Looking Unto Jesus

Q: What does the Bible say about looking to Jesus?

The Bible instructs us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who provides assurance and strength for our spiritual journey. In Hebrews 12:2, we are called to look unto Jesus, emphasizing His role as the author and finisher of our faith. This act of looking is fundamental to the Christian walk as it signifies reliance on Christ, who is both the source of our faith and its ultimate goal. By keeping our eyes fixed on Him, we not only gain encouragement but also the ability to endure the trials of life. The message combines faith with action, urging believers to lay aside hindrances and quickly run the race set before them, with Christ as their focus.

Q: Why is looking to Christ important for Christians?

Looking to Christ is essential for Christians as it provides hope, assurance, and the strength needed to overcome sin and obstacles. Looking to Christ is vital for Christians because He is the ultimate source of hope and assurance. In Christ, we find the strength to endure life's challenges and temptations, as He is the one who completed the work necessary for our salvation. This act of looking is not passive; it requires active faith. By looking to Jesus, we acknowledge that we cannot rely on our own righteousness or strength. Instead, we trust in His completed work on the cross and His current position of authority at the right hand of God, which assures us of our standing before Him. This focus also empowers us to reject unbelief, which the preacher identifies as a core obstacle in our spiritual race.

Q: How do we know faith in Christ is true?

Faith in Christ is validated through Scripture and the witnesses of those who lived by faith, demonstrating God's faithfulness. The truth of faith in Christ is supported by Scripture and the experiences of biblical figures who exemplified faith. The preacher highlights the 'cloud of witnesses' in Hebrews 11—individuals such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham—who all demonstrated trust in God's promises despite not receiving the fulfillment in their lifetime. These testimonies serve to affirm the reliability of faith in Christ as the means of receiving God's grace. Their lives provide evidence that believing in God’s promises leads to righteousness and ultimate fulfillment in Him. The solid foundation of faith is therefore not mere belief but an enduring trust in the faithfulness and sovereignty of God throughout history.

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
man. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence with me doth continue each world. Redeemed, redeemed,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeem through His infinite mercy
His child and forever I am born I think of my blessed Redeemer
I think of Him all the day long I sing, for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I am. I know I shall see in His beauty
the King in whose law I delight, who lovingly guardeth my footsteps
and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed through His infinite
mercy, His child and forever child. Well, I always look forward to
coming to Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Rocky Mount, Virginia. You know, I announced last Sunday's
bulletin that I'd be in Rocky Mount, North Carolina this Wednesday
night. My secretary came to me and she said, are you going to
North Carolina or Virginia? I said, I'm going to Virginia.
She said, why are you putting in the bulletin? You're going
to North Carolina. I used to preach down in Rocky Mount, North
Carolina. quite often for Luther Hux. I
don't know whether any of y'all remember Luther Hux or not. And
I get the two mixed up every once in a while. And one of the
reasons is I'm old. And do things like that. But
it's an honor to be here. It's a real privilege to be here
tonight to worship with you and bring you a message from God's
Word. I've always enjoyed my visits here when your pastor
was Brother Jim Byrd. He's one of my favorite people.
I love him deeply and dearly and have for many, many years. And it's a double honor to be
here tonight with the new pastor. I thought about this when I was
working on the message this morning. It's a double honor. It's an
honor to be with you. And then it's an honor to be
with your pastor, my son Paul. I thought about saying something
about Paul. I don't want to embarrass him,
but I know you'd expect me as a father to say something, because
I love my son. And you would expect me to say
something about him, something complimentary and something affectionate. But I hope my spiritual observations
and my spiritual assessment of Paul's ministry has a deeper
root than human blood. I hope I'm able to see things
in the right perspective as a minister of the gospel, not just as a
father. And I've been in the ministry
a long, long time—forty years. And I know a true preacher when
I see one. I know a true preacher when I
hear one. And Paul Mahan is a true preacher of the gospel. And I
could say that's my assessment, not as a father, but as his pastor
for a long time. He was one of my elders for a
number of years and taught, preached, helped me in so many, many ways.
And when you called him to be your pastor, I thought of two
things. Number one, Paul is blessed to
be your pastor. God blessed him. He blessed him
when he led him to a congregation grounded in the Word of God who
had a faithful pastor for a long, long time, a faithful pastor
who loves Christ and preached the gospel, your dear son. You've seen a lot of changes
here, haven't you? I—you know, your husband pastored,
then your son, and then Paul's your pastor, and I honor you
for your faithfulness. You're a dear, precious lady.
And I say this, that Paul is—he's blessed to be the pastor of this
faithful, well-grounded people of God who love him and who love
Christ. And then I say that you are blessed
to have him as your pastor. You really are. You're blessed.
It's not every church that loses their pastor, that God takes
him away. It's not every church God takes
the pastor away and then puts one there in that place that's
equally faithful and loves Christ and loves the gospel and loves
his people and will be a diligent servant of the Lord. Not always.
D'Arcy and I talk about this quite often. You see, I'm winding
up now 39 years at Ashland, and I realize I'm 63 years old, and
I'm not going on forever over there as pastor. It's come to
a close. And I'm spending a lot of time
praying that God will give them a good pastor over there. I just—we
spend a lot of time talking about that, and who's going to—who's
going to take the old man's place, you know, and somebody's got
to. They have to, don't they? One of these days, they have
to. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me. And even I've spent a lot of
time praying about that and thinking about that, because God doesn't
always carry on a ministry. He doesn't, does he, Paul? He
doesn't always do that. He doesn't always carry—a lot
of times when the man's gone, it stops. It just goes downhill
from then on. And that's the reason I say that
you're blessed to have a faithful pastor, to follow a faithful
pastor. That's a blessing of God. I've seen churches, when
they lose a pastor, split in a thousand different directions.
You've seen that, Ed. We talked about that. They're
split in a thousand different directions. There's controversy
and division and all this sort of thing. And it ought not to
be. It ought not to be. What ought
not to be and what is are sometimes not the same thing. And I do—I'm
grateful to God that he let Paul here for two reasons. So he can be with you and so
you can be with him. That's always good, isn't it?
That's always good. Turn to Philippians chapter three.
Philippians chapter three. Now, the title of this message
tonight is, Looking Unto Jesus, and it's taken from Hebrews 12,
and I'm going to get there in a few minutes. I'm going to start
my message in Philippians 3. Philippians 3. Now here, the
Apostle Paul expressed a threefold desire. A threefold desire. And this means a great deal to
me. I hope it means a great deal to you. This is my desire. This
is my threefold desire. In verse eight, he said this.
Now listen, "'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but dung, that I may win Christ.'" That's his first desire, that
I may win Christ. Listen, verse nine, "'And be
found in him.'" That's my desire. That's yours, that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Not having, he says, mine own
righteousness, which is of the law. But that righteousness which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. And then the second request and
desire is in verse ten, and that I may know Him. That I may know
Him. Not just know about Him or know
that He is, but I want to know Him. I want to know the Redeemer. Eternal life is to know God and
know Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Not just know about Him.
You believe in one God, you do well. The devil believes there's
one God and trembles. But Paul said, I want to win
Christ, be found in Him, and know Him. And I want to know
the power of His resurrected life. the power of his resurrected
life, the power of that life which is victorious over sin,
over death, over hell, and over the grave. And be made conformable
to his image and to his sufferings. I want to know the fellowship
of his suffering. Be made conformable under his
death. I want to walk like Enoch with
God, to know him and walk with him. And then the third request
here is in verse eleven, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead." Now that's Paul's threefold desire,
that I may win Christ and be found in him, robed in his righteousness,
washed in his blood, redeemed by his grace in the Son, in Christ,
and that I may know him and the power of his resurrected life,
and that I might walk with him walk with him and know the fellowship
of his sufferings, and that when the end of life comes, I want
to be among those who are raised in the first resurrection and
be made like my Lord. Now, this is not a game. This
is serious, serious business. This is my desire. All right,
then I ask the question, then how and where is this treasure
to be found? This is the greatest desire that
a person can entertain. This is the greatest treasure
that a person can possess. This is all there is. This is
life—to win Christ, to know Christ, and to be raised with Christ.
Then how and where is this to be found? Oh, I turn to Hebrews
12, Hebrews chapter 12. Now, as Paul said, in chapter
11, Paul takes us by the hand. and leads us through the hall
of faith. Not the hall of fame, but he
takes us by the hand and leads us through the hall of faith.
These men won Christ. These men knew Christ. These
men attained to the resurrection of the dead. We are certain of
this. First of all, he takes us through
this hall of faith and he shows us a picture of Abel. He said,
that's Abel. And Abel believed God. Abel believed God. Abel knew
God. And Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice than his brother Cain. His brother Cain did not believe
God. His brother Cain came to worship
and made an altar, built an altar, and put on that altar the works
of his hands, the labor of his own hands, hoping to be accepted
by God through what he did. But Abel brought a lamb, slew
that lamb, put its blood on the altar. He brought the acceptable
sacrifice. He brought the sacrifice which
was a picture and a symbol of God's lamb. He was looking not
to the blood of this ordinary lamb to put away his sin, he
was looking to the blood of the Lamb of God. He believed God. He believed God. That's able.
It cost him his life. His brother rose up and killed
him. That was right there. You have the two world religions,
grace and works, blood and works. God's righteousness or yours.
That's all of it right there. And Abel believed God. Then he
came on down and he said, and that's Enoch. Enoch was a man,
a man like you men. Enoch was a working man. How
do you know he was a working man? He had a family. He had
a wife and several children. The Bible tells us that. He was
a public man. He was a family man. He was a
working man. He was a man. But this man Enoch
believed God, and he walked with God. He didn't just walk with
a doctrine or believe a doctrine. This man Enoch walked with God.
As he worked, he walked with God. As he raised his children,
he walked with God. As he planted his vineyards,
he walked with God. As he reaped his barley fields,
he walked with God. As he met with his friends, he
walked with God. He walked with God so closely
that one day he didn't come home. He walked that on into heaven.
Yeah, he did. He walked with God. That's Enoch. He believed God. And then he
comes on down and he says, this man, Noah. Noah was an ordinary
man. Noah lived in a horrible day. He lived in a day much like today,
with its wickedness and wretchedness. You're just surrounded by it,
aren't you? Noah was too. Noah was surrounded by it. In
fact, God hooked down on that generation like I'm sure He looks
on this one. He says, every imagination of
man's heart is only evil continued. I'm going to destroy a man off
the face of this earth. But this man Noah, this man Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This man, another family
man, another man with children, another working man, another
laboring man, but he found favor with God. He—God made Noah an
object of his grace. Noah wasn't any different naturally
or physically or than any other man around him, but God showed
mercy to him. God chose him. He found grace
in that. You know that's the first time
grace is mentioned in the Bible? First time the word grace is
mentioned in the Bible. And I'll tell you this, the old timers
used to have a statement, watch the law of first mention. Find
out how something's mentioned first in the Bible, and that'll
be key to the rest of the way. And this is free grace, this
is sovereign grace, this is effectual grace, this is redeeming grace,
this is God's grace. Noah didn't earn it. The Lord
didn't merit it. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and Noah being warned of God. God spoke to Noah. He spoke to him by His Word.
And Noah heard the Word of God, and he believed God. Noah being
warned of God of things not seen. Oh, so often we say, well, if
I could just, you know, if I could just see, if God just showed
me these... Noah had never seen it rain. Do you know it had never
rained on this earth when the flood came? Never, never, never,
ever rained. The earth was watered by mist.
Noah had never seen a flood. Noah probably never seen a boat.
I doubt if Noah ever saw a boat. And he certainly never saw a
flood or a rain, but he believed God. We're talking about the
hall of faith now. Abraham, Abel believed God. Enoch
believed God. Noah believed God. Being warned
of things not seen, moved with fear. Whom did he fear? He feared
God. He certainly didn't fear the
people around him. You know the harassment he must have taken,
but he built an ark and saved his house. That's Noah. Well,
Paul, the writer of Hebrews, he takes us, he said, that man
is Abraham. You know, Abraham was seventy-five
years old when God called him out of the counties. Seventy-five
years old. He'd lived there all his life.
He'd lived there with his—see, they lived in these villages
or communes, a family did, for protection, for care of one another. They raised their crops together. They raised their animals together. It was a—it was a—they lived
like Brother Earl Cochran, his family, up on Hilltop Farm in
West Virginia, you know. The whole family lives there.
And that's where Abraham—they were idolaters, too. Abraham
wasn't a worshipper of God, he was an idolater, just like his
father. And God chose him. And just like Moses, just like
Noah, God chose him, God spoke to him. God called him, and he
believed God. And he left, not knowing where
he was going. Show me and I'll believe. You
believe and I'll show you, God says. We got it backwards. Show me and I'll believe. No,
you believe and I'll show you. Abraham believed God. and he
left, not knowing where he's going. That's faith. Then you
come to Moses. Moses was raised in Egypt, son
of Pharaoh, daughter, raised in the lap of luxury and power
and military might, the strongest, richest, greatest nation on the
face of the earth, and Moses stood to inherit the throne.
At forty years of age, it says Moses, Moses counted even the
reproach of Christ. greater treasure, greater riches
than the treasures of Egypt. And he walked away. Walked away. Turned his back on influence,
power, popularity, luxury. You talk about ease. And went
over there and sat on the back—he was forty—and sat on the backside
of a desert till he was eighty years old, taking care of a herd
of sheep. Most prominent man in Egypt, but he believed God. And I could go on and on, but
watch chapter 12, verse 1. Wherefore, wherefore, now we
got—now the author of Hebrews has something to say to you and
me. Wherefore, seeing that we are
compassed about—what's that word, compass me? Surrounded. Wherefore,
seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses."
Seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Preacher,
what does that word, witnesses, mean? Does that mean people in
heaven are watching what we do on earth and they're happy when
we do right and sad when we do wrong? No. No. No. That's not what that's saying.
Not at all. Not at all. You know, when Samuel
got the wild idea of bringing—I mean, Saul got the wild idea
of bringing Samuel back. You remember when he went down
to see the witch at Endor and bring Samuel back? What did Samuel
say to him when he came back? Why have you disturbed my rest?
Why did you bring me back here? I've got no interest in this
place. Why in the world would he look
on the face of a King of kings won't come down here and look
at us. Why would they listen to the heavenly choir and won't
listen to us? As good as you sang, as much as I left here,
you sang. Why would they want to hear them and then hear us?
No. You know, another—two other fellows
came back to earth. You know who they were? Moses
and Elijah came back on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they
sat down and talked to the Lord Jesus Christ. What'd they talk
about? They didn't talk about the disciples. They didn't talk
about the shape that Israel was in. You're going to have to do
something about Israel. They're in a mess. The Romans
have them under their heel. It says they discussed with him
and talked to him about his death that he would accomplish at Jerusalem.
They're interested in that. They're not interested. When
he said, Our Lord Jesus Christ says, You are my witnesses. And what this is saying here
is seeing that we're encompassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses—witnesses to the goodness of God, witnesses to the value
of faith, witnesses to the reward of the righteous. That's what
their witnesses are. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Well, we got some
pretty good witnesses concerning this gospel. Abel's a good witness. Is it profitable to believe God?
Let Abel speak. Will God reward the righteous?
Let Noah speak. Compare the end of these men
and the end of Cain and Moses' enemy, the Pharaoh,
and Abraham's and the crowd that stayed back
in Ur of the Chaldees. Just keep comparing the end of
these men and the end of those, their peers. That's what he is. He says, seeing then we're surrounded
by such a great a crowd of witnesses, witnesses, then let's what? Then
let's lay aside every weight Let's lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let's us run this
race with patience, the race that's set before us. Abel had
a life to live, so that. Enoch had a life to live. He
had wife, children, responsibilities, so that. Noah had a life to live. Moses—Moses made the right choice,
but who was there to tell him then? Everybody told him he's a fool.
Everybody thought he was a fool. Even the Israelites didn't care
for him. But Moses, praise God, and seeing that we're surrounded
by such a greater cloud of witnesses to the faithfulness of God, witnesses
to the reward of the righteous, witnesses to the value of believing
God and his word, even though we haven't seen these things.
These men are telling us it's true. What he's saying is true. That's what Abel's telling you.
The blood is the way. Enoch says it is wonderful to
walk with God. Moses saying that the riches
of Christ, the reproach of Christ is truly greater treasures, riches
in the treasures of Egypt. Yes, it is. So Paul takes us,
you know, Paul often uses, often uses athletic terms. Did you
know that? He often does. He talks about
running a race. He talks about who's crowned,
the one that finishes, not the one that quits. He's talking
at one time, he said, I don't fight as one that beateth the
air. What is that? That's shatterboxing.
I don't fight as one. I have a real enemy, he said.
I keep my body, bring my body into subjection, lest when preaching
to others I become a castaway. I got a real old man to fight. That's what he's saying. And
here he's talking about a race, running a race. Now, when a fellow
runs a race, did you ever watch him run? I like track. I like
to watch him run a race. And do you know that I never
have seen anybody run a race with a raincoat on, a hat, and
a pair of galoshes? I never have. You say you won't
either. I don't see anybody running a
race carrying a sack on his back. They take off everything the
law will allow. They wear the scanniest shoes.
They wear the scanniest, lightest silk shawls and nothing else. What they're doing? Taking off
every weight that keeps them from running that race. That's
what they're doing. They shed these—why don't they
get out there and we keep these warm-up tracks? Why don't they
run the race? No! They'd be the last—they'd lose.
They got to get them off. They got to get them off. And
they run the race individually. They don't hold hands. They run
it individually. And they don't hold hands with
people going the other way, either. They shed every weight. What's the apostle talking about
here? I'll tell you what he's saying here. He's saying this. Lay aside every weight, every
allowance, every association, every partnership, every social,
political, religious affiliation, club, everything, everybody that
hinders your fellowship with Christ, and you're successfully
completing this race that you're running, get rid of it. They're
bogging you down. They're holding you back. They're
preventing you from running the race. You can't hold hands with
people going in the opposite direction and run this race.
That's what he's saying. That's exactly what he's saying.
Seeing we're surrounded by people who have run it, people who have
successfully believed God at greater cost. He said, you haven't
resisted unto blood yet. They did. But it was worth it. So let's lay aside these weights.
What is it? What is it that's hindering,
that hinders your fellowship with Him, that hinders your spiritual
growth, that hinders your fellowship with Him, that hinders your running
this race with Christ and for Christ and finishing it, completing
it? Well, lay it aside. Cut it off.
Be done with it. And then he said, "...and the
sin which doth so easily beset us." What is that? Well, I've
looked at this a lot of times. And I know some people say that
this is a peculiar personal weakness. Well, perhaps, perhaps, maybe.
But I don't think so. What is chapter eleven all about? Faith. What is, Terry, the sin
of which everybody in here is guilty and which so easily besets
us and causes us so much problem? Unbelief. It drains us, it takes away our
happiness, it takes... We're surrounded by some fellas
that already run this race, cross that finish line, been crowned.
Now let's lay aside all these hindrances and weights and things
that hold us back. And especially, don't lose sight
of the goal. Unbelief. Don't turn and look
around. Maybe, maybe I've got the wrong
direction. No, you've got the right direction.
Believe Him. Believe Him. That's, that's right. Don't be, don't let, don't let
that monster unbelief rule and reign and dominate, get rid of
it, lay aside this sin which does so easily beset us. Now
watch it, and run this race with patience. Oh, this is a big problem
with us. I tell you, we're the now generation. We're the instant pudding—we
have instant grits now. We have instant biscuits. We have instant everything. We
want it right now. We want it right now. We're walking
today down here on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I call that the
Bluegrass Parkway, if you just have to forgive me. Paul says
it's not the Bluegrass Parkway, that's in Kentucky. It's the
Blue Ridge Parkway. I was out there, and we went
over there to that mill, and we saw that wagon. Those have
that iron wheel. I used to ride in one of those.
Dorises. She went down to the watermelon
patch and picked watermelons and put them in one of those
things. She didn't see a car until she was ten years old.
I mean, that plow, that's the way folks plowed where I was
raised. Her granddaddy was a one-armed man, and he plowed with one of
those plows with one arm and raised a family on a farm with
a horse and one arm and a plow. But you know something? And I
lived in a house that looked a whole lot like that log cabin,
too. No water, running water, no electricity, nothing but a
cook stove and a place to sleep. And took a bath in a tin zinc,
in one of those zinc tubs, a number so-and-so. We took a bath—I just
always hated to be last, because the sand in the bottom was right
underneath. I'm telling you the truth. But
you know something? Folks had time then. They had
time to mend fences. They had time to plant flowers. They had time to pop corn, roast
peanuts. They had time to sit on the—I
don't—I don't want what we got, everything, you just push a button
and do it, and we ain't got no time. Isn't that right? There's no time. We have to rush
in here and worship a little while and rush home, because
we're going to get ready to do something else. They had time. But this is that
fast-moving generation. Everything's got to be now. But
God ain't operating on your clock. No, on my time schedule. And
we're going to learn to wait on the Lord. That's exactly right. If it tears ever one of us up,
we're going to learn to wait on the Lord. So he's not going
to move any faster. And that's what he says here.
Run this race with what? Patience. We want it now, don't
we? We want—and if we don't have
it now, if we don't have it tomorrow, if we don't see great things
tomorrow, we get discouraged and quit. No, sir. I've been
pastor of that church up there since 1951. That's a long time. A long time. But you know, I've
just now seen some of the real fruits of that thirty-eight years. It's been that long. been that
long. You gotta wait. God'll save men
when He will. God'll bless the church when
He will. God'll give you growth when He will. And I'll tell you
this, you're not gonna take any, you're not gonna take any crash
courses in spirituality. You're going to grow when He
gets ready for you to grow, and you're going to grow by when
you experience things. You don't believe anything until
you experience it, and you'll experience it when God wills.
So you might as well learn to wait on Him. Might as well learn
to walk in the light we have and pray for more. We might as
well learn to take whatever He gives us today and wait for more. Why are we going to have to wait?
Isn't that right, Ms. Jones? Just wait on the Lord. We learned
that. We just get old too soon, smart too late. That's about
the size of it. But why? Why does everybody have
to make the same mistakes? Why can't we learn to wait on
God? And here are the three words that bring this whole thing to
a conclusion. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto
Jesus. Now, that's how you run this
race. You don't look at the people running alongside you. Well,
I'm ahead of him. I'm behind her. Well, she's dressed
better than I am. Well, they've been in the race
longer. It's got nothing to do with it. Has it? I'm looking to Him. I'm looking
to Him. Looking unto Jesus. Lay aside
these weights, especially unbelief, and have some patience, and learn
to wait on God. And David said, again I say,
wait on the Lord. And look to Him. Don't take your
eyes off Him. Why look to Christ? Well, I'll tell you first, look
here, it says he's the author of faith, he's the beginner of
faith. If you look to him, you're looking to God. Did you know
that? If you're looking to Jesus Christ,
you're looking to God. The disciple said, show us the
Father. He said, you've seen me, you've seen the Father. God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He that hath
the Son hath the Father. He that hath not the Son hath
not the Father. That's right. So he's the author.
He's the author of this whole thing. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He's the author, but not only
that, he's the finisher. That is, Jesus Christ is not
only, when you look to him, you're looking to God, but when you
look to him also, also when you look to him, you're looking to
the whole of faith. This is what faith's all about,
looking to Christ. He's God, the author, and he's the finisher.
He's the omega. He's the sum total. He is—looking
to him is faith. You can read a dozen books on
faith, and I guess I've read that many. And you can hear a
hundred sermons on faith, and I've preached that many. And
you can read all the definitions of faith, about its knowledge,
its committal, and its confidence, and its rest. But do you know
what faith is? It's looking to Jesus. Isn't
that right, Paul? That's faith. That's the psalm
of faith. That's the essence of faith.
It's looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Spurgeon
learned when he was sixteen years old. He was on his way to church
one morning, one Sunday morning. He was raised in a very Presbyterian
religious family. His grandfather was a preacher.
He spent a lot of time with his grandfather and grandmother,
and he was on his way to church one Sunday morning. and it was
snowing, and he realized he wasn't going to get to his church before
they started, so he ducked into this little Methodist chapel—primitive
Methodist chapel. He went in there, and there was
just a handful of people there. And he sat back near the back,
and he was troubled and disturbed over his spiritual condition,
but he was raised in this Presbyterian, covenant Presbyterian, Westminster
catechism, and all this home of doctrine, of truth, of covenant,
of studious man was his grandfather. His grandmother used to pay him
a, whatever English penny is, for memorizing hymns. He memorized
so many of them, he's breaking the old lady. And so she said,
now I'll give you a penny for every five you've memorized.
He had a photographic mind. He could look at anything and
remember it. But he couldn't find God. All of this was so
confusing. And he sat down, and the preacher
wasn't even there that morning. The pastor couldn't get to church
because of the snow. And one of the men of the church
spoke that Sunday morning. And he turned to Isaiah 45, 22,
and he said, This is my subject. Look unto Jesus. Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and
there is none other. He pointed back at that young
sixteen-year-old troubled lad, and he said, Young man, you look
terribly distressed. What you need to do is just look
to him. Look to Christ. And Spurgeon
said it was as if God had opened a curtain. and let me see that
all my studies, that all my complicated theology and all this that I've
tried to do and find was not it, it was just looking to Him.
The author and finisher of our faith. That's the sum total of
faith, looking to Christ. Look to Him. But not only that,
it says something else here. It says, who for the joy that
was set before Him. You know something? God put all
things in Christ. who for the joy that was set
before him—what was this joy? A covenant people, a Messianic
kingdom, the fulfillment of an everlasting covenant of grace.
That was the joy set before him. He saw the travail of his soul,
and he was satisfied. He came to redeem a people. And
so this is saying this, that, gee, when you look to Christ,
you're looking to God, the author of faith, you're looking to Christ
Jesus, who's the sum total of faith, and you're looking to
Christ in whom God has vested and put all things. He came down
here with a work to do. He said, I finished the work
you gave me to do. And so when you look to Christ,
you look into the sum, total, and source of all that God has
for sinners. It's in here. Ephesians 1 tells
you that. It says, in Christ, a dozen times.
It shows us in Christ that we should be holy, without blame
before Him, and love, having predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Christ, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins, accepted in the Beloved. And then what's the next thing?
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. I'm
telling you this, Christ is our assurance. My assurance is not
in my feelings. What Luther said at that point,
you like to say, well, feelings come and feelings go and feelings
are deceiving. I rest in the word of God, nothing
else is worth believing. But my assurance, where do I
get assurance? At the right hand of God. There's
a man, the God-man, who is my Redeemer, and he is set down. Set, S-E-T, means unmovable. He's set. Concrete sets, doesn't
it? But he's set, and he's set down. And the Old Testament priest
never sat down. There wasn't even a chair in
that tabernacle. But he sat down. How come he's sitting down? He's
finished what he came to do. There's nothing left to do. He's
entered into his rest. That's my assurance. Run this
race. Look into Jesus. Why? He's God,
author of our faith. He's the sum total of faith.
He's the finisher of it. And all things are in Him because
for the joy set before Him, He endured that cross. He had a
purpose to accomplish, and He did it. And fourthly, He's my
assurance. He sat down at the right hand
of God. He's not going to move, and because
He's not going to move, I'm not going to be moved. I shall not
be moved. That doesn't mean because I'm
so strong, I'm not. That doesn't mean because I'm
so moral, that's not so. It's not because I'm this, that.
It's because He sat down at the right hand of God. Isn't that
beautiful? Where do you look to Christ? Well, look to Him
in the covenant. Look to Him in the flesh. He came to this world. Look to
Him on the cross. Look to him at the right hand
of God. Look to him as our reigning king. Look unto Christ. Look
unto Christ. Look at this verse, three. Consider
him. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sin. Consider him. Have you considered
him? Really? Truthfully? Sincerely? Consider
Christ Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our profession.
Well, you'd better consider him. We'd better consider Him heavenly,
because all that God has for us is in Him. One thing, and
I'll close. How do we look to Christ? Well, I've jotted down some things
that I took from a tract. And Paul, I think, has some of
them. That looking unto Jesus, that tract, that's one of the
best tracts I've ever found anywhere, looking unto Jesus. And the man
gave several things. I don't have time to give them
all, but he said this is the way to look to Christ. This is
the way. Look to Him, not to your faith. It's not faith that saves, it's
Christ. Someone said one time, it's not so much coming to faith
in Christ as coming to Christ in faith. There's a difference. I'd like to come to faith in
Christ. No, you come to Christ in faith. That's not a play on
words, that's just so. So don't look to your faith,
look to Him, and don't look to experience. I think about the
apostle Peter, and I want to ask him, which experience would
you say was the crowning experience, the acme, the paramount? Oh,
he'd say, I don't know. I just don't know. My, my, all
the times that my Lord dealt with that man, even down to his
old age, And I look back over my life, you know, and in 1950
I heard the gospel. I was twenty-four years old,
and I heard Rob Barnard preach the gospel. But I've had, since
then, I've learned something about substitution, I learned
something about imputed righteousness, I learned something about Christ's
sovereignty and glory, and every day I'm learning something else,
aren't you? And I'm not getting saved all over. I believe I'm
growing some in grace. You see what I'm saying? And
look back yonder. And about the only word I had
a hold of in 1950 was purpose. But I believe God did. I was
taught God did everything he did on purpose. I was taught
that he's God, and I'm a sinner, and the only way he's going to
save me is in Christ. And that's what the thief on the cross knew.
And that's all he knew. I bet you he'd fail a seminary
course. I bet he would. I bet he'd fail some of our courses,
because he didn't know all that stuff. He knew, he said, you're
a king. You're not going to stay dead.
You're coming into a kingdom. I'm getting what I deserve. I'm
a sinner. Would you think on me? Would
you show mercy to me? Would you remember? What about
the publican in the temple? My Lord said he went home justify
what he know. He stood, and he would not so
much as lift his eyes to heaven, being a sinner, convicted and
guilty. He smote on his breast, punishing
the source of his evil, his own heart. And he said, O God, Lord,
Jehovah, God my Savior, let the blood be propitiation for me
on the mercy seat. That's what he was saying, wasn't
it? Me, the sinner. My Lord said
he went home just But he learned a lot after that. And I'm saying
this, don't look to—don't find a place and a time and a spot
and a date, because chances are you'll look to that and won't
look to Christ. Who cares anyway? When? I care whom. It's not I know
when I believe. Paul said, I know whom I believe. It's not I know what I believe.
A lot of people go into hell believing something. But it's,
I know whom I have to be. Can you do that? Can you look
to Him and not to experience? Can you look to Christ, not to
the name we wear? I'm a Baptist. I'm a Catholic. I'm tired of hearing people say,
and every time they find out I'm a preacher, they say, well,
I'm a Methodist, or I'm a Presbyterian. I kind of hate being introduced
as a preacher, because they got to say something religious. You
know, the name. They got to guarantee you that
they came from somewhere, you know. It's not the doctrine.
It's the Christ of the doctrine. It's not, look to your name.
It's not, look to the law. It's not, look to my brethren,
good or bad, least or the greatest. It's not looking to anybody but
Christ. It's not looking to my strength or weakness. If I'm
strong, it's by His grace. And Paul said, when I'm weak,
then I'm strong. He's not looking to my work for
Jesus either. A man can have his hands full
and his heart empty. He's not looking to the Holy
Spirit because the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and
shows them to us. He's looking to Christ. This
verse has it all, looking to Jesus. And in closing, it's looking
to Him now, if I never did before. It's not too late. Well, look
now. Well, look now. I've had my eyes
on too many others. Well, take them off and look
to Christ. I've been just going around in circles thinking about
this, so I'll—look to Christ. If you never have before, look
now. If you have before, look anew. Look anew. And look alone. Look to Christ.
Look to Christ. And look always. An old hymn
writer said this. looking to Jesus while I remain
on the earth, and when clouds of death around me roll, no need
then to preach to me of grace and faith. I'll be looking to
Him face to face, because I'm going to wind this thing up looking
to Jesus. It started looking to Christ, and it's continued
looking to Christ, and when it's all over, these all died in. Faith didn't keep them from dying. They all died. But you know where
they died? They died right where they started—looking
to Jesus. Not one step beyond. They died
where? In faith. They died in faith. Well, that's where they started—by
faith, Noah, by faith, Abel, by faith, Enoch. That's where
they died—in faith. You see that? And it's as well,
I say, well, is it that simple? Just that profound and that simple,
Himmler. If you see it, you see it. If
you don't, you don't. And it's by His grace we see
it. But if you do, rejoice and look to Him. All right, thank
you. Forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. I appreciate that. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
and pray. Our Father, we thank you for
that sure and certain salvation that is in Jesus Christ. We thank you for eyes to see,
for a heart to behold him, to believe. We ask your forgiveness
for our unbelief. Lord, increase our faith. Enable
us, by your grace, to look more fully unto Him.
We give you all the praise and honor and glory for this blessed
Word that you've revealed to us this evening. We pray that
truly you have revealed it to someone afresh, perhaps anew. We thank you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
You're dismissed.

Looking Unto Jesus

What does the Bible say about looking to Jesus?

Why is looking to Christ important for Christians?

How do we know faith in Christ is true?

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Looking Unto Jesus

What does the Bible say about looking to Jesus?

Why is looking to Christ important for Christians?

How do we know faith in Christ is true?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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