Valley View Chapel July 17, 2016 Believe Part 4 THE BIBLE 1 Timothy 3:16-17

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1 1 Valley View Chapel July 17, 2016 Believe Part 4 THE BIBLE 1 Timothy 3:16-17 I BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD THAT GUIDES MY BELIEFS AND ACTIONS. Introduction The story is told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. I couldn t read it, the friend explained. Somebody named Guten-something had printed it. Not Gutenberg! the book lover exclaimed in horror. That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. A copy just sold for over two million dollars! His friend was unimpressed. Mine wasn t worth a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German. What makes a Bible valuable? The fact that Gutenberg printed it? That Martin Luther wrote in it? What makes the Bible valuable is clearly stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, All Scripture is Godbreathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV) There are three reasons in today s text why the Bible is a book of infinite worth. The three reasons all have to do with the tremendous power inherent in the Word of God. The Bible Has the Power of Inspiration The Apostle Paul declared that All Scripture is God-breathed. (NIV) The NASB translated the phrase: All Scripture is inspired by God. The Word inspired can mean a lot of things. We can rightly say that Michelangelo was inspired when he painted the Sistine Chapel; or that Shakespeare was inspired when he wrote Hamlet; or that Beethoven was inspired when he composed his Ninth Symphony. But the word translated God-breathed or inspired when applied to the Bible elevates the word to a much higher level. Warren Wiersbe defined biblical inspiration as the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit on the Bible s writers which guaranteed that what they wrote was accurate and trustworthy. In other words, the Scriptures are free from flaw or error of any kind. Such could never be said about any purely human work of art, music or literature.

2 2 The doctrine of biblical inspiration is so important that Satan took dead aim on it in the Garden of Eden. The first words ever attributed to the devil are recorded in Genesis 3:1, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (NIV) Since the beginning of the human race, our spiritual adversary has tried to sow seeds of doubt in the trustworthiness of God s Word. Satan wants us to believe that the Bible is a book like any other book; that it was penned by human beings who were interested only in promoting their own ideas and interpretations of how life ought to operate. The stakes couldn t be higher. If we question the divine inspiration, the supernatural origin and the ultimate authority of the Bible for matters of faith and practice, then we have to question what the Bible says about anything and everything. Put simply, it comes down to this: If we can t trust the entire Bible to be true, then we can t trust any of it to be true. So, how did the Bible come to be written? God chose to employ human instruments to write down the words that he wanted preserved. While it is true that the words written by the authors were the words that God wanted written, it is equally true that God employed the unique personalities and writing styles of each author. That explains why the Bible contains books of history, poetry, wisdom, and prophecy. Perhaps John Stott put it best in his book Understanding the Bible: On the one hand, God spoke, revealing the truth and preserving the human authors from error, yet without violating their personality. On the other hand, men spoke, using their own faculties freely, yet without distorting the divine message. Their words were truly their own words. But they were (and still are) also God s words, so that what Scripture says, God says. The Bible Has the Power of Edification In Paul s counsel to Timothy, he moved from the origin of the Bible to the purpose of the Bible. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Greek word for useful - ophelimos is translated in other versions as profitable. Yet neither useful or profitable are strong enough words. Something can be useful or profitable without being absolutely necessary. Heated seats in a car are useful or profitable yet I ve done quite nicely without them for over 50 years as a licensed driver. A better word to describe the Bible is indispensable. All Scripture is God-breathed and is [indispensable] for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible is indispensable in four areas. First: it is indispensable for teaching. No one can teach God s truth without the Bible.

3 3 This is because the Bible is the only book that contains any substantial account of the life and work of Jesus Christ. It is far and away the primary source of our knowledge concerning God s revelation of himself in the person of his Son. Without the Bible, we would have little knowledge and no saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. God s Word the Bible is the source of all truth concerning God, his person, plan, and purposes. Jesus himself affirmed this in John 17:17 when he declared without embarrassment or apology: Your word is truth. In Mark 13:31 Jesus proclaimed the Word of God to be eternal, timeless, and ever-relevant truth: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. There aren t too many resources that are relevant for all-time. The long-respected author and business professor at the University of Southern California, Burt Nanus, recalled that on his first day at Stevens Institute of Technology in 1953, a professor advised the entering freshmen to buy the best slide rule they could afford. The professor told them: You will be dependent on your slide rule all your professional life. Nanus dutifully purchased the best slide rule he could afford. Yet by the time he was a graduate student at MIT the slide rule had become obsolete. The self-help and pop psychology books, videos, PBS fund-raiser specials, and seminars may seem far more relevant than a book that was completed almost 2,000 years ago. Yet 50 years from now nobody will be reading anything by Deepek Chopra and Tony Robbins. But the Bible will still be read, still be taught and still be the basis of faith and practice for multiplied millions of people. The Bible is indispensable for teaching. But is also indispensable for rebuking. We re told in James 1:23-24, Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (NIV) The Bible points out our weaknesses, flaws, and shortcomings and it does so with infallible accuracy. None of us like to be rebuked. It often makes us angry, defensive, and resentful. In the American frontier days, there was a settlement in the West whose citizens were engaged in the lumber business. The town felt they wanted a church. They built a building and called a minister. The preacher moved into the settlement and initially was well received. Then one afternoon he happened to see some of his parishioners dragging some logs, which had been floated down the river from another village upstream, onto the bank. Each log was marked with the owner's stamp on one end. To his great distress, the minister saw his members pulling in the logs and sawing off the end where the telltale stamp appeared and replacing them with their own stamp. The following Sunday he preached a strong sermon on the commandment "Thou shall not steal." At the close of the service, his people lined up and offered enthusiastic

4 4 congratulations: "Wonderful message, Pastor." "Mighty fine preaching." "Keep up the good work." Sadly, on Monday morning the preacher went down to the river and saw his members doing the same thing. So the following Sunday he preached on the same text, the same commandment, but gave it a different ending. He said, "Yes, thou shall not steal, but thou shall also not cut off the end of thy neighbor's logs." As soon as the benediction had been pronounced, the congregation ran him out of town. While it is true that nobody likes to be rebuked, without it, we ll continue to make the same mistakes and maintain the same destructive habits and attitudes. Third: The Bible is indispensable for correcting. Rebuking is the negative side of truth. Correcting is the positive side. We not only need to know what is wrong. We need to be shown what is right. The Bible is indispensable for both. Psalm 119:105 couldn t be plainer: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. In other words, the Bible shows us what is right for the short-term ( a lamp to my feet ) and what is right for the long-term ( a light for my path. ) The late Scottish New Testament scholar William Barclay summarized well the rebuking and correcting aspects of Scripture when he wrote that the Bible is indispensable for convincing us of the error of our ways and for pointing us on the right path. Fourth, the Bible is indispensable for training in righteousness. Training in righteousness has to do with maintaining our relationships. The most important relationship is our relationship with God. We establish a relationship with God by repenting of our sins and believing that Jesus Christ paid the debt of our sins when he died on the cross. Our relationship with God is then maintained by the spiritual disciplines: Bible study; prayer; worship public and private; fellowship; and service all of which are obedient responses to the precepts and principles laid down in Scripture. It s interesting that the phrase training in righteousness is also used in the context of raising children. This reminds us that training in righteousness is a long process in which we are learning truth and growing in love and obedience for the Lord until the end of our lives. The Bible has the Power of Mobilization All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful [or indispensable ] for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV) The Bible teaches us; rebukes us; corrects us; and trains us so that we will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

5 5 Last week we explored the doctrine of salvation. This week we discover at least one reason for our salvation. Often we quote Ephesians 2:8-9 which clearly states how we are saved: For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. (NET) Rarely do we quote Ephesians 2;10 which clearly states why we are saved: For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. (NET) In 2 Timothy 3:15 Paul said that one key purpose of the Bible is to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (NIV) While salvation includes forgiveness of our sins, becoming a son or daughter of God, and eternal life in heaven, it means much more than that. Paul told the church at Philippi to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12 (NIV) Working out our salvation is not the same thing as working for our salvation. Just as the Scriptures reveal the way to Christ, so they also reveal the way in Christ. The Bible tells us both what to believe and how to behave. While we are not saved by good works, we are saved for good works. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work Man of God doesn t just refer to pastors, missionaries, or religious professionals. The phrase means man (or woman) who belongs to God. This truth brings to mind 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, You are not your own; you were bought at a price. (NIV) Being thoroughly equipped for every good work therefore applies to every person who has trusted in the saving death of Jesus Christ to come into a right relationship with God. The words thoroughly equipped mean that we have been trained, fitted, suited, and prepared to serve the Lord with integrity wherever we go and whatever we do. The thoroughly equipped Christ-follower knows by experience the indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit and the life-transforming power of the Word of God. Christians who possess both the Holy Spirit and a humble, obedient spirit toward God s Word will have the fragrance of Jesus all around them. Here s the point of 2 Timothy 3:17 We can t represent the Lord Jesus well if we don t take the Bible seriously. We need to read it regularly, believe it implicitly and obey it consistently. But let us not forget that Bible reading and Bible study were never meant to be ends in themselves. It s not enough to know who the prophets were and the content of their messages. It s not enough to be able to name the Ten Commandments in order. It s not enough to list the main points of The Sermon on the Mount. While Bible knowledge is important of course, mere knowledge alone doesn t make us thoroughly equipped Christians. The Bible wasn t given primarily for our information but for our transformation. The whole point of the Christian life and the whole point of the Bible is that we would come to resemble Jesus!

6 6 Conclusion George Owen Walton was born on May 15, 1907, in Rocky Mount, Virginia. As an estate appraiser, he had first dibs on rare coins, guns, jewelry, stamps, and books, and he built up quite a collection. When Walton had an opportunity to purchase one of only five 1913 Liberty Head nickels ever minted, he jumped at the chance. He paid $3,750 for the treasure in 1945 and told his family that it was worth a fortune. But after Walton died in a car crash on his way to a coin show in 1962, appraisers surprisingly declared his nickel a fake. They marked it "no value," returned it to the disappointed family, and the coin stayed hidden in a strongbox on the floor of a closet. Eventually Walton's nephew, Ryan Givens, inherited the nickel. Even though it had been dismissed as a counterfeit, something told him that his uncle was right. In 2003 the other four 1913 Liberty Head nickels went on display, and a million-dollar prize was offered to anyone who could produce the fifth. Givens submitted his coin for evaluation once more. After hours of comparing and contrasting against the other four nickels, six expert appraisers announced that Walton's coin was the real deal. Eventually Givens sold the nickel for $3.1 million dollars. Imagine a coin worth more than $3 million collecting dust in the back corner of a closet for decades and decades because somebody said it was worthless! Don t let that happen to your Bible! The Word of God is of infinite worth! Read it! Believe it! Live it!