Let's turn back to Luke chapter
24. Lord willing, next Sunday evening,
I want to look at the passage that I just read and look at
everything the Lord says, but I couldn't get away from this
thought. Verse 39, behold my hands. Verse 40, and when he had thus
spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. But I want to think
about this thing of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
right now, as we speak, there is a man in glory, seated at
the right hand of the Father with hands. And there are scars in those
hands, even as we now speak. When the Lord Jesus looks at
his hands, he sees scars. Now one of the things that separates
men from all other creatures, their hands. You look at the works of art
done by hands. You look at the amazing thing
that are done in medicine with the hands. You think of the brilliant
things that are done in science and technology with the hands. Now, animals are much stronger
than us. I guess you could argue that
their feet are better because they can sure run faster. But
there are things we do with our hands that no creature could
ever do. The touch of sympathy. The touch of compassion. It's true that the hands of man
as God's creature makes him different than the rest of creation. And as I said, even as we now
speak, the Lord Jesus Christ has hands, real hands with scars
in those hands. Now in the Bible, The hand of
God is used symbolically to speak of his strength. The hand of
God. It's used to speak of the strength
of him in creation. The heavens are the work of what? The hands. The hands of the Lord
are used to describe his sovereignty. When the actual murderers of
Christ are described, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. The hand of the Lord is used
to describe punishment. The hand of the Lord was heavy
there. The hand of God controls and
determines the destiny of all men. Now that's the power of
his hand when we're talking about his hands. And if you're a believer, you like it that way. No, I should
say you love it that way. I think of David when he had
committed that awful sin in numbering the people of Israel without
the atonement money. And that's why it was so bad.
It wasn't just because he numbered the people, but he numbered them
without the atonement money, the silver shekel of the sanctuary. And the Lord chastised him for
this. And if you remember, he gave
him three choices. You can have seven years of famine. You can flee from your enemies
for three months or I'll send three days of pestilence. And what did David say? He said,
let us fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are
great. And let me not fall into the
hand of men. Now, do you see what David's
saying? I would rather be in his sovereign hand when his mercies
are so great than in the hand of men. Listen to these testimonies. The father loveth the son. I do know who the father loves.
He loves the son. and hath given all things into
his hand." Jesus, knowing the Father, had
given all things into his hand. And right now, me and you are
in his hand. Utterly and completely in his
hand. I love this scripture from Hebrews
1, unto the son he saith, and this is the father speaking,
unto the son he saith, thy throne O God is forever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,
and thou, Lord, in the beginning. This is God the Father speaking
to God the Son. And thou, Lord, in the beginning,
hath laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of thy hands. Speaking of the hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. And these
hands, I repeat, that the father has delivered all things into
his hands, they still have the print of the nails in them. Now this is an awesome thing to think about.
Revelation 1.16 says, In his hand were seven stars. And those seven stars were the
angels of the seven churches, the pastors of the seven churches. And what that means is, is if
I am a God called pastor, I'm in his hand. He's doing His work
through somebody like me. Now, talking about something
that's scary, talking about something that makes me cry for grace,
for the Lord to deliver me from myself and cause me to truly
be one of His angels, just the whole responsibility of being
a spokesman for the Lord, it's an awesome thing to even think
of, but are you putting too much power in the preacher's hand?
I'm not putting any power in the preacher's hand. Not a bit. It's all in His hand. Now, I'd like to go through the
Scriptures. I might have to stick with the New Testament because
there's too much in the Old Testament for this that refer to the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you turn with me to Matthew
chapter 8? You know, this is a passage of Scripture
that For whatever reason, it always
speaks powerfully to me. I'm thankful for this passage
of scripture. It's something that I can enter into all the
time, and I'm entering into it right now. Verse one, when he
was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. This is after he gave the sermon
on the mount. And behold, there came a leper. and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Now he worshiped him. This is the issue that has to
be settled first. He's to be worshipped without reference
to what he does or doesn't do for me or you. He's to be worshipped. And he didn't know whether or
not the Lord was going to heal him. He said, Lord, if you will,
it's all up to you, your sovereign, glorious will. If you will, you
can. Make me clean. And that is what I need more
than anything else to be made clean. I'm filthy and I need
to be made clean and I can't make myself clean. Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. He understood the supremacy of
the will of Jesus of Nazareth. Everything was in his hand and
he understood this and if you ever come to Christ, you're going
to understand the same thing. I don't have any question about
that. Ain't nobody ever come to Christ that didn't come just
like this fella did. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Verse three, and Jesus put forth
his hands. He put forth his hand and touched
him. And you know that that man hadn't
been touched in years. He was filled with leprosy. Nobody
would touch him. But the Lord, Mark's account
says, moved with compassion, reached forth his hand and touched
him, saying, I will be thou clean. Now this passage of scripture
lets us know among many other things of the willingness of
his hand to touch a sinful leprous man and make him clean. Don't doubt this. Don't doubt
this. You know he has the power to
make you clean. You already know that. But don't doubt this. He
said, I will. And he put forth his hand and
touched him. Are you somebody that needs like
this leopard to be made clean? Do you cry with this leopard? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Hear his words. He reached forth
and touched him. He touched him before he heard
anything. And he said, I will be thou clean. Matthew chapter nine, verse 18. While he spake these things unto
them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped him. Now you're going to find this
throughout these scriptures. These men came first and worshiped. This comes first, worship. You'll only worship an absolute
sovereign, one in whose hands you are. And whatever he does
is right. Amen. He's the Lord. This man came and worshiped him
saying, my daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand
upon her and she shall live. And he did lay his hand upon
her and she lived. Now, think about this. This woman
was dead. not only dead in sins but physically
dead and he put his hand upon this woman and lifted her up
this little girl and she lived. Now such is the power of his hand
that he gives life to the dead and only he can do this. And
only God can do this, but this is what he does. He gives life
to the dead. As the father raises the dead
and quickens them, even so the son quickens whom he will. Matthew chapter 12, verse 46. While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak
with him. Then one said unto him, behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto
him that told him, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren,
for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven,
the same as my brother and sister and mother. Now, do you want
to be in his family where he stretches forth his hands toward
you and says, this is my mother, this is my brother, and this
is my sister? Well, who are these people? They're
those who do the will of the Father, which is in heaven. Now,
what is it to do his will? Please hear me. Let me tell you
exactly what it is to do the will of God. It's to believe
on Christ. If you believe on Christ, you're
doing the will of God. And if you want to be in his
family, Trust Jesus Christ right now as your salvation. Look nowhere else. And you're
doing the will of God. And you're his mother, brother,
and sister. Matthew chapter 14. Verse 25. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. Defying the law of physics, walking
on the sea while there was a great storm going on, the disciples
were all scared to death. Verse 26, and when the disciples
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying, it's a
spirit. And they cried out for fear,
but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, be of good cheer.
It's I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou bid me. And that word bid actually is
command. It's command, it's not invite me, it's command me. If
it be thou, command me to come unto thee on the water. And he
said, come. And when Peter was come down out of that ship, now
try to picture this in your mind, him putting his foot over and
stepping into the sea. And he started walking toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. He walked on the water to go
to Jesus, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid
and he began to sink and he cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately
Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Now
I wanna focus on this prayer. Lord, save me. You're the Lord. You have the
ability to save me. Save me, that's what I need.
I can't save myself. If you don't save me, I won't
be saved. Lord, save me. How often do you
pray that prayer? Maybe some of you have never
really prayed it. I tell you what, this is a prayer that he
always answers if it's truly prayed. Somebody says, well,
I said, Lord, save me. He didn't save me. You didn't
pray this prayer. You might've been trying to strike
some kind of deal with the Lord. If you do this, I'll do that.
But that's not praying, no. Lord, save me. And he reached
forth that almighty hand. him up. You see, this hand is
mighty to save and this hand always answers that prayer. Lord, save me. And he reached
forth his hand and he saved him. Matthew chapter 19, Verse 13, then were there brought unto
him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray. And just stop for a moment. Wouldn't
you like to see what happened to these kids after he put his
hands on them and prayed? Wonder what their life were like
after that. He put his hands on them to bless them. Now what
did the disciples say? The disciples rebuked them. They
rebuked them. We don't have time for this.
We've got bigger fish to fry than this and you bringing your
kids in here like this. And Mark's account says he was
much displeased. But Jesus said several little
children forbid them not to come unto me for if such is the kingdom
of heaven and he laid his hands on them and departed thence. Now what this is speaking of
is his willingness to bless. Don't you want him to bless you?
Whatever his blessing is. I want his blessing. I want his
favor. I want him to put his hand on me and bless me and the
disciples rebuked him for this but he rebuked them and this
demonstrates his willingness to bless you. His willingness
to bless you. He was willing to bless them
and he has such power to bless. I think of the Beatitudes. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. Oh, if I could just get to poor
in spirit, then I'd be blessed. No, he blessed you. That's why
you're poor in spirit. That's why you have nothing.
Blessed are they that mourn. Oh, if I could just start mourning,
then he'd bless me. No, if you mourn, you have been
blessed. Blessed by God in a way that
the world is not blessed. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. This is his blessing. Oh, he's
willing to bless. Mark chapter six. Verse one, and he went out from
thence and came into his own country. the place where he was
from. And his disciples followed him,
and when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the
synagogue, the place where he grew up. And many hearing him
were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands? Now, they acknowledged the works
that were wrought by his hands. He did what only God can do. And they saw that, and they acknowledged
it, and it did absolutely nothing for them. They said, is not this
the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph
and of Jude and Simon, and are not his sisters with us? And
they were offended at him, but they did acknowledge his hands
did mighty works. He brought physical matter into
the universe that had not been there before. He raised the dead.
He controlled the weather. His hands did these mighty works. But do you know that seeing his
mighty works won't make you believe? The only way you'll believe is
if he gives you faith. You can see all the miracles
you want and it won't do a thing for you. It is only him giving
you faith to see the mighty works of his hands. Mark chapter seven. Verse 31, and again, departing
from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came under the sea of Galilee
through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring
unto him one that was deaf. He couldn't hear. And he had
an impediment in his speech. He couldn't speak right. And
they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the
multitude and put his finger into his ears and spit and touched
his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he
sighed. And saith unto him, Ephetha,
that is, be opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake
plain. Now the only way me or you are
going to be able to hear is if he lays his hand upon us. You
will not be able to hear the gospel. You might give agreement
to it. You might understand that it's
what the scripture teaches, but you won't hear with hearing ears
unless he lays his hand upon you. And when he lays his hand
upon you, you'll hear the gospel as gospel. And here's what else
is going to happen. You're going to speak plain.
Your speech will correspond with what you've heard. You're gonna
say salvation is of the Lord. Your speech will be plain. If
you ever hear it, it's gonna come out of your speech. You're
saying salvation is of the Lord. Mark chapter eight, verse 23. Or verse 22. And he cometh to Bethsaida,
and they bring a blind man unto him, and he besought him to touch
him. And he took the blind man by
the hand and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on
his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him, there he put
his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw it. And he looked
up and said, I see men as trees walking. Now what was the problem? Did the Lord mess up? Did he
not lay his hands on him properly? Well, you know better than that.
He's the Lord. We don't even need to think anything like that.
But the Lord's teaching us something. What was this man's problem?
He saw men too big. That's always the problem. He
saw men too big. They were big as trees. Verse 25. After that, he put
his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up and he was
restored and saw every man clearly. Every man. Now if you're ever
given seeing eyes, you're going to see every man clearly. You're
going to see the man, Christ Jesus, clearly. You're going
to see everybody in him clearly. And you're going to see Adam
for what he is clearly. And you're going to see every
man who is an Adam clearly. You're going to see men as they
are. You're going to see the first Adam, the Lord Adam as
he is, and the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ as he is. And
you'll see every man clearly in their connection with him.
That's what it is to see clearly. You see every man clearly. Luke chapter four. Verse 40. Now when the sun was
setting, all that had any sick with diverse diseases brought
them unto him and he laid his hands on every one of them and
healed them. Now, what would I say about this?
He's got 100% success rate. Everybody he lays his hand on,
he heals. My response is to that, Lord,
lay your hand on me. Lay your hands on me, cause me
to be healed. Luke chapter 13, verse 11. And behold, there was a woman
which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could
in no wise lift up herself. I try to think of that, this
woman, I mean, she was bent over all the way down like this and
she could not lift herself up. She'd been that way 18 years. And you know what's interesting?
She was in the temple. That's the place she needed to be, but
we don't read where she saw the Lord and asked him to do anything
for her. I don't even know if she knew
who he was, but he knew her. And he saw her and he called
her a daughter of Abraham. Let's go on reading. Verse 12. And when Jesus saw her, he called
her to him and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity. And he laid his hands on her
and immediately She was made straight. And what'd she do? She did what anybody else would
do that happened to, she glorified God. She gave him the glory. Now, the fact that he did this
immediately, there was no gradually getting up and no, like that,
she was cured. This tells us that salvation
is completely his work. It's completely his work. And
he came and laid his hands on her and immediately she was made
straight, made righteous. Such is the power of his hand. Luke chapter 24, verse 50. And he laid them out as far as
to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Not only does he have the willingness
to bless, he does bless. He blessed them. And if you're somebody that wants
his blessing, he blesses you, just your desire to have his
blessing. means you've been blessed by Him. I want His blessing,
don't you? I'm not talking about... If the Lord gives me rotten health and material poverty and He blesses
me with His presence and His grace and His mercy, I'm supremely
blessed. and the poverty and the sickness
is a part of that blessing. Everything he does with a believer
is a blessing. He lifted up his hands at that
time and blessed them. John chapter 10 He's talking about a sheep. In
verse 24, then came the Jews round about him and said unto
him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. That's almost humorous, isn't
it? Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not. because
you're not of my sheep as I said to you now what a statement he
doesn't say you're not my sheep because you don't believe he
says you believe not because you're not of my sheep as I said
to you my sheep hear my voice and I know them And they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Now here's the
security of God's sheep, of Christ's sheep. He laid down His life
for them. They'll never perish and no one
is able to pluck them out of the sovereign savior's hand. What security there is there. Somebody says, do you believe
one saved always saved? Well, it depends on who does
the saving. It's that simple. If he saved you, yeah, I believe
one saved always saved. If you save yourself, nah, you'll
fall away. I'll assure you, you will and
I will too. But oh, if he saved you. Yeah, you're saved forever. No one can pluck any of his sheep
out of his hand. John chapter 20. Verse 19, then the same day at
Eden, Being the first day of the week when the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, peace be
unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Now, peace be unto you. You know, when the Lord said
this to them, we're going to deal with this more next week, but when the
Lord did say this to them, it was in the midst of their unbelief.
The two on the road to Emmaus had just come to them and scripture
says they didn't believe them. They didn't believe the report
of the women. They were in the room with the door shut for fear
of the Jews. They weren't there for a prayer
meeting. They were scared to death. And they didn't believe
anything that any of the witnesses brought to them. And Christ comes
up to them and says, peace. Peace be to you. Now that's not
what I would have said. I would have said, man, you guys,
why don't you believe what the Lord told you when he was alive,
how he would die and rise from the dead the third day? What's
wrong with you? But that's not the way the Lord
dealt with them. He said, peace. And what did he do? He showed
them his hands. Now, the scars in his hands is
all that's needed to give us peace. Don't need anything else. The
scars in his hands are all that's needed to give us assurance.
Don't look for assurance or a peace in yourself. Don't look within
your own heart. Don't look for some evidence
within you that they, well, I must be saying because I fill in the
blank, it's all false if you do that. I'll assure you, it's
not real. The only peace there is, is in what he did. He showed them his hands. Then were the disciples glad. All the Lord had to do to say
peace is show them his hands. Look what I did. Look what I
accomplished. Look in John 20, verse 24, but
Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when
Jesus came. I tell you, that's a, who was
the one disciple that remained unbelieving? The disciple that
wasn't there when Christ came. He wasn't there. Now, he might've
had a good reason for not being there, but the bottom line is,
if the Lord's in a place, there's no good reason to not be there,
is there? If the Lord's there. And Thomas wasn't there. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, we've seen the Lord. But he said unto them,
except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put
my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. Unbelief is always a choice. Always. You don't choose to believe. You believe because you have
no choice. But unbelief is always a choice. Verse 26, and after
eight days again, his disciples were within and Thomas was within. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Said
it again, then saith he to Thomas. He was so loving and merciful
with Thomas, so gracious. What's he say? Reach into thy
finger and behold my hands. and reach into thy hand and thrust
it into my side and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered
and said unto him, my Lord and my God, here's the only reason
you need to believe, the wounds in his hands and in
his side. Acts chapter 11, I've got two
more. Verse 21, and the hand of the Lord was
with them. And I know that's talking about
the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know you could say it's talking
about the hand of the Father, and you'd be right. If you said
it's talking about the hand of the Spirit, you'd be right. But
this is talking about the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed
and turned to the Lord. Anytime someone believes and
turns, there's one reason. The hand of the Lord. Now turn to first Peter chapter
five. This is the last one we'll look at. Verse six, humble yourselves. Therefore under the mighty, under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." Now, the hand of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the mighty hand of God, isn't it? Oh, the mighty hand of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what am I to do? I'm to humble
myself. When you've gone as low as you
can, get lower in his sight, in his presence. Humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due
time. And here's what happens when
you humble yourself under his mighty hand, you cast all your
care upon him. May God give me and you the grace
to do that even right now. To cast all your care, whatever
it is. I don't care what it is. He didn't
specify what kind it was. He said, cast all your care upon
him. For he careth for you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
hand of thy dear son. Lord, how we thank you that the
scars are still in his hand. That is a complete. Glorious declaration. That our
salvation is accomplished. And Lord, how we. Anticipate. looking upon his scars and knowing
that the only reason we're in heaven is because of what he
did. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.