AI-assisted analysis for orientation; read the source transcript or listen to the sermon to evaluate the interpretation.
The sermon presents Jesus as the full revelation of God and the believer’s source of light and comfort. Christ’s suffering identifies Him with afflicted people, while His crucifixion provides the saving foundation: sinners are saved by His blood, not by their repentance. His resurrection guarantees the resurrection of His people; His ascension and intercession assure that their prayers and salvation are secure. His return gives endurance amid evil and calls hearers to trust Him immediately: “Look unto me and be ye saved.”
Theological center: Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, saves through His atoning death, triumphs in resurrection and ascension, intercedes for believers, and will return in victorious reign.
Applications: Look to Jesus in suffering · Look to the cross · Trust Christ for salvation · See God through Christ
Primary texts: Psalm 34:5 · John 3:14 · 1 Corinthians 15:20
“They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.” Psalm 34:5 FROM the connection we are to understand the pronoun “him,” as referring to the word “LORD,” in the preceding verse. “They looked unto the Lord JEHOVAH and were lightened.” But no man ever yet looked to JEHOVAH God, as He is in Himself, and found any comfort in Him, for, “Our God is a consuming fire.” An absolute God, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, can afford no comfort whatever to a troubled heart. We may look to Him, and we shall be blinded, for the light of Godhead is insufferable, and as mortal eye cannot fix its gaze upon the sun, no human intellect could ever look unto God and find light, for the brightness of God would strike the eye of the mind with eternal blindness. The only way in which any can see God is through the Mediator, Jesus Christ. “Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort find,”— God shrouded and veiled in the manhood—there we can with steady gaze behold Him, for so He comes down to us, and our poor finite intelligence can understand and lay hold upon Him. I shall therefore use my text this morning, and I think very legitimately, in reference to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—“They looked unto him, and were lightened.” For when we look at God, as revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, and behold the Godhead as it is apparent in the Incarnate Man, who was born of the Virgin Mary and was crucified by Pontius Pilate, we do see that which enlightens the mind and casts rays of comfort into our awakened heart. And now this morning, I shall first invite you, in order to illustrate my text, to look to Jesus Christ in His life on earth, and I hope there are some of you who will be lightened by that. We shall then look to Him on His cross. Afterwards, we shall look to Him in His resurrection. We shall look to Him in His intercession. And lastly, we shall look to Him in His second coming. And it may be, as with faithful eye we look upon Him, the verse shall be fulfilled in our experience—which is the best proof of a truth—when we prove it to be true in our own hearts. We shall “Look unto him” and we shall “be lightened.” I. First, then, we shall LOOK TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IN HIS LIFE. And here the troubled saint will find the most to enlighten him. In the example, in the patience, in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, there are stars of glory to cheer the midnight darkness of the sky of your tribulation. Come hither, you children of God, and whatever now are your distresses, whether they are temporal or spiritual, you shall, in the life of Je…