The Face of God — Brian Long

How good the Lord is. Let's turn in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4 this morning. 2 Corinthians 4. Begin reading in verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Veiled Hearts to See God's Glory

Let's pray together. Father, we lift up Your Word. We ask You, Lord God, to take Your words of spirit and life and to pierce and penetrate our hearts. We pray, Lord God, that You would remove the veil from our eyes, that You would remove the calluses from our hearts, that You, Lord God, would speak to the very deepest places of our hearts.

I pray that not one of us would leave unchanged this morning. Because You are God, and we are not complete. Yes, You have finished. It is finished. But because it's finished, then we can run the race.

We can finish the race, and we're not there yet. So I pray, Father, that You would mold us and conform us this morning. That You would do a deep, deep work within every one of us for the glory and honor and praise of Your name.

Lord, please speak. Speak through me, this vessel of clay, that all we see is You. And all we hear, Lord Jesus, is You. Change us. Show us, Lord, Your glory. Because in Your glory we are changed from image to image and glory to glory.

In Jesus' name, amen. To give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Scripture says. Brothers and sisters, God has a face. God has a face. What's so significant about a person's face?

If you really want to know someone, what part of their body do you look at? You don't look at their back to get to know them. You don't primarily look at their hands. You could tell a little bit about someone by looking at their hands, but that's not where you look.

You don't look at a person's feet or a person's elbow or knees. You look into their face. The face is like the window of the soul. The face, more than any other part of the body, reveals what's in the heart.

The knowledge of the glory of God is seen most clearly in the face of someone. The face of Jesus Christ. God has a face. And that face is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the very face of God.

Jesus Christ as the Exact Image of the Father

He is the exact representation of the Father. He said, if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Keep your place there and turn with me to Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1, beginning in verse 1, says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

It says here that Jesus is the express image of His person. If you've seen Him, the express image. If you were to look into a lake that is steel, is glass, and you look into that lake, you see the reflection of your face, the express image.

He's saying, God has spoken to us now through His Son. If you want to see the glory of God, gaze upon Jesus. Seek the face of Jesus. Seek the face of God. And in the face of Jesus, then you will see the glory of God.

God has a face. Jesus is very God of very God. He is a living God. He is a personal God. The fact that He took on a face tells me He is a personal God. He is not some mist out there in space somewhere.

He is not some figment of anybody's imagination. Jesus Christ is not some dead idol that cannot speak, and cannot hear, and cannot touch or feel. He's not in some Palestinian tomb somewhere. He is alive.

He is a person. He is not a dying memory of a man who once lived in the past. He is the very living God. He is God. Jesus Christ is God. He is fully God, full deity. He is the face of God. Charles Spurgeon, well, I'll skip that for now.

The Word Became Flesh and Revealed God's Face

Jesus Christ became man. Let's go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. God became man. God took on a face. John chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

And then we move down to verse 14, and we see who this Word really is. Verse 14, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

God has a face. God became a man. And when He became a man, He didn't take on an attractive face in the world's sense of attraction. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53, if we turn there, Isaiah 53, there was really nothing attractive by the outward appearance of Jesus when He became man.

Isaiah 53 and verse 2, for He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He came to His own and His own received Him not. There was nothing on the outward appearance from a worldly standpoint that made Jesus attractive. In simple terms, He was not good looking. Verse 3, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. God has a face and man esteemed it not. God has a face and sinful man despised it. Think of it, brothers and sisters.

God has a face. God became man. God has a face and man actually despised the face of God. He despised the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And this is where it gets really, really hard to preach.

Sinful Humanity Spits in the Face of God

Matthew, chapter 26. Matthew, chapter 26, tells us that God has a face and man actually spit on the face of God. Matthew, chapter 26 and verse 57,. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

But Peter followed Him afar off into the high priest's palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now, the chief priest and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none.

Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing?

What is it which these witnesses against thee? And Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said, Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy.

What further need have we to witness? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. And verse 67,. Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?

God has a face. And man spit in the face of God, that is the horror of horrors. God has a face, he became man. And just how low would the depravity and sinfulness and wickedness of man really go? Sinful man would actually spit in the face of God's own son, the face which lights up all of heaven, the beloved son of the Father, the very brightness of his glory.

And they did spit upon it. And the clearest proof that man is utterly fallen, that man is other utterly wretched and vile and totally depraved and at enmity with God, even more so than what we see in Sodom and Gomorrah, even more so than what we see at the worship of the golden calf, even more so than the blasphemy of Belshazzar, is the fact that they literally spit in the face of God.

They literally spit in the face of God's beloved son and wonder of all wonders is that Jesus Christ allowed them to do it. He could have called 12 legions of angels, he could have taken their very breath away, he held their very breath in his hand.

And yet God let them spit in his face. And went so far as to say, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They spit in the face of their only hope of salvation. And still he was willing to save them.

They spit in the very face of the one who created and put breath in their body. And still he didn't retaliate. Having power to open up the earth and to swallow them up, he instead prayed for them and died for them.

Yet they spit in his face. And I think here is what cuts the very deepest. We were in that crowd. We were in that crowd. Is it too extreme to say? That when I was in sin and in absolute depravity that I spit in the face of God, was I that bad?

Were you that bad? Apart from the grace of God? We were in that crowd. God, how do you spit in the face of God by hearing the truth and receiving it? Not someone here today who has never been born again and never you've never come to Christ.

Every time you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and say no, you spit in the face of God. You insult the spirit of grace. You trample on the precious blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you. You. How do we spit in the face of God by taking his holy name in vain?

How do we spit in the face of God by saying that Jesus Christ was just a man and denying his deity, his Godhead? How do we spit in the face of God by speaking or living as if his sacrifice were not enough?

We heard last night his words on the cross, it is finished. And when we don't live as Christians, as if it is finished and we have to add something to that, we spit in the face of God. How do we spit in the face of God by continuing in willful sin, that which he died for, that which he died to set us free from?

And perhaps worst of all, by believing that we're really too good to need a savior like that, by by believing that we weren't really that bad, that we were in that crowd that would do something so low.

When the Bible says there is none righteous, no, not one, there is none that doeth good nor seeketh after God and that even our righteous acts are as filthy rags compared to the holy holiness of God. God has a face.

God became man. God has a face and sinful man spit in his face. God has a face and there's another camp of people. Who have been touched by the grace of God, who have been redeemed. Who have been clothed with his righteousness and this camp, this group of people no longer spit in his face, but they seek his face.

Two Camps: Those Who Spit and Those Who Seek

And what the Lord's put on my heart this morning is that there's two groups of people. God has a face and there are those who are spitting in his face even today. God has a face and there are those who are seeking his face even today.

And God is looking for those who will seek his face. And my question for you today, this morning, is which camp are you in? Where are you? You are in one or the other. There is no middle ground. God is looking for a people who will seek his face, who will seek his holy face, who will seek to see his glory.

And how do we see his glory? But in the face, the glorious face of Jesus Christ. Will you seek his face? And what does it take to seek his face, the righteous seek his face, what is required to seek his face?

David's Call to Seek God's Face

Let's turn to Psalm 27. We first have to hear the call. Psalm 27. This is David, but this is the Spirit of God speaking through David, proclaiming through David. Psalm 27, verse 4, he says, One thing have I desired, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Verse 7, Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou said, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. David heard that call from God.

I hope and pray some of us are hearing that call this morning. God saying, Seek ye my face, saying to his people, I want you to know me. I want you to see my glory, but to see my glory and to know my heart.

Remember, the face is the revelation of the heart to know the heart of God. We must seek the face of God. And here's the clarion call. God saying, Seek ye my face, who among us will say, Thy face, Lord, will I seek?

I will seek to know you. You see, what is it to seek the face of God? When we talk about seeking the face of God, we're talking about seeking God for himself, seeking God for who he is, not just what he can do for me.

There's a big difference between seeking the face of God and seeking the hand of God. There's nothing wrong with seeking the hand of God, seeking the blessing of God. We were just singing, Lord, send the blessing.

There's nothing wrong with praying that, but there's something that supersedes that. There's something greater than the blessing, and that is the blesser. There's something greater than receiving the blessing, and that is receiving in an encounter with the blesser.

Seeking God's Face Rather Than His Hand

There's something that we need to go beyond seeking the hand of God to seeking the face of God. That is to say, Lord, I'm hungry and thirsty for you, not just what you can do for me, not just give me, give me, bless me, bless me prayers, but God, I want to know your heart.

I want to see your glory. I'm not content with an angel leading us. I'm not content with somebody, some man coming to lead us. I have come here for one primary purpose, and that is to meet with you. That is to know you more, Lord Jesus.

That is to be drawn closer to you. It's him that I'm thirsty for. And I know it's him that many of you are thirsty for. And God, you know what it is about something so amazing about God, he desires he desires to be sought.

He's saying that seek my face, but he's so willing to be found. He wants us to find him. He wants us to know him. He wants us to see his glory. He wants us to behold his glory. Seeking his face, seeking his face must take priority over everything else we do.

That's why David says one thing, not 10 things, but one thing have I desired of the Lord. That's to behold the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to be in his presence. It's so much more important to be with Jesus than even to do for Jesus.

Yes, it's important to serve the Lord. And we are called to serve the Lord, but again, it's priority. There's something that that even supersedes serving the Lord and doing for God, and that is being with God.

You remember the story of Mary and Martha, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his words. Martha was so worried about many things, serving, doing, doing. That's the difference. Lord, give me your hand.

Send somebody to help me. Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you worried about all these things, one thing is needful and Mary has chosen the better part, that which will never be taken away from her. She said she was just wanting to be with Jesus.

And when you're with Jesus, you will get up and work with Jesus when you seek his face first, then your service becomes fruitful. I'm absolutely persuaded that all effective, fruitful ministry comes out, comes only as an overflow of your personal intimacy and relationship with God.

Everything else is dead works, brothers, everything else is dead works. Can I use an illustration? I'll pick on Seth since he's here, my youngest boy, when he was just a little boy, just a and after we unpacked all the boxes, we had a bunch of trash, a bunch of cardboard boxes and, you know, wood and trash.

And I piled it all outside and I said, OK, kids, let's go out. We're going to we're going to start this thing on fire. We're going to burn all this trash. And we had a good time starting it on fire and watching it all burn.

You can imagine all the kids. And Seth was right there helping us burn that trash. And it was a good thing because they were doing it with daddy. It was a productive thing. Next day, I go to work and get a call, Brian, the pastor's on fire, so I run back.

What had happened? Seth was just wanting to help daddy. He was wanting to do something for daddy. He saw daddy burn trash the day before, so he was going to burn trash for daddy. And what he tried to do without daddy, but for daddy ended up in destruction, ended up in a grass fire.

When you and I try to do something for God, without God, it always leads to destruction. It's leaning on the arm of the flesh. It's leaning on our own understanding. It is unfruitful. You cannot do kingdom work in the flesh.

You need the power of the Holy Ghost. You need to work with Jesus, do it with Jesus. So seeking the face of God is seeking first to be with Jesus. And is that not what what all of heaven does? The angels just don't go about working without having been in the presence of God.

What do we do? We worship and then we wait. We worship and then we wait. And when we wait, as we wait, then we hear. Now, son, go and I go with you. And if I go with him, then I can trust him to do his work through me.

Seeking the face of God supersedes seeking the hand of God. But you know what else is required? Second Corinthians, if it holds your place there in the Psalms, because we'll come right back there, hold your place there, but then go back with me to Second Corinthians, this time in chapter three.

Seeking God With an Unveiled Face

And we'll see what the word of God says to us just before we go into chapter four. Second Corinthians, chapter three, beginning in verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.

But their minds were blinded for until this day remain at the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.

Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now, the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face underscore that we are with open face, unveiled faces, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the spirit of the Lord.

When we talk about seeking the face of God, we're talking about seeking the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And to do that, we must seek him with an open face, with an unveiled face. Now, what does that mean?

We've got to remove the mask. We've got to remove the covers. We've got to be willing to deal with the deception and the hypocrisy. God is a God of truth, and the scripture says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with one another and walk in darkness, we're lying. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with God, with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanses us from all sin.

Honesty, Confession, and Cleansing From Sin

Now, how do we walk in the light? We've got to remove the cover. My hand is in the light. If I cover it up, it's in the shadow. It's in darkness. Someone was praying this morning in the prayer meeting, take us out of the shadows, bring us into the light of God's presence.

And to do that requires honesty. It's very simple, brothers and sisters, to seek the face of God, we have got to be willing to be absolutely honest, because what will happen when you seek the face of God, the glory of God, the holiness of God always illuminates the sinfulness of man.

There are hidden spots in my heart, blind spots that I cannot see. But when I come into the presence of God, when you come into the presence of God, then God in his mercy and in his love puts his finger on that and says, that's not of me.

Now you have a choice as you seek the face of God, either to put the veil over your eyes and pretend it's not there and cover it up and say, Lord, I'm willing for you to deal with every other room in my heart.

Just don't go in that room or. Yes, Lord. I bring this nasty thing at your feet and I lay it at the cross and I confess it as sin and I ask you now to cleanse me from all unrighteousness with your precious blood.

And you know what he'll do, folks? He will cleanse you. He will forgive you. He will wash you clean, whiter than snow. But those who are pretenders, I can't imagine being satisfied with just being a pretender.

It must be a miserable life to be a regular churchgoer, a so-called Christian and yet wearing a mask, being unreal, being fake. What a miserable life. God will not have it. As you seek his face, you must get honest and you must allow him to demask you.

You know what happened to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? He was demasked on the road to Damascus. He was blind. But God took those blinders off. Are you willing to come into the presence of God and say, Lord, even if it hurts, even if it's painful, I want you to remove the cover and show me what it is in my life that grieves your heart that doesn't belong.

Are you willing to do that? You know, the good news is he doesn't leave it up to you to clean it up. He leaves it up to you just to confess it and be willing, be willing to forsake it. Then he does the cleaning.

God catches his fish, then he cleans them. You come to him just the way you are and he will never leave you the way you are if you're willing to be honest. He's a God of truth. The truth shall make you free.

So we seek him how with an unveiled face, with an open face, allowing him and being willing to remove all the mask and all asking God what that means literally is the Lord show all the hidden places of my heart.

I want I want there to be nothing in between my soul and my savior. And whatever it is you say to forsake by your grace, I will forsake. I will turn away from it. Whatever it is that you're saying to let go of.

Young people, it can be an ungodly relationship. The Lord just brings this to my to my mind just now. I remember being called to the house of a young man who was demon possessed, and I don't see a lot of demon possession in America, but this was demon possession.

And when this lady called me, she said, Brother Brian, you don't know me, but we got your number and we we need help. There's a young man living in my home that's demon possessed. I said, well, how do you know he's demon possessed?

Well, he's flopping on the floor and his eyes are rolling back and he speaks in other voices. And I said, that's that sounds like demon possession. I said, we will be there this evening. I'm going to bring a group that know how to pray to come with me.

And I can tell you on the authority of God's word, this man will be the demons will be cast out on the authority of Christ, not because I'm in his thing. I say I'm absolutely nothing. But there's someone who lives in me that has all authority over every power and principality of darkness.

And so we prayed. I called these brothers and sisters that I knew knew how to pray and they were not afraid. And I said to them before we left, I said, before we go this house, if anyone feels you shouldn't go or you're afraid to go, don't go.

One man says, I'm not going. The other said, we're willing to go. And so we went. And as we walk in this house, he looked like a normal young young man. And as we begin to speak, then the demons manifested and they went to pray.

And by the grace of God and the spirit of God, we cast out the demons and he fell on his back as a dead man. But after that, we woke him up and he came to his senses. He said, what happened? Said Blake.

Jesus Christ has just delivered you from demons, he has cast them out to set you free, but you have a decision to make. And I shared with him the story about when the Lord comes in to sweep the house clean.

You remember, if it's not if he doesn't come and take up residence, I said you'll be seven times worse than you are now. That's the reality of it. The enemy will bring seven more and you'll bring seven times worse.

And so I preached the gospel to him and the Holy Ghost put his finger on one thing. He was living in an ungodly relationship. And I said, are you willing to break off that ungodly relationship? You're not married.

He said, I can never do that. I cannot let go of her. I said, then I don't have a gospel for you. It's all of Jesus or none of Jesus. What was I supposed to tell him? Just pray a prayer after me and you'll be saved.

No, Jesus said, unless you're willing to forsake all and follow me and this one thing that you're not willing to let go of. You must be willing, it's Christ or this sin. What will you do? He cried, he trembled, he shook.

I said, I guess I need to go now. There's no there's nothing else for me to say. And we walked out the door and just as we were leaving, we were called come back. He said, I'm willing, I'm willing, I'm willing to to break off this relationship.

I'm willing to move out for him to move out meant he had no home to go to. It meant he had to go to a shelter or he could come to one of our houses. But at that point, I felt the Lord leave. That's the that's the cost.

Does he mean business? And he cried out to the Lord and he moved into a shelter and he received believed and received the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord took up residence in his life. Did you know the next time I saw him, I saw him in a public meeting where several different believers came together to worship.

And there he was with his hands raised, praising the Lord. And the last time I saw him, he was still praising the Lord. He was set free. But you see what God did. He put his finger on one thing. It can be an ungodly relationship that's holding you back and and and you must be willing to repent.

You must be willing to say to say no to that, to allow the Lord to sever that. It may be some other besetting sin, it may be your own pride and reputation, but whatever it is with unveiled face that the Lord suddenly removes those blinders from your eyes and reveals, are you willing?

To confess and forsake that sin, then you will see his glory, then you will experience his presence. So we seek him with unveiled face. What else is required? We must seek the face of God diligently, earnestly.

Diligently Seeking God With the Whole Heart

Hebrews 11, 6 says that he that comes to God must believe that God is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And God wants to be sought with how much of our heart, all of our heart.

If you seek me, you shall find me when you search for me with all of your heart, with this diligence. Can I tell you something? Casual seekers of God will never know the power of God manifested in their life.

Casual seekers of God will never know the glory of God. They will never see the glory of God. Why did Moses see the glory of God? Because he was not satisfied with anything else. The Lord offered him an angel to lead him.

I don't want an angel. I'm not going, Lord, if you're not going. He couldn't live without the presence of God, that's the kind of earnest desperation, hunger, thirst for God, and the more you seek him this way, the more God will put that hunger in you.

And you say, well, what if I don't have that hunger? It goes back to the unveiled face. You're honest with God. Lord, I don't have that kind of hunger. Be honest with him. For some reason, I don't want to pray.

For some reason, it's hard to pray. For some reason, Lord, my heart is cold. My eyes are dry. Lord, break my heart. And when you're honest with God, then he will give you that hunger. He will give you that thirst.

If you make the decision to seek his face and to seek him diligently, can I ask you, brothers and sisters, if all of a sudden an announcement came in here and we were told one of the little children is missing, one of our little children is missing here at the camp, they must be out in the forest somewhere.

Where are they? Is it Jesse? Is it Josh? Is it this little baby? How diligently would we begin to search for that child? Every single one of us would set out, we would be combing this, the trees, the grass everywhere, we would go out and we would not stop seeking and searching until we found that child.

Why? Because that child is precious. What is so precious as a little child? Can I tell you only one thing? The presence of God, Jesus himself. And Jesus is looking when he says, seek ye my face, he's looking for those who will diligently seek him to the degree as if they were seeking for a precious child who is lost.

And when we seek him that way with a hunger and thirst, we will find him. Can I say, use that as another illustration? That's how we ought to be praying for our children. That's how we ought to be praying for our grandchildren, seeking God and seeking his face until they do a work in them, until he saved them, not being satisfied with anything less, but that every single one of my children are born again and serving the Lord.

And it happens on our knees, desperately crying out to God as if they were lost in a forest. Pray, believe, seek and you will find. Is that not what Jesus said? Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open unto you.

He said, how many of you being evil, if your child asked for a fish, would give him a serpent? If he asked for bread, would you give him a stone? None of us would do that. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit and give good gifts to those who ask him?

That's how we ought to be praying on behalf of our children. That's how we ought to be interceding for the lost person that God has put across our path and he's called us to proclaim the gospel to them.