Psalm 119 is the verse that we have as a text. Psalm
119. Psalm 119. Look at verse 18. Open thou mine
eyes. I'll never forget when I first
read this verse, really read it. It's stuck with me ever since. Open thou mine eyes. that I may
behold wondrous things out of thy law, out of thy word. Wondrous
things to behold. That is the title. That is the
subject. That's what I hope we will behold. Wondrous things
from God's word. The word behold. Now, I don't
want us to be just amazed by this Word, or interested, or
just taken up with the Word. But, you know, one Word from
God's Word is full of glory and infinite wisdom. There's salvation
in one Word. Look. That's all Moses told everybody. Look and live. Behold. The Word, behold. It means to stop and look and look at this. Behold, the word low. Have you seen that little word?
Low. It's the same word. Low. Isaiah
55. Ho! Stop. Low and behold. These are words
we don't use anymore, but Scripture is full of them. I told you 1,500
times and more. Just the word, behold, beheld,
I beheld. I mean, just stop and think about
this, you know. Look at this. Would you look
at this? Consider this. This is amazing. Wondrous things
to behold. May the Lord enable us to behold
His glory, His glory. So many times it said, now you
can go to Isaiah with me, Isaiah 40. This is where we'll stay.
Brother Kelly said he was reading Isaiah, and he said, I just hope
you just stay right here. I will. So perhaps more than any other
book, this word is used. But so many times in Scriptures
it uses this word, behold. Genesis 1, it begins, the Lord
said, Behold, the Lord God saw everything that he made, that
it was very good. Genesis 3, they said, the Godhead
said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to behold good and
evil, to know good and evil. Genesis 6, God looked upon the
earth, behold, it was corrupt. Stop and think about that. Take
a look now. It's like that verse, stand and
see and ask for the old past. Stand and stop and look at that.
Look around. There are three things we need
to behold. Three things. I alluded to this
last Sunday. You remember? I just brought
this up in passing. All found in Isaiah 40, 41, and
42. Three things to behold. Number one, behold your God. Chapter 41, behold yourselves. Behold man. Chapter 42, behold
my servant. Behold God. We need to stop,
look, think, consider, think on things above our God. Behold
yourself, behold man, is corrupt. Behold the God-man, whom to behold
is salvation. John said, We beheld His glory
as of the only begotten of the Father. I can't wait to get to
these verses, so I'm going to go ahead and tell them up front.
John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God. The Lord will enable us. Three
things to behold. All right? Isaiah 40. Behold
your God. Look at verse 1. Don't you love
Isaiah 40? Those of you who know it. Interestingly, and I looked at
this, I'm reading through Isaiah and got to this. Right before
this, Hezekiah, the Lord told Hezekiah, He was chasing him
because of what he did. And he said, your sons are going
to, I'm going to take captive and they're not going to have
any children. You're going to be without any seed. And he said, the whole nation
is going to be taken captive and held in Babylon. And Hezekiah
said, good, this is good. The word of the Lord is good. What the Lord has spoken is good
for me. And he said, there'll be peace and truth in my days.
So. Right after words of. Hard words to hear. You understand,
he's telling this man, this king, that things are going to look
bad for you and your nation. But verse one begins in chapter
four, comfort you. Comfort ye my people, saith your
God." Speak ye comfortably to the heart, to Jerusalem. Now, they hadn't been taken captive
yet. They're going to be. There's going to be a war. They said, but tell my people
the war is over. Speak ye to my people. Tell them
the warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity, and this is the
reason the Lord was going to destroy Jerusalem and all that,
is for her iniquity. To tell my people, her warfare
is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. God's people. Listen to this.
Let me just show you this and I'll do most of the turning for
you. OK, this won't take long. Psalm 48 says this great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. The mountain of his holiness,
this is his church, verse eight, as we've heard, so we've seen
it in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God. And verse 14 says, This God is
our God forever and ever. Our God. They said to David,
Where is your God? He said, My God, our God, is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
planned. And he hath done all things, and all things well. Good, evil. He said, I am the
Lord. I do all these things. I create
peace. I make evil. I kill. I make alive. I wound. This God
is our God. Aren't you glad? This is great
comfort for God's people. The world doesn't like this.
It makes them mad, but it makes us exceedingly glad. Why are we His people? Look at
Isaiah 43. Why do we know that this God
is our God? Isaiah 43, look at this, verse
1, but now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he
that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, I have redeemed thee, I
have called thee by name, thou art mine. And he goes on to comfort
and say, when you pass through the waters, it will not overflow
you, the fire won't burn you. Verse 3, I'm the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, I gave this whole world for you. Look at verse 7. Everyone is
called by my name. I have created him for my glory.
I have formed him. Yea, I have made him, created
him, born of God. Verse 10. You are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there
was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I,
am the Lord. Beside me, there's no Savior. I've declared, I've saved, I've
showed you, I've revealed to you. You're my witnesses that
I am God. Before the day was, I am He. There's none that can deliver
out of my hand. I will work, and who's going to stop me? Is
that your God? Then comfort my people, He said. You're His people. Comfort ye. Speak ye to the heart. I want
to speak to the hearts of God's people. Not your heads, but your
heart. Your heart. Speak ye comfortably
to her. Her. That's the bride. That's the Lamb's wife. Those
who have beheld the Lamb. Listen to this. Speak ye comfortably
to her. Thy maker is thine husband. The
Lord of hosts is his name. Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he become. Tell her,
I'm her husband, I'm her father, I'm her God, I'm her everything. I'm her Lord, I'm her Savior,
I'm her Redeemer, I'm her salvation. Tell her, speak ye comfortably
to their heart. I'm looking for someone whose
heart the Lord has opened this morning. I'm telling you. Male
or female. Tell her, he said, the warfare
is over. It's accomplished. The warfare
is accomplished. The war for your soul. How many times in Scripture it
says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You shall
not need to fight this battle. This battle is not yours. It's
the Lord's. The war for your soul. The warfare
is accomplished. The war for the souls of God's
people was accomplished. How? Who? One man. Jesus Christ. By Himself. You know how many times it says
that? One man. One man. In Isaiah it says, He
looked and saw there was no man. So. He put on righteousness like
a breastplate, a helmet of salvation. And He came. Listen to this. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John
is the story of the Lord's transfiguration. He took three disciples up on
the mountain, and I hope we'll see His glory this morning, to
show them His glory, for them to behold His glory. If you've ever seen His glory,
you'll not see any glory in anything or anyone else, people. Oh, may
the Lord enable us to behold His glory. But it says in Luke's
account, they're talked with cry. He took three up on the
mountain, James, Peter and John. And he prayed and his countenance
was altered, his raiment was white and blistering and behold,
They talked with him two men, Moses and Elijah, that's the
prophets, who appeared in glory and spake. They were talking
to him about what? His decease, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. We're going to
look at Isaiah where he says, Lift up your voice. Cry. Cry
unto her. The warfare is over. Jesus Christ accomplished salvation. He performed this work. He finished
this work. He fought this battle. He fought
all the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of
this world for the salvation of God's people. The war is over. And Christ won. Now all of this was written before
Christ came because it was over before it began. Isaiah is declaring
the end from the beginning. The warfare is accomplished.
The war is over. Now, I told you recently that
this nation is spoiled and Isaiah talks about this people is spoiled.
and rich and increased with goods, and they haven't seen a bullet
fly in this country in 160 years. It's spoiled rotten. And only a few
go to other places to fight battles. And it's the Lord. It's the Lord.
Thou only makest us to dwell in safety. But I'm telling you,
back in the 1940s, there were not many people left that were
there. My parents were there. Some of your parents were in
the middle of that warfare, the World War II. And it was horrible. Fifteen
to twenty million allied soldiers only, that's not civilians, died
in warfare. It was awful. People were dying
left and right everywhere. And people in the United States,
my mother, this is 19, this is 2025, and 1945 was the day when they announced
the war was over. That's 80 years ago. My mother
was 21 years old. And she had a man over there
in the middle of this battle that she didn't know if she'd
ever see him again, right in the heart of Iwo Jima. And there were people all over
this country wondering if they're ever going to see them again.
Wondering if this nation is going to be taken captive. Wondering,
hoping, even praying that this war would be over. And nobody knows anything about
that now. And my mother told me the day they announced, and I may have 5-4, I think,
1945, August 16th of 1945, Victory Day. The war is over. When they
announced the war over and it was on the cover of the newspaper,
this nation celebrated like never before. Peace! They're coming home. The boys
are coming home. Those we love. No more war. It's
over. Brothers and sisters, we are
in a warfare, all right. We're not battling against flesh
and blood, but principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness
and high places. God of this world holds people
captive and bonded. God's going to destroy this world.
It's not going to be a nuclear holocaust.
It's when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and destroys everything
with the brightness of His coming. That's what the Scripture says.
And this world is full of sin. Behold, the whole earth is corrupt. You'll hear wars and rumors of
war. And we've got this battle raging within us and without
us with sin and all that. I've got good news, though. Jesus
Christ is one. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Your enemies shall not take you captive. You shall not be
destroyed. God has purpose for your salvation. I'm announcing right now Victory. That Christ has obtained
the victory over sin, hell, and death. It's all over but the
shouting. This book has already announced
it. The warfare is over. Iniquity is pardoned. Oh my.
We're not through sinning. It's already been pardoned. Already
been pardoned before it's committed. How? Who? Why? One man, when
he had by himself sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high, expecting his enemies to be brought in chains before
him, paraded them down the halls of glory for all to see and shout
the victory. Look at verse 9. It says, O Zion that bringeth
good tidings, that's to me, Isaiah and me, those who bring good
tidings and preach the gospel, O Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, or that he who brings good tidings to the church, lift
up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, don't be afraid.
Say unto the cities of Judah, the remnant of God, behold your
God. Verse 10, Behold the Lord God
will come. He has. He came. He saw. He conquered. It's over. It's over. Oh, there's so many stories I
want to turn to, like Joshua. surrounding that city of Jericho,
blowing those trumpets. There's one lady in that town where the scarlet line was in
her window. She was waiting on that trumpet
sound. And boy, when the first one sounded, her heart skipped
a beat. When the second, when the third,
when the fourth, when the fifth, when the seventh trumpet sound,
boy, her redemption's drawing nigh. And lo and behold, those same
men that came the first time came for her and took her out
of that place, and the walls fell down, and she went to be
with Joshua. That trumpet was a wonderful
sound to her. It's the sound of war, but it's the sound of
the end of it before it begins. Oh, I was going to have you turn
to old Jehoshaphat and all the people that were surrounded by
the enemies all over the world after Jerusalem, Judah, one little
remnant after them. And one man stood up, preached
the message. Don't stand still. You don't
need to fight. The Lord's going to fight you.
Go out there. There's an enemy everywhere,
but this war is over. And you're not going to fight.
So you just start singing. Here's what you'll do. Just start
singing. And they did. And they didn't even fire a shot.
Behold, behold, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen, I've already
been talking about Christ, because you can't behold God. To behold
God, you must behold Christ. You know that? No man hath seen
the Father at any time. The only begotten Son, He hath
declared Him. That's what John said in John
1. We have beheld His glory. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld His glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. I've
declared the end from beginning. Behold your God. Behold yourselves. Behold the servant. Well, you
can't behold God without beholding Christ. So we must behold Christ because
He is God. All right, look at chapter 40
again. Behold your God. Our God is God. He's let us know it. He's revealed
Himself to us that we might know He is God and we're His people.
What comfort there is in that. What comfort. Now look at verse
15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. And Canada
is a small dust of the balance. That means, you know, in the
balance of the scales, back when they used to weigh things years
ago, they would put a true and just weight of lead or something
like that, or gold if you were measuring it, gold and silver.
So much gold and silver that weighed so much, they knew exactly
what it weighed. Okay, over here, to come up to
that redemption price, you put something else over here. And
when it was equal, equity, equal to the price, just, that's what
that means. The nations are a drop of a bucket,
they're counted as the dust of the balance. Meaning, you put
every single human being and the people and all things on
the scales and they come far short of the glory of God. Don't
even measure anything. Did you understand that? I tried
to make it clear. Thou art weighed in the balances.
That's the handwriting on the wall there, to mankind, and found
wanting. Well, I'll do this, I'll do that,
I'll quit that. Behold, he taketh up the isles,
verse 15, as a little thing, nothing, everything. Verse 17,
all nations before him are as nothing. There counted him less
than nothing. Vanity. That doesn't just mean
how big God is compared to the littleness of man. That means
man's worth, man's value, man's goodness. He doesn't have any. Isaiah is the one who wrote in
chapter 64, our righteousness is filthy rags. Beginning in chapter one, he
talks about man, the whole head is sick, the heart is faint.
Everything about man is filthy. God is holy. Do you understand that? We have
to understand this. We behold our God, we will clearly
behold ourselves. That's what Isaiah in chapter
6, when he beheld his glory, he said, woe is me. When he heard
the angel, holy, holy, holy, he said, woe is me. I'm a man
of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. Well, how can it keep bringing clean out of
an unclean? How can God be just and judge? But how can, how can this iniquitous
people, unequal to the glory and the holiness of God, how
does it, they don't even weigh up, don't have any goodness whatsoever.
They're nothing. They're nothing. They're a bunch
of nothings. Does that offend you? It offends this world. It offends mankind. A man who
has some lofty view of his own goodness and worth and value,
and it's because of false religion. They're telling people how much
God loves them, and you're worth something. I just said this recently,
but we need to hear this. We need to behold ourselves. Job said, I heard you, and behold,
I'm thine. Didn't he? Behold. He said, I'm
putting my hand over my mouth. And this world is full of pride
and self and vainglory in their self-conceit. It's because of
religion, because these false prophets that tell God loves
you and needs you and He can't do anything without you. Nothing
could be further from the truth. That's not your God, is it, Kathy? That's not your God, Polly. That's
not your God. You know the God of the Bible.
You've beheld His glory, haven't you, Polly Ann? Why? Behold, think about this. Stop and think. He chose you. Go tell her, I'm God. There is none else. Passed by
thousands and millions. Tell her and her sister and her
other sister. Boy, ain't that a blessing. None
of you deserve to hear it. I don't deserve to hear it. I
don't deserve to tell it. Behold. God, this is what God
says about man. He's nothing. Why is that? Why is it this way? Why is man
this way? When God created him in his own
image for his glory. Adam, Eve, dwelt with God in
holiness and righteousness, speaking with God, talking to God, naked
and no shame, enjoying God, worshiping God, talking to God in holiness,
purity. What happened? Somebody lied
to them. And they rebelled against God.
They shook their fist in the face of God. Why? Why? They said, we will not have him
reign over us. No, we want to be God's. That's
what happened. And it's been happening ever
since. And every single human being that despises authority,
it begins with God. We will not have God. Man's a
fool. He says, no God. We don't want
a God. We want somebody to feed us and
clothe us and do all this for us and bring us into heaven when
it's all over. But no, we don't want a sovereign,
reigning, ruling God over us. Jesus, let him heal us and feed
us and take care of us and wait on us when we get through sinning. to take us to heaven, but we
won't have a Lord to bow to. No, we will not. Yes, you will
do. Do you see how blessed we are? Man said, no, no God for us. We're gods. And for this cause,
for this cause, for this reason, Romans 1 says God gave him over
to reprobate mind, mind void of judgment. I was going to turn
to Isaiah 59. It says none call it for truth, none seeketh God, but God. Behold, think about that, that
word but, behold, but God, behold God who is rich in mercy. See, Ephesians 2 says that, and
you, and you who were dead in trespass
and sin, no thoughts of God, full of pride, full of self.
full of vainglory, full of self-conceit, full of the world, full of yourself,
full of everything but truth. And you, who were dead in trespass
and sin, a nothing, a nobody, a worthless people. I saw there
was no man worthy. Walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
The spirit that works in the children of disobedience, among
whom we had our conversation in time past, fulfilling the
lust of the flesh, the desires of our minds, children of nature,
by nature, children of wrath, even as others. No, we will not
have this God made. But God, behold, stop the thing. You heard a man preach one day,
behold your God. That's the twofold message of
the evangelist there in Isaiah 40. All flesh is grass. Behold, you're nothing. I'm telling
you, this is the best thing a sinful person can hear. Behold, you're
God. Behold, you're nothing. You are nothing. You can't do
nothing. You're unworthy. There's no man worthy. And then John said, Behold, I
looked. The Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the messenger said, the angel said, he's worthy. Tanya took
the book out of his hand and said, I looked and beheld a lamb
as I had been slain. Look at chapter 42. Chapter 41.
One more. Chapter 41. You have it? Chapter
41, verse 24. You're off nothing. You came
from nothing, you're going back to nothing. What are we worth? Dust. And it doesn't weigh you. When it's all over, there's going
to be nothing left of us. Nothing left of us. The greatest
man, if you go look for the bones of, what was his name? Alexander
the Great, who conquered the whole world, 30 years old. The
greatest, most powerful man in the whole world feared him like
Adolf Hitler feared him. He went everywhere, taking everything,
everyone. Alexander the Great. Go look, you won't find one particle
of dust left of him. He's gone. That's what David
said, I beheld the wicked spread, and when I looked, there was
nothing. And that's why Christ said, Lo,
I live. Behold, I am forevermore. Here I am. But Isaiah 41 says
in verse 24, Behold, you are nothing, of nothing, your work
is nothing. An abomination is he that chooses
you. Oh my, look at verse 29, Behold,
they are all vanity, their works are nothing, their images are
nothing. Behold, behold, behold. All right
now, verse, chapter 42. You still with me? Somebody is, I see you're nodding. Verse 1, big bold capital letters. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
whom I set up, whom I have raised high and lifted up, mine elect.
Everybody is chosen in him, by him, because of him, through
him, to him, for him, all things. All things. Mine elect and whom
my soul delighted. Down in verse 21, the Lord is
well pleased for his righteousness. This is my elect. Verse one,
he will bring forth judgment, understanding, justice, truth
to Gentiles, to heathen. Oh, he'll not cry. I'll lift
up his voice, cause it to be heard. A bruised reed will not
break. Smoking flack cannot quench.
He's going to bring forth judgment, justice unto truth. He shall
not fail, nor be discouraged. This is our God in Him. This
is our Christ. This is our Savior. He didn't
come to try to save. He saved us. We read that back
in chapter... Well, no, we didn't. Yeah, we
did. Chapter 43. He said, I've saved. I've declared
it, and I've saved. Before He came. Behold the Lamb. That's what John preached, didn't
he, when he came. Behold the God-man. Oh, my. Look at verse... Oh, man. I love this. Verse 6, I have
called thee in righteousness, speaking to Christ, and will
hold thine hand and keep thee, give thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, bring the
prisoners out of prison, then to sit in the darkness out of
the prison house. I am the Lord, that is my name.
My glory will I not give to another. These are my praise to graven
images. Behold, the former things are
come to pass. New things do I declare. Before they spring forth, I'm
going to tell you that. Let's talk to these people now.
One more to behold, okay? We're still talking about the
same one. Isaiah 65. Go over there. Just one more. Isaiah 65. Remember how this
started? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Tell my people the warfare is
over before it started. Behold, you're nothing. Behold,
I'm your God. Behold, my servant who came to
do this great work of redemption salvation. And he shall not fail. He did not fail. And not one
word of his shall fail. But heaven and earth shall pass
away, but not him. He said, Behold, I am alive forevermore.
And he said, Behold, I do a new thing. I'm going to do a new
thing. What's that? Well, look at chapter
65, verse 1. See, I am sought of them that
ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, Behold me! Behold me! Unto a nation that
was not called by my name. A people, verse 3, that provoke
me to anger continually. But God, behold me. Behold me, I'm your God. That's
who He's talking to, Jacob. Hopefully Wednesday night we're
going to look at Malachi 3. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob. Our God doesn't change. The truth
doesn't change. If you're His people, that's
not going to change. Behold me. And look at verse
17. Behold, I create new heavens
and new earth. The former shall not be remembered
or come into mind. Be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem
a rejoicing, her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem.
Let's talk about this church, people, the new church. And John said, I beheld Jerusalem
coming down out of the sky as a bride prepared for her bridegroom.
Several beholds in that. In verse 19, God says, Christ
said, I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. And the
voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her. nor the voice
of Christ. And it says in chapter 66, Behold,
I will extend peace to her like a river, when peace like a river
attendeth my way. The glory of the Gentiles. And
I will comfort her. He ends this the way we began. I'll comfort her as one whom
a mother comforted. So will I comfort And you shall
be comforted, and your heart's going to rejoice, and you're
going to see me. And you know what the last words
are in the book of Revelation? Behold, I come quickly. Surely
I come. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. All right, let's stand
and sing a closing hymn.