Sermon for Lord's Day August 27, 2023 The Spirit of Prophecy

the Lord. Luke chapter 24, one verse is what we'll be reading in your hearing this morning.

Luke chapter 24 and verse 27. This is the word of the living

God. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

You may be seated. Let's go to the Lord in prayer together. Our heavenly father, as we come before your throne, as always and as ever, we can do nothing but bow our hearts and bow our heads in praise and adoration and in worship of you, the king of glory.

For you have opened the way of salvation to men, to women, to boys and to girls, that those who would come can come believing and trusting and resting in your amazing grace as we sing about it this morning.

And that we are not only saved by grace, but Lord, we are kept by grace.

And as the old song says, how I love to tell the old story for it will be

Lord my theme in glory to tell that old, old story of Jesus and your love.

God, keep it fresh in our hearts as you did with the apostles on the road to a mess, like our hearts, souls and minds ablaze for you and God burn us for your glory.

For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. And beginning with Moses and all of the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.

If you want to put a header on your notes today, you can put this. I've titled my notes, the spirit of prophecy.

I'm going to make clarification to this statement in just a moment, but as we enter into and we begin to lay a foundation for understanding this passage, we're going to do a couple of things this morning.

Number one, we'll be defining prophecy, defining prophecy.

And number two, we're going to communicate the purpose of prophecy as it is set forth in the text of the

Bible. And lastly, we're going to give a brief exposition of verse 27.

So we're going to define prophecy. We're going to communicate the purpose of prophecy as set forth in the scriptures.

And lastly, give an exposition of verse 27. In our time together last week, we examined just how big, just how large the question was that Jesus asked the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

If you look back one verse, you'll see this question, was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

Today, we're going to see the breadth, the height, the length and the depth of which the

Old Testament points both the Old Testament saints as well as New Testament saints to Jesus.

And it does so points to Jesus through Moses and through the prophets, just as Christ preaches to these two disciples on the road.

Now, a memory aid for us to consider Old and New Testament, to draw distinctions, to understand them a little better, there's a simple phrase.

In the Old Testament, Christ is concealed. In the Old Testament, Christ is concealed.

And in the New Testament, Christ is revealed. In the

Old, he's concealed. In the New, he is revealed. The Old Testament itself is a series of prophecies.

It's a series of prophecies concerning the person and the work of Christ.

Very important here concerning the person and the work of Christ. And it is interpreted, the

Old Testament is interpreted in and through the

New Testament. You won't find another book in history before or after outside of the

Old or the New Testament that rightly interprets the Old Testament, that rightly gives us an understanding of what was said in the

Old Testament. Very, very important there. In the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, we read in chapter 19, beginning in verse 6.

This is what the scripture says there, Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse 6.

The word of God says this. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out,

Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory for the marriage of the

Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, John is writing this, the apostle

John. And he said, the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the

Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God that I fell down at his feet to worship him.

John said this, but he said to me, you must not do that. I am your fellow servant with you and your brothers who whole listen to the testimony of Jesus, the testimony of Jesus.

And then he makes a two word sentence, a statement, worship

God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

We said, we're going to define prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

It is the heart of prophecy. It is prophecy fulfilled.

So Matthew Henry said this concerning that little section of scripture there in revelation.

He said he gave a very good reason for his refusal. He said,

I am thy fellow servant. He's talking about the angel. He said, I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, which have the testimony of Jesus.

I am a creature, the angel stated. I am a creature, thine equal in office, though not in nature.

I, as an angel and messenger of God, have the testimony of Jesus, a charge to be a witness for him and to testify concerning him.

And thou, as the angel speaks to John and thou as an apostle, having the spirit of prophecy has the same testimony to give in.

And therefore we are in this brethren and we are fellow servants.

This being said, when we talk and consider and think about prophecy as believers in Jesus Christ, as the apostle

Paul had stated numerous times throughout the epistles under inspiration of the

Holy Ghost, I might add that we are to be unified, amen, unified in heart and unified in mind, understanding and rightly dividing and interpreting the scriptures.

So concerning prophecy, I would like to be transparent and say there are a number of views concerning prophecy.

There are a number of ideas concerning prophecy, but particularly concerning the interpretation of the

Old Testament according to the New Testament. Again, remember, the

New Testament interprets the Old Testament. We understand what is said in the

Old Testament because we have the New Testament. They go hand in hand.

They are both indispensable, but concerning this understanding of the

Old Testament according to the New Testament, in his book about this very topic,

G .K. Bill, which, by the way, I encourage you to get this book, to read this book. G .K.

Bill notes this concerning these many views on the idea of prophecy. He talks about a whole bunch of views, but one particular view that really leapt out to me is the view called the typological view or the typological view, t -y -p -o -l -o -g -i -c -a -l, the typological view.

And what this typological view holds is that the Old Testament prophecies are to a large degree held as veiled references to the work of Jesus, held as veiled references to the work of Jesus by setting forth, and we've heard this terminology, by setting forth in types and in shadows those things which were written in the

Old Testament times, and by those who practiced what was written in the

Old Testament times, or we might refer to them as practitioners, so the practitioners and the writers of the

Old Testament times, but it is only after Christ came, it is only after Christ fulfilled all that was written concerning him that were the

New Testament authors able to comprehend and to make sense of what the

Old Testament had said. In other words, to a large degree, a great grand degree in the

Old Testament, the things that were written concerning Christ, even the Old Testament writers didn't have the full picture.

They were somewhat, if you would have my weak language, in the dark about the fullness of Christ.

However, going on, very important as we consider this, so with that being said, my point is this, the point is this, from creation to consummation, from the book of Genesis to the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, from the beginning to the end, the

Bible is ultimately about Jesus. It is about the

Christ. Some authors, back in the 80s particularly, I remember reading in the late 80s and the 90s, some authors referred to this idea as the scarlet thread of redemption that runs through the scriptures, that thread that holds the garment together, if you would have it, bringing the full picture of who

Christ is, of why Christ came, of what Christ accomplished and where Christ went and what will happen in the end times, in the eschaton.

We have this in the word of God. So concerning prophecy, there are a number of Old Testament as well as New Testament passages concerning prophecy.

So here are a couple of New Testament passages. For example, these will help us,

I believe, get a grasp on the meaning of the word prophecy. So we don't have just an idea that's all over the place, but that we have a coherent, succinct idea of what prophecy is in the scriptures.

So I'd like to preface our remarks by saying that when we read a prophecy, when we read about prophecy, particularly in the

New Testament, we see, and this is important, we see that prophecy and tongues are always connected in the

New Testament. We see them always connected together. When one is spoken of, the other is generally connected and interrelated.

So knowing this, it helps us, if you would, sort through some of the misunderstandings that come to be when tongues and prophecy are spoken about in other contexts.

We need to be on the same page and understanding what the scriptures say. So if we go to 1

Corinthians chapter 14, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, 1

Corinthians, this is the first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle

Paul writes, we have many instructions, particularly beginning chapter 12 concerning spiritual gifts, and prophecy is a spiritual gift according to the scriptures.

But just verse 6, for the sake of time this morning and concentrated focus, let's consider 1

Corinthians 14, 6 to understand, to get our definition, our foundation laid concerning prophecy.

The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 6, now brothers, he said, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will

I benefit you? And we're going to see four words he uses. How will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

That's verse 6. That's the bulk of chapter, or verse 6 in chapter 14.

As we said, make sure I'm not skipping anything on that here. Yes. So we see four things mentioned, revelation.

It's the Greek word apocalypsis. We see the word knowledge, the word gnosis in Greek.

We see the word prophecy, prophetia. There's different, different parts or it's used differently, but prophetia.

And then the word teaching, didache in Greek. We see all of these things. So what does revelation, what is revelation?

It means to lay bare. It means to make naked. It is a disclosure of truth.

It is instruction concerning things which were before unknown.

Now, Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy and the revelation, the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ is the unveiling of Christ.

And in the book of revelation, we have God himself setting forth this truth that Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy.

What does prophecy aim toward? Jesus Christ. It points toward revealing

Jesus Christ. The next word we see is knowledge. Knowledge signifies general intelligence and understanding.

How much plainer could Luke have been in the beginning of this gospel of Luke that we are in coming near to the end of now?

How much clearer could he have been when he told Theophilus I have chosen to set in order and in an orderly manner the truth concerning Jesus Christ so that you might have a full understanding of who he is and what he has done.

The apostle Paul goes on to use the word prophecy and teaching connected by or there as well as all these revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching.

These are interconnected terms. They're not meant to be taken separately. Prophecy or teaching.

Teaching is that which is taught. Doctrine. We're familiar with that word, right?

Doctrine. What is doctrine? Teaching. Somebody said it. Very good, right?

So it's doctrine. It's teaching concerning something or the act of teaching and instruction.

So when the apostle Paul is addressing prophecy here in 1 Corinthians, we see these with these four words, we get context and understanding how these are all connected, right?

And they all point to giving us a knowledge, a greater understanding, a revelation of Jesus Christ.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

It's amazing how the scripture sets this forth and how yet how often we so often blow by it when we open up the scriptures, when we begin to look in the text and we just miss it.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 12 through 24, the apostle

Paul writes, we ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the

Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves and we urge you brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted and help the weak.

So we see a call to action, right? Admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak and be patient with them all.

See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

And then he says, rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances. Why? For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

And then the apostle Paul says, do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies.

You see the word there. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. And now may the

God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ because he who calls you is faithful.

He will surely do it. Do it. So what is prophecy?

And what is the purpose of prophecy as biblically defined? Biblically defined for definition, if you want to write this down, biblically defined the word prophecy as used in the scriptures is really, again,

I want to go to another text because we want to have the scripture interpret the scripture for us so that we understand.

But the simple definition of prophecy is this. It is discourse. The first part of the definition, it's a discourse emanating from divine inspiration.

A discourse emanating from divine emanation. So what is prophecy?

It is a discourse emanating from divine inspiration. I say that because the apostle

Peter in his second letter writes these words in 2 Peter 1, verse 16 through 21.

He said this, we did not follow cleverly devised fables or myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and glory from God the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory saying, this is my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased. Peter says, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Peter is referring to the mount of transfiguration. Peter is referring to this moment in time when

Jesus said, hey Peter, hey James, hey John, come with me. Pray, saw

Moses and Elijah standing before them. Peter asked, should we build tabernacles for them?

They looked back up and all they saw was Jesus. This is the spirit of prophecy.

Moses pointed to Christ. Elijah pointed to Christ. The Psalms point to Christ.

The Proverbs point to Christ. Everywhere in the scriptures you will find

Jesus Christ going on. Paul, Peter said this, and despite us seeing this and we have the prophetic word, we see this term used, the prophetic word, this discourse that emanated from divine inspiration,

Peter said we have the prophetic word even more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts knowing this first of all.

This is why he says this. This is why we can't just use this passage willy -nilly any way that we want to.

Peter says first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own private interpretation.

Cults begin this way with individuals giving private messages,

PMs from the divine majesty somewhere and they build whole religions on this doctrine because the prophecy never points anywhere but to Jesus Christ.

This is what we see in the word. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. We see this term used.

No prophecy, divine inspiration, no discourse that emanates from divine inspiration is produced by the will of man.

No matter how hard man tries, no matter how hard man thinks, you cannot produce a divine discourse.

Going on, the scripture says no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but, and he gives clarification here, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

Holy Spirit. So when we talk about prophecy, we're talking about discourse that emanates from divine inspiration.

Have anybody that you know written anything that compares to the word of God?

The answer there would be no. No, there's nothing that stands up to the truth of the word of the living and the true

God. Next part of the definition of prophecy, it declares the purpose of God.

So it's divine, it's a divine, or it's a discourse emanating from divine inspiration that does this, it declares the purpose of God.

What was the purpose of God? The purpose of God before the foundation of the world was to give his son,

Jesus Christ, so that he would be the propitiation of the sins of the world.

It points to Christ. So prophecy is discourse that emanates from divine inspiration.

It declares the purpose of God. And how does it do this? How does prophecy declare the purposes of God?

It does so by reproving and admonishing the wicked or by comforting the afflicted.

Only the word of God is able to do both things, to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.

In our churches today, there are a great many people who need comfort and your comfort will come from God.

Your comfort will come from God's word. It is tried, it is true, it is proven, it is the standard.

And I would also add that there are a great many who come into our churches in these days who need to be afflicted.

They need to be afflicted with the word of God. Jeremiah said, oh Lord, the hard hearts of men, women, boys, and girls who come in and out church doors, this church, that church, every church that you want to think of today, there are some who have is able to break those hearts only and put in him a heart of flesh that he can respond to him.

So prophecy declares the purpose of God and it does so by reproving and admonishing the wicked and comforting the afflicted and by revealing things that are hidden.

So again, we're talking about prophecy as the scriptures tell it, revealing the things that were hidden in the

Old Testament, in those tops and shadows, even in the ceremonial practices, in the laws, these things pointed to Christ.

In the Old Testament, Christ was concealed but pointed to.

And in the New Testament, Christ is revealed and he is pointed to.

So you've got light from the old and the new shining into one, Jesus Christ, the

Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. Lastly, as we laying this foundation for understanding prophecy, prophecy, what is the purpose of prophecy?

The purpose of prophecy as used in the New Testament in relation to the utterance of the

Old Testament prophets. The purpose of prophecy was the prediction of events, the prediction of events that relate to Christ's kingdom, that point to Jesus Christ, that point to the kingdom of Christ, its speedy triumph, and also points together with the consolations and the admonitions that are necessary.

In an old work, I really can't remember the name of this work here.

I took a screenshot because I wanted to read you just a little bit. But as we move into the text here,

Luke chapter 24, verse 27, this language that is used by these old writers at some old seminary says this, what a wonderful opening up and application of prophecy this must have been concerning Jesus, preaching unto them all that the scripture said concerning himself.

The writer says here, we can but wish some inspired pen might have caught the words and put them down as they fell from his lips.

We suppose he quoted to them the words of Moses from in the Old Testament where Moses said a prophet shall the

Lord your God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me him you shall hear.

When Moses said that, guess who he was pointing to? Jesus. Going on, perhaps he mentioned the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness for the healing of the smitten people.

He may have quoted Job when Job declares, though the skin worms may destroy my flesh, yet in my flesh,

I know that one day after a while I will see God. Why?

Because my Redeemer lives. That's what Job said. The writer goes on here to say this.

If in the conversation, the disciples referred to the cruelness with which Jesus was crucified, he could have appropriately quoted to them

Psalm chapter 22, verse 7 and 8, where the psalmist writes these words.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying he trusted on the

Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

That was said. We had that in scripture. This writer goes on to say he perhaps reminded them of Zechariah chapter 11 in the 12th and 13th verses, where the

Lord said, and I said unto them, if you think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear.

So they weighed for my price, 30 pieces of silver.

And the Lord said unto me, cast it into the potter, a goodly price that I was priced at of them.

And I took the 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the

Lord, written by the prophet Zechariah. Jesus Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

And guess where, or guess what price that bought?

It bought the potter's field. We see this in the New Testament. This writer said he must have quoted them

Micah 5 too. But thou, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee he shall come forth.

Unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old and have been from everlasting to everlasting.

He might have quoted to them Isaiah, and I won't read anymore in that.

I'll try to find the full PDF. I'll be glad to share that with anybody that would like to read this work on the prophecy of Christ.

But what is amazing and what is incredible about what Jesus does here in the text, in sharing with them what the

Old Testament says about him, the amazing thing is this, is that it is he himself who the

Old Testament declared the son of righteousness, who would rise with healing in his wings.

And it is the son of righteousness that is standing before them at this moment. And what is he doing?

He is dispelling the shadows. He is driving the shadows of the mystery of the gospel that had been hidden for 4 ,000 years to them, for 4 ,000 years.

And now in full view before these two men on the road to Emmaus, before these two men,

Jesus demonstrates that he is the substance of these shadows that were proclaimed.

He is the fullness of these prophecies that were set forth, that he himself is the antitype of the types and the shadows that were prophesied about him in the

Old Testament. How could their hearts do anything else but burn, do anything else but be settled in his faithfulness and his goodness?

And so the Scripture says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets he interpreted, he divided.

That word means divided. He divided unto them all that the prophets, the law and the prophets said concerning him.

And again, we don't have that pinned down, the exact words of this grand sermon that Jesus preached and proclaimed to them.

We had the fact that it was done, but what we do have is the 66 books of God's word, both the

Old and the New Testaments. And what we can look at, what we can find in that is quite simple.

So what I've done in simple form, and I've shared this before in a previous sermon, but I want to share it in full from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus Christ.

In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, we see enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman.

He shall bruise your head and you, or he shall bruise your head and he shall bruise your heel.

That's pointing to Jesus Christ. In the book of Exodus, we see the command of God to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and on the lentils so that when the death angel comes, he will see the blood and he will pass over you.

That's Jesus. In the book of Leviticus, this is where you lose everybody.

Man, come join the men's Bible study on Thursday night. We're in Leviticus. It ain't a bore.

It ain't a drag. I'll tell you why, because all we see is Jesus. Jesus, Jesus in the text.

In the book of Numbers, in the book of Numbers, the serenity, that's

Jesus. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.

In the book of Deuteronomy, we see the Lord commanded through Moses the law of God to be kept.

And what did we learn in catechism this morning? That man is perfectly not capable of fully keeping the law of God, but Jesus did.

In the book of Deuteronomy, or in the book of Joshua, we see the conquest of Joshua, which foreshadowed nothing else but the victory of our

Savior over sin. In the book of Judges, we find a series of judges and lawgivers.

In the New Testament, we see the one judge and the one lawgiver, the person

Jesus Christ. In the book of Ruth, we see the story of the Gentiles being grafted into the vine.

Who alone can accomplish this but Jesus Christ himself. In 1st and 2nd

Samuel, God raised up David to be a king in Israel, which God had made his son to be in the lineage of David.

In 1st and 2nd Kings and in 1st and 2nd Chronicles, we had the history of the

Davidic line. You may say, what's the big deal about that? The big deal is

God was faithful to his version of Jesus Christ.

Not a temporary throne as David had, but an eternal, everlasting dominion in Jesus Christ.

In the book of Ezra and in the book of Nehemiah, we see the restoration of worship and we see the broken down walls in Jerusalem.

What does this typify? Salvation in Jesus Christ. Salvation in Jesus Christ.

In the book of Esther, we find that God is always present with his people. Even if his name ain't mentioned, he is present with his people.

And in the New Testament, we find this, that he is called Emmanuel, God with us.

In the book of Job, justice is meted out. How? According to the wisdom and the sovereignty of God.

The New Testament teaches us that by the determined counsel and the full knowledge of God, that God meted out justice for our sin.

And he did so by sending his only begotten son to die for our sins.

In the book of Psalm 22 particularly, we hear the psalmist cry, my

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And from the cross, we hear our

Lord cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The skeptics say, oh, Jesus just knew his Old Testament and he was looking back and quoting the psalm.

No, what the psalmist was doing was looking forward to Christ. In the book of Isaiah, in the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, all that is sought out in this life, the preacher said, like wisdom and knowledge and love are not found in worldly pursuits, but they are found in one, the person of Jesus Christ.

In the book of Isaiah, by his stripes, we are healed. The Lord has laid on him

Jesus' iniquity of us all. In the book of Jeremiah, the sweeping, the weeping prophet typifies, sets forth, shows forth, demonstrates the long -suffering and the faithfulness of almighty

God. Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 42, thus says the Lord, just as I have brought this great calamity upon this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

In the book of Lamentations, loss and pain restored to Israel. How? By giving them hope and prayer.

If you have lost hope, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to pray. Run to the living

God. Seek him today for he is not dead.

In the book of Ezekiel, we quoted it earlier, but the prophet writes this, thus says the

Lord, I will take the heart of stone out of man and give him a heart of flesh. In the book of Daniel, numerous examples, three men were thrown into the fiery furnace.

But when they looked, Nebuchadnezzar looked into that furnace, there were not three men in that furnace, but there were four men.

And the fourth man looked like nobody he had never seen before, the son of the living

God. This is what we find in the Old Testament. This is prophecy.

In the book of Hosea, God demonstrated his love to an unfaithful people.

Boy, God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for the ungodly. That's you today. Joel, we see the promise of the spirit is coming.

In the book of Amos, Amos' message was that the people should seek the Lord and live.

Seek the Lord while he may be found. In the book of Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, the judgment of God, you can be sure this is just as certain as his mercy.

Jesus, again, this ain't the sermon Jesus preached, but man, you can just go through the books and you see it right there.

In the book of Zephaniah, we know God is not distant, God is not distant, and God is not uninvolved in human affairs.

He has his hand, his eyes, his mind, his heart, everything on.

Haggai and Zechariah, we read holiness to the Lord, for behold, your king is coming to you, which was quoted concerning Christ as he entered into Jerusalem.

He shall come riding the foal, the colt of an ass, into Jerusalem, and that is what he did.

In the book of Malachi, we see that every eye shall behold him. And in the

New Testament, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what do we hear from the apostle John? Behold the

Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In the book of Acts, what do we see?

The power of the resurrected Christ put on display in and through the person of the

Holy Spirit. In the book of Romans, we hear the apostle Paul make this famous declaration,

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it and it alone is the power of God unto salvation.

In first and second Corinthians, what do we read? First Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.

For behold, the old things are passing away, and behold, all things are becoming new.

In the book of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, what do we see?

That there is not salvation in any other person or in any practice outside of Jesus Christ.

In 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, these pastoral epistles, Paul says to the preachers, preach

Christ and nothing else. There is nothing worthy of our time, of our devotion, of our effort, of our energies, of expending ourselves, of giving ourselves to the people of God better than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the book of Philemon, Paul makes mention of his love and his faith toward the Lord concerning Philemon or Onesimus, the runaway slave, and Jesus as the basis for showing love to Onesimus as his runaway slave.

In the book of Hebrews, what do we see in Hebrews chapter 1? Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, long ago and at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers, how? By the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed to be the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He, Jesus, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of God.

He holds all things together. The book of James, faith in Christ Jesus will inevitably produce good works.

In the Old Testament, we see good works as they command the required, quote unquote, in a sense, necessary exemplification of obedience being good works.

But now as being saved men and women, we understand from the New Testament that no amount of works, no good deeds we do make us ride in the side of God.

But when you get saved by Christ, Christ defines good works and you as a believer do good works because the

Holy Spirit lives in you. First and second, Peter, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, the text says, arm yourselves with the same mind so that we should not live our lives in the lust of the flesh, but for the will of God.

First, second, and third, John. John, as he does always so beautifully, says he is the propitiation for our sins.

The book of Jude, Jude, to those who are called, to those who are sanctified by the

Father, to those who are preserved in Jesus Christ, earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to us by the apostles and the prophets.

And lastly, in the book of the Revelation, it basically boils down to this, that Jesus Christ is the

King of kings and he is the Lord of lords.

And from the law and the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them all things concerning himself.

And next week, Lord willing, being our helper, we're going to look at their response to this.

And we want you to gauge, to measure yourself, not according to how

I respond or anybody else responds, but how we are taught to respond in the word of the living

God. Stand with us this morning if you would. Believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved according to the scriptures.

If you believe, have believed in Christ, the biblical command is repent, believe, and be baptized for the remission of your sins in the name of Jesus Christ today.