Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. I hope and pray that this is
a blessing to you. Today, I'm going to be preaching
from the Book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5. That's my
main text. We want to begin at verse 39.
But I want to begin by going first to Luke, chapter 24. Now, the main text is John 5,
39, and the verses following. But I want to introduce this
with some passages in Luke 24. This is the last chapter of the
book of Luke concerning Christ after he arose from the dead,
teaching his disciples. The title of the message today
is Christ in the Old Testament. Christ in the Old Testament.
Now you may be baffled by the fact that I'm preaching about
Christ in the Old Testament from the New Testament. But you see,
the New Testament is the best commentary that we have on the
Old Testament. And I want to show you that.
And then, probably in later programs, I'll deal with some Old Testament
passages that deal with this subject. But in Luke chapter
24, beginning at verse 26, we'll start at verse 25. There's two
men walking on the road to Emmaus, And they had been confronted
by the women talking about how Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, had
risen from the dead. At this time, they had pretty
much given up all hope because they knew that He was crucified.
And they thought that He was going to be the Messiah, given
all the miracles and the messages that He did and preached. But they were walking, and Christ
appeared to them. and he began to reveal himself
to them so that they would know that this Jesus of Nazareth was
and is the true Messiah, the Savior, the King of Kings. And when Christ came upon them,
in verse 25 says, then he said to them, oh fools and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Now, in
other words, he's telling them that if you knew the Old Testament,
especially specifically here, the prophets. He says, you would
have believed that he was and is the true Messiah, the savior,
the anointed one, the savior of sinners. And so it says in
verse 26, it says, he told them, he said, here's what the prophet
spoke, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to
enter into his glory? beginning, verse 27, listen to
this, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now do you see that? Now Moses,
when he mentions Moses here, he's not talking about Moses
personally, he's talking about Moses as an emblem of the law. the law that was given on Mount
Sinai. Most of the Old Testament is
taken up with the 1500 year period between Mount Sinai when God
gave the law to the Hebrew children through Moses to the cross. But
now the rest of it from the creation all the way up to that is given
in up through Exodus, Genesis and Exodus. But most of it is
taken up with that time period. And what he's saying is that
was a revelation of Christ. The things concerning himself.
Well, if you'll look down on the page here in Luke 24, look
at verse 44. Here he appeared to his disciples,
the 11 disciples and probably others were present. And here's
what he said to them. He revealed himself to them as
the risen, resurrected Lord. And he said unto them, verse
44, 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. And then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So what is he telling them there?
He's telling them that the Old Testament is a book concerning
Christ. Now, you know, many people are
so confused. about the Old Testament and the
New Testament and how they compare and how they contrast. And what
you need to understand is that when you have the revealed or
the written rather word of God, The true word of God, which I
believe is the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, and I don't include
what the Catholics call the Apocrypha there, and others call it that. Those are non-verbally inspired
scriptures. There's some good things in some
of those, but there's some bad things too. But I believe God
providentially brought this book that we have called the Bible
together And so when you read the Bible, a lot of people say,
well, God was a vengeful God in the Old Testament, but he's
a loving God in the New Testament. Now that's a lie. God has always
been a just God, vengeful, revengeance belongs unto me, saith the Lord. And he's always been a loving
God because he loves his people, whom he chose before the foundation
of the world, and gave to Christ, determined to save them by His
grace. And so a lot of people, they'll
say, well, God's saved by works in the Old Testament. He saves
by grace in the New Testament. That's a lie too. Salvation has
always been, always is, and will always be by the grace of God,
based upon the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His blood, His righteousness as the surety, the substitute,
the redeemer of His people. And so salvation has always been
by grace that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ, our Lord. And in fact, in Romans chapter
nine, the apostle Paul tells the unbelieving Jews why they
were lost and why they were in unbelief. It's because they sought
righteousness by the works of the law and not by faith. The gift of faith, which drives
a sinner to Christ. To seek righteousness by faith
means to look to Christ as the only way of righteousness. In
the book of Jeremiah, twice, he's called the Lord our righteousness.
And in the prophets, all the prophets, the Psalms, it's all
about Christ, the glory of His person, who He is, God and man
in one person, the impeccable, sinless Son of God, second person
of the Trinity, Old Testament and new, and the power and success
of His finished work, Now, here's a contrast between the Old Testament
and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, they looked
forward to the promise of Christ coming into the world to do His
great work. But it was the same work, the
same gospel. In the New Testament, we look
back at the finished work of Christ in time. But as he said
here, now look over at our text, John chapter five, and look at
verse 36, or verse 39, rather. Now Christ here is talking to
the Pharisees and the scribes, who at this time were supposedly
to be the interpreters and preachers of the Bible, what they had of
the Old Testament. And that may have been from Genesis
to Malachi, may have not been all those books, but they had
enough of them. They had enough testimony. They
had the books of Moses, which is the first five books of the
Old Testament, sometimes called the Pentateuch, because that
means five. And so he's talking to them, but these Pharisees
and these scribes had misinterpreted the scriptures that they had.
And sad to say, that's what's going on today in a lot of churches
that call themselves Christian and that use the Bible. they
misinterpret what they have to say. Now, you know, there are
rules of interpretation. And I wrote a book about that,
Rightly Dividing the Word. There's several rules and I'm
not gonna go into all of them, but I'll tell you what, if you
interpret it correctly, first of all, it's because God has
revealed the truth of it to you. Salvation in its application,
to individual people in the new birth is by the power of God
unto salvation through the preaching of the gospel, whereby he reveals
himself in the person and work of Christ. And he brings a person
to believe with the gift of faith and brings them to repent with
the gift of repentance and brings them to persevere continually. or by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. But these Pharisees and scribes,
like a lot of people today, had taken the words of God's grace
and the gospel and turned them into a legalized system of works
salvation, thinking that they can make themselves right with
God and earn their salvation by their sincerity, their morality,
They're a religious activity, all of that. And that's a lie,
you see. Salvation is not by works, it's
by grace, it's through the righteousness of Christ. You cannot become
righteous in God's sight by your works. The only way you can be
made righteous is if God has chosen you and brought you to
faith in Christ, redeemed you by his blood and imputed his
righteousness to you. That is the righteousness, the
merits of the obedience unto death of Christ. the value which
equals righteousness before God. So look here in John 5 39, he
told them that this construction here of wording, if you read
it in the original language, it's a statement realizing what
these men do but they do it wrongly. Verse 39, search the Scriptures. Now he's really He's really saying,
you do search the scriptures. I know you read your Bibles.
That's what he's saying. If he was commanding them to
search the scriptures, they could have said, well, we do. You know,
the Pharisees, they read and interpreted, the scribes interpreted
and wrote commentaries. They said, okay, we do search
the scriptures. Now, what he's saying is you do search the scriptures. Now, why do you search the scriptures?
Well, look at verse 39. He says, search the scriptures
for in them you think you have eternal life. You think there's
eternal life there. Well, there is eternal life there. Eternal life doesn't come by
words on a page. And it doesn't come by memorizing
those words. Eternal life comes through Christ.
Christ said in John 17 and verse 3 he said this is life eternal
that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou sent. But the words on this page are
an instruction manual you might find concerning how God saves
sinners and it has to be revealed. If he doesn't reveal it, you'll
miss it. You'll turn, like the lost Jews, you'll turn it into
a legal system of works, salvation conditioned on sinners and not
on Christ alone. So he says, in them, you think
you have eternal life, verse 39. Now listen to what he says.
And they are they which testify of me. The Old Testament, Moses,
the law, the prophets, the Psalms, the poetic books. They all testify
of salvation by God's free and sovereign grace through the glorious
person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the way it's always been. This is a message that's based
on a covenant that was begun before this world was ever created.
And it was first revealed to Adam and Eve in the garden after
they fell. That's what Christ revealed in
Genesis 315 and Genesis 321, his saving work, revealed through
Cain and Abel. Abel brought the blood of a lamb,
didn't he, to God? Cain brought the works of his
hands. Who was accepted? Abel was. The blood of the Lamb
was a picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lamb
of God, which beareth away the sins of the world, not all without
exception in the world, but all kinds of people. God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nations. In other
words, it's not just restricted to the Israelites nationally
or the Jews. So he says, they are they which
testify me. And look at verse 40, he says,
and you will not come to me that you might have life. They refused,
they rejected Jesus of Nazareth as being the Messiah, the one
of whom the scriptures testified. They didn't want him. Now, why
didn't they want him? Well, the Bible teaches that
none of us by nature which means as we are naturally born, because
we fell in Adam, we fell into a state of sin and death, spiritual
death, leading to physical death, the process, so spiritual death
and depravity, so that we have no desire to receive the things
of the Spirit of God. that glorify God in the salvation
of sinners. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually
discerned. And that's why in Romans 3, 10
through 12, he talks about how none are righteous, none are
good, none seek after God. Man by nature of his own will
will not come to God in Christ, will not believe. For any sinner
to come to Christ for salvation, he must be drawn by the power
of God and taught in the word of God, the gospel, And that's
what the scriptures teach us. That's over in John 6, 44. If
you'll just turn the page over there, it says in John 6, 44
and 45, listen to this. Now, Christ had already said
in John 6, 37, that all that the father gave to him shall
come to him. And he said, in him that cometh
to him, I will in no wise cast out. So if God, listen, if God
chose you and wrote your name in the Lamb's book of life, you
will at some point in your life, a time that was set by God before
the foundation, you will be brought under the gospel and you'll come
to Him. And here's how it happens. He
says in John 6, 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him. and I will raise him up at the
last day." Now, some preachers will tell you that God draws
everybody, but He doesn't. What's the proof of that? Look
at John 6, 45. Here's how He does it. Here's
how God draws His people. It is written in the prophets.
Now, this one goes back to the prophet Isaiah. And they shall
be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard You've got to hear. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by what? The Word of God. Talking about
the gospel. And he says, so every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, being taught by
God, the Holy Spirit, in the power of the gospel, learning
of the Father, how God can be both a just, righteous judge,
and punish my sins without punishing me, and a Savior who saves in
love and mercy and grace. And he says, if you've heard
and learned of the Father, cometh unto me. You'll come to Christ. You see, this whole thing about
salvation when it comes to the new birth, that's a work of God.
Over in the book of John chapter one, he makes that clear. Listen
to this in verse 11. This is John chapter one. Verse
11, he came unto his own and his own received him not. Most
commentators will tell you that means his own nation, and he
did. But it says in verse 12, but as many as received him. Now there are some who did receive
him. And it says, as many as received him, to them gave he
power. to become the sons of God. Now
that word power there is authority, privilege, the right, it's not
ability now. He gave them the privilege, the
right to become or to be called the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Now look at verse 13. Now remember
Christ said, you must be born again or you cannot enter the
kingdom, can't even see it. He says in verse 13, which were
born, not of blood, Now, this is not your first physical birth,
see? That's not how salvation comes. Nor the will of the flesh, that's
the works of the flesh, nor of the will of man. Those who receive
him have the right to call themselves sons of God, and they will do
it because they were born not of blood, not of natural birth. Natural man won't receive the
things of the Spirit of God. nor the works of the flesh, nor
of the will of man." It's not by your free will choice, you
will not choose Christ if left to yourself. But he says, but
born of God. The new birth is the work of
God and in that new birth He gives us spiritual life, faith,
repentance, knowledge, new motive, a new heart. Well, back over
here in John 5, verse 40, Christ said, you will not come to me
that you might have life. They've shut their ears, they've
closed their eyes. And it says in verse 41, Christ
said, I receive not honor from men, verse 42, but I know you
that you have not the love of God in you. Now, how did he know? Well, Christ knows everything,
he's God. in the flesh, as God, He knew everything, as God the
Father and God the Spirit does. Here's how He knew though, and
here's the evidence to others that they did not have the love
of God in their hearts. Verse 43, I am come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. Jesus of Nazareth came in the
Father's name in His glory and they didn't receive Him. If you
don't receive him, I don't care how you feel, how you act, you
don't have the love of God in your heart. And he says, if another
shall come in his own name, preaching his own message, his own way,
him you will receive. you'll receive false preachers
who pump you up with salvation conditioned on you and by your
works. So he says in verse 44, how can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only, or God alone? You see, it doesn't matter what
false preachers say concerning how sinners, as they say, get
saved, by their works, by their free will, by their choice, by
walking an aisle, making a decision for Christ, letting Him into
your heart, all of those things, not biblical. What matters is
what God alone saves. What matters is what glorifies
God, what exalts Christ, what leaves us with no room to boast,
as if we make the difference. No, no, no. God's grace makes
the difference. Paul wrote, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. In other words, what he's saying
there is I did not earn it and I do not deserve it. God didn't save me because I
made a right decision. He saves me by His grace and
as a result, I'll make the right decision because all whom are
taught of God They've heard and they're taught of God, they'll
come to Christ. If you've heard it with the spiritual
ear, you see, man by nature, he's got ears he can hear, most
people physically, but he doesn't have spiritual ears that would
cause him to discern and understand and love and believe the truth. When the natural man left to
himself hears the gospel, it makes him angry. And somebody
said, well, you're not making me angry. Listen, the light is
a light to those who do not believe in Christ, the light of truth,
the light of Christ is a word of condemnation. John 3, 19 speaks
those words where he says, this is the condemnation that light
has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil. See, if you don't know Christ,
here's the reality of it. If you don't know Christ and
believe in the true Christ of this book now, there's counterfeit
Christ. But if you don't know and believe
in the true Christ of the Bible, all your efforts to please God,
to be righteous, are evil deeds. Why? Because they deny the glory
of God. They deny Christ and His righteousness
imputed as the only ground of salvation and the only source
of spiritual life. They exalt you, not Christ. That's the key. Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory both, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me. I look
upon the world as being cursed, and I'm crucified in the world. They look upon me as being cursed.
Well, he says in verse 45, John 5, he says, do not think that
I will accuse you to the Father. There's one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. Talking about the law there.
If you trust in your salvation by works of the law, that same
law will condemn you. You see, the only hope that a
sinner has is to stand before God. washed in the blood of Christ,
clothed in His righteousness imputed. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So
he says, you're trusting in your works under the law of Moses.
He said, Moses will kill you, the law will condemn you. Verse
46, for had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for
he wrote of me. Everything in the law of Moses
was meant to convince them of sin and the impossibility of
being saved by their law works. It was meant to drive them to
Christ and he was there in picture and type and shadows, the altar,
the priesthood, and he says in verse 47, but if you believe
not his writings, how shall you believe my words? That's Christ
in the Old Testament. He's there. Look for him and
believe him. and plead His blood, His righteousness
alone for your salvation. That's your only hope. And if
you do, you know that God has done a work in your heart, that
you've been born again by the Spirit, and that you do have
the love of God in your heart. Not perfectly, not your love,
but His. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-1. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.