The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of Yahweh are true; they are righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:9)
The psalmist says, “His Word is true.” Oh, what a statement. Do you know how hard it is for people in our society or in any part of planet earth to find truth? Do you know what a battle it is to discover truth? And we have the Word that is always true. Therefore it’s always dependable, always relevant, always applicable, in contrast to the lies of men who are victims of their father, the lying devil himself.
Listen, if the Word of God is sufficient for salvation, if it is sufficient to perfectly transform the soul of a person, if it is sufficient for all the skills of spiritual living, if it is sufficient to bring full joy to overcome the sorrows and struggles of life, if it is sufficient to bring understanding to the dark things hard to see, if it is sufficient to purify all sin, and if in all of this it’s always true, then it’s got to be the source of everything in spiritual living. The fact is that God, in the Scripture that we hold in our hands, has given us a perfect expression of His eternal will to establish all the necessary truth for spiritual life and duty.
And I believe that with all my heart, because that’s the testimony of God Himself. To believe anything less is to strike a blow against the integrity of the living God.
Now, notice the result of the truthfulness of Scripture in verse 9 is that it is altogether righteous. And the idea of that phrase is to talk of its comprehensiveness. There are no errors in it. But more than that, it is a complete, sufficient source of truth.
And that is why the Scripture says things like Deuteronomy 4:2, “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you.” You better not add anything; you better not take anything away. Why? This is altogether complete.
In giving instruction to how a king should live, in Deuteronomy 17:19-20, the Word of the Lord said this: “And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong his days in his kingdom.”
Promised blessing came in connection with obedience to Holy Scripture.
Are we to believe that we need more revelation, more visions and words of prophecy? You see how ridiculous all of this is? The Word of God is sufficient, true, and absolutely comprehensive.
I draw you one more time to Psalm 119:
Forever, O Yahweh,
Your word stands firm in heaven. (Psalm 119:89)
Therefore I deem all Your precepts concerning everything to be right,
I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:128)
Righteous are You, O Yahweh,
And upright are Your judgments. (Psalm 119:137)
The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments is everlasting. (Psalm 119:160)
This is tremendous testimony to the utterly comprehensive source of spiritual truth necessary for perfectly meeting all the spiritual needs of man.
This post is based on a sermon Dr. MacArthur preached in 1986, titled “The Sufficiency of Scripture, Part 2.” In addition to serving as the pastor of Grace Community Church and the voice of Grace to You, Dr. MacArthur is the chancellor of The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, Calif. You can learn more about TMU at www.masters.edu.
