Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's second epistle to Timothy
and chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. We read for our text verse 14. It's
really the first few verses, first few words rather, but continue
thou, the whole verse reads, but continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them. to Timothy chapter 3 verse 14 but continue thou as we gather
for another anniversary here the church year has continued
for these last 30 years in the fall that they are now and yet
if we go back 180 six years there has been the witness that has
continued here and it's a good thing then to have that encouragement
to continue there are many many discouragements in the church
of God and personally for the people of God and there are times
we wonder whether we can continue or keep going and to have the
word as Paul writes here to Timothy in the light of many persecutions
and many troubles and many trials and he says to him, but continue
thou. So may the Lord make that a word
of direction, a word of help for you dear friends here. So when we think of the word
continue, Now, what caution is needed? So, if that were said
to someone that was without any concern for their soul, walking
in the paths of sin and walking after the world, and they were
to hear that and say, well, this applies to me, continue now,
I'm going to continue in this path that I'm walking in, And
we can see that such a word then would not be a blessing, it would
be confirming them in a wrong path, in a path that wasn't with
the Lord's blessing at all upon it. So it is very necessary in
the words of our text that the Apostle is very clear, it's not
just continue thou, but it's continue thou in the things which
thou has learned and has been assured of. he clarifies that
it is a right continuing. Of course, if there is a continuing,
then there must have been a beginning. There must have been already
an establishing to be able to continue in something. And so
may we ask ourselves, and ask ourselves personally, are we
in a position and is our walk and our conduct in such a state
as if the Lord said, continue thou, we would feel happy or
feel it right to continue as we were right to the end until
death overtakes us. Or would we say, well no, I do
not yet know the Lord, I'm not yet walking in the right way,
I don't want to be found like this, but maybe you like so many
that would say, like Paul found to those he spoke to, I will
hear you again a more convenient time. There's a putting off all
the time, thinking, well, there is time and there's time enough
to begin in the way. Well, the word here will not
be a comfort or help to us if it finds us walking in a way
which we would not want to continue in really, and nor be found in
the article of death. But thinking again of the Church
of God, continue thou. I think of us at Cranbrook, and
you dear friends here, Would we like to just continue
with the numbers that we are? Or would we say, Lord, we desire
to continue as a witness, a cause of truth, but not continue low? Arise, as we have sung, and give
that blessing. Accept the Lord, build a house,
lay labour in vain, that buildeth. So the very continue thou in
relation to a church, gives the prayer, Lord if we continue,
may it not be low but may it be built up and strengthened.
And the other aspect is in the offices of the church. There
are several times, there was a time a while ago that in several
chapels that had not got pastors and I prayed for a pastor, that
the Lord would give them pastors, that the Lord would give them
that office that was vacant, that it was not. And the thought
that if we're to continue as a church, let it not be continuing
with not having a pastor or not having the offices of the church. And you know, after one such
time, the Lord laid on me and He said, yes, Roland, you're
the pastor at Cranbrook, but you haven't got a deacon. and
you have got an officer either in that office. And I trust the
Lord laid it upon my heart in that way. And it should be wherever
there is those positions that are set forth in the Word of
God, we should desire the Lord give us them. Have we got the
mothers in Israel? Have we got the fathers? Have
we got the lambs? Have we got the sheep? Have we
got those that the Word of God speaks of, as that the Church
of God has? So when we think of continuing,
may it stir up in us a prayer, Lord, may we continue, that may
we have added to us these blessings, and this what thy Word sets forth
belongs to the Church of God. We read the passage that we did
in Psalm 102, many encouraging words, verse 13 there, or verse
12 and 13, that thou, O LORD, shalt endure forever thy remembrance
unto all generations. Thou shalt arise, have mercy
upon Zion for the time to favour her, yea, the said time is come. May that truly be true of you
here and true of us at Cranbrook as well. Thy servants take pleasure
in her stones and favour the dust thereof. And may they not
only apply to ministers, but each of the Lord's servants,
those that serve Him, really desire the blessing and the good
of Zion and the good of the Church of God. And he will regard the
prayer of the destitute, not dispose their prayer. When things
continue low, we examine our prayers, don't we? We think,
well, poor prayers. The reason why the church is
low is because of us. Because of our sins and our poor
prayers and our life and our conduct, the Lord is holding
back the blessings. And it can cause much searching
of harm and many triumphs in that way. I was drawn to the
last verse of that psalm. The children of thy servants
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. The children of thy servants
shall continue. You know, as time goes on, I
look at churches that I've been associated with over in Australia
and over here too, and we prove this. Instead of the fathers,
there come up the children and it's a lovely thing to see a
generation following and those that do fear the Lord and those
that do seek the real good of the Church of God and may that
be us, may that be our lot. Well this then is Paul's message
to Timothy that he is to continue and it is in the context that
the chapter is written and I want to begin in looking at several
points with considering first the day that Timothy lived in
and we do as well because the text beginning with a but it
is a change Contrast with what has gone before, what others
are doing. What others are doing, but continue
thou. And then secondly, in what way
he and we are to continue. And then lastly, the considerations
to help to continue. Are those Considerations in the
text and what follows that would have been a help to Timothy to
do just what Paul set before him, but continue thou. Firstly, the day in which he
lived and the day in which we live. Of course, the chapter
here begins this, know also that in the last days perilous times
shall come. The last days are these days
from Christ's first coming to his second coming. They're days
of the Gospel, really days of the great in-gathering of the
Church of God. God has given to the Church the
whole repository of the Old Testament to preach from and to be as food
and meat for the house of God. We have the beautiful examples
of Philip preaching to the eunuch, and also of our Lord to the two
in the way to Emmaus preaching from the Old Testament the Lord
Jesus Christ and his sufferings, his death. But what a picture
of the days in which we live. Men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy. Thou natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than
lovers of God. And then we read this as well,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from
such turn away, ever learning, never able to come, to the knowledge
of the truth. How oft we see in the Church
of God those that have a form of godliness and that they are
undermining the very precious truths of the Word of God. Churches that are mega churches
only just looked up one that came to by looking for another
church actually and stumbled across the information of one
in London It's very not far away from the TVS headquarters I believe. But they run like a business. They've got CEOs and everything. To see the pictures, it's just
like a pop concert. They have an annual turnover
of 2.6 million. And this is what people go after,
but they're deceiving the souls of men. In Hebrews 11 we read
the mark of those that are faithful. They declare that they are, they
say that they are strangers and pilgrims in the earth. And they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country,
a heavenly city. And where you see a religion,
it really confirms and strengthens in the world and the things of
the world It does not bear the mark of our Lord. Our Lord said,
I have given them, that is, his people, my word. And what is
the effect of the world? And the world hath hated them. That is, the only thing necessary
for the world to hate a people is for that people to hold fast
to the word of God. And the Lord says he has given
that word to his dear people. Whosoever, our Lord says, shall
be ashamed of me, he doesn't leave it there. Men
would like it like that. They would say we're not ashamed
of the Lord Jesus. We have his name all over our
buildings and over our cars and everything. But the Lord adds
this, and my words. Of him shall my Father be ashamed
before the angels. And when we have the picture
that is set before us here of those being led away, those that
resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the
faith, and what is implied in verse 10, Paul says to Timothy,
that thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose,
faith, long-suffering, charity, patience." He compares all of
those he has described and he said, Timothy, you know, you
can see my life, you can see how I'm walking, and then what
that has resulted in Verse 11, persecutions, afflictions, which
came upon me unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, while
persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered
me. And then he says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. Evil men, seducers, shall wax
worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. And we have a
picture of all around Timothy, there are those that are going
contrary to the Word, filled with the Word, and it's coming
into the church, and they're abusing the Word, and misusing
the Word, and walking contrary. And Paul then says, But continue
thou in the things which thou hast learned. I mean, how we
need this. Sometimes we can get very, very
discouraged. You think, how can the Lord's
truth stand? How can any come to acknowledge
its truth? What if there was a, those that
are maybe like receiving the Bibles that we offer at Cranbrook,
and yet they're bombarded with religion on every hand that is
really undermining vital truth Godliness and the true faith.
How shall ever any come to the faith? The salvation of the Lord
is the Lord's work, and that is the secret. The Lord commands
of His people that they are to be faithful to the Word and leave
the issue to the Lord. He shall convict us then. He
shall quicken His people. The kingdom of God standeth sure,
having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His, and they will not be deceived. They shall find the Lord. They
shall be brought to faith. And for the people of God, in
the midst of all of this opposition, these clouds of complete ungodliness
that hold that straight path and that straight way, what the
Apostle says before Timothy, And I feel it is a very necessary
word for us. We can get so discouraged, so
low, so disheartened. The Apostle says, and may we
hear it as well. And as often as we view these
things round about us, or hear them, or view them in the church,
that this word ring in our ears. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned. So I want to look then secondly
at how the Apostle defines what he is to continue in, the way
he and we are to continue. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned. I'll leave it just that far for
this point. We read the beautiful promises
in the Word, that all thy children shall be taught of the Lord,
great shall be the peace of thy children. They shall not say
every man know the Lord, they shall all know me, from the least
even unto the greatest. There is none that teacheth like
the Lord. He, I, will instruct thee, and
teach thee, in the way which thou shalt go, I will guide thee
with mine eye. He certainly uses instruments,
and we'll come to that in the last point, to instruct and to
teach, but in the end, that which is brought by the word of the
Lord to his people, they shall receive it. They shall believe
that word. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God, and Paul, when he writes to the Thessalonians,
He said that the word came unto them not in word only, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And so it is a vital
thing that we actually think, well, what are we to continue
in? And really it's what we have begun
in, the way the Lord has set us in. And when the Lord puts
us in the narrow way that leadeth unto life, that is the way we
are to go in. The beautiful promise in Isaiah
30, that thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any
more. Thine eyes shall see thy teachers,
thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the
way. Walk ye in it when ye turn to
the right hand, when ye turn to the left. The Lord doesn't
make a mistake with his people. and set them in one way and then
after a while says, well that was a mistake, you've got to
go this way now. There will be changes in providence,
but the way he teaches, precept upon precept, line upon line,
here a little and there a little, is all to that one aim and one
way. You don't get in a natural sense
with the schools and starting to learn in one way in the lower
grades, and then instead of building upon their reading and writing
and maths, they start again and learn again. No, they build upon
it. And that beautiful promise, He
which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ, on the marks of the people of God is.
that they shall endure unto the end. He that endureth unto the
end shall be saved." And yet that endurance is by the grace
of God and is true as that ear is given, as in this case the
exhortations of the Apostle. He obviously felt the real need
that Timothy, his son in the faith, be given such a word and
such an exhortation as this, and if the apostle felt Timothy
needed it, then surely with the inspired word of God, the Holy
Spirit has seen fit we all need it. And where the work then is
begun, then it is in those very things that we are to continue. So it is in the gospel, continue
in the need of the gospel, And really, in those things that
are observed, what we've mentioned in the first point, things that
we observe in the world, I don't know about you, but sometimes
the Lord turns it about and says, here, if you want proof, outside
of yourself, we feel our own sin, we feel our own wicked hearts,
but of the deadness of man, you look at the world as it is. that
they cannot believe, they cannot see, they cannot know. The devil
will turn around and say, well, you're the odd one out. These
all have got the right idea, and you haven't. But the word
of God testifies, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. And that spiritual death, the
natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he
know them, though spiritually discerned, And so we should continue
in the doctrine, the teaching of the total depravity of man,
and the need of the irresistible grace of God, and the work of
God in salvation. That all that we see contrary
round about us should reinforce us more and more, and the soul
that knows their own heart will say, if ever my poor soul be
saved is Christ, must be the way. It is he that began with
me, not me began with him, and that must be what he does in
every soul that is saved by grace. And we're to continue in that.
How many in the professed church have turned away and they say,
oh man, he's not so crazy for them. If you shape the gospel
right, if you speak the right words, you'll convince them and
you'll turn them. That's all you need. One of the
greatest dangers for the Church of God today is the loneliness
of numbers. Because there's a temptation
to think, well, how can we allure people in? How can we get them
in? What shall we do? Shall we change
the doctrines? The Church of England and other
churches are ashamed of some doctrines because they offend
people. So we'll water them down, we'll take them away. The greatest
danger is when It's the loneliness of numbers and then there comes
the watering down of the truth to try and make it acceptable
to the world. So, the word of Paul to Timothy,
continue thou in the teaching that you have had in your own
heart, that you know of the depth of the fall, the sinfulness of
man. but is continuing in Christ as
the way. Our Lord testifies, I am the
way, the truth and the life, no man cometh under the Father
but by me. No sins are bound up with our
Lord coming, made of a woman and made under the law. Why?
To redeem them that are under the law. His precious sin-atoning
blood, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh my life
from me, I lay it down of myself. This commandment have I received
from my Father. Power to lay it down, power to
take it again. And then His precious righteousness,
His perfect life of obedience to be imputed or put to the account
of those that believe of His people. These things are to hold
fast to. the resurrection of Christ, the
ascension into glory, the intercession of Christ for his people. I pray
for them, I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou
hast given me out of the world. Continue in the doctrine of the
Lord. John, in his second epistle,
the Vogue's almost had a whole little epistle to warn against
those coming to us that bring not the doctrine of Christ. That
is His sacred humanity, His divinity, the vital necessity of faith
in Christ and Christ alone as He is revealed to us in the Scriptures. This is what Timothy had to continue
in. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned. He had to continue in the holding
fast that salvation is by grace. Paul's letter to the Ephesians,
by grace ye are saved through faith and not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Hold fast to that. Salvation
is by grace and is through faith. And it is through faith that
God's people are kept, too. Peter, in his epistle, he writes
of the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that is reserved for
them that are kept by the power of God. But he doesn't leave
it at that. He explains how the power of
God keeps his children. And that is by faith. Kept by the power of God, through
faith. And if the Lord keeps you and
I, the way that He'll keep us is by giving us faith, and He'll
give us faith that comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Just like this text, we hear it, we're warned of it, we're
directed and kept from the errors and from the wrong ways through
the Word of God. It is the work of God that gives
the word and applies the word and keeps his dear people through
it. But then there's the continuing
in prayer. That would have been one thing
that Paul was very insistent of. It's one mark that was told
to Ananias. Behold, he prayeth. He began
to pray, not as a Pharisee, but as a portiner. Have we begun
to pray? Do we pray? Do we continue in
prayer? Do we continue in the same way
as when we were first awakened and quickened with the same urgency? Our devotions, how much are they
public, how much are they in private, where only God can see
us? Our Lord directed that we enter
into our closet, close the door. Continue thou that close fellowship
and walk with the Lord. Continue in hope, hope that make
it not ashamed. We hope the things that we see
not. What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But that is
how the people of God are saved. hoping against hope, a good hope
through grace the saints possess, the fruit of Jesus' righteousness
and by His Spirit given is to continue in the Word, vital for
that, the Word that is used for everything the church and everything
the people of God need. Now to continue in that and not
forsake the Word of God, O that those in public places of religion
or where their voices are heard would hold fast to that, keeping
to the Word of God, the inspired Word of God, and walking in the
Spirit. Paul, he was so insistent, Romans
ain't. No condemnation. To who? They walk in the Spirit and not
in the flesh. not after the flesh, are vital
to be in the Spirit. That as we gather in the house
of God, as we walk, as we're in our homes, that we are spiritually
minded. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace. To be calmly minded is death. And to go down that slow slope
where we get more and more calmly minded, those that are described
in the earlier part of this chapter, It's all carnal things. All things
of the flesh. Things of this world. Not things
of the spirit. And Timothy, he knew the spirit. And he was to continue in that
which he had learned. Not just as schoolboys learn
their tasks, but learn by experience. Learned in a way that was touching
the heart and then flowed out as spoken. May we think in this
point, what are those things that we have learned? What are
those times and spots that maybe one particular point that Lord
has made us very strong on? Because he's delivered us from
a snare. He's established that point in
our hearts. What are those things that we
can say? Well, when we are in unregeneracy,
We didn't know any of these things. And then the Lord has taught
us. And he's opened up these truths to us. Remember the Lord
said with his disciples, he taught them as they were able to bear
it. Just a little at a time. And
when he rose from the dead, then he opened their understanding,
that they should understand the scriptures. It's a blessed thing
to be put in the way It's a blessed thing to be taught, but we need
to continue. Continue thou. Some have said
it's easy to start, but to continue is another thing. To need grace
and help day by day, to endure right until the end. We need
it when we're young in the way, we need it right in the eventide
of our lives. that help to still continue in
the way the Lord put us and sent us in. I want to then think in
the third point of those considerations that the Apostle sets before
Timothy to be as a help to continue. Continue thou in the things which
thou hast learned. Now they're simple. things here. Firstly, it is knowing of who
he has learned that. In the first place, it was Paul
himself. He had been his teacher. Paul in another place, he says,
be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ. In verse 10, he's
referring to himself as the example And many times in his teaching
he uses himself and his example. He says that I am an apostle,
but the least of the apostles, not worthy to be an apostle,
because I persecuted the Church of God. But he says of himself
that he was the chief of sinners. And all the time he's using his
own experience. The Lord had mercy upon me. If
he has mercy upon many, the worst of sinners, then he can have
mercy on any. And it is the Apostle that has
taught Timothy. And this is a good thing for
us to remember, the Lord has given us a father in the faith,
given us one that has built us, may be a mother, a father, that
has passed away now, they're not with us now. But we may remember
the lessons, remember what the Lord said to a parent, train
up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old
he will not depart from it. John Newton he remembered and
he only had seven years taught of his mother or so before his
mother died but he remembered that which he'd been taught and
when he was converted the Lord brought back that teaching that
he'd had all those years ago and those of us that would teach
others may not teach just by words, but by example, so that
if they are tried and they are tempted in their path, they will
think of us and there will be a help to them, not the other
way around, to think of us and then actually undermine their
faith and discourage them in the way. The apostle could say
to Timothy, you remember of whom thou hast learned these things. I have taught you these things. The Apostle Paul has taught you
these things. As we said earlier on, it is
the Lord that teaches. He uses the means and it is Him
that touches the heart and makes the teaching effectual. And I
believe Paul here is very mindful that those the Lord raises up,
they are to be esteemed. In Hebrews we're told that we
are to highly esteem those that have the rule over you, who have
spoken unto you the word of the Lord. You are to whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Also it is given
as an encouragement the length of time that he had known the
Scriptures. In verse 15 we're told that from
a child that has known the holy scriptures. What a blessing it
is if we have known the scriptures from a child. I did. I was brought
up in a godly home. Knew them from a child. But until
I was 19 and the Lord began to work in my heart, they meant
nothing to me. But I still know that those scriptures
of truth were set before me and all those things that did stick,
and it's a great blessing when we can look back and think, well,
this is not a new thing. Remember, there are those that
are newly coming to faith, that never had a word of God before,
and maybe in their late life, and they've never had a copy
of the word of God before. But if the Lord has given us
those years where we've had it, and then we're assailed with
all these things that oppose, Continue now. Remember all those
years. Don't just easy cast it off. I've been amazed sometimes how
easy those who have from a child have learned and studied the
scriptures, and they cast it off and have an NIV or have another
version, and you think you've scrambled in your mind all those
blessed memories. And for a minister especially,
to not be able to quote the scriptures, to not be sure what was at this
or that, I know I don't quote them exactly sometimes, perhaps
to put them round in a different order, I have done this evening,
but to have a completely different version, and I'm amazed, why
cast away all what is stored in memory, for another rendering,
completely different sometimes, hardly recognizable. And so,
from a child, remember how long that you have had the scriptures.
Then he has said as well, that these scriptures that are able
to make thee wise unto salvation. He makes it clear here, it's
not just scriptures, it's the holy scriptures. In the midst
of these oppositions we think this holy, sacred Word of God
is able to make me and those about me wise unto salvation. We need to have that reminder
to us that this is what God has ordained that it should be through
the Word of God. And a reminder that they are
the inspired scriptures. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. And remind as well of what is
profitable for, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. And remind as well that it is
that a man of God may be perfect, that is complete, throughly furnished
unto all good works. Notice that all the things that
the Apostle brings to strengthen Timothy in continuing is all
concerning the Word of God. It is all concerning the Scriptures
of truth. This is what is to continue in
and to be so strong in. And the more I see and the more
I hear of those that go down in paths of error, it all of the scriptures of truth, having
a low view of them, not viewing them as inspired, putting in
the I think or man's view, and yet Paul says to Timothy, but
continue thou, and may we be helped to do the same, to have
those times like this evening where we are reminded again of
the great high view of scripture. to highly esteem it and value
it. If you read in Nehemiah, that
there they had the pulpit of wood, the Bible was above all
the people, and when they opened the word of God, they opened
the law of God, all the people stood up. They had such a view
of the word that was being set before them. Do we love the word? And we say, Jeremiah, thy words
were found and I did eat them, They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. Have we got those precious texts
the Lord has spoken into our souls? Thou saidst, I will surely
do thee good. May we hold fast, may we continue,
as the Apostle directs dear Timothy to do here. But continue thou,
the Lord at his blessing. Amen.