OPEN YOUR BIBLES TO 2 Peter 1:5-11 & 2 TIM 2
1. When I mention the word STUDY, what comes to mind?
a. School? Library? Detention? Boring? Stale? Cheating?
Consider some recent findings:
A study by The Center for Academic Integrity found that almost 80% of college students admit to cheating at least once.
According to another survey 36% of undergraduates have admitted to plagiarizing written material.
A poll conducted by US News and World Reports found that 90% of students believe that cheaters are either never caught or have never been appropriately disciplined.
The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next (Free Press, July 1996) states that 58.3% of high school students let someone else copy their work in 1969, and 97.5% did so in 1989.
• There is a generation coming up behind us that is being trained in the art of cheating. Why? ((They don’t want to study!))
• It all stems from the ‘get it quick idea’, the “I don’t have to work at it”, the “I don’t need to study” mindset setting in.
YOU KNOW it’s a attitude that’s crept into the church too?
• “This Christianity thing… I don’t have to work at it., I don’t need to study. I can breeze through and take the easy way.”
• Studying? That’s for the pastor, the leaders… I don’t need that!
• WELL Let’s Look at 2 Peter 1.5-11
When the word “STUDY” is mentioned, think of things like:
• Spiritual Strength. Help in Time of Need. Preparation.
• Knowing Jesus more. Handling the Bible carefully.
Psalm 119.11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
• Being able to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.
Spiritual Growth comes through study… taking time in His Word.
• There is really no other way around it. No shortcuts.
• Sundays, Thursdays are a great beginning…
• But it continues when you leave, later today, on Monday morning… study. Keeping our noses in the Word.
Psalm 119.50 This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life.
NOW: Studying is just one ingredient to a healthy spiritual diet in God’s Word. There are 4 things
READING… Just taking your Bible and reading through it, page after page, story after story, truth after truth.
EXAMINATION… studying. Taking a passage and wrestling with it, praying through it. Pulling out a concordance, Halley’s Bible handbook, a commentary, a Greek dictionary… and working through the text. (By the way, we plan on having an inductive bible study seminar this year… so keep your eyes open.)
APPLICATION… once the Spirit has shown you a truth, putting it into action is so vitally important. Obey what you’ve learned.
DILIGENCE… Don’t give up. Keep it steady and constant
THERE ARE More… but these form a good foundation.
And… This morning we find the exhortation in 2:15
2 Tim. 2.15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Tim. 2.15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
OH WHAT strength a believer has when he/she takes on the command to study the Word, to present themselves to God!
I. (2.11-13) Faithfulness of Jesus
1. (11) If we DIE…
a. (11) If we died with Him, we will live with Him!
WHAT HOPE we live with! That Jesus is alive and we too will spend eternity with Him! That this earth is not our home.
• Again, Paul is in prison, awaiting death… but he’s not afraid. His hope is in the Lord!
2. (12) If we ENDURE…
a. We will reign with him. There is a hope for the believer to rule and reign with Jesus in the Millennium Kingdom!
b. In REV 5:8-10, the church is in heaven singing a new song.
Rev. 5.8-10 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
• Reigning requires enduring… steadying on.. not giving up.
3. (12) If we DENY Him.
a. Deny means to reject. If we reject him, he will reject us.
b. Jesus will never force you to spend eternity with Him.
c. It’s your choice… you make it and you live with it.
d. Whether you believe or not doesn’t change anything except your eternal destiny.
Matt. 10.32 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
THAT’S WHY WE call you to make a public declaration of your faith in Jesus Christ… standing up, or coming forward.
• So that you might publicly confess your faith in Jesus & then leave here knowing that your faith is to be seen publicly.
• That’s why I love the outdoor water baptisms. A large outdoor public proclamation of your obedience to Him!
4. (14) If we are FAITHLESS.
a. Ever see your faith falter? Ever have times of struggling or slipping or sliding? Well this truth is for you to hang on to!
GOD is faithful. His blessings are continually coming, His strength is continually flowing. He loves you as His own!
• He cannot deny Himself. He’s not faithful one day & generous the next. He is faithful… in the purest sense of the word!
BUT I thought God had to be primed through praise, and prompted through worship… prepared by my faithfulness.
• Isn’t that the prevailing thought today?
• If you do then God will do. If you give then God will give.
• If we just pump it up enough, then the blessings will flow.
• It’s not so guys. He remains faithful! (KJV – abideth faithful)
• Literally… He abides in faithfulness, never departs, continues
V13 – is one of my all time favorites in all of the Bible!!!
• His faithfulness sustains me, motivates me, encourages me!
• Let’s turn to Luke 15:13ff
WOULD YOU GO Out AND SHARE THE GOOD NEWS?
• That even when we are faithless, He is faithful!
• He’ll receive you back. He wants you close to His side.
• He’ll robe you and love you and shower His grace upon you!
II. (2.14-21) Faithfully Study His Word
1. (14, 16-18) REMIND & CHARGE THEM of these things!
a. Remind them Timothy, tell them. Don’t let them stray.
b. Charge them not to get into worthless words, ruinous sayings.
c. Really the charge is simple: Don’t let them teach falsely.
d. It will RUIN the listeners. That word is interesting.
e. We get our English word catastrophe from it.
f. False teaching has catastrophic consequences so Timothy stop them from going any farther!
g. Jump to v16-18… they are profane & idle babblings that lead to ungodliness… spreading like cancer.
Really a better translation would be like ‘gangrene’.
• Gangrene is a disease in which bacteria enters a wound or injury and destroys the flesh.
• So if false teachers were allowed to enter, their corrupting doctrine will spread from that opening and infect many.
h. Hymaneus & Philetus are of this sort.
i. A couple of spiritually weak men, who didn’t know the truth.
j. They were teaching that they missed the resurrection!
k. Oh the rapture, it’s all symbolic and spiritual. WRONG!
l. Again sad that their legacy will be that of spreading false doctrine and OVERTHROWING the faith of some!
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE out there trying to overthrow the faith of some. They put up web sites & books & articles as self-proclaimed righteous, we’re the only ones who are right.
• Their sole purpose is to OVERTHROW the faith of some.
• They don’t want to feed you, just confuse you.
• Their not interested in nurturing you just knocking you down a few pegs to that you’re not sure.
• Shun profane & idle babblings… they won’t build you up.
2. (19) Solid Foundation of God stands!
a. Even though these guys were causing problems, the Lord’s foundation will not be moved.
b. And Paul quotes Numbers 16 twice to say…
c. Just move away from them and seek the things of Jesus.
3. (20-21) In A Great House Vessels.
a. Paul has in mind a picture of the church, the house of God.
b. So there are beautiful vases that sit out for all to admire.
c. And there are other vessels that are not readily seen.
d. The picture is here is not of usefulness, because each of these types of vessels are used.
e. The fine and the unrefined probably both get good use…
f. No the point here is the value or quality of the vessel.
g. And the choice is ours…
h. Will we in v21, cleanse ourselves from the latter?
i. Will we strive toward holiness & godliness?
j. What does that mean? What does it look like?
Well take our decisions for an example… do we consider these things when we make decisions?
Here are good, NO GREAT, guidelines using v21 as a model.
#1 – Will this help me honor God?
#2 – Will this sanctify me, set me apart for God?
#3 – Will this help my usefulness for the Master?
#4 – Will this prepare me for every good work?
1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1 Cor. 10.23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
SO we can add to that list…
#1 – Does it build you up spiritually?
#2 – Can it bring you under it’s power?
#3 – Does it give you an uneasy conscience?
#4 - Could it cause someone else to stumble?
So… how do we get there? Look back at v15.
• Be diligent to present yourself approved to God… unashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.
• What he means here is to cut it straight… divide it properly.
• Be diligent to study it. Don’t be unprepared.
You sometimes you’ll hear, “Well I’ll just wait on the Holy Spirit and He’ll tell me what to say.”
• Well it is true that the Spirit will help us and bring things to our remembrance… but that doesn’t mean we go unprepared!
2 Tim. 4.2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
1 Peter 3.15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
NOW for those using an NIV this morning, I don’t really like the way they translated this verse. It says in the NIV:
2 Timothy 2.15 (NIV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Although that’s a great admonition, it’s really not capturing the force of the text here.
• The word literally means to cut out a straight line, not just handle it accurately, but to plow a straight furrow so that you can take the Word and divide it properly.
• That you would be precise in its meaning and intent.
• To take people to the heart of the matter with a clear, sound, and powerful answer from God’s Word.
III. (2.20-26) Flee Youthful Lusts
1. (22) Run away from…
a. Timothy, run away as fast as you can from youthful lusts.
1 Tim. 6.11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
NOW this doesn’t mean that if you’re young flee, but that you flee those lusts that you began recognizing in your youth.
• It’s not OK to think, well now that I’m older (either in age or maturity) I can handle that language, or those nude scenes.
• After all I am mature and I CAN handle it you know.
• You’re kidding yourself & dangerously close to self-deception.
• We have to flee those lusts that were real when we were younger and are still very much real!
TIMOTHY guard yourself… beware of pride, of greed, contentions.
• And pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
• With all who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
FLEE from LUSTS but run to FELLOWSHIP.
• Run away from the temptations and run to those who love the Lord and will point you to Him.
THAT’S WHY THE BULLETIN IS SO FULL… not because we want to make sure there are no empty spaces.
• But we firmly believe that we as a church should have opportunities for folks to run to all throughout the week.
• The ministries are not in competition with each other but complement the opportunities to see the Lord bless us as we seek righteousness, faith, love, peace.
• More home fellowships, more Bible studies, more of the Lord.
• We look forward to having communion set up in the coffeehouse so you can come and take communion, with you and the Lord.
• We have more retreats set up this year… guys you have to get away with brothers & sisters and the Lord!
• We have mission trips this year, Israel
• SONG: “Move Love, More Power, More of You in my life!”
Flee the sin & run to those that call upon the name of the Lord!
2. (23-26) A servant must not quarrel.
a. (23) Avoid the foolish & ignorant disputes… cause strife.
Titus 3.10-11 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
b. Don’t even get into to it, but be busy serving the Lord.
c. A servant must not quarrel, must not strive.
d. But there is that correction at the end of v25.
MOST of us don’t like confrontation. I’m not a huge fan of having to confront someone on their sin, or their errors…
• But it’s needful to speak the truth in love helping others see something that perhaps they missed, or simply don’t see.
• Now we’re not to go out sin sniffing, joining the Gospel Gestapo, nailing them to the wall and condemning them.
• But rather to bring health & healing in the Body.
NOTE: It is heartbreaking to see people who are hurting themselves.
• They think they are free but they are in bondage, deeply.
• You see it but they don’t and there comes the time to tell them.
• This is one of the most difficult areas of ministry, of being a Christian. We’re being self-righteous, no way.
• Remember, even when we are faithless, He remains faithful.
Matthew 7.4-5 "Or how can you say to your brother, ’Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Yet for health to remain in the body, the poisons of sin must be confronted, repented from, and the strength will remain.
• A servant of the Lord needs to be patient and careful and hopeful that God would give them repentance so that if possible they may come out from under the bondage of the enemy.
SO… study to show yourself approved. Be ready. Be prepared.
• Let’s turn to John 21:15-17
