As I prepare to preach to you,
I often read this prayer to myself. Lord, speak to me that I may
speak in living words of thy grace. As thou hast sought me,
so let me seek thine elect sons of every race. Lord, oh, lead
me that I may lead the wandering and the wavering feet. Feed me,
Lord, that I may feed others with thy manna sweet. Lord, strengthen
me that as I stand firm on the rock and strong in thee, I may
stretch out a loving hand to weary ones on a troubled sea. Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may
teach the precious truth thou dost impart and bless my words
that they may reach the hidden depths of another's heart. Supply
my needs, oh gracious Lord, that I may give to those in need.
I long to show along life's road my love not only in word but
in deed. Oh, use me, Lord, even me, just
as you will, and when, and where, until thy blessed face I see,
thy rest, thy joy, and thy glory there. Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Luke chapter 24. Chapter 24. Brother Carpenter
asked me last week to bring three messages at the conference in
Kansas City on the sufficiency of the scriptures. So I've had that subject on my
mind for the past several weeks. And I want tonight to bring you
a message on the message of Holy Scripture. The message of Holy
Scripture. I want you to understand and
see clearly what this book is all about. I want you to see
clearly what the message of Holy Scripture is as intended by God
the Holy Spirit who is the author of Holy Scripture. Many men were
used in the writing of Scripture. But we sometimes talk about Paul
being the author of Romans and John being the author of John
and Jude of Jude and so on. But the author of the book is
God, the Holy Spirit. And he has a specific message
intended in the book of God. Let's begin tonight in Luke 24
at verse 13. The Lord Jesus has died as our
substitute. He was violently crucified by
the Jews, by the instigation of the Jews, by Roman hands at
Jerusalem. He's risen from the dead. And
now we pick up in verse 13 of chapter 24. Behold, two of them,
two of the Lord's disciples, went the same day to a village
called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score
furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that ye have one with another as you
walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answering, said unto him, art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? And he said unto them, what things? And they said unto him concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed and word
before God and all the people and how the chief priest and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel and beside all this. Today is the third day since
these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of
our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher.
And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had
seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain
of them, which were sent with us, went to the sepulcher. and
found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Why is it they didn't understand
what had transpired? Why? Were they astonished at
the report of the Lord's resurrection? Why were these men unable to
recognize that this one whom they thought to be the Redeemer
of Israel had indeed redeemed Israel? Oh, fools and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. All this
was revealed in the book. All of it was written in the
prophets. There was no reason for them not to understand these
things except they failed to understand the message of the
book. Read on, verse 26. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His
glory? Don't you understand? This is
what the prophet said. This is how Christ the Messiah
will enter into his glory. This is how Christ the Messiah
will accomplish the redemption of Israel. This is how Christ
the Messiah will be made to sit upon the throne of David forever.
It is by the suffering of these things and his resurrection that
now he's entered into his glory. Read on, verse 27. And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. And Mark, all the scriptures
they had was Genesis to Malachi. None of the New Testament had
been written yet. Just Genesis to Malachi. And from Genesis
to Malachi, the Lord Jesus expounded to them in all the scriptures
things concerning himself. Verse 28. And they drew nigh
unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he
would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying,
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. And it came to pass, as he sat
at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break it,
and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew him. He was sitting right at the table
with them. He'd been walking along the road with them. He'd
been talking to them out of this book. But their eyes were holding
and they could not know him. Oh God open my eyes that I may
see. Open your eyes now that you may
see. He was sitting at the table with
them. And they didn't know Him until God graciously opened their
eyes that they might know Him. Read on now. Their eyes were
opened and they knew Him. And He vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within
us while it talked with us by the way? and while he opened
to us the scriptures. And they rose up the same hour,
and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together,
and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed,
and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were
done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking bread. As the Lord Jesus walked together
with these disciples, he opened to them the scriptures beginning
at Moses and all the prophets expanded to them in all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. Here we are taught plainly, so
plainly that there is no reason to mistake the Lord's intention.
that the whole body of sacred scripture is concerning the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus is the pearl of
great price in the field of Holy Scripture. He opens the scriptures
and makes us understand that the scriptures are all about
him. We have read this book. We've read this book. with no
profit to our souls. Now, you may have had a great
deal of profit in other things, but you've read this book with
no profit to your soul. Bodily exercise profiteth little,
Paul said. And he's talking about the bodily
exercise of religion. You're not talking about going
to the gymnasium, going to church, profiteth little, but godliness. the knowledge of God, that's
another thing. Reading the scripture is of no profit to your soul
until you understand that this book is all about Jesus Christ. Until you understand that the
whole of the book of God is intended to teach us who Christ is, what
he did, why he did it, and where he is now, and what he shall
do in days to come. That's the intent of God in all
the book of God. Martin Luther once made the statement,
he said, you go to the cradle only to see the baby. No other
reason to go to the cradle except to see the baby. Go to the scriptures
only to see Christ. Not to prove a doctrine, not
to defend a doctrine, not to prove some theological point,
but just to see Christ. Go to the book of God only to
see the Son of God. That should be our purpose every
time we read the scriptures. Years ago, I sat down and worked
out a scripture reading calendar for you. We have it in our bulletin
every week. Many of you follow it regularly, and I'm glad you
do. But how often we read through
the set portion just to get through reading the set portion. God, forgive me. God, forgive
me. We ought to always read the book
for the purpose of seeing the Redeemer. And when you don't
see the Redeemer, go back and read again. The book is all about
Christ Jesus, the Lord. The Bible is a book about him. In this book, Christ is the key
of knowledge. This is a treasure chest. And between these covers is the
treasure of God's word, God's revelation of himself. God's
revelation of himself in Christ. God's revelation of himself in
the redemption and salvation of our souls. The glory of God
revealed in the saving of our souls by Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. Christ is the key of knowledge.
But if you don't have the key, you can't open the chest and
you can't find the treasure. Can't tell you how many times
I hear preaching Preaching for men who know truth. Preaching
for men who know the gospel. Preaching for men who wouldn't
say anything erroneous, at least not gravely erroneous. I hear
it a good bit. And I feel like Mary at the Lord's
empty tomb speaking to the gardener, they've taken away my Lord and
I know not where they've laid him. When we come to the house
of God, when a man comes to open the scriptures, when a man stands
before eternity-bound sinners as I now stand before you, it
is his great privilege and his great responsibility to show
from the scriptures the person and work of Jesus Christ. Lindsay,
you'll be standing here Sunday morning teaching from the book
of John again. And if you don't teach the folks
listening about the personal work of the Son of God, it's
just beating air. It's just beating air. It's just
filling in time. It's just exercising religion. Nothing of benefit is done to
the souls of men. Nothing. Oh, but we learned some
things, not anything beneficial. But we've learned where we stand. I wonder why that's so important
to folks. We learn what our church teaches. I want to know the son of God.
And I want you to know the son of God. I want to know what God
reveals about his son in this book and how we can know his
son. Our Lord Jesus makes it plain.
He makes it very plain. He said, search the scriptures.
For in them you think you have eternal life. That's exactly
where the religious world is. You can read it for yourself,
John 5, 39. He said, search the scriptures, for in them you think
you have eternal life. Most everybody you know is religious. Most everybody in your family
is religious. Most everybody in my family is
religious. Most everybody I know been saved two or three times.
And they think they have eternal life by what they hold in the
scriptures. Just like the Pharisees. The
Pharisees, they were conservative, fundamentalist. Staunch religious folks who did
things, right? They behaved like you ought to
behave they memorized scripture They paid their tithes they kept
the Sabbath day They prayed they went through religious exercise
and they thought by all their knowing of scripture. They had
eternal life and Eternal life standing in front of them The
Christ of God's in their midst. And they didn't have a clue who
he was. In fact, when he stands in their midst, they insisted
that he be crucified. These Pharisees. Oh, but they
were all our many. I beg to differ. Bobby, these
folks believed in election and in particular redemption. They
believed the right doctrines. They dotted the right I's and
crossed the right T's. They most certainly did. Their
ordinances were only for the Pharisees. Their sacrifices were
only for the Jews. Nobody else was even told about
them. These folks were strict, sovereign gracers. But they didn't
know God from a bit of goat. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life. And these are they, are
they, are they, which testify of me. This is not a book about
Calvinism. This is not a book about Baptist
Church. This is not a book about premillennialism or amillennialism.
This is not a book about dispensationalism or anti-dispensationalism. This
is not a book about this theological system or that theological system.
This is a book about me, the Savior said. It's all about me. It's all about me. Here in our
text, we just read in Luke 24, 27, beginning at Moses and in
all the prophets, in all the prophets, Hold your hands here
and turn over to another of Luke's books Acts chapter 10 Acts chapter
10 and verse Verse 43. Yeah, actually in 43 Watch what it says Acts 10 43. Are you there to him? Give all the prophets all the
prophets All the prophets, I just preached to you Sunday morning
a week ago from the book of Esther. The name of God, not even mentioned
in the book. That's not talking about Christ. Either it is or
this is a lie. One of the two. To him, give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin. so that all the testimony of
all the scriptures is about Jesus Christ, His name, who He is,
what He did. By Him and by His doing, we receive
the remission of sins. Chapter 24 of Luke again, verse
44. And He said unto them, 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. The law, the prophets and
the Psalms. Those are the three divisions
that the Jews gave to the Old Testament scriptures. so that
Luke is taking great care as he is inspired by the Spirit
of God to make us understand that everything from Genesis
1 to Malachi 4 is all about Christ. All the Psalms, all the prophets,
all the historic books, everything is in one way or another designed
of God to direct our hearts to the knowledge of Jesus Christ
the Lord. Read on, verse 45. Then opened
he their understanding, God do that for you 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 Now Merle, I'll give you a challenge You go home
and find me any place in the Old Testament where that sentence
is written Find me any place in all the
Old Testament where that sentence is written. It's not written
there. It's not written anywhere in the Old Testament. But Bob,
it's written everywhere in the Old Testament. It's written everywhere
in the Old Testament. Thus, it is written and thus
it behooved, it became encumbered upon, it was necessary for Christ
to suffer and to 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. All right. Now, let me make seven statements,
and I'm just going to make the statements very briefly and say
very little about it. You can fill in the blank spots
between seven statements concerning the message of Holy Scripture.
Number one. Turn to first Peter, chapter
one, first Peter, chapter one. There is no preaching of the
scriptures except to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The scriptures are not preached except when the gospel is preached.
The scriptures are not properly expounded, truthfully expounded,
except when the gospel is expounded from the scriptures. You are
not given the message of Scripture in any place in Scripture, except
as the gospel is preached to you from that portion of Scripture.
Paul said to the Corinthians, I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And he said
to the Ephesian church, after he had labored there for a long
time, he said, I take you to record this day, I had not shunned
to declare to you all the counsel of God. All the counsel of God
is Jesus Christ crucified look here in first Peter chapter 1
first Peter chapter 1 verse verse 23 We're born again, are you there?
not a corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of
God which liveth and abideth forever Of course, he's talking about
that book. You got propped up right there in your head. We're
born again by this word. By this word. Oh, no, it's not
the word by itself. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no and this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Is that what it says? That means
in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. What's
that got to do with the work of God the Holy Spirit, the work
of God the Son in the saving of our souls? What's that got
to do with the gospel? And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. The earth became without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the
Spirit of God moved upon the waters and said, Let there be
light, and there was light. It's talking about salvation
by Christ. It speaks of ruin, and it speaks
of redemption by Christ the Redeemer, brought to life by the Spirit
of God through the Word of God. God speaks, and life comes. God
speaks, and light's bestowed. God speaks, and sinners live. To preach the scriptures is to
preach the gospel. Number two, the Old Testament
scriptures all speak of Christ and point to Christ and call
us to faith in Christ. Let's turn to that passage in
Genesis 1, Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth perfect, upright. That's how he made Adam
in the garden. He created Adam in his own image,
after his own likeness, perfect, upright. And the earth was, became, without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Something happened.
Something happened. I suspect, and I just say I suspect,
it's the only thing that I can find any consistency with. It's
talking about the time when Satan fell and was cast out of heaven
described in Revelation chapter 12. I suspect that's what happened,
but I know this. Darkness all the way through
this book refers to judgment. All the world, God sent judgment
and the world was turned upside down. He didn't create it without
form and void. But the earth became without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. That's
what happened in the fall of man. We were utterly brought
to emptiness and darkness and chaos under the judgment of God.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. God sends
His Spirit to move in the hearts of chosen redeemed sinners. And
God said, let there be light, and there was light. And so God sends his spirit to
bring the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ in saving grace. The very first prophecy given
in the Old Testament scriptures in Genesis chapter 3 and verse
15 speaks of our Lord Jesus. Look at it while you're there.
The lord jesus is speaking in the garden to our mother father
adam and eve and he said i'll put enmity between thee and the
woman between thy seed and her seed It shall bruise thy head
and thou shalt bruise his heel and thus announces the utter
Destruction of satan the overturning of all that satan does in time
abraham Came to mount moriah with his son isaac to offer isaac
as a sacrifice just like god told him to And Abraham understood. He understood that Isaac is that
one in whom the promised seed is preserved through the generations. Isaac is that one through whom
Christ, the Redeemer, Christ, the incarnate God, Christ, the
seed of woman, must come into this world. Abraham understood
that. He rejoiced to see my day and was glad. And he's fixing
to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. How's it going
to happen? He said, God's going to raise
him from the dead. That's just going to happen. Abraham didn't
believe that he said when Genesis 22 opens. He said I in the lad
will go yonder and worship God And we're gonna come back here
in three days Well, he with me we're coming back here I'm going
up there to kill him, but we're coming back together and Abraham
Sacrificed Isaac on Moriah. Oh, but he didn't oh, but he
did God said he did in his heart. It was done. I He receives his
son and one risen from the dead just as God sacrificed his son,
the lamb before the world began. Isaac going up the mountain and
he says, Father, we got we got the fire and we got the wood.
But I know because you taught me all my life, we've got to
have a lamb for a burnt offering. He said, Daddy, we didn't bring
the lamb. Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. That's Christ the Redeemer
coming into this world, the lamb of God that takes away the sin
of the world. And as Abraham was about to sacrifice
his son, angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus said to Abraham, that's
all right. You can stop there. I see the blood already. And
looked behind him and saw a ram caught in the thicket. And he
said, take that ram, put him here and sacrifice him in Isaac's
stead. That's what Christ has done for
us. That's redemption accomplished
by the sacrifice of our Savior. Christ died in my room. Christ
died in my stead. The Lamb of God died for me.
And then Abraham. Starts to lead them out and he
says, son. Let's call this place a special
name. Let's call this place Jehovah
Jireh. Let's call this the place where
God sees, and where God provides, and where God is seen in the
provision he makes, Jehovah-Jireh. Throughout the scriptures, our
Lord is portrayed in the Old Testament. He specifically identifies
a few things. Brother Bob back in the office
read John chapter 3. Moses was commanded to take a
piece of brass and lifted up on a pole. And the children of
Israel, who were bitten with fiery serpents and dying because
of the serpent's bite, were bitten, look on that pole and live. And
the Savior said, that's me. That's me. You who are bitten
by the serpent of hell, perishing under the wrath of God, look
to Christ crucified. That means he that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. That's what it means. Believe
on the Son of God and live forever. Believe on the Son of God and
you'll not perish but have eternal life. Our Lord spoke of the manna,
manna that fell in the wilderness. For 40 years, all the while the
children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, God rained manna
from heaven. And he said, I'm the bread of
life. I'm the bread that came down from heaven. Eat my flesh
and live forever. Eat my flesh and live forever.
What does that mean? That means that you believe on
the son of God, you take him for your own. Trusting him, take
his righteousness as your only righteousness. Trust his righteousness
alone for acceptance with God. And then he said, I'm the water
of life. I'm that water that came gushing out of that smitten
rock. God's rod smiting me in justice puts me to death and
gushes forth with life for you. Eat my flesh and drink my blood
and you have life everlasting. Eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Eternal life is yours. Our Lord Jesus compares himself
to Solomon. He said, There are many, many
types, many, many types of Christ in the Old Testament. But he
said, he said Solomon was magnificent, gorgeous, his kingdom, a kingdom
of peace. The queen of Sheba came to Solomon
and she said, I have heard of your wonders, but now that I've
seen you for myself and heard your words, the half hath not
been told. And the master said, Behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. Solomon is that one who wrote
the book called The Song of Solomon, where we had the beautiful picture
of the Savior's love for his bride and his esteem of his bride
and the bride's love for the Savior. And the Lord Jesus said,
Solomon spoke of me. Solomon spoke of me. Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth, So are in the belly of the whale,
so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. Brother Steve Carpenter this
week gave a series of messages on the book of Jonah. Magnificent
picture of our Redeemer. Jonah went down and went down
and went down. And Steve brought out this point. He said, he said, the word to
go down is the same word used throughout the Old Testament.
Talk about going down to death. going down to death. And then
Jonah, while he was in the belly of the whale, said that he was
in hell. He was in the grave. He was in
Sheol. And he was there for three days.
For three days. I remember the first time I heard
anyone preach on the Book of Jonah, my pastor, when God saved
me, Brother Tamley Davis, He said Jonah was in the whale's
belly and all the seaweed and all the muck and all the trash
from the sea all around him. And some Arminian preacher came
out there and tapped on Jonah's, tapped on the whale's belly and
said, brother Jonah, you've got to make a decision and get out
of there. And Jonah said, oh no, my decision's what got me
here. Salvation's of the Lord. And Jonah, after three days,
is spit out and goes to Nineveh. He spent out after three days
and goes to Nineveh and pronounces judgment. He pronounces judgment. And if
you read the book, David did not a word in there about grace
or salvation or anything like it to the Ninevites. But Jonah
pronounced judgment. He said, 40 days, God's going
to overthrow Nineveh. Judgment's coming. But somehow,
somewhere in there, The king of Nineveh learned something
about God. Learned something about God's grace. Learned something
about what Jonah had been through. And he said, maybe. Who can tell? Who can tell? Maybe God will
be gracious. And he called for everybody to repent. And God
spared Nineveh. Our Lord Jesus was in the heart
of the earth for three days. Dead. under the wrath of God
in our behalf. Judgment finished. And then he
arose and ascended on high and 40 days. What did he say? 40 days and
God's going to overthrow him than ever. But 40 days, the Lord
Jesus said, you go preach repentance and remission of sins. And he
ascended on high. How? How do you preach repentance? How do you preach repentance?
Now, I've heard all my life, well, our problem is preachers
aren't preaching repentance. You need to get folks to come
down here and repent of their sins and confess all the bad
things they've done and repent of their sins. That's not preaching
repentance. The word preach, Bobby, means
to announce. It means to declare. It's not advice. Most preaching
is just advice, and lousy advice it is, because it's advice about
the wrong thing. What is it to preach? To preach
something is to declare it done! It's to declare it done! And
our Lord sends his servants out to declare repentance done. But what is repentance? It's the turning of sinners to
God. It's turning sinners to God. And God was in Christ, reconciling
the world of his elect to himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, because he was made sin for us. And remission of
sins. Preach repentance, done by the
judgment of God, fallen upon another. And remission of sins,
because justice is satisfied by him. Here's the third thing. I won't get done. Not only are
there numerous Old Testament prophecies concerning our Lord,
Enoch spoke of the Lord's second coming. Enoch, that's back before
the flood. He spoke of the Lord's second
coming with ten thousands of his saints. Job said, I know
that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him with my own eyes.
Job, the earliest book in the Old Testament. But third, you
have numerous types given in the Old Testament. I'll just
speak briefly. All of the historic events recorded
in the Old Testament, all of the places, all the events, all
the people, all the transactions, all the instituted law, All the
commandments, all the sacrifices, all the furnishings in the tabernacle,
the tabernacle, all the furnishings in the temple, the temple, all
of those things are designed of God to show us who Christ
is and what Christ accomplished. Everything. Everything. The events
that happened in the Old Testament. Israel went down to Egypt. And the Lord said, Oh, Well,
that would be a good illustration. No, that's not what happened.
That's what I do when I prepare a sermon. I say, well, that'd
be a good illustration. I'll use that. That's not what
happened. No, no. Israel went down to Egypt
because God said, I'm going to make Egypt and Israel sojourning
in Egypt 400 years a good illustration. And the only reason Pharaoh was
raised up, the only reason God put Pharaoh on the throne in
Egypt was so he could dump his carcass in the Red Sea and show
salvation by his hand. The only reason it happened.
And so it was with all the events of the Old Testament. They were
brought to pass by the decree of God in the providence of God
to illustrate the salvation of God. Everything. All types of
Christ. Passover. that sacrifice slain
for us under the wrath of God. Aaron lays his hands on the head
of that Passover lamb. And Heavey, I can picture how
he lays his hands on that Passover lamb. Did you ever try to push
down on a goat's head or a lamb's head? The more you push down,
the more it pushes up. And He lays His hands heavy on
that sacrifice. And while He lays His hands heavy
on that sacrifice, symbolically transferring all the sins of
all Israel to that Lamb, He takes a knife and slits His throat,
and catches the blood in a basin, and goes in and sprinkles it
on the mercy seat, covering God's broken law. That's Christ our
Passover sacrifice for us, the blood sprinkled on the mercy
seat, which is Christ our propitiation so that the law of God we've
broken cannot be seen. How can that be? Because there's
another lamb, a scapegoat who carries our sins away. God, God, God. so that God Almighty looks on
us and sees nothing but perfection. God Almighty looks on us and
sees nothing but his son. God Almighty looks upon redeemed
sinners and sees nothing but holiness, nothing but righteousness. He said, be ye holy for I am
holy. But he said more than that. He
said, you shall be holy for I am holy. Bobby Estes, whatever God
requires of you, God does for you and gives to you. Salvation is God's work. It's
all God's work. Here's the fourth thing. All
the New Testament, all the New Testament is about Christ and
Him crucified. All the New Testament is a declaration
of our Redeemer. Did you ever wonder why you have
four Gospels? because the four Gospels give us four distinct
pictures of Christ. Matthew portrays him as the preeminent
king. Mark presents him as the servant
of God. Luke tells us that he's the son
of man, and John shows he's the son of God. And then the epistles
explained to us by divine inspiration everything he taught while he
walked on this earth for 33 years. The apostles write to us and
tell us how that God has chosen a people and blessed them in
Christ. how that God has from eternity
predestined us into life everlasting. And then he tells us how that
God justified us by the blood and righteousness of Christ,
our darling savior, his darling son. It tells us how they were
sanctified by his blood, by his spirit, by his grace, how they
were kept and saved and preserved under life everlasting. And will
at last be presented faultless before the presence of his glory.
Perfect, holy and unbelievable. If you read the book of Acts,
the book of Acts is a picture of the whole history of the early
church in those days immediately following the resurrection and
ascension of our Lord. The apostles went everywhere
preaching. They went everywhere preaching.
Go through the book of Acts, read those 28 chapters and take
your pencil and mark. Every time you read the word
preach, preached or preaching. Every time you read it, 37 times
you'll find it. 37 times. Merle, do you know
what the subject was? All 37 times. Jesus and the resurrection. All
37 times. You mean they didn't preach on
prophecy? No, weren't interested in it. You mean they didn't preach
church doctrine? Wouldn't slow down for that.
You mean they didn't defend Calvinism? No. You mean they didn't talk
about church history? No. What did they preach? Jesus
and the resurrection! Because Christ crucified is all
the message of Holy Scripture. All of it. You get the book of
Revelation and you find a reason for preaching Jesus Christ and
the resurrection. You find a great reason for it.
You read the end of the book, and you find out Christ is coming
again, triumphant in his glory, by the gospel we proclaim. I was talking to a preacher friend
just this week, older man, seeking my counsel for some reason, and
concerned because you don't see things happening. What do we
do, Brother Dodd? We've knocked on doors and witnessed
and passed out tracks and had radio and invite folks to church. Nothing's happening. What do
we do? What do we do? I said, preach the gospel and
quit doing anything else. Just preach the gospel. Oh, but
we folks want to be entertained. I know. They can go down the
road or across the road, over the hill. They can go wherever
they want to. They want to be entertained. Folks want to feel
good. I know, I know. Folks want to, they want preachers
to tickle their fancies and make them feel good. Oh, that preacher
makes us feel so good. It's so much fun going to church
here. I can't tell you how angry I
am with what preachers do to men. What preachers do in the
name of God, destroying the souls of men, entertaining folks on
the way to hell. Don't do anything. Just preach
Christ crucified and watch and see what God does. This is what
he said. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in
the thing whereto I send it. It shall not return to me void. Now listen to me, this is what
that means. If it is God's eternal purpose
to have mercy on your soul, he's going to fetch you to Christ
by his word. Somehow gospel preaching going
to seek that in your heart by the power of God that you can't
resist. And you'll find yourself irresistibly
compelled to come to Christ, seeking mercy and grace through
his blood and his righteousness. or God will just leave you alone
and you'll go on to hell. No matter what I trick you into
doing, no matter what some other preacher tricks you into doing,
unless God speaks by his word, by the gospel, there's no hope
for your soul. All right, here's one more thing. It's right here. is the greatest
standing miracle in the universe. This book. Don, this book was written by
over 40 men, most of whom didn't know each other. They had no consultation together
over a period of more than 1500 years on two different continents. Some of them were smart, man
smart as a whip. The Apostle Paul, man he was
sharp. That man could stand with anybody,
anywhere, head and shoulders above any I know. Brilliant man. Logic, rhetoric, scholarship. He was a master, a master in
Israel. And then there was a redneck
prophet like Amos. Just an old country boy. God
took fishermen and kings. He took servants and princes. He took he took priests and prophets. He took he took ordinary fellows
and mighty fellows. And they write. This book, 66
books in this thing. And then he puts it all together.
And it all says the same thing. Well, what about all the contradictions
in the Bible? How many times have you been asked that? I'll
tell you what to do with that. Next time somebody says, well,
what about all the contradictions in the Bible? You ask, which one are
you talking about exactly? That put an end to the conversation.
There aren't any contradictions in this book. Lots of jins and
snares. Lots of jins and snares by which
God trips folks up on their way to hell. But no contradictions.
None at all. The ordinances of the gospel.
Baptism in the Lord's Supper. Picture Christ Jesus the Lord.
Picture Christ the Lord. In baptism, we confess the fulfillment
of all righteousness by the death of the Son of God, being buried
in the earth and rising again. The accomplishment of redemption
for our souls. When Christ died, I died. When
he was buried, I was buried. When he arose, I arose. And now
I live in him in the newness of life. The Lord's Supper, the
bread and wine, is the remembrance of Christ. The Church of God
then is sent forth into all the world to preach Christ. Preach Christ. Cotton Mather instructed his
students, Cotton Mather, the American Puritan, He said, among all the subjects
with which you feed the people of God, I beseech you, let not
the true bread of life be forgotten, but exhibit as much as you can
of the glorious Christ unto them. Yea, let the motto upon your
whole ministry be Christ is all. What a blessing it would be.
What a blessing it would be in this generation. If every preacher, every time
he stands behind a pulpit to preach to two or three, or two
or three hundred, or two or three thousand, if you stand up and
preach Jesus Christ crucified, the accomplishment of redemption
by Christ, what more comforts your soul? What more edifies
you? What more strengthens you in
faith? What more inspires you to godliness and devotion and
consecration to Him? What more motivates your heart? Nothing. Nothing. Why would anybody want any other
subject? To preach this book is to preach Jesus Christ crucified. Now, will you pray for me, that
God will enable me clearly with knowledge and understanding to
see and preach Christ to you from the scriptures. And that
as I do, every time you come here, that he will open your eyes that
you may see him. And if he does, then your heart
will burn in you. as we walk together by the way. You go your homes rejoicing in
the knowledge of the Son of God. To preach Christ crucified is
to preach with fire in your belly. You've got to know Him. You've
got to know Him. Everything else is optional.
You've got to know Him. Whom to know is life eternal. That means nothing else really
matters. Oh, may God give you grace now
to know and worship his darling son. Amen.