No Bible, No Hope- (John 19:31-37 Jeff Kliewer)

Thank you for coming to Cornerstone this morning.

We really appreciate you venturing out. It was pouring rain earlier, so we're so glad that you made it in.

My name is Michael, and I'll be leading a few songs later in the service, but I wanted to welcome you.

Thank you for joining us this morning. We do have a special treat. Stones Cry Out, our children choir singing worship group, will be doing a few selections for us this morning, so we're excited to hear from them.

But I wanted to point out our Connect card. Our Connect card can be found in the back on the offering box.

You can grab a pen, fill that out, put it in the offering box, and that is just to connect with you, welcoming you to Cornerstone if you're new.

If not, just a place for you to put your information so we have a record of your visit. You can also do it online at connect .cornerstonesj

.org. You can see that on the screen. You can go there. You can even do it early in the service.

Just put your information in, and we'll have a record and be able to send you a thank you note. So John's going to do some announcements for us, and then we're going to have the kids come up and sing for us.

Thank you for your attention. I want to say good morning.

It's always good to be together here on a Sunday morning. This is kind of a special morning we have.

I think we've got some special music to minister to us today, so that's an exciting thing.

I wanted to open us up. I've been in the Book of Proverbs lately, and I am just totally impressed by the practicality of the teaching of that book.

It addresses life feet on the ground. The passage

I was in earlier this week caught me off guard until I stopped and thought about it for a while.

It's in Proverbs 13, verse 20. Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

And as I meditated on that particular passage, I realized that God gives us fellowship of other believers so that we will be encouraged to remain on the walk.

And as we are with our fellow brothers and sisters, we have the opportunity through his grace to guard each other in so many ways.

But if we choose those avenues that aren't honoring to God, that's actually going to impact our life.

Our choices, I think, of companions are important. Those inner circle of people that have this ability to work in and to talk to us into the heart.

If we choose someone who accepts and desires God's way, isn't that going to influence us?

And I think the obvious opposite to that is true. I think selecting

God matters in everything. At the end of the book of Joshua, the people very broadly proclaimed, we will follow

God, and that's a great proclamation. If only they had. And then

I would say, if only we do. And that may sound hard, but in reality, it's those little decisions that we make that sometimes are influenced by those that we spend time with.

And very practically, at this point in time, let's keep Christ and Christmas, because this is all about him.

I have some announcements for us right now. Speaking of Christmas, in two weeks it will be Christmas Eve. On the 24th, on Sunday, we will have our regular schedule, 9 o 'clock and 1045 services, the candlelight service at 4 o 'clock.

Invite neighbors and friends, family to this. Those who perhaps don't always come, invite them

Sunday morning to the worship service, and then later to the candlelight. We are continuing, and I believe last

Sunday was a strong announcement regarding the orphanage in Malawi, Hamilton Banda's ministry.

We are opening it up where if you have a desire to give an end -of -the -year offering, this would be a great opportunity to contribute towards the building of a girls' orphanage in Malawi.

If you write it on your check, it will be designated to that, and Michael Stockland has indicated if you do it online, there's a drop -down general offering, and he actually has

Malawi Orphanage, so we encourage you to participate in that way. Also, please remember, strongly in prayer, we are in the process of identifying, by God's lead, who our next elder and deacons will be.

Take this very seriously in prayer. We pray. Speaking of great announcements,

I think we have a new youth pastor. Sandy and I were away at a family reunion, but what

I heard was after they were dismissed and you guys roasted him for a while while he was away, he came back in, and I understand it was a unanimous call, which is an amazing blessing from God.

Tim, I heard that your ear was from ear to ear. Your grin was so big, and I heard that you were so happy you were brought to tears.

We are so blessed to have you with us, so we praise God. Please join with us tonight at 6 o 'clock.

We're having an amazing time of prayer over the needs of the church, the needs of the people, the ministries of the church.

Join with us 6 o 'clock tonight for our prayer meeting, and I'm going to ask Joe Gormley for a special announcement.

I'm keeping you from the kids. I am so sorry. I will try and be brief. Hi, my name is

Joseph Gormley. I'm new here to Cornerstone. If you haven't met me, I look forward to meeting you soon, maybe through the church app.

But I've been invited to announce, make a special announcement about a project I've been blessed to be a part of.

It's going to highlight the work of Pastor Jeff. I'm working with Ivan Solero and Rob Stockland, and the project is a podcast.

It's called Off the Cuff Reflections on the Christian Life, and our goal is to create a very casual, off -the -cuff conversation with Pastor Jeff about topics buzzing around in the culture that impact our lives as Christians.

We want Christians watching this to feel like they're part of the conversation, and we want believers to reflect on their personal commitment to the

Great Commission and what that means when we speak individually and corporately. So, raise your hands if you've read

Blood Red Church. Okay, good number. More people need to read it, so if you don't get the connection here, that's what you need to read.

So the podcast we address is conversations that red churches hit head -on.

Those same conversations are just flat -out unbiblical in the blue church, and usually avoided in the gray church.

We want Christians inside our church to be deeply connected, but we also want to reach surrounding churches here in South Jersey.

We want our members to share this podcast with other church members, deacons, and pastors.

You may ask the question, are you trying to get gray and blue churches to change internally, or are you trying to recruit people to join

Cornerstone? The answer is yes. I know many of you spend time evangelizing to unbelievers, and I'm sure that you also know that many of your

Christian friends desperately need discipleship. Well, the goal is first and foremost to point people to the true and risen

Lord, not to recruit people to a specific church. However, some churches will be blessed when the pressure is put on.

We must pray for the gray pastor to discuss these hard issues with their flock. We need to pray that the blue church receives a rebuke and repents.

Of course, we want to deliver this message with gentleness and respect. The reality is it won't be received that way.

Making disciples is not easy. The enemy will be against us, and we're going to be shadow banned.

How many people know what shadow banning is? Great. That's good. So you know that we need your help then, because shadow banning is an act of a social media company limiting who can see someone's posts.

Why? Well, because the topics we're talking about are taboo to the world's interpretation of what is good and just.

The success of this podcast is going to depend on all of us as a church. We need your participation.

We want your participation. We want the podcast to serve you first and foremost, and we want you to send in questions.

Secondly, we need your help promoting this in South Jersey. Please consider sharing the posts we're going to put on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Please make it a habit. It's a very good habit. I've met some Christians in the past who have told me, I struggle with evangelism because I just don't run into unbelievers too much.

Well, trust me, if you start sharing these posts, you're going to run into some unbelievers. Some of the clips may be aggressive to get people to tune in, but we promise grace and love, although maybe tough love, when they listen to the entire show.

So please share it. If anyone has any ideas, wants to participate in regards to deploying marketing, please share so we can help support you in that effort.

We want this to be the church's podcast. We have an official launch date of December 17th.

That's one week from today, and we want to get these out before Christmas. We're going to be about 20 to 30 minutes.

That's an average drive time so that people can listen to it. It'll be on video as well, and you can find the podcast on lots of channels.

If you have trouble subscribing, if you're not tech -savvy, need some help, call me directly,

Joe Gormley, 609 -923 -7788. Text me, whatever. I'll be glad to help you.

Thank you so much. Joey, I want to thank you and your team for doing this.

Pastor Jeff, for taking your time to give this word. What creative ways to speak truth to the world.

Let's go to prayer. Lord, Father, we come before you this morning as your children.

We are in need of your instruction and your guidance. Without you, we are in danger of being led astray by the lies of the evil one.

Without you, we are in the dark, unable to even discern righteousness. You, O Lord, are the

Holy One. You are the author of all truth. By your love, you call us, you lead us, you enable us to experience life with true meaning and hope.

Our heart's desire is to grow in you as your children. We pray,

Lord, that you guide us as we choose our companions, that we deny the false lures of Satan, experience the blessings of holy and righteous living.

Father, we continue to hold your people, our brothers and sisters in Israel, in this time of need, in their conflict, protect them, we pray.

And Lord, also bring their hearts in true devotion to you. Be with our brothers and sisters here at Cornerstone who are in need.

Lord, please be with our Pastor Jeff as he opens your word to us this morning. Give him your words and open our hearts.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Come down here.

Come down. Stand over here next to your sister. Okay. Alright.

We have two Christian songs and then we have one Christmas song for you guys. This is the Stones Cry Out.

Alright. You can stand up there.

I am a C. I am a C -H.

I am a C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E and my

H -E -R -T and my L -I -V -E -T and my L -A -L -O -Y. I am a

C. I am a C -H. I am a C -H -I -S -E -I -N.

And I am C -H -I -S -E and my H -E -R -T and my L -I -V -E -T and my

L -A -L -O -Y. Let's speed this up. Are you ready?

Here we go. I am a C. I am a C -H. I am a

C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E and my

H -E -R -T and my L -I -V -E -T and my L -A -L -O -Y. Come on now.

You can do better than that. Let's go faster. I am a C. I am a

C -H. I am a C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N.

And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am

C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N.

And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am

C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am

C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N.

And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N. And I am C -H -I -S -E -I -N.

I got peace like a river.

I got peace like a river in its soul.

I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like a river in my soul, an ocean in my soul.

I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean, I've got love like an ocean in my soul.

I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain in my soul, in my soul.

I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain, I've got joy like a fountain in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like a river, I've got peace and joy like a river, I've got peace and joy like a river in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like a river, I've got peace and joy like a river, I've got peace and joy like a river in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like an ocean, I've got peace and joy like an ocean, I've got peace and joy like an ocean in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like an ocean, I've got peace and joy like an ocean in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like a fountain, I've got peace and joy like a fountain, I've got peace and joy like a fountain in my soul.

I've got peace and joy like a fountain,

I've got peace and joy like a fountain in my soul. Luke 2 .14

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Look real for Jesus laying down his sweet head.

The stars in the sky look down where he lays.

O Lord Jesus let us sleep on the hay.

O Jesus God has made to stay.

His children in light and good may. And take us to heaven to live with thee there.

And take us to heaven to live with thee there.

Now it's our turn to sing together. Can you stand with me? Angels from the realms of glory.

Wing your flag o 'er all the earth. Ye who sang creation's story.

Now proclaim the Messiah's birth. Come and worship.

Come and worship. Worship Christ the newborn King. Shepherds in the field abiding.

Watching o 'er your flocks by night. Man is now residing.

Yonder shines the infant light. Come and worship.

Come and worship. Worship Christ the newborn

King. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. You are the God who saves us.

Worthy of all our praises. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. Come have your way among us.

You welcome you here Lord Jesus. Come have your way among us.

We welcome you here Lord Jesus. Come and worship

Christ the newborn King. God is with us even now.

His love is here. Come and worship.

Worship Christ the newborn King. God is with us even now.

His love is here. His love is here. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. You are the God who saves us.

Worthy of all our praises. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. Come have your way among us.

We welcome you here Lord Jesus. Come have your way among us.

We welcome you here Lord Jesus. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel.

Amen. We are here because God is with us in a mighty way.

Let's continue to sing together because we worship the maker of heaven and earth who loved us so much that he became the promised

Messiah to redeem us from our sins and to set us free. Amen.

Emmanuel. Emmanuel.

Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel.

Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation.

Oh sing all ye citizens of heaven above.

Glory to God, glory in the highest

O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore

Him O come let us adore Him, Christ the

Lord We adore You, we adore

You, we adore You, Jesus We adore

You, we adore You, we adore

You, Jesus O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant O come ye,

O come ye to Bethlehem Come and behold

Him, born the King of angels

O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore

Him O come let us adore Him, Christ the

Lord We adore You, we adore

You, we adore You, Jesus We adore

You, we adore You, we adore

You, Jesus We adore

You, we adore You, we adore

You, Jesus Wasn't that awesome to hear those kids singing?

Hey, why don't we open this service before I preach, praying for those kids that they would never depart from this faith.

Let's pray. Father God, we thank You so much for this gift of faith that You have given to these children, these 20 or so that were singing this morning,

Lord. We pray in Jesus' name that they would never depart from this faith. Lord, we think of the blessing on Timothy, that he had known the sacred writings that are able to make one wise for salvation.

We pray for these children that they would always hold on to the sacred scriptures remaining wise unto salvation.

Lord, let not one of them be lost. And Father, in the same way, we pray for all of the children represented by parents and grandparents in this room.

Lord, that each one, maybe some that have gone prodigal, that those prodigals would return to the author and finisher of their faith.

Bring the prodigals home, Lord. And for those that have remained in the faith, we pray,

God, in Jesus' name, that You would keep them safe to the end. And now, Father, as we open the word to preach and to hear the holy scriptures, we pray that You would do surgery in our hearts to remove any doubts, any fears, anything that would keep us from faith in the

Son of God and in everything that You have spoken. And so we pray for help right now in Jesus' name.

Amen. Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, gives us about 65 references to Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

This is also a major concern for John. In John 5, verse 39, he says,

So Jesus points to the scriptures as the testimony and the reason to believe in Him.

Does it take a blind leap of faith to believe in Jesus Christ?

Does it take blind faith to become a Christian? The answer is decidedly no.

There is objective evidence outside of ourselves revealed in scripture.

Peter will put it this way in his second epistle, chapter 1, verse 19. We have the prophetic word made more sure.

The prophetic word refers to the Old Testament. The 39 books of prophetic prophecy that point forward to a coming

Messiah. It is made more sure because we also have 27 books of New Testament revelation which confirm what

God said. And so these two things come together. Prophecy plus eyewitness testimony.

The prophetic word made more sure. And you would do well to attend to that as a light shining in a dark place.

The word of God. It is trustworthy. We know that Jesus is the Son of God because prophecies reveal

Him. John will refer to Him as being like Jacob's ladder. In John 1, 51, he says,

Like the angels ascended and descended on Jacob's ladder, Jesus is that ladder.

He is the bridge between heaven and earth. Come to bring sinners like us to heaven because we could not climb there on our own.

He came down to bring us with Him into glory. There was manna bred from heaven that descended to feed the people of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness.

Jesus is that bread. John chapter 6, He is the bread come down from heaven to give life, eternal nourishment to those who believe in Him.

He's the manna of heaven. All throughout the Gospel of John, we see these pictures of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

And this prophecy confirms that He really is who He claimed to be.

The I am. He was not a lunatic to make these claims. I am the bread of life.

I am the living water. I am the way, the truth in the life. I am the resurrection in the life.

I am the door for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. Before Abraham was born, I am.

Who talks like this? The I am. And His claim is backed up by His fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies found in the

Old Testament. Now, many people have considered that point because it's made so explicitly in the

Scripture. But Peter's point in 2 Peter 119 and in other places is the converse of that.

Now, follow me. If the prophecies prove that Jesus is the Christ, eyewitness testimony joining with what was foretold, then conversely,

Jesus Christ and His miracles and His life and the way He's transformed the world confirms the

Bible. The prophetic word made more sure is an integrated whole.

That is, you cannot believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, unless you believe in the

Scripture that reveals Him. Or technically speaking, you can't separate the metaphysics, the way things are, from the epistemology, how we know what we know.

The Scriptures reveal Jesus, and this likewise confirms that the

Scriptures are true in every word revealed. There have been attempts in history to continue believing in Jesus without a

Bible. The earliest attempt that made any ripples was perpetrated by one

Friedrich Schleiermacher, not exactly a household name. Schleier means veil, and Macher in German, maker.

And in truth, Friedrich Schleiermacher was a maker of a veil. He was blinding people from the truth of God's Word.

See, the problem was his grandfather was a preacher, his father was a chaplain, and he himself went off to Bible college and encountered what was called higher criticism.

Those who did not believe in anything supernatural and so discounted the miracles of the

Bible and did away with the Bible. But here was Schleiermacher's problem.

I'm impressed that I was actually able to say that word. Schleiermacher wanted to be a

Christian. He loved the Christmas trees. He loved the lights. He loved the

German Christmas market. And he didn't want to disappoint his father. Eventually, he would write to him and say,

I don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and I don't believe in the vicarious atonement.

He also said that he wished that he was a woman, which is a whole other can of worms we'll leave aside.

He was clearly, he was troubled, and he didn't believe the

Bible, yet he sentimentally wanted to. And so he found a way in his own mind to bridge this gap and to bring these things together.

He said, I will be a Christian on sentimentality only. He wrote a book in 1805 on Christmas Eve.

And it's kind of a story that has a meaning. It's a parable. It's about how at this

Christmas party, the family came together, and the little girl Sophia was delighting in her music book that she got for Christmas.

But then came the men, the bad, bad men. This is the feminization of the church, by the way, where this all began with Schleiermacher.

And the men only wanted to debate questions of truth. This German higher criticism.

Is it to be believed or can we trust the Bible? And they debated and debated and debated until finally a new character comes into the

Christmas story, comes into the house, and he kind of makes light of the conversation and then says, all we really need is the feelings, the emotions, the sentimentality of Christmas.

And so instead of worrying about whether the Bible is true, don't worry about that. Set that to the side.

Let's go sing some Christmas songs. And this church was the birth of Christian liberalism.

It is to continue to claim to believe in Christ, and maybe even some sincerely do believe, but to outright reject the word of God.

Schleiermacher introduced this concept into the world, and it has become, sadly, the predominant view in the

United States of America. It took about 100 years. Germany was overrun by it.

Adolf Harnack picked it up from Schleiermacher, and the result within 100 years was Adolf Hitler taking the teachings of Harnack, an evolutionist who disliked and rejected the

Bible and pushed his fascist ideology into the Holocaust. The results in Germany of rejecting the

Bible became clear. We in America are on a precipice of rejecting the

Bible, as liberal Christianity would have us do, versus those who are retaining that faith, which is why we have a room full of people.

It's not to sing Christmas songs, as glorious as they are, and we love the lights, but the reason that we gather at this time of year and every

Sunday is because we do believe this book. This word is true in everything it says.

And so we turn back again to John 19, verses 31 to 37.

In John 19, John is very deliberate to point out prophetic occurrences as Jesus dies.

He talks about how his being lifted up was to fulfill prophecy.

John 18, verse 32. You would think that the

Jewish people would stone him for claiming to be God, that he would be cast down and stoned to death.

But no, the prophecies foretold that as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so the

Son of Man must be lifted up. He would have to carry the wood of his own sacrifice.

And so John will record, so Jesus went carrying his own cross. It's a reference to Genesis 22, where Isaac, the beloved son of sacrifice, must carry the wood of his own sacrifice to lay down his life in obedience to his father.

But God restrains Abraham because Isaac is not the Messiah. He's not the one to do it.

He's only a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of the coming Christ. John is careful to make these connections as we go through verse 30.

Last week, I talked about how some think there are contradictions in the Bible. This was too much for Schleiermacher.

It looks like a contradiction. For example, in Mark, Jesus refuses the sour wine.

Remember this? In Luke, he's on the cross and they mock him with the sour wine.

But in John, he says, I thirst and they give him the sour wine.

Which is it? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John? Who's telling the truth? Are these contradictions? These are not contradictions at all.

In fact, as we press into the word of God, we see that it's the prophetic word made more sure.

Jesus, in fact, did refuse the sour wine. As Mark records, at the foot of the cross, before laying down to die, he refused to drink.

Why? Because he did not want the anodyne effect of this bitter mixture, which would have dulled the pain of his suffering.

Instead, he willed to drink the full weight of God's wrath against sin into himself.

And so he refused the wine. He was mocked with the wine on the cross.

But what John records was not the dulling of pain. Rather, just before he cried out, it is finished, he said something else.

Remember what it was? Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's quoting Psalm 22. My God, my

God, why have you forsaken me? Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. It sounded to the crowd like he was calling for Elijah, Eli, Eli.

And so nobody could understand what he was saying because, in fact, his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth.

He was so dehydrated, so poured out on the cross, that his mouth was stuck together to his jaws.

And so it was confusing when he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27, 46 to 50 tells us that this is the case.

And that particular little detail that seems so insignificant, his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.

He's hardly intelligible. What does that have to do with anything? Well, it has everything to do with Psalm 22.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In verse 15, his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth. He's pierced through his hands and feet.

Verse 18, the soldiers are gambling for his clothes. He's fulfilling prophecy. The reason he takes the sour wine and says,

I thirst, was what? To loose his tongue, before there's any pain killing effect of this mixture, he wanted to loose his tongue so he could boldly proclaim a victory shout, it is finished.

And when he cried out to Telestai, everybody in the world within earshot knew exactly what he said.

He was fulfilling prophecy and proclaiming his finished work on the cross in his dying.

And then he breathed his last. Do you see John's intent here? And now in verses 31 to 37, he makes it explicit.

When those nails were pounded into his hands, the ringing of the clanging of the hammerhead to the nail rung out.

And now John wants to hammer home a point to say to you, church, don't miss this, verses 31 to 37, since it was the day of preparation.

And so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day.

The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

This seemed like just a minor insignificant detail, just a circumstance of this particular crucifixion that he had already died prior to the breaking of legs.

It is not insignificant at all. Keep reading. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with the spear and at once there came out blood and water.

He who saw it has borne witness. Hey, church, you can believe this or not, but listen to John.

His testimony is true. This is not subjective feelings.

This is objective testimony, eyewitness testimony. It is true.

And he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe. For these things took place that the

Scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another

Scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced.

So you see that John's concern in relating these events. He's already dead on the cross. He's yet to be buried.

He spends these seven verses to explain that these particular things happened while he hanged lifeless on the cross.

What's John's agenda? Because that's our point in preaching and in hearing the word. We want to think the author's thoughts after him.

What does John want us to think? He wants us to think that Jesus really is the

Christ because he fulfills prophecy. And conversely, that the

Scriptures are to be believed. Verse 36 and 37.

That the Scripture might be fulfilled. Verse 37. And again, another Scripture says.

John's concern is that we, through beholding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus would believe this book.

No Bible, you have no hope. Let's look at three ways from this passage that the

Bible is the hope of the world. And the only hope of the world, that believing what

God has written is our hope in this life and in the one to come.

First, without the Bible, we cannot have knowledge of right and wrong.

Knowledge of right and wrong depends on reason and the Bible. I say reason because built within humanity is a conscience and an ability to reason through the way we ought to interact.

It does not take a Bible or any other book to know that I should not murder you and you should not steal from me and I shouldn't lie and you shouldn't covet.

These things are built into our conscience. Paul says in Romans 2 15, that it's written within us.

This knowledge is a law unto ourselves because God has given us reasonable minds to know basic morality.

But here's the problem. In the fall of man, Genesis chapter 3, the mind of man, the reasoning powers have been twisted or marred.

We don't think rightly all the time. In fact, we often justify ourselves in things that we know are wrong and even convince ourselves that they're right.

Humanity has a way to rationalize sinful behavior and convince oneself that it's actually good.

So by reason alone, we cannot have an ethical grid without this book to give us the knowledge of right and wrong.

We are hopelessly lost. Now the world has attempted other ways of determining right and wrong.

Are you familiar with Sharia law? Approximately 50 countries in the

Middle East practice some form of Sharia law. That is, they believe that the

Quran is a revelation from God. And they use that as their ethical standard to know how to punish wrongdoing and how to operate in the world.

Let me give you a couple of examples. You can go to a website called answering -islam .com

for the citation of this. But Sharia law says these 10 things about right and wrong.

Surah 5, 90 and 91, you should be scourged for drinking or gambling. Surah 4, 34.

Husbands should beat their wives for high -handedness.

That's a disobedient kind of attitude. Surah 5, 45 practices or prescribes for physical eye -for -eye punishment.

If I accidentally take out your eye because of some accident, some negligence on my part,

I am to physically have my eye removed. Surah 5, 38. If a thief steals anything, he is to have his hand cut off, which happens in some of these countries.

Crucifixion is a horror. It is utterly unjust. It is not what is prescribed in Genesis 9 as capital punishment for capital crimes.

The intentional murder of others should be met with capital punishment. But Surah 5, 33 prescribes not capital punishment, but crucifixion for those who rob on the highway.

Abu Dawud 44, 47. Homosexuals are to be pushed off of a building or have a wall pressed down upon them to death.

Surah 24, 2. 100 stripes for fornication and stoning to death for adultery, which

Jesus dealt with directly in John chapter 8. Surah 33, verses 57 to 59.

Any critic of Muhammad, who himself is a Muslim, is to be put to death, drawing a caricature or in some way criticizing the so -called prophet.

If someone is a Muslim, that person should be killed under Sharia law. Bukhari 69, 22.

Anybody who was a Muslim but converts to Christianity, that apostate should be killed by Sharia law.

And Surah 9, 29, jihad. Offensive, aggressive taking of territory and forcing anyone in that land who refuses to convert to pay what is called the jizya, which is a tax for not being a

Muslim. I bring up all 10 of these points because that is the moral ethical system, which is completely immoral and unethical, that Muslims believe because they follow

Muhammad in the Quran and in his Hadith. It's a standard that they believe sincerely in their hearts to be right, good and just.

And the liberal worldview would say, and who are you to criticize that? A liberal worldview would say every person has their private truth.

Well, listen, that's the private individual quote unquote truth of a Muslim. How can you say that that's wrong?

By what standard can you condemn Sharia law? It cannot just come from your own conscience because what makes your conscience better than the cleric in Saudi Arabia?

You have no rational ground for condemning that as unjust.

You can only say it's cultural and you can only say what's good for them is good for them, which brings me to the great danger in America, which is not

Sharia law, although there are some in Dearborn, Michigan that have pockets where they try to practice it.

But in America, drive around Mount Laurel, Marlton, and you are sure to see

Christmas lights and gladly so. Manger scenes, and we like that, that promotes even cultural

Christianity is better than nothing. But as I was driving around, guys show me this picture here.

I noticed that one house had a manger scene in the background and a statement of ethics in the foreground.

Now I want to take a minute to pause and think about what is the ethical system that's taking over America.

Notice that in the foreground, like Schleiermacher, there is an ethical statement, which is, listen, completely opposed to the ethical system of the

Bible. And yet it still claims Christianity with the manger scene in the background.

And this is what we call liberalism. This would be a Christian liberalism, which makes certain ethical claims.

Let's examine them quickly, each one. Black lives matter. Why would someone say black lives matter?

Well, it's not that anybody here or anywhere around here debates the fact that all lives matter because all people in the

Christian worldview made in the image of God are equal in value before God. We all matter.

But to make this statement is to imply that there is a company of people, a certain subset or within society itself, which is saying that black lives don't matter.

And of course, that tends to be a charge against the police. A charge against the police as being systemically racist.

Well, if that is the case, which would need to be examined, it would have to be proven according to biblical justice, by witnesses and evidence.

But what the movement did, and it was subsequently shown in future years to be a corrupt race -baiting power grab as that movement unfolded.

What it did, though, is it threw away biblical categories of justice and said because of the difference between quote unquote people of color and those without color, which is an arbitrary thing.

Now listen, race is not a binary. It is not a binary.

The amount of melanin in the skin is a spectrum from dark, having much melanin, all the way to very little melanin in the skin, an albino.

It is an entire spectrum. But to try to draw an arbitrary line somewhere down that spectrum and create a binary is meant to create, listen, an oppressor class and a victim class, which is the definition of Marxism.

And you see that in what remains of the sign women's rights equal human rights.

Gender, which is a binary, male and female, is meant to now in this worldview be a system of oppressor and oppressed.

Just like white oppresses people of color in the same way men oppress women.

And moving on down the line, no human is illegal. Immigration, boundaries,

Romans 13 one. What's happening here is those who are of a nationality are oppressing the immigrant who has come across borders without following the laws of the land.

So there again is another victim class, fourth, science is real. Here it is really the environment they have in view.

Science is real, is to discount the biblical worldview that God has made the world in six days.

And this was only a few thousand years ago. The truth of the matter is what he says in Genesis 9.

Seasons will continue, hot and cold, summer and winter. God will preserve that right to the end.

Science is real, is to do away with that, propose billions of years of evolution and put man at the center to control the environment, which ultimately makes man the oppressor of the world, of the earth itself.

And the goal of this climate activism is actually explicitly, in their own words, population reduction.

It is meant to reduce the population of humanity on the earth because they are presenting humanity itself as the oppressor of the earth.

Next, love is love. When you hear love is love, understand that this is not a statement with content.

It is a tautology. But a clever use of language to say love is love is to imply that any feeling, any sentimentality, any emotion of affection toward another person is to be welcomed as valid and good.

In this ethical system, if a man is attracted toward a man and feels something, his quote -unquote love is to be regarded as equal as the love between a man and a woman.

Now, does this logic uphold even within its own system? The person who takes the love is love view of morality would have to likewise say that a brother attracted to a sister or a son to a mother, if that is the feeling, is right to have those affections.

After all, love is love. The same could be said of bestiality or any other manner of sexual perversion.

But the truth of the matter is that Genesis chapter 2 verses 24 and 25 says that a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

This is God's design. It is a moral ethical design and it is one where there is complementarity that produces life.

Now, if you look through the moral grid, the immoral grid of liberalism in our country, all of it is a culture of death.

It is anti -human. It is against God's design and his plan and the end of it can never produce life and will never win in the long term.

It is only destructive in the short term. What I'm telling you is that we are in what they call a culture war and we are standing on one side of the battle saying this word is to be believed.

This is a standard that has worked for thousands of years. It's a standard that produces life.

It's a standard that set free those who were bound in slavery as William Wilberforce used this book to bring down the empire of slavery across the new world.

This book sets people free. This book is life. This is the standard and a fifth of the world is saying no, it's over here in the

Quran with Sharia law and most of the west is saying no let's leave this book and that book aside let's create this liberal world view to govern the west and this is the collision that's happening in America right now between biblical

Christianity and liberalism and many of you know that everything

I'm saying is true. You know that this is the civilizational struggle that we are living through and that the future of our children who sang in this room and who grow up and go to these schools everything is hanging in the balance.

This is a life or death struggle. You know the truth but you don't know where your sword is.

What John is saying is that this prophetic word made more sure is true and John says

I've seen it with my eyes it is true. John's point his big point here is that the

Bible can be believed what is your sword when you go talk to your friend who's being led into this deception you can ask them by what standard are you establishing this morality and they must admit that there is no standard but that which is within themselves a subjectivity which cannot govern a culture.

Meanwhile you have a treasure that I'm not sure many of us recognize to be as valuable as it is.

I've read the Quran I've read the Bhagavad Gita and all the works I was a religious studies minor in college before the

Lord really took hold of my heart and I became an evangelist I've read these works and none of them have prophecies fulfilled in any way shape or form even read

Nostradamus and compare that to what we have in the Bible. You have prophecies made more sure by eyewitnesses you have an objective standard to fight with and this is

John's point you can trust that Jesus is the Christ you can believe in him because of the scripture and conversely you can uphold this scripture in the war.

The second point is really already been made and that is from this passage fulfillment of prophecies confirms not only

Christ but the Bible I want you to see John doing this in the text notice in verse 32 the quote unquote historical accident the coincidence in verse 32 is that the soldiers broke the legs of the first and the second but verse 33 they did not break

Jesus's legs in truth verse 36 tells us this was no accident this was no historical happenstance this was

God working in history to fulfill prophecies verse 36 for these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bones will be broken

Psalm 34 verse 20 not one of his bones will be broken but that is drawing from an earlier source in Exodus chapter 12 the

Passover lamb Exodus 12 46 with the Passover lamb none of the bones of the

Passover lamb were to be broken and in a minute I'm going to show you that Jesus is that Passover lamb but there's a second thing here in the text what does the soldier do in verse 34 seeing that he's already dead but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water another fulfillment of prophecy look at verse 37 and again another scripture says church we have hundreds of these prophecies that pile up one on top of another so that none could doubt if they honestly came to this word without the blinding without the veil it's here to see they will look on him whom they have pierced that comes from Zechariah 12 it's talking about the return of Messiah in his second coming this time of joy the very ones who pierced him will look on him and welcome their king

Jesus was not only insulted by his own people rejected by his

Jewish people refused as their king but they physically gave him over to crucifixion and he was run through with the spear in his side fulfilling the prophecy they will look upon the one they have pierced lastly notice in the text that unless we have this revelation from God we cannot know the meaning of Jesus's death a liberal

Christian who celebrates with Christmas trees and Christmas lights and loves to sing

Christmas songs and still calls himself a Christian but doesn't believe in the miraculous things of the

Bible they want to just believe in Jesus they cannot know why

Jesus died the only way to know why

Jesus died what is the meaning of this man dying on a cross the only way to know is from the book itself

Isaiah 53 says he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brings us peace was laid upon him the only way you can know that it was the righteous for the unrighteous that God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that in him we would be the righteousness of God the substitutionary atonement the death of one for the other we only know this by the

Bible take away this Bible you have no meaning in his death you only have sentimentality you have nothing you must have the

Bible to know why he died and so the last point culminates with this what we are seeing and the reason that John so stresses this point they didn't break any bones they broke the bones on the left and on the right but they didn't break his bones instead they pierced him the reason

John does that is to point you the reader to a deeper dive to see that Jesus is the

Passover Lamb Paul will explicate that he will draw that out and make it explicit in 1

Corinthians 5 7 Jesus is our Passover Lamb he's our

Passover turn with me we're only going to spend 5 minutes here and we'll be done back to Exodus 12 there is a concern when hearing the word of God and so much comes flying at you that you might just say wait a minute

I can't follow it's like trying to drink water from a fire hose you're just going to get your teeth blown out right sometimes when the text is just so deep and the preacher is too excited there's a temptation to say ok that's enough

I'm good for today but I want you to just drink some of this water and I'll try not to be a fire hose but just look at Exodus 12 and I'm only going to read 3 to 6 and then

I'll tell you more about what comes and encourage you to study this on your own Exodus 12 verses 3 to 6 says tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month every man shall take a lamb

John the Baptist will say behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the lamb is going to be prophetic of Christ Jesus is the lamb the sacrificial animal who will die for sins but look how specific this gets verse 3 says tell the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month this month was the month of Abib Nisan the 10th day was for the

Passover the starting point of when they are to take and select a lamb when

Jesus came and had fulfilled his ministry and all was complete he got on a white possibly white but on a donkey not a white horse but he got on a donkey and he rode into Jerusalem and was presented to Israel as their king on the 10th of Nisan Sunday keep reading verse 4 and if the household is too small for a lamb then his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons according to what each can eat mark that for a minute you shall make your count for the lamb your lamb shall be without blemish now this is a picture of the sinlessness of Christ why should the lamb be without any marking or any spot because this lamb is to picture the sinless

Christ a male a year old this is a young lamb picturing

Jesus in his youth you may take it from the sheep or from the goats he won't just die for the sins of Israel alone but for all people of all nations but follow notice this and you shall keep it until when the 14th day so if the 10th was the

Sunday the 10th of Abib when Jesus entered Jerusalem they are to keep that lamb dwelling among them until that Thursday the 14th day isn't that interesting because when

Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey he was presented as the king he dwelled among them appearing in the temple each day and teaching them right on through Thursday and then at twilight look at the end of verse 6 when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight when the sun sets on that Thursday what we call

Maundy Thursday or some have called Maundy Thursday that Thursday at sunset the

Hebrew actually reads between the two evenings at twilight so from sunset on Thursday until the sunset following remember

Jesus couldn't be left on the cross beyond sunset this is the time of the killing of the lamb and indeed

Jesus died on a Friday one day we'll have a chance to study Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 to 27 not only do we know what day he was to die the 15th day of Abib of Nisan we know what year it had to happen 69 sevens or 483 years from the decree to restore and rebuild

Jerusalem Messiah would be cut off from 444 BC on the Hebrew calendar to 33

AD Jesus the Messiah must be cut off we know the year we know the month

Abib Nisan we know the day the 15th day the lamb must die now

Jesus is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world all of these lambs killed in the

Passover were meant to be a type a shadow a figure so that when the true lamb of God comes we'd say there he is he's crucified on the 15th day of Nisan in 33

AD he's the true one now

I say that Exodus 12 requires more time to study and I'm going to send you home to look into this let me just read for you a few things of what unfolds in Exodus 12 blood it's the blood of the lamb they are to take the blood of the lamb and they are to mark the doorposts of their house with blood on the lintel and the doorposts and that night an angel of death will pass over and when the angel of death sees the blood marking the doorpost he will pass over and spare those kept safe under the blood in the same way only those who hide under the blood of Jesus the blood of his cross marked from his head his bloody head pierced with thorns to his nail pierced hands bleeding down the doorpost he is that safe doorkeeper the angel of death that would kill us because we're sinners the soul that sins must die that angel will pass over you if you hide under the blood the blood of Jesus another detail it was a hyssop branch that marked the door

John 19 points out that the soldiers took hyssop branches to bring that wine to his mouth another detail not one bone will be broken

Exodus 12 46 but don't break a bone how random is that you're to eat this lamb but don't break a bone even a small bone you be very careful not to break the smallest bone while you're eating that lamb prophetically

Jesus's bones would not be broken on the cross slavery what is the

Egyptian story but that the people of God had been caught in slavery to the

Egyptian nation but by the blood of the Passover lamb when no other plague could do it nine of them had passed and Israel is still in bondage it was the blood of the lamb that brought the slave into freedom and you all were slaves to sin

I was a slave to sin until the blood of Jesus brought me out of that captivity to my own sin nature the sin and death that was in me it was

Jesus that set me free he took Israel out of Egypt into the promised land and into freedom and it is for freedom that we have been set free slavery life remember they got caught at the

Red Sea and the army of Egypt was about to mow them over but God opened a way and in the cloud and in the sea 1st

Corinthians will tell us a picture of baptism that going down under the water walking through the

Red Sea emerging into freedom you are given life you're raised to a newness of life spared

Israel found life through the Passover and so are we through baptism picturing our new life in Christ brought through the water and under the cloud eat eat isn't that remarkable that after putting the blood of the lamb on the door to spare them from death they're now told you are to eat this lamb and Jesus said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no part in me we come here the first of every month the first Sunday of every month we take this bread and one of the elders will hold it up and remind us this is his body broken for you and each one of us will eat this bread in remembrance of him eat remember

Passover is not some obscure little corner of the

Jewish life somebody will say Christians you're just looking for some little minor thing that you can connect to Jesus no no no no the

Passover was the center of Jewish life it was the high day the holy festival which is why

Rome would even let them take bodies off the cross because it was such a big deal it was everything and it was a remembrance of the

Exodus the birth of the nation now can you imagine if someone came to America and they said from now on the 4th of July no longer speaks to 1776 the birth of this nation from now on July 4th is all about me what would we say to such a person you must be crazy 4th of July is the birth of the nation but here comes

Jesus and in communion he says all of this points to me do this in remembrance of me it used to commemorate to remember the birth of the nation he's saying it was me that set them free and now

I'm here to set you free and we could go on and on like this it's not just making things fit the details of that Passover meal are amazing did you know they used to take bread and they still do to this day it has to be unleavened bread because Jesus is sinless they don't know why they do this because many

Jewish people do not accept their Messiah they don't know but they have to stripe the bread with like an oven kind of grill it has to be striped the body of Jesus was striped with the whip with the scourge they don't know that the stripes on that unleavened bread speak to his scourging an afikoman was a cloth wrapped around this bread and someone would take that and bury it somewhere in the house and to this day they do this and one of the children would look for the buried bread and they bring it out just like Jesus was buried away and resurrected on the third day that afikoman that speaks to the burial cloth

I learned a lot of this from Cindy Randall and Rob Randall they did a Passover showing us the connections but you can look into it online as well many

Christians have put this together so in closing if all of these things were prophesied and Jesus by eyewitness testimony confirmed them all then like John says here you can believe that Jesus is the

Christ and the converse of that is also true Jesus being the

Christ confirmed by eyewitness testimony and by prophecy has confirmed this book this is the sword of the spirit this is the word of the living

God every word of scripture is true there's no error in it there are no lies it's pure it's unleavened this word is trustworthy it is trustworthy for an ethical system for your life those who live by this book who guard their hearts by this book and this ethical system will be blessed blessed is the man who does not sit in the seat of mockers or scoffers or walk in their way but his delight is in the law of the

Lord and on his word he meditates day and night you do that you build your life on this book you build your family on this book you build a society on this book and you will be blessed you bless

Israel as this book tells us to do Genesis 12 1 to 3 your nation will be blessed you turn against Israel your nation will be cursed you do the things written in this book and you will have good outcomes so we live what's going to happen now is the new liberalism which is overtaking the

West going to win or is what's happening in this room an indication of what's coming you know what

I think I think the culture of death that is the new liberalism will implode upon itself in short order it can only ever do that while the liberal world order is trying to control population

Christians are saying children are a heritage of the Lord and a blessing and the one who has a quiver full of them is blessed of God so while we make life and the world destroys life they're snuffing out their own wick in time

Christianity will prevail now there will be an increase in wickedness and this could be the time of the end if that be the case then we went another way that is the world waxes worse and worse there's no comeback no revival but guess what the rapture of the church could happen any minute now the king comes back and sets up his kingdom and righteousness so either way we win the question is will you be found faithful when he comes let's pray father we are here this morning to open the book and be reminded that the

Bible is true every word is to be believed father we recognize that without the

Bible there is no hope there's no hope for an individual life it is without meaning it is empty and dark we've only evolved from space dust there's no point to life no

Bible no hope but you have not left us here in the dark to grope about rather you have given us a bright morning star that dawns in our heart 2

Peter 1 19 the prophetic word made more sure and I pray God that we would pay closer attention to it each one of us that our lives would be transformed by your word help us

God to open the Bible take every word seriously and believe every word that you have spoken thank you for your

Bible thank you for your word thank you for your truth help us to live according to your truth in Jesus name amen

O come O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the

Son of God appear Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee

O Israel O come

O come thou rod of Jesse free thine own from Satan's tyranny from death's hell thy people save and give them victory for the grave

Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee

O Israel O come desire of nation find in one the hearts of all mankind bid thou our sad division cease and be thyself our king of peace

Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee

O Israel Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel shall come to thee

O Israel cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened for Christ our