You read the book of Luke, and
especially this 24th chapter, and other places in Scripture
where when the Lord was crucified, He acted like it was all over.
Even though He had told them innumerable times, and even in
the Old Testament it was predicted that He would die on the cross,
that He would be buried, and rise again. And they doubted and they were
bewildered. And the scripture of King James
Version in Luke 24 verse 4 says that they were perplexed. They should have been perplexed.
I wonder if there's anyone here perplexed. Perplexed about vice? perplexed about religion, perplexed
about where you're going to go when you die. Just a lot of wondering. I would suppose that everybody
has a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, there's
one under your chair there. What do you know about the Bible?
What do you understand about the Bible? What is the Bible
all about? Is this a Catholic book? Is this
a Baptist book? Is this a Presbyterian book?
What kind of book is this, anyway? Is this all about religion? Is it simply a rule book about
how to live? Is it a book about do's and don'ts? Let's see if I can help you with
that today. How did the Scriptures come to
be? How did that Bible that you have in your hand, that you brought
to church today, that Bible that's gathering dust on the family
room table at home, how did that book come to be? Well, in the
Gospel of John, the Bible claims for itself that
it is the production of the Holy Spirit. The Bible asserts that
behind all His human contributors, there was the sovereign Spirit
of God. So that book you hold in your
hand was produced by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The Bible says holy men of Old
Spacus, they were gripped, held, moved, urged, and worn along
by the Holy Spirit. In John 16.14, Jesus said this, He, Jesus said,
I'm going away. But I'll be here with you. Which
is a little confusing. I'm going away, but I will be
here with you. I will not leave you orphans. I will send my Spirit. That is,
the Holy Spirit. The Comforter. I think there
to be a precious truth in the order of what Jesus said. Jesus
said this, When the Holy Spirit has come, John 16, 14, he shall
glorify me. He shall glorify me. Who wrote this book? See if you're
still in there. Who wrote this book? The Holy
Spirit. Let me ask again, who wrote this
book? The Holy Spirit. He shall glorify me. The little sentence begins with
the pronoun he, Holy Spirit, and ends with the pronoun me,
Jesus. Between the pronominal subject
and the pronominal object, there is the verb shall glorify. Two words in the English, one
word in the Greek. Always, when the Holy Spirit
is at the beginning of a sentence, the Lord Jesus is the object
of the sentence. You'll find that throughout Scripture.
Everything that has its origination in the Holy Spirit has its gold
and its crown in Jesus Christ. The Scriptures then have their
origin in the Holy Spirit, and by divine necessity, the all-comprehending
subject of the Bible is Jesus Christ. You ought to say amen
louder than that. Some of you are so busy, you
have no idea what the Bible's about. You go to Bible studies,
you go to Bible groups, you go to church, you're a faithful
whatever you, faithful denomination you are to, but you have no idea
what the Bible's about. It's a difficult book. I hear
people say all the time, you know, I just don't understand
the Bible. Really, it's very simple. When
you open your Bible and look for Christ, because it is an H.I.M. book. It is a H.I.M. book. The all-dominating theme of the
Bible is our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, in John 5,
6, the Scriptures, For they are they which testify of me, and
you will not come to me. Oh, you'll go to the baptismal
pool, you'll get sprinkled up to pour, you'll go to the church,
you'll join some religious organization, but Jesus said you won't come
to me. The last thing men and women do is bow and receive Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. You're
going to spend eternity somewhere. You can't work your way to heaven? There is one way, and He is the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes from the Father. He is the all-pervading, completely
dominating theme of the entire Old Testament. With equal clarity,
Christ declared Himself to be the same in the New Testament.
even before the first lines were written. In the latter chapter
of John, we find our Lord declaring the work of the coming Holy Spirit.
He shall bring to your remembrance all things I have said unto you. In fact, in the 24th chapter
of the Gospel of Luke, where we were reading, the Emmaus disciples
were walking along the Emmaus Road, and they didn't know who
it was, the stranger that came to help them with Jesus. Don't you remember how I told
you that I must die and rise again? Have you believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life? Because
that's what the Bible's all about. Otherwise, you're religious.
You're just religious. Don't miss Christ by being or
trusting in religion. He shall bring to your remembrance
all things I've said unto you. He shall guide you into all the
truth. He shall show you things to come. In those three announcements,
our Lord has covered the distinct areas of our New Testament. He
shall bring to your remembrance all things I've said unto you.
This covers the four Gospels. And he shall guide you into all
the truth. This covers the apostolic books.
And he shall guide you into all truth. This sweeps us into the
apocalypse. To crystallize it, to vocalize
it, to centralize it, our Lord says, the Holy Spirit shall glorify
me. And he did a right good job of
it in the scriptures. They are they which testify of
me. When I read my Bible, I see it for stuff. Proceed. I see
Him as Lion, Lion, King, Messiah, Christ, Savior, and God incarnate. In the Old Testament, you have
the Christ of prophecy. In the Gospels, you have the
Christ of history. In the Epistles, you have the
Christ of experience. In the Revelation, you have the
Christ of coming glory. The Old Testament Christ, behold,
He comes. The four Gospels put their sad
emphasis on, behold, He dies. But the acts of the apostles
follow with, behold, He lives. behold he saves. The revelation
completes the course with behold he reigns. That's it, that's
what it's all about. He comes, he dies, he lives,
he saves, he reigns. That's what it's all about. And this is the soul of the revelation,
Jesus Christ. And the blessed lines of both
testaments, the New Testament and the Old Testament meet in
Jesus Christ. The Bible, having been composed
in intervals of hundreds of years, yet with one, a chain of truth,
with one message. God built up all the books of
this Bible, saw His end, and made reference to that end in
every stage of Revelation. Christ is here from cover to
cover in this book. You and I, like the Sadducees,
do err in not knowing the Scriptures, if in our Bible all we see or
look for are laws and precepts and do's and don'ts. Always look
for Christ. The discovery of Christ and His
salvation explains the whole record of scriptures. Every part
of our Bible is meant to teach us Christ. Jesus is the Messiah
everywhere to be found in the Old Testament. In the promises
to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, In the types and emblems
of the ceremonial law, in the predictions and the other prophets,
Christ is not merely in the Gospels and Epistles, but in every book
of the Bible. Christ is to be found directly
and indirectly in all the Scriptures. Jesus, when he was arguing with
the Pharisees, he says, You worship Moses, but Moses spoke to me. You understand the book of Genesis
tells us somebody's coming. That there would be born of a
woman, a Messiah, a Redeemer who would crush the servant's
head and give victory to those So I don't know about the New
Testament. I mean, I'm a follower of the Old Testament. I'm a follower
of the law. No, if you're going to look to
Moses, you've got to look to Christ, because Moses talked
all about Christ, the first five books of the Bible. The full
acceptance of either involves the acceptance of the other.
Moses, whom you invoke against me, Christ said, will one day
testify against you. They are they which testify of
me. This means far more than that
the Scriptures only say this or that about the Lord. Concerning
me means that all their testimony centers in Jesus Christ. No,
the Old Testament Scriptures are not blank. They tell us of
a coming Messiah. Luke 24, 27. Our Lord began at
Moses. Wouldn't you have liked to have
heard this message? Our Lord began at Moses when
he was talking to the Emmaus disciples. They were so down
in the mouth because they had thought he was going to be the
Messiah, but they were thinking an earthly kingdom. And this
stranger grew near, who was really Jesus himself. And Jesus said,
basically, what's wrong with you? They said, well, haven't
you heard it? You're a stranger here in town. You know, this
Jesus of Nazareth, we thought he was the Messiah. They crucified
him. And he's been in the grave. They
were all down about it. And Jesus revealed Himself to
them, and their eyes were opened. And they saw Him as Messiah and
Redeemer. Have you? Have you? Oh, I know
you're religious. I know you've got a Bible. I
know you can talk, you know, mumbo-jumbo. Maybe you know the
books of the Bible. I don't know what you know. But
if you haven't seen Christ there, You're out, you're without a
redeemer, you're without heaven, you're without forgiveness. It's
only in Him that we are well-pleasing in the Father's sight. Christ
was the coming prophet greater than Moses, whose glorious advent
filled the pages of the prophet. Christ was the true seed of the
woman who was to bruise the serpent's head. The true seed in whom all
nations were to be blessed. the true Shiloh, to whom the
people were to be gathered, the true scapegoat, the true grazing
serpent, the true lamb to which every daily offering pointed,
the true high priest of whom every descendant of Aaron was
a figure of him, every priest was a type, every part of the
Old Testament tabernacle was a He was David's king, fairer than
the children of men. He was Solomon's altogether lovely
one. He was Isaiah's child king, son
of a virgin, with shoulders strong enough to bear the government.
He was Jeremiah's branch of righteousness. He was Ezekiel's plan of renown.
He was Daniel's stone cut without hands. He was Joel's hope of
the people. He was Obadiah, the deliverance
upon Mount Zion. He was the Micah, the turning
again to God. He was the one Elijah saw upon
the mountains, publishing peace. He was the anointed of whom Habakkuk
sang as going forth for salvation. He is the true Zerubbabel who
shall bring forth the headstone of the church with shoutings
of grace, grace, grace. It's all by grace. He himself
being the dawn of the day. He is the son of righteousness
of Malachi's dream. His name is Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Prince of Peace. He's the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last. He's the Most High
God, possessor of heaven and earth. His name is Jesus, Savior,
Redeemer, and Lord. He is the way, the truth, and
the light. He is the shadow of a rock and
a weary land. He is the light in our salvation,
our fortress, and our mountain. He is the good shepherd that
gives His life for the sheep. He is the water of life, the
living vine. He's the door by which we enter
heaven. He's the resurrection and the
life, the author and the finisher of our faith. Let this be a settled
principle in our mind in reading the Bible, that Christ is the
central son of the whole book. So long as we keep Him in view,
we shall never greatly err in our search for spiritual knowledge.
Once losing sight of Him, We shall find the whole Bible dark
and full of difficulty. The key to the Bible is knowledge
of Jesus Christ. The Bible says... he is the king of Israel he is
the king of righteousness he is the king of heaven he's the
king of glory he's a sovereignty though no means of measure can
define his limitless love he's the greatest phenomena that has
ever crossed the horizon of this universe He is enduringly strong. He is entirely sincere. He is
eternally steadfast. He is empirically powerful. He
is immortally graceful. He is impartially merciful. He
is God's Son. He's the center Savior. He's
the centerpiece of salvation. He is unparalleled. He is unprecedented. He is supreme. He is preeminent. He is the loftiest of literature.
He is the highest personality in philosophy. He is the supreme
problem in higher criticism. He is the fundamental doctrine
in true theology. He is the cardinal necessity
of spiritual religion. He is the miracle of the age.
of everything good that you choose to call it. He's the only one
able to supply all of our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength
of the weak. He's available for the tempted
in pride. He sympathizes and he saves. He guards and he guides.
He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives
sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers
captives. He defends the people. He regards the angel. He rewards
the diligent. He beautifies the meek. He is
the key of knowledge. He is the wellspring of wisdom.
He is the doorway of deliverance. He is the pathway of peace. He is the roadway of righteousness.
He is the highway of holiness. He is the gateway of deliverance.
He is Master of the Mighty. He is Testament of the Conqueror. He is the head of the heroes. He's overseer of the overcomers.
He's the governor of governors. He's the prince of the princes.
His office is manifold. His promises are sure. His life
is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting.
His love never changes. His word is love. His grace is
sufficient. His grace is righteous. He is indescribable. He is incomprehensible. He is invincible. He is irresistible. The heaven and hell cannot contain
him, let alone the mind explain him. You can't get him out of
your mind. You can't get him off your hands. They couldn't stop him. Herod
couldn't kill him. Death couldn't handle him. Edward
III couldn't hold him. He's always been and he always
will be the annual predecessor. There was nobody before him and
there will be nobody after him. You can't impeach him and he's
not going to resign. So that's what your Bible is
all about. It's about you. Get it right. Just two simple
things I hope to drive home quickly here. And it'll just take me
a few minutes. First of all, this one that I
have just described. Long planned and purposed to
come into this world to die. because you couldn't save yourself
by going to church. You're not good enough. You know,
I said to the Lord last night, well, I'm getting a little ahead
of myself. Remind me to tell you what I said to the Lord. The Apostle Paul in the first
Corinthians letter in the 15th chapter said, I deliver unto
you, first of all, that which I also receive, how that Christ
died for our So it was predestined, planned,
purposed, and predetermined that God, Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus
Christ, would come into the world to die on the cross for sinners. I wonder if we have a sinner
here. If we have a real bona fide sinner here. I've got some
good news for you. Christ came and died for sinners. Christ came and died for sinners. He died as a substitute. That's
what this is all about. He came to die. He would say
things like this, my hour has not yet come. Or there was a
special hour. When he would go up on Mount
Calvary. dead and die as a substitute. You miss this, you miss heaven.
God forbid that I should pull his salmon across. I'm determined
to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. God made him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made to righteousness of God in him. That's how we're made
to stand before God. I wonder if you are here and
you feel condemnation. You know you're no good. You know you're no good. You
know there's things running through your mind and your heart every
single day. You need a savior. You're condemned
about it. I want to encourage you today.
I know it sounds a little crazy. Believe that He's your sin-bearer,
that He died in your stead, your room, and your place. And that
He satisfied the justice of God. You see, God is a holy God. He
cannot look over sin. So your sin has to be paid for
in order for you to go to heaven. If your sin's not paid for, you
go to hell. That's just clearly taught in scriptures. God is
just. And He is justifier of the ungodly. And the way He justifies us is
through the giving of Himself on the tree of the cross. And
He bared our sins. And justice was exhausted at
Calvary. coupled my damnation, he drank
my damnation dry. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those that are in Christ Jesus. It is finished. He paid the price
in full. Amen. And secondly, he raised from
the dead. He came out of the grave. Up
from the grave he arose, as our brothers sang, today. You not
only need a Because after you get saved,
after you come to Christ, what a mess you still are. Because
you see, in your flesh dwells no good thing. Your flesh is still the wild
asses cold that it was before you got saved. He doesn't save
your flesh. That's why you lust. That's why
you lie. Because your flesh is no good.
There's nothing good in your flesh. So get your head out of
your belly button and stop looking for goodness. And here's what the apostle says
in Romans 5. He says, if he loved us while
we were yet sinners and gave himself for us, how much more
shall Not only did he die for my sin,
but I've got an attorney at the right hand of God that has never
lost a case. He's my mediator. Last night I was saying to myself
or to the Lord, what a mess. You know, I'm trying to get this
message for Easter Sunday, and I asked the question that to make that God loves me. Honestly,
I meet people, and I sometimes think, why did God save me? And they have no interest in
God. Oh, sovereign grace. You know
the truth is, God doesn't have to save you. He just lets you
be you. Just lets you be you. You'll never come to Christ,
never admit you're a sinner. You'll just go on and live your
life and die, go out into eternity without a Savior. But how awesome
it is that God has revealed Himself. He's opened our eyes to this
fact. He loved me and died for me. And on the third day, He got
up out of the grave, ascended back to the Father, and there
He stands making intercession for me. You know, Satan is an
accuser. You didn't know that, right?
And by the way, he's got the goods on you and I. I mean, he
went with us, right? He was there when we did it.
You say, what did we do? You know what you did. And Satan says, Look at her, look what they're
doing, look what they're saying. And God says, I don't see it. I know it's a little confusing
isn't it? He has removed our sins as far as the east I don't know who's accusing you,
but if you're a believer in Christ, it's not God. When that black dog barks in
your heart and accuses you as a believer in Jesus Christ, tell
him to go back to hell. And I am persuaded that neither
life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor any other creature is able to separate
me from the love of God, with five wounds, who stands
at the right hand of God, making intercession for you. Maybe you
relaxed last week, but you're a believer in Christ. You have
a good attorney. You have a good one. He may not
go to Oakland County. Well, he'll go out there with
you. I'm not talking about that kind
of attorney. There's no believer in here that hasn't messed up. Serve overnight, inner city,
church going, or drug addict prostitute who's
been saved by the grace of God. How we rejoice in a risen Savior. He's alive today. He's for us. And if God be for us, who'd be
against us? Is that right? Let's stand and pray. Let me put it to you straight. Jesus Christ, as your Lord and
as your Savior, and you are trusting Him today. You are believing
on Him, and you've never followed Him in baptism. You know what
baptism is? It doesn't wash away your sin.
It's just you saying to the world, I want to confess that Jesus
died for me, was buried for me, and rose again for me. When you
take the Lord's Supper, that wine in that cup does not put
the blood of Christ in you, or the bread does not mean you are
eating the flesh of Christ. That wouldn't be good. You get
Christ in you by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you trusted
Him? Are you trusting Him? Have you
confessed him? If you have not, we're going
to give you the opportunity to do that today. You just come
and stand here and we'll say a word or two.