And so we're going to be back, Luke 16, we're looking at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Let's pick it up in verse 19. Luke 16, verse 19, this is God's word. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may choose to cross from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." And so that is our text this morning, Luke 16, 27-31. Let's ask the Lord to bless His Word. God in heaven, thank you so much that you have given us this precious word. Help us to hear your voice this morning in it and through it by the Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to see and give us, Lord, a heart to treasure this precious gift. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The sermon is going to be a little bit different this morning as we're going to be looking at the idea of the sufficiency of Scripture. And so I'm going to be going to various texts and quoting from various people. But let's just reset the context here. Jesus is in dialogue with the Pharisees. He is in this parable exposing them, that's the primary point of the parable, to help these men realize what great danger they are in. They cannot fail to see themselves in this parable. They, like the rich man, loved money. We know that from earlier in the chapter. They, like the rich man, did not delight in mercy. They, like the rich man, believed that their financial success was a clear evidence of God's favor on them. They, like the rich man, were absolutely convinced that when they died, they would go to be with Abraham. That was just, that was a given. And yet here in this parable, Jesus exposes their hypocrisy and He reveals their true destiny, that they, like the rich man, are headed for an eternity of torment. That their sins of omission, remember we talked about it, it's not that the rich man was a bad man doing evil things, it's what he did not do. Sins of omission that paved his path to eternal torment. Well, that's the primary point of the parable. And yet, in the middle of that parable, we have this beautiful nugget of truth that gives us Jesus' way of thinking about the scripture. It's his parable, he's telling the story. And it shows us Jesus' perspective on the scripture. And so we have this gold nugget that I wanted to take the time and mine with you this morning. Just to quickly recap the story, there's the rich man, fabulously rich, and an utterly destitute poor man laid at his gate every day, but the rich man ignores him, and then they both die. They live their life, one in great wealth and comfort, and the other with sores and hunger, but they die. The rich man, contrary to all expectation, both his and the neighborhood, goes to hell. And the poor man, the destitute man, goes and enters into eternal bliss. The rich man, being in Hades, a place of torment, sees Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham and calls out, asking for mercy. Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. A desperate cry from a desperate man begging for the smallest token of mercy, just a damp fingertip is all he's asking for. And it's denied because there's no mercy in Hades. There's only torment and flames and justice. See, there's just justice. So the man makes a second request, this time pleading on behalf of his brothers. I beg you, Father, to send him, send Lazarus then to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment." And this time the request is not denied as much as it is redirected. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. And so here we find, through the mouth of Abraham, Christ claiming absolute sufficiency for the Scriptures. The rich man is begging that God would send a message to his brothers, to warn them, a message to charge them to turn from their way of living, to turn them away from their march to eternal judgment. Somebody needs to tell them. If you understand the reality of hell and you understand the truth that people are just on their way, You'll feel this urgency. Somebody needs to tell them. Abraham, please, I beg you, send Lazarus to warn them. But Abraham says no. No. Why? Because there's no need to send someone to tell them. Someone has already told them. Someone's already told them. Everything they need to know for their salvation is found in the Scripture, in Moses and the prophets. In the Scripture they will see the holy character of God who cannot look upon evil. There in Scripture they will see the desperate plight of mankind beginning with Adam's fall into sin and shown in all the wickedness of the world. They will see the truth of God's judgment when they see the story of the flood and God judging Sodom and Gomorrah. They're gonna see God's delight to show mercy as he rescues his people out of the bondage of Egypt. They're gonna see God's power to save as he delivers them over and over again. They're gonna see the path of salvation marked out in the signs and symbols and ceremonies of Old Testament Israel. They're gonna hear there from the prophets about one who will be a suffering servant, who will bear their iniquities and through whose wounds they can be healed. Everything they need to know. For salvation and for faith and for life, it is all there. He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you. It's all there in Moses and the prophets, Jesus says. Let them hear them. But notice, the rich man is not convinced. No, he says. No, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, then they will repent. You see, he's asking for something more than the Scripture, something more dramatic, something more immediate. It's not that he doesn't believe in the Scriptures. Of course he believes in the Scriptures. He's a Jewish man. He's probably memorized. good portions of the Scripture. If you would ask him, do you believe this is the Word of God, he would say absolutely. Do you believe it's infallible and inspired and inerrant? He would say certainly. The only thing that he's denying is its sufficiency. And he would have reasons, you see, for his concern. His reasons probably would run along the lines of the fact that he had the Bible. He had Moses and the prophets. He knew the scriptures. And he still ended up in hell. That's the concern. And he's certain that his brothers are on the same path. They have the scriptures. They know the scriptures, and yet he knows them. He knows the way they live. They're like him. He knows that they also are on their way to hell. And so there's a need for something more, more personal, more direct, more immediate, more effective than the Scriptures. Abram says, no. If they won't listen to Moses, if they won't listen to the prophets, if that's not sufficient, nothing, nothing is sufficient. This spirit of wanting something more, something more direct and immediate, was alive and well throughout the Old Testament. If you have time this afternoon, you can read from Jeremiah chapter 23, where Jeremiah, a true prophet of God, rails against the false prophets of Israel. In verses 34 through 36, Jeremiah says, if a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, this is a message from the Lord, I will punish them and their household, God says. This is what each of you keeps saying to your friends and other Israelites. What is the Lord's answer? Or what has the Lord spoken? They want, you see, direction, and they want to know, should I buy this field? Should I marry this woman? Should I invest in this opportunity? What has the Lord said? But you must not mention a message from the Lord again, because each one's word becomes their own message, and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God. That spirit was alive in Old Testament Israel, and it's alive today in the church as well. There are rapidly increasing numbers of Christians who believe with all their heart that their Bible is true. They believe it's inspired, they believe it's inerrant, but they freely question its sufficiency, without maybe really knowing that's what they're doing. They're looking for something more. As I've been studying this this past week, examples abound. But I think one of the most best current examples would be Sarah Young and her devotional entitled Jesus Calling. Now I know some of you right now are maybe your back is stiffening maybe a little bit. All I ask is that you just try to hear the concern, weigh it according to the word of God, take notes, ask questions, that's fine. But if this is a book that you have read and you found it beneficial, I'm not denying that. But this is a phenomena in the church today. It has sold over 15 million copies. That is staggering in light of the fact that a successful Christian book will sell around 10,000. If you have a blockbuster, you can raise that up to maybe 50,000. This has sold 15 million. Maybe 16 by now. If there are 320 million American citizens, that would mean that one out of every 20 American citizens has purchased a copy. So, in the introduction to this book, Sarah Young describes how she learned to hear from God apart from the Word of God. Quote, I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on any given day. I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believed He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. Soon messages began to flow more freely, and I bought a special notebook to record these words. This new way of communicating with God became the high point of my day. I knew these writings were not as inspired as Scripture is, but they were helping me grow closer to God. And so the devotional then is her collection of those messages that she received from God. Consequently, because the messages are directly from Jesus, the devotional is written in the first person, so as if Jesus is speaking. So the devotional from January 2, just so you know what I'm talking about, says this is the whole devotional. Relax in my healing presence, and all the personal pronouns are capitalized, Jesus is talking. Relax in my healing presence as you spend time with me. Your thoughts tend to jump ahead to today's plans and problems. Bring your mind back to me for refreshment and renewal. Let the light of my presence soak into you as you focus your thoughts on me. Thus I equip you to face whatever the day brings. This sacrifice of time pleases me and strengthens you. Do not skimp on our time together. Resist the clamor of tasks waiting to be done. You have chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from you, and then the devotional has two Scripture references on the bottom. Now, why am I concerned about this? I know some of you are reading, have read, and it could very easily sound like this is just one of those, you know, those picky, pedantic, OPC, weird things that we sort of put up with. Well, I want you to just listen very carefully. I'm not saying that Sarah Young denies the necessity or authority of the Bible. And she's just one voice. You can find many other books along this line. There's a whole movement, the New Apostolic Restoration Movement, where people claim to be apostles. There's a popular church right now out in Redding, California. You can read about it in Christianity Today, I think the latest issue, where you have people, men, who claim to be everything the Apostle Paul was and more. These are men that claim that they meet with God and He gives them directions. And people flock to Him. Sarah Young is not denying the necessity or authority of the Bible. She says in the introduction, the Bible, of course, is the only inerrant Word of God. My writings must be consistent with that unchanging standard. She doesn't deny the inerrancy, the authority, but it is irrefutable that she denies the sufficiency. She says, I had my Bible, she read her Bible, but it wasn't enough. Kathy Keller, this is Tim Keller's wife, has written a very good review of the book, and in that review she says this, James Montgomery Boyce, late pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church, author of many books on the Bible, wrote that the greatest issue of our day would not be the authority of the Bible, but its sufficiency. That would be the issue, he says, the evangelical church will not lose their Bible over the issue of authority. They won't lose it over the issue of inerrancy. They'll lose it over the issue of sufficiency. Will we trust the Bible to be all that we need for life and godliness, or will Christians turn to other revelations and experiences? And Keller says, Jesus' calling represents just that trend. Young had the Bible, but found it insufficient. Not only was Young looking for something more, in Jesus Calling, she claims to have found something more. She assures us that this practice of receiving personal messages from Jesus has, quote, increased my intimacy with God more than any other spiritual discipline, more than reading her Bible, more than prayer, more than worship with God's people, more than anything else that she's done. And she sold 15 million copies to well-meaning Christians who are also hungry for something more. Now, why is that a problem? Why is that a concern? And I just beg you, just bear with me. Just bear with me. Here's why I think that's a problem. Because you can easily ask the question, it's helping people. Some of you can maybe testify that there was a particular devotional that just seemed to be very encouraging and just what you needed to hear. I'm not denying any of that. But if so many people are being helped, and if so many people seem hungry for these messages, then why should we be concerned? This is why. I could give several reasons. One would be that the Jesus in Jesus' calling is not accurately portrayed as we find in Scripture. I'm not going to go there today. We can maybe talk about that in the Sunday school class. The concern I want to bring this morning is that this violates the Bible. This sort of approach violates Scripture. That's why I think it matters. And let me give you three reasons why I think that's true. First, it denies what Scripture affirms. Secondly, it adds to what God has said. And thirdly, It denies the ongoing witness and speech of the Word of God. So it denies what Scripture affirms, it adds to what God has said, and it denies, or ignores at the very least, the ongoing witness and speech of God's Word. And that's what we'll look at this morning. First, it denies what Scripture affirms. The Bible testifies to its sufficiency. It testifies to its sufficiency. Can you imagine King David saying that he had his Bible, he had Moses and the prophets, God's revealed, inspired scripture, but he was looking for something more? Can you ever imagine King David saying that? Instead, what does King David say? Well, we read it in Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring altogether. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. So here's David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, magnifying the the sufficiency of Scripture by keeping them as your servant warned. Psalm 1, the blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand or sit in the seat of scoffers, right? What does he do? His delight is in the law of the Lord and on that law he meditates day and night. And because he meditates on the word of the Lord, he's like a tree planted by streams of living water, because he is planted by a stream of living water. He meditates on the law. That's the blessed man. That's King David's way of thinking about the scripture. You find Paul saying the very same thing in 2 Timothy 3, verses 15 and following. He says to Timothy, now remember how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings. which are able, suited, uniquely fitted to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus. And he's not talking about the moment you profess faith. He's talking about the whole enchilada. Regeneration, justification, sanctification, adoption, glorification, the whole thing. Why is this so sufficient? Because this is God-breathed. It's profitable. for teaching and reproof and correction and training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." It just strikes me as tremendously significant that those who were truly inspired by the Spirit of God find themselves exalting and magnifying the sufficiency of the Word of God. If they had the Holy Spirit directly talking to them, and if that was a preferable means of God communicating, why then would they not direct us to that? to go sit with an empty pad of paper and a pen and wait for God to talk to you. Why don't the people inspired by the Holy Spirit do that? Why isn't that what they instruct? Well, because it wouldn't make sense, would it? Doesn't it make perfect sense that the Holy Spirit who inspires the Word directs people to look to the Word? Would it make sense for the Holy Spirit, who's given us Scripture, then to say to people, but you can have more, you can have something more, you should seek something more? Would that make sense? If there's something more that we can have, shouldn't we trust that the Holy Spirit would direct us to it? Peter says, 2 Peter chapter 1, that we have everything we need for life and godliness through the great and precious promises of God. What promises is Peter talking about? He's not talking about promises that you're going to discover in private. He's talking about the very promises found in the Word of God. They provide everything we need. Now, why is that so? Is the Bible sufficient just because it has religious truths? No, it's sufficient because it points us to Jesus Christ. These are the scriptures, Jesus, that testify about me. If you remember after the resurrection, he's on the road and he meets these two men who are despairing because the one they had thought was gonna be the Messiah has been put to death and they had hoped he was gonna deliver Israel and Jesus, beginning with the Law and the Prophets, showed them from the scripture about Himself. Why did He do it from the Scriptures? Because they're sufficient. See, friends, God has one message for this world. He spoke it twice when Jesus was here. His one message, this is my Son, listen to Him. That's God's message to the world. And how are we going to listen to Jesus? Well, we do it in the words of Jesus. We do it in the Scripture. Everything that God wants us to know about Jesus, about his redemption, about his purposes, about his person, everything God wants us to know about Jesus, he's written in this book. And so, everything we need, you see, then, for our Christian faith and our Christian experience is found in those pages because they point us to Jesus, who is our life. So Herman Bobbink says this, in Christ, God's revelation has been completed. In these last days, God speaks to us not by many and various ways, but in one way through His Son. And He speaks through His Son by the revelation of God's redeeming work that we find first predicted and prefigured in the Old Testament, then recorded in the Gospels, finally unpacked by the Spirit. through the apostles in the rest of the New Testament. Kevin DeYoung writes this, Scripture is enough because the work of Christ is enough. They stand or fall together. The Son's redemption and the Son's revelation must both be sufficient. And as such, there is nothing more to be done and nothing more to be known for our salvation and for our Christian walk than what we see and know about Christ and through Christ in His Spirit's book. While God certainly illumines His Word and may impress upon us direct applications from His Word, He does not speak apart from the Word. Or as J.I. Packer puts it, there are no words of God spoken to us at all today except the words of Scripture. Now these men might all be wrong. But I would just say that if they are, then we should have evidence from the Scripture that they are. I don't think they're wrong at all. I think that a book like Jesus Calling and the prophets so-called that are operating and the apostles that are speaking today are denying the self-attesting sufficiency of Scripture. It adds to what God has said. Tim Challies, who's written two reviews of this book, a very, again, a sober, thoughtful, careful guy, writes this. Far and away, the most troubling aspect of this book is its very premise that Sarah Young hears from Jesus and then dutifully brings his message to her readers. Jesus' calling makes the boldest, gutsiest, and to my mind, most arrogant claim of any book ever to be considered Christian. The publisher describes the book in this way, quote, after many years of writing her own words in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to be more attentive to the Savior's voice and to begin listening for what He was saying. In these powerful pages are the words and scriptures Jesus laid on her heart. So by putting words into the mouth of Jesus and claiming that these are in fact the very messages that she's received from Him, she's adding to scripture. Now she tries to deny that claim, saying that her message need to be examined in light of Scripture, but we say the very same thing of Scripture itself. We always examine Scripture in light of Scripture. When Paul preached, the Bereans went and said, is that what the Bible says? And they're not denying that Paul's word are apostolic, they just want to connect the dots. You see, she says her messages are not inspired, but if they come directly from Jesus, apart from the Word, see then what are they? Does Jesus have uninspired language? Does Jesus say things that are not of the Spirit? When He says Himself, everything I say, I say because the Father, He tells me what to say. So, if they are actually what they are, is impressions, her impressions, is that okay? Absolutely, it's okay. The Holy Spirit does impress upon us truths of the Word of God. Praise God, he does. When you're reading your Bible, you're listening to a sermon or reading a good book, and the Spirit will take some aspect of that and impress it upon your heart. That's awesome. We need that. We need the Holy Spirit to do that work. But don't take your impressions and put them in the mouth of the second person of the Trinity. You see, how is that not blasphemy? to take, what if I stood here this morning, and instead of just reading from the scripture, and then expounding the scripture, and inviting you to examine me on the scripture, what if I just said, this is a word from the Lord, and I spoke as in the first person Jesus were talking to you? Wouldn't you think that was incredibly arrogant? I would hope you'd have shivers going up your spine. Just turn it around. What if I wrote a book, and I said, I had your name attached to it, And I said, these are the words of Tony LeCount. And I put all my impressions of things that I thought Tony would say, and I wrote this lengthy book about Tony speaking about a variety of topics. If I were Tony, I would say, Who in the world gave you the right to speak for me? See, that's a violation of Tony's personhood. I don't get to take his name, I don't get to speak words that Tony has never said and just assign them to him, put those words in his mouth. It's a violation of Tony's personhood. And yet, if it's an offense to put words in the mouth of another man, how offensive is it to put words in the mouth of the living God? You see, in the Old Testament, friends, that was a capital crime. You weren't allowed to put words in the mouth of God. I think Chalice is right. There's no other way to avoid her claim that she's communicating divine revelation. Again, that's a problem. Sinclair Ferguson says this, there's a finality about New Testament scriptures. Since they record God's last word for the last days, we should not now expect that God will speak to us directly. It has become commonplace among contemporary Christians to believe that God speaks to us apart from and in addition to His word. In effect, this establishes In practice, a second canon, separate from and additional to scripture, and frequently, indeed almost inevitably, the second stream of revelation becomes the practical rule that directs the Christian life. It is seen as more immediate and individualized revelation, and that's exactly what Jung is proposing. that the Bible is good, but if you really want intimacy with God, if you really want all that is yours in Christ, the Bible will not be enough. You will need to receive divine direct messages from Jesus for yourself. Now again, the sufficiency of Scripture, you see, forbids that we add to it. This is explained wonderfully in our Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter one, paragraph six. The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, our salvation, faith, and life is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequences may be deduced from Scripture. Then this, unto which Nothing, at any time, is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men." And the Westminster divines there are speaking directly to the Anabaptists, who are claiming new revelations of the Spirit, and the Roman Catholic Church claiming traditions of men, that these are the voices of God speaking today. Now, why is this a big deal? John Frame in his work on the Word of God says, Covenant documents in the ancient Near East often contained inscriptional curses, a prohibition against adding to or subtracting from the document, which you understand. If you have a covenant contract with someone, they're not allowed to just change it. If you sell them a car for $10,000, they're not allowed to take an eraser and just get rid of one of the zeros. That's a problem. It's a covenant contract. Well, Frame says that's exactly what Scripture is. It's a covenant contract and it contains just such prohibitions. So Deuteronomy 4.2, you shall not add to the word that I command you nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Proverbs 30, 5 through 6, every word of God proves true. Do not add to his words lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. Revelation 22, 18, I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are prescribed in this book." So Frame says these passages insist that we will never need any divine words in addition to God's written words, words that are available to us only in the Bible. The Bible contains its own inscriptional curse. We don't get to add to it. Sarah Groves puts this concept in song very well in her song entitled, The Word. She sings, I've done every devotional, been every place emotional, trying to hear a new word from God. And I think it's very odd that while I attempt to help myself, my Bible sits upon my shelf with every promise I could ever need. People are getting fit for truth like they're buying a new tailored suit. Does it fit across the shoulders? Will it fade when it gets older? We throw ideas that aren't in style in the Salvation Army pile and search for something more to meet our needs. And of course the chorus is, and the Word was, and the Word is, and the Word will be. And that's exactly the truth. We can't add to Scripture. Third, my concern is that this denies the glorious ongoing witness and speech of God's word. You see, if the Bible is actually God speaking, the living God talking to you, if that's what this book is, then how could you possibly want something else? Can you imagine having a conversation with God and God speaks and you say, yeah, I know, but I mean, isn't there something more? No, you can't imagine having that conversation. So how do we end up here? Well, the reason we end up here is, you see, we lose sight of what this actually is, and it becomes to us a book of maybe moral principles, or a book of theological doctrines, or a history book that has some really just weird stories in it about things that we just can't get our minds around, particularly in the Old Testament. And so we're not sure what exactly to do with it, and there's times when you read it, isn't this true? You read it and you think, I got absolutely nothing out of that. You can sit under preaching and say, I have no idea what that was about, I got nothing whatsoever out of that. Well, if you're reading your Bible, and I'm reading my Bible, and we get nothing out of it, is that a Bible problem, or is that a personal problem? Abram says it's a personal problem. If they can't hear Moses, they're not going to respond if somebody raises from the dead. What we need, friends, you see, is to rediscover for ourselves the wonder of God speaking in Scripture. This is a great quote from Bob Ink. Listen to this. Scripture is not a book of times long past, an ancient chronicle which only links us with the persons and events of the past. Holy Scripture is the ever-living Word. It is the eternally ongoing speech of God to us. It was not only God-breathed at the time it was written, It is God breathing. It is God breathing. So when Abraham, why does he point the five brothers back to Moses and the prophets? Because you see, the Bible is the living, active, dynamic message from God for these brothers. It is like having Moses on your front doorstep. saying to you personally, individually, thus says the Lord." That's what Scripture is. God Himself, you see, addressing every issue in your life and mine by His own wisdom in His Word. It has more power, more authority, more sufficiency and effective ability than 10,000 people who've been raised from the dead. God speaks here. I clearly remember my shock and I have to even say dismay when I read a blog post of someone I respect, John Piper. He wrote a blog entitled, The Morning I Heard the Voice of God. Let me just read a little bit of it for you. He says, let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o'clock. God spoke to me. There's no doubt that it was God. The words were in English, but then they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today. I couldn't sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couple's retreat. It was about 5.30 in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait until I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I got my clothing and grabbed my briefcase and slipped out of the room without waking up Noel. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else was up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray. As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, come and see what I have done. There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment, at this very place in the 21st century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near and had something to say to me. Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man. My heart leaped up. Yes, Lord, you are awesome in your deeds. Yes to all men, whether they see it or not. Yes. Now what will you show me? The words came again, just as clear as before, but increasingly specific. Suddenly I realized God was taking me back thousands of years to the time when He dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported back into history to those great deeds. This is what He meant by come and see. These were the awesome deeds he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God and he was doing it for me. There settled over me a wonderful reverence, a palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and openness and the willingness to hear His very voice. I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalms 66, five through seven. That is where I heard them. Oh, how precious is the Bible. It is the very Word of God. In it, God speaks in the 21st century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, He speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, He reveals His all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, He reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice, any time, Anywhere can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible. Piper says in another article, Lamenting, an article I believe that was in Christianity Today, about a college professor talking about the day, the morning he heard the voice of God and God was directing him to do some specific thing. And Piper says, the great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing His Word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired Word of God. 15 million copies is not a testimony to the spiritual health and strength of the church. It's a rebuke. How does faith come, friends? How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, Romans 10, verse 17. How does faith grow? Paul says, remember the Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3.15. How are we to be justified? By believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as He's presented to us in the Scriptures. How are we to be sanctified? Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth, John 17.17. This is where God speaks, and He speaks everything we need to know for life and for experience. He speaks with power, absolute clarity, and truth. Kathy Keller says this, the only place you can be sure that you are hearing God's words is in God's Word. which is about the word of God, Jesus Christ. What the Holy Spirit has never promised to do is deliver new revelation to non-apostles, no matter how sincerely they wait and listen. If you want to experience Jesus, learn how to find him in his word, his real word. and that's my encouragement and charge to you. End of the day, the issue is not how helpful a particular book or teaching might be, how would it made you feel like, or even how it encouraged you. The end of the day is what you are receiving and feeding on and hearing, does it conform truly conform to this. God promises to bless this, that the person who meditates on this will be like a tree planted by streams of living water and will know Jesus Christ because you will hear Him speak to you. Let's bow in prayer. God in heaven, these are strong words. I thank You that in Your Scripture, You give us a rock to stand on, and You give us the ability to discern what is of God. Father, I thank You for that. I thank You that we are the sheep of Your pasture, and You direct us, and You guide us, and You protect us. I thank You, O Lord, that all the peace that Jesus promises is available in the words of Scripture. We need nothing more. Lord, we've talked about Sarah Young's failure, but we need to confess before You our failure, our failure to ignore the Word, to treat it lightly. to set it aside, to fail to delight in it or meditate upon it. Lord, that's our failure. And we will answer to you for that failure. Our greatest sins against your word are probably not sins of commission but sins of omission. Where we fail to let this be the rock that we stand on. We fail this to be the light that we walk according to. We fail to allow this to be your voice speaking day after day into our lives. And we say, Lord, we are sorry for demeaning such a precious gift. Forgive us for our crimes against you and against your word. And Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will give us a hunger for the word of God. that we would find it to be a great treasure and exceedingly sweet as we commune with you and you speak to us and you direct us and build us up in the knowledge of God and equip us to bear fruit in every good work. And you give us humility and patience and purity that we never knew before because we are planted by a stream of living water. and Jesus himself is talking to us. We don't deserve that gift, but we thank you for it. Move us by your Holy Spirit to it. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.