Sinclair B. Ferguson

And Paul says when that is accomplished by the Word, we'll be competent Christians equipped to serve the Lord in any and every situation.

So God's Word teaches us doctrine.

I hardly need to emphasize that again because it's really emphasized in everything that has the Ligonier name on it, isn't it?

Every message, every article in Table Talk, every conference, every question and answer session, every podcast, everything.

is rooted in the notion that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds through the teaching of Scripture.

Scripture works and God changes us through its teaching.

But then Paul adds a second word.

The word of God has another use, reproof.

In other words, if we're going to be healthy Christians, we're going to need God's treatment of our lives, some spiritual surgery perhaps, dealing with the malignancies in our lives.

So God's word is like a surgeon's scalpel.

whether he holds it in his hand or operates it by some providential means.

And that's the kind of healing that causes pain before it brings cure.

So God's Word can hurt in order to heal.

In fact, it needs to hurt because we need to discover what's wrong to experience conviction, reproof.

That is, being made aware of our sin in order that we may learn our need of Jesus Christ.

You know, Paul isn't just thinking here of how Timothy became a Christian.

He repented years before.

Remember how Martin Luther says in the very first of his famous 95 Theses that when our Lord Jesus Christ said, repent, he meant that the whole of the Christian life should be repentance.

I wish every Christian understood that.

Yes, repentance begins at conversion, but it's not just a thing of the past.