All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Judges. Judges chapter seven. You're looking at verse 17 through
verse 22, but especially verse 17 and 18. And the title of my message is
simply this, Look on Christ. Look on Christ. The scripture here says that
he, this is speaking of Gideon, and Gideon said unto them, look
on me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the
outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall you
do. When I blow with the trumpet,
I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on
every side of all the camp, and say, the sword of the Lord and
of Gideon. Now, every time I preach the
gospel to you, I determine always to show you Christ. It is my
point and privilege always to preach to you Christ. Now I can
go any place in this book. And it is always my intent because
it is the intent of the Holy Spirit to show us Christ in all
the scriptures. Jesus said that of himself, he
expounded unto them in all the scriptures, what, things concerning
himself and this text is no different. Here Gideon is given to us as
a picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gideon was chosen
of God to save Israel. Israel was under the captivity
of the Midianites and you remember he came to him. Oh Gideon's over
hiding barley and wheat in the threshing floor and Here comes
Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord, and saying, behold, I'm
mighty man of valor. And Gideon looked around and
said, who? Who? He said, I'm talking to you,
Gideon. Mighty man of valor, by you I will save Israel. And now it had come to pass,
the time had come, there was gathered together, God had gathered
together 32,000 men of Israel. It was time that Israel should
be saved. And you remember what happened
just before this, Gideon, God said, that's too many men. And he told Gideon, he said,
Gideon, go out there and tell those men, if they're scared,
go home. 22,000 men left. And there were
only 10,000 left. And the Lord said, no, that's
still too many. He said, you send them down that
little pond down there and get a drink. And anybody that looks
up and cups the hand and drinks the water, he said, you send
them home. But everybody that laps like
a dog at the water, He said, you keep them. And you remember
that only 300 of them laughed like a dog. What a picture of
God's people. I like to remember Todd's message
on that a long time ago, all dogs go to heaven. You know,
use that Canaanite woman as an example of that. The Lord says,
is it me to give children's bread to dogs? And she said, truth,
Lord. I'm a dog, truth. But even the
dogs eat the crumbs from the master's table. And he said,
I've not found so much of faith in Israel. God's people are like
that. This is a picture of God's people.
And you know, old Gideon, he still was somewhat afraid. And
oh, back over in verse nine, God tells him, God tells Gideon,
he says, arise, get thee down unto the host. for I have delivered
into thine hand. But if thou fear, go down to
Purah, thy servant, with that Purah, thy servant, down to the
host, and thou shalt hear what they say. And afterward, thy
hand shall be strengthened to go down unto the host." You know,
he went down there and then those two guards that he met, he saw
one of them had a dream, had a vision. It was a barley loaf
rolling down a hill and killing them all. And the other guy said,
I know who that is, that's Gideon. That's Gideon. And you know,
Gideon was strengthened by hearing that, he was confident by hearing
that. But I want you to see that him
going down is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ as he went
down to Gethsemane. Our Lord was troubled concerning
what he had to do, and he needed to be strengthened. And our Lord
shows him at Gethsemane, the Son of God, knowing what he was
about to accomplish, knowing that he would bear the sins of
God's elect, that he who is righteous and knew no sin must go down
into the pit, that he must go to the cross and be made sin
for us. Now listen, we by nature are
sinners. To call me a sinner, we take that, even those of us
who understand it, we take that even lightly. But consider him
who knew no sin, who did no sin, who thought no sin, who felt
no sin ever, was about to be made sin for us. Jesus said,
my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. He was troubled about the victory
that he must accomplish. And our Lord sent him to Gethsemane,
and you know what he said? He said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. But in obedience, he said, nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. He was about to offer himself
and bear our sins in his own body. And the justice of God
was about to pour and rain down on him without mercy. I can't
imagine that terror. Can you? The scripture says that
the deity in human flesh sweat as it were great drops of blood.
This was so troubling to the Lord Jesus Christ. He struggled
at night in the garden. Friends, I cannot understand
that because I have no idea what it is like to endure the wrath
of God. And thank God I'll never know
what it's like to endure the wrath of God. But you know what happened in
that garden? He was strengthened, wasn't he? He set his face like
a flint to go to the cross, to go to Calvary. And so as God
strengthened Gideon to do the work, to save Israel, let us
consider also our Lord Jesus Christ, who God strengthened
in order to save his people. Scripture says, lo, I come, in
the volume of the book it is written of me, to what? Do thy
will. And it was the will of God that
he should be made sin for his people. It was the will of God
that he alone should bear our guilt and the shame of our sins
and suffer the wrath of God. And so being found in fashion
as a man, Paul said, he humbled himself. and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. And so now strengthened,
here's Gideon in our text, he is now strengthened. And he comes
to the men having the plan given him of God. He has the plan of
salvation for Israel. And he says this, look on me. Everybody, this is the same man
who was afraid, who was scared, but now he is strengthened. And
here he is, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice
what he says first. Here's the plan, look at me.
Here's the plan, look on me. And Gideon was faithful and worshiped
God, and he was faithful and obedient. Gideon then tells these
men what is necessary for victory. And the first thing that is necessary
is for them to look at him. that they should behold what
he does and what does he say, look on me and do likewise. Listen, boys,
you look at me, you mark what I do, and then you do the same. You do the same and we will win
the victory. We'll win the victory. After
he sees his work, done by these soldiers after they had done
that, he is now strengthened and determined as to what needs
to be done. Now, what a blessed picture this
is of the Lord Jesus. You know, our Lord Jesus told
his disciples the same thing, didn't he? He told them, look
on me, look to me. Look on me, behold me. This is the way sinners are saved.
looking to Jesus Christ. This is how all Israel say, looking
to Jesus Christ. He says, look on me. Matter of
fact, before this in prophecy, he said this, look unto me and
be you saved all the ends of the earth. Now I want you to
look at that. He doesn't say, look at my, look at my doctrine. He says,
look at me. Look to me. In other words, it's
personal. Friends, the gospel is not just
a doctrine to be learned. It is a person. It is a person. Jesus Christ is the gospel. I know men that study this gospel,
they study this book and they have no idea who Christ is. Christ says, look at me, look
on me and be saved. You must look to Christ. You
must look to his work, to his person. And by looking on him,
men are saved. Isn't this seen throughout scripture?
Can you come up with so many illustrations of this? I think
of the brazen serpent. What a picture that is. You remember
that brazen serpent, how the children of Israel were bitten
by those fiery serpents and God told Moses, make a brass serpent
and put it on a pole. And he's told the people that
were bitten, look and what? Live. Look and live. That was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord said that of Himself. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. It's a picture of Christ. Our
Lord Jesus Christ made this very plain. He says, you know, the
Lord didn't come to save everybody. That should be plain, isn't it? I'm gonna give you His plain
word. Now listen carefully. Jesus said,
I cannot to call who? The righteous. Well, who did
you come to call? But I came to call sinners to
repentance. This evening, if you are righteous
in yourself, if you are trying to add your work to His, Christ
did not come to call you. He came to call sinners. This
is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ came
into the world to save who? Sinners, sinners. This call about
the serpent of breath, who is that to? Was that for everybody?
No, it was only to those who were bitten. What good would
it be to look to the serpent if you didn't have a need? If
you weren't bitten, it would have done you no good. You see,
this call was only to those who are bitten by the sting of sin. Only those who have the sentence
of death in themselves. Only those who are bound to sin.
Only those who cannot save themselves. Only those who have nothing to
offer. Those are the ones that are called to look to Christ.
Sinners. Listen, am I speaking to sinners? That's who the gospel is about.
Christ says to sinners, look on me, look to me and be saved. Look to me. Over in Isaiah, I'll
read it to you. Isaiah 55, you know this very
well. Ho, everyone that, what? Thirsteth. Come ye to the waters. Anybody thirsty? The waters of
Christ. Come and be cleansed. Come and
be refreshed. Come and bathe in the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Come and wash yourselves. Isn't
that what the scripture says? These are they that wash their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Come now,
you are filthy. Come and wash yourselves in the
blood of Jesus Christ. It says this, come you to the
waters, yea, you that have no money. Listen, he's talking to
bankrupt sinners. Sinners got nothing to pay. You
got nothing to pay to God? That's an invitation, come on
in. You got nothing to pay, come
on in. Come you that have no money,
buy and eat, yea, buy wine and milk, not just anything, the
best of things. Wine for joy, milk for nourishment. Hey, without money and without
price, you got something to spend? He don't want you. Only one's going to look to Christ,
so he's got nothing. See, tonight, I'm looking to
Christ, because I got nothing. That text is talking to me. I'm
thirsty. Are you thirsty? Are you hungry
for Him? Do you need him? See, that's
the people he calls. Look on me. He said, let the
wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man. See, he's calling
wicked people. He's calling the unrighteous
people to do what? Wallow in their wickedness? No,
forsake their wickedness. And he's not just talking about
evil deeds and lust. He's talking about their religion.
Forsake your thoughts and how you think you should come to
God. and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy on him. He might need mercy. Then look on him. Come to him. And listen, he will abundantly
pardon. These are abundantly wicked people
that are being called because there's abundant pardon. If you
come to Christ, you say, well, I don't need abundant pardon,
I just need a little pardon. I don't know anything about that.
I need abundant pardon because I'm an abundant sinner. And that's
exactly what he provides. Free mercy. Because I know that
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I know I have nothing with which
to pay for my crimes against God. Therefore, my only hope
then is to hear the voice of the Son of God saying this, look
on me. Look on me. I hope you hear him
tonight. I want you to hear his voice.
I want him to speak to you, not me. I want him to talk to you. And I want him to say what Gideon
said. Look on me. Look on me. Look to me by faith. That's how
you look to it. You look to him by faith. Now,
what do we look to him for? Now, he's calling men to look,
calling sinners to look to him. Now, why would he call us to
look on him? First of all, because there are
two things we need. Two things Christ provides that
every sinner needs. Listen, the first one is righteousness. Righteousness. Look on me for
what? Righteousness. Isn't that what God requires? God requires perfect obedience,
perfect righteousness. In order for you or me or any
man to be accepted of God, you and I must be holy. Holy. Holy, without sin, perfect before
God in order to be, what does it say in Psalm 24? Who shall
ascend under the heel of the Lord? Who shall stand in his
holy place? Who? The scriptures don't leave
you vague. It says he that has clean hands
and a pure heart. In other words, perfect action
and perfect motive. Now let me just tell you, I'm
gonna ruin the surprise. That's none of us. Now you got it? Who shall ascend
unto the hill of the Lord? None of us. Our hands are filthy
and our hearts are filthy. This is only speaking of one
man, the one that's calling you to look on him, Jesus Christ.
He's the only man that ever ascended into the presence of God. The
only man of his own merit, of his own worth, of his own value,
ascended to the throne of God. And I like that in Revelation
when it said he took the book. You know what? He took that book
and God said nothing. You know why? He earned it. He's
the only one that earned it. In false religion, they tell
you They tell you God's like some
grandpa in the sky, some Santa Claus looking who's naughty and
nice. That's how they view God, as
nothing more as one, as a, you know, when you, your grandpa
and your grandma, usually these are the most kind people in the
world and they overlook everything, don't they? They just kind of
overlook everything. It's how they think God is. He's
just gonna overlook everything. If you just try your best, that's
what God wants. He wants your best. No, he doesn't
want your best. I know this about my children. If they have a task to do, if
I give them something to do, or teacher gives them something
to do, or somebody, and I watched them, and they are really struggling.
They're not lazy about it. They're really working hard.
They're really trying. And then they fall short of whatever
it is. You know what? I'm still proud
of them. I'm still proud of them. They did their best. You know,
they didn't make it. We can maybe work through it,
try to find something else that they're able to do, but God's
not like us, friends. He's not like us. God's not some
kindly father. Matter of fact, I'm a sinful
father, aren't I? My children have tested that.
They know me. Because we don't demand perfection,
but listen to me, God does. God does. Be ye holy even as,
listen, even as I am holy. Now you figure out how God holy
God is and that's how holy you and I must be to be accepted
of God. He will not accept anything less
than His holy perfection. So then who of us could attain
that? I'm gonna save you some brain
power. None of us. None of us. We all have sinned. And what? Come short of the glory of God. Come short of the glory of God. No matter who, no difference
between any man. I like, the Bible, friends, is
a great leveler, isn't it? It just, I don't care what color
you are. I don't care where you came from.
I don't care how much power or influence you have in this world.
I don't care if you're a bum on the street or a king of a
country. Listen, all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Scriptures are playing all our
righteousnesses. are as filthy rags. From the
top of our head to the sole of our foot is nothing but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores." I'll tell you this, we judge
men by things we see, don't we? You see a man, he's rich, he's
successful, he's smiling all the time, looks real happy, what
do we say? That guy's successful. We see
a man dressed in religious robes, and he's always doing good, and
he's always feeding the homeless, and he's doing good deeds. What
do men say? Well, that guy's a good man.
And you see a guy over here on the street, and he's a bum. See
those guys out there riding? What do we say about them? They're
looting. They're shooting people. What
do we say? Those are bad people. You see, we always seem to judge
men based on what we see. God does not judge based on what
he sees just on the outside. Now he does judge based on what
we do. But I promise this, he goes deeper.
He looks at the heart of men. And you know what God says about
every man? From that successful man, that religious man, that
riotous man, that murderous man, you know what God says? sinner,
sinner, sinner, sinner, guilty, guilty, guilty. We're always trying to find people
worse than we are so we can feel better about ourselves, aren't
we? We be honest. That's what we
try to judge. We judge men upon the outside and we try to find
somebody worse than we are just so we can feel better about ourselves.
But the Bible levels us all out. We are all sinners. And what
do all sinners need? Righteousness. We need right. Listen, we're going to face God,
friends. We're going to face God. So many people worried about
who's going to be the next president. So many people worried about
what's gonna happen to this country. You shouldn't be worried about
facing God. He's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, what? The judgment. And if you are
not as holy as God, you will be cast into eternal hell forever. So who cares what happens to
this country then? Are you going to really matter?
Is it really going to pique your interest? No. So if I'm to be righteous, then
this is the only conclusion Scripture gives me. It's that somebody
else must do it for me. Somebody else has to be righteous
in my place. or else I could never be righteous. That's the whole purpose of Christ
saying this, look on me, look what I have done. And you know what he did? He
came in as a man and obtained perfect righteousness, perfect
righteousness. I'm gonna read you this from
Isaiah chapter 42. You remember God talking about
his servant. Behold, my servant, my elect,
in whom my soul delighted. One that should not fail. God
says this about him. In verse 21, he says, the Lord
is well pleased, listen, for his righteousness sake. He shall magnify the law and
make it honorable. You know, the law's got a purpose.
The purpose of the law for us is only to convict of sin, but
that purpose of the law was for his obedience. that he should
obey that law in our stead, and that all he represented obeyed
that law in him. Every dot, every tittle of that
law, every jot and tittle of that law, he obeyed. And everyone
in him obeyed that law. And so righteousness cannot come
by me, it must come by him. Therefore, we who are sinners
must look unto Jesus because he is the only perfect and righteous
man. Jesus, who was made flesh. He was made flesh that He might
do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Be righteous. Holy. And so Jesus now says this, you
that need righteousness, look on me. Tonight, you need righteousness. You need righteousness. Anyone need righteousness. Don't look here. He said, look
on me, look on me. And all who look on him have
righteousness. You know, our Lord Jesus said
this, look unto me, all you are weak and heavy laden. You're
trying to earn, there's nothing that can, there is nothing more
weary than trying to earn righteousness. That's what the Jews were always
trying to do. Paul said, those are my kinfolk.
He said, they've got a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They're going about seeking to
earn their own righteousness. But look, Paul said, Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. He fulfilled the law for righteousness.
Why are you trying to obey the law for righteousness? He's fulfilled
the law for righteousness. He's at the end of the law, made
an end to it. And so you that are weak and
heavy laden, trying. And listen, I'm talking to believers
as well. Listen to me. How many times are we caught
trying to earn His favor? You sin. When we sin, oh, the
guilt floods our soul. And what are we turning around
doing? We're trying to make up for what we did. We spend all
our time trying to earn His favor, trying to get back into His good
graces. We start reading our Bible and
thinking, oh, if I just read enough, if I just read enough,
surely... What are you doing? Jesus said, stop. If you're not
reading this looking on Me, you're not doing it right. Look on Me. I've already earned your righteousness.
I've already given you righteousness. Stop trying to earn it. It's
just burdensome. And he said, I'll give you what?
Rest. You know what rest is? It means to stop working. There
is nothing more relaxing than to stop working. Just stop. Stop. I can't stand it when people
tell me, I say, somebody claims to be a Christian. They said,
how are you doing? He said, just trying to do the
best I can. You know, I'm trying to be a
good Christian. Stop trying. And Jesus says, stop trying to
look on Me. Look on Me. We rest in His righteousness.
To look on Him by faith. Listen, we are given all the
righteousness we need. All the righteousness we need.
Romans chapter 3 and verse... 20 says, therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in this time. Stop
working for it. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of God, listen, without the law is manifest,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. And listen,
unto all and upon all them that believe. Unto all imputed righteousness. And imparted righteousness by
the new nature. He has given us the righteousness
of God. You remember those two men went
to pray in the temple, the Pharisee and the publican. When that man,
the Pharisee, stood up to pray, everybody said, oh, look, there's
a righteous man. And then they looked at poor old publican,
they said, what a low life scumbag. But you know, the Pharisee was
trusting in his own righteousness and that scumbag, laying there
on the ground. No doubt he was a scumbag. He
was probably the worst guy in the whole town. Everybody knew
it. But he was convicted of his sin. And this man, he not only
needed righteousness, this man noticed he needed something else.
What'd he say? Lord, be merciful. That word merciful is propitiatus. What does that mean? I need a
sacrifice. So Christ says, look on me for
all your righteousness. And secondly, what do we need?
We need an offering to God. We don't need just righteousness
to clothe us. We need someone to pay for our
sin. And Jesus Christ says this, you
need a sacrifice? You need a sacrifice? Look on
me. Look to me. Look to me. prayed for his sacrifice, be
perpetuitous. God cannot give us righteousness
unless he punish our sins. What good would that do? If he
gave me a righteousness, I'd just contaminate it. He also had to remove my sin,
pay my sin debt. Look unto Jesus, you who need
a sacrifice. And I'm telling you this, just
stop trying to sacrifice things for God. He don't want your stuff. You know, men give money and
they say, look at my sacrifice. What a piece of garbage sacrifice. God doesn't want your money,
doesn't want your time. He doesn't want all that stuff.
That's not gonna pay for one sin. You can give your life,
you can be a monk, you can give yourself your body to be burned,
you can burn your children unto God, and that won't pay for one
sin. What you need is a holy sacrifice.
And you know what? The only one that could do that
is the same one provides righteousness. Jesus Christ is the only one
who has made a perfect sacrifice, perfect sacrifice to God for
the sins of his people. Notice this, go back to your
text. Look at this. In Gideon, old Gideon, he said,
look on me and do what I do. Do what I do. When I come, he said, behold,
when I come to the, listen to this, outside the camp. Let me
ask you this question. Where was Christ sacrificed? Now imagine this, Gideon, he
was outside this camp. He was surrounded, 100 men on
this side, 100 men on the other side, 100 men at the top, one
at the bottom, and they were surrounding this Midianite camp,
300 men. Had them all surrounded on every
side there. And you know, they weren't in the camp, were
they? Now what military earthly military engagement would ever
tell you attack from the outside of the camp. You know what? You've
got to go into the camp to fight, don't you? But this is a battle
won not in the camp, but outside the camp, because it was a battle
was a miraculous battle. It was a battle that God was
going to do before, because the victory was not men it was to
be one of God and it was to be one outside the camp friends
behold that is a picture of the victory of Christ go to Go to
Rome Hebrews go to Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13 Begin your reading there in verse
10 Paul said this he said we have an altar and where they
have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. Listen, those
Jews had an altar. They had that brass altar inside
the temple. That's where all the sacrifices
was made. But Paul says here, we have an
altar, but it's not the altar according to the law. Our altar
was the one taken outside the camp. Jesus Christ was our altar. And he said, for the bodies of
those beasts whose blood was brought into sanctuary by the
high priest for sin are burned, where? Without the camp, where
for Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his
own blood suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore
unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. This altar we have
is Christ. The Jews had an altar in Jerusalem,
and once they burned those animals, what did they do with those animals'
bodies and blood and dung? They took it outside. They took
it outside the camp and they burn it. Believers in Jesus Christ,
we have an altar, not made with brass or gold, but we have not
an altar in the camp of the law, but an altar of Jesus Christ
who was taken outside the city and crucified. He was taken out
like the dead bodies of those beasts and cast out like dung. He suffered and burned under
the wrath of God for our sins. It was there outside the camp
that Gideon broke that clay vessel. Now look at this, go back to
your text here. Outside the camp. He's outside the camp with his
men, tell him what we're gonna do. And so verse 19, so Gideon
and a hundred that were with him came outside of the camp
in the beginning of the middle of the watch, and they had newly
set the watch, and they blew the trumpets and break the pictures
that were in their hands. And the three companies blew
the trumpets and break the pictures and held the lamps that were
in their hands. And the trumpets in their right
hand, they did blow with all, and they cried the sword of the
Lord and of Gideon." You get the picture here. They got a
little lamp in their hands here in this left hand and in their
right hand, they got that horn. And they blow the trumpet and
they break the picture. And inside that picture is a
light. And then the light shines. That's a picture of Jesus Christ.
It's a picture of his broken body. What did he do first when
he came into the world? He blew the trumpet. He preached
the gospel. And then what? He break his body
as a sacrifice. And what happened after he broke
his body? The light of the gospel shined forth and every page of
this book became illuminated. You know, I can understand this
book in light of his death, his burial, and his resurrection.
I understand this book. You who believe in Christ, you
that look on him, look on him. What are we looking at? We're
looking at his righteousness, and we're looking at that broken
body. We're looking at that broken body. As Gideon broke that lamp
and the light shined out, even so Christ had broken his body,
being crucified for us, offering for us and that light was shined
out and the Lord Jesus Christ was broken for us. He was made
sin and broken by God's wrath. Before he died, he made a shout,
didn't he? What was his shout? Tell me what
he said. What a trumpet blast, what a
blow, what a blow of the horn of righteousness. It is finished,
he said with a loud voice. It's finished, it's done. Look
on me and do what I do. What is that? He preached the
word, preached his body, his death, his resurrection, his
righteousness, and he showed forth. Salvation was accomplished. He laid down his life for his
sheep and he rose again from the dead and sits on the throne
of God. There was a message on Sermon
Audio, the only priest that ever sat down. What a wonderful message. Those priests always busy, always
sacrificing, always working. You know how tiresome and laborsome
that law was? I tell you what, you just try
to read what they have to do and you'll fall asleep. It's laborsome to read through
that and to understand all that and not understand, have to do
it day after day after day and never sitting down. But this
priest did it one time and he sat down. He died and God raised
him from the dead and sat him down on the throne of heaven.
You know where he's at right now? He's sitting down. He's
sitting down. Oh, this is, you know how many
times you get up at night and just do this? Oh man, I don't
know what's gonna happen. He's not doing that. He sat down. He's finished. His work's done.
It's being done. He's not worried. Christ has
sat down. What does that mean? That righteousness
you needed and that sacrifice you needed, He said this, look
at me. Look at me. Is it done? Is it finished? It's done. It's finished. The work has been accepted by
God. That's important, isn't it? I
don't care if you accept it or not. You know, men run around
saying, accept Jesus. I don't care if you accept Him
or not. God accepted Him. That work's finished. And I don't
care what men say. That work's done. Therefore, all who know Him,
all who look on Him and believe on Him, I want you to be comforted by
this. If you can get a hold of this, you can go to bed, you
can close your eyes, and if you don't wake up tomorrow, it'll
be just fine. If you got this, you got it all. Because of Him, we are accepted
of God. I don't know my sin. No, but
He does. And He already died for it. What
are you worried for? He's done it. He's done it. You're accepted because He's
accepted. We are accepted in the Beloved. We are made perfect in the eyes
of God and all our sins are gone. All our sins are pardoned. All
our sins are forgiven. All our sins, pay attention,
are forgotten of God. I will not remember your sins. But I can't forget. It's all
right. You're not the judge. I ain't. And I said, I will not remember
your sins anymore. He said in Isaiah, Isaiah 44,
God said this, remember, Remember these. He's talking
about wicked men. Remember these. Why would we
remember wickedness? Because that's who we are. You
remember who you are. It's good for you and me to remember
who we are. How often does God make you remember
who you are? Remember who you are. Oh, Jacob
and Israel, for thou are my servant. Listen, I formed thee, I made
you, I created that new nature inside of you. Thou art my servant,
O Israel. This and thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. You remember who you are and
I'll remember you. I won't forget you. I won't forget
you. Why? I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgression and as a cloud thy sins returning to
me for I have redeemed thee. I have redeemed thee. And you
know, one of my favorite passages in Jeremiah chapter 50 in verse
20, the Lord said this in those days, and at that time, saith
the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be, how many? Come on, tell me, how many? None. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. Why? For I will pardon whom I
reserve. Well, who in the world is that?
Those who look on Him. Look on Him. Now you listen,
you who have looked on Him. Do you not still look on Him?
Right now. When He says, look on Me, what
do you want to do? I want to look on Him. I want
to look. I don't want to take my eyes
off you. And notice what, go back to your
text, I'll show you one more thing. I have to put an end to
it, just a second. One more thing. Our Lord Jesus
Christ in verse 17 through Gideon says, look on me and what? Do
likewise. You that have the righteousness
of God, you that have, he made the sacrifice for your sins,
you are pardoned, forgiven. What is his command to you? Look
on me and what? Do what I do. What did he do? Okay, look what Gideon did. Gideon,
he blew the trumpet, he break the picture and the light shines. What are we to do but preach
the gospel of his broken body and the light of his gospel and
resurrection? What else we do? Isn't that what
he did? Didn't he preach the gospel?
What do we do? Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel. I know this, this could mainly,
this could represent us following his example of giving our lives
as a sacrifice. He gave his life as a sacrifice.
Jesus said, you know, if you don't forsake all and follow
me, you can't be my disciple. Surely we can see that in the
picture here, but I think it's better to be seen in the gospel.
This is the gospel. They held forth that light, didn't
they? What are we doing? Is that light you or him? It better not be you. If it's
you, it's not a light at all, is it? No. We blow the trumpet. What did
he say? It's finished. What do we say? It's finished. What is our hope? Our hope is
that he broke his body. Our hope is that he gave the
light of life in our hearts and that the gospel of Jesus Christ
shine forth Go and do likewise. And listen,
when you do this, I know this, you'll suffer. I'm telling you. I think it's coming faster and
faster than I ever imagined it would, but the church is really
headed for great suffering. It's been a long time, hasn't
it? since the church has been, in this country at least, it's
been a long time since the church has suffered persecution, real
persecution. And friends, the time is coming.
They're already banning us from worshiping in certain places.
They're trying to using pandemics and fear and all kinds of things. Listen, this government is not
our king. And we're to obey this government
so long as it does not interfere with the commands of Christ. And I'll tell you this, when
we obey Christ, this world will persecute us. Why? It persecuted him. Listen, go
and do likewise. Is it not just reasonable for
us to offer our bodies? Isn't that what it says? It's
your reasonable service, isn't it? Reasonable service. So what do we do? Look on him. For what? All, now that's a very
important word, all our righteousness and all our redemption. So you look on him. And what else? Has he preached
the gospel? Let us also preach the gospel. You know what happened to those
Midianites? They turned and killed each other. You know what? Israel didn't even have a sword
in their hands. You know what? We don't have
a sword, do we? We're not here beating people over the head
with this thing. We're not going to make anyone come to Christ.
Well, I'm not going to trick anyone to come into Christ. No. God brings his people, God draws
his people, God saves his people, God keeps his people. And the rest of this world just
turn on themselves. They'll eat themselves up, leave them alone.
Let us be about our father's business, preaching the word.
And I pray tonight that you would hear him. Look on me, look on
me.