Grounding Faith: Navigating Challenges with Scripture

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So, this is 2 Timothy 3. You know, Paul writes to Timothy, "These are difficult days." That's how chapter 3 opens up, "These are difficult days, Timothy." And he goes through this litany of just really bad things that are happening, and Paul pulls no punches. This is happening in culture, but he tells Timothy this is also in the church. [00:02:55]

And he gets to verse 14 and he says, "But as for you," right? "Continue in the things you have learned." And then he says, "and the sacred writings of Scripture." So, it is a great time to be a Bible college, because the answer to these challenging times is, indeed, the authoritative God's Word. [00:03:55]

And Machen is a good example of being a Christian of conviction. So, there is one incident that I find interesting and also informative. [00:21:46]

The antidote is biblical, convictional Christianity. That's the antidote. Paul gathers the Ephesian elders. It's a tearful departure. And what does he tell them? "I determined among you to preach the whole counsel of God." R.C, when he started as a young minister held a 3 x 5 card and he wrote out on it, "You must preach what the Bible says, not what you want the Bible to say." [00:23:39]

And Machen was a brilliant scholar, Johns Hopkins' Bachelor's. Princeton trained, Princeton professor. But this is the time of modernism in American culture, and the twentieth century was a time of optimism and growth, and, of course, it had World War I, which influenced Europe far more than it did America, because it was there on the soil of Europe. [00:19:09]

And the reality is, that probably being a Christian is more in the crucible of suffering than not. But here is the thing, and none of us like this, but it's actually a natural law. Things that are easy, aren't always that worthwhile. Things that are hard and things that demand things of us and things that take work tend to be the things that really are worthwhile. [01:02:41]

So, here is what suffering does. Here is what financial challenge does. Here is what just turmoil and uncertainty does. It shakes loose that independency that we are prone to and it shakes loose the ingratitude that, sad to say, sometimes wells up within us. Suffering, adversity, hardship, brings dependence. [01:03:25]

"My grace is." It's a present tense. It's an active verb. Salvation is not "My grace was saved you, and now you go cruising. You are on your own. You run your marathon." No, "My grace is sufficient for you." And then, Paul takes us a level deeper: "In your weakness My strength is perfected." [01:04:24]

He uses that to make us dependent on His grace, He uses that to make us a grateful people, He uses that to see depths of His grace and His power and His mercy and His kindness and His goodness, that apart from that we probably would not have seen and we would not have appreciated. [01:05:06]

And what's more, it drives us to serve. We see other people in need. We see other people who are hurting. When we are on easy street, we are so caught up in ourselves, we don't have time, we're so enjoying we don't have time. But, you know, people who ... and I know this. I have seen people who just had a hard life in suffering. [01:05:44]

But, oh, how God uses that, and God will use it and God is, ultimately we know, God is good to His children. He loves us as the all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good heavenly Father. We are so safe in His hands. If we latch onto that, right, we can be carried through this world. We can walk through the fire. We can survive the crucible. [01:06:24]

The other way we get it is the whole Bible itself. The Reformers would say, Dominus Dixit, Dominus Dixit, Latin for "Thus says the Lord," right, two words in Latin. In English it's the four words, "Thus says the Lord." It's all through Scripture. This is the book that claims to be God's Word, Scripture. [01:00:48]

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