We Love God’s Word The Bible
2 Tim. 3:16-17
15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. NKJV
Introduction
Why Should I love God’s Word and study it.
1. Studying The Bible; We Learn What It Teaches.
2. We Learn about God,
3. We Learn To Love God.
4 We Learn To Trust God.
5. We Learn To Please God.
· The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years
· The Bible was written by over 40 different authors (Among them were kings, military leaders, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, tax collectors, poets, statesmen, musicians, scholars and shepherds.)
· The Bible was written on three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe.
· The Bible was written in three different languages: Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.
· The Bible is written with many different literary styles: Prose, poetry, historical narrative, romance, law, biography, parable, allegory and prophecy.
· The Bible is a book of great diversity, yet, in spite of this, it unfolds a single continuous story, and it does so without ever contradicting itself.
The Bible has for its main character God Himself, made known through the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The Bible Is . . Evangelistic. 3:15
2. The Bible Is . . Inspired By God. 3:16a
3. The Bible Is . . Profitable For Doctrine. 3:16b
1. We Love The Bible Because It Makes One . . Wise For Salvation. 3:15
“ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
A. It Is Wise To . . Expose Children To The Scriptures. 15a
“and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,”
B. It Is Wise To . . Educate Related To Salvation. 15b
“. . . which are able to make you wise for salvation”
C. It Is Wise To . . Exult Faith In Jesus. 15c
“. . . through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Illustration #1
Dr George Truitt many years ago had a child come forward and decided she needed to be talked to further. He went on to direct the invitation Hymn. Then he noticed this little girl crying, so he went over to her and said, “don’t cry we will present you at another time.” She said, “I am not crying about that you see my older brother is out there and he needs Jesus.” Dr. Truitt presented the girl and said, “ I make a mistake on this child. She knows what she is doing.”
Illustration #2
A brother and sister along with some other children were playing church. The boy played the preacher and where ever he turned the page in the Bible he said, “Jesus Saves.” His sister just got furious and got her Mother to come out where they were playing and instructed her to tell her brother the Bible does not say Jesus Saves on every page. Her Mother thought for a moment, and said, “I really can’t say that because the whole Bible is about Jesus and Salvation.
Application
The Bible Makes one wise unto salvation.
2. We Love The Bible Because It Is The . . Inspired Word Of God. 3:16a
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, . . .”
A. Inspiration . . Means God Breathed.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration, then, is a statement about God's greatness. God is intelligent and able to communicate with man, whom He created in His image. God knows everything about all reality in creation and is absolutely faithful and true (Rev 3:7; 21:5).
It follows that ideas communicated by divine revelation are true and conform to reality as God knows it. God overruled human limitations and sinful biases so that His spokesmen were able to write what He wanted written. God guided the thought conveyed so that it was without error, accomplishing the objectives He intended. (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
We do not know the exact process by which God spoke to the original authors, but we have God’s Word on the fact that He did, 2 Pet. 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” So, revelation is God telling a man what He wants written down.
How Did God Speak
· He spoke through angels - Gen. 18; 19; Luke 1-2; Matt. 28; etc.
· He spoke through an audible voice - Gen. 3:9-19; 6:13-21;
12:1-3; Ex. 20:1-17; Josh. 1:1-9; 1 Kings 17:2-4.
· He spoke in a still, small voice - 1 Kings 19:11-12
· He spoke through nature - Psalm 19
· He spoke through animals - Num. 22:28
· He spoke in dreams - Gen. 28:12; Matt. 1-2; Matt. 2:19-22
· He spoke through visions - Isaiah 6:1-6; Daniel 7; 8; 10; Acts 16, 19
· He spoke through Christophanies – Gen. 18:1-33; Ex. 3:2; Dan. 3:25; 1 Kings 19:7
3. We Love The Bible Because It Is . . Profitable For Doctrine. 3:16b
“. . . and is profitable for doctrine, . . . ”
DOCTRINE
A body of beliefs about God, man, Christ, the church, and other related concepts considered authoritative and thus worthy of acceptance by all members of the community of faith.
Christ condemned the doctrine of the Pharisees because it was of human origin (Matt 15:9; Mark 7:7). By contrast, Jesus' teaching was not systematic and repetitious. It was fresh and new (Matt 7:28; Mark 1:22,27; Luke 4:32).
After Pentecost, Christian doctrine began to be systematized (Acts 2:42). Doctrinal instruction was given by special teachers (1 Cor 12:28-29; Gal 6:6) to those who had responded to the gospel (Rom 6:17).
The earliest doctrine of the Christian church declared:
(1) that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ (Acts 3:18);
(2) that God had raised Him from the dead (Acts 1:22; 2:24,32); (3) that salvation was by faith in His name (Acts 2:38,16).
These three truths were presented as a clear fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament.
Paul taught that true doctrine is essential for Christian growth (Eph 4:11-16; 1 Tim 4:6; 6:3; Titus 1:9) and that false doctrine destroys the church (Eph 4:14; 2 Tim 4:3).
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
Illustration
The Souther Baptist Convention went through what I like to call a Conservative Resurgence. From 1979 till 2000 almost every convention had a battle over who would be President of our convention. The same controversy took place in the Missouri Baptist Convention. I was active for the Conservatives during that controversy. Christa and I both got up very early in the morning to get a seat at the convention center.
The cause was, “what is the Word Of God.” Some argued against the term “Inerrancy” of Scripture.”
E.J. Young defines inerrancy this way, “By this word, we mean that the Scriptures possess the quality of freedom from all error. They are exempt from the liability to mistake, incapable of error. In all their teachings they are in perfect accord with the truth.”
When people say that the Bible contains mistakes and errors, they are calling the very character of God into question! We are told that God simply cannot tell a lie, Heb. 6:18.
If He claimed inspiration for His Word, then that Word must be inerrant. If it isn’t then God lied when He claimed to have inspired the original text.
I served 3 different times as a trustee in three different seminaries.
It was my privilege to stand and call for a special Trustee Meeting to be called to keep one professor from the class room because of his teaching. I stood to ask one Seminary President If A New Faculty Member He Recommended Believed In The Inerrancy Of Scripture. At Golden Gate Seminary I requested and got on the record that all new professors must write a paper on their belief in the Inerrancy of Scripture before they could be approved for service.
I say those things just to affirm my stand for the Word of God.
I believe The Bible, I love The Bible, and I have urged every church I have pastored to love the Bible. It Is the Word of God.
WE LOVE THE LORD, WE LOVE HIS WORD,
WE LOVE HIS PEOPLE, WE LOVE HIS WORLD.
We love you and want you to come to Christ