A Portrait of Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about creating images of Christ?

The Bible commands not to make any graven images or representations for worship, as stated in Exodus 20. In Exodus 20:3-4, God explicitly commands us not to make any graven images or likenesses of anything for worship. This instruction emphasizes the seriousness of idolatry, and how creating symbols or images to represent God can detract from His true nature. The essence of worship is not about physical representations but is about worshiping God in spirit and truth, as affirmed in John 4:24. Creating images of Christ can misrepresent His glory and the reality of who He is, leading believers away from genuine worship.

Q: Why is it important to worship God without images?

Worshiping God without images honors His command and preserves the integrity of true worship. Worshiping God without images is crucial because it aligns with God's command in Exodus 20, which warns against creating graven images for worship. These images can distort our perception of God and lead us into idolatry, as they may serve as distractions from the true essence of God. Furthermore, worshiping in spirit and truth, as taught in John 4:24, emphasizes the relationship between the believer and God, rather than a reliance on physical representations. True worship recognizes God as spirit and seeks to encounter Him directly, free from the limitations of material symbols.

Q: How do we know Jesus' nature and characteristics?

We understand Jesus' nature and characteristics through revelation in Scripture, notably in Revelation 1. The nature and characteristics of Jesus Christ are clearly revealed through Scripture, particularly in the book of Revelation, where John provides a divine portrait of Christ. In Revelation 1:12-17, John describes Jesus in His post-resurrection glory, emphasizing His eternal nature as Alpha and Omega, and depicting Him as a great high priest among the churches. This revelation is sufficient for believers, as it presents a complete understanding of who Christ is and His ministry. By studying these passages, believers can appreciate the majesty and holiness of Christ, which far exceeds any human representation.

Q: Why should Christians focus on the Word of God over images?

Focusing on the Word of God enriches spiritual understanding and avoids the pitfalls of idolatry. Christians should prioritize the Word of God over images because Scripture provides the true revelation of God and His will, while images can result in misconceptions and idolatry. The Bible encourages believers to seek God’s truth directly from His Word, where we find clear teachings and descriptions of Jesus. In John 4:24, Jesus emphasizes worshiping God in spirit and truth, which implies deriving our understanding of Him from His spoken Word rather than physical representations. By relying on Scripture, believers guard against the dangers of relying on inadequate and potentially misleading images, fostering a deeper and more authentic relationship with God.

Now this message is called, A Portrait of Jesus Christ. Artists and sculptors have tried
for centuries to paint pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are literally thousands
of these paintings and statues and pictures and crucifixes,
crosses in homes and churches and stores and bookstores, Bible bookstores. All of these paintings and pictures
are all over the world. And it may be that there is someone
in this congregation who has some of these pictures in your
home. But I say unto you very positively and very strongly, I dislike
these paintings and pictures with a passion. It's not that I am willing to
tolerate them or I'm willing to overlook them. I despise them. I despise them. I consider them
to be idolatrous, without apology. I consider them to be idolatrous,
and I consider them even the best ones. to be dishonoring
to my Lord. And I'll give you two reasons
for that. You may think I'm unreasonable, but believe me, and I can say
this, there was a time when I was a novice. There was a time when
I was a beginner. There was a time when I struggle with some of these
things. But by his grace, you and I have
been in the Word a long time. And there are some things that
are very much established in our thinking and in our faith. And this is one of those things.
And I have two reasons for disliking all of these religious symbols.
Two reasons. The first reason is this, and
I ask you to turn with me to Exodus 20. The first reason for
despising these religious symbols and pictures is a direct commandment
of our Lord. a direct commandment of our Lord. In Exodus chapter 20 verse 3,
listen, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. That's a little
G there, no other gods. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, any stature, any carvings, any paintings,
any portraits of any likeness of anything that's in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. I shall not make any of these
graven images." Somebody says, well, that says nothing in heaven,
earth, or under the earth. Can't we have pictures of our
children? Can't we have pictures of our mothers and fathers? Of
course. This is talking about worship here. This is talking about worship.
Do you see that? It's talking about, Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt have no idols. Thou shalt have no representatives. Thou shalt have no representations
other than me, and don't make any statues or any carvings or
any pictures for worship or for symbolism or for gods or for
representative of God of anything in heaven, earth, or under there.
God, an angel, or anything else. Don't make these things. Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. You know,
the woman at the well said to our Lord, she said to our Lord,
she said, you say Jerusalem is the place to worship, the place
to worship. Worship has no designated place. Our fathers say in this mountain
is the place to worship. Christ said you worship, you
know not what. God is spirit. That is the key. It's not God is a spirit, God
is spirit. And they that worship God, worship
him not with carvings and statues and idols and crucifixes and
crosses and mementos and representatives. They that worship God, worship
him in spirit and truth. That's what the Word says. The
Father seeketh such to worship Him. And then when Paul was writing
to the Philippians, he said, we are the true Israel. We are the circumcision who worship
God in spirit and rejoice in Christ and have no confidence
in the flesh. I hope you'll read my little
article in the bulletin this morning on page 3 on the nakedness
of worship. I quoted Spurgeon there, he said,
the sooner, the more quickly we get back to the nakedness
of worship, the closer we'll be to true worship. I mean without
the candles, without the special uniforms, without the robes.
without the even symbolism as an open Bible up here on the
pulpit with a pair of glasses on it, or a candle on each side,
or holding hands around the room. You see, when man was created
in the image of God, male and female, they were naked. They
knew not that they were naked. They didn't need any support.
They didn't need any covering. They didn't need any clothing.
They didn't need anything additional. They walked with God. But as
soon as sin came, they had to put on clothing. And the further
our religion is from God, the more clothing it needs to cover
its ugliness. But when a man loves God in here,
a woman, knows God and loves God, believes God, rests in Christ,
trusts Christ, they come before Him in a barn, on a street, in
a car, in a home, in a backyard, in a plant or a factory, with
no candles, no symbolism, no crosses, no pictures, no portraits,
no statues, no nothing, but God Almighty in the person of Christ.
and love him and adore him. And anyone who needs a representative
of his God does not know the living God. That's my second
reason for rejecting these paintings. First, the direct commandment
of God. Secondly, I despise and reject them because of the utter,
total, complete impossibility the impossibility of putting
on canvas anything that even resembles the unspeakable indescribable
glory of my Lord. I ask you, how in the name of
reason, how in the name of common sense can a frail, foolish mind
like mine hope to put on a piece of paper All that Almighty God
is and was and ever shall be, the best I could draw would be
totally dishonoring to him. It would be like a two-year-old
who is going to draw a picture of his father, and he draws something
there. Well, you won't send it to your
boss in your neck brochure, I'll tell you that. If you're applying
for a job, you won't send that picture. Not any likeness of
you whatsoever, dishonoring to you, ugly. Think of putting on
a piece of paper, him whom the heavens can't contain. Now you
think about that. Think about confining to a piece
of clay the brightness of his glory. Think about it. Think about reducing the express
image of his glorious person to a picture on the wall. Why,
it's all dishonoring to our Lord, totally dishonoring. Any replica,
any portrait, any painting, any picture, any statue of our Lord
Jesus Christ is dishonoring. I thought about this for a few
moments. Why not assign someone, some
would-be revelator of God, assign him a task, say to him, say to
this artist, say to this sculptor, draw me a picture, make me a
statue of the Spirit of God moving on the face of the waters. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom all things were created. Or, draw me a picture, make me
a statue of him who spoke out of the burning bush to Moses,
I am that I am. Or, draw me a picture, make me
a statue of the Shekinah glory of God overshadowing the mercy
seat. That would be an assignment,
wouldn't it? or the rock that followed them,
or the pillar of fire, or the cloud by day, or the angel of
the Lord who wrestled with Jacob, or the angel of the Lord who
ascended in the fire of Manoah's sacrifice. Paint me a picture
of that. Or Jacob's ladder, which reached
into heaven. Or Melchizedek, our Lord Jesus
Christ, who appeared to Abraham. Draw me a picture of what Simeon
saw when he lifted his eyes to God and said, now let me depart
in peace. I've seen your salvation. Or
draw me a picture of the glorified Christ that the disciples saw
in the man of transfiguration when his clothing glistened like
the sun. Or draw me a picture of that
suffering Lamb of God, whose blood came from the pores of
His body, whose visage was marred as no other, whose countenance
from which we must turn away. Draw me a picture of the suffering,
agonizing Lamb of God in His anguish, crying, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Draw me a picture of the scapegoat. under the wrath of God, bearing
our sins into the wilderness, separated from God. Draw me a
picture of the risen, exalted Christ before whose feet Thomas
fell and said, My Lord and my God. Or the risen Christ whom
Paul saw on the road to Damascus and was blinded by the sight. Or draw me a picture of the glorious
intercessor and mediator whom Stephen saw when he said, I see
the Son of God standing at the right hand of God. Put that on
paper. But until you can, until you
can, until you can give a true portrait of Christ, someday I'll see him. Now I see
through a glass dimly, but someday I'll see him. But until you do,
and until you can, put up your canvas, put up your clay, lay
down your brush, lay down your pen, and do what all have done
who really saw the Lord fall at his feet. Take off your shoes. Old Moses
was walking there on the mountain, probably looking for some wandering
sheep He looked over there and he saw a bush burning. Well,
he'd seen bushes burned before, but not like that one. It just
kept burning. It just kept burning. It just
kept burning, and it wasn't consumed. And he started over like any
of us would have to see this strange thing, and a voice said,
Take off your shoes. You're on holy ground. And then when Moses asked the
Lord who he was, he said, I am. I
am that I am. You know, when Job saw the Lord,
he said, I put my hand on my mouth. When Isaiah saw the Lord,
he said, I'm cut off. When Daniel saw the Lord, actually
saw a vision of the Lord. He said, my comeliness melted
into corruption. When Thomas saw his risen glory,
he fell at his feet. Mary always sat there. That's
just her common place, at his feet. Every time he talks about
Mary, he said, the one that sat at his feet. I want that to be
me. The one that sat at his feet. Admit the impossibility. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying
that these things to which our world is so seemingly committed
and given, and I'll tell you this, they say if you can't lick
them, join them, not me. I'm going to keep fighting. Because of the direct command
of our Lord, And because this whole thing is dishonoring to
my God. You want a portrait of Christ? Turn to Revelation 1.
I'll give you a portrait of Christ. I'll give myself one. Here it
is under divine revelation. Listen. Revelation chapter 1. Let's begin with verse 9. Revelation chapter 1, verse 9.
And this is sufficient for believers. This portrait is sufficient.
Verse 9, John said, I, John, who also am your brother, in
other words, I'm no superman. John says, I'm your brother.
I'm just like you. I'm a man of flesh and bones
and blood. That's what he said, I'm your
brother. And not only that, but I'm your companion in trouble.
I'm a man who's known trouble and trial in the kingdom of our
Lord. I'm your brother, I'm your companion
in trouble in the kingdom of our Lord, and patiently with
you waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ. I'm your brother.
Ordinary fellow. And now what he's trying to get
across to us there, I'm your brother, I'm your companion in
trouble. I'm not excluded from trouble. I'm not deferred. In fact, he
goes on and says, I was in the island that's called Patmos.
You know what he's doing there? He's alone. He's in exile. He's
been kicked out of his country. He's been put there as a prisoner
on that island. Why? For the Word of God, because
I preached the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,
for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here's this brother. This man,
this companion in trouble, he was the oldest apostle. He lived
to be the oldest. They tell us he lived to be in
his nineties, I believe. All the other apostles were executed. All the apostles of Jesus Christ
were executed except John. He's the only one that didn't
die on a cross or was beheaded or some stoned Every apostle
was murdered except John, and he was exiled to this island,
the Isle of Patmos, because of the gospel he preached. And he
says in verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Now
then, the Lord's day is the first day of the week. It's the day
of our Lord's resurrection. Another thing about which I've
made up my mind. It's the day on which our Lord arose from
the dead. It's the day on which the early
church met together and preached the gospel and broke bread. I don't have any trouble with
seven-day Adventism. It's law. It works. I don't have
any trouble with yesterday. You say, don't you keep the Sabbath?
Yesterday was the Sabbath. You didn't keep it either. The
Sabbath's always been the seventh day. It never has been anything
else. It always has been, it always
will be. The Sabbath is Saturday. It's the seventh day. That's
the Sabbath. And we are not commanded to observe
the Sabbath. Nowhere in the New Testament
is the church commanded to keep the seventh day. Christ is our
Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. And our
Lord lay in the tomb on the seventh day, all day Saturday. He arose
on the first day of the week. And Paul exhorted the church
upon the first day of the week. The church met together and preached
and prayed and broke bread and brought their gifts and laid
by in stores. God prospered them on the first
day of the week. And John's over here on this
island in exile. And he can't meet with them.
He knows they're meeting. He's sitting here on this island
by himself in exile with nobody, nobody to whom he can preach
and nobody with whom he can worship. It doesn't keep him from worshiping.
He said, on the Lord's day, I knew that my friends were in all Ephesus
and different places were meeting together to worship God. And
he said, I was in the Spirit of the Lord on that day. I was
worshiping. on a vacation or on a business trip or something.
I know some of you men have been. And at 10.15 on Sunday morning,
you look at your watch and you say, well, they're singing now. And you look at 10.35 and you
say, well, Brother Henry's preaching. You look at 12 o'clock and say,
he's probably still preaching. But John's a man, that's what
he's saying, I'm your brother. I'm your brother, I'm your companion
in trouble, and I'm here on this island, but I was in the Spirit
of the Lord on the Lord's day, thinking about divine things.
And he said, I heard behind me a great voice. I heard a great
voice, like a trumpet. I hear about talking about the
still, small voice, and that's all right. I know that's in there.
But when our Lord speaks, and when our Lord speaks, He speaks
great things in a great way. He does. I've always connected
this whispering with subtlety and maybe craftiness. You know,
Satan whispering. I imagine he whispered in the
ear of Eve. I don't imagine he boomed in
a great voice. I imagine he whispered to Eve.
Suggestions. Suggestions in his subtlety and
craftiness. But John said that's not the
way he spoke on the Isle of Patmos. I heard a great voice, like a
trumpet, saying, verse 11, I'm Alpha and Omega. Alpha is the first letter of
the Greek alphabet. Omega is the last letter. They put out a movie some years
ago, The Omega Man, that's the last man, that's what they meant. So he says, I'm Alpha, I'm the
first, and I'm Omega, I'm the last, and I'm all in between. That's what this great voice
is saying. I'm everything. I'm the first, alpha. I'm the
last. You start with me, when you go
through all that God has to say, you're still in me. You start
with me, and when you go all through what God has to give,
you're still in me. You start with me, and you go
through all that God will pay any attention to or recognize,
and you're still in me. You start with me and you go
through all that God will pay any attention to or receive,
and you are still in me. That's right. In Christ. For the benefit of anyone who
may think that a preacher can preach Christ too much, let him
read this verse. I'm Alpha and Omega. I think we can easily get sidetracked
on one aspect of Christ's ministry and work. No question about it,
many do. But you can't preach Christ too
much, because anything you preach, God's eternal purpose and God's
eternal goal, it's Christ. He's alpha and omega. He's the
first and the last. He's beginning and the end, and
all in between. And so verse 12 says, and I turned
to see the voice that spake to me, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? When you come, if ever we quit reading the Bible as
a devotional book or as a theological or a good luck charm and really start having
some interest in what's being said, it'll be blessed to our
profit and to our growth. That's right. I got a card the
other day from somewhere to show me how to read the Bible through
in a year. I wouldn't start on one of those programs. You say, what's wrong with reading
the Bible through in a year? The very objective is wrong. That's right. Ritual, form, the
very objective. You're not reading to find Christ,
you're reading to get through it in a year. To say, I read
the Bible through every year. I tell you, the heart's a deceitful
little rascal, desperately wicked. Satan's subtle. He traps us and
tricks us in places before we know we've been trapped and tricked.
Because he's so subtle. And he uses good things. That's
right, he uses the good things. He uses the things that the natural
man thinks are commendable. That which is highly approved
of me and is an abomination to God. That's right. When we start reading, John heard
this voice, I'm Alfred Omega. Well, he didn't turn because
it was the first day of the week. He turned to see who spake. Oh, if I can just find out who
this is. Are you excited? Are you interested? Oh, he said, I turned. All right, let's see. Here it
is now, here's the portrait of Christ. I turn to see, do you
want a portrait of our Lord? Do you want a real portrait of
Christ as He is now? I tell you this, a man's responsible
for the revelation of Christ given in his day. If you lived
in the days of Abel, you'd bring the Lamb. If you lived in the
days of Moses, you'd come to the priest and the tabernacle. But you live in 1989, and there's
a clear revelation of the Son of God and who he is and what
he did and why he did it and where he is now in this book. And there may have been a day
back yonder when in your ignorance and blindness you had these trinkets,
but here's your portrait of Christ. I turned to see the voices speak
to me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and
in the midst of the candlesticks one likened to the Son of Man."
What are these candlesticks? Do you remember verse 20? Look
down at verse 20. The last line of verse 20. The
seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches. These seven candlesticks are
representative churches. And he is in the midst of them. He is identified with them. Who is he? One likened to the
Son of Man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Almighty God took upon himself
human flesh. And when I turned to see the
voice that spake to me, he spake to me from the midst of his church,
from the midst of his people, I in them and thou in me. That
they may be one as we are. Where will you find Christ? Find
his church. That's where you'll find him.
Where will you find Christ? Find his sheep. That's where
you'll find him. Where will you find Christ? Find
his body. There's where the head is. In
the midst of the church. In the midst of his people. That's
where he is. These artists paint him out there
on the side of a hill. holding a lamb. These artists
paint him over there by himself, leaning by a rock, praying. These
artists paint him on the cross. He's in the midst of the church.
He's with his people. That's where Christ is. He's
here. And then notice the next thing.
And he was clothed with a garment down to the foot. What is this
garment? the garment of the great high
priest. Read it sometime back there when God told Moses the
garment to put upon Aaron. There was the robe. Aaron was
the high priest. Aaron was the Mediator. Avon was that great high priest
who took the atonement and the blood sacrifice and went into
the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat.
Avon was the Mediator. Avon was sent from God to represent
God to the people and he represented the people to God. And here in
the midst of the churches is our Lord Jesus Christ with that
robe on saying, I'm your priest. I'm your priest, I have the atonement."
And then around his chest, girded about the paps was a golden girdle. What's that? Well, that's the
breastplate on which was the names of his people. And that's
the golden girdle of not only the priest, but the king. He's
our king priest with authority. Oh, I tell you, I've never seen
a portrait like that, have you? I've never seen a portrait of
Christ by any of these artists in the midst of seven candlesticks,
his churches, with that great high priestly robe and that breastplate
on here with the names of Israel on that breastplate, and the
breastplate of the King. I've never seen that. And yet
that's the revelation he gave to John. And then verse 14, and
his head and his hands were white as wool, as white as snow. Brother Henry, some time ago
you preached from the Song of Solomon, and there the bride,
the church, saw her beloved with hair bushy and black as a raven. Do you remember that? Song of
Solomon, bushy and black like a raven. Well, that was a lover
speaking, and she saw his perpetual strength. She saw his perpetual
youth. She saw his perpetual love and
care and perpetual provision. Young, always young, youthful,
loving, always loving for eternity. That's the way she saw him. But
John here has revealed to him Christ, the Ancient of Days,
who is the everlasting Father. whose goings forth have been
of old. He is the wisdom of God. In him are all the hidden treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, Micah said, whose goings forth have
been of old from everlasting. That's the way John saw him on
the Isle of Patmos. His head as white as snow, white
like wool, the everlasting He keeps saying who was, who is,
and who is to come. And then he said, and his eyes
were as a flame of fire, a flame of fire. Didn't the bride in
the Song of Solomon say, my beloved's eyes are as a dove,
eyes of a dove, gentle, washed with milk? Yeah. But again I say, You've got this
one who came fleeing to her beloved into his arms, into his care,
into his tenderness and love and compassion, and seeing in
him that this love will never end. And seeing in him eyes,
gentle, washed with milk like a dove, looking upon her with
eyes only for her in affection and tenderness. But here John
saw our Lord And his eyes showed his omniscience, a flame of fire
knowing all things, reaching to every place, to all people,
to all powers, to all things. His eyes pitying but not pitiful. His eyes compassionate but not
compromising. These eyes burn away the hypocrisy
and burn away the darkness and seize things as they are. And
these eyes are piercing and penetrating and searching and bringing to
light all this dark and obscure. But true faith does not fear
all-seeing eyes. That's right. I'm glad he knows
things to be as they are. God's people are never called
hypocrites. No, sir. That term was reserved
for the Pharisees and the lawyers. You know what Peter said? In
spite of the fact that Peter had denied him, in spite of the
fact that Peter had quit the ministry and gone fishing, in
spite of all that, he appealed to what? When the Lord said,
ìDo you love me,î what did he appeal to? The omniscience of
the Lord. He didnít appeal to his works,
he didnít appeal to his feelings, he didnít appeal He didn't say,
hadn't I been a long time with you? He just said, you've got
eyes like fire. You know all things. You know
I love you. That's what I appealed to him. Got anything else? Okay, look at that. And his feet,
verse 15, John said his feet. He just took a glimpse at this
portrait. His feet were like fine brass,
burned in a furnace. When I think of feet, when I
think of that white gray hair, I think of antiquity, age and
wisdom. When I think of those burning
eyes, I think of piercing sight right into the heart of the darkness,
knows all things. When I think of feet, I think
of walking. Don't you? Because feet are for walking. And he walked the winepress of
God's wrath all alone. He walked through the fire. And
his feet came through the fire, sparkling and brilliant as brass
burned in a furnace. They said, who is this coming
from Eden with dyed garments? What are your garments doing
splattered red? I've been walking the winepress
all alone, and no one was with me. But he came out of it, thank
God. I don't want to walk it, I'll
be there for eternity. But he walked it, and he came
out with his feet. His walk is through the furnace
of affliction for his elect, and I tell you something else,
these feet like brass are for trampling out his enemies. And listen, and his voice, go
on, and his voice was as the sound of many waters. Some of
you, I know, Darcy and I did one time, stood on the bank of
Niagara. Now that's something to see.
Wow! The force of that water. The
sound of that water. The power of that water. And
I'll tell you this, my Lord's voice His voice, the majesty
of it, the force of it, the power of it, cannot be explained and
it cannot be arrested. He said, My word will not return
unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I have said it. Power of the gospel. Power of
the gospel. Our gospel came to you not in
word only, but in what? Power. Power. And what's this? He had in his
right hand seven stars. Preacher, what's that? Down in
verse 20, the seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches.
He has pastors. I know, my dear people, as well
as anybody here, and I regret it, and it's sad, and I'm embarrassed. the compromise and the covetousness and the ignorance and the foolishness
and the professionalism of today's preachers. There is no profession
in all of this world, all professions have phonies and cracks, but
there's no profession as overloaded with phonies as the ministry.
That's just so. But that does not do away with
the fact that God has his messengers. God has his true preachers, and
he has them in his hand. He has them in his hands. First,
they're where he put them. They're where he put them. Secondly,
they only reflect his light. He had in his hand seven stars. The star only reflects the light
of the sun. Is that not correct? Thirdly,
as stars in his hand, where he puts them, showing reflected
light, his light, they guide men to him. That's right. Remember out there in the Navy,
you fellas in the Navy shooting those stars, shoot one over here
and over there and draw some lines and know right where you
are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? You get the right star now. You
better not put your sight on one of those shooting stars,
like that fella Copeland and Falwell and the Bakers and
all these bright stars for a moment. They'll be gone pretty soon.
And if you set your, what do they call that thing we used
to recite with? Sextant or something? If you spot one of them, you're
a goner. But if you can find one of God's
preachers, not just one, one there, one there, one there,
and draw a line, then Christ will be in the midst of them.
Don't follow one. I've always told all the young
fellas, don't have a one-man ministry, because the folks will
be like you. That would be unfortunate. But he had seven stars. All right. And then out of his mouth went
a sharp two-edged sword. What's that? That's his word.
That's his word. Two-edged sword? Yeah, two-edged. It cuts away our sins. And it
circumcises our hearts. It does both. It's the savior
of life unto life and death unto death. It defends his friends and destroys his enemies. It
cuts both ways. Somebody said it's the law and
the gospel. That would be all right, too. To strip us and to
close us. And then watch this, and I'll
wind it up. was as the sun shining in its strength. Oh, paint me
a picture of that. And nobody could look at it.
You ever looked at the sun in its strength? You won't look
long. That's the reason God said to
Moses, get in the cliff to the rock. I'm going to pass by. You
can't look at my face. I'll let you get a brief glimpse
of my hind parts and then you're going to be shook up. And verse 17, and when I saw
this portrait of Christ, when I saw him, I fell at his feet,
his dead. I fell at his feet. But thank God, he laid his hand
on me, and he said, don't be afraid. And I'm telling you this,
he's the only one who can tell you that. Don't you ever let
anybody else tell you you're saved. or not to fear or peace. He's the only one who can do
it. And he said, don't be afraid. And the reason you don't have
to be afraid is because I'm all you need. I'm the first and the
last. I'm he that liveth. I was dead. Yes, that's true.
But behold, I'm alive forevermore and you don't need to be afraid
because I got the keys of hell and death. And I can let people
out and I can put people in. So you don't have to be afraid, because I'm your Lord. Oh, that's
good news. All right, let's sing 272 for
a closing hymn. Number 272, The Solid Rock, number
272. Mike, you come lead us, please.

A Portrait of Christ

What does the Bible say about creating images of Christ?

Why is it important to worship God without images?

How do we know Jesus' nature and characteristics?

Why should Christians focus on the Word of God over images?

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A Portrait of Christ

What does the Bible say about creating images of Christ?

Why is it important to worship God without images?

How do we know Jesus' nature and characteristics?

Why should Christians focus on the Word of God over images?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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