If you have a Bible, you can open with
me to Second Timothy chapter 3. And
we'll be at the very end of that
chapter, verses 14-1
17. 2 Timothy 3:es 14-1 17.
Before we get into the text, let me ask
you, why are we here?
What's the mission of Covenant Seminary?
Do you remember
Covenant Seminary? I hear it over there.
We exist to glorify the triune God. How
do we do that? By training his servants
to do what?
To walk in God's grace, to minister
God's word, and to equip God's people.
Why?
all for God's mission. And what we do
each semester in chapel is take a
different portion of that mission
statement and and do you remember the
one that we focused on this semester?
It's the one that says to minister God's
word. Come on, y'all. Do you remember?
Come on. And to do that, we're looking
at the pastoral epistles. And so, we
continue. We've been so blessed so far.
Thank you guys that have preached um so
far. And I think I don't see Dr. Zinc
yet, but I'm grateful to him for filling
in for me when I couldn't be here. So,
I'm grateful to be with y'all today. The
theme that we're taking from the text
today is very simply continue in the
word.
Continue in the word. And if you heard
me preach here before, you know that I'm
going to ask you to say that to your
neighbor. And so, and and when I say
that, I really mean it if you're new.
So, turn to your neighbor. I'm serious
now.
and say to them, "Neighbor,
>> continue in the word."
>> Continue in the word.
>> Very good. A I'm impressed by that. So,
I'm going to pick it up in reading verse
14, but just to set the context a little
bit in the verses that come just before
this one. The Apostle Paul is warning
Timothy about the opponents that are
among him and how their life and and
teaching is in opposition to God. and
they are leading the people of God
astray. In the verse right before ours,
it describes them as being deceived and
deceiving other people. And what Paul
does is set a different way for Timothy
and all ministers of God who would be
like him. And that's where we pick it up
in verse 14 here. Now, the reading of
God's word.
But as for you,
continue in what you've learned and have
firmly believed, knowing from whom you
learned it, and how from childhood you
have been acquainted with the sacred
writings which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus.
All scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may
be complete, equipped for every good
work. This is God's word.
Let's go to God together in prayer.
Father, we thank you this morning for
what this word says about itself, that
all scripture is breathed out by God.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for giving us
this word that's profitable for us to
train us in righteousness, for reproof,
for correcting, for teaching, all of
those things. We pray you'd work in us
towards all those ends this morning.
Holy Spirit, we thank you for your
presence in this place already. Continue
to have your way among us. show that we
would not only be hearers of this great
word, but Lord, that we would also be
doers of the word. Fill us with
yourself. Fill us with power so that we
can leave able to do what you call us to
do. We can't do it on our own, but we
thank you that you haven't left us on
our own. So guide us now. We pray in
Jesus name. And all God's people said,
>> amen. Amen.
Some some folks asked um about the robe
that I'm wearing. This is actually one
of my dad's robes. My dad was a pastor
uh for over 40 years and he handed this
robe down to me. Do we have any other
preachers kids in here? Do we have any?
So, y'all might relate to a little bit
of what I'm going to share this morning.
At least in the u the black church
tradition, uh the the way that they
treat the preachers's family is kind of
like the first family. Literally, they
call my mom first lady. That's that's
how she's known. And one of the things
that would happen, give an example, when
we have a a fellowship meal, they seat
the preacher's family at the head table
and they come and they bring us our food
while everybody else waits in line to go
through that. Now, as a kid, I hated
that because I wanted to go and be with
my friends, but that was the tradition.
And so, we would often get invited as
the pastor's family to go to other
people's houses, to go um out in all
these other places. And every single
time we went, our family, my brother and
I and and my parents, when we got out of
the car to go into the place, just
before we got out, my mother would turn
to us and she'd say, "Listen,
some of y'all already know where we're
going.
She'd say, "Listen, when we go in this
house, when we go in this place, I want
you to act like you have some home
training.
I don't care what your friends might do
or how they might act or what they might
say. I'm not worried about them. They
can do what they want to do. But as for
you,
you're going to act like you have some
home training. You're going to continue
in what you've been taught. If you would
like to continue in life,
you will. And the Apostle Paul as we
come to our text
is adamant with Timothy that you need to
continue in your home training. You need
to continue in what you have been
taught. Now, why is Paul so adamant
about that in this passage? Again, as
we're reading some of the context and
understanding it, one of one of the
things we can gather is that there seems
to be people that are threatening the
sufficiency of the word of God. They're
coming and they're saying, you know, God
God's word is really not relevant. It's
really not enough. You need a lot more
than that. You need a quote unquote
fresh word. You need fresh teaching. All
of these different things. They're
they're trying to say that the word of
God is not sufficient for what God has
called them to. And you all, we face the
same thing.
In whatever call that God has given you,
whether it's a call to be a preacher,
whether it's a call to be a counselor,
Bible study leader, campus minister,
whatever it is, wherever God has you,
that temptation exists for us to believe
that the word of God is not sufficient
for the life and the ministry that God
has called us to. But Paul would want us
to know the same thing that he wants
Timothy to know is that the word of God
is sufficient for all of life and
ministry. And so because of that,
continue in the word.
Continue in the word. I don't know how
you come this morning. Whether you come
questioning that Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to do that. Sorry.
It's getting to everybody. Sorry.
But however you've come, the call today
is to continue in the word. Continue in
the word. Why? What makes the word of
God something that we need to continue
in? What is it that makes it efficient?
We're just going to look at at two
things today that this text brings out.
Just two things about the word of God
that remind us that we need to continue
in it because it is sufficient for
everything that we need. So, we're just
going to look very quickly at the origin
of the word of God and then we'll look
at the impact of the word of God. So,
the word of God's origin and the word of
God's impact. So, let's start with the
origin of the word of God. Let's go back
to the verse we began with verse 14.
But as for you, Paul writes, continue
in what you've learned and firmly
believed. And then Paul begins to point
out where Timothy learned that. And so
the first thing that we learn, a
subpoint if you will, is to look at the
origin of God's word in Timothy's life.
The origin of God's word in the life of
Timothy. What does he say here? He says,
"Continue in what you've learned and
have firmly believed, knowing
from whom you learned it." Now certainly
Paul is talking about himself as one of
the places where he's learned about the
word of God. If you look at the verses
just before that verse 10, he says,
"You, however, no matter what everybody
else does, you have followed my
teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my
faith, my patience, my love, my
steadfastness,
my persecutions,
my suffering."
And so Paul is is saying, "You've had my
example." But it's not only Paul's
example that he's referring to where the
word of God has originated in Timothy's
life. Because if we go to verse 15, look
at what it says.
He says, "How from childhood
you have been acquainted with the sacred
writings or he's talking about the Old
Testament there, but from childhood." So
who else is is Paul referring to? Well,
we find out if we turn back to chapter 1
in verse 5,
he says,"I reminded of your sincere
faith, Timothy, a faith that dwelt first
in your grandmother Lois and your
mother, Ununice, and now I'm sure dwells
in you as well." What is Paul saying?
He's saying that like many of us, thanks
be to God, we had praying grandmas
and he had a praying mama. Is there
anybody else that can testify about that
today? I'm so grateful
as I look back at the influences that
God placed in my life from my own
family. I was telling some people just
the other day that I believe it was my
grandmother who first taught me to
memorize scripture. And the way that she
did that is when my brother and I, my
cousins would be sitting around the
table, she would call on us at random to
pray. And she would say, "If you don't
feel comfortable saying a prayer, you
can say a Bible verse." So very quickly,
I memorized John 11:35,
which says, "Jesus wept."
Now, I didn't know why Jesus wept or how
long, what made him weep. I didn't know
any of that. But I knew that that was
the first verse that I could memorize.
But thanks be to God
for the people that God has placed in
our lives. One application even before
we go on is to think about who is it
that God placed God has placed in our
lives. For many of us like like my
story, it's our parents and
grandparents.
But I also know that's not everybody's
story.
But God puts somebody in your life. Do
you remember who those people are?
Thanks be to God for them.
>> Amen.
Thanks be to God for somebody that says
amen out loud in this room.
Amen.
But also, while we're at it, think about
the people that God has placed in our
lives now. And you might think, I have
only a small role in their lives. what
I'm doing is isn't really that
significant right now. It's after I get
out of here that I'm going to do
something really powerful. No,
God has placed people in your life right
now
that he will use you
to share his word with them to minister
God's word to be a part of their story
of finding out about God's word. So
that's the origin of the word of God in
Timothy's life. But what we also see
here is even greater than in Timothy's
life. We see the origin of the word of
God in all of life. We see that in verse
16
as we come to maybe the most famous
verse in the Bible that talks about the
Bible.
What does he say in verse 16?
All scripture is breathed out by God.
All scripture is breathed out by God.
Now, a few things to highlight. Notice
it says, "Not some of scripture. Not the
parts that we like, not the parts that
we understand the best or we're the most
comfortable with. All of it." And there
he's just talking about the Old
Testament and maybe some of the
beginning works of the New Testament,
but we have all of the New Testament as
well. All of it is the word of God
breathed out by God. Whether it's a
narrative, the Psalms, the Proverbs,
apocalyptic literature, the the Gospels,
no matter what it is, the epistles, the
letters of Paul, whatever it is, it's
the word of God.
And the word of God is not a buffet line
where we come and we pick out the things
that we want to put on our plate and we
leave aside the things that we don't
want as much. Again, taking you back to
mama's house. It's not a buffet. You eat
what's on the plate or you don't get up.
All of it, whether you like it or not,
whether it's easy to understand, whether
it's challenging or comforting, whatever
it is, it's all the word of God. And
here again, he says it's God breathed.
And he's using a word there that I think
Paul made up because you can't find that
word theontos anywhere else before that
time in in the Bible or any other
literature. It literally means God
breathed or God breathed out this word.
One writer says about this that the
biblical writers do not conceive of the
scriptures as a human product breathed
into by a divine spirit and thus
heightened in its qualities or endowed
with new qualities. It's not a human
product but it's a divine product
produced through the instrumentality of
men.
This is the word of God that we have the
privilege of ministering.
If you put up that next slide, it's from
second Peter chapter 1:21 that describes
the process that Dr. Warfield was
talking about. No prophecy was ever
produced by the will of man, but men
spoke from God as they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit. 66 books by 40
authors over 1600 years with one story.
It's breathed out by God.
You know, one of the things I'm grateful
for here at the seminary is the people
that I get to serve with.
I am so blessed to serve on this faculty
with the other people. We have some
incredible people, all of them are that
love Jesus Christ, that love the word of
God, that love his church, that love
this world, and want the world to know
the Savior. And they're absolutely
brilliant. I can walk in my office and
look on my bookshelf and see books
written by some of my co-workers.
I can look over on in my preaching books
and I see, wait, wait, there's Getting a
message by Dan Doriani or there's
Putting the Truth to work. I can look
over on another shelf and see that great
work by Drew Martin on the life of
Francis Grimkey. And then if I slide
over to my commentary section, I got J
Scalar, I got Numbers, I got Leviticus,
and he signed them for me, y'all.
And I even have as I was preparing for
this message,
a commentary on the pastoral letters
written by Bob Yarborough.
But I know that each of these brothers
that I mentioned in all of the faculty,
they would say as you're here at
Covenant Seminary in whatever role that
you're in, I'm happy if you read my
book, but what I want you to read more
than my book is the book that's breathed
out by God. I mean, I'm happy if you
look at my book, but but I need to tell
you, I'm not the one who spoke creation
into existence. I'm not the one who
spoke to the wind and the waves and had
him be quiet. Now, by the way, this is a
a good part to amen while if anybody
that inclined to that. I'm not the one
who spoke to a lay man and said, "Get
up." I'm not the one who spoke to the
deaf and said, "Hear again." I'm not the
one who spoke to a dead man and said,
"Come on out of the tomb." Amen,
somebody. I'm not the one who has a word
that's living and active and sharper
than a double-edged sword. You can't say
about my word that it's a lamp unto my
feet and a light unto my path. And so if
you're going to major in a word, don't
look at my book, but look at the book
that's breathed out by God.
Let that be the book you spend the most
time with.
Application.
And I want to say this with sensitivity
because I know that there's a lot on
you,
especially as we go to the end of the
semester.
And the good news that I have for you is
that it's not going to change after you
graduate.
You're still going to have a lot on you.
It's just going to be some different
stuff.
Continue in the word
every day. Do you breathe every day?
Do you eat every day? Do you sleep every
day? Well, if it's not finals time,
then you need the word of God every day.
And I don't say that to grow a guilt
trip. I say that because you need it to
live.
Continue in the word. And I mean not
just to prepare a sermon or for a
counseling session or for a study.
Continue in this word
for the rest of your lives.
continue in the word because of its
origin not just in your life but more
than that in all of life. So that's the
first thing that we see. One more point
we continue in the word not only because
of its origin but also because of its
impact
and Paul lists here really two spheres
of impact here in these last verses of
this passage. We see that the word of
God is profitable for evangelizing the
world and for equipping the church. It's
profitable for both evangelizing the
world and for equipping the church.
Let's look at those in turn. First, for
evangelizing the world. Let's go back to
verse 15 for a moment
here. Here he says how from childhood
you've been acquainted with the sacred
writings and then listen to what he says
they are able to make you wise for
salvation. Do you hear that? The word of
God is able to make wise for salvation.
How? Through what does he say? Through
faith in Christ Jesus.
Some of you know Steve Schaper that I
had the privilege of serving with for
over 11 years at the previous church we
were at and the church that we're at
now. We planted that church together.
Steve received a call this year to be
the lead pastor of a church in Cypress,
Texas, uh King's Cross Church. But Steve
has a very powerful testimony as he's
talking about growing up as a very
rebellious teenager. He says his father
got so fed up with him that he said,
'You are going to be locked in your room
for the weekend. And I'm taking
everything out of that room except your
bed and your Bible. I'm taking the TV
out, the video games out, the phone out,
all of those things. All you have in
that room is a Bible. I hope that you
read it." And at first he wouldn't he
wouldn't read it, being just obstinate
at the time. But then he didn't have
anything else to do. He began to open
that word up. And what happened is that
word opened him up. Many of you have had
that experience that Peter or that Luke
writes about in in Acts saying that they
were cut to the heart by the word of
God. Bless you. And that's his
testimony.
He was cut to the heart by the word of
God. Now, parents,
to quote Jack Collins, don't hear what
I'm not saying. I'm not saying go and
lock your kids in the bedroom for the
weekend now. Okay? But it's important
that they have the word of God. The word
of God is able to make us wise for
salvation. Again referring to that
passage in the Pentecost sermon as Peter
preaches the Old Testament from from
Joel chapter 2 and from the Psalms
before those people pointing out their
own sinfulness and God sending a great
savior. Do you remember what it says?
They were cut to the heart and said,
"What shall we do?"
Have you experienced that?
Have you been cut to the heart by the
word of God
and brought to the place where you say,
"Brothers, sisters, what shall we do?"
The word of God is able to make us wise
for salvation through Jesus Christ. The
word of God is able to evangelize the
world.
To quote the great HB Charles that was
standing here just two weeks ago, we
just need to let the lion out.
talking about the word of God and let
him do what he will.
But again, not only does he evangelize
the world, but the word of God, it says
here, is profitable
for equipping the church. Last week, Dr.
Martin talked to us about conversations
that people were having that were
unprofitable, right? These arguments
about useless things. And so Paul turns
it around here and says this is what's
profitable. And then he says why. And
then as you read that, did you notice
how he structures this? It has the
preposition that we translate for. It's
there in front of every word here in
verse 16.
It's breathed out by God and profitable
for teaching, for reprove, for
correction, for training in
righteousness. Why is he writing it that
way? He's highlighting the importance of
each and every one and what the word of
God does in each and every area. We need
the word of God for teaching the people
of God. We need it not only as material
for us. We need it ourselves. The word
of God doesn't say everything about
everything. It doesn't tell you how to
bake a sweet potato pie versus a pumpkin
one. It doesn't tell you about building
a rocket ship. It doesn't tell you about
why the Baltimore Ravens are the best
football team. It doesn't say any of
that. Although Jesus does say, "Consider
the Ravens." But
I'm taking that out of context. All
right. Where's Who's recording this?
It's out. That was a joke.
But the word of God tells us everything
that we need to know about life for
life.
It tells us that. It teaches us. But
then not only does it do that, it's also
profitable for reproof of showing us
where we're going wrong.
You all look so beautiful now this
morning. But I'm I'm guessing I'm just
guessing that when you woke up this
morning, you didn't look quite as
beautiful as you look right now. And
what you did is you maybe you staggered
out of bed and then made it into the
bathroom and then you looked at the
mirror and it showed you what you look
like and it showed you where you were in
need of transformation.
That's what the word of God does to us.
It shows us what we look like. I love
David's prayer at the end of Psalm 139.
The word of God does this. Search me, oh
God, and know my heart. Test me and know
my anxious thoughts. See if there's any
offensive way in me and lead me in the
way everlasting. The word of God is
profitable for correction. And then if
we think about the other side of that,
amen is right for correction. It shows
us where we're going wrong, but it also
shows us how to get it right. And then
finally, he says here, training in
righteousness.
Some of you here are trained musicians
or you know what it's like to train as
an athlete or you all know what it's
like to train in education as you are
here. But here he says that we need the
word of God for training us in
righteousness. I've heard one author say
in what it really means to be human
to not only believe the right things but
to live the right things out. The word
of God does that for us. And what is
that impact? What's the result of that
impact? We look at the last verse 17.
that the man of God may be complete,
equipped
for every good work. Now, what he's
saying here about the word of God, it
certainly applies to every single
Christian, but Paul using this phrase,
the man of God, he uses that in another
place in First Timothy, talking about
Timothy, talking particularly to this
minister of God's word. And then if you
look at Old Testament examples, they use
that man of God title for Moses or
Samuel or Elijah or Elisha. And so while
yet it applies to every single believer
in Christ, what he's saying here
particularly
particularly applies to those of us that
are called to teach pro and proclaim
God's word. And what does he say?
That the man of God may be complete
equipped. Listen y'all, having
everything that you need, if you don't
already, after you graduate, you will
struggle with your own inadequacy.
Cuz maybe if you're like me, when you
graduate from seminary, you'll be like,
"All right, now I know everything. I'm
ready for everything that God throws on
me." And then you go to your first
assignment and you realize that you
don't.
You know far less
than you thought you did.
But I say to you that the word of God is
what's able to equip you
for everything that God has set before
you. Do you believe that today? The word
of God is able. That's what he says. And
if God says it, it's true because it's
God's word.
>> Can somebody else amen that?
I'm grateful for you, brother,
that we might be equipped for every good
work. That's what we were created for in
Christ Jesus. You're saved by grace, not
by good works, but we're saved for good
works, aren't we? What does he say in
Ephesians 2? We are God's poa, God's
workmanship, created for good works,
that God prepared in advance that we
might walk in them. That is our call and
the word of God equips us to be able to
do that. This is the impact of the word
of God. It evangelizes the world. But
brothers and sisters, it also equips the
church with what we need. And so again,
I say to you, continue in the word.
Continue in the word. Why is that so
important as we get ready to close?
Well, let's think. What's the impact in
our world? What's the impact in our own
lives of not continuing in the word?
If we step back and think all the way
back to Genesis 3, the reason that sin
entered the world is because our first
parents did not continue in the word.
And so sin and all of the effects of sin
are in our world and in our lives.
because of not continuing
in the word of God. So I ask you today,
what's our hope then? Thankfully today,
it's not in our own ability to perfectly
continue in that word. We've already
messed that up. But we have a greater
hope. Our hope is in the one to whom,
not just this word, but to whom all the
word of God points. Our hope is in the
one who always continued in the word of
God who said, "Man doesn't live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God." Oh, our hope is in
the one Jesus Christ who himself is the
word of God who became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. Brothers and
sisters, our hope
is in this word made flesh,
who was bruised for our transgressions,
and who was crushed for our iniquities,
whose punishment brings us peace. and by
whose stripes we are healed today. Do
you understand that your hope to be able
to continue in the word today is in the
one who gave himself to redeem us from
all lawlessness and to purify for
himself a people for his own possession
who are eager to do what is good.
continue in the word, not hoping in
ourselves, but hoping in the one who on
the third day, the folks used to say,
rose with all power in his hand and now
is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God. Where guess what he does?
He lives to intercede for us that we
might continue in the word.
That is our hope today.
Adore him. Adore the one who is our
hope. Praise him. Submit to him. Obey
him. And follow him.
Continue in the word. People of God.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you
for your word. We thank you for the one
who is the word made flesh
who we can say always
continued in the word and has given
himself for those all of us who've not.
So we thank you Lord. We thank you for
the origin of the word in our lives. But
more than that, that it's breathed out
by you. And we thank you for the impact
of that word that it evangelizes this
world and it equips the saints. It
equips the church for every good work
you've prepared in advance for us. So
Lord, strengthen us. Strengthen my
friends today. Strengthen our brothers
and sisters that they might that we
might continue in the word and that we
might do it for your glory. All this we
ask in Jesus' name. And all God's people
said, "Amen.