What SOME people are saying is that Scripture from the Lord in the Bible isn’t enough.
There must be more.
Genesis 3:1-5 (NKJV) “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
What did God say?
Genesis 2:15-17 (NKJV) Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God never said anything about “….nor touch it…”
In order for satan to be successful, there must be a departure from Scripture.
satan lied to Eve so that she could distrust what God said and trust what satan said through craftiness. satan had to also disguise himself so that he could be successful.
Today, there’s so much deception.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NKJV) “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”
“…The simplicity that is in Christ” is found in the simple Scriptures.
But notice what Paul said in addition.
“preach another Jesus whom we have not preached……receive a different spirit which you have not received……..or received a different gospel which you have not accepted…..”
Did you see these three additional things other than the “…simplicity that’s in Christ?”
Are we to abandon hungering after God? Thirsting after God? No, not in properly worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.
What does it mean to worship in “spirit and in truth?”
Spirit means life, truth is found in the Word.
The Samaritan woman that came to the well wasn’t worshipping in spirit and in truth because she was dead in sin and lived a lie.
She was a practicing adulterer.
It was only afterwards that she was talking to the Messiah that she left her water-pot and told the whole town that there’s a Man that revealed to her everything that she’s ever done. That Man is the Messiah.
The One prophesied BY THE SCRIPTURES that would come.
Her sin was exposed by the Messiah. The Son of the living God. And the whole town came out to see the Messiah. The Son of the living God.
What was the true results?
John 4:39-42 (NKJV) “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
And many more believed because of His own word.
Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
They heard and believed because of His own word.
Scripture first.
Scripture last.
Scripture always.
Scripture alone.
As I was watching a documentary on Oral Roberts, how he had started his ministry, he was a poor man out of Oklahoma. And when he had tuberculosis, shortness of breath, he claimed that the Lord healed him. As I was watching him minister as they brought the timeline of his ministry, you could see a departure of Scripture, or more so the twisting of Scripture.
Then when you watch several other ministers (Kenneth Copeland and others), you see the same thing.
A clear departure of Scripture with stories that fail to line up with Scripture.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NKJV) “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
We all love story tellers because we like to hear a great “inspiring story.” But an inspiring story can have the wrappings of emotion from a very charismatic personality.
Paul said….1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NKJV) “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
What’s supposed to happen?
The Word must be preached without a person’s charismatic personality getting the credit and getting in the way.
2 Peter 3:14-18 (NKJV) “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation
—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
What Paul was teaching was difficult to understand because he received the NT by revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 2:1-2 (NKJV) “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.”
But here’s the advantage.
Paul ran what he received by “…those who were of reputation.”
What he received was further expounded upon in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6.
After time, after the emotions subside. After the shouting, the praying, the crying, when the emotions return to normal, what are we left with?
Sobriety in the Scriptures.
But the Scriptures isn’t enough, you say?
People will go from city to city, country to country, and state to state just to experience what they may have had experienced in previous “revivals.”
After coming down from the rafters. After descending from the heights of the clouds.
We all return to the sobriety of the Scriptures.
I dare say that many of them will never sober up in the Scriptures because many of them are chasing after an experience that will eventually pass.
You’re then compelled to return to the sufficiency of the Scriptures.
Then there’s the vultures of false spiritual movements that have failed and came to a crashing thunderous explosive halt with sexual scandals and unBiblical occurrences.
Only to resurrect themselves from the dumpsters of embarrassment, to take advantage of young people that may not be on to their game.
2 Timothy 3:13-17 (NKJV) “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Paul never instructed Timothy to pursue experiences.
Paul essentially told Timothy that he will find sufficiency in the Scriptures.
The Minister’s Crucible 