Acquainted with the Sacred Writings

Sermon Title: Acquainted with the Sacred Writings

Text: 2 Timothy 3:10–17

Introduction: The Ordinary Means of Grace

This morning we begin a new sermon series entitled The Ordinary Means of Grace. Over the coming weeks, we will focus primarily on four means by which God ordinarily nourishes and sustains His people:

1. The Lord’s Word — Holy Scripture
2. The Lord’s Table — the Lord’s Supper
3. The Lord’s Sign of Inclusion — Baptism
4. The Lord’s Ear — Prayer

 

You may be wondering where these categories of the means of grace come from. Primarily, they are drawn from Acts 2:42, where Luke tells us that the early church—the New Testament church—devoted themselves to four central practices.

First, they devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles—that is, to God’s Word.
Second, to the breaking of bread, which refers to the Lord’s Supper.
Third, to the fellowship, meaning life together with the covenant community—those who belong to God’s people and bear the covenant sign of baptism.
And finally, they devoted themselves to the prayers.

These were not peripheral activities. They were the ordinary, God-appointed means through which Christ nurtured, sustained, and built His church.

Before we consider these means individually, it is necessary to address several assumptions that often accompany the phrase ordinary means of grace. If these assumptions are left unexamined, we will misunderstand both the necessity and the beauty of what God provides.

A Foundational Assumption: Grace Is Needed

The ordinary means of grace assume something fundamental about us—namely, that we need grace.

We will not meaningfully engage these means unless we first recognize our need for them. If you do not believe you need grace, then you will not see Scripture, prayer, the sacraments, or preaching as necessary. At best, they will appear optional. At worst, they will feel irrelevant.

One of the primary reasons Christians neglect the ordinary means of grace is not busyness or lack of discipline, but self-sufficiency. We often think we are doing fine. We assume things are essentially okay.

Yet if we are honest, we know that is not true.

Our hearts are prone to wander, as we sang earlier. Our attention is easily diverted. We are more naturally drawn to vacations, entertainment, social media, or distraction than to meditation on God and His Word. Left to ourselves, we drift—not toward God, but away from Him.

Because of our rebellion and our hard-heartedness, God supplies grace—not to reward our strength, but to address our weakness. Unless we recognize this, the means of grace will be dismissed:

• “I don’t really need to pray.”
• “I don’t need the Lord’s Supper.”
• “I don’t need the preaching of God’s Word.”

Why? Because we believe we are already fine as we are. Or, we can supplement these means of grace WITH THINGS that God hasn’t given as an ordinary means of grace.

The first thing we must understand, then, is this: the ordinary means of grace presuppose our need for grace.

What Do We Mean by “Ordinary”?

When we hear the word ordinary, we often think of something unimpressive—run-of-the-mill, average, unspectacular. And in an age that craves excitement and novelty, ordinary can sound like a liability rather than a virtue.

Our culture gravitates toward the spectacular. This helps explain why some are drawn to traditions that emphasize visual grandeur—incense, robes, ritual, and sensory richness. There is a sense that something is happening.

By contrast, our worship may appear simple: a plain room, singing, prayer, Scripture read and preached. It can feel understated, even boring.

But consider how growth actually happens.

Did you grow physically because of the most exciting meals you ever ate—or because of the regular, ordinary meals provided day after day? Growth does not come primarily through occasional feasts, but through consistent nourishment.

So it is spiritually.

We often assume that spiritual growth comes from dramatic encounters or extraordinary experiences. Scripture teaches otherwise. God ordinarily grows His people through steady, faithful, repeated means.

An Illustration: Ordinary Provision

Consider another example.

Imagine you need groceries, and one day on your way to work you find $50 on the ground. That would be exciting. You might even thank God for His providence.

But would you return to that same spot every day expecting to find another $50? Of course not. You understand that the ordinary means by which God provides for your needs is through your labor—through showing up to work and putting in your hours.

Finding $50 is exciting. Going to work is not. But one is sustainable; the other is not.

In the same way, God ordinarily provides for our spiritual well-being through means that may not feel dramatic, but are dependable and sufficient.

REMEMBER ELIJAH – GOD WASN’T IN THE STRONG WIND, EARTHQUAKE, OR FIRE, BUT IN THE STILL SMALL VOICE.

What Do We Mean by “Means”?

The word means refers to instruments, tools, or channels—ways by which God accomplishes something in us and for us.

The goal is never the means themselves. Scripture is not merely words on a page. Prayer is not an end in itself. The sacraments are not magic acts.

What we ultimately want is God Himself.

The means of grace are the God-appointed ways by which He communicates Christ to His people—ways He has promised to bless for our growth and edification.

Means of Grace

Finally, these are not merely ordinary means; they are means of grace.

This means that God is the primary actor. Too often we approach the Christian life as though spiritual disciplines were chiefly about our contribution. But the reality is quite the opposite.

God is the one who supplies these means. God is the one who works through them. God is the one who applies His favor to us through them—grounded entirely in Jesus Christ.

Through these means, Christ is communicated, applied, and granted to us again and again, in new and increasing measure.

Just as your daily life depends on countless provisions outside your control, so too your spiritual life depends on God’s gracious action. The ordinary means of grace are God’s action first, and our response second—never the other way around.

God’s Initiative and Our Response

This truth does not negate our responsibility. It rightly orders it.

Yes, God is the primary mover in your salvation and sanctification. But that does not invite passivity. It invites gratitude.

If someone saved you from a burning car, would your response be casual or indifferent? Or would it be marked by heartfelt gratitude?

So it is with God.

James reminds us that faith without works is dead—not because works save us, but because genuine faith responds to grace with thanksgiving, obedience, and love.

When we understand that God is the one who supplies, sustains, and blesses us through the ordinary means of grace, our response should never be trivial.

Our response to God’s grace should be gratitude.

And that gratitude will express itself in faithful engagement with the very means God has graciously provided.

Transition

With that foundation in place, we now turn to the first and primary ordinary means of grace: the Sacred Writings, which, as Paul reminds Timothy, are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

First Point: God’s Word Guards Against Two Threats

To understand why the Word of God is a means of grace—and how it makes us wise for salvation—we must first understand the context in which Paul writes.

Paul is writing to his protégé Timothy, a pastor serving in the city of Ephesus. At the beginning of 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns Timothy that “in the last days there will come times of difficulty.” Those “last days” are not merely future realities; they had already arrived. And Paul identifies two defining characteristics of those days:

1. False teaching
2. Persecution

These are the two dangers that concern Paul most deeply.

The Twin Dangers: Persecution and False Teaching

Why are these dangers so serious?

Persecution creates the illusion that you are losing ground when you are actually making progress. It tempts you to believe that faithfulness is failure.

False teaching, on the other hand, does the opposite. It deceives you into thinking you are making progress when you are actually regressing.

That is why Paul says in verse 13, “Evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Persecution seeks to quench your devotion and weaken your resolve. False teaching offers a path that appears godly, yet ultimately negates the very godliness it claims to promote.

Against this backdrop of these twin threats, what is needed is the Word of God—the anchor for the soul. The Word tells us, in the midst of persecution, that we are blessed. And it guards us from being deceived when error dresses itself in religious language.

A Word About Deception

Paul’s description of false teachers should give us pause.

In verse 5, he says that despite their lack of virtue—though they are proud, arrogant, abusive, without self-control, brutal, and treacherous—they nevertheless “have the appearance of godliness.”

That phrase is crucial.

Deception does not usually announce itself as falsehood. It imitates the real thing. It mimics faith. It borrows Christian vocabulary. It adopts religious behavior. And that is precisely what makes it dangerous.

When we think about false teaching, we often jump to extremes: blatant heresy, cults, or ideas that are obviously wrong. But Paul is helping us see that deception often looks closer to the truth than to outright falsehood.

He describes these deceivers as “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” They possess information. They have insight. They are educated and articulate. Yet their lives reveal that they have not arrived at the truth.

In other words, they know about God, but they do not know God.

Opposing the Truth

Paul strengthens his warning by referencing Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses. Just as those men resisted God’s truth, so false teachers oppose it. They do not submit to the truth; they stand against it.

Because of this, Paul says they are “disqualified regarding the faith.” They appear Christian. They seem informed. They speak convincingly. But their lives and loves betray them.

There is an appearance of godliness without its power. There is familiarity with truth without submission to it.

A Necessary Self-Examination

And we must remember: we are susceptible to this deception.

The only safeguard God has given us is regular, consistent engagement with His Word—the means of grace He has appointed for our protection and growth.

This raises an important question for us this morning:

Do you possess an appearance of godliness without a genuine knowledge of the truth?

To “come to the knowledge of the truth” does not mean perfection. It does not mean sinlessness. It means that your life seeks to reflect the gospel—to be shaped by it, corrected by it, and conformed to it.

Or, as Paul asks earlier in the chapter, do you “love pleasure rather than love God”?

That question reveals a hierarchy of loves. What holds ultimate priority in your life? What commands your deepest affection?

Why the Word Is a Means of Grace

Because we are prone to error, prone to wander, and prone to self-deception, God graciously speaks.

Deception is our default. Clarity is God’s gift.

God does not leave us in a fog, guessing at His will or stumbling in uncertainty. He speaks clearly. He reveals what is true. He exposes what is false.

That is why the Word of God is a means of grace. And when we engage it regularly and faithfully, it leads to a life shaped by truth—a life in which God’s Word is not only heard, but lived.

And it is that living Word, active in us by grace, that guards us, forms us, and makes us wise for salvation. And that is what I want to consider next…

Second Point: God’s Word Lived Out in Life

Paul now moves from warning Timothy about deceivers to contrasting their lives with Timothy’s own formation. Beginning in verse 10, Paul says, “You, however, have followed my teaching.”

That phrase—“you, however”—marks a decisive contrast.

The Priority of Teaching

Paul begins with teaching. Timothy had observed, received, and embraced the Word of God as Paul taught it—doctrinal instruction, the organized teaching of God’s eternal purposes, what we might call a systematic theology.

Teaching comes first because doctrine matters.

We often hear the phrase, “Doctrine divides; love unites.” But Paul does not treat doctrine as optional or secondary. He places it at the very foundation of Christian life and ministry.

Some will say, “Why can’t we just focus on loving Jesus?”

But the question immediately becomes: Which Jesus?

• The Jesus of Islam, who did not die?
• The Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who is not fully God?
• The Jesus of Judaism, merely a prophet?
• A culturally constructed Jesus, shaped by preference rather than revelation?

The only way to know which Jesus we are loving is through doctrine. Love without truth is sentimentality; truth without love is harshness. Paul insists on both, beginning with sound teaching.

Doctrine Embodied in Life

Paul continues: Timothy did not merely hear Paul’s teaching—he saw it embodied.

“You have followed my conduct, my aim in life.”

Paul’s teaching was not confined to verbal instruction. It was lived out. His life corresponded to the Word he proclaimed.

Paul had a holy ambition. He was not drifting spiritually. He was not guessing at faithfulness. He had a clear aim, and Timothy recognized that this aim led to the blessed life.

And so Paul says Timothy also followed his:

• Faith
• Patience
• Love
• Steadfastness
• Persecutions and sufferings

Timothy observed a genuine Christian—someone who understood that it is more blessed to suffer for Christ than to live comfortably through compromise.

Paul was willing to lay down his life so that Christ might live in him with power and glory.

Apprenticeship in Godliness

Timothy followed Paul the way an apprentice follows a master tradesman—learning not merely by instruction, but by imitation.

Just as a journeyman electrician develops skill by walking alongside someone more experienced, Timothy learned godliness by watching Paul’s life up close.

Here is the point: because Paul consistently engaged God’s Word as a means of grace, God’s Word was lived out in his life.

A Searching Question

This brings us to a necessary question:

Are you engaging the means of grace in such a way that God’s Word moves beyond your head and into your life?

Or put another way:

If there were younger Christians watching you—new believers learning what faith looks like—could they say they have followed your:

• Teaching
• Conduct
• Aim in life
• Faith
• Patience
• Love
• Steadfastness
• Sufferings
• Persecutions

Do you possess a holy ambition that others can see and are willing to imitate?

Paul was worth following—not because he was perfect, but because his life was clearly directed by God’s Word.

The Cost of a Godly Life

Paul then adds a statement in verse 12 that we must not overlook:
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

The only way we will not view persecution as an unqualified loss is if our minds are shaped by Scripture.

Left to ourselves, we are drawn to comfort, recognition, and glory in this life. Without God’s Word informing our thinking, we will instinctively avoid persecution at all costs.

In other words, unless you are willing to die for God’s truth, you won’t be shaped by it.

From Knowledge to Life

So how do we reach the point where God’s Word is not merely known, but lived?

How do we move from information to transformation?

It happens only when God’s Word becomes the foundation of our Christian life—not an accessory, not an occasional reference, but the governing authority that directs our loves, our aims, and our endurance.

Third Point: God’s Word as the Foundation of the Christian Life

(2 Timothy 3:14–17)

Beginning in verse 14 and continuing through verse 17, Paul shows Timothy—and us—how God’s Word functions as a means of grace.

He says, “But as for you…” Once again, Paul draws a sharp contrast. There is the way of the false teachers, and then there is the way of faithful perseverance.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.”

Paul assumes that Timothy has not only been taught, but that what he has been taught has become conviction.

This is an important word for our moment.

We live in a very casual, even lazy-faire Christian environment, where holding strong convictions is often viewed with suspicion. Being committed to a doctrinal position is frequently framed as unloving, divisive, or ungracious. Certainty is treated as arrogance, and clarity is confused with cruelty.

But Paul does not share that concern.

He does not tell Timothy to loosen his grip on truth for the sake of harmony. He tells him to continue—to remain, to abide, to persevere—in what he has learned and firmly believed.

Paul is not encouraging stubbornness for its own sake. He is not calling Timothy to defend opinions. He is saying: once the truth of God’s Word has been taught, received, and believed, it must anchor your life.

Do not profess what you do not believe. That would be hypocrisy.
But once you believe what God has revealed, do not treat it as negotiable.

“Knowing From Whom You Learned It”

Paul then adds, “knowing from whom you learned it.”

This phrase does not merely refer to information transfer; it refers to formation within relationships.

Paul may have himself in view here, as Timothy’s apostolic mentor. But verse 15 makes it clear that Paul is also thinking about Timothy’s family.

“And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings.”

Timothy grew up in a home saturated with Scripture. His mother and grandmother were devoted to the Word of God. They did not treat Scripture as something reserved for religious professionals or special occasions. They brought Timothy under its influence early, consistently, and intentionally.

Paul says that from childhood Timothy was acquainted with the sacred writings. The word Paul uses can refer to infancy—even to a child not yet born. From the very beginning of Timothy’s life, Scripture shaped the air he breathed.

So parents—especially mothers and fathers—this is not wasted labor. Reading Scripture with your children, praying with them, catechizing them, bringing them under the preaching of the Word—these are ordinary acts that God uses in extraordinary ways.

Timothy did not wake up one day as a faithful pastor by accident. He was shaped slowly, quietly, and faithfully through the means of grace.

Acquainted With the Sacred Writings

Paul uses a striking phrase: “acquainted with the sacred writings.”

That word “acquainted” implies familiarity, intimacy, repeated exposure. Scripture was not foreign to Timothy. It was not strange. It was not something he encountered occasionally. It was something he knew.

So here is a question we must ask honestly:

Are you acquainted with the sacred writings?

Do you know God’s Word?
Do you devote time to it?
Do you make it an aim—an ambition—of your life to be shaped by Scripture, to think God’s thoughts after Him?

Or do you rush through Bible reading—if you read it at all?
Do you skim promises without lingering over them?
Do you give Scripture your leftovers—whatever attention remains after entertainment, distraction, and busyness?

Would you rather be occupied by a show, a website, a feed, or a device than sit quietly under God’s Word?

Is God a burden to think about—or a delight?

Paul says it is these Scriptures that are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” When God reveals Himself to you through His Word, He is showing you grace. He is not merely informing your mind; He is forming your soul. He is leading you toward salvation through faith in Christ.

The Bible’s Unique Purpose

Consider this carefully: the Bible is the only book that can make you wise for salvation.

Scripture is not primarily a book of scientific facts. Those can be discovered through human investigation. Scripture reveals truths of redemption—truths that no telescope, microscope, or experiment could ever uncover.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible unfolds the drama of redemption: God’s eternal purpose to dwell with His redeemed people forever through Jesus Christ.

The question is not whether the Bible is lofty and grand. The question is whether its vision consumes us.

Does God’s majesty, beauty, and holiness occupy your thoughts?
Does the story of redemption shape your understanding of the world and your place in it?

Even the desire to care about these things is itself grace.

The Word as the Soul of the Church

Herman Bavinck captures this beautifully:

“The Word is also the only earmark by which the church of Christ can be known in its truth and purity… It was by the Word that all true members of the church were reborn and brought to faith and repentance… The Word of God is in very fact, to use the expression of Calvin, the soul of the church.”

Paul would agree without hesitation. The Word of God is not merely one ministry among many. It is the soul of the church. Remove the Word, and the church may retain activity, but it loses life.

The Source of Scripture: God Himself

Paul now gives us the foundation for everything he has said:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God.”

Paul coins a term here—God-breathed. Scripture originates with God. When you read the Bible, you are not merely reading religious reflections or human wisdom. You are hearing the voice of God.

God has breathed life into His Word. And when you encounter it, He encounters you.

This is why Scripture carries authority. Its authority is not derived from the church, tradition, or consensus. Its authority flows from God Himself, the Creator of heaven and earth.

The Profit of Scripture

Because Scripture is God-breathed, Paul says it is profitable.

That word implies increase, benefit, growth. Just as a profitable investment yields more than was originally put in, God’s Word yields spiritual growth in those who receive it.

Paul says Scripture is profitable in four ways:

1. Teaching – establishing doctrine, forming a Christian worldview, making us wise for salvation
2. Reproof – exposing error, convicting of sin, confronting false teaching
3. Correction – restoring what has gone astray, setting us back on the right path
4. Training in righteousness – shaping a life of obedience and godliness

Grace does not only come through instruction. Grace also comes through reproof and correction. God’s Word wounds in order to heal. It confronts in order to restore.

The goal is stated clearly in verse 17:
“That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Scripture is given so that faith is not merely confessed—but lived.

The Ordinary Means of Grace Explained

This is why the Westminster Shorter Catechism speaks so clearly about the Word as a means of grace.

Question 89 asks:

“How is the Word made effectual to salvation?”

And the answer is this:

“The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.”

Notice the emphasis: it is the Spirit of God who makes the Word effective. But He does so through ordinary means—reading and especially preaching.

I read a story this past week about a pastor reading the portions of Scripture about the death of Christ with someone. He had been meeting with the person for some time, and thought nothing of it. But through normal reading, that person became a believer. God meets us through the ordinary reading, and not only that…

God has promised to meet His people through the preached Word.

Question 90 then asks:

“How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?”

And the answer is searching:

“That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love; lay it up in our hearts; and practice it in our lives.”

This is how knowledge becomes life.

Not casually.
Not passively.
But with diligence, preparation, prayer, faith, love, and obedience.

A Final Pastoral Question

So here is the question this section leaves us with:

Are you consistently exposing your heart to God’s Word—especially the preaching of it, where God has promised to work by His Spirit?

Or has indifference crept in?
A casual attitude toward Scripture?
Toward the Lord’s Day?
Toward the gathering of the saints?

Church history is full of gimmicks and programs designed to produce growth. Yet God’s way has always been remarkably ordinary: again and again exposing hearts to the truth of the gospel through His Word.

Nature is good. Talks can be helpful. Experiences can move us.
But it is God’s Word—the soul of the church—that gives life.

And therefore, we must devote ourselves to it.

Conclusion

So this morning, the question before us is this:
Will we expose our hearts to the means God has given?

Will we avail ourselves of this instrument—this tool, this gracious provision—that God has ordained so that we might receive mercy, grace, and compassion?

Will we expose our hearts to the truths of the gospel?

Will we make it a priority to be in God’s Word?
Will we make it a priority to speak God’s Word?
Will we make it a priority to order our lives around God’s Word?

Will we make it a priority to gather with God’s people, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day, under the preaching of the Word—believing that this is not optional, but that it is a means of God’s grace?

Or will we decide—quietly, perhaps unintentionally—that on certain Sundays we do not need God’s grace?
That on particular weeks we are strong enough on our own?
That we can afford to step away from the very means God has promised to use for our good?

Brothers and sisters, if we are going to be a church that lives out what Paul calls the aim of life and godliness, then we must be a people devoted to the Word of God.

Not occasionally.
Not selectively.
But faithfully and persistently.