Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 19. The title of our message this morning
is Behold the Man. I took the title from verse 5. Then came Jesus forth wearing
the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them,
Behold the man. You'll notice that word Pilate
is in italics. It was added by the translators
in an attempt to help us understand the meaning of the verse. The
word Pilate is not in the original at all. And I don't happen to
believe that Pilate made this statement. I think the original
said it just exactly like what it meant. I think our Lord's
the one who made this statement. Let's read it without the word
Pilate. Read it as it was originally
written. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and
the purple robe and saith unto them, behold the man. See, if Pilate made this statement,
he's trying to get sympathy for the Lord Jesus so he can let
our Lord go. I've told you several times in
the past few weeks, don't ever, ever feel sorry for the Lord
Jesus. This is not a time of sympathy. I believe our Lord made this
statement. And He made this statement and He meant for us to look to
Him with the eye of faith and behold the man. Behold the Savior. Behold the sacrifice for the
sin of His people. Behold God's Lamb sacrificed
for His people. And that's my prayer this morning,
that the Lord will enable us to look to Christ in faith and
see the Savior. I have a few points. I have 10 points. I promise you, I won't keep you
long. I don't mean to scare you. I was telling Janet, I listened
to an old message of Scott Richardson's yesterday. He said, I got 10
points. He said, I was at a Bible conference a few weeks ago. And he said, Don Porter said,
I got 12 points. He said, the people groaned and
quaked in their seats. He said, I won't keep you long.
And I won't keep you long either. Scott said, we'll close up the
building and go home eventually. Won't keep you long, some of
these points are short, but I want us to behold the man. First, behold the man, hated
by man. Verse one. Then Pilate therefore
took Jesus and scourged him. Now remember, this is a man,
Pilate said there's no fault in him. He hadn't done anything
worthy of death. He hadn't done anything worthy
to be punished or imprisoned, but Pilate took him and scourged
him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him
with their hands. Now, scourging is a horrible
ordeal. The victim is stripped naked,
and they're tied tight between two poles. And they're beaten
with a cat-of-nine-tails that has bits of rocks and glass somehow
embedded in those leather strips. And they don't just hit a person
with it, they rake it across their back to tear the skin off
their back. It's a horrible suffering of
humiliation and pain. It was not uncommon for someone
to die being scourged. And when our Roman soldiers got
done scourging our Lord, they were so bloodthirsty. They wanted
to mentally and physically torture him some more. Scourging wasn't
enough. So they made a crown of thorns. Now they didn't make
this crown of small, you know, picker-bush thorns. These are
good-sized, heavy-duty thorns. They didn't just set it on top
of his head. They jammed it down in there, into his scalp, drawing
blood from his precious scalp. And they took an old soldier's
coat. They said it was purple. It was probably a red sort of
a soldier's cape. Maybe it looked purple, being
old and dirty. They put it on that, scourged,
bleeding back. They found a reed and put it
in his hand as a scepter. And they mocked him as king.
And they beat him with their fists to show him, you say you're
king, you got no power over us. We're gonna do what we want with
you. Now friend, you only do that
to somebody you hate. You don't do that to somebody you love.
You don't do that to someone you feel indifferent about. You
do that to someone you hate. And this is how all mankind,
including all of us here by nature, hate God and hate His Son. And
there our Lord stands, blood streaming down His face, His
face purple and swollen from the beating. His back has been
lacerated. He's in obvious pain, standing
there. And He says, behold the man hated
by men. And you'd think our Lord's already
suffered enough, hadn't you? But he hadn't suffered enough
to satisfy man's hatred of God. What did they yell? They didn't
yell he had enough. They yelled crucify him because
this is man's hatred of Christ. Look at verse six. When the chief
priest, therefore, and officer saw him, behold the man. What
reaction does that draw from your heart? You got the picture
in your mind? Look what reaction it drew from
them when they saw him. They cried out saying, crucify
him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, you take
him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. This is the
hatred of man. Man hates Christ. And the nature
of man has not changed. Man still hates Christ. Now why? Why does man hate Christ so much? Well, it's because He said salvation's
all in him. Maine doesn't hate him for his
good works, for his miracles, no. They hate him for his doctrine. He said salvation's all in him.
Salvation's in his obedience, not your obedience. It's in his
obedience. Salvation is in his righteousness,
not our righteousness. He said salvation is only by
his blood. Not our blood, his blood. Salvation's
not Handed down from parent to parent. It's not, doesn't come
like, you know, my daughter Holly, she acts like me. How did that
happen? She got my nature. She didn't
receive salvation from her father's blood. It's the blood of Christ. And that's the problem with these
Jews. They thought it was handed down because their father's Abraham. No, salvation doesn't come that
way. It's in the blood of Christ. Salvation's not in the religious
ceremonies that we keep. Salvation's in Christ who kept
the ceremonies, all those ceremonies pointed to. Salvation's not in
our goodness, attending church and putting money in the offering.
No, it's not the ceremonies. It's Christ in the heart. And
man hates that truth because man hates the truth that we are
utterly dependent on Christ to save us. If he doesn't save us,
we'll be damned. Man wants to save himself. He
does not want to be dependent upon the grace of God. Now that's
stupid, but that is the fallen nature of man. Behold the man,
hated by man. Second, behold the man, the perfect
man. Even unregenerate people knew
the Lord Jesus was a perfect man. In this time of this mock
trial, three times, Pilate said, I find no fault in him. Matthew
says, Pilate's wife sent a message to him. She said, don't you ever
do that, just man. She knew he's a just man, perfect
man. Pilate told him, I'm innocent
of the blood of this just person, this just man. The father himself,
that's unregenerate man. What about God? The father spoke
from heaven. He said, I'm well pleased with
this man, the perfect man, the sinless man. That's the only
way the father could be pleased with him. Behold the perfect
man. Third, behold the man, the son
of God. Look over John chapter one. Behold
this man. He's perfect. Why is he perfect? Because he's not a son of Adam.
He's the son of God. He's God. in human flesh. John 1, verse 1. In the beginning
was the Word. You know that Word is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the Word of God. Capital
W is referring to a person. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him, there's not anything that was made. He's God. Look
down at verse 14. And the Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld
His glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Now, our Lord Jesus is a real man,
but He's also God. He's the Son of Man, and He's
the Son of God. He's the God-Man. He's as much
man as if He were not God, and He's as much God as if He were
not man. Now look at Matthew 22, that's a mystery. What a
mystery that is to the natural mind. We can't comprehend that. In Matthew 22 verse 41, while the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them saying, what think ye of Christ, whose
son is he? They say unto him, well, he's
the son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in
spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool. If David then call him Lord, how is he a son? If he's God, how can he be the
son of David? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither dared any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
I want you to look at Luke chapter 8. I had not seen this before this
week. I want you to behold the man. What great things the God-man
has done for sinners. Now you know this story in Luke
chapter 8. The Lord comes to that man of
the Gadarenes and casts a legion out of him. The legion of devils. Let's look at verse 37. And the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes round about, besought him to depart
from them. They wanted him to leave, for
they were taken with great fear. And he went up again to the ship
and returned back again. Well, that man that the legion
was cast out of, he didn't want the Lord to leave. Verse 38,
now the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought him that
he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
return to thine own house and show how great things God hath
done unto thee. And he went his way and published
out the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. What's he saying? He's saying
this man who the demons were cast out of, he's saying Jesus
is God. This man is God. It's not like
he's God. He's not some special man who
looks like God, acts like God. He is God. Now you behold the
man. He's there as God paying the
price for sin only God could pay. You and I could never pay
that price. Behold the man. He's there as God paying the
price for sin. Behold the man. He's there as
God imputing righteousness to his people that only God could
produce. Behold the man. there as a man so he could be
the substitute for sinful men and women. Behold the man. He's there as man so he can have
the sin of men imputed to him and he can stand as their substitute.
Behold the man. He's God. Now that truth troubled
Pilate a great deal. Look at verse seven in our text
in John 19. The Jews answered him, we have a law And by our
law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
And he went again into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, Whence
art thou? Where did you come from? Who
are you? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto
him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee and power to release thee? Jesus answered,
thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were
given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered
me unto thee hath a greater sin. Now, job one for Pilate is to
get out of this situation with a skin. I mean, he's scared of
everybody. He's scared of the people. He's
scared of the Jewish leaders. He's scared of the powers in
Rome. He's full of fear. And you imagine how terrified
he was. To think that the man he just
scourged is deity. Now these Romans had all kinds
of different gods, you know, could this be one of them? And
I just had him scourged? Oh, he's filled with terror.
Even an unregenerate man watching all this happen knew this man
is God. Look at Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27 and verse 54. Now when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those
things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, truly, this
was the Son of God. Behold the man who is God. Behold the man who's king, verse
14. And it was the preparation of
the Passover in about the sixth hour. Excuse me. And he saith unto
the Jews, behold your king. Now we looked at the kingship
of Christ a couple of weeks ago, so I'm not gonna go into great
detail about that now, But it is clear throughout the life
of our Lord Jesus, he is king. As soon as he was conceived,
the angel told Mary, that holy thing conceived in you is king,
he's gonna reign. He was born as king, he lived
as king, and here he is dying as king. We've seen him mocked
as king, and they will crucify him as king. This is what Pilate
is gonna write, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the
Jews. This is what's nailed to his
cross so everybody knows this man's king. Now Pilate is scared
to death to have anything to do with the death of this man
who's God, who's king, who's the sovereign. And Pilate tries
everything he can do to set the Lord Jesus free. Verse 12, and
from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. He tried everything
he could do to release him, but he couldn't do it. You know why? Because Pilate's will is not
being done. The king's will is being done.
And it is the will of King Christ that he suffer and die for his
people. So Pilate had no power to release
him because it's the will of the king that Christ suffered.
Behold the man who's king. Fifth, behold the man of whom
all the scripture speaks. Look over Genesis chapter 3.
You know the story of the creation and Adam's rebellion against
God very well. God created Adam upright, perfect. Put him in a perfect garden.
Gave him just one law. Adam don't eat the fruit of that
tree. Boy, he did. And when Adam sinned, he fell.
He rebelled against God and he fell to his death, just like
God told him. He said, the day you eat that fruit, you shall
surely die. And now God's going to thrust Adam out of the garden
in justice. But before Adam goes, God's going
to give Adam a precious promise. Adam, there's a man coming who's
going to undo everything you did. Look at Genesis 3 verse
16. Under the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow, thou
shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee. We'll look back up at verse 15.
Did I read the wrong verse? No, okay, verse 15. I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. Adam and Eve knew exactly what
the Lord was saying there. And he's thrusting them out,
gives them this promise of this man. Then he gives them a promise
how that man is going to save his people from their sin. It's
through his death as their substitute. He will be made sin for his people
and he'll die the death they deserve. And they're going to
live the life that he deserves. He's going to clothe them in
his righteousness. He's going to make them the righteousness
of God in him. Verse 21, this is the picture
God gave them. Unto Adam also and his wife did
the Lord God make coats of skin, and he clothed them." God killed
an animal, took the skin of that animal, and clothed Adam and
Eve. And they watched that. They probably didn't understand
the picture, but God gave them a picture of this man who's coming. How is it he's going to save
his people? He's going to suffer and die. He's going to shed his
blood, and he's going to clothe his people in his righteousness.
Now Adam and Eve understood what God told them. They're looking
for a man. God said there's a man coming who's going to undo everything
you did, Adam, in chapter 4, verse 1. And Adam knew Eve, his
wife, and she conceived him, Bear Cain. And she said, I've
gotten a man from the Lord. She thought she'd gotten the
man from the Lord. Now Cain wasn't that man. But
in the fullness of time, the Lord Jesus did appear. He finally
appeared. Simeon saw Him. The others saw
Him. He appeared to put away the sin of His people. And throughout
His life, He fulfilled every Old Testament scripture concerning
the Messiah. He fulfilled them all, because
they're all of Him. And He fulfilled the scriptures
in His death too. Now look back in our text, John
19, verse 24. And they said, therefore, among
themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it
shall be. Why did they do that? That the
Scripture might be fulfilled which saith, They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things,
therefore, the soldiers did. And this afternoon, if you want,
you can read Psalm 22, verses 16 through 18. That's a direct quote from Psalms.
Why'd they do that? Because the scriptures spoke
of him and they fulfilled the scriptures. All the scriptures
speak of Christ. Now look at verse 36. For these things were done, that
the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken."
That Roman soldier came, he didn't have to break the legs of the
Lord to kill him, he's already dead. Now meanness, he pierced
his side, but he didn't break his legs. Well, why did he pierce
his side? Why didn't he just go ahead and
whack him in the legs and break the bones of his legs even though he was
dead? that the scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of him shall
not be broken. What scripture is that referring
to? This afternoon, if you're watching, read Exodus chapter
12. It's referring to the Passover lamb. God said, don't break a
bone of that lamb because that lamb is a picture of Christ,
our Passover, who's slain for us. Then verse 37, and again,
another scripture, say, if they shall look on him whom they've
pierced. That's a quote from Zechariah
chapter 12. Why did that soldier pierce the
sight of his Lord? Did that just come into his brain? Is that
what they always did? No. He did that that the Scriptures
might be fulfilled. Behold this man. All of the Scriptures
speak of him. We read to open the Scripture
when John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. There he is. What was John saying? This is the one, the Old Testament
picture. This is the one, the Old Testament,
all the Old Testament scriptures speak of. And I'll give you a
hint by reading the New Testament too. The New Testament is the
exact same thing. Every verse, every word speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All scriptures speak of this
man. Behold the man. Sixth, behold the man, the covenant
man. Now when Adam fell, why didn't
God wipe him out? Because before the world was
created, Christ already stood as the surety and the salvation
of His people. He already stood as the surety
of that better covenant. Christ stood as the salvation
of His people because He's the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. There was already a Savior before
there was a sinner. Christ already stood as the Savior
of His people. Now Adam fell and God gave the
law to Moses, Israel lived under that mosaic economy and that
law, but God never did intend for man to be saved by man keeping
the law. God never intended for them to
be saved by keeping those ceremonies. God's eternal purpose has always
been to save his people through the covenant of grace, through
the Lord Jesus Christ who came as a man and fulfilled that eternal
covenant. Look at Ephesians chapter one.
God has always seen His people, He's always loved His people,
He's always accepted His people in Christ because Christ always
has stood eternally as the covenant man. Ephesians 1 verse 3, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, where? In
Christ. according as He has chosen us,
where? In Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children, how? By Jesus Christ, to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted, where?
In the Beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.
Then the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we've obtained
an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things under the counsel
of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory,
who first trusted in Christ. The Father is the one who first
trusted in Christ. He trusted in Him in this covenant
to fulfill the covenant, and brother, He did it. So verse
13, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed. with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Christ has stood eternally as the covenant man. Is he going to save his people?
I mean, is he? Do you have to do something to
save yourself or is he going to do it? Which is it? If he's God, we just saw, behold
this man, he's God. Eric, if he's God, he can't fail.
He cannot fail. Then the Lord Jesus Christ has
saved His people from all of their sin because that's the
purpose and the will of Almighty God to save His people through
this covenant man, the Lord Jesus Christ. God always deals with
men in a covenant, the covenant of works or the covenant of grace.
Seventh, behold the man, the representative man. Now we already
saw that the Lord Jesus is the perfect man. He had no sin. He did no sin. Now if he's sinless,
why is he dying? Why is he dying? He's dying because
he's guilty. Now Frank, you just said he's
the perfect man. How can he be guilty? By imputation. God made him to be guilty of
the sin of his people and then God killed him in justice. Christ
is the representative of his people. He didn't come as a man
and earn a perfect righteousness for Himself. He's already righteous. He's already holy. He came as
a man and earned a righteousness as a representative of His people.
And He makes His people righteous by freely imputing that righteousness
to them. And then He died as the representative
of His people. In His life, He was their representative,
earning their righteousness. And He died because He's their
representative. Dying the death that they deserve.
Dying for their sin so they'll never die. Look at Romans chapter
5. Our first representative, Adam,
he condemned all of his race to death. He made it so we cannot
live in ourselves. Well, Christ, the representative
of his race, gave life to everyone who's in his race. He gave life
to everyone he represented, just like Adam gave death to everyone
in his race. Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, all
sinned in Adam. He's talking about original sin
there, all sin in Adam. That's what Adam did to us. Now
verse 17. For if by one man's offense,
death reigned by one, much more, they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men,
everyone he represented, and a justification of life. For
as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Everyone
Adam represented was made a sinner through his disobedience. So
by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. This is the representative man.
When he died, he undid everything Adam did and brought his people
back to God. Adam was thrust out of the garden
for his rebellion. He's thrust out of the presence
of God. As Christ died, what did the father do? He turned
his back on his son. He took his presence away from
his son as the representative of his people so we could be
brought back into the presence of God forever. When Adam was
thrust out of the garden, God put him under the curse. The
ground brought forth thorns and thistles to Adam for the rest
of his life. When Christ died, what was he
wearing? A crown of thorns, showing us
he's putting away the curse from his people by being made a curse
for them. And Adam died because of his
sin. Just like God told him, he died spiritually instantly.
The moment he took that fruit, Adam died spiritually and all
of us died in him. All of us were made sinners in
him. All of Adam's race physically died. Why do we die? Because
of sin. Christ died as a representative
of his people. He died for the sin of his people,
so none of his race will ever die. Christ gives his people
spiritual life that we lost in Adam. He's the representative
man. Then eighth, behold the man, the risen man. Now the Lord Jesus Christ did
die. He died as a substitute for his people. That man, his
body was dead. When they took him down, we'll
look at this in the coming weeks, they took him down, put him in
that tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. They put a dead body in that
tomb. He wasn't in a coma, he wasn't just barely alive. They
put a dead body in that tomb. But brother, he didn't stay dead.
He rose again. Because all the sin that was
charged to him is put away under his precious blood. Now that's
good news. Don't ever pass over what good
news the resurrection of Christ is. If Christ is not risen, we
are of all men most miserable, and we don't have any hope of
salvation. If Christ did not rise again, the Father did not
accept His sacrifice, and we've got no hope because there's no
other sacrifice. But Christ did rise again, so
the salvation of His people is sure and certain. Verse 21, speaking here of the righteousness
that was imputed to Abraham, being fully persuaded that what
God had promised, he was able also to perform. Therefore, it
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses. And He was
raised again for our justification. Now this is not saying that we're
justified because Christ arose. No, we're justified by His death.
We're justified by His blood. What this is saying is Christ
really died because the offenses of His people were really charged
to Him. That's why He died. That's the
only reason He would die. The offenses of His people were
charged to Him. And He was raised again because
His death really did justify everyone that He died for. Behold
the man who justifies sinners. Then ninth, behold the man seated
in glory. Now about 40 days after our Lord's
resurrection, He ascended back to glory. The disciples just
stood there with their mouths hanging open, watched Him ascend
back into the clouds. It was what a miraculous sight. Why did Christ ascend back to
the throne of glory? Because He's the victorious Savior. David said in Psalm 68, thou
hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. He ascended
back on high because He got the job done that the Father sent
Him to do. He's the victorious Savior. He
ascended there to the throne of glory to be there right now
preparing a place for His people. He ascended back to glory so
He could send His Spirit to comfort His people. He said, if I go
away, I'll send a comforter to you. He had to go away before
He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort His people. And Christ ascended
to the throne of glory. So at this very moment, our mediator
is seated on the throne at the right hand of God doing what?
ever living to make intercession for his people. He's going to
be heard. Behold the man seated in glory. Then tenth, behold the man who's
coming again. Look at Acts chapter one. Now
he's coming again. And when He comes again, He's
really going to undo everything Adam did. There will be new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelt righteousness. But He's coming
again. Acts 1 verse 9, And when He had spoken these things while
they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out
of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven
as He went up, behold, two men, these two angels, stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, this same man,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as you've seen him go into heaven. He is coming again. Now I'd say most people believe
there's going to come a time that there is the end of this
world and Christ is coming again. But what does that really mean
to us? Well, it means when he comes again, there'll be a great
resurrection of the dead. All men will be judged in perfect
righteousness. The unbeliever standing in his
own rags of righteousness will be damned. But the believer,
look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the believer will be taken
to be forever with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse
13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord should not prevent, we won't proceed,
we won't go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. So the believer's not afraid
of the second coming of the Lord. We don't use the second coming
of the Lord to scare people into doing something. The second coming
of the Lord is a comfort to God's people. Comfort one another with
these words. Christ is coming back. And when
he comes back, Bobby will be with him forever. Oh, that's
comfort. What a comfort to the heart.
But now look at 1 John chapter 3. Turn with one hand and get
ahold of your seat with the other. It gets better. Not only will the believer be
with the Lord forever when he returns, but when he returns,
We're gonna be just like him. 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is.
That's the heart's desire of everyone who knows Christ. Oh, to be like him. to not be
like me anymore, to not be like Adam anymore, to have no trace
of Adam left anymore, but to be made like the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says, surely I come
quickly. The believer says, even so, Lord, come. Oh, I desire
to see Him. I desire to be like Him. Look
over in Isaiah chapter 45. I told you it's my prayer that
we behold the man, Christ Jesus, with the eye of faith. And I
want you to answer this question in your heart. Do you see him? Do you behold
the man? I hope you do. I'll show you
why. Isaiah 45, verse 21. Tell ye, bring them near. Yea,
let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? There's no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. Look,
look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I'm God and there is none else. Do you see? Well, how can I tell
if I beheld the man, Christ Jesus, with the eye of faith? Well,
first of all, if you beheld the man, Christ Jesus, with the eye
of faith, you love him. You don't hate Christ, you love
Him because He's given you a new heart of love. Your soul is smitten
for love with Christ. Secondly, if you beheld the man
Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, you see Christ as all
of your righteousness. It's not your good deeds plus
Him. It's Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
my righteousness. Christ is all my righteousness. I've got none of my own. He is
my righteousness. Third, if you beheld the man
Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, you bow to him as your
king. You don't understand everything
he's doing. Matter of fact, if we're honest, we understand very
little of what he's doing. But H.P., I bow. I do, I bow
to him. I'm in his hands to do with as
he pleases, and whatever he does with me, whatever he does with
mine, whatever he does with you, it's right because he's king.
And our constant plea is, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. If you will, you can keep me.
If you will, you preserve me and present me faultless before
your throne. Fourth, if you beheld the man, Christ Jesus, with the
eye of faith, You see Christ in the scriptures. When you read
the scriptures, you don't see law that you've got to keep,
you see Christ. And you may not always understand it when you
first read it, but you love to hear Christ preach from the scriptures. If you see Christ with the eye
of faith, when God gives a man the ability to open the scriptures
to you, you say, there he is, I see him, there he is, that's
my savior. Fifth, if you beheld the man
Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, Christ is your only hope. He's all of your hope. Christ
fulfilled all of your salvation. He fulfilled the covenant of
grace, and by his stripes, you're healed. If you have life, it's
because he gave it to you. He died the death that you deserve.
If you awake in glory, it's because he brought you there. He's all
your hope. Sixth, if you beheld the man
Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, Your hope is that Christ
is your representative. You don't dare stand on your
own if you've seen Christ with die of faith. Your desire is
to be seen in Christ your representative. What he did, he did for you. What he did, you did in him.
You don't want to be seen in your works. You want to be seen
in his work because his work is your work. If Christ is your
representative, you want to read about your works? Would you like
to read about your works if Christ is your representative? Read
the four gospels. What he did, you did, if Christ
is your representative. Seventh, if you beheld the man
Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, you've been born again.
You've been given new life because Christ, your representative,
died for you, but he rose from the grave. He's your representative.
When he died, you died. When he arose, you arose. The
newness of life. And then last, if you beheld
the man Christ Jesus with the eye of faith, you look for his
coming. Now he may not be like the disciples
standing there looking up into the sky, but you look for his
coming with great anticipation because you long not just to
be with Christ, although you all how we long to be with Christ.
I can tell you what you don't long for. If you've seen Christ
with the eye of faith, you've got no interest in streets of
gold. You've got no interest in pearly
gates. If you've seen Christ, posts
on a gate make no difference to you. If you've seen Christ
with the eye of faith, you don't care about a mansion. A mansion
is not a great big house. It's a dwelling place. All you
care about is that dwelling place is being made like Christ. That's
all you care about if you've seen Christ with thy faith. God
make it so. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, it is with hearts
of thanksgiving we bow before you. Bow before you as king.
Bow before you as the sovereign, with the sovereign right to do
with your own as you will. And Father, how we thank you
that it is your eternal will and purpose to save your people
through the man, Christ Jesus. And Father, I pray that in your
mercy and your grace and the power of your spirit that you'd
cause each heart who's here this morning to be given eyes of faith
to behold the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might look to him Look
to Him as our salvation. Look to Him as our hope. Look
to Him as our sacrifice. And that we might be found looking
unto Jesus. Not just look once, but to look
to Him and have our souls ravished with love and awe for our Lord
Jesus Christ and never take our eyes off Him. Let us be found
looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith. It's for his name's sake, for the glory of his name, for
the good of your church we pray, amen.