Now, faith has this certifying power in a much higher degree, for the faith which is of the operation of God, and which distinguishes his own elect, is infallible. Where faith takes the word of God as her basis, and rests upon it, she becomes an infallible faculty, and we may depend upon that which she reveals to us. May we have much of this faith which is like to sight for its certifying power. Once more, is not faith wondrously like sight, from its power to affect the mind, and enable a man to realise a thing?
What I mean is this. That eminent preacher in America, Mr. Beecher, frequently used to address his audience upon negro slavery, and his touching eloquence never failed to move his people to an abhorrence of the thing, and to a sympathy with those who smarted under its power. But on one occasion, as I have been told, he wished to produce an extraordinary feeling in order to raise a large sum of money for a certain purpose. He therefore expatiated upon the sorrows of a beautiful girl, almost white, but still with sufficient African blood in her veins for her master to claim her for his slave, and she was about to be sold far south for the worst of purposes.
Beecher wanted to touch the hearts of his people to purchase her liberty, that she, their sister, might be free. He had spoken earnestly, but to produce the required effect, he called her from her seat, and bade her stand up in the midst, and you may guess that that morning there was no difficulty in collecting all the needed funds to set her free.
Now, it is so usually. We talk about poverty, but when do you feel your hands go into your pockets so freely as when you have been visiting a poor family where the little ones are crying for bread, and where the parents have no means for providing for them?
You feel for orphans. Many of us do very sincerely, but we never felt for them so thoroughly as when we began to deal with them and to see them and their widowed mothers. In our newly-founded Orphanage— for which 1 would bespeak your help continually— we have had already to deal with many fatherless ones, and we have come more than ever into contact with them, and we begin to feel that the fatherless are indeed objects of pity, for the sight of them and of the widows has put the thing forcibly before us.
We have heard of one who, being cold in the streets, and seeing a poor shivering family, thought that winter was very hard, and that when he got home he would take care to put by some money to buy blankets ; but when he had sat down by the fire, and thoroughly warmed himself, and had partaken of his cheerful meal, he thought the weather must be changed, and that it was not so bad a thing, after all, to have a little winter ; and so the blankets were never bought, and the poor were never cared for.
There is nothing like sight, my brethren, to convince, notwithstanding the moment when sight is over, feeling may depart. Now, faith has also this mighty reasoning power in even a higher degree. If it is real faith, it makes the Christian man in dealing with God feel towards God as though he saw him; it gives him the same awe, and yet the same joyous confidence which he would have if he were capable of actually beholding the Lord. Yet we can feel that thou hast died. Now, many of you have heard about the wrath of God, but it has all been forgotten.
You have heard about the judgment, and the wrath of God to come afterwards. God grant to us, then, that we may have more and more faith. I have thus, I trust, at sufficient length, shown the parallel between faith and sight. This is the common habit of the Christian; it is the element of his spiritual life; it is his most delightful occupation; it is his constant practice. Dear brethren and sisters, I am afraid some of us forget this. For instance, we see Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we being sinners still. A brother in the Lord, one of the most fervent men I know, said that sometimes when his piety flagged, and his heart grew cold, he found it a very blessed thing to go and visit the sick and the dying; and he found this to be such a sweet restoration to his faith that he recommended us all, as often as we could, to frequent dying beds.
Now, another brother who was present, who preaches the gospel, but who at the same time is a butcher, said he thanked God he did not need to go to a dying bed to see Jesus, and to get his heart set right; that he had had as sweet fellowship with God in Camden Town Market, as he ever had in the house of prayer, and that he found it best always to live, as his brother wished to live sometimes, namely, always conscious of sin, and always looking to the Sin-offering. Come to Jesus, then, as you came at first. Fly to the fountain always as needing constant cleansing— not as though you had not been washed, but still abiding, continuing in blessed recognition of your present cleansing that flows from the fountain filled with blood.
Should not this, also, be the mode of our life in another respect?
Gospel-Centered Old Testament Bible Studies
We are now disciples. Being saved from our former conversation, we are now become the disciples of the Lord Jesus; and ought we not, as disciples, to be constantly with our Master? We should not regard the commands of Jesus Christ as being a law left to us by a departed Master whom we cannot see, and to whom we cannot fly.
My brethren, should we be so frequently cold and careless if we could always see Jesus? Would our hearts be so hard towards perishing sinners if we always saw that face which was bedewed with tears for them? The Romanist puts up the crucifix before his eyes: He wears the cross on his bosom: Would it not also, dear friends, be very much for our comfort if we were to see Jesus always as our Friend in our sojourn here?
He was poorer than you. Let it help you to see Jesus. Have you been deserted and betrayed? See Jesus kissed by Judas! Have you been denied by some friend who promised to be faithful? Look into the face of Jesus as he turns upon Peter! Does death itself stare you in the face? We should never feel deserted if we could see Jesus; we should have the best of helpers. I know not if we should feel weak if we always saw him, for he would be our strength and our song, he would become our salvation.
The bitter waters of Marah, the afflictions and troubles of the day, would all be sweet if this tree were cast into the flood for us, and if Jesus were brought, in solemn meditation, into contact with our spirits. You have seen him as your Saviour: Through the wilderness you may continually come up leaning on your Beloved, and with him you may have perpetually such sweet enjoyments, that earth, desert as it is, shall seem to blossom like a garden of roses, and your spirit shall enjoy heaven below.
Again, would it not be much better for us, dear friends, if we were to see Jesus as our Forerunner? I do not know whether it is so with the most of you, but while some of us rejoice in the prospect of heaven, yet the thought of death is sometimes surrounded with much gloom. It cannot be an easy thing to go down amidst the chill darkness of the river, and there to be separated, the soul from the body, and to leave this earthly tabernacle behind, an inheritance to worms: But do you not think that our thoughts of gloom about death sometimes arise from a forgetfulness that Jesus will be with us?
If our faith could see Jesus as making our bed in our sickness, and then standing by our side in the last solemn article, to conduct us safely through the iron gates, should we not then look upon death in a very different light? Jesus can make a dying bed Feel soft as downy pillows are, While on his breast I lean my head, And breathe my life out sweetly there.
My dear brethren and sisters, gathering up all I should like to have said, but cannot say, into one, it is this: Now we shall not get angry with each other so quickly. We shall see Jesus; and we cannot be angry when that dear loving face is in view. And when we have been affronted, we shall be very ready to forgive when we see Jesus. Who can hate his brother when he sees that face, that tender face, more marred than that of any man? When we see Jesus, do you think we shall get worldly? Would you have spoken as you did across the counter to-day, brother, had you seen Jesus?
My dear friend, would you have been as you have been to your work-fellow? Now, I hope you do see Jesus, as you sit in the pews there. Sometimes on Sabbath days, when the Lord helps the preacher, and Christ is evidently set forth amongst you, you have seen Jesus; but will you see him after you have gone down those steps?
Will you see him when you get home to your houses? Will you see him next morning in the workroom, or at the business, or in the market? This is not quite so easy, and yet I hold that, if we had more grace, we should see Christ just as well in the market, among the baskets of fruit, as we can at the Tabernacle sitting in our pews.
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- Seeing Jesus!
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We should see him quite as well if we were driving a horse, or walking along Cheapside, as when we are in our closets, bowing the knee; for that is true grace which is with us always, and that is the presence of Jesus which abides with us for ever, and that is true piety which shines the fairest in the midst of worldly cares. I shall detain you just a minute or two longer, for a third point about our sight of Jesus, namely: You do not always see, I suppose, equally well. There are many things that affect the optic nerve, and we know that in fair weather we can see a longer distance than we can in cloudy weather.
Well, since the natural sight has to undergo variations, both from itself within and from the smoke without and from the state of the weather, we must not wonder if our faith, undergoes variations too. It ought not to do so, but sometimes it does. There are seasons when we realise that Christ is ours. Glory be to his name, if all the devils in hell should speak to the contrary, yet we know that our Beloved is ours, and that we are his. We are sure of it.
There are hours when some of us would be glad to creep into a mousehole or hide ourselves in a nutshell. We feel so little, so insignificant. Our faith is at so miserable an ebb, that we know not what to do.
The Spurgeon Center | Seeing Jesus
Well, let us not be astonished, as though we were not the children of God, because of this. Everything that has life has variations. A block of wood is not affected by the weather, but a living man is. You may drive a stake into the ground, and it will feel no influence of spring, summer, autumn, or winter; but if the stake be alive, and you drive it into the soil where there is moisture, it will soon begin to sprout, and you will be able to tell when spring and winter are coming by the changes that take place in the living tree.
Life is full of these changes; do not wonder, then, if you experience them. Again, faith, like sight, is not only subject to variations, but it has great growth. Our children, in a certain sense, see as truly when they are a day old as when they are grown up to be twenty years old; but we must not suppose that they see as accurately, for they do not.
I think observations would teach us that little children see all things as on a level surface, and that distant objects seem to them to be near, for they have not yet received experience enough, to judge of the relative position of things. That is an acquired knowledge, and no doubt very early acquired, but still it is learned as a matter of mental experience.
And let me say, though you may not have noticed it, all our measures of distance by the eye are matters which have to be gained by habit and observation.
Seeing Jesus transforms you
When I first went to Switzerland, with a friend, from Lucerne we saw a mountain in the distance which we were going to climb. And yet when we came to toil up, the four hours and a half turned into five or six, before we reached the place. Our eyes were not accustomed to mountains, and we were not able to measure them; and it is only by considerable experience that you get to understand what a mountain is, and how a long distance appears.
You are altogether deceived, and do not know the position of things till you become wiser.
Seeing Jesus
And it is just so with faith. Faith in the Christian when he first gets it, is true and saving; but it is not in proportion. Jesus said about this spiritual birth:. Your spiritual man who is born of God also has senses, just like your natural man. The key to seeing Jesus is to be aware of your spiritual eyes, and learn to use them to behold Jesus and the Father during your worship.
This enables you to be far more intimate with Jesus Christ and have precious fellowship with Him. Seeing Jesus with the eyes of your spiritual man, during times of prayer and worship, truly transforms you. Once you see His beauty and glory, you never want anything less than that. He is so beautiful, so loving, so wonderful…. I have purposed you to know Me from the depths of your heart. Do you see Me, with the eyes of your heart? Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
You can not see Me with your natural eyes, but with the eyes of your heart. These are the senses of your spirit who is born of God. Your earthly man is born of your mother, but your spiritual man is born of God. Your spiritual man also has senses,. See Me with the eyes of your heart, says Jesus. Let the desires and demands of your fellow man also rest for a while. Ask Me to open the eyes of your heart.
It is sometimes difficult to see Me, if you have never been aware of your spiritual senses. If you learn to use the eyes of your heart, you will see Me. Thank you for being here with me. You are not far, but right here with me. Thank you that I can have communion with you. I surrender all I am to you.
Dare to trust that I am here, says Jesus. I am your Good Shepherd, the keeper of your soul, your best friend and your beloved. Make it a priority to behold Me, with your heart. This is what Isaiah wrote about his first vision of Jesus , as the Lord Almighty:. The prophet David, who wrote the world famous Psalms, encourages us to always seek the face of the Lord. David knew what intimacy with God is. He learned to see Jesus as His best Friend when he was all alone in the desert, deserted by his very own friends and family.
In these times of loneliness he developed a deep relationship with the Lord. And he experienced how precious it is, as he echoes the cry of the heart of God to all of us:. Seeing Jesus in His glory and majesty became such a source of strength and comfort to David that he wrote in Psalm 27 that seeing the Lord was his utmost desire:. God has amazing dreams about your life and longs to fill you with His love and joy as never before.
Take some time to truly enjoy every daily devotional and sign up to receive them for free. David Sorensen had a dramatic encounter with God, which completely transformed his life. He decided to spend the rest of his life showing others show real God is and how much he loves us. David's desire is that people would learn how to experience God as the most beautiful reality there is. Keys to seeing Jesus The first key to seeing Jesus is knowing that Christ dwells among us.
The second key to seeing Jesus is using your spiritual senses. Jesus said about this spiritual birth: Seeing Jesus transforms you Seeing Jesus with the eyes of your spiritual man, during times of prayer and worship, truly transforms you. Seeing Jesus in worship My beloved, Your heart was created to know Me. Not just with your mind, from a distance. Then you will love Me with all your heart. My child, I invite you to come to Me today.
Not just for a moment, from a distance. Not in a hurry. I invite you to give Me your whole heart. Put everything else aside for a while. Your struggles, your questions and your desires. Lay it all down for a minute. And open your heart for Me. I am not far, beloved. I am here, as close as can be.