Behold the man, Jesus Christ, is presented as the perfect specimen of humanity and the true impression of God, embodying both divine and human natures. The sermon explores John's Gospel and First John, highlighting Jesus' audibility, visibility, scrutability, and tangibility as evidenced through the four Gospels and John's epistles, emphasizing his words, works, person, and grace. It contrasts the divine attributes of Christ with his human experiences, such as his suffering and compassion, ultimately concluding that Jesus is the Word of God, fully God and fully man, whose sacrifice and life offer salvation and reconciliation.
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We have any garment that causes sweat. So we're very grateful for the wise counsel of our beloved brethren. The scripture says a day spent in thy courts is better than a thousand. We have had one of these days today. The remembrance of the Lord Jesus this morning was absolutely a delight to our hearts and must have filled the hearts of our great God. And then the ministry of our beloved brother, touching on some of the precious fundamentals that we love dearly and that are being assailed today in many angles with a real delight to us.
Shall we turn, please, to two scriptures, the first in the Gospel by John, chapter nineteen. John, and reading verse one. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers planted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews, and they smote him with their hands.
Pilate therefore went forth again, and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wailing the crown of thorns, and the purple gold, and Pilate said unto them, Behold the man. A second scripture, please, in John's first epistle. First epistle of John chapter one. I'm reading verse one. That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.
But once again the Lord will bless to us these readings from his precious word. Last night our subject was, behold, You are God. And God who is in the midst of the mighty, he will save, he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing. Behold, you are God. Tonight I would like to examine with you the subject, Behold the man. Like man he walked, like God he talked. His words were oracles, his words were miracles. of man the finest specimen of God the true impression.
Through all humanity, crowned with deity, no taint of iniquity, no trace of infirmity, eke homo, behold the man, eke deus, behold thy God. Veiled in flesh, but God hates thee, hail incarnate deity. Behold the man. Remember, when the Apostle Paul took up his pen and wrote to the various churches, he had in mind again the Church of God in his ministry. The Apostle Peter, when he writes, it's the kingdom of God he has in mind.
But John is really special because he has a family of God in mind in his writing. And the book that we've just read from First John, the family expression is seen in each of the five chapters that we read. In chapter one, we'll family fellowship. In chapter two, it is family freedom. In chapter three, we'll family fruit. In chapter four, it is family fortitude. And in chapter five, it is family fullness. Family fellowship is the triumph of light over darkness.
The Lord said if we walk in the light, us he is in the light. We have fellowship one with the other, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. The triumph of light over darkness. In family, a freedom in chapter two is the triumph of life over death. He became the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. In chapter three, he deals with family fruit, the triumph of love over hatred. Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God. The triumph of love over hatred. In chapter four, family fortitude, the triumph of truth over error. We're told to test the spirit, for many false prophets have gone out into the world, and especially in these days in which we live. The triumph of truth over error. And in chapter five, family fullness, the triumph of faith over the world. This is the victory that we have over the world, says John, even our faith.
He stresses the family. What better occupation of the family than being occupied with the one responsible for the family and who cares for the family? And that is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the days of John, there were several groups attacking the person of the Lord Jesus. There was one group and they were called Ebionites. A second group was called Dosites. And a third group was called Sarentians. These Ebionites, they observed Jewish law.
And they would not accept the apostleship of Paul. and they denied the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus. They were called Ebionites. Another group called Dothitis, and they denied the genuine manhood of the Lord Jesus. They said what men saw was a Christophany or a Theophany or a Ghost or an apparition, but he was not a real man. The third group, Syrians, They saw no union of the divine and human spirit in the person of the Lord Jesus. But they did see a spirit came upon him at his baptism and left him at his death.
But in one single verse of Scripture, John completely repudiates these evil doctrines. That which is from the beginning, he says, we have heard. We have seen with our eyes We have looked upon, and our hands have handled off the word of life. He was no ghost, no apparition. He was a real, genuine man, sin apart. There was one word that was very precious to John, and that was the word, word.
In John's Gospel chapter one, in the beginning was the word. And the word with God and the word with God, the same was in the beginning with God. That was a word of revelation. Then he takes up his pen here in the first epistle, and he brings again before us that word, word. That which is from the beginning we have heard. We have seen with our eyes, we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. This is a word of regeneration. So ably presented to us this morning by our beloved brother.
A word of revelation. A word of regeneration. And then he takes up his pen and brings before us again that word in the revelation. In chapter fifty, Jesus and I saw heaven open. And behold, the white hawks. And him that sat and it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness thought he judged and made war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head made a crown. And the name was written that no man knows but he himself. And he had an abyssure dipped with blood.
And his name was called the Word of God. That is a word of righteousness, a word of revelation, a word of regeneration, and a word of righteousness. Hallelujah. What a Savior. I would like to focus this verse in John one, verse one, and give it a link with the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew's gospel, there we have audibility.
That which is from the beginning we have heard. Audibility. Matthew was more interested in what he said than in what he did. We heard him. We have seen with our eyes visibility. And that's how he's presented in the Gospel by Mark. And we have looked upon that scrutability. And that's how he's presented in the Gospel by John. And our hands have handled of the Word of Life.
That's how he's presented in the Gospel by Luke. These four writers substantiate and vindicate. And John takes up these areas in this first verse, in the first epistle, chapter one, verse one. So in essence, in Matthew, he says, we heard him audibility. It is the grandeur of his words. In Mark, that which is from the beginning we have heard, we have seen with our eyes visibility. and that is the greatness of his work. We have looked upon scutability that takes us to John's gospel the glory of his person.
And our hands are handled of the word of life. Luke's gospel, the grace of his ministry. Granger, greatness, glory and grace are seen in the man. Christ Jesus. Again Matthew is more interested in what he said than in what he did. Audibility we have him. He was a real, genuine man. And he fell upon himself the word. Solomon said a word fitless spoken is as apples of gold in pictures of silver.
And such is the words given by the Lord Jesus as apples of gold in pictures of silver. Never man speak like this man. They marveled at the gracious words that proceeded forth out of his mouth. And so we are thankful to the sovereign spirit for a writer such as Matthew that brings before us the words of the Lord Jesus. In chapter four of Matthew's Gospel, the subject there endorsed is precious words. He went forth throughout all Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing those that were sick.
Precious words, the gospel of the kingdom. And beloved, what the Lord Jesus Christ majored in when he was here was the gospel. He came to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken heart, to give sight to the blind, to liberate the captive, and to preach the acceptable here of the Lord. And if the Lord preached the gospel, we ought to do likewise. Start to say there are some today, and they are actually ashamed of the gospel. But Paul says, and he was a giant intellect, I came not with persuasive words of man's wisdom, lest the gospel be of none effect.
He said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. And we've seen more revival in our day through the preaching of the gospel than was ever achieved by ministry. And we need ministry. But there's something about the gospel. And the disciples also follow in the footsteps of their master, and they preach the gospel. Fresh as well. Because it is a message that is unique in its source. It's the gospel of God. It's a message that's unique in its sweetness. It's the gospel of the grace of God.
It's a message that's unique in its standards. The gospel of the glory of the Blessed God. That's a message. We are here tonight because of the furtherance of the gospel. Flesh as words. But you remember in chapter eight of Matthews? There was the evidence of his powerful words. A centurion came to the Lord Jesus. and he says that he is a servant sick of the palsy. The Lord said, I will come and heal him.
The centurion says to the Lord Jesus, I am a man of authority. I see to this man go and he goeth. To this man come and he cometh. To this man do and he doeth. But I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof. But seek the word, and my servant shall be healed. Powerful word. In the Beatitudes in Matthew five, six, and seven, Matthew brings before us its practical words in the sermon on the In chapters twenty-four through twenty-five, the great Olivet discourse, material very applicable to the day in which we live.
Prophetical words. When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming? Prophetical words. And Matthew concludes his book by telling of peerless words. The message was given to the women by the tomb, to tell the brethren that the Lord Jesus was going into Galilee, and there he would meet them. This seems to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jacob in Genesis forty nine. Jacob says of the tribe of Naphtali, and Naphtali's territory bordered the Sea of Galilee.
Nastly is as a hindlet loose. He give it or speak it, good the word. As the one of the Lord's disciples came from Galilee's territory, except Judah's. He came from Piraeus, twelve miles south of Hebron, and the territory of Judah. As the one of these disciples were as hindlet loose, liberated. He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foul as clean. His blood avails for me.
They were liberated men, but Judas was still in bondage. And Judas, by transgression, says the ex of the apostle, went to his own place. He chose to go to hell. What a tragedy. So to complete the picture, Naphtali is as a hindlet loose. He give it or speak it goodly once. And so remember it was at Galilee that the Lord gave them the great commission. Heal his words. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.
Make disciples of all men. teaching them to observe whatsoever things I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So John nullifies these wicked theories. He was no apparition. We heard him. Audibility. The grandeur of it were. But this John here, we have seen with our eyes. Visibility. And that could be connected with Mark's gospel.
The greatness of his work. Matthew is work. Mark his work. We see him as God's great servant in Mark's gospel. And immediately he goes to work. Remember in chapter one, there's a leper clang by the moth. Never forget every time I think of a leper, my mind goes to the Bahamas. Dear Brother Alec has worked for many, many years, Alexander, many, many years amongst the lepers in the Lazaretta in Nassau.
He's taken me several times And the first time I went there, men deformed because of leprosy, and one gentleman called Albert said, Do you mind if I play my favorite hymn? I said, We'll be glad to hear your favorite hymn. And he prayed that night, It is where was my soul? Arthur Friedler conducting the Boston Talk. could not have moved with such emotion as he played that night. His friend Neely said, Do you mind if we sing our favorite hymn? I said, What's your favorite hymn?
The great physician, thou is near, and is sympathizing Jesus. I was filled with emotion. I said, Gentlemen, it's not well with your bodies, but thank God it's well with your soul. But one day it will be well with your body, as well as your soul, conformed body, soul and spirit. Like unto a beloved Lord, he touched the leper. And then you remember in chapter two, the palsied man. Lord, down thy friend, to the feet of a master. Rise, take up thy bed and walk.
The palsied man. There is Legion in chapter five sitting there amongst the Jews. No one could bind him. Travelers circumvented the area. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the lover of all men, moves in. Demands these demons to leave the man, join that head of swine. And they ran down and were choked in the sea of Gennesaret. And there he's sitting, closed, and in his right mind, in fellowship with the Lord here.
In chapter five of Mark's gospel, he feeds the hungry. And in chapter six, the death mute, when he says epitaph, and he's brought to bear his miraculous power on that dead mute. We've seen of late had experiences regarding death use, and my mind goes through a time in the city of Detroit, when Mrs. John Barkley, a sister, Mrs. John Brown is here, and she was working in a home on a man who was an ex-Jesuit priest. Fifteen years in Montreal, he taught in a seminary, left the system and married a lady in the city of Detroit.
Mrs. Bartley was giving him the gospel. But I was working with a colleague, and we were invited to go and see this ex-Jesuit priest. He was a real gentleman, a tremendous theologian. But he said that day, there is a void in my heart. His name was Jack Lefebvre. I said, well, Jack, let me ask you a question. My name is Neil. Was there ever a time that you received the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart? No, he said, I never did. I taught theology, but I've never ever invited him into my heart. Well, I said, there's your problem.
Well, it is like get on with it. So state by state we went to work on this gentleman. And he finally opened up in prayer. And he confessed his sin to the Lord. and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into his heart. I said, Jack, God has given you a great deal. He said, that is true. I said, do you think you could thank him again? And he prayed again. To the left was a gentleman to whom we had not been introduced. And he began to jump around in this room and he's hitting his chest and he's pointing upward. And we finally said, what is going on? And Mrs.
Lefebvre says, that's my brother Elmer. He's a deaf mute. And he's just gotten saved. I said, but we have had no communication with him. No, but when you were talking to Jack, he was reading your lips. And going out the door, he took my colleague and I in his arms at deaf mute. He is coursing down his cheek. And it goes this way. As much as it is simpler to thy cross-eye cling, O Lamb of God, I come, a deaf youth.
Just recently, a few months ago in Victoria, British Columbia, young lady, young lady there by the name of Anne Marie Buchanan, a remarkable story we can't have time to go into detail. But we were privileged to meet this girl and preach the gospel. She trusted the Savior. On the final night of her meeting, she and others were deprived. They read her testimony. She said, I was angry with God because I couldn't speak or hear. But now I love him.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, his voice, will be the first voice I shall ever hear. I am so happy. They got her into the Baptist prayer. And the brother who was baptizing her said, Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus? And sitting behind was the lady who was instrumental in giving her the message night after night by sign language, gave her a message. Are you a believer in the Lord Jesus? A faith shone like an angel and says, Ah! It was the only sound she could make. His voice shall be the first voice I shall ever hear.
And the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry did then what he will do ultimately to all deaf youth who are saved to bring them into that glorious experience for praising and magnifying the Lord either, for all eternity. I must be like my beloved brother and watch this clock. Brother Bill Hind, who labored in Jamaica for many years, told of a preacher who went on and on and on and half the audience up and left. And he started up again and went on and on. and the other half left except one man.
And so he apologizes to the gentleman in the front row. So I'm sorry the whole congregation has left. He says, I will be gone too, but I'm the next speaker. So John takes up his pen and marks visibility. We have seen him, the greatness of his work. And says John, he's a real man, and we have looked upon him, scrutability.
And I speak reverently of my master, things as John takes us into the laboratory. in his gospel to dissect the burnt offering. The Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew's gospel is presented to us as the trans part offering. In Mark's gospel we see him as the sin offering. But in John's gospel it's the burnt offering. And you remember the burnt offering in Leviticus one. Everything about the burnt offering and after offering ascended as a sweet bearing savor to God.
The priest got the skin. And so we are accepted in the beloved and we are clothed in garments of salvation. But I trust that everything is for the glory of God. So in John's Gospel you remember in the burnt offering the head and the inward and the leg were offered dissected upon the altar of burnt sacrifice. And that's how John seems to present the Lord Jesus. He sank the lovage off his head. Foolish intelligence.
Lord, to whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life? Lord, says Peter, thou knowest all things, foolish intelligence. And that a man today who would put a limitation upon the Lord as a man, what a tragedy. He is the omniscient Christ. He knows everything. In chapter one, he makes Peter, and he knows the parts. He says, Peter, I know who your dad was. He addresses Nathaniel.
He knew the present moral standing before God in the life of Nathaniel. The whole, the Israelites, in whom there is no Gaio, in whom there is no Jacob. He was a moral, upright man, was Nathaniel, and the Lord knew it. Went through, he found me, when I was under the fig tree I saw him. He knows the past. He knows the present. He said, you marvel because I said I saw thee under the fig tree? You'll see greater things in me. Angels are sending and descending upon the son of man.
He knows the future. past, present and future. He knows everything and make no mistake about it. His head, his legs, John seeing Jesus as he walks there, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Walking in solitary grandeur and dignity, these men never forgot Let's state the walk of the Lord Jesus inasmuch as John and Andrew left John the Baptist on fall of Jesus. Master, where is thou?
Come and see. He spent that night with them on the hills of Judea. And they were never the same again. Spending time with Jesus. Never the same again. People asked. And he said before us this Peter a perfect example that we should follow in his steps. The hands, the legs and the inwards of the burnt-off. We are overwhelmed when we think of the love and the compassion, the inwards of the Lord Jesus. To Nicodemus this morning.
ye must be born again. The woman in chapter four of John's gospel ostracized from society because of a lifestyle that the Lord loved her, went out of its way, he must need power through some area. And step by step that heart of compassion melted her. And she accepted the living water. And when enter the city and says, Come see a man that told me all things ever I did to him, Is not this the Christ? What about the man in chapter five of John's gospel?
Thirty-eight years by the pool of Bethesda. He was actually there before the Savior was born. And the Bible says he knew that he was there because he's gone. And he a man says, I have no man to help. But there was a man ready to help them. Behold the man, the Lord Jesus. Step by step we could go on. But surely it reaches its dinner when he hung up on the cross. Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. And there the agony is in blood. He saw his mother, the vehicle that brought him into the world. And his heart of compassion went out to her. John, behold thy mother. That came the heart that fell for all. For all its wide blood gave. He found there no resting place, save only in the grave. The glory of his person.
And throughout John's gospel is glory, glory, glory. We beheld his glory. This beginning of miracles did Jesus, a king of Galilee, and manifested for his glory. Father, glorify thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was. And farther I wound, that those also whom I was given thee, be with thee where I am, that thee might behold my glory. The grandeur of his word, the greatness of his work, and the glory of his person. I've got four minutes. And I'm thankful for the time that has been allocated.
And our hands have handled of the word of life. He was no ghost. He was no apparition. He handled him. The Virgin handled him. Luke's Gospel. She brought forth her firstborn son. What an indictment on the human race. Truly the women in the inn used something about these things. She brought forth her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and she laid him in a manger.
She handled him. Simeon handled him. That dear old saint the man took the child into his arms. Joking heavenward, now let us thy servant depart in peace. Thine eyes have seen thy salvation. Simeon handled him. And my dear friends, the soldier's man handled him. He gave it back to the smithers, the lowly son of man. They handled him, the maker of the universe that bans for men was made a curse, the claims of law that he had made unto the uttermost evil.
His holy fingers formed about where grew the thorns that crowned his brows. The nails that pierced his hands were mined in secret places he designed. He made the forest once a strung, the tree in which his body hung. He died upon a cross of wound, yet made the hill on which it stood. The sun would head from him, it said. By his the tree was poisoned space. The skies would darken over his hand. By him above the earth was strand. The spear would spilt his trashed blood.
was tempered in the fires of God. The grave in which his form was laid was soon unlocked. His hand had made buck. The throne on which he now appeared was held from everlasting years, and the new glory crowned his brow on every knee. To him shall bow. My friend, you will bow the knee. Either now or in eternity. You can bow the knee now and accept him as your savior. And what an experience that is. But if you refuse now by compulsion at the great white throne of judgment, you'll bow the knee.
So wouldn't it be wise to concede to capitulate, give over? And bow the knee. Yes, the man handled him. But as I close that member, loving hand handled him. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, they handled him. And you can only visualize how they took him down from the cross. And they abandoned him with a hundred pound appointment of Spitenar. When the great Gamaliel died, they used seventy pounds. But in all things he must have the preamble then.
They handled him. And then you remember he came into the upper room. Told him, showed them, the disciples, his hands. He says, Handle me and say. They handled him. Lovingly. And if he came through that door right now, what a moment that would be for him. He would fall into his feet and worship him. Our beloved Son, shall we pray? Father, we thank you again for the impeccability of our Son, the Lord Jesus.
We thank you, Father. He knew no sin. In him was no sin. He did no sin. And he could not then. We thank thee for our sovereign Lord. And lovingly again, we say tonight, Behold, you have gone. And behold, the man. We thank thee for him in his own precious name. Amen.