I'm going to ask you to turn with me this morning to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Luke. And we're turning this morning to Luke 24, the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Reading the Word of God together from the 13th verse of this wonderful chapter and portion of God's Word. Luke's Gospel, chapter 24, reading from verse number 13. Luke 24, verse 13. And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were whole in that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another? as ye walk and are sad. And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem? and hast thou not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of her company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the woman had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slew of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, that he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, And returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. We'll end the reading there at verse number 35. And we know that the Lord will indeed add his own blessing onto this reading of his own inspired and infallible word. Now let's turn again please to the Gospel of Luke chapter 24. I'd like to welcome as well to our meeting this morning the Reverend Larry Parr and his wife. They're from the church in Corragarry, the Free Presbyterian Church down there, and we bid you a very warm welcome and we trust you'll be blessed as you fellowship with us here in Coleraine. I'd also like to wish Mr. and Mrs. Colin Gibson a very happy anniversary. I think it's 25 years they've been married, and we thank the Lord for that, and we trust the Lord will bless them as they celebrate their wedding anniversary. And I'm sure it doesn't seem like 25 years, and we wish Colin and his wife and family God's richest blessing at this time. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 24. And I just want to read three verses with you again, verses 25 through to verse 27. We've been thinking over the last few weeks about the world's best seller, considering the Bible. We've been thinking about the inspiration of Scripture, the revelation of Scripture. And we're looking today, again, at the authentication of Scripture, how we believe and know that the Bible is the word of God, it's something that many of God's people struggle with whenever they're asked questions by skeptics. How do you know that the Bible's true? And we sometimes scratch our heads and are lost for an answer. But today we're thinking again about the authentication of Scripture, how we know that the Bible is the Word of God. Luke 24, verse 25. Then said He, that's Jesus, unto them, O fools, and slowfart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And we'll end our reading there at verse 27. Let's just still our hearts, seeking the Lord together and asking the Lord for his help and for his anointing. I challenge you in this meeting this morning to listen and to give consideration and to think about the things that are being said. Martin Lloyd-Jones once said that Christianity is a thinking man's religion. And many people have problems and difficulties for the simple reason that they just never think. And they never consider their ways, and never consider. The Bible often calls us to consider. God called the people of Israel to consider their ways. And many times in the New Testament, the Word of God calls us to consider Him, consider Christ. Think about these things and give your attention to them. So I want you to think this morning about what the Word of God has to say to your soul. Let's just still our hearts and pray. Loving Heavenly Father, We thank Thee today for Thy Word. We thank Thee for this Word that Thou hast revealed unto us. We thank Thee for the inspired Word of God. And we thank Thee, Father God, that the Bible speaks for itself. Lord, today we pray that thou wilt speak, O God, to every heart. We pray that thou wilt make thy word clear, give us understanding, give us the anointing of God the Holy Ghost. As the word of God is preached and as the word of God is heard, we ask in Jesus' name that thou wilt write thy word upon our hearts. Lord, we need thee. We look to Thee. We pray, Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt fill us with the Holy Ghost. Lord, I ask that Thou wilt anoint these lips. I ask, O God, that Thou wilt anoint my heart and my mind and my spirit. I give myself unreservedly to Thee. And I pray, Heavenly Father, that Thou wilt exalt Thy Word, as Thou hast promised to do, Thou hast said, that Thou hast exalted Thy Word. Above thy very name and so Lord we pray this morning that the Word of God will a free course and be glorified We ask all these things in the Savior's name Praying for thy glory and for the eternal good of precious never dying souls Lord answer prayer Because we offer it in the Savior's name. Amen. I Now, as I've said already this morning over the last few weeks, we've been thinking about the Bible itself. and we've been thinking about the world's bestseller. The Bible is indeed the world's bestseller, and it's God's revelation, God's love letter to a fallen world. We thought about the revelation in Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture, and over the last week and this week and for the next few weeks, we're thinking about the authentication of Scripture, how we know and why we believe. that the Bible is authentic and the Bible is reliable and we're looking at various evidences of inspiration, evidences that the Bible is inspired. Now, last Lord's Day, we reminded ourselves of the words of the Savior in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18, and verse 16, where the Savior said, again, quoting Scripture itself, Old Testament Scripture, quoting from Deuteronomy 19, verse 16, the Lord Jesus Christ said, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word. may be established. And it's my plan and my purpose under God to call various witnesses to the witness stand each Lord's Day and ask them to give a testimony or an account as to why they believe. The Bible is God's inspired word. Last Lord's Day, we called the Bible itself to the witness stand, and we listened to the testimony of the old book itself, and we discovered how the Bible testified in many different areas and aspects to being God's inspired word. Now this morning, we want to call another witness to the stand. We want to call God's own dear son, to the witness stand and to give testimony as to why the Bible is the Word of God. And over the next few weeks, we'll be calling the science books and the scientists to the witness stand. We'll be calling history to give its testimony and salvation and prophecy to give testimony as to the truth and the veracity of the Word of God. of God. So today we're calling upon the Son of God Himself to come and give witness and testimony as to why the Bible is the Word of God. Now the record of the earthly life of Jesus Christ is recorded in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And we have to say this morning that Jesus Christ was an historical figure. The history books tell us that, but the only accurate record we have of Jesus Christ is what the Bible records for us in the New Testament. Now we have to remind ourselves this morning that being an historical figure, the Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew. He was born a Jew. He was born in the nation of Israel. And therefore, like every other Jew, his Bible was the Old Testament. Now the Jewish people today reject the New Testament, but they embrace the Old Testament. And so a Jewish person whenever they think about the scriptures, are thinking about the Old Testament. The books of Moses, those are the books of the law. then the historical books, then the poetical books, and then the prophetical books. And so whenever the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking about the scripture and speaking about the word of God, primarily he was speaking about the Old Testament scriptures that were completed 400 years before Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem. And so whenever you have your English Bible before you, this library of 66 books divided into two parts, Old Testament and New Testament, never forget that the Old Testament was completed 400 years before the New Testament was commenced. And whenever the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the Scripture, He was speaking about His Bible, the Old Testament. Now we know today, many of us, that the number seven is the number of perfection. And I want to speak about seven reasons this morning, seven reasons or seven ways that the Lord Jesus Christ showed the Scriptures to be authentic. Seven is the number of perfection. Jesus Christ was the perfect Son of God. And the Bible is a perfect book. And I just want this morning, as God gives help and enablement, to give you seven ways or seven areas that Jesus Christ showed the Scriptures to be authentic. And I want you to listen this morning to the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ as He authenticates the Scriptures of truth. The first thing that I want to say to you this morning about the Lord Jesus Christ authenticating the Word of God is this, that Jesus Christ testified to the necessity of the Scriptures. Jesus Christ testified to the necessity of the Scriptures. Now whenever the Lord Jesus was on this earth, the biggest stumbling block to His earthly ministry, would you believe it, came from the religious crowd, from the scribes, from the Pharisees, from the Sadducees, and from the chief priests. And every single time that the Lord met the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees, they always sought to oppose what He was saying. And very often the Savior pointed to the Scriptures and showed the necessity of the Word of God. For example, In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12 and verse number 1, it says at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn, and his disciples were hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do in the sabbath day. And immediately, as quick as a flash, the Lord Jesus Christ turned round, and he said unto the religious people, Now these people aren't atheists, they're not infidels, they're not agnostics, but they're Bible-believing Jews, as they would see it themselves. They profess to believe the Bible, profess to believe the Old Testament Scriptures. And the Lord turns around and he says to them, have ye not read? And so he points back to the Bible and he shows these old religious hypocrites that they don't even know their Bibles and they don't read their Bibles. And so what he's doing is he's highlighting the necessity of the Scriptures, Matthew's Gospel. Chapter 19, verse number 3, the Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put his way his wife for every cause? And the Lord Jesus Christ answered them again, and said unto them, Have ye not read? Matthew chapter 21, verse 15. The chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done. And in verse number 16 of Matthew 21, the Savior again turns around and asks them the question, have ye not read? And so he rebuked the Pharisees of his day. Now the Pharisees back in those days were the legalists. And I'll tell you, in the Church of Jesus Christ today, There's still the old legalist that you'll find. Legalism. is whenever men require that which God Himself is not required in Scripture. And the Pharisees always added on to the Word of God so much so that they looked to all the things that they had added to the Scriptures and they forgot everything that God had already said in the Scriptures. And then there's the other crowd. They were the Sadducees. And if the Pharisees were the legalists, then the Sadducees, they were the liberals. And they denied things that the Bible said. And in Matthew 22, verse 23, 29 and 32, the Lord again turned to the Sadducees and He pointed to the Scriptures. And he asked them again the question, have you not read the Word of God? Have you not read the Scriptures? And isn't it interesting today that whenever you think about the religious people of Christ's day, it was the religious people that didn't know what the Bible said, and didn't read the Scriptures, and didn't really understand the necessity of fading on the word of God to live for God in a crooked and a perverse generation. You see, whenever the Lord asked this question, have you not read the scriptures? Have you not read where David said and where Moses said and where the law? Have you not read this? You can almost sense the element of surprise in the lips of the Lord Jesus because he takes it for granted that if people want to know the God of heaven, then they'll have to get into the Bible. and have to read the Word of God. You know, I'm astounded at the amount of professing Christians that scarcely ever read the Bible. It's amazing. And they ask the simplest questions and they have so many problems and I believe 95 perhaps or more percent of our problems just come from the simple fact that we don't read the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ likened the Bible onto being like bread. He talked about the meat. And the New Testament talks about the milk and it talks about the meat of the Word of God. And so the Lord Jesus, whenever He was speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees, and He asked them the questions, have you not read the Scriptures? He's indicating that the Bible is absolutely necessary. So Christ testified to the necessity of Scripture. If you went for a week without eating or drinking, you would die. And spiritually speaking, if you've even professed Christ as your Savior, but you're never reading the Word of God, and you don't recognize the necessity of God's Word, well then, it's no wonder that the Church of Jesus Christ is so weak. It would do every Christian good to go home and read Psalm 119. Every single verse makes reference to the Word of God. The psalmist says, Psalm 119, verse 24, thy testimonies are my delight. Verse 16, I will not forget thy word. Verse 47, I will delight myself in thy commandments. and so on and so forth, all throughout the psalm. The psalmist is praising and thanking God for giving to him the Bible. Now, I wonder, is the Bible necessary for you? I'm speaking to you today that are religious, that would profess to know God. Is the Bible necessary for you? Well, Jesus Christ, He testified to the necessity of Scripture. He also testified to the authority of Scripture. So often, whenever there was a dispute, Jesus Christ just lifted the Scriptures and He pointed to the Word of God and He settled every dispute that was brought against Him by turning to the Word of God. For example, Matthew chapter number 22. Matthew chapter 22, speaking to the sad, you see, it says in verse 23, this same day came to him the sad, you see, which say there was no resurrection. It's like one man said that's why they were sad, you see, because they didn't believe in the resurrection. And the Lord Jesus Christ immediately in verse 29 turns around to them and says, ye do err not knowing the scriptures. And so he says to the Sadducees, the reason that you're in so much error and the reason that you're going into falsehood is because you don't know the Bible. You don't know what the Scripture says. You don't understand the authority of God's Word. He indicated, therefore, the authority of the Old Testament. And whenever speaking to his own disciples, he said concerning the Holy Ghost in John chapter 14 through to John chapter 16 about the ministry that the Holy Ghost would perform. And he said that he shall guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of himself, for he shall testify of me. He will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And so he's giving to his apostles authority to speak the words of God. And this is something that the New Testament speaks of time and time again. For example, the apostles. Whenever they were anointed and filled with the Holy Ghost, they said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13, which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but by which the Holy Ghost teacheth. And so the disciples are saying that the words that we're speaking, it's not something we've made up or something we've conjured up. We're speaking the words of the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians. 14 verses 37 and 38. Paul says in verse 37, the things that I write on to you are the commandments of the Lord. And so whenever the Lord was on this earth, he looked back to the Old Testament scriptures and he said to the Pharisees, they're authoritative. And then he said to his disciples and to his apostles, I'm going to give you the Holy Ghost, and you'll write the New Testament epistles, and they're going to be authoritative as well. You know, more and more and more in these days in which we're living, the authority of the Bible is being undermined. It amazes me that you hear people saying and making statements like this these days, well, you know, I'm not a theologian and I don't really get into the Bible, but I just, I just follow Jesus. And I just try and be like Him. I just try and walk with the Lord and worship Him. But I don't really get into the Bible all that much. I remember speaking to an old professing Christian about something in the Bible. She says, well, I know what I believe and I don't have to go to the Bible to look for it. And that's the kind of statements that people made. You've got these little bracelets. that people are running about with? WWJD? What would Jesus do? Now, I understand the sentiment behind that, and I know it's always good if you're in a situation to ask yourself the question, now how would Christ behave? What would Christ do in a situation like this? But that can become so very subjective. And it's not the question, what would Jesus do? The question we need to ask ourselves is, what has Jesus done? And what has God said? Because if I came to you and I asked you, well, what do you think Jesus would do? And then I asked somebody else, what do you think Jesus would do? And what do I think Jesus would do? And what do you up in the gallery? Well, what do you think Jesus would do? Then we'd all kind of have a debate about what we would all think Jesus would do. You see, it's not about what Jesus might do or could do or probably would do. It's about what he has already done and about what he has already said. You see, Jesus Christ was the incarnate Word. And He always pointed to the inspired Word. And if we reject the authority of God's Word, that's why every cult has ever come into existence. Because they deny the authority of God's Word. And they bring in doctrines of extra-biblical revelation. And bring in new prophets and new prophecies and new teachings. But the Lord Jesus, well, He testified to the necessity of Scripture. He testified to the authority of Scripture. But he also testified to the history found in the Scripture. Did you know that virtually everything that the modernists now deny, Jesus Christ verified? It's an amazing thing that modern Christians will talk about the wonderful man that Jesus was. And they'll talk about following Him, and worshipping Him, and they'll set up things like the Jesus Seminar, and try and find the historical Jesus. And they'll all talk about this spurious Jesus, but whenever it comes to what Jesus says, they virtually deny everything that He says. For example, a six-day creation. The modernists will deny that. But yet the Lord Jesus Christ verified it, and he pointed to the six days of creation as being an historical fact bedded in the Word of God. Matthew 19, verses 4 and 5. He also talked about Adam, and he talked about Cain, and he talked about Abel. Matthew 23, 35. Many people today will deny that there was ever a flood that engulfed the whole earth. And yet the evidence for it is all around us. And yet in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus Christ said that in the last days, it will be just like the days of Noah. Men eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day came and the flood took them all away. He also spoke about Sodom and he spoke about Gomorrah. Emphasizing there the historical value of the Old Testament. He talked about Lot's wife. He talked about Jonah. Remember Jonah? Got swallowed by the whale? And things like that have happened since. There was a man found in the early part of the 20th century. A whaling vessel brought in this whale and they opened it up and here was a man still alive inside of it. One old modernist preacher was visiting an old woman in hospital when he saw an old Bible beside her bed and he says, do you read that? She says, I read it all right, it's my food, I get such blessing out of it. And he says, well, do you take it literally? She says, of course I do. He says, well, what about the story of Jonah? Do you believe that a big fish swallowed a man and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and for three nights? She says, I believe it. He says, in fact, if the Bible says that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe that too. And he's turned around and says, well, how are you ever going to know for sure if Jonah gets swallowed by the whale? So he says, well, just to settle the dispute and the argument, whenever I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah if he gets swallowed by a whale. And then the old preacher turned around and says, well, what happens if Jonah isn't in heaven? And she thought for a minute and then she looked at the preacher and she says, well then you can ask him. Because if Jonah's not in heaven and he's somewhere else, well you're going to the same place. The Lord Jesus Christ talked about Jonah being swallowed by the whale. The book of Daniel was called into authority by the modernists, but the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. So what are the modernists saying whenever they bring into question creation, the flood, Daniel, Jonah, Lot's wife, Cain, Abel, Adam, all the rest of it? They're either saying this. They're saying that Jesus Christ was a liar. They're either saying that Jesus Christ was gullible and foolish. Or worse still, they were saying that he was a gullible liar. But what they are saying undoubtedly is this. that Jesus Christ was not omniscient. He didn't know all things because if these things didn't really happen or exist and these people didn't walk the earth, then Jesus Christ was not omniscient. And if He was stretching the truth, then He was not impeccable. And if He wasn't omniscient, and He wasn't sinless, and He wasn't impeccable, then He wasn't the Son of God, and He wasn't God the Son, and He wasn't divine. And if He wasn't divine, then He can't save anybody, and He was just a fallible man like you, or like me. I heard a stupid woman recently on the radio, and you know what she said? She said, well, she said she was a Christian now. Give her that. But she went on to say, whenever they were speaking about creation on one of these radio shows, she says, sure, sure, Jesus didn't write the Bible. And what she was indicating was that he didn't support the Bible, or he didn't know what the Bible says. But if you look at the life of Jesus Christ, again and again and again and again and again, he quotes the Old Testament. He verifies the teaching of the Old Testament. He verifies the historical record of the Old Testament. He testified to the history of the Scriptures. He also testified to the infallibility of the Scriptures. Matthew chapter 5, verse 17, and verse number 18. We made reference to this text last Lord's Day, verse 18. Verily I say unto you, Matthew 5, 18, till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law. till all be fulfilled. The jot and the tittle, that's just like whenever we dot our I's and our J's and we stroke our T's. It's just the tiniest little part of a Hebrew character. He's referring to the Old Testament because there's dots and little tittles and strokes here and there that just can change the breathing in a word and something that we might say is very superficial. But yet the Lord indicated that the very jot and the tittle was inspired Scripture. What's He saying? He's saying that the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but the Bible is the Word of God. He didn't tell people that you have to go away and get a book on homiletics or get a book on exegesis or get a book on hermeneutics and sit with it beside the Bible. and continually try and apply all different sorts of rules to bend the scripture to make it say whatever you want it to say? No, the Lord Jesus Christ says that the very jot and the tittle is inspired and the word of God says whenever Jesus Christ was preaching that the common people heard him gladly. I think that's wonderful. The common five-eighths, the man in the street that hadn't maybe received a university degree, that hadn't studied physics and science and mathematics and all these different things, he could understand what Jesus Christ was saying. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 10 verse 35, in the middle of preaching he stops and in parenthesis, that just means in brackets, he makes this statement, the scripture cannot be broken. That's telling us that the Bible is infallible. Now, who are you going to believe this morning? Are you going to believe the man that stands up on television with a thousand text books, all of them with different views and different bases and different theses and different sways and slants and different things, different dates, different information, different calculations? Are you going to believe him or are you going to believe the Messiah? I don't know if you've seen a program on television. I switched it off quite quickly. It was called, Did Darwin Kill God? And I watched it for about five minutes. And the man that was presenting the program, he was trying to reconcile Darwinism and Christianity. And he went to this Roman Catholic priest in Italy or somewhere like that. And this man says, well, I have no problem believing what Darwin taught and believing what the Lord Jesus Christ taught as well. But this presenter stood on this television program and he said this. He says Genesis chapter 1 indicates, whenever you read it chronologically, says Genesis chapter 1 says, whenever you read about the seven days of creation, that God created plant life. And then a day or two later, he created man. And then he says whenever you go to Genesis chapter 2, it tells us that God created man, and then God created plants. And so he says there's a contradiction between the very first two chapters of the Bible. I just thought about that, and I thought, isn't it interesting that he didn't actually quote anything that the Bible said. And I just lifted the Bible and I opened it, Genesis chapter 1, he was right, God created plant life and then after that God created man. And then you come to Genesis chapter 2 and you don't have to read too far because it says in Genesis chapter 2 verse number 5, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." And so this documentary, BBC2, this great scientist that was so learned said there was a contradiction between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, but it was a complete lie and a complete fabrication. Genesis 1 says God created plants and then he created man. Genesis 2 says exactly the same thing. And the reality is that while Genesis 1 is chronological, Genesis chapter 2, parts of it aren't. And yet here's a man that stands up, multitudes watching, listening to him. Well, this man's learned it. This man's a scientist. This man's got a degree. This man's studied it all out. He tells me that there's a contradiction in Genesis. Well, just have to take his word for it. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he pointed to the infallibility of Scripture. He also testified to the sufficiency of Scripture. You know, all you need this morning is the Bible. You don't need me. You don't even need this church. I'm glad you come and I'm glad you don't forsake the ascending of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but the Lord Jesus pointed to the sufficiency of Scripture. Whenever the rich man died and went to God's hell, he lifted up his eyes and he said, Father Abraham, send one of my brethren, or send Lazarus, that he might testify unto my brethren. And the Lord is recorded as saying that they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. What's he doing? He's saying that the Bible, even the Old Testament, without the New, is sufficient to lead a person to saving faith in Jesus Christ. He said, search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye of life. Beginning at Moses and at the prophets, he expounded unto them all things in the Scriptures concerning himself. You see, it's a nonsense to say that the Jesus of the Old Testament is a different God than the one in the Old Testament. Because Christ, even whenever he was hanging, bleeding, dying on the cross, what did he do? He quoted scripture. Christ is the theme of the Bible. The Old Testament testifies of Christ. The New Testament testifies of Christ. And Jesus Christ testifies of both the Old Testament and the New. You know, out of every religion in the world, and out of every religious writing, every religion has creeds, doctrines, laws, practices, but the only religious book in the world that has a savior is the Bible. It's the only book that gives hope. Christ also testified to the morality of Scripture. He talked about the morality of marriage, pointing to the Old Testament, Matthew 19, 4 and 5. Whenever being tempted by the devil, three times he replied to Satan, it is written. He summarized the whole moral law in two wonderful statements in Matthew 23, 37 to 40. I ask you this morning, why is society so immoral? Why are people rubbing their heads and scratching their heads and saying we just can't understand with all the finance, with all the education, with all the great drives to improve society? Why is there so much anarchy? Well, it's very simple. It's because we've closed the Bible. Jesus Christ pointed to the morality of Scripture. And yet today we've closed, generally speaking, the Bible. Even Christians, in inverted commas, hardly believe the Bible anymore. And as I said last Lord's Day, it's either back to authority or it's back to anarchy. It's either back to the Bible or back to the jungle. You know, people don't like the Bible because it's not politically correct. It calls a spade a spade. People have said that to me. After you preach they say, boy you really call a spade a spade. What else would you call a spade? Somebody working out in the garden and somebody says, could you go and get me a spade please? And you come back five minutes later with a wheelbarrow and they look at you and say, no, I wanted a spade. You come back then with a sledgehammer or an axe or a rake or something else. You call a spade a spade because a spade is a spade. It's not something else. A spade is a spade and that's why you call a spade a spade. And that's why we call sin, sin. And that's why we call immorality, immorality. And that's why we talk about the language of the Bible because again the common people heard Christ gladly. There's all this fluffing about today and people come out and they don't know what the preacher's talking about. Because he just skirts around the issue. They come along and he'll talk about his greenhouse, and he'll talk about his tomatoes, and he'll talk about his allotment, and he'll talk about his wee tractor, and he'll talk about this, that, and the other. And he'll talk about the football, and he'll talk about everything under the sun. And if you want to hear talk like that, you can hear it anywhere. But he never opens the Bible. But Jesus Christ pointed and testified to the morality of Scripture. Even though the morality of Scripture is maybe not politically correct in this generation in which we're living, the truth will always be offensive. Lastly and in closing, Jesus Christ, on the witness stand this morning, testified to the necessity of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, the history of Scripture, the infallibility of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture, the morality of Scripture, but also of the prophecy of Scripture. Now remember, the Old Testament was completed 400 years before Christ was ever seen. And yet, just to give you a few examples, it spoke of his virgin birth. It spoke that he would be a prophet, a priest, and a king. It said that he would be rejected by his own people. It told us that he would be born in Bethlehem. It told us that he would be betrayed by a friend. It told us that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. It told us that his hands and his feet and his side would all be pierced. It told us that he would be crucified on a cross. It told us that he would rise again from the third day 400 years. How do you explain that? And whenever the Lord Jesus Christ was on this earth, In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, the verses that we read earlier, and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, all of them, every single one of them, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, right through to Malachi, all of the prophets, all of the books of Moses, he expounded onto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. But he says in verse 26, ought not Christ to have suffered? That's what the Jewish people couldn't see. Coming out of 400 silent years, with the Scriptures of truth in their very hands, whenever Jesus Christ, God's Son, went to a cross and was made an open shame, they just couldn't see it. They thought the Messiah would be some great military leader that would sit on the throne and lead them out of the Roman, Roman captivity and all the rest of it. But yet Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Genesis 49, all these wonderful chapters in the word of God prophesied of Christ. And yet Jesus Christ pointed back to the prophecies of scriptures and the things concerning himself. Let me ask you in closing, what are you doing with your Bible? I think it was Martin Luther that said many in these days could write the word damnation with their finger on the dust that covers their Bible because it's scarcely ever opened. I can't understand Christians that don't love the Word of God and don't read their Bibles. How can you fly in the face of all the evidence that even Jesus Christ gave? Are you going to call him a liar this morning? Are you going to call him some sort of fanatic? Or some man that was ill-learned and didn't know what he was talking about? Are you going to trust the written word and embrace the living word? Jesus Christ. God bless you and thank you for listening.