Tuesday, May 27, 2025

PT-3 “Scripture Provides Instruction for Sanctification” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2025 10:17 AM

 

My Worship Time                        Focus: PT-3 “Scripture Provides Instruction for Sanctification”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

            Message of the verses:  16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

 

            I continue looking at these favorite verses of mine in this morning’s SD.  I have a lot of favorite verses and this certainly ranks near the top.  2 Timothy 2:15 is another favorite verse and that is the verse that I have used to name my blogs after:  “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

 

            As I look at some of the different men who wrote Scripture, men like Moses and Paul as these men were highly trained in human knowledge and wisdom, however that learning was not the source of the divine truth that they recorded.  Another one who wrote Scripture that is found in our Bible would be David.  Now David was a man who was a great poet as can be seen in the beauty of the Psalms, but it is not the source of the divine truths revealed in those Psalms, as that certainly came from the Spirit of God, the Author of the Bible.

 

            “Scripture first of all and above all is from God and about God, His self-revelation to fallen mankind.  From Genesis through Revelation, God reveals His truth, His character, His attributes, and His divine plan for the redemption of man, whom He made in His own image.  He even foretells the eventual redemption of the rest of His creation, which ‘also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ and which ‘groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now’ (Rom. 8:21-23), writes John MacArthur. 

 

            Now MacArthur goes on to explain the following, something very important to know: “The Bible is not a collection of the wisdom and insights of men, even of godly men.  It is God’s truth, His own Word in His own words.  The psalmist declared, ‘Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven’ (Ps. 119:89).  God’s Word is divinely revealed to men on earth and divinely authenticated (true) in heaven. Peter declares unequivocally, ‘know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God’ (2 Peter 1:20-21).  Those God-given, humanly recorded words became God’s written Word inerrant and authoritative as originally given.  Propheteia (‘prophecy’) is not used here in the sense of prediction but in its basic and broader meaning of speaking forth, or proclaiming a message.  It carries the same inclusive idea as ‘the oracles of God,’ with which ancient Israel had the marvelous privilege of being entrusted (Rom. 3:2).  ‘Interpretation’ (2 Peter 1:20b) translates epilusis, which refers to something that is released, sent out, or sent forth.  In this verse the Greek noun is a genitive of source, indication origin.  In other words, no message of Scripture was originated and sent forth by men’s own wisdom and will.  Rather, the godly men through whom Scripture was revealed and recorded were divinely instructed and carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 

            “Within the Bible itself, ‘God’ and ‘Scripture’ are sometimes used almost interchangeably.  Referring to words spoken directly by God to Abraham (Gen. 12:3), Paul wrote that ‘the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you’’ (Gal. 3:8). Later in that same chapter the apostle again personifies Scripture as God, declaring that ‘Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe’ (v. 22).  In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul wrote, ‘For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth’’(Rom 9:17). 

 

            “When he first preached in Galatia, many years before he wrote his epistle to the churches there, the apostle had declared,

 

32 “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33  that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 "As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’’

 

            There are many times as I am studying difficult and important passages, not that all the Bible is important, that I rely on quoting from the person that I am reading to help me better understand the Bible, and in this case in the New Testament I usually refer to John MacArthur, while in my study of the Old Testament I often used comments from the late Dr. Warren Wiersbe, a man who puts the cookies on the table where one can reach them.  It is important to me that when I write my Spiritual Diaries that I put on the truth, as these Spiritual Diaries go throughout the world as I put them onto my blogs, and I realize that it is the power of the Holy Spirit who sends them to where He wants them to go.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  To understand how the Bible was written is very important to me because I stake my life on the accuracy of the Word of God, not only my life but my eternal life, given to me when the Lord saved me on Jan. 26, 1974.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to show me what His Word means, and how I can apply it to my life each day.  This morning as I was going over my older Spiritual Diary from Psalm 41, which I posted on my other blog, the Lord truly spoke to my heart through that Psalm, and for that I am thankful.  I remember the words that Dr. Warren Wiersbe us to quote in his “Be Books” written by an older Scottish Bible teacher “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

5/27/2025 10:59 AM

 

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