THE INSPIRED SUFFICIENT WORD 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17

I am surrounded by Bibles.

THE INSPIRED, SUFFICIENT WORD 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17

One day in my office several years ago I counted 22 Bibles on my shelves and desk. I don't have as many at home, but another dozen or so is likely (I haven't counted them). I have 20 English translations in my Bible software. I have three different Greek New Testaments with that software, and the Hebrew Old Testament, and the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), and at least 14 more versions I cannot read (Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Romanian among them). I have a New Testament in my car. And my cell phone has an iOS version of my desktop Bible software, so I have access to all those versions of the Bible on my phone. And I also have a phone app that gives me access to Bible versions in hundreds of languages. And I'm pretty sure I'm overlooking some copies of the Bible somewhere.

I am surrounded by Bibles, and I suspect that you are, too. The question for most of us isn't "do we have the Bible?" but "Do we know the Bible and do we believe the Bible?"

Since you are attending worship at Grace Bible Church this morning, you likely affirm the authority of the Bible. You probably agree that it is inerrant. You certainly will readily affirm that it is sufficient and powerful. But do you really believe those statements? Does the way you live affirm that the Bible not only has a priority place in your life, but that you really believe this Book to be true -- that it is "the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed," as our doctrinal statement says? Do you trust this Book so much that it is the first place you turn for help when you have a problem and you allow it to dictate your daily desires, decisions, and deeds? When you counsel others, as you do on a daily basis when you offer opinions, share stories, give feedback, and pray with others, is your counsel saturated with the authority of Scripture? Is your counsel just one more voice of "opinion" or does your counsel carry the weight of God's authority because your counsel is marinated and wrapped in the grace of the Bible?

At GBC, we love people and love Christ and love discipleship and love the Bible. Because we love Christ and love people, we want to help hurting people in the name of Christ. But we are incapable of changing people. Because we cannot change people, we are pointers to the one means of change in the life of the sufferer or sinner: the Bible.

Why are we so adamant about the necessity of using Scripture as the primary means of ministering to people? Because Scripture itself attests to its power to change individuals and that Scripture is the means the Spirit of God uses to change people. Consider just a few examples:

? Obedience to the Bible is the mark of prosperity and success (Josh. 1:8)

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? Scripture is the means to spiritual stability and prosperity (Ps. 1:2-3) ? As we read this morning, the Bible restores, makes wise, produces joy, enlightens, warns,

protects, and is more desirable than gold or honey (Ps. 19:7-13) ? The Word of God is an enduring (eternal) message, in contrast to everything else mankind

knows, which is why the teacher and preacher are persistent in proclaiming only the message of God's Word (1 Pt. 1:24-25) ? Every part of Scripture is beneficial to grow the believer (2 Pt. 1:2-3) ? God's Word is the tool used by the Spirit to bring transformation in the believer (Col. 3:16)

These are just a few of the compelling reasons Scripture gives why it is essential. The Bible is unique in its power and abilities. There is no more important weapon the believer has to defend himself and guide his life than the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. It is useful to protect him from the deceiving attacks of the evil one (Eph. 6:10-11, 17), and it is useful to protect him from the desires of the flesh by helping him understand the inclinations and longings of his soul (Heb. 4:12). It's both a life protector and a soul examiner. It is powerful.

Perhaps you are unconvinced. Let's look briefly at one short passage in Scripture that compels us to trust and use this unique, divinely-given Book.

As we examine this passage, we will find that -- ALL SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT FOR ALL THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF ALL PEOPLE.

In this passage, we will see three primary principles about the Word of God:

1. The Word of God is GOD'S Word (v. 16a) 2. The Word of God is God's SUFFICIENT Word (v. 16b)

? It will TEACH you (because you are IGNORANT) ? It will CONVICT you (because you are REBELLIOUS) ? It will RESTORE you (because you are INCAPABLE) ? It will TRAIN you (because you need OVERSIGHT) 3. The Word of God is God's Word to EQUIP Believers (v. 17)

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ALL SCRIPTURE IS PROFITABLE FOR ALL THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF ALL PEOPLE.

1. The Word of God is GOD'S Word (v. 16a)

? If John 3:16 is the first Bible verse that most Christians memorize, then perhaps 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the first Bible verse most fledgling pastors and seminary students memorize. That is with good reason. If a pastor's primary job is to care for God's people by the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4; 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:16; Tt. 1:9), then he must know and believe the Book he dispenses on a daily basis in discipleship and counseling and weekly basis in the pulpit. These two verses are necessary for the pastor and the teacher and discipler because they affirm the source of Scripture's power (God, v. 16a), the nature of its power (sufficiency, v. 16b), and the purpose of its power (equipping, v. 17).

? When Paul says all Scripture, he is alluding to what he said in verses 14-15 -- "continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them..." Why should Timothy continue in his Scripture learning and why should Timothy continue to obey the things he has learned in Scripture? He should continue because of what Scripture is -- it is inspired by God (v. 16). Not just some Scripture, but all Scripture is inspired by God. The whole of Scripture is from God. P We understand that at the time Paul wrote, the New Testament was not yet canonized (or even completely written), so his primary reference is to the Old Testament, though some New Testament writers already considered the writings of their contemporaries to be equal in authority to the Old Testament (e.g., 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 5:18 [quoting Lk. 10:7 and Dt. 25:4 and saying they are both Scripture]; 2 Pt. 3:16). P Paul means that there is nothing superfluous in Scripture. It is all from the mouth of God and revelatory of God.

? Specifically, he says that Scripture is inspired by God. That word (it is one word in Greek) does not refer to something that is inspiring, as in motivational. Scripture is inspired by God in that it originates from God. More literally, it is "God-breathed." God breathed out His Word. Every word in the book (and every stroke and mark, according to Jesus, Mt. 5:18) emanates from God. The Bible is sourced in God. The Bible is from Him and it is His. P In 2 Pt. 1:20-21 we are told how Scripture was written -- Men wrote with their own education, vocabulary, and personality, but supernaturally empowered and undergirded so that only God's intended words were written, and they were written with His accuracy and authority. Even though it was the words of men, even more it was God's intended, breathed-out Word. P But the emphasis in this verse is not how God compiled the Scriptures, but that the Scriptures are His. They belong to Him and they come from Him. Because they come from Him, they come with the accuracy and inerrancy that only infinite God can have. Further, they have the authority and power that only the infinite God can have.

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? This is what theologians call "the inspiration of Scripture." It teaches the source of Scripture. P It does not mean that the Bible contains God's Word or that it becomes God's Word (in certain situations), but that it is in its very nature God's Word -- "the expression of His person (heart, mind, will, etc.)." [Constable] P The truth of God's inspiration of Scripture is taught throughout Scripture: Mal. 4:4; Matt. 1:22; Acts 1:16; 7:38; Rom. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 2:4-5ff; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 1:1-2, and dozens more. P John Stott is very helpful --

"Scripture is not to be thought of as already in existence when (subsequently) God breathed into it, but as itself brought into existence by the breath or Spirit of God...It originated in God's mind and was communicated from God's mouth by God's breath or Spirit. It is therefore rightly termed `the Word of God', for God spoke it. Indeed, as the prophets used to say, `the mouth of the Lord has spoken it'." [Message of 2 Timothy, 102.]

P If you want to hear God speak, then listen to what His Word says -- when Scripture speaks, God speaks. Scripture is no less authoritative than if Christ was bodily present in this room, speaking.

? Why should the counselor or discipler or pastor or church member take pains to know Scripture? Why should we make the effort to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Pt. 3:18)? We should pursue this knowledge with vigor because it is from God and because it is the final authority for faith and life. It stands above all other claims to truth and authority because it is from God's very mouth. We need to and want to know Scripture because it is powerful, and it is powerful because it is from God alone.

? There is second aspect to God's Word revealed in this text --

2. The Word of God is God's SUFFICIENT Word (v. 16b)

? In the remainder of this verse, Paul speaks of the nature of Scripture's power (v. 16b). It is often said that Scripture is sufficient. That means it is powerful, but it is more than merely strong. It is supremely powerful. By "supreme" we don't mean it's like a pizza that has about a dozen toppings on it, as in, "It's a pizza that is bigger and has more toppings than any other pizza -- guaranteed to provide two days of heartburn." When we say Scripture is supremely powerful, we mean it is infinitely powerful; it has a power that is without limit or end. There is no power beyond its power. There is no power that supersedes the power of Scripture. It really is limit-less -- without limits -- and has influence and ability in every circumstance and situation of life. What kinds of things does Scripture do and in what circumstances will it demonstrate its limitless power? Paul tells us in verse 16.

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? It will TEACH you (because you are IGNORANT) P Paul says that all Scripture is profitable for teaching. The word profitable speaks to its value -- it "[proves] serviceable to the moral and spiritual needs of man." The entire volume of the Bible -- every word and phrase -- has profit to the one who will read it with care. There is nothing unprofitable in the Book. Some parts are, to be sure, harder to understand (even Peter acknowledged this, 2 Pt. 3:16), and some parts are harder to apply (like the genealogies), but there is profit and value in every word. This value is extended in four areas: teaching, conviction, restoration, and training. Why does Scripture teach? Why do we need Scripture? P Part of the effect of the fall of Adam into sin was a corruption of the mind. Theologians call it the noetic effect of sin, which most simply means that because of sin, the mind does not think the way that God designed it to think. John Frame describes it this way:

"Although we generally consider Satan to be knowledgeable and intelligent, and although many opponents of God seem wise to the world and to themselves, they are guilty of the worst imaginable stupidity. They haven't a ghost of a chance to defeat God. Yet sinners embrace sin with reckless enthusiasm. This is the root of its noetic effects." [Systematic Theology]

P The failure of the mind to work is particularly true of the unbeliever, as Paul demonstrates in Eph. 4:17-19 -- because of the fall into sin, the unbeliever's thinking is futile (v. 17), his understanding is darkened (v. 18), he is ignorant (v. 18), his heart is hardened (v. 18), and he is callous (v. 19). But even at salvation, the noetic effect of sin is not completely reversed in the believer. Frame:

"Regeneration does not, however, immediately convey to the believer a sense of cognitive rest about all matters pertaining to the faith. Our basic presuppositional commitment to Christ begins at regeneration, but other commitments develop more gradually--or at least it takes a while for us to become conscious of them. Thus, there is not only noetic regeneration; there is also noetic sanctification. There is a radical change at the beginning, gradual change after that." [Frame, Systematic Theology.]

P The New Testament writers emphasize this gradual change in our thinking when 16 times they ask the question, "Do you not know?" Invariably, that question is not being asked of unbelievers, but believers, as the New Testament books were written to churches filled with believers. The implication is that there is something the readers don't know or understand that they should know. But their minds are still under the influence of sin's noetic effect.

P The unbeliever and the believer both need a teacher, and the Scriptures are that teacher. The truth of Scripture gives knowledge to those who are blind (unbelievers) and growing understanding to those who are His (believers). The Scriptures are profitable to us in that they increasingly inform and teach and guide us to the truth of God when we don't know what to do or when we have been taught and believed incorrectly.

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