Last month we considered the call that goes out to all who hear the gospel: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Is 45:22). No one can be sure that, if they disobey this call to believe in Christ, they will ever hear it again; accordingly, everyone should make the most of their present opportunity. Yet the person who does obey – who looks to Christ for salvation, who believes in Him as the One whom God the Father sent to be the Saviour of the world – is called again and again to look to Him, while the believer is left in this world.
The solemn fact is that believers continue to sin; they keep coming short of the glory of God. Perfection is not for this life, but every believer is guaranteed perfection in the world to come. The promise to them is: “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” – the Day of Judgement at the end of the world. That is when the body of the believer will be raised from the grave, and the whole person will be “made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity” (Shorter Catechism, Ans 38).
What is the believer to do who is conscious of sin? It may be a serious, outward sin such as David was guilty of; or it may be a foolish, sinful thought, or it may be a sense of coming short continually, in his attitudes, of God’s glory. The answer is the same in every case: it is to look to Christ and, in the exercise of faith, to seek forgiveness for His sake; to ask for that sin, whether outward or inward, to be subdued; and to plead to be made increasingly holy. Thus David, following his great sin with Bathsheba and his subsequent sins against Uriah, prays for forgiveness using various forms of words, such as: “Hide Thy face from my sins”, and, “Blot out all mine iniquities” (Ps 51:9). He also prays for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, expressing his desire for the power of sin to be subdued: “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and, “Renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10).
All the petitions in this Psalm are based on David’s deep sense, expressed at the beginning, that what he fundamentally needs is mercy: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness”. He knows that he
deserves nothing except the fearful punishment that is due to him, in divine justice, for every sin. But he knows that God is a God of mercy, and that this mercy was possible because of what God had revealed concerning the Messiah – initially made known in the Garden of Eden, as “the seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15) – who was to come in due time. The Son of God was to become man, to suffer and die in the place of sinners; but it was possible for David, and for all the people of God in every generation before the coming of Christ, to look forward by faith to Him and His saving work. And David Dickson, commenting on Psalm 51:1, states, “The consideration of the Lord’s loving-kindness and readiness to forgive the sinner that cometh unto Him, should keep the sinner (how grievous soever his offence hath been) from running away from Him, yea should give him hope to meet with mercy, whatsoever be his demerits”.
As a further example, we may notice Jonah and his sin of disobedience when God had directed him to go to Nineveh to warn the people of the city’s imminent destruction. We read that “the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah” and that “Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly”. Jonah did not despair, even in the awful situation in which he found himself; he told the Most High: “I will look again toward Thy holy temple” (Jnh 2:4).
There was, of course, no way that Jonah could, with the eyes of his body, see the temple from any position in the depths of the sea. But his was a look that took in the most significant activity at the temple: the offering of sacrifice for sin. While there was no forgiveness through any of the sacrifices, each of them taught the people of Israel that God had provided forgiveness through a substitute, for each sacrifice was a substitute for the sinner – the sacrificial animal suffering in the place of the sinner. Surely Jonah’s “look” was a look by faith, a look that went beyond the lamb or the bullock, for instance, that might be offered at the temple; it was a look by faith to the Messiah, who had not yet come but who, Jonah was assured, would come in the fullness of time, as appointed by God.
Whatever circumstances believers may find themselves in, they are to look to Christ. He can help them even when it is obvious that “vain is the help of man”. In particular, believers may become specially conscious that they are vulnerable to temptation. And if we properly realise how powerful Satan is, and that Adam and Eve were overcome by temptation when they were in a state of perfect innocence, we should be conscious of how vulnerable we really are in the face of the wiles of the devil. But there is no weakness with Christ, and He has already conquered Satan. Whatever the believer’s weakness, Christ is calling to him: “Look unto Me”. He is “able
to save to the uttermost”, and that includes offering protection to even the weakest of His people. Even if that child of God has been overcome many times previously, Christ is still ready, able and willing to protect that weak soul from being overwhelmed by some further temptation, in response to the look of faith. And we ought to remember that this new exercise of faith is itself the gift of God.
Again, the believer may very much feel his weakness – whether in the face of duty, for example, or because of difficult relationships, or as a result of poor health. Whatever the cause may be, and there may be a multitude of other factors, the call again comes from Christ Himself: “Look unto Me”. If the Lord has laid a duty on anyone, especially if it is in connection with His Church, let believers remember the question, “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?” (1 Cor 9:7). The army in which a soldier has enlisted will provide for the needs of that soldier; the soldier should not have to provide food or clothing for himself. So Christ, the great Captain of salvation, will provide for the needs of those who have enlisted in His army. They are all to look to Christ for the grace that will enable them to carry out every duty that He lays upon them.
Paul felt the need to be rid of what he calls “a thorn in the flesh” and “besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from” him. The Lord did not grant him that request but gave him something better: the promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. Ever afterwards, this Apostle could look to Christ and plead the promise of sufficient grace and perfect strength – no matter how weak he might feel. So may all the people of Christ look to Christ with this promise in view, and all the other promises. All the promises are clauses of the covenant of grace – the “everlasting covenant” which the Lord made with them when they were made willing and able to incline their ear and come to Him (Is 55:3).
Finally, the believer may be afraid that he will never make it to heaven. But with every fear, whatever it is, let him again incline his ear to hear the call, “Look unto Me”. Let him receive by faith that other promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5). Christ will never forget His promises; He will always be faithful to them, even although the believer may not recognise that the Saviour is with him and, in all his circumstances, is causing all things to “work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28). Yet that is how the Saviour is working, and how He always will. Yes, Christ will continue His work in and for all the household of faith until each of them has been brought into the glorious blessedness of heaven. He goes on calling to them: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Is 45:22).