John, I pointed out, from Christ’s own words, that He placed the seal of His authority upon all the writ- ings of the New Testament, declar ing that the testimony of the Holy Spirit was equally as authoritative as His own. Here, in part, is what Christ said to His disciples shortly before He went to the cross: “ I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:12, 13). In these words the Lord Jesus was declaring that the apostles would be guided in their writings by the Holy Spirit; in fact, Christ was an ticipating the epistles as containing, not only truth, but all truth, yes, as containing truth that would be added to His own marvelous teach ing. If you are familiar, with so- called liberalism, my friend, you know that one of the slogans of this false doctrine is “ Back to Christ.” But when one goes “ back to Christ,” he finds the Lord Himself saying, as it were, “On to Paul and Peter and James and John and Jude; on to all the apostles for God’s finished reve lation concerning H im se lf.” The Lord Jesus knew, even as He ex- plained to His disciples, that they could not comprehend many of the teachings He had for them until they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. That is why He told them to “ tarry in Jerusalem” for the descent o f the Spirit of God; that is why, after the Day of Pentecost, the apostles were Spirit-filled, Spirit-taught, and Spir it-guided — in their preaching, in their teaching, and in their writing of the New Testament books. The argument is clear and con clusive : If one is to accept the teach ings of the Lord Jesus Christ, he must receive all of the Old Testa ment, as well as all of the New. THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES In view of the foregoing statement of divine inspiration of all the apos tolic writings, it is mere repetition to add just here that the testimony of the apostles to the authority of the Scriptures bears out our Lord’s own witness to that effect. Yet, for the sake of emphasis, we do add a few of the exact quotations from the pen of the divinely-inspired apostles themselves. Every child of God should memorize at least the two fol lowing verses, from Paul and Peter: “ All scripture is given by inspira-
‘Had ye be lieved Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writ ings, how shall ye b e liev e my words?” If you accept the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, my friend, you must believe in the writings of Moses, for the Son of God set His stamp of authority upon them. Yet again, our risen Lord bore tes timony to the divine inspiration of all the Old Testament. He was walk ing from Jerusalem to Emmaus after His resurrection from the dead, opening the Scriptures to two believers as they walked by the way. It was a wonderful Bible lesson! “ Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concern ing himself” (Luke 24:27). Later He appeared unto the ten disciples, showed them His hands and feet, and ate before them, in or der to prove to them that His resur rection body was real. Then He said unto them: “ These are the words which I spake unto 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 scrip tures” (Luke 22:44, 45). Thus Christ set the stamp of His authority, not only upon the writ ings of Moses, but also upon the en tire Old Testament Scriptures, mak ing them in every way equal to His own words. That is, Moses’ writings were as truly from God as were our Lord’s own teachings. It is an estab lished fact that the Jews referred to their Old Testament Scriptures in the three-fold division used by our Lord — “ the law of Moses . . . the prophets, and . . . the psalms.” It we accept the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must, therefore, ac cept the authority of the entire Old Testament as the inspired Word of the living God. It was complete, you know, about four hundred years be fore Jesus was born in Bethlehem; for Malachi, the last of the Old Tes tament writers, finished his proph ecy 397 B.C. Now what about the New Testa ment? Not long ago, as I conversed with a certain man about his need of sins forgiven, of being washed in the blood of Christ, I quoted a text from the fifth chapter of Romans. But, with the wave of his hand, the man said, “ Paul said that. I’m not con cerned with what Paul said. Show me what Jesus said, and I’ll believe.” Turning to the sixteenth chapter of
ing it, then you will be an easy prey to present-hour skepticism. It is wonderful if you cling to the “ faith of our fathers,” in simple, child-like trust, but it is even more wonder ful if you know how to point others to that faith, others who may be honest seekers after truth, yet not established in “ the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.” An in telligent faith makes strong Chris- tions. God wants us to put His Book to any and every intelligent and proper test, for thus, He knows, we shall find our faith established. The strongest of searchlights never hurt the truth. I believe the Bible to be the Word of God because of the testimony of Christ to that fact. Surely the Lord Jesus should have some authoritative and final word to say in regard to this matter. Some time ago I was talking with a young skeptic who said that he accepted the words of Jesus, but that he did not accept the words of Moses, or Isaiah, or Paul, or any writer of the Bible. “Will you stand by that state ment?” ! asked. “Yes,” he said; “ I will.” Then I showed him that, if he ac cepted the words of Jesus, he must accept the whole Bible, for the Lord Jesus Christ set His stamp of ap proval and authority upon the entire Bible—from the writings of Moses through the book of Revelation. For Christ’s endorsement of the Old Testament, I turned first to Mark 7:13. Immediately preceding this passage, our Lord had quoted from the law of Moses. Then in verse thirteen He told the unbeliev ing Jews that they were “ . . . making the word of God of none effect through [their] tradi tion.” Here Christ stated positively that the law of Moses was the Word of God. He made the same declaration in Matt. 5:1£: “ Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Again, the Lord Jesus quoted Abraham as having said to the man in torment, concerning his five brethren, “ If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per suaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). What an endorsement of the Old Testament this is! Our Lord’s statement to the Jews, recorded in John 5:46, 47, is even more emphatic: THE TESTIMONIES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
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