Sufficiency of Scripture Conference - Session 1 (12/10)

The following are  my notes and thoughts during the talks at the Sufficiency of Scripture Conference so they may not be the exact wording of the speaker but their words and the ideas I took from the speaker.  Also I apologize for typos as this was done so as to get it online ASAP:

Do Not Learn the Way of the Gentiles -  Scott Brown

• The church has set aside the Sufficiency of Scripture (SoS) and the church has suffered
• The battle for the 20th century was for the inerrancy of scripture but the battle for the 21st century is for the SoS
• Worldliness has made the church look like there is no God in heaven
• The church has become a mirror of the world instead of a mirror of God
• There needs to be an urgency to the state we are in
• The time is now to act to return to the sufficiency of Scripture

8 Things we must know about the SoS

1) The SoS is the sufficiency of God

• There is a message of woe to be given as those given by Isaiah if one does not seek the counsel of God and His word (Is 30:1)
• Paul tells us that His word is where we are to go for our counsel (II Tim 3:16)
• In speaking of the SoS we speak of the sufficiency of Christ
• God breathed His scripture so it is about and from God and thus is to be seen as more than words on a page

2) The war against the SoS is the consistent theme of Scripture

• Scripture reveals many that sought to deny God’s word and instruction
• To find their own way
• From Adam to Cain to Babel and Lot and many others
• But we have others such as David claiming the law of God being perfect
• God’s commands are constantly thrown off by man
• And Christ, the word made flesh, came and He too was warred against
• The book of Revelation speaks a warning about adding to and subtracting from Scripture

3) The SoS must be defined

• The  Inerrancy of Scripture is also to be defined(Ps119:9-11)
• But that is not enough as one may hold to the Inerracny of Scripture but not the SoS
• II Tim 3:16 speaks to the SoS
• Scripture is to be seen as sufficient for faith and practice
• The Regulative Principle of worship speaks to the SoS and flows out of it
• “Whatever is not warranted by Scripture is forbidden” - John Knox
• There may be debate on elements of worship in light of the regulative principle but at least the focus is on scripture so the issue can be settled there
• The normative principle however in essence says that scripture is not sufficient and does not say all there is as it relates to worship

4) The SoS is a whole and you cannot detach a single section of genre

• SoS relies on the whole Bible
• Not select sections or those sections that are palatable
• In choosing what we deem acceptable we act as God

5) It is complete and it cannot be added to or subtracted from

• Deut 4, Prov 30 & Rev 22:18
• Both are temptations
• Antinomianism - subtracting from God’s Law
• Phariseeism  - adding to God’s law
• So we must know His word’s so as to not add or subtract from it
• “Ignorance of scripture is the mother of error not devotion” - Thomas Watson

6) You can cast yourself on every single word

• We should seek every word for all of life

7) The SoS forces a battle that will leave scars

• To stand for the SoS will truly lead to battles as it has for centuries
• But this is not to stop us from battle and preparing our children for battle

8) The SoS brings a vision of hope and happiness for the people of God

• No matter the issues that arise when one seek sot uphold the SoS there is hope
• The word mixed with faith brings hope, faith supplied by God
• This is what transforms