2 Tim 3:15-17 Throughly Furnished 2 Tim 3:15-17 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
When you prepare to travel you want to be throughly furnished for the trip. You need to make sure that you have everything you will need while you are gone. I keep lists in my phone of the things I will need on a trip so that I don’t have to think about what to pack. I simply pack the things that are on the list and I am ready to go.
Paul wants us to be throughly furnished unto all good works. In order to be throughly furnished, we need all of the things he mentions in our text. We are throughly furnished by:
The Holy Scriptures – you need the scriptures in order to be furnished. These are God’s preserved words which we have in the King James Bible. God promised that he would preserve them [Ps 12:6-7] and he did. There are no errors in the KJV. Men who go to Hebrew and Greek often change the words to suit their own private interpretation contrary to 2 Pet 1:20.
Salvation – you need to be saved to be furnished. I grew up hearing the words of God read every Sunday but I wasn’t saved. So it wasn’t until I was saved that the words began to change my life. Even then, I grew little until I started reading and studying God’s words for myself. Then the combination of salvation and scriptures furnished me well for the good works that God desired in me. How are you going to expect anyone else to change through the scriptures if they haven’t changed you?
Inspiration – in addition to the scriptures, you need understanding. Understanding comes from inspiration [Job 32:8]. Come to the Bible with a humble mind [Lk 10:21] and a believing heart [Lk 24:25] and the Holy Spirit can reveal the words to you so that through your understanding you can help others to understand.
Doctrine – this is simply what the Bible “says”. Doctrine is not a man’s interpretation of the words and it is not what he thinks they “mean”. Doctrine is what God said. And doctrine is what furnishes you for good works. You must know the doctrine of the Bible not just the spiritual applications.
Reproof – the reproofs of instruction are the way of life. A reproof is a mild disapproval and kindly urging to change. Rebuke, on the other hand, is a sharper and more severe disapproval meant to check you. The Bible is filled with reproof and you must be equipped to reprove in order to do “good” works. This positive motivational speaking that passes off for a sermon in modern churches is not “good.”
Correction – correction is what corrects a mistake, it changes things from wrong to right. Well, you must be able to point out where a person is wrong in order to show him from the scripture what is right. Preachers are afraid to call anything wrong these days. Thus, they are not furnished unto all good works.
Instruction in Righteousness – in Rom 10:3 Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness. In Prov 12:28 we see that there is a “way” of righteousness. Thus, the man of God must be able to instruct people how to walk in the way of righteousness and how to yield to the righteousness of Jesus Christ in them.
Conclusion: when you are equipped with these seven things then you are throughly furnished unto all good works that are pleasing to God and beneficial to others.