Total Devotion in the Last Days

Lord, I'm just reminded, In our service this morning, how you speak to us in 1 Peter chapter 2, and, and you speak words of identity into us and you tell us who have believed in Christ for salvation. You say to us that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for your own possession.

So that we, Lord, we have been saved. And brought into relationship with you and brought together as a people so that we may proclaim the excellencies. Of you who have called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. We are called, Lord, to proclaim your Excellencies.

We are called to be a light in this increasingly dark world in which we live, and I pray, Lord, that you would help me, help all of us together to be A church that shines as a light full of people who shine as lights throughout the week and who proclaim your Excellencies through the lives we lead. And through the words that we speak as we hold the name of Jesus high. Help us to do that, even this morning. May any observers know that you truly are excellent by both what I say.

As I speak this morning, and may they also observe that and how all of us listen. To your voice this morning. We need your voice. There are so many voices clamoring for our attention, and we have heard thousands of voices this past week.

And we are hungry, Lord, to hear your voice in this gathering, and we thank you for the degree to which we already have from the Book of Colossians and, and the songs of worship which we have sung that have pointed us to truth that you have communicated to us. I thank you for all these brothers and sisters who are here today, Lord, it's such a blessing to be their brother. And to be their servant. They are blood-bought saints, and I pray that you would help me this morning to serve them well.

And I ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen. Anyway, 2 Timothy chapter 3, we're gonna look at the entirety of this chapter. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through, 17, and this is a part of our total devotion series. 2000 years ago, In the first century AD, the New Testament writers were talking to people as if they were already living in what we would consider the last days.

And that the church was brought into existence in order to be a light for Christ in the last days of human history. Take for example, the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, on the birthday of the church. He's explaining what is happening to the 120. who were filled with the spirit and speaking in tongues of the mighty deeds of God.

And Peter quotes from the prophet Joel, where God says through the prophet Joel, this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel, and it shall be in the last days. God says that I will pour forth of my spirit. That's what Peter says. This is what the prophet Joel was saying that in the last days, God says I will pour forth of my Spirit.

Another example is James. Who possibly as early as AD 45 rails against people who saved up all of their wealth rather than using it in service to other people. And James says to his, to the wealthy who were doing this, it is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure. In the mind of James, it's one thing to store up all of your treasure for yourself rather than for God and for His kingdom purposes.

It's another thing to do that. In the last days. James' language implies that there's an extra burden of responsibility on those who find themselves living in the last days. It's like driving through a construction zone.

All fines are doubled. It's extra important when you're going through a construction zone that you obey the laws and living in the last days, it's doubly important. Everything gets magnified, what we're called to do as well as the wrongness of our sins. So think about it for a minute.

If James and Peter In the first century talk like they were living in the last days, and we are living 2000 years after James and Peter, then what would we call the days that we find ourselves living in today in 2017? We obviously could say that we're living in the last days, but I think we could probably even go further and say that we're living in the last days of the last days. And the burden of living in this time period. And the urgency of the moment should really grip all of our hearts.

Obviously this is the time of all times to decide whose side we are on. And whatever side we are on, we should be all in. Living lives of total devotion to God and seeking to impact others in that direction as well. Amen.

but the question is, how do we wield that impact for God. That's how we want to invest our lives, but how do we wield that impact for God upon our world today in these last days in which we live? Do we accomplish it by conforming To the culture around us and by making concessions in order to somehow have a voice at the table. Is this the time for us as Christians to loosen our hold on the scriptures?

And actually reduce the number of Bible doctrines that we say we believe in order to at least get people to join us in believing the central story. Of the Bible. Some Christians are trying that. As I'm sure you are aware, I saw a video, several weeks ago in which the atheist, Bill Mauer was speaking about Christians who come up to him and they try to curry favor with him.

By siding with him in his rejection of parts of the Bible. Speaking about such people, he said this, people come up to me all the time and say, Bill, I'm with you. I don't believe in that crazy biblical nonsense, just the central story. They say this in the hopes that Bill Mauer will respect them more than he does the crazy Bible thumpers who actually believe all of the Bible.

But Bill Mauer is not impressed. With such people. In fact, here's what he says to those who say they believe only in the central story of the Bible. He says, oh, you mean the stupidest part?

He continues. He says, come on, God had a son. Time out right there. God has a son.

He's powerful beyond all imagination, he exists in a realm above time and space, but he has kids. What is this bonanza? He then mockingly gives his version of the gospel story. Saying this, this is a part of what he said.

God had a son and he said to him, Jesus, I'm sending you down to earth on a suicide mission. It's gonna hurt for a few days, there's about 3 days you're gonna hate me, but I'm doing this for you, me. Now Jesus, here's the plan, I, God the Father, I'll go down to earth first and see if I can't find a virgin Palestinian woman to impregnate so that she can give birth to you. Bill Mauer concludes by saying this about the incarnation in the gospel that makes up the central story of the Bible.

He says it's one of the silliest stories I've ever heard. And that's what he would say to people who try to let everything else in the Bible go. Except the central story. The truth is, guys, the central story of the Bible is the most scandalous part of the Bible.

Featuring two of the most unscientific notions imaginable, a virgin birth and a resurrection from the dead, along with a salvation that comes only through a crucified savior. There are other people nowadays who claim to be Christians. Who would like to think that they are high impact players for the kingdom of God. Yet they have concluded that the Bible kinda gets in the way of our efforts to reach the world.

And they think that we should come today to people with something other than the Bible. A couple of years ago, Oprah Winfrey was talking to Rob Bell about our modern world's acceptance of gay marriage, and Rob Bell, A former pastor up in Michigan gleefully assured her that the church is coming around to embracing gay marriage as well. And he suggested that churches like ours, Cornerstone, that won't affirm such things are only going to get left behind in the progress of society and lose our voice and our relevance.

He said to her, and I quote, I think the culture is already there and the church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2000 years ago as their best defense.

When you have in front of you flesh and blood people who are your brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just wanna go through life. Rob Bell claims to be a Christian. He even pastored a very large congregation. Up in Michigan, Oprah Winfrey even adores him.

And if he were here today, he would tell us that if we want to make an impact. Upon our culture today, then we shouldn't be quoting from the Bible to defend the rightness of our position on issues like marriage. So what do we do? Do we follow Rob Bell's counsel?

Do the last days that we live in require that we lessen our devotion to this 2000 year old book and start throwing overboard its plain teaching and try to reach the world through some other means? Our desire, I believe, here at Cornerstone is to be totally devoted to God and to make an impact. For him in these last days, but how do we do that? On 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul shows us how.

Basically, what we find in our passage today are 5 instructions that Paul gives to help us to be totally devoted, high impact players for God in these last days in which we live. Let's work our way through these instructions. Instruction number 1 is this, Realize you just got to get this down up front. If you're gonna be an impact player for God in these last days, realize that difficult times will come because of evildoers.

Look at Paul's counsel in verse one, he says, but realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. Why will the last days be difficult? Is it because of Christians quoting from a 2 1000 year old book? No, look at the reason Paul Gibbs.

He says, for men, verse 2 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. That's the reason. Difficult times will come in the last days. When a society of people is filled with a growing number of people matching these descriptions, no one is safe.

And Christians will often not be able to live without danger and difficulty also. As for Paul's descriptions in verses 2 through 4, you might miss this if you're not paying attention. we learned a couple of weeks ago that the greatest commandment in all of the law is to love God with all of our being. Yet here in verses 2 through 4, we see that Paul's description of evildoers begins with the fact that they are lovers of themselves, and it ends with a statement that they are not lovers of God.

And that's almost all you need to know about them. Everything in between is merely a manifestation of their love for self and their lack of love for God. In fact, actually, all in all, we see a word for love 6 times. In the Greek text of verses 2 through 4, in verse 2, we're told that men will be lovers of self and lovers of money.

In verse 3, we're told that men will be unloving and haters of good is the way most translations put this, but the literal Greek is without love. Of good. So the word love is actually there inside the word that is translated as haters. In verse 4, we're told that men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Clearly, in the last days, people will be plagued by a love disorder. Misdirected love. That is not toward God but is directed inward towards themselves. Running through the full length of Paul's descriptions, look at Paul's explanation as to why the last days will present difficulties for everyone, including the people of God.

And we'll just go through this quickly. He says, for men will be lovers of self, and it's because they love themselves that they are lovers of money. Because money empowers people to do what they want to do and it feeds their ego, it feeds their pride, and it also gives the Harvey Weinstein's of the world power to exploit others for decades and intimidate their victims. Into silence.

According to Paul, such people show their self-love also by being boastful. And arrogant. As for how they talk about others, he says they are revilers of others. They revile those who stand in their way or who do not agree with their agenda, or they revile those who compete.

With them for the adulation of others. They're also so full of love for themselves that they're disobedient to parents, and they are ungrateful. They feel that the good that comes to them is owed to them and when bad things happen, they curse. On top of that, they're unholy, knowing nothing of the purity of Christ.

They're also unloving, which means without natural affection, without natural family. Affection towards spouse and parents and siblings and children, including their unborn children. They're without natural affection. Toward those that they're physically intimate with.

Sex is just a body thing in their mind and requires no covenantal relational context at all, which by the way, is so unnatural. They're also relationally challenged in that they're irreconcilable toward those that they are at odds with. On top of that, they are malicious gossips against others. They're without self-control when it comes to their own impulses, sexual and otherwise.

In fact, nowadays, who needs self-control? When you live in a society where your every impulse is pronounced good. These people, Paul says, are brutal in their treatment of others. They're willing to exploit others for their pleasure and for their gain.

They are haters of good and they love evil instead. In verse 4, we see that they are treacherous, which is the same word that is used to speak of Judas who betrayed Jesus. They are reckless and they are conceited. Becoming increasingly bold and daring and risky.

In their sin, thinking that they will get by with what they do. They're also lovers of hedonism, literally is the idea. Lovers of pleasure. Their motto is, if it feels good to me, then it must be good.

Therefore, if it feels good. Do it. And they happily live by that motto, and Paul says that such people are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They disobey the foremost commandment in the law to love God with all their being, to love God with total devotion, and instead they love themselves with total absolute devotion.

Seriously, these, these descriptions that we see in verses 23, and 4. Are the descriptions of those who are living a life of total devotion. To self. In spite of all of this, we're told in verse 5 that such people are often found holding to a form of godliness.

This means that many of them are religious. Their lives feature in some cases a certain religiosity or spirituality. Many of them attend church on Sunday. And might even bring their Bibles with them to church.

Some of them may even wear religious robes and serve as pastors of churches and Sunday school teachers and professors at religious seminaries. They write blogs on religious websites. They use religious vocabulary and even will use the terminology of the Bible to advocate. For their wickedness.

But here's the problem, though they hold to an external shell of godliness, they have denied its power, which is the gospel. This denial is on, on two levels. First of all, they, they deny the power of God and His gospel to actually change anybody's life. And secondly, In their own personal life, they have personally refused the power of God, which could have changed them.

Which was available to them in the gospel. They've rejected the power of God. But they hold to a shell externally of godliness because it serves their aim. Their selfish purposes.

Paul is telling Timothy and he's telling us that in the last days, there will be a growing number of people who live wicked lives of total devotion to themselves rather than to God, and such people will also be found holding to a form of godliness at the same time, though they are denying its power. In other words, we should read this and expect in the last days. To see a growing number of professing Christians who embrace evil and call it good. Yet all the while acting like they're Christians and a part of the true church.

And guys, when you see that happening, Realize that God told us that this would happen in the last days, and he has a plan for how we ought to behave while we observe this happening. And this brings us to Paul's 2nd instruction as to how we should be totally devoted. Followers of Christ making an impact for Christ in these last days in which we live. The question is, should we just go along with such people that Paul has just described.

Or should we lose heart and despair? Absolutely not. Instruction number 2, Paul tells us to make sure we do this, and that is to confidently turn away from foolish advocates of evil. Turn away with confidence from foolish advocates of evil.

Look at Paul's instruction at the end of verse 5. He says, avoid such men as these. The word translated avoid is the Greek word that means to turn away from. The point is that as such people are advocating for their point of views and they're seeking to influence people to their way of thinking, do not give them your ear.

Others may be turning to these advocates for evil and listening to them, but you should turn away from them. And not let them influence you. One iota, turn away from what they're saying, turn away from their brand of religion. Turn away from their teaching, turn away from their lifestyle.

Why should we turn away from such men? Look at what Paul says in verse 6. He 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 The beginning of verse 6 could literally be translated this way, for among them are those who enter into the houses, not just houses, but the houses.

In other words, the houses where Christians met for worship. Also, the word enter means to enter by stealth. Some translations use the word creep. These people are creepers.

who creep into houses of worship. Right now, we have a rodent problem in the Vincent house. As some of, we never invited those rodents into Our home, but they have crept in unawares and have taken up residence in our home. That's what false teachers do.

Only what they do is worse. In fact, a good paraphrase of what Paul is saying here is this. Among them are those who worm their way into the houses of worship, pretending to be Christians when they are not. And then once they're inside and once they're accepted as Christians, they immediately seek to captivate others and exploit the weakest among them.

Literally, Paul says in verse 6 that they captivate little women. This expression clearly speaks of actual women of weak moral character. But Paul probably also uses this term to speak of men who spiritually speaking are girly men. Men who are cowardly and who are weak.

These are spiritual sissies who are easily captivated and led astray by any false teacher who comes along. Paul describes these little women as being weighed down with sins and a guilty conscience that goes along with that, and these people These weak souls are led on by various sinful impulses. These weak and these carnal and guilt-ridden people love to learn some new thing. Always chasing after the latest fad that serves to distract them or lighten the load of their guilt.

Yet Paul says they're always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, just like the false teachers. who lead them astray. The fact that they're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth and they're weighed down with sins and they're gullible and have weak moral character makes them easy targets for false teachers. Look at how Paul describes.

These false teachers in verse 8, he says, just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth, men of depraved mind rejected in regard to the faith. The names Jannus and Jambris are not actually mentioned in the Old Testament. but Jewish tradition tells us that these are the names of the Egyptian magicians in Exodus chapter 7, who sought to imitate Moses' miracles in order to keep the Pharaoh from listening to Moses when Moses was saying, Let my people go.

The goal of these magicians was to keep Pharaoh from listening to Moses, so they used imitation.

As far as they were able. In order to prevent Pharaoh from listening to Moses. Moses, as, many of, turned his staff into a snake, and these magicians do the same thing, turning their staff into a snake. Moses turns the waters of Egypt to blood and these magicians were able to pull off a similar trick.

Moses sends frogs upon the land of Egypt, and these magicians somehow managed to do something similar to that as well. They oppose Moses by imitating him. Moses does a miracle, they do a miracle, and their point is to Pharaoh, listen to us because we can do everything that he can do. And Paul's point here is that false teachers will do the same.

What God's people do on some level, false teachers will try to do that also. They'll seek to imitate teachers of the truth as much as they can. In order to keep people from listening to the truth of the gospel and get people to listen to them instead. They'll even wear religious robes.

They'll even get seminary degrees. They will even use the Bible as it suits their purposes. They will try to cloak their false teaching with biblical sounding terminology. They may even perform a miracle or two, but Paul says, don't be deceived.

Their purpose is to oppose the truth. These are men, Paul says, of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. These are not saved men, they're lost. Guys, every time someone online says they're a Christian, And quotes from the Bible and uses words like holy.

And good terminology that's in the Bible does not mean that you need to believe everything they say. As for the future of these false teachers, Paul encourages Timothy to be patient and confident. Even while they push their false teaching. And lead others astray.

Look at what Paul says in verse 9. He says, but they, the false teachers, will not make further progress, for their folly, their foolishness will one day be obvious to all, just as Janice and Jambres folly or foolishness was also. In other words, Paul is saying that in God's providence, these false teachers will make progress up to a point, but there will come a day when their progress will be stopped. And when the foolishness of their teaching will be exposed and made obvious to everybody.

In the book of Exodus, there was a point where Moses After the 3rd miracle was able to outperform the miracles of Janus and Jambris and prove that he was the one who should have Pharaoh's ear. In fact, as an example, Moses turned his staff into a snake and these magicians turned their staff into a snake, but then Moses' snake ate up their snake. And like I said, they were able to imitate the 1st 3 miracles that Moses did. But after that, Moses continued on with miracles, and they could no longer imitate the miracles that were being done through Moses.

And there was a point where these magicians came to Pharaoh in Exodus 7 and basically said, what Moses is doing is the finger of God. They knew he had something that they did not have. And Paul is assuring Timothy that such a day is going to come for us who abide in the truth as well. If we stay true to the truth of the gospel.

Anyone who opposes the truth will one day be shown to be a fool, and you can take that to the bank, and their folly will become evident to everybody. Do we need to hear this promise today? This is good to hear. We absolutely need to receive this assurance from Paul.

Yes, there are wrongheaded notions that are being pushed and embraced today by evildoers in our society, millennia. Of wisdom and common sense is being turned on its head. And it seems that a growing number of people are jumping on board, even among those who call themselves Christians. But let's not lose our bearings.

A day is coming when the advocates of these falsehoods will be exposed for what they are. And when their notions and their morality will be exposed for the absolute foolishness that it is. And the truth of Jesus Christ will one day literally devour all false teaching. So what should Timothy do in the meantime and what should we do in the meantime?

This leads us to the 3rd instruction of Paul to help Timothy and to, to help us to be totally devoted impact players for God in these last days. Number 3, let's word it this way, remember the gospel path that you have followed up to this point. Remember the gospel path that you have followed up to this point. Paul wants Timothy to stay the course and to encourage him to do that, he actually points Timothy to the path that Timothy has been on over the previous 15 years.

Listen to what he says in verses 10 and 11. He says, Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings. The word that's translated followed is the Greek word that literally means to follow alongside of. To follow alongside of.

It means to follow someone who is also a companion. Timothy has been Paul's companion in ministry for about 15 years now. For some of those years, Timothy traveled with Paul. He ministered alongside Paul.

Timothy got to watch from close range, how Paul lived his life and ministered to others and how Paul handled hardships and persecutions. And Timothy didn't just passively witness all of that close up, but he also, Paul says, followed along with Paul's example. Doing the very things that he saw Paul doing, imitating Paul. He did this to such a degree that Paul could commend Timothy here and say, you followed along with my teaching.

My conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance. Even persecutions and sufferings such as happened to me at Antioch, Iconium. And at Lystra Paul mentions these locations because Timothy was from Lystra. That's where Paul met Timothy.

And his mom And Antioch and Iconium are clustered in the same area. Paul's suffering in these very cities would have been the first memories that Timothy would have had of the apostle Paul. And it was here in Lystra, by the way, where Paul was stoned. And I believe you can read about that in Acts 14.

The sufferings that happened to Paul and that happened to Timothy are something that any Christian should expect in their own life. Also, look at the truism that Paul states in verse 12. He says, indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Though these persecutions will come at different times and in varying levels of intensity.

In different periods of church history. And in your own personal journey, Paul states that this is a truth for all Christians of all times. Once you embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, and have within you the desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you instantly become a fish traveling upstream in a downstream world. And you will be.

Persecuted At some point And why is that? Well, because you're swimming against the current, which is actually flowing in the opposite direction. Look at what Paul says in verse 13, evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Paul is teaching us that evil is not static.

It's not motionless and evil people are not static either, they're going from bad to worse, flowing downstream into greater depths of wickedness, and those who are traveling in that direction from bad to worse are encouraging each other in this mass delusion, deceiving and happily being deceived. And when God saves a person out of that, and that person starts seeking to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, that person begins by their life to puncture holes in the mass delusion.

So evildoers will do everything they can to deceive you and get you off that path so that you will join them in going from bad to worse. And when you refuse, they will hate you and they will persecute you.

You need to just expect this if you want to be godly in Christ Jesus. So what is Timothy to do in such circumstances? What are we to do? This leads us to the next instruction of Paul.

To us To be totally devoted impact players in these last days. Number 4, his challenge to Timothy and to all of us is continue going deeper into the salvation presented in the scriptures. Continue going deeper into the salvation presented in The scriptures. Look at what Paul says in verse 14.

He says, you, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them. Paul is saying to Timothy, the things that you've learned in Christ, the things that you've become convinced of in Christ, remain in those things, knowing from whom you learned them. Let your knowledge of the persons from whom you have learned these things motivate you all the more to remain. Inside the truth of all that you've learned in Christ.

And the number one person that you have learned these things from is God Himself, who gave His Son for your salvation, and who inspired His holy word that has been given to you, Timothy. And Jesus Christ, His Son, who laid down his life for you. No one in the world trying to get you to do evil. would ever do that for you.

And Paul would say in Timothy, there's also me. The apostle Paul who's taught you over these last 15 years since your conversion, and there's your mother and your grandmother who taught you the Bible at a young age and who are praying for you. Remember who you learned these things from and stay the course, Paul says. And look at what he says in verse 15, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

By the way, parents, If you want your children to grow up and be difference makers for God in the last days, train your children in the scriptures from their earliest days. relish the daily opportunities that you have as a parent to mark your children deeply. All of you children's workers, relish the opportunity that you have to deeply mark. The children of this church.

For Christ There are various children's ministries of Ina and Children's church and Sunday school and even the nursery. There are countless opportunities to help the children of Cornerstone to come to know the holy scriptures in their childhood. I'll never forget. A Sunday school teacher that I had when I was, I think, 12 years old.

I know it would have been back in 1976. My Sunday school teacher, was a Marine and he was serious about the word and he was serious about all of us in his class memorizing the scripture. He would assign us every week scripture to memorize and tell us, come back next week and be ready to quote this passage. And when we would show up for Sunday school, we had to quote, What we had memorized in front of the class and our teacher would stand there with a stopwatch in his hand and actually time each one of us as we quoted the scripture, and he would literally give a silver dollar to the student who quoted the passage the fastest.

Because he wanted us to really master it so well that we didn't have to go searching for it. We knew it. And he was willing to put a little money on the line to encourage us to do that, and he didn't just want us to memorize scripture to where we could quote it on Sunday morning and then forget it. I remember him coming over to our house during the week one day.

to talk to my parents about something and the doorbell rang and I went to answer the door and it was him standing at the door and he didn't even say hi to me. He just looked at me and said, 1 Peter 29 and 10. I still remember the passage. I was 12 years old.

1 Peter 2:9 and 10, and I had to quote those verses to him before he would even come into my house. But I'm, I'm forever grateful. For men and women like that who marked my life as a young man. As a child, all of you who are involved in parenting or are involved in our children's ministries, you have incredible opportunity to mark the next generation.

of young people who will be living into the last days, likely a little further than you and I will be able to. And maybe one day they will be motivated to continue in the faith as they ponder the memory of you. last week we learned about King Josiah. And who became king when he was 8, and was converted to the Lord as a youth.

Nothing is said about the people who were instrumental in teaching and instructing him and leading to his conversion to the Lord. Whoever those nameless people were, they shook a kingdom. Because Josiah rose up. And serve the Lord with all of his heart and soul and strength and might and made a huge difference in his day.

And I wonder, Who are the Josiah's that are right now running around the church and through the hallways that are sitting in children's church right now that show up for Iana on Wednesday that are in our nursery right now, that are coming to Sunday school. Who are those future Josiahs? It may just be. That that child that you minister to and encourage.

And teach. May shake a kingdom one day. And the child in your home may do that. Pour yourself into your children and relish these opportunities that we have in abundance to mark the next generation.

Having said all of that, let me encourage you guys to pay very careful attention to Paul's wording. Here in verse 15. Paul does not say to Timothy, he doesn't say this, from childhood, you have known the sacred writings, which were able in the past to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. That would have been a true statement, but that's not what Paul is saying to Timothy here.

Here's what he does say, from childhood, you have known the sacred writings, the sacred scriptures, which are able, present tense. To give you Timothy. wisdom into salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Guys, Paul is wanting Timothy to know that this book, the scriptures that led him to salvation in the past, This book is still at the present powerful to take Timothy even deeper into the experience of salvation.

In Christ. So imagine salvation as a circle. And Timothy has already entered that circle and plumbed some of the depths of salvation, but there are still aspects of salvation inside that circle that Timothy has yet to press into. And Paul is holding the scripture before Timothy, and he's wanting Timothy to know that the scriptures still have great personal value for him at this point of his spiritual journey.

Timothy is a mature Christian. He is literally a pastor to pastors in the city of Ephesus, yet Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, you still have deeper to go. Into salvation, and it is the scriptures that have the power to take you deeper into that salvation. So continue And the scriptural things you've learned because there is still more salvation for you to experience, and this book has the power to take you to those places.

At the present time. Does that make sense? That's Paul's message to Timothy. It's his message to all of us.

Guys, the need of the hour is not so much that we save our culture. The need of the hour is that we as the people of God, first press more deeply into our salvation and that we let the scriptures take us there. And all this leads Paul to deliver what we can say is his final instruction, even though it's implied rather than explicitly stated in his effort to help Timothy and us to be totally devoted impact players in these last days. And that is number 5, know, be mindful of, know the profitability of scripture to equip you for life and for ministry.

Observe what Paul says in verse 16. He says all scripture is inspired. By God. When Paul uses the word scripture, he's referring to all of the Old Testament.

Books of scripture, along with the New Testament books that had thus far been written and for our purposes, Paul's words would also include the New Testament books that would later be written. And included in the canon of Scripture leading to the formation of our Bible that has 66 inspired books in them. And regarding this book, the Bible, Paul says that all scripture is inspired by God. Literally God breathed, meaning spoken by God into existence.

The scriptures are the breath of God made audible in the form of articulate words. And they're recorded for us. We have the very words of God in this book that are available for us to read and study and memorize each day. But not only is God's word inspired by God, but Paul says, and it is profitable.

For teaching. For reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness. This book is profitable. First of all, Paul says it's profitable for teaching.

In other words, the Bible is profitable for teaching us. The difference between right and wrong, teaching us what we need to know about God, what we need to know about ourselves and about the world we live in, and how we should view our sin problem, and how to be saved and made right with God through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and how to journey from the brokenness of sin to utter wholeness in Christ. The Bible is profitable to teach us those things. Not only that, but Paul says that the scripture is profitable for reproof.

In other words, literally, the scripture is profitable for pointing out what's wrong with you. One of the greatest services that the scripture renders in our lives is that it critiques us and tells us what is wrong with us. Isn't that exciting? at first blush, none of us thinks that we like being told what's wrong.

With us, but that's actually not entirely true. When you're sick And experiencing painful physical symptoms of some sort, that something is wrong with you and you go to the hospital and you desperately want the doctors and the nurses to discover what's wrong with you and then be honest and tell you what that is. In fact, you're disappointed. If you go to the hospital, And they check you over and run a bunch of tests and say, we don't know why this happened, but hey, come back if it happens again.

But guys, we, we won't have that disappointment with the Bible. We come to the Bible intuitively knowing that something is so wrong with me. Something is wrong with the world in which I live. Something is broken seriously, and you come to the Bible, and guess what?

The Bible tells you what's wrong. With you. It's sin. What's wrong with us is that we are fallen and self-centered and sinful creatures who love ourselves too much and do not love the God who created us as we should.

And the Bible gives us a vocabulary with which to understand our problem. Without the scriptures, we would be utterly incomprehensible to ourselves. But the scripture gives us the diagnosis of our fallen condition. But beautifully, it doesn't stop there.

The scripture doesn't just point out what's wrong with us and then end there. Paul says the scripture is profitable for correction. In our day, the word correction. It's like a negative word.

For example, if I told you that I spent the last month in a corrections facility, You wouldn't say, whoa, that's wonderful. How can I, how can I go to that place? but in, in scripture, the word that is translated correction is a, is a totally positive word. It's the Greek word that means to straighten out something that's crooked or to take something that's broken and to make it whole.

This word was used to speak of fixing a broken bone. And making it whole. You could paraphrase this, the scripture is profitable for fixing. For making whole.

That's what the scriptures can do for us. Through his word, God can take us in areas where we are stooped over. And he can straighten us up. Through his word, he can take us in areas where we're broken, and he can fix us and make us whole.

How many of you still have areas in your life Where you're still broken. Raise your hand. OK, I see those hands. God's word is today, at the present, powerful.

And able To be used by God in the service of fixing those areas where you're broken. And making you whole. Part of how the scripture fixes us is By being profitable for training and righteousness. And that sounds wonderful.

I want to be trained in righteousness, but guys, keep in mind that the Greek word that is translated training here is the same word that is translated discipline. Several times in Hebrews 12, which means that this training sometimes involves pain. The scripture confronts us and shows us the poverty of our own righteousness before God. It even tells us your righteousness is as filthy rags.

It shows us our need for Christ's righteousness, points us to his righteousness and how beautiful and perfect it is. And then it shows us how we can receive His righteousness by believing in Him as our Lord and Savior, and how having been saved, we can live from day to day rejoicing in that freely given, perfect righteousness of Jesus, and then live Not only in the enjoyment of that, but to live the righteous life that God has called us to live in Christ. To what end do the scriptures yield up this prophet in our lives?

Look at what Paul says in verse 17, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The word adequate is is a weak translation of what Paul is saying. We lose a little something in our English translations. Literally, the Greek reads this way, so that the man of God may be equipped, comma, equipped out. Or totally equipped for every good work.

Paul's point here is that there is no good work that God ever wants you to engage in during these last days, that the scriptures cannot serve to enrich and equip you for. So all in all, we're left with, I think, a very hopeful. Realistically hopeful message for these last days in which we live. Yes, these last days hold difficulties for us as evildoers around us go from bad to worse, but we learn here that it is very much possible in these last days to swim successfully upstream and be godly and grow and flourish in righteousness because God has given us a book.

To help us with that. A last day's book, a guide for these days. God has given us this book precisely for this time period in human history, showing us how to live a life of full devotion to Him. And flourishing and righteousness in these last days in which we live.

Guys, read your Bibles, study your Bibles. Memorize. The scriptures And please notice, let me just share this in closing, please notice that Paul is not yet even talking to Timothy about preaching to others. And doing the work of evangelizing others.

He gets into that in chapter 4. Right here in these verses in chapter 3, Paul is first telling Timothy about the power of the scriptures to take Timothy deeper into his own salvation. And teaching Timothy the profitability of the scriptures to equip Timothy for every good work. So I, I plead with you to hear me well this morning.

The last days in which we live right now, these are not the days to be setting aside this book. The Bible was given to us for exactly a time such as this. And when I say that, I don't simply mean that the Bible is the book that our culture needs to hear us preaching to them, even though we should. that the Bible is first and foremost, the book that we Christians need to be making use of every day.

In order to go deeper into our own salvation. What our culture needs today, they'll never tell you this, but what our culture really needs. Today is to see us giving the scriptures a huge place in our lives. Our culture needs to see us letting ourselves be taught and letting ourselves be reproved, and letting ourselves be corrected.

And letting ourselves be disciplined and trained in the way of righteousness. And perhaps if they saw more of that in us, some of them. Some of them might be more interested in what we might want to preach to them. And may God give us The grace to be exactly that kind.

Of Christian Let's pray together Or the stakes are As we pondered at the outset, we're in the last days, and so, Everything that is important becomes doubly important. Whatever the stakes were, they become doubly high. And I pray that you would grip all of our hearts with the The seriousness of the hour, the urgency of the hour in which we live. This is not a time to dink around and play church and fiddle a little bit with the Bible and sprinkle a little bit of Jesus in the parts of our life.

This is the time to just say, am I in or am I out? And God, I pray that you would do such a work in our hearts that we would say, no, I'm all in with Jesus. And I, I'm willing. To embrace him as my Lord and Savior and to follow together with him wherever he's going, I wanna go.

And I'm going to lay hold of this book that he has in his grace given to me, and I'm gonna soak this book for all it's worth and get as much of it inside of me as I can. Lord, we give so much time every week. I know I do. We give so much time every week, hours to things that just aren't very profitable, and we would admit that.

And you give us this book and say it's profitable for all of these things. That we've seen today. Help us to give more of ourselves and more of our time to this profitable. Gift Of your word And thereby be able to serve as lights in this increasingly dark world.

In which we live We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to give up our offerings to you, receive these funds, do much. With everything that is given in this offering for the glory of Jesus. In whose name we pray, and all God's people said,