Alright, welcome to Falls International Baptist Institute and it's good to have you on board for lesson 10 in hermeneutics 2. I cannot believe that we are already two weeks away from the end of the semester, three weeks away from the final exams, and this particular semester we need to do the final exams right after. So lesson 12 is two weeks from now. That ends the classes and the lectures and then 13, one week later, we will have the final exam. Now, that's for those here. If you over there want to do that different, that's up to Pastor Dari. The timing of the final exam's there, but it certainly needs to happen sooner rather than later, and we'll try to stay on top of everything as far as grading things. And thank you so much, Pastor Dari, for the role that you're playing in helping keep track of the grades as I send the final grades to you and just keeping track of those. So I really appreciate that. So we've been this semester through Harmoneutics 2. We've looked at a whole lot of principles. I've sent Pastor Dorry all the lesson notes that from I think lesson, I want to say from lesson 6 all the way to today's lesson, lesson 10. Of course some of those I'd already previously sent, but We're going to look at the last principle that I want to study for this class. There's not going to be a third semester in hermeneutics. So this will be, we've had hermeneutics one, hermeneutics two, and what we're doing is we're moving over in the book. So we're going to the Christocentric principle. If you have the book, Biblical Hermeneutics by Edwin Hartill, that is chapter 23. It's also page 106. I sent copies of that to you guys, so you should have the actual notes in front of you. I've also sent the downloaded book to you, so you could pull it up that way if you needed. But we are going over, so there's many principles in there that they discuss that we're not going to get into. You can look at those on your time. Principles like the Gap Principle. kind of a larger principle that a lot of people use. I don't draw on it so much, but a lot of people study the numerical principle, and there's a lot of notes on the numerical principle. Again, I've sent Pastor Dari that entire book in PDF, so you can certainly print out those things that we're not using in the class. You can print those out over there and then it's just extra study for you guys. Those extra principles and certainly some good principles but some of them are principles that you won't like. The gap principle. That's a principle. It's a good principle that just teaches that when you're reading scripture there can be a gap between words. There can be a gap in the middle of a verse. A verse literally in the middle of that verse and I'm not talking now I'm not talking about people who propose gap theory. We reject the gap theory, and I don't have time to get into that tonight, okay? I'm talking about, like, for example, Isaiah chapter 61, verse 1-2. There's a gap there between there's things that prophesy the first coming of Christ, His first advent, and there are things that prophesy the second advent of Christ that has not yet occurred. So there is a gap in there. And understanding that, when you read the Bible, sometimes you read from a chronological point of view and think, well, this happened right after that. So a lot of times, there's a large gap of time that takes place in between even the words of one verse, okay? So tonight, we're going to get into the Christocentric principle. And then you say, well, Pastor Rob, what are we going to do for classes 11 and 12? Class 11 and 12 is going to be given to reviewing all of the principles that we've learned in hermeneutics 1 and hermeneutics 2. The point of these classes is not for me to continue shoving information into your head and all these extra principles. I've given you the principles that I believe are important and I've given priority, like this Christocentric principle, I've given that priority to some other ones, okay? But really what I want to do is just go back and review the principles that we covered in hermeneutics one last semester. We'll review those next week and then review what we've learned in this semester in class 12, all right? Because the goal is for the student to leave the course, knowing the course, understanding the course, and sometimes just going back and having a review time like this. That's all it takes to just get it entrenched in someone's head, all right? So, what is Christocentric principle? Christocentric principle. You can tell in the name of the principle that deals with Jesus Christ, okay? And so, definition of principle, and it's a long definition. Basically, this lesson today is going to expand on the definition. Every point that's in the definition is a point that is in the outline underneath, okay? So the Christocentric principle is that principle by which God shows, number one, the mind of deity is eternally centered in Christ. We're gonna come back and explain that in just a minute. Number two, that all angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. Notice the Christocentric. Christ is the central theme. Number three, all satanic hatred and subtlety are centered at Christ. Satan hates Jesus Christ. Number four, all human hopes and human occupations should be centered in Christ. Christ should be the sum total the sum fulfillment of every hope and desire and dream that you have. Number five, the whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. He is the centerpiece of civilization. He is the centerpiece of creation. And number six, the entire written word of God is centered in and around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to understand that when we look at the Bible, In Hebrews, the Bible said, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God. You have to understand that Jesus told the Pharisees, search the scriptures, for in them you think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. After Jesus took those two disciples on the Amais road, and as they told him about their prophet, their leader, who they thought would deliver and save them, and how he had been crucified on Calvary, He opened the scriptures, that's the entire Old Testament, and beginning at Moses, He expounded through Moses and the prophet all the things concerning Himself. All right, and so the Christocentric principle simply means that we are going to see Christ as the center of the Word of God. When you study the Word of God, Christ is the center. Christ has got to be the center. Christ is found in every book of the Bible. Christ is found either in name or in picture or in type in every page of your Bible. Christ is the centerpiece of the Word of God. Now, let's go back then and go over this definition point by point in our outline, okay? And I really want you guys to get this, all right? Because way back in hermeneutics one, I want to say it was our second class, we talked about how that we believe in a literal, historical, grammatical, Christocentric interpretation of the Word of God. We used every one of those words on purpose because we read the Word of God at face value. God means what He says. He says what He means. We talked about that last week as the direct statement principle. So we take it literal. We take the Word of God at face value. If God said it, He means it. God meant it and He said it, alright? But then we study the Word of God from a grammatical point of view, amen? It's helpful to understand language a little bit. It's helpful to understand the noun. It's helpful to understand what a pronoun is. It's helpful to understand what a verb is. Is it an action verb? Is it a passive verb? These kind of things, alright? It's helpful to understand direct objects and prepositions and you say, oh man, I don't want to learn all that. But when you're studying the word of God, I'm telling you, punctuation makes a huge difference. I could look at you and say, I ate grandma. And you'd say, you ate grandma. But if I put a comma between ate and the word grandma, then I would be telling grandma, I ate grandma. You see the difference? That one punctuation mark makes. We study the word of God from a grammatical point of view, okay? So we interpret it from a literal point of view, from a grammatical point of view. And then we interpret the word of God from a historical point of view. And I know I'm reviewing, I don't mean to be reviewing now, but I just want to say that we study the word of God from a, History is taught in the Word of God. History and the Word of God do not contradict. The Word of God is the basis for human history. If God said it happened, you can mark it now, friend, it happened. And that's what we believe. We believe the Bible, right? And we believe that it should be interpreted from a Christological point of view, that Christ should be the focus of the Word of God. Now, let's get into our lesson tonight. So, number one, the Christocentric principle teaches that the mind of deity eternally centered in Christ and this is seen first of all in the fact that Christ Jesus Christ when he came to this earth the Bible said who being in the form of God the Bible said that he was in the form of God Christ literally had the mind of God all right Hebrews chapter number 1 verse 3 we'll turn there and look at that passage here in our class Hebrews 1 verse number three christ according to philippians 2 came in the form of god thought it not robber to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation hebrews chapter number one verse three the bible said who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." Well, who purged our sins? It was Lord Jesus Christ. Who was He the brightest of? His Father. So we're saying that the mind of deity, the mind of God, is eternally centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you and I cannot see the sun. If we could ever see the sun, we'd be blinded. But we see the rays of the sun. We see the fire that's coming off of that big ol' sun up there, okay? But the rays are the sun, okay? We would say, well, that is the Son, but that's not really technically the Son. It is the same with God and the Son of God, all right? He has all the perfections of God. He is the visible image of the invisible. The difference is that Christ, He's not just the rays of the sun, amen? He is the Son and He is God, all right? God was unseen by men before the incarnation. God had never been seen by men because God's a spirit and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. The only way that he was seen by men was through theophanies and I think we've discussed that in another class. A theophany is a pre-Bethlehemic appearance of God. Some call them Christophanies because we say a pre-Bethlehemic appearance of Christ. Either way, one and the same. Christ is God. So, there were times that before the incarnation there uh in the manger in Bethlehem that he was seen through theophanies in the old testament but Jesus said he that hath seen me hath seen the father and what he's doing is that he's expressed the power of God in his mighty works that's what Jesus did he was the image of the invisible God when men saw Jesus Christ What they saw visibly in the physical Christ was the invisible God manifested in the flesh. Timothy says God was manifest in the flesh. All right. He had a mind big enough to hold the thoughts of God and a heart big enough to hold the love of God. Amen. And I praise the Lord for that. He is the Creator of all things. What I'm saying is that the entire Word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is centered in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God the Son. Absolutely, all right? He is the sum. He is the aim. He is the end of all creation. I'm telling you, I'm not trying to teach some of you to be teachers and preachers of the Word of God. And if Christ is not the sum total of everything that your heart desires, then your heart's desires are in the wrong place. Paul said, for me to live is Christ. Paul's life centered around Jesus Christ. Amen. Just as the Word of God and the mind of God centered in Christ. He's the heir of all things, all right? And there's many other notes there. You can read those notes on your time, okay? But then number two, all angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. Now, we're living in a world today that has an inordinate focus on angels and spirits. Everybody wants to talk about angels. Why? If we were to announce right here in Sioux Falls or if I was to come to Takoradi in Ghana and announce that an angel met with me last night and you come to church and I'm going to tell you what the angel told me, we would have standing room only in the church. We would have standing room only in Takoradi. Everybody wants to hear what an angel says But if an angel really were to talk to me, which he will not, but if he were, he would speak of Christ. The ministry of the angels is to focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah chapter number six, when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and his throne or his train filled the temple, what did he find? He found himself in the presence of the angels of God. And they were saying, holy, holy, holy. Do you see that? The angel's focus is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God. In John, chapter number 12, let's turn there. The gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 41. The gospel of John, chapter 12, verse 41. The Bible says here, in John 12, verse 41, He hath blinded their hearts. Excuse me. He has blinded their eyes. I'm sorry. I'm in verse 40. Let's verse 41 these things said Isaiah's that's Isaiah When he saw his glory and spake of him, and I think I have the wrong Reference in front of me. Okay Okay, Isaiah. No, no, no, we don't either. I'm sorry. We don't have the wrong reference. That's the right reference He John 12 verse 41 is confirming When Isaiah saw Him in His glory, there in chapter 6, alright? Isaiah 6. He saw Him. He saw Christ. He saw His glory. He saw the angels focused on Christ, and it's confirmed in the New Testament. These things said Isaiah, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him, alright? Now, The vision of the figure on the throne being worshipped by the seraphim shows Jesus Christ. In Revelation, there is a throne again surrounded by angelic beings worshipping the Lamb of God. Alright, so I'm saying that when we study the Word of God, Christ is the focus. He is the foundation, He is the building, and He is the capstone. Amen. Christ is the focus of the Word of God. In Luke chapter 1, angels announced His birth. After he was tempted by Satan after 40 days in the wilderness He was tempted by Satan the Bible said angels came and ministered to him in Matthew chapter number 25 verse 31 we find that when he returns he's going to be returning with all his holy angels and second Thessalonians 1 verse number 7 and also bears that fact out that when He returns again in glory, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel, He's coming with His holy angels. In 1 Peter 3, verse 22, we find that angels are subject to Him. And in Hebrews 1, verse 6, let's get this one, let's read this one together. Hebrews 1, verse 6, The Bible teaches us, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten, that's a reference to Jesus Christ, into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. This is why the apostle Paul said in the book of Galatians, if I or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which we've preached unto you, let him be accursed. Because Paul recognized an angel's ministry is to point men to Christ. His ministry is centered in Christ. If an angel preached another gospel, it would not be centered in Christ. It would be centered in another gospel, alright? And so he knew that it would not be a true angel. Now number three, as we study this Christocentric principle, alright? All satanic hatred and subtlety, all satanic subtlety, all deceit, all lies, they are centered at Christ and against Christ. All right? In Revelation 12, we're not going to give you an eschatological expose of Revelation chapter number 12, but in Revelation 12, we have a sun-clad, star-crowned woman which represents the nation of Israel. Let me just say this because I have to. Revelation 12, that woman is not the Roman Catholic Church, and that woman is not the Virgin Mary, okay? That woman represents the nation of Israel. And the red dragon that represents Satan is ready to devour the child who represents the Lord Jesus Christ. The woman is Israel. The child is Christ. The dragon is Satan. The child is caught up to God, which happened when he ascended to heaven. Here's a picture of Satan as he tried to prevent the coming of the seed. That seed promise was given in Genesis 3.15 to Adam and Eve that It shall bruise thy head." The seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, the head of Satan. And from there, there was a war that was determined. There was a war against the seed of the woman, that promised seed, culminating in Jesus Christ. There was a war from that point on. Why do you think Cain murdered Abel? Why? I'll tell you why. Because Abel represented the seed promise. And so Satan filled Cain to murder Abel. But God appointed another seed. His name was Seth. And he would be the seed that Noah and ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ would come through. You can follow this all the way through the Word of God. When Pharaoh is trying to kill all the male children, that is a satanic attack against the seed of the woman. When Jeconiah, we talked about him last week when he penknifes the Word of God, and God pronounces judgment and says, write this man childless. I almost would be willing to bet that Satan laughed and said, man, I've got God to double-cross himself. Here, the seed is going to come through Caniah, and God just said, write this man childless. No child of his, no son of his is going to prosper on the throne. And see, it's got to be a son of David. Well, Joseph comes through the line of Caniah, But Mary the mother of Jesus came through the line of Nathan another son of David. Amen. You see what's going on there. There's a war It's the battle of the ages when when Herod told the wise men go and search and find these And he wanted to destroy Christ. He was filled with the devil to destroy Christ. And the wise men were warned by an angel of God to go a different way. Then Herod sends out... Order that all Bethlehem children all but all all all the boys in Bethlehem under two years old had to be killed What's going on there? That is a satanic hatred that is centered against the Lord Jesus Christ All right So there's a big battle of the ages the conflict of the ages where Satan he tried to prevent the coming seed and actually some of the things I just talked about he has there in the list all right before the flood attacks And then we have the war against the royal line. There's so many things. I only covered one or two of them, maybe three of them, but they've got many things here. Okay. Now let's, let's move on in our lesson. Okay. Number four, all human hopes and all human occupations should be centered in Christ. All human hopes and all human occupations should be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about the Christocentric principle. So think about this for a minute before I explain this, all right? The mind of God is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are eternally centered in Christ. All satanic hatred and subtlety are centered at and against the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, should not all human hopes and all human occupations be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ? Can I tell you tonight, and I know that those that are sitting in the Bible Institute, most of you have a profession of salvation, I get that, amen, but may I tell you tonight that we can get eternal life from no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And if Christ is good enough to save you from hell, why wouldn't He be good enough for you to give your life to Him? Why wouldn't He be good enough for you to live your life for Him? Why wouldn't He be good enough for you to go and do exactly what He wants you to do, to obey His command, amen, to live your life for Him? Why wouldn't you want to save for me to live as Christ? We're living in the most selfish generation of Christians that has ever lived in the world, I believe. We are living in the most selfish generation that's ever lived. Men focus on themselves. Christians focus on themselves. Churches focus on themselves. Pastors and evangelists focus on themselves. We're supposed to be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul said, for me to live is Christ. How many times have I heard somebody say, man, for me to live is fishing. For me to live is hunting. Man, I like fishing and hunting like the next guy, all right? But that's not my priority in life. I'm thankful that I can go relax every now and then and enjoy that. But even when I fish and hunt, I fish and hunt for the glory of God, amen? If I see some old fishermen out there, I'm gonna give them a gospel tract and tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm out there fishing, I'm gonna be focusing on the beauty of the creation God's given us and the beauty of the fish that I'm catching, amen? And I'm gonna thank God for the fish before I eat them, amen? I'm gonna give glory to God. The point is, all of our human hopes And all of our occupations should be centered in Christ. All right? Now, a lot of verses we could talk about there, but we're going to keep moving. All human hopes are in him from Adam on. Everything that man desires is found in Jesus Christ. What is it that man desires? We live in a day of wars and rumors of war. Men want peace. Christ is the Prince of Peace. Men want joy. They just want joy and fulfillment. Why do you think people stick their veins with drugs? Why do you think people drink alcohol? Because they're trying to get joy. They're trying to get an exhilarating feeling. They're trying to have a euphoric feeling of joy. and peace on the inside. I'm telling you, the only joy and peace that you can find in this world that's eternal is found in the pages of God's word, centered in the person of Jesus Christ. If you know Jesus, you know peace. If you don't know Jesus, you don't know peace. You can mark that one down, all right? And so, no one, no one could help Jesus Christ when he was on the cross. Because his own hopes were centered in himself, all right? God the Father couldn't help him, for he was a substitute for sinners. And Mary, his mother, couldn't help him, because she was a sinner. There was nothing else for God the Father to do but to smite him. And if the only blood that was ever shed had been that of the bulls and goats, no one could ever go to heaven. But blood, because the blood of goats cannot wash away sins. Jesus Christ, though, does not merely cover and atone our sins as those Old Testament sacrifices, He washed our sins away. Therefore, if He washed our sins away with His blood, then our occupations should be centered in Him. Do we not owe it to Him? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, which is the Lord's. Amen. When we put Christ where He belongs in our lives, souls end up being saved as a result. I'm telling you, Jesus said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. People want to follow Jesus simply to go to heaven. People want to follow Jesus sometimes because it's the socially, depending where you live in the world, the socially acceptable thing to do, to follow a form of Jesus and to go to church. People want to follow Jesus sometimes because of the crowd they're running with, but Jesus said, if you follow me, Number one, you're going to take up a cross, amen, and follow me. But if you follow me, I'm going to teach you how to fish for souls. I want to say this clearly, guys, teachers, church planters, pastors, and layman that's watching, if you're not fishing, you're not following. If you're not fishing for souls, You're not centered in Christ, because if you get centered in Christ, you'd be centered in that which Christ is centered in. Christ is centered in Himself, and I'm telling you, the passion of Christ, and there's no selfishness to Christ. He is absolutely selfless. He's only interested in souls being saved by His marvelous grace. You mark that down. Then number five, let's move on. The material universe in creation And the preservation of this universe, not just creation. It's wonderful that God created this universe. I mean, it's wonderful. The word uni, a single verse, a spoken sentence. It's wonderful that God spoke everything into existence. That's wonderful. But it's more wonderful to me that the sun, 6,000 and some odd years later, rose on time today, and the sun is setting on time this evening. We're in the springtime of the year. We'll be coming into the summertime. Well, what maintains everything? What makes sure that everybody gets the water they need so that the crops can grow? What makes sure? Who makes sure? What is that force that makes sure that the food chain stays intact? That you got the little mosquito out there that gets ate by the frog, that gets ate by the snake, that gets ate by whatever, amen? The bird, amen? The bird gets ate by the human, I guess, amen? And we could just follow that thing all the way, all right? Who keeps that food chain? Who keeps enough bugs around to keep the frogs happy, enough frogs around to keep the snakes happy, amen? Who does all that? Why, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us, look here, in Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter 3 and verse number 7 verse 17 Colossians 3 verse 17. Oh My goodness we are in the wrong verse for sure this time Colossians 1 16 is what I want Colossians 1 16 Here it is for by him. That's Christ for by Christ Jesus Christ is God for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth now i don't i don't care if they tell you that grandpa came from a monkey grandpa did not come from a monkey i had some ancestors i'm quite sure that swung by their neck but none of my ancestors swung from a tail you can mark that one down all right for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in the earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created notice the next phrase by him and for him everything was created by him for him. Are you getting that? It was created for him. Christ is the center. Christ is the purpose. Everything in this world was created for Christ. You know, I bought a truck a couple of years ago so I would have a vehicle for me. I wanted to be able to drive to church. I wanted to be able to drive to go knock on doors. I wanted to be able to drive to go to the grocery store. That truck was made and purchased, wasn't made for me, but it was purchased for me. I'll put it that way. It was purchased by me and for me. And I accomplished the purposes that I want with my truck. Can I tell you that God created you by Him and for Him? He should be the center of your life because you were created by Christ for Christ. You don't exist somehow separate from Christ. You couldn't exist separate from Christ. Notice the next verse, and he is before all things and by him all things consist. By him all things consist. Do you understand that the very Christ that created you allows you to keep on breathing? I mean, you breathe in, you breathe out. God lets you breathe. That heart on the inside that keeps pumping that blood. Do you understand? You're one heartbeat away from death every moment of your life. God, all he has to do is stop the ticker. Stop the old heartbeat. And I'm going to tell you something, friend. You're done. It's over. You say, well, God doesn't have control over that. God said, I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hands. You better believe God has control over that. Amen. Sinners who will not center their life around Christ, they reject Christ. Think about it. They're walking on the spiderweb of a very fragile life with the flames of hellfire looking up beneath that spiderweb. And the only thing that keeps that spiderweb from being burned in the hellfire and that sinner dropping off into the fires of hell is the good grace and mercy of God Almighty. I'm telling you, He is the Creator, He is the Sustainer, He is the Savior, and He wants you to give your life to Him. He's already given His life for you, and He wants you to center your life around Him. Amen. All of creation All of the material universe centers around Christ. And then let me give you this. The entire Bible, the entire written word of God is centered in Christ. This is the only book in the world that gives the past, the present, and the future of man. But man is not the theme of the book. Christ is the theme of the Word of God. It is the only book to give the past and the present and the future of Satan, but Satan's not the focus of the book. He's not the central piece and the theme of the Word of God. This book gives the past, present, and future of all the nations, but the nations aren't the central focus of the Word of God. This book gives the past, present, and future of the church of the living God, but even the church as much As we love the church, the church is not what the word of God centers around. The word of God centers from beginning to end around the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible said in John chapter number one verse one in the beginning was the capital w word. The word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God Jesus Christ is the word in flesh. I'm holding in my hands the word in print. What about that? Jesus I'm telling you this word centers in him because he is the word. He's the one that gave this word This word is his word. All right now The living embodiment of the Bible is Christ. I love my Bible. I love my Bible. Be careful how you treat your Bible. Amen. I love my Bible. All right? The living embodiment of the Bible is Christ. I did not say that this exact Bible is Christ. That's not what I said. All right, but but christ is the embodiment of the bible and the words that are written here They are the words of christ. This is the word in print. He is the word in flesh. All right Oh, yes. He's the perfect example of the perfect man What is said of the living word is also said of the written word in luke 15 verse number excuse me Luke 5 1 and revelation 19 verse number 13 the life of the bible is christ without christ There would be no life of this bible wouldn't have life without christ. All right And wherever the Word of God is preached and where it is received, Christ always acts upon the heart and the life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. The viewpoint of the Word of God is Christ. It is the history of the first man and Christ, the last man, the last Adam. The first man put the second man to death because he couldn't stand the holiness of the second man. But the second man, that last man, amen. Oh, listen. He died for the first man. Amen. The first Adam and his offspring put the second Adam, the last Adam to death because they couldn't stand him. But the last Adam loved the first man and he willingly died in his place. What about that? Every page of this book speaks of Christ as indicated in the following article. And I love this. And I love preaching this right here because, man, I'm telling you, the Bible comes alive when you start preaching this stuff right here. In Genesis, He is the Creator and the seed of the woman. In Exodus, He is the Lamb of God for sinners slain. In Leviticus, He is our High Priest. The entire book. He's our High Priest. You can see him on every page as the High Priest. In Numbers, he is the Star out of Jacob. In Deuteronomy, he is the Prophet, capital P, Prophet, like unto Moses. In Joshua, he is the Captain of the Lord's Host. In Judges, he is the Messenger of Jehovah. In Ruth, he is our Kinsman Redeemer, praise God. In Samuel, he is the despised and rejected King. In Kings and Chronicles, he is the Lord of Heaven, and the Lord of Earth. In Esther, he is our Mordecai, our heavenly Mordecai, I might add. In Job, he is our risen and returning Redeemer. Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. In Psalms, he is the blessed man of Psalm 1. He is the son of God of Psalm 2. He is the son of man of Psalm 8. He is the Crucified One of Psalm 22. He is the Risen One and the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23. He is the Coming One, the Chief Shepherd of Psalm 24. He is the Reigning One of Psalm 72. He is the Leader of Praise, Psalm 150. In Proverbs, He is our Wisdom. In Ecclesiastes, He is the Forgotten Wise Man. In Song of Solomon, he is my beloved. In Micah, he is the everlasting God. In Nahum, he is our stronghold in the day of wrath. In Habakkuk, he is the anchor of our faith. In Zephaniah, he is in the midst for judgment and cleansing. In Haggai, he is the smitten shepherd. In Zechariah, he is the branch. In Malachi, He is the Son of Righteousness. In Matthew, He is the King of the Jews. In Mark, excuse me, in Matthew, He is the King of the Jews. In Mark, He is the Servant of Jehovah. In Luke, He is the perfect Son of Man. In John, He is the Son of God. In Acts, He is the Ascended Lord. In Romans, He is our Righteousness. In 1 Corinthians, He is the first fruits from among the dead. We preached about that last Sunday morning. In 2 Corinthians, He has made sin for us. In Galatians, he is the end of the law. In Ephesians, he is our armor. In Philippians, he is the supplier of every need. In Colossians, he is the preeminent one. In 1 Thessalonians, he is our returning Lord. In 2 Thessalonians, he is the world's returning judge. In 1 Timothy, he is the mediator. In 2 Timothy, he is the bestower of crowns. And I don't know why they have these things out of order. But in Isaiah, he is our suffering substitute. And in Jeremiah, he is the Lord our righteousness. And in Lamentations, he is the man of sorrows. And in Ezekiel, he is the throne sitter. Amen. We'll be talking about Ezekiel in our next class. In Daniel, he is the smiting stone that comes cut out of the mountain without hands. In Hosea, he is David's greater king. In Joel, he is the Lord of bounty. In Amos, he is the rescuer of Israel. In Obadiah, he is the deliverer upon Mount Zion. In Jonah, he is the buried and risen Savior. And as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, even so must the Son of Man be in the belly of the earth. three days and three nights. In Titus, He is our great God and Savior. In Philemon, He is the Father's partner. Oh man, Philemon, the doctrine of imputation, if he hath wronged thee or done thee aught, put that on my account. In Hebrews, He is the rest of faith, and the fulfiller of types. Oh man, all those Old Testament types are fulfilled in Christ. In James, he is the Lord of the Sabiath. In 1 Peter, he is the theme of the Old Testament prophecy. In 2 Peter, he is the long-suffering Savior. In 1 John, he is the word of life. In 2 John, he is the target of the Antichrist. In 3 John, he is the personification of truth. In Jude, he is the believer's security. Now in the hymn, That is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the throne of his glory with exceeding joy That's jude right? Amen. He's he's our security. He's able to keep us from falling and in revelation He's the king of kings and he's the lord of lords man What a blessing that is to find christ in every book of the bible to find christ on every page of the word of god to find christ Everywhere you look in this bible because christ is central to the Word of God. So that's it. That's the Christ-eccentric theme. It's that principle by which the mind of deity is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All satanic hatred and subtlety are centered at Christ. All human hopes and human occupations should be centered in Christ. And the whole material universe in creation is centered Christ the entire written Word of God is centered in Christ so as you study your word as you study the Word of God to teach Sunday school lessons to witness to others to preach the Word of God remember they said this sirs we would see Jesus. Remember the Apostle Paul said, but we preach Christ. He's our message. Without Christ we have no message. Without Christ we have no gospel. Without Christ we have no purpose for living. Amen. Focus your life on Christ. Focus your studies on Christ. I think it was Charles Spurgeon They were asking him about his preaching method or his preaching style. I can't remember exactly what they were asking him, the exact question, but it was along the lines of his preaching. And he said that every time he picked a text, he would start preaching and head cross country to Calvary. Amen. That's pretty good. Amen. When we open up the Word of God, you need, as you're teaching the Word of God, and we teach the many varied doctrines of the Word of God, whether it's the doctrine of the church, whether it's the doctrine of sanctification, whether it's the doctrine of the Spirit of God, whether it's the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, all of those doctrines, study those doctrines and find Christ. You'll find Christ. Somebody said if you study God the Father, just God the Father without Christ, you'll become a fatalist, a Calvinist. Somebody said if you study just God the Holy Ghost without Christ, you'll become a fanatic. You'll become an emotional nut job is what you'll become, amen, because it's all about the spirit and spiritism and you'll be speaking in tongues, walking around, doing all kind of crazy stuff. But when the focus is Christ, then you'll become a fruitful Christian, amen, because everything's in balance then. Christ is the centerpiece even of the Trinity. Christ is the centerpiece, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen. He's the center of the Trinity, all right. So as we focus on Him, we learn about the Father. He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. When we focus on Him, we learn about the Spirit. The Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. He said, the Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me to preach, all right. So focus on Christ. You'll never go wrong focusing on Christ. You watch any message, you watch any teacher, you watch any Bible doctrine that takes the focus away from Christ to somebody or something else. It's wrong. It's wrong. The Word of God and sound biblical exegesis, rightly dividing the Word of God. Biblical hermeneutics teaches us to always find Christ in our text. All right, that's it for the class tonight. And that's it for the new principles that we're learning. The next two weeks we'll spend reviewing from hermeneutics one and hermeneutics two as we prepare for the final exam three weeks from tonight. God bless you. You are dismissed.