For our Sunday School lesson this morning, we'll be turning to Matthew 5, verses 17-18. We're going to have several passages of Scripture that we'll be asking you to follow along today. The topic this morning is the Lordship of Christ and His view of the Scriptures. What kind of an outlook did Jesus have toward the Old Testament scriptures? There is a belief existing within primarily liberal Christianity that they claim that they can have a high view of Jesus, but they deny the inspiration of the Bible. I want to try to show today that's impossible. is that if you have a low view of Scripture, it's going to require you have a low view of Jesus. But if you have a high view of Jesus, of who he was, that what his view of Scripture then is authoritative. Lordship of Christ and the Scripture, Matthew 5, 17, and 18, for our theme text. Jesus states, Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. We began today by defining what we mean by lordship. Lordship in the scriptures means the authority and power to rule over others. You are the one that's in control. In Mark chapter 10 and verse 42, let me quote that for us. But Jesus called them to him and said unto them, You know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones, the rulers, exercise authority upon them. So here is the definition of lordship. It is the ability to exercise one's authority to rule over others. And it's the right to use one's power as their own wisdom sees best. In John chapter 17 and verse 2, there Jesus says, as thou hast given him power, and the word power and authority is used interchangeably in the Gospels, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. So here is unlimited power, but his wisdom determines how he will use and apply that power. Also, in Psalm 115, in verse 3, we read, Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. What does it mean have God being in the heavens, the next part of the sentence interprets that. He has done whatever he pleases. Now, is that all right with all of you? It better be, because whatever you have is not going to make any difference whatsoever. God is going to do whatever His wisdom sees best and whatever pleases Him. This is the privilege of being the extreme Lord. having all power in heaven and in earth. So lordship then, as we define a little further, is the ability to control all of life's events so as to fulfill one's own good pleasure or purpose. And God is the only being in the universe who has the capacity and the right to do that. In Matthew 28, 18, our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of himself And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Philippians 2.13, For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And an example that we will give you of this, let's turn over to John 19 and verses 10 and 11. Here is an example of exercising one's power. John 19, 11, we read there, Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, thou could have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Pilate felt like he was the supreme ruler. He could do with Jesus whatever he wanted to do. Jesus reminded him that you can do nothing except the power that is over you first approves of that. So I hope that this gives us then a definition of what we mean by lordship. Now let's consider then, secondly, the authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus was continually known in his teachings for saying these words, I say unto you. Not what the scribes and the Pharisees said, but I say unto you. Indicating that he considered himself the supreme court of all his teachings. There's no higher appeal than the understanding of what Jesus meant in his teaching. And Jesus, when he spoke to the multitudes and to the Jewish leaders, he was not speaking merely as a man to man. He was not speaking merely as a philosopher to a group of philosophers. Instead, he was speaking as God to men, and he did not apologize for that because that's who he knew himself to be. He could say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, let me quote that for us. God, who at sundry times in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, speaking of the Old Testament era, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh as God in the flesh began what the Bible calls the last days. It is a mistaken idea when people have come up to me over my many, many years of ministry, Pastor, do you believe we're living in the last days? And I say absolutely. They began when Jesus appeared. And we've been in the last days for 2,000 years now. Finishing the quote, Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Matthew 24, 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. So Jesus then claims to be equal with God and to whatever he believed and taught was the final word on the matter. He would introduce himself in his sermons, but I say unto you, you have heard, but I say unto you, whatever I say is the final authority. Now let us then move on to consider what was the object of Jesus' approval. How did he handle the Scriptures? Remember, there was no New Testament Scriptures, only the Old Testament Scriptures, while Christ was here. Jesus Christ stamped his authority as Lord. upon the entire canon of the Old Testament Scriptures, the collection of the Old Testament books as we have them now and as Jesus had them. He placed his stamp of approval of all of them being inspired by God. Turn over with me now to Luke 24, verses 44 and 45. Luke 24, 44 and 45, here in one verse, he just covers the whole realm of the Old Testament Scriptures. And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the what? The Scriptures. This is the way that the Jewish people at the time of Christ understood the threefold division of the Old Testament. First, the law of Moses covering the historical books of the Bible. the Prophets, representing the prophetic views of the future, and then the Psalms, representing the devotional approach. So here we have the threefold division, and Jesus stamps his approval, Brother David, upon them all. He said, they all speak of me, and then he opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. So the Scriptures all contain the Word of God and are authoritative. If there were any errors and contradictions within the Scriptures, the one who knows all things would certainly have known of them. If he didn't know them, then what does that tell us? He really wasn't who he claimed to be. He's a fraud and an imposter. Also in John chapter 10 and verse 35, I'll quote that for us. If he then called them gods, of whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you see here how that Jesus connects the Word of God and the Old Testament Scriptures as being one and the same? The Old Testament Scriptures are the words of God. 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21, knowing this verse that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now that passage of Scripture has been misinterpreted by good-meaning people as being supposedly to be read like this, is that no one has a right to their own private understanding of the Bible. If that's the case, we're all in trouble. That's not what the text is saying. The text is saying that the Old Testament men who wrote the Bible didn't give their private interpretations of the Bible, but they wrote as the Holy Spirit gave them understanding, so that what they wrote was inspired. It's not that we cannot read the Bible and try to come to an understanding of it, Peter is bringing out of how that the Old Testament writers didn't just sit down and give their personal opinions about God and things like this, but they spoke, Brother Sonny, as the Holy Spirit gave them the words to speak, and what they spoke was recorded in written form and became the infallible Word of God. Now, what did the Old Testament scriptures contain? First, these included the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Modern German philosophy and theology says that we don't know. It wasn't Moses, it was J.P. and E., three unknown writers who collected different collections about God, and then they pasted and cut here and there, and then that's how we came up with the first five books of the Bible. Now what did Jesus think of that? Did he believe that's the way that the first five books came about? We read in Mark 7, 10, For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother, and whoso curseth father and mother, let him die the death. Now who should I believe? A modern doctor of philosophy? A modern theologian who would have me believe that we don't know who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Or should I believe Jesus? Moses said, honor your father and the mother. Well, where would we find that at? We'd find that in the first five books of the Bible, the writings of Moses. Not only does this place the approval upon the Mosaic authorship of the books of Genesis and Deuteronomy and Exodus and so forth, but this includes the Genesis account of creation. What we believe about Jesus and what He believed about creation should greatly influence what we believe about creation. And I say it very clearly, Jesus did not believe in evolution. Well, how do we know that? Matthew 19, 3 and 4. The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him and saying unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for whatever reason or whatever cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them what? Male and female. He which made them at the beginning. Now where would we find that at? But in Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3, Jesus is placing his stamp upon the Genesis account of creation. So whatever we believe that we supposedly find in natural revelation must be subordinated to biblical revelation. It's the final word upon the matter. And he made them male and female, as I stated to your pastor yesterday in the wedding ceremony, that he made them Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. And he didn't all, he made them Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eves, plural. One man, one woman. For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife, and they shall become one flesh in the sight of God." So the Genesis account of creation is stamped with the lordship of Jesus' approval. And remember, we have come to the understanding that he is the supreme being who knows all things and controls all things and can rule over all the events and affairs of heaven and earth as he pleases to see done best. Now then, here's one that sometimes we have a hard time swallowing. Jesus also believed in Jonah and the great fish. that a great creature swallowed a real prophet named Jonas. We're told that Jonas was a myth, and yet in the Old Testament books we find recorded that he actually existed. not just in his book of the prophecy of Jonah, but that we know the location where he was born at. He was a real historical person. And the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up this unthankful prophet. I've always been somewhat humored when I have gone to evangelism conferences And I have heard speakers emphasize that if you're going to be successful in soul winning, you've got to be totally committed to the will of God. Here's a man who didn't want the will of God. He didn't want the people that he was sent to to be saved. You talk about unfaithfulness, and yet God used an unfaithful servant. to convert a whole city. God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line, and he can use an unfaithful believer to bring about his will in this case. Let's read Matthew 12, 39 and 40. Matthew 12, 39 and 40. He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, And there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." I've read many books that say that it's impossible for a whale to swallow a man because a whale's throat is too small. Well, the word here for hueyo also means but a great fish. And it also, we must take into consideration, God prepared this fish. We do have examples in history of individuals who have been swallowed by great fishes. and have recovered. Their skin has been faded out, but they have recovered from those events. Now, do we believe that Jonah was actually swallowed by a great fish and then lived through that event? Who would we go to as our final authority? Would it not be Jesus? Jesus, the supreme being who knows all things, says this is what actually happened. So I hope you see where we're going. Jesus is Lord over all, and we're trying to see what was his view of the Old Testament Scriptures. Did he hold the Scriptures in high regard as being the Word of God written? to mankind, or did he have a whole lot of questions? No, he never one time questioned the writings of the Old Testament canon of scriptures. The next thing that this includes in the Old Testament scriptures is the flood of Jonah. Go back with me to Matthew 24 now, 37 and 38. Matthew 24, 37, and 38. As in the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the what? What does your Bible say? Before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Here Jesus stamps his divine approval as Lord upon the Genesis account of the flood that occurred in the days of Noah. We could go on and on, but because of the brevity of the lesson this morning, we cannot do that. I hope you're getting the picture, though. Whenever Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, he had no problem but believing that what he was referring to was an accurate account of what actually took place. Now what then is the significance of Christ's view of the Scriptures? To accept a view of Scripture which is less than that of Christ is to question His very character and His claims. You see where we're in a dilemma here? You cannot, I repeat, have a high view of Jesus' character and His claims and have a low view of the Bible. And so when individuals, be however intelligent that they are, would come along and tell us, well, yes, the Old Testament Bible says this, but we really can't believe that anymore. That's not accurate. Then we as Bible-believing Christians are caught, we either have to make a decision right then and there whether or not we're going to trust the veracity of Jesus and his understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures, or whether we accept the modern understanding of it by the so-called scholars and rulers, and in so doing, reject Jesus' teaching. I remember years and years ago, You can tell I'm an old preacher now. I'll soon be 76. I preached here in St. Louis here about four weeks ago at Brother Holmes Moore's Bible Conference. I first preached there in 1972, and I was the youngest preacher there. Guess who was the oldest preacher this year at the conference? Forty-three years or so of preaching there. You're looking at him. The oldest one now. time makes a change upon a person's appearance and their very approach to life. So to what I remember And I forget what year it was. Many years ago, I had the privilege of speaking in Chapel at a North American Baptist University over in Kansas. And as I had been invited to speak there by a class of students, and I brought this very lesson that I'm bringing today. And at the back of the auditorium, there sat about six or seven of the professors there in the school. This is a very liberal school. They all had on their long black robes. And here's a hillbilly from the Ozarks up there speaking before these group of intellectuals. And they sat on the back row, not way up to that. They didn't sit in where the crowd was. They had their special seats where the scribes and the Pharisees sit at, you know. And I could tell that they weren't receiving what I was saying. And they'd nudge one another like this and smile and smirk and so forth. And after the delivery was over, a number of the students came up and said, this reinstills my view of the confidence of the Bible that I was beginning to lose here. And one of the professors came up to me and smiled, and he said, well, young man, it's good that you came today and presented your little talk. That's his words. And he said, I guess that you've never heard of the principle of accommodation, have you? And I have to say, I'm sorry, I must confess, I've never heard of that word as it's used before. He said, well, that's where you made your mistake today, is that Jesus knew all of these things, but he merely accommodated this to the errors of the people in their misunderstanding of the Old Testament. Do you see that? And I said, well, sir, wouldn't that then make him one of the poorest teachers? Isn't it the role of a teacher to correct and give light to their hearers? And you would have me understand that Jesus knew that there were a whole bunch of things wrong with the Old Testament, but that the Jewish hearers believed the Old Testament, so you would have me believe that Jesus merely accommodated himself to try to fit in? No. I said, I must accept what Jesus says. And with all due respect to you, sir, then I must go on and hold to that rather than having you enlighten me in that understanding. Let me give you a summation here of what we mean here by the lordship of Christ and the significance of Jesus' claims. Jesus was completely and eloquently silent concerning any error, contradiction, inaccuracy, myth, legend, or forgery existing in the Old Testament Scriptures. Strangely and criminally silent, if such existed. These either did or did not exist. If they did exist, problems in the Old Testament, then Jesus was either, one, ignorant of them, in which case he was not omniscient, hence not the unique Son of God, hence an imposter, hence a sinner, hence no Savior. And where does that leave us? He did know of them and deliberately chose to be silent to deceive the people, in which case he was a dishonest man, a deceiver, an imposter, a sinner, and no savior. It's the only two options that we have. Either Jesus knew about these errors or he didn't know about them. In either case, he cannot be who he claimed to be. He never criticized the Old Testament. He treated it as a revelation from God. He gave deeper and spiritual meanings, Matthew 25, 21 through 48, but he never rejected any part of the Old Testament Scripture. He was the fulfiller, not the destroyer of the Old Testament. And it must be fulfilled. even to the smallest Hebrew letter, the jot, or the yod, and the smallest part of a letter, the tittle, which he spoke about in Matthew 7, what we read in our text, Matthew 5, 17 and 18. Jesus had a high view of the Scriptures as being the Word of God. Now the significance of this, then, from the standpoint of Christ. Christ asked an audience one day these words. Matthew 25, 42. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What's your answer to that? What do you think of Jesus Christ? Who is he? Was he just a good man? Good men don't deceive. Good men enlighten the world around them. We either have one or two choices. He was either the son of God incarnate in human flesh, or he was just a human being. And if he was but a human being, then he's like the rest of us. all subject to limitations, understandings that need to be corrected, and thus he is a fraud if he is going about claiming, I say unto you and all men should listen unto him. He is either who he claimed to be or he is an imposter. What think you of Christ? Not what your neighbor thinks, not what I think, what your pastor thinks. What's the conclusion that you have personally reached as you have read about this person of Jesus? And remember, there's only one source in history that you have to go by. We don't have anything in the writings of the Romans. This is the only source. to give us an understanding of who this person named Jesus Christ, whether he was just a figment of imagination like a Santa Claus or something like that, or whether he actually existed as a real historical person. And for 2,000 years, men have dated the calendars in history in reference to the birth of this man. He's had more influence than any other person that has ever appeared in human history. He was God in the flesh. What thank you of Christ. Now another statement that Jesus makes in Luke 9, 26, he says, Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and my words, him shall I be ashamed of before the Father." Are you ashamed to identify yourself with Jesus who claimed that He was God in the flesh? Are you ashamed to identify with him and his understanding of this book called the Bible, which he referred to as the Word of God, the unbroken canon of Scripture? Jesus said, if you're such in that category, then at the final day of judgment, I will be ashamed of you. You cannot have a high view of Jesus and a low view of the words of Jesus Christ. Now what's the bottom line? I can't leave it right there. Listen, it's a heaven or hell destiny issue. Why, Pastor? Because true saving faith is involved in this question. Romans 10, 9-13. We'll close with this verse. These verses turn over there for us. We're making good time. Romans 10, 9-13. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's the Lordship. If you confess with your mouth, the lordship of Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, what's the result? Thou shalt be saved. It's a heaven or hell issue. Now let's finish the text. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, for the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Am I hearing you right, Pastor? Are you saying that if I don't believe in the inspiration of the Bible, I may go to hell? That's exactly what I'm saying. That's exactly what we're saying. It's a crucial issue. Lest I bore you to stiffness again, I maintain that Jesus held to such a high view of the Bible. You've got to reject the view, Jesus' view of the Bible, if you reject it as being the Word of God. And no man is going to enter into heaven's glory if they deny the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that I'm in a Bible-believing church today. I've been here many, many years. Your pastor and I go back about 47 years together. We met, I think, first in about 1972, and he has become my best friend in the ministry in this period of time. And I had the privilege yesterday of uniting he and Paula in a wedding ceremony. very close with Brother Mark. So close that over the years, I've been able to go to him as with no other pastor, no other minister, and ask questions, and he would do the same with me. And you know why he and I could do that? Because we both had questions that questioned the integrity of the Scripture because we couldn't understand certain passages of Scripture. But if I went to some of my other pastor friends and asked those same questions, then they would repeat and go out and say, Jim Gables doesn't believe the Bible. That's not the case. But I could go to Brother Mark and say, Mark, I'm really having a problem with this text of Scripture. How do you harmonize these things? And he would have an insight. And then he would call me with the same thing. And so we have had a marvelous relationship. And both of us hold to the integrity of the Word of God. We're not ashamed of it. And I appreciate him as a brother in Christ for that. So I repeat again, the words of the Bible require us to have a high view of Jesus. And if you don't have a high view of Jesus, you'll have a low view of the Scripture. And if you have a low view of the Scripture, you will not believe it's necessary to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. I rest my case, okay? I'll let the next lawyer come and give a rebuttal, whoever wants to do that. The reason I'm allowing that is that we only have two minutes to go. So I know that nobody's going to get the job done in two minutes' time. But I have taken the other side, and Mark has done the same. And we have argued the liberal view among ourselves, and then have always come out that at the end of the day, Jesus is the final word on the matter. what thank you of Christ, whose Son is He. I hope that this has been something that we've delivered this morning, that if you've been having some questions, maybe you've gone through a severe trial of illness or death, finances, or maybe you've had a thing that you just don't understand, where is God at in all of this thing that's going on in my life? I hope something has been said today that you can trust Jesus that whatever He knows and whatever He does, it is the best. It's alright, Lord. It's alright. I think I've told you the time that I was preaching funeral of a little stillborn boy in Southwest Missouri in January. And about 10 degrees out, snowing, about 20 people in a little tent. And here sat the little couple, young couple, their firstborn child. Right here, just about like this. And here's the little casket. And after I gave a few brief remarks, because of the severity of the weather, the young mother looked up at me and asked this question. Pastor, where was God at when my son died? What would you have said? If someone had assigned me that question, it would have maybe taken me three or four days to come up with an answer, but just like that. I said, He's at the same place he was at when his own son died. He's on the throne, in control of all things. The young mother looked up at me, and brother Sonny said, it's all right, Pastor. It's all right. So she's in heaven today, incidentally. Her funeral was just a year or so ago. Now she's united with that little one. You can trust Jesus. Amen? And you can trust the Bible because Jesus trusted it. Let's close in prayer. Father, we are grateful today to be able to open a book that is trustworthy, a book in which we still have difficulties in understanding all the things that are contained therein. But I wish to thank you that over years of study and your help, that we know more about it, understand it better than what we started out in 1963 with this. I thank you for it. And I pray that you help me yet with passages that I have difficulty trying to reconcile in different manners. But I trust that they are correct. I trust they are authoritative because my Lord and Savior does the same. And it's in His name we pray. Amen.