I'm sure you've all had the experience
that one time or another someone shows you a picture and asks
you, what do you see in the picture? But the picture was drawn deliberately
so as to hide something within the various colors and the various
things around it. And you look and look and look
in vain, and you just simply don't see what's there. because
you don't know what to look for. Regrettably, when most people
read the scriptures, they read and read and read and search
and search and search, but they just see a lot of words about
a lot of facts and a lot of events, but they do not know what to
look for. And so they miss the message
of scripture. Tonight, I want to show you one
more time what to look for in the scriptures. Rather, I should
say who to look for. Turn with me, if you will, to
Colossians 1.18 again. Colossians 1.18. The Lord Jesus
Christ, we are told here, is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things, all things, certainly that includes this
book, all things, he might have the preeminence. I want, if God
will enable me, to show you this evening that Christ is preeminent
in the book of God. As our Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent
in all things, in the purpose and decree of God, in the creation
of God, and in the providence of God, so he is by God's design,
by God's intent and purpose, preeminent in the Word of God. Now most people who wear the
name Christian profess to be believers and say that the Bible
is the word of God. Our only rule of faith and practice. And they'll fight you over inerrancy. They'll fight you over inspiration.
This is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God. In that,
they are to be commended. This book is the book of God. Most would even agree that the
Bible is Christocentric. That is, they would tell you
that the message of the Bible is centered in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is horribly errant. That
is not true. This book is not Christocentric. This book is Christ. There is a huge difference. It
is not just that Christ is the central theme of scripture. Christ
is the theme of Holy Scripture. Now get that and you'll begin
to understand this book. And until you get that, you will
never understand this book. I want you to listen carefully
and understand what I'm saying. We have read the Bible with no
profit to our souls. With absolutely no profit to
our souls. It may have been profitable to
our lives. It may have been profitable to
our manner of life. It may have been profitable to
the discipline of our life. But we have read this book with
no profit to our souls until we read this book understanding
that the message of scripture is the person and work of Jesus
Christ the Lord. It is the purpose of God in holy
scripture to make Christ known in his word. I fully agree with
Martin Luther who wrote, there is not a word in the Bible which
can be understood without reference to the cross. Not a word. As
we go to the cradle, Luther said, only in order to find the baby.
So we go to the scriptures only to find Christ. What makes Bible reading a chore?
Going to look for the wrong thing. Going for the wrong reason. I never find it a chore to sit
down and have my wife sit on my lap, do you? I never find
it a chore to just sit and speak with my wife. I would have some
difficulties if I were expected every day to go to the closet
and pull out one of her dresses and sit and hold that. I would
have some difficulty if I were expected every day to just take
and hold on to something that she possessed. But to sit with
her by my side, with her on my lap, with her hand in my hand,
that's not a chore. That's not a chore. And when
you go to this book only to find Christ, You'll never find it
a chore. I promise you. I promise you. We go to the cradle, Luther said,
only to find the baby. So we go to the scriptures only
to find Christ. Robert Murray McShane, who lived
long before anyone ever dreamed of inventing electric lights,
said to his congregation at Christ Church in Dundee, Scotland, when
you're reading a book in a dark room and find it difficult, You
take the book to a window to get more light. There, now I
can see it better. So he said, take your Bibles
to Christ. When you read the book, take it to Christ and look
for Christ in the book. You see, Christ is the scope
of scripture. He is the psalm and substance
of divine revelation. Take Christ out of the book and
all you have is processed wood with gilded edges wrapped in
leather. The one thing I want you to see
in this message is the fact that the Bible is a book about the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is preeminent in the book
of God. How I wish I could get every
man who claims to be a preacher to see this. I don't get many anymore, but
periodically from time to time I'll get folks who send me tapes
of sermons. Thankfully I don't hear this
when I'm traveling to preach because I preach in better company
than this, but they'll send me tapes of things they think are
just very impressive. Most of the time, most of the
time when I listen to them, as much as I can get through them,
I think like Mary did at the tomb. They've taken away my Lord
and I know not where they've laid him. Some years ago some
friends heard me on the radio up north and they sent me a series
of five sermons preached by a very famous Calvinistic theologian,
a man who was refuted to be stalwart in the faith. Five sermons he
preached at Calvin College in their chapel services on the
five points of Calvinism. And I listened to all five of
them with great care, with great deliberation. The man was gifted,
talented, smart as a whip, and he was a good talker. He was
easy to listen to. But I'll tell you the truth.
This is what I concluded, and it's most horrible conclusion
could be made when you listen to a preacher. If I had walked
in the doors and sat down where that man was preaching on the
five points of Calvinism, and he told the truth about all five
points, and I listened to every word he said, and when I came
in, I had no knowledge of who God is or how God saves sinners,
when I walked out, I'd be in the same condition. There was
no Christ in it. No Christ in it. And where there's
no Christ, there's no preaching. Where there's no Christ, there's
no gospel. Where there's no Christ, it'd be better if the preacher
would sit down and shut up until he finds out what this book teaches.
I don't care how orthodox he is, the preaching of this book
is the preaching of Christ. The Bible is not a book about
science, but a book about Christ. This is not a book about mortality,
but the book is about Christ. This is not a book about history,
politics, philosophy, or law. It's not even a book about prophecy,
church dogma, or theology. This is a hymn, H-I-M, a hymn
book. It's all about hymn. It's all
about hymn. The whole book. It's not enough
just to preach the book. We're sent of God to preach the
message of the book. And the message of the book is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Son of God tells us plainly
that He is the message. He is the theme of Holy Scripture. I want you to look with me at
a few texts of Scripture. We read in Luke 24 this morning,
and we'll look at that again, but first turn to John chapter
5. John chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus is talking to
religious folks, church-going folks. Not just religious church-going
folks. These were the religious leaders. These were the theologians. These
were the fellows who were real religious. And they searched
the scriptures all the time. They memorized scripture. They
could recite verse by verse, chapter by chapter, line by line,
never miss a punctuation mark. They memorized scripture, but
they didn't know it. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference. You can quote the Bible from
cover to cover and not know it. It's not memorizing scripture
that's important to your soul, though that is important. It
is knowing the scripture. Our Lord says in John 5, 39,
search the scriptures. Search them. Search them. Look
at it again. Try your best to forgive what
grandma taught you on her knee. It's probably wrong. Try your
best to forgive what you hear on radio and television. It's
probably wrong. Try your best to forgive what you naturally
think about religion. It's dead sure wrong. Search
the scriptures. How come? For in them you think
you have eternal life. You think because of what you
know and experience in religion, holding a Bible in your hand,
you have eternal life. You've missed it bud. These are
they which testify of me. Look in Luke 24 again. Verse 27. Our Lord is speaking
to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And the scriptures
state plainly, beginning at Moses and all the prophets. What's that take in? All the
prophets. From Genesis chapter 1 to Malachi
chapter 4. Beginning in Genesis 1, going
through Malachi chapter 4, the Lord Jesus expounded to them
as they walked down the road, in all the scriptures, the things
concerning himself. Now pastor, what that means is
he just pulled out and showed them some things in the scripture
that talk about him. Well, you might interpret it that way.
If it weren't for the fact that he gives a better interpretation
of it. Look in verse 44, the same chapter. As he's speaking
to his disciples now, gathered after these on the road to Emmaus,
told them what had happened and they got their heads together
and decided sure enough, he's risen from the dead and now the
Lord Jesus appears in their midst. And he said to them, These are
the words which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Now that, Ron, is the way the
Jews divided up scripture. They divided it up in the law,
the prophets, and the Psalms. The law taking in the first five
books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. The
prophets taking up all the rest of it except for the poetic books,
which would be Lamentations, Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes,
Psalm of Solomon. Now this is what it says. In
all three sections of the scriptures that you hold in your hands,
In all of them, they're talking about me. Read on. Verse 45. 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 to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning right here in Jerusalem. The Apostle
Paul considered the preaching of Christ and the preaching of
all the counsel of God to be precisely the same thing. Turn
to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Now bear in
mind the passage Ron read to us just a little bit ago. He
concluded with 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 2, where
the apostle writes to the Corinthian church and says, I've determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now Paul was not like one of
these modern traveling evangelists who would call up the local pastor
or the folks he was going to be preaching to or send in an
advanced team to find out what folks wanted to hear. And say,
what do you folks down in Carthage want to hear? Oh, well, we can
talk to you about that. And then he'd go to Ephesus and
say, now, what do you folks down there want? What is it that's
on people's mind down there? What do they want to talk about?
We can talk about that. No, no, no. Paul was a servant
of God, not the servant of men. And what he preached, he preached
everywhere. He didn't develop a message to suit the folks he
was preaching to. He had the message everybody
he preached to needed. And that message was always the
same. Jesus Christ crucified. Look
here at Acts chapter 20. Acts 20 and verse 26. Paul's
giving his farewell message to the Ephesian elders. And he declares
to these Ephesian believers Wherefore, I take you to record this day
that I am pure from the blood of all men. How can that be? How can I look this congregation
in the eye, this town in the eye, and say to this people and
to every group of people I've ever preached to in the last
33 years, I'm not guilty of your blood. If you go to hell it's
your fault. And I'll stand in the day of
judgment and witness that self. That's what he says. Is that
what he's saying Larry? That's what he's saying. I'm
pure from the blood of all men. Cause I didn't dilly dally with
your soul. I didn't play games with your soul. I didn't seek
to entertain you on the road to hell. I didn't just try to
get you to be religious and follow me. For I have not shunned to
declare unto you everything this book teaches. I have declared
to you all the counsel of God. Merle Hart, I've told you all
the counsel of God. All of it. All of it. You mean
you've expounded every word in scripture and given an interpretation
of every accent in scripture? Oh no, that's not what he's talking
about. That's not what he's talking about. He says, I've told you
everything this book teaches. It's him. It's Him. It's Him. It's Him. Christ. Christ. Christ. I determine as
I open my mouth in the name of God to make known to you Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. I want you to see this clearly.
The Bible, the Word of God is a book with one message. And
that one message is redemption, righteousness, and eternal life
for the glory of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. If when you
leave here tonight, you can leave here with your heart burning
to know more about Jesus in his word, holding communion with
your Lord, hearing his voice in every line, seeing the treasure
of this deep mind, then I will be more than recompensed for
my labor. Let me give you some direction. I want to show you
the preeminence of Christ in the book of God in these four
points. first in the Old Testament prophets, second in the Old Testament
types, third in the New Testament, and then fourthly in the ordinances
of the gospel. The Old Testament scriptures
speak of Christ. They point us to Christ. They
call us to faith in Christ. All the law, all the prophets,
all the Psalms speak of our Redeemer. Now, as I was preparing this
message, I thought, how can I best show what I want you to see?
Clearly, we can't go back and read all the books of the Old
Testament tonight. So I picked out three passages
from the law, three passages from the Psalms, and three passages
from the prophets. Let me show them to you. They'll
do your heart good. Turn first to Genesis chapter
22. From the moment that God announced
in the garden that he would send the seed of the woman who would
crush the serpent's head, the Lord Jesus Christ was the central
figure of divine revelation. In Genesis chapter 22, we see
Abraham and Isaac up on the Mount of Sacrifice. God said to Abraham,
the scripture says, then the Lord did tempt Abraham. Man alive. Man of faith could be tempted,
tried, tested. He had already been through trial
after trial after trial, but it seemed like God was just getting
him ready for one more trial. He said, I want you to take your
son, your only son Isaac, son whom you dearly love, into a
mountain that I'll show you, and there sacrifice him to me.
Why is that? Because Abraham, I have snatched
my son, my only son, whom I dearly love from my bosom. And I'm taking
him to a mountain, I'm going to show you. And there I'm going
to sacrifice him to me. And that's exactly what Abraham
portrays here. Genesis 22 verse 13, Abraham
lifted up his eyes as he was about to sacrifice Isaac. Isaac
said to his father, where is the lamb for sacrifice, the lamb
for a burnt offering? Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And Abraham lifted
up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a
thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering, look at this now, in
the stead of his son. In the stead of his soul. What
does that mean? That means Isaac, get up off that thing, buddy,
you're going home. You're going free. You're walking back with
me into my house. Everything will be all right.
In the stead of his soul. And I'm telling you that every
sinner for whom Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed
in the stead of their souls, goes free. Look at that. And
Abraham called, he called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will save. And seeing the Lord will provide.
And providing the Lord will be saved. That's what he means.
Look at Genesis 49. Jacob is blessing his sons. And
as he blesses his sons, he makes prophecies one after the other. And this is what he says concerning
Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. Now, wait
a minute. Judah wasn't a nation yet. The
nation of Israel had not yet been formed as a nation. But
Jacob says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. The scepter
of law, the scepter of civil government, the scepter of dominion,
the scepter of a nation shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet until, now wait a minute, there's
a day coming when the scepter shall depart from Judah. and
the lawgiver from between his feet. There's a day coming when
Israel will cease to mean anything. Look at it. When's that? When
Shiloh comes. And to him shall the gathering
of the people be. God's going to gather his elect.
It was said back here in Genesis 49 that God's going to gather
his elect from out of the four corners of the earth under Jesus
Christ, our Shiloh. Now look in Deuteronomy chapter
18. Here's another word from the
law. Verse 50. In Genesis 22, we have a word
from the law giving a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ
as our sacrifice, our great high priest. In Genesis 49, we have
a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ as our King, that one
who holds the scepter of universal monarchy, the lawgiver of the
universe. Here in Deuteronomy 18, we have
a prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ, our prophet. Verse 15,
the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me. He says God's going
to raise up a prophet. He's going to be a prophet like
me. He's going to be a prophet who comes up out of Israel. He's
going to be a prophet who's one of you. He's going to be a prophet
among your brethren, but there's going to be one big difference.
Unto him ye shall hearken." Oh, thank God Jesus Christ, His
Son, assumed the role and work and responsibility of being my
prophet, my priest, and my king. If He's my prophet, He'll see
to it that I hear Him. If He's your prophet, you'll
hear Him. I promise you, you will. He'll fix it so you do. If He's your priest, He'll put
away your sin. If He's your king, He'll bow
your heart to Him. Alright, let's look at the Psalms,
see if that's not so. There's three passages in the
Psalms. Psalm 2. Psalm 2. Sometimes you'll pick
up books, commentaries, and brief excerpts of things on the Psalms
and say this is a messianic psalm, this one's a historic psalm,
this one's a psalm of Israel. They're all messianic psalms.
So you just pick up any of them and say, wonder what this is
about? It's about Christ. Psalm 2 is
one of them. Verse 7. I will declare the decree. Doesn't matter what the kings
of the earth say. Kings of the Earth said, let's get rid of
it. That didn't make any difference. Kings of the Earth said, let's
break his bands asunder. Let's rule ourselves. Kings of
the Earth said, let's do away with the dominion of this man
who is Christ the King. But God says, I'll declare the
decree. The Lord has said unto me, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I'll give you
the heathen for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the
earth for your possession. He asked of him, and now there's
this. God has given him power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as God gave him from
eternity! And he shall take the position
of the uttermost parts of the earth for his glory. Psalm 45. Psalm 45, verse 6. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore God thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Now our Lord
tells us plainly in the book of Hebrews, let's talk about
here. Look in Psalm 110 verse 3, same thing. Talking about the king sitting
on his throne, the Lord speaking to David and says, the Lord said
unto my Lord. Now he says in verse three, thy
people, thy people. They were his people long time
before he came. Thy people, not those who might possibly pretty
please if they will be your people, thy people. People given to you
in covenant grace before the world began. Thy people shall,
oh, what a word. shall be willing in the day of
thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. What's that talking
about? The passage obviously is talking
about a people. A people made willing in the
day of his power by the operation of his grace. They're his people.
They shall be willing. How do we know? because his holiness
demands it. And he has to do with his youth,
the vibrant, vibrant vitality of everlasting omnipotence, so
that he is constantly young and constantly strong. Now look at
the prophets. I had a little more trouble limiting
myself here, but we'll look at three. Turn, of course, to Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53. So minute, so minute were the
prophets in describing things. When you read the Old Testament
prophets and understand the talk about Christ, it is absolutely
impossible to walk away from the books of the Old Testament
and conclude that Christ is not the one of whom they spoke without
denying this word has any validity at all. You've got to say either
this whole thing's a hoax, it's a big, big hoax, or you've got
to find some way to understand that he who died at Calvary 2,000
years ago is the one who's spoken of here. And if you pretend this
is a hoax, you've got to figure out how on this earth they said
what they said hundreds of years before he did what they said
he'd do. That's a monumental task. Here
in Isaiah 53 we have a prophet speaking 700 years or more before
Christ came into the world. That's a long spell. And they
didn't have computers to keep track of stuff. 700 years before. And he speaks as though he was
sitting there on the hill of Calvary watching while everything
took place. Look what it says in verse 8.
He was taken from prison and from judgment. Who shall declare
his generation? For he is cut off out of the
land of the living for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken?
And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his
death. Because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seat. He's going to rise from the dead.
He shall prolong his days. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. What's he doing? Why, the pleasure
of the Lord. It shall prosper in his hand.
And when he gets done doing the pleasure of the Lord, he shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. For by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Now listen to Micah chapter 5
verse 2. Micah chapter 5. But thou, Bethlehem, Honey, it's
got to be more specific than that because there's two Bethlehems.
That's right. One of them insignificant. The
other one, a little bit more knowledge, folks have a little
more knowledge on. Well, we're talking about the insignificant
Bethlehem. The Bethlehem nobody ever heard
tell of. I wrote a letter the other day, a friend of mine,
I'd forgotten the address, hadn't heard from her in a long time.
It was Ed Hale's wife. She lives in Atlanta, Louisiana. Who ever
heard tell of Atlanta, Louisiana? Well, that's the Bethlehem he's
talking about. Thou Bethlehem Ephratah. That little hole in
the wall place. Though thou be little among thousands
of the little communities in Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting. Boy, now Micah, that's crazy.
Who ever heard tell a king being born in Bethlehem? Who ever heard
tell such nonsense? That can't be. Hang on to your
seat. God will raise up a foolish ruler
in Rome who will send forth a decree that everybody go back to his
hometown to be taxed. And right there he'll be born.
Did it come to pass or not? Well, I believe it did. I believe you've got a problem
then if you don't bow to him. Look at Zechariah chapter 12,
verse 10. And I will pour upon the house
of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem The spirit of grace
and the supplication. Now that's not talking about
the physical house of David. That's not talking about the
physical city of Jerusalem. Well, how do you know that? Because
Bob, they didn't cry out for grace. They didn't supplicate. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about pouring out his spirit upon all flesh.
He is elect in every part of the world. He is chosen by His
Jerusalem. He says, I'll pour out upon them
the spirit of grace and supplication. That's how sinners are saved.
God the Son, exalted King of glory, pours out His Spirit upon
chosen sinners at the appointed time of love. And it's called
here Spirit of Grace. Grace gave you life. Grace gave
you eyes to see. Grace gave you a will to bow.
Grace. Grace spoke peace to your heart.
Grace. Grace caused you to look to Christ.
Grace. Grace showed you your need of
Him and supplication. When God revealed Himself in
you, in the face of His Son, James, you didn't have to have
anybody tell you how to pray, did you? The silliest, most ridiculous
thing on this earth is religion. I sit down and write books, tell
folks how to call on the name of the Lord. Man, if you get
thirsty, you'll ask for water. If you get hungry, you'll ask for some
bread. If you find yourself guilty,
you'll ask for pardon. supplication. And here's the
result. Here's the result. When he pours
out his spirit, spirit of grace and supplication on you, they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced. They shall mourn
for him as one mourns for his only son. and shall be in bitterness for
him. Oh, blessed morning. Oh, blessed
bitterness of soul. As one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. Well, I'll wrap this up. Not only is it true that the
prophets and the law and the Psalms in the Old Testament spoke
of Christ, but the Old Testament types spoke of him continually.
There were numerous types, typical people, typical things, typical
places. I'll just give you a few things. Noah's Ark. Now you've got two
choices when you read about Noah's Ark. You can look at it and say,
man, that's a fantastic fairy tale. That's something else.
All those people on that boat. We live in this age of environmentalist
folks, you know, that hug frogs and hug trees and kiss frogs
and that kind of stuff. And Noah's Ark's getting real
popular. Go to any place around, folks have pictures of something
simulating Noah's Ark. Well, Noah's Ark wasn't talking
about saving the Earth. Noah's Ark wasn't built because
Noah was an earth worshipper. And Noah's Ark wasn't just a
fantastic tale about saving people and animals alive during the
flood. Noah's Ark was a gospel ark. It was about Christ the
Lord. Noah was the type of Christ who
built the ark for the saving of his house. Read Hebrews chapter
11. That ark was built according to God's design for a specific
purpose. That ark was built for a specific
number of men in one family to enter in and to live and survive
the flood while enduring the whole thing. That's what it's
all about. Noah entered into the ark. God
brought him in and God shut him in. And then the floods came,
the rain fell, and the waters rose, rose above the earth, and
that ark is tossed to and fro and beaten and turned hither
and yon, and God poured out his wrath upon all flesh, and everything
that being died, everything, everything, except Noah and his
family in that ark. They went through the whole terror
of God's wrath and never felt any. Judgment fell on them, but it
didn't touch them. Judgment was expended on them, but it didn't
touch them. Judgment from heaven fell upon the earth. And no one
is our excel safely through the wrath of God. That's Christ. That's Christ. That's redemption.
All the types in the Old Testament. All of them. The laws, the Sabbath
day, the ceremonies, the Levitical law, everything spoke of Christ.
Everything. And redemption by Him. Oh, I
love the picture of that scapegoat. On the Day of Atonement, they
bade two goats to the Lord. One of them be Lord's goat, one
of them scapegoat. On both, Aaron would confess
the sins of Israel and lay his hands on their heads. And he'd
take the Lord's goat. And while he's doing business
with that goat at the altar, And then in the temple, in the
tabernacle, and then in the holy place, and then in the most holy
place. While he's doing business in
there with the blood of that goat, sprinkling blood on the
mercy seat, he has taken the scapegoat and he put him in the
hands of a fit man. And all the congregation of Israel,
they can't watch what's going on in the holy place. Aaron's
in there by himself. Nobody but him and God. So Israel,
I can picture, I don't know, I'm just imagining, this is how
I'd have been if I'd been there, I think. They're watching that
man and that goat. Walking off, walking off, walking
off, until at last all they saw was just two dots. And then they
see nothing. And they turn their eyes toward
the tabernacle. And Abram comes out, and as he
lifts up his hands to bless the people, on the basis of blood
atonement, pointing to Christ the Lord, here comes one man,
all by himself, back into the camp. The scapegoat bearing the
sins of Israel is gone. Gone. Gone forever. never to be seen again. That's
what Christ did in redemption. He paid our debt and he carried
our sins away. The fit man carried our sins
into the depths of hell and consumed them in his body in the wrath
of God Almighty. And he rose from the dead and
declares, our sins are gone. The New Testament epistles They
all portray for us the person and work of Christ. In the New
Testament, we have the Old Testament revealed. In the Old Testament,
we have the New Testament concealed. This is not two books, but one. It has one message. It has one
doctrine. I read an article the other day
by Brother Todd Niblett, excellent article, just a brief article.
He said every time the word doctrines is used in the Bible, it's used
in a bad sense. Folks talk about doctrines, these
doctrines, doctrines of the Pharisees, doctrines of the Sadducees, doctrines
of devils. When it talks about the gospel,
it talks about doctrine. Just one. Just one. The whole
of divine revelation is one doctrine. One doctrine. It's the doctrine
of Christ. In the four gospels, We have
our Lord Jesus presented with four views. Matthew tells us
he's king, promised of God. That's the reason the genealogies
in Matthew are so precise. Mark presents him to us as the
servant of Jehovah. Luke, the physician, tells us
that he's a man, the son of man. John presents him as God the
Son. The book of Acts shows that our
Lord Jesus Christ is that one in whom all the nations of the
earth are blessed, for the gospel is carried into the four corners
of the earth by those men in the book of Acts as they preach
the word. And then the epistles, Romans
through Revelation. Do you remember what our Lord
said concerning the apostles? He said, when he, the spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will
speak not of himself, but of me. He will take of mine and
show it unto you. He said, I've got many things
to tell you, but you can't understand them now. You won't be able to
understand them till you see me crucified, buried, risen from
the dead, ascended up to glory. And then the Spirit will tell
you what's taking place. And so from Romans through the
book of Revelation, the Holy Spirit gives us inspired scripture
explaining to us what the Savior taught while he was on this earth.
That's what it is. Folks say, well, you know, we...
We take the Old Testament, that's for the Jews. The four Gospels,
that's for the Jews while our Lord was here and then sometime
in a future tribulation period or in a millennial kingdom period.
But now the only part that's for the church, that's the church
epistles. Everything else, that's Jewish.
We don't have anything. What nonsense. Don't let any
little dispensational policeman blow his whistle and say, you
get away from that, that's not for you. This is all for you. It's all
about Him. It's all about Him. Read about
free justification in the book of Romans. Read about freedom
from the law in the book of Galatians. Read about everlasting grace
in the book of Ephesians. Read about the word of grace
delivered to us throughout all the epistles. And then the book
of Revelation, last book of the Bible, last chapter of the book,
if you want to put it that way, tells us that our Lord Jesus
Christ shall prevail. Things are going to turn out
just like God said they would, Bathyandra in Genesis 3.15. When
he gets done, he's going to crush the serpent's head forever. And everybody belongs to him.
And the God of peace will brew Satan under your feet shortly. And we'll get to the ordinances
another time. All right.