A New Year's Resolution

I. Introduction
A. Next week we’ll begin a year-long series on the Book of Hebrews, but today I’d like to propose to you a goal to set for 2015.
B. God has given us the power of seeing. And there are many wonderful things to see. And things we see have an impact on us. E.g.
1. Seeing breath-taking scenery
2. Seeing poverty
3. Seeing death
4. Seeing a person transformed by God’s Spirit
II. In the Bible story we see numerous examples of the transforming power of seeing God’s glory.
A. Moses’ face glowing after seeing God’s glory: Exod. 33:18–34:8
B. Stephen in Acts 7:54–60 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
1. His vision of Jesus was so gripping that it seems he hardly even noticed the stoning.
C. Paul’s (Saul’s) story in Acts 9, on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, and yet arrested Himself by a bright vision of Jesus (see Acts 22:11; 26:13)
D. The Parousia (the return of Christ)
1. This transformation process will be completed when we see Him face to face.
2. 1John 3:2 “When he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
III. The transforming power of seeing Christ’s glory isn’t just something in the story of the Bible, it is also something in our own lives.
A. Seeing Him is the key to becoming like Him.
1. We see this in 2Cor.3:18: “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 from the Lord, the Spirit.”
2. Here is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in making the glory of Christ’s face shine to us and form us into His image.
B. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Corinthians 4:6)
IV. Two qualifications
A. I’m not saying that we see the face of Christ with our eyes, though they certainly did in the Bible. But Jesus tells us that we see His glory through faith, that instead of trying to see Him with our eyes, we should believe even though we do not see. Listen to His words in John 20:24–29: Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came [to reveal Himself to the apostles the evening of His resurrection]. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
1. Blessed are those who don’t see and yet believe.
B. I’m not saying that seeing Christ is a one-time event. Rather, is a process, it is "from glory to glory" (2Cor.3:18), as it says in Prov.4:18: "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day."
V. There are two things we can do to strive for the goal of seeing Jesus. We see them in Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
A. The first is to pray: “One thing have I asked of the LORD.” We cannot see God unless He opens our eyes and shows Himself to us. For example, in Psalm 119:18 the psalmist prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”
B. The second thing we can do is seek after a fresh vision of God.
1. The fact is that just praying can be a cop out. It can be a way of being able to blame it on God when it doesn’t happen.
2. But James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to You.” When we’re far from God, it’s not His fault but ours.
3. He calls us to seek His face wholeheartedly.“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. To see Your power and Your glory, thus I have seen You in the sanctuary.” (Psalm 63:1-2)
a. To seek Him in His word
b. To seek Him in His people, and in the gathering of His people
c. To seek Him in His creation: in a flower, in a sunset
d. To seek Him in His providences: in circumstances
4. Jesus wants to meet you.
a. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)
b. “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” (Rom.10:21)
c. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”