Jesus, O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Thank you. All right, let's go
to Matthew 11, which is the fulfillment of Isaiah 35. the prophet John was in prison. Is this too loud? John was in prison for preaching
the truth, and he sent two of his disciples to Christ. In verses 1 and 2, let's read
that. It came to pass when Jesus had
made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed
thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now, when John
had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his
disciples, verse 3, to ask him, or said unto him, Art thou he
that should come, or do we look for another? John sends two of
his disciples to ask the Lord Are you he? Are you the Christ?
Are you the one we're looking for? Now, I think that John did
this for the sake of his disciples. I'm quite sure of it. Because
John was the Lord's messenger. He was the Lord's prophet. He's
the one who stood the crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye
the way of the Lord." Make straight the way of the Lord. He's the
one that said, I baptize with water, but there standeth one
among you whom you know not. He it is. He it is. John said, preaching, when Christ
came, he said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world. This is it, he said, of whom
I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred before me. And
John, bear record, saying, I saw the Holy Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and
it abode on him. And I saw and bear record that
this is the Son of God, John. That's what John's message was,
or rather who. He knew this was the Christ.
He said so. He preached it. He said to his
disciples, Behold the Lamb of God. Now John is in prison and
he's facing certain death. He's going to die. And I believe his disciples were
worried, as you might imagine, their friend, their brother whom
they loved. was about to be killed. They're
worried, they're fearful, they're full of doubts about the future.
This is why John sent them to him. But perhaps these disciples are
thinking, why doesn't the Lord do something if that is the Christ and his prophet is in jail about
to be beheaded? Why doesn't he do something? Much like the disciples, after
the Lord was apprehended and killed, said, we thought it was
He. And maybe John felt a few doubts
and fears, but I don't think this was for John's sake. I think
it was for their sake, but more than that, I think it's for our
sake. I think this is written, well,
I know it's written, for our sake. Because the scripture says
that things which are written are written for our learning,
that we, through patience and comfort of the scripture, might
have hope. This will be a comforting message
to God's people who are full of doubts and fears. and troubled, we look around
at things around us. We hear and see of wars and rumors
of wars and the terrors by day and night and so forth. We hear
of plagues and diseases and catastrophes and evil events and wickedness
prevailing, it seems, a world in chaos. And you're not a human
being if it doesn't trouble you a little bit. We experience in our own lives,
we experience terrible struggles with evil within our own selves. We go through traumatic trials,
traumatic. And we, though we believe, yet
we still at times ask, why? Why, Lord? Why does it have to
be this way? Do you reign? Are you? And we go through much sadness,
sickness, and death. I told you about Elisha this
morning. I looked it up again. It was
Elisha. He died of a sickness. He got
sick and died. What was it? Cancer perhaps? Probably. Why, Lord? This is your disciple. This is your prophet. And we find ourselves, like John,
imprisoned. We imprison the captives at sea.
Sin, Satan, full of doubts, fears, despair, fear, unbelief, and
we cry out, Are Thou the Christ? Are you
the one we are looking for? Or do we look for another? Or is
this in vain? Lord, we need you to tell us
now. We need you to reaffirm to us
who you are. Would you tell us? I believe
John sent these disciples for their sake and ours. Are thou he that should come
or do we look for nothing? And the Lord Jesus Christ answers.
How does he answer? He quotes Scripture. He reminds them of what was written. God cannot lie. He's written
this. This is written. And He answers John's disciples,
and He answers us the same way, through the Word. What was written
in Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61, on and on, other places. Verse four,
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again. Show him again. I have to tell
you again, yeah, show him again. You come here this morning and
you're going to hear once again the same thing you heard last
Sunday, the Sunday before. Go and show John. I know at least
at least two fellows in here that ought to really enjoy this
message. Go and show John Davis again. Show him again. Go and show John
again. Go and show Becca Stoniker again. She's heard it before. She needs
to hear it again. Go and show Maggie T., Margaret, again. Go and show her again. The things,
read on, which you do here and say. Go show them again. The things you do here. Tell
them what you've heard. Go tell John what you've heard. You see, faith cometh by hearing.
This is what we need to have first. This is what we need more
than anything. We need to hear God's Word. Right? Faith cometh by hearing.
Well, faith in the beginning comes by hearing, doesn't it? When God first called you, He
does it through the Word by our Gospel. You hear the Gospel talk. Well, how does faith grow? Faith
cometh by hearing. And faith groweth that way and
continueth that way. You need to keep hearing the
same things over and over. Go and show Jeanette again the
things you've heard. Go tell her again what you've
heard. She has doubts. She has fears. Tell her again and again and again what you've
heard and seen. You see, faith cometh by hearing,
and this eyesight that God gives us is understanding. Have you
ever... Well, all of you who know the truth, who've heard
the truth, the gospel has revealed to you. At one point, you heard
the Word, and then you said, I see. Whom have ye not seen, ye love? But we have seen him. We've beheld
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Haven't
we, John? I haven't seen a vision of the Christ. Oh, but we have. Is it clearer than as if he were
standing there? I see. Right, Irene? I see. Now I see. It's understanding who He is. You hear, and then you begin
to see. You hear God's Word, and then you say, Now I see.
Go show John again and again and again what you hear and what
you see. And here's proof, verse 5. Here's
proof of who He is. Go and show John. Go tell John.
Go tell Jill. Go tell whoever. Hannah. The blind receive their sight.
Are you the Christ? Are you the one? Are you the
real? Are you really the one who should
come? Are you the true Christ? Go show
Barbara again that the blind receive their sight. Remind her.
Again, how that those that were once blind, I mean blind, now
they see. This is proof. Yes, He's the Christ. Because
the prophet said, the eyes of the blind shall be opened. Now,
the Lord Jesus actually gave sight to sightless eyes, physical
eyes. He actually gave sight to a man
named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. He actually did. And others who
were born blind. He actually gave physical eyesight. But a greater miracle than that. And a miracle that continues
to this day is He gives spiritual eyes to those who were born blind. Spiritual eyes. And I'm quite certain there's
some in this room this morning who don't see. They're blind. Blind to God's person, God's
creation, God's providence. Like Gomer. You remember Gomer? She thought all her lovers gave
her everything that she had. Somebody was providing for her
all those years, and she thought it was this person or that person,
you know, and she would just go out and collect it, and there
it was. It was her Redeemer who gave her this thing. She was
blind to who it was. It was blind to God's providence,
blind to self. Blind to sin, blind to the world's
ways, blind to the pitfalls and the nets, blind to danger like
a dumb animal, some blind animal heading for a cliff and don't
even know it's there, ready to go over a cliff. Blindly following,
blindly following the blind. Blind fellow in a world full
of blind ambition. Blind to the truth that no matter
how much somebody preaches it or tells them or how much they
read it, they just can't see it. Go show John again that blind
people are receiving their sign. They see it. They still see it. Who God? God's given eyesight
to those that didn't give a flip for God's glory. One day, wake
up and they see his glory. For those that didn't see their
need of Christ, God opens their eyes to see their
desperate need of Christ. For those that don't see God's
hand in all of this, One day, God gives them eyes to see. Everything's
of him, through him, to him, for him, because of him, in him.
Everything. See, God in all things. Go tell Tammy again. Go tell her again. And see the one that should come?
Yeah. Look at all these blind people that now see. Hmm? Look at yourself. Go show John
again that verse 5, the lame walk. The lame walk. Now Christ literally
healed those that were born without legs that could walk. He literally
healed those who were born crippled. One instance. I love that story. It says this man, it's not like
you see on these bogus miracles on TV and all that. Somebody's
in a wheelchair, got crutches or whatever. And all of a sudden,
they get up. It says, this man's legs and
ankle bones were shriveled up. Like someone you've seen with
a lifelong polio or something who's emaciated. Their muscles
are completely atrophied. There's nothing there. And all of a sudden, the legs
get, and that man's legs, strength, stood up. He said, not only leaping, the Lord literally did that.
There was a man at the pool of Bethesda. Remember that? Lying
there. He couldn't even get up off his
bed. He'd go show John again. How
the lame walk, man by the pool of Bethesda. And he's still doing
it today. He's still healing the lame.
A man or a woman who were once walking after the course of this
world, whose feet would only walk one way, into trouble. walking after the course of this
world, unable to walk uprightly, unable to walk in paths of righteousness,
which Scripture says. Always following the crowd. Literally may be lying in the
gutter like that old fellow at the pool. But God, through the
power of the gospel, the gospel of Christ, gives spiritual feet
and legs to come to Christ. They actually get up and come
to Christ. and turned from sin and the world and into Christ. And now they're walking by faith
with God. It's actually Enoch still walking
with God. Not many, but you go tell John
again that the lame are walking with God. A man, woman, even
a young person who wouldn't take a step toward God, couldn't if
they would, wouldn't set foot in a church house. Now their feet are just as prone,
not feet that were once prone to wander, now they're prone
to walk with God. That's where they want to go.
That's who they want to be with. Walking by faith and cry. You
go show John again, verse 5, how the lepers are cleansed.
Lepers are cleansed. Men and women were full of loathsome
disease called leprosy. that would waste them away to
nothing. There's a clear picture of leprosy
called sin, isn't there? It affects everything we do,
touch, where we go, our thoughts, our desires, our passions, everything
but God in mercy cleanses leprosy. You go show John again that those
who want Loved sin and lived for sin and who have left to
themselves would have just rotten into a pile of corruption. Transformed. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Transformed. Their youth renewed. I've literally
seen people come hear the gospel. for the first time and come looking
older than they are. And a year or two later, they
start looking younger. That's what the gospel does.
That's what the gospel does. Lepers are cleansed, cleansed. You'll find, you go show John
again how that those who, lunatics, sitting, listening to the gospel,
clothed, and in their right mind. You see the one? Yeah, he is.
Yeah, he is. You go show John again, verse
5, how the deaf hear. You know, I have some friends,
well, former friends, that I hadn't seen since high school. I didn't have her. I saw one
of my old classmates in Ashland just the other day, a young girl. Not young now. When I saw her
down at the Walmart up there, I thought, man, she looks old.
I thought, I wonder if she's looking at me like that. I had
a baseball hat on at the time, though. Anyway. There are people that
I haven't seen since high school. They don't know what became of
me. We didn't have our 30th, didn't have our 25th, I went
to the 10th, didn't vote anymore, didn't have the 30th two years
ago. So they don't know what became
of me. The last time they saw me. And. Well, you go show John again
how the death here. Young fellow who won't listen
to anybody. And won't listen to reason. They won't hear what
you say or hear what his parents say, won't hear what anybody
has to say. He's going to go his own way if it kills him.
And if left to himself, He wouldn't have, but God. Who made the ear? God said, the hearing ear and
a seeing eye are of the Lord. That young fellow who's deaf
to anything, everything, God opens his ear. Go tell John that the deaf man,
woman, young person, Hear God's Word, hear the gospel. You go tell John again, verse
5, that the dead are raised up. Those who are dead and trespassed
and in sin. Now, the Lord actually, actually,
literally raised the dead. You'd think that wouldn't, that
wouldn't, If you saw somebody raised from the dead, would you
believe? No. No. Our Lord said that, didn't
he? They won't believe, though one
rose from the dead. But they had Moses and the prophets.
Let them hear them. And that's how they're going
to hear. And this is the resurrection he's talking about. Raised from
the dead. Dead and trespassed in sin. No
sight, no hearing, no smell, no touch. You know, spiritual
deadness is much like physical deadness. Someone who's dead, actually
physically dead, can't see anything, can't hear anything, can't feel
anything. You can take anything, a sword and pierce them. They won't feel it. Feel no pain.
Their flesh is corrupting. They can't smell it. I mean, they smell horrible.
They can't smell themselves. They're dead. You can warn them, you know,
a flood coming. They don't hear it. They're dead.
That's the way it is spiritually, too. That's the way it is spiritually.
No amount of conviction or the word, which is a sword, pricks. They don't feel it. They don't
hear it. They don't smell themselves for
what they really are, until God, through the gospel, Christ comes,
through the Holy Spirit, and quickens them. You who were
dead in trespass and sin, have he quickened. How? The word. The quickening word. The word
came. And you felt it. Never felt it
before. I remember distinctly at the
time. And you still feel it. You keep feeling it. If you're
alive, you always feel the pricks, don't you? If you're alive, you'll
always feel pain. This is a sign of life. You'll
feel pain, won't you? You'll smell. Smell things, you'll see. If
you're alive, you hear, you see, you feel, don't you? You taste. There was a time when
the gospel I didn't have, there was no taste to it, nothing sweet
to it to me at all. I didn't. There's nothing appealing
to me at all. I'd hear message after message
and it didn't affect me at all. A man could preach and somebody
would be overcome with the glory of God. I didn't see anything
at all. God commanded preaching, somebody
just be smitten and stricken with a sense of their own sin
and corruption, and I didn't feel anything at all. But God, rich in mercy, one day, a word like a sword in the bone,
like Saul of Tarsus, now it's hard to kick against What's that smell? It's myself.
Myself, my sins, my corruption. What's that smell? Oh, it's a
sweet smelling savor of the gospel. Give me that. Oh, that tastes
good. You who have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Yes, it's, you know, spiritual
deadness is a lot like physical deadness. You go tell John that
the dead are raised up, quickened by the gospel. Is he the one
that should come? Did he come? Is this the truth?
Is this God's word? Is this God's word? You're looking
at a dead man walking, talking, smelling, feeling. And you, is
this true? It sure is. The sword in my bone.
Go tell Stan again. Are you the one? Yes, just remind
him he was dead and how this quickened it. And you go tell
John again, you go tell Roberta again, that the poor have the
gospel preached to them. Oh, he's hid these things from
the wise and the prudent. He's hid these things from those
who are rich and increased with goods and haven't eaten nothing,
rich and increased with a sense of their own goodness. Those
who are self-righteous and all, he's hid these things from them.
They don't need to hear this, but the poor and the needy and
the meek and those that mourn keep hearing the gospel over
and over. He'll not let them leave it.
He'll not let them be without it. You go tell John, go tell
Dan again that the gospel is still being preached. The poor, you go tell You go
tell John again that prodigals are hearing the good news and
they're coming up. They're coming up. Is he the
one? He sure is. This is it. Is this the truth? It sure is.
It's the power of God and salvation. And blessed, verse 6, he closes
his message to John, to his disciple, to us by saying, and blessed
is he. Whosoever shall not be offended
in me. Blessed is he or she. Oh, blessed art thou. Who do you say that Christ is,
John? Who is he? Who do you say to be? The world's
saying lots of things. Who do you say to be? Oh, blessed
art thou. Blessed art thou, Stephen Barjo. Son of Joe, flesh and blood didn't
reveal it to you, but the Father which is in heaven. Blessed are
ye. Blessed is he who's not offended
in me. The world is offended by the
message of the gospel, aren't they? I'm not talking about the
gospel they claim to believe. You know, this believe on Jesus
and God loves you and all. I'm not talking to them. I'm
talking about the gospel. The God who reigns and rules
and mends his hands to do with as he pleases. The God who works
all things according to his will. God who is judge of all the earth,
the God who will by no means clear the guilty, the holy, just
and righteous God, the true God, and a Christ who reigns and rules,
who came down to this earth to save His elect, to save His people. and will someday, and did it
completely by himself, without their cooperation, who had to
overcome their obstinate will, who made them willing, and that's
the Holy Spirit did that. A sovereign, invincible Holy
Spirit. How that man is a dead man. Who needs a dead man? I'm talking about the gospel
that offends man's pride, that offends man's sense of worth,
self-worth, that offends man's intellect, that he thinks he
knows something when the gospel says, You don't know anything
at all until I reveal it to you. That offends everybody, but blessed
is he or she that this doesn't offend you. If it doesn't offend you, if
you're not offended by being called a worm, If you're not
offended by being called worthless, oh, you're blessed. You're so
blessed because he turns all worms into sons of God. Hear not thou
worm, Jacob. I'm going to change your name
to Israel, Prince of God. Oh yeah, you go show John again.
Tell him again. Are you the one that should come or do we look?
You go tell him again. And again. And again. This is real. I'm real. I live
and I live. You tell him. This is what our
Lord said in the last book, didn't He say, Behold, I live. I was dead, but I live. Go tell
John again. And I reign and rule and I live. And then He lives in me and has
His being. And because I live, you live. May God open some more blind
eyes and deaf ears and raise up some dead people. This is
how He does it. This is how He does it. Brother
Gabe, if you'll come lead us in closing here. I think it's
236? 236. You know this without the
book, I'm sure. We've got to sing that line.
I don't know which one it is. It says, I once was blind. But
now I see. The world sings it by memory,
but now God's people, they sing it from the heart. They worship
God in spirit. I once was blind. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. Last verse. when we've been there
ten thousand years. Thank you. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Thank you.