with Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter one. I have for a long time, for months, been carrying some heavy, heavy burdens. Many of you, some of you anyway, are yet in your sins and your immortal souls are in danger of eternal wrath. Now, you might be able to shake the burden of that. I can't. I want God helping me. I pray for you. I hope you'll listen. It may be God will be pleased to speak to you. in life-giving power by the gospel of his grace. I've experienced betrayal and slander.

That's difficult to bear, but that's relatively insignificant. I have the burden of what Paul describes as the care of the churches. And nobody can understand that but a pastor. Nobody can understand that but someone who has carried the burden of the churches and watched spiritual decline and negligence and indifference seem to sweep over so many. And I carry your burdens.

I know a good many of you have gone through hard trouble. and are going through difficulties. And I stay up at night and pray and ask God to intervene for you. And I've been wondering, where on earth can we find the help, the strength, and the comfort we need? Where can I? Where can you? What can we do? What can I do for myself? What can you do for yourself? What can I do for you? What can we do for one another?

And this past week, especially this past week, I have been convinced that we can do no better than to return to the bare essentials. the very foundation upon which our souls rest. And so I've chosen a very simple subject. The title's as simple as the subject is to this message. I'm going to take one word for my subject, one word for the title of this message. It's a very common, simple, two-syllable word.

It's used on virtually every page of the scriptures, over 1,300 times in this book. It is always used like a signpost to point to something of utmost importance. It is an attention getter. It's designed to arrest attention, to just get your attention focused on one thing.

Now, the word that I want us to consider as it's used in the scriptures is this word, behold. Behold. Stop, look, listen. Every time you read that word, behold in the scriptures, it is a word that is more commonly used by a speaker than by a writer, but in the word of God, it's used constantly. And it means stop, look, listen, pay attention now, you're about to run into something important.

So I want us to begin in Habakkuk chapter one and verse five with this word from God. Now in the text we will look at today, This word behold is used as a signpost pointing us to him who is the way, the truth, and the life. The prophet speaking for God says in verse five of Habakkuk one, behold ye among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously.

For I will work a work in your days which you will not believe Though a man, or though it be told you, Paul said, though a man declare it unto you. Now, the work, the wondrous work of which God is speaking, to which he calls our attention and says, now stop and consider this, pay attention to what I'm saying, because most folks won't pay any attention. Stop and listen, because most folks won't listen. The work of which he is speaking, is the wondrous work of redeeming grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the wondrous work by which God Almighty raises up sinners from the dung heap of fallen humanity and sets us to be princes in the kingdom of his dear son. Now we know that's what God's talking about because we read earlier in Acts chapter 13 where the Apostle Paul quotes this scripture, and he is talking about God's wondrous works of grace. He says, now, this is going to be told you by a man, but God's already said, folks won't listen to it. Folks won't hear it, though it's told by faithful witnesses, they won't pay any attention. Will you? Will you pay attention or will you perish? Will you behold what God says or will you die under the wrath of God? The greatest wonders in all the world are the wondrous works of God's amazing grace by which we have been made to be the sons of God. Oh, what wondrous grace God has bestowed upon us.

Now, I have nothing new, profound or deep to say to you. All I want to do is point you to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to show you what God has done. is doing and shall yet do for sinners in Christ Jesus. And if God the Holy Spirit enables you to see Christ and to see God's free, full grace in Christ, you will be stunned, amazed, and in profound awe as you leave this place this morning and go your way. You will, I'm certain, if God will be pleased to speak through me that which is recorded in these words, you will be made to stand in awe before him of what he has done in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So follow with me through the scriptures as we look at this word behold and how it's used in the word of God. Let's turn to first John chapter one first. First John, I'm sorry, first John chapter three in verse one. First John chapter three and verse one. I'm going to move along very rapidly, but I want to call your attention to several passages of scripture. Follow with me in the scriptures. Here in 1 John 3, 1 is the behold of God's amazing love. Behold. And this is worthy of attention. Behold. Listen now.

What manner of love, indescribable love, amazing love, undeserved love, eternal love. What manner of love the Father hath once for all forever bestowed upon us such things as we are. that we should be called the sons of God. Before the world began, God Almighty bestowed his love in all its fullness upon chosen sinners in Christ, adopting us as his children, accepting us as his sons, determining from eternity that he would in time and forever call us to be the sons of God. You are chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, called by the Holy Spirit. Do not ever get over the wonder of your election, adoption, and calling as the sons of God. We're the sons of God. We who are by nature, the sons of Adam.

We who are by our behavior, are in our behavior, the sons of the devil, the children of the devil. The Lord said, you're of your father, the devil, the works of your father you will do. And all of us in our behavior were from our mother's womb, men and women and children who behave as our father, the devil behaved, for we were constantly under his influence. We are by merit, the children of wrath, even as others. We deserve God's wrath. We've earned our place in hell. We have fully merited everlasting destruction.

We are, however, by God's free grace and God's free grace alone, made now to be the sons of God. This is a work in which all three persons of the Godhead are concerned. God the Father predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. God the Son became one of us and redeemed us that we might receive the adoption of sons. God the Holy Spirit, because we are sons, came forth in the fullness of time and regenerated us and called us, demonstrating and making manifest that we are the sons of God by giving us faith in Jesus Christ. And this is a privilege of grace that exceeds all other privileges. Now we can talk about lots of things. Folks talk about all kinds of things and blessings and so forth. This privilege of grace exceeds all others. Years ago, I read this statement by John Gill in his commentary out of Galatians.

He said, it is more to be a son than to be a saint. Angels are saints. That is, they're holy, but not sons. They are servants. It is more to be a child of God than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. It is great grace to redeem from slavery, to pardon criminals, and to justify the ungodly. But it is another and higher act of grace to make them sons, which makes them infinitely more honorable than to be the sons and daughters of the greatest potentate upon earth.

Yea, gives them an honor which Adam had not in innocence, nor the angels in heaven, who are sons by creation, yet not by adoption. He's saying that we have a higher honor as the sons of God by grace in Jesus Christ than Adam had by creation back in the garden even before he fell. In the garden, Adam was God's created son, but in grace we are God's redeemed, adopted sons, accepted in the beloved without the possibility of ever being rejected. God from eternity loved us and adopted us and predestinated that we should be the sons of God. But how on this earth can the fallen sons of sinful Adam, sinners such as we are, Men and women of corrupt human flesh. How can we become the sons of God? Well, before we could become the sons of God, the son of God had to become one of us. So turn to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7 in verse 14.

Here, hundreds of years before it came to pass, we have the behold of Christ's incarnation. In Isaiah 7 and verse 14, the prophet Isaiah gives us this word of prophecy. I know some of the commentators who deny the gospel of God's grace, some folks who open the scriptures for the purpose of denying what the scriptures teach, suggest that Isaiah 7 14 has nothing at all to do with the coming of Christ and that the virgin described here is just a young lady who was herself not quite of mature age and so she was referred to as such. I'm fully aware that most folks think this is talking about some other man rather than the Lord Jesus. But the apostle Matthew wrote in Matthew chapter 1 in verse 23 that Isaiah was talking about Christ. So if you believe the Bible, you must understand that Isaiah 7 14 speaks of Jesus Christ. Look what it says. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, Pay attention to this because the world's never seen anything like it.

A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. In order to save men, the son of God had to become a man. In order to bring men and women into union with God, God had to come into union with man. For only as a man Could God obey his holy law to establish righteousness for men who could never obey his law? Only as a man could the Son of God suffer the penalty of the law and die the violent death of a sacrificial substitute to satisfy divine justice against the sins of men who could never satisfy divine justice should they suffer the wrath of God forever in hell.

Only by becoming a man Could the infinite Lord God be touched with the feeling of our infirmities and make empathetic intercession for us in heaven? Now I stress the word empathetic. It has something more to say than sympathy. When the Lord Jesus makes intercession for us in heaven, he empathizes with us. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmity. He feels that which we feel. He experienced what we experienced. He knows what we're enduring. And so with one who is touched in his heart with the feeling of our infirmity, he intercedes for us at the right hand of God. And he could never do so unless he himself had become a man such as we are.

And so we read in this passage that Mary, as a virgin, Yes, as a virgin conceived a child by God the Holy Spirit without the aid of a man. Our Lord Jesus must come into the world as a man, but he came into the world not as a fallen man, but as a holy man. He is the second man Adam. Adam was created in righteousness, Christ Jesus was born in righteousness, because he was not the son of Adam, he is the son of God, who came by the seed of the woman. And so the Holy Spirit formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary the holy human body and soul of Jesus Christ, who is himself the Son of God. The child that was born into this world from Mary's womb was and is God Almighty.

The incarnate Son of God is Emmanuel, God with us. Imagine that, God in human flesh. God come down into this world has taken upon himself and into union with himself an indissolvable connection with humanity so that Godhead and manhood can never be separated in the person of him who is the God-man our Savior. Never. He's God with us. God in our nature. God who came down here to save us. His name is Emmanuel.

The Apostle John writes of him and says, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth and of his fullness have we all received grace on top of grace on top of grace. The Apostle Paul said, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So that everything Jesus Christ is and everything he does is of infinite worth and merit and value because this man is God.

His words are the words of a man but more than the words of God. His deeds are the deeds of a man, but more, they're the deeds of God. His righteousness is the righteousness of a man, but more, it's the righteousness of God. His death is the death of a man, but more, it's the death of Him who is God. He, the Son of God, purchased His church with His own blood. He's God Almighty.

Yet, still, we must have more. The incarnate God cannot save us by living for us and establishing righteousness as our representative. That's not enough. Sin must be punished. Justice must be satisfied. Mercy cannot be extended. Grace cannot be given until justice has satisfaction. The incarnate son of God must die for us or he cannot be our savior. So thirdly, turn to John chapter one. John chapter one and verse 29. Here we find the behold of substitutionary redemption.

The next day, John the Baptist seeth Jesus coming unto him, and he saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. In verse 36, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.

He was a faithful pastor. The two disciples heard him speak. And they followed Jesus. That's what he came for. He wanted them to follow the Savior. Now, when John saw the Lord Jesus coming to him and cried, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is what he was saying. He was looking at a man, just like I'm looking at Eugene Bug right now, a man in human flesh, just like you, only without sin. And he said, That man is the one of whom all the prophets spoke. That man is the one the law demanded. That man is the one typified in all the rites and ceremonies of the law.

That man right there, he has come here, the son of God, to take away the sins of his people. His people scattered throughout all the world. Wonder of wonders. Christ is the Lamb of God. He who is life. He who gives life, he without whom there is no life, came into this world, the Lamb of God to give his life for sinners. Oh, God help me never, never, never to think of that fact without utter astonishment. and deep, deep gratitude and praise. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is sacrificed for this sinner to put away this man's sins.

We read about many sacrifices in the scriptures and blood is often mentioned in this book. But I took notice yesterday of the first mention of blood in the book. The first time blood is mentioned is not mentioned specifically by name, but rather by illustration.

The Lord God took Adam and Eve before he put them out of the garden and he killed a lamb and stripped the skins off of that lamb and made garments for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. And that typified the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ had to be slain for us before his righteousness could be imputed to us. And so the Lord God killed his son and took that righteousness, which was the righteousness of his life of obedience and has imputed it to us, making us the righteousness of God in him. And the last time blood is mentioned in the scriptures is in Revelation 19 and verse 13 describing the Lord Jesus coming in his glory with a vesture dipped in blood, dipped in his own blood. So that all the way through the scriptures there is constant reference made to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And notice several things about this Lamb of God. First, Christ is the Lamb. Why is he called a lamb?

There were many other sacrifices. I mentioned them in the bulletin this morning. Many other bloody sacrifices. The sacrifice of the red heifer. The sacrifice of goats. The sacrifice of doves. Many other blood sacrifices which could and do typify the Lord Jesus.

But he is almost constantly referred to as a lamb. Why? He is here pointed out as a lamb. Because a lamb was the one who represented the sin offering on the Passover and the Day of Atonement, who was sacrificed at the mercy, at the altar, whose blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat.

And that lamb portrays a victim, but not just a victim, a victim that is altogether innocent. But still there's more. Not just an innocent victim. A goat might be as innocent as a lamb. A heifer might be as innocent as a lamb. But this lamb portrays one who is a victim, an innocent victim, and a voluntary victim.

Remember how the scripture speaks? As a sheep before her shearers is done, so openeth he not his mouth. The last time Jack and Shirley Shanks were here, Shelby took Shirley down to Shaker Town She came back and was telling me about the fellow asked Shelby to crawl over in the pen with him and help him shear sheep. Now I've never sheared sheep, but Shelby said, I learned something. She said that fellow held that lamb and the lamb offered absolutely no resistance whatsoever. And she just clipped off his wool, just took it. That's the son of God who willingly, voluntarily, of his own accord, of his own purpose, because of his love for us, laid down his life in our stead. Christ Jesus is the Lamb of God and he is the Lamb who is God.

You remember when Abraham and Isaac were up on Mount Moriah Isaac was going up to worship, and he knew you had to have a lamb to worship God. He knew you couldn't worship God without blood atonement. And he said, Father, we've got the fire, we've got the wood. Where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb. Not God will provide for Himself a lamb, but God will provide Himself a lamb. So Jesus Christ is the lamb. He is the lamb God provided. He is the lamb who is God, and He is the lamb whom God will and must accept.

God Almighty cannot turn away the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot turn away the merit of His blood. He cannot turn away the merit of His righteousness. He cannot turn away His intercession. Christ is the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us. For he, the Holy Lord God, hath made him the Holy Son of God to be sin for us. Who knew no sin? And when he made him to be sin for us, He killed it. Yonder on the cursed tree 2,000 years ago. That we. Who are nothing but sin. Might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ is the lamb. By whose blood.

Our sins have been put away. I love the various words the scriptures use to describe this business of putting away sin. The scripture speaks of him having purged our sins. Take an old dirty cloth and you dip it in the water and you scrub it with soap and you put that spray and wash on it or whatever it is you ladies use and you purge out the stain. That's what Christ's blood is all about. His blood is said to put away our sins.

You take that dirty down, soiled, and you put it away out of sight. Don't let anybody see that. Don't ever look at it again. Put it away. Put it away not in a cabinet so you can pull it out again. Put it away in the garbage dump. Put it away somewhere where it's buried and gone forever.

And so Christ, by his blood, has put away our sins. He, by his blood, has blotted out our transgressions. He by his sacrifice has cast our sins behind the back of God Almighty never to be remembered against us again. He has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west so that they shall never meet upon us again. He has erased our transgressions from the book of God's memory. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us because he hung upon the curse tree and died as our substitute. We shall never bear the curse of God against our sins because our sins are gone, forever gone.

Blessed be his name. Still, the question must be raised. How can we be absolutely certain? that the Lamb of God will get what he paid for, as our brother spoke to us Tuesday night about. How can we be certain that all for whom he died will in time believe on him and be saved by him? Is the success of the Lamb's labor dependent upon your sinful free will or mine?

Oh, no. We know that Christ will save all for whom he died, that every sinner for whom he was made to be sin, for whom he made satisfaction through divine justice, will believe on him into everlasting life because God exalted him to be a prince and a savior, to rule the universe for the saving of his people.

So turn with me, if you will, to Isaiah 32. Isaiah chapter 32. Here we have the behold of Christ's exaltation and dominion as the Lord our King. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. But the intern bull sent me a set of William Huntington's works last week. Volume 5, Huntington has a sermon I couldn't wait to take a look at. It's called The Funeral of Arminianism. He took his text, Isaiah 32, verse 1. He said, now, Arminianism is not dead yet, but I'm going to preach the funeral in anticipation of it because Christ is the king. who reigns in righteousness.

And as surely as he reigns in righteousness, all who oppose him must fall and be slain by him. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness. Huntington said, Jesus is king over the earth. His reign of providence is universal. He is heir of all things. All power is given to him and he has power over all flesh.

And for this end, that he might give eternal life to as many as the father has given him. That's why he's the king. He's been exalted to give eternal life to every soul given to him in covenant mercy before the world began, every soul redeemed by him at Calvary. He lives now to save them. He is king over all things. He's at all power. All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.

What on earth does that mean? That means there's nothing he doesn't rule. There's nothing he doesn't control. There's not a thought. There's not an imagination. There's not a deed, good or evil, that Jesus Christ does not rule absolutely for the saving of his people. Everything.

Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns in righteousness. He reigns by virtue of the fact that he established righteousness as a man. And so now as the God man, he sits upon a throne of righteousness and reigns in a righteous manner. That means that everything he does is right.

Everything he does is right. He cannot do wrong. I wrote to a friend whose mother is dying this morning. And I reminded him of that, which I know he knows so well. Our comfort must be found in the blessed fact that he who is the Lord our God always does right. He always does right. He cannot do wrong. He will not allow that to happen to any of you who belong to him, which is not right and good for you. He won't do it. He does right. And it means that our Lord Jesus, who reigns to give life and righteousness to sinners, makes sinners righteous when he saves them by his grace. He makes folks righteous.

All who come under the rule of this great righteous king are made righteous by him. In justification, his righteousness is imputed to us. That simply means that his righteousness is charged through our account and becomes our property and our responsibility before God Almighty. So that God looks at us and says, oh, Don Fortner, he did right. He always did right. He never did wrong. More than that, his righteousness is imparted to us in regeneration.

So that he comes in grace and implants within every saved sinner a principle, a heart, and a nature of righteousness. So that the believer living in this world, while he still lives in this body of flesh, and still lives and struggles with sin as Paul described in Romans 7, yet he lives a man, a woman, to be made righteous before God. And he has a holy nature. A holy will, a holy heart, a holy ambition, a holy desire, a holy principle of life by which he's governed. So that he becomes righteous in behavior as well as he consecrates himself to God deliberately and continually. Say what you will. Now say what you will. Imagine whatever you think, but you listen to me now.

No man or woman is saved. Nobody is saved. Who has not been made righteous by Jesus Christ. Nobody. I don't care what they profess. I don't care what they experience. I don't care what they talk about. I don't care how much they they practice religious deeds. Nobody's saved. whose manner of life does not reflect righteousness, who does not live before God, the servant of righteousness.

Read Romans, the sixth chapter. Many women who are saved have been made righteous, made righteous by God's grace. Perfectly? Oh, no. Perfectly in God's sight, yes, but not perfectly in our deeds because we still live in this body of flesh. But as Lindsay was teaching this morning, the folks who they speak truth and they walk in truth. They walk in a brightness. That's the character and tenor of their lives.

Perhaps the best illustration I've ever heard or ever seen. Frequently flying east to west, I fly over the Mississippi River. And when you're up there on a clear day, several thousand feet in the air, you can look down on that river and you can see a whole bunch of it all at one time. You can see miles of it.

And that river flows generally north to south. That's the direction it's going. But sometimes it runs this way and sometimes it runs that way and sometimes it kind of curves around and looks like it's going back north again. But it's still running north to south.

And the believer is a person who as he walks in this world as he walks through this world, is pressing on toward the mark for the prize of the whole high calling of God in Christ Jesus. His heart is set on Christ, on God, on the Spirit, on heaven, on life to come. And that's the way he walks. But sometimes he slips over here, and sometimes he falls over there, and sometimes he seems to be going directly backwards again.

But in the tenor of his He's headed to glory. That's what a believer is, James Lane. And anything else, not a believer. Christ makes men and women righteous. Well, how? How does he do this? How does the king of glory make sinners righteous? How is that possible? How can a sinner, a man, a woman who is sin, a person who can do nothing but sin, how can they be made righteous?

Turn to Revelation 21. Revelation chapter 21. And verse five, and read here the behold of the new creation. And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. That's how he does it. He makes folks new creatures. I preach to you and I pray for you and I plead with you.

I try to do what I can to persuade you to believe on Christ and follow him. But I quit long ago with my own daughter, with your sons and daughters, with old folks and with young, with sick and with healthy. I quit long ago trying to talk men and women into making a profession of faith. I quit doing it a long time ago because I know a profession is not salvation. I know it.

It takes more than an act of your free will to make a sinful man righteous. It takes something more than sashaying down a church aisle and saying, hallelujah, I believe in Jesus to make a corrupt man righteous. The only way on God's earth that you can be made righteous, the only way I can be made righteous, the only way a sinner can be saved is for the Lord Jesus Christ by his omnipotent grace to make us new creatures, a new creation in Jesus Christ. Now I know that Revelation 21 is talking about our ultimate glorification, but this new creation is experienced by every child of God in regeneration.

Listen to what Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That's what a new creation is. Oh, Spirit of God, come today and make some new creatures. If God gives you faith in Jesus Christ, if right now you believe on the Son of God, will you listen to me?

Old things are passed away. Everything passed away. He's not just talking about old things of time. He's talking about old things of this nature. The old things of sin and corruption and death. The old things of judgment and condemnation are passed away.

They're gone. They're gone. God, when God forgives sin, it's gone. Can you get a hold of that? Gone forever. Preacher, I don't understand how you can say God has removed forever the sins of his people that haven't even committed yet. I don't understand either, but if you've got a problem with that, take it up with God. I'm happy so. God's removed our sins. They're gone forever. He'll never charge them to us. Behold, all things are become new. And when he says old things are passed away, he's not talking about our sinful nature. Anybody here free of lust? Anybody here without carnal ambition? Anybody here without covetousness? Anybody here without sensual passion? Anybody here who has ever experienced anything like what preachers talk about?

All the old things of your nature passing away? Why, that's nonsense. We all know better than that. The Bible doesn't teach that. It's talking about our old record in heaven that's passed away. And behold, all things have become new. Principally, that means we've got a new record. A new record.

God looks at you in Jesus Christ. And if you're in Christ, if you're in Christ, Bob, God Almighty. As far as his record, as far as his law is concerned, his his own accounts. Says you've never committed any sin. And you've always perfectly obeyed his law. in holiness, justice, and truth.

It's a new record. A new record. He's given you a new nature. He put that righteous principle in you. A new heart. A new will. So that once you hated God, now you love Him. Once you were a rebel, now you're a voluntary servant. Once you despised Christ, now you embrace Him. new heart, new will, a new nature. He's given you a new principle of life.

And that new principle of life is the spirit of his grace by which we are made to enjoy the blessed fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, as we walk before God and men in this world. I reckon it'll last Will God's saints persevere in faith? Are we sure enough secure in Christ? Let's see. Turn to Psalm 121. Psalm 121.

Shelby and Don and June and I were driving down to Buddy's the other night. I spent a little bit with you folks down at Buddy and Shirley's. Going around that first curve down on Quirks Run there. Hope it wasn't Oscar. I don't know. There was somebody coming up the road around the curve with a cattle trailer right on the back of a pickup truck. Just smacked and dabbed in the middle of the road. Surely that wasn't Oscar. But I was coming around the curve. I had to go to the ditch, get around him, and thankfully, no difficulty.

And Shelby quoted this verse of scripture. Verse four. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Reckon it'll last? Well, right there is the behold of divine preservation and care. We are the Israel of God, you know. This is not talking about folks over in Palestine who are the physical descendants of Abraham. This is talking about you and I who are Abraham's spiritual children by faith in Christ. And the Lord God himself is our keeper. The Lord God keeps us in safety in his providence. both spiritually and physically.

He keeps us from temptation. And then sometimes, like our Lord himself, we are brought into the wilderness of temptation. And he allows us to be tempted. There's no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. And so he keeps us from falling.

But sometimes it's not best for us to be kept from the temptation. And sometimes it's not best for us to be kept from falling. Sometimes he leaves Peter for just a small moment. Or David. for a lot of you and me. Let Satan run us through his seal pretty good. And when we fall, oh, what mercy.

He keeps us from ruin and destruction. He keeps us from our enemies. And he keeps us in the midst of our enemies. He keeps us in faith. And he's the only one who can. Maybe I can keep you in church. Maybe mom and dad keep you in church. Maybe. But I can't keep you in faith. And nobody else can keep you in faith. And after a while I quit trying to keep folks in faith. I quit trying to keep folks in church that God doesn't keep in faith.

But if you're His, I'm going to tell you something. He'll keep you in faith. He'll keep you believing Him and trusting Him. And He'll keep you from forsaking Him. He'll do it. He that keepeth Israel while we slumber and sleep, while we neglect and despise him, while we forsake him, he neither slumbers nor sleeps. What a God. What a Savior.

Still there's more. There is something more to come. There is something more to be done. Turn to Revelation 1, verse 7. Here is the behold of Christ's glorious second advent. Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, that they also which pierced and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. The hymn writer said, marvelous message we bring, glorious carol we sing, wonderful word of the king, Jesus is coming again. Standing before him at last, trial and trouble are past, crowns at his feet we will cast, Jesus is coming again.

The Lord Jesus comes for his saints one by one when he fetches them home to heaven. He said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many men. If it were not so I would have told you I'm going to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. God help us to get over the foolishness as believers of looking at death as something to be dreaded. Looking at death as something to be considered foreboding and fearful and apprehensive.

Frankly, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter one iota to me whether the Lord Jesus comes today in his resurrection glory and translates me into heaven or whether he comes today and fetches me home through the gates of death. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

Either way, he's coming to get me. But our Lord Jesus really is coming again. This same Jesus whom the apostles saw ascend up into heaven, received into the clouds, he's coming with the clouds again, just like they saw him go up. Glorious. And when he does appear, every eye shall see him.

I don't, frankly, I just don't know what that means. I just don't know what that means. That is, I don't know how it is that you and I, and everybody who's ever been, shall see him at one time. But God can arrange that all right. Every eye, every believing eye, and every unbelieving eye, shall see him. Everyone. The believer shall see him as he is in all the fullness of his glory and grace. The unbeliever will see him with terror to his soul as his judge and executioner. They also which pierced pilot will see him again. The soldiers will see him again.

He pierced his hands, his feet, and his head, his side. Folks who stood before him and cried, crucify him, crucify him, his blood be on us and on our children, they'll see him. And you by your unbelief crucify the Son of God afresh every time you refuse the appeals of the gospel saying crucify him. He deserves to die.

You'll see it. And all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. No mortal tongue can describe the terror of divine judgment. Not this one, no other. But when you see it, you will screech and sob and wail and pray to the mountains to fall on you. to the hills to come consume you and hide you from the face of the Lamb and from the wrath of God. And John's next words are words that need to be spoken clearly.

Even so, amen. That means, Lindsay, that's the way it ought to be. That's the way it ought to be. If you will not seek his face, whose wrath you cannot bear, this is the way it ought to be. If you will not bow to God's son, if you will not be robed in his righteousness and washed in his blood, if you will not be accepted of God on the merits of Jesus Christ, you deserve his wrath. And so it shall be. Now, children of God, we have reason to rejoice. when we think of that great day.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 15. Let me show you what will happen then. 1 Corinthians 15. I can just read this and move along, but you'll get it. Here's the behold of resurrection glory. Verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It won't be long now. till we'll be leaving here. It won't be long now till we'll be free. Behold, I show you a great mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

Do you hunger for the boons of grace of which I've been speaking? If you're hungry If you're interested, if you're interested, the doors open. And Matthew 22 verse 4 issues the behold of God's invocation. Let me read it to you. Just listen. The Lord God says, behold, I prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready. Come into the marriage. Come on. Come on and be wed to Jesus Christ. Interested? Come be wed to him. Are you interested? Come be joined to Jesus Christ.

All things are ready, God says. What do you reckon that means? I reckon it means that there's a savior ready to save, a father ready to embrace and kiss you, a spirit ready to seal you. I suspect it means the same thing that the parable of the prodigal son does.

When that old sinful boy said to himself, my father has hired servants in his house and there's bread enough and to spare, why do I perish here with hunger? I'll arise and go to my father. And I'll say to him, father, I sinned against heaven and before your sight. And I'm no more worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants.

And he started whole. And here's one of the most beautiful, glorious pictures of God Almighty in all the scriptures. Only time in the Bible God ever got in a hurry. The only time God ever got in a hurry, he saw his son when he was yet a great way off, coming to him in repentance and sorrow. And the scripture says the father ran to his son and fell on his neck and kissed him. That means he just kissed him and kissed him Kissed him, just smothered him with kisses.

Glad to see you, son. He said, bring the robe. Come on, I got this robe over here for you. Been holding it for you. Put it on him. The robe of Christ's perfect righteousness. Bring the family ring, the seal, the covenant. Put it on his finger. Bring the shoes, the shoes of grace and peace. Put them on his feet. Eat, drink, and be merry. My son who was lost and dead is alive and is found. Come on, let's rejoice and be merry. That's what it means. God says to sinners, the door's open, come to the marriage. Will you? If you will, I tell you on God's word, he will not turn you away. He'll not do it. But there is one other group to whom I wish to speak. Maybe you fit into this group.

Turn over to Revelation chapter three. There is a behold for you who are fallen, languishing, lukewarm, declining, spiritually negligent and indifferent. but who are genuinely the sons and daughters of God Almighty. Here is the behold of the Savior's tender plea in Revelation 3 in verse 20. The one speaking is the Son of God.

And you see him at the door. His head is wet with the drops of the night. He's come fresh from Gethsemane and fresh from Calvary, covered with blood and spit, consumed in the wrath of God, but now risen in glory. Your substitute who loved you and gave himself for you, he said, behold, I stand at the door and knock.

Do you hear it? Hear it? If any man, that means man or woman, any of Adam's race, hear my voice and open the door Oh Son of God, I hear your voice and I will sleep no longer. Come into me. This is what it says. I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. Pay attention. Listen. Lest you perish. Believing it not, though a man has spoken it to you. Amen.