Good morning, and Merry Christmas. Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40, if you're using a pew Bible, you'll find that on page 599. We are taking a temporary break from working through the Gospel of Matthew, which we've been doing for a while now. We're taking a break because it is Christmas, and right now the rest of the world is thinking about Christmas. It's on their minds, very much on their minds, with Christmas six days away. But the truth is they're probably a little bit confused as to why this holiday even exists. I was thinking of that line, you remember the Charlie Brown Christmas special, and you remember what goes on in that story, but eventually Linus stands up, I think he's got his blanket with him, and he stands up and he proclaims, isn't there anyone, isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? Does nobody know what Christmas is about? Well, we as Christians, we know what Christmas is about. We know what is really being celebrated with this holiday. And so that's why we're taking a break and we find ourselves in Isaiah chapter 40. And I said last week that there are two different commands given to God's people in the first part of Isaiah 40. And the first one that we looked at last week was to prepare, prepare the way for the Lord. And today I want us to think about the second command, which is behold. Behold your God. And so we're focusing here on verses 9 through 11 of Isaiah chapter 40. So please follow along as I read. Isaiah 40 verses 9 through 11. Going up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news, Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would help me this morning as I seek to speak your truth to these people. And I pray, Lord, that I would be like that herald, like that messenger, that I would be one who boldly proclaims this good news of our God being here. that as I call people to behold this God, that they would have hearts that respond. Lord, we pray that you would help me to speak only that which is true. We pray that your truth would ring in its clarity this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. If you wanted to summarize what Christianity is all about, you might not be able to do much better than beholding your God. Beholding your God. What is it that the Christian is called to do continually? It is to behold his God. What is the main teaching of all of scripture? It's that you are to look at God. You are to be Godward oriented. You are to be Godward focused. Behold your God. Really, even the gospel message itself, that good news that's the core of what we believe, it could be told using the language of beholding. I mean, think about it. We go all the way back to Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve are there in the garden. There was this time when they, before the fall, when they beheld God. We're told that they walked with God in the garden, in the cool of the day. They beheld his presence. They enjoyed his presence, but then they sinned. They ate of that tree that they should not have eaten from, and they were banished from the garden. They were banished away from the special presence of the Lord. And so man, ever since, has longed to once again be with God in the way that Adam and Eve were with God. They longed to see God. The good news of Christianity, the gospel of Christianity, is that because of Jesus Christ, because of what he did when he came to earth after being born as a baby, ultimately going to the cross, because of what he did, you can behold this God. In fact, this is perfectly pictured for us, isn't it, in the incarnation? Remember the incarnation, that doctrine that we celebrate at Christmas time, the fact that the eternal Son of God took on flesh. He became a man. He walked among us. And think about what happened as he took on flesh. As he took on flesh, as he was a person and walked this earth, there were many who, with their very eyes, were able to behold their God. They were beholding it in the person of Jesus Christ. So you think of the shepherds that we read about in the Christmas story, or the wise men from the Christmas story, and they're hurrying to go off and see, to behold this Jesus, this God. Or think of Simeon. Remember Simeon? He's in the temple. And he had actually been told that he would not die before his eyes had seen the Lord's Christ. That's the wording. Until his eyes have seen the Lord's Christ. Or you think 30 years later down the road, there's Jesus beginning his earthly ministry. And in his earthly ministry, there are thousands of people, I don't know, maybe more than that, hundreds of thousands perhaps, who flock to see Jesus. And they're seeing God, the God man. And John the Apostle even tells us at the beginning of his gospel, the gospel of John, he says that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then what does he say? And we have seen his glory. And so much of the Christian story and really much of the Christmas story is about beholding your God. And so, isn't it funny? that amidst all of the hustle and bustle of these weeks leading up to Christmas that we can be blind to Jesus Christ himself. We forget to even look. at Jesus Christ. We get so distracted by holiday preparations and baking cookies and wrapping presents that it seems we have very little time to behold the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, as we look at Isaiah 40, I want for us to see what it teaches us about beholding our God. But this is not just about December. This is not just about Christmas time. This is really about all of your life. What I want to present to you is why you should spend your life beholding your God. That's really what we're looking at this morning. Why you should spend your life beholding your God. And I've got three things that are pulled out of Isaiah chapter 40. But first, let me just acknowledge before I give you those three things, let me just acknowledge that there are so many reasons that you should spend the rest of your life beholding your God. I mean, I mean, think of even the things that we already looked at last week in Isaiah chapter 40. We looked at those first 5 verses and we saw that God is a God of comfort. Remember, we even said that it's doubled there. He's not just a God of comfort, He's a God of comfort comfort. We said that He's a God of tenderness, speak tenderly to Jerusalem. We said that He's this God who is, the middle of verse 2, pardoning our iniquities, that's not in the active, it's in the passive. Somebody else is pardoning, it's being done to us. Someone is pardoning our iniquities, guess who it is? It's God, or look at who he is in verse five. We talked about the glory of the Lord being revealed and all flesh seeing it together. And so there's so much that we could say about this God, and that's why you should spend your lifetime beholding your God. You should give yourself to studying him because there's always more of him to see. But I've got three. Can we do three? I've got three things from this passage, and I'm sure there's even more than these three, but three things why you should spend your life beholding this God. First, he is reliable. He is reliable, or we could say he is trustworthy. You can depend on him. You ever prepare for something? Last week we talked about preparing. You ever prepare for something and it doesn't happen? You put lots of work and effort into getting ready for that something and then that something never occurs. Of course, with COVID, a lot of us experienced that, didn't we? We had made preparations. We had had plans that were going to be put in place, and then all of the country seemed to have locked down, and the things that we had planned couldn't be done. I remember a particular spaghetti banquet that we were going to have. It was going to be great. The youth group, you guys were going to serve us. You were going to make the food and serve us, and we still haven't done it. What's going on? Still haven't done it. And of course, you had your own experiences. Maybe it was the vacation you were planning to have, the honeymoon you were planning to have. Maybe it was the Christmas celebrations that ended up getting canceled. It's that story of preparing for something and then never seeing the fruition of that preparation. And of course, there are much more sobering, much sadder, much more tragic examples of busy preparations that end up yielding nothing. It's the wedding preparations that never lead to an actual wedding day. Or it's the plans for the birth of a child that are never realized. Or it's the hopes and dreams for retirement with your spouse one day that are never actually able to be enjoyed. You see, That's part and parcel of living in this fallen world. There are many things that are not guaranteed. There are many things that cannot be depended on. But here's what I'm driving at. It's not so with God. It's not that way with God. With God, every single one of his promises are reliable. That's why I believe we've got verses 6 through 8 in Isaiah chapter 40. Now, we haven't read those yet, so we started at verse 9, but verses 6 through 8, if you let your eye fall on them, they might seem a little out of place. I mean, look at what comes before and look at what comes after. Before, we've got all this stuff about Preparing you know mountains are being torn down valleys are being raised up where we're clearing out this road We're making this highway so that the glory of the Lord can come and be Revealed on the other side today's passage verses 9 through 11. It's this stuff about shouting it out He's coming. Let it be known herald it that your God is here He's coming in power and then in between verses 6 through 8 We've got all this stuff about grass dying Flowers withering? What's going on here? Look at verses six through eight. Let me read it. A voice says, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? And then here's the message. Here's what you are to cry. All flesh is grass. That is, all of mankind, people, are grass. And all of its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass, the grass withers, the flower fades. Do you understand that? That all of mankind just withers and fades. Young people, teenagers, young people who are so concerned with how you look. You spend so much time making sure you look good. Make sure you look beautiful. I want to be the best looking person in my class. No, yes, look respectable. I think that's fine. I want you to look decent. But do realize that that is a beauty that is going to fade. It is not going to last forever. But there's this contrast here. Look at the second half of verse 8. It says, but the word of our God will stand forever. The word of our God will stand forever. Do you get what this is saying? This is saying that what God has said will come to pass. You can bank on it. If God has promised it, you can be 100% certain that it's going to happen. And that, I believe, is the connection with verse nine that we're looking at this morning. In verse nine, you've got this herald, and he's told to climb up to the top of a mountain, and he's told to proclaim the good news that God is here. And listen, all of you can behold this God, and the reason that he can proclaim this with confidence, that he doesn't have to think, oh boy, how's this message gonna go over, what if people don't believe me, what if this isn't even true, is because this is the word of God. This is God's word, and it is 100% true, and it will stand forever. God's word is reliable. Our God is trustworthy. You know, we find it so easy to fix our eyes on things that wither, things that fade, they're like grass, they're like the flowers of the field. What is filling your vision? What is it that's front and center in your line of sight? What is it that we are constantly putting in front of our eyes as though, if I could just get this, I'd be happy? If I could just see my family together for Christmas, that's what I want. Or if I could just see my health improve, I want to get that clear report from the doctors. Or if I could just see people respect me, people just love me and care for me, if they would understand me, if I could just see that thing, then I'd be happy. And do you understand how all of those things wither and fade? And yet you've got it front and center in your vision. You see, if you want to fix your eyes on something that is reliable, if you want to behold that which is trustworthy and unchanging, fix your eyes on the Lord God. Fix your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Fix your eyes on Him. Now also, while we're here, let me remind you that you wither and fade. You wither and fade, all flesh. is like grass. No one here is the exception to that rule. How much of your lifetime do you have left to gaze on what really matters? You don't know. But how much of your lifetime do you have left to gaze on what is actually permanent and lasting? This morning, I'm trying to convince you that you should spend your lifetime beholding your God. But listen, that lifetime, whatever it is, if it's this long or if it's this long, when it's compared to the infinite beauty of our God, it hardly leaves you with a speck of time to even begin to take Him in. No matter how much time the Lord gives you. And so give yourself to beholding this God. Well, secondly, why should you spend your life beholding God? Secondly, He is a beautiful mixture of strength and tenderness. I tried to boil that down to like one word, but it didn't happen. So we're going with the long phrase. He is a beautiful mixture of strength and tenderness. Look at how God is described in verses 10 and 11. And notice how startling is the shift that occurs halfway through as you go from verse 10 to verse 11. Here's what it says. It says, Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Do you see it here? He is both strong in the first half of that, and he is tender in the second half. It's this beautiful mixture because think about it. If God is simply strong and authoritative and powerful, but he doesn't know how to handle us gently, then we would quickly become crushed. smothered but if God is simply tender and gracious and merciful and compassionate that's how a lot of people want to make him out to be if he is just that and he has no power to do anything about it we would be hopelessly lost sure God cares for us but he can't do anything about it you see he's got to be a God who is both strong and tender and that's our God He's this beautiful composite of all good qualities. Now, when I say that He's a beautiful composite of all good qualities, I don't mean that He has each of them in part, like He's collected a piece of this good quality and a piece of that good quality, and He's brought them all together. No, what I mean is that He has them in full. He has each of those qualities in full, 100%, and they're all packed together. And that's not just God the Father, that's Jesus Christ. That's the Son of God. I was reading this week, and maybe you were as well, we're getting towards the end of our two-year Bible reading plan, in Revelation 5. And you've got this picture where they describe this one as being the Lion of Judah, and then the next verse, what is he? He's the Lamb who was slain. He's the Lion, and he's the Lamb. Or you think of the fact that he's one who is transcendent, but he is also one who is imminent. He's one who speaks with authority. No one speaks like this man. He speaks with authority, and yet he looks on the lowly with compassion. He's the god of all the universe, and then he takes on flesh and he comes as a baby. Jonathan Edwards, that great American, I guess we'd call him a Puritan, he once wrote that He said this, he says, what makes Christ glorious is an admirable conjunction of divine excellencies. I like that. He is an admirable conjunction coming together of divine excellencies. And look at that admirable conjunction of his strength and his tenderness in verses 10 and 11. So in verse 9, we've seen the message shouted from the mountains to behold your God. And then, in verse 10, we're told to behold him in his strength. And notice how he's described here. We discover that he is Lord. He is the Lord God. We're told that he comes with might. That word might, it's the same language that's used to describe the deliverance of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the events that eventually culminate in the exodus. We're told again and again in scripture that that was done by God's mighty hand. That's the word there, his might. We're told that his arm, arm here in scripture, so often arm is a symbol of strength. Think of a guy flexing his biceps on the beach, and he's just showing you how... This doesn't really do it justice, but he's showing you how strong he is. And it's saying his arm, his strength rules for him. His arm rules for him. In other words, no one else steps in and takes his place of rule. He alone is on the throne. His arm is the one that's ruling. And then at the end of verse 10, we see that he's like that victorious king. who has conquered and he's then able to distribute the spoils of war to his followers. The language there is that his reward is with him. His recompense is before him. He has conquered the enemy, he has plundered them, he has spoiled them, and he's distributing those good gifts to his followers. You see, the picture here is that he is the very model of strength. That's who our God is. I wish we had more time because if we did, I'd love to show you how this theme is continued in chapter 40. When you get to verse 12, and as you carry it on all the way through, maybe you should study the rest of the chapter this week. We see this God who is strong, who is mighty, who is huge. He's described as being a God who can fit all of the world's oceans. Think of that vast amount of water. And the image used is that he can fit them in the hollow of his hand. all of the oceans. Or he's described in this chapter as this one to whom the nations, think of all the nations that we think are so strong and mighty. He says they're like dust. To God, they're like dust. He can just blow them away. Or they're like a drop of water in a bucket. What is one little drop of water in a bucket? That's what the nations are to him. Or we're told that when he looks at the kings, The mighty leaders, the ones that we shake in fear of, when He looks at them, they're like grasshoppers, Isaiah 40 tells us. Or then it talks about how God is a God who has created the stars. Yes, that's incredible in itself, but then, you know, all these stars that we just can't seem to collect enough knowledge on, it says that He knows them each by name. You see, that is our God. What other being, let me ask you, what other being has that magnitude of strength? You can think of no one. There is no one like our God and yet, not only is he the very model of strength, he's the very model of tenderness. Look at verse 11, it says he's like a shepherd. You know, a shepherd who, of course, has to be strong to do his job. Yes, we understand that. But he's also gentle and tender. He cares for his sheep. In fact, we know that a good shepherd will even sacrifice himself in order to protect his sheep. He's going to come between his sheep and the bear. He's going to come between his sheep and the lion. In John chapter 10, Jesus picks up this imagery of the shepherd with his sheep and he says, you know, there's that hireling. There's the guy that you hire as the summer intern. There's the guy that you hire just to do the grunge work. He doesn't really want the job, but he takes it because he needs the money. And it says that that guy, when he sees the wolf coming, he books it out of there. He doesn't stick around, but that's not Jesus. Jesus is the true shepherd. He is the good shepherd. In fact, he's willing to even lay down his life for his sheep. That's who he is. He's a shepherd. In verse 11, it says that he tends them. That means he's always near them, and he's feeding them, and he's guiding them. He's especially gentle, we're told, with the little ones, the lambs, the ones who are maybe even newborns. And it says he gathers them in his arms. How did you catch that word? Where does he gather them? In his arms. In the previous verse we heard about his arm. You see the very same arm that flexes with almighty power is used here to gently carry that little one. He says he carries them near to his heart in his bosom. And then it says that he takes special care of those that are with young. Now with young, the Hebrew there is actually not referring to someone who is pregnant, a woman who is pregnant, it's actually referring to someone who is a nursing mother. And so here's this new mother and she's weakened from childbirth and she's physically exhausted, but as the shepherd leads his flock he He gently leads them. He even leads this nursing mother, directing her, giving her counsel, speaking words of encouragement to her, not pushing her more than she can be pushed. That's the image here. Brothers and sisters, this is our God. This is our God. Why would you not want to spend your lifetimes beholding Him? He's worth beholding. Let me just observe to you that he is this, not just for a moment of time, he is this eternally. Remember we said our first point tonight or this morning was that he is reliable. He's reliable. He won't change. He is even now a God who is both full of strength and full of tenderness. So that moves us to our third point. Why would you spend your lifetime beholding this God? Thirdly, He is worth heralding. He is worth heralding. Verse 9, it says, go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up. Fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Listen, this God is a God who is worth heralding. And if our God is worth all of this fanfare, all of this fancy preparations and climbing up mountains and shouting things out, he really must be something. He really must be worth beholding. You know that when you see the red carpet rolled out and you see the TV cameras begin to accumulate, you think to yourself, boy, somebody important must be coming. Somebody important is about to arrive. And here, apparently, somebody important is being proclaimed. And he's worth proclaiming. He's worth heralding. I want you to notice here, first, who is doing the heralding. Notice who is doing the heralding. depending on what translation you have of scriptures in front of you, you might have different ideas as to who is doing the heralding. That's because the Hebrew can actually be read two different ways. It can be translated two different ways. And so in some of your translations, it looks like Zion and Jerusalem are the recipients of the message. They are receiving a message being given to them. And that's what I'm used to hearing every year when I Turn on Handel's Messiah. It's usually Thanksgiving morning, okay? Start listening to Handel's Messiah. And every year when I'm listening to Handel's Messiah, I hear these words. It says, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem. And so, in this case, the ones receiving the message are Zion and Jerusalem, and so someone else is doing the heralding, some other generic messenger who is unnamed. That's one way to translate this. But another way to translate this verse is to have Zion and Jerusalem be not the recipients of the message, but they are the bearers of the message. They are the ones giving the message. And that's how the ESV that I'm using has translated it, and I think I would tend to Agree with them and so in this translation. There's this idea of Zion you are the herald of good news Jerusalem you are the herald of good news and so go up on the high mountain lift up your voice with strength And I I like this translation because it's it's Zion. It's the the people of God It's Jerusalem who are heralding the good news that God has come It's God's people who want to tell other people about that. You know, it fits nicely because it's kind of a foretaste of what Christ will tell his disciples after his resurrection. But before his ascension, there's that Acts 1.8 version of the Great Commission. And Jesus says to his disciples, he basically says, you go and herald the good news. He says, you go, be my witnesses. in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. And so God's people are being sent as the heralds of the good news. And so it's not just the angels. It's not just heavenly choirs who herald the birth of the newborn king. According to that reading of this verse, it's Zion. It's Jerusalem. It's the people of God. You and I are tasked with going out there and heralding the good news that this day, in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you, and He is Christ the Lord. I mean, did it ever occur to you that in that Luke 2 story with the angels and the shepherds, that that's exactly what the shepherds end up doing? They hear the message from the angels, they go, they see the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and then what do they do next? They go out and they excitedly tell everyone the good news of Jesus' birth. They are, in essence, climbing up the mountains and heralding the good news that God is here. Behold your God. But notice not just the who of heralding, but I want you to notice the how. Verse nine gives directions on how to herald. The directions are there. The herald is to go on a high mountain. Don't just pick any ordinary mountain. don't pick a low hill, make sure it's a good one, go up on a high mountain, and then he's told to lift up his voice, and then even added to that, you know, you ever talk to someone who can't seem to get words out, and you say, speak up, I need to hear you, lift up your voice, and then you may even have to give them that punch in the gut so they really get loud, and it's, you know, lift up your voice with strength is the image here. Now, why? Why are those the instructions? Well, because this good news, that's what it's called here, it's called good news, this good news of God's presence must be proclaimed to the whole world. We've got to make sure that everybody gets this message. This glorious truth, it's a truth that's worth devoting one's life to, that God has come to be with us, is a message that must be made clear and visible to all men. It's got to be made clear and visible to all nations. I'm not going to hide it under a bushel. No, I'm going to let it shine. I've got to let people know. Are you ready to herald? Are you ready to herald this good news? You know, it's interesting that God has to tell the herald to fear not. Be not afraid. You know, there are many reasons that we might be afraid to herald the good news of God's coming. There's reasons we think, I don't know if I really want to talk with my unsaved family members on Christmas morning about this. I know my coworkers have got funny ideas about what happened at Christmas, but I don't know if I really want to talk with them about this. There's a number of things that could be going on. We might lack confidence in the message itself. You know, we doubt whether God's word is truly reliable like it says it is in verses six through eight. Or we're afraid we might actually have this wrong. I mean, after all, this is the conclusion I came to, but maybe other people can come to different conclusions. And so we lack confidence in the message itself. Or maybe we fear the scoffing and the ridicule of others. You know, if I go up there and stand on a high mountain, and if I then proclaim this good news, people are going to think I'm nuts. People are going to think I'm crazy. Who's that crazy guy on the top of the mountain shouting about some God coming? And we fear what others might say about us. Or we might even fear the persecution, the actual physical suffering that could result. You know, in many parts of the world, that is the case. You proclaim the good news, you may actually face physical persecution. But look what God says. He says, fear not. Fear not, don't be afraid. I mean, after all, you're proclaiming a message that will never fade. You're proclaiming a message that will never wither. The word of our God is a word that will stand forever. That's a message worth giving to others. Of course, in some ways, you might've thought of this, the message of verse nine has already been fulfilled. It's already been fulfilled. Notice who the message is delivered to. He says, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Say to the cities of Judah. Well, when did Judah specifically get to behold their God? Well, that was when the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, that Judean city. Think of Micah 5 verse 2 that says, but you, O Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel. And this passage does, of course, find its first fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ. And yet, these words resonate with us as well. These words are words that we can proclaim as well. We too should be heralds going to all people and declaring to them this message. We should be saying, hey, God has come among us. Do you get that? Hey, you who are distracted by Santa and his elves, God has come among us. Hey, you that are really into the food and the cookies and the desserts, don't you understand that God has come among us? He's walked with us. We have beheld His power and His glory, and so you should come too and behold our God. For really, that's what Christianity is all about. That's what Christianity is about. It's all about looking at God. It's about beholding our God. It's about gazing, as Psalm 27 says, it's about gazing on the beauty of our Lord. You should spend your life beholding this God, the main message of Christianity. The main message of Christianity is not be a good person. The main message of Christianity is not that you should do right things or somehow turn yourself into a decent member of society. The message of Christianity is not that you should find your spiritual fulfillment. I just need to find that thing that makes me spiritually happy. The main message of Christianity is not that you can somehow improve your mental health using a little bit of religion. The main message of Christianity is that there is a gorgeous God and you should come and behold Him. You should come and see Him. Oh wait, you say there's a problem. You say, there's a difficulty, and you know what, I think you're actually right. What's your difficulty? Oh, your difficulty is your sin. And because of your sin, you can't come into the presence of God. I understand what you're saying, but listen, brother. Listen, sister. God himself has come to earth and he has walked among us. And He has lived a perfect life so that eventually He could be a grown man who goes to a cross and He dies in the place of those who will believe and trust in Him. And He will pay the penalty for your sins. He will pay the penalty that you ought to have paid yourself. And He will give you His righteousness. And so now, let me make sure you understand this, now you can behold Him and you can behold Him without fear. That is the message of Christianity. Come and behold him. My brothers and sisters, do you understand that our God is so beautiful? He's so gorgeous that you need far more than just a lifetime to behold him. John Piper, he's writing about the glories of God. It's actually in a book on preaching and he uses this image. He says, God is like a mountain that we're trying to climb. But he ends up saying that God's basically inexhaustible as you try to climb this mountain. Here's what he says. He says, become a mountain climber on the cliffs of God's majesty. And let the truth begin to overwhelm you that you will never exhaust the heights of God. Every time you climb over a rim of insight, there stretches out before you, disappearing into the clouds, a thousand miles of massive beauty in the character of God. And so set yourself to climb and ponder the thought that everlasting ages of discovery in the infinite being of God will not suffice to weaken your gladness in the glory of God or to dull the intensity of the gravity of his presence. What he's saying, he's saying that even in heaven itself, even when you have all of eternity sitting before you, you will not be able to exhaust the wonderful beauties of our God. And I think the message is, so get started now. What are you waiting for? Let's get on this. And so this Christmas, can you begin afresh to see and then to savor this beautiful God. You know, I imagine there's nothing worse than getting to the end of your life and realizing that for all of your life, you were gazing at all the wrong things. You were gazing at things that wither and fade. You were gazing at things that don't matter and that you were blind to what matters most. That's gotta be an awful reckoning. Don't be that person. Now is the time to behold your God. Let's pray. Oh God, we want to see you. We want to see more of you. We want to know you better. We want to have a greater depth of understanding of you. We want to soak in the beauty of your glory and your majesty. But Lord, we need you to help us. We know it would never be possible except that you through Christ have drawn us to yourself. But Lord, we even become easily distracted. Having become Christians, we become easily distracted, and we know you are infinitely valuable, but we look at other things. And so, Lord, we need you. Lord, would you direct us to yourself, however you need to do that. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.