Abide in the Word - Brandon Scalf

All right everyone grab your Bibles and turn with me to 2nd Timothy chapter 3. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and we will be looking at verses 14 and 15. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 and 15. Today's message is entitled Abide in the Word and if you would please stand with me for the honoring and reading of God's holy infallible and as we will see today all-sufficient Word.

I will begin in verse 14 but we'll continue on through chapter 4 verse 8. This is the Word of God. But you continue in the things you learned and became convinced of knowing from whom you learned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be equipped having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future 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.

Grass withers and the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever. Amen? Amen. Go ahead and have a seat and find chapter 3 verse 14. Last week, if you weren't here, we began a series through the book of 2nd Timothy, particularly the verses that I just read, verses 14 of chapter 3 all the way to 4, 8.

And this series has been entitled Preach the Word. And the plan, as we look at this section of scripture, is to examine the nature, the necessity, and the supreme sufficiency of the preached word, particularly in the context of the local church.

In other words, what I'm seeking to do is to answer the question, why does Heritage Church care so much about this piece of wood up here on the stage? Well, as we will see, it really has nothing to do with the wood and it has everything to do with the word.

And as we began our journey last week, we observed, firstly, that there was, in fact, a current crisis on our hands, that there is, in fact, a dearth of faithful preachers and the visible church in the present hour, that there are plenty of clowns seeking to entertain and offer cotton candy to the people of God as if they were overseeing vanity fair, as it were.

But there are very few shepherds who faithfully feed Jesus' sheep from the bottomless trough of God's nourishing word. In other words, there are many people who stand behind pulpits or in front of really cool-looking tables who do not follow Paul's admonition, his imperative to preach the word.

They are preaching their own ideas, they are preaching their own stories, their own personalities, but they are not preaching the word of God. And so we must, if we are going to be a biblical church, follow that admonition.

Secondly, we looked at the reality that this letter was written by maybe the best preacher outside of Jesus Christ himself, the apostle Paul. And he was writing it in urgent fashion because he knew that he was about to have his head decapitated, that he was about to be killed.

And we know this, one, because just church history records it, but then also he tells us in chapter 4 of verse 6, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, he says, and the time of my departure has come.

And the departure he is speaking about is not one to a different city, to a different town, to a different synagogue, but to heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ will welcome him and tell him, good work, my faithful servant.

Well done, my good and faithful servant. And it was urgent because he was essentially writing it to his true child in the faith, Timothy, who he was bound to in both affection as well as in ministry. They were very close.

His heart was knitted, as it were, to Timothy. And he saw the hardship that he was in, he saw the hardship that was coming, and he knew that he needed to help. And he needed to help by reminding him of the Scriptures, namely of their power, their sufficiency, and their ability to do the work.

When all else in the church seems to fail, and it will fail, the Word will stand above it all. The Word will reign supreme. Because the Word is, as we will see next week more in detail, God-breathed.

It comes from God himself. It is authoritative. It is infallible. It is inerrant. But more than that, it is sufficient. And friends, this is, quite honestly, where the battle rages the most. Someone might say that the Bible is without error.

Good, that's true. Others might say that the Bible is beautiful. Sure, that's true. It's great linguistically. There is an art form to be found there. It's poetic in many ways. Many people can say that it is flawless and even true in all that it affirms.

But what most people are afraid to do, especially behind the pulpit, is what? To assert its sufficiency for all things. Sufficient to make a man holy, sufficient for the church insofar as programs are concerned, sufficient to do the work that God has for his people here and now.

He knew, Paul knew, that Timothy needed the only weapon that will defeat the enemies and grow the people of God. And that weapon was not better ideas. It was an old idea. Trust God and his word. Thirdly, we looked at the reality that Paul and Timothy had a relationship that ought to help us think through how Paul is speaking to Timothy.

Once again, remember this is a letter. It's not a bunch of pithy statements stacked on one another to motivate us. It is one man who sees himself as a father figure to another much younger man and is looking to be there for him under the threat and promise of death.

And that should change the way that we see this entire letter. And so as you look at verse 14, as you find your way back there, I first want you to observe that one, Paul is trying to get across the reality that preachers of God's word must abide in the word of God.

I'll say that again. Preachers of God's word must abide in the word of God. Paul begins by saying, but you, of course, speaking about Timothy, continue in the things you learned and became convinced of.

Much like this morning, we find ourselves in the middle of an argument. And we know that because of this first word, but. This first word, but, is not necessarily all that important, although it is. What I mean by that is certainly it is simply just a basic coordinating conjunction.

It is just joining two clauses together. But what it's doing is really setting the tone for the rest of what Paul is going to say here. It is the backbone of the charge that he will give in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 2.

Preach the word. And in many ways, it's beginning a charge of its own when he's telling Timothy here to continue in the things that he has learned and became convinced of. Not only that, but it is obviously a contrast of sorts.

He is contrasting Timothy with the men that he has spoken about previously. In context, if you remember chapter 3, Paul has warned Timothy that difficult times are around the corner. That there are men who are looking to destroy the world, the city around them, but most importantly, the church.

They've come in deceiving. They've come in with the desire to twist scripture. Though they are disqualified, verse 8 says, in regard to the faith. They oppose the truth. But more specifically, verse 13 speaks of these men as evil men.

It begins with its own conjunction. But evil men and imposters, Paul says in verse 13, will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So the contrast here is between Paul, or between Timothy rather, sorry, with these evil false teachers that are evil and, according to this translation, imposters.

Now, in the Greek, this evil men and imposters is really one word. But it's a compound word that is used that really means an evil swindler. One who is really, as it says here, an imposter, but is motivated by malice.

One that is motivated by deceit. Maybe another way that you could translate it even is cheat. What makes this word hard to discern is it's not found anywhere else in the New Testament. We seem to be bumping into a lot of those as of late.

But it is elsewhere in antiquity. For instance, Philo uses this word to talk about a false prophet. I want you to hear this quote from Philo. He says, further, if anyone cloaking himself under the name and guise of a prophet and claiming to be possessed by inspiration led us on to the worship of the gods recognized in the different cities, we ought not to listen to him and be deceived by the name of prophet.

For such a one is no prophet, but, and here's our word, but an imposter. Since his oracles and pronouncements are falsehoods invented by no one else than himself. So once again, Paul is contrasting Timothy with these would-be, if we're going to use Philo's definition of the word to some degree, a false prophet.

So not just somebody who is teaching false doctrine, but potentially teaching false doctrine under the guise of prophecy. Now, to be sure, we don't want to import what Philo is saying necessarily into what Paul is saying, but it helps us to understand kind of how this word is used outside of Paul's usage here.

It's also used in an extra biblical epistle to Dignatus. And what he says, and I won't read that for you, but in his little excerpt using the word, is a false prophet that exhibits illusions and deceit.

So it is a false teacher that isn't just someone who, if we are going to kind of push all these words together and their definitions, it's not just someone who teaches some wrong things sometimes, because maybe he's mistaken, but someone who is maliciously and someone who is really trying to, on every level, deceive the people of God.

A fake, a phony, who is, according, if we go back to verse 13, who is not only deceiving, but being deceived. So these men are evil, they're imposters, they're false teachers and likely false prophets, and they are deceived.

Maybe they're buying into their own hype, that they're doing the right thing. And in so doing, they are deceiving others. And one of the things that's striking about verse 13 here is that he also says that these men will proceed from bad to worse.

There is a progression of sorts in the negative. In other words, what Paul is saying to Timothy is that these men will aggressively advance in your midst. They're not going to slow down, which is why he told him just a verse prior that he will meet persecution.

And that's the lot of everyone who bears the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's the lot of every man who opens his mouth and preaches the word. But you can see that this is incredibly relevant to us today.

Sure, he is writing to Timothy, but he is telling him truth that we need to heed today, that preachers of God's word need to heed today. Because there are many false teachers, many false prophets in our midst, and they are dangerous, they are deceived, and they are deceiving, and they are leading thousands, especially if you add them all up, of people straight to hell.

And so we must do something. Well, I don't know, pastor, you might be being a little hyperbolic here. Are you sure that's the case? Are you sure there's really as many dangerous false prophets, false teachers as you say there are?

Well, first of all, yes, there is. We mentioned Joel Osteen last week, but he's in Texas. There are people in our own backyard who fit this description. Earlier this weekend, I heard about a quote-unquote pastor, although I'm not willing to call him that, here in Owasso, or there in Owasso.

He pastors a church, once again using pastors very loosely, No Limits Church, not to be confused with the No Limits soldiers of the 90s. And his name is Cade Young. And Cade Young, this very month, just last week, prophesied that the rapture, and he wanted to make sure to qualify, might happen on Tuesday.

That because of his scripture reading, because of the Jewish calendar, and because of what the Lord has revealed to him, it is likely that this rapture is taking place. And so you must get ready, he says.

It's ironic that he also has a book that he's just recently released called God's End Times Wealth Transfer. Do you see how it might be advantageous for him to convince people that the end of the world is coming, if he has a theology that enables him to write a book about when the world ends, money should flow.

The reality is, even though I somewhat smirked there, there's nothing funny about this. This is a dangerous man. This is an evil man. This is a man who is deceived and deceiving. Even closer still, there's a man who pastors, and I use that term very loosely as well, a church called Transformation Church, right here in Tulsa.

His name is Mike Todd, and he preaches a heinous version of the prosperity gospel. So much so, in fact, if you look into some of his sermons, he connects the atonement to becoming wealthy. If you're not wealthy, Jesus did not die for you.

In fact, on a statement of faith that they have on their website that you have to look very hard for, it says this. It says, we believe that as part of Christ's work of salvation, it is the Father's will for believers to become whole, healthy, and successful in all areas of life.

And then he goes on to speak about what that means, and that means you should not get sick, and you should be financially successful. That flies in the face of everything that the Bible teaches. In fact, it would disqualify Jesus himself from being a man who was holy.

There's something very evil about using the very thing that the devil tempts people with as if it were a hook, and equate it to that of salvation. These are the men, these are the type of men that the apostle Paul was warning Timothy about, and he's contrasting them.

He's contrasting them with him. He says, but you, but you, Timothy, continue. Now, we're going to get into what this continue word is all about, but you need to see here that though these men will progress from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, Timothy is to dig his heels in where he has already been standing.

Though they have new ideas, new prophecies, new schemes, and new theology, Timothy is supposed to continue in the ancient paths, in the word of God. You see prophets, or false prophets rather, false teachers, they want to seemingly progress further than the Bible.

But if you're going to be a proclaimer of God's word, or a Christian who loves God's word, you have to understand that there is no such thing as progressing beyond the Bible. Oh, well, certain preachers will say, yes, we think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but you know, we're far more progressive.

We've really evolved since then. We're not stuck in the first century with Paul and his bigoted mindset. No, we stand anchored and tethered to the all-sufficient scriptures, and we continue in them. We continue in them, and we continue in them whether we're suffering, which is what's happening here in context.

Paul is suffering, and he's inviting and telling Timothy to what? Suffer. You don't have to suffer when you progress. When you are just walking with the world, and whatever they have to say, you don't have to continue in anything, and you don't have to brace yourself for the blows that might be coming.

You don't need a Paul to tell you, this is what your weapon will be, because you would just go. No matter the pain, no matter the prosperity, you just walk about progressing. But the truth is, if you're going to be a preacher of God's word, or if you're going to love biblical preaching in the context of the local church, you need to do a lot more regressing.

And what I mean by that is, Romans chapter 12 tells us that we are to be renewed in our mind. We need the Spirit to help us. We need the Spirit to love the ancient paths, the old ways, the scriptures.

So he says here, continue, continue. But you continue in the things that you have learned, and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them. This word continue here is an imperative verb. What that means is, it's a command.

He's not asking Timothy to do anything. He's saying, these men were progressing into evil, but you must continue in the things you learned, and became convinced of. Of course, spoiler alert, that's most certainly speaking about the word of God, the truth of the word of God.

This word continue here, though, deserves a little bit of our attention. And the reason for that is because the word continue in the English language doesn't quite, although it's faithful, so don't hear what I'm not saying, capture what's being said here.

The word continue here is a word that has been translated from the Greek word minno, which means to remain, stay. But when hear the word continue in modern English vernacular, what we will certainly come to think about is that we need to essentially keep progressing, keep moving forward.

But the idea here is that he is to plant his feet, as it were. That he is to remain where he is, and live, and love, and teach, and preach out of that thing that was already there. It's almost like if you know anything about mixed martial arts, standing in base.

In mixed martial arts, what you have to do if you don't want to die, getting up in the ring is what's called, as I just said, standing in base. And what that is, you are standing up once you get knocked down.

But you have to stand up in such a way that you're not vulnerable to attack. And so what you wind up doing is you have two points of contact at all times as you're standing up. You always have your eye on the enemy, the opponent, and yet you're getting up with one hand and one foot.

Wow, that's happening very slowly while the other two points of contact are lifting up the foot that is on the ground. You're not just jumping up, you're standing in base. You're standing in a way where your weight is distributed so that you will not get knocked away unaware.

But there's movement. This is what he's talking about. He's essentially saying stand in base. Get up, keep going, but don't ever lose your points of contact. So a better way to translate this might be the word abide.

So instead of continue, we might say something to the effect of, but you abide in these things. One of the reasons I say this is because theologically it makes sense, but then also this same word is used in Jesus or in John chapter 15 when Jesus says that we are to abide in him and that we cannot bear any fruit apart from abiding in him.

So though these men are going from bad to worse, though they're evil, though they're deceiving and being deceived, you, Timothy, he says, continue. Continue in the things you learned and became convinced of.

Why is it important that he does this? Well, we just looked at it this morning in Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14, it tells us that we are to be built up, remember, that we are to be equipped.

Why? Why are we equipped by the shepherd teachers? Verse 14, so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

If he's going to continue, if he's going to stand, he needs to do it in such a way that he will be protected from the arrows of the false teachers and their doctrine and their deceiving. So what are the things?

Well, the things spoken about here in verse 14 are things that he has obviously learned and became convinced of. Now, before looking at that specifically, I want you to notice another thing that's happening here.

There's another parallel happening, another contrast. If you remember in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 6, when speaking about these false teachers, it says, for among them are those who enter into households and take captive weak women, weighed down with sins, being led on by various desires, always learning, verse 7, and never able to come to a full knowledge of the truth.

You see here, Timothy is to be unlike these people here, unlike the men who are evil and unlike the women who are not able to come to a full knowledge of the truth. Why? Because he learned and he became convinced of those things.

Now, it's important to note that these are two different realities, that these things are distinguished. You can learn something and not be convinced by it. You can know some facts and not love it. As a matter of fact, the church is filled with men who have learned so much and opened their brains so wide that their brain and then their heart falls out of the way out of their head.

Bart Ehrman is a perfect example of this. Bart Ehrman is a phenomenal, or was rather, a phenomenal Greek scholar, and then he abandoned the faith. And now he spends his days trying to convince people that the Bible he spent his time studying is not all that reliable.

Now, he's wrong. And I would love to go over as to why, but that's for another time. He learned more than I've forgotten. Or rather, I think the saying is something like, he's forgotten more than I've ever learned.

And yet he's not convinced of the truths. He doesn't love them. But Timothy, he's not only learned them, he's become convinced of them. Now, things is certainly somewhat ambiguous. So the question becomes, what in the world are these things?

Well, depending on which scholar you look at or what conclusion you come to, the first option is usually the gospel message. These things is the gospel message. And I won't disagree with that. I think that's certainly included in what's being said here.

But I think it's far too narrow. Not that there's anything more important than the gospel message. But if Timothy is going to oversee this church, if Timothy is going to stand opposed to these men and stand in the truth, he needs more.

He doesn't need more than the gospel, but he certainly is privy to more than a simple gospel message. So one way to think about this would simply be the truth of God's word. Right? Because he's going to go into, and we're not going to have time to get into every single one of them, he's going to go into the fact that even though this is happening, even though that these false teachers are going to run rampant in your church, and even though they are going to progress from bad to worse, and even though they're going to deceive, you have a weapon, the word of God.

And it does a lot. And we're going to see that for the next six weeks. But not only that, it's the truth of God's word as it is, and as it's been exemplified in the people around him. So there is an experiential element to this as well.

Although, as you will see, it's not the experiential type stuff that the false teachers talk about. So Timothy, he says, but you, unlike these men, continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned them.

The second thing that I want you to note is that preachers of God's word must abide in the word of God because it is completely and utterly sufficient for ministry. I'll say that again. Preachers of God's word must abide in the word of God because it is completely and utterly sufficient for ministry.

Paul is certainly talking about ministry here. Where else is he going to preach the word except for in the context of the ministry that has been given to him? Remember, he is the pastor of a church in Ephesus or over the entire set of churches in Ephesus.

And we're going to see here all the ways in which the word is sufficient. Firstly, the word of God is sufficient to teach children. The word of God is sufficient to teach children. Now, this is an interesting place to start on a sermon series about the preached word, but it's where Paul starts, and he starts here for good reason.

Look with me here again at verse 13, or 14 rather. It says, knowing, at the end here, from whom you learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings. Paul begins here by reminding Timothy of his spiritual upbringing.

The word of God has, according to Paul and according to the rest of scripture, the power to teach even the youngest of children. It is not limited to age or understanding. Timothy here would have been very young.

Now, of course, he wasn't an infant, but the word child here indicates in the Greek a small child. And he says to him, remember whom taught you. Right? Knowing from whom you learned them. The scriptures, in other words, were always on the lives and lips, specifically of his grandmother and mother.

They were rearing him up in the ways of the Lord. We know this because in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5, it says, being reminded of the unhypocritical faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it is in you as well.

These women poured the scriptures down young Timothy's throat because they knew what Paul knew. It's the only thing that matters. This is why Proverbs 22 says, train up a child in the way he should go.

Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. The wisdom of God's word is sufficient. If it's not clear by now to teach children the truths that shape their worldview, ground their faith, and provide them with spiritual armor as they grow in a world hostile to the things of God.

Now, I know many of you homeschool, but there will be a day where they are no longer under your roof. And how will they stand on that day if you are not training your children to know, to learn, and to believe the word of God?

You must. You must train your children. Not only that, but children have a very receptive mind. And they have a mind that guzzles up the truth. Two examples come to mind. Things that would just normally blow the average person away.

I don't know if you guys remember this, but when we were at the American Legion, I was preaching a sermon that had to do with the Trinity. And as is custom, I got off my notes and I began to talk about the Trinity and I made a mistake.

As I was talking, I fumbled over my words and I accidentally said something to the effect of, the Triune God is three gods and one person. And I kept moving because I didn't know I did that. It was an accident, though.

I wasn't teaching heresy. I'm not one of these guys that Paul was talking about. But I got done and I'm talking to Pastor Corey after the gathering and I heard the story that when I said that, Stella, little Stella, you see her running around here, leaned over and said, that's not right.

It's one God, three persons. I was just sent a text message today, this very day, from somebody in our body who was playing Scrabble or some sort of game like that. And, well, it was Cece, all right? It was Cece.

I don't know how to go without mentioning her name, okay? It was Cece, okay? And she was trying to make a but-godded fit in the Scrabble board. You remember me talking about that in Ephesians chapter four, right?

That we but-godded. I verbified a word that should not be verbified. I do that all the time. I think it's a word, Cece. So if they won by one, you really won, okay? But what I'm saying is, children are listening and they can hear.

And they are guzzling the truth. And the same thing happened to Timothy, and we ought to take that same truth to heart. It is sufficient to train, to equip children, to teach them in the ways that they ought to go.

This means that they don't need all the entertainment that everybody else is privy to. They don't even need, dare I say it, children's Bibles with pictures of Jesus and so on and so forth. Now, if you can get one without second commandment violations, please do.

But they can understand, and you should be trying to get them to understand. And they can understand on a level that's usually higher than most people think that they can. So, parents, take after the example of Timothy's grandmother and his mother.

But also, it's the church's responsibility as well. In Deuteronomy 4, 9, and 10, it says, only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.

But make them known to your sons and to your grandsons. Remember the day you stood before Yahweh, your God, in Urub, when Yahweh said to me, assembled the people to me, that I may cause them to hear my words, so they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth, and they may teach their children.

So when I preach, some weeks are better than others, but I try to address the children because I believe that the word of God is sufficient to teach them. Psalm 78, 4 says, we will not conceal them from their children, but recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh and his strength and his wondrous deeds that he has done.

Pastors, parents, mentors must see their role as critical in shaping the minds of the next generation, and in so doing, pouring the word of God into them. We must not entertain children. We must instruct them in the sacred truths of God's word.

And the reason for that, of course, is because the scriptures are the source of true wisdom. The scriptures are the source of true wisdom. The scriptures provide wisdom far superior to the fleeting philosophies and sciences of this world.

Proverbs 9, 10 makes this clear when it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There is no other source of true wisdom of Almighty God. There are other true things, but this one trumps them all.

And it is the measuring stick by which every other truth claim is measured. Every story, every commandment, every prophecy is laden with wisdom that is found in Christ. Colossians chapter 2, verse 3, the word of God equips children for a life of faith and godliness, and it guards them from the snares of sin.

It builds a foundation that cannot be shaken, and that means, friends, that it is sufficient. Secondarily, the word of God is sufficient because it is holy. Because it is holy. Look with me again at verse 14.

But you, Timothy, continue in the things you learned and became convinced of, knowing from childhood you have known the, here's what it is, sacred writings. This word sacred could also very easily be translated as holy.

As holy. It literally means holy thing. So a sacred thing is a holy thing. And what's going on here is, Paul is trying to communicate with Timothy that the tool that he needs to safeguard him on in his ministry is one that is holy.

It is the holiness of scripture that he's pointing to. In other words, what he's trying to get across is that the Bible is not just another book on the shelf. It is the very God-breathed word of God.

Second, Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, to which we will cover in exhausting detail next week. It is set apart. It is distinct from every other form of human communication. As God is holy, so his word is holy.

That's why Psalm 12, 6 says the words of Yahweh are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace on the ground refined seven times. And not only that, but as we think about the holiness of scripture and we compare it with, say, I don't know, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12, which says, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and spirit of joints in morrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

When we consider this, what we're considering is the holiness of scripture. And the reason I say that, even though holiness is not mentioned here, is because it's holiness, it's set-apartness, it's God-breathedness that gives it this very authority, its purity, and its power to penetrate your heart.

It's not a bunch of human inventions. It is the revelation of a holy God. It is the holy revelation of a holy God. And it is the representation, as it were, of his holiness. This is why in James chapter 1, verses 23 and 25, the word of God is said to be like a mirror.

James says, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. So if you hear the word but you don't do it, it's like looking at your natural face in a mirror.

For once he looked at himself and has gone away, he immediately forgot what kind of person he was, but one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James is trying to say here that the Bible, as a mirror, reveals the true conditions of our hearts, the true conditions of our soul, because it is holy. It exposes our sin, our failings, our desire to be and act as God, our need for grace, and it does not flatter.

It doesn't tell you pleasantries to get you to do what it is that it wants you to do. It tells you sometimes the worst things you ever want to hear. As a matter of fact, if you are reading the Bible and you never are offended by it, you're not reading it right.

It cuts straight to the heart, but in doing so, it leads us to holiness. It's holy and it leads us to holiness. The Bible not only reveals who we are, it reveals who God is, that he is holy, that he is righteous, that he is just, that he is transcendent, that he is beautiful, and as we behold the holiness of God in his word, 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 says that we are transformed from one degree of glory to another.

So the word is sufficient because it is holy. Thirdly, the word of God is sufficient to save sinners and sanctify saints. The word of God is sufficient to save sinners and sanctify saints. Look with me again at verse 15 now.

He said that these sacred writings are, second half of the verse, are able to make you wise unto salvation. So the scriptures make us wise unto salvation. Salvation does not come from false teachers. It does not come from false prophets.

It does not come from human ingenuity, wisdom, or bunk philosophy. It does not come from clowns behind a pulpit offering cotton candy. It comes through the wisdom of God's word. This is how God saves a people for himself.

He uses men to proclaim his word and they believe it. Romans 10 17, which was already uttered this evening. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. It is through the proclamation of the word that sinners are convicted, that they are cut to the quick by the Holy Spirit, having their sin revealed to them, and then drawn to Christ.