2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

The first building block in the foundations of our faith is Scripture. If we are going to know anything about God, we must have a trustworthy place to go to learn about him. When we say Scripture alone, we are not saying that the Bible is the only way that God speaks, but we are saying it is the only source of authoritative revelation. What Scripture teaches has the highest authority for our belief and our life.

The Bible Is Authoritative – In verse 16, the Bible is described as ‘breathed out by God.’ Though it was written by human authors, God worked through the process so it says exactly what he wants it to say. This means that if we want to know truth about God, ourselves or the world we live in then Scripture is the place to look. It also means that we should expect sometimes the Bible to say things that may differ from what we already thought (as it contains the very word of God himself), and when this happens we should submit to the authority that the Bible has.

The Bible Is Sufficient – The Bible may not answer every question that we might want to ask, but is does contain everything that is needed to accomplish the purposes that God gave it for. In particular, the Scripture sets out God’s plan of salvation (v.15) and also contains what we need for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness to equip us for every good work,

The Bible Is Clear – The clarity of the Bible does not mean that there are no confusing bits (2 Peter 3:16 clearly tells us the opposite), but it does mean that the basic message of the Bible is able to be clearly understood by any who read it and it does not require a particular level of intellect, training or special knowledge to be able to grasp what it is saying.

Response

A good response to this sermon would be to encourage people in their own personal Bible reading, and perhaps make available Bible reading plans or notes that people could use.