TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

John 12:23-33 (KJV)

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

This he said, signifying what death he should die.

I imagine that the subject of this virus is getting to be a bit redundant to a bunch of it.

We are hearing multiple briefings from: 

·   The President

·   The Governor

·   The County

And multiple members of their staffs.

I have thought a number of times that I would hate to be the director of that care facility up in Everett. He had now idea that he would be called upon to give a daily news briefing when he signed on for that job.

We went from people questioning whether anyone actually knew someone who had the virus, to now I have a list of pastors I know who have it.

·   One of them is out of the woods

·   Another is intubated and will live through it only by the grace of God

But I also think it is a good time to focus on what God might be doing through this pestilence, and, especially because it has a direct Biblical connection to the subject of missions and the winning of souls to Christ.

While we do not see it as much in the New Testament, except in the book of the Revelation, the subject of pestilences come up repeatedly in the Old Testament.

I cannot say I did an exhaustive study, but 

·   In every pestilence, I can think of, God claims to be the instrument of it.

·   In only one case that I can think of, the seven years of famine in Egypt, was it not a judgment from God.

I think it is foolish not to see God at work in this.

Can you think of any other time in your lifetime when the entire world was so focused on the same event?

We are unified as human beings today, if only because none of us want to die of this pestilence.

It brought me to consider the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and how, an Old Testament pestilence, pictures salvation through a look. 

I have a very dear evangelist friend whose wife says he is notorious for pointing their car wherever his eyes are.

“Look here!

Oh, Look at that!”

And every time, he starts drifting where his vehicle where his eyes are.

Where we look can play a big part in how we handle the difficulties of life.

·   As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus, he was walking on water

·   As soon as he saw the waves and the storm, he began to sink

Our Bibles speak often about our look and where it leads us.

I. LOOK TOWARDS OTHERS

Philippians 2:3-4 (KJV)

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

One of the keys of Faith Promise Missions giving is to look towards others.

A man is supposed to provide for his family. I do not deny that.

But even as we do so, the Bible is clear that we ought to see the needs of others, especially when it concerns their soul.

Paul gave us a hint how to develop this “look,”

Romans 1:14-15 (KJV)

I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

When we come to see ourselves as debtors to others

When we realize that we have been afforded this great gift of salvation and that we don’t deserve it any more than others.

We can begin to look to their needs.

And notice that Paul said, “as much as in me is”.

His was no small investment.

·   He was willing to give beyond himself[1] and indeed

·   He was willing to give himself[2]

To see that the gospel got to others.

In this time of pestilence, 

Look toward others.

II. LOOK ON THE FIELDS

John 4:35 (KJV)

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.

Directly connected to this passage is,

Matthew 9:36-38 (KJV)

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

I want you to notice first of all that

A. We are commanded to look on the fields

It’s not a suggestion.

It’s not a preacher’s point of rhetoric.

Jesus Christ personally told His disciples to, “look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

Secondly notice

B. Our look is in imitation of Jesus

“when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them”

Whenever we get our eyes on others and see them in need of, not a shepherd, but THE SHEPHERD

Then we are imitating, Jesus.

We are practicing Christlikeness

Notice thirdly

C. The response to the look is prayer

·   Some or going to go and

·   Some are going to give

But every one of us ought to pray.

Every once in a while, I’ll hear a preacher say, “When you start praying that God would send laborers into His harvest, you are really praying that the Lord would send you into His harvest.”

All of us ought to have our part, there is no question.

But be careful how you interpret what the preacher said.

Don’t make light of praying.

You are not the answer to your prayer.

If God doesn’t call you to go, God doesn’t want you to go.

But even if God doesn’t want you to go, God still wants you to pray.

In a time of pestilence

Look towards others and give

Look on the fields and pray

Thirdly

III. LOOK TO THE CROSS

John 3:14 (KJV)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

And Jesus said

John 12:32 (KJV)

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Since Jesus made the connection to the serpent I the wilderness, it would be wise to read that passage for context.

Numbers 21:4-9 (KJV)

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Let me make three comments here

First,

A. The people spake against God

I cannot speak for any time other than the one I am living in.

I understand, from reading history, that there have been 

·   Some dark and dreadful times in human history, 

·   Some times men did not like to retain God in their minds 

But I will observe that, at least in my lifetime, there has been no time when people so willingly speak against God as they do right now.

Any form of speech is more acceptable in the public arena than is God’s Word.

·   It is acceptable to speak about alternate lifestyles

·   It is acceptable to speak about Islam 

·   It is acceptable to speak about socialism 

It is certainly not acceptable these days, to speak negatively about any of these.

But to preach the Word of God is considered hate speech in an ever-growing number of arenas.

The people spake against God, therefore,

B. The LORD sent the serpents

A kind of pestilence, if you will.

Not everybody gotten bitten and not everybody you got bit confessed their sin, but the Bible says,

C. When they beheld the serpent, they lived

When they confessed their sin, God sent them a remedy.

Moses constructed a brazen serpent and put it on a pole.

And everyone who beheld the serpent was saved.

And Jesus used that incident to teach us about His cross.

·   God does not require anyone to look to Jesus. but

·   God does promise that everyone who looks will be saved.

He said, Romans 10:13 (KJV)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

·   If you will confess that you have sinned

·   If you will believe that Jesus is God and

·   If you will trust His death, burial and resurrection as your only means of salvation,

God promises to save you once and for all.

Conclusion

·   Look towards others and give

·   Look on the fields and pray and

·   Look on the Cross and be forgiven

If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour, I want to encourage you to bow before the Lord right now and speak to Him.

Confess that you are a sinner

Agree that you have wronged God

Ask God to forgive your sins and then

Believe that He will keep His promise of salvation.

For those of us who are saved the cross, I think, carries a second application, for missions.

Hurting souls don’t need a program, don’t need a religion, don’t need a boost up, and they certainly don’t need someone to cheer them up.

What they need is Jesus Christ.

·   Lift up Jesus Christ

·   Exalt Jesus Christ

Make Christ everything in your own life and then point to Christ as everything for others.

Jesus will lead you to give to pray to be kind and to reach out.

Jesus will lead you to do good works and works of compassion.

But Jesus won’t substitute himself with those things.

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[1] 2 Corinthians 8:3 (KJV)

For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

[2] 2 Corinthians 8:5 (KJV)

And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.