Open My Eyes, Lord – Ephesians 1:15-23
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August 2010 – What if your prayers were published?
That’s a fascinating (and slightly scary) thought, isn’t it? What if every prayer you prayed, word for word, somehow ended up on the Internet so that anyone, anywhere could read them? Would your prayers be worth reading if they were published? And would they qualify for the pages of Holy Scripture or would they be fit for the National Enquirer?
If prayer is the language of the heart, what is your heart saying?
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Beyond All You Ask or Think
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better plans for your life than you do?
The Apostle Paul’s prayers are
models for us as we learn
how to pray purposefully.
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I have often told people that I only know of two reliable ways to learn how to pray. First, you can learn to pray by listening to those who know how to pray. I have often found strength for my own heart simply by sitting in a prayer group and listening to the prayers of others. Sometimes when I am distracted or worried or just worn out, listening to others pray slowly warms my own heart and puts me on “praying ground." Second, you can learn to pray by studying the great prayers of the Bible. If we want the Lord to teach us to pray, this is a good place to start. After all, prayer is the thermometer of the soul. If you want to know what a man believes, don’t tell me what he says; tell me what he prays. A man may say many things, but when he prays, his heart is fully revealed.
With that in mind, we turn to the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:15-23. The heart of the prayer comes at the end of verse 17 where Paul prays “that you may know him better.” That’s it! That’s the whole prayer right there. Paul is praying that the Ephesians might know God better. This means that he is writing to and praying for believers who already have some knowledge of God. His central request is, “O Lord, I pray that these folks who already know you might come to a new and deeper knowledge of who you really are.” The Greek language contains a number of different words that might be translated as “know.” This particular verse contains a verb that means to know deeply, personally, intimately. For instance, I know our president. I know who he is and what he looks like. If you show me his picture, I’ll say, “That’s the president.” But I don’t know him personally and he doesn’t know me from Adam’s housecat. But I can also say, “I know my wife.” That’s an entirely different kind of knowing. After 36 years of marriage, it is a knowledge that is very deep, very personal, and very intimate. And that’s the sort of knowledge Paul is praying for.
You can learn to pray by studying the great prayers of the Bible.
Now if you know Ephesians at all, you know that the first part of Chapter 1, verses 3-14, is a doxology of praise to God. That doxology is followed by this long prayer that they might know God better. Think of it this way: First Paul puts the truth out, then he prays the truth in. In verse 3 he says we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. So the prayer is not, “Lord, give us new blessings,” but “Help us to realize the blessings we already have.” Not “Give us new truth,” but “Help us experience the truth we already know.” Spiritual truth can be academic and cold and formal. So he’s praying, “Lord, turn them on to the truth.” “Lord, they know you, now make them excited about knowing you.”
I. The Request: “To Know Him Better”
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better" (Ephesians 1:17).
I received an e-mail from a friend who endured a very difficult trial. He wrote to say how his ordeal has changed his view of what it means to know God. There are three levels of knowing God, he wrote. First, there is the level of experience. All of us who know the Lord have some experiences with him that we can use to help others. Second, there is the level of knowledge. This comes from going to church, listening to sermons, reading the Bible, reading good books, going to a Christian college or to a seminary. Most people consider knowledge a higher level of the spiritual life. “This is a level I tried to work from, but it did not seem adequate,” my friend said. But there is a third level, which he called the level of wisdom. This level comes only by prayer. He offers this very helpful insight about a Level 3 relationship with God:
“We begin to see things through God’s eyes and less through our eyes. Peace only comes from this level. It is not measurable, explainable, nor understandable. Levels 1 and 2 are not prerequisites. I see prayer lifting the illiterate to great levels of peace and wisdom where certain PhDs in religion may feel empty. Our prayers become less ‘gimme’ and more ‘help me see what you want me to learn through this–to deepen my relationship with you.’"
Then he included the words of the old hymn, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Although I have heard it and sung it many times, one verse stuck in my mind as especially appropriate:
"I see prayer lifting the illiterate to great levels of peace and wisdom where certain PhDs in religion may feel empty."
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
Thy wings shall my petition bear,
To him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless;
And since he bids me seek his face,
Believe his word and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
God invites us to seek his face. He wants us to know him better. It’s not as if our Heavenly Father is hiding himself from us. But we can only have a close relationship with him if we will seek it in prayer. That’s the burden of Paul’s prayer–for a Level 3 relationship with God that doesn’t depend on knowledge or experience but comes through wisdom as we seek the Lord. Any of us can have that sort of relationship with God if we want it, and if we are willing to pay the price to have it.
II. The Means: “The Eyes of Your Heart Flooded With Light”
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18a).
This is the heart of the prayer. It is also the only time the phrase “the eyes of your heart” appears in the New Testament. That means that this is a significant truth that demands our attention. The heart has eyes. Did you know that? When Paul speaks of “your heart,” he’s not referring to the organ in your chest that pumps blood throughout your body. The term “heart” refers to what we might call “the real you,” the place inside where the decisions of life are made. The heart is the place where you decide what values you will live by and what direction you will go and how you will live your life each day. Every important decision you make is made by your heart. And your heart has eyes that can be opened or shut. When the eyes of your heart are closed to the light of God, you stumble blindly through life, making one dumb choice after another. You fall into sinful patterns, you break God’s Laws, you end up driving into the ditch, you make the same mistakes over and over again, and you enter one dead-end relationship after another. Why? Because the eyes of your heart are shut and you lack moral vision. The light of God is shut out of your life. And that means you can see and be blind at the same time. That is, you can have 20/20 vision with your physical eyes but the eyes of your heart can be blind to the light of God. There are lots of people like that in the world. Physically they can see but spiritually they are totally blind.
When the eyes of your heart are shut, you lack moral vision.
I think a lot of Christians live like that. They know God but their eyes are so filled with the things of the world that they are blind to the truth. Let me illustrate. Here we have a Christian young man who has been raised in a Christian home. He’s been going to church for years–Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, children’s ministry, and the youth group. Now he goes off to college and at last he’s on his own. He meets a girl and they start dating. Soon they are sleeping together. When his parents hear about it, they are furious and worried and upset and they wonder what to do. They argue and plead and cajole and threaten and quote Scripture, all to no avail. What is the problem? It is precisely this: The eyes of the heart are shut to the truth of God. And until those eyes are opened, all the yelling in the world won’t make much difference.
But at this point we encounter a most liberating truth from our text. Paul prayed for the Ephesians that “the eyes of your heart might be opened.” One translation says, “that the eyes of your heart might be flooded with light." Opening blind eyes is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He and he alone can do it. But he can do it, and this is the source of our hope. This is why we pray for our children and grandchildren and for our family members and for friends and loved ones who today are far from God. As our children grow older, we discover over and over again how little control we have over them. We cannot compel their obedience because we cannot compel their hearts. But we can pray and cry out to God and say, “O Lord, open the eyes of their heart. Help them to see the light of truth.”
Christ at the Center of Life
When Eugene Peterson translated the last part of this passage for The Message, he included this unique sentence:
“At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church."
There are two radically different ways of looking at things. Either the world is at the center and Christ is at the periphery or Christ is at the center of life and the world is off at the edges. So many Christians have bought into the notion that this world is all that matters. They’ve pushed Christ to the periphery of life. But when Christ comes to the center, the world is seen for what it really is–something on the edges.
Not long ago I talked with a friend who is struggling with this very issue. I explained living for Christ is like a football game. You’re either on the bench or you’re in the game. "Your problem is, you’re sitting on the bench goofing off when you ought to be in the game serving the Lord. Bench warmers sit around, goof off, laugh, cut up, and trade jokes while the game is going on. If you ever decide to get in the game, you won’t have time to do the things you do now.”
If our young people sleep around, or if they get drunk on the weekends, if they cheat and cut corners, if they are rebellious and unmotivated, those things are only symptoms of a deeper, more fundamental issue. They’ve never made a personal commitment to get serious about Jesus Christ. They’re sitting on the bench when they ought to be in the game. And I tell you this with total certainty, once you get into the game, once Christ becomes the center of life, no one will have to tell you not to sleep around, and no one will have to tell you, “Don’t get drunk on the weekends.” You just won’t do it. Once the eyes of your heart are opened, the light of God’s truth will come flooding in and you’ll never look at anything the same away again.
SCRIPTURES REFERENCED
Ephesians 1
Open My Eyes, Lord
Why Are We Here? The First Question of the Catechism
Praying for Your Prodigal
Sometimes we worry too much about the symptoms without dealing with the root issues of life. We should pray, “Open the eyes of their heart, Lord,” because when that happens, life will radically change. They will grab their helmet and get in the ballgame for the Lord. They’ll go to the huddle and say, “You call the play, Lord. I’m ready to do whatever you say.”
III. The Result: “That you may know ...”
As Paul prays, he has three things specifically in mind that will result from the eyes of their heart being opened. First, they will know ...
Sometimes we worry too much about the symptoms without dealing with the root issues of life.
A. All That God Has Given
“The hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:18b). This looks back to the moment of their conversion. Verses 3-14 list some elements of that hope:
Blessed with every spiritual blessing, v. 3
Chosen in Christ, v. 4
Predestined to be adopted as sons, v. 5
Recipients of his grace, v. 6
Redeemed through his blood, v. 7
Forgiveness of sins, v. 7
Wisdom and understanding, v. 8
God’s plan made known to us, vv. 9-10
Chosen and predestined, v. 11
Included in Christ, v. 13
Sealed by the Holy Spirit, v. 13
Given the earnest of the Spirit, v. 14
All this is ours. It is the permanent possession of every child of God. We are rich and blessed beyond all measure. Paul prays that we might understand how rich we already are.
B. All That God Has Promised
“The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18c). This looks ahead to the end of time when we will see the Lord face to face and receive all that he has promised us. It is beyond our capacity to describe the glory of that moment. Sometimes we wonder what heaven will be like. I think it will be everything we dreamed of and nothing like we imagined. Going to heaven is not so much going to a place as it is going to a person. If I’ve been on a trip, I may say to someone, “I can’t wait to get home again.” But I’m not talking about the literal bricks and the literal carpet. It’s not as if when I come in, I say, “Hello, drapes, I’m glad to see you again. Hello, dining room, I missed sitting in those chairs.” You’d think something was wrong if I talked like that. No, home is precious to me because of the people I love who live there. When I say, “I can’t wait to go home,” I mean that I can’t wait to see Marlene again. It’s the same thing with heaven. The glory of heaven is not the streets of gold or the gates of the pearl or even the River of Life or the angels of God. The glory of heaven is Jesus. Heaven is wherever Jesus is, and when we finally get to where Jesus is, we will be home for all eternity.
C. All That God Has Provided
“His incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19a). There are four different Greek words for power here. He uses the word from which we get “dynamite,” the word from which we get the English word “energy.” He uses a word that means “muscular strength” and another that means “courageous power." God’s power is sufficient for all we need. Often we are gripped by fear, inadequacy, insecurity, and a feeling that we are powerless to change things. The good news is, God’s power is wrapped up in a person, Jesus Christ. This is the power that exploded in Christ when he rose from the dead. If you know him, you have the greatest power source in the universe living within you.
God’s power is sufficient for all we need.
I went to see someone who was dying of cancer. When I arrived, it was clear she was down to her last few days. I held her hand and recited the great promises of God about heaven. Someone in the room said that she was afraid to die. I told her that I wasn’t an expert on death, but I know someone who is. I told her I know someone who had died and come back from the dead. His name is Jesus. He holds the keys of death and Hades in his hands. I held her hand and said, “When the moment comes, don’t be afraid. Just call out the name Jesus and he will come for you.” I told her that I don’t know about death by personal experience, but I know who stands at the door to make sure we make it safely through to the other side. Then I quoted some verses from Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. ... Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Then I prayed and someone in the room started to sing, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” We all started to sing and I heard her singing with us. Even at death’s door, she was holding on to Jesus.
Pray, Pray, and Keep on Praying
Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why should we doubt? Why shouldn’t we go out singing? Our God has given us all we need. Oh, that we might know the hope of our calling, the riches of our inheritance, and the amazing power of God. It’s all ours and it’s all wrapped up in one Person, Jesus Christ. Oh, that we might know him better. Oh, that our eyes might be opened to see things clearly. Oh, that we might love him and serve him and make him the center of life.
Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why should we doubt? Why shouldn’t we go out singing?
What a magnificent encouragement this passage is. Pray, pray, and keep on praying. Pray for each other. Husbands, pray for your wives, and wives for your husbands. Pray for the class you teach. Pray for the new Christians you are discipling. Pray that they will be turned on by the truth of God. There are so many ways we might apply this message. First, here is a good guide to praying for our children. How long should we pray for them? And what should we pray for them? The answer is, never stop praying for your children. Paul said, “I keep on asking.” We can always know God better than we do. And when you pray, ask the Lord to open the eyes of their heart to let light from heaven come flooding in.
Second, we should pray this for ourselves. "O Lord, help me to know you better. Open my eyes, Lord. Let your light come flooding into my heart. Help me to know all that you have given, all that you have promised, and all that you have provided for me.”
What if you don’t know Jesus at all? Reach out and take him by faith. He loves you and he died for you. Receive the gift of eternal life through Christ. Open your heart. Crown him as Savior and Lord of your life today.
Lord Jesus, come by your Spirit and meet us where we are. Forgive us for hearing the truth so often and never being changed by it. Some of us have kept you at the edge of life for far too long. Lord, open our eyes to see you clearly. Apply the truth individually, where it will do the most good. Amen.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Open My Eyes That I May See desiringgod.org
Psalm 119:17-24
Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. 19 I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. 20 My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times. 21 You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments. 22 Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies. 23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes. 24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.
Parallel Rails for the Track of Our Souls
As we begin 1998, God's aim for us is that we be set on a two-railed train track in the direction of holiness and love and mission and heaven. The two rails of this train are prayer before the throne of God and meditation on the Word of God. Some of you may remember the second page of our Mission Statement booklet, "The Spiritual Dynamic." It says,
We join God the Father in magnifying the supremacy of His glory through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, by treasuring all that God is, loving all whom he loves, praying for all his purposes, meditating on all his word, sustained by all his grace.
Praying before the throne of God and meditating on the Word of God are like parallel rails that enable the train of our souls to stay on the track that leads to holiness and heaven. We need to renew our zeal for prayer and Bible mediation at the beginning of the year. Everything gets old and worn and weak without re-awakening and renewal and restoration. So during Prayer Week every year we rivet our attention on these great and precious things in order to rekindle our passion for prayer and the Word.
Three Things to Learn from Psalm 119:18
This year the two messages that sandwich Prayer Week grow out of Psalm 119:18. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." This verse combines prayer and the Word, and we need to see how, so that we can combine them this way in our lives and in our church. There are three things that we learn from this verse.
One is that there are wonderful things in the Word of God. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." The word "law" is "Torah" and means "instruction" or "teaching" in this psalm. There are wonderful things in God's teaching to us. In fact, they are so wonderful that when you really see them, they change you profoundly and empower holiness and love and missions (2 Corinthians 3:18). Which is why reading and knowing and meditating on and memorizing the Word of God is so crucial.
The second thing we learn from this verse is that no one can see these wonderful things for what they really are without God's supernatural help. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." If God does not open our eyes, we will not see the wonder of the Word. We are not naturally able to see spiritual beauty. When we read the Bible without the help of God, the glory of God in the teachings and events of the Bible is like the sun shining in the face of a blind man. Not that you can't construe its surface meaning, but you can't see the wonder, the beauty, the glory of it such that it wins your heart.
Which leads to the third thing we learn from this verse, namely, that we must pray to God for supernatural illumination when we read the Bible. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." Since we are helpless in ourselves to see spiritual beauty and the wonder of God in the teachings and events of the Bible without God's gracious illumination, we should ask him for it. "Open my eyes."
A Three-Step Truth
Next week I plan to focus on the wonderful things in the Word of God and practically how we get them into our head and heart. But today I focus on prayer. I want us to see this profound three-step truth: The Word is crucial for living a Godward life that leads to heaven and has power and meaning on earth. We cannot even see what the Word really is without God's supernatural help. And therefore we need to be a people of daily prayer that God would do whatever he must do to get the wonders of the Word into our hearts and into our lives.
Let's take these three steps one at a time and see them confirmed and illustrated in other parts of the Bible.
1. The Word is crucial to a life of holiness
The first point is that seeing the Word and knowing it and having it in us is crucial to living a life of holiness and love and power for the purposes of God.
Look back at verse 11, "Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you." How then are we to avoid sin in our lives? By treasuring the Word of God in our hearts. O how many people mess up their lives by not meditating on and loving and memorizing the Word of God! Do you want to be holy, that is, do you want power to overcome sin and live a life of radical godliness and sacrificial love and utter devotion to the cause of Christ? Then get on the track. God has ordained a way to godliness and power: and it is the way of treasuring up the Bible in our hearts.
I say it to the old and I say it to the parents of the young. Meditate on and memorize and cherish the commandments and warnings and promises of God in the Scriptures. No, I do not say it is easy, especially when you are old. But most things worth doing are not easy. Making a fine piece of furniture, making a good poem, making a great piece of music, making a special meal or celebration - none of them is easy. But they are worth doing. Is not a good life worth doing?
Talitha is now two. She is beginning to learn Bible verses by heart. She is also learning the forms of prayer. Why? Why go to the trouble of taking time and effort to repeat over and over the Bible to her? Very simple - when she is a teenager I want her to be godly and pure and holy and loving and humble and kind and submissive and wise. And the Bible says, as plain as day, this comes by treasuring up the Word of God in your heart. "Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you."
Jesus put it like this in his great prayer for us in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." "Sanctify" is a Biblical word for making a person holy or godly or loving or pure or virtuous or spiritually wise. And these things I want for myself and for my children and for you. So what then should we do this year? If we are sanctified by the truth, and the Word of God is truth, what should we do?
If a doctor says, "You're very sick and may die of your sickness, but if you will take this medicine, you will get well and live," and you neglect to take the medicine - too busy, the pills are big and hard to swallow, just forgetful - you are going to stay sick and you may die. That's the way it is with sin and spiritual immaturity. If you neglect what God tells you will sanctify you and make you mature and strong and holy, then you will not be mature and strong and holy. Reading, and meditating on and memorizing and cherishing the Word of God is God's appointed way of overcoming sin and becoming a strong, godly, mature, loving, wise person.
There are wonderful things to be seen in the Word of God that will transform you deeply if you really see them and treasure them in you.
2. We cannot see without God's help
The second point in the text is that we are not able to see these wonderful things in the Word for what they really are without God's supernatural help.
The reason is that we are fallen and corrupt and dead in sin and therefore blind and ignorant and hard. Paul described us like this in Ephesians 4:18 - we are "darkened in [our] understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in [us], because of the hardness of [our] heart."
Here's the way Moses wrote about this problem in Deuteronomy 29:2-4, "And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, 'You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt . . . those great signs and wonders [i.e., "wonderful things"]. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.'" Notice: you have seen . . . but you cannot see without God's supernatural work.
That is our plight. We are guilty and corrupt and hard and ignorant and blind without the awakening, enlivening, softening, humbling, purifying, enlightening work of God in our lives. We will never see the beauty of spiritual reality without God's illumination. We will never see the wonder and glory of what the Word teaches without God's opening the eyes of our hearts and giving us a spiritual sense of these things.
The point of teaching this and knowing this is to make us desperate for God and hungry for God, and to set us to pleading and crying out to God for his help in reading the Bible.
(On Point 2 see also: Matthew 16:17 with 11:4; and Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; John 3:6-8; Romans 8:5-8.)
3. We need to pray for God to help us see
Which leads to the last point: if knowing and treasuring the truth of God's Word is crucial to being holy and loving and mature and heavenbound, and if we by nature cannot see the wonders of God's Word and feel the attraction of its glory, then we are in a desperate condition and need to pray for God to help us see. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law."
In other words, prayer is essential to Christian living, because it is the key to unlocking the power of the Word in our lives. The glory of the Word is like the shining of the sun in the face of blind man unless God opens our eyes to that glory. And if we don't see the glory, we won't be changed (2 Corinthians 3:18; John 17:17), and if we are not changed, we are not Christians.
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays this way. He says, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling . . ." In other words, "I've taught you these things and you have received them with your external senses, but unless you perceive the glory of them with your spiritual sense ("the eyes of your heart") you will not be changed. (See also Ephesians 3:14-19; Colossians 1:9 with 3:16). Now these are Christians he is writing to, which shows that we need to go on praying until we get to heaven for spiritual eyes to see.
Seven Kinds of Prayer to Soak our Bible Reading
But since our text is Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law," we should let this psalmist show us how he prays more generally about his reading of the Word of God. So let me close with a little tour of Psalm 119, and show you seven kinds of prayer with which you can soak your Bible reading this year.
We should pray . . .
That God would teach us his Word. Psalm 119:12b, "Teach me Your statutes." (See also verses 33, 64b, 66, 68b, 135). True learning of God's Word is only possible if God himself becomes the teacher in and through all other means of teaching.
That God would not hide his Word from us. Psalm 119:19b, "Do not hide Your commandments from me." The Bible warns of the dreadful chastisement or judgment of the Word of God being taken from us (Amos 8:11). (See also verse 43).
That God would make us understand his Word. Psalm 119:27, "Make me understand the way of Your precepts" (verses 34, 73b, 144b, 169). Here we ask God to cause us to understand - to do whatever he needs to do to get us to understand his Word.
That God would incline our hearts to his Word. Psalm 119:36, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to [dishonest] gain." The great problem with us is not primarily our reason, but our will - we are disinclined by nature to read and meditate and memorize the Word. So we must pray for God to incline our wills.
That God would give us life to keep his Word. Psalm 119:88, "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth." He is aware that we need life and energy to give ourselves to the Word and its obedience. So he asks God for this basic need. (See also verse 154b)
That God would establish our steps in his Word. Psalm 119:133, "Establish my footsteps in Your word." We are dependent on the Lord not only for understanding and life, but for the performance of the Word. That it would be established in our lives. We cannot do this on our own.
That God would seek us when we go astray from his Word. Psalm 119:176, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant." It is remarkable that this godly man ends his psalm with a confession of sin and the need for God to come after him and bring him back. This too we must pray again and again.
The Word, our Treasure
I conclude that as we enter 1998 and long to be holy and loving and radically committed to God's purpose in the city and the nations, we must be people who treasure the Word in our hearts, but more - people who know our desperate condition apart from God and that he has appointed prayer as the way that our eyes will be opened to see wonder in the Word and so be changed. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. "
How earnest was he in these kinds of prayers? How earnest should we be? One answer is given in Psalm 119:147, "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words." He gets up early! This is top priority. Would you make it that?
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Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. 19 I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. 20 My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times. 21 You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments. 22 Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies. 23 Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes. 24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.
Parallel Rails for the Track of Our Souls
As we begin 1998, God's aim for us is that we be set on a two-railed train track in the direction of holiness and love and mission and heaven. The two rails of this train are prayer before the throne of God and meditation on the Word of God. Some of you may remember the second page of our Mission Statement booklet, "The Spiritual Dynamic." It says,
We join God the Father in magnifying the supremacy of His glory through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, by treasuring all that God is, loving all whom he loves, praying for all his purposes, meditating on all his word, sustained by all his grace.
Praying before the throne of God and meditating on the Word of God are like parallel rails that enable the train of our souls to stay on the track that leads to holiness and heaven. We need to renew our zeal for prayer and Bible mediation at the beginning of the year. Everything gets old and worn and weak without re-awakening and renewal and restoration. So during Prayer Week every year we rivet our attention on these great and precious things in order to rekindle our passion for prayer and the Word.
Three Things to Learn from Psalm 119:18
This year the two messages that sandwich Prayer Week grow out of Psalm 119:18. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." This verse combines prayer and the Word, and we need to see how, so that we can combine them this way in our lives and in our church. There are three things that we learn from this verse.
One is that there are wonderful things in the Word of God. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." The word "law" is "Torah" and means "instruction" or "teaching" in this psalm. There are wonderful things in God's teaching to us. In fact, they are so wonderful that when you really see them, they change you profoundly and empower holiness and love and missions (2 Corinthians 3:18). Which is why reading and knowing and meditating on and memorizing the Word of God is so crucial.
The second thing we learn from this verse is that no one can see these wonderful things for what they really are without God's supernatural help. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." If God does not open our eyes, we will not see the wonder of the Word. We are not naturally able to see spiritual beauty. When we read the Bible without the help of God, the glory of God in the teachings and events of the Bible is like the sun shining in the face of a blind man. Not that you can't construe its surface meaning, but you can't see the wonder, the beauty, the glory of it such that it wins your heart.
Which leads to the third thing we learn from this verse, namely, that we must pray to God for supernatural illumination when we read the Bible. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." Since we are helpless in ourselves to see spiritual beauty and the wonder of God in the teachings and events of the Bible without God's gracious illumination, we should ask him for it. "Open my eyes."
A Three-Step Truth
Next week I plan to focus on the wonderful things in the Word of God and practically how we get them into our head and heart. But today I focus on prayer. I want us to see this profound three-step truth: The Word is crucial for living a Godward life that leads to heaven and has power and meaning on earth. We cannot even see what the Word really is without God's supernatural help. And therefore we need to be a people of daily prayer that God would do whatever he must do to get the wonders of the Word into our hearts and into our lives.
Let's take these three steps one at a time and see them confirmed and illustrated in other parts of the Bible.
1. The Word is crucial to a life of holiness
The first point is that seeing the Word and knowing it and having it in us is crucial to living a life of holiness and love and power for the purposes of God.
Look back at verse 11, "Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you." How then are we to avoid sin in our lives? By treasuring the Word of God in our hearts. O how many people mess up their lives by not meditating on and loving and memorizing the Word of God! Do you want to be holy, that is, do you want power to overcome sin and live a life of radical godliness and sacrificial love and utter devotion to the cause of Christ? Then get on the track. God has ordained a way to godliness and power: and it is the way of treasuring up the Bible in our hearts.
I say it to the old and I say it to the parents of the young. Meditate on and memorize and cherish the commandments and warnings and promises of God in the Scriptures. No, I do not say it is easy, especially when you are old. But most things worth doing are not easy. Making a fine piece of furniture, making a good poem, making a great piece of music, making a special meal or celebration - none of them is easy. But they are worth doing. Is not a good life worth doing?
Talitha is now two. She is beginning to learn Bible verses by heart. She is also learning the forms of prayer. Why? Why go to the trouble of taking time and effort to repeat over and over the Bible to her? Very simple - when she is a teenager I want her to be godly and pure and holy and loving and humble and kind and submissive and wise. And the Bible says, as plain as day, this comes by treasuring up the Word of God in your heart. "Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you."
Jesus put it like this in his great prayer for us in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." "Sanctify" is a Biblical word for making a person holy or godly or loving or pure or virtuous or spiritually wise. And these things I want for myself and for my children and for you. So what then should we do this year? If we are sanctified by the truth, and the Word of God is truth, what should we do?
If a doctor says, "You're very sick and may die of your sickness, but if you will take this medicine, you will get well and live," and you neglect to take the medicine - too busy, the pills are big and hard to swallow, just forgetful - you are going to stay sick and you may die. That's the way it is with sin and spiritual immaturity. If you neglect what God tells you will sanctify you and make you mature and strong and holy, then you will not be mature and strong and holy. Reading, and meditating on and memorizing and cherishing the Word of God is God's appointed way of overcoming sin and becoming a strong, godly, mature, loving, wise person.
There are wonderful things to be seen in the Word of God that will transform you deeply if you really see them and treasure them in you.
2. We cannot see without God's help
The second point in the text is that we are not able to see these wonderful things in the Word for what they really are without God's supernatural help.
The reason is that we are fallen and corrupt and dead in sin and therefore blind and ignorant and hard. Paul described us like this in Ephesians 4:18 - we are "darkened in [our] understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in [us], because of the hardness of [our] heart."
Here's the way Moses wrote about this problem in Deuteronomy 29:2-4, "And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, 'You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt . . . those great signs and wonders [i.e., "wonderful things"]. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.'" Notice: you have seen . . . but you cannot see without God's supernatural work.
That is our plight. We are guilty and corrupt and hard and ignorant and blind without the awakening, enlivening, softening, humbling, purifying, enlightening work of God in our lives. We will never see the beauty of spiritual reality without God's illumination. We will never see the wonder and glory of what the Word teaches without God's opening the eyes of our hearts and giving us a spiritual sense of these things.
The point of teaching this and knowing this is to make us desperate for God and hungry for God, and to set us to pleading and crying out to God for his help in reading the Bible.
(On Point 2 see also: Matthew 16:17 with 11:4; and Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; John 3:6-8; Romans 8:5-8.)
3. We need to pray for God to help us see
Which leads to the last point: if knowing and treasuring the truth of God's Word is crucial to being holy and loving and mature and heavenbound, and if we by nature cannot see the wonders of God's Word and feel the attraction of its glory, then we are in a desperate condition and need to pray for God to help us see. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law."
In other words, prayer is essential to Christian living, because it is the key to unlocking the power of the Word in our lives. The glory of the Word is like the shining of the sun in the face of blind man unless God opens our eyes to that glory. And if we don't see the glory, we won't be changed (2 Corinthians 3:18; John 17:17), and if we are not changed, we are not Christians.
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays this way. He says, "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling . . ." In other words, "I've taught you these things and you have received them with your external senses, but unless you perceive the glory of them with your spiritual sense ("the eyes of your heart") you will not be changed. (See also Ephesians 3:14-19; Colossians 1:9 with 3:16). Now these are Christians he is writing to, which shows that we need to go on praying until we get to heaven for spiritual eyes to see.
Seven Kinds of Prayer to Soak our Bible Reading
But since our text is Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law," we should let this psalmist show us how he prays more generally about his reading of the Word of God. So let me close with a little tour of Psalm 119, and show you seven kinds of prayer with which you can soak your Bible reading this year.
We should pray . . .
That God would teach us his Word. Psalm 119:12b, "Teach me Your statutes." (See also verses 33, 64b, 66, 68b, 135). True learning of God's Word is only possible if God himself becomes the teacher in and through all other means of teaching.
That God would not hide his Word from us. Psalm 119:19b, "Do not hide Your commandments from me." The Bible warns of the dreadful chastisement or judgment of the Word of God being taken from us (Amos 8:11). (See also verse 43).
That God would make us understand his Word. Psalm 119:27, "Make me understand the way of Your precepts" (verses 34, 73b, 144b, 169). Here we ask God to cause us to understand - to do whatever he needs to do to get us to understand his Word.
That God would incline our hearts to his Word. Psalm 119:36, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to [dishonest] gain." The great problem with us is not primarily our reason, but our will - we are disinclined by nature to read and meditate and memorize the Word. So we must pray for God to incline our wills.
That God would give us life to keep his Word. Psalm 119:88, "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth." He is aware that we need life and energy to give ourselves to the Word and its obedience. So he asks God for this basic need. (See also verse 154b)
That God would establish our steps in his Word. Psalm 119:133, "Establish my footsteps in Your word." We are dependent on the Lord not only for understanding and life, but for the performance of the Word. That it would be established in our lives. We cannot do this on our own.
That God would seek us when we go astray from his Word. Psalm 119:176, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant." It is remarkable that this godly man ends his psalm with a confession of sin and the need for God to come after him and bring him back. This too we must pray again and again.
The Word, our Treasure
I conclude that as we enter 1998 and long to be holy and loving and radically committed to God's purpose in the city and the nations, we must be people who treasure the Word in our hearts, but more - people who know our desperate condition apart from God and that he has appointed prayer as the way that our eyes will be opened to see wonder in the Word and so be changed. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. "
How earnest was he in these kinds of prayers? How earnest should we be? One answer is given in Psalm 119:147, "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words." He gets up early! This is top priority. Would you make it that?
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"The Eyes Of The Lord" preachtheword.com
"The Eyes Of The Lord"
by David Legge | Copyright © 2010 | All Rights Reserved | www.preachtheword.com
We're turning to Zechariah please, I told you already that Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries, prophets to Judah post-exile - that means after they came out of the Empire of Babylon, they had been there 70 years. Haggai was an old man by that stage, and Zechariah was a young man. If you were here last week, you will remember that we saw that Zechariah has pertinent things to say about the circumstances of God's people that Haggai was prophesying to. We related in chapter 3, the vision of the High Priest, Joshua, in filthy garments, to why the harvest was not coming. The people were doing everything right, it seemed, they were being obedient to the prophet, but the harvest wasn't coming. Now, the Lord has led me to a verse in chapter 4 that we read last week, and I'm not going to go into details because - well, I haven't time, apart from anything else - but just to say to you that we are very much in the Spirit tonight, very much in the Spirit.
I have had on my heart for several weeks now the seed of a message on the eyes of the Lord...
Verse 10 then of chapter 4 of Zechariah: "For who hath despised the day of small things?", now that's often quoted - and, like a lot of things that are quoted, people don't know what they mean. What that means, simply, is that there were mockers, people who were mocking the children of God rebuilding the Temple. Not only were there mockers, there were people who were downcast because, you remember, some of them who were living, the older generation, could still remember the glory of Solomon's Temple - and so their hearts were downcast at the thought of this paltry thing that was being put in its place. God's saying: "Who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet", or the plumbline, "in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven". Now, what that is basically saying is that the plumbline will be in Zerubbabel's hand because he is going to finish the building of the Temple, and the cause of God will be vindicated. This is a strange phrase, 'these seven', 'with those seven'. If you were to read the whole chapter, you would see at the beginning of chapter 4 it speaks of 'a lampstand', or 'candlesticks' - quite similar to the Jewish Menorah that some of you will have seen. This is the testimony of Israel, and above the candlestick there is a bowl of oil and it's showing how their testimony is being fed by the Holy Spirit, and the oil is often a type of the Holy Spirit. But here the candlesticks, seven of them, in this lampstand refer to, look at verse 10, "They are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth".
Now verse 6, and we quoted it last week, said that: 'This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, this Temple would not be built by might', the margin says 'armies', 'nor by power', by human energy, 'but by my Spirit, saith the LORD'. These seven eyes are the eyes of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord is feeding these seven candlesticks, the oil is coming down from a bowl on top of the lampstand - so the Spirit of God is the Lord. Doesn't Corinthians say: 'The Lord is that Spirit that searches all men's hearts'?
Let us pray: Living God, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God and Father; we thank You for Your word. I thank You, Lord, for Your presence. Lord, even this day You have said to me: 'I am with you, I am with you wherever you go, I will do what I have told you' - and You are able, You have said, of this place to make a house of God, and to make a gate to heaven, that we might be like Jacob. Our God, You are the God of Jacob, Jacob who said: 'Surely God is in this place'. Faithful is He who has promised, who will also do it. We say 'Amen', so be it, to what You have said. Glorify Your name, Living God, and Your Christ - in whose name we pray. May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O God, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen.
I believe this message will give us a greater awareness of God's awareness of us...
In John chapter 5 verse 19, Jesus said that the Son does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. Let me repeat that: the Son of God does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. What I'm doing tonight is getting behind what God was doing last week. Now if you weren't here last week, or you were and you're wondering, 'Well, what was it that God was doing last week?' - well, it appeared to me that He may have been doing many things, but one that was obvious personally was that it was the awareness of God's complete awareness of us that gripped many people. The awareness of God's complete awareness of us. That led to a brokenness in the meeting - it's a long time since I have been in a meeting like it. Equally so, I have sensed - and Bertie, I know, has been the same, and perhaps others - that the presence of God has been intensified week after week as we have been studying God's word. Now, it is not for me, or indeed any man, to decide to go off and do his own thing. We need to get behind what God is doing, and I have had on my heart for several weeks now the seed of a message on the eyes of the Lord, and I believe this message gets behind what God is doing. I believe this message will give us a greater awareness of God's awareness of us, a greater awareness of God's awareness of us - and thereby increasing more the intensity of the sense of God's presence in our midst.
Now, as I was preparing this yesterday, the Lord spoke to me and said simply to my heart: 'Just bring them under the gaze of God'. Just bring them under the gaze of God! Now, I'm not going to do the Holy Spirit's job for Him, but I'm going to do what God has asked me to do - and that is: present before you the eyes of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord, Zechariah 4:10, that run to and fro throughout the earth.
I want us first to consider the One who is looking, and very simply, the One who is looking is the God who sees. He is the Living God. Now mark, please, that the God of the Bible is unique. The gods of the heathen are of wood, of stone, of clay, of precious metals - often bespeckled by rich jewels. But the Psalmist and other prophets have noted: 'Eyes they have, but they cannot see'. The God who looks upon us tonight is the God who sees, the Living God. Now, we need a reality check - what I mean simply by that is: our God is real. He is the Living God. You remember that Hagar was cast out of Abraham's house into the wilderness, and she laid down her child, her only son, Ishmael, to die - and didn't want to look upon him as he would starve to death. God came to her, and she cried: 'Thou, God, seest me'.
Now, the New King James Version, in its translation of that incident reads thus: 'Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, YouAretheGodWhoSees', that's an alternative translation to 'Thou, O God, seest me', 'YouAretheGodWhoSees; for she said, 'Have I also here seen Him who sees me?'. Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi', literally in the margin it reads 'The well of the One who lives and sees' - the One who lives and sees. 'He who planted the ear, shall He not hear; He who formed the eye, shall He not see?'.
If we have a problem with this, and if we are dull to receive and perceive this, we are guilty of unbelief...
Now, if we have a problem with this, and if we are dull to receive and perceive this - and I think this is the great modern problem, as it was the ancient problem - we are guilty of unbelief. In Evangelicalism today, particularly in the West, if there was a primary sin, it must be unbelief. We do not believe what we profess to believe. As has already been cited tonight, we sing hymns, we pray the prayers, we quote the verses, we read the passages - but, generally speaking, we go about our life as if these things were a fairytale. Hebrews warns us: 'Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God' - the Living God - 'but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin'. If you've ever sinned, you will know what the deceitfulness of sin is. It is that intoxicating sense that 'I can get away with this', and God becomes unreal to you in the thrusts of passion and desire of self to do what you want to do. You become a practical atheist at that moment - Hebrews warns us, for that will cause us to depart from the Living God - and that is the wicked heart of unbelief, and that's what you find in the godless. They say: 'The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it', but the One looking at us tonight is the God who sees, the Living God.
But something else, not only is He the God who sees, the One who is looking, but He is the God who sees everything. He counts the number of the stars, He calls them all by name. He knows the ravens and their young ones, He knows every sparrow, even the one that falls. He said: 'I know the birds of the mountains'. Now anyone can count the seeds in one apple, but only God can count the apples in one seed. He knows the very hairs of our head. He is the One who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and the earth, He humbles Himself to look upon us. The Lord looks from heaven and He sees all the sons of men. This God who is looking is the One who sees everything.
Now, I've done quite an extensive study of this this week, but it certainly will not be exhaustive in what I share with you tonight - but I'll try my best to bring you under the gaze of God with what I'm about to share. There is some very graphic imagery concerning the eyes of the Lord, and the all-seeing ability of the Lord. Let me share a couple of things. If you were to go to the prophet Ezekiel, to chapter 1, you will find there that his prophecy begins with a vision that the Holy Spirit gave him. The description of that vision could be called: 'A vision of God's glory riding on a throne chariot'. It's a very unusual depiction of the glory of God, almost being carried in a vehicle, a heavenly vehicle. Now the first thing it tells us he sees was a fierce whirlwind coming from the north. Imagine the sensation of that, the noise and the breath of it. Then he sees four living creatures, each of them having four faces: that of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. Each of these four living creatures has four wings, they are depicted as being straight feet beneath the wings, hands under the wings, and these creatures that we've seen symbolise those attributes of God which are seen in creation. To name a few: majesty, power, swiftness, and wisdom. Then Ezekiel's gaze is taken above the firmament, above the sky, beyond the clouds to a throne. It would seem that each of these four living creatures are at the corner of a cloud, and at each of these corners there is also a wheel. But it's not just a wheel, rather it's a wheel within a wheel - now that's complicated in and of itself, and we can't understand that in its entirety, but perhaps it was like an empty circle in the midst at a right angle inside another circle, a bit like a gyroscope if you know what that is. A wheel within a wheel - and these wheels are depicted as coming from heaven, above the firmament, but they are also touching the earth.
Right throughout Scripture, generally speaking, the all-seeing eyes of the Lord are found...
Now in chapter 1 of Ezekiel verse 18 it also says that these wheels within wheels were covered with eyes. Stay with me. This was a vision given to Ezekiel of God's glory riding on a throne chariot, and these great wheels within wheels were coming from heaven, but they were touching earth. Now that is simply depicting God's sovereignty. The children of Israel were still in Babylon under the iron hand and fist of a godless ruler, and the nations of the Gentiles were vaunting themselves against God's people. What this vision was saying was: 'We need to look beyond the clouds to see that there is One on the throne, and He is sovereign, and what He wills in heaven will be done on earth - the wheel touching heaven and touching earth', but see that God was moving according to what He was seeing. He moves according to what He sees, these wheels are covered with eyes.
Now, let me bring you to the book of Revelation. In chapter 1 of Revelation, just like Ezekiel, it's interesting the prophets of God that were first given a vision of God. John, on the Isle of Patmos, is given a vision of our Lord Jesus risen and glorified, and He is dressed as a Judge and a Priest. He is moving in the midst of His people, the church. There are many depictions given in that account, one of them is this: His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire - He sees the church with x-ray, piercing vision, and He sees things the way they really are. Now I touched on that last week, and I'm not going to expand. We go to Revelation chapter 12 and we see that there is a Dragon there. The Dragon has seven heads. In Zechariah 4:10, we have seen that God is depicted as having seven eyes - and so the thought is that whatever the devil thinks up, God sees and knows first, and He is able to abort all the workings of the evil one. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, and great. He is Almighty and able for anything from the kingdom of darkness.
Revelation chapter 5, another graphic image, verse 6 - we are given a glimpse of the Throne of God, and in the midst of the Throne of God is a Lamb, and that Lamb is covered. It has seven horns, speaking of strength, perfect strength, seven being the number of completion - but it has seven eyes. John tells us that the seven eyes are the seven spirits of God that are sent forth into all the earth. Now, what is the book of Revelation about? It is how God, the sovereign God of heaven, is going to consummate world history to the glory and in His Son Jesus Christ. He's going to close history perfectly through His all-seeing, all-wise, Almighty Son - who else could perfect consummation to humanity?
Graphic imagery, would you agree, of the eyes of the Lord? But you know, right throughout Scripture, generally speaking, the all-seeing eyes of the Lord are found. Right at the start of the book, Genesis 3:9, Adam sinned against God, and the cry is heard: 'Adam, where are you? Where are you Adam?' - and he thinks he can hide from God. We move on to the pre-flood sinfulness, the antediluvian society, and God's repenting - what a statement! Repenting that He ever made man. It says in chapter 6 of Genesis, verse 12, 'God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt' - God looked - 'it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth'. God judged this world with a flood, but see His eyes again - it says: 'But Noah found grace in the eyes' - in the eyes - 'of the Lord'. Because of his faith and his obedience to the command of God, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Let me ask you a very simple question: do you believe in the eyes of the Lord?
But it's not long after the society after the flood comes to replenish and reproduce upon the earth, until man is doing the same thing again - vaunting himself against the knowledge of God. He begins to build a tower, and he wants to make the top of it like heaven and found his own religion. It says: 'The LORD came down', to Babel, 'to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built' - He came down to see. Then we know, proverbially, about Sodom and Gomorrah. It says there, God speaks: 'I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know'.
I could go on - what about the example of the Kings? How many times do we read through Kings and Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, that so-and-so did evil in the sight of the Lord, or so-and-so did right in the sight of the Lord. Even Hannani's prophecy to King Asa of Judah speaks volumes in 2 Chronicles 16, it says: 'For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him'.
Now, let me ask you a very simple question: do you believe in the eyes of the Lord? The One who is looking is the One who sees, the Living God - but He is also the One who sees everything. Now, the second point is: what is He looking for? As I read through most of the scriptures related to this, surveying the data, the pattern quickly emerges that God is looking for good, or He is looking for evil. The more you look in the scriptures, the more you find that there is a purpose to His looking for good and for evil. He is looking for good that He might reward it, and He is looking for evil that He might punish it. There are many verses in this vein - Proverbs 15:3, 'The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good'; Proverbs 5, 'For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders' - the word literally means 'he weighs' - 'all his paths'.
Now, someone might think, their mind going to Habakkuk 1 where it says: 'The LORD is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity'. You might see an apparent contradiction: how is the Lord looking for evil to punish it, if His eyes cannot look upon iniquity? But that does not mean He is blind to what is going on in the world, what it means is that He will not accept those in sin, and He will not accept His own people in sin. Now, you might have a perception that this is an Old Testament concept, that the Lord is looking for good to reward and He is looking for evil to punish - but you would be wrong. Certainly, regarding the eyes of the Lord, it says of our Lord Jesus: 'He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man'. God doesn't just see men, He sees through men. There are so many examples in the Gospels of our Lord Jesus reading the minds, reading the hearts, and searching the motives of men - because He is the all-seeing God manifest in flesh.
There are so many examples in the Gospels of our Lord Jesus reading the minds, reading the hearts, and searching the motives of men...
Peter the apostle, quoting Psalm 34 in his Epistle, says: 'The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord against those who do evil'. Do you have it? The writer to the Hebrew says: 'Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do'. An Old Testament concept? Now, let me anticipate a possible question that might be in your mind, having listened to everything so far. Are you saying: 'But what about the gospel? What about the cross? What about grace? Does that not change all this?'. Well, 1 John 1 verse 7 does read: 'the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin'. God has said, even in the Old Testament, He has not dealt with us according to our sins, He has not marked our iniquity. He has said He will remember our sins no more. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He has cast them in the depths of the sea of His forgetfulness - and Romans 8, what a wonderful passage, 'There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus'.
The gospel testifies that when we repent of our sins and believe in Christ alone that we are clothed with the righteousness of God in Jesus. But hold on a minute! As Vance Havner said: 'Evangelicals have all the facts, but they make the wrong conclusions'. Those are the facts, but does this then mean that we don't need to fear that God is still able to see everything? We are legally justified - hallelujah! - if we've repented of our sins and believed in Jesus, and He does not deal with us as sinners, He deals with us as sons and daughters. But if we think that that means we have the ability to hoodwink God, you've no idea what grace means - no idea!
Our perception of forgiveness is diabolically skewed if we think that the blood of Christ was shed as a means for us to blindside God to our personal sins. There is no contradiction here, in fact there's a wonderful harmony and I want to share it with you now. What God is looking for, what God is looking for are a people who will abandon themselves to His all-seeing eye without reservation. God has always looked for it, before the cross, after the cross, He is looking for people who will expose themselves recklessly to the all-seeing eye of the Holy God of heaven without any qualification. He is looking for men and women who will walk in the purity that the blood of Jesus alone can give, but that means - as 1 John says - walking in the light. He wants us to abandon ourselves to His fiery glance, and say: 'Lord, look on me, and though You slay me, yet I will trust You'.
Now, if you've got something to hide tonight, this will be terrifying to you - because God says that He has set our iniquities before Him, and our secret sins in the light of His countenance. If you are seeking to hide something from God, you ought to be terrified. But if you are, in your heart, seeking to hide in God - my dear friend, this is sweet. The eyes of the Lord teach us that He sees us completely, and if you are reckless in your abandonment to His all-seeing eye, there's no tale-bearer that can inform on you, because He knows everything. There is no accuser that can make any accusation stick, because it's all confessed. You see that in chapter 3, didn't we? Last week we saw it. There is no forgotten skeleton that can come tumbling out of the closet, because He sees everything. There is no unsuspected weakness in our character that can come to light that could cause God to turn away from us, because He knows it all.
If you've got something to hide tonight, this will be terrifying to you - because God says that He has set our iniquities before Him, and our secret sins in the light of His countenance...
What God's holy heart longs for is someone who longs for His holy gaze upon them, someone who longs for His holy gaze upon them. This hymn writer, I think, had it - listen:
'Search me, O God, my actions try,
And let my life appear
As seen by Thine all-searching eye -
To mine my ways make clear.
Search all my sense, and know my heart
Who only canst make known,
And let the deep, the hidden part
To me be fully shown.
Throw light into the darkened cells,
Where passion reigns within;
Quicken my conscience till it feels
The loathsomeness of sin.
Search all my thoughts, the secret springs,
The motives that control;
The chambers where polluted things
Hold empire o'er the soul.
Search, till Thy fiery glance has cast
Its holy light through all,
And I by grace am brought at last
Before Thy face to fall'.
Someone has said: 'God looks most where man looks least'. Are we ready, are you ready, to invite this all-seeing God who sees everything, are you ready with abandon and reckless selflessness to say: 'God, look on me, and if it kills me, so be it; but look on me rather than looking away from me'?
Now, if you are, there will be two things that you will show. You will have a welcoming of His watching eye, like Isaiah - listen carefully to what he says: 'Look down from heaven', he's welcoming the eyes of God, 'Look down from heaven, and see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?'. 'Lord', he's saying, 'I can't live without You any more! Look down!' - and he's welcoming the watching eye of the Lord. Are you doing that?
But let's go a bit further, there is not only a welcoming the watching eye of the Lord, there's a weeping after the watching eye of the Lord. You find this in Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and in Lamentations 3 he says this - listen: 'My eyes overflow with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes flow and do not cease, without interruption, till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees'. 'My eyes bring suffering to my soul, till the Lord looks down from heaven and sees'!
We all want His eye on us in times of trouble, don't we - but who of us want His eyes to be upon us at all times?
Oh, we all know Psalm 121 don't we? The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. We all want His eye on us in times of trouble, don't we? Praise God, He is, and His eye sees His saints in affliction - but who of us want His eyes to be upon us at all times? You say: 'What in the world is God looking for?' - this is what He is looking for: people who will welcome His watching eye, and will weep for His watching eye upon them.
Julius Drusus was a Roman Tribune, and he had a house that in many places lay exposed to the whole neighbourhood - how would you like that? A tradesman offered him for five talents, he would work for him and make his house more private. Drusus said this, I quote him: 'I will give you ten talents, if you can make every room so open that all the city may behold in what manner I live'. Will you be transparent to God? Now, the real issue might be: do we really believe all this? Do we? Come on now! Do we really believe it? That there is not a moment's privacy from God, not a moment. That there is no anonymity with God. What a difference it would make! We will be like the Psalmist who says: 'I set the Lord always before me'. You see, that's the difference - it's meant to be - between the child of God and the child of the devil, for the fear of the Lord is not in their eyes. But we are meant to have a holy fear of God on us, because God's eye is on us.
It's said of Hugh Latimer, who was burned at the stake for his faith in Christ, that just before his execution, during his examination, he took heed to every word he said because he heard the nib of a quill - a pen - scratching behind him, and he knew it was on record. God's eye is always on us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is God's message, and God has told me to bring you under the gaze of God. Marquis de Lafayette was imprisoned as a political prisoner in Prussia and Austria from 1792-1797. He tells the story that on the door of his little cell there was a very small hole cut, and at that hole a soldier was placed day and night to watch him. He said after he was released that all he could see every day and night was the soldier's eye - but that eye was always there, day and night, every moment, when he looked up it was there. This was his exclamation: 'O', he said, 'It was dreadful!'. There was no escape, no hiding, when he lay down, when he rose up, that eye was watching him.
I don't know how to finish this. All I can say to you is: I have been very very conscious, very very conscious, in these last days and weeks of God's eye on me. I can tell you, it's curtailed a whole lot of sinning. I have felt, in these meetings, that God's eye has been upon us. Now, listen: some of you will not take this message kindly. Now, that doesn't bother me, because I've my eye on Someone more important than you - but, having said that, I want you to realise that this is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus only had twelve disciples, and one was a devil. Many of the crowd were following Him for the loaves and fishes, and the signs and wonders, the perks - but, my friend, if you want to be a disciple and you want to go through with God, there's nothing like it, because intimacy and the presence of God will be with you, and the power of God will be on you - but, my friend, the eye of God will be open to you, and you must be fully open and transparent with it.
------------------------
Transcribed by:
Andrew Watkins,
Preach The Word.
February 2010
www.preachtheword.com
This sermon was delivered at The Lifeboat Mission in Moy, N. Ireland, by David Legge. It was transcribed from the recording titled "The Eyes Of The Lord" - Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word.
All material by David Legge is copyrighted. However, these materials may be freely copied and distributed unaltered for the purpose of study and teaching, so long as they are made available to others free of charge, and this copyright is included. This does not include hosting or broadcasting the materials on another website, however linking to the resources on preachtheword.com is permitted. These materials may not, in any manner, be sold or used to solicit 'donations' from others, nor may they be included in anything you intend to copyright, sell, or offer for a fee. This copyright is exercised to keep these materials freely available to all. Any exceptions to these conditions must be explicitly approved by Preach The Word. [Read guidelines...]
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We're turning to Zechariah please, I told you already that Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries, prophets to Judah post-exile - that means after they came out of the Empire of Babylon, they had been there 70 years. Haggai was an old man by that stage, and Zechariah was a young man. If you were here last week, you will remember that we saw that Zechariah has pertinent things to say about the circumstances of God's people that Haggai was prophesying to. We related in chapter 3, the vision of the High Priest, Joshua, in filthy garments, to why the harvest was not coming. The people were doing everything right, it seemed, they were being obedient to the prophet, but the harvest wasn't coming. Now, the Lord has led me to a verse in chapter 4 that we read last week, and I'm not going to go into details because - well, I haven't time, apart from anything else - but just to say to you that we are very much in the Spirit tonight, very much in the Spirit.
I have had on my heart for several weeks now the seed of a message on the eyes of the Lord...
Verse 10 then of chapter 4 of Zechariah: "For who hath despised the day of small things?", now that's often quoted - and, like a lot of things that are quoted, people don't know what they mean. What that means, simply, is that there were mockers, people who were mocking the children of God rebuilding the Temple. Not only were there mockers, there were people who were downcast because, you remember, some of them who were living, the older generation, could still remember the glory of Solomon's Temple - and so their hearts were downcast at the thought of this paltry thing that was being put in its place. God's saying: "Who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet", or the plumbline, "in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven". Now, what that is basically saying is that the plumbline will be in Zerubbabel's hand because he is going to finish the building of the Temple, and the cause of God will be vindicated. This is a strange phrase, 'these seven', 'with those seven'. If you were to read the whole chapter, you would see at the beginning of chapter 4 it speaks of 'a lampstand', or 'candlesticks' - quite similar to the Jewish Menorah that some of you will have seen. This is the testimony of Israel, and above the candlestick there is a bowl of oil and it's showing how their testimony is being fed by the Holy Spirit, and the oil is often a type of the Holy Spirit. But here the candlesticks, seven of them, in this lampstand refer to, look at verse 10, "They are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth".
Now verse 6, and we quoted it last week, said that: 'This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, this Temple would not be built by might', the margin says 'armies', 'nor by power', by human energy, 'but by my Spirit, saith the LORD'. These seven eyes are the eyes of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord is feeding these seven candlesticks, the oil is coming down from a bowl on top of the lampstand - so the Spirit of God is the Lord. Doesn't Corinthians say: 'The Lord is that Spirit that searches all men's hearts'?
Let us pray: Living God, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God and Father; we thank You for Your word. I thank You, Lord, for Your presence. Lord, even this day You have said to me: 'I am with you, I am with you wherever you go, I will do what I have told you' - and You are able, You have said, of this place to make a house of God, and to make a gate to heaven, that we might be like Jacob. Our God, You are the God of Jacob, Jacob who said: 'Surely God is in this place'. Faithful is He who has promised, who will also do it. We say 'Amen', so be it, to what You have said. Glorify Your name, Living God, and Your Christ - in whose name we pray. May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O God, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen.
I believe this message will give us a greater awareness of God's awareness of us...
In John chapter 5 verse 19, Jesus said that the Son does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. Let me repeat that: the Son of God does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. What I'm doing tonight is getting behind what God was doing last week. Now if you weren't here last week, or you were and you're wondering, 'Well, what was it that God was doing last week?' - well, it appeared to me that He may have been doing many things, but one that was obvious personally was that it was the awareness of God's complete awareness of us that gripped many people. The awareness of God's complete awareness of us. That led to a brokenness in the meeting - it's a long time since I have been in a meeting like it. Equally so, I have sensed - and Bertie, I know, has been the same, and perhaps others - that the presence of God has been intensified week after week as we have been studying God's word. Now, it is not for me, or indeed any man, to decide to go off and do his own thing. We need to get behind what God is doing, and I have had on my heart for several weeks now the seed of a message on the eyes of the Lord, and I believe this message gets behind what God is doing. I believe this message will give us a greater awareness of God's awareness of us, a greater awareness of God's awareness of us - and thereby increasing more the intensity of the sense of God's presence in our midst.
Now, as I was preparing this yesterday, the Lord spoke to me and said simply to my heart: 'Just bring them under the gaze of God'. Just bring them under the gaze of God! Now, I'm not going to do the Holy Spirit's job for Him, but I'm going to do what God has asked me to do - and that is: present before you the eyes of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord, Zechariah 4:10, that run to and fro throughout the earth.
I want us first to consider the One who is looking, and very simply, the One who is looking is the God who sees. He is the Living God. Now mark, please, that the God of the Bible is unique. The gods of the heathen are of wood, of stone, of clay, of precious metals - often bespeckled by rich jewels. But the Psalmist and other prophets have noted: 'Eyes they have, but they cannot see'. The God who looks upon us tonight is the God who sees, the Living God. Now, we need a reality check - what I mean simply by that is: our God is real. He is the Living God. You remember that Hagar was cast out of Abraham's house into the wilderness, and she laid down her child, her only son, Ishmael, to die - and didn't want to look upon him as he would starve to death. God came to her, and she cried: 'Thou, God, seest me'.
Now, the New King James Version, in its translation of that incident reads thus: 'Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, YouAretheGodWhoSees', that's an alternative translation to 'Thou, O God, seest me', 'YouAretheGodWhoSees; for she said, 'Have I also here seen Him who sees me?'. Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi', literally in the margin it reads 'The well of the One who lives and sees' - the One who lives and sees. 'He who planted the ear, shall He not hear; He who formed the eye, shall He not see?'.
If we have a problem with this, and if we are dull to receive and perceive this, we are guilty of unbelief...
Now, if we have a problem with this, and if we are dull to receive and perceive this - and I think this is the great modern problem, as it was the ancient problem - we are guilty of unbelief. In Evangelicalism today, particularly in the West, if there was a primary sin, it must be unbelief. We do not believe what we profess to believe. As has already been cited tonight, we sing hymns, we pray the prayers, we quote the verses, we read the passages - but, generally speaking, we go about our life as if these things were a fairytale. Hebrews warns us: 'Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God' - the Living God - 'but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin'. If you've ever sinned, you will know what the deceitfulness of sin is. It is that intoxicating sense that 'I can get away with this', and God becomes unreal to you in the thrusts of passion and desire of self to do what you want to do. You become a practical atheist at that moment - Hebrews warns us, for that will cause us to depart from the Living God - and that is the wicked heart of unbelief, and that's what you find in the godless. They say: 'The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it', but the One looking at us tonight is the God who sees, the Living God.
But something else, not only is He the God who sees, the One who is looking, but He is the God who sees everything. He counts the number of the stars, He calls them all by name. He knows the ravens and their young ones, He knows every sparrow, even the one that falls. He said: 'I know the birds of the mountains'. Now anyone can count the seeds in one apple, but only God can count the apples in one seed. He knows the very hairs of our head. He is the One who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and the earth, He humbles Himself to look upon us. The Lord looks from heaven and He sees all the sons of men. This God who is looking is the One who sees everything.
Now, I've done quite an extensive study of this this week, but it certainly will not be exhaustive in what I share with you tonight - but I'll try my best to bring you under the gaze of God with what I'm about to share. There is some very graphic imagery concerning the eyes of the Lord, and the all-seeing ability of the Lord. Let me share a couple of things. If you were to go to the prophet Ezekiel, to chapter 1, you will find there that his prophecy begins with a vision that the Holy Spirit gave him. The description of that vision could be called: 'A vision of God's glory riding on a throne chariot'. It's a very unusual depiction of the glory of God, almost being carried in a vehicle, a heavenly vehicle. Now the first thing it tells us he sees was a fierce whirlwind coming from the north. Imagine the sensation of that, the noise and the breath of it. Then he sees four living creatures, each of them having four faces: that of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. Each of these four living creatures has four wings, they are depicted as being straight feet beneath the wings, hands under the wings, and these creatures that we've seen symbolise those attributes of God which are seen in creation. To name a few: majesty, power, swiftness, and wisdom. Then Ezekiel's gaze is taken above the firmament, above the sky, beyond the clouds to a throne. It would seem that each of these four living creatures are at the corner of a cloud, and at each of these corners there is also a wheel. But it's not just a wheel, rather it's a wheel within a wheel - now that's complicated in and of itself, and we can't understand that in its entirety, but perhaps it was like an empty circle in the midst at a right angle inside another circle, a bit like a gyroscope if you know what that is. A wheel within a wheel - and these wheels are depicted as coming from heaven, above the firmament, but they are also touching the earth.
Right throughout Scripture, generally speaking, the all-seeing eyes of the Lord are found...
Now in chapter 1 of Ezekiel verse 18 it also says that these wheels within wheels were covered with eyes. Stay with me. This was a vision given to Ezekiel of God's glory riding on a throne chariot, and these great wheels within wheels were coming from heaven, but they were touching earth. Now that is simply depicting God's sovereignty. The children of Israel were still in Babylon under the iron hand and fist of a godless ruler, and the nations of the Gentiles were vaunting themselves against God's people. What this vision was saying was: 'We need to look beyond the clouds to see that there is One on the throne, and He is sovereign, and what He wills in heaven will be done on earth - the wheel touching heaven and touching earth', but see that God was moving according to what He was seeing. He moves according to what He sees, these wheels are covered with eyes.
Now, let me bring you to the book of Revelation. In chapter 1 of Revelation, just like Ezekiel, it's interesting the prophets of God that were first given a vision of God. John, on the Isle of Patmos, is given a vision of our Lord Jesus risen and glorified, and He is dressed as a Judge and a Priest. He is moving in the midst of His people, the church. There are many depictions given in that account, one of them is this: His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire - He sees the church with x-ray, piercing vision, and He sees things the way they really are. Now I touched on that last week, and I'm not going to expand. We go to Revelation chapter 12 and we see that there is a Dragon there. The Dragon has seven heads. In Zechariah 4:10, we have seen that God is depicted as having seven eyes - and so the thought is that whatever the devil thinks up, God sees and knows first, and He is able to abort all the workings of the evil one. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, and great. He is Almighty and able for anything from the kingdom of darkness.
Revelation chapter 5, another graphic image, verse 6 - we are given a glimpse of the Throne of God, and in the midst of the Throne of God is a Lamb, and that Lamb is covered. It has seven horns, speaking of strength, perfect strength, seven being the number of completion - but it has seven eyes. John tells us that the seven eyes are the seven spirits of God that are sent forth into all the earth. Now, what is the book of Revelation about? It is how God, the sovereign God of heaven, is going to consummate world history to the glory and in His Son Jesus Christ. He's going to close history perfectly through His all-seeing, all-wise, Almighty Son - who else could perfect consummation to humanity?
Graphic imagery, would you agree, of the eyes of the Lord? But you know, right throughout Scripture, generally speaking, the all-seeing eyes of the Lord are found. Right at the start of the book, Genesis 3:9, Adam sinned against God, and the cry is heard: 'Adam, where are you? Where are you Adam?' - and he thinks he can hide from God. We move on to the pre-flood sinfulness, the antediluvian society, and God's repenting - what a statement! Repenting that He ever made man. It says in chapter 6 of Genesis, verse 12, 'God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt' - God looked - 'it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth'. God judged this world with a flood, but see His eyes again - it says: 'But Noah found grace in the eyes' - in the eyes - 'of the Lord'. Because of his faith and his obedience to the command of God, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Let me ask you a very simple question: do you believe in the eyes of the Lord?
But it's not long after the society after the flood comes to replenish and reproduce upon the earth, until man is doing the same thing again - vaunting himself against the knowledge of God. He begins to build a tower, and he wants to make the top of it like heaven and found his own religion. It says: 'The LORD came down', to Babel, 'to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built' - He came down to see. Then we know, proverbially, about Sodom and Gomorrah. It says there, God speaks: 'I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know'.
I could go on - what about the example of the Kings? How many times do we read through Kings and Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, that so-and-so did evil in the sight of the Lord, or so-and-so did right in the sight of the Lord. Even Hannani's prophecy to King Asa of Judah speaks volumes in 2 Chronicles 16, it says: 'For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him'.
Now, let me ask you a very simple question: do you believe in the eyes of the Lord? The One who is looking is the One who sees, the Living God - but He is also the One who sees everything. Now, the second point is: what is He looking for? As I read through most of the scriptures related to this, surveying the data, the pattern quickly emerges that God is looking for good, or He is looking for evil. The more you look in the scriptures, the more you find that there is a purpose to His looking for good and for evil. He is looking for good that He might reward it, and He is looking for evil that He might punish it. There are many verses in this vein - Proverbs 15:3, 'The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good'; Proverbs 5, 'For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders' - the word literally means 'he weighs' - 'all his paths'.
Now, someone might think, their mind going to Habakkuk 1 where it says: 'The LORD is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity'. You might see an apparent contradiction: how is the Lord looking for evil to punish it, if His eyes cannot look upon iniquity? But that does not mean He is blind to what is going on in the world, what it means is that He will not accept those in sin, and He will not accept His own people in sin. Now, you might have a perception that this is an Old Testament concept, that the Lord is looking for good to reward and He is looking for evil to punish - but you would be wrong. Certainly, regarding the eyes of the Lord, it says of our Lord Jesus: 'He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man'. God doesn't just see men, He sees through men. There are so many examples in the Gospels of our Lord Jesus reading the minds, reading the hearts, and searching the motives of men - because He is the all-seeing God manifest in flesh.
There are so many examples in the Gospels of our Lord Jesus reading the minds, reading the hearts, and searching the motives of men...
Peter the apostle, quoting Psalm 34 in his Epistle, says: 'The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord against those who do evil'. Do you have it? The writer to the Hebrew says: 'Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do'. An Old Testament concept? Now, let me anticipate a possible question that might be in your mind, having listened to everything so far. Are you saying: 'But what about the gospel? What about the cross? What about grace? Does that not change all this?'. Well, 1 John 1 verse 7 does read: 'the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin'. God has said, even in the Old Testament, He has not dealt with us according to our sins, He has not marked our iniquity. He has said He will remember our sins no more. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He has cast them in the depths of the sea of His forgetfulness - and Romans 8, what a wonderful passage, 'There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus'.
The gospel testifies that when we repent of our sins and believe in Christ alone that we are clothed with the righteousness of God in Jesus. But hold on a minute! As Vance Havner said: 'Evangelicals have all the facts, but they make the wrong conclusions'. Those are the facts, but does this then mean that we don't need to fear that God is still able to see everything? We are legally justified - hallelujah! - if we've repented of our sins and believed in Jesus, and He does not deal with us as sinners, He deals with us as sons and daughters. But if we think that that means we have the ability to hoodwink God, you've no idea what grace means - no idea!
Our perception of forgiveness is diabolically skewed if we think that the blood of Christ was shed as a means for us to blindside God to our personal sins. There is no contradiction here, in fact there's a wonderful harmony and I want to share it with you now. What God is looking for, what God is looking for are a people who will abandon themselves to His all-seeing eye without reservation. God has always looked for it, before the cross, after the cross, He is looking for people who will expose themselves recklessly to the all-seeing eye of the Holy God of heaven without any qualification. He is looking for men and women who will walk in the purity that the blood of Jesus alone can give, but that means - as 1 John says - walking in the light. He wants us to abandon ourselves to His fiery glance, and say: 'Lord, look on me, and though You slay me, yet I will trust You'.
Now, if you've got something to hide tonight, this will be terrifying to you - because God says that He has set our iniquities before Him, and our secret sins in the light of His countenance. If you are seeking to hide something from God, you ought to be terrified. But if you are, in your heart, seeking to hide in God - my dear friend, this is sweet. The eyes of the Lord teach us that He sees us completely, and if you are reckless in your abandonment to His all-seeing eye, there's no tale-bearer that can inform on you, because He knows everything. There is no accuser that can make any accusation stick, because it's all confessed. You see that in chapter 3, didn't we? Last week we saw it. There is no forgotten skeleton that can come tumbling out of the closet, because He sees everything. There is no unsuspected weakness in our character that can come to light that could cause God to turn away from us, because He knows it all.
If you've got something to hide tonight, this will be terrifying to you - because God says that He has set our iniquities before Him, and our secret sins in the light of His countenance...
What God's holy heart longs for is someone who longs for His holy gaze upon them, someone who longs for His holy gaze upon them. This hymn writer, I think, had it - listen:
'Search me, O God, my actions try,
And let my life appear
As seen by Thine all-searching eye -
To mine my ways make clear.
Search all my sense, and know my heart
Who only canst make known,
And let the deep, the hidden part
To me be fully shown.
Throw light into the darkened cells,
Where passion reigns within;
Quicken my conscience till it feels
The loathsomeness of sin.
Search all my thoughts, the secret springs,
The motives that control;
The chambers where polluted things
Hold empire o'er the soul.
Search, till Thy fiery glance has cast
Its holy light through all,
And I by grace am brought at last
Before Thy face to fall'.
Someone has said: 'God looks most where man looks least'. Are we ready, are you ready, to invite this all-seeing God who sees everything, are you ready with abandon and reckless selflessness to say: 'God, look on me, and if it kills me, so be it; but look on me rather than looking away from me'?
Now, if you are, there will be two things that you will show. You will have a welcoming of His watching eye, like Isaiah - listen carefully to what he says: 'Look down from heaven', he's welcoming the eyes of God, 'Look down from heaven, and see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?'. 'Lord', he's saying, 'I can't live without You any more! Look down!' - and he's welcoming the watching eye of the Lord. Are you doing that?
But let's go a bit further, there is not only a welcoming the watching eye of the Lord, there's a weeping after the watching eye of the Lord. You find this in Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, and in Lamentations 3 he says this - listen: 'My eyes overflow with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes flow and do not cease, without interruption, till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees'. 'My eyes bring suffering to my soul, till the Lord looks down from heaven and sees'!
We all want His eye on us in times of trouble, don't we - but who of us want His eyes to be upon us at all times?
Oh, we all know Psalm 121 don't we? The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. We all want His eye on us in times of trouble, don't we? Praise God, He is, and His eye sees His saints in affliction - but who of us want His eyes to be upon us at all times? You say: 'What in the world is God looking for?' - this is what He is looking for: people who will welcome His watching eye, and will weep for His watching eye upon them.
Julius Drusus was a Roman Tribune, and he had a house that in many places lay exposed to the whole neighbourhood - how would you like that? A tradesman offered him for five talents, he would work for him and make his house more private. Drusus said this, I quote him: 'I will give you ten talents, if you can make every room so open that all the city may behold in what manner I live'. Will you be transparent to God? Now, the real issue might be: do we really believe all this? Do we? Come on now! Do we really believe it? That there is not a moment's privacy from God, not a moment. That there is no anonymity with God. What a difference it would make! We will be like the Psalmist who says: 'I set the Lord always before me'. You see, that's the difference - it's meant to be - between the child of God and the child of the devil, for the fear of the Lord is not in their eyes. But we are meant to have a holy fear of God on us, because God's eye is on us.
It's said of Hugh Latimer, who was burned at the stake for his faith in Christ, that just before his execution, during his examination, he took heed to every word he said because he heard the nib of a quill - a pen - scratching behind him, and he knew it was on record. God's eye is always on us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is God's message, and God has told me to bring you under the gaze of God. Marquis de Lafayette was imprisoned as a political prisoner in Prussia and Austria from 1792-1797. He tells the story that on the door of his little cell there was a very small hole cut, and at that hole a soldier was placed day and night to watch him. He said after he was released that all he could see every day and night was the soldier's eye - but that eye was always there, day and night, every moment, when he looked up it was there. This was his exclamation: 'O', he said, 'It was dreadful!'. There was no escape, no hiding, when he lay down, when he rose up, that eye was watching him.
I don't know how to finish this. All I can say to you is: I have been very very conscious, very very conscious, in these last days and weeks of God's eye on me. I can tell you, it's curtailed a whole lot of sinning. I have felt, in these meetings, that God's eye has been upon us. Now, listen: some of you will not take this message kindly. Now, that doesn't bother me, because I've my eye on Someone more important than you - but, having said that, I want you to realise that this is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus only had twelve disciples, and one was a devil. Many of the crowd were following Him for the loaves and fishes, and the signs and wonders, the perks - but, my friend, if you want to be a disciple and you want to go through with God, there's nothing like it, because intimacy and the presence of God will be with you, and the power of God will be on you - but, my friend, the eye of God will be open to you, and you must be fully open and transparent with it.
------------------------
Transcribed by:
Andrew Watkins,
Preach The Word.
February 2010
www.preachtheword.com
This sermon was delivered at The Lifeboat Mission in Moy, N. Ireland, by David Legge. It was transcribed from the recording titled "The Eyes Of The Lord" - Transcribed by Andrew Watkins, Preach The Word.
All material by David Legge is copyrighted. However, these materials may be freely copied and distributed unaltered for the purpose of study and teaching, so long as they are made available to others free of charge, and this copyright is included. This does not include hosting or broadcasting the materials on another website, however linking to the resources on preachtheword.com is permitted. These materials may not, in any manner, be sold or used to solicit 'donations' from others, nor may they be included in anything you intend to copyright, sell, or offer for a fee. This copyright is exercised to keep these materials freely available to all. Any exceptions to these conditions must be explicitly approved by Preach The Word. [Read guidelines...]
sermon No:343 stillvoices.org
Sermon No. 343
“OPEN HIS EYES THAT HE MAY SEE”
A sermon delivered by Batsell Barrett Baxter on January 7, 1962 at the Hillsboro
Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee and heard over radio station WLAC at 8:05 P.
M.
In the ninth century BC, Elisha was one of God’s most influential spokesmen. He was one of the greatest of God’s
prophets and his influence was great both on those of his own generation and on men down through the centuries. His
influence was in the direction of spiritual values. He shared a very close and personal relationship with God and this
affected everything that he said and did.
In the second book of Kings there is a very revealing story. “Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he
took council with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the
king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for hither the Syrians are coming down.” Another
translation makes this even clearer, “In such and such a place shall we establish an ambush ... Beware that thou pass not
such a place; for thither the Syrians lie in wait.” “And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told
him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice (meaning many times). And the heart of the
king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me
which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king; But Elisha, the prophet that is
in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and see where he is,
that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
“Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night and compassed the city about.
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was
round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my Master! how shall we do? and he answered , Fear not; for
they that are with us are more than they that are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his
eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire around about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah and
said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha
... and the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” (II Kings 6:8-18, 23).
In this reading there are two sentences that stand out and become our text: “Fear not; for they that are with us are more
than they that are with them ... Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” These sentences were needed by
the servant of Elisha in the long ago; they are needed by all of God’s children today. Let us explore them and see just
what meaning they may hold for us.
More Than the Eye Can See
In our day, too, we often feel that we face fearful odds in the world about us. Evil is very rich, very powerful, and
deeply entrenched. First of all, irreligion is very strong in the world. Godless Communism has under its control more
than one billion people. Every school in the Russian empire aggressively seeks to destroy every trace of religion.
Recently, when Dr. Norvel Young returned from Russia, he described a bulletin-board display in one of the elementary
schools which branded religion as the “opiate of the people,” warning the children against such outworn superstitions
as faith in God and Christ. But, irreligion is also a strong factor in our country as well as in Russia. There are a great
many people in high places whose words and examples destroy faith and downgrade religion. Particularly is this true in
many institutions of higher learning throughout our land.
In the second place, another of the hurtful forces about us is wrong religion. Visualize for a moment the hundreds of
millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Confucionists, Shintoists, and Moslems. These often are very sincere and very earnest,
but they are also very wrong in their efforts to worship God. They do not know the only true and living God, and the
name of Jesus Christ is utterly meaningless to most of them. Then, think of the millions who wear the name of Christ
but who do not know him nor his church in the pure New Testament way. Surely wrong religion is a formidable foe .
Another of the great discouraging influences in our world is the moral weakness of mankind. Even good people, wellinformed
people, often sink in their behavior to the level of animals. Lust, hate, greed, envy and strife are common
even in the enlightened twentieth century. We are faced by fearful odds and sometimes when we compare our visible
strength--limited numbers, wealth and influence--with these vast forces that are against us, we become discouraged and
feel that the battle is hopeless.
But--The Early Christians
It is at this point that we need to turn our eyes back to the first century and visualize the situation faced by those with
whom Christianity began. Discouragement seems obvious and overwhelming, when we realize that even the divine Son
of God was not accepted by his own people, but rather was ignominiously crucified. When the twelve apostles were left
to establish the church and to launch the Christian era, even one of their own number had to be written off as a traitor.
They were immediately met by Jewish antagonisms and persecutions. They also faced the strong negative influence of
an absolute Roman dictatorship. The emperor claimed to be divine and demanded the allegiance of every subject
throughout the empire. What a negative climate for the establishment of the Christian religion! Also, paganism was
universal and triumphant. The mystery religions were known everywhere. Their temples were large, magnificent
buildings in every major city. All across the Roman world these mystery religions had blinded the people’s eyes to the
true God and his worship. What chance did Christianity have?
On the surface, measured with the eye of human reason rather than with the eye of faith, the establishment and spread
of Christianity was hopeless. However, there were forces at work that could not be seen with the natural eye and these
forces entirely changed the picture. Imagine the apostle Paul coming into Athens. So far as the record goes, he was
alone. As he walked through the streets he observed the hundreds of idols and altars to the various gods and goddesses.
When he lifted his eyes to Athens’ crowning-hill, the Acropolis, he observed the magnificent Parthenon, which, with
the other temples that surrounded it, was built for the worship of a pagan deity. What chance had he to change all of
this? Remember, too, that his gospel was a strange sounding story in itself. How convincing would it be to tell the
people that the only living God had sent his only begotten Son into the world and that he had lived in lowly Palestine
for a third of a century. How convincing would it be to tell them that this Messiah had been a carpenter in the small city
of Nazareth, that he had no wealth, and no illustrious following? What would the pagans think when told that his own
people, led by their religious leaders had called for his crucifixion and that the Roman soldier had nailed him to a
cross? Yet, amazingly, some did believe. Dionysius, the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others.
A little later Paul entered the equally pagan city of Corinth. On its crowning hill was another great temple served by
many priests and also using a thousand priestesses, or harlots, in the practice of its religion. What chance had
Christianity in this setting? Yet, just a little later on, the apostle Paul write these inspiring words to the church that had
been established in the shadow of this pagan temple, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the
world, or life, or death, of things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (I
Cor. 3:21-23). In some strange way the future belonged not to paganism, nor to the Roman dictatorship, nor to the
strongly entrenched Jewish religion, but to the lowly Nazarene and his humble followers. Again, “They that are with us
are more than they that are with them.”
Our tendency today is to look at the world about us through the eye of human reason, and to forget the realm of the
spirit. David made this mistake in the long ago by trusting in his own strength rather than in the strength of God. You
will recall the occasion when, in his own human pride, he called for the numbering of Israel. When afterward he
discovered that his strength lay not in numbers, but in the power of God, he said, “I have sinned greatly in that which I
have done: but now, O Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
(II Samuel 24:10). In contrast to David, Gideon trusted in the strength of Jehovah. With an army of 32,000 he was
ready to march to battle against the Midianites. God told him that the army was too large, so 22,000 were allowed to go
home, but even the 10,000 that remained were too many. The army was further reduced to 300 men. These men then
conquered the hosts of Midian; the power was obviously God’s power. (Judges 7).
When we contemplate the forces about us, hurtful to the religion of our Lord, we need to look beyond our own strength
and remember that there is an unseen power that makes all the difference. Like Elisha’s servant, we need to remember,
“They that are with us are more than they that are with them.”
Spiritual Blindness
Some people go through life blind to the beauties of nature. The hills, the valleys the streams, the trees and the flowers
that beautify our world are hardly seen by them. They are so preoccupied that the beauty of the world about them is
wasted. There are others who see and appreciate the beauties of nature, but are blind to the God who created and
sustains nature. They marvel at the intricate delicacy of a flower, but fail to appreciate the God who created that beauty.
Similarly, there are those who are blind to spiritual matters. These are many in our day for whom prayer, Bible reading,
and worship have little meaning. The reality of Christ, of God, and of heaven has somehow passed then by. They would
consider the “fruit of the spirit” listed by the apostle Paul in Gal. 5:22-23, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control,” as of little importance. To many, these are qualities of weakness rather
than strength. Those who are blind to spiritual values consider themselves the strong men of our world. They build
highways and bridges; they dig tunnels under our rivers. They walk the steel girders of our skyscrapers. They sail the
great dreadnaughts of the sea and march men into battle. They are the strong men of the world in contrast to the weak
who believe and trust in spiritual forces. But it is they who are blind, and we need to pray that their eyes may be opened
that they may see that the eternal values and the lasting strength is not of physical might, but the invisible strength of
the spirit. As one contemplates the graveyards of the great battleships and destroyers of past years, he feels something
of the impermanence of military power. Or, in passing a field where airplanes of a past war are stored row on row by
the thousands, one gets something of the feeling of the transience of military power. Everything material becomes old
and obsolete.
Even many Christians, like Elisha’s servant, are blind to the reality of spiritual things. Even preachers and teachers and
elders sometimes make decisions upon the basis of sight rather than the basis of faith. The material is so real because it
can be seen and measured; the spiritual is so unreal because it lacks these visible qualities.
In the long ago God had led his people to the southern boundary of the promised land and they sent their spies to report
on the condition of Canaan; they made this same mistake. The ten brought back the report that the people were giants
and their cities well fortified. They then concluded that the unarmed host of Israel was no match for the inhabitants of
the land. (Num. 13-14). God turned this faithless host of Israelites back to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
Their mistake was simply that they trusted the eye of human reason rather than the eye of faith.
Occasionally we read or hear, “God has no hands, but our hands, no feet but our feet, no eyes but our eyes, no ears but
our ears, no tongues but our tongues.” Don’t you believe it. God has infinite power beyond any power that we may
possess. We can understand why these words might be written in trying to encourage people to do their best for the
Lord, but in a deeper sense we need to realize that God’s power is infinite and that it is not limited to our weak service.
He has a power that we know not of. We need to pray the prayer of Elisha “O, Jehovah, open our eyes that we may see.
Conclusion
As we live our lives, we must come to realize that the things of the spirit are more important and more lasting than the
things of the flesh. We come to realize this best when we stand face to face with death by the side of an open grave.
When we have laid to rest a beloved companion, a father or mother, or a child, we realize with a clarity impossible at
other times the meaninglessness of the material things about us. Houses and lands no longer seem very important at a
time like this. Earthly ambitions and achievements seem equally meaningless. Only the things of the spirit matter.
For those who have had eyes to see it, there has always been hope for the triumph of right. God’s infinite spiritual
power has changed the blackness of night to the brilliance of day. Ask Moses, ask Daniel, ask Paul, and the host of
God’s servants who have triumphed through faith. Let us pray, O Jehovah, open our eyes that we may see “... that they
that are with us are more than they that are with them.”
“OPEN HIS EYES THAT HE MAY SEE”
A sermon delivered by Batsell Barrett Baxter on January 7, 1962 at the Hillsboro
Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee and heard over radio station WLAC at 8:05 P.
M.
In the ninth century BC, Elisha was one of God’s most influential spokesmen. He was one of the greatest of God’s
prophets and his influence was great both on those of his own generation and on men down through the centuries. His
influence was in the direction of spiritual values. He shared a very close and personal relationship with God and this
affected everything that he said and did.
In the second book of Kings there is a very revealing story. “Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he
took council with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto the
king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for hither the Syrians are coming down.” Another
translation makes this even clearer, “In such and such a place shall we establish an ambush ... Beware that thou pass not
such a place; for thither the Syrians lie in wait.” “And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told
him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor twice (meaning many times). And the heart of the
king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me
which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord, O king; But Elisha, the prophet that is
in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and see where he is,
that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
“Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night and compassed the city about.
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was
round about the city. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my Master! how shall we do? and he answered , Fear not; for
they that are with us are more than they that are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his
eyes, that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire around about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto Jehovah and
said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha
... and the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.” (II Kings 6:8-18, 23).
In this reading there are two sentences that stand out and become our text: “Fear not; for they that are with us are more
than they that are with them ... Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” These sentences were needed by
the servant of Elisha in the long ago; they are needed by all of God’s children today. Let us explore them and see just
what meaning they may hold for us.
More Than the Eye Can See
In our day, too, we often feel that we face fearful odds in the world about us. Evil is very rich, very powerful, and
deeply entrenched. First of all, irreligion is very strong in the world. Godless Communism has under its control more
than one billion people. Every school in the Russian empire aggressively seeks to destroy every trace of religion.
Recently, when Dr. Norvel Young returned from Russia, he described a bulletin-board display in one of the elementary
schools which branded religion as the “opiate of the people,” warning the children against such outworn superstitions
as faith in God and Christ. But, irreligion is also a strong factor in our country as well as in Russia. There are a great
many people in high places whose words and examples destroy faith and downgrade religion. Particularly is this true in
many institutions of higher learning throughout our land.
In the second place, another of the hurtful forces about us is wrong religion. Visualize for a moment the hundreds of
millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Confucionists, Shintoists, and Moslems. These often are very sincere and very earnest,
but they are also very wrong in their efforts to worship God. They do not know the only true and living God, and the
name of Jesus Christ is utterly meaningless to most of them. Then, think of the millions who wear the name of Christ
but who do not know him nor his church in the pure New Testament way. Surely wrong religion is a formidable foe .
Another of the great discouraging influences in our world is the moral weakness of mankind. Even good people, wellinformed
people, often sink in their behavior to the level of animals. Lust, hate, greed, envy and strife are common
even in the enlightened twentieth century. We are faced by fearful odds and sometimes when we compare our visible
strength--limited numbers, wealth and influence--with these vast forces that are against us, we become discouraged and
feel that the battle is hopeless.
But--The Early Christians
It is at this point that we need to turn our eyes back to the first century and visualize the situation faced by those with
whom Christianity began. Discouragement seems obvious and overwhelming, when we realize that even the divine Son
of God was not accepted by his own people, but rather was ignominiously crucified. When the twelve apostles were left
to establish the church and to launch the Christian era, even one of their own number had to be written off as a traitor.
They were immediately met by Jewish antagonisms and persecutions. They also faced the strong negative influence of
an absolute Roman dictatorship. The emperor claimed to be divine and demanded the allegiance of every subject
throughout the empire. What a negative climate for the establishment of the Christian religion! Also, paganism was
universal and triumphant. The mystery religions were known everywhere. Their temples were large, magnificent
buildings in every major city. All across the Roman world these mystery religions had blinded the people’s eyes to the
true God and his worship. What chance did Christianity have?
On the surface, measured with the eye of human reason rather than with the eye of faith, the establishment and spread
of Christianity was hopeless. However, there were forces at work that could not be seen with the natural eye and these
forces entirely changed the picture. Imagine the apostle Paul coming into Athens. So far as the record goes, he was
alone. As he walked through the streets he observed the hundreds of idols and altars to the various gods and goddesses.
When he lifted his eyes to Athens’ crowning-hill, the Acropolis, he observed the magnificent Parthenon, which, with
the other temples that surrounded it, was built for the worship of a pagan deity. What chance had he to change all of
this? Remember, too, that his gospel was a strange sounding story in itself. How convincing would it be to tell the
people that the only living God had sent his only begotten Son into the world and that he had lived in lowly Palestine
for a third of a century. How convincing would it be to tell them that this Messiah had been a carpenter in the small city
of Nazareth, that he had no wealth, and no illustrious following? What would the pagans think when told that his own
people, led by their religious leaders had called for his crucifixion and that the Roman soldier had nailed him to a
cross? Yet, amazingly, some did believe. Dionysius, the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others.
A little later Paul entered the equally pagan city of Corinth. On its crowning hill was another great temple served by
many priests and also using a thousand priestesses, or harlots, in the practice of its religion. What chance had
Christianity in this setting? Yet, just a little later on, the apostle Paul write these inspiring words to the church that had
been established in the shadow of this pagan temple, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the
world, or life, or death, of things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” (I
Cor. 3:21-23). In some strange way the future belonged not to paganism, nor to the Roman dictatorship, nor to the
strongly entrenched Jewish religion, but to the lowly Nazarene and his humble followers. Again, “They that are with us
are more than they that are with them.”
Our tendency today is to look at the world about us through the eye of human reason, and to forget the realm of the
spirit. David made this mistake in the long ago by trusting in his own strength rather than in the strength of God. You
will recall the occasion when, in his own human pride, he called for the numbering of Israel. When afterward he
discovered that his strength lay not in numbers, but in the power of God, he said, “I have sinned greatly in that which I
have done: but now, O Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
(II Samuel 24:10). In contrast to David, Gideon trusted in the strength of Jehovah. With an army of 32,000 he was
ready to march to battle against the Midianites. God told him that the army was too large, so 22,000 were allowed to go
home, but even the 10,000 that remained were too many. The army was further reduced to 300 men. These men then
conquered the hosts of Midian; the power was obviously God’s power. (Judges 7).
When we contemplate the forces about us, hurtful to the religion of our Lord, we need to look beyond our own strength
and remember that there is an unseen power that makes all the difference. Like Elisha’s servant, we need to remember,
“They that are with us are more than they that are with them.”
Spiritual Blindness
Some people go through life blind to the beauties of nature. The hills, the valleys the streams, the trees and the flowers
that beautify our world are hardly seen by them. They are so preoccupied that the beauty of the world about them is
wasted. There are others who see and appreciate the beauties of nature, but are blind to the God who created and
sustains nature. They marvel at the intricate delicacy of a flower, but fail to appreciate the God who created that beauty.
Similarly, there are those who are blind to spiritual matters. These are many in our day for whom prayer, Bible reading,
and worship have little meaning. The reality of Christ, of God, and of heaven has somehow passed then by. They would
consider the “fruit of the spirit” listed by the apostle Paul in Gal. 5:22-23, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control,” as of little importance. To many, these are qualities of weakness rather
than strength. Those who are blind to spiritual values consider themselves the strong men of our world. They build
highways and bridges; they dig tunnels under our rivers. They walk the steel girders of our skyscrapers. They sail the
great dreadnaughts of the sea and march men into battle. They are the strong men of the world in contrast to the weak
who believe and trust in spiritual forces. But it is they who are blind, and we need to pray that their eyes may be opened
that they may see that the eternal values and the lasting strength is not of physical might, but the invisible strength of
the spirit. As one contemplates the graveyards of the great battleships and destroyers of past years, he feels something
of the impermanence of military power. Or, in passing a field where airplanes of a past war are stored row on row by
the thousands, one gets something of the feeling of the transience of military power. Everything material becomes old
and obsolete.
Even many Christians, like Elisha’s servant, are blind to the reality of spiritual things. Even preachers and teachers and
elders sometimes make decisions upon the basis of sight rather than the basis of faith. The material is so real because it
can be seen and measured; the spiritual is so unreal because it lacks these visible qualities.
In the long ago God had led his people to the southern boundary of the promised land and they sent their spies to report
on the condition of Canaan; they made this same mistake. The ten brought back the report that the people were giants
and their cities well fortified. They then concluded that the unarmed host of Israel was no match for the inhabitants of
the land. (Num. 13-14). God turned this faithless host of Israelites back to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
Their mistake was simply that they trusted the eye of human reason rather than the eye of faith.
Occasionally we read or hear, “God has no hands, but our hands, no feet but our feet, no eyes but our eyes, no ears but
our ears, no tongues but our tongues.” Don’t you believe it. God has infinite power beyond any power that we may
possess. We can understand why these words might be written in trying to encourage people to do their best for the
Lord, but in a deeper sense we need to realize that God’s power is infinite and that it is not limited to our weak service.
He has a power that we know not of. We need to pray the prayer of Elisha “O, Jehovah, open our eyes that we may see.
Conclusion
As we live our lives, we must come to realize that the things of the spirit are more important and more lasting than the
things of the flesh. We come to realize this best when we stand face to face with death by the side of an open grave.
When we have laid to rest a beloved companion, a father or mother, or a child, we realize with a clarity impossible at
other times the meaninglessness of the material things about us. Houses and lands no longer seem very important at a
time like this. Earthly ambitions and achievements seem equally meaningless. Only the things of the spirit matter.
For those who have had eyes to see it, there has always been hope for the triumph of right. God’s infinite spiritual
power has changed the blackness of night to the brilliance of day. Ask Moses, ask Daniel, ask Paul, and the host of
God’s servants who have triumphed through faith. Let us pray, O Jehovah, open our eyes that we may see “... that they
that are with us are more than they that are with them.”
The Sermons of John Wesley http://new.gbgm-umc.org
The Sermons of John Wesley
John Wesley (1703-1791) founded Methodism. A prolific writer, he printed several volumes of his sermons during his lifetime. The published sermons either were rewritten from ones that he had preached or were written specifically for print.
| Numeric Index | Title Index | Scriptural Index |
On A Single Eye
By John Wesley
Sermon 4
(text from the 1872 edition)
"If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" -Matthew 6:22, 23
1. "Simplicity and purity," says a devout man, "are the two wings that lift the soul up to heaven: Simplicity, which is in the intention; and purity, which is in the affections." The former of these, that great and good man, Bishop Taylor, recommends with much earnestness, in the beginning of his excellent book, "Rules of Holy Living and Dying." He sets out with insisting upon this, as the very first point in true religion, and warns us, that, without this, all our endeavours after it will be vain and ineffectual. The same truth, that strong and elegant writer, Mr. Law, earnestly presses in his "Serious Call to a Devout Life" -- a treatise which will hardly be excelled, if it be equalled, in the English tongue, either for beauty of expression, or for justness and depth of thought. And who can censure any follower of Christ, for laying ever so great stress on this point, that considers the manner wherein our Master recommends it, in the words above recited?
2. Let us attentively consider this whole passage, as it may be literally translated. "The eye is the lamp of the body:" And what the eye is to the body, the intention is to the soul. We may observe, with what exact propriety our Lord places simplicity of intention between worldly desires and worldly cares; either of which directly tend to destroy it. It follows, "If thine eye be single," singly fixed upon God, "thy whole body," that is, all thy soul, "shall be full of light," -- shall be filled with holiness and happiness. "But if thine eye be evil," -- not single, aiming at any other object, seeking anything beneath the sun, -- "thy whole body shall be full of darkness. And if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" how remote, not only from all real knowledge, but from all real holiness and happiness!
3. Considering these things, we may well cry out, "How great a thing it is to be a Christian; to be a real, inward, scriptural Christian, conformed in heart and life to the will of God! Who is sufficient for these things?" None, unless he be born of God. I do not wonder that one of the most sensible Deists should say, "I think the Bible is the finest book I ever read in my life; yet I have an insuperable objection to it: It is too good. It lays down such a plan of life, such a scheme of doctrine and practice, as is far too excellent for weak, silly men to aim at, or attempt to copy after." All this is most true, upon any other than the scriptural hypothesis. But this being allowed, all the difficulty vanishes into air. For if "all things are possible with God, then all things are possible to him that believeth."
4. But let us consider,
I. First, the former part of our Lord's declaration, -- "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light;"
II. Secondly, the latter part, -- "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness;"and,
III. Thirdly, the dreadful state of those whose eye is not single, -- "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
I.
1. And, First, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." If thine eye be single; if God is in all thy thoughts; if thou art constantly aiming at Him that is invisible; if it be thy intention in all things, small and great, in all thy conversation, to please God, to do, not thy own will, but the will of Him that sent thee into the world; if thou canst say, not to any creature, but to Him that made thee for himself,"I view thee, Lord and end of my desires;" -- then the promise will certainly take place: "Thy whole body shall be full of light;" thy whole soul shall be filled with the light of heaven, -- with the glory of the Lord resting upon thee. In all thy actions and conversation, thou shalt have not only the testimony of a good conscience toward God, but likewise of his Spirit, bearing witness with thy spirit, that all thy ways are acceptable to him.
2. When thy whole soul is full of this light, thou wilt be able (according to St. Paul's direction to the Thessalonians) to "rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks." [1 Thess. 5:16-18] For who can be constantly sensible of the loving presence of God without "rejoicing evermore?" Who can have the loving eye of his soul perpetually fixed upon God, but he will "pray without ceasing?" For his "heart is unto God without a voice, and his silence speaketh unto him." Who can be sensible that this loving Father is well-pleased with all he does and suffers, but he will be constrained "in everything to give thanks" knowing that all things "work together for good."
3. Thus shall "his whole body be full of light." The light of knowledge is, doubtless, one thing here intended; arising from "the unction of the Holy One, which abideth with him, and teacheth him of all things," -- all the things which it is now necessary for him to know in order to please God. Hereby he will have a clear knowledge of the divine will in every circumstance of life. Not without the means, but in the use of all those means which God has furnished him with. And, walking in this light, he cannot but "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." He will continually advance in all holiness, and in the whole image of God.
II.
1. Our Lord observes, Secondly, "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." If it be evil, that is, not single, (for the eye which is not single is evil) "thy whole body shall be full of darkness." It is certain there can be no medium between a single eye and an evil eye; for whenever we are not aiming at God, we are seeking happiness in some creature: And this, whatever that creature may be, is no less than idolatry. It is all one, whether we aim at the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of the imagination, the praise of men, or riches; all which St. John comprises under that general expression, "the love of the world." The eye is evil if we aim at any of these, or indeed at anything under the sun. So far as you aim at any of these, indeed, at anything beneath God, your whole soul, and the whole course of your life, will be full of darkness. Ignorance of yourselves, ignorance of your real interest, ignorance of your relation to God, will surround you with impenetrable clouds, with darkness that may be felt. And so long as the eye of your soul rests upon all or any of these, those will continue to surround your soul, and cover it with utter darkness.
2. With how many instances of this melancholy truth, -- that those whose eye is not single are totally ignorant of the nature of true religion, -- are we surrounded on every side! How many, even of good sort of people, of them whose lives are innocent, are as ignorant of themselves, of God, and of worshipping him in spirit and in truth, as either Mahometans or Heathens! And yet they are not any way defective in natural understanding: And some of them have improved their natural abilities by a liberal education, whereby they have laid in a considerable stock of deep and various learning. Yet how totally ignorant are they of God and of the things of God! How unacquainted both with the invisible and the eternal world! O why do they continue in this deplorable ignorance? It is the plain effect of this, -- their eye is not single. They do not aim at God, he is not in all their thoughts. They do not desire or think of heaven; therefore, they sink deep as hell.
3. For this reason they are as far from real holiness as they are from valuable knowledge. It is because their eye is not single that, they are such strangers to vital religion. Let them be ever so accomplished in other respects; let them be ever so learned, ever so well versed in every branch of polite literature; yea, ever so courteous, so humane; yet if their eye is not singly fixed on God they can know nothing of scriptural religion. They do not even know what Christian holiness means; what is the entrance of it, the new birth, with all the circumstances attending it: They know no more of this, than do the beasts of the field. Do they repent and believe the Gospel? How much less are they "renewed in the spirit of their minds," in the image of him that created them? As they have not the least experience of this, so they have not the least conception of it. Were you to name such a thing, you might expect to hear, "Much religion hath made thee mad:" So destitute are they, whatever accomplishments they have beside, of the only religion which avails with God.
4. And till their eye is single they are as far remote from happiness as from holiness. They may now and then have agreeable dreams, from
Wealth, honour, pleasure, or what else
This short-enduring world can give:
But none of these can satisfy the appetite of an immortal soul. Nay, all of them together cannot give rest, which is the lowest ingredient of happiness, to a never-dying spirit, which God created for the enjoyment of himself. The hungry soul, like the busy bee, wanders from flower to flower; but it goes off from each, with an abortive hope, and a deluded expectation. Every creature cries, (some with a loud and others with a secret voice) "Happiness is not in me." The height and the depth proclaim to an attentive ear, "The Creator hath not implanted in me a capacity of giving happiness: Therefore, with all thy skill and pains, thou canst not extract it from me." And indeed the more pains any of the children of men take to extract it from any earthly object, the greater will their chagrin be, -- the more secure their disappointment.
5. "But although the vulgar herd of mankind can find no happiness; although it cannot be found in the empty pleasures of the world; may it not be found in learning, even by him that has not a single eye! Surely
Content of spirit must from science flow;
For 'tis a godlike attribute to know."
By no means. On the contrary, it has been the observation of all ages, that the men who possessed the greatest learning were the most dissatisfied of all men. This occasioned a person of eminent learning to declare, "A fool may find a kind of paradise upon earth," (although this is a grand mistake) "but a wise man can find none." These are the most discontented, the most impatient, of men. Indeed, learning naturally effects this: "Knowledge," as the Apostle observes, "puffeth up." But where pride is, happiness is not; they are utterly inconsistent with each other. So much ground there is for that melancholy reflection, wherever true religion is not,
Avails it then, O Reason! to be wise?
To see this mournful sight with quicker eyes?
To know with more distinction to complain,
And have superior sense in feeling pain?
III.
1. It remains to consider, in the Third place, our Lord's important question: "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" The plain meaning is, if that principle which ought to give light to thy whole soul, as the eye does to the body; to direct thy understanding, passions, affections, tempers, -- all thy thoughts, words, and actions; if this principle itself be darkened, -- be set wrong, and put darkness for light; how great must that darkness be! How terrible its effects!
2. In order to see this in a stronger point of view, let us consider it in a few particular instances. Begin with one of no small importance. Here is a father choosing an employment for his son. If his eye be not single; if he do not singly aim at the glory of God in the salvation of his soul; if it be not his one consideration, what calling is likely to secure him the highest place in heaven; not the largest share of earthly treasure, or the highest preferment in the Church; -- the light which is in him is manifestly darkness. And O how great is that darkness! The mistake which he is in, is not a little one, but inexpressibly great. What! Do not you prefer his being a cobbler on earth, and a glorious saint in heaven, before his being a lord on earth, and a damned spirit in hell? If not, how great, unutterably great, is the darkness that covers your soul! What a fool, what a dolt, what a madman is he, how stupid beyond all expression, who judges a palace upon earth to be preferable to a throne in heaven! How unspeakably is his understanding darkened, who, to gain for his child the honour that cometh of men, will entail upon him everlasting shame in the company of the devil and his angels!
3. I cannot dismiss this subject yet, as it is of the utmost importance. How great is the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give him no better title, be he rich or poor) who will sell his own child to the devil, who will barter her own eternal happiness for any quantity of gold or silver! What a monster would any man be accounted, who devoured the flesh of his own offspring! And is he not as great a monster who, by his own act and deed, gives her to be devoured by that roaring lion? As he certainly does (so far as is in his power) who marries her to an ungodly man. "But he is rich; but he has ten thousand pounds!" What, if it were a hundred thousand? The more the worse; the less probability will she have of escaping the damnation of hell. With what face wilt thou look upon her, when she tells thee in the realms below, "Thou hast plunged me into this place of torment. Hadst thou given me to a good man, however poor, I might have now been in Abraham's bosom. But, O! What have riches profited me? They have sunk both me and thee into hell!"
4. Are any of you that are called Methodists thus merciful to your children? Seeking to marry them well (as the cant phrase is;) that is, to sell them to some purchaser that has much money, but little or no religion? Is then the light that is in you also darkness? Are ye, too, regarding God less than mammon? Are ye also without understanding? Have ye profited no more by all ye have heard? Man, woman, think what you are about! Dare you also sell your child to the devil? You undoubtedly do this (as far as in you lies) when you marry a son or a daughter to a child of the devil; though it be one that wallows in gold and silver. O take warning in time! Beware of the gilded bait! Death and hell are hid beneath. Prefer grace before gold and precious stones; glory in heaven, to riches on earth! If you do not, you are worse than the very Canaanites. They only made their children pass "through the fire" to Moloch. You make yours pass into the fire that never shall be quenched, and to stay in it for ever! O how great is the darkness that causes you, after you have done this, to "wipe your mouth, and say you have done no evil!"
5. Let us consider another case, not far distant from this. Suppose a young man, having finished his studies at the University, is desirous to minister in holy things, and, accordingly, enters into orders. What is his intention in this? What is the end he proposes to himself? If his eye be single, his one design is to save his own soul, and them that hear him; to bring as many sinners as he possibly can out of darkness into marvellous light. If, on the other hand, his eye be not single, if he aim at ease, honour, money, or preferment; the world may account him a wise man, but God says unto him, "Thou fool!" And while the light that is in him is thus darkness, "how great is that darkness!" What folly is comparable to his folly! -- one peculiarly dedicated to the God of heaven, to "mind earthly things!" A worldly Clergyman is a fool above all fools, a madman above all madmen! Such vile, infamous wretches as these are the real "ground of the contempt of the Clergy." Indolent Clergymen, pleasure-taking Clergymen, money-loving Clergymen, praise-loving Clergymen, preferment-seeking Clergymen, -- these are the wretches that cause the order in general to be condemned. These are the pests of the Christian world; the grand nuisance of mankind; a stink in the nostrils of God! Such as these were they who made St. Chrysostom to say, "Hell is paved with the souls of Christian Priests."
6. Take another case. Suppose a young woman, of an independent fortune, to be addressed at the same time by a man of wealth without religion, and a man of religion without wealth; in other words, by a rich child of the devil, and a poor child of God. What shall we say, if, other circumstances being equal, she prefer the rich man to the good man? It is plain, her eye is not single; therefore her foolish heart is darkened; and how great is that darkness which makes her judge gold and silver a greater recommendation than holiness! Which makes a child of the devil, with money, appear more amiable to her than a child of God without it! What words can sufficiently express the inexcusable folly of such a choice? What a laughing-stock (unless she severely repent) will she be to all the devils in hell, when her wealthy companion has dragged her down to his own place of torment!
7. Are there any of you that are present before God who are concerned in any of these matters? Give me leave with "great plainness of speech," to apply to your consciences "in the sight of God." You, whom God hath entrusted with sons or daughters, is your eye single in choosing partners for them? What qualifications do you seek in your sons and daughters in law? -- religion or riches? Which is your first consideration? Are you not of the old Heathen's mind,
Quaerenda pecunia primum,
Virtus post nummos?
Seek money first: Let virtue then be sought.
Bring the matter to a point. Which will you prefer? A rich Heathen, or a pious Christian? -- a child of the devil, with an estate; or the child of God, without it? -- a lord or gentleman, with the devil in his heart; (he does not hide it, his speech bewrayeth him) or a tradesman, who, you have reason to believe, has Christ dwelling in his heart? O how great is that darkness which makes you prefer a child of the devil to a child of God! Which causes you to prefer the poor trash of worldly wealth, which flies as a shadow, to the riches of eternal glory!
8. I call upon you more especially who are called Methodists. In the sight of the great God, upwards of fifty years I have ministered unto you, I have been your servant for Christ's sake. During this time I have given you many solemn warnings on this head. I now give you one more, perhaps the last. Dare any of you, in choosing your calling or situation, eye the things on earth, rather than the things above? In choosing a profession, or a companion for life, for your child, do you look at earth or heaven? And can you deliberately prefer, either for yourself or your offspring, a child of the devil with money, to a child of God without it? Why, the very Heathens cry out,
O cunae in terras animae, et caelestium inanes!
O souls, bow'd down to earth, strangers to heaven!
Repent, repent of your vile earthly-mindedness! Renounce the title of Christians, or prefer, both in your own case and the case of your children, grace to money, and heaven to earth! For the time to come, at least, "let your eye be single," that your "whole body may be full of light!"
Acknowlegements
Edited by Amber Knettle, student at Northwest Nazarene College (Nampa, ID), with corrections by George Lyons for the Wesley Center for Applied Theology.The text for John Wesley's sermons originally came from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
John Wesley (1703-1791) founded Methodism. A prolific writer, he printed several volumes of his sermons during his lifetime. The published sermons either were rewritten from ones that he had preached or were written specifically for print.
| Numeric Index | Title Index | Scriptural Index |
On A Single Eye
By John Wesley
Sermon 4
(text from the 1872 edition)
"If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" -Matthew 6:22, 23
1. "Simplicity and purity," says a devout man, "are the two wings that lift the soul up to heaven: Simplicity, which is in the intention; and purity, which is in the affections." The former of these, that great and good man, Bishop Taylor, recommends with much earnestness, in the beginning of his excellent book, "Rules of Holy Living and Dying." He sets out with insisting upon this, as the very first point in true religion, and warns us, that, without this, all our endeavours after it will be vain and ineffectual. The same truth, that strong and elegant writer, Mr. Law, earnestly presses in his "Serious Call to a Devout Life" -- a treatise which will hardly be excelled, if it be equalled, in the English tongue, either for beauty of expression, or for justness and depth of thought. And who can censure any follower of Christ, for laying ever so great stress on this point, that considers the manner wherein our Master recommends it, in the words above recited?
2. Let us attentively consider this whole passage, as it may be literally translated. "The eye is the lamp of the body:" And what the eye is to the body, the intention is to the soul. We may observe, with what exact propriety our Lord places simplicity of intention between worldly desires and worldly cares; either of which directly tend to destroy it. It follows, "If thine eye be single," singly fixed upon God, "thy whole body," that is, all thy soul, "shall be full of light," -- shall be filled with holiness and happiness. "But if thine eye be evil," -- not single, aiming at any other object, seeking anything beneath the sun, -- "thy whole body shall be full of darkness. And if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" how remote, not only from all real knowledge, but from all real holiness and happiness!
3. Considering these things, we may well cry out, "How great a thing it is to be a Christian; to be a real, inward, scriptural Christian, conformed in heart and life to the will of God! Who is sufficient for these things?" None, unless he be born of God. I do not wonder that one of the most sensible Deists should say, "I think the Bible is the finest book I ever read in my life; yet I have an insuperable objection to it: It is too good. It lays down such a plan of life, such a scheme of doctrine and practice, as is far too excellent for weak, silly men to aim at, or attempt to copy after." All this is most true, upon any other than the scriptural hypothesis. But this being allowed, all the difficulty vanishes into air. For if "all things are possible with God, then all things are possible to him that believeth."
4. But let us consider,
I. First, the former part of our Lord's declaration, -- "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light;"
II. Secondly, the latter part, -- "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness;"and,
III. Thirdly, the dreadful state of those whose eye is not single, -- "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
I.
1. And, First, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." If thine eye be single; if God is in all thy thoughts; if thou art constantly aiming at Him that is invisible; if it be thy intention in all things, small and great, in all thy conversation, to please God, to do, not thy own will, but the will of Him that sent thee into the world; if thou canst say, not to any creature, but to Him that made thee for himself,"I view thee, Lord and end of my desires;" -- then the promise will certainly take place: "Thy whole body shall be full of light;" thy whole soul shall be filled with the light of heaven, -- with the glory of the Lord resting upon thee. In all thy actions and conversation, thou shalt have not only the testimony of a good conscience toward God, but likewise of his Spirit, bearing witness with thy spirit, that all thy ways are acceptable to him.
2. When thy whole soul is full of this light, thou wilt be able (according to St. Paul's direction to the Thessalonians) to "rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks." [1 Thess. 5:16-18] For who can be constantly sensible of the loving presence of God without "rejoicing evermore?" Who can have the loving eye of his soul perpetually fixed upon God, but he will "pray without ceasing?" For his "heart is unto God without a voice, and his silence speaketh unto him." Who can be sensible that this loving Father is well-pleased with all he does and suffers, but he will be constrained "in everything to give thanks" knowing that all things "work together for good."
3. Thus shall "his whole body be full of light." The light of knowledge is, doubtless, one thing here intended; arising from "the unction of the Holy One, which abideth with him, and teacheth him of all things," -- all the things which it is now necessary for him to know in order to please God. Hereby he will have a clear knowledge of the divine will in every circumstance of life. Not without the means, but in the use of all those means which God has furnished him with. And, walking in this light, he cannot but "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." He will continually advance in all holiness, and in the whole image of God.
II.
1. Our Lord observes, Secondly, "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." If it be evil, that is, not single, (for the eye which is not single is evil) "thy whole body shall be full of darkness." It is certain there can be no medium between a single eye and an evil eye; for whenever we are not aiming at God, we are seeking happiness in some creature: And this, whatever that creature may be, is no less than idolatry. It is all one, whether we aim at the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of the imagination, the praise of men, or riches; all which St. John comprises under that general expression, "the love of the world." The eye is evil if we aim at any of these, or indeed at anything under the sun. So far as you aim at any of these, indeed, at anything beneath God, your whole soul, and the whole course of your life, will be full of darkness. Ignorance of yourselves, ignorance of your real interest, ignorance of your relation to God, will surround you with impenetrable clouds, with darkness that may be felt. And so long as the eye of your soul rests upon all or any of these, those will continue to surround your soul, and cover it with utter darkness.
2. With how many instances of this melancholy truth, -- that those whose eye is not single are totally ignorant of the nature of true religion, -- are we surrounded on every side! How many, even of good sort of people, of them whose lives are innocent, are as ignorant of themselves, of God, and of worshipping him in spirit and in truth, as either Mahometans or Heathens! And yet they are not any way defective in natural understanding: And some of them have improved their natural abilities by a liberal education, whereby they have laid in a considerable stock of deep and various learning. Yet how totally ignorant are they of God and of the things of God! How unacquainted both with the invisible and the eternal world! O why do they continue in this deplorable ignorance? It is the plain effect of this, -- their eye is not single. They do not aim at God, he is not in all their thoughts. They do not desire or think of heaven; therefore, they sink deep as hell.
3. For this reason they are as far from real holiness as they are from valuable knowledge. It is because their eye is not single that, they are such strangers to vital religion. Let them be ever so accomplished in other respects; let them be ever so learned, ever so well versed in every branch of polite literature; yea, ever so courteous, so humane; yet if their eye is not singly fixed on God they can know nothing of scriptural religion. They do not even know what Christian holiness means; what is the entrance of it, the new birth, with all the circumstances attending it: They know no more of this, than do the beasts of the field. Do they repent and believe the Gospel? How much less are they "renewed in the spirit of their minds," in the image of him that created them? As they have not the least experience of this, so they have not the least conception of it. Were you to name such a thing, you might expect to hear, "Much religion hath made thee mad:" So destitute are they, whatever accomplishments they have beside, of the only religion which avails with God.
4. And till their eye is single they are as far remote from happiness as from holiness. They may now and then have agreeable dreams, from
Wealth, honour, pleasure, or what else
This short-enduring world can give:
But none of these can satisfy the appetite of an immortal soul. Nay, all of them together cannot give rest, which is the lowest ingredient of happiness, to a never-dying spirit, which God created for the enjoyment of himself. The hungry soul, like the busy bee, wanders from flower to flower; but it goes off from each, with an abortive hope, and a deluded expectation. Every creature cries, (some with a loud and others with a secret voice) "Happiness is not in me." The height and the depth proclaim to an attentive ear, "The Creator hath not implanted in me a capacity of giving happiness: Therefore, with all thy skill and pains, thou canst not extract it from me." And indeed the more pains any of the children of men take to extract it from any earthly object, the greater will their chagrin be, -- the more secure their disappointment.
5. "But although the vulgar herd of mankind can find no happiness; although it cannot be found in the empty pleasures of the world; may it not be found in learning, even by him that has not a single eye! Surely
Content of spirit must from science flow;
For 'tis a godlike attribute to know."
By no means. On the contrary, it has been the observation of all ages, that the men who possessed the greatest learning were the most dissatisfied of all men. This occasioned a person of eminent learning to declare, "A fool may find a kind of paradise upon earth," (although this is a grand mistake) "but a wise man can find none." These are the most discontented, the most impatient, of men. Indeed, learning naturally effects this: "Knowledge," as the Apostle observes, "puffeth up." But where pride is, happiness is not; they are utterly inconsistent with each other. So much ground there is for that melancholy reflection, wherever true religion is not,
Avails it then, O Reason! to be wise?
To see this mournful sight with quicker eyes?
To know with more distinction to complain,
And have superior sense in feeling pain?
III.
1. It remains to consider, in the Third place, our Lord's important question: "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" The plain meaning is, if that principle which ought to give light to thy whole soul, as the eye does to the body; to direct thy understanding, passions, affections, tempers, -- all thy thoughts, words, and actions; if this principle itself be darkened, -- be set wrong, and put darkness for light; how great must that darkness be! How terrible its effects!
2. In order to see this in a stronger point of view, let us consider it in a few particular instances. Begin with one of no small importance. Here is a father choosing an employment for his son. If his eye be not single; if he do not singly aim at the glory of God in the salvation of his soul; if it be not his one consideration, what calling is likely to secure him the highest place in heaven; not the largest share of earthly treasure, or the highest preferment in the Church; -- the light which is in him is manifestly darkness. And O how great is that darkness! The mistake which he is in, is not a little one, but inexpressibly great. What! Do not you prefer his being a cobbler on earth, and a glorious saint in heaven, before his being a lord on earth, and a damned spirit in hell? If not, how great, unutterably great, is the darkness that covers your soul! What a fool, what a dolt, what a madman is he, how stupid beyond all expression, who judges a palace upon earth to be preferable to a throne in heaven! How unspeakably is his understanding darkened, who, to gain for his child the honour that cometh of men, will entail upon him everlasting shame in the company of the devil and his angels!
3. I cannot dismiss this subject yet, as it is of the utmost importance. How great is the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give him no better title, be he rich or poor) who will sell his own child to the devil, who will barter her own eternal happiness for any quantity of gold or silver! What a monster would any man be accounted, who devoured the flesh of his own offspring! And is he not as great a monster who, by his own act and deed, gives her to be devoured by that roaring lion? As he certainly does (so far as is in his power) who marries her to an ungodly man. "But he is rich; but he has ten thousand pounds!" What, if it were a hundred thousand? The more the worse; the less probability will she have of escaping the damnation of hell. With what face wilt thou look upon her, when she tells thee in the realms below, "Thou hast plunged me into this place of torment. Hadst thou given me to a good man, however poor, I might have now been in Abraham's bosom. But, O! What have riches profited me? They have sunk both me and thee into hell!"
4. Are any of you that are called Methodists thus merciful to your children? Seeking to marry them well (as the cant phrase is;) that is, to sell them to some purchaser that has much money, but little or no religion? Is then the light that is in you also darkness? Are ye, too, regarding God less than mammon? Are ye also without understanding? Have ye profited no more by all ye have heard? Man, woman, think what you are about! Dare you also sell your child to the devil? You undoubtedly do this (as far as in you lies) when you marry a son or a daughter to a child of the devil; though it be one that wallows in gold and silver. O take warning in time! Beware of the gilded bait! Death and hell are hid beneath. Prefer grace before gold and precious stones; glory in heaven, to riches on earth! If you do not, you are worse than the very Canaanites. They only made their children pass "through the fire" to Moloch. You make yours pass into the fire that never shall be quenched, and to stay in it for ever! O how great is the darkness that causes you, after you have done this, to "wipe your mouth, and say you have done no evil!"
5. Let us consider another case, not far distant from this. Suppose a young man, having finished his studies at the University, is desirous to minister in holy things, and, accordingly, enters into orders. What is his intention in this? What is the end he proposes to himself? If his eye be single, his one design is to save his own soul, and them that hear him; to bring as many sinners as he possibly can out of darkness into marvellous light. If, on the other hand, his eye be not single, if he aim at ease, honour, money, or preferment; the world may account him a wise man, but God says unto him, "Thou fool!" And while the light that is in him is thus darkness, "how great is that darkness!" What folly is comparable to his folly! -- one peculiarly dedicated to the God of heaven, to "mind earthly things!" A worldly Clergyman is a fool above all fools, a madman above all madmen! Such vile, infamous wretches as these are the real "ground of the contempt of the Clergy." Indolent Clergymen, pleasure-taking Clergymen, money-loving Clergymen, praise-loving Clergymen, preferment-seeking Clergymen, -- these are the wretches that cause the order in general to be condemned. These are the pests of the Christian world; the grand nuisance of mankind; a stink in the nostrils of God! Such as these were they who made St. Chrysostom to say, "Hell is paved with the souls of Christian Priests."
6. Take another case. Suppose a young woman, of an independent fortune, to be addressed at the same time by a man of wealth without religion, and a man of religion without wealth; in other words, by a rich child of the devil, and a poor child of God. What shall we say, if, other circumstances being equal, she prefer the rich man to the good man? It is plain, her eye is not single; therefore her foolish heart is darkened; and how great is that darkness which makes her judge gold and silver a greater recommendation than holiness! Which makes a child of the devil, with money, appear more amiable to her than a child of God without it! What words can sufficiently express the inexcusable folly of such a choice? What a laughing-stock (unless she severely repent) will she be to all the devils in hell, when her wealthy companion has dragged her down to his own place of torment!
7. Are there any of you that are present before God who are concerned in any of these matters? Give me leave with "great plainness of speech," to apply to your consciences "in the sight of God." You, whom God hath entrusted with sons or daughters, is your eye single in choosing partners for them? What qualifications do you seek in your sons and daughters in law? -- religion or riches? Which is your first consideration? Are you not of the old Heathen's mind,
Quaerenda pecunia primum,
Virtus post nummos?
Seek money first: Let virtue then be sought.
Bring the matter to a point. Which will you prefer? A rich Heathen, or a pious Christian? -- a child of the devil, with an estate; or the child of God, without it? -- a lord or gentleman, with the devil in his heart; (he does not hide it, his speech bewrayeth him) or a tradesman, who, you have reason to believe, has Christ dwelling in his heart? O how great is that darkness which makes you prefer a child of the devil to a child of God! Which causes you to prefer the poor trash of worldly wealth, which flies as a shadow, to the riches of eternal glory!
8. I call upon you more especially who are called Methodists. In the sight of the great God, upwards of fifty years I have ministered unto you, I have been your servant for Christ's sake. During this time I have given you many solemn warnings on this head. I now give you one more, perhaps the last. Dare any of you, in choosing your calling or situation, eye the things on earth, rather than the things above? In choosing a profession, or a companion for life, for your child, do you look at earth or heaven? And can you deliberately prefer, either for yourself or your offspring, a child of the devil with money, to a child of God without it? Why, the very Heathens cry out,
O cunae in terras animae, et caelestium inanes!
O souls, bow'd down to earth, strangers to heaven!
Repent, repent of your vile earthly-mindedness! Renounce the title of Christians, or prefer, both in your own case and the case of your children, grace to money, and heaven to earth! For the time to come, at least, "let your eye be single," that your "whole body may be full of light!"
Acknowlegements
Edited by Amber Knettle, student at Northwest Nazarene College (Nampa, ID), with corrections by George Lyons for the Wesley Center for Applied Theology.The text for John Wesley's sermons originally came from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Sermon: The Eyes of Your Heart
Sermon: The Eyes of Your Heart
Summary: God wants us to have discernment concerning our place in his
overall, cosmic plan, and not get bogged down with peripheral things. This
discernment begins with knowing the hope of our calling, the riches of our
inheritance, and the greatness of his power in us. Only with this understanding
can we as a church be the fullness of Christ in the world.
Know: God wants us to see the ourselves and the world with spiritual eyes in
order to keep us from getting distracted and losing sight of our place and
purpose to be the fullness of Christ in the world
Feel: Futility of placing hope in the things that belong to the sphere of this world.
Do: Reflect on the role of hope in your life and how it shapes your perspective,
actions, and goals, and on how peripheral things compete with the central hope
that lies in Christ. Formulate things to pray for to help "enlighten the eyes of
your heart" concerning the world, and your place in it, and commit to pray for
them this week.
Text: Ephesians 1:15-23
Scripture Reading: John 18:36
Intro:
1. Phillip Yancey tells about watching documentary of WW2, soldiers
interviewed
a. About how they spent a particular day in the war
- One sat in foxhole all day, one a German tank came by, shot at it
- Others played cards to pass the time
- Others in furious firefights
- Day like any other day for infantryman on the front
b. Later found out they participated in the Battle of the Bulge, one of most
decisive battles of the war
- Didn't feel decisive to these soldiers
- Reason: They didn't have the big picture
2. This can happen to us as Christians
a. Everyday stuff, focus on what in front of us, lose sight of big picture
b. When lost sight of the big picture, several things can happen
- Church becomes amusement park - Activities, food, - Main thing
to enjoy self
- Oldies Radio Station - Hit songs from the past, glory days gone
- Bureaucracy - Enforce rules & policy, no one sure reason for them
- Business - Vendor of Religious goods competing with others
- Morgue - Habitually religious but spiritually dead congregate until
bodies catch up with their souls
c. Throughout history, this has happened, usually gradually
d. Still happening even today
3. The book of Ephesians is just what the doctor ordered for this
a. Last week, Paul begins with the big picture of God's purpose
b. It is all summed up in Christ v.10
4. Text: Eph 1:15-23 - Now Paul begins to narrow the focus
a. He prays is that we keep central things central in our lives
b. How? Through wisdom, revelation, in true knowledge of Christ
- Through eyes of our heart being enlightened
- See everything through God's perspective, not world's
- Then will understand what we are, and what God intends for us
c. God wants us to know three things
I. The hope of His calling (v.18)
A. How many of you have accepted Jesus as Lord and baptized?
1. Your sins washed away, and he saved you with his blood
2. (2 Tim 1:9) - Saved us & holy calling not according to our works,
but according to his purpose
3. He has called you for a purpose
B. This calling has forward perspective - "hope"
1. What is hope? (Rom 5:3-5)
a. Not mere wish like - I "hope" to get a Ferrari for birthday
b. Hope goes along with perseverance and testing
c. Hope is single minded
2. Example of faith and hope - Heb 11
a. 11:1- Faith assurance of things "hoped" for
b. List of people who called by God
c. Placed hope in something beyond what in front of them
d. Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.
C. ILL: Old Christian gentleman in twilight years of life
1. Minister preparing for funeral.
a. Had a wonderful life, kids, home, involved in activities
b. Minister finished. "Think have good summary of your life"
2. "Oh no," said the man. That not summarize my life
a. Summarize my time on earth, but not my life
b. My hope for God, that is what summarizes my life!
D. What do you hope for?
1. How would you answer that question?
a. Make the team, Graduate, college, job, retirement�
b. Should be bigger than these
c. These "goals" should be defined by hope of calling
2. (Eph 4:4) - There is one hope of your calling
a. Not called to be a student, athlete, mechanic, etc.
b. Called to be a Christian
c. Everything else falls under that calling
3. Ultimate "hope" is God - Summed up in Christ
II. The riches of his inheritance (v.18)
A. Like hope, this is also forward looking
B. Paul calls it the "riches" of our inheritance
1. When you hear the word riches, what do you think of?
a. "He is rich" "He is poor" what does that mean?
b. We use worlds definitions for rich and poor
c. Don't let world shape view of rich and poor
2. Take spirit of wisdom, enlightened heart to recognize "riches"
C. ILL: Saw a video about Teresea of Calcutta (Mother Teresea)
1. Mission to the poorest of the poor - Many left to die on street
2. Went to the Bronx to minister to poorest of the poor there
a. Poor not withered to nothing like Calcutta
b. Most had some sort of housing
3. She remarked that there was a much deeper poverty here
a. Even though many not starving to death
b. Even though they had food, housing, etc.
c. There was a poverty of spirit that ran much deeper
d. With spiritual eyes saw what true poverty & riches were
4. We are the "riches" country in the world
a. That statement comes from worldly eyes
b. Some look and see a dry, weary, poverty stricken land
D. But Bible says our citizenship is in Heaven
1. We are strangers and aliens
2. We have immeasurable riches
a. New Jerusalem in Revelation, no one is poor, starving
b. Streets of gold shows that no one is poor or starving
c. No sickness, death, crime, etc.
d. That is the inheritance we have
3. So don't let the world define what true riches are for you
4. If Christian, raise hand - You are rich!
III. Unsurpassed Power (v.19)
A. The surpassing greatness of his power
1. Paul previously focus on the future, now focuses on the present
2. Spiritually, brute strength or weapons is not about power
3. Who is the most powerful man that ever lived?
a. Ask on the street, might hear names of world leaders
b. This answer comes from a worldly perspective
4. Jesus is the most powerful man that ever lived
a. No army, brute strength, weapons, etc.
b. That type of strength is spiritually useless
B. How does God demonstrate true strength?
1. (v.20-22) First of all, he demonstrated it in Christ
a. Raised him from the dead
b. Placed about all rule, power and authority
c. All things in subjection under his feet
- Image of conquering power, foot on neck�
- Ps 110:1 - Until I make you enemies a footstool
- Ps 8:6 - Made him to rule over works of hands,
placed all things under his feet
2. Irony: He came in weakness of the flesh
a. Heb 4:15 - Tempted in a respects as we are
b. Temptation was real
c. Christ became vulnerable, was killed
d. God displayed power in his weakness
3. (2 Cor 12:7-10) - God displays his power in weakness
a. Paul's experience with spiritual power
b. Power is perfected in weakness
c. With enlightened heart, insults, distress, persecution, etc.
help to perfect strength in you
C. ILL: I started prayer meeting in Library before school in High School
1. Some people called me a Bible-Banger and teased me
2. Ever had something like that happen to you?
3. Satan wants you to feel weakness, embarrassment, shame,
a. He wants you to feel marginalized due to faith
b. Have you been insulted, distressed, persecuted, etc.?
4. Some of you have been criticized, shamed, etc.
a. At work, among "friends"
b. Doesn't mean you did wrong
c. May be because you did right
D. Jesus power is far above anything that looks like power
1. (v.22) - He has been given to be "head over all things�"
a. Head over those who think they have power over us
b. Those hostile to us have no authority of power over us
2. Lord, so powerful, he commands wind, sun, rain, storm
3. So powerful, he overcame death by overcoming sin
4. He is on our side, so that is the power that is backing us!
Concl:
1. When we have enlightened hearts and recognize these living by them
Then we can be the "fullness of Christ" on the earth (v.23)
a. Will expand on this in future lessons
b. For now, summary - church is full expression of Christ on the earth
2. In order to do this, need an enlightened heart
a. Hope of his Calling - Single-minded focus on our Lord
b. Riches of our Inheritance - True Riches
c. Unsurpassed power
3. Have you taken hold of these things? (Invitation)
4. If have already done that, pray for enlightened heart, for good vision
a. Will help us to keep the big picture in mind
b. And be able to be the fullness of Christ as a church
Summary: God wants us to have discernment concerning our place in his
overall, cosmic plan, and not get bogged down with peripheral things. This
discernment begins with knowing the hope of our calling, the riches of our
inheritance, and the greatness of his power in us. Only with this understanding
can we as a church be the fullness of Christ in the world.
Know: God wants us to see the ourselves and the world with spiritual eyes in
order to keep us from getting distracted and losing sight of our place and
purpose to be the fullness of Christ in the world
Feel: Futility of placing hope in the things that belong to the sphere of this world.
Do: Reflect on the role of hope in your life and how it shapes your perspective,
actions, and goals, and on how peripheral things compete with the central hope
that lies in Christ. Formulate things to pray for to help "enlighten the eyes of
your heart" concerning the world, and your place in it, and commit to pray for
them this week.
Text: Ephesians 1:15-23
Scripture Reading: John 18:36
Intro:
1. Phillip Yancey tells about watching documentary of WW2, soldiers
interviewed
a. About how they spent a particular day in the war
- One sat in foxhole all day, one a German tank came by, shot at it
- Others played cards to pass the time
- Others in furious firefights
- Day like any other day for infantryman on the front
b. Later found out they participated in the Battle of the Bulge, one of most
decisive battles of the war
- Didn't feel decisive to these soldiers
- Reason: They didn't have the big picture
2. This can happen to us as Christians
a. Everyday stuff, focus on what in front of us, lose sight of big picture
b. When lost sight of the big picture, several things can happen
- Church becomes amusement park - Activities, food, - Main thing
to enjoy self
- Oldies Radio Station - Hit songs from the past, glory days gone
- Bureaucracy - Enforce rules & policy, no one sure reason for them
- Business - Vendor of Religious goods competing with others
- Morgue - Habitually religious but spiritually dead congregate until
bodies catch up with their souls
c. Throughout history, this has happened, usually gradually
d. Still happening even today
3. The book of Ephesians is just what the doctor ordered for this
a. Last week, Paul begins with the big picture of God's purpose
b. It is all summed up in Christ v.10
4. Text: Eph 1:15-23 - Now Paul begins to narrow the focus
a. He prays is that we keep central things central in our lives
b. How? Through wisdom, revelation, in true knowledge of Christ
- Through eyes of our heart being enlightened
- See everything through God's perspective, not world's
- Then will understand what we are, and what God intends for us
c. God wants us to know three things
I. The hope of His calling (v.18)
A. How many of you have accepted Jesus as Lord and baptized?
1. Your sins washed away, and he saved you with his blood
2. (2 Tim 1:9) - Saved us & holy calling not according to our works,
but according to his purpose
3. He has called you for a purpose
B. This calling has forward perspective - "hope"
1. What is hope? (Rom 5:3-5)
a. Not mere wish like - I "hope" to get a Ferrari for birthday
b. Hope goes along with perseverance and testing
c. Hope is single minded
2. Example of faith and hope - Heb 11
a. 11:1- Faith assurance of things "hoped" for
b. List of people who called by God
c. Placed hope in something beyond what in front of them
d. Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.
C. ILL: Old Christian gentleman in twilight years of life
1. Minister preparing for funeral.
a. Had a wonderful life, kids, home, involved in activities
b. Minister finished. "Think have good summary of your life"
2. "Oh no," said the man. That not summarize my life
a. Summarize my time on earth, but not my life
b. My hope for God, that is what summarizes my life!
D. What do you hope for?
1. How would you answer that question?
a. Make the team, Graduate, college, job, retirement�
b. Should be bigger than these
c. These "goals" should be defined by hope of calling
2. (Eph 4:4) - There is one hope of your calling
a. Not called to be a student, athlete, mechanic, etc.
b. Called to be a Christian
c. Everything else falls under that calling
3. Ultimate "hope" is God - Summed up in Christ
II. The riches of his inheritance (v.18)
A. Like hope, this is also forward looking
B. Paul calls it the "riches" of our inheritance
1. When you hear the word riches, what do you think of?
a. "He is rich" "He is poor" what does that mean?
b. We use worlds definitions for rich and poor
c. Don't let world shape view of rich and poor
2. Take spirit of wisdom, enlightened heart to recognize "riches"
C. ILL: Saw a video about Teresea of Calcutta (Mother Teresea)
1. Mission to the poorest of the poor - Many left to die on street
2. Went to the Bronx to minister to poorest of the poor there
a. Poor not withered to nothing like Calcutta
b. Most had some sort of housing
3. She remarked that there was a much deeper poverty here
a. Even though many not starving to death
b. Even though they had food, housing, etc.
c. There was a poverty of spirit that ran much deeper
d. With spiritual eyes saw what true poverty & riches were
4. We are the "riches" country in the world
a. That statement comes from worldly eyes
b. Some look and see a dry, weary, poverty stricken land
D. But Bible says our citizenship is in Heaven
1. We are strangers and aliens
2. We have immeasurable riches
a. New Jerusalem in Revelation, no one is poor, starving
b. Streets of gold shows that no one is poor or starving
c. No sickness, death, crime, etc.
d. That is the inheritance we have
3. So don't let the world define what true riches are for you
4. If Christian, raise hand - You are rich!
III. Unsurpassed Power (v.19)
A. The surpassing greatness of his power
1. Paul previously focus on the future, now focuses on the present
2. Spiritually, brute strength or weapons is not about power
3. Who is the most powerful man that ever lived?
a. Ask on the street, might hear names of world leaders
b. This answer comes from a worldly perspective
4. Jesus is the most powerful man that ever lived
a. No army, brute strength, weapons, etc.
b. That type of strength is spiritually useless
B. How does God demonstrate true strength?
1. (v.20-22) First of all, he demonstrated it in Christ
a. Raised him from the dead
b. Placed about all rule, power and authority
c. All things in subjection under his feet
- Image of conquering power, foot on neck�
- Ps 110:1 - Until I make you enemies a footstool
- Ps 8:6 - Made him to rule over works of hands,
placed all things under his feet
2. Irony: He came in weakness of the flesh
a. Heb 4:15 - Tempted in a respects as we are
b. Temptation was real
c. Christ became vulnerable, was killed
d. God displayed power in his weakness
3. (2 Cor 12:7-10) - God displays his power in weakness
a. Paul's experience with spiritual power
b. Power is perfected in weakness
c. With enlightened heart, insults, distress, persecution, etc.
help to perfect strength in you
C. ILL: I started prayer meeting in Library before school in High School
1. Some people called me a Bible-Banger and teased me
2. Ever had something like that happen to you?
3. Satan wants you to feel weakness, embarrassment, shame,
a. He wants you to feel marginalized due to faith
b. Have you been insulted, distressed, persecuted, etc.?
4. Some of you have been criticized, shamed, etc.
a. At work, among "friends"
b. Doesn't mean you did wrong
c. May be because you did right
D. Jesus power is far above anything that looks like power
1. (v.22) - He has been given to be "head over all things�"
a. Head over those who think they have power over us
b. Those hostile to us have no authority of power over us
2. Lord, so powerful, he commands wind, sun, rain, storm
3. So powerful, he overcame death by overcoming sin
4. He is on our side, so that is the power that is backing us!
Concl:
1. When we have enlightened hearts and recognize these living by them
Then we can be the "fullness of Christ" on the earth (v.23)
a. Will expand on this in future lessons
b. For now, summary - church is full expression of Christ on the earth
2. In order to do this, need an enlightened heart
a. Hope of his Calling - Single-minded focus on our Lord
b. Riches of our Inheritance - True Riches
c. Unsurpassed power
3. Have you taken hold of these things? (Invitation)
4. If have already done that, pray for enlightened heart, for good vision
a. Will help us to keep the big picture in mind
b. And be able to be the fullness of Christ as a church
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