Episode 176: God's Word Endures Forever

There are not many things in this world we can depend on for a long period of time.  Governments change; cell phones and computer wear out, cars don't last, and even people can disappoint us.  But we can depend on the Word of God to last.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everyone, Welcome back to Words of Truth, the podcast
where we dig into the Word of God and discover
unshakable truths that shape our lives. I'm your host, Mark Barrett,
and today we're talking about something powerful, how God's word
stands the test of time and why we can always
trust it. Well, let's jump right into the scripture for today.

(00:26):
It comes from Matthew chapter five, verses seventeen and eighteen,
where Jesus says, 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. For truly,
I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the
smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will

(00:48):
by any means, disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Well,
there's so much unpack and just those two verses, so
let's break it down. First of all, we see that
God's word is eternal. Jesus begins by clarifying something so important,
which is that he didn't come to abolish the law

(01:10):
or the prophets. Now that's the entire Old Testament, the
scriptures his listeners would have been so very familiar with Instead,
he says he came to fulfill them. In other words,
he affirms their validity, their holiness, and their enduring power.
And that means that the Word of God isn't like

(01:32):
trends or opinions that shift with our culture. It doesn't
get outdated like a cell phone or a computer. It
doesn't expire like a loaf of bread. In fact, Jesus
said that not even the smallest letter, the tiniest detail,
will disappear until everything God has spoken is completely fulfilled.

(01:55):
Think about that for a minute. Heaven and earth will
pass away before God's word does the same. Thing we
notice is fulfillment, not replacement. Sometimes people treat the Old
Testament like it's irrelevant now that we have Jesus and
the New Testament. I've talked to people who say they

(02:18):
never read the Old Testament. But Jesus makes it very
clear that's not how this works. He didn't come to
toss out the law. He never said, now that I'm here,
you don't need to read the Old Testament anymore. No, no, no,
He came to fulfill the law, something we or anyone
else could ever do. In fact, what the law points

(02:40):
out is how sinful we are and how much we
need a savior. But what this means is what Jesus
is teaching, is that every promise, in every prophecy and
every law had a purpose that ultimately pointed to Jesus,
and that Jesus fulfilled it all on our behalf. You see,

(03:04):
Jesus is the embodiment of scripture. He's the Word made flesh.
And so when we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
we're seeing a unified, trustworthy story about God's love, justice, mercy,
and redemption. When you read the Old Testament, read it

(03:24):
to find Jesus in all of his pages. Now why
does this matter today, Well, here's the truth of the matter.
We live in a world that questions everything. People will
tell you the Bible is just a book written by men.
They'll say it's outdated, contradictory, irrelevant. They'll take a verse

(03:48):
here and there out of and tear it out of
context and just try to prove that it's not reliable.
And yet they never really study the reliability and authenticity
of the Bible. Most of the time they just repeat
what somebody else's told them. But here's what Jesus says,
every single word of the Bible is intentional, eternal, and trustworthy.

(04:13):
When life gets shaky, when culture changes, when emotions run high,
God's word stays the same. That's exactly what we need,
a solid foundation in an ever shifting world. Psalm one
hundred and nineteen, verse eighty nine says, your word, Oh Lord,

(04:33):
is eternal. It stands firm in the heavens. Isaiah chapter forty,
verse eighteen reminds it as the grass withers and the
flowers fall, but the word of the God endures forever.
God's Word has survived empires and persecution and translation, and
even attempts to destroy it, and it still speaks powerfully today.

(04:57):
Now somebody might ask, well, how can we trust? Well,
you should know that it's not just about blind faith.
The Bible is historically reliable, prophetically accurate, spiritually transformative. I
don't have the time to explore all that with you,
but I challenge you to do the research. Read Josh

(05:19):
McDowell's Evidence Beyond a Verdict or The Case for Christ
by Least Strobel, or Seven Reasons Why You can Trust
the Bible by Irwin Lutzer. But even more than that,
the Bible is alive Hebrews, Chapter four, verse twelve tells
us that the Word is living inactive. The Bible is

(05:41):
more than the book, but the spirit of God uses
it to transform our lives. You don't read the Bible
like a textbook, but rather you encounter God through it.
It convicts, comforts, challenges and absolutely changes us. And Jesus
says we can trust every stroke of the pen, every letter,

(06:04):
every command. That means when God says he's with you,
he means it. When he says he'll never leave you
or forsake you, you can count on it. When he
promises forgiveness and grace and strength and peace, those aren't
just words, they're divine truth. So how do we live
out this truth? What does it look like to trust

(06:27):
God's word today? Well, it looks like reading it daily,
not as a chore, but as a lifeline and a discipline.
It looks like standing on God's promises even when circumstances
don't make sense. It looks like obeying it even when
it's counter cultural. And it looks like building your life

(06:51):
on it. Because Jesus said, those who hear his word
and do them are like wise builders who built their
house upon the rock and when the storms come, and
they will, that house will never fall. And so today
hold on to this truth. God's word will never fade,

(07:12):
fail or fall. You can trust it completely because behind
every word is a faithful God who never changes. Well,
thanks for spending time with me today on words of truth.
If this encouraged you, share it with a friend who
might need that reminder today, and as always, keep your

(07:33):
eyes on the word and your heart in his hands
until next time. Grace to you.