hated you." Our Lord experienced this this persecution. The world hated him. The world looked to to get rid of him.

In Matthew 5:10, the Bible says, "Blessed are they which are persecuted by righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven straight from the beatitude." Let me read this again because I think if you if you think about the words, it ought to be helpful to us. Blessed are they which are p persecuted for righteousness's sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It ought to help us to overcome the persecutions, the difficulties in life because we know that we are living a righteous life for Christ. And when we do that, we are guaranteed a life in the kingdom of heaven. In such a hostile world where so many bad things are happening, where do we turn?

Where do we turn for stability and strength? You know, I know. I've seen all the things that are happening in our community right now. There's so many chaos. There's so many sin going on in this kind of world. Where do we turn? Well, Paul gives the answer in the next verses of our passage, which brings me to my third point. The power of scriptures. The power of the scriptures. Amen. In verse 14 and 15 of our passage, the Bible says, "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them, and from that and and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

See, Paul, he urges Timothy to continue to remain steadfast in the truth as he was brought up to learn to continue as believers. Paul urging Timothy that also applies to us to continue to continue in the truth. It's so easy to be swayed. Notice the phrase, "Holy scriptures able to make thee wise unto salvation." Holy scriptures able to make thee wise unto salvation. The Bible is not justformational, folks. It is transformational. It leads us to salvation through Christ. In Romans 10:17, the Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." It's so essential not just to open the Bible and learn, but it's so essential for you to be here to le to hear the preaching of the word.

Psalms 19:7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The wisdom of God even gives wisdom to those who live a simple life to those who are not totally educated in our world today. But as we talk about scripture and the word of God and how we learn and and listen to preaching, I don't know you, but often times I myself forget about the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit actually has a role in all of this. The Holy Spirit helps us to understand and apply God's word. In John 14 26, the Bible says this, "But the comforter," this is Jesus talking, "which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

See folks, without the Holy Spirit, we cannot truly grasp or obey the scriptures. And I say this with some concern because we read the scriptures and we think that we understand them and we think that we can as a person can do all of this without the Holy Spirit. I think pastor touched upon this on his uh message this morning, the role of the Holy Spirit because he is the power of the scriptures. Amen. Amen. So the scriptures not only I guess as I said earlier brings salvation but it also equips us for every aspect of life. Every aspect. You may be thinking, "Oh, this is not, you know, I'm experiencing a situation that I don't think is in the Bible."

Everything Everything in life, there is something in scripture that deals with that. That why that's why I think it's so so so important to to hang around other believers. It's so very important to to come to Bible studies. It's so very important to come to Sunday nights where we have group discussions because through those experiences you may just learn something that you don't know that's in scripture that would help you. And so this brings us to our my last point for today. [snorts] the sufficiency of scripture. The sufficiency of scripture. And I'm going to spend a little bit time in this point here.

And in verse the the rest of the chapter starting in verse 16, the Bible says, "All scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnish unto all good works." Several things about this this passage these two verses. The first one is inspir uh inspiration of God. The the phrase inspiration of God means God breathed God breath. Scripture is not man's opinion. Scripture is the very breath of God recorded through human authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Let me say this again. Scripture is the very breath of God. Amen. You know what that means? That means that this understanding of the very breath of God in the word through man influenced by the inspired by the Lord. What that means is the Bible is authoritative. It is trustworthy and it is sufficient. It is sufficient. In 2 Peter 1:21, the Bible says, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." In Psalms 119:160, the Bible says, "Thy word is true from the beginning, and everyone of the righteous judgments endure forever."

I'm not sure if you realize this, but the word of God, there is no expiration. It is good forever. Amen. It is author uh uh you know, it's it's it's just that's the authority of life, the word of God. And the word of God is profitable for every area of of life that I I just mentioned. Paul lists four ways in our passage where scripture works in in us. The first one is doctrine. He mentioned doctrine. Doctrine. It teaches us what is right. The scriptures shows us from the words in the pages what is right. How to live a righteous life. In John 17:17, the Bible says, "Sanctify them through thy truth."

Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. Another way that scripture works in our lives, uh Paul mentioned reproof. Scripture reproves. It shows us what is wrong. Scripture shows us what is wrong. what we are doing wrong. In Hebrews 4:12, the Bible says, "For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any to his uh sword, piercing even the to the dividing a sunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and inter intents of the heart." You know what I realized about this verse? that the Lord, the word of God is so powerful that it will go right through the hardest of hardest hearts.

It will convince you. It will show you what you are doing wrong. But what I see is some people don't realize this because they're not even reading the word of God. And then scriptures has a way of correcting us as well. Not showing us just what's what's wrong, what we're doing wrong, what we are lacking, but correction. It sets us back on the righteous path. In Galatians 6:1 the Bible says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such one in the spirit of meekness, power under control, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." You know this whole idea of correction is when we correct, we correct in a loving way because we love the sinner but not the sin.

We are to be firm. That's meekness. We are not to compromise. Pride is not there. Meekness is power under control. So many times I see some of us try to correct others and they do that through pointing out the faults and not lovingly and and just be firm on the correction side of it. But the the word of God, the scriptures is made for correction as well. And then instruction in righteousness. Instruction in righteousness. See the word of God if if read and understood through the power of our our our God, our Holy Spirit, it trains us to live godly lives. The word of God trains us to live godly lives.

That is why I think it's so important. It's so important that the teaching of the word ought to start with with the little ones. In Psalms 119:9, the Bible says, "Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. Really the goal that we hope from scriptures is the man of God is a mature and equipped for every good work. You know the result of you knowing scriptures, the result of scriptures working in your lives is that the believer becomes perfect. No, I'm not talking about error-free. The believer becomes perfect in a sense of maturity and completeness and truly furnished fully equipped for every good work.

See the Bible is not just as I said earlier for information. It is transformational. In James 1:22, the Bible says, "But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves." Stop being just a hearer. Read, understand, and be doers of the word. Psalms 119 105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my uh my path." Are you letting the word of God shine around you so that you know where you're going? Are you letting the word of God be the light of your path? Uh uh brother Larry is I don't know if he's here but he he likes to go fishing at night and I don't know if you've been underwater before at night.

Scary. The darkness of life is scary. But we have the word. We have the word of God. There was a a story that I was going to share with you, but for the sake of time, I think I'll skip it. But a story that I think illustrates very well this whole thing about this understanding about how scripture is transformational. To to just kind of paraphrase, there was this sister in a children's ward who felt like, you know what, I I've tried all the kinds of books. I've tried all the kinds of philosophies that I' that I can get my hands on. And uh you know life to me is still futile. It's meaningless. A friend told her, "Don't even try the Bible because it's not true."

But she decided to pick up the Gospel of John. And she read it. She read it. And and the thing that really gets me when I was reading this story is the words that finally convinced me. This is the uh sister saying convince me were those in John 18:37 the latter part of that the verse would say to this end was I born this is Christ talking and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth everyone that is the truth of the hear it uh everyone that is of the truth he my voice and you know when when this lady read this this is what she said so I listened Listen to the voice.

I heard the truth and I found my savior. Powerful powerful illustration of of the word of God. Today's world is filled with confusion and compromise. But you have to understand what Paul is saying. Scripture is the solution. It is God breed, authoritative, sufficient for every need. The word of God teaches us, corrects us, and trains us to live for Christ. When we hold fast to the word, we will stand firm in truth and be equipped for every situation in life. So I leave you with this thought. This is my call to you. As you understand this chapter, to read the word daily. To read the word daily. To believe it fully.

To believe it fully. And then finally, to obey it completely. To obey it completely. Psalms 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sina against thee." You know, if we understand scripture through the help of our of our Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, and we place it in our hearts, we cling to scripture, we can navigate this world until the day where we join our father in heaven. Amen. I hope this short message finds you, finds, you know, is helpful to you. As Paul reminds us and encourages Timothy to cling to the scriptures, let's close in prayer. Father, Lord, thank you so much again for your word. We thank you for this passage and we pray that you would help us Lord as we come together to discuss this to understand the value of your word and how to use it in our lives. Father, you are so gracious, so loving. We praise you. We love you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.