SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.
Intro. Jesus is speaking of the witnesses to His divine origin. He said if I witness of myself, you will not receive it, but Johnwitnessed of Me, and My works witness of Me, and the Father witnessed of Me, and the scriptures witness of Me.
I. YOU DO SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES FOR IN THEM YOU THINK THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, BUT THEY TESTIFY OF ME.
A. This book we call the Bible is all about Jesus Christ.
1. You can find Him in every page.
2. Jesus declared that they testified of Him.
3. When He joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He began at Moses, and in all the prophets. He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.
4. Later He said to all the disciples,
LUK 24:44 These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.
5. Back in chapter 1 of John when Philip found Nathanael he said, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth."
B. He is the heart and theme of the book, it was written about Him. "Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will O God."
C. Jesus is the chief subject of prophecy.
Rev. 19:10, "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
1. Peter speaks of his being an eyewitness of the glory of Christ at His transfiguration, but he then declares, "We have a more sure word of prophecy."
2. The prophecies center around the first and second coming of Jesus.
D. In verse 46 Jesus said, "For if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me."
II. THERE WERE OVER 300 PROPHECIES TO GUIDE THE PEOPLE IN THE RECOGNITION OF THE TRUE MESSIAH. THINGS ABOUT HIS BIRTH, BIRTHPLACE, CHILDHOOD, MINISTRY, REJECTION, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION.
A.
Isaiah 7:14 gave to us the mode of His birth. "I will give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son and call His name Immanuel, which means God with us."
MIC 5:2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth [have been] from of old, from everlasting.
C.
Jeremiah 31:15 speaks of the mothers weeping for their children that were slain at His birth.
D.
Hosea 11:1 speaks of the flight of His parents to Egypt.
ISA 61:1 The spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound;
ISA 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.
ZEC 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
H.
Isaiah 53:3 tells us He would be despised and rejected of men.
ISA 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
I.
Psalm 118 speaks of the leaders refusing Him.
PSA 118:22 The stone [which] the builders refused is become the head [stone] of the corner.
ZEC 11:12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
ZEC 11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
ISA 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
ISA 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
ISA 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
L.
Psalm 22:18 tells us of the casting of lots for His robe.
PSA 22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
M.
Psalm 22:16 speaks of the piercing of His hands and feet.
PSA 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
N.
Isaiah 53:12 tells us that He would be numbered with the transgressors in His death.
P.
Amos 8:9 tells of the sun turning dark on a clear day at noon.
III. WHAT ARE THE CHANCE FACTORS OF ONE MAN FULFILLING THESE PREDICTIONS?
A. More that one in 5 X 10 to the 59th power.
1. This number is so great that if you had this many silver dollars you would be very rich.
2. But if you decided to make silver balls out of them the size of the sun which
is 1,200,000 times larger than our earth 865,000 miles in diameter, You could make 10 to the 28 power balls the size of our sun.
3. Or to put it another way, our sun is an average size star in our Milky Way galaxy. It is estimated that there are one hundred million stars in our galaxy. If you decided to count the stars in our galaxy, if you counted at the rate of 250 a minute, it would take you 750 years counting day and night.
4. It is estimated that there are 2 trillion galaxies in the universe, each containing 100,000,000 stars. If you had 5 X 10 to the 59th power silver dollars, you could make all the stars in the universe out of silver dollars, and you could actually make it 200,000 over.
B. That is just considering the few prophecies. You must remember that there are over 300. No wonder Peter said, "We have the more sure word of prophecy."
IV. "YOU WILL NOT COME TO ME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE."
A. They knew the scriptures and they studied the scriptures.
1. The wise men who followed the star that they knew was announcing the birth of the king of Israel. They came to Herod and asked where He was who was born King of the Jews, and Herod inquired of the Jews where the Messiah was to be born, and they responded Bethlehem. They knew the scriptures.
2. This shows that knowing the scriptures is not sufficient to receive the gift of eternal life.
3. Believing in God, believing in the Messiah has given a lot of people a false security concerning their salvation.
B. Jesus said, "You will not come to Me that you might have life."
1. Eternal life does not come by knowing the Bible, it comes by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord.
2. The real question today is not do you know Jesus, but is Jesus the Lord of your life?
3. Would you say that Jesus is truly Lord of your life? Do you seek His guidance for every issue?
4. Jesus said that not all those who say, "Lord, Lord" are going to enter the Kingdom of heaven, but those that did the will of the Father.
a. Not saying, "Lord, Lord" is sufficient.
b. You must be doing the will of the Father.
5. I fear that many of you who hear my voice week after week, and have learned the scriptures, are relying on faithful attendance on Sunday morning, and your knowledge of the scriptures that you have gained for your salvation.
a. Knowing the scriptures does not save you.
b. You must come to Jesus and submit your life to Him in order to have eternal life.
6. In looking at the chance factors of one man fulfilling the predictions concerning the Messiah may convince you that Jesus is the Messiah, but being convinced does not save you.
7. Jesus in your life is not a weekly thing, it is a daily thing, more, an hourly thing, more, a moment by moment thing. You must yield your life to Him.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
