We Would See Jesus

Q: What does the Bible say about seeing Jesus?

The Bible teaches that seeing Jesus involves a profound spiritual awakening and leads to an overwhelming awareness of one's own depravity. Seeing Jesus, as described in Scripture, is a transformative experience. It reveals Him as the absolute sovereign God and exposes our total depravity. For example, when John encountered the glorified Christ in Revelation 1:17, he fell at His feet as dead, recognizing the weight of holiness in contrast to his unworthiness. Those who see Christ react similarly throughout the Bible; they do not approach Him casually but fall before Him in reverence, understanding their lowly state and His divine majesty. This deep realization affects their spiritual life and worship, compelling them to acknowledge His power and grace.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

The doctrine of total depravity is affirmed through biblical revelation, showcasing humanity's inability to come to God without divine intervention. Total depravity, a key tenet in Reformed theology, asserts that every aspect of humanity is corrupted by sin, rendering us incapable of seeking God on our own. This doctrine is supported by various scriptures that illustrate man's fallen state, such as Romans 3:10-12, which states that none are righteous and all have turned aside. The realization of one's total depravity often becomes evident to those who have truly encountered Christ; they recognize their desperate need for His mercy. This awareness only arises when one sees Jesus as He is—sovereign and holy—against the backdrop of their own sinful condition, leading to a deep reliance on His grace for salvation.

Q: Why is seeing Jesus crucial for Christians?

Seeing Jesus is crucial for Christians as it transforms their lives, instills reverence, and establishes a foundation for worship. Seeing Jesus, as recorded throughout the Bible, is essential for Christians because it brings about a radical transformation in understanding and worship. Encountering Christ leads to an awareness of our sinful nature, prompting humility and reverence. For instance, every biblical figure who had a true glimpse of God fell prostrate before Him, realizing their unworthiness. Such encounters convey a deeper comprehension of God's mercy and grace, igniting a passionate response in worship and obedience. Moreover, recognizing who Christ is as the sovereign Lord influences a believer's life decisions, affections, and attitudes, pushing them to pursue holiness and proclaim His glory to others.

It's good to see you all out. It's good to see Eric out. He's got a hard head. Fell off a ladder, and the ladder fell on him. But he's doing good. He's going to Pennsylvania next week, so he'll come and see us before he left. I'm glad you did. I'm glad you came. Went to see Julie yesterday. Her leg's still pretty swollen, but she's able to move it some. Her goal is to come out of that rehab on a cane with no more walkers. She said that's what she's working on, so I hope they know she's able to do that. That'd be a good thing. Got a new baby. What? Got a new baby. Rosie had a baby. My granddaughter, great-granddaughter, eight pounds, 22 inches. Good size, yeah? She's a hill. Victor Wildcat's family, he passed a couple days ago. All right, let's begin. I worship you, sir.

Guide me O Lord, I'll bring Jehovah He'll run through this barren land I am weak, but Thou art mighty Hold me with Thy powerful hand Bread of heaven! Bread of heaven! Feed me till I want no more! Feed me till I want no more! Unbound the crystal fountain which the healing stream doth flow.

Let the fire and cloudy billow lead me all my journey through. Strong deliverer, strong deliverer, Be Thou still my strength and shield! Be Thou still my strength and shield! When I'm driven from the verge of Torah, be my anxious support! Through the swelling earth Let me sit on Canaan's side Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to Thee I will ever give to Thee Oh, worship the King Oh, tell of his life is his path Bounty for care, one tongue can recite! He breathes in the air, He shines in the light! He streams from the hills in distance to the plain, And sweeping his steels in the clear and the rain!

Repture in abundance, and feeble as frail, Heal thee, do we trust, or find thee to fail? Thy mercy's out-tendered, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. Hold your place there and turn to the first chapter of Revelation. Mark it there. We'll be looking at it in a few moments. John chapter 12, verse 21, or verse 20.

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip telleth Jesus.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for mercy and grace ever present. for your children, new mercies we see every day. And grace is our constant companion, even when we fail to see it. We thank you, Father, that in your wisdom and according to your purpose and will, you showed grace to ruined sinners. who in themselves had no hope, no help in this world. No one to turn to. We are thankful that your Holy Spirit through the gospel enlightened your elect to their condition, and caused them to call out to you for mercy. Father, we thank you for your word. which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, the entrance which gives understanding to the simple. We thank you for the gift of faith that we can look at your word and never doubt, knowing full well that these words are the words of our Savior Jesus Christ. They are words from heaven. And they do not fall on deaf ears. For you have given your children ears to hear and eyes to see. You have told them all the things necessary for life and peace in this world.

Father, we pray for those who are sick, those who are going to trials. We're thankful that Julie's doing better. We're thankful for the good report on Eric and he's gonna be fine. I pray for these others who out came families lost, lost loved ones. The others who requested prayer also. Help us now, Father, if you will, to worship you in spirit and truth. And we can say with these griefs who showed up, sirs, we would see Jesus. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

I can't read this passage of scripture but to remember an experience I had as a young preacher many years ago in the church I attended in Winston-Salem. Before I ever got there, long before, there was a preacher there. An old preacher from West Virginia.

Tough as nails, he could knock several fools like me. A dear man. A man who loved the gospel and preached it clearly. When he came to that church that I would later be a member of, he stepped in the pulpit and looked back and there was a great big picture of Jesus on the back wall. It might have been velvet, I'm not sure, but it was a picture of Jesus. But he was terribly offended by that.

He didn't say anything. After the church people went home that night, he went and got a ladder and took that thing down and hid it behind a furnace somewhere. They didn't find it for years. But then somebody was down in the furnace room and they found it and they put it back up on the wall again.

When I came out to preach one night, the first time I preached actually, got behind the pulpit and there was a little brass tag on the pulpit that said, Sirs, we would see Jesus. And I looked up and there he was. Kneeling over a rock with hands in a prayerful stance. neon kitchen light circle around his head called a halo in a dark pretty robe. As soon as we would see Jesus, we looked up and there he was.

I guess that picture is still there because they never did take it down. I think they put it in with wood screws or something and locked tight and it never would come down again. But I haven't been back there in several years so I wouldn't know for sure.

This group of Jews came to worship at the feast, so they were probably Greek proselytes to the Jewish religion they came to worship. And they had heard of what Jesus Christ had done, raising Lazarus from the dead, feeding the 5,000 perhaps. These were Gentiles, but they were proselytes. not our first encounter, our Lord's first encounter with a Gentile. He'd remember that I'd sired up a Nician woman at a well, and he'd encounter one who spread everywhere to come and see this man because he was indeed the Messiah.

And I could understand their interest in seeing him, and so they came to Andrew, and they said, sirs, we would see Jesus. We want to see this man. We want to have some contact with him. And whether they ever saw him or not is not clear. But Andrew went and told the Lord that these men wanted to see him. This concept of seeing Jesus is an important concept.

People say they see him in all sorts of visions. They say they see him on the sides of a water tower. And so one woman says she saw him Egg McMuffin Bun actually made a shrine in her house to worship McJesus, I guess, in her worship bun. But there are some people in this world called the elect of God who've actually seen Jesus in a specific and a wonderful way.

And have seen him in his word, for he is the word of God. And having seen him, their reaction is almost always identical. And we can see that if we look over at Revelation 1, verse 17 and 18. Here's what John said, and he was the one that had the revelation, the final revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ on the island of Patmos in about the year 120 AD. And he saw Jesus. He said in verse 17, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

We don't hear that kind of language from people today in religion. It seems to me in this day of pervasive religion that the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, is held in such very low esteem. Men call Him Lord. I hear them call Him that. I hear politicians call Him that. I heard one the other day even say that He was non-binary. So they call Him all sorts of things. But they deny the power thereof. They speak of Him as God, speak of Him as the Lord, but they deny His power.

They often refer to him as one who is vying for the acceptance of his creatures. Men speak of his ability to save as dependent on the will of men to allow him to do so. Religion begs men to let him save them, to permit him, to allow him to invite the Lord of glory into their hearts. And by an act of their will, make him the Lord of their lives. Won't you make him Lord today, they say. He is presented as an ardent pursuer of men's hearts, as if he craves some validation from his creatures. Men refer to him as the man upstairs, their good buddy in the sky, as a facilitator of their own ambitions and intents and desires.

Yet in all of scripture, there is no such language, there is no such incident, and no empirical evidence that would make anyone come to this conclusion about the Lord Jesus Christ. All those conclusions are unscriptural, unspiritual, and utterly and completely false. Also you'll not find anyone who comes in contact with Christ in this book approaching in that pathetic language. You'll not find the leper in Matthew chapter 8 coming to him and saying, Lord, I will accept you.

He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. And when John saw him in his glorified state, he did not begin to spout the idiocy of some who say, I can accept him or reject him. He did not say, I believe in whosoever will. He did not spout that he was the captain of his own destiny. These things are, as the multitude say, carnal truths in Christianity.

Why do we never find them upon the lips of someone who actually saw him? Sirs, we would see Jesus. The only thing that can be rationally discerned by such language is evidence that those who speak thusly have never actually met the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have evidence, clear evidence in the Word of God, the reaction of those who meet the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm talking about spiritually. There are many who walk with Him and then turned away in His physical being. But recognizing Him for who He is, as described in Scripture, will bring about a wholly different response from a human being, one of the elect. John's reaction that we just read in Revelation 1 is mirrored throughout the Word of God.

And when I saw him, I felt that his feet is dead, as dead. No words to say, no offerings to make, no law to obey, no thought of worth or work or self. Mutated man becomes mute when he sees the glorified Savior. He has nothing to say. When men see Christ, they are not and can never be as they were before if they ever see Him. Seeing Christ changes you. Changed everybody that saw Him in this book. And not some small alteration of opinion.

When you see Christ, according to scripture, those who saw him fell at his feet as dead men. As dead men. When Jacob wrestled with Christ throughout the night, Christ put his hip out of Jordan and his walk was changed all the days of his life. He walked with a limp.

He received a new name. A name that said, God rules your life. A new identity. And nothing ever looked the same to him. He saw things through completely different eyes. When he crossed that brook that night, he called it Jaybok. I am poured out. He had sent his family away because he was afraid of Esau, and he had nothing. He crossed that old brook, and he said, this is Jaybok. I'm poured out. I have nothing. Then after wrestling with the angel in his hip, he put it out of joint, and being given a new name, he came across the same brook. He said, Penuel.

I've seen the face of God. It's a whole different view. I think it was old Scott Richardson said, if you ever, if we could see through the eyes of Christ, we could see as he sees everything. You wouldn't say nothing should change. Everything's right on schedule. Everything's just like it's supposed to be. We can see through his eyes.

Seeing Christ according to this puts you out of business. puts you out of business. The scripture gives example after example of that. Look at a few. Look over at Judges 13. See some people that run into the Lord Jesus Christ, run into God. Judges 13 in verse 20.

For it came to pass, when the flame went up, these were Samson's mom and dad. When it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from afar off, that the angel of the Lord, that's Jesus Christ, because they asked him his name, and he said, it's wonderful, ascended in the flame. And Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces on the ground. And they thought they was gonna die, because they had seen God. They thought for sure they were going to be dying.

You know the story of Isaiah when he saw the Lord. When the year that King Uzziah died, when God had spoken, Uzziah Smith knew that Uzziah was living with leprosy. He came out of that temple after he tried to be a priest, he was covered in leprosy, and he said, I saw also the Lord that year that King Uzziah died. I saw what God did to King Uzziah, and that's when I really saw who the Lord was. And when he came in, the temple shook, the doorpost of the temple shook, and his train filled the temple, and there was these six creatures, six winged creatures flying around him crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hope.

And he said, when I saw him, when I saw him, I didn't jump up and down, I didn't run a pew, I didn't act like a fool, I didn't start speaking in tongues, when I saw him, I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm done. I'm done. I'm a man of unclean lips. Whatever I said, whatever I thought I said, all these first five chapters of Isaiah don't mean a thing. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. That's what Isaiah saw. Ezekiel saw the same thing. Ezekiel 1, 28, he said, I saw the Lord. I fell away. I melted. I melted. Daniel said the same thing when I saw the Lord. My covenant is melted. It melted.

When Peter jumped out of that boat and swam ashore after the Lord had filled his nest with fishes, he said, depart from me, I'm a wicked man. Don't look at me. When the Lord came and healed the demoniacal guy, he said, depart from me. Depart from me. Why? I'm not good enough to be in your presence. I don't deserve to be in your presence.

To see Christ revealed is to be indoctrinated with two indisputable facts. The first is this. If you see Christ as He is, revealed in this book, You'll see him as absolute sovereign God. That's how you'll see him. And what you see of yourself is that you're totally depraved. By nature, there's nothing good in you. Men may carve about election and predestination and particular redemption, but the real doctrinal difficulty that evades men's mind is they do not believe that they are, as the Bible pictures them, totally depraved. Men don't see that.

If they ever see that, it's because they've seen Him. And if they've seen Him and see what they are, they'll say, I hope God has chosen me. I hope God has predestinated me to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. I hope God has has glorified me and justified me and sanctified me.

Because if he don't do it, ain't no hope for me. I got nothing. I got nothing to offer, nothing whatsoever. Everyone who sees Christ knows that he is personally and totally depraved and is a corpse to be despised and done away with, putrefying flesh. This is not the doctrine, but the experience of all who met Christ. Everybody said I fell away as a dead man, I melted. My countenance melted, melted. What does it mean to be as dead?

It means to be as insensible and insensitive, not knowing. It means to be shut off from the ability to communicate with all those around you. It means to be corrupt and cursed and damned and doomed. It means to be put out of the way. It means you cannot be touched without passing your stench to another. It means you are done in and done for and unfit to be among the living any longer. It means you got exactly what you deserved.

No man can see this. I know everybody will see this, except he sees Christ. And every man who sees Christ knows this is an indisputable fact about himself. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to that cross I plead. This is also the true position and posture of worship. Everywhere in scripture. How do people worship? On their face, in the dust. That's how they worship God. Always that way. I know we have ideas about worship today that are just about as silly as anything can be. Worship comes from up.

The New Testament word worship comes from two root words, pros guneo, and it means hound dog licking. You know how a dog would lick his master's feet. Even if his master swats him upside the head, he'll crawl on his belly and lay down his feet. Why? It's worship. Our Lord said that's what it is to worship.

Crawl on your belly like a dog. to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and kiss the Son's feet lest he be angry and you be put out of the way for his anger. Just kill him but a little. The most alive you'll ever be is when you're dead at Jesus' feet. Set your affections on things above and not on things of the earth where Christ is, where the Lord is, where you're dead.

And your life is hidden with Christ, in God. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear also with Him in glory. I know that back in the Revelation, John's next word, verse 17. And when Jesus saw, when I saw Him, I fell at His feet.

And something happened. Didn't say but, as if an opposite happened. This is the course of events. It's like seeing the word when. It means something is taking place, or something is taking place. And this is the next word in John's words here. A continuous purpose, a part and parcel of what is preceded. I saw him, and I felt as a dead man. And something happened. What happened?

He laid his right hand on me. If you ever see him, that's what's gonna happen. What is his right hand? Search the scriptures and you'll find it is right hand. That means he is salvation. I saw him. I fell in his feet as a dead man. And he saved me. And he saved me. That's the way it'll always be. Always. He will touch you with His right hand. He will lay His right hand upon you. His right hand is salvation. It is life from the dead. It is deliverance, never to die again. This is the process. Before He clothes you, He will strip you. Before He makes you alive, He will kill you. Before He raises you up, He will cast you down. That was Hannah's prayer, wasn't it? In 1 Samuel, chapter 2. Didn't she say He'd kill her?

He maketh a lie. He turns the fat into a hungry person. He brings the high down low. He takes beggars from dove-hills and sets them among princes. Moses in Deuteronomy 32 said the same thing. Know the Lord, he said, he killeth, he maketh a lie. He killeth and he maketh a lie.

If you see him as he is, sovereign mercy, will lay you low, and then the Son of Mercy will raise you up. Make you a new thing, a new creature in Jesus Christ. Old things will be passed away, the old, old things become new. When He lays His right hand on you, He will speak to you. That's what it says here, back in our text. He says, He laid His right hand upon me, saying, fear not. Don't be afraid.

We live in a world of fear. Everybody's afraid. Listen to them talk. You know, these political parties that are running, they show up there on both sides, scared to death, always afraid of everything. Always afraid. People are afraid. God's people aren't. God's people aren't. Fear not. They're not afraid of God. Not afraid of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not afraid of the Spirit of the Lord. Not afraid at all. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. And they followed me. And I give to them eternal life. The good shepherd calls his sheep by name.

No man can explain the mechanics of this thing. Tom and I were talking about this week. Most of this stuff can't be explained. It's a wonder and an amazing thing. But Old Spurgeon said that the exact place where you just absolute awe of God and reverence for God and you can't think about God, you know what you'll do? You'll fall down and you'll worship God. Because it's that place where we see him so beyond that comprehension and yet he's done this for us. We fall down and we worship him.

I don't understand it. But this word somehow is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Words he has for his people are not words that they know or they know that they don't deserve, but he gives them to them anyway. They're not words that cause them to tremble in utter terror, because they're words they fear not. It sounds like a judge's gavel coming down over the sentence of death. They are words of sweetest honey and honeycomb because they are words about him.

Because this is where it all boils down to. It's about him. Fear not. I am the first and the last. I'm how this thing started and I'm how this thing ends. I am your first and your last. I am times first and times last. I am the first and the last. They are words as sweet as honey in the honeycomb. Fear not. Be not afraid. It is I. It is I. It is the voice of freedom that will lay all our fears and wipe away our deadness and invigorate us to a glorious life that we never even knew anything about until it happened.

We couldn't even conceive such a thing as a spiritual life. Or being in love with someone we've never seen. Whom not seeing, whom having not seen we love. And whom we see not yet in us did. His words are the words of comfort and joy, glad tidings of good things. When he speaks, he speaks to that which he has made us to have an interest in. Because that's why we preach the gospel. We don't know who hears us. We tell folks, we don't know who hears us. But we know that somewhere out there, this will interest someone. It will be of interest to someone. Remember when Isaiah said over there, he said, ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the water and drink. That word, ho, means you've reached a point, a point of interest. He says that after Isaiah 52, 53, and 54. Isaiah 52 sets forth his sovereignty and ends with him beginning to talk about his sacrifice. Isaiah 53 tells of the cessation of that sacrifice. Isaiah 54 talks about what good God does for his people. He tells them that no weapon formed against you shall ever prosper and your righteousness is of me.

Isn't that interesting? Does that interest you? If it does, oh, you're at the point. Come and drink. Come and taste the wine. Have the feast that is wine on the leaves and well refined. When he gathers that interest, he describes himself. This is how he describes himself. I am he that liveth and was dead. I am he that liveth and was dead. This is how he describes himself. This is what a dead man needs and this is what one made alive by the spirit must have. I'm the first and the last. I was dead to get out of here. I'm the beginning and the end. I'm the resurrection and the life. Dead. He was dead. How was he dead? He died of his own power. The only person that ever had to live on the face of the earth that had power to die.

You don't have power to die. Dying has power over you. But you can't say, I'm just going to stop living. And it'll take place. He did. He died in the room instead of his people. I live and was dead. That's good news for dead men. The one who lays his hand upon us died and satisfied the claims of law and justice and lives forever. There's forever more to intercede for us. In His death, He conquered death. In His death, He bore the sentence that was due us.

He was made sin for us and we were made the righteousness of God. This is how He reveals Himself. How does Christ reveal Himself? By His titles. Redeemer. So He has redeemed. Savior. So He has saved. High Priest, so he has gone to God as our representative. Prophet, he's the one who tells us what God has to say. He lives, and because he lives, Scripture says, we live also. I that liveth and was dead. His words are the words of eternal life.

Fear not death or hell. He said, I hold the key. I hold the keys. I am alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and death. Those are scary things, but not to the believer. Death is an escape. Death sets aside our sinful flesh. I often think of those I've burned. Those dear ones we all loved and put in the ground. They worshiping God without sin. Singing without sin. Thinking without sin. Breathing without sin.

Fear death? No. Why people fear death is because they know there's an accounting on the other side. They fear judgment. They know when they die they're going to be judged. Except the children of God don't know. They don't fear that. Why? Because they've already been judged. They were judged in the Lord Jesus Christ. His words are sure, sure words. If you're not death or hell, I hold the keys to both and neither touch you. Neither of these doors shall ever be open to you. The door of hell or the door of death will never be the door you'll walk through. You're a liar, because he lives. What is it? What would it be? If someone who God had spoken to, touched, come up to you and said, sir, who would see Jesus? Well, that's just an understanding of praying Christ. God bless you.

We Would See Jesus

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about seeing Jesus?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is seeing Jesus crucial for Christians?

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We Would See Jesus

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about seeing Jesus?

How do we know the doctrine of total depravity is true?

Why is seeing Jesus crucial for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Tim James

Comments

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