Sermon
Christ In The Old Testament
November 3-4, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles. If you're going to use the pew Bible today it's page 717. In your personal Bible we're at John 5:37. Each Lord's Day, of course, we have new folks with us so it takes just a moment of time in the preliminary presentation for you to catch the total picture with what we're working with in the Scriptures.

John chapter 5 begins with a story of Christ visiting the pool of Bethesda, and there He heals a man that's been lame for 38 years. Because He tells the man to take up his bed and walk, that's carrying a burden. That was a violation of the Sabbath, and thus Christ is accused by the religious leaders of violating the Sabbath tradition. Christ responds by saying, My Father works all the time, implying that the God of creation is ever at work demonstrating His mercy and His grace to this great world He created, and that He doesn't cease to do that. And so Jesus is saying My Father works all the time; I'm going to work all of the time, and thus by that statement He makes himself, He equates himself, to be equal with God.

Now He has two charges. He has the charge of Sabbath violation, and the second charge of blasphemy. And both carry the death sentence. So what happens, is Christ goes on the defense to defend His deity. It's one of the great passages of Scripture. And we've observed this portion from John 5:31 through the end of the chapter as almost like a courtroom scene. Christ takes His defense and He's going to call witnesses to defend His deity. It's a very interesting scene, and He starts in verse 31 by suggesting that He's not going to violate the ancient text. He's going to select witnesses. He's not going to be His own witness.

In chapter 5 verse 32 it says there is another who bears witness, and we have made the observation that amid various interpretations by Bibles scholars, it seems that the reference here is to the Holy Spirit as His first witness. You remember we discussed the fact that at His baptism, after He comes out of the water, a dove lights on His shoulder, which is symbolic or representative of the Holy Spirit and then there's a voice from heaven. So the very first witness to His public ministry is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

Then it seems that Christ moves that defense quickly aside, and He moves to verse 32 and asks for John. He says, you sent for John. Now we spent a couple of Sundays talking about the importance of John Baptist as the witness to Christ's deity. So important Jesus said if you would have listened to him, you would have been saved. What was his message? We've learned it was, Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. The message of the church down through time and the theme of the song as we sing it when we arrive in the realms of heaven: blessed be the Lamb that was slain.

So John gives his witness, and then last Lord's Day the third witness is called to the stand and that was founded in verse 36: But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish--these very works that I do--bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.

Last Sunday we considered all the various examples of the miraculous in the ministry of Christ, and we covered many of the miracles, and the bottom line is that only God could do things like this-only God would have the power to create-only God would have the power to give life. And thus, Jesus is saying, you may not want to believe what I, but just follow and observe what I do and observe the miraculous. My works give witness to My deity.

That was the witness last Lord's Day. Now today we moved to verse 37 and we have the witness of the Father Himself who sent Me. He says, He testifies of Me. Now in our notes would you turn to page 2, and I'll make just some observations as we quickly move along. In the middle of page 2 in verse 37, He calls upon His heavenly Father as His next witness: And the Father Himself, who sent Me, testifies of Me. There had been the voice from heaven at His baptism. And we just have referenced this in our observation. It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.

Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The testimony of the Father--a voice from heaven. Then we find on the mount of Transfiguration the voice from heaven is once again heard: "And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, Hear Him." The second time.

Here's the third witness. As Jesus nears the moment when He must face the cross, 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 I will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him". And thus, we have three different occasions; at His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and just a few days before He's going to the cross. On all three occasions His Father gives testimony from heaven, "This is My Son".

Now it would seem that that would be what Christ has reference to here, the witness in terms of the voice, but the last line on my notes, I make this observation there on page 2, but in the text before us, it is obvious that Jesus is referring to the testimony of the Father in the Old Testament. And what I see here as I observe this scene, I see the Father who has now taken the defense stand, and of course this is in my mind, and Christ is saying, My Father has testified of Me, and in addition to this to support His testimony He has given to us the Old Testament revelation.

Now in the next verse He says something very interesting. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. Here's what Jesus is doing. He takes a moment and He references the way God revealed Himself to Old Testament saints. Back in Exodus you have the moment when God speaks directly to Moses, and it says as a friend to a friend. So you do have the voice of God to human beings in the Old Testament.

He goes on to say you've neither seen His form. They saw the form of God's manifestation in the clouds and in various theophanies as He presents Himself. And what Jesus is saying: the Old Testament saints heard the voice and they saw the form, and they knew the word because the word came from Sinai, what you neither have heard His voice nor seen His form, and His word does not abide in you. And what He is alluding to is God in ancient times manifested Himself the way He did as revealed in the Old Testament. But now, God comes in human form, and here's the voice of God, and here's the form of God in a human frame. And here's the one who speaks truth, but they can't see it because their eyes are closed with unbelief.

Now in the notes on page 3, right in the middle of the page, you'll notice I say; the voice of God is, of course, Christ Himself: and the form of God is the Christ. Now I'm going to give you a number of verses that you can write down in the notes alongside the text. We have one here in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. Paul writes: But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

That's an interesting word-the word 'image'. If we were reading the Greek text it would most likely appear as icon. And the idea is that the word image is the exact representation. In fact, the representation is so perfect it is the manifestation of God. So what Paul is saying is that Jesus Christ is the exact representation, the perfect manifestation of God in human form.

Now let me give you a number of other verses. Go to Colossians 1:15. In your Bible it's page 792. Colossians 1:15, and here again the word appears -- He is the image, speaking of Christ, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Go to Colossians 2:9, just across the page. Look at what it says, for in Him, speaking of Christ, dwells all the fullness of the God-head bodily. Christ is God complete in human form.

Go with me to Philippians 2:5. It's page 790 in your Bible. And again, it says; Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God. You can't say it any clear, can you? In very nature-God.

Go with me to Hebrews chapter 1, page 804 in your Bible. Hebrews 1:1, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. There's the voice of God spoken to us by His Son. Whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Him also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Thus, what Jesus is saying is if you'll listen to Me, you'll hear the voice of God. If you'll accept this manifestation of God in human form, you will recognize that I'm the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah; and if you'll listen to the words that I have to say, they are truth, for I am truth.

But you don't hear those words. You don't recognize the manifestation of God. You don't have the word of God abiding in you because you've rejected Me, and in rejecting Me you've rejected God.

Now the next verse He says, You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. Now that could mean one of two things. It could be a directive. You search the Scriptures and if you're looking for Me, you'll find Me. Or--you search the Scriptures and you miss Me, and that's what He saying to these religious leaders of His day.

Go with me to page 7. He's talking to a nation that was drenched, saturated, with the word of God. Notice on page 7, in the middle of the page, I write: The Pharisees regarded the Scriptures with such esteem that they thought that by studying the parchments and letters of Scripture they by studying would have eternal life. But in actuality, the Jews had a superstitious reverence about the Word of God that led to all manner of eccentric behavior among those who dealt with the Scriptures. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet was given a numerical equivalent, and each word had a numerical equivalent. That's according to the scribes.

Now each line thus formed a mathematical equation. In fact, the Jews numbered the center letter of each line of the Scripture, the center letter in each book, and the center letter of the Old Testament. They were meticulous. They studied the Scriptures.

In copying the Scriptures, a scribe was not allowed to write more than one letter before looking back to the text. In other words, there were to be no errors and so you'd write a letter and then you'd look back in the text and make sure that it corresponds; that you didn't leave out any letter.

Now eccentricity is wonderful for us because of the transmission. Let me stop there. One of the great findings of Christianity is the finding of the dead sea scrolls in the caves just north of the Dead Sea in the year 1957, I think, by a little shepherd boy. He walked in to this cave and he found all of these old vases filled with parchments. Come to find out, they were the ancient text that had been copied by the Ascians. And that same meticulous copying was really to our advantage because when you read those Hebrew texts from the book of Isaiah from those parchments they are almost to the word identical to the books that we have in our Bible today.

And we can thank God for those copiers to were so exacting and so precise in copying those old text. But in copying the text they missed the theme, and they missed the person. Down at the bottom line--But tragically, although they always had their noses in the Bible, they seldom got beyond the paper and the ink. Amazing.

Jesus is saying, you search the Scriptures, you've numbered the letters, you can tell me the center letter on every, and you've copied them to exact, but in all of your efforts you missed Me. You searched the Scriptures because you concluded that in the searching that would be enough to save you, but all the time they were talking about Me. They testify of Me.

I want to take just a moment; I know time hurries along, but as you know in the Christian church in the last three or four years, five years, there has been a great controversy as to which version of the text of Scripture is the most authentic. It's called the King James version controversy. And if you're aware of church writings there have been many writings, and the whole point is this: that if you don't have a King James text, and you're not reading just a King James, any other version of the Bible came from the devil. Now that's what they say. It's sad, but they believe that intensely.

I had a man, a part of our church, a wonderful man for years, and one morning I noticed he came and he was very irritated. I saw it in his face. I'll call him Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans, what's wrong? He said, Pastor, this has got to stop! I said, what? He said you've got to stop people from coming in that door carrying any other version but the King James. I said, why? Because he said they're just bringing the devil in the front door. That's news to me. I said, where did you get that idea? And he poked this book with a black cover, and the title of the book was "New Age Versions of the Bible". It's written by lady who doesn't even have a degree in theology who's a dietitian.

I said, well Sir, I'll read it. Just give it to me and I'll take it home and read it. I read it that week and the next Sunday I said, you know Mr. Evans, I think you're a little disturbed. Because I said, first of all there are so many errors in that book. He said, what are you talking about? I said, well, she doesn't even mention which King James text. He said, what do you mean? I said, well if you know history there was a King James text in 1611, another King James text in 1614, another King James text in 1672, and another King James text in 1710. Which King James? Well I don't know. But he became so almost violent in his concern. He was fixed on that and so I said, I'll come to your home and we'll discuss this.

So I went to his home and said, Mr. Evans, I know you're disturbed about this, but let me ask you some questions. How long has it been since you read through the New Testament? He said, I haven't. I said, Mr. Evans, how long has it been since you read in the Old Testament? He said, I don't find it interesting. That's interesting. How many Scripture verses, Mr. Evans, do you read in your daily devotions? I don't have time for devotions. But I said, you're making such an issue over a version of the Scriptures.

Why is it such an issue when you don't even really read it? Well he said, you're trying to get away from the point Pastor Sheley. I said, no I'm not. I'm trying to get to the heart of it. I said, how long have you lived in the neighborhood, Mr. Evans? He said, 24 years. I said, in all of the vibrancy and your love for Jesus Christ and your desire to witness, how many people have you lead to Christ in your community? None. And I said, Mr. Evans, I happen to have some inside information -- your own family doesn't want you to come visit them because your Christianity is too obnoxious.

I said, what disturbs me Mr. Evans, is you're making an issue out of versions of Scripture, but you've missed the point because you've missed the Christ of the Scriptures. And that Christ has not changed your heart. You've not become excited enough about Him to share Him, and all you're interested in is what you think is the rightness of the Christian Bible.

You know, ladies and gentlemen, I know that there are many translations and many versions, and what ever version of the Bible that helps you to draw close to Jesus, read it. If you fall in love with Christ -- it may be the NIV, it may be the new American standard, whatever it is, read it and fall in love with Christ. Because I fear that there are a lot of people who are so locked up in what kind of Bible to read, they really miss the Christ of the Bible.

Can you not feel, and I've tried as I worked along through the Scripture verses, to feel the heart of Jesus? Here He's got all these critics, all these accusers, He's taking His defense, the Spirit of God gave testimony by coming in the form of a dove. John gave testimony and his great ministry, and you listened to John. You may not want to hear what I have to say, but at least acknowledge that what I do is the works of God. They're miraculous, and now I bring before you the Father Himself who bears witness. His voice was heard from heaven. And He's given to us the Scriptures, and yet you've penned those Scriptures, you've scribbled them, you've marked them, you've written them century after century, and you stand here now. If you would have believed what you wrote, you would acknowledge Me for who I am. I'm God's voice, God's form, and God's words if you'll just listen.

You know, my desire, and you know this, I love to study the Scriptures and you folks are so gracious and you listen so intensely, and we're trying to learn as much as we can verse after verse. We want to understand the words and the meanings of what we read. My prayer is that these great truths that we learn, they don't just become head knowledge. My prayer is that when you leave the sanctuary these truths begin to move within your heart and begin to transform you, and begin to convict you, and begin to change you and make you more like Christ. That's why we study the Scriptures. Not just to gain knowledge, but that these precious truths will be taken internally and they will abide. That word-my word does not abide-it means that abiding, that possessing His word that's challenging, convicting, changing, transforming all the time. That's when His word abides in our hearts.

We could be just like that group standing before Jesus if just studying the Scriptures is for head knowledge, but if the book becomes so precious that we allow those truths (beats chest twice) to change our hearts. As your Pastor I study constantly, and I can study just for the sense of putting together all the information. And I have to pray, Jesus, I don't want to ever becomes so familiar with Scriptures that I miss You. And what You've got to say to me, say it so I can do something it. I want Your Scriptures to change me. I don't want to be like those people who stood before Jesus, who for centuries had written the word and didn't understand what they were writing.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we take this lesson to heart today. We don't want to be people that just pride ourselves in knowing Scriptures and memorizing certain portions. We want to be people that have been transformed by Your word, that our lives are dramatically affected by what we hear and what You tell us. We want to be people of the word, but we want the word to make us a people like You want us to be. That's why we come to church each Sunday. That's our desire. So please help us dear Jesus, and everybody said, amen. God bless you