God’s Word Is Our Standard

If someone claims to represent the Lord and yet seeks to lead others away from God’s written Word, that person must be rejected. In this brief clip, W. Robert Godfrey teaches that Scripture is our ultimate standard of truth, just as it was in the days of Moses.

Transcript:

Now, when we get to the middle of Deuteronomy, at the top of our step pyramid we'll see that Moses says one of the tests of a true prophet is if he says something and it comes true, then that's a sign he's a true prophet. And that's one test. But here, he's giving another test, a test that almost seems contradictory, because here he says, “If there's a prophet and he gives you a sign and a wonder…” Now what does that mean? If there's a prophet who really performs miracles. Moses isn't going into how he performs those miracles. He's not raising the question, are they real miracles or false miracles? He's saying, in effect, let's grant for a moment the guy performs a real miracle and, therefore, seems to be able to be a true prophet with power, able to say what's going to happen, and then it happens. If we only had that test of a prophet, we would say, "Well, if a prophet comes along and performs a miracle, he must be right." But Moses here is preparing us and adding another test, and he's saying, "It doesn't matter how powerful a prophet seems to be. If he wants to lead you into idolatry, you're not to follow him." If he has miraculous powers, it doesn't prove anything if he's leading you against the Word. And what Moses is really saying here is the Word is always the primary test. Power is not the primary test. The Word is the primary test. So, no matter how powerful the prophet seems, no matter what miracles he may appear to be able to do, if he's leading you against the Word – and particularly, if he's leading you against the faithful, proper worship of the one true God – you are to reject that prophet with all your heart.