When you turn back to 1 Samuel
chapter 16, I've entitled this message, The Sight of the Lord. Look once again at verse 7, the
latter part of the verse says, For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. How does man see? He sees things
by the appearance, the way things look on the outside. And my dear
friend, I believe you know this, appearances are deceiving. Man can't see behind the scenes. He looks on the outside. We look at things on the surface and we really see very little. And there is so much we do not
see. Do you remember Elisha's servant,
how Elisha prayed, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Do you know there are beings
in this room right now that you and I do not see. We see so very little. And we see with prejudice. And I talk about how man sees. We see, you and I see, with such
prejudice. We put a slant upon what we see.
How is it that Something we did is not so bad or even justified. But if somebody else did it,
it would be reprehensible to us. Why is that? We see with such prejudice. How is it that we can judge someone
so harshly when we do the exact same thing or even worse than
what they're doing? It's because we see with such
amazing prejudice, looking at things through our own lens,
thinking of things from our own point of view. Every one of us
are like that. You know that, and I know that. But this scripture
tells us that the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord seeth
not as man seeth. Man seeth according to the outward
appearance, but the Lord. looketh upon the heart and only
he can see the heart. You can't see what's in my heart.
I sure am glad. And you'd feel the same way,
but you can't see what's in my heart, but the Lord does. He
sees exactly what is there. The Lord sees and how he sees
is how it is. When the Lord was watching rich
men cast their gifts at the temple, into the treasury, and he saw
the rich men, scripture says he saw the rich men casting in
much. And he saw a poor widow casting
in too much. He said, she gave more than they
all. Now, if we would have looked
at the amount, we would have said, no, she gave a whole lot less. She only
gave too much. But the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looks at
the outside. The Lord looks upon the heart. And I repeat, how he sees a thing
is how it is. You see, the Lord is omniscient. He sees all. and he knows all. He sees it before it takes place
and he sees everything in the present. The stuff that's going
to take place tomorrow, he sees right now. The scripture says
in Psalm 90 verse 4, for a thousand years in thy sight, are but as
yesterday when it's passed and as a watch in the night. He's
omniscient. He sees all. He knows all. The Lord Jesus did what only
God could do when he said to Nathanael, before that Philip
called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. He wasn't even there, but he
saw him. Why? Because he sees all. Being omnipresent, you can't
go anywhere where he is not. Are you speaking of the Lord
Jesus when you say that? Yes, I am. Once again, Christ
said to Nicodemus, as he was standing upon the earth, no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the son of man which is in heaven. While he's standing
there on earth, he says, I'm in heaven. Only God can say that. He knows all. He sees all. Now I want you to think of the
best person you know. And I'm sure we all have someone
who we consider to be the best person we know. The one we most
admire. the one we most esteem. Now, I'm glad they are what they
are to you, but look how God sees them. Remember, we're talking
about the sight of the Lord. Now, I want to quote a scripture
that I quote a lot. Genesis chapter six, verse five. And God saw. And what God sees is the way
it really is. And God saw the wickedness of
man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's what God sees when
he sees that person that you should esteem so highly and I'm
glad you do. But when God looks at that person,
here's what he sees. He sees the wickedness of that
man is great. The wickedness of that woman
is great. And that every imagination of
the thoughts of their heart is only evil nonstop. That's what God sees. And what
God sees is what is real, is what is true. But you know in
that same passage in Genesis chapter 6 verse 8 it says, but
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, his eyes. What he saw, Noah, who was in
that group described in verse five, the wickedness of man,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Don't you want to
be one of those people? I want to be somebody who finds
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now regarding his eyes, I think
of what our Lord said, and this ought to put us on edge and make
us listen differently. and try to think, how is it that
the Lord sees things? Because our Lord said this, in
Luke chapter 16, verse 15, he said, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight
of God. Once again, we're thinking about
his sight. And that which men highly esteem and have a desirous
attitude to have and possess and to be, that which is highly
esteemed among men, it's an abomination in God's sight. Now, that ought
to let us know that how we see things just may not be correct. The Lord seeth not as man seeth. You know, I like to think about
this too before we try to zero in on what it is he sees from
the word of God, because the only way we can know how he sees
something is what his word tells us, not my guess or your guess,
but what his word tells us. But you know, everything God
does is good in his sight. I love the creation account.
where it says, and God saw that it was very good. God saw that
it was very good. Six times, it says in the creation
account regarding what God has done. And God saw that it was
very good. And what about when our Lord
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you've hid these things from the wise and prudent. Now God
did that. He hid He did it! He hid the things of salvation
from the wise and prudent, and He revealed them unto babes. And our Lord's reply to that
was even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And you know something that seems
good in His sight? It's good, isn't it? According to Hebrews chapter
4 verse 13, All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him
with whom we have to do. You see, he sees everything clearly. You and I don't. We don't, the
things we see by appearance, we don't know what's going on.
I don't know what's going on in your heart. I can't see what
you really like and guess, but I don't know. But he does. All things are naked and open. He sees the motives. He sees
the desires. He sees what is really there. Now, we read many times in the
scriptures particularly regarding the good kings, where it said,
he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. I like
that, don't you? He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord. We read in Hebrews 13 of God
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight. We can be sure of this. If we
do that which is well pleasing in his sight, it's because he
did it. Him working in us. John said we do those things
which are well pleasing in his sight. Peter spoke of a meek
and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. We also read in the scripture
of men doing evil. in the sight of the Lord. And
I guess the first thing that we think of when we think of
men doing evil in the sight of the Lord is we think of him watching
us commit some sin. And you know, it is amazing things
that we would never do in front of another human being. We do
openly in his sight. That's a scary thought. But there is a doing evil in
his sight. Peter said to Simon Magus, thy
heart is not right in the sight of God. For thou thoughtest the
gift of God could be bought. What a horrible thing to think
regarding the gift of God that you could purchase it, that you
could buy it, that you had the wherewithal to get it. When a believer sins, God sees
it. The thing David did displeased
the Lord, the scripture says. And when David confessed that
sin, he said against thee and thee
only have I done this evil in thy sight. Thy sight. The sight of the Lord. Now what I would like to do is see what the scripture says
about his sight. How does he see? And let me repeat
this statement once again. How he sees is how it is. You and I can see certain things.
Appearances are deceiving we really don't see but how he sees
Is how it is Psalm 11 for says his eyes behold His eyelids try
the children of men and he's looking in my heart right now
and And he's looking in your heart right now. What does he
see? What does he see when he sees
a man? A man apart from Christ. What
is it that he sees? Well, turn with me to Psalm 14.
This Psalm is repeated in Psalm 53, word for word. It's amazing.
Here's the only time we have two Psalms that say the exact
same thing. This must be a very important
Psalm. It's repeated and Paul quotes it in Romans chapter three,
verses nine through 12, when he's talking about all men being
under sin. Now, what does God see when he
sees a man? Verse one. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Now notice there is in italics. He's not saying I do not believe
in the existence of God. He's saying no to God. No, God,
I won't have that. I won't bow. I will not believe. They're corrupt. They've done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord, verse two, the Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. That's what God sees. Now, the reason That salvation
by works in any form, if salvation is dependent upon me or you in
any way, we won't be saved. The reason salvation by works
is impossible is because of what God sees when he sees a man. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter three, verses 20 and 21. By the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. By the
law is the knowledge of sin. Now, when God looks at me and
you, he sees people who cannot be justified by their works because
of their filthiness. That's what God says, not me.
That's what God says. And it's true whether you and
I see it or not. But I wonder how many of us really
believe this about ourselves. I wonder how many people in this
room believe that when God looks in your heart, that's what he
sees. Galatians 3.11 says, but no man
is justified by the works or by the law and the sight of God.
It's evident for the just shall live by faith. Psalm 143.2 David
said enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight
shall no man living be justified. David said in Psalm 5.5 for the
foolish shall not stand in thy sight for thou hatest all workers
of iniquity. How God sees things is how they
are. Now, all that being said, men
that are this bad do, in fact, find grace in God's sight. Noah did, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, thou
has found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. I want
to be one of those people, don't you? He said to Israel in Isaiah 43,
since thou was precious in my sight, Oh, I want to be one of
these people, don't you? Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore,
will I give men for thee and people for thy life. Now, do
you hear what he said there? He said, I love you so much.
Somebody else. I'm going to give them up for
you. They're going to be used for my glory. I'm going to if
I punish them, whatever it is I do, I'm doing this for you
because I love you. Now, this is talking about the
distinguishing, sovereign, discriminating grace of God, where he makes
a difference between one person and somebody else. Somebody says,
well, that's discrimination. Listen. If God gives us all what
we got coming, he'll send every one of us to hell right now.
Yesterday. But thank God for this distinguishing
grace, since you were precious in my sight. Who makes you to
differ from another? God does. Don't you know that?
What do you have that you didn't receive against any of the children
of Israel? God said, shall not a dog move
his tongue against man or beast, so that you may know how that
the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Let me show you how these people
are in his sight. Turn to Colossians 1. It's a
scripture we look at a lot, but I hope we can look at it in a
fresh, new, thrilling way. Colossians 1 verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him. to reconcile all things to himself.
By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable." What are those next three words? in His sight. And let me repeat, His sight is how it really is. If they are in His sight, holy,
unblameable, nothing can be laid to their charge Unreprovable. Nothing to reprove them of in
His sight. There's only one reason. Because
they are in fact, holy. Not just in name, but in fact. Holy. Unblameable. And unreprovable. Without fault. without blemish, without spot,
without wrinkle or any such thing. Bottom line, without sin in his sight. And if he sees me that way, that's
because that is the way I am. Now, the biggest question of
all is how? How can that be? Because my experience
doesn't say that. I don't look at myself and say,
boy, I'm holy. I'm unblameable. You can't blame
me of anything. No, my experience doesn't say
that. Yet God says in his sight, I'm holy and unblameable and
unreprovable. How can that be? You know the story of Jonah.
I want you to turn to Jonah chapter 2, and while you're turning there,
I want to set up why this statement is made. But Jonah is one of
the great types of Christ in the Bible. As a matter of fact,
coming up in Luke, we have that scripture where The only sign
the Lord would give was the sign of Jonah. Three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth. But I repeat, Jonah is a type
of Christ. You remember when God commanded
Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites and Jonah disobeyed. He was the disobedient prophet.
And he went out from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish. And God sent a storm. He got on a boat to go to Tarshish.
And God sent a storm. And there was a great storm.
And the ship was tossed all over the waves. And everybody was
scared to death. And they all began to pray to
their gods. And they cast lots to see, whose fault is this?
Why is this happening? And remember, the lot came to
Jonah. And he said, this is all my fault. I've disobeyed the Lord. Now
here's what you need to do. You need to cast me over into
the sea. And when you do that, you'll
be safe. And they didn't want to do that, but he said, you're
going to have to do it. So they cast him overboard into the sea. And immediately there was a great
calm. Jonah voluntarily had them cast
him over the sea. And then there was a great calm.
Now we see the work of Christ so clearly there. Jonah was guilty. Christ was guilty. Jonah voluntarily
had been cast into the sea. You see what happened as a result?
There was a great calm, everyone was saved, and Jonah himself
went under. Now, in Jonah chapter 2, you
remember that at the end of chapter 1, the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow Jonah. And that's exactly what took
place. A great fish swallowed Jonah. Somebody said, you really
believe that happened? Yes, I do. I totally believe
it happened. I love that story where a skeptic
said to his wife, do you really believe Jonah was swallowed by
a fish? She said, yes, I do. I believe
it literally happened. And when I get to heaven, I'll
ask him, and he'll tell me all about it. And the man replied,
well, what if he's not in heaven? She said, well, then you can
ask him. I always like that. At any rate, Jonah chapter 2
is Jonah praying from the fish's belly, but I have no doubt that
this is the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1, Then Jonah prayed unto
the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and he cried, And said,
I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me
out of the belly of hell, cried I. And thou heardest my voice,
for thou hast cast me into the deep, into the midst of the seas. And the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. He's talking
about experiencing God's wrath. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight. Yet, I will look again toward
thy holy temple. Thy waters compassed me about
even to the soul. The depth closed me round about.
The weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottoms
of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet, thou hast brought up my
life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came unto thee
and to thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I vowed."
Who's the only one to ever do that? I will pay that which I
vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, when Jonah said in verse
4, I am cast out of thy sight. Did the Lord see him? Yes, he did. David said things like this many
times where the Lord's mercies claimed God. Yes, the Lord saw
Jonah when he was in that whale's belly. You know, this thing of
being cast out of sight. If I would say to you, get out
of my sight, why would I say that? I would say, I'm so disgusted
by you. I'm so revolted by you. I'm so displeased with you. I
don't even want to see you cast out of sight. Do you know that
the Lord Jesus Christ was cast out of the sight of God? Truly, the most mysterious utterance
that ever ascended from earth to heaven was, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He was cast out of the sight
of his father. Why? Because my sin became his sin
so that he was a worm. That's what he said. I'm a worm and no man. My sin
became his sin to this extent that he who loved his father
perfectly, the father said concerning him, get him out of my sight.
Why? Because that's what I deserve.
That's exactly what I deserve to be cast out of the sight of
God. He was cast out of the sight
of God. But just as truly as my sin became
His sin, so that He was cast out of the sight of God, His
beauty, His perfection, His righteousness, His holiness, His unblameableness,
His unreprovable-ness. And isn't that a glorious description
of the Son of God? Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
on the very side of God. That becomes mine. So that in His sight, I am holy. and unblameable, and unreprovable. You see, because he was cast
out of God's sight, everybody he saves is brought into God's
sight, holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable. Now I'd like
to spend the last few moments thinking about the sight of the
Lord Jesus Christ when he walked upon this earth. First thing I thought of was
I thought of Peter cursing, swearing, saying, I know not the man. I don't know anything about him.
I don't put my stamp of approval on this man. I don't know him.
What all was going on through Peter's mind when he was doing
that? It's so wicked. You know what the scripture says? The Lord looked on him. While all that was going on,
the Lord looked on him. And Peter remembered the words
of the Lord at that time. And the scripture says he went
out and wept bitterly. One look from the Lord will melt
the hardest heart and bring that person to true repentance, bowing
the knee to Christ. Oh, that the Lord would just
look at me, look at me. I think of that woman who was
taken in adultery in the very act. There wasn't any question
regarding her guilt. And her accusers brought her
before the Lord and said, Moses said in the law that such should
be stoned. But what sayest thou? They thought they had him trapped.
Scripture says he stooped down, wrote in the sand. He got back
up and looked at them and said, he that's without sin among you. And I have no doubt he was talking
about this sin. He that's without sin among you,
throw the first stone. And then he stooped back down
again and the scripture says they all, one by one, being convicted
of their own consciences, not the Holy Spirit, their own consciences. If they were, if they would have
been convicted by the Holy Spirit, they would have come to Christ
just like this woman did. But they left and she was left
alone with the Lord. And we read these words. When Jesus had lifted himself
up and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, woman, where
are those thine accusers? Has no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. He said, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. The Lord is passing through Jericho
on his way to the cross. And one of his elect was there. Now that fellow didn't know it.
Zacchaeus. He sought to see Jesus, who he
was. That's a blessed thing when you want to know who he is. And
he could not because he's a little of stature, kind of like me and
you. We can't. We're too little of stature.
But he climbed up in a tree. to see when the Lord passed by. And we read, when Jesus came
to the place, he looked up and saw him. Lord, see me. See me. I'm little of stature. I can't
know you. I'm up in a tree. See me. When Jesus came to the
place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus,
make haste. Come down. You're way up too
high. Come down. For today I must abide
at thy house. Now there's only one reason the
Lord must do anything. He must do his father's will. That's one of his elect. He's
going to bring him to himself. At the pool of Bethesda, The
scripture says a certain man was there, which had an infirmity
38 years. And in all likelihood, this infirmity
was brought on by some sinful behavior, because after the Lord
had healed him, he said, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing
happened to you. You know, anything we have is
brought on by sinful behavior. We're men. But the scripture
says, The Lord saw him. And when he knew he'd been in
a long time in that case, he saith unto him, wilt thou be
made whole? Now listen to what he said. Imagine him saying this to you.
Are you willing to be made whole? He didn't ask him about anything
you need to do. He didn't say you need to do this to make up for
what you've done that's got you in that condition. No. He said,
are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing to be made whole? Yes, I am. Yes, I am. There was a poor widow, weeping,
having lost her only son, and the Scripture says, and when
the Lord saw her, oh, the sight of the Lord. When
the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said unto her, weep
not. And then He said to her dead
son, already in a coffin, young man, I say unto thee, Arise,
and he that was dead set up. I pray that takes place right
now. He says, I say to thee, somebody
dead in sins, I say unto thee, arise. And he that was dead set
up and began to speak. A woman is bowed under a spirit
of infirmity. She was bowed just like that. The Scripture says she could
in no wise rise up. She couldn't. The Scripture says when Jesus
saw her. Oh, there's salvation right there. You know, this woman
wasn't even looking for Christ. She couldn't. She was looking
straight down at her feet. You know, when she was bowed down like
that, all she could see was her feet. All she could see was her walk.
That was it. How she was bowed down. And the Lord came to her when
Jesus saw her. He called her unto him and said,
Woman, thou art loosed. Thou art set free from thine
infirmity. Do you remember what Hagar said
when Sarah drove her out? Let me tell you exactly what
she said. Thou God, seest me." Was Hagar a believer? I don't
know. I know what she represents is
works, and that's bad. But the individual, Hagar, kicked
out by Sarah, cast out the bondwoman and her son. Here she is crying,
and the Lord appears to her. And she says, Thou God seest
me. And let me tell you this. The
Lord seeth not as man seeth. And he sees things as they are.
There's no point in you pretending to be anything you're not with
him. He sees what you are. But he sees everybody. who has a need of Him seeing
them. You know the word Jehovah-Jireh,
the Lord shall provide? It can just as easily be translated,
the Lord will see to it. Thou, God, seest me. Off His eyes on me. Everything's
fine. Call on His name. He'll see you. Let's pray.