We are going to be opening up God's word together today in the book of 2 Timothy, chapter three. We have been in a series of passages in which Paul is encouraging Timothy not to be like a certain group, not to be like these hypocritical teachers that have begun to influence Timothy's church. But now we're about to make a turn to a series of positive charges that Paul is going to give Timothy. He's going to begin to say, do this, live like this, remember this. And let's remember this is Paul's last letter to Timothy. This is likely Paul's last year of life. We don't actually know for certain whether Timothy was able to visit Paul or see him face to face. This, these may have been the last words Timothy ever received. And Paul is very aware of it. And so every syllable, every sentence is rich with meaning.
So second Timothy, chapter three. We're going to begin in verse 10. And as we begin, let's remember this is God's Word. You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured. Yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. This is God's Word.
And Lord, I pray that you would bless the teaching of your Word and the hearing of your Word in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, a few years ago I ran across someone in passing that had what appeared to be a very unusual tattoo. They appeared to have something written on their, almost their knuckles of their hands. And so I could make out a couple letters and I, you know, you're trying not to be nosy, but I'm nosy. And so I'm like looking over, trying to see like, what does it spell? You know, I'm trying to hopefully See if they turn toward me. And so I got enough letters that I went home and found this particular marking because I thought it's so unusual. It's gotta mean something. And in fact, it was across the knuckles and it spelled out H, O, L, D on one hand. F, A, S, T, hold fast. That you'd read if the person was holding, like, something in front of you. And I thought, man, well, that's unusual. And I learned that this tattoo has a long, intriguing history. In fact, for the last several hundred years, sailors have been getting this particular tattoo. It began by signifying that you were a deckhand. So a number of sailor tattoos have particular meanings of function or places, like they've been to the equator, been a certain number of miles. So this one signified originally that you were a deckhand. You worked the ropes, you worked the rigging. But it. It became more than that. It became a symbol as well, signifying the. The sailor's attitude that no matter what happened, no matter if it was a storm, no matter if the waves were. Were crashing on the deck, you would hold fast to your duty, hold fast to your position, and quite literally hold on to ropes. So you didn't get sw. You know, got thrown out into the ocean. And then later, it became popular in some quarters for ships of war to remind men to do their duty when the cannons started roaring, when the ship started splintering around them, when people began falling, it was a commitment that they would hold fast to their duty.
The. The. My favorite story about this is apparently in The War of 1812, the crew of the USS Constitution, a number of them knowing that they were going to go up against the much larger, much better equipped, much better trained British fleet, said, okay, we don't have any of those things, but we have a commitment to one another and to this mission, and we're going to hold fast. Right? And so normally we say nice things about the army, but if you're one of the two guys that was in the Navy, shout out to you guys. Hope Mr. Morales is here. Yeah, that's right, John. He is here. Come on, John. I was hoping that you'd be here for this story, man. And if you're one of the guys that's been in the Navy, you're just like these army guys. Unbelievable. Thank you for bearing with them. We appreciate it.
Now, as you might guess, this choice to get the tattoo on the USS Constitution or wherever you are, tattoos are two things. They are always uncomfortable and they are always permanent. And so to do that, to receive that tattoo, to hold fast meant that you are committing yourselves to a pattern of life no matter what. And in a similar way, Paul says, all right, Timothy, hold your hands out. I'm going to mark you with something today and it's going to sting a little bit with some of the things I say and it should be permanent for you and should mark your life. And he is going to tell him, hold fast to some crucial truths over the next few weeks. And the first one I hope was very clear. Hold fast to the God breathed word. Hold fast, Timothy. Now, it's not just for Timothy. This would have been read aloud in Timothy's church and has been preserved in God's Word for all of us today. So in a sense, Timothy and Paul and all of us are in the room together. And Paul says, all right, Christians, I want you to hold out your hand. You're going to hear that tattoo. Sounds about to go on. Because I want to mark you with something. I want you to commit that no matter what happens in life, you will hold fast to the God breathed word.
6 · Paul's argument in verses 10-12 is unpacked: Timothy observed Paul's pattern of life firsthand—teaching, conduct, persecutions—and this pattern is not exceptional but normative for all who pursue godliness
Now, this text has so much in it that I am not going to be able to do sufficient justice to it. But what I want to do is point out by way of introduction, before we arrive at our main points, the argument Paul is making to lead up to his charge that Timothy holds on to the word. In verse 10, Paul reminds Timothy that Timothy has literally followed him from city to city, from town to town, from area to area as Paul ministered. He saw up close what Paul taught and what he, he thought and how he lived and what his aims were and his very character. He says, listen, Timothy, you know better than anyone what my pattern of life looks like. And I want you to remember, Timothy, that that wasn't just something you observe. No, that was a pattern of life that, that you're meant to follow. That's a pattern of life that you are meant to hold fast to, despite the fact that that pattern of life will lead to persecution and suffering. Now in second Timothy, we have run across, as we've been saying, a number of those verses that never make it onto inspirational coffee mugs at the Christian bookstore. But perhaps chief among them, we have a new contender for least Christian inspirational treated verses. And it might be verse 12. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. You're like man. That is a this a tough life verse. If that's what the Lord's given you. I'm just kidding, because the reality is it's what's been Given to all of us. Paul is telling Timothy, do you remember what happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra? Iconium and Antioch. He was literally chased out of town by people trying to kill him. And then in Lystra, they nearly succeeded in killing him. It was where he was pelted with stones until he lay unmoving in the middle of the road and they stopped because they thought he was dead. And what he wants Timothy to remember is, Timothy, my life, my pattern of life, which led to opposition and persecution and suffering. It's not unusual. I don't want you to think, Timothy, that I left, that I lived some kind of crazy, out of left field life and you're going to live just a life of happy, easygoing, always Friday prosperity. No, in fact, you, Timothy, are on the pattern of life. I want you to cling to this pattern, despite the fact, to use the sailing metaphor, that they're going to be winds, there are going to be waves, they're going to be cannons going off around you, there's going to be wood splintering right next to you. And I need you to commit to hold fast.
7 · The exposition moves from Paul's pattern to the multi-generational pattern Timothy received from his mother and grandmother
And then he, he adds, really a touching and surprising encouragement here. He's saying, not only is this my pattern, not only do I need you to hold on to it because, because you're going to have to fight to hold on, but, but, but this very pattern, it's not just for me. In verses 14 and 15, he references how from Timothy's childhood, his mother and grandmother have faithfully given him this pattern. They have faithfully handed this pattern to him. And so Paul says, timothy, hold fast. This is the pattern. It is not easy, but, but people have gone before you. Your mother has gone on in the Lord before you, your grandmother has gone on in the Lord before you. Now, Timothy, I am about to go on to the Lord ahead of you. You now hold the pattern. You now hold fast. And then a particular application. That's where we're going to spend most of our time here today. This particular application is that he hold fast to the pattern of life, of following Christ by holding fast to the Bible. Let's read verses 15, 16 and 17 again. Paul says, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, faith in Christ Jesus. And it's almost like he, he pauses and goes, takes a big breath and makes this poetic, declarative, theological dynamite going off kind of statement. In verse 16, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for Teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So Paul is remember, in contrast, many are following away. Many have gone down the way of false teaching. But you, Timothy, hold fast to the pattern. You, Timothy, hold on tight because the winds and waves are coming. And you, Timothy, he, he. In this passage, he essentially presses the Scriptures. Imagine a. An old man in a jail cell pressing a battered copy of God's Word into the hands of his son in the faith that he will never see again. That's the energy behind these sentences. Hold fast to the Bible.
8 · The challenge for American Christians is not access to Scripture but recognizing its unique nature and authority
Now, here is the challenge. We as Christians can go. Sure, of course. Yeah. Great. Love it. The Bible. We're Bible. We have a lot of Bibles. We give away Bibles. I have a Bible. They did a study in America that every American, whether they know it or not, has a Bible. Like, even if they don't even know they have a Bible, they probably got one in a, you know, I don't know, an old drawer somewhere or a battered cardboard box. There's one in your hotel room. There's Bibles everywhere. The challenge in America is not getting a Bible. The challenge is recognizing what we hold when we hold the Bible.
9 · A visual demonstration using a stack of books illustrates how modern Christians treat the Bible—as one helpful book among many in a pile of resources for career, parenting, inspiration, theology, and self-improvement
Now, I'm going to give you some examples here. We. We live in an age in which there are millions upon millions of books available to us. There are billions of web pages available to us. There's all kinds of advice you can find on social media for any aspect of your life. And, and here is the challenge. What will happen is that the Bible becomes. I'm going to move this out here so you can see it. The Bible becomes one more book in a big pattern or big stack of other books. Right? So you're like, okay, great. What do I need to live my life well? Well, for my career advice, I'm going to read Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker by the Harvard Business Review, actually is a classic. It's great. So you look for places to find career advice or you go, you know what? I just want to escape into a world. I want to. Want to rest. So you pick up a long copy of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I spent many good afternoons reading as a kid, and you're like, that's what I need. I'm going to rest here. Oh, and then the Bible's there. Sure. It has some good stuff as well, too. So it goes into the pile. I need to live a simpler, more meaningful life. Great read. You know, this book on essentialism. I. I'm struggling as a new parent. What do I need most? I found this battered copy of Baby Wise and I love the subtitle, giving your infant the gift of nighttime sleep. That is the most inaccurate subtitle I've ever read. It is actually giving yourself the gift of nighttime sleep. Over 2 million books in print, apparently, and you think, okay, that's what I need the most as a parent. So that goes into the pile. I want to learn about the world and how we got here and what happened. So here's a book on the Americas before Columbus. I want to be inspired. So I'm going to find a story like Endurance and Shackleton's Incredible Voyage into the Arctic. So I'm going to read that and find inspiration. And in fact, I'm going to find the. The insights of church fathers. So I have a copy of St. Augustine's the City of God, right? And you're like, okay, that's going to be great. I'm going to get some good insights there. And then this is the kind of book that everybody always picks up at the airport. This is a great one. Look at this title, Limitless. Like, and this is the wildest subtitle I've ever read. Upgrade your brain, learn anything faster, and unlock your exceptional life. And you realize, I've been living a normal life. I could be living an exceptional life. That's what's going on. And, and here's the problem, okay? I want you to see this. Here is the problem. You begin to live life with a pile of information floating around your head and your bookshelves and your heart and your mind. And it's not as though you don't believe the Bible should be in the pile, but you begin subtly to treat God's word as if it were just another book in the stack.
10 · The sermon pivots to application by calling for a decisive recognition of the Bible's uniqueness
And we have to, this morning, according to the apostle Paul, bring the Bible out and say, no, this one is unique. These words are utterly unique. And so five reasons this morning that Paul gives us for why this word is utterly unique and why we must hold fast to it regardless of what else happens in life.
11 · The first reason to hold fast to Scripture is its necessity—it is essential, not optional, for knowing the gospel, maintaining spiritual life, and knowing God's will
Number one, it is essential. Not optional, but essential. Verse 15 says how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Now that is an utterly unique statement from. I'm going to quote several times from theologian Wayne Grudem because his definitions in this area are simple and they sound like normal English. And so I love his summations of this and he says this, the necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary, not optional. Necessary for knowing the gospel, maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God's will. Now that if we believe, that changes how we read this, doesn't it? Because it becomes not an optional book. That, okay, I read this book and that book and this book and that book, and I'll get to that one if I have a chance. But rather, this is essential, utterly essential. Especially notice this in the area of salvation, because Peter tells us in Acts that there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. Meaning that there is one way to restoration with God, one way back to the Father, one way to have our sins paid for. And how do we find it through this Word. Now you might say, well, but, but, but I heard a pastor teach, or I did this, or, you know, I, I heard a message. Great, where did the message come from? Where did the book come from? I know a guy that got saved reading a fiction book in which one of the characters came to faith and he was like, oh my goodness, that's me. And God used it. But where did that come from? From the Word. And where do we begin to know? Okay, you know what? That's actually not how to get saved from the Word. So it is essential.
12 · A direct application challenges the listener to examine whether they are treating the essential as optional—whether they functionally treat Scripture as one resource among many rather than as the one essential resource
And here's my question. Are you living like what is essential is optional in your life? Are you like, this is a gut check for me Sometimes I can, I can go to many good sources, many good things, but only one is essential. Do I treat it like it is essential in my life or do I began to treat it as one of the books in the pile as if it is optional?
13 · The second reason to hold fast to Scripture is its clarity—it can be understood by all who seek God's help and are willing to follow it
First, it's essential. Second, it is understandable the clarity of scripture. It says how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings. Now this is a profound, almost window into Timothy's life. So from the beginning, from when he was a boy, he had known the Old Testament scriptures. And it seems as though revealed in the New Testament that he had was also taught the way of salvation in Jesus Christ later by his mother and grandmother and, and Timothy, this pastor, this leader, one of Paul's band of missionary men, he was not always. So he started out as little Timmy, right? Have you. Everybody always knows somebody, they grew up with that, that you're like, hey, Timmy. And they're like, I'm Timothy now. You know, it's just Tim. And you're like, you can't do that, man. We grew up with you it's too late. The ship has sailed. Right? I'm sure there were people like that in Timothy's life. And Paul's using it to point out, listen, back when you were little, Timmy, you learned the Word. And Paul's assumption is that he was acquainted not just around the sacred writings, but. But he understood them. He engaged with them. Grudem says this. The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that. That its teachings are able to be understood by all who read it, seeking God's help and being willing to follow it. Now, that's profound. It means now a. A child like Timothy little Timmy might not understand everything in Scripture. He might not understand all the finer points. But does he understand the beginnings of who God is, who we are, who Christ is, what we must do to be saved, how to what, walk in. In following God and his ways? Yes, you can understand those things. Regardless of whether you never graduated 8th grade or whether you have a PhD. The Bible is unique in that it is clear and understandable for all of God's people.
14 · A pastoral observation about El Paso specifically—the city ranks high in religiosity but low in biblical literacy
Now, we have a major problem, though, in the city of El Paso. I love my city for a lot of reasons, but this is one thing that makes teaching the Bible in El Paso difficult. If you look at statistics about El Paso, if you look over here on the statistics of how religious do people in El Paso consider themselves? It's high. It's quite high. We consider ourselves, you know, out of the major metro areas of the United States, one of the most religious areas. And if you look at the statistics by Barna or others on how well do people understand what's in the Bible, among all major metropolitan areas, you see where this is going. It is low. It's very low. In fact, there are cities that don't believe the Bible, that understand the Bible better than some of us in El Paso. And what the reason that's difficult is, then everybody in our city begins to almost go, yeah, I'm religious, but. But not fully understanding for themselves what's in the Bible.
15 · A personal story illustrates the gap between knowing you should read the Bible and actually knowing how to read the Bible
And here's why this is difficult. A number of years ago, there was a new, newer believer in the church. He was excited. He wanted to follow God. I was like, all right, man, I'm gonna start meeting with you every week. We're gonna start going through this stuff together. And so I told him, bro, one of the most important things, man, is you gotta get in the Word. And he was like, awesome, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get in the Word. And then I met with him the next week. And I was like, man, were you able to get in the Word? And he was like, nah, man, I know I need to. I need to get in the Word. I need to get in there. And I was like, cool, all right, this week. Let's do it. And he was like, let's. All right, I got it. And finally I asked him, yeah, I followed up with him again. And I was like, were you in the Word this week? And he was like, nah, man, I'm sorry. And I finally just asked a question. Do you know what it means when I say get in the Word? And he was like, nah, man. Right. Like. Like, I know I'm supposed to open up the Bible and read some of it, but, like, I. Does it do something? Do I say so? You know, like, what do I do? And. And he's like, I tried to read a little bit of it. Didn't understand, like, you know, the part of the Bible I turned to. So then I flipped to another part, and I'm like, I don't know what's going on there either. And I realized I'm telling this guy, yeah, get in the Word. And that, man, that's our city, right? It's like, yeah, get in there. And you're like, cool, I need to. And then you go home. And then on Monday morning, you're like, what am I doing? And look, man, that is all of us. Because the reality is this. While the Bible can be understood by all, it takes work by all. And no one fully has it all together, right?
16 · A corporate confession is called for—the entire church should admit 'I'm a beginner' when it comes to Scripture
So I want us to admit something as a church, and I want us to become something as a church. I want us to admit that we are beginners when it comes to understanding the Bible and how to read it. Because if you walk into a room and you're like, man, everybody else here looks like they know how to read the Bible except for me. What are you going to do? You're going to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool. Yeah, yeah. You know, but the reality is, if we all do that, nobody's going to ever learn anything. And so here's what I want to teach you. Three magic words that I want us to say together as a church. And those three magic words are, I'm a beginner, okay? So when it comes to the Bible, can we say that together? I'm a beginner, okay? It doesn't matter. Go find the person you think knows the Bible the best and ask them, do you feel like you're a beginner when it comes to the Bible? They Will say yes. I feel like a beginner. Every week when I'm looking at the text, I'm going, man, I really gotta. Here we go. I don't understand this text yet either.
17 · A concrete, four-step method for personal Bible reading is taught, adapted from the ancient practice of Lectio Divina: (1) Read it—open the Bible and read the words; (2) Think about it—engage your mind with questions about meaning; (3) Pray it—bring the text into conversation with God about your life; (4) Sit with it—meditate and allow the Word to settle
And so what I want to do is give you some very simple ways to begin to do this yourself. There is something that I found recently that is a practice of how to read the Bible for yourself that's actually centuries old and it's so old, it's all in Latin. And so I've given it the Ricky Alcanta translation into border Spanglish for us from the original Latin. But the, the, the, it's called the Lectio divina, meaning the, the divine reading. It's been used, you know, for hundreds of years. And I've translated, I'm going to post the Latin if you're that kind of person. But really translates to four simple principles for how to open the Bible. So Monday morning, tomorrow, when you have the Bible out in front of you, here are four ways to do this. Number one, read it. You just gotta do it. You just gotta get up. You just gotta have time. Gotta open the Bible, you gotta read the words, okay? And some people, their challenges, they don't make it to that stage. So we gotta get there, guys, Number one, read it. Number two, think about it. Meaning, engage your mind in it. When the Bible says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, you got to begin to think about it. Okay, but, but why is Paul saying that? What does he mean by persecution? What does he mean by godly life? Does the verse before or after this help explain what he means? Right, that's where you're, you're using your mind. You're going to work on it. Three, pray it, right? This is again another crucial stage that not everybody gets to. So you want to read it, you want to think about it, but then you want to pray it. You want to make it part of your relationship with God and say, lord, as I read this, there actually is an area of my life where I'm trying to follow you. But it seems like my co workers are pushing back on me and things are getting harder, not easier, because I'm following you. I feel this, Lord, help me to do what Paul is saying and follow the pattern. Even if it's not easy, Lord, maybe I'm not experiencing anything because, Lord, I frankly am not living a godly life and I'm convicted about that. Whatever is going on, you begin to talk to the Lord about it, pray about It. And then fourth, this is the key piece. Sit with it in Latin. It's a fancy sounding contemplatio, right? Contemplate it, meditate on it, think about it, sit with it. Allow the word. Like read it, pray it, and then just sit with it for a minute and maybe return to reading and thinking in prayer. And so you again, those four steps, we're going to put them out online this week. Read it, think about it, pray it, sit with it.
18 · Practical application continues: What to read (Gospel of Mark or Psalms), where and when to read (pick a consistent time and place, not 10pm in bed), and who can help (community group members, ministry team partners, friends, small groups, couples, families)
Okay, we're going to start there and then I'm going to give you the who, what, where and when of Bible reading. Okay. First what? You got to pick something to read. If you're lucky dipping. Everybody know what lucky dipping is? In youth group we used to do this. We used to be like, man, I really need a word from the Lord about this girl I'm interested in. And it's, if I bring a sword upon that land and say, let a sword pass through the land, I will cut it off from the man and beast. That means someone's trying to move in on this girl and I've got to bring a sword to youth group. No. All right. Okay, so don't do that. Like, I think some Christians get frustrated. Cause they're like, I don't know where to start. Let me just pick something. Okay, I'm gonna give you two places to start. Start in the Gospel of Mark, if you've never read it, read a section of that every day or read a psalm every day. Just two simple places to start. Read a psalm, do that, process. Gospel of Mark. Do that, process. Where and when. Pick a time and place. If you keep waiting for the clouds to part and God to tell you, this is your quiet time, it's. You're not gonna do it right. Or if you're like, oh, I'll read it. Somebody was talking to a while back was like, man, here's the thing. I keep. I set the time and place to be like, you know, 10:00pm right before I go to bed. I just always tired though, and like, well, where are you? And literally no shade here. But they were like, yeah. And I picked. The place I picked was my bed. So 10pm in your bed? I was like, okay, you're. Yeah, I think I see some issues. So pick a time and a place that is consistent that you're gonna meet with the Lord. So that's the what, the who. I mean, sorry, the what, the where and when. And then the whole. That's important. Who can help you? Everybody's a beginner. We just Said that, right? Everybody's a beginner, so find someone that can help, right? Ask somebody from your community group. Ask somebody you serve on a team with. Ask them, hey, what are you reading these days? Hey, how do you do it? Hey, how did you get consistent with reading the Bible? Better yet, pick a group of guys that are, you know, or ladies that are meeting together and walk through the Bible with them. We have several of those groups going on in our church. Or just have a friend man say, let's. Let's start doing this together once a week. Let's get together. Let's go through the word together. Start as a couple. Start as a family. You can do this. We're all beginners.
19 · A brief transition acknowledges time constraints and signals the move from the second main point (Scripture's clarity) to the third
All right. So much more I could say there. I got to fly through the rest of this. That was number two.
20 · The third reason to hold fast to Scripture is its divine authority
Number three. Oh, my goodness. This is why we hold fast to the word of God. It has divine authority. Paul actually creates a word here. He coins a new word in Koine Greek when he says, all scripture is. See those four words in English breathed out by God, that's actually one word in the original Greek. I think it's theonistos, if I remember right. Sorry, I don't have in front of me. It's. It's God breathed as one English word. All scripture is God breathed, meaning the very voice of God is present in this book. Means that all of these books are talking to you. All of these authors have credentials. Oh, I'm Augustine. I'm Mark Twain. I'm a New York Times bestseller. I have helped a lot of businesses. Great. Good for you. This is God's very voice that spoke the universe into existence, that called your dead heart back to life. This is it right here. It carries divine authority. Wayne Grudem says this. The authority of scripture means that all the words in scripture are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. What he says here, he says there is no distinction there.
21 · A pastoral observation: Christians confess Scripture's authority verbally (even toddlers pick up the language) but often don't live as though Scripture has that authority
Now, many more places we could go here, but I just want to press this because I think the reality is, especially for those of us in church, we confess the reality of this. We confess. Yes, the word of God has divine authority. Somebody. I was talking to somebody a while back during COVID and their. Their. Their toddler would watch the service during the COVID era on the screen and picked up one phrase from the service. And they told me that their toddler would get their little Bible out and. And say, this is God's word in an authoritative voice. And they were like, where'd you learn that? And then they realized, oh, that's what we say every week, you know? And so I don't think the problem is that we don't hear that. I think the problem for most of us is we don't function like that.
22 · A direct, searching question: Does Scripture function as the highest authority in your life the way it actually is the highest authority in the universe?
The question is, does what has. Does the thing that has most authority in all the universe, in the world around us, does it have the most authority in your life?
23 · False teaching enters when we place something alongside Scripture as an equal authority—whether Mormon writings, the Magisterium, or (most commonly today) our feelings
Now, this is where there's so much false teaching that infiltrates the Church. Because the reality is, usually what happens is people say, okay, here's the. Here's the podium of authority. You know, here's the Bible. All right, there's a bunch of other books. There's the Bible. But what if. Just go with me here. What if we don't actually take the Bible off? What if we just stick something alongside of it? So they're both authoritative. They're both, you know, equally authoritative. Guys, this is. If you wonder how we get things like the Mormon Church or the Jehovah's Witnesses or various offshoots of people who claim that they have the Christian Scientology or whatever, these offshoots that. That end up with no gospel at all. The reason we get there is not because they decide the Bible doesn't have any authority. It's because they place something else next to the Bible with as much authority. This is in many ways what over the centuries happened with the Roman Catholic Church. The Magisterium began to say, okay, the Bible is true, but we as the Church will decide on the authoritative, just as authoritative, interpretation of the Word. This is how you get things like ex cathedra or. Or the traditions being just as important and binding as the Word itself. And you think, okay, that's not good. Well, what about this one? I think most often what happens in our world today is not okay. We're not putting the Magisterium up there. We're not putting Joseph Smith's writings up there. But rather, what we're doing is we're putting. If you could just. I'm going to use this to represent our. We put our feelings next to the Bible and we say, you know what? That's what the Bible says. But I just feel blank. I know that's what that text says, but I just feel like this, or if I don't do this thing in life, I feel hopeless or sad if I. If I know the Bible says that, but I feel like I need to be saying this or I Feel that means to me this. And here's the thing. You see how subtle that is? You're not saying the Bible doesn't have authority. You're just saying your feelings have as much authority as the Bible. And look, that's all of us. And the reality is we could put any of a variety of things, the Bible and current neuroscience, right? Whatever it is this year, the Bible and this particular piece of self help advice, I got the Bible and what my counselor or therapist said at some point in my life has much authority in life, in my Bible, in my life as my Bible. Here's what we have to remember. There is only one, one God breathed word in all of creation, and it is this one. And when we begin to place something near it, we got to, we got to. We got to let Paul go. Nope, not that. Only one is Theon. Only one is God breathed.
24 · A brief transition moves from point three (divine authority) to point four (Scripture's transformative power)
All right, we got to move 4. It works on us. I'm just going to very briefly touch on this.
25 · The fourth reason to hold fast to Scripture is its transformative power—it works on us
It works on us. One of the reasons that we end up going to all these other sources is we feel like, well, but that I tried that and it doesn't work. And Paul says, I don't think the problem is with it. I think maybe the problem is the person trying, right? Because he says it is profitable for, for teaching, for helping you learn things that you need to learn. For reproof, for adjusting your life, for correction, for saying, don't do that, for training and righteousness at looking, developing what you need to be a godly husband or father or worker. All those things, right? It goes to work on us. One of my favorite verses of the Bible is Psalm 19, verse 7, which says, the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. Now, the English translation there actually softens the word simple because what it really means, as my grandfather would say, is it means dumb. The real translation would be the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the dumb. And what it means in that context is not just, oh, they're just not smart, book smart. They're actively making foolish decisions. They're actively doing things that harm themselves. They actively are living their life in a way that everyone around them is going, what are you doing? And people like that. The word of the Lord helps make them wise. So that's a trajectory for all of us. Right? Do we have areas in our life that we're dumb? Yep, absolutely. Me chief among them. Would I like to be wise? Yep. What gets us there? The Word. The word gets us there.
26 · Concrete application of Scripture's transformative power: identify an area needing change, find relevant Scripture, and apply it repeatedly until transformation comes
So what is an area in your Life that you think, man, I need to go from here to here, then apply the Bible as palace. And one of my favorite biblical counselors would say, take one bit of scripture to one bit of life. Do it over and over until you're with Jesus, right? You have a problem with anger, Great. Look up scriptures around anger. You have struggles in your marriage. Look up what the scriptures are about marriage, right? One bit of truth, one bit of life over and over and over.
27 · The fifth and final reason to hold fast to Scripture is its sufficiency—it contains everything God intends us to have for salvation, trust, and obedience
And then fifth and last quality, it's enough. This is so relieving to me that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. It means that it is enough. Grudem summarizes it this way. The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemption, history. Meaning, like it's okay that they had what they had and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly and for obeying him perfectly. Right. It means it's enough.
28 · Application of Scripture's sufficiency: cultivate a 'Bible first' impulse when facing life's challenges—medical diagnosis, career changes, etc
And so what that the way that I would apply that is that our impulse is always Bible first. As we encounter things in life. When a difficult diagnosis comes, we don't think, man, the Bible's not going to be enough. No, the Bible is enough. Now, it doesn't mean you never get a medical test. Doesn't mean if you get a new job as a business manager, you never read a book on business management. What it means is for you to follow God and be a godly man or woman that pleases him. You have what you need in the Bible. So with that diagnosis, do you need to look up that new condition? Yeah, you do. But first you need to see what the Lord says about his sovereignty and love for you. When you question it in that moment or you get that new job and you're so excited. What you need to hear first is your identity is in Christ, not in that new job and how well you do or don't do, right? And so we go to the Bible first. It is enough for us to navigate the ups and downs of life.
29 · A transition acknowledging the sermon's necessary limitations and hinting at future teaching opportunities while moving toward the conclusion
Let me end. There's so much more I could say with all of those. I think we're going to do it. We need to do a whole class on the word of God. But let me just end by saying this.
30 · The sermon concludes by contrasting the overwhelming abundance of information available to Americans—business consultants, mental health professionals, millions of books, billions of web pages—with the singular sufficiency of Scripture
We are awash in information America. We have more access to more information than any other culture in world history. There are more than enough people who want to give us advice. There are a half million business consultants in America to tell you how to run your business. There are 1.2 million registered mental health professionals in America to tell you how to live your Life. There are 39 million books and growing in the Library of Congress. There are 24 billion web pages in English alone. And we in America have not gone great. We got it now. No more books, more pages, more people, more advice. Why? Because we're looking everywhere but in the right place. There's only one God breathed thing in our lives. May we treat it like that is true. Amen.
31 · The closing prayer asks for grace to hold fast to the God-breathed Word, particularly for those who have tried and struggled with Bible reading or stopped during crisis
Would you stand? Let's pray. Oh Lord, we ask for your grace and help that we might hold fast to the God breathed word. Lord, I specifically just want to pray for brothers and sisters. Lord, I want to pray for a brother or sister right now that that may feel like. Listen man, I've tried to read the Bible, it just didn't work. Or I was reading the Bible and then life crisis happened and then I stopped because it didn't seem like it was helping. Lord, I pray that this would birth in all of us a renewed conviction that the thing we have is more than enough for us, that the thing we need most, we already have. And so Lord, I pray just what a really specific prayer. Lord, give us grace as we try to open the Bible this week. Lord, may we get to the step of actually opening it up. May we get to the step of praying over it. May we get to the step of sitting within and then asking for help when we don't understand things. May we become and be truly a church that is safe for people who don't know what in the world the Bible says. And Lord, we want to do that not just because we love a book, not just because we love knowledge, but because we love you. We want to know who you are. We want to offer the way of salvation to people who need it most. And we want to look more like.