This New Sermon Series is "Why should we trust the Word?" Why Trust the Bible? This question has been asked by many over the centuries. Obviously, many ask this question today. Let me tell you of one person who had real doubts about the Word, and had asked this very question.
Billy Graham had a crisis of faith in 1949, right before his Los Angeles Crusade. By all outward appearance, Billy’s career seemed be on the upswing. This crisis of faith started the year before when his companion and close friend, Charles Templeton encourage Billy to enroll at Princeton theological Seminary with him. Templeton was considered the better preacher and evangelist of the two, but both lacked formal seminary training, Billy had only bachelor’s degree from Wheaton Bible College. But Princeton was a very liberal Seminary, so Billy declined.
Princeton’s liberal theological education clearly had an profound impact on Templeton. He said to Graham, “Billy, you’re 50 years out of date. People no longer accept the Bible as being inspired the way you do. Your faith is too simple.” In his autobiography, “Just as I Am,” Billy wrote: “I had no doubt concerning the deity of Jesus Christ or the validity of the Gospel, but was the Bible completely true? With the Los Angeles Campaign galloping toward me, I had to have an answer. If I could not trust the Bible, I could not go on… I would have to leave pulpit evangelism.”
His heart heavy, he went for a walk. The moon was out and the shadows were long in the San Bernardino Mountains surrounding the retreat center where he was staying. Dropping to his knees there in the woods, he opened the Bible at random on a tree stump in front of him. “O God!” he prayed “There are many things in this Book I do not understand … There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science.” He paused, then continued: “Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word—by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.” When he stood up from his knees that August night, his eyes stung with tears. “I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but … I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won.”
And the rest is history. Mere months after his breakthrough in the mountains, Graham's Los Angeles crusade made him a household name in America and launched an extraordinary evangelistic career.
But for the rest of the story: As for Templeton, he finished his graduate work at Princeton, then became an evangelist for the National Council of Churches. Princeton's dean even considered him "the most gifted and talented young man in American today for preaching mission work." But it wasn't long before Templeton admitted that he no longer believed in any sort of meaningful Christianity. He left the NCC and ultimately moved to Toronto where he became a prominent media personality, writing newspaper columns and providing television commentary.
For much of his life he remained friends with Graham, but Templeton never returned to the faith of his youth. Just two years before his death in 2001, he published a critique of Christianity titled Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith.[1]
In this sermon series we will examine the biblical reasons to believe the Bible. Like Billy Graham, we may not have all answers, but we can be assured that God’s word is inspired and true. Over the course of the next 5 weeks, we will see that we can trust the Bible because: The Word is inspired; The Word is living and powerful; The Word is Truth; The Word is the Solid Rock; and lastly we will see that The Word is Jesus. Today we begin with: The Word is Eternal.
Matthew 5:17–20 (NKJV) 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Bible speaks of the eternal nature of the Word of God. Jesus says plainly His word will endure:
Matthew 24:35 (NKJV) Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
From OT book of Isaiah we read:
Isaiah 40:8 (NKJV) The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
When we consider the transient nature of our earthly existence, should we not be aware of what is eternal? We can trust the Word, because it is eternal. Jesus comments on the eternal concerning our treasures and where they lie:
Matthew 6:20 (NKJV) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Our focal passage deals with the permanency of the Word of God. Jesus reinforce that very concept. But Jesus' teaching was quite radical. It was rumored that Jesus was putting aside or negating the very Word of God by his actions. For example: Jesus healed on the Sabbath (never mind the miracle of the healing itself). Jesus associated with Tax collectors and other “sinners.” Jesus paid no attention to the tradition of the Pharisees.
They (the Scribes and the Pharisees) had built such a hedge all around the Law (specifically the Tora, the first 5 books of the OT) that they missed the very meaning and purpose of the Word.
Yet, it was the Pharisees who were destroying the Law! By their traditions, they robbed the people of the Word of God; and by their hypocritical lives, they disobeyed the very Law that they claimed to protect.[2]
But Jesus not only reinforce the authority of Scripture, but he raised the bar. Jesus set a higher standard. The rest of Matthew 5 deals with those examples. Look at these pairs of verses that follow our focal verses: 21 + 22; 27 + 28; 31 +32; 33 +34; 38 +39; 43 +44. These verses read with a very similar formula:
You have hear it said . . . But I say to you . . .
Jesus give divine interpretation to God’s Word, which was (and is today) out of step with the contemporary interpretations. As we will see next week, it was His Spirit, the Holy Spirit that inspired all of Scripture, then does it not make sense that Jesus and Spirit will guide us to proper interpretation?
Matthew 5:17 (NKJV) “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Right off the bat, Jesus challenges the perception of the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is equating the Prophets to the Law. When mentioned together, the “Law and Prophets” the reference is to all of the Old Testament as we understand it. It was the whole Bible in that day. The Scribes and Pharisees place the Law (the first 5 books of Moses) well above the rest.
That word “destroy” in other translations is “abolish.” The Greek words means to make invalid or non-applicable. Jesus did not come to make invalid, put aside, or to do away with any of the OT. He came to fulfill.
Today we look back and interpret the OT through the lenses of the NT. So we understand when Jesus said:
John 5:39 (NKJV) You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
Cover to cover, from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21, the whole Bible is about Jesus. It is with that in mind we interpret the Word.
“Jesus is not the servant but the Lord of the law” [3]
For example, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross satisfied the demands the law, which is death for sin, any sin. Jesus fulfilled the entire sacrificial system of the OT which pointed straight to Jesus.
Matthew 5:18 (NKJV) For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
The first few words of the first is important. “Assuredly,” other translation have “truly” or “I tell you the truth.” The Greek word is “amen” and appears in the words of Jesus at least 31 times in the book of Matthew. When used by Jesus in this fashio, it means "pay attention, I'm about to tell you something important."
“till heaven and earth pass away” may reflect the Jewish conviction that the Law and all of its parts were eternal and possessed eternal value. [4]
But what Jesus is saying is that Word of God is more durable than “heaven and earth.” Heaven and earth means the created universe. Heaven here in context does not mean the place where God resides.
“one jot or one tittle” A “jot” in Hebrew is a “yod” or the smallest of all the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It looks like an apostrophe. A “tittle” is a protruding part of a letter, like the difference between a capital “P” and a capital “R.” The whole of Scripture is important and will last. Not just the pieces and parts that we like. It is all important. We are not to ignore any of Scripture. It is all important including books like Leviticus or Nahum. It is all for our benefit.
2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
The key words here are “All Scripture.” All scripture is to be use for instruction in righteousness. Remember when Paul wrote this they only had the OT as the NT was not yet together.
I included verses 19-20 in our focal verse today to keep it all in context. A solid principle in proper interpretation is placing all text in context.
Matthew 5:19–20 (NKJV) 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
I will not get into why we do not keep the sabbath here, but we must have basic understanding of Jesus’ fulfillment and how it applies to our lives today. The whole Law, must still be studied and the underlying principles needs to be exegesis and understood, then applied to our lives.
The Pharisees kept all the letter of the Law but missed the purpose and intent of the Law. We could never expect to keep the whole law, even to the extent of the Scribes and Pharisees, much less exceed them. To have the ability to do so would negate the need for a savior. What is important is not the Law itself but to whom the Law points to. The Laws points us to the Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus teachings emphasizes the spirit of the Law and not the Law itself. And how does the eternal word of God would have us live? Jesus summed it up when He was asked what was the most important Law.
Matthew 22:36–40 (NKJV) 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
What is important is how we love God and love others. It is the condition of our hearts. The eternal word of God tells us it is our hearts and resulting actions that will be used to judge us.
Jeremiah 17:10 (NKJV) I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
In the end, it is all about Jesus. It will be His righteousness and not ours that we will be judged. Without Jesus, we will be judged by every little jot and tittle of the Law and by it we are hopelessly lost. We deserve death, but we will be judged, not by our righteousness, but by the righteousness of Jesus.
Romans 10:4 (NKJV) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The eternal word of God is clear. It is the righteousness of Christ, to all who believe. It is all about trusting Jesus. Do you trust Him today? Will you trust His word, His promises, His righteousness?
Like Billy Graham, he didn’t understand it all. Billy did not have all the answers, but Billy Graham trusted the whole Word of God and what a difference that made and it can make a difference in us.
You can trust the Word, because it is eternal.
[1] https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/september-2017/the-bible-on-a-tree-stump-billy-grahams-moment-of-decision/ and https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-83/turning-point.htm
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 22.
[3] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1–13, vol. 33A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 105.
[4] Barclay Moon Newman and Philip C. Stine, A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1992), 125.
