Proverbs 4, verse 25, as a part
two, if you will, as a continuation of last Sunday's sermon, to look
unto Him. Look with me at Proverbs 4, verse
25. Let your eyes look right on. Let your eyes look right on. And let your eyelids look straight
before you. It's interesting in the few verses
before this verse that the wise man, Solomon, he talks about
human nature, the human faculties. He says in verse 23, keep the
heart. In verse 24, keep your lips and
your mouth. Verse 25, your eyes. Verse 26,
your feet. So he's talking about all the
different faculties that make up men and women to see that they're walking straight. But I look at this exhortation
and that's what it is, let your eyes look right on and let your
eyelids look straight before thee. And I asked myself, why? Why would we have such an exhortation
to those who either know the Gospel or those who are yet on
the outside looking in? Well, first of all, because sin
plagues us at every single turn. And it's not natural for us to
look straight, to look straight on. We're more like this. We get distracted. Work, play,
recreation, focus. It's not natural to us. It's natural, it's common, and
it's usual to look around, and people talk about having multitasking,
and I don't believe there's such a thing. to have multiple looks,
to be very distracted, to entertain many worldly thoughts. That's
natural to us. So the exhortation, if you know Christ or you don't,
look unto Him and keep looking. Paul says he warns some preachers
and some people about getting away from the simplicity in Christ. And we can use the Bible to do
that. But I'm not complex. The best way forward is straight
forward. As in last Sunday, so this today,
look straight upon Christ. Look straight upon Christ. Whether
you've looked before or you've never looked in your life, Behold
Him, stare upon Him, gaze upon Christ for soul cleansing day
to day. For your first cleansing from
sin and uncleanness, and then with all your looking, let your
eyes look right on, and your eyelids look straight before
you. It's a simple task, As soon as
we leave here, we've got things to do. I looked at a message, heard
a message, read about a message on this right here, and this
has been mauling on my mind for two weeks. I thought, oh, I found
it. I found it. I've had more trouble
looking straight on these last two weeks. than had I not seen it. We are not ignorant of Satan's
devices. When you get things that bless you and the Lord opens
your eyes to them as He did on those two on the road to Emmaus,
Satan just loves to distract, bring up something that's more
important. Oh, I need to be here. I can't be here because I did
this, I did that. Just say no. Just say no. We meet a couple times a week.
Is it that difficult? I don't have a child at home
anymore. So it's not as difficult as it
used to be. But, just keep your eyes right
on. It may not be anything I say.
It may be something that somebody says in the congregation as a
point of fellowship. As a point of iron sharpening
iron. That's why I ask myself this
question, why this exhortation? Because sin plagues us all the
time. There's only one way, one life,
one truth, one needful look, and a continued look until He
calls us home. I cannot overemphasize this point. Whether we style ourselves as
a Christian, or yet we are undone in our foul estate, If you reason
well, if you reason, if you know anything about the Scriptures,
you know that this way, His way, is the best way. It's the right
way. Now it may not be the most humanly
successful. You may not make a lot of money
if you're digging ditches. But at the end, what matters? What matters? You may be the
finest athlete that this county, this state has ever seen. You're
going to get old and die. There's nothing more pathetic
than seeing an old actor in Hollywood trying to look young by all the
stuff. It's just pathetic. It's just
like, let it go. Let it go. But the believer is
a realist. His eyes have looked upon the
Lamb. His eyes have beheld and spied
and embraced that pearl of great price and will not let it go. And the Scriptures to you and
I, our exhortation, let our eyes look straight on. The Gospel
is straight and narrow. The way is straight and narrow.
It's not broad. I pray for myself and I pray
for us that the world would become distasteful to us. This is far
too tempting, too many things that glitter and we like to get
a hold of. I cannot, as I said, not overemphasize
this point. We know that this way is the
best way. It's called the King's Highway in Isaiah 11 and it says
those who are on it are safe and secure and blessed. Find it, get on it by God's grace,
and stay on this truly happy path. Because I know, and I can
tell you, I've tried many other, I'm not as like Solomon, I haven't
tried it all, but I've tried many things in my youth. All other journeys, all other
highways will lead to destruction. That's just the truth. That's
the simple truth. Live your life. Do the best you
can. Be the best student you can.
I'm not saying any of that stuff, but in all you're doing, in all
you're getting, let your eyes look right on. That's even worldly
good advice. We'll see this, you know, when
you're running a race. When Carol, when they had track and field
day at Jackson, I don't know if they still have it or not,
She's pretty fast and she's sitting there with all these other kids
and stuff and I walked over and I said, it's two things, just
two things. Look straight ahead and run through the finish line.
All those kids stopped. I said, run through the finish
line. She did very well. All those, all even humanly.
If you want to be successful in business, if you want to do
this, get rid of the distractions. Well, our problem is we take
too many of these things in to the distraction of the Gospel.
As I said, we meet on Wednesday and Sunday. As far as hourly,
during the week, it's just a couple of hours. Let your eyes, let my eyes look
right on. And our eyelids look straight
before us. Why? Secondly, because many are
the examples of those who looked off. Some were restored and others
were not. David and Bathsheba, he was doing
fine. He should have been out in the
battlefield where the king was supposed to be. I'm king, I can do what I want
to do. I'm going to take a break. And then he spies this woman
bathing. Lust produced sins. He was a
believer. He lost his son. His son died
because of that. He killed a friend and then told
his friend to make sure you back off. Now what kind of testimony
is that? So there are many things that happen when we sin. We don't
sin on an island. But he was restored by God's
grace. But he had many a sorrow. Maybe
that was when he said, return unto me the joy of your salvation. What about Korah and his rebellion
in Numbers 16? They did start the race well.
They ran well. But then they lusted after what
they thought was better treasure than the bullion found in the
everlasting gospel. There was no restoration. The
earth opened up and swallowed them up. Lot's wife, what a tragedy. She looked back. She didn't keep
her eyes focused. Let our eyes look right on and
straight before us. No, she turned back and perished.
Better to leave, like a Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, when he
first started hearing the gospel, And he was leaving the city of
destruction, and his family said, no, don't listen to that. And
he just put his hands, he looked, ran, put his fingers in his ears,
and wouldn't hear. Oh, come on, Pastor, that's back
in the 1800s. That's way back. Melinda and I have often talked,
and I know society is a little different, But just some of the
things that Spurgeon says and J.C. Ryle and Philpott, if they
were alive today, they would probably, they would be so offended
by our actions, by the things that we think we have liberty
in. And I'm saying this is, it's
hard to say that. You pick somebody way back when,
you can't live history that way. But the gospel never changes. The believer never changes. Society
changes. I've talked to many pastors and
the world just seems to be enclosing in, I don't care about Armenian
churches, the grace churches. What we allow would never have
been allowed 50, 100 years ago. But we do have liberty and freedom
in Christ. But we are exhorted to look straight
on. And the more distractions, and
this country is full of distractions. Full of distractions. Trying
to raise the children in fear and admonition of the Lord is
tough. It's always been tough, but it's
tough. I could go on and on. I could
talk of Demas who hath forsaken the Gospel. Alexander the coppersmith. Ananias and Sapphira. Felix in
Acts chapter 24. He said, and he heard the Gospel,
and that's what concerns me. Some people come in and they
listen for a while and then they leave. It concerns me because
he listened to Paul. He listened to Paul, and he quaked,
and he shook, and he started to get terrified. And he says,
you know what? Send him away. I'll hear when I have a more
convenient... It never happened. Today, while it is called today,
harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation. Come,
look unto Christ, be ye saved, and let your eyes look straight
on. You may not have tomorrow. You may not have tomorrow. Others, showing the hard struggle
of looking off Christ, and then by God's good grace, were unable
to look back on again. Peter, the Lord restored him. This is exhortation
to everybody. John, Mark. I said, basically everyone who
has ever named the name of Christ, do we see now how we need to
look straight on with our eyes? Just look straight on. Like that
song, prone to wander, Lord I feel, prone to leave the God I love.
The third question of why? Why is this exhortation here?
Other encouragement and difficulties. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3, verses 12-14 and
verse 20. Paul says, not as though I had
already attained, though he did, right? He was a believer. So
he's attained eternal life. Neither were already perfect.
Isn't he perfect in Christ? Yes. But I follow after. If that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus, brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended." This is the believer. This is the struggle that the
believer has. But one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, I'm looking, pressing, reaching forth to those things
which are before. I press towards the mark of the
prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus. Verse 20, for our
conversation is in heaven, for whence also we look, look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus. There's a look, and you continue
to look, and your eyes are right on. I press for the mark. This
sounds like somebody who needs to know Christ. I can't explain
it. Henry, at least 10 years ago,
has a wonderful message on this right here. It's just going back
and forth. He apprehended Christ, or Christ
apprehended him, but yet he wasn't satisfied, he wasn't content. Stagnation. He wanted to grow
in the grace and the knowledge of Christ. Look forward. Look
straight ahead. Look straight ahead. And even
sometimes we ourselves distract one another. We are a family,
and you tell me that there's dysfunctional families. Oh sure
there's dysfunctional families. That's Church of Christ. We're
all at different growth stages. And so an older brother gets
discouraged or gets upset, well, remember what it was like. But they don't make excuses.
I mean, you know, I don't have the wisdom in this. That's why
I just say look straight, look forward. Talk to me, I'll look to Christ. Oh, there's more to it than that.
No, there isn't. Really isn't. There really isn't. Hebrews 11, verses 24-27, By
faith, Moses, when he was come of years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. He kept his eyes straight. esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt for he had respect under the recompense of reward by faith
he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he
endured as seen looking unto Christ seeing him who is invisible
now that's you know people talk about horses you know put blinders
on that's what we need to do That's what you do. And it has
nothing to do with caring for one another because we're family. You care for one another. You
encourage one another. You call one another if you can't
call you. Whatever. You do these things. We're just
a little group, but that's okay. But still. Still. In Iron, Sharpen, Iron,
all these principles apply. But I know from the last couple
of weeks after this passage was revealed to me, oh, I'll do that. Next morning, it was three or
four hours before I even opened up the book. I read good books, but not the
book. Was it Phil Potter? Ryle said
we ought to just read the Bible. How many Bibles do I have at
my house? We ought to read the Scriptures. Why? Because the Scriptures tell
of Him. And that would be keeping our eyes focused. Matthew chapter 6. This is why we ought to keep
our eyes right on, straight on, dead on, Matthew 6, verse 22, "...the
light of the body is the eye. If the eye therefore be single,
looking straight on, thy whole body shall be full of light." That eye and single, in the Greek
it's clear vision. I thought that was interpreted
as clear vision. That's clear vision. Because
we look through a glass dimly, but we can still have a clear
view of Christ. Let our eyes look right on. And
that second part of that passage in Proverbs, I'm like, well,
how can you look with your eyelids? Think about it. Hey, Nathan, hey. Melinda, hey. I need this. I need that. Nope. I'm going to close my eyelids
to that. The eyelids, you can close. You can open them up and
look. And when stuff gets too hazy
and fuzzy, just close them. I'm not saying that literally.
I'm just saying that's how I... Spurgeon just looked at the same
thing. Just close your eyelids. Close. You close them, you protect your
eyes. The single eye. Light. We need
more light. Now Matthew 7 and verse 14. Why? Because straight is the gate,
narrow the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find
it." There's so many distractions.
There's so many distractions. There's so many things in the
flesh. Satan is very real. In this world,
there's so many things that pulls on your time and your energy.
And that's all part of being alive. I remember I heard a gentleman
that used to go to Henry's church. He's passed away now. He made
a comment about raising children. I thought it was one of the wisest
statements. He says, no is the first word
our children hear, and no is the last word they learn. I don't
think it's just children. I think it's us. I think it's
us. We don't want to say no to anything.
This world can offend our God and our Gospel at the drop of
a hat. They think it's strange that
you don't run with them, says the Scriptures. Well, don't run
with them. Close your eyes. This way is fraught indeed with
many trials, dangers, toils, and snares, the song says, but
it is Christ's way. And He has called us unto it,
and He has called us unto Him. It's the best way. It's the way
of mercy and grace. Blessed indeed, graced indeed
are they who find Him, and by His Holy Spirit enabling, keep
their eyes singular and straight ahead, not glancing to the right
or to the left. Lord, help us to keep our eyes
looking right on and our eyelids looking straight before. It's
not an easy way but it's the best way and it is a way of peace. Now like I said I just thought
this was just complimented last week's lessons to look unto Him
message but it just struck me right between the eyes, said,
look straight ahead. Look straight ahead. Stay focused. Endure. You read this morning, you read
that Christ was at the cross, despising the shame. And yet,
it was a joy set before Him. I don't know what tomorrow is
going to bring, but I know who brings tomorrow and who has it in His
hands. And may He enable us and give
us grace to when we walk, if you don't walk... You've seen
these things on YouTube where these people are walking in front
of trains and they're looking at their phone and they might
get killed. That's what we're distracted. Let's put things
down. Let's pick up the Scriptures
and let's communicate. Let's exhort one another while
it is called today. Because things are not easy out
there. Lord bless the preaching of His
Word. Bruce, would you close us?