WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.679 Our reading is from 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10 to 17. 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:17.839 ! A final charge to Timothy. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:24.440 ! You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my purpose, my patience, 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:31.260 Faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings. 00:00:31.900 --> 00:00:37.340 What kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra? 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:40.540 The persecutions I endured. 00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:43.960 Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:50.700 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:59.160 While evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.480 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of. 00:01:06.939 --> 00:01:10.500 Because you know those from whom you learned it. 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:20.260 And how, from infancy, you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith. 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:21.960 In Christ Jesus. 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:31.780 All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:39.120 So that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:41.760 May the Lord speak to us through his word. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:45.700 Great. Thanks, Lucia, for reading for us. 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:56.600 Just before we begin, I want to suggest to you perhaps that some of these verses are amongst the most important verses for us in the New Testament. 00:01:56.600 --> 00:01:59.219 In terms of how we understand the Christian life. 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:02.900 It doesn't matter who you are this morning. 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:07.560 It doesn't matter whether you're a mature Christian who's been a Christian for a long time. 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.360 Or whether you're a new Christian, a baby Christian. 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:10.900 Whether you're not even a Christian at all. 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:12.400 You're just inquiring. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:16.500 I think these verses have something revolutionary to say to all of us. 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:20.920 And so because that's true, I am going to work you quite hard this morning. 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:25.219 So I hope you've got your kind of wits with you this morning. 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:26.539 And your Bible's open. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.340 And I'm going to pray and ask for the Lord's help. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:29.819 Let's pray. 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:42.500 Heavenly Father, we are very conscious that what we are undertaking together today in looking at your word is a spiritual activity, not a merely human one. 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.939 And so we ask for your help and for your blessing, for the work of your spirit in our hearts. 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:51.659 We pray that you might help me to speak faithfully and clearly. 00:02:52.259 --> 00:02:55.159 And all of us to listen and sit under your word. 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:59.919 May we, as we prayed before, encounter Jesus in his word this morning. 00:03:00.659 --> 00:03:01.699 In his name we pray. 00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:02.539 Amen. 00:03:04.539 --> 00:03:10.240 Now, for the sake of time and clarity, I'm going to really zoom in on verses 14 to 17. 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:14.120 I dealt with verses 10 to 13 in most part last week. 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:21.319 And I've got four headings for us just to take us through those few verses from verses 14 to 17. 00:03:21.859 --> 00:03:22.960 And the first one is this. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:24.240 They'll come up on the slides behind me. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:25.640 They're on the inside of your notice sheet. 00:03:25.700 --> 00:03:26.400 The first one is this. 00:03:26.520 --> 00:03:28.520 God speaks the Bible. 00:03:29.100 --> 00:03:31.379 God speaks the Bible. 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:36.800 This is Paul's point when he says all scripture is God breathed in verse 16. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.300 Scripture there is the written word of God, the Bible. 00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:46.879 And his point is that the written word is carried by the breath of God. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.219 Theoponitis is carried along on the breath, the wind, the air of God. 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:55.300 So that the Bible is God's words. 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:59.240 Not simply just what God has said in the past. 00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:10.180 It's not just that God has breathed out these words at some point in history when he inspired the Bible writers to write poems and record history and count people and write down revelations. 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:15.460 No, the point is that these words continue to be carried on the breath of God. 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:18.900 This is what God is still saying. 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:24.879 And Paul says that this is true of all scripture, all of the Bible. 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:29.219 Now, when Paul wrote this, all scripture included all of the Old Testament. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:34.779 It included some of his writings, the writings of the other apostles and the gospels that were beginning to circulate. 00:04:35.419 --> 00:04:38.120 And now for us, now we've got a completed Bible. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:43.779 All scripture is the 66 books of the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. 00:04:43.779 --> 00:04:48.639 All of these words speak God's voice. 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:50.159 They are God's instruments. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:52.159 It's what God says. 00:04:53.559 --> 00:04:58.459 Now, I hope you understand it and you will perhaps know because of who God is. 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:01.719 You know, don't you, that God doesn't speak idly. 00:05:03.119 --> 00:05:04.599 I speak idly. 00:05:04.979 --> 00:05:05.879 You do, don't you? 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:07.479 We use words. 00:05:07.559 --> 00:05:08.119 We make promises. 00:05:08.379 --> 00:05:09.959 We say things we don't really mean. 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:12.799 And we say things and nothing happens. 00:05:13.539 --> 00:05:16.039 But God is not like that, right? 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.439 What he says is what he does. 00:05:19.099 --> 00:05:25.399 And so that the Bible, because it is God speaking, really, the Bible is like the workshop of a master craftsman. 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.819 And they're hanging on the walls are all the specially shaped tools. 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:37.159 You know, Genesis, the Psalms, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all speaking with God's voice and accomplishing his purpose. 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:40.500 As all of God's word speaks with his voice. 00:05:41.599 --> 00:05:43.180 Now, maybe you're thinking, well, wait a minute. 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:43.819 This is interesting. 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:46.939 Do you mean that God speaks English? 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.680 You know, does he speak ESV English? 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:52.000 You know, like Yoda. 00:05:52.659 --> 00:05:54.539 Or does he speak NIV English? 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:56.339 Like the rest of us speak. 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:58.480 Or does he speak good news English? 00:05:58.480 --> 00:05:59.340 English, maybe. 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:03.580 Or perhaps really God speaks Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic. 00:06:04.340 --> 00:06:11.620 Now, let me suggest, if that's the question on your mind, and I don't think probably it was until I mentioned it, but if it was, let me tell you that misses the point, really. 00:06:12.780 --> 00:06:15.980 God is, of course, capable of speaking all the languages of the world. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:18.700 He ultimately is the source of all of that variety. 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:22.020 He understands the prayers of his people in whatever language they pray. 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:32.339 But notice that Paul here doesn't feel the need to clarify or qualify whether the scripture he was talking about was the Hebrew or the Greek Septuagint or the odd bits that are in Aramaic. 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:36.659 Now, Paul's point is God speaks human. 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:48.880 That God, in his infinite kindness, has accommodated himself to human language in order to be able to speak to us, reveal himself to us, and accomplish his purposes. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.220 And that's exactly what he's doing in the Bible, even in translations. 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:59.700 Now, I think it's worth just sort of resting on this for a moment and thinking about some of the implications, particularly because of where we live. 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:05.720 What Paul is saying here about the Bible is very different to what a Muslim would say about the Quran. 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:12.160 The Islamic belief is that Allah spoke one language, and that language is Arabic. 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:18.360 And the very text of the Quran was given directly from Allah to one man via an angel. 00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:22.520 So the words of the Quran are themselves sacred. 00:07:23.540 --> 00:07:28.160 And in a sense, reciting them and memorizing them is almost as important as understanding them. 00:07:28.900 --> 00:07:31.379 Because Allah speaks Arabic. 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:36.160 It's why, really, the Quran is, in one sense, considered untranslatable. 00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:37.939 Because it's divine itself. 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:39.120 You can't put it on the floor. 00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:40.120 You can't bash it around. 00:07:40.340 --> 00:07:41.600 You have to revere it. 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.500 And that means, doesn't it, to hear Allah, you need to learn his language. 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:47.960 You need to adopt his culture. 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:50.480 And everything that comes with that. 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:52.860 Now, and Paul is not saying that about God. 00:07:53.780 --> 00:07:55.980 His God is not like that God. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:58.939 He speaks all the languages of the world. 00:07:59.540 --> 00:08:05.620 And the Bible is not given at one point in history by a divine dictation, but rather over thousands of years in many different ways. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.939 God is not a one-time speaker. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.360 God is a perpetual communicator of his word. 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:21.259 As people in hugely different situations from one another, massively different cultures, living in different parts of the world, all write one story. 00:08:21.259 --> 00:08:24.599 Gloriously inspired by the Spirit. 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:34.759 A story centered on the person of Jesus Christ, pointing forward to him in promises and pictures, in historical events, in personal experiences, in buildings and architecture even. 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:44.360 And then the story is completed in the New Testament as God, the Son, Jesus Christ, arrives in person and is fully revealed because he's fully there. 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:53.360 That means that the Bible works and can be translated and still be effective. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.360 Maybe I can illustrate. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:55.919 Maybe I can illustrate. 00:08:56.060 --> 00:08:56.759 Maybe this will help. 00:08:57.180 --> 00:08:57.279 Right? 00:08:57.680 --> 00:09:05.659 The Islamic claim essentially is that Allah is the creator of a beautiful instrument or a beautiful object called the Quran. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:10.180 And our job is to look at it and admire it in its beauty and its perfection. 00:09:10.300 --> 00:09:14.659 You sort of like put it in a glass box, look at it, not ask too many questions about it. 00:09:14.659 --> 00:09:24.100 If you find a flaw in it, which isn't actually that difficult, or a question about how it's handed down, then the whole thing no longer is beautiful and the whole system falls apart. 00:09:24.959 --> 00:09:27.039 The God of the Bible is very different to that, isn't he? 00:09:27.699 --> 00:09:33.740 He is not only the maker of a beautiful instrument, he is the player of a beautiful instrument called the Bible. 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:39.019 And yes, you are to admire the scriptures, yes, but we don't worship this book. 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.279 No, we want to listen to it. 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:44.579 We want to hear what God says. 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:45.519 That's what it's about. 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.339 And it's played in our language and we can understand it. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.600 And the tune rings clearly, even in translations. 00:09:55.899 --> 00:10:01.559 So you can have great confidence that the text of your Bible is a faithful translation of what was actually written. 00:10:02.079 --> 00:10:05.799 And scholarship and archaeology is working hard to make sure that we're hearing the tune clearly. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.139 But our confidence is that God is such a good communicator. 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:10.839 It doesn't matter the language. 00:10:10.839 --> 00:10:11.860 It doesn't matter the context. 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:13.019 It doesn't matter the culture. 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.200 He is still able to speak. 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:22.919 So whoever you are this morning, whatever your heart language, I want to say to you, God speaks it. 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:30.019 And he wants to tell you of his grace and his mercy and his love in a language that you can understand. 00:10:30.019 --> 00:10:32.399 Because he wants you to know him. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.240 And to hear him. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:46.240 Perhaps, though, as well as being in this part of the world, we also are in a Christian subculture where we perhaps need to distinguish between the Bible and the ideas in our head. 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:47.039 Right? 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:48.039 You know what I'm talking about. 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:48.599 You know what I'm talking about. 00:10:49.319 --> 00:10:50.759 That idea that you have in your head. 00:10:50.839 --> 00:10:52.539 That impression that you have. 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:55.379 That sense that God might have told you something. 00:10:56.139 --> 00:10:57.259 Well, I want you to notice. 00:10:57.459 --> 00:10:59.839 And I'm not saying that God is incapable of doing that. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:01.199 Of course, that would be wrong to say that. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.060 But what I want you to notice here is that's not what Paul is talking about. 00:11:04.900 --> 00:11:12.240 There is a big theological difference between what is revelation and what is illumination. 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:12.920 Right? 00:11:13.800 --> 00:11:20.560 Illumination is what happens as we get a sort of light bulb moment as we realize the implication of truth for our lives. 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:28.140 It's the moment when the penny drops about what something means or what living for Jesus might mean in the particular situation that God has put me in. 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:33.559 Now, of course, God does stand behind and we rely on him for illumination. 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:40.860 We ask, don't we, for his spirit to illuminate God's word to us that we might understand it and that we might apply it to our lives. 00:11:41.319 --> 00:11:44.840 But let me tell you, 2 Timothy 3 is not talking about illumination. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:46.220 It's talking about revelation. 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:53.340 Timothy is being told by Paul that the scripture says, thus says the Lord. 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:55.480 This is his word. 00:11:55.480 --> 00:12:01.659 You know, Psalm 23 doesn't say, do you know what, I kind of feel like I get the impression that, you know, the Lord might be like a shepherd perhaps. 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:02.740 No. 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:06.940 The psalmist writes, the Lord is my shepherd. 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:14.500 John 3, 16 doesn't say, do you know, I felt like God kind of gave me the impression that Jesus wants us to know that God loves the world and wants to save his people. 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:15.700 No, it doesn't say that, does it? 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:20.300 For God so loved the world. 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:30.659 And that means, doesn't it, that when you open the Bible, every time you open the Bible and you have listening ears to what it says, you are engaging with revelation. 00:12:31.439 --> 00:12:34.639 You are having an encounter with the divine word. 00:12:35.099 --> 00:12:38.419 The one who speaks, he's revealing himself to you. 00:12:39.079 --> 00:12:45.459 The God who dwells in unapproachable light, who no one has ever seen nor can see, says Paul in 1 Timothy. 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:49.540 That God is speaking to you through his words. 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:51.920 The master communicator. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:57.519 And he does it through the, you know, the book on your lap or on your phone or on your tablet, whatever it is. 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:02.460 He speaks to you whether you've got a whole day to read the Bible or just five minutes on the bus. 00:13:04.040 --> 00:13:05.300 In the midst of the chaos. 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:13.699 We talked in sermon read-through on Friday about the, what is essentially the application of this little passage to us. 00:13:13.839 --> 00:13:21.379 And somebody in that group, and it wasn't me, suggested that basically the application is turn up the volume of the Bible in your life. 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:22.839 That's the application. 00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:30.199 Amidst all the noise in our lives, turn up the volume of the Bible because this is God speaking. 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:32.620 This is his word. 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.379 You know, perhaps you're anxious and afraid. 00:13:36.379 --> 00:13:39.919 We have voices, don't we, of worry that are loud in our brains. 00:13:40.659 --> 00:13:42.899 Perhaps in the middle of the night when you wake up and you're troubled. 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:45.899 Well, drown them out with the psalms. 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:53.860 You know, perhaps the demands of your boss or the financial demands of living in London or the ambitions that you have for your career are very loud in your head. 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:59.419 Well, can I suggest you drown them out with words of future glory in God's word? 00:13:59.419 --> 00:14:03.919 Because God speaks the Bible and is speaking to you every time you open it. 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:07.419 Okay, secondly, God speaks salvation. 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:08.659 God speaks salvation. 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:09.899 Look back at verse 14. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:17.379 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it. 00:14:17.379 --> 00:14:24.860 And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:34.139 Now, here's Paul's point that the Bible in your hand, the Bible that Timothy actually only had parts of or had to go to and listen to at the local synagogue, 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:38.620 the Scriptures that he had locked in his memory from being taught as a child, 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:45.060 that Bible, says Paul, is given for a purpose, and the purpose is to make wise for salvation. 00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:47.620 Now, we need to think about that, don't we? 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.799 What is salvation in the Bible, and why do we need it? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:57.179 Well, really, the Bible tells us, doesn't it, right from the beginning, that all of humanity is in need of salvation, 00:14:57.179 --> 00:15:01.899 because all of us, without any exception, have sinned. 00:15:01.899 --> 00:15:07.259 We've all taken the lives that God has given us, and we've lived them for our glory and not for his. 00:15:07.319 --> 00:15:09.639 We've become rebels in the world that God has made. 00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:12.100 We've broken his law, we've damaged one another. 00:15:12.819 --> 00:15:17.799 And the Bible not only expressly tells you that, that we need that kind of salvation, 00:15:18.340 --> 00:15:21.759 but it also says that you know that you need that. 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:24.740 It says that you can sense that you need that, 00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:32.940 that you will feel in this life, in this world, a lack of purpose, an emptiness, an estrangement from God. 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:38.279 And it will say to you that you will try all that you can to kind of placate that feeling, 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:42.960 maybe with false religion, or maybe with material wealth, or maybe with pleasure, 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:45.419 maybe with relationships, maybe with family. 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:50.879 In other words, the Bible says, not only do you live in a world that is broken, 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:52.620 you live a life that is broken. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:53.899 We are broken. 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:57.820 And while we might not be able to articulate it, we can't deny it. 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:01.480 And so salvation in the Bible is not self-help. 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:02.600 Yeah? 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:04.820 Because self is the problem. 00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:09.419 Salvation is in the arrival of God the Son in human flesh. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:16.960 The unbroken Savior, who then goes to the cross and is broken for us. 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:21.759 He saves, keeping the promise of God that runs from the beginning to the end of the Bible, 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:26.439 providing a sacrifice for sin and a promise to restore the world, 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:31.720 that in his death he would satisfy moral justice and give us hope of eternal glory. 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:34.879 And it's all by his grace, it's not by our works. 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:40.439 And says Paul, the whole Bible is given for the purpose of making that salvation known. 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.939 Making you, making me, making Timothy wise to salvation. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.139 Making others wise for salvation. 00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:50.279 Now let me tell you, I think that means there are at least three implications. 00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:54.199 There are probably more, but I'm going to trouble you with three implications of that. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:55.799 The first one is this. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:58.500 It means that on your own, you're ignorant of salvation. 00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:03.379 In other words, without the Bible, there is no salvation. 00:17:03.620 --> 00:17:10.460 Not because the Bible saves you, but because without the Bible, you would be ignorant of salvation. 00:17:10.460 --> 00:17:13.799 There are a whole load of things, aren't there, in the world that we can discover. 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:15.620 Remarkable things, right? 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:17.700 But salvation is not one of them. 00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:20.500 Humanity was able to work out how to make fire. 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:23.180 We're able to establish the arrangement of the planets. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.360 We're able to land on the moon, right? 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:30.180 But salvation is inaccessible and mysterious to us unless God tells us. 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:34.819 Second, it means that all of the Bible is about Jesus. 00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:37.480 Because he is the one who saves. 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:39.460 You see this, don't you? 00:17:39.460 --> 00:17:41.240 Paul knows that Jesus is the one who saves. 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:43.100 He's covered that already in 2 Timothy 1. 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:46.600 He says that scripture is able to make us wise for salvation. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.799 He is implying scripture is the story of Jesus. 00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:52.299 You want to meet Jesus, open a Bible. 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:53.840 This is where you meet him. 00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:55.840 This is where you encounter him, he says. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:00.299 And it means if you're reading the Bible and not seeing Jesus, then you're not understanding it. 00:18:00.299 --> 00:18:04.720 Or if someone is preaching to you and they're not preaching Jesus, they're not preaching the Bible. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:13.240 And the third implication is that in the reading of the scripture, something more profound is happening than just the passing on of information. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:17.099 We're coming up to the time of year, aren't we, where people go away on holiday. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.599 And maybe people recommend to you, oh, you've got to take this book. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:21.539 Read this book. 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:22.259 It's a great book. 00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:22.980 You'll love it. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:23.920 The story's fantastic. 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:25.859 It will kind of swallow you up. 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:27.279 It's a real page turner. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:29.519 And maybe it will affect you emotionally. 00:18:29.819 --> 00:18:31.279 Maybe you'll be entertained by it. 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:38.639 But let me tell you, you won't be changed by it in the way that you'll be changed by God's word. 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:46.180 Because in the Bible, God speaks and is able to transform you. 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:53.339 He's able, through the words of this book, he's able to make you and me new people. 00:18:53.339 --> 00:19:02.339 He's able to bring us from condemnation into life, from darkness to light, from hell to heaven, from judgment to glory. 00:19:03.139 --> 00:19:05.339 You know, reading the Bible is not simply learning. 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:11.959 It's encountering the living God who is able to take the message of this book, even in a translation of it, 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:16.659 even in the weak preaching of it by a sinful person like me. 00:19:16.660 --> 00:19:25.220 He's able to take that word and reach into your heart and your life and give you new Holy Spirit life. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:27.200 Save you. 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:32.380 James says in his book that we are given birth through the word of truth. 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.540 The message of the scriptures opens our eyes and brings us to Christ. 00:19:37.539 --> 00:19:48.839 We've got in the foyer about 700 of these copies of Mark's gospel left to be handed out to people in London. 00:19:49.180 --> 00:19:50.119 Good news for London. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.099 Let me ask you, why would you bother doing that, right? 00:19:54.700 --> 00:20:02.180 Well, let me tell you that each one of these is a potential heart transplant for every individual who would read it and take it. 00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:03.519 It's a life giver. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:11.599 Now, if you went to London and you went down to the river and you saw a thousand people drowning in the River Thames 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:16.519 and you had next to you a pile of life boys, what would you do? 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:19.940 Well, you would throw them into the river, wouldn't you? 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:23.859 And if you had a big pile of life boys, you wouldn't mind if one or two of them missed 00:20:23.859 --> 00:20:30.460 because you would just be desperate that someone might grab hold of one and be saved. 00:20:30.539 --> 00:20:31.539 That's what you'd want, isn't it? 00:20:31.539 --> 00:20:40.500 Now, each one of these is a life boy for people in our city, that they might encounter Jesus and it might make them wise for salvation. 00:20:41.059 --> 00:20:45.460 So let me suggest that we throw as many of them out as we can, right? 00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:49.299 Not into the river, but into people's hands. 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:54.819 So take a watch, give them out, stand at a tube station and be that weird person who gives them out. 00:20:54.819 --> 00:20:55.259 Yeah? 00:20:55.619 --> 00:20:57.619 Take some into work and give them to everybody. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:01.539 Take some to your street and give them to the people on your street. 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:06.299 Because this book is able to make people wise for salvation. 00:21:06.579 --> 00:21:10.759 God uses this to reach into people's lives and give them new life. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:12.299 So there you go. 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:15.859 Throw the books out. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.859 Not as in a way, but, you know, out to others. 00:21:19.659 --> 00:21:20.240 Next heading. 00:21:20.399 --> 00:21:22.460 God speaks personal change. 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:23.759 Come to verse 16. 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:31.519 All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, 00:21:32.059 --> 00:21:36.440 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 00:21:37.100 --> 00:21:40.759 Notice just a list of what God's word does in the life of the Christian. 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:45.200 Not only is it able to make the unbeliever wise for salvation, 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.860 it is also able to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness. 00:21:50.740 --> 00:21:55.880 In the Greek, there's a kind of rhythm to the sentence because it repeats the word towards in between each. 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:01.140 So literally, it's all scripture is God-breathed and is useful towards teaching, towards rebuking, 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:03.380 towards correcting, towards training in righteousness. 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:07.100 And the sense here is that these are four discrete things. 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:10.620 The scriptures, as you read them, will teach you. 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:13.419 That is, they will impart information to you. 00:22:13.719 --> 00:22:16.559 This book will give you knowledge that you did not have before. 00:22:17.239 --> 00:22:20.139 In other words, the Bible is a book that you need to learn. 00:22:20.339 --> 00:22:23.099 It's no good sitting by your bedside unopened. 00:22:23.239 --> 00:22:28.199 It contains truths that you would not dream up, that you could not fathom on your own, 00:22:28.239 --> 00:22:30.059 that you wouldn't discover in any other way. 00:22:30.399 --> 00:22:32.559 You need to be a student of God's words. 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:36.819 But then, as a student of God's words, you will find also that the Bible will rebuke you. 00:22:37.639 --> 00:22:42.419 That is, you'll find, if you're reading it carefully and honestly, and this is groundbreaking, 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.200 you will find that God doesn't always agree with you. 00:22:45.579 --> 00:22:46.159 You know that? 00:22:47.439 --> 00:22:49.899 God doesn't always like the good ideas in your head. 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:55.140 In fact, I would suggest, from my own personal experience, and just really from the logic of it, 00:22:55.540 --> 00:22:58.880 that if you have never had this experience of reading the Bible, 00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:01.820 that you read the Bible and it says something that you don't like, 00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:03.980 that you didn't believe before, and you find difficult. 00:23:04.080 --> 00:23:07.280 If you've never experienced that, let me suggest you've never read the Bible properly. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:09.700 Because it will rebuke you. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.140 It doesn't think the way we think, or speak the way that we would speak. 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.500 The Bible is not a book of positive affirmations. 00:23:17.640 --> 00:23:19.160 It has the word no in it. 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:21.600 And you'll be rebuked when you transgress. 00:23:22.300 --> 00:23:23.720 It will also correct you. 00:23:23.800 --> 00:23:28.520 In a sense, a rebuke without a correction that tells you positively what to do is not really any value. 00:23:28.620 --> 00:23:30.200 But the scripture will correct you too. 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:31.680 Steer you in the right direction. 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:33.320 Tell you what life is for. 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:34.280 Where you should be going. 00:23:34.580 --> 00:23:36.440 What should be important to you. 00:23:36.780 --> 00:23:40.340 Here you will find, you know, what your relationships are for. 00:23:40.339 --> 00:23:42.799 What kind of person you should marry. 00:23:42.939 --> 00:23:44.859 What kind of person you should not marry. 00:23:46.399 --> 00:23:48.500 What purpose you should have in life. 00:23:49.539 --> 00:23:52.740 It will pull you away from the flames of self-destruction. 00:23:53.699 --> 00:23:56.379 Bring you into the light of living for God. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:57.959 And it will train you in righteousness. 00:23:58.959 --> 00:24:03.039 Here the language really is the sense of a parent teaching a child. 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:07.619 Sort of a guardian or a leader in the direction of righteousness. 00:24:07.619 --> 00:24:12.599 And in that sense then, as readers of the Bible, what we're accepting is that we are infants. 00:24:12.919 --> 00:24:14.439 We come to God's word as infants. 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:16.959 We come to God's word as people who have lots to learn. 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:21.239 By definition, people who are slow to learn. 00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:24.739 This is a mercy to parents in some ways. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:29.539 But, you know, you don't put your child to bed as a three-year-old and wake them up in the morning as a 40-year-old. 00:24:29.659 --> 00:24:29.799 Right? 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:31.699 It takes time. 00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:33.500 There is a lot to learn. 00:24:33.500 --> 00:24:39.539 And so the effectiveness of God's word in this image is not seen so much in immediate dramatic effects. 00:24:39.700 --> 00:24:40.900 That might happen. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:46.079 But actually the results seem to come slowly over time. 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:48.319 The growth of a child into maturity. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:50.200 Walking in the way of righteousness. 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:53.859 And that's the exciting dynamic then, isn't it? 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:54.900 Of listening to God's word. 00:24:54.980 --> 00:24:56.279 Of being taught regularly. 00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:57.920 And listening to it read. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:03.720 Yet, where you commit yourself to private study and discipleship, the joy is that it will change you. 00:25:04.700 --> 00:25:06.160 God will change you through it. 00:25:06.940 --> 00:25:11.180 Can I say to you, you won't be the same person if you commit yourself to reading God's word. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.240 In 10 years' time, you'll be a very different person. 00:25:13.320 --> 00:25:15.560 In 20 years, you'll be almost unrecognizable. 00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:19.300 In 30 years of studying the scriptures, you will find yourself completely different. 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:21.120 It will not leave you ineffective. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.900 You will be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained. 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:33.640 Likewise, if you're a Christian this morning and you're finding that you're ignorant, heading in the wrong direction, and still a baby in the faith. 00:25:34.060 --> 00:25:37.080 Well, then you need the solid food of God's word. 00:25:38.620 --> 00:25:40.980 Of course, there's an implication, isn't there, as well here. 00:25:41.080 --> 00:25:47.140 That like we saw, if the scriptures were the way that the non-Christian encounters Jesus and are saved. 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.320 Then it's the ongoing study, reading, and preaching of the scriptures. 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:53.580 That's how we encounter Jesus. 00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:57.059 That we are with Jesus in his word. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:59.500 That we're being transformed by him. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:03.199 That we're learning to think like him, respond like him, feel like him. 00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:08.359 And that doesn't happen outside of a regular encounter with Jesus in the scriptures. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:15.879 You can't hope that if you have a sort of devotional time at home that involves just kind of switching your brain off and putting Christian music on in the background, 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:18.039 that somehow transformation will come. 00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:26.920 No, the means that God has given us is his word to change us and has promised to meet us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit through his words. 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:34.420 I don't know about you, but I kind of, I do wish it would all be a bit faster and a bit more automatic. 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:41.380 Seth and I went to a conference one day this last week and we got to listen to a couple of older guys teach the Bible. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.140 Both of them were into retirement age. 00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:50.720 Both of them were geniuses with years and years of study behind them. 00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:56.080 One of them, I mean, you could tell it was, you know, they were intelligent guys. 00:26:56.300 --> 00:26:59.400 The guy started his first talk and said, I've got two headings. 00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:01.600 And they proceeded to both be in Greek. 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:02.140 Right? 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:04.380 So, okay, we're the nerds conference. 00:27:04.540 --> 00:27:04.680 Right? 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:09.039 And it, but it, it wasn't really listening to them. 00:27:09.340 --> 00:27:14.779 It wasn't really the academic skill that you were left with the impression of. 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:19.820 It was, you know, I listened and thought, I just want to know Jesus like you know him. 00:27:21.019 --> 00:27:23.240 I want to have been with him like you've been with him. 00:27:24.380 --> 00:27:26.240 I want to love him like you love him. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.620 I want to live for him like you do. 00:27:29.779 --> 00:27:30.960 Please, Lord, will you do that? 00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:34.279 And I wish that that was like that. 00:27:35.299 --> 00:27:37.180 But it turns out there's no shortcut to it. 00:27:37.360 --> 00:27:42.500 The slow, consecutive, regular, thoughtful exposure to God's word, that's where it happens. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:44.140 So do it. 00:27:45.620 --> 00:27:49.279 Finally, then, God speaks all that is necessary. 00:27:50.580 --> 00:27:56.160 Just as we finish, I want to point out what I think is a significant theological implication of these verses. 00:27:56.820 --> 00:27:58.740 And I know I've probably worn you out already. 00:27:58.740 --> 00:28:07.480 But let me ask you to look down at the verses at verse 17 and read it backwards and read it in the negative with me. 00:28:07.740 --> 00:28:07.960 Okay? 00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:20.980 So notice at the end of verse 17, there is no good work that the servant of God needs to be equipped to do that the scriptures won't equip them for. 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:22.579 Do you notice that? 00:28:22.579 --> 00:28:34.759 If the Bible can equip you for every good work, that means that the negative that there is is that there is nothing required of you as a Christian that the Bible won't train you to do. 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:40.519 In other words, Paul's point here to Timothy is that the Bible is enough. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:41.440 It's enough. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:46.140 This is the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:48.640 I don't think it's always very well understood. 00:28:49.700 --> 00:28:52.860 It doesn't mean that the Bible is everything that you want to know, right? 00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:57.519 The sufficiency of the scriptures is not saying that the Bible is everything you want to know. 00:28:58.120 --> 00:29:08.320 You know, if you come to the Bible looking for a biography of Jesus that tells you everything you would like to know about Jesus and what he did when he walked this earth, then you will be disappointed. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:21.259 Or if you come to the scriptures looking for everything you want to know about how God made the world or what happened to the dinosaurs or how many Israelites left Egypt, then you will not find everything you want to know in answer to those questions either. 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.319 Not because the Bible doesn't have something to say about them. 00:29:24.379 --> 00:29:24.759 It does. 00:29:25.139 --> 00:29:30.839 But rather because the sufficiency of scriptures is tied to the purpose of scripture, right? 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:33.980 The sufficiency of scripture is tied to the purpose of scripture. 00:29:33.980 --> 00:29:38.900 The Bible is sufficient for the ends to which God has sent it. 00:29:39.500 --> 00:29:42.460 And that is that we might be saved and sanctified. 00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:51.860 In other words, the Bible is sufficient to make wise for salvation and is sufficient to teach, repute, correct and equip you for every good work. 00:29:51.859 --> 00:29:58.659 In other words, for you to live the Christian life, you don't need to have a little bit of extra information whispered in your ear every morning. 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:03.919 You don't need a particular church tradition to mediate fresh words from God to you. 00:30:04.419 --> 00:30:05.519 You don't need a pope. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:06.740 You don't need a priest. 00:30:06.899 --> 00:30:07.759 You don't need an apostle. 00:30:07.979 --> 00:30:10.939 You don't need a prophet to give you snippets of new information. 00:30:11.479 --> 00:30:15.899 What you need is a Bible because it's sufficient. 00:30:15.900 --> 00:30:22.759 But the sufficiency of the scriptures does not also mean that you don't need someone to teach it to you, right? 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:25.640 That is a misunderstanding of the sufficiency of scripture. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.920 You know, if you have a baby, right? 00:30:29.100 --> 00:30:35.920 You don't lock that baby away in a room and give them, you know, a bag of nappies and a load of formula and say, 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.840 that's everything you need. 00:30:38.420 --> 00:30:39.200 You're good. 00:30:39.480 --> 00:30:40.120 You're golden. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:40.800 Go for it. 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:45.940 No, that would be terrible and abusive and it would lead to a disaster. 00:30:46.659 --> 00:30:50.779 And likewise, you don't lock a new Christian in a room with a Bible and say, there you go. 00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:52.099 That's everything that you need. 00:30:52.740 --> 00:30:55.519 Chapter 3, verse 14 and verse 15. 00:30:55.639 --> 00:30:59.039 Chapter 4, verse 2 all talk about the Bible being taught. 00:30:59.500 --> 00:31:05.159 Our exposure to the scriptures is not just me on my own with a Bible, but it's being taught the scriptures, 00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:07.419 sitting under the teaching of the scriptures. 00:31:07.420 --> 00:31:12.000 Preaching the truth is the noble task of the Lord's servant in chapter 2, verse 24. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:15.100 It's the approved work of chapter 2, verse 15. 00:31:15.660 --> 00:31:22.600 The Bible is sufficient, but we need to listen to it taught and preached to us. 00:31:23.060 --> 00:31:24.740 The church needs to use it. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:31.140 God's word needs to be opened and explained and exposed by those who are qualified to teach. 00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:33.140 That's the task of the church, isn't it? 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:35.440 Both for evangelism and for discipleship. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.740 So let me try and end with an encouragement to you this morning. 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:41.660 The Christian life is hard, isn't it? 00:31:42.220 --> 00:31:43.960 And we all find it wearying and difficult. 00:31:44.620 --> 00:31:49.740 But let me tell you, don't despair because God has given you everything you need. 00:31:50.100 --> 00:31:50.920 Everything you need. 00:31:51.059 --> 00:31:51.640 Praise God. 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:54.620 So read the Bible. 00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:56.600 Get familiar with it, all of it. 00:31:56.660 --> 00:31:57.780 Not just some of it, all of it. 00:31:57.900 --> 00:32:00.259 Commit as much of it as you can to memory. 00:32:00.420 --> 00:32:02.420 Learn to meditate on small parts of the scriptures. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:04.880 Learn to chew on it and grapple with its truth. 00:32:05.320 --> 00:32:08.280 Learn to put it together so you can understand its grand doctrines. 00:32:08.740 --> 00:32:10.540 Learn to pray the Bible back to God. 00:32:10.539 --> 00:32:17.359 Learn to sit under the preaching of God's words as God himself addresses all of us. 00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:21.720 Even the preacher through the preaching of his words. 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:28.500 Because the Bible is sufficient to make us wise for salvation and give us all that we need to live for him. 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:31.299 Let me pray as you're close. 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:36.579 We'll just leave a few moments of quiet for you. 00:32:36.660 --> 00:32:41.960 Maybe there's one or two things you just want to pray for and ask the Lord to apply to your life. 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:44.500 And I'll pray in a moment. 00:32:58.500 --> 00:33:12.299 Heavenly Father, don't let this word be snatched away from us. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:24.819 Please, we pray, might we be a church that has great confidence in your word to make people wise for salvation so that we give out your word. 00:33:24.819 --> 00:33:37.240 May we, as we struggle on in our Christian lives, find ourselves often in your word and sitting under the preaching of your word that you might change and transform us. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:45.359 May we find personally and corporately that we encounter Jesus over and over again in his word. 00:33:46.220 --> 00:33:47.339 That we're transformed. 00:33:48.259 --> 00:33:51.039 That we fall in love with him over and over again. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:34:01.839 That our priorities and our dreams and our aspirations are shaped more and more around your values and your priorities in your words. 00:34:02.159 --> 00:34:02.859 Do this work. 00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:04.359 We can't do it on our own. 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:05.859 Lord, we need you. 00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:07.940 And we ask for the help of your spirit. 00:34:08.340 --> 00:34:09.159 In Jesus' name. 00:34:09.579 --> 00:34:09.860 Amen. 00:34:10.420 --> 00:34:10.719 Amen. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:10.840 Amen. 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:10.900 Amen.