Sunday Sermon: Continue in What You Have Learned (2 Timothy 3:10-15)

2 Timothy 3:10-15 and the Call to Continue in the Scriptures

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe.

Second Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 10 and going through verse 17. Hear the word of the Lord. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured.

Yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have 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 competent, equipped for every good work. You may be seated as we pray.

Heavenly Father, as we come to these scriptures this morning, I pray that we too would remember those things that have been written for our benefit. Whether we look into the Old Testament or we look into the New, we find the work that God has done through his people, the work that God is doing through his people even now and the work that you are going to do through us for the future.

These things are laid out for us in the scriptures, that none of us have any excuse to say, what does God want me to do? For the call to obedience, to holiness, to live as Christ is written down for our benefit and our instruction that we may find ourselves complete and equipped for every good work.

Work these things out in us as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is in the name of Christ that we pray, amen. First Samuel chapter four begins in a very unusual way. I've always been kind of curious as to why the chapters and verse divisions were chosen the way they are.

Sometimes I don't think it was really picked very smartly. I always kind of wonder, did you just stick a number there? Okay, I've gone on for long enough, it's time for the next chapter marker. So at the beginning of first Samuel chapter four, it says, the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

And then it goes right from there into the Israelites fighting the Philistines. Now at the end of first Samuel chapter three, it had been laying out that Samuel is the man that God has called to be the next judge and the next prophet of Israel.

And so after laying all that out, why wouldn't chapter four verse one stick with chapter three? It seems in context that that would go well to conclude chapter three instead of beginning chapter four.

But the more I began, the more I continued reading it, the more I realized that there is quite a startling contrast here. And whether or not the editors decided that this was what they had in mind when they placed chapter four right there, because remember the chapters and verses are not divinely inspired.

We've added that, Samuel didn't write that in there. But if by the providence of God, this was an accident or intentional, nonetheless, it presents quite a contrast in that it is said, the word of Samuel came to all Israel and being a prophet, we know that the word of Samuel was the word of God.

And yet what ends up happening in the rest of chapter four, but Israel goes to fight against the Philistines. And what you see demonstrated is that Israel was not listening to the word of Samuel. They were not listening to the word of God.

They thought that because Yahweh is with us, we are always going to triumph over our enemies. They fought against the Philistines and they did not do well, lost 3 ,000 men. So they decided, well, you know what we can do?

Let's go get the ark and take it with us because God is right there on the top of the ark. He will be with us in our midst and as he has delivered our enemies into our hands before every time the ark went with us, he's going to do it again.

So they go up to Shiloh, they retrieve the ark and here they come and they're shouting triumphantly as they go. And the Philistines hear this shout and they're like, what is going on? Why have the Hebrews somehow gained all of this confidence?

And they look and they see that the ark of God is with them. They're going, oh boy, we are in trouble because we've heard about whenever the Hebrews have the ark, their God is with them. And so they try to rally their own troops and they say, look, you guys, you have got to believe that you can win this fight because if you don't, we're going to become the slaves.

Of the Hebrews.

So let's go up against them and let's fight with all we've got. And lo and behold, the Philistines succeeded. In fact, they succeeded so thoroughly. The Israelites lost 30 ,000, 10 times more than what they had lost before.

And the Philistines seized the ark of God and they took it into their own place and they said it with Dagon, their God. And we're like, hey, we conquered the God of the Hebrews. Now if you know this story, you know that that's not how that went because the ark of the covenant being right there next to Dagon, God embarrassed Dagon by making the idol fall over and even breaking off his head and his hands.

So there goes your little puny God. He infects the Philistines with all these sicknesses and diseases and they begin dying from pestilence and they're like, what do we do? We've brought the ark into our midst and we can't get rid of it and now we're all dying.

And so they end up sending the ark of God back to the Israelites. And what ends up happening next, I'm going to wait until we get to the end of the sermon. But again, what you see demonstrated here in 1 Samuel is the word of God comes from Samuel to the Israelites and the Israelites aren't listening to it.

They're not living according to it and they're treating God like a good luck charm. Instead of letting the word of God get into their hearts and living according to it. My friends, we've got the word of God that you've been holding in your hands, whether you're looking at it on your smartphone or you've got a Bible with you.

It is the living, breathing word of God. Are you listening to it and doing what it says? Are the scriptures that you are reading making you wise unto salvation? As Paul says here to Timothy, or are you hoping that it is just going to be a good luck charm.

For you?

And maybe one day when you stand before God in judgment, you're going to make it in because, hey, I went to church on Sunday. We need to be more than just hearers of the word, but doing what it says. And this is the passionate instruction that Paul has for Timothy in this section.

We have a very famous passage in this section that we're looking at today. In fact, such an important doctrine that is laid out in 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17, that I think it would serve us better for me to wait on that section until next week.

So we're going to divide this section we're looking at today in two. We're going to look at verses 10 to 15. Next week, we're going to come back to it for part two and look at 16 to 17 where we read, all scripture is breathed out by God.

It is such an important point. And even the doctrine that's laid out in those couple of verses is so important to us even as Reformed Baptists that the very thing that's being taught there is the very first article in the confession of faith that we follow.

And so let's hold off on 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17. We'll still look at it in context today, but that will be our message next week. So for today, looking primarily at verses 10 to 17, and it breaks down like this.

After Paul has warned Timothy what false teachers will be like, the section that we looked at last week, Paul reminds Timothy about his own ministry and what he has been like. And so he first tells Timothy, you have followed my teaching.

That's in verses 10 to 13. Then he's going to tell Timothy, continue in the teaching, verses 14 to 15. And then when we come back to this next week, he's going to finish by telling him what is profitable for teaching, and that's verses 16 to 17.

Now, as I wrap up the sermon at the close and we'll do some applications, I'm going to look at it like this. The instruction for us here will be to be witnesses, verses 10 through 11, be warned, verses 12 to 13, and be wise, verses 14 to 15.

So I'm confusing you with two outlines today, but that's how we're going to look at our.

Passage.

Paul’s Example of Teaching, Conduct, Faith, and Endurance

So first of all, considering what Paul says to Timothy in verses 10 to 13, you have followed my teaching. So first of all, considering what Paul says to Timothy in verses 10 to 13, you have followed my teaching.

And in verse 10, look at this again where Paul says, you, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, and my persecutions and sufferings.

Now, what did we see last week at the beginning of chapter 3? We saw a list there too, didn't we? And it was a list of, here's what these false teachers are going to look like. When the Spirit tells us that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty and people will be lovers of self.

What kind of difficulty are these false teachers going to be causing for you? And then we had that list of vices that we considered last week. Now, there are 18 things that are listed there. That was a long list of vices.

I think it's probably the longest list that Paul presents in all of his epistles. And as I said last week, there really wasn't a particular pattern to it, except that those vices were given in pairs. And the thing that said at the beginning of that list, people will be lovers of self.

And what said at the end of that list, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, bookend everything else that comes in between. And these false teachers may not necessarily exhibit every one of those things that's listed there, but they will certainly exhibit some of them.

And they will definitely be those who are lovers of self rather than lovers of God. Now, one of the things that I didn't mention last week, but I thought it would be understandably implied, is the false teachers that Paul is warning about there.

Are men.

Certainly, there are women who are false teachers, but this was specifically in context, it was men. And we've seen this instruction throughout 2 Timothy, where Paul has been telling Timothy, pass these things that I'm teaching you on to other faithful men, who will likewise pass it on to other men, because the elders of the church are supposed to be men.

So, Paul gives good examples of solid men for Timothy to follow. And here in verse 10, Paul gives himself, and he gives another list. This one's shorter than the list of vices that we saw regarding those false teachers, but nonetheless, a lengthy list of characteristics that Timothy has seen exhibited in Paul, and so likewise, should desire to exhibit those things himself.

Now, look at the first two words, at least the way that we have it in the English standard version, you have in verse 10, you, however. Now, that just might seem like, you know, good language transition.

We're going from talking about the false teachers into talking about something more solid here, but those two words create a vast gulf between who we had described in verses 1 through 9, and who we have described here in verses 10 and 11.

There is a massive gap between those two. It's practically the difference between heaven and hell. These men that were described at the beginning of chapter 3 lead to hell. This example that you are given in verses 10 to 11, if you follow this and you remain steadfast in it, leads to eternal life.

You, however, need to live this way. You have followed my teaching. And it's not that Paul is presenting it to Timothy here as, here's what you need to do, although he certainly does that, but he's also presenting it to Timothy as, you have done this, and you need to continue in this.

You have followed my teaching, my conduct, and on it goes. So, first of all, let's look at one of these, or at each one of these individually, just like we did last week with the vices. So, let's have a more encouraging word here with these characteristics that Timothy is to imitate, my teaching or doctrine.

Doctrine is just synonymous with teaching. You might hear it said sometimes, doctrine divides. I don't want to teach about doctrine because it's so divisive. Yeah, doctrine divides. It divides truth from error.

It divides those who are faithful to it from those who don't care about it. As I've heard Mark Dever teach years ago, if you want to find out real quick who's devoted to doctrine in your church and who is not, teach through Romans.

So, we're going to do that. That's coming up this fall. We're going to find out who's really dedicated to the doctrine of God and who's just playing church. So, Paul says, you have followed my teaching, my doctrine, the things that I have taught, not just standing there listening to me as I preached at the Areopagus or shared the gospel with the Greeks or something like that.

Now, you know my teaching, the things that Paul has sat down with men and poured into deeply, not just the surface level stuff, but everything, every word of God. As Paul had said to the Ephesian elders, and that's exactly where Timothy is at, he's with those elders in Ephesus.

He said to those elders in Acts chapter 20, I have given you the full counsel of God.

I have held nothing back.

You know the things that need to be known for elders to pour into the people of God, the doctrine of God. And so, Paul reminds Timothy, you know this, you've been taught this. The gospel that Paul proclaimed was not received by any man, not even by the other apostles.

It wasn't like Paul decided, well, you know, I think I'm going to go to seminary. I think I want to leave my Pharisee ways and I'm going to become a Christian. Let me see what these Christians are all about.

I'm going to learn this stuff and become a pastor. No, Paul was a pagan, and he was on his way to round up Christians and persecute them. He was acting as a pagan. Thought he was zealous for God, thought he was doing the right thing, but instead, he was actually opposing Christ.

And Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? As Alan had pointed out in Sunday school this morning, when God called Abraham, Abram at that time, Abram was a pagan serving false gods.

And God calls out Abraham and says, I want you to go to this land and I'm going to tell you to do when you get there. I'm going to make you the father of many nations. And as Alan so pointed out, God chooses of his own character.

He doesn't choose because, oh, this person's doing pretty well. I think I'll choose them and have them do something great for me. I was a worm. I am of the dust. I'm a vapor, a life fleeting that is here for a moment is going to be gone.

And it is a privilege that God would appoint me to service in ministry, not because there is anything worthy in me of this, but because God was pleased.

To choose.

You as a follower of Christ, God chose you. As far as your human experience is concerned, yeah, you made a decision. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Might have been your theme song when you came to know Christ.

But when you study the theology of it and you find out in Scripture, it really did not have anything to do with you. It was God who chose you. And you having answered yes is just a fruit of the fact that God chose you.

You are demonstrating that you've been chosen by God. And as said in Romans 9, he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he will harden whom he will harden. And so Paul was chosen. He did not choose, and we see that again and again at the beginning of his letters.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, chosen by the will of God. It's like I don't understand how anybody can open a letter and not instantly become a Calvinist. Oh, it was by the will of God. It was not by Paul's choosing.

Paul even says of his own autobiography in Galatians 1 that after that occasion in which Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, he ended up going into Arabia. He went to the place where Moses wandered.

And he spent time with Jesus Christ there in the desert in Arabia. So he got to fellowship with him face to face, even as the disciples did. They spent three years with Jesus. Paul says, I was there three years in Arabia.

And he received the gospel and was trained by Christ himself. And then coming back into Jerusalem and having that chance to meet the apostles, they affirmed, yes, everything this guy knows and what he is teaching, that's what we know and teach.

And so seeing for sure that he had been appointed by Christ as an apostle. So Paul reminds Timothy, you've heard my teaching. And he goes on to say, you have seen my conduct. Now, conduct is the way that Paul conducted himself before God and all men.

In 1 Corinthians 11 .1, he says to the Corinthians, imitate me as I am of Christ. And this is not Paul blowing his own horn, tooting his own trumpet. All the apostles were meant to be this. Christ appointed these apostles to carry on the word of God that they would take the gospel into the world and make disciples of all nations.

But the apostles were also to be real-world examples of Christ. How is it that we are supposed to live? Look at the apostles and how they lived. And they followed after what they themselves saw in Christ Jesus.

And so when Paul says, imitate his faith, it's to look to Christ. He's pointing to Christ. You know my conduct, Paul says to Timothy, and then next, you have seen my aim in life. My aim meaning my purpose.

What am I even doing all of this for? Paul was never swayed from the mission. He kept his eyes firmly fixed on Christ. And this reference to aim in life might be like the athlete who competes for the crown.

Always having his eyes fixed on the goal. Remember, we've seen these themes come up in 2 Timothy. Comparisons to an athlete and a soldier and a farmer. In Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, it says, let us put aside sin and every weight which so easily entangles and run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And so Paul says, that's been my aim in life. You've seen my aim in life to please my master. So likewise, imitate my faith. I love the way the book of Deuteronomy concludes right before Moses is about to die.

It says that he lived to 120 years old. And in that entire time, 40 years of leading Israel from 80 to 120. If you're trying to figure out where you are in life right now, and you're getting up there in 80, I don't think there is anything for me.

Moses didn't lead Israel until he was 80, okay? Not that I think you're going to lead Israel, but you know. God still can have some great purpose for you. But for those 40 years that Moses led Israel, it says at the end of Deuteronomy, that in that entire time, that his passion never waned, and his eye was never abated.

Like he never took his eyes off of the goal. It was always fixed upon God and the mission that he was calling Moses to do. And so Paul is saying to Timothy, as you've seen that in my life, be an imitator of that.

Have your eye fixed on the goal. Don't begin to get lazy or lag behind or drop back. Continue fixed on the purpose and accomplish it. Next Paul says, my faith. So my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith.

And specifically what he means by this is the confidence that he has in Christ. As you've seen the way that I've trusted in Christ. So likewise be imitators of this faith. While faith is granted to us by God, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, by grace you are saved through faith.

This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Even the measure of faith that we have, Romans 12, 3, that by God's grace you have been apportioned a measure of faith. Though it is given to us by God, it is something that we must grow in and confirm by our obedience.

As Timothy witnessed in Paul, so he was also to do. None of us are going to be able to stand before God on that day and, well God you should have just grown my faith a little bit more than you did. We can't blame God for anything.

You will demonstrate in your life that the faith that you have is genuine. When you are obedient to what he calls. To some he is going to give more responsibility than others. But we still have the responsibility to obey where God commands.

So we have teaching, we have conduct, my aim in life, my faith, and the next on the list is my patience or forbearance. And by the way patience, one of those things that love is said to have, 1 Corinthians 13, 4, love is patient.

It's also among the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5, 22 to 23. That we must demonstrate patience showing that we have the spirit of God in us. Paul recently told Timothy that a pastor must patiently endure evil.

That was in chapter 2 verse 25. And so we've seen this very, these various calls to patience. And the kind of character that patience demonstrates. We're not flying off the handle with one another. But we're patient with each other.

And we're not starting to blame God when we don't feel like that his purpose is being actualized in our life. What do you have for me here? What's going on? We're patient. We patiently wait, we patiently endure, we patiently forbear.

And so as Timothy has seen this in Paul, so he is to imitate. And next Paul says, you have known my love. Or my benevolence is the way we would understand it here. Now the Greek word is agape. And some will take this word agape and they think of it as some magic word.

Some higher tier of love or something like that. But it's really not as divine as some have made it out to be. It just simply means to be of morally good will. Like you genuinely care for other people.

So Timothy has seen Paul's genuine love for all kinds of people. And has seen it without prejudice. And so Timothy is to imitate the same with others. Not playing favorites, not showing favoritism to one group of people and disregarding or ignoring another.

But as Paul had said with the Corinthians, to the Jews I became as a Jew. That I might win more of them. To the Gentiles I became as a Gentile so that I might be a witness to them. Paul doing whatever he needed to do in order to communicate the gospel and God's love to more people.

And so Timothy needed to be willing to sacrifice for that same purpose. And then Paul says here, my steadfastness. Steadfastness or endurance. Especially as it applied to suffering. Because that's what's coming next.

Persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra. So the steadfastness Paul had to endure in any circumstance. Whether that might be suffering that came by persecution or by trial.

And as Timothy witnessed Paul suffer and press on with the mission. So Timothy as a pastor was to endure hardship and hold steadfastly to Christ. Now remember, we've just come off of this warning that Paul has given to Timothy about godlessness in the last days.

And here's what those false teachers are going to look like. Here's what you need to look for when they come into your midst and pretend like Christians but they're really not. And they're going to cause difficulty for you and for other believers.

And this was something that Timothy had witnessed in Paul's life. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians. This is actually the fourth letter that Paul had sent to the Corinthians. Second that we have in canon, which is why we call it 2 Corinthians.

But when Paul had written that next letter to the Corinthians, there were these men who called themselves apostles who would come into their midst and they were even saying of themselves, we're even better than Paul.

And so Paul sarcastically refers to them as super apostles. Oh, these guys are top-tier apostles apparently. And they would come in with their charm, their charisma, their flattery. They were dressed up to look the part.

Like you can see how successful my teaching has been because look how royal my robes are. And this was convincing to some of the Corinthians. They began following some of these guys. And so Paul lays out his sufferings that he went through.

I mean it's quite a contrast. He doesn't try to like match them word for word. Well, look at how much money I've made. Look at how much farther out I've gone. No, Paul, to embarrass the Corinthians by being wooed by these guys, says, look what I went through for you.

He says, I am a fool to boast in these things, but look at what I went through for you. It's not money and prestige and fame and royal robes that I've ended up with. I've got stripes on my back. I've been shipwrecked.

I've been sick. I've died and came back. I've been beaten over and over again. This is how many times I've been through this persecution. This is how many times I've been through jail. This is what I have gone through for you, and you're going to give your love to these guys who don't want anything from you but money.

And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says that he had received these exceedingly great revelations of heaven, and he speaks of himself in the third person there, so not to boast in himself. I know a man who was caught up into the third heaven, whether in the body or in the spirit, I don't know, but God knows.

He's talking about himself. And he says, to keep me from becoming conceited because of these exceedingly great revelations, there was given a thorn to me in my side, a messenger of Satan to torment me.

Now, there are many theologians who have mused over this thorn. What in the world was this? And you can even look up blogs on the Internet where people have written all kinds of stuff on, what was the thorn that Paul was experiencing?

Was it some sort of ailment? Was it nearsightedness? Was it some sort of sexual temptation? What was it that Paul had that was this thorn in his side? And it's really amusing to me to see how many words people have written over this because it's really quite clear what Paul is referring to.

He says it, a messenger of Satan.

Who is that?

The false teachers he was just describing in the previous two chapters. That's exactly who this thorn was. And he even said in chapter 11 that they're messengers of Satan. And so here he says, a messenger of Satan to torment me.

That's who he's talking about. To keep me from becoming conceited because of the exceedingly great revelations given to me, there was a messenger of Satan, a thorn in my side to torment me. And it says that Paul pleaded with God three times to take this away.

But what was God's answer? My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul says, then I'm going to boast all the more of my weaknesses, of my persecutions, of my hardships, and of my calamities because where I am weak, Christ is strong.

Now I bring that up because as Paul is contrasting those things here with Timothy, look at these false teachers, and here's how you are to be. Here's what you are to imitate in your conduct and in your way of life.

Paul is demonstrating to Timothy, you're going to go through the same stuff that I went through. And these false teachers that were just described at the beginning of the chapter are going to make hardship for you.

But you need to hear the same words of Christ that I heard. That his grace is sufficient for you, and his power will be perfected in your weaknesses. And so Paul lays out here, here's how you are to be.

In contrast with these false frauds, you know the teaching. You know my conduct. You know my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra.

Which persecutions I endured, yet from all of them, the Lord rescued me. And as you go through these things, remember that the Lord will rescue you from them as well. Now, Paul had certainly been rescued from those trials.

What if Paul had been put to death, would the Lord rescue him from that? Yeah. In fact, Paul said it already in this letter. And he's going to say it when we get to the end. I am already being poured out like a drink offering, but the Lord will rescue me.

And even though Rome might cheer and Caesar might say, I have beheaded the apostle, yet Paul will ascend to glory and be seated on high with Christ forever. As every one of us are promised who are in Christ Jesus.

I have fought the good fight, Paul says. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Now, you may not be called to ministry, but there are certainly trials that you will endure. And God has promised he will deliver you from.

And even, my friends, if that trial should take your life, you still win. Because Christ has the victory. Not even death can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, as Paul says in Romans 8.

And so we have the victory promised us in Christ. Paul saying and reminding Timothy, the Lord rescued me so that Timothy would know he will rescue you as well. You've surely heard it said that the Lord will never give you more than you can handle.