John chapter 20 and look in verse
19 and verse 20. You know the context of my text
this morning. The Lord Jesus had been crucified. The disciples had saw Him taken. John stayed for the actual crucifixion. All of them had forsaken. Peter
had denied Him. And three Jewish days later, they were hid out in the upper
room, fearful. Fearful of the Jews. Fearful
of what they had done. Fearful of their sin. Fearful
of the future. Afraid. They were sad. For three days
and nights they had wept. Why are you sad? Why do thoughts
arise in your heart? They were in a terrible shape.
The Lord Jesus came and appeared in their midst, in the very midst,
in verse 19. The same day and evening, the
first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord's day, when the doors
were shut where the disciples were assembled because they were
afraid, fearful of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst
and said unto them, Peace, peace be unto you. Peace. Wonderful
peace. Where's peace come from? The
Prince of Peace. He gives it. He's obtained it.
And when He gives it, nobody can take it from you. I don't
give as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled.
I give you peace. Heart peace. Peace be unto you. In verse 20, when He had so said,
He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. He showed them His hands. That's
my title this morning. He showed them His hands. Behold My hands, He said in one
of the other Gospels. I was indeed crucified, but now
I'm risen. Behold My hands. I'm not a spirit. I'm flesh and blood. I'm the
same Christ. I'm the same Lord. I'm the same
person that you saw taken and crucified and buried. Behold
my hands. Behold the prints in my nails. Behold my hands." And then were
the disciples glad. I don't know of anything in the
Scriptures that is more used to describe something, so many
things, above the hands. The hands is descriptive to describe
so many things. You and I use it all the time.
We use hands to describe a person's skill. He's good with his hands. We see some composer or some
artist and we say, my, look what a masterpiece, his hands. have created. We use hands to
describe a person's worth ethic. Is he a good hand? How many hands
do you have? Are they good hands? Are they
bad hands? We use hands to show possession,
ownership. The house, the car, the title
is in the hands of the owner. And, boy, listen to this, the
Father loves the Son and has given all things unto His hand. Boy, it's wonderful to see those
hands, ain't it? Boy, when He shows us those hands,
what's in His hands? He possesses everything, the
gift of His Father. Sometimes hands is used to show
that favor has been received from somebody. He gave me a helping
hand. He reached down His hand. I received a precious gift at
His hand. We have a God in hand. I will
guide Him with my hand. I will guide Him with my hand.
But it's not just the hand. The hand is descriptive of a
person's power. It's descriptive of a person's
wisdom, of his skill, of his performance, of his character,
of his attitude, of his heart. The hands are an extension of
the person. There is love in Daddy's hands. Remember that. When I've done
wrong, His hands is cold as steel. They're firm hands. But when
I've done wrong, that's what I need. And my Daddy loves me,
and He takes a firm hand, and He corrects me, and He chastens
me. There's love. But where's that
love? It's not in His hands. It's in
His heart. And the hands are an extension
of the love of Daddy's heart. He that spurs the rod, he hates
his son. But he that takes that hand and
fires that bottom up, he that takes the rod in his hand, whatever
rod that is, whatever type of discipline that is, he loves
his son. He that chastens him. What is
the hand? It's an extension of the person. His power. His love. His skill,
His ability, His possession. He showed them to them His hands. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. I want you to look with me this
morning at the hands of the Lord. Look in Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah
chapter 45. The hands of the Lord, and I
hope this morning as we look at these We'll say, yes, He showed
me those hands. I see His hands. Four places. Isaiah chapter 45. And here's
so important for you and I to realize who it is that's speaking
in the 45th chapter of Isaiah. Look who's speaking. Look in
verse 21. Tell ye, and bring them near.
Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? There is no God else besides
Me. A just God and a Savior, there
is none besides Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. Now look at this. Who is this
speaking? I have sworn by myself, the word
is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess."
Who is that speaking? You know why we have no doubt
who this is? Because Philippians chapter 2
tells us who this is, doesn't it? This is Jesus Christ speaking.
At the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow, and every
tongue shall confess." We read that in the New Testament, and
we don't seem to think much of it. But when we come here, and
this one says, I am God and there is none else, and I swear that
unto me every knee shall bow, then we realize this is Jesus. This is the Son of God, the Son
of Mary. The Son of God incarnate in our
humanity that's speaking. And that makes it wonderful,
don't it? And here's what He says. Look
in verse 12. I have made the earth. I have. Who has? Jesus did it. Jesus
did it. I created man upon it. I, even my hands, my hands have
stretched out the heaven. My hands in wisdom have stretched
out the heavens. My hands in power, my hands in
understanding, my hands in skill and ability have spread out the
heavens as a tent a man can dwell in. I scattered them. I scattered
them. How? With my hands. With my hands. The heavens. The heavens. One of the most amazing things,
if you read very much from astronomers and physicists, one of the most
amazing things to them about this universe is its vastness. They're astounded at the vastness
of the heavens. Let me give you some facts. You
and I live in the Milky Way galaxy. And they found out now that our
galaxy is somewhat small compared to other galaxies. But our galaxy
is so big that if you got on one end of it, and you shined
a light from that end, and that light was traveling at 186,000
miles a second. Not a second, almost 6 trillion
miles a year light travels. And if you got on that side of
our Milky Way galaxy and shined that light traveling that fast
across our Milky Way galaxy, you know how long it would take
that light to get across? 100,000 years. Ain't that amazing? Light is the fastest speed we
know of. 186,000 miles a second. And it would
take it 100,000 years to get from one side of our Milky Way
to the other. And listen to this. They have discovered billions
of galaxies. They used to think our Milky
Way galaxy had around 100 billion stars in it. Now they've found
more, and they've found more. Now they're up almost to 200
billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. They know of 50 billion
galaxies apart from ours. And they think all of them may
have upwards to a billion stars. If you had the fastest spacecraft
that we have in this day, and you set it on the moon, and traveling
as fast as that spaceship would take you to the nearest star
from the sun. You know how long it would take
you to get there? 70,000 years. Ain't that amazing? That's our Milky Way galaxy.
And then when you go outside of our galaxy out into the universe,
They have estimated that if you go to the edge of what they know, what they've seen, if you go
to the edge of what they know to be the universe, they really
know that it goes beyond that, but they said, we can go out
this far. If you can go out as far as they
can go, and you shine your light back toward the earth, You know how long it's going
to take that light to get to Earth? 14 billion years. Now, ain't that
amazing? The vastness, the vastness. I saw two photographs last week,
taken three weeks apart, of clusters of stars out in deep space. Some of you could see they were
brighter than others. The second photograph had a little
dot on it, just a little bright dot. You couldn't see it in the
first photograph, but in the second one you could see it.
They said, look for this little bright dot. And I finally found
it, just a little bright dot that wasn't there in the first
one. And they said that little bright dot that was very visibly
visible, just barely could see it with the naked eye in that
photograph. They said that was a star that wasn't visible before,
but it exploded and became what they call a supernova. And you
just barely could see it, just a little speck. And they said
that star was now shining. One billion times the brightness
of our sun. Ain't that amazing? Can you imagine our sun shining
one billion times brighter than it is now? And that's what that
story was saying. But it was so far out in deep
space, it was just a little speck. Just a little speck. How in the world did this come
to be? How in the world did this vast universe come into being?
With all of its moons and all of its suns and other galaxies
and all of its stars and all of its planets and its vastness,
how did it come to be? You see it? You see it. You know
why you and I don't believe in the Big Bang Theory? That this
thing just exploded from a little sail and spread itself out? You
know why you and I don't believe that? He showed us His hands,
hasn't He? We see His hands. Behold My hands. Ain't that what He said? I have
stretched out the heavens with My hands. My hands. And I tell you, when you see
His hands, you'll never doubt again who created this vast universe
and spread it out. His hands. He showed unto them
His hands And then were the disciples glad. His hands of creation. Look in
Psalms chapter 104. Clarence mentioned somewhat of
this this morning. In Psalms 136 that he read to
us. Look at this. In Psalms 104. Just let me read some of this
to you. Look at this. Look at this. Look at the providence. Look at the care over creation. Just start you in verse 1 and
look at this. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God, Thou
art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and
majesty, who covers Yourself with light as with a garment. who stretcheth out the heavens
like a curtain, who layeth the beams of the chambers in the
waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who walketh upon
the wings of the wind. He made his angels spirits and
his ministers a flame of fire. He laid the foundations of the
earth that it should not be removed forever. Thou cover'st it with
deep as with a garment. The waters stood above the mountains.
But at thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of your thunder
they hasted away. They go up by the mountains,
they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded
for them. Thou hast set abounds that this
water may not pass over the earth, that they turn not again to cover
the earth. He sendeth the springs into the
valleys which run among the hills. They gave drink to the beast
of the field, while asses quenched their thirst. By them shall the
fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among
the branches. He waters the hills from his
chambers. The earth is satisfied by the
fruit of his work. He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle. The herb for the service of man,
that he may bring forth food out of the earth. The wine that
maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the
Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted,
where the birds make their nests. As for the stork, the fir trees
are her house. The high hills are refuge for
the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies. He appointeth
the moon for seasons, and the sun knows his going down. He
maketh darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the
field do creep forth. The young lions roar after the
prey, and they seek their meat from God. The sun rises, they
gather themselves together, they lie down in their dens, and man
gets up and gets dressed and goes about his work and to his
labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are Thy
works! You mean this is the work of
the Lord? Causing the sun to shine and the rain to come and
the moon to give light of the night? Causing the whales that's
in the sea to swim and the little creeping things? feeding the
birds of the earth, giving grass and herbs to man. That's His
work. In wisdom hast thou made them all. The earth is full of
your riches. So is this great and wide sea. Wherein are things creeping,
innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships. There is that Leviathan whom
thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon Thee, that
Thou makest them their meat, that Thou givest
them their meat in due season. And look in verse 28. That Thou
givest them, they gather. They just gather what You give
them. Thou openest Thine hand, and they are filled with good. You see the hand of God in providence,
in His provision. You see His hand. I tell you
one of the most wonderful things that you and I can see is the
hand of our Lord supplying the need of all His creatures. We look around us and we are
apt to get so discouraged and get down because what do we see
in this world? Oh, we see sin. We see man's
evil. We see sickness. We see death.
We see discouragement. But I tell you, look beyond that.
Look beyond all of that. And what do we see? When I look
at you this morning, you know what I see? I don't see a little
congregation with some of us missing. You know what I see?
I see the Lord. I see His hands. I see His hands
opening. And I see His provision. And
every last one of you this morning, I see His provision. His open
hand. You've got jobs. You have your
retirements. You have your children. You have
your houses. Most of us have good health.
We have a good vehicle to drive you this morning. Where did we
get all this? Where did we get all this? Who
feeds the little birds? Who brings about the seasons?
Who gives us growth in our vegetable gardens and the farmers in their
fields? Who gives rain and the sunshine, the breath and movement?
Who provides these things so freely and so mercifully? See
the hand of the Lord in that. Ah, brothers and sisters, you
won't appreciate life. You won't appreciate this world
until He shows you His hand of providence. and His care for
this world. I was sitting out with Robin
yesterday, and her son was in such a bad shape. They don't
know if he's even going to have any brain activity. Had him on
a ventilator and everything, breathing for it, and said they
had to take it off of him. Didn't know if he's going to
even live when they did it. Breathing shallow. And her sister came
in and said, He knows us. Robin ran back and he said, Mom,
what are you doing here? Where's Tommy at? What do you
see in that? Don't you see the Lord's hands?
Opened hands. He has opened hands. Ah, you say, Bruce, I got a job
because I sought it. I got money because I earned
it. I eat because I got an appetite. And I go where I go and do what
I will because I have a will to do it. I have strength to
do it myself. You know what you need to see?
You need to be seen. Somebody needs to show you something.
You know what it is? The Lord needs to show you His hands.
His hands. I'll tell you what happens when
He closes His hands. Look in verse 29. Thou hidest thy face. You turn
around and show your backsides You close your hand. What happens
then? They're troubled. They're troubled. What happens to the job then?
What happens to the security then? What happens to the bank
account then? What happens to the health then?
What happens to the nation then? Huh? They're troubled. And not only troubled, He takes
away their breath. Stars, they breathe. They breathe
their gases. But what happens when He takes
it from them? They fall. What happened to angels when
the Lord took away His hand? They fell. What happened to our
forefather when the Lord removed him? He fell. What happens to
you and I, brother, when He removes His open hand, when He turns
His back, when He closes it up? Here's what happens. We die and return to the dust. Every one of us here this morning,
and not only us, everybody in this neighborhood, everybody
in this city, everybody in our great nation, everybody in the
world, all God's creatures from that vast universe down to the
little creeping things in the sea, God's hand provides for
them. I want to see that hand, don't
you? Oh, show me your hand. David said, Lord, I had fainted.
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living." Provided. Provided. He showed to them His
hands. His hands. Thirdly, look here
in Isaiah chapter 60. Look in Isaiah chapter 60. He
showed them His hands. Then were they glad when they
saw the Lord. Look what he says in verse 1. He's speaking here mainly to
the Jewish church and then to the Gentile church. He says in
chapter 60 in verse 1, Arise, shine, for thy light is come. Christ is come. The glory of
the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall
cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall
arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And
he says to the Jewish church, and the Gentiles shall come to
thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine
eyes round about thee and see. All they that gather themselves
together, they come to thee. Thy sons shall come from far,
and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then shall thou
see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged,
because of the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. The forces of the Gentiles shall
come unto thee. Look down in verse 16. Thou shalt
suck the milk of the Gentiles. Thou shalt suck the breast of
kings. Thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior, thy
Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold,
for iron I will bring silver, for wood I will bring brass,
and for stone I will bring iron. I will also make my officers
peace, thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting or destruction within thy borders, but thou
shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise. The sun
shall be no more light on thee by day, neither the brightness
shall the moon give light unto thee by night. But the Lord shall
be unto thee an everlasting light, and God himself shall be thy
glory. Thy sun shall not go down, neither
shall the moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting
light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Oh, what a blessed
time and experience. Verse 21, Thy people, Thy people,
Thy people shall all be righteous. Thy people, Thy people. Who is He speaking to here? He
is speaking to Christ, isn't He? Thy people. He has a people. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of Thy power. Thy people. O the sheep I have,
they must come to Me. They are Mine. And they shall
all be righteous. All of them? Every one of them.
Every one of them. Or they don't profess righteousness
in themselves, but they're righteous. Look here with me. Just hold
that just a minute. Look back over here in Isaiah
chapter 45 again. Look in Isaiah chapter 45. They
shall all be righteous. All my people shall be righteous.
Look what he says in verse 24 of Isaiah chapter 45. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord Jesus Christ
I have righteousness. Everybody in Christ has righteousness.
Who is it in Christ? His people. His people. Look
what he says over in verse 17. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed,
nor confused, world without end." In the Lord. In the Lord you're
saved. In the Lord you're justified.
In the Lord you're righteous. Look back over again in chapter
16, verse 21. It's His people. It's His righteousness
that saves them, that they have. And look in verse 21, "...they
shall inherit the land forever." Not that little spot of land
over there in Palestine. They've got a heavenly land out
there. Abraham looked for a heavenly country. And God hath prepared
for them a heavenly country. And they're going to inherit
the earth eventually and all things, everything, the heirs
of God and join ours with Christ. And look at this, they are the
branch of my planting. They're my planting. Every plant
that my heavenly Father has not planted is going to be rooted
up. But you know something? Every plant that He has planted
will never be rooted up. If the Father has planted you,
you will never be rooted up. You say, Bruce, how can you possibly
say that? Never is a long time. You've
seen a lot of people rooted up. Yeah, but they weren't the Father's
plant. And you know how we know that none that He plants will
be rooted up? They didn't plant themselves.
Who planted them? Look at the last portion of verse
21. The work of My hands, My people who are all righteous,
They shall inherit the Lamb. They are the branch of My planting.
They are the work of My hands. And I'm going to be glorified
in that work. Indeed. When you and I first come to
the Lord, when we're first converted, when the Lord first saves us,
we see a lot of self in that, don't we? It's what we felt. It's what
we saw. It's what we did. We talked mostly
about us, didn't we? I felt my guilt. Why'd you come? I felt my guilt. We saw our need. We turned from our sin. We turned
from ourselves. We believed. We gave up ourselves
to the Lord to be saved. But after a while, When we've
grown a little bit in grace and knowledge, then we begin to see
the cause of our failing. We begin to see why we saw. We
begin to see why we turned. We begin to see why we gave up
ourselves to Him. And why was it? Why was it? His hand was working. We were
the work of His I tell you what the most blessed thing, dear
child of God, when He brings us finally to see, I granted
you repentance. I worked faith in your heart.
I broke your heart. Yes, you saw your sin, but who
gave you eyes to see it? Yes, your heart was broken, but
the sacrifices of God are a broken heart. I was talking to Brother
Henry not long ago and I asked him about if he was having any
communications with his radio broadcast there in Rocky Mountain.
And he wrote me back a letter and he said he got a note from
this woman. And she said, I believe that
God has granted me repentance. You know what she saw in her
repentance? She saw the hand of the Lord. She saw His work. He was working. This is the work of God that
you believe on His Son whom He has sent. Faithful is He who
hath begun a good work in you. Who began it? Do you see His hand in your salvation?
Aren't you grown enough in grace and knowledge now to look and
attribute to Him all the glory for it? While you and I call
upon sinners to repent, we try under God to get them to see
their guilt, their need of Christ. We know all along that it's going
to take the work of the hands of our Lord to do it. But you
know when He's working, He's working so secretly, and He's
working so mightily with His big hands, and yet we can't see
it, can we? We think it's us. And it is us. But it's His hands working. It's
His hands working. And His providence has got something
to do with it, too. Why were you coming out of Steve Dishman's
house to get a steak out of here? Providence had something. God's
hands was it. When Donnie Bell got up and opened
his text, I am my Beloved's. My Beloved is mine. The Lord's
hands is working for us. We didn't see it. You didn't
see it then, did you? But we see it now. We see it now. It's
His hand. And oh, doesn't it make you glad
to know this is not of you. This is not of you. He began
this work. And you know something? What
His hands begin, His hands will finish. His hands will finish. You say, Bruce, we've seen some
people fall. Yes, we have. But I tell you,
I tell you, if He's ever begun the work, you know what will
happen? Though a righteous man fall, he shall not be utterly
cast down. I will uphold him with my right
hand." Why does he get up? After he's fallen, why does he
get up with a broken heart and tear-dimmed eyes? and says, Oh,
Lord, I've sinned against You. Wash me, wash me, wash me. Why
does He do that? I tell you, He's got these hands
upholding Him. We've seen some falls, haven't
we? We've seen some falls. About
the time a man says, I ain't going to ever fall. I'm too big
for that. Oh, we'll see. We'll see. I have
seen some pretty big Christians. I have seen some pretty big children
of God fall. Haven't you? We have. But I tell you, there's a hand
underneath them. And I've often said, you'll not fall any farther
than that hand. And nobody's going to pluck you
out of that hand. I give My sheep eternal life
and they shall never perish. Why? Because nobody's able to
pluck them out of My hand. See His hand. See His hands. He showed them His hands. And then were the disciples glad.
when they saw the Lord. And Job said this. Job said,
I'm going to die. And the skin worms are going
to devour this body. But listen, he said, there's
coming a day. There's coming a day. I'm waiting. My body's
in the dirt. The skin worms are devouring
it. But I'm waiting. I'm waiting. What are you waiting
for, Job? I'm waiting for my Lord. to descend from heaven
with a shout. I'm waiting for Him to speak.
That's what He said. He's going to descend and He's
going to speak. Those who are in the graves shall
hear the voice of the Son of God. Job said, He's going to
call and I'm going to answer Him. Ain't that the way it goes?
Ain't that the order? He calls and we answer. He draws
and we come. He teaches and we learn. That's
the order of it, ain't it? And Job said, He's going to call,
and I'm going to answer Him. And I'm going to see Him. I'm
going to see Him. My eyes are going to look into
His eyes. He's going to change this vile
body. How's He going to do that? Job
said, He's going to have a desire to the work of His hands. You talk about helplessness now.
You talk about needing to see His hands. When we lay decayed
in the grave and nothing left is dust, what can we do? Nothing. I need to see his hands, don't
you? But Job said he's going to have this art in the work
of his hands. With the working whereby he's able. And he's going
to fashion, he's going to fashion this vile body like unto his
glorious body. How's he going to do that? His
hands. The work of his hands. And I'm telling you, He can do
it quick. He can do it quick. And you talk about multitasking.
In the blinking of an eye, He's going to change this foul body.
And not only one body or two bodies, but a multitude. He's
going to change them. And make them like unto His glorious
body. You see His hands? You see His hands in your regeneration? You see His hands in your repentance?
You see His hands in your coming to Him? You see His hands in
your keep coming to Him? Trusting Him? You see His hands
and you just keep on forsaking your sins? Keep on laying aside
the things that are keeping you from Him? You see His hand in
you? You see it? Then you are glad
if He showed you that hand. Turn back over to my text. We'll
deal with this quickly and we'll go eat. John chapter 20 and verse
20. He showed unto them his hands. I want you to get this. If you
get nothing else out of this verse 20, I want you to get this.
What did these disciples see? You say, well, they saw his hands.
Well, they saw his hands. Well, sure they saw his hands.
They saw the prince. Why, they saw that too. No doubt
about it, they saw that. But verse 20 says this, and this
is why I said hands are just an extension of the person. Look
what he said. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad,
look at this, when they saw the Lord. They saw His hands, yes. But
you know something? They saw Him. They saw Him. You say, Bruce, what do you mean
they saw Him? They saw Him plenty of times. But never like this. Never like this. They never had
saw Him like this. Did they know Him? Well, of course
they knew Him. Of course they knew Him. The
Father had revealed the Lord Jesus to these men's understanding.
You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. But they never
saw Him like this. Now they really saw who He was. Now they really saw what He was
all about. Never, brothers and sisters,
will we know Him as we should until we see His hands. They saw something of His love.
Of course they did. He protected them. He supplied
their need. Gave them gifts. But never had
they seen His love. like this, until they saw his
hands. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life, behold thy hands. What did they see in those hands? Here's love, they said. Oh, we
thought before he was going to set up a kingdom. And he's going
to let us have a part of it. And oh, we loved Him for it.
But now we see what love is about. Look at His hands. Look at His
hands. What did they see in those hands?
They saw for the first time who He really was. He is more than
a king. They believed that. Do you know
who He was now? He is our Redeemer. He just told them, they're going
to take me and betray me and crucify me and whip me and put
me to death and I'm going to be put in the grave and raised
the third day. And Peter said, Lord, that's nonsense. That's
nonsense. We don't want to hear anything
about that. We've got to hold you and we're never going to
let you go. They didn't know Him. They didn't know Him as
the Savior and Redeemer, redeeming them from the curse of the law.
Saving them from the wrath to come. Saving them from their
sins. Until they saw those hands. And
it wasn't just now they saw the Lord. Now we see who you really
are. Now we see what you're really
about. Why now we see your hand? What's Christ about, brothers
and sisters? Is He about these big assembly line healings? Is
that what He's about? good health and wealth? Is that
what he's about? People that can't get beyond
that foolishness need to see his hands. He's about salvation. He's about redemption. He's about
reconciling us to God. Behold my hand. Peter, your sin
is gone. Your sin of betrayal is gone.
Your sins have forsaken me. Your sins of cursing is gone.
Your sins of unbelief, it's gone. Behold my hands." That's what
it's about, ain't it? That's what it's about. It's
not about an earthly kingdom with Christ sitting on a throne
over there in Jerusalem somewhere. If those dear men ever see the
truth of who Christ is, they'll get out of that foolishness,
Larry. They'll come out of that foolishness. Behold, I have. Behold, I have. Look here in closing in Isaiah
chapter 49. Brothers and sisters, to see
the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed in the Holy Scripture
is to see a Christ whose heart is full of redeeming love and
grace. When we see His hands, we'll
see one whose heart is full of redeeming love and grace. One who knew our desperate situation,
One who knew our sins and our ignorance and our pride. One
who knew the devil had taken us captive. And one who knew
that only He could save us. And without any reservation,
without any resentment on His part, He freely and fully and
eternally without any possibility of change, saved us. Behold my hands. I tell you,
if you want good theology, if you want your heart settled in
the faith, behold His hands. Behold in His hands you see who
He is and what He's all about. And you'll never have to doubt
your salvation again when He shows you His hands. Oh, I'm concerned. Does the law
hold anything against me? Has the law been satisfied? That's a point I've got to know.
Justice, has it been satisfied? Yes. God is not angry anymore, dear
believer. Christ is not mad. Heaven is
not against you. Heaven is for you. Behold My
hands. Behold My hands. I tell you,
behold in His hands you can face life, you can face dying, you
can face death, you can face the river, you can face hell,
you can face the curse, you can face accusations of devils and
men if you see His hands. That settled it for these men.
He showed them His hand. And then were they glad. Isaiah
chapter 45 to 49. Look in chapter 49. Look
in verse 13. Verse 13 says this, "'Sing, O
heavens,' Isaiah 49, 13, "'Be joyful, O earth! Break forth
into singing, O ye mountains! For the Lord hath conquered His
people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.' But Zion, in
her awful unbelief and the darkness of her understanding, said, The
Lord hath forsaken me. My Lord hath forgotten me. But
the Lord said, can a woman forget her suckling child? Is Danny going to throw out little
Faith in the street and let her lay there to fend for herself?
Well, that's a horrible thought, isn't it, Danny? Oh, to think
about that sends chills. No, Danny's not that way. No,
she's not that way. She'd run in front of a car to
save Faith. Can a woman forget her suckling
child? That she should not have compassion
on the son and the daughter of her womb? Yea, there are instances,
there are cases they may forget. Yet, will I not forget you? Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Ah, if you can see that. Lord,
show me that. Written in blood upon the palms
of His hands. Written in covenant mercies.
Nobody will ever scrub you from the palms of His hands. Thy walls are continually before
Me. He showed to them His hand. Then were they glad.