Compelling Reasons for Biblical Preaching, Part 1 (2 Timothy 3:1-4:4)

I appreciate the kind reminder that this Sunday marks 39 years of being at Grace Church. I am often asked, "How has my ministry changed over the years?" There have been many changes in our society. Since I came here as a twenty-something in 1969, there have been many changes in the world. There have been many changes in the culture. The forms of entertainment have changed. Technology has changed. Society has changed. Morality has changed. Education has changed. The philosophy has changed. Everything has changed. The church has changed. The names have changed. The interpretation of Scripture has changed. Ministry styles have changed dramatically.

And... I haven't changed. I have not changed. I've been doing the same thing...(Applause)...well, thank you. I didn't say that to get you to applaud but I appreciate it. But I haven't changed. And one would assume, if you listened to those who are the gurus of ministry and church life and growth, that not to change is to die. Books have been written that have warned the church...if you don't adapt to contemporary culture and the way people think, act, and respond, and what they expect and want, the church will die. Well, this has proven to be a false prophecy.

I have not changed anything. When I first came here in February 1969, I stood behind a pulpit similar to this one in the chapel there, opened the Bible and explained what it means. And I have done it for these 39 years. Today I hear a lot about the need to contextualize the message. If I had any common sense, I'd be wearing a black T-shirt with a skull and crossbones on it and I'd have holes in my jeans and there'd be no pulpit here. And I would be wandering from pillar to post up here, and we would turn off the lights and change this environment because people need contextualization if they want to respond.

I have not found it necessary, nor am I entirely convinced that contextualization means anything or has any value in the church. I'm not

part

icularly interested in society's forms of entertainment. I am very illiterate about contemporary social literature. I am indifferent to the movies and television shows of our culture. They have nothing to do with what I say. I will confess to you tonight that I am largely indifferent to the politics of our day. I understand that we are drowning in a sea of ​​political exposure. For the most

part

, it has absolutely nothing to do with what I do, what the church does, what the church is, or the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Why am I stuck in 1969? Why does nothing change? The answer is because I function under a divine mandate, not a cultural one. Culture has never and will never dictate to the faithful preacher what he should do or what he should say. It is irrelevant. We do not operate under a cultural mandate. I am not ready to change the way I preach and become a narrative preacher who tells stories because we live in a culture where stories and narrative are more acceptable to people, because I have a

biblical

mandate, a divine mandate. And it all comes down to it, all summed up in a very direct command given in 2 Timothy 4:2.

So, open your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 2. If you have been here at any time, you know this very well because I have referred to it on several occasions. Second Timothy 4:2, "Preach the Word...Preach the Word." That defines

biblical

ministry in a simple commandment. According to 1 Timothy 3, as pastors we must have a skill. In 1 Timothy 3, the list of qualifications is given for those who pastor, those who preach, and those who lead the church. Only one of them has anything to do with the function. They have to do with character. One has to do with function.

Pastors must be didaktikos. That means trained teachers, trained preachers. That is our only ability. That is the dominant skill because ministry is about spreading divine truth. And there is only one source for that and that is the Scriptures. And that is why we are commanded, like Timothy, to preach the Word. The time for this is given. "Be prepared in season and out of season." What does that mean? Well, maybe you could imagine that Paul had something specific in mind, but since it's not clear what he might have had in mind specifically, it's generally pretty obvious. Whatever you meant by in-season and off-season, those are the only two options.

You're either in or out of it, which is another way of saying, "Preach the Word all the time." Whatever the season, you are in or out of it, which means you preach the Word at all times. So the time to do this is all the time. It not only tells the time, but also the tone. "Rebuke, rebuke, exhort." Reprove, rebuke? That has a tone of authority. That's even negative. It implies that you are

preaching

the Word of God in such a way that you expose people to their own failures, their own sins, their own disobedience, and the inevitable judgment that falls on sinners.

Rebuke and rebuke imply an inviolable truth, a demand, an order that must be obeyed or it will have consequences. We positively exhort with much patience and instruction. Time to preach? All the time. The tone of the

preaching

? Both negative and positive. Both with rebuke for disobedience and with great patience should people struggle to obey. This is what we do. It does not matter when. No matter where, at any time, at any time, in any environment, this is what we are called to do. Even in the area of ​​evangelism, Paul in Romans 10 says, "How will they hear without a preacher?" The God-ordained method of delivery is preaching.

It was Martin Luther who said, "The highest worship of God is the preaching of the Scriptures." The highest worship of God is the preaching of the Scriptures. And last week we talked about Titus 2:15, if you go to the right page, you will come to Titus 2 and remember that this was our topic last time. Verse 1: "As for you, speak what is appropriate to sound doctrine." Here are instructions for another young preacher, the first was Timothy, this is Titus. He is told to speak the things that are appropriate to sound doctrine. And then in verse 15: "These things of sound doctrine, speak, exhort, and rebuke." There's that authoritative note again, you bind people to these things as if they were the authoritative Word of God: "You speak, you exhort, you rebuke with all authority.

Let no one despise you." The preacher offers no options, no suggestions, but proclaims the Word of God with authority. Our mandate does not come from culture, it comes from God himself. In a sense, it is irrelevant how people entertain themselves and dress in our society. Your felt needs, your personal preferences are irrelevant. They need to hear the Word of the living God in any culture, at any time and in any place. And the only way to do that is to explain to people what the Bible means by what it says. This is tied to every minister of the New Testament, the binding of the conscience of Timothy and Titus to this responsibility, extends to all who preach and to all who lead the church...preach the Word...preach the Word. ...preach the Word.

Now, I'm not trying to be selfish, but I would be the first to stand up and say, "This church is not dead. This church is not irrelevant." Sunday night after Sunday night you hear these testimonies of people at baptism upon whom the Word of God has come with transforming power. Now, surrounding this verse are the

reasons

why we preach the Word. Preach the Word at all times and in all places. Preach it with authority so that the people may be warned and exhorted. And there are five

reasons

for that... five

compelling

reasons for that. And I want you to discuss these reasons with me because they are very important, more than that, they are really urgent.

The first begins in chapter 3. Let's go back to chapter 3. This statement, this command, "Preach the Word," is surrounded by these reasons, as we will see. When Paul finally gets to the command in verse 2, he prepares for it by laying the foundation for why this is critical. Each of the five reasons is a very, very powerful motivation. And I confess that these things drive me. They are very powerful motives in my own heart. Reason number one, go back to chapter 3, let me read the first nine verses. "But understand this that in the last days difficult times, actually dangerous times... dangerous times will come.

Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, ungodly, without love, irreconcilable gossips, malicious, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, rash, vain, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, clinging to a form of godliness although they have denied its power, and avoiding Men like these among them are those who enter houses and captivate weak women, burdened with sins, guided by various impulses, always learning and never able to reach the knowledge of the truth. And just as Janes and Jambres opposed them. Moses, so too are these men. They oppose the truth, men of depraved minds, rejected in terms of faith, but they will advance no further because their madness will be evident to all, as well as that of those two, Jannes and Jambres.

Here is reason number one. We preach the Word because of the danger of the seasons, because of the danger of the seasons. Verse 1: "Know this," and this is for Timothy in that first century. "In the last days," the last days began when Christ came. The last days had already begun. Christ had come and inaugurated the last days, the messianic era had already begun. That is why John writes: "My children, it is the last time." That is why the New Testament says: "Christ appeared at the end of time." They are the last days. We are two thousand years older in the last days, but they began with the arrival of Christ. "In the last days there will come dangerous seasons, dangerous times." Neither clock time, nor chronos... kairos, epochs, seasons.

It could even be translated difficult, wild... wild times are coming that threaten the church, that threaten the gospel, that threaten the truth. And they increase in severity. Turn to verse 13 for a moment. "Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." There is an increase in these dangerous seasons. They go from bad to worse. As time goes by, we accumulate these dangerous times. They began at the very beginning of the life of the church. They are basically encouraged, propagated and distributed by the kind of people described in verses 2 and following. Men who are lovers of themselves, which is always characteristic of false prophets.

They are proud, arrogant. Men who love money, which is always true of false prophets who do what they do for dishonest gain. They are boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, impious, loveless, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, vain, lovers of pleasure more than lovers. of God who have a form of godliness. They have a religious garb, a religious paradigm, and a religious frame of reference in which they operate. But they have no real power. You avoid men like these. These are the men who, as verse 6 says, enter homes and captivate weak women, burdened with sin and guided by various impulses.

False teachers have always done this, false leaders have always done this. They have found their easiest reception among unprotected women, as Satan found Eve in the garden. They have infinite information, they always learn, verse 7, they can never come to the knowledge of the truth. Verse 8: "They are like Jannes and Jambres," who oppose Moses, the two magicians in Egypt who are only named here, not there. Apparently, tradition passed down their names. These are men who oppose the truth, who have useless minds, who are rejected from the true faith. Paul is telling Timothy, "Look, they are going to be sin-laden, money-hungry, selfish, arrogant, boastful, and false religious leaders, who will manifest every imaginable form of evil, who will spread dangerous times, damnable times that the truth must face in these last days.

Now, if I were to do a quick historical study, I'm not going to drag you through all the forms of false religion, but I think we are quite aware of the fact In this culture there was very early in the. early days of the church a rapidly developing gnosticism, from Greek gnosis, the people who said they knew, had the secret knowledge. They were the initiates who knew things that the hoi-polloi know. gospels, the gospel of Judas, the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Peter and other false documents that appear in our modern media in things like the DaVinci Code, etc., etc., etc.

This is ancient Gnosticism. It was full of feminism. They worshiped the goddess. It is that early Gnosticism that dealt very strong blows against the church and incipient Gnosticism is even addressed by the apostle Paul in his letters. It did not take long for false religion to develop. And the interesting thing about this is that even ancient Gnosticism, which you could say was the first epoch, the first great dangerous season to come, still exists.They come and never leave... they never leave. I guess historically you could say, and we're looking at a very broad picture... in very broad terms, the second great epoch was sacramentalism... sacramentalism.

This is that period of time that really begins in the 4th century, with Constantine making Christianity the religion of the entire Empire and establishing Christianity as the only two religions and persecuting people who are not Christians. Christianity then is not something personal, it is something institutional. It's something all over the kingdom. It's something you're born into and baptized into when you're a baby, this institution called Christianity. This existed until the year 1500, over a thousand years there was a highly developed sacramentalism. What is sacramentalism? It is the type of religion that produces only ceremonies, rituals, rites, external symbols.

The church is a substitute Christ. You connect with the church, you don't connect with Christ. Salvation is by automatic ritual. You are saved by baptism, by eating a host. You are saved by observing a Mass and having put infused grace into your life. Or by Penance, or by confession, or by purchasing an Indulgence. This is sacramentalism. It is the same Roman Catholic Church that dominated the Western world for over a thousand years. That era has passed but sacramentalism is still with us. Roman Catholicism is still with us. Eastern Orthodoxy, another form of it, is still with us.

Greek Orthodoxy is still with us. And other forms of sacramentalism are still with us in the death of Lutheranism and the symbol-devoted Episcopal churches and Anglican churches. And I will tell you in general, it is true, the more symbols, the less reality. The more reality, the fewer symbols. We still deal with Gnosticism today. We still deal with sacramentalism today. We preach the Word because of the danger of these times. They are dangerous. They curse people's souls. They divert them from the discovery of the true gospel, the true God and the true Christ. It was after the Reformation that the gospel was recovered and a protest was made against this Sacramentalism, that is why they call us Protestants because we were part of the protest.

But it wasn't long after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century that another dangerous era arrived: rationalism. It was largely the Reformation that freed men from the great monolithic Roman system that possessed their souls and condemned them at the same time. It was the Protestant Reformation that freed them from that. And he freed them to discover what he was capable of, what man was capable of. And out of that came the Renaissance, out of that came all kinds of new discoveries about what men could do if they were free from the tyranny of this dark and damning system.

But all this gave rise to a love story of the human mind and led to rationalism. Gnosticism comes first. Sacramentalism is the second. Rationalism arrived with force shortly after the Reformation. And they abandon... they were so in love with their own reason that they abandoned faith for reason. They abandoned revelation for reason. They put man above God. The key book was The Age of Reason, written by Thomas Paine. The first half, the supremacy of reason; the second half, the debunking of the Bible. Rationalism... Rationalism remains a very dominant force in the philosophies and educational institutions of our world.

It turned religion upside down. He developed religious liberalism, neo-orthodoxy and critical theory, again attacking the Bible in a destructive way. Of course, it infested all the mainline denominations and literally took them to their graves. And we still have it around. We are still facing rationalism. The last time I went to St. Andrew, Scotland, when I was there about a year ago, I remembered again the great university of St. Andrews and went there. And it's a very harrowing experience to go there because the college is called St. Mary's College, which is a theology school at the University of St.

Andrews, and you can always identify a theology student because he wears a red cape if' Re in theology. The theology school is on one side of the street. Across the street there is a pub. To walk from the Divinity School to the pub, you must cross the initials of one of the martyrs who was massacred for the gospel when the Catholic Church ruled England and killed those who affirmed the true faith. Thus, divinity school students cross the initials of the martyr Patrick Hamilton to go to the bar. The building next door is St Salvader's Chapel (?), part of the university, and in that building is the pulpit from which John Knox preached the great Scottish Reformation.

Great story. I am told that it is still true, there is not a single professor in the School of Theology who believes that the Bible is the Word of God. That is the legacy of rationalism. They worship their own minds. And his reason is above the revelation of God. In the 19th century another ism appeared: the orthodox. What happened in the 19th century was very, very important. Mass printing has arrived, I mean really massive printing. The printing press already existed before, from the mid-15th century. But in the 19th century mass printing arrived and the first thing that many wanted to print was the Bible.

And so Bibles were printed en masse and distributed. According to historians, they had practically no effect on the churches. The churches were so laden with liberalism, so laden with neo-orthodoxy in Europe, that the mass printing of Bibles had no real impact. In small places here and there, people affirmed the truth of the Scriptures. They began reading their Bibles, but most historians would say it produced nothing more than a kind of cold, dead orthodoxy...shallow spirituality, superficiality, and the church in Europe never really woke up to a great revival, although the Word of God was Made available.

A kind of orthodoxism, we have the Bible, we read the Bible, we like the Bible, it just has no effect on our lives. In the 20th century something very interesting happened in Europe. I guess you could call this politicism. The church became politicized. In most cases, state churches existed throughout Europe. The state church was the Roman Catholic Church or the Protestant Church. Therefore, the church was inextricably linked to the government. It was a big mistake at the beginning and now they had to live with the consequences. The church was significantly politicized. I think the most dramatic example of that was Nazi Germany.

Do you understand that Hitler did not dismantle the church, he did not persecute the church, he did not try to destroy the church, but he simply redefined it? First, reject the Old Testament for its Jewish character and, second, extract from the New Testament all those passages that in some sense were favorable to the Jews. Hitler came up with a new type of Christianity that fit perfectly into his agenda. It was called the German Christian Faith Movement and the same thing happened with Nazism. There were other types of politicization in Europe... the social gospel, reconstruction, liberation theology, that is more modern, it is more common in South America, where in the name of Christianity weapons are taken and the palace is demolished and the ruling group, or In the United States this concern for politics is what drives many churches.

Very dangerous. Postmillennialism is a way of politicizing the church that believes that we could somehow make the world a better place on our own and bring in the kingdom and give it to Christ. Now you notice that these isms come faster because communication improves and movements are faster. In the 1950s the development of ecumenism occurred. Ecumenism, the idea of ​​unity without doctrine, sentimentalism, tolerance for error, contempt for doctrine, lack of discernment, let us all embrace each other, let us all unite, let us carry out a cooperative campaign, a cooperative evangelistic effort. Let's bring Catholics and everyone together.

Let's have as much common ground as we can and we're not going to turn anything into an issue that divides us. And so all sorts of strange alliances were formed, many of which still exist. In the 1960s a new movement emerged, experientialism. This is the Charismatic Movement. You move from truth to feeling, from external revelation to internal intuition. You move from the Word of God to visions and prophecies. Dangerous things. I look at my ministry. If you asked me, what am I fighting against when I preach the truth? I could explain the list to you. Look, I'm trying to help people get out of sacramentalism, a superficial ceremonial religion that condemns the soul because there's nothing real there.

I am trying to protect people from rationalism that questions the Bible and puts human reason above revelation. I'm trying to help people get out of cold, dead Orthodoxy, some kind of superficial affirmation of the truth of Scripture that never changes your life. I'm trying to help people understand that the church is not a political organization that... it's a Kingdom that belongs to God alone and is governed by God alone and has nothing to do with the kingdoms of this world. Try to help people know that you cannot make alliances that compromise the truth. Trying to protect them from ecumenism.

Trying to protect them from experientialism that drags people into the idea that they can intuitively determine what is true and that they should look for a feeling instead of understanding God's revelation. It was the 80s when subjectivism entered. Subjectivism, everyone fell in love with psychology and everyone wanted to look at their navel and see how it felt. And solve all your little problems. Narcissistic navel gazing is the end result of that movement. Self-esteem, the theology of personal needs, personal comfort, man-centered subjectivism, have not disappeared. We are still dealing with the Charismatic Movement and all of its excesses and they are getting worse and worse.

We're still dealing with people who have been psychologized to death, so now maybe psychology as a counseling method isn't a big deal in a church. Churches define their ministries around what people think about meeting their own needs. That is subjectivism. I don't want to be cruel here, but I really don't care what you think you want. I know what you need. And what you need comes from God through his Word. And I also know that He will do His work and will truly satisfy your heart and not in a superficial way. In the 1990s we had to face a new ism, mysticism, belief in everything.

Also in the 1990s, pragmatism, the appropriate means for ministry is whatever is popular, whatever works. The truth is the handmaiden of what works. So whoever has the biggest crowd did well... right? Wow, look at all the people who go to that place, there are 10 thousand, 11 thousand, 12 thousand. And I'm told that you're a pony express horse in the computer age, that you're out of touch. I have been told that the key to evangelism is the image, the style; You cannot simply embed the Word of God in people's minds. Pragmatism is what reigns today, whatever works. Whatever draws the big crowd.

Also in the 1990s we had large doses of syncretism. Hey, Mormons are fine, Christians are fine, Hindus are fine, Ecumenical Jihad, we're all on the same path, we all worship the same God. Let's hug each other and go together. And of course now we have relativism, right? You have your truth, I have my truth, he has his truth, that's how it should be. Just one ism after another, after another, after another, and none of them ever leave, right? Everyone stays. So if I gave you twelve, that would be just a smaller number of the total number.

And everyone is still here. I'll tell you this. I have no interest in communicating with people on some simplistic social, cultural level. I really don't... I don't think it's a problem how I dress. I don't think it would make any difference... I don't think it would make any difference in the Kingdom of God if I took off my tie. That has nothing to do with anything. I don't think it has anything to do with the Kingdom of God if I use one. But I have some respect for this. I don't think it has anything to do with anything.

I know that the power is in the Word of God. And you don't want to take the Word of God and just apply it to superficial things. The Word of God is not guided by how people play, but by how they think. The apostle Paul went to Mars Hill and confronted the people about their religion, not their lifestyle or their forms of entertainment. He confronted them on their religious point. And the only way to do it is with the truth of the Word of God, which is the true religion. If you don't preach the Word of God in a pulpit, you have no impact on any of this.

You just let it flourish and become part of the problem. We must preach the Word because of the danger of the seasons. And understand... you say, "Well, you know, they're nice, wrong people." No, they are not, they are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant and slanderers, unloving, irreconcilable, hating what is good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure instead of lovers of God who have a form of piety but not power. You better avoid people like that because they take sin-laden women captive, they are always learning, they can never come to the knowledge of the truth.TRUE.

They are like Jannes and Jambres who oppose Moses, they oppose the truth. And if you love the truth and the truth is precious, then you understand what you are called to do. This is how they are described here, these leaders, according to their character, their immoral character. They are described in verses 5 and following according to their fraudulent ministry. And they are described in verses 6 and 7 according to their danger. They are false liars, men of corrupt minds, perverted, inept, disqualified, rejected regarding the true faith. And the progress they seem to have in verse 9 is only apparent, not real.

His madness will be evident, in time, to everyone. We are then called to preach the Word because of the dangers of the seasons. Let me give you a second point, and I won't finish it, but I will present it. For the devotion of the saints... for the devotion of the saints. There is a transition in verse 10. Paul says: "But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions and sufferings, such have happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium and in Lystra; How many persecutions I endured! And the Lord delivered me from all of them, and certainly all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." What does this say?

Preach the Word, Timothy, for the devotion of the saints. In other words, you continue in the line of the faithful who came before you. Paul was a strong champion of truth. He set the standard for ministry. Verse 10, he fulfilled the ministerial duty of him and my conduct. It is essential to effective ministry that you teach and live what you teach. This is called integrity. You followed my teachings and my conduct. You walked with me, you talked with me, you traveled with me, you saw me all the time. You know what I taught and you know what I live and you fulfilled it with the ministerial duties, the personal qualities too, you followed my purpose, my faithfulness, my patience, my love, my perseverance, this uncompromising resolution to walk with the Lord in obedience. , faithfully, even when it meant persecution, verse 11, suffering because that is what all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus must expect.

You continued. You walked following the pattern I established. And you have what I have, persecution. You expect it, verse 13, “Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But despite that, despite the works of evil men, you nevertheless continue in what you have learned. and be convinced, knowing from whom you have learned them." From whom? Paul...Paul. Back in chapter 2 verse 2, "What you have heard from me among many witnesses, entrust this to faithful men who are qualified to teach also." to others.” What is it about this New Emerging Church Movement that has such deep disdain for the previous generation of faithful men?

This is not a virtue. You do not mock the faithful preacher of the Word, the faithful pastor. You make fun of him because he's not as cool as you. But that's the attitude of this Emerging Church Movement... disdain for the faithful of the past. Paul says: "Look, don't change anything. Teach what I taught. Act as I acted. Minister as I did." Lystra was Timothy's hometown. Timothy probably heard Paul preach there first. He may have witnessed the healing of the lame man and the stoning of Paul. So he knew from the beginning the uncompromising character of devotion from Paul to Christ and the truth of the gospel.

Paul says: "Follow me no matter what the cost. Follow me no matter what it takes, no matter what it takes." I look back in my own life to a grandfather who died and on his lips were the words, "I just want to preach one more time, I just want to preach one more time." , to a father who died at the age of 91, and had preached until he was ninety years old, never brought reproach to the church, never brought a scandal to the name of Christ, never accused of anything that could discredit his ministry. Word of God.

I don't want to change anything. The truth is I can't reinvent what the character is. I just want to be faithful to the legacy of the past. As you know, Paul is my hero. Godly prophets and apostles, preachers and evangelists have been faithful throughout the centuries. I don't want to do anything...in fact, I find more joy reading dead people than living people. I just can't understand why there is a whole generation of. young people who think that it is best to show disdain towards the faithful of the past. Paul tells Timothy, "You preach the Word because of the danger of the seasons and because of the devotion of the saints." You have no right to reinvent ministry.

You have no right to determine that the Word of God is no longer relevant, that we have to hand it over for something else. You have no right to say that preaching is out of fashion. I can't do that anymore, expository preaching is especially out of fashion. We have to get down from these pulpits, we have to talk to people, we have to share ideas. We have to stop calling people preachers and start calling them participants, facilitators. You have no right to do that. God only had one Son and He was a preacher. And his precursor was a preacher.

And all his Apostles were preachers and it is still the preaching of the cross that makes the transformed heart believe. Well, I'll introduce a third. I could say a lot more about that, but that's okay. We preach for the danger of the seasons, for the devotion of the saints...what a privilege it is to be in the long line of faithful men who have done this...faithful to every generation in every place in the world. , opening and exposing the Word of God. But there is a third reason we preach the Word, because of the dynamics of the Scriptures... because of the dynamics of the Scriptures.

If I were facing the dangers of the times, if I were striving to be faithful to the devotion of the saints in the past, I could still stray from the preaching of the Word if it did not have the power. But it does. Look at verse 15: "From childhood, Timothy, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." That's all I need to know... that's all I need to know. Does Scripture give the wisdom that leads to salvation? Answer? Yes. That's All I Need to Know.

I don't have a better message, I don't have a more powerful message. This is not about me. If you want me to give an intelligent speech, I can give it to you. It would be entertainingly useless. I can't change anyone. I am not suitable to transform a life. It does not come from my ability, nor from my cunning, nor from my compassion, nor from my sympathy, nor from my clarity. The power is in the truth. We are begotten anew by the Word of truth, says Peter. We are sanctified by the Word. And he says to Timothy: "From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." I don't care who you are, if you are in a church and you call yourself an evangelical and you say you love Christ and want to be a part of evangelism in building the church of Jesus Christ, if you say that then I will hold your feet to this verse... yes If you want to see people saved through faith in Christ, then you must recognize that the wisdom that leads to that comes from the sacred scriptures.

That's what the verse says. That's what it says. The Jews used to claim that their children drank the Law of God with their mother's milk and it was so imprinted on their hearts and minds that they would sooner forget their names than the Law of God. The law was given to them when they were very little and that was Timothy, he had that experience. He grew up... one of his parents was Jewish and he grew up under that influence of the Law. And from the time he was brephos, a baby, a baby in arms, that's the Greek term here, he was exposed to the Law. of God.

And it was the schoolteacher who led him to Christ. It was the tutor who led him to Christ because God's Law exposed his sin and exposed his need for a Savior and when the gospel of that Savior came, his heart was ready. What do you mean by “sacred writings” here, verse 15? "You have known the sacred scriptures." Hiera grammaton, sacred writings, that is the name of the Scriptures. Actually, that is the name of the Scripture used by Greek-speaking Jews. If you read Philo, you read Josephus, that's his normal word for the Scriptures, the holy writings. And it is the Holy Scripture that provides the wisdom that leads to salvation.

Psalm 19:7, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting... what?... the soul." The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Failure to preach the Word and to preach the Word with authority comes from a low view of the Scriptures combined with a high view of oneself. It is unmistakable. If you have a low view of yourself and a high view of the Scriptures, you preach the Scriptures. If you have a low view of Scripture and a high view of yourself, you preach to yourself. It's that easy. Now I want to add a footnote and it is this, there are different ways the Bible can be taught, verse-by-verse exposition, sometimes a thematic message, sometimes a doctrine, a theological message using the truth of Scripture.

You can put it together in different ways. So I don't want anyone to assume that if you don't read verse by verse, letter by letter, you haven't taught the Bible. The idea is to teach the truths contained in the Scriptures. To do it systematically over the long term, you have to go verse by verse. But at any given time, you can put together several passages and reflect on something that is taught in the Scriptures in different places and in different formats. So there are many ways to achieve this, but you always start here, right? There is a lot more to say about Scripture, and I have a couple more reasons to give you in this little list, but I'll leave you hanging.

So I'll come back next week and we'll continue this there. Let's pray. We have learned, Lord, so much about obedience in Your Word and yet somehow we manifest so little of it. We must be obedient to this command, this omnipresent but simple and direct command to preach Your Word. We must stick to that, all of us who preach. It is inexhaustible. Its riches are infinite. And we must continually pay attention to its powerful, transformative and joy-producing truths. I pray, Lord, that you would raise up many who will be faithful to this. This is the power, this is the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

May we give voice to the Word in all our preaching and teaching. And may Your people demand that their pastors meet this standard. We want to be faithful to you, fulfill our responsibility, do it with joy and humility. We thank you for such a privilege in the name of Christ. Amen.