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You know you're not supposed to clap, but you just do anyway, because you're so enthusiastic about the faithfulness of our God. I kept thinking about it when I was listening to that. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet them in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Amazing truth.
Well, let's bow before we open the word this morning. Father, thank you for the gift of music. Thank you that you would allow us even to sing your praises. And Father, to think that we were like sheep going astray.
With our thoughts and words and deeds we would be focused on ourselves, worshiping the idol of our own making. And yet you and your tremendous grace and mercy, so condescended, so determined that Jesus would bear the punishment due us, called us into your kingdom, called us to your children, adopted us in your family, given us the seal of the spirit of God to the day of redemption.
And now we can come to the word of God knowing that your spirit, the comforter, the one who comes alongside, can help us to understand the scriptures, help us to illumine our minds today, and to help us to be confronted when needed and convicted and also comforted.
We would ask for myself, Lord, that I would easily fade in the distance and your son's words on the Sermon on the Mount would be proclaimed with clarity, with conviction, and with passion. In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, let's turn our Bibles, please, to the, in my opinion, the best sermon that was ever preached. The Sermon on the Mount, called that ever since Augustine gave that name to it. The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7.
Gracie has found it very interesting that some of the Bible is red and some of the Bible is black. And so we know it's all inspired by God, but the red actually can help us just quickly grab a hold of what words Jesus said.
Again, all inspired, but the words of Christ in chapters 5, 6, and 7, after the introduction, the Sermon on the Mount. A very famous text. You've all heard it probably preached before. And after several detours, a faux sabbatical, the Song of Solomon jet tour, we are back in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7.
Matthew wrote this first gospel, I believe, the first one written, and he did it in such a way that he traces the Messiah not back to just Adam, generally like in Luke, but back to Abraham. Very Jewish flavor we have here on the Sermon on the Mount, and even in the whole book of Matthew.
We're learning about Christ the King, Jesus the King of the Jews, with all the Messianic expectations that the Jewish people should have as they would think about their King that has arrived. And here, Matthew displays before everyone the Son of David.
Here is the Son of David, and here is the one who is the sin bearer. Matthew chapter 4, verse 24, to pick up a little bit of the context, which is always helpful. We see what the tax collector wrote, Matthew the tax collector.
No one else calls him the tax collector, but he knows what he's been saved from and out of and unto, and he calls himself the tax collector, and he begins to write underneath the exact verbal inspiration of the Spirit.
These are the exact words that God wanted him to write. And as we move to the Sermon on the Mount, just briefly, I believe they are the exact words preached by Jesus. I mean exact. Jesus could speak Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
These are the Greek words that Jesus spoke verbatim, or else what do we do? This isn't going to be the gist of his message. These are the exact words of Christ. But before we hear those words, Matthew 4 .24, the news about Jesus, our hymn, spread throughout all Syria.
They brought to him all who were ill, those suffering of various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, and cities, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
And you can imagine the crowds just ascending upon Jesus and the relentless appetite they had for their own needs, real needs, physical needs, medical needs. And Jesus' miracles almost snowballed to the point now where he is going to teach.
You can be healed from diseases and still die without Christ, to still die in your sins. And many times Jesus would use miracles, and signs, and wonders to then stop and then proclaim the truth to the congregation.
Signs and wonders aren't anything except to point to the message. And here's the message that he points to as he gives the introduction, Matthew gives the introduction. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down in typical rabbinical style, his disciples came to him.
We know there was others who came to as well. He opened his mouth. That's the way to say it was very important. And he began to teach them saying. And then we come to the Beatitudes, and you have been here for the series on the Beatitudes when we were going through that about four years ago when we left off.
Eight Beatitudes, eight divine statements of approval. Happy is not really the word we're looking for, but these are divine statements of approval. These kind of people, both men and women, are approved by God.
In God's eyes, he finds approval with people who think this way, act this way, and who are this way. And here Jesus starts off his Sermon on the Mount with essentially a call to salvation. He knows unbelievers will be there.
There's no talk of the cross yet, but that will be soon enough. And he gives these eight divine commendations. And you know these Beatitudes. And they build on each other. Do you remember Beatitude 1?
And I think it's just good to review these things since it's been three months, I believe, since we've been here. Beatitude 1, blessed in verse 3, approved by God are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Here is an objective statement from God's perspective on someone who is blessed. And the first kind of person that God blesses are those that say that they, of their own volition, of their own self-assessment, they realize that they are poor in spirit.
Certainly the spirit is helping their self-assessment. They couldn't do it on their own. But they do believe, deep down, that they are one who lacks spiritual worth. And isn't that what happened when you were saved?
You realized, by the grace of God, that you had nothing to offer God. You had nothing in your own spiritual bank account that you could somehow give to God so He might favor you with His blessings. Literally, it means one who crouches or cringes like a beggar.
Those who are destitute and they need support. We come before God, and He doesn't save us because we're lovely. He saves us because He's a great Savior. And do you notice the text? In the Greek, it is, for theirs and theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven.
Those who think they're rich in spirit, the kingdom of heaven is not for them. But those who think they're poor in spirit. And each one of these, certainly, we can't come up with our own. You could see the spirit of God working in a person and they realize, number one, I'm bankrupt.
Help me, Lord. Now, number two, the second beatitude is really the emotional counterpart to the first mental assessment. So mentally, I know I have nothing to offer God, and I'm going to have to cling to the cross, cling to Christ here, at least in Matthew 5.
But number two, it's the beatitude blessed or approved by God, divine commendation, for those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. It's not just simply an intellectual assent. Yes, I'm spiritually bankrupt, but I'm so spiritually bankrupt that if I'm undone, if I die like this, I'm in big trouble.
And I've not just sinned against society in the form of a crime. I've not just sinned against my friend, my spouse, my children. Here's the thrice holy, transcendent God. I've sinned against Him. I've personally sinned against Him.
And these kind of people, what do they do? They mourn. Personal grief over personal sin. My children take notes when I preach. And this was several months ago when I did this beatitude. I think it was Maddie who just wrote this simple statement on her notes.
We should mourn. Not a very popular message for Christianity. We have an example of mourning right here, though. And as a child would mourn, needy for something, someone, we too spiritually should mourn.
And I just put it right up on my door inside my office, my study there. We should mourn. It's a present participle. It means we should continually be mourning for our sins, even as Christians. But here, as this person is getting drawn by the Spirit, they're sad.
They grieve over. They lament. One Puritan said, In all unbelief there are two things, a good opinion of self and a bad opinion of God. We realize because God has enlightened our eyes that God is great and we are not.
We realize we can't do anything about it and it makes us then mourn over our sins. It's loving of God to show us our real condition so then He shows us who He really is, the great Savior. It's good for the paradigm of guilt, grace, and gratitude.
We are so guilty we need the grace of God and then we have Thanksgiving. Beatitude number three, and by the way, if you're not doing this, I hope you're thinking back to your salvation saying that's exactly what God did for me.
And if you're not a Christian, this is my call to you. As a gospel minister, that you should mourn. Beatitude number three, Blessed are the meek. Do you see that in verse five? Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth.
This is not kind of gentle person in terms of demeanor. This is the kind of person that says, I now see myself for who I am and I'm not impressed. I'm humbled by who I really am and instead of saying, there's the king over there, I'm gonna just run right up to the king and sit on his lap on the throne, Santa Claus.
This is the person that sees the king and says, I need to go to the back of the room because if the king knows what I'm really thinking in my heart, I'm in big trouble. I believe I don't really wanna live under a monarch but we have a hard time in Christianity in New England, in America, in most democratic countries.
We don't understand this whole idea of the king and the monarch and if the king says sit here, that's what you want to do but you wanna be in the back when he calls you to the front. You don't wanna sit in the front and then he says to you, you need to move to the back and you can think of Jesus' parable about that.
We are not impressed with who we are. We rightfully assess. We have a true estimate of ourselves, Lloyd-Jones would say, and we realize we can't forward ourselves. If you study the Greek Old Testament, eight out of nine times, the word is not translated meek.
It's given the idea of powerlessness. We have no power and they all build. We move to the fourth beatitude. We finally get some relief here as it were. The fourth beatitude is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.
We have no righteousness. We're lacking in righteousness but there's righteousness to be found. They shall be satisfied. Now we're seeing the solution to man's needs of the first three beatitudes. Here's our resolution and God is able abundantly beyond what we ask or think to supply this need.
We know it's Christ's righteousness. Number five, merciful. Blessed are the merciful. The first four are fairly vertical, our relationship to God. These now are moving towards horizontal relationships with others.
The first four are like inner principles and now we move to the external ramifications of what we believe and what God is doing in our lives. Verse seven, blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.
They and they alone. We don't deal with people by what they deserve. We deal with people by God's example of being merciful and then so too are we. Beatitude number eight, blessed are the pure in heart, excuse me, number six, verse eight, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
Blessed are the pure in heart. Again, a work of the Spirit of God in the heart of a man or a woman or a child. They realize that they are no longer pure but they want to be pure. They realize that as the Pharisees said, purity comes from outward conformity to external laws and ceremonies.
I could never do that because it's an inward purity. This is tough for our society to hear because we sometimes think godliness manifests itself in manners, rules. We don't smoke, we don't drink, we don't chew.
We don't go to R-rated movies, all these kind of tidy things. We don't put our elbows on the table, yes sir, no sir. But this is on the inside. It's good to have rules for your kids, that's fine. But as D .A. Carson said, purity of heart must never be confused with outward conformity to rules.
And then number seven, found in verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. This has nothing to do with adoption. We'll be adopted into the kingdom of God. We'll be sons of God.
That is to say, the apple does not fall too far from the tree. That is to say, like father, like son. That is to say, that if your dad has certain attributes, you have those same kind of attributes. And as God has attributes, we act like God and therefore we act in a godly way.
And lastly, beatitude number eight, found in verses 10, 11, and 12, the largest one, the longest one, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, not because we're stupid, not because we're ignorant, not because we can't control our tongue, but because, you see it right there, of me.
This week Steve Nelson's mother was buried, Roman Catholic service, and Steve did his best to try to steer everything towards the gospel of grace and law-free justification. And Steve told me that somebody actually in line, I'm assuming I can tell the story.
It's a little late. Somebody in line, in the receiving line, at the wake, at the calling hours, confronted Steve because he was trying to have the grace of Christ proclaimed. And my response to Steve was, first of all, how rude to do that at such an occasion.
But second of all, I said, Steve, be reminded of verse 12. I could have said verse 12. I just gave him the gist of the verse. Matthew 5 .12, if you see it in your own Bibles. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
That's what people do. And then Jesus gives two metaphors, two domestic truths that sometimes we just pass by if we're not careful. Verse 13, 14, 15, and 16. You're the salt of the earth. If the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot of men. You not only are salt, but you're also the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Now we move to our passage today. Matthew 5, verses 17, 18, 19, and 20. And it's going to take us about three weeks to get through these.
It is chock full of truth. It's just jam-packed. It's almost... My bike tires can go up to 110 pounds of pressure, and they have some newer tires that can go up to 145 pounds of pressure, and just these little tiny tires.
I'm always kind of careful with those tires because one wrong move and it's just explosion. You almost want to wear goggles. And it's... This truth in these four verses, these compact pressurized verses, I almost want to kind of let the air out slowly because otherwise it's going to explode.
So today, a little bit of 17 and a little bit of 18 because otherwise it's just going to... Going to get all that kind of rubber on your face. A lot of people preach the gospel better than I do, but nobody preaches a better gospel.
And it is so great to just let the words of Christ speak. Friends, preachers should not preach in such a way that you walk home saying, Wow, my pastor's so smart. It's unbelievable what he found in there.
I could never get that in there. How did he figure that out? That is a wrong thing to do. The pastor should preach in such a way that when you go home, you reread it and you say, Well, I guess it was good that we paid pastor's salary so he wouldn't have to work at a bike shop and he could study.
And he got things in the text that I can see how he got them. I can see that. I can see the context. I can see the flow. I can see what's happening in the bigger picture. And I understand the passage better now through my own reading than I did that morning.
And here we come to this passage. It's just so full. My job is to just let it speak. I have theological presuppositions and my job is to suppress them, to quench them, to put them to the side and say, You know, it can help me at the very end of the day to guard me from theological heresy, but the preacher needs to speak and Christ needs to be heard.
And he gives these amazing verses in 17, 18, 19, and 20. Let me read them and then let's examine them a little bit this week and the next couple. A veritable gold mine. Do not think, Matthew 5, 17, that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.
I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus the King, Jesus the Lord, Jesus the one who's superior to Abraham, who's a greater prophet than Moses, who's superior to the Sabbath, who's superior to the temple, who's superior to Solomon, now gives a statement that I wouldn't give.
I wouldn't preach like this. Why would he say in verse 17, don't think that I came to abolish the law or prophets. Now how do you start off a new section in your sermon like that? Why do you start off like that?
It's like a gun going off at a track and field race. Bang. The reason why he has to say this now is because soon and very soon they are going to think that he was going to abolish the law. By what he will say in the near future, i .e. 521 to the end of the chapter, they're all going to say his audience, his congregation, his listeners, his disciples are going to think you're abolishing the law.
What you're doing is abolishing the law. And Jesus is saying up front, I didn't come to abolish the law. If it was me, I would say verse 17 to the end to make it verse 49. I guess everything would have to move up again, but I would take 18 to move it up to 17, 48 to move it up to 47, and take 17 and make it 48.
Got that? Why does he say it now? Because he's going to let them know, you're going to think I'm messing around with the law. You're thinking I'm messing around with something that Paul would later say in 2 Timothy 3, Jesus' apostolic messenger.
This is a God-breathed message. Heaven and earth might pass away, but surely my words won't. And what Jesus is going to say, they're going to think, and maybe you're going to think, Jesus is abolishing.
So he says right from the get-go, do not think that I came to abolish the law, because I know you're thinking that I am. Now when we go to this passage here, especially in chapter 5, verses 21 and following, most people think Jesus is only clearing up what the Pharisees taught by misinterpretation of Mosaic law.
That is to say, the Pharisees had Torah, they had the prophets, and they basically said, we've got our own spin on it, and so Jesus is saying, you have misrepresented me, I will clear it up. And that is partly true.
Some people think, on the other side, that this is, some extreme dispensationalists would say, this isn't even for today, the Sermon on the Mount, this is to be taught in the millennial kingdom when Mosaic law is back on earth.
That's not right either. I believe that Jesus is here going to do something so interesting, we have to just work through it slowly. Jesus is not going to say, you have heard it said, but Moses says to you, it's going to be interesting, what does he do?
Now before we get into 517 a little bit more, let me go through 521 and following so you kind of get the idea of what we're doing. Six statements that Jesus gives that are antithetical, six things where he says, you have heard it said, but I say to you.
Let's just review these, the whole time thinking that if you were a Jew in that audience, or even if you were a Gentile from Decapolis, sitting there, you're going to be listening to this Jesus on that mountain, and you're going to say this, he's abolishing the law, he's abolishing the law, what is he doing?
You're going to think that. The first antithesis 521, and you see here we see it again, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, my Bible has capital, so I can see that's Old Testament, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court, but I say to you, again I want you to notice it doesn't say, but Moses says to you, that everyone who is angry with his brother, shall be guilty before the court, whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, raka, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court, and whoever says you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell, therefore if you're presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering, leave your offering there before the altar, and go first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering, make friends quickly with your opponent at law, while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison, truly I say to you, you will not come out of there, until you've paid the last cent, now is Jesus just saying, here's what they used to say, and here's how they misinterpreted it, and here's what Moses is saying, I don't think that's the case, if you do some exposition, you study Deuteronomy chapter 5, and Exodus chapter 20, will you ever see in the forbidding of murder, the prohibition of hatred as well, I don't think you'll see it, no fair exposition of the sixth commandment, could say you know what, that also teaches you shouldn't hate your brother, I know you want to raise your hand, and say but what, let's just hold on, let me show you the second antithesis, briefly again, briefly is relative I know, I mean it's a beautiful day, but when you just are preaching, are you hearing the word of God preached, I mean why are we in a rush, got a quick go and do this and do that, I praise God that for probably six years, not one of you have come up to me and said, you preach too long, not one of you have said, we're going to make that clock in the back, bigger, not one, I mean you know what does this represent for a preacher, nothing, I mean it absolutely represents nothing, we want to hear from God's word, do you know underneath the word of God, you can be saved, your children can be redeemed, you can be thinking more like Christ, God changes you into the conformity of his image, through a fallible sinful man, my biggest problem in ministry, if you don't know already, is me, I'm a vile, corrupt, sinful man, who has received the grace of God, been called into ministry, and by the grace of God eternal, I'm allowed to get up here and preach to you, people who are like me, sinners, saved sinners, as the word just runs over you, I'll have to just tell this quick story, Matt Bilton emailed Steve and I this week, and basically Matt Bilton said this, and I've known Matt for nine years, I would guess Matt's 18, yes, so I've known him since he was nine, running around on the Awana circle, backwards I might add, no just kidding, and Matthew and I have had a cordial relationship, he's been very respectful, but we haven't hung out together, and we don't get ice cream, and once in a while he might email me, but that's it, this week he emailed us, and basically he said this, I'm going to Liberty, certainly agrees with most of the things taught there, et cetera, but I've heard you teach this, whether it's his professors, or some of his friends, they're teaching this over here, and I know it's this over here, help me teach them, who believe that over there, this over here, that is to say, God I know has saved us, we receive grace, God works in us, it's theologically involved, what do I do, and you know what I said when I got that email, he listened, I don't know how many times, the Biltons come Sunday morning, Sunday night, and you know you've got to drag your kids in, I have to drag my kids in sometimes, and the word of God permeates our minds, it changes us, and I was so proud of Matt, to think he's learned, he's listened, and then the word of God sanctifies us, therefore it may sound like I'm giving you an excuse, why I preach long sermons, but it's not really that, I'm not ashamed of that, I'm trying to educate you to say, preaching that changes lives, can't just kind of just, here's the four easy ways to act, in a legalistic moral way, and you're done, the second antithesis we see, as the word of God just keeps flowing over us, is found in verse 27 and following, you'll see the, you have heard it said, and I say to you, you have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery, that's out of the law, but I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart, he's adding this prohibition, he also adds something else, that you could never find exegetically, in the old testament, if your right eye, makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better for you, to lose one of the parts of your body, than your whole body to be thrown into hell, he's adding this violators are cast into Gehenna, but if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, throw it from you, it's better for you to lose, one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell, where is that in Torah, Jesus you're abolishing the law, I'm not here to abolish the law, look at the third antithesis, it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce, who said that by the way, Moses said that, spirit of God through Moses, but I say to you, what does he do here, it seems like he almost advances, the first two antithesis, but here he is taking away from, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce, permitted in Torah, but I say to you, that everyone who divorces his wife, and here's a clarification, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced man, commits adultery, as Moses was trying to restrict hasty divorce, Jesus restricts it farther, and he rescinds any of that, if you've committed adultery, that's fine, everything else it's not, what Moses allows, Jesus forbids, the fourth antithesis, we're going to think he's abolishing the law, when he goes through these, and we'll get into them, over the weeks to come, fourth antithesis, Matthew 5 .33, again you have heard, that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord, capitals, Old Testament, but I say to you, make no oath at all, the Old Testament regulates oaths, and here he's saying, you can't make oaths, and by the way, I'm going to go further than Torah, and you better be honest, he says either by heaven, or for its throne of God, or by earth, for it is a footstool of his feet, or of Jerusalem, for it's the city of the great king, nor should you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black, but let your statement be, yes, yes, no, no, anything beyond these is evil, they are sitting there saying, you are abolishing Torah, you are subtracting, advancing, deleting, what are you doing Jesus?
The fifth antithesis, found in verse 38, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, do not resist an evil person, when it comes to revenge, in terms of personal revenge, make it judicial, Moses says, but I say to you, do not resist an evil person, be willing to suffer personal attacks, where did Moses say that?
Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also, this is not a mere exposition of Torah, this is addition, if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also, why ask someone, would Jesus even have to say, I didn't come to abolish it, if he just said like anyone else in the world could, here's what Moses really meant, you don't have to be the authoritative law giver, son of God, son of David, son of man, to stand up there and say, you have misinterpreted Moses, here's what he really said, but you do have to be one greater than Moses, greater than the temple, greater than the Sabbath, greater than the law even, the superior Christ, to say, you have heard Moses say this, and there has been some misinterpretation, but I am advancing, and I am retracting from some of these things, it had to be Jesus to say that, because anybody could just say, Moses meant this, verse 41, whoever goes, forces you to go one mile, go with him too, give to him anyone who asks, do not turn away him, who wants to borrow from you, sixth antithesis, and the final antithesis, you have heard it said, verse 43, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy, the first part from the Old Testament, but I say to you, love your enemies, do your Hebrew work in Old Testament, you will not find that, pray for those who persecute you, you will not find that, you will find Deuteronomy 23, 6, speaking of the Ammonites and Moabites, you shall never seek their peace, or their prosperity in your days, you will hear, you shall not take revenge, or bear a grudge against the sons of your people, and you shall love your neighbors yourself, verse 18 of Leviticus 19, but when do you hear in Torah, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, verse 15, he ties it to God, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven, Jesus did not say, you have heard it said, but Moses says to you, and you said, why are you going on and on about this, well the reams of books that are written on it, are there, it is a very important topic, and if I'm going to preach the next seven or eight weeks, through chapter five, we've got to get a grounding now to realize, Jesus is not abolishing the law, rather the fulfillment of the Mosaic law, Christ is giving his fulfilled law, now back to verse 17, do not think that I came to abolish the law, when I preach you're going to think that, I'm preemptively striking saying, don't think that way, all with this as A .T. Robertson, the Southern Baptist professor from Southern, used to say, this is all kind of, Jesus has got the superiority of language over Moses, Jeremiah said, Jesus establishes a new divine law, he says, I didn't come to do away with or make invalid or annul, when I came, I came as a messianic, as a Messiah with this messianic mission, but it was not to abolish the law, which implies he actually could, the denial assumes the possibility, now we're going to stop here just for a second, here's what we're going to do, no you know what, let's go to verse 18, listen to Christ here, verse 18, because based on what I'm going to say, you might not think this is going to be true, verse 18, for truly I say to you, there's the uttermost importance lead in, I say to you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, when might that happen?
Not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law, until all is accomplished, Jesus is not trying to destroy mosaic authorship, Jesus is not trying to say, well the Old Testament is no good anymore, he says, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, the smallest letter, what's the smallest letter?
What's your King James probably say? What, jot and tittle, jot is in Greek, iota, but certainly Matthew is probably trying to talk about Hebrew letter, yod here, the smallest Hebrew letter, not the smallest little letter, kind of looks like a comma, I did some research this week and found out how many yods there were in the Old Testament, between Genesis and 2nd Chronicles, or Genesis and Malachi, how many yods are there in Hebrew text?
According to Bengal he counted, this is before computers, 66 ,420, that's a lot, not one of those are not one stroke, one tittle, one little abbreviated, the stroke of abbreviated word, it's a little horn in Greek, maybe you could think about it, if I showed you some Hebrew letters, it might be easier, but if you think of a difference between a C and a G, capital, what's the difference?
Just a little horn, what's the difference between a capital O and a capital Q? It's a little horn, one little bit of the law, he says, I'm not messing with that, I like this example, a wealthy woman who was traveling overseas, saw a bracelet she thought was irresistible, and she sent her husband this cable, have found wonderful bracelet, price $75 ,000, may I buy it?
Her husband promptly wired back this response, no, price too high, but the cable operator omitted the comma, so the woman received this message, no price too high, elated she purchased the bracelet, and something similar the story goes, Maria Fedorovna, wife of Tsar Alexander III, Empress of Russia, once used a comma to save a prisoner from Siberian exile, Alexander's warrant had read, pardon impossible comma, to be sent to Siberia period, Maria intervened and moved the comma, so that the note read, pardon comma, impossible to be sent to Siberia, release the prisoner, whether Jesus is saying, it is written and stands written, speaking of the authority of the Old Testament, and it's divine inspiration, whether Jesus is affronted by Satan, by the way that's interesting thing, Satan attempts Jesus how many times?
Three times, and all three times Jesus quotes Deuteronomy, and when Jesus quotes Deuteronomy, he gives truth, and Satan is silenced, why didn't Satan say this, well Jesus I know you're quoting Deuteronomy, but who can trust the Bible, you know man wrote that, and of course we know Moses didn't write it, it's a bunch of myths, and allegorical misunderstandings, and metaphors, and oral tradition, and it was written maybe J-R-E-R-P, or somebody else, but that the liberal scholars say that wrote it, he was silenced by truth, one slight difference in a letter, changes a word, and changes the meaning, and Jesus says you know that is not going to happen, that's not what the Messiah's role is, now here's what I want to do the rest of the time, which isn't much, is let me give you as many as I can, statements that Jesus affirms the historicity of the Old Testament, so we're kind of putting our idea about annulling the law, on the table for just a minute, and we're going to do this, when someone says to you I can't trust the Bible, how do you respond, my life has changed therefore it's true, Jesus fulfills prophecy therefore it's true, carbon dating, fossil records therefore it must be true, 5 ,700 extant Greek manuscripts, and 10 ,000 Latin manuscripts, 48 Greek manuscripts before the 4th century, 1 million quotes from the Bible in the Apostolic Fathers, is that how you defend the Bible, I try not to defend the Bible, Spurgeon said don't defend the Bible, just let the lion out of the cage, but the one thing I do is I say, my view of the Bible is Jesus's view of the Bible, that's one thing I do, and let me give you Jesus's view of the Bible, I have 10, probably won't make 10, Jesus's view of the Bible to show his teaching, and his own beliefs that the Bible is historically true, accurate down to a yod, and I think we can have the same confidence in the Bible, so now I want to give you confidence in the Bible, Jesus had it and I want to give it to you, example number one, what Jesus said about Jonah, it's a ludicrous allegory, it's like Andromeda the sea monster, it's like Hercules who sprang into the jaws of the sea monster, three days in the belly where he undertook to save Hesiod, it's like Gulliver's travels, Robinson Crusoe, that's what it is, Jonah is really Israel, the sea is the Gentile nations in general, the fish is the Babylonian captivity, and the regurgitation is the return during Ezra's time, international critical commentary once said, surely this is not the record of actual historical events, nor was it ever intended as such, it is a sin against the author to treat it as literal, George Adam Smith, someone different than the last critical commentary said, we sin against the intention of the author and the Holy Spirit, which inspired him when we willfully interpret Jonah as real history, so what do you do?
Jonah is in the Bible, can't be true, well you could say Princeton theological review of October 1927, talks about two incidents, 1758 and 1771, where man was swallowed by a whale and vomited up shortly afterwards, I repent, no, you could say in the book 63 years of engineering, Francis Fox reports, of the scientific editor on the journal data bars in Paris, in February 1891, the whaling ship star of the East was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, and the lookout sighted a large sperm whale three miles away, two boats were lowered, and in short time one of the harpooners was able to spear the creature, long story short, the second boat also attacked the whale, was upset by the lash of its tail, so the crew fell into the sea, one of them was drowned, James Bartley, after the whale was killed, the crew set to work with axes and spades, removing the blubber, they worked all day and part of the night, the next day they attached some tackle to the stomach, and wouldn't you know there was a man in there, his face and neck and hands were bleached to deadly whiteness, and took on appearance of parchment, Bartley affirms that he probably would have lived inside the house of flesh, until he starved, for he lost his senses through fright and not through lack of air, must be true then, I find that interesting, but if you'll take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 5 verse 12, let me show you the Messiah, let me show you what Jesus did, when it came to that awful allegorical invention of the literal historicity of Jonah, of course I'm being sarcastic, he refers to Jonah to the actual people as real history, but he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet, for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the son of man be in three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold something greater than Jonah is here, isn't that amazing, allegorical Jonah gives you an allegorical Christ, and you have an allegorical solution to your real sin problem, Jesus believed in Jonah, I like what Billy Graham said, if the Bible says that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe that, yeah, but number two, not just Jonah, but what about Adam and Eve, going way back, you mean we all came from one person, look at Matthew chapter 19, if you will, I'm just going to take you right through the Gospels, and show you that Jesus affirmed the validity, the authority, the sufficiency of the Old Testament, and you should too, my only argument with unbelieving friends, is that I have view of the scripture that equals Christ, I view the old and new, is what Christ said of the old, Matthew chapter 19 verse 4, and he answered and said to them, have you not read, that he who created them from the beginning, made them male and female, and for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, so they're no longer two, but one flesh, what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate, Jesus could have said this, well let me tell you, when I first had my servant Moses write this, kind of came back from a lot of wilderness wandering, his wife was a problem, his dad was a problem, he was a problem, killing some people, and then he went to Egypt, and on and on and on, and by the way, it was kind of wrong, the scribes didn't get it right, and let me tell you what really happened, I will correct the Old Testament now, if Jesus doesn't correct it then, and he knows it's a lie, then what is he, and you say well, what about that old story, Cain and Abel, is Abel your brother, and I don't know, am I my brother's keeper, come on, Matthew chapter 23, I can just read it if you don't want to look up, it talks about so that you may fall, the guilt of all the righteous bloodshed, on the earth for the blood of righteous Abel, Jesus affirms it, yeah but what about number four, Daniel didn't really like write Daniel, if Daniel would have written Daniel, it would have meant that he could tell the future, well Daniel had to be really later, and he wasn't really Daniel, he's a pseudo Daniel, yet Jesus in Matthew chapter 24, affirms his authorship, number five, what about Moses in the burning bush, what a lark that is, angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, from the midst of a bush and looked, and behold the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed, you know what that really was, it wasn't a bush, it was St. Elmo's fire, it was a volcanic phenomenon, by the way these are all things that I read, that other people believe, this was a myth, these were fire brands of light, which must have occurred in dry lands, with an abundance of storms, this is a flake of gypsum, blown against a twig, and it may have set the bush alight, this is a beam of sunlight, piercing through a crack in the mountain, this is Moses on peyote, I made that one up, this is a psychological experience, one said this is a gas plant, which bursts into flames, another one said, this is a brilliant blossom of mistletoe twigs, if you turn to Mark chapter 12, I wonder what Jesus thinks about the burning bush, he could have corrected it, but he affirms it, you should trust your Bible, somebody comes walking along and say, well we have no manuscripts, we don't have this, we don't have that, listen, there's a moral issue why they say that, they like their sin, and they don't want the authoritative text over it, you're either under the text or over it, choose, I choose to follow Christ, to be under it, Matthew chapter 12, this is an amazing passage for two reasons, number one, it's going to affirm the burning bush, it will affirm Abraham and Isaac as real people, and with the change of a tense, he corrects his detractors, a change of a tense, a verb tense, Matthew 12, some Sadducees, why are they sad?
There's no resurrection, live, we don't have to be accountable, you die, you die, so now let's trick Jesus, teacher, Moses, they knew Jesus believed Moses wrote it, maybe they even did too, Moses wrote for us, if a man's brother dies, and leaves behind a wife, leaves behind a wife, and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife, and raise up children to his brother, seven brothers, first took a wife, died leaving no children, second one married her, died leaving behind no children, Mark chapter 12, verse 21, the third likewise, Mark 12, 22, and so all seven left no children, last of all, the woman also died, in the resurrection, ha ha, there's no resurrection, they're thinking, when will they rise again, how can the resurrection be true, when there's all these, who's married to whom, which one's wife will she be, she for all seven and married her, Jesus said to them, oh, just brutal, isn't this amazing, is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the scriptures, or the power of God, for when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven, but regarding the fact, that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of myths, in the passage about, the allegorical burning bush, how God spoke to him, through mistletoe twigs, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, he is not the God of the dead, but is the God of the living, you are greatly mistaken, with a verb tense, he destroys them, he could have said this, he was the God of Abraham, he was the God of Isaac, and he was the God of Jacob, but a contraire you Sadducees, he is their God at this moment, because they are in heaven, worshiping him, their souls are there, they are waiting for their body, sometime later, but God right now, is their father, he is their God, and with a verb tense, he shuts them up, he affirms the burning bush, how about the leper, number six, getting cleansed in a river, how many times does that happen, some doctors here at the church, and you know, I know you're sick and everything, you got psoriasis, it's really worse, just go down to the river, dunk yourself seven times, how could that be true, that's just all made up, Luke four, but I say to you, there were many widows in Israel, in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up, for three years and six months, great famine in the land, and yet Elijah was sent, to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow, and there many lepers in Israel, in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Assyrian, yeah I know that, but number seven, you mean to tell me, that dinosaurs actually, got on the ark, I mean the ark, it's a fun little kid's story, and we like to get the baby crib, that's got the ark stuff, and you mean to tell me, that Moses didn't have to, even get the, Moses, yeah I do mean to tell you, Moses didn't have to, did you mean to tell me, Noah didn't even have to, get the animals into the ark, he just stood there, and they came in two by two, do you know how long it took, the director of the movie, the Bible, to get those animals, to come in two by two, what was his name, John Houston, read about that catastrophe, he couldn't get those in, and you mean to tell me, that Noah just stood there, and the animals that came in, two by two, he went in, and God shut the door, here's the grape juice, for you Christians, down to Guyana, and Jim Jones, Luke 17, here's what Jesus said, about Noah, and by the way, if I have to take the word, of some liberal critic, sinful person, with a sinful lifestyle to match, or the God of the universes, I know whom I believe, and by the way, it is a sign, of being a Christian, that you understand, the shepherd's voice, yes, show me a Christian, I'll show you someone, who trusts the Bible, yes you may have some questions, but John chapter 10, is clear, the sheep understand, the voice of God, and when he speaks, we understand it, I don't read the Bible, going is this God speaking, Luke 17, he talks about Noah, for just like lightning, when it flashes, out of one part of the sky, shines to the other, part of the sky, so will the son of man, be in his day, but first he must, suffer many things, and be rejected, by this generation, and just as it happened, in the mythical folklore, of Babel in the days of Noah, so will be also, in the days of son of man, no, he affirms it, they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, ha ha ha, look at Noah, never even rained yet, until the day, that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all, well maybe I could believe that, but number eight, I don't know if I could believe, this whole Lot, and Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean Lot, turning into, a pillar of salt, we're running out of time, so I'm going to go even faster, than I have been going, Luke 17 verse 32, remember Lot's wife, and then he gives the call, to discipleship, I trust the Bible, because Jesus trusted the Bible, what about that thing, where Moses was told in numbers, if somebody gets bit, by one of these God sent snakes, they're all going to die, but if you do something strange, and hold up a fiery serpent, Moses that you made, and set it on a standard, when people get bit, and they look at that, then they'll be healed, that's a farce, Moses didn't think so, Numbers 21, Moses made a bronze serpent, set it on the standard, it came about, that if a serpent bit a man, he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived, you know John 3 .16, but how about 14 and 15, as Moses lifted up, the serpent in the wilderness, even so the son of man, must be lifted up, so that whoever believes, will in him have eternal life, and then lastly number 10, manna from heaven, for 40 years the sons of Israel, ate the manna, it came down some kind of, coriander seed thing, and manna in Hebrew, is what is this, what is this and they ate it, for 40 years, you mean to tell me, that really happened, John 6 .31, our fathers ate the manna, in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread, out of heaven to eat, Christ never says anything, implies anything, teaches anything, so people don't trust, the Old Testament, and think that is wrong, and by the way, when you preach the gospel, the friends and relatives, who aren't Christians, the Bible is not on trial, they are, you say, well you know what, that's just a church, that loves the Bible, you guys worship the Bible, there it's bibliology, and you worship the Bible, I can't believe, this is a church, that somehow, we listen for an hour sermon, we esteem the Bible, and lift up the Bible, and you worship the Bible, we are to worship Jesus Christ, not the Bible, well what would you do, if I did this, what would you do, if I set my Bible right here, and in an act of worship, I lift up my holy hands, to the Bible, and I say, something about the Bible, with reverence, with awe, with holy worship, to this book, 66 books of this canon, and I say, I'm going to lift my hands up, God to your commandments, I worship them, I revere them, I am in awe, I love them, I'm going to memorize them, what would you think of me, if I did that, what do you think of me, right now, I have a question, before I answer that, can you separate, what someone says, and who they are, can you separate, I say this, but I'm really a different person, especially in our age, you know, you can just be a lying, cheating, swindler politician, I'm not talking about democrats, I'm talking about republicans, you can be a democrat, a republican, a libertarian, you can go to hell without Christ, anybody can, we're not in the cause, of political reform, you want to vote, fine, but we're talking about, one of these people, and they say, I know I do sinful things, over here, but I'm still pretty good, you cannot separate, who a person is, from what they say, and you can't separate, what person say, and who they are, what would you do, if I bowed down, what would you do, if I got down on my knees, and I said, I lift my holy hands, to the bible, what would you do, now we have a problem, with parking at this church, we have a problem, with seating, we have all kinds of problems, and I tell people, we're just one sermon, away from 50 people leaving, so here we go, quoted from the book, that Jesus affirmed, in Psalm 119 .48, and I shall lift up my hands, to your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate, on your statutes, John Calvin said, we owe to scripture, the same reverence, with which we owe to God, English pastor, Charles Bridges, in the 19th century said, of this Psalm, and the awe of God, will naturally extend, to his word, so that we shall be, more tenderly afraid, of disregarding its dictates, than the most faithful subject, of breaking the law, of his beloved sovereign, that we receive it, with silent awe, bow before it, with the most unlimited subjection, and yield ourselves, entirely to the influence, but if it does not stand, infinitely higher in our estimation, than all even the best books of men, we have no just perception, of its value, nor can we expect, any communication, of its treasures to our hearts, the holiness of God, is stamped upon, its every sentence, let us then cherish, in awe of his word, receiving it, not as a common book, but as first Thessalonians 2 says, not of the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, we don't worship a book, we worship a God, who tells us who he is, my closing question is, do you have the same view of scripture, as the Psalmist, and you have the same view of scripture, as Jesus, well let's pray, Lord we thank you for this day, I thank you that you have given me, years ago at salvation, a desire to study your holy word, and in my heart, not just a theoretical speculation, but one solidified at school, and study, that your word is truth, thank you for showing me, that your words in the Bible, are truth that sanctify, and Lord for us as a congregation as well, I would think most, would have the same kind of conviction, that these are the words of truth, they can change us, they can sanctify us, they can give us new life, and Lord we would just say today, thank you, thank you for preserving these books, thank you for giving us men and women, who would die for the truth, Tyndale dies for translating it into English, Lord help us not to ever abolish the Old Testament, help us not to think poorly about it, we would ask too that you would help us, to preach the truth to others, to preach the truth from this precious book, thank you for giving us eyes to see, in Jesus name, Amen.