Taking God At His Word

WHY THE BIBLE IS KNOWABLE, NECESSARY, AND ENOUGH, AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU AND ME

KEVIN DeYOUNG

Taking God At His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me

Copyright ©2014 by Kevin DeYoung

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Cover design: Faceout Studio, www.faceoutstudio.com

First printing 2014

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. 2011 Text Edition.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-4240-4

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4243-5

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4241-1

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4242-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DeYoung, Kevin

Taking God at his word : why the Bible is knowable, necessary, and enough, and what that means for you and me / Kevin DeYoung.

1 online resource.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4335-4241-1 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4242-8 (mobi) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4243-5 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4240-4 (print)

1. Christianity and atheism. 2. Apologetics. 3. Nothing (Philosophy) 4. Nihilism (Philosophy) 5. Bible. Colossians—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.

BS480

220'1—dc23

2014007788

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

To the saints who are in East Lansing, for listening to a decade’s

worth of sermons and always taking God at his Word

Contents

1. 1 Believing, Feeling, Doing

2. 2 Something More Sure

3. 3 God’s Word Is Enough

4. 4 God’s Word Is Clear

5. 5 God’s Word Is Final

6. 6 God’s Word Is Necessary

7. 7 Christ’s Unbreakable Bible

8. 8 Stick With the Scriptures

9. Appendix: Thirty of the Best Books on the Good Book

1

Believing, Feeling, Doing

My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.

PSALM 119:167

This book begins in a surprising place: with a love poem.

Don’t worry, it’s not from me. It’s not from my wife. It’s not from a card, a movie, or the latest power ballad. It’s not a new poem or a short poem. But it is most definitely a love poem. You may have read it before. You may have sung it, too. It’s the longest chapter in the longest book in the longest half of a very long collection of books. Out of 1,189 chapters scattered across 66 books written over the course of two millennia, Psalm 119 is the longest.1

And for good reason.

This particular psalm is an acrostic. There are 8 verses in each stanza, and within ...