FIVE LOOKS FOR THE BELIEVER
Isa. 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 understand that this verse is the one that the Holy Spirit used to arrest Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon answered the invitation by going to the Lord in prayer and trusting Him alone for salvation. I will not go into detail concerning Spurgeon’s search for the Lord. But he was driven into a little Methodist chapel by a snow storm. He took a seat and a deacon got up to bring the message. The pastor didn’t even make it to church that night. The deacon used this text to preach from. He pointed at Spurgeon and quoted this scripture as he pointed to Spurgeon. Spurgeon was mortally wounded, and looked to the Lord, and was saved just as the verse promises. So our first point is,
THE OUTWARD LOOK OF SALVATION
This text is not just for those to whom Isaiah writes. It is for us as well. It is a look to see the invisible. To do this we must realize that the invisible God is where we are. We just can’t see Him. It is a God honoring look of faith. This is necessary in the process of becoming God’s child. Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
God continues to call people to salvation. Some early Christians began to sow seeds of doubt about the Lord’s return. Peter answered these doubters in 2 Peter 3:9, "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." It is amazing how long God has waited for the prodigal to come home. God does truly love the world (John 3:16). The only reason for the seeming delay is that God is not willing that any should perish. Next,
THE OUTWARD LOOK OF SERVICE
Jesus won a sinful woman as He waited by Jacob’s well. John 4:28 29, "The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" The men of the city had to come and see for themselves. As the men came out to see Jesus for themselves, Jesus spoke to His disciples in 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 to harvest."
The major task of the Church is to see the unsaved of this world as a harvest field. Then to take it a step further, we are to see that the harvest is ripe now.
The world is desperately in need of Jesus. The hunger is there but man goes about trying to find satisfaction in the things of this world.
Our hearts are empty apart from Christ. There is a God sized place in every man, and Jesus is the only One who can fill that place.
Our service is to take the gospel to every man. We labor on a field totally corrupted by Satan. The people of this world do not have a clue. We are the only ones who have the solution to man’s need. If we don’t go, God does not have another plan. We need to lift up our eyes and see that the fields are white unto harvest. Next we see,
THE UPWARD LOOK OF FAITH
God is up. David said in Psalms 5:3, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." David knew God was up and that he needed to look up to Him for help. David needed a lot of help. He learned that it is futile to look to man for help. So in this verse he tells us to look up.
God is glorified when one of His children looks to Him for help. John 14:13, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
When we need the Lord, we must look upward. That is where the Bible teaches us to look. The fact is that God is all around us. David said in Psalms 139:7 11,
