If you will, let's turn back
in our Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3. And I'd like to read verses
15 through 17 again and bring my message to us today from these
verses. beginning with verse 14. 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 it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. Many, and I'm one, believe that
this was the last of the inspired letters that Paul wrote. He wrote
14, if we count Hebrews, 14 letters in the New Testament, and I believe
that This was the last he wrote before he was taken out of this
world. And I want you to notice, first
of all, that he encouraged Timothy, in verse 14, to continue, to
continue in the things which thou hast learned. The things
which he had learned, he had learned from these three human
authors. or these three human persons,
I should say. He had learned, first of all,
from his grandmother, Lois. And then second, he had learned
from his mother, Eunice. And thirdly, he had learned from
the apostle Paul. If you look back in chapter one,
Paul referred to Timothy as his son in verse two. To Timothy,
my dearly beloved son. Now Paul, of course, was not
the biological father of Timothy, but he was his spiritual father. Timothy had learned the things
that Paul exhorts him to continue in by God the Holy Spirit using
these three, his grandmother, his mother, and the apostle himself. Notice these two things in these
verses that he tells us about the Holy Scriptures. The Bible. I think maybe I need to say that
because some people may not know what I mean when I speak about
the Holy Scriptures. I'm speaking about the Bible,
this book that you have in your hands this morning with 66 different
books. The Old Testament and the New
Testament, the Holy Scriptures. Notice these two things that
he says about the Scriptures. First of all, the Scriptures
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. And number two, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. That word inspiration, of course,
means all scripture is God-breathed, God-breathed, both the books
of the Old Testament and the New Testament. You know, sometimes,
I'm sure you've heard this, people will make a statement like this,
well, the Bible, the Bible, that's just a book written by men. Have
you ever heard that? Has anyone ever told you that?
Well, the Bible, You know, you talk about the Bible, you quote
the Bible. Well, the Bible's just a book
written by men. Well, it is true that the Bible
was written by men, but men whom God inspired to write what they
wrote. Now, usually when people will
make a statement like that, they deny the divine inspiration of
the word of God. When they say, well, the Bible's
just a book written by men, They deny that this book was inspired
by God. John Dagg, he asked this question,
or these questions, whence cometh the Bible? Whence cometh the
Bible? Is it from heaven or from men? If it is the work of men, is
it the work of good men? or bad men. I liked his reasoning. He then goes on to point out
that if bad men, if bad men had written the Bible, they would
have made it according to their liking. Bad men, if they had
written the Bible, they would have written it according to
their liking. Would they have ever written
a book which condemns them? Would they have written a book
which condemns all manner of evil, all wickedness, all sinfulness? Bad men hate this book. Would this book have been written
by bad men? Would bad men write this book? and tell us that it was given
by inspiration of God when the scripture says, and that would
be a lie if that were the truth, if it were not by inspiration
of God, and the Bible says they wrote it, bad men wrote it and
said it's inspired by God. If that's not so, they're liars,
right? And all liars, and this is what
they wrote, all liars shall have their place in the lake of fire. Well, if the Bible wasn't written
by bad men, was it written by good men? And if it is from good
men, would they have deceived us? Would they have deceived
us in writing and telling us that it is by inspiration of
God? Would they have written that
no prophecy No prophecy came just because men were moved to
write what they wrote, but all prophecy came as holy men of
God spoke being moved by the Holy Ghost. So then, if the Bible
could not have been written by bad men, it could not have been
written by good men. I'm talking about apart from
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Then let us be assured that this
book, which we love and which we cherish, is inspired by God. This is a book of God. It has
two authors. Every book, every letter has
two authors. That's true. It has a human author,
but it has the divine author. That is God, the Holy Spirit,
inspiring those who wrote the scriptures. I believe that it was in the
year of 1520, 1520 A.D., for the first time, at
least, in one of Martin Luther's responses to the Pope, he used
this Latin phrase, sola scriptura, sola scriptura. which translated
into English means, by the scriptures only. By the scriptures only,
sola escritura. Now it seems that later, during
the Protestant Reformation, they added these other three solas,
or they came into being as well. Not only sola escritura, But
sola Christo. Number three, sola faith. And number four, sola gracia. These four solas. I want us to
look at them this morning. First of all, by the scriptures
alone. And it's very important that
we use both of those other two words, by and alone. by the scriptures alone. Because when they use the word
alone, and this is what we believe, what I believe, what I preach,
it rules out all other sources. All other sources for the rule
of our faith and our duty are ruled out. Sola escriptura. How may we know the way of salvation? How may we know the way back
to God? Obviously, we were all created
by God, we all came from God, but we've all fallen, we've all
fallen into sin. How may we know the way back
to God? Only through the scriptures,
only by the scriptures. And the reason they would use
that is because the only way to obtain This knowledge is by
the Holy Scriptures. It's not going to be by the church
councils. Now, over the years, there's
been many different church councils. I think maybe the first one was
325. I'm not sure about that, if that was the first one. I
guess the first one was in Acts chapter 15, maybe. But anyway,
these various different church councils Many times they have
made statements which contradicted other church councils. Another,
this church council, they put out a statement saying, blah,
blah, blah, this is the way, and then another church council
comes along and just refutes that, brings out something else. No, how are we going to know
the way back to God? By the scriptures alone. can be placed on the same level
as the word of God. It will not be by church councils,
as I said, which many contradict one another. It will not even
be by church creeds that fallen men have written. It will not
be by church creeds, no matter which denomination. And it will
not be by the traditions of men, no matter how old they are. You
know, there are a number of traditions, and as they grow older, they
grow moss, and before long, you know, you can't do anything different,
you can't believe anything different from that, because that's the
tradition. Well, when it comes into competition
with the word of God, all of those things must be set aside. Tradition, church creeds, church
councils, whatever they've, the Pope in Rome, his statements,
all of these things must be set aside. If we want to know, and
I do, and I know you do, you wouldn't be here today. I want
to know how I can have peace with God, don't you? I want to
know how I may be reconciled to God. I want to know how I
can call God my Father and rest in Him and His providence. Where
am I going to find that information out? Sola escriptura, only by
the Word of God, by the Word of God only. Look back with me
to Isaiah, if you will, Isaiah chapter 8. In Isaiah chapter
8 and verse 20, we read, to the law and to the
testimony. If they, now who are the they? Well, if you look in the verse
before that, the they are those who had familiar spirits, that
is, demon spirits, and used enchantment, and magic, and susane, and tarot
card readings, and all these things that you, we still see
it today, don't we? We still see it. If they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them. There's no light. They have no
understanding. If a person, as I said, no matter
who he quotes or what he quotes, no matter how old it is, if it
is not according to the word of God, then it's to be rejected. And men believe those things
because they have no light, no saving light. How are we to know the truth?
Again, by the scriptures alone. We have this book in our hands
today, and I'm afraid that none of us appreciate it like we should.
None of us are even, some people not even aware of what it cost,
the blood that it cost many men to translate the script, the
labor, the work, the separation from their families and their
countries even, to give us the book in our language. And then
for us to live in a time when we are taught to read. You know,
you could have been born in the 1500s or 1300s and most likely
you would not have even had the opportunity to learn to read. You wouldn't have had a Bible
if you knew how to read because there were so few. Everyone had
to be transcribed by hand. The printing press was such a
great invention. But you look at the way they
printed, and that seems like that took forever, right? Compared to what we have today
with the computers and the printers that we have today, we are so
blessed, so blessed to have God's word. And we need God's word. The scripture speaks about one
thing needful. Many people, they think their
needs are manifold. They have a hundred needs. They
have 50 needs. We need the word of God. Sola
escriptura. Now the second sola, by Christ
alone. There's one mediator between
God and man. And it's not a church. I don't
care what church, what denomination it is. A church is not a mediator
between you and God. Every one of us here today, if
we're going to approach God, if we're going to come into God's
presence, it's going to be by Christ Jesus alone. He's the
one mediator between you and God, between me and God. between all men and God. It's
not the church, it's not departed saints, it's not the Virgin Mary. No, Christ alone is the one mediator
between God and men. Look at the text here in 2 Timothy
3, if you still have your Bible open. The apostle told Timothy,
that the scriptures, you've known the holy scriptures from your
childhood, now notice, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. What do we learn from the word
of God about the death, the death of Christ? His death is the heart
of the gospel, isn't it? We talk about the gospel speaking
about his death according to the scriptures, his burial, his
resurrection according to the scriptures. Look with me in 1
Peter chapter 3, over just a few pages toward the end of the Bible. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18. Notice what the apostle Peter
wrote. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. What do we learn
from that one verse of Scripture about Christ? Well, we learn,
first of all, that his death was a vicarious death. He died in the stead. He died
in the place. He's the just one, the holy one,
the son of God made flesh, the just one in the place or in the
stead of the unjust ones. His death was, first of all,
vicarious. He had no sin of his own. He
made an atonement for the sins of others, for the unjust. A
second thing that we learn here, that he suffered for sins. He suffered for sins. God is
such a holy God. Such a holy God. You know, the
psalmist said, and I think it's Psalm 51, God says, you thought
that I was such a one as you. And we all think, subconsciously
or consciously, that God is like we are. And we can see a wrong,
we can suffer a wrong, and we can just put it, brush it under
the rug. Just forget about it. Why? Why can't God do that? Because
God is holy. God is holy. He loves righteousness
and he hates iniquity. If that were not true, he'd cease
to be God. Sin has to be paid for. You tell,
and I'm guilty of this, we had children, thank the Lord for
each and every one of them, but sometimes we'd tell them to do
something and they didn't do it. You ever had that problem? You parents, have you ever had
that happen to you? Maybe your children were perfect.
Ours weren't. But what do we do? Sometimes
you correct them. Sometimes you think, well, just
going to let that slide. I'm not going to make an issue
out of that. Why would we do that? Because we're not holy
like God is holy, and just like God is just, and righteous like
God is righteous. Christ suffered for sins, not
his sins, but the sins of his people. Had to be paid for. A
third thing we learn from that text, and back to those sins,
let me say this before I move to that third thing. He suffered
for sins, there's an original sin. You say, what do you mean
by original sin? I mean that sin that we inherited
from our father Adam. We come into this world and we
do not sin in order to become sinners. We sin because we are
born sinners, original sin. Christ suffered for sins, for
original sins, and then all the sins that we've committed since
we came into this world. His people, he suffered. He suffered
the suffering of Christ. What was his suffering? It was
so great. He was separated from his father. And that's what's going to happen
to you. If you leave this world without Christ, you're going
to be separated from God forever and ever and ever. and everything
that is good, Christ suffered for sins. And then 30, he suffered
once for sins. Isn't that what the verse that
tells us here, 1 Peter 3 and verse 18? For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins. And the reason I believe that
Peter emphasized that once Well, more than one reason, but one
reason is because under the law, the priest, under the Levitical
law, they would sacrifice animals daily. And then that great sacrifice
on the great day of atonement, it was over and over and over.
It was repetitious. Why? Because it never put away
sin. It only pictured how sin would
be put away. Christ suffered once for sins. And another thing that that tells
me, he got the job done. He got the job done. When he
said, it is finished, the work of redemption was finished. Can't
add to it. It's perfect. And we learned that he accomplished
what he purposed to do by his death. He brings us to God. He brings us to God. I've heard this one time by an
Englishman. He said, you're not introduced
to the Queen. You know, I might take you, Zach,
and introduce you to Austin. Zach, I want you to meet Austin.
You don't introduce anyone to the queen. You're presented. You're presented. And that's
what this scripture here tells us, right? That he might bring
us, might present us to God without spot, without wrinkle, without
any sin, but clothed in a righteousness all his own. The third sola is by faith alone. Notice that in the text again
here in 2 Timothy 3, salvation through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus. We come into this vital union
with Christ Jesus by faith alone. And what they were saying, the
Reformers, of course, this union, you being in union with Christ,
being one with Christ, it doesn't come by some priest sprinkling
some water on top of a baby's head. It doesn't even come by
taking an adult and putting him under the water, plunging him
under the water and bringing him back up. This vital union,
which is pictured by the Lord Jesus Christ as a vine and its
branches, the vine, the branches, the branches must be in union
with the vine to bring forth fruit. And that fruit is life,
everlasting life. And we must be in union with
Christ to have his life in us, the hope of glory. And that is
accomplished by his spirit being in us and us being in him by
faith, by faith. Several years ago, I read a book
entitled The Reformers and Their Stepchildren. The stepchildren
in that title referred to those who the Protestant Reformers
called Anabaptists. Anabaptists. And they called
them Anabaptists or rebaptizers. mainly because they baptized
those who heard the gospel, believed the gospel, and then were baptized. The Reformers, of course, they
were content with every person born in that particular location
was sprinkled and they just automatically were in the covenant and became
heirs of eternal life. No, the Anabaptists said, not
so, not so. A person must hear the gospel,
believe in Christ, and then be baptized. Anabaptists, rebaptizers. What do we say? We say what the
Apostle Paul said to that jailer, don't we? You might ask, and
I would to God someone here would ask, preacher, what must I do
to be saved? I want to be saved. I want my
sins to be forgiven. I want to be justified before
God. What must I do to be saved? Well,
I have only one answer. It's as old as the New Testament. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. The last sola, by grace alone,
by grace alone. by the scriptures alone, by Christ
alone, by faith alone, by grace alone. You say, can you show
me that in this passage? Well, I think I can. I hope I can. You remember when
I started the message, I said that Timothy had learned by three
human teachers, his grandmother, his mother, and the Apostle Paul,
but do you notice who I didn't mention? His father. His father. You see, we often
make a point that grace doesn't flow downward. It doesn't flow
from parent to child, but neither does it flow upward from child
to parent. And we don't know. about Timothy's
father, but I do know this, that salvation is by grace. It's by God's sovereign grace. By grace are you saved. The hymn writer wrote this hymn,
wrote a hymn, and this is the chorus, I believe. Only a sinner
saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. And that's the testimony of every
child of God. By the scriptures alone, by Christ
alone, by faith alone, by grace alone. I trust the Lord would
bless this message to all of us here this morning.