It sure is good to be here. I
tell you, since the Lord put me in the position of pastor
there in Rescue California, I have come to know your pastor in a
very wonderful and blessed way. I got to say this before we start
the message tonight. You folks, I want to thank you.
I'm so thankful to my Lord that your pastor has been able to
come to rescue and fill very large shoes. Don Fortner wore
size 12. I know Shelby told me yesterday,
she said, you like shoes? And she showed me all of his
shoes. And I said, yeah, but those are big. She goes, size
12? I said, no, those are too big for me. But I asked Pastor
Fortner in the last year before he passed away, who am I going
to call to take your place? He didn't hesitate. Clay Curtis, and he has not let
us down one time. And it's because of your support
for the gospel being preached here that he's able to travel.
And I want to thank you for your support for that. Thank you very
much. I've come to love your pastor a great deal. I'd like
to ask you to turn to the ninth chapter of John to say, I am not nervous. as can
be, would be an untruth. Clay asked me if I was sweating
bullets yet, and I said, no, it's too soon. That was three
hours ago. And I came to him a little later, and I said, now
is the time. I'm not a learned man. I didn't go to college. I didn't
finish high school. I didn't go to any seminary.
So what I have for you tonight is a personal experience. That's
all I have for anybody ever. Just to tell you about a man
who came to this earth because he loved me so much, so much so that he was going
to lay down his life for me. His name is Jesus. All of creation, from the beginning
of whatever you and I may call time, all of creation boils down
to one thing, the grace of God to his people. Grace, grace,
grace, as you said in your prayer. Grace. to shine His love, His
gracious love for a people. Everything that was created,
everything that has happened, and I know this because I'm talking
about the God, not some God, not a God, but the God of all
creation, of all things known, of all things unknown, everything.
He's God. Everything is of Him. So I can
say this with authority on his word that everything that was
created was created for his people. So that he could come to us in
the day of his love and shine his love in our hearts. Calling
us out of that dark, dark, darkness that we used to love to walk
in. Our God became flesh. that his
grace may be expressed to a particular people. It says in Romans 9,
15, for he said to Moses, I will have mercy. I, he says, will have mercy. That leaves no room for free
will. And I'm not afraid to speak up
against free willism. Our God chose his people before
the world ever began. Everything was created so that
in the day of his love, he would come at that time and shine his
love in their hearts. For he said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. That's the God of creation. That's
the only God of all things. It says in Ephesians 2 verse
8, for by grace, Not something else, not grace and other something
else, something you could do, but by grace alone, unmerited
favor. If you could do anything to add
to that grace, it would destroy it. It would no longer be grace. God would be merited to save
you, right? For by grace you are saved through faith and that
not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Everything about our
Savior, the Lord Jesus, is an expression of grace to you and
I. Everything about Him. It's an expression of love to
the people that he has loved from before the world was created.
A people his love is for eternal. It's an eternal love. He will
have this people for himself. Nothing can turn his hand. He
is God. He came with a purpose, and his
purpose cannot be hindered. In Jeremiah 31.3, we read these
familiar words. The Lord hath appeared unto me
of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee. I have loved thee. Can we wrap our minds around
that? All the sin that we see within ourselves, yet God loved
thee, us, his elect. I know I won't understand that
until the day I stand before my Lord face to face. But I give
a little bit of an inkling view of it through a glass darkly
of what that love is all about. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness, with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. In Matthew 18, 11, we read these
words, for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. We have here in the book of John,
chapter 9, a very familiar story. Some of you who have been walking
with the Lord for a great deal of time have probably heard your
pastor preach five or six messages from this scripture, maybe one
or two that come often, preach it. I'm sure you've heard it
many times. Tonight we're going to look again at this story,
this event of Holy Scripture showing us an example of God's
grace to one of his lost sheep. In verse 1 of chapter 9, we read,
And Jesus passed by, and he saw a man which was blind from his
birth. Now picture that. Here's a man.
Have you ever stopped to try to... Have you ever stopped and
thought to yourself, how would I express the color blue of the
sky. How can I express that to someone
where they would understand? This guy never saw the color
blue. He had no idea what it was. That's
the way we are. That's the way we are when we
come into this world. Blind to the truths of God, and
we cannot see the glory of God at all. Somebody could tell us
about it, but until the Lord gives us sight of it, We will
not know what that is. Now that was John Reeves for
40 years, 40 years. And I love that darkness. I walked
in at one time. Oh, how thankful I am. The Lord
changes our love. He changes our will. He changes
our desires. What a gracious God we have.
In verse two, it says, in his disciples, the Lord's disciples
asked the Lord, him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man
or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, and he
said, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents. Now, catch this. Read these words careful. But that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. God created a man blind? Yes. All of creation is his. Everything
is God's. It disturbs me a great deal.
I don't even, I try to avoid it in every chance, but there's
every once in a while, we'll be zipping through on the radio
somewhere, and we'll come across somebody preaching, and they'll
be preaching about something that is, or someone who they
declare is God, but can't do something. What kind of God can't
do anything? The God of scriptures does all
things. Everything of his own desire
is done. This man was created in his mother's
womb. He came from his mother's womb
blind because that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. Now drop down to verses 6 and
7 if you would, please. And when he, our Lord, had spoke
thus, had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay
of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with
the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation sent, and he went his way, therefore,
and washed, and came seeing. Now, there's a lot of messages
right there in that last verse also. I'm sure I've probably
heard three or four from Don Fortin himself in that, just
on that last verse. But I wanna bring your attention
tonight to this as after, therefore, after he had washed, he came
seeing. Go over to verse 25. Verse 25 of this very same chapter. The Pharisees and the scribes,
they were disturbed by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
Almighty, the light of the world, was standing in their presence. He was enlightening. He was shining
his light on their darkness, and it reproved them. Oh, how
people don't like to be reproved. They don't like to have their
darkness exposed. God was exposing their darkness
right to themselves, and they didn't like that at all. They
came after this blind man, who did this to you? Why did he do
this to you? Who was this guy that did this to you? And over
here in verse 25, he answers, this blind man answers, he said,
whether he be a sinner, they were accusing Christ being a
sinner, or no, I know not. One thing I know, that where
I was blind, now I see. There was a day in my life when
I was brought by God to a church there in Rescue, California. It was not a real happy moment
when I was brought there. I actually came to come cry on
my brother's shoulder. I have an older brother, best
friend. I came to just cry on his shoulder
about what was going on in my life. And he says, John, church
is going to start. Can you just wait here in the
parking lot? Or better yet, could you come in and sit with us?
And if you want, we'll come out and talk afterwards. That day, I heard something that made more
sense. more sense than I've ever heard
in my whole life. I heard about somebody who truly
deserves to be called God. One who has all authority. One
who's not waiting for me. One who's not crying for me.
Won't you come down to the front and pray to me and I'll bless
you. No, I heard about a God who was there. There that day, because that's
where he was going to, he had determined to be, he must go
through rescue, just as he must go through Samaria for the woman
at the well. One of his blind, deaf, dead
children needed to be called that day because that was the
day of his love. I came out of the services that day, not sure
what it was that I heard, but I knew this. I knew this, that made more sense.
Now I understand the color blue. Now I understand who God is. I can see him for who he is in
his word being preached from a man in the pulpit. I was blind, but now I see. Mark your text there in the book
of John. We'll come back to that in a few moments. Now I see. I see what? Let's consider that
in what time we have left here this evening. I'll try not to
be late. I know some of you folks work tomorrow. Some may be even
early, so I'll try to get through this quickly. But I want to bring
before you tonight what it is that this man saw? What is it
that I see now that I could not see before? The answer to that
question is plain and simple. It's just one word, the truth.
Actually, two words, the truth. I could see the truth. And that's
what this man saw. I don't know what it is. I don't
know anything much about this man. And I said those very same
words myself. But I do know this. Whereas I
was blind, now I see. In John 14, you don't need to
turn there. Verse six, we read these words. Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Over in Luke chapter 10, we read
in verses 21 and 22. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit. and said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes, even
so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sight. Our Lord was revealing
to one of His lost children that day the truth of His Son, the
light of the world, through the preaching of the gospel. For it seemed good in thy sight,
all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth
who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." The love of God,
those that are loved of God, see now the truth of who He is. They see the truth of Jesus Christ
as God in the flesh. You know, there's a whole religious
people out there who don't believe Jesus is God at all. They believe
He is a God. In fact, they changed John 1
to read, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. They changed that to the Word
was a God. And they've changed some other
things in Scripture, too. There's a lot of people out there who
don't believe Jesus is God. They believe that He is a God,
a God, but not the God. God's people come to know that
He is the Almighty God in the flesh through the preaching of
His Word. I know the truth of who He is.
I know that He and the Father and the Spirit are one. There's
no argument between the three of them. They're of one mind,
completely in sync with each other as to how things should
be, what their desire is, what their purpose is, everything. Three distinct persons, absolutely.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, yet
of one mind, one being. And scripture tells us that when
you see the Son of God, you see the Father. When you have seen
me, you have seen the Father, is what he said to Philip. He
also says in Scripture, through the inspiration of Paul, I believe
it is, that all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in him
bodily. I've come to know. God's people
are brought to know. Now, when I say I've come to
know, I'm an unlearned man. What I do know, I know that God
gave to me, not that I have learned it on my own. I know that it is by His grace
and love for me that I know anything of Him. Anything about who He
is, what He's done. Oh, I was hoping to get to this
part a little quicker. What He's done, I know the truth
of what He's done. He set me free from the bondage
of sin that grabbed a hold of me and held me from birth. And
He does that for each and every one of His people. He sets us
free. Do we sin still? Oh, absolutely.
If you say you have no sin, then you call God a liar. But I'm
not bound by that sin anymore. I'm not held to the guilt that
it puts upon people. Does it sadden me? Oh, yeah. Does it trouble me? Oh, yeah.
I hate sinning against my Lord, but I guarantee you by the time
I get 10 feet out the back of this door, it's going to happen
again. That's what we are. We don't sin and make us sinners. Did I say that right? Sinning doesn't make us sinners.
We're sinners, which makes us sin. Does that make sense? I
think I said it better that time, didn't I? No? But my Lord put it all away. Out of love for his people. Do
you ever stop to really consider the depth of what the blood of
Christ means to you? Put it on your doorpost of your
heart. Down the sides. The angel of
death passes us by because of what our Lord did on that cross.
Does the body still die? Absolutely. There's two places
we're going to go when the body dies, folks. You're either going
to be in heaven, or you're going to be in hell. One of the two.
You're going to be damned forever, or you're going to be in the
bliss of our, in the presence of our Holy Savior forever. What
has my Lord done for me? He's taken me out of that pit
that I was born into, that sin that I was born into, and put
me in the presence of his son, my Savior. Some folks don't believe
that Christ had to come to the earth to go to the cross. Well,
if he didn't, what would have saved us? Blood had to be shed,
and the blood on that cross was the perfect blood of God Almighty. Could it fail? Absolutely not. He's God. He never fails at anything. His blood is perfect. It accomplishes
its purpose, and its purpose was to cleanse his people of
all their sin, because God the Father cannot be in the presence
of sin in heaven. He cannot even look upon it.
He turned his back on his son. His son cried out, oh my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I can't even comprehend what that
means. I know they're of one mind. How could God the Father,
I don't know, but it says He did. And I believe it. So that
God could look upon us after making His Son sin for
you and I. He can look upon us and see the righteousness of
His Son and we as perfect as Him. As perfect. That's perfect. Those who are loved of God see
now the truth of where our Lord and Savior is right now. I was afraid I was going to do
that. One moment. I'm not used to these
electronics. The loved of God see now the
truth of who he is, what he came to do, and where he is right
now. Our Lord is sitting on his throne. You know, death couldn't
hold him. He's God of that, too. He's God of everything. He says
when the Lord Jesus decried himself, he said, the Father has given
me all power. It belongs to God. All power
belongs to Jesus. All power is his, in heaven,
in earth, and under the earth. Everything, everything is under
the power of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and death could
not hold him. He sits on his throne right now
at the right hand of the Father, decrying, I have paid with my
own blood for the sins of my people. The accuser cannot accuse
us. It says in Romans chapter eight,
verse one, there is now no condemnation. All of our condemnation was laid
on our Savior, and now he sits on his throne saying, I've paid
that price. Atonement was made. Payment was
made. Five things, five things that
I could not see when I walked in darkness. First, I could not
see my own condition before a thrice holy God. I knew by my nature
that something was wrong. We all know that, don't we? Have
you ever asked a child, did you get into the cookie jar when
they had and seen them shrink before they answered, no, it
wasn't me? Oh, yeah, it was. Yeah, they
know they're doing it wrong. We know. The laws of God were
written on our hearts. We know good from evil. That's all there is to it. Devil
had that part correct when he was talking to Eve in the garden.
You shall know good and evil. You shall be as gods, little
gods. His deception was that he said,
you shall not surely die, and they did. We know We know right from wrong
because God has written it as on our heart. I could not see
the depth of my wrong. I knew I could not see the totality
of it, the depravity of my life, the truth of my wickedness. Turn
over to Romans chapter three. Our Lord has inspired Paul to
give us a very good example of the wickedness of man's heart.
Over in Romans chapter three, we read a couple of verses and
I'll join you there in just a moment. Listen to Ephesians chapter 2.
I'll read that for you while you're turning to Romans chapter
3. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul wrote these words. He says, and
you, if you have the King James Version in italics, it says,
and you who are quickened, I've deleted that out of this for
this purpose. It's not that there's anything
wrong with it. It's just it was added on later. It says, and
you who were dead in trespasses and sin, where in times past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." This is the natural man. This is the
way we come into this world, dead in trespasses and sin. Over
here in Romans chapter 9, I'm sorry, chapter 3, beginning
at verse 9, we read these words. What then? Are we better than
they? Are we of Israel better than they? Are we of the Gentiles
better than they of the Israel? No, in no wise. For we have before
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There
is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
and their tongues they have used as seat, and poison of ass is
under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way
of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes." That's a perfect description of me. That's exactly
who John Reeves was. The only difference between John
Reeves then and John Reeves now is I see the truth of my Savior
who has put all that away for me. Am I still walking in some
of these? Oh, absolutely. I still struggle
with each and every one of these sins listed here, but my Lord
has paid the price for all of them. This is the way of the
world. This is the way of all mankind.
All have sinned and come short of His glory. We come into this
world hating God, hating him without a cause. And I see clearly
before he came to me that I would have no doings with him. I know
that. I know what John was before the
Lord showed me in his word who he was. Sunday you would catch
me in front of the TV watching football or on the Harley out
riding to each and every bar that I could stop at. That's who John Reeves was. That was the will of John Reeves.
That's the will of all mankind. Maybe not riding a Harley and
going to bars, but definitely not looking and seeking for the
true and living God. That's God's word saying it.
Are you saying, John, that my sweet little grandma was like
that? I'm saying God's word says so. Imagine Well, you don't even
have to imagine it, but think about, have you ever stopped
to think about why the Pharisees and Sadducees and all those religious
people were so mad at a guy walking around just talking about the
love of God for his people, exposing the fact that he is God of all
things and that their righteous ways were wrong? Could you imagine,
can you understand why they got so mad at him? How dare you talk
about my grandmother that way? I'm not. I just read the Word
of God to you. That's the way of mankind. I
knew that I would have no doings with Him. I have maybe been looking
to something, but it wasn't the true and living God. I could
not see that my heart was desperately wicked. I was dead in trespasses
and sin, and I could not see it. Again, in Ephesians chapter
two, we read these words in verses four through seven, but God,
don't you love that? That's the grace of God that
we started with at the beginning of this message. All of creation,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love were with,
he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved,
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. Folks, the world despises being
told that their righteousness is as filthy rags. How dare you
tell me I'm not worshiping the true and living God? I show up
for church every Sunday. I give more than 10% of my wealth
for tithing. I help the poor. I go down to
the food kitchen every Sunday afternoon and feed the poor.
I know some folks that attended a really big church up there
in the mountains. They probably got 400 people
that show up on Sunday mornings. And I've talked to them. What did your pastor talk about
today? Well, I don't know, but we fed 35 people that came to
the Lord today. Did you talk any about Jesus?
No, well, you know, yeah, they talked a little bit about Jesus.
They did, but you know, 33 of those 35 people came to the front
and committed themselves to God. God's people want to tell you
about Jesus Christ, the Lord. That's great that folks feed
the poor. I'm not trying to put that down and you know that.
But that's not the gospel that saves. Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
that's who saves. That's what God uses to save
His people. The world despises being told
that their righteousness is as filthy rags, and when you compare
yourself to men, you might do all right. I'm not as bad as
that guy. Isn't that what the Pharisee
was doing? Lord, I thank you for making me who I am and going
to church. I thank you for not making me
like that guy over here in the corner on his knees begging for
mercy. They don't like to be told that
they have no righteousness in themselves. But when you compare
yourself to the perfection of Jesus Christ and God Almighty,
you will always come up short. Always. Now secondly, I could
not see God choosing me was not by something I have done. Surely
my goodness has done something, right? Surely I quit smoking
and I quit drinking. I quit riding to bars on Sundays.
I quit doing this. I quit doing that. I'm a truck
driver. I still cuss once in a while,
but I'm trying to quit that too. Surely my goodness has something,
right? I could not see that God choosing
me was not something I have done. I could not see that my goodness
did not outweigh my wickedness. If I would just stop doing this
and start doing that, folks, I'm telling you, election is
unconditional. God did not choose you because
of something you have done. He didn't choose you because
you got the right clothes on and showed up for church on Sunday.
If God chose you, it was in his son, the Lord Jesus, before the
world was ever created. You've always belonged to God.
Think about that for a moment as you look back on your life
and all the wild things that you may have gone through growing
up. I think about times where I was in cars racing around and
I should have been dead and I wasn't. Why? Because it wasn't God's
day for me to leave this earth, that's why. There was a day coming,
he wanted me to hear about him. If I would just stop doing this
and start doing that, nope, it wasn't that at all. Folks, it's
not anything about you. Our Lord has mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He is the potter, as we read
in Romans 9, 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth.
And then over in John 15, 16, we read this. Our Lord says very
plainly, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit. You know, people
say that was only to the apostles, John. Our Lord doesn't respect
men. He's the same today as he was
yesterday with all his loved people. He's talking to us in
all things. That you should go forth and
bring forth fruit. and that your fruit should remain."
Folks, God chose His people in His holy perfect Son from before
the foundation of the world. His love for His people is an
everlasting love that cannot be thwarted. I could not see
that I was His all along. I could not see that I was chosen
in Him from before the foundation of the world. Look over to Ephesians
chapter 1 if you would with me. Ephesians chapter 1, we're just
going to read a few words there. Again, very familiar words, beginning
at verse 3 after Paul introduces himself and says, Grace unto
you and peace from God our Father. He says in verse 3, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him. We were chosen in the
Son before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise, to the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved." I've heard these words before. Everything that
God demands, he supplies through his Son, the Lord Jesus. You
can't do anything. Everything we have read so far
in these verses is all about it being in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world. We were made holy and without
blame before Him. We're predestined under the adoption
of the children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. Thirdly, I could not see the
efficiency of His atonement, His payment, my complete redemption
in Him. That's hard for humans to understand
and to really grasp a hold of, that there's nothing we can do
to make ourselves better, that everything we need has already
been done in our Lord. When you stop and think about
the perfection of that blood that was shed on that cross,
the righteousness of that blood that was shed on that cross, God Almighty giving him his life
for us. When you stop and think of the
big picture of that, can anything else be done if it's already
perfectly done? It's already perfect. Don't mess
it up. John would. I try to. Thankfully, the Lord reminds
us of how weak we are. And I think you know what I mean
by that. Brings things into our lives
to remind us that we need Him every moment of every day. Thirdly,
I could not see the efficiency of His atonement, His payment,
my complete redemption in Him. Look over at 1 Peter 1, if you
would. 1 Peter 1. Now I'll get through these next couple
of points quickly. Look at 1 Peter 1, beginning
at verse 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober, and hope for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust of your ignorance,
but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye
holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, past the time of your sojourning here in fear, for as much as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversations received by traditions of your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as the lamb without
blemish and without spot. who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him
up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God. In Colossians 2, verses 9 and
10, we read these words. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead, and ye are complete in him. Did you catch that? You're complete. The atonement of God's blood
has fulfilled all that is needed for us to be with His Father.
Everything that you and I need has been provided for by God
Himself. Everything that He has demanded
our Lord and Savior has provided. In Romans 8 verse 1, we read
this again, there is therefore now no condemnation. to them
which are in Christ Jesus. Does that verse ever get old
to you? I don't. It doesn't to me. I pray not. For my sin is ever before me.
The battle is won by my captain, yet I must fight on. I must continue
the race. The end is not yet. Fourthly,
I could not see that God was lovingly drawing me to himself
all my life. Though much was the wreck that
it was, my loving Savior was preparing me to hear his word. The day that he brought me before
one of his gospel preachers, my old stony heart was to be
cut away by his word, and a new heart was prepared to receive
him. Psalms 110.3, we read these words, thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power. Dear, irresistible grace of God,
my Lord crossed my path with a preacher, a preacher of his
grace, and the Lord called me. He who gives life gave this poor
sinful soul life. It's called quickened. He quickened
me that I would receive him. Now look over at John chapter
17, if you would. John chapter 17. While you're turning there over
in John chapter 10, verse 27 through 30, we read these words,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me and
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. And
this brings me to my last point. Back up. Let's read verses 5
through 8 of John chapter 17. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest Thou me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, for I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. Now I'd like to bring my last
point up, if you would. I could not see that He who loves
me and gave Himself for me would not hold anything back from me. He would have me for Himself
because that was His desire. That's what we read in 1 Peter
3, verse 5. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again into a lively hope. by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Perseverance is not of
me, but of him. Look over at verses 20 through
17, or 13 through 20 of John 17. beginning at verse 13, and now
come I to thee, this is the perseverance of our Lord, keeping his people,
and he's praying for his people, he says, now I come to thee,
and these things I speak in the world, that they might have joy
fulfilled, and my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also we shall believe on me through their word." Folks,
the love of God The loved of God are kept. They
are being kept by his power, as I read in 1 Peter. He gave
his only begotten son for us, how shall he not give us all
things? What is it I see now? What is it I see now? I see the
truth of who he is. My savior. My all in all. Everything. Without Him, I couldn't
even breathe. Without Him, we wouldn't have
this building in this lovely country that we live in. Without
Him, we would have absolutely nothing. I see the truth of who
He is. I see the Christ, the Savior. I see the King. Go back to our
text, and I'll bring this to a close. Back in the book of
John, chapter 10. This man was blind. He said,
I don't know who this is. I'm not sure about him yet. All
I know for sure is that I was blind, and now I see. In verse 32 of our text, we read
these words, Since the world began, was it not heard that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this
man were not of God, he could do nothing. Speaking of our Savior,
they answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in
sin, and dost thou teach us? Here's that self-righteousness
coming out. How dare you talk to us like you know something
after all that we've done, after all that we do? And they cast
him out. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they
had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him,
dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said, who
is he, Lord? Who is the Son of God that I
might believe on him? This one who'd been born blind,
who'd been brought into this world, unable to see that the
works of God might be manifest in him, cried out, who is he,
Lord? Who are you, Lord? Are you my
Lord? Oh, that Jesus may shine in your
hearts this night and shine his Lordship in it. And Jesus said
unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee." And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. We sing the song, Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was blind. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. Amen. Do you want me to lead prayer? Our Heavenly Father, we do praise
you. What a strange thing for us to praise you, Lord, for the
troubles, the troubles that we go through
in this life. Yet, Father, we know now by your
loving grace, by the shining of your light in our hearts,
we know, Lord, that all of these troubles, all of the troubles
that we once had, all the troubles we have today, all the troubles
we shall have, remind us of our weakness, in our need of you, knowing the goodness that you
have in all things for us. As you say in your word of Romans
8, 28, all things, we know that all things are for our good. Because we know, Lord, that it
brings us to you over and over and over again. Thank you, Lord,
for shining your light in our hearts and giving us eyes, ears,
and a new heart to receive you. We praise you and thank you and
worship you in the name of our Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.