As we saw this morning, Paul lists eight fantastic blessings which have been given to the people of Israel – National adoption, the sight and temporary presence of God’s glory, the covenants, the law, and the promises. Israel descended from the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To them has been give an outline of God’s service. And the blessing of all blessings – through Israel the Messiah was brought into the world.
But the obvious fact is that Israel as a nation has rejected their Messiah. They demanded that the Romans crucify the Saviour, the Prophet whom Moses and others foretold. Generally speaking, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But – as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” When John made that statement in John 1:12, he was referring to people from every tribe and nation – not just Israel. Despite what Paul has just written about Israel’s privileges, the Lord has sheep which are not of Israel’s fold.
And that just might make some of Israel question whether or not the Lord is always true to His word. They might have said, it is “as though the word of God hath taken none effect.” Paul recognizes that there are going to objections to what he is about to teach. Not only has God elected a nation and saved many of her citizens, but He has chosen to save sinners out of other nations as well. “Heresy,” shouts the Jew, “heresy.” “No,” replies Paul. “This may be difficult to understand, but it’s not heresy, and it is not contrary to the Lord’s promises to either you or to Abraham.”
Our theme this evening is the veracity of the Word of God. It is absolutely true and completely trustworthy. It is “NOT as though the word of God hath taken none effect” – verse 6. The Greek word “none effect” means essentially that it has “not fallen.” Six weeks ago, Sahalie celebrated her first birthday, and that involved several balloons. The regular red and blue balloons didn’t last more than a day before they lay on the floor. But there was one of those metallic-type balloons which still hovers over her toy box. The Word of God will never deflate; it will never fall to the ground; it will never fail. The Lord Jesus has said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” And even after those promises have all been fulfilled, they will still never pass away, because then they will be written in the annals of Heaven history as yet more decrees satisfied and accomplished.
Stepping back just a bit, how can we be sure that the Word of God will never come to none effect?
In contrast to idol gods, the Lord has given us prophesy after prophesy in vivid color and exquisite detail. And then He fulfilled them to the letter and even to the jot and tittle. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t hundreds of others yet to be fulfilled, but the evidence is already in the books. He went on to say in Isaiah 42 – “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” The Lord Jesus used the same argument. In telling the disciples that he would be sacrificed He added: “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.”
The Bible is literally stuffed with prophecies of the most spectacular nature and variety. It talks about the sons of the rebuilder of Jericho five hundred years before their birth, and what it said has been literally fulfilled. Deuteronomy 28 speaks about Israel in Babylon and Jerusalem under Roman siege, centuries before the history was begun. The King of Persia was described and named 175 years before he was a twinkle in his father’s eye. Ezekiel 26 prophesies the destruction of Tyre 250 years before it took place.
And when it comes to the subject of Christ, the Lord Jesus was right – they give Him credence. There are 300 prophesies of Christ in the Old Testament, given in magnificent detail, hundreds of years ahead of the events and the Person. If there were just 50, the chances of fulfilling all of them at once are less than the chance of finding a gold nugget under your pillow this evening. Actually, not just 50, but all 300 hundred were fulfilled. Prophecy shows us that the Bible is trustworthy.
Not only is the Bible accurate in science, but in history too. And this is something that those Jews should have seriously considered, before dismissing Paul’s arguments. For centuries the Lord’s promises were fulfilled in their national story, why should they cast it aside now? It was once a mark of ignorance to believe that Abraham came from Ur – now we know that it was a capital of its day – Israel knew that and believed that. Historians used to laugh at Genesis 14 and the battle of the four kings against five – now we know the fuller histories of some of those kings. Skeptics used to roll on the floor in hysterics at the fall of the walls of Jericho, until the archeologists began their excavations. They used to deny the existence of Belshazzar and even the whole nation of the Hittites.
The Bible was not written to be a history book or a biography, but it contains both. And the way in which it was written dares people to challenge it. Luke 3:1 – “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” William Ramsey was an heretic who attempted to disprove the Bible on the grounds of history. He said that the Book of Acts was a “highly imaginative and carefully colored fiction.” Today William Ramsey is considered to be the expert on the life and times of the Apostle Paul. There has never been an archeological discovery which contradicts or controverts any historical statement of the Bible.
Does this mean that every verse of scripture has been verified or that every verse will be verified? Well, its like science and the Bible – some things won’t be and others can’t be verified. But there never has been and never will be anything found to disprove a single Bible utterance. Mr. Jew, it is “not as though the Word of God has taken none effect.”
But that is not because it hasn’t seen any opposition. February 24, 303 Diocletian inaugurated a systematic destruction of the Bible thorough his Roman empire. This is the reason that so few Bibles older than 4th century can be found today. In fact the only ones that were permitted to live weren’t Bibles at all, but heretical imitations. And yet the Bible survived. Roman Catholicism lead centuries of vicious attacks on the Word of the Lord. Their preachers delivered scathing sermons with the opposite intention of mine tonight. “The Greek language is the mother of heresies – beware of anything written therein.” “Beware of the New Testament – a book full of brambles with vipers in them.” During hundreds and hundreds of years it meant instant death to own a copy of the Bible. “We must root out the printing of Bibles or the printing of the Bible will root us out. There will be an end of religion if the study of the Bible is permitted.” That is perfectly true if the religion is unscriptural. Despite their attacks, the Bible has survived.
Critics have tried to destroy God’s word by ridicule and by laughter. So-called scholars like Wellhouse, Astruck, Westcot and Hort have tried their best to destroy the faith. Then Satan has used men like Kenneth Taylor, William Bratcher, Philipps and a host of others. But the Bible survives.
And this is before the open infidels and atheists. Robert Ingersoll wrote a book called “The Mistakes of Moses.” The Lord has been publishing the mistakes of Ingersoll. Lord David Hume wrote: “Within a hundred years the Bible will be obsolete,” but eventually his house was used as a Bible print shop. Voltair and Paine wrote book after book against he Bible, but the Bible lives on.
Scripture says of itself: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” The Lord Jesus said, “For 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.” Mr. Jew, you don’t have to worry – it is “not as though the Word of God has taken none effect”- nor will it ever.
The Word of God is absolutely sure. The problems begin with our very unsure interpretation and our very unstable hearts and minds. It was the problem that Israel had, and we still have that problem today.