Is the Bible Reliable? Part 6.

II Timothy 3:14-17

Psalm 119:1-8

SCRIPTURE IS USEFUL

Let’s get real. For five weeks we’ve explored the question, “Is the Bible Reliable?” We’ve seen how the Bible came together, why some books were chosen and others were not. We’ve seen how faithfully the text of the Bible has been preserved through centuries of copying and translating. We’ve discovered what it means to say that the Bible is “God-breathed,” and we’ve learned principles that help us understand how the Bible applies to us today.

In the process we’ve looked at such scholarly fields of study as the formation of the canon, Textual Criticism, translation principles, doctrines of inspiration and Hermeneutics. Pretty heady stuff. And in each case we’ve found good reasons why we can say with confidence that the Bible is reliable. We’ve dispelled those nasty rumors which imply that the Bible irrelevant for us do day.

But so what? What difference does that make when we walk out of this church building? How does any of that matter when we’re at work, or on vacation, or doing things other than reading the Bible? All this has been very interesting in theory, but how is it practical?

So far we’ve been looking at the first five words in II Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed. But now let’s look at the whole verse. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Scripture is useful (the King James and New American Standard Bibles say “profitable”) for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Let’s take a look at each of those.

FOR TEACHING

Scripture is useful for teaching. You see, we’re not born with innate knowledge of spiritual truth. People come up with all kinds of strange ideas about spiritual matters – about what God is like and how we should live our lives. We don’t know the truth intuitively. We need to be taught. And God teaches us these things in Scripture.

-- SCRIPTURE TEACHES ABOUT REALITY

First, Scripture teaches us essential truths. It tells us who God is and what God is like. It tells us who we are. In other words, the Bible teaches us what reality is like. For example, our Call to Worship this morning says Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)

Now that verse teaches us some things that are extremely important. First it teaches us that there is a God, and that we can know Him.

Second it teaches that there is only one God. We don’t get to make up any gods we’d like. The position is already filled.

Third it teaches us that God made you and me. How significant is that? If you and I randomly evolved from some sort of primordial ooze, as some people teach, then I don’t see how life can have any real purpose or meaning. I can see how we might experience pleasure, but we would never know true, transcendent joy. How can you know joy when you believe your life is a cosmic accident?

However, when we know that the one true God made us, and made us to be His people, life suddenly takes on countless new dimensions. It gains new depth and vibrancy. As the sunrise dispels the darkness splashes breathtaking color across the morning sky, so the knowledge that God made us for Himself colors every aspect of our lives. Suddenly life starts to become everything God intended it to be.

Some people say that this reality in which we live is nothing more than the result of random variation, and that your life is just the luck of the draw. The Bible teaches about a very different reality.

Further, the Bible tells us that God is love. (I John 4:8, 16) Many people don’t know that. Many people think that God is wrath. Or God is judgment. Or God is an old fuddy duddy out to spoil our fun. But the Bible teaches a different reality.

It even tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) The Bible tells us that in Jesus Christ God became a human being. It tells us what He taught about God and human beings. And it tells us how He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, and how he rose from the dead and defeated death. It also tells how you and I are forgiven for our sins and receive eternal life when we put our trust in Him.

We don’t know these things instinctively. We only know them because the Bible teaches us that reality.

-- SCRIPTURE TEACHES HOW TO LIVE

But the Bible not only teaches us what reality is truly like, it also tells us the best way to live in this reality. It tells us how to live life to the fullest. The Bible is full of instructions and commandments that teach us how to please God and how to find real joy in life. Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:10-12)

Everything the Lord teaches us to do is related to this command to love one another. As Paul said in Romans 13:9-10, The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Of course that makes sense when you think about it. God is love. So the best way to live in God’s reality is to live in love. The Bible gives us many specifics on how to do that.

-- A TOKEN OF LOVE

In fact, the Bible itself is a token of God’s love. God gave us the Bible because He loves us and wants us to have lives that are joyful and blessed.

Psalm 119:1-2 say Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. ²Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

We’re all tempted to do things our own way. But when we do we often wind up in trouble. When we live according to what the Bible teaches, however, that’s when we learn what it means to be blessed. God knows how life works best, and in His love He has bothered to tell us. He tells us to curb our sexual appetites because He loves us and wants what is best for us. He tells us to get rid of greed because He loves us and wants what is best for us. He tells us avoid drunkenness because He loves us and wants what is best for us. He tells us to tithe and be generous because He loves us and wants what is best for us. The list goes on.

Again, we don’t know these things intuitively. In fact, most of them are counterintuitive. They are the opposite of what we would naturally believe. We need to be taught. Scripture is useful for teaching. It teaches us about God’s reality, and how to live in it.

REBUKING AND CORRECTING

The passage that we’ve been examining also says that Scripture is useful for rebuking and correcting. These two go together like two sides of a coin. To rebuke simply means to say something is wrong. To correct means to show what is right.

If I say, “Paul was a great prophet in the Old Testament,” and you say “No, that’s wrong!” That would be a rebuke. If you go on to say, “Paul was an apostle in the New Testament,” that would be a correction.

Now again, the Lord rebukes us and corrects us because He loves us. If you see someone you love doing something harmful, you’re going to try to get him or her to stop, aren’t you? In other words, you’re going to rebuke that loved one. In Revelation 3:19 Jesus says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” Quite often the Lord rebukes us and corrects us through the reading, hearing or preaching of His Word.

By the way, it sometimes happens that when we read the Scriptures or hear a sermon we feel guilty. Most of the time that happens because the Holy Spirit is convicting us. The Lord is rebuking us for something that he knows is harmful for us. However we sometimes get mad at the preacher for “laying a guilt trip on us.” But there is a difference between a guilt trip and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. A spouse or child or friend or parent, or even a preacher might very well lay a guilt trip on you or me, and when they do we can ignore it. Guilt trips are a form of negative manipulation and shouldn’t be taken seriously. But the conviction of the Holy Spirit is something else. The conviction of the Spirit is a rebuke and a correction that is designed to help us grow. They are proof that the Lord loves us.

Hebrews 4:12 is a great verse that tells us how Scripture rebukes and corrects us. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

Think of that. God’s Word is like a two-edged sword. One thing that means is that it’s dangerous. Let’s face it; it usually hurts to be rebuked and corrected. We don’t like to admit we’re wrong. It’s like surgery. Ultimately surgery helps us, but it’s almost always painful.

But I think this image says something more to us. God’s Word isn’t just a sharp sword, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s a sword that cuts both ways.

Sometimes, when we think about tough or controversial issues, the Bible confirms our opinions. It cuts our way. But other times the Bible takes our opinions and prejudices and slashes them. It slices them to shreds. It cuts both ways. If you want to stand firm in your prejudices, stay away from the Bible. It’s a double-edged sword.

This is a presidential election year. We are inundated with politics. In fact, I’ve been tempted to begin or end my sermons by saying, “I’m Rod Pinder, and I approve this message.” Anyway, many Christians want to support their political positions by appealing to the Bible. But let’s be perfectly clear about this. The Bible is neither Democrat nor Republican. Some people need to hear what the Bible says about life in the womb. Others need to hear that true religion means caring for widows and orphans. Some people need to hear what the Bible teaches about fidelity, marriage and sexual purity. Others need to hear about not judging others. And all of us, all of us need to truly hear what Jesus said about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.

In fact, let me say that when we try to use Scripture to rebuke and correct someone who disagrees with us, someone who isn’t doing what we want, we are on very dangerous ground. You might use the Scripture to rebuke and correct me, and sometimes that is good and needed. But it’s usually far better if you let the Scripture rebuke and correct you, and I let the Scripture rebuke and correct me.

Let me give you one example. In Ephesians 5:22 the Bible says, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Now there may be times when my wife isn’t doing things exactly the way I want her to, and I might be tempted use this verse as a club to try to bully her into doing what I want. However – and unfortunately she knows this all too well – just a few verses later Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Christ died for the church. He gave His life for her. Maybe I’d better not talk to my wife about submitting to my desires until I can show her the scars in my hands and my side and feet.

The Word of God cuts both ways. If she needs to hear the part about submitting to her husband, maybe I should let God rebuke and correct her on that one. I need to work on loving her with Christlike, sacrificial love. And who knows? Maybe when I learn to love her like that, submission won’t even be an issue anymore.

God’s Word rebukes and corrects. But it’s a double-edged sword. It rebukes and corrects us as well as others. And if we’re wise, we will listen more for what God is saying to us than what He is saying to someone else.

SOUL AND SPIRIT.

What’s more, this double-edged sword penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit. That may seem like a subtle distinction, but it’s an important one. There is a difference between the soul and the spirit. The spirit is the part of us that is most open for communication with God’s Spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” The spirit is the part of us that experiences the supernatural dimension.

The soul is different. The soul relates to natural life. The Greek word for soul is psyche. It’s the root of our word, “Psychology: the study of the soul.” There are a couple places where the Bible describes “soulish” life and even compares it with spiritual life.

I Corinthians 2:14 says, The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The word translated “without the Spirit” is psychikos. Soulish.

James 3:15 talks about worldly wisdom and says, Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. The word translated “unspiritual is psychikos. Soulish.

Jude 1:19 says, These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. The phrase translated “follow mere natural instincts” is psychikos. Soulish.

Every now and then we hear tragic stories in the news about a mother who murdered her children because God told her to do so. Or we’ll hear about some other horrendous act committed because the person thought they were commanded to do it by God. Do you believe God told these people to do such things? Neither do I. It was not God speaking to their spirits. Rather it was perhaps another spiritual force --a demonic force. Or maybe it was some psychosis speaking to the soul. But all such acts are soulish, not spiritual.

On a lesser scale we’ve all experienced that same kind of thing. We’ve all said, “Well, this feels like the right thing to do. There was even a popular song several years ago that said, “This feels so right it can’t be wrong.” But often that message comes from our souls. Many times our souls will lead us to thoughts and attitudes and actions that are very unspiritual. Many times our souls will lead us to thoughts and attitudes and actions that are contrary to what the Spirit of God wants.

So how can we tell the difference between the soul and the spirit? Between what is soulish and what is spiritual? My friends, that’s exactly the point I want to make. God’s Word divides between the soul and the spirit. If something feels right to you, but it’s against what God teaches in Scripture, you can be sure it’s wrong. Trust Scripture, not your soul.

And on the other hand (this cuts both ways) if something just doesn’t feel right to you, but God’s Word teaches it, you can be sure it is right, in spite of your feelings. That’s just your soul going against God’s Word.

Listen to your spirit, not your soul. And the better you know God’s Word, the better you’ll be able to distinguish between the two.

TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Training in righteousness. Learning how to live righteous lives. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we really get real. For you see, it doesn’t matter how good our doctrine of Scripture may be, it doesn’t even matter how well we know what the Bible says if we don’t put it into practice.

We’ve spent five weeks exploring the question, “Is the Bible Reliable.” Now, we can talk about Textual Criticism and Hermeneutics and translation principles and all that, but we really won’t know if the Bible is reliable until we try to do what it says.

James told us that in James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.

Jesus says something very similar. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, after Jesus has taught us about prayer, about turning the other cheek and giving to those who ask from us, and not making our religion into a show and all that other great teaching, He says this. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27)

Is the Bible reliable? That depends. Reliable for what? All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

WHEN YOU GET UP

I have a very wise friend, Pastor Sandy Robertson, who was once told about a man who was “slain in the Spirit.” At a worship service, the man just fell down before the Lord. Perhaps you’ve seen that kind of thing happen during one of Benny Hinn’s services on television. Maybe it’s happened to you. Anyway, someone asked Pastor Sandy what he thought about that guy being slain in the Spirit. I loved Sandy’s answer. He said, “I’m more interested in what he was like after he got up.”

I have encouraged you to spend time reading the Bible every day, and I hope you’re doing that. I hope you sit down with the Word every day and learn it and let God speak to you through Scripture. Bible reading is essential to the Christian life. But really, I’m more interested in what you’re like when you get up. Do we take what we learn and put it into practice?

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

You may have heard about the seminary student whose final assignment was to write a thesis on the parable of the Good Samaritan. His professor told him that the paper needed to be turned in between 10:00 and 10:30 on the last Friday of the semester. The student worked hard on the paper because he knew it would be a big part of his final grade. He translated it from the Greek. He read the critical commentaries. He read the classical commentaries. He read the devotional commentaries. He wrote a great thesis.

Finally the day came to turn in the paper, and the student was walking to the professor’ office. However, as he turned onto the street in front of the seminary office building, he saw an old jalopy with a flat tire. Standing next to it was a distraught and slightly disheveled woman. She told him she was on her way to see the doctor, and that she was too sick and weak to change the tire herself.

What a dilemma! If the student took time to change this lady’s tire for her he knew he would miss the deadline for turning in his paper. And his final grade depended on it. Nevertheless, he took the jack out of the trunk of the woman’s car and jacked up the frame. He got a lug wrench and took off all the lugs. They were on good and tight, and he worked up a sweat to get them loose. He removed the tire and got filthy in the process. Then he put the spare tire on, let down the jack and sent the lady on her way. He looked at his watch. 10:35.

From a window on the top floor of the office building the professor had been watching the whole thing. “Thank you, Lord,” the professor prayed. “He got it.”

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

I have invited you to start a love affair with the Bible. I’ve invited you to spend time with the Bible every day. Read it. Study it. Listen to it on tape. Meditate on it. But my dear friends, don’t stop there. Don’t just read it. Put it into practice. Do what it says. See how God’s Word will change your life. Let’s get real. When we do, I promise you, we will see just how reliable the Bible really is.