God’s Word: Our Firm Foundation

1:33This is God's word. You may be seated. William Tyndale was born in England in 1494. So that's two years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, for those of you who are paying attention in elementary school. And William Tyndale became a scholar who spoke seven languages. Seven. He was also proficient in both Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek. And in the Catholic Church, he was studying to become a priest, and he was kind of a rising star until he read Erasmus's Greek New Testament. And it was through reading that Greek edition of the New Testament that he started to learn for himself what the Bible taught about justification by faith. That is, that we are counted righteous through faith in Christ, not by anything that we do. It changed his life. It completely rocked his world. And from that point on, his greatest desire became to translate the Bible into English so that his countrymen could read it for themselves. Not surprisingly, many of them did not speak seven languages, and so they needed some help there. But there was one small problem with this whole thing. Possessing a Bible was a crime. And it was a crime that was punishable by death.

2:58And so Tyndale moved. From England to Germany and then to Belgium, where he completed his translation of the Greek and the Hebrew Bible into English, and then copies of it were smuggled into England. It began to change people's lives. Well, in May 1535, there was a man named Henry Phillips who had befriended him as a spy, and he turned him over to the English authorities, and he was found guilty of heresy. But before he was strangled to death, he reportedly cried out, Lord, open the King of England's eyes. And God answered that prayer. Not too many years later, the King James Version was produced and authorized by the King of England, and it went out to all of the world, and millions of people's lives have been changed by that English translation of the Bible. Now, Tyndale, just like you and me, lived in a broken world. But he firmly believed that God's Word was the foundation for living a godly life in that broken world, and therefore he was willing to pay any price, including his own life, in order to make sure that people could read the Bible in their native language. Now, today, Paul is going to call Timothy to remember the way that Paul lived in front of him. He's going to call him to remember God's word, which will equip him to serve the church and honor the Lord. And every one of us who's a Christian in the room today, that's what. We want. We want our lives to honor the Lord. We want to be used by Him to equip others to honor the Lord. We want to be used as disciple makers and as evangelists. That's what we want.

4:42And if that's what we want, then we're going to learn today in this text that God's Word is the foundation for living a godly life in a broken world. So let's look now at the text together here, starting in verse 10. Paul begins this section with this transition, you, however. Now, if you were with us last week, you remember he's talking about all of these false teachers and how they have lived their lives, not for God's glory, but for their own glory. They had misplaced love, they loved money, they loved pleasure, they loved themselves more than they loved God. And so Paul transitions in this section, you, however, I want you to live differently than them. And Paul could have confidence that Timothy's life actually would be different because Timothy followed Paul. Now, this word followed means a lot more than just kind of like tagging along with. This word followed means something like his beliefs and his behavior were conformed to the pattern that Paul had set for him.

5:47And friends, the truth is that our beliefs and behavior for all of us are conformed to someone. There is someone or a group of people who is the greatest influence in our life. All of us are patterning our lives after someone. Or some group of people. And so, one question that we need to regularly ask ourselves as Christians is: who has the most influence in my life? Who has the most influence in my life? Because the reality is, we grant other people to have influence in our life. Nobody gets to decide who influences us. We decide to let them influence us. And so, for a Christian, we would love to say Jesus is the number one influence in my life. The men and women in Scripture are the number one influences in my life. We would love to say that godly people are our number one influences, but I think for some of us, that's not the case. For some of us, there's an ungodly person or an ungodly group of people that is the most important influence in our life. And so, Paul tells Timothy, Look, you followed me and you know all about me. And Paul goes on to list exactly what Timothy knew about him from following him. And look at where he starts. He says, Timothy followed his teaching.

7:06That's the first and the most important thing that Timothy would have observed in Paul's life is the things that he taught. And look on the screen at Galatians chapter 1. Look at what Paul says about his teaching. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation. Of Jesus Christ.

7:33Now, that kind of thing in the 21st century sounds inconceivable that God would actually speak to us in that kind of a real and tangible way, but that's exactly what happened to Paul. He's on his way to persecute the church, he's on his way to murder Christians. Jesus stops him in his tracks. The risen Christ appears to him and says, Paul, you are persecuting me by persecuting my people. You've got it all wrong. This is the message that is truth. And you need to start teaching that, and you need to order your life around that message. And so that's what Paul began teaching: that Jesus was the long-awaited and long-hoped for Messiah. And Timothy knew that because he followed his teaching. Secondly, Timothy followed what? Paul's conduct.

8:19Well, as we know, Paul's conduct was above reproach. It doesn't mean he was perfect. It just means that there were no recurring sin struggles in his life. There was nothing that he was addicted to. In every way, in his dealings with Christians and non-Christians, he was above board. People could look at him and say, that's a man whose life is worthy of imitation. And look what he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. He says, We, that's he and the other messengers of the gospel, we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.

9:00See, Paul knew that the message of the gospel, that was offensive enough. That was enough, a big enough stumbling block. People were going to have a hard enough time believing that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was actually God who took on flesh, actually went to a brutal death, died, was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead. He knew that was going to be a huge stumbling block already. So he says, Look, we don't want our lives, our behavior, the way that we talk, nothing. We don't want any other stumbling blocks getting put in people's way. The gospel is already enough. And so he says, You know my conduct.

9:37Third, Timothy followed Paul's aim in life. It's probably my favorite phrase in this whole list. His aim in life, his trajectory, his goal. I think I told you guys a few weeks ago in a sermon that one of my sons is in Cub Scouts, and so I shared some of my travails with having to learn to live outdoors. Well, this weekend we went on a camp out, and one of the things that we did on this camp out was we shot BB guns. And if you ever shot a gun, a BB gun, or a rifle, or anything else, and it has a scope attached to it, you know the purpose of the scope is to focus your attention on one thing and one thing only: the target.

10:19The scope blacks out everything else so that all you can see is the target, the thing that you are aiming for. And Paul says, You know my aim in life. Paul's one aim in his life was to bring honor and glory to God. He would do it at any cost. He would even lay down his life for it. And so he says, Timothy, you know my aim in life. You know that I wasn't going for the applause of men. You know I wasn't trying to get rich and famous. The one thing that I wanted was to make God famous. That was my aim in life.

10:52And then, fourth, he says, you followed, and he puts this group together that he often groups in his letters. My faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. Now remember, Timothy was with Paul all the time for 10 to 15 years. 10 to 15 years, every day working together side by side. He saw Paul first thing in the morning, with all that entails. He saw Paul last thing at night, with all that entails. He saw Paul when he was tired, when he was hungry, when he had just been beaten with rods, when he had been thrown into prison, when he had been stoned and left for dead. He saw Paul in all of those occasions.

11:40And yet Paul can say, You know my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but in the age of social media, it's pretty common for people to heap praise on other individuals that they barely know. Have you noticed that trend? It's one of the most concerning things for me as a pastor. I see this happen all the time in this field, in this circle, where you have these men and sometimes women who have these connections all over the world, that they see each other at conferences and kind of a few times a year, and they're real quick to say, this is a very godly individual. Well, maybe so, but how do you know? You've only been around him for a few hours ever. And it's concerning to me because a lot of those same men and women, they don't have people in their immediate life. They don't have any friends, any church leaders, any people in their lives who are able to speak into their lives. They're just these islands. And yet these people from across the world are saying, oh, they're so godly, they're so great.

12:48Friends, one of the greatest compliments that we can receive is not coming from somebody who lives thousands of miles away and has spent a few minutes or a few hours with us. The greatest compliment that we can receive is after living with someone or after closely working with someone for years, they can say of us, I have even more respect for him. I have even more respect for her. That's the greatest compliment that we can receive. And that's what Paul is saying before Timothy. You know my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness. You know how every day these things marked my life. I was not living a double life. There was no duplicity. And that should be our goal as well.

13:36And then finally, he says, Timothy has followed his persecutions and sufferings. Now, why does he highlight these three cities? I mean, Paul experienced persecution everywhere. So why Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra? In fact, in Lystra, he was stoned and left for dead. But in Antioch and Iconium, people were just mad at him. Like a lot worse things happened in Philippi. I mean, think about Philippi. He's arrested. He's stretched out on the rack. He's beaten and then thrown into prison. So it's not like this is like the top three places. I mean, Lystra certainly is in the top three, maybe number one.

14:13But why these places? Well, if you go back to Acts chapter 16, you realize this is where Timothy is from. This is where he's from. These are the cities that he grew up in and around. And so it's entirely likely that when Paul experienced the persecution that he did, especially when he was stoned and left for dead, Timothy certainly heard of that if he did not witness it firsthand himself. And I want you to stop and think for a second, like, what kind of an impact would that have had on you? To see a guy go into a city and proclaim the gospel message, to be stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead in the gutter, he gets up and he walks right back into. The same city preaches again. The next day, he goes to the neighboring town of Derby, preaches again. What kind of effect is that going to have on your life?

15:11Now, don't get me wrong, sincerity is not the only test of truth. So, people every single day give up their own lives for stuff they sincerely believe in. We see that on the news every night with Muslims. They're sincere, not lacking in any sincerity there. But Paul is bringing this message that has eternal significance. And he's saying with his life, I think these things are so important for you that I am willing to endure anything. I'm willing even to be killed so that you can just hear it.

15:49Sincerity is not the only test of truth. But if Paul is not sincere about something this serious, you'd have to question the truthfulness of the message, right? And he is that sincere. Now, graciously, look at what Paul says: the Lord rescued me. From them all, the Lord rescued me. Well, why did God rescue Paul from these terrible persecutions? Look on the screen at Philippians chapter 1. He also writes this letter from jail. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and your joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

17:06Friends, our world is a very broken place, and God does not promise to deliver all of us from every persecution that we suffered. In fact, eventually, as many of you know, Paul was killed for his proclamation of the gospel. So this was only true up until. But God did rescue him to this point, and he rescued him so that he could teach and model godly living in a broken world for their progress and their joy in the faith. See, Paul believed so strongly in God's word. We read in God's Word that it's the bread of life.

17:46And what that is supposed to do for us is that's to make us say, I can't live without it. I would rather go without food or water, air than without the word of God. That's how important it is. But Paul actually lived this out. Actually, he said, this is so important. This is the sustenance of life that I'm willing to die for it. He knew it was the firm foundation for living a godly life in a broken world, and that's why he lived as he did.

18:16But I think we can get to a point where we read about Paul in particular, but we read about the other apostles, we read about the prophets. You might even hear about Christians in Africa or in Asia or elsewhere around the world who are laying down their lives, and you start to think these people are just really radical. That's what's different here. They're really radical in their faith, and that's why they're being persecuted. And so, I want you to look at what he says next. Look at verse 12.

18:46He says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. So, look at what Paul tells us here. Who is going to be persecuted? All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. All. Not some, but all. That means not just apostles like Paul and Peter and the rest of the guys. That means not just pastors and missionaries. That means not just Christians. who live in difficult countries and difficult places to live, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

19:41And why are we going to be persecuted? Because we desire to live a godly life. You have probably recognized to this point that nobody cares what you believe in between your ears. Nobody cares. You can believe anything that you want. And there are people out there that believe some crazy stuff. I saw this article the other day. Maybe you saw it too. There was like a service of blessing for people's semi-automatic weapons. They're wearing crowns of ammunition. It's crazy what people believe.

20:18People believe some crazy stuff. Nobody cares what you believe. They only care when what you believe starts to impact the way that you live your life. That's when they start to care. You see, godly living leads to persecution because that kind of lifestyle brings conviction. It tells other people, hey, I'm living this way and here's why. And they have to take a look at themselves. Say, why am I not living in that way? So that's why they're going to be persecuted. Now, is Paul sure they're going to be persecuted? Look, he says, yes, they will be persecuted. He doesn't say might be here. He doesn't say maybe. He says they will be persecuted. Now that is really, really important to understand. Because I think in many healthy churches all around the world, the prosperity gospel is rightly condemned. We say, listen, when you read the Bible, you do not get this idea that if you follow Jesus, you're going to be healthy and wealthy. That does not come from Scripture. We rightly condemn that. But our reactions to suffering and persecution, even the potential for suffering and persecution, show that maybe we don't really expect to pay a price for our faith.

21:42I mean, think about like when you go through some relatively minor suffering, maybe people are making fun of you or ostracizing you among your friends or your family members. You think, you know, this is not right. Why are they treating me like this? Or when you hear about Christians that are thrown into prison, you think, that's not fair. That's not lawful. Or maybe this is the most telling thing. What happens when one of your close friends, one of your family members, maybe even one of your own children comes to you and says, I think I may be called to go to the mission field.

22:20What's our first response to that? For a lot of us, we say, oh, that's not a good idea. You could get hurt. You could be killed. You could be thrown in prison. That's not a good idea. And I think what that reflects is this reality that we don't really expect persecution for following Jesus. We really expect safety and comfort. So, are we really any different than those who preach and believe the prosperity gospel? Maybe not. Maybe not.

22:54But, friends, when we do live a godly life in this world, that is in front of and around non-Christians, we are going to suffer persecution. Look at what John Stott said about this on the screen: those who are in Christ but not in the world, that is not around non-Christians, are not persecuted because they don't come into contact and therefore into collision with their potential persecutors. Those who are in the world but not in Christ are also not persecuted because the world sees nothing in them to persecute. The former escape persecution by withdrawal from the world, the latter by assimilation to it. It is only for those who are both in the world and in Christ simultaneously that persecution becomes inevitable.

23:49I've gone through stretches of my Christian life, and maybe you can relate to me here. I've gone through stretches in my Christian life where I have realized I don't have a single person upset with me. Right now, why is that? If I am really a light in a dark place, if I'm really living my life in a godly way, if I'm really sharing my faith with the non-Christians in my life, how could I go through long stretches where nobody is mad at me?

24:20According to this verse, I shouldn't be able to do that. Because if I am living a godly life in Christ Jesus, I'm going to be persecuted. And so I think we need to just ask ourselves some hard questions about that. The evil people and the imposters that Paul mentions next here in verse 13, these evil people and these fakers, these pretenders, they're not going to be persecuted. Instead, they're going to go from bad to worse. They're not persecuted because their lives bring no conviction. Instead, they go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

24:55Now, if you've been here for this whole series this year, going through 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, you're like, Alan, it seems like every week we're talking about false teaching and false doctrine, how we need to watch out for it. I mean, I get the idea. I get it. I feel that way sometimes too. But I think the reality is we don't really think that false teaching and the false teachers are that big of a deal because, in the short run, you don't really see a whole lot of observable effects.

25:23I mean, you might have gone through a phase like that, or you may have known somebody in your life who started listening to false teaching or reading books that were. Teaching something opposite of what Scripture teaches, it's not like that starts to play out in their life the next day. It takes time. But in the long run, the end is always the same. You go from bad to worse because you're believing lies. Lies don't ever lead to freedom, they lead to bondage every single time.

25:51And if you've never read Psalm 115 or if you haven't read it recently, let me encourage you to take some time to read that psalm and meditate on it because what it says is that all who worship idols become like them. All who worship idols become like them. And what is an idol like? Well, an idol can't hear, can't see, can't speak, can't understand. We become like whatever we pattern our life after, whatever we worship, whatever we love. And so if we go on worshiping idols in our lives, in the long run, we're going to become like them, unable to see, unable to hear, unable to understand spiritual truth.

26:33So these evil people and imposters are going from bad to worse. What is Timothy supposed to do? What is he supposed to be like? Look now at verse 14. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise. For salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

27:20We get here in verse 14 another contrast between Timothy and these evil people, these impostors. He says, but as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed. Now, that's what Timothy is to do, but that's what all of us as Christians are supposed to do. We're supposed to continue. We're supposed to go on making progress. Remember Philippians 1, Paul was convinced he would remain for their progress and joy in the faith. But I think it's true that for some of us, we started off really excited about Jesus. You remember that time when you were a child or a teenager, when you first came to college or when you first came to faith as an adult? You remember how excited you were about God.

28:07Reading his word, wanting to gather with other Christians, excited about coming to worship, that defined your life. But over a period of time, all of that waned. All of that kind of fell away for one reason or another. Maybe you got distracted with the cares of the world. I think for a lot of people, you know, life just kind of... Takes over for them. You were really serious about Jesus in college, but then, you know, you get a career, you get married, you start having kids. It's just kind of like, I've got to focus on other aspects of my life right now. This is just not that important to me. And if that characterizes you, understand every one of us is called to continue, to go on making progress in the faith. So if you're at a point where you're stagnated or even where you're backsliding some, God is calling you today to return to your first love. That's what Jesus says to one of the churches in Revelation: return to your first love. That's what God is calling you to do today. Paul doesn't want Timothy to quit making progress in the faith, so he says, continue in it. And one of the things that was going to help Timothy continue in it is to remember who he learned it from. And who were the primary influencers in Timothy's life? Well, certainly Paul.

29:26Paul was a huge influence in Timothy's life for 10 or 15 years. They're together every day. Paul is teaching him with his life and with his words, this is what it looks like to be a Christian. Follow my example. But we can't forget that early on in Timothy's life, there were different influences. You see, Paul came to his hometown and preached the gospel, and Lois and Eunice, his mom and his grandmother, came to faith in Jesus.

29:55And the effect of that was from his childhood, Timothy became a Acquainted with the sacred writings, that is the Old Testament, and how they pointed to the Messiah, and then they shared with him this man, Paul, came and he preached that Jesus is the Messiah. We believe in him. So when Paul comes back to Timothy's hometown in Acts chapter 16, what does he find? He finds this godly young man whom his parents had raised, his mother and his grandmother had raised, to know and fear the Lord. Timothy became one of his greatest co-laborers, one of his greatest co-missionaries. And friends, all of that is a reminder to us that we have no idea what our proclamation of the gospel is going to do in somebody else's life. Maybe somebody's life that we're not even connected to, that we would never meet in everyday life.

30:50That was the effect that it had here when Lois and Eunice came to faith. Timothy then came to faith. I think it's a good reminder for all of us, especially for those of us who are raising children. Andy Stanley said this one time. I want to put this back on the screen. You may have seen this for me before in another sermon. He said, Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise.

31:20Parents always have to be reminded that their kids' greatest influences are not their peers, their teachers. Their coaches, Hollywood. The greatest influence in a child's life is his or her parents. That's the fact. And so our kids are not going to remember a lot of the things that we've said to them. I know if you're a mom or a dad, that's really discouraging to you. You've made lots of great speeches through the years. I've made some great speeches to my kids. Their eyes are glazed over. I'm waxing eloquent about whatever. They're not going to remember a lot of that. What they are going to remember is what was important to us.

32:04I remember reading D.A. Carson's biography of his dad, Tom Carson. D.A. Carson is internationally famous. He's written a ton of books. He speaks at big conferences. His dad was a nobody, at least in this world. Pastored a small church in Canada, in rural Canada, 50 people. But he had such a profound impact on D.A.'s life that he looks back and he says, you know, I don't remember a lot of the things my dad taught, but I do remember that every single day when I woke up, he was already awake reading the scripture and praying. Every night as a family, we gathered in the living room and we worshiped God together. That's what he remembers from his childhood. And so, parents, in the same way, your kids just aren't going to remember a lot of the words that you spoke to them, those great pearls of wisdom. What they are going to remember is: was God's word important to you?

32:57Was the local church meaningful involved? In the local church. Was that important to you? Or not? Those are the things that they will remember. And Paul says that all of this is so important. It's important that we prioritize these things. Look at verse 15 because they are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. They're able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. See, the Bible shows us again and again that we need to be saved. We need forgiveness for our sin. We need to be reconciled to God. And then it tells us how to be saved. The scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation. And look, they're unlike any other book ever written. Verse 16, this is crazy. All scripture is breathed out by God.

33:48What does that even mean? This word breathed out or God breathed in your Bible, it doesn't occur anywhere else in Scripture. In fact, it doesn't occur anywhere else in any other Greek literature of the ancient world. Most everybody thinks Paul made it up. This doctrine of the inspiration of the Word of God is so crazy that he had to invent a word to describe what he means. He says all scripture is breathed out by God. So does that mean that God dictated the Bible to these human authors?

34:28I don't think that's what he's saying. In fact, look on the screen at 2 Peter chapter 1. Peter says this, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

35:08So, contrary to the critics of the ancient world and today, Peter affirms that the Bible was not merely a human creation. He says, no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But then he also affirms that human authors weren't merely robots, just simply writing down what God told them to write down. He says, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So the Bible is not just a collection of opinions. It's not just the writings of man.

35:42And all of Scripture is God-breathed. So it's not like we have to sift through it and figure out which parts are God-breathed and which parts are not. It's all God-breathed. And because it's all breathed out by God, then all of it is profitable. All of it is useful. And look here in verse 16 at what it's useful for. He says, first of all, it's profitable for teaching. It helps us to come to know the truth about God and about our world and about what's wrong with us and about how we can be reconciled to him.

36:18It's profitable for reproof and for correction. So, both for rectifying faults and failures, that would be correction, as well as rebuke or reproach, a firmer confrontation of somebody that is knowingly in sin. He says it's profitable for training in righteousness. That's providing instruction which leads to proper habits of behavior. And that word habits is so critical to that definition. Training in righteousness is all about habits. And if you're an athlete or if you know athletes, if you served in the military, you know those who do, you know what the training that they go through is like. The training for athletes and soldiers and other men and women is designed so that they don't even have to think in certain situations. They just react because their training kicks in. It's just habit. And the Word of God is profitable to develop habits in us so we don't even have to think about what the right response is in certain situations. It's ingrained into us through training in righteousness.

37:31And Paul ends here in verse 17 with the purpose of all of the scripture. He says it's so that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. So it's not so that we can win arguments with each other. It's not so that we can win arguments with non-Christians. It's to equip us for every good work, for discipleship, for evangelism, for loving and serving the poor, for caring for the widow, for promoting justice between different ethnicities and cultures. It's for all of those things and more. It's to equip us for every good work. It's sufficient for all that we need.

38:16Now, I think for some of you, you're sitting in here today and you're wondering, you know, Alan, all of that sounds fine, but how can I even know if the Bible is true? For that matter, how can I even know truth? I mean, these are some huge claims. We saw in this paragraph that Paul is claiming that the scriptures alone can make you wise for salvation. That's a huge claim. To say this is the one place that you can find the truth about God and our world and yourself and sin and salvation. And you might be thinking, how do I even know if I can trust the Bible?

38:56And if that's you, I want you to know I've been there before too. I think every Christian has been there. At some point in their life. And so I want to encourage you to grab a believer that you know, maybe somebody that you came with or one of the leaders in our church and say, I want to explore this Bible and its claims more deeply. Because, friends, the Bible is the most scrutinized document that has ever been written.

39:23And yet, careful examination over thousands of years have revealed the manuscript copies of the Bible from which our translations come are accurate. And that the historical claims that are found in the Bible have been proven true again and again through research. And so, if you do all of that and you say, you know what, I still don't believe, that's fine. I just want you to be sure that you examine carefully whatever position it is that you hold. Because this is just too important. The claims are too big for you to just say, well, I'll save that for another time.

40:03And then I think there are many of us, perhaps nearly all of us in the room, who would consider ourselves Christians. And we would probably agree together that the Bible is inspired and inerrant. But one of the questions that we have to ask today is: do we believe that the Bible is profitable? Because I think what happens to a lot of Christians is that we think the right thoughts about the Bible. We agree that it's inspired. We agree that it's inerrant. But our lives tell a different story that we don't think that it's actually that profitable. Because we spend our time and our energy and our money not learning God's Word as though it is the firm foundation for our lives, but as though it's kind of an unnecessary accessory that we could read from time to time when we feel down or we need a little direction, but not really profitable for all of life. What do you think your life actually communicates?

41:05See, friends, living in this broken world is very hard. It's hard for everybody, for Christians and non-Christians. But if you want to live a godly life in this broken world, it is extremely difficult. And so we need a firm foundation. And the good news is that God has given us one. His word is the firm foundation for godly living in a broken world. Let's pray. Father, you have been so kind, so gracious to speak to us through your word.

41:50And I pray that all of us who consider ourselves Christians wouldn't just think the right thoughts about the Bible. But that we would believe in our hearts that it is profitable, that it is the firm foundation that we can build our lives on, because it contains the testimony of Jesus Christ, the great Savior and Rescuer. And so, God, we're sorry for the ways that we have not treated your word as though it could make us wise for salvation and as though it were profitable. But we pray that we would from this day forward.

42:43And I pray for those who are not yet followers of Jesus who have come this morning. I pray that you would draw them to yourself. I pray that they would examine these claims for themselves and that you would break into their lives. Call them to repentance and faith. Call them into your family. God, we are grateful that we can meet together and be reminded and taught the truth. Because there are evil people and imposters everywhere. We pray that we would not be counted among them.

43:19And so, God, we ask now that as we respond to you through worship, that our eyes and our hearts would be drawn heavenward and that you would meet. Us here in this place and continue the work that you have been doing of transforming our lives into those that honor you in every way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.