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Let us hear the story of the Look — a story in three chapters.

I. Chapter the first. HOW HE LOOKED WITHIN. I do not know much about him, except this. How it came about, indeed, I know not. Whether it was some sermon that smote him; whether it was the death of some neighbour; whether it was some peril of his own; whether it was some sharp sickness that overtook him, I know not; but so it was. One day that man stopped and looked in at himself, and he said, "There is no mistake about it; I am wrong, I can see. I am all wrong, and I will just set to work, and I will make things right. I will turn over a new leaf." And he set to work, and he began to tie up his sins with the strong cords of his resolutions and his good desires, and there he set them all of a row. This was never going to be indulged any more, and this should not, and the other should be denied. All went well for a day, and then something or other came across him, and snap went the cords, and up sprang one old sin. Snap went the cords, and another sprang at him. "There," he said, "I knew that it was no good my trying," and he just gave it up. Who is that? You. I think I see here a man who has turned over a new leaf. Here it is all white and clean without a blot. Ah, there is a blot now. Oh, there is another smudge; there is a mistake. If we cannot find a better way than turning over new leaves, we shall soon give it up in despair. Besides, if thou couldst do so, what would it do for thee? Here is a man who has got into low water, and he cannot make ends meet, and one day a friend steps in to advise him and finds him in a state of glee, and the man says, "I have got credit for this, and I have received this"; and there he is filling up the column of his receipts. "Why, what does this mean?" says the friend — "My dear fellow, you have forgotten the 'brought forward.' You have left out the 'carried over.'" That dreadful "carried over!" That awful "brought forward!" What about the past? There it is, what can I do with it? We have not done with that chapter yet, for there is a second part of it. You say to me, "Yes; I can see that if I am ever going to be what I want to be, I must just come right up to God, and let Him do it." But, dear friend, what ails thee? "Well, you see, I do not know. I have not got any faith. I have not got any repentance I have not got any earnestness. What is a man like I am to do?" Hast thou never learnt how to make thy hindrances into thy helps? Hast thou never learnt how to make thy very need thy claim upon thy God? I pray thee now, just as thou art, with all thy sense of want, lift up thine eyes. Why, the only thing that I know about repentance is what I feel in my heart when I see Jesus. I have never found any place of repentance except at the foot of the Cross. The only thing that I know about faith is what springs up in my heart when I look at Jesus. Faith does not come from looking within. Let thy whole soul say, "I will look unto Him, and be saved."

II. Chapter the second. HOW HE LOOKED ROUND. You say, "There is to-morrow; people would notice the change, and I should not like to tell them that I had given myself to the Lord Jesus Christ, and how I was going to be His soldier and His servant; and there would be the sneer, and scorn, and ridicule, and one would perhaps try this temptation, and another would see whether I could bear the other, and I do not know that I could." The Gospel is, that Christ comes right to me and takes my hand. He lives, and He comes to thee and me, and He saith, "Thou art setting forth to be My child and My servant, and I am never going to let thee be alone." Now, wilt thou put thy hand in His? But we have not done with the second chapter quite yet. I can think of some one going a step farther and saying, "Well, I do look to Jesus, you know, and I am looking to Him, and I have been trying to look to Him, but somehow or other I cannot get on." Why not? Well, it may be that you are looking around still. Some of you say to me, "Well, you see, I look to Him, but I cannot rejoice. I do not feel happy." Well, I do not know that it says, "Feel happy." It says, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved." I think that we must let the Lord Jesus Christ take care of our feelings. All we have get to do is just to look to Him. But we look around at one man and another. Somebody says to me, "John Bunyan went for three months weeping and crying. I am a dry eyes; I cannot shed a tear." Well, who wants you to shed a tear? What have you got to do with other people? We will look no more round.

III. Chapter the third. HOW HE LOOKED UP. You must look up. Will you?

(M. Guy Pearse.)

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KJV: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

WEB: "Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.