The Tool of the Trade

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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June 18, 2015

00:00: Well, if you guys would open up your Bibles with me, we're going to turn tonight to 2 Timothy 3.16.
00:08: 2 Timothy 3.16.
00:12: This passage is one that I have, outside of maybe Ephesians 2.8, this is probably the most quoted passage that I, as far as in my ministry, that I can think, is very common for me to talk about this passage.
00:31: And as you know, this week is an addition.
00:34: This was originally, we were supposed to be, this was supposed to be the last week of this series on Bible memorization.
00:42: It was going to be 1 Corinthians 1.18.
00:45: And we were going to be out next week.
00:47: We were going to be away because we were going to go on a field trip to Westminster.
00:51: Well, since that has been moved to a different day, tonight is an extra.
00:58: So, tonight you're getting an additional lesson on top of what we've already dealt with.
01:05: So, tonight we're going to look at a text that I think is very valuable to remember in evangelism.
01:13: Not necessarily because you would quote this in evangelism, much like the text next week.
01:21: This is a text that you should know going into the conversation with anyone who is an unbeliever.
01:32: Because this text gives you the foundation of what is our ultimate tool in sharing our faith.
01:44: I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people say that the key to sharing our faith is to not use the Bible.
01:55: They say, well, if you use the Bible, people won't listen to the Bible.
01:59: So, you've got to start with something else.
02:02: You've got to start with a survey.
02:05: Or you've got to start with some type of anecdote.
02:07: Or you've got to start with some type of evidential apologetic so as to be able to prove God's existence from nature or some other scientific thing.
02:20: And once you get them there, then you can talk about the Bible.
02:24: And here's the problem with that.
02:27: Two-fold.
02:28: Number one, no one has to be proved that God exists.
02:33: No one has to be proved to that God exists because everybody knows by nature that God exists.
02:38: Romans 1 tells us so.
02:39: Now, they'll tell you they don't believe it.
02:42: But do you know what my response is when somebody tells me they don't believe in God? I'll say, yes, you do.
02:47: Now, they might say I'm being argumentative or being ugly.
02:49: I'll say, you know God exists.
02:50: I'm not going to argue with you whether or not God exists.
02:52: You know it.
02:53: It's not a debate.
02:55: You know it in your heart.
02:56: You're going to tell me you don't believe it.
02:57: That's okay.
02:58: You can tell me everything you want.
03:00: I know in your heart.
03:02: Now, I might not say it that way in every conversation.
03:06: I'm not going to be an argumentative, mean jerk.
03:09: But in my heart, I know that.
03:12: So, sitting there having to debate with someone over the existence of God, I instead move to the conscience and deal with the person's conscience over their guilt.
03:21: If there is no God, there's no standard.
03:25: If there's no standard, why do you feel guilty when you sin? They say, well, I don't feel guilty when I sin.
03:30: Absolutely, you do.
03:31: You know you do.
03:32: We all do.
03:32: Do we have this standard in our heart that we violate? Where did morality come from? Where do you get truth without God? God is the ultimate presupposition.
03:43: To presume anything outside of God is ridiculous.
03:48: So, I'm not going to allow somebody to tell me, well, I don't believe in the Bible, so you can't start with the Bible.
03:53: Because my response to that is, well, I don't believe in evolution, but that doesn't keep you from talking about evolution.
03:58: I don't believe in a lot of what natural science tells us about the age of the earth, or the history of the earth, or how man came about, but that's not going to stop you from using that.
04:08: Why should I give up my authority if they're not going to give up theirs? Why should I put my authority away and submit myself to their authority? Because what is the ultimate authority of the atheist? Self.
04:24: I'm not going to submit to him.
04:26: I'm going to maintain the authority that I'm submitted to, and that's the word of God.
04:32: And we'll talk about why in a minute, but go ahead.
04:38: Yeah, and Ray Comfort wrote a book, God Doesn't Believe in Atheists, which is kind of a play on the fact that people say atheists don't believe in God.
04:46: Well, God doesn't believe in atheists, because he made every person with the natural knowledge that he exists.
04:52: So, that's the first reason why I don't let somebody tell me I can't use the Bible in evangelism.
04:57: But number two is I know this very clearly from the word of God, and we're going to talk about this in a little while, that the word of God is the power that's going to bring someone to salvation.
05:08: It's not my anecdotes.
05:09: It's not my stories.
05:10: It's not my testimony of how I was just really bad, reprobate, and how now I'm this great man of God or whatever.
05:17: Not that I'm saying I am.
05:18: I'm just saying that's often that we use these testimonials to try to bring people to Jesus.
05:24: That's not the power of God into salvation.
05:26: The gospel is the power of God into salvation.
05:28: It comes from the word.
05:30: That's the truth, and that's where I need to be taking people.
05:34: I need to be constantly pointing people back to Scripture in evangelism.
05:39: I don't need to be pointing people toward me.
05:41: I don't need to be pointing people toward Billy Graham or John MacArthur.
05:44: I need to be pointing people toward Christ and the Scripture.
05:48: The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of John MacArthur.
05:50: No, it says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
05:56: Faith comes by hearing this word, the truth of this word.
06:00: And so, and again, I'm not saying John MacArthur is wrong or any of these guys.
06:03: I'm just saying, ultimately, I take people back to Scripture because Scripture is the tool of the trade.
06:11: If the trade is evangelism, and excuse my term, trade, you know what I mean.
06:15: I don't mean it's a profession.
06:16: But if what we're doing is going out and ministering the gospel, the tool of that ministry is the word of God.
06:25: And that's what we're supposed to use.
06:27: So tonight, we're going to look at the passage, which has, over the years, been used by so many to prove, or at least to substantiate, the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture.
06:48: Which I think inspiration is actually, it's too low of a term, but we talk about the doctrine of inspiration.
06:59: The infallibility of Scripture is typically referenced in this passage when we talk about the infallibility of Scripture, and the truth of the Scripture.
07:08: So it's infallible, it is accurate, it is true, and it comes out of this text.
07:14: So let's read the text together.
07:15: We're going to read 2 Timothy 3, 16.
07:18: We're going to read the ESV, NASV, the KJV.
07:21: And then, tonight, we're going to look at the Greek a little deeper than we have in the weeks past, because I want to show you a few of these things that are in this, and show you why these words are used.
07:33: First of all, ESV, all Scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
07:46: The NASV, all Scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
08:00: And the KJV, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
08:15: What phrase is different in the ESV, way different in the ESV, than is in the two other preceding, or subsequent texts? Breathed, right? In the ESV, we see the term God breathed.
08:39: Oh, I'm going to have to fix this.
08:40: I lowered my board, and now it's wobbly.
08:43: So, I'll have to come back and fix that.
08:47: We see God breathed in the ESV.
08:50: In the KJV, and in the New American Standard Bible, we see the term inspired.
09:00: What does inspire mean? Yeah, it does.
09:10: Inspiration is air, or breath, and to in, or ex, expire, breathe out, inspire, breathe in, to something, and so this is an interesting use of terms.
09:23: Normally, how do we use the word inspired? Yeah, if I say, I walked out on my porch, I saw a beautiful sunset, and I was inspired to pray.
09:40: Yeah, I was motivated to do such and so.
09:44: And this is where confusion has flooded the modern church.
09:49: And I remember a lady, very specifically, who came to this church one time.
09:52: She had written a book, and she was trying to proliferate that book within the church.
09:57: We had to stop her because it was filled with a lot of air.
10:02: But I remember her saying her book was inspired by God.
10:07: And I remember thinking, because she never was clear, does she mean that her book is on the same level with Scripture? I doubt she would have said that.
10:20: Now, very few, even modern prophets, will say that their words are on, it takes a real character to say his words are right up there, and he should write, his journal should become the next Testament of Jesus Christ.
10:31: It takes a real Joseph Smith type for that to, you know, for it to become another Testament of Jesus Christ.
10:38: But they use the word inspired, and they confuse it.
10:43: Because you talk to your liberal Christian, and I'm using Christian quotation marks, you talk to liberal Christians, they'll say, yes, the Bible's inspired.
10:55: But so was John Newton when he wrote Amazing Grace.
10:58: And they'll name any number of people.
11:00: So was Beethoven when he wrote his Fifth Symphony.
11:03: So was whoever, whoever, whoever.
11:05: They will use different people, and they'll say this person was inspired to this, and this person was inspired to that.
11:13: And thus the term inspired becomes very generic, and meaningless.
11:21: So that is why I think that in 1611, when the King James was written, the word inspired is fine, because at that particular point in history, it had a deeper and more profound meaning.
11:33: And even then, it's not completely making the expressed notion of God breathing something, but it's still the, the idea is that this is a special written revelation from God.
11:44: Now the term inspire is so innocuous, it's so generalized, I think that it has, we have to move away from that.
11:53: We have to, either we have to explain it really well, which is what I'm doing tonight, or we have to simply go with the original language.
12:01: And in the original language, Paul creates a word.
12:06: This is not something that's unique to this text.
12:09: Paul used compounds in several words in the New Testament, and he would compound two existing phrases to make words.
12:21: And there are words that are unique to the Apostle Paul.
12:25: This is one of those words.
12:27: The word is theanoustos.
12:31: Theanoustos.
12:32: If you look at the Greek that we have, Passa, grathe, theanoustos.
12:41: Passa is the word for all.
12:45: Grathe, if you think of, like, like grammar, it's writing, it's scripture, all writing, all scripture, theanoustos.
13:01: God is theos, so if you separate theos, theos and pneuma.
13:07: Pneuma is where we get the word air.
13:11: It's where we get, if you think of a pneumatic tool, like an air tool, that's pneumatic, pneumos, air, breath, breathing, so the term theanoustos is God breathed.
13:29: God breathed.
13:30: So all scripture, now here's something that has to be considered.
13:35: Someone could read this and could argue that what Paul is saying is that everything ever written is God breathed, but that's not true.
13:47: We know that's not true, that does not fit the context.
13:50: So what is all in relation to? Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.
13:58: He says all scripture is theanoustos, and at the time of the writing of 2 Timothy, you would have had the complete Old Testament which would have been seen by Christ and the apostles of scripture, even Jesus called it scripture.
14:16: In fact, there's a great passage where Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees.
14:19: He says, have you not read what God said to you when this and that, and it's interesting that he equated what was being read with what God was saying.
14:29: So he said, have you not read what God said? It's just interesting that when we read this text, we're reading what God said, that's just a powerful phrase of Christ.
14:36: But yes, Old Testament is the context, but at the same time, the New Testament is scripture based upon what? Based upon what we would call apostolic authority.
14:55: The New Testament falls under apostolic authority.
14:58: This is one of the reasons why we do not affirm certain texts which certain people would argue are really part...
15:08: In fact, every Easter, every Christmas, you'll hear somebody say, there are books of the Bible that were lost.
15:15: And you'll see them come on the History Channel, the lost books of the Bible, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot.
15:24: And you'll see all these things about all these lost books of the Bible.
15:28: What they don't often reference though is all of those books have a second century or much later, the Gospel of Philip I think is like 16th century, like way later, a much later historical dating.
15:41: Nowhere were they ever able to be authorized by any apostle.
15:47: They did not have apostolic authority.
15:50: They were not written by Mary Magdalene.
15:52: Mary Magdalene didn't live 300 years.
15:55: Philip didn't live 1600 years.
15:58: Judas Iscariot didn't live 200 years.
16:00: The only one that has the capacity to be anywhere near the first century is the Gospel of Thomas.
16:07: I still don't think it was.
16:09: I still think it's a mid-2nd century Gnostic work.
16:12: But here's the second part.
16:14: It's not just that it had the ability to have apostolic authority, but was it used in the church? And was it consistent with Scripture? And if you read the Gospel of Thomas, you'll notice it is not consistent with Scripture at all in any way.
16:27: It's not consistent with any of the rest of the New Testament.
16:29: And it was never used in the church.
16:31: It's a Gnostic work.
16:34: It was part of the heretical movement called the Gnostics, who were a group of false teachers and false believers.
16:44: They had rise in the late 1st century and mid-2nd century, late 1st century to mid-2nd century, and even beyond.
16:51: We could say there's even Gnostics in the world today.
16:53: They don't necessarily go by that title.
16:55: How many of you heard the Da Vinci Code? You've heard of it? Okay.
17:00: The Da Vinci Code makes the argument that Constantine in the 4th century came in, destroyed all the Gnostic texts, set up his own Bible, and established Christianity based on what he wanted it to be.
17:20: And that the Council of Nicaea's purpose was to establish the Bible to be only the books that Constantine would want used.
17:31: First of all, it's so far historically inaccurate, so easily disproven, that it doesn't take hardly any time at all to disprove it.
17:41: But here's the problem with people who say things like that.
17:45: It only takes a minute to say a lie.
17:48: But it can take hours to prove that lie wrong.
17:51: And the book is just filled with lie after lie after lie about history.
17:56: The four Gospels, by the time of the second letter of Timothy, the four Gospels have already been written.
18:04: They're already in circulation.
18:05: By the time of 2nd Timothy, we see 1st Corinthians is already written.
18:10: I have to look at the list to know all of the ones that were written.
18:12: But by the time of 2nd Timothy, this is the last book of the Apostle Paul.
18:15: So all of his books have already been written.
18:19: Peter will come along and say that Paul's writings are what? Scripture.
18:25: He identifies Paul's writings as Scripture.
18:29: So we know that Paul's writings have Peter's apostolic authority affirming them.
18:35: We know that the four Gospels were being circulated within the church, accepted by the church as the testimony of the work of Jesus Christ.
18:42: So these would be Scripture.
18:46: In fact, do you know the one book, actually two books, there are two books in the New Testament that had the longest time receiving full acceptance in the church? Hebrews and Revelation.
19:02: It was Hebrews and Revelation.
19:04: And the reason for those two, one, Hebrews, authorial issues.
19:10: Who is the writer? Revelation is content issues.
19:16: This has got ten-headed dragons and stuff in it.
19:18: This is a very different book.
19:20: But when it was determined who wrote it, John, under the inspiration of God having received a vision, under the revelation of the Spirit, having received a vision, and that those visions had very specific meanings, then it was accepted widely and universally accepted within the church.
19:39: So, having said all that, my point being, is it saying here all Scripture, and by Scripture we will affirm as a church, the Scripture is this.
19:50: Thirty-nine Old Testament books, and as Richard likes to point out, there are actually twenty-four of them.
19:56: If you look at the Hebrew canon, it is twenty-four Old Testament books, but we number them differently.
20:02: We number all twelve of the minor prophets as twelve, where they are numbered as one in the Hebrew canon, and then the ones and twos are one in the Hebrew canon.
20:14: So you have twenty-four books in the Old Testament, and then you have twenty-seven books, or thirty-nine books in our Old Testament, and then twenty-seven.
20:23: And by the way, for the kids, this is fun.
20:25: Do you know how to remember that? If you can remember thirty-nine books in the Old Testament, three times nine is twenty-seven.
20:33: That's how many books are in the New Testament.
20:34: This is a nice little, if you can remember that.
20:37: If you have trouble remembering thirty-nine and twenty-seven, just remember three times nine.
20:42: Okay.
20:43: So, all Scripture, Old Testament, New Testament.
20:48: It all is God-breathed.
20:51: It all has the authority of God.
20:54: And it has a purpose.
20:56: It's not just that we, hey, we have what God said.
20:59: We have what God said for a purpose.
21:02: And that's the next word that we see.
21:04: It says, it is beneficial.
21:08: Ophelimos.
21:09: Ophelimos is beneficial.
21:11: It's helpful.
21:14: It's profitable.
21:17: Pros, four.
21:20: Didascleion.
21:22: Didascleion is teaching.
21:24: You've all heard me use the word didactic.
21:27: Right? Didactic means teaching or to instruct or to give instruction about something.
21:35: Didascleion is where that word comes from.
21:39: So, that's what it's profitable first, is for teaching.
21:42: And then, pros elegmon.
21:46: Elegmon is conviction or, in the translations above, it says reproof.
21:55: Pros epinorthoson.
22:00: Epinorthoson is correction or setting aright.
22:06: And then finally, pros paideion.
22:09: And that's instruction.
22:21: Paideion.
22:22: Paideion.
22:28: Paideion.
22:39: Paideion.
22:40: Those things are, in a sense, synonymous.
22:45: Because in teaching there is often reproof and correction and training.
22:49: In reproof there's teaching.
22:51: You know, you could say they're synonymous here.
22:53: But each one has its own unique function that the word of God does.
22:58: The first one, we would say teaching, is the application of knowledge.
23:12: I'm going to give you knowledge.
23:14: I'm going to give you an understanding of something.
23:16: That's what teaching, that's what scripture does.
23:18: It applies knowledge to us.
23:20: We don't know how God created the world.
23:21: The Bible says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
23:23: The earth was formless and void.
23:24: The darkness was over the face of deep.
23:26: And the spirit of God hovered over the face of waters.
23:28: And God said, let there be light.
23:29: And there was light.
23:30: And God called the light day.
23:32: You know, we know that.
23:34: Now that's an application of knowledge.
23:36: Knowledge has become, that's teaching.
23:39: What is the next thing? Reproof.
23:44: What is reproof? And I want to compare it to the next one, which is what? Correction.
23:53: How do we understand these? Because somebody said, well, they're the same thing.
23:57: But they're not.
24:00: The reproof is in the negative.
24:08: The correction is in the positive.
24:14: Reproof or rebuke references what we ought not do.
24:20: So I come to you and I say, Sister Jennifer.
24:22: I better not.
24:23: I'll go somewhere else.
24:25: If I come to you and I say to someone, if I say, Brother Rob or Brother Mike or whatever.
24:30: I say, Brother, what you have done is offensive to God.
24:33: It's offensive to me.
24:34: It's offensive to your brothers or sisters in Christ.
24:36: You ought not do that.
24:37: That's a rebuke.
24:38: That's a reproof.
24:39: That's in the negative.
24:42: And what should you do? Repent.
24:45: That's what you should do.
24:47: That's what the rebuke includes, the call to repentance.
24:50: Scripture does that.
24:53: Scripture tells us what we ought not do.
24:55: It rebukes us.
24:56: How many of you have ever read Scripture and walked away thoroughly rebuked? I hope all of you have.
25:02: I hope all of you have read Scripture and sat down and had to set it down and say, Boy, I do not.
25:08: I am not obeying this.
25:12: I'm doing what I ought not do.
25:14: So reproof is in the negative.
25:16: What is correction when I say it's in the positive? Correction is a call to what to do.
25:25: Reproof is don't do.
25:28: Correction is what to do.
25:29: Setting a right.
25:30: That's why I put that in as the definition.
25:32: It's setting a right.
25:33: And reproof and correction do come together because if I come to you, Brother Rob, you ought not be doing this, what also will I probably say? But you ought be doing this.
25:45: We do this with our kids.
25:47: You know, one of the most dangerous things that we can do with our children is only tell them what not to do all the time.
25:54: It's only rebuke them.
25:57: It's only be harsh with them and say don't do, don't do, don't do.
26:00: You know, I read a study one time that says the average child hears a negative like 15 times or 20 times more, and it was maybe even a lot more than that, than they ever hear a positive.
26:17: So rather than telling your child to do, we're always just saying don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do because, you know, don't touch that, don't do this, don't be with this person, don't go do this, don't do that.
26:28: And so these work together.
26:31: The rebuke and the correction are the negative and the positive aspects.
26:36: And then finally, paideiaen, taen, en, decae, sune, righteousness, instruction in righteousness.
26:49: And what is instruction in righteousness? How is instruction in righteousness, I just put instruction in righteousness, how is that different than anything from before? What is implied in instruction? Yeah, but we said teaching already and application knowledge.
27:10: We've told people the truth.
27:11: We've called them to not do wrong.
27:14: We've called them to do right.
27:16: What's instruction in, huh? Equipping.
27:23: Remember, this is what scripture does.
27:27: All scripture does these things.
27:29: It's profitable for teaching, giving us knowledge, for calling us away from what is wrong, for calling us to what is right, and then instruction in righteousness.
27:41: This is referencing, at least from the way that I'm understanding this text, is living, not just understanding, but living our faith.
27:54: When we read the scripture, we see scripture tells us how to do this.
28:03: You think about the word instruction.
28:06: Instruction in English would imply more than just teaching.
28:10: I could stand up here and teach you to do something, but to sit down with you and really go through it with you and instruct you, there's a deeper, more profound meaning.
28:18: But go ahead.
28:28: Yes.
28:33: Yeah.
28:35: When we think about Romans 12, what does Romans 12 tell us? Romans 12, 1, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? The renewing of our mind.
28:51: What renews our mind? It's scripture.
28:55: Scripture renews our mind.
28:56: We learn.
28:58: It teaches us.
28:59: It gives us knowledge.
29:01: It reproves our sin.
29:03: It calls us to do right.
29:05: And then it shows us by example and by dictation, or by what we would call didactic literature, it tells us how to do it.
29:17: Think about one of the greatest passages that I think, and I'm going to use this Sunday, so you're going to hear this Sunday probably.
29:25: I'm not preaching this text, but I'm preaching Titus 1, right? And Titus 1, I'm sorry, Titus 2, where it says older men are to be examples in love.
29:38: Okay? Let's look at it from this perspective.
29:41: Everybody go to Titus 2.
29:51: You're going to do this again Sunday, so you can just tell everybody I've got a preview.
29:56: The pastor gave me a preview.
30:05: Verse 2.
30:06: I kept saying verse 1.
30:07: I meant verse 2.
30:10: Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
30:20: Now, my goal on Sunday is to go through all those, what they mean, and how they apply to fathers, and particularly men in the church, because it says older men.
30:29: The word actually here is the same root for elder, but it's not talking about the office of elder at this point.
30:38: It's talking about the older believing men.
30:41: This is older men are to be examples in these things, but it's the same.
30:45: Presbyteros and Presbytoi, and all these words are linked together with the idea of an older man.
30:52: And anyway, it says here that the older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.
31:00: How could I tell a man? Let's say Richard.
31:06: You come to my office.
31:07: I'm just using you as an example.
31:10: Let's say Richard's imaginary friend comes to my office and says, Pastor, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with my wife.
31:19: And I say, you're supposed to love your wife, as Christ loves the church.
31:23: I take him to Ephesians 5.
31:25: I take him here.
31:26: I say, you as an older man are to be an example in love, but where do I go him to show him what love looks like? Well, okay, I'm getting a lot of them.
31:37: Where's the one I'm thinking of? First Corinthians.
31:41: This is what I'm thinking.
31:41: First Corinthians 13.
31:44: Ephesians 5.
31:45: Well, Ephesians 5, it's there, but First Corinthians 13.
31:47: I just want to show you what I think when he says instruction, right? Because remember, all this is coming from the Word.
31:52: All this is coming from the Word.
31:53: The Word is its own interpreter, right? So I go to First Corinthians 13.
32:01: Man wants to know how to treat his wife.
32:03: I tell him, love your wife.
32:05: He says, I don't know how to love my wife.
32:07: I don't even know what that means.
32:08: So I go to First Corinthians 13 and I start here in verse 4 and I say, here's what love is according to Scripture.
32:16: By the way, the verb is, is a form of the word to be or the verb to be.
32:22: So what it says, it says, love is patient.
32:26: You could change that.
32:27: If you wanted to be bad grammatically, you could say, love, be patient, love, be kind.
32:34: Now, I know that's terrible English and you would never say it that way, but what I'm saying is, this is what love is.
32:40: If you want to ask me how to love your wife, I'm going to say, first of all, love toward your wife is patience, kindness, not envious or boastful.
32:52: It's not arrogant.
32:54: It's not rude.
32:56: It doesn't insist on having everything its own way.
33:00: It's not irritable.
33:02: It's not resentful.
33:04: It doesn't rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
33:11: It bears all things.
33:12: You want to tell a man something hard? Tell him he's got to bear with his wife even when she's being hard.
33:18: You bear with her because that's what love is, bearing with her.
33:22: You say, but she's a hard woman.
33:24: I know that can be tough.
33:25: Oh, let's turn it around.
33:26: Maybe it's a woman and a man.
33:27: Let's turn it around.
33:28: I can't feel it.
33:29: Maybe the women here, I feel like I'm being, beating them up.
33:32: A woman comes in and I'm telling her how to love her husband.
33:34: I go to the same text.
33:35: Actually, we talk about respect and those different things from a woman's perspective, but let's just say I'm looking at this and I'm saying, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
33:45: What is the relationship of love that the husband is supposed to have with his wife? The relationship of love is one that has all things for her good.
33:57: And I see that right here in this text.
33:59: It never fails.
34:01: That's what love is.
34:02: It's something she can count on.
34:04: Now again, this is instruction in righteousness.
34:07: This is taking it from the intellectual to the practical.
34:11: Taking it from the esoteric to the internal.
34:16: That which is outside here in limbo to being applicable to my life.
34:22: And scripture does that.
34:24: One of the things that makes me...
34:25: Early on in ministry, I would buy books because I was learning to preach.
34:35: And I would buy books that had stories in the books.
34:40: There were a couple of McHenry's storybook.
34:44: It just had illustrations.
34:46: And I'm not opposed to using illustrations.
34:47: I use illustrations.
34:49: But one of the things I found very quickly was the best illustrations of truth come from scripture.
34:56: The best illustrations of training in righteousness.
34:59: You go back into the Old Testament.
35:01: You look at the lives of these men and women of faith.
35:04: You will find all the illustrations you need to understand what godly living is.
35:10: Look at Hebrews 11 and that list of faithful people.
35:13: You go through that list and you'll see.
35:16: You'll see people at different areas of faith, different walks of life, all of this.
35:21: And that's why it says all scripture is profitable.
35:25: It's all beneficial for these areas.
35:28: Not all equally the same.
35:30: Because there's some literature that's specific to teaching didactically.
35:34: There's some that's specific to giving examples.
35:36: Like the stories of Daniel.
35:39: There's so much exemplary material there for young people growing up in a world that hates God.
35:44: And you see Daniel living that life.
35:46: And that's a great thing to teach young people.
35:47: Because you're teaching them by example.
35:49: Here's a young man who was living in a world much like our own.
35:53: That hated God and wants to train him in a different way.
35:55: Here's what he did.
35:56: Here's an example.
35:59: And then you have the didactic literature.
36:01: And then you have the poetic literature.
36:03: And all this works together.
36:04: All scripture does these things.
36:07: Yes, sir.
36:11: A great example of spirit is love.
36:30: Yep.
36:31: And it is.
36:33: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, etc.
36:36: Yeah.
36:36: And all those things can be summed up in that first one.
36:40: Wow.
36:44: All right.
36:45: I've gone a little...
36:45: I went a little further in just explaining just the verse.
36:48: I do want to read the context of the verse.
36:52: The context of the verse begins back at verse 14.
36:54: You could argue that the context is the whole book.
36:56: But just for this, you'll notice something in verses 14 to 17 and then in verses 1 through 5 of chapter 4 as he keeps pointing back to the Word.
37:09: Look with me.
37:09: It says in verse 14, But as for you...
37:13: Paul speaking to Timothy.
37:15: But as for you, continue in what you have learned.
37:17: And have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with what? The sacred writings.
37:30: So here is our first reference, at least in this context, to the Scripture.
37:36: You have gotten these Scriptures from birth, from childhood.
37:40: And where did he get them from? His mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice.
37:45: He got them from his mother and grandmother, the women in his life that introduced him to God through the Scriptures.
37:53: And he says, Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
37:57: The Scriptures have that value.
37:59: They can make you wise.
38:00: And then he talks about all Scripture.
38:02: It's breathed out by God.
38:03: It's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
38:07: That what? The man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
38:14: Now, chapter 4, verse 1.
38:17: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word.
38:25: What's the Word? It's what verse 16 was called the Scripture.
38:30: And verse 14 before that, or I'm sorry, verse 15, the sacred writings.
38:35: The sacred writings, the Scripture, and the Word are all synonymous.
38:38: They're all the same thing.
38:39: So they're still in the same context here.
38:41: He's saying the Scripture, it was what brought you up.
38:45: The Scripture is what will equip you for ministry.
38:48: And the Scripture is what you need to preach.
38:51: It really shows a powerful arc.
38:54: The Scripture is what got you here.
38:56: The Scripture is what's going to equip you to keep you here.
39:02: And the Scripture is what you need to give to others.
39:06: Preach the Word.
39:08: And then he goes on to say be ready in season and out of season.
39:10: That means when it's convenient, when it's not.
39:14: Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
39:17: How is he to reprove, rebuke, and exhort? Using Scripture.
39:21: It doesn't say that, but it's implied because that's what Scripture does.
39:24: If you go back to chapter 3 verse 16, that's what Scripture does.
39:28: It reproves.
39:28: It corrects.
39:29: It trains.
39:31: So use Scripture.
39:33: People often are surprised they come to counseling with me and I open the Bible.
39:40: They want me to lay them on their back and treat them like Sigmund Freud and talk about their mother and all kinds of stuff.
39:44: No, I'm going to bring you to the Scripture because that's what's going to train you in righteousness.
39:49: You know? And I say, talk about your mother.
39:52: The typical psychiatrist lay back and tell me about your mother.
39:55: You know, ha ha.
39:55: But I'm just saying, you know, we're going to sit down and open the Word.
40:00: That's biblical counseling is to use the Bible.
40:05: And then verse 3, for the time is coming when people will not endorse sound teaching.
40:09: You could easily say when people will not endure biblical teaching because that's what sound teaching is.
40:16: But having itching ears, they'll accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.
40:21: Teachers that won't use the Word.
40:24: And will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
40:27: As for you, always be ready.
40:29: Always be sober minded, enduring suffering, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
40:36: So chapter 3 verse 14 to chapter 4 verse 5, the focus is the Word and how the Word affects the man of God who is preaching it and how the Word is to be used by him.
40:48: But it also applies to us in understanding the work of the Word in all of our lives.
40:52: It's the Word that brings us to faith.
40:54: It's the Word that sustains our faith.
40:56: And it's the Word that we must use when we're sharing our faith.
40:59: So it's all there.
41:01: The Word, the Word, the Word is all here.
41:04: Alright.
41:05: Let's go fill in our blanks.
41:10: Most of you probably know the first one but we'll say it anyway.
41:12: When the Word of God is read, God is what? He is speaking.
41:18: You know, I don't preach perfect sermons.
41:20: I know I don't.
41:21: But I do know this.
41:23: When God's Word is read, God is speaking.
41:26: That's why we stand.
41:28: We're standing.
41:29: You know, we stand for all kinds of reasons.
41:32: We stand for the pledge to the flag.
41:34: We stand when a dignitary enters the room.
41:38: We stand for all sorts of...
41:40: Why not stand for the reading of the Word of God? We do that because it's the Word of God.
41:45: God is speaking.
41:46: What does 2 Peter 1.21 say? Tells us that the Scripture is...
41:55: Well, let's read it.
41:56: 2 Peter...
41:58: Huh? Well, go ahead.
42:00: I just drew a blank.
42:02: The prophets who spoke...
42:10: Yeah, but I'm trying to...
42:12: Where...
42:13: Yes.
42:14: I want to...
42:15: There's a specific phrase in there I was thinking about.
42:17: 2 Peter 2...
42:19: Or 2 Peter 1.21...
42:23: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried...
42:27: That's the part.
42:28: The men spoke from God.
42:29: That's the part I was trying to get.
42:30: The Scripture is God speaking through men as they wrote it down.
42:36: That doesn't mean that when the Apostle Paul sat down, it was like Indiana Jones where the guy was automatic writing and...
42:45: And he just started automatic writing.
42:47: It was the worst Indiana Jones.
42:48: It was the fourth one.
42:49: Don't even watch it.
42:50: But there was...
42:51: Anyway, it was...
42:52: There was...
42:54: That's not what it means.
42:56: What it means is these men were carried along in their writing, and God ensured that His Word was what they were writing.
43:04: And that it was perfect, and it was infallible, and it was inerrant.
43:08: And He ensured that.
43:11: It doesn't mean that Paul didn't have his own writing style, because he did.
43:15: It doesn't mean that there weren't certain aspects of the way they explained things that would be different.
43:22: Because sometimes the way we see Paul explaining justification, and James explaining justification, they don't contradict each other, but they both focus on something different.
43:30: And people can say, Oh, well here's a contradiction.
43:32: No, it's not a contradiction if you understand what both are saying and what both mean.
43:35: They're in complete unity with one another.
43:38: You know? And it doesn't mean that they all told the story the same way.
43:41: If you read the four Gospels, you'll notice that there's different ways that they told the story.
43:45: Sometimes there's two men that had demon possession.
43:47: Sometimes the person only talks about the one man who had demon possession.
43:50: Not to exclude the fact that there were two, but the idea that they were telling the story from the perspective that they were in.
43:58: So we have to understand that God is using all this, but he's ensuring that these men are speaking from him.
44:05: All right.
44:05: The second thing.
44:06: The Word of God is the greatest weapon we have in evangelism.
44:20: Ephesians 6.17 is speaking of the armor of God.
44:26: And in the armor of God, what is our only offensive weapon? The sword of the Spirit.
44:31: Everything else is defensive.
44:33: Right? The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith.
44:40: But there's one offensive weapon.
44:41: It's the sword.
44:43: When Jesus was confronted by Satan, what did he say? It is written.
44:50: And that's always the weapon that we use.
44:53: And Hebrews 4.12.
44:56: The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to divide to the bone and the marrow, able to divide, cut the person right to the heart.
45:08: That's what the Word of God does and is able to do.
45:12: Finally, number three.
45:15: Faith is the product of hearing the Word and the Spirit opening the heart to believe.
45:25: Faith is the product of hearing the Word and the Spirit opening the heart to believe.
45:36: We must use the Word in evangelism.
45:38: We must use God's Word.
45:40: That does not mean this.
45:41: I want to clear something up.
45:44: Recently I heard a man by the name of Stephen Anderson, he is a King James only advocate in Arizona, argue that the King James Bible is the only true Word of God.
45:57: And because the King James Bible is the only true Word of God, if you were not saved by hearing someone read to you the King James Bible, then you were not really saved.
46:09: This is his argument.
46:10: It's a really foolish argument.
46:12: And I don't really want to go into all of the reasoning why it's so foolish, but this is what I'm trying to get across to you.
46:19: Yeah, it had to be the 1611.
46:21: It couldn't be the 1789 Blaney revision.
46:25: Can't be that one.
46:26: No.
46:27: The reason why I'm bringing up Stephen Anderson's argument is when I say that we need the Word of God in our evangelism, we do.
46:38: But that doesn't mean that you have to perfectly be able to articulate everything from the Word of God.
46:46: You need the truth of the Word when you're preaching the Gospel.
46:49: You do need to memorize Scripture so that you'll have the truth within you.
46:53: But don't think that if your tongue gets tied or you don't quote it in the perfect King James English, that somebody won't get saved because that's not what I'm saying.
47:06: What I am saying, though, is the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
47:09: The Word of God is where we find the Gospel.
47:11: We need the Word of God in evangelism.
47:13: We cannot go out under our own power and our own wisdom, our own anecdotes and our own testimony and expect that God's going to use that because God has promised to use His Word.
47:21: And that's what we need to be using.
47:25: Do you understand? That's why we learn the law, the Ten Commandments.
47:30: That's why we learn those things, so that we have the Word of God at our disposal.
47:34: How many of you do know the Ten Commandments, all of them? Okay.
47:39: That's something maybe we ought to do.
47:41: Monday night.
47:43: Monday night? Karate.
47:44: Oh, yeah, I teach them to the karate students.
47:46: So all my karate students can do all Ten Commandments in order.
47:50: Okay.
47:50: Let me finish up by reading my thought to consider here.
47:53: We'll close up.
47:55: We cannot wait until someone believes the Word of God to proclaim it.
48:00: If that were the case, we would never be able to share with the unbelieving person the truth of the Gospel contained in the Word.
48:06: The Word has power within itself to convict and to convert.
48:10: It is not our job to convict and convert the sinner.
48:13: It is simply our job to herald the message.
48:16: We tell people what the Word of God says.
48:19: We cannot convince them.
48:20: We cannot argue them to believe it, but we can proclaim it, and that's what we're called to do.
48:25: John Calvin said this, Let this point therefore stand, that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated.
48:39: Hence, it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning, and the certainty it deserves with us it attains by the testimony of the Spirit.
48:47: For even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit.
48:55: Therefore, illumined by His power, we believe, neither by our own, nor by anyone else's judgment, that Scripture is from God.
49:03: But above human judgment, we affirm with utter certainty, just as if it were gazing upon the majesty of God Himself, that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.
49:15: What is Calvin saying there? To simply simplify, because he is obviously a wordsmith, let me simply simplify what he's saying.
49:22: It is God the Holy Spirit who opens our heart to believe the Word and to trust that it's from God.
49:29: It's not something that's proven by a spreadsheet or by some type of argumentative apologetic.
49:35: It is the Word of God because it is the Word of God, and it's proven to us when God opens our heart to believe it.
49:42: Are there reasons to believe it that are outside of that? Absolutely.
49:47: It's written over 1,500 years, 40 different authors, three different languages.
49:51: It says the same thing through and through, but that's not going to convince anybody.
49:54: It's the Holy Spirit who does the convincing.
49:57: So let's pray.
49:58: Father, I thank You for the Word.
50:00: I thank You for the truth.
50:01: I pray that we would be convinced that our job in evangelism is to use Your Word as the primary tool whereby men come to faith in Christ.
50:12: And it's in His name we pray.
50:14: Amen.