What is the Attitude of Jesus toward the Bible?

Matt 5:17-20

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

Jesus is our paradigm for living. His attitudes are to be our attitudes. We are to live as Jesus would in this culture. It’s not a smorgasborg. We don’t pick and choose what we like from Jesus and reject the stuff we don’t like. So, His attitude toward the Bible is extremely important.

 

  1. Scripture reveals God’s will and must be fulfilled!

 

  1. Law and the Prophets is the Old Testament

               

  1. It is not abolished

 

 

  1. It is fulfilled by Jesus

 

 

  1. All of it is important

 

 

  1. Teach it

 

 

  1. Do not set it aside

 

 

 

  1. Scripture reveals God’s ways and must be followed!

 

        From the example of Jesus’ temptation in Matt 4

       

        Before we start: define temptation. Define testing. Should we      expect these circumstances?

 

Matt 4:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

 

  1. It is written to be obeyed

This story is incredibly important. In it Jesus’ life echoes the experience of the Jewish People in the OT and He succeeds where they fail!

        Lust of the flesh? Man does not live by bread alone, but by the     revealed Word of God!! The fruit is good for fruit

Lust of the eyes? Worship God and serve Him only. The fruit is     pleasing to the eye.

Pride of life? Do not put God to the test. The fruit is desirable for gaining wisdom.

 

  1. There will be other voices against Scripture

       

                It’s a combination of our inward weaknesses, desires that drive us, sometimes even unconsciously and the attempt of the evil one to steal God’s best from us in exchange for the pleasure of the temptation.

 

III. Scripture Reveals God’s Purposes for Man

Matt 19:

3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Jesus goes straight back to Genesis 2. He goes to the very beginning and takes the words at face value in terms of what it is that God is working to do in the lives of people.

 

  1. Family and Work basics

 

 

  1. Man does not live by bread alone

                Vs. Give us this day our daily bread.

 

 

 

  1. Scripture Reveals God to men

John 6:

39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

 

All ethical teaching can be boiled down to two statements. Love God first and love your neighbor as yourself. In that order. Notice the Ten Commandments follow this paradigm. God first! And then out of your love for God, love others. This is hugely important!!

 

Psalms 119 is an acrostic poem. It is a psalm that consists of 22 sections, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet! Each section expounds on the value of the Word of God in the life of the Psalmist. And each section expounds on the attitude toward the Scripture that makes it valuable in the lives of the Psalmist.