TODAY'S THEME VERSE:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." Matt. 5:17
HARD SAYING FOR THE
WEEK:
How can verses like
Joshua 8:1, 10:7, and 11:6-8 be consistent with what Jesus commanded in Matthew 5:38-39? How could God both condone war in
the OT and condemn those who retaliate against another person? Isn't this inconsistent and doesn't this prove that the Bible
is not true in at least some places?
Personal retaliation
is different than retaliation and enforcement of the law which is the responsibility of government officials (Rom. 13:3-4).
Should we go to war? What does God's word say about it?
INTRODUCTION TO THE
STUDY
1. Who was Jesus? Give me some of the names used for
Jesus in St. John's Gospel.
The Light of the
World, The Word of God, the Bread of Life, the Son of Man, the Son of God, Teacher, etc.
2. What did the living Word of God have to say about God's Word? Did He trust it? Did He think we should take it for what it's worth and live by it?
OF COURSE! BUT, tell me how do you know that?
Where does it say it?
Let's look at a few passages this morning where Jesus is talking about the Word of
God, the Law. Answer the following questions for each
passage:
a. What does
Jesus say about the Bible (God's Word, the Law)?
b. What can we
learn from these verses as we live our lives today?
Matthew 4:4, 7, 10
God's Word is all we need to beat the devil at temptation. We can learn to do just what Jesus did here, have Scripture be so much a part
of our lives, that we will not succomb to the temptation
of the devil and we will be victorious.
Matthew 5:17 (theme verse for the day)
Jesus came to fulfill the law. The Bible is full of Him and points to His coming. The OT is true by Jesus' implication that He came to complete what was talked about then. What we can learn is that OT and NT are true and fit together to give us a complete picture of God and what He has done for us.
Matthew 22:37-40
The Law and the Prophets were assumed by Jesus to be true. He says that they all hang on two commandments-- Love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself. We can learn that Jesus thought God's law and what the prophets said was true and it simply had to do with love-- love for God and others.
Luke 10:26-28
He asks the person asking him the questions what is written in it. How does that person understand it? This says to me that Jesus was concerned
about how others understood or didn't understand the
law. In light of the fact that this man was probably
testing him, Jesus took the law, something that they had
in common to answer a "pesty" question. Jesus again here assumes the law to be
right by his comments in v. 28. When the man answers, he tells him
he has answered correctly, and that he will live if he does this. We can learn
this-- the use of God's Word when being tested by the world is not a bad
idea. To do so will bring an answer that cannot
be shaken, and God will silence the mouths of the fools
with his Word.
John 17:17
As we are in this world, struggling and needed to trust in God to save us as believers from the evils of this world, Jesus prays an interesting
thing-- make them holy in this world by the truth. It
is the truth that makes us holy. What is the truth? God's Word, according to Jesus.
What do I learn from this? Jesus wants us to be holy,
to be sanctified. Other places (Rom. 15:16) the Bible says that God's Spirit
makes us holy. He does it though, by means of the Word
of God. It is the tool that God uses to make us like himself. Jesus
trusts it enough to call it the Truth. We should trust it that much too.
Revelation 22:7
Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Jesus says he is coming soon! You want to know how to get ready for his coming? Keep the words of the prophecy of this book! Certainly it's important to understand the Revelation of John, but to understand that, you've got to understand the entire rest of this book! Jesus is making the claim here that you must do the prophecy to enter eternal life with him. Do it, just do it
and you will live. So, what's your excuse? Why aren't you trusting Him? Did you
ever consider this-- if you don't trust him today, he
won't trust you to save you at the end of the age? Think about and take God's
Word seriously.