Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 10. John chapter 10. On Sunday nights, we've been
going through John. John 10. Last Sunday night, we looked
at our Good Shepherd. That's what we looked at last
Sunday night. The Lord willing, tonight, we're
going to be back in John chapter 10. And we're going to look at
the shepherd's sheep. Shepherd's sheep. I finished
studying for that message last Thursday night. Sometimes I change
however things hit me, the order changes. Sometimes I finish studying
for it Sunday afternoon at 525. I finished that one last Thursday
night. And when I finished studying
for that, there's something that I just couldn't get off my mind.
It just wouldn't leave my mind. Look at verse 28 with me. Our Lord says, 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." Now we come here to learn about
Him. That's why we're here. It's Him. It's a person. We come here to
worship Him and we come here to see Him. I want to, every
time I stand up here, I want to see Him. I want to see Him. We're hoping to open this book
and just get a glimpse of Him. That's what we're praying for,
we're begging for. A glimpse of Him. Well, the glimpse
that I hope we get this morning is of His hands. That's what I want us to look
at. God's hands. Now in religion, the children
are taught, in religion, He's got the whole world in His hands. Okay? And in the same religion,
the adults are taught, that he has no hands but your hands in
the same religion. Isn't that something? Is that
not the truth? Is that not the truth? Start
him out young. Let's all sing it. He's got the whole world
in his hands. Let him grow up. Now here's the truth. He's got
no hands but your hands. Well, then why did you tell me
he's got the whole world in his hands? Which one is it? I want us to see what God has
to say about His own hands. Or does He have any? As though
we have any doubt after reading John chapter 10. But I want to
answer that question first. Go with me over to Joshua chapter
4. Joshua chapter 4. It's after
Deuteronomy. Joshua 4 and look at verse 22. Then you shall let your children
know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For
the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before
you until you were passed over as the Lord your God did to the
Red Sea, which He dried up from before us until we were gone
over, that all the people of the earth might know the hand
of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you might fear the Lord
your God forever. He has hands. He has hands. And they are mighty. They're
very mighty. Over in Deuteronomy 11, he said,
they have not seen his mighty hand and his stretched out arm. They haven't seen it. He said,
but you have. You've seen the mighty works
of his hand, haven't you? starting with you and me, starting
with creation. The scripture says that God formed
man of the dust of the ground. What did he use to form us with?
His hands. His hands. Psalm 19 says the
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show with
his handiwork. Everything you see up there is
His handiwork. His hands formed the heaven.
Go with me over to Isaiah 48. Isaiah 48 Look at verse 12. Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and
Israel, my called. I am he, I am the first, I also
am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the
foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the
heavens, When I call unto them, they stand up together. They're
sending stuff to Mars right now. A whole bunch of stuff over to
Mars. Just Mars. You know, how can we make it
all the way out to Mars? And I don't know how long it
takes to get there, but it's a long time. It's a long time. Do you know how much farther
the heavens go than Mars? that we know about. And can you
imagine how much farther the heavens go that we don't know
about? Well, if this is Earth, and if this is Mars, God said,
I spanned the heavens, I measured the heavens with my right hand. I spanned the heavens with my
right hand. And men and women truly believe
in their hearts, He has no hands but your hands." That's amazing,
isn't it? That is amazing. Well, in study, I started searching
for verses of scripture that talk about His hands. And I found
so many, we could be here all day long, literally all day long,
reading verse after verse of scripture that talk about his
beautiful and glorious hands. Fact after fact about God's hands. But for the sake of focus and
for the sake of simplicity, I just want to show you five. All right,
just five. I want to show you the authority
of His hands. I want to show you the refuge
of His hands. I want to show you the comfort
of His hands. I want to show you the salvation
of His hands. And I want to show you the security
of His hands. Alright, let's start with the
truth. Let's go with the truth first. Go with me to Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10 verse 30 says, For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again the Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful thing. This God
who has the whole world in His hands, the whole world needs
to fear those hands. Needs to fear them. The reason
is because vengeance belongs to those hands. Vengeance belongs
to those hands. The Lord shall judge His people. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. I wish that the whole world
could hear that. I really do. The whole world
that's going to go meet the God, the God, the God of vengeance,
the God of judgment. I wish that all men and women
could be warned. All authority has been placed
into those hands. those hands, all authority. His
hand is either for us or his hand is against us. One of the
two. I found so many scriptures that
said the hand of the Lord was against them all through the
Old Testament. The hand of the Lord was against
them, even in Ruth. Naomi said in chapter one, the
hand of the Lord has gone out against me, didn't she? Turn with me over to 2 Chronicles.
2 Chronicles chapter 20. A man named Jehoshaphat prayed
in verse 6, 2 Chronicles 20 verse 6. He said, O Lord God of our
fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over
all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? None. None. Now, there's great comfort in
that for believers, for God's people. Proverbs 21 says, The
king's heart, every king, even ours. The King's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. All authority is in his hands. All authority. John 3 says, The
Father hath given all things into his great and vast and strong
and mighty hand. all things. So this is what Peter
wrote. Peter wrote, Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time. This hand is mighty. So humble
yourselves. Humble yourselves under the hands
of authority. Here's why. The reason why is
There's refuge there. There's refuge there. Go with
me to 2 Samuel 24. Back towards Genesis. 2 Samuel
24. David sinned against God by numbering
the people. When God told him not to, he
sent out and numbered all the people of Israel. 2 Samuel 24,
look at verse 10. And David's heart smote him after
that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord,
I have sinned greatly in that I have done. And now I beseech
Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done
very foolishly. For when David was up in the
morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's
seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I
offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that
I may do it unto thee. The Lord came to David's prophet
and he said, you go tell David, I'm going to give him three options.
Choose the one you want, okay? Verse 13, so Gad came to David
and told him and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come
unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months
before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there be
three days pestilence in thy land? Now advise and see what
answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said
unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall
into the hand of man. He said, I'm in a great straight.
You know what I pray? That God would put me in a great
straight. And that God would put us in
a great straight. David said, I've been caught. I've been convicted. There's
only one place I can go. One thing I can do, let me fall
into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great." Now didn't we just say it's a
fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God? It's
a fearful thing. But all who come to his hand
begging, Peter said, humble yourselves. All who come begging like a dog
to his master, All who humble themselves and
fall into His hands for mercy, they're going to find mercy.
They are going to find mercy. It's a hand of authority, but
it's a hand of refuge. One of these days, we're going
to need mercy. One of these days, we're going
to need mercy. And here's the truth about God's hands. They're
hands of refuge. Run to them. Run to Him. The song says, hidden in the
hollow of His blessed hand, never foe can follow, never traitor
stand. Fall into the hand of God and
you're going to find some rest there. You'll find rest. You're
going to find all authority there, you're going to find refuge there,
and you're going to find some comfort there. Go with me over
to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 verse 13 says, For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, in thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. All who come to the God of authority
for refuge, for mercy, for rest, they're going to hear Him say,
Fear not. Fear not. I'll help you. I'll hold your hand. I will hold
your hand. All who need Him are going to
feel His touch. Now, if God will let me just
enter into this. Lord, just help me right here.
Send Your Spirit to me right here. All who need Him are going
to feel His touch. As we go through this life, there
are going to be times when we need Him. And all who need Him
and come to this hand, they're going to feel His touch. All
who need Him are going to feel His tenderness, that tenderness
of His hand. All who hold on to His precious
and loving hand. You know what else they're going
to feel? They're going to feel His touch. They're going to feel
His tenderness. You know what else they're going
to feel? Go with me over to John 20. John 20 verse 24 says, But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But
he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails.
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after
eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with
them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then said he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
my hands." Touch my hands, Thomas. What do you feel? Scars. Scars. All who hold those beautiful
hands are going to feel those beautiful scars. Those hands
are going to be the only ones in glory that have scars on them.
You know that? The only ones. There was a precious
man years ago, a preacher, and he wrote a song called Scars
Up in Heaven. And it says, I'll be looking
for scars up in heaven. You won't have to look long.
They'll be the first things you're going to see. Scars that love held on the tree. Scars that turn judgment to mercy
for a hell deserving sinner like me. There is salvation in those precious
hands. You know that? those precious hands. We're going
to see those. We're going to touch those. We're
going to say like Thomas, my Lord and my God. They're hands
of authority. They're hands of refuge. They're
hands of comfort. Hands of salvation and because
of that they're hands of security. Great security. Go with me to
Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49, tonight we're gonna
hear him say, no man is able to pluck you out of my hands.
No man is able to pluck you out of my hands. But in addition
to that, he says, I'm not gonna let you go. I will not throw you away. Isaiah 49, look at verse 13,
it says, Sing, O heavens, and be joyful,
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains. For the
Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget
her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, They may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me." He says to his children, you are forever engraved on the
palms of my hands, forever. Isaiah 40 says, just turn there,
Isaiah 40. Verse 1 says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Can we not say that? We have
received double, double for all our sins. What glorious hands. Lord, hold us in your hands. Hold us in your hands. Strength,
might, power, authority, comfort. Refuge, protection, security. Lord, I need your hands. Show
me your hands. For Christ's sake. Alright, let's
stand together.