{"id":18218,"date":"2016-04-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-028-why-preach-the-bible-part-3\/"},"modified":"2016-04-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-028-why-preach-the-bible-part-3","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-028-why-preach-the-bible-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 028 – Why Preach the Bible? – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18218","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 028 - Why Preach the Bible? - Part 3","sermon_date":"20160424","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3573,"sermon_slides":3576,"sermon_mp3":3580,"sermon_id":"42416108152","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"3:16b","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhy Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 3\n\n4-24-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy 3:16b\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 29\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 3 and verse 16.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Why Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 3.\u00a0 And as you\u2019re turning there I want to encourage you to visit our table on the way out, as you go out right to the left you\u2019ll see our CD and DVD\u2019s that contain a lot of teaching that we\u2019ve done at this church.\u00a0 And it contains a lot of my personal teaching that I\u2019ve done elsewhere that I haven\u2019t necessarily given at this church, a lot of good topics for you to explore.\u00a0 The reason I bring it up is we just refilled that rack and all that stuff is in the f-r-e-e- category so there\u2019s no charge for it.\u00a0 If you want to help us with the expenses that\u2019s between you and the Lord but we don\u2019t really formally charge for the Word of God.\u00a0 So I just want to make you aware of that.\n\n2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, Why Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 3.\u00a0 Of course Paul is, in this letter, encouraging Timothy to continue on as a pastor and complete his calling in God.\u00a0 The whole point of 2 Timothy is endurance, finishing what God has called us to do in life.\u00a0 So this would apply to pastors but it would really apply to anybody that\u2019s struggling with completing an assignment from God.\u00a0 We all have different assignments from God and we foolishly think that because God asks us to do something, somehow it\u2019s going to be easy.\n\nGod always equips us for our callings but there isn\u2019t really anything in the Bible that I can see where it says everything is going to be easy.\u00a0 And to prevent us from becoming discouraged when things are difficult this book is essentially written as an strong motivation to complete the task.\u00a0 So Paul has called Timothy to faithfulness, chapter 1.\u00a0 Chapter 2 he\u2019s given Timothy about ten metaphors or word pictures explaining what faithfulness looks like.\u00a0 And then in chapter 3, and we\u2019ve been spending our last several weeks in chapter 3, he begins to talk to him about the coming apostasy or departure, how the church would begin to stand away from truth as the church age winds to a conclusion.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we call apostasy, departure from known truth.\n\nSo Timothy, what are you supposed to do in your role as a shepherd as the church is apostatizing?\u00a0 Paul explains the apostasy, it\u2019s evil, verses 1-7 and it\u2019s examples, verses 8-9, and then he moved into the antidote.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not so much how to stop the apostasy, you don\u2019t get the impression that this can be stopped.\u00a0 What you can control, though, is how you react to it.\u00a0 So Paul says here\u2019s the antidote, number 1, I want you Timothy, as you have known me for twenty years, to imitate my life, ministry and character.\u00a0 So Paul, in verses 10-13, as he\u2019s describing the apostasy highlights things from his own ministry, character and difficulties that no doubt Timothy knew very well, having had a close mentor relationship with Paul. As I went through difficult times and you saw me go through them, Timothy, I want you to imitate me in some very practical ways.\n\nThen beginning in chapter 3, verse 14, and this is such a marvelous section, it goes all the way through chapter 4, verses 8, he tells him to focus on the Scriptures.\u00a0 And it\u2019s one of the most extended and strongest exhortation we have in the Bible for the role of the Bible in the life of the local church.\u00a0 Timothy, you are to preach the Word of God and he gives nine reasons for preaching the Word of God.\u00a0 A couple of them, three of them we\u2019ve already covered, number 4 we\u2019re going to move on into today, but \u201cpreach the Word\u201d because the Word had an impact on me Paul says, verse 14.\u00a0 You saw how it changed me.\n\nNumber 2, preach the word because \u201cfaith comes by hearing and hearing by the\u201d what? \u201cthe Word of God.\u00a0 [Romans 10:17]\u00a0 It\u2019s the Word that God uses to convict the lost sinner of their need for Christ to be saved.\u00a0\u00a0 For it\u2019s the Scriptures that make us wise unto salvation.\u00a0 [\u201cAnd that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,\u201d 2 Timothy 3:15, KJV]\n\nNumber 3, and this is where we were last week, preach the Word because of its divine origin.\u00a0 You see, the Scriptures, Timothy, are what we call God-breathed.\u00a0 And this is what we would call the inspiration of the Scripture and we spent last Sunday talking about that and what that means.\u00a0 In other words, when you teach and preach the Bible you are not giving man\u2019s thoughts, you\u2019re in the realm of God\u2019s thoughts.\u00a0 And God promises to bless His thoughts.\u00a0 God does not promise to bless a man; He does not promise to bless a method; He does not promise to bless a movement.\u00a0 What He promises to bless is His truth.\u00a0 So wherever His truth goes and wherever it\u2019s unshackled and allowed to do what it wants to do in the lives and the hearts of God\u2019s people, a blessing of some sort naturally follows.\n\nAnd that takes us into the second part of verse 16 which is where we\u2019re going to spend our time today.\u00a0 The fourth reason to preach the Word of God is its impact on progressive sanctification. Notice verse 16, let me re-read it:\u00a0 \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and for training in righteousness.\u201d\n\nPaul here is no longer dealing with the subject of justification; he\u2019s dealing with the subject of sanctification.\u00a0 And if you\u2019ve been tracking with our ministry for any length of time this is a chart we frequently use to highlight the three tenses of salvation.\u00a0 First there is justification, that\u2019s where we are saved from sin\u2019s penalty at the point of personal faith in Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s a one-time event that happens to a person the moment they trust in the Savior.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve already learned from verse 15 that the Scriptures play a pivotal role in our justification.\u00a0 The Scriptures, in fact, are the ones that tell us or the things that tell us that we need to be justified because these are the Scriptures that make us wise unto salvation.\n\nNow after you become a Christian you\u2019ll notice the Bible doesn\u2019t just leave you alone; it moves you into the second phase of your salvation called practical sanctification, which unlike justification which happens in an instant, sanctification is a process that we are all in and it\u2019s a process that we continue on into until our dying day as long as we are in these physical bodies where we are gradually being delivered from sin\u2019s power and our lives begin to reflect the moral qualities of Jesus Christ Himself.\u00a0\u00a0 This is God\u2019s agenda for every single child of God.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want them simply to be justified and\u00a0 have their fire insurance paid up to they won\u2019t go to hell, as important as that is, He wants them to grow in the Christian life.\u00a0 That\u2019s what progressive sanctification is about.\u00a0 Most of the New Testament is written to help people in that second phase of salvation.\n\nThe spiritual gifts are designed to help the believer in that second phase of salvation and what we\u2019re learning here, from verse 16, is the Scriptures play a pivotal role in the second phase of our salvation which is progressive sanctification.\u00a0 Did not Jesus pray the following prayer in John 17:17, \u201cSanctify\u201d middle tense, \u201cSanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus specifically indicated that sanctification cannot and will not occur independent of God\u2019s truth.\u00a0 Your progress in sanctification is dependent upon\u00a0 your exposure to the Word of God consistently and you obeying God\u2019s Word under His power over and over again.\u00a0 It\u2019s a process that simply will not happen in a person\u2019s life independent or isolated from the Word of God.\n\nPaul, in Acts 20:32 says this, this is at the end of his third missionary journey as he spoke to the spiritual leaders at Ephesus, he said, \u201cAnd now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.\u201d\u00a0 What exactly is it that\u2019s going to build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified?\u00a0 Paul is very clear in Acts 20:32, it is the Word of God.\n\nAnd so verse 16, then, becomes a tremendous description of the work that the Word seeks to do in the life of every child of God.\u00a0 And he mentions, looking at this by way of outline, something at the beginning profitable, and then he\u2019ll move on and he\u2019ll describe the fourfold impact of the Scripture on this process called progressive sanctification.\u00a0 So let\u2019s take a look here and unpack these words one by one and that will be the content of our message this morning.\n\nNotice again verse 16, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God and profitable\u201d let\u2019s focus just for a minute on this word \u201cprofitable.\u201d\u00a0 The Greek is \u014dphelimos<\/em>, profitable simply means beneficial, helpful, healthy, practical; it\u2019s bringing something into your system of your spiritual life that is actually good for you.\u00a0 So the promise of the Scripture, as it does its work in the child of God is that once\u00a0 you avail yourself to the Scripture you are availing yourself to something that is good for you, something that will help us, something that is profitable.\n\nThe book of Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 10-11 says this:\u00a0 \u201cFor as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,\u00a0And do not return there without watering the earth,\u00a0And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; \u00a0[11] So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter<\/em> for which I sent it.\u201d\n\nIt will always accomplish what I desire, God says, and it will always accomplish the reason for which it was sent.\u00a0 This is what we would call the work of the Word, the profitable nature of the Word.\u00a0 It seeks to accomplish something in the life of every child of God, every time that it is taught or read.\n\nThe prophet Jeremiah, chapter 23 and verse 29 says, \u201c\u2018Is not My word like fire?\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018and like a hammer which shatters a rock?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Our hearts in sin are like rocks that need to be broken, chiseled, unsettled by the Word of God.\u00a0 The Word of God does this very thing in our lives.\u00a0 That\u2019s why when you go through the ministry of Jesus Christ right on down to his seven final statements on the cross, what was constantly coming out of Christ\u2019s mouth over and over again was the Word of God.\n\nIn fact, in Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, in a temptation at the hands of Satan, was pushed the furthest degree a human being has ever been pushed in the area of temptation.\n\n[Luke 4:1, \u201cJesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness [2] for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. [3] And the devil said to Him, \u2018If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.\u2019 [4] And Jesus answered him, \u2018It is written, \u2018MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.\u2019 \u00a0[5] And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. [6] And the devil said to Him, \u2018I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. [7] Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.\u2019 \u00a0[8] Jesus answered him, \u2018It is written, \u2018YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.\u2019\u00a0 [9] And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, \u2018If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; [10] for it is written, \u2018HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,\u2019\u00a0 [11] and, \u2018ON their<\/em> HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.\u2019\u00a0 [12] And Jesus answered and said to him, \u201cIt is said, \u2018YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.\u2019\u00a0 When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.\u201d]\n\nAnd how does Jesus respond to each temptation?\u00a0 He responds with the expression, \u201cIt is written,\u201d and then a citation of Scripture.\u00a0 In that exchange He quotes, \u201cMAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE. Deuteronomy 8:3.\u00a0 He quotes, \u201cYOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY,\u201d Deuteronomy 6:13.\u00a0\u00a0 He quotes \u201cYOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST,\u201d Deuteronomy 6:16.\n\nWhat is so interesting to me about that is Jesus believed that the Scripture, even the book of Deuteronomy, was sufficient to sustain Him in the worst temptation a human being has ever gone through.\u00a0 Most Christians, I dare to say, have never even read the book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 It\u2019s just some big book that looks scary to us that\u2019s near the front of our Bible somewhere.\u00a0 And yet Jesus had such a high view of that book He actually used that in His great contest with Satan.\n\nThese are all verses that you can use to show the profitable nature of the Word of God. Acts 20:32, a verse that I read to you a little earlier, it says, \u201cAnd now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to\u201d to what, \u201cto build you up\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Notice the Bible has an ability to do something for you.\u00a0 It\u2019s able to produce qualities inside of us.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word of God as living and active.\u00a0 Hebrews 4:12 says, \u201cFor the word of God is living and active\u201d and we\u2019ll be completing that verse a little later.\n\nSo what then is to be our posture towards the Word of God?\u00a0 As a child of God our natural posture is to take in the Word of God as much as we can take it in, as frequently as possible.\u00a0 The book of Joshua, chapter 1 verses 7-8, God says, \u201cOnly be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. [8] This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it\u201d how frequently? \u201cday and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.\u201d\u00a0 Joshua, your success in the Promised Land is conditioned upon your relationship to the Scripture and on your willingness to intake the Scripture and on\u00a0 your willingness to meditate on the Scripture day and night; \u201cday and night\u201d is a description of repetition, regularity, consistency.\n\nPsalm 1:2 talks about the righteous man, it says, \u201c His delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates\u201d how frequently? \u201cday and night.\u201d\u00a0 There it is again.\n\nJob 23:12 says, \u201cI have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.\u201d\u00a0 Job says as important as my breakfast is in the morning, my oatmeal, my cereal, my eggs and bacon, even more important than that is the intake of the Word of God; it\u2019s more necessary than food itself Job says.\u00a0 Interesting!\n\nPsalm 119:99-100 says this,\u00a0 \u201cI have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. [100] I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that the writer of that Psalm, David, indicated that he was wiser than older people?\u00a0 See, a lot of people think wisdom only comes through experience.\u00a0 Not so!\u00a0 David says I actually have greater wisdom than older people.\u00a0 I actually have greater wisdom than even those who are in authority over me and teaching me.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because I have meditated on Your Law and your testimonies.\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that simply by studying the Word of God and obeying the Word of God you can have more knowledge that the college professor with eight PhD\u2019s after his name.\u00a0 You can have more wisdom and knowledge than even a person that\u2019s far older in age than you chronologically.\n\nThis is what we would call the work of the Word revealing its profitable nature.\u00a0 Paul was challenged in Acts 17:11 by the Bereans and this is what it says in Acts 17:11, \u201cNow these\u201d that would be the Bereans, \u201cwere more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,\u201d watch this, \u201cexamining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.\u201d\u00a0 The Bereans are held out by Dr. Luke in the book of Acts as those who were more noble than other churches and other Christians.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they examined the Scriptures daily when they came in contact with Paul\u2019s ministry, meditates on it day and night, examines the Scriptures daily, that\u2019s why they were considered blessed and of a greater reputation than perhaps other churches.\n\n1 Peter 2:2 says, \u201clike newborn babies,\u201d or babies, \u201clong for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,\u201d just like a child that\u2019s a newborn wakes up in the middle of the night screaming their head off and they\u2019re not interested in mom or dad coming in and having a philosophical conversation; they\u2019re not interested in a theology lesson, they want to be fed.\u00a0 And so the newborn is singularly focused on the mother\u2019s milk so that the child can grow correctly thereby.\u00a0 That is to be the posture of the child of God towards the Word of God.\u00a0 They are to be completely focused on the Word of God, they are to have a constant intake of the Word of God and if that is not happening in a person\u2019s life then their developmental process\u00a0 is short-circuited.\n\n2 Timothy 2:15, a verse we covered earlier in our series, Paul tells Timothy, \u201cBe diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 We are to be workers of the Word, workmen or women of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Why? For the simple reason that Paul references there in 2 Timothy 3:16, the Word of God is profitable, it is beneficial, it is healthy, it is like ingesting necessary vitamins and nutrients into one\u2019s spiritual bloodstream.\n\nNow as Paul moves on here in to verse 16, after describing the profitable\u00a0 nature of the Word of God he begins to specifically deal with the role that the Word of God seeks to play in our progressive sanctification, the middle tense of our salvation.\u00a0 So here he will talk about teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.\u00a0 I love the way Warren Wiersbe sums up the second half of verse 16.\u00a0 I love these older Bible teachers that can kind of capsulize the thought in a single sentence.\u00a0 And notice what Wiersbe says here: \u201cThey,\u201d that\u2019s the Scriptures, \u201care profitable,\u201d we just got finished talking about profitable, \u201cThey are profitable for doctrine (what is right), for reproof (what is not right), for correction (how to get right), and for instruction in righteousness (how to stay right).\u201d [Warren Wiersbe, The<\/em> Bible Exposition Commentary<\/em>, 2:253]\n\nIsn\u2019t that great; in fact that\u2019s so good I just ripped it off and stole it and that\u2019s going to be our outline for today.\u00a0 Number 1, the Scripture is profitable for what?\u00a0 For teaching.\u00a0 This is what Warren Wiersbe calls \u201cwhat is right,\u201d doctrine, if you will.\u00a0 The Greek word for teaching here is a translation from the Greek noun, didaskalia<\/em>, which simply means doctrine, body of truth, or teaching.\u00a0 What can the Scripture do for you as a gift from God into your life?\u00a0 It can show you what to build your life on.\u00a0 It can give you the proper body of teaching that is necessary to construct one\u2019s life upon.\n\nAnd how tragic it is to see people and even to see ourselves in so many circumstances living life without a fixed set of principles and boundaries defined by the Word of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot like trying to fly a plane with no compass or no navigation system.\u00a0 That\u2019s how\u00a0 many people are, they\u2019re just out reacting to things that happen in life, emotionally many times, but not viewing life through the fixed principles of God that only the Scripture can give.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of God\u2019s warning through the prophet Hosea, chapter 4 and verse 6, God says, \u201cMy people are destroyed for lack of\u201d what? \u201cknowledge.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, he doesn\u2019t say my people are destroyed because they\u2019re not spiritually authentic.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say my people are not destroyed for a lack of zeal, or energy, or activity.\u00a0 My people are simply \u201cdestroyed for a lack of knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 They don\u2019t know proper doctrine that only the Scripture can give to them and consequently they have nothing to build their lives on other than reactions to one\u2019s circumstance after another in life.\n\nAnd this is why Paul, in his ministry pattern, and this is what he is explaining to young Timothy, he patterned perpetual teaching of the Scripture.\u00a0 In fact, in Acts 20:18 this is what Paul said as he is dialing back on his relationship to the church at Ephesus.\u00a0 He says, \u201cAnd when they had come to him, he said to them, \u2018You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,\u201d and [20] \u201cI did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house.\u201d\n\nWhat is Paul doing here in ministry in Ephesus?\u00a0 He is focused on the Word of God.\u00a0 He says I didn\u2019t hold back anything from you that I thought might benefit you and I taught you over and over, both publicly, we might refer to that as a pulpit ministry, and I taught you privately from house to house.\u00a0 Whether I was doing it publicly or whether I was doing it in the smaller group from house to house, I kept teaching over and over again the Scriptures because the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine. \u00a0And this is why Paul would not compromise in this area of disseminating biblical truth.\u00a0 In fact, in 2 Corinthians 2:17 he says, \u201cFor we are not like many, peddling the word of God\u2026\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to charge for the Word of God because I don\u2019t want to peddle the word of God.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to make it sound as if you have to pay some kind of fee to receive from me what is spiritually beneficial.\n\nPaul, in 2 Corinthians 4:2 says this: \u201cBut we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God.\u201d\u00a0 What does it mean to adulterate the Word of God?\u00a0 Adultery is mixing two things that God does not want to go together.\u00a0 We think of sexual sin, we think of spiritual sin, Paul says I am not mixing the Word of God with anything.\u00a0 I will not, we might call it in modern day vernacular, watering down the Word of God, Paul says I will not adulterate the Word of God.\n\nThe principles of Freud and Young and Skinner may be very insightful; the principles of Charles Darwin may be very insightful.\u00a0 But I will not bring such teachings into my presentation of the Word of God because the Word of God itself is beneficial.\u00a0 I am not interested in mixing the Word of God with a bunch of manmade marketing management ideas, most of which come from Stephen Covey, and others.\u00a0 I am simply interested in teaching the unadulterated pure Word of God.\n\nAnd if there is a goal of the devil, and I believe the devil has many goals, it is to destroy the teaching ministry of the church.\u00a0 The moment you respond to the call of God as a Bible teacher you can expect all hell to break loose on your life because Satan will throw every monkey wrench into the equation that he could possibly throw because his goal is to derail the teaching of the Word of God, because the devil, at least he understands the beneficial nature of the Scripture.\n\nIn Acts 5:28 the Sadducees\u2026 now why do we call them the Sadducees?\u00a0 Because they are always sad you see.\u00a0 They only believed in the first five books of Moses, nothing else.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t believe in angels, they didn\u2019t believe in a resurrection, they are the ones that are persecuting the infant church in early Acts.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting the first things the Sadducees did to the early church after abusing them is they said you are not to teach any more.\u00a0 See, the devil, right out of the gate, was trying to shut down the teaching ministry of the church. Acts 5:28 says, \u201cWe gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in his name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your\u201d doctrine, or \u201cteaching.\u201d\n\nThe Word of God has prospered, even though we as the Sadducees tried to stop it out of the gate.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting to me that the devil is involved in that chapter, going back earlier in the chapter to what he put into the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira. I think the devil just kept on working in that chapter, no longer using believers as he did with Ananias and Sapphira but using unbelievers in the form of the Sadducees, all in an attempt to get the church away from its teaching ministry.\u00a0 Why would the devil do such a thing?\u00a0 Because he understands that the Word of God is profitable for teaching, or doctrine.\n\nThere is a second thing that the Word of God will do in your personal growth in Christ.\u00a0 Number 2, it will reprove you, reproof.\u00a0 Again, notice 2 Timothy 3:16, \u201cAll Scripture is God breathed,\u201d inspired, \u201cand profitable for teaching\u201d here comes the second word, number 2, \u201cfor reproof.\u201d\u00a0 Using Warren Wiersbe\u2019s phraseology, now we\u2019re dealing with reproof, what is not right; doctrine, what is right, here\u2019s what you build your life on.\u00a0 But reproof is pointing out what is not right.\u00a0 The Greek word for reproof is elegmos<\/em>. What does that mean?\u00a0 It means a rebuke.\u00a0 The Word of God exposes sin in the believer\u2019s life and in the believer\u2019s heart.\u00a0 There is nothing that will bring that to the surface, which is painful to happen, there is nothing that will more quickly reveal those things to us, there is nothing that will more quickly bring those things to the surface than a perpetual teaching of the Word of God.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason this book is called a sword.\u00a0 Ephesians 6:17 says, \u201cthe sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews 4:12, I read to you the first part of the verse earlier, what does the whole verse say: \u201cFor the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged\u201d what? \u201csword,\u201d what do you do with a sword?\u00a0\u00a0 You cut,\u00a0 you jab, you cause pain.\u00a0 The verse goes on and says, \u201cpiercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.\u201d\u00a0 The word for \u201csword\u201d is machaira<\/em>, it\u2019s the same word used to describe an actual physical sword.\u00a0 And this is what the Word of God will do, through the preaching and teaching ministry of the church; this is what the Word of God will do for you as you study it and read it for yourself.\n\nIt will reprove and if you want an example of this look at Acts 2:37 sometime because in the book of Acts, chapter 2, Peter just gave a beautiful expositional teaching. [Acts 2:37, \u201cNow when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, \u2018Brethren, what shall we do?\u2019\u201d] \u00a0He stood in front of a bunch of Jews that weren\u2019t saved and he proved that the Holy Spirit that\u2019s been sent is sent from Jesus, who was seated at the right hand of the Father, he uses Joel 2 to prove that.\u00a0 He proves that Jesus rose from the dead; he uses Psalm 16 to prove that.\u00a0 He proves that Jesus is the heir to David\u2019s throne who will one day sit on David\u2019s throne.\u00a0 He uses Psalm 132 to prove that.\u00a0 And then he kind of wraps up the whole thing by saying that Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father and he uses Psalm 110 to prove that.\u00a0 Joel 2, Psalm 16, Psalm 132, Psalm 110, I mean, a tremendous exposition of the Scriptures.\n\nAnd what was the reaction when people heard this?\u00a0 Acts 2:37 says, \u201cNow when they heard this they were pierced to the heart.\u201d\u00a0 Why use the analogy of piercing?\u00a0 Because the word is a sharp sword, it exposes, it jabs, it injures by design, it reveals sinful conduct and sinful motivations in both believers and unbelievers.\u00a0 In fact, the crowd that heard Peter preach that tremendous expositional teaching, citing those four areas of the Old Testament, the only thing they could respond is what shall we do?\u00a0 I mean, they were so cut deeply at what Peter shared and it was not Peter\u2019s oratorical pizazz that accomplished this, it was the work of the Word.\n\nIt\u2019s the very thing that Paul says here, that \u201cthe Word of God is profitable for reproof,\u201d and how we need to be reproved today because our hearts are sinful, are they not.\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, my heart is so sinful that it actually contaminates how I think many times.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the book of Proverbs says, \u201cTrust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding,\u201d\u00a0 [Proverbs 3:5]\u00a0 Why would the Bible tell me not to lean on my own understanding?\u00a0 Because your understanding and the way we see things is warped because of sin.\u00a0 And this is why we need the mind renewed through the intake of the Word of God.\n\nProverbs 14:12 says, \u201cThere is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.\u201d\u00a0 There are things that you will look at as a lost human being that look good and they look right, but they\u2019re not because the problem is the way you\u2019re looking at it and your mind needs to be corrected by the Word of God, given the sinful mind.\n\nAnd we must be in an environment where we are being corrected regularly by the Word of God; as the Word of God goes forth the great promise that Paul gives here in 2 Timothy 3:16 is the Word of God will do this, it will correct.\u00a0 And I honestly believe that this is the reason why the local church is abandoning the teaching ministry.\u00a0 And it\u2019s why people will flock to an environment that tells them anything spiritual other than truth, because it\u2019s a painful experience to be corrected by anyone, let alone God who knows the hearts of men and women.\n\nJohn 3:20, Jesus says, \u201cFor everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.\u201d\u00a0 The posture of the natural man, the posture of the believer that is steeped in sin is they don\u2019t want the light.\u00a0 They don\u2019t like the light.\u00a0 The Word of God, as we\u2019ll see in a moment, is light, it is a lamp unto our feet.\n\nAnd because of the cutting, penetrating, influence of the Word of God the natural tendency of people is to avoid the Word of God.\u00a0 This is why Paul will write to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, later in our series we\u2019ll be reading these verses, \u201cFor the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting<\/em> to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, [5] and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.\u201d\u00a0 Give me something spiritual but don\u2019t make it too biblical because if you make it too biblical it\u2019s going to cut too deeply.\n\nThe book of Amos, chapter 8 and verse 11, Amos says this: \u201c\u2018Behold, days are coming,\u2019 declares the Lord GOD, \u2018When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.\u00a0 [12] People will stagger from sea to sea. \u00a0And from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.\u201d\n\nWhy don\u2019t they find it?\u00a0 A lot of times they don\u2019t want to find it because I\u2019ll tell you something, you can empty a church out by boldly teaching the Word of God, not because you\u2019re trying to be mean or nasty, it\u2019s the nature of the Word.\u00a0 The Word of God is designed this way; it\u2019s designed as a sword to cut or to penetrate deeply.\u00a0 And so we want to stay away from the Word of God.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of like staying away from the dentist, staying away from the doctor.\u00a0 You know there\u2019s something physically wrong with you but you won\u2019t go to the doctor.\u00a0 Why won\u2019t you go?\u00a0 Because you know the doctor is going to prescribe something for you.\u00a0 And it could mean a cutting or an incision of your skin, an operation or surgery of some kind and so rather than dealing with the root of the problem it\u2019s just easier to stay away from the doctor as long as you can.\n\nAnd so consequently people will stay away from church. \u00a0They\u2019ll gravitate towards a church that won\u2019t tell them the truth, but a church that will tell them the truth they\u2019ll stay away from that.\u00a0 Is there somebody else I can talk to, is there something else I can hear, maybe I can just come late and leave early so I can have a little bit of fellowship time with my family. Maybe I\u2019ll just come after the service is over so I can kind of keep up with my acquaintances and friends but I really don\u2019t want to go into the main service because I know if I go into the main service I know what\u2019s going to happen so I stay away from it.\u00a0 And yet that\u2019s the nature of the Word, it not only teaches but it corrects and it reproves.\n\nThere is a fourth way that the Word of God contributes to our growth in Christ.\u00a0 Back to 2 Timothy 3:16, \u201cAll Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof,\u201d notice this next expression, \u201cfor correction.\u201d\u00a0 Using Warren Wiersbe\u2019s phraseology, correction deals with how to get right, reproof is what is not right, and correction is how to get right.\u00a0 [Warren Wiersbe, The<\/em> Bible Exposition Commentary<\/em>, 2:253]\n\nThe Greek word here is epanorth\u014dsis<\/em> which deals not with the issue of cutting, that\u2019s what reproof is; it deals with the issue of mending.\u00a0 It deals with the issue of correcting.\u00a0 In other words, the Bible will come alongside of you and it will tell you this: Here\u2019s not what to do, and we feel bad about it because many times we\u2019re going down that same road.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it great that the Bible doesn\u2019t just leave us cut and bleeding?\u00a0 It says here\u2019s what to do that\u2019s right.\u00a0 That\u2019s what is bound up in this word \u201ccorrection.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s painful to go to the doctor, to get the bad news, to go through the operation but isn\u2019t it great when the stitching happens and is behind us and we begin to heal?\n\nYou know, I had a medical issue, you all remember, about a year or so ago.\u00a0 Had I not gone into the doctor, gone through the surgery that I had to go through I would still be suffering from that exact same medical issue.\u00a0 And there are surgical removals that God seeks to do in our lives spiritually.\u00a0 But because we don\u2019t want to expose ourselves to the cutting process we just go on and on and on and on in the Christian life, limping around, because God doesn\u2019t want us to limp around, He wants to come in and do surgery to put us on the path of recovery, to put us on the path of healing, but because we don\u2019t want to experience the cutting we would just rather stay sick.\n\nWe need to expose ourselves to the Word of God because it doesn\u2019t simply tell us what is not right, it tells us how to get right.\u00a0 It tells us what to do.\u00a0 This is why Psalm 119:105 says this:\u00a0 \u201cYour word is a\u201d what? \u201ca lamp to my feet and a light to my path.\u201d\u00a0 How far would you get in life in darkness at a campout, like our men\u2019s group for example, with no lamps, with no light, with no guidance.\u00a0 You would just be stumbling around, groping in the dark and yet the Word of God comes along and functions as that light or that lamp which can get us on the right path.\n\nIt can also keep us away from sin, if we take it seriously.\u00a0 Psalm 119:9-11 says this: \u201cHow can a young man keep his way pure?\u201d\u00a0 I think that\u2019s such a great question.\u00a0 In this age of pornographic addictions, in this age of online pornography, in this age of friendships being kindled on lying which leads to affairs, in this age where we are living at the lowest common denominator of morality, in this age where even watching commercials is inappropriate, sexual innuendos every\u00adwhere.\u00a0 How can a young man keep his way pure?\u00a0 The answer is, \u201cBy keeping it according to\n\nYour word.\u00a0 [10] With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.\u00a0 [11] Your word\u201d Psalm 119 verse 11, \u201cYour word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.\u201d\n\nDavid says there are times I wanted to sin but I didn\u2019t because of the dominance of the Word of God in my life it told me what to stay away from.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t just rebuke me when I got out of line, it put me on the right road to correction.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that I\u2019ve quoted a couple of verses there out of Psalm 119.\u00a0 Did you know that Psalm 119 is the longest, not only Psalm in the Psalter, it\u2019s the longest book of the Bible, spanning about 176 verses.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we call a Torah Psalm; a Torah Psalm is a psalm magnifying Torah, Torah means Law; Law would be the first five books of the Bible called by the Jews Torah, sometimes called Pentateuch, meaning five.\u00a0 And Psalm 119 is a tremendous exposition going 176 verses of the virtues of the benefits of the positive impact that studying Torah will do in the life of a person and a human being.\u00a0 If you ever want an expanded treatment on the work of the Word, the benefits of the Word, the power of the Word, I would challenge you to read and study Psalm 119.\n\nYou might be interested to know that Psalm 119 is an acrostic; every line begins with a letter, in order, of Hebrew alphabet.\u00a0 First letter, it gives you eight lines, all of those lines begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.\u00a0 Then it will move to the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and it will give you eight more lines.\u00a0 The third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, eight more lines, all the way through 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.\u00a0 You all know that 22 times 8 is 176; 176 verses.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason there\u2019s 176 verses; as you move through the different letters of the Hebrew alphabet, verse through 22, 8 lines per letter.\u00a0 And what is the whole thing about when you get to the end?\u00a0 It\u2019s an extolling and a remembrance of Torah, the Law of God.\n\nWhy don\u2019t you study this week Psalm 119?\u00a0 And actually you can draw this out into three weeks; as you go through eight lines per day.\u00a0 Eight lines per day stretched that out over 22 days and see if that doesn\u2019t change\u00a0 your attitude towards the Word of God, what the Word of God seeks to do, what the Word of God wants to accomplish.\u00a0 What does the Word of God do?\u00a0 It gives us enough data to build our lives upon what is right, then it comes alongside and reproves us through rebuke by telling us what is not right.\u00a0 And then the Word of God doesn\u2019t just leave us cut, hurt and bleeding but it mends us and puts us on the right path.\u00a0 The work of the Word, what the Word does in progressive sanctification.\n\nThere\u2019s one more here, and with this we are finished.\u00a0 It will train us in righteousness.\u00a0 \u201cAll Scripture,\u201d verse 16, \u201cis inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,\u201d the last phrase there is \u201cfor training in righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Going back to Warren Wiersbe\u2019s phraseology, \u201ctraining in righteousness\u201d is how to stay right.\u00a0 All right, you\u2019ve been cut open and you\u2019re bleeding but now you\u2019re mending because you\u2019re on the right path.\u00a0 How do you stay on the right path?\u00a0 That\u2019s what this expressing, \u201ctraining in righteousness\u201d does. \u00a0The word for training here is paidea<\/em>, it is the identical word that\u2019s used over in Ephesians 6 and verse 4 related to the training of children.\n\nYou might recall that verse; Ephesians 6:4 says, \u201cFathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Word of God.\u201d That\u2019s the exact same expression \u201ctraining\u201d in Greek.\u00a0 What does the Word of God do for us?\u00a0 It prepares one for spiritual adulthood.\u00a0 It prepares one for spiritual maturity.\u00a0 Now isn\u2019t maturity a great thing, because as you become mature you get more privileges.\u00a0 Now that I\u2019m pushing 50 I no longer have to call mom and dad and say what\u2019s my curfew.\u00a0 Adulthood brings forth emancipation; adulthood brings forth privileges, and there are so many privileges with being an adult.\u00a0 God wants us to become spiritual adults.\u00a0 He wants us to put on the big boy pants.\u00a0 He wants us to stop sucking our thumbs.\u00a0 You know a child sucking their thumb at an early age, 2-3 years old is sort of cute, isn\u2019t it. \u00a0It\u2019s not cute any more when the child is 16.\u00a0 It\u2019s not fun anymore; the cuteness sort of leaves.\n\nAnd you see, that\u2019s where many of us are in the spiritual life.\u00a0 We should have grown up a long time ago but we wander around in infancy, not enjoying the emancipation and privileges of adulthood for the simple reason that the Word of God has a negligible, if any, role in our lives.\u00a0 We would rather occupy ourselves with anything, youtube videos, movies, entertainment, anything other than the Scripture, which is always difficult when God calls you to be a Bible teacher.\u00a0 How do you get a bunch of people to listen to something they don\u2019t want to hear?\u00a0 That\u2019s a challenge isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 We naturally stay away from the Word of God because of its cutting influence but once it\u2019s done its work, WOW, what a benefit.\n\nDidn\u2019t he tell us at the beginning of this verse that the Word of God is profitable?\u00a0 You see, are there really spiritual infants in the church?\u00a0 Paul says there are, in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 You see that expression \u201cbabes in Christ\u201d?\u00a0 That clearly communicates that you can be an infant \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 [2] I fed\u00a0 you with milk and not solid food; for until now you are not able to receive it and even now you\u2019re still not able, [3] for you are still carnal.\u00a0 For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are\u00a0 you not carnal, are you not acting lie mere men.\u201d\u00a0 You should have grown up a long time ago, Paul says.\n\nAnd the issue here is you folks never got saved.\u00a0 That is such a misreading of that passage. Paul never says your problem is you never got saved?\u00a0 He calls them babes in Christ.\u00a0 The problem is they never got to a point where they could intake solid food.\u00a0 They thrived on milk but rejected the meat and consequently spent the majority of their lives in Christ, not enjoying the privileges or the emancipation of adulthood because the Word of God trains us in righteousness.\n\nPaul divides the world up into four categories: first you\u2019ve got unbelievers, people that need the gospel.\u00a0 Secondly, within the category of believers you have three kinds, as you study 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 you\u2019ll see Paul describing all things.\u00a0 First of all there\u2019s the carnal believer or the fleshly believer, or the believer that just goes back to the sin nature over and over again.\u00a0 They don\u2019t understand their resources in Christ, they don\u2019t know to live for Christ.\u00a0 The only thing they know how to do is do what they\u2019ve always done, cater to the sin nature, and they spend their life in Christ in the state of infancy in arrested development, like you would see with the person with mental retardation or Downs Syndrome.\n\nWhen you look at somebody with Downs Syndrome it\u2019s always tragic because they never reach their potential.\u00a0 And may I just say to you that the church of Jesus Christ is filled with spiritual Downs Syndrome.\u00a0 It is filled with people that never reach their potential because they never had a proper posture or attitude towards God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 There\u2019s the infant Paul says.\u00a0 Now I used to think that was just the new Christian but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s true anymore because Paul says \u201cby this time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not the 2 year old, 3 year old sucking their thumb; it\u2019s the16 year old.\n\nAnd then the last category there is the people that will bless your sox off, not the perfect believer, not the sinless believer, but the believer who sins less because they are actually growing in the realm of progressive sanctification.\u00a0 What makes someone an unbeliever?\u00a0 They never responded to the gospel through the Word of God.\u00a0 What makes someone carnal?\u00a0 They never responded to progressive sanctification as given in the Word of God.\u00a0 What makes someone an infant?\u00a0 They never responded in progressive sanctification to the intake of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 What puts someone in that last category, the spiritual category?\u00a0 They have a posture towards the Word of God, or they want to hear it, they want to listen to it, they want to read it, they want to honor it, and most importantly they want to obey it.\u00a0 They submit themselves to this ripping, tearing, cutting process and they\u2019ve grown beyond it because the Word of God is not just there to tear them down; it\u2019s there to put them on the right path.\n\nThe application here is pretty simple, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Which one of these are you?\u00a0 Which one am I?\u00a0 Ephesians 4:14 says, \u201cAs a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;\u201d no longer a child.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s interesting, children believe anything you tell them.\u00a0 You could tell them the moon is made of Swiss cheese and they\u2019d believe it.\n\nYou know, there\u2019s a lot of Christians like that?\u00a0 They believe everything they\u2019re told as long as the person telling them is doing it from a position of spiritual authority behind a pulpit, on radio, on television; they just absorb everything.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting that when you bring your child home from the hospital and she or he is crawling on the ground everything they see they put in their mouth.\u00a0 But if the child is ten years old, sixteen years old, still crawling on the ground, still sucking their thumb, still putting everything they hear or everything they see into their mouth, you\u2019ve got a major developmental issue.\n\nPaul is telling us put on the big boy pants; it\u2019s time to grow up.\u00a0 And your response to the Word of God is its dealing with us in the realm of pragmatic and practical sanctification is the single thing that Jesus uses to grow us up.\u00a0 What did He say with the verse we started with?\u00a0 \u201cSanctify them in Thy\u201d what? Word, \u201cThy Word is truth.\u201d\u00a0 Will the Word of God help you in the middle tense of your salvation?\u00a0 You\u2019d bet, it\u2019s profitable.\u00a0 And it, if allowed, will have a fourfold impact on\u00a0 us through teaching, giving us a body of knowledge to build our lives upon, reprove; telling us what we\u2019re not doing right.\u00a0 Correcting us, putting us on the right path and then training us in righteousness, preparing us for spiritual adulthood.\n\nWarren Wiersbe, again, in closing says, \u201cThey are profitable\u201d the Scriptures for doctrine (what is right), for reproof (what is not right), for correction (<\/u><\/strong>how to get right)<\/u>, and for instruction in righteousness (how to stay right).\u201d\u00a0 [Warren Wiersbe, The<\/em> Bible Exposition Commentary<\/em>, 2:253]\n\nShall we pray; Father, we are grateful for this verse and what it reveals concerning our need to grow in You.\u00a0 Make us a flock and a congregation here at Sugar Land Bible Church that wants to allow the Word to do its work, not just in hearing, but in delicate surgery and in doing.\u00a0 We ask that You will do this great work in our lives.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 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