Is the Bible enough for whatever we face in our churches today, be it bulimia, self-mutilation, conscientious doubts, or cultural differences? Is it true that God is still speaking through the pages of this ancient book?
Last weekend, I joined more than 500 others at a book launch event hosted by Westminster Bookstore. Kevin DeYoung’s new book, Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me, addresses what we should believe about the Bible by examining what the Bible says about itself. Westminster Bookstore partnered with DeYoung to hold this one-day event to promote both the book and the critical truths within.
I could multiply praises for this event, but let me get right to it.
DeYoung inspired us to have confidence in the text of Scripture. He inspired us to inspire others to have confidence in the text of Scripture.
It sounds so simple, but we so easily drift.
- Though you believe the Bible, do you long for a mystical experience with God? Perhaps to hear from someone who’s been to heaven and back? Perhaps to hear his voice calling you through private letters written just for you?
- Do you trust that God has spoken now in his Son and that we need no further prophet, priest, or sacrifice (Heb 1:1-4), or do you feel safest when someone else tells you what to think?
- Does this book speak life to you, or do you feel the need to supplement it with study guides, commentaries, or other expert guidance?
- As you lead or teach, do you communicate that people must come to you with their questions? Are you in danger of leading primarily with your personality and not with the truth?
- Are you seeing other people learn to study and teach others, or do you prefer to be seen as the guru with the best answers?
Now I’m not saying that DeYoung encouraged us to separate ourselves from the church or from the historical insights of others. Nor would I urge such a thing.
But, are you able to compare everything you hear with the Scripture? Do you have confidence that these precious words have been spoken by God the Holy Spirit for your growth in grace? Do you understand that Scripture’s authority lies in the text, and not in your experience of the text nor in the teaching you sit under? Do you see that when you pay closer attention to these Spirit-spoken words, the Lord Jesus Christ (the Morning Star) will rise in your heart (2 Peter 1:19)?
Though I appreciated DeYoung’s messages at last week’s conference, I’m sure I’ll forget most of what he said soon enough. But he explained the books of Hebrews and 2 Peter in such a way that I don’t think I’ll ever read them the same way again. He explained these books so clearly that I don’t need to hear DeYoung’s messages again. I have the text itself, and that’s enough.
That said, I highly commend his book to you. Not simply because it has the words “knowable” and “word” in the title, but because it will unravel for you the riches of how God views his own word. It will inspire you to love God’s word the way God himself does.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Ps 119:16, ESV)
It is impossible to revere the Scriptures more deeply or affirm them more completely than Jesus did. Jesus submitted his will to the Scriptures, committed his brain to studying the Scriptures, and humbled his heart to obey the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, believed his Bible was the word of God down to the sentences, to the phrases, to the words, to the smallest letter, to the tiniest specks—and that nothing in all those specks and in all those books in his Holy Bible could ever be broken. (DeYoung, Kindle location 1330)
Though I received a free copy of DeYoung’s book at last week’s conference, I purchased the Kindle edition so I’d be able to give the hard copy away. It’s that good.
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