Larry Brincefield
larkayb@earthlink.net
January 19, 2003
Title: What We Believe....About the Bible (or "Always Trust the Bubbles")
Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Introduction
1. I’m not a SCUBA diver, but SCUBA has always fascinated me.
A. When you take up SCUBA, one of the things that they will teach you is that your bubbles are always right.
i. When you’re deep underwater
ii. you’re surrounded by an aura of light
iii. it is very difficult to tell which way is up
iv. The water diffuses the light.
v. and since you have a sense of weightlessness in the water
vi. it is easy to get disoriented
vii. and lose your sense of direction.
B. You don’t know which is up.
i. You may feel so strongly that your perception of up is correct
ii. that you will ignore your air bubbles
iii. and go the way that you think is up.
C. And so, the SCUBA diver is taught to always trust and follow his bubbles.
i. No matter what you think or feel,
ii. your bubbles are always correct.
iii. They always go up!
iv. So always follow your bubbles.
v. Always!
D. If a diver takes it upon himself to ignore the bubbles...
i. because he KNOWS which way to go...
ii. it can lead to his peril.
E. Many people in world today are disoriented
i. they have lost their way
ii. because they have ignored the bubbles...
iii. they have ignored the only thing in life that is trust-worthy and true...
iv. God’s Word, the Bible.
F. They are going the way they THINK is right.
i. Or maybe they even know the right way...
ii. but they choose to live as they please
iii. ignoring the bubbles.
2. Like the scuba-diver’s bubbles,
A. the Bible is always right,
B. it doesn’t matter how you feel
C. it doesn’t matter what you think
D. the Bible is always right!
E. You can put your faith and trust in the Bible.
3. As we continue our study of the What We Believe...we come to Article 4, "We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith."—Nazarene Manual 2001-2005
4. Read Text: 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Body
1. First of all, we believe it is important to teach the Bible to our children.
A. Paul says, "continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures" 2 Tim 3:14-15 (NIV)
i. Paul is telling Timothy that it is important for him to depend upon the Scriptures that he learned even from when he was very young.
B. We know that Timothy’s father was a Greek and his mother was a Jew.
i. And it was from his mother that he was trained in the Scriptures as a young boy.
ii. Jewish children began their FORMAL training in the Scriptures at age 5.
iii. But Timothy began learning Scripture even younger than that from his mother’s knee.
C. That’s one of the reasons that we believe in Sunday School in the Church of the Nazarene.
i. It is so important for our children to learn the Bible from the very youngest age....
ii. and not only LEARN about the Bible...
iii. but to also use it as a GUIDE for their lives.
D. But we can’t just depend upon the Sunday School either.
i. We as parents need to teach our children to read the Bible.
ii. We need to show them how to use Scriptural truth as a guide to their lives...
iii. our children need to see US reading the Bible.
E. If our children can learn to trust the Holy Scriptures, like Timothy did, then they will be able to "trust their bubbles".
2. We believe the Bible can save you.
A. Paul tells Timothy, "you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" 2 Tim 3:15 (NIV)
B. Albert was serving in the Armed Services and was to be shipped out to Europe.
i. His mother said, "Albert, I have purchased a small Bible for you to carry to Europe.
ii. Promise me that you will read from it every day."
iii. Albert promised.
iv. And for eight months, he made a point to read from it every day.
v. The day came for his division to advance along the west bank of the Rhine,
vi. which would bring him in close contact with the enemy.
vii. Suddenly, he felt a something that almost knocked him to the ground.
viii. As he regained his balance, he put his hand under his shirt.
ix. There was no blood.
x. Then he pulled out his Bible,
xi. and to his amazement, he found that the bullet had hit his Bible
xii. and completely went through the entire book
xiii. and lodging just inside the back cover.
xiv. His Bible had saved his life!!
xv. From that moment on, he read the torn pages with even greater interest
xvi. and discovered in those pages something else that could save his life.
xvii. By Roy F. Cottrell Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) March 1958, Pacific Press
C. Paul knows that the truth from God’s Word contains what is needed for us to get saved!
i. And more important than just stopping a bullet...
ii. the truth that you learn in the Bible will save you from a fate WORSE than death.
3. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God
A. Paul says, "All Scripture is God-breathed" 2 Tim 3:16 (NIV)
B. Our manual says "We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures"
i. "plenary" is just a fancy word for "complete and total"
C. God didn’t sit these writers down and then dictate the entire Bible...
i. But He inspired them...
ii. He revealed to them the ideas and concepts
iii. and they wrote them down....
iv. and they have been preserved down through the ages...
v. and continues to reveal great truth to us today!
D. As you read different writers of the Bible,
i. you can pick up on unique uses of language...
ii. and different perspectives of the same story...
iii. and that is what makes the Bible so fascinating to read....
iv. it is written by so many different people...
v. and yet it all contains the thoughts that come from the heart and mind of God
E. (Carlton F. Harvey, from a sermon I found in an old "Preacher’s Magazine")
F. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit"
4. We believe the Bible is useful.
A. Yes, the Bible makes a great coffee table book...
i. It’s an excellent book to have in our library...
ii. It contains some of the most beautiful poetry and prose of all the literature in the world...
iii. It contains a rivoting presentation of history...
iv. But so much more than all that...
v. the Bible is useful for us today!
B. And Paul mentions 4 ways in which Scripture is useful....First of all, Paul said: "Scripture is... useful for teaching" 2 Tim 3:16 (NIV)
i. The only place in all the world where we get a first-hand account of Jesus and His teaching is in the Bible. —Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
ii. And we’ve already talked about the importance of teaching it to children.
iii. But the Bible is more than just a collection of stories for children...
iv. it is useful for adults as well.
v. And I can assure you, our education is NEVER over!!
vi. May we ALWAYS be a student of God’s Word!!
C. Paul says that Scripture is useful for rebuking.
i. The word that Paul uses has the meaning of bringing conviction, warning, or reprimand.
ii. Have you ever been reading along in the Bible when all of a sudden,
iii. you sensed the Holy Spirit dealing with you about something in your life?
iv. something that isn’t in line whatever you just read in that passage of Scripture?
v. The Bible is an excellent tool for "convincing a man of the error of his ways and pointing him on the right path"—Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
vi. One dark night years ago, in a forest in Sicily an outlaw stopped and held up a Bible salesman with a gun.
a. The salesman was ordered to light a bonfire and burn his books.
b. He lit the fire,
c. and then he asked if he might read a little from each book
d. before he dropped it into the fire.
e. He read the twenty-third psalm from book;
f. from another book, he read the story of the Good Samaritan
g. from another one, he read the Sermon on the Mount;
h. from another book, he read the 13th Chapter of 1Corinthians.
i. At the end of each reading, the outlaw said: "That’s a good book; we won’t burn that one; give it to me."
j. In the end not one book was burned;
k. and the outlaw left the Bible salesman
l. and went off into the night with all his books.
m. Years later that same outlaw turned up again.
n. This time he was a preacher,
o. and it was the reading of those books--the Bible--that changed his life.
p. —Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
D. Paul says that Scripture is useful for correcting.
i. That means that we need to take all our doctrine...
ii. all our beliefs...
iii. all our theories...
iv. all our ideas about the truth...
v. and hold them to the test of Scripture.
vi. Where we are wrong in our thinking....
vii. Scripture will correct us!
viii. Scripture has a great way of weeding out truth and lie.
E. Paul says that Scripture is useful for training in righteousness.
i. That’s why we said at the very beginning of our study of doctrine...
ii. we aren’t studying our doctrine in order to win arguments...
iii. we are studying our doctrine to win people.
iv. The same holds true to the Scripture...
v. To some people, the only thing the Bible is good for is to win an argument...
vi. and these people may really know what words are written in the Bible...
vii. but they don’t let it affect their own thinking.
viii. The genuine and sincere study of the Bible will show us
a. the right way to think...
b. the right way to behave...
c. and the right way to live.
5. And finally, Paul tells us that Scripture will thoroughly equip us for every good work.
A. Do you find that you need supernatural strength to be the Sunday School Teacher that God called you to be?
i. Do you find that you need supernatural strength to be a good parent to your children?
ii. Do you find that you need supernatural strength to be a good employee?
a. or husband?
b. or wife?
c. or citizen?
B. The Bible will give you that supernatural strength and guidance and wisdom....
i. giving you the equipment that you need to be the best Christian that you can be!
Conclusion
1. We believe in the Bible....
A. We believe that it is important to teach the Bible to our children...
B. we believe that the Bible can save you...
C. we believe that the Bible is divinely inspired by God...
D. we believe that the Bible is still useful and relevant today...
E. and we believe that the Bible will equip us for ministry and for life.
2. And one last thing that I haven’t mentioned...but have implied throughout this sermon...
A. We believe that the Bible must be read!!
B. it must be studied!!!
C. it must be devoured!!!
D. We must be students of God’s Word and His teachings.
3. The Bible is a wonderful Book,
A. that contains incredible truth that is still relevant today....
B. so take the Bible off your coffe table...
C. wipe the dust off....
D. and spend some time every day...
E. with the Word of God!
4. In SCUBA,
A. if you don’t trust your bubbles...
B. you could become hopelessly lost...
C. and even drown.
5. In life,
A. if you don’t trust your Bible...
B. if you don’t use it as a guide for you life...
C. you can become hopelessly lost in this life....
D. and eternally lost in the next.
