1 Peter 1, verses 8 and 9. First of all,
he's talking about, verse 5, we are kept by the power of God
through faith on salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Wherein you greatly rejoice, Though now for a season, if need
be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. It's tough. That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Christ, of Jesus Christ, whom
having not seen, ye love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. So seeing and believing is what
I'm going to tie them together. I'm not talking about physical
sight. I know Bruce wasn't praying that we would physically see
Christ as some religious knuckleheads would have done or would do.
But the eyes of the heart, the eyes of faith. The eyes of faith. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 again, Thou hast
put all things in subjection under Christ's feet, for in that
He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is
not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Him, but we see Jesus. who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor that he should by the grace of God taste death for
every man. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons
unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. But we see Jesus. Now that word
see is literally or figuratively to look, to look upon. to look
upon. Turn with me to Mark chapter
4. Mark chapter 4. Verse 10 through 12. Mark chapter
4. And when Christ was alone, they
that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable.
And Christ said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery
of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without,
all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may
see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand,
lest at any time they should be converted and their sins be
forgiven them." So what I'm taking this is that a sight of Christ
by faith in the heart is equal to conversion. Because if they
see Christ and they understand Christ, they'll be converted. But they don't. So that's what
I'm taking that to mean. Now, we know out of Numbers 21,
you can write this down in the term there, that there is life
in a look. You remember the serpent in the
wilderness? The serpent in the wilderness. In Numbers 21. The people were murmuring and
complaining, and God sent serpents. And they were bitten, they died. And God, in his mercy and compassion,
told Moses, told Aaron, he said, build this serpent. Look at the very thing that's
killing you. And he said, set it up on a pole.
And so he that is bitten, I said, because if you're not bitten,
there's no need to look. And that's last week's message.
You're going to have to know your need. If you have a need,
he healed all them that had need. So if they weren't bitten, it's
just a stick, it's a pole, it's something, a piece of brass.
But if you were bitten, you looked. He said, you would not die. So we know from that example
that there is life in a look. And the word is behold. Behold the serpent. That word
behold is look intently upon or look intently at. To look
intently upon. Now, secondly, we know that there's
salvation in a sight. salvation in a sight. For Luke
chapter 2 verse 25 to 35 we have an example of Simeon. He's holding
this baby in his arms and he is staring right at the child
and said, Lord now let me die for I have seen thy salvation. Now that word seen is to know. So it's not, it's not, I'm not
talking about a physical sight. We've established that. I'm not
talking about a physical sight. Some of you, oh, I was walking
through the desert and I saw this cross and I was saved, or
I saw this figure of Jesus, or I saw Jesus in a potato chip
and I didn't, no, no, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm
talking about the eyes and the ears of the heart. And that's
what Simeon was saying. He was looking at a person and
he called that person salvation. There's salvation in a sight
of Christ. But the word I've seen is to
know. To know. So there's life in a look, out
of Numbers 21. There's salvation in a sight
of Christ, there's Luke 2. And turn with me to John chapter
19. John chapter 19. There is true
conviction and repentance in a clear view of Christ. There's
true conviction and repentance with a clear view of Christ. John chapter 19 and verse 32
to 37. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and the other which was crucified with
Christ. But when they came to Christ, to Jesus, they saw that
he was dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the
soldiers, with a spear, pierced his side, and forthwith came
out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true. He knoweth that he saith it is
true, that you may believe. For these things were done, all
that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall
not be broken. And again, out of Zechariah and
another scripture, they shall look upon him whom they pierced. Now that word look is the same
in Zechariah, that word is the same as behold in Numbers 21. And in the New Testament here,
this word, they shall look, is gaze, to gaze. And I'm not talking about, you
know, when you're like a kid in a classroom, and I guess that's
why a lot of times they don't have windows, because you're
sitting there, you're out there, and you're just gazing. You're just kind
of in a stupor. No. I'm talking about Sorry, I'm talking about when
your wife is dressed up in white and the organ starts to play
and you turn and you look and you gaze. That's what I'm talking
about. So, turn back with me to John
chapter 12. John chapter 12 and verse 20
and 21. John 12, 20, 21. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. And the same came
therefore to Philip, which was at Bethesda. They're coming to
worship of Galilee and desired saying, sir, we would see Jesus. That's what we want to do today.
Now they could see him physically. And there's a lot of people who
saw him physically and still perished. But none who look to him gaze
upon Him, behold Him, by God-given enabling, will perish. Will perish. These are just three
examples of the believer's eyes of the heart fully knowing, gazing,
or looking upon Christ. Such is what the grace of God
in a man or a woman does in us. By faith, we behold Him, And
not another, says Job. I want to behold him. These eyes
behold him and not another. These eyes. We desire to see
Christ. And this look, this stare, this
beholding Christ in His person and work as He is preached among
us is the beginning of conversion. It's the continuing of life spiritually
and it's the end of all things Bible. He's the Alpha and the
Omega. So when we see Him, We don't ever stop beholding Him.
That's one of the functions of the Holy Spirit. Unto whom coming?
We keep coming to Christ because He keeps drawing us to Christ.
So in summary, to look upon Christ is the work of grace in the soul. It is all by God the Holy Spirit. It is all by God the Son securing
and capturing the heart gaze. And it is all by God the Father
in first electing these sinners unto himself before the world
began. But what, what is, I mean, this is all true, but how does
it help us today? How does it help us? This awakening
act of God, allowing us to see him, will help us in many an
unpleasant viewing of things on this earth. Unpleasant. Unpleasant. Every day we see things that
annoy, that aggravate, that agitate. Every day. We're hurt. We have compassion. There's that song, Doctor My
Eyes. You remember that old song, you
know? Is it because I've kept them open for so long and I can't
cry anymore? I've seen, you know, basically
become hardened. And that's life. That's life. So, what I want
to talk to us about is these things, by seeing Christ, it
may help these unpleasant sights to be not so bad. Now again,
I'm not talking necessarily about seeing your neighbor slip and
fall. I'm not talking about, I'm talking
about, we'll get into it. First of all, we see, and we
know ourselves, ruined, fallen, broken creatures, full of sin
and death. Yet, looking to Christ, we see
Him as our guarantee to mansions and glory. Yes, we see our, look
at ourselves, and we're following. And we can't, a lot of times
we can't help but to look at ourselves. We got this area around us that
we're more concerned about than we should be. But, that's unpleasant. So you look at yourself and you
just keep following, you keep following. You say, you know,
I should know this by now. I should know to run to him.
I should know to flee to him. I should know to look to him
quicker. We just, the old nature, pulls and pulls. We struggle
with that. We see ourselves ruined, fallen,
broken, creatures full of sin, but yet we see Him, His purity,
His righteousness, that we see Him, the just dying for the unjust,
and we know we're redeemed. We know whom we have believed,
and we're persuaded that He, how? By a look, by a sight of
Him. Secondly, we see trials and hardships
daily, daily. It seems like the older you get,
the more you forget, the older you get, the less you have to,
you know, you've got to, you've got to think about things. The
situation with my, with my back, I'll walk and then I, you know,
I've got to think how I'm walking now. I didn't have to ever worry
about that. I got to think about it because my gait is different
and there's times I'll be walking and all of a sudden I'll catch
that and I'll almost fall. I almost fell a couple times
at work. And the thing is I got these tennis shoes on and they
squeak so everybody hears. I never have to worry about picking
up my foot and going over here or picking up. Got to now. Everywhere
you look, we see trial and hardships daily. Yet when we behold his
face, as old Newton wrote, a palace, a prison would appear. No matter
what our lot, He has taught us to say, it is well with our soul. That's only by taking a good
long gaze to stare at Him. We understand that Romans 8,
28 is specifically for us. And we know it's true. He is
for us and not against us. Though we see trials and hardships
with these eyes. And yet, when we see Him in the
Word, we see Him in the preaching, we see Him in one another, we
see Him as we fellowship, we get our eyes off that stuff and
on to Him. Thirdly, I'm not an obituary person. When I open the paper, some people,
when they get older, they look at the obituary all the time.
They chase ambulances, they chase fire trucks. I never have done
it, and by the grace of God, I won't. But these eyes see death. Yeah, I know some folks that
do that a lot. They run around after ambulances
and stuff. I'm just kidding you. But there's a guy that, when
I was working for Zeke, nice, friendly, gentle man. Worked
for Bungie. I'd got the new job. I'd been
with this company for a year. Right after I got the job, I
stopped by to see him. He wasn't there. I said, what
do you mean he's not here? He said, well, he's sick. Oh,
he's got cancer. But he'll be back. He'll be back.
I went by there the other day. He died almost a year ago. I see death. I hear death. It's
gone. Neighbors, friends. You know,
look up on Wikipedia, oh, that actor, I remember him. What?
Passed away in 1991? We, these eyes, see death all
around us. Yet looking squarely at Christ,
we see him as our resurrection. Yeah, we're gonna die, but we're
gonna raise again. Judgment has no more for us. But He has an eternal home prepared,
and that word prepared is made ready for us. That's by looking
to Him. That's by seeing Him. There's a point at which You
know, Melinda and I talk about, you know, the chain moving up,
like on a Christmas chain, or you move it up, and you're like,
well, you know, great aunt, she'll be nicer, she may not be here,
this may be your last one. Well, then they're gone. Then
your mom moves up, then your mom and dad die. Then guess who's
on the top rung now? The scriptures say, three score
and 10. That's seven years old, right?
Got about 10 years left. Maybe, maybe if even that. We
see death, but we see him who conquered death. Fourthly, we see all manner of
friends and acquaintances that are lost and undone. We do things
with them. We go on vacations with them.
We do events with them. And that's fine. I have no problem
with that. But they don't believe the Gospel. They don't believe
the Gospel. We see all manner. We see with
these eyes. Oh, I really have compassion
on that guy. And wouldn't it be nice if the
Lord would do something for him? Well, when we get our eyes on
them, we're likely to shake our head. you shake your head. And especially with religious
people, I get nervous, I even get more upset or more scared
or more distraught because religion is, the religion of today takes
them away from the gospel, makes them twice full, the children
of hell, than the preacher who's preaching to them. However, beholding
Christ, we see that He is able to save them to the uttermost,
to come to Him, to come to Christ, to God. Let's turn to Hebrews
7. Didn't quote that right. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25.
Wherefore, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. And it's fun, you can joke and
you can have a good time with friends and family and acquaintances
and neighbors, but when they leave, you think about it. If
they don't know Christ, they're in peril and they're in ruin. However, when you think of Christ, He and He alone can save them. It's up to Him. Now that word,
the uttermost, That means full ended, full completion, and entire. He's able to say them to the
uttermost. Entirely. I like that. Entirely. Completely.
Leaving nothing left for them or for us to do. Now, you look
at them and you see misery and maybe not misery. You see folks
that if they have money and they do this and everything seems
like they're happy. But they don't know their end. You know
their end. And that goes back to the message
the other day. Start praying that they would have trouble.
Start praying for them that they'd have soul trouble. Soul trouble. They need to get shaken up a
little bit. My cousin, oh, I make so much
money I'd never spend it. And my mom was impressed. I said,
she's just bragging. I said, let him come down with
some disease or illness. I said, that money would be gone.
It'd be gone in a hurry. And not only that, Thou fool,
tonight thy soul is required. And lastly, we see Satan railing
hard against us and the church. We've been here for a long time. We've been here a long time to
be as small as we are. I don't know, is that a factor?
Is that a factor? That's what perhaps, that's what
the world judges. And then Satan, he's always accusing
the brethren, he's railing against us and the church. Yet, not looking
at him, but looking at steadfastly gazing upon the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we most assuredly know that he has
already conquered Satan. Luke chapter 11 verse 22, when
that's stronger than he, That's not like conquered to me. She'll
come in and take care of that house stronger. So we know that
by Christ. We see Christ. He has preeminence
over everything and all things and by him all things consist. No one can rival his authority
or his power. But not only do we see Satan
conquered, but we see him defeated for the church. Matthew chapter
16. Christ says, the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Church. Not much going on here. But it's going on here. So we
thank, bless the Lord, that there's a place, there's a vision, there's
an oasis. Now how much we want to make
use of that? You get your eyes on this world
and there's aggravations, there's upsets, there's setbacks. Like
I say, you take one step forward, three steps back. But if your
eyes are beholding Him, beholding Him, He's conquered death. He's conquered all our foes.
He's making sure all things are working together for good. He's
conquered Satan because he's stronger than him. He's conquered
Satan that doesn't have so much effect on the church because
Christ said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In Matthew 16, he's conquered this foe. Trials, tribulations,
the scriptures deal with them too. The only way we're ever
going to grow in grace, the only way we're ever going to find,
like that song, Like a River Glorious, the only way we're
going to find peace and comfort is by looking to Him. And encouraging
one another to look to Him. I know we struggle. Boy, I know
we struggle. I know it. That doesn't change
the truth, the blessed hope we have. And these things, they move us. These afflictions, these trials,
these hardships, they move us, but just a little. Because we're
on the rock and cannot be shaken off. Because it's not my grip
upon him, but his grip upon me. So, I close asking you and I
ask myself and exhort us together. Turn to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true. Now, who's that? Christ. The Word. Whatsoever things are
honest. There he is again. Whatsoever
things are just, the scripture says that just died for the unjust,
Christ. Whatsoever things are pure, he's
holy, harmless, pure, undefiled, separate from sinners, or Hebrew
says. Whatsoever things are lovely, oh, Psalms of Solomon says he's
the altogether lovely one. Whatsoever things are of good
report, who hath believed this good report, this good report
about Christ concerning our sin, His righteousness, His perfections,
His substitution. If there be any virtue, oh, He's
the sum of virtue. If there be any praise, all praise
goes to Him. Think, gaze, stare, Behold, on
these things, on Christ. See Him in all these truths,
here in Philippians 4a. Be joyful, be content, and lastly,
the most difficult thing in the world, And worry not. Don't worry. Don't worry. Why do I stand up here and tell
you, exhort you to do? Because I struggle the same.
I'm not saying I've got it and you need it. I'm saying we need
to behold Him. Because These eyes are gonna behold nonsense. These eyes are gonna behold struggles.
It's like, why don't you, all you gotta do is take, is file
that paper and get this thing moving. Frustration, here, left,
right. That's just physical. Spiritual. Spiritual warfare. But not only
is he all these truths, but he's put the armor, the breastplate,
he's all that too. But behold him and be at peace. Be content
with such things as you have, but do not worry. I say this knowing that I will
worry. I'm saying this, I know you will
worry about loved ones, friends, this and that, physical, spiritual,
financial, economical. Yes, that's us. However, He's
on the throne and look to Him quickly. continually and steadfastly. Nathan, would you close this?