Turn in your Bibles to the book
of John, chapter 9. In our Friday night Bible study,
we visited these very verses in the 9th chapter in our look
at the word must and the comforts that come with that very word. There was a blind man who was
healed and we saw where the Lord must come through Samaria, the
Lord must come to his people, the Lord must come to rescue. In verse 4, our Savior declares
that He must work the works that He was sent to do. And this man
who had been blind from birth was born blind for that very
purpose, that the works of God might be manifest in him. That
as you and I would read through the Lord's Word, the Lord would
use these very words to impress on our hearts that what we have
gone through in life, and what we will go through in life, is
to glorify Him, to manifest His work, to manifest
His power in His people. He was brought into this world,
this man who was blind from birth in this very condition that the
day of the Lord would come and the Son of God would be manifested
with His healing. just as our Lord and Savior brought
Israel and all that was theirs into the land of Egypt, where
they would eventually become the slaves of Egypt, just as
our Lord raised up Pharaoh, that the world would know his power
in delivering his chosen people from the bondage of sin, from
the bondage of Egypt. Our great God brought this man
into this world blind, that the world would see the power of
the one who gives sight. that the world would see the
light of the world, which is Christ Jesus the Lord. And once
this man had been healed, once he had been given sight, we found
it interesting that the self-righteous religionists cast him out. They
cast him out for breaking their religious ceremony. This is where I want to pick
it up this morning. Are you with me in John chapter
9? Please look at verse 35. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, speaking of the blind man. And when our Lord had found
him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? This is the title for my message
this morning. And a question for you. Dost thou believe? Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Mark your place there if you would and turn over to
the ninth chapter of Isaiah. We'll come back to that verse. The world is very quick to quote
this scripture. The one I'm about to read, which
is in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. There are three points. that
one must believe about the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. And as it says in John 4.24,
God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth. Now the first point one must
believe is this, who this man called Jesus is, who He is according
to His Word. Not according to what you want
it to be. Not according to what you think
it might be. But what is it according to His
Word? For that's the Word of Truth. Give that to some men and the
men will take it and they'll twist it and turn it and make
it whatever they think is truth. That's why we've got this strange
world we live in today where women call themselves men and
men call themselves women. That's the truth. That's what
I think I am. And that's what I think truth
is. That's pretty weird. That's because they don't believe
the real truth. And the truth is our Creator created us as
men and women. Male and female. In John 1.1, the scripture tells
us, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. That's truth. You have to know
this, you have to know this, and believe this, for you to
say, I believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And in verse 14, And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. In Matthew 16, our
Lord had asked the disciples, He said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He knew
who Jesus was. And our Lord went on to say right
after that, Blessed art thou, Simon of Arjuna, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but my Father who
is in heaven. Telling us that there's only
one way to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. There's only
one way to know that He is God in the flesh, and that is if
He reveals Himself to you. Because in our natural state,
we're as blind as a bat. Worse. We can't even fly around
with radar. At least God gave them radar
so they don't run into stuff. Unless the Lord does a work in
your heart, all you're going to do is run into stuff all the
time of your life. Here in Isaiah chapter 9, we
begin reading at verse 6. You've got to get to the right
scripture there, Johnny. For unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. This child who is born of a virgin,
not with the nature of men, but the nature of the Spirit, perfect
and holy in every way. This is God in the flesh. The Son of the Living God. He
who created all things. He's the Word. He's the very
One that the Word is all written about. From Genesis 1-1 all the
way to the end of Revelation is 22. It's all about the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified for His people. God Almighty,
the only one who could pay the debt in full perfectly, fulfill
all the law perfectly, walk with righteousness, the very righteousness that He
imputes to His people. Because He was made sin for them. Because He took all our sins
upon Him. and the government shall be upon
His shoulder. He shall rule over everything.
The government of all creation is His to do with as He feels,
as He sees fit and pleases to do so. The government shall be upon
His shoulder and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
and what does it say next? The Mighty God. The Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. You must believe that Jesus Christ
is God in the flesh. Ruler of everything, including
the will of men. And that is so important because
today's religions want to build that will of men up bigger than
what it is. They have made that their religion.
Well, they say they worship and praise and give all the stuff
to Christ, but it was their will that they praised. And you can
hear that when they say, I made a decision for Jesus in 1962
or 1994, or whatever date you want to put in there. Or, I made
a decision for Jesus and got baptized. Or, I made a decision
for Jesus and I worship on Saturdays now. Or whatever else you want
to put into there. When it says, I first, They're
worshiping I, their will. Our Lord rules over everything. He is the sovereign creator of
all it is. He is the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Can there be any scripture more
clear than what we have just read? Turn over to Isaiah 53. We worship one God and all the
fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwelleth in Him." Yes, there are three, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But they are as one in mind,
in purpose, complete agreement. There is
no dispute between the three, for they are one. He who honoreth not the Son,
our scripture says, honoreth not the Father. The second point
that one must believe of Christ is what He left His glory for
and was born of a woman. In Mark 8.31 it says that He
began to teach them that the Son of Man must This is what
we began with, where it talks about that very thing in Matthew.
In the New Testament, the word must is first mentioned in Matthew,
where he speaks of this very thing. Our Lord began to teach
them, the disciples, that the Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and
of the scribes, and be killed after three days, and rise again.
That's the very first thing our Lord says that He must do. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not
saying that's the first thing He's committed to. There's lots
of Scripture our Lord is committed to things. But that word must
is used 49 times in the Old Testament. And it all relates to what men
must do. And the very first time we see
that word in regards to our Lord, what does it say? He must suffer
many things. Why did our Lord Come to this
world. Leave His glory behind. And be born of a woman. And John 6.38 says, For I came
down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again the last day. And
this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up to the last day. What was the
Father's will? What did our Lord come here to
do? He came here to fulfill His Father's will. Look at chapter 53 of Isaiah. This was His Father's will. Who
hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant
and as a root out of the dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness."
You know, you can't read that Scripture right there and think
of this really handsome Jesus that man has come up with long
hair, can you? The Lord's Word says He had no
form of comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. Why did the Lord
God Almighty become flesh? That we would be healed by His
stripes. This is what the table that we're
going to come to this afternoon is all about. This doesn't save
anybody. But those who know the Lord Jesus
Christ, those who have been given a new heart to believe on God
according to Scriptures, we see the dogs that we are,
don't we? We were talking about that earlier.
The lady, the Lord called her a dog and she said, yes, Lord. Yes, I am. But even a dog eats
the crumbs from the master's table. We see that we are healed by
His stripes. Verse 6, all we, like sheep,
have gone astray. Who here today doesn't look back
and see what we once were? And I'm not trying to say we're
any holier than we were before, for our only holiness we have
right now is the holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not
look to the flesh of this man for anything holy. Do not look
to the flesh of anyone for anything holy, for the only holy thing
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can't see the hearts of
men, we don't know what's in their hearts. So don't be fooled
by that fake news, that fake holiness that most put on today. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him, upon our Savior, upon
the God-man, upon that very one, on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as
a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgressions of my
people was he stricken." Folks, he had to go to the grave. He
had to take that sin of John Reeves and put it away that the
Father would never see it again. And that's exactly what He did. And being God in the flesh, the
very blood of God shed upon that tree, it was powerful. There
is power in the blood. Are you washed in His blood? Verse 9, And He had made His
grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. Because
He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.
He who knew no sin. That should just about bring
a tear to everyone's eye who knows the grace and the mercy
of God. He who knew no sin, took our sins upon Himself. Nobody
took His life, He laid it down. That's mercy. That's the grace
that I want to hear about when I come to church, when I come
to worship. I want to hear about the mercy
and the grace that our Lord has for us. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His
soul and shall be satisfied." Oh, to know that my Lord is satisfied
with what He has done. To know that God looks upon us
as white as His Son. satisfied because of what he
has done. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he
bare the sinning of many, and made intercession for their transgressions. What was the Father's will? His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people. I've said this once already,
but here it is again mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5.21. You don't
need to turn there. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made righteous of God,
the righteousness of God in Him. The Lord left His glory to be
born of a woman that He would suffer many things of the elders
and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and raised
again the third day. Turn over to the 10th chapter
of Hebrews if you would please. The third point, one must believe
of Christ is what He accomplished and where He is now. I have a
note that I keep over my desk. A note from Pastor Forter. He
says three things need to be in every message. Who Jesus is. What He has done. And what He's
doing right now. For you to answer the question
that we'll see in a moment, you must know these three things.
You must believe these three things. You must believe that
He is God in the flesh. You must believe that it is His
blood that was shed on the cross that saved you from the sin.
And because of that shed blood, we shall be saved. For He sits
on His throne this very moment. working everything out after
the counsel of His will, not ours. Our Lord had to rise from the
graves. He had to conquer death that we might live. The blood
of God was shed on that cross. Could anything separate God from
those for whom He had loved before the world was? If it could, then
you couldn't call Him God. No, absolutely not. That's why
Paul says, I am confident. Where's your confidence today?
If it's in anything that you have done, then you need to set
it aside now. God's people have no confidence
in the flesh. Why? Because we know what the
flesh is. We get up every morning and we
look in the mirror and we know that what we did yesterday was
not right with God. But we're reminded that it's
God who is right with God for us. It is what our Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us that makes us right with God. And nothing
of the flesh can add to that or take away from that. Paul wrote it this way, for whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Well, if you stop and think about
what we just read there, as Paul is saying, well, what shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Can you have any more peace than
that? I have no peace with my government. I'm thankful that
I'm living in a country of freedom where we can practice and worship
the God that created all things. I'm thankful for that. But I
have no peace in what they're doing back there in Washington.
I have no peace in what they're doing down here at the Capitol
in Sacramento. I have peace knowing that my
Lord worketh all things according to His counsel. That's where
our peace is. If God be for us, who or what
can be against us? When He says all things, are
for the good to them that love Him, to those who are called? Is there anything that can slip
between the cracks of that? No. All things, including our
trials and tribulations. He who laid down His life that
many would live for Him cannot lose any. So right now, This
very moment He is interceding on the behalf of all of His chosen
people. This one is mine. I went to the
cross and I shed my blood for this one. This one is mine. This
one is mine. This one is mine. This one is
mine. This one is as white as I. When God Almighty looks down
He doesn't see the sinful flesh that we walk in. He sees the blood spread on the
doorpost. He sees the blood of His perfect
Son. That should bring such great
comfort to you. If you don't have that comfort,
then you've got nothing. Are you with me in Hebrews? Chapter
10, verse 12. But this man, this one who is
called Jesus, this one who shall save his people, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his immanence be made his footstool, for by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Now I'd like you to go back to
our text and John if you would. This scripture we've just read,
well I don't know where I came up with that word, Yeah, he's got to watch out for
me. I'm telling you, that's the flesh doing things there, making
up its own words. These scriptures that we have
just read, all pointed to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now you tell me this, are we
the only ones in the world who have read these verses? There were many in the days of
Jesus who saw the miracles firsthand. There was only one lady that
our Lord went out to the coast of Tyre to save. There was only
one man by the pool that our Lord said, take up your bed and
walk. There are many who read God's
Word and have no idea what it means. And I share that with
you because this is what we need to see. We could be just like
them. Some of us were, right Mike? Amen. I was sitting here listening
to Mike and Larry talk about the religions that the Lord had
brought them out of. We could be just right there
with them. And they really, really believe in what they're doing. That's why they get fighting
angry about it when you tell them they're sinners and lost, going
to hell with those thoughts of your own free will, of your works. They really, really believe that
they're doing the right thing. And I continue to point this
out because this is why we should see the grace of God being magnified
so greatly. Because we could be just like
that. Yet by His mercy and grace and because He has loved us from
before the world began, He came to us and gave us the truth.
Do you see how great the mercy and grace of our Lord is? Can
you see how wonderful it is to a sinner? I don't deserve any of what the
Lord has given me. I'm like Jacob. I'm trying to
connive and get by with what I can. Thank You Lord for loving
me, even when I didn't love You. What peace we have knowing That
because our Lord loved us with an everlasting love, nothing
can separate us from that love. That love that is in Jesus Christ
our Lord. We have this peace because Christ
Himself reveals it to us. He reveals who He is. Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona. For flesh and blood hath not
revealed it." Pastor Gene stood here and preached the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, but it was the Lord, the Spirit of God who came
and touched John Reeve's heart. You must be born again. A must is a definite in God's Word. All of God's Word is definite. We have peace because Christ
reveals what he has done. Not just the sins that I committed
yesterday, but the sins that I commit today. Or even worse, the sins that
I might commit tomorrow or this afternoon. What has he done? My Lord has
saved me. Dost thou believe? and the Son
of God. We have peace because we know
that Christ himself reveals exactly what he's doing right now. Whatever
is happening right now in my life. If I'm struggling with something
that's going on in my family, I have peace with it because
my Lord is working it all out. If I have one who's sick, and
this is hard, to know that one you love so much is suffering,
how can I have peace with that Lord? Because He's Lord of all. He's Lord of everything. And even when I don't see the
right in it, I know it's right because it's
His. Look at verses 35 through 38. And 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? that I might believe. Who is
the Son of God? If you don't know who the Son
of God is, cry out for His mercy. Call upon the name of the Lord.
The name of the Lord. Not some weak Jesus who might
save you, but the Lord. Call upon the name of the Almighty. Who is He? Who is He, Lord, that I might
believe? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and
it is He that talketh with thee. Have you seen God Almighty in
the Scriptures? According to Scriptures? As the
Scriptures would put Him forth? As our Lord revealed Himself
as the all-powerful to your hearts? I ask you this. Dost thou believe? Amen? Would you stand with me,
if you would, please?