Sermon Central
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Just One Look
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Jul 27, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: One look is all it takes to bring: Condemnation, Justification, Sanctification, & Glorification. Dozens of Bible examples of people being forever changed by just one look! Link included to formatted text and PowerPoint Presentation.
Just One Look
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/JustOneLook.html
"Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else."
Charles Spurgeon quoted this verse while testing the acoustics in a new sanctuary…he was later called to the bedside of a dying man. He had heard him from the balcony where he was working, and God used that to see the man get saved!
That man, like many today, was looking for something, and when a person is looking, God doesn’t hide, but makes Himself available, and one look is all it takes!
The eyes are the main gate we have leading to our minds, our imaginations, and our hearts. Just one look can be powerful and life changing.
Ill.—anyone here experience love at first sight? At the very least, it may have led to taking a second look. Some of you are considering taking a second look right now!
Consider the power of ‘just one look…’
Let’s take a quick trip thru the Bible and see ’just one look’ from beginning to end.
ill.--A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race start?"
The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children, and so all mankind was made."
Two days later, the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, "Many years ago, there were monkeys from which the human race evolved."
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?"
The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his."
I. JUST ONE LOOK CAN BRING CONDEMNATION.
A. EVE IN THE GARDEN. (GEN 3:1-6)
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
She looked and she took…and she lost her place in the garden. She was deceived and just one look is all it took. Adam came along and saw what had happened…and he took a look at her, a look at the tree, and said, oh well, give me a bite, and he sinned with his eyes wide open…and just one look is all it took.
joke-- Speaking of Adam and Eve, someone has suggested that they had an ideal marriage. He didn’t have to hear about all the men she could have married--and she didn’t have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
B. LOT’S WIFE. (GEN 19:26)
God warned them not to look back (V.17) but she did and became a salt lick in the desert…and just one look was all it took.
And she wouldn’t even have been in that wicked city of Sodom except for the ‘look’ her husband gave in that direction when he selfishly chose the best land when given the choice.
C. ACHAN. (JOSH. 7:21)
God’s people were instructed not to take of the spoils of this battle. But Achan did in this progression: He saw, he coveted, he took. Taking was the disobedient action, but it all began when he ‘saw’. One look…and then he took!
D. DAVID & BATHSHEBA. (II SAM 11:2)
He saw, he lusted, he sinned. The lust of the eyes demanded he go further, and he started down a slippery slope.
ill.--Do you like water slides? Some are tame and fun, and some are a beast. I found out the hard way last summer when I was the only one in my family to go down the big one ... I should have known by the fact there were so few in line and how high up it was.
Temptation is like a huge water slide – you can turn round right up to the moment before you seek to satisfy your lusts, at which point it is too late and you need to deal with the consequences. David could have seen Bathsheba taking a bath, and turned away – but he chose to go down the slide.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Lust-Sin-Death…the most dangerous form of LSD, and that’s how it happened for David, and a baby died as a result, among others.
Men are very visual creatures, and Jesus said we can commit adultery with just a look…so we must set up serious safeguards:
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
