Jesus' thoughts on the Bible - Why we don’t hear God speak, Part 3b

John 5:31-47

2. Not only did these people miss the purpose of the Bible, but they missed the POINT

Jesus says the Bible testifies about Him like John the Baptist did... During his life, people asked John the Baptist; ‘Are you the one?’ He adamantly said, ‘NO, I am pointing to something beyond me, I am baring witness to the one, I am not the one.’... When Jesus says the Bible is just like John the Baptist I think this is what it means: if we are not seeing in every single part of the Bible pointing beyond itself to Jesus, just like John the Baptist, then we are lost. We are missing the point.

Let’s look at the story of Joseph in Genesis. What is the story of Joseph about? He is sold into slavery. He triumphs through it because he trusts in God. Incredibly at the end he saves the lives of his family because he is at the right hand of the Pharaoh and forgives them... What is that about? Most people would say that the story is pointing to Joseph - ‘If I try hard, no matter how bad people treat me or who betrays me, I can get through it. If I just believe in God I can do anything. If I try hard enough I can forgive.’ If you read it that way you will either become smug and self-righteous OR you will be crushed with despair.

BUT if every part of the Bible is saying, ‘I am not the one, I am pointing to something beyond me!’... There was a real Joseph who was sold and was betrayed by the people that should have loved Him, and He brought about redemption not just in spite of His suffering but through His suffering and now He is seated at the right hand of the Father and He has forgiven us... Until you see yourself as the recipient of what the TRUE Joseph has done you will never have the heart to be able to forgive other people. If Joseph is just an example he will crush you. If He is pointing to Jesus then suddenly there is liberation.

Every part of the Bible is the same...

Look at the “Golden Rule” in Leviticus 19. Anybody who says, ‘we don’t need Jesus, we just need to live by the ‘Golden Rule’ has never really listened to the Golden Rule because it is impossible to keep by itself. The Rule says that you have to meet the needs of other people with all of the creativity, power, and joy that you use to meet your own needs... Do you know what that means?? The ‘Golden Rule’ is saying I AM NOT THE ONE. It is testifying! - It is saying, ‘If you think you can obey me, you are crazy! I am here to show you (as Paul says in Romans 5) that the Law is a school master here to bring you to Jesus.’ If you say I can obey the Law if I try hard enough then you are NOT even listening to the Law because the Law is pointing beyond itself. If you look at the Law as an end and not a means to the end as leading you to the need of a Savior then you are deaf to the great things that God is saying. And I don’t think it really matters if you claim belief in the “inherency” or “infallibility” of the Scripture!

The Bible was meant for the Gospel to be seen in every part of it. Jesus declared that to be so here in John, in Luke 24, in many other places.

Here is another example: in the Garden of Gesthamine Jesus is telling His disciples, ‘I need you to stay awake.’ After three times seeing them asleep He is not irritable at all, He wakes them up, and goes to meet the Roman soldiers... I use to read that and say I need to be like that. I need to not be irritable! But yet I continue to find myself irritable with people who are not meeting the standards I have set for them everyday... There is liberation to the degree that I have meditated and know that that I am not Jesus in this story but am the disciples that fell asleep... If you see Jesus as simply a model of forgiveness (Even forgiving on the cross!), His example will crush you. But IF you see Jesus dieing and forgiving you for YOUR sins, that melts your self-righteousness and it gives you a desire to forgive others’ sins, but only because you have been built up.

Jesus said the Bible will get up on the last day and judge us - even those who have studied it, who know it inside out, and, I think most importantly noteworthy, who have read it for information and NOT for formation. Read V37-38. The very authors of the Bible will judge those who who read the Bible for information and rules and without seeing it pointing to Jesus.