Strathalbyn Church of Christ

2 Tim 3:14-17. Theme: The Bible – is it true? Is it useful?

Sermon by Pastor David Williams. Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 28 Feb 2021.

_14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. _2 Tim 3:14-17.

Pray: Open our ears to the truth of your word. Amen.

The Serpent in the Garden said, “Did God really say?” That serpent continues to question: “Did God really say sinners would go to hell?” “Did God really say that other religions worship false gods?” “Does God really teach the sort of sexual morality that Christians teach?”

Now we here believe the Bible is God’s word, but it is under attack -from those outside as well as those inside the church. Just how confident are you in God’s word? How do you deal with questions like these: Isn’t the Bible full of contradictions? We live in a more enlightened age – the Bible was written in a sexist, racist and intolerant age? It is so out of date - How useful is it anyway?

Today, I’ll look at three questions:

1. Is God’s word true? (Authenticity)

2. Is it useful? (Purpose)

3. What then should we do? (Application)

1. Is God’s word true? Can we rely on it? (Authenticity)

Yes, because it is powerful, it is stamped with God’s authority, and it is true.

a. Powerful – able, profitable

Scripture is reliable because it is powerful: It is powerful to change people: Paul uses these two terms: it is able, and it is useful. The word is “able to instruct you for salvation”; and it is “useful _for … (_making us) complete, equipped for every good work”.

The Word is able to save. There are many stories of people coming to faith through reading a Gideon’s bible, or hearing God’s word on Christian Radio. God’s word will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. So, we don’t need to justify it, apologise for it or improve upon it as some do. No, our task is simply to preach it, teach it, and trust the Spirit to do his work.

But do we trust in his word? Sometimes, we may put more trust in testimonies, or stories, or rousing music, or miracles, or the power of an emotive sermons than in God’s word. But whoever we are speaking to, evangelism should always centre around the word. The Word is powerful for it is able to instruct you for salvation. The word is able to save. To bring someone face to face with God’s word is to bring them face to face with God himself. Scripture is reliable because it is powerful.

b. Authoritative – God inspired it

Scripture is reliable because it is stamped with God’s authority: God inspired it. He puts his own stamp of authority on it. The pope puts a stamp on his documents – it is called the imprimatur. It declares that the pope’s works are free from error. Unfortunately, it has often proven unreliable. However, God’s stamp of authority is always reliable. Just think what an incredible thing we hold here. A gift from the creator of the universe to us - the word of God given to us. Scripture is reliable because it is stamped with God’s own authority

c. True – God inspired it.

And Scripture is reliable because it is true: it is inspired by God. It is created by God’s spirit. Just as God is true and reliable, so the Scriptures are true and reliable. We can have complete confidence in his word. The term “inspired”, actually means “expired”. It literally says, Scripture is “God breathed”. God’s word is breathed out through human authors. So, the Bible always has two authors – human and divine. How does this work?

We can see how this works by first looking at two common errors. The first makes God the sole author, the second makes humans the sole author.

The first error has the writer as merely a human dictating machine – where God just dictates his word through a writer. The author is not involved at all. Both the Mormons and the Muslims teach this. Their prophets, Joseph Smith and Muhammed both claim to have merely received their holy books direct from angels. In their view, God was the sole author.

The second error puts humans completely in control. On this view, the bible is just a human work. The authors are inspired by God, as a poet is inspired by a flower. The writer had some spiritual experience and then wrote up their ideas about it. On this view, the Bible is just a human work. This is what is taught in all liberal theological colleges. But it is not what the Bible teaches. Peter wrote “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirt.” 2 Peter 1:19-21. The individual styles of each writer do show up, so Peter’s style is quite different to John’s – but both were inspired by the same Spirit. “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirt.” The human word is at the same time the divine word. This is why we can clearly hear the Spirit’s voice when we read scripture.

Because the Spirit inspired every author, it means that scripture has unity. It speaks with one voice. Liberal theologians try and set Paul against James – but no, both are saying the same things about salvation and godliness, but in their own styles. Both were carried along by the same Spirit. Some claim the OT God is vengeful and the NT God is love but no, the same God is revealed in both testaments by the same Spirit. The scripture has unity.

d. All scripture is inspired.

Paul says all scripture is inspired, that is, both the OT and the NT (cf., 2 Peter 3:15-16). Now here’s a strange thing. Can you believe it? I reckon there are some in this church who only read the NT! Isn’t that absurd? When Paul wrote this letter, most of the NT was yet to be written, so he was focussing on the OT. We need to read the Old Testament! If you received two cards from your grandkids, would you just read one card and ignore the other. Yet we have these two parts of God’s revelation but so many Christians only read one part and ignore the other. Yes, the OT sometimes needs more effort, but it is worth it – to hear God speaking to us. We will spend time in the OT after Easter.

So, we can rely completely on God’s word for it is powerful, it is stamped with God’s authority and it is true, all of it is true.

2. How useful is it? (Purpose)

But granted it is reliable – there is another problem. How useful is it? How useful is this book written at a time and place so very different to our age? Can we really expect much from it? For the answer to this we need to look at Why. Why was God’s word written?

The manual that comes with a collated screw gun is written for a reason. It explains how to use it. That might surprise you, but I assure you it is true. I discovered this when I’d tried everything I could think of to try and reload the thing. Finally, I came up with the bright idea of reading the manual.

Likewise, the bible is written for a reason. What is it? There are two – clearly stated here.

a. First for salvation:

15 the sacred writings … are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus

As I just mentioned, when Paul wrote, these sacred writings were mainly the OT.

Now here’s a shock. Do you know the OT is able to instruct us for salvation in Christ Jesus? Yes, people can come to faith in Jesus through the OT alone. Just about every phrase that describes J comes from the OT. It’s quite a list:

· Son of Man, Son of David, Seed of Abraham,

· the Last Adam, Atoning sacrifice,

· Shepherd, Lamb, Servant, Messiah,

· one greater that Jonah, than Solomon, Priest in the order of Melchizedek,

· Cornerstone, the Stone rejected and the rock of offence,

· Priest, Prophet, Ransom, Redeemer,

· King of Kings, Judge

· God, I Am, Holy One

· Temple, Sabbath Lord,

· Light, Morning star, Wisdom of God,

· Root of Jesse, Lion of Judah

And there are many, many more.

These all come from the OT, but you won’t understand them adequately without understanding the OT. The OT instructs us for salvation. God’s word was written to save us.

b. The second reason God’s word was written is to make us complete & equipped - for godly living.

16 All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the servant of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So, God’s word makes us complete and equipped for every good work. It does this in four ways:

i. God’s word equips us by Teaching

We need to be taught because we are ignorant. All Christians should be into lifelong learning, for we can never exhaust our understanding of salvation or of how to live as God’s people. We can never exhaust God’s word for it is unlike any other book. God’s word is living. That means that whenever we come to it, we should expect to find fresh insights. We should expect to hear God speaking to us afresh. When did you last have a new insight into God’s word? If it was a long time ago, you need to ask yourself: Am I coming to his word with the right attitude?

ii. God’s word equips us by Correction

I need correcting. Just ask my wife and daughters. For years I was the only male in a house with 4 women (including Ruth Perkin’s niece who was boarding with us). I was very useful to them. For whenever they needed someone to blame, it was always the man. The man was always at fault. I sure needed a lot of correcting.

Sin is deceitful. And so we all need correcting. I love hearing others preach here, because they bring out things that I’ve missed. They show me my blind spots. If you don’t see the need to be corrected by preaching, you must have a very high view of yourself.

Now every preacher has blind spots. No preacher will always get it right. So, it is very important to have your Bibles open when listening to someone preach. Is your pastor teaching the word accurately or is he missing the point? You may see things that I’ve missed. We need to lovingly correct one another for we will get things wrong. This is one reason why we should never rely on just one or two teachers.

iii. God’s word equips us by Reproof

I sin, and I often fail to either see it or deal with it – so I need reproof. Because all scripture is inspired, we cannot pick and choose only the bits we like. So, if I have a problem with generosity and money, I need to listen to the commands and warnings about money. The same applies if I have a problem with lust, or pride or anger. The Word reproves us.

iv. Finally, God’s word equips us by Training us in righteousness

Soldiers train so that things that don’t come naturally, will become reflex actions in the face of danger. Righteousness is not something that comes naturally. I need to allow God’s word to train me. So, if my reflex is to swear at the driver cutting in, I need to be trained so that my reflex is to pray: Lord, give that driver your peace today. God’s word can train me, so that my reflex action is to care, to love, to pray, instead of reacting in anger, impatience or anxiety.

So, the scriptures are written for two reasons: for our salvation and, being saved, for godly living. Before leaving this topic, it is worth making two comments:

i. What you won’t find in scripture:

Notice what is not said – the bible does not claim to tell us everything we might want to know – about lots of things. On many areas it is silent. It won’t tell me what will happen to Russia or America, it won’t help a young man decide whether to marry Jill or Jenny. As far as I know it says nothing about microbes, or the history of China. It is very selective. It is silent on many topics except its main subjects: salvation and godly living. On salvation it says everything we need to know. In its pages, we have all we need for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. We might want to know how the Trinity works, but the Bible doesn’t tell us how the Trinity works, just that it is. So, we can ask the questions, but we need to be a bit cautious and a bit humble in trying to press the Bible into other uses.

ii. What you won’t find anywhere else:

Did you know that scripture is not just useful for these purposes – for salvation, for godly living. It is not just useful, but you will not find the answers to these anywhere else. Not in Plato, Steve Jobs, Dan Brown or Ophrah Winfrey – they will not save you. They will not equip you for godly living. There is no problem in reading these for other reasons, but not for finding God.

Now here is another absurd thought. Did you know that there are some here who like to read books not based on the scriptures? Now it is good to read widely and understand the views of others. But some read these other books to find God or to achieve a deeper spirituality. Can you believe it?? Isn’t that ridiculous. The scriptures are given by God so that we have everything we need to save us and to live for him – yet many ignore this gift. They ignore God’s gift and turn to human works that cannot help us one iota in coming to God and living for him. Only the scriptures can do this.

We have a word that is reliable and that is useful.

3. What then should we do? (Application)-continue in it!

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned …

The false teachers were false to God’s word. They changed it. But Timothy is charged, not to change it, but to continue in it, literally, to remain or abide in the word. Like the tree in the psalm – it flourishes as it grows by the water (Ps. 1), so we flourish when we continue in the living word.

Are you spiritually dry? Then come back to the word and seek refreshment. When you struggle to read it, it can be great to hear how others respond to God’s word and how they struggle too – that is why group bible studies can be so life changing. God’s word is powerful to save, and to keep you in that salvation. It is powerful to make you complete, equipped for every good work.

Summary:

1. We have a reliable word

2. It is reliable for everything we need to save us and to be useful to God

3. So, let’s continue in it!

Let us pray, Lord, thank you for the incredible gift of your word to us. Your word that gives us all we need to know of your salvation and for living a useful life for you. Help us to continue in your word. Amen.

Sources:

· Dr Peter Adam, Being Constantly Reformed by the Bible: A Neglected Reformation Principle https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/semper-reformanda/

· Conversations with Rev Chris Jolliffe, Trinity Aldgate.

Series: 2 Timothy

Topics: #2 Timothy