I've entitled the message for
tonight, the sight of God, the sight of God. Paul says in the 13th verse of
first Timothy chapter six, verse 13, I give the charge in the
sight of God. When someone is married, they
make vows in the sight of God. Paul had mentioned several times
of this charge to Timothy. Look in chapter one, in verse three, as I besought thee
to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou
mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying,
which is in faith. So do now the end or the purpose
of the commandment. And that's the same more translated
charge in verse three. The end of the charge is charity
out of a pure heart, the heart given in the new birth and the
charity that comes out of that, that only the believer has and
a good conscience. A conscience that has nothing
to feel guilty about. That's what a good conscience
is. And to faith unfeigned, you really
do look to Christ. In verse 18 of chapter one, this
charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies
which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good
warfare. Look in chapter five, verse seven. And these things give in charge
that they may be blameless. Verse 21 of the same chapter,
I charge thee before God. and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
once again, in God's sight, I charge thee before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ and the elect angels. I love that name for the unfallen
angels, the elect angels. The only reason they haven't
fallen is because they've been elected by God and chosen to
that. And then in chapter six, verse
13, I give thee charge in the sight of God. Now, how many times do we read
in the scriptures of the sight of the Lord or the sight of God? What he sees, we read of men
being wicked in the sight of the Lord and doing evil in the sight of
the Lord. We read of men being cast out
of the sight of the Lord, and being removed from the sight
of the Lord. In Luke chapter 16, verse 15,
the Lord said to some people, you are they which justify yourselves
before men, but God knoweth your heart, for that which is highly
esteemed among men. What's highly esteemed among
men? their righteousness. That which
comes into competition with Christ. I trust Christ and I trust Christ,
but that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination. That's strong language, isn't
it? It's an abomination in the sight
of God. Those were the words of our savior.
We also read of doing that which is right in the sight of the
Lord. And we read precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. You know it was said
of John the Baptist, a man, a man like me or you, he shall be great
in the sight of the Lord. Now the sight of the Lord. how he sees things or how things
really are. You know, this is a humbling
thought, but you and I don't see anything as it really is. We
really don't. We don't have the facts. We don't
know what's going on behind things. One of the many reasons why we
shouldn't set in judgment of one another is because we don't
have enough proper information to make a correct judgment. We
really don't. We don't see things as they are,
but he does. The sight of the Lord. He sees everything. Would you
turn to Hebrews chapter four? Verse 12, for the word of God. Whether it's written, the written
word that is living, or the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
you can't separate the two. For the word of God is quick,
alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. All things
are manifest in his sight. There's no hiding from his sight.
You know, we can hide ourselves from him and we can hide our
sin from him. We do hide our sin from him,
but we can't hide from him. The sight of the Lord. In 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse
6, I'd like you to look at this with me. 1st Samuel chapter 16.
I love this scripture. This is when David comes on the
scene. And you'll remember the story.
Samuel is looking at David's brothers. He has no idea that
David is going to be the one. David didn't even come to be
seen of Samuel. He was back tending the sheep.
And the firstborn, verse six, and it came to pass when they
were come that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed
is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel,
look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. I repeat, he sees things as they
really are. You in Genesis chapter six, verse
five, I quote this first scripture a lot. I intend to continue to
quote it a lot. And God saw, it's what God saw. Men didn't
see this. Men saw men doing good things. building buildings, having
a family, planning, doing all kinds of good stuff, bad stuff
too, but this is what God saw. And God saw that 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 saw. No man
could see that. But God sees things as they are. Turn to Job chapter 15. I'd like
you to look at this. Job, the 15th chapter. Verse 14. What is man that he
should be clean? And he which is born of woman,
that he should be righteous, behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. You know, let me say, the Lord
doesn't trust you. He trusted. His Son. He didn't
entrust your salvation to you. He didn't trust you to get the
job done. He trusted His Son. He's the one who first trusted
in Christ. Now, He trusts us in the sense
that now we're His. We're believers. We're His holy
ones. We're His saints. But He didn't
trust us with our salvation. He trusted it to His Son. Remember
that scripture, who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted? That's talking about God the
Father. Now, let's go on reading. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How
much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity
like water. Now there's some men, when God
looks at them, and this is a very scary thought, there's some men
that when God sees them, he sees them only in their sins. Jeremiah said, And this is a
rough prayer, but it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. He said regarding
his enemies, forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their
sins from thy sight. That's a horrible thing to think
about, isn't it? To be unforgiven and to have
your sins not blotted out in his sight. Oh, I once again cry
out when I think of this, Lord, let me be found in Christ. So
when you see me, All you see is your son. Is that your desire? That when he sees you, all he
sees is his son. You know, I was talking to a
man this week, came into the study, and he was so burdened,
so burdened. And I said to him, I said, well,
let me ask you this question. What would you say to God if
he said, why should I let you into heaven? And the man thought for a moment
and he said, because I've been obedient. And my response was really? Really? I felt so sorry for him
because what an awful burden to bear. I said, and then I said,
I said, I don't believe you. You've not been obedient. He
said, well, I tried to every morning. I said, how do you bear
that burden? Trying to every morning. I mean,
where's Christ come in in all this? Where's the blood of Christ? It was so sad. Now you would
say I've been obedient, but what would God say of your obedience? That's the only issue, isn't
it? What would God Now God sees in an eternal way, listen to
this scripture from Psalm 90, for a thousand years in thy sight
are but as yesterday when it's passed and a watch in the night. Did you know that the Lord has
never been surprised? He's never been shocked. He's
never been taken back. We see things in terms of a sequence
of events. We see things in terms of a blip
in the screen. But he sees everything at once. A thousand years are but as a
watch in the night. He sees things eternally. There's no past, present, or
future with him. He sees all. Isn't that wonderful
to know that? And then I, you know, I find
that thou God seest me. Now turn with me in Genesis chapter
seven. Now remember, we're talking about the side of God. Now I've already quoted Genesis
6, 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's
God's testimony. But look what he says about Noah,
verse seven or verse one. And the Lord said unto Noah,
come thou and all thy house into the ark for thee have I seen
righteous before me. Now, if God saw Noah as righteous,
there's only one reason. Because Noah was righteous. You see, God sees things, understand
this. God's vision of something is
how it really is. If God saw Noah as righteous,
there is only one reason. It's because Noah was himself
a righteous man. He was a preacher of righteousness,
the scripture says, and he was a righteous man. Now, how in
the world could God see him as righteous? And let me ask you
another question. How could God see you as righteous or me as
righteous? Because if God sees me as righteous,
I really am righteous, righteous before God. How? Well, let me
answer that question by asking you another question. How did
God see his son when he was hanging on the cross? I want you to think about that.
When God looked at him, the thrice holy God, how did God see his
son? What did God see when he saw
his son hanging on a cross? We'll turn with me to second
Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter five. Verse 21, for he hath made him,
and I want you to notice that to be is in italics. It was supplied
there by the translators, supposedly to make it, make more sense or
easily understandable, but you can pull it out. For he hath
made him sin. When God looked at his son nailed
to the cross, you know what he saw? He saw S-I-N, sin. That's what he saw. He hath made
him sin. All that sin is, Christ was made
to be, and that's how God saw him. God didn't see him as, well,
I know you're not really guilty and these sins belong to somebody
else. No, he saw him as the accursed thing. He was made a curse for
us. He saw him as sin. But what happens
as a result of that? You go on reading into that verse.
For he hath made him sin, who knew no sin. He never sinned
in his person. And what's the result of that? That we, Every
believer might be made the righteousness of God in him. And you know what comes after
that? A period. A period. This is just the truth. He saw him as sin and now he
can say of Noah and a whole lot of other people. The have I seen
as righteous before me. You see, my sin actually became
his sin and he put it away and his glorious, pristine righteousness,
the righteousness of God becomes mine. And let's look at some
other scriptures that speak of the side of God. Turn to the
Romans three. Don't forget, how God sees something
is how it really is. Isn't that wonderful? You and I, we don't see things
as they really are, but he does. He sees things as they really
are. Now look in Romans chapter three, verse 19. Now, we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. But by the law is the knowledge
of sin. And by the deeds of the law,
and you take any deed you want, I don't care what it is, by the
deeds of the law, anything that's dependent upon or contingent
upon you, by the deeds of the law, anything you do, That's
what law is, anything you do. Now just the Ten Commandments,
it's salvation dependent upon or contingent upon anything that
you do. That is law. By the deeds of
the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law's ever
gonna do for you. It's gonna show you your sin.
I love what Paul said. Tell me you the desire to be
under the law. Don't you hear it? Don't you hear what all does
is condemn you? Well, does that mean we have
no hope? No, doesn't mean that at all. Let's go on reading verse 21.
But now the righteousness of God without the law, without
my personal obedience to the law, without any works of mine
is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
It's what the Old Testament scriptures have always taught, even righteousness
of God. Same thing Paul was talking about
there in 2 Corinthians 5.21, which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is
no difference. Turn to Colossians chapter one, verse 20. And having made peace through the blood of His cross, my peace has already been made,
and He made it. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself,
by Him I say, whether they be things at earth or things in
heaven and you that were before time, sometime 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 in his sight. Did you catch that? in his sight. Now, if God says
I'm holy in his sight, and that word holy, that's the same word
used by the seraphims. In the year that Kenyus I died,
I saw also the Lord high and lifted up, sitting upon a throne
in his train filled the temple. Above it stood two seraphims,
each one had Six wings, with twain they covered their face,
ashamed to look at God. With twain they covered their
feet, ashamed of their own walk. I'm talking about seraphims.
This is how people feel in God's presence. You know, people that
don't feel that way, it's because they don't know anything about
His presence. And with two they did fly, ready to obey His will,
crying, holy, holy, holy. is the Lord God of hosts, the
whole earth is full of His glory. God's holiness, His absolute
hatred of sin and love of His own nature of holiness. That is used to describe every
believer. Holiness. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, tenderness,
humbleness of mind. Holy. That's the description
of every believer. And next he says, unblameable. Jude translates this same word,
false. And in Revelation 14 5, the same
word is translated without fault. Now, if you look at me, you can
find plenty of faults. One of my favorite stories about
myself is, uh, I've told you this before, so you'll have to
listen to it again. Lynn and I were doing something
you ought not ever do, talking about somebody. You just ought
not do that. Don't do it anymore if you do
it. And she said, what do people say about us? And I said, well,
what would they say? And she said, are you really
that blind? I guess I was. But that being said, if you want
to look for faults in me, you can find plenty of them. And
if I want to look for faults in you, I can, I can sniff them
out. But how does God see his people?
Faultless. No faults. And how God sees is
how it really is. You see, all my fault and sin
became Christ and he put it away. It's gone. It's separated from
me. And I stand before God faultless. And if God says I'm that way,
I'm that way. And the next word he uses in
verse 22 is unreprovable, literally unaccusable, nothing to accuse
them of. I love Paul's challenge. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who is he that can condemn? Come
on, Paul says. He uses a challenge. Come on. Who can condemn? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. Now, how can all this be? I mean,
how can, how can me? I'm full of faults, plenty of
things you can accuse me of, certainly a filthy heart, all
those things, and yet God can say He's without fault, He's
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in my sight? How can that be? Well, the Lord said in Matthew
11, 25, He said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, Because you have hid these things. What things? What we're talking about right
now. How a believer can be holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in God's sight. You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now, if it seems good
in his sight, what other reason do we need? That is the Word
of God. Oh, I love His sight. No other reason is needed. Now, if God sees you that way,
I want to see you that way. And if God doesn't see you that
way, I do not want to tell you He does. Now, God's sight is
all that's important. So I want to close with a few
scriptures with regard to God's sight. Seeing that God's side
is all that's important, what he sees, what he sees. It doesn't
really matter what men see. What does he see? You know, when
we talk about the ministry of the New Testament, you know,
the Lord's given us a ministry. We're able ministers of the New
Testament. You know, I hate when preachers talk about my ministry.
That's one thing. No, it's not my ministry. It's,
it's the ministry of the church. It's able ministers of the New
Testament. But what, how do we conduct this ministry of preaching
the gospel? Well, turn to second Corinthians
chapter two. 2 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse
14, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in
Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us
in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other
the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we're not as many which corrupt the Word of God,
deal deceitfully with the Word of God. But as of sincerity,
but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Now who is the one person we
want to love? What is being said? Now I want
you to Love what's being said. It's always a blessing to me
when people express that. That was a blessing to me. And
I wouldn't dare say I'm indifferent about what you think, but I'll
tell you who I'm really concerned with. I want him to be pleased
with what I say. I don't want to misrepresent
the Lord. So we conduct this ministry in his sight. Look in chapter four. Therefore,
seeing we, verse one, we, Every believer have this ministry,
the ministry of the New Testament. As we've received mercy, we thank
not, but we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. In the sight of God. Turn to James chapter four. And
this is such a necessary instruction. Verse six, but he giveth more
grace. Well, that's a thrilling thing,
isn't it? He giveth more grace. I need
more grace. I need continual grace. And thank the Lord he giveth
more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble, the lowly. Submit
yourselves therefore unto God, Resist the devil and he'll flee
from you. Draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse
your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. May God give me the grace to
do that even now, to humble myself in his sight. 1 Peter 3, I want
us to see the value of this. Verse 1, likewise you wives,
be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not
the word, they may also without the word be won by the conversation
of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation, coupled
with fear, whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair and wearing of gold and putting on apparel,
but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit. What's it say next? Which is
in the sight of God of great price. This is something God
puts high value upon. A meek spirit. Whatever God sends
my way is right. Whatever it is, it's right. It comes from humility before
the Lord and a quiet spirit that's in the sight of God of Great
price. And one other scripture, Hebrews
13. And this is so encouraging. Verse 20. And this is a promise. Now the
God of peace I love that name of his. I've been thinking of the peace
of God. I love the way the Lord said,
my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. The world's got a peace and you
can feel content. You can feel satisfied. The world's
got a peace, no doubt, but it's very fragile. And it can be duplicated
by so many different things. You can have the same piece with
a pill, or with alcohol, or with some good thing happen to you,
or some good circumstance happen to you. That kind of peace is
so fragile, it can be taken away so quickly. And the Lord says,
I'm not giving you that kind of peace. My peace I give unto
you. You think of how much peace the
Lord has. I love to think about that. You know, he never worries.
He's never stressed. He's in absolute control. The
God of peace. God's at peace. God's not worried.
God's not in a hurry. God's at peace. The peace of
knowing he's in absolute control of everything and everyone. And
there's nothing that happens outside of his will. Now, that's
peaceful, isn't it? The God of peace. that brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight. I'm taking that promise. Lord, you said you work in me
that which is well-pleasing in your sight. I love promises in
the scripture like that. We got it in the Word. Through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. What an encouraging promise. He works in us to do that which
is well-pleasing in his sight. And Lord, I'm asking you to do
that to me. Now, may we live in his sight. May we, by faith,
see who we are in his sight. And may we see who his children
are in his sight. Don't you love the sight of the
Lord? Remember, the Lord sees not as
man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance. The Lord looketh on the heart. Let's pray.