Look unto Me

“𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 / 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. / 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑆𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒.” (𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛 3:14-16)

The church in Toledo has been enjoying biographies and testimonies from dear saints who have gone before us. The short excerpt below is a testimony from Charles Spurgeon as a young man looking to the freeing power of the cross. It echoes the fresh wave of enjoyment of salvation in the recent spiritual walks of our local brothers and sisters.

“The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin looking man, a shoemaker or tailor or something of that sort, went up to the pulpit to preach.

It is interesting that at least three persons later would claim to be that thin man. Spurgeon regarded the impromptu preacher as a local, not a minister. The text was: ‘Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ The preacher bungled the pronunciation. Spurgeon recorded the opening:

My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pains. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 ‘𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌.’ Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Aye! Many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some on ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. The text says, ‘𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒆.’

Spurgeon thought the preacher had said all he had to say, when to his great surprise, the thin man looked straight at him and said, ‘Young man, you look very miserable, and you always will be miserable, miserable in life and miserable in death if you don’t obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved. Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏’ 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆.’ The preaching was crude, but it contained the power of God’s salvation. Spurgeon wrote:

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑯𝒊𝒎.

There are many ways to the Way. Some find Christ suddenly and dramatically, like Paul on the road to Damascus. Others grow up like Timothy, with a faith of their mothers and grandmothers. John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’ toiled with a heavy load until he came to the cross and, in and instant, found release. God’s way of bringing the human spirit to Himself cannot be standardized or stereotyped.”

(Excerpt from 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑆𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑂𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 (Heroes of the Faith series) by J. C. Carlile. Emphasis added.)