Search the Scriptures, Receive the Savior They Point To

I I can point you to the facts of scripture, but if I do not point you to the savior of scripture, then I'm missing the point in teaching the Bible to you. It's a great problem to just fill our minds with knowledge that never penetrates the heart and settles into the recesses of our desperate need of why we read what we read about what God wants us to know, that we are sinful and that God is loving and that he invites us to come to him through his son, Jesus. [00:30:14] (42 seconds)  #ScripturePointsToJesus

The window was created to show the great beauty of the city, but all this man saw was the window. And it's in that way that we need to remember that the Bible is a window. It's a wonderful window. But we must look through it to see the beautiful realities of Christ and of his father. And so it's in that way that the bible is not an end itself, but a window for what for which we can learn life changing truths about God and his son. [00:33:14] (48 seconds)  #BibleIsAWindow

Today, so called churches teach a message that you are the center of it all. Let me burst your bubble for a second. You're not the center of it all. God is. Their message is that God wants to make you happy, that he wants to give you all your heart desires, that he promises to pour out his favor upon you. Now listen. God does wanna bless you. God does wanna give you the desires of your heart. But that will only happen when your heart is so caught up in the will of God that the desire of your heart is what God wants, not what you want. [00:57:56] (56 seconds)  #SeekGodsWill

You're not the center of it all. It is by the grace of God and the mercy of God that he even reaches out to bring us to him. We need to seek the glory that is from the one and only God. The son did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That the call to follow Jesus is a call of humble servant leadership leadership, to put the needs of others ahead of our own, to understand that God is inviting us into a wonderful relationship with him so that we die to self and become alive to him. [00:58:53] (56 seconds)  #ServeLikeJesus

They had bibles in front of them, and they were students of it. And they completely missed why they were to study the scriptures because they became students of the book rather than disciples of the one who wrote the book. And so I pray this morning that we learn from their tragic response and that we do not follow suit, that we will dig deep in the word of God, that we will hide it in our heart, that we will come to this word as nourishment, that we will delight in the truths that are contained, but never be satisfied with the book itself. [00:36:38] (49 seconds)  #BeDisciplesNotJustStudents

The pages that are in this book are holy and like no other. Rest in its promises. Wake up to its challenges. Believe the one these words point to. And when you do, you will find salvation for your soul. Let us always seek the one who this book points to, the lord Jesus Christ. [01:06:28] (29 seconds)  #FindSalvationInChrist

And when we take a step back and think through how just the simple reading of God's word can transform our lives, we need to remember that the word of God is powerful. It's powerful. We just need to let the text stand for itself. The author of Hebrews says and reminds us in Hebrews four twelve that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [00:27:12] (43 seconds)  #WordIsLivingAndActive

Jesus says you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. I mean, what a tragic miscalculation by them. The Jews thought that the study of the Bible would lead to salvation. They had their noses in the book but rarely got beyond the paper and ink. The word search that Jesus uses means to examine. So Jesus connects their study of the Bible with the wrong goal, that in them, the scriptures, you have eternal life. [00:43:47] (41 seconds)  #StudyIsNotSalvation