The Face of Christ

Mark Finley: We will look at the face of Christ, and that face that loves us with an everlasting love, that face that smiles on us and says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord." We will look upon His face; then we will be satisfied.
Guest (Male): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, "The Face of Christ." Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. Stay with us for a free Bible study offer later in this program. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: Have you ever wondered what Jesus' face looked like? We don't have an artist's rendition of the face of Christ. We don't have any credible sketches of Jesus' face. And of course, nobody had a cell phone in those days to take a selfie with Jesus. But wouldn't you agree that it's not the physical features of the face that count? Our face reveals our inner person very often. It's our countenance that reveals what's going on in our heart or even our mind. Have you ever heard anybody say, "That man or that woman looks angry"? They may not have said a word, but they look angry. "That person really looks sad." You can look into the eyes of a person and you can see sadness there. Or somebody says, "That person looks very, very patient," because when you look at what's happening around them, their face exhibited patience. They could have become irritated or upset. So the countenance is what really counts; it's not the physical features of the face. The Bible describes Jesus' face or His countenance on at least five separate occasions. As we look at the face of Christ, we learn a lot about Jesus, and we learn a lot about His appeal to our own lives. We begin with Matthew chapter 17. Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. Jesus was going to face denial by Peter, betrayal by Judas, and he would be forsaken by the people he came to save. At that point around the cross, the Jews, Jesus would hang on a cross alone. Romans would drive nails through His hands and jam a crown of thorns upon His head. Christ there would live alone. But yet, the Bible says in preparation for Calvary, in preparation for Golgotha's hill, in preparation for the trial, for the crown of thorns, for the whip that would whip His back, for the cross that He would carry up Calvary's hill, and for the cross that He would hang upon—in preparation for that trial, in preparation for bearing the sins, the guilt, the shame, the condemnation for the sins of the world—in preparation for that, the Bible says in Matthew 17:1, "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, brought them up on a high mountain by themselves." There are times you have to be by yourself. There are times that there are very difficult futures ahead of us, and there are times that the only way to deal with that is to be by ourselves. Now notice, be by ourselves in prayer, be by ourselves in a deeper meditative stage of meditating on God's love, His grace, His goodness, meditating on the Word of God. It says He was transfigured before them. So there in that quiet place on that mountain, in prayer, in meditation, in contemplating the things of heaven—not the trials that were coming—Jesus is transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun. So here is the shining face. His clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with Him. The Bible says the shining face of Christ shone as the sun. It says Moses and Elijah talked with Him. Wouldn't you like to have been part of that conversation? Wouldn't you like to know what Moses and Elijah said? Now think about Moses. The Bible says Moses wanted to go into the Promised Land, but he died. They looked for his grave and they couldn't find it. And then the Bible says in the book of Jude that Jesus argued with Satan over the body of Moses, and Moses was resurrected after he had seen death. So Moses is resurrected after he dies. But then you have Elijah. Elijah is the one who ascended to heaven without seeing death. So Moses died, was resurrected, and was brought to heaven. Elijah doesn't die but is brought up to heaven. And they come to talk to Jesus at the most trying moment of Jesus' life. What did they say to Jesus? Luke chapter 9 tells us what they spoke to Jesus about. Would you like to know what they spoke to Jesus about? Let's go over and see the context of it in verses 28 to 31. And it came to pass, after eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered and His robe became white and glistening. Then behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease. What does that mean, His decease? His death, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. So Moses and Elijah came down and spoke to Jesus about the death that He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. So Moses, the one who was resurrected after dying, I suppose he came and said, "Jesus, Jesus, don't give up. You will be strengthened to go through this trial. Jesus, there will be many like me, resurrected, who have died, when You come again." And Elijah says, "Lord, there will be many like me who will not die but see You come, and they'll be caught up in the clouds. This is all the result of Your death on the cross." You remember the Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." Moses represents those who've died and will be resurrected when Jesus comes. Elijah represents those who'll be caught up in the sky when Jesus comes. In the secret place of prayer, Jesus received the very encouragement that He needed to go through the cross. Moses and Elijah were not randomly sent by the Father. They were sent to meet the specific need that Jesus had at that time, to give Him the specific encouragement that would take Him through the cross. In the secret place of prayer, we receive the help we need. We receive the strength we need to face life's journey. Moses and Elijah came when Jesus needed it most. Just when I need Him, Jesus is near. Just when I falter, just when I fear. Just when I need Him most. As you come to your quiet place of prayer, you see the shining face calling us away from the press of life's intense activities. The shining face calls us from the stress of daily living. The shining face calls us from the hustle and bustle of the crowd. It calls us to the quietness to receive the strength that only Christ can give. And Jesus not only answers our prayers, but Jesus answers our prayers by meeting our specific needs. Did you see in the Bible where it says, speaking about Moses and Elijah, it says they appeared in glory and spoke of His decease? What does that mean, His decease? Well, His death, yes, but you know what the Greek root word for decease is? It's "exodus." Moses took an exodus. What's an exodus? It's a journey into the unknown. Those 40 years that Moses wandered with the children of Israel in the wilderness, there were many trials that they faced. It was a journey into the unknown. So every week, you and I go into a journey into the unknown. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the next day or the next day. But in the secret place of prayer, we receive power and strength for our journey into the unknown. The shining face calls us to prayer. The shining face calls us to receive strength from the Father for our journeys in life. We go from the shining face, though, to another picture of Jesus' face. Luke chapter 9, verse 51. Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. He steadfastly. I love that word, steadfastly. It means He did not vacillate. It means He did not waver. It means He did not flinch. He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. There are many lukewarm Christians today. There are many Christians that have Laodicean complacency today. There are many Christians who are Christians in name only, but when the pressure mounts, they give up. When the pressure around them from their friends to conform comes, they conform. They are compromising conformists, but not Jesus. He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. He was courageous. Not long ago, I was preaching in one of the countries in Europe, and I met a young couple from the Middle East. She had become a Christian and had joined a small group. It was at the threat of her life. She would write out Bible texts and go down to the train stations and discreetly hand them out, just like those Waldensian missionaries used to do, the Waldensian young people in the days of the 1300s and 1400s. They would hide Bible manuscripts in their long robes, and when they found an interested person, take it out at the threat of their life and give it to him. Well, this lady was a modern Waldensian. She's had to change her name. She made a decision for Christ. She knew that decision would cost her something, but she steadfastly focused on one thing, and that was sharing Jesus with others. She had to leave her country and came to another country in Europe to be baptized, which she was, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One of her friends that was baptized with her went back to their country and was actually murdered because of her faith. But this bold, courageous couple for Christ that I met, who told me their story and just hugged me—this man, so committed, he's just come to Jesus, he just hugged me, kissed me on the cheek, and said, "Thank you, Pastor. Thank you, Pastor," because he had heard me preach about Jesus. And you know, my friend, they are steadfast. They are steadfast. They are unmovable. Looking into the shining face of Jesus, we hear a call to prayer. Looking into the steadfast face of Jesus, we hear a call to courage, a call to faithfulness, a call never, ever, ever to give up.
Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truth of Scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world, so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers. If you want to learn more about the Bible, check out our free Bible series at globalbibleschool.org. That's globalbibleschool.org. Discover answers to your deepest questions straight from God's Word. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: We go from the shining face and the steadfast face to the soiled face, to the earth-stained face. We go to the book of Matthew. Jesus comes to the Garden of Gethsemane, and there a world trembles in the balance. Will Jesus go to the cross? Or will He turn His back on the agony, the suffering that He must go through? In Matthew chapter 26, starting with verse 36, we read: Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. They had never seen Jesus this way before. His body was shaking and trembling. He was deeply distressed. He was greatly sorrowful. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." And He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed. Notice He fell on His face—earth-stained face. His face is in the dirt, the dirty face. He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Jesus said, "Father, let this cup pass from Me, but not My will, but Your will be done." The earth-stained face, the soiled face, the dirty face calls us to surrender our will to Christ's will. When the cup comes to our hands—and what was the cup that Jesus was receiving? The cup of suffering, the cup of heartache, the cup of sorrow, the cup of pain, the cup of receiving the condemnation and guilt and shame of sin. Now, every single one of us at times, Jesus gives us the cup. What is that cup that He gives us? It is that thing that we would prefer not to receive if we were choosing and not doing. When you're offered the cup, you have three choices. One, you can reject the cup. You say, "God, no, I'm not taking that thing." You can resent the cup. You can say, "Okay, give it to me." Or you can receive the cup. You can reject it, you can resent it, or you can receive the cup joyfully. Notice what the text says. It says, "Not my will, but what? Thy will be done." Here is the problem that solves all other problems in the Christian life. If you get this one right, you're going to get every other one right. It's the problem of the will. It's making the choice to accept God's will for your life under any single circumstances. Some time ago, a young couple attended meetings in which we discussed the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Holy Spirit. One of our speakers spoke on the fact that the Holy Spirit transforms your attitudes so that what you didn't want to do, now you desire to do. The things you once loved, you now hate, and your heart desires to do God's will. A young couple who attended those meetings was having marital difficulties. Their difficulties were not because they didn't love one another; they certainly loved one another. But their difficulties were largely because they had run up their credit card debt, and their debt was so high that they were having a difficult time paying their bills, difficult time making their mortgage or car payment. So they were doing a lot of arguing, and they were arguing mostly over money. But they said, "You know what? We have not been seeking God's will regarding our purchases. Let's make a covenant one to the other that we will not make any major purchase unless we seek God's will." So they knelt down and made that covenant that they were going to seek God's will for any major purchase that they were going to make in their life. On one occasion, they were in a mall. As they were walking, looking at all the stores in this mall, they saw a ski shop. Now, they love skiing. They had old pairs of skis; they occasionally went. And as they looked in this ski shop, they saw a large poster, a large sign on the window. And the sign said, "Largest ski sale of the season. Skis, ski boots, all ski equipment 50% off." They said, "Let's go and look." So they went in and began to look at that ski equipment. They said, "You know what? This is really amazing. Maybe God's leading us to do this. 50% off! Think of the money we could save." And so they began fitting themselves, got fitted for skis, fitted for ski boots, a ski jacket. And as they're checking out, I mean, it was only going to be $2,000 or $2,500 that they had to put on their credit card. They looked at one another. And she looked at him, and he looked at her. And she said to him, "Let's pause for a moment." And they paused just before checkout. They walked out in the mall, left the stuff there, told the clerk that they may be back. And she said, "You know, John, we haven't prayed about this. We don't know if this is God's will." And he said, "You know, you're right. You're right, Margaret. We haven't prayed about this. And you know, we covenanted that we would pray about it." There in the mall, they bowed their heads and prayed and felt the deep impression: don't go further into debt. They went back into the shop and said, "You know, we just can't do this. We don't have the funds right now." But you know what happened? They said later on that as they saved their money, they'd save up for a little ski trip here, a little ski trip there; they determined they wouldn't put it on their credit cards. They said it was the happiest year of their life. And they said for the first time in their life, they made a decision based on God's will but not their will. How do you know something is God's will? If you're willing to give up the thing that you want most, you know that that's God's will. Seek God's will in your life in every circumstance. The shining face calls us to prayer. The steadfast face calls us to courage. The soiled face calls us to surrender to seek God's will. But yet we find as well another picture of the face of Christ. When you turn to John's gospel and read the crucifixion story, the Bible tells us in John 19 that they scourged Him. In John 19, verse 3, it says, "Then they said, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' and they struck Him with their hands." So imagine this. They're striking Him with their hands. They're saying, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Striking Him on the face with their hands. If you go to Mark's gospel, you read as well that they strike Him again. They hit Him on the face. And as you look at it, it's a terrible scene when puny men approach the divine Son of God, and these puny men are striking Jesus on His face. They're slapping Him in the face. They're spitting in His face. This is the smitten face. This is the bruised face. Here the Scripture says that they mock Him. They spit on Him. One account says they struck Him in the face, and here in Matthew 27, verse 30, it says they spat on Him and took a reed and struck Him on the head, and they mocked Him. Think of it, friend. Here's the divine Son of God, the one at whose very name angels winged their way to worlds afar. The one at whose very name heavenly beings sang "Holy, holy, holy." Here is the infinite, all-powerful Son of God, the one who spoke and worlds came into existence, the one who spoke and earth was carpeted with living green and flowers bloomed and fruit trees bore forth their fruit with heavy-laden fruit. Yes, my friend. Yes, my friend. This is the divine Son of God. And what are they doing? They're slapping Him in the face. They're hitting Him in the face. They are spitting in His face. This is the bloody face of Christ. If you were in the crowd that day, would you have done that? You say, "Pastor, I wouldn't do that." But wait a minute. Why did He take those blows to His face? Why did He let them hit Him in the nose and bloody it? Why did He let them hit Him in the mouth and bloody it? Because it's a revelation that sin brings pain to the heart of God. See, every blow He took was a blow He took because of your sins and mine. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that sin from its very inception has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from right, every deed of cruelty brings grief to Him. What does the bloody face call us to do? It calls us to repentance. It calls us to turn from sin. It calls us to say, "Jesus, I don't want to hurt You because of my sin. I don't want to bring pain and suffering to Your heart because I've turned away from You." Every time we do wrong when we know we should do right, it brings pain to Him. We bring suffering to the heart of God. Why? Because of the fact that the wages of sin is death, and when we sin willfully and knowingly, Jesus knows that that's self-destruction; that brings death. And because He loves us so much and wants to save us, He's pained when we are pained. Notice what it says in Zechariah 12, verse 10. What will enable us to turn loose of the sins that plague our life? Zechariah 12, verse 10: "I'll pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and the supplication. They will look upon Me whom they've pierced; they'll mourn for Him as one mourns for the only son." They'll look upon Me whom they've pierced. When we see Jesus dying on the cross, it changes us. Is there something in your life that's not in harmony with Christ's will? Is there something hidden deep down in your heart? Come to Jesus. Look upon this Christ on the cross. Look Him in the eyes. Kneel at the foot of the cross and repent of your sin. Tell Him how sorry you are. Don't turn your back on the one that loved you and loves you so much. Five pictures of the face of Christ. The shining face calls us to prayer. The steadfast face calls us to courage. The soiled face calls us to surrender our will to His. The smitten or struck face calls us to deep repentance.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you enjoyed today's message and that it increased your faith in God and His Word. If you'd like to learn more, Pastor Mark invites you to visit globalbibleschool.org for an inspiring, interactive Bible study experience. That's globalbibleschool.org. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: But there's one more face, one more picture of the face of Christ. Now sin and sinners are no more. There's no more heartache, disease, suffering, or death. And in Revelation chapter 22, we read verse 4: "They shall see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." They shall see His face. We will look at the face of Christ, and that face that loves us with an everlasting love, that face that smiles on us and says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord." We will look upon His face; then we will be satisfied. Satisfied through all eternity with the peace, the joy that only He can give. If you want that peace, that joy, you want to look on His face one day, let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank You for the peace that only Christ can give. We thank You for the joy that only Christ can give. Oh, my Father, fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Enable us to look into the shining face of Christ and be called to prayer. Help us to look into the steadfast face of Christ and be called to courage. Help us to look into the soiled face of Christ and be called to surrender. Help us to look into the smitten, struck face of Christ, the bloody face of Christ, and be called to repentance. And help us to look into the smiling face of Christ and determine, by Your grace, through Your power, to live with You through all eternity. In Christ's name, amen.