Corinthians 15. First Corinthians
15. First Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. After that, he was seen of
above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
under this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that,
he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of
all, he was seen of me also as one, born out of Deuteronomy. Let's bow our hearts together. Our Father, in the glorious,
glorious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we come
with thankful hearts, come with a wonderful knowledge that you
are our Savior, that you are our Redeemer, It's you who bought
us and paid for us, and that we're no longer our own. That
you own us, and we gladly have it so. And Lord, we thank you
for this time that you've enabled us to gather together. And Lord,
there's people who have needs, financial needs, physical needs,
mental needs, emotional needs. And then there's people, Lord,
that's so sick, We ask for your mercies on them, ask for you
to raise them up, strengthen them, encourage them. Continue
to bless Kathleen and cause her to get stronger and stronger.
And our Savior, we ask again for those that we love that don't
have any interest in you at all. You never enter their minds.
You never cross their minds. You enter not into the thoughts.
But Lord, there was a time that you never entered my thoughts.
So Lord, if there was hope for me, and you could save me and
would save me, I'll not despair of what you'll do for those that
I love and those that others among us love, their children,
grandchildren, wives, husbands. Lord, we commit it all to you.
As for your power, your power and your presence in this service
tonight. For Christ's sake, amen. Come with me back here to 1 Corinthians
15. Paul says in these first four
verses about the gospel. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you. The
gospel is a declaration. Nothing to be debated, argued
over, but it's a declaration, a proclamation, which also you
have received. This gospel I declared unto you,
you received it. And you stand in this gospel.
You stand in the gospel I preached to you. You stand before God. Your faith stands in this gospel.
Your hope stands in this gospel. Your eternal life stands in this
gospel that you've heard, this blessed good news, by which also
you're saved. This gospel saves you. It saves
you. If you keep in memory, hold fast
to it. And what I've preached unto you,
unless you come to find out what you believed, you really didn't
believe it, you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, this
is the gospel that I delivered unto you, first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. I want to talk about preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ from the Old Testament. And that's what
Paul, when he talks about the scriptures here, died for our
sins according to the scriptures, buried and raised again the third
day according to the scriptures. He's talking about the Old Testament
scriptures. These scriptures were just written.
He had just written them. So when he talks about the scriptures,
he's talking about all the Old Testament before the New was
ever written. Now some preachers have a problem
preaching from the Old Testament or don't have a problem preaching
from the Old Testament but finding the Lord Jesus Christ and preaching
Him from the Old Testament is hard for a lot of people, hard
for a lot of preachers. But as you read the book of Acts
you'll see that's exactly what every apostle preached. They
preached Christ from the Old Testament. You go through Acts
chapter 2 when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and it's
untold the number of scriptures that he used just in that one
message that he quoted from the Psalms, he used David, he used
Moses and so you find all the apostles when they preached in
the book of Acts they used the Old Testament scriptures. Now
you keep this and look with me over in Acts Chapter 17. Look in Acts Chapter 17. Here's what I'm talking about.
That's why Paul said, I preach that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures. In Acts 17, he says this, Now
when they had passed through Amphipolis, in Apollonia, they
came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And
Paul, as his manner was, the way he lived and the way he did
things, went in unto them in three sabbath days, reasoned
with them out of the scriptures. You know, now he says reasoned
with them out of the scriptures. Now what did he reason with them
about? He took the scriptures and began to teach them. He is
opening the scriptures and alleging from those scriptures that Christ
must needs have suffered. and risen again from the day
and this Christ, this Jesus whom I preach unto you is this Christ. That's who I'm preaching to you.
Now, so he risen from the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament
scriptures. Look in Acts 28 and verse 22. Acts 28, 22. Paul's in Rome now. He's up there to stand before
Caesar. And a bunch of Jews came and they said, we desire to hear
of thee what thou thinkest as concerning this sect. And that's
what they were called then. That's what Christians were called.
That's what believers were called. They were called a sect. He said,
I would like to know what you think about this sect. We know
that every word is spoken against. If you as a Christian, you believed
in Christ, You believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Christ,
that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ? You was considered somebody
that is spoken against. Everybody who believe Christ
is spoken against. The sect was spoken against.
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him
and to his lodging, now listen, to whom he expounded and testified
the kingdom of God. persuading them concerning Jesus,
listen to this, both out of the law of Moses, he used the first
five books of the Old Testament, that's the law of Moses, and
out of the prophets. Started as Isaiah, went through
Jeremiah, went through Ezekiel, went through Daniel, went through
the Zechariah. We was looking today through
Zechariah and I could not tell you how many instances Christ
has talked about in the book of Zechariah. He's called the branch. He's
called Zerubbabel. He's called Joshua. He's the
one who raises up the temple and put the top stone on it shouting
grace, grace unto it. And so here that's what he said.
He expounded the kingdom of God persuading them concerning Jesus
both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets. And
listen to this. He did that from the morning all the way to the
evening. He did it all day long. As long
as somebody sat and listened to it. And he taught them that
Christ was in all the prophets and in the law of Moses. And
he expounded those things. Now there's Old Testament places
that is so obvious that they speak of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You take the Passover lamb. You take Isaiah 53. Take Psalm 22, Psalm 68, Psalm
110, Psalm 23, Psalm 89. Just go on and on and on about
so many that when you read them you say that's Christ right there.
That's Christ. I hope I preached Christ last
Sunday morning about from Jacob and Jacob his vision. But there
are so many places, but to consistently, consistently view the Old Testament
as revealing the Lord Jesus Christ, that becomes hard. That becomes
hard. Should we view all the Old Testament
as a testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ, a testimony to Him, all
of it? If that's true, if that is true,
we view all the Old Testament as testifying of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If that's true, we should labor
to find our Lord Jesus and preach Him from the Old Testament. We
ought to labor to do that. You know, they say this, they
said the New Testament was in the Old, concealed. The New Testament. John, James, Luke, Mark, all
the Acts of the Apostles, all them were in the Old Testament
concealed. And then when the New Testament
come, it revealed the Old Testament, the message of the Old Testament.
And you take the book of Hebrews and that's a perfect illustration
of it. The book of Hebrews is all about all the temple, all
the offerings, all the sacrifice, the priesthood, the prophets,
the angels and everything that existed under the Old Testament
economy, they was taken and showed, everything that come out of that
spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every single thing under the
law, every sacrifice, every priest, the law, it shows everything
that Christ was a fulfillment of. And that's the purpose. It
all comes from the Old Testament. Every bit of it did. And he says
this is what the Old Testament said and this is what Paul said.
This is what this was speaking of when we got to it. That's
what he's talking about. And that's why he said but we
see Jesus. And looking unto Jesus. And so
let's tell you what. Let's see what we can find out. Look over here with me. The New
Testament tells us the purpose of the Old Testament. was to
teach us. The New Testament tells us the
purpose of the Old Testament is to tell us and teach us about
Christ. Look in Romans chapter 15. Look in Romans chapter 15. The New Testament tells us the
purpose of the Old is to teach us of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says here. Verse
1. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. Why? Here's the reason why. For
even Christ pleased not himself. Now watch what he says. But as
it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. For whatsoever things were written
for time were written for our learning that we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. What scriptures?
The only one they knew at that time. And he goes on to tell
us here that the Old Testament was written for our learning
of Christ. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmity of
the weak. Where does this exhortation come
from? Why does it say it here? Even as Christ pleased not himself
in the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. You
know where that's at? You keep Romans 15. Look in Psalm
69. Look in Psalm 69. This is where
this comes from. And that's why he says the scriptures
might give us comfort and patience. Psalm 69 verse 8 and 9. Look what he said here now. I
am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my
mother's children. His own brothers and sisters
said, if you be the Christ, you want to be seen, you want to
be heard, go up there and do all these miracles for all these
people. For he says, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee, all the reproaches
that we, who are God's elect, reproach Christ with, reproach
God with, and said awful things about God, all them reproaches
fell on our Lord Jesus Christ, because he pleased not himself.
He didn't have to take the reproaches, but he said, all the reproaches
that we made about God. How many things have we said
about God? How many thoughts, and our Lord
Jesus says, they all fell on me. And that's what he's talking
about here. And then back over here in our
text in Romans 15. This is why we want to please
our neighbor, because Christ pleased not himself. So why should
we seek to please ourselves? And we were weak, and he bore
our infirmities. So we that are strong ought to
bear the infirmities of the weak. And then look what he says here
in verse four. For whatsoever things were written aforetime.
What were they written for? Written for our learning. What
are we to learn? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Learn
the salvation we have in him. Learn about grace. Learn about
the types. Learn about the pictures. Learn
about the prophecies. They're written for our learning.
And then he says, whatsoever thing. You know whatsoever thing
is? That means everything. That means everything. and all was written to teach
us of Christ and that learning of Him and learning what happened
and all the saints that trusted Him even back then that we through
learning we would have patience and we would have comfort from
them verse scriptures and all that we had learned to wait and
this word patience here don't mean to sit down and just wait
till something happens that means that we're actively living Just
like Abraham lived, and Isaac lived, and Jacob lived, and the
apostles lived, and the prophets lived, and they waited for the
coming of Christ. These all died in what? Faith. They died not having received
the promises, but they were persuaded of those promises. And so if
they had patience, that's what they're written for, for us to
wait on Christ. Wait for our trials to be to
an end. And then I'll tell you, let me
show you another one talking about Christ and the Old Testament,
1 Corinthians 10. Look in 1 Corinthians 10. So the New Testament was to teach
us, tells us the purpose of the Old Testament is to teach us
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were written for our learning.
And you ain't learning nothing. Somebody told me today that,
yeah, it was Wayne Boyd told me today that he saw a sign on
a church bulletin up there, a church thing up there that said, life's
lessons, life lessons, life's lesson. And I said, well, the
only life lesson I wanna know is that Christ is my life. That's
what I wanna know. I'll learn life and I'll learn
lessons in life as God teaches them to me. But I'm not going
to get up here and teach you lessons about life. No, if Christ
don't teach us, we ain't going to learn nothing. But oh, look
what he said here now in verse 8. 1 Corinthians 10, 8 through
12. Neither let us commit fornication
as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed of service. He's
describing things that happened in the Old Testament. Neither
murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of
the destroyer. Now, all these things, all these
things happened unto them for examples, examples and they are
written to admonish us upon whom the worlds, ends of the worlds
have come. and wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now all the things that
happened to Israel and all the way that God dealt with them,
he says don't let us commit fornication, what kind of fornication are
they talking about? They went after strange gods,
that's the kind of fornication he's talking about. They had
the one true and living God, and God said, don't you go after
these gods. Don't you go after these statues. Don't you go where people set
up groves and set up idols, and don't you worship that. Don't
you join yourself to men and women who worship strange gods.
Well, they hadn't been out of there very long, and they got
with the Moabites and started worshiping them Moabitish gods.
God himself that day killed 23,000. And so what he's saying is don't
go after strange gods. Don't set no idols up. If you worship your own will,
you've got an idol on your hand. If you worship your own goodness,
you've got an idol on your hand. If you're self-righteous, you've
got an idol on your hand. And I tell you, that's why he
says, don't, just don't tip Christ. Just don't commit fornication.
And then he says, neither let us tip Christ. What is he talking
about there? That they went and murmured a
ghost. Oh, they got so mad at Moses and God that they said,
why did you bring us out in the wilderness? We just should have
died in Egypt instead of dying here in the wilderness. God sent
fiery serpents among them. They tipped at him. You ought
to just let us die. God said, you want to die? You
want to get mad at me? You want to get mad at what I
do for you? You want to get mad at how I deal with you? I brought
you out of Egypt. I took you through the Red Sea.
I put you on dry land. I fed you. I clothed you. You
want bread? I gave you bread from heaven.
You wanted water? I smote a rock and you got water.
You wanted meat? I gave you quails to eat. And
your clothes never waxed old, and you never wear out your shoes.
And now you're going to raise your fist in my face and tell
me that you won't die that you brought us into this awful place?
He said, I know what I'll do. He sent fiery serpents among
us. And you know who that fiery serpent represented, don't you?
Huh? Oh, we live under grace. Thank
God we do. I was reading there, you know,
that God said, this is how I'll bless you. If you do everything
I tell you to do. If you do everything I tell you
to do, I said, you know, he says, you'll never ever want for nothing. But if you don't, there ain't
nothing good gonna ever happen to you. That's what law does.
If you keep it, you're gonna get greatly blessed. But if you
don't keep it, you're gonna be cursed. Thank God we're under
the grace of God. And that's New Covenant, oh my. But we find that all these things
that happened in the Old Testament to these people in the Old Testament
were to teach us not only what to do and what to believe, but
what not to do. You know, David done some awful
things, but we're not supposed to act like David. These people
tempted Christ, so God sent fiery serpents. They did and they failed
and they were destroyed as serpents. What does this tell us in John
3.14? Look at it just a minute. John 3.14. Look what our Lord
said here. And this is, you know, all these
things you can find it all, you can find it in the book of Numbers.
Find it in Joshua. Where all these things happened
to them. And look what our Lord Jesus Christ said here. And he
shows us that this time they tempted Christ and they were
destroyed of the serpents. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, tempting Christ. How's God going
to save them? He's going to save them by a
serpent lifted up. And everyone who looked to that
serpent, no matter how sick they were, how weak they were, how
frail they were, and maybe on the verge of death, but the minute
they looked up and saw that serpent, they were healed just like that. And God made Christ to be sin
for us, that He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And God hung Him up, just like
Moses hung that serpent up in the wilderness. Even so, our
Lord Jesus said, I got to be lifted up. And we sang that old
song, look and live, my brother, live, look and live. I say, look
and live. And I tell you, beloved, that's
the thing about it. Don't tempt, oh we don't want
to tempt Christ and that's what he says and then he goes on to
say here in verse 10, neither murmur ye. What's murmuring mean? That means that you're just dissatisfied
with what's going on. You're dissatisfied with what's
going on. And some of them murmured also were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all of these things, every one of these things, happened
unto them for examples. for pictures for us, to teach
us. And they're written to admonish us, to warn us, upon whom the
ends of the world's come. And do you know who we're in
the ends of the world? When Christ comes, and the ends
of the world's coming upon us, because we're in the last days. Let me show you another about
how that they preach Christ from the Old Testament. Look over
in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Oh, listen. Things were written when we read
back there and read about those things. They're written for our
learning, to teach us, to admonish us. Don't you act this way. Don't
you murmur. Don't you tip Christ. Don't you
complain. Don't you find fault with the
Lord's dealings with you in this world. And you know why we get
dissatisfied with what goes on in our lives and in the world?
It's because we think we deserve better. We really think we deserve
better. That's what we think. But over
here in 1 Peter 1, verse 8, look what he said here. Whom having not seen but the
Lord Jesus Christ, you love him. You've not seen him, not like
Peter saw him. And whom though you see him not
now, yet you believe. And you rejoice with joy. Oh,
you have joy when you think of Christ. You have joy when you
think of the grace of God. You have joy when Christ, understand
what Christ did for me. And it's unspeakable. You cannot
speak about Christ and the joy and what he does for you. And
it's full of glory. He is full of glory. And then,
and here's the thing, receiving the end of your salvation, the
goal of your salvation, the end of your faith, the goal of your
faith, when your faith comes to an absolute end and you don't
need it anymore, you have the salvation of your souls. And
then he gonna say, now what salvation of your souls? He said, of which
salvation the prophets have inquired. What prophets? Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Daniel, all the minor prophets, Ezekiel, they all, they searched. They took their own books as
they wrote them down and they began to search. They began to
inquire in the things that God was giving them. And Jeremiah
would take Isaiah and Isaiah would look at these, they'd look
at one another's writings. And they'd see what did he mean
by that? What is it about? Who is that about? What is that
telling us about? and they would inquire and search
diligently and so when they inquired and searched diligently of the
salvation that the Old Testament taught us about and the salvation
that Christ would bring they prophesied they searched diligently
and prophesied of the grace the grace that's going to come and
it's going to come to you now watch this they searched Searched
what? Or what manner of time? How did
they do it? What were they searching? Christ. And what manner of time? The
Spirit of Christ. Christ in them did signify and
teach them. And listen to this. When it testified
beforehand. Oh, they said they searched and
testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ. And of the glory that
should follow. And this salvation that we have
and that we're going to receive the end of it, this fellas looked
and looked and looked. Who was this salvation at? How's
it going to come? When's it going to come? What's
it going to do when it gets here? It's going to be of grace and
it's got to be of a man and it's got to be this man's got to come
and he must suffer and he must have glory after he suffers. And so they searched and they
searched and that's why the Jews wouldn't believe him and wouldn't
receive him and still don't because they do not believe their Messiah
would ever suffer. And look what he went on to say.
And then it was revealed unto them. These things that they
were looking for about the sufferings of Christ, the grace that could
come and the salvation that would come and the Spirit of Christ
in them testified. unto whom it was revealed, that
not unto themselves, but what was they looking for this for?
They ministered unto us. They were ministering to us,
teaching these things and looking at these things for us. For us
who are here now. For us that search the scriptures
now. Now watch this. And which are now reported or
which are now preached unto you. These things, these Old Testament
things, this Old Testament, this salvation that was prophesied
and searched into, that the Spirit of Christ was in, testifying
of his suffering, testifying of his glory. It was revealed
unto them so that they could preach to us and minister unto
us. And then when we learned it and we saw it, we preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
And the angels would stand and love to understand what they've
taught. Huh? So those fellas, they spent their
time. They spent their time, let's see. Oh, listen. What is Ezekiel talking about
right there? About them bones. What's he talking
about them bones? What's he talking about over
there, that infant cast out into the field? What's he talking
about over there? Huh? What's Isaiah talking about there?
He said, he shall be led as a lamb to the slaughter. as a sheep
before he sheared. He would be dumb and he wouldn't
even open his mouth. What did he mean when the Lord
would bruise him and the Lord would please the Lord to make
his soul an offering for sin? What is he talking about there?
Who is this man? What will he be like? What will
he look like? When is he going to come? What is he going to
do when he gets here? And they said, and they done
all that and they ministered to us in doing that so that when
we saw it, we could say, that's it! Oh my. And then now since they
ministered unto us, we preach the gospel that they had searched
and inquired into about Christ. We preach the gospel with the
Holy Ghost sent down. The gospel that they preached
themselves and looked into themselves. Huh? Oh listen. And then let
me give you another one. Let me show you another one.
John chapter 5. John chapter 5. talking about preaching Christ
from the Old Testament. You see here that the New Testament
tells us how they used the Old Testament to preach Christ and
reveal Christ and they was looking for Christ in the Old Testament.
God said, I'm going to give you a sign. He told us, I'm going
to give you a sign. What sign are you going to give
me? That a virgin is going to have a child. This is 600 years
before Christ ever come. And you know what you're going
to call him. You know who he's going to be. He's going to be Immanuel.
Come to be with you. And then everybody thought he's
going to be born over such and such a place. God said, I'm going
to take over this little old bitty place called Bethlehem
of Ephrathah. where nobody knows anything about
it, the littlest among all of Judah. He said, that's where
I'm going to have him born at. And not only am I going to have
him born there, but I'm going to give you a sign with a star,
and then when they're going to come and look at him, he's going
to be a bag wrapped in swaddling clothes, and he's going to lie
in a manger. And these fellas looked and looked and looked
and looked and looked, seeing when this was going to happen.
And that's why Anna the prophetess and Simeon when he came, they
knew he was there. How? Because they looked at the
scriptures and God said, this is it. This is it. All right, look over here in
John 539. That's our Lord Jesus Christ speaking
now. He says, search the scriptures.
search the scriptures in them you think you have eternal life
and listen to this and they are they which testify of me. And
then look what he says down in verse 45 do not think that I
will accuse you to the father there is one that accuses you
even Moses in whom you trust for had you believed Moses you
would have believed me for he wrote of me but if you believe
not his writings how shall you believe my word. Now our Lord
Jesus Christ himself said, if you want to know anything about
me, you're going to have to go to the Old Testament. That's what he's saying
here. He said, if you all really knew,
if you would search the scriptures and know who I am and know why
I'm here, you would go to those scriptures and you would find
out that they are telling about me. They testify of me. You go back and search them.
You go back and search them. Huh? And then he says there,
he said, if you would have believed Moses in verse 46, you would
have believed me. Why? Because Moses wrote about
me. Huh? Oh, and he says, you know
what? He said, I'll tell you something.
Moses is going to be a witness against you. Ain't that what
he says in verse 45? I don't have to accuse you to
the Father. There's one that's going to accuse
you, even Moses, in whom you trust. Look in John 9, just a
moment. John 9, 24. Look in John 9, 24. This is where the Lord opens
that blind man's eyes. Been blind all of his life, born
blind. The Lord opened his eyes. And
oh, it upset the people in the synagogue, something awful. Then again, they called that
man, verse 24, that was blind and said unto him, Give God the
praise. We know that this man is a sinner.
He answered and said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know
not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. Then
said they to him again, what did he to thee? How opened he
thine eyes? He answered them, I've told you
already and you did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again?
Will you also, listen to this, will you also be his disciples?
Then they reviled him and said, thou art his disciple. We are
Moses' disciples. For we know that God spake unto
Moses. As far as this fella goes, we
don't know where he's from. And so they said, we're gonna
follow Moses. Our Lord Jesus said, if you believed anything
Moses said, if you believed anything Moses said, you'd have to believe
me because Moses wrote about me. And that's why I said, go
search the scriptures. And if you won't believe his
writings, how in the world are you going to believe mine? And
I know men can preach on creation. They can preach about Abraham
and his faith. They can preach about Isaac and
what an example he was as a husband and as a son. And as a promise
they can preach on Jacob. His deception they can preach
on Joseph and what a fine fellow he was. Or they can preach on
the Law of Moses. And they can preach on all those
things and never ever say anything about Christ. Never say anything
about Christ. When everything about the Scriptures
tells of Christ. Our Lord Himself said, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all things written in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. And when He says all things
there, all the prophets and all the scriptures they tell about
me and so beloved I'm telling you if we everybody in the New
Testament they've done any preaching preach from the Old Testament
preach from the Old Testament the Old Testament scriptures
makes us wise unto salvation let me show you this in 2nd Timothy
and I'll be done look in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 2nd Timothy 3. They're talking about our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh listen, Paul told Timothy
in 2nd Timothy 3.14, look what he says here. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and has been assured of. and knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child, now listen
to this, continue in these things, and that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures. What scriptures? There were no
scriptures to know. Malachi back all the way to Genesis.
That's all they had. That was over 400 years that
there was not a prophet, not a word from God from the time
of Malachi until John the Baptist came. Over 400 years, not a thing,
not a whisper come from God. And oh, and then he says, you
know, and that from a child that has known the Holy Scriptures.
Huh? And what about these Scriptures
that you know which are able to make thee wise unto salvation? salvation. Where at? Through faith which is in Christ
Jesus and all he knew was the Old Testament. The Old Testament scripture gave
you faith in Christ. You know how Paul, let me tell
you this and I'm through, that Paul on the Damascus road after
God smote him down and after he had received his sight on
the third day they let him down He straightway preached Christ
in Damascus. Straightway preached Christ.
How could he possibly do that? He didn't have a Bible other
than the Old Testament. And he took the Old Testament
straightway, showed from the Scriptures that this was the
Christ. This was the Christ. And he goes
on down here to say, and this is why all Scripture is able
to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God God breathed and is profitable
for doctrine for our teaching for to reprove us to correct
us and instruct us in righteousness and listen to this now that the
man of God may be perfect or mature throughly furnished unto
all good works what's all good works preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ he's furnished he's got something he's got something
to say Because the scriptures are given by inspiration of God. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for allowing us this time this
evening. And I pray that you take what's been said and use
it to your glory and our good. Father, to whom can we go but
to you? To whom can we look but you? Whom can we trust but you?
Who is our salvation if it's not you, Lord Jesus? We thank
you for thy mercies, thy grace, thy great patience and longsuffering
with us. And thank you for making us wise
in the scriptures unto salvation through faith, which is in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for doing that for
us. In his blessed name, amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth till
grow strangely dim. in the light of His glory and
grace. See Sunday morning, God willing.