Inerrancy Summit, redux

The Shepherds’ Conference, which was conducted under the banner of the Inerrancy Summit this year, is now over.

Because of the pace of most conferences, I like to take some time to go back through my notes after I return to refresh myself with the essential parts of each message.  As I do that, I usually highlight a few key statements from each session and then condense those into a list of a few memorable items to particularly remember.

Here is my list of memorable statements this year (in general, these are not exact quotations, as they were taken rapidly during the messages):

• Whenever the church abandons the authority of Scripture, the result is always catastrophic.…The harshest words of condemnation in Scripture are for those who prophesy falsely and put lies in God’s mouth. [John MacArthur]
• There is only one book that can change your nature and your eternal destiny. [John MacArthur]
• You cannot be an expositor of Scripture if you have a weak view of the Bible. But since this is the living and abiding Word of God, we have an absolute mandate — every word inspired, every word preached. [John MacArthur]
• There is no excuse for fearfulness or laziness in preaching. [Alistair Begg]
• The real challenge for most of us is not that we stop believing the Bible, but that we stop using the Bible. [Alistair Begg]
• You can’t do superficial worship and serious preaching at the same time. [Alistair Begg]
• The genealogies are God-breathed; the depressing stories in Judges are God-breathed; all Scripture is God-breathed (not just John 3:16). [Ligon Duncan]
• When the world is gone off its rocker, [people will ask,] “what are you going to do, Preacher?” [and he will say,] “I’m going to get up on Sunday and preach [the Gospel of] John…” [Ligon Duncan]
• The Bible is totally sufficient for the Christian life. It is possible to equip us for faith and life — for every good work. Our work as ministers is not over until men and women are conformed to Christ. We must not rest until we see right doctrine working out in holy living through a life of love. [Ligon Duncan]
• For the Reformers there is an intimate relationship between their understanding of Scripture and their understanding of God. We must not allow our minds to be consumed with the battle for the Bible to the exclusion to the battle for God. [Carl Trueman]
• The Reformers viewed Scripture as “God speech,” and since God is trustworthy, Scripture is trustworthy. Their doctrine of God undergirds their bibliology. If Scripture is “God speech,” then our doctrine of God is as important as our bibliology. [Carl Trueman]
• Tyndale’s crime was translating the Bible into the English Bible. This must be a pretty important book for the opposition to that translation to be so great. [Steve Lawson]
• These men who are seeking to kill the Lord Jesus Christ [Jn. 10:19ff], were men absolutely committed to the inerrancy of Scripture. And yet at the same time they were men who were removed from the saving work of the Gospel. Be reminded of the danger of divorcing the Scriptures from worshipping the God who expired (breathed out) the Scriptures. These men who are out, satanically, to kill the Christ, are men who would have died rather than denied the jot and tittle inerrancy of Scripture. Cf. Jn. 8:47 — they did not hear, because they were not of God. Let us guard our hearts from thinking that because we subscribe to biblical inerrancy that all is well with us — we may still have a heart that is far from God and His saving grace. [Ian Hamilton]
• A true commitment to biblical inerrancy will reveal itself in a Christlike lifestyle. [Ian Hamilton]
• The Bible is not God, but apart from the Bible we could not know God as we do. To attack the Word of God is to attack God and to honor the Word of God is to honor God. [Mark Dever]
• God’s Word brings us into contact with God Himself and this wakes us up spiritually. The sense of moral distance between us and God is seen more and more. We are left with a true sense of the difference between God and us. We regard His Word with the most profound respect. We marvel at His love and mercy to us. [Mark Dever]
• The Word of God is truth — it is reality; it defines things as they really are. [Steve Lawson]
• Because the Word of God is inerrant, it is by necessity, invincible. It is absolutely powerful. It is able to do what it claims to do. It is incapable of being overcome or subdued. [Steve Lawson]
• As we administer the Word of God, this is our invincible tool — never enter the pulpit without it. Put down all other plastic forks and butter knives and take up the sword of the Spirit. You need the sword to pierce in your ministry. [Steve Lawson]
• If you sow a worldly message, you will reap a worldly church. If you sow a living and enduring Word of God, then God (who alone can cause that seed to germinate) will use that Word to make a regenerate church. “If we want conversions, then we must put more of God’s Word into our sermons.” (Spurgeon) [Steve Lawson]
• The Scriptures are a growth stimulant. None of us will live up to all the Word that comes into us, but none of us will grow beyond the Word that is given to us. [Steve Lawson]
• Stand in the pulpit, and take the Bible — lift it up, let it out, and let if fly! [Steve Lawson]
• Inerrancy matters more than most people think. [Al Mohler]
• The Scriptures are inerrant because they come from the Spirit of truth. “The Holy Spirit has no bad breath.” [Sinclair Ferguson]
• What is at stake in inerrancy is not only the integrity of the Scriptures, but the integrity of the inter-Trinitarian relationships. Because the Father gave the Word to the Son and the Son to the Spirit, if the Word is errant, then the deity and authority of the Trinity is destroyed. [Sinclair Ferguson]
• Attacks on the Word of God are as old as fallen man. Understanding those attacks is the key to understanding history. [Iain Murray]
• Does the best stuff we give when we are preaching coming from our closest examination of the text? Or is the best stuff coming from when we depart from the text? [Kevin DeYoung]
• An inerrant Bible demands expository preaching. If every word is true, every word must be preached; otherwise you are editing God. [John MacArthur]