Greetings, radio friends. Once more in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. We give you a hearty welcome to the broadcast of his precious word. We again turn to the second epistle of Timothy chapter three and read verses sixteen and seventeen together. Every scripture is given by inspiration of God and is divinely inspired and is profitable. for doctrine or teaching, for reproof meaning conviction, for correction, for instruction of righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, meaning complete, fully furnished or fully fitted to every or all good works. May God bless the reading of this section today. We come to one of the most important statements in the story of the second epistle of Timothy, in which we commenced in our preceding message, the statement concerning the divine scriptures from cover to cover, being the divinely inspired word of the living God. Oh my beloved, this book is a wonderful book. Coming from God, said the Lord Jesus, heaven and earth shall pass away, that my word shall never pass away. And is it not reasonable for any man to believe the Great Creator who made us, the Great Creator who placed us in this present scene, he should in some manner communicate with his creature whom he has made? My beloved friend, I want to impress upon you this fact. The Divine Creator is communicated with us. We have a complete book of communication. in the Word of the Living God. It is complete from Genesis through Revelation, comprised of the Old Testament as well as the New. And as we've already seen, written by holy men of old, who wrote as they were moved or borne along by the Holy Spirit of God. Now we close our message of yesterday by stating the book is profitable. Now we look and see the four-fold prophet that God declares his word to be for us. First of all, it is profitable for doctrine, meaning teaching. Second, it is profitable for reproof, meaning conviction. And third, it is profitable for correction. And fourth, it is profitable for instruction. Now let's look at these thoughts carefully today. The four sole profit of the Word of God. First of all, and properly first, it is profitable for doctrine, which means teaching. For the basic foundation of any man's life, the basic foundation for your soul and mine, the basic foundation for our eternal welfare, must be teaching. Doctrine. Now we made a statement in the opening of this epistle as well as in First Timothy when we started it. The one of the greatest emphasis that we find in these epistles is the emphasis that is placed upon doctrine, meaning sound doctrine or sound teaching. My beloved, there is no gradable that is more accurate in its content than the Word of God for teaching. The doctrine of this precious word is undoubtedly based upon divine inspiration. The teaching of the word of God. May I contrast this teaching of God's truth with what we have already suggested but repeat again without apology. We find in the second epistle of Timothy what we have seen and are seeing and shall see in days to come in relation to divine truth. We found in chapter two and verse eight that men stray from the truth. We found in chapter three and verse eight there, we found that men resist the truth. First in chapter two and verse eighteen I should say, men stray from the truth. In chapter two, chapter three rather, in verse eight, men resist the truth. In chapter four, we shall learn in verse four, they shall turn away their ears from the truth. Now, beloved, what is the truth? You know as well as I do when we read this precious book. It is the word of God that claims to be the truth. The Lord Jesus prayed in John seventeen and verse nineteen these words. sanctify them by the truth. And then he added these words. Thy word is truth. My beloved radio friend, do you believe the word of God is the truth of God? It is sound teaching. It is the true teaching that God would have you and me to know. And this word divinely inspired is possible for doctrines, for teaching to know what is the truth. Now, beloved, I read many books, and sometimes one reads books that you cannot swallow for the truth. But may I state, when it comes to the Word of God, it claims to be the truth of God. It presents itself as the truth of God. Pilate, perhaps in sarcasm, said to Jesus, What is truth? And there isn't a question of doubt that Pilate was questioning. Where can you find the truth anyway? Perhaps even today there may be some of you listening, and you'll wonder, where can I find the truth about things? Where can I find the true origin of what is right? May I ask, did you ever try the Bible? Did you ever study the Bible? and you will find that this book claims to be the truth of God. It makes the claims to be the truth of God. Thy word is pure. Thy word is true. Thy word is righteous. Thy words are altogether righteous, claims the very book itself. It claims to be the word of truth. And it makes those claims itself. And my beloved is profitable for doctrine. And over to God that men would seek for the truth. The truth about life. The truth about the origin of life. The truth about the troubles, the difficulties, and all that we go through in life. You find answers for them in the Word of God. And where is the truth about eternity found? Where is the truth about the future? I go to the politicians, or what do they tell me? They print and they place a rosy picture before me that I can't swallow. Not in its entirety. I look at the leaders of the nations. I follow what they have to say. But tell me, can I put confidence in their minds that they are speaking the truth, no matter how sincere their purpose and their desire may be? I want to say very frankly, I want to put my confidence in what I know to be the absolute positive truth. The teaching of what I can depend upon as being right all the way through. I want to say there's only one source and that's the word of God. Oh my radio friend, I beg of you, take this book as the truth of God and it will teach you what the truth is. It will tell you the truth about sin. It will tell you the truth about judgment. It will tell you the truth about eternity. It will tell you the truth about salvation. It will tell you the truth about God, about Christ, about all that you and I need and should know. And I want to ask that you're reading its pages. And I want to say humbly but gratefully, when I turn to read the word of God, I can say, as did the blessed Savior, thy word is truth. And this book is profitable for teaching. And then it's profitable for conviction. The word reproof means conviction. Meaning what? It will convict me when I'm wrong. Said the Hebrew writer as he wrote to the Hebrews in his epistle, The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any, two-edged sword, piercing even to the divining of thunder of the soul and spirit. the joints and marrow, and as the discernment of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. For all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And I want to tell you something, friend. If you subject, if you put your life under this microscopic word of God, this word of God will show you if you're living wrong or if you're living right. And it will convict you when you're wrong. It will convict you when you're going astray. They will convict you and reveal to you when you're not walking according to God's will. And it will convict you of that. Not only that, this one will convict you that you're lost. If you're a hell-deserving sinner that is still on sale, this book will convict you that you're a lost sinner going to hell. Now I dare you to find another book that will do that. But I know it did that to me. I sat under the teaching and the preaching of the word of God for many months. And that word preached from this precious book convicted me, saying, John, you're on the way to hell. And I said, Lord, you're right. And I knew he was. And so do you if you're not saved. And this book will convict you. But not only that. His purpose is not only to teach, not only to convict, but also to correct. Profitable for correction. And this book will put you on the right path. Correct what is wrong. Are you a sinner on your way to hell? This book will tell you how to get saved. Turn you around and put your feet on the way to heaven. Are you a Christian that's not living right? This book will convict you of that and reprove you of it and correct you if you follow its correction and put you on the path of obedience. What a book. And it's not only profitable for correction, it's profitable for instruction in righteousness, meaning in right living. It will convince you in two ways, instruct you in two ways about righteousness. If you're a sinner, it will tell you you have no righteousness, and you must seek the righteousness of God that is offered to you in Christ, which alone can be your safety for time and eternity. and it will instruct you not only to find His provided righteousness for your soul's salvation, but it will also teach you how to live right. Child of God, it will teach you and me how to live right too. Praise His holy name. And this is the fourfold prophet of the Word of God. For teaching, for reproof, for conviction, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. that the man of God may be perfect, meaning complete, fully furnished, fully fitted unto all good works. Or may God speak whatever way he knows by his spirit this message is needed in every heart. May he speak for the eternal blessing of every soul. Shall we pray? We command and commit to thee our Father above, by the Holy Spirit, to use this, thy great, imperishable, impregnable, eternal word, to thy glory, and to the blessing of all who have heard. In Jesus' name, amen.