Endure: II Timothy 3:10-17 – Challenge to Faithful Preaching

[0:00] I am sure that you have made the same observations that I have, that a young woman or a young man marries someone, and you think to yourself, that woman is marrying someone similar to her father.

[0:19] And the young man gets married and you think, boy, he's marrying a woman just very similar to his mom. And there is a propensity that we have to marry someone like our opposite sex parent.

[0:36] And we also have made the observation where you have individuals who did not have good role models as parents, and someone may say even, I will never become like my parent.

[0:50] And yet, in their own hatred and their own bitterness of their own parents, they actually become to exhibit the very parent that they don't want to.

[1:00] Why is that? Because examples, those who model things before us, that way of living, that way of interacting, that way of seeing the world, becomes very familiar to us, and we want to traffic in those areas that are very familiar to us.

[1:19] And it illustrates how powerful examples are in front of us. And Paul today, we just read the passage. Paul today is writing to Timothy, and he is saying, listen, Timothy, I just warned you, for us, it was last week through the Pastor Jay's message.

[1:38] I just warned you previously of those who are lovers of themselves and not lovers of God, and they had 19 attributes of what they were like.

[1:50] And he says, I didn't model that before you, Timothy. And I modeled something altogether before you, completely different than what I just warned you about.

[2:02] But Timothy, those folks are in your church, and you're to avoid them, and they are deceiving people who are susceptible to deception in your church.

[2:13] I'm saying having nothing to do with them, but that wasn't my example before you. No, Paul, or so Timothy, please model as I pursue Christ, follow me, Timothy, is what Paul is communicating.

[2:27] And he does that beautifully in the text. And so if you have a copy of God's Word with you, we find ourselves today in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 10.

[2:38] And today we're looking at, what does it take to be spiritually faithful? Paul's concern for Timothy is, Paul, Timothy, I want you to be spiritually faithful.

[2:51] And in order to do that, you must recognize and follow godly examples who are before you. So Paul in our passage can seem kind of egotistical or boasting in his own example, but that's not the case.

[3:09] That's not what Paul is doing, because if you notice the text, verses 10 and 11, you however have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in my life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my prescriptions, and suffering that have happened to me.

[3:25] It can kind of seem boastful, but what he's doing is he's comparing and contrasting. He said, these people you're to avoid from last week, those lovers of themselves and not lovers of God.

[3:36] But that wasn't my example to you, Timothy, follow my example. And in these things that Paul says, he mentioned several ways you could break down the way he is to say, what are these godly examples look like?

[3:54] If we're to follow and we're to recognize and then follow the godly examples, what do they look like? So you see that Paul is faithful in their ministry duties.

[4:07] Paul was faithful in the ministry duties, and those who were to look to follow and to emulate are faithful in their ministry duties. For Paul, he says, my teaching, my doctrine.

[4:19] Paul divinely inspired this apostolic teaching that Timothy heard from time and again, and while accompanying Paul on his missionary journeys.

[4:30] Today there are all kinds of pseudo Christianity that are a mixture of psychology and successful motivation and personality cults and health and wealth and prosperity gospel folks.

[4:41] We are inundated on TV and radio, podcasts, blogs, online churches with a pseudo Christian gospel. But Paul proclaimed the true gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[4:54] And Timothy had witnessed it time and again, and Paul stood apart from all the other teachers. Who were lovers of themselves, who had the appearance of godliness, but who denied its power.

[5:09] Godly examples teach that which is true in our sound doctrine, and you are to follow them and conduct. Paul says in my conduct, my lifestyle, he could have said, Timothy could have said of Paul, he practiced what he preached.

[5:28] There was no disparity. And then my aim, Paul says to Timothy, that is Paul's purpose in life, his motivation for service under the Lord.

[5:40] What drove Paul in his missionaries journeys? Why would he go through all of those trials and travails to accomplish what purpose? The intercompulsion to proclaim the gospel and to risk his own life.

[5:54] Paul's voluntary yielding of his life was to the Lord, to worship the Lord, to serve the Lord, and to love his people, and to proclaim the gospel.

[6:05] And to do so willingly and gladly, this was the aim of Paul. And he said to Timothy, follow my example because I was faithful in my ministry duties.

[6:18] Second, godly examples possess faithful personal virtues. My patience, my love, my faith, my steadfast perseverance were some of the things that Paul mentioned.

[6:35] Paul was speaking of his patience of being resolute and persistent as a servant of Christ who never gives up, who never gives in regardless of the cost, especially with regard to people.

[6:48] When we come down to steadfastness and perseverance, that's with regard to circumstances. So both with people and with circumstances, Paul was patient and he persevered.

[7:00] And his love, Paul is not a lover of himself as those he warned about, but this is an agape love, a selfless love that Paul wrote that is superior to faith and hope as in 1 Corinthians and is named first among the fruit of the Spirit.

[7:18] Love, joy, peace, patience. And thirdly, we must be able to recognize and follow godly examples.

[7:31] Well godly examples, they endure difficult hardship. And in verse 11, in persecutions and suffering and persecutions, the word literally means putting to fight, so to speak.

[7:47] Because of the refusal to compromise and cease to proclaim the gospel, both Paul and Timothy often face persecutions, both from the Jews and from those who are without Christ.

[7:58] And then he says, my sufferings. During Paul's first missionary journey in Acts chapter 11 and 13, or 13 and 14, Paul first met Timothy, a resident of Lystra, and he says in verse 11, the persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Iconium, Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured.

[8:22] Yet all of them, the Lord rescued me. Can you imagine being Timothy, perhaps the first time he ever came across Paul? Paul comes through town and he's stoned to death, almost to death.

[8:39] Paul, and that was your first time you ever saw this apostle. He came through town proclaiming Christ the Messiah, and you witnessed the stoning of this man.

[8:51] And then on the second missionary journey, Timothy, he picks up Timothy and travels with him. So my question is this for us.

[9:04] To be spiritually faithful, we must recognize and follow godly examples. So my first question is, who are the godly examples that you follow?

[9:15] To be spiritually faithful, one needs godly models who follow scripture. Not every circumstance that we face in a day is written of in scripture.

[9:29] The principles applied to that circumstance are found in scripture, but how that principle is applied in your specific circumstance, maybe someone godly could help open the scriptures and say, here's the principle to apply, and here's how I have done it in my life.

[9:47] And this is my offering to you. This is how I would suggest moving forward. Those godly examples are wonderful. I'll give you a simple, small thing that someone did that I noted, and this is so minute.

[10:03] It almost shouldn't even be mentioned in a sermon. It's so small, but it meant something to me, and I noted it. There's a man who I know who is extremely selfless, and he always builds others up in his speech, and he does it in very small ways.

[10:17] And so I've listened to this man, and I thought, how does he do this? And one time he introduced me to someone. And instead of saying, this is Scott, he serves as a pastor here in town, something like this that would have been common for anyone to introduce, this is what he did.

[10:34] He said, this is my friend Scott, and among other things he serves as a pastor. Did you hear it? Among other things.

[10:45] Pastor is not what defines Scott's whole life as he's just a pastor, as if that would be a bad thing. But among other things about Scott, he serves as a pastor, that his whole life isn't summed up as just that.

[11:01] And I just felt like, there's more to me than just a pastor. That's great. And it was something so small.

[11:12] But do you see, we talk about loving speech. Well, what is loving speech? He just modeled very specifically what loving speech looks like and feels like. It felt different.

[11:25] We need examples. So how do I introduce people now? Among other things, I would like to introduce to you this person. They're not just a student. They're not just retired.

[11:36] They're not just a grandparent. Among other things. I can't wait to introduce you to someone.

[11:50] It's small, and I know that many of you are facing things that are quite altogether far more complicated. I know that. But that's the point of having examples in front of us.

[12:03] How to emulate and model godliness in speech and in conduct. How to weather adversity and suffering. We need examples.

[12:15] I'm grateful for individuals in this church who serve as examples to me. Nancy Chapel, none of these know that I'm going to do this. She is a genuine example to me of one who rejoices with those who rejoice.

[12:30] She came to the great northern university graduation and I thought, why is Nancy here? She has no granddaughter or grandson graduating.

[12:41] What on earth is this woman doing? But here's what I know. She prays. She prays. And so I can't think of any other reason for this woman to be there, but other than she, I spoke with her momentarily at the graduation.

[12:57] She was like, this is the best thing ever. She just came to a graduation to rejoice with those who were rejoicing. Most of us would want to avoid college graduations.

[13:10] Dottie Calvert is a woman who memorizes scripture and who prays. Dottie says to me, I'll ask her because I know she's a praying woman. And I'll ask her, hey, Dottie, would you please pray for me?

[13:23] Here's how and or I'll give her a situation and she'll say, can I get back to you, Scott? I'd like a few days to pray on that. And then I'd like to respond a little more thoughtfully.

[13:35] I can wait a few days for a woman who prays. Wayne Lucas is a servant. He's an example of someone who is lowly.

[13:47] Anytime there is a church function, he is in the kitchen washing dishes and I could go on.

[13:59] We need godly examples who model godliness in front of us. And it's in order to be spiritually faithful. What does lowliness look like? What does prayer look like?

[14:11] What does someone who rejoices with others who rejoice look like? I need examples and some model this oh so well.

[14:23] To be spiritually faithful, we also must be willing to endure persecution or suffering as the last point illustrates.

[14:36] Look with me in verse 12. Indeed, all who desire to live godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Think about Timothy. He's undergoing some persecution.

[14:48] He's undergoing some suffering there in Ephesus, Paul, in Rome writing this letter and he's writing to this pastor and he's like, persecution is normative, Timothy.

[14:59] It's okay. Remain faithful. All who desire to live godly lives will be persecuted. I wanted to pause here and just have four thoughts that I wanted to share with you about persecution here in America.

[15:12] Concerning persecution, I want to offer four thoughts. However, however Christians, number one, however Christians might be persecuted in America, let us be clear that most of us still have it pretty good most of the time.

[15:26] We are not getting beheaded. We are not thrown to the lions. We are not thrown into prison. There are more than 300,000 churches in this country. It is legal to be Christian. It is free to legally assemble together for corporate worship.

[15:40] I'm glad you did this morning. Please let's take advantage of it. It's legal to proclaim Christ. It's legal to convert to Christianity and we don't want to miss all the things that we are to be thankful for and pretend that everyone is out to get us.

[15:55] That's number one. Number two, when we face trials or experience opposition because of our faith, let us not throw a public pity party.

[16:05] I've never been a fan of reposting and social media, let's assume, public praise or public criticism. This doesn't mean that we can't respond to criticism or defend ourselves.

[16:18] I'll say more about that here in a moment. But there is something distasteful about Christians who can only talk about how bad things have gotten and how much one has suffered.

[16:28] Christians are meant to carry a cross. We are not meant to be perpetual complainers. That's number two. Number three, having said all of this, let's not minimize the extent to which traditional Christianity and the traditional biblical worldview are facing increasing intolerance in this country.

[16:48] The fines, the lawsuits, the job losses, the public disdain, these are not just figments of the imagination. No amount of PR work is going to rescue the church from being thought of as backwards or bigoted.

[17:03] We can't outnice our way or outjustice our way through lawsuits into cultural acceptance, not if you hold traditional biblical views, especially right now concerning gender and sexuality.

[17:19] And it does not help the church or our fellow Christians to insist that we kindly acquiesce to cultural demands. We have an opportunity to defend the faith and defend each other.

[17:31] Lastly, while we are right to downplay American Christian persecution in light of what other Christians face around the world, let us not make the word persecution mean less than it does biblically in the New Testament.

[17:50] Facts of persecution are arrest, murder, physical violence, these are mentioned, but Jesus also says in Matthew chapter 5, he promises that you'll be blessed for those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake.

[18:06] In verse 11 he says, blessed are those who revile you, who persecute you, who utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

[18:17] Those who are hated by all for my namesake. Jesus talking to his apostles said this, remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

[18:32] If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And then in here in Timothy, indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

[18:46] persecution is not something that befalls only on a few Christians. We all get to enjoy this. My point is plain, persecution is the normal experience of every Christian everywhere, from stiff fines to family shame, to being kicked out of college, to laws against sharing one's faith, to unjust trials, to public mockery and scorn, to arrest, to brutality, to the loss of jobs, even to one's very life.

[19:21] If we follow Jesus in this world, we will face persecution at some point in our Christian discipleship. Even American Christians, we will have crosses to carry.

[19:35] I was recently in a pastor's gathering of churches and pastors who gather and encourage one another. And we were speaking about some things that are coming down in legislation that we as pastors need to be mindful of.

[19:51] And there's a lot of work currently in being done with hate speech laws. And as already in Canada, our pastors in Canada cannot speak against sexual orientation, homosexuality, and these kinds of things under hate speech laws.

[20:09] And we think it's only a matter of time, shortly, that it will be illegal for people to speak out against sin. Let's just, certain sins.

[20:21] On another front we are watching is already in Washington state, it is unlawful for license to mental health practitioners to use what has been labeled conversion therapy to encourage one to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

[20:38] At this point, it is permissible for religious providers and pastors to utilize conversion therapy. But here's the point. At this point, it's permissible.

[20:48] But there is going to come a day, we anticipate that even pastors cannot utilize the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, his death for sin, and explain how God has created each person beautifully and wonderfully in maleness and femaleness.

[21:04] That there is an unparalleled beauty to each person's maleness and femaleness with roles and responsibilities that we each get to play within our maleness and femaleness that is beautiful and it reflects the very God who redeemed us in his equally yet complimentary roles as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[21:24] That good news that can liberate a person and transform a heart and transform someone from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, that gospel that brings someone from spiritual death to spiritual life, that good news that is accompanied with new affections that one has never known, may be illegal to share in short order.

[21:46] So let's just think real quick what prison is. Prison is God's relocation program. If your aim in life is to make the greatness of the Lord's name known and live for his glory and make disciples, while today I get to do that here and now, I may be able to get to do that there and then, that's what prison is.

[22:13] Nothing changes about the purpose of one's life. Just please take care of my family. I don't want to minimize prison in saying that, but where else can we go?

[22:30] Jesus has the words of life. What else can we do? Maybe we have confidence in our Lord.

[22:49] Paul then makes a transition and he said, if to be spiritually faithful, one must recognize and follow Godly examples, but now we must recognize and follow and continue in his word.

[23:05] That's the second point, the major point. We must continue in his word. He's going to tell Timothy, continue in this word. Look with me in verse 14, but ask for you continue in what you have learned.

[23:17] Now, when we read the word continue, that verb that is in this present active imperative sense, this, you always be pursuing this, Timothy. What is it that he is to persist in the actual noun to which that verb is linked to is found in verse 15?

[23:34] Look with me and we're going to get to it, but ask for you in verse 14, continue. What is he to continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed?

[23:44] What is it that he learned and firmly believed, knowing whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, the word of God?

[23:56] So what is it that Timothy was to pursue, to continue, to persist in? It is the word of God. Remember mentioned as the sacred writings, which would have been the Old Testament in this when Paul was writing to Timothy.

[24:12] Timothy was to consist in these, to continue to persist in these things. Notice though, who is responsible for this?

[24:24] Verse 14, continue in what you've learned and you have firmly believed knowing that whom you have heard it, learned it. Whom is plural? So not only did Timothy learn from Paul these sacred writings, but whom is plural?

[24:41] And we get to idea who Paul also means in the whom because he says in verse 15, whom from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. Who was influential in Paul, in Timothy's life?

[24:54] We remember because in verse five of chapter one, we learned of his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice. Here on Mother's Day, who is among the whom that Paul is writing?

[25:06] Who did he, Timothy, learn from childhood the word of God? His mother, his grandmother. These were influential in his life.

[25:17] Discipleship begins in the home. When should you read scripture to your children from infancy? When should you begin to inform God's amazing truths to your child from infancy?

[25:33] And you say, well, an infant can't understand what I'm saying. Oh, but I tell you what they can understand.

[25:44] What love feels like. They know that. They know what unloving looks like and feels like to them. You know what other truth that you can communicate in addition to unconditional love to your child?

[25:57] You can teach them how to trust. You can trust your God. So how do you, you're going to have activities and you're going to treat your child, your infant in ways that teach them what trust and distrust feels like.

[26:15] You're going to teach them that you'll take care of their needs, diaper changes, feeding. And think about what you're teaching them, the mega truths of God's word of, consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, how God feeds them and close them.

[26:36] Your needs are going to be taken care of. I'll take care of your needs, little one, because that's what God does. It's the very nature of God to take care of your needs. You also get to teach them the sting of sin.

[26:50] The sting of sin, of what discipline is like because God disciplines those whom he loves. And so you get to feel the sting of sin.

[27:01] You get to teach children this. And Lois in Eunice not only taught them the big truths of God's word, but it says the sacred writing. So at some point, Timothy did understand the word of God and he had a grandmother and a mother that was integral in having him learn this, this sacred word.

[27:29] There's some other things that we're going to say about God's word here in a moment. Before I get there, I want to have a little bit of an illustration. Auntie's bookstore is a bookstore downtown.

[27:40] I'm sure many of us have frequented. And it's one of the last brick and mortar bookstores around. And there's a plethora of books, but let's assume we were to go to the bookstore or I was.

[27:55] And let's assume I wanted to learn how to invest my money. And so I thought, well, maybe I have a deficit of knowledge in this area, so let me go look at how to invest money. And let's assume I don't talk to a financial planner for this illustration to rework.

[28:12] And there would be many books on financial planning for the future. And I would have two questions that I would interview a book like this.

[28:23] Number one would be, is it reliable? Is this book reliable? And so what I would do is I would see who the publishing is. I would see who recommended this book.

[28:35] I may go online. I would check out who the author is to see if they understood what they were writing about. So I would ask, is this reliable? And then the second question I would ask the book before I were to purchase it is, is this useful to me?

[28:51] So is this useful to me? What if the author said, hey, if you have a spare million dollars laying around, here's what I would do. That's not useful. I don't have a spare million sitting around.

[29:03] So I would not buy that book. Second, but what if it's not useful because I don't understand terminology? I have mutual funds and IRA, simple IRA, SEP IRAs, 401K, tax divert, annuity, being vested, and I used all these terms, but I didn't define them.

[29:18] That too is not helpful. So I would ask the book, is this reliable? And is this useful? Is this reliable?

[29:30] And is this useful? And Paul is about to say, oh, Timothy, this book that your grandmother and your mother taught you from a very young age, how they, in this book, let me tell you how reliable and useful it is.

[29:50] First of all, the Bible testifies to our only hope of salvation is in Christ. Look with me in the bottom of verse 15.

[30:03] From childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Thanks to grandmother and mother of Timothy, Lois and Eunice, thanks to them, their, his understanding of the sacred writings of the Old Testament, of how it pointed to Christ, prepared Timothy to receive salvation of Jesus.

[30:33] And it's sufficient for salvation. But in many ways, Paul is attributing the work largely of his mother and grandmother, the salvation that Timothy enjoyed to his mother and his grandmother.

[30:49] For these sacred writings makes one wise to found salvation through faith in Christ. But how else is the Bible reliable?

[31:01] Or how is the Bible reliable? Writing in verse 16, we read that all Scripture is breathed out by God and it is breathed out by God.

[31:18] This some translations will say is given by the inspiration of God. What is this inspiration or breathed out by God look like or mean?

[31:28] It means a few things. Number one, God is the originator of Scripture. Once it comes from God, it is reliable. All Scripture then is reliable.

[31:40] What does the word inspired or breathed out means? Much more could be said on this, but it means a couple of things. It comes at God's initiative and with his influence as the source of Scripture.

[31:53] This Bible comes as from, as God's initiative, he initiated this thing to be given this special revelation that we have of who God is and in his ways.

[32:06] It came by his influence. God through the Holy Spirit divinely supervised human authors to produce what is written that we now call Scripture.

[32:18] These human authors were restrained from error and guided in their choice of words even they used so that God received what he wanted and the human author did as well.

[32:31] The human authors were consistent with their personalities and stylistic particularities. You can read the Gospel of Luke as this medical doctor and you could see his attention to detail.

[32:43] He adds a lot more detail in his narrative than does John and Mark, especially Mark. Scripture finds its origin in God.

[32:55] The Bible is not the result of some human religious genius. The Bible is not a great idea of which God somehow then approved.

[33:05] Rather, they are the word of God imparted without error through various human authors. The bottom line is that Scripture is reliable as God is reliable.

[33:21] God's word is true and reliable and one can bank your life on it because the author himself is God and that is why we refer to the Bible as the word of God.

[33:34] The Bible is holy and utterly reliable. All Scripture is God-breathed. Thirdly, again to be spiritually faithful we must continue in his word because his word is useful.

[33:53] How does Paul write this? He says it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Let's look at each of these momentarily.

[34:06] It is for teaching God's truth. It is useful for teaching God's truth.

[34:18] The Bible conveys to us God's wisdom concerning great questions of human existence. Think about what God's word answers. Is there a God?

[34:28] What is God like? How can we know him? Who are we? Why are we on planet Earth? Why is there death and suffering? What lies beyond the grave?

[34:40] What does the future hold? How do we know right from wrong? These things and others are answered in God's word.

[34:50] It is from God and is all knowing authoritative work. But furthermore, the principles and precepts in the Bible concerning all other practicals matters that we grapple with today are also responded to.

[35:03] Things like how do I relate to my spouse? How do I love others? How do I raise my children? How do I manage money? How do I conduct my business? How do I make wise choices? How should I think about such and such?

[35:14] How do I control my emotions, anger, depression, anxiety, impulsiveness, overcome temptation? What does loving speech look like? What should I think about? The Bible speaks to these matters and far more.

[35:29] The fact of the Bible is profitable and useful for teaching implies, of course, the necessity to study it. I am so grateful for on Sunday morning.

[35:40] What are we doing on Sunday morning in our different classes that we offer? Why do we gather in homes and small groups? Why do we study Scripture?

[35:53] It is to understand the usefulness of it and how it applies to our lives. How to make the Lord great in our lives. The greatness of who the Lord is great in our lives.

[36:06] Secondly, we see that the Bible is also good for confronting sin. It says the Bible is profitable for teaching, but also for reproof.

[36:20] This word reproof means to convince or to expose. To expose a falsehood, to expose a deed that is sinful, a false teaching, an erroneous belief, ungodly conduct, this is what it means to convince or expose and reproof.

[36:37] It means not just to reply to someone, but to refute an opponent. The purpose is to bring about correction, confession, renunciation, repentance, and obedience.

[36:49] This means the Bible has the power to expose the sin in our lives and to convince us that we are wrong. This is also what it means that the Word of God wielded by loving believers has the power and ability to expose and convince another that they are in sin and they are doing wrong.

[37:10] If you are thinking, why would I want my sin to be exposed and convince that I am doing wrong? Because sin will always ruin your life.

[37:21] It will always ruin your life. False teaching will always ruin your life. You act on what you believe.

[37:32] Because secondly, and this should probably be the first one, sin is offensive to God. The gift of my sin being exposed is that I can then confess it.

[37:46] I can then turn away from it. I can then forsake it. I can then repent of it and avoid it in the future.

[38:00] We need to be convinced of our sin when we are sinning because we all tend to justify our sin and blame others for our problems that our sin has created.

[38:10] Do we not? We do. Proverbs says it this way, the foolishness of man ruins his way and his heart rages against the Lord.

[38:23] If you are not using the Bible to confront your own sin, then you're not growing in righteousness as God would have you to do. We are to be a spiritually faithful people.

[38:33] We must continue in his word and one of the functions of God's word is that it has the ability to confront sin in our own lives and in the lives of others.

[38:45] This is how the repeating of God's word reveals sin. I'm going to use a quick illustration.

[38:57] The first time we read through God's word, we say, this really applies to that no good neighbor of mine. I wish he would read it. The second time we read, then it says, this is good stuff for those obnoxious people at church.

[39:11] The third time we read it, we say, oh, I wish my wife and kids would read this. It would really improve my family life. And the fourth time we read it, we say, oh Lord, I need to deal with my own sin.

[39:26] It reproves me. It corrects me. We all need it. The third way that God's word is useful, it is useful for correction.

[39:39] Correction is a word that refers to the restoration of something to its original or proper condition. In the ancient Greek word, it would mean like if there was a pillar of a building that fell down, you would write the pillar and you would correct the pillar.

[39:53] And so it just means to restore to its proper place or to its original and proper condition. So the word of God, after exposing and condemning our false belief in sinful action, it then builds us up through divine correction.

[40:11] And correction in Scripture is a positive provision for those who have accepted its negative reproof. In Scripture, we see in Proverbs the wise, the wise love correction, the wise pursue correction, the wise appreciate correction.

[40:31] The fool on the other hand or the scoffer are indifferent toward correction. They are annoyed by correction and judge those who are correcting them and they hate correction.

[40:47] Correction from others is not devastating to those who have already been devastated by the cross. We should welcome it. Lastly, or fourth, it is good for training and righteousness.

[41:06] I don't have this one on the slide, but it is how do you then, are you further trained to live this life and honor the Lord after you have been reproved, after you have been corrected?

[41:22] How do you then walk? What does the daily habits look like? It implies a process where teaching God's word, how to applies to all other areas of life and how to be pleasing to him.

[41:39] But for what end and to what purpose? The last verse tells us, if it's useful for teaching God's truth, for confronting sin, for correction, for training and righteousness, to what end?

[41:57] That the man of God, he may be complete and equipped for every good work.

[42:07] That it yields the fruit of maturity and service. And those two things are absolutely important. That the man or woman of God may be complete. That is whole, full grown.

[42:19] Once God made you for his purpose, only his word, not the world's wisdom, is able to fit you for that purpose. The Bible will enable you to form a Christian worldview so that you think and you respond about life as God intends.

[42:35] There is no such thing as a mature man or woman of God apart from being strong in his word. But maturity is not the end of itself.

[42:46] Christian Scripture will also result in service, equipped for every good work. Equip means furnished or supplies. It's like having tools in your tool belt.

[42:59] Let me illustrate it this way. Do I know when I go to a hospital, I remember going to a hospital and an infant had died.

[43:15] What do you say to a mom and a dad? I remember being in a home where divorce was being talked about.

[43:30] And what do you say to that husband and wife in that moment? Yet, a parent has a wayward child.

[43:42] What do you say? But the more and more we know Scripture, the more and more we have more tools in our tool belt that we can pull out to utilize for his good, for his purposes.

[44:03] Because it's not sufficient just to be mature, but to be equipped for every good work that the Lord has set before you. We need it. It's useful.

[44:14] We need it. So you can confidently impart the truths of God's word to others.

[44:24] And how do you do that tactfully? So here's my concluding. Pastor Ironside was a pastor of Moody Church for two decades in the 30s and 40s.

[44:36] And Pastor Ironside went to go see a man out in California in Chicago. Pastor Ironside was Moody Church in Chicago. He went to California to see an Andrew Fraser. And Andrew Fraser had tuberculosis and he went to California because he lived in Ireland and to get some drier air and some good health, he went to California to recuperate from his tuberculates.

[44:59] Anyway, Pastor Ironside went to him and said, how, he was just asking him a ton of questions. And this man, Andrew Fraser, would just open scripture, would say, well, here's what scripture would say.

[45:12] And then he would respond to Pastor Ironside, giving him some principles. And Pastor Ironside asked him, how on earth? And he just would, he spent the whole day just doing this.

[45:22] And oh, that reminds me about Insaum when David wrote this. Oh, that reminds me in the New Testament in Paul. That reminds me of the prophet Amos. And this is what Andrew would do with Pastor Ironside.

[45:35] And Ironside, how, what, he finally asked him at the end of the day, what school did you go to? How do you know the scripture so well? What seminary did you attend?

[45:46] And this was his answer. He says, my dear young man, I learned these things on my knees in a mud floor in a little sod cottage in Northern Ireland.

[45:58] There with my Bible, opened before my eyes, I used to kneel for hours at a time. I asked the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word of God to my heart.

[46:11] He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever learned in any seminary or college in the world. And may I submit to you.

[46:22] We have this very reliable, useful gift of the Lord to us to know how to live a godly life.

[46:36] Whatever your discipline is and you're reading this summer or in your life, I pray that we would use this summer well. Have a reading plan. Read through the New Testament.

[46:47] If you say, just read through the New Testament this summer. Have a reading plan for the rest of your life just to be a reader of God's Word.

[47:03] There's salvation is contained in this. It's totally reliable and is fully useful.

[47:16] Lord thank you for this day. I pray that we would be like this pastor Andrew Frazier who just learned the Word of God on his knees before you humbly and he had a fitting answer to questions.

[47:36] I pray that we would be well resourced people who know you and know your word that we would not shy away from correction. We would not shy away from being rebuked that we would even allow the Word of God to rebuke and correct ourselves.

[47:51] We would be trained in righteousness. What it lives like to live a holy life before you and to be well pleasing in your sight. Oh we long for that.

[48:01] And may we be a church that emulates and looks like you. And may you be our example. Chief example.

[48:12] Love you Lord. In your name we pray.