John Newton once said, “You lack nothing to make you joyful, but to have the eyes of your understanding more fixed upon the Redeemer, and more enlightened by the Holy Spirit to behold His glory.” That is the very heartbeat of the Christian life—fixing our eyes on Christ and beholding His glory.
As we saw Sunday, this was the point of circumcision and the Passover, and it is likewise the point of baptism and communion. The sacraments are not empty rituals but gracious signs and seals from God, designed to fix our gaze on Jesus and His gospel promises. Through these ordinary means, God points us to His Son, and when He looks upon these signs, He too sees Jesus, the One in whom every promise is yes and amen.
Signs Pointing to Christ
Why did circumcision mark out God’s people? In large part because it marked out a people who knew they could only be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in the promised Messiah alone. Their hope wasn’t in the blood shed in circumcision, but in the blood that would one day be shed in the “circumcision of Christ”—not His literal circumcision, though His perfect obedience was necessary, but His ultimate circumcision on the cross, where His flesh was cut down and the wrath of God was poured out upon Him.
And why did the blood of the Passover lamb save the firstborn of Israel? Because that blood pointed forward to the blood of the true Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world in His life, death, and resurrection.
And so it is with baptism and communion today. These sacraments point us—and the Father—directly to our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They are calls to faith and joy, means by which the Spirit fixes the eyes of our hearts on our Redeemer.
Word and Sacrament Together
This is the main point of our Bible reading, our teaching, and our preaching as well. Yes, we must seek to embrace and live out all the practical application of God’s Word, but we must never forget that all true obedience is in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. If we lose sight of Him, we will quickly drift into either legalism or license. Have you ever known someone who showed great zeal in following Christ for a time and then it all fizzled out? That’s because even when we appear to be applying God’s Word, our efforts will be hollow and short-lived unless they are tethered to Christ.
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection
Imagine I told you to dig a hole and fill it back up again, 100 times a day, for 100 days, for one dollar a day. Almost none of you would do it. But if I said the same task would earn you a million dollars a day, you would gladly dig. What changed? Not the task, but your desire—because the reward was greater.
This is what the Puritan Thomas Chalmers called the expulsive power of a new affection. Sin is not defeated by mere willpower or cold renunciation but by a stronger, more compelling love—love for Christ. A greater affection expels the lesser. When you see Christ rightly—when your heart lays hold of Him by faith again and again—you will joyfully obey Him, come what may. Fix your eyes on the Redeemer, and the beauty of all that is yours in Him will outshine every sinful lure.
Why We Sin—and How We Change
Do you struggle with a particular sin? Is there some sin that just keeps popping back up in your life, a sin that you seem to go back to again and again? Why do you think that is? Most often, we sin because we want to. We know what is right but choose what is wrong, not because we are ignorant (after all, if you know it’s wrong than to some degree you know the right thing to do also) but because our desire for the false promise of sin—satisfaction, security, control, power—outweighs our desire for Christ in that moment. The problem, then, is not merely behavior but desire.
And here is the good news: Christ can reorder those desires. A deeper affection for Him will expel our love for lesser things. This is why God, in His kindness, has given us His Word, His sacraments, and even the created world itself—all to point us to His Son.
Fix Your Eyes
Creation proclaims the glory of God. The Word and the sacraments proclaim the gospel of God. All of it beckons us to fix the eyes of our understanding and the eyes of our hearts upon Jesus, that we might know Him, love Him, and live for Him all the more.
Romans 8:13 reminds us: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” In other words, if you don’t kill your flesh it will kill you. We must fight sin and pursue holiness—but we must do so in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. By the Spirit we must see and desire Jesus rightly, and let that drive us to do the next right thing. Anything less, at some point or another, will fail.
So may we fix our eyes on our Redeemer. May we see Him as He is, trust Him as He calls us, and joyfully walk in obedience to His Word, because in Him—and in Him alone—we find life, joy, and peace forevermore.
In Christ service and yours,
Nick Esch