The Gospel of JohnSearch The Scripture

 John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 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.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”

Who bears witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the SON of GOD?

When Jesus said in verse thirty-one: “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true”, he is saying there is another that “beareth witness” to him being the SON of GOD.

A fact is established by the testimony of two or more witnesses. [See Deuteronomy 17:6]

Who are these witnesses?

1. John was a witness. [verses thirty-three to thirty-five]

2. The WORKS Jesus did in those forty-two months on the earth were a witness. [verse thirty-six]

3. GOD the Father was a witness. [verse thirty-seven]

Search the Scriptures!

• The scriptures show you the witness of John Baptist. “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” [John 1:34]

• The scriptures show the witness of the works that Jesus Christ did on this earth. “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.” [Matthew 11:5]

• The scriptures show you the witness of THE FATHER. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” [Matthew 3:17]

• Moses had the scriptures. All the prophets had the scriptures. [Luke 24:27] “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”

• Having the scriptures opened to you will cause your heart to burn within you. [Luke 24:32] “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?”

What Are The Scriptures!

Good question!

38 “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”

This is where we get into a problem.

The problem comes because of UNBELIEF.

There are those who have let the god of education [The Scholars] work in willing contrivance with the old nature of man [every Christian has two natures], and would have us believe that only the original autographs of the sixty-six books of the Bible is the inspired word of God.

The following is quoted from the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches Articles of Faith.

“We believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, as originally written; that it was verbally and plenarily inspired and is the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is infallible and inerrant in all matters of which it speaks.” GARBC

Here is another problem that comes from the first problem [UNBELIEF].

The problem is that all the ORIGINAL WRITINGS are gone!

The Fundamental Christian scholars who wrote these articles of faith for almost all the confessions of faith for the various Fundamental Baptist denominations, associations, and Christian colleges and schools down through the years … know they have no perfect Bible.

They believe in something [original autographs] that they can neither see, nor hold in their hands. They do not believe that a copy of a copy can be without error. They do not believe that translations into other languages from another [original] language [Hebrew and Greek manuscripts] can maintain the verbal and plenary inspiration of the original.

They have a small god! [1 Kings 20:28] “And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

My GOD is GOD of the hills and the valleys. Amen!

In the forty-two months that Jesus Christ walked this earth, the SON of GOD referred to the Scriptures as being the very word of God. In every case Jesus Christ was citing from copies of manuscripts or translations [Hebrew] not the original manuscripts. YEAH, the originals were long gone nevertheless the SCRIPTURES did not cease to exist … ACCORDING TO JESUS CHRIST! Amen! “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” [1 Peter 1:25]

Contrary to the great Baptist articles of faith God has kept his word down through the years.

Here is what I say ... that the English Bible of 1611 [THE KING JAMES] or any edition thereof, is the absolute inspired word of God in the English language in spite of the Christian Scholars, and all the rest of the unbelieving mass of Christendom.

Here Is What Scripture Is:

  • Scripture is the words of GOD
    [Psalm 12:6a] “The words of the Lord”
  • Scripture is PURE and WITHOUT ERROR
    [Psalm 12:6] “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”
  • Scripture is forever PRESERVED.
    [Psalm 12:7] “Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
  • Scripture is TRUE.
    [Psalm 119:160] “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
  • Scripture is PROOF.
    [Acts 18:28] “For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.”
  • Scripture is HOLY
    [2 Timothy 3:15] “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
  • Scripture is TRUTH.
    [Dan 10:21] “But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.”
  • Scripture is ALIVE.
    [Hebrews 4:12-13] “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
  • Scripture gives COMFORT.
    [Romans 15:4] “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
  • Scripture gives PROMISES.
    [Romans 1:2] “(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)”
    Scripture will NOT FAIL.[John 10:35] “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;”
  • Scripture always has and always will be FULFILLED.
    [Acts 1:16] “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.” [John 19:36] “For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.” [John 13:18] “I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.” [John 17:12]  “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.”[John 19:24] “They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.” [John 19:28]  “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.”
  • Scripture [saith] TALKS. [Romans 10:11] “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [John 19:37] “And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” [John 7:38]  “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”[John 7:42] “Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”
  • Scripture FORESEES the future.
    [Galatians 3:8a] “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,”
  • Scripture PREACHES the Gospel.
    [Galatians 3:8a] “preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”
  • Scripture is the MASTER PLAN for the salvation of man in this age.
    [1 Corinthians 15:3-4] “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
  • Scripture CONCLUDES all men are sinners.
  • [Galatians 3:22] “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

The Holy Ghost INTERPRETS Scripture for the believer.

[2 Peter 1:20] “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

  • Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD.
  • Scripture is profitable for doctrine.
  • Scripture is profitable for reproof.
  • Scripture is profitable for correction.
  • Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness.

[2 Timothy 3:16-17] “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

In verse thirty-nine Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Would Jesus Christ command you to do something that was not possible? If the inerrancy of God’s word can only be extended to the lost original manuscripts, then how can we, two thousand years after the Holy Ghost gave the scriptures, be commanded to “search the scriptures”?

Easy!

God preserved his word without error! God has maintained them [the words] in COPIES and in TRANSLATIONS, and finally it came down to us … in the English language … in the KING JAMES - Authorized Version of 1611, or any of its editions.

GOD has written a BOOK!

GOD wants you to BELIEVE his BOOK!

Can GOD give us his WORDS (INSPIRATION) and then PRESERVE his WORDS without error to this present day?

This question demands a supernatural explanation.

A supernatural explanation comes from a supernatural BOOK.

A supernatural BOOK is written by a supernatural Author. The BIBLE is this BOOK!!!

Its Author is God.

And in the English language, it is the King James Bible!

Then with unshakable confidence [FAITH] in the OLD BOOK: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Amen! Amen! Amen!

But What Are They Among So Many?