Seeking for the helm of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to 2 Timothy chapter 3, and reading
for our text as part of verse 14. The first words in verse
14, but continue thou. But continue thou. to Timothy 3 verse 14. I'll read the verses from 14
to 17. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them, and 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. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect through the furnished unto all
good works. How careful we need to be, exhorting
or saying this to anyone really, to say to someone, how you continue. You keep going in the way that
you are going. You continue to walk in that
way. How we need to be so careful. that we are not encouraging someone
in something that actually is wrong, something that will end
in their ruin, something that is not to be continued in, and
yet be encouraging them in it. We think of the prophets, especially
Jeremiah, those in his day. Children of Israel were walking
contrary to the Lord, walking in idolatry, walking in evil
ways, and Jeremiah reproved them of it. He warned them from God
that the Lord would send Nebuchadnezzar, that he would chasten them, that
he would punish them for their sinful ways and exhorted them
to turn from those ways. But while he was doing that,
there was others, prophets that also were trying to give signs
that Nebuchadnezzar would not come, he'd turn aside. And they
were encouraging the people, not to repentance, but just to
continue in the way that they were walking in all their sins,
in all their idolatries, and to deaden their ears to the truth. And we need to be very careful
if we are the one that's speaking to someone else and saying, continue
down. What are we exhorting them to
continue in? Are we strengthening their hands
in evil? Are we actually stopping them
from doing that which is right, or worse, even preventing them
from coming to a knowledge of the truth. On the other hand, if we're the
one that is receiving that advice and exhortation, who is it that
we are receiving it from? Can we trust it? Are we just
receiving it because it's what we want to hear and we want to
continue But don't actually ask ourselves, if I continue in the
way that I'm going, is it a way of blessing? Is it the Lord's
will? Is it a right way? Or is it a
wrong way? What a solemn thing to lean upon
man. And we can think of the solemn
situation of coming to the judgment day and to be laid to our charge
the path we've gone. And we said, yes, but that minister
or that person told us or implied to us that we could continue
in this way and there'd be no harm in it and nothing wrong
with it. Would that be really an excuse
at all? It's a very important thing for
us to consider. We may ask each of ourselves,
the things that we are walking in even now, if we were told right, how you're
walking now, you're going to forever walk in that way. Would we say, may the Lord help
me to do so, believing that we are truly walking in the right
way, having proper foundation of it? Or would we say, Lord
forbid that, because there's been those things, I'm making
resolutions, I want to change, I'm not happy with the way I'm
going. I don't want to be ever consigned to the way and to the
path that I am in now. So often we tend to want to put
things off. That's why it's exhorted in the
Hebrews today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And so when we think of the very
exhortation, continue thou without change, may be used to
the Lord to unsettle us from a path that really, deep in our
hearts, we don't want to be locked into, held in. We want to be free from that.
So it's very important. Continue thou in one way can
be, as in the context here, a wonderful thing, a very needful exhortation,
But to be said to a people that are walking in a wrong way, however,
I was going to say small the aspect might be, to continue
in it and to encourage in it is not kindness, is not goodness
at all. But Paul is able to say to Timothy,
his son in the faith, But continue thou. But what is the background to
this? Because the text that begins with but, there's a contrast
with what has gone before. And there's four points to note
first before we come to our text, what has gone before. Paul paints a very dark background
before he exhorts Timothy in this way. The first thing he
gives is a description of the last days. And the last days
are the days between Christ's ascension into heaven, the beginning
of the preaching of the gospel as going forth from Jerusalem
until the Lord returns again. That shall usher in the end of
the world and the end of time. The last days could also be pointed
to those that are coming to the very last times of that gospel
age, the preaching as we have it now, but we do not know the
day nor the hour when there shall come the actual last days. There shall be signs right at
the end in the sun and moon and the stars. There are those signs
right through and have been right through the last 2,000 years
that these are the last days. The world will not continue as
it does now. There is an end. There shall
be a rolling up of this earth, the sun, the moon and the stars
and there shall be made then a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. A new heavens and a new earth. Scriptures are very clear on
this. But it is a privilege to be in
days that we are in when the gospel is preached, when we look
for no other Christ, we look for nothing more or less than
the Lord's second coming and all of the epistles, they always
point the churches to look as the Old Testament church looked
for the first coming, so the New Testament look for Christ's
second coming from heaven. But we have here that in the
last days, in these days in which we are living, perilous times
shall come. And there is a real description
of these times bearing very much a reflection of what it was before
the flood, but centering in man and man's sin, lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers,
false accusers, incontinent, that is, cannot help themselves,
fierce despisers of those that are good. traity, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. You might look
at all of those descriptions before and you think, how can
you add just to be a lover of pleasure, more than lovers of
God, with those that are false accusers, fierce despisers, truth-breakers? And yet it is all joined together. What greater thing? for they
created to be more a lover of their own pleasures than the
God that made them and commands their worship and obedience and
service. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy
soul, and thy neighbor as thyself. And yet this is what is set forth
here. But more than that, is added
having a form of godliness. What a solemn thing to have all
of these descriptions that are in the first few verses here,
and yet still to have a form of godliness. But denying the
power thereof. And we're told to turn away from
them. But what a description, a description
of the last days, and we should, when we have such a description,
compare it with the days in which we live, not expect things to
be any different than what the Word of God has actually told
us that it should be, and know that in these days, the Lord
will and is blessing his people And when we think of the days
when our Lord offered himself a sacrifice of sweet-smelling
savour unto his Father, that there was the bay multitude,
away with him, away with him, crucify him, there were those
calling him a blasphemer, a deceiver, This deceiver said when he was
yet alive, yet three days I'll rise again. Even in his death
they were speaking in this way. And yet the Lord wrought there
the salvation of all his church, the forgiveness of all their
sins, the bearing of them away at Calvary. And so we are to
remember that. much evil, however much discouraging,
the days in which we live are. They are gospel days and they
are days in which the Lord's blessing is. And so the second
thing I notice is the importance of a personal witness and example. We have it in the verse 10, the
apostle says to Timothy, but thou has fully known my doctrine,
that is my teaching, the gospel as I teach it to you, manner
of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering charity, patience, And then he
speaks of the persecutions and afflictions that he'd gone through. Many of the churches that the
Apostle ministered to, though Gentile churches, you don't find
in the letters to them references to the Old Testament, because
they didn't know, they were not familiar to it. Hebrews, it is
full of Old Testament, but when you come, to those epistles to
the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians,
you will not find that because they are Gentile churches. But what the apostle does appeal
to is himself as an example And he teaches the way of salvation
as something that he has handled and tasted and felt himself. And he says, be ye followers
of me as I also am of Christ Jesus. And he says, this is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. And he holds himself up as the
example of one that has been saved unto the uttermost by the
Lord. And so it is a vital thing in
the midst of all this that God has his people as the salt of
the earth, as a light that cannot be hid, as an actual example. And we are that. In all that
we do, in all that we say, we are, as one of the hymns says,
watched by the world with jealous eyes. our neighbours, they see
us leave our home, they see us come to the house of God. Those
that we live with, especially when, like we do, we live in
the town here, we would hope that we do not give a cause of
occasion to stumble to any but recommend the grace of God to
those that are around about us. Many, they will have ideas of
being missionaries in foreign lands, that the Lord has appointed
his people where they actually live, where they work, where
they do their schooling, that it is there, that they are to
be like the apostle was, an example. And so he can say to Timothy,
but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, et
cetera. So the importance of a personal
witness. The third thing is the persecution
of the godly. We have this in verses 11 and
12. Again the apostle speaks about
the persecutions he has endured. But then speaking of his own
in verse 11, he turns to all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus. All that will be an example,
he says, shall suffer persecution. The Lord says in John 17, I have
given them thy word and the world hath hated them. That is, all
that is necessary for the world to hate the people of God is
that they have the Word of God, and that they obey it, and they
walk by it, and they're guided by it, and they hold it up as
the authority that it is. Thus saith the Lord. And so we are to expect that,
not be discouraged by it, but to expect it shall and will come. Be thankful where we are spared
it and where we do have that freedom from it. Any of you who
have the Fox's Book of Martyrs and have read the first 300 years
of history of the Church of God will know that there was 10 most
severe persecutions of the church, such persecutions that we have
never known in our lifetime. Known something of it in the
days of Queen Mary in this land, but really nothing, even in those
times, compared with those first 300 years of the church. We ought to be very thankful
for those times that we have spared such bitter hatred against
the Word of God and against the people of God. But there's a
fourth thing that he mentions and that is the increase of evil
men and seducers. But even in verse 13, but evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being
deceived. We are not to be discouraged
when we find that this is the case. Sometimes Satan can seek
to deceive and to discourage the people of God. And you twist
and turn the Word of God, he says, well, what about peace
on earth? What about what the Lord came to do and to give? And shall not there be the knowledge
of the Lord? as the waters cover the sea,
there shall indeed, the gospel is to go into every land, but
we are told that when the Lord comes, that shall he find faith
on the earth. And we have a picture here that
there's more and more evil and corruption, even as in the days
of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we are not to then be discouraged. The Lord says, and what was proclaimed
when he came to the earth, it wasn't peace on earth. It was
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And there's a great difference
between that. The Lord said, in me, ye shall
have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation. But in me ye shall have peace. Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. And the people of God know what
it is to have the peace and joy and comfort of the Lord being
their God and their saviour, their redeemer and their everlasting
all. Great comfort it was to the martyrs
when they died in the flames. And some said one to another
that to be of good comfort that this day We shall sup with the
Lord in his kingdom. And so the apostle here sets
a very, it is a dark background, a very real background of what
this world is. You know, the world is not the
friend of a Christian, not the friend. The Lord says, whosoever
will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity against God? And we have the picture here
of that. And it's of this background,
after the Apostle has set forth these things, that then he says
to Timothy, but continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned. Timothy is not walking in the
path that has been described in the first part of this chapter,
a different path. And the apostle says, continue
thou. What an implied warning. And
there's many examples of those like Demas. Paul says, hath forsaken
me having loved this present world. or like Judas that betrayed
his Lord and Master, those who didn't continue. It's a blessed
thing to begin. It's a greater blessing to continue. It proves the work as being God's
work, but it should be a desire that the Lord give us grace and
help to be able to continue. And sometimes the Lord's people
are very discouraged, and very disheartened, and very tried,
and wonder how they can continue in the path that the Lord has
put them in, or in what they believe, or in what they have
trusted in. But Timothy is exhorted by Paul
As if whatever goes on outside, whatever persecutions, whatever
men might bring in, contrary doctrine and contrary teaching,
you continue. The work that is in you, the
place, the course that you are taking is the right course, the
right way, continue, but continue thou. So on to look then with
the Lord's help. Three points in what Timothy
was to continue in. But continue thou. And the three points are, firstly,
in what he had been taught. Secondly, in the knowledge of
the scriptures. And thirdly, in the appointed
use of the holy scriptures. Those three things really summarize
what the Apostle directs Timothy to continue in. Firstly then, it is of what he
had been taught. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them. May we never despise the teaching
of the Word of God and being brought up especially under the
sound of the truth and to have the Word of God as being familiar
to us. It is a great blessing. Some over the years have been
averse to and prevented their children from learning the Word,
saying, we don't want to make hypocrites of our children, we
don't want to just give them a head knowledge. And they have
neglected to teach them the Word of the Lord and to set before
them the ways of truth, almost thinking, well, the Holy Spirit
will teach them and we do not want to just teach them and get
them to rest in a natural knowledge of it. Well, that is not how
it's set before us in the scriptures. Train up a child in the way that
he shall go. When he's old, he will not depart
from it. And we certainly have the example
of Abraham who shall command his household, not just his children,
but his whole household after him. It's a blessed thing to
have a family altar, to have the Word of God central, and
the knowledge of the Word of God taught from a young child,
because this is what The apostle here says of Timothy that he
had been taught it and that he had known it actually from a
child, and in verse 15, and that from a child there is known the
holy scriptures. And if we go back to the first
chapter of this epistle, in verse 5, we read this, when I call,
Paul says to Timothy, when I call to remembrance, The unfeigned
faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also."
And he can trace a family line that had the true faith, the
grandmother to the mother, the mother to the child. one generation
to another showing the wondrous works of God. We said what an
important thing was influence and was the example. Well, how
important it is for a parent to a child to have that example
or a grandparent to a child. It's a warning to us all in that
way. But may we always remember that
just a natural knowledge of the truth isn't saving. We do want
a faith, a faith that cometh by hearing and hearing by the
Word of God. And we want that Word to profit
us. If it is not mixed with faith,
it does not profit us. And so, with Paul saying to Timothy,
but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned. He has
been taught, he has learned these things, learned them in a natural
way, but then we have added to this, and has been assured of. Now part of that assurance of,
is knowing of whom thou hast learned them. It was with Timothy,
a cause of comfort that those things that he'd been taught
were taught by godly people, those that he had seen, their
life, their conduct, how much that that was of worth to him. And I can think back to some
of those dear aged saints that were in Australia, Melbourne,
Geelong, and sometimes just the simple things that they said. And you know they stick. Those
are things that sometimes when the devil comes in, when he tries
to twist scripture, when he tries to change things, I think of
what they've said, I think of how they walked, I think of their
example. And it's a good thing to remember
those things that we've learned and not disconnect it from who
we have learnt it from, who has been the means. There might be
those of you that have tried and you're tempted in that and
you think, Have I really the work of God in my heart or have
I just learned it from my grandparents or my parents? Have I learned
it just from my pastor, just from the preaching? And it is not a saving work at
all. I've just learned these, been
taught these, but this is what Paul says to Timothy, has been
good that he's learned these things, and that he has been
assured of them, partly because of who he has had these things
taught by, but we know as well that God has said that of his
people, they shall all be taught of God. It is the Holy Spirit
that is the teacher and instructor that opens the eyes, that gives
the new birth, that causes the word to be received, and that
gives faith. The Lord is the author of faith. And so it is that same word,
but the word is a word that is a prophet to the person to whom
it comes. My word, says the Lord, shall
not return unto me void, it shall accomplish the thing whereto
I sent it. Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And the apostle then exhorts
Timothy, Timothy, you have been taught, you have had those things
that you have been assured of, you know they are right, you've
been taught by the godly, you've been taught by God himself, instructed
in the ways of the Lord. Continue thou in those things. May it be an encouragement to
some tonight in that way. We're told not to cast away our
confidence which hath great recompense of reward. We're not to despise
the day of small things. And here we are taught the value
and the blessing of that teaching that comes through the people
of God and through the Lord. The promise is unto you and your
children even as many as the Lord thy God shall call." The
great blessing. You know, sometimes Satan will
come in and say, you talk about the sovereign saving work of
God, but you just look at those that are saved, and most of them
have been brought up under the sound of the truth. And Satan
will say, there's nothing miraculous, there's nothing surprising about
this, You know, of course they believe. They just do so because
their parents did. And there's nothing really miraculous
or God-saving work at all. And you try to rubbish the work
of God. You say, well, how many are really
called completely out of the world? How many really are plucked
like Ruth was or Rahab was? You know, all of the New Testament
churches there. You think the apostles went forth
preaching to idolaters? You think of those at Ephesus
and how many believed. You know, we are familiar, even
in a superficial sense, with the doctrines of the cross in
this land. But when the apostles went forth,
they went forth with a new doctrine. They hadn't heard of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They said, what will this babbler
say? These that have turned the world
upside down have come hither, and yet there were thousands
that believed. We say, but what about today?
Well, there are still today such blessings. But where the truth
is, you know, the Lord knows his dear people, he's chosen
them from eternity and he's sending them forth into this world at
his appointed time and way. If we were sending, if we were
a parent and we were sending a child, somewhere where we weren't
going to be. Wouldn't it be wise to send them
in a place and put them in the care of someone that would watch
over them for good, teach them what we wanted them taught, and
would look after them? Wouldn't that be the right thing
to do? Where the Lord has loved his
people with an everlasting love, where he's chosen them from the
foundation of the world, where he intends to call them by grace
and teach them. Don't you think the Lord would
choose to put them in families that love the Lord, where they
shall hear the word of God, where they shall receive the truth?
And instead of being something that is against us, it's something
that is for us. Something that we can even plead
before the Lord. Lord, thou hast placed us in
a family where thy word is loved, where I have heard it, where
I have been brought up under the sand of the truth. Bless
that to me. I have this already, a token
of thy favour that many of thy people have had. Some have not
had, but I haven't. Lord, follow it up and seal it
and bless it, and cause that I might continue in this, like
Timothy, continuing that in the way that he's known as a child,
you know, there's no mention here of Timothy, thou was brought
up from a child and you got to such an age and you were called
by grace, and there was a change. There would have been a change,
but it's not mentioned. And sometimes, especially those
brought up under the sound of the truth, it is very gentle.
They're brought to love the truth and to continue in it. And they're
very continuing in it and desire to continue in it. You see the
work of God and the blessing of God in that. And so he says,
continue in what you have been taught, and I'm sure The apostle
knew this and Timothy was to know it. His teaching days were
not ended. The Lord would still continue
to teach him and still instruct him and still help him. And may
we be found in the same way. Continue thou, if we're described
in this way that Paul describes Timothy, continue thou in the
things which thou has learned. and has been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. But the second thing is continue
thou in the knowledge of the Scriptures. There's two aspects
in this. The first is the doctrine of
the Scriptures. This is very much central in
what Paul has to tell to Timothy here. He says, from a child thou
hast known the holy scriptures, and all scripture is given by
inspiration of God. And the whole passage of a continuing,
it's continuing in the scriptures. And so in the knowledge of the
scriptures, the doctrine of the scriptures, they are inspired,
that they are holy, It is the Holy Word of God that God has
breathed these and the scriptures that we have comprising these
66 books, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New, over 40 authors,
and yet all inspired by God. A historical record from the
beginning of the world and a record of what has been witnessed by
those that have lived in these times and especially witnessed
the birth and life and sacrifice and rising and ascension of our
Lord Jesus Christ. It is vital that all that have
an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, all that are saved hold
fast to the doctrine of scripture, Satan would do all he can to
undermine the scriptures. I feel in these days when there
are so many different translations in our own language, not just,
not thinking of other languages of the world is a great blessing.
May the words still be translated into every language and tongue. But when we come to our own Language,
the temptation at the very beginning, hath God said? Hath God said
what the AV says or the ESV says? Some of them in some texts, it
means the opposite. And how vital that we should
understand that God, if he is a good God, gives his holy and
pure word In the same way we watch providence in our lives,
we watch it in the giving of the word to a land, to a nation,
whatever nation it is. And this is why we believe the
authorised version of the scriptures that we have, that it is the
most faithful translation to the Hebrew and to the Greek that
there is in English. The providences of God can be
seen in it, the blessing of God can be seen upon it, and the
multitude of other translations has not resulted in godliness
or in extra blessings. And may we hold fast to the doctrine
of Scripture. It is inspired, and so we want
to know what God has said, not what man has interpreted it to
be said, and to have something taken away from it, but to have
a very, very high regard to the Word of God. as holy, as inspired. But also it is in the knowledge
of the memory of them. It is always a very great blessing,
especially in the ministry, to be able to recall where a text
is or where an account is, and it is a help to any to have that
picture of the Word of God. I really desire that I might
know more than what I do. But it is a great blessing to
be able to picture how the Word of God is structured, laid out,
and where the main accounts are. And in having that knowledge
of the scriptures, it furnishes great meditation makes searching
so much easier, and especially comparing scripture with scripture
much easier. If we've no knowledge of where
things are, or what different parts are, or even a natural
memory of it, then we just look up the parallel Bibles, or we
look up the means, the concordances, and we try to get parallel passages,
And it's quite a work to be able to do. But it's very precious
when you can come across a verse and you look at that verse and
then the Spirit will bring to your remembrance many other parallel
passages or same teachings and you know roughly where they are. And that is a great blessing. Timothy was to have this and
the Scriptures where what he had to continue in as a minister
was to preach the word, and that word was his manual for everything,
and the mate for his own soul, and the provision for all of
his heroes. And so, especially this applies
to us each, the same as what Paul said to Timothy, But continue
thou, continue thou in the knowledge of the holy scriptures. The third thing is in the appointed
use of the scriptures. It's one thing to have the word
of God, but how do we use it? How do we make use of it? Well, he says of the scriptures
here, which are able, in verse 15, which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. How high an esteem should we
have upon these scriptures of truth to read that, the holy
scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. God, teaches his people through
his word. The eunuch would say, I agree
with that. They made me wise unto salvation
through the preaching of Philip. He preached the word. And he is brought to know salvation
through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are seeking salvation. Continue
thou in the use of them in that way, seeking for salvation of
our souls. Now some just use the scriptures
as a book that they find a beauty in its prose and how it is written. Worked with a man once that he
loved the chapter in Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians, on love. But he never had any desire for
the things of God himself. He loved the language of the
AV, charity. Charity is above every other gift and
every other blessing. Faith, hope, they all for fail,
that charity never faileth, but he never knew it himself at all. Use of the scriptures. The apostle
says here, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you and I lack
faith, then the holy scriptures are used by God in this way,
that our faith be strengthened. Our faith is a trust in God,
a trust in his word, a leaning upon his word, and that cometh
through the word of God, a right use. Continue thou in the use
of the scriptures, faith in Christ. But then we have a list of four
things that the Scriptures are profitable for. In verse 16,
for doctrine, that is, the teaching, the actual doctrines of the Church,
the teaching of the Church of God, Paul's doctrine, that which
he taught, The doctrine of the cross, the doctrine of by grace
you are saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. The doctrine of no help in self
but all in Christ. The doctrine of the corruption
of the flesh and no help there. The doctrine of the teaching
of the Holy Spirit. All of the doctrines we have
in our articles of faith, we trace them all back to the Word
of God, or should be able to, every one of them. And for reproof, Timothy was to be a preacher,
a leader, who's ordained the first bishop of the Church of
the Ephesians, And no doubt like the apostle who often reproved,
we only got to read the epistles to the Corinthians to see how
often that he used reproof and brought the scriptures for that.
Continue thou in the use of the scriptures in that way. And then
for correction, how off we go a wrong way, a wrong path. And yet the scriptures are to
correct us again. Lord's servant, Philip Bass,
last Lord's Day, he was speaking of the compass, if I remember
rightly, and how it always pointed, pointed north. And God had given
it that it should do that. The Scriptures always point to
Christ. And you know, when we go in a
natural way, if you're going the wrong way and you pull out
the compass, and that will show us where we need to make a correction,
change course. And the Scriptures are to be
used for that. For instruction in righteousness. In the earlier part of this chapter
is all the manner of unrighteousness that is spoken of in these last
days that the scriptures point out righteousness. Righteousness
exalteth a nation. Sin is a reproach to any people. If we've known the way that is
to be a blessing to us as a nation or personally, then that is taught. through the word of God. Instruction in righteousness,
away from our own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, and
to the perfect and pure righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to
those that believe, and whereby we shall appear faultless before
the throne. So the apostle then has this
word to Timothy, continue thou, continue in what he had been
taught, continue in the knowledge of the scriptures and in the
appointed use of the holy scriptures. May we bless the Lord if the
Lord has put us in the way that we are to continue in, in this
way that Timothy was in, and may the Lord truly bless us in
it. as he will, as he sets before
us here, the right and the good way. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.