[0:00] So normally sports analogies don't really connect too well at this congregation, all right? But I think you may know this story. At the starting of training camp in 1961, Vince Lombardi walked into a locker room of the Green Bay Packers and said to his team what would become one of the most iconic quotes in sports history.
[0:18] And he said this, gentlemen, if you know it, say it with me. Gentlemen, this is a football. All right, you didn't know. All right, this is a football. So the start of, you have these college, you have these athletes, professional athletes, and he's going to teach them about football and how to play on the next level.
[0:36] And he starts off with this basic idea. This is a football. Well, let me start off like this. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Bible. This is my copy of the Bible.
[0:48] The Bible, the word literally means the books. It's a word that was used before even the times of Christ. So we're talking about the books that are here before us. We have 66 books here that is the Bible.
[1:00] And Awana, in our kids' ministry, we saw it the other night. They sung or they said the pledge that, you know, I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.
[1:16] Probably knew that as a kid, grew up. It's a great pledge to say. It's a great way to view God's word. I say it to you like this. This here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Bible. It is God's speech written through the agency of human writers as a unified story leading to Jesus.
[1:35] It's God's speech written by the agency of human writers, and it's a unified story leading to Jesus. God's speech written, 66 books, 1,500 years, 40 human authors.
[1:48] That alone would be remarkable. But it's more than just remarkable. It is supernatural. This is not just a good book. This is God's book, right?
[1:59] That's what we say when it is God's holy word. It is the words of God that are given to us. If you like the reading and you pick up a book and you might read the foreword to it.
[2:11] Who wrote the foreword? How many of you, when you read a book, you read the foreword of it, all right? A few of you. I do. I read everything. I thought I paid for every word in this book. I'm going to read the introduction. I want to read the foreword. I'm going to read all of it, all right?
[2:23] I want to read the foreword that is there. And so you want to know, you may not know who the person was, but the foreword to it was. Or you might read an introduction or you may read some reviews about it. But when a book comes and the author is God, it needs no other foreword or recommendation.
[2:40] So that's what we talk about in here. When we talk about living according to God's word, we're talking about living out the scriptures. And so the agency of human writers, over 400 times it says, thus saith the Lord.
[2:55] That's if you put that statement up there. I'm going to walk through those three points together. And so it is God's speech that's written through human writers 400 times in the Old Testament.
[3:07] The writers put it in their writing that God has spoken. It says, thus saith the Lord. 2 Peter 1.21 says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
[3:22] And here, the word of God not coming by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the author of this book.
[3:33] We call it inspiration. We call it a gift of God. In this fallen and broken world, we have something that is perfect and complete. Isn't that wonderful?
[3:44] In a fallen and in a broken world, we have a word that is perfect and complete. If you're trying to decide today what hills are worth living and dying on, let me add this one to your list.
[3:55] The fact that this is God's holy, inspired, and errant word is a hill worth living and dying on. It matters. And then it's a unified story. God's speech written through human writers, and it's a unified story here.
[4:10] As we said, the things concerning himself. Looks like we're having some technical difficulties, but there is a slide or a picture that is on the screensaver for Josh Holt.
[4:22] There it is. And the screensaver for Josh Holt's computer. And some of you may have seen this before. This is cross-references of the Bible, where from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, and you can see this is a demonstration of how it's a unified story.
[4:40] That in understanding something at the beginning part of the Bible helps you understand what's happening towards the end of it, and it all goes together. And that's amazing. No other 40 authors over 1,500 years would ever be able to accomplish a unified text, a unified scripture like we have here.
[4:58] And it's a unified story about Christ. And we have reasons to see this. In three weeks this summer, John Pearson is going to teach on the Trinity in here.
[5:11] For three weeks, I'm not able to do that. I'm glad he's going to, all right? And he's going to teach in here while the parents and I are in another room. And we have a Trinitarian reason to believe the Bible is about Christ.
[5:23] The Bible is about Christ because through Christ that we know the Father. The Spirit inspires a written word to reveal the incarnate word so that through him we might know the Father. The Holy Spirit, being the author of this book, is showing us Christ on every page of it, in every story, in every section.
[5:42] We are going to see that it testifies of him. That's what Christ tells us in the book of John. It testifies of him. I hope you'll join us for that. You can know facts about the Bible, but you might miss out on the purpose of it.
[5:56] You might be able to beat the guys in trivia ladies, but on a Sunday. But we've got to do more than just know the answers to the question. We want to know the purpose of it. In John chapter number 5, Jesus tells them that all the Scriptures testify.
[6:11] He's giving a Bible study plan, a method of Bible study, a Christian hermeneutic to these Pharisees. As it says in Hebrews, it says these are the basic principles of the oracle of God.
[6:22] And it's this, the Scriptures testify to Jesus, that the Scriptures testify to him. So on that road with those people that he's walking with, if you're joining us, two people after the resurrection are walking down this road, a seven-mile walk down the road of Emmaus.
[6:41] And as they're walking there that day, there is a person that's walking with them. They don't recognize that it is Christ. And as Christ is walking with them, he tells them that the reason that they don't recognize him in the Scriptures, and they don't recognize him walking with them, is that they were fools and of slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have taught them.
[7:03] So it's more than intellectual. It was a matter of their heart. It's said like this in 2 Corinthians chapter number 3 and verse number 14. It says, But their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.
[7:25] In Christ Jesus, we have an understanding of the Old Testament in which we have been reading. And these people in the Scriptures had not had the veil removed from them.
[7:35] They hadn't seen it. Like how one old pastor says this, You do not have to give up your intellect to believe in the Bible. You just have to give up your pride. The Bible is written in such a way that God communicated to us in a way that in every language, in every culture, we can understand it.
[7:52] I have a Bible study principle called the Johnny Albert Nelson Bible Principle. That was my grandfather's name, all right? And he said he would sit at the kitchen table and he would turn through the Scriptures. And I would think that if I couldn't understand the Bible sitting at the kitchen table with my grandpa, then apparently it isn't what the Bible was saying to me.
[8:09] If I have to go to church fathers or have to go to another book off the shelf, if I couldn't understand it just sitting at the table with my grandfather, it's not what God was wanting to communicate to us.
[8:20] Because he brought the language down for us to understand. He communicated. If he did not reveal himself to us, we would not be able to know him.
[8:30] But he did through his word, through the person of Christ. And so not only do the Pharisees miss that the Scriptures testify, but the disciples are in danger of it.
[8:41] And they're disappointed. They're walking. They're sad. They focus on part of the word, but not all of the Scriptures. They're not seeing Christ in the Scriptures. And we so often do the same thing today.
[8:52] We take the Bible as a self-help book. We take the Bible, we see portions of it. But we don't see Christ from page to page as we look at it. A popular book that I read to our kids when they were younger, it said this.
[9:04] Some people think the Bible is a book of rules or a book of heroes, but the Bible is most of all a story. And at the center of the story, there is a baby. And every story in the Bible whispers his name.
[9:17] And that name is Jesus. So here Jesus is expounding unto them all the Scriptures. That word expound means sticking close to a text.
[9:27] Sticking close to a text. Or like this, walking closely. We have other examples of it. Acts 18, one of my favorite stories in regards to youth ministry, it says that Aquila and Priscilla, they expounded unto Apollos.
[9:42] They helped him understand the Scriptures and what is said about Christ. And if I'm doing what I'm supposed to do correctly, if I do the assignment in which God has given me the day, that I am helping you understand.
[9:55] Or as it says in Nehemiah, cause them to have an understanding of the reading. Helping people walk close to the passage. Not walking off the path, but walking close to the passage.
[10:06] So we see Jesus wants to explain the message of the Gospel. He shows him himself in all of the Scriptures. He demonstrates the opposite of wanting to unhitch from the Old Testament. But he shows himself from the Old Testament right there.
[10:21] Jesus walking with them. What I showed you last week. Jesus walking with them. He said, look into the Scriptures. I am right there. They testify to me.
[10:31] You can see me clearly. Even when Jesus was walking on that road, he could have just said, hey, look at me right here. He said, this is the testimony I want you to look at. Because that's wonderful.
[10:42] Because you and I walk on different roads this week. We go different places. But we all have the same ability to say, hey, look at Jesus from the Scriptures. You can see Him today.
[10:53] And so all the Scriptures needed to properly see Jesus. They were going to miss the Messiah if they did not see the big picture. They knew there was a promised Christ, the Messiah. And they waited for Him to be the ruling King.
[11:04] But they did not see the Scriptures that said He would be a crucified Messiah. So as they're walking that day, some of the songs that we would have loved to sing, they wouldn't have yet known how wonderful they are.
[11:14] They're walking on the road to Emmaus. And here we have the singing. The training center group is over here singing. Or the group that just sang. And they come over there and they say, let's sing about the wonderful cross.
[11:24] Or let's talk about what I surveyed the wondrous cross. Or the old rugged cross. And they would say, I don't understand why that makes you so happy. I don't understand why you're singing a song about the cross.
[11:35] Because they hadn't seen the cross in Scriptures. They hadn't seen why Jesus had to die. And that's what He said. Ought Christ not die? Does the Scriptures not say that the Messiah was going to die?
[11:49] And that's what He showed them. And He rebukes them. And then as they listened to this incredible Bible study that Christ would have given, it burned their hearts. And they had a joyful response to what God has done.
[12:01] The light of Scripture was turned on. They see how the Scripture fits together. They saw Christ for the first time. And to grasp these truths accurately, why Christ had to suffer for our sins, why His blood was necessary to reconcile us to God, and what redemption is, we need to see how they fit together in the entirety of the Bible.
[12:21] And Jesus shows Himself in all the Scripture of the things concerning Himself. If you're there in Luke chapter number 24, I would cause you to look at there at verse number 44.
[12:32] You're going to see that it says, And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. All the things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, you can underline law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.
[12:47] Three divisions of the Old Testament, the Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. And He's saying, In all of the scriptures that you have, they are to testify of me.
[12:59] Shortly after, Jesus will give the Great Commission to this group of people. And remember, they are going to go out on this Great Commission with what we would consider the Old Testament, and they will go out.
[13:11] And you know what will happen? Timothy, it will say that it made him wise unto salvation, that he was able to understand how the Old Testament testified of Christ.
[13:22] Many years ago, I was in Boulder, Colorado, and with a group of people and a program for youth and children's ministry. And part of the training was, we would go out into the streets, and we would share the gospel with people.
[13:34] And I had my favorite little New Testament I had that I carried with me. And I was on the bus, and we were going out there, and my friend said, What are you going to do, though, if we meet a person that's Jewish who says they don't believe in the New Testament?
[13:46] How are you going to show them Christ in the Old Testament? I'm like, Man, that ain't going to happen. That's never happened. I'm from a town of 500 people in Hardin, and I don't believe there's any Jewish people there, all right?
[13:57] And so in my whole life, I'd never seen that happen. But as we were out, we met a person, and the person said, I'm Jewish. Show me Jesus. And I did not have an Old Testament.
[14:09] But you know, even if I did, I don't know what I would have done. I don't think that I would have understood where to show them or been able to see that as I should have been able to. I only knew one road at that time, which was the Romans Road.
[14:21] And if you didn't want to start on step number one with me, I couldn't get you to step number 10, all right? I need to take you on this Romans Road. But Jesus that day, not having any limitation upon him, he pointed and said, This is about me.
[14:34] This is about me. Turn here. This is about me, and this is about me, and this is about me, and all of the scriptures would testify of him. This is about me.
[14:45] It's not just individual prophecies or passages in the Bible, but he says all of the scriptures, they are of him. John 5, 46, he told him, he said, And if you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote about me.
[15:01] The first five books of the Bible, he says that he wrote about him, that the first five books of the Bible are written about Jesus. So the entire of the Old Testament is about him, not just the prophecies, the history, the promises, the people, the law, all of it are about him.
[15:17] So in every section of the book, the law, the history, the poetry, they're all written in a period of time and a history, and they were to show us him. So as you're reading the scriptures, you come upon things that aren't satisfied unless they're completely satisfied in the coming of Christ.
[15:36] Jesus fulfills the Torah as the perfect keeper of the law. Jesus is the final and ultimate sacrifice. Jesus stands as the true king. Jesus is Isaiah's suffering servant.
[15:48] I could look at some of these stories and it'd be quite easy to show you Christ, the picture of him, and the Old Testament. But I didn't want to take the easy way out today because if I gave you the easy way out today, you're like, I already know that one.
[16:00] So Stephanie, and I believe many of the ladies in here, in the Bible reading plan not too long ago, were in Chronicles. And as you're reading Chronicles and you wonder, how is this pointing to Christ?
[16:12] And as you look at it, it's not to say that in every scripture and every verse that you see, you see him, but when you step back and you see where the story fits in to the big story, then you understand how it testifies of Christ.
[16:24] So in Chronicles here, it follows the southern kingdom, it follows the line of David. And David completes the conquest of a land and through David, Israel is given rest. But David's a man of bloodshed and he cannot build the temple.
[16:38] But Solomon is able to build the temple, but he won't be able to remain upon the throne. So by the end of Chronicles, there is no king upon the throne of Israel, let alone from the line of David. And the promise waits to be fulfilled.
[16:51] But in Jesus, who comes with no violence and military might, but through the shedding of his blood on the cross, the greatest son of David will sit upon that throne. There's a temple that when it's rebuilt, it's not as big as the one of Solomon.
[17:05] It's the place that they would come and sing songs and they would worship the Lord. And the temple and plan of worship was a disappointment for many of the original audience of Chronicles being smaller than the original.
[17:15] And that temple would be destroyed. But Jesus is the presence of God in human form who came and he dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us, as it says in John 1.
[17:26] And in Jesus, we meet God. Jesus is the sacrifice that makes us right with God. The temple in Chronicles was destroyed, but the temple of Jesus' body was rebuilt after three days.
[17:38] So we see him in every section of the Bible. He is there. He is in every theme, the covenants, the rest, the Sabbath, justice, and judgment. Ask the teenagers today if they ever had a math book that in the back of the book they had the answer to the even questions.
[17:52] You have the even answers in the back of the book. Any of you have a book like this? Well, the Word of God and all of these things that need to be fulfilled and all the questions that need to be fulfilled, we find that they are answered in Jesus.
[18:04] In the major figures of the Bible, positively and negatively we see them. We see that David, which is not just to point to Jesus in his victory over Goliath, as is a king, but in David's sin with Bathsheba, it points to Jesus who is a greater king who will never sin.
[18:19] David stands before a giant. The people are scared in their tents. A giant is mocking God and a shepherd boy comes to the front line and says, I'm here and in the power of the Lord, I'm the one who's going to go out and fight your battle, O Israel.
[18:34] So David is not about you overcoming your giants, it's about our need of Jesus to come and do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And all through the scriptures, we find in Matthew, it says he's greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, and before Abraham was the I Am.
[18:49] We see Christ in every image of the scripture. The bronze snake that's lifted up in Moses' wilderness points to the Son of Man. The temple as a dwelling place of God leads us to Jesus as a final dwelling place of God.
[19:02] The sacrifices give way to the final sacrifice of Christ. But I fear that many of us in here have been far too satisfied with just the cliff note version of this book.
[19:16] And when somebody showed you Christ in the scriptures, it was amazing to you. It burned in your heart and you say, I want to know him. He is the answer in my story.
[19:26] He is the one who's going to fulfill. He is the one that's going to satisfy. He is the ultimate. He is the greater than that the Bible speaks about. And my life is not complete without this Jesus that you're talking about.
[19:39] And somebody opened the scriptures to you and they showed you Jesus. But there's more to learn about him. There's more to know about him. And we should want to see it from the scriptures.
[19:51] And so I'm going to encourage you, every one of you in here, every believer in here, for a renewed commitment to being a serious Bible student.
[20:01] Not only for the joy of seeing Jesus, but so that you can help other people see him in the scriptures that will show us him. And so we should give our lives to knowing and showing Christ from the scriptures.
[20:15] Neither time or my understanding would allow me to show you all there is to learn about Christ from all the scriptures. But I think I'm going to give my life to trying. I think I'll give my whole life to trying.
[20:27] I want to know all there is to know about him until I can see him face to face. Until I can see Jesus face to face, I want to know as much about him as he has revealed to me in his word.
[20:37] And there's so much. There's portions of this Bible that I just don't know about. Don't walk up to me after church and ask me a question about Ezekiel 7. I don't know what's going on. All right. Don't come up to me and ask for different parts.
[20:49] I don't know. But I'm not ashamed of it. And I'm excited because what I know about him, I've loved. What I've ever seen about Jesus in scripture, I have loved.
[20:59] And I've just been excited about the fact that there's more. That it's not a burden to study this past, this scripture, but it's just, it's wonderful that there's more to know.
[21:10] And I want to encourage you that if you're 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, wherever you're at in life, there's more for you to know. And you should be excited about that fact.
[21:21] And you should make an intentional plan. I love being around this church family. And you're a very disciplined people, a very driven people. And all of us know in here that things do not happen unless there is a clearly designed plan for them to happen.
[21:35] We don't naturally drift towards being better at something. We don't naturally drift towards our schedules changing for the better. All right. And so if you're going to do it, it's going to have to be intentional.
[21:47] And that's what I'm going to pray today in our time of response, that believers in here make a decision to be intentional. I think of the story in John chapter number one. Andrew, he goes to his brother Simon and he shows him what he has found.
[22:01] And it says in John chapter number one, verse 41, he says, He first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ.
[22:13] We have found the Messiah which is interpreted the Christ. He says he is here. Could we not do the same for other people? Could we not go out and say we have found him and he's right here.
[22:25] He's in scripture. We can show him to you. So many people, especially here in the south, they think that they have seen him but they have never had a chance to fully see the Jesus of the scriptures.
[22:36] As you know, I like to often read Charles Spurgeon, an old English pastor. He tells a story of an old minister who heard a sermon by a young man when he was asked by the preacher what he thought of it.
[22:48] He was rather slow to answer and this is what he said. If I must tell you, I did not like it at all. There was no Christ in your sermon. No, answered the young man, because I did not see that Christ was in the text and the old minister said, Oh, but do you not know that from every little town and village and tiny hamlet in England, there is a road leading to London?
[23:10] Whenever I get a hold of the text, I say to myself, there is a road from here to Jesus Christ and I mean to keep on his track till I get to him. In our Bible study, don't stop short of seeing Christ.
[23:23] Don't stop short until that burns in your heart like we have seen about. In Genesis, see the creator and the seed of woman who will overcome the serpent. In Exodus, you'll see the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, you're going to see the high priest that will be superseded by the great high priest.
[23:38] In Ruth, you're going to read about a redeemer that we're going to find in Jesus Christ. First Kings, there's going to be a temple that is built that will fail, but Christ will build one that will never fail.
[23:49] And Ezra, a priest proclaiming freedom. And Nehemiah is the one who restores the broken. In Psalms, there's going to be a song in the morning and in the night. And Isaiah, our wonderful counselor and mighty God and everlasting father.
[24:01] And Ezekiel, we see him as the son of man. Amos, he delivers justice to oppressed. And Zephaniah, of all those books, it's a funny name, isn't it? Jared, there's a book called Zephaniah.
[24:12] And in there, there's a warrior who comes to save. And then he's our Messiah, the king. He's the Messiah who's a deliverer. He's the Messiah that's a servant. He's the Messiah who's come in the flesh.
[24:23] And in Galatians, we learn he's our inheritance. And in Colossians, we learn that he's our supreme position in all things. First Peter, he's our hope in times of suffering. And in Revelation, the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
[24:36] And he is on every page and we should want to see him with everything. And so that's why we say we preach Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.23, But we preach Christ, crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.
[24:50] But to us, it is life-giving. We preach Christ. We want to know him. From Genesis to Revelation, from the nursery to the oldest member, from this pulpit to the walking on the road that you are going to do this week with your friends, we preach Christ from the scriptures.
[25:10] And we have seen Christ in all of the scriptures. And as a result, we're never going to be the same. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this.
[25:21] Words of Christ, Lord. I could have been very much like these people and missed it. But you said that you are testified in all of the scriptures. Believers in here today, as you're praying, I want to encourage you.
[25:34] Renew your commitment to spend time in the study of all the scriptures. Jesus that we love can be found on every page of this book.
[25:45] And so let's dig deeper together. I'm so glad that you're here today. But would you make a decision to walk with the word with someone this week?
[25:56] Would you make a decision to set that in motion today before you leave? At the next steps table, on your way out, Pastor Bo will be standing there.
[26:06] John Pearson could be standing there and offering you resources so you can start one-on-one discipleship. And with a friend, you can search the scriptures and how it testifies of Christ.
[26:20] This isn't what you know about Jesus. Don't you just love him? And don't you want to know more? It will change things. Change our marriages. Change everything about our lives. We need to seek Christ from the scriptures and he is ready and available to walk with us.
[26:38] And through the Holy Spirit, we can have access to what they had that day on the road to Emmaus that God was showing us through the scriptures the testimony of Christ.
[26:50] Believers, as you continue to pray, if you're in here today and you've never seen Jesus as those two have, I want you to see Jesus' scriptures and maybe you have the day for the first time and your heart is burned.
[27:03] The affections and the lives that we are to give towards him he is so deserving of and so maybe today you recognize this as good news. The Bible and life is filled with stories and tension.
[27:19] And the story of the Bible awaited a hero, it awaited a king, and it was found in Christ. Your life may be awaiting a hero, it's awaiting a king to sit upon his throne, and your life is a story that will never be fulfilled without Jesus.
[27:34] And we want to tell you about him. We want you to see him from scriptures. It's the most wonderful thing in all of the world. So we kind of encourage you if you're in here today or you're watching online that you would pray, that you would acknowledge that you're a sinner and that you need Jesus Christ, that your story is one filled with brokenness and tension and it's been awaiting something that has never been revealed to you, but today has been revealed to you in the person of Jesus Christ.
[28:03] And in confessing your sin and broken state, you receive forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life. I encourage you to pray that today. Call out to him. Recognize he's the hero of your story and the one who's died in your place and can offer forgiveness of sins.
[28:18] And if that's what you've done today, I would encourage you to take time, let us know, let us share some resources with you. Let us give you a copy of God's word as you can continue the study.
[28:29] Let's pray together and then we'll stand and sing. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the scriptures. Lord, I'm so very grateful that it was understood by a teenager so many years ago and she opened it up and she pointed to Jesus for me.
[28:46] And Lord, it burned in my heart and I saw it and it has changed my understanding. It has changed my worldview. It changed my understanding about everything. But Father, I have stopped short and I am grateful that you are patient.
[28:59] I want to know you, Lord, from those portions of the Bible that I have not spent time. And Father, the day I renew with this church family a renewed commitment to knowing you from your word.
[29:12] Father, I'm going to ask that you would work in the hearts of some people in here and that they would want to study with me, Lord. That they would reach out to me during this week. That I would have the joy of turning the pages of scripture and walking with these friends and seeing Christ.
[29:26] Father, I'm asking you to do that. I'm asking, Lord, according to your will that we would be a people that would study your word together and allow me the great joy of walking with people in your word.
[29:37] Father, you are so wonderful and we thank you for revealing yourself to us through your son in the scriptures. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.