God Preserves His Word

• We have been talking about the importance of studying the Bible

• It’s the only book that tells us the truth about God, His attributes, the Trinity, and the value of His Word

• Today… we are going to learn some things from the Old Testament

• But… the passage we are going to read first comes from the New Testament – Luke 24

• I have a question before we read from Luke 24 – what does “Preserves” mean? Is it:

• Fruit preserved by cooking with sugar

• To keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction, to protect

• To keep something as it is, especially in order to prevent it from decaying or being damaged

• To keep alive or in existence; to make lasting

• Now… Jesus had just risen from the grave, but He was still on earth letting his followers know He was alive

• Jesus approached two of His disciples as they were walking along the road

• Luke 24:25-27 – He said to them, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures

• What part of the Bible was written by Moses and the prophets? – the Old Testament

• Who were the Scriptures from Moses and the prophets about? (Luke 24:27) – beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures – Jesus

• Jesus believed the Old Testament was God’s Word

• And what we are about to read will show us how God protected His Word from being destroyed

• Jeremiah 36:1–2 – In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today

• What’s a scroll? – A scroll in the Bible is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or leather used as a writing surface for documents, often containing God's messages or plans

• Jeremiah was writing words for God, and these words were against all the wicked nations, and this was NOT good news

• This was a message of judgment

• God was going to punish these nations for their wickedness, and it was Jeremiah’s job as a prophet to deliver this message to the people

• Jeremiah 36:3 – It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin

• God said that maybe the wicked people in Judah would hear of the disaster that He was going to bring on their nation, and they would turn from their evil ways

• God wanted to forgive them, but they had to stop sinning

• Does God know everything? – yes, God is Omniscient

• So… did God know what the people would do? Either stop sinning or continue in their evil ways – yes, He did because He is Omniscient

• Jeremiah 36:4 – Jeremiah called Baruch, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that He had spoken to him

• Would the people stop sinning or continue in their evil ways?

• Jeremiah 36:22-23 – the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot

• God was warning all the people that they should turn away from their sins and turn back to God

• God’s Word was accusing him (the king) of his sinfulness and telling him that God would judge him one day

• And… the king wanted nothing to do with God or the truth of His Word

• So… God’s words were destroyed!

• What about preserving them?

• Jeremiah 36:32 – Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire – God’s word was preserved!