AP

Take A Look

Scripture:

Isaiah 45.22-45: Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. ²³ By myself I have sworn;  from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.“Only in the Lord”, it shall be said of me, “are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. ²⁵ In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”

Hebrews 12.1-3: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.

Introduction:

JUST AS an old Chinese proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so Christians can say that the journey of a lifetime, in fact the journey to Eternity, begins with a single look.

     Our Lord Jesus Christ says: ‘Look to Me, all the ends of the Earth, and be saved’ (Isaiah 45.22). This command is for everyone, everywhere in every generation, so we must all ask ourselves: ‘Have I looked to Jesus and am I encouraging others to look to Him too?’

     Some Bibles say: ‘Turn to me’ and others ‘Look to me’. They are both right, because to look to Him you need to turn to Him. Turning and looking are like two sides of the one coin, and they are the two parts of coming to faith in Christ as our Lord and Saviour. First, we repent of our sin and then we trust in Him for our salvation, as Jesus says in Mark 1.15: ‘The time has come, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel!’

     ‘Repentance’ simply means ‘turning around’, or ‘turning away from’, and isn’t there so much in this wicked world that we must turn away from? Lying, cheating, hurting, robbing, killing, persecuting, immorality… and the list goes on and on. But praise the Lord, for thousands of years those who have turned to Him and looked to Him have come to know Him and love Him as their Lord and Saviour, and experience the love and joy and peace He gives us.

     Let me give you my favourite example of someone who looked to Jesus.

     A teenage boy went into a tiny church on the outskirts of the town of Colchester in England one snowy, freezing day. There was a very old preacher there that day and just a few people in the congregation. The old preacher ran out of something to say, but he was preaching on this text: ‘Look unto Me, all the ends of the Earth and be saved.’ So he just kept on saying the text over and over again. Then he looked straight at the teenage boy and said something like this: ‘You look very unhappy young man. You need to look to Jesus. You never will be happy until you look to Jesus’.

     Eventually that young man did look to Jesus and found forgiveness for his sin, and he went on his way rejoicing in the Lord.

     His name was Charles Haddon Spurgeon and he went on to become one of the greatest preachers the Christian Church has ever had. He founded a great church in London, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in 1861. At its opening he said: ‘I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ.’ And that is still the case today – all because a poor old preacher made that simple appeal to a sad looking young man all those years ago.

     So, I want to say to the young people reading this article, that it’s a great privilege and joy to turn and look to Jesus when we’re young, with all of life laid out before us and perhaps receiving the call to go out to win the world for Christ.

     I want to say to the middle-aged people reading this article, that there is still time to turn and look to Jesus. Look to Him today. He’s calling you. Beg Him to come in and be with you for the rest of your journey through this earthly life and take you all the way to Glory.

     I want to say to the older people reading this article, that it’s just as much a joy and a privilege to turn and look to Jesus later in life as it is in younger years, even at the very end. It has been said that ‘grace and mercy may still be found between the saddle and the ground’. The angels in Heaven still rejoice over everyone who repents, and the promise of God is that He ‘will restore unto us the years which the swarming locusts have eaten’ (Joel 2.25). Our physical eyes might grow dim, but with the eye of faith we can still look to Jesus, and we can still work for Him even when the only ministry left to us is to pray.

Why should we look to Jesus?

A lot of people say they do their best to live according to the Ten Commandments, which is the way God commands us to live. But if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we have actually broken those Commandments.

     That means that we are living in rebellion against God, and rebellion against God is called ‘sin’. The Bible tells us that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3.23), and that ‘the wages of sin is death’, so something has to be done to restore a right relationship between us and God our Creator. That is why He tells us to look to Jesus. He came down to Earth from Heaven to live His sinless life for us and to die for us to pay the penalty for our sin that we should have paid, and when we turn and look to Him, God receives those who are trusting in Jesus as His children.

What does it mean to turn and look to Jesus?

Most people look within themselves or to anything or anyone else but Jesus. We like to think that we’re in charge of our own destiny and that we’re able to help ourselves and make ourselves right with God. Or else we turn to other philosophies or religions to try to make ourselves right with God through them. But only when we ‘look to Jesus’ are we acknowledging to God that we have rebelled against Him, and that we’re not able to put things right with Him ourselves, but that we need Him to restore our relationship with Him as our loving Heavenly Father. We acknowledge that He has done everything necessary to restore our relationship through the Lord Jesus’ perfectly obedient life and the offering of His life on the Cross of Calvary to pay the penalty which we should have paid but cannot because of our sin.

How do we ‘look to Jesus’?

Looking is not a hard thing to do, is it? And strangely enough, looking to Jesus is a kind of looking that’s best done with your eyes closed! If you’re sick and tired of trying to make yourself better and failing every time, or of trying to make yourself right with God but not getting anywhere near Him, or if you have tried to follow other philosophies or religions and they haven’t worked for you, or if you’ve tried to compensate for your sin by trying to be as good as you can or to do as many good deeds as you can, here’s what you can do:

     Find a quiet place. Settle down. Close your eyes. Focus your thoughts on Jesus, who loves sinners and gave Himself for them. Thank Him for coming down to Earth from Heaven and dying for the ungodly. Tell Him how sorry you are for all your sin and rebellion against God. Ask Him to forgive you, to be with you, to help you live your life to please God. When you ‘look to Jesus‘, you are setting out on a whole new journey through life which will finally bring you to Heaven to be with God forever. You’re saved!

     You’re in the right place here in church. Find a Christian friend to help you. Keep coming to church regularly and at every opportunity come to this Bible-believing church, and we’ll be pleased to help you in your new life in Jesus Christ.

We must keep on ‘looking to Jesus’.

This journey which starts with a look and leads us all the way to Heaven isn’t always easy or pleasant. It has its highs and lows, its joys and sorrows, its successes and failures, its fulfilments and its disappointments.

     Some people might give us a hard time or try even harder than they did before to lead us astray, and we need all the help God gives us to keep living His way and walking with Jesus.

     In Hebrews 12.2,3 we read: ‘Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ By reading the Bible we learn more and more about Jesus. By going to church we can worship God with Christian friends. By praying we can ask for His help in everything we do.

Conclusion

May God bless us all as we turn and look to Jesus to be saved and begin the great journey of faith through this Earthly life, which takes us all the way to Heaven. And may He give us grace to keep on looking to Him as we journey all the way to Glory.

Let us pray:

O Lord our gracious and loving God, give us grace to ‘turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, that the things of Earth may grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.’

     Lord, bless Your church everywhere in all the world. Help us as we strive together for the sake of the Gospel. Bind us together in Your love. Be with our pastors as they faithfully teach us Your Word and lead us in Your Way. Provide for them all their needs and strengthen them in their heavy workloads.

     And Lord, please bless each one of us and all of our families we pray. Help us all to look to Jesus now and all through our life on Earth until You call us Home to Heaven. And we ask all this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

– Bob Thomas

(A bifold A4 PDF tract of this article is available free of charge on request from revbobthomas@gmail.com )