The Pillar and Ground of Truth

Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 40:1-8
New Testament Reading – Hebrews 4:1-16

The Pillar and Ground of Truth
“Man’s Response to God”
2 Timothy 3:13-17

Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor

   The book we call the Bible is God’s way of revealing Himself to all mankind through the various languages mankind can understand.

• What Jesus was to people who lived 2,000 years ago, the Holy Bible is to us today.
  • Jesus was a human child born to the woman Mary, who was chosen by God. However, because her conception was of the Holy Spirit, that which was born of her was totally of God and without sin, i.e., Jesus was the Living Word of God.
  • The Bible was written in human words by men, who were chosen by God. However, because their words were breathed to them by the Holy Spirit, that which they wrote was totally of God and without error, i.e., the Bible is the written Word of God.
• John 5:39, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
• Revelation 1:1-2, the Apostle John said his purpose was to “bare witness to the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things he saw,” – e., the Written Word and the Living Word.
• Most Christians today do not have the same respect for the written Word of God as they do for the Living Word of God. According to the Scriptures, they are one and the same.

   In John 1:1, the Apostle wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

• The Greek translation of “Word” is “Logos,” which they viewed as the power that created the world, set it in perfect order and keeps it going in perfect order – to the Greeks, the Logos was that Uncaused Cause that created everything that exists for His glory.
• The Jewish Rabbis referred to God as “The Word,” and the ancient Jews used the phrase “the Word of God” to refer to God Himself.
• Moses affirmed this by prefacing his instructions with the phrase, “The Word of the Lord says.”
• The Hebrew translation of Exodus 19:17 reads: “Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet the Word of God.”
• So, even before the beginning of creation, “The Word” was with God, and in writing his gospel to both the Jews and the Greeks, John concluded that the Eternal Being the Jews knew as God, and the Greeks knew as Logos, was, in fact, God Almighty.
• In John 1:14, the Apostle said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
• The scrolls of the Scriptures and the Person of the Lord Jesus are so inseparably bound together, that to question the integrity and the authority of one is to question the integrity and authority of both.
• In Luke 16:31, Jesus said, “If they (the Scribes and Pharisees) do not hear Moses and the prophets (the Scriptures), neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”
• The foundation of the Christian Faith is based on the Holy Bible, for what we know about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit, and the Church is limited to our knowledge of the Bible.
• The Christian Faith was not formed by the vision of one man or a group of men, nor is it based upon some lost manuscripts or a set of secret books that have been, or can be read by a selected few.
• The foundation of the Christian Faith was established once and for all, and that eternal truth, which was settled in heaven, was handed down to us in the pages of the Holy Scriptures, so that the lives of those who hear it and heed it can be totally transformed.

• How should we respond to the reading, teaching, and preaching of the Holy Scriptures?
• How would we respond to the exact words if we heard Jesus speak them to us audibly?
• Our response to the Word of God is our response to the God of the Word – i.e., the level of the believer’s spiritual maturity is manifest by his obedience to the Word of God.

   The Apostle Paul exhorted his disciple, Timothy, to continue to be faithful to the Scriptures as the source of his spiritual life.

• Verse 15 – Paul reminded Timothy that he had been rooted and grounded in the Word of God by his mother and grandmother.
• Verse 14 – Paul reminded Timothy of the privilege of traveling with him on his missionary journeys and seeing the power of the Word of God at work through him and in the lives of others.
• Verse 14 – Paul exhorted Timothy to continue in the things he had learned and been assured of, knowing from whom he had learned them – i.e., to LIVE IN the Scriptures, so that he could LIVE OUT the scriptures before others.
• The word “continue” means to “abide” or “dwell.”
• In John 15:4-5 Jesus told his disciples: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

		Bear Much Fruit
		Ask in Prayer
		Abide in the Word

• In John 15:7-8, Jesus continued, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so, you will be My disciples.”
• To overcome the lies of the world, and to defeat the deceitful schemes of the devil, the believer must abide in the Word privately, and obey the Word publicly.

The Holy Scriptures are our only source of truth regarding:

1. Our Eternal Life – Vs. 15 – “The holy scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

• Wisdom is the ability to see life from God’s perspective. While the Bible tells us that every person is a sinner and deserves to spend eternity in hell, it also tells us how we can be saved by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone, and in Christ alone.
• However, the only way sinful man can hear about God’s eternal plan of salvation is through the proclamation of His Holy Word.
• Romans 10:17 – “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
• John 5:24 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

2.  Our Spiritual Life – Vs. 16 – 17 – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

• Doctrine – the essential doctrines of the Christian Faith – what we must believe and why – 2 Peter 1:3-4
• Reproof – the conviction of the Holy Spirit when we violate the essential doctrines – Hebrews 4:12
• Correction – how to repent of that sin and restore our broken fellowship with God and others. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
• Instruction – how to avoid the temptation of sin and the traps Satan sets before us. 1 Peter 2:2-3, Psalm 119:11
• Many people have attended church for years, but they have never saturated themselves in the study of God’s Word so that the Word of God emanates and radiates through them.

Those who want to be mightily used of God must not only be under the teaching of the Word of God, but they must live in the Word of God, so they can live out the Word of God before others.