THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE SCRIPTURES 2 Timothy 3:14-17 - Shepherd School

[Music] [Applause] please grab your bible and go with me to second timothy chapter three second timothy three fourteen through seventeen is what we're gonna look at this evening before we read our passage in its entirety let me just give you an idea of what the main theme the big idea of this text is in christ you must stand firm on the scriptures because they are the perfectly sufficient word of god sufficient to justify sanctify and equip for the glory of god that's the point of these verses there's an imperative you must and then there's reasons that paul gives for why timothy and you and i by extension must stand firm stay abide in the word of god because they are perfectly sufficient to justify sanctify and equip for the glory of god so let's read second timothy 3 14-17 in its entirety and then we will walk through this and see what god is teaching us here through paul this is god's word but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it 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 all scripture is breathed out by god and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of god may be complete equipped for every good work this is not the opinion of paul ultimately this is god speaking through him first to timothy and now by his grace preserving the scriptures speaking directly to you and me tonight so as we look at this i want you to first note the context and why verse 14 it starts with a conjunction but as for you what is he getting at there just go back to verse 10 which you have to understand the context even before that but we'll start at verse 10 and you'll get what he's getting at he's warned him before verse 10 about false teachers he says you however you timothy however you have followed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my patience my love my steadfastness 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 indeed all who desire to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted and now verse 13 is the key as to understanding why he transitions to saying but as for you timothy verse 13 while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived that's what evil people and imposters do they go on from bad to worse they're deceiving people and they're being deceived at the same time and that's when he turns to timothy and says but as for you you are not an evil man having been rescued by christ you're not an evil man you're not deceiving and being deceived but he's telling timothy now he gives one imperative right here but as for you continue that's an imperative verb it's a command it's a must it's not a should it's not an option it's a command through paul to timothy and by extension to us continue and this is the first main thing that we learn in this and what has to really control our thinking in verses 14 through 17. it's a command in christ you must abide in the scriptures in christ you must abide in the scriptures why abide and not continue well it's it's the word they render it here in verse 14 but the word in the english to us i think to you maybe even it can seem like keep going but that's not what he's getting at paul is essentially saying by this word this translated continue to remain abide stand stay but what he would be meaning or why they would translate it continue would be continue to stand right where you're standing continue doing what you have been doing and looking firmly and only at the scriptures to understand what god's will is for justification sanctification and equipping for good works remain abide this is the same word that is translated when jesus says abide in me and i and you remain stand stay where you're at continue what you're doing but not continue on and leave something and this is the command you must abide in the scriptures you must continue in the scriptures men so that you may no longer be children no longer children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes that's what paul tells the church at ephesus in ephesians 4 14 the reason that we must abide in the scriptures and that god loves you enough to demand that you abide in the scriptures because if you don't you're going to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine you're going to be like a child not grown up and mature and standing firm on the word of god not clinging to jesus alone but someone's going to come along and you're going to be tossed to and fro carried about by every wind of doctrine if somebody's cunning you'll be easily deceived if you don't abide in the scriptures if somebody is crafty and deceitful schemes you will believe their deceitful schemes because you're not abiding in the scriptures that's why he commands that we do that there's the first thing that you learn from this text and it's really there's only two main points and that's point one you must abide in the scriptures the word of god must be that anchor that keeps you tied to christ in the midst of both life's storms and when there's fair weather you must think of the scriptures like the anchor that ties you to the lord jesus christ in the midst of life storms when you are threatened with being dashed against the rocks the only reason your life is not going to be made shipwreck is if you tether yourself to the scriptures which will keep you anchored to the lord jesus but you also need to abide in the scriptures not only because suffering will come upon you which is the case right here paul has just promised indeed all who desire to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted that's verse 12 tether yourself to the scriptures because persecut persecution is coming but it's not only that that's not the only reason you must do that it's also because sometimes in the ship that is your life everything's nice the waters are clear the skies are blue and in the days of prosperity like that you will be tempted to take up your anchor and wonder away from christ into the temptations of the world often god uses your suffering and persecutions to remind you i got to stay right with jesus but you need to beware in your prosperity when life is easy when you're not suffering that you're probably even more tempted to leave christ in those days when everything goes well both in your adversity and in your prosperity you must abide in the scriptures or in the end you'll make shipwreck of your faith and so i ask you is the diligent study of the scriptures the anchor that keeps you near christ is the diligent study of the scriptures that anchor in your life how's it going with that do you have your anchor down right next to jesus so that you would not drift away or you wouldn't drift into the rocks if not you will be wrecked in your sufferings and you will drift in your victories and so paul commands timothy and he commands us both in adversity and in prosperity you and i must abide in the scriptures now point two point two in christ you must abide in the scriptures because they are sufficient because they are sufficient the rest of this passage all the way through verse 17 deals with what we would call the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture scripture is sufficient and i'll draw your mind to multiple things as we walk through this passage concerning the sufficiency of the scriptures first the scriptures are sufficient to teach even young children that's the first thing you need to make note of in this text when we're dealing with its sufficiency the scriptures are sufficient to teach even young children look at the first part of verse 15. he tells timothy knowing from whom you've learned it whom you firmly believed you got to stay right there how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings we don't know much about timothy's father it doesn't seem like he was even a believer in the first part of even this letter paul says that his faith first dwelt in his grandmother lois and then in his or yeah grandmother lois and then in his mother eunice and now i'm sure dwells in you as well no mention of his father he had a godly grandmother had a godly mother and they diligently taught him the scriptures paul says you need to stay right where you are i know you've been faithfully taught by your mother by your grandmother remember that you were taught even from childhood what we learned there is that the scriptures were sufficient for timothy to reveal god's saving knowledge even from a babe this word childhood it means as young as an infant or a baby it doesn't just mean like a 12 year old i don't mean to say that before you can understand words the word of god can give you saving faith that's that's not what we're getting at here but by him using this word that means a very young child an infant a baby even as young as that he's saying the youngest of children the scriptures are sufficient to teach even them you see what this means man children do not need videos or flannel graphs or picture bibles that's not what your children need and you who don't have kids yet your children don't need picture bibles they don't need a felt board they don't need you to figure out a clever way to make it really entertaining to learn the bible they need a father and a mother who will love them enough to teach them the bible and apply it to them that's what children need children are able to learn the truth of god's word just like timothy was it's sufficient to teach even the young ones this is why god speaks to his people through moses in deuteronomy 6 6 and commands them you shall teach these things i've told you diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise why does he command the scriptures to be taught to the children of the people of god because children can understand it because the scriptures are sufficient to teach even them even when they're young and so christ rebukes his disciples when they tried to keep children from coming to him saying the master is too busy for you kids jesus rebukes them in mark 10 14 by saying let the children come to me or as the old translations say suffer the children to come to me let the children come to me do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of god and then he uses that to say you've got to be like a kid even to enter the kingdom of god you have to have a childlike faith a dependence a trust in me or you'll never even see the kingdom let the children come to me so i ask you even those of you who don't let you don't yet have kids think about your future and what you're thinking about if the lord is kind to you and gives you children do you let the children come to jesus or do you put a a barrier in between them and what the scriptures say and you just explaining it to them and applying it to them do you put barriers in the way by only reading picture bibles or watching videos or doing clever illustrations alone to reveal to them what god says let your children come to jesus and it's your duty men in your household it is your duty to teach your wife and your children the scriptures and they are sufficient to equip them even very young children can learn them the second point that we learn as we look through this passage concerning the sufficiency of scripture is that the word of god is sufficient to bring you to faith in christ jesus the word of god is sufficient to bring you to faith in christ jesus look at the next part of verse 15. he doesn't just say timothy has been acquainted or has known the sacred writings he says which are able which are powerful which are strong which are capable this is a word that gets at the sufficiency of scripture the sacred writings the consecrated revered writings that means the bible the scriptures they are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus the scriptures are able to bring people to christ and god the holy spirit uses the preaching and teaching of his word to grant wisdom and to give them eyes to see christ jesus you need to know that the word of god is sufficient to bring you your children your wives your girlfriends your neighbors your co-workers to christ the holy spirit grants faith through the scriptures they're able to make you wise just keep in mind that what paul is talking about here what timothy was acquainted with growing up wasn't any of the new testament it was all the old testament of our bible when he's young and growing up and his mother is teaching him the bible we didn't have any of the new testament yet and he says right there the old testament scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus that's a big deal the scriptures are clear they're sufficient to bring you to faith in christ so that you may be justified men think with me whatever book of the bible you're in whatever you're teaching in family worship whatever you're quoting from when you proclaim the gospel to unbelievers you can get to christ from every book because in every book jesus is the hero he's the one longed for promised foreshadowed the whole of the scriptures is about jesus in genesis jesus is the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent in exodus jesus is the passover lamb slain so the lord's people can be spared justice in leviticus jesus is our true high priest offering a better sacrifice than the others in the book of numbers christ is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night leading his people through the wilderness to the promised land in deuteronomy jesus is the prophet like moses whom we must listen to or perish and joshua jesus is the captain of the lord's army making war on his enemies in judges jesus is the judge and king we long for to rebel to correct our rebellious hearts in ruth jesus is our kinsman redeemer in first and second samuel jesus is our trusted prophet revealing god perfectly to us in the book of kings and the books of chronicles jesus is the king we long for who will rule righteously forever in ezra jesus is the rebuilder of the broken down walls of the city of god in esther jesus is the one who does not simply risk his life to save his people but who gives his life to save his people in job jesus is our ever living redeemer in the psalms jesus is the son we must kiss and our good shepherd who ultimately laid down his life for his sheep in proverbs in ecclesiastes jesus is the very embodiment of wisdom in the song of solomon jesus is the church's loving bridegroom in isaiah jesus is the prince of peace the gospel preacher and the suffering servant in jeremiah jesus is the righteous branch in lamentations christ is the better weeping prophet who doesn't simply weep for sin but kills sin by letting himself be killed in place of sinners in ezekiel jesus is the wonderful four-faced man in daniel christ is the fourth man in the fiery furnace with shadrach meshach and abednego he's the one who closes the lion's mouths for daniel and he is the son of man given an eternal kingdom after his ascension in hosea jesus is the faithful husband forever married to the harlot in joel jesus is the baptizer with the holy spirit in amos jesus is our true burden bearer in obadiah christ is the one mighty to save in jonah jesus is the better one that was thrown into the sea of god's wrath so those on board could be spared and micah jesus is the messenger with beautiful feet and nahum jesus is the avenger of god's elect and habakkuk jesus is god's evangelist in zephaniah christ is our savior and haggai jesus is the restorer of god's lost heritage and in zechariah jesus is the high priest made dirty for our sins so we can be clothed in righteousness in malachi jesus is the son of righteousness s-u-n rising with healing in his wings in the gospel accounts jesus is the god-man come to save sinners by the grace of his righteous life sin bearing death and death defeating resurrection in acts we see what the ascended christ continues to do for the first 30 years of christianity through his spirit and all of the letters of the new testament including second timothy that we're in they clarify who christ is what his gospel means how we should live for him and watch out for those who teach contrary to his prophets and apostles and finally in the revelation jesus is our coming king our coming king he will slay men who refuse to come to him and who remain in their sin he will perfect his people who trust him by faith and he will renew the entire cosmos those who refuse to repent and believe in christ and his gospel will be thrown into the fiery pit of hell and be punished for their sin for all eternity for those who belong to jesus in this life through faith in him and in him alone the end of revelation says that jesus will come back we will belong to him forever in the perfect life to come where we will enjoy him for his glory and our good why do you want to give yourself anything but that why would you want to give your wife and your children and your small group and christ's church anything but that this scripture all of the scripture every word in this scripture ultimately will point you to christ and paul says in our text in second timothy 3 these sacred writings are able to make you wise for salvation not in general he says through faith in jesus christ they're able to bring you to faith the third thing that we see is that the bible is sufficient because it proceeds from the mouth of god this is why the scriptures are sufficient because god has spoken his word it's been written down and he has revealed everything that you and i need to know to love him and serve him obey him look at the beginning of verse 16 and see that in the middle of all this he just reminds timothy all scripture is breathed out by god that is breathed out by god is one word in the greek it's a word that doesn't exist before paul writes it down as far as we can tell there's no other greek manuscript there's no other greek writing that uses this word it's it's two words it's the word for god in greek and it's the word for breathed theo nustos is how you would say it so he takes two words god and breathed and puts them together and coins a new term all scripture your translation may say is inspired by god that's because you don't have a great translation i'm just kidding that's not a great translation of the word god breathed all scripture is proceeding from the mouth of god and notice this is technical and you need to notice this he doesn't just say my words god is speaking through me but he says he uses a word that means the very writings this word scripture he means that means holy sacred writings it means the very words that were written down came from the mouth of god so not just paul's preaching not just his speaking not just the ideas of what he's saying like god breathed it to paul and then paul had to write it down but he says the very writings themself proceed from the mouth of god it's through paul but all scripture every bit of the word of god the bible comes from him god breathed that's why it's sufficient as thomas watson says the two testaments of our bible the old and new are the two lips by which god speaks to us how much of scripture is god breathed all every bit from genesis to revelation all scripture is breathed out by god and that is why it's sufficient therefore with the bible men you must be like those in luke 19 48 who when they were listening to christ they hung on every word when someone is preaching and teaching the bible when you are reading the bible you have to hang on every single word of scripture because every word proceeds from god's mouth he's only chosen to reveal to you and i what he wants to and so every word must be known and every word is sufficient do you hang on every word of the scriptures think back in your life how many sermons you've listened to that you just tune out and do your own thing think about when when you're listening to the word of god being preached how many times in your life you reach over to somebody else and you start talking to them think about when you're in a bible study and you don't pay attention every single time the scripture is being read are you hanging on every word what are you teaching your children to do teach your children teach your wife teach your small group teach christ's church that every word proceeds from the mouth of god therefore we gotta be like those people in luke 19 hang on every single one of them that's the third thing we see in this text concerning the sufficiency it's sufficient because it proceeds from god's mouth fourth the scriptures are sufficient to profit you in the ways you most need to profit the scriptures are sufficient to profit you in the ways you must need to profit look at the next part of verse 16. it's not only breathed out by god it is therefore profitable there's another word that gets at the sufficiency of scripture do you see that word it is profitable there's more profit that comes from this book than all the treasures of the world combined the scriptures are sufficient to profit you to help you in every way that you need to be helped they're more advantageous than anything else they're more serviceable than anything you can imagine they're profitable just as the scriptures are sufficient to reveal how god justifies you so they are by this word it's revealing they are sufficient to sanctify you this is how god makes you more like his son the lord jesus he does it through his scriptures they exist to profit you and what do they profit you towards this is what he gets to in the end of our passage he just starts rattling off all these things that they're profitable for and the very first one is for doctrine it's translated teaching probably in your bible it's not a verb we have to know what the words mean it's not a verb it's profitable to help you teach no it's not that it's profitable for teaching for instruction for what we call doctrine the word of god is sufficient for doctrine the scriptures sufficiently teach us what we must believe about god and ourselves and in addition what we must avoid and do in order to glorify god and enjoy him forever doctrine is what you must believe about god about yourself about the world and doctrine also has to do with what you must do and avoid doctrine is the firm teaching of the scripture the clear-cut statements of truth and fact that god reveals in his word it's sufficient the scriptures are to tell us what we need to know but they're also sufficient look next not only for teaching they're not only profitable for teaching they're profitable for reproof the scriptures are sufficient to reprove that word reproof has to do with in your mind and then goes down to your heart conviction of sin reproof has to do more with your internal life whereas you'll see the next word he uses correction that has to do a little bit more with the external of your life first he starts with reproof that means conviction of bad behavior or bad doctrine if people need to be corrected in their doctrine or in their behavior as you and i do frequently they've got to go to the sufficient word because god's word is sufficient to reprove us to bring conviction of sin i'm thinking wrongly i'm acting wrongly well it's sufficient to do that the next thing he says is for correction reformation restoration it means whereas reproof has to do with convicting of bad behavior or bad doctrine correction has to do with restoring you to right doctrine and right behavior does that make sense the scriptures are not only sufficient to convict you the scriptures are sufficient to actually correct you so that you may repent trust in and follow jesus but they're also sufficient for training you look at the next word and for training in righteousness for training you this means for disciplining you for helping you become disciplined in your life not disciplined like someone spanking you or like god disciplining you but discipline as in you are a disciplined person and look at the context of what he says why are we being trained ultimately to be trained in righteousness all of it's building to that we need to be reproved we need to be corrected at times so that we can be properly disciplined in righteousness trained in righteousness it's the same word that's used in ephesians 6 4 when paul says fathers you need to bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the lord discipline there is not don't spare the rod or spoil the child though you should do that but it's teaching them how to be disciplined that's what he's getting at here that's what the scriptures are sufficient to do to train you to be and live righteous this word righteousness it means purity of life purity of life correctness uprightness in the way you think the way you feel in the way you act and notice all of it at the end verse 17. here's at least the ninth thing the ninth reason we're given about the bible sufficiency or the ninth argument and it all leads to this for anybody who cares about god's glory the bible is sufficient to make you fit and equipped to glorify god in all of life fit and equipped verse 17 that the man of god may be complete fit apt perfect it has to do with a special aptitude sufficiently trained so that you're ready to do what you must do that's what that word complete means you've completed your training and now you can go out into the field of work and you know you have the tools to do what you've got to do to accomplish the goals that are set before you the scriptures are sufficient so that the man of god that word man it's where we get our word anthropology it means man we have a footnote that says or messenger it means man anthropos anthropology it's where we get our word the man of god may be complete equipped for every good work equipped for every good work the point of this is the bible is sufficient to justify you to sanctify you and to make you fit and equipped to glorify god in every aspect of your life how many areas of good works does paul have in mind what word does he use look at your text for some good works it's every isn't it for every single good work there's another word that denotes the sufficiency of the scriptures god uses his word to equip you for every good work just as the scriptures are sufficient to reveal how god justifies and are sufficient to keep you faithful in christ as he sanctifies you so they are sufficient to equip you think with me dwell on that equipped for every good work for just a few minutes in closing good works are how we glorify god the good works that you do by the strength that god supplies according to him working through the sufficient scriptures that's how you glorify god if you don't want to be equipped for every good work then you'd have to say you don't want to glorify god and if you don't want to glorify god you don't know the lord jesus you may know a lot about him but you don't know him personally unless your heart says i want to live to glorify god that's why i exist matthew 5 16 jesus says let your light shine before others why so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven let your light shine before men before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven will you not seek god's glory but waste your life by neglecting to be fit by the scriptures will you do that or will you look to the sufficient scriptures and be equipped so that you may actually glorify god the very reason that you exist this is why you're created this is what will bring you the most happiness is to glorify god and you only do that by good works that god has set out for you that's how we glorify god good works secondly are what god saved us to they're not how god saved us he doesn't save us by good works he saves us to them this is exactly what paul says in ephesians 2 10 isn't it for we are his what workmanship created in christ jesus for what purpose for good works that god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them will you take god's workmanship and run it through the mud by not being fit and equipped to do the good works that he's prepared for you if you're not equipped by the scriptures and diligently studying them and teaching them to those in your charge you're taking god's perfect workmanship and redeeming sinners and running it through the mud amen don't do that this is what god saved us to go to the word to be prepared to walk in those good works that god prepared beforehand for you and finally in considering these good works men good works are why christ died good works are why christ died titus 2 14. jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works hear that again christ died so that you would walk in good works jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession a people who are zealous for good works this is the end to which christ stood in your place and took the judgment of god that you have earned he did it to purify you and so that you would be adamant you would be zealous you would be fired up to do the good works that god has prepared beforehand that you would walk in and therefore glorify him do you see why you have to go to the scriptures you see why paul commands you every one of you stand in the scriptures remain in the scriptures or you will not live how god has created you and saved you to live will you trample the blood of god's son underneath your feet by not being zealous for good works or will you be zealous for good works but not equipped to do them men this is why christ died this is why christ stood in your place so that you and i would be zealous do not dare be zealous for anything but that which christ bled for and he bled so that you would walk in good works go to the scriptures and be equipped for that very purpose pray with me our father in heaven we thank you for the sufficiency of your word help us to be men who look to christ and him crucified to purify us to cleanse us of all unrighteousness so that we would be a people for his own possession zealous for good works help us to be men that take your word seriously give us zeal to study your word and to not be hearers or readers only but to be doers we ask you equip us for the good works that you've laid out before us in our lives in our jobs in our homes with our co-workers with our neighbors with your bride equip us for those good works help us to be men who like timothy remain continue in stand and abide in your scriptures help us to also hold them out for your glory and for our good we ask this in jesus name amen [Music] [Applause] you

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Length: 43min 47sec (2627 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021