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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) |
Is It Enough?
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are times and occasions when it is perfectly reasonable to ask, “Is it enough?” When your gas tank is near empty and you’ve got 35 kilometers to go before the next gas station, you’re going to be asking yourself that question repeatedly over the next 15 or 20 minutes: is it enough?
When I worked as a painter, there were many occasions when I was “this close” to finishing a job, I was rolling out the last few walls, but I was also running out of paint. Every time I went back to dip my roller I was asking: Is it going to be enough? Or am I going to run out?
In those instances, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask, Is it enough? because we’re dealing with measures and quantities that expire, that deplete, that run out. There’s only so much gas in the tank; there’s only so much paint in the bucket.
But when we come to the subject of God’s Word, of God’s revelation of himself in Holy Scripture, and we ask, “Is it Enough?” we’re asking a much different kind of question. We’re not concerned that God Word is going to run out of power, or that God’s promises will soon expire.
No. The question “Is it Enough” is a question about the sufficiency of God’s Word in another sense. Do we believe that the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, the Holy Scripture, is a sufficient revelation from God? Does it contain sufficient wisdom and instruction, sufficient guidance and knowledge, sufficient truth and authority, or do we need something more?
Do we believe that God has revealed to us everything we need to know and believe when it comes to our salvation from sin and our living the Christian life? Or, is there something more that God needs to say to us? Is there something more that God has to show us or teach us beyond what He has already said and written in His Word?
Should we be praying for charismatic gifts? Should we be looking for miraculous signs? Should we be waiting for prophetic visions? One of the groups that broke away from Roman Catholic church during the Protestant Reformation were the Anabaptists. A man by the name Jacob Hutter, leader of the group we know as the Hutterites, he claimed to possess the gift of miracles, and that gift supposedly authenticated his calling.
Other Anabaptists emphasized the Inner Light of the Holy Spirit. They believed that the only way to confirm one’s righteous standing before God was to have some inner experience of the Holy Spirit. It was not enough to merely believe – you needed some sort of a spiritual experience – which is what many charismatics believe to this day.
This is also the reason that members of a particular Reformed denomination are hesitant to come to the table of the Lord for communion. For them, Christ’s command to “Do this in remembrance of me” is not sufficient. They need something more.
This morning, we’re going to see that this Confession, written in 1561, is just as necessary and applicable for us today as when it was written 463 years ago.
Here, we believer Confess the Sufficiency of God’s Holy Word.
1. The Sufficiency of the Word More Broadly – using 2 Timothy 3:16 (majority of
(May help to explain that point #2 is a very brief point – focuses on Christ).
2. The Sufficiency of God’s Word in a Narrower Sense – using Hebrews 1:1-2
1. The Sufficiency of the Word More Broadly – using 2 Timothy 3:16.
The first sentence of Article 7 states what we believe concerning the sufficiency of God’s Word:
“We believe that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely and that everything one must believe to be saved is sufficiently taught in it.”
The rest of Article 7 basically addresses and interacts with all the challenges, with the various ways in which man, and Satan himself (over the centuries and millennia) has sought to question, and undermine and challenge the authority and the sufficiency of God’s Word.
Just think about it – this goes back to the very dawn of history, to the Garden of Eden, where Satan tempted Eve by saying: Did God really say? Do you really believe that God’s Word is sufficient, Eve? Was God telling you the whole truth? Or did God only tell you what He thought you needed to know? Is God’s Word sufficient Eve? Can God be trusted?
Now, when this Article states that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely the “will of God” what is in view here is not limited to the Ten Commandments, for example, but it is a reference to the will of God, to the truth of God that is revealed on every page of Scripture.
This will of God should be interpreted as “the truth about God” which encompasses the knowledge of who God is: His being, His character, His mighty works, His mysterious ways, and His great and precious promises.
God’s will has to do with God’s sovereign act of Creating the heavens and the earth and everything that is within them -- by which truth God lays claim to being the sovereign Lord and King over all creation. Which means, by implication, that every man, woman and child on earth owes all honor and worship and gratitude to God as Creator and Lord. That is also part of the complete will of God.
The will of God also has to do with the mighty deeds which God performed throughout the history of mankind. These deeds revealed not only the power of God, but the grace of God, the mercy of God, the faithfulness of God – as God miraculously saved and redeemed His people when they did not deserve it.
It started with Adam and Eve in Paradise; it extended to Noah and his family on board the ark; and then to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Promised land, and to God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt, even in bringing Israel back from exile many years after that!
But most of all, God’s powerful work of redemption came to its ultimate expression and fulfillment in the person of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was true God and true man. Jesus came to earth to suffer and die on the cross to save us from our sins, to make us right with God, and it was He who rose in victory from the grave – all to secure and guarantee our salvation and give us the victory over sin and Satan, over death, hell and the grave.
“We believe that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely and that everything one must believe to be saved is sufficiently taught in it”. The second half of that sentence is basically our confession, it’s our testimony that we are sure, that we are confident beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything that must be known and believed for our own salvation, is completely and fully revealed in God’s Word, and also by necessary consequence, the work of salvation is finished, the wrath of God is satisfied in the death and resurrection of our Savior.
All we need to do is believe this, to accept this by faith. There’s nothing else that needs to be believed. There’s nothing more that needs to be said. And there’s nothing more that needs to be done! Christ has done it all. We’ll come back to that basic truth a little bit later.
But, before we go there, it might be helpful to say a few words about what this confession does NOT mean. When we say God’s Word is sufficient, we are not suggesting that the Bible tells us everything we need to know about life in general.
The Bible teaches us that God created the world, but the Bible doesn’t teach us about the law of gravity or physics nor does it teach us biology or mathematics. Likewise, the Bible doesn’t tell us how to change a flat tire, or how to change the oil in our car. Those are things we must learn as we study the world which God made, and as we apply ourselves (our God given knowledge and understanding) to the world around us.
In addition, the Bible doesn’t tell parents of newborn children what to do in case our child is colicky or fussy in the middle of the night, or what is the best age to go from breast or bottle feeding to solid foods. Those are things we learn by trial and error, or from grandparents and friends.
Also, the Bible, or God Himself, does not tell us directly what University to attend, which career path to pursue, or what person to marry. While we may wish it otherwise, God does not write answers and messages in the clouds, or send special visions, or speak to us in a voice like I am speaking to you now.
However, while that is true, we must quickly point out, that our God is not silent. We confess that God speaks to us in through his Holy Word. What do we mean by that? It means that God guides us by the principles and truths revealed in His Word. God has given us His Holy Spirit who leads us into the truth.
No, the Bible does not tell us the name of the person we are to marry, but it does reveal to us that he or she must be a Christian, it reveals to us the qualities and virtues of that person. The Bible also teaches us to be patient and to pray while we wait for a spouse. And it also teaches us to pray for contentment if the Lord’s will is for us to remain single.
See, God is not silent. Each day God leads, God guides, God comforts, God directs, God cautions, God admonishes, God encourages. We read that earlier from 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is …useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped to do every good work.
And think of Hebrews 4:12 which says: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God’s Word is not a dead word. It is alive. It is powerful. It is active -- it speaks to us as clearly and loudly as it spoke to saints in the day it was written!
Furthermore, there is no part of our life, there is no part of our daily existence that God does not, in some way, speak His truth into. It is of special importance and significance that we believe this, because many people argue that the Bible is no longer relevant for our day.
The Bible, they say, is an old, antiquated book. It’s written by people who lived thousands of years ago, who know nothing of the challenges and trials of our modern age. In other words, they claim that the Bible is obsolete. It has no meaning today.
Let’s just think about that for a moment. We live in an age of ever-evolving technology. With the emergence of AI – Artificial Intelligence – we may be making leaps in technology that no one could have envisioned even ten years ago!
We ask, how can a book that was written thousands of years ago – in an age before computers and cell phones and chat GPT, how can that book possibly keep up with and address the challenges and issues of our modern day? Does God’s Word have anything to say to us, to help steer us and guide us in this age of technology? Is God’s Word enough?
And what about advances in medical science? Is the Bible sufficient to address issues regarding what goes on in the womb? In Bible times, there was no such thing as IVF -- Invitro Fertilization. This is where the fertilization of the egg and sperm happens in a lab, in a test tube basically, and those fertilized eggs (or embryos) are then surgically implanted in a woman’s womb. Our twin grandchildren Micah and Ava are the product of this medical technology – of Invitro Fertilization!
Often the embryos that are not implanted are stored in freezers, which may be used at a later date, or kept in the freezer indefinitely, or adopted by other couples, or those embryos are simply disposed of like medical waste. Is God’s Word sufficient to address such complicated issues? Is God’s Word enough to guide us through the ethics of those choices, so that we can use that modern technology in a God-fearing way? Is God’s Word enough?
The same could be asked about issues such as MAID -- Medical Assistance in Dying; or people who claim to have gender dysphoria, who think they need to undergo surgery to change their gender? Is God’s Word sufficient to address end of life care, and modern issues of sexuality?
The answer may come as a shock and surprise to many people in our world – and maybe to some of us here – but the answer is YES, without a doubt. God’s Word is sufficient. That’s because God’s Word contains timeless principles, unchanging truths that can be applied to all the issues of life and death, and to all the issues of human sexuality, and technology no matter what age we live in, no matter what our generation, or country, culture, race, gender, or ethnicity may be.
Solomon said it best in the book of Ecclesiastes: Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever (1:9). And: What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
The truth is, there is nothing that surprises God. There is nothing that outsmarts God. There is no technology that renders God and His Word obsolete or outdated. There will never be a generation that rises up and surpasses God. God is God. He made us. Sometimes we forget that.
And remember this as well: at the end of the day, even with all the changes that take place from one generation to the next, there is one thing about this world that never changes, that always remains the same: that is the human condition. Man’s heart, man’s soul is steeped in sin.
We’re conceived and born in sin and subject to the misery that sin brings. And when it comes to sin and temptation, while the outward form of sin may change from generation to generation – while Jacob’s sons for example, didn’t have cell phones and cars, and access to internet porn, they were no less tempted by lust, by hate, by envy and jealously as any teenager today.
There is nothing new under the sun. And so, we give thanks to God that His Word is sufficient - that God’s Word leads and guides and instructs and informs. Yes, it also convicts and accuses and condemns, but it always does so for the purpose of pointing us to the way of salvation.
Ultimately. God’s Word saves! God redeems!! That’s the message of the Bible! That’s why Jesus came! And this is where I want to conclude by talking about the sufficiency of God’s Word in a narrower sense. This is where we see and understand what is really at stake here.
2. The Sufficiency of God’s Word in a Narrower Sense
Here I take you to what we read in Hebrews 1 – those opening two verses. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways (through visions, through dreams, through miraculous signs, through wonders, through the shadows of the Old Testament, through the feast days and through the sacrificial system of the temple, through the offices of prophet, priest and king, etc.), but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
This is the whole message and thrust of the book of Hebrews. The Son is superior to everything that came before -- to everything and everyone – including angels, and the temple, and the priesthood, because in him, in Jesus Christ, we believers have received the fullness, the finality of God’s redemption and revelation.
In this way, Hebrews 1 makes this incredible, and really inseparable connection the written Word of God (the Holy Scriptures) and the Incarnate Word of God (God’s Son Jesus Christ. Pastor Kevin DeYoung picks up on this as well in an article he wrote about the Sufficiency of Scripture.
He wrote: “We must not separate redemption from revelation. Both were finished and fulfilled in the Son. (There is no antithesis between) The word of God (small “w”) versus the Word of God (Jesus in the flesh)…True, the Bible is not Jesus; the Scripture is not the Son. The words of the Bible and the Word made flesh are distinct, but they are also inseparable.
Every act of redemption—from the Exodus, to the return from exile, to the cross itself—is also a revelation. They tell us something about the nature of sin, the way of salvation, and the character of God. Likewise, the point of revelation is always to redeem. The words of the prophets and the apostles are not meant to make us smart, but to get us saved. Redemption reveals. Revelation redeems. And Christ is both. He is God’s full and final act of redemption and God’s full and final revelation of himself.
Beloved, Jesus is God’s Great and Final Word! We confess Scripture is enough because Christ is enough! The work of Jesus is enough. They stand or fall together. And you see, to say we need something more, something else, something in addition to, is to say that Christ is not enough, that He has not done enough, that we need to add to what He has done – and that puts our salvation in jeopardy.
It is just as we sing in that great hymn of our faith How Firm a Foundation: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said—To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
God has not, God needs not say anything more – because Christ is Sufficient! Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Pastor Keith Davis, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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