Will All Professing Christians

See His Face?

Source: http://mudpreacher.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/do-you-really-want-to-see-jesus/

JESUS REVEALED THREE CONDITIONS THAT MUST BE MET

BEFORE YOU CAN REALLY SEE JESUS.

A. HEAR & OBEY THE WORD OF CHRIST

IN OUR TEXT: “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.
Now is the judgment of this world”

• Three times Jesus told them that He would die and rise again.

• He told Martha that He was the resurrection and the Life.

• He told the Rich man that if they did not listen to Moses and the
prophets they would not believe even if they witnessed a person raise
form the dead.

There is only one thing that can open your eyes to see Jesus.

A willingness to OBEY the Word of God.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10 (NKJV)

Obedience to the Words of Christ will result in a change of heart. That

change of heart will result in a heart that desires to obey Him!

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to
Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out
demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I
will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do

the things which I say? Luke 6:46 (NKJV)

You can say you LOVE Jesus. He can even be like a Rock Star to you. You can
get you all teary eyed because He loves you so. But if you do not Listen to
His Word, Believe His Word and OBEY it, take it into Your Heart
and Life, you do not know the Real Jesus, and worst yet,
He does not know you. Why should He reveal Himself to
you if you don’t intend to fully obey Him.

YOU ARE JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHERS WHO ARE TAKERS AND NOT OBEYERS.
The Greeks wanted to see Jesus, and in answer, a Voice came from Heaven.
It was the Voice of Jehovah, El Shaddai, Creator God. It was the Voice to be
listened to and obeyed. “This voice did not come because of Me, but for
your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Listen to the Voice of God,
the Word of God. Obey, for Judgment has come.

B. FOLLOW JESUS by SERVING HIM

In our text: He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow
Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.

Jesus said: He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in
this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow
Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me,
him My Father will honor. MATT 10:37-39

Seeing the real Jesus requires a total

surrender of your life, all that you want,
all that you have.
Anything less and you just want a good luck charm, You want to live your
life for your benefit, and not Jesus. Why should He show His true self
to someone who doesn’t want to follow Him, who doesn’t want to
know Him as THEIR LORD, AS THEIR LIFE? If you love your life, your
possessions, your place in this world, you can’t see Jesus. If you want to see
the Author of Eternal Life, you must see Him without holding on to
anything. Jesus will never show himself to you if you merely want someone
to tag along as you live your life.

C. GLORY IN THE POWER OF THE CROSS

IN OUR TEXT: And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples
to Myself.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 (NKJV)
 Jesus never came to the world to be a Rock Star, the King of newly
liberated Jews. Some teach that if only the Jews had accepted Him.

No. Jesus came for the cross. He came to be cursed for you and me.

The Cross is the most powerful message Christians have.

Christians are nothing without the Cross.

On the Cross Christ experienced the most severe physical pain, the most
severe psychological pain, but worse than all that, He experienced Hell for
all eternity. He became sin, He became the most disgusting thing in the
“that He,
entire universe. He became you and me. He took our place.
by the grace of God, might taste death for
everyone.” Hebrews 2:9

He experienced an eternity of Hell for me. He experienced an

eternity of Hell for you.

It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a
sparrow can hear the story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not
experience any shock at all.

Jesus told his disciples, that if these men wanted to see Him, they must see Him on
the Cross. “Judgment was now upon the world, and Satan was about to be dealt with.
Jesus was about to be lifted up the covenant sacrifice between God and man, Heaven
and earth, Holy God and cursed man.

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I,
if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said,
signifying by what death He would die.
The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains
forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of
Man?” Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while
you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not
know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may
become sons of light.

The cross is what brought light into the world. To see the
Light of the world is not possible without seeing Christ
crucified on the cross. But that is not enough. You don’t gaze upon the
cross and think of poor Jesus. You don’t think upon the cross and wonder such a
waste. What could he have done…

We MUST EXPERIENCE the CROSS of CHRIST

This is where most pretend followers fail. Like Judas, like Demas. Paul tells us
we IDENTIFY with the Cross. Paul tells us that the Cross must be central in our life, It
must be the core belief in our Walk with Jesus Christ. If we are to See Jesus on a Daily
Basis, we must take up the cross DAILY, without complaint, without regret.
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14 (NKJV)

The cross is what separates the Christian from being like the world.
We die to self we die to what we want. To See Jesus we must serve
Him, We must give our lives to the Cross. Paul cried his heart out over
supposed Christians who became the enemy of the Cross.

Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us
for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction,
whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame–who set their mind on
earthly things. Philippians 3:17-19 (NKJV)

If you are a “professed” Christian, yet not embracing the cross, not dying to
self, living in the world, loving the things of the world, doing shameful
things, don’t pretend to be a follower of Christ. In reality you are an enemy
of the cross, you are just like those soldiers beating and taunting Jesus. You
haven’t seen Jesus on the Cross. The world has not been crucified to you.

All those people wanted Jesus to do something for them. They followed and
praised because He was a great prophet who could do such wonderful
things for them. He healed, he spoke amazing words.
But it is not about what Jesus can do for us.

Jesus is no rock star. He is no American Idol. He does not want us to think

about him that way. He will never reveal himself if you have that mind-set.

What he told his disciples many times, what he told the crowds at least
three times, if you want to see the Real Jesus, the Son of God Jesus, the
Savior Jesus, the Redeemer Jesus, Jesus the Lamb of God, you must look
long and hard at the Cross. You must look and see Him upon the Cross,
dying for you. You must be willing to die to what you want, you must be
willing to follow Him by taking up His Cross.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves
son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his
cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he
who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 (NKJV)

And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there, what you
do not hear is “Earn this.” You never hear Jesus say, “Earn this.” He doesn’t
say, “I’ve given everything for you. Now you need to gut it out for me.”

What he says is “Sua sponte.” OF MY OWN ACCORD

I volunteered for this. You don’t have to pay anything for it.
 But Jesus adds something else, that only the Son of God can say.

He says, “Follow Me”.

Because Jesus redeemed you with His life, Because He showed Sin and
Satan and Death that His sacrifice was not in vain, for He rose from the
dead as we will celebrate next week, He now says to you;

Once you look upon the cross and turn

away from your sin, this sinful world
and being the boss of your life, then you
must give your heart and life to me.
I can give you Life. I can say to you,
FOLLOW ME.