"Here's to 60 More" 2 Timothy 3:14 Sunday Evening Worship Service

2 Timothy 3.

I'm going to read verses 10 down to the rest of the end of the chapter, but we're only going to look at verses 14, 15, and maybe 16 and 17 might sneak in at the end.

This is the word of God.

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, persecutions, sufferings that happened to me in Antioch, Aconium, and 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.

While evil people and impostors are going to go from being bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

This is the key part for tonight.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from who you learned it.

And how from childhood you've 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 proof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

This is the word of God.

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer.

God, we are grateful for your word.

It equips us for salvation.

It equips us to fight the fight, run the race, to win the prize.

So we pray tonight that your word would be an act would be active in us, that it would convict us, encourage us, mature us, prod us on to godliness.

We want the word to poke us in the back like a sword tonight.

Help march us forward through your word.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Today, you should have all received this book on your way in or out this morning, which has wonderful stories in it about the 60 years of God's faithfulness in the life of our church.

Let me read you one of them.

This is described by Kathy Hawley.

She says, we often refer to a church with good teaching as having, quote, a strong pulpit.

That has certainly been a trademark of Emmanuel.

One story from the early days of church history illustrates that so well.

When we were preparing for the first Sunday in our new building on Braddock Road, there was an incident that remains memorable.

Wayne Bales was a founding member, my Sunday school teacher, and the contractor who was completing the new building.

He was driving his truck around the beltway, bringing the new pulpit for the first service when it blew off the back of the truck.

He pulled over, picked it up.

Clearly, this was in an earlier era when you can pull over on the beltway and pick it up without losing your life.

That's a bygone era now.

He put it back on the truck, repaired it, so the damage was not even noticeable.

Despite its potential destruction, the pulpit stood strong to hold God's word as a pastor preached from the first sermon from the new building.

As I picture Mr.

Bails rescuing the pulpit from the beltway pavement, it makes me chuckle.

It's a humorous story that touches me because it's a snapshot of the enduring, living word of God.

The Bible has been resilient throughout the test of time, in opposition over the centuries.

It continues to be foundational to God's Church Universal and to God's Church at Emmanuel.

This is a newer pulpit than that one.

It's not the one that blew on to the beltway.

It was made by a person at the church, actually, with his own hands.

Keenan made it and gave it to us as a gift, I think.

I don't know if you turned in receipts for the wood or everything, but at some point something fell on it, I think during an Easter pageant.

And it has like the gouge on it now that you might not even notice, but my eyes are fixated on it in the front row.

The gouge.

Constant reminder, without even knowing that story to me, a constant reminder that we just can't have perfect things in this world.

But God's word remains strong despite all kinds of obstacles and opposition.

And that's where Paul goes in 2 Timothy 3.

He says in 2 Timothy 3 that he is persecuted in every turn, every corner.

He's always persecuted.

He goes from city to city.

You remember when he planted the church in Ephesus, he had been basically hounded there from the cities before.

He lists some of the cities there in verse 11: Antiochonium, Lystra.

Those persecutions are described in the book of Acts in some detail, and of course he doesn't tell you all the details of them in the book of Acts, but you know, he's beaten shipwrecked.

He goes into that in 2 Corinthians.

He gives you the whole list.

You know a lot of what Paul went through.

It's unimaginable.

And he endured it all.

The reason he endured it all, he has the promise in verse 12 that all those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

But the reason he endured it all is because he knew that scripture motivated him to do that.

Scripture is the life's wrath that rescues you from a world that is lost.

You're drowning in sin, you're condemned before God for judgment, and scripture is the wrath that rescues you, saves you from this world, and brings you to salvation through faith in Christ.

Without Scripture, you wouldn't recognize Christ, you wouldn't know Christ.

So the Bible is very much what, in a real sense, saves you.

The Bible is not your savior, of course, but the Bible is what gathers you and rescues you out of this world, putting you into the arms of Christ.

And Paul knew that.

And so Scripture motivated him to endure.

Now, Timothy, we don't know much about Timothy beyond what you read in 1st and 2 Timothy.

It seems like he did not have the disposition of Paul.

Because when you read 1 and 2 Corinthians, Paul describes his own afflictions and his shipwrecks and getting.

Remember, Paul got bit by a snake and you know it was dangling from his arm.

Remember what he did?

It's like the toughest, manliest verse in the Bible.

He shook it off.

He shook it off.

I love that verse.

The soccer coach in me loves that verse.

Coach, I think I broke my leg.

Shake it off.

I mean, don't you have the Bible?

Shake it off, endure, push through.

It doesn't seem like Timothy was the shake it off kind of guy.

You know?

Timothy gets like, hey, come on, man, have a little wine for your tummy ache.

That's Timothy.

And so Paul appears to be motivating Timothy here, not by recounting all of his persecutions like he does the Corinthians, but he appears to motivate Timothy here.

He's trying to motivate Timothy to prepare him for chapter 4, where uh chapter 4, where he's going to be taking a hard stand against the world.

Coming out of the first half of chapter 3, where there's all this godliness that is multiplying in the world, right nestled in the middle of that.

Godliness is multiplying.

You're gonna have to take a stand and fulfill your ministry.

Paul's trying to give Timothy something here that's gonna motivate him.

He's younger, it appears that he might be more intimidated.

And so Paul tells him, man, listen, Timothy, everyone who wants to lead a godly life is going to be persecuted.

So just deal with that reality, my friend.

Buckle up.

Evil people are gonna go from bad to worse, verse 13.

If you're the kind of guy that's gonna be discouraged because evil people keep doing evil things, then maybe this isn't for you.

Evil people are going to be multiplied in verse 13.

But you, in verse 14, must continue on.

And now Paul is leveraging Scripture's role in Timothy's life to motivate his own future obedience.

He's telling him how his past experience with Scripture that should be motivates.

Future obedience.

His past experience with scripture is gonna motivate future obedience.

That's gonna be misspelled on every slide because I just copied it and pasted it.

But we're just gonna go on and not notice it.

My past spelling mistakes motivate future obedience.

Is obedience misspelled too?

Man, that's just great.

There.

The first way.

Jason loved that, man.

I didn't even see you, but I recognized the voice.

The first way your past encounter with Scripture motivates your future obedience is by recognizing that scripture is the foundation of your faith.

Scripture is the foundation of your faith.

Your whole life of faith is built on the foundation of God's word.

Now, this is very personal with Timothy.

Timothy, his mother was Jewish, his father was Greek.

We learned that from Acts 16.

So you just wonder, you know, you can have this kind of projection onto their life.

You don't get the details.

You don't know his father's name.

You know his mother's name.

Eunice.

You know, she was Jewish.

You don't know the details of what was going on.

This is a world where the Jews and Gentiles don't mix.

You know, it was considered, uh Peter's gonna say in Acts chapter 10 that it's not appropriate for a Jew to have any relationship, any fellowship.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

It's not appropriate for a Jew to go into a Gentile's house, Peter says in Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

You wouldn't go into a Gentile's house.

So how did Eunice end up marrying a Gentile?

We don't get the details.

Grandmother Lois, she's faithful.

Paul says she's faithful.

Paul knew them.

Perhaps from Lystra.

Ending up in Ephesus, is where Timothy landed, likely with his mother and grandmother with him.

And he has his parents, or at least his mother's, input of scripture into his life, his grandmother's input of scripture in his life.

That's the foundation of his faith.

So it's interesting here that Paul is reminding him of that.

As I mentioned earlier, that Paul, you know, he has a stronger disposition perhaps than Timothy.

And you see the inputs of that here as Timothy's raised by his mother and his grandmother teaching him the word of God.

But that's where Paul goes.

At the moment, Timothy needs strength the most.

That's where Paul goes and says, Hey, remember who taught you the word of God initially.

Remember where you first learned it from.

His mother and his grandmother are named in 1 Timothy 1, verse 5, where Paul says, I remember your sincere faith, Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:5

It's a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and then in your mother Eunice, and now I'm sure dwells in you as well.

Those two people taught Timothy from the Bible.

Now remember, the church in Ephesus is not more than 15 or 17 years old while Paul's writing this.

The word he uses for you've been taught since childhood your faith.

That word that's rendered childhood there in verse 15 from your childhood, it really means from infancy.

So Timothy is probably around 30 years old or so.

The church has been there 15 years.

But Paul says, you've been taught from infancy the word of God.

So how does that work?

Well, he's not talking about the New Testament here.

He's talking about Torah.

He's talking about what his grandmother would have taught him.

His grandmother would have taught him the Torah, the Old Testament stories.

He learned the Old Testament from the time that he was an infant here.

And that's what Paul's reminding him of now.

30-year-old Timothy, you're going to have to man up and deal with persecution from inside the church, from outside the church.

There's opposition on the horizon.

Remember, he tells him back in Acts chapter 20 that false teachers are going to rise up and they're going to be like wolves trying to devour you.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

Timothy, for you to withstand that, you have to remember the faith that your mother and your grandmother taught you.

In fact, he says in verse 14, continue in what you've learned.

That word continue, it's an unusual command.

It's only used one other time in the New Testament, is where people are begging Jesus to stay with them.

And it gets rendered stay there when it's used in Luke's gospel.

Would you stay with us?

Here, it just means continue.

Like I said, it's an odd grammatical constructor.

You're telling somebody to keep doing what they're doing, and it's the word for stay.

And so, you know, continue with me.

Paul tells Timothy, continue in what you've learned.

It's implying that he's already on the right pattern.

He's on the right glide slope, so to speak.

He's on the right glide path.

He's headed towards the right airport, the right one way.

Keep on that heading.

You're going the right way, my friends.

You're going the right way because of what your grandmother and your mother taught you from the time you were a wee little one.

Uses the word learned.

Continue what you've learned.

That word learned there, it's again translated learned, but it's also an unusual word.

It can mean learn, but it's uh morph of the word for disciple.

It's a word that means it's different than what you've learned at school.

It has more of a discipleship component to it.

When you look at the other uses of it in the New Testament, it's generally in a religious setting.

It's more than, you know, you memorize the order of the books of the Bible.

It's more than that.

It's more about, you saw my way of life, imitate that.

Ephesians 4, verse 20 uses that same word for imitate the way of life that you have learned.

Ephesians 4:20

Philippians 4, verse 9 uses it.

Philippians 4:9

Whatever you've learned, put into practice.

It's used another dozen ways in the New Testament, but with that same kind of usage.

You've learned things from the Lord, keep doing them.

You've learned things from your mother about the Lord.

Keep doing those.

They didn't teach him only stories, but they taught him scripture as well.

Deuteronomy 6.7.

You shall teach them diligently to your children.

You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down or when you rise.

Follow that pattern.

And notice the way it's described in Deuteronomy 6.7.

It's not this idea of, you know, family devotional times, which I strongly believe in and encourage families to have family devotional times together.

I think they're so helpful in knitting your family together.

But that's not what Deuteronomy 6.7 is talking about.

It's talking about the normal course of life.

A diligent teaching, of course, but you're talking about them when you sit in your house.

What's just talking about mealtime?

Right?

Especially in the ancient Near East.

When are you sitting in your house?

You're sitting at mealtime.

So you sit around food, talk about the things of the Lord.

When you're walking on the way, in other words, when you're going places to Americanize it, when you're running to the store, when you're in the car, going to school or from school, going to soccer, from soccer, when you're moving around, you're talking about these things.

It's not an all-times kind of thing.

It's not inside or outside.

No, it's sitting indoors, which is probably eating, or walking outdoors on your way to somewhere.

It doesn't say when you get there, talk about these things.

So the idea that Moses is using here, he's using this language he just describes, as you're going about, there's nothing more daily routine than eating, followed by running errands.

As you're doing those things, you're talking to your kids.

So when they get up and they go to bed, you're talking about them as well.

It becomes the normal fabric of life.

That's how you're pouring into them.

The idea here is that's how Paul was taught.

That's how Timothy was taught.

Paul understands he was raised in a Jewish family, a tribe of Benjamin, Pharisee of Pharisees.

That's how Timothy was taught by his mother and his grandmother as they're going about their life.

Psalm 78, verse 5 says it this way.

Psalms 78:5

He Yahweh established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them.

So that children yet unborn will arise and tell them to their children.

It's this constant talking to the kids.

That's how Scripture is supposed to be given.

Constantly being brought before them when they're waking up, going on their way, always before the Word of God.

Now, how is that going to prepare Paul?

I mean, prepare Timothy to take a stand against persecution.

How is that going to prepare him for believing in Jesus Christ?

Well, you think about what the Old Testament speaks of.

The Old Testament speaks of the need for Christ from Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

That you need a Savior for your sin.

You've sinned, someone has to cover your sin.

The Old Testament speaks of the death of Christ, that the Savior is going to come and crush Satan's head, but will be wounded by him.

Isaiah says the Savior's going to be buried.

He's going to be cut off in Psalm 89.

He's going to be put into a grave.

He's going to be cast aside.

So the Old Testament speaks of your need of Christ.

It speaks of the death of Christ.

It speaks of the resurrection of Christ.

In Psalm 89, he's going to conquer the grave.

He's going to conquer Sheol.

In Isaiah, though he's buried, his grave is, he's a poor man of life, his grave is with the rich man.

Yet the next passage says he's going to rise up and see his generation, even though he died.

Speaking of his resurrection.

He can't be held down.

The Old Testament teaches salvation through the death of the sacrifice.

As Isaac is replaced with the ram in the thicket, Isaac comes back down the mountain on the third day, the same prophecy of the Messiah.

I mean, the Old Testament has the foundations of the gospel built into it.

It has that salvation comes through faith in that Messiah.

Abraham heard Yahweh, believed Yahweh, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.

And so just learning the basic stories of the Old Testament prepares you to believe in Yahweh.

Beyond that, it prepares you to believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

It prepares you to receive the Messiah.

So when the Messiah comes, you have the foundation of Scripture.

This is why we understand this as parents now.

This is why you teach your kids the Bible stories.

At a young age, you teach them the Bible stories so that as they grow up and learn to read them, they recognize where things fit in.

They learn the chronology of the Bible well because, you know, you've read them, David and Goliath, and they like to act out David and Goliath, and they love that story.

And you read, you're going through the Old Testament reading the stories, then you get to Jesus.

And they have a grid for that.

You're just teaching them the stories at a young age.

When they learn to read, they learn to read the Bible.

If you do family devotions, they're reading the Bible out loud.

It's not that they even understand all the words that they're reading, it's that it's the foundation for their faith.

All you're doing at that little age is making the foundation for them.

Is there anything better for a church to teach its kids than the scripture?

I spent many years in ministry purgatory as a youth pastor.

People would always suggest books to use.

You know, would you take your youth group through this book?

Or, you know, and I tried that sometimes.

I I didn't stay away from all books altogether.

There were some books I actually really like taking high school kids through, but for the most part, like it dawned on me when the pastor at the church I was working at gave me a book and said he wanted the youth group to go through this book, and I didn't like the book, and you know, but I'm working through it and I'm trying to make good lessons out of the book.

And it occurred to me one time that like what all I'm doing is I'm taking the book he gave me.

I'm reading through it for scripture passages that you know I felt had some kind of teaching effect on it.

I'm taking those scripture passages out, taking the questions in the book and connecting them to scripture passages and having the kids read the book and doing that.

And it dawned on me that you can do the same thing with any book, even the good books.

I'm all for making the high school kids read the Puritans, but as a youth pastor, I even gave up on that.

And I was like, why don't I read the Puritans?

Why don't I take the verses that they're using?

Why don't I take their kind of questions at the end of a lot of those works of them and fashion that into lessons so the kids are going through the Bible?

And so from that point on, I just got a conviction.

When somebody asked me, what book are you taking the kids through?

My answer was always going to be a Bible book.

I'm sure you've seen that even in Q ⁇ A's.

People ask me, what's a good book about you know financial management?

Proverbs is the answer.

What's a good book about marriage?

Ephesians, Song of Solomon, there.

So first, Scripture, its use in your past, prepares you for future obedience by being at your foundation.

By secondly, for being provoking your convictions.

It provides your foundation and it provokes your convictions.

It provokes your convictions.

This is where Paul goes next in verse 14.

Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.

So now we're moving, the language is moving beyond just things that you've learned, and we're getting to, now you have actual convictions about what you've been taught.

They've become yours.

It's not that Timothy has only learned the Bible stories from his mom and his grandmother.

It's that he became convinced in his own right.

Probably the people who are reading Luke's gospel had been exposed to Matthew.

And Luke is adding his gospel to the mix here, telling them, I'm writing this, so by the testimony of two witnesses, you would be convinced.

Beyond all doubt.

Somebody who's raised in a Christian family is not a mindless puppet because they believe what their parents taught them.

At a young age, they're catechized, they're reciting answers to questions.

They can memorize the books of the Bible, they're memorizing, you know, some concepts in the Bible, they're repeating the answers to questions.

That's true at a young age.

But as they grow older, that memorization becomes conviction in them.

They start to own it for themselves.

It's not simply that they believe it.

I mean, that happens at a very young age, right?

I mean, a young kid.

Probably as young as you can communicate.

If you're raising a kid in the church, as young as the kid can communicate, you ask them, do you believe in Jesus?

They would say yes.

Of course they do.

That's all they've been taught.

And that's good.

And they get to a little bit of older age.

Do you believe in Jesus?

Of course they do.

And they would say yes again.

That's all they've been taught.

And now they would say, you know, with the nine-year-old vocabulary and everything, they would say, I believe in Jesus, of course I do.

And they believe in Jesus because their parents taught them, and they believe in Jesus because they believe in Jesus.

And both are there.

And it's not even possible to, you know, disentangle those two.

How much of your belief in Jesus is because you believe in it, and versus how much of it is because I've taught you to believe in it.

That's not even possible to do.

But as it keeps going, eventually they believe in Jesus because they are convinced.

It's more than belief.

That's not the word that Paul uses here.

It's more than belief.

It's they're convinced.

They've been argued into the position and they will argue others into the position.

They are firmly convinced.

Again, that doesn't mean he's a mindless puppet reciting what his mother and grandmother taught him.

It meant the mother and grandmother instruction was the foundation.

They've now built the building themselves on that foundation.

How do you know when you've gone from the foundation of the conviction?

How do you know, especially in a kid's life, where you've gone from believing to being convinced?

And you know the difference, right?

There might be, you know, part of us that is constrained by English words.

You know, believing.

Of course, a kid at every age will believe, and then when does convince come?

Like, are you telling me a nine-year-old's not convinced?

No, of course, a nine-year-old's convinced.

It's just, we're dealing with English words here, they don't fully capture it.

But just work with me here.

You recognize there's a distinction between the childlike faith and then the convictions of somebody who's going to take a stand for the word of God.

You recognize that distinction, I'm sure.

How do you tell the difference?

Because this verse you a little clue.

You tell the difference when a person is able to handle the word of God like a workman.

That's when they're convinced.

When they can take the sword out of the sheath and use it.

When they know where to go in the Bible to argue their convictions, that's when they have those convictions.

They're using the word of God because they've been trained.

Like a worker who doesn't need to be changed.

That's this passage.

They've been trained, verse 16 says, in righteousness.

So they can be complete, equipped for every good work.

They know how to handle themselves in the Word of God.

That's firmly convinced.

Now, Timothy is raised reading the Torah.

Paul says that his grandmother had a sincere faith.

And so you're looking here at a bridge.

I'm fascinated by this.

It's kind of a dispensational time warp here.

You're finding people that were saved under the old covenant, like really saved, not Pharisees kind of saved.

I'm talking, these people were regenerate old covenant saints.

She was alive before Jesus was.

And she believes in not Jesus, like by name, by his human name.

She believes in the Savior from the Old Testament.

His grandmother has wrestled through the stories of the Old Testament and knew there's a Savior who's coming, knew there was, and believed in him, and taught Timothy to do the same.

Eunice comes along.

She believes.

Paul says she believes.

Again, you don't know the dynamics of her relationship, how that happened.

Human lives are complicated.

We don't get the window into that, but somehow she's there, and Paul says she has faith too.

And this is before they hear about Jesus.

It could even be after Jesus rose from the grave, but this is a world without cable news, without Twitter or whatever.

How do they know the Messiah rises from the grave in Jerusalem?

You know, 33, 35, whenever A.D.

How do they know about that over in Asia Minor, over in Ephesus or Leicester or whatever?

They hear about it eventually, and when they hear about it, guess what?

They believed because they were already believing.

It became their conviction.

Paul says it this way: that you have been firmly convinced, firmly believed.

Verse 15, how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings.

That word sacred writings, that's a word that is often used of the Old Testament.

But it is sometimes used of the New Testament.

And Paul himself has called Scripture the New He called he's called Luke Scripture elsewhere.

Graphia, the writings, the sacred writings.

1 Timothy 5, in his earlier letter to Timothy.

Paul quotes Luke 10, verse 7, and calls it scripture.

Luke 10:7

So Paul is engaged with New Testament Scripture.

This is before there was what people would call a canon.

Paul doesn't have a book, a list of 66 books.

He's writing 2 Timothy.

So the New Testament is still being written when Paul has already encountered the Gospel of, encountered the Gospel of Luke and recognized it as Scripture.

Remember, Paul and Luke were traveling companions.

Luke wrote Acts and he wrote Acts accompanying Paul.

At some point, Luke also writes the Gospel of Luke.

Paul sees it, Paul quotes it, and Paul calls it scripture.

So Paul was aware of Luke's writing.

If he's aware of Luke's gospel, he's aware of Matthew's gospel at least.

There is New Testament scripture being written.

Peter is writing, Peter recognizes Paul's writing of scripture.

Peter calls Paul's writing scripture, and one of my favorite verses says that some of Paul's writing is hard to understand and people twist it like they do the rest of the scripture.

That just encourages me that Peter, I like Peter.

And he's wrestling through like, you know, a hard part of Paul's writing.

Like, what is Paul doing with this argument here?

You know, you know, Paul, there's parts of Paul that writes like President Trump, you know, he makes a statement here and he circles back to it about 30 verses later.

Tries to tie it up.

That might be too, I don't know.

But you know what I mean.

That's the way so much of Paul's writings are.

He'll make a statement, then he'll go over here for a while, and then he'll come back to it.

And some of you can follow that, and I can't.

And Peter is reading Paul, and he's like, that's what Paul's like.

And it's scripture, and people twist it.

Like they do all the scripture.

Here, Paul tells Timothy, you have been familiar with the scripture since you were so young, including the Old Testament, leading to the New Testament.

He's already called that scripture to him.

And because of that, you were able to recognize Christ and have a conviction about him.

I want you to turn with me over to John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

Turn left a few books, if you're in the Pew Bible, it's page 890 in the Pew Bible.

John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

People were debating about John the Baptist, and should they listen to him?

We looked at this verse a few weeks ago, but we looked at Matthew's version of it at the end of Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

But look at John 5, verse 26.

John 5:26

The same thing is in the same concept, anyways, in the end of Matthew 11, where Feast Sunday mornings we looked at.

But here you see it again in John 5, 26.

As the Father's life in himself, so he's granted the Son to have life in himself.

This is the doctrine of eternal generation.

The Father has given his life to the Son.

The Son and the Father have the same nature.

That's why the Son, verse 27, has the authority to execute judgment because he's the Son of Man.

He is a Savior.

He's both God and man, two natures, one person.

Don't marvel at this in verse 28.

Jesus is going to raise the dead, people are going to hear his voice.

He's going to descend a shiol in verse 28 and preach the gospel there.

I mean, things are going to happen.

And now you can imagine people's jaws falling open as Jesus is saying that.

And people are arguing about John, can you believe him?

Verse 36 of John 5, speaking of John the Baptist, the testimony I have is greater than that of John, John the Baptist.

For the works the Father has given me to accomplish are the very works that I'm doing.

They bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

In other words, Jesus is saying, I'm doing the same thing the Father has done.

John was a missionary looking forward to the Savior.

The Savior is doing the very works of God.

John was preparing people to receive the Savior.

Jesus is saying, I am God.

That's the difference.

And then look at verse 37.

This is what I want you to see.

The Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

Now, how is that true?

How did the Father bear witness about Jesus, such as that everybody there should have recognized him like John did?

That's Jesus' argument here.

John recognized me as the appointed one, because the father bore witness about me, and you should also.

So you're justified to say, pause, time out.

How did the father bear witness of Jesus?

His answer, his voice you have never heard, his form you've never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent.

So the flip side of that would be true if you take the knots out of there.

You do have his word from heaven if you do believe in the Son whom he sent.

So Jesus' argument here is that the Old Testament bears witness of himself, such as that anyone who has the Spirit of God in them should be able to recognize Jesus from the Old Testament.

And he makes it so good in verse 39.

You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

But it is they that bear witness about me.

You're so devoted to the Old Testament, studying it, thinking by your study of the Old Testament you'll find life.

No, by your study of the Old Testament, you find Jesus.

Yet, verse 40, you refuse to come to me so you can have life.

Notice Jesus' argument.

The Old Testament, had you studied it truly, would have led you to Christ.

That's the conviction part.

You can go back to 2 Timothy 3.

That's the conviction part.

If you had convictions in the Old Testament, you would have recognized Jesus Christ.

That's what Paul is telling Timothy to give him the courage to stand in trials.

If you really believe the Old Testament, Timothy, you would have the convictions to receive Jesus.

So stand in him.

Now, the key part of this leverage that Paul's adding that's different than Jesus and John 5, the key part that Paul's adding here is that you're supposed to remember who taught you these things, Timothy.

Remember the people that taught you the faith that build your convictions.

They didn't teach you the Bible so you just had the foundation.

They taught you the Bible so you would have convictions.

Remember who taught you those things.

Psalm 71, verse 17.

Psalms 71:17

Oh God, from my youth you have taught me.

And I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

You see that transition from belief to conviction in the psalmist, don't you?

Like I learned these things as a kid, and now I'm preaching them.

I'm preaching the same message I was taught as a kid, is what the psalmist says.

I'm going to proclaim it all my life.

That's what Paul tells Timothy to do, to be that Psalm 71, 17 kind of person.

Take what your mother taught you, Timothy, and preach it the rest of your life, man.

Have the conviction.

The learning you had since childhood has to become your own.

Your foundation has to become your convictions.

You've got to shift from being a student and disciple of your mother and your grandmother and even of the Jewish community around you to having the convictions yourself.

And use the Word of God.

Timothy, I'm sure, would have a long list of people who taught him.

Do you have a list?

Do you have a list of the in your mind of your Sunday school teacher that held you when you were a wee one?

Your youth group leaders that were your small group leaders in middle school, your small group leaders in high school.

The people that did your premarital, that discipled you.

That's Paul's argument to Timothy.

Remember those people that taught you the word of God all these years.

You know, if you're at Emmanuel, Steve Holly might be all of those people.

Remember that Timothy, I'm sure, has his own list.

Remember, he was raised in the fellowship of faith.

Remember those people, Paul tells Timothy.

And then you're supposed to consider the outcome of their faith.

That's Hebrews 13.

Look at your leaders and what happened to them.

Did they hold on to their faith until they died?

Did they die happy and rejoicing and worshiping?

Then do that.

Be like that.

Let that motivate you.

Timothy, where's your grandmother now?

Is she happy for your ministry now?

She's praying for you?

Remember her prayers and obey the gospel.

Let the people who poured into you remember the outcome of their faith.

Let them be an echo in your mind.

Of course, the conviction is yours now.

But own it and remember them.

That's the gist of that verse, which leads you to the third way.

Past scripture produces future obedience.

First, it's your foundation.

Second, it provokes convictions.

And third, it provides salvation.

It provides salvation.

This is where this all this sealed offer in verse 15.

From childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, we've talked about that, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

That's where he ties it all together.

That's where all those threads get tied together.

You were taught the Torah as a kid, you encountered Jesus Christ, you believed him, you now have the convictions.

Do you see the thread that runs through all of that?

It's the scripture.

The scripture was your foundation, the scripture provided your convictions, and now the scripture is providing you salvation all the way into eternity future.

They made you wise, that's the language.

They made you wise for salvation.

Common Old Testament phrase.

Psalm 19.

Scripture makes wise the foolish.

Proverbs says this over and over again.

The Old Testament makes you wise for salvation.

What that means is it prepares you to see the patterns of Jesus that Jesus fills from the inside out.

He fulfills the law.

The scripture, the more you study it, prepares you to receive Jesus Christ because it shows you the pattern.

Now, as I said, the scripture doesn't save you, faith saves you.

Jesus is the Savior.

But you are saved by grace through faith in Christ, taught by Scripture.

That's the full package.

Scripture brings you to Christ by preparing you to recognize Him.

It makes you wise for salvation.

Psalm 119, maim, the M chapter in the middle of it, says, When you know the scripture, you are wiser than your teachers.

John writes that when you have the Holy Spirit, you need no person to teach you.

Jesus says that he's going to leave the world, but he's going to send a helper who will bring to remembrance all the things that he taught.

That's the nature of saving faith.

You go from the belief on the foundation to the convictions that being made wise for salvation to use the word of God to be fully equipped because you're wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

It all goes back to Christ Jesus.

Scripture is divine, it's from God.

It's useful, makes you mature, and it's necessary.

It's necessary to lead a godly life.

And that's where verse 16 and 17 comes in.

I won't spend much time on that because I want to save that for some other Sunday, but just notice real quick: all scripture is breathed out by God.

This is the doctrine of inspiration.

God breathed.

God breathes his word into human writers to be recorded.

It's not so much dictation, although there are examples of dictation in the Bible, of course.

Jeremiah 1 verse 9, behold, I put my words in your mouth.

Jeremiah 1:9

There are examples where God gives the authors of scripture the exact words to write, but that's not the normal way God does it.

The normal way is God providentially orchestrates the lives of believers so that they write the very words that he wants them to write, so that people can read them, understand sufficiently who Jesus is, and then believe in Jesus when they are encountering him.

That's the purpose of Scripture.

It's all inspired by God.

It's useful.

That word useful just means it's advantageous.

Profitable is how the ESV renders it.

It means you come out ahead.

It's profitable.

You close a business deal, do you make money or lose money?

With scripture, you always make money.

It's always profitable.

And it's necessary.

It's necessary for you to be a teacher, for you to train others, to correct others, to you to train people, disciple people in righteousness.

That's the word 16, disciple people in righteousness.

So you can be complete and equipped for every good work.

The bottom line, you hold on to Christ for lots of reasons.

One of the reasons is that you remember the people who taught you the faith.

That's one of the reasons.

You remember Wayne Bails pulling the pulpit from the lines of the from the lanes of the beltway.

You remember Steve Hawley preaching and doing your premarital.

You remember Tom Joyce doing men's ministry at six in the morning.

You remember the Sunday school teacher that held you and discipled you and went to your high school graduation.

You remember Paul's life and Paul himself.

You consider the outcome of all of those people.

That's supposed to motivate future obedience because it's all tied to the scripture.

Ultimately, of course, we remember Jesus.

Salvation comes through faith in Christ Jesus.

Lord, we're grateful that you've given us your word to remind us of salvation, to prepare us to see Jesus, to recognize him, and to believe in him.

We remember those who taught us the gospel.

I remember my friends who first introduced me to Christ, shared the gospel with me.

I remember the pastor who baptized me, the first church I was a member at.

I remember all those that ordinance me.

I'm so grateful for them and their faithfulness to the end.

Lord, I pray that each person here would bring to mind those who have shared the gospel with them.

As we do so, that we would be motivated for future obedience.

More than even Timothy had to reckon with.

We're so thankful for the gift of faithfulness.

We know you give us those kind of people to cause us to remember you and your kindness.

We're grateful for that.

Give you thanks for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to TMS.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.