I've told you before that whenever
I was in Rocky Mount leading the singing, a brother used to
always request hymn number 37. And every time he did, he would
say, make sure you don't leave out verse number three. And that
verse says, and when I think that God, his son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. that on the cross,
my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my
sin, then sings my soul. And to that, my favorite third
line, that rivals it, but my favorite third line in the song
is, it is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh, my soul.
Let's just go home. Turn with me if you would back
to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, after realizing that
the message this morning was going to come from the first
eight verses. I immediately knew that the message tonight would
come from verses 9 to 11 because I love these verses. I truly,
truly love these verses. They are of our God and they
are concerning our God. Verse nine, the end of it, the
last three words of verse nine say, behold your God. What a great glorious announcement. Be hold your God. Verse 10 says
the Lord God behold the Lord God. And if you'll notice that's
a capital L lowercase O R D that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse
4, which we looked at this morning, is also the Lord Jesus Christ
when it says, every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall
be made straight, the rough place is plain. That's a great verse,
but it's not the one. Go to verse 3. The voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D. That is Jehovah. That's Jehovah. That's the high and holy God.
Same person. That's the same person. Jehovah. God is the one who came to save. That was the announcement. Jehovah
behold your God. Behold your God. God is the one
who is coming, but God will be seen and known and fulfilled
in the person, in the body, the body that was prepared for him.
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10 says, he is
the one who will come. He is the one. And verse 11 says,
when he comes, he will be a shepherd to his people. He'll be good to his people. And he was and is, isn't he? HE WILL PROVIDE FOR HIS PEOPLE. HE WILL PROTECT HIS PEOPLE. HE
WILL BE WITH HIS PEOPLE ALL THEIR DAYS. NOW, LET'S LOOK AT THIS
TOGETHER. VERSE 9, ISAIAH 40, VERSE 9,
IT SAYS, O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS. O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS. If you see, if you have a center
margin in your Bible, it says, O thou that tell us good tidings
to Zion. You who have been called on to
tell good tidings to God's people. Verse nine, O Zion that bring
us to good tidings, get the up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem
that bringest good tidings. And again, that means, O thou
that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, you who have been
called on to tell these good things to God's people. He said, lift up thy voice with
strength. Get to the highest place you
can get to. and cry as loudly as you can
cry. Verse nine, he said, lift up
thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold your God. Behold your God. He said, don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid of the opposition.
Don't be afraid of the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of
God. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of what man can
do to you. Don't be afraid. I thank the Lord for that exhortation.
Don't be afraid. You just get to the highest place
you can get to, and you cry from the top of your lungs. For the
warning of the unbeliever, do that for the warning of the unbeliever,
and do that for the comfort of the believer. You know, the same
message that cries warnings of judgment to the unbeliever, that's
the same message That cries comfort of peace to the believer. Same
message. We don't have two messages. There's
only one message. It may be a saver of life unto
life unto one and a saver of death unto death to another,
but it's the same message. We have one message. Get as high
as you can cry as loudly as you can. That one message. What is
it? The end of verse nine, he said,
behold your God. That same message is a message
of warning to one, and it's a message of comfort to another. It's a
message of judgment to one, and it's a message of justification
to another. What makes the difference in
warning and comfort? In judgment and justification,
what makes the difference? Verse 10 says, behold the Lord
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes the
difference. He makes the difference. It all
hinges on him. In him is comfort. Out of him
is warning. In him is justification, out
of him is judgment. I wish men and women knew what
that meant. We rattled that off. Sometimes
we rattle these things off and we, you know, you kind of, as
soon as I start that, you know where I'm going with it. But
I wish men and women knew what that was. If they knew what that
meant, the difference in being in Christ and out of Christ, They'd get out of themselves.
To be in Christ is to be out of myself. To be out of Him is to be in
myself. The Apostle John wrote, he that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Only the Son of God. It all hinges
on Him. Why is that? He said, Well, behold
your God. This is the reason why behold
your God, behold what it took for Him to save His people. Just
see what He had to endure. Behold what Christ had to endure
to justify His people and to redeem His people. Verse 10 says,
behold, the Lord God will come. The Lord God Himself had to come. You think about that. God didn't
send an angel to do this work. He didn't
send... The Lord God Himself had to come. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word was made
flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. We heard those very scriptures
this morning. God was manifest in the flesh.
Christ came. The Christ came. And this is
the message. Behold your God. Christ himself
came and this is the message. Behold your God. Behold your
God. God himself in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was the one who endured the redemption
of his people. I love how it says in second
Corinthians five, God was in Christ. That means God, the father,
God, the son, God, the spirit. When we say God, we're referring
to three persons. FATHER, SON, AND SPIRIT. IN CHRIST DWELLS ALL THREE PERSONS
OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. GOD WAS IN CHRIST RECONCILING
THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF. BEHOLD YOUR GOD. BEHOLD YOUR
GOD. LOOK WITH ME AT ISAIAH 42, JUST
A COUPLE OF PAGES OVER. Isaiah 42 verse 1, God the Father
is speaking and the heading at the top of my page says, The
Office of Christ. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. He's the one who has to come
and do this. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail. You know, if you want something
done right, you need to do it yourself. As poor, wretched sinners, no
God and no hope, it seemed there was no one to help. But God,
in His mercy, salvation supplied, emptied heaven, and came down
Himself, and a ransom was found. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
till He have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for His law. What does all that mean? When
we read all of that, behold my servant, I put my spirit on him.
He's going to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's not going
to fail. What does all that mean? Turn
with me to John chapter one. John chapter 1 verse 26 says,
John answered them saying, I baptized with water, but there standeth
one among you whom you know, not he. It is who coming after
me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it. I'm not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Verse 29 says, the
next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and said, behold, the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. The Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. How is he going
to do that? Behold my servant who will come
and bring judgment. How's he gonna do that? Behold
the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. How is he gonna do that? Turn
to John 19. Verse 1 says, Then Pilate therefore
took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns, and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again
and said unto them, behold, I bring him forth to you that you may
know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing
the crown of thorns and a purple robe and Pilate saith unto them,
behold the man. Behold the man. How is our God? in the form of a servant as his
own sacrifice going to redeem his people from all their sin.
How is he going to do that? Behold the man. Behold the man. Isaiah said,
behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand and His arm
shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him. All of His people are with Him.
And they're gonna be in Him when His work is before Him, the work
of salvation, the salvation of the cross. Right here in John
19, look at verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, when he realized that Christ was going to the cross,
he tried to tell the people, I find no fault in him. I'll
scourge him and I'll let him go. And they said, no, sir, give
us Barabbas, crucify him. When he knew that Christ was
going to the cross, when Pilate therefore heard that saying,
he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in
a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
And it was the preparation of the Passover in about the sixth
hour. And he said unto the Jews, behold
your king, behold your God, behold your servant, behold your lamb, BEHOLD THE
MAN, BEHOLD YOUR KING. BEHOLD HIM. AND VERSE 30 SAYS,
WHEN JESUS THEREFORE HAD RECEIVED THE VINEGAR, HE SAID, IT IS FINISHED,
AND HE BOWED HIS HEAD AND GAVE UP THE GHOST. LET'S BEHOLD THE
FACT THAT FOR OUR SAKE, For the sake of every soul out of the
world, he came to take away the sins of the world where we are
the world. Every soul that the father gave
to him out of the world, for every one of them, Christ died
for that soul. The end of this chapter says
Christ was buried for that soul. The next chapter tells us that
Christ was raised again for that soul. And he has now ascended
back to glory for that soul. He came for that soul. He came on purpose for a purpose
to accomplish a purpose. And he accomplished that purpose.
And He ascended back up and He is seated right now on His throne
for that soul. God said to Isaiah, He said,
I want you to get to the highest place that you can get to. And
in the loudest voice that you have, I want you to cry to my
people how great things the Lord Jesus Christ has done for them.
Now go with me back over there to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 verse 9 says, 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 your God. BEHOLD, THE LORD GOD WILL COME
WITH STRONG HAND AND HIS ARM SHALL RULE FOR HIM. I THINK ABOUT THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
AS I ANNOUNCE IT. THIS IS SO GLORIOUS. THIS IS
SO GLORIOUS. BEHOLD, THE LORD GOD WILL COME. IN ISAIAH'S DAY, THEY WERE WAITING
FOR THE LORD TO COME And they were waiting, waiting
on Him to come. And now, so are we. He has fulfilled
it, but we're waiting for Him to return. And we're waiting,
and here we are. We're believing and hoping and
trusting and reading. And verse 10 says, behold, the
Lord God will come. If there's any doubt in anybody's
mind, it's going to be settled, it's going to be proven. Behold,
the Lord God will come with a strong hand. Wait till you see His hand. And His arm shall rule. I wanna show you something that
I absolutely love in Isaiah 52. Turn over to Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52, verse 7. It says, how beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice With the voice together shall they
sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring
again Zion. Break forth into joy. Sing together,
ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his
people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare His holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. Now, I told you this a long
time ago, but I'm gonna tell it to you again. When I was a
little kid, and I know all of you have done this, my girls
have already done this to me, but when I was a little kid,
On many occasions, I remember asking my dad, show me your muscle. And every time I asked him, he
would do it. Every single time. You know,
in the eyes of a five-year-old, you're looking at the incredible
Hulk. Every time I asked him, he would
do it. He would pull his sleeve up. I can still remember this. You know, he'd pull his sleeve
up, and he'd show me everything he had. Point is, is he wouldn't leave
his sleeve down. Had he done that, I couldn't have seen anything.
So every time I asked him, he'd pull his sleeve up and he'd show
me that muscle. And I can still remember being
a little kid. I was born in Louisiana and I remember being in their
bedroom and I put both of my hands on that muscle. And I thought that's the strongest
muscle I've ever seen. Well, the Lord hath made bare
his holy arm. He has pulled his sleeve up for
all of his people. all nations. Verse 10 says, I lost my page
here. It says, the Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. Don't you love that? Don't
you love seeing the strength of your father or whoever? Well, the Lord for His people,
for all nations to see, has revealed His strength and will reveal
it. He revealed it on the cross of
Calvary in one fatal swoop by the one sacrifice of Himself. He redeemed all of His people
forever. He perfected them forever. And
He's coming again and He will reveal it again. TO ALL NATIONS. BEHOLD YOUR GOD. LOOK AT YOUR GOD. BEHOLD THE
LORD GOD. HE WILL COME. THE ONE WHO REIGNS
AND RULES WILL COME. AND WHEN HE DOES, THIS IS WHAT
HE'S GONNA DO FOR EVERY ONE OF HIS PEOPLE THAT HE REDEEMED.
WHEN HE COMES. BACK IN ISAIAH 40, VERSE 11 SAYS, 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. He'll feed his flock like a shepherd.
No matter how small the flock is, he will say, fear not little
flock. It is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. He's gonna come gently. Oh, the
strength. Behold your God. Behold the strength
of his hand and the strength of his arm. He's gonna come. He's gonna rule. He's gonna reign. And to his people, he's gonna
come with tenderness. He's gonna come with gentleness.
He's gonna come with compassion. And all of his people, when they
behold him, when they see him as he is to them, all of his
people will say, in loving kindness, the Lord Jesus came, my soul
in mercy to reclaim. And from the depths of sin and
shame, through grace, he lifted me. He carried me in his arms
and he took me home. That's what He's gonna do for
every single one of His people. Now, in closing, let's behold
our God as the shepherd that He is, all right? Turn with me
to John 10. John 10 verse 1 says, our Lord
said, barely, barely, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber, but he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the porter openeth and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them. And the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Verse 14, he said, I am the good
shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. I'm the good
shepherd. Hebrews 13 says he is the great
shepherd. First Peter five says he is the
chief shepherd. And here's the reason why. Verse
15, he said, as the father knoweth me, even so know I the father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. and other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life "'that I might take it again.
"'No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. "'I
have power to lay it down, "'and I have power to take it again.
"'This commandment have I received of my father.'" Verse 27, he
said, "'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 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." That's
the glad tidings. That's happy. That's good news. That is the glad tidings of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, cry this to each other. And in another place he said,
comfort one another with these words. Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. That's my commandment. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Okay, behold your God. Just behold your God. Behold,
the Lord God will come. Can you imagine how happy we're
gonna be in that moment? Behold, write it down. The Lord God will come and he's
gonna feed his flock like a shepherd forever. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He's going to gather the lambs
with His arm. He's going to carry them in His
bosom. And He is going to gently lead
those that are with young. He will gently lead all of us
babes in Christ. What a shepherd. What a God. Really, what a God. Amazing.
All right, let's all stand together.