Good morning. If you'd like,
you can open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40. We'll get there in
a moment. If you're taking notes, like
I generally do, I like to have a title and a text. I usually
go with the first scripture that's given. This morning, my text
is Behold His Glory. And I've chosen for the text,
the title is Behold His Glory, and the text is Psalm 103, verse
14. And we'll get there in a little
bit. This morning, I'm gonna tell us a story, and then I'm
gonna spend the remainder of the time just talking about our
Lord Jesus Christ. And my sincere hope and prayer
is that as I do this, we will see Jesus Christ in his glory
as God, Jesus Christ in his glory as the man accepted of God, and
Jesus Christ in his glory as our savior. Now imagine all of us at some
point have heard and watched, possibly endured a Hallmark movie. And this story of mine has all
the makings of a Hallmark movie. In fact, it is a story that is
so fantastic that it's quite unbelievable. There was once a girl born into
an extremely wealthy family. Her family loved her and they
cared for her greatly. She was not a spoiled little
rich girl. She was raised properly. Her
family did all that they could good toward her. They provided
for her and they taught her well. But this girl was a rebel. Everything that she did, everything
presented to her, she rebelled against. Her parents, her friends,
everything that was presented, she rebelled against it all. Eventually, this girl forsook
everyone and everything she knew, and she ran away from home. She
raced as far as she possibly could away from her loving family. Her grieving family sought after
her. They went after her. They tried
to help her. Just come home. We'll get you
help. We'll provide for you. Just come
home. But with every attempt, Everyone
that loved her maid, it pushed her further and further away.
She just continued in her state of rebellion. One by one, each friend and each
family member just finally gave up. And they came to the realization
that she was as dead to them. They couldn't help her. They
couldn't return her. In fact, they no longer even
recognized her for the girl that they knew. At each one, as they
visit her for the last time, trying to help her, trying to
get her to return, they found her in the company of undesirable
people. She was around people that were
so unlike them, they couldn't even recognize them as people. She participated in base, unspeakable
activities that her family and her friends could not abide. And she was in such a state of
addiction that they lost all hope for her ever returning. And they all gave up and said,
we've lost her. She's gone from us forever. Near to this stricken family,
there lived another family that was even more wealthy than they
were, exceedingly wealthy. And in this house was a young
man who had set his heart upon this rebellious girl. long time
ago. When he saw what had happened
and he heard of the family's unsuccessful attempts to bring
the girl home, he took action. He laid aside his fine clothes
and his luxurious comforts and he left his family behind. He
left all that he knew as well. He went to where she was and
he took up his abode in those same undesirable conditions. Now, he never participated in
the base activities. He never found himself in addiction,
but he stayed there where she was. And over time, he helped her
to overcome her addictions, and he nursed her back to health.
He stayed with her, and he loved her. And after much tribulation
and many heartaches, he was able to nurse her back to her health,
and he returned her to his home with him, and they were married. His family, having known all
along of his love for her, welcomed him back joyfully and with him
her, and they accepted her because of him. Her family, oh, how they
rejoiced. Their girl, who they had counted
for dead, had been returned to them, and above that, to a family with more honor and
a greater name than even they had. For the rest of her life, whenever
anyone asked her to tell them her story, all she would say was, I was
a rebel. I rebelled against everyone.
I was so messed up. I was so low. I was so horrible. But he loved me. He stayed with
me. He healed me. Isn't he altogether
lovely?" That's a hallmark story if I've
ever heard one. But this story has its foundation
on actual events. It's a factual occurrence. It
is the story of every sinner that has ever been saved by grace. It's my story. And I have one
goal this morning, and that's to tell of the glory of the Lord
of glory, who loved me and gave himself to save me according
to the good pleasure of his will, not for anything he saw in me,
but because it pleased him to do so." We're here in Isaiah
40. Verse 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities
of Judah, behold, Oh may God allow us this morning
to behold our God. The following verses tell us
something of the glory of our God. Behold our strong, mighty,
victorious God. Verse 10. Behold The Lord God
will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young. Behold His glory as our Creator. Verse 12. Who hath measured the
waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Skip
down to verse 15. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles
as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. He holds
the isles The nations are nothing, the
dust on the scale. Behold the glory of his sovereignty,
wisdom, and knowledge. Verse 13, who hath directed the
spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him?
With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught
him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and
showed to him the way of understanding? Behold his infinite, incomparable
majesty." Verse 18. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare
unto him? Skip to verse 21. Have ye not
known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth. and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." The idea I really wanted to convey
when I started looking at this message was how great God is. How is it possible to do it?
Who can tell it? To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto him? Consider the grasshopper for
a moment. As we are so much greater than
the grasshopper, God is so much more high than we are. But let's say we give that grasshopper
a voice, give it some reasoning. We go by as children, and we
see this grasshopper in the grass, right? And we capture it. We grab it. And we walk across
the yard with it, and we release it. giving that grasshopper a voice. What's it going to tell other
grasshoppers? There I was, eating lunch, nothing
going on, when suddenly I couldn't move anymore. I was
surrounded, I was I was stayed, I was ripped away from lunch. It disappeared. And I was carried many grasshopper
miles away. And suddenly I was thrown into
the air and I had to fly. And when I landed, there was
food again, but it wasn't the food that I was eating before. I never saw that food again.
I don't know what happened to me.
There is nothing in the grasshopper's experience, there is nothing
that he, with the science that tells us of the grasshopper's
eyes, it couldn't fathom what The creature was that grabbed
him and carried him away. There was nothing in his experience
that he could describe the greatness of the person that had done this. Behold our God. Verse 26. I'm sorry, verse 25. To whom, then, will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes
on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth
out their host by number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Who is this mighty God? Can we know him or are we to
remain ignorant as that grasshopper? Turn with me to John chapter
18. John 18. We read in Exodus 3.14, God said unto Moses, I am that
I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. Who spoke to Moses? John 18, verse 3. Judas then, having received a
ban of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus
therefore, knowing all things that should come unto him, come
upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. God who
spoke to Moses is the very God that spoke to the band that came
to take him in the garden. Jesus Christ is God. The same I Am that spoke to Moses
is the I Am that caused this band of soldiers to fall to the
ground. Consider the glory of the Lord
our God. and the I am that Christ revealed
himself to be. Just the I am's in John. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am from above. I am the door. I am the good
shepherd. I am the resurrection. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the true vine. Behold your God, Jesus Christ. He is glorious in creation, sovereignty,
wisdom, life, truth, sustaining grace, light, and the resurrection. He is glorious. He is the Almighty God. Now, our text, Psalm 103, This is the verse that first
caught my attention and why I consider it the text for this message.
Psalm 103, verse 14. For he, the Lord our God, for he knoweth our frame He remembereth that we are dust. The Lord our God knoweth. One of the definitions when you
look that up in the concordance is to know by experience. God knoweth our frame. He knows our frame because he
created us from the dust of the earth. He knows us in creation,
but he knoweth our frame by experience. At the dedication of the temple,
Solomon said, will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the
heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain me. How much less
this house that I have built it. Solomon considered the greatness
of God. And then he looked at this temple,
this wonderful temple that he had built. And he said, it's
too small. It's too small for God. Isaiah
recorded, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. God, which cannot
be contained in heaven and the heaven of heavens, became what
we call today an embryo in the womb of a virgin. And he stayed
there for nine months. growing and developing into the
body prepared for him. God, who created and sustains
all things, was born a baby entirely reliant on another to meet his
needs. Luke 2.52 records, And Jesus,
who is God, increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with
God and man. It's almost unimaginable, but
the Lord Jesus Christ was taught how to walk. His parents taught
him to stay out of the fire. to not touch something that was
hot. He had brothers and sisters. All of us parents have at one
time or another fussed at or corrected one of our children
for something that they didn't actually do. We saw them, we assumed they
did something wrong. Our Lord had to endure that for
us. His parents, as fallible creatures, I'm almost certain would have
associated Him with something one of the others did, and He
would have been punished along with them. We would never accuse our Lord
of misbehaving, knowing what we know now. But we weren't the
parents. I've often thought of Mary having the Lord as the firstborn. This perfect child who never
cried unless there was reason for it. never threw a temper
tantrum, never sinned, then she has the second child. What a difference that child's
actions would have been to her first child. When our Lord was 12 years old,
they attended a feast in Jerusalem. At the end of the feast, the
family went back home. Joseph and Mary assumed Christ
was in the caravan going back home, their son Jesus. They were a day's journey out
when they realized he's not with us. They had to turn around, go back
a day's journey. They spent three days looking
for him. On the third day, they found
him in the temple. He was going about his father's
work. He was doing good. He was doing
right. But his parents were scared to
death. They had lost their son. We don't know, it's not recorded.
Everything that happened to our Lord is not recorded. The books
of the world couldn't contain it, if it was. My father would have been ready
to kill me after he was relieved at finding me, right? Did they have the same reaction?
In their flesh, most likely. In every stage of growing up,
our Lord endured the trials and tribulations that we endure. We like to think to ourselves,
no one has ever had it as bad as I have. We're only kidding
ourselves. The eternal, holy, glorious God
came in the likeness of sinful man, and He dwelt among us. Listen to some of what He recorded
concerning Himself. I am weary with my groaning. I am poured out like water. I am poor and needy. I am counted with them that go
down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength. I am a worm and no man. The Lord our God knoweth our
frame. He remembereth that we are dust. In joy, in sorrow, in rest, in
turmoil, in birth, in life, in death, he knows by experience
our frame. Behold the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the man accepted of God. Finally, turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. All the scriptures declare the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ as our Savior, but I've chosen 2 Corinthians 5 verse
21. We often read this verse, and
we'll read it in this fashion. For he, God the Father, hath
made him, God the Son, sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. not separate, but we show the
character of the triune God in our salvation when we read it
like this. For this morning, I want to read
it this way. For he, God, who is Jesus Christ,
hath made him Jesus Christ, who is God. Sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we, who are nothing but sin, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. God, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, God Almighty, declares
of Himself, There is no God else beside me. a just God and a Savior. When he saw his bride dead in
trespasses and sin, he did that which only he could do. He made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men. He came to where we are
in our sin and in our rebellion, and he dwelt with us. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. He accomplished that which we
could not, and he fulfilled the law. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, He is the just God, and sin must be punished,
even the death of the cross. He gave Himself to save sinners
to save this wretch. He gave Himself. Behold the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. As I said, this is a story most
unbelievable until it's revealed to you. The holy God, who alone has all
wealth, all power, all might, left all that he had and came
and dwelt as dust. He took our sin, he suffered,
he died, and he rose again. And soon he will bring home his
bride robed in his righteousness, holy and without blame, and present
him, present his bride faultless before the Father. And there will be the marriage
feast of the Lamb. If God is pleased to open the
eyes of a sinner to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we will see Christ Jesus glorified as the Almighty God. We'll see
Christ Jesus glorified as the man accepted of God. And we will see Christ Jesus,
the savior of sinful men. Behold your God. Behold the man. Behold the lamb. When we see him, When the Lord's
pleased to open a sinner's eyes and we see Him, we will declare
of Him, He is altogether lovely. And our joy from the day we see
something of His glory, starting then and throughout all eternity,
will be to declare, Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing. To him be all the glory.