I've preached in a lot of places,
looked out over congregations like this to a lot of faces. Faces of eternity bound, men
and women, on the brink of everlasting joy
or everlasting torment. And I am always, Always, always
fearful of the responsibility. Always. Always unfit. Always unprepared for what I'm
about to do. From your side, I'm sure, because
I've been there before I started preaching, this pulpit looks
attractive and maybe a little glamorous. It might even appear
that preaching a message to folks is easy work. But the fact is
from this side, this is a huge, huge, huge responsibility. There's nothing inviting about
it, nothing glamorous about it, just sobriety. I am again responsible
now. to do what I can't do. I'm responsible
to speak to your heart as God's voice to you. Brother Darwin, we just can't
unless God speaks through us. No matter preparation, No abilities,
no skills, no talents will substitute for God speaking to your hearts. One of my first experiences preaching
in a different place, I was attending Hillcrest Church in Winston-Salem
where Brother Dan Parks' father, E.W. Parks, was pastor when Shelby
and I were first married. Brother Herbert Wilson, who's
pastor of Rosemont Baptist Church in our hometown, asked me to
fill his pulpit one Lord's Day. And I was introduced and got
up to preach. And right there on the corner
of the pulpit was a little old, one of those little labor maker
guns. Somebody put about a three-inch piece of green tape. I'm sure
it was Brother Wilson. And it had these words. They
found in John chapter 12 verse 21, sir, we would see Jesus. And I wanted to sit down and I've never forgotten those
words. I try. I tried deliberately to
think of them every time I prepare to preach, whether to You here
or other folks in other parts of the world, whether a small
band of believers meeting in somebody's front room or a large
crowd of folks, sir, we would see Jesus. Now, that's all I've
got to talk about tonight. Nothing new, nothing profound,
nothing of deep theological significance. I want only one thing. Oh, my God, I want only one thing.
I want you and me to see Him whose name is given, Jesus, Jehovah,
our Savior, to see Him and seeing Him, to see Him more, more fully,
more clearly, more delightfully than ever before. You who do
not know Him, you who've never seen Him, oh, may God now reveal
Christ to you. Here in John chapter 12, verse
21. John chapter 12, verse 21. Back in verse 20, we read that
there were certain Greeks among them, these proselytes, that
came up to worship at the feast. They came up to the Feast of
Tabernacle or the Feast of Passover to keep the feast. They were
Gentiles who were Jewish proselytes. Don't know how many there were,
but the same came, therefore, to Philip, one of the Lord's
disciples, which was Abba Theda of Galilee, and desired him,
saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. And see him they did. as no Gentiles
before had seen Him. See Him, they did. The word see
really means to know. We would know Him. We would look
on Him, but we would know Him. And the Lord Jesus revealed Himself
to them. They saw Him. Oh, you read on
in the chapter, the Lord showed them that there was an appointed
hour for which this world was made, and that hour had come. He showed them the necessity
of his death. Except he die, like a grain of
wheat falling into the ground, he would live and die alone. He must die that we, his people,
might live forever in him. He showed these Greeks what it
is to believe him. It's to hate your life and lose
it and give it up to him. It's to lose your life to Jesus
Christ the Lord. He showed them the certain accomplishments
of his death. He said, now, now is the judgment
of this world. Now is the prince of this world
cast out and I If I'd be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. And this, he said, signifying
what death he should die. These Gentiles came to Philip
and they said, said we would see Jesus. And Philip told his
brother, these fellows come to see the Lord Jesus. What do we
do? And they went to the Lord Jesus. And the Savior made himself
known to them. Now, if you've come here tonight
to see him, I'm certain that's what you'll get. You'll see it. You'll see it because he's willing
to be seen. He's willing to be seen. And
if we've come to see him, see him, we will. He has promised,
seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you,
ask and you shall receive. If we've come to see him, see
him we will. Now, I recognize that people want to see our Savior
for many reasons. Some, like the Jews spoken of
down here in verse nine, want to see him just out of religious
curiosity. Much people of the Jews therefore
knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only,
but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from
the dead. We're told that Herod heard many
things about the Lord Jesus. And twice he wanted to see him.
He wanted to see him, not that he was really intensely interested
in him, but he was keenly curious about this man. How many Herods
there are? You're curious, but not concerned. Interested, but not intense. You'd like to talk about Jesus
and read about Jesus and hear about Jesus, but You don't need
him. You don't need him. But even
if you're just a little curious, I have hope for you. I recall
there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus. a publican who heard
much about this man Jesus of Nazareth and one day he heard
that the Lord Jesus was coming by and he came, the scripture
tells us, because he wanted to see Jesus who he was. He was just curious. He was just
curious. The master wasn't curious about
him. He came that place that day because the appointed time
of mercy had come when Zacchaeus must have the Savior revealed
to him. This curious man was arrested by the Son of God on
the spot. The Lord Jesus came to where
that curious man was, Zacchaeus, and Zacchaeus, just up there
in the tree looking down on the crowd, had no idea But that man
he was curious about had had Zacchaeus on his heart from eternity. He had purposed this meeting
day from eternity. And he stopped right under the
limb and looked up and said, Zacchaeus, come down. For today,
I must abide at your house. And he explained himself later.
He said, this man is a son of Abraham. He's one of God's elect. Sir, we would see Jesus. Curiosity? Maybe God stirred
the curiosity just to call you by his grace. I often think,
and I've said many times, there'll be folks in just a few hours
who'll be listening to this message somewhere else in the world.
And I'm sure some download the messages and listen to them just
so that they can learn a little bit of English. Little they know
how badly we speak it. But they download the messages
just because they're trying to learn the language. That's all
right. That's all right. If God's purpose to save them
by his word, he causes them to hear and he calls them by his
grace. Then there are some who are more
than curious, they hope to gain some earthly advantage by seeing
the Lord Jesus. There were multitudes when he
broke the loaves and fishes and fed the 5,000. And they thought,
man, this is good. This is good. And they thought
as long as they were in his presence, loaves and fishes would continue
to be supplied. That's what they followed him
for. Another miracle, more provision, because they thought it would
advantage them. You folks may not know this.
Maybe you do. Some of you, I'm sure, do. You
know business people, when they move to a place, they often will
look for a church that's prominent because it's a good place to
network. A good place to go to get in
contact with other business people. It's profitable. It's advantage.
But then there are some who want to see the Savior. because they
must have him. Are you such curious, speculative, or have
you come here in desperate need and you've got to have the Savior? Got to have him. There was a
woman once with an issue of blood. She'd had that issue of blood
for 12 long years. And she had spent everything
she had on physicians of no value and was none better. She spent
everything she had going to one quack after another who promised
a cure but could give no cure. physicians of no value. And she heard that the Lord Jesus
was passing the streets that day. And this unclean woman,
who by law is forbidden even to be in the streets, this unclean
woman says to herself, I've got to touch him. And she made her
way through the crowd and touched him and immediately she was made
whole. Do you Need the Son of God. I mean, need him. Got to heaven. There was a Syrophoenician woman
whose daughter was grievously vexed of the devil. And she came
to the master and she said, Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter
is grievously vexed of the devil. And the Lord Jesus looked at
her and said, it's not lawful for me to take the children's
bread and give it to dogs. And you know, you're just a Gentile
dog. That's a good that's a good way
to preach it. That's a good way to win men
and influence people, win friends and influence people. No, that's
not his interest. And it's not mine. It's not mine. I'm concerned about your soul.
And you have no claim upon the son of God. No claim. There's nothing he's got he owes
you. And he's got everything. Nothing. Nothing. You know what she did? She said, I'll take the grant
he gave me. I'm a dog. But it's all right for dogs to
lick up the crumbs that fall from the table, isn't it? And
he looked at her and said, that's faith. That's faith. Here's somebody
who's got to have my mercy and my grace. That woman who came
in Simon the leper's house in Luke chapter 7, as the master
sat at dinner and she's filled with praise and gratitude and
love, thanksgiving. for what he's done for her and
is about to do for her. And she breaks that alabaster
box of ointment and anoints his head and runs down his body to
his feet. And she picks up his feet and
kisses them and wipes them with the hair of her head. Why? Because
she's standing behind him, kneeling behind him, whom she must have,
must have. If you've come with desperate,
needy heart, desiring to see him, that is to know and have
the Son of God, I tell you again, take courage. The Lord Jesus
is willing to be seen. I often think as I read through
the gospel narratives, approachable, accessible, that's our master. Never have I read of a man more
commonly accessible than that man. Never. I try to make you
understand I'm available to you anytime you need me, anytime
you need me. Call anytime, no matter where
I am, I'm available to you anytime. But our Lord Jesus was so freely
accessible that the sick and the sinner were free to come
to Him. I mean, they were just comfortable
to do so. Harlots felt comfortable in His
presence. Harlots. Harlots. Sinful folks were comfortable
to approach Him. Comfortable. Beggars were comfortable. Not with His disciples, but with
Him. Comfortable. Comfortable. As
a matter of fact, The only people our Lord Jesus ever secluded
himself from were self-righteous Pharisees. Publicans, harlots,
sinners, poor, needy, sick, leprous folks found him accessible. And I'm telling you, he's still
accessible to needy souls. Oh, hear me, needy sinner. Don't, don't keep yourself from
the Son of God for fear of him rejecting you or scorning you
or casting you out. It'll never happen. Did ever
sinner find him unwilling to receive him? No, not one. No, not one. I can but perish,
the songwriter wrote. If I go, I am resolved to try,
for if I stay away, I know I must forever die. But if I die with
mercy sought, when I, the king, have tried, this were to die,
delightful thought, as sinner never died. He said, him that
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. That's strong
language. Him that cometh unto me, I will
in no wise cast out. That means you, you. If right now you come to him,
you, whoever you are, right now, come to him. He won't cast you
out. Well, how can I do that? Just
come. Any way you can get to him, be all right. Come to him.
And he says, he'll not cast you out. Now. If you would see him, he must be revealed to you. Simon
Peter, remember, confessed, thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. And our Savior said to him, blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee,
but my Father, which is in heaven. And the way he reveals himself
to sinners is in his word by the preaching of the gospel in
his house where he promised to meet with his people, where he
promised to meet his saints. You've done well to come here.
Now, may he come to you here and reveal himself to you and
in you by his grace. Pray, oh, pray for me as I try
to preach to you and get ready to preach to you. Pray that God
will be pleased to speak by me to you and to others around you
and pray that God will be pleased to cause the Savior to be seen
afresh by you. Would to God that every time
we met we might be like those disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration
after the Lord was transfigured And Moses and Elijah were taken
back to glory. They woke up from their stupor,
their sleep, and they saw no man save Jesus only. Oh, to see him and him only. I want to show you three things
about this thing of seeing the Savior. One is salvation is obtained
by seeing him. Let's begin in Isaiah chapter
45. The second is that salvation is maintained, sustained by seeing
him. And the third is that salvation
is finished by seeing him. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 22. Salvation is seeing Christ. God's
grace, God's salvation, God's atonement, God's forgiveness,
God's righteousness is obtained by looking to Christ. By looking
to Christ. You remember how that the Israelites
bitten of those fiery serpents in the wilderness were perishing
and God commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and lift it
up on a pole. And everyone who looked lived. Everyone who looked lived. Perishing
men all around. Here's the serpent of brass.
Moses just holds him up. And that serpent-bitten man farthest
away in the camp of Israel, gasping for his last breath, looks and
lives. Our Lord Jesus said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Why? So that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have life everlasting. Looking
to Christ. That's called faith. Looking
to Christ as A child looks to his father, looking to Christ
as a hungry man looks to one serving in bread, looking to
Christ in hope and expectation, looking to Christ, believing
him, seeing him. Look unto me, you see that? Look
unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. Our Savior says, look to me and
be saved. Look to me and be saved. Somebody
says, well, now you got to explain that if you look, you're already
saved. I know that, but I didn't until
I looked. And you won't know it until you
look. Look to me and you obtain God's salvation, he says. You
obtain in the sweet experience of grace, God's salvation. Now, looking to Christ means
you look away from everything else. Millions around the world
look to idols of wood, stone, and brass, and silver, and gold.
You say, nobody do that. Oh, I beg your pardon. I've seen it. been in Mexico on their holy
days when the papists bow down before their gold-covered statue
of Mary and crawl hundreds and hundreds and hundreds on their
knees before a dumb idol, before a dumb idol. Thousands look to idols taken
from this book. Take things written in this book.
And presume that by keeping holy days and Sabbath days and ceremonies
and rituals, they make themselves holy. They make gods of the apostles
and Neolit images of them. They make good luck charms out
of crosses and angels and gestures. Sacraments, they make ordinances
into sacraments and presume that in using these things, they obtain
grace, obtain holiness. Multitudes look to the law and
morality and good works. They really do believe they can
make themselves good enough for God to look at them and accept
them. Now, Brother Don, nobody believes that. That rich young
ruler said all these things have I kept from my youth up. Now
tell me what else I got to do and I'll do that too. The publican prayed, or the Pharisee
prayed, God, I thank thee that I'm not a Gentile, not a dog. I thank you I'm not like this
publican. I fast twice in every week. I give tithes of everything
I possess. I pray three times a day and
I make sure everybody sees it when I do. Most everybody looks
at his own experience, his decision, his feeling. They have a commitment of a sort.
They have a refuge. I'm sure that everybody sitting
here has a refuge. Some of you have taken refuge
in Christ, our refuge and others in a refuge of lies. You you
take refuge in what you can and you hide from God in your experience
and your feelings and your knowledge and your emotions. Salvation
is looking to Christ. The Word of God clearly declares
salvation is of the Lord. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life. God speaks so plainly, so plainly,
there can be no mistaking these things. Salvation is God's work. And this salvation is in God's
darling son, Jesus Christ the Lord. In him, in him alone, and
nowhere else. If you would know God, if you
would be saved, you must look to Christ. He said, back in John
5, he said, search the scriptures. Really the word is, you do search
the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. You read the scriptures in your
homes, in your synagogues. The scriptures are read to you
every Sabbath day. Every Sabbath day, you search
them diligently. You can recite the dates and
the times and the places. You know the names and the figures.
If anybody has a Bible drill, you'll win it every time. You
know the scriptures. You think you do. But what you've
missed is the scriptures testify of me. And you will not come
to me. You go anywhere else but not
to me. Anywhere else but not to me. That you might have life. I don't have any question at
all. If somehow I could convince you
that everlasting salvation be yours, if we had a aisle here
of red hot coals, but if you can make it from that door to
this communion table just just that little spaces distance there
if you if you just if you just walk barefoot on those red-hot
coals up here to prove your sincerity That would get you everlasting
life if I could convince you Everybody here pull their feet
off pull their shoes off down to their bare feet and walk down
the coals You do anything except do nothing Anything except nothing. Look unto me. Would you see him? Salvation's obtained by looking
to him. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Here's
the second thing. Salvation is sustained in our
souls by looking to Christ, by seeing him. It begins looking
to him. And it's sustained looking to
it. Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore see we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every
weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us
run with patience the race that set before us. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. He's the one who began
the whole work of redemption, and he's the one who finished
it. Began his purpose, finished in his obedience unto death as
our substitute. He endured for the joy that was
set before him. Isn't that amazing? Larry, Chris,
it was his delight to have you. with him in glory and for that
joy he endured the cross despising the shame for the joy for the
joy of having us with him forever in glory one with him for that
joy he endured all the shame and pain and agony of the cross
despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God These words looking, looking unto Jesus imply much
more than a casual glance or even a careful investigation. No, they are a gaze, just a gaze. I don't know any other way to
illustrate it and it's a poor illustration I acknowledge, I
recall The first time I saw that lady right there, if she had
caught my eye, I would have been embarrassed. She's standing in
a department store working the same store my mother worked in.
She had on a yellow dress. I can picture it right now with
her yellow hair. And I just did a double take. Couldn't take my eyes off of
her. I was stunned. Stunned with her pleasant appearance
stunned with her beauty But that's nothing that in just a few seconds. I took my eyes off of her And
I turned and walked out the door just a few seconds just a few
seconds But to see the Son of God When
he's revealed in your soul is to be ravished by Him, stunned
by the revelation, so that your eyes are fixed on Him. We're constantly urged to set
our affection on things above, where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. And we must ardently seek, by
God's grace, to subdue every rival in our souls, and rivals
plenty we have. And yet, the heaven-born soul
can't take his eyes off the Savior. Looking to him for everything. Looking to him in the book, we
discover who he is and what he's done. Looking to him in his life
of obedience, we see his sacrifice on our behalf and we see his
righteousness made ours. We see how it is now by his obedience
unto death that God Almighty can sure enough take such things
as we are and receive us as worthy objects of God's affection. Worthy objects of God's pleasure. Worthy objects of God's delight. Imagine that! You! Me. Worthy of God's favor. Because one with his son. The
cause of his obedience under death is our substitute. We look
to him in his glory, seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high. ever living to make intercession for us, our advocate
in heaven, and trusting Him, we have life everlasting in Him. He is Jesus, our Savior. Sirs, we would see Jesus. Jehovah, the Savior. He's called
Jesus twice. He's called Jesus before he comes
into this world as he's still in his mother's womb. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, the angel said, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And then we're told after he's
finished his work of redemption, ascended up on high, this God
man is called Jesus again. Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. Remember
what it said? That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and
things under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God. So that in his humiliation
and in his highest exaltation, in the depth of his condescending
grace and in the height of his triumphant glory, he's the same. Jesus, Jehovah, who says Jehovah,
our Savior, looking under him. What simple, sweet words. We
would see Jesus. How simple. But here the whole
body of divine truth is held forth. Jesus Christ is God, our
Savior. And there's a third thing. Turn
to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. John says, Beloved, behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should
be called the sons of God. Now look at verse 2. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Those words baffle me. They just
baffle me. See him as he is. See him as
Peter and James and John saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Well, yeah. See him sitting as king over
the universe, certainly. See him as God in human flesh,
of course. See him as the Lamb of God, yes.
See him as our crucified, accepted savior and substitute, certainly.
See him as our covenant surety, having finished all things for
the salvation of our souls, yes. but see him as he is. And in my most rapturous, pleasant
thoughts, as I read through the book and see some glimpse of
his greatness and glory, some little bit of Christ my Redeemer,
That that I see gives me rest and peace and confidence and
hope and expectation. But this side of eternity, it's impossible to see him as
he is. But soon, we'll awaken his likeness. Then we will see Him as He is. We shall see His face. And the glory of God shining
forth in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's what salvation is.
It's seeing Him by faith. It's seeing Him as we walk through
this world. That sustains us. That keeps
us when we're down and downcast. And the Lord's pleased to make
Himself known again. I believe I'll make it another
hour. We see Him. But soon we shall see Him in
all the dazzling brilliance of his perfect humanity and full
deity in our flesh as our savior and we'll be like him when we
see him as he is. Amen.