Sunday Sermon: All Scripture is God-Breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

You're listening to the Preaching Ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an

Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series.

Here is Pastor Gabe. A quote here from Pope Francis, probably haven't heard me begin a sermon with a quote from the

Pope, but it was just this past week that he made this comment, the homily, or the sermon as we would call it, must be brief, an image, a thought, and a sentiment.

The homily must not go on for more than eight minutes, because after that, with time, attention is lost, and the people fall asleep, and they are right.

I laughed at that when I saw that earlier this week, thinking, I just preached a sermon on Sunday that was over 50 minutes.

I listened to hour -long sermons for fun during the week. We were just at the

Building Tomorrow's church conference where every message was an hour, and we paid to be there in order to hear those sermons, and here you heard

Brother Chris in front of you this morning encourage you to go to the website and listen to those wonderful messages that are there.

We're Baptists. We enjoy long sermons, and to hear the Word of God preached.

This is in 2 Timothy 3, as we come back to our study of this book, and last week, we looked at verses 10 through 15.

We included 16 and 17 in there to keep it in context. This morning, I'm going to begin in 16, and I'm going to go through chapter 4, verse 2, and you'll see how these passages, these verses go together.

So in honor of the Word of the King, would you please stand? We're in 2 Timothy 3. I'm going to begin reading in verse 16.

We'll go through chapter 4, verse 2. Hear the Word of the Lord. 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.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the

Word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come into this passage today, as we hear once again that all scripture is breathed out by God, may we understand that the scripture being

God's Word is authoritative, and we are all to be subject to it, and what it tells us to do, we should do.

When God spoke to His children Israel from Mount Sinai, they heard the voice of God, give the

Ten Commandments, and though it may not be in thunder and lightning and a mountain with smoke and fire going up like a furnace, yet we hear the very

Word of God every time we open these scriptures and read them, and I pray your

Holy Spirit would illuminate to us what it is that we read, that we may be conformed to the image of Christ and be driven in our spirits not only to hear the

Word, but to do it and obey it, and it would change our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

It's in His precious name that we pray, amen. Amen. My dad taught me the scriptures.

He taught me how to use scripture to interpret scripture. He is a man of God that had such a great zeal for the

Word. I grew up listening to my dad preach. He was not a pastor, but he was a

Christian radio station planter. Every single morning that I went to school,

I listened to my dad on the radio, every morning, without fail. When I worked in Christian radio myself,

I listened to other Bible teachers that we would have on the air, and these men became like mentors to me, but all under the guidance of my father.

When I became ordained as a pastor, just shy of 30, I was 29 when

I was ordained, but I was ordained on my dad's birthday, and he was there at my ordination.

It was a great honor for me to be ordained on that day and to have my dad there, and how providential of God to put a

Sunday on my dad's birthday, that I could be ordained on that day and my dad would be present for that.

My dad grew up in a church -going home, but it was very nominal. They went because it was kind of the

American thing to do. It wasn't really something that then continued in the home the rest of the week.

It was something that we did on Sunday, but his parents didn't really lead the household according to God's word or the gospel, anything of that nature.

And so my dad didn't really grow up knowing the Lord. He really didn't understand what it meant to believe the gospel or even to be a follower of Jesus.

These were just things we did on a Sunday morning in his very religious Lutheran church that he attended, but didn't have any of those things really applied to his life.

It wasn't until he was in his 20s that he got set up on this blind date. Had never met this gal before.

He went to go pick her up. He was wearing this denim jacket with a big American flag on the back. This was on New Year's Eve in Columbia, South Carolina, and there was a big revival that was going on at Williams Bryce Stadium, which was where the

Carolina Gamecocks played. So he goes and he picks up this gal and he's got this idea of what he wants to go do.

Well, it turns out this girl is a Christian. My dad is not. And so she suggests to him, Hey, there's a big assembly going on at Williams Bryce Stadium.

What do you think we go there? And he's like, yeah, sure. I'm up for anything. So we went there not knowing that it was going to be like a big crusade.

And he said, when they got there, the gal that he was with virtually disappeared. He didn't even know what happened to her.

She found a group of friends and went off with them. And he's like, I don't, I don't know what I'm doing here then. So he just kind of found his way into the crowd and he listened to the preacher preach.

And when he got to the end, he was convicted by everything that the preacher said. And the preacher went through the word of God, talked about your sin and your need for a savior, the judgment of God that is coming against all who do unrighteousness, but only by faith in Jesus Christ can you be saved.

And not only will you be saved, but Christ gives your life meaning and purpose direction.

Why are you here? For what reason do you live? You know, those answers, according to the word of Jesus.

And as my dad was listening to all of that, he was deeply convicted and he recognized his own sin.

And he saw Christ for the very first time, not as just some religious philosopher that we hear talked about every single

Sunday and the church that I grew up in with my parents, but he knew Jesus as God, as savior, as one who is judge, but is also merciful and forgive sins and gives life.

And so when the preacher gave an invitation for people to come down front, he went down front with everybody else.

And then they proceeded to speak words that my dad didn't even understand. He said, for first time commitments, go this direction.

But for those of you who are rededicating your lives, you're going to go in this direction. And my dad's going, what in the world does any of that mean?

And so he went the rededicate your lives way. I'm dedicating my life.

So I guess that's the, that's the direction that I go. So we ended up in a room with all of these people who were rededicating their lives to Christ, but nonetheless, a counselor came to him and talked him through, here's what this means.

And here's what in your life you need to be doing in response to the message that you just heard.

And they gave my dad a Bible. He had a Bible, but this time it meant something to him.

And the first thing he did when he went home was he opened it up and he counted every single chapter in the

Bible. Now this was before you could use Google to just look that up for you. And there wasn't any sort of concordance in this

Bible that told you exactly how many chapters there were. He went page by page all the way through it and counted every single chapter over 1100 chapters.

And so then he calculated in his head, how many chapters a day do I have to read in order to get all the way through my

Bible? And he figured out three to four chapters a day, every day. And he could get all the way through the Bible in a year.

Well, he ended up reading more than that and ended up getting through it in about half a year. And then ever since then, he has continued to read the

Bible every year and has been through it in his life more than 30 times.

At one point, as he was reading, he actually began to get discouraged because he remembered the words that the preacher said, but he wasn't finding those same words in his

Bible and was wondering in himself, did I really hear what I thought

I heard? Or was the preacher giving a completely different speech than the words that I can actually find in the

Bible? And he asked the Lord, God, can you show me the words that the preacher said?

I want to see the same verses that he said and I want to be able to see what else is said in those passages.

Lord, can you show that to me? And my dad says in his testimony that the moment he said amen, he looked down and the first place his eyes fell was a verse that he remembered that preacher saying.

And he started reading everything around it and he would turn a few more pages and he found another one.

And he started reading what that meant and everything around it. He couldn't remember any of the references, whether this guy quoted

John or Romans or whatever else, but he just found the verses. The spirit illuminated to him the meaning and the understanding of these things that he may be convicted in heart and know the truth that Jesus Christ is

Savior and Lord. And so my dad knowing that it was right here in the

Bible that I found the words to save that he committed his life to teaching those words to others, that we in the hearing of those words likewise will be saved.

Romans 10 17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

So me being his oldest son, he taught me the Bible and from age five to seven, I read through the entire

Bible. And then he took me through the Bible again and he showed me how to use scripture to interpret scripture.

And we would see certain passages and he would tell me, now you've already read through the Bible here. You're seeing this verse, which you've seen that before.

Where have you seen that before? And I would say, well, I think it was over here. And so he would show me that and, and showing how all of it is one cohesive story.

And though we're reading here over 750 ,000 words that were written by over 40 different men over a period of time of about 1600 years on three different continents in three different languages.

Yet we have one story that all points to the same thing, illuminating for us our sin and need for a savior and pointing to Christ is that savior.

And this was not anything that any man could have decided.

Here's the story that I want to tell that over that period of time and using that many men to tell this story, how do we come up with one cohesive, same message?

Because it was God through his Holy spirit that we're leading men to this place to write down what

God wanted them to write the entire time. And so when we open up here, second

Timothy three 16, and we read these words of the apostle Paul, all scripture is breathed out by God.

Then we know that what we read in the pages of scripture is given by God himself.

And what we read in the Bible is not merely a book that contains the word of God.

This actually is the word of God. So what we want to consider this morning as we come back to the section that we've been looking at here in second

Timothy chapter three, we want to refresh our minds and renew our thinking and an understanding of what it is that we do every time we open

God's word. Every time you hear it preached, every time you read it for yourself, whether you're listening to a podcast or you're reading a

Bible study, what are we reading when we open this book and being reminded once again of the power of the very word of God to save and to sanctify preparing us for that day that we will be with our

God forever in glory. Now, if you'll remember this section again, that we read last week from 10 to 17, it's in this section that Paul has instructed

Timothy to follow my teaching. That was in verses 10 to 13 that we looked at last week, continue in the teaching verses 14 to 15.

And he finishes by saying what is profitable for teaching. That's the section we're looking at today, verses 16 to 17.

But even these verses, just these two verses here break down in these three ways. First of all, we want to come to understand that all scripture is

God breathed. That's number one. And then secondly, we want to see how this scripture is useful for training in righteousness.

And what does that mean when we say training and righteousness? That's number two. And then thirdly, we want to understand how this word is able to equip the man of God, able to equip you and me for every good work.

So once again, understanding that scripture is God breathed number two, it is useful for training and righteousness.

And number three, able to equip us for every good work. And so what do these things mean as we read?

So first of all, looking at this very first part, second Timothy three 16, all scripture is breathed out by God, or in some of your translations,

God breathed. The Greek word here is the Anustos, literally

God breathed. This is the only place in the Bible that word appears. And there is not any evidence in any other ancient

Greek writings that that word has appeared anywhere else in antiquity until Paul wrote it here to Timothy from prison.

So Paul may very well have come up with a new word here in order to articulate to Timothy, what it is that he holds in his hands.

What it is that he communicates to God's people. Every time he opens the scriptures and lets it fly.

It is the word of God. Theo Anustos, Theo meaning

God and Anustos meaning breathed. It is when

God speaks and the word that proceeds, it is breathed out by God, all scripture, though it be written down that word scripture, meaning something that is written, but it is breathed out by God and therefore profitable for these things.

So Paul refers not only to the old Testament scriptures here, but even the new, and I've heard it said that, that, you know, some theologians, when they are musing over this particular statement, all scripture breathed out by God, they would say, well, when, when

Timothy would teach, he's teaching old Testament. So really what Paul had in mind here were the old

Testament scriptures, because those new Testament scriptures had not yet completed, had not yet been completed, but that's simply not true.

Paul had in mind here, both the old and the new, even though can and wasn't completed yet.

And in fact, Paul considered the very word that he was giving to Timothy here, the word of God, an apostle knew when he wrote that he was writing

God's word. The prophets knew when they wrote that they were writing

God's word over 4 ,000 times in the Bible. Do the writers make, make a suggestion, either outright saying it or inferring it that what they are writing is

God's word. And they are not even the least bit ashamed or giving pause whenever they say such a thing.

It's not like any of these prophets or apostles, when they're writing that are going, you know, this, I might be onto something here.

Maybe this is from God. They do, they knew it was from God.

You just consider when Amos delivers his word and Amos says, I'm not a prophet.

I'm not even the son of a prophet. I'm a farmer. And yet this word that has come from me to you is from God.

Now, sometimes that word was clearly and plainly articulated.

As I gave the illustration in the beginning of God speaking from Mount Sinai to his children,

Israel. When you have angels there in legions and you have the mountain going up in smoke and in flame and the voice of God sounds like trumpet blasts and peals of thunder, the way that it's described there in Exodus 19, before we even get to the 10 commandments in Exodus 20, you know, that's

God speaking. And even the children of Israel knew it because they were terrified by it. And they go to Moses and they go, we're going to die listening to this voice.

So why don't we go back to the arrangement where you go up on the mountain and you listen to God and then you come tell us what it is that he said.

That seems a little safer for us. So sometimes they knew for certain that what they heard was

God's voice. And it wasn't just him speaking into their minds. He was speaking audibly.

The apostle Paul talks about in Acts chapter 26, when he was giving his testimony before King Agrippa, he said that when

Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus, Paul even says, he spoke to me in the

Hebrew language. So it's not just God speaking into my head and I have these thoughts.

And so, oh, that must be God. He clearly and plainly articulated to his prophets and to his apostles what he said.

Now, sometimes there were inspirations that would come. For example, in second Timothy, what we read here, though it is the word of God, it would not have been

Jesus or the Holy Spirit standing right there by Paul's side in this dungeon and telling him what it is that he needs to write down.

So it's not dictation. Jesus himself said to his own disciples,

I will give my Holy Spirit to you and he will lead you into all truth and bring to your remembrance the things that I have said to you.

So there are occasions when it's clearly and articulately said there are other times in which the writer is led by the spirit.

But regardless, whether the prophet or the apostle is writing, they know what they're writing comes from God.

And there's simply no mistake or no mystery in that. And so when

God's word says that it's God's word, that's something that we need to pay attention to.

For if we're hearing the word that comes from the very creator of the universe, that is a word that is more powerful than any man's.

So Paul is referring not only to Old Testament, but even New Testament scriptures, even this letter that Paul has written to Timothy.

Observe how Peter equates Paul's letters to the rest of scripture in second

Peter three 16. That's a passage we're going to go to here in just a moment. So, so Paul had called or Peter had called

Paul's letter scripture. And so being God breathe does not mean that the Bible was dictated by God as the writers did not necessarily hear a voice from heaven and write down exactly what

God said. Although in some cases they did in Exodus 34 27.

For example, God has Moses chisel out some more tablets in which

God is going to, on which God is going to give the 10 commandments. Because if you'll remember, Moses had already thrown those down after the

Israelites were caught worshiping a golden calf. So he broke those. And even that was symbolic of demonstrating to the children of Israel, you have broken

God's commands. And so Moses broke them when he threw them down. But he cuts out two more stone tablets and God literally with his own hand wrote down the 10 commandments on those tablets himself to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 30 verse two, he tells

Jeremiah, write this down. And so Jeremiah writes down exactly what it was that God told him to say.

So sometimes we do have dictation that's given in scripture and the prophet writes what God told him to write, but all scripture was written by divine inspiration of the

Holy spirit. Now we still need to be careful with that word inspiration. Sometimes that word will be used in scripture, depending on the translation, sometimes, or even in our own statement of faith, we have that word inspiration that comes up, but that's really a crude word.

I don't think it accurately captures for us exactly what is meant. When we, when we understand scripture being

God breathe, because I've been a musician, I've written songs before, or I've written fiction or something like that.

And you can be inspired. I'm inspired to write a song, but what I write down, even though it might be praise to God is not actually

God breathed. It wasn't God giving me this lyric in such a way that this is now equal to what is said in scripture.

So it's not, so inspired is not really the best word. It's kind of the word that we have.

So it's the word that we use, but don't let that be confused with the way that you might be inspired to go and do something because you were motivated or you felt goosebumps.

And so now I'm, I'm inspired to do this. That wasn't the same way that these men were receiving

God's word and therefore passing it on. Peter says in second Peter one 21, no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

Holy spirit. And that's a unique word there too, that Peter uses to say carried along that doesn't appear elsewhere.

Like the Holy spirit was actually taking these prophets and apostles to the place that God wanted them to go.

God has spoken through a very select few men in history and even fewer women,

Deborah and Holda, for example, are referred to as prophetesses in the old Testament to know that the word they spoke was a word from God.

It was often accompanied by something clearly miraculous. The Lord told Israel how they were to test any word that claims to be from God.

Even if someone does something miraculous, but the teacher says, let us go after other gods and serve them.

That teacher is a false prophet. According to Deuteronomy 13, one through five, if a teacher makes a claim that does not come to pass, that was another sign that he was a false prophet and the

Lord has not spoken to him. Deuteronomy 18, 20 to 22. You will have many preachers, even in evangelical churches today that will stand in front of their congregations and they will say, the

Lord told me to tell you, no, he didn't. If somebody ever says to you, the

Lord told me what better follow that should be a verse from scripture.

It is not God revealing to them some special revelation that you would not be able to find any other way.

If it wasn't for that preacher being able to tell you these things, they say those things because they want to be authoritative.

They want you to think of them as authoritative. I'm on a one -on -one connection with God here.

So if he tells me something, you better listen to it. And if you disobey it, it's the same as if you were to disobey

God. That's an abusive relationship between that pastor and his congregation. It is not a pastor who loves his congregation.

As Justin Peters has said, if you want to hear God speak, read the

Bible. If you want to hear him speak to you out loud, read the

Bible out loud, but be careful that you don't think in so doing that God's voice sounds like your voice.

Let's look at a few passages together to help us better understand

God's communication to us through his prophets and his apostles. We're here in 2

Timothy. We're going to go to the right in all of these references. So turn with me first of all to Hebrews.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1.

We'll be looking at verses 1 and 2 here, right at the very start of this letter or this sermon, however you understand

Hebrews to be. Hebrews 1, beginning in verse 1. Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. God what? He spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has what? Spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world.

Let's consider that again as we look at that more intently. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, or in some translations, in diverse ways.

So at many times, at many different seasons, at a particular point in time,

God chooses to communicate to his people through a prophet. Now, all the way through the

Old Testament, we have various occasions in which God speaks to his people. But there are two main periods of time that we see emphasized there where God communicates to his people.

And that is through Moses and through Elijah. Those are the two main times in the

Old Testament that God is speaking to his people. Now, every prophet that we have in the Old Testament, God is speaking through, whether that is

Daniel or Hosea or Amos or Obadiah or otherwise. God is speaking directly to those prophets who are then speaking to the people.

Those are the two main times that God is addressing his entire people through prophets.

We know from what we've been studying in Sunday school in the book of Genesis that God spoke to Abraham.

He's not speaking to a whole group of people. He was only speaking to Abraham. But he told

Abraham, I'm going to tell you to go here and obey. And I'm going to make you into a great nation.

You're going to be the father of many nations. Whoever blesses you, I will bless. Whoever curses you, I will curse.

I will protect you and bring you to the place that I have promised you that you are to come. And makes other promises with Abraham.

Your descendants are going to inherit this land. And God's address with this man whom

God chose. Through that man, God brings the

Messiah. As a descendant of Abraham.

Through Isaac. Through Jacob. Through Judah. And on down the line, it is through the line of David that the

Messiah comes. Just as was prophesied in scripture. So at many different times, God has made an address to a person or to his people.

And he's done this in many ways. Sometimes God specifically speaks himself to the person and they hear the voice of God.

Other times, he's communicated through a dream. You think of Joseph and the dreams that Joseph dreamed that God was communicating through, revealing things that would happen in the future.

But sometimes that dream didn't come to Joseph. Sometimes that dream came to a wine cup bearer or a baker or Pharaoh himself.

And then Joseph interprets what it was that God showed to this ruler.

We see the same sort of thing happen with Daniel and his friends. With Nebuchadnezzar. He's plagued by these dreams that he doesn't understand.

And these prophets of God articulate for him what it is that God is communicating through this king.

There are other times for Daniel that he's been given a vision. So it's not even a word that comes to him exactly, but a vision that he sees.

And sometimes he doesn't even understand that vision until an angel comes and interprets for him the vision that it is that he saw.

There are some times when something was given to a king that he didn't understand. A prophet articulates for him what it was that the king saw.

So we have all these different periods of time and these different ways that God has spoken.

But in every one of these times and ways, it was clearly understood this comes from God.

And God made sure that the hearer at some point, even if they didn't really understand what it was that they were hearing or seeing, at some point they come away knowing that this was

God who was speaking. You think of the time that the angel of the Lord came to Samson's parents and told

Samson's parents that they were going to be with child. They're like, who is this guy? But then after speaking with him and the miraculous sign that they showed, that the angel of the

Lord showed to them, they came away realizing we've just heard the word of God.

And so there's no mystery at any point in this whether or not it is God speaking.

And many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

My friends, he doesn't just speak to anybody. And that is something that we in our humility have got to get through our heads.

He does not talk to you like he talked to Abraham. And even when

I as a pastor have said something to the effect of God called me into ministry, understand that when

I say that, I am not in any way communicating that in the same level or with equalness to the way that God called

Abraham. I did not hear the voice of God. He has not specifically positioned me here as some kind of prophet that you must therefore listen to and obey as though what

I'm saying to you here is exactly the word of God. When I'm quoting to you the scripture, that's the word of God.

Everything else is Gabe's commentary, okay? Well, we'll use that phrase or that expression that God called me to do something, but don't you dare equalize that with what

God called a prophet to do. Why is it that God chose only certain men to speak through at certain periods of time?

The answer to that question is beyond my understanding. I have no idea. But it's because he's

God and his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts. But praise

God that he has chosen to humble himself that we would hear his word through a prophet or an apostle.

Every time God has spoken to us, he's always brought himself down to speak to us creatures who are undeserving to hear the word of the

God of the universe. And yet he has done it for us. And praise God for that.

Beware lest you become like Korah and his men and say, hey, we are just as deserving of hearing

God's word. We are just as authoritative as Moses and Aaron. And if you think of yourself as I should be able to hear

God's word just like they heard it, then would you be consumed as Korah and his men in the pride that they had?

God has chosen specific people in time to speak through. And he has spoken.

And his word is the Bible. And he's not speaking any further. As wiser men than I have said, if private revelation agrees with scripture, then it's needless.

And if it disagrees with scripture, then it's false. God's word is sufficient and it has given us everything that we need.

And Christ continues to speak today, but he speaks to us here through the scriptures that were given to us through the apostles and prophets to whom

God gave his word. We are sinful creatures. We are unworthy to be in the presence of God.

We who are made in God's image sinned against God. We've been separated from God ever since Adam and Eve were removed from the garden of Eden.

And so we all don't get to hear God's audible voice. We will one day, but it won't be today.

Oh, unless Christ returns today, then it will be today. When you hear the trumpet call, I'm going y 'all.

I don't know about you, but then let it be that we heard the voice of God that day.

But God has chosen specific people through whom to speak. It's not to every single person because we've all been separated from God because of our sin.

But God has drawn us to himself and has spoken his word. And by the way, in what we read here in Hebrews one, one and two,

God spoke to our fathers. In these last days, he spoke to us by his son. How did he speak using words?

There are some preachers and theologians out there that will say, well, you don't have to know the words exactly, but as long as you get the basic idea, how do you get the basic idea without words?

That's a nonsense statement. How do I know my wife? I got the basic idea of her.

So that's not going to get me very far as a husband. I got the basic idea. I know what she wants and how to love her in a way that really communicates my love to her through words, listening to her words, using my words.

This is how my wife and I grow in our love for each other. You know that my wife's grandmother passed away recently and she went back up to Kansas.

She's in Texas right now at our house there that still hasn't sold, doing some work on it, spending some time with her mother and her friend while she is there.

And the other night she contacted me just late in the evening after her mom and friend had gone to bed.

My kids had gone to bed and she's hurting right now, of course, because she's lost her grandmother.

And then there's also the burden of this house that we can't seem to sell. And so she's been a whole mix of emotions during this whole trip.

It hasn't been a happy trip, although there has been some fun memories that have been involved in this as well, but it's been painful for her.

And so she was trying to figure something out and she was just kind of sharing her heart with me on this particular night, just a couple of nights ago.

And she said to me, there's only two people in my life that I have ever communicated my heart this way to.

And one person was this longtime friend of hers. The only person I've ever shared my heart this way is with this person.

And then she said, and with you. And she said to me, is my thinking right here?

Am I thinking the right way here? That was what she was looking for, was to be sure that she was being obedient in her thoughts and in her words to the

Lord. But how would I know what she was thinking unless she told it to me?

How do I know where her heart is at and what guidance I could give to her unless she communicated, here's what

I'm thinking. So what we have here in the Bible is not just vague ideas that are out there in the ether somewhere.

And we need to somehow try to figure out what it is that God is communicating. So we get the basic idea.

You can't know the basic idea without words. As my wife shares her heart with words.

So God has shared his heart with words. We even get to read the will of God and hear his heart when we read scripture.

Let's look at another passage. I've quoted one verse from this passage to you already. Let's go to 2

Peter chapter one. Turn with me to 2 Peter. So we're going to go to the right again and look at chapter one, 2

Peter one. Peter says this in 2 Peter one verse 16.

For we did not follow cleverly divided myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom

I am well pleased. They heard God in heaven say that we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain, talking about the mount of transfiguration verse 19.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men what spoke from God as they were carried along by the holy spirit.

And again, that phrase carried along, that's two words. That's actually one word that Peter uses there in the

Greek, in the English we use two words, but it was to demonstrate that the holy spirit took men to the place that God wanted them to say what

God wanted them to communicate. Now understand something about the apostles. It is true that whatever an apostle said was the word of Christ.

An apostle means sent one. It's a word that was not unique to the ones whom Jesus sent out, but it was even the messengers that Caesar would send.

He referred to his messengers as apostles. So Jesus takes that phrase and applies it to the men that he would send out to carry the word of the king.

Whenever an apostle of Caesar would go out with a message, the word that he carried was the word of the king.

And any assault against an apostle of Caesar would be considered an assault against Caesar himself.

Jesus sends out his apostles to carry forth the word of the king and whatever an apostle said was the word of the king.

But that doesn't mean that every word the apostle said was the word of the king. Sometimes they just spoke like men.

What did they write and what did they say? We don't know. We don't have those letters. But the ones that they did write that were specifically under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit that are meant for the building up of his church, the bringing to salvation souls unto

Christ, those letters that were written under the Holy Spirit's influence are the ones that the

Holy Spirit in the providence of God preserved for us and have been collected for us in the scriptures, which is what you are holding in your hands today.

And this was all by God's will that it was preserved and ends up in our company.

You will hear some faith traditions that will say the church gave the Bible to you.

That's not true. Nowhere in the Bible do the people of God determine the word of God.

The word of God summons, calls forth, and defines the people of God.

Who was it that discovered gravity? Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton didn't invent gravity.

He discovered it. And even before there was a church council that convened and decided these are the letters or the books that will be contained in the

New Testament, that church came to an agreement on something that the church had already known.

We already knew which books belonged in the New Testament. We already knew which words were

God breathed and which ones were not. Those councils just convened and were said, okay, we agree now that these are the letters.

They discovered that just like John Newton discovered gravity. They did not invent this is

God's word. It is God's word that brought you to salvation. By hearing the word of God spoken and you have believed and so you have come to faith.

It is not you who has decided what God's word is. Let me show you one more passage before we go back to 2nd

Timothy. So turn this time to the left on our way back to 2nd Timothy and we're going to stop in 1st

Peter chapter 1. 1st Peter chapter 1. 1st

Peter 1 .10. Consider what Peter says here about the prophets who prophesied concerning this salvation.

The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the

Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look. Now consider that the prophets occasionally wrote things down they didn't even understand it.

I know that what I'm writing is God's word and I know that I am writing this not for my benefit but for the benefit of another generation.

At one point the angel says to Daniel this word is not for you to understand seal it up it's another generation that will understand it.

So sometimes the prophets wrote things down they're like I don't get this but I know it's God giving it to me that God is going to communicate it plainly to another group of people down the line.

So one of that one of the things that we understand with that is that is that it was not by the intention of man that these things be written down the way that they are written because they're trying to found and further some man -made religion.

It was God that articulated these things and it is God that illuminates these things to us.

In first Corinthians chapter 2 it is said these things God has revealed to us through the spirit for the spirit searches everything even the depths of God.

And there in first Corinthians 2 Paul goes on to say and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

So even if a teacher explains it one may only understand it by the spirit of God that has been given to them.

And I've shared this with before it's why an atheist can read the Bible and he comes up with nonsense.

Who this is such a boring book why would people read this? But then a

Christian reads the Bible and they come away having just had their their minds blown apart by the power of God.

How is it that one person saw nonsense and the other person saw salvation? Because the

Holy Spirit is the one who illuminated to the child of God the meaning of the word of God.

I can as a pastor read God's word and explain it to you but it is only the

Holy Spirit that is going to make it real to you in your life. And the

Holy Spirit has used incredible men in the past in order to do so. Men that didn't even have great booming voices to say these things.

As I understand it Jonathan Edwards was actually a very timid speaker and he read his manuscripts word for word and he could easily be thrown off.

I read about when he wrote the sermon sinners in the hands of an angry God and he would just read that sermon and he would do it in a very monotonous way a monotone way.

And so he's not really animated he doesn't have this booming voice like most New England preachers did during his time.

Like his friend George Whitfield had or later on like Charles Spurgeon would have.

He was a very soft -spoken kind of a man and as he would read sinners in the hands of an angry God he would get to a part talking about how you're a loathsome spider who's dangling over the pit of hell and a woman would jump up in the middle of service and start wailing.

Be like oh I am undone because of my sin God save me and Jonathan Edwards would just kind of stop and he'd just kind of look up and when everything kind of calmed back down again he would find the place where he lost his mark and then try to continue on preaching.

How is it that somebody with such a soft -spoken demeanor and delivery could be so convicting to somebody?

It isn't the speaker it's the Holy Spirit that moves in our hearts to understand his word and not only hear it but even do what it says.

And so let's consider application the rest of what we're reading here in 2nd Timothy 3 .16

is application. So let's go back to that again 2nd Timothy 3 .16. All scripture is breathed out by God and that was the bulk of the sermon to hear of God's word being theanoustos

God breathed from the Lord and it is profitable for this for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness.

What are each one of these words? To reprove us to feel conviction when we hear it and recognize our faults.

As Stephen Lawson has said I don't read the Bible the Bible reads me and exposes to me my weaknesses and my need for God.

The word of God is profitable for correction. So not just showing you your errors and your faults but then showing you what you need to do as a result.

Repent, turn to Christ, trust in him, draw near to God, pray, be holy.

All the different instructions that we will find in scripture to correct us and lead us in that path that God means for us to go.

And so therefore training in righteousness. Now my friends by faith in Jesus you already have the righteousness of Christ.

You are clothed in his righteousness and right now God looks at you as righteous.

Training in righteousness means that we would demonstrate with our lives the very righteousness that has been given to us by God and we would grow in those things and further those things as we desire to obey him and become more like him.

Verse 17 that the man of God remember that in both letters first and second

Timothy Paul calls Timothy man of God. That the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

This word is sufficient to complete us and it will equip us for everything that God would have us do.

The Bible tells you to be holy. We were just in first Peter chapter one a moment ago and it's there that Peter says be holy as God is holy.

Repeating the command that God gave Israel in Leviticus and that same command is still for the church today.

Be holy as God is holy. But here's the wonderful thing about that my friends.

The very command that God gives you he equips you for. He instructs you to be holy and praise

God he gives you holiness that you may be holy and we will demonstrate that we have the spirit of God and the understanding that he means for us to have when we do what he says.

Jesus saying to his disciples in John 14 15 you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments and when

Jesus instructs his disciples there he's not saying to them that if you obey my commandments then you'll have my love.

You already have my love and you'll demonstrate with your lives that you have my love when you obey what it is that I have said for you to do.

So we are complete when we have God's word which also therefore equips us for every good work.

Just like my dad came to an understanding of salvation when he heard the word of God in the scriptures.

This word was enough for him to come to a recognition of his sin and need for a savior.

This word was enough to articulate for him who that savior is.

This word was enough to grow him then in the knowledge of that savior and in the image of that savior that he would therefore be complete and equipped for every good work.

It was good enough for my dad it's good enough for me and my friends it is likewise good enough for you.

That scripture gives us everything that we need for life. As my brother

Alan said this morning in Sunday school the best adventure that you could ever be on as a human being in this world is the adventure of faith.

There are so many ups and downs that we will face but God will carry us through all of them.

I remind you that this instruction that Paul gives to Timothy here all scriptures breathed out by God profitable for these things that the man of God may be ready for these things this is given in the context of warning

Timothy about the suffering that he will go through. It is given for every one of us as Christians to suffer be very careful about those preachers that are preaching health and wealth name it and claim it believe and receive.

God wants to prosper you yeah he does and the way that he prospers you may be to give your life for the preaching of the gospel that's prosperity in the kingdom of God.

It is the greatest adventure that we could be on to be in this walk of faith to recognize that we will suffer but God has given us every answer to that suffering indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived but we've been promised that we are delivered out of that and saved from the judgment of God that is coming against that when we have put our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins whatever ups and downs that you may find yourself in know that all scripture has been given to us by God and it's profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God or the woman of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

This was a little bit more than an eight -minute homily this morning but I hope you indeed found it profitable.

He leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me.

His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.

You've been listening to the preaching of Pastor Gabriel Hughes, a presentation of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

For more information about our church visit our website at providencecasagrande .com. On behalf of our church family, my name is

Becky, thanking you for listening. Join us again Monday for more Bible study, when we understand the text.