Sermon Series: The Essential Expectations: Part Two 

The Authority of God's Word 

2 Timothy 3:1-17

PSBC ~ 7-15-2001 AM service

In a nutshell: If a core value of our church is that God's Word is our final authority in all matters, 4 propositions must under gird that value: 1) We cannot hold a different view of God's Word than Jesus held; 2) We cannot view God's Word differently from the apostles; 3) We will never discover the power of God's Word until we accept it as true and authoritative; 4) God's Word only needs to be declared, not defended.

I. Introduction

A. Comments on Last Week

It's great to be back with you, after being gone on vacation out to the east coast, for two weeks. It sounds like you all had quite an exciting time while I was gone. -Two of our associate pastors got quoted in our local paper, and the church got more positive free publicity than we could ever hope to purchase through advertising. -One of Christianity's most vocal enemies here in the valley, Bill Edelen, wrote his final column in the Desert Sun. And left in a huff, not unlike a grade school child who doesn't get his way on the play ground. -We got picketed by a fringe group of Christianity who didn't like the fact that we are guided by a purpose from the Bible that includes love and acceptance, rather than hate and rejection. -And to top it all off, I understand that either written on a placard or shouted by some of the demonstrators last week was the message that I was a FAG.

Now you know why I seldom take more than two weeks of vacation at a time!

But, I publicly want to commend our pastoral team of puppies, on how they handled a very difficult situation last Sunday, and for all of you for showing restraint, good judgment and a Christ-like attitude of love toward the demonstrators and toward the police and news people who were outside. And I want to publicly thank my friend Bob Turnbull and Pastor Darrin for filling in and preaching for me while I was gone.

B. Where we have been and where we are going

Now, this morning, I want re-focus our thoughts on a vitally important subject that we have spent four weeks on, already, and will spend another three weeks on before we are finished. That is the subject of core values. Specifically, the core values that I feel we all must accept and own if our church is really going to become a FORCE for Jesus Christ in this valley and reach out effectively to the rest of the world, as God gives us opportunity.

By way of review, let me remind you of what we have already covered: 1. Lost people matter to God, so they matter to us, as well. 2. Every person we make eye contact with, needs a relationship with Jesus Christ. 3. Our leaders will lead with humility. 4. We pray about everything. And this week we will examine the fifth of the seven core values… 5. God's Word is our final authority in all matters.

To help us understand this value, I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the apostle Paul's second letter to his friend, Timothy, the young pastor. And I'd like to focus our attention in the beginning of this message on chapter 3…

C. Personal testimony

Now, while you're turning to that passage, let me give you a word of personal testimony. Most of you know that in 1988, I left the pastoral ministry, being forced to resign from Scottsdale Bible Church, because I was a thief. I had stolen money from that church.

Over the next four years, I went through a process that included restitution of all the money I had taken, counseling, and an open confession of my sin to the entire church body. Eventually I was restored back to being a pastoral leader. This marvelous restoration was evidenced by the fact that the senior pastor of that church recommended me to be your pastor, two and a half years ago.

Now, I tell you that, because I was one of literally hundreds of men in the past 30 years-some famous and some not so famous-who were removed from pastoral leadership in the evangelical church because of ongoing sin in their lives. And just about everyone of us had similar beginnings to our decline.

In the vast majority of situations where pastors were caught in one sin or another, the first outward mark of our inward deterioration, was a shift in our view of the authority of God's Word in our lives. Just about everyone of us put God's Word in positions of low authority, rather than high authority in our lives.

And I humbly tell you all that, because there is a definite link between moral decline and the authority of God's Word. And the passage I asked you to turn to underscores that very well…

2 Timothy 3:1-5 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Now, in the next section of this chapter, Paul goes on to talk about two individuals who fit the pattern he outlines in these first 5 verses. Then by way of contrast, he holds himself up as an example. Then beginning in verse 12, he closes the whole section with a personal encouragement to this young pastor, Timothy…

2 Timothy 3:12-17 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Now, I want you to notice what he does here. Paul moves from the theme of sin, deterioration of faith, and moral decline to the cure for these things in the life of a believer. He says the cure is an adherence to the written Word of God. In fact, the only defense that Paul mentions for a follower of Jesus Christ to be able to stand up to and not get sucked into the moral decline that is taking place in the world, is to continue in an understanding and obedience to the written Word of God.

D. Transition

Now, I'm not going to go into an exposition of this passage this morning, outside of what I've just done. You would be hard pressed to see anything else in it other than the fact that adherence to the Word of God equates to living life God's way; and a rejection or demotion of God's Word in your life leads to moral and spiritual decline. It's that simple.

Rather, this morning I want to look at the four foundational pillars or propositions that will help you own this Biblical truth in your life. These four propositions will help you truly make this value of God's Word being the final authority in all matters… your value.

II. 4 Foundational Propositions

A. We cannot view God's Word differently than Jesus did

Here's the first: We cannot view God's Word differently than Jesus did.

I could state this another way, that might make more sense to some of you. The authority of the Bible rests squarely on the authority of Jesus Christ in your life. You see, to be a Christian isn't just a matter of raising your hand at an invitation, or praying a prayer to accept Jesus as the forgiver of your sins. That's where this relationship starts. But that's not all there is to it. To be a Christian also means that you have accepted Jesus as the supreme authority of your life. The Bible calls this "Lordship". We also use the term, "Leader of your life." But no matter how you say it-you are a Christian in name only, unless Jesus Christ's authority resides in your life.

You see, folks it is utter inconsistency to say that you accept what the Bible says about Jesus, and reject what He says about the Scriptures.

i.e. We cannot call Jesus the Leader or Lord of our life, and agree that He has the right to do things like: …choose our mate, …or to guide is into a career, …or provide healing to our bodies, …or to even trust Him with our eternal destiny-…then refuse to believe Him when He speaks …of the creation of human beings, …or the sanctity of marriage, …or the sinfulness of certain sexual choices, …or how to use our finances, …or that we must demonstrate faith in Him to supply all our needs.

In one place in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is speaking to His disciples after His resurrection, and He takes them to task for their failure to believe the Scriptures…

Luke 24:25-27 25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Friends, listen to me. I don't care if you are a brand-new Christian with a lot of questions about your new faith, or you are someone who has had a relationship with Jesus Christ for more than 50 years, and have all your questions answered. No matter where you are in your faith development process, you must subject yourself to Jesus' authority in this matter of accepting the Scriptures. That's the first foundational pillar.

B. We cannot view God's Word differently than the apostles

The second foundational pillar, or proposition is this… We cannot view God's Word differently than the apostles. The apostles, like Jesus, are our teachers in the faith. We are not theirs. Theologian, Karl Barth said, "We cannot stand looking over the apostles' shoulders, correcting their work. It is they who stand looking over our shoulders, correcting our work."

You see, throughout the New Testament, the apostles declare that their authority is nothing short of the Lord's authority. In other words, they rest the authority of their words squarely on the authority of Jesus. Paul says…

1 Corinthians 15:3a 3a For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance…

We're not talking about something that was man made. Paul states that he did not receive his message from men, or even from the other apostles. He received it from the Lord Jesus Christ, directly…

Galatians 1:12 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

The apostle, Peter, echoes this idea in…

2 Peter 3:15-16 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

A seminary professor of mine once told our class (front of WIG), "When a professor behind a desk in Chicago or New York, or London makes a pronouncement that differs from what Paul or Peter or James or John has said, then reject it, for that professor is some thousands of miles and some two thousand years too far away to make an adequate and proper judgment. These men who lived in the 1st century and associated with the Lord Jesus, who heard His words, and who so ministered in power throughout the world of their day as to transform the generation in which they lived, knew far more about what God thought and said than any man studying theology today." (Ray Stedman)

So, the second pillar is that we cannot view God's Word differently than the apostles did. But there is a third foundational pillar to valuing God's Word as our final authority…

C. We will never discover the power of God's Word until we accept it as true and authoritative

Here it is…We will never discover the power of God's Word until we accept it as true and authoritative. Basically, what I'm saying is that we must first believe Scripture before we can understand it and apply it to our lives.

Now, does that mean we have to become mindless lemmings and not question things? No! But we also have to recognize what has gone on over the past two thousand years. The entire Bible has been examined like no other book ever written-word by word, letter by letter-by the greatest body of scholars that has ever concentrated its knowledge on any one subject. In 2001, we are some of the most fortunate Christians who have ever lived. The task has been done, and it has been done very well, and it has been done in a trustworthy manner. So we can trust the scholarly translations we have, like the King James Version, the New American Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New Living Translation.

Now, of course there are a few problems. There are certain minor inconsistencies in the texts of our Bibles today. There are some difficulties in reconciling certain passages with other passages and certain accounts with parallel accounts. But most of these are simply the normal differences and difficulties that come when you have more than one witness to an event. When that happens you get different observations and viewpoints to the same facts. Sometimes, since we don't have any of the original documents, there have been copying errors or transmission errors. But these things don't take away from the trustworthiness of God's Word. No error has ever been found that has taken away from the truth of what God's Word is wanting to communicate. What we have can be trusted!

But, here's the point. We can never understand Scripture until we believe it first. After all… -You can't understand geometry until you first believe the underlying axioms. -You can't understand chemistry unless you are willing to accept certain chemical formulas and elements. -You can't understand baseball until you accept the use of the ball, and bat in playing the game.

Folks, when you believe that this book is from God and like Proverbs says…

Proverbs 2:3-4 3 and …you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and …you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

…then this book will reveal to you -the marvels of an intentionally designed world that can only be of God's making, -impart to you trustworthy wisdom for life, -give you explanations for how human relationships work best, -and prepare you for what lies beyond this life.

Illustration: Billy Graham has said that as a young man, early in his ministry, there came a time when he began to doubt the authority of God's Word. He had questions about the trustworthiness of the Bible-was it really God's Word? Or was it just a collection of man's ideas? He went away up to the mountains of Forest Home campgrounds, not far from here. And taking only his Bible with him, he began to read it, and read it, and read it some more. Finally he came to the place where he said this to God…

"I have seen enough of the transforming ability of this word to know that you are behind it. I know, Lord there are many questions, many areas that I do not understand about this book, and take it by faith that it is your word and believe it and preach it as your word and trust that you will make clear to me what it means."

And from that point on, the world-wide ministry of Billy Graham really took off. In fact, if you've ever listened to Billy Graham preach, you know that one of his favorite expressions is, "The Bible says…" He doesn't debate it with anyone. He doesn't question it. He simply declares it.

And friends, that brings me to the last proposition or foundational pillar…

D. God's Word only needs to be declared, not defended

God's Word only needs to be declared, not defended. I love what that great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "The Bible is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose, it will defend itself." And friends, that's the way it is with the Word of God.

Most non-Christian people today don't believe that the Bible is God's Word. But don't let that discourage you. That only stands to reason. You see, only Christians have the necessary proof that the Bible really is God's Word. You see we are the only ones who have believed it enough to put it to the test in our lives. You can't expect someone to believe in the Bible before he or she can become a Christian. That's putting the cart before the horse. But what is necessary is that you use God's Word when you talk with someone who is not a Christian. If it is the word of God, it will validate itself. It will have an inherent authority because of whose word it is. A word only has authority because of who utters it.

Illustration: Relatively few people in the world paid attention to what George W. Bush said just two years ago. But now, because he is the President of the United States, the whole world pays attention to what he says. That's because it's not so much the words he utters, but it's who is uttering the words. There is power in George W. Bush's words because of who he now is.

A lot people at the motorcycle events that I work for the Christian Motorcyclist Association like to challenge the Christian message with their own experience. When that happens, I go right to the Book. I quote the words of Jesus to them. I force them to come face to face with the living, loving, God of the universe and what He says. That word-not my word-has the power to pierce right through all the surface objections and get right to the heart of the matter.

Friends, we don't need to defend the Bible. But we do need to declare it, proclaim it, and speak it to people. The very fact that in this ancient book can have such an accurate explanation for the things that are taking place in our own time, twenty centuries later, is a tremendous, powerful and compelling argument that this is more than the work of human beings.

III. Conclusion

So, our 5th core value must be, God's Word is our final authority in all matters. And if you are ever going to make that value your value, then these four propositions must also be yours… 1) I will not hold a different view of God's Word than Jesus held; 2) I will not view God's Word differently from the apostles; 3) I will never discover the power of God's Word until I accept it as true and authoritative; 4) God's Word only needs to be declared, not defended.

Let me tell you why this is so important… …God's Word is truth. It states that it is so. That means it is reality. And the one true mark of reality is unchangeability. Truth is always truth-that never changes. Truth is never untruth. And to trust our present lives and our hope for a future life to something that has even a hint of untruth is just plain stupid.

I love what one of my heroes of the faith, the evangelist Dwight L. Moody, once said…

It is easier for me to have faith in the Bible than to have faith in D. L. Moody, for Moody has fooled me lots of times.

Friends, listen, if we trust in your word or my word, this church is doomed to mediocrity or extinction. But if we go to God's Word in all matters, we will be basing our entire future on the truth, and guarantees that our future will be secure.

Amen.