Chapter three. Maybe a little longer time to find that. Ezekiel chapter three. Just about the middle of your Bible. Third chapter of the book of Ezekiel. And verse fourteen. So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit. But the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. I want you to notice the hand of the Lord was strong upon me, because I'd like to speak on that this morning. It says here, the Spirit lifted me up. In other words, it laid hold. upon the prophet. He was in bitterness, as you notice here, in bitterness because of conditions that existed among the Lord's people. And so we have the Lord laying his hand upon him because he had a work for him to do. The hand of the Lord was strong upon him. Therefore he was able to do something about the conditions that existed and alleviate the bitterness of his heart. In chapter one and verse eight of his same prophecy, you'll see some pans under wings. They are those lovely heavenly creatures, the cherubim, and they've got beautiful wings, and under their wings there are hands. To me that's very lovely because you have a human touch beneath the wings of these dazzling creatures, reminding us of him who was the Son of God and the Son of Man. The Lord Jesus was a dual personality. He was the Son of God. And in becoming what he became, the Son of Man, he never ceased to be what he was, the eternal Son of God. So he has hands of tenderness, skill, and power, as you see these hands under these wings. The hands under the wings speak of heavenly character. The wings speak of heavenly character, but the hands speak of human conduct. Love to God and love to man. We have one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is able to lay one hand upon the throne of God and the other hand upon man and all his feet. So let us notice the hands of this dual personality. The Lord Jesus is suffering, salvation, security, service, supply, severity, and finally in satisfaction. His hands in suffering. Remember in Psalm twenty-two, he could say, They pierced my hands and my feet. His hands indeed knew something of pain, as well as his feet when they drove those spikes, crashing through the bone and the muscle and the sinew, causing blood vessels to burst and send his blood down over his blessed body, hands of suffering. I think in this Psalm We have the depth, or he reached the very depth of his descent to save you and me. Here he paid the uttermost farthing of your debt and mine that we might go through. In other words, in connection with the Lord Jesus and his going to the cross and suffering there, he may have looked within. He had occasion to do that, as we have in Psalm twenty-two, Isaiah fifty-three. He could have looked in, and he did look in, as you read those chapters I've referred to. And in Psalm twenty-two, he could say, All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He could look within and find much there to cause him sorrow. He may have looked around for comfort and company, and he did. He said, I looked for some to take pity, and there was none for comforters, but I found none. The Son of God, while upon that cross he scanned the crowd that surrounded it. He couldn't find a friendly eye, a helping hand, no heart to sympathize with his. I looked for comforters. I found none. I looked for someone to take pity. I found none because his own had forsook them and fled. And so he, though doubt, did look within. He did look around for comfort, and quite likely he looked on. He undoubtedly looked on to the glory and longed for that happy day when he would be back with his father again, where he would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He looked on. But even though he looked within and looked around and looked on, this one thing our blessed Lord never did. He never looked back. He put his hand to the plow. He did not look back. Had he looked back, he would have plowed a crooked pearl. He could not look back. He set his face aflint to go to Jerusalem, knowing the things that should befall him there. He plowed a straight pearl from the cradle to the cross. He had to. That straight prayer of the plan and purpose of God concerning your salvation and mine, Jesus Christ put his hand to the plow, and he did not look back. That's why we have a salvation to preach. That's why we have a heaven to go to those of us who were saved, because the Lord Jesus did not look back. He looked not back. He turned not back. that he gave his back to the smikers and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair he hid not his face from shame or spitting. How wonderful to have such a savior, a suffering savior, hands that suffered, bleeding hands that dripped the plow, the handles of the plow. And he plowed a straight furrow. He didn't deviate right hand or left, but he went to the cross and there he suffered and bled and died that you and I might be saved. Then we come to the hands of salvation. You remember in John chapter twenty, he showed them his hands and his feet. He's now in resurrection glory. The hands are not suffering now. The hands are not painful now. He says, Handle me and see. And here is Thomas doubting Thomas, who had doubted eight days prior that the Lord had been risen. And that is that friends had seen him, the other apostles, Now the Lord appears again, he says, Talmud, be to thy finger. Trust it into my hand, be to thy hand, and trust it into my side, and be not faithless but believe in. He showed them his hands, hands of salvation. Remember those words he himself uttered on the cross. He said, Into thy hands I commend my spirit. There's the language of complete trust. What he's saying to any of you who are not Christians here this morning, you're not saved. He wants you to do the same as he did, just as he committed himself into his father's hands. He wants you to commit yourself into his hands. Hands that are able, capable, willing, ready to save you. Hands that were nailed to the cross. Hands that suffered that you might be saved. We want you to cross those hands this morning. What hands they are. One time, four sisters stood beside the coffin of their mother. The father had passed on a few years before, leaving a heavier burden on the mother as she labored for her four daughters. And as they stood there, side by side, take their last look. One of them reached over, and with her hand, she stroked her mother's hand. Oh, she says, those hands, those hands. That was before the day when they had special soap and detergents. Today they have those things that prevent a woman's hand, their lady's hands, from becoming hard and crusty. But ah, here are hands, used before those soaps came into being, or they had the modern machinery for washing. The knuckles are swollen and the hand indicated hard work. Hard work. And as the four girls looked at those hands, one said, Oh, how those hands worked and what those hands did for us. Well, I'll tell you this, friend, that our other hands that did more for you than our mother's hands. They're the hands that were nailed to the cross. Those hands. Oh, the work that those hands did. When he took your sins and mine and suffered in our stead, I wonder if you as a lost and guilty sinner, have looked up to him and said, Lord, those hands, those hands. They were nailed to the cross for me. One time a man was standing on a busy thoroughfare and the traffic was rushing up and down. He was standing beside him with a little girl. She looked up to him. She really didn't have to speak. He knew what she wanted. Finally, she said, Mr. will you take me across? She was wise enough not to try and run across herself. And he said, yes, I'll do it gladly. And she put out her hand, and he took it. And so he took her across the street. Finally, when they reached the other side, she thanked him. And she ran all down the street a little way, and there was a little newsstand there with some fruit upon it. And he stopped and he watched the little amusing character. And she turned around and she was talking to the man of the newsstand and pointing back to him, likely telling the man about the one who got her across the street. Telling his own experience, he said, I thought of poor tea. First of all, she took my hand. I was a perfect stranger. She didn't want to go across that busy, dangerous thoroughfare alone. and she took my hand. Then she trusted me. She trusted me. She had never seen me before. I was a perfect stranger. She took my hand. She trusted me. When we reached the other side, she thanked me. Then he said, she talked about me. Think of those four keys. That's exactly how people get saved. Friend, you can't go across life's busy dangerous thoroughfare alone. You need someone at your side. There's someone waiting, and he's asking you, do you want me to take you across life's busy street? And I wonder this morning if you'll reach out your hand and say, Lord, take it. Take it. He'll take your hand. But all you have to do is trust it. Just trust those hands. The hands that held the nails will hold you. Just trust him. And after you've trusted him, if you don't thank him now, you'll thank him when you reach the other side. You'll thank him. Friend, you'll thank him now. You'll thank him the moment he saves you, like the little chorus says. Thank you, Lord, for shaving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich, so free. And there will be something else you'll do. You'll talk about it. You'll tell others about it. You'll witness for it. As the Bible says in Romans ten and I, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I haven't time to tell you the incident, or will I take the time? of a young lady in Augusta, where we just came back. One of our young Christians there, Francis Bernowski, was saved in meetings we had eighteen years ago in Augusta. So she said, I'm going to get some of my neighbors to come to your meetings. She went to this neighbor. She said, I want you to come to a revival at Bethany Chapel. This lady said, well, I'll tell you one thing. My husband and I... are not going to expose ourselves to religion. She said, I was a Catholic, and he was a Presbyterian. We got married, and we haven't made much an issue of religion of our sins. We tried to get along without it. So we're not exposing ourselves to religion. Well, Francis said, I wish you would come. You've got two boys, eight and ten, and we'd like to take them to Sunday. Yes, she said, I realize that. She said, we'll make come Sunday morning, but we'll not come out any night. This young lady I'm referring to Twenty-nine years of age. A brilliant athlete. Her house is just full of trophies, one and bowling. A very strong personality. One had real command of herself. She came from Wisconsin. So they turned up Sunday morning. And they came back Sunday night. She never intended. She came back Monday night. She came back Tuesday night. She got interested. She asked if I'd visit her in the home. I said, I'd be glad to. So I went to the home and she said, you know, I've never heard anything like that in my life from the Bible. And after a little conversation, she says, you know, another thing that struck me about you, not only what you said, she said, you seem so dedicated, so devoted to your work. And she came out with this word. She had it in her mind to begin with, but she was very diplomatic. She said, I would say even fanatical. And I said, yes. And I pointed around all those trophies. I said, someone else is dedicated and devoted and fanatical. But that's just the meaning of it. Her heart and soul was in that. My heart and soul is in it. She said, I believe that possibly I have believed some time in my life. And I asked her a few questions. I said, Nikki, you're not saved. You're a lost girl. you'd make a wonderful Christian at God's sake. She said, I wouldn't tell anybody if I got saved. I wouldn't tell them. Well, the next night of the meeting, she stayed back. She came up. She said, I want to be saved. We took her into the little room at the side. And she said, Mr. Wilson, I think you misunderstood me. She said, being a Catholic, we were brought up to believe the Bible. And she said, I believe in the Bible. I believe in the Virgin Virgin. Maybe that's all I need to do is study a little more. Maybe I've already believed. I said, Mickey, do you have everlasting life? Have you really been born again? Do you know your sins all forgiven? She says, no, I don't. Well, I said, you're lost. But a born-again Christian knows that. I said, would you like to be saved? She said, indeed I would. Well, I said, there's just one thing you need to do, and that is make a decision. Tears started to run down her cheeks. In fact, they had before she went into the room and she apologized. She said, this is something new to me. She said, I'm not in the emotional category. She said, I don't know when I ever said a tear before. She said, I just can't help it. She said, I hope you'll forgive me. I said, forgive you. Let them run. The night God saved me, I wept too. I wept like a child. And I'm not the emotional kind. I wept as a poor sinner desiring somebody. Well, she said, this has got me. This has got me. I do want to be saved. I said, Mickey, I've got a little prayer I want you to read publicly, openly. The first time I did it in my life, I put it in the front of my Bible for I went to the chapel that night. I wrote it down. And I said, Mickey, I want you to read this. It's a little prayer. Read it out loud. And she read it so meaningly. Lord Jesus, I want you more than anything else in all the world. I do accept you right now, and I underline the do and now in Reading. I do accept you right now as my personal Savior. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul. Amen. For this time, the tears are running a little more. I let her think for a minute. Then I said, Nikki, Are you saved? She said, I am, Mr. Wilson. I'm saved. She got saved as she said that little prayer. Last Sunday night, a week ago tonight, her husband said, Mickey, because she had come over from the meeting with a priest on the second coming of Christ, and her husband's not a Christian. She said, Paul, if Jesus Christ were to come, I would go. What about you? She says, Mickey, I'd be left behind this. I want to tell you one thing. You've got the real thing. You're not the Mickey I've known and lived with for years. You're just so different. You're just so different. That's what God's salvation does. She thanks the Lord for saving our soul, just like the little girl. Thank the man for taking her across the busy streets and friends. If you get saved, you'll thank the Lord for saving your soul. There are the hands of salvation and the hands of security. Those hands that held the nails, they hold the seed in their hollow. The Bible says that, and they hold me. Why are we reading the Bible? We're graven upon the palms of His hands. Isn't that wonderful? Graven upon the palms of His hands. You know, Peter... When Peter was walking upon the water to go to the Lord, he began to stink. He got his eye off the Lord. The Lord reached out his hand. The Lord didn't let him go down. The Lord reached out his hand and caught him before he went too far. Hands of security. If you're born again, you may at times get your eye off the Lord, but that hand is always ready to get you to rescue you before you go too far. Hands of security. He said, I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I am my father, one. And as David said, he upholdeth me with his hand. Isn't it wonderful to be in that hand of security? There's another lovely text over in Zechariah thirteen, and I think verse eight. It's the language of the Lord Jesus. On the cross, a weak will soar against the shepherd against the man that is thy pillow. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hands. And the rendering is in protection of the little one, says the Lord Jesus. You can smite me. I'm the shepherd. The thrones who put their trust in me, I'll protect. I'll protect. I'll turn my hands in protection upon the little one. Hands of security. Hands of protection. Then hands of service. If you were to turn over to Revelation, you'd find he has seven stars in his hand, and these stars are the messengers or the ministers of the seven churches. They're in his hand. And I want to say this, seeing of service follows security. Before you can truly serve the Lord, you've got to be secure. A lot of preachers today, and they're telling people you can only hope to be saved. Do the best you can and hope you'll get there. That's an insecure message. And when a man is secure himself and he knows he's secure, then he can preach a message that will give security to others. If I didn't know, friend, that I was saved and go to heaven, I wouldn't be in this hope. I know I'm saved, not because of any good in me. God forbid. From the age of nineteen, I trusted Christ as my Savior, and I know what he did for me then and what he's done for me ever since, as he has upheld me with his hand. Here is service after security. He laid his right hand upon me, says John in Revelation, seven times in Ezekiel. Ezekiel says the hand of the Lord was upon me. The hand of the Lord was upon me. We read it in our text, verse fourteen of chapter three. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Why is that an honor? for God to put his hand upon a man. After he sees him, he puts his hand on. God put his hand on Pilgrim. God put his hand on Moody. God put his hand on Whitfield. God has put his hand on men down to the ages because he had a work for them to do. And likely you've got a little job to do and he'd like to put his hand on you. A talent you've got that he wants. You can teach in the Sunday school. Maybe you can sing. Maybe you can play. God wants that talent. and he'll put his hand on you, but on one condition. He put his hand on Daniel. Five times we read that he touched Daniel. He put his hand on Ezekiel. And he put his hand on John in Revelation one, seventeen. But where were all these men when God put his hand on them? They were prostrate on the ground. And that's when God puts his hand on many women, as when they're prostrate on the ground. Humble before God. God can't use pride and conceit. He can only use one who's humble before him. And here he laid his hand upon his cheek. What an honor to have God put his hand upon you and to use you. You know, in Genesis forty-nine, twenty-four, there's a lovely verse, and here it is, it's in connection with Joseph. His bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the mighty God of Jacob. Isn't that wonderful? Jose's hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. And thinking upon that, you couldn't help but think, here's a farmer, many a time up in Canada in the wintertime especially. Farmers going home, he's got a little boy at his side, maybe a little girl. And the little boy or girl says, Daddy, let me drive the horses. And the horses are quite spit at him. And the father says, All right. The little girl sits in his lap and she takes the reins of that spirited team, but over those little hands are the father's hands. He knows that that little girl can't hold that spirited team in check. And that's exactly what you've got in our text. The hands of Joseph were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. That little girl couldn't hold those horses in, but with her father's hands over them, why, they were held in check. Remember, Christian, there are certain teams of circumstances that would run away with us. We neither have the skill nor the strength to hold them in check, were it not for the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Those hands that can come over ours and hold us firm and packed, Wonderful to know those hands in our service. Oh, the rest of and spirited teams of circumstances that come into the life of many a Christian. You can't cope with it. They'll run away with it. But oh, to know that there is one. And if only we'll look to him, he'll put his hands over ours. We're able to hold things in check and not allow them to run away with us. Same thing happens to a plow. The little boy wants to learn to plow, but he can't hold the plow handles when they hit rock. But the father's got his hands over the lad, and therefore he's able to steady him. Or the same with lifting heavy weights. The child can lift a lot, far more than it could do itself, if stronger hands are over it. Same for a big heavy truck. The child couldn't begin to drive it, but sitting on daddy's knee, Father's hands are over those hands. The child can do what it could naturally never do. That's the thought. How wonderful to know his hands. And like you have in Nehemiah six and nine, for they that is the enemy, made us of faith saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen our hands. Strengthen our hands. And if he does, we'll put our hands to the plow. As you have been Luke, nine and sixty-two, we'll put our hands to the plow. We'll not look back. Lord Jesus says he that put his hand to the plow and look at back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. But what will keep us from looking back? If we allow him to take our hands, just as he plowed the straight pearls, so will we. Oh, it's true we may look around for someone to help us in our service. We may look around at the great need on every hand. That's possible. We may look around. We may look up to for strength where we need it. We may look forward to success and our reward in service. We may even look within to exercise our hearts and examine our hearts and search our hearts, but we'll never look back if we're conscious that his hands are overpowered. Even though the rain beat against our teeth and a storm is looming on the horizon. Even though it would be quite easy to look back over our shoulder at a comfortable cottage behind, if we only grip those hands of the plow and allow him to put his hands over us, we will stick to the plow and plow a straight feral until he comes and it will be all right with him to rain. Then the hands are supplied. the fifth hand. If you open it as hand, the Bible says, and supply it the need of every living thing. And in Philippians four and nine, the apostle says, My God shall supply all your needs. Yes, here are the hands of supply. But I want to point out something, and this is not customary for me to say anything along this line, but I'm going to say it. Sometimes a little word helps. The Apostle says, My God shall supply all your need. Now, I want you to notice the people he said that to. If you read earlier in that chapter, you'll find there were people who gave of their substance an odor, a sacrifice of a sweet smell acceptable unto God. They had been faithful in giving to God, and God says, Now I'll supply your need. You know you can't out give God, God's hand. is bigger than any human hand. You try and outgive God, you'll never do it. You'll never do it. There's a verse over in Proverbs three, nine and ten. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of thine increase. You know what men would say after that part of the text? So shall you be poor and have a hard time. Is that the way it reads? honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of thine increase, so shall you be poor and have a hard time. No, it doesn't say that. What does it say? So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy precious shall burst out with new wine. Giving to God is just like a loaf with ten slices. The first slice belongs to God, ten percent. And in most cases, ninety percent of the expenses of the church is carried by ten percent of the people because they fail to give God that slice that belongs in God says you do that and I'll supply all your need you'll know what it is to have liberality for me by hand of supply that's all I'm going to say I hope it'll sink in his great hand of supply you can't out give God you can't do it then hands of severity one would wish not to mention them hands of severity Hebrews ten thirty one we read it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God you know the hand can be used in various ways you've got the finger You've got the palm, you've got the fist. The finger of God is found various times in Scripture. It's found in instruction. Sometimes the finger is used to instruct, like the teacher of the blackboard. God used his finger in the judgments upon Egypt. And the soothsayers, the magicians, they say, This is the finger of God. And the woman of the eighth of John... who were brought, the woman who was brought into his presence having been caught in evil deeds. The Lord Jesus stooped down and with his finger he wrote on the ground. He was writing something. Very instructive. The finger is used for instruction. The finger is used in healing. You remember he took that young man by the hand and he put his finger in his ear. He touched the tongue of the dumb. He touched the eyes of the blind. And he touched the leper. And he touched the dead. The finger to heal. The finger to instruct. The finger to heal. But the finger to deliver. He said, If I by the finger of God cast out demons. The Lord Jesus is casting out demons by the finger of God. There you have the finger used in delivery. But what about the open hand? The open hand suggests an offer. The open hand suggests a welcome. The open hand suggests an appeal. The open hand suggests receiving. God says, I'm extending to you. I've instructed you that you're a lost sinner. You need salvation. You need healing spiritually. You need to know what is to be delivered from the power of sin and Satan. And I'm offering you salvation. I'm welcoming you. I'm appealing to you, and I'll receive you at the open hand. But remember the fist. The fist is the fight, and God has a fist. He says in Proverbs one, I stretched out my hands and no man regarded it. He said it not, all my reproof. In the rest of that chapter, God closes his fist. And it's very solemn. The day is going to come when God will close the fist. The fist is to fight. And in that day God will not fight for you. He'll fight against you. When he'll use that fist against every unsaved person, everyone who dies without a knowledge of his son. And so we've got the finger for instruction, but the fist for destruction. The finger to heal, the fist to hurt. and the finger is powerful, but the fist is all powerful. How solemn. When that day comes, and he no longer uses the finger to instruct you, he no longer uses the open hand to appeal, to offer, to welcome to receive, the fist will be closed. No more instruction, no more appeal, no more offer, no more welcome, no more reception. God then will use the fist. It will be a fearful thing in that day. When God uses his male fist against the unconverted, the wicked, those who have rejected Jesus Christ. One can conclude on a brighter note than that, the seventh reference to his hand, satisfaction. Satisfaction. My how wonderful to know The satisfaction there is in the hand, in this hand. In the present, I think we've pointed this out. In the past, God says, I took them by the hand. Of course, he used his hand when he took them. I took them by the hand. That's past, according to Isaiah, or Hebrews, two and nine. I, the Lord, withhold your hand. That's the present. That's in Isaiah, forty-two and six. He says in Hebrews according to Weymouth translation, I will never, never, never let go thy hand. That's the future. But what about forever? Beyond death. Forever. What's he going to do? The land that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and bleed them by living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. It takes a hand to do that. Mother wipes away the tears from the little girl or from the little boy, brokenhearted. Yes, that day is coming when God with heaven's handkerchief will wipe tears from all our eyes. And then and only then will we know what satisfaction is. What a wonderful hand. What a wonderful hand. What do you know about the hand of the Lord? Have you seen that hand suffering for you? Have you known what it is to be saved by it? If you haven't, then I trust you will this morning. And if you're saved by that hand, you'll know something of its security. You'll know something of its strength in your servant. And you'll know something, too, of its supply. And I hope you'll never know anything of it in severity. But I trust you'll know all about it in satisfaction in that day. When he wipes tears from off all eyes, that hand will either welcome you today or wave you from before his throne then. He'll welcome you if you're ready to come as a poor sinner. He'll welcome you gladly. A strong grip and grasp awaits to take your hand. But if you shake your head then, friend, he'll wave you before from before his throne in that coming day. I love the words of Peter Marshall. He says in the solitude of Scottish Hills, the Lord laid his hand on my shoulder. He touched me on the shoulder. Friend, this morning sitting in this meeting, the Lord would like to touch you on the shoulder. You're the one I want. He'd like to lay his hand upon you. But it's up to you.