Sermon - August 18, 2013 - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - Believing the Word of God Part 1
Over the last couple of months I have been having an
increasing number of conversations with people about the Bible. Might have
something to do with me telling people about how I was preaching here at Clark
Baptist and praying about serving here. Regardless of why the conversation
started, somehow many of them turned to something the Bible tells us and how it
is playing out in society.
Roughly 200 years later, Babylon was destroyed and even to this day no one has built a new city in its place. History has proven that the Bible is accurate.
Archeology has also proven the Bible to be accurate.
For many years it was said that the Bible is the only place that mentions Hittites, many scholars believe that the Bible must be wrong since it mentions a group of people who never existed. Then in 1876 a tablet was found that mentioned the Hittites and in 1906 a German archaeologist began an excavation in Turkey and found the lost capital of the Hittite nation, Hattusa. This along with many other archeological finds has supported the accuracy of the Bible.
Nelson Glueck, one of the foremost leaders in biblical archaeology, was quoted as saying. “it may be clearly stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archaeological finds have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”
Simply put the science of man, has proven the Bible to be accurate. There is no historical or archaeological reason for people, even the Christians in the survey, to doubt the accuracy of the Bible.
If you believe the Bible is true, Paul should put all doubt to rest in 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Several other English versions of the Bible start verse 16 out as “All Scripture is God Breathed” or “All Scripture is breathed out by God”. I believe these to be a more accurate translation of what Paul is trying to tell us about our Bible.
Paul was telling Timothy and in turn us, that all scripture at that time the Old Testament was written by God through the men who wrote the words. That truth also applies to the New Testament. All 66 books of the Bible written by roughly 40 different authors were inspired by God.
Think back to the book of Genesis and how we are told in detail that man was formed from dust and God then breathed life into us. It is that same divine intervention that gave us life, which gave us His Words. God Breathed these words, phrases, parables, prophecies, historical accounts, poems, and so much more into the minds of those who recorded them.
Our Bible is God’s Words. How else can you explain the complete unity from Genesis to Revelation found in Scripture? How else can you explain the consistent theme throughout the Bible as is reveals God’s plan to restore His creation to its rightful place.
As we have already seen history and archaeology have already proven that the prophecies contained in this book are precise. They are divinely inspired.
It is clear that what the Bible claims for itself are true – it is God Breathed!
The rest of verse 16 states “and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,”
Who can argue with this? Our Christian Bible does just what it says it’s going to do in this verse.
The Bible teaches us the content of our faith. In other words it teaches us all we need to know about how to live our lives the way God wants us to.
The Bible rebukes us. If you spend enough time in your Bible, when you begin to drift away from God or slip into sin, the Word of God will convict you. It will let you know when you have strayed.
The Bible corrects us. When we have slipped into sin the Word of God will show us how to correct our mistakes. It will show us what we need to do to get back where we are supposed to be.
The Bible will train us in righteousness. The Word of God provides us with all we need to learn to follow Christ. If we follow these teachings, we will lean more and more about what it means to Love God and to Love Others.
Verse 17 says “so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The teachings of the Bible are to prepare us for what we are called to do. Think about some of the Christian men and women you have know over the years. Can you think of a couple of people who have truly applied the teachings of God’s Word to their lives? Have you seen lives changed as people and families spend more time trying to understand how God wants them to live their lives and then doing it?
I know over the years I can think of several people whose lives have been significantly impacted by applying the teachings of the Bible to their lives. Those are real life experiences that we can all relate to that prove that God’s Word is exactly what it says it is. God Breathed!
The Bible is the Word of God and it to be believed!
If you believe the Bible is true, then you also believe that Jesus said In John 14:6 ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
If you do not know Jesus this morning, I invite you to join His family and see how much of an impact the He and learning the Bible can have on your life. If you want to begin that walk, please join me up front during our invitation hymn.
God Bless!
Robert
One such conversation really hit me hard and has
been weighing on my mind. I was talking with this guy I know and we started
talking about the controversy with denominations and churches accepting
homosexuals as pastors and teachers. I pointed out that scripture, the
Christian Bible, is pretty clear that living a homosexual life style is a sin.
It is no different than someone using drugs, living in adultery, or being a
drunk. Sin is Sin and while we are to love the person, a practicing homosexual
should not be teaching or preaching at church any more than a drunk. I would
not want either of them to be my pastor. His response was ‘I am not sure I
believe that.’
In this day and age a response like that should not
surprise me. But the person I was talking to says he is a Christian. He attends
church regularly and is very active in his church. The only thought that kept
going through my head, was how can this be? How can a person who says he is a
Christian not believe what is clearly written in God’s Word.
Maybe I have had my head in a hole in the ground or just
expected this person to believe the same as I do, but this really surprised me
and has bothered me. So I did some research. I have read more survey results
than I care to mention, but the most current data I found was from a Barna
Group Survey conducted in 2008. Let me be clear this is a survey of people who
say they are a Christian.
Only 55% of the Christians surveyed strongly agree
that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
18% of those surveyed are on the fence on if the
Bible is accurate.
22% disagreed with the Bible being accurate. And 5%
did not know what to believe.
If those results don’t scare you, how about this
one.
41% of Christians agreed with the following
statement. “The Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon are all different
expressions of the same spiritual truths.” Another 20% of Christians were
undecided, that gives us a total of 61% of Christians surveyed do not believe
that the Christian Bible is the Word of God and is the only Spiritual truth.
Basically 45% of people who call themselves
Christians either are not sure or outright disagree that the Bible is accurate
and 61% do not believe that the Bible is the only Spiritual truth.
As a Christian I am floored by these statistics.
Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
“Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold
on to what is good.”
Over the next couple of weeks we are going to take
Paul’s advice and look at why we should believe the Bible is true.
Historically the Bible has been proven true over and
over again. For example the Prophet Isaiah foretold of the destruction of
Babylon around 700 BC.
Isaiah 13:17-20
“Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who cannot be bought off with[c] silver and
who have no desire for gold. 18 Their bows will cut young men
to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with
pity on children. 19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when
God overthrew them. 20 It will never be inhabited or lived in
from generation to generation; a nomad will not pitch his tent there, and
shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.”Roughly 200 years later, Babylon was destroyed and even to this day no one has built a new city in its place. History has proven that the Bible is accurate.
Archeology has also proven the Bible to be accurate.
For many years it was said that the Bible is the only place that mentions Hittites, many scholars believe that the Bible must be wrong since it mentions a group of people who never existed. Then in 1876 a tablet was found that mentioned the Hittites and in 1906 a German archaeologist began an excavation in Turkey and found the lost capital of the Hittite nation, Hattusa. This along with many other archeological finds has supported the accuracy of the Bible.
Nelson Glueck, one of the foremost leaders in biblical archaeology, was quoted as saying. “it may be clearly stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archaeological finds have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.”
Simply put the science of man, has proven the Bible to be accurate. There is no historical or archaeological reason for people, even the Christians in the survey, to doubt the accuracy of the Bible.
If you believe the Bible is true, Paul should put all doubt to rest in 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Several other English versions of the Bible start verse 16 out as “All Scripture is God Breathed” or “All Scripture is breathed out by God”. I believe these to be a more accurate translation of what Paul is trying to tell us about our Bible.
Paul was telling Timothy and in turn us, that all scripture at that time the Old Testament was written by God through the men who wrote the words. That truth also applies to the New Testament. All 66 books of the Bible written by roughly 40 different authors were inspired by God.
Think back to the book of Genesis and how we are told in detail that man was formed from dust and God then breathed life into us. It is that same divine intervention that gave us life, which gave us His Words. God Breathed these words, phrases, parables, prophecies, historical accounts, poems, and so much more into the minds of those who recorded them.
Our Bible is God’s Words. How else can you explain the complete unity from Genesis to Revelation found in Scripture? How else can you explain the consistent theme throughout the Bible as is reveals God’s plan to restore His creation to its rightful place.
As we have already seen history and archaeology have already proven that the prophecies contained in this book are precise. They are divinely inspired.
It is clear that what the Bible claims for itself are true – it is God Breathed!
The rest of verse 16 states “and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,”
Who can argue with this? Our Christian Bible does just what it says it’s going to do in this verse.
The Bible teaches us the content of our faith. In other words it teaches us all we need to know about how to live our lives the way God wants us to.
The Bible rebukes us. If you spend enough time in your Bible, when you begin to drift away from God or slip into sin, the Word of God will convict you. It will let you know when you have strayed.
The Bible corrects us. When we have slipped into sin the Word of God will show us how to correct our mistakes. It will show us what we need to do to get back where we are supposed to be.
The Bible will train us in righteousness. The Word of God provides us with all we need to learn to follow Christ. If we follow these teachings, we will lean more and more about what it means to Love God and to Love Others.
Verse 17 says “so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The teachings of the Bible are to prepare us for what we are called to do. Think about some of the Christian men and women you have know over the years. Can you think of a couple of people who have truly applied the teachings of God’s Word to their lives? Have you seen lives changed as people and families spend more time trying to understand how God wants them to live their lives and then doing it?
I know over the years I can think of several people whose lives have been significantly impacted by applying the teachings of the Bible to their lives. Those are real life experiences that we can all relate to that prove that God’s Word is exactly what it says it is. God Breathed!
The Bible is the Word of God and it to be believed!
If you believe the Bible is true, then you also believe that Jesus said In John 14:6 ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
If you do not know Jesus this morning, I invite you to join His family and see how much of an impact the He and learning the Bible can have on your life. If you want to begin that walk, please join me up front during our invitation hymn.
God Bless!
Robert
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