Scripture is the source of doctrine. It's the source of teaching. There's no other source. There is no other place to go, folks. It's all here in God's book.
There are other helpful books that comment on this, that expand, elucidate, apply this. But this is it. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You wouldn't wash windows with a rake or sew a button with a hammer.
When there's a job to do, it's important to have the right tool and to know how to use it effectively. The same is true when facing the spiritual challenges that are part of everyday life. Of course, you know God's Word is your guide, but how does it guide you? What exactly can the Bible do to help you deal with the struggles you're facing right now and avoid new struggles in the future? John MacArthur considers that today on Grace to You.
We're continuing his study titled The Transforming Power of Scripture.
So follow along in 2 Timothy chapter 3 as John begins the lesson. Let me draw your attention for the time we have in God's Word back to 2 Timothy chapter 3. I was rereading the epistle, and I came back to this same section, and in reading it, I realized that there was one further tremendously important issue here that had not been addressed that I needed to deal with, and that has to do. with what I like to call the work of the word. The work of the word.
We talked about the fact that it was inspired, but we must also focus on its work. And you will notice in verse 15 that it says that the sacred writings are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Initially, the work of the Word is salvation. Then in verse 16, it is useful, that is, inspired scripture is useful, for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, with the idea that the end product may be a man of God adequate and equipped for every good work.
Now a simple reading of those verses indicates to us five elements of the work of the Word. Salvation, teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness. Those are the things which the word does, which the scripture produces. They're not new to me, they're not new to most of you, they are new to perhaps some of you. And as I thought about it, I thought, well, it's pretty basic, but it's also pretty important.
The first one is that the word produces salvation. You'll notice that very familiar verse that we looked at. In chapter 3, verse 15, it says that the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation, which comes, of course, through faith in Christ Jesus. Scripture produces salvation. It makes you wise unto salvation.
It is the instrument of salvation. The practical implications of this are obvious.
So what you have here is the Word of God placed in a readied heart, a prepared heart, produces salvation. The practical implications of this are obvious.
The heart and soul of our evangelistic ministry must be the Word of God. People will sometimes say, Well, if you teach the Bible all the time, when do you do your evangelism? Beloved, the Bible is the greatest tool of evangelism. How could we ever come to the point where we would even question such? When Jesus was asked by a lawyer in Luke 10, 25 and 26, he said, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus said to that man, what is written in the law and how does it read to you? Go to the scripture. Go to the Scripture. You can go back to the Old Testament, the sacred writings, and they are able to make you wise unto salvation, which of course has come in the fullness of time through that which Christ has accomplished. What does the scripture say?
Jesus said, search the scriptures, for they are they which speak of me. And then one Very, very explicit text, 1 Peter 1. Turn to it for a moment. Verse 23. You have been born again, it says.
not of seed which is perishable. But imperishable. That is... referring to the seed, through the living and abiding word of God. The seed is the word of God again.
It is that seed placed in good soil that produces salvation.
So, if we want to be effective in evangelism, we want to teach God's word. If we want to be effective in reaching our friends, we want to give them God's word. Instead of making it very complicated, let me make it as simple as I possibly can for you. If you know somebody who's not safe, first thing to do is give them a what? A Bible.
Bible, you remember that? Don't get too complex. Don't get too carried away with feeling inadequate because you can't explain every theological issue. I mean, you don't need to know all the answers to all the questions. The Bible will be enough.
It's not as complex as we want to make it. And of course, focusing on That when you give someone a Bible, encourage them to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and see if they can survive that. If they can survive that, the soil isn't ready. There's nothing wrong with the seed. The soil isn't ready.
God hasn't prepared the soil, but the seed is there.
So we need to be committed to that. He says, you have been born again through the living and abiding word of God. And verse 25 says, This is the word which was preached to you. He illustrates it in that passage with a quote out of Isaiah chapter 40. Comparing the word of God to the Passing flesh.
The word abides, it lives forever, it does its work, it produces life. This can be illustrated, I think, quite simply in a A rather brief but beautiful account of a woman's conversion in Acts 16. Lydia, what's her name? And uh It tells about her in verse 14. Just very briefly.
A certain woman, Acts 16:14, named Lydia. from the city of Thyatira, A cellar of purple fabrics. This is a businesswoman.
Sold purple fabrics for a living. She was a worshiper of God. That is to say, she was um Upright. In the sense of seeking the true God and seeking to worship the true God, but had not yet been exposed to the gospel of Christ. She was listening, and then this.
And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, so forth and so on. I love that. The Lord opened her heart. To respond to the things spoken by Paul.
That's the essence of salvation. You speak the truth of God's word and let the Lord open the heart.
So our task is to Spread the word. Spread the seed. Preach the truth. Give out God's word. And God's part is sovereignly, graciously to open the heart.
There's a second thing. Let's look at verse 6. 16 of 2 Timothy 3, and that list that is there indicates Four things in addition to salvation, that is, the work of the word. First is Teaching, then reproof, then correction, and training in righteousness. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for.
Doctrine. Teaching. This function obviously takes place after salvation has occurred. Why? 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man understandeth not the things of God.
They are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned and he's spiritually dead. But we who are saved, he says in verse 16, have the mind of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit, 1 John. Tells us chapter 2, we have no need to be taught by men because we have an anointing from God who teaches us all things.
So when you become a believer, you receive what theologians have chosen to call the ministry of illumination by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes up residence in your heart and begins to illuminate the Word to you, and you begin to be able to learn what it teaches.
Now the term teaching here does not describe a process, it describes content. It describes a body of truth. That which is taught, did us kalyan. That which is taught. The scripture then is to deposit with you truth.
It gives you a body of truth by which you are to think. And act. That's basically it. The scripture. Is a body of truth which is to control your thinking and your acting.
And so, as you study the Word of God, you accumulate that body of truth. And the more of that you accumulate, the more circumscribed to God's standard your behavior, your conduct becomes. But it starts with content. People, and I've said this for years: people cannot do what they do not know. They cannot function on principles they do not understand.
They cannot live out non-existent truth. If you don't know it, you can't do it. And so, primarily the scripture then is there to provide for the saved person a repository of truth, principles for life and thought. Paul says to Timothy, guard that deposit which is entrusted to you, that body of truth. Paul looked at apostolic doctrine, at that which God had taught him and which God had ordained that he pass on as a body of truth to be given.
He says in Acts chapter 20, I have not failed to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I taught you night and day with tears. I taught you publicly. I taught you from house to house. He preached every weekend in the synagogue, always, always giving out truth in order that people might have a deposit of truth which would govern their life.
And that truth is the same as God's word. It says in John 17, 17 that Jesus said, Thy word is truth to the Father, Thy word is truth. I've always had that kind of a, I don't know, that's almost an insatiable hunger in my own heart to understand God's Word. It just, I have this hunger to understand it. I want to know what it means by what it says.
I can read what it says. I want to know what it means by what it says. And that appetite more than anything else in ministry drives me to study. It compels me. It's the desire to know.
What God says. I want that body of truth. I don't want any holes. I don't want anything left out. Many people through the years of my ministry have come to me and said, Well, if I had known that, I never would have done this.
Well, if I knew that the Bible taught that, I wouldn't have done this. If I'd have known that, I never would have been in this mess. That's right.
Now you want to know what the Scripture says. In fact, back in Hosea, do you remember what Hosea's indictment was? As God spoke through the prophet chapter 4, he said, My people are destroyed for lack of what?
Now, it's not lack of zeal. Not lack of emotion, not lack of anything but knowledge. They didn't know, and what they didn't know, they couldn't live. That's why you need to be in a place that teaches the Word of God, and you need to learn the Word of God. Systematic, faithful proclamation, declaration of God's truth is foundational to life.
We must know. God's truth. And so the scripture gives it to us. It is useful for doctrine, it gives us our framework. And that takes a long time.
I've been asked a number of times why I stayed so long in one church. Why I haven't covered all the ground yet. That's a lot to cover. And I know sometimes we think we've learned it all, but that's not the case. And yet, on the other hand, there's a sense in which we know the principles of God's word, which are illustrated a myriad of ways throughout Scripture.
So we are accumulating an understanding that can guard us and guide us through life and seeing it repeated in different circumstances and different settings through Scripture. Men must know God's truth. Look at Matthew for a moment, chapter 22, just to stretch your thinking one more time in this regard. Matthew 22. Verse 16.
May be one of the most wonderful commendations of Christ ever given. By unbelievers, the Pharisees came and tried to catch Jesus in his words, always trying to get him so they could. Eliminate him. They sent their disciples along with the Herodians, strange bedfellows, They said, teacher, I love this. We know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one.
For you are not partial to any. I guess secretly in my own heart, that would be what I would desire as a sometime when I go to the grave, somebody might say about me. You are truthful. You teach the way of God in truth and defer to no one, for you are not partial to any. What integrity?
What absolute and utter integrity. Jesus taught truth. truthfully, the way of God in truth, and defer to no one. and was not partial to anyone. He couldn't be intimidated.
He was committed to truth. What a commendation. He taught God's truth because that's what men needed to know. It wasn't always popular.
Someone said to me, Well, you know, I was at a place, and a certain person from your church came and spoke. And everything he said was true. But he shouldn't have said it because it offended some people.
Well, see, that's a question of I suppose you want to be cautious. There's no sense in. In literally blasting away at people in all circumstances. But that's a little bit of the spirit of the age. which says, don't worry about speaking the truth, be much more concerned with not offending anybody.
And so you defer. It's a lot more exciting to just speak the truth and see what happens. You can walk away and say, Well, how did it go? Oftentimes, you get into a deal like, oh, it was nice. Everybody was real happy, it was good, they enjoyed it.
Maybe that's not the right response. Maybe you should go away and how was it? Oh, it's good. It was a riot. It was a riot after I was done.
It was a big fight. It was great. It was just wonderful. They were just so upset about the gospel. I mean, maybe that's a different approach.
I'm not advocating that at this particular point for every situation, but whatever happened to that kind of approach? Jesus said, they said of Jesus that he taught Always the truth. the way of God in truth, deferred to no one and wasn't partial to anybody. Boy, he didn't defer to anyone thinking he might offend them with what he said, and he wasn't partial to anyone. Pick no sides.
Paul had that same spirit. Paul says in Acts 20, essentially the same thing. I mean, I'm just going to teach exactly what Christ gives me to teach, and I'm going to go and teach it wherever I need to go and teach it, and I'm not going to worry about what happens to me, and I'm not going to worry about my own life because I don't count it dear to myself. See, we we want to be committed to the truth, people. to building that body of truth that becomes the garrison.
That sets the the walls up. for our behavior. for the way we live life. We must be committed to truth. I mean, that's where it starts in Christian living.
That's what God is calling a people who commit themselves to the Word of God.
Now, what is the practical implication of this? First of all, you have to know it, and then you have to what? Live it. But it starts with knowing it. I have an old Bible at home and I have it open to this.
First chapter of Joshua. It sits right in the entrance to our home. When you walk in, it's the first thing you see. And it's open to these verses, Joshua 1, 7, and 8. Only be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Be careful to do all that is written in it. Every time you walk in or out of our house, I look at that, I'm reminded that I am responsible before God to do all that is written in that book, to do all that is written in that book.
One, I have to know what's written in that book so that I can do it.
So I'm committed to the fact that scripture is the source of doctrine. It's the source of teaching. There's no other source. There is no other place to go, folks. It's all here in God's book.
There are other helpful books that comment on this, that expand, elucidate, apply this. But this is it. Let me give it to you in the form of an illustration, Ephesians chapter 6, and we'll just pull it together with this one. Ephesians chapter 6. Verse 17, and here in the armor of the Christian, we have a.
vivid illustration, I think, of the matter of the Word of God and its place in the believer's life. Being armed here with our Christian armor to fight against Satan and his demons, described for us in verse 12, he gives all these elements of armor. Basically, they are all defensive: a helmet to protect us, a breastplate to protect us, a shield to protect us, our feet shod with a preparation that will protect us, allow us to hold our ground, so forth. And finally, you come to an offensive weapon in verse 17, which is the sword of the Spirit.
Now, just to help you understand this, the sword is the word Machirah in the Greek. The word rhomphia has reference to a large sword, a big sword, three, four feet long even. And that's not the word used here. This is a dagger, somewhere around six inches or so, a small little precise weapon that had to be used in a very, very precise manner in order to deliver a fatal blow.
So the Word of God, first of all, is to be used precisely. It is the sword of the Spirit, not the rhomphi of the Spirit to be flailed around indiscriminately. You don't bash demons in the head with your huge Bible. The sword has to be used with tremendous discrimination, tremendous astuteness, tremendous care, tremendous skill.
So he says the sword of the Spirit. And then he tells you what it is: it's the Word of God. And instead of the word lagos for word, he uses the Greek term rhema, which basically means a specific statement. A specific statement. It seems to be that he is trying to emphasize here that you use the scripture with precision.
You use the specific statement like a small dagger thrust into a vital area with great dexterity. It isn't the sense that I have the sword of the Spirit because I own a Bible. You could own a lot of Bibles and not have the sword of the Spirit unless you know how to use those specific statements of Scripture which apply at specific points of temptation with precision. That's the issue. The sword of the Spirit is a precision weapon, and it is used with precision to be applied to given situations with precision.
And that is why Paul said to Timothy, study or be diligent to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You must understand it. You must know how to cut it straight. You must know how to properly interpret and apply it so that you can use the sword. I see myself as a teacher of God's word, endeavoring to give you the sword at every point.
You may know the specific statement of God about a lot of things, but maybe you don't know the specific statement of God about a lot of other things.
So if you're attacked in that area, you've got no ability to use that weapon because you don't know that specific statement. The challenge in learning God's word is to master those truths which give you the deposit so that you have the sword at every point and wherever Satan may attack you, you can pull that thing out and use it with precision because you know precisely what the Word of God has to say. The master illustration of this comes, I believe, in the temptation of Jesus. Do you realize that when Jesus was tempted on those three occasions by the devil, that every time the devil tempted him, he answered with what? Scripture.
He quoted Deuteronomy, a passage out of Deuteronomy. Jesus didn't have to do that. Jesus did not have to quote Scripture. He could have said something, and it would have become Scripture. He did not have to quote scripture.
Why did he do that? He was giving us a what? A pattern. He was giving us an example. He was giving us a means to understand how to deal with temptation.
It was Jesus' spiritual secret, if you will, to borrow a somewhat popular thought. It was letting us in to the heart of Christ and how He dealt with the enemy as the pattern for how we are to deal. And in each case, when the temptation came, Jesus quoted a verse that was a direct rebuttal to that temptation. He had the sword. And he could use that thing with precision to strike a fatal blow.
And in essence, that's what we are to do. And that's what happens when the Word of God is imbibed and taken in. And when you have the sword, you can use the sword, and you can use it with precision. In any given situation, you become potentially a victory. If you apply that which you have.
So, the Word of God, the Scripture. is useful. It's useful for salvation. It's useful for doctrine. And God wants to bring that word.
Into our lives as believers. Constantly, systematically, repeatedly, so that the word of Christ will dwell in us. What? richly, abundantly, super abundantly.
So that we're literally dominated, saturated, filled with the word.
So that our mind is renewed. With a word. In order that we may possess the sword. in order that we may think and act in accord with God's truth. What is the work of the word?
To save. to teach, and it always accomplishes its purpose. when it's mixed with a believing, receiving heart. And I trust yours is that kind of heart. You can't stop here.
Because we don't always respond to the word the way we ought to.
So, the word also has a ministry of reproof, and a ministry of correction, and a ministry of instruction, which involves chastening. We'll get into that next time. Let's bow together in prayer. Lord, we want to say thank you that the word Came to us and was mixed with faith because you prepared our hearts. By your sovereign grace, We thank you for that life-giving word.
And Father, we thank you too for the deposit of truth, that doctrine which guards our thinking and our acting. We thank you for the fact that you've given us not only the book, but you've given us the indwelling teacher, the illuminator, the very author of the book. What a thought that we should not only possess the book, but have living in us the one who wrote it. Oh Lord, no wonder we don't need to trust men, but we have an anointing from Thee to teach us all things. Help us, Lord.
Who have been saved by the power of the Word. to be built up by its power. to be nourished in the words of faith. Good teaching. Help us to allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.
So that we have the outflow of all those wonderful things described in Colossians 3. Help us to have that mind renewed. Help us to be able to think on things pure and lovely and just and good, things in the Word. May we. Respond to the injunction of Joshua 1.
To never ever let our minds depart from your word. May we, like the people of old, Like Josiah, make a covenant. to walk after the Lord. To keep his law and his testimonies and his statuettes all the days of our life. Thank you that you've given us the content to govern life.
You've given us the content to defeat Satan. You've given us all we need. We thank you that the Word will accomplish its work in us who receive it. For Jesus' sake. Amen.
You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. John's current study is called The Transforming Power of Scripture.
Now, friend, while you can build confidence in the truth of the Bible by looking at scientific, historical, and archaeological evidence, Something John is making clear in this study is that the most convincing evidence of the Bible's reliability comes from the Bible itself. We asked John to explain why he believed that, and here's what he said. The most convincing evidence of the Bible's authority is the Bible itself. It is its own best defense. to any person who studies the Bible, I mean studies it diligently and faithfully, digs down in the Word of God.
the divine nature of Scripture will become absolutely apparent. Absolutely apparent. Of course, that is if you're a believer. If you're a non-believer, The Bible's clear. The natural man understands not the things of God.
their foolishness to him. But for a believer, The Bible is its own defense. The Bible is like a lion. You don't defend a lion, you open the cage and let it out. It can defend itself.
Understanding Scripture makes scripture Believable. The more you study the Bible, the more it validates itself. After 50 plus years of studying the Bible verse by verse, I am more convinced today than I've ever been, and I've always been fully convinced, that this is the Word of God. It never falls short. The Bible contains everything you need to know, and it contains its own defense.
That's right, friend. And to help build your confidence in Scripture, we want to send you a free booklet by John called God's Sufficient Word. It answers some of the common questions people have about the Bible's ability to solve today's problems. If you have any doubts about Scripture's sufficiency, this booklet can help you put them to rest.
So contact us today and ask for God's sufficient word, available free for a limited time. You can request God's Sufficient Word online at gty.org. or ask for it when you call us at 8005 GRACE. Again, this booklet is our gift to you. Just ask for it by name, God's sufficient word.
When you call 855 GRACE, or when you go to our website gty.org. And thank you for remembering to pray for us, for encouraging friends to listen, and for letting us know how we've helped you better understand and apply God's Word. If grace to you has benefited you spiritually, would you let us know? Send us a note by email to letters at gty.org. or if you prefer regular mail, our address is GraceToYou.
Box 4000. Panorama City, California, nine one four one two. And thanks for remembering that Grace to You is supported by faithful listeners like you.
Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace TU Television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 and be here next week as John MacArthur takes you to medical school, if you will. showing you how to use the scalpel of God's Word with precision. Don't miss another week of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. It starts on Monday on Race to You.
