---Corner Posts of our faith---
“The beginning of knowledge”
The author of Psalms in
Psalm 111
Verse 10
Writes these words
“Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.”
Fear of the Lord is the foundation
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom
And those who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom
Before I begin todays message
And deal with a sometimes hot
Sometimes
Deeply debated
Sometimes even heatedly argued topic
I need to tell you
The Psalmist
Is not telling us to be afraid of God
In a scary monster type way
Fear in this passage
Means reverence
Respect
Love
Fear means we listen to
And obey God and his holy word
Not that we tremble in fear at the mention of his name
Unbelievers
If you do not know Jesus as savior
The fear you should feel is just the opposite of what I just described
Read the book of revelation
Dying apart from Jesus
And being separated for eternity from the God who loves you and created you
Should male you tremble
But for believers
The Fear, respect, reverence, love
Of God is the beginning of wisdom
And obedience is how we grow in wisdom
There is a lot of talk these days about preaching styles
What should and should not be discussed in a message
Some like evangelism only
Other like biblical teaching
Some want a soft a fuzzy message that makes them feel good about coming to church and being a Christian
Others want to be told that they will be healthy, wealthy and wise if they just
Give
Come
Do this or that
Some of these preaching styles have great benefits
Evangelism – tells the basics of salvation and moves the lost into a relationship with Jesus
Bible teaching- gives us head knowledge but to be effective must move the head knowledge to heart knowledge
Feel good messages can encourage us but often don’t convict us or correct us
And the health wealth and prosperity messages also can initially make us feel good
But when the promises / man’s promises/ not God’s promises
Don’t come true
They can make us question our own value
Worth
Question God
And can derail our faith
I believe in my heart that in order to gain the wisdom needed to become all that God has called us to be
We must become students of God’s word
God’s word is powerful
Inside the pages of this great book
Are the secrets to life and death?
The answers to life’s questions
Questions
Like why Christians sometimes suffer
Am I truly loved by God
Do I matter
What is my purpose
Answers to the questions of right and wrong
Good and evil
Inside the pages of this book are the path to salvation
The path to sanctification
The path to justification
And the path to glorification
We see the assurances of God’s promises
We see the consequences of obedience and disobedience
We see great men and women of God
And how they often make the same mistakes we make
And we understand
That we are all sinners
Deserving the devil’s hell
“ But God”
My text for today comes from 2 Timothy
Paul is giving instructions to his son, brother, student
About how to Pastor the church at Ephesus
Paul had a great love and connection with the church there
And Paul desires for it to thrive and become a lighthouse to the lost and dying world
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
Paul is telling Timothy to work hard to receive God’s approval
Is he saying Timothy, earn your salvation by your works
No
He is saying Timothy
Because God saved you by his grace
Do the things he has planned for you as a gift to you
And work hard at them
Give it all you have
In this context Paul is specifically telling Timothy to work hard at his study of God’s word
So that he can correctly teach God’s word
So, that Timothy’s congregation can grow in knowledge
And wisdom
Though obedience to the word of God
Paul tells Timothy
Simply this
Teach the truth
Teach the truth
Let me ask you a question
How is the only way that Timothy can be assured that he is teaching the truth?
By studying
Learning
Reading
Praying about
God’s word and applying it to his own life
Paul goes on in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy
Verses 14-17
To tell us
Timothy and us in the process
What we should study
14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
I want to focus on a couple of things here in this
Notice Paul does not say
Remain faithful to what you think
Or remain faithful to what you have heard
Or even remain faithful to what makes you feel good
He says remain faithful to what you have been taught
Because
What you have been taught gave you the wisdom to be saved
So, what was he taught
What was he taught
Scripture
Old testament scripture
And what little had been written of the New testament
As well as the teaching of the Apostles in verbal form
All scripture
The entire bible
Not just the parts he liked
Not just the parts that were easy to read or understand
Not just the gospels- they had not been written yet
Or the epistles some were written others had not yet been
But the entire word of God
The entire bible
Is God’s word
It is God breathed
And it is all of great value to our lives
God’s breath brought life to Adam
Brought all of creation into existence
God’s breath parted the red sea
God’s breath
Brought life to dry dead bones
And it is the breath of God that Gives us life
And God’s breath in right here
All scripture
All scripture
All scripture
Paul says as he was instructed by God’s Holy Spirit to write
Is useful for teaching
Rebuking
Correcting
And teaching us to do right
So, my first question to you is this
If this is God’s word
And inside the covers of this book are the wisdom leading to salvation and righteous living
If inside the covers of this book are the keys to life and death
The keys to the kingdom of God
Do I as a follower of God
And a surrended proclaimer of his word
Have a responsibility to teach the entire word of God?
And do you as a believer
Have a responsibility to learn the entire word of God
So that you can also apply it to your life and teach truth
The answer to both of those questions is yes
Listen to me I am not minimizing the importance of evangelism
I believe in all of my heart
That lives are changed daily through the preaching of the gospel
I believe the lost need to hear John 3:16
And John 14:6 and the Romans road
I believe we as believers need to know and understand the importance of these and many other great verses
But I also Know that if we stop there
We ourselves will become spiritual stunted
How many of you have ever raised anything on a bottle?
Maybe a calf
Or a colt
Maybe a puppy or a kitten
Most of you are parents and have fed your child milk from one type of nipple or another
But
When the calf or colt, puppy or child begins to grow
You added more than milk into their diet
Why
Because they needed more
The gospel is milk
Look at Hebrews chapter 6 with me
Hebrews 5:11-12
11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word.[c] You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
6:1-3
So, let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds[a] and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
Listen to me
Here is where the rubber meets the road
God’s word
All of God’s word
Is a text book for our lives
It is not a reference book --even though we can find anything we are looking for in its pages
It is not a book of good sayings although there are no better sayings ever written
It is not a library book designed to sit on a shelf or an end table and make you look religious
It is not a book that is to be carried to church and then forgotten about the rest of the week
It is a text book that has the power to transform our lives
First in salvation
And then in righteous living
So why
Why
Don’t we feel that we should study it?
Why don’t many want biblical text driven preaching and teaching?
Why do some only want evangelism?
Why do others only want “ feel good” messages?
Why do we only want to hear how God will bless us
Without hearing how we must make changes in our lives to receive the blessing
And to become all he wants us to be
Why
The answer lies in one word
And unpacking that word
Conviction
Listening to the preaching of the gospel
Pricks the hearts of the lost
It convicts them of their sin
Their need for salvation
Their need for a savior
And leads them to redemption
But
Always a but right
To the believer
The gospel message holds no conviction- you are not called in evangelism to make a decision
You have already given your life to Jesus
You are safe
Eternity for you is secure
So, an evangelistic message
Unless you are seriously
Actively seeking to learn how to fulfill the great commission
Unless you are serious about reaching the lost
Does not step on your toes
It does not cause you to lament over your sin
To repent of your sin
It does not cause a change of heart
Why
Because
You have already received the gift
And so
You can coast
Feel good, fuzzy preaching does the same
You can come to church
Feel good about being there
Check your little weekly box
Brag about how good of a person you are
How religious you are
And have no conviction in your heart to change -anything
Prosperity preaching
Also, can leave us with no conviction
Come to church
Hear about how God will pour out his blessings on you
Regardless of your obedience or lack of obedience
And this type of preaching can and does ship wreck faith when the suffering and times of trouble come as is taught clearly in God’s word
Listen to me
I am not saying evangelism has no place
We include it in every service
Because it is important
It is part of God’s word
And reaching the lost is of utmost importance
I am not saying we should not feel good about being a follower of Jesus
I am not saying that we should not desire the blessing of God
I am saying
Without proper study and teaching of God’s word
We will have no idea what is true
And what is not
Without the proper teaching and study of the word
Satan can deceive us
The false teachers can deceive us
The world can deceive us
How you may ask
Their false teaching can sound good
Because we don’t know the difference between sound doctrine and false teaching
Without proper teaching and study of the word
We can become helpless in our understanding
Listen to me
If you have been a believer for a length of time
You should be able to lead someone to the Lord, / if you have not or feel you can’t /seek God for opportunities, he will give you what you need
Listen
But without the study of the word
Without wisdom and knowledge that comes from God from his Word
His instruction manual
His text book for living
When the questions arise
From those you impact and even from yourself
When Satan whispers lies
And the false teachers proclaim lies
When the world claims a new way
A more politically correct way
When denominations are arguing over whether to ordain Homosexuals or recognize or even preform same sex marriages
Or to support murder/ abortion
When the questions of why God
How could God
When the statements of God ‘s strongest desire for you is to be happy
Or all roads lead to heaven or he won’t give you more than you can handle
Or if you are not receiving all you want you are not faithful enough
Or thousands of other heretical teachings
Come out
How will you give the right answers?
How will you know the truth?
How will you deal those questions?
From your feelings
From the worlds view
From the lies of Satan
Or will you give the right answers from the living word of God
Next question
If you answered from the living word of God
How can you give answers from something you have not read?
You have not studied
Something you have not been taught
Something you have not applied to your life
Let me leave you with this
You all know the story of Jesus’ temptation
Jesus was baptized
Showing that the word John the Baptist preached was true
Baptized to fulfill righteousness
Baptized to make an announcement to the world that his ministry had begun
Baptized in obedience to the will of his father
Not to be saved
He did not need saving
Not to wash away his sin
He had no sin
But as an example, to us
To proclaim our identity in God
And then he was taken to the wilderness
And for 40 days and nights he fasted
And prayed
And when he was worn out
Beat down
Tired, thirsty and hungry
Old slick came along and tried to tempt him into sin
Most of you Know Jesus rebuked him with the written word of God
When Satan tempted him with the lust of the flesh, in his hunger
And told him to turn the rocks to bread and fill his famished belly
Jesus said
In Matthew 4:4
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”
And then Satan hit him with the pride of life
He said
Jesus
Just jump and see if God protects you- he said he would
And Jesus said in Matthew 4:7
‘You must not test the LORD your God.’[d]”
I want you to think about this
Satan used the scripture to try to lure Jesus away
Satan knows scripture too
And then Satan once again took him to a high place and said
Worship me and I will give you all you can see
He tempted him with the Lust of the eyes
And Jesus rebuked him with these words
From Matthew 4:10
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,
‘You must worship the LORD your God
and serve only him.
Now I know most of you know this passage of scripture
We have been taught to hide God’s word in our hearts
To use God’s word as a sword
But here is my point
You all know Jesus used scripture to rebuke Satan and that is great
But How many of you know where the scripture comes from?
Pause
Jesus quoted the book of Deuteronomy
One of the least studied books in all of God’s word
I can tell you I don’t gamble anymore
But If I was to place a bet as to how many of you study Deuteronomy in your own quite time
I would stand a good chance at winning if I said None
But
Jesus not only used the Old Testament
He used Deuteronomy
To rebuke Satan
What this tells me is that the words Paul spoke to Timothy are true
All Scripture is God’s word, God breathed
And is profitable for teaching
Rebuke
Correction
And instruction in right living
All of it
James 1:22
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
Jesus says
If you love me, obey me
How can we obey what we don’t know?
What we have not learned?
What we have not studied?
What we have not learned?
Close from the heart
Pray
