Not life as the reward of weary toil — not the result of agonizing efforts — not the purchase of money, or of prayers — but Life, eternal life, as the result of one believing look to the Lord Jesus Christ. How wondrous is the gift of God!
The agony of the lost will be the terrible memory that they might have had life if they had only looked, but would not. The poor on earth will not be able to say, "I could not afford it." The busy person will not be able to say, "I had no time to attend to it."
Life had been offered to them as a gift, if they would only look to Jesus and by Him be saved. But even this was rejected.
Reader, this life is now offered to you on the same terms: life in a look. It works!
Thomas Haddon Spurgeon was one of the millions who has proved it. He wrote of his own salvation: "I thought the sun was blotted out of my sky — that I had so sinned against God that there was no hope for me.
"I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snow-storm one Sunday morning when I was going to a place of worship.
"When I could go no further, I turned down a court and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there might be a dozen or fifteen people. The minister did not come that morning; snowed up, I suppose.
"A poor man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach.
"This poor man was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had nothing else to say. His text was: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter.
"There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in the text. He began thus: " 'My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, Look. Now that does not take a deal of effort. It ain't lifting your foot or your finger; it is just LOOK. Well, a man need not go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man need not be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look, a child can look. But this is what the text says. Then it says, Look unto Me.' Ay,' said he in broad Essex, 'Many on ye are looking to yourselves. No use looking there. You'll never find comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No: look to Him by and by. Jesus Christ says: " 'Look unto ME.'
" 'Some of you say, I must wait the Spirit's working'. You have no business with that just now.
" 'Look to Christ. It runs, Look unto Me.' "Then the good man followed up his text in this way: " 'Look unto Me; I am sweating great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hanging on the cross. Look! I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend; I am sitting at the Father's right hand. Oh, look to Me! Look to Me!'
"When he had got about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the length of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and said: " 'Young man, you look very miserable.'
"Well, I did, but had not been accustomed to have remarks made on my personal appearance before. However it was a good blow struck. He continued: " 'And you will always be miserable — miserable in life, and miserable in death — if you do not obey my text. But if you obey, now, this moment, you will be saved.' Then he shouted: " 'Young man, look to Jesus Christ; look NOW'. He made me start in my seat, but I did look to Jesus Christ.
"There and then the cloud was gone; the darkness had rolled away and that moment I saw the sun.
"I could have risen that moment and sung with the most enthusiastic of them of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me before.
"Trust in Christ and you shall be saved."
Look! look! look and live!