James Renihan - The Application Of Scripture

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Would you turn again in your Bibles to 2nd Timothy chapter 3? I'm greatly encouraged At the overlap that there has been
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Among the three presenters at this conference. We had minimal contact really with each other beforehand
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The topics were assigned to us but not the texts and yet we keep coming back to this
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Section of Scripture and I'm encouraged in two ways by that kind of overlap The first is that it assures us that this is what the
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Lord wanted to say to us in these two days He really wanted us to think through these issues and make them central in our thinking the other thing that I'm encouraged at though is the unity between the three of us and The way that we have handled this text and the things that we have said
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It's as if we shared our notes all together and and just put it all together as one
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And that's been a real encouragement to me along the way. Well, I won't take the time to read the text at length again
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I'm assuming you want me to be done by about 430 or so so that there's plenty of time Not sure
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Rich James isn't here, but that'll be the assumption that I'm working on because of the limits of time
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Knowing me. I may push it a little beyond 430, but we'll do the best that we we can
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I've been assigned the topic the application of Scripture And so I want to preach to you about that this afternoon and we'll do so beginning in verse 16 again of chapter 3
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And then I think I hope looking at another text just a few pages away
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That gives us some specific illustrations of that which we consider here in this text now last night
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We began to open up verse 16 and really opened up the first part all Scripture is given by inspiration of God This afternoon what
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I want to do is open up the second part where it says it is profitable for doctrine for reproof
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For correction for instruction in righteousness, and I'm treating application in the old
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Puritan sense Typically if you read the old Puritan writings, you don't find the word application very much
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But you find the use of Scripture and after you read the doctrinal section of whatever the sermon happens to be you'll come to use 1 and use 2 and use 3 and sometimes use 15 and use 16 and use 17
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But they saw that Scripture was very useful, and I'm treating my Sermon on the application of Scripture in that sense as the
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Puritans viewed it now what we find here Is that Paul tells us that Scripture is profitable or sometimes?
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It's translated useful for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness for different things
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Now the first thing that I want you to notice here in our text is what we might call the grammatical construction and the word profitable or useful modifies the word
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Scripture all Scripture is Profitable all Scripture is useful we can skip over the rest in order to put these words together
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That's not to diminish the importance of its inspiration It's simply to point out to you that profitable has reference to all
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Scripture now profitable Then takes four prepositional phrases it is modified by four prepositional phrases
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It is profitable or useful for four things and these four things are in parallel with each other
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Scripture thus is profitable we could say for one two three four
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That's exactly what Paul means and what he says now I don't want to trivialize the meaning of the text, but it's something like this
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Wheaties helps you build strong bodies in twelve different ways See in a sense.
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That's what Paul is saying here Scripture is profitable for one two three and four
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Now let's take up the meaning of these words What does he mean when he says that Scripture is? profitable or useful well
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This word is used only four times in the New Testament and all four times are found here in the pastoral epistles
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Now it is related linguistically to a common Greek verb which means to increase or to be of advantage
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For example you'll recognize Luke 9 25 where the Lord Jesus asked the question
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What profit is there to a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul
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It's a very picturesque metaphor. Is it not Jesus asked this question imagine that you could be emperor of the world and That you owned everything in the world
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Everything that you could see Everything that is tangible in the world would belong to you yet at the end of your life when you died
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What would good would that do for you if your soul was to be lost what use would those things have been to you in?
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The long run the period of time that you spend on this earth is relatively brief compared to the length of eternity and so Jesus asked that question and our verb is
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Related our word is use is related to the word that Jesus uses there back in Luke chapter 9
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Now I'd like you to look with me at the other occurrences in the pastoral epistles because they will help to explain for us the meaning of this specific word turn back if you will to 1st
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Timothy chapter 4 and verse 8 1st Timothy 4 8 a very familiar
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Verse of Scripture in which we find our word employed two times
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Paul says bodily exercise Profits a little
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But godliness is profitable for all things Having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come
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First he says that exercise Profits for a little now it does have benefits
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We have learned this more and more in our lifetime that it's an emphasis that we see set before us regularly
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The person who exercises who does even a little bit each week Isn't better shape is less prone to certain ailments and can better withstand the rigors of life
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Paul recognized that fact he knew that it was good and there would be some benefit to you
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Physically if you were to give yourself over to bodily exercise but there is a contrast and Paul moves on from the benefit that comes to us by Exercising our bodies to speak about something that is far more
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Beneficial to us and he uses the same kind of terminology He says while bodily exercise is good in a certain way
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Godliness is profitable in everything Seeking after godliness walking in the ways of God Well physical exercise gives some benefit to the body and it is useful in that end
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It's usefulness will conclude at death But godliness is always of benefit because godliness goes beyond the grave in This passage our word has the meaning beneficial
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Something that is of great usefulness and it's interesting to note the contrast in Paul's language in this verse
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Because he must add a qualifying phrase to its first usefulness Bodily exercise profits a little it has limitations to it
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But later on there is no qualifying phrase But godliness is profitable for all things it demonstrates to us the strength of the word
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He has to limit he has to put a qualifying phrase on it when he speaks about bodily exercise
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But he doesn't have to do that when he uses it to speak of the benefit that comes to our soul by seeking after Godliness now turn with me to the other time that it's used in the pastoral's in Titus chapter 3 and verse 8
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Titus chapter 3 and verse 8 Titus 3 8 is at the end of a long section that begins all the way back in the first verse of chapter 2 and God willing we'll be coming back to the book of Titus a little bit later on in our exposition this afternoon
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But verse 8 is something of a conclusion to a long section in which Paul seeks to address various groups and individuals within the church and to tell them how they are to live in the light of the gospel and He uses the last of these faithful sayings words that are given probably to indicate
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Some kind of confessional statement that was perhaps recited in the early assemblies of the
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Christians He says this is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm
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Constantly and I think that what we come to now is the faithful saying That those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works
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I think that's the faithful saying that that what ought to characterize the lives of God's people is a
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Care to pursue to maintain to follow after good works to be marked in our lives by good works
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And then Paul says these things are good and they are profitable
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To men now if we were to continue reading we'd see in verse 9 that he then immediately speaks about things that are unprofitable disputes
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Contentions strivings these things are unprofitable and useless There is a contrast that is intended by the
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Apostle Paul good works are always of benefit Now, what is a good work a good work is something that God has commanded in his
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Holy Word It's not something that we invent It's not something that we determine is a good work a good work is what
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God has commanded in his Word And when we pursue those things when we live our lives According to what
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God himself has said in exactly the way that dr Askel opened up and it opened it up for us in the last hour if we do that We are doing things that are good and are profitable of benefit of usefulness to others who are around us
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You see how Paul uses the word and then contrasts it in verse 9 now with that in our minds
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Let's come back to 2nd Timothy 3 16 In verse 16 when he says that Scripture is profitable
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Scripture is useful Scripture is Beneficial he's using a strong word
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He's using a word that points to all of these benefits that belong to Scripture And he wants us to understand that not merely with reference to this life
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But with reference to the life to come the life that we live on this earth and the life that we will live forever
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The God breathed Scriptures are profitable. They are useful They help us to live in this life and they prepare us for the life that is to come
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He means that they are what God intended us to have in order that we might benefit in this life the most
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The Scriptures have a God breathe Profitability that's what
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Paul wants us to understand they come from God Emphasize this last night when we spoke about the authority of Scripture I think that it relates to the the argument for canonicity that dr.
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White presented to us this morning It's the profitability of Scripture they come from God God intended for us to have these things so that we might live to his glory in this life and In the life to come now, then what does
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Paul say? Remember we indicated that he modifies this word profitable or useful with four parallel Prepositional phrases he mentions four things and I want to open these four things up to you first He says that all
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Scripture is profitable for doctrine or for teaching now what he is intending to emphasize to Timothy is that Timothy is to make use of the
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Scriptures in his teaching that is the stuff of his message when he stands before men and women in the church or When he stands before unbelievers in whatever circumstance he might find himself
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He is to take the Word of God and open up the Word of God for the benefit of those individuals
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He is to impart knowledge concerning God's revelation of Jesus Christ We can look back to verse 15.
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I was greatly encouraged in the way that dr Askell opened that up to us the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith
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Which is in Christ Jesus and you remember what what this refers to particularly as we saw it last night.
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It's the Old Testament Here Paul is recognizing that Christ is in the Old Testament and that even the
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Old Testament Scriptures are sufficient. They are profitable to bring us to Jesus Christ That's what he says.
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Those were the scriptures certainly that Timothy would have known from his youth and yet He's able to emphasize that about them in this place
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The scriptures are profitable for giving us instruction with regard to our Savior and to all that scripture is about This is what we just saw in Titus 3 8
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Titus 3 8. Well, maybe we didn't see it I guess I am trying to hurry up here and I skipped over something that I had in my notes
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Titus 3 8 comes Not only at the at the end of a long section that begins back in in verse 1
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But it comes at the very end of a doctrinal section that Paul places there in in the middle or towards the end of his
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Instruction, maybe you want to turn over there just for a moment and notice it He says he speaks about the kindness the love of God our
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Savior toward man not by works of righteousness Which we have done but according to his mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the
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Holy Spirit Whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior that having been justified by his grace
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We should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life Then he says this is a faithful saying that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works the place to begin
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Paul says when we think about the usefulness the profitability the application of scripture is in teaching
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William Perkins in that great treatise on preaching called the art of prophesying
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Begins his section on application by an insistence that the first use of scripture is for the instruction of the mind
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Because everything ethical about the Christian life must flow out of the things that we believe
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We must never fall prey to moralism The preacher can't stand up in front of you and say do this and do that because I say so But the but the beginning of the
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Christian life is an understanding of who God is. What is the beginning of wisdom? It's the fear of the
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Lord isn't it? It's an understanding of who God is and it's a reverential Recognition of who he is that permeates our hearts in our lives that begins wisdom and wisdom
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Of course in the book of Proverbs doesn't just mean smarts. It means the application of God's truth to all of life the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the
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Lord Well Paul here begins with teaching because he wants us to think in those terms
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The preacher who stands before God's people must ground them in the great doctrines of Christianity as they are taught from Genesis to the book of Revelation all of these doctrines are to be impressed upon the minds of God's people
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This is what we call the indicative the indicative is what God has done in Jesus Christ The indicative points us to the reality of who
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God is and we have nowhere to turn Except the Bible for our instruction in who God is and what
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God has done in Jesus Christ Maybe you'll remember that we began. Oh so briefly last night by speaking about general revelation
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The fact that the world around us all the time and in every circumstance testifies to the reality of the existence of God But all that it will do is condemn us
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We need special revelation in order to show us the way of salvation to bring us to Jesus Christ Well what
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Paul says to Timothy here in terms of the usefulness of scripture is that he is commanded to be actively involved in teaching and He tells him what he is to teach the
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God breathed scriptures This is the stuff of every good preaching ministry one of the men this morning asked the question
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What do you do in a church? What do you do? When you confess one thing, but you see a different reality in the pulpit and what
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I wanted to do is come to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 the same context here and say preach the word
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Go to that minister and remind him of his responsibilities if he's a man of integrity if he's taken
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Ordination vows that commit him to this book and that commit him to a confessional understanding of this book
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Then go to him gently humbly and remind him of the need to be faithful to the vows that he took
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Say brother sir pastor I love you But I know that you took these vows
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But you are not being faithful to them because you are not feeding us from the scriptures and we need the scriptures in order to Be able to live teach us the truth teach us sound doctrine ground us
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So that we might be able to do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord that we love
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That's the place to begin and so Paul we should not be surprised when he speaks to us about the usefulness of scripture that it begins with the
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Indicative with what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and tells us that scripture is useful for teaching
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That's the place that we always Begin the second thing that he does though He adds a second prepositional phrase and he says that scripture is profitable for reproof some translations
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Yes, turn this into rebuking Now this word is used only here in the
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New Testament But it is related to a verb which appears at other places one of them
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Titus 2 15 And I want you to keep that in your mind because I hope to go to Titus 2 15 in a few moments
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But what we find if we are to look at the other related words in the New Testament That the
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Apostles instruct us that those who preach the word are to issue warnings in the light of sin
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The Word of God is profitable for rebuke That is it is the instrument which is to be used by those who preach the word
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In order to show men and women the depth and reality of their sins
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Whether they are sins of conduct or they are sins of doctrine It is the
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Bible that is profitable to expose that sin to offer Warnings with the desired end that sin might cease.
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This is sort of a negative type thing, isn't it? It's sort of a downer you say I wish you didn't preach that but that's what the text says see, that's what it says and That's what the preacher has to do you fall into a sin and that sin is uncovered and Your minister has to come to you and sit down with you and look you in the eye and say you have
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Violated God's law and here is God's law and I want you to hear it You can't convince someone of their sin by the strength of your personality
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The Lord has not called us to argue people into a sense of their sin but Paul says we come to them with the
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Word of God and we present them with the Word of God and show how they have fallen short of the glory of God in this or in that and Paul says it's useful.
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It's profitable for that. And this is what a minister must do Now the other side of it is immediately presented to us in the third prepositional phrase
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Scripture is profitable for correction Now like the word for reproof.
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This word is also used here only here in the New Testament But it literally means to restore to an upright state or to make something erect
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Such as lifting up something that has fallen down. I Come from New England originally when you drive around the countryside of New England You see those beautiful old barns that are on the calendar pictures in October and November when the foliage turns
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That brilliant orange and yellow and red Well, sometimes those barns are ready to fall down And they have to bring someone in to shore up the barns to to make them stable so that the farmer can use them again
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That's sort of what Paul is talking about here. You determine the weak points and you build them up One lexicon translates this word useful for improvement
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But the idea is the restoration of someone who has fallen If rebuke stresses the negative side of pastoral work then correction
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Emphasizes the positive side. That's how William Hendrickson. That's Hendrickson's take on this text
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Paul says that all scripture is useful for correction It relates many incidents which mirror aspects of our own experience
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It shows us our sins and it gives us examples of how our character may be changed how many people who have fallen in into sin and have been corrected and have been granted the grace of repentance have gone to Psalm 32 or Psalm 51 and Found those
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Psalms to be helpful as they brought their way out as the Lord brought them out You see the scripture is full of help to us in correcting us and building us up when we are taken out of sin the fourth of these attributes of scripture is
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Or the fourth prepositional phrase all scripture is profitable for instruction or training in righteousness
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Now this is a much more common word that we find all over the New Testament But it means a disciplined instruction in the ways of God It means showing people how they are to live
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In fact, it's the kind of word that's used of the instruction that we give to our children now. I have five children My oldest is married.
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She just had her first baby Just exactly a month ago today, June July 27th.
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So I'm a grandfather. He's cute little boy The way that I deal with Beth and her husband
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Bradford is very different from the way that I deal with her nine eight -year -old sister Who'll turn nine tomorrow?
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Our youngest turns nine tomorrow now Beth is almost 25 Susie is just a day short of nine and in between there are three brothers all of them in college
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Now as they have grown I've had to know each of their personalities I've had to know each of their circumstances and I've had to Change my fatherly approach to each one of them according to who they are and what their needs are at the time
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Nathan the oldest boy is extremely outgoing Micah the middle boy is much more reserved
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Sam the youngest boy is a different kid himself Beth the oldest is one way
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Susie the youngest is another way and I cannot treat them as cookie cutter children I have to know them and meet their needs as they are at the different stages of life
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Well, that's exactly what Paul means with regard to this word and the use of Scripture in the church
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Scripture is useful for training or instruction in righteousness according to what each individual is
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The preacher of the Word of God needs to know his Congregation and needs to know all of his people and needs to demonstrate or be able to take the scriptures and demonstrate to each one
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How they might benefit how they might be strengthened in those things in their lives now at this point
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I'd like you to turn with me over to Titus chapter 2 and see how this is worked out in an extensive text
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Where we can see how the scripture is applied and we find every aspect of the things that that Paul lays out in 2nd
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Timothy 3 16 here in this text. Let's let's read it It's a little bit long, but I think it will be useful beginning in verse 1 of chapter 2
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But as for you Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine now, that's an important heading
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It's an important verse Sound doctrine is the healthy words. It is the full system of theology that is contained in the scripture
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It's what implied what's implied back in that word teaching scripture is profitable for teaching That's what this is about and Paul says that there are certain things that are proper for sound doctrine notice
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That the older men be sober reverent temperate sound in faith in love and patience
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The older women likewise that they be reverent in behavior not slanderers not given to much wine teachers of good things
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That they admonish the young women to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet chaste
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Homemakers good obedient to their own husbands that the Word of God may not be blasphemed
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Likewise exhort the young men to be sober minded in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works in doctrine showing integrity reverence
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Incorruptibility sound speech that cannot be condemned that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you
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Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters to be well -pleasing in all things not answering back not pilfering
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But showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things
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For the grace of God that brings salvation has appealed to all men Teaching us that denying
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Ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly Righteously and godly in the present age
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Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and Purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works then notice verse 15
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Speak these things Exhort and rebuke with all authority let no one despise you now, let's keep going
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Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities To obey to be ready for every good work to speak evil of no one to be peaceable
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Gentle showing all humility to all men for we ourselves were also once foolish disobedient deceived serving various lusts and pleasures
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Living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another but when the kindness and the love of God our
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Savior Toward of God our Savior toward man appeared. He saved us etc. We've already read the rest
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Now do you notice what Paul says verse 15 of chapter 2 is sort of the center? Speak these things exhort and rebuke with all authority.
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Well Paul, what do you mean? What things are we to teach and exhort and rebuke with all authority
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Well, this the doctrine is found in verses 11 through 14 and over in chapter 3 from verses 4 through 8
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That's the doctrine. That's the basis. God has saved us and we look for the second coming of Christ We live between the comings
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God sent his son his son lived a life of holy obedience His son died his son was buried his son rose from the dead his son ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God because of what his son has done in saving us we are therefore to live godly before the world
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We are to live to the honor of Christ Jesus. And how does that work? Well, do you notice what Paul did?
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He begins the chapter and he ends the chapter with very similar words Verse 1 speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.
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And then what does he do? He divides the church up into six different groups And he speaks words that are appropriate to each of those groups.
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The first one is older men And he says that there is a certain way that older men are to live now
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We if we were to look back into chapter 1 we'd see that there are some Characteristics of the culture of the island of Crete where Titus was located that Paul is addressing here in this place
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But nonetheless, he has some specific words and he wants the older men of the church now how old are the older men?
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Well, probably the word means something like 50 and above It probably means that it might might be a little bit different, but that's probably what it means he says that the older men are to live in a certain way and they are to demonstrate the sobriety and reverence and Temperance of faith and love and patience in their lives
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You ought to be able to look at an older Christian man and by the way that he carries himself in these things
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See evidence of the reality of the faith that is in his life then he turns to the older women
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And he says that the older women in the same way are to carry themselves before the world by certain behaviors
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They're to be reverent not slender is not given to much wine They're to be teachers of good things and he turns his attention to these older women and says older women
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Do you want to bring glory to God? Then there's a certain way that you are to carry yourself There are certain things that you yourselves ought to do
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This leads him to the third group and that's the younger women And he says the most out of all of these groups about the younger women
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He gives just these brief instructions. Love your husband's love your children Discreet chaste homemakers good obedient to their husbands notice that the
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Word of God may not be blasphemed if they don't live this way That God breathed book that authoritative book will be blasphemed
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Because people hear that the scriptures say live this way and they look at the young women and they see them living that way and they
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Say there's a disconnect between the two You see how sound doctrine is to work its way out in life.
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Then Paul turns to a fourth group the young men He doesn't say much to them except that they're to be sober minded
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But I think that that covers almost everything that a young man needs to know You see all of his life ought to be governed by sobriety by sober -mindedness by overcoming the frivolity of youthfulness and Showing some maturity that perhaps is uncharacteristic for most in his age group
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The fifth group that he addresses that Paul addresses is Christian ministers in verse 7 and he tells
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Titus that he is to show himself a pattern of good works and he singles out a variety of things in the
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Life of Titus and then the sixth group that Paul singles out is bond Servants in verses 9 and 10 which
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I take in our culture to mean anyone who is involved in a relationship Where their time where they are they are being paid by another for their time
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When you are being paid by someone for your time you are their bond servant they own that hour and You are to be profitable for them.
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Now. You see what Paul does here This is not every way that he could address the church But he looks at the church and he sees six different groups and he tells
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Titus that his Responsibility in coming to the church is to speak to them these people in their groups and tell them that there are certain ways that They are to carry themselves
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Older men older women younger women younger men ministers and servants
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You're to live in a certain way and all of it relates to the Word of God And then what does
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Paul do then he gives the doctrinal basis then he gives the teaching He gives to us the indicative that the imperative is based upon we've already talked about that But then notice what he does in chapter 3
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Because he does something else here He addresses the whole church or he tells Titus to address the whole church
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Now he goes beyond the fact that there are certain characteristics that ought to define certain groups
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And he addresses the entire church and he says that there are other things that ought to characterize everybody and He says remind them
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Because these things can be forgotten Whether you're an older man or an older woman Whether you're a younger woman or a younger man
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Whether you're a minister whether you're a bond servant, whoever you are these things apply to you hear them heed them follow them be subject to rulers and authorities the two words that Paul used probably refer on the one hand to the emperors and Secondly to the local governors.
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That's probably what he means He means be in submission to the powers that be he says obey
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Be ready for every good work Speak evil of no one. That's a hard one brothers and sisters
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But that's what he's saying speak evil of no one Boy, it is so easy to speak evil of people that we don't like and he says that in terms of Caesar And the governors that Caesar has appointed speak evil of no one
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He's applying this to the whole church. I need to hear this. You need to hear this Says be peaceable be gentle show all humility
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Why well verse 3 tells us because we were like them and he gives a sevenfold description of what we were like until The kindness and the love of God our
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Savior appeared and saved us But you see the point the point again is that the
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Word of God addresses the church now not breaking the church up into individual groups now addressing the church as a whole and Saying if you profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ, there are certain obligations that you have
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You are to pursue those obligations and live your life in the world according to these
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Commandments This is the application of Scripture You see the Bible the system of theology that's contained in the
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Bible is just not a nice neat philosophical system now
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I Love the classes that I teach and I suppose everyone that I'm teaching becomes my favorite at one point or another
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But one of the classes that I teach is is a class of lectures in the
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Baptist Confessions And I get to spend about 48 hours working my way through the whole system of Christian theology
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That is contained especially in the second London Confession sometimes called the 1689 Confession And every time that I lecture through that confession,
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I come away worshiping God Because I see the beauty of Christian theology in all of its fullness beginning with the doctrine of Scripture going through the doctrine of God and his decrees and creation and providence and the covenants and Christ the mediator and all the blessings of salvation
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Christian Liberty the doctrine of the church and finally the end times I look at all of that I see it in its beauty and I'm thankful to God for what he has given to us in the scriptures in that system of Doctrine, but I have to remind myself
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I have to remind my students that it's not just a beautiful system, but it's the basis upon which we live our lives for example
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When we come to chapter 2 of the confession of faith, which is of God and of the Holy Trinity The first thing that I do in my lectures is
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I say now brothers we have to remember this We are coming to study God himself and we can never put
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God under a microscope We can never treat God as if he were a laboratory Experiment in which we stand over God and analyze him when we come to the doctrine of God We must come with a reverence
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We must metaphorically come on our knees Come before him and worship him and recognize his greatness and his glory his majesty and his power and that's the only proper way in which we can understand the doctrine of God as We work our way through all of those doctrines.
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We're seeking to apply them. How can you help God's people? How can you preach these things? How can you bring them to men and women who profess faith in Christ?
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So that it will change the way that they work in their jobs on Tuesdays So that it will cause husbands to love their wives better and wives to love their husbands for parents to be
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Better parents for their children so that we all might be better citizens How do you take these things and put them into reality?
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That's what Paul is doing here. And that's what the usefulness of Scripture is all about. That is our task
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Now let's come back to 2nd Timothy 3 16 and think about this as we wrap up.
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All I can do is give you my heads Because it's almost 430. There are some important implications
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From this whole doctrine. The first of them is that all of Scripture is profitable.
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We mentioned that last night But Paul's words need to be understood from Genesis to Revelation Everything about the
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Bible is of great usefulness to the Christian and we excuse me brothers and sisters you and I Need to have a good grasp on all of Scripture in order
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To live to the glory of God These through the Bible in a year reading programs are great
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Because they do help us to stay with the Bible and work through it and get to know it We need to know it.
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We need to know all of it. We need to apply all of it to our lives There's a whole lot more that I simply have to skip over secondly
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In our teaching wherever you go to church You ought to be sitting in a church where they use all of the
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Scriptures One of the things that I tell my students is that over a period of time and I usually use about five years
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It's an arbitrary number certainly, but I think it's a fair number I say that over the course of five years when you serve in a
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Christian pulpit You ought to be taking your people through every part of the Bible not that you preach through all 66 books in five years
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I don't mean that but they ought to have exposure to the law and To the Old Testament historical books and to the wisdom literature and to the prophets they ought to hear from the
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Gospels and from the Acts and from the Pauline epistles and the general epistles and they ought to hear From the book of Revelation over a given period of time more or less.
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Let's say five years But the people of God ought to be exposed to all of the Bible over a period of time like that They ought to hear it
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They ought to know it one of the things that I say to my young men is that the way that you treat and handle
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Scripture in the pulpit is the way that your people will read it and You need to help them you need to teach them you need to show them by the integrity with which you treat the
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Bible How they themselves are to treat the Bible when they read it on their own at home or with their families
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We must teach all of the scriptures the third thing
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That we need to say is that to use the scriptures in the ways that are outlined by Paul Requires an intimate acquaintance between pastors and people it really does
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It involves involvement Not well said but I think you know what
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I mean. It includes involvement in people's lives that's what it's all about and That's what you ought to expect from those who are your overseers
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That they are taking your best interests at heart and that they are seeking To know you and to apply the scriptures to you in the same way that is a good father
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I hope I'm able to know my five different children and lead each one of them according to their own gifts and abilities
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Strengths and weaknesses Through the rest of their lives that your pastors ought to be able to do that for you
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Because that's what the scripture is given all scripture is Profitable for these four things and then the fourth thing that we need to say is to use the scriptures in this way
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Requires a humble submissive spirit on the part of God's people It requires a humble
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Submissive spirit on the part of God's people we all are to hear and receive the
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Word of God and Live it to the glory of God It's one thing to talk about the authority of scripture, isn't it?
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We can stand here and we can preach about it. We can all get excited about it and say amen But if we believe in authority
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Then we have to believe in application We have to see it working its way through our lives
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We have to demonstrate that it's not just a theoretical system that we have come to enjoy because it's so beautiful But it impinges on the way that we live our lives and that's why
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Paul can say whatever you do Whether you eat or drink
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What does he say? Do all to the glory of God did you ever think about the fact that you weighed the way that you take a glass and Lift it to your lips either glorifies
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God or doesn't or the way that you take your fork and Place it into the vegetables on your plate and lift it to your mouth
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Glorifies God or it doesn't it seems pretty routine doesn't it? But that's what Paul says, right?
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Whatever you do Even eating and drinking Do it to the glory of God We must not be those who simply confess the authority of scripture