I'd like to begin this morning
in the Book of John, the Gospel of John, Chapter 10. The Gospel of John, Chapter 10.
I asked Billy to sing that song out of our Songs of Grace book,
My Times Are in Thy Hand, because it ties in so well to what I
have to say today. That's one of the favorite hymns
of mine that Don wrote. of the many that he wrote. Particularly
that line that says, My times are in thy hands, there is no
cause for fear. So I'd like to talk to you this
morning about the hand of God. The hand of God. John 10 will
begin in verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told
you, and you believe me not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which
gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Now, hands can be used to stroke,
to soothe, to caress, Or they can be used to strike, cause
pain, cause harm. They can be used to hold a scalpel.
It can cure an injury and heal an injury. Or they can be used
to hold a weapon. It will cause an injury. And
a hand can be used to point to something. And that's what the
Spirit of God does figuratively. He points men and women to the
only source of salvation. in this universe, our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. And a hand can be used to hold
a pen that writes out a full pardon, but it can also be used
to write out an execution order. And this is seen in the account
in Daniel 5, when the judgment of God came upon this king, Belshazzar,
he had made a great feast, a great drunken feast, and he brought
vessels that he had stolen out of the temple and used them to
drink wine from, defiling those vessels. And in the middle of
this gathering, we read this. It says, in the same hour came
forth fingers of a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the
king saw the part of the hand that wrote. And he trembled,
said his knees knocked together. And he called in his soothsayers
and his wise men, and none of them could read this writing
on the wall. And the queen said that there's
this guy named Daniel, that I bet he can read it. He's known for
these type of things. So the king called Daniel in,
anxious to know what was written on this wall. And he told Daniel,
if you could just tell me what this says, I'll give you all
kinds of things, a gold chain to wear around your neck, and
you'll be third in charge in the kingdom. And Daniel told
him that he could keep his gifts, that he was not interested in
them, but he would indeed tell him what the writing was. And he told him this, and the
God in whose hand thy breath is, And whose are all thy ways
hast thou not glorified? And Daniel told him, and God
is going to kill you for it. And sure enough, that very evening,
that king was slain. Now the book of Psalms is full
of references to God in his hand. We're told that the hand of God
saves us. Psalm 17 says, Show thy marvelous
lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them that put
their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Psalm
20, Now I know that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will
hear from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right
hand. Psalm 138, Though I walk in the
midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth
thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand
shall save me. And after the Lord saves us,
with his hand he also keeps us. David said this as well. Thou
hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right
hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. And he said, Into thy hand I
commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. And though the child of God falls,
the scriptures tell us this. He shall not utterly be cast
down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. My soul followeth hard after
thee, thy right hand upholdeth me, David said. Christ told us
that all power was given unto him of the Father, was given
into his hand, that almighty hand. Psalm 89 says this, Thou
hast a mighty arm, strong is thy hand and high is thy right
hand. Now, if you've ever wondered
if the Lord was right handed or left handed, I think it's
pretty clear from these scriptures. He was definitely right handed. The scriptures, particularly
the Psalms, speak extensively of his mighty right hand. Further
we read in the Psalms, and this is what we just sang. In Psalm
31, 15, David wrote, My times are in thy hand. That's where
Don got the title to that song. My times are in thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute
me. This verse makes it plain that
we have a predetermined number of days on this earth. that we
cannot perish before the purpose of God in our lives is fulfilled.
That regardless of the plans of Satan or evil men, we cannot
perish before those days are fulfilled. And I know of a certainty,
of a certainty several times that I was near death and came
close to death before the Lord saved me. And I'm sure that you
probably do too. And it's no telling how many
times that occurred that we don't know about. But through His mighty
hand, He prevented death from claiming us, preserved us from
destruction. What does Psalm 91 tell us? A
thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right
hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. What a promise, what a
promise. The Lord also tells us in the
Psalms that the Lord preserveth the simple and the Lord preserveth
all them that love him, that he preserveth the souls of his
saints, preserves them, keeps them, maintains them forever. Now, when we buy things, electronics,
automobile, most times they come with a warranty. And many times they try to talk
you into an extended warranty, which my experience has been
they're a waste of money. But even that extended warranty,
which is a promise that they'll make things right if anything
goes wrong, that extended warranty has an expiration date. It's
not extended forever. Not so with the promise of our
God toward his saints. to keep them safe in his hand.
That is an eternal promise that has no expiration date. The blood of Christ paid for
what we would call an eternal warranty that the promises of
God shall never fail. Ecclesiastes 314 gives us this
assurance. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken away from it. So if God saves us, He saves
us forever. People like to ask, do you believe
in once saved, always saved? And Don used to remind us extensively,
it depends on who does the saving. But if God saves us, He saves
us forever. And as our God gives us faith
to believe that all He does in our lives is for our good and
His glory, We say with Jeremiah, as for me, behold, I am in your
hand. Do with me as seemeth good and
meet unto you. Lord, you know what is best for
our lives, better than we ever will. We make our plans and God so many times for our
good overrides them. We'll never know in this life.
How many times He steered us away from destruction by His
mighty hand. And as God gives us faith to
believe that all He does in our lives is for His good and our
glory, we rest in His promises. This is what David knew when
he said those words in 1 Chronicles 21. Let me fall into the hand
of the Lord, for very great are His mercies. What a promise.
And further, we know that the God that we serve, his hand,
created this universe. And some of them will say, well,
I thought he's spoken into being. That is true. But we also read
in Isaiah 48, 13, mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand hath spanned the heavens. When I call them,
they stand up together. And because of what we read in
the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we know whose hand did
that creating. It was the hand of our blessed
Lord of Lords, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That hand that
gave sight to the blind, legs to the lame, hearing to the deaf,
speech to the dumb, and even life to the dead. Those hands
that were pierced with cruel nails on Golgotha's tree. the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made, we're told in John 1 3. And that includes
us. Isaiah 64 says, But now, Lord,
thou art our father. We are the clay, and you are
the potter, and all of us are the works of your hand. What
does a potter use to fashion the clay? He uses his hand. And next, we understand that
the hand of our mighty Savior is the hand that has done away
with our sin. Exodus 15, 6 says, Thy right hand, O Lord, is become
glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. Now, this, of course, is speaking
of our God drowning the forces of Pharaoh. in the Red Sea as
they pursued the children of Israel. But it also can fully be applied
to how our God deals with sin, that most mortal enemy of men's
souls. Our sin had been thoroughly annihilated
by our Savior, crushed under his mighty hand, dashed in pieces,
ground into dust, and scattered to the four winds. Those same
hands that were pierced by cruel nails. That hand that holds such
glorious power that it can take wretched sinners whose sins are
black as coal and make them white as snow. That hand that can take those
who are once children of wrath and make them to be children
of God, children of promise, heirs of God, joint heirs with
Christ. heirs to an eternal promise that
we're told, fadeth not away. Now, hands are also used to touch
people. Many times we read of the Lord
when He walked this earth in human flesh, touching someone. And without exception, that touch
always brought healing and sometimes even restored life to the dead. Turn with me over to Matthew. Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8. Speaking of the Lord. And his
touch. Matthew chapter 8, beginning
in verse one, when he was come down from the mountain, great
multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now, in the Levitical law, we
know that anyone who touched a leper became as that leper
became unclean. Not so with our blessed Savior.
His touch made this leper as whole as any man who ever lived,
completely healed that leprosy. And in this same chapter of Matthew,
we have another account, down in verse 14. Verse 14, Matthew 8. And when
Jesus was coming to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid
and sick of a fever. And what did he do? He touched
her hand. And the fever left her, and she
rose and ministered unto them. Now, our Lord didn't speak a
word to this woman. He simply touched her. And so thorough was that healing,
she arose and said, you all look hungry. I think I'll whip you
up something to eat. That's what it means when it says she ministered
unto them. And there was no one in that
room that said, oh, now you need to take it easy. You were just
sick unto death a few minutes ago because they knew, they had
seen the Lord heal people in the past, and they knew there
was no convalescence, no physical therapy needed, that this woman
was stronger than ever. Now flip over one page to Matthew
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, and we'll
read of our Lord raising one from the dead and healing two
blind men. How? With merely a touch. We'll begin reading in verse
18 of Matthew chapter 9. While he spake these things unto
them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying,
My daughter is even now dead. Think about that. He knew his daughter was already
dead. But come and lay hand upon her,
and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed
him, and so did his disciples. And behold, a woman, which diseased
with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him and touched
the hem of his garment. And she said within herself,
If I may touch his garment, I shall be made whole. But Jesus turned
him about and said unto her, Daughter, Be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole
from that hour. And when Jesus came into the
ruler's house, he saw the minstrels and the people making a noise.
And he said unto them, give place, for the maid is not dead, but
she sleepeth. And they left him to scorn. They
knew this little girl was dead. They thought this man had lost
his mind. But when the people were put forth, he went in and
took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame hereof
went about into all the land. And when Jesus departed, thence
two blind men followed him, crying, saying, Thou son of David, have
mercy on us. And when he was coming to the
house, a blind man came to him, And Jesus saith unto them, Believe
ye I am able to do this. And they said unto him, Yea,
Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith,
be it unto you. And their eyes were opened, and
Jesus straightly charged them, saying, Go and tell no man. Now we're not told how long this
little girl was dead, but To me, the faith of this ruler was
absolutely amazing. And there are several accounts
in the scriptures of the Lord touching those that were near
death and healing them. But there's very few accounts,
including this one, where our Lord actually brought those back
from the dead. Lazarus, of course, is another.
And he didn't even touch Lazarus. He simply called him forth with
his word. And verse 25 of Matthew 9 here tells us that he took
her by the hand. He touched her and she arose. And then after that, he leaves
his house and he encounters two blind men. And he asked him,
Do you really think I can do this? And they replied, Lord,
we heard you just rose or just raised a little girl from the
dead. So surely restoring our sight is not going to be nearly
as hard as that. And the Lord, according to their
faith, it said he touched their eyes and healed them. And there's
one more account that I'd like to read over in Luke. Luke chapter
seven. Luke chapter seven. Starting in verse 12. And when he came nigh to the
gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out. He
was already dead. The only son of his mother, and
she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he
had compassion on her, and he said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the beer,
And they that bear him stood still, and he said, young man,
I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead sat up and
began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother. Delivered him to his mother.
Now, in this particular case, our Lord didn't even touch this
young man. He simply touched the beard that he was being carried
on. And through his word, he spoke
life to this young man. This young man, we don't know
how long he'd been dead, but it had to be a while before they
could prepare him for death and carry him to his funeral. Now,
this poor lady, she had lost her husband. She was a widow,
we're told, and now she had lost her son. And back in those days,
there was no social security. This was the only means this
lady had of any support. And she was heartbroken, devastated
by her loss and overcome with grief. And she was weeping. How do we know this? Because
the Lord said unto her, weep not. And in verse 15, it says,
he that was dead sat up and began to speak. Now, wouldn't it be
interesting to know what this young man said. I'm sure it had
to be kind of like when you maybe come out of anesthetic like Debbie
did Friday. You're somewhat confused. And
this young man no doubt had seen funerals before and he looks
down and he's being carried on a funeral beer and he's no doubt
said to his mother what what is going on here. I'm not dead.
I'm alive. And of course, he had no idea
that this one standing beside him was the one that gave him
life, gave him his life back. And you can be sure that this
mother probably wept even a little harder for a while. But her tears
were no longer tears of sorrow, but overwhelming joy, her son. Her son, who was just a few minutes
ago was stone cold dead, now sitting up and speaking with
her. All because the Master touched him with His hand. So we have
seen how the hand of the Lord brings healing and comfort, but
there's also another side to the power of the Lord's hand. It many times brings not comfort,
but affliction. It brings not healing, but a
plague. It brings not life, but death.
It brings not blessing, but a curse. This mighty hand of our God does
all of this. How do we know this? Because
of what we read in Isaiah 45. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Sometimes that hand, which comforts
us beyond measure, also brings chastisement to his people. This
chastisement, which we're told, will most assuredly come. And
if it does not come, you can rest assured that you're not
a child of God, but you're a bastard. How do we know this? I'm reading
Hebrews 12. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If we
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. For what son
is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.
Now, this first six talks of the Lord scourging every son
that he receiveth. And this is an indication many
times this scourging, as I've mentioned in previous messages,
was an incredibly torturous punishment, causing massive amounts of pain
and sometimes causing death. And it doesn't say who the Lord
spanks or whips. It says who He scourges, every
son that He scourges. And this tells us that many times
the punishment, or I won't say punishment, it's not punishment,
the chastening, the correction of our Lord is excruciating to
be born. And many times the world looks
upon a believer who is going through these things, and they'll
say things like, I don't even believe he's a Christian. Look
at what's happening to him. Or they'll say, see, the Lord,
he's getting him for something he's done wrong. He's punishing
him. And this is not punishment. This
is correction. As a loving father corrects his
child, You don't beat them like you would a mule. You correct
them. You chastise them. And those
that look upon these things as God's punishment have it completely
wrong. This is completely the opposite.
It is God confirming that we are indeed His children. So even though circumstances,
those things that break our hearts and are grievous to be born,
They give us insurance and assurance that we are indeed children of
the living God. David said in Psalm 2, for thy
arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. And as our God brings trials
upon his dear children, it sometimes seems that he's pressing us down
more than we can bear. But he gives us the promise that
he will not send a trial that He does not give us grace to
bear and endure. And another thing that our God's
hand does, He steers the affairs of this world. And He turns the
heart of our so-called rulers that He has put in power, whichever
direction He sees fit. Psalm 21 says this, The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it, whithersoever he will." Now we with our limited sight, and
myself included, we get just so torn up when we see this happening
and that happening, and it just seems like things are completely
out of control. And we start to get worried.
But that's merely evidence of our lack of faith, because if
we could see things as God sees them, these most grievous things
that we see happening in our world, we would actually not
despair over them, we would rejoice. But we do not have the wisdom
of God, therefore, we tend to get torn up. But what we see
going on around us is simply our God bringing to pass those
things that will, in the end, bring glory to his name and bring
his elect chosen people to himself. He gives us this assurance in
Isaiah 53, verses we're familiar with, speaking
of our blessed Lord and Savior. Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. The word prosper means to have
overwhelming success, to become strong and flourishing, to abundantly
thrive in an enterprise. What a good description. Our
God has put all power and all things into the hand of his blessed
son. He has given him all power, as
the Lord told us in Matthew 28. And we have the promise that
whatsoever he will shall indeed come to pass. In Isaiah 55, it
says, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto
I sent it. And the book of Psalms begins
with three verses that are a perfect description of our blessed Savior. It describes the man of God,
but I believe it is describing our Savior. It says, blessed
is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He
shall be like a tree planted by the river of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in season. His leaf shall not wither, and
whatsoever he doth shall prosper. Jeremiah 23 also describes the
astounding successful work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David
a righteous branch, speaking of Christ, and a king shall reign
and prosper. and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. This judgment that our Lord told
his disciples was put into his hand when he said in John 5,
for the father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the son. Now, our blessed Lord has a perfect
track record. He has never, ever put his thing
to anything or put his hand to anything that has not been an
overwhelming success, even his death. What do the scriptures
tell us? That he spoke of the death that
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. No other death had been that
much of a success. This is the God that we worship
and serve, the sovereign potentate of the universe, Lord Jesus Christ,
who never fails in anything that he does, but he prospers in all
that he puts his hand to. By the hand of God, wretched
sinners are made to be glorious saints, made to be children of
the living God, made to be heirs of promise and joint heirs with
Christ. Now in Isaiah 62, turn over there
with me, Isaiah 62. It gives us a description of
how this takes place. How that the Lord makes us his
children. Isaiah 62, 1, for Zion's sake,
I will not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will
not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness. And the salvation thereof is
a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness in all kings thy glory. And thou shall be called
by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou
shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a
royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Verse 3 tells us that all
of this is accomplished by the mighty hand of our Lord. The hand of our God that is not
slack, but accomplishes all that he promises. We've already seen
that it's a mighty hand, a hand that saves us, a hand that keeps
us, that comforts us, that preserves us. A hand that created all things
in the universe, a hand that sometimes chastens. and a hand
that directs all things in this world for our good and his glory. The strong hand, that mighty
hand, that hand of the sovereign God whose name is the Lord of
Lord and the King of Kings. Now, I can't get through a message
that refers to the hand of God without reading this poem. We're
familiar with it. the touch of the master's hand.
He was battered and scarred in the auctioneer, thought it scarcely
worth his while to waste much time on the old violin, but he
held it up with a smile. What am I bidding, good folks,
he cried. Who'll start the bidding for
me? A dollar? A dollar? Then two? Only two? Two dollars? And who'll make
it three? Three dollars once? three dollars twice, going for
three but no. From the room far back, a gray-haired
man came forward and picked up the bow. In wiping the dust from
the old violin and tightening the loosened strings, he played
a melody, pure and sweet, as a caroling angel sings. The music
ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said, what am I bid for the old violin? And he held it up with
a bow. $1,000. Who make it two? $2,000. And
who make it three? $3,000 once, $3,000 twice. And going and gone, said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried. We do not quite
understand what change it's worth. Swift came the reply. The touch of the master's hand. And many a man with life on a
tune and battered and scarred with sin is auctioned cheap to
the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. A massive pottage,
a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He is going once
and going twice and going and almost gone. But the master comes
and the foolish crowd can never quite understand. the worth of
a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's
hand. Now, in closing, let me speak
a word to those who might hear this message in the future or
listening right now who do not know our God and saving faith. This hand of God, it is such
a comfort to his chosen elect people. Those people whom he
has loved from before the foundation of the world is also the hand
that will one day cast all who despise him and his gospel into
a place of unimaginable terror and suffering. Now you can strut around right
now in your arrogant pride thinking that you're the master of your
own destiny. That you'll deal with this God
in your good time. But the day is coming. When it'll be far too late. When
you realize that you are indeed in the hand of an angry God. A God. Whose wrath. Is horrifyingly. Terrible. And you'll cry for mercy. but
there'll be no mercy to be had. That day of mercy will be long
since past. There's a description in this
in Proverbs 1. I won't read it. But it tells us and warns lost
men and women that because you despise the grace of God that
He will laugh in your face when you beg for mercy. That He will mock when your fear
comes. So I beseech you, lost man or
woman, do not think you will play God for a fool and come
out ahead. It will not happen. I would encourage you. To seek
God's mercy, ask him to be merciful if you're able to do so. It's
a sign that he maybe has begun a good work in you. and that
he may one day touch you with that hand that brings about salvation. I hope the Lord will make that
profitable to our souls. Billy, come lead us in a song,
please.