September 8 Sermon: The Final Word
In a world filled with competing voices, only one rises above the noise with true authority—God's Word. This sermon explores the authority of scripture as the inspired, God-breathed truth that shapes, equips, and transforms our lives. Discover how the Bible guides us in teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, equipping us for every good work.
Contemplate these questions as you listen to this week’s message:
How does the Bible's authority affect how you approach decisions and challenges?
How can you make God's Word more central in your daily routine, similar to the Shema’s call to live by it in all aspects of life?
How does scripture challenge and equip you to live out your faith in a noisy world filled with competing voices?
Transcript:
As we start out this morning, I want you to take a moment and ponder a question that I have for you. If you were to select one word to describe our modern age, what word pops into your head? What word do you think can sum up what we see in the world around us, what we are experiencing?
Well, as you've considered this, there are probably a lot of different words that popped into your head. And if I had to pick one word, what would it be? If I had to guess, if we were to collect all the individual responses,
I'm guessing that most of those words would be focused on much of the tumult and the disruption that we see in the world around us. And as I considered what word I would use to answer my own question here, the word that came to mind for me was noisy. Now, I don't necessarily mean an abundance. I don't necessarily mean an abundance of sound waves that come together and amount to a high decibel level. While that's true in the modern world, it doesn't feel like it's ever really quiet anywhere anymore, does it? But that's not what I'm speaking of when I say noisy. What I'm driving at here is this idea of all the competing voices and ideas that are out there in the world. And we live in a world filled with these competing voices. And they're all trying to drown every other voice out, right? Politicians, social media influencers, athletes, celebrities, even our friends and our family. Everyone has something to say. And because of modern technology, we can hear it. Like no other time in history can we know what the competing voices are saying. And so that's why I think the world is a noisy, crazy place. Now, many times what is being said is of value. But it can be hard to discern where we should direct our attention. Because the clamor of the world is so pervasive. But in the midst of this noise, there is a voice that rises above all of that noise. It's the voice of God speaking clearly. And powerfully through His Word. His voice isn't just one option among many. It's the ultimate authority. And today, as we dive into Scripture, we're confronted with a critical question. Do we treat the Bible as God's authoritative Word in our lives? Or do we just see it as another voice in the crowd? So today, we begin a four-week series entitled Words of Life. And if you're listening to this, please subscribe. And over these four weeks, we're going to consider the authority, the sufficiency, the clarity, and the necessity of God's Word. And today, we're starting off looking at the authority of God's Word, and we will do so by considering three key points. So we'll line those up, and then we'll dig into these two passages that we read this morning and see what we can find in them. So first, we're going to look at the source of Scripture's authority. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, and it is not the Word of man. Second, we're going to see the role Scripture plays in our lives. We are not just to hear or read God's Holy Word, but we're also to have it at the forefront of our lives, in front of us, that it might direct us. And then finally, we see the power of the Word of God. It's not simply authoritative and supposed to be in front of us as we live our lives. It's also supposed to permeate us, permeate our lives, because it equips us as we love the others in the world as God's people and as His ambassadors in the world. And so with all the competing voices that are vying for our attention, the question we really need answered the most is, which voice has the... Is it the final say? Is it the loudest voice? Is it the most popular voice? Is it the voice that people can agree on? Or is it a voice that stands out apart from all the others? The voice that has true authority. That voice from God's Word. So as we begin our journey today, let's start by examining the source of Scripture, Scripture's authority. Because the Bible isn't just one voice among many. It is the very Word of God. It is breathed out by Him and is given to us as the ultimate source of truth. And so here in verse 16 of 2 Timothy 3, we come to what is likely a very familiar phrase, that Scripture is God-breathed. And this is an important statement, but I want to take a moment to reconnect this statement with its context. What we read earlier on in the chapter. So if we go back... To the beginning of the chapter, we see Paul issuing a warning to Timothy about the state of the world. And the statement here is that in the last days, there will be times of difficulty. Now, we read these words, last days. We hear the word last, and we immediately go to thinking that this is a sign of the absolute final end. The finish. Like the idea of the last days of a sale. Or an event that we're planning to go to. We have to get there because it's going to end. But the idea in the New Testament of last days isn't actually like that. The idea of last days in the New Testament is the time that is ushered in by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And is then ushered out by His second coming. And so the idea here is that... The fullness of the gospel has come. And there isn't going to be any other way in which God deals with humanity. This is the last way in which God rescues and saves His people. So the last days are the entire time period from His first coming to His second coming. So therefore, what Paul is describing here is a warning to Timothy. And it's a warning to you. And it's a warning to all of us Christians. Between Timothy and us. And all those Christians who come after us. It's a warning to all believers ever. And too often, this is misunderstood. And it's read as, See, the end of history is upon us now because all of this is happening in our time. But truly, this has been a description of the world in each and every single era. Essentially, it's saying that just because the grace of God has appeared in the Lord Jesus Christ and He has now ascended to the right hand of the Father, that doesn't mean that the world is now going to be happy all the time and filled with sunshine and roses. That's what Paul is warning to Timothy here. And so, as you read these statements and consider what is being said, your feeling might be, wow. It sure was. It sure was noisy in Paul and Timothy's day too. And this isn't just an inference that we can make from Paul saying these things here. It's the witness of history throughout the ages. People love themselves in all of history. People love money. People are proud. They're arrogant. They're abusive. They're disobedient to their parents. They're ungrateful. They're unholy. They're unappeasable. Humans are slanderous. They lack self-control. They're brutal and do not love good. In fact, they are also treacherous. They're reckless and conceited. And he also says they love pleasure instead of God. And he closes up some of these descriptions by saying, some even have the appearance of godliness, but they deny its power. Now that is a very clear description of the noise that we see in the world. And believe it or not, Paul was able to observe all of this without social media. You know, we think that we can see this stuff so plainly because it's out there all over the world with all the noise, but this noise was apparent in Paul's day. It's been apparent in every day. And so Paul's progression from these things that he's talking about here is to remind Timothy that in the middle of this noise, there is a voice that he needs to follow. He needs to focus in on. And it's not a human voice. It's not a particular voice that's louder from a human in the middle of the human cacophony of voices.
To grow in godliness and to continue in faithfulness, Timothy needs to go to a voice that is above all the other voices because it's the voice of Almighty God. And so Paul tells Timothy to hold fast to the sacred writings that he has known from childhood. The Scriptures will make him. Not because some people with great philosophical minds and a gift for writing have put these things down on paper because they're writing advice. No, the reason that they can make Timothy wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is because these texts are God-breathed. The sacred writings are not of human origin. They are from God. And now, of course, human authors pen them. But it was God who guided them and inspired them to write these words. And as we have seen before, it is a significant idea that this is the voice of God. It is important to understand that this is God speaking. Because in the beginning, God spoke and everything came into existence. God is not a God who is silent like the pagan gods of the other people of the world. No. The God of the Bible speaks. And when He does so, it is no little thing. It is the Word of Truth. And so it's important that we take a moment to consider how this Word of God was delivered to us. These human authors tell the story of salvation and it was written down that we might know that it has authority so it could stand through time. The fact that they are sacred writings is important. Because when something is written down, it is established. It isn't changed. Now the story of Scripture is told by numerous authors through different eras of history. But there's a unifying factor to the Bible. That all these authors from different points in history tell this story of how God redeems a fallen people for Himself. And He does this through His Anointed One. The Most High. The Messiah. And not only is this story flowing through all of Scripture, but we see that it was written down. It has remained the same throughout time. Now it has been said, and I'm sure you have heard this idea that Scripture has been modified, that it's been edited, that it's riddled with errors. So there's no way that we could ever possibly know what Scripture actually had to say. But the exact opposite is actually true. That's not true at all. The manuscript evidence of the Bible is plentiful. And it shows that the text of Scripture has remained steadfast throughout the ages. Now of course, there have been some copying errors. There are places where a few words are different. But those differences do not affect a single doctrine or change the story of Scripture in any way. In fact, if you want to investigate all these supposed errors in the Bible, you can do it yourself very easily. They're all footnotes. They're all footnoted in your Bible. That's what the majority of the footnotes in your Bible are about. Yeah, there's cross-references and such. But when there's a difference in the text, they tell us. Nobody's keeping a secret from us. No one's hiding anything about the reliability of the Scripture. And there is no ancient text that holds a candle to the accuracy and the reliability of the Bible. And really, when you think about it, this is no small feat. This is an old text. You know, for us as modern people, we think 100% accuracy is pretty simple. And of course we do. We have photocopiers. We have word processors. We have spellcheck. We can throw something into a computer and say, what are the differences here? But that wasn't the case in the ancient world. And so the level of accuracy that was actually attained by the ancient scribes who preserved God's words for us is actually miraculous. It's amazing how few differences there are in all the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of manuscripts we have throughout the ages. And so if you stop and you think about it for a moment, you can understand why this would be. First, God is preserving His Word for His people. Throughout the ages, He has protected His people and He has preserved His revelation. But secondly, His people have preserved it because they understood what Paul is telling Timothy here.
He's telling Timothy that these words are God-breathed. And the people of God throughout the ages truly believed that the sacred writings were not the words of men, but they were God-breathed. And so they valued it. And they took care to copy it down for the people of God who had come throughout the ages because they believed that God breathed it. They believed it was the inspired Word of God. And so for us, as the people of God in Christ Jesus, this is the voice that rises above the noise. Not because it's the loudest voice or because it's the smartest voice. It is the voice we train our ears to hear because it's the voice of God. It is Him breathing out His very Word to us. And as we move to our second point, we see that we are to hear and listen to the Word of Almighty God. As we listen to the Word of Almighty God, we look at our passage this morning from the book of Deuteronomy. And we have seen that the voice of God is clear and that it is not just another voice in the crowd. His voice is one of divine authority. But what good does this voice do us if we're not listening? If God has spoken clearly and powerfully, then it demands more than our attention. It demands our response. And so here in Deuteronomy 6, we see how God is speaking to us. We see how this authoritative Word is meant to shape our lives and we hear it and we live it out. And so these verses here are made up what is known as the Shema. So the word Shema in Hebrew means to hear, to listen, or to obey. Hear, listen, or obey. Shema. There's your Hebrew lesson for the day. And this Shema was something that the people of God knew. They didn't just hear it once and forget the principles found here. They had this memorized. Everybody knew it. And this is a command to hear, but it is also a command to take in, to listen to, and to obey. So as we look at these words, we see that Israel has one God. It is the Lord. And it's significant that they hear because the Lord God, Yahweh, is the God who speaks. He is not silent. He speaks. And so they are to hear and to listen and obey. And what do they hear? That they are to love Him with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might. And this is a command. But it is a command that comes from knowing this God who has spoken. The God who has rescued Him. So the Shema sits here in the book of Deuteronomy. So the people who are to hear are to hear. These are people who deeply know the story. Right? They know the story from the beginning of Genesis about the fall into sin. Humanity's rebellion against God. And they know how God has set apart a people for Himself that He has promised salvation through the One who would come and crush the head of the serpent. They know how God has brought them out of slavery into Egypt. And how He brought them through the Red Sea. They know how He provides for them in the wilderness. How He gave them His law and how He has not abandoned them despite the times where they were unfaithful. Where they doubted the faithfulness of this God who had rescued them. And so now we come here to Deuteronomy 6 and they are to hear. They are to have this command deep down within them. They are to have it in their heart. So they don't listen to receive some information. To have a data download as it were. It's to affect them deep within the depth of their being. This Word has so much authority that it directs their worship and their loves. Because it has this authority, it also directs another aspect of their lives. They are to teach it to their children. This Word they hear is a Word from God and so they diligently pass this to their children. And I want us to notice here that it tells us what this looks like. It's not something they do and they pass the information on and then once they get it all transmitted to them, they are done with this process.
No, it says they are to talk to them in their homes when they walk by the way, when they lie down, and when they rise. As we read that, I know what my brain does and I'm sure your brain probably does the same thing. We have to do some interpretive work here. Because as we read this, we need to understand that this is not simply a checklist. That they will please God if they can check this box every day. Our brains, we read this and we understand that what Moses is doing here, what the Word of God is doing here, is helping us to understand how this is supposed to permeate all of our lives. The idea here is that the commands of God are to be what directs us in all of life. No matter what we're doing, we're to exude the faithfulness of God and transmit that to our God, or to our children. God's commands, the story of His faithfulness. It isn't just an at-home thing. We can check it off that we did it before bed and when we woke up. It isn't just an out-and-about thing either. It isn't just an at-night activity or a morning ritual. The authority of the Word of God means that it is important, important at all moments of our lives. And so when we read this, again, we understand this isn't just some checklist. If we want to make God happy, we should do these things and then we've checked off the boxes. No, the idea is that this permeates our existence. It's who we are. Like I said, our brains do this interpretive work as we read it, but what is interesting is that historically, many Hebrew people read the next part after going along the way, about binding it, and they took it literally with a wooden literalism. They would tie little boxes with these verses on their arms and on their foreheads. They would literally attach pieces with these words to their doorsteps.
But we know that isn't the intention of what's being said, right? To have these things there. What is being said when it says have it on your wrist, as a sign on your head and on your doorpost. The idea is that when you go out, you take this with you. When you come back into your house, it's with you. When you see your home, you're to understand that God is over your life. You take this everywhere you go. The word of the Lord isn't something that is over your life and over your house just part of the time. The idea is that you go out into the world, you show your faith, you show your faithfulness to the God who is faithful to you. And as you come home, you continue to do so. You don't forget about it when you're at home when no one can see. It isn't just for show. There's so much that can be said about this passage here in Deuteronomy, but our purpose today is to understand that the authority that the Word of God has compels us to not only know that His Word is true, but it moves us to love God, to keep His commandments and to pass it on to those who follow us. It isn't just stored in our minds or heard once and forgotten. It doesn't sit in the background. It demands our full attention. But there's something even more profound that we need to see here. God's Word doesn't just inform us or direct us. It transforms us. And so as we move to our final point, we see the incredible power of God's Word. It equips us for every good work, shaping us into the people He has called us to be. And so we return to 2 Timothy, 3, verses 3, 16 and 17 to see how this power unfolds in our lives. So this God-breathed Word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. And those are some powerful words that we see here. So the first thing is this authoritative Word of God is what we are to be teaching. It isn't our opinions or our feelings about what we think God is like. We are to consistently and persistently be teaching God's Word and not our own ideas. It's vital then that we make sure that we know God's Word, not only so that we can teach it, but so that we know that what we are being taught is correct. Far too often, the ideas of men are passed off as being from God. And so knowing the Word of God helps us to not only teach others, but it also helps us to discern what we are receiving as teaching as well. And secondly, we see that it is profitable for reproof. And reproof involves confronting error and bringing sin to light. And that's not an easy task. But it's necessary if we're to live under the authority of God's Word. Scripture shines a light on our lives, exposing the ways that we have strayed from God's will. And reproof, it isn't about condemnation. It's about correction, guiding us back to the right path. And so it calls us to repentance, showing us the areas where we need to turn away from sin and turn back to the truth of God's Word. And third, the Word of God is profitable for correction. And while reproof points out where we have gone wrong, correction shows us how to get back on the path. It's the process of restoring what has been broken or misaligned in our lives, helping us to live in a way that pleases God. And Scripture not only reveals our error, but also provides the guidance we need to change our lives. Bringing us back into alignment with God's truth. And so correction is about being transformed, turning away from sin and moving towards righteousness. Helping us walk in step with God's will. And then finally, the Word of God is profitable for training in righteousness. And this is more than just learning rules or avoiding sin. It's about being shaped. It's about being molded into the likeness of Christ. Training in righteousness equips us to live lives that reflect the holiness of God. Not just in specific moments, but in the entirety of our walk with Him. Just like an athlete trains to build strength and endurance, God's Word trains us to grow in godliness, developing habits of faithfulness, love, and obedience. It prepares us for every good work. Not by our own strength, but by continually immersing us in the truth and power of Scripture. And through this training, we become people who not only know God's will, but we're equipped to live it out. So what does it mean to be equipped for every good work? It means that through the power of God's Word, we're shaped into people who are ready and able to live out the faith that we profess. And Scripture gives us the tools we need, not just for personal growth, but for serving others, for advancing God's kingdom, and for glorifying Him in all that we do. And whether it's through teaching, correcting, encouraging, or serving, the Word of God, God equips us to meet every challenge, to respond in every situation, and to walk in righteousness. So we're not left to figure this out on our own. God has given us His Word so that we can be fully prepared to live as His people, carrying out the good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do. And the more we immerse ourselves in God's Word, the more we're equipped to live our lives for His glory. And most importantly, the reason we embrace the authority of God's Word is because it speaks with authority about our salvation. The Bible speaks with authority about the wrath of God being paid for our sin. It authoritatively tells us that death was defeated when Christ walked out of His grave. And we also know that Christ has authority over all things because He is now seated at the right hand of the Father in His ascension. So as we wrap up today, I want to encourage you to consider the power of being equipped by God's Word. This isn't just about knowledge or learning facts. It's about being transformed and ready to live out your faith in every aspect of life. The Word of God shapes our hearts. It directs our actions and it prepares us to serve, love, and make a difference in a world that desperately needs truth. The Bible isn't simply an ancient text. It's the very Word of God that is living and active and equips you for the good works that we're called to do. So as you go out this week into a world filled with noise, may we be drawn to the voice of God and His Word and ask ourselves some important questions. How am I allowing the authority of Scripture to shape my thoughts, my actions, and my response? So let the voice of God's Word be your foundation, your guide, and your strength as you live to bring glory to God for who He is. And what He has done. Amen. Let us pray.
Almighty God, we are so grateful for the gift of Your Word that it speaks with authority, that in a world filled with noise, we know that there is a voice that can be heard, that You have given us a voice that has authority. May we trust in that story of our salvation and may that cause us to also trust Your Word in all areas of our lives, that what we might be led on paths of holiness, that our lives might be glorifying to You and be a witness in a lost and dying world. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
