The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Scripture, Part 4

Tonight we want to finish our introduction to Psalm 119 By looking once again at the supremacy and sufficiency of scripture in the life of the believer And by looking at point number four, we begin to realize that god's word is praiseworthy and it is absolutely perennial There is nothing greater Than the word of god nothing that needs to be praised more than god's holy word Psalm 138 verse number two says thy word o lord is magnified even as thy very name Think about that the word of god is magnified Even as the very name of god and we know that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that jesus christ is lord To the glory of god the father they will bow to the name of christ They will bow to his lordship and yet the word of god is magnified even as the very name of god The name of god, of course represents the character and nature of who god is And god's word describes to us the god in whom we worship And yet we realize that psalm 138 verse number two tells us About the supremacy and sufficiency of god's word because it is magnified even as his very name That's why his word is praiseworthy

That's why his word is absolutely perennial It's praiseworthy and perennial because it is purposeful and powerful

We've already talked about that We know how powerful god's word is to to crush the soul and to convict the soul and convert the soul and cleanse the soul How it is that which conquers the sins of the soul and condemns the soul We praise god's word because of its purpose and because of its power We praise god's word because of How penetrating it is and how personal it is to each and every one of us to critique every aspect of our lives to challenge our lives To live and follow the lord god And so we praise god because it is personal it is penetrating and we praise god because his word is precious And pleasing to confront to uh comfort the soul to cheer the soul To counsel the soul to compel the soul

Those are things we've all covered But you see that's why god's word is so great We praise his name We praise his word because his word always accomplishes What he intends it to accomplish And yet As we look at the word of the lord, we realize His word is to be praised listen to what the psalmist said in psalm 119 verse number 62 at midnight I shall rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous ordinances At midnight I shall rise and give praise to thee because the ordinances of god are right They're pure they're true

They're holy So the psalmist says that when I awake in the night, I give praise to my god for his word The psalmist says over in psalm 119 verse number 161 Princesses persecute me without cause but my heart stands in awe of thy words In other words, no matter what happens to me on the outside. I stand in awe at the word of god It that that that it is the most perennial thing there is I stand awestruck at the words of god Because they are actually his very words And so I stand in awe As to what he has to say Verse 162 says I rejoice at thy word as one who finds great spoil 164 says seven times a day I praise thee because of thy righteous ordinances Verse 171 says let my lips utter praise for thou does teach me thy statutes Let my tongue sing of thy word for all thy commandments are righteous You see the psalmist wants to praise the word of god because of the righteousness of that word That word exemplifies the character and nature of god So god's word then becomes praiseworthy and perennial because it's magnified even as his very name We praise god for his great word because it is Is his holy word Having said that let me give you four things. I want to discuss with you this evening The reason god's word is praiseworthy and perennial is because god's word is absolutely Clear It's clear Turn with me to psalm 19 for a moment Psalm 19 In psalm 19 you have a clear description of the sufficiency of scripture Well, the psalmist said in verse number seven

The law of the lord is perfect restoring the soul The testimony of the lord is sure making wise and simple The precepts 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 They are righteous altogether They are more desirable than gold Yes than much fine gold sweeter Also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb moreover by them My servant is warned and keeping them

There is great reward But notice what the psalmist said in verse Numbers eight the commandment of the lord is pure It's a word that means lucid it's clear it's pure It's transparent God's word is so clear It's not puzzling It's not mystifying It's not confusing The psalmist understands that the word of god is absolutely clean So much so that it enlightens the eyes In other words it lays forth a path that I can clearly see This is so important Because we need to realize how clear god's word truly is over in psalm 119 verse number 140

It says this Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant Loves it The word of god is pure It's lucid It's clear so that I can understand it

Therefore. I love it I'm, not confused by what god says Why is that important Why is it we need to understand that? This is what makes god's word praiseworthy and perennial is because it's absolutely Clear it's not confusing There are some things that may be harder to understand or harder to grasp And so therefore you need to spend more time studying and and understanding the text But it doesn't mean that the word of god is confusing Or that god's word is puzzling And yet You need to be aware Of the movement that is sweeping evangelicalism today The movement that is permeating most evangelical churches in america That tells us about god's word being Confusing and mystifying It's called the emergent church movement. I don't know if you've read about it I don't know if you even know anything about it

You need to know about it because it is the most dangerous Aspect hitting the church today And it will become worse as days go on the emergent church movement Is a church That is popular with people Who are dissatisfied with orthodox? doctrine dogmatic preaching and traditional worship People who are drawn to the emerging church Generally place a high value on ambiguity And mystery In other words, they reject the notion that god's word is clear And that anyone can really understand its true meaning Folks this is the most dangerous movement to hit the church In years Because it confuses the message And if it confuses the message it confuses the multitude And so therefore you have a whole realm of people Who begin to buy into the fact that the bible is not clear? about what it says And therefore you can't know what it says therefore you cannot be dogmatic and you can't preach with authority because you do not know truly what it says People associated with the emerging church Regard god's word as too full of mystery to warrant handling any truth in a definitive way One author says this the result is a movement that thrives on disorganization lends itself to mysticism distrust authority and dislikes preaching Feeds intellectual pride and recognizes few if any doctrinal or moral boundaries You can see why the movement is so appealing to college age young people

It is fleshly rebellion dressed in ecclesiastical robes The emerging church Their frontal assault Is on the clarity of scripture Their whole push is that god's word is not clear in what it says Therefore you can't be clear on how you present what you think it says Listen to this if the bible isn't clear And its meaning cannot be understood What do christians have left to say? to anybody For example No doctrine is sure enough to declare Everything is subject to debate and discussion No text really offers hope and comfort No truth can definitively correct error

There is no standard by which to measure a minister and his ministry There is no clear gospel to communicate to the lost

In fact, it's not even clear whether there's such a thing as lost or saved Brian mclaren Is a man who In 2004 was featured in an article in christianity today In I believe it was the november issue of 2004 And the dominant theme of the article centered around the fact that truth is hazy In other words, it's indistinct It's uncertain it's unknowable And brian mclaren said these words in christianity today I don't think we've got the gospel right yet I don't think the liberals have it right, but I don't think we have it right either None of us has arrived at orthodoxy This man is the guru behind the emerging church movement that basically has swept america And is sucking in churches all around the country into this movement of ambiguity and mystery That god's word cannot be clear yet

We've already read psalm 19 which says that the commandments of the lord are pure or lucid or Absolutely clear so that the eyes of man will be enlightened listen the bible says That the church is the pillar and the foundation Of the truth

That's what the bible says And so if the church is the foundation of the truth, we are to support that truth We know that the bible says in john 8 that when you know the truth it will set you free But if you can't know the truth you'll never be set free from that which enslaves you And if you don't know the truth, you cannot communicate the truth But in an age of tolerance in an age of liberalism truth cannot be preached with authority Unless you take a stand against the age and against the movements that sweep the church This is the most dangerous assault on the truth of almighty god What god says is either true Or it's not in fact in second thessalonians 2 verse number 10 That the reason people go to hell is because they do not love the truth and obey That truth Turn in your bible if you would to first corinthians chapter 2 I want to spend some time here because you need to be aware of this You need to understand it Because you're going to have family and friends involved in this I have friends And family involved in this movement It's a heresy It's horrible And people are on the fast track to hell because of this movement in the church You need to understand it

Listen to what paul says in first corinthians chapter 2 beginning with verse number 7 He says but we speak god's wisdom in a mystery the hidden wisdom which god predestined before the ages to our glory The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the lord of glory But just as it is written Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of a man All that god has prepared for those who love him For to us god revealed them through the spirit for the spirit searches all things even the depths of god For who among men knows the thoughts of a man? Except the spirit of the man which is in him Even so the thoughts of god no one knows except the spirit of god Now we have received not the spirit of the world But the spirit who is from god Listen carefully that we might know the things freely given to us by god Which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom But in those taught by the spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words But a natural man Does not accept the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness to him And he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised But he who is spiritual appraises all things yet

He himself is appraised by no man For who has known the mind of the lord that he should instruct him, but we have the mind of christ This passage of scripture tells us that the spirit of truth Which is in us Is there so that we might know? god That we might have a clear understanding of who god is That without that spirit listen carefully to what i'm going to tell you that without that spirit you will never know him You'll never know him the natural man Does not understand god the natural man sees truth as ambiguous and mystifying The spiritual man sees god's truth as authoritative and genuine and absolutely clear We must realize what god's word actually says You see because paul would tell the ephesian elders be careful because savage wolves will come from within not from without The greatest danger in the church Is in the church It's not outside the church

It's in the church It's the it's the wolves and sheep clothing that come in and tell you well, you know, let me tell you something about about about the bible And brian mclaren is a real big one on this because he says, you know I am a humble man and therefore because i'm a humble man. I can't exactly tell you what it means So therefore i'm not sure what it means It's called the hermeneutics of humility and this is really big in the emerging church movement and they consider themselves humble because they Do not come out with what they would say is an arrogant dogmatic view of scripture In fact, it was brian mclaren who said these words He wrote a book called a new kind of christian I'm, not sure what was wrong with the old kind of christian

But anyway, it's a new kind of christian in his introduction He says this I drive my car and listen to the christian radio station Something my wife always tells me I should stop doing because it only gets you upset There I hear preacher after preacher be so absolutely sure of his bomb-proof answers And his foolproof biblical interpretations And the more sure he seems the less I find myself wanting to be a christian Because on this side of the microphone Antennas and speaker life isn't that simple answers aren't that clear and nothing is that sure Now that's what he believes And this guy is the guru behind the movement that is permeating evangelicalism today I can name you a hundred churches in southern california alone right now that have followed this movement hook line and sinker Churches in this area right around us blocks minutes away Seconds if you drive fast they buy into this thing hook line and sinker And they come out and say, you know, well we can't be that sure about this or we can't be that sure about that He was the one who said, you know, i'm not even sure we got the gospel, right? How can you not have the gospel, right? It's either true or it's not it's either right or it's wrong but the natural man Does another thing understand the things of the spirit of god is brian mcclaren a natural man? Yeah, he is He is he's not a spiritual man He can't be And say well i'm not sure we got the gospel, right? I'm not sure what it is Or i'm not sure you can be absolute about the truth of scripture because truth is a little hazy a little uncertain Could it be that god stutters When he speaks Could god speak with a muzzle on so we don't understand what he says No, I don't think so I think god is very clear about what he says John mccarthur in his book the truth war Talks about this hermeneutics of humility

This is what he says As if it is inherently too prideful for any preacher to think he knows what god said about anything Of course such a denial of all certainty has nothing to do with true humility

It is actually an arrogant form of unbelief rooted in an impudent Refusal to acknowledge that god has been sufficiently clear in his self revelation to his creatures It is actually a blasphemous form of arrogance And when it governs even how someone handles the word of god it becomes yet another expression of evil Rebellion against christ's authority I agree with that Truly it's a rebellion against the authority of god's word in your life See we live in an age where no one wants to be told what to do Because we want to be independent

We want to be autonomous We want to be able to act in our own accord living the life We want to live and we don't want anybody telling us let alone god who is the true god of the universe who was holy Telling us how to live our lives And yet god's word Is true And the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth Now the fact that scripture Is perceived as being unclear is not new with the emergent church movement If you've been involved in the roman catholic church, you know that the roman catholic belief is that the bible is completely unclear And for years catholics weren't even allowed to carry and read their bibles why Because the average man can't understand what the bible says So you have to rely upon the church to give you the definition of what the bible says and the roman catholic church killed Hundreds of people who went against that notion and said no man should read the bible for themselves And yet The roman catholic church Has just recently in the last few years allowed Catholics to carry and read their bible But it's all subject to the church's interpretation Of what the bible truly says in fact At the 40th anniversary of vatican 2 which was not too long ago A group of catholic leaders assembled together and they came out with this edict Not all of the bible is true So now not only is the bible unclear What we have you can't even believe whether or not it's true or not see that's that's horrible But you see what satan wants you to do is not read your bible And not study your bible To think that it's too hard to understand that it's not clear

That's ambiguous that it's mystifying that's puzzling confusing In anything any ploy that gets you to think that is satan's ploy and not god's That's not god's design for your life How many people do you come across and say well, you know, I read my bible. I just It's just too hard to understand. I don't get anything out of it You know and the bottom line is Those people have been sucked into a satanic ploy that says you can't get anything out of it Anyway, so why waste your time reading it? It's too confusing It's too puzzling and the emergent church movement Has built their whole program on the ambiguity of scripture That nothing is for sure That you really can't know for certain whether or not homosexuality is truly a sin or not It may be but it might not be And because of my humility, I i'm not going to come out with a dogmatic answer because that would be arrogance and pride on my part That's how they define their ministry So they accept all who come to them And never preach on sin And god's disfavor of sin and god's punishment of sin because you see You don't know what the truth is anyway So you really can't preach preach on it the bible says That the spiritual man has the mind of christ And we have the mind of christ because of the spirit of christ and the spirit of christ Illuminates our minds so we know what the truth is We can actually know what the truth is We don't have to guess we can know 37 times the word no is using the first john Because there's something you need to know In fact turn to first john chapter 5 for a moment First john chapter 5 These things I have written to you verse number 13 Who believe in the name of the son of god in order that you may know that you have eternal life So can I know for certain that I have eternal life? Yes or no? Answer is yes Because these things are written that I might know that I have eternal life And this is the confidence which we had before him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know That he hears us in whatever we ask

We know that we have the request which we have asked from him Verse 18 we know that no one who is born of god Sins, but he who was born of god keeps him and the evil one does not touch him We know that we are of god and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one and we know That the son of god has come and has given us understanding In order that we might know him who is true And we are in him who is true in his son

Jesus christ This is the true god and eternal life little children guard yourself from idols To me, that's pretty clear That I can know I have eternal life That I know the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one that I know who the true god is Who is eternal life that I can know those things I can know for certain that god hears that answers my prayers How do I know that I know that because god's word tells me that That's how I know listen to first john 2 first john chapter 2 verse number 20 But you have an anointing from the holy one And you all know I have not written to you because you do not know the truth But because you do know it and because no lie is of the truth So in other words because of the spirit of god and his anointing in our lives, we know something

What do we know? We know the truth And because we know the truth we can speak the truth Because we know the truth we can be dogmatic on the truth We can preach the truth that's so Important paul said in second timothy chapter 1 verse number 12 those familiar words Secondly Yeah 2 verse number 12 1 verse number 12. I'm, sorry For this reason I also suffer these things But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am convinced That he's able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day That's pretty dogmatic But paul says I am absolutely convinced That the one in whom I know is going to guard that which I have entrusted to him until that day I know that for certain paul says So can I know that for certain the answer is of course you can Because the word is clear It's not puzzling It's not mystifying Listen to this God has made very clear that man knows god Because of natural revelation and because that he's without excuse, right? That's romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 tells me that man is without excuse because of natural revelation Verse 18 for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness Because that which is known about god is evident within them for god made it evident to them For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen Being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse man is without excuse because of natural revelation He's without excuse because of that which is around him Makes evident to him that the invisible god exists Romans 2 tells me that not only that which around him Is made clear but that which is in him the moral law of god in him is also made clear So that he is without excuse that's what it says that in verse number 14 for when gentiles who do not have the law Do instinctively the things of the law these not having the law are a law to themselves In that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness that their thoughts alternately Accusing or else defending them that's why in verse number one it says therefore you are without excuse every man who passes judgment Man's without excuse why because of that which is around him The natural laws of the universe that describe to us our god the invisible god and make him clearly seen Man is without excuse also because of what's on the inside of him the moral law that gives him a guilty conscience When he sins against god, he knows it So now when that happens, what does he do? He pursues a god to somehow save him But all of a sudden now the saving Message is not going to be clearly made visible to him That somehow our god will make the message hazy Will make the message mystifying so the man who knows about god around him because of the glory of the heavens And he knows about god inside of him because the moral law of god is written on his heart But when he seeks god he can't find him because god makes it too confusing to be found through the revelation of god I don't think so That's not the way it works Who are we trying to kid? How do people buy into that kind of stuff But they do God's word is is so clear There is listen

Let me say it this way There is no ambiguity in scripture People want ambiguity But there is no ambiguity in scripture just because You don't understand something Does not prove ambiguity It proves depravity Big difference big difference Listen to what christ says over in john chapter 3 verse number 19 And this is the judgment that the light is come into the world Who's that? That's jesus christ

Who's the light of the world, right? And men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed You see if i'm able to convince you That the message of god is mystifying That the truth of god is hazy and not clear Then I don't have to expose you to the light of the gospel

So your sin is made evident At the same time. I don't have to do that in my life because I love darkness more than I love the light Because truly my deeds are evil And therefore if I can convince you that the truth is hazy you never have to see your sin And if you never see your sin, you never have to face a savior So you think? And therefore you can live your life any way you want to live And yet the scripture speaks against that Remember psalm 119 verse number 130 the unfolding of thy word Gives light And it gives understanding to the simple The unfolding of your words Give light when you have light shining down What does that do? It allows you to walk with clarity It allows you to see without any obstacles And the unfolding of god's word gives light So that the simple man the simplest of all men can understand the truth of almighty god That's why the psalm was said in psalm 119 105 thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path God's word lights the way god's word shows the way How clear is it? How clear is god's word? Well, look at it this way our lord never ever ever said To the pharisees to the jews to the gentiles to the sad to anybody, you know I am so sorry That what I said back a thousand years ago to david or 1500 years ago to moses Or 2 000 years ago to abraham. I am so sorry That I didn't say it clear enough And that you're confused I'm, so sorry that you are confused about what I said He never said that On the contrary

He said have you not read? I mean, it's right there in the scriptures Have you not read what the word of god said? Have you not heard? What has already been said Why do you say to uh, the rich man in hades in luke 16 They have moses and they have the prophets That's all they need Salvation is clear in the old testament That's all they need

They need nothing else It's made very evident to them And christ never said, you know, I am so sorry. I I said I meant to say it this way I'm, sorry, you're confused No He just said have you not read? Have you not heard? Doesn't christ say in those seven letters to the seven churches in revelation He who has ears to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches If you got ears here, listen, listen carefully Because it's not confusing It's very clear Remember paul Paul was concerned that we be not confused, right? In other words, he doesn't want us to be ignorant or he doesn't want us to be unaware of something So he says very clearly in first corinthians 12 1 brethren. I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts So what does he do? He talks to us about spiritual gifts so that we have clarity about what spiritual gifts are all about Over in uh romans 11 25, he says brethren I don't want you to be unaware and I don't want you to be ignorant about the salvation of israel So he goes and tells us how god is going to save the nation of israel because he doesn't want us to be ignorant about that over in um Second corinthians chapter 1 verse number 8 paul says brethren. I don't want you to be ignorant or unaware of sufferings and their purposes Why? Because if we don't know what god's word says on them, we will be confused

So we need clarity and paul was concerned that we had clarity Over in second corinthians 2 verse 11 brethren. I don't want you to be ignorant about satan's devices We can be very ignorant about what satan does and how he operates so paul says I don't want you to be ignorant about it So i'm going to put it in print so you know about satanic devices And how he wants to destroy your soul So over in first corinthians 10 1 paul says brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant and unaware of the sins of israel So it goes into great detail so we don't repeat the sins of israel And then paul says over in in first

That's when he's four, uh brethren I don't want you to be unaware about the second coming of christ So so he goes into great detail about the rapture of the church and what's going to happen when christ returns? Because he doesn't want you to be ignorant about it

You see the bible is concerned that you are absolutely clear On spiritual gifts the salvation of israel the sufferings that you encounter The second coming of christ Satanic devices The bible makes things clear not confusing The bible makes things obvious not mystical And that's the importance of the word of god That's why we enfold before you the word of god so that you will have the light to follow the path to direct you That's why we spend time going through the word of god verse by verse so that you will know what the truth is You need to understand it

That's why the bible says study to show yourself Approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth Cut cutting the word of god straight Cutting a straight path through god's word

So people have a clear path by which to walk Not confusing at all paul would say or excuse me christ would say way back in matthew 28 That it's important that we go into all the world make disciples And we baptize the disciples and we teach them to observe all of god's commandments Well, how can we teach them to observe the commandments of god if they're too hazy to understand? How can we teach them the commands of god if they're too mystifying too puzzling too confusing? We can't But they can be taught because it's the truth of almighty god So important That's why you need to realize the emerging church movement is inundating Churches all across our country

Some of you have family involved in them right now Some of you have friends that are involved in those kind of churches even today as we speak and you know You know what the sad thing about it is is they The church begins to move that direction and the people the people really don't see it until it's too late They find themselves sucked into this whole movement and they don't know It's like the frog in the kettle as it just sits there and as it heats up It doesn't even know what's heating up around about around about them until they boil out It's it's a sad indictment upon people in the church But most people the church just are not discerning enough to determine truth from error It's so sad But that's what happens And you need to be aware of it so you can help people understand god's word is very clear The commandment of the lord is pure It enlightens the eyes It's very clear to what it is

We are to believe and why we believe it And therefore we can be dogmatic on the truth because we know what god's word actually says See, that's why god's word is praiseworthy That's why it's perennial why because it It makes it very easy for me to understand It makes it very simple for me to know what god says God's word you see satan wants you to believe and we've told you this before remember When you think of a a book of the new testament, we think of the book of revelation It's so hard to understand and satan doesn't want you to read and study the book of revelation because it's a revelation Of jesus christ our lord

It's him in all of his glory Satan wants you out of that book He wants you out of the book of leviticus in the old testament, too You ever read the book of leviticus kind of hard to understand right why it's all about being holy That's why it's hard to understand satan doesn't want you studying the book of leviticus because he doesn't want you to be holy When you begin to study you begin to realize the holiness of god and what he's called you to be a holy people See that's satan's device To get you to think you know, that's just too hard of of a verse or too hard of a of a book or it's just too Confusing for me. I I don't get it Don't let satan have that kind of inroad in your life Be determined to study the word of god so you can be a workman that's not ashamed of the gospel So you can write divide the word of truth It's not that difficult to understand why because you have the spirit of god in you And the spirit of god in you teaches you Who god is? And you have the mind of christ That's enveloped your life So you can know his thoughts You can think his way You can live his life God's word is praiseworthy and perennial because it's absolutely clear number two The other points won't be as long I promise It's absolutely clean Clean psalm 19 verse number 9 The fear of the lord is clean enduring forever It's clean In other words, it's absent from any impurities or filthiness or imperfections The word of god is without error and without corruption It's absolutely beautiful That's why it's praiseworthy You can use the word comely instead of the word clean because it speaks of the beauty of the word of god It is so perfect

It's so pristine It's it's it's without blemish without dots without anything that would corrupt it It's absolutely Clean and beautiful to the eyes because that's the way god wants it to be Because it's him It's an expression of who he is It's pure it's clean It's holy psalm chapter 12 verse number 6 Says this the words of the lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace on the earth we find seven times The reason we praise god's holy word is because it is absolutely free From any blemishes any corruption any filthiness anything dirty

It's absolutely clean We praise it because it's clear because it's clean and thirdly because it is constant It is constant Verse number 7 of psalm 19 The testimony of the lord is sure Making wise the simple It's sure it's constant

In other words, it's unwavering unmistakable immovable Reliable It is so sure you can count on it So sure that the simple man gains understanding The simple man begins to know who god is because of the revelation of god's holy word It is sure it is constant You it is so Sure that you can always know of its faithfulness Remember what peter said over in second peter, uh chapter one second peter chapter 1 verse number 16 Peter says this for we did not follow cleverly Devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our lord

Jesus christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty So when was peter eyewitnesses of the majesty of christ? On the mount of transfiguration remember that when christ unzipped his glory and we he Were able to see christ and all of his wonderful majesty on the mount of transfiguration For when he received honor and glory from god the father such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory This is my beloved son with whom I am well, please So now he's rehearsing what took place on the mount of transfiguration when he heard the words This is my beloved son in whom I am well, please And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain And so we have the prophetic word Listen to this more sure To which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts In other words, he says this We were eyewitnesses of the majesty of god We saw something Nobody else saw it was absolutely incredible But you know what something Is more sure than that And that is the prophetic word of god It is reliable remember we told you god's word is magnified even as his very name psalm 138 verse number two Well, peter says we have something just as sure as that As we were eyewitnesses of the majesty of god as we saw the glory of god as we heard the utterance from heaven This is my beloved son in whom I am pleased We have a more sure prophetic word the word of god that's been handed down to us That we are giving to you that you can count on because it's absolutely reliable It's constant that's why the bible says heaven and earth will pass away but by words will not pass away Think about it The works of god will pass away, but the words of god will not They'll last forever They'll last forever because god's word is the embodiment of who he is So god's word is clear god's word is clean god's word is constant and god's word is absolutely complete Absolutely complete Listen to what the psalm says in psalm 19 verse number seven It says the law of the lord Is perfect Restoring the soul In other words god's law is absolutely Whole absolutely sufficient absolutely complete In other words the psalmist says god's word is so complete It does everything your soul needs everything Whatever your soul needs god's word does It's complete I love what albert barnes said about this word complete when he said this the meaning of perfect is that scripture lacks nothing for its completeness Nothing in order that it might be what it should be It is complete as a revelation of divine truth

It is complete as a rule of conduct It is absolutely true It is adapted with consummate wisdom to the needs of man It is an unerring guide of conduct There is nothing there which would lead men into error or sin There is nothing essential for man to know which may not be found there Everything you need to know is here It's complete That's why the man of god in second timothy 3 16 and 17 is thoroughly equipped or Thoroughly made perfect or thoroughly complete because of god's word God's word is the only thing that completes the man It's the only thing that makes the man whole

It's the only thing that does for a man that a man needs Because god's word is supreme and sufficient God's word needs to be praised Because it is absolutely perennial It is the highest thing there is It's the most valued treasure we possess And we had the wonderful opportunity to study it every single moment of every single day God's word is with us As we embark on psalm 119 We will begin to see thou though the unfolding of those words give light to our lives To complete us to show us which direction we are to go

How is it we're to live our lives? How is it we are to react to conflict? How is it we are to handle persecution? How is it we are to find our joy in the lord? It's all written down for us so that we can know for certain the clear words of god Let's pray father

We thank you for the word of the lord and the truth that it brings to our life And we ask lord that on this day We would realize and cling to the word of truth And live a life that brings glory to your name May we recognize the sufficiency and supremacy of scripture for our lives And may we live every day in the light of your glorious word We pray in jesus name amen