Based on John 5:39

MEMORY TEXT:  "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).

My wife loves maps, especially world maps.  She studies them, noting the relationship of one country to another.  What are the principal cities?  What are the landmarks—rivers, mountains, coast lines?  What is the weather like?  Are the cities mostly rural or industrial?  Although a map can tell you about a destination, a map can’t get you there.

God’s children are getting ready to take a journey.  Our destination is a long distance away, but we have a map that tells us about the country.  It tells us about the capital city, about landmarks, like rivers, trees, animals, mansions, a sea, a temple, and a throne.  The map tells us about the people who live there and about the people throughout the ages who are waiting to go.  But as good as this map is, it can’t get us there.

This map is called the Holy Bible.  It’s available to just about everyone in the world, and it tells us everything we need to know about our destination called Heaven.  Some people think that, if they have one of these maps in their home, that’s all they need in order to get there.  But just searching the Scriptures doesn’t assure us of eternal life.  We have to follow our Guide, Jesus Christ, to our destination.  And the map tells us how we can have Jesus as our Guide.

From the beginning of His life to its close, Jesus lived by the Word of God.  "It is written" was the sword of the Spirit with which He conquered Satan (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).  "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Luke 4:18).  Quoting this verse from the book of Isaiah was the way He opened His gospel ministry.  "That the Scripture might be fulfilled" (John 17:12) was the explanation He gave for His suffering and death.  After the resurrection, He explained to the disciples "in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

The Bible shows us how to be like Jesus.  There was once a man who said he had received no inspiration from the Bible although he had "gone through it several times."  "Let it go through you once," replied his friend, "then you will tell a different story!"