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[0:00] All right, if you have your Bibles today, I'd encourage you to turn to 2 Timothy.

[0:13] And this morning, we're going to talk about something that maybe seems evident for us, that maybe seems obvious for us.

[0:37] And yet, sometimes those things that are evident and obvious need to be pointed out anyway. And we need to be reminded of them. And this is one of those things that I think is important for all of us as believers to be reminded of.

[0:51] 2 Timothy 3, we're going to read just two verses, 16 and 17. And I know you just sat down, but get some exercise. I'd ask you to stand, if you're able, as we read God's Word.

[1:04] 2 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 16. 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, thoroughly furnished to all good works.

[1:27] Let's pray. Lord God, once again, we thank You for this morning that You've given us. We thank You that we can be in Your house, that we can be in Your presence, that we can be among our family. Lord, all these are blessings.

[1:38] And we thank You for this time right now. We thank You for the Word that we have before us. Lord, that it's truth, that it's life, that it's wisdom for us. And I pray, Lord, that we would be reminded of that this morning.

[1:50] So we would ask that through Your Word, You would speak to our hearts, remind us of things that we need reminded of. Just solidify these things in our hearts and in our minds, Lord.

[2:01] And we ask and pray these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, Amen. You can be seated this morning. What do you think we're talking about this morning?

[2:13] Any guesses? The Word of God. We use a lot of terms for that, don't we? Doug said the Word of God. I think my mom said Scripture. What other words do we use for that?

[2:26] The Gospel. The Bible. We use a lot of things that are all talking about the same thing. And that is the Word of God. But what we, hopefully, you brought it this morning.

[2:37] If you didn't, I encourage you to do that. And there are always Bibles on your way in to grab if you forgot yours. And, you know, I do praise God. Not always. But I do praise God for technology.

[2:49] Sometimes. When I can figure it out. But I praise God that, you know, we can carry our phones with us. And they can have a lot of things that aren't good on them. But what else can you have on your phone? Or your tablet.

[3:00] Or your computer. That you can have with you all the time. The Bible. How many of you are separated from your phone for very long during the day? A few of you. How many of you pretty well have your phone with you all the time?

[3:14] Be honest. How many of you pretty well have your phone with you all the time? You know what that means? You have access to the Scripture. How often? All the time. If you have not downloaded on your phone.

[3:25] If you download things on there. If you have downloaded a bunch of games on there. But you have not downloaded a Bible on there. I want to encourage you to maybe rethink that. Because which is more important?

[3:39] I know we like the little bubble games or whatever you play on there. But how much value and benefit are those for our lives? None. They distract us.

[3:49] They entertain us. They kill time if you're waiting for something. But that's about it. But if we have access to God's Word, what benefit is that in our lives? Eternal life.

[4:00] Eternal life. And so much more than that. And that is exactly the Scripture in 2 Timothy. That's exactly what it's talking about. Because look at what it says. It starts with one word that's only three letters that really sets the tone for this whole, these couple verses.

[4:16] All Scripture. We understand what the word all means, right? It means all of it. It means literally how many verses in the Bible? All of them.

[4:27] From Genesis, the beginning, to Revelation, in the end. All Scripture is what? I'll let you read it.

[4:38] You can answer me. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is a pretty valuable statement, isn't it?

[4:49] Because if we thought this was just... Because there are a lot of different authors of the Bible. And when I say authors, I mean the one that actually penned it. The one that wrote it down. There's a lot of different authors from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

[5:01] But there is one thing that unifies it all in the fact that it is all inspired by God. That God directed all of it from cover to cover.

[5:11] Every Scripture, every verse that we read was inspired by God. That means it is something that He wants you to know. And I know sometimes we may be thinking, and you may be sitting there thinking, Well, that's obvious.

[5:27] But is it? How obvious is that in the world we live in today, that this is all the truth of God? How obvious is that in the world we live in today?

[5:37] If it was really that evident and that obvious, our world would be a different place, wouldn't it? Not just for non-believers, but also for us as believers, as Christians.

[5:48] Even knowing that this is all inspired by God, which means it is all true. Even knowing that, how do we treat it? Because sometimes we can know something is true, but does that guarantee we're going to use it?

[6:03] We use the example, and I think there's so much truth to that. When you get something, you get instructions with it generally, right? Unless it comes from China and there's no instructions, and then you've got to just guess at it.

[6:14] You've had that, right? You're looking in the box, where's the instructions? And you find out they didn't come with any. And you've got to wing it. How does that work out? Sometimes great.

[6:27] Sometimes you get it put together and you have a bunch of extra parts, and you wonder, what happened? Are these things really important or not? Even with instructions that we know are right, do you always use them?

[6:41] Do you? Jerry does. That's great, Jerry. I am not Jerry. How many of you do not always use instructions? Okay.

[6:55] A lot of you are like me. You don't... What's that, Mom? What'd you say? You don't always understand the instructions. That happens too. Or sometimes they give you these black and white pictures, and you're like, I can't make out what part of this thing is that.

[7:11] But we have these instructions, and for me anyway, I'll just speak for myself. I know that they would help me put it together. But the whole root of the problem is one thing.

[7:21] I sometimes think, I don't need those. Where does that thought come from? What results in the thought of, I don't need those instructions?

[7:32] This is the important thing for us to realize. Where does that come from, Colton? From Satan? Well, with the Bible, maybe. But just with instructions on things in life on a day-to-day basis, for me anyway, it stems from, I don't need those instructions because I'm smart enough to figure this out, finish this thought, by myself, on my own.

[7:59] Ego. I don't need any stupid instructions. I think I've said that before. Where's Satan? You've heard me say that. I don't need those stupid... She'll hand me the instructions. I don't need those. And I just start putting it together.

[8:13] They're extra. They sent extra. Pretty sure those are extra parts. I never get extra. Maybe they're not extra.

[8:25] But here's the thing. That is a mentality. And we joke about it. It's fine to have that with instructions, unless it's for safety reasons. But we can have that thought with instructions.

[8:36] But the problem is so often, even us as believers, we carry that over to God's Word. We carry it over to spiritual things. We carry it over to life in general. And think that we are smart enough, that we are wise enough, that we can figure it out on our own, and come up with our own way of doing things.

[8:53] That is the ego that we sometimes have. And everything we've been talking about this morning, and I think God had that in mind, everything we've been talking about this morning is being what?

[9:05] Humble. Humble and having an ego are not the same thing, are they? They're two opposite ends of the spectrum. On this end, you're humble and understand that you don't have it all figured out, understand that you don't know it all, understand that there are others that know more than you.

[9:20] And on the other end is the ego that I've got it all figured out. I'm smart. I can do this on my own. Everybody else might not have it figured out because they're not as smart as me.

[9:31] That's the other end, isn't it? Isn't it? Yeah. But when we do that with the Scripture, folks, it is a dangerous thing for us even as believers, if you're a believer this morning, because that thought can creep in, and Colton is right, it can creep in because Satan likes to plant those seeds that we don't need the Scripture, or that we can figure it out without the Scripture, or even more insidious thoughts that, well, the Scripture's outdated, that there's a better way of doing things in the world today.

[10:01] Do you think Satan plants those thoughts in people's minds? That, oh, that Scripture is, that one's really outdated. God doesn't mean that for us in today's world. Have you ever heard that before?

[10:13] Yes. Is it true? What did we just read? Everybody read it together. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

[10:25] All of it. And if God says it, how long do you think it's true for? For eternity. For eternity. And we're going to look at that this morning. But it's all given by God, and it says it's profitable.

[10:39] We should pay attention because of that. Do you like profitable things? How many of you have a job? How many of you work? A lot of hands going up.

[10:49] Is it profitable? Hey, if it's not profitable, why are you doing it? You were told I had to. You were told you had to. But really, it's not charity work when you go to work, is it?

[11:03] I mean, you might be doing good things, but do you still expect to get paid? Because that's the reality of the life. You need some income coming in. So your job is profitable, and you understand that, and that's why you do it every day, or as often as you're required to do it.

[11:19] It says that God's Word is profitable for us. We should pay attention, and that means we should be interested in this, not just every once in a while, but every day. What happens if you only show up to your job when you feel like it?

[11:35] Does anybody have a job like that? You just go in when you feel like it? We won't get into politics. That's not the way jobs work.

[11:48] You go, and you go every day because that's the expectation for it to be profitable. God's Word is the same way. We can't just pick and choose and look at it when we feel like it.

[11:59] This is something that is to be used all the time. And the thing is, it is profitable for us. It's useful, and it gives us a whole list for doctrine. What is doctrine? I know that's kind of a biblical, theological kind of word, but what is doctrine?

[12:14] What does that mean? Anybody know? Teaching. A doctrine is what to believe.

[12:25] That's what a doctrine is. It tells you this is the truth. This is what you should believe. That's a doctrine. Does the Bible give us that? Does it tell us what to believe? Does the Bible tell us what to believe?

[12:38] Everybody nod your head and say yes. You're awake, aren't you? I know it's the Fourth of July weekend and all, but wake up. The Bible tells us what to believe. It tells us to believe some pretty important things, doesn't it?

[12:51] Who created everything? God. Who created man? God. Who created woman? God. Who created the concept of marriage? God. God.

[13:01] Who created the concept of family? God. Who tells us what's right and what's wrong? God. Who tells us the way that we can be separated from our sin so that we can be perfect in His eyes?

[13:15] God. All these things, who tells us? God. That's the doctrine. That's the truth of His Word. God telling you this is what's right. And if we don't have that, what are you left with?

[13:27] If you don't believe that this is a truth and this is right, I want you to think, really, what are you left with? This is a question to pose to the whole world, really.

[13:38] If you don't believe that there is a higher power, a God that created everything, that tells us what's right and what's wrong, what are you left with? What's wrong with you?

[13:51] What's wrong with you? You're left figuring it out on your own, aren't you? Aren't you? And what happens when we try to figure it out on our own? It don't work out, Jerry says.

[14:07] And part of the problem is, if we're all left to figure it out on our own, what I figure out is going to be different than what you figure out, right? And I'm going to say, this is right, and you're going to say, no, this is right.

[14:19] And what's going to be the result of that when you have 110 people saying, no, I know what's right and you don't? And let alone the 110 of us are in here, what happens when you have a whole nation of people that some say, I've got this figured out and it's right, and the others say, no, you don't?

[14:35] Chaos. And then you expound that to the whole world. But folks, God is the creator and He already told us what's right and wrong. Doctrine. Doctrine.

[14:47] Knowing what's right, what to believe. Reproof. What is reproof? It's an interesting word. Maybe kind of hard to define.

[15:00] Correction is the next thing it says. So it's a little different than correction. Reproof is disapproval of something. That's what reproof means. So who is the one that is entitled to disapprove of us?

[15:17] God. The Bible points out where we fall short, doesn't it? Doesn't it? You ever fall short? Do you ever fall short?

[15:30] Yeah. The Bible points that out. Isn't that great to have pointed out where you fall short, where you're wrong, where you're making mistakes, where you're sinning?

[15:42] And here's the thing. That hits all of us, doesn't it? I know we can talk about the world outside the church and we can point out a lot of things that are wrong, right? You know, I wrote down some that are just, we like pointing out that are wrong.

[15:53] We can talk about homosexuality. Bible says that's wrong, right? We agree on that. God says He disapproves of it. It's wrong. The whole transsexual thing.

[16:04] Boys thinking they're girls, girls thinking they're boys. Guess what? It's wrong. God's Word says that. He created male and female. God created them, not whatever you choose, right? God disapproves.

[16:14] Talk about abortion. Ending life. Who is in charge of life? God. God disapproves of that, right? And we as Christians can start to say, hey, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

[16:26] Those things are all wrong. But you know, there's a lot of other things that kind of can hit closer to home, aren't there? Because we have to look at all Scripture, don't we? Not pick and choose, but all Scripture because you know what?

[16:38] It also says lying is wrong, doesn't it? Just as wrong as abortion. Sin is sin, folks. We put it on scales of worse and whatever, but sin is sin.

[16:50] It all separates us from God. And the Bible says lying is wrong. How many of you have done that? Guess what? God disapproves. You know that? We can look at other things.

[17:01] It doesn't stop there. What about envy? You ever envy? Guess what? God disapproves of that. You know that? Okay, let's keep going with these things that hit us, right?

[17:16] What about gluttony? You know what gluttony is, right? Eating too much, too often. Guess what? Does God approve of that?

[17:27] No. What about gossip? Oh, we like the juicy stuff, right? Guess what? Guess what?

[17:39] You can guess. God disapproves of it. Right. Reproof. This points out the things God disapproves of.

[17:50] Things that don't meet with His approval. But the wonderful thing is, what comes after this? We're not left with God disapproving. Correction. God shows us how to correct it.

[18:01] We don't have to stay in that point of God saying, I am not happy with you right now. Chris Baker, I am not happy with that. You think God ever looks down on us like that? Yeah. And He also says, I want you to change that.

[18:13] You need to correct that right now. We talk to our kids that way, right? Not happy with that, mister. You need to change that attitude right now. God corrects us.

[18:25] He shows us how to change that. He shows us the way that we can have that sin forgiven and move on and do better. So God's Word, it also does the correction and instructs us in righteousness how to live right in God's eyes.

[18:38] All these things that the Scripture does, and this is just a taste. I told you we're going to look at one other place in the Bible, and I want you to turn to Psalms. The book of Psalms, chapter, any guesses?

[18:55] 119. Psalms 119. We're going to start by reading it all.

[19:12] Just seeing how much of you know about Psalms 119 when I say that. Psalms 119 has 176 verses in it. So we're going to start memorizing that, right?

[19:25] We're going to hit the highlights, a few of them, of Psalms 119. And the reason this ties in with 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 is because the entire chapter, all 176 verses, talk about one thing, God's Word.

[19:40] It uses a bunch of different terms. It talks about His statutes. It talks about His commandments. It talks about His precepts. It talks about His thoughts. It's all God's Word. It's all what God says is profitable for us.

[19:54] We're going to start in Psalms 119, and we're going to go through some of these quickly. Psalms 119 verse 160. So towards the end of Psalms 119, we're going to jump around a little bit.

[20:06] But this kind of goes along and is something we have to understand and believe. Your Word, what word is it talking about? Word of God, is true from the beginning.

[20:21] And every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. What is the importance of understanding that as a believer? You can answer.

[20:36] What is the importance of understanding that as a believer? You can't go wrong if you follow it. It never changes.

[20:46] You don't have to worry about it being one way one day and the other way the next, which is how most things are in life, right? There's constantly updates. Well, now this is the way you do it. You don't do it that way anymore.

[20:58] The world's constantly changing with all kinds of things. But it says this is true from the beginning. And it will endure forever. It always will be. And it doesn't matter how much society changes.

[21:09] It doesn't matter how much technology changes. Because God's Word does not change. It doesn't. It's faithful and true and always will be.

[21:20] And folks, the reason we're looking at this morning, and again, you may be saying, well, that's obvious. We know that. You need reminded of it. Because if we really believe that, we're going to use the Word, aren't we? Aren't we?

[21:32] We're going to understand the importance of it. It is true from the beginning, always has been. And it endures forever, it always will be.

[21:43] Now look at the beginning of Psalms, verses 9 through 11. We're not going to be in order in this. So Psalms 119, starting in verse 9, talking about the benefits of God's Word.

[21:57] Look in verses 9, 10, and 11. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to your word?

[22:10] With my whole heart have I sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So what good is God's Word according to these verses?

[22:25] There's two things it talks about. The first one's in verse 9. The last one's in verse 11. God's Word shows us how to...

[22:35] What's in verse 9? We'll go with that first. Be cleansed. How important is it to be cleansed? Think about it.

[22:46] How important is that? How many of you wash the clothes that you're wearing right now? You didn't wash them.

[22:58] Just get up and put them on. How many of you will wash them before you wear them next time? Or after so many times you'll wash them? Why? Why? So you don't smell?

[23:14] Because they get dirty? I get dirty all the time. I'm always doing something. I'm always working on a project. And when I work on a project, I'm like my dad in a lot of ways, but a lot of ways we're very different.

[23:30] He and I can be working on a project together, doing, I think, an equal amount of work. I'll look down at myself and I'll be covered in whatever. I'll look over at my dad and I'm like, have you been doing anything?

[23:45] He won't have a spot on him. He might have a smudge of dirt on his finger. I don't know how that works. There are two ways of doing things. The right way I'm doing it. That might be right. That might be right.

[23:59] But regardless, when we work, you get dirty. You pick up dirt, whether it's your clothes or you. If I wouldn't have taken a shower after yesterday, you wouldn't have wanted to be around me and I was covered in grass and dirt and all kinds of things by the end of the day.

[24:14] Sweat. Things need cleansed because they get dirty. Folks, spiritually, it is the same truth. We go through this life and I would like to say that we can all stay clean, but we don't because it says we all fall short.

[24:29] We all sin. We all think thoughts that we shouldn't. We say things that we shouldn't. We offend when we shouldn't. We may lie when we shouldn't. We may think impure thoughts when we shouldn't.

[24:41] All those things, when we do, we pick up dirt. We become dirty in God's eyes. And as hard as we try to do what's right, the Bible says our own righteousness before God is as filthy rags.

[24:56] I'll show you some rags in my garage that are filthy. That's what we are in God's eyes unless we understand the truth of His Word. It says, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways?

[25:11] The Word shows us how to do that. The Word shows us and tells us about Jesus Christ so that we can be cleansed and be clean and then not sin against God in verse 11.

[25:22] That's the benefit of God's Word. I want you to look in verse 50. We're going to skip a couple of them.

[25:33] Look in verse 50. I could go through every verse, but we might be here till midnight. Verse 50.

[25:46] This is my comfort in my affliction, for your Word has... Your Bible may say one of two things. It may say quickened, or it may say renewed. I'm going to go with the renewed for right now.

[25:59] They really mean the same thing. How often or how much do you need renewed in your life? Think about that word renewal.

[26:10] We understand it the most in the spring when everything has died and then it's being renewed. It's coming to life again. As we go through life, we get dirty, but you know what? We also get tired, don't we? You ever get tired?

[26:22] And I'm not talking physically. I'm talking spiritually. The Bible says not to grow weary in well-doing, but we sometimes do, don't we? Things wear on us and we get tired, but it says here that God's Word can renew us, can give us that renewed sense of strength, that renewed spirit to serve God.

[26:43] That's what the Word can do for us. Do you need renewed? Read the Word. I don't want to miss this verse. Look in verse 32. Two more places we're going to look at quickly.

[26:55] Verse 32, turn there. I will run the way of your commandments. It says run there. What happens when you run?

[27:07] We get tired, but it's good. Why do you run? Because you're excited sometimes, right? I love it when I see my grandkids and they see me and they get this smile and start running towards me.

[27:21] Why do you think I like that so much? Because they're doing it because they're excited to see me, right? It says we should run to the Word. We should be excited about it. Where are we at?

[27:34] Verse 32. Thank you. I've got to find it again. I will run the way of your commandments when you shall...

[27:45] I like the way it puts this. Enlarge my heart. Does your heart need enlarged? It's not talking physically. I know an enlarged heart's not a good thing.

[27:56] It's talking spiritually. I think of this as... Right or wrong. I think of this as the Grinch verse. You all know the story of the Grinch, right? At Christmas time.

[28:06] What happened to the Grinch in the end? His heart grew. What does that mean? Well, he became more compassionate towards other people.

[28:18] It says here that God's Word can enlarge our heart. It can make us more loving. It can make us more compassionate. It can make us more understanding of others. More forgiving of others. That's what God's Word can do.

[28:29] It can enlarge your heart. The other thing can happen. We can get a stony, calloused heart. God's Word can soften it. Last place I want you to look, verses 15 and 16.

[28:40] You're probably right there. And here is my encouragement for you today, all that we've talked about God's Word. I will meditate in your precepts and have respect to your ways.

[28:53] I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your Word. This is my prayer for all of us this morning.

[29:06] And there's two things I think that are key. It says I'll meditate in your precepts, in your Word. That means you're going to spend time thinking about it. Meditate is when you've just stopped everything else and you're thinking on one thing.

[29:22] We need to do that with God's Word. Devote time and attention to it. Let our attention not be doing eight things at one time and multitasking, but be focused on God's Word.

[29:32] That's meditating on it. And when we do that, I think it leads to what it says, and not forget your Word. Too many people have forgotten God's Word.

[29:44] Too many people have forgotten the truth of it. That it is the truth from cover to cover that it is all inspired by God. I pray that none of us are in that number. Understand the truth of God's Word.

[29:56] Meditate on it. Don't forget it. And let it do all these wonderful things in your life. There's other verses we're not going to look at. Read through Psalms 119. It tells you it can give us strength. It talks about the fact that it can give us peace.

[30:08] It talks about giving us hope. All these things it says God's Word can do. We have access to all that in this. And yet sometimes we choose not to use it, don't we?

[30:21] It is sad. But I pray for you and I that we understand the value of God's Word and we use it in our lives often and faithfully. Let's pray.

[30:32] Lord God, thank you again for this morning. I thank you for your Word. Lord, I thank you that we have access to it, that we live in a nation where we have the freedom to read it, to study it. And I pray, Lord, that as believers that we would take advantage of that and do it.

[30:46] And Lord, I pray that your Word, through your Word, we would understand through Jesus Christ that we can cleanse our ways. And through your Word, Lord, I pray that you would enlarge our hearts.

[30:58] Help us to be more open to you, more open to your Spirit, more open to others. Just enlarge our hearts in all ways, Lord. Thank you again for your Word and for the truth that it teaches.

[31:08] In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. This morning, as we close, the altar's open. If you have a need, come and pray. Becky. I just encourage you this morning to make sure you have a foundation and make sure God's Word is the foundation of your life, not just something you look at once in a while, but something that you read and something that you live by.

[31:29] Let's bow our heads as we close in prayer. Lord God, thank you again for this morning. We've had to be together in your presence. We thank you for your Word that we have to read from. And Lord, I just pray that you continue to give us just a desire to be in your Word, to know it, to memorize it, to live it, to believe it.

[31:44] Help us to understand the value of your Word in our lives. Thank you, Lord, for this time. Just watch over each one as we leave this place. And it's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray.

[31:54] And all God's people say, amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful week. And again, if a few of you are willing to stay, we'll be setting up a few tables. Doug? We have people on your side that leave the table again.

[32:06]  Yes, if you're on this side of the church, if you could just leave your hymnal on the chair, that would be helpful. Thank you.