Sermon Notes, June 12, 2016
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor Garry’s sermon was titled
“The Holy Scriptures: Sufficient and Authoritative,” and was based on 2 Timothy
3:14-17. Pastor talked about an indispensible,
multi-purpose, tool. For him, it was a
hammer. God’s multi-purpose
indispensible tool is the Holy Scripture, and He uses it to do some of His best
work. He uses it to hammer out something
for us, in us, and through us.
Scripture hammers out God’s Salvation For Us. (2 Timothy 3:15) Timothy was one of the first 2nd-generation
Christians. He became a Christian
because his mother and grandmother had taught him the Holy Scriptures when he
was a small child. For Timothy, the Holy
Scripture were the books of the Old Testament.
The books of the Old Testament point us to Christ, and faith in Christ
makes the whole Bible intelligible. In
verse 15, Paul says that God gave Scripture to “make [us] wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.” While God
may use other tools to save us, one of the primary tools He has used throughout
history and across cultures is Scripture.
Scripture tells the story of God’s love and humanity’s rejection of that
love. Scripture reveals all that God has
done through Christ to bridge the gap sin has created between us and God.
Scripture hammers out Sanctification In Us. (2 Timothy
3:16) The Bible is not a collection of
stories, fables, myths or merely human ideas about God. Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed His
person and plan to certain believers, who wrote down His message for His
people. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells about this
process, known as “inspiration.” God
uses Scripture not only to do something FOR us, but to do something IN us; not
only to save us but to sanctify us.
Scripture teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains us so that we can
experience “righteousness,” or complete/entire sanctification.
Scripture helps us go beyond the
initial sanctification of accepting Christ as our Lord and savior. It provides the pathway for all people to
follow so that we can live out faith for all to see. It works with the Holy Spirit to highlight
areas of our lives that we need to get rid of.
If we read the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit, how can we
understand God’s love for people? And
how can we see our own need for salvation and repentance of our own sin. Scripture has a way of cutting off the
spiritual fat in our lives that result from sin. God uses Scripture to hammer out
sanctification in us.
Scripture is a tool God uses to
hammer out Service Through Us.
(2 Timothy 3:17) Scripture is not only
significant in our salvation and sanctification, but it helps us to prepare for
service and leading others to salvation and a sanctified life. God uses scripture to equip us thoroughly “for
every good work.”
It is through our daily reading
of scripture that the Holy Spirit begins to work through us to reach this lost
and dying world for His Glory! The more
we read, the more we understand God, His character and His incredible love for
us. The more our hearts begin to soften,
and the easier it is for us to share the Good News with everyone around us.
The whole Bible is God’s inspired
word. It is our standard for testing
everything else that claims to be true.
It’s our safeguard against false teaching and our source of guidance for
how we should live. We should study the
Bible so that we will know how to do Christ’s work in the world. Our knowledge of God’s word is not useful
unless it strengthens our faith and leads us to do good. Once God uses
Scripture as a tool in salvation for us and sanctification in us, He seeks
service through us. May God use the
multi-purpose tool of Scripture to make us a missional movement that serves His
purposes in the world!
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