“God’s Word Forever” – Jeremiah 36:1-32 – Hillsdale Free Methodist Church

November 17^th, 2019

Jeremiah 36:1-32

“God’s Word Forever”

Aux. Texts: Mt 7:24-27

Call to Worship: Psa 119: 89-96

Service Orientation: Behold the imperishable, incorruptible, invincible, unbreakable, unconquerable, indestructible Word of God. Be smart. You don’t break it. It breaks you.

Bible Memory Verse for the Week: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. — Matthew 24:35

Background Information:

The central purpose of the narrative is to demonstrate the rejection of the word of God by the responsible authorities in Jerusalem, especially King Jehoiakim. Replacement of the scroll, then, has become indispensable to show that Jeremiah’s prophetic book was authentic to the prophet, even though the contemporary rejection of this message by the king in Jerusalem had led initially to complete official repudiation of the prophecies of their implied demands upon the nation. (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 211)
There is a close relation between the narrative of chapter 36 and that of chapter 25 since the experiences recorded in both chapters are dated in the same year and both involve the recording of his prophecies. Other chapters in this book which are dated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim are chapter 45 (which should be read between the lines of 36:8 and 9), and 46:2-12. (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 108)
The first part of the story (see 36:9) is set in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which would be a year after the first siege of Jerusalem according to the dating found in the first verses of the book of Daniel (therefore late 605-604 B.C.). Of course, this first siege was simply an initial sign of Babylonian presence and power in the area, but it was significant enough that Jehoiakim turned over to the Babylonians some of the temple vessels as well as a number of the young, noble men of the kingdom. Perhaps it was this that led Jeremiah to think that the king might listen to the warnings that were recorded in the scroll that he sent to the court through Baruch. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 236)
God’s opening words to Jeremiah (vv. 2-3) indicate that this event took place early enough that the prophecy was couched in a conditional rather than an unconditional fashion. In other words, there is the expressed hope that the scroll will induce the king to begin a national repentance. The motivating force of such repentance would be the warning of destruction that the oracles described (every disaster I plan to inflict on them). (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 236)
(v. 1) The fourth year of Jehoiakim was 605 B.C., the year of the fateful Battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Necho defeated King Josiah and made Judah a vassal to Egypt (Jer 46:2; 2 Chr 35:20-27). Jehoiakim had gotten his throne only because Egypt had deposed his brother Jehoahaz. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 163)
(v. 4) Baruch is identified as the son of Neriah here and in 32:9-15. That Baruch came from an important family in Jerusalem is suggested in 51:59, where his brother Seraiah is said to have been sent upon a diplomatic mission to Babylon, in company with Zedekiah. Baruch has been described by Josephus as coming from a very distinguished family and as exceptionally well instructed in his native language. (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 109)
(vss. 6ff) It would appear probable that the confusion and alarm of the Babylonian assault on Egypt had led to a solemn fast in Jerusalem, at which the nation assembled. Jeremiah, who had been prophesying for some thirty years, and had already been in peril of his life from the godless tyrant on the throne, was led to collect, in one book, his scattered prophecies and read them in the ears of the people gathered for the fast. That reading had no effect at all on the people. The scroll was then read to princes, and in them roused fear and interested curiosity, and kindly desire for the safety of Jeremiah and Baruch, his amanuensis. It was next read to the king, and he cut the scroll leaf by leaf and threw it on the brazier, not afraid, nor penitent, but enraged and eager to capture Jeremiah and Baruch. (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 354)
(v. 8) Chapter 45 should be read in connection with 36:8 since the experience recorded there is connected with the composition of the scroll both by date and by circumstance. According to chapter 45, the process of composing the scroll must have been arduous. It was also protracted, for it was not until the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month (probably our December), that Baruch read from the finished scroll. (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 109)
(v. 8) The scroll was read three times in one day and seems to have been read straight through without any interruption each time. This suggests that it was not of unusual length. The twenty-third verse speaks of three or four leaves. Thus the reading of the scroll suggests that it may have been a summary of the prophetic messages rather than a reproduction of many large manuscripts. (Max Anders, Holman OT Commentary: Jeremiah, 284)
(v. 9) Baruch followed Jeremiah’s instructions exactly and read the words of the Lord from the scroll to the people at the temple. (Some time had passed since the original divine command to make a scroll [compare 36:1 with v. 9]). He did so at a time when public fasting was taking place. Perhaps this was a special occasion of fasting specifically to beseech the Lord at a time of great need. The fact that this special religious observance was in process would mean that the temple area would have been jammed. If the fasting were for the dire situation in which Judah found itself, then one would expect that the people would be particularly open to this message. The specific time is named as the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, which means it has taken a few months for the preparation of the scroll since the divine command came to Jeremiah in Jehoiakim’s fourth year (36:1). (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 237-8)
(v. 10) The location of Gemariah’s room is specified as near the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, this location also being named in 26:10-11. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 238)
(v. 10) Gemariah was the son of Shaphan, Josiah’s secretary of state (cf. 2 Kgs 22:3, 8, 12). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 605)
(v. 12) Elnathan son of Acbor is known from 2 Kgs 22:8-10 as the father of Jehoiachin’s wife and also from Jer 26:22-23, where he was sent by King Jehoiakim to Egypt to track down a prophet named Uriah. When he found Uriah, he brought him back to Jerusalem, where Jehoiakim had the prophet executed. Elnathan plays a much more positive role in this chapter, since he is part of the group that will encourage Jehoiakim to listen to the scroll and will try to dissuade the king from burning it (36:25). (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 240)
(v. 15) The way they addressed Baruch (vv. 15, 19) implies that they favored him and Jeremiah. Baruch assumed the sitting position of an Oriental teacher (cf. Lk 4:20). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 606)
(v. 17) To verify the contents of the scroll, they questioned Baruch closely. Perhaps someone had started a rumor that Baruch, not Jeremiah, was chiefly responsible for the message preached by Jeremiah. We note how carefully and completely the prophet listed the names of these officials for us. Their number and identity provide a solid and reliable witness to the authorship and authenticity of the prophetic scroll. From their investigation they determined that Jeremiah had indeed authored the scroll. Jeremiah dictated and Baruch wrote. (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 237)
(v. 19) It is clear that the group knew that this message would likely not be well received by the king. They warn Baruch to go into hiding and to take Jeremiah with him. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 239)
(vss. 20ff) This paragraph describes the third reading of the scroll, this time to King Jehoiakim himself as well as to others of his attendants. The reading took place in his winter apartment, which had a fire burning. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 239)
(v. 22) The burning brazier was providing heat on a chilly winter day. (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 152)
(v. 23) Ancient Hebrew books had their text written in parallel columns, necessitating the unrolling of the scroll as the reading proceeded. The actual contents of the document in question are unknown, though it probably comprised an anthology of material proclaimed between 626 and 605 B.C. As compared with the extent prophecy it was evidently fairly short, since it could be read three times in one day (verses 10, 15, 21). (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 150)
(v. 26) The king not only destroyed the scroll, he ordered one of his sons, Jerhameel, along with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to go out and arrest Jeremiah and Baruch. However, the latter had followed the advice of the other officials and hid himself. The text takes the divine perspective and tells us that the LORD had hidden them. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 239)
(v. 26) Jerahmeel is called a son of the king, though it is debatable whether that means he is a biological son or whether the phrase is a title for a servant of the king. In any case, it is interesting that archaeologists have uncovered a seal impression of a Jerahmeel who is called the king’s son. Thus, this individual joins Baruch son of Neraiah and Gemariah son of Shaphan as being attested in contemporary seal impressions. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 241)
(v. 28) His first edition includes all the words he had received from the Lord from a quarter-century of ministry. It might surprise us that Jeremiah was able to remember such a great amount of material. We need to remember, however, that in the days before the printing press was invented, many people had developed their ability to memorize to an extraordinary degree. Some scribes were able to recite the greater portion of the OT by heart. Few people could write. So they delivered most information by word of mouth and became very good at doing that. Certainly Jeremiah also had the assistance of the Lord himself to insure completeness and accuracy. (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 234)
(v. 30) The author of Chronicles states nothing about his death or burial, and the author of 2 Kings states only that he “slept with his fathers” (2 Kgs 24:6 KJV). The significant point is that neither historian gives any details about his burial. This is a strong indication that there was something unusual about his burial when we recall that we have a record of every king’s burial except Jehoiakim’s. (Max Anders, Holman OT Commentary: Jeremiah, 287)
Far from God wanting to destroy Jerusalem, he had sought through his prophets to warn the people extensively and repeatedly of the threat facing them; they had failed to heed the warnings in time (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13-14). (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 212)
The transition from oral to written prophecy was to prove to be far reaching in its consequences. It gave birth to a wholly new understanding of prophecy; its original and immediate historical setting and application gave way to a much longer-term and wider-ranging interpretation of prophecy as disclosure of the mind, character, and intention of God to Israel. From being a series of more or less separate and disconnected pronouncements concerning God’s coming actions, prophecy became a collected and preserved sequence of utterances reflecting on the very nature and being of God. In this way it acquired a more theological form and frame of reference and as such it has been handed down in Judaism and the Christian church. It became a ground-work for a theology of far wider relevance than its original historical and temporal significance could have allowed. (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 214)
By refusing to hear this prophetic word, the king eventually brought about a situation in which a far greater number, both of his and of succeeding generations, became hearers of this word. Prophecy took on a new power and a new vitality in written form. It came to be read and re-read in many new situations. Far from destroying the word of God, Jehoiakim’s attempt to burn the scroll of Jeremiah’s prophecies led only to its acquiring new force and range. (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 214)

The question to be answered is . . . What message is God communicating through Jeremiah in chapter 36 of his book?

Answer: God’s Word is indestructible. Attempting to break God’s Word will break you. Hearing the Word of the Lord is in direct proportion to your fear of the Lord.

God has told us that His Word is…

A Mirror: Therefore, I need to read to see myself as I really am in the light of what the text is saying.
A Seed: I permit the Word to be implanted deep in my heart and then envision what the fruit will be if I water and nurture it with care.
A Sword: The two-edged kind that pierces through all the externals and reveals the deepest secrets and motives. In this metaphor it is essential to let the Word cut where it will and to honestly admit and submit to its surgery.
A Lamp: It gives guidance and direction in the darkness of life.
Bread For My Soul: I need to let the Word of God nourish my soul through reading it to feed me, not just to inform me. When my soul is touched by a truth, encouragement, comfort, reproof, or insight from God’s Word, it’s a moment of feeding. (Joseph M. Stowell, Experiencing Intimacy With God, Discovery Series, 30)

The reason for this Bible centeredness is obvious: faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom 10:17). It is by the word that we are born again (1 Pt 1:23-25). We grow by the “pure milk of the word” (2:2). We are sanctified by the truth of God’s word (Jn 17:17). God’s word is profitable and equips us for every good work (2 Tm 3:16-17). God’s word is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword…and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). It is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17). It is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16; cf. 1 Cor 2:4; 1 Thess 1:5). It performs its work in us (2:13). It is “like fire…and like a hammer which shatters a rock” (Jer 23:29). It does not return void, God says, “without accomplishing what I desire, / and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa 55:11). (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 275)

The Word for the Day is . . . Indestructible

In this sermon we are only going to make a distinction between the WORD of GOD and the Word of God as a point of clarification only. Otherwise, there is little distinction.

What important Lessons does Jeremiah want us to see?:

I- God’s Word is indestructible. (Jer 36:27-28 see also: Nm 23:19; Ps 19:9; 102:25-27; 105:8, 19; 148:6; Isa 40:8; Mal 3:6; Mt 24:34-35; Mk 13:30-31; Lk 16:16-17; 21:32-33; Jn 10:35; 2 Tm 2:9; Heb 1:12; 6:17-18; 13:8; Jam 1:17; 1 Pt 1:23-25)

God always has the last word. His words outlast their enemies. The endurance of the Bible attests to the remarkable, at times miraculous, preservation of the Word of God. Satan has done his worst to prevent the production, translation, and proclamation of God’s Word. But he has completely and utterly failed. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 555)

Anything which isn’t eternal is eternally out-of-date. —C.S. Lewis (Simon Guillebaud, Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, 4/15)

(Mt 5:18) “Until heaven and earth pass away” is a conventional way (cf. our “until hell freezes”) of saying for all practical purposes, “never” (cf. Jer 31:35-36; 33:20-21, 25-26; Job 14:12; also positively Ps 72:5, 7, 17), and the repetition of the verb “pass away” links the law closely with heaven and earth as being equally permanent; in 24:35 Jesus’ own words are stated to be more permanent than heaven and earth. (R.T. France, The New International Commentary on the NT: Matthew, 185)

If we say that we do not believe in the account of the creation, or in Abraham as a person; if we do not believe that the law was given by God to Moses, but think that it was a very clever bit of Jewish legislation produced by a man who was a good leader, and who obviously had certain sound ideas about public health and hygiene–if we say that, we are in fact flatly contradicting everything our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said about Himself, the law, and the prophets. Everything in the OT, according to Him, is the Word of God. Not only that, it is all going to stand until it has all been fulfilled. Every jot and tittle, everything has meaning. Everything is going to be carried out down to the smallest detail imaginable. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 163-4)

We may know the Scripture to be the Word of God by its miraculous preservation in all ages. The holy Scriptures are the richest jewel that Christ has left us; and the church of God has so kept these public records of heaven, that they have not been lost. The Word of God has never wanted enemies to oppose, and, if possible, to extirpate it. . . but God has preserved this blessed Book inviolable to this day. The devil and his agents have been blowing at Scripture light, but could never blow it out; a clear sign that it was lighted from heaven. (Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, 27)

The Christian who is interested in knowing his God is the Christian who wants to know what God says about himself in the Bible. Such a Christian will not begin sentences with “I like to think of God as…” She has learned not to blend together a little New Age or a little Hinduism with a little Christianity in order to yield a custom-fitted deity for herself. No, the Christian church member who is serious about knowing God is the member who is committed to what the Bible says about God, because the Bible is where God tells us about himself. (Thabiti M. Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?, 28)

The word of God, when no further qualification is added, is his speaking, his communicating. When God speaks, he expresses his mind, his character and his purposes. Thus God is always present with his word. (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, 159)

It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him. (C. S. Lewis; Letters of C. S. Lewis, 247)

Charles Spurgeon once said, “The way you defend the Bible is the same way you defend a lion. You just let it loose.” (Donald W. McCullough, The Trivialization of God, 123)

The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid. (A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 29)

Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher of the nineteenth century, watched a sixteen-year-old girl on her confirmation day. She was showered with gifts, among them a New Testament in a decorative binding.

Kierkegaard reflected upon the fact that no one really expected the girl to ever read the Bible; it was basically given as an ornament, a social prop. At the very best, the intention of the giver would be that if the girl ever found herself in emotional need, the Testament might come in handy. Yet within the bounds of such a life, the philosopher concluded, a true reading of those Scriptures would provide anything but comfort–they would suggest far greater terrors than whatever brought her to open the pages in the first place.

Kierkegaard’s conclusion is that rather than live such a dangerous hypocrisy, we should walk through the town, take up every single Bible, and cart the whole load out to some mountaintop where we can say to God, “Take it back, this book! We are only capable of making ourselves miserable with it!” (David Jeremiah, Captured by Grace, 77)

(Mt 24:35) This chapter opened with the disciples admiring the durability and beauty of the temple. But Jesus countered with a different vision of durability: Only his words endure; only the truth of God survives. (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: Matthew, 482)

(Mt 24:35) The authority and eternal validity of Jesus’ words are nothing less than the authority and eternal validity of God’s words (Ps 119:89-90; Isa 40:6-8). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Vol. 8, 507)

Jesus taught that it is impossible for the immutable, indestructible, unchanging Word of God to be abolished (5:18; see also: Nm 23:19; Ps 102:25-27; Mal 3:6; Lk 16:16-17; Jam 1:17; Heb 1:12; 6:17-18; 13:8)

The first proposition is that God’s law is absolute; it can never be changed, not even modified to the slightest extent. It is absolute and eternal. Its demands are permanent, and can never be abrogated or reduced “till heaven and earth pass.” That last expression means the end of the age. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 162)

If people do not believe the word of Scripture, then they will not believe someone coming from the next world either. The highest truths cannot be forced into the type of empirical evidence that only applies to material reality. —Pope Benedict XVI (David Robertson, Magnificent Obsession–Why Jesus Is Great, 113)

“God’s Word will never pass away, but looking back to the OT and since the time of Christ, with tears we must say that because of lack of fortitude and faithfulness on the part of God’s people, God’s Word has many times been allowed to be bent, to conform to the surrounding, passing, changing culture of that moment rather than to stand as the inerrant Word of God judging the form of the world spirit and the surrounding culture of that moment. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, may our children and grandchildren not say that such can be said about us.” — Dr. Francis Schaffer

Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778, said that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history, while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes. For example, the English Cathedral in Zanzibar is built on the site of the Old Slave Market, and the Communion Table stands on the very spot where the whipping-post once stood! The world abounds with such instances. . . As one has truly said, “We might as well put our shoulder to the burning wheel of the sun, and try to stop it on its flaming course, as attempt to stop the circulation of the Bible.” (Sidney Collett, All About the Bible)

IN A.D. 303, Diocletian issued an edict to stop Christians from worshiping and to destroy their Scriptures: “. . . an imperial letter was everywhere promulgated, ordering the razing of the churches to the ground and the destruction by fire of the Scriptures, and proclaiming that those who held high positions would lose all civil rights, while those in households, if they persisted in their profession of Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty.” (Cambridge History of the Bible, 1963)

Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. –H. L. Hastings (John W. Lee, The Greatest Book in the World)

A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put.

. . . No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles lettres of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet?

. . .The Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions. (Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences)

II- You don’t break God’s Word. It breaks you. (Jer 36: 30-31 see also: Eccl 8:13; Isa 5:24; Jer 6:10-12, 19; 8:9-12; 11:10-11; 12:17; 13:17; 25:7; 26:4-6; Zech 1:1-6; Mal 2:2; Lk 16:17; Jn 10:35; 1 Pt 1:24-25)

Any king who thinks he can silence God with a knife and a fire has a very high opinion of himself and a very low opinion of God. The Lord simply told Jeremiah to write another scroll, to which He added more material, including a special judgment on King Jehoiakim (Jer 36:27-32). The same God who gives the Word has the power to protect and preserve the Word. The king had tried to destroy the Word, but the word destroyed him! (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 165)

Let a man question the inspiration of the Scriptures and a curious, even monstrous, inversion takes place: thereafter he judges the Word instead of letting the Word judge him; he determines what the Word should teach instead of permitting it to determine what he should believe; he edits, amends, strikes out, adds at his pleasure; but always he sits above the Word and makes it amenable to him instead of kneeling before God and becoming amenable to the Word. (A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 109)

Jehoiakim burns God’s Word, ignoring its warnings. That’s like getting out of a car to destroy a “Bridge Out” sign: done at one’s own peril. (J. I. Packer sermon on Jeremiah 36)

You do not alter facts by neglecting them, nor abrogate a divine decree by disbelieving it. The awful law goes on its course. It is not pre-eminent seamanship to put the look-out man in irons because he sings out, “Breakers ahead.” The crew do not abolish the reef so, but they end their last chance of avoiding it, and presently the shock comes, and the cruel coral tears through the hull. (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 356-7)

The brazen defiance of the king and his court contrasts sharply with the reactions of Josiah when he heard the newly-discovered law scroll read (2 Kgs 22:11). (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 152)

The way of God’s precepts is in itself liberty, and therefore God’s Law is called “the perfect Law of liberty” (Jam 1:25). How grievously are they mistaken, then, who accuse us of bringing souls into bondage when we insist that the Law is the believer’s Rule of Life–the bondage of the Law from which Divine grace delivers, is from the Law as a covenant of works, and therefore from its condemnation and curse; and not from the preceptive authority of the Law. Yet, ever since we drank that poison, “ye shall be as gods” (Gn 3:5), man affecteth dominion over himself and would be lord of his own actions. But Scripture makes it clear that the most dreadful judgment which God inflicts upon the wicked in this world is when He withdraws His restraints and gives them over to do as they please: Ps 81:12, Rom 1:26-29. (Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews, 1298)

Although we believe the evidence we’re about to present shows that the Bible is true beyond reasonable doubt, no amount of evidence can compel anyone to believe it. Belief requires assent not only of the mind but also of the will. While many non-Christians have honest intellectual questions, we have found that many more seem to have a volitional evidence to believe, it’s that they don’t want to believe. (Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 30)

If the Bible is true, then God has provided each of us with the opportunity to make an eternal choice to either accept him or reject him. And in order to ensure that our choice is truly free, he puts us in an environment that is filled with evidence of his existence, but without his direct presence–a presence so powerful that it could overwhelm our freedom and thus negate our ability to reject him. In other words, God has provided enough evidence in this life to convince anyone willing to believe, yet he has also left some ambiguity so as not to compel the unwilling. (Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 31)

Anything that comes from me that has its origin in my own being can do nothing but corrupt.

Only that which comes from the Holy Spirit can be of any blessing to man. That is why so many sermons are unprofitable. They consist of human thoughts, human philosophy, human imagination; and they are worthless. That is why I always recommend to young ministers and theological students that they refrain from being preachers and that they become teachers. That is why I am sure that the only type of ministry which can prove of real blessing to any human heart is the expository teaching of the Word of God. Our Lord has never promised to bless man’s word, but He is bound by Himself to bless unto us the teaching of His Word. He said: “It is the spirit that makes alive; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life (Jn 6:63). (Donald Grey Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin, God’s Wrath, 225)

“When the serpent came and said, ‘eat the tree and you will be as god’. . . . What did he mean by that? At first look it is kind of mystical. What does that mean if he eats the tree he’ll be as god, does that mean there is god-juice in the tree? That if you eat the fruit you will get god-juice in you?

No, no. It is much simpler than that. Much more mundane. Much less mystical. If you decide what is right or wrong for you, rather than following God’s Word; you are defacto putting yourself in the place of God. The serpent is totally right!” (Tim Keller sermon “Reconciliation”)

How soon after the destruction of the original scroll the second edition was made is unknown, but probably not more than a few months at the most. It would incorporate additional material reflecting on the fate awaiting an impious ruler. Because Jehoiakim had burned the original warning, he would be punished by being deprived of a permanent successor. His son Jehoiachin reigned for a scant three months before being exiled himself (2 Chr 36:9). (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 152)

We must always remember that the Bible is not a book composed for one age, and its significance cannot be assessed by the particular moral and literary standards of one generation. Passages that were considered outdated by one generation have been a fountain of comfort to the next. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 270-1)

The reaction of Jehoiakim was characteristic of his highhanded ways (compare 22:13-19). But it was quite in contrast to that of his father Josiah when the Book of the Law was read in his hearing (2 Kgs 22:8-13). (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 110)

Man does not establish authority; he acknowledges it. This is the proper procedure, though seldom observed. Man wants to acknowledge only that authority which he himself establishes or at the least gives consent to. All other authority is offensive to his sense of autonomy and ultimacy. As a result, the claims of Scripture are particularly offensive to the natural man, because so much is involved in the admission of their truth.

To recognize the claims of Scripture is to accept creaturehood and the fact of the fall. The fall necessitates an infallible Savior and an infallible Scripture as Van Til has shown. Moreover, the concept of the infallible Word involves and requires the idea of God’s complete control over history. This means that God is self-contained and ultimate, controlling all reality, with all reality revelational of Him, knowing all things exhaustively because He controls completely. To accept fully the concept of the infallible Word is to claim all facts for God and to insist that reality can only be interpreted in terms of Him and His Word. This runs counter to the natural man’s claim to be the point of reference and the source of ultimate interpretation of factuality. But it is this sin of man which makes Scripture necessary. Scripture speaks to man with authority, and with sufficiency, that is, as a completed Word. It speaks with perspicuity, clearly and simply telling man who he is, what the nature of his sin is, what his remedy is and where it is to be found. The attributes of Scripture are thus necessity, authority, perspicuity and sufficiency. (Rousas J. Rushdoony, By What Standard?, 145)

Jehoiakim has not escaped judgment; he has actually increased it. He burned the scroll because he did not like the message that the king of Babylon would destroy the land. But now Jeremiah is told that Jehoiakim will have a more severe penalty: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost by night. I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened. (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 239-40)

The Bible is not behind the times; it is ages ahead of our aspirations. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 243)

Jesus referred to the OT at least 64 times, and always as authoritative truth. In the course of defending His messiahship and divinity before the unbelieving Jewish leaders in the Temple, He said, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (Jn 10:35). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 263)

Jesus’ language is compelling. “The smallest letter” is the Hebrew yod, which looks something like an apostrophe. There are approximately 66,420 yods in the OT. “The least stroke” is the Hebrew serif, a tiny extension on some letters that distinguishes them from similar letters. Not one of the 66,000-plus yods or innumerable little serifs will pass from the Law (which here includes the Law and the Prophets) until “everything is accomplished.” Our Lord is here teaching the inspiration and immutability of the OT. (R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount, 94)

Not until the universe in its present form disappears (Ps 102:25, 26; Isa 34:4; 51:6; Mt 24:35; Rom 8:21; Heb 1:12; 2 Pt 3:7, 10-13; Rv 6:14; 21:1-3) will even the smallest part of the OT that requires fulfillment fail to be fulfilled. Every type will be exchanged for this antitype. Every prediction will be verified. The law’s demand will be fully met. (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Matthew, 291)

Theodore Watts-Dunton wisely said, “When murdered Truth returns she comes to kill” (so Lewis). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 609)

The quest for the lost soul of Christianity always leads us back to the Bible. But rediscovering the wonders of Scripture requires more than reading. That’s where the quest begins, but that’s not where it ends. Not if you want to get it into your soul. You have to meditate on it. Then you have to live it out. Meditating on it turns one-dimensional knowledge into two-dimensional understanding. Living it out turns two-dimensional understanding into three-dimensional obedience. (Mark Batterson, Primal, A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, 72)

A few years ago I read something rather random, but I’ve never forgotten it: “Dynamic properties are not revealed in the static state.” Too many of us try to understand truth in the static state. We want to understand it without doing anything about it, but it doesn’t work that way. You want to understand it? Then obey it. Obedience will open the eyes of your understanding far more than any commentary or concordance could. I think many of us doubt Scripture simply because we haven’t done it. The way you master a text isn’t by studying it. The way you master a text is by submitting to it. You have to let it master you. (Mark Batterson, Primal, A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, 80-1)

III- Hearing the Word of the Lord is in direct proportion to your fear of the Lord. (Jer 36: see also: 2 Kngs 22:8-30; 23:20-25; 2 Chron 34:14-33; Ezra 10:3; Psa 34:11, 18; 51:17; 111:10; Prov 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10; 14:27; 15:33; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4; Isa 57:15; 66:1-5; Mt 13:1-23; Mk 4:1-20; Lk 8:11-13, 21; 11:28; 18:13-14; Acts 17:11)

The Scripture does not indicate great rage on Jehoiakim’s part as he burned the scroll, only a cold and icy defiance toward the prophet’s message. The fact that he burned the scroll section by section rather than all at once indicates his deliberate defiance of the word of Yahweh. (Max Anders, Holman OT Commentary: Jeremiah, 285)

The message of the scroll failed to move the king or his personal attendants to repentance. He had gathered around him men who thought the way he did. He remained impenitent and showed total contempt for God’s Word. By his action he demonstrated that for him the Word was good only for warming his feet and no more meaningful than the cheap material upon which it was written. (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 240)

The conditional nature of the prophecies should again be noted. If contrition did not follow the public reading of the scroll, the Judeans would seal their own doom. (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 150-1)

We will be spiritually safe in our use of the Bible if we follow a simple rule: Read with a submissive attitude. Read with a readiness to surrender all you are–all your plans, opinions, possessions, positions. Study as intelligently as possible, with all available means, but never study merely to find the truth and especially not just to prove something. Subordinate your desire to find the truth to your desire to do it, to act it out! (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, 210)

All who trembled at the words of the God of Israel” is shown by Ezra 10:3; Isa 66:2 and 5 to be a stereotyped expression in the Post-exilic community for strict observers of the law. (Word; Williamson, 133)

A solemn fast, almost by definition, includes calls for repentance. Indeed, the very word they need to hear is provided for them, but they lack the corporate will and spiritual discernment to hear it. What an illustration of Jesus’ trademark saying: “Whoever has ears to hear. . .” (Cf. Mt 11:15; 13:13; Jn 5:24; 12:47; Rv 3:20). (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 329)

The message of the scroll had its desired effect upon them (the officials). Because they believed what the Lord had said, they were afraid. They also considered this message of utmost importance to the government, because it dealt with the survival of the government and of the nation itself. Because they were sympathetic to the Lord’s purpose, they resolved to take the scroll to the king himself. They showed great courage and love for their country. They knew where King Jehoiakim stood but they hoped that after hearing the message, he too would repent. (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 237)

It is impossible, however, to take Jesus seriously and not take Scripture seriously. It is impossible to believe Jesus spoke absolute truth and not to consider Scripture to be that absolute truth, because that is precisely what Jesus taught it to be. If Jesus was mistaken or deluded on this point, there would be no reason to accept anything else that He said. At the outset of His ministry He makes clear that His authority and Scripture’s authority are the same; His truth and Scripture’s truth are identical and inseparable. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 251)

Read these four Gospels, and watch His quotations from the OT. You can come to one conclusion only, namely, that He believed it all and not only certain parts of it! He quoted almost every part of it. To the Lord Jesus Christ the OT was the Word of God; it was Scripture; it was something absolutely unique and apart; it had authority which nothing else has ever possessed nor can possess. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 163)

Many seem to think that, first of all, the Bible has to be explained, but that is not true. It has to be believed and obeyed! We fail to see the tremendous difference between knowing the Word of God and knowing the God of the Word. Conferences, rallies, missionary conventions, and church services come and go, and we remain unchanged. We are often just a group of unbelieving believers, perhaps never so well equipped, but never so poorly endued. (Alan Redpath; The Making of a Man of God Studies in the Life of David, 130)

Whenever you hear God’s truth, God’s Word, you will go either in the direction you are moved, or you will just wait. If you wait, you will find that the next time you hear the truth, it will not move you quite as much. The next time, it will move you less, and the time will come when that truth will not move you at all. —A. W. Tozer (Simon Guillebaud, Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, 6/26)

At no time has God shown more clearly the inviolable and absolute character of His own holy law than when He placed His own Son under it. It is an astounding conception; and yet, as you read the Gospels, you will find how perfectly true it is. Notice how very careful our Lord was to observe the law; He obeyed it down to the minutest detail. Not only that; He taught others to love the law and explained it to them, confirming it constantly and asserting the absolute necessity of obedience to it. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 167)

Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) described the difference between men like Josiah and men like Jehoiakim this way: “Either the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 554)

If someone says to me, “I don’t get anything out of reading Scripture,” my knee-jerk response is, “I will show you how to read it so that you can get something out of it.” The operative word is “get”. I will help you be a better consumer. By this time the process is so far advanced that it is nearly irreversible. We have agreed, my parishioners and I, to treat the Bible as something useful for what they can use out of it. I, a pastor shaped by their expectations, help them to do it. At some point I cross over the line and am doing it myself—looking for an arresting text for a sermon, looking for the psychologically right reading in a hospital room, looking for evidence of the truth of the Trinity. The verb looking has taken over. I am no longer listening to a voice, not listening to the God to whom I will give a response in obedience and faith, becoming the person he is calling into existence. I am looking for something that I can use to do a better job, for which people will give me a raise if I do it conspicuously well enough. (Eugene Peterson; Working the Angles, 99)

People who ask all sorts of questions about issues that are not dealt with from the Bible (Cain’s wife, Noah and the flood, Jonah and the whale) are not conducting an investigation, they are mounting an opposition. (Alistair Begg sermon, The Authority of Jesus)

Disobedience of God’s word puts my own wisdom in the place of wisdom. What does it say about your doctor if he writes the prescription for three pills a day and you decide to take them once a day? It says that you put yourself above your doctor. You distrust his skill and competence and good will. It is a great insult, and he could not take pleasure in that—and you won’t get well. (John Piper; The Pleasures of God, 247)

The Spirit of God

Lead the People of God

To Submit to the Word of God

Now this is the most alarming thing that we can ever realize about ourselves. Every one of us is subject to prejudice. There is not one of us that is free from it; the devil sees to that. And the prejudices are almost endless in number. So that when we come to the Scriptures we come with a prejudiced eye and we see what we want to see. That is what the heretics have always done, is it not? They have always quoted Scripture. Some of the modern heretics quote a little Scripture, not much, but even they do try to quote a little. And, if you take the Scriptures with their prejudiced mind and understanding you can make them prove almost anything you like. So the Jews were perfectly happy about themselves, because it seemed to them that the Scriptures everywhere were saying that they alone were saved and that everybody else was lost; whereas the truth was that they were lost and others were saved.

We must always beware of prejudice. We must never read the Scriptures without praying. We should never approach them without asking the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us and to direct us. We should deliberately humble ourselves, we should talk to ourselves and say, Now why am I going to the Scriptures? Am I going there only to find arguments to support my case, or am I going there to be instructed, to be enlightened, to have my eyes opened to the truth of God? We should always try to come as little children and be ready to find that we are wrong. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Exposition of Chapter 9, 321)

Thomas Aquinas was asked on one occasion why there seem to be non-Christians who are searching for God, when the Bible says no one seeks after God in an unconverted state. Aquinas replied that we see people all around us who are feverishly seeking for purpose in their lives, pursuing happiness, and looking for relief from guilt to silence the pangs of conscience. We see people searching for the things that we know can be found only in Christ, but we make the gratuitous assumption that because they are seeking the benefits of God, they must therefore be seeking God. That is the very dilemma of fallen creatures: we want the things that only God can give us, but we do not want him. We want peace but not the Prince of Peace. We want purpose but not the sovereign purposes decreed by God. We want meaning found in ourselves but not in his rule over us. We see desperate people, and we assume they are seeking for God, but they are not seeking for God. I know that because God says so. No one seeks after God. (RC Sproul, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans, 90)

The best way I can put it is that, before the change, I pored over the Bible, questioning and analyzing it. But after the change it was as if the Bible, or maybe Someone through the Bible, began poring over me, questioning and analyzing me. (Timothy Keller, King’s Cross, xv)

Biblical authority must never depend on human verification for it is the unquestionable Word of God.

The problem with much of the popular tactics used by many defenders of the faith today may be summed up as a problem of authority. The apologist must see clearly that the non–Christian is in need of forsaking his commitment to independence and should turn in faith to the authority of Christ. If however, trust in Christ is founded on logical consistency, historical evidence, scientific arguments, etc., then Christ is yet to be received as the ultimate authority. The various foundations are more authoritative than Christ himself. . . . if beliefs in Christian truth comes only after the claims of Christ are run through the verification machine of independent human judgment, then human judgment is still thought to be the ultimate authority. (Richard L. Pratt, Jr.; Every Thought Captive A Study manual for the Defense of Christian Truth, 79-80)

There were three public readings of the book, and the first one was to the people in the temple (Jer 36:10). There’s no record that the crowd responded in any special way. One man, Micaiah, however, became concerned because of what he had heard (v. 11). He was the grandson of Shaphan, the man who read the newly found book of the law to King Josiah (2 Kgs 22), so it’s no wonder he had an interest in God’s Word. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 164)

Worship Point: Worship the God of the Universe Who never changes and Whose Word is more secure and stable than the planetary movements (Nm 23:19; Ps 11:4; Jer 33:19-26; ; Mal 3:6; Heb 7:21; Jam 1:17). Worship Him also because His Word or His Laws are loving (Mt 22:36-40; Rom 13:10). All that God thinks, says, or does is love because God is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16). Finally, true worship must be through the Word (WORD).

To worship God we must know who God is, but we cannot know who God is unless God first chooses to reveal himself to us. God has done this in the Bible, which is why the Bible and the teaching of the Bible need to be central in our worship. — James Montgomery Boice

The absence of authority in much contemporary preaching is directly attributable to the absence of confidence in the authority of the Bible. Once biblical authority is undermined and eroded, preaching becomes a pretense. The preacher stands to offer religious advice on the basis of the latest secular learning and the “spirituality” of the day. The dust of death covers thousands of pulpits across the land.

But when the Bible’s authority is recognized and honored, the pulpit stands as a summons to hear and obey the word of God. True worship takes place when the authority of the Bible is rightly honored and the preaching of the word is understood to be the event whereby God speaks to his people through his word, by the human instrumentality of his servants–the preachers. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 118)

To worship God is also to bow before his absolute, ultimate authority. We adore not only his power, but also his holy word. Psalm 19 praises God first for revealing himself in his mighty acts of creation and providence (vv. 1-6) and then for the perfection of his law (vv. 7-11). When we enter his presence, overwhelmed by his majesty and power, how can we ignore what he is saying to us? So, in worship we hear the reading and exposition of the Scriptures (see Acts 15:21; 1 Tm 4:13; Col 4:16; 1 Thess 5:27; Acts 20:7; 2 Tm 4:2). God wants us to be doers of that word, not hearers only (Rom 2:13; Jam 1:22-25; 4:11). (John M. Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth, 4)

This moral law expressly teaches us that the Bible is to be our rule for how we corporately worship and even think about God. The Bible (God’s own self-disclosure and revelation)–not our own innovations, imaginations, experiences, opinions, and representations–is to be the source of our idea of God. By the way, this is why Protestant houses of worship have historically been plain, bereft of overt religious symbolism and certainly without representations of deity. The Bible is to be central in forming our image of God and informing our worship of him. And since the how of corporate worship contributes to our image of God, it is exceedingly important that we worship in accordance with the Bible. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 31)

Scripture itself condemns worship that is based only on human ideas: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men” (Isa 29:13). This word of God through Isaiah was repeated by Jesus in Mt 15:8-9 and Mk 7:6-7. Paul in Col 2:23 condemns “self-imposed worship,” worship unauthorized by God. (John M. Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth, 39)

A concern for true biblical worship was at the very heart of the Reformation. But even Martin Luther, who wrote hymns and required his preachers to be trained in song, would not recognize this modern preoccupation with music as legitimate or healthy. Why? Because the Reformers were convinced that the heart of true biblical worship was the preaching of the word of God. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 108-9)

The sheer weightlessness of much contemporary preaching is a severe indictment of our superficial Christianity. When the pulpit ministry lacks substance, the church is severed from the word of God, and its health and faithfulness are immediately diminished. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 110)

The greatest weakness of much preaching is that the Word hasn’t killed the pastor first. (Marva Dawn; Reaching Out without Dumbing Down, 219)

It is important to note that Jesus does not critique the Pharisees for being too tied to old-fashioned practices, caring about what the Torah says too much, or being too nitpicky about God’s law. He charges them with ignoring God’s law and attacking God’s law by adding to it! Indeed, Jesus says that the words of Isaiah are perfectly suited to describe the Pharisees’ worship: (1) it is lip service rather than God-honoring, in which their hearts are far away from him, rather than truly loving him; (2) it is empty worship, mere form; and (3) it is human-made, not based on the prescriptions of the word. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 41)

The pulpit prayers of Reformed churches should be rich in Biblical and theological content. Do we not learn the language of Christian devotion from the Bible? Do we not learn the language of confession and penitence from the Bible? Do we not learn the promises of God to believe and claim in prayer from the Bible? Don’t we learn the will of God, the commands of God, and the desires of God for His people, for which we are to plead in prayer, from the Bible? Since these things are so, public prayers should repeat and echo the language of the Bible throughout. This was once widely understood. Matthew Henry and Isaac Watts produced prayer manuals that trained Protestant pastors for generations to pray in the language of Scripture, and are still used today. Hughes Old has produced a similar work in recent years. (Terry Johnson, Reformed Worship: Worship That Is according to Scripture, 35)

God’s word must govern our knowledge of God, and thus its governance of worship is vital. Divine revelation must control our idea of God, but since worship contributes to our idea of God, the only way that God’s revelation can remain foremost in our thinking about God is if God’s revelation also controls our worship of God. God’s self-disclosure, his self-revelation, is to dominate our conception of him, and therefore God’s people are not to make images of God or the gods: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 30)

Where God has not revealed himself, there can be no faithful response to his revelation, by virtue of the very nature of faith. Since “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Heb 11:6) and since “whatever is not from faith is sin” (Rom 14:23), God cannot be pleased by worship that is not an obedient response to his revelation, because it is by definition “un-faith-full” worship. Hence, once again we see that worship must be positively based upon the word of God. (Philip Graham Ryken, Give Praise to God A Vision for Reforming Worship, 56)

Gospel Application: Jesus is the WORD of GOD incarnate. As we can trust God and His Word so can we trust God’s incarnate WORD to make us into a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Salvation comes only through the WORD of GOD (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12).

From Gn 1:1 through Mal 4:6, the OT is Jesus Christ. It was inspired by Christ, it points to Christ, and it is fulfilled by Christ. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 258)

This means that the Bible is about Jesus and that he is its fulfillment in all ways. He fulfills the moral law by his obedience, the prophecies by the specifics of life, and the sacrificial system by his once-and-for-all atonement. This is a part of what Paul means in Rom 10:4 when he calls Christ “the end of the law.” (James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, 81)

The law which itself reveals the pattern of good works should drive us to Christ. Christ is the point of the law; Christ is the goal of the law; Christ is the meaning of the law. So if you try to follow and obey the law, but avoid Christ, you have missed the whole point of the law. (R. C. Sproul, The Gospel of God: Romans, 178)

He fulfilled the Law by dying on the cross and satisfying the demands of the Law against those who would believe on him. The entire sacrificial system in OT times pointed to him. (R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount, 93)

It is one thing to hear God’s Word. It is another to fear it, heeding all God’s warnings, trusting all God’s promises, and obeying all God’s commands. To fear God’s Word is to confess that you are a sinner, trust that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and live the rest of your life according to God’s will. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 551)

The One who demands perfect righteousness gives perfect righteousness. The One who tells us of the way into the kingdom is Himself that way. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (Jn 14:6), Jesus said. The King not only sets the standard of perfect righteousness, but will Himself bring anyone up to that standard who is willing to enter the kingdom on the King’s terms. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 280)

The implied truth of Mt 5:20 is this: The purpose of God’s law was to show that, to please God and to be worthy of citizenship in His kingdom, more righteousness is required than anyone can possibly have or accomplish in himself. The purpose of the law was not to show what to do in order to make oneself acceptable, much less to show how good one already is, but to show how utterly sinful and helpless all men are in themselves. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 276)

“The real evil is that we trust in our own power to be righteous and will not lift up our eyes to see what Christ has done for us…” It is your goodness more than your badness that separates you from God.” (Martin Luther’s preface to the Galatians)

Too much contemporary evangelism fails to take God’s wrath seriously. Many Christians testify to the grace and goodness of God. Yet how often do they explain how much God hates sin and how severely he intends to deal with it? News of divine judgment has an essential place in evangelism. People have to hear the bad news about sin and death before they can receive the good news about forgiveness and new life in Christ. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 551)

…there are at least two essential marks of the upright heart. First, it trembles at the word of God. It feels precarious and helpless and in tremendous need of mercy. Then, second, it trusts the mercy of God to forgive and help and save. (John Piper; The Pleasures of God, 222)

James calls Christians to “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jam 1:21). Implicit in James’ instruction is a distinction between an ungodly life of filthiness and wickedness and the Christlike life of humility or meekness. Christians should receive the Word of God with meekness. That is, in the preaching of God’s Word and in the Scripture, acknowledging it as the source of salvation and instruction in godly living. As we come to the Scripture, we are to do so as people knowing our sinful nature, our spiritual poverty before God, and our need for the molding influence of God, which comes normally by his Word. (Thabiti M. Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?, 77)

Who does Jesus think he is? It is one thing to claim, as he does in verse 18, that the Law will pass away once “all is accomplished,” but it’s quite another thing to say, as he does here in verse 17, “I have…come…to fulfill them.” Jesus is saying, “All the promises of God–like my passion and death, the engrafting of the Gentiles, etc.–find their yes,” to borrow from Paul’s language, “in me” (cf. 2 Cor 1:20). What a stupendous claim! For Jesus to claim to be the inerrant expositor of the Word who has come to tell everyone what the Law really teaches is one highly controversial claim. But to also claim to be the absolute embodiment of God’s greatest promises is more than a bit blasphemous if it’s not true. (Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preaching the Word: Matthew, 129)

The Pharisees accused Jesus of “abolishing” the law. But, in fact, they were the ones who were abolishing it. Their traditional interpretations of the law weakened its power to search the motives of men’s hearts. It was only in the exposition of Jesus (in Mt 5:21-48, for example) that the real power of God’s law could be felt. Jesus did not weaken the law. On the contrary, he let it out of the cage in which the Pharisees had imprisoned it, allowing it to pounce on our secret thoughts and motives, and tear to pieces our bland assumption that we are able to keep it in our own strength. (Sinclair Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount, 71-2)

Think about your own righteousness and presenting it to God. What a joke! You have nothing to offer the God of the Universe. Even your most pure righteous deeds fall far short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23, Isa 64:6). The only thing that can please God is God. Therefore the only thing you can offer the God of the Universe is Himself reflected in you by the work of the Holy Spirit in you. That is what brings glory to God. That is what pleases God. That is what brings merit to us before God. It is God and God alone. — Pastor Keith

Spiritual Challenge: Contemplate the imperishable, incorruptible, invincible, unbreakable, unconquerable, indestructible nature of the Word of God. Contemplate also that God’s Word is love. Then realize the stability, security, and shalom that comes by the honoring of and submitting to God and His WORD.

God’s Word will never be outdated, irrelevant, obsolete or out of touch. If we ever think that God’s Word has become any of these things we can be assured that we are either steeped in sin so we are blind to the truth, or we are totally ignorant of what God’s Word actually says. — Pastor Keith

Every rejection makes a man more obdurate. Every rejection increases criminality, and therefore increases punishment. Every rejection brings the punishment nearer.

The increased severity of the message comes from love. (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 357)

The kingdom of God always appears upside down to the human perspective. We think it’s strange to die in order to live, or to give in order to receive, or to serve in order to lead. Solomon captures the perpetual enigma of our looking-glass values just as Jesus describes them in the Sermon on the Mount. He insists we should embrace sorrow over laughter, rebukes over praise, the long way instead of the short, and today instead of yesterday.

The truth is that it’s not the kingdom of God that is upside down–it’s the world. It’s not the Word of God that turns life inside out–it’s the world that has reversed all the equations that God designed for our lives. (David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth, 189)

God’s Word shows us:

What is right.

What isn’t right.

How to get right.

How to stay right.

Isn’t that right? — Superintendent Ramundo 6-16-13

Spiritual Challenge Questions:

What comfort can we have knowing that God’s Word is forever? How does this contrast with the world in which we live?

What does it say about us when we think we know better than God about how to run our lives?

How does one obtain a proper “fear of the LORD”? How does this help to contribute to a proper hearing of the WORD OF the LORD?

So What?: You don’t break God’s Word. It breaks you. You ignore, reject, or disobey God’s Word at great peril.

The word of God is truth. And we need to meditate or ruminate on truth until it becomes food for us. That is why Jesus said that His food was to do the will of His father and Jesus also echoed the words of Dt 8:3 in that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Are we taking in and chewing God’s word until it becomes food for our souls? I feel the reason so many of us are spiritually malnourished is because we are not taking in God’s Word like this. — paraphrase of Tim Keller

There can never be a true revival unless it comes in God’s way. And it will never come except through the continued declaration, “It is written.” There is in our day a neo-orthodoxy which is in reality a pseudo-orthodoxy because there is the attempt to establish the truth of some of the Christian doctrines without the underlying foundation of the authority of the Word of God. All such attempts are building upon the sand. The rock of the Scriptures must be the basis for all doctrine or there is no truth. (Donald Grey Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin, God’s Wrath, 209)

In particular, I had learned that intensity is crucial for any progress in spiritual perception and understanding. To dribble a few verses or chapters of scripture on oneself through the week, in church or out, will not reorder one’s mind and spirit-just as one drop of water every five minutes will not get you a shower, no matter how long you keep it up. You need a lot of water at once and for a sufficiently long time. Similarly for the written Word. (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 356)

If you are a follower of Christ, then you must have within you a deep desire to want to love and obey God’s Word because that is what drove Jesus. Constantly, Jesus refers to his actions as being what His father told him to do or Jesus does what he does so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. How can you say you follow Christ and contradict the very principle upon which his life was based . . . To fulfill the Scriptures. You cannot call yourself a Christian and do less than read, obey and love God’s Word. Otherwise, to call yourself a Christian and to live contrary to what we have just said, is to make a mockery of Jesus. – Tim Keller

I am very much aware that Scripture memorization has largely fallen by the wayside in our day of microwave meals and television entertainment. But let me say as graciously but as firmly as I can: We cannot effectively pursue holiness without the Word of God stored up in our minds where it can be used by the Holy Spirit to transform us. (Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, 175)

JESUS:

FOREVER THE WORD

“God’s Word Forever” – Jeremiah 36:1-32

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