There is a foundation to all of life and it is the Word of God. Without this as your ultimate source for truth in life, you build your house on the sand. Today we finish our lesson on the sufficency of scripture and the rock that the Bible represents. Thanks to Dr. John MacArthur for the study we have been following.
The Sufficiency of Scripture Part 3 by John MacArthur
To the Colossians, Paul gave a statement that we ought to all remember. Colossians 2:3, "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." I didn't say that, he said that. That's unqualified. Everything you need to know about wisdom and knowledge, you find in Christ. So no believer should be looking elsewhere. In verse 4 of Colossians 2, he says, "Lest any man should beguile you with enticing words." Don't let the world beguile you with their enticing words, "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ." And we are, he says in verse 7, "Rooted and built up in Him." We were rooted in Him and we're going to built up in Him. It's almost like Paul's word to the Galatians, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you going to be perfected in the flesh?" No. You were rooted in Him and you'll be built up in Him and established in the faith as you've been taught it, out of the Word. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in the Christ who is revealed in the Word. And therefore he says in that same chapter, verse 8, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and empty deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world," that is the philosophies and ideas of the world, "and not after Christ for-- verse 10 says--you're complete in Him. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and you're complete in Him." So stay away from human philosophy, it cannot speak to spiritual matters. It can speak to some things and it can be helpful in the practical aspects of living. But when it comes to the spiritual dimension and the needs of the heart and the soul and in the mind of man at their deepest level, for those of us who know God, only God provides our sufficiency through His Word.
John adds a very strong testimony to the testimony of Peter and Paul and James and Luke and Jesus and others. Listen to what John says in 1 John 2:20, "But you have an anointing from the Holy One...listen to this...and you know all things." What a statement! What do you mean "all things"? Well, not all things that there are to know in the whole universe and not even all things that there are to know in the whole world, but all things that there are to know in relation to your spiritual life. You know everything. You know all you need to know. How? "You have an anointing from the Holy One." The "Holy One" is God, the anointing is the Holy Spirit. You have the Word of God and the Spirit of God and you know all things. What a statement!
And he affirms that Christians know the truth by revelation in God's Word in verse 21. And then in verse 27, he says, "So you need not that any man should teach you." We don't need it. We know all things by the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
First Thessalonians chapter 2, I want you to turn to this verse. First Thessalonians 2:13, this is a powerful statement in behalf of the adequacy of Scripture. If you'll look in verse 11 of 1 Thessalonians 2, he says that we exhorted you and encouraged you and commanded every one of you as a father does his children. In other words, we wanted you to behave yourselves in a way that would be honoring to God. We wanted you, verse 12, to walk worthy of God who called you. And so we encouraged you and encouraged you. So Paul is saying, "Look, we really wanted you to get your life together and live the way you ought to live and have all the resources you need it." And then in verse 13, "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men." It isn't the word of men, it isn't anything like the word of men. "But as it is in truth, the Word of God." Stop there for a moment. He said, "You received the Word of God as the Word of God." Then he adds, "Which effectually works also in you that believe." It works...it...literally it performs its work in you who believe.
Now listen to me. There is a work and it is the work of maturing, of strengthening, of building, a work of growth, a work of bringing you into Christlikeness, that work is a work that only can be done by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. And it will perform its work, you committed yourselves, he commends them, to the Word of God, not as if it were the word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God and it is doing its work in you. And the work it does is indeed sufficient.
Job, the testimony of Job, the noble saint, what an inspiring testimony he gives to the Word of God and its sufficiency. Here is a man who lost everything. The devil came, took away everything. Took away all of his possessions, his land, his crops, his animals, took away his family in terrible death, took away his own health...a man in absolute deprivation and destitution. In chapter 23 verse 12 he says, "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips." I didn't stop obeying His Word...I didn't stop obeying His Word. "I have esteemed the Words of His mouth more than my necessary food," he says. What a statement. The Word of God has a higher priority to me than eating.
How about you? People struggle with all kinds of problems in life and it may be something as basic as what's the priority of your life? Do you like the noble Bereans, search the scriptures every day? Like Job, is it more important for you to feed on the Word of God than it is on earthly food? And what do you esteem most highly? Do you esteem most highly your own comfort, or do you esteem the Word of God most highly? Do you...is it self-esteem you're after, or is it the esteem of the Word of God? Oh, if only people could come back to this very basic reality. We get into problems, emotional problems, because we focus on ourselves rather than on the Word of the living God. He esteemed the words of the mouth of God more important than anything in his life and that's why he could endure what he endured. And at the end, give God the glory.
I want you to look to one other Old Testament passage. Turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and then one passage from our Lord after that, and we'll give a final word from Paul. In Deuteronomy 6, we have the basic doctrinal statement of Israel. Verse 4, "The Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might." That was substantially the bottom line truth of all theology in the land of Israel and among God's people. That was what God wanted them to know.
Now that wasn't all there was. That was the summary of the law. That was the summary of it. The Lord our God is one Lord, but there were many other things true about Him also. This summed it up. "And you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." That was a simple way to express a myriad of commands that God laid down. But all the law was reduced and summarized to this, the Word of God then is the key, "And these words...he says in verse 6...the law of God, the revealed Word of God which I command you this day shall be in your heart and you shall teach them unto your children and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, and you shall write them on the posts of your house and on your gates."
In other words, you take the Word of God and you teach it to your children and you talk about it when you stand up, sit down, lie down, walk in the way. Write it on your hand. Write it on your head. Write it on your door. Write it on your gates. Everywhere you go, you are always aware of the Word of the living God. This is the key to living. This is God's design for life, given to His people. The Scripture was sufficient. It was to occupy all their attention as the source of everything.
And then a most fascinating and somewhat familiar passage in Luke 16, where our Lord gives His testimony to the sufficiency of Scripture. In Luke 16, Jesus tells of Lazarus, the beggar, full of sores and the rich man. You remember Lazarus died and went to Abraham's bosom, the place of blessing. The rich man died and went to the fire and he was tormented. And the rich man said, "I don't want my brothers to come here. Oh, I don't want my brothers to come here." Verse 28, "I have five brothers," Luke 16, "I need to go and tell them, lest they come to this place of torment. And Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." They have Moses and the prophets, that's the Word of God, let them read the Word of God. "Oh, he said, No, father Abraham, if one went to them from the dead, they will repent." I mean, that is spectacular evangelism. "I have just come from hell and I want to tell you, don't go there." That's heavy stuff. If I could just come back from here and preach, they would repent. That is the view of the...of these who seek the supernatural affirmation. The simple gospel is not enough. We've got to have signs and wonders and resurrections or we'll never be able to convince people.
And verse 31, Jesus who could raise the dead and who did rise from the dead and proved his own point, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead," and He was living proof of that. You don't need miracles. Why? Because the Word of God is powerful enough. The sufficiency of Scripture....O, it is sufficient. It is all sufficient in relation to all matters of the soul of man in relation to God and in relation to fellow man. The key, of course, is to believe it and obey it...to study it. We've been saying that for years and say it again happily...happily.
Is the Bible sufficient? One final passage sums it all up. Second Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, listen to this testimony. I'm not even going to say much about it, just let it speak. Second Timothy 3:15 is a great...in fact, the greatest single New Testament testimony to the sufficiency of Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15, "That from a child...Paul says to Timothy...you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Listen, are the scriptures sufficient to save? That's right. They are sufficient to save. Nothing more is needed. You have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation.
Further, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness." Listen to that. The Scripture provides doctrine, all the teaching we need...reproof, correction, reproof meaning "stop doing that," correction meaning "start doing this." And instruction in righteousness, taking it a step further. It can turn people around to the right path. But how sufficient is it? Look at the last verse, verse 17. "That the man of God may be...what?...perfect, complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." What a comprehensive statement.
Is it sufficient? Yes, the Bible is sufficient to make you wise unto salvation. It is sufficient to give you the doctrine, the reproof, the correction, and the instruction needed for righteousness. It is sufficient to make a man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, lacks nothing. The Word of God, absolutely sufficient.
Some years back, Maud Frazier Jackson(?) wrote these words, listen to them. "What if I say the Bible is God's holy Word, complete, inspired without a flaw? But let its pages stay unread from day to day and fail to learn there from God's law. What if I go not there to seek the truth of which I glibly speak for guidance in this earthly way? Does it matter what I say?" Potent words. And the answer is no, it doesn't matter. You can say you believe it all you want, but if you do not study it, if you do not go there to seek the truth of which you glibly speak, then it doesn't matter what you say. The Word is to be believed and to be obeyed and therein is the sufficiency. Let's bow in prayer.
We thank You, our Father, for this day You've given us to worship. And we know that You have said Yourself that I have exalted My Word above all My name and if You are sufficient and You are, then Your Word must be sufficient as well. Thank You for a complete Bible that leaves nothing out. The truths of which can bring us to a perfect man thoroughly furnished to all good works, the truth of which can bring us a blessedness of life in every dimension. Father, save Your church from the heinous sin of believing we have an insufficient Bible.
And, Lord, we pray for every need of every life today, that the sufficiency of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God might be applied to every life, for Christ's sake. Amen.
John adds a very strong testimony to the testimony of Peter and Paul and James and Luke and Jesus and others. Listen to what John says in 1 John 2:20, "But you have an anointing from the Holy One...listen to this...and you know all things." What a statement! What do you mean "all things"? Well, not all things that there are to know in the whole universe and not even all things that there are to know in the whole world, but all things that there are to know in relation to your spiritual life. You know everything. You know all you need to know. How? "You have an anointing from the Holy One." The "Holy One" is God, the anointing is the Holy Spirit. You have the Word of God and the Spirit of God and you know all things. What a statement!
And he affirms that Christians know the truth by revelation in God's Word in verse 21. And then in verse 27, he says, "So you need not that any man should teach you." We don't need it. We know all things by the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
First Thessalonians chapter 2, I want you to turn to this verse. First Thessalonians 2:13, this is a powerful statement in behalf of the adequacy of Scripture. If you'll look in verse 11 of 1 Thessalonians 2, he says that we exhorted you and encouraged you and commanded every one of you as a father does his children. In other words, we wanted you to behave yourselves in a way that would be honoring to God. We wanted you, verse 12, to walk worthy of God who called you. And so we encouraged you and encouraged you. So Paul is saying, "Look, we really wanted you to get your life together and live the way you ought to live and have all the resources you need it." And then in verse 13, "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men." It isn't the word of men, it isn't anything like the word of men. "But as it is in truth, the Word of God." Stop there for a moment. He said, "You received the Word of God as the Word of God." Then he adds, "Which effectually works also in you that believe." It works...it...literally it performs its work in you who believe.
Now listen to me. There is a work and it is the work of maturing, of strengthening, of building, a work of growth, a work of bringing you into Christlikeness, that work is a work that only can be done by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. And it will perform its work, you committed yourselves, he commends them, to the Word of God, not as if it were the word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God and it is doing its work in you. And the work it does is indeed sufficient.
Job, the testimony of Job, the noble saint, what an inspiring testimony he gives to the Word of God and its sufficiency. Here is a man who lost everything. The devil came, took away everything. Took away all of his possessions, his land, his crops, his animals, took away his family in terrible death, took away his own health...a man in absolute deprivation and destitution. In chapter 23 verse 12 he says, "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips." I didn't stop obeying His Word...I didn't stop obeying His Word. "I have esteemed the Words of His mouth more than my necessary food," he says. What a statement. The Word of God has a higher priority to me than eating.
How about you? People struggle with all kinds of problems in life and it may be something as basic as what's the priority of your life? Do you like the noble Bereans, search the scriptures every day? Like Job, is it more important for you to feed on the Word of God than it is on earthly food? And what do you esteem most highly? Do you esteem most highly your own comfort, or do you esteem the Word of God most highly? Do you...is it self-esteem you're after, or is it the esteem of the Word of God? Oh, if only people could come back to this very basic reality. We get into problems, emotional problems, because we focus on ourselves rather than on the Word of the living God. He esteemed the words of the mouth of God more important than anything in his life and that's why he could endure what he endured. And at the end, give God the glory.
I want you to look to one other Old Testament passage. Turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and then one passage from our Lord after that, and we'll give a final word from Paul. In Deuteronomy 6, we have the basic doctrinal statement of Israel. Verse 4, "The Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might." That was substantially the bottom line truth of all theology in the land of Israel and among God's people. That was what God wanted them to know.
Now that wasn't all there was. That was the summary of the law. That was the summary of it. The Lord our God is one Lord, but there were many other things true about Him also. This summed it up. "And you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." That was a simple way to express a myriad of commands that God laid down. But all the law was reduced and summarized to this, the Word of God then is the key, "And these words...he says in verse 6...the law of God, the revealed Word of God which I command you this day shall be in your heart and you shall teach them unto your children and talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, and you shall write them on the posts of your house and on your gates."
In other words, you take the Word of God and you teach it to your children and you talk about it when you stand up, sit down, lie down, walk in the way. Write it on your hand. Write it on your head. Write it on your door. Write it on your gates. Everywhere you go, you are always aware of the Word of the living God. This is the key to living. This is God's design for life, given to His people. The Scripture was sufficient. It was to occupy all their attention as the source of everything.
And then a most fascinating and somewhat familiar passage in Luke 16, where our Lord gives His testimony to the sufficiency of Scripture. In Luke 16, Jesus tells of Lazarus, the beggar, full of sores and the rich man. You remember Lazarus died and went to Abraham's bosom, the place of blessing. The rich man died and went to the fire and he was tormented. And the rich man said, "I don't want my brothers to come here. Oh, I don't want my brothers to come here." Verse 28, "I have five brothers," Luke 16, "I need to go and tell them, lest they come to this place of torment. And Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." They have Moses and the prophets, that's the Word of God, let them read the Word of God. "Oh, he said, No, father Abraham, if one went to them from the dead, they will repent." I mean, that is spectacular evangelism. "I have just come from hell and I want to tell you, don't go there." That's heavy stuff. If I could just come back from here and preach, they would repent. That is the view of the...of these who seek the supernatural affirmation. The simple gospel is not enough. We've got to have signs and wonders and resurrections or we'll never be able to convince people.
And verse 31, Jesus who could raise the dead and who did rise from the dead and proved his own point, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead," and He was living proof of that. You don't need miracles. Why? Because the Word of God is powerful enough. The sufficiency of Scripture....O, it is sufficient. It is all sufficient in relation to all matters of the soul of man in relation to God and in relation to fellow man. The key, of course, is to believe it and obey it...to study it. We've been saying that for years and say it again happily...happily.
Is the Bible sufficient? One final passage sums it all up. Second Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, listen to this testimony. I'm not even going to say much about it, just let it speak. Second Timothy 3:15 is a great...in fact, the greatest single New Testament testimony to the sufficiency of Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:15, "That from a child...Paul says to Timothy...you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Listen, are the scriptures sufficient to save? That's right. They are sufficient to save. Nothing more is needed. You have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation.
Further, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness." Listen to that. The Scripture provides doctrine, all the teaching we need...reproof, correction, reproof meaning "stop doing that," correction meaning "start doing this." And instruction in righteousness, taking it a step further. It can turn people around to the right path. But how sufficient is it? Look at the last verse, verse 17. "That the man of God may be...what?...perfect, complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." What a comprehensive statement.
Is it sufficient? Yes, the Bible is sufficient to make you wise unto salvation. It is sufficient to give you the doctrine, the reproof, the correction, and the instruction needed for righteousness. It is sufficient to make a man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, lacks nothing. The Word of God, absolutely sufficient.
Some years back, Maud Frazier Jackson(?) wrote these words, listen to them. "What if I say the Bible is God's holy Word, complete, inspired without a flaw? But let its pages stay unread from day to day and fail to learn there from God's law. What if I go not there to seek the truth of which I glibly speak for guidance in this earthly way? Does it matter what I say?" Potent words. And the answer is no, it doesn't matter. You can say you believe it all you want, but if you do not study it, if you do not go there to seek the truth of which you glibly speak, then it doesn't matter what you say. The Word is to be believed and to be obeyed and therein is the sufficiency. Let's bow in prayer.
We thank You, our Father, for this day You've given us to worship. And we know that You have said Yourself that I have exalted My Word above all My name and if You are sufficient and You are, then Your Word must be sufficient as well. Thank You for a complete Bible that leaves nothing out. The truths of which can bring us to a perfect man thoroughly furnished to all good works, the truth of which can bring us a blessedness of life in every dimension. Father, save Your church from the heinous sin of believing we have an insufficient Bible.
And, Lord, we pray for every need of every life today, that the sufficiency of the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God might be applied to every life, for Christ's sake. Amen.
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