Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you for the hope of
seeing the lovely face of our Lord and savior, thy dear son, Lord, we pray that you would
increase the longing of our hearts to see him as he is and to be
made like him. We thank you for the eye of faith
that enables us to look through thy word and to see glimpses
of his glory. We ask, Lord, that you would
Open our hearts and open your word and reveal to us more of
Christ that you would enable us to set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Lord,
we confess that we've had our affections far too often attached
to the things of this world. We thank you for the hope of
forgiveness, for the work of Christ that put away our sins. And we ask, Lord, that you would
comfort us and assure us in this hour of his successful work. And Lord, knit our hearts together. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Good morning. I love that hymn. I've titled this message longing
to see his face, longing to see his face. And we're going to
be looking at several passages. I want to ask you if you will,
to open your Bibles to first Peter, to begin with first Peter
chapter one. And I'd like to introduce the
theme of this message, if you will, with a very weak illustration. Our dear friend and brother Eric
Burt is here with us today and spent the night with us last
night and hadn't seen him in a while. And when he showed up
at our home, I was glad to see his face and embraced him. And
then this morning, when we got out of the car in the parking
lot, Eric and Delphus are good friends. And they haven't seen
each other in a while. And they embraced one another
in the parking lot. And I heard them say, good to
see you. Good to see you. Now, in contrast to that, this
past January, my dear friend who I love and have a wonderful
friendship with, who lives in Australia, I don't get to see
him very often. But he was here this past January. Angus Fisher. And when I saw
him, I just looked at him and I said, hey, how was the trip?
And the reason for that is that Angus and I FaceTime once a week. So, you know, I just thought,
I'd just seen him. I'd just seen his face and I
see his face regularly. We spend a good bit of time on
the phone, you know, once a week, just fellowshipping and comparing
and rejoicing together. Used to be a time when we communicated
with one another only by letter. We couldn't hear one another's
voice and we couldn't see one another's face. And then the
advent of the telephone enabled us to hear each other's voice
and now with FaceTime we can see each other's face. As I said, that's a very, very
weak illustration of the longing that the Lord puts in his children's
hearts to see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, which we have
yet to see. We look through the eye of faith
and we see the revelation that the Lord has given us of his
son in scripture. But we look through a glass,
as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, very darkly. We see in part, but then face
to face. Face to face. What a glorious
day that'll be to see him as he is and be made like him. I pray the Lord will strengthen
the longing of our hearts for that day this morning. You have
your Bibles open to 1 Peter 1. Look with me, if you will, at
verse 8. Whom having not seen, yet you love. in whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your soul. The only true evidence of our
salvation will be the faithfulness that God gives us to our dying
breath. It's not how we begin, it's how
we end. It's looking unto Jesus, who himself is the author and
the finisher of our faith and longing to see his face. Verse 10, of which salvation
The prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. At the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Lord is revealed now by his
spirit through his word to our hearts through the eye of faith.
But in that day, The revelation of his glory is going to, oh,
eyes not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination
of man, the things that he's prepared for us. Turn with me if you will to Revelation
chapter 22, Revelation 22. In verse 3, and there shall be no
more curse, but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it. and his servants shall serve
him and they shall see his face and his name shall be written
in their foreheads. Now that just simply means that
his name, all that his name means to us will be on the forefront
of our thoughts and minds all the time, all the time. And there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither the light of the sun, for the
Lord God lighteth, giveth them light, and they shall reign forever
and ever. And when the Lord Jesus came
into this world, he came, the scripture says in Romans chapter
8 verse 3, in the likeness of sinful flesh. In other words,
no one looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and saw any different
in terms of his outward appearances from any other man. The glory of his deity was veiled
by his humanity. And it had to be so. For the
Lord told Moses, when Moses asked the Lord to see his glory, what
did the Lord say to Moses? No man can see my face and live. And when the veil of our Lord's
humanity was removed for that brief period of time on the Mount
of Transfiguration, the radiance of his glory was so bright, the
scripture says it was like looking into the sun. You can't look
into the sun. The noonday sun, you look into
it, it will burn your retina in no time at all and you'll
be blind. No man can see my face and live."
And Peter, James, and John were forced to the ground to bury
their faces in the dirt, to hide their faces from the radiance
of his glory. The scripture says, in Hebrews
chapter 2 that the Lord Jesus Christ took on him the seed of
Abraham and was made in the likeness of his brethren. He had to be,
he had to be. Great is the mystery of godliness,
God was manifested in the flesh. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 tells
us that the Lord Jesus, like all of us, was made of a woman. He was born in a very natural
way. His birth, his incarnation, his
conception wasn't natural, but his birth was. Even his own brethren, his own
brothers and sisters who lived in the same house with him did
not know that they were looking upon the fullness of the Godhead
because the fullness of the Godhead was veiled in man. Don't believe the artist renditions
that are made of the person they call Jesus Christ. He did not speak with sanctimonious
tones and walk around with a halo and feminine looking long hair
and one that would attract the attention of little girls and
weak men No, he was a man, he was a Jewish man and men looked
at him and they saw no difference in him. Doesn't the Bible say that the
Word was made flesh And we beheld his glory as the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth,
yes. And that was the glory that we
see. We see him full of grace. The only hope that we have to
stand in the presence of the holy God is the grace of God.
He must save us by grace. There is no other means of salvation. There was no other way for a
man to be made right with God unless God does it and gives
it as a gift of free grace. We beheld his glory as the glory
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace. The scripture
tells us that the law was given by Moses. But grace and truth
came by the Lord Jesus Christ. The law can't save us. All the
commandments of God can do is condemn us. For when we stand
under the commandments of God, they expose all of our sin. And we need grace. Grace and
truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. We beheld his glory as
the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace.
That's what I need. I need to be saved by God's grace. I can't save myself. He's going
to have to do it all. He's going to have to choose
me. He's going to have to redeem me. He's going to have to sovereignly
regenerate me. He's going to have to keep me.
He's gonna have to present me faultless before the throne of
God. He's gonna have to do it all. I'm in need of grace, grace. Men have defined grace as unmerited
favor. And it is unmerited, but it's
a whole lot more than that. It's demerited favor. It's just not that we just don't
deserve it. It's that we must have grace and mercy. Mercy is
the withholding of that which we deserve and grace is the giving
of that which we don't deserve. And that can only come by the
Lord Jesus Christ. But all the glory of Christ was
veiled in his humanity. Full of truth? Full of truth. Pilate said of the Lord Jesus,
what is truth? What is truth? And that was after the Lord Jesus
said, for this cause was I born. And for this reason I came into
the world. To bear witness unto the truth. and they that are
of the truth hear my voice and they follow me." Pilate's response
was the same response that men have today. There's no such thing
as absolute truth. Truth is relative. You have your
truth, I have my truth, we all decide for ourselves what's right
and every man does what's right in his own eyes. No, God establishes
the truth. And when the Lord Jesus came
into the world, he said, I am the truth. I'm the truth. He didn't just come speaking
the truth. He is himself the truth of God. And there's no
hope of salvation apart from his grace and his truth. Every word that proceeded out
of his mouth was truth. When they went to arrest our
Lord, the police came back empty-handed and the Pharisees said, where
is he? And they responded by saying, never a man spake like
that man. He spoke with authority. Not
as the scribes who say, well, you know, it seems to me, or
it might be this way, or it might be that way, or what do you think
about this? Or let's pool our ignorance and
come up with some conclusions. No, he spoke the truth and every
word that came out of his mouth. And what glorious hope we have
when God gives us faith to believe every word that he spoke. You
hear people say, well, how much of the Bible do you have to believe
to be a believer? God makes you a believer, you
believe every word of it. You know that it's the Word of
God. It's the inspired Word of God and you just bow to it willingly
and gladly and you rejoice in it. No. The prophets in the Old Testament
looked to the future promise being fulfilled in Christ. When the Lord Jesus came into
the world, Peter says, we did not bring
to you cunningly devised fables. We didn't make this up. We handled
the word of God. And then Peter talks about that
experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said, we beheld his glory. They were blinded by his glory
is what it was. And then Peter goes on to say
this, and this is such an encouragement to me and I hope it will be to
you. We have a more sure word of prophecy. When God gives us
faith we look to Christ through the Word of God. Faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When the Spirit
of God takes the Word of God and through the miracle of faith
gives our hearts the grace to believe God. What do we do? We believe all the revelations
that have been made but do we see Him? Not yet. We look on things not
seen, the scripture says. We look not on the things that
are seen, for the things that are seen are temporal. They're just temporary. They're
connected to this world. But we look on those things which
are not seen. We set our affections on things
above. We look up in faith and we long
for that day when we see his face. We see his face. For now, Christ in us is our
hope of glory. What is our hope of glory? What
is our hope of glory? To see him as he is and to be
made like him. He is our hope of glory. And
for now, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Verse 9, for we know in part and we prophesy
in part. Now, somebody will say, well,
if we can only see part then how do we know that what we see
is true? And you've heard this illustration,
I've used it before. I don't need to know anything
about calculus or trigonometry to know that 2 plus 2 equals
4. And so I've got a very partial
knowledge of mathematics but that doesn't mean that the knowledge
that I have is not true. It just means that there's so
much more to it that I haven't yet achieved. So when the Lord
says we know in part, he's not saying that what we know could
be right or it could be wrong or it could be negotiable or
it could be an error, no. He's just saying that we just
know a little bit, a little bit. And what we prophesy, when we
try to speak for God and we try to talk about the things of God,
we're just scratching the surface. But does that mean that what
we're saying is not true? No, no. And that's clear if we
read the rest of this. Look at verse 10. But when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done away. Won't need prophecy. No, won't
need faith. That's how this is gonna end.
We're gonna read it on in a minute. Won't need any of those things.
when that which is perfect, who is that which is perfect? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the thing about it,
God demands perfection. He won't settle for anything
less. How many times we've heard people say, well, you know, I'm
doing my best, doing my best. Well, I'm here to tell you on
the authority of God's word, your best and my best is never
good enough. As a matter of fact, As a matter
of fact, if God judged me or you based on the best thing that
you ever did, you're going to go to hell for it. Now that's
what God requires. He requires absolute perfection. We cannot present anything to
God for our acceptance before him. We are accepted in the beloved. Having that righteousness, which
can only come from him. Righteousness is perfect obedience
to the law of God. God doesn't require, God's not
satisfied with just what men see in our outward behavior. Be kind, be good, be thankful. Act right, do right, sure. Sure,
but is that going to, is that going to anyway give us acceptance
before God? Absolutely not. A man looks at
the outward appearance, God's looking at the heart. You know,
we hear people say, well, they've got a good heart. That's not
what the Bible says. The Bible says that the heart
is deceitful, desperately wicked, who can know it? You know, our
hearts are, Every thought, my thoughts are
not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways as
the heavens are high above the earth so are my ways above your
ways. We can't think a holy thought. We can't have a, we look to Christ. He is all our righteousness before
God. All of our acceptance. He's the
perfect one. And when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. And
then Paul's going to use this example. He said, when I was
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when
I became a man, I put away childish things. Now don't be childish. We're all childish enough, aren't
we? You know, I've been. Thinking lately, I wish that
age had a direct correlation to wisdom and maturity, but it
doesn't always. It doesn't always. We can be
very childish even in our old age. The Lord, you know, we ought
not to be childish. But I think in the context, I
believe that in the context of everything that's being said
here, Paul's talking about he's a child right now. said what you know when that
which is perfect is come then that which is in part will be
done away and then he uses this example when I was a child I
thought as a child acts as a child but then when I became a man
I put away childish things he's he's talking about our experience
in this world we're very childlike and we're very childish in so
many ways but one day we're gonna become a man One day we're gonna
be full grown. One day we're gonna be mature.
When will that day be? When we see him as he is. When we look upon his face and
not until then. For now, look at verse 12. For now, we see through a glass
darkly. Now that word darkly means mysteriously. The gospel is a mystery, we see
bits and pieces of it. But the scope of it and the size
of it is infinite because it's the person of Christ, he is the
gospel. And where this glass is not a
glass like a glass window, it's a mirror. And back then mirrors
were made out of polished metal. and it would tarnish very quickly
and you had to continually clean the mirror in order to be able
to get a reflection that was anywhere near what it should
be. And even then it was distorted. And so he's saying, we're looking
into this mirror and we're seeing just a distorted reflection,
just little bits and pieces. But then... Then, in that day,
longing to see his face. Then, face to face. Now, I know in part. Now the
part that I know, I know. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. We know that thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. We're sure of it. We believe
that you alone have the words of eternal life. Lord, to whom
shall we go? Who else can we go to? No one
else. And we know that he works all
things together for good, for them that love him and those
that are called according to his purpose. We know these things, but we know in part And then shall I know even also
as I am known. I'll know the full story when
I see his face. When I'm able to set my glorified
eyes on the radiance of his glory and not be killed by it. I'm
able to bask in his glory, rejoice and worship before the throne
of God. And we just read in Revelation
22, then we shall see his face. And now, right now, abideth faith. No faith in heaven. Faith is
looking on that which we cannot see. In heaven, we're gonna see
it. Not gonna have faith. Hope, hope is longing for that which
we have not yet achieved. There won't be any hope in heaven.
We will have arrived. No more hope. Charity, that's
love. And the greatest of these is
charity because that will be the only thing that there will
be in heaven, only thing. the full display of God's love
in our hearts, toward Him, toward one another. You know, we have
love in this life, we have certain people that are very special
to us that we love in a certain way, and yet that love is so
imperfect even for the person that we love the very most. But
then, then, Our love will be like His love
and it'll be perfect for everybody. We won't have those special relationships
like we have in this world. We won't have husbands and wives,
children and grandchildren and the family relationships. We
won't need those things. We need those things here in
order to be able to express our love. But we'll need those things
there. Because in heaven, there'll be
nothing but love in the radiance of His face. In closing, turn with me if you
will to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Look at verse four. One thing. One thing. One thing. Don't miss that. God puts this in our hearts.
This will be the one thing needful. One thing have I desired of the
Lord. Oh, we desire those earthly,
blessings and comforts that the Lord gives us, but this is the
one thing needful. And if the Lord didn't give us
another thing in this life, he didn't give us another blessing,
another benefit, another pleasure in this life, this is the one
thing have I desired of the Lord. And that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."
To behold his beauty, to see his glory, to see his face. No
man's ever seen it except for those who are in heaven. Look at verse eight. When thou saidest, what do we
do? What do we do right now? When thou saidest, seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face from me. Lord, don't hide your face from
me. I need to see your face. I'm
longing and living and desire. It's the one thing needful. The
one thing needful. Hide not thy face far from me.
Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. Lord, I'm a
sinner. And all the attempts that I have
to see your face, I see so much of my sin. Lord, don't hide your
face from me. You said to seek your face, Lord,
and all I can do is what you've commanded me. But what you've
commanded, you must provide. You must provide. Matthew chapter
5 verse 4 said, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall
see God, they shall see God. Now that comes after blessed
are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed
are those who agree with God about themselves
being poverty stricken as far as their righteousness is concerned.
That's what it means to be poor in spirit. I don't have two pennies
to rub together to earn acceptance with God. I'm flat broke, poor. And then the second one is, blessed
are they that mourn. For they shall be comforted.
This is a work of God's grace that causes us to mourn before
God. Lord, I... My sin is ever before me, David
said. Lord, I can't. I can't bring anything to you
except for my sinfulness. And then the next one is, blessed
are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Now, Read those Beatitudes. Some have said that these are
the attitudes that ought to be. And if you can somehow put yourself
in a position of being poor in spirit and mourning over your
sin and hungry and thirsting after righteousness, then God
will bless you with these things. Being poor in spirit is the blessing. Mourning over sin is the blessing. Hungering and thirsting after
righteousness is the blessing. Being pure of heart is the blessing. How am I gonna be pure of heart
before God? Only if I have a new heart. given to me by the Spirit of
God in the new birth. A heart that looks to Christ
alone for all its righteousness and all of its justification
before God. And the promise of God is that
if he's given me a pure heart, I'm gonna see God. I'm gonna
see God. I'm gonna see his face. Oh, is there anything, anything
greater than that? I think not.