FOUR LOOKS THAT EXPOSES MAN TO GOD
Isa. 45:22
Morning Meditation 11/25/2012
"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
The first look that we will take is:
THE LOOK OF SALVATION
This is an invitation of God to salvation. Far too many people have a theologically
incorrect view of God. It is in their mind that God is anxiously awaiting the day of
Judgment so that He can cast the rebels into hell. Note carefully:
John 1:18 says, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". There is no doubt that the man whose son was healed on this occasion rejoiced with great joy when they saw that it was not just a promise that was broken. The promise was made and was fulfilled and not broken.
The look of salvation is a great test of ones faith that was invited by God. God said, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." While this is an Old Testament invitation, it is a grace invitation because this invitation includes all mankind.
This is the text that brought the Great Charles Haddon Spurgeon to a saving knowledge of Christ. Spurgeon stepped into a little Methodist Chapel because he was in a snow storm outside and he heard the singing of hymns within. He came in that service on the invitation that those songs extended to Him. Then an old Deacon stepped into the Pulpit because of the absence of the pastor. And that day an old Deacon preached the message from this verse. It could not be possible for a man to have such power. So when the old Deacon reached down into the depths of his soul and announced with a pointed finger to Spurgeon and shouted out and said, "Young man you need to turn to Jesus and allow Him to take away your sins and save your soul! This the young Spurgeon did, and his life was fully changed for the rest of his days on earth. And in his day probably preached the gospel to more people from the days of Paul until then. I Still stand in amazement that so many came to Christ under the ministry of this fearless man of God. His ministry still lives on through the reduplication of his sermons in print.
Spurgeon never had a formal ministerial education. Spurgeon never submitted unto ordination. He said if in his study of the Scriptures that he discovered that ordination added to one's ability to win more lost souls to Christ, he would gladly submit. Spurgeon said most of the time ordination was where empty hands were placed on empty heads and it adds nothing to the power of God upon the man. I don't agree with that but I praise God for Spurgeon. It would be like an ant taking on an elephant for me to challenge Spurgeon.
THE MISSIONARY LOOK
John 4:35, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already unto harvest."
This is Jesus' look at a fallen woman who was in desperate need of salvation. He also knew that town was full of people who knew not Christ or the saving gospel. So Jesus ministered to gospel to the Samaritan woman. The Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans. They took the long way when they went to Jerusalem through Samaria. They did everything to avoid meeting a Samaritan and being forced to speak to him.
So when Jesus won the Samaritan woman to faith in Christ, she went back into the village and brought a big bunch of men out to hear this man who had told her all that she had ever done. She told the men that no one but God could know what He did, and say what He said, if He had not been divine. While the woman was gathering a crowd, the disciples returned to Jacob's well with food. When the disciples brought the bread, Jesus refused it saying, "I have meet to eat that ye know not of." Jesus looked up at the group of men who were coming at the invitation of the woman. The disciples said that the harvest time has not yet arrived. Jesus said in substance, while you are talking, look! The fields are coming to you. These who come are ready. Don't say the fields are not ready. That is completely missing the mark. When the fields are ready for the harvest, almost any person could look and tell from a mere observation that harvest time had arrived.
When you look at the fields of the world in which you live, what does your observation tell you? The same that Jesus' conscience told Him. They are white unto harvest.
THE INWARD LOOK OF ENQUIRY
James 1:25-27, "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
Jesus is comparing the Word of God to a mirror. The word of God helps you to see the perfect law of liberty. After he took one look at that perfect law of liberty, he was able to come back to God's perfect law of liberty and see what it said about the one's standing before it. It is hard to deny one's self as we take a look. We look at the mirror. We may look at it and say, "What is wrong with you?" I am afraid you are lying. Then he backs up a little and says, I'm afraid that there are those standing before the mirror who are not being honest with themselves. There is no denying what the mirror says. There is also a reflection of what he does, lie, cheat, steal, and what he is. It is not just fowl speech but it is also the loss of temper and many other things. None of us come out very good, when we see the dirt that God sees. He sees it all. Romans 2:15-16, "Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." So Jesus will judge the secrets of the heart by Jesus Christ. There is coming a day when men will be completely unable to cover their sins. They will not be able to say, "Well, I'm as good as anyone else." But Jesus will say I have told you all along that you will not be measured in the judgment for being as good as someone else. No one will be measured by someone else's standard of living.
Then comes the shock of all shocks. The person you had the most respect for, he gave more to charity, more to good causes than any other that you have known. There is no way that he will be condemned. Yet, Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-29, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
So the truth finally strikes home. Man is not to be judged by man's standard. He will be judged according to God's standard. When this is the case we come back to God's book that He has, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." One can compare his life to the law, and it will shut his mouth; Rom. 3:19-20. One can be judged by a comparison to the perfect life of Jesus and he will come out a bankrupt sinner. You say, "No one can be saved if that is true." Oh yes, man can be received by God on one standard. It will be the standard that Jesus lived out when He was on earth. He has righteousness that is perfect and he got it as a free gift. It is given to him by faith.
This is a righteousness that comes by faith. Romans 5:17, "For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ)"
Man's nature to sin is bound up in his birth not his life. We are sinners not because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" There are those who think that God sends men to hell because they do wrong. That is not true. Man sins because it is his nature to do it. Man enjoys committing sin because it is in his very nature to commit sin. Man stands before God with a record of every sin that he has committed in thought or deed. He cannot deny he did it, he did it because he wanted to do it. Revelation 20:12-15, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
So, when man makes an honest look (if that is possible) at himself from the inside, he will have to admit that he is as grievously sinful as he is accused and will have to pay for his sin by being cast into the lake of fire for ever and ever.
The next look is:
THE ONWARD LOOK OF SELF CONDEMNATION
Finally man must come to the final look where he stands not only as a sinner at the bar of God's judgment. It must be a judgment where the sinner agrees with God.
By "the onward look," I refer to man's admission of guilt. Here is where God looks and as the Judge of the Universe, accuses the guilty one. Self condemnation is the admission of guilt. This is recorded in Philippians 2:9-11, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." God very plainly says, "every knee shall bow," and "every tongue shall confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord." Every sinner will do, in the final judgment what, if he had done while alive on earth before death, would have saved him from eternal hell. Every man will acknowledge the truth before he receives the righteous judgment of God, and is cast into the lake of fire where the fire is black as sack clothe of hair, and he will be smothered in the lake of liquid fire, and he will be forever falling, and forever breathing the liquid flame, never being able to reach an island in the lake of fire to steady himself as he forever sinks in that awful and eternal doom, never to meet a friend because there will be no friends there. Friendships of earth will be turned into enemies who constantly accuse one another for being there. Does this sound bad? It is much worse than this. There is not enough paper nor enough ink to tell the true story of the eternal flame. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts and help us reach the lost and dying and bring them to Jesus the only one who can save them.
In Christ
Bro. White
