SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2020 10:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “The
Permanence of Scripture”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:18
Message of the
verse: “18
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest
letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
One
day the Sadducees came to Jesus to trip Him up by asking about a woman who had
seven husbands, all brothers. The
question that they ask Him was whose husband would she have while in
heaven? You see the Sadducees did not
believe in the afterlife or angels or things like that. How did Jesus answer them? He stated in Matthew 22:29 “You are mistaken,
not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God.” We can understand that this was a foolish
question at best. Jesus told them that their
very premise was wrong as seen in verse 30 “For in the resurrection they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” Jesus then went on to correct the Sadducees’
view of the resurrection, as mentioned something they did not believe in by
stating the following in verses 31-33 “31 “But
regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to
you by God: 32 ’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 of the living." 33 When the crowds heard
this, they were astonished at His teaching.”
Now
I want to quote again from John MacArthur’s commentary as what he writes there
is very important in our study of this introduction to Matthew 5:18. “In that confrontation with the Sadducees,
Jesus’ whole argument is based on a single verb tense. In the book of Exodus, which He was here
quoting, God told Moses that He is, not was, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob’ (3:6).
Hundreds of years after those patriarchs had died; the Lord was still
their God. Obviously those men were
still alive. God’s Word is therefore
authoritative not only down to the smallest part of every letter, but also to
the grammatical forms of every word.
Because Scripture itself is without error, when it is believed and
obeyed it will save us from error.”
I
was play golf with a man who was on my team last night and told him that I was
a Sunday school teacher and a blog writer.
He said that a long time ago that he taught Sunday school and what he
was teaching to the kids in his class was not right as he was questioning the
Scripture. I am suppose to play golf
with him next week and I pray that I will have an opportunity to talk to him
about what was in MacArthur’s quote.
As
we have and will look at the teaching of Jesus while here on earth we know that
over and over again that He confirmed the accuracy and the authenticity of the
Old Testament, for after all the New Testament had not been written yet. For example Jesus confirmed the stand of
marriage that God established in the Garden of Eden (Matthew 19:4), the murder
of Abel (Luke 11:51), Noah and the flood from Matthew 24:38-39, Abraham and his
faith in John 8:56, Sodom, Lot, and Lot’s wife found in Luke 17:29; the call of
Moses found in Mark 12:26, the manna from heaven from John 6:31, 58, and also
the bronze serpent found in his conversation with Nichodemus.
Jesus
also made it clear that Scripture was given to lead men to salvation, something
of the upmost importance. This happened
with His parable He spoke of the rich man and Lazarus, in which Abraham told
the rich man that if his brothers, whom he hoped to save from hell “do not
listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone
rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). So
what do we see from this? Well they had
God’s Word, which was sufficient to bring them to God and to salvation, but
they had to believe it. How about now
when there was a Man who was raised from the dead almost 2000 years ago. Do people listen to Him? Unfortunately not everyone does listen to
Him, in fact most people do not listen to Him as they try and do it on their
own, and that will never work.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to admit that in looking at my studies
of the New Testament that I have never consciously looked at how much proof
that Jesus gave from the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Not saying that I did not understand it when
I saw it, but never really made a study of it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will give me
opportunities in the future to talk to this man again about the Scriptures.
7/16/2020 11:41 AM
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