Go with me if you would back
to first Peter chapter one. First Peter one. You know, this
word is the truth. This is the truth. Verse eight says, whom having
not seen you love. That's the truth. That's the truth. Even though
we have not physically seen him, we love him. We love him. The reason we love him is because
he first loved us. We love him because he has revealed
his love to us and his love for us. Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God
shouldst die for me? Amazing, amazing love. Look with
me if you would at Romans 5. Romans 5 verse 1, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us." God commended his love toward us. In that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Greater love had no man than
this. He laid down his life for us. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. Now, when a sinner, when a no
good rotten sinner sees the love of Christ for him, once he really sees the love
of Christ for him, when he sees that God so loved him, he gave
his only begotten son for him. And when he sees that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come. And I just entered into that
more so than when I wrote into my notes. Neither death, nor
life, angels, principalities. You know, we're not wrestling
with flesh and blood. Things present. or whatever's
around the corner, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate that sinner from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus his Lord. When he sees that, he cannot
help but love Christ in return. He can't help it. He cannot help
it. The Apostle Paul said, if any
man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let that man be cursed. How on this earth could a sinner
not love the Savior of sinners? How? How could a sinner not love the
one who gave his life to save sinners from their sin? Gave
his all. Tonight's message is for every
single person who says, every single sinner who says, whom
having not seen, I love, I love, I do, I love him. Now, turn with
me, if you would, to John 21. John 21 verse 15 says, So when
they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? Do you love me? He saith unto
him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto
him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed
my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because
he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my
sheep. Now I believe with all of my
heart, I say this carefully, I say this humbly, I say this
thankfully, but I believe with all of my heart that the Lord
has put a love in me for Christ. I don't take credit for that
love. He put it there. But I do believe that he did
graciously, kindly, mercifully, sovereignly put love in this
heart for Christ. So I want to do what he said
to do. He said, if you love me, feed
my sheep. As a sheep, I'm a sheep too.
As a sheep, I know what sheep love to feed on. They love to
feed on Him. They love to feed on His Spirit.
They love to feed on His Word. I have something here in His
Word that I pray the Lord will, by His Spirit, feed us with it. I really do. I pray He will Oh,
I pray we'll be so fed. Now don't turn back, but in our
text it says, whom having not seen you love, whom having not
seen you love. Job said, I know that even though
worms are going to destroy this body, I know with these eyes
in my flesh, I'm going to see my Lord. He said, I know I am. The time will eventually come
that we're going to see him. It's not that far away. It's
not that far away. We are going to actually physically
see him. Matthew 5 says, blessed are the
pure in heart. Blessed are those who have been
made pure by the blood of the Lamb. For they shall see God. They're gonna see him. But for
right now, 2 Corinthians 5 says, we walk by faith and not by sight. We see through the eyes of faith,
even though we can't see through the eyes of our physical sight.
And I pray tonight we might, through those eyes of faith,
see him. That's my prayer. I pray we might
see Him, even though we have not seen Him. Tonight, I want
to see Him. I want to see Him. By faith in this Word, I want
us to look on and I want us to look at the One that we're going
to see very soon. Mine is across the page. If you'll
look at John 20, verse 29 says, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Not seen physically,
but have seen me spiritually through faith in my word. I want
us to take a minute. And I want us to see what he
has revealed to us about his own person. And I'm going the
long way around trying to say, I want us to look at him. That's
all I want us to do. I just want us to look at him.
I want our eyes of faith through this word to get a good look
at him. Now, I don't know if what we're
about to see is only spiritual. I do not know. I know that it
is spiritual, but I don't know if it's both spiritual or spiritual
and physical, spiritual and actual. Either way, it does not matter.
It does not matter. As long as we get to see Him,
it doesn't matter. We leave all that in the Lord's
hands, in the Spirit's hands. We let Him bless these things
to us and reveal these things to us as He sees fit. All right,
here's where we're going to start. Go with me to Revelation chapter
one. Revelation one. Verse 1 says,
this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him
to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.
And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John, who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that
readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep
those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you
and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. and from
Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten
of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and
hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh
with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which
is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. I, John,
who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle
that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day. and heard behind me a great voice
as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last, and what thou seest, write in a book. and send it
unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto
Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. And I
turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned,
I saw." He said, this is what I saw.
This is what he looked like. I want to start with his hair.
Verse 14 says, his head and his hairs were white
like wool as white as snow. Turn with me, if you would, the
song of Solomon. just before Isaiah. Song of Solomon. Chapter five. Song of Solomon five. This is
describing the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11 says, His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. His hair is not cut too short. It's not shorn in humility. His locks are bushy And if you
look at the reference, it says curled. His hair is curly. And it's black as a raven. All right, wait a minute. Which
one is it? Is it white as snow? Or is it
black as a raven? You know what the answer is?
It's both. If that's what God says it is,
that's what it is. When you look at him, you see
the age of wisdom, all wisdom. And you see the dew of youth
in the same man. The faith that God gives to his
people sees that. The faith does not argue. The
faith believes it. The faith trusts it. The faith believes that he is
both Alpha and Omega. Faith believes he is both the
beginning and the end. Whatever color his hair actually
is, as long as I can see it, that's good enough for me. All right, let's look at his
eyes. Right here in Song of Solomon 5 verse 12 says, his eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and
fitly set. If you look at the margin for
fitly set, it says sitting in fullness, that is fitly placed
and set as a precious stone in the foil of a ring. They look
like perfectly set rubies. Revelation 1 said they look like
a flame of fire. Is that actual? I don't know. Lord willing, I'm going to find
out soon. Right now, I don't know, but I tell you what I do
know. He never takes those precious, glorious, beautiful eyes off
of His people. Never. Those are the eyes that
look with compassion on every single one of His people. Those
are the eyes that see the blood. because those eyes see that beautiful
red blood he passes over us. Verse 13 says, his cheeks are
as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. The closer that we get
to our Lord, The more we smell the sweet savor of Him, who He
is. He is the sweet smelling savor
to God. He is the incense of intercession
on the altar. They used to burn incense on
the altar and that was the sweet savor. That was the prayers of
Christ on behalf of His saints. And that's what He is. Verse
14 says, His hands are as gold rings set with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. In Revelation 1, John said, His
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. That's what
his countenance is. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all said
the exact same thing. When our Lord was on the Mount
of Transfiguration, they said His face did shine as the sun
and His raiment was white as the light. God is light. God is light. In glory there
is no need of the sun. The Lamb is the light thereof.
His countenance shines and it lightens everything. And there's
no night there. What that means is we're never
going to be out of His presence. Solomon said in verse 15 at the
end of it, His countenance is as Lebanon Excellent as the cedars. His mouth. Is most sweet his
voice. John said it says the sound of
many waters. It sounds like a stream. It sounds
like a waterfall. It sounds like the ocean. Is
that literal? I don't know. But I tell you
what it says. Peace be unto you. Every one
of his people. Peace be unto you. Peace be unto
you. That's what he said. He kept
saying that when he arose. Peace like like ocean waves rolling
in one right after the neck. Peace be unto you. Verse 16 says, yea, he is altogether
lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend. Oh daughters of Jerusalem. Isaiah 9 verse 6 tells us that
his shoulders are so broad he can carry all the government
on them. Isaiah 40 verse 11 tells us that
his arms are so strong he can gather every single lamb that
he has and carry all of them in his bosom. Have you ever worried
there won't be enough room for me? He can grab all of them and carry
them in his bosom. This is our beloved. This is
our friend. I will give you one more of his
features. I can tell you with certainty, this one is actual. When we see him, we're going
to know him. We're going to know that's him.
And when we see Him, this is what we'll see. Go with me one
more time back to John 20. John 20 verse 24 says, But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again, his
disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be
unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, reach
hither thy fingers and behold my hands and reach hither thy
hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, my Lord and my God. Five bleeding wounds he bears,
received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers,
they strongly plead for me. Forgive him, oh forgive, they
cry, nor let that ransom sinner die. Do not allow that ransom
paid for sinner to die. When we do actually physically
get to see him, we're gonna see the one who bears scars up in
heaven, the only one. There's only one. That's how
we will know Him. He is the only one who bears
scars up in heaven. Scars that love held on the tree. Scars that turned judgment to
mercy. for a hell deserving sinner like
me. We're going to see him in his
beautiful hands. We're going to see him in his beautiful feet
that Revelation 1 says look like fine brass as if they burned
in a furnace. His feet look like he walked
through the fire for us. And we're going to see it in
his side. Even though we have not yet seen Him, through the
eyes of faith, the faith He's given us, we do see Him. We do
see Him. We don't make an idol out of
Him, but we see Him. And we love everything we see.
We love everything we see. Now let's close back in our text.
Go with me back to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 8 says, Whom having not seen, you love. In whom, though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. And he says, every soul who has
received this faith sight unseen rejoices with joy unspeakable
verse 9 says is going to receive the end of your faith even the
salvation of your souls what he's saying is this faith right
now that we are enjoying this faith is going to turn into sight
it's going to go from faith to sight and we're going to see
him as he is and This is just. Almost too good
to. Even say. But go over to 1 John
3 last verse 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3 verse 2 says. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God? And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be just like him, for we shall see him as he is. That's just
too wonderful. All the glory, everything that
we glory in, in who he is, that God would redeem us and
save us, what kindness and what mercy, but conform us to his
image? Too glorious, too wonderful for
me. Let's all stand together.