The Sufficiency and Completeness of Scripture

Sufficiency — what does it mean? It means enough. Hey, did you hear that from your parents ever? Enough. Well, that's kind of what it means. A little bit more than that. Sufficiency means enough, adequate, satisfactory for the need, okay? So the first fill-in-the-blank, number one is: sufficient and complete to lead us to know Christ and to show us how to live for Him, because Scripture is spoken by God, it is perfect.

Again, Scripture is sufficient and complete to lead us to know Christ and to show us how to live for Him, because Scripture is spoken by God, it is perfect. The word sufficient again means enough. It is enough. The word of God truly is satisfactory. It is enough. It's adequate. And the word complete means to have all, okay? An entireness, a fullness, a finishedness of it, a total to the greatest extent needed, okay?

It's complete, so it's sufficient and complete. The whole is perfect. The word of God is sufficient and complete. It's not only adequate, but it's all that you need. You don't need to add to the word of God for any part of your life, and you better not take away from the word of God for any part of your life, amen? So complete is a word that summarized last week's teaching by Calvin Gerber, and he taught on the canonicity of Scripture, the canon, okay?

God's word is complete, and it is in a canon format, a total format, so it's complete. Knowing that makes and strengthens our confidence in leaning upon its sufficiency. If you truly believe that the word of God is complete and accurate and adequate, then you will lean upon it, okay? The very simplistic illustration is you sitting in the chair. You believe that those four legs are adequate for you to sit on it, and you're leaning upon it.

You're trusting it to hold you up, and you're not even thinking about falling down. I have a rocking chair in my backyard. I'm so proud to say that I built it, but when people sit in it, they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They feel like they're gonna fall backwards. I didn't do it right, but I love it. I mean, that little whoa feeling gives you a little, you know, like a roller coaster thing, so I watch people when they come over. But that's not how we lean upon the word of God.

You truly trust that it is sufficient and complete for your life. Now, starting with knowing Christ and then living for Him is the result of knowing that the Bible is sufficient and complete. I like a few passages. I'd like to give them to you up front, and then we'll go straight through the outline. The most impactful passages for sufficiency and completeness for me are Matthew 4, verse 11, where Jesus is boxing with Satan, and He just simply quotes Scripture.

Three different times it says, "It is written, it is written, it is written." And so in Matthew 4, verse 4, He answers, "It is written." Matthew 4, verse 7, He answers, "It is written." Matthew 4, verse 10, He answers, "For it is written." And so Jesus gives us a very clear example here on how to lean upon the word of God even when you are tempted by the powerful Satan. He's not all-powerful.

All right, another Scripture that I really like is Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31, where you have not temptation happening, but a real sense of desperation. The request is from Hades to go tell my brothers about this awful place and how to go to heaven. And the reply by way of a parable — let's go down to verse 28 — where he says, "I have five brothers," in order that they may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. So in Luke 16:28, the plea is tell my brothers about this awful place, and this individual became an evangelist way too late.

In verse 29, then Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Think about that. Rather than someone being risen from the dead and coming back from Hades to go tell this person's brothers, the reply is they've got the written word. They didn't even have the whole canon at that point. He's talking about Moses and the prophets — the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and the prophets in their writings — and those are sufficient unto salvation and godliness.

This is amazing. And so those writings are completely sufficient for you in your life. And the Old Testament is the foundation for the New Testament, okay? And so to continue to read in this passage, verse 30 says, "But he said, 'No, Father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'" But he said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead."

Isn't that powerful? Seriously, and you think to yourself, this is Scripture, this is true. Even if someone has risen from the dead, it is not as powerful as giving them a Bible, sitting down and showing them what the word of God says. Thus says the word of God. That is powerful. So again, we see that sufficiency and completeness is all that someone needs in the word of God.

Another passage that I really, really like is Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19. "I testify to everyone who hears the words of this prophecy of this book that if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words that are in this book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book."

And so again, I would really implore you never, ever, ever take away or add to the word of God, which is very prevalent on TBN. The Old Testament verse that says not to take away or add is Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 2. And so even in the Old Testament, we have a clear commandment: do not add or take away from God's word.

On your lesson page, you have Matthew chapter 22, verses 31 to 33, that drive home the point that the spoken word is sufficient for living. Matthew 22:31–33 says, "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?' God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

The application point is: whose words do you trust in most often? Whose words do you trust in most often? So who do you trust to tell you about salvation? I want you to really think about an answer and maybe get some interaction here. Whose words do you trust when you're disturbed on the inside and your soul needs peace? God Almighty — over to God. Christian brother or sister or Master, of course. You would hope that is what you would trust in.

Amen, a trusted brother or sister in the Lord is going to tell you what the word of God says. Yeah, oftentimes we need our brothers and our sisters. It's the beauty, the design of the local church, the saved ones, those who are part of the body of Christ. They will impart to you not psychology, right? Not medicine, not "rest and relax, sleep it off." None of this — they're gonna tell you what the word of God has to say.

What about when you're struggling in life, perhaps going through a trial? Let's reverse the question. Who do you no longer go to now that you believe in the sufficiency and the completeness of the word of God? Yourself? Unsaved friends? Don't go to the world? Someone who knows less — yep. I've got this really spiritual way of saying it: the ladder goes up. Yeah, if you're seeking advice, the ladder always goes up. Go up the ladder, the spiritual ladder, to seek advice. And especially don't go to yourself. A lot of times you would recuse yourself and go try to figure it out, right? "I've gotta go figure out this for myself," and that is self-sufficiency, not leaning upon the sufficiency of the word of God. Would you agree? All right, so we're talking about the sufficiency and the completeness of the word of God tonight.

Now, as you continue to look with me at this application here, reference verses on the back — Psalm chapter 19, verses 7 through 11 say this: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is a great reward."

If you were to outline this passage, you would see everything that people are after. If you think of the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, or even of the stomach when it comes to the sweetness of honeycomb, or profit when it comes to gold, the word of God is more valuable and purer in everything than all of that put together, and so I praise God for it.

On the fill-in-the-blank, number two on the front of the sheet: Scripture is sufficient to provide us with all things needed to know our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Okay, the Scriptures tell us what we need to know about Jesus Christ. John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, is how the book of John ends, okay? So you've got seven miracles through the Gospel of John that prove the deity of Christ, and then the purpose of this Gospel is stated when it says, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book." Okay, so Jesus did a whole lot more than what the Gospel of John records.

Verse 31, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." So the Gospel of John is a gospel that a lot of times is a standalone gospel that people give away for people to be able to read.

Just the Gospel of John can lead people to believe in Jesus Christ, and it's sufficient for life and godliness. To become a Christian, to read the Gospel of John, to see that only Jesus can turn water into wine, which is illustrative; only Jesus can raise the dead man Lazarus from the grave and give a blind man sight. All these are illustrative for salvation. Only Jesus can do that, and so look to Jesus for salvation.

All right, so the application point here is to hear the Scriptures to know Jesus Christ. Hear the Scriptures. 1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." One of my favorite verses when it comes to hearing the word of God is Romans chapter 10, verse 17: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

I was very impressed with Jordan just standing out street witnessing, just reading the Scriptures, okay? If you just read the Scriptures, it is the power of salvation to those who hear the Gospel. They can hear the written word and fall under conviction and find out that they need Jesus. And so just give them the word of God. Just giving them God's word is enough. You don't have to have a fancy formula. You don't have to have a silver tongue. You don't have to have any special gimmicks or tricks. Just give them the Gospel — the death, burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is for those who would repent of their sin and believe that that is a substitutionary death for their sin and their payment. So Christ paid it all for those who would repent and believe. Scripture is sufficient to be able to do that. And if you are quoting God's word, then you are giving them the word. If you're reading the word, you're giving them the word. And that is great.

Point number three: Scripture is sufficient to provide us with all things needed for us to grow in conformity to Christ — to grow. So if in point number one we're talking about completeness, and in point number two knowing, point number three is growing. Okay, you see the progress here. Now we're growing in Christ. Scripture is sufficient for you to grow in conformity to Christ.

1 Peter 2:2 says, "As newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." So it's the milk that enables the baby to grow. It's the nutrients, okay? And so the word of God is considered to be as nutritious, or life-giving, or enabling you to grow, like breast milk. Okay? And then Paul says you should have moved on from milk to meat — to be able to rightly divide the word of God. And so the word of God helps you to grow. You move from milk to meat, from soft to hard doctrine, to solid food, to things that are really difficult to understand, to rightly divide them.

You've gotta dig them out and understand. You will be understanding Christ for eternity. I don't know if we'll ever know the extent of the omniscience and the omnipotence of our Lord Jesus Christ and all that He knows. I hope to be able to know an ounce, but that is enough. He's gonna help us grow.

The application point in point number three is: obey the Scriptures to follow Jesus Christ. Obey the Scriptures. If you're growing, then you're obeying. If you have disobeyed, then you're stunting your spiritual growth, okay? And if you're obeying the Scriptures, then you're being sanctified by them. You're yielding to the Scriptures. John 17:17 says, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth," very plainly written.

Your word is truth. That is the standard of truth. There's no other standard that compares. There's been all kinds of different books that have tried to recreate a new standard. Tell me a different standard that's out there. Humanism — that's a different standard. That's definitely a standard that people try and put forward. Social justice — a different way of living, definitely a different standard. The Book of Mormon — definitely a different standard, a different gospel. The Watchtower Society, Jehovah's Witnesses. Islam, yes.

We went with our missionary — Ken and I — to support him defending Christianity from the Protestant perspective at Seminole State College in Sanford. And so our missionary was on a panel with a Muslim imam, along with another social justice warrior. He called himself someone trying to remodel the Black community. So they had their perspectives and their standards and they were all in different areas. They each had a different standard. Every time they talked about why poverty exists, or why violence exists, and how do we eradicate that, and how do we eradicate hunger — all these United Nations philosophies and goals and globalist things that are going on in all of our colleges — we've got our missionary, Pastor David Beall, saying, "The problem is sin, Jesus is the answer. The problem is sin, Jesus is the answer. The problem is sin, Jesus is the answer," over and over and over again. And it was quite entertaining. We had a great time.

And at the end of the day, the Muslim imam — who, by the way, is the most popular imam in Florida, and in fact is nationally known — his flavor of theology, according to the Quran, would be like the Joel Osteen flavor: very universalistic and very shallow. "Can't we all just get along, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya?" And it was entertaining. I just wanted to be proud of our missionary. He stood upon the word of God and everyone in there heard the Gospel, including that imam.

But anyway, I bring that up because of the other standard. We were given a Quran. One of the church members — or whatever a church is called, a mosque member — came over and offered Ken a Quran and goes, "Sure, I'll take it." And so I got one as well. But anyway, we can read up on what they have to say. The standard is our word of God, because we don't have contradictions like the Quran does. We have eyewitnesses; the Quran doesn't have that.

I could go on and on and on. We have a prophet that is pure and perfect. Muhammad is not. He violated his own writings. He was one who slaughtered entire communities. It was awful. So nevertheless, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. And it would be wise for you to learn how to defend Christianity in regards to talking to a Muslim. Okay, anyway, back to this outline.

All right, let's start with point four. Scripture does not reveal to us all knowledge about God or the universe that we live in. We humbly trust God whose ways are infinitely higher than ours and remain silent where He is silent. This is such an important point. And so Scripture does not reveal to us all knowledge, okay? You can't even comprehend a fraction of all knowledge, so you don't know everything — surprise. And you'll never know everything, especially about God or the universe that we live in. We then humbly trust God whose ways are infinitely higher than ours and remain silent where He is silent.

Romans 11:33 says, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out."

The application point here is: glory in what He has graciously shown us. Glory in that. Glory in what He has graciously shown us. Just be in awe of what He has revealed to us. Glorify His holy name and be humble in the areas that you do not know. Deuteronomy 29:29 is very clear that there are some things that God has not revealed to us, and you can think about things like that. I mean, some people waste a lot of time thinking about silly things. "Can God create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it?" I mean, that's just dumb, right? It is.

But Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of His law." There are areas of Scripture that tell you, don't worry about that, okay? That's in God's court. Romans chapter 9 has one of those little caveats: don't accuse God of being a villain in the area of being sovereign in salvation. That's God's court. So think of it theologically and experientially. You repent and believe, but God foreordained you for salvation. There are some secret things that are just outside of our grasp, and that's okay. They're secret.

In fact, in Ephesians chapter 3, the Gospel is referred to as a mystery, okay? In the Old Testament, it was a mysterious thing. Turn to Ephesians chapter 3. I'd like for you to see that real fast. I mean, these things are right in front of us, and God knows all that there is to know. And we don't know all that there is to know, and we need to be humble in that area because you're not God. Stephen Furtick thinks he's God. There's a "little gods" doctrine out there. People think that they can arise to be a god, especially in Mormonism. That's not the case.

So anyway, look at Ephesians 3:4–6: "By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." Okay? So Christ was not revealed incarnate in the Old Testament, so it was mysterious. Verse 5: "Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit — to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel, of which I am a minister."

And so it takes a minister to reveal the mysteries of Christ. It takes a minister to administer the Gospel. You have the ministry of reconciliation. Every single believer has been given a ministry of reconciliation, of evangelism, of spreading the Gospel. You have a great commission to go, therefore, into all the nations and make disciples, okay? And to teach them all that God has commanded you. We all have this ministry to explain the mystery of Christ.

Christ is the answer. He is the mystery. He is the one who will be understood by those who do not know Him, and you've gotta explain that. If you're gonna explain this mystery of Christ, you're gonna help people to understand, first of all, that they need Christ. Let me tell you why you need Christ — because you have a sin problem. Let me explain to you what sin is. Let me tell you how to turn from your sin. It's called repentance. Let me tell you what the answer is: Christ and the cross, and how to believe in that. And if you would turn from your sin, repent, and believe in the cross, you can be saved. You have to step by step by step lead people closer to Christ and explain this mystery. These secret things sometimes are hidden, and now we help reveal them. The things that have been revealed to us, we help reveal to others. But the things that we don't know, just be humble and don't worry about that.

On the back, you have Job chapter 38, verses 4 through 11: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Now, don't get to the point where God has to put you in your place, right? This is pretty stout here. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements — surely you'd know — or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened, or who laid the cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed My limit for it and set bars and doors, when I said, 'This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop'?"

And so we see humanity can get too big for their britches and be put back into place. And that's easy for us because the root of sin is pride. We're all given to that. Intellectual pride can well up, but knowledge puffs up, right? The trick to this whole thing is utilizing the knowledge of God to get down into your heart and become wisdom so that you can live it out. The wise person applies knowledge, but knowledge on its own is gonna ruin you if you just get knowledge and do not work on living it out. You don't work on practicing it; you don't apply what you know. So you lean upon the Scriptures for that.

All right, number five. As Scripture is sufficient and complete for salvation and sanctification, we must live by it, okay? Salvation, sanctification — and we must live by it. If you truly lean upon the sufficiency and completeness of the word of God, it will change the way you live. Especially — let me put this out there before November comes — it will change the way you live. Don't be filled with anxiety over the elections in this nation.

God is in control. He says this in His word. Daniel chapter 2, verses 20 and 21. If you truly believe in the sufficiency and the completeness of the word of God, then you believe that God sways the hearts and minds of kings, okay? And He can even use a pagan king like King Cyrus in Isaiah chapter 45. He can use a pagan king to move a nation from one place to another — Israel from Babylon back to Jerusalem. He can use a pagan to have His will completed. So you're not gonna worry. You're gonna do your job: evangelize, vote, spread truth. You're gonna do all that you can while you can, but you believe in the word of God. You believe in God and you're going to live that out.

If you're gonna live sufficiency out, if you're gonna live what you believe, if you're gonna behave the way you believe, then you're gonna remain calm through this political season. Is that an impossibility, Dan? I'm just saying up front, we're going to be the rudder this year. We're not gonna be crashing around on top of a boat through a storm. We're gonna sail right through this thing and believe in our God. We live what we believe.

In Matthew chapter 4, verse 4, He answered and said, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" My way of application: write, read, and observe it. Write, read, and observe it. Do not turn aside. Write, read, and observe it. Do not turn aside from the word of God.

Deuteronomy chapter 17, verses 18 to 20 says, "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

Your faith in God, lived out correctly through believing in the sufficiency and the completeness of the word of God, will go through your life to your prosperity, through your children to their grandchildren. If you display confidence in God, you know that we serve a sovereign King. He is in control. If it happened, it's been God's will — you believe this — then that's caught. It really is. These things are not just taught; they have to be lived out, and then they will be observed by your children: "Oh, my parents don't flip out when something happens. They're very logical and rational; they believe God's in control."

This is living out your faith. You're not going to react. You're not gonna be reactionary. You have a preset standard on how to live and you know that Christ is guiding you. He is not only in you, but He is breathing through you. You truly have the word of God. He is working His will out in and through your life. You're living it out. You're in the word, and that brings you a lot of confidence. You're a person of prayer.

That brings you a lot of confidence because you are truly walking with the Lord. Your inner being is at peace. And when something disrupts your inner being, just kind of pull away from that, pray, and then walk with Christ through it. He'll lead you through the valley of the shadow of death, so to speak — Psalm chapter 23. This is how you just live out your faith and truly be at peace with Christ.

This is important because we have a younger generation that by and large is growing up in church and leaving church, never coming back. Like nine out of ten church kids leave and don't come back. Why? They see hypocrisy in the church. They don't see us living out what we say. And that's a problem. So they have seen that we act like Christians on Sunday, and then we go act like you're supposed to act at work, and you act like you act at the sports games, and you act like you act with everybody else on Friday night. And it's like, what, are we chameleons?

No, we're Christians. And so who we are is the same — like Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, and forevermore, right? We're the same on Sunday as we are on Monday. We're the same on Sundays as we are on Friday night. We have the same conversations, the same delights, the same thrills. We laugh about the same things in the Lord's house as we do when we're together outside of the Lord's house. It's congruent, it's whole, it's not fractured. We have a life that's whole. We are truly in Christ, and that makes us to rejoice evermore. We're truly, truly in Christ, and that is our life. We don't come outside of Christianity and enjoy immorality or coarse joking or anything immoral or anything that is displeasing to the Lord. We don't do that. That's not Christianity. So we're inside living it out. Beliefs match our behaviors — very important.

Number six: as Scripture is sufficient and complete, we can't unhitch — ooh, hot word, unhitch — the Old Testament from the New Testament. Romans chapter 15, verse 4 says, "Whatever things were written before were written for our learning." That is so important. The things that were written before — the Old Testament, the prophets and the Torah — they were for our learning, "that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

Guys, the Old Testament Scriptures are the foundation of the New Testament. You can prove that through and through. I received a word from Sam — if you remember Sam, who flew down here from Canada to be baptized. He was a convert from Islam, and in Canada, in Ontario, there are a lot of Muslims. And since Canadian law will not intervene in Sharia law, then Sam converting from Islam to Christianity could result in persecution, even death, without any repercussions. And so the ones who are truly Islamic — true to their faith — would look at him as worthy of death, and killing him would be considered a guaranteed entry into heaven for them.

And so rather than going to a Christian church somewhere — which he said they're all woke in Canada, and he can't find a good one — I told him about James Coats, but that's like on the other side of Canada. I guess Canada's pretty big. He said, "That's a long ways." He said, "I'd rather fly down. I've been listening to Bula Baptist Church and I wanna meet the congregation." So he considers me his pastor and you his church family in Ontario, Canada, and that's great.

And so he texted me the other day and asked me about Andy Stanley because — I initially asked if his pastor was using Andy Stanley, but he corrected me. He said, "You're my pastor." And I said, "Okay, that was such a compliment. You're so kind, thank you." And I said, "Okay, is the guy leading the church up there teaching from Andy Stanley?" He said yes. And he asked me what I thought about Andy Stanley.

So I told him, and in short, you can say he has tried to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament, and that is simply heresy. So the foundation of the Old Testament — Jesus spoke about the Old Testament. He verified the Old Testament. He talked about marriage from the beginning. He talked about creation, all these types of things. It's wonderful.

And so here you see in Luke chapter 24, verses 25 to 27, that "He said to them, 'Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?'" And beginning at Moses and all of the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And so the Old Testament Scriptures speak of Jesus, okay? Not just a monotheistic God in general — Elohim — He's talking about Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus claimed to be God in John 10:30: "I and the Father are one."

By way of application, what did Timothy learn from? So Lois and Eunice did a great job raising young Timothy. Okay, it seems like there was a broken home there and the father was not in the picture, but the mother and the grandmother did a great job with the word of God raising young Timothy, so much so that Paul saw so much potential in Timothy that he said, "I wanna disciple you." In 2 Timothy 3:15 it says, "And that from childhood you have known the holy Scripture." So you've gotta ask yourself, when Paul says to Timothy that since childhood he's known the holy Scriptures, which Scriptures were those? Yeah, Old Testament — "which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." The Old Testament Scriptures can make you wise enough unto salvation in Jesus. That's a lot there, praise the Lord. So the Scripture is sufficient and complete and we can't unhitch from the Old Testament. We can't unhitch that.

All right, on the back, number six. Acts 26:22–23 says, "Therefore having obtained help from God, to this day I stand witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come — that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

All right, back to the front, number seven — our last point for tonight. As Scripture is sufficient and complete, we can't subtract from it or add to it. One of my favorite subjects in regards to the sufficiency of Scripture is this point. And so you can't subtract or add to it. The canon was closed with the last apostle. Christ is its subject and end.

Deuteronomy 12:32 says, "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it or take away from it." You cannot add or take away. It's complete, it's solid. If you try by your life to live in any other way than on top of this solid foundation, then you have left the foundation, okay? You cannot live as though you can subtract from the word of God. It is your base for living.

The application point is this: God speaks to us in and through the Scriptures. Justin Peters did a great job here recently on some videos exposing this point and how a modern-day false prophet bought a million-dollar jet, prophesied about what he was going to do for the next year, but died the next day. Now, we don't glory in anybody dying; Justin said that. The point is God doesn't speak to modern-day self-proclaimed prophets, okay? He speaks through His word. And if someone is claiming a higher knowledge than you, that's an old heresy wrapped in a new package. Gnosticism in the book of Colossians was the same old problem, where a higher knowledge was being proclaimed — like, "I got a word from God and now I can lord it over you and control your life. Give your money to me, right? Take up an offering, sow seeds in my ministry and you'll be blessed." All that garbage.

And so God doesn't speak like that. He doesn't give us a word of knowledge. He doesn't give us any new information. Adrian Rogers said it like this: "If it's new, it's not true. But if it's true, it's not new." My girls have heard me say that over and over and over again. I love that. If it's true, it's not new — especially going all the way back to the Old Testament.

And so Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 to 2: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets..." So what I just said in regards to God speaking to and through prophets, like a special word of knowledge, happened when? In the Old Testament, okay. But in very clear, specific times did God speak like that. The time of the prophets was very short. The time of Moses and Abraham is very short in regards to thousands of years of world history — a few lifespans in the time of the prophets. But you've got thousands and thousands of years. And then you've got the time of Christ and the apostles, another short span, like 60 to 80 years. God did not speak to the disciples of the disciples in the same way that He spoke to the apostle Paul. They didn't get that same direct, inspired-Scripture word, okay. So you have these very narrow points of history where God spoke like that.

In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 again: "God, at various times" — like very few times — "and in various ways, spoke in time past" — past tense, not anymore — "to the fathers by the prophets." And in verse 2: "Has in these last days" — which we are still in — "spoken to us by His Son."

Now you tell me, how can you hear the Son today? Through the word of God. Through the word of God. How can you hear the word of God as the Son? If you wanna hear God speak, read the word. If you wanna hear it audibly, read it out loud. "The way, the truth, and the life" — very good. How about John 1:1? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Okay, you can hear Christ through the word of God. This is how God speaks to us today. And to open up the heart of God is to open up the word of God. When you sit down and you open up the word of God, you are sitting at the feet of Jesus. It's like creaking open your bedroom door when you are by yourself in the most intimate part of your day. You're all by yourself, you and you alone. You walk into your house, into your room, all by yourself. When you open the word of God, you are walking right into heaven, right into God's gates, right into the mind of Christ, right into His heart. It's just wonderful to think that we can obtain and understand the mind of Christ by reading the word of God.

And so He has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, "whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." This is fantastic. On the back, number seven, Deuteronomy 18:20 says, "But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die." False prophets deserve death — thus says the Lord. Proverbs 30:5–6: "Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar." Ephesians 2:20: "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone."

What a wonderful teaching time tonight. I've enjoyed it. False religions — I'll end with these thoughts. False religions are often formed by just one little variant. Okay, one little variation, and now you're gonna get a false denomination. Modalism is a heresy that enables those who would not believe in the Trinity to preach the prosperity Gospel. Modalism — a variant from the Trinity — and all of a sudden you've got the "little gods" doctrine and the prosperity doctrine. A little variant like baptismal regeneration: if you believe that you have to be baptized to be saved, or that's how you get saved — through baptism — then you've got the whole entire denomination of the Church of Christ, founded on just like one little half verse in the Scriptures. And these little variants, you can get way off by having just one little slide.

That's the reason why we have a church. That's the reason why we work together. That's the reason why all this works so well.