Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 193rd episode. In this episode we’re going to talk about the sufficiency of scripture. This is the rebroadcast of a sermon that I gave for the young adult ministry called United. Much can be said about the sufficiency of scripture but today we’re going to focus on the principles described in Psalm 19. But before we get into that I want to talk to you briefly about Bible translations. I’m not going to denigrate any particular translation but I want to tell you what the three major types of translations are. You need to know this if you’re going to be serious about your biblical literacy because bad translations of the Bible are becoming increasingly ubiquitous.
There’s been a rising tide of so-called Christians who cast doubt on the Bible as to whether or not God really spoke it. More and more I’m hearing people say they love Jesus but not so much the Bible. They seem to think their relationship with God is so special that it goes beyond the Bible and therefore grants them permission to deny it. They fail to understand that Jesus Himself viewed scripture as the infallible word of God and He quoted it extensively. When He was tempted by Satan and when He was presented false doctrine His standard response was to point back to scripture by saying, “Have you not read?” Jesus Christ is so inseparable from the Bible that John’s gospel gives Him the title Logos or the word made flesh. To suggest your relationship with God is so unique that it supersedes scripture is a form of narcissism indistinguishable from that which grips the most crazed among our self-dominated culture.
And I’ll just say this: if your faith is not grounded in the verbal plenary inspiration of scripture (this means the Bible as a whole, as well as in every part [not just the red letters], is the word of God written) and if the Bible is not the final authority which adjudicates your worldview, then you are the same as a flat-earth conspiracy theorist. Your faith is a conspiracy theory. You are an idolater. You are playing tennis without the net and you’re just making things up as you go along. Whatever it is that you think you’re doing, you’re not following Jesus. If this is your faith then truly you are better off walking away because then at least you will be laid open to general revelation in the creation and the possibility of being drawn into the presence of the true and living God.
Now let’s talk briefly about translations. First are translations of formal equivalence — these translations aspire to come as close to a word-for-word rendition as possible. Second are translations of dynamic equivalence — these translations aspire to provide a thought-for-thought representation of the original text translated into english. Third are translations called paraphrases. A paraphrase effectively writes a new Bible according to what the translator thinks the real Bible was meaning to say. I do not like paraphrases because I believe a paraphrase is too far removed from the original text to be reliable for accuracy. If you’re going to do deep study of scripture I believe you should be using a formal equivalence translation — which is a word-for-word translation. My three favorites are the King James Version, the New King James Version, and the 1995 NASB.
Setting translations aside, I want to get right to our text for the day which is Psalm 19. There is perhaps no clearer defense for the veracity of scripture in all of the Bible than what we find here in Psalm 19. The unified theme of Psalm 19 is that God has revealed Himself and His glory. You’ll notice the passage begin with a review of God’s general revelation as apprehended through His creation. So when you marvel at the awe-inspiring majesty of a mountain or the vast expanse of the night sky — you are experiencing a general revelation which points to the power and wisdom of God. And in this Psalm you’ll notice that David is referencing parts of the creation which are so universal that human beings can’t miss them. The heavens, the day and the night, and even the light of the sun itself. All of these magnificent and fundamental parts of the created order testify of God’s glory. These testimonies in the creation are repeated every single day and they are so obvious that Romans 1:18-20 says:
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Rom 1:20 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.
The general revelation of God has been made so obvious to man that it is sufficient to condemn him should he suppress the truth in unrighteousness. This is why it is written in the scriptures that only a fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” God’s non-verbal revelation in the created order is sufficient to condemn and God’s verbal revelation written in scripture is sufficient to save.
When we get to verse 7 of Psalm 19 the passage will shift to focus on special revelation — which is the specific character of God verbally revealed to us in scripture. These are words that came from the mind of God through the inspired biblical writers. Let’s read Psalm 19 beginning in verse 1:
Psa 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Psa 19:2 Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.
Psa 19:3 There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.
Psa 19:4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
Psa 19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
Psa 19:6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psa 19:8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psa 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
Psa 19:10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Psa 19:11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.
Psa 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
Psa 19:13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
Psa 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19 is in some sense a reduced version of Psalm 119, which is an absolutely profound testimony to the wonders and to the sufficiency of scripture. Among other things the holy scripture is both a rule of our duty to God and a delineation of our expectation from Him. It is every bit as necessary to our well-being as the day and the night, as the air we breathe, and as the light of the sun. It is the special revelation of God to man, and all of it points to Jesus Christ our Savior. Scripture denotes God’s will, His purposes, His plans, and His means of salvation. There is no salvation without the gospel and there is no gospel without the scripture.
We are living in a strange time insofar as the sufficiency of scripture has come under attack. For most of human history the Jews never questioned the inerrancy of their Old Testament, and it wasn’t until after the Protestant Reformation and well into the Age of Enlightenment during the 17th and 18th centuries that secular humanists began attacking the authority of the Bible. Fast-forward a few centuries and all of us are living in the midst of the devastation that a low view of scripture has wrought.
Much of the confusion, depression, anxiety, and unsophisticated cultural absurdity you observe today can be chased back to a disrespect for scripture and for the correct traditions which were built on its firm foundation. We’re going to examine the characteristics of that firm foundation for the remainder of this message. In verses 7, 8, and 9 of Psalm 19 you have six statements concerning scripture. In some sense they are parallel statements. Each one of these statements contain the tetragrammaton which you may have heard of as Yahweh or YHWH. In your english translation this is written as the LORD in all capital letters. This is the covenant name of God. The name of God is repeated in each of these statements to remind us that all scripture gets its authority from the author Himself.
All scripture is God-breathed. All scripture is the word of God. So when you hear people say the red-letter words of Jesus count more than the words of Paul or when you hear people say the New Testament has supplanted the Old Testament, you can know these people are painfully theologically deficient. They have not paid careful attention to their Bible because if they had they would have read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says:
2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2Ti 3:17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
All scripture. Every good work. There is no gray area and the Bible is sufficiently all-encompassing that you need nothing else to live a godly life entirely for Jesus and to go to Heaven when you die. Let’s examine that claim at a higher resolution. The six declarations found in Psalm 19 show us six properties of scripture which prove its divine origin, which extol it above all human law, and which recommend it to our trust and our affection. The six titles given to scripture in this passage are law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, and judgments. These titles show us that viewing scripture is like viewing a diamond with many facets. It’s all one scripture but there are so many facets to it. We also see six characteristics of scripture: it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. And there are six benefits: it restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever, and produces comprehensive righteousness. And if you were to study the 176 verses of Psalm 119 you would see that these qualities are expounded upon there. So what we’re reading in Psalm 19 is God’s own word about His word. Let’s look at the first statement:
The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul. Referring to scripture as law or torah here means that scripture is divine instruction. Scripture is God teaching man all that he needs to know to live life to its fullest. It is the manual for life given to us by the Manufacturer. Scripture is perfect as opposed to imperfect but it’s also perfect as opposed to incomplete. The language here indicates that scripture is all-sided. This means it is utterly comprehensive for the project it was written to accomplish. And what is that project? Restoring the soul. Scripture targets all of its power and all of its energy at the soul or the inner person because this is the part of yourself which is eternal. Will you see some worldly benefits from the restoration of your soul? Maybe. Probably. It’s possible your family gets better or your community gets better. But the singular focus of the scripture is your soul. If you want your inner person totally transformed, this is the work of the word of God and only the word of God can do it.
The word of God is perfectly free from all corruption, it is flawless and equally dependable as God Himself. The word of God is perfectly filled with all goodness, and it is perfectly designed to equip the people of God for all righteousness. We have a complete and closed canon of scripture which means nothing is to be added to it and nothing is to be taken from it.
Another way of translating the verb for restore in this passage is to say convert. So the Holy Scriptures covert the soul. That means if you want to help lost people receive salvation in Jesus then you should be teaching and preaching the word of God. The slick packaging, the skillful preaching, all of that becomes vacuous if the word of God is not faithfully taught. I think you should be teaching it line-by-line but topical teaching is profitable so long as it remains accurate and mostly expository in technique. Scripture is able to recalibrate us to true north and give us the stability of being centered. The word of God brings us back to our duty, it brings us back to God Himself, and it shows us the misery of our sinful condition as well as the destruction which attends departure from God.
The second statement reads: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. This means that scripture is a witness. It is God’s own testimony to who He is, what He wills, what He requires, and what He will do. As a witness to God’s person and God’s plan the scripture is sure. You can be certain everything is going to happen exactly as God planned it. We can stake our eternity on the reliability of scripture when it comes to the revelation of divine truth. When you die, you’re not going to stand before Zeus instead of Jesus because it is incontestably certain when the scriptures say you will stand before Jesus. And you can also be certain when the scriptures say the wages of sin is death.
Everyone’s always talking about how they experience God and there’s been lots of talk of revival lately. But imagine experiencing God at the transfiguration. The transfiguration when Christ received honor and glory from God the Father on the holy mountain. It was a dazzling display of power and majesty for the King of kings. Peter was there. Peter saw Jesus in a way we will not see Him until we pass into glory. And do you know what Peter said about the scripture? He juxtaposed its magnificence to the magnificence of Christ at the transfiguration. Listen to 2 Peter 1:16-21:
2Pe 1:16 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.
2Pe 1:17 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-pleased”—
2Pe 1:18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
2Pe 1:19 So we have the prophetic word made 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 arises in your hearts.
2Pe 1:20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
2Pe 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
You have a revival in the palms of your hands. You have a great awakening on your bookshelf. Read it. Read it every day 2 hours a day for the rest of your life until you die. Psalm 19 says the word of God makes wise the simple. It makes us wise to salvation. It gives us insight to things divine and foresight of things to come. I want you to think of the dumbest person you know. Some of you are like, I am the dumbest person I know! Now understand that if this person – simple as they are – were to put all of their efforts into reading and understanding the word of God they would quickly become one of the wisest persons you know. And I mean quickly, especially in this cultural climate. Most of the intelligentsia are just swirling around each other in the toilet bowl of arrogant sophistry. These are not wise people these are deceived people. I know their arguments I used to be one of them.
Wisdom does not by necessity come through age and experience — I know plenty of gray-hairs who have just been wrong a lot longer than the young ones. Wisdom is sourced in the word of God and that means no matter how young you are, no matter how poor you are, no matter who your family is, no matter what your past is, you have the capacity to become the wisest person in your circle. And deep down everyone knows that wisdom is the currency of kings because when you’re at your most broken and your life becomes chaos you turn to the wise for understanding. The Hebrew term for wisdom is defined as being skilled at living. That’s who you go to when you need help because you recognize the character of Jesus in the wise people in your life. And there are few things more devastating to you than losing the wise person in your life. Wisdom is at your fingertips. You’re insane if you don’t take it. Mastering the art of living is accomplished by the knowledge and application of the word of God.
When we look at verse 8 of Psalm 19 we see the third statement concerning scripture. It says, the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. This means that the statutes of God are enacted by His authority and they are binding on all people everywhere. That’s something to remember about scripture: just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean you aren’t bound by it. You can try to bend and twist the fabric of reality all you want but it’s going to snap back in kind — often to your own extraordinary detriment. The precepts of God represent the eternal rules and principles of good and evil. They transcend your own life and your own opinions. They are more valid than your personal experience and they will outlast whatever societal norms we construct.
God’s precepts are not suggestions or nice ideas, they are binding doctrines which are nonnegotiable. They are absolute and they are unwavering. Such a truth might anger you if you are defiant to it, but really it should make you feel safe and secure. If I lock you in a steel cage you might feel like you’re in a prison, but if I drop this same cage into shark infested waters then it becomes your lifeline. Part of the thread which connects the fools who reject Jesus is their misapprehension about the dangers of this world. They think human beings are naturally good and capable of constructing their own values. They disregard the evidence of millennia of people who have failed in that project. Their astonishing ignorance and staggering self-righteousness leads them to believe they will be the first generation to get it right. They try to explain away satanic evil with recourse to over-diagnosing mental illness. And then as their confused moral guidance continues to shift the Overton Window of cultural norms these mental illnesses which started out as wickedness cease being mental illnesses and become identities. That’s what it looks like to allow sin to transform you into the kind of person who would rather spend eternity separated from God than to spend even a moment in submission to the light of the truth.
The so-called enlightened among us would like you to believe there is no evil but in reality one of the conditions which makes you most vulnerable to trauma is naïveté. If you lack a philosophy for good and evil and someone who is evil touches you, the experience will physically damage your brain. The stellate ganglion collection of nerves in your neck will trigger a flood of norepinephrine to the amygdala and shatter the normal functioning of your fight-or-flight response. The way in which you conceptualize the world will crack and you will become locked into a tormenting memory. Do yourself a favor right now and understand that evil is real and there are people roaming the earth who are not only okay with hurting you, but derive orgasmic pleasure through the process of inflicting your pain. You live in shark infested waters so don’t be so hasty to dispense with anything that looks like a cage of limitation for you.
The only move that makes rational sense in the face of God’s statutes is humble submission to them. If we submit to the precepts of God they will set us on the path of truth, and understanding the truth will set you free from madness. God’s precepts rejoice the heart because whether you agree or not His precepts are already written on your heart. The corruption of our flesh may tempt us to resist God’s precepts, but the truth is that your soul is already designed to embrace them. Scripture says that man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If you reject God’s precepts you cause your heart to harden and your soul to wither away in starvation. Scripture has the power to rejoice the heart because the author of scripture is the same God who designed your heart.
The fourth statement we read concerning scripture is this: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. Scripture is divine command: disobedience means judgment and obedience means reward. As pure as is the word of God so it purifies those who receive and embrace it. Another way of translating pure here is by saying clear. There is a theological concept called the perspicuity of scripture — and this just means scripture is clear and accessible. You don’t need to do some kind of intellectual gymnastics to get to its true meaning. You may need to humble yourself and repent in order to get to its true meaning, but the scripture itself is not concealing meaning from you in some form of secret knowledge.
The Spirit of God working through the scripture is how you are sanctified or made holy. The scripture is the standard vehicle by which God enlightens your eyes and makes you aware of your own shortcomings. Reading and applying biblical commandments keeps you humble and reveals your need for a Savior. Jesus expected the unbelieving Jews of His generation to read and understand scripture which is why He continuously asked, “Have you not read? Have you not heard? Do you not search the scriptures?” I don’t expect every individual to become a theologian but I think the Bible is easier to understand than many people make it out to be. I think the underlying cause of biblical illiteracy is not capacity to understand but rather it’s lack of interest in the Bible itself. Make a list for yourself of things you spend 2 or more hours per day paying attention to — and that will reveal what you value. Scripture says the word of God is near you. It’s not some far off thing which is only apprehensible through a pastor or a teacher.
If we believe the Bible is true then that means those who possess the word of God are the only ones who see reality as it truly is. Understanding the word of God imparts the mind of Christ and when you have the mind of Christ I believe you see reality as it actually is — rather than through some distortion of personal perspective. Having the mind of Christ means you think about things the way God thinks about things. You understand life and death. You understand origins and consummation. You understand the purposes of God unfolding in history. You understand goodness and evil, sin and righteousness. You understand God has to restrain sinners so you understand how the law of God on the heart and conscience works. You understand the role of family in the world and what happens to societies when families start to break down. You understand the role of government in the world and what happens in the world when that starts to break down. You understand the church and the function of the church in the world. You understand the gospel and what the gospel can do and only the gospel. You understand why people hate the gospel because you know that Satan who is the lowercase G god of this world hates the truth and will do anything to undermine it. When you have the mind of Christ you see things the way they actually are and the only way to have the mind of Christ is through the scriptures.
The fifth statement we read says: The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever. Psalm 119:9 says “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” The fear of God endures forever because the nature of moral good and evil is timeless. You are perpetually obligated to keep the word of God and it will never be repealed. I can tell you from personal experience that the eternal nature of scripture is very comforting in the wake of loss. When you lose someone you love part of the grieving process is coming to grips with the fact that everything seems to end. Fast-forward your life by a decade and the life you’re living right now is over and new one has begun. Some parts may remain but even the longest lasting and most durable parts are going end in this world. But the one thing you can hold and touch and read in this life which will never pass away is the word of God. The permanence of scripture gives you an anchor which will help you tremendously when you’re dealing with the pain of loss. You can be certain that God’s word is settled in Heaven forever. The Bible is equally absolute for every generation, every individual, every society, and every language.
When we think about the fear of the Lord in this passage another way of understanding this is our worship of God. The Bible is a manual on worship. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t pray much because you’re not sure what to pray then I recommend praying the scriptures. The Bible is full of prayers which you can study and use to pray to God yourself. Praying the scriptures is wise because it ensures your amen and your affirmation is aligned with what God has already revealed to us. The Bible instructs us to worship God in spirit and in truth. Without scripture we would lose our ability to worship God properly. When Psalm 19 says the fear of the LORD is clean it means this manual on worship is free from defilement — it is without error. When churches are trying to decide how they want to structure their services, if their worship experience isn’t founded in the word of God then their worship experience is a farce. It’s just another concert or a TED Talk.
The sixth and final statement we’re going to look at in this message reads this: The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. The precepts of God which are framed by infinite wisdom and grounded upon the most sacred and unquestionable truths are able to produce comprehensive righteousness. These are adjudications from the divine bench. A person’s movements become righteous when in accordance with scripture because there is no unrighteousness in scripture. There is no unrighteousness in the command of God. If you hear someone say something like, “I don’t believe in a God who would do X, Y, or Z.” You better ask them whether X, Y, or Z are written in scripture because if they are then you can be certain they are righteous and He will do them. We do not occupy a position from which we can morally indict God on what we believe is right and wrong.
The Bible is true. That’s what this final statement is saying. The word of God is absolutely true. What it says about God is true. What it says about creation and consummation is true. What it says about sin and righteousness is true. What it says about Heaven and Hell is true. The Bible produces comprehensive righteousness. You don’t need anything else to live a godly life. The final verses of Revelation warn us against adding to or taking away anything from this book. Scripture is sufficient. It is the power of God to restore the soul, to make wise the simple, to rejoice the heart, to enlighten the eyes, scripture will endure forever, and if you abide in it the word of God will produce in you comprehensive righteousness. You will have the mind of Christ. And the Psalmist says this is more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than the drippings of the honeycomb. The word of God is our greatest protector because by it we are warned. It is our greatest provider because in keeping it there is great reward.
Verses 12 and 13 tell us that scripture is our greatest purifier because we aren’t very good at discerning our own errors. Sometimes it’s hard for us to see the sin that’s within us and so we’re liable to stumble into it. If we didn’t have the Bible we would miss a lot of our own shortcomings. This book exposes everything. The Psalmist is saying that without the word of God he would fall into presumptuous sins and ultimately become a defector. Joshua 1:8 says that scripture shall not depart from your mouth and shall be the meditation of your heart day and night. Then here at the end of Psalm 19 the Psalmist prays that his own words and the meditations of his heart would be acceptable in the sight of God. So what he’s praying is that the scriptures may not depart from his mouth or from the meditation of his heart. What you’re thinking about and what you’re talking about day in and day out ought to be the word of God. Job 23:12 says:
Job 23:12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
If you commit today to living in the biblical realm with word, thought, and deed every moment of your life then I promise you in due course peace will reign in your heart. You will live your life as God designed it and this is the best version of your life on offer. There is nothing out there which can match it. And it’s near you right now, you don’t need to travel anywhere to be filled or to receive it. You just need to read it.
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