Jun 23
8:17 AM
It Equips for Good Works
Jun 23
8:17 AM
Jun 23
8:17 AM
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
2 Timothy 3:16-17
This week, I'm talking about why I believe the Bible. On June 21st, I said the first reason why I believe the Bible is because it is inspired by God. It is breathed by God and is literally God's word. We saw that in 2 Timothy 3:16. Today, I'm going to give you the second reason why I believe the Bible, which is that it equips us for every good work. Look at what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is inspired by God, 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."
First, Paul says it's useful for those four things, which are basically life manual things, and then it goes on in verse 17, which is where I want to focus: "...so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." In other words, the Bible is not just a source of information, or a source of inspiration, it's a source of application. This verse is saying that everything that the Bible says is good, and everything the Bible asks us to do is a good work. The second reason I believe in the Bible is because it is good.
You say, 'Oh, that's very subjective, Vince, "The Bible is good."' Well, let me tell you how the Bible has helped so many different people in our nation. Do you know that the whole judicial system is based on biblical principles? The law talked about how to judge, and we have Lady Justice with the scale and the blindfold. We have the 10 commandments. Our Judeo-Christian value system for law was based on the Bible, what is good, what is bad. The morality of the Bible has affected virtually every culture on Earth. The truth of the Bible helps people know what to do. The people that have lived out the Bible have never had history point back and say, "What you did was wrong." Never. Have Christians done wrong things? Yes, but it wasn't sanctioned by the Bible. So it doesn't say that everything a Christian does is right, what it says is whenever a Christian does what the Bible says, then they do good works.
Finally, on a personal level, when you live out the Bible, nobody says,"My goodness, what a horrible life." No, it's good. So many people try so many different things, and it doesn't work, but the people who finally get their life, right how do they get it right? They come to the Bible. It's what happened to me on November of 1983. For 22 years I lived a self-ruled life, trying to figure out everything on my own, doing made up good work. You know what good works were to me? Whatever was convenient, that was good. Whatever I was doing, that was good. Everything else was wrong. If I didn't do it, but you did it, and I didn't like, it was wrong. It was very subjective. The Bible is absolute, clear, concrete. When we do what it says, we do good works. We see it in nations and countries. We see it in groups. We see it in cultures, we see it in our own individual lives. The Bible is the source of good works. Somebody asks why I believe the Bible? It's because everything in the Bible is good. Everything that God tells an individual to do in the Bible is good. Everything God tells the church to do is good. We have seen this for 2000 years. That's why so many cities in our nation were founded by Christians. So many hospitals were founded by Christians. That's why you still see house Methodist Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, Baptist Hospital. Why? Because Christians did good works. History is loaded with people who lived out the Bible in good works. That's another reason why I believe the Bible, and I hope because you live it out you realize all the good things it inspires you to do when you live it out.
Father, thank you for your Word. It helps us know good from wrong. And because it is the source of good, we can believe in it. I thank you for this truth in Jesus' name. Amen.