Let's go back to the book of
Hebrews chapter 8 as you're finding the scripture. Just a reminder
this evening we will begin our service with baptism of a lady
who wants to confess the Savior. And if one of you would like
to acknowledge the grace of God given to you in Christ. If you
want to follow the Lord and believers' baptism, and if you'll let me
know, we'll be delighted to baptize you as well. As you know, baptism
doesn't wash anybody's sins away. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus
can do that. Baptism is an act of obedience. And it does indeed picture our
Lord's death and His burial and His resurrection. It is our public
identification with our Savior and with His gospel, with His
servant, and with His people. And so if you want to acknowledge
the goodness of God to you this evening, you haven't done so
thus far, then we'll be glad to take care of that for you.
Just let me know after the service this morning. I want to speak to you today
on seven great wonders to behold, or we'll put it this way, behold
seven great wonders. In the book of God there are
many marvelous things, many wonderful things, many astounding things. And if you got out of concordance,
as I did this week, and you researched the word, behold, you'll find
it's mentioned many, many times in the Word of God. But as I
read over all of the verses of the Bible that have this word
in it, I began to kind of organize some things in my mind as to Several of them that are very
significant, very meaningful to us. And I want to give those
to you this morning. Behold Seven Great Wonders. And
without any more introduction, I want to get right into the
very meat of the message and say, number one, behold the wonder
of the covenant of grace. I can't stress to you enough
the vital importance of the book of Hebrews and all of the written
revelation of God. It's in this book, in the book
of the Hebrews, that the inspired writer, whoever it was, the Apostle
Paul or whatever other man wrote it, it's the Spirit of God who
gave it, but it's in this book that God lays before us the fact
that all of the old outward legal aspects of the Israelite worship,
all of the, what we might call the ceremonial aspects of worship
of the Old Testament, it's in this book, the book of Hebrews,
that we see that they're forevermore abolished. and were brought to
realize they were just pictures of the truth. In other words,
over in the next two chapters, over chapter number 10, we read
that the things of the law were just a shadow of things to come. They weren't the substance. In
the old covenant, with all of the laws and all of the offerings
and all of the sacrifices. You know, all of those things,
they weren't designed to remove sin. They couldn't do that. But
they pictured one who would come and offer himself as the sacrifice
for our sin. And that sacrifice would, in
reality, remove our sinfulness and bring in everlasting righteousness,
as Daniel said. So in the book of Hebrews, we
see that the inspired writer, he tells us that all of the outward,
the legal, the ceremonial aspects of the Old Testament Jewish religion,
they were all fulfilled, and they were all abolished. Now,
the question is, how were they fulfilled? And how were they
abolished? or they were fulfilled in a five-fold
way. Number one, they were fulfilled
by the coming of Jesus Christ into this world. When the Savior
entered into this world, and He began His public ministry,
and you'll remember His great sermon on the mount. He made
this statement in Matthew chapter 5. He said, think not that I'm
come to destroy the law and the prophets. I'm not come to destroy
but to fulfill. In other words, all of the things
that those offerings symbolized, everything all the high priests
pictured down through the years, and what all of those sacrifices,
all the things that they depicted, our Lord Jesus said, I didn't
come to destroy. All of that. I didn't come to
say that all of those things were useless, but I've come into
the world to set before you the fact that all of those things,
they pointed to Me. And I'm the fulfillment of all
of those. Indeed, God ordained the sacrifices
of the Old Testament, and all of the offerings, those were
appointed by the Lord. But they couldn't remove any
sin. They couldn't make anybody perfect
before God. They couldn't justify anybody. And all of those priests that
entered into the holy place and they lit the candlesticks and
they labored there in the ministry of the Lord, they couldn't serve
without end because they died. They were just men. And every
high priest who began His ministry, who went into the Holy of Holies
on the Day of Atonement, that blood that He sprinkled on the
mercy seat, it couldn't put anybody's sins away. It couldn't remove
any guilt. However, everything that those
men did, they pictured and they announced, someone is coming
into the world who is going to do in fact and in reality what
these men's works only pictured. The Lord Jesus is coming into
the world. He's the one who abolished the
old covenant. Well, how did He do that? By
the sacrifice of Himself. We know in Hebrews chapter number
10, the blood of bulls and goats, they couldn't remove sin. They
couldn't wash away guilt. Any more than baptism can wash
away your sin. It can't do that. Well, you wouldn't
think that the blood of a literal lamb could wash away anybody's
sins, would you? You wouldn't think that goat's
blood could remove guilt or transgressions? Well, that's foolish. That's
foolish. Well, what was the need of doing
those things? What was the whole point? It
was just this. Every sacrifice that died on
a Jewish altar made this announcement. I'm picturing the one who's going
to come into this world and by His sacrifice, He is going to
really and forever settle the sin issue. He's going to remove
guilt forever. By His blood, all iniquities
of all of those in whose stead He will die, they will forevermore
be blotted out of the record book of heaven. And I will establish
righteousness. That One who is coming, He will
establish righteousness. Which none of those Old Testament
sacrifices could do. They couldn't satisfy law. They
couldn't satisfy God's demands for perfection. But they pictured
somebody who would. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. So this Old Covenant, It's been
abolished. Abolished. You know what the
Old Covenant said? In the Bible, there's the Old
Covenant and the New Covenant. We talked a little bit about
this last week. The Old Covenant, those that are under the Old
Covenant are under a curse. Those under the New Covenant
are under a blessing. What did the Old Covenant demand?
Perfection? Perfection? The old covenant,
God said, if you'll be perfect, if you'll obey Me in everything
that you do, you'll be rewarded. But nobody can live under such
a covenant. Nobody can live under a covenant
of works. Who among us would dare, would
dare lift our voices and say, I've lived a perfect life. I'm
perfect inwardly and I'm perfect outwardly. None of us could do
that. And if anyone would dare to say that they were perfect
inwardly and outwardly, then I must say you're a fool. May
God show you your guilt. We're all sinful within. We're
defiled within. But the law of God says, be ye
perfect. And the law cuts nobody any slack. The law of God is unbending.
It's inflexible. And that old covenant, God said,
if you'll obey me, you'll live. Disobey me, die. You want to
live under that covenant? Well, there's no life under that
covenant. There's no blessing under that
covenant. There's no great mercy under
that covenant. There's no grace under that covenant. It's a covenant of works. Thank
God, our Savior has come into this world under the New Covenant. And He has established that covenant
by His blood. By His blood. Now listen, the
Old Covenant demanded perfection as does the New Covenant. But
in the New Covenant, there is somebody who can render perfection
to its demands. But it's not you. And it's not
me. Because we have already given
abundant evidence under the old covenant, we can't produce what
the covenant demands. But our Lord Jesus did. He did. He lived perfectly under the
law of God. He died under the wrath of God
for the sins not of His own. But for the sins of those in
whose stead he died, they were all laid to his charge, laid
to his account. And therefore he died. Oh, our Lord Jesus, he's come
into this world And through His doing and through His dying,
He has shown us that the ceremonial, outward, legal aspects of the
Old Testament Jewish religion were fulfilled and abolished
forever. He did it by coming into this
world. He did it by His sacrifice. He did it by the revelation of
a new covenant, a covenant of grace, which made the first covenant
null and void. You notice the last verse of
chapter 8. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. He has made it obsolete. It is
obsolete. He has made it null and void. Is there any weary sinner that
I am speaking to this morning? You are laboring under the old
covenant. You say, oh, I am trying to please
God. I'm trying to do good, but preacher,
I can't do it." Oh, I know you can't do it. It's a miserable
life. It's a miserable life. You don't
have any joy. People who believe in salvation
by works, if you got them alone, if you got them off by themselves,
and if they're absolutely honest, they'll have to say, if they
have any sense whatsoever, I'm miserable. I'm miserable. I can't carry this yoke, this
yoke, this burden of the law. That's what Peter said over in
Acts chapter 15, when some of the Judaizers said, you know,
not only is salvation by grace, but there's got to be works involved. And Peter said, why would you
put a yoke upon people that even our forefathers couldn't bear?
It's a heavy yoke, the yoke of the law. the yoke of doing, the
yoke of laboring. People are miserable who live
like that. But all the freedom and the rest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we are made to realize He did
it all. Everything a holy God demanded,
our Lord Jesus has satisfied. And I say to anybody who is laboring
under the law, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I'll give
you rest. Rest. Isn't that a sweet word? In our Bible class this morning
in Isaiah 11, He entered into His glorious rest. His rest shall
be glorious. And He has entered into a glorious
rest forever. And He brings us into a glorious
rest. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. There is no rest to the wicked.
You who seek acceptance with God by your doing, by your laboring,
When can you ever know you've done enough? When can your conscience
ever say, well, yeah, I think I've arrived there now. No, your
conscience can't say that. That's the reason your conscience
is always angry. I'll tell you what will soothe
a conscience. Perfection. Unless your conscience
has been seared with a hot iron. Your conscience is always going
to cry out, it's not good enough. You hadn't prayed enough. You
hadn't read enough. You hadn't done enough. That's
what the conscience, the conscience within you, that's God's gift
to you. And the conscience says, it's
not enough. It's not enough. Because I'll
tell you what the conscience will be satisfied with. Perfection. That's the only thing that will
quiet the conscience is perfection. Guess what? You have it in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's when the conscience
says, OK. OK. I'm not angry with you anymore. Because you're looking to somebody
who is perfect. You're looking to somebody who's
established righteousness. Righteousness for you. Behold
the wonder of the covenant of grace. In the covenant of grace, God
chose a people unto salvation before the world ever began.
Oh, the sweetness of electing grace. In our Bible class this morning,
We were in chapter 11, but I spent quite a bit of time in chapter
10 as well, bringing us into chapter 11. Isaiah quotes the
Lord. The Lord is always referring
to this remnant. This remnant. A remnant. I told the Sunday School class,
the Lord raised up Assyria, King Sennacherib. He raised that king up and he
used him as a scourge in the world. But God said, He's my
axe. He's my saw. And He used him
to punish the wicked and to bring the righteous to fall on their
faces before the Lord. To bring the righteous unto Himself. His people. He says it's the
remnant. It's the remnant. Everybody is
not going to perish. I know we all ought to perish.
There is no question about that. We are all a bunch of sinners.
We are all a bunch of vile people. But in this whole world, there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. A people from
every nation, country, tribe and tongue. The Lord said, I
will call my people from the north, the south, the east and
the west. We got into chapter 11. We're
talking about the ensign this morning. He's the banner. He's the Lord our banner. He
draws people unto Himself in fulfillment of the new covenant.
This elect people chosen in grace, chosen in Christ Jesus before
the world began and now the gospel goes forth and these, His sheep,
they'll hear His voice through the preaching of the gospel.
The gospel is the voice of the Lord. He makes that voice go
right into the hearts of His sheep and we hear His voice and
He draws us unto Him. You know why? That's all the
result of the covenant of grace. Oh, behold the covenant of grace.
Look at verse 8 here in Hebrews chapter 8. For finding fault
with them, finding fault with the first covenant and those
who administered the first covenant, He said, Behold! Behold! Be amazed! Be astounded, the
days come, saith the Lord, when I will make, I will consummate
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah. It's not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand. I led them out of the land of Egypt because they continued
not in my covenant and I regarded them not. I loathed I neglected
them. It's not that kind of covenant.
It's not a covenant dependent upon your obedience for blessings. It's a covenant based upon the
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings that come forth
from His obedience. It's a better covenant. That's
why He says that. Back up in verse number 6. He's
a mediator of a better covenant. Which do you want? You want a
covenant of works? Or you want a covenant of grace.
That sounds better to me. Does that sound better to you?
Now, if you want to labor under an old covenant, you just have
at it. You can have it. You go ahead
and try to work your way into God's good standing. You go ahead
and try to labor before the Lord and hopefully your good works
will outweigh your bad works when you get to heaven. That's
what you hope. There's no peace in that. There's no salvation
in that. That's a covenant of death. Did
you hear me? That is a covenant of death!
You'll die! But oh, the sweetness of the
covenant of G-R-A-C-E. Grace. Grace in the beginning
when He chose you. Grace at the cross when He redeemed
you. Grace that's effectually active
in your heart when you hear the gospel and God quickens you by
his mighty spirit and gives you life and draws you irresistibly
to the Son of God. You suddenly find yourself interested
in this message, interested in the gospel. Interested in how
God can be just and justify the ungodly. Interested in the blood! Interested in righteousness!
What has happened? Oh, the new covenant! The grace
of the new covenant is effectual in your heart. It's working in
you to will and to do of God's good pleasure. No wonder the writer says regarding
this covenant, Behold. It's like the covenant
that God made with Noah. In Genesis 9, 9 it says, God
says, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and your
seed after you. Behold, Noah, I establish a covenant. And I put my bow in the sky.
I'll never destroy this world by water ever again. And I tell
you, that's typical of the new covenant. The new covenant of
grace. I establish my covenant with
you. And it is a covenant of grace. Who is it made with? Between
God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It's the covenant
of God. It's God's covenant. That first covenant, that old
covenant, that's between God and Moses who represented Israel.
God said to Moses, now you go tell the people that I say it.
This is what I'll do. If you obey me, if you don't
worship idols, you live perfect before me, here's what I'll do.
I'll give you a land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
I'll give you more temporal mercies than you'll be able to number.
But you've got to obey me perfectly. Go tell the people that. And
Moses went and told the people. So this is what God said. God
said, I'll enter in a covenant with you and I'll bless you with
all these temporal mercies conditioned upon this one thing. Well, what
is it Moses? Absolute obedience. And they
said, you go back and tell God everything he said for us to
do, we'll do it. We'll do it! Well, it didn't
take them long to break it. Thank God for the new covenant,
the covenant of grace made with God and Christ Jesus, our surety,
our substitute. You see, our life, our righteousness,
our forgiveness, our salvation, it's all dependent upon the faithfulness
of somebody else! Good news! Because that somebody
else is equal with God in every way. And yet he humbled himself
and became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. And in our
name he obeyed God's law perfectly through his life. And then took our sins upon himself
and died under the wrath of God. Oh, this is the new covenant.
Behold, behold the new covenant. Here's the second thing. I'll
go quickly. Look with me in Genesis chapter
6. Genesis chapter 6. Behold the wonder of the fall
and the sinfulness of man. Genesis chapter 6. Look at verse number 12. And
God looked upon the earth. That's an astounding statement. I read that again this morning
and I thought, God looked upon the earth in one look. He sees the whole earth. He sees
everybody on it in one look. We can only see one little speck
at a time. He just looks and sees the whole
thing. And He sees everybody on the earth. And God looked
upon the earth and behold, behold, be astounded, that which God
made in perfection back in Genesis chapter 1. Every day, day 1, day 2, day
3, day 4, day 5, day 6, every day God said it's good and the
last day He said it's very good. It's very good. And now he looks
and he says, behold, it's corrupt. Behold, it's corrupt. Look back
at verse 5. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. God saw that. And when he says back up there
in verse 12, I read the first part, God looked upon the earth
and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way
upon the earth. Corrupted his way. In Genesis chapter 3, God established
the way to come to him. As is evident by Abel following
the way. In chapter 4 of Genesis, didn't
Abel follow the way that God had taught him? How to approach
God? By sacrifice, an innocent sacrifice,
dying in the stead of the guilty. But now the Lord says it, all
flesh had corrupted his way. It didn't take long for false
religion to come into this world. All you got to do is read again
in Genesis chapter 4. And there's Cain and he brings
of the produce of his own hand. I bet you he had some big dolly
tomatoes, don't you? I bet you he had some big watermelons
and beans and whatever else it was that he grew. He shined them
all up and he brought them to God. God didn't have any respect
to his offering. Why not? There wasn't any blood. There wasn't any death, death,
death. That's the penal, that's the
punishment for sin. That's the penal price for sin,
death. Cain didn't bring any death,
but Abel brought the first sling of his flock. And he shed its
blood and it died, an innocent victim dying in the stead of
the guilty. Behold the wonder of the fall
and the sinfulness of man. And the thing of it is about
that fall in the garden, man's sin, it's affected us all. We still bear the effects. A
whole human race bears the effect of one man's transgression in
the garden. Isn't that amazing? He was our representative. He
was our federal head. By one man, sin entered into
the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. We became unrighteous through
the act of one man. You say, well, I don't think
that's fair. I don't think it's fair that
one representative man should have such an effect upon everybody
else who came forth from his loins. Well, it really doesn't
matter. First of all, it doesn't matter
what you think. It doesn't matter what you think. God says it's
the way it is. But really, this is a good thing.
Because as we became lost through the disobedience of one man,
so we're found, we're saved, we're made righteous through
the obedience of another man. The God man. That's good news. So I'll take what happened to
me by that first representative man because I'm just deliriously
happy about what's happened to me through this second representative
man. The Lord of glory. Behold the
wonder of the fallen, the sinfulness of man. No wonder Job said, what is man
that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman
that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
the saints. Yea, the heavens are clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water! That's what
God says. And God says in Ezekiel 18.4,
Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the Father, so also
the soul of the Son is mine. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Moses said to Israel in Numbers
32, 23, he said, Behold, ye have sinned against the Lord. He says,
Behold, be amazed, be astounded now. You have sinned against
the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. But let me go to the third thing.
Behold the wonder of the incarnation of the Son of God. Turn to Isaiah
7. Isaiah chapter 7. Behold the wonder of the incarnation
of the Son of God. Isaiah 7 verse 14. Therefore
the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. King Ahaz, God said,
you asked for a sign and he said, I'm not going to ask. God said,
I'm going to give you a sign anyway. Verse 14, Isaiah 7, Therefore
the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, be astounded,
be amazed, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel. Immanuel. And I'll tell you the
best commentary on that is over in chapter 9 and verse 6. Who
is Emmanuel? Chapter 9, verse 6, For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. That's Emmanuel. And
the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And Isaiah tells us that this
Emmanuel is Jesus, our Savior. The Lord Jesus, behold the wonder,
of the incarnation. The angel said to the shepherds,
fear not, for behold, be amazed, be astounded, I bring you good
tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. And closely attached to this,
associated with this, number four is Behold the wonder of
the Lamb of God. This one whom God sent into the
world is God's own Lamb. You know, one of the first great
wonders revealed in the book of God is the wonder of a Lamb. The wonder of redemption through
the substitute In Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve fell, suitable
sacrifices died. And I'm persuaded they were lambs
that died. God shed blood. If the guilty
are to go free, innocent must die in their stead. Innocent
victims died in their stead. And in chapter 4, Abel offered
the firstling of a flock. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
the Lamb of God has come to this world. Isn't that amazing? Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him in His incarnation.
Behold Him in His youth. Behold Him in His life. Behold
Him in His death. Behold Him in His resurrection.
Behold Him in His ascension. Behold Him in His universal rule. Behold Him. Behold Him as the
only Savior of sinners. Behold Him whose righteousness
alone God approves of. Behold Him as the Savior you
need. Behold Him as that prophet, that
priest, that king. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
Him in worship. Behold Him and be filled with
wonder. Behold the Lamb of God and be
ravished with His mercy and His love and His grace. Behold Him
and find inspiration for your soul's devotion to Him. Behold the Lamb of God and be
broken over your sin and your indifference to spiritual things. Behold the Lamb of God, child
of God, and be revived, be renewed, be refreshed in Him. Behold the Lamb of God and follow
Him. Follow Him. And then, behold the wonder of
the sufferings and the death and resurrection of our Lord
Jesus. Look at Lamentations chapter
1. Lamentations chapter 1. This is between Jeremiah and
Ezekiel. Lamentations. The Lamentations
of Jeremiah. But there are also the Lamentations
of the Lord Jesus. Lamentations chapter 1 in verse
12. This is our Savior. He says, Is it nothing to you,
all ye that pass by? Behold, be amazed, be astounded,
and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is
done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me. in the days
of His fierce anger. Behold and see this great one. Take a trip to Calvary again.
Do you see the Son of God hanging on the cursed tree? Do you see
Him suffering all the terrors of God's wrath? Suffering in
His body, suffering in His heart, suffering in His very soul? Do
you see the Son of God filled with sorrow? Suffering all the
hell of God's wrath in our stead? He said, Behold and see! Is there any sorrow like unto my
sorrow? What was the source of his sorrow? He says, Wherewith the Lord God
hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Who afflicted
him? Oh, I know man nailed him to
a cross. Hands and feet. Man put the crown
of thorns on his head. Man bruised him, bruised his
body, but God bruised his soul. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. The Lord did this to him. He says, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of his fifth anger. What was the cause
of his sorrow? Because he bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. Our sins were charged to him.
The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Behold the wonder of the sufferings
and the death and the resurrection of our Lord. Now He who died
for us arose. He said in Revelation 1.18, I
am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, be amazed, be astounded,
I am alive forevermore. And I'll give you something else
too. Behold the wonder of the love of God for His people. Turn
to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Verse 1, Behold, behold, be astounded. What an amazing thing. What manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God? And therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. John would have us behold with
wonder and amazement the love of God bestowed upon us. Behold
God's first act of love. our election in Jesus Christ.
That's His first act of love. Election is not a hard doctrine.
It's a delightful doctrine. Election is not the enemy of
sinners. All people say, oh, don't preach
election. It's the enemy of sinners. It's
not your enemy. It's your friend. It's your friend. It's the best friend you've got.
God in grace chose you unto salvation in Jesus Christ before the world
began. Oh, that sounds pretty friendly
to me. Who did choose? Poor old sinners
like us. Were it not for God's electing
love toward sinners, there wouldn't be any salvation. If the Lord
waited on us to take the first move toward Him, We wouldn't be saved. You can
just trace your salvation, those of you who know the Lord, or
rather who are known of the Lord, who've been brought to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ, you just trace it back to God's everlasting
love for you, made manifest in the covenant of grace, and that
God chose you in Jesus Christ unto salvation. And behold the second act of
God's love for us, redemption by Christ Jesus. Greater love
hath no man than this, and a man lay down his life for his friends.
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Behold the third act of God's
love toward us, His effectual saving grace. God said to Jeremiah,
I've loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore in loving
kindness I've drawn you. Those whom the triune God loved,
the Father chose to save them, the Son of God redeemed them,
and the Spirit of God effectually calls them and brings them to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. before He gives them life and
then afterwards they believe. This is the love of God. Behold the love of God in keeping
us too. Aren't you glad you're preserved
by the grace of God? Just like your salvation didn't
originate with you, it's not dependent upon you in any way.
It's always dependent upon Him. Behold God's love and His providential
care of us. He rules the world for the good
of His people. I told our Bible class this morning
from Isaiah chapter 10, Sennacherib, ruthless, ruthless ruler and
leader. Everybody in the whole world
is afraid of him, except for one man, Isaiah. Isaiah said, he's just an ax
in God's hand. He's just a saw in God's hand.
And the Lord said to his people, don't you be afraid. Don't you
be afraid. And I say to all of you who are
God's people today, there's a lot of commotion in the world. There's
a lot going on, lots that we don't understand. But don't you
be afraid. That doesn't mean that we're
not going to suffer. It doesn't mean we're going to have a flower-strewn
pathway all the way to heaven. But don't be afraid. The Lord
told Judah there in Isaiah chapter 10, the time will be short. We're
not going to be here much longer. Troubles will soon be over. We'll
enter into the land of everlasting rest. And you know why? Because of God's everlasting
love for us. Behold and be amazed at His love. And then here's the seventh one.
Behold, the Lord's coming again. Behold, the wonder of His second
coming. And I'll just read this to you.
Revelation 1.8, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall
see Him. He said in Revelation 16.15,
Behold, out comes the thief and the mighty. What's going to happen?
What's going to happen when the Lord comes back? Paul said, Behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. And one of these days, corruption
is going to put on incorruption. And mortality is going to put
on immortality. And we will be with the Lord
forever. And there will be a glorious presentation when the Lord Jesus
says to the Father and all the angels, And all of God's elect
blood-washed throng will be there, washed in His blood, robed in
His righteousness. And He will say to the Father,
Behold, I am the children that Thou hast given Me. And won't
that be something worth beholding? Oh, that's well deserving of
the behold when all of the saints of God are gathered together. I call on you this morning. Behold
the Lamb of God. Behold Him. Behold Him. Oh God give you grace to behold
Him from your soul. That's the very Savior you need. You need His blood to wash away
all your sins. You need His righteousness to
make you acceptable and beautiful before God. Behold Him. Behold Him. Let's sing a song
Number 351, Jesus keeps