everyone. Welcome back to our services tonight here at Faithful Word Baptist
Church. Very good to see you all here for our Sunday night service. Find your seats
please. Grab a hymn that'll go to hymn number 205 and we'll begin tonight. Hymn number
205. He keeps me singing. Hymn number 205. Once you find your place, lift your
voice together on that first. There's within my heart a melody. Hymn number
hymn number 205. Lift your voice together now. Hymn number 205.
There's within my heart now, in all of life's heaven, one thing to shout to you.
It starts with our singing this evening. We want to go before the Lord and ask his blessing on the service. Let's go ahead and bow our heads together. Heavenly Father, the Lord, we come before you this evening. We thank you once again for bringing us back to church on this Sunday night. We thank you for allowing us to assemble here safely and that we are able to lift our voices to you and praise and worship the Lord. We just ask that you would help us to work together.
To worship you in spirit and in truth and that you would just prepare our hearts for
the preaching tonight. We ask that you fill once again Pastor Dylan Oz with our Holy
Spirit. Thank you for bringing him here back to church safely to us again and that you
would just fill him with your Holy Spirit, with power, with function, with authority
so that he'd preach boldly unto us and clearly that we may respond well to the message tonight
and that all that said and done would bring back the honor and glory that you deserve
for it. We'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Back to hymn number 105, number 105. "All that thrills my soul is Jesus."
Hymn number 105. Hymn number 105. Lift your voice on that first together now.
Alright, at this time we're going to go over the bulletin so if you need one please raise
your hand and we'll bring you a bulletin as soon as we can. If you have a bulletin please
open it up. And on the upper left hand is our service times, below that is our sowing
times. At the very bottom is our salvations and baptisms for the year. And once again
on the right corner congratulations to the Betty family on the birth of their precious
baby boy Luca Alfred, born on May 18th at 3.13 a.m. Weighing nine pounds, nine ounces
and measuring 21 inches. Once again we do have a Father's Day weekend sowing and hiking
trip that's going to be on June 13th and that's when the sowing is going to be on the Friday.
The next day on Saturday is the actual hike to the top of Mount Humphreys. Once again
it's a pretty tough hike but if you think you could do it, well go for it. And also
the deadline, we do have a deadline RSVP and secure lodging by this Wednesday, May 28th
by emailing us at faithfulword1@gmail.com. On the back of the bulletin in case you don't
know, please join us next Sunday, June 1st for our morning and evening services with
our special guest preacher, Pastor Jonathan Shelley from Steadfast Baptist Church. We
will also have donuts and coffee in the morning at 10 a.m. in honor of those celebrating their
birthday in the month of June and the upcoming events. Take a look at those when you get
a chance. Now let's just go over the soul winning for the week. So if you got somebody
saved on Thursday, the 22nd, go ahead and sorry, silence your phones people, silence
your phones. All right, let's continue. Thursday, the 22nd, starting on my left hand side. Any
salvations? Going once, going twice. Five. Amen. Five salvations. All right, anybody
else for Thursday? Friday. Salvations for Friday. We got one right here. Brother Reggie.
Brother Alex, two. All right, brother Alex got two. Any other salvations? And Saturday.
Savations for Saturdays. One over here. Brother Matt. Sure. 63 online. You got it. So 63.
Anybody else for Saturday? And today? One. Six. Amen. Five. One. Three. Anybody else?
Oops, sorry about that. One? All right, my bad. Anybody else? Going once, going twice.
All right, brother Daniel, you're up. You should find the insert in front of your hymnal with
the hymn entitled "Give of Your Best to the Master." If you don't have an insert, please
raise your hand, and we'll sing it together on that verse. "Give of your best to the master.
Give of the strength of your youth. Give of your best to the master. Give of the strength
of your youth. Soul's fresh glory is as he unearthed his place in your serfdom." Good
singing, everybody. Going your hymnals now to hymn number 145. Hymn number 145. Just
a heads up, this is Pastor Oz's favorite hymn, so give it a little extra volume on this one.
Number 145, "It is well with my soul." Hymn number 145, "When peace like a river." Number
145. Sing it out now. "When peace..." Time we're going to pass the offering in place
and as we're passing around the offering in place, please turn your Bible to Matthew chapter
11. Matthew's chapter number 11. "He had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples.
He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in
the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou
he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and
show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What
went ye out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye
out for to see, a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in
king's houses. But what went ye out for to see, a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily, I say unto you, among them that
are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding,
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John
the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it
by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive
it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets,
and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
They have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they
say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom
is justified of her children. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his
mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee,
Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done entire in Sidon,
it would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And now Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But
I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Thank you Father for the opportunity to come and hear your holy, your hallowed, your sacred
word. I ask you to fill Pastor Oz with your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our ears to
receive your perfect word. I pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.
Amen. Well it's great to be here again. Thank you guys for coming this evening. I've had
just a great weekend so far at Faithward Baptist Church, and I just want to say that it brings
me great pleasure just to see how God is blessing this church, and despite all the haters and
attacks of the devil that have come against this church, just to see how well it's doing,
is encouraging to me as a pastor to see a man of God, you know, withstand so much.
So praise the Lord for Faithward and for Pastor Anderson, and thank you Pastor Anderson for
the opportunity to come here.
We are in Matthew chapter number 11, and I want to start reading in verse number two.
Bible says, "Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of
his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear
and see.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear.
The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is
he whosoever shall not be offended in me."
And here we have a story of John the Baptist, who of course is a great man of God.
The Bible says that of those that are born among women, there's not been a greater than
John the Baptist.
So John the Baptist is a great guy, but, you know, even great men of God can have moments
of weakness.
And here the Bible is kind of highlighting a moment of a lapse of faith that John had,
where he was kind of wondering, you know, "Is Jesus the one that should come?
Is he the Christ, or look we for another?"
And what I want to point out about this verse is just the question that John raises reveals
some information to us.
One of the things it reveals to us is that people in the Old Testament, people living
before the death of Christ, the idea of a Christ, or the idea of a Messiah, was not
some sort of foreign concept, where people were just clueless, like, "Oh, there was going
to be a Messiah who is going to come and die for people's sins?
Well, that's a crazy idea."
No, they were looking for the Christ.
They were looking for the Messiah, which is why he asked this question.
And even though it was a moment of a lapse of faith, it does reveal to us that people
were looking for the Messiah.
People were looking for the Christ.
Let me show you another example of this.
Go to John chapter number one, John chapter number one, because, you know, people who
would criticize and scoff at Jesus being the Messiah, like Jews, and people who are just
critics of Christianity will often say, like, "Oh, the Old Testament didn't even really
give us that many details about the Messiah.
It's kind of a hazy, clouded topic."
But notice in John chapter number one, verse 40, the Bible says, "One of the two which
heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother, Simon, and saith unto him, 'Notice, we have found the
Messiah's,'" which is being interpreted the Christ. You know, if you find something, you're
like, "Oh, I found it." You know what that means? It means you were looking for it. It
means you are already in expectation of finding something, and people who were alive at the
time of Christ, they knew their Bibles, they had read the prophecies, and when Christ came
on the scene, they were able to recognize, "Wow, this is the Messiah. Wow, this is the
Christ," which is why they said, "Hey, we found him. We found the Messiah." Look down
at verse 45, "Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him," notice, "We have found him."
This is very important, "of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, 'Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.'" So notice, Philip is saying, "Hey, we found him." Who?
The same guy that Moses was writing about, the same guy that all of the prophets were
writing about, Jesus, Jesus who? Jesus Christ, which isn't the Messiah. They were looking
for him. They found him. Go to Acts chapter number 10, if you will. Acts chapter number
10. I'm just laying some doctrinal foundation before we get started this evening. But Acts
chapter number 10, verse 43, this is a very important verse. Notice what it says in Acts
10, verse 43, "To him," that's to Jesus, "give all the prophets witness that through
his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." So the Old Testament,
every single book of the Old Testament was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
New Testament here is acting as a commentary on the Old saying, hey, all of the Old Testament
prophets were speaking of Jesus, were speaking of the Messiah, and this gives us some important
insight to salvation in the Old Testament. Because you got some people like hyper-dispensationalists
in the Baptist world today that will teach, well, in the Old Testament, salvation was
by works, by sacrificing animals, or by a combination of faith in God and sacrificing
animals. But the Bible makes it very clear that all the prophets gave witness of Jesus
Christ and that whosoever would believe in Jesus Christ would receive remission of sins.
So don't let anyone deceive you. Salvation has always been by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, thank God we live in the New Testament. We have a lot more information
revealed to us. We know the name of the Messiah. We know a lot more information. But people
in the Old Testament were saved by putting their faith in the promise of the Messiah
to come. Us today, we are saved by putting our faith in the Messiah who came. And so
the title of my sermon this evening is this, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus the Messiah. This
is a very foundational doctrine, but you know what? There's no doctrine more important than
the doctrine of Christ. And we need to be firm in these things and renew our faith,
make sure that we're standing strong on the faith of Jesus as our Messiah. Now, of course,
there's people that reject that Jesus is the Messiah. These are the so-called Jews, but
they're not real Jews like we learned this morning. But people who adhere to the religion
of Judaism, their whole religion is based on rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, right?
Now, I want to read some quotes for you from some Jews. This is a medieval Jewish philosopher
named Maimonides. I hope I'm saying that right. Actually, I don't really care. But he said,
he said this, he wrote in his Mishnah Torah, he said, "I believe with perfect faith in
the coming of the Messiah, and though he may tarry, I will wait for him every day." And
this was written 1135 years after Christ. You know, he missed the boat on that one.
He's saying like, "Oh man, I'm waiting for the Messiah. I'm just going to keep waiting
every single day." Hey, he already came. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jews today that
have an expectation of a Messiah to come, you know, there's someone coming in the place
of Christ. He's called the Antichrist, and that's who the Jews are going to accept. Those
who have rejected Christ, the one that's actually coming soon is the Antichrist. That's who
they will accept. Here's another one, a contemporary reconstructionist rabbi. So he lives in our
day and age now. His name is Rabbi Jacob Staub. And he said this, "Even though the Messiah
tarries, I will wait for him or her every day with great anticipations." What? Tell
me you don't know the Bible without telling me you don't know the Bible. Like, have you
not read any of the Old Testament? Wow, him or her? What are you talking about? He adds,
"We are not waiting passively to be rescued. We are actively working to hasten the arrival
of the Messianic era by increasing justice and peace, by fighting oppression and human
suffering." What a fool. What a fool. Anyone that would adhere to the religion of Judaism
that rejects that Jesus is the Christ. And I basically have two goals I want to accomplish
with the sermon this evening. Number one, I want to prove to you that you cannot say
that you believe the Bible if you reject that Jesus is the Messiah. You cannot tell me you
believe the Old Testament if you reject that Jesus is the Christ. I will absolutely prove
that this evening. And I also want to prove this, that our faith in Christ is not some
blind fairy tale like faith, but actually believing in Jesus Christ is very logical.
And you do not have to check your brain at the door to be a Christian. You do not have
to believe in some, you know, far out extreme fairy tale to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
I'm going to prove to you that it's so unbelievably logical to believe that Jesus is the Christ.
In fact, I'm going to show that it's insane to deny that He's the Christ. Because there's
some people that will say, "Well, Jesus, you know, He fulfilled some of the prophecies of
the Messiah in the Old Testament kind of by coincidence." Okay, and I'm going to prove
to you mathematically at the end of the sermon how insane that is, how unreasonable that
is, and how our view of viewing Jesus as the Messiah makes sense. So let's take a walk
through the Old Testament this evening, go to Genesis chapter 49. And I just want to
highlight several areas of the Bible that talks about in the Old Testament prophecies
of the coming Messiah. And these prophecies were written thousands and thousands of years
before Christ was born. And so if we see just tons and tons of prophecy that Christ fulfills,
that would point to Jesus being the Messiah. And it would be mathematically impossible
for these to be done by coincidence. Genesis 49, let's talk about number one this evening,
Jesus's ancestry. Jesus's ancestry. Genesis 49 verse 10, the Bible says, "The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver, from between his feet, until Shiloh come,
and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." So the scepter denotes some sort of kingship
or authority or rulership, and the Bible's saying that that kingship or authority is
not going to depart from the line of Judah, nor a lawgiver, from between his feet. Notice
that word "until" Shiloh come. And almost everyone agrees that Shiloh here is talking
about the Messiah, is talking about the Christ. You have a few kind of just wacky scholars
that want to say this is talking about the place Shiloh, like spoken of in 1 Samuel,
but any serious person knows that this is a messianic prophecy right here, speaking of
the Messiah. Now, I want to read for you a quote. Of course, like I said this morning,
we don't ever want to base our doctrine off of church fathers or just quotes from man
from antiquity, but sometimes it can be valuable just to get an understanding of what people
believed. Again, we base our doctrine off the Bible, but sometimes it's just interesting
to know what other people believe. So this is a man named Terulian. He lived between
around 155 A.D. and he wrote a book called "An Answer to the Jews." And basically this
whole book is to showcase how ridiculous Judaism is and how just insane it is for the Jews
to have rejected Jesus as the Messiah. And he talks about this prophecy. He said this,
"For that a ruler, for that the leader or ruler should not depart from the Jews until
the Christ should come is clearly shown by the testimony of Scripture." In the book of
Genesis, where Jacob says, "Blessing his sons," says, "the scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor a leader from between his feet, until he come for whom it is reserved, and he shall
be the expectation of the nations. Now that this was fulfilled in Christ, the facts themselves
demonstrate. For when Herod, who was not of the Jewish nation, ruled over them, and the
Jews were under the dominion of the Romans, Christ was born. And from that time the scepter
departed from Judah, for they were no longer ruled by their own kings or judges. So notice
the scepter is not going to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until
Shiloh come. In the Old Testament we see kings ruling the people of God, right? We see David,
we see Solomon, we see all these different kings ruling. But what's interesting is that
when Jesus is born, who is the Messiah, there was no Jewish king ruling the people at that
time, they were under the Romans. And from that time, did we ever see the kingship of
Judah revive? No, we did not. Why? Because this was a prophecy in the Old Testament being
fulfilled with the birth of Jesus Christ, showing, hey, he's going to be from Judah,
and that kingship is not going to depart until Christ comes. Go to Hebrews chapter number
7, Hebrews chapter number 7, and what you're going to see throughout this Bible study that
just amazes me, and if you love the Bible, you're going to be amazed by this stuff of
just how specific the prophecies of the Bible are, and it just goes to reinforce the authenticity
of our faith and authenticity of the Word of God. Hebrews 7 verse 14, the Bible says,
"For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning priesthood." So the Bible says that Jesus would come, or that the Messiah
would come from Judah, and the Bible records in the New Testament, "Lo and behold, Jesus
came from the tribe of Judah." Go to 2 Samuel chapter 7, I'll read for you Luke 333. The
Bible says, "Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son
of Esron, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Judah." So notice how the Bible
is giving you the genealogy of Jesus Christ, showing you very specifically how He did fulfill
the prophecy that He would come from the line of Judah. Also, the Bible gets more specific
in the Old Testament, and tells us that the Messiah would also come from the house of
David. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 12, the Bible says, "And when thy days be fulfilled, and
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed
out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom." Notice, forever. That word forever has kind
of given us a hint that this isn't necessarily only applying to his immediate son, Solomon,
that this is also a Messianic prophecy of Christ. Now, I'll show you how this was fulfilled
in Luke chapter number one. Luke chapter one, definitely a Bible study this evening. We're
going to look at lots of scripture. Luke chapter number one, look at verse 31, the Bible says,
"And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the
Lord God shall give unto him," notice, "the throne of his father David. And he shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." You know,
that's not a coincidence that when the angel tells Mary what's going on, that he tells
her, hey, that Jesus Christ is going to inherit the throne of his father David, showing that
he's fulfilling that messianic prophecy. And whenever I read this story, I always think
of the silly song "Mary, did you know?" Has anyone heard the song? "Mary, did you know
that your baby..." Yes, she knew. Of course she knew. Are you kidding me? Anyone who read
the Old Testament knew. That's why when Jesus is coming on the scene, they're like, yeah,
we found him. We found the Messiah, right? Because anyone who knew these prophecies,
they're seeing it fulfilled and they're like, oh yeah, this is the Christ. They could actually
identify that by seeing him. Now, the Bible is going to get more specific. Go to Micah
chapter number five. The Bible also, when it comes to his ancestry, foretells of the
exact place that the Messiah is going to be born. Now, that's a very specific prophecy.
To write thousands of years before the man comes on the scene to predict where he's going
to be born is just incredible. Micah chapter number five, verse two, the Bible says, "But
thou," Bethlehem Ephratah, "though thou be little among the thousands of Judah." So he's
singling out Bethlehem, and the Bible's saying, "Hey, Bethlehem is among thousands of little
towns and hamlets and villages in Judah." It says, "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."
Go to Matthew chapter number two, Matthew chapter number two. Again, this is not something that
you could pre-plan, right? I mean, just the fact that the Bible's saying that the Messiah
is going to be born in Bethlehem, the Bible doesn't really talk a whole lot about this
city. It's not that notable of a city, and it's saying, in fact, that it's little among
the thousands of Judah. Yet, that's where the Messiah would be born, Matthew chapter
two, verse one. "But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he that
is born king of the Jews?' For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship
him." See, there was men alive at this time that realized, oh wow, the king of the Jews
is being born. Wow, the Messiah is coming on the scene. See, it was reasonable and it
made sense, it was logical to look at all the Old Testament prophecies and seeing Christ
come on the scene, and it was logical to say, wow, this is the Messiah. You know, it was
illogical to see Christ fulfill all these things and then the Jews still hate him. The
Jews still reject him. No, that doesn't make any sense. Go to Isaiah chapter number seven,
Isaiah chapter number seven. So number one, we talked about Jesus's ancestry. Number two,
let's talk about Jesus's birth and nature. The Old Testament has a lot of prophecies of
the birth and nature of the coming Messiah. And again, this is amazing thinking about
how long in advance these things were written. Notice Isaiah chapter number seven, verse
14, the Bible says, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a son and shall call
his name Immanuel." You know, Mary, did you know? I think when she found out that she
was going to be giving birth as a virgin, she probably figured out that this prophecy
was being fulfilled, right? This is an extremely specific prophecy. And again, you can't play
on these things in advance. Either you're the Messiah or you're not. And the Bible says
that the Messiah, Emmanuel, God in the flesh, is going to be born of a virgin. Now, of course,
it makes sense why the devil, who of course hates the Lord Jesus Christ, wants to attack
him, wants to be against him. It makes sense why the modern perversions of the Bible twist
what this verse says. Because this verse in the King James Bible says that a virgin shall
conceive. Now, that's miraculous. That's notable. When a virgin is conceiving, hey, that's a
big deal. But you know what it says in the modern versions? That a young woman is going
to conceive. Boy, that's not very specific. Because just about every young woman conceives
when she gets married, right? It's just very common for a young woman to conceive. But
you know what's extraordinary is when a virgin conceives. That happened only one time and
it was to prove, it was to show, hey, this is the Messiah that's being born into the
world. This is the Christ. Go to Matthew chapter 1 and we'll see the fulfillment of this. Matthew
chapter number 1. Matthew chapter 1, look at verse 18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us.' So again, very, very specific prophecy, and it definitely makes sense why
the devil wants to attack this idea of it being a young lady rather than a virgin. Go
to Isaiah chapter number nine. Isaiah chapter number nine. You know, it also makes sense
why preachers who are wicked, like Martin Luther King, for example, would want to attack
and deny the doctrine of the virgin birth. You know, this is a doctrine that he attacked.
I actually had a screenshot. Let me see if I could pull up his exact quote that I had
here. So this is what Martin Luther King wrote about the virgin birth. He said that the last
doctrine in our discussion deals with the resurrection. Oh, I'm sorry. I might have
done the wrong one here. You know what? For sake of time, if I could find that later,
I'll pull it up, but I'll post it later. But let me just tell you this, that Martin Luther
King did deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. He absolutely did deny that. But let me show
you another instance in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter number 9, verse 6. The Bible
says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor," notice this, "the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." You know, what's very interesting
about the prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah is that not only
did it say of what tribe he's coming from, of the house of David, not only did it say
where he was going to be born, not only did it say he's going to be born of a virgin,
but the Bible actually made this claim that the coming Messiah is not going to be just
like any other man, but that the Messiah is going to be deity, that the Messiah is in
fact going to be God, that God is actually going to come down in human flesh, and he's
going to be the Messiah. You know, Jesus was not just a good man. Jesus was not just a
good teacher with good morals. No, Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and that makes him different
than any other religious figure that you could possibly think of. The Bible says, hey, the
Messiah that's coming, he's going to be the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Let's
go to Colossians chapter 1 where we see this fulfilled, and you know, if you're ever out
soul winning and you need to prove that Jesus is God, just remember the number 1, John chapter
1, Hebrews chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, 1 Timothy chapter 1, Titus chapter 1, Revelation
chapter 1. If you're ever just like, "Man, I need to show a verse on how Jesus is God,"
just remember 1. You can pretty much just flip over to the first chapter of any New
Testament book and you're going to see how Jesus is God. Colossians chapter 1, look at
verse 13, the Bible says, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son," so that's speaking of Jesus, "in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature." Notice verse 16, "For by him were all things created that
are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And
he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Very beautiful, very powerful portion
of Scripture here telling us that, hey, Jesus was not just some good teacher. He wasn't
just some good preacher. No, in fact, Jesus is the creator of all things and that all
things were created by Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ. And isn't it amazing that the
Old Testament Scriptures told us that the Messiah is going to be the mighty God? And
Jesus is the mighty God. Jesus is the Messiah. Also, the Bible talked about in the Old Testament
that the coming Messiah would have eternally existed. I'll read for you as you go to John
chapter number one. Again, Micah 5-2, we read this earlier, "But thou, Bethlehem, efforta,
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 ever
lasting."
So, notice, the Bible is saying, "Hey, his origins are for everlasting.
Jesus Christ has always existed."
You know, Jesus Christ is not a created being, like the Mormons will teach, you know, that
there's, you know, like a messiah for every galaxy, you know, Jesus is just one of the
messiahs.
No, no, no, Jesus was not a created being, Jesus created everything.
Jesus is the creator.
And again, it's interesting how you see modern versions of the Bible corrupting key important
verses about Jesus Christ, because this is a very important thing here, saying that He's
always existed.
But again, the modern versions, this is how they butcher this verse.
Micah 5 2 in the NIV says, "Out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
So the NIV is saying that Jesus' origins are just from a really long time ago, from ancient
times, whereas the Bible, the King James Bible is saying, "Hey, it's everlasting."
And, you know, these differences in modern Bible versions often affect doctrine in very
serious ways.
And, you know, it's one of the reasons why we are King James only is because we want
the pure, unadulterated Word of God.
We don't want a cheap imitation that's going to corrupt serious doctrines.
Oh, how about like Jesus' deity?
How about the fact that He is everlasting, that He has always existed?
That's a pretty important doctrine.
You get that from the King James.
You're there in John 1, verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God."
Again, just showing, hey, Jesus coming on the scene, this is the Messiah.
And John the Baptist, you know, he's getting the way prepared for Jesus Christ, and he's
preaching, hey, that Jesus is the Word of God.
He's preaching that Jesus is God.
Go to Isaiah chapter number 40.
So we talked about His birth, His nature, we talked about His origins.
Number three, let's talk about Jesus' ministry and life.
You know, the Old Testament also foretold of the ministry and the life of the coming
Messiah.
And we see in the New Testament, just so happens, that Jesus fulfills all those prophecies.
So number one, the Old Testament talks about how the coming Messiah would be preceded by
a forerunner, Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3.
The Bible says, "The voice of Him that cryeth in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'"
Go to Matthew chapter 3.
Of course, we know this is talking about John the Baptist.
And to me, this again, it's just such a specific prophecy that if someone was just trying to
create a religion and they're just feigning things out of their own heart, and they're
just making things up, this seems like kind of a weird detail to add, right?
I mean, you're thinking about making prophecies of the coming Messiah, but yet some of the
prophecies don't even have to do directly with him, it has to do with people who are
around him.
It's talking about John the Baptist in this context.
Matthew 3 verse 1, the Bible says, "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
You know what he's saying?
Hey, here comes the Messiah.
Here comes the man that the Old Testament has been talking about, Jesus the Messiah.
Verse 3, "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, 'The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"
So the commentator of Matthew is telling us, hey, this is fulfilling the book of Isaiah.
And if you read specifically the gospel of Matthew, you will constantly see this phrase
over and over that it might be fulfilled, that it was thus fulfilled, just constantly
talking about Scripture being fulfilled.
Why?
Because this is a very convincing point of Christianity, that here's this literature
that was written thousands of years ago, and here comes this man on the scene, and he's
just constantly fulfilling everything that it says.
You know, that's amazing.
That doesn't happen by accident.
No, Jesus did not, by coincidence, fulfill the prophecies of the Messiah.
That's impossible, folks.
It's just going to show that Jesus is the Messiah.
Go to Matthew 13 as I read Isaiah 35 verse 5, the Bible says, "Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped."
You know, also the Old Testament foretold that the coming Messiah would be a performer
of miracles, talking about how the eyes of the blind shall be opened, that the ears of
the deaf shall be unstopped.
You know, these aren't things that you could fake, folks.
I mean, there's tons of witnesses around Christ during the time of His ministry, and people
are seeing Him heal the blind man.
They're like, "Whoa, this guy's been blind from his youth, and then all of a sudden he's
healed."
Oh man, this deaf person healed.
Wow, this Halt person healed.
You know, the soldier gets his ear cut off, and Jesus just puts that sucker back on.
Why?
Because He is the Messiah.
Because He is the Christ.
Here's another thing.
You're there in Matthew 13.
We'll get there in just one sec.
Here's another thing that the Old Testament foretold about the life and ministry of the
Messiah is that the Messiah would teach in parables.
Again, that's a very specific prophecy.
Psalm 78 verse 2, the Bible says, "I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings of old." Matthew 13 verse 10, "And the disciples came and said
unto him, 'Why speakest thou unto them in parables?'
He answered and said unto them, 'Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven; but to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever
hath not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath.
Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand."
So the Old Testament told us that the Messiah would come, that He would speak in parables,
and you know, part of the reason why I think Christ did this is because God gave us free
will.
And you know, Jesus Christ, even though He was providing plenty of proofs that He is
the Messiah, right?
I mean, He's literally healing people, He's walking on water, He's raising people from
the dead.
I mean, those are some pretty clear proofs that He's God, right?
But yet He still wanted people to have the choice to believe in Him.
And you know what?
People who actually had a good heart, people who were sincere people, when they read the
Old Testament and Christ came on the scene, you know what they said?
"Wow, we found Him.
Wow, this is the Messiah."
But you know, those who were wicked, those who were not sincere, those who were pretenders,
who pretended to be pious and religious, you know, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, when
Jesus came on the scene, they couldn't understand Christ's Word.
Why?
Because they didn't want the truth.
They weren't actually sincere.
They didn't actually want to see the Messiah for who He was.
They wanted to just hold on to their power, hold on to their religious system.
They wanted to be the people that get the praise and the adoration of man.
Because guess what?
When Christ came on the scene, people were like, "Whoa, never a man spake like this
man."
This is a guy who's actually preaching as one that has authority.
Why?
Because he does have authority.
Because he is the Messiah.
And anyone who was sincere, you know, Christ spoke to parables because, hey, to those who
have been given, more is going to be given.
And you know, it's a good warning to us to make sure that when we're exposed to truth,
when we hear the word of God or we hear a sermon that's applicable to us, we need to
make sure to put those things into practice right away.
That's going to allow us to be a vessel for more truth and more information in the future
but you know, when you harden your heart, when you don't want to have your ear listen
to the law, you know, your prayer could even become an abomination.
God can withhold things from you, you know, you want to make sure that you are listening
to the word of God in sincerity, that you're wanting to hear the truth.
Isaiah chapter number 53, if you'll get your place in Isaiah 53, in John chapter number
1, also when it comes to the life and ministry of the Messiah, the Old Testament foretold
that the Messiah would be rejected, which it's so funny how so many Jews today will
look at Jesus and they'll say, "Oh, he can't be the Messiah because he failed."
And that's their words, not mine.
But the Jews will say, "Well, Jesus failed.
Well, Jesus was killed, so he can't be the Messiah."
And it's like, hey, newsflash, the Old Testament told us that Jesus would be rejected.
This is why I say, you cannot tell me you believe the Old Testament if you reject Jesus
as the Messiah.
Look at what the Bible says in Isaiah 53 verse 3, "He is," what, "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."
Right?
That's actually the Messiah of the Old Testament.
The Messiah of the Old Testament, the Bible says, hey, he's going to come and he's going
to be despised.
He's going to be rejected.
He's going to be smitten.
We're going to hide our faces, as it were, from him.
The Bible doesn't say, hey, the Messiah is going to come and he's going to bring a world
kingdom right away.
No, the Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible says he'd be hated, rejected, despised.
And it's so funny today how the liberal churches, the new evangelical churches will attack and
hate against pastors like your pastor and new IFB churches and tell you, man, you guys
just need to be more Christ-like.
And if you were just more Christ-like, you would stop making so many people angry.
You'd stop having the protests.
You'd stop having the articles and all these things.
Meanwhile, the Messiah of the Bible actually is going to be despised and hated and rejected.
And when Christ came on the scene, He's like, hey, think not that I'm come to bring peace
on earth.
He's like, I'm telling you, no, I'm not coming to bring peace, but rather division.
That's the Jesus of the Bible.
And you know, if you go to a church where it's never making anyone upset and the preaching
isn't dividing anyone and the devil's not really mad at the work of your church, well,
that church sounds like it's not very Christ-like, because the Christ-like church is going to
be the same as Jesus, despised, rejected, hated of men.
John chapter number one, verse 10, the Bible says, "He was in the world and the world was
made by him and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
So, you know, he came, he came unto his own, the Jews, and the Jews by and large rejected
Jesus Christ, and the majority of them still reject him to this day.
And News Slash, you know, the majority of this whole world, unfortunately, is going
to go to hell because they've rejected Christ, but you know what?
For us, it doesn't have to be that way.
For our loved ones, for this community here that we need to reach with the gospel of Jesus
Christ, we need to tell them, "Hey, but as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
You know, that is the hope for this world, is that people would recognize that Jesus
is the Messiah, that they would put their trust in him.
Go to Zechariah and Matthew, Zechariah chapter 11 and Matthew 27.
Number four this evening, let's talk about Jesus' suffering and death.
You know, additionally, the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah were so
specific.
Not only is it talking about his origin, his ancestry, his nature, his life, his ministry,
where he's going to be born, the virgin birth, all these things, also, the Old Testament
talked about the coming Messiah's suffering and his death and his betrayal.
Zechariah chapter number 11 verse 12, the Bible says, "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.'"
Boy, is that a specific prophecy or what?
That they are going to weigh for the price of the Messiah thirty pieces of silver.
Verse 13, "And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter," remember that, "a goodly
price that I was prized at of them, and I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast
them to the potter in the house of the Lord."
The Bible even gets more specific about what's going to happen, and I'll show you the fulfillment
of this in Matthew chapter 27 verse 3, Matthew 27 verse 3.
The Bible says, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented
himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders."
I kind of fast forwarded in this chapter just for sake of time, so we're already at the
point where Judas had already betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ.
He had already gotten the thirty pieces of silver for his information, betraying Christ,
and he comes to this point where he repents himself and he brings back those thirty pieces
of silver.
By the way, this is a good proof text to prove that you don't have to repent of your sins
to be saved because here we have Judas who repented himself and in fact he was so very
sorry for his sins that he went and committed suicide.
That's how much overcome with repentance if you will, grief, sorrow that he was, but guess
what he still went to hell because in John chapter 6 Jesus said that he knew from the
beginning who was a devil among them, who would never believe in him and that of course
was Judas.
Verse 4 says saying I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
So he's even acknowledging that Jesus is innocent, right?
And they said what is that to us?
See thou to that.
Verse 5 and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged
himself.
Verse 6 and the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, notice their hypocrisy here,
it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury because it is the price of blood.
Notice the hypocrisy of these religious Jews here.
They're like betraying Christ, getting an innocent man killed.
No problem.
That's totally fine.
But receiving the money for it, the price of blood, this can't be put into the treasury.
Notice the hypocrisy of these people here.
Then it says in verse 7, "And they took counsel and bought with them," what?
The potter's field.
Isn't that exactly what Zechariah said would happen?
"To bury strangers in, wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day."
What a chilling story this is.
And just incredible, the Bible's detail in the fulfillment of everything that the Old
Testament said would happen to the Messiah.
Everything relating to people around the Messiah, His life, His birth, everything about it, Jesus
fulfills it to a T.
You want to know why?
Because Jesus is the Messiah.
That's why.
Psalm 22 and John 19, if you'll get in Psalm chapter 22 and John 19, you know, additionally,
the Old Testament foretold of the details of the crucifixion of the Messiah.
I mean, and this is just incredible, again, just the detail that's listed here, the way
that there's no way this could possibly be planned and advanced and carried out in such
a perfect manner.
But Psalm 22 verse 16, the Bible says, "For dogs have compassed me.
The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
They pierced my hands and my feet."
Wow, is that specific.
And you know what?
That's extra amazing because the common practice of crucifixion of the Romans was not impaling
someone's hands and feet with nails.
The common practice when someone was crucified was to tie ropes around their wrists and around
their ankles.
So the fact here that it's talking about nails being driven in, you know, piercing the hands
and feet, just wow, it's the word of God.
That's the only explanation.
Look what it says in verse 17, "I may tell all my bones."
And they look and stare upon me, saying that hey, the Messiah is going to be so brutally
devastated in his body that you're going to be able to see his bones exposed.
When it says I may tell my bones, kind of like a bank teller counts money, you're going
to be able to tell his bones, you're going to be able to count his bones by looking at
his beaten broken body.
Verse 18, "They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture."
And isn't that exactly what happened?
The casting of lots for the garments of the Lord Jesus Christ at his crucifixion.
Very incredible.
Look at John chapter number 19.
Also in the Old Testament, the Bible says in Psalm 69, 21, "In my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink."
In John 19 verse 28, the Bible says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished, noticed that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, 'I thirst.'
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and
put it upon hyssop and put it to His mouth."
Very interesting here how the Holy Spirit, the narrator of the Bible, gives us insight
as to the motivations of what Jesus is doing on the cross and why He's doing it.
And the Bible says that He knew all things were accomplished, but He wanted the scripture
to be fulfilled, that's why He said, "I thirst."
So no, Jesus, He knew He was the Messiah.
He was making it clear that He was the Messiah.
He claimed to be the Messiah, and He knew that He was fulfilling the prophecies of the
Messiah given in the Old Testament, "And my thirst gave they me vinegar to drink."
Keep your place in John chapter 19.
Additionally, the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would have none of His bones
broken at His death, very, very specific prophecy.
Psalm 34 verse 20, the Bible says, "He keepeth all His bones, not one of them is broken."
John 19 verse 33, it says, "But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already,
they break not His legs."
You know, why is it that they did this?
Well, because the way that people often died during crucifixion was from asphyxiation.
Because when the nails are put through the hands and feet or ropes, however it was done
for other individuals, of course, Christ, we know, nails are put through His hands and
through His feet, when He needs to take a breath, Christ would have had to put pressure
up from His legs where those nails are being fastened to His feet.
He would have to be putting pressure up to be able to come up and breathe and expand
His lungs.
Because just the position that you're in on the cross is making it very difficult to breathe.
And the Romans would often hasten someone's death by breaking their legs, because once
the legs are broken, that person, that victim is then hanging there and they're not able
to come up for that air that they need and they die a lot quicker.
But Christ, He endured about six hours of this brutal agony on the cross for us.
Amazing His love that He had for us.
But notice that they saw, oh, He was dead already, so they didn't break any of His legs.
What a very specific prophecy that is.
Then in verse 34, the Bible says, "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side
and forthwith came there out blood and water."
Again, there's nothing in the Bible that's accidental, incidental, coincidental.
Every detail in the Word of God is very important.
And to me, the fact that the Bible talks about how blood and water came out from the piercing
of the spear goes to show that this was a valid eyewitness account of the death of Christ,
because this isn't like some crazy, weird, mythical thing, like you stab His side and
water comes out.
This is actually a well-known medical phenomena that happens when someone is going through
difficult breathing for prolonged periods of time leading to their death.
There's a known medical phenomena that takes place that is called pleural effusion, I hope
I'm pronouncing that right.
But pleural effusion basically is the accumulation of fluid in the space by your lungs and in
the context of crucifixion, it prolonged respiratory distress, hypervolemic shock and trauma could
lead to fluid buildup in the pleural cavities.
If the spear pierced the lung or pleural space, it might release a mixture of blood and serous
fluid described as water.
So the witnesses that are seeing this, they're seeing some sort of clear fluid coming out
of his chest from this medical phenomena that's happening and blood.
That's consistent with what science says would happen to someone going through the same physical
brutality that Christ is enduring.
So again, it just kind of goes to validate the Word of God that this just isn't made
up.
This isn't someone's idea.
This is consistent with what you would see if this really happened, and we know it did
happen.
Verse number 35, it says, "And he that saw it bear record, and his record is true, and
he knoweth that he saith true," notice, "that ye might believe.
For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not
be broken."
You know, it's important every once in a while to study these prophecies and to re-familiarize
ourselves with them because the Gospel of John is just talking about all these things
being fulfilled, and he's saying, "Hey, these things are written that you might believe."
And I don't know about you, when I see just all these great Scriptures that Christ fulfills,
he just reassures me that I know, "Hey, I believe in the right religion, folks. Christianity
is the real religion. It is the only true religion. Jesus Christ is the only true God.
None other religion comes even close to this stuff." Right? You got Islam. Wow. You got
an illiterate pedophile that is in a cave that gets visited by some angel and gives
him some of the worst literature ever written in mankind. Are you really going to compare
that with what we're talking about this evening? I mean, a few weekends ago, I went to a bookstore
with my wife, and they have like this trash book section. And it's like a dollar for a
book or five dollars for a book. And you know what was at the very top? The Quran. Because
no one's buying it. Yet this is the best selling book in human history. The King James Bible,
folks. Nothing else comes even close. Why? Because it has power. It has authority. It
has truth. It bears witness with our spirit that this is the word of God right here. Go
to Psalm 16 and Acts Chapter 2. We're almost done this evening. And here's what you have
to understand. You know, if you're new to Christianity, if you haven't looked deeply
into these things, I am not exaggerating when I tell you I could spend the next 10 weeks
showing you prophecies in the Old Testament that Christ fulfilled. We are barely scratching
the surface of the prophecies. Those of you who have read the Bible through cover to cover
know exactly what I'm saying is true. You are getting a massive high overview of this
event, of this topic. But lastly, I want to talk about this, Jesus' resurrection and exaltation.
Not only all the things we've already talked about, but the Old Testament foretold of the
Messiah's resurrection and exaltation. And you know, this one is super important because
I remember a few years ago, you had this bozo, Andrew Sluder. Does anyone remember Chipmunk,
Andrew Sluder? A few of you guys, okay. So Chipmunk is a hyper-dispensationalist. He's
a Rukmanite. And he's one of these people that teach that salvation was different in
the Old Testament. And I remember him putting out a challenge, saying like, "Show me one
verse in the Old Testament that talks about the Gospel. Show me one verse in the Old Testament
that talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Okay, well let's look at it. Psalm
16 verse 10, the Bible says this, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt
thou suffer, thine holy one, to see corruption." Now go to Acts chapter number two, because
Acts chapter number two is about to serve as a commentary on the Old Testament. And
hey, if you like commentaries, let me tell you, the best commentary is the New Testament.
Because the New Testament is inspired by God just like the Old Testament, but it's constantly
clarifying and giving us more information and helping us understand things in the Old
Testament. But I'm telling you, that verse we just read in Psalm 16 is about Jesus Christ.
Acts two verse 25, the Bible says, "For David," who is the author of this Psalm we read, "speaketh
concerning him." Okay, so the New Testament is telling us David is talking about Jesus.
"I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should
not be moved." So notice David foresaw these things. David knew about the Messiah. David
knew about Jesus. Verse 26, "Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover
also my flesh shall rest in hope." So notice David is happy. David is excited. David is
full of joy. Why? Verse 27, "Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt
thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption." So now it's quoting that exact psalm that we just read.
Then it says in verse 28, "Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make
me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you of
the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto
this day." So he's saying, "Hey, the prophecy that I just told you about wasn't talking
about David. His flesh did see corruption." Right? And now of course David will be resurrected
one day, but his body did see corruption. But verse 30 says, "Therefore, being a prophet,
and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne." Remember when we read
that in 2 Samuel? The prophecy of the king that's going to come from his loins, who's
going to have an everlasting kingdom. The Bible says David's a prophet, and he said, "And
knowing, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him." So David understood these
things. In the Old Testament, David knew these things. Then it says, here's the big verse,
verse 31, "He, seeing this before, spake of," what? "The resurrection of Christ." You want
to know what Psalm 16 is about? The resurrection of Christ. "He, seeing this before, spake
of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did
see corruption." Are you starting to understand how people in the Old Testament were saved
by Jesus Christ, by the Messiah to come? And the Bible says David knew these things. David
understood these things, and it brought joy to his soul. It brought joy to his heart,
knowing that, hey, Jesus Christ is going to die, the Messiah is going to die, but his
flesh is not going to see corruption. God is not going to leave his soul in hell. Why?
Because three days after Christ died, what happened? Christ rose again from the dead.
But isn't that the crux of our religion? Isn't that the crux of Christianity? Right? Paul
talked about, hey, if Christ be not raised, then we're still in our sins, our faith is
vain, your faith is vain. It's all meaningless, right? But of course, we're not of men most
miserable because Jesus Christ did rise again from the dead. The Old Testament proves that.
Go to John chapter number five. So that challenge, oh, you know, show me the resurrection in
the Old Testament. You must have just never read your Bible because David's receiving
these prophecies and David's understanding these things. David's excited about the Messiah.
David's joyful about the resurrection of the coming Messiah. But you know what? People
who don't want to understand it, won't understand it, just like the days of Christ. At the beginning
of the sermon, I talked about how I wanted to prove two things. First, if you claim to
believe the Old Testament, you better believe Jesus is the Messiah because he fulfilled
all of those prophecies. And if you're going to tell me that you believe the Old Testament,
that you don't believe Jesus is the Messiah, you're a liar. And today you got a bunch
of independent fundamental Baptists that worship Israel, worship the satanic religion of Judaism,
and want to spit in our face and tell us, "Oh, Jews have the same God as us. Oh, Jews
believe the Old Testament." No, they don't, folks. They do not. I also wanted to prove
that believing in Jesus Christ is logical, that it makes sense, that it just fits with
reality, that it's not some sort of fairy tale, made-up story. I mean, it would be
crazy to believe that Christ fulfilled these things and is not the Messiah. That's what's
crazy. Now, who's familiar with Grok AI? Is anyone familiar with this? Okay. So, it's
just an AI chat model, and I typed into AI, into Grok, I said, "What is the mathematical
probability that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies by chance?" Because some of the Jews will
make this claim, "Oh, you know, if he fulfilled anything, it was just coincidence, but he's
not the Messiah." Okay. So, I just copied and pasted all the verses that I used in this
sermon. I put it into Grok AI, and I just said, "What is the mathematical probability
that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies by chance?" Here was the response. The mathematical probability
that Jesus fulfilled these 13 messianic prophecies by chance is approximately one in ten to the
seventy-first power, an incomprehensible number showing it is virtually impossible for anyone
but the true Messiah to accomplish this. I mean, even Grok is understanding that Jesus
is the Messiah, folks. Let me tell you something. If you reject that Jesus is the Messiah, you're
an idiot. You're a fool. You're like believing this, you know, 1 in 10 to the 74, whatever
number that is. I mean, that's crazy. We can't even conceptualize a number that big. And
I asked AI, I said, "Help me, help me conceptualize how big this number is, because I can't, I
can't fathom that. Can anyone here fathom that? Absolutely not." Okay, so I just said,
"Hey, help me conceptualize this number." And it gave me an analogy about grains of
sand. And this is what Grok said, "Imagine all the beaches on earth. The number of grains
of sand is estimated at 7.5 by 10 to the 18th power." So that's 7.5 quintillion grains
of sand. Are you guys with me? Grains of sand on earth is about 7.5 quintillion little grains.
Crazy, huge number. Okay, then it said, "Here's the comparison. 10 to the 71st power is trillions
of times larger than the number of sand grains on all beaches of planet earth." It said,
"Finding one specific grain of sand blindfolded on the first try is still far more likely than
Jesus fulfilling these prophecies by chance." You know, don't let anyone sit here and mock you for
being a Christian and tell you, "You're stupid. You believe in fairy tales. Oh, the old man,
bearded man in the sky." No, you're an idiot, actually, because you believe that if Jesus
fulfilled these things by chance, you'd have a better luck just being blindfolded and just
trying to find a specific speck of sand in all the world. You'd have a way better chance of doing
that than Jesus fulfilling these things by accident. You want to know why the Bible is so specific?
Because it's not afraid of scrutiny. God's not afraid of scrutiny. Why? Because it's the truth.
And the truth fears no investigation. And there's no other religion like Christianity that you can't
show me in the Quran all these intricate prophecies being fulfilled down to the smallest minutiae,
but you find it in the Bible. Why? Because Jesus is the Messiah. Why? Because we have the
right religion, folks. We're not built on the shifting sands. We've not followed cunningly
devised fables. This isn't some made-up story here. This is the truth. And wise men know that.
Wise men seek Him. And let me tell you something. You do not have to check your brain at the door
to be a Christian. In fact, please don't. I get very annoyed at this idea of, "Well, we're just
country Baptists. Amen. And I saw a TikTok video saying something about moon landing being fake and
and flat or being flat, something like that." Dude, please stop telling people you're a Christian
believing the dumbest crap imaginable. You don't have to check your brain at the door to be a
Christian. This is a logical book. This is a scientific book. This is a precise book. Why?
Because it's the truth. And truth fears no investigation. And every once in a while,
even just reminding myself of the basic truth of Jesus being the Messiah can really just
reinvigorate my faith in God. And you know, that's what I'm hoping to do with this sermon.
You know, I know all of you know Jesus is the Messiah. But isn't it amazing to remind ourselves
of that and see it for ourselves in the Scriptures? It's amazing. John chapter number five, verse 42,
notice what Jesus said, "But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my
Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh
from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one that accuseth
you, even Moses, and whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, you would have believed me,
for he wrote of me." And you know, when Christ came on the scene, those who believed in Moses,
you know what they said? We found him. We found the Messiah. Him who Moses and all the prophets were
writing about, Jesus Christ. Those who believe Moses, believe Jesus. The Jews today, don't let
them tell you, oh yeah, we believe Moses. Oh, we believe the first five books of Moses, you don't
believe a single word of it. Because to him give all the prophets witness, the Bible says. To him
give all the prophets witness. Let's close on 2 Peter chapter number one. Last verse we'll look at,
2 Peter chapter number one. 2 Peter 1 verse 16, the Bible says this, "For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." You know, isn't it great
to remind ourselves that we are not following a fairy tale here this evening? We're not meeting
together in the name of Jesus Christ in vain, but truly, like Jesus said, "Where two or more are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Jesus Christ is with us tonight.
Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. You know what? That truth is a world-changing truth.
That truth changed my life. And look, praise the Lord. I hope everyone in here is already saved,
but you know what? We shouldn't forget the magnificence and beauty of the fact that Jesus
Christ is the Messiah. That Jesus Christ is God. You know, we should do something with that. Let's
close in Romans chapter number 12, actually. One more verse. Romans chapter number 12. You know,
we shouldn't just live our lives unto ourselves and just go through our lives, our, you know,
everyday events, just forgetting about this great truth. You know what we should do? Romans chapter
12 verse 1, the Bible says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." You know, when we think about all the prophecies that Christ fulfilled, when we think
about the brutal death that He died on the cross for us, and the pain and torment that He endured
in hell for us, paying for our sins, and all just the great things that the Lord did for us,
you know, we shouldn't just accept that and forget about Him and just live for ourselves and live to
make as much money as we can and have as much vacation days as we can and just focus on our
own earthly pleasure. You know what we should do? We should offer ourselves a living sacrifice.
We should care not only about just getting saved and acknowledging the truth that He is the Messiah
and putting our trust in Him, but you know, we should go beyond that and serve Him, which the
Bible says is our reasonable service. Christ is not asking something crazy of us to offer ourselves
as a living sacrifice when He died for us. The Bible says it's a reasonable service. You know,
let us go away this evening with renewed faith in the Son of God and not just have a head knowledge
of that faith, but actually want to offer our lives in service to the King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank You for the beautiful scripture. We thank You for
the King James Bible. We thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, for the sinless life that He lived,
for His death on the cross, His descent to hell, and His resurrection to pay for our sins.
I pray that we would internalize these truths, that we would love You more,
that we'd be appreciative of what You did for us, and that we would use our lives to tell other
people about Jesus Christ and to use our lives in service for You. Please bless Pastor Anderson,
help him come home safely. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen,
take your hymn notes, please. We'll close with hymn number 471, hymn entitled "Cleanse Me." Hymn
number 471. Again, search me, oh God, and know my heart today. Hymn number 471. Sing it out
together now, 471. Search me, oh God.