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Distractions Are Dangerous| Powerful Message by Warren Wiersbe | Daily God's Message 5M Official | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Distractions Are Dangerous| Powerful Message by Warren Wiersbe
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Hebrews 12:es 1 and 2.
And I'm going to extract from verse 2
three words and use that as the basis
for our thinking tonight.
Hebrews chapter 12.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and
let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.
The book of Hebrews was written to
Hebrew Christians who were getting their
eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was a danger that they would go back.
back.
there was a danger that they would
abandon their confession of faith
because the going was really tough.
The writer compares your Christian life
and mine to a race that is set before
us. And when you're running a race, you
can't look back. If you do, you'll
stumble and fall and you'll make
somebody else to fall. The phrase I'd
like us to focus on is looking unto
Jesus. The first three words of verse
two, looking unto Jesus. Now, this is
the way the Christian life begins.
Back in uh Isaiah 45 and verse 22, the
Lord says through the prophet, "Look
unto me and be ye saved all the ends of
the earth."
It will be just 126 years ago, I believe,
believe,
that Charles Haden Spurgeon was saved. I
think it was September the 6th in a snow
or I'm sorry, January the 6th in a snowstorm,
snowstorm,
terrible snowstorm. And he couldn't get
to his usual church that he attended as
a young man. And so he stopped in a
little primitive Methodist chapel. The
preacher didn't even show up. The storm
was so bad. And so a layman took the
service and he wasn't prepared
and he chose Isaiah 45:22 as his text.
And since he didn't have much of a
message, he kept quoting the verse. Look
unto me and be ye saved all the ends of
the earth. And finally, after having
repeated it a number of times, the
speaker saw Spurgeon sitting back off by
himself, and he looked and said, "Young
man, you look miserable. Look to Jesus
Christ and he'll save you. And Spurgeon
said, "I looked and he saved me." That's
the way the Christian life begins.
Looking to Jesus, not to the baptistry,
not to the Lord's Supper, not to church
membership, not to the Ten Commandments,
not to Moses, not to John the Baptist,
but looking to Jesus.
This makes you think of that experience
of the Jews back in the Old Testament
when they were dying because of the
bites of the serpents and they lifted up
a serpent of brass on a pole and Moses
said if you'll look at the serpent
you'll live. I'm glad Moses didn't say
if you see the serpent you'll live. He
said if you just look to it even a blind
person could look to the serpent even
though he couldn't see it. But looking
brought living.
That's how the Christian life begins.
Looking unto Jesus. And this is how the
Christian life ends.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It
does not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see
him as he is. Nobody here has ever seen
the Lord Jesus. I receive all sorts of
strange mail. It amazes me that with
postage rates going up, people still
continue to send strange things through
the mail. But I received a special
announcement from Canada the other day
telling me that Jesus Christ had
appeared once again to somebody. And
here was a big announcement. This person
had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. I I
don't like to hurt his feelings, but he didn't.
didn't.
We're not going to see the Lord Jesus
until we see him and he changes us.
Unless we should die and go to see him
in that way. The Christian life begins
with looking unto Jesus. The Christian
life ends with looking unto Jesus. We're
going to see him.
But it's the in between that bothers me.
I don't know about you, but in between
those two events, I have some problems
because I realize that in my everyday
Christian life, I've got to keep looking
to Jesus. You see, he's the one who
started it. He's the author of my faith.
He's the one who's going to finish it.
He's the finisher of my faith. And you
know, if I keep my eyes upon him, the
eyes of faith through the word. If I
keep my eyes upon him, he'll keep me
where I ought to be. And he'll help me
do what I ought to do. And he'll help me
become what I ought to become. And he'll
do this for you.
But I have a serious problem of being distracted.
distracted.
I wouldn't confess this to you except I
know you have the same problem.
There are days when it's so easy to walk
by faith. There are other days when it
seems like you have two left feet and
they're going in opposite directions.
We all have the same experience.
Let's talk then tonight about some distractions
distractions
that keep us from really trusting the
Lord. Now I think the best way to
illustrate these distractions is to take
three events in the life of Peter.
The Apostle Peter in the four gospels is
about as big a bungler as we can find. I
don't criticize him for that. The only
people who don't make mistakes don't
make anything. And Peter sometimes
opened his mouth and put his foot in it.
Sometimes he stepped out by faith and
got into trouble. But that's all right.
He at least tried. But there are three
events in the life of Peter that
illustrate to us the three distractions
that will get your eyes off of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Now, can we for a few minutes minutes be
very honest with each other and admit
that when we get our eyes off of Christ,
things go wrong.
Home is not what it ought to be. Heart
is not what it ought to be. Head is not
what it ought to be. Hands are not what
they ought to be. When we get our eyes
off of Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We
can bluff for a while.
We Christians are very adept at this. We
can bluff for a while. No one can tell
the difference. We can masquerade, but
we know the difference. And after a
while, it becomes a little bit shallow,
a little bit hollow, and before long, we collapse.
collapse.
We don't want to do that. And so,
perhaps to be forewarned is to be
forearmmed. And let's notice now the
three distractions
that will take your eyes off of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn, if you will, please,
to Luke 5. Here's the first of these distractions.
distractions.
Luke 5, beginning with verse 1.
And it came to pass as the people
pressed upon him to hear the word of
God, he stood by the lake of Janzerat,
and saw two boats standing by the lake.
But the fishermen were gone out of them
and were washing their nets. And he
entered into one of the boats, which was
Simon's, and asked him that he would
thrust out a little from the land. And
he sat down and taught the people out of
the boat. Now when he had ceased
speaking, he said unto Simon, "Launch
out into the deep, let down your nets
for a catch."
And Simon answering said unto him,
"Master, we have toiled all the night
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at
thy word, I will let down the net." And
when they had this done, they enclosed a
great multitude of fish, and their net
broke, and they beckoned unto their
partners, who were in the other boat,
that they should come and help them. And
they came and filled both the boats, so
that they began to sink. When Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus'
knees, saying,"Depart from me, for I am
a sinful man, O Lord. For he was
astonished in all that were with him, at
the catch of the fish which they had
taken." And so were also James and John,
the sons of Zebedee, who were partners
with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon,
"Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt
catch men." And when they had brought
their boats to land, they forsook all
and followed him. The first distraction
that will get your eyes off of the Lord
Jesus Christ and trip you up on the race
of life
is yourself.
In verse 8, instead of looking to Jesus,
Peter looked at himself
and said a very foolish thing.
Now, let's not be too critical of Peter
in this event. I notice here, first of
all, that Peter at least wasn't lazy.
He'd been working all night and he'd
caught nothing. Do you ever ask yourself
the question, why did Jesus call four
fishermen to be his disciples? Now, he
had all sorts of men as his disciples.
He had a tax collector, and he even had
one man who had been a member of an
underground rebellious group, Simon the
Zealot. But he had four fishermen. And
the the leader of the band of the
disciples was Peter who was a fisherman.
Do you ever ask yourself why did Jesus
call for fishermen? Why did he use in
verse 10 fishing
as a picture of soulwinning?
Now for most of us if not for all of us
fishing is a vacation.
But for these men fishing was a
vocation. It was a matter of life or
death. If you and I go out and go
fishing and drown some worms or throw
out some lures and if we don't catch
anything, well, we've lost a bit of
money, but what difference does it make?
We had a good time.
But with Peter and Andrew and James and
John, it wasn't a matter of having a
good time. It was a matter of having a
good catch. You know why Jesus called
fishermen? Because fishermen never give up.
up.
Maybe you've experienced it yourself if
you've not seen it. But men will go out
early in the morning and they'll stay
there all day and they'll row from here
to there and they'll drown the worms and
they'll change the bait and they'll be
all day long. He called fishermen
because fishermen don't give up. Too
many of us give up too easily. Peter
didn't give up. He'd fished all night
and caught nothing. Now, let me be very
clear in saying if I had fished all
night and caught nothing, I think I
would have brought my boat and my nets
into shore and put up a sign and said
I would have sold the boats and I would
have sold the nets and I would have gone
into something else. Not Peter. Peter
comes back and he's mending his nets and
he's cleaning his nets. You know why?
He's going to go back and try again. You
know, somebody you've been witnessing to
and praying for and they've slammed the
door in your face or they've gotten very
cool toward you. You say, "Well, no
more. Never again. I'm through." Not not
so with Peter. Peter fished all night.
He caught nothing. He wasn't
discouraged. I'd have gone home, gone to
bed. He didn't even go to bed. He came
back in and was washing his nets and
preparing to go back out again.
I commend him for this.
I notice the stages by which the Lord
dealt with Peter here. First, he says,
"Thrust out a little from the land."
Verse three, that meant Peter couldn't
get out of the boat.
And so, Peter's working away on his nets
and Jesus is teaching. You know why
Jesus did this? He had a captive
audience in the boat. Where does faith
come from? Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. And so
there's Peter sitting in the boat fixing
his nets, listening to Jesus teach the
word. And the more Jesus taught the
word, the more Peter's faith increased
because first he said thrust out. Then
he said, "Launch out." Now, most of us
are good at thrusting out. We don't get
too far away from from the shore. Jesus
said, "Launch out into the deep." And of
course, Peter did what you and I would
have done. He argued. He said, "Look,
you're a carpenter. I'm a fisherman. You
don't know much about fishing.
But nevertheless, at thy word, I'll do
it. You see, he'd been listening to the
word. And the word of God produces
faith. And of course, we read the
result. Now, the interesting thing is this.
this.
In the face of all of this marvelous
blessing, in the midst of an impossible situation,
situation,
Peter falls before the Lord Jesus and
says, "Depart from me. Get away from me,
Lord. I am a sinful man. Let me clearly
state to you. Any of us when we have
been a failure could say that there have
been times when I have so failed the
Lord and I've had to fall down before
him and say, "Lord, depart from me. I'm
a sinful man." Peter didn't see his sins
in the light of failure. Anybody could
do that. He saw his sins in the light of success.
success.
That's interesting. But I think he prays
the wrong prayer here. And and Luke
tells us why he did it. He was
astonished. Whenever Peter didn't quite
know what to say, he said something.
He did this on the mount of
transfiguration. When he finally woke up
and saw Moses and Elijah and Jesus and
all the glory, oh, let's make three
tabernacles. He didn't know what to say.
So, he said something. Many people are
this way. But he said the wrong thing.
Suppose Jesus had answered that prayer.
Now I confess to you that in my short
Christian life, I have prayed many
foolish prayers.
Oh, I have prayed many foolish prayers.
Jimmy Johnson told me one day about a
teenager he knew who wrecked his
father's car. And the boy stood by the
car praying, "Oh God, may this accident
Now, that is a foolish prayer.
But I have prayed foolish prayers and so
have you. Oh, I I've prayed for things
not to happen. I was so sure that if
they happened, that would be the end.
And they happened. It wasn't the end. It
was the beginning.
I recall when I was uh going through
high school, there were certain things
they required of us, and I just wasn't
happy doing them. I was sure the Lord
wasn't happy with me doing them. They
weren't sinful. They were just uncomfortable.
uncomfortable.
But the Lord didn't change anything. And
this is kind of a foolish prayer. Lord,
depart from me. Suppose Jesus had done
that. That would have been the end of
Peter. Why? He would never have had the
thrilling experiences he had with the
Lord. He would never have been able to
write first and second Peter. He would
never been able to preach at Pentecost
and see all these people saved. You see,
Peter got his eyes off the Lord and got
his eyes on himself. Now, you have heard
me say many times, and you will hear me
say it again. Don't spend your time
looking at yourself. I'll tell you why.
When you look at yourself, one of two
sins will be committed. Either you will
be so pleased with yourself, you'll get proud,
proud,
or you'll become so discouraged with
yourself, you'll want to quit.
And when Peter saw this great blessing
and what Jesus had done, he says,
"Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful
man." There are some Christians who get
a great deal of glee out of spiritual autopsies.
autopsies.
They spend much of their time looking in
the mirror. Then they look in the X-ray machine,
machine,
and they just look at themselves and
look at themselves. My friend, I'll
guarantee if you look at yourself very
long, you'll quit.
As I read my Bible, I find Paul saying,
the great Apostle Paul, I know that in
me dwelleth no good thing. He admitted
it. He said he was less than the least
of all the saints. He said he was the
chief of sinners. Nothing wrong with
being honest about yourself. And there's
nothing wrong with praying with David.
Search me, oh God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts. See if
there be some wicked way in me and lead
me in the way everlasting. Nothing wrong
with day by day looking into the mirror
of the word, letting the light of the
word shine in your heart. Nothing wrong
with that. Just don't overdo it.
If you get your eyes on yourself, my
friend, you'll get your eyes off the
Lord. And you can't run the race that
way. Watch out for distraction number one,
one,
looking at yourself.
Now, distraction number two, Matthew
chap 14. It's a very familiar passage,
and I think you probably anticipated me
on this one. Matthew chapter 14.
In verses 15- 21, Jesus and his apostles
have fed over 5,000 people. Tremendous
miracle. Next to the resurrection of
Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus, I
suppose the greatest miracle he
performed. taking a few loaves and fish
and feeding 5,000 people plus. Now, what
does what does Jesus do? Matthew 14:22.
And straightway, immediately, Jesus
constrained his disciples to get into a
boat and to go before him unto the other
side while he sent the multitudes away.
When you read the Gospel of John, you
find out why Luke uses such a strong
word, constrained.
John tells us that after Jesus had fed
the 5000, they wanted to make him king.
And of course, the disciples were in
favor of that. Judas said, "I'll be the
treasurer." Peter said, "I'll be the
prime minister." Matthew said, "I'll
keep the records."
Jesus said, "No, I haven't come to
become a king to a bunch of people who
want their stomachs fed." And so, he
constrained the discip. He pushed them
into the boat and said, "I'll see you on
the other side."
And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into a mountain
privately to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone.
But the boat was now in the midst of the
sea. Now it's as far as from the land as
you can get. When you're in the midst of
the sea, you're as far from land as you
can get. Tossed with the waves for the
wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night,
that's as late as you can get. That's as
dark as you can get. In the fourth watch
of the night, Jesus went unto them
walking on the sea. And when the
disciples saw him walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, "It is a
ghost." And they cried out for fear. But
immediately Jesus spoke unto them,
saying, "Be of good cheer. It is I. Be
not afraid."
Is it not interesting that the same waves
waves
that were causing the disciples to be afraid
afraid
were stairsteps for Jesus to come to them?
them?
My friend, the very thing that is
frightening you
tonight, the very storm and waves that
are frightening you tonight are the
stairst steps by which Jesus will come
to you.
Now, here's Peter. And Peter answered
him and said,"Lord, if it be thou, bid
me come to thee on the water." I like
that. Don't criticize Peter. The rest of
the disciples were cowering in the boat.
Even the fishermen who should have known
the water, they didn't have the faith to
step out. Have you ever noticed that
whenever God calls somebody to do
something courageous, people criticize him?
him?
called Martin Luther to be courageous
and walk on the water and restore the
truth of justification by faith. He was
criticized. His life was threatened.
Martin Luther John Wesley John Wesley
saw the truth of salvation, regeneration
by the Holy Spirit, and he went up and
down Britain preaching and they threw
him out of the churches. They called DL
Moody crazy.
Whenever a person wants to get out of
the boat and walk on the water, there's
always somebody to criticize. Let's be
careful about that. And so Peter
says,"Lord, bid me come." And he said,
"Come." One word, "Come." And when Peter
was come down out of the boat, he walked
on the water to go to Jesus. This is the
most perfect picture of the Christian
life anywhere in the Bible. Walking on
the water, not walking on the ground.
Unsaved people can do that. Not walking
on calm water, walking on stormy water.
That is a picture of the Christian life.
If you have the idea the Christian life
is calm,
better read it again. If you have the
idea that it's easy, better read it
again. Because the Christian life means
doing the impossible a step at a time.
And he walked on the water. Now, he
really did it. He actually did it.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he
was afraid and beginning to sink, he
cried, saying, "Lord, save me." You
know, Peter knew every square inch of
that lake.
He sank in familiar waters. Wasn't
unfamiliar water. It was familiar water.
You say, "Well, I'm a student at the
Moody Bible Institute. This is my third
year. I know what's going on." You can
sink in familiar water.
I've been saved for 25 years. Been going
to Moody Church. You can sink in
familiar water. Be careful.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth
his hand. Years later, Peter wrote in
his letter, "The eyes of the Lord are
upon the righteous. His ears are open
unto their cry." He knew that. And
immediately Jesus stretched forth his
hand and caught him and said unto him,
"Oh, thou of little faith. Why did thou
doubt?" That word doubt there means
stand uncertainly at two ways. looking
to Jesus, looking at the waves, looking
at Jesus, looking at the wind, looking
at Jesus, looking at they began to sink.
And when they were come into the boat,
the wind ceased. Then they that were in
the boat came and worshiped him, saying
of a truth, thou art the son of God. You
see here, Peter got his eyes off the
Circumstance are those nasty things that
get in our way and keep us from seeing
Christ. Now, why did Jesus send these
disciples out into a storm? Did he know
the storm was coming? Of course.
Why did he send them out into that
storm? Number one, because he loved
them. If they had stayed with that
crowd, their heads would have gotten so
big. They would have said, "We just fed 5,000.
5,000.
We know what we're doing." And so Jesus
said, "I've got to balance that
tremendous victory with a test."
Now, may I caution you to remember that
whenever you've had a great victory,
watch out. It'll always be followed by a
great test. And so, because he loved
them, he sent them out into the storm.
He knew the storm was coming. Some
storms we cause ourselves.
Jonah caused a storm by his
disobedience. They came into a storm by
their obedience.
Jesus sent them out into the storm to
help them increase their faith. Now,
watch this. The first lesson Jesus gave
Peter was in a boat when Jesus was there
and the sea was calm. That was the
kindergarten course, Luke 5. The next
lesson he gave, we haven't read, but you
remember it. Jesus was in the boat in a
storm, but he was asleep. That's the
high school course.
This is the post-graduate course. They
were in a storm in the boat and Jesus
wasn't there. He'd promised to meet
them. He hadn't come. It got stormier
and stormier. It got darker and darker
and he wasn't there.
Oh, may I say to you Christian friends
tonight, there comes in your life a time
of darkness and storm and you wonder
where Jesus is. And that's when the
devil comes and says, "Haha, you can't
trust him." Oh, he said, "I'll see you
on the other side." Where is he?
You know where he was? Where he is right
now up there praying for us. We're just
like these disciples in the boat. We're
on our way to the other side. We haven't
gotten there yet. We're going through a
storm. He's not there with us. He's up
there on the mountain praying for us.
He's up there interceding for us. And
he's going to come and he's going to
deliver us.
But Peter got his eyes off the Lord and
got his eyes on circumstances.
Now the Lord never teaches us to ignore circumstances.
circumstances.
What he does tell us to do is this.
Don't look at Jesus through the circumstances.
circumstances.
Look at the circumstances through Jesus.
When Peter saw the wind, what that means
is he saw what the wind was doing. When
he saw the wind and the waves and all
the storm, he got his eyes off the Lord.
When he saw those things, he should have
said to himself, "Well, he's still
there. As long as he's there, I'm here
and I'm safe."
Somebody here tonight is looking at
circumstances and they're whipping you.
I've done it. I've done it. I've
awakened in the morning and immediately
something has hit me, circumstances, and
I've said, "Lord, it can't be done." He
says, "Now look, don't look at the
circumstances. I know all about them. I
know why you're there. I put you there.
I'm going to lead you. Just keep walking
on the water, but keep your eyes upon me."
me."
There's a third distraction in Peter's
life, and we'll hurriedly look at it.
John chapter 21.
John chapter 21. Now, you know this
chapter. It's another experience on the
water. Peter was a fisherman and he
learned his greatest experiences on the
water. They were waiting for Jesus to
come to see them after his resurrection
and he didn't come. And so Peter says in
John 21:3, "I go a fishing and um six
other men went with him. We go with
thee." Now the Lord had told them not to
go fishing. He had said, "Look, you
leave these things." Remember back in
Luke 5, thrust out a little, give me the
boat, launch out into the deep,
give me the nets, follow me, give me the
fisherman. And so he left his boats and
his nets and follow the Lord. Now he
goes back to them. Whenever a Christian
goes back to the old life, he always
drags somebody along with him. So
they're out there fishing and they
caught nothing. Jesus shows up on the
shore. I like this picture. And he says,
"Lads, have you caught anything?"
Literally, he's saying, "Lads, you
haven't caught anything, have you?"
And they just called back and said, "No."
You see, when a fisherman has caught
something, he'll make a speech. When he
hasn't caught anything, all you're going
to hear is no.
So Jesus says, "Cast the net on the
right side of the ship as opposite from
the left side." And they did. And they
caught a great catch of fish. The
difference between success and failure
was the width of the ship. You see, you
think you're so far from from success.
Oh, you say, "I'm just I'll never make
it. I'll never I'll never make it." When
actually the only the difference between
failure and success was the width of the ship.
ship.
and the commandment of the Lord.
And so they obeyed and instantly
John says, "It's the Lord."
And of course, Peter impulsively dives
in the water and he lands on the shore
in verse 9, and uh-oh, he sees a fire of
coals. Now, the only other place in the
New Testament where you'll find a fire
of coals is when Peter denied the Lord.
And there's a fire of coals because
Jesus is going to deal with Peter about
his denial.
But you know, the Lord is so gracious.
Before he deals with Peter, he feeds him.
him.
And the Lord has bread and he has fish
and he feeds them. You know, he's so
wonderful. Sometimes when I have made
mistakes, people have come and they let
you know you've made a mistake and they
straighten you out. They don't feed you.
How nice it is for the Lord Jesus to
say, "Come and dine." Well, after he'd
taken care of that, he says to Peter,
"Do you love me more than these? You you
brag that you did, though everybody else
will forsake you. I won't." And Peter
said, "Lord, you know I love you." A
second time he asked him. A third time
he asked him. You see, Peter had denied
the Lord three times. Now he had to
affirm his love for the Lord three
times. And then Jesus reestablishes him
as a disciple. You see, when Peter had
ceased to follow the Lord and had denied
him, he ceased being a disciple. That's
why the angel said, "Go tell his
disciples." And Peter, he singled Peter
out for two reasons. One, he had sinned
publicly. Two, he wanted to encourage him.
him.
So the Lord uh reestablishes him in
verse 19. And when he had spoken thus,
he said to Peter, "Follow me." He'd said
that to him three years before, "Follow
me." Then Peter, oh, isn't this
beautiful? Peter gets up and he starts
following the Lord. Then Peter turning about
about
seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved
following. That's John, who also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said,
"Lord, who is he that betrayeth thee?"
Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord,
and what shall this man do?"
And Jesus sth unto him, "If I will that
he tar till I come, what is that to
thee? Follow thou me." You see, you can
get your eyes off of Jesus and look at yourself.
yourself.
You can get your eyes off of Jesus and
look at circumstances,
but perhaps the worst distraction of all
is to get your eyes off of Jesus and
look at other Christians.
The chief indoor sport of many
Christians is people watching.
One of the houses we lived in at one of
our churches, we had a lady right across
the street from us, right across the
street, who sat on her front porch with binoculars,
watching the neighborhood,
Peter says, "Lord, what's this man going
to do?" Jesus says, "Peter, don't get
your eyes off of me and start looking at
other Christians. Whatever I have for
him, what is that to thee? Follow thou
me. People come to me and say, "What
about so and so doing this?" What is
that to thee? Follow thou me. God never
called me to explain or endorse or
defend what other people do. Now, if
it's sin, that's a different story. But
God never called me to explain or endorse
endorse
or defend what other people do. He says
to me, "What is that to thee? Follow
thou me." Fell came to DL Moody one day
and said, "Mr. Moody, I don't like your methods.
methods.
And Mr. Moody replied, well, I'm not so
crazy about them myself, but what are
your methods? And the man said, I don't
have any. And Moody said, I'll stick to mine.
mine.
What is that to thee? Follow thou me.
And my friend, if you have become an
expert on the life of some other
Christian, watch out. You'll fall.
Now, this doesn't mean that we can't
help one another.
Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in a spirit of meekness,
considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted. We Christians like to get our
eyes off of Jesus and look at other
Christians. Let some other Christian fail
fail
and we start stumbling. Let some other
Christian get some blessing we don't
have, we start complaining.
I think one of the things we have to
fight more than anything else is getting
our eyes off the Lord and starting to
look at other Christians. You know, the
disciples were gifted at that. They came
running up to Jesus one day and they
said, "We saw a man casting out demons.
He doesn't belong to us. We told him to quit.
quit.
He doesn't attend our conventions.
Doesn't even read our magazine."
Jesus said, "No man
is going to do this in the power of my
name and use my name lightly.
Stay away. Don't criticize him."
People watching,
they came to a village of Samaria and
they wouldn't receive the Lord Jesus.
The Samaritans wouldn't receive him. And
they said, the disciples said, "Let's
call fire down from heaven." Jesus said,
"I didn't come to destroy men's lives.
People watching."
I suppose every one of us here tonight
at some time or another has been hurt by Christians
Christians
and you keep watching Christians. My
friend, don't do it. Let me just share a
little secret with you and we close.
When you're tempted to look at yourself,
whatever you see, relate it to Jesus
immediately. Take what you see and
relate it to Jesus. It'll give you
victory. When you're looking at
circumstances and you're prone to get
your eyes off the Lord, look at the
circumstances through the Lord, not the
other way around. And if you're looking
at other Christians and you see either
failure or success,
relate it to Jesus. If you see a
Christian who has failed, relate it to
Jesus. Pray.
Because the secret of running the race
and finishing the course
is looking unto Jesus. Now, how do you
look unto Jesus? through the word. I
don't know of any other way. Beyond the
sacred page, I seek thee, Lord. And so,
my friend, if you're spending time every
day in the word, if the word is spending
time in you,
then you can look to Jesus. Peter says,
"Whom having not seen, ye love."
We see him through the word. He is the
living word. This is the written word.
As we pray based on the word, we see
him. I have to fight these three
distractions constantly.
Constantly. I confess to you there are
times when what some Christians do just
overwhelms me and I feel like quitting.
I confess to you that there are times
when I look at myself and say, "Who in
the world are you to stand in that pulpit?"
pulpit?"
But then I have to look to Jesus
and so do you.
looking unto Jesus, the author, the
finisher of your faith. He started it.
He'll finish it. He's the alpha. He's
the omega. Being confident of this very
thing, that he that hath begun the good
work in you will complete it until the
day of Jesus Christ.
My friend, don't be distracted
because distractions lead to dangers
and disappointments and defeats and disciplines.
disciplines.
Looking unto Jesus leads to blessing and
victory and joy.
Now, Father,
we confess to our shame
how often the eyes of faith get off of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we measure him by our feelings. We
measure him by our circumstances.
Father, forgive us. Help us this coming
week to run the race with our eyes upon
the Lord.
Not ignoring self or circumstances or
others, but relating
all to him.
Father, if one here tonight has never
ever looked to Jesus for salvation, may
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