Sermon
# 136 Series: Isaiah
Title: The Life Look
Text: Isaiah 45:22
Subject: What Does It Mean to Look to
Christ
Date: Sunday Evening – November 1, 1992
Introduction:
I want to pick up tonight right where I left off this morning. I know that some of you are yet under the wrath of God. It may be that many of you who have long been religious have never yet been converted. I want, by the Spirit of God, to press you into the kingdom. I want to persuade you to close with Christ.
My
text is Isaiah 45:22- “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
I want to set forth in clear terms what it is to savingly look to
Christ. I want to show you, in
unmistakable terms what it means to savingly look to Christ. I want to talk to you tonight about The Life Look!
You know and I know that natural men have been, for many, many centuries, looking everywhere for salvation but to Christ. I am not being bigoted, prejudiced, or radical when I say that. You know that it is true.
The Rich Young Ruler- “All these things have I kept!”
The Pharisees- “God I thank thee that I am not as…”
Romans 10:1-3- “Brethren, my prayer and hear’s desire for
Israel is that they might be saved- For they being ignorant of God’s
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness.
Illus: Dialogue Preaching
The word of God clearly declares that “Salvation is of the Lord!” “It is 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 through Jesus Christ our Lord!” “The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord!”
God
speaks plainly and so must his servants.
“They have no knowledge” that set up gods of their own imaginations,
that pray to a god who cannot save!
God says, “There is no God beside me, a just God and a Savior, there is
none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else!”
Salvation
is God’s work and this salvation is in his Son Jesus Christ. God has determined to save some of Adam’s
fallen race, but only through the Person and work of his beloved Son!
Anyone
who would know God, anyone who would be saved must look to Christ.
I
really do not know anything to say to my generation other than what Christ and
the Apostles said in their day- “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive
me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43). “Search the scriptures: for in them ye think
ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that ye might
have life” (John 5:39-40).
Yet,
for the glory of God and the good of those who have ears to hear and eyes to
see, I say one more time- “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth; for I am God and there is none else.”
Proposition: Salvation is obtained by looking to Christ- “There’s
life for a look at the crucified One!”- I want to answer four questions.
I. What does it mean to Look to
God in Christ?
Actually, I do not need to answer that question. The Lord Jesus has answered it for us- (John 3:14-16).
A. To look to Christ is to Admit His Reality- (Heb. 11:6).
Christ is not a myth, a religious symbol, or idea. He is the Lord from heaven- (John 1:14,
18). He is God manifest in the flesh!
B. To look to Christ is to Acknowledge that Salvation Can Come From and Through Him
Alone- (Acts
4:12; I John 5:11-12).
C. To look to Christ is to address myself to Him, to call upon him as a sinner in need of mercy (Rom.
10:9-13). “He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life!” Read
through the Scriptures and note the experience of those who found mercy. They came to Him. The called upon Him. They
were blessed of Him!
D. To look to Christ is to Abide in Him (I John 2:28).
To
abide in him is to continue looking to him all the days of my life.
(Hebrews 3: 6, 14; 10: 38; II Peter 2: 20, 21).
II. For What Part of Salvation Are
We To Look To Christ?
Be sure you understand this- we must look to Christ for everything, from beginning to end. “Christ is All!” (I Cor. 1: 30).
The
puritan, John Flavel made these five observations. They are worth remembering.
Now,
when the word of God is made effectual to our hearts, so that we look to
Christ, we look to him for everything!
III. What Encouragement Do We Have
To Look To Christ?
Maybe
you are thinking, “Don, all that you have said is well and good; but I’m a
guilty sinner, a man of flesh, a guilty sinner, deserving of God’s wrath. “Your soul cries,
“Depth of mercy, can there be,
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me the chief of sinners
spare?”
“And can it be that I should
gain
An interest in the Savior’s
blood?
Died He for me, who caused His
pain,
For me’ who Him to death
pursued!”
On what authority dares a sinner, fully deserving of God’s wrath, look to Christ?
A. On the Authority of His
Word! (Isa. 45:22).
“Come now, let us reason together”-
(Isa. 1:18).
“Come unto me, all ye that”- (Matt.
11:28).
“If any man thirst”- (John 7:37-38).
B. On the Authority of His Promises!
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast out”- (John 6:37).
C. On the Authority of His
Mission as the Christ of God!
“The Son of Man is come to seek and to save” (Lk. 19: 10).
“Call his name, Jesus”- (Matt. 1:21).
“To save sinners of whom I am chief” (I
Tim. 1:15).
D. On the Authority of His
Character!”
“A just God and a Savior!”
“God is love!”
“He delighteth in mercy!”
E. On the Authority of His
Record.
To through the word, Never once was there a sinner who looked to Christ and was not saved!
IV. When Is The Best Time To Look
To Christ?
There
is only one answer to that question- Now! “Behold, today is the day of salvation; Now is the
accepted time!”
“It is appointed unto men once to die!”
“The time is short!”
God speaks to you now.
Will you hear him? He may never
speak to you again!
Application: Proverbs 1:23-24