Matthew chapter 9. I took the title from verse 28. Believe ye that
I am able to do this. You believe I'm able to do what
you're asking me to do. When Peter was about to go under
the water, Lord, save me. Save me. Do you believe I'm able
to actually do that? Do you believe I'm able to give
you your sight that you might see? The Word of God is very clear
concerning faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says
without faith it is impossible to please God. Impossible. The Word of God is very clear
that Jesus Christ is the object of faith. He's the one we look
to. We do not have faith in our faith. We have faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We trust Him. We believe Him. Faith that does not draw its
very life and strength from Christ is not saving faith. Anything short of saving faith
is nothing more than superstition. That's all it is. Turn over to
Acts chapter 17. In the book of Acts chapter 17. Anything short of faith in Christ
is nothing but superstition. That's all it is. In Acts 17,
in verse 22, then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and
said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. They had an altar to all these
gods, and they had an altar to the unknown God. Just in case
we miss one, we've got an altar here for Him. Just in case one
shows up that we don't know about, we have an altar here. And Paul
says, I perceive that in everything you are too superstitious. Too superstitious. Anything short
of real saving faith in Christ is nothing but superstition.
That's all it is. The Scripture teaches us in Hebrews
12 too that Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of faith.
It begins with Him and it ends with Him. He's the author of it and He's
the finisher of it. Listen to these Scriptures. In
John 11, It says, Jesus said unto her,
I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me,
in a person, speaking here of a
person, he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in Me shall never die. Thou this?" In Acts 16. And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Believe. It's not believing a set of doctrines
at all. It's believing on a person. It's
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's taking Him at His Word. It's trusting Him to do just
as He said He would. True faith believes and receives
Jesus Christ as the Son of God. That eunuch asked Philip about
being baptized. And he said, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. He is the Messiah. He said, I
believe that. With all my heart I believe that. And it's through faith that we
receive the blessings of salvation. It's through faith that we receive
justification. Listen to this scripture in Acts
13. Acts 13 and 39. And by Him, all
that believe are justified from all things. And that covers everything. All covers everything. justified,
cleared from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. All it could do was condemn. But all who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ are justified, cleared of all guilt, all charges. It says in Romans 3.28, Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith. without the deeds of
the law, without the keeping of the law. Because no man, no
man, no woman can keep the law of God perfectly. But Jesus Christ
did. He did. That's why Paul said,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith, by looking to Christ. I look to Christ, every believer
here looks to Christ as their righteousness, I look to Christ, He is my obedience. And the grace of God, when a man or woman is saved,
that is in them, teaches them to deny ungodliness. It teaches
us to shun the appearance of evil. But we're justified by
that in Christ. And then it's through faith we
have peace with God. That's what it says in Romans 5. that through
faith in Christ, we have peace with God. Apart from that, we
don't. And then it's through faith that
righteousness is imputed to us. It says in Romans 10, verse 4,
"...for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth." Now in light of all these Scriptures,
What would you say is the most wicked sin of all? Unbelief. Not to believe God. Can you imagine, now think about
this, can you imagine when God speaks, when God tells us something
to say, I don't believe that. I don't believe that. Think about
it now. To leave here this morning and
not believe the gospel is to say to God, I don't believe that. I don't believe it. I don't believe
what you're saying. I don't trust what you're telling
me. That's exactly what unbelief
is. It's calling God, who cannot
lie, A liar. A liar. Someone said, unbelief
is Satan's firstborn child. He asked our first parents in
the garden, he said, hath God said? The first thing Satan did
was put a question mark over God's Word, over what God said. Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that? You know you're not going to
die." No, really. Come on. You really believe that? And they fell for it. Unbelief is the root of every
sin. You know that? It's the root
of every sin. Unbelief puts a question mark
on all that God is. All that God is. God is holy. Unbelief puts a question mark
on that. God is merciful. Unbelief puts a question mark
on it. God is sovereign. He's immutable. He has all power. But unbelief puts a question
mark on absolutely every attribute of God. Every attribute. God said, He asked this question,
and I believe it's in Isaiah, Is my arm shortened that it cannot
save? Is my arm shortened that it cannot
save? You know what unbelief says? Yes, it is. Unbelief says
yes, it is. Unbelief keeps men and women
from coming to Christ. That's why men and women don't
come to Christ. Sin does not keep you from coming
to Christ. Not believing God keeps you from
coming to Him. Not believing Him. It is the
sin that so easily besets us. In Hebrews 12. It's unbelief. It's the sin that so easily besets
us. Someone said this, the least
unbelief is of the same nature as the greatest unbelief. It's of the same nature. I read this poem somewhere, I
don't remember exactly where, but it says, Unbelief would snatch
from his hand the balance and the rod, re-judge his justice,
and be the God of God. That's what unbelief says. I have no doubt that the reason
we do not enjoy more of the blessings of God is because of unbelief. Our Lord, it is written in the
Gospels, it says, He did not many mighty works there because
of their unbelief. Unbelief. How many times did
our Lord charge His disciples with unbelief? Why are you so
fearful? Why don't you believe me? Why
don't you trust me? Israel could not enter the Promised
Land for one reason. One reason. Those who died in
the wilderness, there's only one reason given why they could
not enter the Promised Land. Unbelief. They didn't believe
God. They did not believe God. But in this case here, we have
these two blind men They are examples of faith. These men
are set before us as examples of faith. Let's look at them here for a
minute. First of all, it says, when Jesus departed in verse
27, and when He departed thence, two blind men followed Him. They were both
blind. They both had the same need. You know every person in this
room has the same need. Give me Christ or else I die. Christ is my greatest need. If
I have Jesus Christ, I have all I need. If I have Jesus Christ,
I have the forgiveness of sins. I stand before God justified.
I stand before God righteous if I have Jesus Christ. I have
all I need. My greatest need is to have my
sin put away. Jesus Christ is my sin bearer. He's the one who put away all
my sins. No one else can do that. I can't
do it. I can't do it. But He can. He can. Notice here
now the earnestness of these two men. It says here, they cried. Crying. You know, that implies
desperation. That implies desperation. Peter
drowned and going down under the water. Lord, save me. That
implies desperation. God saves desperate sinners.
It says in one place, He healed all that needed healing. Lord,
I do need healing. I need healing. I need spiritual
healing. I need it every day. I need it every hour. I need
it. They were desperate. The very
tone of their voice shows they were downright serious. They
were crying. Now listen, this matter of sin,
this matter of my sin, you know, that's a desperate situation.
You know, God puts men in hell over it. There are people in
hell right now suffering. The rich man, he's still there.
He's still lifting up his eyes in torment. Sin is a desperate
thing. It's a desperate matter to be
taken care of. And there's only one that can
take care of it, and that's our Lord. That's our Lord. They didn't whisper, they cried.
They cried. Desperate cases call for real
faith. It calls for desperate faith. People don't mess around that
are desperate, do they? They get right to the point.
They get right to the point. He's passing by. He's leaving
the house. He's leaving the house. Or the place wherever he was
there. He's leaving. And these blind men, they hear of him.
And they're apparently right in that vicinity. They're right
there in that area. No doubt they've heard him. And
when he starts to leave, they start crying after him. It's serious. It's serious. Have you noticed that the three
people here And there's some others that we'll see next week.
How desperate their case was? The ruler, his daughter was dead. Is there any case more desperate
than dead? It doesn't get any more desperate
than dead. Dead. The woman with the issue of blood
for 12 years spent all her living upon physicians And they all
proved to be physicians of no value. That's what Job said of
his friends. He said, you are physicians of
no value. That's what false religion is.
False religion is nothing more than physicians of no value.
They just make you grow worse. And then these two blind men,
two blind men. None of the people needed Christ
like these people needed Christ. The greatest thing God could
do for me and you is to show us our need of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, I tell you this, ask Him. Be like these men, ask Him. Lord,
show me my need of you. Show me my desperate need of
you. Unless we see our case to be
a desperate one, we won't cry after him. We won't seek after
him. We won't follow after him, not
until we see that our case is desperate, desperate. We may come to church. We may
go through the motions. But we will not cry, cry after
him until we see how desperate our case is. Scripture says in Matthew 11
and 12, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent
take it by force. The kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by force. Like Jacob we say, I will not
let thee go except thou bless me. I'll not let you go. until you bless me." Jacob knew,
he knew that his life, his safety was with the Lord. And he knew
if the Lord didn't bless him, Esau was waiting on him. Esau
was waiting on him. I tell you, if the Lord hadn't
blessed Jacob that night, Esau wouldn't have embraced him, he
would have killed him. Who you think changed Esau's
heart? It wasn't Esau. It wasn't Esau. God did. God did. God gave him favor. What's sad is how few people
are really, really, really in such earnest about their souls. People are more concerned about
retirement than eternity. I've had many, many more conversations
about retirement with people than I've ever had about eternity.
Ever. No comparison. This life will soon be over.
Then what? There was an older gentleman,
asked a young man one time, he said, what are you going to do?
He said, well, I'm going to finish, I want to finish my schooling.
He said, then what? He said, well, I want to get
a job. I'm trying to get a career, you know, what I went to school
for. He said, then what? He said, well, I'll probably
get married and have a family, raise my family. Then what? Well,
he said, I guess I'll retire. I'll retire. He said, then what?
I said, well, I guess I'll die. He said, then what? Then what? That's where it starts. It's
not here. It's when I die. Then what? Then what? Now let's notice something
else here about their faith. It was persevering faith. It
says they followed Him. Do you know how difficult it
had to be to be blind and follow Him? The Lord didn't make it
easy on them. You know why? He tried their
faith. He did not make it easy on them
to follow Him. He made them follow Him while
they were blind and they couldn't see Him. No doubt they had to
ask people, where is He? Where is He? Which way is He
going? They had to feel their way. But the Lord led them in
their own blindness. He led them. He made sure they
followed Him. But you know how hard it has
to be to follow Him being blind? Following Christ is not easy. It's always a trial of faith.
There's always a trial of faith in following Christ. Disappointments
come along. The Lord takes things away from
you. It's hard. You say, why? But you don't turn back, do you?
You know, one time he said, except they eat my flesh and drink my
blood. He said, except you do that,
you have no life in you. And there were some that were
offended. They were offended. They said, this is a hard saying.
Who could hear it? And they turned back and walked
no more with him. But some continued following.
Some continued to follow. And the Lord said, the words
I speak to you, they are spirit. They're spiritual. I'm not talking
about cannibalism. I'm talking about faith. I'm talking about faith. Follow me by faith. Through all
the sunshine and the rain, the storms, the ups and downs, we
follow Him. If He's our life, we follow Him.
If we know Him, we follow Him. Whatever comes along. Whatever
comes along. It's like in the song of Solomon,
chapter 3. Have you seen him whom my soul
loveth? Have you seen him? I'll tell you who these men were.
I believe it's Isaiah 43, but they were children of light walking
in darkness. That's who they were. They were
the Lord's. These two men were trusting in
the name of the Lord. They were trusting in His person.
They called Him what the Pharisees would not call Him, what the
religious leaders wouldn't call Him. They called Him Son of David. They recognized Him as the Messiah.
This is the Messiah. This is the Messiah. They were trusting their Savior. These men knew far more than
those Pharisees knew. The Pharisees said, He's a winebibber. He's a gluttonous man. He eats
Republicans and sinners. And these two blind men said,
No, He's the Son of David. He's the Son of David. Royalty. Royalty. That's who He is. They believed in their hearts
that He was the Son of David and they acted upon Him. You
see, true faith is an act of grace. It's an act of grace. You will follow Him. If you really
believe, you will follow Him. You can't help but follow Him.
No more than you can help but believe Him. You know why I believe
the gospel? I can tell you why I believe
the gospel. I can tell you why you believe the gospel. You can't
help it. You believe the gospel as easily,
as much as you breathe. Try not to breathe. Just try
not to breathe. Your body will fight you. You believe the gospel because
God has made it so plain to you. because God has revealed it to
you and you can't help but believe. Faith is the response of the
work of God in you. That's what it is. It's the response
of the work of God in you. That's what faith is. And true faith always honors
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the best way to honor
someone? Believe them when they tell you
something. Isn't it offensive when you're
telling somebody the truth and they say, I don't believe that.
What, you think I'm lying to you? You think I'm not telling
you the truth? You think I just made that up?
Well, put that on a higher level. Put that on God's level. What He's telling us is the truth.
It's just not some things that are true. It's the truth. It's the truth. And true faith
honors God by believing God. And then these men had a definite
need that they made known their sight. They had a definite need,
their sight. They wanted their sight. They
weren't crying for nothing. They knew what they needed. They
knew what they wanted and they needed and they asked for it. Some people just pray to be prayed,
and they pray for things in general. Well, just bless this, bless
that, do this, do that. No. When we pray, let's ask for
things specific. Like these men, have you or I,
in distinct terms, asked the Lord to save you. Lord, save me. Save me. Save me. Save me from my sins. Save me from indwelling sin.
Save me from the power of darkness. Save me from the power of Satan.
Lord, save me. I tell you what, I can pray that
every day. I can pray it every day. Lord,
save me. I've been saved. I'm being saved
and I shall be saved. That's the way of grace. That
is the way of grace. David expressed in Psalm 51 distinctly,
he asked God specifically for a clean heart and a right spirit.
That's what he said. He says, create in me a clean
heart and a right spirit, O God. Pray for light. Pray for light. Pray for forgiveness. Pray, Lord,
save me. Save me. Who has God ever refused
who came to Him sincerely? for mercy, for grace, for forgiveness. You won't read of it in the Scriptures.
You never read of the Lord turning away a sinner in need of mercy. Those Pharisees, He said, leave
them alone. The self-righteous, He said, leave them alone. But
the sinners, the publicans, the harlots, those who needed Him,
He welcomed them and gave them what they needed. These men were conscious of their
need, they were conscious of who Jesus Christ was, and it
made them confess their unworthiness and their need. They said, here's
their unworthiness. Have mercy on me. They said,
have mercy on us. When we truly ask God to have
mercy on us, we're confessing our unworthiness. If I were worthy,
I wouldn't ask for mercy because I wouldn't need it. I'd just
be asking for it because I'm worthy of it. But mercy, mercy
says one thing. I'm not worthy of what I'm asking
for. I'm not worthy. Guilty people need mercy. Sinful
people need mercy. Wretches need mercy. As our Lord
said in Matthew 9-12, the whole need not a physician, but the
sick. The sick. We plead with God like beggars.
Cecil Roach, a man that went to 13th Street, he was one of
the elders there for a year. He would always use this term,
mercy beggars. We're just mercy beggars. That's
all we are. Like that thief on the cross,
just a mercy beggar. We plead for mercy through the
blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Lord, let Thy blood
be propitiation for my sins. That's the only grounds a sinner
can stand on. The merits, the person of Jesus
Christ. David said in Psalm 51, according
to Thy loving kindness and tender mercy, blot out. Blot out my
transgressions. How can God blot out my transgressions
against Him? How can God blot out my transgressions
against His law? Through the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's how you can
do it. Here's the question of questions.
Our Lord asked this question. Believe ye that I'm able to do
this. What a question. These men sought
to have their sight, they desperately wanted to see, and our Lord asked
them one question that stood between them and sight. Do you
believe I'm able to do this? That's a powerful question, isn't
it? Do you believe I'm able to give
you your sight? And here's the question put to
us. If anyone's struggling with guilt, do you believe that Jesus
Christ is able to provide you with a righteousness that's without
spot or blemish? Do you believe He's able to do
that? Do you? The Jews didn't. It says in Romans
10.1, they went about to establish the righteousness of their own
and would not submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And the reason
they would not submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
they didn't see any need of it. They thought they could do just
fine without it. I could produce one just fine.
I don't need this one. Do you believe that the righteousness
of Jesus Christ is enough? Do you? Anyone filled with the sense
of the vileness of sin? Do you believe that the blood
of Jesus Christ is able to make you clean? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is able to present you spotless before the throne of God? Do
you believe He's able to do that? Well, it's yes or no. No maybe to this. It's yes or
no. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is able to deliver you from the punishment of sin through His
substitutionary work? It's yes or no. Do you believe that Christ is
able to keep you from falling away like Jesus? Do you believe that Christ is
able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by Him?
It's either yes or no. Faith in Christ is essential
to salvation. Believe ye that I'm able to do
this. Faith in His person, faith in
His righteousness. Faith is the vessel that receives
Christ in all that He is, and all the blessings that flow through
Him. It says in John 1, to as many as received Him, Someone said a man will make
no progress in salvation who does not believe that Jesus Christ
is able to do all things. Do you believe I'm able to do
this? Listen, whatever this is in your
case, do you believe that Jesus Christ is able to take care of
it? Do you? I believe that Christ is able
to save my soul, but you know, I've got problems with this No,
that's not it. Do you believe that he's able
to take care of whatever this is in your case? These men, if they had said,
well, I don't know. I don't know. We tried everybody
else. They would have remained blind. They would have remained
blind. If we really, from our hearts,
don't believe that Christ is able to save us, or take care
of our situation, we'll die in our sins. You ever wonder why that it's so easy to believe that
Christ can save others, but having a difficult time with saving
me? I have no trouble whatsoever
standing here talking to you. Christ is able to save you. Trust
Him. Look to Him. Then I have my moments
of doubt about myself. I have my moments of darkness. You know, John the Baptist, when
he was locked up in prison, he sent his disciples. He said,
will you go and ask Him if He is the Christ or should we look
for another? This is John the Baptist having
his moment of darkness. You know why? You know why it's
easier sometimes just to talk, tell others to trust than it
is for me to actually trust and to follow him? Because it's a
lot easier to say jump than it is to jump. It's a lot easier
to tell somebody to jump than it is to jump yourself. Put everything,
lock, stock, and barrel on him. Lock, stock, and barrel. Notice
their response. They said, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. True faith always cries, yes,
Lord. Yes. Yes. The evidence that they were telling
the truth is that they've got their sight. They got their sight. It's evident
they really did believe Him. They did believe Him. Our Lord said in Mark 9, Jesus
said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believes. He said in Luke 18, And Jesus
said unto him, Receive thy sight, thy faith has saved me. The object of that faith we know
is Christ. He's the one who saves. Our Lord
didn't question them about their future plans, what they were
going to do. He didn't put them on probation. He gave them their
sight. Because they believed. They believed. He knew they believed. He created the faith in them.
He doesn't. Henry said one time, he quoted
that Scripture, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find
faith on the earth? Henry said he'll find it where
he gives it. He'll find it where he gives it. The reason we are so long in
gaining the blessing is because we take so long in saying, yes,
Lord, I believe You're able. Do you believe? This is the question. This is the question of questions.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is able to do this? Whatever this is in your case.