If you would, please be turning
to John 20. I want to read verses 24 through 29. 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 saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands. And reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. and Thomas answered and said
unto him, my Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. The title of my message today
is God's Hands and God's Feet. We have heard before people who
say things like, God can do nothing without your hands and without
your feet. Or they might say something like
this, God has no hands but your hands, and God has no feet but
your feet. As if God is some invalid and
needs help from us. I want to talk about hands and
feet today. Follow man's hands and feet, and then the righteous
man's hands and feet. I want to start out by telling
you about what man's hands and man's feet have done for God.
And this is what I mean by man's hands and feet. I mean by hands
and feet how man's attempts in using his hands to try to mold
himself into something acceptable to God or mold others into something
acceptable to God and his feet which have tried to run after
and serve God as he is born in Adam. even if it is with his
mind. Things that man has done with
his hands, those things that he has contrived, created, molded
into things in the imagination of his mind, thinking them as
being valuable or worthy of God. Things that he has done with
his feet, those things which he runs after with all his energy
and hopefulness to the supposed betterment of himself and having
a thought that this running was unto God. And I want to talk
about two men this morning. One, a fallen sinner in Adam.
A second man, a savior, a redeemer, the righteous man. So man a sinner,
the righteous man, and the coming together of a man a sinner and
the righteous man. So first, man a sinner. Keep
in mind this can be a man or a woman. When I say man a sinner,
I mean man or woman as they are born in Adam. What have man's
hands and feet gained him before God? What has simple man done
to please God? I'm talking about in reference
to scripture, that which comes from God Almighty himself. If
your reference is not coming from his word, I'm not sure what
I had to say this morning will have any value to you. But that's
where I'm coming from is God's word. The first man is a man
that was born dead in trespasses and in sins. Because of his federal
head, Adam, in eating that fruit, he died that very day. Any man
born after that was born just like him, because we are born
of our own kind. Anyone born of this man, Adam,
and we all are by nature. We are fleshly, a sinner, and
we will soon come to show that by the sins we do and will commit. Romans 5.12 is quite clear on
this. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned. Some might ask, how dead are
we? We are D-E-A-D, dead. We're so dead, we're nothing
but dry bones. In fact, we are very dry. We are but dust before God. Turn with me, if you would, to
Ezekiel 37, a very familiar passage, Ezekiel 37. I want to read the first two
verses. The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and
caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were
very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. When this man, this sinner, was
born, he was an adulterer from the womb speaking lies. As soon
as they be born, they start to manifest that going astray by
speaking lies. You don't have to turn to this,
but I wanna read Psalm 58, verses one through 53. Psalm 58, verses
one through three. Do ye indeed speak righteousness,
O congregation? Do you judge uprightly, O sons
of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness,
ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked
are estranged from their womb, they go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. Man, when he is born, begins
to manifest his evil, wicked nature. You know those sins that
are little sins where parents and grandparents and anyone who
sees it, they get a chuckle out of it. Some of those sins where
they learn some of their first words, and one of those first
words is no. Rebellious against their parents
from birth. As soon as they be born, it says
in scripture, speaking lies. As this man starts growing older,
the chuckles start turning into don't do that, or what are you
doing? disobedient to parents. Then
even more as he grew older, started to show his rebellion, even more
to where now the chuckles and don't do that started to turn
his parents' faces into frowns. They started to think within
themselves, where have we gone wrong? Even further, as he started
to get into his teenage years, rebellion turned the frowns into
tears. There were even sins where no
one else may have known about them but the sinner and God. Even those thoughts that every
one of us still have to this day. Just thinking something
wrong is a sin against God. That is what Christ said. Then
at the height of his rebellion, we finally see where the rebellion
is really directed towards. Not only did this man, this sinner,
want anyone else to tell him, didn't want anybody else to tell
him what to do, his rebellion was directed towards God. He
said, I do not want this man to reign over me. John 19.15
talks about Pilate asking the Jews if they wanted him to crucify
their king. They answered, and this is how
every man will answer by nature as they are born in Adam. We
have no king but Caesar. They choose men rather than the
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless he, Jesus Christ the Lord,
brings us to life, us being dead in trespasses and in sins, we
will always pick man rather than God. Jesus Christ is God come
in the flesh. Listen to Psalms 115. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk
not, neither speak they through their throat. They that make
them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth
in them. We by nature devise our gods
out of the imagination of our own minds. Our gods and us are
the same is what this is saying. We have mouths but they speak
not, that's us. Eyes but they see not, that's
us. Ears but they hear not, that's us. Noses, but they smell not. That's us. Hands, but they handle
not. Feet, but they walk not. Neither
speak we through our throat. Sounds like whoever this is is
dead. This is true of the, even with
things like the Wild Bill Hickok portrait that they have that
they call Jesus. Jesus never had a self-portrait
made that I know of. I know this is not Jesus Christ
because this depiction that most religious institutions use is
not true to scripture because it says there was no beauty in
him that we should behold him. He was not a good-looking man.
This portrait that they call Jesus is a good-looking man.
But no matter what it is, whether it is just an idea of who God
is in their mind or something they have hewn out with their
hands, their gods and they themselves are all the same. In Ecclesiastes
2.11, it says this, then I looked on all the works of my hands
had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do. And
behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no prophet
under the sun. This is what my hands have done,
and my feet are swift to shed blood. My hands and my feet work
in tandem to bring God down and to bring those who are God's
down as well. By nature, this is what I am.
The following passage shows what this man, this sinner, is all
about. Acts 2 and verse 23 says, him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. However, we know that although
man may have done this by wicked hands, God had determined to
cause even the wrath of man to praise him. So now we know what
this man, this sinner is like. We are just as Cain when he tried
to do with his hands and his feet. He tried with the work
of his hands and feet to bring an offering to God. I'm sure
he worked really hard to keep the garden to make sure the fruit
that was brought to God was a nice fruit. I mean, many of us have
worked in garden, that's hard work. but the works of his hands
and his feet God was not looking for. It was not the offering
that God required because it was bloodless. But Abel brought
the firstling of the flock and the fat thereof, so he had to
kill this firstling to offer the fat thereof, and this meant
blood was shed. This is a picture of Christ the
firstborn among many brethren, shedding his blood as a sweet-smelling
sacrifice to God. God had respect unto Abel and
to his offering, but he did not have respect unto Cain and his
offering. Why was not Cain and his offering
accepted? As Joe has said before, he was
not accepted because he was not Abel. Cain did not bring the
required sacrifice. This is us by nature, and God
does not want the work of our hands, but the blood and the
fat of the one true and acceptable sacrifice that is a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. So we now know from scripture
what our hands and our feet will do for God. What about the other
man? This second man, a righteous
man, a savior. This is a man that was made of
a woman. Now while this child was flesh
and blood, like the previous described sinner, he was no mere
child and he was not a sinner. This was a king who was sent.
He was born king because this man was eternal God sent to be
born in flesh and blood, made of a woman, made under the law.
You can see this in Galatians 4.4. This is the same God who
walked in the cool of the day in Genesis. He is that forerunner
who is for us, his people, entered, made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He is that one spoken of as that
rock that followed the children of Israel in the wilderness.
This man is God Almighty himself coming down as a man. A man had
to pay for the sins of men. It could not be a cow or a goat
or a stone or a piece of gold. It had to be a man. When he did
come, he was recognized by some to be king. In Matthew 2 verses
1 and 2 it says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from
the east to Jerusalem. Where is he that is born king
of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. Now if you would, turn with
me to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. We've got a couple
of things I want to read from Luke 2 here. and beginning in verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up
in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us, thou
servant, depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face
of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
thy people Israel. This man, when he was born, was
recognized by some to be very salvation personified. That's
what this is saying here. This man when he was young was
always about his father's business and by this he honored his or
the father. In verses 41 through 49 we read,
now this, now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the
feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old,
they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And
when they had fulfilled the days as they returned, the child Jesus
tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. But they, supposing him to have
been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him
among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not,
they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass
that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them
questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. And his mother said unto him,
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and
I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is
it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business? He can't continue to do all things
that pleased the Father, and yet he suffered and died as a
criminal on the tree. Yet everything he did, all the
way to taking salvation to the uttermost and being seated at
the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, pleased
the Father. He was a sweet-smelling savor
to the Father. Ephesians 5.2 says, and walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. So how can this sinner man and
this righteous man come together? If Christ died for this sinner,
how does this sinner get joined to Jesus Christ? In short, this
is all of God's doing as well. He does this by giving life and
sending the gospel. Not all of us have the exact
same circumstances when it comes to God dealing with us. Mike
McInnis made a statement after my message down there, and he
said, not everyone has the same dramatic experience as others. This is not word-for-word, but
he was right. There are some who it seems the
earth has shaken from its foundation when something happened for them.
For others, it may be less dramatic than that. But the same reaction
is always gained by whatever circumstance that God had you
in. You turned to God because you
knew that all you had to offer to God was sin and you needed
propitiation for your soul. In other words, you needed someone
to stand in your place. Maybe you are in this place right
now. Maybe the earthquake is shaking you so that you cannot
think straight and you are sure that death is about to come leaving
you with without excuse forever. Not knowing where to turn or
whom to go. But if whatever you are experiencing
is from God, you will come to know that there is nothing you
can do about it. There is nothing you can do to stop the destruction
that is about to take place and the destruction that could happen
any minute. You know yourself to be powerless. Maybe you are like Nathaniel
and you ask the question, can there anything good come from
Nazareth? Just as Philip said to Nathanael,
I'm saying to you, come and see in scripture, come to see Jesus
Christ, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. There is a man that I want you
to see, a man, a righteous man. This is what men do when they
proclaim the gospel. They are, if they're preaching
Christ, trying to set forth Christ and who he is. This righteous
man who came down to this earth, this mighty glorious man who
is greater than the brightness of the sun, his glory is such
that if you look at him directly as he is in spirit, it will consume
you, you will die. His work on that tree was not
a work to make anything possible. Scripture is dogmatic about this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, and he did. Scripture says that he saved
his people to the uttermost and now makes intercession for them.
Any accusation made by Satan or men, he intercedes for us. God does not see our sin anymore
because this man with his hands and his feet and his blood has
taken away every sin that I have ever committed. If you are in
him, he has taken away every sin you have or will ever commit. He has taken them as far as the
east is from the west. But in the person of the son,
if you look on him, you will be healed. Are you blind? He can heal you. Are you deaf? He can heal you. Are you lame? He can heal you. Are you dead? He can give you life. There is
nothing left to be done for salvation before God. God is satisfied
with this Jesus Christ and his offering for sin. However, we,
as we are born in Adam, are born into this world just as all other
men. Even if we being chosen in Christ,
we are still born dead in trespasses and in sin. So something else
takes place to bring salvation to men. Not to satisfy God, but
to let his people know they are saved. The man, the sinner, made
so by God, hears God's word. This is something he was not
able to do before, before the appointed time of God. But there
comes a time when God visits you in power, giving you life
and a righteous heart that enables you to believe. You then begin
to see your wretchedness. The sins you have committed against
God which made it necessary for God to send his darling son down
and caused him to have to be nailed in his hands and his feet
on that tree. Causing him to be pierced in
the side with a sword. The sword spoken of in scripture
where it says, awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the
shepherd. this all being by the determinate
will and foreknowledge of God. Not only that, but causing him
to be forsaken of God, where he ultimately cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Knowing this, the sinner
begins to tremble, knowing if this was not done for him, he
will forever have this same judgment come down on his head. The weight
on this sinner's shoulders coming down on him so that he cannot
bear the weight of it. He feels he will be crushed by
it as his shoulders cannot bear that kind of weight. This is
that bondage to fear that is sent to this man by God that
pushes him to Christ. Then finally, this same gracious
God who had to suffer in this sinner's stead seems to scream
in his ear, it is finished. This sinner begins to see what
the scripture says in Psalms 103 and 12. As far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. This passage from John 19 and
verse 30 where it says, it is finished. It's like John 6 is
to Job. Once this appointed time comes,
this sinner now feels the weight gone. No longer is there any
weight that is on his shoulders. Death no longer seems to be at
his door. Nothing but life is what this
sinner now sees. Because he now has been enabled
to see life itself, which is Jesus Christ the Lord. He then
begins to know that Jesus Christ did all that for him. This John 19 passage, my experience
with what Walter calls a providential reckoning, had things happening
to me that caused me to be in a certain place. But I was driving down the road, and this passage come to my mind.
God had opened my eyes, because I knew this passage was there,
read it before, I don't know how many times, but God had opened
my eyes. And when I thought about this
passage, it is finished. And it just, God opened my eyes.
Christ did it all. This was at night time, I was
by myself, nobody else was around. I'm kind of glad I was at night
time because they would have probably thought I was crazy,
hitting the steering wheel and crying, driving down the road.
They thought I was nuts. This may not be your same experience,
but you will see this same Christ no matter what your experience
is. You can continue to work with
your own hands and your own feet. you can continue to expect to
gain God's favor by the works of your hands and your feet.
If you, as Uzzah did, try to put your hand to God's work,
thinking you will help God, then you will die in doing so if that
is the only thing you ever do. Every sinner chosen by God, whom
Christ's work with his hands and feet was done to secure their
salvation, will be given life. That sinner who is given life
will have someone sent to him with the gospel. When this man
hears the gospel, he will be bowed down in fear and in trembling,
knowing he is a sinner that is utterly and completely sinned
against God. Then that sinner seeing Christ
in the gospel will come to know him who is salvation, having
the weight of sin lifted from his shoulder. The faith given
by the spirit, being the very faith of Jesus Christ himself,
points the sinner directly to him, Jesus Christ. Because this
is what the faith of Jesus Christ does, is point you to Jesus Christ
himself. Faith only believes the truth
of Jesus Christ as it is revealed in God's gospel, because he is
the source and the object of faith. The sinner, this man,
is just like every other man or woman who has been chosen.
You will come by Jesus Christ this way. Some of the circumstances
may differ a little, but it always happens this way. You will become
a sinner before God, whether anyone else around you is a sinner
or not. You will become lost to God if
it seems everyone else around you knows exactly where they
are. You will become naked before God even though everyone else
around you may seem to be covered. The sinner I am referring to
is the one that stands in front of you today. I hated God and wanted it to
be this way. My nature, my flesh still thinks
this way. But God bethinked it is not what
God wanted. He desired to show mercy to a
dead, despicable hater of God, sinner like me. Causing me in
love to bow down to him as my prophet, priest, and king. Giving
me everything needed to serve him and believe and obey him.
But if you by grace, salvation, and faith given by God do trust
on the work Jesus Christ the Lord done with his hands and
his feet, those works done by him shedding his blood for the
remission of sins, if you believe in this God, this Jesus Christ
the Lord, you have eternal life. And we are one day awake in his
likeness. It is okay to believe Jesus Christ. Amen. So dear Lord God, thank you for
allowing us to be here today. Be with Joe and Debbie as you see fit, dear Lord. Comfort
them. Be with Walter as he comes to
speak here. Always bring to our minds, dear
Lord, it's all in your power, but always bring to our minds
the words of Jesus Christ, the glories of Jesus Christ. May
it be that we just always continually look to see Him from the gospel,
from what is preached, what we study, because it is all of Him. Jesus Christ is all in all, and
we thank you for everything you've given us, all these things we
ask in His name, amen.