So this morning we're going to
be looking at, we're going to start in Exodus chapter 34 and
then we're going to jump right over to 2nd Corinthians chapter
3. The title of the message is, or the
lesson today is, Seeing Jesus. We'll start reading there, Exodus
34 verses 29 is where we will start. And read down through
35. When Moses came down from Mount
Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands,
he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken
with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites
saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come
near him. But Moses called to them. So Aaron and all the leaders
of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward,
all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the
commands that the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses
finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But
whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, He
removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and
told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that
his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil
back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord. Now
we'll go to 2 Corinthians 3 and we'll look at how Paul refers
to this particular passage of scripture and what he has to
say with it. So I should put my glasses on here. Yeah, 2 Corinthians
chapter three, and we'll pick up reading in verse seven. But
if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious
so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the
face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which
glory was passing away. How will the ministry of the
spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation,
condemnation, referring to the old covenant law, had glory,
the ministry of righteousness, referring to the new covenant,
exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious
and had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away,
that's speaking of the law, was glorious, what remains is much
more glorious. So Paul is referring back to
the old covenant, the ministry of death, as he calls it. And
most specifically, he's talking about how the old covenant and
all its glory, that which glory is passing away, as we read there
in Exodus, because it's soon to be replaced by the new covenant,
which has an everlasting glory. The glory of the old covenant
will be out-gloried, so to speak, by the glory that excels in the
new covenant. Now, if we drop down to verse
12, we're gonna read down through verses 12 through 18. Therefore,
since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike
Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of
Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing
away. But their minds were blinded, for until this day, the same
veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament,
because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day,
when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless,
don't we like that phrase? Nevertheless, when one turns
to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the spirit. and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as
by the Spirit of the Lord. So Paul tells us here that we
now have this hope in Christ, and it's a hope that allows him
to speak boldly the gospel of Christ Jesus because, unlike
Moses, The veil has been removed in Christ. There's no blindness
brought about by this message. Paul does not need to cover his
face. And so what does he say in verse 15? But even to this
day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. But praise
God, we have verse 16. Nevertheless, when one turns
to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And Paul knows what he's
speaking of here. It was not that long ago when
he had a veil over his heart. As Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning
the law of Pharisee, persecutor of the church, blameless in his
view of the righteousness of the law, it took the grace of
God to change his heart to remove that veil. In verse 18, where
he speaks of being transformed into the same image from glory
to glory, just as the spirit of the Lord, Paul is saying that
This change from glory to glory is a remarkable promise. Not
only are those in Christ finally freed to see God's glory, free
from that veil over their hearts, but they begin to become God's
glory as they begin to become like Christ. Glory to glory. And then Paul is not the only
one who speaks to this. We're gonna look now in Hebrews
chapter 10, if you will, Turn there if you'd like, we'll be
reading a few verses out of there. Hebrews chapter 10. And we're
gonna start reading in verse one. For the law, having a shadow
of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually
year by year, make those who draw near perfect. So the law
and the prophets, they were just a shadow, a type, a picture of
what was to come. They could never remove sin.
They in fact brought about sin and death. And that is why Paul
called it the ministry of death. These sacrifices were performed
every year continually, yet had no effect on sin. And as we read
on down through verses two through four, Paul strengthens his statement
here. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, for the worshipers once purified would
have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices,
there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. So all
of those things ordained by God in the law, His law, A law that
we just can't ignore because it was truly ordained by God,
but it had a very distinct purpose as they were obscure shadows
of what was to come. The ministry, the covenant of
life that we now have in our relationship with Christ. And
they all pointed directly to that covenant relationship that
we have with Christ. But law and its sacrifices, they
never put away sin if they had, wouldn't they have stopped them?
What proves that they did not have the effect of putting away
sin is that they had to continue year after year and after year. So now let's turn, if you will,
to John chapter five, and we'll take a look at some more of what
is said. So as you turn there, we've been
hearing and reading what Paul and the writer of Hebrews had
to say about he who is coming. But let's hear some thoughts
from Jesus himself. He's going to tell us what those
under the old covenant just could not know. So in John chapter
five, we're gonna pick up reading in verse 35. And the father himself
who sent me has testified of me. You have neither heard his
voice at any time nor seen his form. but you do not have his
word abiding in you because the one whom he sent in him you do
not believe. You search the scriptures for
in them you think you have eternal life. These are they which testify
of me. So Jesus was speaking to a bunch
of Pharisees there, but he told them quite bluntly, you search
the scriptures talking about the Old Testament scriptures,
the Law and the Prophets, you search those scriptures because
you think in them, you think in them you have eternal life.
But Jesus continues pointing out to them that which they didn't
have, they didn't have his word abiding in them, so they did
not have the eyes to see. Yet these are they which testify
of me. And if we drop down to verse
46, we read, If you believe Moses you would believe me for he wrote
about me Jesus is saying if you believed if you understood What
the law was saying what Moses was saying you would believe
me because Moses wrote about me When he wrote in the law So
it's no stretch to say that when looking at all the scriptures
all the law and scriptures was written about him but the Pharisees
Well, they just could not understand what Christ was saying because
they did not have those eyes to see. When they read the scriptures,
they did not see Jesus. That's what we are going to look
at today, what it is to see Jesus, and it's the title of this morning's
study, Seeing Jesus. And there's so much that can
be talked about under that title. When I decided this was the topic
I would go with today, So many things just popped into my mind.
For the most part, the points we will look at are pretty random,
not in any particular order, not chronological or any way,
just things that we can reflect on when we ask ourselves, do
we see Jesus? In the Course, the answer for
every believer is yes, we see Jesus. Unlike the Pharisees who
searched the law and the prophets to find life but were not able,
to seek Christ the Scripture, so therefore cannot find nigh
we, but we have been given the mind of Christ. We once were
lost, but now we're found, was blind, but now we see. All because
of God's sovereign grace and mercy for his elect. Mike brought
it out several times how it's God working in our lives is what
causes us to be able to see, to understand, and to do and
be as what God would approve. When we look back on what we
have talked about so far this morning, we are reminded that
God ordained the old covenant, the law that brought condemnation
and death, which again is why Paul called it the ministry of
death. But then we see how the new covenant in Christ Jesus
has set us free from that condemnation. God, for his name's sake, purposed
from before the foundation of the world to save a people for
himself and for his glory. And to accomplish this, he sent
his one and only son to be the atonement for the sins of the
elect. The result of that is what we
read in Romans 4, verses seven and eight. Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.
And we do see Jesus as our freedom from that condemnation. We see
in him how our guilt has been removed. We see that the glory
of Christ in the new covenant far outweighs the glory of the
old. It was as if the law had no glory
at all. The new covenant brings life,
the old covenant brought death. A few verses that express to
us the wondrous glory of Christ would include verses like, and
this is gonna be part of that, this glazing over that I spoke
of. And the word became flesh and
dwelt among us and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the father, full of grace and truth. That's in John 1 verse
14. And he is the radiance of his
glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all
things by the word of his power. When he had made purification
of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
And that's in Hebrews chapter one, and then, and the city has
no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory
of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the lamb. Revelation
21 verse 23. So yes, we see how the glory
of the father is in the face of Christ Jesus. We see that
radiance of glory that is typified in the radiance of Moses when
he came down from the mountain. And we see the permanence of
that glory when we read how the light of the sun and the moon
as the light of the world will no longer be needed in the new
heavens and new earth as the new city will instead have the
glory of God, the lamp of the lamb as its light. Contrast that
with the permanence, with the fading glory of the old covenant
One is fading, and the other will never fade away. Then we see in the birth of Jesus,
the word of God becoming flesh among us, born of a virgin, dwelling
among us in all his glory as the only begotten son, given
the name of Jesus because he will save his people. Read with
me, if you will, by turning to Isaiah chapter nine, The prophet Isaiah is doing here,
just as Christ told the Pharisees what the purpose of the law and
the prophets was, they wrote of Jesus. They looked forward
to Jesus. They testified of the one to
come. In Isaiah, the prophet is speaking
to the time when God would come to the world and dwell among
us in the flesh through this miracle birth of his only begotten
son. So Isaiah chapter nine, starting
in verse six, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will
be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
and Prince of Peace. So when we talk about Jesus,
we see him in many different lights here. We see him as the
Son of God. We see him as his only begotten
son. We see him as the head of the
government, in other words, king of kings and lord of lords. He is wonderful. He is counselor,
mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. He's everything
to every God-saved and redeemed believer. And we're going to
take a quick look at a few of the probably hundreds of verses
in the Bible that speak to why Christ came to this earth. There
are many reasons, there are many verses, but we can see here why
he left his place in glory. Jesus said, for the Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost. That's Luke
chapter 19 and verse 10. Then John 9, 39 says, and Jesus
said, for judgment I came into this world so that those who
do not see and that those who may who see may become blind. Mr. Newton may have been referring
to those two verses when he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. Once I was lost, but now I'm
found, was blind, but now I see. And those two verses speak directly
to that. And then Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ Jesus
came in the world to save sinners. Getting lost here in my notes.
And then just one more of the countless verses of Christ's
purpose in coming to this world, giving up his place in glory,
for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve
and to give his life a ransom for many. That's in Mark 10,
verse 45. So as we look at those few of
the many verses we could choose from, we see Christ as a servant
of God, and Christ as the obedient son, obedient even unto death
on the cross. And we certainly have a clear
view of him as our savior. And we see how he lived his life
in perfection in order to be our perfection. And how while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We see that he died on
the cross under the wrath of God that was appointed for us
in order to remove our sin and therefore God's wrath from us,
his sheep. And then a few more quick references
here where I will bring a verse or two that speaks to how we
see him. We see him as our advocate. And
in first John two, verse one, it tells us, my little children,
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
back to Hebrews chapter nine, it says, for Christ did not enter
a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us. He appears in the presence of
God as our advocate. That's what it means when he
appeared in the presence of God for us. He's appearing as our
advocate before God. We see him as our refuge, as
we saw when Brother Norm took us through this study in numbers,
the study about the cities of refuge just a few months ago. Here, Hebrews chapter 16 verse 18 says,
so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for
God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong
encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. And we
can remember from that study of the city's refuge in numbers,
people went there because they had no other place to go to be
safe. When they were without hope anywhere else, their life
was surely threatened. But we who have fled for refuge
might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set
before us. Those who would run to the Caesar
refuge had no hope. We see Jesus as our rest. Pretty much the whole of the
chapter four in the book of Hebrews deals with Christ being our rest. Verses nine and 10 there in Hebrews
chapter four take us right to the point. There remains then
a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters
God's rest, also rest from their works just as God did from his. We're not looking at a special
day of the week, we're looking at Christ being our rest. And
Christ speaks to that in Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Then one more that we will look
at we also see Jesus as our intercessor. Romans 8, 26 and 27 give us such
a perfect picture of what an intercessor does for us, interceding
for us in our times of weakness. Paul says this, Paul says this about our intercessor,
likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do
not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit
himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Then actually I
did have just one more. We go on to see him as the great
physician. During his ministry, he healed
the lame, the blind, the deaf, the lepers, those possessed by
demons. He raised the dead to life again. There's so many miracles and
so many things that Christ did that in John chapter one, John
is going to speak to all these miracles of Christ and how, well,
they are just too many to speak of. John 21, 25, he says, and
there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they
were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that would be written. And he concludes
with amen. So there's one thing about this
church that is for certain, and that is we have one message. Our pastor has stated that many
times. And that is to, with all humility that God can give us,
preach Christ and him crucified. So we can't talk about seeing
Jesus and not talk about him being the crucified one. The
one sent here to die for us and redeem those that the father
had given him, his sheep, his elect. The last time I was here
in the pulpit, I spoke on the great exchange. that exchange
where Christ took upon himself our sin and gave us his robe of righteousness. He took upon him our sin, our
guilt, and yet he gave us his robe of righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 5.21 is where
this came from. For he made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God
in him. He took on our sin and guilt
and gave us his robe of righteousness. I said then it was something
that I just could not wrap my mind around, such an uneven exchange. Why would he do that? Hebrews
12, two gives us the answer and Mike referred this earlier. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He
did it for his glory. He did it because that was the
plan from before the foundation of the world was ever laid. But as weak in the flesh creatures,
we still can't help but wonder why. Because when you see him
on the cross, blood coming down from a crown of thorns placed
on his head, blood from the nails placed through his hands and
through his feet, and then a sword mercilessly thrust into his side,
we just, we don't yet understand that when we see the blood covering
his whole body, we don't think to ask, what is on that body? The answer, it's our sin, it's
our guilt, it's also our names, all that covered by the blood. Have you heard of that blood
that washed away your sins? Well, there it is on the cross
for us to see on Him hanging up there all the sin and guilt
of all those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life covered by the blood. And what does he get in that
exchange? The wrath of God and death, wrath
that would have been ours to bear. But in the end, he gives
himself what he came to do, redeem for himself a people. You can
hear him crying out loud, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? All the while suffering the wrath
ordained for us, sinners against God. Then with his last breath,
he says to the father, in heaven, it is finished. What the father
had sent him to do, it was done. We see him taken down from the
cross, put into his tomb. A big stone was rolled over the
opening to seal it closed. But then on the third day, we
see that the stone has been rolled away and the tomb, other than
some remnants of clothing, is empty. And there's a stranger
there asking, why do you seek the living among the dead? Yes,
now we see him as our risen savior. As he had said, destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The good news of
the gospel is all right there. Christ came as was promised clear
back in Genesis. He died, and then on the third
day, he rose again to life, proving God, the highest judge, accepted
sacrifice. We died with him. We were buried
with him, we rose with him, and we have our life in him. Our
inheritance in him is secured. That is the glorious news of
the gospel, our life in Christ. Many years ago, I heard a message
on VHS tapes, it tells you how long ago it was, by a pastor
named Scott Richardson. I never got to meet him, He was
a very devout and well-respected preacher of the true gospel.
This would have been about 35 years ago, back when I was a
newborn to Sovereign Grace doctrines. I don't remember most of the
message, but I do still remember this story Scott told. It is
an allegory about an elephant and a mouse that were crossing
an old wooden bridge. They were walking side by side
with each other, And as they crossed the bridge, it really,
really started to shake. It was really shaking. Once they
reached the solid ground on the other side, that tiny little
mouse looked up to the outfit and declared triumphantly, we
sure made that bridge shake, didn't we? Now, I don't remember what Brother
Scott was speaking to exactly, but it would not be a large assumption
to think that he was giving us a picture of our role Christ's
role in our in our salvation Christ was the elephant and we
were the little mouse God shook up our world when in his infinite
mercy and grace he reveals to us his son We had no more to
do with that act of being born again that act of salvation That
shaking of the bridge if you will then what the mouse did
well Crossing that bridge with the real shaker the elephant
Like the mouse, we had nothing to boast about. We did not have
the stature, the will, nor the desire to cross that bridge.
And for us, that was Christ. Christ did it all. Christ changed
our world. We can't ever be like the mouse
and think that we played even a small role in our salvation. If Christ didn't do it all, it
hasn't been done. If Christ didn't pay it all,
we still owe. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this shaking, crumbling, falling apart bridge
of destruction? Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So I ask, how do you see yourself? Are you like that boastful, tiny
little mouse? Or are you the mouse that sees
Christ the Almighty as the shaker? and you, little mouse, are nothing
without Him. If Christ is in you, you know
the answer to that question. So in closing, I will quote just
a couple more verses, and we'll be looking at 1 Corinthians 1
as we continue seeing Christ in all His fullness, and at the
same time, seeing all our fullness in Him. So in 1 Corinthians, I'll be
reading verses 30 and 31. It is because of him that you
are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness,
and redemption. Therefore, as it is written,
let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. So we have seen Christ in many
different ways, but it all comes down to this, brothers and sisters,
He is our everything. He's it, He's all we have, but
the great news is He's all we need. Amen.