This message, titled, Scripture Alone, from 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, was preached at Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Kansas. For more information, visit us at winchesterrp.com. One thing that's been taught to me since as far back as I can remember is the importance of Scripture. I can remember when I was a young child sitting on my great-grandmother's lap as she read the Bible to me. I was raised in the church as many of you are and have been. And the Scriptures were always held in the highest regard. And I thank the Lord that His Word had such an important part in my upbringing. But it wasn't until fairly recently, within the last ten years or so, that I came to understand why it is that Scripture is to hold this high place in the lives of believers. When I was in college, I was introduced to many of the doctrines which we hold so dear, and one of which was the doctrine of Scripture. Here at Winchester Reformed Presbyterian Church, and as well as the RPC&A as a whole, we uphold the historic doctrine of Scripture. We confess that the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence, deduced from Scripture. Scripture is our ultimate authority. It's our rule for faith and life. Here in the third chapter of this letter, Paul is commending Timothy for continuing in the faith that he learned through the teaching of the scriptures. 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. Paul is setting forth the primacy of the Scriptures. The authority of the Scripture. The importance of the Scripture. It is Scripture alone that is to be our guide and faith in life. It is Scripture alone that is the final authority which speaks to any matters that we may face. It is Scripture alone. And Paul gives us two characteristics here in verses 16 and 17, which show why it is Scripture alone. The inspiration of Scripture and the sufficiency of Scripture. The first characteristic that we see is the inspiration of scripture. All scripture is breathed out by God. The way the ESV renders the word that other translations render inspired is more true to the original. In today's society, the word inspiration means something completely different than what we're talking about here concerning scripture. We see inspirational quotes, quotes that are intended to make you feel good. We see athletes asked what inspired them to pursue their dreams of making it in the big leagues. what motivated them. We hear of inspiring songs, inspiring movies, inspiring books, inspirational messages, and the list goes on and on. But that's not what we mean when we say that the Scriptures are inspired by God. No, we mean, as the ESV rightly puts it, that all Scripture is breathed out by God. Scripture doesn't merely make you feel good. It doesn't merely motivate you to do something. It doesn't merely stir up passions within you. Scripture comes from the very mouth of God. It stems from His very lips. It is breathed out by the Sovereign Lord of the universe. It is His very Word. This is why we call it the Word of God. Because it is His Word. Now there are numerous different ways in which people throughout history have tried to explain how this is the case, how inspiration happens. And we don't really have the time to go through every one of these and explain why they are true or why they are not. But we can look to what Scripture says about how inspiration is done. Speaking of Scripture, the Apostle Peter writes 2 Peter chapter 1. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. To which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." This is what inspiration is. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. the argument that I've heard against Scriptures and that I'm sure you will hear at some point if you haven't already, is that the Bible is just a book written by men. And to this we say, yes, it is written by men. But not just by men. The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. The Holy Spirit working through men. This is why Genesis doesn't sound exactly like the Psalms. And neither sounds exactly like the Gospels or Revelation. The characteristics, the style, the voice of the human authors can still be heard in their writings. But this is also why from Genesis to Revelation, there is consistency. Accuracy. No contradictions or errors. Because the Scriptures were written by God Himself. Working through the pen of men by His Holy Spirit. And no other book can rightly claim divine inspiration, though many try to. The Qur'an, the sacred text of Islam, claims divine inspiration, but fails in proving it. The earlier writings of Muhammad in the Qur'an differ drastically and even contradict in many places the later writings. It's merely a false book of a false god of a false religion. And the same is true of the Book of Mormon and Mormonism, the Vedas and Hinduism, and any other book of a false religion. But the Bible is the very Word of God. It is. divinely inspired. It is because of the inspiration of Scripture that we must look to Scripture alone as our ultimate authority and faith in life, because the author of Scripture is the one who has ultimate authority Himself. But most, if not all of us here today, do not deny the inspiration of the Scriptures. We will likely never be tempted to hold any other religious book as equals or superior to Scripture. We truly believe that the Scripture is the Word of God. But is it enough? Is Scripture enough? Our text says yes. This is the sufficiency of Scripture. 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 complete. equipped for every good work. Paul is telling young Pastor Timothy that the Scriptures are enough. We don't have to seek visions in order to gain new insights into things. We don't have to wait for a message from God to tell you to do something. We don't seek after new revelation because God has revealed everything we need for faith and life in the Scriptures. Everything we need is either expressly stated in Scripture or can be reasoned from it. words from God agree with Scripture, they're unnecessary. And if they don't agree with Scripture, then they're false. Scripture is sufficient. You don't need anything else. And so Paul lists four ways in which Scripture is sufficient. And these four ways encompass everything. that we could ever need. The first is that it is profitable for teaching. This is the most obvious way. This is the one that we're most familiar with. We sit under the teaching of the Word. That's what we're doing here Today, that's what we do every Lord's Day. That's what we do in Bible studies. This is the primary function of the Word, to teach us. It is our instruction manual. It teaches us who we are, who God is, and what He has done for us. I feel like it has to be said that Scripture doesn't teach us everything we could ever know about any subject. Scripture doesn't teach us about trajectory or velocity. It doesn't teach us the Pythagorean theorem. It doesn't teach us how to ride a bike. But these things aren't primary. Those things are not required for faith in life. You could live your whole life never knowing any of those things, and if you have the teaching of Scripture, you have everything that you need for faith and life. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing The heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The scripture is profitable for teaching. The scripture is also sufficient in that it is profitable for reproof. Reproof is one of those words that we don't use very often. It's a disapproval or rebuke. It's to call something wrong. To show the foolishness of something. Now if you're like me, it helps to get an example of what reproof is. And the Scripture gives us an example of reproof in Nathan confronting David after his adultery with Bathsheba. Nathan tells the story of a rich man who had many flocks of sheep, and a poor man who had only one little lamb that he had raised up with his family. As a traveler came to the rich man, he wouldn't use one of his own sheep to prepare a meal, but instead he took that poor man's single lamb. In this story, it infuriated David and he said that the rich man deserved to die for what he had done. And Nathan looked David squarely in the eyes and he proclaimed, you are the man. Nathan showed David that he was wrong. He showed David the foolishness of what he had done. This is what Scripture does. It is sufficient to show us where we are wrong. It is sufficient to show us the foolishness of our actions. But not only that, it is sufficient to show us how the ways of the world are wrong. How every other religion is wrong. How every other viewpoint is wrong. Scripture does this. If a brother has wronged you, You don't appeal to your emotions or to some cultural sensitivity to show him his error. You point him to the Word. You show him where he has violated the law of God and has sinned against you. Emotions, culture, literary works, philosophies, other religions, these things have no authority to reprove. But Scripture has the authority of its author. The Scripture is profitable for reproof. And going hand in hand with reproof, the Scripture is sufficient in that it is profitable for correction. The Scripture shows us the error of our ways But they don't just leave us there to sulk in our pity because we've done something wrong. The Scriptures correct us. They show us how we are to not do those foolish things again. We see this all over Scripture. Don't do this, but instead do this. Don't pray like the hypocrites looking to be seen by others, but instead pray in secret to your Father who is in secret. Do not pray like the Gentiles with empty phrases, but instead pray like the Lord instructs you in His model prayer. This is correction. But this isn't the only type of correction that the Scriptures do. Paul tells the church in Corinth to turn the sexually immoral man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. This is a correction that the church is to follow concerning a man who has been reproved for his sin. It is right. And nothing else can give this kind of correction because nothing else is like the Scriptures. The Scripture is profitable for correction. It is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and lastly, the Scripture is sufficient in that it is profitable for training in righteousness. How can we know how to live a life pleasing to the Lord? Because Scripture tells us. How do we know how to grow more and more in Christ? Because Scripture tells us. The Scripture is sufficient. You don't need anything else. Anything other than Scripture imposing moral obligations on you that are not founded upon the Word of God isn't righteousness. It's legalism. The moral law of God is found in the Word of God. How do you walk according to the ways of the Lord? Read your Bible and follow its commands. Have no other gods before Him. Make no graven image nor worship it. Do not profane the Lord's name. Keep the Sabbath. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not covet. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. This is the training in righteousness that we find in Scripture. If something is not founded in these ten moral laws, then it is not training you in righteousness. Ramadan, Lent, veganism, prayer walks, none of these can be imposed upon you because they are but man-made inventions. The Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness. The Scriptures are sufficient. It's only through the teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete. Equipped for every good work. If you have the Scriptures. You are complete. You lack nothing. You don't need Scripture plus secret revelations. You don't need Scripture plus the Talmud. You don't need Scripture plus man's tradition. You don't need Scripture plus anything. You have everything that you need in the Word of God to be complete, to be full, to be mature, lacking nothing. This is why the ordinary means of grace are so important. We read the Word. We sit under the preaching of the Word. We sing the Word. We pray the Word. We see the Word visible in the sacraments. We don't need light shows or instruments or calendars or feast days or months-long fasts or other revelations. We have the perfect, inspired, inerrant, infallible, sufficient Word of God given to us. And we are complete. But not only that, we are equipped. We are equipped for every good work. How do we worship? According to Scripture. We worship God in spirit and in truth. We only do and worship that which God commands. To do otherwise is to do what is called will worship. Worshiping according to the will of man. This was the sin of Nadab and Abihu who offered strange fire unto the Lord which He did not command them. And they were consumed. Fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the book of Hebrews says that our God is a consuming fire. He is jealous for His worship. We worship according to Scripture. How do we parent? According to Scripture. Deuteronomy 6, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Or Proverbs 22.6, train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. We parent according to scripture. How do we love our spouses? According to scripture. Wives are to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. You are to be united together as one flesh. We love our spouses according to Scripture. And the list goes on and on. Every good work that we could do, we have been equipped to do. Look to the Word. You can't know what you are equipped to do if you don't know the Word. The Lord has given you everything that you need. Go and do. Brothers and sisters, it is Scripture alone that is our ultimate rule for faith and life. And this is because of its author. It is the very Word of God. All Scripture is breathed out by God. It is inspired. It has authority. It must be obeyed. It must shape and direct everything that we do. It is sufficient to teach, reprove, correct, and train in righteousness. And because we have it, because we have everything it is sufficient for, we are complete. And we are equipped for every good thing. work. Do not forsake the Word. Let us be a people who live according to Scripture alone. Let us pray.