Continue in the Things You've Learned

Well, let me, invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to 2 Timothy chapter 32 Timothy. Chapter 3 for our time of study in the word this morning. The title of the message for this morning is continue in the things you've learned. Continue in the things you've learned, and my goal is to just try to do a quick sweep.

through, the whole chapter verses 1 through 17. On most Mother's Day, I try to serve the moms by. preaching a message to the moms. this year, is one of those years where I wanna serve you moms, not so much by speaking a message to you, even though everything I'm going to say you can apply to your own life, but I wanna serve you by speaking for you, to your children.

And I hope that you will hear this message. That I preach to your children today and feel a little bit lighter knowing that your heart and the burden of your heart, the desires of your heart have been expressed every godly mom that I know speaks truth to her children and every godly mom loves it when other people speak truth to her children. When Augustine, for example, was away from the Lord and living in sin, his mother prayed for him incessantly and she spoke truth to him at every opportunity, but she also literally harassed her local bishop to go and talk to her son.

This is what godly moms do they speak truth to their children and they want others to speak truth to their children as well.

When we read 2 Timothy chapter 3, we naturally read it from our own vantage point. when Timothy read this particular chapter, he would have read the chapter from his perspective as the direct recipient of this letter, but imagine Eunice. Timothy's mom reading 2 Timothy chapter 3, her heart would have read the words of this chapter. And rejoiced in the knowledge that there was a man in Timothy's life who was speaking these kinds of words to.

Her son, given the fact that Timothy's dad was almost certainly not a believer in Christ, Eunice would have rejoiced all the more that there was a man like Paul in Timothy's life speaking. These good words to Timothy filled with such great counsel, her heart would have no doubt read these words and felt lighter, less burdened, because she would have found her heart beautifully expressed by Paul throughout this chapter. So I want us to this morning read 2 Timothy chapter 3 through Eunice's eyes.

because in a real sense, in this chapter we see a godly mother's heart expressed for her children.

Any godly mom would love for someone to speak the contents of 2 Timothy 3 to her children. And that's what I aim. To do today Before we get into the chapter though, I wanna ask you young people. This question, when you grow up and get out from underneath your parents' authority.

Which path? Will you take Will you continue in the things of Christ that You have learned or will you abandon the things that you have learned and. Go your own way. Joshua Harris.

Was raised by godly parents who taught seminars that I attended on godly parenting, yet he ultimately abandoned the faith and announced to the world a couple of years ago that he is no longer. A Christian Abraham Piper. A son of John Piper was raised in a Christian home, yet he has abandoned the faith and is now an influencer of others away from Christ. More recently, Paul Maxwell, who once wrote articles for Desiring God Ministries, recently announced that he is not a Christian any longer.

Another man who is now about 60 years old describes himself as a fervent churchgoer as a kid. In his own words, he says, we went to church all the time. And went to Bible study. We even did Bible study at my house.

I was in all the way. I remember doing my first sermon when I was 17, and the sermon was on faith. He preached another sermon when he was at college. With a little help from a college mate of his named Mike Pence, who mentored him through the process of developing that sermon.

The man who spoke those words I just read and who preached these sermons in high school and in college is the Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson. Yet he eventually came to reject belief. That Jesus is the son of God and that he is the only way of salvation and describing what happened to him, he says, when your faith unravels, it unravels. So again, I ask you young people, Which direction?

Will you go? Which path will you choose? When you come of age, will you continue in the faith that you have been taught? Or will you be a sad example of apostasy?

You've received a lot of instruction from your parents and your pastors. And teachers and wanna leaders over the years you've learned a lot over the length of time. That you have grown up in this church, will you continue in those things that you have learned? Or will you ultimately walk away?

This morning as we go through this chapter, I want to just give you 6 please. P L E A S 6 please. To urge you to continue in the things you've learned. Here at Cornerstone.

And the first of these, please. Let's word it this way, realize that you are living in dangerous times because of sin. Realize that you are living in dangerous times because of sin. And you're better off for knowing this.

Observe what Paul says to Timothy beginning in verse one. He says, but realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money. Boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness. Although they have denied.

It's power Notice that Paul begins his chapter with the command to realize this, literally, to know this. Paul is commanding Timothy to know something about the days in which he is living and will be living in. And that is that difficult times are coming as the world blossoms with evil in these last days. The word that is translated difficult means dangerous, perilous.

Or even violent. And what peril or danger is Paul talking about? Well, to be sure, a culture that is filled with the people. That Paul describes here.

Is a culture that is dangerous to our safety and our general well-being, but the real danger. That Paul is speaking about here is not the danger of getting shot or killed or robbed. The real danger is that we might be influenced by those described in these verses. The list that Paul gives in these verses is an awful list, but just notice.

The very first description he gives men will be lovers. Of self And everything else. In this list is simply what you get when you crack open that egg. Self love is the first great sin, and it's the great idol of our age, and it is the idol that is the most tempting to all of us.

Including me. And the real danger of our day is that we will be influenced by the world to become lovers of self. To become a follower of our own ideas and impulses rather than followers of God. Once a person becomes a lover of himself.

Or herself, they can easily become any of the descriptions. That Paul gives here in these first few verses of 2 Timothy 3, all the while they may hold to a form of religion that has some Christian elements sprinkled in here and there, but their religion is ultimately a religion of self where they are sitting. On the throne And our world today is all about the religion of self, is it not? Nowadays you can blaspheme, literally you can blaspheme God all you want.

But you dare not say a disagreeable word against somebody's sense of self. Whether it be their gender identity or sexual orientation or their sense of their own truth, to speak against somebody's sense of self has become the new blasphemy. Because as we learned from First John, if the world system is about anything. It's about each person being unhindered in carrying out the lust of their own flesh, the lust of their own eyes.

And the boastful pride in themselves. When Jesus began his public ministry in the Gospels, the very first word out of his mouth? Repent. But the world will never tell you to repent.

Rather than telling you to repent of your sins, the world will tell you to take pride in your sins. And they will do all they can to bring you on board with them, and that's the danger. That Paul is primarily thinking of here, which leads me to the second plea that I would want to put before you by way of encouraging you to continue in the things that you have learned. Number 2, turn away from evil mentors.

Turn away from evil mentors. After giving the ugly descriptions that Paul has just given, Paul then says in verse 5 to Timothy, avoid such men as these. He actually tells Timothy what to do with regard to people like this. He says, avoid them.

As to why Timothy is to avoid such men as these, Paul continues in verse 6 and says, for among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And just as Janus and Jambris oppose Moses, so these men also oppose the truth. Men of depraved mind rejected as regards. The faith Paul counsels Timothy to avoid such people as those that he has just described in these first few verses of the chapter.

Literally, he's calling Timothy to turn away from. These people He's saying, do not give them your ear. Do not give them your heart. Do not give them your eyes.

Do not give them a position of influence in your life. And we don't have time to break down everything that Paul is saying in these verses here, but the reason Timothy is to avoid such people is because they are people who take captive those who are vulnerable to deceptions. They are people, he says, who are always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of what is really true. And the reason they don't come to the knowledge of the truth is not because the truth is hard to be seen.

Or because the truth isn't there to be seen, but they don't come to the knowledge of the truth because they actually he says here, oppose the truth, literally resist the truth. They don't fail to come to the knowledge of the truth because the truth lacks evidence to validate itself. They don't know the truth because they don't like the truth, and so they resist the truth, and they resist the truth because they have a problem with their mind, they have a depraved mind and are rejected with regard.

To the faith This is why guys, we need Christ to even come to the knowledge of the truth.

If you're not sure what the truth about Christ is, don't push him aside and try to arrive at that truth on your own. You need him to bring you even to the truth about him. Come to Jesus and ask him to show you the truth about him and ask him to rescue you from your depraved mind. And ask him to take away your resistance, your innate resistance to the truth.

But there are people who don't do this. They have a depraved mind. They hate the truth, and They would love to help you journey through life on the same path that they are on. Solomon teaches us that he who walks with wise men will be wise.

Paul teaches us that bad company corrupts good morals. Few things will have greater impact upon the shape of your soul and the shape of your destiny than the companions that you choose to walk with through life. Tell me who your friends are today. And I'll tell you what you will be like tomorrow.

Tell me who has your ear today and I will tell you what you will likely be like tomorrow. When Paul tells Timothy here to turn away from such people, he's not saying that a Christian should never hang out with non-Christians. He's telling you to refuse to give such people positions of influence. In your life So you need to be honest with yourself with regard to these friendships and ask yourself who's doing the influencing here.

Am I furthering the work of the gospel in their life, or are they furthering the work of the world. In my life And if they are the ones doing the influencing of you. Then Paul says, turn away. And resist their influence.

And by the way, it's not just in the context of friendships. That you allow people positions of influence in your life. when any of us, watch movies or read books or TV shows or listen to music, we're bringing ourselves in those moments into a relationship with the producers of such things that is actually even more lopsided than a relationship with an ungodly friend because the relationship between us. And the producers of such things is a completely one way relationship.

They are the ones doing all the influencing and we are doing no influencing of them. Which means that they, the producers of these things, have all of the power in the relationship. You can't talk back to them, you can't reason with them. You can't argue with them or evangelize them because it's a one-way relationship where they have all the power.

And because of this power differential, Paul would tell you all the more to be discerning. And ultimately to turn away from. Such persons who are ungodly and wicked. And to turn away from the garbage that they produce.

There's a third plea that I have for you by way of urging you to continue in the things that you have learned. Number 3, realize that evil is never static, but progresses like a disease. Realize that evil is never static but it progresses like a disease. Speaking about these wicked souls whom he has just described, Paul says in verse 9.

But they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all as also that of those two came to be the two that. Paul is talking about here is Jannus and Jambris, the magicians who opposed Moses by imitating his miracles. They succeeded in opposing Moses for a time, but eventually their folly became obvious to all, and God prevailed. Moses prevailed.

And Paul is saying that this will happen to everyone. Who opposes the truth. When he tells us that evil people will not make further progress, what he implies is that evil people do make some progress. Against the cause of truth, evil opposes the truth and makes advances against the truth in a culture which is what we see happening today.

Evil disguises itself as good and harmless and works its way into the culture until it is esteemed good. And in the process of this happening, minds get reshaped, a culture gets reshaped. And a society's greatest madness begins to seem normal to itself, but Paul is promising that one day these fools will be halted in their progress and their foolishness will become obvious to all. Not only in this life, but especially in the life to come.

Speaking of progressing in the wrong direction, let's jump ahead and look in verse 13 where Paul says, evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You see the progression. Described there, evil people do not remain static in their evil, but they are becoming more and more evil in incremental stages as they deceive others and allow themselves to be deceived. And this will happen to you.

If you allow evil a place. In your life If you allow sin into your life without repentance, don't think for a minute that the devil will leave you alone now that you have stumbled into that sin. The devil always wants to go further with you, and the sin that you have just committed. Is a part of his larger strategy to get you.

To go further. Any sin that you are tolerating in your life right now. Becomes a beachhead where the devil can set up operations to advance even further his agenda in your life. The devil knows you well enough to know that there are things that right now, you would never dare do.

There are sins he knows that you would never dare commit. But he has a plan in place to get you. To do those unthinkable things 10 years from now. And lying between the present moment.

And that moment 10 years from now. Lie 100,000 temptations and compromises that he is planning for you. 100,000 little defeats that are designed to reshape your soul in such a way that in 10 years, the right temptation comes along and you will find yourself acting out and doing the very thing that right now, you would never imagine. Yourself capable of.

And I know this is true. I've seen it. With my own eyes as a pastor, I have sat with people who have committed sins. That a few years earlier, they would have fought themselves completely incapable of.

I remember one young man sitting in my office with both hands. Grabbing fistfuls of his own hair. And sobbing, literally hitting his head repeatedly against the wall of my office. Because of a sin that he had committed.

He was so distraught over what he had done. And he never dreamed that he would descend to the point where he would do what he had done, but he ended up there because of thousands of little compromises and defeats. That's the way evil works. It's the way evil will work in your life unless you.

Continue in the things that you have learned and fight the fight of faith. There's a 4th plea that I would make to you this morning by way of urging you to continue in the things you have learned. Number 4, continue in what you've learned even when doing so brings hardship. Continue in the things you've learned even.

When doing so brings hardship. Listen to how Paul speaks to Timothy beginning in verse 10. He looks back on Timothy's past behavior and presents a stark contrast to the. Ugliness of the descriptions that he gave in the first few verses.

He says to Timothy in verse 10, but you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance. Persecutions and sufferings such as happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured and out of them all the Lord delivered me. And indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however. Continue in the things you have learned. And become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned.

Them Paul commends Timothy for following his teaching and conduct. Even in the face of suffering, but Paul wants Timothy not to give up the fight. He calls upon Timothy to go against the flow and continue in the things he's learned and become convinced of. And by the way, the fact that Paul is giving this call to Timothy after all that Timothy has already endured for Christ shows us that none of us.

Ever grow beyond the point. Where we need to be reminded. To go against the flow of this world and continue in the things we've learned. And that goes for.

The moms and the dads gathered here today, one of my favorite, features of the chosen. TV series on the life of Christ is that. Somewhere after the opening teaser in every episode, music will begin and a graphic will appear that shows a bunch of fish all going in one direction and then a lone fish does a U-turn and starts swimming. Against the flow of traffic, and then eventually you see other fish.

Making a U-turn and start swimming. Against the grain with that first fish, and that's not just wasted time for me. I'm always mesmerized by that and I watch that graphic every time it comes on all the way to the end. I love the graphic because that's what Jesus led his disciples to do.

When he called them. Jesus literally was leading a rebellion against the world of his day, and he taught his disciples to swim with him. In the opposite direction that everyone else was swimming in. Some of you young people.

You like being a rebel. That's fair How about rebelling against the world? And going against the flow of this world system. You seriously wanna be that person who just does what everyone else in the world around you does, or will you be willing to swim against the stream of traffic and take as many people with you as you can?

What a sad life to go through life and reach your deathbed. And the one thing you got right is you went with the flow. You just flowed with everybody else around you. Especially the direction the world wanted you to go.

Believing in Christ is taking a U-turn. And going against the flow of traffic, even going against. The sin that indwells us. That's what Timothy has done and Paul is wanting Timothy to remain, to continue and the things that Timothy has learned and become convinced of.

Even though he's going to get persecuted, he has been and he will get persecuted for it. And this is what I would plead with you young people to be resolved to do. When you look around you and see other people who profess the name of Christ, who've had the conversion experiences. And they're giving their testimonies of deconversion, you continue in the things you have learned.

And don't become like them. When other people are giving away ground to the devil. You continue in the things that you have learned. When others around you are acting as if getting drunk is not a big deal, don't be a fool.

Remember. The scripture And show some spine. And remembering scripture where it says do not get drunk with wine. That's God's will for you, but be filled continuously with the spirit and don't go with the flow.

When people who profess Christ start talking like maybe homosexuality is a beautiful thing after all. They aren't original thinkers. They're just going with the flow. Don't join them in that.

Continue in the things that you have learned and walk in God's eternal truth. When our world reaches a place where you can be arrested. For simply reading aloud passages of scripture about marriage, or where you can lose your job for simply speaking biblical truth about sex and marriage, be willing to endure. That hardship and persecution hold fast to the truth.

Keep speaking the truth and love, knowing that the same world that hates you hated Jesus also. And know that the lies. That are contrary to the truth will one day be revealed. And exposed for the lives that they are.

To encourage Timothy to continue in the things he has learned, Paul encourages Timothy to think of those from whom he has learned the truth. In verse 14, this would include Timothy's mother, Eunice, his grandmother Lois, along with Paul, who discipled him. It would also include all those godly souls who taught Timothy the scriptures in his youth. And I would plead with you young people to do the same.

Think about those who have taught you the scriptures over the years. Think about your parents who have raised you. Think about. Your Sunday school teachers who prayed for you and prepared lessons for you week after week when they could have been doing other things with their time.

Think about your Christian school teachers. Think about your I and youth leaders who took time out of their schedules to invest in you and to teach you. The truth Think about your care group leaders and fellow care group members who've had multiple conversations with you around the truth. Think about The Thank the Lord for them and continue in the things that you have learned, and I know that when I say this actually.

Some of you might think about some of those who have taught you. And you might be unimpressed. Because you see a lot of mess in their lives. And fair enough.

You will soon enough realize how broken you are. And how often you will fail to live up to your highest ideals also. But even noticing their brokenness, appreciate the fact that they and their brokenness have tried to teach you. Maybe so that you would not have to learn lessons the hard way, the way that they have.

Perhaps they have taught you because they want you to learn the truth earlier in life. Than they did. And that you would learn it better than they did, so that you can avoid the mess and the heartache that they have experienced. Biblical principles, whenever they are disregarded, bite back and they bite hard.

And sometimes that happens even in the lives of your teachers. So as you look at the successes. And the failures of those who have taught you God's truth, let all of that, including their failures, show you how true God's word really is. There's a 5th plea that I would give to you.

This morning in the way of encouraging you to continue in the things you've learned. Number 5, use the scriptures to take you deeper into salvation. Use the scriptures to take you deeper into salvation. In the context of reminding Timothy what he knows, Paul speaks to Timothy here in verses 15 and 16, and listen to what he says.

He says, and that, here's another thing, and that from childhood, you have known. The sacred writings. I want you to think about this, and remember this, that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads literally into salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness.

Paul is doing more here than merely pleading with Timothy to remember those in his life. From whom he has learned the truths. Of Christ. He's calling upon Timothy to remember the sacredness and and the power of the word of God, of the scriptures.

He wants Timothy to remember that that he learned the truth that he knows from the sacred writings. Writings that are holy. And writings that were not just powerful enough to bring him to conversion. In the past, but writings which Paul says literally are present tense, continuously able to give you, Timothy, the wisdom that leads into salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

See, Paul isn't just wanting Timothy to remember how the scriptures led him to salvation in the past. He wants Timothy to know that these very scriptures by which he has been saved, or even still at the present time, continuously able to keep giving Timothy the wisdom he needs to go deeper and deeper into salvation. Salvation It is wonderful and it is deep. And I don't know that any of us gathered here today has explored more than 5% of the full realm.

Of salvation in Christ. And Paul is reminding Timothy that there is still so much more salvation for him to learn and experience through the sacred scriptures. So Paul isn't just telling Timothy here to, hey, hang on to your faith. Hold on to what you have.

He's pushing Timothy to go deeper into the salvation. Which he describes as through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. In other words, it is a rescue, a salvation that is centered in Christ Jesus. A salvation that comes through Christ Jesus, a salvation that culminates in Christ Jesus and redounds to the glory of Christ Jesus, who died on the cross and who shed his blood so that through his death and resurrection, Believers in him might have atonement for their sins and be made right with God and experience rescue.

From sin And Paul is telling Timothy here that it is the Bible, it is the scriptures that can take Timothy ever deeper. Into this salvation Not only does Paul tell Timothy that the scriptures are sacred and powerful, but he describes the scriptures as inspired by God. What other book out there? That has been written has been written by an all wise God.

Who created you and who knows you and who loves you and who breathed every word. Paul also describes God's word here as profitable. First of all, he describes God's word as profitable for teaching. Meaning it can teach you everything you need to know about God and about yourself and about salvation and about how to walk through this broken world to heaven.

You wanna understand God, you understand him through the Bible. You wanna understand yourself, you understand yourself through this book. That serves as a mirror to help you to see. Yourself And if you wanna know how to get from where you are to God, it is this book, the Bible that will show you.

Paul also tells Timothy that the scriptures are profitable for reproof. And we all say yay. We love reproof, don't we? This is actually the least popular benefit.

Of the scriptures in any age, but it's especially unpopular. And this fragile era. Reproof is the one thing. That people absolutely don't want.

Nowadays from anyone and when they do hear reproof, they view it as a form of hate speech. That harms them. And before you shake your heads in disgust at such people. The sad truth is we're all a bunch of snowflakes.

Naturally, right? None of us likes to be reproved. I don't just ask my wife. I can be a total snowflake.

When reproof comes in moments when it is needed, and yet don't we all deep down value people in our lives who speak raw unvarnished truth to us. We, we hunger for that, and when we get it, yeah, it rocks our world, but it's a breath of fresh air. When we go to the doctor, we don't want a doctor who just tells us what we want to hear, right? We want a doctor who will speak truth to us regarding what is wrong with us so that we then know what we're dealing with.

And this is what the Bible does in our lives, which is why Paul says that it's profitable for reproof. The Bible is a book written by a God who loves you so much that he will always be honest with you and speak the blunt truth to you, holding up a mirror in front of you so that you can see yourself and your fundamental problem, which is sin. And fortunately, that's not all that God does through his word. Imagine if Paul said, the scriptures profitable for teaching and for reproof.

Amen. Imagine he stopped there. No, look what he says, and it's profitable for correction. Which is a beautiful word.

The Greek word translated correction here is the word used to speak of mending a broken bone or straightening out something that is crooked. So thankfully the scripture. It's not just something that merely points out what is wrong with us, but the scriptures also have the power to fix us. And the very areas where we are broken or crooked.

But in order to experience that fixing. We must receive the reproof, right? And we must come to agree with the reproof. By the way, when Paul says here that the Bible is profitable for correction, he's not saying that all you gotta do is throw a Bible verse at a problem.

And it is solved, but he is saying that if you read the Bible. And you follow the scriptures into a relationship with Jesus that is lived out within. The context of a group of believers in a local church, like what is described in the Bible, you will find that the Bible helps you to grow in wholeness in the very areas where you are broken. Paul also says the scriptures are profitable for training and righteousness.

And fundamentally that means teaching us about the righteousness of Christ. The scriptures teach us that if we believe in Jesus, God forgives us of our sins and, and he clothes us in the righteousness of Jesus. God renders a verdict upon our life when we believe in Jesus and declares us to be justified or righteous before him, and he promises to forever think of us in this way as forgiven righteous ones. And the scriptures are profitable for teaching us about this reality and showing us how to walk in the good of this justification and to be motivated by it to live righteous lives being motivated by grace.

The grace of Christ. God's word is profitable for such things. So, I challenge you to make the word of God your number one resource. That you use every day as you seek to continue in the things you've learned and go deeper into salvation.

There's a final plea that I would lay before you that serves as an essential part of continuing in the things you've learned. Yes, you should use the scriptures to press ever more deeply into the experience of salvation through Christ, but you need to do this for another reason as well, and this leads me to the final plea. Number 6, use the scriptures to get equipped for every good work. Use the scriptures to get equipped for every good work.

Listen to how Paul ends in verse 17. He wants Timothy to know that God's word is profitable for all the things he's just listed, so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work. Paul is actually using very strong language here. The scriptures.

Do not merely equip us in part. They equip us totally. Literally, Paul says that the man of God may be equipped, comma, totally equipped for every good work. Paul wants every one of us who know the Lord to go out into the world in strength, fully equipped to pierce the darkness of this world and to live a life of good deeds.

And he's telling us here that the scriptures can equip us. To do that. Evidently, God does not just want you to hold on to your faith in these difficult, perilous days. He wants you to get equipped for a life of meaningful service to others.

And his word can equip you. To do that and that ought to excite you. But in order to experience this help from the scriptures, you must be a reader. Of scripture and a student of scripture.

You should not just sit through sermons and Bible lessons, you should devour them. And you should ask questions about the things that you do not understand. And the more you do this. The more you will experience the profit.

That the scriptures are designed to yield up in your life and the more equipped you will be. To serve others. Sometimes I hear young people. Who bemoan the fact that they don't have a great salvation testimony of deliverance from some terrible lifestyle that other people.

May have been saved out of. They believed in Christ at a young age. And maybe are showing the fruit of salvation in their life, but they hear all these other amazing testimonies and their salvation testimony just seems lame by comparison. But what?

That's my testimony, and it has never bothered me at all. I was raised in a Christian home. I've never been involved in some of the more visible sins that others have been involved in. I don't know what it's like to be drunk.

I don't know what it's like to get high or to be addicted to drugs. My wife and I were both virgins when we got married. Yet I don't feel like my salvation testimony is lacking at all. why?

Because the sins I am guilty of are no less sinful. than those committed. By the most dramatic of sinners. You'd be amazed.

At all the ways I have still found to get involved in sin from which Christ has had to save me. Sin that I've gotten involved in before salvation and since, in fact, my worst sins have been committed since. I became a Christian, with full conviction, I can tell you that I am genuinely the worst sinner that I know. And I can also tell you that Jesus is a totally amazing savior for saving me.

On top of that, I view the sins I never committed as sins that Christ delivered me from. Some sins Christ saves us out of, other sins, he saves some from ever committing in the first place, but he still gets all the glory for that, right? Either way, both deliverances are equally miraculous, and we give him glory for both kinds of deliverance. Because I know what I'm capable of.

I am worse than the sum of the sins I've actually committed. I'm capable of all the sins that I have not committed. And it is the grace of Jesus Christ and a saving work in my life that has kept me from those sins. That I would have easily committed apart from his saving work in my life.

But there's another reason I'm good with my testimony. My salvation testimony, and that is because when I, I gave my life to the ministry at the age of 18, I determined that my salvation testimony would not just be a testimony of deliverance but of usefulness. Of being used by Christ to help others obtain freedom from Satan's clutches, and every time from that day to this, that Christ uses me. To further his work in anyone else's life, my salvation testimony grows richer and wider.

And I'm good with that. If you're here this morning as a young person and your salvation testimony seems lame to you comparing it to the testimony of others, it's partly because you don't understand yet how much of a sinner you really are and how great the grace of Christ is even toward you, but you'll learn that in good time if you keep going deeper into your salvation. And you'll look back one day, and you'll see that your salvation testimony is already more amazing than you right now realize.

And on top of that, Christ isn't done saving you from sin.

Trust me, there are sins that are in your life that you don't even see yet, and there are sins that will show up later. That you don't even know about yet, and Christ will be your good savior. He will deliver you from those sins if you belong to him, and you will give him glory and you will love him all the more. For his amazing grace in your life.

If your salvation testimony feels lame to you, it's partly because your salvation story isn't finished. Jesus isn't done saving you. He's not done saving any of us. There is still so much more of salvation that all of us have yet to experience.

So I would encourage you to open your Bible, to read your Bible daily and let it take you deeper and deeper into this salvation that Christ has saved you into. And remember that your salvation testimony is not just about the story of Christ saving you from your sins. It also includes the good works that God has prepared beforehand so that you could walk in them. And be a blessing to others.

To be an instrument of grace in the lives of others and to be a difference maker for eternity. So continue in the things you've learned. The things that you have become convinced of, let God's word equip you for the amazing adventure. Of helping others in the journey from brokenness to wholeness through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just as we close. This morning, I just wanna say to you young people, our, our goal in investing in you and teaching you and parenting you is not in order to raise you. To become Just like us Trust me when I say that. Our goal Is to raise you to be better than us.

Our goal is to enable you to stand on our shoulders and to see further in your day than we have been able to see in ours. So that in a future day we can listen to you and learn from you. As you tell us what you see, our goal is that you will advance in holiness beyond what we have achieved. Our goal is that your life will not feature the wasted years and brokenness that is in our lives.

Our goal is that you would do greater works than we were ever able to do. And because this is our goal, we as parents grieve every way that we have failed you, and have failed to be an example of the very things that we're talking about this morning. We grieve every moment of sin and anger and failure that has affected you in a negative way. We grieve every good thing that we failed to do.

We grieve every moment that has gone by when we did not enjoy you to. The fullest. All such failures on our part, are actually part of the reason why we cling to Jesus. And believe him to be such a great savior, we're amazed that he would love us despite our many shortcomings, and this is why we want you to walk with him too.

We know from experience that Jesus is the only savior who will never let us down and who always stands ready to forgive us whenever we let him down. If you are here this morning and you've never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. What is not to love about a savior like this? Run to Jesus, believe in him, call upon his name.

And experience the forgiveness of sins through him. Our goal for you young people is that you would give your life to the things that matter, things that are of eternal significance, things that will actually survive the fires of judgment Day. When you stand before God at the judgment, we want you to be glad that we were your parents, your teachers, and your pastors. This is our heart, this is our desire for you.

This is our concern for your soul. And our hearts feel a little bit lighter right now. Because we've been able to unburden. Our hearts and share these things with you.

And I thank you for listening. Let's pray together. Lord, you are. Sovereign Overall, it is you who turned the hearts of kings in the direction you would have them go.

It is you who turns. The hearts of men and women and boys and girls in the direction you would have them go. We are utterly dependent upon you to save us. To even bring us to a knowledge of the truth, and I pray, Lord, that you would just pour out your mercy.

On all of us Pour out your mercy on every person in this room. Or in this place and. That you would draw every soul to yourself. That you would remove scales from.

Eyes that all gathered here today would see. You for the beautiful savior, the beautiful person that you are. And that they would consider it upon seeing your beauty and intolerable suffering to live one more day apart from you. Help us, Lord, to, as believers to.

More faithfully display the beauty of this savior to all. Help the moms and dads, Lord, to love their children well. And show forth the beauty and the truth of Christ. For our young people, Lord, that are here in the cornerstone family.

Protect them from the evil one, help them to walk. The path that you have laid out for them and to continue and the things they've learned. And that they would go on for you in the days to come and. That Those who are young people now would just be champions for you.

They would write songs for you and draw pictures for you and deliver speeches and messages for you and evangelize souls. And make beautiful music. For you and use their gifts for you. That they would stand on our shoulders and see much in their day beyond what we've been able to see.

And if that happens, Lord, we will rejoice. And give you all the glory. And anywhere and in any heart where repentance is needed this morning, Lord, give the gift of repentance. And May They know the truth of your words when you say anyone who comes to me, anyone who comes to me.

I will not in any way cast them out. Because you are a savior for sinners and that's who you came for. Thank you Lord for your word, for revealing your heart to us all this morning. We give you thanks in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said,