Get started if you would please
turn to I Got first Timothy, but a second
Timothy chapter 3 2nd Timothy chapter 3 I want
to begin reading in verse 10 But thou has fully known my doctrine
manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
persecutions, afflictions which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium,
and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured,
but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall
wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 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. thoroughly furnished unto all
good works. Now what I want to speak to you
today is continue thou. That's what I want to get to. This is a part of Paul's letter,
his second letter, to Timothy. And just like Titus' epistle
At the very first of it, he says, my dearly beloved son. Grace, mercy, and peace. And
then he starts giving instructions to Timothy. But I like that grace,
mercy, and peace because that's the order. It all starts with
grace. It all starts with grace. Everything
starts with grace. Everything starts with the work
of God nothing starts with the work of man but grace Gives you
mercy I Will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll be merciful
to whom I'll be merciful and guess what? We have peace with
God why because of the grace and the mercy of God and it's
his peace and But Paul writes this letter,
and he gives more warnings, more descriptions, and instructions
here in chapter 3. He starts off. The division is made in chapter
3, verse 1. This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. Yes. He wrote this about 2,000
years ago. This is the way it is now. Tells you why. Four, men shall
be lovers of their own selves. That's the problem. And everything
flows from there. All the rest, there's another
one of these, Walter, there's one of these litanies down here.
A plethora of problems, but they all come from this first thing,
they are lovers of themselves. That's why they're covetous.
That's why they're boasters. That's why they're proud That's
why they're blasphemers, and I'll tell you I'll put these
two together. That's why they're proud blasphemers Walter said I still get tickled
thinking about it when you see the sign says free will Baptist
Church They're putting their advertising their heresy right
on the building Proud blasphemers Disobedient
to parents, unholy, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God. Why? Because they are lovers
of themselves. Man has always had a very high
opinion of himself. Now, his opinion of his neighbor
may differ. He doesn't have a good opinion
of his neighbor. His neighbor may not have a good opinion of
him, but they are lovers of themselves, each individual. That's the natural state of man. And in every church, you'll hear
this preached against. It shouldn't be a traitor. It
shouldn't be high-minded. Don't blaspheme. But Paul is
explaining here to Timothy, this is the way religious people are. That's who he's talking about.
Because it says right after that, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, what's it say? Verse 5, having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. And from such, turn away. That's his instruction to Timothy.
These are religious people who are covetous, boasters, proud
blasphemers. They learn, ever learning, and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You understand? Never able. That part they won't preach in
other churches. That part they won't preach from other pulpits.
That part they won't preach on the radio. Man in and of himself is never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You can never learn as long as
you want. You can have degrees strung out behind your name as
long as you're armed. But if God doesn't teach you
the truth, you will never know the truth. If God does not reveal
himself to you, if Jesus Christ does not show himself to you
through his spirit, you will never be able to come to a knowledge
of the truth. You'll be able to come to knowledge,
but not the knowledge of the truth. This is what Timothy's letter
is like. Now, where does Paul begin with
his state for instructions for Timothy about this? Well, he
starts with these two words in verse 10. But thou. He's putting a difference between
these people and Timothy. He's putting a difference, showing
the difference, between these people, the natural man, and
the child of God. But thou hast fully known my
doctrine. That's where he starts. That's
where he starts talking. Now I looked it up because I
like this fully known. But that fully known is not the
word genosco which has to do basically with knowledge. What
this means is in actual literal translation is, but thou hast
fully followed my doctrine. It's not just that he knew it,
he followed after it. And Paul called it my doctrine
because he's the one that was teaching it, he's the one that
was taught it by the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy had followed closely
Paul's doctrine. And I'll tell you this, you can't
follow it unless you know it. Doctrine. We always talk about
doctrine. That's where Paul starts here.
Doctrine is important. That's why we preach. That's
why we teach. Because you can't follow something
you don't know. And you can't know unless somebody
teaches it. Now, if my words are the only
voice you hear, it's not going to be of much value. But if his spirit bears witness
with our spirit that these things be so, that will benefit you. His spirit shall bear witness
with our spirit Christ promised that if the word of truth is
preached But Paul's not the one that started
with doctrine if you want to know the truth about it John
7 and verse 17 says this These are the words of Christ if Any
man will do his will, speaking of the Father, he shall know,
what? Of the doctrine. Whether it be
of God, or whether I speak of myself. If you want to know the will
of God, the only way to know the will of God is to know his
doctrine. And his doctrine is what Christ taught. I came to
do the will of my father. And what did he do? He spoke
to people. He talked to people. This is
the way we communicate. Human beings are limited to sight,
hearing, and speaking. What God can do, no man can know
right now. But here's the truth of it. We
only have these senses. And I understand if you're deaf,
but people do sign language. It's a communication of words
of one form or another into your mind, into your brain. But it
takes the power of God to put it there. And he has promised to put it
there. There is a knowledge of God.
And it is given by the Son through the Spirit to every child of
God. And if any man will do his will,
the Father's will, he shall know of the doctrine. Why? Because
God's going to teach it to you. God's going to teach it to you.
Walter, I learned things about his doctrine by hearing a fellow
read the scripture and then try to mis-explain it. Sometimes I didn't know exactly
what the truth was, but the spirit revealed to me that what that
man saying was not true. And sometimes that's half the
battle, especially when you're young and you don't know a lot
of things. God takes care of his people,
but thou has fully followed my doctrine. How are we to know this Paul
wrote in Romans 8 and 9 but ye are not in the flesh But in the
spirit If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you Now if any
man have not the spirit of Christ He is none of his We are to know his doctrine The
doctrine which he taught, which the Apostle Paul wrote down and
that we have today and others. And how we know is through his
spirit. Why? Because we have his spirit. Believers have been given the
Spirit of God. The Comforter has come. He's going to be with you. He
is with you and He's going to be in you. Simply put, Paul's doctrine was
this. This Jesus is the Christ and
this Christ is all. He's all my salvation. He's all
my hope. He's all my life. He's all my
light. He is my God and my Savior. Paul doesn't point toward himself.
He points toward his doctrine. But he's already told them where
his doctrine came from. Because this is pointing to Christ,
who is our doctrine. And what Christ had done for
him, What Christ had done in him? His manner of life, his
purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, and patience. Guess
what? Those are all gifts of the Spirit. That's what they are. They're
gifts of the spirit. They're not of man naturally
any way shape or form, but I do love how and I Understand they
kind of break things down into verses But this is still part
of that same sentence right after manner of life purpose faith
charity Long suffering comes what? persecution afflictions
Guess what? It's all the life of the child
of God This is nothing unusual for the
child of God. We have grace, we have mercy,
we have peace, but we also have persecution and afflictions.
We have a new manner of life. Your conversation has changed
since God has changed you. Or He hasn't changed you. He make you calling an election,
sure, whatever. But if your manner of life hasn't
changed, if your manner of thinking hasn't changed, God hadn't done
anything for you. Because you were broken, you
were dead, and now you're alive. And think, some people may notice,
some people may not. That's not the important part,
but what goes on in here had better have changed. And I like the fact where Paul
wrote it. It doesn't matter where you are. Antioch, Iconium, Lystra. And if you want to, from these
epistles, we can add Ephesus and Corinth. From the book of
Acts. What? Persecution and afflictions.
You know where you're going to find persecution and afflictions?
Wherever you are. It doesn't matter where you are. You're gonna find persecution
and afflictions what I? Endured I endured and the
Lord delivered me from all Our Lord delivers from all persecutions
and afflictions Now let me be very clear that doesn't say that
the Lord removes persecutions and afflictions He delivers from
them. You're going to have them. And
He may take you out of one and put you in another. He may take
away one thorn in the flesh and give you another thorn in the
flesh. Or a pain in your backside. Whatever you want to call it.
This is the state of man. The saved man. The believing
man. In this world. We have a new
manner of life. Where? I lost my place here. We have a new manner of life,
we have purpose, we have faith, long-suffering, charity, patience,
and persecutions and afflictions. Paul was delivered, but that
didn't stop the persecutions. Christ delivered, and what? I'll tell you this, Paul continued.
Paul continued. Verse 12, Yea, and all that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now, pay
very close attention, it does say all that live godly. It doesn't say all that live
well. It doesn't say all that live
nicely. It doesn't even say all that live morally. It says all that live godly.
There's a difference. Even with morality. I was listening
to Jones on the way up here. Holiness is a positive. Morality
is a negative. Holiness comes from God. Morality
comes from man and you try not to do things. All that will live godly is a
positive. All that live, and that word is piety, pious. All that live bowing to Him,
submitting to Him, all that worship Him shall suffer
persecution. Every believer, every believer
shall suffer persecution. In one way or another, to one
degree or another, some are worse than others, some are better
than others, it doesn't matter. He knows what He's doing. whether
we do or not. And generally I don't. I just
know where I am and I try to get through it. I want to endure,
Mason. Because that's all you can do with persecution and afflictions. I don't have to endure a manner
of life, Walter. I don't have to endure faith.
I don't have to endure charity. But I do have to endure persecutions
and afflictions. And I know this, He will deliver
from all. But if you come to hear the Word
of God preached and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to bow
to Him, to submit to His will and the will of the Father, which
are the same, you shall suffer persecution it's a fact but he does specify all that
live godly in Christ Jesus because in Christ Jesus is true
life in Christ Jesus is the only life we have no true life of
ourselves we have the true life in ourselves He is life, and if you are in
him, he is in you, and he is your life. His spirit, the spirit
of God lives in you, abides in you. Abides. And you live, and you move, and
you have your being in him. And you shall suffer persecution. How can you have joy in persecution?
You can have it in Him. Yeah. How can you live that manner
of life now? In Him. Because of Him. Even through persecutions and
afflictions, your manner of life has changed. We do have grace, mercy, and
we do have peace even in persecutions and afflictions. That doesn't
make it fun, that doesn't make it wonderful, but it does make
it endurable. My dad used to have a saying,
for him it was kind of a joke, but in reality it's actually
true in the right context. He used to say, this too shall
pass. Now sometimes he had that. He
used that saying about gas, but this too shall pass. This life
is going to go on for as long as God keeps you here and persecution
and afflictions shall come. But if we live godly in him,
we are, Living Godly in him and he is in us There is no life without Christ Now that's the scriptural opposite
of being in Christ I Used to say and I have said in times
past. I'm going to try and stop it You say outside of Christ
you say in Christ out so out of Christ Because that in and
out is usually the two opposites in this world, but the scriptural
opposite of being in Christ is without Christ. Because Christ
is everywhere. There's no one outside of Christ.
All things were created by him and by him all things consist. That's not just good things.
That's not just his people that means all things consist by him
There's no way to get out of Christ, but there's definitely
a way to be without Christ And that's the opposite of in Christ Without Christ we are aliens
strangers having no hope and we're without God without God
in the world That's what it says in Ephesians
2 and 12. At that time ye were without Christ. The difference is in Christ or
without Him. Because in a way, if you want
to look at it this way, it's not a question of where you are,
but how you are. If He has put you in Himself,
you are in Him. And if He hasn't put you in Himself,
you are without Him. All those living godly, worshiping
Christ, submitting to Him, shall suffer persecution. And I'll tell you this, it's
not an accident Paul put this right at the end of this, right
after the statement here where it says, having a form of godliness
but denying the power thereof. Worst persecution is going to
come from the religious. The secular don't care about
us. They think we're nuts. They don't mind. To the Greeks,
it's foolishness. The Jews, it's a stumbling block,
and of course, he's talking about the religious. It was the religious
world that killed our Lord, that hated Christ, and killed Him. And they were happy to do it.
They thought they were doing God a favor. And I'll tell you this, where
it says all that they're living godly worshiping Christ they shall suffer persecution doesn't say that they shall have
health and wealth and success there's people preaching that
all over the place oh yeah If you want to see some,
no I don't do it, never mind. I'm just going to tell you where
to go on the internet and see some nonsense. There are people who preach sermons
about money and how to get it. They call it religion. I'm telling
you, those are the same kind of people that killed our Lord.
And they will hate you. Why? Because they hate Him. They'll use the name Jesus, they'll
honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from them. If you're not persecuted by the
religious, there's only two reasons. You don't know Christ, or the
religious don't know you. Sometimes I try to keep it that
way. Well, you are not supposed to
cast your pearls before swine. And if any man asks a question,
I give him the best answer I can out of the book. But if you ain't
asking questions, I ain't volunteering. I remember what Earl said. And
I know exactly why he said it now. Do you have an interest
in this, or are you just passing the time? Do you have an interest
in the truth? That's a valid question. He goes on, evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Now, I'm
not going to spend a lot of time on this, because I like what
Gil said and it pretty much settles it. I'll read this to you. By evil men, it's not meant sinful
men in common, as all are by nature and practice, nor only
open profane sinners. But rather, wicked men under
a form of godliness, as before, who are full of wickedness and
malice against truly godly persons. That's what this is talking about,
evil men and seducers. It's talking about religious people. It's still
in context with the rest of it. They're going to wax worse and
worse. And my gosh, they have. Not only the television and the
airwaves on the radio are full of it, so is the internet. Don't go looking, please. They
deceive because they are deceived. And I will tell you, sincerity
is not a test. Because you can be sincerely
deceived. You can be sincerely wrong. Now, sincerity is a thing
that a believer should have. But sincerity is not the test.
That's why Paul started out saying, what? Thou hast fully followed,
what? My doctrine. Guess what? If you're fully following
his doctrine, if you've fully known his doctrine, you'll be
sincere about it. God is all. Now, finally get to this part.
But continue thou. in the things which thou hast
learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them." The word continue, the primary
literal definition is to stay or abide. Guess what? We are to live in this world. We are not of this world, but
we are to live, but we are to live following Christ. Continue thou what? In the things
which thou hast learned. First point, in order to continue,
you have to have started. If you don't fit the category,
he's not talking to you. You can't continue unless you've
been put in this place. But once God has saved you, you
are to continue. And this is a message, primary
context, to a preacher named Timothy. But it's for all of
us. Because there's nothing to continue
if you haven't started. But then he also personalizes
it here, continue thou. This is an individual thing. We gather together as an assembly,
and there are things we do as an assembly, but you individually
have to be here. It's you that has to continue.
I can't continue for you. Walter can't continue for you.
No one can continue for you except you. The Spirit that God has put in
you. It's personal. Thou art to continue. And it's not just preachers.
In Acts 26 verse 42, I'm just going to read it because I'm
running behind. This is after the message at Pentecost. When
they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said, cried,
men and brethren, what shall we do? Repent and be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ here. I am reading the whole thing
Verse 39 for the promise is unto you and to your children and
all that are afar off Even as many as the Lord our God shall
call I cannot read acts 238 without reading 239 It's the call that
matters If he calls you you're gonna answer Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them,
what? About 3,000 souls. Individually. Individually they
were called. Individually they answered. And
now, and, verse 42, and they continued steadfastly. How many of them? All 3,000.
All in their will. And they continue steadfastly.
But what did it say? In the Apostle's Doctrine. Doctrine's everywhere, Walter.
Doctrine's important. The Apostle's Doctrine, in particular. And fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. But continue thou. That's Paul's instructions here
to Timothy. That's Paul's instruction to
us. It is an individual thing, and it is to be done, but in
doctrine. In breaking of bread, and in
prayers. I looked at the, in the middle
of my Bible I have these references, Walter. There was like three
or four references for that verse there in Acts 2. Every single
one of them was about prayer. Not one of them was about doctrine.
Nothing, there was no, because I was looking to see if there
was a reference here to Second Timothy. There wasn't one. Where do we continue? We are
to continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of. Why do we preach? Why do we teach? So you can learn. So I can learn. I'm not exempted from this. So we can grow in the grace and
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and we are to continue
in these things which we have learned. That we've been assured of. Here's the kicker. Knowing of
whom thou hast learned them. Paul ain't talking about himself. He's talking about Christ Jesus.
Now Paul preached, and Paul taught, and Paul wrote letters. But only the Holy Spirit of God
can teach a man so that he really learns. We're so in seed. We're so in
seed. There's four types of ground
out there. There's two kinds of people. I do like that, Walter. It's not up to me to get the
word applied into your heart. It's up to me to preach the word
of truth as clearly and as concisely as I can and to not lie. Paul taught, we taught, but believers
only learn from the Spirit of God. Because it's Christ's voice we're
to hear. It's Christ's voice we're to
hear. And how's that? And that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation. Through faith, not without faith,
The scripture is a closed book without faith, given by God. What is it? Which are wise unto
salvation, but only through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. That's how we abide. That's how
we live. That's how we continue. And we
are to continue in his word. We don't continue blindly. The
world thinks we do. The world thinks our faith is
blind. I can't take anything on blind faith. That's because you haven't been
given faith. That's how bad the world is.
The world thinks the only ones who can see are blind. Why do I bring this up? Why do
we talk so much about continuing? Christ said to. Christ said to. Walter, 30 some years ago, one
of the first things we talked about, I remember, is we were
talking about enduring to the end. And 30 some years, we're
still here. I'm not bragging. It's just a
fact. Because, see, we were surrounded
then and we're surrounded now by people who preach that you
can lose your salvation, get it, get your salvation, lose
it. And they were basically preaching that you have to be enduring
at the end. And that's what we were talking about. No, the scripture
says, he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
What? Continue thou. We live and move and have our
being in Christ. Abide in Him. Live in Him. Continue in Him and in His Word. What? What you have learned.
The things which you have learned. And there's more in here to learn.
There always is, Mason. Christ said there was a broad
way and a narrow way. He said, because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few
there be that find it. Now we sing that song. Broad
is the road that leads to death. That's what the word way actually
is. Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way. The way, that word, is road. Continue. Continue on that way. Straight is the gate, but narrow
is the way, the road. We are to continue on. In Him. In the things which ye have learned.
In His doctrine which he has taught you. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time, this place. Most of all, Lord, thankful for
you, for all that you've given to us, for all that you're giving
to us. Thank you. For the end of the
road we're on, thank you. as you've promised to be with
us, not only along the way, but unto the end. Thank you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.