Timothy and his Bible part 2

[0:00] what we started last Sunday on Timothy and his Bible, and this week looking at his Bible in particular. When we turn to 2 Timothy, it's very clear that these are the final words that the apostle has to say to Timothy, his younger son in the faith. And so he says in verse 6, I'm already on the point of being sacrificed. The day of my departure has come. And so he writes this letter to Timothy that he might continue in the faith, that he might continue in sound doctrine, that he might reflect the apostle's example as one who has held to sound doctrine. So he says in 1 and 13, follow the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Last week I made the point that this was something, this acquaintance with

[1:08] God's word, that Timothy had known from a child. In part of the verses we read in verse 15, how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. It was there from his childhood. And you can't put a value on instructing children as to the greatness and goodness of God's grace. So let's look at this scripture. All scripture is inspired by God. There's a word here that's used in the original which is theonoustos, literally, God breathed. It's the only time it occurs in the entire Greek language is in this letter here. And he's saying something very significant about scripture. It is infilled, God breathed with the life of God.

[2:27] So if that is true, what it means is that here we have a set of writings that are filled with the authority of God and the same reverence is due unto them that is due unto God himself. So how are we to understand this quality of inspiration? Where can we see the proof? Now in 1 Peter chapter 1, he talks about the writings relative to the coming of Christ. And he says this, So there's something here that's very wonderful.

[3:38] about God's word. It's not like anything else because it has the ability to accurately predict what's happening relative to the person of Jesus. In Isaiah chapter 46, there's a comparison between idols and the true God. Remember, says Isaiah, the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my pleasure. Now when we come to think about the incarnation of Jesus, the coming of Jesus in the flesh, the prophets, the whole of the Bible spelled out four distinctive things about it.

[4:48] They spoke about the family, the place, the manner, and the time. Right away back in Genesis 49 and 10, we read this.

[5:02] This deals with the family. The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the rural staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs. And to him shall be the obedience of the people.

[5:20] So right away there, right away back in Genesis, God is saying, the coming one, the Messiah, will come from the family and the tribe of Judah. And that's the reason that you have great lists of names in Matthew and in Luke, genealogies.

[5:42] That so-and-so was the father of so-and-so and so-and-so. They're there to prove that Jesus was born of the family of Judah and in particular of the house of David.

[5:58] So the family. Now the place. Micah 5.2. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrata, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.

[6:19] It's very clear that when the wise men and the magicians, the astrologers, arrived in the palace of Herod the Great, he summoned the scribes and said, Where is Christ to be born?

[6:35] And they very clearly said, In Bethlehem. For thus it is written by the prophet. And so Matthew records that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the days of Herod the King.

[6:50] So the place. The manner. Isaiah 7 and 14. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.

[7:05] Both Matthew and Luke insist that this is the way that Jesus came into the world. So we read in Matthew 1. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

[7:20] He took his wife but did not know her until she had born a son. And he called his name Jesus. So there you have it. The family.

[7:31] The place. The manner. And finally, the time. In a pure prophecy in Daniel 9. Verses 25 to 26.

[7:43] Verse 4. No thereforner stand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, shall be seven weeks.

[7:58] Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and a moat withinDAX. times. And after 62 weeks, the anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

[8:13] What that particularly obscure word of prophecy says is that there would be a period of 483 years which started with the restoration, the decree to restore Jerusalem in BC 457, which in turn means that the coming of the Messiah was to take place in AD 26-27. The Gospel of Luke records that the beginning of the ministry of Jesus was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

[8:52] Historians tell us that was the year AD 26-27. So this is the kind of Bible that we have. It speaks accurately about the coming of Jesus, his family, his place, the time, and the manner.

[9:11] So we turn secondly to how we're to use it. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. So, according to that verse, the use of scripture is fourfold. Teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness.

[9:39] It is a word that denotes to us what is taught, teaching, the act of teaching, or instruction.

[9:51] This indeed is what scripture does. It reveals the truth about Jesus Christ. And we'll begin with you can note that the ascended Lord had given such gifts to the church.

[10:08] In Ephesians 4-11, we read that his gifts were some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers. And these gifts are given, in verse 12-13, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.

[10:37] And indeed, Paul himself claims in 2 Timothy, For this gospel, I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher.

[10:51] Now, the examples of his teaching aren't to be found in the quoted sermons and the Acts of the Apostles, since they are evangelistic in nature. But in his epistles, and in what he writes to Timothy, he covers every doctrine of the faith.

[11:09] For example, as I mentioned last week, you can see this in the epistle to the Romans, in which he's expounded at length the doctrine of salvation. So, scripture is the source of teaching.

[11:25] It's not contained in anything else. But scripture itself has the ability to teach you and me what is the correct belief concerning Jesus.

[11:42] The second thing it says is, it is profitable for teaching for reproof, i.e., for reputation, refutation, not reputation, refutation of error.

[11:59] Now, that idea is contained in a scripture that Jesus himself spoke when he spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 16, verse 8.

[12:15] When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

[12:27] What does that mean? He will convict. A former bishop in the Church of England, who was a great Greek scholar, said there were four things contained in that one verb.

[12:42] One was an authoritative examination of the facts, i.e., to be convicted of sin means that God, the Holy Spirit, will point at you.

[13:00] It will give you unquestionable proof based on the law of Moses. It will give decisive judgment and punitive power.

[13:13] So, the mission of the Holy Spirit with men and women is that of revealing to them the truth on all of these subjects in such a way that it shall be convinced that it is true.

[13:29] Now, this started on the day of Pentecost. And you can see it in the first sermon that Peter preached. He preached a sermon based on the prophecy of Joel.

[13:44] This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. It ends in verse 36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

[14:02] That's his final statement. The next statement is when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?

[14:24] So, the coming of the Spirit of God on that day of Pentecost, this is Pentecost Sunday, was to demonstrate to those who listened that they had acted incorrectly when they shouted out crucify him.

[14:46] and so, because they had heard this and because they had realized what they'd done, they now repent.

[14:57] What shall we do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, says Peter. And then finally, Scripture gives us equipment.

[15:11] All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training and righteousness. The man and woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

[15:30] In other words, what it's saying is that Scripture gives to you a qualification. qualification. It will give you a full qualification so that you can do God's work.

[15:51] Of course, it is the case. This is not automatic. You have to give attendance to God's word yourself.

[16:02] So, in 2 Timothy 2.15, he says, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

[16:22] Begins by saying, gives you a verb which means to do one's best, spare no effort, or to work hard. Now, if you can remember the text of the King James Version, it renders it like this.

[16:39] Study to show yourself approved unto God. Now, while it's correct to say that the idea of studying is not there in that verb, nevertheless, if we are to do one's best and work hard, we have to aim to master the contents of God's word.

[17:03] And Paul continues this kind of advice. He writes to the Colossians, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish you one another in all wisdom, and sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

[17:27] God. So the work isn't just of reading, the work is appreciating of taking the scripture into our hearts in such a way that they become part of us.

[17:45] It becomes into our very soul. And in that doing, in that reading, in that studying, in that meditation, you will be fully qualified to undertake what God wants.

[18:04] The man of God, the woman of God, may be complete, equipped for every good work. And this is, again, the verb means to equip, to be completed in such a way that we are ready to do the will of God.

[18:25] we are equipped for every good work. Now, the good works that the apostle has in mind, as far as Timothy is concerned, are to be found in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.

[18:39] He says this, I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be urgent in season and out of it, convince, rebuke, exhort, be unfailing in patience and teaching.

[19:07] Preach the word. That doesn't mean to say you've got to be in a public pulpit to do it, but it should be the case that your life will radiate God's word, because, as D.L.

[19:24] Moody once said, the Christian is the world's newspaper. What do mean by that? He meant that wherever the Christian goes, the life of Christ goes with him, and those that don't know Christ will indeed be convinced by the person's life.

[19:53] Voltaire was a Frenchman. He was not impressed with the church, but he meant a man called Joseph Madley.

[20:06] Now, Joseph Madley was a Methodist minister, and John Wesley was so impressed by him that he had designated him to be his successor.

[20:18] It was just one problem. Joseph Madley died first. But Voltaire, he met Joseph Madley, and he said, he is the holiest man I have ever met.

[20:40] He wasn't impressed with the church, but he was impressed by the life of this man. Preach the word.

[20:55] He then goes on to say, you are to convince, rebuke, exhort, and be unfailing in patience and in teaching. Last week I covered this and said that what's happening here is that the qualities of God's word, which we've seen from 2 Timothy 3, 15, and 16, do this, are to be the qualities of the servant of God.

[21:22] They are virtually identical. And this is the message which Paul is presenting to the younger servant of God, Timothy.

[21:36] Now, what happened to Timothy? Well, in reality, we don't actually know. But following this letter, we can turn to the epistle to the Hebrews, and there in the 13th chapter, Hebrews would have been written somewhere about AD 70, by which time Paul and Peter had died and were passed from the scene.

[21:59] But it says, our brother Timothy has been released, and if he comes to you, see that you welcome him.

[22:11] So what we can deduce from that is that Timothy had taken to heart the advice of the aged apostle, and was going on in the work of God.

[22:26] And if we want to take something out of this, that's what we have to do. We have to immerse ourselves in holy writ in such a way that it becomes part and parcel of us.

[22:39] We have to read it night and day and pray for God to speak to us through it, which he does. We have to love it, because if you love the Bible, you love Jesus, the Word, himself.

[23:00] Amen. May the Lord bless us with these remarks, may be to his praise and to his glory. We're now going to come round the table of the Lord, and the table of the Lord is not the table of Wester Hills, it is the Lord's table, and all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth are welcome to join in this feast with us.

[23:27] So we sing, I have the voice of Jesus say.