Scripture God-breathed and Useful

2 Timothy 3, and we begin at verse 10. Having spoken to us about evil men, wicked men, depraved minds,! We have a great contrast now.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.

Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We've just heard something that for us is perhaps ordinary and usual. We've just heard the Word of God read to us.

But the Bible is unlike any other book in the entire world. I tried to come up with a comparison for an illustration, but every illustration falls short because the Bible is unique.

I thought of assembly instructions that come with furniture. I've put together a good number of pieces of furniture in our house with my own hands, and if I hadn't had the step-by-step instructions, I'm a guy that needs those, and if I don't follow them, it doesn't look like what it was supposed to look like, or it doesn't stay together.

And I thought of comparing the Bible to that, because we need step-by-step directions from God's Word for our life. And so far, so good with the comparison, but once that piece of furniture is put together, we don't need the assembly instructions anymore, do we?

But it's not that way with the Bible at all. In this life, we never get to the point where things are so well put together in our lives that we don't need His Word anymore. And so that comes up short.

So then I thought of instruction manuals, like the ones that come with a new appliance, or a new phone, or a camera, or a TV, or something like that. And it comes with an owner's manual, and it tells you not just how to put something together, but how to use it.

And maybe that's a little closer, because even once you learn how to use something, you probably keep that instruction and manual around in case you forget how to do something, or in case there's something that you haven't learned yet, and you come across it later, and you go, I wonder how I used that setting on my camera.

And you go back, and you get the instruction manual out, and you look at it again. But still, the Bible is more than that, isn't it? It's more than just an instruction manual that we sit on the shelf, and it collects dust, and that occasionally we consult it when something's going wrong, or we need to know how to do something.

We're not sure what to do. So then I thought of a favorite novel. A book that you love to read. You love its story, its unfolding plot with its twists and turns.

You love the characters and how they're painted. And isn't the Bible like that? There's this grand theme of redemption with fascinating individuals as we read, and incredible turns of story, and shocking plot developments.

And that's a bit closer, because the Bible is one big story from beginning to end, from which there's much to learn. But that comparison falls short too.

We read our favorite novel maybe to escape from our world, and to go live in someone else's world for a while. But the Bible intrudes into our world.

It's about our world. Its story is our story. And so it's so much more than a novel, and you might re-read your favorite novel many times. You might go years between reading it though, and not suffer any harm for it, because it's not about your life anyway.

But should you go years between reading of Scripture, you will suffer for it, because this is all about your life. And then to top it all off, all of these comparisons fall far short because of the author.

instruction manuals, assembly instructions, novels are all written by people. By humans. Some of those instructions, it seems, were written by someone whose first language is in English sometimes.

But they're written by people. But not the Bible. The Bible was actually breathed out by God Himself. And no other book can claim that.

And so instead of comparing the Scriptures to another book, let's just describe them tonight in terms of their source and their significance, and then let's see what we should be doing with them.

Let's talk about the source of this Word. It's significance and what we should do with the Word of God, given that those things are true. So we start with the source, but before we talk about that even, we need to make it clear what Scriptures we're talking about.

Look with me at v. 15. Paul's talking to Timothy what he knows, what he has become convinced of, and how from infancy you've learned the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Scriptures are the holy writings. And he's talking about the Old Testament there. Paul's mother and grandmother were Jews who would have been familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, what we know today as the Old Testament.

And so that's what Paul's talking about in v. 15. That's what they would have known. That's what Timothy would have known from infancy was the Old Testament that his mother taught him.

But then in v. 16, we read all Scripture. And the word for Scripture is a different Greek word. It's the word that's usually used for Scripture. And it's as though Paul were saying this.

You've known the holy writings, the Old Testament from birth. I'm telling you that all Scripture, not just the Old Testament, but all Scripture is God-breathed and useful.

You see, Paul understood, and he wants Timothy to understand, and he wants us to understand, that God's revealed Word didn't end with the Old Testament. He was continuing to reveal Himself.

He's continuing to give us His Word back in Paul's day. Paul quotes the Gospel of Luke in 1 Timothy 5.18 as Scripture. Peter refers to the writings of Paul as Scripture.

The Scriptures were being added to in that day. And Paul often shows a self-conscious awareness that what he writes is the Word of God. They didn't have a settled New Testament like we did today.

So Paul's telling Timothy, not just the Old Testament, but all Scripture is breathed by God and is profitable. They understood that God's revelation, the canon of Scripture, wasn't yet clothed.

Now, we live in a day where the canon is clothed. There's nothing to be added to it. We don't live in the days of the Apostle any longer. God is done giving that special revelation. And so tonight, when we talk about the source of Scripture and the significance of Scripture, we're talking about the Scriptures as you have it in your hands here.

The Old and New Testaments that God has passed down to us. Well, what's the source of it? It's there in verse 16. All Scripture is God-breathed. And sometimes, I think we know these verses so well that we don't really hear what it says.

All Scripture is God-breathed. It's breathed out by Him. And that's an awesome thing that the Word you hold in your hands tonight is unlike any other book.

Its author is the God who made this world that we look around in. We see His beauty. We see His power. On a beautiful day like today, the God who made all that wrote this Word.

He breathed it out. It's His Word just as really as the Ten Commandments etched in stone by His finger were His Word that He gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Now, some books have a co-author.

You'll see two names on the cover. And God's usual method of giving the Scriptures was not to deliver a stone or papyrus with the words already written down, but He took men. And He made them authors.

2 Peter 1. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. God took human authors.

He took men like Paul, like Luke, Isaiah, Moses, all the writers of Scripture. He took them, and in His perfect providence, He ordered their background, their upbringing, their education, everything about their lives so that when they came to the point where they were writing the Word of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they weren't just writing their own words, but actually writing God's words.

And still keeping their own flavor. The way Paul writes is different than the way Luke writes. It's different than the way Moses wrote. And yet it all comes from the breath of God.

Now I know that's familiar to you, but marvel tonight that the book you hold in your hand is God's book. It is His Word to you. His message for us. Breathed out by Him.

And just as He is a big God, and He's all-powerful, and He's capable of handling any situation, His gift to us is a big book. A big book that is sufficient for everything that we need for life and for godliness.

There is nothing you will encounter in your life that is not addressed in the pages of Scripture where you won't find guidance in the pages of Scripture. It has everything we need to know to navigate this world in which we live.

And again, we see how short the comparisons come. We need a separate instruction manual for everything. We need one for the camera, one for the phone, and one for the TV, and one for the DVD player, and one for the oven when it won't turn on anymore.

But God's given us one book. And it covers everything. A big God has given us a big book that He is the author of and we can praise Him for it.

So the source of Scripture is God Himself. But secondly, let's talk about its significance. What is this word good for? Why do we need it? Well, there in verse 15, You know the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

That's pretty significant. This word. This word has the message of salvation. It's why we love it. It tells us how we can be saved. God's Word shows us why we need salvation.

Because we're under the wrath of God. Because we've broken His law. It shows us what we need to be saved from. The power and the penalty of sin. And it shows us how we can be saved through the work of Christ and faith in Him.

And you know what? All of that's in the Old Testament. You see that? Paul says, you know the Holy Scriptures. He's talking about the Old Testament which are able to make you wise for salvation. Did you know that Jesus is in the Old Testament?

That He's there. That the way of salvation is there. And if we don't believe that, then we don't believe that the Old Testament saints had a way to be saved. It's there in the Old Testament. I hope when you read your Bibles, and we're going to talk about this, I hope you don't skip the Old Testament.

Because Jesus is there. Jesus saw Himself there with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We read, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.

Moses wrote about Jesus. The prophets wrote about Jesus, about the way that you can be saved. Those Old Testament Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation. That's significant.

Now, don't misunderstand. We delight to have the fuller and clearer revelation of the New Testament which reveals Christ in all of His glory. But even if it's in types and shadows and prophecies in the Old Testament, Jesus is there.

And those writings are able to make you wise for salvation. So, don't neglect the Scriptures. It's where we learn how to be saved.

And notice that you must have faith. Salvation isn't automatic because the Word is present. We can look around and know that that's not true. Everyone here has heard the Word, but not everyone here is saved.

No, you must believe in Jesus Christ if you would be saved. Here's where you learn about Him. Here is here where you learn how you can be saved, but you have to believe in order to be saved. And only Jesus can save.

And the only place you can learn about Him is the pages of Scripture. We talked about it. You can look around at the world and see that there's a big God and there's a Creator and you can know that you're accountable to Him and you're guilty before Him, but you can't look at the world around you and see how to be saved.

The only place you can find that is in this book. So never take this book lightly. This is where you can be made wise unto salvation. You see how significant the book is.

But then it's useful as well. It's useful for our salvation. It's also useful for, and again, we're so familiar with it, teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness.

And since we're so familiar with it, let's divide it up into two categories. Let's take teaching and rebuking as one category and correcting and training in righteousness as another category.

We might expect that the inspired Word of God is useful. And it's profitable. And it's advantageous. First of all, for doctrine. And we'll talk about teaching and rebuking there.

And teaching is such an important category here. In the letters to Timothy and Titus, the teaching of the apostles must not be corrupted. It must be passed on to the next generation.

It must be continued in the church. And the source of that teaching is the Word of God. The inspired Word of God. And so if you want to be an effective teacher in the church or in your family, if you want to keep the church or your family on the right doctrinal path, Scriptures are useful to that end.

If you want to know what you should believe, here's a good place to look. The Bible's useful for that. But it's also useful for rebuking.

If you hear somebody and they're saying something that doesn't sound quite right. Their doctrine doesn't sound accurate. You know what the Bible is good for? It's good for rebuking them. And what a helpful thing for Timothy.

He's in Ephesus where people are misusing the Bible. They're teaching the wrong thing. And Paul says, Timothy, if you need to know whether something's right or wrong, if you need to teach the truth and you need to rebuke the lie, it's an excellent tool for that.

And so it's useful for doctrine. That's our first category. For teaching and rebuking. But it's also useful for life or for practice. It doesn't just show us what to believe.

It shows us how to live. Not just what to think, but what to do. And so it's useful for correcting. If you see someone living in sin, breaking God's law, straying from this straight and narrow path, instead of just telling them to come back and saying, you're wrong, you go to the Scriptures and you show them that God's Word says that that's wrong.

It's useful to correct misbehavior. Disobedience. Showing them what God says is right and wrong. It corrects them. And positively, it's useful for training them in righteousness.

For training yourself in righteousness. You use the Scriptures to show someone the right way to live in this world. And how to live in that right way. We call it discipleship.

How do I live in this world? Well, here's how. You walk down the path that's laid out for you in the Scriptures. You honor Father and Mother. You remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. This book is useful for that.

See, it's useful for two things, at least. It's useful for doctrine. Showing us what to believe. Fixing false doctrine. And it's useful for life. For practice.

How should we live? And so, Paul can say it equips the man of God. That the man of God might be equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God has prepared good works for us to walk in. Ephesians 2.10 And we saw back in 2 Timothy 2 that we are to be holy instruments for noble purposes, useful to the Master for every good work.

God wants us to do good works. He's prepared them for us. It's what He calls us to. How can I do good works? How can I be ready to do these good things? This book equips us for it.

This book is what enables us to do those good things. It's through the Scriptures. The word equipped there implies that fully qualified, capable, complete. We're not lacking anything if our preparation comes from the Scriptures.

And that's true for the man of God. God officially, like Timothy is a minister. He's a man of God. That's how that title is used in the Old Testament. God's servants, like Moses, David, were called men of God.

It's true for the man of God and the good work of the ministry, but it's true for every man of God or woman of God, every child of God. It will equip you for all the good work that God has called you to do.

And so, we can't get into some situation in our lives and say, you know what, Lord, you haven't given me what I need for this. This is too much.

I don't have the resources that I need. No, you do. It's the Scriptures that God has given and they're useful so that the man of God may be equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work, every situation that you will encounter, you will find help in the Scriptures.

And so that's the source of the Scriptures. It comes from God and its significance. It can make you wise unto salvation and the Scriptures are useful. They'll equip you. Given that those things are true, what should we do?

What should be our attitude towards God's Word? What should be our action with God's Word? Four things tonight. First, receive it as God's Word.

Maybe that's obvious to us. But receive it as God's Word. Not the words of men, but as the Word of God. People tend to treat the Scriptures so lightly.

They'll take them or leave them depending on whether they agree with what it says or disagree. Let us not be among them. The Scriptures should be the final arbiter, the final decision maker.

If God's Word says it, that should be good enough for us. And we give the words of men varying levels of respect depending on who they are and what they're talking about.

If I'm talking to a trusted auto mechanic about my car, I'm going to give his Word high respect. I'm going to listen to him. I'm going to follow his advice.

But if I'm talking to my buddy from seminary that doesn't know too much about cars and he offers me some opinion about what's the matter with my car, I'm not going to listen to him. I'm not going to pay attention because his opinion isn't worth too much when it comes to cars.

But with God's Word, we can know that as the God who made this universe, as the God who made us, that his Word on what we are to believe and how we are to live is trustworthy.

So we're going to receive it as the Word of God and not the words of men. God made us. He wrote the instruction manual on us. And so we would do well to pay attention to it, to treat it with importance, to read it like we believe it.

So we receive it as God's Word. We have a reverence for it. We don't treat the Word of God flippantly or lightly. This book speaks of high and holy truth and a high and holy God.

It's not subject matter for jokes or speculation or twisting into false teaching. What an assault on God it is to take His Word and to twist it and to teach false things from it.

The Word of God can make you wise unto salvation, but some people twist it into such a way that if you hear it, you won't be saved if you believe what they're saying. People in Ephesus were doing that.

They were twisting God's Word. It's useful for doctrine and life, but these people were making it not useful for that. They didn't have a high esteem for God's Word. What an affront to treat God's Word not as holy, but as the common words of men.

We must treat them with reverence, with respect. Excuse me. The other thing to note in receiving it as God's Word is that we should be thankful for it.

We should be thankful for it. The God who made us has not remained silent. He's not left us without guidance.

He's not left us without a light to our path and a lamp for our feet. He has spoken. He's revealed Himself to us, and that's a good thing for us because that revelation shows us how we can be right with God.

It makes us wise unto salvation. It shows us what to believe. It shows us how to live. Praise Him for His Word tonight. Praise Him that you have it in your hands. You know there's many people that have never held a Bible in their hands before.

Some don't even have it in their language. Some don't even know that it exists. But the God of the universe is speaking. He's speaking right here. And you have this in your hands.

You have it in your homes. Many of you have it hidden in your heart. Do you understand? Do you realize what a privilege that is? We just sort of let it roll off our tongues.

This is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. Praise Him. Thank Him for it. It's God's Word. Treat it accordingly.

Secondly, abide in it. See it in v. 14. But as for you, Timothy. But as for you, continue. Abide in what you have learned and have become convinced of.

Because you know those from whom you learned it. Paul's command to Timothy is instead of progressing in ungodliness, deceiving, being deceived, you, Timothy, you continue in what you've learned.

You learned it from your mom and from your grandmother. Don't let go of it now. Others around you all going astray. Don't you? You abide in the Holy Scriptures. That word continuous is the word abide.

How do you abide in the Scriptures? If this is God's Word, we want to be in it. How do you do that? You read it. We know that. It's obvious.

We read the Word. This is your lifeline. Treat it that way. It's God's voice. It's God's voice. And the way you listen is by reading. You wait daily at wisdom's door, expectantly, prayerfully seeking the truth.

You absorb it. You meditate on it. You memorize it. You soak your mind and your heart in the Scriptures like you soak a steak in a marinade so that pretty soon, eventually, every bite of that steak will taste like that marinade.

So every part of your life, as you've soaked in the Scripture, will be affected by the Bible. And so whatever happens, your first thought is, what does God's Word say about that? Because it's affected every part of your life.

You read it. You listen to it preached. You take advantage of every opportunity to hear it read to you and preached. This is the means God has given for your teaching. Rebuking.

Correcting. Being trained in righteousness. Come and receive it. It's why we meet twice on the Lord's Day. Have a Sunday school. To teach God's Word. To preach it.

It's why we center our worship around the Word of God. We sing it. We pray it. We read it. We preach it. So that you can hear this message from God for you. God's speaking in His Word.

We must listen. In other words, be saturated. Be soaked in the Scriptures. Read. Listen to them. Charles Spurgeon says, The words of the Bible strike and they stick.

They enter and abide. He that has been taught in Scripture, steeped in Scripture, saturated with Scripture, is conscious of its permeating influence.

Bible truth influences his thoughts, his words, and his deeds. It is all-pervading. He begins to eat and drink and sleep Holy Scripture. The man's heart is fixed on God.

Fixed in the truth. Fixed in holy living. He will stand fast, however evil the days. Does that describe you? Eat, drink, sleep. The Word of God that's been given to you.

We should be so absorbed in the Scriptures that we're like a sponge that's been immersed into water. We need to be like a dry sponge and the water is the Word of God.

We're immersed into water like that sponge. And what happens when you squeeze the sponge? Water comes out. And when someone squeezes us by temptation or trial or a compliment or joy or tragedy or personal gain or significant loss, whatever comes to us, it squeezes us.

What should happen? The Bible should come out. Whether we're quoting it or summarizing it or living it. It should be the air we breathe so when we open our mouths to speak, it's the Bible that comes out.

And as you soak them up, let them have their desired effect. Be instructed by them. You don't know what to believe? Here's what you should believe. Find it in the pages of Scripture. You don't know if something that you heard was right or wrong?

Take it to the Scriptures and compare it with God's Word and see if it's right or wrong. You don't know how to live? You don't know what to do? Come and see what God's Word tells you to do. How to live a holy life in a wicked world.

You see wickedness all around. You see it in your own life. Don't know what to do? You go to God's Word and it corrects you. Trains you in righteousness. Let it have its desired effect as you soak up the Scriptures.

And as you soak up the Word, make sure again that you see Christ in it. When you read the Old Testament, don't just. Don't only look for great children's stories.

And good examples. And moral lessons. Do look for those things. And find them. And profit from them. Because they're there. And that's why the Word was given to us. For our good. For our profit.

For our benefit. But make sure when you read that Old Testament, you find Christ there. Soak Him up in the Scriptures. And don't just see Him in Isaiah 53.

See Him there. But see Him in other prophecies. See Him in the bloody sacrifices of Israel. See Him in the high priest representing the people of God and the Holy of Holies.

See Him in Moses leading the people out of slavery in Egypt. Just as Christ leads us out of slavery to sin. Our great exodus. See Him in great King David's royal reign.

Anticipate the perfect King Christ as you read of imperfect King after imperfect King. See Him in the ram caught in the thicket to take Isaac's place on the altar that Abraham built.

See Him in God's promise to the serpent and to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Receive God's Word as His Word.

Abide in it, secondly. And now thirdly, be convinced of its truth. You see, that was true of Timothy. As for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.

Don't just read it like a novel. It's so much more. It's God's story. And it's your story. And if this is the Word of God, and it is, then it's true.

Because God cannot lie. He always speaks the truth. And so be convinced of the truth of the Scriptures. Many people today are on a search for truth. I want to know what truth is.

I'm a truth seeker. Well, God has spoken. And His words are true. His words are faithful. If you want truth, you look here. You need look no further.

Be persuaded of it. Be convinced that it's God's Word. And once you're convinced it's His Word, you'll be convinced that it's true. Because it comes from the true God. Maybe you're a skeptic tonight.

But be honest with yourself. Is there any book so remarkably consistent with itself? Think. It's written over the span of thousands of years by different human authors.

Is there any book so beautiful in its truth? So encouraging and challenging in its content? Is there any more beautiful picture than that of a sympathetic, loving, merciful, receiving, forgiving, healing Savior, Jesus, the Shepherd of His sheep?

Does it not ring true? Believe it. It's the Word of God. If you don't, pray that He would give you a heart that would be believing and convinced of the truth of the Word.

And then, being convinced of the truth of God's Word, then trust in the Savior that's portrayed there. It's only through faith in Christ that you can receive salvation.

You see that. Right? You're convinced of these things. You know from whom you've learned them and how from infancy you've known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Be convinced of the truth, but then go and trust in Jesus. It's only through faith in Christ that you can have salvation. This book can make you wise unto salvation.

So come and cast yourself at the feet of the Jesus that's revealed here. He's made very plain here. He's made very clear here. You come and trust in Him. And you will receive the salvation that we read of.

And then one last thing, and we'll spend the rest of our time here tonight. One other thing to do with the Scriptures. And that is to teach it to children. Teach them to children.

You say, where do you get that? Well, those from whom you learned it. Paul says that to Timothy. He says, you know those from whom you learned it at the end of verse 14.

That implies that someone taught it to them. And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures implied that that happened starting at a very young age.

It started when Timothy was an infant. And so this is especially for parents and for Sunday school teachers. But don't you parents think for a moment that by sending your kids to Sunday school, you've fulfilled your duty to teach your children the Scriptures.

It's your job to raise them. The fear and admonition of the Lord to teach them the Scriptures. And it's vital to take this word. Timothy, we read back in chapter 1 about Eunice and Lois.

And here, how Timothy knew from infancy the Scriptures. So it must have been his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois that taught him the Word from the very beginning. It's vital to teach them, your children, the Word of God while they are young.

Little children are so impressionable. They are capable of being influenced from the moment they emerge from the womb and possibly before that. We know that they can feel pain in the womb.

And it's believed they can hear in the womb as well. And God has given you parents to your children to influence them for good. Use that influence to mold their mind in the Scriptures.

If you're abiding in the Scriptures, like we've spoken of, then it will be natural. Then when you're squeezed by the challenges that your children present, what you'll drip out is Scripture into their ears, into their hearts, and into their minds.

Train up a child in the way he should go. Start when he's a child. Influencing them with the Scriptures. And then when he is old, he will not depart from it. How young is too young to start teaching your children the Scriptures?

There isn't a too young. There isn't a too young. The word here is literally infant, and this word is used in the New Testament even to refer to an unborn child.

There is no too young. There's no time that's too early to start making sure that your children hear the Scriptures. I remember with each of my boys, rocking them, giving them their last bottle before bed, just before they're dozing off, and whispering the truths of the Gospel to them.

I know they don't have minds that can fully comprehend, but from infancy, Timothy heard the Scriptures. And I want my children to hear it from infancy. Even a pregnant mother singing the truths of Scripture as she goes about her day.

That unborn child hears the truth. I hope you include your very young children in your family worship. I know I've said this here before, but I didn't realize how young children could learn the Scriptures until my two-year-olds started coming home from Judy Withrow and Annette Cunningham's Sunday school class.

And it was remarkable what they were soaking up. What they were absorbing as two-year-olds. I remember sitting on the couch for family devotions one night and asking, I think it was Ryan, and somehow I said, who is Jesus?

He said, I'm the way and the truth and the life. I think he got life wrong. I think he got that word wrong. But my job about hit the floor. He had learned that in Sunday school. He had soaked that up as a two-year-old.

He's being shaped by the Word of God. He said, include your children in family worship from the very start. You dads, be men. Step up and lead your families in God's Word.

It doesn't take much to open it and to read it and to make a comment or two. It will be helpful for your child. And even if you can't come up with a comment, just read the Word. The Word is powerful, living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword.

God can use it in the life of your children in the very beginning. And just as a side note here, but it's relevant. I don't think there's any better training ground for children to learn.

To learn to sit quietly in a worship service. Than to practice at home during family worship. If they get used to there.

And I'm not saying you need to have an hour-long service at home. Around the table or on the couch. Or where you have your family worship. But if they get used to that. We're going to read God's Word now. It's not a time to talk.

It's not a time to goof off. It's not a time to be silly. It's a time to listen. It's a time to learn. And then it's not such a foreign concept when they come into this room. And there's people that are quiet.

There's people that sing. And you've done that in your family worship. And you're here to listen to God's Word. Excellent training ground to do it at home. With your children.

So that they get used to that concept. That idea. And it's not irrelevant here. The quieter and less distracted your children are during family worship and public worship. The more they will be able to hear and pay attention to God's Word.

Which is able to make them wise unto salvation. And isn't that what we want for our children? Don't we want them to be saved? Don't we want them to know how to live?

Oh then, what a practical thing to teach them. Starting at home. To be able to sit and to listen. So that they can profit from that Word. I'll speak a word to you moms for a moment.

Or I'll let Spurgeon speak a word to you moms for a moment. He says, Oh dear mothers, you have a very sacred trust reposed in you by God. Those who think that a woman detained at home by her little family is doing nothing, think the reverse of what is true.

Far from it. She is doing the best possible service for her Lord. Mothers, the godly training of your offspring is your first and most pressing duty.

You're doing a good work. Moms. Teaching your children. May God give special grace to you. Home all day with your young children. With multiple opportunities to help them learn the Scriptures.

That are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. You hear that? That you may be the instrument in God's hand to save your children. Don't be discouraged in raising them.

But be encouraged and challenged tonight to mold their minds in the Scriptures. And as you teach them, make sure they understand it's God's Word.

And it's God's Holy Word. We talked about having reverence and respect for that Word. Make sure they know that. It will go miles towards helping them understand the reverence of worship. Why it's such an important thing if they know that it's God's Word.

We're not just sitting down on the couch or around the table to read Dr. Seuss together at family worship. And going to church is so much more than going to story hour at the library. Or even than going to school.

We're coming to hear the Word. The Holy Word of God. Make sure they understand that at a young age. So that they have the right attitude for God's Word. And make sure too that they're excited to come to it.

Do you know that your attitude towards God's Word, towards family worship, towards the Lord's Day, will be reflected in your children. Say, I can't get my children out of bed on Sunday morning.

It's such a drag. Well, what's your attitude on Sunday morning to come hear God's Word? Every other day you're up early. You're out the door for work. It's a good day. Saturday you're out in the yard working.

And what do they see on Sunday? Do you see you struggling to get out of bed? Struggling to drag the family off to worship? If they see that. If that's what they see in you. You sleeping through the sermon.

If that's what they see, then they're going to think that this Word isn't very important. That's what they'll learn. By watching their parents. If that's what you do.

Or if family worship is a drag. Alright kids, I guess it's time. Come on. We need to do this. The pastor talked about it again this week.

So we better do it. If that's all it is. If that's the heart that your children see you have towards God's Word. Towards family worship. Public worship. Then don't be surprised if their heart is the same.

If you have a flippant attitude towards the Word and it's not important to you. It won't be to them. Do they ever see you cracking open your Bible and reading it? You're always on them to do it.

But do you do it? They'll learn from watching us. So make sure they have a reverence for it. An excitement for it. An eagerness to read it and to hear it.

And then use the Word in the lives of your children. Not just to instruct them or train them in righteousness. But to rebuke and to correct them. Use it to correct your children's bad doctrine.

And yes, your children will have bad doctrine. Mine do. We were talking about the resurrection this week. Because Easter was coming. And one of my children said, Jesus wasn't dead.

And that's a child's way of explaining away the resurrection like many people try to do. That's bad doctrine.

And so we had to say, no. The Bible teaches us that Jesus really was dead. But then that He rose from the dead. And He's not dead now. But He really was dead.

Use it to correct, to rebuke your children's bad doctrine when you hear it. Use the Scriptures for that. Use it to correct their bad behavior. Don't just tell your kids, stop doing that.

And don't just spank them for disobeying. Show them the Scriptures where God forbids their behavior that they've just done. Show them what the Bible says they should be doing instead of what they were doing.

A spanking without any instruction and correction in the Word of God will do no good. This Word is useful. It says it right here.

It's useful for teaching and rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. Well, then let's use it for that. For ourselves and for our children.

And just a word for you children. For you young people tonight. It's a privilege to be taught the Scriptures.

It's a privilege to be able to read them. It's a privilege to have parents that love you enough to have family worship with you. Love you enough to bring you to church here. To send you to Sunday school. And that is a privilege.

I hope you receive it as such. I hope you don't resent it. I hope you don't resent your parents for it. Paying attention to this Word can make you wise unto salvation.

Show you the truth. Show you how to live. What a blessed young man Timothy was. To have a mom like Eunice. A grandmother like Lois.

And how blessed you are. And to have a spiritual father like the Apostle Paul later. And how blessed you are. To have the Word of God taught to you by parents that love you.

Timothy heard it from infancy. And he became convinced of that truth. And he trusted in Christ. And he was saved. And that's my prayer for you. You've heard the Word.

I pray that you would become convinced of it. And that you would trust in Christ. That God would send you running to Him for salvation. So we are to receive the Word of God as God's Word.

We're to abide in it. We're to be convinced of its truth. And we need to teach it to our children. Now there's a lot of other things we could say about God's Word. We could talk about how we should use it in the church. But that's what Paul does in chapter 4.

He's going to say, preach the Word. Rebuke. Instruct. And so on. So we're going to save using the Word for the next time we come back to 2 Timothy. Using it in the church.

But for tonight. What a Word we have. We've got the Holy Scriptures. We've got the Holy Scriptures. We've got the Holy Scriptures. We've got the Holy Scriptures. Breathed out by God Himself. A lot of people are running around today looking for a message from God.

I need some guidance. I need some direction from God. You've got it. It's right here. He's given it to you. Make sure you make full use of it.

This book shows the way of salvation, truth, and life. It's far superior to any other book that we have read or could imagine reading. And so may we love it and treasure it as the very Word of God that it is.

And may it prove useful in each of our lives. May God make it so. Father, we thank You that You have given us Your Word. We pray that it would be ever our dear delight.

That we would abide in Your Word. That we would read it day by day. That we would come and hear it preached. And we pray that it would be useful to us. We thank You that it shows us what to believe.

And how to live. Make it so in our lives. Make us to be effective teachers of it to our own children. To those around us. We pray that Your Word would be as it says it is.

Useful. That it might equip us for every good work. We thank You that You've not left us without the resources that we need to walk through this world. We pray then that as we exit these doors tonight.

And go into that world to our places of employment. And school. And our homes. That You would give us grace to look ever to Your Word.

And there find Christ. There find guidance for each moment of each day. Guide and direct our steps. Then we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.