Waypoint - 4

Waypoint - 4

Your Bible is Useful

2 Timothy 3:10-4:5

Introduction

One of the cultural phenomena we are witnessing right now is the dramatic increase in the popularity of survivalism. Shows like Survivorman, Naked and Afraid, Man V. Wild with Bear Grylls, have continued to draw millions of views and dozens of spinoffs (such as Running Wild with Bear Grylls, The Island with Bear Grylls, You V. Wild with Bear Grylls, Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls, and Survivor School with Bear Grylls). Alongside that is the rise in popularity of survival guides, books that chronicle what to do if you find yourself in a hostile environment. How do you treat a snakebite while you’re on a hike? Where is the best place to find clean water? How do you start a fire without matches? These are skills that could mean the difference between life and death.

Why the rise in popularity? Because we intuitively sense that we are living in an increasingly hostile environment. We see what is happening in the world and suddenly are aware that we might need to know some things, we might need to learn some skills. When the feces hits the fan, survival is the name of the game.

As we continue our series on spiritual growth and the Bible called Waypoint, our text for today deals with this very issue of surviving in a hostile environment. It provides for us a spiritual survival guide for the world that you and I are in. The Apostle Paul is writing to his young son in the faith, Timothy, who is the Pastor of the Church in Ephesus. It’s a tough environment, not just for Timothy, but for all the Believers there. It’s a challenge to have your faith survive in such a hostile world. And before he gets to the incredible truths about the Bible, he sets the dark backdrop of the hostile environment they are in.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 - But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Don’t ever tell me the Bible isn’t relevant to our world today! You could take that paragraph and apply it to this morning’s newscast. This is the hostile environment that you live in Christian. This is what surrounds you everyday. One of the things I love about the Bible is its refreshing honesty. No pulling punches. No sugar-coating. Just simple truth. He continues…

2 Timothy 3:10-13 - 10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Not only is it already bad, it is getting worse. The world is spiraling away from God. Evil people, outside of the direct saving work of Jesus Christ, do not get better over time. They go from bad to worse. All you have to do is turn on the news for five minutes to see that this is reality.

So what is the response? How do we survive in such a hostile environment? In this spiritual survival guide, the Bible gives to us a simple, yet profound, very practical tactic:

2 Timothy 3:14-17 - 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

If you want your faith to survive the hostile environment you live in, then grab your Bible and never let go. Anchor yourself in the truth of the Bible. Build your life on the solid foundation of the Bible. The text gives us two strong reasons to do this:

YOUR BIBLE HAS THE POWER TO SAVE (3:14-15)

2 Timothy 3:14-15 - 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Notice first the academic language. v. 14 - what you learned; from whom you learned…v. 15 - acquainted…if you are going to survive in a hostile environment, it comes down to what you know, to what you’ve learned. By the way, that word ‘learned’ is the root word for ‘disciple.’ A disciple of Jesus is a learner. A learner of what? v. 15 - you have been acquainted with the sacred writings…a learner of the Bible. To follow Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus, means that we learn the Bible. Notice how he began in v. 14 - continue in what you have learned. That word ‘continue’ means to remain, to stay, to reside. In fact, in the NT it is used to refer to someone’s permanent residence. It is often translated as ‘abide.’

1 John 2:24 - 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

John 8:31 - 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

So it is clear…we are supposed to abide in God’s word, the Bible. Why? Because it has the power to save. Notice the end of v. 15 - which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Salvation is through faith in Christ Jesus. So it isn’t that the Bible itself is what saves…Jesus saves. But it is the Bible that introduces you to the Savior.

Romans 1:16-17 - 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The Gospel, that is laid out for us in the Bible, is what has the power to save.

Romans 10:8-17 - 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Notice all the references to Scripture…what does it say? For the Scripture says…faith comes from hearing the word of Christ.

Inherent within the Bible is a power that is unmatched…a power that can save sinners like us. As John preached about last week in Hebrews 4…the Word of God is living and active. It is unlike all other books. This book is alive, it is where the God who is revealed in its pages will meet you. Here, God will reveal who he is, convict you of your sin, lead you to himself, save you. This is why we support missionaries here whose primary role is to translate the Bible into the native language of the people. Why? Because if you can get the Bible into a people group, God can save them. He cannot, he does not, he will not save them apart from the truth of his word. Why do we cling to the Bible, building our lives upon its foundation? Because only it can save us out of the hostile world around us.

YOUR BIBLE HAS THE POWER TO SANCTIFY (3:16-17)

2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

‘Breathed out by God’ - theopneustos - literally, God-breathed. What is the Bible? It is the very breath of God on a page. It is from this verse that we get one of the core foundational doctrines of Christianity called the inspiration of Scripture. We believe the Bible is ‘inspired’ meaning that it comes from God. And since it comes from God, it is authoritative, it is the standard of truth. Meaning that when we are faced with questions, with problems, we do not go to other places of authority first. We go to the Bible first. Science, technology, wisdom…all are secondary to the truth of the Bible.

Dustin Benge - The only proper Christian response to any theology, philosophy, ideology, psychology, or sociology, must be: "What does the Bible say?”

Since the Bible is ‘inspired’ there are two other ‘I’ words that flow from that. Since the Bible is ‘inspired’ it is also ‘inerrant’ and ‘infallible.’ Inerrant means that the Bible, in its original form is without error. And it has to be…if it is from God, it cannot contain error.

Psalm 19:7-11 - 7 The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

The Bible is also ‘infallible’ meaning that it is dependable. It will not fail, it will not falter. It will deliver.

Isaiah 55:10-11 - 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Because the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible, it therefore has the power to sanctify, meaning to make holy. So not only does it save, it takes you from where you are and moves you to where God wants you to be. Wherever you are, God doesn’t want you there. And he moves you by the power of the Bible. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…useful, advantageous, beneficial…for accomplishing amazing things in your life. Specifically, 5 amazing things…teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, and equipping for all good works.

Teaching - that one is pretty simple…if we are to abide in what we learn, we need to go to the Bible for teaching. To let it teach us the truth of who God is, who we are, and how to live rightly in the world. WHAT DID I LEARN?

Reproof - means rebuke. The Bible confronts. The bible convicts. The Bible forces us to realize that we have lived for our own ways and have rebelled against God’s ways. This is why the Bible emphasizes that we ‘repent.’ It means to turn, literally means to change the mind. So we encounter God’s ways in the Bible and we see that his ways are better than our ways. So we change our minds…what we once thought was good, we now see as bad. WHAT DO I NEED TO STOP DOING?

Correction - while it would seem like this one is much like reproof, it is different…this one is the follow up. God convicts us of our errant ways…then he offers us a better way to go. WHAT DO I NEED TO START DOING?

Training in righteousness - to be righteous means to be right with God and living in a way that reflects that. The bible trains us in this…it comes alongside us and disciplines (trains) us to move in the right direction. WHAT DO I NEED TO KEEP DOING? Ending in an incredible place…

Complete, equipped for every good work - by regularly engaging with the Bible, by sitting under its teaching, its reproof, its correction, its training, we end up complete, furnished, qualified, made whole. Again, wherever you are, God doesn’t want you there. It is the Bible that takes us from where we are to where God wants us to go.

TS - now, since all that is true, since the Bible has the power to save and the power to sanctify, the Bible now makes a completely understandable and expected application:

2 Timothy 4:1-5 - I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Timothy, since the Bible is so powerful, here is your job as pastor of the church…preach the word! Preach the Bible when it’s popular to do so, and preach the Bible when no one wants to hear its truth. Nothing changes. Regardless of who is in the room, regardless of their feelings toward you or what you preach…you have one job…preach the word!

Friends, only God’s word has the power to save and the power to sanctify. This is why I don’t preach cultural commentary. This is why I don’t preach political pundincy. We preach, and forever will preach, the Bible. This is why we anchor in texts of Scripture. This is why we primarily preach through books of the Bible. We let God set the agenda. Every word of this book is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. It is what we need the most.

God’s people need more Bible, not less. This is why we have stated that our goal is to have as many Bible environments as possible. What else could be more beneficial to you? We have Sunday Groups, Core 52, small groups, Wednesday night Bible study coming back February 3, teaching for your kids in large group on Sundays, programming for your MS and HS students…our job is to get as much Bible into you as possible. Only the Bible has the power to save and the power to sanctify. Steve Lawson - Your Christian life will grow no further than your intake of the Word of God.

Let’s end where we began…you live in a hostile environment and you are fighting for your spiritual survival. What’s the first step to survival? In her book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit tells the story of her friend Sallie who is part of a search-and-rescue team in the Rocky Mountains. Sallie still remembers the frantic search for a lost eleven-year-old boy who was deaf and losing his eyesight. The boy wandered off during a late afternoon game of hide-and-seek. After a harrowing night on his own, the sun came up, and he started blowing his whistle again. The search-and-rescue team finally found him, very cold but okay.

Sallie and other search-and-rescue experts say that the key to survival often hinges on one thing: knowing and admitting that you are lost. That's why kids are found more often than adults. Kids don't stray as far. They usually curl up in a sheltered place and wait for their rescuers. And unlike many adults who get lost in the Rockies, kids don't desperately try to save themselves. Instead, they aren't afraid to stop and admit that they need help.