If you don't have a handout, there are handouts in the back. And we are, pardon me, we're again talking about the theology of biblical counseling. And as we said last week, we feel like this is applicable to every Christian in the sense that what we're talking about in a larger way is just a theology of sanctification. How does a Christian grow in godliness and holiness? How does a Christian grow in righteousness and putting off sin and putting on righteous behavior? Well, that's part of what biblical counseling is doing. Biblical counseling is discipleship, it's just crisis discipleship. It's discipleship at a moment where someone is really caught in something that they need help out of. But it's basically the same, it's just a difference in degree, not in kind, from every other kind of conversation we can have spiritually encouraging one another in the Lord. So the principles apply universally just to Christian living, and to those of us who feel called to this, those of you who feel called to this ministry, then it's an opportunity to get trained to be a biblical counselor. And our hope is that we will have Over the next year, many of you get certified, and we'll be able to open a counseling center at Providence where we're able to say to people in the community, if you have problems, we would like to help you. We believe God's word has the answers, and it will provide opportunities for ministering to people in all kinds of situations, and really an opportunity for the gospel. Because many of those people who would come would not really be saved, or they know they've got problems, God's working in their life, but they're not yet believers, and what an exciting thing. So anyway, that's our heart behind it. Let me pray for us, though, as we get ready to get started tonight on this lesson. Father, how grateful we are for your word. We thank you, Lord, that it is a powerful and sufficient word. that You've told us everything we need to know and You've given us a Word that is mighty and able to accomplish the purpose for which You send it. Help us now as we consider the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture to believe what You believe and to value Your Word the way we ought to value it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So this is for... we're looking at the ACBC Theology Exam Question 2, describe the sufficiency of Scripture, relate the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture to the practice of biblical counseling, research and respond to the arguments of at least one integrationist or Christian psychologist regarding the insufficiency of Scripture for counseling. Integrationist refers to someone who's integrating principles of secular psychology with the Bible. It's a Christian psychological counseling view. And many times they'll call themselves Christian counselors, even biblical counselors, but they may be really fundamentally integrationist. They're drawing on... And so what does that mean? And how does that relate to sufficiency of scripture? So what I want to do, first of all, is give you a real simple definition that I found that I think is right to the point from John MacArthur. The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is basically the doctrine that God's Word is sufficient to meet every need of the human soul. It is sufficient to meet every need of the human soul. In the past, at times, we've argued for the inerrancy of scripture, the authority of scripture, and in Southern Baptist circles, that was a big deal in the 80s, and it was one, and then institutions turned around, like Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Jackson, I mean, not Jackson, in Louisville, Kentucky, it was populated with, like, of 120 professors, only three of them believed in the literal resurrection, bodily resurrection of Christ in 1992. You know, three out of 120 were Christians. And today, it's a tremendous institution. We turned around because of the victory of the people who believed in inerrancy in the Southern Baptist Convention, began electing people who changed the trustees of the seminary, and finally they brought in Al Mohler in 1993, and he cleaned house. Praise God. But too often people believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, but not the sufficiency of Scripture. And that's what we're talking about today. It's not just inerrant and authoritative, it is sufficient. And this is so critically important. So what we want to do is talk about that. Three points in the outline. The first is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is biblical. The Bible presents itself as sufficient. that we should not need anything else beyond the Bible. And this doctrine is kind of like I mentioned inerrancies this way too. The doctrine of sufficiency is implied everywhere in Scripture. but it's explicitly clear in some particular passages that are really powerful, but it's assumed everywhere. I mean, just think about we mentioned last week on the authority of Scripture where the temptations of Jesus and how He said, it is written. Remember what He said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's the sufficiency of Scripture. What do you need? You need the Word of God. Remember I mentioned also Genesis 1 when God created man, the first thing He did was He spoke to him. because man could not understand who he was. Even before sin entered the world, man could understand who he was, why he was here, what was he to do without God speaking to him. He needed the Word of God. We were made to be revelation receivers, as Paul Tripp says in his book, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands. We need the revelation of God. We need that. Well, and that revelation that He's given us in the Scriptures is sufficient. It is exactly what we need to tell us who we are, why we're here, who God is. So, the Bible's witness to itself. The Bible does claim to be sufficient, and there are a couple of key passages that, well, I mentioned three, but Psalm 19 is one of the passages that teaches the sufficiency of Scripture. And let's look at that together. Psalm 19, verses 7 to 11. Now, is the Bible enough? And what we're talking about, is the Bible enough when people are dealing with real, quote, psychological problems? Someone's controlled by anxiety. Someone's struggling with sexual lust to the point that their life's dominated by the use of pornography. When someone is dealing with what the world calls drug addiction or alcohol addiction, the Bible calls it drunkenness, Is the Bible sufficient to address those real life, ugly, nasty problems that people, we can find ourselves in? Is the Bible sufficient? Well, the Bible says it is. And here's a passage that illustrates that. The law of the Lord is perfect, verse 7, Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, and much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward." So the Scriptures are sufficient. They are sufficient to warn us and to give us the way to live. And particularly, I want to look at verse 7. And what he says in that first verse, the law of the Lord is perfect. The law of the Lord, the Torah of the Lord. This is a phrase that's used to speak of all of Scripture, but starts off talking about the first five books that were given, but is used... Now this is another one for Gina. A part... Did you say a part for the whole is what? So this is synecdoche because the law of the Lord represents the whole of scripture. Though it's the law, he's using that to speak of the whole of the law of God. Butonomy is when one word is used for a related word. Like heaven, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Very good. Thank you. Alright, great to have that clarification. So, the Law of the Lord, speaking of the Scriptures, the Bible is perfect. The adjective perfect here, it means whole, complete, entire, lacking nothing. In fact, this word is used in a number of places in the Old Testament, about 95, but one of the places it's used as an example is 1 Samuel 16, 11, when Samuel is there at Jesse's house to find the king that he's going to anoint. We know it's David, but Samuel doesn't know. Remember, he brings in all of his sons except one. He looks at them, and they're not the one, and he asks Jesse, is this your whole family. Is this all of your sons? Word, all. Is there anyone lacking? Yeah, David's not here, the youngest, but I think we need to bring him in. He surely can't be the king. That was what Jesse was thinking, and of course that was the one God chose. So, when it says, it's perfect, it means that all, there's nothing lacking, nothing missing, nothing left out. Everything is here. The law of the Lord is perfect. It's complete. And He not only gives us an adjective to describe it, He tells us what it does. It's perfect and complete, and the NASB, New American Standard, says, restoring the soul. King James says, converting the soul. ESV translates that verb, reviving. And so the idea, actually, the Hebrew verb here, in this Old Testament verse, is the word, which is normally translated, repent. And so the law of the Lord is perfect, it's complete. And repent means repent, to return, to turn around. And so it does have the idea of restoring to where you were before. You've been going the wrong way, and you are turned back into the right way. So that's the idea here. The law of the Lord is perfect. It's everything that is needed to turn about, to restore, to renew, what? The soul. Now the soul in Hebrew, that word is nephesh, but if you were reading a Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, you would read in this verse the word psuche. Sukhe, P-S, this is how it's transliterated. It sounds like different than it's transliterated because the Upsilon, when it comes into English, U turns into a Y. So the way you would transliterate the word Sukhe is P-S-Y-C-H-E. Psyche. the Greek translation of the word nephesh in the Hebrew Old Testament, is the word for soul. So what David is saying here in this psalm is, the law of the Lord is perfect. It has the power to restore, to revive, to return the soul to its rightful place. How do you care for the soul? That's what psychology is supposed to be. The study, that's why it's called psychology. Psyche, psuche, lagos, study of the soul. And secular psychology seeks to study the soul apart from Scripture. What we're saying, and what this verse is saying, is the Bible is the place where you find, you find the power to restore someone's soul. when their soul is out of line, when their soul is messed up, when they've been believing things they shouldn't believe, when they're feeling things they shouldn't feel, they're wanting things they shouldn't want, the Bible is the only thing that can return the soul back to its rightful place. And he goes on, he adds on, the psalmist is, as he's thinking about the glory of the Word, he says, not only does it restore the soul, it makes wise the simple. It shows the simple, how to live. You know, wisdom is knowledge applied to life. What am I supposed to do in this circumstance? The Bible shows you how to do that. It makes wise the simple. It rejoices the heart. It enlightens the eyes. That's why it's more precious than gold, than fine gold, more sweet than the honey from the honeycomb. Another place you see this, I mean, like I said, you can see this in a number of places, but Psalm 119. Turn over there, since we're in the Psalms, to 119. Verse 24, I mean Psalm 119 is all about the inerrancy of Scripture and the sufficiency of Scripture, the authority of Scripture and the sufficiency of Scripture. You read through it and you just see it again and again and again, but I just want to show you a few places where you see this. Psalm 119, verse 24, your testimonies also are my delight, they are my counselors. You need counsel? Where do you get it? The Word of God, the testimonies of God, the words of God are your counselors. Verse 25, my soul cleaves to the dust, revive me according to your Word. There it is again, that idea of reviving, you know, restoring. Verse 28, you have a problem, my soul weeps because of grief. A person's grieved, they're depressed. strengthen me according to your word." I don't have any energy, I'm lethargic, I'm beaten down by sorrow. The Word will strengthen you. Look back to verse 9, how can a young man keep his way pure? You struggle with impurity and the need for victory over sexual sin. This is the Word of God. The Word of God is sufficient for all of these things, is the idea. And of course the clearest place where this is spelled out with the greatest specificity is in the New Testament, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. Now, we were here last week to talk about the inspiration of Scripture. We talked about the inerrancy of Scripture, remember? The inspiration is God breathed. That's the first clause in 2 Timothy 3, 16. All Scripture is God breathed. All Scripture is inspired by God. Literally, God breathed, right? But the next part deals with the sufficiency of this inerrant word. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. It is profitable. The word profitable means useful, practically helpful. The Bible's not just a book that presents a religious philosophy and wonderful religious theory that is beautiful and elegant. No, the Bible is practical. It's intensely practical and useful. And he says there, every single verse of Scripture, remember all Scripture, all of the letters written down on the page are profitable. Every passage is profitable. Every passage is useful. This is true even of the genealogies. And it's so cool when you see that. I preached on the genealogy in Matthew 1 a few years ago, and it was so enriching to me studying that and seeing how much profit and usefulness there was even in that. Now you have to take bigger blocks sometimes when you're working on genealogies, but there's still usefulness there. Because if you understand it rightly, you interpret it correctly, there is something. God has put that in His Word for some benefit to your soul. It's profitable for... it's useful for teaching. Well, we're going to go over that in a minute. Teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. That the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work, So it's profitable to do these things, it has these four functions, teaching, reproving, correcting, training. It's four key participles that show how it works, but its goal is useful to make you adequate. The word adequate's a word that's kind of familiar to some of you, especially if you're involved in artios. It's the Greek word artios, Ardeos, which means fitted, complete, framed to fulfill a task, exactly formed to fulfill its design. In fact, it's really interesting, the way this, in the Greek, the way this sentence was laid out, after he says, all Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, in order that And the way that the word order in Greek, you can play around with the word order in Greek a lot more than you can in English. It's like some other languages where words can kind of be in different places and the reader just automatically knows how to see them. And you can move them around for emphasis. The first word in the sentence, after the word in order that, the first word of substance in the sentence is the word adequate, adios. And the last word is the word equipped. First and last words are emphasized in the writing of Greek, and so those are the two words both are emphasized, and the last word equipped is actually the verbal form of ardeos again. It's exartizo. It's the word artizo with an intensifying preposition on the front of it, and so it means, the verb means, to fit, to furnish completely. So what you have is, the bookends of the sentence are saying, listen, the Word of God, it makes you completely fitted, exactly formed to fulfill every single task that God calls you to do. I mean, he's saying it as emphatically as he can. Every Word of God is given for this purpose. You just take the word as it says, take the scripture at its word, at face value, and that's what it's saying. You're adequate, you're equipped for every good work, not for most good works. not for most of the things you're going to face in life, for every single good work. Now, listen, the Bible does not speak to every single issue that you'll ever encounter. It does not tell you how to... you know, if you have a computer problem, how to fix your computer problem. The Bible doesn't tell you specific things like that, every single practical thing. But the Bible informs your thinking in such a way that as you look at your computer problem, if you're letting Scripture form the way you think, you will handle it in a radically different way. It equips everything about the way you look at everything in your life. and therefore it is adequate to make you adequate for everything that God has called you to do. Everything God has called you to do, the essential equipping is in the Scriptures. So if you have a problem with anger, if you have a problem with anxiety, a problem with depression, a problem with lust, a problem with fear, a problem with drunkenness, the answer of how to walk in godliness out of those sins is found in Scripture. So that's the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible clearly teaches it to be a sufficient revelation. Now the second point, the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is not just biblical, it's foundational. And here, essentially, I just have one quote that I want to share with you from Heath Lambert, because this is what makes biblical counseling truly biblical and what makes it unique among so much counseling that purports to be biblical or purports to be Christian. Truly, listen, truly Christian counseling would be biblical counseling. Christian counseling that's not biblical counseling is misnamed. it's not authentically Christian. Authentically Christian counseling should be biblical. Now we use the word biblical just to communicate clearly what we're talking about. Heath Lambert writes, so this doctrine of sufficiency is foundational. It's the foundation upon which the biblical counseling movement rests. Heath Lambert writes, the central doctrine of our movement, the one that separates it from other counseling approaches is sufficiency. Other approaches believe in the centrality of Christ, and they also believe in the necessity of the gospel for living the Christian life. Biblical counseling, however, is unique in the belief that the Scriptures comprehensively and sufficiently show how the power of Christ relevantly and powerfully speaks to all the issues that require counseling, no matter how extreme or challenging. That is a lot said in that statement. But essentially, the gist of it is, the Bible speaks comprehensively and sufficiently to every issue that requires counseling, no matter how extreme. It's not to say that there's not a place for a medical doctor to be involved, we've talked about that before, but that the real root issue in someone's heart, even if there's medical components, physical components going on, the ultimate root issues are spiritual and the Word of God is the way forward. So that's the foundational element of this doctrine for biblical counseling. Third point, the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture is practical. It's not just biblical, it's not just foundational. Thirdly, it's practical. And in this particular question, you're asked to interact with some integrationist counselor. So one I've chosen to interact with is a guy named Larry Crabb. Larry Crabb has written a number of books, a couple books I read when I was a young pastor, actually a seminarian, and just beginning to get into ministry, understanding people and inside out. And when I read the books, I thought they were pretty helpful. There were some helpful insights in the books. But as I've grown in my understanding of the Scriptures, and my understanding of biblical counseling, I've come to see that there's some real problems with Crabb's ministry, and a lot of people like him. In his books, first point here, Larry Crabb defines the basic needs of people in a way that arises not from the scriptures, but from secular psychological theory. That is, the way he thinks about people and their needs is rooted not in what the Bible says about people and what they need, but it comes out of a secular philosophy that rises from secular psychology. Need theory, Maslow is the one that probably most closely ties together with where crab's coming from. But the point here is, I really think that we live in a culture where psychology has dominated the way people think about people. It's interesting he used the title, Understanding People, in that one book he wrote. I think that's a title that is helpful in the sense of we need to understand people not the way he does, but we need to understand people biblically. And what's happened is, even well-meaning guys, I don't doubt his sincerity, that he's a believer, and if I say anything like that, I think he, you know, and he's written some helpful things, but But the problem is, there's so many ideas that have so been a part of the culture that we don't even realize how unbiblical our thinking is. Like a fish doesn't know he's wet. He doesn't know what it is to be wet. He is, but he doesn't know it. Things like self-esteem, things like need for significance, need to be loved, need to love yourself. There are all these ideas that are like, they're like planks in the way that the world thinks, and the Christian world thinks, that we grew up with. And we've sort of imbibed them, not critically evaluating them against the scriptures. Is this what the Bible says a human being is? And so you imbibe these things, you take them in, and what happens is, I think what Crabbe and others do, and we all do in areas, I'm not just throwing stones at him, because we all have areas where this is true of us. It may not be in the area of counseling, but you have other areas. We take our experience and our beliefs that we've formed about life, and we read the Bible through the lens of our presuppositions and experience. So we read the Bible thinking, I need to find self-esteem. I need to find significance. And then what happens is, Jesus becomes my psychotherapist. The gospel is distorted and twisted subtly sometimes, but in a way that can be incredibly impactful and destructive. over the long haul in a person's life. I mean, can it keep people out of heaven, even, if you misunderstand that too much? You see Jesus just as a cosmic waiter to cater to your desires. And so what has to happen is, we have to, in fact, what's, this is, John Calvin used the illustration of spectacles. And he talked about the relationship of special revelation and general revelation. General revelation is what God reveals through creation, things that we discover through like scientific inquiry and stuff like that, experience, you know, we know that this is how certain things work, this is what happens, you know, how the heart works, this is how we learn these things, that's general revelation. Well, what Calvin pointed out in some of his writings was that the depravity of man is so great that we're so twisted that if we try to look at natural revelation without our spectacles on, and he said, the spectacles that you must have on are the spectacles of Scripture. To understand the world, you first of all have to put on the spectacles of special revelation. And then you look at the world and now you interpret it correctly. What's happened, I think, with guys like Larry Crabb is, well-meaning guy, but he has actually reversed it. He's put on spectacles some of it unknowingly of just the cultural assumptions about needs and things like that. And then he's read psychology, and then he goes to the Bible, and he reads the Bible through those messed up spectacles. And it twists and distorts the way he sees the Scripture. What we must do is step back from every presupposition and say, look, I want to see what the Bible says about man. What does the Bible say about who we are? And so, If you don't do that, what happens is your anthropology, which is your doctrine of man, I think this is what's happened with so many like him, when your anthropology is a blend of the Bible misinterpreted and along with principles of secular psychology, that is, you think man is basically a bundle of needs that need to be met, and that he's driven by his needs, and that's okay to be driven by your needs, then the way you interpret the gospel is related to that, and it twists and distorts it. And that makes... you have a fundamental error in diagnosing and treating the problems of the human soul. You can't see it rightly. So what we need to do is get the Calvin Spectacles on right ways, which is to look at the Bible and let the Bible help us understand people. Let the Bible give us a proper anthropology, doctrine of man, understanding of what God, how He made us, and then let the Bible diagnose the problems in the soul and let the Bible treat the problems in the soul. And that's what we're saying sufficiency of Scripture is. The Bible is sufficient to tell you who you are and why you were created and what you were created to do and to be, and the Bible's sufficient to tell you where you're amiss, where we're wrong right now, what's wrong with me, the Bible is sufficient to tell me that. Now I often need someone else ministering the Word to me to see that. It doesn't take that away. The one-anothering has to happen, right? We've got to remember that. It's not just you and your Bible helping yourself, counsel yourself. No, you need other people. You need someone else admonishing you, and teaching you, and encouraging you. But they need to be using the Bible. So let's look at this last B point. Scripture is necessary for all parts of counseling. To understand the right function of the human soul. To help us start out seeing who we are. I want to tell you, I've been thinking about this. I've been racking my brain a little bit as I've been around. I had a second class with that guy, Jeremy Pierre, at Southern. And we're in class. Several times during the class, I'm just hit with, man, this guy's insight is just really extraordinary. He's probably 39 years old, which is a little humbling, you know? Dr. Pierre, I have to say, I'm 55, and he's not really, it didn't really bother me, but you think about it, this guy's so smart, and I feel so dumb next to him, and I've been pastoring since he was like 14, you know? And so, But I was thinking, how is it that he sees things so clearly? And I think this is true of other young men. I think it's even true of Jess to an extent. And I think I figure something out that makes me feel a little better as an older person. So those of you who are older like me, take some encouragement. See if this helps you. I think what's happened is, because of the great work that God did through J. Adams, Wayne Mack, the early guys, George Scipione, all those guys, and the guys that have built on that, of like bringing the church back to the Bible, to see it is sufficient for the issues of life. And it's been going on now, what, Nanc? ACBC's forty-some-odd years old. There are young men who have grown up knowing how to filter these things from the very youngest time, you know, when they were in high school. They're learning. Like, we didn't know that. I mean, we were going to church where people were teaching psychobabble from the pulpit. And we didn't know better to even know how to filter that. I mean, many of us. So what we've got is we've got more entrenched things that we're trying to unlearn. So if you grow up not learning that stuff, you learn the truth, then you just, it's like you're standing on the shoulders of spiritual giants and you're seeing a little farther than they did. That's what, Isaac Newton used that metaphor. If I saw a little farther than other men, it's because I stood on the shoulder of giants, is what he said. I think that's what's happening. And that's so exciting. Listen, young people, all of you who are under 18, listen to me. You have a tremendous opportunity to give glory to God in a way that even your parents don't. I mean, they do have an opportunity to give glory to God, but you have an opportunity to be so far ahead of them by the time you're 30 years old. if you will apply your heart with all diligence to wisdom, to think God's thoughts after Him, to love His truth, to walk in His truth. You have an opportunity because you've been blessed to have parents who are bringing you up in the discipline and admission of the Lord, who are teaching you things like this, and you're in a Bible study like this right now, at whatever age you are, learning something that we could not learn. Don't squander that opportunity. Be excited. Realize how good God is being to you to give you that opportunity. and make the most of it. That makes me so excited to think about what this next generation of true believers is going to be, the holiness that's going to come. Well, that aside, let me just quickly go through, we've got five minutes here, I need to wrap this up. To understand the right function of the human soul, Genesis 1, 26 and 27 says that the human soul was created to be in the image and likeness of God. We are to be like God. That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to glorify God by loving Him, worshiping Him, and being like Him. Now, we've talked about in a series of sermons over the summer that our heart is made like God. We think, remember the three functions of the heart, our thinking, our wanting, desiring, valuing. That's the second part. Emotions, sometimes called that way too. And we have our will, we choose. So, we need to think what we need to think and believe what God thinks and believes. We need to to value and want what God values and wants. And we need to choose what God would choose. And when you see that that's your purpose, then your problems are defined in terms of that. It's not the problem of needs that are not being met. No, your problem is God made you to be something that you're not. And first of all, you need to get saved, be born again, repent and believe the gospel. And now you need by His Spirit to learn how to walk like He walks and to be like Him. to do what Ephesians 5-1 says, be an imitator of God as beloved children. Imitate your father as a beloved child. Be like your daddy. Be like your elder brother Jesus. That's what the Christian life is about. So, then the issue then is that's what the soul is made to do, to diagnose the problem. Yeah, there are a lot of times where our problems of the soul are very complex. Very difficult, like Heath Lambert talked about. Very confusing to figure out what's really going on in this person's heart that's causing this level of suffering and bondage, this level of disobedience. What's happening inside of them? We don't understand the purposes of our own heart. Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I mean, in one sense it seems hopeless. But Proverbs 20 verse 5 says, the purposes of a man's heart, that is the reason he does what he does, the purposes of a man's heart are deep waters. He's saying essentially what Jeremiah said at first, hey, look at deep waters, you can't see what's going on down there, but he says a man of understanding draws them out. You can get to the purposes of man's heart. Hebrews 4.12, how do you really get down to the heart of someone and help them see their purposes that are not right with God and to change their heart? Hebrews 4.12 says, the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword. It pierces the dividing joint and marrow, soul and spirit, and listen, and is a discerner of the purposes and intentions of the heart. The Word of God. It is sufficient to get down into the heart and to change the purposes of a man's heart. To take that person that's bound in some kind of life-dominating sin, it's not easy, it's not gonna happen overnight because God doesn't ever promise that. That's another one of the crazy things that we think in our lives today in Christianity that's supposed to be easy. Nothing in the Bible tells you that. No. It's hard work to follow Christ. Now, the wonderful thing is that His grace is going to help you all the way. But it's not going to be easy. So, diagnosing the problems of the soul, the Word of God is sufficient to do that. To treat the problems of the soul, the Word of God is sufficient to do that. We said earlier, Psalm 19, 7, the Word of God restores the soul. How does it restore the soul? How does it return the soul to its proper place? Well, it does what 2 Timothy 3.16 says. It's profitable, and how it makes you adequate, equipped for every good work, is it teaches you what to think and believe. It reproves you. It shows where... it diagnoses where you're not believing, where you're not valuing what's right, and it shows you you're wrong. That's what the word reproved means. It corrects. It then shows you how to get on the right track. And then it trains. It doesn't just say, you're wrong, this is the right way. It actually trains you to walk in righteousness. That's the sufficiency of Scripture. The Bible is everything we need. Now, it's not, like I said, it's not even easy to deal with these deep problems. That's why we need people who are like Proverbs 25, a man of understanding. Someone who has studied to show themself approved. People like you who are going through the training to try to help people in counseling. But the Lord is going to use his word and his word is mighty and it is able. So that's what we need to keep our hearts on, the power of the word of God, that it will accomplish the purpose for which you send it. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that your word is living and active. That it always accomplishes the purpose for which you send it. Lord, help us be people who are devoted to Your Word, because Your Word reveals Jesus to us. Your Word keeps us close to Christ. Your Word fills us with Your Spirit. Your Word redirects our hearts. Keep transforming us into the image of Your Son. We pray in His name. Amen.