The Mighty Scripture

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.”