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Right now I'd like to ask you to stand. I'm going to be reading from 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Two verses. What powerful verses they are. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. So that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. This is the word of our Lord. So please be seated. And Brian, would you come.

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We ask you, Father, that you would lead us in this time of worship. We ask you, Father, that you would open our hearts and minds to receive the truth of your word and not just receive it, but apply it. That by the power of your Spirit, you would do a mighty work in each one of us as we either come to the faith or grow in the faith through the preaching of your word. We pray this all in Christ Jesus' name. Amen. Have you ever asked yourself why we do what we do as a church? Why do we sing? Why do we read the scriptures? Why do we have sermons? Why do we structure things the way we do in the church, both in the Lord's Day worship service and even throughout the week as a church body? Why do we have congregational votes and elder leadership? Why do we only have two offices in the church, elders and deacons, and not more and not less? There's so many questions like this that we can and should be asking. We should know these things. We may even ask ourselves, why is it that some Christians seem really Bible-centered in their life and then others not so much? Now to answer that, and we'll flesh this out, but to answer that, I want to simply contend that it is largely based upon our view of the Bible. What it really all boils down to is our view of the Holy Scriptures. And a way to get to the heart of all of that is to ask this question. Does God regulate everything in regards to our worship in our whole lives? Or do we get to pick and choose how all this works out? Does God know how he is to be worshipped? Or do we know best? Is it God's word alone? Or does man have the freedom to do what he likes in his life or even collectively in the church? Now, back in the pre-Reformation days, I'm going back about 500 years or so in Western Europe, the church was dominated by the Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church was basically all there was for the people of God in much of the known world, other than some Eastern Orthodox churches in that area. The Roman Catholics did and still do adhere to the Scriptures. They believe that the Bible is God's word and that it's authoritative. But the problem is that the reason the church needed to be reformed, or for some reformers completely done away with, was primarily one thing. Martin Luther, who was a main catalyst for the Reformation, was struck by doctrines such as justification by faith alone, or the recapturing of the priesthood of every believer, and multiple other core doctrines, but what all of those recaptured truths stemmed from was the Latin phrase sola scriptura, which means scripture alone. The battle for righteous and godly worship really started when the reformers and even pre-reformers, like Wycliffe and Huss, for you historians, they begin to realize that God's word is to be our sole authority. It's God's word alone. No pope, no council, no extra-biblical teaching of any kind carries with it the weight and authority of the Word of God, and that's what they began to realize. And so, in essence, that's really the backdrop or the launching point for the Reformation. And if you were here on Tuesday nights over the last year, you would know why that's so important for us, even here in America today. The Reformers came to the right understanding that the Pope cannot be on the same level as the Word of God, the Scriptures, which the Catholics did and still do adhere to. Now, in our text for today, we're going to see why this is the case, along with other wonderful truths about the written word of God, and why the Christian, as we're talking about Christians being a soldier and having the weapons, why the Christian cannot be a soldier for Christ without the weapon of the Holy Scriptures. And that's our weapon for today. We've been going through all the weapons from bellows to strength, and now we come to the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God. That's our weapon as Christian soldiers. And I would even say that the Christian soldier cannot even be an obedient soldier if he or she doesn't realize that the scriptures are the sole authority. They cannot obey marching orders if they feel the need to make up their own orders along the way, right? That kind of makes sense. And so today, as we dive into this, we're going to break it down into two parts. First, we're going to look at the doctrine of Scripture. And then a shorter portion, we will excitedly see the result of obedience to the Scriptures. And again, if you have your handout if you'd like to follow along in that way in there. And so part one, let's dive into that. We're going to start in verse 16, the doctrine of Scripture. Now, as you see in your, if you have your insert in your bulletin, we're going to break this down into five sub-points, if you will, or I'm calling them five historic truths of this doctrine of scripture. You may have heard these before. And in that we're going to see why scripture is so important for the life of the believer, the soldier for Christ. And so, first, under the doctrine of Scripture, we're going to look at the authority of the Scriptures. Now notice that word authority. Looking in at verse 16, Paul begins by saying, all scripture is inspired by God. What does all mean? All everything, right? Everything in the Word. And so what we must first realize in this statement is Paul is contextually actually referring primarily to the Old Testament. If you look back to verse 15, Paul is pleading with Timothy, Timothy, don't ever neglect what you heard as a boy from your mother and your grandmother. That's essentially what he's doing. Of course, Paul is speaking of the scriptures here, and that teaching that came to Timothy would have primarily been from the Old Testament. That's what they had. Therefore, what we find, and there's a reason why I'm doing this, what we find is that the Old Testament is also a witness of Christ to come. It's not just ancient historical stories. Okay? It is historical accounts of what God did down through the years, but it is also a witness of the coming of Christ. And we talked about that somewhat in Sunday school this morning. But Genesis 3, especially, on down, it speaks of this coming Jesus, the seed. We call that reference, if you can recall Genesis 3.15, we've talked about this a few times. We call that the first gospel, or the theological term is proto-evangelium, just means first good news, first gospel, the first mention of Christ to come, all the way back in Genesis 3.15. Isn't God amazing? And what's so beautiful about this is that what we come to realize about the Old Testament is it's all about Christ. Not that you're going to find Christ in every word, or as I've heard said before, not that he's under every rock. But that if you zoom out, you're always going to see Christ. So the Old Testament is just, again, it's it's rich with so much history, poetry, a display of God's glory, his power, and his affections for his people, his long-suffering nature. But the ultimate theme and underlying message all throughout is there will be a Messiah to come in light of the fall of man. And so it's the overarching redemptive story of God. Let me give you some examples. In what we call biblical theology, what we come to see is that people like Joseph are types of Christ. What that means is that his life is a true, historical, real account, but it's a foreshadowing of the one who would come that's greater than Joseph. Jesus is that greater Joseph as the savior of his people. Jesus was sold for pieces of silver, wasn't he? Same with Joseph. Jesus was cast out and neglected and falsely accused. Just like Joseph. Jesus saved his people. Greater than Joseph's work of saving people from starvation. Jesus is the greater Moses, as he is the greater mediator between God and man. Who can mediate between us and God better than Jesus? Nobody. But yet that was Moses' role to point us to Jesus. Jesus is the greater David as he crushes the evil one on the battlefield. By the way, if you're taking notes, that's the point of the story or the account of David and Goliath. Again, real historical account, but it points us to Christ defeating Satan. And it goes on and on from the Exodus depicting our lives as we head to the promised land. What's the promised land for us? Heaven. To even the rock in the desert pointing us to Christ, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 4. And that one takes us a little bit by surprise. So now I know what you're asking. What are you talking about? Why are you talking about this when you got 16 and 17? Why is this so important? How does that speak to the authority of the Word of God? Because it says the word all here. All scripture is inspired. And now the Greek behind that is two words put together, Theonustos. And what that means is God breathed. Scripture is God breathed. And as it goes on to say, it is profitable. We'll talk more about that in a few moments. But please don't move past this. All of it. And the reason I want to emphasize this is what we're seeing in our modern day. Very sad occurrence. Many modern day pastors or teachers are saying things like, we need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament and just focus on the nice, loving Jesus in the New. But don't go to Revelation, of course. That's hogwash. That's garbage. That is neglecting God and his word. And it's very dangerous ground to be treading upon. Timothy, again, was saved in and through the spirit-inspired Old Testament. He was looking forward to the Messiah, and Paul revealed that it came. All of God's word is authoritative. Just think of the beauty, by the way, of what we'd be missing if we had neglected the Old Testament as if it's not God's word or not relevant anymore. We would know nothing of the origins of the earth or of mankind. We would know nothing of the origins of the people of God, nothing of the reason for different people groups or languages, nothing of the current landscape of our earth in a post-flood world. We would know nothing of morality or even grace if it weren't for his law given in the Old Testament. The list goes on and on. We need all of God's inspired and authoritative word. Can't have one without the other. And just to be clear, when Paul says this in referring to the Old Testament, that doesn't discount the New Testament. God granted authority for the apostles and some guys who were close to them to write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit this word, and it's just as authoritative. And so we have Old and New Testament, we have both. Praise God. Now we don't have time to get into it this morning, how we got Scripture, how it came about, or how we came to have just the 66 books in the Bible, but I'll say this. They were given to us with prophetic and apostolic, back to this word, authority by the Holy Spirit, God Himself. That's where the question of canon, the scripture's completion, that's where it begins and finds its most powerful proof. The Bible itself, this is awesome, the Bible itself, as God's word, authenticates its own authority, and from day one, the church has always received it as such. But we also need to go, we need to dial in on something really important for the Christian here. When thinking of the authority, the authority of scriptures, and our need to recognize them as such, we have to remember, as I started this message with, it's God's word alone. His word is a Christian soul authority. As one pastor stated, this is helpful, we need to see the scriptures as, quote, an extension of God Himself, His identity, His purposes, His affections, and His power. God so identifies Himself with His words that our response to His word is a response to Him. What does Jesus say in John 14 and other places? If anybody loves me, he's going to keep my word. God's word is our authority, therefore, because it is God breathed. Notice also, it doesn't say that the apostles or prophets themselves were inspired. It doesn't say their thoughts are inspired. It says the words of Scripture are inspired. Now, yes, the writers are under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write, and their thoughts were inspired in that way, but what we don't want to neglect is that it is the very words on the page that you have before you that are the inspired word of God, the words breathed out by God Himself. And just look down for a second if you have a Bible in your hand, even if it's electronic, that's okay. That's your gift from God. God spoke, He spoke to these men, and we have it here today, almost 2,000 years later. That's God's word to you and to me. Be amazed. Because if you can recall back in Deuteronomy chapter 5, or maybe this will be new to you, the people of God at that time were absolutely undone at the thought that God would speak to them and that they would live. They thought for sure if God spoke to them, knowing who they are, as sinful people, they would just die in that moment. The God of the universe speaking to humans. And that they would just die. Now look again at that Bible. Is that your countenance as you read his word? Do you also have that kind of reverence for God and His truth? His word is our authority. We don't have the right to choose what is moral and what is not. We don't have the right or the authority to choose what the church does. We don't have the authority to dictate how we live. We don't even have the right to choose how we are to worship God since we're fallen creatures. Now that doesn't mean that you and I can't choose what brand of cereal to eat, not that kind of stuff. But it does dictate what we do, doesn't it? How we structure our time or our time around the church, how we speak and how we live by and large, but especially how we worship. God's word is the sole and final authority for the Christian man or woman. It frames and shapes everything in your life if you're a Christian. Praise be to God. We don't respond without, like, oh, I don't like that part. Why? Could you imagine trying to follow Christ and worship him without his word? What would that look like? This crushes man's wisdom. Church traditions that don't help. Governmental regulations. God and his word are our gracious and wonderful authority. If God is spoken, then that is what we believe to be true. Now we live in an anti-authoritarian age, don't we? In regards to a tyrannical government, that may be a good thing. But in regards to an authority such as God and His Word, that kind of attitude will play havoc in the life of the Christian. You see, if we think that we can have authority to live how we want or even worship how we choose, because we're Americans, we're individualistic, we're Western culture, then we are defying God in rebellion. God has given us his word. That is now our complete authority in life in every way. Praise God. I know what my authority in my life looked like before Christ. It was not a good thing. Second. What that necessarily means is that the Bible, God's word, is inerrant. Without error is what that means. Think about it. If all of Scripture is inspired or breathed out, that's a thrust, breathed out by God, if that's true, then it cannot be wrong. There cannot be any errors contained in it. It can't be. Yes, God did appoint men who are fallen to physically ride it with their unique styles, their personalities, their convictions, but he is indeed the author. And unfortunately, this has been and will be an issue in the church. And of course in the world. People look around and they want to start with another authority in life derived from man's wisdom, and they conclude that there are discrepancies in God's word, or that the writers got it wrong in something like, for example, creation. You remember? Well, some of you may remember, people in the early 20th century were absolutely blown away with what we call piltdown man. Does anybody remember that? Anybody studied that in school? The so-called missing link. They proved evolution. Remember that? Many Christians at the time began to turn everything upside down in their lives, and they began their debates and their discussions about things like Genesis 1 with man's conception of science, and then they went to the Bible to see if it fit. That's not how it works. We always, always, always, always, always, I don't know how many times I can say that, we begin with God, we begin with his word, the creator of science, and then we look at what is in his world. Because the science that denies God will always turn out to be a lie. Just like Piltdown Man. Fifty years after they finally admitted it was all a hoax. But how many people who called themselves Christians either left the faith or ceased trusting in God because of this kind of lie? The sham. Now that's just one example of what happens when we trade the truth of God for a lie and believe that God could somehow be in error. God's word is completely true. It is truth. If it's inspired by God, it has to be true. The Bible says multiple places, God cannot lie, he cannot be wrong, he does not forget how science works. He has never, nor will he ever, speak one thing that is an absolute truth. His word is infallible, is another word to say it. It is completely without error in all 66 books inspired by himself of both the Old and New Testaments. Again, we say to that, what? Praise be to God. There is such a thing as truth. In the late 1970s and early 80s, there was a dispute in the largest denomination in America, the largest church denomination. The Southern Baptists at that time were in a battle in themselves. And it was over the Word of God. Theological liberals had taken prominent positions in the Southern Baptist Convention, and they believed that the Bible was full of errors, and they even said. I even hate to say this out loud. They even said that the Bible, remember, Christian leaders said the Bible's full of mythology. But thanks to a hard-fought battle led by a few pastors, such as a man named W. A. Criswell, the denomination once again reaffirmed the truth of God's word and stemmed the tide of what Paul calls a doctrine of demons that says that God makes mistakes, that God makes errors, or that all of Scripture is not inspired by God in its totality, and only some of it. The things we like, of course. But this is a tide that once again seems to be resurfacing in that very denomination right now. A tide that will hit us here, a tide that we've even seen close to home with some in our own network of churches. And so we've got to stand strong and pray fervently that the Lord would give us strength to push back against that tsunami that will come and it will come and it will come. And it'll always be the case because we live in a world that hates God and wants nothing more than to disprove the truth so that the flesh may be appeased. We as God's people have to always be on guard. Man's wisdom, man's pride will always be out to soften or change the word to fit the modern-day culture and its whims or scientific revelation. Today, maybe it's gender or sex issues, abortion, critical race theory. We've traded biblical justice for social justice, and on and on the attacks go. Tomorrow it will be something else. But what we need to always have before us is a passage like this for today. We need to fight the battle with the rally cry. God's word is inerrant. There's no error in it. We're swinging our sword. It's perfect. Because, brothers and sisters, it's either inspired by God, it's either God's word or it's not. There's no middle ground. You cannot be like Thomas Jefferson and cut out all the supernatural things from your Bible because they don't fit your framework. It doesn't work like that. It's either God's word or it's not. And so I just encourage you now today, as you live your life, and you will most likely be hit by people who say it's not God's word, choose this day whom you're going to serve, as Joshua said. The God of the inerrant word or the designer God of your own making. God's word is without error. You and I, who try to interpret it, are full of error. The whole human race, it is riddled with error and sin. But God is not like us, is he? Could you imagine worshiping a God who's just like us in those ways? Not worth it. But he is. Third, the Bible is sufficient. So we've got its authoritative, we've got its inerrant, and now we see it's sufficient. Looking in at verse 16. It says the Bible is profitable, and I would say basically for everything the Christian needs, is what Paul is saying there. It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Sometimes we need a little kick in the pants or a correction, don't we? Sometimes we need a bigger one. A reproof or a rebuke, maybe a reprimand. Maybe you're currently in need of some training and teaching in the ways of righteousness. Where do we find that? The Bible. It's all in the Word of God. We don't need what our modern-day charismatics are selling. We don't need new revelations. The canon of Scripture is closed, meaning God is not speaking to you and I like He did the prophets and the apostles. That was a unique time. And now we have something better. The complete and final word of God to us today. Unfortunately, you're going to hear many people who claim to be of Christ say things like this. Yeah, okay, we have the word, but I needed something more. Now that is not only dangerous, but I can guarantee you that will lead to heresy each and every time. Because the Bible is enough, we don't need anything else. It is sufficient, and our version, our human version of something more, will always be from the inward thoughts and hopes of sinful man and not the Lord's authority. Which one is better? Churches all over the globe, unfortunately, are teaching things like this, living this kind of stuff out, saying that, oh, a new revelation has come and everybody gets all excited, and the, you know, the tingling of the spine comes, and they sit and wait for the next tie, the next exhilaration, the next mountaintop experience. But the people who teach this stuff and lead people, they lead people to think that the Christian life is all about what I can experience. And they're leading people astray and essentially saying, Yeah, God's fine or whatever, but it's not enough. We needed more. And they're saying to God, I need more from you than what you've already said, God. Do you understand me, God? And what that means is that God and his word are insufficient for their hopes and their dreams and their man-centered ideologies and ideals. I don't need to tell you that's a dangerous place to be. Because of the Holy Spirit did inspire the scriptures as we know. Does it make sense he's going to go against his own word? Does God contradict himself? No, God's word is sufficient. It's enough. It's more than enough. God has spoken to us and chosen to reveal himself through his word by his spirit. What could be greater than that? Look at what God says here through the pen of his apostle Paul. His word is profitable for teaching. Isn't that good news? You don't want me up here just teaching whatever I want you to know. Trust me. It's the word. You want to be taught how to respond to a person or a situation? You go to the Bible. You want to be shown how involved you ought to be in your life in the church? Go to the Bible. You want to learn how everything came into being? Go to the Bible. You want to learn about Jesus, the gospel, the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Spirit? Go to the Bible. You want to learn about heaven? Don't go to the bookstore. Unless you're buying a Bible. There's a lot of those books, isn't there? I went to heaven. I did this. I did that. Paul said, I got a glimpse of heaven, I'm not even allowed to share it with you. Humbly submit yourself to his written word and learn. Grow. It's sufficient because it is God's breathed out word. His word will change you. It'll transform you. It will rebuke you. If you can read the word and be under the preaching of the word each and every day, each and every week, and you are never hit with something and you're never convicted, you need to beg God to transform your heart to become a Christian. The word will sharpen you, it will correct your actions and your thought processes, it will train you how to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. You tell me what more you need from God that He hasn't given to you now. What could He possibly give you that you don't already have in His Word? It's shown you Jesus. It is sufficient. In fact, it's so incredibly sufficient that it has everything you need contained in it, not only to know all you can about God on this earth, but it will equip you for every good work it says in verse 17. Because there's nothing that you and I can do for God or his people in this life that the Word doesn't equip us for.

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Nothing.

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And so we don't add to it, we don't take away from it. It's complete, it's sufficient. You want to be a better husband, a better wife? Read Ephesians 5. You want to be a better church member? Read Acts, maybe 1 Timothy. You want to be a better parent? Deuteronomy 6. You want to be a more righteous person? Maybe Exodus, Leviticus, Romans, James, just name a few. You want to know about the person and work of Jesus Christ? Read the Gospels. Read Psalm 22. Read Colossians. You want to be thrilled by his promises and the revelation of himself to us? Start reading in Genesis and don't stop until you get to Revelation. And we could go on and on about how the word of the Lord teaches us and how it changes us. Because we don't need anything else to be trained in righteousness, as Paul says here. Sure, there are absolutely great theological books that can aid in our study. We do need the church. The Bible says we need the preaching and the teaching. But we don't need to hear a still small voice in our ear that speaks directly to me. We're not Elijah. In fact, we are better off than Elijah. Do you know that? You and I are far better off than even Elijah. Why? We have the complete and sufficient word of God. As I said earlier, this not only applies to growing in Christ and worship on our own in daily life, but it also applies to the church as a whole. God, through his word, has told us all we need to know about how to worship him. Again, do we really think that we can come up with new and better ways to do this? Many in the modern church do think so. They get rid of preaching in favor of conversation. They get rid of scripture reading in favor of secular poems. They sing songs that are not biblical or are from unbiblical people to appeal to the masses. They even change the verbiage of the church, meaning the Bible, to soften the message so that nobody's offended. They should read of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons who burned unauthorized fire before the Lord. They had specific instruction about how to conduct worship, how to live their lives, and they decided to tweak it, and it cost them their lives. The judgment of God consumed them, this ass. There is but one way to worship God, and that's according to his word. The first four of the Ten Commandments speak how to worship God. The Israelites are warned not to bring the world's ideas of worship into the house of God in Deuteronomy 12. King Saul lost his kingdom over an unholy sacrifice in defiance of what the Lord had prescribed. Remember Uzzah? The guy who reached out to touch the ark? Because it was falling? What happened to him? Died instantly. Why? Because he did what the Lord told him not to. King Uzziah was struck with leprosy for offering unholy incense. The Pharisees are a prime example of a people who decided to worship God how they thought best. And so what this means for us today is that we are to search diligently through the scriptures, seeking to be corrected by them, to be trained by them, to be rebuked by them when we're holding man's wisdom instead. Because the scriptures alone are sufficient. The word alone teaches us truth. The word alone trains us how to be righteous, and more importantly, how to know the righteous one. The word alone corrects us when we're in error. The word alone reproves us when we rebel against him. God's word is sufficient for coming to Christ in the gospel. Did you know that? It is sufficient for knowing how to live for Christ, it is sufficient for knowing how to worship him, it is sufficient for all things, everything we truly need to know in this life. Now, does it tell us how many cells are in the human body? Does it tell us what E equals MC squared means? No. But it does tell us of the author of life. It does tell us of our depravity. It does tell us how to be saved. And it does tell us everything we need to know eternally. And so let us just be encouraged to never fall into the chaos of following Christ how we wish. Let us always be informed with, conformed to, and reformed by the Word of God. This leads us to the fourth point of the doctrine of the Word. Now we have the necessity of Scriptures. The necessity. If anyone will ever be saved, it's because the Word of God is proclaimed and the Spirit has changed a heart and a mind through his word. Scriptures are not. We can't set them aside. We cannot do the work without them. In fact, we cannot live without them. As David, I love what David says in Psalm 19. He says, the law of the Lord is perfect. It restores the soul, it makes wise the simple, the precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. It is more desirable than gold. He goes on to say it's sweeter than honey. It's necessary for our lives. Sad occurrence today when we think that people can be saved apart from hearing the gospel from God's Word. God is only known and worshipped in and through his word. I've heard prominent preachers even dare to say that people will go to heaven from the Muslim faith or from the Church of Latter-day Saints because they may be unconsciously worshiping Jesus. The scriptures clearly teach there is one way to heaven. And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody goes to the Father except through him. And we know this because the Bible tells us so. Not another book, not another confession. Many today have even taken the stance as we look around the world that the people groups that are still unreached will go to heaven even if they haven't heard the gospel yet. Or that maybe your coworker, if you haven't witnessed to them, if they've not heard the gospel, they'll be okay. That's a man-centered doctrine denying the necessity of scriptures. Only through the gospel, known through the word of God, can anybody be saved. Think about it this way, as one pastor once said. If we believe that someone can be saved apart from the scriptures, if we believe that somebody will be saved because they lived a good life, and nobody ever shared, they never heard about the gospel? If we believe they can be saved, if we believe that's what happens when we look around the world, then what's the worst thing you can do for somebody? Preach the gospel to them. If there's somebody in Siberia that can be saved by good vibes, good thoughts, or another kind of worship, then we need to recall our missionaries immediately because what may end up happening is they may end up going and preaching the gospel to that person, and if they reject it, they're condemning themselves eternally. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But that's what happens when we say the scriptures aren't necessary. That's what happens when we say the gospel doesn't need to be proclaimed. Nature can save them, a good life can save them. No. It is only God's Son, received by God's grace, through God's gift of faith, known by God's word alone, through the ministry of the Spirit of God that can save them. And this is all by the Spirit's prerogative. The wind blows where it wishes. The Bible uses the analogy of the Spirit's work. And so it's really a confidence issue. The question is, do we really believe in the power of the Word of God or not? Do we believe in God's sovereign plans? The word is necessary. It is a necessary weapon for the Christian soldier to know the truth, defend the truth, fight temptation, live for Christ, love passionately, live gracefully, and be assured of everlasting life. The Bible is necessary for you. Lastly, in this piece, and very briefly, I'm going to give you a theological word that some of you that were here on Tuesday nights know and love and cherish now. The perspicuity of Scripture. I'll just leave that there since everybody's good, right? What that means, the clarity of Scripture. The Scriptures are clear. Praise God. God has not set up some formulate code in his word so that those who are smart enough can, you know, the engineers and stuff, can figure all of that out. That's not how it works. I mean, we all love to try to find hidden meaning in the word, right? What does that number mean? Sometimes seven, for example, is speaking of perfection and completion, but other times it means seven. Point is that when it comes to hearing, understanding, and grasping the gospel of Christ, hear something awesome, even a child can come to be saved by repenting and confessing Christ as Lord and Savior. As the Spirit draws. Yeah, there are Bible passages, though, and maybe you can think of one or two right now, that even scholars have a really hard time with. But when it comes to what is needed for salvation, that Christ is God who came in the flesh, that God is a creator of all things, that man is sinful, that we need a savior. The truth is clear and evident to all, isn't it? The scriptures are clear. Praise God. Isn't He gracious to us? So, in summary of our first point, the Word of God, this is vital for us as Christians. The Word of God is our sole authority. It is without error. And I wouldn't have it any other way. It'd have an authority over me with error, right? No good. I've tried that. It's our sole authority, it's without error, it is sufficient, it's enough. It's more than enough. It's necessary. And it is clear for salvation. Briefly, let's spend a little bit more time here this morning looking at the glorious result of obedience to the Word. Only by in and through the Word of God can we be equipped to live a life that God has called us to. Did you know that? Ephesians 4.12. We are given the primary task of any leader in the church in that passage, and that is this. It says to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. The primary task of a leader in the church is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. How is that done? Well, Acts chapter 6 tells us through the ministry of the word and of prayer. And so the primary task of the elder or pastor of the church is to teach, preach, pray, live by, lead us to sing, and read. What do you think? The Bible. The Word of God, both Old and New Testaments. It is the Word of God alone that can equip us to live for Jesus Christ. Of course, only in the power of the Spirit in us after we've been transformed by His blood, but it is His Word alone that teaches us and equips us for every good work. In fact, Ephesians 2 tells us that all those good works were prepared before the foundations of the world. He set it all up. And so the proof that we believe all this about the word of God that we have studied thus far is found in verse 17. If we truly believe that God's word is authoritative, inerrant, sufficient, necessary, and clear, then we will seek to live it out. It's just what it is. And that's what verse 17 is really saying and pointing to. It's as if, or it's as the book of James says. What does James say? And it's very famous, faith without works is dead. Saying that we cling to the God to the word of God and then not living it out in life is proving that we don't say what we mean. And so, brothers and sisters, being equipped for every good work from the scriptures is to live a life of godliness and holiness. That's what Paul is saying here. It's to live as Christ, as Paul says in Philippians 1. I love how John Piper summarizes this action and work of godly living in light of the Word. Listen to what he says. He says, When we are rightly taught by the Scriptures, we are first reproved. That is, our errors are pointed out and we are stopped in our tracks. Then we are corrected, that is, we're turned around from the harmful way we were going and we're pointed in the right way. And then third, we're trained in righteousness. That is, the Bible enables us to be trained to grow in righteousness. And as the teaching does these three things reproof, correction, training, the scripture is equipping us for every good deed. You see the beautiful order there, the logic? The order of how God is working all things for our good, for his glory? It's wonderful. Do you see the result of us encountering the risen Lord in the Bible? God's word has its design to shape us and lead us to holiness in Him, happiness in Him, joy in Him, righteousness in Him, eternal life in Him. Scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation and to be equipped to live for Him. That's why the Word of God is our weapon of choice for gospel salvation and gospel living. And we can't be Christian soldiers if we aren't in the Word. We'll be sitting on the sidelines with shiny armor. But no blood on it. The Word of God is the very thing that calls us to be His soldiers, and by it we know how to do this. Without it, we would end up actually fighting on the other side for the enemy, wouldn't we? And so the Word of God, and in one sense, is really the perfect outfitter. In and through the Word, the man or woman will know all that they need to be saved, to live for Him and to trust in Him in all things. And as we study the Bible and trust the author, we find ourselves being made complete, and here's the thing, fit for heaven. You want to be fit for heaven? Ready for heaven? Made complete? Then live it out. Live out all the works that God prepared for you to walk in. Again, I just want you and I to walk away from this saying, praise God that He has not left us to our own devices. We have everything we need for life and godliness in 66 inerrant books that lead us to worship and obedience. Oh, how he loves us. So that the man of God, he says, may be equipped every good work. This is contextually speaking a leader in the church, but by extension, this is vividly true for all who are in Christ. The weapon of the Holy Scriptures is a weapon that is forged in heaven. Do you know this? It is given to you by heaven, you who are recipients of heaven, so that we can see the glory of heaven, and be propelled to desire to take heaven by storm, if you will, instead of just laying around waiting for death. So take up your weapon, brothers and sisters. Know it, read it, be more familiar with it than your own hands. Ensure that this treasure has really become an extension of your hands as you wield it against your own sin and your ability to live righteously before a holy God. Open your Bible daily, see Jesus, and be overwhelmed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege, the truth of your word. We ask you that you would continue to shape and mold and correct and challenge and train us in and through it, that we may be equipped for what you would have for us. You are worthy, you are amazing. What amazing grace you have bestowed upon us to give us everything that we need. Not only do you save us, but you equip us. You equip us to live for you, to glorify and honor our King, our captain, our general. We thank you for this and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.