Behold Your God
A Sermon on Isaiah 40:12-17
Originally preached June 20, 1954
Scripture
12¶ Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13Who hath directed the Spirit of the …
Sermon Description
What is one of the greatest errors when people talk and think about God? In this sermon on Isaiah 40:12–17 titled “Behold Your God,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches that it is the assumption that God is like people. This tendency is seen in the way that humanity set themselves up as judges of Scripture, and how they question the goodness of God. This human-centered way of thinking puts God second and people first. But Scripture gives a different picture of how people are to approach God. In Scripture, God stands above all humanity and exists in unapproachable light. God is glorious and holy. Sinful people cannot even look at Him, lest they be consumed. How then are sinful and fallen people to relate to God? The answer is found in the glorious truth of the gospel. God sends His Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for sinners that they might be righteous. God cannot even look at evil, yet in the gospel He makes what was evil good through the work of Christ. How can anyone stand before God? The answer is by believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ and confessing one’s sin before God. Then they are declared righteous by God’s grace.
Sermon Breakdown
- The prophet Isaiah gives a vision of the gospel in Isaiah 40:12-17.
- Mankind has always found it difficult to believe and accept the word of God.
- Our failure to believe the Bible is due to a lack of understanding who God is.
- We think of God as like ourselves instead of the almighty, glorious God he is.
- Many stumble over Christian doctrines because they have a wrong view of God.
- We must start with God, not ourselves, to understand the Bible and its teachings.
- Isaiah 40:12-15 shows God's greatness, might, and power in creation.
- Isaiah 40:16 shows God's transcendent glory that surpasses all human comprehension.
- Isaiah 40:17 shows God's ways are inscrutable and beyond human understanding.
- We must come to God with a childlike faith, not demanding to understand everything.
- When we see God as he is, we realize how sinful we are and need Jesus as Savior.
- Jesus died to bring us to God and save us, not just make us feel happy.
Old Testament
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.