The Triune God Has Spoken

Father, we confess that sometimes when you give us good gifts, they don't feel like they're good gifts to us.

They feel like they're uncomfortable burdens.

And Father, we also confess before you that we think, we don't even realize that we're doing this,

that we take a good gift that comes from you and think of it as a burden.

We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would move with might and power and deep conviction,

deep within each of us and as a whole this morning, both those who are present and those online.

And we ask, Father, that your word would do a powerful work in our hearts,

that your Holy Spirit would do a powerful work in our hearts,

that we might grow in confidence in Jesus, in his word, in his ways, in his plans for us.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

G.K. Chesterton was sort of a famous man of letters back in the day,

which was the first sort of three or four decades of the 1900s.

And for his day and age, he was a very large man, very, very tall and very, very substantial.

And he was very substantial, so to speak, a big body from a very early age.

And he was a young man during the First World War.

And there's a story reported by others watching this,

that one day an older woman came up and tapped him on the chest and said,

young man, how come you are not out at the front?

Because, of course, the First World War was going on at that time, and there was the young man.

And she said, young man, why are you not out at the front?

And it's reported that he, without missing a beat, he smiled, and he patted his substantial stomach.

And he said, madam, you are mistaken.

And if you turn and look at me from the side, you will see I am considerably out at the front.

There's a variety of ways that you could tell that joke.

And some of you who are far more funny than I am could probably take that, cut out a couple of bits,

add a little bit, and make it vastly more funny.

And so one of the features of something like a joke is that there's some things in the joke that you really can't change.

You need to keep them there, and other bits you can move around and change and add or shorten.

And this is maybe not as obvious for a short little funny story like the one about G.K. Chesterton,

but my favorite joke about churches that some of you have heard, and those of you online have not heard it.

Now you're going to hear it for the first time.

If you are trying to figure out what the difference is, you know, you've not been part of the Christian church.

You're, you know, from a part of the country maybe, a part of the world that don't have many churches,

from one of the other great religions, and you can't figure out all these denominations and churches.

Well, here's a very, very simple way to understand the difference between the churches.

The Salvation Army, those are the Christians that find you in the gutter or on the street

and get you out of the gutter and get you giving you faith, helping you come to faith in Jesus.

And what are Baptists?

Baptists are those Christians that get you plugged into a local church and starting to trust the Bible and get you baptized.

Well, what about Presbyterians?

Well, Presbyterians are those Christians that are very good at educating you and teaching you,

especially in terms of a worldview and really understanding the Christian faith.

What about Methodists?

Well, they're the Christians who are very, very good at getting you concerned for holiness,

a great zeal for personal holiness.

Well, what about Pentecostals?

Well, Pentecostals are those Christians that really help you to get on fire for the Lord,

but really, more importantly, they really get you into pouring your heart out and singing God's praises

and into the importance of prayer.

What about Anglicans?

Well, Anglicans are very good at introducing you to society and culture,

and then the Salvation Army picks you up out of the gutter.

So in that particular joke, I could have added a couple of other denominations.

I could have added brethren.

I could have added Christian Missionary Alliance.

I could have added a few other little groups, charismatics maybe.

I could have rearranged some of those types of things.

But as you can see, there's a part of that joke that if you're going to tell it well,

there's certain things that have to just be there.

They have, in a sense, a greater power.

All the words matter in the joke, and a good comic knows that every single word matters on one level,

but on another level, certain words matter more than others.

They have a greater type of power to make the whole thing come together.

It's the same thing not only with jokes, but basically in novels and in any type of thing that involves words.

Those of you who have seen the movie The Sixth Sense, and I'm not going to give away the end of it,

but you know that there's a couple of key things in that movie that you could redo the whole movie,

and you could do it with different actors and different scenes, etc., etc.,

but there's a couple of key things in that movie,

especially something that happens right close to the end,

that you can't change that without making the movie a completely and utterly different movie.

Certain words, certain parts have a greater, in a sense, power, explanatory power to the whole.

Now, the Bible, of course, is also a literary thing.

It's made up of 66 different books, and not only as a whole, but each of the books, there's the same type of thing.

All of the words are important, but there's certain words that, in a sense, are more important.

They help you to understand the bigger character of what's going on.

Those of you who have been following along, we're going through the book of 2 Timothy,

And today, in 2 Timothy, we have one of those bits of the Bible,

which is very, very important to understand, not just the book of 2 Timothy, but all of the Bible.

And it's interesting, because this very important little bit,

that helps to explain lots of stuff in Christianity,

is something which many Christians find very, very troubling and uncomfortable.

Rather than seeing it as a gift, they see it as a burden.

And part of the reason is, is because non-Christians, most Canadians who are outside of the Christian faith,

see this as something completely and utterly ridiculous.

Something that would make your co-worker, if they found out that you believed it,

you would go down in their estimation.

They would say something like,

I used to think that George was a smart guy, or Victor was a smart guy,

or Lisa was a smart woman, but now that I hear this about her,

I, boy, gosh, it's, I guess they're not.

But it really is something that is a gift from God.

It's a doorway to profound hope and meaning in life.

So let's look at it.

We're 2 Timothy chapter 3.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

The text we're going to look at today is verses 10 to 17.

But this bit, which you need to see, I'm going to look at it first, is verses 16 and 17.

2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

2 Timothy 3:16

And some of you have this Bible text memorized.

You already know what it is.

And just before I start reading it, just a little bit of another timeout.

You know I like to do this, a little bit of timeout.

But for those of you who are grammar geeks,

there's an interesting grammar geek aspect about verses 16 and 17.

And that is, as one academic commentator put it,

it's as if Paul is writing 2 Timothy, and he's writing the letter,

you know, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da.

And then at this point in the text, it's as if he drops an anvil into the text.

A huge, big, hunking piece of metal.

And he just drops it there, and then he continues writing.

And at the level of the original language, that's what Paul does.

I guess if they were to try to translate this text

in a way that would maybe bring this out to us right now,

it would be as if you came to verses 16 and 17,

and all of a sudden the font is doubled and bolded.

And it would just be, whoa!

Everything else is the same size font,

then it comes here, double the size and bolded,

and it would sort of shout at you and scream at you.

So that's what Paul is actually doing here in this particular text.

And let's look at what it says.

It says this,

And I'll read it again.

So one of the things which is interesting about that is the first little bit,

all scripture.

And some of you, if you're using different Bible translations,

it might say every scripture.

And so one of the things which is different about English

than the language which this was originally written in

is that in the original language,

Paul uses some words which have two meanings at the same time.

So the original hearers would have heard,

in a sense, a double meaning here.

We, in English, either have to translate it all or every,

because English doesn't have the same feature.

But in the original language,

it's also, in a sense, I would say part of God's wisdom

that he chose a language where two things could be said at the same time.

And the first thing this is making a claim of

is to understand that, in a sense,

the Bible, whole Bible,

ultimately comes from God.

The whole Bible.

And some of you who are familiar with Christian circles,

Christian circles,

you're probably familiar with the idea

that's very common in lots of churches.

In fact, I would say that probably most people

in the Anglican Church of Canada,

from which we were huge,

at one time we were a part of it,

and we're no longer a part of it,

they would say,

ah, yes, that might be true.

You know, the whole Bible is, in a sense,

God's word written.

But it doesn't mean that every bit in the Bible is from God.

That, in fact, you have to discern

the word of God within the word of God.

And that's part of the attack

of the job of scholars.

But this is where what Paul says here,

what the Bible says,

is very interesting.

Because, in a sense, what he's saying is

that this, as a whole,

comes ultimately from God.

But when it says every,

it then also says,

well, if you'd open it up,

and every word,

every common,

every comma,

every semicolon,

every colon,

every phrase,

every sentence,

every paragraph,

every chapter,

every book,

every testament,

is inspired,

it comes ultimately from God.

Everything in it

is exactly what God wanted to be written.

Everything.

You see, that's why,

traditionally, Christians say

that the Bible is inerrant,

that it's infallible,

that it's authoritative,

that it's trustworthy.

Now, right away,

some of you can see why I'm saying

this is viewed as a little bit of a burden

by many Christians,

rather than what it should really be taken of,

is that this is a profound gift.

A profound gift

that opens up the door

to meaning

and to hope.

It should be something

that excites us

and delights us.

But we all know

that if this was to be shared

with our co-workers,

they'd go,

no,

what are the differences

between Canadians and Americans?

I don't know if any Americans

are watching this.

Canadians,

we Canadians tend to be

passive-aggressive.

So in other words,

what would happen is

if you let your co-workers

know about this,

they might not say anything at all,

but they'd go away

rolling their eyes

and going,

gosh,

I thought George

was a smart person,

but it turns out

he's sort of a

lunatic religious fanatic.

Like,

what goofball

would believe something like that?

Whereas Americans

might just tell you,

I don't know.

It's really funny.

In America,

when parents don't like

what the school board teaches,

they all storm the school board

and complain,

in Canada,

we don't do anything about it at all.

We just complain about it.

But anyway,

that's a whole other topic

and maybe I've just lost you

and I shouldn't have talked

about something like that.

But the point is,

is that we all know

in our bones

that if we were to reveal this

to our co-workers,

if we were to reveal this

to our neighbors,

that they would look down

their noses at us.

They would think that this is

a ridiculous type of idea.

That this book,

written,

the early bits

may be written 2000 B.C.,

the last bits

written before 70 A.D.,

that it's all ultimately

something that comes from God.

And actually,

just before I deal with it,

just to make it clear

in case you're wondering

whether that's in fact

what the Bible's claiming,

I sort of got out of order.

Look at the verse again,

all scripture is breathed out

by God

and profitable

for teaching,

for reproof,

for correction,

and for training

in righteousness,

that the man of God

may be complete,

equipped for every good work.

So not only is it

all scripture

or every scripture,

but breathed out by God

makes this very clear as well.

And in the original language,

what happens is

Paul invents a word.

Paul actually invents a word

to communicate this.

He takes two Greek words

and puts them together,

and it's the first place

in Greek literature,

that's my understanding,

that this word

has actually appeared.

And what he's saying is

he's using the analogy

of God breathing,

and by him breathing,

which of course

in the rest of the scripture

is resonant with the idea

of the Holy Spirit

and the winds of God

blowing over creation

and all of that,

but God breathes,

and as he breathes,

something comes into existence.

So what that text is saying

is that the source of this,

of the Bible,

is very clearly from God.

Those of you who are familiar

with the Narnia Chronicles,

you'll get,

C.S. Lewis has captured this idea

very, very well

in different parts

of the Narnia Chronicles.

So for instance,

in the book,

The Silver Chair,

when the two children,

Eunice,

not Eunice,

Eustace and Jill,

thank you,

when they meet Aslan,

Aslan is going to send them

on a big task,

and he breathes on them,

and his breath carries them

over to exactly where they are

to launch their text.

And there's other places

where Aslan breathes,

and when he breathes,

his breath accomplishes something.

And that's the idea

which is going on here,

is that God breathes,

and what he breathes

accomplishes something.

And if you think about it,

it's also a very intimate image.

It's in this very image

you get the very massive

worldview difference

between Christianity and Islam.

Not all people know this,

but in Islam,

Muhammad is God,

is the prophet of Allah,

but it isn't that Allah

actually gives the words

to Muhammad directly,

because you see,

at the heart of Islam

is that Allah is very separate.

Allah reveals it to an angel,

and the angel reveals it

to Muhammad.

But here we have this image

of God breathing

something into existence,

and this breath is very intimate.

It would be as if

God is so close to you

that you can feel his breath,

that God comes, in a sense,

so close into the work

of what he wants to accomplish

that you can feel his breath,

you can smell his breath,

so to speak.

And it shows the great intimacy.

But the original language

is making this very,

very stark claim.

God wanted this book

to come into existence.

The triune God

wanted this book

to come into existence.

And most Canadians

outside the Christian faith

think it's ridiculous,

and because most non-people

outside the Christian faith

thinks it's ridiculous,

many people within

the Christian faith

are uncomfortable

with the doctrine.

But we should delight in it.

Now, several things.

Just the other day,

I was, I started to have

conversations in coffee shops,

again, not as often

because it's sort of harder

and not as many people

are in them sitting down.

But I got into a conversation.

It was a Saturday.

The person saw me

working on my sermon.

He asked a little bit about it

and even why the sermon

would be based on the Bible.

I started to tell him

a little bit about this idea

of the inspiration of the Bible,

that it comes from God,

and Christians want to gather

and be taught by God

and understand from God.

And I could tell

that I was losing him.

So I said, you know,

Joe Rogan,

and he said,

you've heard of Joe Rogan?

He was surprised

that I knew of Joe Rogan.

And I said,

Joe Rogan has put it very well

how a lot of people think

outside the church.

They said,

how on earth can you trust the Bible?

Because isn't the Bible

just a translation of a translation

of a translation

of a translation

of a translation?

And by the time the Bible

has been translated,

translated, translated, translated,

there's just no way

you have the original meaning.

It's a very, very common

type of idea.

And he said,

yeah, that's sort of what I think.

I said,

well,

with all due respect

to Joe Rogan,

he's got it completely

and utterly wrong.

I said,

that's not how the Bible

actually came to be.

I said,

the Bible came to be.

When you look at this text

right here,

it's not that there's

a translation of a translation

of a translation

of a translation.

I said,

there's literally

thousands and thousands

of copies of the,

you know,

we don't have the very,

very first text

like of 2 Timothy.

But within a very short order,

we have people

who'd copied 2 Timothy

down in the original language.

And we have lots of examples

of those texts.

And I said,

there's a whole

scientific process

by which you can tell

when those different things

were written.

They can look at

the writing style.

They can look at the paper

or the medium

that it's found on.

And there's a very,

very standard way

of being able

to go back from that

and actually get back

to the original text.

And I said,

you know,

for instance,

I said,

if you read,

because you'd seen me

reading academic commentaries,

I said,

if you go to a standard

academic commentary,

one of the things

they talk about

is that.

They talk about

the different translation things.

And I said,

if you went and got

a good modern version

of the Bible,

often they'll have

little notes

about something like that.

He was completely,

and I was surprised,

completely shocked.

because it's a bit of

almost like an urban myth

that the Bible

is a translation

of a translation

of a translation

of a translation

of a translation.

And I said to him,

in fact,

you can be rock solid sure

that when you read this,

they don't translate this

from some other language

in some other language.

The people who wrote this

learned Greek,

and we know

what the Greek text is,

and so they've translated

just once into English.

This particular friend

is a Chinese speaker,

and I said,

you know,

obviously there can be

some nuances and stuff,

but that's,

it's a very accurate

type of thing.

But I even told him,

I said,

did you know this?

Most non-Christians

don't know this.

Many Christians

don't even know this.

There's a standard rule

when they're looking

at like,

you know,

one Greek copy

of the New Testament,

another Greek copy

of the New Testament,

and there's a bit

of a difference

in the words.

I said to him,

there's a standard rule

that is used

that the more difficult

copy,

the more difficult wording

is the wording

that they'll accept

as original

because it's part

of human nature.

If Paul says something

that seems to contradict

something else

in the Bible,

it's human nature

for the copyist

to want to fix it.

It's not usually

part of human nature

to make it more difficult.

So I said,

when people coming to it,

they see two different wordings,

and one's a bit more difficult

and one's easy,

they always choose

the difficult one.

He just,

he didn't know,

he just didn't,

he didn't know

that that happened,

that that's how much

we can trust it.

But that's just one aspect of it.

So for many people,

okay,

they'd say,

well,

okay,

even if you get over this idea,

okay,

so let's trust that,

okay,

the Bible is in the translation

of a translation

of a translation

of a translation,

and I'll accept

that when you're reading this,

there's a 99.9999% chance

that this,

every single word you see

has been translated

from what Paul actually wrote,

but George,

the whole idea,

there's two other types

of ideas that are

in the back of people's minds

that make the whole Bible thing

completely and utterly ridiculous,

this idea that God

has actually spoken.

So one of them would be,

it goes back to the whole thing

of the elephant.

George,

you know,

you have all these

different religions,

and it's like blind men

coming up to an elephant,

and you know,

some blind man sees,

touches the tail,

and another one touches a leg,

and another one touches the trunk,

and another one touches the side,

and they all have

these limited perspectives,

and from these limited perspectives,

they try to,

you know,

think they know

everything that's going on,

but George,

it's the whole endeavor

is completely proud

and arrogant,

and it just doesn't work.

Like,

you're trying to think

that your limited perspective

and your limited words

can actually capture God.

You're just like those blind men

touching different parts

of the elephant.

And that's a very,

very popular

and very powerful image

for many people

outside of the Christian faith,

and actually for many Christians,

it troubles them.

But you see,

the particular image

has two really huge problems

with it.

The first problem

is actually insurmountable.

The person telling me that

is actually presuming

that they have knowledge

like God,

and they can see

the whole elephant.

They think they can,

so in other words,

if my friend was to say that to me,

I'd say,

one moment,

you think,

I'm blind,

but you're claiming you see,

and you can see

the whole elephant.

Like,

why on earth

do you think you can see?

Like,

who died and made you God?

I wouldn't say that to him.

That's too abusive.

But that's what's going on there.

And the second thing

is it's making

a complete and utter mistake

about what the Bible

has just claimed.

You see,

if you just remember,

it says all Scripture

is breathed out by God.

That's what the text

is claiming.

It's not saying

that Paul

had some brilliant

mystical visions

or that he had

this profound

aesthetic sense

or that he was

the best analytic philosopher

that had ever existed.

And somehow or another,

by the power of his mind,

by the power

of his mystical experiences,

by the power

of his,

of just whatever

was going on,

he is able

to ascend to God.

No,

Christians say

that's not what happened

at all.

Literally,

that's the opposite

of what the Bible says.

Paul is saying

that God breaks

into our human world

and he speaks words

that we can understand.

He gives the words.

In a sense,

to go back to my friend

in the story

with the elephant,

the only person

who could actually claim

to see the whole elephant

is God.

And while my friend

is thinking he's God

and can see the elephant,

we Christians are saying,

no, no, no, no, no.

All of us are blind men.

We're completely

and utterly dependent

upon God

to reveal the elephant

to us,

to temper our mind

and the arrogance

that we can easily

fall into.

But even if we say

something like that,

there still is

this profound sense

that there's just

something wrong

with this idea

that God would break

into our human world

and that he would

communicate by words.

Because at a very,

very fundamental level

of many, many people

outside the Christian faith,

they sort of have

this idea that words

are unworthy of God.

That it's as if surely,

if God exists,

God is more like

the force described

in Star Wars.

That, you know,

surely it's something

more like that,

some type of power.

It's as if somehow

or another we have,

it's sort of in the,

just in the,

underneath people's

conscious thought,

this idea that words

are somehow

or other

unworthy of God.

But if you walk

towards that for a second,

you realize that

there's a very,

very,

there's a very deep

incoherence there.

Now, just a timeout,

like a bit of a pause.

I don't,

I don't say this

to offend,

especially for those

of you who might

be watching online,

not to offend,

because I'm going to use

an example from abortion.

And,

and anytime I talk

about abortion,

like including now,

I,

I know very well

that abortion's not,

sometimes in the world

it's made it look

as if it's an us

versus them thing.

There's absolutely

no question that

there's some of us here

and some of you

who are watching

who would consider

yourselves Christians

who've had an abortion

or have,

in fact,

helped people have abortions

or encouraged abortions.

So it's not an us

versus them thing at all.

And I,

I don't say this

to condemn.

I never say this

to condemn.

And in fact,

actually,

I mean,

we Christians believe

that abortion

is to take a human life.

and so it's wrong.

But at the same time,

we also realize

that the only hope

for anybody

who's done something wrong

is to come to Jesus.

And often,

those of us

who've been involved

in an abortion,

there's other types

of feelings of guilt

and other types

of things

which can reverberate

in your life

for a long time.

And the only hope

you ever really,

truly have

of dealing with that

is actually coming

to Jesus

and to experience

his forgiveness

and his love

as an acceptance.

That he can make

all things new.

So just,

I'm not saying this

to condemn

for anybody.

But here's the problem.

What's one of the arguments

for abortion?

Well,

one of the arguments

for abortion,

I just saw a sign

the other day

that said,

abortion saves lives.

I thought to myself,

how would you have

a conversation

with somebody

who says abortion

saves lives?

Actually,

this is what I say

all the time.

I mean,

sometimes I'm a human being

and I want to mock them

and insult them

and all that type of stuff.

But regularly,

when I see things

like that,

I think,

how would I have

a conversation

with them?

How would I have

a conversation

with them?

And so,

and usually,

if you look at it,

you'd say,

what they'd say

is that whenever

the human,

what's inside the womb

doesn't become

a human being,

they don't listen

to medical evidence

because all of

the medical science

shows that

the normal life

of a human being

is it begins

as a fertilized egg

implanted on the wall

of the womb

and it ends

whenever you die

and that's just

what human life,

that's all human beings

are,

every human being

is like that.

But they'd say,

well,

you're only a human being

but often at the heart

of it,

they'll use different

type of examples

and if you don't have,

if you're not conscious,

you don't have volition,

if you don't have

these other types

of things

that make you human,

then you're not human.

But one of the things

that make you human

is being able to speak.

It's words.

So here's the incoherence.

How is it

that for the smartest

and wisest people

in our culture

that when you can

no longer use words,

you're not really

fully human

and if it's in the womb,

it's valid to stop it

and if it's at the end

of your life

and you've come

to a point in dementia

or of some other type

of medical condition

that you can no longer speak,

that the same

very bright lights

in our culture

would say

that that is not really

a human life anymore

and so therefore

another the loss of speech

means that you're

not even human.

But why at the same time

that we think

that is so important

to make a person human,

we think that words

are unworthy of God.

How does that make any sense?

That's deeply incoherent.

Like that's fundamentally

incoherent.

If we were to find some way

of using wormholes

and all of that

to go to some other

distant galaxy

and we saw things

that maybe were life forms,

we might think

that they were life

and they were very,

very interesting,

but we would treat it

very differently

if that life form

was able to go

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

beep,

and we would go,

it's not just a plant

and it's not just an animal,

it's communicating.

Well,

why is it that we use words

as a sign

of a higher thing

but when it comes to God

we think that somehow

or another words

are unworthy of Him?

The problem isn't

that we're so wise

is that we don't realize

there's a profound

incoherence.

And so this news

that the triune God

has broken into our world

to reveal Himself

should be something

that excites us.

And here again

science fiction movies

help to show

the double aspect

of our culture.

If you see any type

of a science fiction movie

that's going to involve

first contact with aliens,

well, first of all

if it involves

Bruce Willis

or Arnold Schwarzenegger

you know they're going

to have to fight them

and kill them

because they're bad.

And if it involves

some type of

thoughtful actress

you know it's probably

going to be something good

where you're going to

learn something from them

but that's part of

the nightmare

of our culture.

If we were to actually

meet life,

aliens,

would they be someone

that's a higher civilization

that could just add

huge value to us

maybe teach us

how to stop being at war

bring an end to pollution

bring great prosperity

or would they be somebody

who wants to come

and invade us

and eat us?

Well you'd know early on

in how they treat us.

and so we have

this fundamental

divide within us

as human beings

in terms of science fiction

movies and what it reveals

and this is why

what happens here

that all scripture

is breathed out

by God

and profitable

for teaching

for reproof

for correction

and for training

in righteousness

that the man of God

may be completely

equipped for every

good work

we see this

profound message

that it's done

within the context

of how do we know

that this

how do we ultimately

believe anything

in the Bible

it's because

for God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only begotten son

to the end

that anyone

who believes in him

will not perish

but have everlasting life

that ultimately

God has revealed himself

has made contact

with us

first contact

has already happened

and it's been made

with us

in his word

and in acts

of deliverance

and we can even see it

in a very small way

within this text

look again

what it says

all scripture

is breathed out

by God

and profitable

for teaching

for reproof

for correction

and for training

in righteousness

that the man of God

may be completely

equipped for every

good work

and some of your

English versions

will take away

the word man of God

and translate it

in a different way

I'm going to have

to have another drink

in a moment

but that's a mistake

here's what's going

on there

why is it

that the Christian faith

exploded most

amongst slaves

and women

in the first

several centuries

of the Christian faith

well

one of the reasons

is for this word

man of God

you see

man of God

is an Old Testament

title

and not just

an Old Testament title

but a great term

of respect

and importance

and significance

and what this text

is saying

is that

a man of God

they're talking

about Moses

they're talking

about Daniel

they're talking

about Elijah

they're talking

about King David

a man of God

a mighty man of God

someone that God

mightily uses

and why is the Bible

so important to Christians

why did it grow

so quickly

amongst women

and slaves

this text is saying

that Ashley

when she becomes

a Christian

is a mighty man

of God

that Sue

that Amanda

that Karen

that Diane

that Kristen

when they become

a Christian

God

is making them

through his word

a mighty

man of God

a Daniel

a Moses

an Elijah

a David

you see

in the book of Romans

when it uses

the word heir

and uses masculine

language

in terms of

a person

becoming a Christian

and modern translations

take away the masculine

they're missing

what's happened

because why was this

exciting to women

in the Roman world

a woman was either

somebody who's just

going to clean

for a man

and cook for a man

where a man

can have sexual relations

with her

just to fulfill

his desires

a woman

is basically

a wife

was just basically

a person

who was there

to make sure

that the man

is able to get

an heir

to continue

the estate

and that's really

their function

and the Bible

is saying

that if you

come to Christ

and you accept

him as your

savior and lord

a woman

has the status

of the oldest

son who will

inherit everything

that a woman

is not just

a baby producer

she has this

status of

a David

a Daniel

a Moses

a mighty man

of God

that can make

profound difference

in the world

and this is

first contact

this is why

the Bible

is such

good news

and why

we should

rejoice

in the fact

that this text

is saying

that God

has broken

into the world

to speak

and his message

is

for God

so loved

the world

that he gave

his only

begotten son

to the end

that all

that believe

in him

will not perish

but have

everlasting life

come to me

all who weary

and are heavy

laden

and I will

give you rest

take my yoke

upon you

and learn from me

for I am gentle

and lowly of heart

and you will find

rest for your

souls

that's the message

daughter of Eve

come to me

and I will make

you inherit

as the firstborn

son

and I will make

you a Moses

and a Daniel

and an Elijah

in your context

in your situation

there's profound

good news

if you could put up

the points

just very briefly

I have to wrap it up

the triune God

is the ultimate

author of the Bible

the words in it

are the words

he wanted

in it

the triune God

is the ultimate

author of the Bible

the words

in it

are the words

he wanted

in it

and the second

is that from

each particular

word in the Bible

to the Bible

as a whole

and for every

literary unit

in between

the Bible

is God's word

written

from each particular

word in the Bible

to the Bible

as a whole

and for every

literary unit

in between

in between

the Bible

is God's word

written

now

a couple of things

just to wrap this up

and I apologize

I don't have the time

to go into it

like I wanted to

go up to verse 10

there's a couple of other

things here

which are very surprising

and very humbling

but very important to know

and I just want to

quickly point them out

to you

look at verse 10

and following

you however

have followed

my teaching

my conduct

my aim in life

my faith

my patience

my love

my steadfastness

my persecutions

and sufferings

that happened to me

at Antioch

at Iconium

and at Lystra

which persecutions

I endured

yet from them

all the Lord

rescued me

indeed all who desire

to live a godly life

in Christ Jesus

will be persecuted

while evil people

and imposters

will go from bad

to worse

deceiving

and being deceived

but as for you

continue in what

you have learned

and firmly believe

knowing from whom

you learned it

just a couple of things here

what the Bible

is saying here

is that

there's these little

micro decisions

that we need to make

all the time

and sometimes

there's macro decisions

and one of the

micro decisions

is will you choose

godliness

if you don't choose

godliness

what you're actually

choosing is to be

deceived

or to be evil

and to go from

bad to worse

that's part of

what's going on

you see

we can choose

godliness

or if we don't

choose godly

and with it

persecution

or we can avoid

the godliness

and persecution

but what we're doing

is actually choosing

deception

self-deception

and evil

so for instance

to actually have it

come out in conversation

you believe the Bible

is God's word

and have your co-workers

think less of you

and so you'd be quiet

about that

to avoid the persecution

but what you're actually

entering into

is these micro decisions

of deception

of self-deception

and that's one of the things

which is going on here

but the other thing

is this

that

maybe if you could put up

the third point

that would be very handy

the Lord's plan

is surprising

and humbling

the main way

to understand

his word written

is by the teaching

and example

of ordinary Christians

in the church

see the word

whom

you know whom

you've learned

the Bible from

is plural

and when Paul

is talking about

it's not just

that we can somehow

or another

just read the Bible

by our fallen human minds

and put it together

any particular way

that we want

that we need to look

at the book of Acts

and we need to look at this

and we need to get a sense

of what Paul's heart is

and the fact that he's willing

to endure persecutions

and that he won't deny

on the truth of God's word

he won't compromise

on the fact that

the grave was empty

the tomb was empty

that Jesus rose from the dead

that he appeared

and you need to see

these things

which are uncompromising

you need to see gentleness

you need to see love

you need to see respect

you need to see these

patterns of life

and interpretation

that help you

to understand the Bible

and put it together

and make it real

for your own life

and it's not a

it's not a

in a sense a bug

a flaw in the system

but it's actually

a characteristic

of the design system

that God wanted

local congregations

and local Christians

to teach the Bible

and he wanted it

to have this situation

that kids

not only do they learn

the Bible from me

preaching

but they learn the Bible

from their mom

and their dad

reading them Bible stories

and praying for them

and we learn about

the Christian faith

by going to Bible studies

and having mentors

and we try to live examples

of what the Christian life

is like

so that we can

not only model

we not only teach it

but we model it

and this isn't sort of

a weakness in the system

that's how God intended it

he intended to use

let's be frank

really imperfect people

to do this

some of us have had

very imperfect weeks

but he uses imperfect people

in the power of the Holy Spirit

it's part of his design function

and one final thing

let's read verses 15 to 17

and how from childhood

you have been acquainted

with the sacred writings

which are able to make you wise

for salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus

all scripture is breathed out

by God

and profitable

for teaching

for reproof

for correction

and for training

in righteousness

that the man of God

may be complete

equipped for every good work

if you could put up the point

Claire that would be wonderful

or Andrew

I think it's Claire

reading the Bible

as the triune God intended

is a means of grace

preaching and teaching

the Bible

as the triune God intended

is a means of grace

what do I mean for that?

so the best way

to understand means of grace

as I say time and time again

is to think of the story

of Jesus turning the water

into wine

and here's how a means

of grace works

we all know

that if we had Hudson

and Matthew and Anne

design some stone water containers

just like they used

in the time of Jesus

and then they filled them

with water

and carried them 40 yards

the water wouldn't turn

into wine

and then if you said

okay well maybe

we just need to be

where Jesus actually was

originally when he did it

so you figure out

archaeologically

where it actually happened

and you get your stone containers

you fill them with water

you carry them the 40 yards

and you look

and it didn't turn into wine

so how do means of grace work?

means of grace work

when you just humbly obey

and do what Jesus

asks you to do

and when you humbly

do what Jesus

has asked you to do

it's a means of grace

God takes what's going on

in your life

which is just water

and turns it into wine

so is there something magical

about reading the Bible?

no there's nothing magical

about reading the Bible

but what the Bible

what we're hearing here

is that to read the Bible

is a means of grace

if you want to be delivered

from lies and know the truth

if you want to be rebuked

because you're going down

a wrong path

if you want to be corrected

in terms of the right path

if you want to live in a way

which means that you're

connected to God

and you're living in a way

that pleases God

and if you live in a way

that pleases God

it's going to be good for you

it's going to be good

for your family

it's going to be good

for your neighborhood

your church

your community

the city and the world

and if you want to do that

you need to be reading

the scriptures

you need to be understanding

the scriptures

and discussing the scriptures

because that's what God

does through his word

but he doesn't do it

as a magical act

as a technique

he does it

he says

just do this in obedience

to me

many of you have had

the experience

you read the Bible

and it's while you're

reading the Bible

that all of a sudden

you might realize

it might not even be

talking about forgiveness

but you have this

overwhelming sense

that you need to

forgive somebody

you see it's not

a direct one to one

relationship

it's not as if

you just read a text

about this

and God does this

in your life

he just says

trust me

I've given you

this word

read you the word

read the word

in a way to understand

me and to understand

yourself

and spend time

reading it with others

and teaching others

and when you do that

God does something

in your life

it's a means of grace

and so we should

take the means of grace

that come from him

you see the means

of grace

is we find out

from the Bible

that God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only begotten

son to the end

that all that

believe in him

should not perish

and have everlasting

life

we hear the words

of Jesus

come to me

who are weary

and burdened

and I will give

you rest

take my yoke upon

you and learn

from me

for I am gentle

and lowly of heart

and you will find

rest for your souls

for my burden

is easy

and my

I got the rest

of it

I didn't remember

it correctly

but you get the idea

my yoke is easy

but my burden

is light

my yoke is easy

and the burden

is light

and the Christian

faith

to become wise

for salvation

is that when we

take Jesus

at his word

and trust him

that he will

take our heavy

heart

he will fit us

for heaven

he has swallowed

your doom

and mine

in his death

upon the cross

and when we

put our hands

in his hands

he will not

turn us away

but take our hands

and as our hands

touch his hands

by faith

our doom

is taken away

and the destiny

that he deserved

is bestowed upon us

all out of grace

and all out of love

and just as that

is the way

the Christian life

begins

so the Christian life

grows by

reading the Bible

you look at it

and it looks weird

it's hard to understand

that's fine

read the Bible

don't understand

that's fine

read the Bible

talk to others

about it

start to learn

how to understand it

and as you do it

God does something

in your life

because the Bible

is his profound

powerful

means

of grace

please stand

let's bow our heads

in prayer

Father we

I began

I began

Father

by praying

and acknowledging

how sometimes

the things

that you give us

that are really

very profound gifts

that we actually

sort of look at them

askance

thinking that maybe

they're more of a burden

than a gift

because the world

would see that gift

as something ridiculous

we ask Father

that you would

continue to do

your wonderful work

of healing

in our hearts

and minds

and lives

as we trust

your means of grace

as we trust your word

and we give you

thanks and praise

Father

that you have

spoken to us

and that your word

is a means of grace

it's the means

by which we know

Jesus

and come to a

saving faith

in Christ

it is the means

by which you speak

into our heart

to rule

and change our

hearts and lives

to teach us

the truth

to deliver us

from this self-deception

to deliver us

from lies

and idols

and errors

to point us

in the right direction

when we go astray

and to keep us

in the right direction

and to actually receive

life from you

as we read your word

and follow Jesus

and we ask Father

that you would help us

to be students

of your word

and humbly come

to your word

trusting that you will