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. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. There are about 8 billion people in the world today, and every one of those people is unique, each with a different set of problems.
And so it may seem absurd to say there is one resource that anyone and everyone can turn to no matter what they're struggling with, and they'll find answers and help. But that is exactly the point that John MacArthur is going to make in today's lesson. His current study is titled The Sufficiency of Scripture.
Now, before we get into the lesson, we've been so thankful for the recent outpouring of encouragement from listeners like you. I have some letters I want to read from people who have benefited from Grace to You. Here's one from a young guy, 23 years old. named Justin. He says, I started listening to John MacArthur online in 2022 after I stumbled upon one of his sermons from the book of Revelation.
He says, I have never been so captivated by the richness of Scripture. John's teaching ignited a fire in me to understand the Bible more and to really dive into it. I've attended church my entire life, but I had never really made it a priority to understand the Bible. Through the Holy Spirit's leading and John's teaching, I began to study in whatever way I could. I had an hour-long commute to work, and I would listen either to an audio Bible or to Pastor John's sermons.
a habit I continue to day as I work or go on a walk, so on. God has been working on me for a while now, he says, and I truly believe that John MacArthur has been used to show me how I can grow in my short time on earth. I have a passion for Christ and to understand God's Word that I don't want to waste. I pray for you all during this sad but also joyous time. And he signs his name Justin from Missouri.
And here's another letter from a listener named Kay. Kay writes, I've been listening to your preaching for about five years now, and your faithful teaching of God's Word has had a huge impact on my life. I live in Singapore, but your ministry has reached me right here, halfway around the world. Most recently, your sermons on Mark 11 really helped me. I was struggling to finish an assignment for a biblical counseling course, and your messages gave me clarity and encouragement when I needed it the most.
The way you described Jesus speaking in the Gentile courts made the scene come alive for me. It stirred something deep in me, a renewed love and an awe for our Lord, for his courage and his focus on doing his Father's will. I also appreciate the MacArthur Study Bible and the Study Bible app. Your notes have helped me understand the Bible so much more clearly. I've also benefited greatly from several of your books.
Your clear biblical teaching has been such a gift in helping me grow deeper in faith and understanding. And Kay signs the letter from Singapore. We continue to connect people like Justin and Kay with Timeless biblical truth through the internet and our apps, TV, the free books or booklets that we mail out each month, and also by radio. It's the support of friends like you that makes this far-reaching ministry possible, whether throughout North America or around the world. Thank you for partnering with us and making programs like this one possible.
So now let's get to today's lesson to continue his look at the sufficiency of Scripture. Here is John MacArthur. For the word of God is living and effective or active. And sharper than any two-edged sword. You talk about a weapon, I'll tell you: the greatest weapon there is is the Word of God.
It's sharper than any other weapon. That's what the writer is saying. There's no weapon like the word. No weapon. It pierces as far as the dividing of soul and spirit.
In other words, it gets way down into the heart and soul and nature of a person. Is able not only to reach as far as the division of soul and spirit, but of joints and marrow. And able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. People say, oh. Boy, that's such a deep problem.
You better go into psychotherapy. Boy, that's such a deep problem. You better go over here to this person who has a ministry of binding the devil and get those demons out of you. Boy, that's a real deep problem. That's too much for us.
We better send you off to some clinic somewhere. You better get into a different environment because we can't handle that. Listen, the word of God is living, it's active, it's powerful, it's sharper than any other weapon, and it will go deeper and cut cleaner and truer than anything that exists to reveal the deepest thoughts and intentions of the human heart.
So that verse 13 says, all things are open and laid bare. It'll do what psychoanalysis will never do. The word of God. opens the soul. It penetrates.
It breaks up the heart. It reveals. It is sufficient. To penetrate the deepest part. of a person's soul.
And I take exception to those who would deny the word of God that which God gives it, and that is the power to penetrate deeper than anything else. I believe to say that the Bible and the word of the living God cannot deal with a problem. is to sin against God. Can there be more sufficiency? than the mind of Christ and the word of the living God.
Jesus also said. And this in Luke 11, 28. Blessed is the one. who hears the word of God. and keeps it or obeys it.
Luke 11, 28.
Now what did he say by that? What he said was All spiritual sufficiency is bound up in hearing and obeying the Word of God. Hearing and obeying the word of God. Listen to the testimony of Luke. in writing the book of Acts.
Luke identified the most noble Christians. In Greece, They were in a little town called Berea. And this is what he said. The saints in Berea Were the most noble of all the saints, quote, Acts 17:11. Because they received the word With readiness of mind and search the scriptures daily.
What a great state. Spiritual nobility belongs to those who receive the word of God with readiness of mind. What does that mean? With acceptance, with faith. With eagerness.
They receive the Word of God and they search the scriptures every day. Beloved, the key to adequate living is not the Bible plus a lot of stuff. It is the Word of God pursued with readiness and eagerness and searched out every day of one's life. It's a daily diet. A daily diet.
And I don't think we approach spiritual life like that at all. We get ourselves into problems. We assume that problems are beyond the purview and the capability of the Word of God because we're really not into the daily application of the Word of God. Noble spirituality is tied to a daily study of the Word of God. That's where the strength comes to deal with life.
And that's where the sufficiency lies. People sadly who are finding their sufficiency chasing their sufficiency, not finding it, but chasing it. In psychology and in this sort of science of the mind and mysticism and ecstatic experiences and the supernatural and in entertainment and management techniques for the church. All of that pursuit is running the wrong direction. And instead of bringing what they Think They need and what they think they're going to get, it'll bring them the very opposite.
Very opposite. Listen to the words of Peter in 1 Peter 2:2. As babes desire The pure milk of the word that you may grow by it. Spiritual growth. Spiritual maturity, spiritual strength, the maturation process, moving toward Christ-likeness is tied to your desire for the Word of God.
You will grow by the Word of God. And growing is really. developing the strength to deal with difficulty. And you do that by feeding on the word of God. A baby grows by drinking milk, and that's what Peter is saying.
Peter is saying that as a baby desires milk with that same singular devotion, that same strong singular desire, and we all know how much a baby wants milk, that's the way a believer should long for the word of God. When your heart seeks that and desires that on a daily basis, you'll find spiritual strength. The Word provides all the spiritual resource for strengthening. And then Peter added this in his second epistle, Second Peter 1:3. One of the great statements on this subject in all of Scripture.
He says, according as God's divine power. Has given unto us, listen to this. All things that pertain unto life and godliness. What a statement. God's divine power.
Has given us, not some things, but all things that pertain to life and godliness. Then he says, through the knowledge of him. That has called us to glory and virtue. When we come to know him, And he is revealed through his word. We are cashing in on the resources.
That allows us to be able to face anything. We have all things that pertain to life and godliness. Beloved, all we need for life, all we need for godliness, all we need in all of our Christian living is bound up in the Word of God. And you ask yourself, why do you always teach the Bible? Why do we always study the Word of God?
Because where else do we go for spiritual sufficiency? Everything else is superfluous. for the matter at hand. Through the knowledge of him. Through the knowledge of Him who called us, and He reveals Himself in His Word, comes all we need for life and godliness.
And I tell you, it grieves me no end when people come up with this idea that the Bible is not enough and we've got to study all this other stuff and gain all these other techniques in order to tap necessary resources. The word of God. Energized by the Spirit of God. is sufficient. For life and godliness.
Now, even more direct and comprehensive is the statement of Paul in the book of Acts in chapter 20. When he was meeting with the Ephesian elders, this is an interesting statement, he said to them, Reciting A little bit of the history of his ministry. Kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. I gave you everything profitable.
Now he didn't hold anything back. He gave them everything that was profitable, and they were just like us. They had all the problems we have, they had all the life struggles we have, they had all the spiritual needs we have. He said, I didn't hold anything back that was profitable, but I have shown you and I have taught you. And what he's saying is, comprehensively, I've given you everything that was profitable.
That's in verse 20 of chapter 20. Then, down in verse 27, he tells us what that was. I have not failed to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Not all the counsel of God, and some of the counsel of men. He saw in the revelation of God.
Total sufficiency. And then later on to them in verse 32, he says: So I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. Is it sufficient? Is the Bible sufficient to build us up? Is it sufficient to meet every vicissitude, struggle, need, and anxiety of human life?
Of course it is. And anyone that says it isn't. Whether by explicit statement or by implication, sin's a sin against God. For he calls God a liar. And that's no small act, but indeed an act of serious treachery.
No, he says, I commend you to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. The word is all you need. The word is what is profitable. The word will strengthen. To the Colossians.
Paul gave a statement that we ought to all remember. Colossians two three 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 be 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? 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.
Four 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 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 the 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. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.
I want you to turn to this verse. 1 Thessalonians 2.13. This is a powerful statement. in behalf of the adequacy of scripture. If you 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 encourage you and encourage 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 receive the word of God, which you heard from us.
You received it not as the word of men. It isn't the word of man. It isn't anything like the word of man. But as it is in truth the word of God. Stop there for a moment.
He says, You receive the word of God as the word of God. Then he adds, which Essexually. Works. also in you that believe. It works, 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 Christ's likeness. 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. his crops, his animals. Took away his family and 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 state. The word of God is 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 Berean search the scripture 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? 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 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 were 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. is 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. Oh, 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 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. 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. 2 Timothy 3. Second Timothy three Listen to this testimony. I'm not even going to say much about it. Let it speak.
2 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 it 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. The word is to be believed and to be obeyed. And therein is the sufficiency. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
His current series is titled The Sufficiency of Scripture.
Now, friend, the sufficiency of Scripture was a recurring theme in John MacArthur's pulpit ministry over the years. He preached the messages from our current study more than 30 years ago. He returned to the theme multiple times after that and even held a conference on the topic. And John's commitment to teaching God's sufficient word has helped countless people over the years. You heard from some of them before the lesson.
So, know that it's the support of friends like you that allows us to connect John's verse-by-verse teaching with listeners who are hungry for God's Word. Thank you for praying for us. That is the most important thing you can do for grace to you. And if the Lord has used John MacArthur's Bible teaching in your life, you can help others benefit as you have. through your tangible support.
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Now for the entire Grace TU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for joining us today and be here tomorrow to learn more about the power of God's Word to change people. into the image of Christ. The title of John MacArthur's ongoing study the sufficiency of Scripture. Tune in tomorrow for another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time.
on grace to you.
