The Doctrine of The Sufficiency of Scripture

If God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, why do I keep looking for something more?

Peter says the divine power has already granted us all things, and yet the pull toward an extra book, an extra experience, or an extra voice is strong. Eve stood in a garden that was already full and reached for the one thing God had not given. The sermon names that reach as the old habit of adding to what God has spoken.

…seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue, by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.

2 Peter 1:3–4

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.

Genesis 3:1–6

You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 4:2

“Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:5–6

How is my faith any different from the faith of the apostles?

Peter writes to people who were not eyewitnesses and tells them their faith stands on equal footing with his own, obtained by the same righteousness of Christ. The sermon turns a common question around: not do you have a personal faith, but do you have the faith the apostles had, the one found in what they wrote.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,…

2 Peter 1:1–2

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:28–29

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.

Acts 17:11–12

…for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9

What actually happens in a person when they go from not believing to believing?

The sermon tells of a motorcycle ride where C. S. Lewis set out an unbeliever and arrived a believer, and the pastor says he can name the moment for himself but not the mechanism. Peter calls it divine power, the knowledge of the one who called us, and the sermon places the Spirit's work behind both the word preached and the ears that hear it.

…seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue, by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.

2 Peter 1:3–4

Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must all be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:5–8

A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.

Acts 16:14

Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:3

Where do I turn when the verse I am reading tells me something about myself I do not want to see?

The sermon says scripture is a mirror, and the reason people set parts of it aside is that it shows us what we would rather not see. The Bereans are put forward as the other response: they checked the text daily instead of flinching from it, and the text was allowed to correct them rather than the other way around.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.

Acts 17:11–12

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22–25

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Hebrews 4:12–13

Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalms 139:23–24

How do I keep from treating the Bible as one part of my life instead of the thing that shapes all of it?

The sermon says we tend to slice life into work, family, and leisure, and then decide what each section needs on our own. Peter says the same divine power gives us everything for life and godliness, and the sermon insists that a Christ who changes a person changes them in every sphere rather than one compartment of it.

…seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue,…

2 Peter 1:3

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

John 10:10

Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.

Psalms 119:105