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,
the message will be taken from the book of John, chapter 5,
beginning at verse 39, if you'd like to follow along in your
Bibles. John, chapter 5, and verse 39. And the title of the
message is, Jesus Christ, the Key to Scripture. Jesus Christ,
the Key to Scripture. Last week I mentioned this, but
this message and the several messages that will follow this,
Lord willing, is a series of messages on how to interpret
the Bible. And I'm talking about the rules
of interpretation. There are rules. We see so many
different ideas, views, opinions, doctrines, denominations, all
of this. And I mentioned last week how
so many people will ask me how I derive at the meanings that
I derive when I read scripture. And it's not a matter of just,
well, you go read it and whatever it means to you, that's okay,
I'll go read it. No, no, there are rules of scriptural
interpretation. And last week I listed the eight
rules. I'm gonna list them here in just
a moment. I'm gonna be talking about the number one main rule
of interpreting scripture today. And that's number one, which
is this. what I call the rule of Jesus
Christ crucified and raised from the dead. And what I'm talking
about how this book is a book of Christ and the one way of
salvation for sinners by the grace of God through Him. It speaks of His glorious person
Jesus Christ the God man and his finished work, but I'll come
back to that in John 5 But let me just list these rules for
you again The second rule is what I call the rule of first
mention and that refers to concepts of truth Mentioned in the scripture
that when they're first mentioned they never change and I'm going
to have messages on that the third rule is the rule of simplicity
and Whenever I think of that, I think about the simplicity
that's in Jesus Christ. And what I'm talking about that
is the scriptures must speak. Don't bring your preconceived
notions into the Bible and try to make it fit with your preconceived
notions and complicate it. Just the simple truth of scripture. The fourth rule is the rule of
revelation. And that's an important rule
because the Bible is going to be a closed book to you or to
me unless God is pleased to reveal Himself by the power of the Spirit. This is the Word of God. And
by nature, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit
of God. The fifth rule is the rule of language. And that rule
of language has to do with definitions of terms, what words mean. It
has to do with words that are symbolic, all those things, and
we'll see that. And then the sixth rule is the
rule of context. What words and phrases and verses
mean in their context. Don't take them out of context.
And then there's also other context. There's historical context. There's
cultural context. And it takes a while to get that.
The seventh rule is the rule of comparison. Compare Scripture
with Scripture. Don't compare Scripture with
what you think naturally. Compare it with the Scripture.
And I'll show you some examples of that. And then the eighth
rule is the rule of typology. The Old Testament is full of
types, symbols, pictures that give meaning. to what we read. I mentioned last week the lambs
that were slain on Jewish altars. Even the lamb that was slain
back in Genesis 3, that's a picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ,
the Lamb slain. for his people. So with that
in mind, let's begin this series. And I hope you'll listen to the
whole series. If you miss one, we offer the CDs and DVDs that
you can get. And so let's go back to the first
rule of scripture. What I believe is the main rule
of scriptural interpretation, and that is the rule of Jesus
Christ crucified and raised from the dead, the gospel rule. the
rule of grace. And listen to it in John chapter
5 and verse 39, where the Lord, He's speaking to the Pharisees
here. And He says, search the scriptures. And that phrase,
as it is found in the original, has this connotation. You do
search the scriptures. So that Christ is recognizing
here that these were men who read their Bibles. They read
the Old Testament. They read the books of the law,
the books of Psalms, the prophets. They studied them. They memorized
them. They talked about them. So he
says, you do search the scriptures. He says, for in them, in these
scriptures, you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. Now, that's showing us that the
first thing that we must understand about the Bible from Genesis
to Revelation is that it's the book of Christ. They testify
of Christ. They testify, as I mentioned,
of His glorious person. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, he's
the Messiah. John said in John chapter one,
he's the eternal word, which was before and which was with
God and which was God. He's the creator. He's the second
person of the triune Godhead. He's the son of God, co-equal
in every attribute of nature. to God. Everything that God is,
Christ is. He is God. And then, He's perfect,
sinless man. Everything that man is, without
sin, He is. He's God-man. The angel announced
to Joseph concerning the birth of Jesus. He said, His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
That's salvation. He is salvation. Matthew 1.23,
His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. John said in John 1.14, The Word,
Christ, God the Son, in His deity, was made flesh and dwelt tabernacled
among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
Son of God. Who is Jesus Christ? How do we
know who He is? Because this book teaches us
He's God in human flesh. What did He do? Well, He came
to this earth to keep the law perfectly and to go to the cross
to die as the substitute and surety for the sins of His people. That's what He did. And in doing
that, He saved them from their sins. Christ did not die to make
you savable. He didn't die to make me savable.
He didn't die to make salvation a possibility for us if we would
do our part. No. In His substitutionary death
as the surety of His people, He put away the sins of all whom
the Father had given Him before the foundation of the world.
He paid their debt in full and He established righteousness
whereby God could be both a just God and a Savior, a righteous
judge as well as a loving Father. The ground of salvation is the
righteousness of God, which is the merits of the obedience unto
death of the Lord Jesus Christ, freely imputed, charged, accounted
to His people. The ground of salvation is not
my faith or your faith. We who know Christ We who are
saved, we have faith in Him. But that's not the ground of
our salvation. The ground is His cross work,
His redemption, His blood, His righteousness. How do we know
that? The Bible says it. Why did He
do all that? He did it for the glory of His
Father and the salvation of His people. He did it to enable God
to be just and justify. Where is He now? He is ascended
to the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession
for His people, pleading the merits of His blood, His righteousness
on their behalf forever and ever and ever, so that they can never
be lost again. They are they which testify me,
Christ said. And he says in verse 40, now
listen to this, Jesus Christ is the key to scripture. He opens up the mysteries of
the scripture. And he says in verse 40, and
you will not come to me that you might have life. The Pharisees
rejected the Messiah. All unbelievers reject the Messiah. They reject Christ. Now, they
may be like the Pharisees. You may read your Bible, study
your Bible, memorize your Bible. You may have it on a bumper sticker
or on a t-shirt. The Pharisees sewed it into the
hems of their garments. But they didn't know the Scriptures.
He told them one time, you do err not knowing the Scriptures.
They missed Christ. My friend, any passage of Scripture
that you read, that wherein you miss Christ, you haven't interpreted
it correctly. You haven't seen it right. Look
at verse 41. He says, I receive non-honor
from men. You see, this book is not written
to honor you or to honor me. It's written to honor Christ.
I read a few days ago about a so-called Bible scholar. who was talking
about how man, God would never, would never cross or negate or
deny the dignity of man. And the first thing that came
into my mind is where in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation,
does the Bible ever speak of any dignity of fallen sinners? We have no dignity by nature
in God's sight now. And understand me now, when I
say things like that, I'm not talking about how we relate to
each other here on earth. We relate to each other here
on earth on a different plane, but I'm talking about a person's
relationship with God. Holy God, who cannot even look
upon sin. What does the Bible say? The
Bible says we're sinners. There's none righteous. No, not
one. That's what the Bible says. Do you think you're the exception?
That's talking about all of us by nature. The Bible says there's
none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way.
There's none good, no, not one. Talking about in the sight of
God. You see, man has no dignity in the sight of God, natural
dignity. When we're saved by grace, God
elevates us to a plane of honor, not in ourselves, but as we stand
in Christ. We honor the Son. So Christ says
in verse 41, I receive not honor from men, but I know you, he
said, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my
Father's name, you receive me not. If another shall come in
his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? Now the honor that comes from
God is the honor of salvation by grace, which honor goes to
Him. You see, we're the recipients.
How do you know that's what it's talking about? Well, read on.
Verse 45, do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There
is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. They
trusted in their works under the law of Moses. For had you
believed Moses, you would have believed me, for Moses wrote
of me. When Moses sat down as the human
instrument by which God breathed out Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Christ said, He's writing of
me. Now every word in those five
books is not just Jesus, Jesus, or Christ, Christ. But what He's
saying is that those verses are ultimately about Him. He says in verse 47, But if you
believe not His writings, how shall you believe My words? Now
listen to me. The whole old covenant law was given to Israel to show
them their sinfulness, their lack of righteousness, and the
impossibility of salvation, of righteousness attained by their
works. And therefore, it left them with
no hope of salvation. but that which can be found by
the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ." You see that law? They had the Ten Commandments.
Somebody says, well, I'm living by the Ten Commandments. Well,
listen to me. You're not living perfectly by
the Ten Commandments. And as long as you don't live
perfectly by the Ten Commandments, then you come short of the glory
of God. You cannot claim any righteousness
by the law. That law had the ceremonial law,
that had the priesthood, the altar, the mercy seat, the blood
of sacrifice. Those were all pictures of Christ
and salvation by the grace of God. You know what was contained
in the Ark of the Covenant covered by the mercy seat? The broken
law. And you know what had to be sprinkled
on the mercy seat by the high priest one time a year? The blood
of the Lamb. That lamb signified, typified
Christ who kept the law. Romans 10, 4. For Christ is the
end, the finishing, the fulfillment, completion, perfection of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. That's what
he's talking about. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Over in the book of Luke chapter 24. Christ walked on the road
to Emmaus amongst some of His disciples, and He taught them. And it says in Luke 24, 27, Beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. This is a book of Christ. In Luke 24, verse 44, He sat
down with His disciples. He said to them, These are the
words that I spoke 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, concerning
Christ. And verse 45 says, then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. and said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and rise from
the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things." You see that? It's a book of Christ. I love this passage over in the
book of Acts, chapter 8. This was after Stephen had been
persecuted. And he related in Acts chapter
7 the whole history of the nation Israel, basically. And brought
it down to one issue. The fact that Israel, National
Israel, had rejected the Messiah. And therefore, he claimed, he
told them, he said, you have no spiritual life. And of course
we know what happened. They stoned him to death. Well,
after that, the disciples of Christ in Jerusalem were beginning
to be scattered all over the known world at that time, and
they went about preaching the word. Well, there was an evangelist,
a man named Philip, and the Holy Spirit revealed to Philip that
he was to go into the desert, into the Gaza desert, And Philip
went, and there he met a man, it was an Ethiopian, a eunuch,
who was a treasurer for a queen in Ethiopia. Queen named Candace,
some say Candacy, either way. But this man, he'd come to Jerusalem
to worship in the high holy days. And while he was there, he acquired
a copy of the scriptures, which shows that he was a rich man,
because back then, it wasn't like today, everybody's got a
Bible. If you had a copy of the scriptures personally, it means
you were pretty wealthy. And so this man was reading.
And it says in verse 30, this is Acts chapter 8, it says, And
Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaias,
or Isaiah, that's who that is. And said, Philip asked him, he
says, Understandest thou what thou readest? Do you understand
what you're reading? We can say that about any passage
of scripture when you read, do you understand it? Verse 31,
the Ethiopian said, how can I accept some man should guide me? We
need guidance. That's what I'm doing when I
preach the gospel. I need guidance. And I read and
I study and I pray that the Lord opened my understanding. And
it says, and he designed Philip that he would come up and sit
with him, that is come up in his wagon or chariot. And look
at verse 32, Acts chapter eight. It says, the place of the scripture
which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For his
life is taken from the earth. Now you know what he was reading.
In verse 34 it says, and the eunuch answered Philip and said,
I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself
or of some other man? Who's he talking about? This
Ethiopian man. And the signification of all
this is he went to Jerusalem to worship according to the Jews'
religion in the high holy days, and he pretty much went away
empty. And there he is out on the backside of the desert on
his way home, and he stops to rest, and he opens up Isaiah
53. You know that chapter? That's
the suffering servant of the Lord. And he reads those passages. You know, we quote phrases from
Isaiah 53 all the time. It's a beautiful chapter. It
talks about how he was despised and rejected of men. A man of
sorrow was acquainted with grief, all of that. And so the eunuch,
he read that and he asked Philip, he said, who's he talking about?
Is Isaiah speaking of himself or is he talking of some other
man? Well, now let me give you an
example of how the key to the scripture is Jesus Christ. If
you were to approach, for example, an unbelieving Jew and read to
him Isaiah 53, if he was one who was familiar with the Old
Testament and read it, and ask him this question, who is Isaiah
the prophet talking about? More than likely, his answer
would be something like this. Isaiah's talking about the nation
Israel being suffering and being persecuted by the Gentiles. That's
what he would say. That's his interpretation. That's
how he sees it. But when the Ethiopian asked
that question, how did Philip the evangelist answer him? And it's recorded in the verbally
inspired inerrant word of God. Look at Acts 8.35. Then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. There's the key that unlocks
the mystery of Isaiah 53. Who is that man of sorrows acquainted
with grief? That's Christ. Who is that one
who's despised and rejected of men? That's Christ. Who is that
one who established righteousness for the justification of his
people? That's Christ. Who is salvation? Christ. You understand what I'm
saying? That's the first and main rule
of interpretation. I remember I have a friend who
before he came to a saving knowledge of Christ, before the Lord opened
his understanding to the scriptures, he and his wife just said that
they were going to read the Bible. And they were going to start
back in the book of Genesis and just read it through. to see
what they could find. And he began reading. He read
Genesis, read Exodus, read Leviticus, going through. And especially
when he got into the book of Leviticus, which is a book of
the priests, the Levites, sacrificing all of that, sacrificing animals.
And he told his wife one day, he said, honey, he said, according
to this book, we ought to be out here sacrificing lambs. That's what it says. Well, about
that time, he turned on the TV on Sunday morning and by the
providence of God, He heard a gospel preacher. Now, there's a lot
of preachers on TV. A lot of preachers were not gospel
preachers. But he heard a gospel preacher,
and you know what the title of his message was that morning,
that gospel preacher? Behold the Lamb of God. which
taketh away the sins of the world. And he began to show, that gospel
preacher began to preach how Christ is that lamb. All the
lambs and all the bullocks, all the sacrifices slain on Jewish
altars were pictures and types of Jesus Christ. There's the
key that unlocks the mystery. Over in the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 3, you can read this. Paul speaks of how the Jews,
the Israelites, were blinded in their hearts by self-righteousness
and self-love that when the Old Testament was read, they couldn't
see the reality of it. They couldn't see the truth of
it. They didn't interpret it right. But he said in 2 Corinthians
3, he said, but when their hearts were turned to the Lord, then
came liberty, the freedom to see what's really there. This
is a book of Christ. And you can take it from Genesis
to Malachi in the Old Testament, from Matthew to Revelation in
the New Testament. The book of Revelation is a book
of Christ. Many people read it like a science
fiction novel, as if it's something way off into the future and it
has no bearing. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It's like all other scripture
in this book, from cover to cover. It's a book of Christ showing
us more of the glory of His person and more of the power of His
finished redemptive work, shedding His blood as the complete payment
for all the sins of God's elect and establishing righteousness
for them. It's a book of righteousness. It's a book of Christ. I 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 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 31707. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website
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today, and may the Lord be with you.