The Pattern of Godliness — 2 Timothy 3

0:00 So our passage this morning is two Timothy chapter three. Going to read it in its entirety, just for context. Starting in verse 10. The first part of this chapter speaks of evil men and different categories of people who are being deceived and deceiving. And so here in the second part of the chapter, we see the positive side.

0:40 Paul is saying, here's my example. Alright, so two Timothy three verses 10 through 17. Paul writes to Timothy, but you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured. And out of them all, the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

1:26 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. And that from a childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for an instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Throughout first and second Timothy, Paul is pouring into Timothy.

2:23 Here, he is... He calls Timothy, my son in the faith. And for the fathers out there, you know the influence you have as a father on your son. Timothy was Paul's son in the faith, the one that Paul discipled, one Timothy chapter one. He encourages Timothy to be an example to the believers.

2:47 And from the context, know that despite his youth, to be an example. In word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, purity, in these different ways. Thirdly, Paul encourages Timothy to hold onto the pattern of sound words. And lastly, we see here in two Timothy two, to entrust the pattern to faithful men. This pattern that was from Paul, that God gave to Paul, to Timothy, to faithful men who were able to teach others also.

3:23 This preservation of the pattern of godliness. So Paul says, you have followed my... And he's going to list nine different characteristics that were true in Paul's life and that will be true in the life of someone who's following the Lord. So is this arrogant for Paul to say, you have followed mine, he's going list these things? Is it reasonable for some to follow Paul's example?

3:58 We'll look quickly at first John two:six. First John two:six says, He who says he abides in him, in Jesus that is, ought himself also to walk just as he walked. We see that there is an importance of following the example of Christ. And now we'll look at Philippians chapter three, just kind of as an overview to step back a minute. Philippians chapter three really complements two Timothy chapter three.

4:37 And so we'll be going to Philippians chapter three a number of times today to further understand what Paul is communicating. But Philippians chapter three verses 12 through 14, we read, Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul isn't saying, I've arrived. Paul is saying, I'm going this direction.

5:30 I have an illustration for you. If you've ever been to a horse pole, you know that horses come around and you have to be fast on the chains because as soon as you hook them up, they are lunging forward. They're purposely moving. They're straining every muscle to get down the track. They're not distracted by the grandstands.

5:50 They're not distracted by anything else except moving forward. And so Paul is moving forward, he's pressing forward despite the resistance, moving forward towards the prize of the upward call. He was looking, he had internal perspective, he was looking forward to being with the Lord eternally. So in this sense, it's completely reasonable for Paul to say, you have followed my example. So now we are going look at the nine different things that were true in Paul's life and that should be true in each of our lives as we follow the Lord.

6:46 What is doctrine? Well doctrine is doctrine is simply teaching. It's a blueprint you might say. And we know that Paul knew the importance of teaching and recording sound doctrine. How do we know that?

7:04 We have pages and pages and pages of Paul teaching doctrine. Read the book of Romans, really any any of the books he wrote, it's full of doctrine. Why? Because doctrine is foundational to our lives. This doctrine or teaching, it's the compass that guides our lives.

7:24 And I think this is important why Paul put doctrine first. It's important to have the compass in place first before we do the rest of these characteristics. Let's look at Philippians chapter three again verses eight through 11. We know historically and from Scripture that Paul was a very religious person before he was saved. He tried to keep the law in his own strength, He persecuted those who were against the Jewish religious system.

8:04 But here we see in verse eight, I want you to pay attention to the doctrines that he about here, the doctrines that he shares here. Verse eight of Philippians three, Yet indeed I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, From whom or for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to His death. If by any means I may obtain the resurrection from the dead.

8:59 Just in these few verses we see many doctrines. And I trust that you observe them as well, but first of all, we see that faith, or righteousness through faith in Christ as opposed to righteousness through keeping the law, through one's own good deeds. We see the power of the resurrection of Christ, the fellowship of His sufferings, and we see the resurrection from the dead. These doctrines were things that shaped Paul's life in a fundamental way. So let's look at the first thing, the doctrine that Paul carried, that he presents.

9:39 Next, we have the manner of life. Alright, so here on your right, you're going to see an anti example, right? This isn't what Paul is saying. He is saying, follow my doctrine and follow my manner of life. Looking at verse 13, Paul was honest.

10:02 This is Philippians three again, 13, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. He was honest. I haven't arrived yet, but I'm moving towards this goal of the upward... The call of the upward... Of the call toward God.

10:19 Philippians three thirteen. We see that Paul strove to live consistently with his doctrine. Was Paul perfect? No, there's portions of Scripture where we say, Paul, I don't know if he did the right thing. We see Paul admitting his own weaknesses.

10:40 Manner of life. The manner of life, that's a pattern. And I really want to, as we look at this passage here today of two Timothy three, the word pattern, this idea of pattern keeps coming up. Scott, you brought up the pattern of being in prayer each week and holding each other accountable. That's a pattern thing, something that we should strive for, this manner of life.

11:14 Because how we live each day is how we're going live our lives. And something that, you know, maybe someone who doesn't know the Lord yet, they would say, well, sometimes are hypocrites and that happens when our manner of life, these patterns, don't match up with what we are saying. And so each day I would encourage you as I've been thinking about this myself to set up good habits, good patterns. There are some things in my life that are good patterns and there are some bad patterns And when I compare these patterns with doctrine, with the Word of God, God shows us where the patterns need to be adjusted to be more in line with His patterns. So doctrine, manner of life or pattern.

12:39 He often spent all night in prayer to the Father. If these are the patterns of Daniel, but then the Lord Jesus, how much more should we follow these patterns? Purpose. What was Paul's purpose? We see that he was...

13:04 Essentially, in the scripture we see God specifically gave Paul this precise purpose in life. He said this is your purpose. And Paul's purpose was to be a minister and a witness of the things that he had and would see. That's from Acts 26. We also know from Philippians chapter three, it was to know Christ.

13:27 He counted everything lost that he might know Christ. That was Paul's purpose. And is purpose important in life? I think, you know, young people especially, what's my purpose in life? Why am I here?

13:42 Why am I doing what I'm doing? You'll notice that I reference the same verses here in Philippians chapter three to purpose and doctrine. Alright? Our doctrine is what gives us our purpose. To have purpose aside from what God has revealed to us, just our own philosophy.

14:09 So let's get a little bit practical here. What is your purpose? We live each day. We live our lives. We don't know how long they are.

14:21 What is our purpose each and every day? And have you ever considered writing a life purpose statement? Maybe on paper, maybe just to think and pray about it. This isn't something that is done quickly or lightly because a life purpose or your purpose is something that's going to guide. It's like that primary document, that statement that guides each decision, the patterns that you set need to line up with the purpose of your life, which is tied back to to the teachings of Scripture.

15:11 My purpose. First is to know Him. I think this is important and this is a desire of my heart, just like Paul, to know Him. There is no one greater than to know the Lord Jesus. And I I present these to you, these can change over time, but you know, down the road, say, how are you doing in your purpose?

15:32 We should challenge each other. What is... How are you doing in your purpose? And secondly, is to have no other gods and to draw glory to God by my actions. It's a tendency of mine to try to draw glory to myself instead of to God, to put up gods in my life besides the one true God.

15:55 And it's easy to camouflage. So this is my purpose, to know Him and to have no other gods, that God will receive the glory from my life. So we've covered three things so far. We'll look at four more things. I'm sure many of you have seen this movie of Facing the Giants.

16:31 Alright. And so Bron is this this team captain you might say. He's the leader of the team and and the coach is saying, Bron, move forward. Don't give up. Gotta keep moving.

16:42 And so, these four items here, they're easy to just read through. But these four items are so critical in our everyday patterns. These are the tough yards. These are things that are gonna be struggles even as we leave here today, in the car ride home, during lunch, just interacting with people. So these four things.

17:07 The first is faith. Now faith is confidence in what we do not see. It's different than common sense. Common sense is based on what I can see. If you can't see it, then you can't say that's common sense.

17:27 Faith is reasonable and something that will continue to grow in your life as you seek God. It will also be challenged. The challenging of our faith is what produces that growth and that completeness in our lives. An unchallenged faith is a weak faith. So as you go through life and you're you're struggling in your faith, be encouraged that that struggling is challenging and growing your faith.

18:01 Long suffering, this is a terrible word. It has the word suffering in it, and then it describes the suffering as long. I haven't lived as long as some of you and and some of you have suffered much more than I have, But there is gonna be suffering in the Christian life. And it says... It talks about believing the gospels that blessed are you if you suffer for doing good.

18:34 Suffer for doing good. Perhaps doing the right thing each day will cause suffering. We're to suffer long. Love, just a short four letter word and yet there's so much packed into it. I would encourage you if you have time later to read one Corinthians 13 because it just unpacks the word love.

18:57 Each day we are to love one another. And as we love one another, it's inevitable there's going to be long suffering. Perseverance. How is perseverance different from long suffering? In my understanding, perseverance, so long suffering is enduring some sort of affliction, whereas perseverance would be not only enduring it, but continuing to move forward.

19:31 Moving forward despite the suffering. As you look at Paul's life, he was no foreigner to suffering. As he wrote this, he was in jail, right? And throughout his life he was out of jail and persecuted and shipwrecked and beaten with rods. He was no foreigner.

19:55 This wasn't some metaphorical concept to him. The last two, the last two characteristics of someone who's following the Lord, characteristics in Paul's life as he sought the Lord. Persecutions and afflictions. Who's gonna sign up for these? Paul's not speaking of metaphors.

20:26 These are real things that happened to him. And maybe a few of these examples here of Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, these are things that maybe Timothy had seen or was well aware of. And so as Paul is saying, Timothy, follow my example. Timothy could see and remember these things that had happened to Paul. Then there's a phrase, out of them all, the Lord delivered him.

20:56 I had to think about this for a while. Right? Because Paul went through these times of suffering. And yet it says the Lord delivered him out of it. What does that mean?

21:11 Well certainly, Paul had not died in any of these sufferings so far. In that sense he had delivered him. Paul... Or God had a purpose for Paul in those sufferings. I think even in larger sense is that Paul...

21:27 That God had been with Paul through these and He was leading him through these. And so Paul could say, the Lord's delivered me. I'm moving forward. These haven't overtaken, they haven't completely muffled and destroyed me. The Lord's delivered me through these and out of them all.

22:16 Back in that time, someone who followed Christ could expect to, at the least, be put out of his family or a city. And it could be... It was quite likely that they could be brutally murdered for following Christ. And that that's not pleasant, but that was reality. Look at first century Rome and the things that the Christians endured during that time as they followed Christ, they lived for Christ.

22:43 It's something that's quite foreign to us. And yet even today, in other places in the world, not not here in The United States where we have quite a bit of protection from persecution, but in other places, people are being killed and tortured and ostracized for their faith. It's a reality today and we should pray for them. And here, in Cleveland today, we will suffer persecution because of our living for Christ. And it might not be, you know, in a physical sense of being hauled away to jail or something, but it will affect us in our lives.

23:25 It has. It must. Those who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Next, Paul gives Timothy a warning. Be aware of your surroundings.

23:45 He says, but evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Be aware of this. It's important as you follow this pattern for godly living, keep in mind that there's gonna be opposition. Be aware of that. First Timothy three verses fourteen and fifteen, we read this, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

24:54 Paul was encouraging Timothy to look back and remember his childhood, remember his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois as they taught him the scriptures. Not only did they teach him the scriptures, but they lived it. Talks about the genuine faith of your mother and grandmother. And so just an encouragement to to parents and even just young people who have friends to not only teach and and and have the word of God to be prevalent in our lives, but as we live our lives in line with what the scripture says, it gives greater authority to what we're communicating through the scriptures. The example is important for backing up as we teach the scriptures.

25:44 And next, see that it was the scriptures that brought Timothy to salvation. Let's talk about scripture for a while. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. There are numerous religious texts in the world. Some of them claim divine inspiration, others are just, you know, good moral teachings, might say.

26:21 But here we're saying in the scripture that it's inspired by God, it's God breathed, its its origin is from God. It's not a man made book. It's incredibly important. Second Peter one reads, but know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

27:00 It wasn't that they were just men who said, I wanna write something important, just started writing things. The spirit of God moved men from looking at thousands of years ago in the the Old Testament to just a couple thousand years ago as the New Testament was being written, that these were men moved by the Holy Spirit. They were the authorship of Scripture, though written by men, is of the Holy Spirit. Which makes it different from any book out there. It's authoritative.

27:55 And it looks like they're about to build a building. Right? But they're digging. So why would you dig if you're trying to build up? It's important to get rid of the unstable soil before you dig.

28:18 They're digging down to the soil that is hard and then they'll put in footers and then a foundation and then they'll build a building on top of that. And so I have some questions about the scripture as to how it can be trusted. The questions. And I think that it will bring clarity, that's my hope, and that it will encourage you in your faith. So the first question is, do we have the original manuscripts for Scripture?

28:50 Do we have the original papers that the Holy Spirit told these men to write and here's the paper? The answer is no. And so as I go through these, when I get to the end, I'll share why the answers to these actually strengthen my faith in the authority and accuracy of Scripture. Next, do the manuscripts or these old fragments of writings, do they have a 100% agreement? No, they don't.

29:27 Is there a way, some sort of system for destroying bad copies so that errors aren't propagated? There isn't. Do I have 100% certainty and the accuracy of 100% of the English Bible that I read today? I wrote this phrase very carefully because the answer is again no. I have one more question.

30:11 And I bring these up primarily for those who are in high school going into college, just to understand where we stand with this book because this book is our guideline, our blueprint for life. We have to know where it stands. We need to study and know its origin and its transmission. So last question is, do I have confidence, complete confidence in the Scripture today, in its authority and its accuracy? And the answer is yes, I do.

30:42 And so let me just go back through these quickly, not too quickly, but just to address why the answer of no is such a blessing to me, why it strengthens my faith. Do we have the original manuscript? Let's take this to its logical conclusion. If you have a one single centralized manuscript, it would be fairly easy for someone to change it, wouldn't it? And so the very fact that we don't have that centralized manuscript, but rather a thousands of manuscript fragments in many different people's hands, not just one centralized location.

31:25 This creates, and I'll use the word mess, in the sense that it's it's so diverse and and so spread out in its in its nature that I prefer that. It's much more reasonable to believe in its accuracy when it's spread out as opposed to have a single centralized manuscript. Do the manuscripts have 100% agreement? They don't have a 100% agreement. It's very, very, very close though.

31:54 And so when I look at the thousands of manuscripts from earlier ones and down down later ones, there's tremendous correlation between them. And there's no way to doctor thousands and thousands and thousands of manuscripts, which leads me to believe that they are accurate in their writings, that they are true. And those small discrepancies between the manuscripts, fairly simple when you look at large numbers manuscripts to compare them and say, you know, here's 99 that say one way and here's one that says something different. Well, the reasonable approach would be to say, here's you know, a large amount of manuscripts from a large area over a large amount of time that are saying one way. Over here, someone copied that wrong.

32:47 Is there a way to destroy errand copies to avoid spreading error? And again, this comes back to the first one a little bit where if you have one central individual perhaps and he says, I got the one right here and I'm gonna destroy all the other ones. Well now you're actually losing information. It's actually less reasonable to believe if someone says, I've controlled this this one copy and I've destroyed the rest. It's interesting that in in the Quran, there are several different discrepancies in the Quran.

33:22 But overall, they've they said, alright, we got the right one here. Even though the origins of the Koran are very sketchy. We got the right one here and they destroy these other ones. Again, the Quran is not inspired, but just as an example. Do I have 100% certainty and the accuracy of 100% of the English Bible I read?

34:10 Right? There's just a few short areas. And the very fact that as believers with this bible, we say, I trust this as the Word of God, but there's this area that I have a question about. I'm not entirely sure that we put a footnote in, right at the bottom, we say, this only appears in perhaps very late manuscripts. Something like that.

34:36 But the very fact that we have these areas where we say, there's a little question here, adds to my trust in the scriptures, instead of blindly saying a 100% accuracy over thousands of years. It's important to note, and I want emphasize this, that these small places of question, you know, maybe first John five or the end of the end of Mark I believe. These areas that... There's a question, is this scripture? That these areas do not affect any major doctrine.

35:15 They don't contradict scripture. There's just a small question as to their to their being scripture. And so, do I have confidence in the scripture I have today? Absolutely, 100%. When I look at how it's written, I am willing to base my life and my eternity off of this book.

35:38 So additional reasons why I trust the scripture Would be its prophecy. There's no other book with a prophecy like the the scripture has. There are there are people who... I don't know what it's called, they... They say, oh, there's other books with prophecies too.

35:56 I challenge you to find another book with prophecy like Scripture and its specific nature and its duration from prophecy to fulfillment. I haven't found one. The Scripture is unique in that as humans we are locked in the here and now. We don't see the future and so divine authorship is required in order to have accurate specific prophecy. Next, the Bible presents salvation by grace through faith when every other religion out there has it by works or just trying to appease God.

36:38 And again, that's a concept that is foreign to the human mind, that we say, I can't do it. Someone else must take my place. The scripture does not contradict itself even though it had diverse origins from the human perspective. Right? 40 different authors over fifteen hundred years and yet it comes together as a cohesive piece and this implies a divine author.

37:11 And lastly, the accuracy of the Bible is attacked more than any other document. If something isn't important, then you just let it go. But the scripture, the best seller, most attacked, most critiqued book and yet it stands up is a scripture. So in this passage here, second Timothy chapter three, what is all scripture? This refers to the Old Testament primarily, essentially the completed Old Testament but also portions of the New Testament that were in existence at that time.

38:02 Paul quotes Luke, in Luke ten seven, as Scripture. So here we have someone writing Scripture referring to another portion of Scripture as Scripture. And Peter quotes the writings of Paul as scripture in second Peter three. Let's read that because this is really incredible. Second Peter three.

38:41 Second Peter three, fifteen and sixteen. And consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him as writing to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also the rest of the scriptures. Peter is quoting the writings of Paul as scripture. All scripture is profitable for doctrine, for a proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I'm thankful for scripture because it does equip us for good work.

40:08 It's a compass. This is what is true. Reproof is what is not right. It's saying, hold on. That's not the way to go.

40:18 Go this way instead. Correction. How to get right. And instruction in righteousness, how to stay right. So scripture, is a book that each of us is to apply to our own lives personally.

40:42 And there are numerous occasions when it's appropriate to share the scripture with others. We're told to reprove and correct and challenge one another. And so I just want to draw a little attention to these second, these middle two, reproof and correction, just to say that these require relationship if they're done, if from one believer to another. So Ephesians, it says that God has given us a work to do that He's prepared beforehand for us to do. God has a work for us to do.

41:20 He's also said in His word that He's given us the scriptures so that we are thoroughly equipped for that good work. There's nothing lacking. So application in our closing time. We, as we live our lives, should leave a legacy for pressing towards the prize, straining towards towards the goal, the the calling to heaven of being with the Lord, oppressing on despite resistance, to persevere in the hard and painful times in the Christian life, To expect persecution, to diligently study and apply the scriptures. Be an example.

42:43 Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, for preserving it for us to have today. Lord, help us to set good... A good purpose in our life. Help us to to know your purpose for our individual lives.

43:04 Lord, that we would set a pattern for each day that would achieve that purpose. Lord, give us the strength to to say no to sin and and other things that would be a bad pattern. Lord, please give us grace and and help us to love and persevere with one another, we'd strive to build each other up. Father, I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.