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Sunday School

Lesson 4: The Holy Bible, Perspicuity and Sufficiency

Speaker
Mark Twombly

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

The clarity (perspicuity) and sufficiency of Scripture are explored as essential doctrinal truths that shape how we relate to God and His Word. We are reminded that the Bible is written so that all who read it—seeking God’s help and willing to obey—can understand its teaching. Scripture is not only clear but fully sufficient for salvation, faith, obedience, and every area of life.

Key Lessons:

  1. The clarity of Scripture means that understanding God’s Word is not reserved for scholars or elites but is accessible to every believer through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
  2. The sufficiency of Scripture means that the Bible contains everything we need for salvation, trusting God, and obeying Him—no tradition, education, or extra-biblical discovery needs to supplement it.
  3. Understanding and obedience are inseparably linked: God commands us to teach and follow His Word because it can be understood, and deeper obedience leads to deeper disclosure from God.
  4. The process of studying Scripture is not cold intellectual work but a relational, devotional journey of joyful discovery walking with God.

Application: We are called to pursue God’s Word with an all-in commitment—treasuring, seeking, and searching for its truths like hidden treasure. We should evaluate our teachers by their lives and doctrine, guard against adding to Scripture through tradition or novel scholarship, and apply biblical clarity and sufficiency to every area of life including social, political, and relational challenges.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what specific areas of your life do you struggle most to see how God’s Word applies, and how might you pursue its sufficiency in those areas?
  2. How can we guard against the temptation to rely on human credentials or traditions rather than the clear teaching of Scripture?
  3. What would it look like for your daily Bible study to become more devotional and relational rather than merely intellectual?

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (teaching God’s Word continually), Psalm 19:7-10 (the perfection and sufficiency of God’s law), Psalm 119:129-130 (Scripture gives light and understanding), 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 (the Spirit reveals God’s truth), 2 Timothy 3:14-16 (Scripture’s sufficiency for teaching and training), and Proverbs 2:1-6 (seeking wisdom as hidden treasure).

Outline

Introduction

And welcome to Calvary Community Church.

We’re going to continue in our series on defending doctrinal distinctives and in particular the nature of the Bible, what we call biblology.

So, as we normally do, let’s hear some words from our king before we proceed.

Opening Scripture Readings

Deuteronomy 6:es 4-9 may be very very familiar to you. Here, O Israel, Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as felactories between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Amen. If you’re a parent, that’s a those are precious verses to you that we teach not just in formal times but all the time. His word ready on our mouth and on our lips to instruct.

And this speaks to us of our theme today. Part of our theme is the sufficiency of scripture. This verse speaks to us a bit of our of the clarity or perspecut of scripture. In Proverbs, all the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straightforward to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

Proverbs 8:8: “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.”

Second Peter 3:es 14- 16. Therefore, beloved, since you are looking for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation. Just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him wrote to you as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction.

And then finally these precious words from second Peter. Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also applying all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge. With that, let me pray for us.

Opening Prayer

Our great and glorious king, how blessed we are that you would speak to us, that you would give us your sufficient and clear word, that you would draw near to us in spite of our utter unworthiness and our sin. Father, we pray that you would open our eyes to behold wonderful things from your law.

Convict, convince and convict our hearts of its truth, its clarity, and its sufficiency for all of life. For us to see you, ourselves, others, and your world from your perspective as we navigate many challenges and of relationships and circumstances.

We can know everything, Father, but what an incalculable treasure it is that we can know the one who knows all things.

That is you. Praise you, Father. May we see, seek, and savor you like never before. And give us clear paths to walk as we leave here today. Amen. Amen.

Review of Previous Lessons

All right, we’re good. We’re done. We got a lot to cover today. Let me just go over where we’ve been and where we’re going. So, we’re going to be going through the nature of the Bible.

We’ve gone through, Pastor Dave set the table for us several weeks ago by talking about the grammatical historical method of how we interpret the scripture. And this is what we’re going through these in these weeks is the why why we do that. And so, we talked about in in inspiration and inherency several weeks ago, last week the authority of scripture.

Today, perspu and sufficiency. And then finally next week we’ll go through the necessity and they all kind of overlap together and they all build on one another but each has a specific implication and application for our lives. So our lesson outline we will I gave you the topic outline.

U we’ll go through some of Calvar’s doctrinal statements from which this lesson is drawn at least in part. We’ll define and demonstrate perspectuity and we’ll define and demonstrate sufficiency and then we’ll talk about some implications and applications and so hopefully if I do my job well we’ll have some time for questions at the end but I think I’ve left my email on the slides so you can always email me with your questions as well and we’ll try to include those in the lessons. So in by way of brief review, inspiration means it is from God, not merely inspirational.

We’ve talked about how some people find God’s word inspirational among many other inspirational things. But no, inspired means it is directly from God.

And this was our definition that I found so helpful. Inspiration describes the process of divine causation behind the authorship of scripture. It refers to the direct act of God on the human author that resulted in the creation of perfectly written revelation.

And we saw how that worked in second Peter 1 that people men were moved along by the Holy Spirit to speak from God. And that takes on various forms. Next we talked about inherency. Inherency the inherency of scripture means that scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

And we talked about how our current translations relate to the original manuscripts. Strong strong strong evidence more than any other historical documents. And we see how God’s words are true and pure and reliable.

As we saw in those verses, every word of God, I love this in in Proverbs 30:5. Every word of God proves true. And so because the Bible is inspired and inherent, we have a firm foundation from which to understand and respond to its better put to his authority because his words are from him.

And so we talked about that last week. And authority simply means that all the words in scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. Again, making that personal connection.

God and his word are not separate things. God comes to us in his word. Can’t say that not say that enough particularly because we need to be reminded of it because that’s the testimony of the scriptures themselves.

“God and his word are not separate things. God comes to us in his word.”

But because the nature of the Bible and the end is really under attack, is it not? And has been from the beginning.

And and people would it’s interesting. I was talking to to one I think it was Tony who mentioned to me that when you begin to take the Bible seriously, people will start accusing you of legalism or fer pharisism. And so we want to be very careful to make sure that we’re not falling into those traps, but that we have a personal, loving, intimate relationship with God.

And we don’t just love his word because we love the words on the page, but because we love him. And as we we’ve emphasized, he is our king. He is the best king possible. We love him and want to obey him.

Okay. So, from Calvar’s statement of faith, this is a new one that we haven’t quite talked about yet.

Calvary’s Doctrinal Statement on Interpretation

So, we’re going to dive into this. From chapter 1, we teach that whereas there may be several applications of any given passage of scripture, there is but one true interpretation. The meaning of scripture is to be found as one diligently applies the grammatical historical method of interpretation under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. With that, let me just walk through some of these these verses. Some may be familiar to you. One of the things that I love about this this series is that I’m not just telling you things about the Bible, but we’re letting the Bible defend itself. Right?

“We’re not just telling you things about the Bible—we’re letting the Bible defend itself.”

Be a Diligent Workman in the Word

There is no higher authority. And so this is why we seek to prove the Bible with the Bible which may seem circular or even redundant. But this is the testim and we’ll talk a little bit about why that is toward the end of our lesson today.

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth.” Why do we need to be workmen in the word? I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot that I have yet to understand.

And I think I will die without full understanding. That that full understanding will come to us in glory. But I think we’ve seen through some of those verses that we just talked about, there are some things that are legitimately difficult to understand, right?

But I I would contend to you two things. One is that God’s word is sufficient to always give us what we need to obey.

And God’s word is there there’s a there’s a challenge to us in terms of a continual sense of discovery, right? There are some things hard to understand, but we can always be growing in our understanding. As the scriptures say, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so when it says to be a workman, we think about we think if we think about the Bible as treasure, right? Jewels, gold, those things don’t just appear before us, right? We have to mine those. And I think that process of mining the treasure of scripture is a wonderful process that we ought to take seriously as we engage. And so that’s I think what it means to be a workman.

“If we think about the Bible as treasure, we have to mine it. That process is wonderful.”

Jesus Opens the Scriptures on the Emmaus Road

Next, we have Luke 24. One of my favorite passages. Imagine walking along with Jesus and he is your teacher directly as he explains some of the things we see in the Bible. This is what happens here. And I I often I’ve mentioned this before. I I often think about, boy, wouldn’t that have been great to be walking with Jesus, literally walking with the physical Jesus on the Emmas road as he explained the scripture. Let’s read about that. Luke 24 starting in verse 25.

And he said to them, “Oh foolish ones and slow to heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

And they approached the village where they were going, and he acted as though he were going further. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that when he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it, and after breaking it, he was giving it to them.

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” And as we’ve talked about in the last several weeks, we actually have something better than that.

We have the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth as the scriptures say. And may our hearts be inflamed as we read God’s word. May it be more than simply an intellectual exercise but a spiritual relational exercise. And with that let’s turn to John 16 which talks about that.

Luke 24:32: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

The Holy Spirit Guides Us into All Truth

John 16 verses 12-15. I’ll start right there.

Jesus said,”I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine.” Therefore, I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you.

We see this also in 1 Corinthians 2, which we’ll get to, that we need the Holy Spirit to unfold all the things that Christ has taught us in his word and he will guide us into all truth.

“We need the Holy Spirit to unfold all the things that Christ has taught us in his word.”

What that means is not only in our our intellectual understanding, but the path we which we should walk. Galatians 5 says that if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. In other words, if the spirit has given us new life, let him rule your life. Psalm 119 talks about how his words are our counselors. Have you thought about that?

Just as you go through life, it’s a wonderful experience that God would bring certain scriptures to mind to guide you, to give you insight, right? I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Sanctification through the Word

The psalms say. And so this is how this works. He does that not through emotions or impressions, but through bringing to mind his word to bear on specific situations. With that, go to, John 17:17 may be very familiar to you.

John 17:17, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. And I mentioned to that this to you several weeks ago that there are several several statements that are identical to this in the scriptures.

Your word is truth. Not simply that it’s true, but it’s truth. It is the measure of all truth claims. And what we see here is that sanctify them by the truth.

“Your word is not simply true—it is truth. It is the measure of all truth claims.”

God’s word transforms us, does it not?

We see this if you look at Romans 12 that we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And that happens as the spirit of God illumines the word of God to us. What I love about that is the verbiage doesn’t say transform yourself.

Amen. Anyone successful at that, right?

The Natural Man and the Spiritual Man

No. We submit to God’s eternal work in us to to transform us to make us more like Jesus. And then 1 Corinthians 2, if you’ll turn there. This is I know I’m I’m covering a lot of ground here. Each of these requires more study, which I commend to you. But 1 Corinthians 2 probably more than any other passage unfolds for us how the spirit of God and the word of God work together. And let me just read for you verses 14 and 15.

Although I am tempted to read more.

Verse 14. But a natural man does not accept the depths of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual examines all things. Yet he himself is examined by no one. I’ll keep reading. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will direct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16: “He who is spiritual examines all things… But we have the mind of Christ.”

Amazing, isn’t it? Isn’t it obvious that when we talk to people who are far from God, once scripture comes to bear, doesn’t that doesn’t that have a bit of a different reaction? Have you found people getting hostile or argumentative?

I really have. It’s amazing. And it often has nothing to do with me being hostile or saying anything in a harsh way, but simply presenting the truth of God’s word. Romans 8 tells us that the natural man does not only does not understand, he’s hostile toward the things of God and he cannot understand them, right? He cannot submit to or understand them. That’s a spiritual reality that we must recognize and prepare for as we interact with people.

The Priesthood of the Believer

In a Christlike way in a Christlike way as his spirit guides us. And then 1 John 2:20 is our final verse from the Calvary statement of faith.

1 John 20.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know. And this is part of a larger narrative which explains how it’s the Holy Spirit within us that illumines us. This this has to go this really has to do with a larger concept called the priesthood of the believer which was a revolutionary concept that was defined in the scriptures and recaptured during the reformation.

And that is that we are not dependent in an ultimate sense on other people for access to God. Right? But we have direct access to God through Jesus Christ and direct understanding of the scripture through the Holy Spirit. Does that mean we don’t need teachers?

Because if that’s if that’s all true, then I’m wasting my time today. You don’t need me. You don’t need you don’t even need to be here. Right? But I think we’ll unfold that the God-given means by which God’s word is explained.

Right? We see one of the things that’s really interesting when it says you all know you you see passages like Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 3:18 that we learn together, right? Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell on you as you teach and admonish one another.”

This is why it’s so important, brothers and sisters, that we spend time in God’s word. You and I need that for ourselves, our own enrichment, but I need you to walk with God because God’s going to give you something to encourage me with or to admonish me with and vice versa. That’s how it works.

I love how it says in Ephes in Ephesians 3 when it talks about the love of God that we would understand with all the saints the love of God. We can’t understand the love of God individually. We learn that together.

I think that’s a beautiful beautiful thing that we relate to God individually. And that gives us what we need to relate well to one another horizontally. Okay. So let me let’s with that let me go ahead and define perspu.

“We can’t understand the love of God individually. We learn that together.”

Defining Perspicuity: The Clarity of Scripture

I remember the first time I heard this word. What is perspecuity? I don’t think someone used perspecuity in a sentence right. When was the last time you ever used this word? I had never used it before. It simply means clarity.

And I I love how Wayne Gruden defines this for us. The clarity of scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teaching are able to be understood by all who read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. I’ll read that again. The clarity of scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teaching are teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. And we know that those things only happen by the Holy Spirit.

“The Bible is written so its teachings are able to be understood by all who read it seeking God’s help.”

And I think we’ve established by this point, this is so far beyond an intellectual exercise. Jesus said this, I believe in John five, he said, “If any man’s will is to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether he spoke on his own authority.” And so we see the the willingness to obey God, right?

The willing and the willingness to seek God’s help unfolds the understanding not just for the unbeliever coming to faith but for us as we grow. We talked about that a little bit last week where Jesus said, “He who has my commandments and keeps them. He is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him.” That’s a promise of more disclosure based on more obedience.

Psalm 111:10 says that a good understanding have all those who do your commandments. So, let’s not lose sight of that. Yeah, and we see that in in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. What what’s the command for if the parents were to teach them diligently if there wasn’t a clarity about obeying? I’m reminded of something from the theologian Mark Twain, who you might have heard of, who said, “It’s not the things that I don’t understand in the Bible that bother me.

The things that I do understand, right?

That speaks to our willingness. Wayne Grunam asks in his book in his book on systematic theology, can only Bible scholars understand the Bible rightly?

I certainly hope not. While we can benefit from Bible scholars, we do have to be careful and particularly of the argument from authority. I’ve had conversations with people who said, “Well, this theologian believes this, which is different than what you believe.” Well, he’s he’s got his PhD. So, should I believe him simply on that basis? No.

Where does he stand as far as the word of God goes? Paul, who was more educated than virtually anyone that he spoke to, encouraged us that the Bereans were more noble because they didn’t take they didn’t take that argument from authority. They went back to the scriptures and we ought to do the same.

One of my and recognize that a human degree does not confer spiritual authority.

Amen. I think we know people who are who’ve got their PhD and that’s their ticket to just spew nonsense. I’ve seen this. I’ve seen people who were very sound get their PhD and they’re thinking, “Well, I can just say whatever I want now.

I’m not under, but I’m over the word of God.” We have to be very very and I’m not diminishing the value of education. But when it comes to the word of God, that can and education can fan into flame as the scriptures say, someone’s spiritual gifts, but they can’t create them, right?

And so we always have to look at the spiritual gifting and the character of those who teach. Remember what Paul said to Timothy. Remember what you learned and from whom you learn them. Someone whose life had credibility.

Another argument from or another way to address this argument for authority. One of my favorite one of my heroes is William Tinddale who as was the first man to translate the Bible from the original language languages into English into English. And the Roman Catholic Church killed him for doing that.

And before he died, one of the things he said to a Roman Catholic scholar was this. He said, “I defy the pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, a boy that driveth a plow shall know more of the scripture than you do.”

That’s pretty bold, right? The idea being that the word of God illumined by the spirit of God in the heart of the common person is no match for anything else that opposes it. Amen.

And so we ought to be encouraged by that. So the clarity of scripture is available to all of us. I love this definition as well from MacArthur and Mayhew. A little bit of a lengthy quote, but I’m going to read it in its entirety. The Bible accurately reveals and clearly communicates God’s message.

Never nevertheless readers still need to study to ensure that they understand the word correctly. Even the biblical writers had to study to discern the meaning of scripture. There are mysteries that are not fully revealed in scripture.

While the overall message is clear, God has not revealed in his word everything related to his mind and plans for redemptive history. What the illuminating work of the spirit does provide is a receptivity to the authority of God’s word, a conviction that it is the truthful word of God and a capacity aided by the Holy Spirit to discern the true meaning of the word of God.

I think Pastor Dave preached not too long ago mentioning I think yeah I think it was in this setting Nehemiah 8 is a great example of this how Nehemiah stood up and just read the book of the law but there were other priests who in small groups if you will explain the meaning to people the implications of the scripture we always we always need that we always need teachers to help us I’m I love the introduction of the MacArthur study Bible if you haven’t. He’s why why a study Bible and he he gave the the narrative from the book of Acts of Philip with the Ethiopian unic who is sitting reading the book of Isaiah and he said do you understand what you’re reading? How can I unless someone explains it to me? Right? And he said that’s that’s why I wrote a study Bible.

I want to help people to understand the Bible and this is why we have teachers.

So we have the gift of God’s word and the gift of gifted people to make God’s word clear. Praise God for that. So that’s a little bit more on perspective.

Let’s let’s let the scripture explain and demonstrate for us what this is. We read a little bit of this earlier.

Deuteronomy 6: Only What Is Understood Can Be Taught

Deuteronomy 6 6-7. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

I just want to say a few personal words about the scripture that I love so much.

The Lord really impressed this passage to my heart in a unique way as a single person as I thought about what my family life might be like. I wasn’t even dating anybody. That that that this I would pro at this point I would probably not be married for another four or five years.

But I thought I want to have a home where the word of God just saturates it. Sure, we’re going to have our devotional times and some some specific times, but we just want it to be part of our everyday language, right? Notice what it says.

When you speak, when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Now, I’m much more of a a disciplined catechism formal kind of guy, right? So, that blesses me to to have those disciplines in the word.

But I I realize that’s not everybody. My wife Betty is not that way at all. If I if I try to do that in our times in the word together, I will just kill it. I will just take the life right out of it. But what is much better and has been so rich is just us talking about the word of God and talking about God’s faithfulness and going to the word just as we go through life.

Yesterday was a great example as we moved the piano and I she just she just showed a lot more faith and a lot more calm and a lot more character than I did. Let’s just put it that way.

“Only that which is understood can be taught. Why would God command us to teach something not understandable?”

And so that’s just such a blessing.

As I like to say, I may know more about the scriptures, but she actually believes it and applies it. So, that’s the most important part and she’s a great example to me. It’s a little bit of hyperbole, but I think you get the point. So, only that which is understood can be taught, right? Why why would God command us to teach something that is not understandable? So, that right away speaks speaks to us of the clarity of scripture.

Psalm 1: Delighting in God’s Word

Next, Psalm 1, very familiar to us. I love this. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of Yahweh. And in his law, he meditates day and night.

Have you thought about your greatest delight should be and can be found in the word of God that surpasses any other delight? This is why I’ve tried to spend so much time in Psalm 119 because I saw that described, but I just thought you that’s just not my experience. I can’t say that I’m at the point that I really delight that the word of God is my primary delight.

But over time, it has become that. So, one of the things that we’ve emphasized with our kids and I try to emphasize with others is we know that we’re commanded to be in the word of God that we it’s something we we should do, right? But it’s not always something that we want to do. Amen.

“Your greatest delight should be and can be found in the word of God, surpassing any other delight.”

We’re not always there, but I think this is a journey. Our life is a journey of the have to and the want to coming together, right? And we’re getting closer and closer. And so, this is what this speaks of.

That delight in God’s word is our primary delight. We see this also in Psalm 119:es 1 and two. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of Yahweh. How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart.

And this how blessed is rich language. It’s just an indescribable state of bliss. There’s no greater joy than this. And may this be our experience. And so we see here that only that which is understood can be obeyed. We notice that language.

It’s active language that we walk in it.

We observe it. We seek him. Right? And we can only do that if we understand it.

In Romans 6 in verse 17 it says, “You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” Isn’t that what we want? We don’t want to go through the motions. We don’t.

Pastor Bobby preached to us from Malachi at the men’s retreat about hypocrisy and how going through the motions is just so displeasing to God. No, no, no. We want him to move in our hearts in such a way that we are obedient from the heart because we love him.

Psalm 119: The Unfolding of God’s Word Gives Light

Couple other verses on perspu.

Psalm 119 129 130. Your testimonies are wonderful. Therefore, my soul observes them. The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. Anyone here not need to grow in understanding today? Right. Yeah. And this is our this is our our adventure of discovery every time we interact with the word of God. Father, unfold your words to me. Show me what they mean.

Show me how they apply to my life. Show me the path that I should walk. Right?

And so only that which is seen can be sought. Only that which is seen can be sought. And so we’re asking God to unfold our understanding. It says earlier in Psalm 119 that your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:130: “The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

Right? It doesn’t just give us information. It it gives us a direction.

Revelation 1:3: Obey What You Do Know

Right? It shows us where to go. And Proverbs talks so much about that. Teach me the way, the path. In other words, Lord, how do I apply this? What what do I do with this? And may the Lord make that clear to us. Revelations 1:3. I remember Revelation’s pretty scary.

And I think we’re going to hear a sermon again in Revelation. And thank you, Pastor Bobby, for being our tour guide through a difficult book. And my understanding is growing tremendously through this series.

And so, if you’ve mastered Revelation, then you don’t need to come. But, I don’t think anybody has. And what I love, I remember when I first stopped and really paid attention to this verse. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, for the time is near. It doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who understand everything in this book.” Isn’t that encouraging?

What we see here is that and I’m amazed by this as I’ve studied prophecy and understood the various views on end times. What I love about it and and I think we all have maybe brothers and sisters in Christ who may have a different view of the end times. What’s beautiful is that the application to our lives is the regardless of what view that you have.

God has always made it clear how we are to apply revelation. We live in hope of his coming. We live holy lives anticipating his coming. We are about our father’s business. Right? All of those things are true regardless of your stance on end times.

So a lack of understanding what we don’t know should be no obstacle to obeying what we do know. As an example of this, look with me at at Romans chapter 11.

“What we don’t know should be no obstacle to obeying what we do know.”

Romans 11: When Understanding Leads to Worship

Really interesting to think about bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding and application. And I want to I want to relieve us of the burden of thinking that you have to understand everything before you can obey. Right?

Deuteronomy 29:29 was one of our one of our references. Right? The revealed things belong to us, but the secret things belong to him. There are some things which we’re just not going to understand and we need to be okay with that.

Look at Romans 11 starting in verse 33. Now Romans 9 through11 as you may know some of the toughest theological passages in the Bible as it talks about God’s sovereignty and salvation and people have argued over God’s sovereignty. Ever get in an argument with someone about God’s sovereignty? Probably ought not do that.

And here’s why. Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways? For who has known the mind of the Lord, who has become his counselor? Or who has first given hint to him that it might be repaid to him?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

The goal of the teaching on the sovereignty of God is worship. Amen.

Not argument. Worship. If we don’t do this then we miss the entire point of the teaching on God’s sovereignty sovereignty. And so we can I think we can say that you and we can rest in that Lord I don’t understand how all this works but I worship you because you are a sovereign God and a good God and we ought not fight that but submit to it and worship him for it because he is our king.

“The goal of the teaching on the sovereignty of God is worship, not argument.”

Defining the Sufficiency of Scripture

Okay. Now, let’s move on to the sufficiency of scripture. And we’ve we’ve covered this before, and I’ll just go through this briefly. We teach that it that it that is the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice. And if it’s the only one, it better be the sufficient one. If it’s all that we need, then it’s got to be sufficient. And so, why do people seek to add to the word of God? You ever heard someone say, “Well, we need to make the Bible relevant.” No, you don’t. It’s already relevant.

You just need to demonstrate how it’s relevant. That’s the beautiful process of discovery. People seek to add to God’s word through tradition, right?

We see various traditions that distract from the word of God. Education, we talked a little bit about that. Not a bad thing. But if it distracts from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ and understanding of his word, it’s a problem.

Even historical context, some people have said that, well, we need to we need to understand more of its historical context for the scripture to be adequate. And we do need to understand something of its historical context. That’s for sure.

But when we see something like Ent writes the new perspective on Paul or attacks on penal substitutionary atonement that Christ didn’t really take the punishment for our sin. And they base this on new historical discoveries.

You think h and as I’ve heard I think John MacArthur said this others have said this if it’s new it’s probably not true.

So if if if so if what you’re saying is we now have knowledge that is needed to understand this that others in p in the past didn’t have what does that say of the sufficiency of scripture and of God’s revelation to us. So we really need to be careful. We do believe in progressive revelation right that God has progressively revealed himself in history. We saw that in Hebrews 1. He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and many ways.

That was a progression that ended with the old and new testaments. So, so we we believe that God did that, but that progression doesn’t continue in any substantial way once we have the foundation. So, we need to really really be careful there.

And you can be dazzled and wowed by some scholars in this in this way. But what I found as I’ve as I’ve se I I don’t want to say a whole lot about this, but as I as I’ve as I’ve read some of these scholars that claim to be unfolding the meaning of scripture, I come away more confused than ever. And if teaching leaves you confused, it’s probably not good teaching.

Amen. Not that there aren’t challenging things, but we want to be careful. Are we obscuring the truth of God’s word or or are we unfolding it?

And so that’s what we always want to look at.

Wayne Grudum gives us a really helpful definition here on the sufficiency of scripture. The sufficiency of scripture means that scripture contain all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history. And that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.

I think we’ve unfolded that a little bit. That’s really challenging. You think, well, you ask questions like, how did people in the Old Testament get saved? Right? They did. Abraham was by faith. And there’s a lot to unpack there, but it’s important to recognize that nobody was missing anything that they needed at any stage of redemptive history.

And that’s a beautiful thing to think about. And so, we certainly know that there is no lack today. If there’s any lack in our understanding, obedience, that lack is in us.

“If there’s any lack in our understanding or obedience, that lack is in us—not in the scriptures.”

Not in the scriptures. And so again, this is a wonderful process of discovery for us. I’m not sure what happened there.

Scripture Is Sufficient for All People

Let me try this. Hold on. Don’t do anything. There we go. Sometimes you just have to redo it. Technology sufficiency defined from MacArthur and Mayhew. The Bible also attests to its sufficiency. It is a light to one’s path.

It is more reliable than even the most amazing spiritual experiences. It is able to lead a person to saving faith. It instructs the religious elite as well as the common believer. It was given by God to parents to instruct their children and is able to bring even a child to saving faith.

Paul wrote that all scripture is given by inspiration and that it is useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

Aren’t you so thankful that God’s word is available to all of us?

Apart from being literate, it doesn’t require any special education for us to read and interpret and enjoy and live in.

“God’s word is available to all of us. It doesn’t require any special education to read, interpret, and live in.”

Psalm 19: What Scripture Is and What Scripture Does

Incredible. It’s very it’s very ealitarian in that sense, right? It is available to all. Jesus I remember Jesus saying I think in quoting the Old Testament that that I’m so I thank you father that you you did not reveal these to the elites if you will right to the prominent but to babes meaning for us the requirement is that we humble ourselves and hear God as he speaks in his word.

Praise the Lord. It it is available to all. And I think some of those traditions, and it’s not just I know we can pick on Roman Catholicism and in the Eastern Orthodox, but sometimes we can create our own traditions as well that can obscure or maybe block people or or obscure people from really understanding the word of God.

We want to be careful not to do that, that we’re always as I heard one person say, putting the cookies on the lower shelf, right? They are accessible to all and we need to continually bring God’s word to people so that they see the clarity and the sufficiency of it. And so one of those verses that was mentioned is this in Psalm 19 which I love.

The law of Yahweh is perfect restoring the soul. The testimony of Yahweh is sure making wise the simple.

The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of Yahweh are true. They are righteous altogether.

They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

And father, may our desires be for what is truly desirable in your word. And give us a by your spirit a hunger for that which is truly sweet. And so we see this right the what the scripture what scripture is is validated by what scripture does.

What scripture is is validated by what scripture does. And so may these things here be our experience and ever growing. Right? As we as we get restored in him, we grow in wisdom, we grow in rejoicing and enlightening and experiencing this sweetness and the desire for God’s word.

And so one of the things I think about is that I pray consistently is Lord increase both my desire for and my capacity for your word. There’s a verse in Psalm Psalms that says open where God says open up your mouth wide and I will fill it.

“What scripture is, is validated by what scripture does.”

Amen. We’re going to talk a little bit more next week on the necessity of scripture. What it means that the scripture is our food in the most fundamental sense.

All right.

Conduct in the Household of God

Paul said this. In case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. And we talked last week about how a church is not the church doesn’t define the truth, but is defined by the truth.

And so we would say this that the conduct of a healthy church reflects or should reflect its adherence to scripture. I think I mentioned last week that you can see in a doctrinal statement what a church officially believes about the Bible, but how they conduct themselves, how they actually treat the Bible tells you what they actually believe. And so, and this is a this is always a growth area for us.

I’m so thankful that, this is, on with the elders, I’m the guy who takes the minutes. Probably doesn’t surprise you that I do that. And and this is the verse that’s at the top of each of the minutes that we would know how to conduct ourselves, right? That we we would be lost if the scriptures didn’t tell us how we were to conduct ourselves here.

“A church doesn’t define the truth but is defined by the truth.”

So, praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for that.

Progressive Revelation and the Great Commission

Hebrews 1-2, I think this has been in previous lessons as well. God having spoken long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days spoke to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world. And so we would say the many portions and many ways were sufficient throughout redemptive history. It’s really interesting. I I just finished in my yearly Bible reading the Old Testament several weeks ago. And it’s it’s so interesting as you as you go right from the end of Malachi and right into the New Testament.

There’s a 400-year gap, but it just picks up right where it lefts off. It’s almost as if it was written by the same author. It’s incredible, right? I will send Elijah to you. And there John shows up and the spirit of Elijah 400 years later just picks right up. Just just incredible. So, but we want to be confident. It’s interesting.

“It just picks up right where it left off—as if it was written by the same author.”

We can get hung up on, well, how did how did people get saved in the Old Testament? There’s a lot to unpack there. What about people who haven’t heard all that we’ve heard, all of that.

The real issue is God has given what you and I need, and that’s what we ought to focus on.

I think we have one more here.

Simply put, our great commission from Jesus. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I’m with you always, even to the end of the age.

What did Jesus command that we do? What did our king command us to do? That we would teach all of the content.

Yes.

But for what purpose? To keep all that I committed. We teach to obey. Right? And if we’re not making that clear, we’re not doing something right. Right? And so God has provided. I’ll put this. We teach to obey because God’s word is foundational and sufficient for that purpose.

And this is why we have teachers. This is why we’re in a body together because we need examples, right? What does that look like? I think about my dad. Our our family was really first exposed to the gospel that we can remember when I was a child, maybe seven years old, and we had moved back to the hometown that my parents grew up in after my dad got out of the Navy, and my mom’s best friend had come to Faith in Christ.

I’ve I’ve told this to some of you. And so we walked into this church that was alive and preaching the gospel. Didn’t and it was interesting because my my parents this is how my dad would tell it they were in Sunday school class and it became clear to the teacher that they didn’t know anything right they just kept asking these very basic questions good on them for doing that but my dad in particular recognized that he not only needed knowledge he needed models right and because he he came from a very a broken home and so he just didn’t know what does this actually look like in my life How do I relate with people in a different way?

How do I raise my children right in godliness in the fear of the Lord? And so, praise God, he provided not only sound teaching, but people to walk with my parents with that teaching to show them how. And that’s what good teaching does. It just doesn’t tell you what. It shows you how. And so, we always want to be growing in that.

And so, u we would only be able to do that if God’s word was sufficient. Amen.

If we were on our own to to make things up, we would have no hope. But God’s word is sufficient for that. One last quote and then we’ll go into some implications and application.

Scripture Presents Truth as Truth

Scripture makes no attempt to prove its truthfulness to the reader. It offers no list of reasoned arguments as evidence.

God’s word simply presents the truth as truth while both expecting and demanding the reader to accept it as such.

“God’s word simply presents the truth as truth while both expecting and demanding the reader to accept it.”

We recognize this spiritual reality. When someone says that they were saved because of extra biblical evidence, I have my doubts because that’s not how someone is saved. Someone is saved by the living and abiding word of God.

Jesus said this, “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

A stranger they simply will not follow but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers. That’s the bottom line. We believe the Bible and obey the Bible because we believe it is the voice of our great shepherd and our spirits resonate with that. We understand that. And because of that, because we are listening to him and to the extent to which we are listening to him, we will recognize the voice of strangers and we simply will not follow. Right?

Simply will not. We need to know that we’re following people who are following Christ and not making things up. And if I could be blunt, that’s why we transition to come here.

Because a stranger I will not follow and a voice that is not his I won’t follow because I know and grow in the knowledge of him. Jesus said many will come in my name, right? But speak falsehood. False apostles disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. So Jesus said said that in Matthew 24:5 and then 2 Corinthians 11:13 and Revelation 2:2 talk about false apostles disguising themselves. So our application of the clarity and sufficiency of scripture protects us from falsehood. Amen.

Implications and Applications: Seeking Treasure in God’s Word

All right. With that, let me walk through just a few implications and applications. Turn with me if you would to Proverbs 2.

And I I referred to this a little bit earlier with regard to being a workman in the word. What does that mean? And this is treasure seeking language.

Treasure seeking language.

Proverbs 2:es 1-6.

My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you to make your ear pay attention to wisdom, incline your heart to discernment. For if you call out for understanding, give your voice to discernment. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Yahweh and find the knowledge of God. For Yahweh gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and discernment.

Notice the full all-in commitment in those verses.

Receive, treasure, make your ear pay attention. Incline your heart. Call out.

Seek as silver. Searches for hidden treasures. This is a fullon all-in pursuit and and requires persistence. Gold and jewels do not just appear in front of you.

“Receive, treasure, make your ear pay attention, incline your heart, call out, seek, search—this is an all-in pursuit.”

But we search the scriptures. We we give ourselves to them because we know that the treasure is there. And the beautiful thing about it, men and women, is that God walks with us in this journey.

I I am amazed.

I I was amazed when I thought of this.

So, I’ve I’ve been in Christ for over 50 years, and that blows my mind to think about that.

Study as Devotion: Walking with God in His Word

And virtually every day I open this up and I read it’s it’s like I never it’s like I’ve never seen it before. Some some things just are like I’ve read this passage many times and God will just unfold a new depth in it. It’s just incredible, right?

It’s like swimming in the ocean. It’s so vast. And I think the Lord would have us commit to this process of discovery. Be excited about it. There are treasures to be found and delight in the searching.

Amen. So let’s not think about the work as simply cold intellectual study, but walking with God. I think I I shared with with some of you before that I was I was at a shepherd’s conference at at Grace Community Church and they give a workshop on how to prepare to teach or preach and I thought of I thought of my study time as separate from my devotional time just kind of the way I process things. Comp compartmentalize.

And I asked, “How do you balance your study time with your devotional time?” Some of you heard me say this. And he got this really quizzical look on his face. And he said, “Well, I don’t know how to study except devotionally.”

It was mindblowing to me. I thought, “You mean I’ve been missing that this whole time?” Like, I could have been experiencing rich fellowship with God as I was studying. I know it see it might seem obvious to you, but for me that was very eyeopening.

And so from that point forward, all of my study, all of my prep, virtually all of it is in my devotional time. I just take extra time there. And I want to make sure as we’ve been emphasizing this in this series that I’m not just relating to a book, but I’m I’m fellowshipping with the Lord himself. And that’s just been so so rich.

“I don’t know how to study except devotionally. All of my study is in my devotional time.”

Learn from Godly Examples

Next, Ecclesiastes 12:11, Hebrews 13:7, and 2 Timothy 3:14.

So, Ecclesiastes 12, 12:11, you might remember, says, for the words of wise men are like goats. And what, my memory is escaping me, so I’m just going to look at it. And m Oh, yeah. The words of wise men are like goats, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails.

They are given by one shepherd. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Consider the outcome of their way of life and follow their example.” Right? 2 Timothy 3:14 talks about God giving us shepherds. And so, what’s interesting is God has not only given us, we we must learn from those in whom biblical biblical clarity and sufficiency is evident and demonstrated.

Don’t just follow or learn from anyone.

This is why the example of those we learn from is so important. This is why particularly being at being with the elders now but at all times we are under examination. You don’t just examine what I teach. You examine my life. If you see something you have the green light. You must I depend on you.

“Don’t just follow or learn from anyone. You don’t just examine what I teach—you examine my life.”

Some of you have have confronted me and and and even reproved and admonished me on things. That’s how that should go, right? Because we’re following not just words on a page but an example. So that that examine.

So be careful who you follow, right? And so when you think about that, what might this change in the teaching you seek and receive, you might be less impressed with someone who seems smart, but if anything about their life, you might want to stop listening to that person. This is why we have local churches because your primary teaching should be from the people that .

Make sense? You should be able to observe their lives as you receive their teaching. This is really important. And Hebrews 13:7 was really clarifying. Consider the outcome and imitate their faith. And I did consider and I said, “Oh, that’s clarifying.

I I think I think I need to make a change.” Right? So that’s good stuff. It’s important for us. Think about this. Where do you struggle most to see and apply the clarity and sufficiency of scripture?

Applying Clarity and Sufficiency to Life’s Challenges

Do you have areas in your life, and I’m presuming that you do, I think we all do, where God’s word gives insight in this area, but you’re not exactly sure what that looks like or how that works. I think it’s a wonderful posture to have to know that God’s word is sufficient for a very thorny issue.

And it’s your it’s our process of joyful discovery to figure out how how that works. So, for example in recent years, we’ve had some really turbulent social and political times, right? And I’ve been amazed as I’ve sought the Lord in these areas of justice, identity, just discerning truth, just how sufficient God’s word is. It’s almost as if he’s been ahead of us on these things, and if we would just listen to him, we would do well, right?

For example, a lot of people have definitions of justice.

Justice and righteousness are synonymous words in the scriptures. You can’t understand justice without understanding his justice. We should measure all definitions of justice. And there’s some really wonky ones out there. There are there are there are ways in which people are promoting injustice as justice. And if we are clear on the scriptures, we can apply that and see the sufficiency.

“God’s word is sufficient for thorny issues. It’s almost as if He’s been ahead of us on these things.”

Conclusion and Preview of Next Week

But I’ve just been amazed as I’ve gone through that and I’ve seen, wow, God’s word really does. God is not surprised at any of this and God’s word addresses it. And so we do well to seek that out and to apply. And so as we prepare for next week, the clarity and sufficiency of scripture provide the foundation from which we understand and apply its necessity.

Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” And so that’s what we’ll be discovering next week. I probably have time for one question if someone’s got a burning question before we pray.

Matthew 4:4: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Anyone.

I know we covered a lot today.

Well, you can email me if you have any. Please feel free to do that. Some of you even have my number if you’re a member. It’s my numbers in the directory. So, feel free to do that as well. And then I’ll just remind you of some of the recommended resources that we have. All right, with that, let me pray for us.

Closing Prayer

Father God, what an amazing thing it is to think that you have communicated so clearly to us and so sufficiently, Father. And we sometimes doubt that. Our doubts. The attacks that come at us where we are tempted to doubt your word. The confusion that haunts us where we have something that we need to know or do in our lives and we don’t see how your word applies. And I pray that you would for each person here in those areas, show them from your word how your word applies so beautifully and so perfectly.

Help us to encourage one another and help one another with this. Those of us who maybe have less experience would seek out those with more experience and more a longer path. Give us a humility father to grow in our faith and to love you and your word like never before. Increase father both our capacity and our desire in Jesus name.

Amen.

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