Looking Unto Jesus sermon
You know, if a man could just keep his eyes on Jesus all the time, he’d have it made. But the trouble is, these eyes are made to see things that are material, and they’re not made to see things that are spiritual. Now, looking out across this building today, I don’t see anything spiritual. I feel; I sense something. But I can’t see it. I mean, there’s the building; I see that; that isn’t spiritual. I see the light bulbs; that isn’t spiritual. There’s the board; that isn’t spiritual. I see your bodies; I see your clothes; that isn’t spiritual. Your eyes are made to see things that are physical. And this passage says, “Looking unto Jesus.” Well, where are you going to look for Him? I mean, if I look around there, He’s not there. If I look behind me, He’s not there. I look inside, I can’t see through my body. The Bible says my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, but I couldn’t see the Holy Ghost if I could see through my body. And so I’ve got a problem. And if you ever solve that problem, 95 percent of your problems are solved.
Looking unto Jesus. Now, the first thing I want to say about the text is, that He’s yours to look at. I mean, some people don’t have him. But if you’re saved, if you’re God’s child, then, He’s yours to look at. He’s mine to look at. He’s mine to behold. He’s mine to dwell with. He said the Holy Spirit will dwell with you, and my Father and I shall come into that man and abide with him. He’s mine to dwell with; He’s mine to behold. He’s mine to bear my burdens. He’s mine to conquer my enemies. He’s mine to share my load and carry it for me.
One time a man went to a hospital in London and got to dealing with different people, and as he was dealing with different people, he came up to one fellow there, and he said, “Can I help you any?” And the man didn’t answer. And every day that young preacher went through that hospital he stopped by that bed and he said, “Can I help you any?” And the fellow never did answer. And about the fifth day he went through there and went by the same bed and said to this young fellow who was dying, “Can I help you any?” And the young fellow said, “Well, I’ve been very rude to you, preacher.” He said, “Maybe you can, I don’t know.” But he said, “Would you please me something?” He said, “Can you undo my sins?” He said, “They’re a burden to me.” And, of course, there isn’t a preacher in the world who can undo your sins. But He can. Looking unto Jesus. He can, see? He can carry them. He can tote the load.
He’s yours for a burden bearer. He’s yours to dwell with. He’s yours to love. He’s yours to share things with. He’s yours to prepare a place for you in heaven. He’s yours in life. He’s yours in death. He’s yours in the grave. He’s yours at the judgment. He’s yours at the marriage of the Lamb. He said, “Unto him that is able to present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy.” Uh, you can look unto Him. See? He’s yours. He’s gonna get you through. He’s gonna get you through clean, spotless, perfect, sinless. My, what a job! What a task! But He’s gonna do it!
One time a lady back east hung a bunch of clothes out on the line on winter afternoon. She was talking to a visitor, and they were remarking how white and clean the clothes look. And about that time a snow flurry came up and turned into a mild blizzard, and the snow began to fall, and she said, “Well, my clothes don’t look as white as they did.” And the visitor said, “Well, they’re just as white as they were. They just don’t look quite as white alongside God’s white.” See? When God’s white comes down, the rest looks real dirty.
And when you look at Jesus, see, you see the real thing. You see the real whiteness. You won’t see it looking in a mirror. You see it looking unto Jesus. Keep looking unto Jesus.
All right, look unto Jesus. Look unto Jesus–how? Looking unto Jesus crucified, buried, risen, coming again. And LOOK to Him. As long as you can look to Him, look on Him, you’re safe. Simon Peter was out there walking on the water, and he goes along that water, and pretty soon the winds begin to blow, and the waves begin to come up, and he says, “I’m sinking.” He said, “Lord, save me.” And Jesus hauls him out and says, “Wherefore didst thou doubt, O ye of little faith?” He was all right as long as looked to Jesus, and when he quit looking at Jesus, then he had problems.
All right, we’re to look at Jesus, and we’re to look at nothing else. Looking unto Jesus–not Satan. Looking unto Jesus. You shouldn’t be ignorant of the devil’s devices. You ought to know what he’s up to, but don’t look at him too long. He’ll hypnotize you. Looking unto Jesus–not the devil. Not your obstacles. Not your defeats. Not the sorrows. Not the troubles. Looking unto Jesus. Don’t look at the troubles. You’ll quit. Don’t look at the obstacles. You’ll give up.
Young people–especially young men–they–uh–something about them, this generation, I guess I was a bigger puzzle to my mother and father. But they come along and they amaze me how soon they quit a thing. It’s just amazing to me how they start a thing and then just drop it, you know. Just go along–QUIT. You turn around–where was it, man? I don’t know what in the world happened to the thing– just–PPPFFT!–and go on!! I don’t know what in the world happens to folks like that. Uh, yes I do. They quit looking to Jesus. They get looking at the wind, see? They get looking at the waves. They look at the troubles, and they quit.
Why, a fellow said to a soldier over in Heartbreak Ridge in Korea, he said, “Young fellow,” he said, “wouldn’t you like to be a Christian?” And the fellow turned and said, “Who are you?” And he said, “Well,” he said, “I’m a newspaper man who came over here, but,” he said, “I’m a saved man.” He said, “I’ve been talking to some of these boys up here on the front in these holes.” And he said, “Well, what do you think the trouble with this war is? If you don’t want to be a Christian, talk to me and tell me something I can give the paper.”
And the young kid said, “Well, I’ll tell you what the trouble with this world is. And I’ll tell you want the trouble over here is.” He said, “Your God has let us down.” The fellow wouldn’t get saved, you know, he wouldn’t trust God, but he told the Christian, “You’re God let us down.” He was looking at the obstacles, see, looking at the troubles.
Why, I know a Christian family one time, they’re godly people, they love the Lord, just about as fine a couple people as you ever saw, they fell in love with each other, they got married, they didn’t have any children for five years, and they prayed all the time for God to give him a child, and they finally got one. And it was a baby with Down’s syndrome, you know, what they used to call Mongoloids. You know what they had to do? They had to look to Jesus, see? You can’t look at your troubles. You can’t look at your problems. You’ll quit. You’ll just give up. You’ll give up.
Looking unto Jesus, not your problems. Not your defeats. Not your troubles. None of those things. You can’t let them get you down. Not looking at Satan. Not looking at those problems. You know, God doesn’t always interfere and stop the wicked. God doesn’t always interfere and stop the devil. Sometimes it seems like He just lets the devil just run away with the whole cotton-picking thing. And you can’t look at it too close.
There was a godless ol’ captain back along there about, oh, 1600, 1700, called Hawkins. An English captain, and was of Bloody Mary’s kin. And he used to take a ship down around the African coast, and he’d steal the Africans, you know, and sell ’em for slaves. And he’d steal ’em and put ’em in chains on his ship. When he put them in chains on his ship, they all sat there on the deck chained together, and they saw the name of the ship on the bow, and written several places inside the ship. And he christened that ship “The Jesus.” “The Jesus.” You know. So every black fellow who was sold into slavery would come over there thinking about Jesus carrying him off as a captive and carrying him off in chains to sell him. Wasn’t he a fine fellow?
And, you know, that fellow didn’t die until he was about 85 years old, and God never sank that ship, and it never had a wreck, and never got caught. And, you know, if you just look at the obstacles, you’ll just quit. The power of the devil is too great.
You look to Jesus, not your troubles. You look to Jesus. A fellow one time had one thirteen operations and thirty-nine blood transfusions. And a preacher talked with him at the hospital, and said, “What do you think about these things? You’re a saved man, what do you think about them?” And the fellow said, “Well, preacher, I don’t know what to think about them.” He said, “I know the end of this thing is going to be death.” He said, “I know in the end I’m gonna die.” But he said, “I just pray death will come right along, but it doesn’t seem to come.” And, you know, when you get in a thing like that, you know what you have to do? You have to look to Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus…there’s no other place to look! See? Your flat on your back. You’ve got to look up. And my text says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” All right, you can’t look at the world. He says, “Looking unto Jesus, not to the world.” Looking unto Jesus, not to your brethren, not at other Christians. Don’t look at the world too long. I don’t take any newspapers or magazines any more at the house. I’m getting to the place where if a newspaper or magazine comes to the house, I have to smuggle it out of the place and burn it. If that stuff goes into the trash, any more there’s people in my neighborhood who come by and look through your trash, pass the information on, sometimes throwing something away isn’t enough, because it could still do damage. Maybe you should burn it. You can’t look at the world too long. I have a radio in my car, but don’t have one in my house. I have a TV set, but I’m finding less and less time or inclination to turn it on. I don’t take a great deal of time any more to try and find out what’s going on in the world. KNX NewsRadio used to be my favorite radio station. Then, back around Christmas, my radio went dead in my car, and I didn’t bother to fix it. I found out I didn’t miss it! Things in the world are just too stinkin’ bad! You know, if you just get that ol’ world in you and in your eye all day long, you’ll quit too! Cause it’s a mess.
And looking unto Jesus, not at the brethren. And that’s hard to do. That’s hard to do. You know, I see you all the time. And you see me all the time, and we see US all the time! And those eyes just keep– you know–looking and staring, and folks just get looking at each other and criticize each other and analyze each other, and figuring each other out. Why, you know, the dumbest person in the world is just like a psychologist, you know that? You know some people are proud of their education, of their degrees. Some men DIE by degrees! I’ve met ol’ folks up in the farm country, you know, never finished high school. They got a mind just like a razor, boy. Eye just like a gimlet, just figure you out in five seconds. You know what people do? They just sit around and analyze folks and criticize folks and weigh folks up and match folks out and compare folks to folks. You know what they do while they’re doing all that? They’re not witnessing, they’re not passing out tracts, they’re not winning souls, they’re not praying, they’re not bearing fruit, they’re not doing anything but looking at each other. That Bible says, “They measuring themselves among themselves, and comparing themselves by themselves are not wise” (II Corinthians 10:12). You know what they ought to do? They ought to look unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That’s it. You have to keep your eyes on Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, and, listen to me. Not only looking unto Jesus, but looking unto Jesus and not to the dearest loved one that you have. God’s people, they say, “Well, it’s wrong to look at everybody and criticize them, but what’s wrong with loving your mother? What’s wrong with loving your wife? What’s wrong with loving your children?” Well, I’ll tell you what’s wrong, if they get your eyes off Jesus, the dearest person in this world can be a stumbling block to you.
Looking unto Jesus–not the dearest and closest to you. It says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The dearest person in this world, the dearest thing in this world, if they get your eyes off Jesus, will cause you trouble. They say many years ago, over in Germany–and this is just a story they tell–they say there was a shepherd out on the hillside. And he found a beautiful white flower that he had never seen before. And he bent over and picked up that flower. And when he picked up that flower, a hole opened on the side of the cliff, and that shepherd kid looked in there, and there were diamonds, and rubies, and jasper and gold and statues and vases and jugs and pottery and tapestries and silver and gold and God knows what. And that shepherd boy RAN in there, just elated. And he heard a voice say, “Take anything you want. Help yourself. But don’t forget to take the best.” And, man, that kid dropped that flower and began to pick up that stuff and crammed his pockets full of that stuff, and he went through there and got loaded down with so much junk he could hardly walk out of there. And, as he walked through the hole, the voice said, “Don’t forget to take the best.” And the kid went back and looked around there to make sure he had the most valuable thing in the place, and walked back out to the hillside. And, as the story goes, when he stepped out that old cave closed up behind him, and everything in his pocket, his jacket, and his haversack just turned to ashes. And the voice said, “You forgot the best!” And then he thought, well, “I’d better go back and get it.” And when he went around but couldn’t get back in the place. And then he began to look for the flower. And then he remembered he dropped the thing, you know, inside the cave, and it was back there in the cave. And he never did get in again. You see, he forgot the thing that opened the thing up.
And Christian people, I’ll tell you, there was a time when some of you were poor, but you’re not poor any more. Some of you were in bad health, and you’re in good health today. And there was a time when some of you were nothing but tramps and bums on the face of this earth, and now you’re somebody. And, listen, there was a time when you had no treasure in heaven, your heart was down here, and God has saved you, and you’ve got a lot of good things, see, but DON’T FORGET THE BEST! I mean don’t forget the One who gave it to you, that’s Jesus. If you hadn’t run into Him you wouldn’t have anything.
So, He says, “Look unto Jesus,” see? That’s the best. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Don’t look at your beloved. Don’t look at the brethren. Don’t look at some cause. I don’t care if it’s the greatest, most precious cause in this world– it isn’t the best. You know, you and I live in a day and age when work is a substitute for loving Jesus Christ–you know that? You get to going doing something for him, and all the accent is on what you’re doing for him instead of you and Him. And the best is Him. The best is Jesus.
The text says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Don’t look to some cause. Don’t look to yourself. If you want the blessing, we shouldn’t look to ourselves, people. Don’t look at yourself. You’re weak, you’re stumbling. Don’t look at your successes. Don’t look at your failures. Don’t look at your weaknesses. Looking unto Jesus. Don’t look at your doubts. Don’t look at your personality. Don’t look at your gifts. Why, you can’t get the victory that way. I know some Christians spend all the time looking at the gifts God gave them. Why, you look at the gifts God gave you, and what if you lose them? You’d think God took them away from you. But then you say, “Well, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance,” so I still got ’em. Then you get proud of them. You say, well, “So and so can’t speak in tongues. But I did!” You get your eye on the gift.
Looking unto Jesus. You don’t look at your doubts. You don’t look at your faith. Why, I don’t even try to analyze my faith in Jesus Christ. I’ve known people in the last five years that got so busy analyzing how they felt about Christ, and whether or not they exercised the right kind of faith, and whether or not they did the right thing, they just about went stark raving mad thinking about it. You don’t look unto your mind, you don’t look unto your feelings, you don’t look unto your heart, it’s looking unto Jesus.
Don’t look at your victories. Don’t look at your defeats. You know, a person who looks at their victories all the time, they’re going to get a false view of things. Nobody wins every time. I think some young people think you’ve got to win every time, you know, or you’re a failure. Well, man, you’re not anything till you’ve flopped three or four times in a good faith way. I’m not recommending that you drop out or anything, you know, but I mean you’ll learn some things by messing up you can’t learn any other way. And you’ll never learn to outdo anything unless you make some mistakes. Uh, you take ol’ Adolph Hitler. You know what one of his main problems was? He never looked at his defeats. He just looked at his victories. And, pretty soon, he got to thinking that EVERYTHING was a victory, when it was a DISASTER! Did you know the Union armies had that trouble in the Civil War? All they looked at was their defeats. They were just the reverse. Every time they got whipped, they’d go home and think, “Well, good night, we’re outnumbered, we don’t dare attack, we don’t dare counterattack.” And when ol’ Robert E. Lee hit them in Gettysburg, after that battle was over, General Meade could have wound up the war in about three hours, if he would have attacked. But he was scared to death! You know why he was scared to death? He’d been whipped so many times before, all he could do was get his mind on the defeats. Same thing at Antietam; they could’ve cleaned them up them. You can’t look at your defeats. You can’t look at your victories. You gotta look unto Jesus. You gotta look unto Jesus.
You take ol’ Elijah. He was out under a juniper tree, remember, and he got there under that juniper tree, and lay down, and wished that he’d die. And he said, “I’m no better than my fathers.” Of course, that was true. But the Lord knew that all along. And he said, “I’m no better than my fathers. Take my life,” you know, and all that business. You know what his trouble was? He had a tremendous victory. And when he had that tremendous victory, he got his eye on that victory, and then right after that victory, he had a defeat. And then he got his eye on the defeat, and he just was up, and down, and flopped, and ready to quit. You can’t look at your victories. You can’t look at your defeats.
The verse says, “Looking unto Jesus.” Paul said, “Forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press forth for the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The Christian should keep his eyes on Jesus. I wish I could keep my eyes on Jesus like some unsaved man keep their eye on a goal. You know, I’ve known some unsaved men, and God knows they’re lost and going to hell, and that was that. But, I’ll tell you one thing. They sure had an eye, and they could sure keep their eye on the goal too, brother.
I think of a fellow whose name was Adolphe Topervine. In 1906 he was the world’s best rifle shot. He put Annie Oakley in the shade. And Adolphe Topervine, you know what he said? He was a Vaudeville trick shooter, and he told a bunch of folks out in Texas one time, he said, “I’m gonna do something nobody’s ever seen, and the world’s never seen before.” And bets were wagered on it, and here’s what he said. He said, “I’m gonna have a man throw up little clay squares, and they were manufactured two and a half inches square.” And he said, “I’m gonna have them thrown up eight hours a day for twelve days.” And, he said, “I’m going to try to hit every one of them.” And he went out there in front of a big crowd, and for twelve days, that old boy fired that rifle, not a shotgun. A rifle–EIGHT hours a day in December 1906–out there in Texas. He fired those shots EIGHT hours a day for twelve days, and he missed NINE pellets–NINE of them–out of 72,000. They threw one up every five seconds. And threw that things up, and out of 72,000, that bird missed nine of them. You know that’s some shooting? And about the ninth day that fellow came out to shoot, and that arm was almost paralyzed from bursitis. Just about tore to pieces the ninth day. He fired for twelve days. Now, that fellow had an eye, you know that? Just–bam, and bam, and bam, and bam, and bam–eight hours. I mean, eight in the morning to four in the afternoon for twelve days. That fellow had his eye on it.
You know, if I could just get my eyes on the Lord like that, you know. And, I imagine his arm was hurting him, but he had his eye on the pellet, see. And, I imagine his body was hurting him, and his eyes were going bloodshot, and his mouth getting dry, and his arm muscles twitching. But he had his eye on it, you see? And the verse says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” And I don’t care how bad it gets, and it’s going to get pretty bad, folks, if the Lord tarries–there’s ONE thing you should do. Like the Lord said in one place, “One thing is needful.” And, I’ll tell you, if there’s anything in this world that’s needful for the Christian, it’s to keep his eyes on Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
We shouldn’t have our eyes on our sorrows. We shouldn’t have our eyes on our disillusionments. We shouldn’t have our eyes on our ideas. We shouldn’t have our eyes on trials and tribulations. They ought to be on Jesus.
A fellow one time, an old Dutchman, was up in the rigging of a ship many years ago, when they had the old sailing vessels. And he fell down. And when he fell down and hit that deck, they thought he was dead. And he came to about thirty minutes later, and asked how manage had been done. And they said, “Well,” they said, “You’re just bruised up pretty bad, but you did break a leg.” And he said, “Well, thank God it wasn’t my neck!” You know, that’s the way to face it, see? Don’t get your eye on the leg that was broken, get your eye on the one that isn’t broken.
One time a railroad man lost an arm in an accident, a railroad accident, and had to have it amputated, you know. And he said, “Well, thank God, it was the one that had arthritis!” That took care of that, brother! And, you see, there’s a way to look at that thing, you see?
Now, many of you folks you know me. I’m about as negative as I can be when it comes to a lot of things. But like I told someone recently, there’s one place you can ALWAYS be positive, and that’s in the Lord’s dealings with you. See? I mean, Romans 8:28. There’s one place you can be positive, if the Lord’s dealing with YOU now, it’s gonna work out. Looking unto Jesus.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Don’t put your eyes on your sorrows, your joys. Look unto Jesus. Look unto Jesus NOW, brother. NOW! Look unto Jesus ALWAYS. Look unto Jesus, and look unto Jesus ONLY. Don’t look anywhere else. Don’t look at the Law. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Don’t look at your feelings. Your feelings change. Don’t look at your neighbor; he’s probably just like you. Don’t look at yourself–you’re no good, never have been, never will be. These folks–I mean, until the Lord comes, you’ll get by, the Lord’ll feed you. But you’re never gonna be perfect until Christ comes. There’s no use looking at yourself. I’ll just let you in on a little secret–I think about 80 percent of all the psychologists in the world are half crazy. I really do. You know why I do? I’ve lived with myself and tried to counsel people over these years enough to know that if a man just sits around, analyzing his own mind and other people’s minds all the time, he’ll go BUGS, man! You can’t keep looking at yourself forever, you’ll crack!
They gave a South Pacific woman a mirror, you know, one of those missionaries. She took one look at that mirror and she slapped that thing down and broke it all to pieces, and they heard her say in her own dialect, “Well, now I won’t look like THAT any more!” You know, she got rid of the mirror, thought she got rid of herself! They say, these love birds die of a broken heart. I don’t know what kind of birds they are, but they’re two little birds, you know, you buy them in pairs and put them in a cage, and if one of them dies, the other one dies, you know. You take one out, the other one dies. And they said one fellow found a way to beat that thing. He bought one bird and put a mirror in there. Every time that bird would hop around and see itself in the mirror, you know, and think it was another bird. And one day somebody broke the mirror. And that little bird, instead of dying of a broken heart, he died of a broken mirror.
But, you know, the moral of that thing is, folks, you just can’t spend all your time looking at yourself. I think of a couple of folks I know, that I’ve watched over a period of years, watched those people, and instead of those folks growing in grace and growing in the knowledge of the Lord, and instead of them appreciating their blessings more and feeling sorry for other people, and getting out ministering and doing something for God, I’ve watched those people through the years, and those people have withdrawn into themselves, and withdrawn into themselves, and withdrawn into themselves, till I honestly believe if they don’t quit it they’re going to wind up in a sanitarium. You just can’t go that way! You got to get out with them. You got to deal with folks. You got to minister to folks. But most of all, most of all, you got to keep your eyes on Jesus.
Now Paul said this. He said, “Forgetting those things which are behind,” he said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” In plainer words, upward, brother, and onward.
Years ago a daddy was doing some carpenter work at a certain house, and his own house was right next door. He was helping out a neighbor. And he got up there about a third story, and was doing some work up there. And he was horrified. He looked down the shingles where he was working, and coming up that ladder, which was over 15 feet high, was his four-year-old boy. And that four-year-old boy had seen the daddy climbing up the ladder. And the little boy was just following Daddy, you know, took him on up. And so the boy climbed up the ladder after his daddy, the daddy looked at that boy and hardly dared breathe to see what that boy was gonna do. And then, what he feared would happen happened. That boy suddenly looked down. And when he looked down at the bottom of that ladder, he got dizzy and giddy. You know, the ground began to swim up there, he was up about 13 feet high in the air. And the old man thought he was going to fall off for sure. And the old man said, “Boy,” he said, “look up!” And that boy was hanging on that ladder, and suddenly looked up and saw his daddy and smiled, and came on up the ladder and forgot about how the ground was going, you know.
And when it gets rough, you know, and that thing begins to swim under your feet, and you begin to lose your balance–look up! Look up. Looking unto Jesus, see? Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. Not yourself, not your neighbor, not the devil, not the world, not your feelings, not your victories, not your defeats, not your successes, not your faith, not your doubt, not your sincerity, not your resolutions. Jesus! Jesus! Looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of your faith.
Napolean at the battle of Marengo had a drummer boy. And that drummer boy was supposed to know all the beats a drummer boy was supposed to know. And at a certain place in the battle things really got bad. And Napoleon thought his troups were going to have to retreat, and saw it was going to be a disaster if they didn’t retreat, and he called that drummer boy and he said, “Beat a retreat.” And that drummer boy said, “Sire, I don’t want to seem insolent.” And he said, “I can’t disobey an order.” But he said, “I was never taught how to beat a retreat.” And Napoleon said, “Well, WHAT do you know how to beat?” And the kid said, “I know how to beat a CHARGE!” And he demonstrated, BRRRRRRRR he rolled that thing on! And those troups were all heading one way, they heard it and started heading the other, and they got to the main point and got passed the plank, and the battle turned, and the thing was over, and it was won!
And I’ll tell you folks, when it gets bad, real bad, there’s only one solution in the world for the Christian, and what I’m going to say, I say for every man, woman, and child in this building, you gotta look unto Jesus. And, listen, if you’re an unsaved person here, the solution is exactly the same for you. You unsaved people, you get your eyes off the preacher, you get ’em off your wife, you get ’em off your husband, you get ’em off your kids, you get ’em off the church, you get ’em off the government, you get ’em off the newspaper, you get ’em off yourself, you get ’em away from the mirror, and you get your eyes on Jesus, you’ll be saved before I finish this message. That’s the trouble with folks. Looking. Looking. What you lookin’ for? Look unto Jesus. Look unto Jesus, brother. Don’t look at the person sitting next to you. They may never lead you to Christ. Don’t look at the person sitting next to you. You’re going to stand at the judgment alone. There may be 20 million between you, when you get judged, and the person sitting next to you right now. That Bible says “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Maybe God will judge you, and after He finishes judging 300,000 other people, the person sitting next to you, it’ll be their turn. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. You know, I’ve drawn you kind of a wild picture here. And I guess you know that song about stairway to the stars is not exactly a scriptural thing, and yet you know Jacob went to sleep one night, and when Jacob dreamed he dreamed about a ladder, and he saw a ladder whose bottom was on the earth, and the top went to heaven, and he saw the angels of God ascending and descending on that ladder, and Christ said to a man in the New Testament, “You’re going to see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.” So, you know what a Christian is like? A Christian is like a man who’s got the ladder, he’s got the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and he’s just trying to keep his eyes on the right place. See? You don’t look behind you. Paul said, “I press forward.” You don’t look down to the earth. The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. Keep looking up.
And my text says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Let’s bow our heads for prayer.