Looking Unto Jesus — Hebrews 12

0:00 Father God, here we are. By human standards, a small group that the world doesn't notice. But it says in first John that we have been declared children of God, but the world does not yet recognize us. I pray though that we would live in such a way that your light would shine through us. Lord, as we drove to get here we saw tons of Christmas lights, and yet many of those people who enjoy the lights do not know the light of the world.

0:36 I pray that we would see more of that light and that our lives would reflect that light in what is really a dark world. But Lord, you are on your throne. So I pray that tonight you would stimulate us to see more of Jesus Christ. For that indeed is life itself, Jesus Christ. And so, with the privilege of being here, we present ourselves to you asking that your spirit would guide me as I speak and our hearts as we listen.

1:03 In the name of Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen. Amen. The Lord, your light is high. Yeah.

1:09 I think it is. One, two, three. It is. Yeah. Good.

1:14 Okay. Have you ever known a person, think about this, who was so totally focused on achieving his goal in life that it determined everything about him? You sometimes see this with some world class athletes, you know, the ones that make it through the Olympics and win the gold. And, if you've known a person like that, it determines everything about them. They make their choices, where they live, what they eat, who they spend time with, everything they do is focused on what will progress them.

1:52 And so, their goal in life determines their life and when you think of that person, that's what you think of. Or we see this sometimes in certain businessmen. These guys that they live for their business, they may start from scratch and build their own company and and they eat, sleep, and drink it. They neglect their family. They they neglect their health.

2:16 When you think of that person, you think of their business because that's all they think of. We see this right now in Northern Iraq and Syria. There's a people called the Kurds. It's about more than 50,000,000 of them. They've never had their own country, but it's a people.

2:37 They have their language, their culture, they identify as a people, they've never had their own country. They've got them in Turkey, they've got them in Syria, there's Kurds in Iraq, And for centuries they've wanted a country, but they've been oppressed by all these different other countries. Well, since Iraq has kind of disintegrated, they have formed their own territory up in the North Of Iraq and it's almost a country. Well, ISIS has come in and is attacking everybody and the Kurds are fighting with all of their hearts because after centuries they finally have their own land and now it's being attacked. So, you take a Kurdish soldier, he has one goal right now.

3:20 He has one goal. That's all he thinks about and that's defending his land and it determines everything about him. Now, we see this to a smaller degree, people having a goal and it determines what they do and who they are and how they live. We see it in other areas of life. But it's not only athlete, a few athletes and certain businessmen and certain soldiers who have one overriding goal in life.

3:51 Do you know that every one of us, every one of us has one overriding goal in life and we live for it and it determines who we are and what we do? There's a difference though. It's easy to recognize the goal of those certain athletes and certain businessmen and certain soldiers. It's harder to recognize our goal. I'll get to that in a minute.

4:42 Why do they do that? Why? Why does a soldier sacrifice comfort, safety, and if it costs it his life? And he doesn't, no, I don't want to sacrifice. No, he willingly does it.

4:59 Athletes do it. Businessmen do it. Why? In all these cases, actually in the case of every person, the reason people sacrifice to achieve their goals is because they consider their goals or their goal worthy of their sacrifice. It might not be a conscious decision, but they do, down deep, believe that what they're striving to get is worthy of all their sacrifices because that's why they make their sacrifices.

5:31 Now, I want to stop and think about this. When we have a goal and we strive to achieve that goal with our lives and our actions and our effort and our choices and our sacrifices, we are declaring that our goal is worthy of all that. What we are doing in reality, we are exalting our goal as that which is most important for our lives. Or I could say, we worship with our actions and our choices and our sacrifices that which is our goal. We glorify that for which we dedicate ourselves and we live.

6:16 The true object of our worship is not determined by what we do for two hours on Sunday morning. The true object of a worship is determined by what we live for every day. What does it mean to glorify or to worship? We use the word, We sing the word. But what does it mean to glorify and to worship?

6:46 We glorify that which we honor. We glorify that which we most admire, that which we exalt, that which we count as immensely valuable, that for which we willingly sacrifice, that which we love to talk about to others. We glorify that for which we spend our lives. Every single human being is a worshiper. The man out there that curses and lives only for himself, he worships, as does everybody else.

7:24 That's because we all have something which we consider of immense value. Everybody does. And that we live for. And we're worshiping that. So the question is, who or what are we truly worshiping?

7:37 And why are we worshiping it? Is it truly worthy of our lives? Are our goals, because we're worshiping our goals, are our goals truly worthy of our lives? Are your goals worthy of your life? Okay.

7:53 Certain athletes, certain businessmen, the soldier clearly, their goal is easy to put out, to recognize. Ours is not. You know why not? Well, those people have one goal. Many times we have many goals.

8:10 We don't have one goal. We have many goals. And we want to, with this and this and this and our goals seem to be so divided up. If we honestly examine our lives, can we honestly say that our goal is Jesus Christ? Now, as Christians, if somebody asks us, what's your goal?

8:29 Yeah, well, to live for the glory of God. But do our choices show that that's our goal? Do our daily choices, the way we live, the way we invest, what we sacrifice for, does it show that Jesus Christ, his glory, is my goal? So, question for me, and I'll ask it to you also. What are you living for?

8:56 What is a goal in your life? What do you consider of greatest importance? What does the way you live, the choices you make show about what your goals? And by the way, one way to know our goal, that which upsets us when it's kept from us. Think about this.

9:12 If you don't care about your car and if somebody scratches up your car, oh, that's why

9:19 he scratched your car.

9:20 But you go, oh, okay. You know, you don't care, you don't get upset. We can tell where our hearts are by that which upsets us. If you really want to know where your heart is, look at what gets you upset. When something obstructs you or takes away something, if it, if you get agitated, your heart's there.

10:11 And what are the two goals? The first goal is to live for an earthly treasure. And the other goal is to live for a heavenly treasure. We all live either for an earthly treasure or a heavenly treasure. Now, an earthly treasure might be something sinful.

10:35 It might be something pleasures of the flesh seeking man's approval. It might be something evil in and of itself. But an earthly treasure might be something good from God. An earthly treasure might be enjoying my family and that becomes my goal for life. It might be enjoying God's beautiful creation.

10:58 We were with some folks the other night, I think it was Monday, and they talked about they had gone to the Grand Canyon, is obviously we would like to go there someday. Beautiful. And yet we said, but you know what? To be real honest with you, Ohio is beautiful. It is.

11:17 We're staying down near Canton with her sister and they live, we live on flat grounds like Kansas. Right? Where we live in Italy. And, and where they live is hilly and they, they got this new dining room they onto the back of their house and they're on the top of a hill looking down a big valley in the hill, green. Oh, it's...

11:36 We don't see that. We don't see that ever. And we just sit there eating breakfast saying, this is so beautiful. You know, they see it all the time. For us.

11:45 But, is our goal enjoying nature? Nature comes from God. Family comes from God. There's a lot of things that are from God. But the question is, are the earthly blessings our goal in life?

11:59 By the way, one other goal in life? A hidden goal? There's people say, I don't want a lot of money. I don't want anything. I don't want fame.

12:07 I just want a quiet life without too many problems. For many of us, that is a goal of life. We don't desire big things. We just kind of want God to give us a quiet life without a lot of problems. That can be an idol just as wanting riches can be an idol.

12:28 They're all things tied to this earth. Now, we love that which is our treasure. What does Jesus Christ our Lord say in Matthew ten thirty seven about what we love most? And I want you to notice, he's going to pick something which is a good gift. This is not a secular, carnal, sinful thing.

12:47 He's picking out something which is a gift from God. Matthew ten thirty seven, Jesus says, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. If we love anything, including some of the most precious, holy gifts that God gives, family. Nothing sinful about loving your family. We're supposed to love our families.

13:28 And yet, if we love family more than we love Christ, we're not worthy of Christ. Now, the opposite of living for an earthly treasure is to live for a heavenly treasure, treasure, the treasure of being found in Christ. What did Jesus say? Mary and Martha were there. Mary was sitting on his feet.

13:49 Martha was trying to get dinner ready for him. Lord, don't you even care? My sister is not helping you. Tell her to help me. Says, Martha, Martha, you worry yourself, you busy yourself for many things.

13:58 And then what did he say? One thing is necessary and Mary has chosen the good part and it will not be taken from her. One thing is necessary. What does the Apostle Paul say in Philippians three? All that was gained in me I count as rubbish.

14:31 She's chosen and won't be taken. Paul says, One thing I do. Living for a heavenly treasure is wanting more of Jesus Christ. It means seeing Christ as worthy of everything. By the way, it doesn't mean seeing ministry.

14:49 Service is worth, it means seeing Christ as worth more than anything. It means wanting more of Christ. It means wanting more of Christ for others. It means desiring more of him for me and wanting him more known by others. That is living for heavenly treasure.

15:08 We can enjoy the blessings of this earth. First Timothy six said, God gives all good things that might be enjoyed, but they should never be our treasure. We should never love them. A person who lives for the heavenly treasure lives for something outside of this life. Marriage ends.

15:27 Parents die. Children move on and we leave them usually, before they leave us in death. We lose all this. We lose our jobs. We lose our ministries.

15:39 We lose our abilities to use our spiritual gifts because we get old, decrypt it, and we're going to die. Everything that we have that is part of this life, we're going to lose. So, having a heavenly treasure means using for God's glory, but living for Christ, for eternity. Listen to what Jesus said, what he commands in Matthew six nineteen to 21, which we know that passage. What he commands regarding having a treasure on earth.

16:10 He says, Matthew six nineteen, Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Christ commands us not to lay up treasures, not to have our treasures on anything on this earth, but we should rather have our treasures in heaven. Now, I'm going to use a word. I used the word we glorify, we worship.

16:44 Well, glorify, we can also use the phrase, the Bible does at times, glory in. We glory in. Okay? So with that term, I want to read in Jeremiah chapter nine. Jeremiah chapter nine.

16:58 This passage is the Lord Himself speaking to us, telling us what we should glory in and what we should not glory in. He actually starts with a not and goes to what we should. So listen, Jeremiah nine twenty three twenty four, what we should not glory in and then what we should glory in. Thus, says the lord. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

17:23 Let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the lord, exercising loving kindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the lord. To glory in something means to glorify that and in this passage, god commands us to not glory in anything of this earth, not even the gifts from god. Let let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Where does wisdom come from?

17:59 The Bible teaches. Wisdom is, true wisdom is a gift from god. Don't glory in it. Let not the strong man glory in his might. Where does might come from?

18:10 From God. We're supposed to use it for God. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Where do riches come from? From God.

18:17 He says, look, these are all gifts from God. Do not glory in them. Rather, we should glory in knowing the Lord God. And how do we know God? We know God through Jesus Christ.

18:32 That is what we should glory in. We should glory that we know God and we should want to know Him more. We know God only through Jesus Christ. So, what is your treasure? What do you live for?

19:09 I would like to present to you Jesus Christ. Marco, we already know Christ. We're saved. Well, praise God, if we're saved, we do know Christ to some degree. But if we consider how we live day by day.

19:31 I know somebody with a white beard and he's not sitting there, he's standing. Who, looking at his life, sees that on many days he knows Christ and lives for Christ far less than Christ is worthy. It is so clear that often Jesus Christ and his glory are not our treasure. Often our treasure is not to eat and drink and do and say all things for the glory of Jesus Christ. We often focus more on the things of this world than on Christ because we see so little of Christ.

20:15 I've helped men in their marriages, couples with problems, and I've helped men who the reason, the reason they've neglected their wives and their children at times is because they don't see the blessing they've got. They're blinded by other goals. They they don't realize the gift they've got from God. And sometimes it's to help them see the gift and if they see the gift, they grieve. I've wasted years.

20:43 I want to make them up. Well, if we can see that with an imperfect mate, because we're all imperfect, how much more if we see Christ will we want to live for Christ? The reason we live so little for Christ is because we see so little of Christ. We don't see his worth and his and so I want to present Christ to you as he's presented in the Bible. Now, he's presented all through the Bible.

21:08 He's he's announced in the Old Testament and then he's presented in the New Testament but I want to present him as he was presented when he began his ministry. Who was his herald? Who did god send to proclaim him, to present him to people? John the Baptist And so, Jesus came and got baptized by John, then he went into the desert for forty days of fasting to be tempted, so he could be tempted in all things. Then, he came back ready to start his ministry.

21:39 And at that point in John chapter one, John is there with his disciples, Jesus is passing by and John the Baptist looks and sees Jesus through the Holy Spirit, knows who this is and presents Jesus Christ to the world. And I want to notice how he's presented. So turn with me to John one verse 29. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

22:28 That's a strong word. I never say that. Do you ever say that word? Behold? I don't say that anymore.

22:36 It's a strong word. It's not, Hey, look. That's... No, no, no. That's not a, Hey, look.

22:42 That's, Behold. John was a herald. He was a strange guy. He dressed in camel skins and ate wild locusts and honey. He was strong in his speech.

22:57 Remember, he's the one that says, don't just, what are you doing getting baptized? You know, he he would not win fans today the way he spoke. So, when he said, behold the lamb of god, it was a strong behold. He was announcing the lamb who had been for for proclaimed for centuries and centuries. Who had an appointment on the Passover.

23:53 This is Hebrews twelve:one and two, and the word, the two words in English, looking unto, the first two words in chapter two, verse two are actually one word in Greek. We'll get to it. So let's listen. Chapter 11, the wonderful list of men and women of the Old Testament who had looked ahead. Some, like Moses, gave up riches to live for the future city.

24:19 Some, like Abraham, left his home to live for the future city. Some were sacrificed, lived in caves, were sawn in half, suffered. The world was not worthy of them. Chapter 11, this whole line of men and women of faith, and they all lived for something that was yet to come. And so we know what that is.

24:40 Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race which is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. We're called to look unto Jesus. In in in Greek, there's two words. It's the word look unto or uh-oh, but they stick a preposition on front of it.

25:17 From. It's the word look unto, the normal word look unto, but they stick a preposition. It's a compound word, from. And so, in this case, it means look away from whatever you've been looking at and look to Jesus. And we kind of lose that in the English translation because the same, that word gets translated look at, look to, many other places.

25:39 But this time, they stick that preposition on front, from to. You can't look at Christ. You cannot behold Christ. You cannot run the race with endurance unless you look away from everything you've been looking to up till now. And so we're supposed to run the race with endurance, and the way we do that is we keep our eyes on Christ, turning them away from the things that have been attracting us.

26:07 What does Paul say in Philippians three about that? Stay in Hebrews. I'll just quote it to you. The things that were gain to me... Excuse me, if something's gain to me, I look at it.

26:17 If something's gain to me, I focus on it. And he goes, The things that were gain to me, these I've counted as loss for Christ. Indeed, I count all things as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. So prior to his salvation, Paul had been looking toward those things which had been gain to him, but then as he saw Christ on the road to Damascus, from that day on, he stopped looking. He looked from to.

26:43 He looked to Christ and ran the race. And at the end of his life, in two Timothy two, he talked about, I've run the good race. And I've got a crown laid up for me. And not just for me, but for everyone who loves his appearing. So, if we go on to verse three there in Hebrews 12, we read, For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

27:13 Listen, if we do not keep our eyes upon Jesus Christ, we will get discouraged and we'll grow weary because the road is not easy. We will be discouraged. We will be we will be discouraged and weary if we do not keep our eyes on Christ. Who, for the joy set before him endured the cross? For the joy beyond the valley of pain and being abandoned by his father, he had joy and was able to enjoy the cross.

28:04 The true Christian life is a life focused on Jesus Christ, our righteousness. Why do we break the bread each week? Is this... Because we've always done it? Why do we break the bread each week?

28:22 Because we need constantly reminded, He is my righteousness. He died for my sins. He's at the right hand of the Father. He's my access. He's my high priest.

28:35 And so, every week, every week, we get reminded. And we're focused again, well, we need to do it every day. Not the supper, but the focusing. Go back to John one twenty nine. What does John tell us to behold about Christ?

28:51 I'll read it again. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' Our greatest problem is our sin, though we often forget it. The most important work of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ created the world. Jesus Christ does many things but the most important work of Jesus Christ is his work of redemption. We often fail to grasp how precious is this role of Christ because we do not understand how terrible our sin is and that's because we do not understand how holy God is.

29:32 Jesus Christ takes our terrible sin upon himself and reconciles us with God and it says Jesus takes away the sin of the world. That does not mean universalism, if you know that word. That doesn't mean everybody gets saved. But what does Jesus say? Well, first of all, in Acts four, Paul says, There is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved.

29:55 In the whole world, there's only one name. Jesus says, John 14 goes, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man in the whole world, I'm adding in, comes to the Father except by me. So, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, whether it's America or Africa or Indonesia or Asia or Philippines or any place else, some scientist down the Antarctica. There's only one way to the Father and it's through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

30:25 If you are saved, it is because Jesus Christ has taken your sin upon himself. And if you're not saved, the only way to be saved is recognize that you're not saved and see Christ as the only way to be saved. So the greatest work of all eternity is the work of redemption which Christ accomplished on the cross, and no earthly goal is comparable to living for the glory of Christ and being found in Christ every day. Nothing else is worth our hearts and our souls and our desires and our minds and our strength. We should behold Christ and fix our eyes upon him, turning our eyes away from and towards Christ.

31:08 Now, the work of redemption, as I said, is the most important work of Christ. It is so valuable that he will be praised for that work for all of eternity. And I want to look real briefly in Revelation chapter five. Remember Revelation four and five are where we are allowed to see into heaven. Listen, there are books out there nowadays talking about seeing heaven.

31:33 The little boy died, the lady died, the man died. They said, I went to heaven and came back. Let me tell you about it. Forget it. You want to know about heaven?

31:40 Right here. Revelation four and five, Isaiah six, you want to know about heaven? God tells us all that we can and need to know about heaven. And right now, we are looking into heaven. In chapter four, we saw the 24 elders who were constantly prostrating themselves before the throne, casting their crowns.

31:59 There's the four creatures which we also saw in Isaiah six and they're glorifying God every day and they're standing on their throne. This is what we see, chapter five verse six. John is speaking, he's there, and I looked and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders stood, yeah, a lamb. How is Christ portrayed in heaven? A lamb.

32:23 As though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, why are they going to praise him? You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.

33:08 Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Why? Above all reasons is Jesus Christ proclaimed in heaven? He's proclaimed not as the one who created the earth, which he did.

33:44 And now further, he is proclaimed as the one who was slain to redeem a people. Note that these angels cry out that he is worthy to receive all power. You know what that means for us? That means we should dedicate all of our strength to him. He's worthy to receive all riches.

34:21 We should use all of our intelligence and wisdom for his glory. He is worthy to receive strength and honor and glory and blessing. We should live totally consumed with bringing glory to Jesus Christ with all that we are and all that we have. Jesus Christ is worthy of all of our praise and honor and glory and power because he was slain to redeem us and all others throughout the earth that he has saved and will save. Obviously, a vital part of living for the glory of Jesus Christ is living to make Jesus Christ known to others.

35:01 When we glorify anything, that's what we do. We talk about it. We proclaim it. We exalt it. We announce it.

35:09 And so, we should live to make Jesus Christ. If we are seeing more of the glory of Christ, if we truly have Christ as our treasure and he's our goal in life, then we will burn with a an ardent desire to be see him glorified by others. We will want to live so as to make that a reality, and we'll ask God to make that possible. In fact, what's the Lord's prayer say? Think about it.

35:36 The Lord's prayer is not just a prayer to memorize word for word. It's a prayer that teaches us the components of prayer. And what does the Lord's Prayer say? It is the prayer for, should be, our desire. That's what we pray.

35:50 So what does it say? How does it start? Our Father, who art in heaven, okay, we're acknowledging God as the supreme God, now we say what? What's our first desire, our first request? Hallowed be Thy name.

36:04 Oh, Father, I want Your name to be hallowed, to be sanctified, to be exalted, to be lifted up. That's my desire. I pray you would do that. Then, after hallowed be thy name? Thy kingdom Thy kingdom come.

36:19 I see the sin around me. I want you to be honored and praised and worshiped. May your kingdom come. Then, Your will be. Look, look at the the sin even in my own life.

36:32 God, I want your will to be done. Cause that to happen in me and through me and others. Only down as we go does he say, and, and, and Lord, give us our daily bread. And of course, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those. But he starts and ends with a desire that God be glorified.

36:54 I have been learning to examine myself and say, Lord, is that my heart? Is that how I pray? Or do I say, Dear Lord God, thank you for the blessings, and

37:09 Lord, let me give you

37:10 a shopping list of my needs right now. How do I pray? How do we pray? What are our prayers composed of when we meet? When they met in in Acts and Paul...

37:25 Excuse me, Peter and John had been arrested by the Sanhedrin, they've been ordered to never again preach in that name, and they're let go and they're sent back and they've been beaten. They go back to their people, and how do the people pray? They start. You, lord, are sovereign over all the earth and then after they talk about god's sovereignty for a long time, then, they say, lord god, you heard their things. Give us wisdom.

37:47 No, give us power to speak boldly. Where they didn't mention, oh lord, protect us. They didn't ask that. They said, give us power to proclaim boldly. They prayed the lord's prayer.

38:00 Think about it. They prayed the lord's prayer. The components of Lord's prayer, what they prayed there in Acts. And so I asked myself, Lord, is that my prayer? All through heaven that's what we're going to do.

38:12 All through eternity. And so am I doing it now? Am I proclaiming the lamb is worthy of all praise and honor and glory? And am I doing it now the way I'm living and praying? Is that my goal?

38:23 Is that my desire? That's what makes life worthwhile. And so, let me close by applying this. How should we live in light of this? It may be that some of us, many of us, need to repent.

38:43 We might need to repent. You know one of the things that we should not do in the Christian life? When we realize we're not living as we should, we shouldn't try to do better. If I'm not being the man that I should be, I shouldn't try to be the man I should be. Think about that.

39:01 So the Lord shows me, someone, a brother comes along, I hear a teaching, I read the word and I realize I'm not living like that Lord. I should not say, okay Lord, help me. I pray in the name of Christ. Help me to do better. I should never pray that.

39:17 That's not what the Bible teaches. If I'm not living the way I should live in, I'm sinning. And what are we supposed to do when we're sinning? We're supposed to repent. You see, our pride wants us to say, oh Lord God, I'm not living.

39:30 Please help me. And then I can feel good because I'm doing better. And my pride is satisfied. But we want to skip that humiliation of repenting, confessing our sins. We read in first John, if we do better.

39:44 No, doesn't say that. It says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us and purify us from all righteousness. So, I confess and then I say, now Lord, that you've forgiven me through the blood of Christ. I'll tell you something. You know how precious Christ is to us when we're just trying to do better?

40:04 He's not. You know when Christ is precious? When I see I've sinned and I see I need forgiveness and I know the only way to get it is through Jesus Christ. Then he becomes precious again. And so, if you, as God has been working in me, have seen, Lord, I've been more focused on earthly things than on you.

40:26 The first thing to do is not try to do better. The first thing to do is repent. I've sinned against you, Father. So I ask your forgiveness. Secondly, we need to behold the lamb of God more.

40:40 Looking away from and looking to him more. We need to practically make choices, at times make sacrifices of things that change in our life, ways to live differently, that we can make ourselves the time, the focus to see more of Christ. By the way, we can help each other in that. We can make it a point to talk to each other throughout the week encouraging one another to see Christ. Often we don't do that.

41:14 Our conversations are based on what we need to do. Did you take care of that? Oh, would you... Hey, let's... Hey, we need to take care of that.

41:22 We need to do this for the assembly. We often focus on what we need to accomplish for the Lord, But we need to focus more on the Lord. What we choose and we do to look at with our hearts and minds each day is probably the most important decision we make every day. Where we choose to focus determines long term who we are. Are we focusing on our duties, on the things of the earth, or are we focusing on the person of Jesus Christ?

41:57 Oh, that we would choose to see more the holiness of God, the terribleness of sin, and the marvels of a savior in Jesus Christ. So, let us... I close with this encouragement for all of us, let us look to Christ. Let us contemplate him day by day. Let us look at him with hearts full of awe and wonder so that other things which used to attract our attention attract our thoughts, would lose their appeal.

42:27 Do remember the old hymn? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look forward his wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim. Remember that? May we do that. May we turn our eyes upon Jesus every day and look forward in his wonderful face so that the things of this earth, which seems so impressing upon us, will grow strangely dim.

42:53 May we pray the Lord's prayer. May that be our prayer. May we desire that the name of God be hallowed, sanctified. May we desire that his kingdom come. May we desire that his will be done.

43:07 It may be such a burning desire that it is the focus of every prayer, every day. Just as an athlete, certain athletes, certain businessmen, and certain soldiers have one burning goal in life, may we have one burning goal. May we have a goal that is so consuming that people look at us and they say, You are a Christ follower. We look at that soldier and say, You live to save your country. You live for a gold medal.

43:36 You live to success in your business. May they look at us and see Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Father God, who are we raised, born, raised in sin, and since our salvation have countless times turned our eyes back to sin. Who are we that we can behold the holy one?

44:05 We are a people blessed by grace. Because you're too holy to look upon. But by grace our sin has been taken, we've been covered with the righteousness of Christ, and in Christ we have forgiveness that we can turn our eyes upon Jesus. Lord, we were blind and could not see. The Holy Spirit has opened our eyes.

44:26 The natural man cannot see the things of God. They're foolishness to Him, but we have the Holy Spirit, And they're treasures to us if we look. So my prayer is that we would look. My prayer is that we would turn our eyes away from the things that have taken our time and our attention and our hearts, and we would turn our eyes upon Jesus Christ and behold Him and consider Him. And I pray that we would help each other in that.

45:11 Amen. Amen.