That the Old Testament scriptures testify about Jesus Christ and urges believers to "search the scriptures" as Christ commanded. The passage explains that Jesus referred to the Old Testament when he said the scriptures testify of him, highlighting Moses' writings as a key example. The message illustrates how Jesus is presented throughout the Old Testament in types, shadows, and direct references, using examples like the rock, the brazen serpent, and various individuals. The sermon concludes by demonstrating how a process of elimination through specific Old Testament prophecies, from Genesis to Isaiah, points directly to Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, born of a virgin in Bethlehem.
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let's open our Bible listening please to the Gospel of John chapter five very very familiar portion of the Bible John chapter five verse thirty nine the Lord Jesus is speaking and he's speaking to his own and he said search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they they are which testify concerning me now He was not referring to the twenty-seven books that make up the New Testament. They weren't even written. Rather, he was referring to the thirty-nine books that make up the Old Testament. And he said, Search the Scriptures.
In them ye think ye have eternal life. And that's true. We become partakers of the divine nature through the exceeding great and precious promises. They they are which testify concerning me. And you know, with a name like Gustafson, I'm not Irish. My father came from Sweden. My mother's father and mother came from Sweden. I can't speak Swedish, but my mother could. And she told me. Now, if there's somebody here to speak Swedish, please don't come up and argue with me afterward because I'd lose and you'd win. I'd feel badly the rest of the day. But my mother told me that the word for search in Swedish sounds something like this. And see if you can think of an English word that sounds like it.
The Swedish word for search is ransaka. Can you think of an English word sounds anything like that? Ransak the scriptures. You know it is to ransack. That means you're really desperate. You want to find something in a hurry and you pitch to the left and the right and dig around. And the Lord Jesus said, ransack the scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures. They they are which testify concerning me. Now drop down if you don't mind. Let's take a look at verse forty-six. The Lord Jesus now said, For had ye believed Moses, you would have believed me. For he wrote of me.
And we might also express it conversely. If you do not believe Moses, I have no idea that you can ever believe me. Moses wrote concerning me. Now what did Moses write? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, some of the Psalms. probably some of the other portions of the Old Testament. And you notice what a tremendous premium the Lord Jesus put upon the Bible. He never handled the sword of the Spirit as though he expected it to break in his hand. Never did. In fact, he told the story, you remember, about two beggars. Now, they're called two beggars, but they were two beggars. One begged on earth and the other one begged in hell. We know the name of one of them.
We're not sure about the name of the other one. We know the one Lazarus. And of course, he did not go to Abraham's bosom because he was a beggar, because he was poor. His name indicates how he made it. His name, Lazarus, is the same in Old Testament at Eliezer, which means God is my help. He was saved by grace. But the other one, this rich one, went to hell. He said he was in hell. He said he was in torment. Then while he was there, he prayed. He did. He prayed while he was in hell. But he didn't pray to Father God. He prayed to Father Abraham. And he said, Abraham, I've got five kid brothers still on earth.
Please send Lazarus to him that he might go and preach a good three-point outline sermon to him. Did he say that? No. He said, send him and let him give his testimony. There's nothing that takes the place of earnest testimony, is there? I'd rather hear a good testimony than a sermon any day. And here, and I like good preaching too, I like good sermon. He said, let him tell how he missed hell. Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went from the dead, they'd change their mind, they'd repent. And then you remember our Lord Jesus used those words. He said, if they will not believe Moses and the prophets, If they will not believe the Bible, when an ever-present Holy Spirit speaks through the vipages of the Bible, neither would they repent, though one rose from the dead.
Has anyone ever come to you and said, if you could prove such and such and such and such a thing to me, I'd become a Christian believer. Ever heard anybody say that? They wouldn't. The Bible speaks about the obedience of faith. And that's the way it comes. God commands men everywhere to repent. And God commands people to believe because God speaks through the Bible. Now, they would not believe, oh, our grave opened before their very eyes and someone stepped out of that grave. Wouldn't do it. I'll never forget when we were in Nairobi, about nineteen sixty, I think it was. We'd come in from Usambora in the D.C. three, and we had a lot of newspaper men with us and They were in the back of that little DC three and they couldn't understand.
We had Time magazine and Life magazine, the other AP and then they were, Mr. Graham was having a Bible conference with them. They wondered what in the world was going to happen. All these people had seen come forward. So Mr. Graham was giving a little exposition of Matthews thirteen, the parable of the saw. Well, when we got to Nairobi, there was one of these Muslims like you're reading of these days in Iran, the same crowd. and challenged us to a debate, had open in a public letter. And this fellow challenged Mr. Graham, said we'd get thirty, ten Africans, ten Asians, ten Europeans, that medical science had pronounced to be incurable. And this Muslim was going to get his crowd over there on one side, and they were going to play to Allah, and wanted Mr.
Graham on one side to get some of his group and pray to God through Jesus Christ. And the one that answered the prayers and healed these would know as the true God. Well, a telephone started ringing. Well, what do you think Mr. Graham said? No comment. No comment. No comment. If I happen to say I have Jim Bell with us at Time Magazine, I'll speak to you through. No. But we've got this associated press. Well, we've got the top associated press man with two from Europe. No comment. The next morning, the cables started coming in from the United States. Remember Elijah. with the four hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal. Accept the challenge. We'll be praying for you.
Well, finally, Mr. Graham made a statement. He said, My ministry is a spiritual ministry. And even though God had healed everybody we prayed for, not one person of all of them would ever come to faith. Not one of them. Because that's not the way we come. If you will not believe the Bible, if you will not believe Moses, When Moses spoke unto the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and a living God speaks of this book, men would not repent, though one rose from the dead. So, search the Old Testament. Scriptures, they testify concerning me. Moses wrote about me. Now, if you don't mind, turn back with me to Luke chapter twenty-four. On Sunday morning, brother, Phineas brought us that, well, that stir soul-stirring message there, that little meditation on Luke twenty-four.
Verse twenty-five, please. on this Emmaus road. Verse twenty-five. Then he said unto them, O fools! Now I don't mind being called a fool by somebody. Some people, do you? I don't mind being called a fool. But I certainly would hate to be called a fool by the Lord. You've heard the illustration. You probably used it yourself. But I can tell you who did it. It was Ex-Commander Solway that did it of the British Coast Guard. He was a tremendous believer. And he was everlastingly at it. He was fearless. And anytime there'd be a parade in the streets of London, the old boy would be there with his satchel full of tracks and gospel portions and giving them out.
And one day there was a parade coming along and they looked down and they saw old Solway coming. And he had a big dunce cap on. And on the front of the dunce cap were the words, a fool for Christ. And everyone knew, ha, ha, ha. But when he got by and they looked in the back of the hat and said, who's fool of you? You're going to be a fool for someone, so he might just well be a fool for the right one. But I would hate to have been called a fool by the Lord Jesus. Now he said, Oh, fools and slow 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.
I would love to have heard that one, wouldn't you? Imagine here's the greatest preacher that ever lived and the greatest message ever preached and only two people heard it and nobody took notes. You know, many times those of us who preach, we get to a crowd and say, well, pretty small crowd here this morning, I'm certainly not going to trot out one of my big messages. You know, I'll give a little devotion or a little ditty here today because I certainly couldn't waste my abilities on just about eight or ten or eighteen people. But here's the greatest preacher and the greatest message starting with Genesis and going right through and showing to them, expounding unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And it says in this chapter that he opened, their eyes were opened in verse thirty-one and thirty-two he opened the scriptures and then later on he said he opened their understanding. This is the chapter of open things. Now let's put our thinking cap on this morning. Search the scriptures. They testify concerning me. Moses wrote concerning me. He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now God has chosen to present the Lord Jesus to us in two or three different ways in the Old Testament. He presents him, first of all, in type and in shadow.
Then he presents him to us by direct reference. Under type and shadow, he presents him to us in inanimate objects. Can you think of something in the Old Testament that doesn't have life that is a picture of Christ? Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. The rock. And the brazen serpent. And the ark. And the tabernacle. All of that mysterious food that came down from above, that angel's food, as the psalmist called it. God called it bread. Did they ever call it bread? One time. The only time they ever called it bread was when they refused it. And they said, our soul loatheth this light bread.
It's like when the Lord Jesus came in, in the beginning of public ministry, God said, there is my well-beloved Son, in whom is all my pleasure. Did they ever call him the Son of God when they rejected him? And that was one of the reasons they wanted him put to death. He blasphemes. He calls himself the Son of God. Then the Lord Jesus is presented to us in animals. Can you think of any animal that's a picture of Christ and everybody is thinking about the lamb, Abel's lamb. God will provide himself the lamb. The dedication of Solomon's temple, a hundred and twenty thousand of them. Then he is presented to us in goats, the promptitude of the goat.
I delight to do thy will, O God, those sharp, quick movements of the goat. Then we see him in the oxen. We see him in the turtle dove, the pigeons. You see, God cannot provide, cannot find one object or one person that he could ever present all of Christ in that individual. That's why you have to have all of them. But in the Old Testament you have the whole Christ. He's all there. Then one of the most striking ways that he's presented is in people. Now this is under type and shadow. In animatomics, animals, and then people. We have him in Adam. In contrast, Adam is from beneath. He is from above. This man is made a living soul. This man a life-giving spirit. By one act of disobedience in the part of this man, many made sinners.
By one work of righteousness in the part of this man, many are declared righteous. We have him in Isaac. Abraham's only begotten son. We have him in Benjamin. Before his mommy died, she called him Benoni, son of my sorrow. His daddy renamed him, called him son of my right hand. On earth, the man of sorrow. In heaven, the man at God's right hand. We have him in Joseph. We have him, of course, in Moses. God will raise up a prophet like unto me. We have him in David. As David, he conquers the land. We have him in Solomon. As Solomon, he rules and reigns in peace. He's first coming, the second coming. So we have the Lord Jesus in inanimate objects. We have him in animals.
We have him in people. But then one of the most striking ways that God presents the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament is by direct reference. And you know, the Holy Spirit has chosen a method to present him to us. And the reason I bring this little talk, we have these wonderful young people with us. And, you know, they're not like us old ones. We get there and say, well, we've heard so-and-so, and we've heard Reverend Whatchamacallit, and we've heard Dr. What's his name and all, and we have no at all, and you can't tell us anything new. Might come, you know, at our age, we say, what does this babbler have to say? But these young people are still licking their chops into every bitter thing. To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.
So I want to bring this talk, not for my advantage, but for these wonderful young people. Many times you're asked the question, how can we be sure? Especially these days, when there's so many voices, how can we be absolutely sure that what we've been taught in the chapel, what we've been taught by these is that he is really and truly the only Savior of the world. Because some of us are not only willing to be dogmatic, we're bulldogmatic. It comes to this. But there's a method that's used millions of times every day. And the Holy Spirit has chosen that method. I have a sister. been a missionary in Africa for thirty years. She lives a hundred miles in the middle of Green Hill, way a hundred miles in the middle of the jungle, walked in with five kids and her husband, lived there, had to fly over the plane and drop canned goods in the mud for a year, lived in a hut with her African friends, and all of the rest.
And every now and then Marion will write me a letter. You say, how in the world could that letter ever reach you if she's way out there in the middle of the jungle? Well, she takes that. And that envelope, and she'll write, Mr. Roy W. Gustafson. Then she'll write, One Beach Drive. Oh, I'm sorry I gave you my address. Because so many of you come to Florida in the winter, and you're always looking for a free place to sleep and eat. And I don't ordinarily give anybody my address. No, really. If you ever come to St. Petersburg, don't hesitate. Just keep going. But anyway, St.
Petersburg, Florida, three, three, seven, oh one, United States, North America. Now, how's that letter going to reach me? I imagine the mission plane takes it into Monrovia and so on picks it up. They do not look at the first line. They look at the last one. North America. That automatically eliminates every other continent of the earth. Don't send it to South America. Don't send it to Australia. Don't send it to Asia. Don't send it to Europe. Send it to North America. Somebody else picks it up and they look at the next line. United States. Well, don't send it, there are many countries in North America. Don't send it to Mexico. Don't send it to Guatemala, Guatemala, especially these days.
Don't send it to Costa Rica. Don't send it to Honduras. Don't send it to Belize. send it to North America. Somebody picks it up there, in New York, and it said, Florida. Don't send it to California, because the abbreviation for California is C-A-L-I-F, which means come and live in Florida. So don't send it to California. Don't send it to Oregon. Don't send it to Hawaii. Send it to Florida. Somebody picks it up there, and they look at the next line up there. It says, St. Petersburg that automatically eliminates Chattahoochee and Orlando and Miami and Key West. And they send it to St.
Petersburg. Somebody else picks it up there and they look at the zip code and they look at one beach drive and he takes it down there. He puts it in his sack and brings it down. And to my knowledge, there's only one man in the world that lives at one beach drive in St. Petersburg, Florida. Do you understand how they do it? Now that's the way the Holy Spirit has done it for us. And to me, I never tired. This is so absolutely thrilling in the Bible how with the process of elimination, God presents the Lord Jesus to us. Now, I want to look at seven scriptures. Oh, you'll say we'll be here all day. No, you won't. I want you to turn with me, if you will, to Genesis chapter three.
This is the seed plot of all prophecy. I'm sure you young people have been taught this. Many times in the assemblies, in your meetings, in your Bible readings, in Bible study, you've been taught. This is the seed plot of all prophecy. This one verse in Genesis three, fifteen presents the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. Seven things I've spoken of in this verse about him. I'm only going to point out one of them. Verse fifteen, chapter three, Genesis, the gospel of Genesis, if you don't mind. And I will put, God is speaking, I will put enmity between thee, speaking to the old serpent, thou old serpent, and the woman, and between thy seed.
Yesterday we had a question about the one spoken of as being the Antichrist. I usually don't refer him to him as that. I refer him to him as the man of sin. The devil is going to have seeds. And one of these days there are going to be, well, really two men, who will be as much Satan incarnate as Jesus Christ was God incarnate. They may be alive now. I don't know. One will be a great political leader. One will be a great religious leader. The Satan is going to have seed. And I'm going to put enmity between that seed, Satan's seed, and her seed.
And if you remember your days in high school in the biology classes, you learned that seed is never feminine. Seed is always masculine, with this one exception. The woman is going to have seed. He shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. Now, if you only had this one verse, you wouldn't have the slightest clue what this is all about. But look, do you know what you have? You have all of this here, all of this to shed light on that verse. Especially when you come to Galatians where you read, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son made of a woman.
Now to me, the virgin birth is no problem. God has made a human body in how many different ways? He made the first one, you know, out of dust, didn't he? Then he made another one out of a bone. I was going to bring a talk here, but I've looked around and I don't believe I'd better bring it. I wanted to bring that talk on Adam's rib, the devil's fib, and women's lib. But I don't think I better do that one here. But he made a body out of a rib. Then he made your body out of what you might call natural generation, but that is just as miraculous as the virgin birth. Ask any doctor. They can observe it, but they can't understand it. And God could make a body a thousand different ways if he wanted to.
So he made a human body without the aid of a man at all. But the only thing I want you to remember out of this verse, out of all of it said, just one thing, I'd like if I had a blackboard, I'd draw a big circle. I'm glad I don't because I'm not a very good artist. But I'll draw one in your imagination. When he comes, This one who is going to crush the head of the devil. This one who will undo the works of Satan. This one who is going to be the world's only Savior. He will come out of the human family. He will not be an angel. He'll not be one of the four and twenty elders. He'll not be a cherub. He will come out of the human family, and he will be the seed of the woman. Can you remember that, do you think?
Genesis three, fifteen. Now quickly, over to Genesis nine. Genesis chapter nine. When you get to Genesis chapter nine, the human family, with this side of Noah's flood, and the human family is divided into three sections. So if you're to take this big circle and make three big pieces of pie out of it, and we're going to call one Shem, Ham, Japheth, you have three sons of Noah, right? So the human family is divided into three sections. And I say, I wonder what section of the human family is he going to come out of? All right. Verse twenty-four. And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done unto him.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan. Now we know who he is, because the Bible tells us that Ham is the father of Canaan. A servant of servant shall he be unto his brethren. I'm glad that later on the Lord Jesus said, In grace, he that would be greatest among you, let him be servant of all. You see, things change under grace, don't they? So it's not too bad to be a servant. And he said, oh, look what he says about Shem. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. He doesn't say that about Ham. He doesn't say it about Japheth. But he'll be the Lord God of Shem. Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth. That's what he's going to do for Japheth. But God shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.
Now look this way. When he comes, he's going to be the seed of the woman. He'll come out of the human family. He's going to come out of one-third of the human family. Don't look for him as the descendant of Ham. Don't look for him as the descendant of Japheth. Forget him. Keep your eyes on Shem. He's going to be Shemetic. Or you might say Semitic. That's all I want you to remember out of that. You thought when I said seven passages, we were going to be here halfway through the tribulation. No. That's all I want you to remember about that. When you get to Genesis chapter eleven, you'll find that there are many nations that are Shemitic.
And there are many Shemitic peoples today. But I'd like to know what nation is he going to be born in of all these Shemitic nations? All right, Genesis chapter twelve. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great. I'll bless them that bless thee. All families of the earth are going to be blessed through this new nation. He hasn't finished yet. Everything that you and I have this morning, naturally speaking, that's worthwhile to us. that's worth anything to us has come through this people, this nation.
Everything that's valuable to you this morning, really valuable, has come, but God's not even finished. All of the earth is going to be blessed through the nation, this new nation. Now what nation is this? Now remember, Abraham was not a Jew. He was a Hebrew. He is the first Hebrew mentioned in the Bible. And the word Hebrew means one who comes across a river, and he was the first come across. Now, when you take this chapter, twelve, fifteen, and seventeen, it is not difficult because you remember there are many peoples that are descendants of Abraham. You remember that there was a gal, she was an Egyptian. There was no, I'm not trying to, you know, run down Brother Phanus or anything, but this woman was an Egyptian.
She was a bond woman and she was a slave, really. She was a bond woman and she gave birth to a son whose name was what? Ishmael and my how Abraham loved him. Had him for fourteen years. He ran in and out of his tent, but a bond woman cannot bring forth a free slave. And when God said, Sarah is going to have a she, he said, oh no, we don't want any second birth in our tent. The first birth is plenty good enough for us. Like a lot of people say, I don't want to be born again. First birth is plenty good. He said, oh no. The second birth is going to bring a whole lot more fun and joy than the first one. And so that's why you'll call that boy laughter.
The second one brings so much more joy. And it's not difficult to find out that this nation is going to come through Isaac. Abraham's only begotten son. And then, of course, you remember when Sarah, and Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age is given at death. One hundred and twenty-seven. She died. You know, there's a difference in dying and fainting. When you die, you kick the bucket. When you faint, you turn a little pale. But she died. And then Abraham, there's no one like an old one. And he took another one, Ketura. And there were children born to Abraham and Ketura. But when it comes right down to it, God said through Isaac, so when he comes, he's going to come out of the whole human family.
He'll come out of one third of it. He will be... shemitic he'll be in one nation in that section the Hebrew keep your eyes on the Hebrews forget all the rest of them forget them just keep your eyes now hurry over to Genesis forty nine Genesis forty nine and I want to know now what tribe is he going to come out of because there was Jacob and he had twelve boys good ones and bad ones And I want to know what tribe he's going to come out of. Oh, I know. He's going to come out of the tribe of Reuben. No, Brother Phanus told us what Reuben lost.
But the first one lost the other day. He lost about everything. But drop down, if you will, to verse eight of Genesis forty nine. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. You know what Judah means. Judah means praise the Lord. Praise the Jehovah. Whenever the children of Israel ever set forward in the wilderness, Judah always went first. When they're going to cross the Jordan, Judah went first. Whenever they had a civil war in Israel against the tribe of Benjamin, Judah went first. Judah always went first because that's what God wants more than anything else. He wants praise. Anyway, Judah. Look at verse nine. Judah is a lion's wealth. Can you think of any other place in the Bible where you read about a lion out of the tribe of Judah?
And everybody is thinking of Revelation. In Genesis, rather in Revelation, in chapter four, one sits upon a throne, a many-colored throne with an emerald rainbow around it. In chapter five, that one sitting upon the throne has a scroll. It's written within and without and sealed with seven seals. And an angel cries out, who is worthy to take this scroll and to loose the seals thereof? And John said, we went all to earth, couldn't find anybody worthy. We went to heaven among the angelic hosts, couldn't find anybody worthy. In our desperation, we went to hell. We couldn't find anybody hell worthy. And John said, I have to cry. I don't blame him. If you can't find anybody worthy to lose that scroll, take loose those seals, and read that scroll, the whole world is doomed.
This is the title deed for the whole affair. And he was crying, and one of the four and twenty elders said, Don't cry, John. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, had prevailed. Boy, he turned around and see a lion. I don't blame him. Well, I thought there was a lion there. I'll never forget, I was going from Victoria Falls out to a place called Wanky to speak. The coal mine was about seventy miles. I was with a friend of mine, and we got to a checkpoint, and they stopped us. This soldier came up, and he put a sticker right on the windshield, and the... He was very serious. He said, don't get out of this car until you get to a certain point.
I soon found out why he said that. There was a big sign, beware of elephants. And we saw two herds of those packaderms. And there was a dusty road. We were going around a curve and about from here to the end of this little tabernacle thing where we're meeting, this pavilion. There was a big male lion right in the middle of the road. And I'm not lying to you. There was a lion there. But the windshield was all dirty, and of course you can always tell every American when you see them, they have at least two cameras and a tripod through their belt and a light meter and all. And I wanted my children to be able to see that picture. And I figured if Daniel could do it, I could do it. So I got up. Got a good light reading, down, up, got a medium read.
Then I got my depth of field perfect. And I got that picture, got back in the car, and looked, and there were thirteen more right around the car, right in the grass there. Well, I'm here. I don't blame John if he was scared. Did he see a lion? No, he didn't. He saw a lamb as had been freshly slain, the marks of death upon him. But that lion of that lamb was the lion of the tribe of Judah, right? So I know we're on the right track. Judah is a lion's wealth. Verse ten. The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until the prince of peace comes.
That's a Shiloh means. Arrest. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. I don't know whether you have any denominational pride on us. You know, denominationalism, whether it's Baptist, Presbyterian, brethren, open, closed, tight, loose, or any of them. Denominationalism is a natural weed. You have to keep pulling it all the time. Don't you find that? It's easy to pull it. You know, I read about our assemblies, and I didn't know that we owned any assemblies. I thought they were the Lord's assemblies. But we are. But the Holy Spirit will never gather to a doctrine, to an ordinance, to a ceremony. He always gathers to the person of Christ. And the very moment that you came to faith, you didn't know it then.
I hope you do now. He joined you to him. You were joined to the person of Christ. And only thing I want you to remember out of this, when he comes, he'll be out of a human family. He'll be out of a third of it, Shem. He'll be out of one nation, the Hebrew. He'll come out of one tribe, forget Zebulun, forget Gad, forget Dan. He's going to be in the tribe of Judah. I wonder what household, quickly, Second Samuel chapter seven. I don't think I'm going to make it. I warned you at the very beginning, When you get old, you preach longer. Of course, I realize this will be my last invitation here.
Verse twelve. When thy day is fulfilled, David, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers. I'll set up thy seed after thee, which will proceed out of thine own body, and I will establish his kingdom. Verse sixteen. Thine house, David, and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee, and thy throne shall be established forever. And if I kept on reading, you'd find out that he was speaking certainly not about Solomon, not primarily. He is speaking about David's greater son. And I mentioned earlier in the week that the second proper noun in the New Testament is the name David. And when you get to Jeremiah chapter twenty-three, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved. and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called Jehovah Sidkenyu, the Lord our righteousness. So again, I know we're on the right track because Jesus Christ has made unto us righteousness. When he comes, keep your eye on one man's family, David's family, and the tribe of Judah. Forget the rest of them. He'll be a Hebrew. He'll be Shemitic. He'll be the seed of the woman. I wonder what member of the household. Turn over. Don't forget my letter, will you? You know, the process of elimination, how the letter gets to me from my sister, eliminating one after another.
Turn over to Isaiah. You know it so well. Isaiah chapter, if I can find it here. Isaiah chapter seven. It's a brand new Bible and the first time I've ever used it here. And verse fourteen. Ahas would not even let the Lord give him a sign. So God said, I'm going to give you one whether you want one or not. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. We said earlier, Jews require a sign. We don't. We walk by faith. Whenever God ever deals with Israel, he always deals in signs. And this should be a little key to us when our, and there are many lovely Lord's people among them, the charismatic group, and I've met some very choice ones, And one thing that characterizes them is love.
They really have it. But anyway, I think this should help us a lot that tongues were given for a sign. And I'm not a sign seeker. I hope you're not. I don't need it. I never put out a fleece. Do you put out fleeces? I've only known God used a fleece one time. That was with Gideon. I've never known him to use a fleece any other time. Have you? I've never known him to use a brazen serpent for snakebite except one time. There's a snake right over here. I'm not going to fool with the thing. And if you did, I'd come to you and say, well, don't get excited. There was a copperhead, but I've got a brazen serpent in my car down here, and I'll bring it out, let you take a look at it. You'll be all right. He'd die as quick as anybody else.
Many things he's only used one time. All right. I'm going to give you a sign, whether you want one or not. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And if you didn't know I was reading from Isaiah, you would say, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Call his name Emmanuel. The angel didn't give him his name, but the angel brought two names. Call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Call his name Jesus. He'll save his people from their sins. One has to do with sovereign presence. The other one has to do with saving power. So when he comes, he'll be born of one woman, the virgin. In the household of David, in the tribe of Judah, he's going to be a Hebrew.
He'll be Shemitic. It'll be the seed of the woman. And one other thing, for the Lord said, Search the scriptures. They testify concerning me. I know the town in which he's going to be born. In Micah chapter five and verse two. But thou Bethlehem. I think I told you there are two Bethlehems. There's a Bethlehem five miles from Nazareth. Up in Zebulon. Still there today. But the Bible's always accurate. Bethlehem Ephrata. 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 going forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
We learn the town in which he's going to be born. I had an invitation in January to speak up in Ohio. I don't know how I ever get out of the will of God that way, you know, in January to leave orange juice and the palm trees and sunshine of Florida and go up to Ohio. in January but I foolishly accepted it but I always leave home as late as I can you never get used to leaving home I just like to stay home so I wrote to this dollar and I said now listen I've checked and I can't get a plane down to where you live I'll come into Cleveland and if necessary I'll stay there during the night and I come back first come down the first thing in the morning and so we arrived and as soon as I got off the plane I knew I was out of the will of God it was snowing and ice and cold And I walked in the airport and this young fellow and his girlfriend walked up to me and said, Mr.
Guthrison, I said, I don't think I know you. He said, no, but you are, I said, yeah, I'm he. I said, how did you know me? We've ever met. He said, no. But you're coming to speak and I've come up here, we've come up here to drive you down to our town. And I said, how in the world did you know me? He said, well, we've got some advertising out and you have pictures on it. Your high school graduation. Have you ever known these preachers? They always use the high school graduation picture. And he said, it hasn't helped the meetings a bit. But your picture's not it. And I had it under my coat here. And as you were getting, I saw people getting off.
And I went through this one. No. Gustafson wears glasses. This belt is an implant. So I tried two or three. It was funny. I looked at it. And I picked you out from the picture. And I thought, that's what God has said. You'll know him when he comes. It'll not be a snapshot. It's not going to be an insomatic one, with all due respect to the insomatic. It's going to be a portrait. He's going to look just like this, young people. Search the scriptures. You'll know him when he comes. He'll be the seed of the woman. He will be Shemitic. He will be a Hebrew. He'll be out of the tribe of Judah. He'll be of the household of David. He'll be born of one woman in that household, the virgin, and he's going to be born in a little town by the name of Bethlehem in Judea.
Search the scriptures. They testify concerning me. Moses wrote concerning me. He opened the scriptures. He opened their eyes. He opened their understanding as he expounded in all of these scriptures the things concerning himself. Shall we stand? Now, welcome. I want you to know I'm finishing one minute early. So maybe I can get an invitation and come back. I don't know. Never mind. Let's bow, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, how we thank thee for this one of whom thy word speaks. We've come here to learn about him.
We've come here to get away from the newspaper reports and looking at world situations which we know must get worse, to learn more about the one who has everything to thee. and now we do pray that as we go on the grounds for our recreation for our fellowship whatever it is that we may speak to one another concerning him and our meditation upon him may be sweet and when this week comes to a close we'll go back to into this dirty world back to responsibilities in the battle of a bread we may go back refreshed in soul because we have feasted