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Heavenly Father, living and true God, thank you that you have spoken to us in the Scriptures. Help us now to hear your voice, to believe it, and to learn to obey it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Imagine this; you wake up to find yourself out on a rocky and hazardous mountainside. It’s dark. You don’t know where you are. You can’t remember where you come from, or how you got there. You’re not alone. There are voices all around you. You can see far enough through the gloom to make out people, some on their own, some in groups. One woman is slumped on the ground with her head in her hands. Some walk purposefully past, knocking over any in their path and trampling them underfoot. You hear cries and realise that those at the head of that party have just marched confidently over a rocky edge. To your astonishment, the whole group just carries on, following them ‘til they’ve all fallen to their deaths. Some are wandering round in circles, chatting happily together, going nowhere. It’s a frightening chaos. You want to go home, but you don’t know where that is, never mind how to get there. You rummage around in your rucksack and realise that you have nothing telling you where you live; no map; no compass; no torch. You could not be more lost. What are you going to do?

That is what happened to me. In fact, of course, it happens to all of us. We all wake up, as it were, and find ourselves alive in the world. Where have we come from? Where are we going? How do we get there? Who should we go with? We need answers to these questions. There are many voices offering answers. One way or another, we have to stake our lives on something. We have to choose one path not another. We have to go with some and away from others. And we have to have very good reasons for our decision. Our lives depend on it.

Speaking personally, I have found in the Bible the information about my origin and my destination, and the map, compass, torch and guide that I need. What are my reasons for that far reaching decision? You can see them in our next section of Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. Please have that open in front of you: 2 Timothy 3.10-17. That’s on page 996 in the Bibles in the pews. And my title is ‘The Word of God’.

Why believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Why stake your life on the Scriptures? Here are three reasons from this passage.:

1. The Scriptures are spoken by God

The apostle Paul is in prison as he writes this letter to his younger associate Timothy. He is facing death. Paul will not be around much longer. Timothy will be under great pressure as a church leader. Timothy must be under no illusions. Pete took us through the early part of chapter 3 last week, and spoke about the cultural air that we breathe as the apostle Paul describes it. (2 Timothy 3.1-5):

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

We live, as did Timothy, in times when people love self, wealth and pleasure in preference to God. And that makes for a world that is coarse, brutal and hostile to goodness and godliness. What is more, we should not expect things to improve. (2 Timothy 3.12-13):

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Timothy’s in for a torrid time, and Paul wants to make sure that his feet are set firmly on the rock of truth. So he goes on (2 Timothy 3.14-16):

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God…

So why did I stake my life on the fact that the Bible is God’s Word written, and therefore true and trustworthy?

i. I was told by Christians I respected and trusted that the Bible is God’s Word. So was Timothy. He had the example of his family. He also had Paul - his mentor and friend. Paul reminds him (2 Timothy 3.10-11):

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,bmy persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured…

In Lystra Paul had been stoned and left for dead. Lystra was where Timothy lived – perhaps he even saw what happened there. Now I haven’t seen Christians stoned for their faith, but as a young man wanting to know the truth about life I certainly watched closely those who were telling me that I should trust what the Bible was saying. My conclusion was this: the greater a person’s commitment to believing and obeying the Bible, the better I liked what I saw of their life and character. Certainly I have seen committed Christians fail badly. But that’s all the more shocking precisely because it’s so contrary to what you expect. In general, I was impressed by the way that faith and life matched. I wanted what they had, so I was inclined to accept what they told me.

ii. I realised that Christians have always believed and taught that the Bible is God’s Word. From Paul and Timothy onwards, that has been one of the foundational truths of Christian faith. Now I know there have been exceptions. I know that not least in the West over the last 150 years people even inside the church have said that only parts of the Bible are the inspired Word of God, or that none of it is. But I realised that those views are an aberration, and that the mainstream of Christian believers across the world and through the centuries has always known that the Bible is the true Word of God. I also came to the conclusion that failing to believe that had two consequences: the Bible ends up being neglected and the church ends up being destroyed. I did not find this a strong recommendation.

iii. I realised that the Bible claims to be the Word of God. This passage is a classic example (2 Timothy 3.16):

All Scripture is breathed out by God…

The words of Scripture are breathed out of the mouth of God. Scripture is spoken by God. That is not to deny the human character of the Biblical documents. The Bible was written by men. But they wrote under the direction and inspiration of the Spirit of God in such a way that God is the primary author of the Bible. It is his book. How God inspired people is another matter. That he inspired them is what counts. And what impressed me was that the Bible’s claim to be the Word of God is not just in a few isolated texts like this one, significant as they are as summaries of what the Bible says on this. The claim runs right through from beginning to end. Again and again it is implicit or explicit. And that applies to the New Testament as well as the Old. Two quick examples. The opening words of the Book of Jeremiah say (this is Jeremiah 1.9):

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth…”

And the apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3.15-16, brackets Paul’s letters with what he calls the other Scriptures. He regarded Paul’s letters as Scripture and expected others to do the same. I quickly realised that examples like that could be multiplied hundreds of times. So I saw that I only had one of two options. I could accept the Bible on its own terms, as the written Word of God. Or alternatively I could reject its authority altogether. Either you take it or leave it. Either it’s the Word of God, or it’s a fabrication – the product of deluded or deceiving minds. For the life of me I cannot see how there can be any middle way between those two. The Bible claims to be the Word of God.

iv. I found that the Bible, in all its diversity, is astonishingly coherent and unified. Paul talks in our passage about the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3.15) and all Scripture (2 Timothy 3.16). He speaks of Scripture as a unity, with a common origin and a common purpose. And the more I read the Bible, the more astounded I became by the way that this immense range of literature, put together over many centuries, seems to speak with one voice and to have one message.

I remember driving up Regent Street in London. One of the shop window displays was a massive picture of a face. But as I looked closer, I realised that this picture was made up of hundreds of quite separate bits of paper, each one of them with what looked like random splodges of colour on it. But when they were stuck one beside another, what emerged was this photograph of a smiling face. The Bible is like that. Stand back and look at it, and what you see is a massive portrait of the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the face that shows us God is the face of Jesus Christ. There’s a bit of background. There’s his eyes. There’s his mouth. Every bit different. Every bit necessary. All fitting together. Why? Because there’s one mind behind the whole thing: the mind of God. I found no other explanation for the coherence and unity of the Bible remotely convincing. So I simply could not escape the conclusion that the Scriptures are spoken by God. That’s the first thing.

2. The scriptures lead us to saving faith in Christ

In 2 Timothy 3.15 Paul speaks of:

the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul is saying that not only does the Bible paint this giant and accurate portrait of Jesus Christ, but seeing it enables you to take hold of Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and he rescues you from sin, Satan, death, condemnation and hell, and gives you eternal life. The Bible leads you to faith in Christ, and faith in Christ saves you. That was my experience. But if we’re going to see Christ clearly, we have to see ourselves clearly as well. And the Scriptures enable us to do that too. I found that the Bible is like a mirror in which I see both myself as I know myself to be, and also the world as I experience it. It lays my inner workings bare before me. I find I cannot but agree that what it tells me about myself is the truth. And what it shows me of a magnificent world dreadfully distorted and twisted out of alignment, with terrible consequences, is the world that I see around me. So when I looked into the Bible I saw the truth about me and my world. But I saw far more. I met Jesus Christ in the pages of the Bible. I found that all I had already been told about him is true. He is Lord. He is the Saviour. I didn’t have to take other Christians’ word for it. I had the same access to the sources as they did. I encountered Jesus personally, and found that he has the words of eternal life. So the Scriptures are spoken by God. The Scriptures lead us to saving faith in Christ. And then:

3. The scriptures equip us for our lives as Disciples of Christ

2 Timothy 3.16-17:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

All of Scripture, properly used, moulds what we think and what we do. Teaching and reproof relate to ‘doctrine’ (what we believe). The Bible both, positively, shows us what is true and also, negatively, shows us where our thinking is up the creek. Correction and training in righteousness relate to ‘ethics’ (what we do, and the kind of people we are). The Bible both, negatively, lets us know when we are taking a wrong turning and, positively, shows us the right way to go. So I found that the Bible imposed its authority and divine origin on the whole of my life. I could not but submit the whole of my life (what I believe and how I live) to its teaching. I am more aware than anyone of how very inconsistent I have been over the years in following that through. But I found that in the end I had no choice. God spoke to me through his Word, the Scriptures, and what could I do but bow before him? And I found that when I believed what the Bible told me to believe and did what it told me to do, it worked. I found its promises to be true. Its diagnoses were spot on. Its remedies did what it said they would do. The teaching of the Scriptures makes people useful. It does equip them for every good work, just as Paul says here.

I’m not by any stretch of the imagination much of a cook. But as a sabbatical activity I cooked ‘Crispy Haddock with Patatas A Lo Pobre And Chilli Salsa’. All I had to go on was a recipe card. I did what it told me to do, and to my delight and Vivienne’s surprise, it turned out rather good! The recipe worked. What the Bible gives us is the trustworthy recipe for life. It works. That should be no surprise. It is written by our Creator and Redeemer. The Scriptures are spoken by God. They lead us to saving faith in Christ. And they equip us for our lives as Disciples of Christ.

I was in my early teens when I found I really had no option. Without the Bible, I knew, I would be out on a rocky and hazardous mountainside in the dark, utterly lost in a hostile world, with no idea where home was or how to get there; alone with no map, no compass, no torch, no guide. I thank God that by his grace I heard his voice calling in the pages of the Bible. What about you? Let’s pray:

Lord God, thank you that you have spoken to us in the Bible. It is your written and living Word. Lord, please open our eyes by the power of your Spirit so that we know that deep down. And teach, reprove, correct and train us in righteousness, so we will live our lives for your glory alone. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.