The Mighty Scripture
II Tim. 3:16-17
Introduction:
In II Tim. 3, Paul is giving his instructions to Timothy concerning a variety of matters.
In vs. 1-9, he warns Timothy about evil men who love themselves more than God and compound their evil by leading others astray and opposing the truth.
In vs. 10-12, Paul compliments Timothy on his faithfulness in the face of persecution.
In Vs. 14, Timothy is urged to remain faithful and to remember where his faith came from . . . the sacred writings (vs. 15) to which he had been exposed from infancy ( II Tim. 1:5).
Then in vs. 16-17, Paul reminds Timothy and us of the power contained in the Scripture.
READ II Tim. 3:16-17
In this passage, Paul tells Timothy where the Scriptures come from, what they are used for and their ultimate purpose in our lives.
I. The source of Scripture.
A. All Scripture
1. Every Scripture, every book, chapter and verse.
2. All Scripture collectively.
B. God breathed
1. Not from man but from God through the Holy Spirit. It is true that the words were physically written by men, but they were men who were guided by and moved or carried along by the holy spirit. (II Pet. 1:21)
2. Claims to be the word of God 2600 times.
3. Infallible
a. No historical, geographical, or scientific mistakes.
ILLUS: Hittites . . . Discovered in 1884 . . . central Turkey.
b. No contradictions. The bible does not contradict itself. Alleged contradictions turn out to be supplemental information concerning the same event which, when put together, forms a cohesive, harmonious whole; or two different events are being described.
c. It cannot have mistakes . . . because it reflects the nature and character of God who inspired it. If the bible has errors and mistakes then God has errors and mistakes.
II. Use of Scripture.
A. Teaching (indoctrination) (grounding in pure doctrine) Scripture tells us what God says is right and what God says is wrong.
1. Matt. 28:18-20 . . . Teaching is a vital part of making disciples . . . “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded”
2. I Tim. 6:2-3 . . . We must “teach and preach” . . . “The sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to godliness.”
How can any person expect to be proficient in his or her job or any other undertaking without instructions on how to do the job? How can a person know and understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ if he is not taught? The instruction book of life is the bible.
B. Reproof . . . Scripture tells us what is wrong in our life.
1. Reproof is an act of love.
Rev. 3:19 . . . Letter to Laodicea . . . “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”
Heb. 12:4-6 . . . “For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines.”
2. Warnings based on the word of God must be issued. We must be careful to refute and rebuke from the word of God and not from our opinions.
3. Errors in doctrine and conduct must be refuted.
Later in II Tim. 4:2, Paul admonishes Timothy to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.”
4. False teachers must be exposed.
a. I Tim. 5:20 . . . Concerning elders who are false teachers, Paul tells Timothy, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all.”
b. Tit. 1:9 . . . One of the responsibilities of elders is to “Refute those who contradict.” In verse 13, the purpose of this reproof is so that, “they may be sound in the faith.”
C. Correction . . . Scripture tells us how to correct the wrongs in our life so that we can be restored to a right relationship with God. No only must we as sinners be warned to leave the wrong path but we must also be directed to the right or straight path. Scripture will show us the right way if we use it.
ILLUS: An old sailor repeatedly got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed their advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally he was rescued by his friends. Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, “Why didn’t you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!” The sailor responded, “I didn’t dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast.”
That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north that he stubbornly tried to force his own personal persuasion on his compass. Unable to do so, he tossed it aside as worthless and failed to benefit from the guidance it offered. In order for the Scriptures to correct us and show us the right way to go, we must use it and follow its directions.
D. Training in Righteousness . . . ILLUS: Continuing education. Mosts professions require continuing education in order to continue one’s profession.
Scripture tells us what to do to remain in that right relationship with God. The word of God tells us what is right, tells us what is wrong, tells us how to make it right and tells how to keep it right.
III. The purpose of Scripture
A. To direct the man of God.
1. In the Old Testament, the person whom God had entrusted with a high office.
a. Moses . . . Deut. 33:1
b. David . . . II Chron 8:14
c. Elijah . . . II Kings 1:9
d. The prophets . . . I Sam. 2:27
2. In the New Testament, every believer.
B. That he might be complete . . . Adequate
Taught - reproved - corrected - trained. The man (or woman) of God is that person who is the complete person that is in a right relationship with God. As God’s complete person, the Christian is:
C. Equipped for every good work.
1. God intends for us to work.
Tit. 2:14 . . . Jesus, “Gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession ZEALOUS FOR GOOD DEEDS.”
Eph. 2:10 . . . “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
2. Good work is God’s work.
These are not works of merit that will pave our way to heaven, but they are the works of a person filled with the spirit of God that compels us to do good in the name of God.
3. The word of God equips us or gives us all the equipment we need to do God’s work. A lumberjack does not go into the woods without his axe. Plumbers, electricians, mechanics and other skilled workers could not do their job without the right equipment. Likewise, we cannot do the work of God without our equipment, the word of God.
In many places in the New testament, the word of God is described as a sword . . . Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12. It is the Christian’s primary offensive weapon in the battle against the devil and his angels. But here is a problem. For many of us, our sword has become rusty and dull due to lack of use. Even worse, many who have bibles have no idea what is between the front and back covers.
ILLUS: The new minister was asked to teach a boys’ class in the absence of the regular teacher. He decided to see what they knew, so he asked who knocked down the walls of Jericho. All the boys denied having done it, and the preacher was appalled by their ignorance. At the next deacons’ meeting he told about the experience. “Not one of them knows who knocked down the walls of Jericho,” he lamented. The group was silent until finally one of the more senior deacons spoke up. “Preacher, this appears to be bothering you a lot. But I’ve known all those boys since they were born and they’re good boys. If they said they didn’t do it, I believe them. Let’s just take some money out of the repair and maintenance fund, fix the walls, and forget it.”
The bible is the most sold and least read of any book in the world. A survey taken some years ago showed that Half of all Americans do not read the Bible. The majority of all born-again Christians read the Bible once or twice a week, or not at all. The survey found that only 18% of all Christians said they read the Word every day, while another 18% read the Bible between three and six days a week, 37% read it once or twice a week, and 23% said they do not read the Bible at all. Among non-Christians, 70% do not read the Bible. Is this because many people do not own a Bible? No. Our research has shown that 93% of all Americans own at least one Bible, and most own more than one.
How can we hope to use our sword, the word of God ,if we do not read it and do not know what it says?
Earlier in II Timothy 2:15, Paul admonishes Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
In order for us to be a workman approved of God, we must know how to handle the truth. The only way we can know how to handle the truth is if we know the truth to begin with. Only then can we use the divinely inspired word of God to teach, reprove, correct and train. A word of warning, as a reader and studier of God’s word, the first person that will be taught, reproved, corrected and trained will be the reader.
