6/8 Life

Your Sins have Hidden His Face from You:
Why God’s Face Appears Hidden from our Face
(ISAIAH 59:1-13)
 
Pause & Reflect

1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.

1. [v.1-2] *Biblical principle – DISTORTING HIS FACE – disfiguring the power and knowledge of God: The LORD’s face is always turned towards us, but our sins have hidden His face from us, making Him appear powerless to save and dull to hear. The people continued to bring their unacceptable worship before the LORD, continuing their deceitful, conditional, and harmful false-worship. They were double-minded and double-actioned in all their ways with false humility – seeking God without turning to God, hearing yet not repenting, drawing near yet still forsaking all His righteous ways. They sought to stop eating (fasting) and stop working (sabbath-keeping) without feeding those in need with compassion and without resting in the LORD’s finished work for them. They sought God for favors from God. When He did not answer them the way they wanted, they thought the problem was with Him and not with them.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – How are you distorting the character of God? When He appears silent and powerless, are we distorting His face? Is it His face that is hidden from you, or your face that is hiding from Him?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Why did Jesus cry out in agony on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (MARK 15:34). What was happening to the Father God’s face and why?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – Ultimately, it is our sins and our reaction to the sins of others (reactional sins) that cause God’s face to be hidden. Just as the LORD asked to Adam and Eve after they ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden, and Cain after he murdered his own brother, how is the LORD asking you the same question, “Where are you?”

 
3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.

1. [v.3-8] *Biblical principle – DEPRAVITY IN OUR FACE – the fallen totality within us to see His face: Without the grace of Jesus Christ, every part of ourselves speaks lies, conceives sin, and runs to evil. “Sin” is not just the bad things we think, say, and do – which is part of our iniquities (immoral actions) and transgressions (violation in crossing over His command) – but it is the very thing we are in our identity apart from Jesus Christ. From head to toe, sin is our nature to push God out of His place and then to take His place. From birth, sin is our only desire that works itself out through our hands, lips, tongue, and feet. That desire is to crucify Jesus out of us, while resurrecting ourselves (and the devil) to reign within us. No matter how pleasing or successful life becomes in our sinful desires and sinful nature, we will never have peace.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – Do you know the sin within you? Without God’s grace in Christ, what are you saying is good and right? Before His face, are you partially or totally depraved?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (JOHN 15:5). Apart from Jesus, everything is sin. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing and we are nothing, like dead branches disconnected and fallen off the vine. Apart from Jesus, who are you and what are you doing?

 
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

1. [v.9-13] *Biblical principle – DENIAL OF HIS FACE – intentionally departing the LORD: Because God’s face appears hidden and our face appears sinless, we intentionally deny God, turning back from following His eternal Son Jesus Christ. Because the people were misguided in their false worship and false humility to use God for their own gain and their own self-centered purposes, there was only greater darkness and gloom. They hoped for light, but it was their own impression of brightness to illuminate their own self-pity. So now, like dead men walking, they stumble around trying to find a wall to lean on, blind to their own sinfulness. The cries they call out to God with are like senseless growling and moaning of animals, for God could not understand them. Their sins multiplied before them and testified against them. At this point, the people come to know their iniquities, confessing they have denied and turned back from following the LORD.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – Have your sins been multiplied before you, to continually testify and confess the grace of God? Do you intentionally depart from your sins, to turn your face towards His face, and turn back to follow Jesus above yourself?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Are you following Jesus intentionally? Are you growing your motive to seek after the things of God? As you do, do you see it is the Spirit of God working in you, for his good and pleasing purpose?

 
The central truth of this word was –
Because the Father God turned His face away from His eternal and beloved Son, He now forever has His face turned towards you. Nothing can separate you from His face turned towards you. His face is never hidden from among us. But because of our sins, we make His face hidden by distorting His powerful sovereignty and omniscience. We make His face hidden by the depravity in our face – from head to toe infected with the nature of sinful desires contrary to holiness. We make His face hidden by the intentional denial of His presence within us. Let us not hide His face with our sins, but hide our face before His glory. Fall facedown, so that you can walk courageously faceup with His face before you!

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
Apply & Be Doers of the Word
 
(1) In silence and confusion, do not question His knowledge and sovereignty. He has heard. He is still in control. He answers in His way. He remains in power for all time. Be at peace in His changeless character. Let God be God! Do not distort His character. Before Him, we are utterly facedown. Without Him, we can do nothing. Apart from Him, we are nothing. There will be times coming in your life where there’s a period of silence and confusion. Let God be God. Let sin be sin. See His face is never hidden before you!
 
(2) Fall facedown daily. Repent daily by opening the Scriptures daily. Reading and meditating on the Word is the continuous action of mental repentance. Let His thoughts become your thoughts. Humility is the prerequisite to opening the Scriptures. You cannot approach the Bible with the attitude – “okay what’s in it for me today, what applies for me right now.” *Do not conform the text to apply to you. Rather, apply yourself wholly to what the text says. Let the Word be the Word. Do not add to it. Do not take away from it. From head to toe, the Word of God redefines who you are. You are totally fallen, totally lost, totally depraved in your face to see the light of His glorious face in Jesus Christ. You are approaching holy words, holy ground, and holy presence. Do not keep your sandals on, but like Moses, know that something must always be removed and taken off in ourselves before the LORD. Do not come to LORD’s Day resurrection Sunday worship like any other day of the week. Be ready to be transformed in your mind, body, and soul, from head to toe, and be washed with the grace of Christ.
 
(3) Examine your motives. Be intentional to follow Jesus. Practice confessing and testifying His ways. Be intentional in honoring the Lord. Let it be your motive to honor the Lord, to look away from evil, to seek the holiness and righteousness in Christ alone. Do not live like He’s an imaginary friend. Live like He’s the Lord of your life – because He is! Do not come late to a worshipful gathering when you make to class or to work on-time every day. Serve one another. Build up His Kingdom.
 

Holy Spirit Moment & Group Prayer
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)
 
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (GALATIANS 6:2-5)
 
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (HEBREWS 10:24-25)
 
For the body does not consist of one member but of many... The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 CORINTHIANS 12:14, 21-27)
 
- Park’s (JP, Maria – Julia, Ben, Abe)
- Park’s (Hanna, Jim-Bob – Samuel, Sophie)
- Huh’s (John, Angela – Athena, Eliana)
- Choe’s (Chong, Kate – Stella)
- Park’s (Ben, Hanna – Evelyn, Louie)
- Jeng’s (Jonathan, Nara – Emma)
- Yi’s (Jonathan, Christina – Samuel, James, Ethan)
- Gee’s (Waywah, Gloria – Emilee, Melanie)
- Kim’s (David, Josephine – Elliot, James)
- Lee’s (Andrew, Heather – Amanda [Jake], Kristen)
- Krief’s (Miki, Mr. Krief – Noa, Mya)
- Shin’s (Jay – Ethan, Ivy, Iris)
- Jun’s (Kevin, Sarah – Ellie, Ella)
- Chung’s (Chester, Ashley – Joy, Jonah)