Just one look ( 5 ) ( Ephesians 2 v 1 - 10 )

 So we started by looking at the wonderful king ,David,who had everything,God had blessed him,raised him from being a nobody, to being a somebody.He faced God's enemies and he got the victory,the people sang his praises,what could go wrong to the man who had everything?. You know its not the enemies that are without,that are the problem ,that we need the victory over,but the enemy that is within, our fallen sinful nature. So it came to pass,the result,  well you know the result,adultery,followed by murder,these are not little things,he should have been sentenced to death,as the law required (Genesis 9 v 6 / Leviticus 20 v 10),God is no respecter of persons,the law applied to everyone without exception.Why was he not executed,? In Psalm 51 we have the prayer of a repenting David, in other words he had turned from his evil ways and was asking forgiveness?. The Psalm commences with these words,' Have mercy on me,O God',David knew his God, that he was merciful, 'Praise the Lord,His mercy is more.Stronger than darkness,new every morning.Our sins they are many, His mercy is more' (Words by Keith and Kristyn Getty).No matter how awful our sin,or how  many are our sins,they can be forgiven,because God is merciful. We receive that mercy because of Jesus, when we accept Him as our Saviour,mercy will flow like a river,and we are forgiven.

Just one look ( 4 ) ( Proverbs 5 v 21 )

 A little boy had been attending Sunday school,the children were taught a little chorus,the words went,''Be careful little eyes what you see,there's a Saviour up above, looking down with tender love,Be careful little  eye's what you see'.That same little boy was out walking with his father, they were passing an orchard ,so   his father said to him,I fancy some apples,keep looking to see if anybody is coming.The little boy appeared uneasy with this,and his father asked him,what's up?,the little boy replied, ''what about looking up dad''.King David  wrote ,'I look up toward the hills.From where does my help come ? .My help comes from the Lord,the Creator of  heaven and earth'. (Psalm 121 v 1 - 2) . Even the most godly of  people can forget that God is looking at us, as to what we do,not like a sentry on duty,who falls asleep ,for we are told God does not sleep ( Ps 121 v 4 ).Yes he is watching you and me,He see's all ,nothing is hid from Him,  and we read,'The thing David had done displeased the Lord.'.What did he do ?, he sinned against the Lord, When we have sex outside of marriage we sin,when we commit adultery,we sin,when we murder someone, we sin,when we covet someones wife we sin,when we take God's name in vain,it is a sin.In 1 John 5 v 17 we  are told, 'All wrongdoing is sin',not just the gross things,but those things we may consider trivial,no sin is overlooked by a holy God. All sin matters,as  John Stott says,''It destroys fellowship with God',and that is very serious,we will continue this ,next time.

Just one look ( 3 ) ( John 4 v 1 - 14 )

 Lets continue to consider,'Just one look',it is in 1 John 2 v 15 - 17 ,which commences .'Do not love the world',what does the world mean?, it includes all things that are contrary to a holy God,and he names three things,The lust of the flesh,the lust of the eyes,and the pride of life'.The lust of  the flesh stands for all the desires of our carnal nature CP Galatians 5 v  19 - 21.We will go to number 3 ,the pride of  life.of course we all can think what pride is,the question is ,is there a good pride,and a sinful pride?.the core of racism is pride ,we are declaring we are better than them,they are inferior,pride is when we leave God out of our achievements,  out of our successes. .Last but not least the ,'Lust of the eyes',one could say it is being  being blinded to God  and the things of God.it is not just looking, it is lusting,and desiring,and craving,and wanting, and still not being satisfied.Go back to David  ,he had many wives CP 1 Chronicles 3,but the lust of his eyes took over,if we are ruled by the lust of our eyes we will never be satisfied, as David found out to his cost.John Stott writes,'Our affections, are set either on this world or on God. It is impossible to love them both'.

Just one look. (2) ( Romans 6 v 23 )

Just one look is all it took,we should not be surprised at this, in Genesis 3 v 6 we read of Eve being   tempted by Satan,to eat the forbidden fruit,she knew that God had forbidden her to eat this fruit.So we read in spite of this,' When the woman saw ....she took some and ate it,in other words ,just one look,that's all it took. Just before the overthrow of Jericho ,the Lord told Israel that they were not to take any of the spoils for themselves. (Joshua 6 v 19).But a man called Achan ,disobeyed ,so when Israel faced their next challenge they suffered  defeat, and loss of life ,when it was revealed that Achan  had disobeyed , he was confronted with what he done,he said,' I saw the plunder', just one look and he took ( Joshua 7 v 21)  What is very tragic as regards what  David,Eve,and Achan did ,was the consequences of their actions,on others.Consider the result of Davids action,Uriah was murdered,the child born out of the adultery died. Consider the consequences of what  Achan did,Israel lost the battle with the citizens of Ai,with the loss of life. And of course I don't have to mention  the awful  consequences of Eve's disobedience., Yes it all started with just one look, let all of us consider as we look at that which is  forbidden by God ,how it is going to affect others ,your child,your wife,your parents.,hear this, there is always a cost when we sin.

Just one look (1 ) ( 2 Samuel 11 )

 One evening King David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself,she was very beautiful. So it began with just one look,as  he looked at this beautiful woman he was smitten,desire took over, sinful desire..It is said eyes are the windows of the soul, they are also the windows to our sinful hearts,surely that does not mean the man after God's own heart oh yes,it means David,and it means all of us.When the hymn the words,Amazing grace, that saved wretch like me,he meant it,we are all wretches, as we will see ,as we look at what followed that one look. None of us ,yes I say, none of can  appreciate the depths we can fall morally.One look was followed by a headlong  pursuit to  fulfill his sinful desires,and he was determined that nothing would stop him.He was told that she was a married woman,that didn't stop him,and her husband  was one of his bodyguards ,Uriah the Hittite,that didn't stop him. So he unashamedly sent for her,slept with her ,then she returned home,and that was that,his one night stand was over. We will consider this further next time, I will leave you with these words from Numbers 32 v 23.'Be sure that your sin will find you out',there is no escape from the consequences of our sins,as David would find out.

I am His Child. ( Psalm 46 )

A friend passed on four things to me,which I want to share with you .( 1)' Make sure you test positive for faith.' In Hebrews 11 v 6,we have two important words,'Without faith',could that be you?, have you ever thought what that means?,lets put it to the test,have you or have you not faith?.ask yourself that question.   Next, faith in what?or should I say in who? in Christ,do you really know Him as your Saviour?,because if you have not ,then you are lost. If you have trusted Jesus as your Saviour,then trust  Him to bring you through Life and take you to heaven.. ( 2 )' Keep distance from doubt',how do we do that?,by trusting the Lord with all our hearts and leaning not upon our own understanding, ( 3 )'Isolate from fear',is that possible?,yes it is ,it depends on what you are focusing on, the awful situation we find ourselves in,as regards your job,your needs,the ,'what if's',so many of them. Ask the Saviour to help you ,He will carry you through.  ( 4 )'Trust God in all you are going through',we have already mentioned that earlier,He makes no mistakes,remember you are His child.,as the words of the hymn says,'Under His wings I am safely abiding ;Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me; He has redeemed me, and I am His child'.

Good morning Jesus. ( Proverbs 3 v 5 - 6 )

A man  approached a godly lady, he wanted advice about following the Lord,so she said, every morning when you get up,the first thing you do is say ,'Good morning Jesus'. She told him do this without fail,it  seems such a simple thing,I suppose what it is doing is inviting  Jesus in at the commencement of each day. It does not mean you won't have a quite time,but it set's the right tone for the day.and that's important. When I have a problem I look to God to solve that  problem,and if we bring him into all aspects of our lives,our lives we will be better for it.I try to make prayer a way of life,we all should,yes we need to set a time to pray each day but also live in a spirit of prayerfulness  ,talk to God,and bring him into all your decisions,  tell Him you love Him. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's prompting.and when you have grieved Him,tell him your sorry ,and ask His forgiveness,for unconfessed sin  will be a hindrance in your relationship with our dear Saviour,and we don't want that,do we?