Seek His Face 1 Chron. 16: 7-11 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
None of us has ever seen Jesus but we are told to seek his face. We have never seen God, but we are told to seek his face. You could see Jesus if he would let you. Instead he’ll only let you see as much as is revealed to us in the Bible. Nevertheless, when you seek his face as he instructed us he will reveal himself to you. You will understand him better and you will become more like him.
When you seek his face you’ll see:
The face of authority – he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords – a good look at this face will cause you to fear the Lord – in Matt 7:28-29, the people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having authority – they questioned his authority in Matt 21:23 – never question his authority – just do what he says – notice that Stephen, who was unashamed of his authority, not only did what he said but also began to resemble him before he died – his face looked like the face of an angel – in other words, the more you seek his face, the more like him you become.
The face of compassion – in Matt 9:36 when Jesus saw the multitudes as sheep having no shepherd, he was moved with compassion and told us to pray that he would send forth laborers into his harvest – in Matt 14:14 he was moved with compassion and healed their sick – in Matt 15:32 he was moved with compassion and fed the multitudes – he did what he did because he was moved with compassion – programs that only deal with the medical and nutritional needs of people are commonly limited by human compassion – you need divine compassion to deal with the souls of men – you get this divine compassion by seeking the face of God.
The face of suffering – Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief – his face was stained with tears for Lazarus and for Jerusalem – his face was stained with the blood, sweat and tears of Gethsemane – his face was stained with the spit, blood and bruises of his judgment – he hid not his face from shame – human nature is such that people rubber neck to see blood at a wreck but Jesus’ face was so marred at his death that the people hid their faces from him – if you could just see that face, it would cause you to appreciate much more what he did for you – to see that face of suffering would cause you to live a holier life more pleasing to God – to see what he suffered for us would cause you to be more willing to suffer for others.
The face of love – Jesus is God and God is love – to see his face of love would cause you to desire more fellowship with him – and seeking his face of love would cause you to love his words more [if a man love me he will keep my words] – to have sweet fellowship with the loving Lord causes you to be more loving toward the brethren and toward the lost.
The face of joy – “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth” – the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked – he died for all men and is willing that all men be saved – seeking his face of joy causes you to be more desirous to please him and to see others saved through your witnessing – he also rejoiced in the earth when his Father revealed the scripture unto babes [Lk 10:21] – you put a “smile on the Lord’s face” when you come humbly to the words so that he can reveal the truth of them to you – if you want to see his face of joy you should get saved today and get in the Bible immediately.
The face of wrath – if you are not born again, if you neglect to receive Jesus as your Saviour, then you will see his face of wrath – this is not a face that you want to see – he comes “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ” – he says to the wicked, “Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Conclusion: seek his face and get to know his authority, his compassion, his suffering, his love and his joy – and whatever you do, do not wait to get saved until all that you see is his face of wrath – get saved today!!