I want us to have a moment to pray together before we begin, specifically for our meeting coming up this weekend. Sean will be preaching, Lord willing. Friday night and Lord willing Todd and Caleb on Saturday and Sunday. I think the schedules in your bulletin. So there's some little flyers that you can give to folks, invite them to come. Sometimes people will come to a special meeting that won't come for regular services. So, you know, invite them, see, see if, if they will. So let's, let's pray together.

Our heavenly father, We ask that you would bless this hour with your presence, that you would open your word, that you would rend the heavens and come down, open our hearts. Lord, we know that whatever you open, no man can shut. Lord, we pray that for the meeting we've scheduled for this coming week, weekend. Lord, for Sean and for Caleb and for Todd, we ask that you would give them the messages that we need to hear to bless their hearts this week as they prepare to come. Lord, that you would meet with us and Lord, we pray that you would that you would call your lost sheep, whether it be our Children or whether it be our friends and family members, whether it be a stranger, Lord, that she would use the messages this week to call your people to Christ or to comfort our hearts and to reveal yourself. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

if you'd like to open your Bibles with me to John chapter 20. I want to begin by reading a verse that we have been often reminded of, but I want you to see it with me. In John chapter 20, John's under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit concluding this gospel account that he has written. And he says this in verse 30, and many other signs, now that's the important part of this, many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. Now he's speaking of the miracles that John records in this gospel account. One of those miracles is the healing of the blind man that we've spent several weeks looking at different aspects of it in John chapter 9. And we're going to be back there again this morning.

But John says it's a sign. It's a sign. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written. These signs have been given. What does a sign do? A sign points beyond itself to something else. That's what signs do. Signs don't call attention to themselves. They call attention to the one that it's pointing to or revealing. We know that all scripture has been given by inspiration of God, and all of it is profitable. It's profitable to us, and John tells us why it's profitable. These have been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that believing you might have life through his name.

These signs, this miracle of healing a blind man that was born blind, God says, is a sign. What is it a sign to? It's a sign to how the Lord does that which we cannot do. He opens the eyes of the blind. Here we are, born blind. Never has it been recorded that any man was able to open the eyes of a man born blind, is what the blind man said. This is a miracle. But the greater miracle is not that the Lord gave to this man physical sight. The greater miracle, the sign that that physical miracle points to is the real miracle that God would open the eyes of our understanding and that he would give us eyes to see.

You remember when the friends brought their crippled friend down before the Lord and the Lord told him that that his faith had healed him, that his sins were forgiven him. That's what he said, his sins were forgiven him. And the Pharisee said, who is this man? Only God can forgive sins. And what did the Lord Jesus say? What is more difficult to say? Or what is more difficult to do? To say to a man, the sins are forgiven or to say to a man, take up your bed and walk, but that you might know that the son of man has the power to forgive sins. I say unto you, take up your bed and walk. It's a sign. These miracles are signs revealing what the Lord Jesus came to do for us, for me and for you right now. forgiveness of sin, enabling us to stand in the presence of a holy God, opening the eyes of our understanding that we might see what we could never see left to ourselves. Never see. These things are impossible. They're impossible.

Another sign is Sarah giving birth to Isaac. At 90 years old, and she laughed. She laughed when the Lord said, this time next year I'm gonna come back and you're gonna have a child. And she laughed. And what'd the Lord say to her? Sarah, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for Him? No, no Lord. Nothing is too hard for you. So these miracles are signs that we might see the power of God at work and come to this conclusion. I need that power in my life. I need to have the eyes of my faith opened. I came into this world blind and dead and I can't raise myself from the dead and I can't give myself sight. Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 27 says, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? As glorious as a miracle would be like this, the more glorious miracle is the salvation of a sinner.

And everything in this chapter points us it points us to Christ causes us to come to this conclusion and this is really the conclusion of the message the first hour it could be the conclusion of the message every time we preach the gospel there are those who are circumcised in the flesh by the hands of men now that circumcision is a It is a picture, it is a sign of all the things that men do with the works of their hands that try to make themselves acceptable to God. It is the Esau, it is the Edom, it is Adam, it is the work of the flesh. But we are the circumcision of the spirit, the circumcision of the heart. done by the Spirit of God. That's a miracle. Anybody can perform a work. Anybody can do something with their hands in order to try to make themselves acceptable to God, but only God can do the circumcision of the heart. And what is the circumcision of the heart? Well, this is what it is. We are the true circumcision who worship God in the Spirit. We can't worship God without the Spirit of God. We're unable to come before the presence of a holy God without his Holy Spirit. We worship God in the Spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We don't do like Esau, sell the birthright. No, we rejoice in the firstborn. We rejoice in the birthright. He is the one in whom we have our blessing. The blessing that came later came as a result of the fulfillment of the birthright that was accomplished in Christ Jesus. So he gets all the glory for our salvation.

We are the true circumcision. We're not looking to the circumcision of the flesh. We're looking to the circumcision of the spirit done by the Holy Spirit. And the evidence of that is that we rejoice in Christ Jesus. And what's the last part of that verse say? and we have no confidence in the flesh. Now there's the evidence that God has done a work of grace in my heart. He has cut away from my heart any hope of my salvation being accomplished by fleshly means on my part. That's circumcision of the heart. No confidence in the flesh. I can't find any reason based on anything that I've ever done that God should save me. The only hope that I have that God would save me would be because of what the Lord Jesus did. Salvation is by grace, not by works. It's by grace.

Now in John chapter nine, if you'll turn back with me there, the Pharisees hated Christ. Why did they hate him? The same reason men hate Christ today. They hate the gospel. And mark it down, they hate it. They hate him. Oh, they talk about Jesus, but they've got another Jesus. The one who is, they hate. Why? Because he robs from them their hope of salvation. He takes from them the things that they're glorying in as their hope. And he demands, he demands that he gets all the glory.

Now I've titled this message, Christ, Everything or Nothing. everything or nothing. He will do all the work of salvation all by himself or he will not do it at all. And that's what this blind man's gonna say. This blind man's gonna say in our text, he's gonna say, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. Nothing. I would have no righteousness before God if the Lord Jesus didn't do it all. I could have no way of justifying myself before the presence of a holy God if the Lord Jesus' blood and sacrifice on Calvary's cross didn't justify me. There'd be no way for me to see myself as a sinner if the Lord didn't cause me to see it. There would be no way to cause me to not have confidence in the flesh unless the Lord does a work of circumcising my heart. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. Nothing. The Lord Jesus Christ does not leave himself up for doing part of the work. Well, you know, God did his part, now you gotta do your part. Or you take the first step and then he'll meet you there. He's going to do it all. I am the way. Not one of the ways or a way, I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. No ambiguity about that, no confusion about what the Lord Jesus is saying. No man can come to the Father but by me. We have to be found in him, in him. How are we going to be found in him? We're going to find out a way to get in him? No, he's got to put us in him.

Look what these Pharisees say to this man. They ask him in verse 26. What did he thee? How opened he thine eyes? He's already told them in great detail. And I love this man's response. He's not intimidated by them. He's not afraid of them. At least not enough to, he's just gonna speak the truth as he knows it, simply and clearly and boldly. I have told you already and you did not hear me. Wherefore would you hear it again? Why do you want me to tell you again? Is it because you want to be his disciple? Now he was not only not afraid of them, now he's making fun of them. He knows of their hatred for Christ. Then they reviled him. And they said, thou are his disciples. We are Moses' disciples. And just like with the birthright and the blessing, you can't have one without the other. The Lord Jesus had already told them in John chapter 5. If you were Moses' disciples, you would believe on me. For Moses wrote of me." You don't believe what Moses said. You've misunderstood completely the whole purpose of Moses' writing. Moses wrote of me. The law was never meant to save anyone. The law was given in order to make sin utterly sinful. The law was given in order to shut our mouths and make every man guilty before God. God has to make you to be a sinner. And if he gives you any picture at all, The law is a picture of Christ. It's the picture of the perfection of Christ. The Lord Jesus came and he fulfilled the law. He said, I did not come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. Every jot and every tittle, I will satisfy everything that God requires of the law. Christ himself is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

Man, Esau, Adam, left to himself, will go about his life trying to establish his own righteousness by his own law keeping. Romans chapter 10. But the Lord goes on to tell us, being ignorant of the law. That's what our Lord's telling these Pharisees. They're ignorant of the law. They say they're Moses' disciples. They're not Moses' disciples. If they were Mo's disciple, they would understand that Moses wrote about me. Moses gave this law in order to reveal my glory, the only one who's ever kept God's law.

But they think that the law is something that they can keep. God gave the law for the lawless. The law, like the police officer that comes up behind you if you're speeding, might cause you to take your foot off the gas pedal for a little while until he's gone. The law's for the lawless. That's all it is. It might curb your behavior with the threats of retribution, but it doesn't change the heart. No, if anything, That police officer hangs around too long, you get aggravated at him, don't you? Scott's a motorcycle police officer. He understands what I'm talking about, don't you, brother? You know, get off the road so I can get back to my lawlessness. That's all the law does. It's a simple example of whatever we can relate to. It's all the law does. The law doesn't change the heart.

We be Mo's disciples. You are his disciples. All the law does is, for a Pharisee, all the law does is aggravate the worst sin of all. What is the worst sin of all? Absolute worst sin of all. Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. Set yourself up as one who has satisfied any part of God's law to God's approval to establish your own righteousness. Galatians 2, verse 16 says, a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Anyone that's under the law is under the curse of the law. For as it is written, cursed is everyone. Cursed is everyone that does not do everything written in God's law. If we're gonna be saved by law-keeping, we're gonna have to be perfect. We're gonna have to keep every part of God's law, aren't we? How deceived we are when we say with these Pharisees, You be his disciples, we're Mo's disciples. Oh, they were so proud.

Child of God, how often are you tempted to measure, to motivate your walk by the law, to monitor yourself by the law, a woman by the name of Jezebel. Jezebel, whose name translated means Baal, that's the false god, that's the devil, is my father. That's what Jezebel's name means, Baal is my father. And she got after a prophet by the name of Elijah, who had just called down fire from heaven and had put to death 800 prophets of Baal. boldly standing for God. And now Jezebel's after him. Where does he go? He goes to Mount Sinai. In the story, it's called Mount Horeb, but it's the same mountain as Sinai. What is that a picture of? Every time the accuser of the brethren would have us look at our sin and try to remedy our sin problem by going to law. We do exactly what Elijah did. And the Lord meets Elijah at Mount Horeb. And the Lord says three times in that story to Elijah, Elijah, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? When the accuser of the brethren, Jezebel, would have us try to remedy our sin problem by going to the law, the Lord will say to us, what are you doing here? You can't fix this problem. It's impossible. I'm the only one that can put away your sin. The only way your sin's gonna be hid from God is under the blood of Christ.

Let's see that old Esau nature, that old Edom, that old Adam. He's still there, isn't it? We loathe him, but he's still there. That's why believers and unbelievers alike need to hear the same message. They need to hear the same message. We're not saved. by the law. Can't do what these Pharisees did. Say, well, we're disciples of Moses and take pride in our law keeping. Verse 29, we know that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, we know not from whence he came. How? inconsistent unbelief is. Twice already, just in a few days prior to this, they had said, he's from Galilee, he can't be the Messiah, because the Messiah comes from the city of David. And that means he has to be from Bethlehem. And before that, they said, we know where this man came from. As for the Christ, we know not from where he's going to be. You see, they're just the inconsistency of unbelief. Their hatred for Christ, their need to justify themselves.

The man answered and said unto them, verse 30, why, hearing is a marvelous thing, that you know not from whence he is, and yet he opened my eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners. If any man be a worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he hereth. This is the blind man speaking. Since the world began was not it heard that any man open the eyes of that was born blind. And here's our text. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

There is a place in life, lots of places in life for moderation, for tolerance, for compromise. We ought to do that as often as we're able to be at peace with one another. How much we could learn if we would believe that everyone we meet and everyone we talk to has something we could learn something from. to listen better to one another and to not be so narrow-minded. Hard to be around a person that's inflexible, a person that's intolerant, a person that's closed-minded, isn't it? Hard to be around that kind of person. And that, my brethren, is exactly the reason why your friends and your family members don't want to talk about the gospel with you. Because when it comes to the gospel, you are intolerant. You are inflexible. You are close minded. What are you close minded about? You refuse to concede one inch to any message claiming to be from God that does not acknowledge Christ as everything in your salvation. You refuse to give one inch to any message that claims to be from God that denies Christ his glory in your salvation.

If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. He is of God and he did everything. Everything. That's what faith believes. Faith believes simply that salvation is of the Lord. Faith believes that Christ is all. And when God the Holy Spirit changes your mind, about how it is that God is pleased to save sinners, when he changes your mind about who you are and who God is, it's called repentance. That's what repentance is, it's a change of mind. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2.

1 Corinthians 2. Look at verse 14, but the natural man, that's Adam, that's Esau, that's Edom, that's the man of this earth, that's the earthy man, as the scripture calls him, that's the old man, the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

What things of God? That Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that believing on him we have everlasting life, that I am a sinner, that I've never been able to keep any part of God's law one single time. that I can't present any of my righteousness before God. All of my righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. These are the mysterious things of the gospel.

That God is absolutely sovereign in salvation. That he, according to his own will and purpose, elected a people before time ever was. That the Lord Jesus Christ was successful when he came to redeem the elect of God. to save them, he actually finished the work, he gets all the glory, he didn't leave any of it up to us. For by grace he is saved through faith, believing on Christ, circumcision of the heart, having no confidence in the flesh, These, this is the gospel.

These are the things of the spirit that can only be spiritually discerned because they have to be taught to us of God. We can't learn them from a man. We might be able to learn some doctrine. These things are, these things are life changing. These things are things of the heart. These are matters of the heart.

Marvin Stoniker preached for us here Wednesday night, and he just recently went through a stroke, a brain bleed stroke, and was incapacitated for quite some time. And he stood in this pulpit this past Wednesday night and told us, he said, you know, you're always dependent upon the Lord. You know that's to be true, but when you experience it, it's different. And he and I were talking, I said, you know, you really don't believe anything until you experience it, do you? Yeah, these things, these are matters of the heart. Changes everything.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, yea, all things become new. This becomes the paradigm. for everything else in my life. Christ is. This is the spiritual truth of the gospel.

They shall be taught all of God. God teaches me this. I'm closed-minded about it. I'm sorry. I'm intolerant about it. I pray the Lord to give me grace to concede and make compromise and tolerate lots of other stuff. But when it comes to this, I can't. Why? Because I've been taught of God. You can't move an inch.

And someone said, you know, I don't think I've ever had, I don't know what the mind of Christ is. This is the mind of Christ. Look at the next verse. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ. We believe what he believes. It's not up for us to decide right from wrong. You know, the society will tell you, well, you know, this is okay now. It didn't used to be, but it is now. This is good, this is bad. And that's gonna change again. You know, cultures and society and time goes through moral degradation and moral reform and all sorts of man's opinions. It's not up for us to decide. God's already said what it is. We believe God. And we can't move an inch from that.

So what do you believe about that? We believe whatever God says about it. That's what I believe. I can't change. God's given me the mind of Christ. So whatever God says is what I believe. What he loves, I love. What he hates, I hate. He hates Esau. Yeah, I hate him too. Most especially, I hate him and myself.

No man can change his own mind to this end. No man can change his own heart. No man can circumcise his own heart. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. He is everything in my salvation. He either saved us completely, perfectly, all by himself, or we saved ourselves. There's no middle ground. He either gets all the credit and all the glory or he gets none.

If it is of grace, it can no longer be of works, otherwise grace is not grace. If I mix the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace and the glorious person and accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ with one speck of leaven, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. He's either all my righteousness or I've gone about to establish my own righteousness. He either finished the work of redemption or we finished it. Either it is of He that willeth, either it is of we that willeth or runneth, or it is of God who gets all the glory. Either He paid our debt in full which makes us a debtor to God. Or we paid our debt, which makes God a debtor to us. He must save us because we did our part. Either God put us in Christ before the foundation of the world, or we put ourselves there when we decided to accept him.

This miracle is a sign, and every part of it points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can give sight to the blind. We say with this blind man, if he's not of God, He's nothing. But I believe that he is the Christ, the firstborn, the son of the living God. And that because of who he is and what he's done, I have the hope of the promises of God. I don't have to cry like Esau, wanting promises without Christ. I've got the firstborn.

You know, so oftentimes we find ourselves looking for happiness, looking for love, looking for peace, looking for joy, The problem is in looking for those things is that they can be counterfeited with emotions. They can be counterfeited with cheap emotions and cheap fixes that last for just a moment, oh, there, I found it, and then it's gone. I would say, let us not look for those things. Let us look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. For with him, with him will come everything that we need and everything that we want will come with him.

Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this sign. Lord, might you fulfill this sign spiritually in our hearts, giving us eyes of faith to look to Christ and to rest all the hope of our salvation in Him. We ask it in His name. Amen.

Tom. 23 in the Spiral Hymn. Now let's stand together. Number 23.