{"id":18216,"date":"2016-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-026-why-preach-the-bible-part-1\/"},"modified":"2016-04-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-026-why-preach-the-bible-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-026-why-preach-the-bible-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 026 – Why Preach the Bible? – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18216","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 026 - Why Preach the Bible? - Part 1","sermon_date":"20160410","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3543,"sermon_slides":3545,"sermon_mp3":3546,"sermon_id":"410161049383","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"3:14-15a","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhy Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 1\n\n4-10-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:14-15a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 26\n\nGood morning everybody, if we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14, maybe making it through part of verse 16 today.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Why Preach the Bible? Part 1.\u00a0 I guess you guys think I might have a lot to say on this or something.\u00a0 Why Preach the Bible? Part 1.\n\nWell, here we are in the book of 2 Timothy.\u00a0 If you\u2019re visiting with us for the very first time we\u2019ve been working our way through 2 Timothy, which is really a book about completing the task, as Paul writes to a young struggling pastor who is thinking of quitting.\u00a0 Paul writes this book at the very end of his life to encourage Timothy to endure in his calling.\n\nChapter 1 is really a generic call to faithfulness in the ministry.\u00a0 Chapter 2 are ten metaphors, or word pictures, explaining what endurance looks like.\u00a0 We went through all ten of these fairly carefully.\u00a0 And then you get to chapter 3 and the subject matter changes into a prediction about something that you hardly hear about today, although we see evidence of it all around us; the prediction of the last days apostasy of the church.\n\nApostasy as we have defined it is a departure from known truth.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something that happens in the world because they\u2019d have no truth from which to depart.\u00a0 It\u2019s a specific prediction, rather, that Paul makes for the church as the church age winds to its conclusion.\u00a0 The church will sort of have a tendency to run off the rails, if you will.\u00a0 It\u2019s fidelity to the truth will be compromised.\u00a0 And Paul never tells Timothy it can be avoided, rather he tells him what to do in the midst of it.\u00a0 So he describes this apostasy, verses 1-9 with its evil, verses 1-7; and its examples, he gives a couple of examples from the Old Testament, verses 8-9.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that Paul doesn\u2019t just say the world or the church is going to go to hell in a handbasket; he tells Timothy what to do as it goes to hell in a handbasket.\n\nAnd the first thing he tells Timothy to do, verses 10-13 is imitate Paul\u2019s character in nine ways.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s some things to imitate in my ministry, verses 10; my character, verse 10, and then last week\u00a0 you recall he says I want you to imitate me, Timothy, as you watch me go through difficulties.\u00a0 So there was a two decade relationship between Paul and Timothy.\u00a0 Paul, of course, went through hard times; Timothy saw him in the midst of these hard times.\u00a0 And he says I want you to respond as you have seen me respond when I went through hard times because, Timothy, hard times are coming for you and for the church.\n\nNow that\u2019s a section that we completed last week and now what he moves into is\u2026 and hence the title Why Preach the Bible?\u00a0\u00a0 The second thing Timothy is to do in the midst of this apostasy is he is to cling to and proclaim the\u2026 really the only barometer of truth that God ever gave to the world and that\u2019s the Scripture.\u00a0 The Scripture will become progressively denied, discarded, as we move into the apostasy of the church and Timothy, what I want you to do in the midst of the apostasy is I don\u2019t want you to follow the pattern of everybody else, I want you to gravitate towards the truth, because if you should ever lose sight of the truth you lose your vantage point for living.\n\nYou lose your compass, it\u2019s like trying to fly an airplane without a compass.\u00a0 That\u2019s what it\u2019s like trying to live the spiritual life without being hemmed in by the barometer, or the compass, of God\u2019s truth. \u00a0And of all of the sections in the Bible that I think are most relevant to today I would have to put this, perhaps, at the very top because we are living amongst a generation, we are living in a climate where the truth of God, even within His own Church is being marginalized, if not jettisoned altogether.\n\nSlipping over, just for a minute over to 2 Timothy, one chapter to the right, chapter 4, verse 2, a verse we won\u2019t be getting to today but I just want to make a brief comment about it, Paul is going to tell Timothy to \u201cpreach the word; be ready in season and out of season.\u201d\u00a0 Now notice this expression, \u201cin season and out of season.\u201d\u00a0 Another way of saying that is when it\u2019s in vogue, when it\u2019s not in vogue; when it\u2019s popular, when it\u2019s not popular.\u00a0 In other words, truth and the love for truth is going to go through times when truth is very, very popular and it\u2019s going to go through times, even in the life of the church where truth is very, very unpopular.\u00a0 Timothy, you are not to adjust your ministry based on the popularity of what you\u2019re saying.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re to preach the truth whether people are embracing it or whether people are rejecting it.\n\nAnd I believe, very strongly as I\u2019ve been preparing these messages that we are living in the time when the truth of God is no longer in season but it is very much out of season. You find yourself, as you embrace the truth, really going, fighting uphill, if you will, doing against the grain.\u00a0 And so these words that Paul gives to Timothy are so pertinent for the time period in which we live.\n\nNow let me give you some examples and I\u2019m not trying to give you these examples to harangue against certain people but I\u2019m trying to give you a flavor for the spiritual climate that we find ourselves in in the 21st<\/sup> century, in the year 2016.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to establish the pertinence, the need and the relevance for this particular section of Scripture that we are now entering.\u00a0 We have something called the Emergent Church and here\u2019s an Emergent Church writer, Doug Paget, and he writes that \u201cAt Solomon\u2019s porch\u201d which is the name of his church, \u201csermons are not primarily about extracting truth from the Bible to apply to people\u2019s lives<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 [Doug Pagitt, cited in Oakland, 41-42]\n\nNow my philosophy of ministry is the exact opposite of that; that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m trying to do. \u00a0\u201cSo our sermons are not lessens that precisely define belief so much, rather they are stories that welcome our hopes, our ideas and our participation.\u201d\n\nYou have to understand something that from this pulpit we are actually trying to precisely define belief because what we think is what you believe about that subject determines where you spend eternity.\u00a0 But you see, these churches, particularly what\u2019s called the Emergent Church, they don\u2019t have that philosophy of ministry at all.\n\nAnother quote from Dan Kimball, an Emergent Church writer, he\u2019s talking about his teaching philosophy.\u00a0 \u201cIt isn\u2019t<\/u> about clever apologetics or careful exegetical or expository preaching<\/u>\u2026 Emerging generations\u201d and when he mentions emerging generations he\u2019s primarily talking about the 20 somethings, a group that we call the Millennials, \u201cEmerging generations are hungering to experience<\/u> God in worship.\u201d\u00a0 [Dan Kimball, The Emerging Church<\/em>, 116]\n\nSo you see a lot of what I would call the either\/or fallacy in these writers.\u00a0 They think if you\u2019re too much into doctrine you\u2019re ignoring devotion.\u00a0 Whoever said we had to make a choice between the two?\u00a0 It\u2019s the fallacy of the excluded middle; it\u2019s not either or, it\u2019s both and.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t have careful exegetical or expository preaching you have no basis to evaluate and experience when it comes your direction because what we discover in the Scripture is that God is the author of experiences; so is Lucifer or Satan and the fallen angelic realm.\u00a0 Islam, Mormonism, many false religions I could narrate for you came into existence because somebody, whether it be Mohammed or Joseph Smith, had some kind of experience.\u00a0 The experience was real, but how do you determine if the experience you are receiving is of God, or of Satan, or of the flesh?\u00a0 The only thing that helps you in something like that is careful exegetical or expository preaching because God will not act inconsistently with what He has revealed in His Word.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice the different shift that\u2019s happening in many of these emergent churches.\u00a0 Leonard Sweet, an Emergent Church writer says this: \u201cA spiritual Tsunami has hit postmodern culture.\u00a0 The wave will build without breaking for decades to come.\u00a0 The wave is this: people want to know about God.\u00a0 They want less to know about God<\/u> ... they want new experiences<\/u>, especially the new experiences of the divine.\u201d \u00a0[Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami, 420]\n\nAnother Emergent Church writer, very popular individual, if you want to Barnes and Noble Bookstore you could find all his books prominently displayed in the religion section; tragically even in the Christian section.\u00a0 He writes, in a book called Generous Orthodoxy<\/em> his philosophy of ministry is \u201csomething beyond a belief system or doctrinal array<\/u>, or even a practice. \u00a0I mean an attitude-- an attitude towards God and our neighbor and our mission that is passionate.\u201d\u00a0 [Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy<\/em>, 117-18]\n\nAnd you hear this a lot from people, don\u2019t give me doctrine, don\u2019t give me Scripture, don\u2019t give me theology, give me passion.\u00a0 Well let me just say this, what are\u00a0 you going to be passionate about?\u00a0 I\u2019m all for passion.\u00a0 What are you going to be passionate about is contingent upon what God has revealed in His Word.\n\nLet me tell you something; the prophets of Baal were very passionate, when you study the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.\u00a0 In fact, they were so passionate that they were actually slashing themselves, cutting themselves trying to invoke fire from heaven but they were passionate about something that is wrong.\u00a0 And they could have known better had they consulted the pages of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 But if all you\u2019re about is passion and authenticity at the expense of truth you end up being passionate about the very wrong things, don\u2019t we.\u00a0 But it\u2019s very interesting how people are trying to sever experience from truth constantly in these citations.\n\nHere are some buzzwords that float around quite a bit today.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t give me doctrine, just give me Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Question: how do you know which Jesus it is you\u2019re worshipping?\u00a0 Is it the Jesus or Arianism, which is what the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses teach, Jesus is a created being.\u00a0 Is it the Jesus of Mormonism which teaches that Jesus is just the spirit brother of Lucifer?\u00a0 Is it the Jesus of the New Age Movement which says Jesus is just one of many ascended masters.\u00a0 Or is it the Jesus of the Bible who said \u201cI am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.\u201d\u00a0 Which Jesus is it?\u00a0 The only way you could ascertain that and discern it and determine it is by consulting God\u2019s Word and being familiar with truth.\n\n\u201cWhat really matters is Christ not creed.\u201d\u00a0 The sayings go on.\u00a0 \u201cDevotion is important and not doctrine.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat counts is our behavior, and not our belief.\u201d\u00a0 That last one deserves some comment.\u00a0 Behavior is determined by beliefs.\u00a0 What it is you are doing as a Christian, whether it be evangelism, holy living, you can\u2019t have those things unless something is formed in the mind first called a belief system.\u00a0 And yet people today, for whatever reason, are throwing out theology, doctrine, Scripture, they just want to be relevant, authentic, devoted.\u00a0 It\u2019s a frightening time that we find ourselves in.\n\nProbably the runaway best seller, at least of the 1990\u2019s, maybe also today, actually into the year 2000, is a book called The Purpose Driven Life<\/em> by Rick Warren.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how many pastors and churches and elder boards that I was familiar with in the Dallas area that were totally devoting themselves, not to Romans, not to Ephesians, not to Galatians, but to Rick Warren\u2019s Purpose Driven Life<\/em>.\u00a0 Let me give you a few quotes from that book.\u00a0 \u201cGod won\u2019t ask you about\u00a0 your religious background or doctrinal views.\u201d\u00a0 These are direct quotes.\u00a0 \u201cJesus said our love for each other \u2013 not our doctrinal beliefs \u2013 is our greatest\u00a0 witness to the world.\u201d\u00a0 Once again a comment is necessary.\u00a0 If I\u2019m really going to love people I have to have a doctrinal basis for that.\u00a0 I have to understand God\u2019s love for me and my willingness to dispense that to others.\u00a0 But if you cut truth from the equation there\u2019s no framework for loving other people.\n\nRick Warren goes on and says: \u201cToday many assume that spiritual maturity is measured by the amount of biblical information and doctrine you know.\u201d\u00a0 [Purpose Driven Life<\/em> 34, 124, 183] Now what you see with a lot of these quotes is what\u2019s called a straw man argument.\u00a0 A straw man argument is a logical fallacy; a straw man argument is something where you misrepresent your opponents belief and then you tear down, not what you opponent actually says but this caricature, this straw man that you have created.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting how easy a man of straw topples over because it\u2019s not the real argument that people are making; you\u2019re reacting to something that you have created.\u00a0 And people think that we, as a Bible based church, are teaching that spiritual maturity is determined by knowledge.\u00a0 We have said over and over again from this pulpit that it is not data in the mind that you use for spiritual maturity, it\u2019s living consistently with that data.\u00a0 Knowledge must lead to wisdom.\u00a0 But let me tell you something, you can\u2019t have wisdom, which is knowledge applied, until you first have what?\u00a0 Knowledge.\n\nSo what\u2019s he\u2019s doing there is he\u2019s erecting this strawman that all we\u2019re about is teaching knowledge and we don\u2019t care how people live; that is a straw man or a mischaracterization or a misrepresentation of what it is we emphasize and teach.\n\nRick Warren goes on and he says, \u201cThe Bible is far more than a doctrinal guidebook<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on and he says, \u201cThe last thing<\/u> many believers need today is to go to another Bible Study<\/u>.\u00a0 They already know far more than they are putting into practice.\u201d \u00a0Isn\u2019t that an interesting quote, \u201cThe last thing<\/u>\u201d you should be doing is going to going to yet \u201canother Bible Study<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I think that\u2019s probably one of the first things you ought to be doing because Romans 12:2 tells us that our minds need to be renewed day by day.\u00a0 [Romans 12:2, \u201cAnd do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.\u201d]\u00a0 How in the world is that supposed to happened unless you have a constant intake of God\u2019s Word.\n\nNow this last one is sort of humorous, I get a chuckle out of it myself, \u201cMy pastor has been in Daniel\u2019s seventy weeks longer than Daniel was!\u201d\u00a0 [Purpose Driven Life 186, 231; Purpose Driven Church 300<\/em>]\u00a0\u00a0 And we can all take a little laugh at that but I want\u00a0 you to see what\u2019s beneath that comment.\u00a0 Don\u2019t overdo it on this eschatology stuff!\u00a0 Don\u2019t overdo it on prophecy!\u00a0 In fact, if\u00a0 you ever were to take the time to study Daniel\u2019s magnificent prophecy of the Seventy Weeks you would walk away from that prophecy with absolute certitude that the Bible is God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 And beyond that you would have a framework for interpreting future events.\u00a0 I think Daniel\u2019s seventy weeks prophecy ought to be played up in the life of the local church and not played down.\n\nA few more quotes if you\u2019ll indulge me.\u00a0 In another work Rick Warren seems to marginalize in depth teaching when he recommends that a sermon series should never go beyond eight weeks, for fear that the congregation will lose interest.\u00a0 I guess he didn\u2019t listen to our John series which went three years.\n\nIn an interview with David Kuo, Warren repeated his marginalization of an emphasis on truth, quote: \u201cI am looking for a second reformation.\u201d Warren says, \u201cThe reformation of the church 500 years ago was about belief.\u00a0 This one is going to be about behavior.\u00a0 The first one was about creeds.\u00a0 This one is going to be about deeds.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to be about what does the church believe, but about what is the church doing.\u201d\u00a0 So you see the emphasis here is no longer on knowledge but activity.\n\nAnd you have this in an awful lot of evangelical churches; you have what I would call a busy church, where people are out doing a lot of things and then when you actually probe why it is they\u2019re supposedly doing what they\u2019re doing you get some blank stares.\u00a0 Knowledge is never designed as a last step, it\u2019s designed as a first step.\u00a0 But you can\u2019t perform or act consistently and properly in the Christian life unless you first have knowledge.\n\nHere\u2019s another quote from mega church pastor Andy Stanley, some of you may know Charles Stanley, Andy\u00a0 Stanley is the son of legendary Pastor Charles Stanley.\u00a0 This comes from an interview in Christianity Today<\/em>, a fairly recent statement.\u00a0 \u201cAndy Stanley, the younger Stanley, was asked what do you think about preaching verse by verse messages through books of the Bible?\u00a0\u00a0 He answered, [quote] \u201cGuys that preach verse by verse through books of the Bible, that\u2019s just cheating, and it\u2019s cheating because that would be easy, first of all,\u201d in a sense it is easy because I don\u2019t have to pick my sermon topics, God picks them, the quote goes on, \u201cthat isn\u2019t how you grow people.\u00a0 No one in the Scriptures modeled that; there is not one example of that.\u201d\n\nI beg to differ; if you were to study sometime the book of Nehemiah chapter 8, we may actually get into that chapter at some point in these messages, it\u2019s a marvelous chapter about expository preaching and teaching in the life of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 In fact, a revival broke out because of that model of expository preaching and teaching.\u00a0 In fact, I would say this: in the Old Testament there are numerous authentic revivals, but none of them ever take place unless God\u2019s people return to God\u2019s truth.\u00a0 There was a great revival in 2 Kings 22 that broke out in the days of Josiah and what precipitated that revival was a retrieval, if you will, of the neglected Law of God which had been hidden in the temple.\n\nYou get into the teachings of Christ and he says, \u201cMan shall not live by bread alone, but by\u201d what? \u201cevery word that proceeds from the mouth of God.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 4:4]\u00a0 \u00a0Acts 2:42, the early church devoted themselves to apostolic doctrine .\u00a0 [Acts 2:42, \u201cThey were continually devoting themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.\u201d]\u00a0 And finally on that list there I have there the chapters that we\u2019re entering into now which is one of the most concentrated chapters in the Scripture speaking of the necessity of expository teaching and preaching line by line, verse by verse.\u00a0 [2 Timothy. 3:15\u20134:2]\n\nI often wonder when I see one quote after another like this if we are not entering a new Dark Ages.\u00a0 The Dark Ages, when you study it in church history was a terrible time when the Bible was denied to your average person.\u00a0 The Bible was chained to the pulpits in most occasions; people were told the only people that could interpret the Bible were the priests.\u00a0 And in fact, most of the population was illiterate and they could not even read the Bible if they wanted to. \u00a0And even beyond that, you have the priests wildly spiritualizing and allegorizing the Bible.\u00a0 And what kind of time period was that?\u00a0 That\u2019s a time period that we call the Dark Ages.\n\nThe Dark Ages was a time where you would hear sayings like this: \u201cWhen the coin in the coffer rings the soul from purgatory springs.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s what you call the sale of indulgences where the priests were making a fortune off the manipulated and ignorant people, telling them that they could get their relatives out of purgatory if they just paid the right price to the priest.\u00a0 And the masses were susceptible to that lie.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because they were removed from the Bible.\u00a0 I wonder if we\u2019re not re-entering this time period of the new Dark Ages.\u00a0 This time it will not be because of illiteracy or allegorism, it will be largely because we have imposed it upon ourselves by buying into an inaccurate and improper philosophy of ministry.\n\nAccording to church management expert, Aubrey Malphurs, in a book entitled Planting Growing Churches for the 21st<\/sup> Century<\/em>, this is what he says:\u00a0 \u201cPreaching is only one of many ways to facilitate life change and it\u2019s not necessarily the best method.\u201d\n\nAnd the reason I\u2019m sharing these things with you is I hear this constantly from people, \u201cI can\u2019t find a church that teaches the Bible.\u201d\u00a0 We get e-mails and calls here quite frequently where people say I live in such and such part of the country, can you recommend a church that actually teaches the Bible the way you folks do at Sugar Land Bible Church?\u00a0 And many times I can\u2019t even come close to recommend\u00ading a church in that area.\u00a0 And the reason is because the leadership of the church, aspiring ministers in the pastoral literature, are subjected to these types of quotes.\u00a0 Over and over again discouraging them from doing exactly the opposite of what Paul will tell Timothy to do in these chapters.\n\nAnd what is Aubrey Malphurs preaching replacement?\u00a0 In another book that he authored he declares this, quote:\u00a0 \u201cMost people can count on their hand the number of sermons that have accomplished significant changes in their lives.\u00a0 While preaching is most important and contributes to life change, small group activity best contributes to life changes and transformed lives.\u201d\n\nAnd you\u2019re starting to hear this phrase used a lot more: \u201clearning takes place in circles, not rows.\u201d\u00a0 And what they\u2019re saying is get away from the pulpit ministry, get away from expository preaching and get around in a little group and do what I like to call a pooling of ignorance where everybody in the group says well what does the verse mean to you?\u00a0 Well, to me it means such and such.\u00a0 And someone else says what does the verse mean to you?\u00a0 Well, to me it means such and such.\u00a0 And you go around a circle and everybody contributes the abundance of their own ignorance. \u00a0And the fact of the matter is everybody leaves confused. Why?\u00a0 Because you don\u2019t have someone trained as a leader who can go into the original languages, into context and derive the meaning.\u00a0 And so we have this mentality where learning takes place in circles rather than rows.\n\nAnd I would be remiss to leave out Joel Osteen, wouldn\u2019t I.\u00a0 Mega church pastor Joel Osteen recently pontificated to a Newsmax interviewer as to why his congregation at Lakewood Church has grown numerically.\u00a0 This is a direct quote from the interview.\u00a0 \u201cOne thing that we do \u2013 it\u2019s not just at our church -- but we try to make Christianity and faith relevant and practical.\u201d\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m in favor of that, let\u2019s make it relevant and practical.\u00a0 The quote goes on, \u201cAnother part of it is that it is positive. \u00a0I mean, there\u2019s a lot of things beating people down already.\u00a0 I have found that most people feel guilty enough.\u00a0 They already know what they\u2019re doing wrong.\u00a0 Not everybody but most.\u00a0 Our message is to try to make Christianity practical and relevant, how do I have a good attitude?\u00a0 How do I reach my destiny?\u00a0 If there is some times when we don\u2019t change, and it\u2019s just all about doctrine, and it\u2019s just \u2018I\u2019m going to be beat down, I\u2019m going to feel guilty\u2019 then maybe that\u2019s what pulls people away.\u201d\n\nAgain, it is another strawman argument.\u00a0 The argument or the caricature that\u2019s presented is if you are into doctrine and Bible teaching you\u2019re interested in beating people down.\u00a0 You\u2019re interested in making people feel guilty.\u00a0 May I just say to you that first of all, guilt is not the worst thing in the world.\u00a0 Guilt functions a lot like your pain nerves function.\u00a0 For example, I can have my hand on a hot stove and if I don\u2019t have pain shooting through my body alerting me to the fact that my hand is on a hot stove, I could end up destroying my hand.\u00a0 So in that case, the pain becomes a friend and not an enemy.\n\nOr, for example, I could be walking on a beach in bare feet and there could be broken glass beneath the surface.\u00a0\u00a0 And if I don\u2019t have pain shooting through my body telling me that there\u2019s broken glass under the sand I will end up doing irreparable damage to my feet.\u00a0 The pain at that point becomes a friend and it tells me to stop doing whatever I am doing because what I am doing may end up destroying my feet, my body and my hand.\n\nAnd we\u2019re living in this culture today where people want to go to church and they don\u2019t want to feel bad or they don\u2019t want to feel guilty about anything.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; God loves you too much to see you destroy yourself in sin.\u00a0 He knows the horrible ramifications and consequences of sin and consequently God tries to dissuade you from sin and consequently the tool that he uses many times is guilt; guilt in that circumstance is not your enemy, guilt becomes your friend.\u00a0 And yet Joel Osteen is up talking to people saying we don\u2019t want people to feel guilty.\n\nNow I am not against guilt, however, I don\u2019t want to leave people feeling guilty either.\u00a0 The strawman that\u2019s created with this kind of quote is we are just interested in beating people down.\u00a0 No we\u2019re not!\u00a0 We\u2019re interested in people changing.\u00a0 We are interested in people transforming.\u00a0 And sometimes the way to a better life and the good news is to receive, first of all, some bad news.\u00a0 And so at the end of the day the end game is not to make people feel guilty and to beat people down; it is to set people free. We\u2019re not interested in simply beating people down, we are interested in setting people free because Jesus said in John 8:32, what did He say there, let\u2019s look at that just for a minute, notice this statement here, John 8:32, \u201cand you will know the\u201d what? \u201ctruth, and the truth will make you\u201d what? \u201c free.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019re not interested in beating people down; we\u2019re not interested in guilt being an end in and of itself.\u00a0 What we are interested in is liberating people.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet God is very clear in His Word that that cannot and will not happen independent of divine truth.\n\nNow I\u2019ve finished with my quotes and so some of you are probably breathing a sigh of relief.\u00a0 I simply share those quotes to tell you how relevant and pertinent these chapters are in 2 Timothy.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if the Holy Spirit, who is omniscient, knew we would arrive at this place in history and He\u2019s telling pastors, in the midst of all of this apostasy, what to focus on and they are to focus on the Word of God.\u00a0 These chapters are so important because we are living amongst a generation of Christians and evangelicals that have largely lost confidence in the Scriptures.\u00a0 We really, by and large, don\u2019t believe that the Scripture can do what it claims it will do when we let it have a proper place in our lives.\n\nNotice 1 Timothy 4:13 just for a moment.\u00a0 Paul says in the first letter to Timothy, \u201cUntil I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.\u201d\u00a0 Obviously Paul was not someone who had no confidence in the Scripture.\u00a0 He admonished\u00a0 young Timothy in the first letter that that is to be the focus of his attention.\u00a0 Paul says, in fact \u201cUntil I come\u201d I want you to be devoted to not just the public reading of Scripture but to its exhortation and to its teaching.\n\nDan Wallace, a Greek professor in a very good quote that I appreciated very much, in an article he wrote called \u201cCrisis of the Word: A message to Pastors or Would-be Pastors<\/em>,\u201d this is Dan Wallace\u2019s analysis of 2 Timothy, which we know as a pastoral letter.\u00a0 Wallace says, \u201cBy my count, there are twenty-seven explicit commands given in the body of this letter. In 27 words Paul tells pastors what to focus on. You would have to be blind to miss the thrust of Paul's instructions here, because eighteen<\/em> of those commands--fully two-thirds<\/em>--have to do with the ministry of the Word<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>[Daniel Wallace, \u201cCrisis of the Word: A Message to Pastors or Would-be Pastors<\/em>,\u201d Conservative Theological Journal<\/em> 1, no. 2 (August 1997): 108.]\n\nIn this short book that we are going through, just four chapters, there are 27 commands that young Timothy, a pastor, is to fulfill, and two-thirds of those commands relate to the necessity of public preaching and teaching of the Word of God.\u00a0 Exactly the opposite direction of where the church growth movement wants to go.\u00a0 Exactly the opposite direction of where the emergent church wants to go.\u00a0 Paul is sending Timothy (and by extension us) in the opposite direction.\n\nWe might ask a very simple question today: Why have a Bible church?\u00a0 I mean, why do we do things the way that we do?\u00a0 Why is it that you are out there listening and I am up here preaching and teaching, having prepared myself all week to deliver something from God\u2019s Word to you?\u00a0 Why do it that way?\u00a0 Why not just have kind of a call in environment, where people just kind of phone in or call in or write in questions?\u00a0 Why not just have a plethora of small groups meeting around this building?\u00a0 Why are we involved in this practice of public proclamation teaching and preaching of the Word of God?\u00a0 Is this not an outdated format?\n\nPaul is going to answer that very strongly in the negative.\u00a0 It is not an outdated format!\u00a0 In fact, should the church ever jettison this format it will lose sight of the life of God.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Paul in these chapters is going to be very clear that when God\u2019s Word is preached things happen.\u00a0 Things happen through the open preaching and teaching of the Word of God that in the life of the believer (and even in the unbeliever) will happen no other way.\n\nIsaiah 55:10-11 makes this promise.\u00a0 Do you believe this promise:\u00a0 I believe it or I wouldn\u2019t be up here doing what I am doing week after week.\u00a0 Isaiah 55:10-11 says this: \u201cFor as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, ad furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; [11] So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty,\u201d some translations say void, \u201cWithout accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter<\/em> for which I sent it.\u201d\n\nIsaiah says just as rain comes down and contributes to agricultural prosperity and productivity, in the same way when the Word of God goes forth in clarity and accuracy it does something, first of all to unbelievers, but it also does something for the believer.\u00a0 It does not return empty, it does not return void.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t believe that promise, as apparently many evangelicals are just discarding a promise like that, I would have jettisoned this format a long time ago.\n\nJeremiah 23:29 says this: \u201c\u2018Is not My word like fire?\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018and like a hammer which shatters a rock?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 What is God\u2019s Word like when it is actually unleashed?\u00a0 It\u2019s like a hammer shattering a rock.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in churches where there is a very faithful proclamation of Scripture, hopefully like the church you\u2019re in here, and I have left changed Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.\u00a0 I trust the same thing is happening in your life because when God\u2019s Word is taught openly, boldly, courageously, and clearly it doesn\u2019t matter what the studies say, it doesn\u2019t matter what the gurus are pontificating.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word has and does and always will change people.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why these verses in 2 Timothy 3;14 and following become so instrumental.\n\nAll of that was just a little introduction, now we can get into the verses itself.\u00a0 But I went through that to show you the necessity of why it is we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing because most people today are confused about the whole thing.\n\nWhat Paul does here is he gives, and we won\u2019t go through all these today, we may get through one or two of them, or three of them if lucky, he goes through nine reasons why Timothy, as the apostasy grows, must continue on in the proclamation and the study of the Word of God.\u00a0 Now previously when you back up to verses 10-13 there\u2019s a symmetry here because Paul has told Timothy to imitate Paul\u2019s character in nine ways.\u00a0 What do you do Timothy as the apostasy comes?\u00a0 You imitate my character in nine ways.\u00a0 And then, beginning in verse 14 he says you need to continue on in public study, teaching, and proclamation of Scripture for nine reasons.\u00a0 Imitate my character in nine ways, and number 2, continue on with the Word of God because there are nine reasons why you must continue on in the Word of God.\n\nSo we are entering a section now that the systematic theologians would call Bibliology, \u201cology\u201dof course means what?\u00a0 Study of, Biblios<\/em> means book.\u00a0 Bibliology has to do with what does the Bible claim about itself.\u00a0 What does the Bible say about the Bible?\u00a0 There are many different branches of systematic theology.\u00a0 Wednesday nights we\u2019re working our way through Soteriology, which is the doctrine of what?\u00a0 Salvation.\u00a0 Eschatology, another branch of systematic theology, the doctrine of the end.\u00a0 Pneumatology, the doctrine of the Spirit. Christology, the doctrine of Christ.\n\nAnthropology, the doctrine of man.\u00a0 Protology the doctrine of the beginning.\u00a0 Here we\u2019re moving into Bibliology, what does the Bible say about itself.\u00a0 And the reason people\u2019s philosophies of ministry are being compromised today is because they have a very low level of Bibliology.\u00a0 And so we\u2019re going to try to raise the bar and see exactly what it is the Bible has to say about this subject.\n\nNine reasons why Timothy is to continue on with the Word of God as a pastor in the midst of apostasy.\u00a0 Number 1, verse 14, the first reason is because the Word of God actually had an impact on Paul.\u00a0 Take a look, if you will, at verse 14 of chapter 3, Paul writes, \u201cYou, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.\u201d\u00a0 Paul tells Timothy here you\u2019ve learned from me, backing up to verses 10-13, nine items.\u00a0 You have \u201cbecome convinced of\u201d these things, in fact, you have become confident of these things.\u00a0 These are the things that people will lose confidence in, in the midst of the apostasy, but you, by contrast, have become confident in these things, and I want you to\u00a0 continue on in these things.\u00a0 And beyond that I want you to continue on in these things because you learned these things from me.\n\nNow that requires us to know a little something about Paul.\u00a0 Who was this man, Paul, when he was Saul?\u00a0 Well, most of us that know the biblical story know that Paul was a man, when he was Saul, who was not a promoter of Christianity at all but he was, in fact, a great persecutor of Christianity.\u00a0 And in fact, going back to 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul says this: \u201ceven though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.\u201d\u00a0 You see, everybody has some kind of background that they\u2019re ashamed of.\u00a0 Even in this room, if we were to go around and share our backgrounds we would be somewhat embarrassed by our backgrounds.\n\nBut if anybody had reason to be embarrassed by his background it was Paul.\u00a0 He was, number 1, a blasphemer, number 2, a persecutor, and number 3, a violent aggressor.\u00a0 And in fact he was so violent in his aggression that it was Saul, before he became Paul, that presided over the first execution in the church age, the execution of a man named Stephen.\u00a0 In fact, it was Saul who was holding the garments of the various unbelieving Jews as they were pummeling Stephen with rocks, one of the first Christians.\n\nAnd Paul changed.\u00a0 He was converted.\u00a0 What changed him?\u00a0 Notice verse 15 and notice the conjunction \u201cand\u201d that follows verse 14\u00a0 The conjunction \u201cand\u201d in verse 15 is connecting verse 15 back to verse 14 because what does he start talking about in verse 15?\u00a0 The Scriptures.\u00a0 The \u201csacred writings.\u201d\u00a0 What changed Paul?\u00a0 Certainly it was a vision from the Lord, that had a huge effect on Paul, obviously, Acts 9, but he is revealing something else that changed him away from being a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent aggressor.\u00a0 It was the Word of God that changed him.\u00a0 It was the Word of God that impacted him.\u00a0 It was the Word of God that altered the course of my behavior, and Timothy, I want you to understand something, that this book has the power to change.\u00a0 It has the power to transform a person\u2019s character; it has the power to transform a person\u2019s soul.\u00a0 And Timothy, I am a textbook example of it.\n\nThe first reason you ought to preach and teach the Word of God, the first reason out of nine reasons is number 1, the impact that the Scripture had on this man, Paul, not only in terms of his conversion but his continued growth, as we will see.\n\nThe second reason Timothy is to continue on with the Scripture is because of the impact that this book has on salvation.\u00a0 Notice verse 15 as Paul is communicating to Timothy, verse 15, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings,\u201d now question: what are \u201cthe sacred writings\u201d?\u00a0 The \u201csacred writings\u201d are the Scriptures.\u00a0 The \u201csacred writings\u201d that Timothy was weaned on from infancy, specifically relate to the Old Testament because when Timothy was but an infant the New Testament had not yet been written and was just, in fact, coming into existence.\u00a0 When Paul writes these words the New Testament canon was on the trajectory of being completed, but most people believe that when Paul points Timothy back to the sacred writings he is pointing him back to the Old Testament and he\u2019s saying Timothy, I want you to remember something.\n\nWhat is he supposed to remember?\u00a0 Verse 15, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings.\u00a0 You see, Timothy had a heritage; it was a glorious heritage because Acts 16:1 says this, \u201cPaul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy,\u201d watch this, \u201cthe son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.\u201d\u00a0 We often marvel at how Timothy became what he became in God, how he came to Christ and became a servant of Christ being a great asset to Paul on his missionary journeys, how Timothy was actually installed by the apostle himself over this monumental work called the church at Ephesus.\n\nAnd we look at the end game; this is what Timothy became.\u00a0 But how did it begin?\u00a0 The secret is really not a secret, it\u2019s given right there, that he had been made \u201cknown the sacred writings\u201d which would be the Old Testament, from infancy.\u00a0 Now who was it that taught Timothy truth from infancy?\u00a0 2 Timothy 1:5, earlier in\u00a0 our book gives the answer.\u00a0 Paul says, you might recall, \u201cFor I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.\u201d\n\nTimothy had not just a Jewish and godly believing mother, but what we can gather he also had a Jewish and godly believing grandmother.\u00a0 And the two of them were like a tag team on Timothy, when he was young and didn\u2019t know any better, and they teamed up on him and they taught him the Scripture over and over and over and over again and as a youth the Scripture was planted into this young man\u2019s heart.\u00a0 And when it came time for his conversion and his ministry assignment, the ground was already laid and you can credit mom and grandma for that.\n\nAnd they were Jewish, Acts 16:1 says that his mother was Jewish.\u00a0 And what are devout Jews supposed to do?\u00a0 The answer is in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 6-7, it\u2019s called the great Hebrew Shema, which means listen.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, \u201cThese words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.\u201d\u00a0 Watch this, [7] \u201cYou shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.\u201d\u00a0 What is being highlighted there is all the moments of the day, rising up, laying down, sitting down, walking, talking.\u00a0 And what the Jewish family was supposed to do is throughout the course of the day to use life experiences to inculcate into the young Scriptural principle after Scriptural principle after Scriptural principle.\u00a0 This is why Timothy grew into the man he became because seeds were planted very early on in his life.\n\nThe book of Joshua, chapter 4 and verses 19-24, God says to Joshua, you saw Joshua how I dried up the Jordan, and you miraculously crossed into the Promised Land.\u00a0 I want you to set up some stones in the middle of that area that I dried up.\u00a0 Why do that?\u00a0 Here comes the answer: \u2018When you children,\u201d Joshua 4:21, \u201cask their fathers in time to come, saying, \u2018What are these stones?\u2019 [22] Then you shall inform your children, saying, \u2018Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.\u2019\u00a0 [23] For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed;\u201d I want you to set up these rocks as a memorial because the time is going to come when you\u2019re going to have children and your children are going to say Daddy, Momma, where did these rocks come from.\u00a0 And the Holy Spirit opens the door and says now is your opportunity to explain to them the heritage of the sons of Israel.\u00a0 Now is your opportunity to explain to them how the Lord did a miracle here and dried up the Jordan.\u00a0 And how forty years earlier He actually dried up the Red Sea and performed miracle after miracle after miracle allowing us to enter the Promised Land.\n\nAnd if the question is never asked and the story is not told to the young a generation will arise that we see in the book of Judges, that has forgotten God and forgotten what the Lord has done for Israel.\u00a0 But notice how this knowledge was to pass generational lines, not through a pastor, not through a priest, not through a youth program, not through a Christian school, not through Christian television, not through Christian radio, not even through Christian writing.\u00a0 I\u2019m in favor of all those ministries, but it\u2019s very clear that the knowledge was to pass because the children are going to ask their fathers what these rocks mean, and the fathers are obligated to pass this knowledge on to their descendants.\n\nThat\u2019s Judaism; this is an outworking of the Hebrew Shema, this is why Timothy became what he became.\u00a0 His dad probably was an unbeliever, but let me tell you something, grandma and momma picked up the slack.\u00a0 And they inculcated into Timothy truth from infancy.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the book of Proverbs, chapter 22 and verse 6 says, \u201cTrain up a child in the way he should go, for when he is old he will not depart from it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 One of those great principles and maxims of life, all things being equal, there are always little exceptions we can point out here and there, but all things being equal here\u2019s how life works:\u00a0 Train up your children when they\u2019re young and when they are older they will stay on the right path.\n\nYou see, church, youth programs, Christian seminaries, Christian schools, Christian literature, the only thing it has the ability to do is to reinforce what is happening in the home because if it is not happening in the home you are shutting off the God-ordained channel by which spiritual truth is to be disseminated to the next generation.\u00a0 And people say well, isn\u2019t that brainwashing?\u00a0 I mean, aren\u2019t you brainwashing these kids where they can\u2019t even think for themselves.\u00a0 Let me tell you something: how come no one asks that of the world?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think the world system is trying to brainwash those kids?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think the devil himself is trying to get them to think one way?\u00a0 Well now is\u00a0 your\u00a0 opportunity as a parent to get them the whole picture because the world is going to start working on them very, very fast.\n\nAnd people say well, how early do you start?\u00a0 I mean, do you wait till a child can talk?\u00a0 Do you wait till a child can write?\u00a0 Do you wait until a child knows the alphabet?\u00a0 Do you wait until a child can communicate?\u00a0 And what does the Bible say, going back to verse 15, \u201cand that from\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cchildhood\u201d or infancy, \u201cyou have known the sacred writings.\u201d\u00a0 Have you ever done a word study on that word infancy?\u00a0\u00a0 It is the Greek word brephos<\/em>, brephos <\/em>is used in Luke 2:12 of the baby Jesus, wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. That is an infant that is very newly born. \u00a0[Luke 2:12, \u201cThis will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.\u201d]\n\nAnd in fact, when you continue to study this word brephos<\/em> it speaks of the unborn child in the womb of his or her mother, Luke 1:41 says, \u201cWhen Elizabeth heard Mary\u2019s greeting, the baby\u201d brephos<\/em>, \u201cleaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 How early do you start?\u00a0 The Bible says from infancy, which goes back to a newborn and it goes back to a pre-born.\u00a0 I recommend this, speaking Scripture to kids before they are even born yet, at least they can\u2019t talk back yet, right.\u00a0 From infancy!\u00a0 The Bible knows we\u2019re so wrapped up in this abortion issue we think life starts after\/of the birth, the Bible knows no such distinction.\u00a0 That is a totally manmade distinction.\u00a0 Infancy is what is taking place in the life of the womb of the mother and Timothy, I want you to understand something, that you have a heritage.\u00a0 When you were newly born or perhaps pre-born grandmother and mother were instilling into you truth and the Word of God; that\u2019s why you are what you are.\n\nNow why is the Word of God to be instilled at such an early age?\u00a0 Let\u2019s continue on with verse 15, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings,\u201d primarily in context the Old Testament, \u201cwhich\u201d watch this, \u201cwhich are able to give you the wisdom\u201d sophia<\/em>, the Greek word wisdom, \u201cwhich are able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation.\u2026\u201d\u00a0 What he is saying is this: Timothy, you got saved because you recognized your need to be saved.\u00a0 You know, a lot of people aren\u2019t saved because they don\u2019t even recognize their need to be saved.\u00a0 And the reason they don\u2019t recognize their need to be saved is they\u2019re not exposed to the Word of God, because Paul is making it very clear here that it is the Word of God which makes us aware of our need for a relationship to God and to have our sins forgiven.\n\nThe Word of God is the instrument by which people are saved.\u00a0 Now this concept of the salvific power of God\u2019s Word is taught from cover to cover in the Scripture.\u00a0 John 6:63 says this, \u201cIt is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.\u201d\u00a0 It is the Word of God which creates life and gives life and makes people aware of their need for spiritual life.\n\nThat\u2019s why Peter said in John 6:68, \u201cLord, to whom shall we go? You have words of\u201d what? \u201ceternal life.\u201d\u00a0 How do people get saved? It is \u201cfaith comes by hearing, hearing by the\u201d what? \u201cWord of Christ,\u201d Romans 10:17. \u00a0James 1:18 says, \u201cIn the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.\u201d 1 Peter 1:23 says this: \u201cfor you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.\u201d\n\nOver and over again, Old Testament and New Testament, we discover that the Word of God is the tool that God uses to make people aware of their need for salvation in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That is the whole point of the meaning there in verse 15 when he says, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation\u2026.\u201d\n\nCan you come to Christ by looking at the stars, the rocks, the trees?\u00a0 The only thing knowledge of creation does is to make you aware that you are accountable to God.\u00a0 Romans chapter 1.\u00a0 Rocks, trees, stars, sand, planets, sun, moon, creation in general has no capacity to lead someone to saving faith in Christ.\u00a0 The only way a person can be led to saving faith in Christ is through a knowledge of the Word of God.\u00a0 Do you remember what Jesus said to the rich man that was in hell?\u00a0 In Luke 16:27-31?\u00a0 \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Then I beg you, father, that you send him\u201d that would be Lazarus, \u201cto my father\u2019s house\u2014[28] for I have five brothers\u2014in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.\u2019 [29] But Abraham said, \u2018They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.\u2019 [30] But he said, \u2018No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!\u2019 [31] But he said to him, \u2018If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis man was in this place of torment and he didn\u2019t want his family to end up there.\u00a0 And he said to the powers that be, God, Abraham, send someone back from the grave to warn them.\u00a0 And the answer is they have all the warning they need; the warning is found in Moses and the Prophets, which would be the Scripture, the sacred writings.\u00a0 If they\u2019re not going to be persuaded by that miracle after miracle, even someone rising from the dead is not going to help them.\n\nAnd this, of course, is the great tragedy in so many of those quotes that I shared earlier about churches moving away from the Word of God.\u00a0 Let me tell you something; if you move away from the Word of God and fill it with something else, like marketing, you can fill up a room with people.\u00a0\u00a0 You can have a crowd of people but the actual number or born again Christians starts shrinking dramatically because \u201cfaith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.\u201d\n\nIn fact, the church, the way it\u2019s going in 21st<\/sup> century America likely will see its numbers, in terms of actually blood-bought saints, born again believers, likely cut in half by the next generation because God uses His Word and only His Word to awaken the sinner to their need for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And Timothy, I want you to continue on with the Word because of this impact that it has on salvation.\u00a0 Timothy was converted very quickly in life because the seed had been planted, the heart was prepared to receive the gospel.\u00a0 And had grandmother and mother not done what they were called to do in God, you wonder how Timothy\u2019s life would have been different, for the worse.\n\n2 Timothy 3:15 \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation,\u201d well how is salvation accomplished? \u201cthrough faith which is in Christ Jesus,\u201d which we will be talking about next week.\u00a0 But this is a perfect opportunity as we talk about the need for salvation to offer salvation.\u00a0 See, this morning you\u2019ve heard the Word of God, \u201cfaith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.\u201d\n\nThere is no doubt some of you have heard and have been convicted by what has been said.\u00a0 We don\u2019t just want to give you the bad news, we want to give you the good news.\u00a0 The good news is simply this: Jesus Christ stepped out of eternity into time to live a life in our place which we could never live, to pay a consequence for our sins which we could never pay.\u00a0 His resurrection from the dead makes us aware that He is who He claimed, who He said He was,\u00a0 and that His promises are true.\u00a0 And here\u2019s His promise to you\u2014His promise is if you will trust in what I\u2019ve done for you then your sin debt is wiped clean and you are a child of God.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you do on your own, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve done for you and you receive it as a free gift.\u00a0 And in God there is only one way to receive a gift and that is by faith.\u00a0 Faith simply means to trust, to rely upon, to depend upon.\n\nAnd perhaps the Holy Spirit has placed you under conviction our exhortation to you at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit, to trust exclusively in Christ and what He has done for you for your eternity, for your salvation and for the safe keeping of your soul.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now as I\u2019m talking, it\u2019s not necessary for you to walk an aisle, to join a church, to raise a hand.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord\u2014will you trust exclusively in the promises of Jesus Christ.\u00a0\u00a0 You are no longer trusting in yourself, trusting in your good works, trusting in your religious system, trusting in your ability to do more good than bad, it\u2019s you\u2019re trusting totally in Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a condition of the heart, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you trust Him.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s something you have done or are doing then on the authority of the Word of God you have just altered\u00a0 your eternal destiny.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more information about then I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, thank You for these chapters and how they speak to the time period that we live so aggressively and clearly.\u00a0 Help us, Father, to take counsel from this section of Scripture as we try to, the best we can stay with You and Your truth and Your exhortations in these last days, even as our core convictions many times are being challenged. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory as you do this great work in our midst. We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t