Till Death Do Us Part

The Covenant of the Word; II Timothy 3:10-4:4

 

The Bible has binding authority in our lives and our church because…

1. Scripture Sustains Us in the Face of Difficulties, II Timothy 3:10-12
2. Scripture Strengthens Us to Live Righteously in an Evil World, II Timothy 3:13-14
3. Scripture Points Us to Saving Faith in Christ, II Timothy 3:14-15
4. Scripture Transforms Us with the Purpose of Producing Good Works, II Timothy 3:16-17

• “Inspired” – literally “God breathed”

• Teaching – Things we must learn

• Reproof – Things we must stop

• Correction – Things we must change

• Training – Things we must improve

• With the result of righteous, good works filled living

1. Scripture Provides Proper Focus for Our Church, II Timothy 4:1-2
2. Scripture Protects Us from Falsehood, II Timothy 4:3-4

 

Application: We must read, study, memorize, meditate and teach the Bible while submitting ourselves to its authority in our lives and in the church. In doing so, we will be sustained, strengthened and protected from this evil and perverse world and we will know the saving and transforming power that God provides through His word for His greater glory demonstrated through our good works and for our greater joy in walking with Him.

 

Till Death Do Us Part

The Covenant of the Word; II Timothy 3:10-4:4

Scripture Reading and Prayer by Karen Bullock, II Timothy 3:10-4:4 (slides)

1. Introduction

• Today we turn our attention to the covenant of the Word of God, the Word of God has authority in my life and in the life of His church

• There is a covenant relationship within the church

• Our covenant – the binding relationship that is within the body of believers

• There are specific aspects of our life together in Christ that binds us together

• So far we have discussed (Slide 2)

• Our Covenant relationship with reference to our saving faith in Christ (Slide 2 – 1^st point)

• Our Covenant relationship driving by our common mission to take the Gospel to the entire world (Slide 2 – 2^nd point)

• Our Covenant relationship that is binding by our love for one another – do not grow weary in doing good works (Slide 3 – 3^rd point)

• Our Covenant relationship that is binding by our common sharing of our possessions for the sake of the kingdom – living with our hands open, fully trusting God with our money, time, energy, resources (Slide 3 – 4^th point)

• Our Covenant relationship that is binding by our mutual submission to the Word of God (Slide 3 – 5^th point)

• I cannot tell you how relevant this is, as even this morning I have had to deal with the issue of biblical authority

• An individual that is chastising me for my approach and their appeal is to how they feel with the ignoring of vast sections of Scripture

• If we base our covenant relationship based on our own feelings or on what we perceive to work best in our culture or on our desire not to offend

• How do we appeal to each other? In love and under the authority of Scripture

• Background – Paul is within a few weeks, maybe even days of his execution

• Timothy is a young pastor with all the pressures of shepherding this flock

• II Timothy 1:7 – “God has not given you a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and a discipline.”

• How is Timothy to handle this new position as the pastor? What should he do with his time? What should be the focus of his ministry to the church?

• II Timothy 2:2 – the things I taught you Timothy, “Entrust these things to faithful individuals who can also teach.”

• This is my role as a teacher of Scripture – I am to keep learning and then to teach the Word to faithful hearers

1. The Bible has binding authority in our lives and our church because…

• God has given the Bible to the church to sustain, strengthen, save, transform and protect

• The devil and the world does not want us to appeal to the Bible

• The devil will tell us that the Bible is antiquated, irrelevant to a modern world that has outgrown the relevance of Scripture – ironically, a true student of the Bible will find it more relevant than ever before

• The world will tell us that the Bible is a bunch of myths and that the truths from the Bible, if there are any truths, must be carefully gleaned and evaluated

• God does not grow out of date or antiquated and His Word is timeless and eternal

• Isaiah 40:6-8 “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

• Before us today is a text that encourages the use of the Bible in the church

• This passage contains one of the greatest statements concerning Scripture in all the Bible

• II Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

• We must as individuals live according to the Word of God because

• 1. Scripture Sustains Us in the Face of Difficulties, II Timothy 3:10-12

• Within the context of this very familiar passage, the experiences that prompt Paul to write to Timothy – persecution, difficulty, trials – Paul says to respond to these things by teaching the Word of God

• 1. Scripture Strengthens Us to Live Righteously in an Evil World, II Timothy 3:13-14

• Within the context of this very familiar passage, the sinful and evil nature of this world prompts Paul to write to Timothy, preach and teach the Word of God

• 1. Scripture Points Us to Saving Faith in Christ, II Timothy 3:14-15

• You cannot be saved without the message of the Scripture

• 1. Scripture Transforms Us with the Purpose of Producing Good Works, II Timothy 3:16-17

• “Inspired” – literally “God breathed”

• Not “In” spired but “Ex” spired – breathed out – God exhaled this book

• Teaching – Things we must learn

• Constantly learning the bible, the bible is the primary text we are to learn

• Reproof – Things we must stop

• I am constantly reproving myself first and then the church as a whole and then at times I am calling individuals to stop doing certain behaviors

• Correction – Things we must change

• I need to change what I am doing with my money, I need to change what I am doing with my time, I need to change my focus in my life to the Gospel

• Training – Things we must improve

• I need to improve my

• With the result of righteous, good works filled living

• Adequate – completely and lacking nothing

• 1. Scripture Provides Proper Focus for Our Church, II Timothy 4:1-2

• This is how I feel verses this is what I know

• 1. Scripture Protects Us from Falsehood, II Timothy 4:3-4
  2.   Application

• Read – all types of reading programs

• Study–read with the intent of learning – pastors at the conference, study bibles worn out

• Memorize – commit to memory verses of Scripture

• Meditate – We cannot meditate on the Scripture that we don’t have memorized

• Psalm 1: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners not sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit and its leaf does not wither and whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor the sinner in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish”

• Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love Your Law, it is my meditation all the day.”

• Teach – we are to teach the word to others

• Application: We must read, study, memorize, meditate and teach the Bible while submitting ourselves to its authority in our lives and in the church. In doing so, we will be sustained, strengthened and protected from this evil and perverse world and we will know the saving and transforming power that God provides through His word for His greater glory demonstrated through our good works and for our greater joy in walking with Him.

• Bibles for Mexico – envelopes at the welcome center

 

•  

II Timothy 3:10-17

¹⁰Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, ¹¹persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! ¹²Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

¹³But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

 ¹⁶All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

II Timothy 4:1-4

¹I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: ²preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

 

 

Psalm 1

    ¹How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,          Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!     ²But his delight is in the law of the LORD,          And in His law he meditates day and night.     ³He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season          And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.     ⁴The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.     ⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,          Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.     ⁶For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,          But the way of the wicked will perish.

 

Psalm 139

    ¹O LORD, You have searched me and known me.     ²You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.     ³You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.     ⁴Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.     ⁵You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.     ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.     ⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?     ⁸If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.     ⁹If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,     ¹⁰Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.     ¹¹If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,"     ¹²Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day          Darkness and light are alike to You.     ¹³For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.     ¹⁴I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;          Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.     ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret,          And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;     ¹⁶Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written          The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.     ¹⁷How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!     ¹⁸If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand, When I awake, I am still with You.

 

 

Psalm 119

 ⁹How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.     ¹⁰With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.     ¹¹Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.     ¹²Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.     ¹³With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth.     ¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.     ¹⁵I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.     ¹⁶I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.

   ⁹⁷O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

    ¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Ephesians 2

 ¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. ³Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Colossians 1:13-20

 ¹³For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, ²⁰and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say,whether things on earth or things in heaven.

 

Matthew 28:18-20 ¹⁸And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

 

Acts 1:6-8 ⁶So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" ⁷He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; ⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

 

Galatians 6:7-10 ⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  ⁸For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. ¹⁰So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

 

Matthew 6:19-34

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  ²⁰"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  ²¹for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  … ²⁴"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.  ²⁵"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  ²⁶"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?  ²⁷"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  ²⁸"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,  ²⁹yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. ³⁰"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!  ³¹"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'  ³²"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  ³³"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  ³⁴"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Isaiah 40

¹"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. ²"Speak kindly to Jerusalem;          And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed,          That she has received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins."     ^3(F)A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;          Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.     ⁴"Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;          And let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley;     ⁵Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together;          For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."     ⁶A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?"          All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.     ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;          Surely the people are grass.     ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.     ⁹Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news,          Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;          Lift it up, do not fear, Say to the cities of Judah," Here is your God!"     ¹⁰Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him          Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.     ¹¹Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs          And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.     ¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,          And marked off the heavens by the span,          And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,          And weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?     ¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has informed Him?     ¹⁴With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?          And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge          And informed Him of the way of understanding?     ¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,          And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;          Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.     ¹⁶Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.     ¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him,          They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.     ¹⁸To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?     ¹⁹As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it with gold,          And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.     ²⁰He who is too impoverished for such an offering          Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman          To prepare an idol that will not totter.     ²¹Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?          Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?     ²²It is He who ^[a]sits above the circle of the earth,          And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,          Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain          And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.     ²³He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,          Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.     ²⁴Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown,          Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,          But He merely blows on them, and they wither,          And the storm carries them away like stubble.     ²⁵"To whom then will you liken Me          That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.     ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars,          The One who leads forth their host by number,          He calls them all by name;          Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,          Not one of them is missing.     ²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,          "My way is hidden from the LORD,          And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?     ²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard?          The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth          Does not become weary or tired His understanding is inscrutable.     ²⁹He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.     ³⁰Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly,     ³¹Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength;          They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired,          They will walk and not become weary.