songs, but the songs seem so much together so many times. How is that? It's because Tom's praying about what songs to sing, and God just works that out. It's so nice to see God moving. We just sang about the Word of God, and the text we're going to look at includes that. In verse 16 of chapter 3, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And we know that's a favorite verse. If you're a Bible believer, that's a favorite verse, because the Word of God is profitable. But today, what's going to be different is, I'm going to take one verse here, but then go through most of this chapter here today for the very simple reason that It gives us a reason to continue. If you look at verse 14, it says, but continue thou. Now remember, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are called pastoral epistles. These are two young men that pastored churches under the tutelage of Paul the Apostle, his discipleship, and he writes special epistles to them to tell them what to anticipate in the ministry, how to handle things in the ministry, And if you look at verse 14, But continue thou in the things which thou wast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou wast learned them. Now, why would he tell them to continue in these things? Because, folks, in the ministry you see people falling by the wayside all the time. People that once preached the gospel no longer preach the gospel. People that are frightened about paying a mortgage on their church, they bring in all kinds of the world to bring it in here. So you could bring more people in, get an offering out of them, and you say, well, that's an awful, terrible thing to say about people. Well, isn't it funny? I grew up in a Methodist church. And if you remember the turn of the last century, back in the 1890s and the early 19s, not that any of you were alive then, some of you I wonder, but if you had a birthday this past week, you know, Tom was telling me about how he doesn't really honor those birthdays anymore. But anyway, if you look back then, it was the Methodists. I grew up in a Methodist church. It was the Methodists that were the hellfire preachers. They were the ones that told you get saved or you're going to face an eternity in a devil's hell, in the lake of fire. And now there's almost no trace of the gospel left there. Why is that? Some of you have been in Methodist churches. I'm not condemning them. I have cousins that are in Free Methodist. They're a little bit better. I understand that. But what matters in a church is if you hear the gospel there. So why is he telling young preachers to do this? Because there are so many pressures, so many temptations, so many reasons for people to back off on the simple gospel. And he goes on and says that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Now, I've been thinking much this month, in the past many days, about this subject of continuing and about the legacy we leave for the next generation. Think about this, and I've said this before even this month, the gospel and the integrity of a church is really contingent upon one generation. Isn't that right? What does it say about the scriptures? They're able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, not by doing good. We saw lots of people that are confident they're going to heaven because they do good, though they never go to church. And they don't know what Jesus Christ did for them. The gospel tells you how you can know you're going to heaven when you die. Of course, that's defined in 1 Corinthians 15. But how do we continue? How do we leave a legacy for the next generation? How do we build a hedge against the degeneration that is going to come? The Bible says in Jeremiah 6, verse 16, that you seek out the old paths. Why? Well, in the old days, in the old days, The gospel wasn't nearly as watered down as it is today, and I know that there have been cycles in history, and I understand all of that, but even when I was a child, the gospel was far more prominent than it is today. In fact, you could hear the words of God read in a public school, as I've said recently. Psalm 11, verse 3 says, if the foundations be removed, what shall the righteous do? This man, Paul the apostle, by inspiration, is telling young preacher boys, These are the foundations you want to build in your life and your ministry to be a hedge against the natural degeneration that you can expect. We don't want to degenerate. I saw a good quote from John MacArthur this past week. It says, so many churches say, well, the world's not in our church. We haven't invited the world in. And you know what his answer to that was? These may not be his exact words, but this is basically the gist of it. Turn up the lights. in your church, turn off the noise, the music, and open your Bibles. If you did that, I know many of these churches folks have given me testimony to this effect that the preaching of the cross lasts for 10 or 15 minutes. It's like an afterthought tacked on to the presentation that is a dance band and rock music. So if the world's not, and an offering, yeah. And an offering. If the world's not in your church, then turn up the lights. Why are the lights off? Darkness isn't exactly a picture of life and light today, is it? And turn off the noise. Turn off the noise. There are churches in this valley that give you earplugs when you walk in the door. Why? Why? Because the noise is so loud, it'll deafen you. But the world's not in the churches. Now it says, continue thou in the things which thou hast learned. This is how you, by continuing, you build a lasting legacy. You know what we want? Yes, I want every one of us that knows the Lord Jesus, well, everyone to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. but to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so that we know that we're going to heaven when we die and someone asks us, we can tell them exactly why we're going to heaven when we die. But that's not the end of it. We want our children to grow up. knowing the gospel and trusting Christ as Savior one day, and in turn, their children as well. I got some pictures of, for my daughter-in-law, of my grandson. I'm assumed to have a second, actually a third grandson as well, but got pictures of my grandson. He's got some kind of a game thing that he uses, he plays with. I have no idea. That's for the next generation to know how to do those things. And you know what he's doing? He's picturing a church and he's picturing a pulpit. He's picturing Papa preaching and all that. You know what we want our next generation and then the generation after that to do? We want them to trust Christ early, not make the mistakes that the world around us makes as best we can prevent it and to walk with God so that there's still a remnant that is able to influence our country for Jesus Christ. That's the simple, common theme of this message and of this chapter. It's to continue. We'll look at some principles about that. Let's pray. Lord, would you bless our time. Give me the words to speak. Father, more than anything else, may your spirit have free course first in me and then through this congregation, Lord. that you would apply your words, which are alive and powerful, to each and every heart, and may your spirit be the glue that holds it together that your spirit might affect each heart today. We shall thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. You grow up with kids, and I went to public school all the way through high school, and I know an awful lot of the kids that I went to school with don't know Jesus as Savior. It breaks my heart. I talk to them when I see them. I want them to know Jesus as Savior. I want them to know that when they drop dead, they're going to be in God's presence. They'll be in heaven for the rest of eternity. If you don't have that certain knowledge, then you should find out what the Bible says about that and do what the Bible says. And that's a simple thing, isn't it? It's pretty easily taken care of. If you look at this whole chapter, you'll find this in verse 1. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. It's been 2,000 years since he said in the last days. Do you suppose the perilous times are closer now? Probably upon us, of course so. They could see that coming on in that day. In the last days perilous times shall come. And notice what characterizes them. For men shall be lovers of their own selves. That's a narcissist, by the way. We have a fancy name for that. They love themselves. They're covetous. They're boastful. By the way, someone covetous is never content. They're covetous, they're boasters. Hey, they're unhappy, discontented people, but they have a lot to tell you about how wonderful they are. They're boasters, they're proud. You know, what was it Winston Churchill said? I'll probably slaughter it. He has, okay, nevermind. He has some really clever, not just an empty limousine pulled up and he got out, Now you might think about that for a moment. It's a grandiose, what was it? Anyway, it'll come to me somewhere in the middle of something else, but they're proud, they're blasphemers, they're disobedient to parents. When you look at the list of things, you know how many of these things can be settled by a happy home where God's the center of it? They're disobedient to the parents. I was disobedient to my parents, just like you were. The difference with my dad was I basically did it once. So I found some new way to disobey Him. And I probably did that once. And I don't mean that one chastening was all it took, but you understand that it starts in your homes. Why is it that my kids grew up being in church every time the door, well, that's just because you were the pastor. No, if I weren't the pastor, that would have been true as well. Because before I was a pastor, that's what I did. Okay? Disobedient to parents. Unthankful. Isn't that an amazing thing to add? This describes our day-to-day. People today feel like they're entitled to all the things their parents had without working for them, without any sacrifice. They are unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. That was part of the service in Sunday school today. Without natural affection. You know where you learn natural affection? At home. A godly, God-centered home. You're going to learn that certain things are off-limits. Certain people are off-limits. Certain behavior is not tolerated. They're without natural affection. Now they're looking, now coming from many times a home that wasn't what it could have been. I mean, they're looking for love in all the wrong places, aren't they? And they're defining love differently than the Bible does. You look at all these things, and so many of these characteristics of the last days can be settled in a godly home. When I went home, I could have some struggles with my dad, but man, I didn't let anyone criticize my dad. You know why that was? Because I knew he loved me. And I probably wasn't very easy to love many times. Okay? I grew up in a home that I thank God for. You say, well, not everyone grew up that way. Yeah, but you can make sure your home's that way. Make sure your home's that way. And absolutely every one of us knows we should have done some things differently. And if we look forward, we can see that there are some things we probably should do different than we are going to anyway, but we want to make sure that we're subject to the word of God. So notice, first of all, that religion is very indulgent. Why do I say that? Look at a couple of verses here. It says, verse five, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. These are religious people. They're guilty of these things. This is where this behavior is welcomed into church bodies and without any condemnation whatsoever, probably without any restrictions, because they have a form of godliness. These are religious people that can justify any kind of behavior. You don't want that in your home. You don't want that there, do you? They're lovers of God. Well, that's verse 4. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. In other words, they love God. They just love pleasure more. These are religious people that have no problem claiming a love for God while behaving the way it describes. If you want to continue and have a legacy, the right influence on the next generation, the one after it, make sure you get as far away from that as you can. They have empty professions. And look at verse seven, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge. You know how many Bible studies there are out there? And Many times Bible studies are just gathering around in a circle and exchanging ignorance. Now think about that. And I love the Bible. I want to see it studied. I want it to be a part of our lives. Ever learning. You know what, many times I think people go to church for this reason. I want to learn something that will help me right now. That's good. What about going to church to be a blessing to someone else? Scott and I were talking yesterday. My dear preacher friend, the one I call pastor, is Pastor Hampton. Been with the Lord now for three or four years. He told his youth group when he was a youth pastor, two things you ask when there's a young man or a young woman that's interested in the other. Number one, are they saved? Why do people gamble with their future by spending their time with someone who doesn't even know the Lord Jesus that you claim to love? And the second one is that you're already serving God. You know what the Bible tells us to pray for? Laborers. What have you done in the last week? It's funny, in Washington there's a great uproar because people are going to have to describe what they did in their job for the government this last week. I applaud that. I think that's wonderful. I think that's wonderful. Anyway, I won't go into that. But what have you done for Jesus in the last week? What have you done? You know, you can take just a handful of tracts and give them out. You could give them out to someone at a grocery store you'll never see again, or you're not likely to see again. You can give tracts out. You know what those tracts are? They have the word of God on them, tells you how you can know you're going to heaven when you die. There's something you can do for, you can pray for people. You can pray for people. You can call someone up and just say, hey, you're on my mind, I'm praying for you. One of my friends from college sent me a picture today of a bunch of old people. I shouldn't say that online. And it's him and his three brothers and their wives. And I said, you haven't changed a bit, kind of. And they said, thanks for noticing. Well, they're almost all in their seventies. I told one of my friends on his birthday, on the post, I said, man, I got to get younger friends. I've got to get younger friends. But you know, we grow old quickly, don't we? It's really amazing. What we want is that every year of our life not only has some victories that are won, and you're going to learn some lessons the hard way. but that you're establishing a testimony to the ones around you, to your children, your grandchildren, so that they know what the real thing is about, not just a form of godliness. Most of what you see today is empty professions. Not only that, those empty professions are compatible in their minds with abominable works that we just read. Lovers of themselves, covetous boasters. If you're, we're in the midst of wedding plans. Weddings are for women. I don't mean I hate weddings, but I don't care what color something is. Now, I'm pretty much alone in that, okay? I don't know anything about that stuff, and I've married two of my daughters. I don't know if I'll marry my third daughter. I think the pastor back there will, but we're in the midst of wedding plans. And that's a joyous and a wonderful time, isn't it? That's where all these little details, you bring them all together, and you celebrate God answering the prayers that we've had for the last 30 years or more, that God would raise up a spouse for each of my children, and that they would establish a home that's in the fear of God, and go to the next generation, and this is the last of my five children getting married. Well, when I look at the Abominable Works, and I look for a young man that wants to marry my daughter, I like to be cleaning my rifles when they come by and I meet them. I like to drop this thought, well, I don't mind going back to prison. They don't know if I've been to prison or not, you know? They don't know. But why would you want something? Well, yeah, he believes in God, and yet all these things are not strange to them. We want to make sure, we want to make sure that we don't have a religion that is indulgent in the ungodly things of this world. In verse six it says, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts. In other words, silly women that are pursuing their own lusts. What do they do? They target the vulnerable. I have nothing but contempt for the people that target the vulnerable. Not only that, the last part of verse 3, it says they despise those that are good. These are religious people, but when someone has a real testimony, they hate them. and they despise the upright. And in verse 13, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. This is the ungodly. And you know what's true of them? They live lives of deception. They deceive others, make you think that they're teaching the truth, but then they are quickly and easily deceived themselves because their foundation is themselves, not the word of God. Religion is indulgent. And this passage is a passage on religion, but it's contrasted with the truth of the Word of God. Secondly, truth is available. Truth is available. Isn't it? Now, when I used to drive across the country, I'd go to college. I think I drove all the way across the country at least eight times when I was in college, and then several more times after that when I'd go to different meetings and stuff. You can go across the radio, and at any time, day or night, you can hear someone preaching the Word of God. Any time, day or night. It may not be what you want to listen to, but you can find something of value, can't you? And when you look back, there have been faithful preachers. Look at verse 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions. I mean, not only what he stood for, but what he came through in persecutions and things. There have been faithful preachers that touched your life. You know what a preacher is? We talked to a young man yesterday. I tried to get him to come to church, and I said, we want you to know Jesus is Savior. We don't preach a church. We preach a Savior, don't we? Now, I'd like to see you come to our church. We want them to know the Savior. That is a preacher that cares enough about Him. Look at verse 12. Yea, in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Who better reflects that than Paul the Apostle? There have been faithful preachers that were in your life, weren't there? I remember in the 60s where we would go to a youth group in our Methodist church and the pastor's son was a Vietnam soldier. And he came back one time and we talked to him. And I remember the people that preached the word, my Sunday school teachers. I remember those people because they made a difference in my life. I remember reading the sword of the Lord that I picked up on my desk this morning, back in the sixties. I remember those things, people affected my life. There is available today to people everywhere faithful preachers preaching the words of God. Well, Paul demonstrated his real call by all the resistance that he got, even by the brethren. Spoken of in Philippians 1 and 2 Corinthians 11, he got resisted by the brethren. Why? probably because he knew what religion was. He'd been in the middle, he knew how killing it was, how desperately evil religion was, it enabled him to drag people into prison and compel them to blaspheme before he came to know Jesus. So he wanted to make sure he stood strong and was the right testimony. You've had faithful preachers in your life, haven't you? You've seen the power of God. Look at verse 5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Hey, these are people that pretend to be godly, but they denied the power. That means that the power of God was there and they ignored it. The spirit of God was pleading with their hearts and their minds and they said no. They understood the power of God. You've seen the power of God, whether you've gone to church and had God move in your heart, whether you've gone to special meetings and had God move in your heart, where you saw God move in your friend's heart and he's a different creature. The power of God is available today, isn't it? Not only that, not only that, verse seven, they're ever learning. You're learning things all the time. Man, the more I read my Bible, and I've been reading it a long time, the more marvelous I find this book. We were watching something yesterday on a travel program, and some crazy things you can see around this world, and it said, this thing is two billion years old. I thought, what a joke. What a joke. And it is eroding two millimeters a year. How much does that amount to after two billion years? That thing was quite a bit bigger, you know, two billion years ago. It's just lies and fraud, isn't it? Ever learning. but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. What you want to learn is what you can apply in your heart to bow before Jesus Christ, the only Savior of man, the only hope for man. And then the whole passage brings you up to, you know, ever learning all that. But look at verse 15. that from a child, thus known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus." That means that these imposters, like the Book of Mormon, that come and tell you all about, this is another testimony of God. No, it's not. Because they don't tell you how to know Jesus Christ as your Savior. Not the Jesus of the Bible. Not that same one. The Mormon doctrine is that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers. That's an abomination, okay? No, they're able to make you wise in salvation, and yet he learned them from a child. You know what I love about this? What I love about it is this, that that his mom and his grandmother, if you go back to 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith, that's the exact opposite of what we're looking at. Having a form of godliness, but his mama and his grandmother had the real thing. The unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also." In other words, his grandmother, we know nothing about his grandfather. We know a little bit of something about his father. I think he's a Roman. But we know this, his grandmother affected his mother and they together affected Timothy with the word of God. You know what a joy that is, what a blessing that is to single moms everywhere? God intended for a man and a woman to love each other and raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. And a whole bunch of families today don't have two parents. And sometimes it's the death of one parent. But what I'm glad about this is, that his mother and grandmother just trained him in the ways that they lived. that is, in the fear of God, walking with, trusting Christ as Savior. They had the word of God, and when truth is available, whole passages, that the scripture given by inspiration of God. You know what's wonderful about that? The Bible says that in Isaiah 55, my word will not return unto me void. It'll accomplish the purpose for which I sent it. God's Word tells you the truth. And if you don't believe the truth and embrace the truth, many times that same Word, like the sun on soil, it could soften the soil and bring it and give it some heat so that fruit can come forth, or it'll bake the soil and it's good for nothing. You want to make sure you listen as God speaks to you, and the Word of God does that, doesn't it? The truth is available, has been at every age. Number three, the foundations are already laid. In verse 10, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life. Now, there are several things that I would promote in this passage. One of them is the example Paul was to Timothy, and undoubtedly Titus as well. He was an example to them. He trained them. He discipled them. He cared for them. Now he's writing them to prepare them even more for the ministry that's ahead of them. And by the way, being a minister in the Roman Empire in those days would probably have been challenging, don't you think? He says, I tell you, be faithful to the words of God. Be faithful to the words of God. And Paul gave him special attention, personal attention and discipleship, but example as well. It's marvelous that God gave us homes, isn't it? Why? Because I can see how the gospel, the word of God affected my dad's heart. So much so that for us, the only house that we ever owned, my dad built, And he sold that, never owned another home, and moved 500 miles away to be in a real church. That's when we left the Methodist church. I knew from my dad's example that no sacrifice is too great to keep the family spiritual. It was really fun. We all got in a Baptist church. We all got in the baptism tank at one time, because all of us had been saved, but never been baptized. If you're baptized in the Methodist church, they take a little water and splash it on your head, OK? We all got in there and flooded the preacher's hip waders. Now, I should probably remember something more spiritual than that, don't you think? But flooded his hip waders because all six of us were baptized together. He sacrificed that we might grow up in a church where the gospel was preached, and we did. We did, we'd all been saved by that time. The foundation was laid by an example, but by vision as well. A vision that is the whole crux of this, continue thou on. A vision to run your race, a vision to finish your course, that's chapter four. He had a vision to walk with Jesus and then go home when his life is done. But there's personal attention and that is especially true in the suffering. It says, you saw my long-suffering charity and patience, verse 10, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What happened at Lystra? He was stoned, left for dead. That's just persecution in his mind. Hey, there's a resistance to the truth and he'll get up out of that rock pile and keep on going. I like that. I like that. He had the right testimony, didn't he? Even through suffering. And when you suffer, sometimes that suffer is just disappointment. Sometimes it's the brethren that discourage your hearts. But it doesn't change the fact that the message is so important. You keep on keeping on. I want my kids to know that no matter what comes my way, I'm going to stay in the saddle and keep on. Do you understand that? I want them to know that God provides a way for us to get through these hard times and come out stronger on the other side, so that it's not just a facade, which is just like the devil does. He pretends to be something he's not. It is the real thing. It's the deepest part of your heart and your life. And the last part of verse 11, how God delivered him. Sometimes your growth is going to be a testimony of the deliverance through the trials that you've had to endure. Religion allows love for the world more than love for God. That's what we just saw. But what about the saint that really knows Jesus? You're going to love their souls more than you care about the sacrifice you make. That's what makes all the difference in the world, isn't it? The history is full of people that were won because someone continued on to stand for Jesus Christ when it cost them something. And in Acts 15, they placed Paul and Silas, I think it was, in front of the crowd as they were discussing whether or not works has anything to do with salvation. And you know what qualified them? That they jeopardized their lives for the gospel. That means something, doesn't it? That means something. There's consistent training, verses 14 through 17, continuing the things that you've learned. And what are those things? They're based in the words of God that were inspired by God. And that childhood training is the foundation of it all, isn't it? How many kids learn the words of worldly songs before they learn the words of gospel hymns? and the songs that we sang in Sunday school, the songs we sang in vacation Bible school. I remember those days very well. And the excitement that we had in going and getting refreshments. The fun we had because someone brought us together and taught us Bible stories. Boy, what kid, what boy especially doesn't want to hear about David and Goliath? I always wanted to hear about that. I always did. And all the other stories that you learn stuff from. I remember those stories. And then it went on through Christian college and learning the Bible in college and learning the Bible through high school and in good churches and all the way through. And then helping to start several churches. What a joy it all has been. You notice, you notice the affection he shows, the obedience, the gratefulness. Second Timothy 1 and 5, again, that's where he reflects the attention of his mother and his grandmother. Do you know what the greatest ministry godly women can do is? Oh, I know it's to be a wife to a husband. but it's making a difference in those kids' lives. I go into our room sometimes. Nora looks at me. She's on the phone to one of my girls, talking lately about colors, which is vitally important to me. Okay? You know what that is? My kids actually like their mother. It's not just saying, I love you, mom. They like their mother. I do too. I do too. So many people are more concerned about the fellowship in the public than they are about the one in their own home. Have the fellowship right in your home. And yes, we need fellowship out here in the church body, don't we? But when I go home, I have sweet fellowship there that no one else can make up for. But then, you know, the other part of that is God gives us a church family. That we can be a blessing to others. Others can be a blessing to us. You know, you come into church today and I know probably all of you, well, maybe none of you have experienced this, but I know sometimes where you're going to church and it's, you might be late. I hate being late. One second. I, I, I vibrate. Okay. But you might be not enjoying the sweetest fellowship when you come in and then you smile. I'm not saying that's hypocrisy. I don't mean that. But do you realize that everyone comes to church and you're bearing burdens that not everyone else sees? I'm so glad we have a church body that not just me and my family, but my church family can pray about the same things all the time. That's what it's for, isn't it? There's childhood training. And I'm so glad that it gives this example of a mother and a grandmother that made a difference in Timothy's life because either single moms or even moms who don't have believing husbands can make a difference in a son's life. That's a joy. That's a blessing. Now last of all, notice what causes the transformation. We're looking at continuing. It says in verse 15, from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. It is faith. It's not, in fact, faith was not, it says one of these, it says, denying the faith thereof, not having faith, I forget, in one of the first verses of this chapter. But it says, you have faith which is in Jesus Christ. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. You know what this book is in your hands? God breathed it. You want to know how that happened? In 2 Samuel 23, David says, 2 Samuel 23, now I lost it already, he says, his word was in my heart. Let's read it, 2 Samuel 23. This is David at the end of his life and the disappointments that he was to himself and to his God, it says in verse 2, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me. The Holy Spirit of God spake by me. His word was in my tongue. You know what inspiration means? God gives you the very words to write down. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. You know what this book is right here, and I'm qualifying this, a King James Bible, you know what it is? It is God's mind written on paper. It's given by inspiration of God. So you wanna know how to persevere, continue on, affect the next generation? Immerse yourself in this book. Why do you go to church? You go to church so you can hear the preaching. In fact, Paul tells to Timothy, he says, until I come, give yourself to reading exhortation and doctrine. That's telling a preacher that. You read. You listen to exhortation. You ground yourself in doctrine. That's so that the preacher can share those same things with the people. So that you read. You give, I gave Scott a message yesterday. It's called, what was it called? Hush. You don't know Greek. Guy sat next to me in college 50 years ago, and he preached this message. It's terrific. It's terrific where people say, well, the Greek says this in first place, you don't know what the original Greek is. No one's ever seen it. No one's ever seen it. And people cleverly use this to change what they don't like in the Bible. Okay. But isn't it funny that that message is 10 or 15 years old? I think he preached it in 08. Those messages touch hearts down through the years. One of my favorite sermons I ever heard was some dogs I have heard, some dogs I have known. Some dogs I have known, I can show you the message by fighting Bob Shuler. by fighting Bob Shuler. And you know what the bottom line of the message was? I have more respect for that dog than I have for you. That's kind of hurtful, isn't it? You know why? Some of those dogs will continue on despite abuse and neglected hunger, and Christians stay home because their teeth itch. Hey, they preached it right, didn't they? A message like that. I think Al told me one time that when his days in college were there, he heard the same message preached several times in college. Some dogs I have known. Some dogs I have known. Well, a transformation brings salvation. That's the only way you can be transformed is being saved by the Word of God, applied by the Spirit of God. Verse 16 speaks of inspiration. But then it says that the man of God may be perfect. That means complete, mature. We're gonna be perfect when our bodies are redeemed. The word perfect means to be complete or mature, because none of us are perfect. But that's what that word means, to be complete. Do you find yourself growing? I felt short the other day, so I had my wife, this is one of the things she had to do, I shouldn't even tell you this, never mind. I stood up against the thing that Abigail made, and I'm still 5'10". I felt short next to someone the other day. I'm still 5'10". Now, I used to be 5'10 and 3 quarters. So I guess, Oh, I was in the end of the day. If it had been in the morning, I would have been six feet. You know, what happens is you can see, just like you'd trace your physical growth, you can see how you grow spiritually. You can handle some hard things that you never used to be able to handle. You have a better handle on your own spirit. I don't mean the Holy Spirit, I mean your own spirit. than you once did. Why? Because you've walked with him and talked with him. You've read his word, memorized his word, asked him to make his word part of your life, yielded to his word. His word brings completion or maturity and purpose. Hey, this is where I'm going to close. The transformation is that, verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished in all good works. We're to pray for labors, but the product of the word of God is that you serve him. You serve him. We look at the world around us and the things that we enjoy, we sing about, we revel in, most of this world knows nothing about. I asked a couple of people yesterday, if you know you're going to heaven, yeah, I think I'll make it, I'll be all right. That's not how it works. I said to one guy, he said, well, I've done good. I said, well, one guy, Paul, he kept according to the law, he was perfect, then he had to get saved. If you know your Bible, you know what I'm talking about. It's not that, it's what you've done with Jesus. And most people in most churches aren't going to tell you that you need to come to Jesus because that seems so closed-minded. He's the only one that died, founded a religion, if you will, but he's still alive, came out of a grave. You see, the purpose in our life is to love the Lord first and foremost, isn't it? love Him, to surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit of God, because the contrary part is denying the power thereof in verse 5. Surrender your lives to the Holy Spirit of God. You know how you do that? When God's Spirit tugs at your heart, you come and you bow at the altar and pray, or you come and shake my hand and say, would you pray about this with me, or I don't know what to do about this. You yield to the Holy Spirit of God. It makes yielding that much easier the next time. On the other hand, when God's Spirit is speaking to you and you don't, yielding is that much more difficult next time. You've just hardened your heart just a little bit. Surrender to the Holy Spirit of God. You know why? The Spirit of God is always going to lift up Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God is your very best friend. He's God as well. You say, well, I thought Jesus was my best friend. It's a Trinity. The Spirit of God, Jesus said, I have to go so that the Holy Spirit can come. It's better for you if I go, it's better for me that the Holy Spirit lives within me now than if Jesus stood and walked in front of us. That's what the Word of God says. purpose. And verse 7, applying the Word of God. Not just learning facts, but applying the Word of God. And verse 10, what a handful, what a mouthful this is. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life. First thing was doctrine, what I've taught. My manner of life, my purpose, my faith, My longsuffering, my charity, my patience. In other words, I've been kind to people that weren't kind to me. Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me in all these places. You've watched me as I've done the best I know how to let the Holy Spirit of God live through me. I mean, there are people that claim to be pastors that have a whole, they're surrounded by bodyguards as if they're that important. The only time I ever saw that necessary was when a member of the British Parliament, Ian Paisley, came and preached for us. He was a member of Parliament and he had a security detail in Ireland. He was Irish. Not here. His kids ran and played on the campus. They weren't used to that at home. But imagine being insulated from the shepherd or the under shepherd. Be an example. Let me ask you this. Do you surrender to God's conviction? Are you examples in your homes? I want my sons and my daughters to know that I love their mother. I'm kind to her. We tease and have a good time. I want them to know that she loves me. A greater miracle. Okay? Do you surrender to the Holy Spirit? Do you apply the word of God in your life? Are you an example? Do you continue on even when it gets tough? I tell people, when you take over a church, the first year or two are the easy ones. Because it's a new kid in town, something new, after that, you deal more with the problems that people have. And typically, people have problems and there are two different sides and you get to try to wind your way through all that mess. But how do you respond to that? God, would you please give me wisdom? God, would you give them comfort? God, would you give them strength? And Paul is saying to this young preacher, continue thou, I've tried to be an example to you. What kind of example have you been in homes? What kind of example are you to kids, your grandkids? What kind of an example? That's what, makes the next generation have a light at the end of the tunnel, have hope, and we can have hope for that generation. Great passage. I don't, I mean, any one of those verses I could preach a whole message on. Put it all together though. Continue now. Let's pray.