The Dependability of God's Word
It is Written • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 819 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Aren’t you grateful for the Word of God? Every time our doors open, every program that comes from our church, every activity should reflect something from the Word of God. Why is that? It is because the Word of God is so much for us. We have shown over the past few weeks that the Word of God is Truth. Nowhere in scripture will you read, “Verily, verily I tell you a lie.” No. In fact, you see throughout scripture that it is about truth. There are many relevant passages regarding the truth of God’s Word, but one particularly that we studied comes from the words of Jesus.
In speaking about the truth of God’s Word, Jesus said:
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
We have also seen the clarity of God’s Word. There are many that would like to make you think that the Word of God is confusing and very hard to understand. The truth of the matter is that God’s Word generally is very clear and simple to comprehend. We try to make it too hard. If we opened God’s Word and simply said, “Lord, reveal to me your instruction from these pages,” what do you think would happen? Well, I promise you that the Word of God will become more clearer. We looked at John chapter 6 and Jesus again gives us clarity of God’s Word.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
What a clear declaration and promise that if you believe, your life will be filled with satisfaction. In fact, the answers for life will be found in God’s Word as well as what we talked about last week, the assurance of God’s Word.
There are many assurances found in God’s Word. We looked last week at Psalm 95. One of the most blessed assurances in all the Bible is found in verses 6-7:
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if you hear his voice,
It can be summed up in this, Our Maker loves us and desires to care for us!
It is fair to say that because of the truth, clarity and assurance of God’s Word, we can also recognize that it is dependable.
As we look at the dependability of God’s Word, we will see the proof, the result of its practice and its power.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 is a great place to see the dependability of God’s Word.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
God’s Word is Dependable Because of the Proof (vs. 14)
God’s Word is Dependable Because of the Proof (vs. 14)
Have you ever thought about the proof of God’s Word? We have mentioned several points throughout this series that would be helpful here. God’s Word is dependable because of the proof. No other book in history has validated more than the Bible. We see here in this Timothy passage in verse 14, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you have learned it..”
How have you learned about the Word of God? You have validated its teaching through reading and studying it. In the context of this passage, young Timothy is being encouraged to take the Word of God that has been taught to him and use it to gain understanding about false teachings that have been prevalent. We have scripture that validates itself. Luke in his introduction to his gospel says it this way:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
We see the Word of God validated and in doing so it becomes verified. There are tests we go through to look at medical conditions. For example, my Doctor looks at my symptoms and uses his education and knowledge to determine the probable cause of my issue. He then orders tests and procedures to verify what he thinks might be going on. As a result, a diagnosis can take place with a prognosis carrying out the protocol for healing. God’s Word is like that. A problem of sin and how it separates us from God Almighty is revealed in these sacred passages. At the same time, the cure is also revealed and given freely to us.
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
I see the validation and verification that is described here and cannot help but see the victory that it brings. We can have a victorious life in Christ as revealed through the scriptures! Scripture validates the redemption of Christ and it verifies the victory we have in Christ!
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here’s some good old fashioned logic for you. If we can depend on God to give us salvation through Jesus, we can depend on His Word when it describes it for us. We have the proof!
We also can say God’s Word is dependable as a result of its practice.
God’s Word is Dependable as a Result of its Practice (vs. 15-16)
God’s Word is Dependable as a Result of its Practice (vs. 15-16)
It is fair to say when one reads, studies and carries out the Word of God, their lives are better over all than those that do not. Our text today says point blank, “…how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” This can only happen by the practice of scripture.
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Many of us can testify that our parents and grandparents have diligently taught us the Word of God. My Granny Marlowe taught children’s Sunday School at Harmony Baptist Church for many years. I know there were Sundays I was there and she taught me as a young boy. At her funeral, I asked the question, “How many of you were taught in Sunday School by my grandmother?” Almost every person present raised their hand. This was a tiny church in North Iredell County that would only have a few in attendance each week. Yet, because one lady practiced what she had been taught, hundreds of boys and girls were educated on the ways of God through Bible Study. Those boys and girls are now adults who some in turn have gone on to teach others as well.
God’s Word is dependable because of it practice as it educates us. Look what happens when we are educated, we are edified.
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The more I read and study about our Lord and His gift of grace, the more I realize my worth in His sight. At the same time, I realize more and more that I am absolutely nothing without Jesus with with Him I am everything! That edification helps me know that God’s Word is dependable.
It also helps me elaborate. The Word of God is dependable as the result of its practice because it too elaborates. No other book in the history of the world interprets itself like the Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God tells the redemptive story of sinful mankind being reconciled with Holy God. A careful study of God’s Word works out with great care and detail this plan of redemption. There are many examples of this throughout scripture. If you are doing this month’s writing plan you wrote out a few even this weekend.
“We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“ ‘You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.’
The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:
“ ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
So it is stated elsewhere:
“ ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’
“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
“Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:
“ ‘Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.’”
I love how this passage calls out the second Psalm and you open up the second Psalm and there it is. Or verse 41 there which is from Habakkuk 1:5.
There are many examples of this and I encourage you to look at those cross references and see how the Bible interprets itself.
God’s Word is dependable lastly, because of its power.
The Word of God comes from God. Imagine that! It is God-breathed! It radiates clearly so that it can be the textbook for Christians. We have mentioned multiple times in this series and even sang it today.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
The Word of God radiates in a way that it can be used, as it says here in this Timothy passage, for teaching. It points to the gospel for children and adults. It clarifies the understanding of Christian living and shows us how to live the best life possible.
That is a great power that this book has! It also has the power to reform contrastingly. When you read the Word of God, you will recognize that we all come up short.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
But we read a few chapters over that about the plan of redemption.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If we read the Word of God honestly, we cannot help but be radically changed. Paul tells Timothy that the Word of God is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
What a gift of God from God! The power of God revealed in the Word of God. Can we depend on it? Absolutely! The question is will you?