LANGUAGE:
Transforming Power Of God’s Word
The Work of God’s Word of Grace
Our series is the transformational power of the Word of God. Take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:16-17. While you are turning there, let me set the study stage for us. In 2 Timothy 4:3 we are told that the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate sound instruction (meaning they will not tolerate truth), but, having itching ears [for things which please and gratify their desires], they will gather to themselves teachers to support things of their own liking and desires.[i]
Recently I read testimony of a practicing psychic by the name of Jen Nizza from Long Island. Because of some personal scary moments with demons, she became a follower of Jesus. Based on her experience as a psychic, and with the increasingly ‘godless culture’, she writes--more people are turning to the demonic world looking for peace, joy, life answers, wisdom, and knowledge. They are going to the demonic rather than to God.” [ii]
I find it interesting that people are actively looking to demons to enhance their lives. Yet God makes it really clear that we are ‘not to turn to mediums or spiritists; not to seek them out and be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 19:31 (NASB95) [iii]
Proverbs 3:5(NASB95) 5Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.[iv] Here’s the deal, if you want peace, joy, life answers, wisdom, and knowledge, the only reliable source that we have is God’s written Word, our Bibles.[v]
Let’s begin with a Word of Prayer as we study God’s Word. -- Father God, we gather here today under your care and protection. Thank you for your lovingkindness that never fails us. We thank you for those with us, that you would guide our thoughts and actions that we might glorify Your name. Amen.
Only God can provide for us the deep searching of our hearts for peace, joy, life answers, wisdom, and knowledge.
That brings us to our study this morning. When we become children of God, we are to become people of His book. His book is meant to be the center of our lives. John Piper nails when he writes:
That’s why Paul tells Timothy in v14 of chap 3, to stay the course in the things ‘he’ has learned. Why? Because the things he has learned are rooted in the scared writings . . . . and don’t miss this . . . which come directly from God, v16. Paul was telling Timothy, ‘saturate your mind, your soul, and yes, even your body with the sacred God-breathed writings.[xi]
In Timothy’s world, he was surrounded by evil imposters who were spiraling out of control in much the same way it is happening today. We are called to redeem the time, in part by saturating our entire selves with God’s written word, and so that we do not conform to the trends swirling around us. So let’s get a grip on God’s written word to us because it is God-breathed. That means that what we have in our hands is given directly to us by God Himself, making it more valuable than the holdings of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Elon Musk. These sacred writings are absolutely priceless because God designed them to be the basis of our choices in the flow of life.
So let’s not neglect God’s Book! When you come to church, your words to me should always be, “Preach the Book”. As Alistair Begg so apply states it: you should hold me to the book, so that as students of this book you will be able to make sure that you are holding the line to the Book.[xiii] As our nation crumbles under the pressure of imposters, only this Book will pick up the down trodden, help us survive the swirl of evil, and survive God’s coming judgement.
John 5:24 (NASB95) Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word . . . let’s hang there for a moment . . . In John’s Gospel, chap 1, v1 we read 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. V4, And In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And in 1 John 1:1 Jesus is called the Word of Life. We need to get a grip on this: it is this Word which transforms us, moving us from the ways of the Kingdom of Darkness into ways of God’s Kingdom of Light, (Colossians 1:13).
In John chap 6, v63 (NASB95) Jesus makes this powerful statement--the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. Back up to v24, He said, ‘he who’ believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.[xiv] The point is, the Bible is the only source when it comes to personal transformation, to missing the coming judgment, and living through the permissiveness of evil around us that is spiraling out of control. That’s why we need to be in a place that teaches the Word of God.[xv] The systematic faithful proclamation of God’s truth is foundational to life and the choices we make.[xvi] So Paul tells Timothy, this book is designed to accomplish God’s work in us so that we live lives filled with good works that God has prepared for us to do in Christ Jesus.[xvii]
So here in 2 Timothy chap 3, v16 we are told that the God-breathed out sacred writings have 4 transformative work tracts: … teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness;[xviii]
Let’s expand these four work tracts of God’s Word.
First, God’s Word is designed to teach, and in teaching to conform us into the image of His Son.[xix] So how does God’s Word transform us by teaching?
So the first work tract of God-breathed Scriptures is to teach us so that we are brought into the conformity of the image of Christ Jesus.
Second, God’s Word is designed to reprove. To reprove someone is to tell them that you disapprove of their wrong behavior. So one of God’s purposes for the Bible is reprove us concerning sin, righteousness and judgement.[xxii] Romans 12:2 (NASB95) Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God, that which is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect.
When one gives their life to Jesus, the Bible says old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). What God expects is for us to move from the old way of thinking to the new way of thinking in Christ Jesus.[xxiii] As believers we have to break from the trends of the world and old longings of the heart to a life that conforms to Christ Jesus.[xxiv] To be in Christ is to be transformed in our thinking. That means a complete change of how our minds processes life issues.
One writer sums up the dangers this way if we do not change the way we process life issues: Those who ignore the sacred God-breathed writings are doomed to stumble into ever deepening darkness. Those who embrace the Scripture, believe what it promises, walk by its precepts, will never be without a guide or a light, and they will find their way to their Father’s home.”[xxv] For example, in Nehemiah 8 we are given an example of how God’s Word reproves. In context, God’s Word had been out of sight for a long time. When they discovered what the Word of God had to say and how far distant they were from its instruction, they didn’t regard it as a cute little operation for taking notes and continuing on. Instead, they broke down and wept when they heard the words of God. The reading of God’s Word came home to them with such conviction that they realized, “This is the very Word of God. This is the basis of life. This is the secret to godliness. This is the way to live.[xxvi]
So the God-breathed Scriptures are given to us to reprove us, to completely change how our minds processes life issues so that we conform to the image of Christ Jesus.
Third, God’s Word is designed to bring correction to our life choices. To reprove and to correct seem to overlap each other, but there is a difference. To teach and reprove refer to our thought processes, to correct focuses in on our behavior, on the behavior of what it means to be in conformity to the image of Jesus.
The Greek word for “correction” means to restore to a right state, to improve the life and character of one, to walk confidently.[xxvii] Because the word of God is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God becomes His tool in our lives by which crooked, bent, out of alignment lives are brought into alignment with the life of Jesus. It gives us correction according to the truth of the Gospel to bring about our obedience to the reality of salvation as accomplished by God in Christ.
So the Word of God corrects us with such instructs as given in Colossians 3:8–11 (NASB95) 8Put aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. …9Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. Ephesians 4:20-24 as the truth is in Jesus, you put off your former world behavior … which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (in the world and our inner man), and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”
God wants us to be transformed from this world’s behavioral choices, that is instructing us not behave like it. We’re to put off the old behaviors and put on new behaviors in Christ Jesus. God’s Word gives us the standard of God, which is contrary to the standards of the world. By His Word we are aligned to Christ. His Word empowers us in transformation. One cannot claim to be a follower of Christ and live continually by the standards of the world. We cannot be followers of Jesus and still have a pattern of living continually in the sinful practices of this world. Our affection should not be the world’s affection, because our destination is not the same.
So the God-breathed Scriptures are given to us to change our world behavioral patterns, to a life that exhibits life patterns which our in conformity to the image of Jesus.
The fourth track of the work of God’s Word is training us in righteousness. To be trained in righteousness means to be trained in right living. The work of the Word of God is to point out to us where we’re out of line and correct the miss-alignment, and then train us on how to live righteously by bringing our belief and behavior under the authority of God’s Word.[xxviii] So v17, that the man/woman of God may be (competent and) equipped for every good work.
There was a time I thought I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I worked hard at it. I ran until I couldn’t run, and then got up and ran some more. I would go to the playing field where there was a 30 ft dirt bank that ran the length of the field, and I would run with the soccer ball, kicking it against the bank with all its irregularities for hours. Eventually I worked my way up to a semi-pro team here in Chicago.
With a lot of determination, constant workout I became very competent, leading my team to victory on many occasions. Here’s the point, to develop a conformity to the image of Christ there is a workout element for our lives. It doesn’t just happen. If we are going to run for the long haul, we have to be trained, and to be trained is to be immersed in the God-breathed scriptures. How do we get clean, fit, repaired, prepared? By a determine commitment to live life according to the Word of God.
Listen to me carefully . . . if the man or woman of God is consumed with immediate gratification, immediate impact, dramatic results, then the temptation will be to go to all the latest fads, to the newest ideas, to the hot buttons, to the pressures and conformity to the world standards, and to whatever else it is, to make sure that something is happening.[xxix] When we do that, we’ll miss out on what God would have for us.
I want to encourage you that this is the book that opens up our understanding of God, brings our faulty thinking into alignment with the heart of God, teaches us how to discern properly, how to be ready for the life in eternity with God. So the God-breathed Scriptures are given to us to train us as to how to live in alignment with God’s purposes.
This is a good place to pause. Of all the great things that we might say about the Scriptures being God-breathed, it’s that they “equip followers of Jesus for every good work.”
Why is this so pertinent for us?
In Psalm 90:12 Moses challenged us on how to live with these words: "Teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."
When our lives are over, what we present to God will be determined by how we chose to walk in wisdom in the midst of this corrupt and evil generation. One would think the choice of following God would be easy for people who love God and His truth. But it’s not easy. There is a pull from the world that many of us continually struggle to resist. It’s a daily battle, and it can only be won when we continually seek the things above where Christ is seated. So Paul challenges us in Colossians 3 to set our minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth as the motivation to live a wise and purposeful walk.[xxx] As John Piper so aptly say: God Is Most Glorified in Us When We Are Most Satisfied in Him.[xxxi]
So Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Let your light so shine before men means making the most of the opportunities around us to live in such a way that opportunities to witness for Christ don't escape our grasp. That’s the aim of our conforming to the image of Jesus so that we are actively redeeming the time so that people might glorify our Father in heaven. If we want lives that glorify our Father in heaven, then we must continually immerse ourselves into the sacred writings which are God-breathed, asking God to use His God-breathed Word to conform our thoughts and life choices to be in alignment with the image of Christ.
May our God grant us the grace to remain unmovable from this great truth that anchors us to our God.[xxxii]
Let’s close in prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the instruction of your Word, guiding us by the Holy Spirit. We pray for ourselves as a congregation, that you will save us from pride on the one hand and despair on the other. I thank you that the gospel deals with both. with my pride by telling us that only in Christ do we have forgiveness and salvation. It deals with our despair when we think we’ll never make it, because it promises that You not only equip us but that You will bring to completion the good work that you’ve begun that You have begun in us. We pray that You will quicken us and help us to think about these things, so that we might increasingly be convinced of the authority and sufficiency of Your Word, so that the glory of Your name might be the thing that hovers over our ambitions and bring them into alignment. Hear our prayers, O God, for your Son’s sake. Amen.[xxxiii]
[i] Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
[ii] Former Psychic Warns Of ‘Deceptive’ World Of Divination Influencing Americans, https://republicandaily.com/ 2023/08/former-psychic-warns-of-deceptive-world-of-divination-influencing-americans/
[iii] See Leviticus 20:27 (NASB95)27‘Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’ Deuteronomy 18:9–11 (NASB95) 9“When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritists, or one who calls up the dead. ; 1 Samuel 28:3 (NASB95) 3Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists. ; Isaiah 8:19 (NASB95) 19When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 1 Corinthians 10:20 (NASB95) I say to you that ‘when the Gentiles sacrifice to their idols’, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons
[iv] Joshua 1:8, “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.
[v] Psalm 119:160 (NASB95) 160The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
[vi] John 14:27 (NASB95) 27“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
[vii] Or how about Nehemiah 8:10 (NASB95) …. . . Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
[viii] James 3:17 (NASB95) the wisdom ‘from God is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. Proverbs 1:7 (NASB95) 7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction., Psalm 119:99 (NASB95) King David testifies I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.
[ix] Proverbs 1:7 (NASB95) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
[x] Cf., John Piper, Building Our Lives On The Bible, (2 Timothy 3:10-17), https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/building-our-lives-on-the-bible. We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God's inspired and infallible written revelation. Therefore, what the Book teaches matters. Doctrine is important for worship and life and mission. Education for Exultation is education saturated by the Bible.
[xi] Cf., Romans 12:1–3 (NASB95) 1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Romans 6:12–14 (NASB95) 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Mark 12:30–31 (NASB95) 30AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ 31“The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
[xii] 2 Timothy 3:15 (NASB95) 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:21 (NASB95) 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
[xiii] Alistair Begg, The Trustworthy Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/trustworthy-word/
[xiv] John 12:49 (NASB95) 49“For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. John 20:31 (NASB95) 31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. Romans 10:13–17 (NASB95) 13for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” 14How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” 16However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
[xv] Hebrews 10:23–25 (NASB95)23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
[xvi] John McArthur, The Work of The Word (Pt1, 2 Timothy 3:15-16) https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/55-18/the-work-of-the-word-part-1
[xvii] Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95) 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
[xviii] God’s design is that by His God-breathed out words, we should come to know, enjoy, love, serve and believe in and live for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior of the world, Lord of glory, and the Lord of all.
[xix] Romans 8:29 (NASB95) 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
[xx] Hebrews 4:12 (NASB95) 12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Psalm 147:15 (NASB95) 15He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. Ephesians 6:17 (NASB95) 17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Revelation 1:16 (NASB95) 16In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. Revelation 2:16 (NASB95) 16‘Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 1 Peter 1:23 (NASB95) 23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. Romans 10:17 (NASB95) 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
[xxi] Galatians 5:22–23 (NASB95) 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
[xxii]John 16:7–10 (NASB95) 7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
[xxiii] Ephesians 4:20–24 (NASB95) 20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
[xxiv] Ephesians 4:17–19 (NASB95) 17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
[xxv] Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2014), 10–11. Psalm 119:9 (NASB95) 9How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.
[xxvi] Cf., Alistair Beggs, The Trustworthy Word, (2 Timothy 3:16-17), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/trustworthy-word/#[5]. 2 Peter 1:2–4 (NASB95) 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
[xxvii] Herbert Preisker, “Ὀρθός, Διόρθωσις, Ἐπανόρθωσις, Ὀρθοποδέω,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 451. διόρθωσις denotes the “making straight of what has shifted from its true position”; ἐπανόρθωσις, this can only mean that the convicted sinner receives the restoration. ὀρθοποδέω (from ὀρθόπους, “with upright feet”) “to stand erect on the feet,” “not to waver,” “not to tumble,”
[xxviii] Alistair Beggs, The Trustworthy Word, (2 Timothy 3:16-17), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/trustworthy-word/#[5].
[xxix] Ibid.
[xxx] See Carl Hargrove, A Wise and Purposeful Walk, https://blog.tms.edu/a-wise-and-purposeful-walk?_hsmi=274331098&_ hsenc=p2ANqtz-8t56AFEye671R-U5HtJ9ZdSOqO_AgkSAm9ytqXUJ50WMqDjpIZKNn3pxf-6nWgt3amARGQQDLBjbRlxe_ dja0pYCfffw
[xxxi] John Piper, God Is Most Glorified in Us When We Are Most Satisfied in Him (Philippians 1:12-26), https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/god-is-most-glorified-in-us-when-we-are-most-satisfied-in-him
[xxxii] Cf., John Piper, Building Our Lives on the Bible (2 Timothy 3:10-17), https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/building-our-lives-on-the-bible
[xxxiii] Cf., Alistair Beggs, The Trustworthy Word, (2 Timothy 3:16-17), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/trustworthy-word/#[5].