Do you recall the story “Robinson Crusoe” written by Daniel DeFoe? It’s one of those first survival stories … a man shipwrecked, alone, homeless, on a deserted island. What did he need more than anything else? Rescue! But one of the key things that happens in this story is that Crusoe discovers a crate with a Bible in it. And so he begins to read it and he opens to Psalm 50:15 in which God promises – “call on me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you will glorify me.” Later he picks it up again and reads: “all these things have not brought you to repentance.” His deliverance was not to be from the island, from his situation, but from himself – his sins and his guilt. He was to be born again. Through this horrible experience, this lonely man discovers a relationship with God as his deliverer and the Bible as his lifeline to God.
It seems like for many of us, we’ve kind of set that lifeline aside and then we start to wonder why our spiritual life is so dry or meaningless or we feel so far from God. It’s almost like we need to have a Robinson Crusoe experience alone with the Bible on a desert island. How would that change you?
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we find this lifeline described in ways that reveal it’s importance and vitality to our lives. And as Paul is writing he reminds Timothy and us to get back to what really matters – get back to the Bible because the world is going to pull us away from it. It’s a battle!
Let’s read this text….
1. The first word that reveals the Bible as our lifeline to God is “Scripture.”
How does God speak to you? Now it’s true that God does speak to us through others and sometimes through dreams, visions, and experiences we have. But none of those ways speak with the authority and the infallibility of the Scripture. What I say to you in a sermon is not Scripture. What you experience in a dream is not Scripture. What you learn from your life experience is not Scripture. It does not have the authority of the Word of God.
What does the word Scripture mean? I think that we would all say: “the Bible.” True, but actually the word itself means something. “Scripture” means “that which is written down.” It may have at one time been spoken, preached, prophesied. But now it is written on paper. And it is the written word that has authority for us.
Why is this important for us? Because no one can come along and say that their words are the authoritative and inerrant word of God. What did the Lord say? Deuteronomy 4:2 “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
Of course both of these verses are from the Old Testament and speak of the Old Testament. What about the New Testament? How can we say that the written New Testament alone is the Word of God? Wasn’t that decided by a bunch of men in a church council in the 4th century?
Jesus said this in John 17:20 in his last prayer with his disciples: John 17:20 "I do not ask for these only,(the Apostles) but also for those who will believe in me through their word,” Jesus here is making it clear that the word of the apostles was the basis for faith in Jesus. And then Ephesians 2:19-20 says: “you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” The early church simply recognized that the books that we have in the New Testament were those written by the Apostles. At the end of the time of the Apostles, the written Word of God was closed and complete.
2. The second word that defines our lifeline to God is “ALL.”
It says that “ALL Scripture is inspired by God…” Why is this a crucial word for us? Because the temptation is to pick and choose what we think is the Word of God and what isn’t. No, we wouldn’t ever say that but for all practical purposes, that is how we often treat the Bible today.
For example, the Gospel of Mark might be considered more precious than the book of Numbers. Or… today, the book of Revelation speaks much more to us than Jeremiah. Acts seems better than 2 Kings. I’ve found people who simply will never read the Old Testament because they view it as the “old” news which was for the Jews and the New Testament is the Christian Bible.
We are missing out when we miss the word “ALL”. Certainly, it takes much more effort to understand the Old Testament Law, historical books and the prophets. We have to wade through a lot of history and poetry to get to the heart of the matter. But Jeremiah is as much a rich and fruitful book as John. Leviticus can teach us lessons of life just as well as Luke. Why? Because it is ALL the same Word of God.
And what is even more important to realize – the ENTIRE Scripture has ultimately one subject – that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip the evangelist met an Ethiopian eunuch on the road who was reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip stopped by and the Scripture says: Acts 8:35 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”
And then Jesus, after his resurrection, was walking with two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus and the Scripture says this: Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
I’ve spent many years teaching almost exclusively the Old Testament in the Bible school in Poland and do you know what I discovered? Jesus! Over and over and over again you will find pictures of Jesus and people whose character foreshadows Jesus. The Old Testament is filled with examples of the Gospel.
After all, what was the Bible of the apostles? What inspired Paul and Peter and John? The Old Testament! If it was spiritual food for them, it’s spiritual food for us as well!
3. The third word that defines our lifeline to God is “INSPIRATION.”
What do you think of when you hear the word “inspiration”? A brilliant idea…something you hadn’t thought of before…clever…motivated to do something.
Every single verse in the Bible was written down by men but inspired by God. The ideas and thoughts and insights came from God’s Holy Spirit. These men wrote with their own styles of writing and abilities but God used them and inspired their minds in order that they would write HIS message in THEIR style.
1 Peter 1:10-11 reminds us of this: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” When the prophets such as Moses, Jeremiah, Micah, Isaiah, etc. were writing, they were inspired by what? The Spirit of Christ which was in them.
Our text says that “All Scripture is inspired by God” – it is actually one word which means “God-breathed.” Think of how God “breathed” life into the first man Adam. Jesus “breathed” upon the disciples as symbolic of receiving the Holy Spirit.
The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of a valley of dry bones and in that vision God encourages Ezekiel to prophesy or preach the word of God to those bones: Ezek. 37:9 “Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."” God inspired Ezekiel with His Word and that Word also brought new life!
Think about a sailboat pushed across the water – so were men led to write scripture – solely from God. Therefore, through Scripture God also breathes new life into your heart. God speaks, ministers to us, comforts us, walks with us through the Scripture. He is breathing life into us through the Scripture.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us“the word of God is living and active.” It’s the book that is alive because God speaks through it into our lives. So again, the Bible is our lifeline. I like to think of babies – how they are intimately connected to their mother in the womb – they receive all the nutrients, oxygen, and everything they need to grow and survive from their mother but at the same time they have a completely seperate body, different blood, different nervous system. Scripture is our lifeline to the Lord. We need that connection with him or we will not grow, we will not thrive, we will not live – we just can’t make it alone!
4. The fourth word that describes our lifeline to the Lord is “ADEQUATE.”
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
It’s vital that we understand what this means. Going back to Robinson Crusoe … imagine if he discovered a secret fortress on his desert island and it was filled with books – all the classics compiled through history, and all the history of the world, the poetry, the masterpieces of fiction, philosophy, mathematics, and science. And he devoted his many years on that island to reading all those books – after all, there’s nothing else to do. We would probably say that he would have something of an advanced education after that great study.
But take away that library, that education and replace it with what he had originally – one book – the Bible and it would be enough to prepare him for whatever he needed in life. All the studies in the world cannot help you to live and produce spiritual fruit. They can help you get what you want in life – fame, fortune, power. But they cannot give life and the real success which is the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. These can only be produced by the education and working of God’s Spirit in the Word of God.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against education – I’ve had plenty of it myself. I have a library full of books and most of them are not Bibles. But unless the number one source of your understanding and knowledge and living is found in the Scriptures, you are studying and reading and living in vain!
What is the key to open this book up to be a lifeline? To be adequate? To understand the truths within? The Holy Spirit must be your guide. No human being can understand it without the tutor of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”
As someone once said: “The Bible is a locked book to a locked heart.” Without the Spirit it is a ridiculous book. Unless the heart is unlocked by surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord.
The one message of Scripture that can be conveyed loud and clear to a lost soul – we are sinners who are worthy of damnation! but God has sent us salvation through his Son Jesus Christ. If we repent and trust in Christ, we are made right with God. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit enters into your heart and suddenly, as if scales falling from your eyes, the Scriptures begin to make sense. They are not foolish, ridiculous, or stupid. Instead they are the source of food and life and equipping for service.
