Let me read Psalm 34, verses
1-6. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, and the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh,
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all
my fears. They looked unto Him and were
lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles."
The verse we're going to look at is the first part of verse
5. unto Him. They looked unto Him
and were lightened or enlightened. Now this one phrase reminds me
of several other phrases. One of them is found in Isaiah
45 and verse 22. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Look unto
Me." And then back in our text, they looked unto Him, unto God,
unto Me, unto Christ, and were lightened. And the other passage
is found, I believe, in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2. Hebrews 12 and verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. Looking unto Jesus. Now, to look unto Jesus, to look at
our God the Father through God the Son, enabled by God the Spirit,
could be understood as to be quickened. To look unto God,
to look unto Christ, it could be to be quickened. Or it could
also be enlightened, which that's what the word is in our text.
to be made more like Christ, to be conformed to His image.
So, whether you're here this morning and you know the Gospel,
or whether you don't know the Gospel, I can boldly say to you,
and to me, and to anyone who is listening in, look unto Christ. Look unto Christ. So I address
each and everyone here today. Are you redeemed? I beseech you
to look unto Him. Are you yet without Christ, without
hope? I implore you to look unto Christ,
who alone has done all things required for our salvation, full
and free. And we're going to look at Him
in four ways. Look unto Christ. Look unto, they looked unto me
and were enlightened. So if you look unto Christ, if
you're enabled to look unto Christ, He will give you light. He will
give you light. So we're going to look at, implore
you to look unto Christ four different ways. At His life,
at His death, at His resurrection, and look unto Him in His return. So the first point, first off
let us, let me draw our attention to looking unto Christ as He
lived or in His life. Now I know me and I know you
to some extent because we all have Adam's sin nature. We are
plagued by sin internally. At every turn, every turn, whether
within or without, you look at what's going on in this world,
not just this world, every country, you see depravity. You look within
and you say, that which I would, I can't do. We get discouraged,
we get upset. But I say, and I tell you to
look to Christ in his life. Who could it be said but of Christ,
he was always, always about his father's business. Who could
it be said but the Lord Christ as a child, that he was that
holy seed in Mary's womb. It's not said of Mary. It's not
said of Mary, it's not said of Joseph, it's not said of anyone
but our Lord Christ. Who can it be said to have cast
aside every foul temptation that the wicked one threw at Him?
When He was up at that mountain, the mountain says, you worship
me and I'll give you all this. Don't tempt the Lord your God.
Who is it said regarding the sovereign Savior? Never a man,
never a man spake like this man. It was said of no one. But I
know of. Oh, then I entreat you who are
struggling hard with sin, either without or within, to look to
Him who was pure and perfect from the womb to the grave. Never
a sin, never a foolish thought, But always and only did that
which his father was pleased with, as those words spoken from
heaven. This is my Son, and who I am
well pleased. Look unto Him in His life. Oh,
I exhort you, you who are alive this morning, yet dead in your
trespasses and sins, who know nothing of the Spirit's wooing,
look unto Christ. and be enlightened unto new life
and pardon and divine reconciliation. Do not look to self. That's our
problem. Do not look to self. Self cannot
satisfy. Self cannot save. Self can only
continue to widen the gap between you and the God of glory. Like that woman with the issue
of blood, she gave everything she had to physicians who should
have known how to take care of her. It says she grew worse.
And I'll say that to all of us here spiritually, if you're looking
to yourself to try to gain access, favor to God, you can't do it. You won't do it. Spurgeon said
this, and this is another message, which I'll probably preach in
a couple of weeks, Introspection, retrospection, and circumspection
all have their places, but not unto life. And we do that. Now
we are to examine ourselves, but what we do is we retrospect. We look back. We look back. Martin
Luther says, don't look back. You're not going that way. What
did Paul say? I fix my eyes on the prize of the high calling
in Christ Jesus. Don't look back. Don't look back. Okay, what about introspection?
Oh, that's bad. That's really bad. Because all you're going
to see is filth, depravity, degradation, and circumspection. Well, I'm
trying to be, set all this aside, and look unto Him, and be enlightened. Be enlightened. No, we look in
by act of faith, and faith is a gift of God, and this gift
is called grace, sweet grace, unmerited, unsought after, unasked
for, but freely given by the sovereign act of God in the doings
and dyings of Emmanuel, Jesus the Christ. And that giving,
as he says in Matthew, the Lord thanked him that he revealed
it to babes. He revealed it to babes. So it doesn't make a difference
your age. It doesn't make a difference
how much knowledge you have of the Scripture. Do you know your
sin? Look to the Savior. Look. Look and live. Secondly, we are
to look to Him, and I ask and implore us to look to Him in
His death. Just as never a man spake like this man, the God-man,
so never a man died like this substitute. He died to enlighten
those who all their lives were in darkness. I need some light. Implore God to give you light. Look unto Him. He bled and died
to save His people from their sins, Matthew 1.21. He died and
that single act of horrible agony and suffering that he went through
accomplished once and forever the satisfaction that God must
have to be both just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
Romans 3.26 and the next verse said, therefore boasting is excluded. The beautiful thing about the
Gospel is it puts us in our place, and it has God in His place.
He's high, exalted, holy, harmless, undefiled, and us, we're low.
We're below low. Who else was it ever said as
He hung on Calvary's tree? Verily, this was an innocent
man. Luke 23. Verily, this was an
innocent man. His death, his trial, Persecution
was not only necessary for our ultimate justification, but was
itself foreordained by God the Father in order to bring many
sons to glory. Look unto Jesus. A word to you who believe and
yet are in trial. Remember, dear ones, Christ has
went before you, suffered, endured the shame, and is now on God's
right hand interceding for you and I. We don't have to go through
it alone. He's there with us. And also,
shall the servant be above his master in such times of affliction? Look unto Him and be enlightened. Thirdly, let us look unto Christ
in His resurrection. You who have tasted that the
Lord is gracious, do not fear death. It is already swallowed
up in complete and utter victory. You who are yet outside the grace
of Christ looking in, you too will one day grow old and enter
the grave." I know the younger folks here, it's like, that's
so far. I had a prayer request for a
friend of mine whose son in his 30s died. You too. We all. have a date
with the grave unless he returns. I implore you to look unto Him
who conquered death and lay all your cares upon Him. He passed
over Jordan. He led captivity captive. He
never did slip up or fail in His resurrection glory. His life,
His death, His resurrection. It's all about how sovereign,
supreme, and successful our Lord was over sin, death, and hell. And the thing was also foretold
by the prophets of old that it was to be so. It's no fable.
I know your classmates at school, oh, that's just... you go to
church, you listen to... No. I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to you. Look unto
Christ. and be you saved. Look unto Christ
and be enlightened. It's not a fable. Things in this
book are not fables. They're no allegory. They're
not a myth. But these are rock-solid, sure foundational truths as it
is in the person of God's own Son. If we don't have the Scriptures
to go by, as the Scripture says, we are of all men most miserable.
Look unto Him and be enlightened and encouraged and comforted. Lastly, let us look unto our
Savior, because He's coming back. And I know, it says in the Scripture,
since the world began, they say He's coming back, He's coming
back. We know He's coming back. Whereby
comfort one another with these closing thoughts and expectations. That's what I call it, expectation.
It's not a hearsay. The Word of God guarantees We
may die before then, we may not, but He's coming back. He is coming
again. He does love His bride and He
will keep her and protect her because it was for her He died.
He's not going to leave us, as He said, comfortless. We don't
know when. I'm not going to speculate when.
Nobody knows when. It is not given for us to look
into the mysteries, that mystery of His return, but we know He
will come. Let us then therefore assist
one another and help one another and cheer each other as we see
the day approaching. May we have our lamps trimmed
with oil, ready and looking for His return. Those wise virgins,
remember the story. And live unto Him as enlightened,
saved sinners. Not dabbling much in this world.
Unwise virgins. They were too busy worried about
this and that. They were unwise because they
weren't ready. They were just going about their business. They
were not ready. They were not looking. They were not talking
about. They were not in prayer for the return of the Lord. Sometimes
when we just gather together weekly, it's just to shake us
out of our worldly stupor. Because we can get so caught
up in the world. You know, I love cell phones.
Sometimes I wish they were not. You know, it's all these different
things. We've got information like that. Well, I'd say a lot of it is
false information. Be careful. But spending time
in the Word with each other and with our children as we gather
together, let us help one another. Let's have our laps trimmed.
Plenty of oil. Looking for our blessed hope.
Looking unto Him always. Closing, let's turn to Revelation,
the last chapter. Revelation 22, and verse 16 to
the end. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root,
the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And
the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let him that hears say,
Come. And let him that is a thirst,
Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
Look. It's a look. Look and live. For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy
of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. If
any man shall take away from the words of this book the prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out
of the holy city from the things which are written in this book.
He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Look unto Him and be saved and
be enlightened. Light comes from no other place
other than from Him who is light. the bright and morning star.
Nathan, would you close this please?