SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). A Changing World
(2). An Unchanging God
(3). A Strategy to Enact.
• (a). the way to live (vs 10-14)
• (b). the means of salvation (vs 15)
• (c). the word of truth (vs 16-17)
SERMON BODY:
(a). A Changing World.
Ill:
• We live in a world of change:
• i.e. Tadpole to frog.
• i.e. Four seasons.
• i.e. Cars/Possessions (rust/break etc.)
• i.e. People (eyesight, hearing, hair-loss, walking sticks etc.)
Consider this information:
• It’s estimated that 90% of all the items in your supermarket didn’t exist ten years ago.
• More information has been produced in the last thirty years than in the past 5,000 years.
• It is estimated that 50% of graduates are going into jobs;
• That did not exist when they were born.
• TRANSITION: everything in life changes!
• Sometimes things deteriorate and the changes are negative,
• Sometimes things improve and changes are positive.
(2). An Unchanging God.
• Now I said everything changes, but not quite everything!
• The Bible says God does not change;
• i.e. Malachi chapter 3 verse 6: “I the Lord do not change”
• There is of course a New Testament equivalent:
• i.e. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever”
The technical term for God not changing is ‘immutability’.
• Simply stated, that means God is unchangeable.
• He is neither capable of nor susceptible to change.
• And that makes sense.
• Any change would probably be for the better or for the worse.
• God cannot change for the better because He is already perfect.
• And He cannot change for the worse,
• For then He would be imperfect and would therefore no longer be God.
• Created things change; they run down or wear out.
• It is part of their nature.
• But God has no beginning or end. Therefore He cannot change.
(3). A Strategy to enact.
• Now in a world that is constantly changing,
• Christians are told to hold on to certain key truths,
• And in these verses are some unchanging values.
Ill:
• Last summer we did what one million tourists do every year;
• We visited the leaning tower of Pisa.
• It is one of the great tourist attractions in the world,
• It stands 179 feet tall and is a work of beauty,
• The problem is the architect built it on 10 feet of foundations.
• The leaning tower of Pisa was always externally impressive;
• But it was also a disaster waiting to happen!
• And it has only survived to this day,
• Thanks to the knowledge and skill of a variety of experts.
• TRANSITION: In these final verses of this short letter;
• The apostle Paul give Timothy some advice.
Question: Who was Paul?
• Paul started life as Saul, a top Jewish leader;
• He was once an enemy to Christ and a persecutor of the Church.
• (Acts chapter 9).
• But one day when he was travelling on the road to Damascus;
• He encountered the risen Christ and was converted.
• And the persecutor became a preacher!
• Paul was an apostle in the early Church,
• He had met with the risen Christ and was given a new calling.
• And over the years he has become a seasoned ministry,
• ill: We would say today, ‘he’s been there done it and got the t-shirt!’
• Note: the apostle Paul is writing this letter from a prison cell;
• And it is only a matter of weeks or days before he is executed, martyred for the faith.
Question: Who was Timothy?
• Unlike the apostle Paul who had a dramatic conversion;
• Timothy was raised and influenced by his mother and grandmother;
• He came from a believing home.
• His mother and grandmother read and taught him the stories of the Bible;
• And then one day when a visiting preacher called Paul came along,
• Timothy responded to the message and he was converted!
• At one time Timothy had been a travelling companion of the apostle Paul,
• But at the time of this letter;
• Timothy was the Pastor of a Church in Ephesus.
Note:
• This letter that the apostle penned is his swan song,
• His last will and testament!
• And a person’s last words are often very significant;
• And this letter contains some of the apostle Paul’s.
• Now I want to pull out just a few threads from these verses.
• The apostle Paul gives Timothy an agenda to follow;
• He reminds him of what changes and what doesn’t.
(a). Integrity - the way to live (vs 10-14).
“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings – what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,”
Ill:
• The 18th century American evangelist D.L. Moody use to say:
• “The best argument against Christianity is Christians!”
• The famous atheist Frederick Nietzsche said something similar;
• “I might believe in the Redeemer if his followers looked more redeemed”,
• They both meant of course that belief should affect behaviour;
• And when it does not then it turns people away rather than attracting them to faith.
• D.L. Moody also went on to say:
• “The best argument for Christianity is Christians!”
• What he meant is that you cannot refute a changed life.
• e.g. I love the story of the blind man in John chapter 9.
• Interrogated by the religious leaders as to what happened and who healed him;
• He simply says; “I don’t know”
• Then he counter punches with the words:
• “All I know is once I was blind but now I see!”
• End of argument – you cannot refute a changed life!
• TRANSITION: The apostle Paul reminds Timothy how he lived;
• And says; “Timothy, walk the talk, practice what you preach”
Ill:
• Chinese bamboo produces little outward growth for the first four years of its life.
• Though it’s puny and pitiful, there’s something powerful happening underground.
• In the fifth year, the tree grows eighty feet!
• Quote: Alan Redpath:
• "The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment,
• but the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime."
• As followers of Jesus;
• We must remember that the root comes before the fruit.
• And God will change us from the inside out!
(b). The Means of Salvation (vs 15).
“and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Ill:
• Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, was for many years;
• The pastor of a Church in Philadelphia, USA.
• He used to illustrate the way some people approach the Bible.
• And miss the main point!
• He would imagine himself sitting in a hotel room;
• That looked out over a tropical beach and out to the crystal clear water of the sea.
• He then said he would write a letter to a friend who had never seen the ocean,
• And it would go something like this;
• “My room looks out through a window onto the ocean.
• Let me describe it to you,
• The window is about 4 feet high and 6 feet wide,
• And it is covered by a pane of glass which is exactly 1/2" thick.
• I have taken some parings and scrapings of that glass and had them analysed,
• And find that it is a very fine grade of glass, the best you can buy.
• In fact, I am attaching to this letter a research article on the kind of glass this is,
• Where it is produced, what kind of sand it is made from,
• And the process by which it is manufactured,
• I find that the window is locked into place by a substance that is called putty.
• It is a most unusual substance.
• It is very pliable at first, then it gets harder as it is allowed to dry.
• It is made of a strange chemical substance,
• And I have attached to this letter a series of research papers done on putty.
• If you read it through,
• You will understand the high quality and high grade of this putty.
• I have also attached a series of studies on the art of putting glass into windows,
• And the kind of training it takes to be a window installer, etc., etc., etc.”
• TRANSITION: The folly of all that talk about the window, is this;
• He actually said nothing about what he could see through the window!
• Many people read or study the Bible that way.
• They never actually see the main purpose of the book.
• The apostle Paul reminds Timothy what that focus is:
• “…make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
• This book from first to last is a book of salvation.
Question: Why do we need a saviour (rescuer)?
Answer: is simple:
• The Bible says; “we have all sinned” (Romans chapter 3 verse 23)
• Therefore we all need a saviour!
Ill:
• Billy Sunday was an American sports hero (the David Beckham of his day);
• His sport was baseball and he played in the National League during the 1880s.
• Billy Sunday got converted (became a follower of Jesus;
• And became to quote:
“The most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century”
• Whenever he had a city-wide mission;
• He would right to the major of the city;
• And ask if there were any needy people he could pray for.
• One time he wrote a major of a major city;
• And a few days after there was a knock at the door,
• When Billy opened the door he found a mail man with a parcel.
• When Billy opened the parcel he found it contained a telephone directory.
• The major was of course saying, they are all needy people.
• Or to quote the Bible says; “we have all sinned” (Romans chapter 3 verse 23)
• Therefore we all need a saviour!
• ill: Idea of an archer missing the target.
• ill: If you miss a train by 5 minutes or by 5 hours; The point is you’ve missed it!
Ill:
• Think of the human race aboard a hijacked jet-liner flying through time.
• God himself directed its take-off from the divine control-tower.
• The initiator of all evil, whom we call the Devil, Managed to get a boarding pass.
• When the plane reached its cruising altitude,
• The Devil produced his weapons, threatened the pilot,
• And took control of the aircraft and all its passengers.
• Thus the plane hopped on fearfully through history;
• From airport to airport.
• Until it was caught on the tarmac at Jerusalem,
• An outpost of the Roman empire, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
• Where the Son of God offered himself as sole hostage;
• In exchange for the passengers and crew.
• Quote: 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18-19:
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
ill:
• In 1927, in West Africa, a blood specimen was taken from a native man named Asibi,
• Who was sick with yellow fever.
• A vaccine was made from the original strain of virus obtained from this man.
• In fact,
• All the vaccine manufactured since 1927 by the Rockefeller Foundation and health agencies,
• Derives from the original strain of virus obtained from this one man.
• Carried down to the present day from one laboratory to another,
• Through repeated cultures and by enormous multiplication,
• It has offered immunity to yellow fever to millions of people in many countries.
• Through the creative imagination of science,
• The blood of this one man in the West Africa;
• Has been made available to serve the whole human race.
• In another, more important way,
• The blood of another Man has been made to serve the human race.
• Quote: Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7.
• “IN CHRIST WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD…”
Note:
• This verse makes it perfectly clear it is by faith we are saved not works:
• “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
• ill: Stick to the flying idea;
• It matters not if you are a calm flyer or a nervous flyer – hat is irrelevant,
• What matters is the condition of the plane and the pilot!
• For the believer: “In Christ alone my hope is found!”
(c). The Word of Truth (vs 16-17).
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Notice we are not saved by believing the Bible;
• But by trusting the Christ;
• Who is revealed in the Bible.
Ill:
• Timothy was raised on the Holy Scriptures in a godly home.
• Yet it was not until the apostle Paul visited his home;
• That he was led him to faith in Christ and was saved.
• Satan knows the Bible (e.g. quoted it to Eve in the Garden & Jesus in the desert);
• But he obviously is not saved.
• The religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew their Bibles;
• e.g. John chapter 5 verse 39.
“You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, 40but you refuse to come to me for eternal life”.
• So we are not saved by believing the Bible;
• But by trusting the Christ who is revealed in the Bible.
• But without the Bible we would not know about Christ;
• So it is a book of life that informs us of how to be saved!
• From Genesis to Revelation it is a book of salvation;
• God’s rescue plan for a world gone wrong.
The apostle Paul reminds Timothy that the scriptures are true (vs 16):
• "All Scripture is God-breathed" (NIV).
• “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (KJB).
ill:
• Inspired comes from a Latin word, ‘spiro’ means to breathe,
• And ‘in’ of course means "in,"
• So it means "to breathe in."
• But that is exactly what God did not do with the Bible.
• He did not breathe it in. He breathed it out.
• The Greek word means, "breathed out from God."
• What we ought to say is "All scripture is outspired by God",
• Breathed out from him.
• When we talk about biblical inspiration:
• We mean that the Holy Spirit of God guided and breathed upon the Bible's writers;
• i.e. wind filling the sails on a ship and moving it along.
• Which guaranteed that what they wrote was accurate and trustworthy.
• And yet they were allowed to write in their own styles and manner.
• Truth through personality.
WE NOTED IN A PREVIOUS STUDY WHY THEY WERE GIVEN:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”.
Paul tells Timothy that the Bible is profitable in 4 ways:
• They are profitable for “teaching” or “doctrine” (what is right),
• For “rebuking” or “reproof” (what is not right),
• For “correcting” or “correction” (how to get right),
• And for “training in righteousness” or “instruction in righteousness” (how to stay right).
• Any Christian who studies the Bible and applies what they learn;
• Will grow in holiness and avoid many of the pitfalls that seek to trip us up.
• It is a map, a lamp, a light…everything we need for direction in life.
Ill:
• When the famous missionary, Dr. David Livingstone,
• Started his trek across Africa he had 73 books in 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds.
• After the party had gone 300 miles,
• Livingstone was obliged to throw away some of the books;
• Because of the fatigue of those carrying his baggage.
• As he continued on his journey his library grew less and less,
• Until he had but one book left—his Bible.
• He knew the importance of this one book!
• Quote: “While some books inform & some books……….transforms”
We started off by thinking about ‘what changes and what doesn’t’:
• Most things in this life change – for better or for worse,
• God does not change, his word does not change and his plan of salvation will not change.
• Quote:
• “Everybody thinks of changing Humanity and Nobody thinks of changing Himself.”
• God is in the transformation business;
• We experience that change when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Ill:
• Max Lucado is a popular Christian author;
• On the back of one of his books are these words:
• “Where did we get this idea that we can’t change?
• From whence come such statements as:
• “It’s just my nature to worry.”
• “I’ll always be pessimistic – I’m just that way.”
• “I can’t help the way I react. I have a bad temper.”
• Such thoughts are not from God.
• He can no more leave a life unchanged than a than a mother can leave a tear untouched.
• His plan for you is nothing short of a new heart and a new life. Trust Him.”
• If you were a car, God would want control of your engine.
• If you were a computer, God would claim the software and the hard drive.
• If you were an aero plane, he’d take his seat in the cockpit.
• But you are a person, so God wants to change your heart.
• God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you there.
• He wants you to have a heart like his.
• He wants you to be just like Jesus.
• God is unchanging but He wants to change us.
• He will if we open our lives to His love expressed in Jesus Christ.
• We need Him and He will take control of our lives if we turn them over to Him.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=CmwieC3lGbNRNjIGk7iEd5TPpiMoiDEr
