2 Timothy | Chapter 3 – Scripture Supply

2 Timothy 3:1-5

“Sunday Saints”

Vs. 1-4 18 characteristics of the religious

Vs. 5 Form without power

3:1-9 Know the days you’re living in

3:10-17 Know how to walk in the word

3:14-21 Reminding people of the dangers of rejecting grace

Introduction

With all the events that are happening globally, no wonder people are becoming increasingly convinced that the world is coming to an end. According to a 2013 Omni Poll, 4 in 10 or 41% of Americans believe that we are in the “Last Days,” and an October Newsweek Poll suggests that the vast majority of Christians think that it will play out like the Bible said it would.

Paul too thought that the end of the world was at hand, as he describes the conditions that will be upon humanity at the end of the world. If we want to take a closer look at what predicated the end of the world, we need only go to God’s word prior to the destruction of the world by flood in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, where we are told that “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that EVERY intent of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY.”

Prior to the flood, wickedness had increased to a point where the people’s only thought and action was rebellion and sin. I’m not sure that we have risen to this level yet, but there is little doubt that we are increasing towards it. In this section Paul describes the condition of humanity in the last days, and surprisingly, they are very religious. Paul mentions three facts about the religious:

Vs. 2-5 Their Characteristics
Vs. 6-7 Their Converts
Vs. 8-9 Their Captains

We will only look at the “18 characteristics” of the religious this morning.

Vs. 1-4 18 characteristics of the religious

Vs. 1-4 As I watched the riots break out in Ferguson after hearing the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict the police officer in the Michael Brown shooting, this passage came to mind. I mean, clearly, this describes the “perilous times,” but it can describe many times from many different eras. What is interesting is that the phrase “Last Days” doesn’t refer to a specific time just prior to Jesus’s return but rather biblically it refers to a whole time period between the first coming and His 2nd coming, so in truth we have been living in the “LAST DAYS” for 2000 years!

Peter described this as well in Acts chapter 2:17 at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in which 3000 got saved; he quoted the event as what was spoken by the prophet Joel, saying, “And it shall come to pass in THE LAST DAYS, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.” Clearly, according to the Word of God, the “last days” started at Pentecost and have continued until today.

When Paul wrote to the believers in Rome in the 11th chapter verse 25, he said, “I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” We are currently living in a time of the Gentiles until the last of us becomes a believer, then we will move into the great tribulation that deals with Israel and judgment upon the Christ-rejecting world.

Finally, in Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1-2, the author again says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these days spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” Again, the “last days” are the days in which Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the prophet’s words.

That gives us a great backdrop as to what the “last days” that Paul characterizes as repetitive cycles of distress and perilous times are. These words are not a prediction of the last days for the church but rather the cycle of days that will keep coming and at some point in time will culminate in THE LAST DAY, of which is best described! What Paul wanted Timothy to know and understand is that “times must not dictate the character and attitude of the believer.” That’s why Paul starts with the phrase, “But know this…” There will be times and have been times for 2000 years where we will witness the worst in humanity; they will be dangerous times, times of great suffering, times when our trust in Christ and His word will be pushed to the limit, times when we, the Church, will be under constant threat. Times in which people will be noted for these 18 characteristics. One of the things I notice is that the chief characteristic of the religious is “love,” but in the religious, their love is directed at themselves instead of God and others. As one has said, “The heart of every problem is a problem of the heart.” They are as Isaiah described in chapter 5 verse 20: “calling evil good and good evil.”

Those that study high school-aged academics globally tell us that American students are dropping globally in math, science, as well as other subjects at a rapid rate, but there is one area in which these experts have said that U.S. students are at the top of the class globally while their studies are failing. They are number 1 in the category of “self-esteem.” In other words, we are failing, but we feel great about ourselves while doing so! Our education system has done an outstanding job in telling our students that they need to love themselves and be proud of doing so, but obviously such instruction has done nothing to raise the level of education standards. Going back up to the awful list of 18 characteristics, you can see that they are put into four groups:

Lovers of themselves: That is the basic sin of humanity—”self”—love! In the church, this “self-love” is exhibited in a “me-centered” society that focuses only on its rights, needs, and views. Its only concern is “What am I going to get out of this?” Christians aren’t to be “lovers of self,” living a self-centered existence. When people are lovers of themselves, is it any wonder that we find them to be lovers of money, materialists in their expression? Instead of using what God has blessed them with to respond to human suffering, we will use it to indulge ourselves in a more luxurious lifestyle. Saints, it’s never persecution that destroys the believer’s prosperity! Paul says that this will lead to people being boasters, proud or arrogant people. The church will equate its health with its prosperity and even boast upon its abundance of nickels and noses. It is contemptible how the church brags and glories in everything but Jesus! The self-righteous display of contempt for those who are trapped by the same sins that the church is enslaved to. By their actions, they have become blasphemers and abusive.
Disobedient to parents: insult to parents, the breakdown of the home, rebellion against parental authority, which finds its way into all of society. Paul describes these characteristics of the breakdown of the family as the UN: Thankful, holy, loving, and forgiving. They manifest a sense of entitlement and say that there is no need to be thankful, as they deserve better and demand more of everything they want. This progresses to a lack of common decency, where people not only engage in immorality, they flaunt it and demand that you participate in it. Unloving means that they lack civility to the point that they become inhumane, no longer have the normal affections for their loved ones, and become cruel, west-beast-like behavior. Finally, they become unforgiving, and the word means beyond reason, unappeasable, so bitter and unrelenting that they cannot soften in any way.
Slanderer’s: This third group moves to interpersonal relationships. The word slanders in the Greek is “devils,” those people who are ungovernable, who only want to satisfy their own lusts and passions, and who become fierce and savage people, lacking self-control; they are brutal and haters of anything good. They are reckless people, who are treacherous and impulsive without fear of consequences, swollen with conceit, who not only think only of themselves; they think highly of themselves.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God: It is this last grouping that Paul indicates in verse 5 has a form of godliness but denies its power. Sunday saints, but weekday sinners, exposed to the Bible but also exposed by the Bible they hear on Sunday’s. How is this possible? Well, it’s because they deny the power thereof! Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” How tragic it is to see the church only wear the cross of Christ instead of die daily upon it! Until we Christians are willing to say “no” to what the cross has denied, what it has put to death within us, we cannot enter into that eternal life that is available to us now. Unwilling to deny self means that we are unable to experience life from God.

Vs. 5 Form without Power

Vs. 5 As awful as those 18 character traits are, the worst part of them is that according to verse 5, they will at times make up the church of Christ as well as “have the form of godliness but deny its power.” They will have made a ruin of faith in Christ and reduced it to:

Form without power
Outward show without inward reality
Religion without morals
Faith without works

The reason for such cycler behavior in society is that the Church of Christ remains unchanged in their lives. They will not “walk the talk.” Jesus warned in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” If the church will no longer be an antiseptic, a preservative, then its only usefulness in society will be for something the world uses to get a better footing to keep going in the wrong direction.

The prophet Amos said in chapter 8 verse 11 that “the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.” There is a growing ignorance of the word of God where folks no longer want to hear and apply the word of God in their lives, and this willful ignorance has led to an increased immorality and hardening of the heart that manifests itself in ungodly behaviors.

We are prone to think that only the secular, atheistic society is out to get Christians, but Jesus said that most of our opposition will come from the religious, as religion has always been at war against relationships!

2 Timothy 3:6-9

“Phony faiths”

Vs. 6-7 Gullible, guilty, and gathers

Vs. 8-9 Infiltration and imitation

Introduction

Having looked at the 18 characteristics of religious people that will cycle through the last days, we now move on to see:

Vs. 6-7 Converts: Three traits that cause people to gravitate towards religion
Vs. 8-9 Captains: Two tactics employed by the religious to captivate converts

Paul outlines for Timothy two tactics that Satan employs when he attempts to get the church and people to become religious. Paul says, “Those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts.” What Paul is speaking of is the tactic that goes after people who have grown frustrated by the morally corrupt and hypocritical church and have abandoned corporate fellowship with believers. Instead, they were staying away, remaining at home. We need only look at the present-day theological cults of Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons, as 25% of the converts to them come from those who used to attend another church.

Vs. 6-7 Gullible, guilty, and gathers

Vs. 6-7 Paul lists three traits that can cause a person to gravitate towards religion and away from a relationship with Christ:

Vs. 6a Gullible: The word “gullible” in the Greek is “little women,” but in the Greek it is in the neuter gender tense, which suggests more the vulnerability of people than it describes their gender. Paul is telling Timothy that those that succumb to these religious people are gullible, like young girls. It is the gullibility that makes people accept religion instead of investigating to see if what a person is saying is true. I believe that one of the great assets of people is to investigate and use critical thinking. Just because someone in authority says that what they are telling you is true doesn’t mean it is. We need to separate:

True skepticism: Where a person is looking for the truth in order to believe
False skepticism: Where a person is looking for reasons not to believe

I love to investigate and read views that differ from my own, especially where I can see where they have come to their conclusions. It has never weakened my faith; it has strengthened and refined it.

Vs. 6b Guilty: Paul also says that a person is more vulnerable to religion when they are aware of their own failures as they are looking for a way to escape their own conscience. No person can escape a wounded conscience; they will either need to:

Numb it through self-indulgence.
Appease it through works
Sear it through continual abuse.
Crucify it through faith in Christ’s work.

And as you can imagine, only one of those options truly sets a person free from guilt and shame. The religious prey upon people who are looking to escape from the bondage of their freedoms and are especially open to so-called “truths” that offer alternatives to trusting in God and His word.

They “creep into households” by offering something that they can’t provide in exchange for loyalty, money, and service, making them far worse than they were prior. They still have the same problems and gained a far worse one, “religion,” where they are duped into believing that all is well. No wonder Paul warns Timothy in verse 5: “From such people turn away.”

Vs7 Gathers: The religious look for those who like to collect information, pseudo-intellectuals who are on a continual quest for more information so they can appear to be learned but never seem to apply what they say they know. There is nothing wrong with education, but if all it produces is a continual search for more information that never transforms the person, it is an empty search. The religious prey upon people like this, as they can continue in small increments and pass on little tidbits of “higher knowledge” that make their student far superior to the common truth seeker. Of course this truth search makes them also twice as arrogant and prideful, and it keeps them hooked on the information instead of the Word of God by the Spirit of God.

Vs. 8-9 Infiltration and imitation

Vs. 8-9 From the 18 characteristics of the religious to the three traits that make a person gravitate towards religion to finally looking at two tactics employed by the religious to captivate converts. In looking at these two tactics, we will need to go back to verse 6 to see the first one.

Vs. 6 Infiltration: “Those who creep into households.” Paul says of them, “For of this sort,” which is a direct reference to the 18 characteristics mentioned and specifically of what he said in verse 5 that “they have a form of godliness but deny its power.” Religious people seek to prey upon people who are disenfranchised from religion that masquerades as Jesus’ Church and are looking for another way to elevate the guilt of sin, preferably by self-effort and works so that they can claim superiority above the religion they have left.

Even when religious people have been disenfranchised with the church, they will still seek meaning and purpose to handle the despair and emptiness of life. These people become extremely vulnerable when they are not consistently in fellowship and the word of God and become sheep without a shepherd. The prophet Jeremiah described the condition of Israel during the captivity to Babylon in chapter 50 verse 6 as a “lost sheep, as their shepherds have led them astray.” Jesus also had compassion on the Jewish people, as they were like “sheep having no shepherd.” Religious leaders target the vulnerable and supply lies as instruction.

Vs. 8 Imitation: “As Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth.” Exodus chapters 7-9 reveal the contest between Moses and the Egyptian magicians mentioned here by Paul as Jannes and Jambres. Though Exodus doesn’t reveal their names, apparently their names were well known in Jewish tradition, as Paul tells Timothy the story, including their names. These two men opposed Moses and the truth by imitating what he and Aaron did to convince Pharaoh that the God they represented had the authority and power to command Pharaoh to let His people go free.

But in the end, all they could produce was more snakes, more blood, and more frogs. In other words, all they could do was MAKE THINGS WORSE; they had no ability to make things better. Saints, there is power in religion, but only in making things worse, never in making things better. Satan can imitate, but he can’t create, as he is only a counterfeit. Paul says that relig

ious leaders do the same, as they have “phony faiths” to appeal to corrupt minds that are already looking for an alternative to faith in Jesus alone.

They claim to offer what only Jesus can give: peace, identity, and security, but the cost is commitment to the group instead of a relationship with Christ. They have learned to use the same words and phrases as true faith in Christ, but the meanings and practice are different. Many folks fall into these phony faiths and will even tell you that they are Christians as well, but they haven’t surrendered to the same Jesus who died upon the cross; they have surrendered their lives to an organization. In the end, Jannes and Jambres were exposed and made fools by the truth and judgment of God. Paul says they can only “progress” to a point, then “their folly will be manifest to all.”.

Having seen the kind of folks that will be susceptible to the two types of deception of “infiltration” and “imitation,” Paul shares that the “phony faiths” will not get the better of the true faith in Christ; God’s work will always “swallow up” the counterfeit. Evil always has a limit, and inevitably Satan overplays his hand, and those who have followed an organization instead of a person realize that the imitation is no substitute for the real Person of Jesus.

The truth is that the greatest opportunities to speak of Jesus’ greatness happen during seasons of the greatest stress and trials; that being the case, then our opportunities are becoming greater every day. Until Jesus comes back, we will continue to have the religious, who just make things worse and can never make things better. Paul says these are indicators that we are in the last days, as we have been for over 2000 years, but this doesn’t discourage me. Here is why:

Dark times are made for people who are in the light. When things increase in darkness, it makes the light all the more attractive to those who tire of stumbling around. You all know how diamonds are formed—heat and pressure! The darker the times, the more Christ in us sparkles and the more precious He becomes.
People who are in the light are made for dark times. Take a casual look around your Bibles, and you will see folks like Daniel and his three buddies, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, four guys whom God placed to stand up against Nebuchadnezzar. Then you have the young queen Esther, a gal who the Lord used to stand up against Haman and his edict to destroy the Jews. God always has a remnant, and we are called for such a time as this!

So the darker our world gets, the greater the certainty we know that God has called us to stand up and shine. In the diamond business, color is graded or judged against a white background, but the diamond is best enjoyed and appreciated next to dark colors, as there it truly stands out. Our grading comes when we stand next to Him who is perfect, Jesus, but our enjoyment of the world is best seen when everything around us is getting darker and darker.

2 Timothy 3:10-13

“A pound of the eternal in a paper sack.”

Vs. 10-11a Follow his example.

Vs. 11b-13 Follow the Word

Introduction

I start this message with a disclaimer: Preparing a weekly message through a book of the Bible where you approach each study as you are the most important person who needs to hear this message often doesn’t allow me to go further in the text as He has given me all I can apply. I also run the danger of being so specific that the text meant for me may not apply to those with whom I have the privilege of sharing what the Spirit has given. So I apologize upfront; I have left in the personal nature of this conviction as I have no other way to communicate it if I made it less specific.

The 3rd chapter started out with Paul telling Timothy the signs of the times, referring to them as the “last days.” Paul then described what the enemy will do, as he will have his counterfeits sown among the real thing. In this part of the letter to Timothy, whom he left in Ephesus, Paul offers encouragement concerning pastoring and living in a world that has abandoned faith in Christ for religion. The most difficult of which has less to do with the temptation to become religious and more to do with a “hard-hearted cynicism, bitterness, and resentment” against those who are pursuing religion. That’s the subject that Paul will cover for us today, and he will share two things Timothy can do:

Vs. 10-13 Follow his example.
Vs. 14-17 Follow the Word of God.Vs. 10-11a Follow his example.

Vs. 10-11 The word “followed” in the Greek is a word that describes walking in another’s footsteps, and it seems odd to me that Paul would remind Timothy first to follow his example before he mentions to him to follow the Word of God. But Paul’s example was of a man who first followed the Word of God, and Timothy had a first-row seat to that as he had been with Paul observing how to live by the Word of God when living in a world that had no connection to it. In the Greek, the phrase “you have carefully followed…” “You came right along with me.”.

Paul says, “You accompanied me through all that life threw at me; you saw how to live life, so don’t forget that now!” We often forget the context in which most of the New Testament was written; we tend to think that Paul and others didn’t have to endure hardship. The letters of the N.T. weren’t written in a theoretical classroom or think tank; they were writing for the most part in prison cells. Paul reminds Timothy of five facts that he learned during watching Paul concerning truth that work:

Observable Vs. 10a: “You have carefully followed… Timothy had heard many messages of Paul’s about living the Christ-centered life in a godless world, but more than just hearing the message, Timothy saw that message lived out daily as there was no “do as I say, not as I do” in the life of Paul no matter what the adversity. Paul not only pointed out the fallacies of religion; he lived out the riches of Christ and the superiority of a relationship with Jesus. I believe that every Christian ought to be able to teach the truths of the Word of God without ever opening their mouths by simply being a living demonstration.
Verifiable vs. . 10b “My doctrine…”: Paul told Timothy that he could always check out his teaching next to the Word of God. Far too often, teaching is graded on delivery, not content, and teaching must never be received as truth on how well it’s packaged. Saints, our life is not lived out in a vacuum; life happens in real time, and what we say we believe is that our purpose in life will be witnessed not when things are going according to plan but rather when our lives are coming apart.
Visible: Vs. 10c, “Manner of Life.” Paul gave more than he received, served more than he was served, and stood up for truth even if it cost him friends. Paul’s life was that of a servant of Christ, not a celebrity. Timothy had witnessed how Paul had controlled his temper, continued to love those who hated him, and continued to do so over time. Man, reading this makes me very convicted. What a great truth we see in Paul’s example, as we recall as an admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
Purposeful: vs. . 10d: “purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance.” There was never a question as to the purpose of Paul’s life and ministry. His desire was to finish the work Christ had given him to do; he trusted the Lord to enable him to do this, and he was patient and loving towards people who continually attacked for the work.
Demonstrable: Vs. 11a persecutions, afflictions: Paul’s ministry was not done in a library or laboratory but rather in the operating room and battlefield of life. His ministry was not a thesis or a theory; it was first and battle tested and came through the fire proving the truth.

The word of God put into our lives when lived casts out fear, as John wrote in 1 John 4:18. There is a web site called the Phobia List that says that there are 530 Phobias or fears everything from “A” to “Z,” as in Zemmiphobia, “the fear of the Great Mole Rat of Eastern Africa.” And in case you didn’t see your particular “fear,” you can always claim that you have “phobophobia,” the fear of phobias. But it doesn’t matter what you fear when Jesus’ love casts out the fears. Paul lived with an overriding truth: that whatever he did and said in this life would either bring glory to Jesus or grief the Spirit of God.

Vs. 11b-13 Follow the Word

Vs. 11b-13 Paul reminds Timothy, “You were with me during many of those times of persecution. Remember how at Antioch I had to leave town lest my life be taken, how at Iconium I was driven out by a lynch mob, and how at Lystra I was stoned and left for dead outside the city walls?” Then Paul adds, “And out of them all the Lord delivered me.” Timothy wasn’t in the classroom with Paul; he was in the crucible with Paul. Paul’s life was an accident; he wasn’t a victim or an innocent bystander. Paul’s life verse were the words delivered by God to Ananias in Acts chapter 9 verses 15-16: “He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Our focus in that calling is the conditions of his service, which we understand in part are “he must suffer,” but it’s unfortunate that we leave out two phrases, “I will show him… for my name’s sake.” Embedded in the Lord’s calling of Paul are two promises:

“I’ll show him”: That’s a wonderful promise that wherever he is and whatever the journey, “The Lord will be with Him, as it is He that will show him.” As long as we are going on the journey throughout our life that Jesus has sent us on, every turn and twist, he will be revealing to us personally, hand in hand. There will never be a word from Jesus saying, “I’ll catch up to you around the bend.”
“For my name’s sake”: The second promise is that the purpose is always “for his name’s sake.” Our struggle comes when we can’t understand the purpose, and I suggest to you we are trying to find the purpose in the wrong place. The purpose is not to be found as it relates to ourselves; no, the purpose is to be found in His name sake, not ours. I realize that though I can’t understand the purpose of the twist and turn, one day when I see Him face-to-face, that twist and turn will make perfect sense and fit for His glory.

That’s the secret that we need to lay next to verses 12-13:

Yes, “All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” But Jesus is with you and will never leave you or forsake you, and your suffering is accomplishing His purpose; it’s not just random suffering with no purpose.
Yes, “Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” But Jesus is right next to me through this, and even their wickedness has no consequences for His purpose and plan.

Paul is revealing to Timothy as well as us that Christianity is always going to be a “counterculture movement.” It’s always going to be going against the popular trends and grain of society. The church was never designed to be popular in this world; it was never to be the center of what’s happening where folks gather at church to have a Big Mac and a cup of Starbucks. Dear ones, the church that stands for nothing never stands for anything! Paul’s words to Timothy are reflected in a sarcastic and convicting poem by Ray Stedman:

I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, just enough to equal a cup of warm milk so I can take a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Jesus to make me love my enemies or to serve the afflicted. No, I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy just $3.00 worth, no more.

This brand of church, though increasingly popular, is nonetheless worthless! It does nothing to stem the tide of corruption. These are our “last days,” and it is up to each of us to decide what kind of Christian and church we want to be. Do we want to make our lives count, or are we looking for a pound of the eternal in a paper sack? If you want to heed your calling, then do what Paul did: practice what you preach and teach the truth! You will be unpopular at times, but don’t let that dissuade you. Walk in the Lord, love Him with all your heart, and live in His presence moment by moment.

2 Timothy 3:14-17

“Paper people”

Vs. 14-15 People of the Book

Vs. 16-17 A book for people

Introduction

As we have now officially entered a new year with all the uncertainties, how are we going to make it through? Reading through Ray Steadman’s comments written 30 years ago caused me to realize that this isn’t a new concern as he asked, “How can a Christian survive during stressful and pressure-filled times? In a world gone insane with hate and passion, amidst a race that is destroying itself with moral filth and shameless self-indulgence, in a church that maintains the form of religion but denies the power thereof, how can a Christian maintain his integrity against the current of the day?” Several weeks back we were given part of what Paul told Timothy was the key to how to live victoriously: follow a person who follows the word of God. In chapter 3, verse 10, Paul wrote that Timothy had already observed Paul’s life, living through the “last days,” “perilous times,” in which people will continue to manifest themselves as “lovers of themselves.” This morning Paul tells Timothy that to stay on course, he will need to be single-minded in what he learns.

Vs. 14-15 People of the Book

Vs. 14 We are living in the communication and entertainment age, and there is an increasing emphasis upon these two things as being of primary importance for the church. But I’m of the opinion that what is of primary importance for the Church is Jesus and the truth He taught us in His Word. There are those that would see my point of view as worshiping a “paper pope,” a “book.” I like John Wesley’s words when he said, “I am a spirit that comes from God and returns to God. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me in that way; He has written it down in a book. O, give me that book. At any price, give me the Book of God. Let me be a man of one book.” Paul outlines for Timothy two ways we can continue to be “people of the book.”.

Vs. 14a Learn what the Bible says: “Continue in the things which you have learned.” When Paul wrote this to Timothy, he was speaking of an incomplete scripture. They had the Old Testament, maybe the gospels of Matthew and Mark and the letters that Paul had written, this being the last of those. Yet even with that incomplete list, Timothy is being exhorted to continue to read and study the Word of God. If we are going to be able to be victorious in these perilous times, we are going to need to be daily in his word, studying the scriptures. The Bible contains the thoughts of God about life, ourselves and others, morals, ethics, right and wrong. Reading the Bible will reveal to us that God is not in tune with the secular philosophy of the world. When we learn what the Bible says, three things begin to happen:

Vs. 14b, “And have been assured of…”: The bible will change the way we think and the way we live. There is no area of human life that won’t be altered when we study the scriptures. The more I study the Word of God, the more I become convinced of its truths, and the more it makes sense to live the way it tells me to. The complaints against Christians don’t come from people who are living out the truths but against those who claim to be followers of the book but don’t live it out.
Vs. 14c “Knowing from whom you have learned them.” We will see that the Bible has changed people we know and respect. A lot of people will tell you that they have read the Bible from cover to cover many times, and that’s quite a feat, but I’m far more impressed with a person who has practiced it from cover to cover. The Bible is easier to believe when we see what it has done to people we know. When Timothy was young, he learned the word from his mother Lois and grandmother Eunice, who were living examples of the truth. When Timothy was older, he learned from Paul, who taught him the same truths that his mother and grandmother had taught him.
Vs. 15a: “..that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures.” We will be convinced of the need for the Bible to be taught at an early age. In times past, the Bible was the book children learned to read with; it was the book that children read stories from. People are the most impressionable as children, and it is the parent’s responsibility to train up a child in the way they should go.

Vs. 15b Grow in what the Bible says: “…which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” The effect of the Bible in our lives is not knowledge but transformation; it is able to make us wise for salvation by trusting in Jesus. It was not the Bible that saved and transformed Timothy; it was the Person whom the Bible revealed, Jesus. I wouldn’t have known the Bible except for Jesus, but I wouldn’t have grown in that relationship with Jesus except for the Bible. Barnhouse described once the danger of merely reading the Bible and not hearing from Jesus, like a person who describes looking out their window at the ocean, but all they speak of is the window and not what it allows them to see, the Vast Ocean! The joy of the window and the book is what it enables you to see, Jesus. The most important aspect of the Bible is not what you believe, but who you believe!

Vs. 16-17 A book for the people

Vs. 16-17 The final two verses of this chapter Paul writes of why the Bible is able to do what it does in our lives as he speaks of the uniqueness of the word of God. There is an unfortunate translation here from the Greek to the English, as it says that “all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God.” The word that is mistranslated is the word “inspiration,” which is a compound Latin word that means to “breathe IN” or inhale, but that is not the Greek word as it means to “breathe OUT” or exhale.

All scripture is NOT given by “INHALE” of God, but rather, as the Greek says, all scripture is given by the “EXHALE” of God. Just as God breathed into the dust of the ground and made a living person, he breathed into that transformed dust His Words so that all who hear these words move towards life! Paul goes on in this verse to tell you that the “God breathed out” Bible will do four things for everyone who reads it and believes it:

Profitable for doctrine: The word of God will instruct your mind with truth about yourself that no one else knows anything about. I love that about the Word of God as it reveals to me, ME, like none other. It also answers the great mysteries of life, like what happens to us after we die. It answers the question as to our own creation and if there are any other creations outside of our world. It’s a great guide for the living, as it is the only book that can tell you how to keep on living even after you leave this world behind. It’s a book that tells us what’s happening to this world we live in and why it’s such a mess. But more than tell us why it tells us of the antidote to what ails mankind.
Profitable for reproof: The word “reproof” is a word that means to “convict” and speaks the bible’s ability to let us know that something that we are doing is wrong even though we may have never thought it wrong before. The Bible makes you aware that in order to be truly free, it is you that will need to change—not the situation or circumstance, not society or the government, not some other person, but YOU!
Profitable for correction: The Bible not only makes you aware of your need to change, it provides a way to be free. The Bible never shows you your need to change without enabling you and showing you how too. That’s the amazing testimony about this book: it leads a person to freedom and life.
Profitable in instruction in righteousness: This phrase suggests that the Bible has the power through the Holy Spirit to enable you to walk day by day in the right way, a way that leads to more peace and joy in your life. In Psalm 23, David wrote of the Lord, “He leads me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” That’s what the Bible does for those who apply its truths; it enables us to have the ever-expanding experience of right living.

Vs. 17 The personal, practical description of what the Bible will accomplish in our lives is given to us here: The person of God will be perfect or complete, fully equipped or ready for every good work. The Bible is sufficient with the power of the Holy Spirit to do this. The secret of becoming a whole person and of finding one’s self is the word of God by the Spirit of God. This book enables the reader to more than handle life; it enables the reader to become a victorious individual as it works out our kinks and quirks, becoming the person God created me to be.

I have read many religious books throughout my life, both prior to becoming a Christian and after becoming a follower of Christ. I’ve dedicated my life to studying this book and teaching this book, and I have never found it more exciting than I do today, and I believe that I will say the same thing tomorrow. I could do without many things, many of which would enhance my life and not diminish it, but without this book constantly in my life, I would cease to live life; my life would become a ruin. This is the book that understands me, and because of it, I understand life and love the God who first loved me!