Give me a minute. I think it's taken North Carolina
seven years to finally jump on me. I've gotten some kind of allergies
going. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. The title of the lesson, All
Scriptures are God-breathed. And I cannot stress that enough. All the scriptures, from Genesis
to Revelation, are God-breathed. If we don't believe that, then
we'll put a question mark here and there, and the next thing
you know, we don't have the truth. But all scriptures are God-breathed.
Now, after telling Timothy, after Paul told Timothy that in the
last days, perilous times will come on the church because of
the increase of false preachers. They will increase more and more.
But after telling Timothy this, Paul directs Timothy's attention
back to the gospel. Back to the Word of God, the
sure foundation that can never fail. We have the Word of God
to stand on. It's a sure foundation. And Jesus
Christ is the foundation of it. He's the foundation. And it's
on Him that we build. And it's on Him that the house
of God is built. The Tabernacle of God, the House
of God, the Temple of God is built on that foundation of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And Paul directs Timothy's attention
back to it. Get back to the Gospel. Don't get overly taken up with
all these false preachers coming along in the perilous times.
You get back to the Gospel, stand on the Word of God. It's the
foundation. Don't leave it. Now Paul tells Timothy in verse
10, he says, Thou hast fully known My doctrine, my doctrine
of the gospel. The gospel is not without its
doctrine. You know, before I heard Henry,
before I sat under Henry, I couldn't have told you two things from
what I was listening to of doctrine. The doctrine of election was
not preached. The doctrine of particular redemption was not
preached. Doctrine of total depravity, not preached. None of these things
were preached where I was attending. But the doctrine is not without
its teachings. The gospel has its teachings.
That's what doctrine means, teaching. The doctrines of the gospel are
like the structure of a house. It's the framing of the house
with Christ as the foundation. And Paul held back nothing. He
held back nothing. He fully declared the whole counsel
of God to Timothy. All that God has revealed, he
preached. That's what he says in Acts 20, 27. He said, I have
not shunned, speaking to the elders there at Ephesus, I have
not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. I have
held nothing back. What God has revealed in his
word, what God has revealed to Paul, he said, I've told you,
I've not held any of it back. And you also know, listen, you
have fully, fully known my doctrine and manner of life. You know,
manner of life is very important. Manner of life is very important.
I like what Matthew Henry said. Matthew Henry said this, he said,
the apostle Paul did not pull down by his living what he built
up by his preaching. That's worth repeating. That's
worth repeating. Matthew Henry said that Paul
did not pull down by his living, but he built up by his preaching.
Our lives are that important. Paul's manner of life was not
covetous. It was disciplined. It was a
very disciplined life. It was a godly life. One produced
by the gospel he preached. If the gospel we preach does
not produce a godly life, either you've missed it or it's not
the gospel. It's one or the other. Listen to what Paul says in 1
Corinthians 9, 27. But I keep under my body and
bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be cast away. He says,
I keep my body and I discipline. I discipline my appetites. I
mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit of God. We can't
do that by ourselves, but we do it by the Spirit of God. And
then he says, you've known my purpose. Paul's life had a purpose. I know what my purpose in life
is. Do you know what your purpose in life is? It's to glorify God. It's to glorify God in your conduct,
in your conversations, in every aspect of your life and my life. It's to glorify God. It's to
adorn the gospel we preach here. It's to adorn the gospel. Paul's
life had a purpose. It was to glorify God and it
was a life of faith. Paul lived by faith. Every day he walked by faith.
And he says, Timothy, you know that. You know how I have lived
by faith. You know, Paul said in one place,
I have suffered the loss of all things. He lost his finances. Whatever home he had, he lost.
Everything he had, he lost. He counted it as loss. And he
completely depended on God to supply his needs. When he went
into town, God provided him a place to stay. He'd be a brother or
sister somewhere and open their door to him. Lydia took him to
her house. He walked by faith. He had a
purpose in living. And he says he was long-suffering.
You see, this is what the gospel produces in those who believe
it. It produces a purpose. It produces
a life. It produces long-suffering. You're
patient with all men. especially the brethren, especially
with one another, to be patient with one another. It produces
charity, love. Paul preached the gospel in love.
to whomever he preached to. He preached, he wasn't Felix,
or no, it was Agrippa. He said, almost thou persuades
me to be a Christian. He said, I would to God, and
he meant it. I would to God, you were all
together such as I am, except for these chains. I wish you
knew Christ. I wish you knew the God that
I know. He preached the gospel in love.
It is important, it is important how we preach the gospel. Our
attitude in preaching. I would to God that everyone
walked in this door, every time I preach, would believe God.
I can honestly say nobody's walked in this door and I said, I wish
he'd go to hell. I don't feel that. I wish they'd
believe God. Because except for the grace
of God, there go I. I wouldn't believe God. Wouldn't
for his grace. And it produced patience. Paul
said, you know my manner of life, and you know my purpose, and
my faith, and longsuffering, love, and patience in bearing
all indignities. That's hard to do. It takes grace
to do that. It takes grace to bear indignities. It takes grace to bear reproaches. Especially when it's coming from
the congregation. Especially when somebody's shooting
at you. It takes the grace of God to give you patience to endure
that kind of conflict. To bear indignity, afflictions,
persecutions. You know, the Lord said that
your own enemies will be those of your own household. Sometimes
it's your own house. Sometimes it comes from people
you don't, you wouldn't even suspect it. You don't see it
coming and it comes. But Paul said the gospel, the
gospel enables me to bear with all these indignities and reproaches
and afflictions and persecutions for the sake of Christ, the gospel
and the elect of God. You know, he said in one place,
I endure all things for the elect's sake, all things. And Paul says,
you know my suffering, persecutions and afflictions, which came to
me at Antioch, there in verse 11, at Iconium and Lystra, what
persecutions I endured. But out of them, listen, these
things are going to come. Persecutions, afflictions are
going to come within and without. They're going to come. But he
says, the Lord delivered me out of them all. He's the one who's
going to deliver me. And when I'm delivered, I'm going
to know it was the Lord. He's the one who did it. He'll
make it evident that he's delivered me and I'll trust him. The next
time trouble comes along, I'll trust him even more. Now, Paul
mentions these places because Timothy knew these places very
well. And Lister was the place where Paul was stoned and drawn
out of the city and left for dead. He said, Timothy, you know,
you know my life and you know, the persecutions I have endured
over the gospel. It's amazing how this goes right
here with the next lesson. He said, the world hates you.
It hates me. If it hates me, it's going to
hate you. We always think that the world is always out there.
There's always tears among the wheat. There's always goats among
the sheep will always will be always will be. But Paul mentions these places
because Timothy knew them. But he said, the Lord delivered
me out of them all. Our God shall deliver us. The scripture says, many are
the afflictions of the righteous, many. But the Lord delivers him
out of them all every time. And we are to expect persecutions.
He says in verse 12, yea, and all that will live godly stand
on the gospel. walk after godliness in Christ
Jesus. Because apart from that, there's
no such thing as godliness apart from Christ. But yea, yes, and
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, not just me, and it's
not just me, all that will live godly from the pulpit to the
pew, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. It's coming. If you live godly
in this evil world, you're going to suffer persecution. Some have
more of a degree of it than others. But all who live by faith on
Christ or His witnesses will suffer in this ungodly world. We live in an evil world. I see that more and more. I see
this truth. The whole world lies in wickedness. every turn it's wickedness and listen this suffering this
suffering for the gospel is appointed of God for the body of Christ
who's the head of the body to suffer in this world is given
to us it's not only given to you on behalf it says in Philippians
Paul wrote to believe on him but also to suffer to suffer. It should be an honor to suffer.
Remember when the apostles suffered and they came back and they were
rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer? Listen to what Paul says in Colossians
124, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which
is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his
body's sake, the church, which is the church. You see, there's
a measure of suffering. The church is his body. We're
the body. The church is the body of Christ.
Christ is the head. The head took the greatest suffering.
The head took the wrath of God. I like what John, John Trapp
said this. He said, we just get the splinters
of the cross. I thought that was a neat way
to put it. We just have the splinters of
the cross, but he took the real cross. He took the suffering.
He suffered God's wrath. But there's a measure of suffering
that every member of the body of the body of Christ is given.
And it's an honor. It's an honor. And all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall, not maybe, not maybe, shall suffer
persecution. And then it says in verse 13,
he's going to tell us that it's not going to get any better for
the church on this earth as time goes along. It's not going to
get better for the church. The world may, the world may
be at peace. The world may have a great economy
going, but as far as the church is concerned, he says in verse
13, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. False preachers are going to wax worse and worse.
There are going to be more of them. It's just like you ever
step on a spider, a pregnant spider, and see all those other,
I mean a whole bunch of little spiders just go out. That's what
it's like. You just get all these little
spiders going out, these false preachers going out. It's just
going to get worse and worse until the Lord comes. Paul's
not talking here about, when he says evil men, he's not talking
about drunkenness. He's not talking about harlots.
He's talking about religious professors. False religious professors
are going to get worse and worse. And the congregation that sits
under them are going to be the same way. You are what you sit
under. You are what you eat. And those congregations, what
they produce is just like them. It'll be just like them. Now Timothy, he's saying here
in verse 14, don't get deterred or discouraged by this. Don't
look at this like, throw your hands up like you want to quit,
like you're not getting anywhere. But continue, be steady, be steady. If there are just two or three
of us left here, be steady, be steady. In the things which thou
hast learned, learned of Paul and learned from God, through
Paul, you've been assured of them, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them. You plow, you plow through all
the trouble that's gonna come your way, through these false
preachers and this perilous time is coming. You keep plowing through
it. Don't throw up your hands and quit. Don't faint. Those
things that you have learned through the preaching of the
gospel, continue in them. Don't deviate. Don't swerve. There's no crook in this road.
There is no bend in the road of the gospel. You just stay
straight. You keep plowing straight. You
keep going forward. Don't you stop. For you know
that what you have received was not of men. This gospel is not
of men. It's of God. It's God's gospel. The gospel of the grace of God
has God as its author. You know that, Timothy. You know
that. And he says something here that's
very important. And this is the importance of
learning the scriptures early, laying that foundation early.
He says, Timothy, the scriptures I'm talking to you about, the
gospel I'm talking to you about. In verse 15, that from a child
thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith in which is in Christ Jesus.
Timothy's mother was a Jew. His father was Greek. But his
mother taught him from the Scriptures early. She taught him early. He learned the Gospel through
his mother and his grandmother. Think what a blessing! What a
house God gave Timothy! What a house He brought him up
in! His mother and his grandmother sat him down and taught him the
Scriptures. They taught him the truth out of the Word of God,
from the Old Testament. That's what they had. They saw
the gospel, and they taught it to Timothy. I was reading this. It is said
that at the age of five, they would take their children and
teach them the scriptures. But his grandmother and his mother,
they knew something, and they taught him. A foundation was
laid. Now, here's something that's
important. The seed was sown when he was just a child, when
he was young. The seed was sown. When he says
here, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,
that doesn't mean he was saved when he was a child. But the
seed was sown. The foundation was laid. And
then God gave the increase when Paul came along. When Paul came
along, God gave the increase. And when he listened to Paul,
and I can relate to this, you know, I read the scriptures,
I made a profession when I was 20 years old, and I read the
scriptures a lot. I read the scriptures a lot.
Then when I heard Henry, it all came together. It all came together. It was just like somebody turned
the light on. The scriptures were able to make
him wise unto salvation. But now listen, he wasn't saved
until Until the Lord saved him, the Lord revealed himself in
him, and he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, unto salvation
through faith. You see, the scriptures alone
are not my salvation. Jesus Christ is my salvation.
He's my salvation of which the scriptures speak of. They are
they which testify of me, he said, the scriptures. But lay
that foundation. I say to any parent, especially
a young parent, lay that foundation. I've told this to Jeremy with
Madison and Cole. I said, sit among the gospel.
That's the foundation. Whether God saves them or not,
that's God's business. But they got a foundation to
stand on. You know, when you go to these
secular colleges and schools, and if you have some understanding
of the gospel, if you have some understanding of the scripture,
you got a foundation to stand on. You're not going to fall
for every stupid thing coming down the road. Then he says, here, listen, and
here's why. He directs him back to the Scriptures. He directs
him back to the Word of God. Don't get caught up with these
seducers that's coming. You stay with the Word of God,
and you'll be all right. You'll fare well, and the people
who sit under your ministry will fare well. But he says in Timothy,
in verse 16, and this is so important, all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. That God breathed. They're God-breathed. They came from God. And they're
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. I don't need to send any of you
to a therapist. I need to send you to the Word
of God. Go to the Word of God. You don't need to go to a therapist.
You need to go to the Word of God. There's where you're corrected.
If we cannot be corrected by the Word of God, you'll just
be doped up by a therapist. That's exactly what's going to
happen. You go to the Word of God. I'm talking to believers. The world just goes where it's
going to go. But those who believe, we go to the Word of God. It's
our instruction. Stay with the Word of God. It
says in Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path. You want light? Go to the Word
of God. You want a lamp to walk by at nighttime in this world,
this dark world? Go to the Word of God. It says in 2 Peter 1, 20 and
21, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. If I cannot interpret the scriptures
with another scripture, leave it alone until God gives you
an understanding, until they come together. That's one of
the things that I can say that when I heard the gospel, scripture
started matching up with scripture. I could see it in the Old Testament,
I can see it in the New Testament, and I can see it come together.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. No man wrote this. God used men
to do it, but it didn't come by the will of man. But holy
men, men saved of God, born of God, spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. And we have the Scriptures from
that. And this being so, the Scriptures are profitable. Profitable. They're profitable. They're spiritually profitable.
You want to grow spiritually? Get in the Word of God. And don't
talk about wanting to grow spiritually and never read the Word of God
other than when you come here. Seriously. If you want to grow
spiritually, take time to sit down and read the Word of God
and ask God to open them up to you. If you want to grow spiritually
profitable, In doctrine, teaching, understand the teachings of Christ,
the precepts of Christ. If you want to understand them
and follow them, get in the Word of God. Because the scriptures
are good, profitable for doctrine, for reproof. You know, if I needed
to reproof anyone, or if you needed to reproof a brother or
sister, do it with the scriptures, not with, well, I think you're
wrong. Tell me from the scriptures where I'm wrong. Don't tell me
how you feel about it. Tell me from the scriptures where
I'm wrong. They're good for reproof. In fact, they reprove us, I think,
every time I stand here and preach. They reprove me every week as
I sit in the study and read. They're good for reproof. The
best there is. I mean, it's really the only
thing there is for reproof. For correction. It'll correct
our attitude. Well, I guarantee we'll get an
attitude before this day is over with, probably. I know we will
before the week's over with. It's good for correction in attitude
and doctrine, for instruction in righteousness, in His righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect or mature, grown up in Christ. That's not just for me, that's
for you also. That's for you also. throughly
furnished unto all good works. The scripture throughly furnishes
us, completely furnishes us unto all good works. All scripture
is given that you and I may grow in grace and in knowledge of
Jesus Christ. That's why I search the scripture
more and more now than ever. I don't search the scripture
to learn of any particular doctrine. I search the scriptures to learn
of Christ and see how that doctrine applies to Christ and me in Christ. It's given that we may grow in
grace and in knowledge of Christ and be well fitted and thoroughly
equipped and furnished unto all good works. The scriptures equip us to walk
in this life by faith. Without the scriptures, we have
no foundation for faith, do we? There's no foundation. There's
a foundation right here. Christ is the foundation, but
the scriptures are built on Christ. He's the scriptures. He's the
Word of God. All right.