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2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is inspired by God (God-breathed) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
THE REFORMATION AND SOLA SCRIPTURA.
In his book Strange Fire, John MacArthur writes about the incredible influence of the Reformation in the 1500s. Through heroes of the faith like Luther, Zwingli, and John Calvin Western, civilization was radically altered. But he notes, the “true power behind the Reformation did not flow from any one man or group of men…. No, the Reformation can only be explained by something far more profound: a force infinitely more potent than anything mere mortals could produce…. The Reformation was the inevitable and explosive consequence of the Word of God crashing like a massive tidal wave against the thin barricades of man-made tradition and hypocritical religion. As the common people of Europe gained access to the Scriptures in their own language, the Spirit of God used that timeless truth to convince their hearts and convert their souls. The result was utterly transformative, not only for the lives of individual sinners, but for the entire continent on which they resided.” We can add that the same Word of God lay at the foundation of the beginnings of our great nation as the Pilgrims and Puritans came across the ocean carrying their Bibles and founding those early institutions like Harvard and Yale for training English and Indian youth in the Scriptures. Sadly, you’d never know it today as these institutions have moved far away from the Bible.
SATAN’S WAR ON GOD’S WORD.
One of the main themes of history is Satan’s efforts to twist, corrupt, and destroy the Word of God. A. W. Pink notes the Bible has been the most intensely loved book in all the world, but it has also been the most bitterly hated. The battle for God’s Word began in the Garden of Eden when Satan challenged Eve with the question, “Has God really said?” Ever since to this moment, God’s Word has been under attack from many people and places. Its divine inspiration, inerrancy, authority, and especially its sufficiency and supremacy are rejected, ignored, hated, and mocked. It is ridiculed in the public square and ignored or twisted even in many churches and “Christian” institutions. Theistic evolution has replaced six-day creation. Same sex marriage has been affirmed. Women preachers are leading churches despite what 1 Timothy 2 clearly says. Eternal hell is denied. The exclusivity of Christ as the only Savior is rejected. Religious hucksters rip Scripture out of context to promise health, wealth, and prosperity as you send in your seed money. Critical theory blasphemes Scripture as a tool of oppression. Our secular culture denies that there is such a thing as absolute truth. But even with all that opposition, God is faithful in preserving His Word. There are an estimated 80-100 million Bibles printed every year. It is still the best-selling book in the world.
FOUR CONVICTIONS ABOUT YOUR BIBLE.
This morning in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we come to this most important statement and description in all the Bible about the nature and purpose of the Bible. The previous verses of 2 Timothy 3 reminded us we live in a world of self-love, money-love, and love of pleasure, hypocrisy, false teaching, and persecution. But God didn’t leave us alone in a culture of despair. God has given us an answer and that answer is in His Word. Just as God has given us the Living Word, our Lord Jesus, so He has given us His written Word and He expects us to use it. Verses 16-17 give four convictions that need to be deeply planted in every believer’s heart.
CONVICTION #1- YOUR BIBLE IS A UNIQUE GOD-BREATHED BOOK.
2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed…
The word “unique” means one of a kind. There is no book like the Bible. Satan has launched many imposters, like the Book of Mormon or the Jehovah’s Witnesses New World Translation or Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures of Christian Science or Rome’s traditions of the church or the Koran. But the only book that is God-breathed is your Bible. This is where God speaks to you. Peter chimes right in with Paul.
2 Peter 1:20-21, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
God is all wise, all powerful, absolute truth, and the book He has preserved for us over all these centuries has the same qualities. This unique Book is without error, infallible, and it carries God’s authority. We had better listen. Friends, we firmly believe and are convinced and would have to die on this hill – that the Bible is God’s revelation to us and absolutely without error. It is without error whether it’s talking about creation, or the fall of man, or the flood, or the work of Christ on the cross, or the second coming of Christ, or the two final destinies of heaven and hell. Your Bible is unique because it is God-breathed.
CONVICTION #2 – YOUR BIBLE IS ESSENTIAL.
2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable…
We’re not going to go past this quickly. The word “profitable” means useful, helpful, beneficial. God gave us the Bible to use in our lives, not to set on a shelf and bring to church once a week, and these days some don’t even do that. Spurgeon said you could write “damnation” in the dust of many people’s Bibles. Think of all the things in your house that you use every day: the kitchen water-giving faucet, your refrigerator, microwave, water heater, AC. I’m thankful for all these things. They are useful every day. That’s the Bible – useful or beneficial and given by God for us to use every day! Psalm 1 says “in His law he meditates day and night.” Joshua 1:8 says the same thing, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night!”
God’s Word is useful and profitable. We saw back in verses 14-15 that God’s Word, empowered by the Spirit, can save us. Now in verses 16-17 we see God’s Word is designed to cause believers to grow and change to become more and more like Christ. God’s Word brings us the promise of justification by faith alone, and then brings us into God’s growth cycle to help us to grow.
1 Peter 2:2, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
We need to learn how to use this powerful weapon. It’s not a museum piece only to be admired. It’s that sharp, two-edged sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17 that does precise work in your heart, in your soul.
Hebrews 4:12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Remember Jesus whipped out that sword against the devil with these words: “It is written! Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” That was Jesus’ conviction regarding Scripture. Christian author William Hendriksen said, “The human authors were powerfully guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. As a result, what they wrote is not only without error but of supreme value for man. It is all God wanted it to be. It constitutes the infallible rule of faith and practice for mankind.” Equipped with the Spirit and the Word, you can handle anything God allows to come into your life. Do you believe that?
CONVICTION #3 – YOUR BIBLE IS NECESSARY FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
We can’t emphasize the importance of this too much. Here you have God’s four step growth cycle for every believer. First, God takes you into His classroom to teach you. Then God hauls you into His courtroom to reprove you. Then He takes you to His hospital to correct you. And finally, He brings you to His gymnasium for training in righteousness. The order is important. This is how God grows His people. This is the sanctification process for every believer.
God’s Classroom – Teaching. The starting point is listening to and learning God’s Word. Your Bible is the authoritative textbook and here God teaches us everything He wants us to know and do. The word “teaching” is didaskalia or doctrine. In 1 Timothy 4:16 Paul tells Timothy to pay close attention to himself and his teaching. He repeats this over and over. In Titus he speaks of sound doctrine, purity in doctrine, adorn the doctrine. We’ll see in 2 Timothy 4:3 many will not endure sound doctrine. Instead, they want their ears tickled.
So, what does Scripture teach us? It teaches us about God – that He is the sovereign, eternal, infinite unchanging, holy, loving, invisible God. In the beginning…what? “In the beginning GOD!” It clearly teaches us the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us about how we got here, two genders, male and female, marriage between a man and woman, our fall into sin, how God provided Jesus Christ for sinners through the cross. It teaches us how to be saved, that God has given His people the Spirit, who we are in Christ, that Christ is returning for His people, and how to please Him with our lives. In the Scriptures God teaches us about marriage, forgiveness, trials, finances, how to deal with worry, depression, anxiety, how to control your tongue, how to love your spouse, and how to raise your children and a ton of other things. Your Bible gives you God’s standard of right and wrong, good and evil. It gives you truth.
It goes without saying if God wants to teach us, we must be teachable. This is why the world hates and ridicules the Bible. They don’t want God telling them what to think or do. But the child of God with the Spirit of God filling his heart loves the Word and wants God to teach him, like that newborn babe craving the milk of the Word in 1 Peter 2:2. God’s Word is your classroom to teach you.
Psalms 86:11, Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
Jeremiah 15:16, Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
God’s Courtroom – Reproof. The word “reproof” means to prove guilty or to show someone their sin and summon them to repentance. This is what Nathan did with David when he confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. “You are the man.” God uses the Scripture to expose our hearts. One commentator said the Scripture “detects and exposes all that is false. It convicts of all that is unholy, exposing and refuting every religious error and falsehood.”
I’ve had several CAT scans recently. Scripture is God’s CAT scan technology. You come to church and hope to hear a nice sermon about nice things from a nice pastor. But then as the SCAN (sermon) begins, you become aware of some real problems in your life, and you get convicted of either some wrong beliefs or wrong behavior or maybe both. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could access the results of the SCAN each Sunday? But that’s between you and God.
Maybe you come to church fuming over your wife being late with the kids, you had a few words, and then someone gets up and talks about husbands loving their wives, living with them in an understanding way by helping them with the children. Or last night you yielded to some soft porn on the laptop and the preacher gets up and talks about the sin of impurity and lusting after a woman in your heart and you begin to squirm. Or you used some choice words yesterday and someone refers to Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth…” and you know you are guilty. You’ve been reproved by God’s precious, powerful, and piercing Word. This is the purpose of Scripture – to make you feel miserable about your sin and lead you to repentance.
The purpose of reproof is to humble us and bring us to repentance. The Word knocks us flat. We need help, and that’s the third purpose of God’s Word.
God’s Hospital – Correction. God’s Word doesn’t just knock us flat or tell us what we need to put off. There’s also the “put on” in biblical growth or sanctification. The word correction, epanorthosin, means to stand up straight again. God teaches us, convicts us, but He doesn’t leave us lying in the dirt. God’s Word cuts and pierces, but also heals and restores. He tells us what to put on. The Bible always gives us hope. God’s Word shows us how to repent, find forgiveness, begin afresh, what to put on in the place of what we put off. Stop lying – become a truth teller. Stop gossiping – become an encourager. Get the log out of your own eye, then help others with their logs. Put off anxiety by putting on prayer and trust in your loving, sovereign God. Replace bitterness with forgiveness and loving deeds; anger with kindness, worry with trust, fear with love for God and others, sexual impurity with self-control and genuine love. You repent like David. After he was convicted of his sin he repented, confessing his sin to God, and receiving God’s forgiveness in Psalm 51. Repentance is a change of mind and heart with a change in behavior. God gives His people great hope. Even when you sin, He restores and corrects as you confess and forsake the sin.
Proverbs 28:13, He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
God’s Gymnasium – Training in righteousness. The word training is really “child-training,” but it applies to all of us. Believers are God’s children. You train your children by forming habits day after day. If you want them to say “yes” instead of “yeah,” you remind them over and over. No one becomes a good athlete without training, developing good habits. We saw the fruit of good habits the other Sunday when these young people got up here and played that piano or violin or guitar or sang. Medical students train to become brain surgeons. Yes, God uses the Scripture to train us, to develop habits of righteousness in our lives, to live for his glory. Righteousness is training to do the right thing, godliness, or that which pleases God. Paul’s command to Timothy came right out of the gymnasium.
1 Timothy 4:7, “Discipline (ESV-train) yourself for godliness.”
Godliness doesn’t come naturally, even to a child of God indwelt by God’s Spirit.
God’s growth plan for every believer comes through His useful, profitable Word: teach, reprove, correct, and train in doing God’s will. First you come to Christ for salvation. Then you enter this life-long plan of growing and changing to please and serve your God. We’ll keep reading and meditating and memorizing and studying God’s Word until we see Him face to face.
CONVICTION #4 – YOUR BIBLE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ALL YOU NEED TO LIVE FOR GOD.
2 Timothy 3:17, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
This may be the most amazing part of these two verses. Paul says it is through the Scriptures that the man of God is adequately equipped for living for His glory. Adequate means competent, able to meet all demands. Like an auto mechanic – if he is adequate, he can handle anything you bring him. It is used in medicine of a newborn whose whole body has all the parts; nothing is missing. Equipped means completely outfitted or thoroughly furnished, like a ship that is fully rigged out and ready to go. And every good work means you’ll have all you need to live a life pleasing to God. Just as Christ is your sufficiency as your Savior, His Word is your sufficiency for your growing in Him.
The Bible is like a spiritual toolchest with every conceivable tool needed to do whatever the job requires. Every Christian has in the Scriptures empowered by the Spirit of God all the resources he or she needs to be all God wants him to be. This is an amazing statement. How often have you been in the middle of doing a job and then realize you don’t have the tool you need to get the job done? Oh no, now you must run to Home Depot. God says we’ll never have that problem with His God-breathed book. We don’t have to run to the world for answers for living for God. Jay Adams wrote, “In the pages of Scripture are stowed every principle they might ever need to perform their tasks.”
GOD’S WORD GIVES US HOPE.
What is Paul saying? God’s people in Christ have all the hope they need to put off sinful habits and put on godly ones as God’s Spirit works through this four-step application of His Word. No believer is stuck helplessly in sin. Is it magic? Not at all. Does it take work? Yes, it does. We are justified freely without works of any kind. But sanctification or growing calls for believers to expend energy. We’re to run, walk, and pursue. Often people will say, “Well, I tried the Bible, but it didn’t work for me.” Really? How long did you try to apply God’s principles? Remember, it is not a magic potion. Maybe you’re a husband. You’re going to have to work at being the loving leader of Ephesians 5 and the learner of 1 Peter 3. Sanctification is not automatic. Or you’re a wife. First Peter says you’re to dress yourself with a gentle and quiet spirit, but you struggle with your tongue, and it keeps getting you in trouble. Maybe you’re a spender and keep going deeper in debt. You can control that by God’s power as you set disciplined financial principles from His Word. Praise God, He tells us in His Word all we need to know to live in a way that pleases Him and benefits our lives as well. When we fail, we don’t quit. Instead, we confess our sins and God restores us back to fellowship with Him and we again apply the Scriptures to our out of control living. You may have trouble finding the answer or applying the answer to your life. That’s where the body of Christ comes in. God provides other believers to give counsel for handling the situation and to walk with us for encouragement and accountability.
SO WHAT?
Know this – the most precious possession you have in this world is your Bible. Are you reading it? Are you listening and doing what it says? Is God doing His work of transforming your life into the likeness of Christ by His Word? Are you growing spiritually? Do you talk with Christ as you go through your day? The answers you need for your own heart are in this very book that exploded into the world through the Reformation.
I want to finish with this beautiful quote from the Puritan Thomas Brooks.
The Word of the Lord is
a light to guide you,
a counsellor to counsel you,
a comforter to comfort you,
a staff to support you,
a sword to defend you,
and a physician to cure you.
The Word is
a mine to enrich you,
a robe to clothe you,
and a crown to crown you.