Father, we confess that sometimes when you give us good gifts, they don't feel like they're good gifts to us.
They feel like they're uncomfortable burdens.
And Father, we also confess before you that we think, we don't even realize that we're doing this,
that we take a good gift that comes from you and think of it as a burden.
We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would move with might and power and deep conviction,
deep within each of us and as a whole this morning, both those who are present and those online.
And we ask, Father, that your word would do a powerful work in our hearts,
that your Holy Spirit would do a powerful work in our hearts,
that we might grow in confidence in Jesus, in his word, in his ways, in his plans for us.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
G.K. Chesterton was sort of a famous man of letters back in the day,
which was the first sort of three or four decades of the 1900s.
And for his day and age, he was a very large man, very, very tall and very, very substantial.
And he was very substantial, so to speak, a big body from a very early age.
And he was a young man during the First World War.
And there's a story reported by others watching this,
that one day an older woman came up and tapped him on the chest and said,
young man, how come you are not out at the front?
Because, of course, the First World War was going on at that time, and there was the young man.
And she said, young man, why are you not out at the front?
And it's reported that he, without missing a beat, he smiled, and he patted his substantial stomach.
And he said, madam, you are mistaken.
And if you turn and look at me from the side, you will see I am considerably out at the front.
There's a variety of ways that you could tell that joke.
And some of you who are far more funny than I am could probably take that, cut out a couple of bits,
add a little bit, and make it vastly more funny.
And so one of the features of something like a joke is that there's some things in the joke that you really can't change.
You need to keep them there, and other bits you can move around and change and add or shorten.
And this is maybe not as obvious for a short little funny story like the one about G.K. Chesterton,
but my favorite joke about churches that some of you have heard, and those of you online have not heard it.
Now you're going to hear it for the first time.
If you are trying to figure out what the difference is, you know, you've not been part of the Christian church.
You're, you know, from a part of the country maybe, a part of the world that don't have many churches,
from one of the other great religions, and you can't figure out all these denominations and churches.
Well, here's a very, very simple way to understand the difference between the churches.
The Salvation Army, those are the Christians that find you in the gutter or on the street
and get you out of the gutter and get you giving you faith, helping you come to faith in Jesus.
And what are Baptists?
Baptists are those Christians that get you plugged into a local church and starting to trust the Bible and get you baptized.
Well, what about Presbyterians?
Well, Presbyterians are those Christians that are very good at educating you and teaching you,
especially in terms of a worldview and really understanding the Christian faith.
What about Methodists?
Well, they're the Christians who are very, very good at getting you concerned for holiness,
a great zeal for personal holiness.
Well, what about Pentecostals?
Well, Pentecostals are those Christians that really help you to get on fire for the Lord,
but really, more importantly, they really get you into pouring your heart out and singing God's praises
and into the importance of prayer.
What about Anglicans?
Well, Anglicans are very good at introducing you to society and culture,
and then the Salvation Army picks you up out of the gutter.
So in that particular joke, I could have added a couple of other denominations.
I could have added brethren.
I could have added Christian Missionary Alliance.
I could have added a few other little groups, charismatics maybe.
I could have rearranged some of those types of things.
But as you can see, there's a part of that joke that if you're going to tell it well,
there's certain things that have to just be there.
They have, in a sense, a greater power.
All the words matter in the joke, and a good comic knows that every single word matters on one level,
but on another level, certain words matter more than others.
They have a greater type of power to make the whole thing come together.
It's the same thing not only with jokes, but basically in novels and in any type of thing that involves words.
Those of you who have seen the movie The Sixth Sense, and I'm not going to give away the end of it,
but you know that there's a couple of key things in that movie that you could redo the whole movie,
and you could do it with different actors and different scenes, etc., etc.,
but there's a couple of key things in that movie,
especially something that happens right close to the end,
that you can't change that without making the movie a completely and utterly different movie.
Certain words, certain parts have a greater, in a sense, power, explanatory power to the whole.
Now, the Bible, of course, is also a literary thing.
It's made up of 66 different books, and not only as a whole, but each of the books, there's the same type of thing.
All of the words are important, but there's certain words that, in a sense, are more important.
They help you to understand the bigger character of what's going on.
Those of you who have been following along, we're going through the book of 2 Timothy,
And today, in 2 Timothy, we have one of those bits of the Bible,
which is very, very important to understand, not just the book of 2 Timothy, but all of the Bible.
And it's interesting, because this very important little bit,
that helps to explain lots of stuff in Christianity,
is something which many Christians find very, very troubling and uncomfortable.
Rather than seeing it as a gift, they see it as a burden.
And part of the reason is, is because non-Christians, most Canadians who are outside of the Christian faith,
see this as something completely and utterly ridiculous.
Something that would make your co-worker, if they found out that you believed it,
you would go down in their estimation.
They would say something like,
I used to think that George was a smart guy, or Victor was a smart guy,
or Lisa was a smart woman, but now that I hear this about her,
I, boy, gosh, it's, I guess they're not.
But it really is something that is a gift from God.
It's a doorway to profound hope and meaning in life.
So let's look at it.
We're 2 Timothy chapter 3.
The text we're going to look at today is verses 10 to 17.
But this bit, which you need to see, I'm going to look at it first, is verses 16 and 17.
2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.
And some of you have this Bible text memorized.
You already know what it is.
And just before I start reading it, just a little bit of another timeout.
You know I like to do this, a little bit of timeout.
But for those of you who are grammar geeks,
there's an interesting grammar geek aspect about verses 16 and 17.
And that is, as one academic commentator put it,
it's as if Paul is writing 2 Timothy, and he's writing the letter,
you know, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da.
And then at this point in the text, it's as if he drops an anvil into the text.
A huge, big, hunking piece of metal.
And he just drops it there, and then he continues writing.
And at the level of the original language, that's what Paul does.
I guess if they were to try to translate this text
in a way that would maybe bring this out to us right now,
it would be as if you came to verses 16 and 17,
and all of a sudden the font is doubled and bolded.
And it would just be, whoa!
Everything else is the same size font,
then it comes here, double the size and bolded,
and it would sort of shout at you and scream at you.
So that's what Paul is actually doing here in this particular text.
And let's look at what it says.
It says this,
And I'll read it again.
So one of the things which is interesting about that is the first little bit,
all scripture.
And some of you, if you're using different Bible translations,
it might say every scripture.
And so one of the things which is different about English
than the language which this was originally written in
is that in the original language,
Paul uses some words which have two meanings at the same time.
So the original hearers would have heard,
in a sense, a double meaning here.
We, in English, either have to translate it all or every,
because English doesn't have the same feature.
But in the original language,
it's also, in a sense, I would say part of God's wisdom
that he chose a language where two things could be said at the same time.
And the first thing this is making a claim of
is to understand that, in a sense,
the Bible, whole Bible,
ultimately comes from God.
The whole Bible.
And some of you who are familiar with Christian circles,
Christian circles,
you're probably familiar with the idea
that's very common in lots of churches.
In fact, I would say that probably most people
in the Anglican Church of Canada,
from which we were huge,
at one time we were a part of it,
and we're no longer a part of it,
they would say,
ah, yes, that might be true.
You know, the whole Bible is, in a sense,
God's word written.
But it doesn't mean that every bit in the Bible is from God.
That, in fact, you have to discern
the word of God within the word of God.
And that's part of the attack
of the job of scholars.
But this is where what Paul says here,
what the Bible says,
is very interesting.
Because, in a sense, what he's saying is
that this, as a whole,
comes ultimately from God.
But when it says every,
it then also says,
well, if you'd open it up,
and every word,
every common,
every comma,
every semicolon,
every colon,
every phrase,
every sentence,
every paragraph,
every chapter,
every book,
every testament,
is inspired,
it comes ultimately from God.
Everything in it
is exactly what God wanted to be written.
Everything.
You see, that's why,
traditionally, Christians say
that the Bible is inerrant,
that it's infallible,
that it's authoritative,
that it's trustworthy.
Now, right away,
some of you can see why I'm saying
this is viewed as a little bit of a burden
by many Christians,
rather than what it should really be taken of,
is that this is a profound gift.
A profound gift
that opens up the door
to meaning
and to hope.
It should be something
that excites us
and delights us.
But we all know
that if this was to be shared
with our co-workers,
they'd go,
no,
what are the differences
between Canadians and Americans?
I don't know if any Americans
are watching this.
Canadians,
we Canadians tend to be
passive-aggressive.
So in other words,
what would happen is
if you let your co-workers
know about this,
they might not say anything at all,
but they'd go away
rolling their eyes
and going,
gosh,
I thought George
was a smart person,
but it turns out
he's sort of a
lunatic religious fanatic.
Like,
what goofball
would believe something like that?
Whereas Americans
might just tell you,
I don't know.
It's really funny.
In America,
when parents don't like
what the school board teaches,
they all storm the school board
and complain,
in Canada,
we don't do anything about it at all.
We just complain about it.
But anyway,
that's a whole other topic
and maybe I've just lost you
and I shouldn't have talked
about something like that.
But the point is,
is that we all know
in our bones
that if we were to reveal this
to our co-workers,
if we were to reveal this
to our neighbors,
that they would look down
their noses at us.
They would think that this is
a ridiculous type of idea.
That this book,
written,
the early bits
may be written 2000 B.C.,
the last bits
written before 70 A.D.,
that it's all ultimately
something that comes from God.
And actually,
just before I deal with it,
just to make it clear
in case you're wondering
whether that's in fact
what the Bible's claiming,
I sort of got out of order.
Look at the verse again,
all scripture is breathed out
by God
and profitable
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
and for training
in righteousness,
that the man of God
may be complete,
equipped for every good work.
So not only is it
all scripture
or every scripture,
but breathed out by God
makes this very clear as well.
And in the original language,
what happens is
Paul invents a word.
Paul actually invents a word
to communicate this.
He takes two Greek words
and puts them together,
and it's the first place
in Greek literature,
that's my understanding,
that this word
has actually appeared.
And what he's saying is
he's using the analogy
of God breathing,
and by him breathing,
which of course
in the rest of the scripture
is resonant with the idea
of the Holy Spirit
and the winds of God
blowing over creation
and all of that,
but God breathes,
and as he breathes,
something comes into existence.
So what that text is saying
is that the source of this,
of the Bible,
is very clearly from God.
Those of you who are familiar
with the Narnia Chronicles,
you'll get,
C.S. Lewis has captured this idea
very, very well
in different parts
of the Narnia Chronicles.
So for instance,
in the book,
The Silver Chair,
when the two children,
Eunice,
not Eunice,
Eustace and Jill,
thank you,
when they meet Aslan,
Aslan is going to send them
on a big task,
and he breathes on them,
and his breath carries them
over to exactly where they are
to launch their text.
And there's other places
where Aslan breathes,
and when he breathes,
his breath accomplishes something.
And that's the idea
which is going on here,
is that God breathes,
and what he breathes
accomplishes something.
And if you think about it,
it's also a very intimate image.
It's in this very image
you get the very massive
worldview difference
between Christianity and Islam.
Not all people know this,
but in Islam,
Muhammad is God,
is the prophet of Allah,
but it isn't that Allah
actually gives the words
to Muhammad directly,
because you see,
at the heart of Islam
is that Allah is very separate.
Allah reveals it to an angel,
and the angel reveals it
to Muhammad.
But here we have this image
of God breathing
something into existence,
and this breath is very intimate.
It would be as if
God is so close to you
that you can feel his breath,
that God comes, in a sense,
so close into the work
of what he wants to accomplish
that you can feel his breath,
you can smell his breath,
so to speak.
And it shows the great intimacy.
But the original language
is making this very,
very stark claim.
God wanted this book
to come into existence.
The triune God
wanted this book
to come into existence.
And most Canadians
outside the Christian faith
think it's ridiculous,
and because most non-people
outside the Christian faith
thinks it's ridiculous,
many people within
the Christian faith
are uncomfortable
with the doctrine.
But we should delight in it.
Now, several things.
Just the other day,
I was, I started to have
conversations in coffee shops,
again, not as often
because it's sort of harder
and not as many people
are in them sitting down.
But I got into a conversation.
It was a Saturday.
The person saw me
working on my sermon.
He asked a little bit about it
and even why the sermon
would be based on the Bible.
I started to tell him
a little bit about this idea
of the inspiration of the Bible,
that it comes from God,
and Christians want to gather
and be taught by God
and understand from God.
And I could tell
that I was losing him.
So I said, you know,
Joe Rogan,
and he said,
you've heard of Joe Rogan?
He was surprised
that I knew of Joe Rogan.
And I said,
Joe Rogan has put it very well
how a lot of people think
outside the church.
They said,
how on earth can you trust the Bible?
Because isn't the Bible
just a translation of a translation
of a translation
of a translation?
And by the time the Bible
has been translated,
translated, translated, translated,
there's just no way
you have the original meaning.
It's a very, very common
type of idea.
And he said,
yeah, that's sort of what I think.
I said,
well,
with all due respect
to Joe Rogan,
he's got it completely
and utterly wrong.
I said,
that's not how the Bible
actually came to be.
I said,
the Bible came to be.
When you look at this text
right here,
it's not that there's
a translation of a translation
of a translation
of a translation.
I said,
there's literally
thousands and thousands
of copies of the,
you know,
we don't have the very,
very first text
like of 2 Timothy.
But within a very short order,
we have people
who'd copied 2 Timothy
down in the original language.
And we have lots of examples
of those texts.
And I said,
there's a whole
scientific process
by which you can tell
when those different things
were written.
They can look at
the writing style.
They can look at the paper
or the medium
that it's found on.
And there's a very,
very standard way
of being able
to go back from that
and actually get back
to the original text.
And I said,
you know,
for instance,
I said,
if you read,
because you'd seen me
reading academic commentaries,
I said,
if you go to a standard
academic commentary,
one of the things
they talk about
is that.
They talk about
the different translation things.
And I said,
if you went and got
a good modern version
of the Bible,
often they'll have
little notes
about something like that.
He was completely,
and I was surprised,
completely shocked.
because it's a bit of
almost like an urban myth
that the Bible
is a translation
of a translation
of a translation.
And I said to him,
in fact,
you can be rock solid sure
that when you read this,
they don't translate this
from some other language
in some other language.
The people who wrote this
learned Greek,
and we know
what the Greek text is,
and so they've translated
just once into English.
This particular friend
is a Chinese speaker,
and I said,
you know,
obviously there can be
some nuances and stuff,
but that's,
it's a very accurate
type of thing.
But I even told him,
I said,
did you know this?
Most non-Christians
don't know this.
Many Christians
don't even know this.
There's a standard rule
when they're looking
at like,
you know,
one Greek copy
of the New Testament,
another Greek copy
of the New Testament,
and there's a bit
of a difference
in the words.
I said to him,
there's a standard rule
that is used
that the more difficult
copy,
the more difficult wording
is the wording
that they'll accept
as original
because it's part
of human nature.
If Paul says something
that seems to contradict
something else
in the Bible,
it's human nature
for the copyist
to want to fix it.
It's not usually
part of human nature
to make it more difficult.
So I said,
when people coming to it,
they see two different wordings,
and one's a bit more difficult
and one's easy,
they always choose
the difficult one.
He just,
he didn't know,
he just didn't,
he didn't know
that that happened,
that that's how much
we can trust it.
But that's just one aspect of it.
So for many people,
okay,
they'd say,
well,
okay,
even if you get over this idea,
okay,
so let's trust that,
okay,
the Bible is in the translation
of a translation
of a translation,
and I'll accept
that when you're reading this,
there's a 99.9999% chance
that this,
every single word you see
has been translated
from what Paul actually wrote,
but George,
the whole idea,
there's two other types
of ideas that are
in the back of people's minds
that make the whole Bible thing
completely and utterly ridiculous,
this idea that God
has actually spoken.
So one of them would be,
it goes back to the whole thing
of the elephant.
George,
you know,
you have all these
different religions,
and it's like blind men
coming up to an elephant,
and you know,
some blind man sees,
touches the tail,
and another one touches a leg,
and another one touches the trunk,
and another one touches the side,
and they all have
these limited perspectives,
and from these limited perspectives,
they try to,
you know,
think they know
everything that's going on,
but George,
it's the whole endeavor
is completely proud
and arrogant,
and it just doesn't work.
Like,
you're trying to think
that your limited perspective
and your limited words
can actually capture God.
You're just like those blind men
touching different parts
of the elephant.
And that's a very,
very popular
and very powerful image
for many people
outside of the Christian faith,
and actually for many Christians,
it troubles them.
But you see,
the particular image
has two really huge problems
with it.
The first problem
is actually insurmountable.
The person telling me that
is actually presuming
that they have knowledge
like God,
and they can see
the whole elephant.
They think they can,
so in other words,
if my friend was to say that to me,
I'd say,
one moment,
you think,
I'm blind,
but you're claiming you see,
and you can see
the whole elephant.
Like,
why on earth
do you think you can see?
Like,
who died and made you God?
I wouldn't say that to him.
That's too abusive.
But that's what's going on there.
And the second thing
is it's making
a complete and utter mistake
about what the Bible
has just claimed.
You see,
if you just remember,
it says all Scripture
is breathed out by God.
That's what the text
is claiming.
It's not saying
that Paul
had some brilliant
mystical visions
or that he had
this profound
aesthetic sense
or that he was
the best analytic philosopher
that had ever existed.
And somehow or another,
by the power of his mind,
by the power
of his mystical experiences,
by the power
of his,
of just whatever
was going on,
he is able
to ascend to God.
No,
Christians say
that's not what happened
at all.
Literally,
that's the opposite
of what the Bible says.
Paul is saying
that God breaks
into our human world
and he speaks words
that we can understand.
He gives the words.
In a sense,
to go back to my friend
in the story
with the elephant,
the only person
who could actually claim
to see the whole elephant
is God.
And while my friend
is thinking he's God
and can see the elephant,
we Christians are saying,
no, no, no, no, no.
All of us are blind men.
We're completely
and utterly dependent
upon God
to reveal the elephant
to us,
to temper our mind
and the arrogance
that we can easily
fall into.
But even if we say
something like that,
there still is
this profound sense
that there's just
something wrong
with this idea
that God would break
into our human world
and that he would
communicate by words.
Because at a very,
very fundamental level
of many, many people
outside the Christian faith,
they sort of have
this idea that words
are unworthy of God.
That it's as if surely,
if God exists,
God is more like
the force described
in Star Wars.
That, you know,
surely it's something
more like that,
some type of power.
It's as if somehow
or another we have,
it's sort of in the,
just in the,
underneath people's
conscious thought,
this idea that words
are somehow
or other
unworthy of God.
But if you walk
towards that for a second,
you realize that
there's a very,
very,
there's a very deep
incoherence there.
Now, just a timeout,
like a bit of a pause.
I don't,
I don't say this
to offend,
especially for those
of you who might
be watching online,
not to offend,
because I'm going to use
an example from abortion.
And,
and anytime I talk
about abortion,
like including now,
I,
I know very well
that abortion's not,
sometimes in the world
it's made it look
as if it's an us
versus them thing.
There's absolutely
no question that
there's some of us here
and some of you
who are watching
who would consider
yourselves Christians
who've had an abortion
or have,
in fact,
helped people have abortions
or encouraged abortions.
So it's not an us
versus them thing at all.
And I,
I don't say this
to condemn.
I never say this
to condemn.
And in fact,
actually,
I mean,
we Christians believe
that abortion
is to take a human life.
and so it's wrong.
But at the same time,
we also realize
that the only hope
for anybody
who's done something wrong
is to come to Jesus.
And often,
those of us
who've been involved
in an abortion,
there's other types
of feelings of guilt
and other types
of things
which can reverberate
in your life
for a long time.
And the only hope
you ever really,
truly have
of dealing with that
is actually coming
to Jesus
and to experience
his forgiveness
and his love
as an acceptance.
That he can make
all things new.
So just,
I'm not saying this
to condemn
for anybody.
But here's the problem.
What's one of the arguments
for abortion?
Well,
one of the arguments
for abortion,
I just saw a sign
the other day
that said,
abortion saves lives.
I thought to myself,
how would you have
a conversation
with somebody
who says abortion
saves lives?
Actually,
this is what I say
all the time.
I mean,
sometimes I'm a human being
and I want to mock them
and insult them
and all that type of stuff.
But regularly,
when I see things
like that,
I think,
how would I have
a conversation
with them?
How would I have
a conversation
with them?
And so,
and usually,
if you look at it,
you'd say,
what they'd say
is that whenever
the human,
what's inside the womb
doesn't become
a human being,
they don't listen
to medical evidence
because all of
the medical science
shows that
the normal life
of a human being
is it begins
as a fertilized egg
implanted on the wall
of the womb
and it ends
whenever you die
and that's just
what human life,
that's all human beings
are,
every human being
is like that.
But they'd say,
well,
you're only a human being
but often at the heart
of it,
they'll use different
type of examples
and if you don't have,
if you're not conscious,
you don't have volition,
if you don't have
these other types
of things
that make you human,
then you're not human.
But one of the things
that make you human
is being able to speak.
It's words.
So here's the incoherence.
How is it
that for the smartest
and wisest people
in our culture
that when you can
no longer use words,
you're not really
fully human
and if it's in the womb,
it's valid to stop it
and if it's at the end
of your life
and you've come
to a point in dementia
or of some other type
of medical condition
that you can no longer speak,
that the same
very bright lights
in our culture
would say
that that is not really
a human life anymore
and so therefore
another the loss of speech
means that you're
not even human.
But why at the same time
that we think
that is so important
to make a person human,
we think that words
are unworthy of God.
How does that make any sense?
That's deeply incoherent.
Like that's fundamentally
incoherent.
If we were to find some way
of using wormholes
and all of that
to go to some other
distant galaxy
and we saw things
that maybe were life forms,
we might think
that they were life
and they were very,
very interesting,
but we would treat it
very differently
if that life form
was able to go
beep,
and we would go,
it's not just a plant
and it's not just an animal,
it's communicating.
Well,
why is it that we use words
as a sign
of a higher thing
but when it comes to God
we think that somehow
or another words
are unworthy of Him?
The problem isn't
that we're so wise
is that we don't realize
there's a profound
incoherence.
And so this news
that the triune God
has broken into our world
to reveal Himself
should be something
that excites us.
And here again
science fiction movies
help to show
the double aspect
of our culture.
If you see any type
of a science fiction movie
that's going to involve
first contact with aliens,
well, first of all
if it involves
Bruce Willis
or Arnold Schwarzenegger
you know they're going
to have to fight them
and kill them
because they're bad.
And if it involves
some type of
thoughtful actress
you know it's probably
going to be something good
where you're going to
learn something from them
but that's part of
the nightmare
of our culture.
If we were to actually
meet life,
aliens,
would they be someone
that's a higher civilization
that could just add
huge value to us
maybe teach us
how to stop being at war
bring an end to pollution
bring great prosperity
or would they be somebody
who wants to come
and invade us
and eat us?
Well you'd know early on
in how they treat us.
and so we have
this fundamental
divide within us
as human beings
in terms of science fiction
movies and what it reveals
and this is why
what happens here
that all scripture
is breathed out
by God
and profitable
for teaching
for reproof
for correction
and for training
in righteousness
that the man of God
may be completely
equipped for every
good work
we see this
profound message
that it's done
within the context
of how do we know
that this
how do we ultimately
believe anything
in the Bible
it's because
for God so loved
the world
that he gave
his only begotten son
to the end
that anyone
who believes in him
will not perish
but have everlasting life
that ultimately
God has revealed himself
has made contact
with us
first contact
has already happened
and it's been made
with us
in his word
and in acts
of deliverance
and we can even see it
in a very small way
within this text
look again
what it says
all scripture
is breathed out
by God
and profitable
for teaching
for reproof
for correction
and for training
in righteousness
that the man of God
may be completely
equipped for every
good work
and some of your
English versions
will take away
the word man of God
and translate it
in a different way
I'm going to have
to have another drink
in a moment
but that's a mistake
here's what's going
on there
why is it
that the Christian faith
exploded most
amongst slaves
and women
in the first
several centuries
of the Christian faith
well
one of the reasons
is for this word
man of God
you see
man of God
is an Old Testament
title
and not just
an Old Testament title
but a great term
of respect
and importance
and significance
and what this text
is saying
is that
a man of God
they're talking
about Moses
they're talking
about Daniel
they're talking
about Elijah
they're talking
about King David
a man of God
a mighty man of God
someone that God
mightily uses
and why is the Bible
so important to Christians
why did it grow
so quickly
amongst women
and slaves
this text is saying
that Ashley
when she becomes
a Christian
is a mighty man
of God
that Sue
that Amanda
that Karen
that Diane
that Kristen
when they become
a Christian
God
is making them
through his word
a mighty
man of God
a Daniel
a Moses
an Elijah
a David
you see
in the book of Romans
when it uses
the word heir
and uses masculine
language
in terms of
a person
becoming a Christian
and modern translations
take away the masculine
they're missing
what's happened
because why was this
exciting to women
in the Roman world
a woman was either
somebody who's just
going to clean
for a man
and cook for a man
where a man
can have sexual relations
with her
just to fulfill
his desires
a woman
is basically
a wife
was just basically
a person
who was there
to make sure
that the man
is able to get
an heir
to continue
the estate
and that's really
their function
and the Bible
is saying
that if you
come to Christ
and you accept
him as your
savior and lord
a woman
has the status
of the oldest
son who will
inherit everything
that a woman
is not just
a baby producer
she has this
status of
a David
a Daniel
a Moses
a mighty man
of God
that can make
profound difference
in the world
and this is
first contact
this is why
the Bible
is such
good news
and why
we should
rejoice
in the fact
that this text
is saying
that God
has broken
into the world
to speak
and his message
is
for God
so loved
the world
that he gave
his only
begotten son
to the end
that all
that believe
in him
will not perish
but have
everlasting life
come to me
all who weary
and are heavy
laden
and I will
give you rest
take my yoke
upon you
and learn from me
for I am gentle
and lowly of heart
and you will find
rest for your
souls
that's the message
daughter of Eve
come to me
and I will make
you inherit
as the firstborn
son
and I will make
you a Moses
and a Daniel
and an Elijah
in your context
in your situation
there's profound
good news
if you could put up
the points
just very briefly
I have to wrap it up
the triune God
is the ultimate
author of the Bible
the words in it
are the words
he wanted
in it
the triune God
is the ultimate
author of the Bible
the words
in it
are the words
he wanted
in it
and the second
is that from
each particular
word in the Bible
to the Bible
as a whole
and for every
literary unit
in between
the Bible
is God's word
written
from each particular
word in the Bible
to the Bible
as a whole
and for every
literary unit
in between
the Bible
is God's word
written
now
a couple of things
just to wrap this up
and I apologize
I don't have the time
to go into it
like I wanted to
go up to verse 10
there's a couple of other
things here
which are very surprising
and very humbling
but very important to know
and I just want to
quickly point them out
to you
look at verse 10
and following
you however
have followed
my teaching
my conduct
my aim in life
my faith
my patience
my love
my steadfastness
my persecutions
and sufferings
that happened to me
at Antioch
at Iconium
and at Lystra
which persecutions
I endured
yet from them
all the Lord
rescued me
indeed all who desire
to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted
while evil people
and imposters
will go from bad
to worse
deceiving
and being deceived
but as for you
continue in what
you have learned
and firmly believe
knowing from whom
you learned it
just a couple of things here
what the Bible
is saying here
is that
there's these little
micro decisions
that we need to make
all the time
and sometimes
there's macro decisions
and one of the
micro decisions
is will you choose
godliness
if you don't choose
godliness
what you're actually
choosing is to be
deceived
or to be evil
and to go from
bad to worse
that's part of
what's going on
you see
we can choose
godliness
or if we don't
choose godly
and with it
persecution
or we can avoid
the godliness
and persecution
but what we're doing
is actually choosing
deception
self-deception
and evil
so for instance
to actually have it
come out in conversation
you believe the Bible
is God's word
and have your co-workers
think less of you
and so you'd be quiet
about that
to avoid the persecution
but what you're actually
entering into
is these micro decisions
of deception
of self-deception
and that's one of the things
which is going on here
but the other thing
is this
that
maybe if you could put up
the third point
that would be very handy
the Lord's plan
is surprising
and humbling
the main way
to understand
his word written
is by the teaching
and example
of ordinary Christians
in the church
see the word
whom
you know whom
you've learned
the Bible from
is plural
and when Paul
is talking about
it's not just
that we can somehow
or another
just read the Bible
by our fallen human minds
and put it together
any particular way
that we want
that we need to look
at the book of Acts
and we need to look at this
and we need to get a sense
of what Paul's heart is
and the fact that he's willing
to endure persecutions
and that he won't deny
on the truth of God's word
he won't compromise
on the fact that
the grave was empty
the tomb was empty
that Jesus rose from the dead
that he appeared
and you need to see
these things
which are uncompromising
you need to see gentleness
you need to see love
you need to see respect
you need to see these
patterns of life
and interpretation
that help you
to understand the Bible
and put it together
and make it real
for your own life
and it's not a
it's not a
in a sense a bug
a flaw in the system
but it's actually
a characteristic
of the design system
that God wanted
local congregations
and local Christians
to teach the Bible
and he wanted it
to have this situation
that kids
not only do they learn
the Bible from me
preaching
but they learn the Bible
from their mom
and their dad
reading them Bible stories
and praying for them
and we learn about
the Christian faith
by going to Bible studies
and having mentors
and we try to live examples
of what the Christian life
is like
so that we can
not only model
we not only teach it
but we model it
and this isn't sort of
a weakness in the system
that's how God intended it
he intended to use
let's be frank
really imperfect people
to do this
some of us have had
very imperfect weeks
but he uses imperfect people
in the power of the Holy Spirit
it's part of his design function
and one final thing
let's read verses 15 to 17
and how from childhood
you have been acquainted
with the sacred writings
which are able to make you wise
for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus
all scripture is breathed out
by God
and profitable
for teaching
for reproof
for correction
and for training
in righteousness
that the man of God
may be complete
equipped for every good work
if you could put up the point
Claire that would be wonderful
or Andrew
I think it's Claire
reading the Bible
as the triune God intended
is a means of grace
preaching and teaching
the Bible
as the triune God intended
is a means of grace
what do I mean for that?
so the best way
to understand means of grace
as I say time and time again
is to think of the story
of Jesus turning the water
into wine
and here's how a means
of grace works
we all know
that if we had Hudson
and Matthew and Anne
design some stone water containers
just like they used
in the time of Jesus
and then they filled them
with water
and carried them 40 yards
the water wouldn't turn
into wine
and then if you said
okay well maybe
we just need to be
where Jesus actually was
originally when he did it
so you figure out
archaeologically
where it actually happened
and you get your stone containers
you fill them with water
you carry them the 40 yards
and you look
and it didn't turn into wine
so how do means of grace work?
means of grace work
when you just humbly obey
and do what Jesus
asks you to do
and when you humbly
do what Jesus
has asked you to do
it's a means of grace
God takes what's going on
in your life
which is just water
and turns it into wine
so is there something magical
about reading the Bible?
no there's nothing magical
about reading the Bible
but what the Bible
what we're hearing here
is that to read the Bible
is a means of grace
if you want to be delivered
from lies and know the truth
if you want to be rebuked
because you're going down
a wrong path
if you want to be corrected
in terms of the right path
if you want to live in a way
which means that you're
connected to God
and you're living in a way
that pleases God
and if you live in a way
that pleases God
it's going to be good for you
it's going to be good
for your family
it's going to be good
for your neighborhood
your church
your community
the city and the world
and if you want to do that
you need to be reading
the scriptures
you need to be understanding
the scriptures
and discussing the scriptures
because that's what God
does through his word
but he doesn't do it
as a magical act
as a technique
he does it
he says
just do this in obedience
to me
many of you have had
the experience
you read the Bible
and it's while you're
reading the Bible
that all of a sudden
you might realize
it might not even be
talking about forgiveness
but you have this
overwhelming sense
that you need to
forgive somebody
you see it's not
a direct one to one
relationship
it's not as if
you just read a text
about this
and God does this
in your life
he just says
trust me
I've given you
this word
read you the word
read the word
in a way to understand
me and to understand
yourself
and spend time
reading it with others
and teaching others
and when you do that
God does something
in your life
it's a means of grace
and so we should
take the means of grace
that come from him
you see the means
of grace
is we find out
from the Bible
that God so loved
the world
that he gave
his only begotten
son to the end
that all that
believe in him
should not perish
and have everlasting
life
we hear the words
of Jesus
come to me
who are weary
and burdened
and I will give
you rest
take my yoke upon
you and learn
from me
for I am gentle
and lowly of heart
and you will find
rest for your souls
for my burden
is easy
and my
I got the rest
of it
I didn't remember
it correctly
but you get the idea
my yoke is easy
but my burden
is light
my yoke is easy
and the burden
is light
and the Christian
faith
to become wise
for salvation
is that when we
take Jesus
at his word
and trust him
that he will
take our heavy
heart
he will fit us
for heaven
he has swallowed
your doom
and mine
in his death
upon the cross
and when we
put our hands
in his hands
he will not
turn us away
but take our hands
and as our hands
touch his hands
by faith
our doom
is taken away
and the destiny
that he deserved
is bestowed upon us
all out of grace
and all out of love
and just as that
is the way
the Christian life
begins
so the Christian life
grows by
reading the Bible
you look at it
and it looks weird
it's hard to understand
that's fine
read the Bible
don't understand
that's fine
read the Bible
talk to others
about it
start to learn
how to understand it
and as you do it
God does something
in your life
because the Bible
is his profound
powerful
means
of grace
please stand
let's bow our heads
in prayer
Father we
I began
Father
by praying
and acknowledging
how sometimes
the things
that you give us
that are really
very profound gifts
that we actually
sort of look at them
askance
thinking that maybe
they're more of a burden
than a gift
because the world
would see that gift
as something ridiculous
we ask Father
that you would
continue to do
your wonderful work
of healing
in our hearts
and minds
and lives
as we trust
your means of grace
as we trust your word
and we give you
thanks and praise
Father
that you have
spoken to us
and that your word
is a means of grace
it's the means
by which we know
Jesus
and come to a
saving faith
in Christ
it is the means
by which you speak
into our heart
to rule
and change our
hearts and lives
to teach us
the truth
to deliver us
from this self-deception
to deliver us
from lies
and idols
and errors
to point us
in the right direction
when we go astray
and to keep us
in the right direction
and to actually receive
life from you
as we read your word
and follow Jesus
and we ask Father
that you would help us
to be students
of your word
and humbly come
to your word
trusting that you will
do a work of grace
in our lives
for our good
for the good of our city
and for your great glory
and we ask this
in the name of Jesus
your son
and our savior
amen