"Where to Look"!

An encouraging Brother sent this Spurgeon quote to me and I just wanted to pass it on. Thanks much Scott!




LOOKING TO JESUS. – HEBREWS 12:2


It is always the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan’s work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you do not have the joy of His children; you have such a wavering hold on Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we will never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: He tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is everything. Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not your joy in Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, although that is the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits. Therefore, do not look so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ as to Christ; do not look to your hope but to Jesus, the source of your hope; do not look to your faith, but to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith. We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our deeds, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we are to overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking to Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession be fresh upon your mind. When you waken in the morning look to Him; when you lie down at night look to Him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail you.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

The Entrance and Exit of Fear"

Where did fear come from? Where does it find it's beginning?

"But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"
And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."(Gen.3:9-10/ESV)

By the first man came sin, and by it, FEAR!! Ever since, man has cowered when confronted with the Holy prescence of God. We feel our unworthiness and our deserved condemnation!

I recall Peter's words on the Sea of Galilee after Jesus provides a miraculous catch of fish, "depart from me, for I am a sinful man."

We are undone in His prescence, just as Isaiah was in Isaiah 6.

Our live's are dominated by the fear of His justice and wrath!

But, there is a "second Adam", the last man from heaven, who has come to free us from this lifelong bondage to fear and death!

In 1 John 4:18 it says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."(ESV)

Amazing! The first man plunged the whole human race into a life of fear and bondage, whereas the last man, set us free to have life and to have it more abundantly in love. We no longer have to live in fear, but by the Spirit, as we cry out Abba Father!

Oh, what a Redeemer and Friend!!

Your thoughts and comments please!