In my library, I have a few books
that are pretty old. And in those old books, the publishers
used to do various things to make their books unique, but
something that was rather common among printers many, many years
ago, when they had a place in a book to which they wanted to
give emphasis, They would often use a pointing finger, just like
that. You just see a little icon of
a pointing finger pointing to a place. These days, you know,
we have bullets and arrows and all the stuff on the computer,
but they just have a, just a pointing finger. That meant this is important. This is something you ought to
pay attention to. God uses such a pointing finger
in this book. in his word. One word that you
find over thirteen hundred times in this book. That's the title
of my message tonight, this one word. Behold. Behold. Whenever you come to this word,
behold, in the word of God, stop and pay attention and look at
that which is written. It's important. Behold. I want us to start one more time
at Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 5. Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse
5. I have already told you distressing
things this evening, things that trouble our hearts,
things that are difficult to bear. Habakkuk was facing far
greater distressing things. And he was frankly terribly disturbed by what he
saw, terribly disturbed by what he knew was going on around him. And in the midst of this distress,
the Lord God speaks this word to his prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk
1 verse 5. Behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvelously. Regard and wonder marvelously. If you have paid any attention
at all to the news for the last couple of weeks, You've got to
wonder what on earth is going to be the end result of all that's
going on in the Middle East right now. The news media got everybody
scared to death that gas is going to go to $5 a gallon. So what? It's just gas. Well, that'll
wreck the economy. So what? It's just money. It's
just money. Well, that'll ruin all our plans.
Your plans need to be ruined. Mine too. Mine too. But the nation is going to crumble.
That's exactly what Habakkuk was dealing with. That's exactly
what he saw. But war, Habakkuk knew it was
coming. He knew it was coming. It wasn't
a possibility. He knew it was coming. And the
Lord God says to his prophet Habakkuk who cried, why do you
make me to see evil? Why do you cause me to see all
these evil things and the evil of the hearts of men and the
deeds of men and the evil events of providence? Why do you make
me to see these things? God says, behold, ye among the
heathen standing right here in Danville, Kentucky, among the
heathen in the United States of America. Behold ye among the
heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work
a work in your days. I've been working all day long
on this message. And you know what I know? Bill
Raleigh, you won't believe it. You won't believe it unless God
causes you to. Me either. I'll work a work in
your days which you will not believe though it be told you. Not just by a man, but by God
himself. Now turn over to Acts chapter
13. I want you to see clearly what the prophet's talking about.
We've looked at this before, but please turn there. Acts chapter
13. This wondrous work the Lord God
here speaks of is the work of redeeming and saving his people.
The work of redeeming and saving poor sinners by his rich, free,
almighty grace through the blood, the righteousness, and intercession
of his son, the Lord Jesus. Acts chapter 13, verse 26. Men
and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, To you is the word of this salvation
sent. God has sent to you the word
of his great salvation in Christ Jesus. Not the possibility he
sent you the word of salvation accomplished. Read on. For they
that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him
not, Nor yet the voices of the prophets, which they read every
Sabbath day. They read the scriptures just
like you do. They memorized the scriptures just like you do.
But they didn't understand anything in it. They read every Sabbath
day. These Jews who read what was
written in the scriptures in the prophets, being ignorant
of God, His word and His grace, fulfilled them in condemning
the Lord Jesus. They fulfilled the scriptures
in condemning the Savior. Read on. And though they found
no cause of death in him... Well, nobody would condemn a
man they didn't have any reason to condemn. Though they found
no cause of death in him, they couldn't even trump up charges
against him. Yet desired they Pilate that
he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, Everything done to him done exactly according
to the purpose of God and the written Word of God in the Old
Testament scriptures They took him down from the tree and laid
him in a sepulcher but God Raised him from the dead and he was
seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee
to Jerusalem Who are his witnesses unto the people? And we declare
unto you glad tidings, good news. We declare unto you the gospel,
how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath
fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that he hath raised
up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second psalm,
thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning
that he raised him from the dead, Now no more to return to corruption. He said on this wise now here's
the promise and it's verified by the fact that Christ is raised
from the dead. I will give you the sure mercies
of David. I will give you all the covenant
blessings I promised to David. I'll give you the sure mercies
of Jesus Christ, David's great son, who's risen from the dead.
Verse 35, wherefore he saith also in another psalm, thou shalt
not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, after
he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep
and was laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. So he says,
when I talk about David now, David did go to the grave. David's
body did rot in the dust. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, this man who's raised
from the dead and saw no corruption is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins and by him By Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified
from all things. What a word! Justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now watch this, verse 40. Beware,
therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the
prophets Behold, ye despisers, and wander and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. Oh, be careful, be careful, pay
attention, lest you do not believe God. And when the Jews were called
out to the synagogue, The Gentiles besought that these words might
be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. That's my desire tonight. I want to persuade you to continue
in the grace of God, to believe on the Lord Jesus, to hear the
report God has given us of his wondrous grace. The greatest
wonders in the world are the wondrous works of God's amazing
grace by which he takes such things as you and I are, Such
things as he finds in the dung heap of fallen humanity and lifts
us up to be the sons of God with Jesus Christ forever. Oh, what
wonders. Behold now, marvel and wonder. All I want to do tonight is point
you to Christ and show you what God has done, is doing and will
do for sinners. in and by his darling son. Let's begin in 1 John chapter
3. We're going to look at ten texts. Ten texts, ten points,
ten wondrous things. And if you have difficulty turning
to the text and looking at them, please just jot them down and
listen to what's read. 1 John chapter 3. Here we behold the wonder of
God's amazing love. Think of this. God is love. That's what he is. God is love. That's his character. God is
love. We talk so lightly, so loosely,
so meaninglessly about love. We use the term, I love you,
so carelessly as it begins to lose meaning unless we pause
and speak deliberately. I sign frequently a note to my
granddaughter, my daughter, my son-in-law, my grandson, others.
Love, Pop. Love, Don. Write to friends.
Love, Don. Love your pastor. I sign things
like that all the time. I hope with earnest expression
of truth. But we use the phrase so lightly
that it fails to grasp meaning in our to give meaning in our
own hearts. God is love. Now, let's look at the wonder
of God's love. Behold, what manner of love The
Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of
God. Cast out from our mother's womb
as aborted garbage, useless, worthless, unwanted,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that
we, of all creatures, of all men, of all women, should be
called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not. because it knew him not beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Before the world was, God Almighty
chose us as his children in adopted grace, accepted us as his sons,
and determined from eternity that we should forever be called
the sons of God. This work of grace, involved
the three persons of the eternal Godhead. And it is a privilege
beyond compare. Let me read you something. So
a little bit of a lengthy quote. I wrote this down years ago,
I don't even remember exactly where John Gill stated he was
commenting on first John chapter three, but I believe it was in
his body divinity that I got this. He said it is more to be
a son than to be a saint. Angels are saints, but not sons,
they're servants. It's more to be a child of God
than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. It is great grace,
Gill says, to redeem a slave from slavery, to pardon a criminal,
or to justify the ungodly. But it is another and higher
act of grace to make them the slave. the criminal, the ungodly
sons. That makes us infinitely more
honorable than to be the sons and daughters of the greatest
potentate upon earth. It gives us an honor which Adam
had not in innocence, nor the angels in heaven, who are the
sons of God by nature. but not by grace. The sons of
God by creation, but not by grace. This, he says, is the highest
honor God can put upon any creature. He's made us the sons of God. Amazing love. How can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? He made us sons. The triune
God chose us and adopted us from eternity. Turn to Isaiah chapter
7. But how can fallen sinful men
and women, corrupt flesh, become the sons and daughters of God
Almighty? Before we can become the sons of God, the Son of God
had to become the Son of Man. So secondly, here in Isaiah chapter
7, we behold the wonder of our Lord's incarnation. Before ever the world began,
this is ordained and purposed of our God. And here, hundreds
of years before it actually came to pass, the Lord God speaks
very plainly. He says, behold, therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and shall bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Only as a man, only as a man
could God establish righteousness for men. Only as a man Could
God suffer and die in the place of men as a substitute for sinners? Only by becoming a man could
the infinite God be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
and make empathetic intercession on our behalf. His name is called
Emmanuel. God with us. God in our nature. God come to
save. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. And John bear witness of him
and cried, saying, this was he of whom I spake. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me for he was before me. and
of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. So in order for us to enjoy the
privilege of this adoption that was made ours before the world
began, Christ, God's dear son, must come here in our room instead
and be made a man. But our Lord living here as a
man could never save anybody. People make great deal about
Christ being a good, righteous example. A righteous example
won't take you to glory. A righteous example won't give
you righteousness. A righteous example won't take
away your sin. A righteous example will not
satisfy the justice of God. So thirdly, if you will, turn
to John chapter one, and behold the wonder of substitutionary
redemption. The next day, John see Jesus
coming to him. John 1 verse 29. And saith, behold,
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Several years ago, a young man
sitting at his television set, he'd been in and out of difficulties
and going through some difficulty. And Brother Mahan came on television
up in Ashland, in Huntington. This fellow was watching the
television that morning, flipping through the channels. And Henry said, I'm
going to preach to you this morning on the Lamb of God. And that
fellow perked up and hollered for his wife. He said, come here,
come here, come here. Here's a man going to tell us
about that lamb I've been talking to you about. He'd been reading
the scriptures and said to his wife over and over again, everything
in this book's got something to do with the lamb. You've been
reading the Old Testament, and that's what John the Baptist
did when he saw the master. He said, fellas, this is the
lamb that God began to reveal back
in the opening verses of the book of Genesis. This is the
lamb all the Old Testament scriptures prophesied. This is the lamb
all the scriptures pointed to. This is the lamb pointed to and
pictured in all the Old Testament scriptures. He said, wonder of
wonders. Here's the lamb. Christ is the
lamb. He is a victim. An innocent victim,
a voluntary victim. Christ is the lamb of God. And
he is the Lamb who is God. You remember what Abraham told
his son Isaac when Isaac was with him on Mount Moriah? He
said, Daddy, we've got the fire for a burnt offering. We've got
the wood for a burnt offering. We've got the fire. He said,
where's the Lamb? And Abraham said to Isaac, my
son, God will provide himself a Lamb for a burnt offering.
not provide for himself, God will provide himself a lamb for
burnt offering. And Abraham looked up, and there
was a ram caught in a thicket, and there's the lamb. This lamb
is provided by God. This lamb, acceptable to and
accepted by God, is of infinite merit and efficacy, for this
lamb is himself God. and he was sacrificed for us.
That's what's declared repeatedly in the scriptures. God the Father
made him sin for us who knew no sin. just like Aaron made
that lamb to be sin for the people by laying his hands on the head
of the lamb, ceremonially confessing over that lamb all the sins of
Israel and the sins of Israel thereby being transferred from
the people to the lamb ceremonially. Were they really transferred?
No. Were they really put away? No. And Aaron never dreamed that
they were. He understood clearly that there's
a Lamb coming upon whom all the sins of God's people would be
laid and they would really become His. And when He is made sin
for us, God's justice will pour out its stillness upon Him until
justice is satisfied and we are redeemed and our sins put away. For as much as you know that
you're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your empty, meaningless life, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish, without spot, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. Christ Jesus is that lamb who
by the sacrifice of himself purged away our sins. Purge them away. He is that lamb who by the sacrifice
of himself has put away our sins. He is that lamb who by the sacrifice
of himself has redeemed us from all our transgressions. But how
can we be absolutely certain that the lamb of God will get
what he paid for. That all for whom he died will
be with him in glory. That all for whom he died will
believe on him. They will trust in him. Because
God Almighty has exalted him to be a prince and the savior
of his people. So forth looked Isaiah 32. Isaiah
32. And behold with me the wonder
of Christ's exaltation and dominion as Lord and King. I think I told you this recently.
When Spurgeon was a young man, New Park Street Chapel couldn't
hold the crowds that came to hear him preach. And so while
they were building the Metropolitan Tabernacle building, the church
where Spurgeon preached for so many years, they met at Surrey
a garden music hall, a meeting place they'd rented to hold thousands
and thousands and thousands of people. When they met, somebody
thought it'd be a nice prank, and they cried, fire, fire, the
galleries are falling. And folks were trampled to death. Spurgeon was devastated. He thought
he could never preach again. And after a couple of weeks,
He read Philippians chapter 2, that Christ is exalted, and you
ought to read the sermon. The title of it is Christ Exalted,
and with that, God established his soul firmly again. Children
of God, take comfort and rejoice. Christ is exalted. Christ is
on his throne. All is well. Isaiah 32. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness. And princes shall rule in judgment. And a man. Isn't that wonderful? And a man. A man. A man. Man like you are. A man who knows everything you
know, every pain, every temptation, every trial, every heartache,
every blackness, every darkness, everything that disturbs your
soul. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a cover
from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place. as the shadows of a great rock
in a weary land, and the eyes of them that see him shall not
be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken, the
heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge. We tend to be rash, don't we? All of us. We rashly presume
things. We rashly make judgments about
things. Just rash. Just rash. You see
the thing going on around you. Read the newspaper. Oh, woe is
me! What's going to happen now? What
will become of my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren?
Oh, what's going to happen to the nation? What's going to happen
to the church? The rash shall understand. All you got to do is look to
the refuge. Believe the God, the man who
is God, the God who is man, who God has exalted with his own
right hand. Read on. The heart also of the rash shall understand
knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready
to speak plainly. William Huntington rightly observed,
Jesus is king over the earth. His reign of providence is universal. He's heir of all things, all
power is given to him. And he has power over all flesh
for this end, that he may give eternal life to as many as the
father has given him. Then Lord, do what you will.
Do what you will. Let nothing interfere. Do as
you will. He reigns in righteousness by virtue of his righteous obedience
as our substitute. He reigns that he might give
righteousness by his grace, making sinners righteous by himself. How does this king make us righteous?
How is it possible? How can a sinner, a man, a woman
who's nothing but sin, a person who can do nothing but sin, how
can we be made righteous? Turn to Revelation chapter 21. And behold the wonder of the
new creation. You remember when the rich young
ruler came to the Lord Jesus and said, good master, what good
things will I do that I may inherit eternal life? And the Lord told
him to go sell all that he had, give it to the poor and rich
young ruler who had claimed to keep God's law from his youth
up and never have done anything wrong, went away sorrowful because
he had much riches. And the disciples said, Lord,
who then can be saved? He told me it's easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, who then can be saved? No camel could ever go through
the eye of a needle. I know the folks who mess with your Bible,
they make all kinds of notes and they try to tell you that
needle's eye was a place in the wall where the camel had to get
down, kind of stoop down and crawl through the needle. No,
he's talking about a needle like you're trying to stick a piece
of thread through. Get a camel through that, you might have
some hope for yourself. Well, who then can be saved?
With men, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Because God can make fallen, ruined, guilty, doomed,
damned, dead sinners new creatures. It's called grace. Behold, I
make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. But Brother Don, this is talking
about when the Lord comes a second time and he creates everything
in the universe new. Yeah. But that is experienced
in grace. For if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away and
behold, all things have become new. When a person is born again,
God puts new life in us. And that life that he puts in
us is the same life in all his people. Don Ranieri and Don Fortner
had the same life in them. And that life in us is not so
much an individual thing as it is that which is universal to
all God's elect. We're partakers of the divine
nature. Christ lives in us. Christ in
you, the hope of glory. That's a new creation. That's
that's something altogether different than what was before. That's
not something that arises by nature. That's where we have
a new principle, a new principle through. He got a new man, a
new nature, a new life. All right, number six. Will it
last? Will God's people persevere in
faith? Are we sure enough secure in
Christ Jesus? Let's see. Look at Psalm 121. And behold the wonder of divine
preservation and care. The wonder of God's preserving
grace. The wonder of perseverance. We've got to hold on. Yes, you
do. I agree. You've got to hold on.
We've got to keep on keeping on. I agree. You've got to keep
on keeping on. You sure do. You've got to hold
out to the end. I agree. You've got to hold out
to the end. But you can't. You can't. You won't hold him. And you won't
follow him. Me either. except he graciously
hold us and compel us to follow him. Look here, Psalm 121. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved. He that keepeth Israel, he that
keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out. and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. Turn over to the 91st Psalm. Psalm 91. No weapon formed against
thee shall prosper, God says. Every tongue that rises against
you in judgment You'll condemn. This is the heritage of God's
elect. Now, without question, this 91st
Psalm is all about our Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm going to tell
you something about these Psalms that are all about Christ. They're
all about me. You see, I'm one with Christ. I really am. They're all about
you. If you're in Christ, you're one
with him. So let's read what God says to us in Christ. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he's
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely
he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from
the Norse impestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of the
terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor
for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side and ten thousand at thy right hand. But it shall not
come nigh thee. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? It shall
not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked. You're going to see
it, but not going to touch you. Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation. There
shall no evil befall thee. There shall no evil befall thee. All right. Still, there's more. Turn to Revelation 1, verse 7. And behold the wonder
of Christ's glorious second advent. Behold, he cometh with the clouds. He cometh with the clouds. Not skip, someday Jesus is going
to come. That's not what it says. It says
he's coming right now. Well, he'd be gone a mighty long
time, just two days. Just two days. A thousand years
with the Lord is what? One day, one day is a thousand
years. He's just been gone two days. And ever since he left,
he's on his way back. How can that be? In a couple of weeks, what is
it, two weeks from tomorrow? Two weeks from tomorrow, Shelby
and Joe and I are going to get on an airplane, we're going to
fly to Somewhere gonna land close to Dudley. I forgot where we're
flying into. I'll look at it. They will get on plane but Do
what I'm planning on I've already made all the plans necessary
for returning home the very next Wednesday I'm on my way home
before I leave and The Lord Jesus has been coming for two days
and soon he's gonna be here And when he comes, every eye shall
see him. They also which pierced him and
will see him as he is. First Corinthians 15 describes
for us that glorious climactic time when Christ comes in resurrection
glory and we're raised again. First John, First Thessalonians
4 describes for us the order of the resurrection. 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 all past, crowns at his feet we will cast,
Jesus is coming again. And then we behold the wonder
of resurrection glory. I just skipped that. You read
the first 15th chapter of First Corinthians. Oh, this corruptible
shall put on incorruption. This mortal immortality, death
will be swaddled up in victory. What a blessed hope we have when
Christ comes again. He will raise us up into immortality
and everlasting glory. And therefore, the Apostle Paul
urges us, be you therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor
is not in vain in the Lord. All right, turn to Matthew 22.
Matthew 22. Oh brother Don, I sure wish I
could somehow claim all these things and know they were mine.
Let's look at Matthew 22 and behold the wonder of God's free
salvation. Matthew 22 verse 2. The kingdom
of heaven is likened to a certain king which made a marriage for
his son and he sent forth his servants to call them that were
bidden to the wedding and they would not come. Again, he sent
forth other servants saying, tell them which were bitten,
behold, I prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed. And all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. Here in the gospel, God Almighty
sits before you, a ready savior, a ready father, one to embrace
every sinner who comes to him, a spirit ready to seal, and everything
is free. Roland Hill, who lived in the
contemporary of William Huntington in London, a famous gospel preacher,
one day was preaching at a county fair. And as he was preaching,
he observed this. He said, our friends bring their
fruits and crafts to the fair to sell. And they work hard to
get you up to their price. I bring you better things than
they. My milk and bread is eternal food. But my difficulty is getting
you down to my price. Come, saith the Lord. My goods
are free. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. He'll said, my friends, if I
were to preach justification for five dollars. All would leave
this place justified. If I were to preach justification.
For all who would walk 100 miles. All would become pilgrims tomorrow.
If I were to preach justification for all who would be beaten with
stripes, you would all make bare your backs immediately. But when the free gift of life. Justification freely by his grace
in Christ Jesus is preached to you and preached freely. The
poor and needy turn away in unbelief. They're standing. They're standing. You wonder, what on earth is
it that makes folks go through all the stuff they go through
in works religion, put up with all the nonsense of papacy and
all the nonsense of Mormonism, all that junk? What makes people
do that? The cause Everybody wants what
they can buy and earn from God. Nobody wants to be saved by free
grace except folks who know we can't buy or earn anything. Come. All things are ready. All things are free. And if you
come to this marriage feast and bring any gift you'll be turned
away. The Father provides everything. One more of these wonders. I'll have time to look at it,
maybe another day. Is the wonder of love often spurned? The master says to his church,
Revelation 3.20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. He pictures it for us in the
Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. James, it's not occasionally, but it is the constant tendency
and inclination of our sinful hearts to spur his love and his
mercy. And we will, except for this
wonder, he who knocks at the door, opens the door. And brings with him all the fullness
of his grace. Wonder of wonders. He said, I will love them freely. And Merle, his love is as free
now as it was then. We do nothing to win it, nothing
to keep it. Nothing to have refreshing views
of it, nothing to have refreshing experience of it. But he knocks
and when he knocks, he opens the door and graciously enters
in with grace and mercy and love, just as though he had never been
spurred. Amen.