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“BEHOLD
THE MAN”
PLEASE READ IN THE
BIBLE (JOHN 19:1-6)
It says in, (John 19:1-6) “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged
Him. And the soldiers platted 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 saith
unto them, Behold I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no
fault in Him. Then came Jesus forth,
wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them “BEHOLD THE MAN”! When the chief priests therefore and officers
saw Him, they cried out, saying, crucify Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, take ye Him, and
crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him”.
Dear reader, did YOU
ever “BEHOLD THE MAN” called
Jesus? Did YOU ever consider Him, think
about Him, who He is and what He has done for YOU personally? Pilate may have said these words, “Behold the Man” in mockery. He may have said them in sympathy or he may
have said them without any emotion at all.
Regardless, he made an important statement that day, a famous statement;
one concerning which every person should take heed. Every person should consider these words and
obey them and “Behold the Man”.
One of the reasons that
YOU should “Behold the Man” is because of another man. The Bible actually speaks about two men
concerning which every person should give attention. It says in, (1
Corinthians 15:45, 47) “The FIRST MAN Adam was made a
living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (life giving) spirit”. The FIRST MAN is of the earth, earthy (made
of dust): the SECOND MAN is the Lord from heaven”.
THE FIRST MAN was created by God from the dust of the ground. His name was Adam. The account of his fall into sin and God’s
judgment upon him is recorded back in (Genesis, chapter 3). It says of him in, (Romans
5:12) “Wherefore as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. As a consequence of Adam’s sin, ALL
HUMANITY FELL; for Adam not only acted for himself, but also for the whole
human race, of which he was the head. Everyone
born since that time has come into the world possessed of a sinful nature that
is at enmity with God. As a result the
evidence is soon apparent in sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. God says in His Word, (Romans 3) “Jews and Gentiles are all
under sin”. “There is none righteous, no not one”. “There is none that doeth good, no not one”.
“All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God”. “All the world is guilty before God”. Notice that God says in His Word there are no
exceptions. He says ALL and He means ALL
are sinners in need of salvation. It
says furthermore regarding the first man, Adam, (Romans
5:18, 19) “By the offense of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to
condemnation”. By one man’s (Adam’s)
disobedience many were made sinners.” Because of the sin of Adam, we have all been
constituted or put into the category of sinners. In other word’s we are sinners by nature and
we soon prove this by sinful practices.
As sinners, all are under the condemnation and judgment of God. We noted in, (Romans 5:12) “Death has passed upon all men for
that all have sinned”. This sentence of death is not only physical but
spiritual as well. It is not only
temporal, it is eternal as well. What
happens after death? It says in, (Hebrews 9:27) “It is appointed unto men once to
die, BUT AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT”. If YOU die in your sins, with your sins not
forgiven, you must face the judgment of God and banishment from His presence
forever in the “lake of fire”. See
(Revelation 20:11-15;
21:8). It says in, (1 Corinthians 15:21, 22) “By man (Adam) came death”. “In Adam all die”. Dear
reader, have YOU ever been convicted of YOUR SIN’S and repented of YOUR
SIN’S? If YOU are not “IN CHRIST” then
YOU are still “IN ADAM” and “in Adam all die”. Was there ever a “time when’, a “place
where” and a “manner how” you were saved from YOUR sin’s? If not, then YOU need to “Behold the Man”. This Man
is called in, (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) “the last Adam” (there will never be another head of the human
race) and He is called:
THE SECOND MAN.
It says of Him in, (1 Corinthians
15:45, 47) “The last Adam was
made a quickening (life giving) Spirit”. “The
second Man is the Lord from heaven”.
YOU should “Behold this Man” because of who He is
and because of what He did for YOU when He hung upon that cross at Calvary. He is THE LORD FROM HEAVEN”. He is the dispenser of life to all who
will come to Him. HAVE YOU COME TO
HIM? He said in, (Matthew 11:28) “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.
Notice FOUR important things from this verse. Notice the “WHO”, the “WHAT”, the “WHERE” and the “WHY” from this verse.
- NOTICE WHO
SHOULD COME. Those who are burdened with the weight
of sin. Dear reader, unless YOU
have felt this heavy burden, you will have no desire to come to the
Savior. This burden will only be
felt as YOU let the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, convict you of
the sinfulness of your sin’s before a Holy God. Only those who acknowledge they are lost
can be saved. It is only those who
know they are sick that will come to the physician for healing. It is only those who know they are
drowning who will call out to be saved.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always preceded by repentance
toward God. “Repentance” means to
change your mind about sin. It
means to take sides with God against yourself. HAVE YOU HAD THIS EXPERIENCE?
- NOTICE WHAT
YOU SHOULD DO. The Lord Jesus said “COME”. YOU must come
in order to be saved. To come to
Him means to BELIEVE in Him. It say’s in, (Acts
16:30, 31)”What must I do to be saved? “BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved”. It says in, (John 3:16) “God so loved the world, that he
gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life”. To come to Him means to RECEIVE Him. It says
in, (John 1:12) “ As many as received Him, to them gave He
power (the right or authority) to become the son’s of God, even to them
that believe on His Name”. To come to Him means to ACCEPT GOD’S GIFT OF ETERNAL
LIFE. (Romans
6:23) “The GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord”. Have YOU COME to
Jesus?
- NOTICE WHERE
YOU SHOULD COME. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Come UNTO ME”. The object of your faith can not be
your church, your pope, your pastor or your preacher. You can not depend on your so called
“good works” to get you into heaven.
YOU can only be saved by putting your faith and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It says in, (Acts 4:12) “Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved”. It
says in, (1 Timothy 2:5) “There is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus” It says in, (John 14:6) “Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by
Me”.
- NOTICE WHY
YOU SHOULD COME. The Lord says to those that come, “I will give you rest”.
Here is a wonderful gift promised to YOU. It is the “rest of salvation”.
Notice that this is a GIFT, therefore it is unearned and
unmerited. You receive this gift
when YOU believe on God’s beloved Son and receive Him as your personal
Savior. When you do this you will
receive the “rest of conscience”
because your sins will be forgiven and you will have the realization that
the penalty of your sins has been paid when the Savior died on the
cross. Have YOU received this “gift
of rest”? In contrast, we read in, (Isaiah 57:20, 21) “The wicked are like the troubled
sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt. “There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked”.
“BEHOLD THE MAN”. Dear
reader, this is something YOU should do.
He was a real man but He was not an ordinary man. He was an extraordinary man. YOU should behold Him because He was a unique
man. Lets consider a few reasons why He
was unique;
·
HE WAS UNIQUE IN HIS PERSON (BECAUSE OF WHO HE
IS)
o He left the glory of heaven and came down in
condescending grace to save YOU from your sins.
Deity took on humanity. The high
and lofty One of heaven became the lowly One of Calvary. The Son of God became the “Man of
Sorrows”. He was without sin, the only
sinless person who ever walked this earth.
The three-fold testimony of the apostles was, “He did no sin”, “He knew no sin”, “in Him is no sin”. (Hebrews 2:9)
“Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death
for every man”. This is the
reason that Deity took on humanity that He might taste death for you and me. (Philippians 2:8) “He became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross”.
·
HE WAS UNIQUE IN HIS POWER (THE THINGS THAT HE
DID)
o The four gospels are filled with accounts of how
He could give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He could cure the sick, cleanse the lepers
and raise the dead. In (Matthew 8:23-27) we read of the Lord being asleep in a ship which the disciples
thought was about to be wrecked by a violent storm that had arisen. When they had awakened Him, “He arose, and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a
great calm. But, the men marveled,
saying, what manner of man is this, that
even the winds and the sea obey Him”.
·
HE WAS UNIQUE IN HIS PRECEPTS (THE THINGS THAT HE
SAID)
o We are told in, (Hebrews
1:1, 2) “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son (or in
Son)”. The things that He said
therefore, were Divine words, words from God and by God. They said of Him in, (John
7:46) “Never man spake like this man”.
When the people of His day
heard Him speak it says, (Luke 4:32) “They were astonished at His
doctrine: for His word was with power”. On another occasion, it says of His audience, (Luke 4:22) “All bare Him witness, and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth”. In
(Luke 16:19-31) He told the true story of a rich man and a
beggar and in doing so He “pulled aside the veil as it were” to tell man what
lies beyond death. Both the rich man
and the beggar died. The beggar was
carried up to heaven. The rich man, when
he died, was buried and it says, (Luke 16:23) “And in hell he lifted up his eyes
being in torments”. His body was in the grave but his soul or spirit
was in conscience suffering in hell (Hades).
There are only two destinies for
mankind. It is either heaven or
hell. Which will it be for YOU? You should “Behold this Man” because of what Peter said to Him in, (John 6:68) “Thou hast the words of eternal life”.
·
HE WAS UNIQUE IN HIS PASSION (HIS DEATH ON THE
CROSS)
o It says of the Lord Jesus Christ in, (Acts 1:3) “He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days”. The
word “passion” is from a Greek word
which means to suffer. It refers to the
sufferings of Christ at Calvary. The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ was both voluntary and vicarious. He said in, (John 10:17, 18) “I lay down My life that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me,
but I lay it down of Myself”. When He died on the cross, He died for us, for sinners,
and for our sins. (1 Peter 3:18) “Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”.
It says of Him in, (Hebrews 10:12) “THIS
MAN after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the
right hand of God”.
Dear reader, will YOU “Behold the Man”? He is the only One to whom you can look
for salvation. (Isaiah
45:21, 22) ‘There is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Savior, there is
none beside Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved”. Will YOU look and live? If YOU remain unsaved, it will not be because
God does not love you or because God’s Son did not die for you, but it will be
because YOU have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Which will it be for YOU, RECEPTION or
REJECTION of the Savior? You are
traveling the “highway of life”, passing through time into eternity. Now that YOU have read this message, YOU have
come to the “crossroads”. Which way will
YOU go? Will YOU continue to reject the
Savior and God’s gift of salvation? Or,
will YOU believe in Him and receive Him as YOUR Lord and Savior? It is YOUR DECISION AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
Please give this matter your most serious
attention. Will YOU be a believer or a
non-believer? YOUR eternal destiny
depends on YOUR decision.
Christian Messenger