some glories about our Lord. If you would, let's begin by turning to John chapter 19. As you're turning there, I want to share some words with you, kind of set our minds in order for this message. It's some words from J.R. Miller entitled, Transformed by Beholding. He says, no sooner do we begin to behold the lovely face of Christ, which looks out at us from the gospel chapters, that a great hope springs up in our hearts. We can become like Jesus. Indeed, if we are God's children, we shall become like him. We are foreordained to be conformed to his image. It matters not how faintly the divine beauty glimmers now in our soiled, imperfect lives. Someday, we shall be like him. As we struggle here with imperfections and infirmities, with scarcely one trace of Christlikeness yet apparent in our life, we still may say, when we catch glimpses of this glorious loveliness of Christ, someday I shall be like that. For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." Romans 8, 29. And then 1 John 3, 2. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. But now as we grow in the likeness of Christ, not merely by our own struggling and strivings. We cannot make ourselves Christ-like by any efforts of our own. Nothing less than a divine power is sufficient to produce this transformation in us. The Scripture describes the process. Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the image of the glory. That is, we are to find the likeness of Christ and are to look upon it and ponder it, gazing intently and lovingly upon it. And as we gaze, we are transformed and grow in Christ's likeness. We want to be like Christ. That should be our greatest desire. It is what is foreordained for us. We see people in life and people come across the scene and maybe we think, I wish I was more like them. I wish I was more like her. I wish I were more like him. I will say this, there are some of you that I wish I were more like. And it's because I see Christ in you. So when we see Christ in the Scripture, We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes when you're reading, you're studying, you're meditating, maybe when a sermon is preached, you see Christ in a way that you haven't seen before. And it causes great awe. And it changes you. You become something that you weren't before. More like someone. that you need to be like. I want to title our message today from the text, Behold the Man. John 19, we find the trial of the Lord Jesus. He is before Pilate, and Pilate had done some questioning of him, and he finds no fault. They're saying that Jesus is claiming to be king. We have a law, and he needs to be put to death. So Pilate does his examination, and he says in verse 1 of John chapter 19, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him, beat Him, flogged Him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head. And they put on Him a purple robe and said, Hell, King of the Jews. And they smote Him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests, therefore, and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Take him, crucify him, I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he was the more. And went again into the judgment hall and said unto Jesus, Where do you come from? Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Are you not going to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify? or I have power to release you. Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me, except it were given from above. Therefore, he that delivereth me unto you has the greater sin. And thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever maketh himself king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover in about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews, Behold your king and they cried out away with him away with him crucify him Pilate said unto him Shall I crucify your king the chief priests answered? We have no king but Caesar then delivered he Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place that is called the place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha. And there they crucified him and two other with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we bow and we just are humbled at Your feet as we approach Your Word, as we speak forth Your truth. Would You allow us to see Christ in ways that we've maybe seen Him before, but deeper, more intently, show us Christ, cause us to glory in Him, and Lord, thus by Your mighty power, change us more into His image. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. I'll try to tell you where I'm going to try to go this morning is we will behold or we should behold how we behold him. That'll make sense in a minute. We should behold him as a man. And we should behold him as the man, the man. So in our text we have Pilate bringing Jesus before the Jewish leaders and finding no reason to putting death and saying these words that I ask us to consider this morning. I would not normally ask you to consider the words of Pilate, but this morning in these words I do ask us to consider, to behold the man. It's important that we present Christ rightly. Sometimes we might overemphasize, not that you could overemphasize the fact that he is God, but we don't emphasize enough that he is man and thus seeing him as both, as God in flesh, God in human He is God. He is man. He is fully God. And He is fully man. Not half God, half man. He's all God, all man. And it must be this way. for it to suffice. It must be this way for Him to accomplish what He is going to accomplish, what He did accomplish. He must be the Son of God to represent God to us. And He must be the Son of Man to represent us to God. Behold the man. Now, we find this word, behold, many times in the Bible, in both the New Testament and the Old Testament. And it means to look, to consider, to contemplate. It's not just to take a glance. It's not just to look at. It's to take notice, to pay attention. It's used not just in something to observe with the eye, But many times it is used, and probably most of the time it is used, as something to behold and observe with the mind. Behold the fowls of the air. They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Jesus used it many times before in setting up the parable that we might think, that we might contemplate, that we might put our minds, engage our minds into what is being said and think it through. John exclusively uses it in reference to Jesus in his gospel. He uses it twice in chapter 1 of John, in verse 29. You remember what he said there? John the Baptist speaking forth, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. Then again in verse 36, he says it again, Behold the Lamb of God. Then he records Jesus saying it when Nathanael was approaching him. And Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. He said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Then we find it here in our text used by Pilate saying, Behold the man. Let's do that. Let's behold the man. Christ Jesus. In our context, we have people looking at Him. We have people examining Him. We have people observing Him. And they're drawing conclusions as to who they think He is. It's important how we view Jesus. Amen? It's important how we view Christ. So we should behold how we behold Him. We should consider, we should think about how we look at Christ. How we contemplate Christ. Now we see in our text here that the Jews are looking at Him and they're drawing a conclusion. We find fault in Him. They were blinded. They had scales on their eyes and they could not see who this man was before them. They had watched him. They'd seen evidence of the miracles that he was performing. They had heard his words and found fault. Some may look at Christ and see Him as a nuisance, a killjoy, a hindrance to their lust, their greed, and their power. You see, for coming to Christ and having Him as Lord, you must give up. It does cause a giving up. Many will have Christ as an add-on in addition to or even a helper to them gaining the things they want. But to come to Christ, you must give up everything. A willingness to abandon all, to take up your cross and follow Him. Does that seem difficult? Does that seem hard for you? If so, it's maybe because you have not beheld the man. You've not seen Him rightly. Because if we see Him rightly, this is made easy. This is made easy when you see Christ altogether lovely. You see Him as the pearl of great price. You see Him as the treasure in the field worth selling everything that you might gain Him. So, some look to Him and find fault. Some look to Him, we see Pilate, he's looking, he's examining, he's looking, I find no fault in Him. So, some may see Him and find no fault in him, but still not see him rightly." Pilate didn't see him rightly. Some will say he's a good man, he's a prophet, a good man, but not the Son of God, not the Savior of the world. Boy, Pilate's in a mess. I mean, he's caught between a rock in a very hard place. We could tell by his actions that he would rather not be here. You take him. No. He'd even been warned by his wife to have no dealings with this man. So he finds himself in a dilemma. He's trying to stay In good standing with Rome and with Caesar and he has to report to Caesar and he's over this region here. And so he's already got a couple of strikes against him. He don't want to mess up. He's on the verge of being recalled. He don't want to cause a riot with the Jews and all that that would bring with it. So he's trying to play both sides. He's really wished he wasn't here. But this is his lot. He's the one to sit in judgment against Christ. He is the one ordained by God for such a time as this. He said to Jesus, don't you know that I have power to release you? I have power to crucify you? And Jesus said, you have no power over me. except that which is given from above." Jesus wasn't submitting to Pilate. Jesus was submitting to His Father. And so here's Pilate caught in this. So he says, maybe I'll beat him. I'll flog him. He says he's a king. We'll dress him up like a king. We'll bring him out, show that we're mocking him. What can he do? There's no harm here. But nothing less than the crucifixion of Christ is going to do for this crowd. It's kind of interesting. As I was thinking and studying about this, they plaited a crown of thorns. What is a thorn? What are thorns significant of? What are thorns proof of? Why do we have thorns? You recall? The curse. It was the curse because of the sin of Adam. And so we find Christ under the curse. Put a purple robe on him, royal robe. What humility! Do you not know that He could have called legions of angels and wiped them all out and declared, I am king! This is the will of the Father. You would have no power over me except it be given from above. Crucify Him. Crucify Him is the cry. So some look to Him and find fault. Some look to Him and find no fault, but still do not see Him rightly, and then some look to Him and see Him as the faultless One. Truly, no fault in Him, no spot or blemish, the perfect Son of God, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Who do you see Him as? How do you behold the man? How do you behold Christ? Every Christian at that question should feel something. Should have something going on within them as they think about Christ. What is it? Joy? Adoration? Awe? Jubilee? Love? Are you well pleased? Are you well pleased with Christ? Again, in this vein of thought, we find a description of Christ that Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 2, 5. If you recall that verse, it says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. We think of that saying, maybe someone will accomplish a great feat, do something great, and we'll say, he's the man. Maybe you think that about yourself. It's when someone does something that causes them to rise above others. They're recognized, they're noticed as having accomplished something that other men may or may not can accomplish. With this in mind, is there really any other man in comparison to the man Christ Jesus? He, without doubt, was the perfect man. He was holy and just in every way, demonstrating power beyond any, because He is the source of all power in creation, and demonstrating that power by miracles, showing that everything in nature is subject to Him. Even everything outside of nature is subject to Him. Remember the demons? No greater demonstration of all of that power in perfect check is the display of the trial and the crucifixion of the Son of Man, which we read there in our text. We should behold how we behold Him. We should think about how we look at Christ. Let's behold him as a man. He had to be a man. The scripture tells us that he was a man in every way that we are men. He hungered. He thirst. He grew weary. He got angry. He was tempted in every way we are, yet no stain or slightest mark of sin in thought, motive, or action. To this we can say, what a man. What a man. He is the ultimate man. He is the man the first man fell to be. It's when we behold him as a man that we see him as the man. He was everything the first man fell to be. Adam was to be our representative. Adam stood for us all. He was given this, of all the trees of the garden you may freely eat, but the one in the midst of the garden you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof you will surely die. There he stood, as all of us, and he took the fruit, He failed to be the man. He failed as our representative, and He plunged us all into sin. This man, however, represented us rightly. He now sits at the right hand of God. Still now, at this moment, representing us as a man. He is our mediation before the Father. If Christ is not there as a man, we will never be there. But it is because He is there that we too shall be. It's the only way. We should behold this man. We should behold this man. Behold the man in Mary. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. We then could behold the man in the manger. He was born, brought forth into this world. The birth was announced to the shepherds with a glorious, angelic proclamation of good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. Behold. Go. you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger." We could behold the man in his mission. You remember better that 12 years old when he had got away from the crowd of his family, and they searched, and they found him in the temple. He was sitting with the teachers and the rulers, and they were astounded at his wisdom. And his mother came and said, What have you done? He said, Do you not know that I must be about my father's business? Behold the man in his mission, That's all He ever did in all of His life, was the Father's will. He was on mission for the Father. Behold the man in His miracles, revealing Him as Lord over creation. Everything subject to Him. Behold the man in His mercy, His compassion, lowly and gentle. and humble. Behold the man in his majesty. Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when he was shining forth in all of his glory? Behold the man in his ministry as he walked and he took his disciples with him and taught them. And on the greatest display of his ministry, when he who was the highest knelt and wash the feet of the disciples. Behold the man in his misery. See him in the garden. See him on trial. See him on the cross. And then we could behold the man in his magnificence. Oh. Oh. Given a name that is above every name, a name and station above every other man or being. To think of Christ becoming a man is something to behold. I want your attention right here for a moment. To think of Christ becoming a man is something to behold. But to think of him becoming a man for 33 years is one thing. But that he became a man forever. He's forever a man. He's never not going to be a man. He's there now in the presence of God, at His right hand, as a man. That is our mediation. He will never not be a man. In my mind, I used to think that, you know, I knew this, I thought this, I thought Jesus came to the earth, He became a man, He fulfilled the Father's will, He died for sinful man, and He returned to the Father as He was before. Maybe that's the way you've thought it. Well, He is there before the Father as He was before, but in human form. Forever a man. That blows my mind. I've shared this with people in the past, and this truth just hit me one day. And so I would share it with someone, and their eyes would gloss over like it's no big deal. This is a big deal! It's the greatest of all deals that Christ would willingly choose to do this for us. This is what He's done for the glory of the Father and for us. That He chose an eternity past to become a man with us. I declare that there's no greater love than this. He laid down His life for us in more ways than eternity will ever reveal. May we ever glory in the man, Christ Jesus our Savior. Listen, dear lost friend. Are you here today without Christ? You know you're lost. You have sinned. And you are sinning against a holy God. Your sin is being held to your account. It's piling up. And you're going to pay for your sin. You have sinned against a thrice holy, eternal God. And eternal punishment will be what you get for sinning against this holy God. If you die in your sins, This man, the man Christ Jesus, has paid the penalty for your sins and has suffered the wrath of God for all those who will believe upon him. Behold this man dying on a cross, suffering in your place. See your sins placed on him, satisfying the demands of God on your behalf. Is there any better sight than this? The sun could never shine on a more glorious, gruesome day. Therefore, it hid its face as the Son of Man suffered under the hand of an angry God, and appeased every ounce of anger he had towards you, and he turned God's smile towards you. What a glory is this gospel! He died for you. Christ died for you. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. See your sin as it is, exceedingly sinful, and fall in the gracious grasp of the Lord Jesus Christ as your only redeeming sacrifice. Call upon Him while He is near. Cry out as you Behold the man. Let me conclude with these words of Horatius Bonar from the hymn, Not What My Hands Have Done. Not what my hands have done, can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my pressing load. Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace. Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase. No other work but Yours, no other blood will do. No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease my weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee, can rid me of this darkened rest and set my spirit free. I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love divine, and with all unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine. His cross repels each doubt I bury in the tomb. Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom. I praise the God of grace, I trust His truth and might. He calls me His, I call Him mine. My God, my joy, my light. Tis He who saveth me and freely pardoned gives. I love because he loveth me. I live because he lives. Let's pray. Oh Lord, what a man is the man, Christ Jesus. And the truth that he would be willing to become a man And live among us. Live the perfect life for us. Suffer the sinner's death for us. To prove that he was everything he said he was. He was buried and rose again the third day. And now is seated at your right hand. as a man, and because he's there as a man, we too will one day be there. Oh, Father, thank you for the grace that you extend to us to give us eyes to see, behold Christ. Would you change us? knowing that we cannot change ourself into your image, we cannot make ourselves look like Christ, but as we look to Christ, you change us into that image. Oh, Father, that one outside your grace here today, the lost among us today, would you give them eyes to see your glory in the face of your Son? Would you not be well pleased that others see Christ rightly? Would you reveal Him? Would you regenerate? Would you make new creatures? For the glory of your Son, we pray in His name, amen.