7th Witness — Edgar Reich

Thank you so much. Again, it's a joy to be with you, and I praise the Lord Jesus for having this opportunity to share his word with you. On the table we have some notes for the seventh witness, and if you're interested to take one, you can either take notes, or you can just keep the sheet, and and then also at the end, if you're interested, there is a revival newsletter that has a number of miracles of God in the newsletter that shows how God used other people to change my life and what happened in those circumstances.

So you're welcome to have a newsletter. Okay, I'd like to thank Pastor Mark and his dear wife, Virginia, for the kindness to host this church and then to invite me, give me an opportunity to preach. Heavenly Father, we come again into your holy presence in the name of your holy Son, Jesus Lord.

We thank you for the living bread that you have given us, and you have broken it, and you have blessed it. And now, Father, help me to pass it out, and let there be leftovers, for we ask this in Christ's holy name.

Amen. We're going to talk today about our faith. At one time point, I wondered, is this Christian faith real? Is there any substance to it? The Apostle Paul said that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is in vain.

Do I have this faith, and do I need to have blind faith, or is it informed faith? Are there any witnesses to this Christian faith? And so I'd like you to turn with me to John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5.

We're going to read verse 18, and then we are going to read verses 31 to 39. Young people especially, I'd encourage you to to follow what the Lord Jesus says about witnesses, because there are witnesses in place that prove that our Christian faith is real and has substance.

So we have this wonderful text now in John, chapter 5, and I'm going to read verse 18. And in those days there were many unbelievers also, and they said, Christ, you're not real. There's nothing that proves that you're the Son of God.

In fact, you are a heretic. And they had plans to kill Christ. They wanted to eliminate him, and this is told us here in John, chapter 5, verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

So the Jews were the unbelievers, the Pharisees, and they said, there's nothing true about you, Jesus. You're a heretic. You break the Sunday laws by healing people. And then you also say that God is your Father, and so therefore you're making yourself equal with God, and under Jewish law, that's heresy, and that heresy was to be repaid with stoning.

And there's a passage in the Old Testament that tells us when there was a heretic, he was to be stoned to death. So there were those people who felt that Jesus needed to be stoned to death. And we are now going to go on to verse verses 31 through to 39 in the same chapter, because the Lord Jesus Christ now answers their charges in verses 31 through to 39, and he says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

A better word for not true means not accepted by you as true. So here he gave his own witness that he is the Son, but that was not accepted as true by the Pharisees and by those that didn't believe. Then he goes on, there is another who bears witness.

So here he talks about a witness, of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. You have sent to John, this talks about John the Baptist, who was a forerunner of Christ, and he has borne witness.

Again, he's called a witness here to the truth. We don't just have blind faith, we have informed faith, because Christ has given us witnesses in his scripture to show us that it is truth. And then in verse 34, yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

And he said, you don't want to just believe me, but I have to quote man here. I really don't need to quote man, but I'm doing it to help you understand, to help you find the truth, to know that there is truth.

And then in verse 35, he talks about John the Baptist, and he said, he was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. And now he goes on to the second witness, and he says, but I have a greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.

So here he talks about his miracles. He talks about what he did that proves that he is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, and these miracles bear witness of him. And then in verses 37 and 38, he talks about the third witness, and he says, and the Father himself, God the Father in heaven, who sent me has testified of me.

You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. By the way, at Jesus' baptism, and we'll cover that again a little later, there was a voice from heaven. Scripture doesn't say it was God's voice.

It just says that there was a voice from heaven. So here Jesus says, you have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen him, but you do not have his word abiding in you, because whom he sent, him you do not believe.

So he says here that they can't understand because they're not accepting the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what we need to do to accept him so that we understand this Christian faith. And now he gives the fourth witness in Scripture, in verse 39.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which do what? Testify. Here's another testimony. Here's another witness. They testify of me. So here the Lord Jesus Christ gives us four witnesses, and I was speaking to a young lady the other day, and she said to me, Oh, I don't believe this stuff.

You know, religion is the opium of the masses, and she had quoted Karl Marx, by the way. That's what Karl Marx said, that religion is the opium of the masses. There's no substance to it, and I started to explain to her that God had proven through his son Jesus and sent him to forgive our sins and to give us this wonderful eternal life, and her response was, well, who asked God anyhow?

Who asked God anyhow? And you know, I was reflecting on that, and this young lady had absolutely no idea what Christianity was all about. She had no idea that that God had wanted to save her through his son, and you know, I was a little shocked and taken aback, but then I remembered that the Bible and prayer and God's commandments have been removed from schools in the United States.

So there the young people grew up basically as heathens, you know, and in Canada, part of the Bible is now classified as hate literature, and the question is, will you or I stand up for this Jesus Christ, and can we be an effective witness?

And I know many of you have witnessed already about your relationship with Jesus just in the preamble this morning, and what a wonderful joy that is, but young people, I needed more faith, and you need more faith to know that your faith is real.

What happens if you talk with a Muslim person? What happens when you talk with a Buddhist? What happens when you talk with a Hindu person? They say my faith is real, and so are there any witnesses in their faith that say that their faith is real, and compare that with the witnesses of Christianity, because those witnesses prove that your faith and my faith is real, and that there is a wonderful God.

So come back with me now into this passage of John chapter 5, 31 through to 35, and here in John chapter 5, 31 through to 35, in verse 32, he said, there is another who bears witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.

You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. So who is this witness? Is he a reliable witness? Who is he? And he is John the Baptist, and you know John the Baptist when I think of him as a witness, in a Christian sense, he comes across to me a little bit on the odd side.

Okay, he lived in the desert, and he was wearing this furry stuff, you know, and if he came into this assembly today, and he wore his fur coat and his leather belt, and he started to talk with us. What would I think about him?

Would I judge him as to his clothes? You know, we are so easy to judge, and I would probably do that. I would probably judge him based on his clothes, you know, and then when he started speaking, and he would start talking about where he lived.

Well, where is your home? Give me your home address. Which is your house? You know, what kind of friends do you have? And he would say, well, I live in the desert. I have no home. I have no mansion. Actually, this piece of fur I have on me keeps me warm at night, because the desert is hot during the daytime.

It's very cold during the nighttime. And so would I be able to believe this man? Would he be a witness? Would he be someone that I can trust with my Christian faith? And then I would look at his diet, and you know, he was eating grasshoppers.

I used to eat in three-star Michelin restaurants, and and now here I have this man who says he's a Christian, and he's following God, and he's pronouncing about the Lord Jesus Christ, and his diet is incorrect in my thinking.

What would I think about this man? And you know, so then the Lord Jesus said to me, well, why don't you investigate about this John the Baptist and see what it says about him? And I found that John the Baptist was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3 to 5.

And if you would like to turn to Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3 to 5, it tells us something about him here. Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3 to 5. And this talks about John the Baptist. Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3 to 5.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And here, 800 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist was foretold as coming to prepare the way of the Lord.

And in those days, you know, and we're going back 2 ,000 years, not many people could read. Only a few people could read. There wasn't any television. There weren't any newspapers. There wasn't any radio.

So when the king would come to town, he would always send someone ahead of him, and that person would come running, and he would stand in the middle square of town, and he would shout, The king is coming!

The king is coming! Get ready for the king! And then as the king proceeded to come into the town, they would bow, and they would worship their king as he would come and proceed into town. And that was the function of John the Baptist.

And then it was, then it tells us in Luke chapter 1, verse 13, in Luke chapter 1, verse 13, chapter 1, verse 13, it tells us here in the 13th verse,. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

And so here, John the Baptist's birth, just like the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, was announced by an angel. And this was right from God Himself. And then in the same chapter, Luke 1, verse 15, it says,.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord,. What? He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his birth.

So he was full with the Holy Spirit. And we had just read that the angel had talked to his dad. His dad was Zacharias, and Zacharias was a priest. So John had a right under Jewish law to become a priest.

He was part of the priesthood of the Jewish race, and he could have been in the temple in his priestly garments worshiping God, and he let it not to do that. And that puzzled me. Why would he not do that?

And I had a real tough time understanding why God would do this and allow him to do that. And then in verse 17 of Luke 1, verse 17, it says,. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

So through his ministry, he would turn the hearts of many, many people. He became a mighty preacher. He became a mighty orator. He was full of the Holy Spirit. And so he preached on the River Jordan, and all of the people from Jerusalem would come and see him.

And many got converted because they heard this testimony from this man. And then in Matthew chapter 11, 11, there's something said very, very unusual about him, because this man, John the Baptist, never did a miracle.

There's no recorded miracle for him in Scripture. And so here in Matthew 11, 11, Jesus said something about John, and this refers to John. Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John.

Not one risen greater than John. Up to this point, this is the greatest person that was ever born. Greater than Moses. Yes. Greater than King David. Yes. Greater than Solomon. Yes. Greater than the Twelve Apostles.

Yes. Because he said he was the greatest born of women. So if he's such a great person, how can he walk around in dress like that? How can he eat like that? And you know, then the light started to come on.

Then the light started to get through my head. Then I started to understand. Because to him, nothing was important in this world. He was in total surrender. And the word surrender was mentioned by you this morning.

He was in total submission to God. He had given his life fully. There was nothing important. He didn't need a mansion. He didn't need a Giorgio Armani suit. He didn't need a private airplane out in the desert.

But God called him the greatest born of women, of men. What an incredible testimony this man has. And so here, Jesus names him as his first witness. So if he's a witness, obviously he saw something. Because what are some of the requirements of a witness?

A witness is one who testifies. One who is present at a scene. One who is at an occasion or a transaction. One who has seen with his or her own eyes what has occurred. So what kind of a witness is he?

And now let us go to the key verse for John the Baptist. And let us go to John chapter 1 verses 32, 33, and 34. John chapter 1 verses 32, 33, and 34. And John bore witness. Note here, he's called a witness.

He's giving a testimony. He's testifying. And by the way, this is a written witness. A written witness is admissible in a court of law. So this written witness is a witness for my faith. I can depend on what is written here.

I can depend on John the Baptist. I can depend to know that Jesus is the Christ. And so here it says, and John bore witness saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him.

Now know what he's saying. I didn't know him. So he didn't know Jesus. Jesus turned up on the River Jordan and wanted to be baptized. And John the Baptist knew that this was the man. And he said, I'm not worthy to even carry his sandals.

John the Baptist was humble. He humbled himself before the Lord and he said, I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water. So who sent John the Baptist? He was sent by the Holy Spirit.

He was sent by God himself. And so God had told him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, upon whom you see, whom you see with your own eyes, because you will be a witness to God. You have seen with your own eyes the Spirit descending and remaining on him.

This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And now note verse 34. And I have seen and I testify, I'm a witness that this is the Son of God. And beloved, I ask you to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life if you ask him. And now let us go on to the second witness. The second witness was in John chapter 5, 36. John chapter 5, 36 talks about Jesus' miracles.

And he said, Jesus said to you, my miracles prove that I am the Son of God. I don't know which is your favorite miracle. There's the feeding of the 5 ,000. There is Jesus walking on the water. There's Jesus healing the blind.

One of my favorite miracles is when John, when the Lord Jesus Christ brought back Lazarus from death. And this miracle is talked about in John chapter 11, verse 39. We're still in the book of John, 1139.

And what had happened was that Jesus was friends with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and Lazarus was ill. And so Mary and Martha sent for the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lazarus is ill. Come and come and help us.

And Jesus took extra time in Galilee, and he didn't answer right away. And I was wondering about that, and then I heard the discord between Martha and the Lord Jesus. And Martha said to him, if you had come, my brother would still be alive.

If you had come, my brother would still be alive. And, you know, she was accusing Jesus, actually, and women do this indirectly, sometimes with men. Men are supposed to know what they're supposed to be doing, you know.

And so she said, you should have known better. When I sent for you, you didn't come right away, and now my brother is dead, and it's your fault. And you see, the problem was that she had faith for Lazarus to be healed, but she didn't have faith for Lazarus to be raised from the dead.

So let us read John 11, verse 39. And Jesus said, take away the stone, Martha. The sister of him who was dead said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. Lazarus was dead for four days, buried in a tomb in a hot country.

The breaking down of the body had commenced, and there was a stench of death. The scientific explanation is, when our heart stops beating, blood drains from the capillaries and collects in lower surfaces.

Cells seize aerobic respiration. Calcium ions leak into muscle cells, leading to rigor mortis. Cells die and can no longer fight bacteria. The cells' own enzymes and bacteria start to break down cells and tissue, causing the body to decompose.

Brain cells will die after approximately three minutes when deprived of oxygens. Then there are death squads of beetles, flies, and worms, and they start to feed on you. So when you're dead for four days in a hot climate, you are dead indeed.

So the process of decomposition is accelerated. You would need the Son of God to bring you back to life, and that is what Jesus did. He said, remove that stone, and then he cried out and he said, Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus came forth.

He was all bound up like a mummy. You've all seen these mummy movies, and he was coming out all bound up in this white cloth, and that white cloth had to be removed so that he would be recognized. And now come some of the witnesses.

If you check John 11 verses 45 and 46. John 11 44, 45 and 46. Sorry, verse 44. And he who had died came out, bound hand and foot with grave cloth, and his face was wrapped with the cloth. Jesus said to them, lose him and let him go.

And then in verse 45, then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him. And the word Jews here means unbelievers. It means Pharisees. It means scribes. It means those that had not previously believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they became witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God. And again, I ask you to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life if you ask him.

And now the third witness was given to us in John chapter 5, verse 37. In John chapter 5, verse 37. And the Father himself who sent me has testified of me, so God the Father has testified. How did God the Father testify?

You know, if you were to meet my daughters and my daughter said, well, my dad is Edgar Reich, you might believe them and you might not, because it's their testimony. But if I introduce them to you and I say to you, this is my daughter Angela, and this is my daughter Suzanne, you would believe because there's confirmation.

Isn't that right? So God the Father did this three times. He spoke via a voice from heaven. And the first time was at Jesus' baptism. And let us turn to Matthew chapter 3, verse 17. Matthew chapter 3, verse 17.

And I'm having you look up all of these passages because I want you to believe the scriptures. Because the scriptures are your witness. The scriptures tell you what is truth. And you also need to check up on the preachers who tell you things so that you know that you're hearing the truth.

And so Matthew chapter 3, verse 17. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And here God spoke via a voice from heaven, confirming that Jesus Christ is his Son.

So when you talk with a Muslim person and he says, no, no, Muhammad is the way, then you can say, but there is proof that God spoke from heaven. God spoke from heaven. And God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.

Salvation comes not through Muhammad, but salvation comes through the living Son of God. And then let's take a look at Matthew chapter 17, verse 5. Three times John spoke from heaven. Matthew, sorry, God the Father spoke three times from heaven via a voice.

And this is the second time. And this is Matthew 17, 5. And this is Matthew chapter 17, verse 5. And here it says, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And suddenly a voice came out of the clouds saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Hear him. And what had happened was that Peter and John and Andrew had gone to a mound with the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is called the Mound of Transfiguration. And all of a sudden two others appeared with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then Peter was going to have a tabernacle or a church built for all three. And then came the voice from heaven. And God corrected Peter's thinking because Peter was impulsive. He thought maybe Moses and Elijah were the important people.

And God said from heaven, this is my beloved Son. Hear him. So again, we know that Christ is the living Son of God. He is the one. And then the third time comes from John chapter 12, 27. John chapter 12, 27.

And what is happening here is that Jesus is praying and Jesus is asking the Lord God, his Father, to let the cup pass. John 12, 27. By the way, this is one prayer where God didn't answer because it wasn't God's will.

Even for the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we pray, we also need to pray in God's will, by the way. And this is what Jesus did here. And he said, now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify your name. I will glorify it again. And the way God has glorified himself is because he gave us his Son.

His Son was born for us. And now God will glorify his name again because he will offer his Son as an offering for our sins to give us salvation. And that is how God will glorify his name through his Son.

And he answered a third time from heaven. And so I ask you to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life if you ask him. Now, we have come to the end of four witnesses that were given to us by the Lord Jesus.

And the preacher has a request. Would you let me add three other witnesses to make it seven witnesses this morning? And I know it's almost lunchtime. Take your time, brother. We can wait.

Don't rush. Don't rush. A little fasting is not going to hurt us.

Thank you. So may I present to you then the fourth witness. The fourth witness is the Holy Spirit himself. And I'd like you to refer to... Sorry. Is that the fifth witness? Oh, sorry, that's the fifth witness.

You're right. I'm getting excited here. I'm thinking about lunch. The fourth witness are scriptures themselves. The fourth witness were the scriptures that Jesus referred to in John 5, verse 39. Now, which scriptures did the Jewish people and Jesus have in those days?

The Old Testament. Only the Old Testament, right? And the Old Testament, by the way, is contained in the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible. And then in the Jewish Torah, we have the books of Moses. We have the law.

And, you know, many people say, well, scripture cannot be relied upon. And many of you young people, you hear from your friends that say scripture is not real. And I'm so glad, I'm so glad that you can invite them to go with you down to the Rome Museum.

Because at the Rome Museum at this time, what do they have? The Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls. And what is the significance of that? And that was so wonderful for me when those scrolls were found.

Because the scrolls date back more than a thousand years before any of the other scriptures. And the scrolls date back to before the birth of Christ, some of them. So there we have proof that the church could not have changed the writings.

We have proof in the Old Testament that Christ is the Son of God. We have proof that the scriptures were not changed. We have proof that all of the arguments we hear, that this is not of God, that it is wrong.

Because, you see, the old prophets, they also had a problem. Because when they prophesied and they were wrong, what happened to them? When they prophesied and, let's say, Jeannie Dixon was a prophetess and sometimes she was right and sometimes she was wrong.

Now, when you were a Jewish prophet in the old days and you weren't right, you were killed. You were stoned to death. So they had to be right with their predictions for that time. They had to be right with their predictions for the future.

So let us check in the Old Testament a little bit. And by the way, there were many, many scrolls found of the prophet Isaiah. There were 22 books or scrolls found about Isaiah. And when you go to the Rome, and I went to the Rome Museum to see the scrolls, they are not really scrolls.

They only have fragments there. But some scrolls were found, but they might be in hands who will not release those scrolls. But even those texts that were found were such an encouragement to me to read a passage from Isaiah, from before the birth of Christ.

And it was so incredible a feeling for me to see that my faith has substance. My faith is real. It is not blind faith, but it is faith that is based on the scriptures. And so let us check in Isaiah 7, verse 14.

Isaiah 7, verse 14. Isaiah 7, verse 14. And here it says, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. What sign will he give? Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

And there we have foretold in the scriptures through the prophet Isaiah that the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Messiah would be born through a virgin. And then later on we read in the New Testament that Jesus was born through the virgin Mary.

And what a wonderful, incredible thing that is. And then let us turn in Isaiah to chapter 53, verses 5 to 8. Isaiah 53, 5 to 8. Isaiah chapter 53, 5 to 8. This talks about the Messiah. And, you know, the Jewish people that don't believe only expected a reigning Messiah.

They did not expect a suffering Messiah. But here's scriptures about 700 before Christ. Isaiah wrote,. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

And by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity on us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.

Yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. In verse 8, He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generation?

And now comes the prophecy of Jesus' death here in this passage in verse 8. For he was cut off from the land of the living. So the Messiah would be cut off. He would have to die. He was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgression of my people he was stricken. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. For which transgressions? My people. We are all of his people. And for our sins he was stricken.

And struck down he would have to die. And here's the proof that we have a Messiah that had to go to the cross for our sins. And then I'd like you to turn to Micah, chapter 5. To Micah is a minor prophet and he might be a little bit hard to find.

He's sort of towards the end of the Old Testament. There's Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. And then there's Nahum, Maggacut. But in Micah, chapter 5, verse 2. Micah, chapter 5, verse 2. It says, But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be the ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.

And this is a prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And here the prophet Micah was told about 750 years before the birth of Christ that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And now even a more incredible prophecy in Zechariah.

And if you continue after Micah and you go on to Nahum and Habakkuk, then Zechariah comes. Zechariah 11, verse 12. Zechariah chapter 11, verse 12. Zechariah 11, verse 12. Then I said to them, It is agreeable to you, give me my wages, and if not, refrain.

So they weighed out for my wages 30 pieces of silver. And this is just an incredible prophecy because the Lord Jesus Christ would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. And here about 500 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the prophet Zechariah, God told us, Your Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

What awesome scriptures we have. What awesome word of God. And then if you don't remember any of these passages, although Christ walked with the two brothers from Amos, and he proved to them from the Old Testament, from Scripture, that he was the Christ.

And I'm sure he used some of these passages to prove to them that he was the Christ. And now let us refer to Psalm 22. If you remember no other psalm, if you remember none of the other scriptures, remember Psalm 22.

Because it is a messianic psalm. It talks about the suffering Christ. It talks about the Christ being put on the cross for us with his hands pierced, with his feet pierced. And you can read the whole psalm at home, but I'm going to refer to Psalm 22.

And we're going to go to verse 16. And starting at verse 16 through to 17 and 18. For dogs have surrounded me, the assembly of the wicked has enclosed me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. So here this talks about the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

He's being surrounded by wicked men. And then he says, they pierced my hands and my feet, which talks about the crucifixion. And this is about a thousand years before the birth of Christ, because David wrote the psalm.

And he wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And it says, I can count all my bones, they look and they stare at me. By the way, none of his bones were broken. This is another prophecy here, that none of his bones would be broken.

What happened was, when the people on the crosses didn't die soon enough, then the soldiers would come with a tuba before and hit it across the legs of those that were crucified, so that their legs would be broken.

So then they couldn't breathe anymore. And as soon as they lost their breath, they would die. But this never happened with Jesus. His legs were not broken. And this is a prophecy that he could count all his bones, they would not be broken.

And then in verse 18, and they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. And when you read in the New Testament, the soldiers took his tunic, they took his clothing, and they gambled over his clothing.

And this was here prophesied in the book of Psalms. And beloved, I ask you to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life, if you ask him. And I also like to, and I mentioned this, I think, a couple of weeks ago, but Jesus is not only the Son of God, but he's also God, because in the prophet Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, and here God called him names through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chapter 9, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the baby Jesus, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God.

What? A baby called Mighty God? And then God the Father called him, in the next part, this baby, he called him Everlasting Father. So Christ is also God, and on your sheet you have three things that you could possibly fill in, and Jesus is co-equal, and Jesus is co-eternal, and Jesus is co-ruling with God, because we have a Mighty Savior, we have a Mighty God who is real.