II Timothy 1:13

Hold fast the form of sound words,

which thou hast heard of me,

in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

I. Hold fast the form of sound words,

A. This part of the verse tells Timothy what to hang on to.

1. It is good to learn doctrines, and to hand on to doctrines.

2. It is better to hang on to the "form" of sound words, which is hanging on to more than just the sound words.

3. Many people act one way in church and another way out of church. This is not holding fast the form of sound words. It is hanging onto the doctrines without letting those doctrines affect our lives.

B. Some of the sound doctrines to hold fast to:

1. The Bible is God's Holy Book. II Tim. 3:16, 17 - Given by inspiration. Good to live by.

a) II Peter 1:19-21

(1) The New Testament and Old Testament goes together.

(2) The prophecy of the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.

(3) It is not our place to decide what the Bible means.

(4) The writers of the Old testament were holy, God fearing men.

b) Prov. 30:5,6 - Every word of God is pure.

(1) Don't add or subtract from it.

(2) Rev. 22:18,19 - A curse upon those that add or subtract from the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation.

c) The Bible is the source of our knowledge.

(1) Hosea 4:6 - The parents have rejected the knowledge of God, therefore God will reject their children.

(2) Other religions have forgotten that church is for worship.

(3) Tithes and offerings are to support the Lord's work, not pie suppers, car washes, rummage sales, etc.

d) There are a lot of people who believe the Bible is God's Word, but they never read it.

(1) II Tim. 2:15 - Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman what needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(2) Do you spend more time watching television than you do reading and meditating on the Word of God?

2. The Bible will teach about Baptism.

a) Romans 6:1-6 - Baptism is a public display of our personal faith in Jesus Christ as our personal saviour.

(1) When we are baptized, we are saying to the world that we intend to live like Jesus Christ, die like Him, and be resurrected by Him.

(2) All this is done by His strength and power, not by ours.

b) John 4:1,2 - There is also authority in baptism.

(1) Just like Jesus Christ didn't baptize when He was on the earth, He still doesn't baptize when He is in heaven.

(2) When He was on the earth, the disciples baptized for Him.

(3) When He is in the earth, His disciples (His kind of church) baptizes for Him.

3. The Bible will teach about the local church as opposed to the invisible universal and the visible universal church.

C. Every person must learn for themselves.

1. The reason God has created this universe.

a) Eph. 1:4-12 - For His own pleasure.

b) Rev. 4:11 - The 24 elders will cast their crowns before the Lord, declaring that He has created all things for His own personal pleasure.

c) II Tim. 1:9 - God's purpose of grace.

II. which thou hast heard of me,

A. This part of the verse tells where Timothy learned what he learned.

1. Everything we have learned, we have learned from somebody else.

2. We must study to show ourselves approved unto God, and God will show us things out of His Word.

3. Things we learn on our own probably isn't any good. There is nothing new under the sun, so all we have is repeats of other generations.

III. in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

A. This part of the verse tells how Timothy is to hang on to what he has learned.

1. Don't be mad because you have sound words, but be thankful.

B. Heb. 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God.

C. I Cor. 13 - Anything we do without love is wrong.