“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isaiah 45:22)
Introduction
This statement from the prophet Isaiah is a simple call for sinners to look unto God and be saved from their sins by the only savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we meditate upon the crucifixion of our Lord this evening, we are called again to look unto Him, as He suffered and died for our sins and be saved.
Spurgeon’s Conversion
In fact, it was this very verse, which God used to convert a young Charles Spurgeon, who would become one of the greatest preachers of the gospel in the 19th century. The story of his conversion upon the preaching of this text is so compelling that I cannot but give it in his own words. Spurgeon writes this, “I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now if it had not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning while I was going to a certain church. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street and came to a little Primitive Methodist chapel. In that chapel, there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they gave people headaches, but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I could be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache.”
“The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed in, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker or tailor or something of that sort, went up to the pulpit to preach. Now, it is good for preachers to be instructed, but this man was really unintelligent. He was forced to stick to his text for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was, ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ He did not even pronounce the words correctly, but that did not matter…”
“The preacher began thus: ‘My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, “Look.” Now, lookin’ don’t take a deal of pains. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just, “Look.” Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be wealthy to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.”
“Then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay, many of ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by and by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some of ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, “Look unto Me.’”
“Then the good man followed up his text in this way: ‘Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hagin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look unto Me!’”
“When he had managed to go on for ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his resources. Then he looked at me under the gallery. I dare say, with so few present, he knew I was a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, ‘Young man, you look very miserable.’ Well, I did, but I was not used to having remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance. However, it was a good blow, struck right home.”
“He continued, ‘And you always will be miserable – miserable in life and miserable in death – if you don’t obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.’ Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, ‘Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.’”
“I saw at once the way of salvation. I do not know what else he said – I did not take much notice of it – I was so possessed with that one thought.”
And so the Lord saved young Charles Haddon Spurgeon. My friends this is not a quaint story to stir up sentiment from a day gone by, but it is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is spoken to you this very night, with the same imperative and urgency of which it has always been spoken to sinners. You can spend all your time doing and being and working, but if you are not looking you are lost. You can look at your good deeds, or at your moral life, or at your church attendance, or at your parents, but if you are not looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, lifted up on the cross, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, then you too will perish as those Israelites did who were bitten by the serpents and did not look.
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