Go back to John 9 with me now.
I want you to read a couple of verses again with me. John 9. Read verses 35 through 38 with
me. The Lord heard that they cast
him out when he found the man. He said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you? This is the story of
a blind man receiving his sight, and this is a miracle. It was
the work of God. It was the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The man said so. Have you ever
heard of a man born blind being given eyes? No, you haven't.
Only God could do that. And God did it. Jesus Christ
did. And this is a picture of salvation,
this man receiving his sight. We looked at it before, didn't
we? The last time we looked at it, we just looked at the first
seven verses as a picture of salvation. How the Lord, in great
love and mercy and grace and power, finds someone who's blind,
dead, dead in sin, lost, gives them eyes to see, finds them
by His grace, by His mercy, quickens them by His grace. That's a picture
of salvation, isn't it? The Lord found this man. The
Lord looked on this man, and the man was blind, and the Lord
gave him eyes to see. And all who have truly been saved
by God's amazing grace, they love that song, Amazing Grace. John Newton wrote that with this
in mind. Chapter 9, the man said, I know
this, I was blind and now I see. And all of God's people say that.
They love that. We love to sing that note. I
once was blind, and now I see. However, the reality is this man did not
know Jesus Christ yet, did he? You read it with me. I read it
with feeling. I read it with emphasis, didn't I? They asked
him, who is he? He said, I don't know. Is he
a sinner? He said, I don't know. He doesn't
know Jesus Christ. He saw some things, now he sees
some things. He has a little bit of understanding
of some things, but he does not know Jesus Christ yet until Christ
came to him and revealed himself to him and spoke to him and he
bowed down and worshipped Christ. Salvation comes when you meet
Christ, not when you come to a knowledge of the truth. It's not knowing some things,
it's knowing Him. Brother Bruce and I talked about
this. He said, this message is so needed. John 17, 3, the Lord said, this
is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God.
That doesn't mean know about Him. That doesn't mean you believe
He's sovereign. and Jesus Christ whom he has
sent. That doesn't mean you just believe he was sent and he finished
the work and all that. Oh no, you know him. And I'm going to try to explain
that in a minute. Many know some things. Many have had their eyes
opened to some truths but do not know Christ. That was me. That was me. You heard Brother
Kevin confess that and admit that. He said, I've always believed
the truth. I knew Kevin when he was this tall. He was never
that tall. Yes, he was. I saw him. Little
boy. He's still just as cute now as
he was then. But he's a man. And he stood
up here and said, I've believed the truth all my life. I always
believed the truth. I didn't know Christ. And that
was me. Gabe admitted that down in Arkansas.
He said, I always believed the truth. And I didn't know the Lord. I
believed Calvinism. I believed TULIP. And that is
the truth. But that's not salvation. That's
not salvation. And you can come to some understanding
of the truth and have your eyes open and not know Jesus Christ. I wouldn't discourage weak faith. I wouldn't discourage that at
all. But I only want to encourage and exhort everyone in here,
everyone who hears this, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not
in Him. On Him. And call on Him. Because whosoever calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved. And in a minute, I'm going to
try my best, God help me, to tell you what it means to believe
on Him. All right, this man was blind.
You saw it. You read it with me. He was blind from birth,
and all men and women are. Nobody's really given true eyes
to see unless God gives it to them. You don't just come to
a knowledge of God. The doctrines of grace. People
say, I came to know grace. Salvation is not knowing a doctrine,
it's knowing a person. This man was told by Christ to
go wash in this pool. Our Lord Jesus Christ commands
everyone to repent and be baptized in his name. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and be baptized. And there's thousands if not
millions of people that are baptized. I was. I was when I was 12 years
old. I remember being emotionally
upset over whatever. And there were other young people
like me going down front, you know, and I went down front.
And to this day, I don't know what it was that made me do that.
I was just, I was just affected emotionally by something. I do
remember saying, I'm a sinner. And, you know, and you believe,
I believe, you know, and I was baptized 12 years old. I did
not know Jesus Christ. Did not know it. Because, man, when I got a teenager,
I hit the door. I'm gone. I'm out of here. And if you know pride, you can't
leave. You can't leave. He won't let you. If you do,
he'll bring you back. This man was a changed man. Verses
8 and 9, the neighbor said, This looks like old Bill. Let's call
him Bill. This looks like Bill. Can't be Bill. Look at him. He's
changed. Bill said, it's me. It really is. You know, there are many people
who have had their eyes open to see that they're down and
out and they're addicted to this and addicted to that and they
need to do this and that and change, you know, turn over a
new leaf and get smart and, you know, just change your ways.
And they do. have their eyes open to see,
look at this mess I'm in. That was me. This man is me. I, you know, 19, 20 years old
or whatever, moved back here from where the Lord brought,
was bringing the prodigal back. And you know there's grace before
grace. The Lord does all things to bring many things to bring
you to hear His voice and to meet Him. But you're not saved
until you do. But I remember at 18, 19 years
old, I guess I was, coming back to Ashland and And I was a hippie
and all that, and I remember thinking, if I want to straighten
up and get a good job, and if I'm going to get by, I've got
to cut my hair. I don't have to worry about that
now. It won't grow. But I did then. I got to cut my hair and just
straighten up. And I heard there was a man in
the church who was a contractor, pretty well off, and hmm, I need
a job. I want to straighten up. cut
my hair, and he gave me a job. I went and started going to church.
I saw that my sister, whom the Lord had already dealt with,
and she was a model child. She won the Good Citizenship
Award. I didn't win that in high school. But she did. Daughters of the
American Revolution and on and on. She was a model child and
all that. The Lord had to convince her she was a sinner. The Lord
had to come speak to her. She knew the truth all her life. The Lord had to come to her.
But I remember thinking, I envy the relationship she has with
my parents. I don't have that. Why? Because
I was a rebel. And I thought, I'm going to straighten up. I
know that they want me to come to church. I'm going to come
to church. They're like that. And I'll get a good job. And
I did. Came to church, got a good job, straightened up. And there
was a young lady there. Oh boy. Good job, good girl. That's why I came. Okay? The Lord had opened my
eyes. You're in the pits. The prodigal
son came to himself, didn't he? This is the Lord bringing to
himself. But he wasn't brought home until he heard the father
say to him, until the father fell on his neck and said, bring the best robe
and put it on him. Put the ring on him. Put shoes
on him. Kill the fatted calf. Now this
man knows. Now this man's saved. You see? Not until then. But this man in our story was
a changed man. And people, you know, come and
have their eyes open and see what a mess they're in. They
straighten up. And others get religion. Many
people get religion and miraculously they quit. Man's been drinking
all his life and he quits. Can you believe old Bill hasn't
had a drink of liquor in years? We think. It's amazing. It's a miracle. That ain't salvation. That old Bill got religion. His
neighbors, his friends, even his parents said, yeah, he's
different. He's a changed man. That's not salvation. Salvation
is knowing Christ. Are you with me? Maybe somebody
here right now. He didn't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verses 10 and 11, look at it. Verses 10 and 11, he said
he's a man called Jesus. A man called Jesus in the word
of my eyes. What's he going to call him when
this is over? He's going to be laying at his
feet. The feet of His Lord. Yeah, a man called Jesus. And
you hear people all over that religion say, Jesus this and
Jesus that. And they're so zealous. This
man was zealous. He started witnessing for Jesus. They said in verse 12, Well,
where is He? He said, I don't know. Do you know where the Lord
Jesus is? Helen, do you know where the
Lord Jesus is? Kelly, do you know where the Lord Jesus is?
He's at the right hand of the majesty on high, sitting on the
circle of the earth. Well, Jesus is outside my house,
but we're not there. Wrong Jesus. Where is he? I don't know. Maybe
he's outside, maybe he's here, maybe he's there. I don't know.
I know where he is, don't you? But they said, he's just a man,
down in verse 16. Others said, he's a sinner. How
could a sinner do that? Sinner. And they asked this man,
verse 24, they said, give God the praise. This man's a sinner.
He said, whether he's a sinner or no, I don't know. You think he knows the Lord Jesus
Christ? Listen to this, and I read this
to you years ago. I'll keep it in the back of this
notebook just so that I can every now and then read it to you.
A man did a poll of 10,000 so-called clergymen, 10,000, 1998. It's
probably much worse now, but 7,500 responded. And he asked
them if they believe The actual physical resurrection
of Jesus Christ, 51% of Methodists said no. This is preachers. 35% of Presbyterians said no. 33% of American Baptists said
no. They asked if they believed in
the virgin birth of Jesus. Sixty percent of Methodists said,
no, we don't believe in him. If he's a sinner, I don't know.
What does it matter? Oh, my. Do you know why he was
born of a virgin? Do you know why Jesus Christ
had to be born of a virgin? Do you know why? If you don't
know why, you don't know Jesus Christ. You don't know the truth.
If he's just a man, if he's born of Adam, if he's a sinner, he
can't save me. He can't save himself. He didn't
save anybody. Only God can save. 34% of Baptists said no, they don't
believe in the virgin birthright. That was then. It's worse now.
I don't know if he's a sinner or not. Oh, I do. I know. He's the Holy
One. Even the devil said that, thou
art the Holy One of God. He's the only man. He's the only
just man that ever lived. I know this about myself. I'm
nothing but sin. And I know this about Jesus Christ.
He's nothing but holiness and righteousness. That's the Son
of God. He's the only man that ever lived
without sin. And I know this. He's the only one that can save
me. I can't save myself. Why? Because I'm vile. I'm sinful. How can He save me? Because He's
just. He's holy. He's righteous. And
God is well pleased for His righteousness sake. And God made Him. I know this much. I know this.
And very few people do. And it's the truth. But when
you find out He did this for you, that God made Him to be
sin for me. Laid on Him. put Him, charged
Him with all of my sin. Man, that's when you'll believe
on Him, not just in Him. You see, all your hope is on
His shoulders, on Christ the solid rock. Our Lord said in Matthew 16,
who do men say that I am? This man said, well, he's a prophet.
They asked him. He's a prophet. A prophet. You
heard him. He's a prophet. He's that prophet. He's the prophet. He's prophet, priest, and king.
The Son of God. The only mediator between God
and men. The man, Christ. This man didn't
know Christ. He witnessed for Jesus. He witnessed. He said, will you be his disciples?
Will you believe on Jesus like me? He said he's a man of God. He couldn't
do this if he weren't a man of God. Look at John 6 with me now. And
they cast him out. They cast this man out of the
synagogue. He was persecuted for his witnessing. You know,
these people come to your door all the time, Jehovah's Witnesses
and Mormons and all that. And you cast them out, don't
you? You want them gone. Not because they're pests is
what they are. And people are zealous for their
religion. People get religion and they
make pests out of themselves. My dad used to say that most
people get just enough religion, listen, He said most people get
just enough religion to make them miserable and everybody
around them miserable. People liked old Bill better
before. Get out of here. We don't want
you anymore. John 6, look at this. Our Lord
said this, verse 29. He answered And then they asked
what they should do, the work of the works of God. He said,
this is the work of God that you believe on Him, whom He had
sent. Verse 40, this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone would see it, the sign, and believe
it on Him. May He have everlasting life.
And I will raise Him up at the last day. This man is going to
see Christ and believe on Him. And he's been quickened by Christ. And now, like I said, there's
grace before grace. And the Lord brings people through
some things, opens their eyes, but salvation is to come to know
Him, to come through the hearing of the gospel. You hear His voice. You hear Him. Yes, it's Him speaking. This is the means God has used.
And you hear Him speaking to you, revealing Himself to you,
and you come to know Christ. You don't just believe in the
doctrines. This is you. You don't just believe
in depravity. You think, I'm depraved. You
don't just believe in election. When you find out, you think,
could he possibly have chosen me? Irresistible grace. You don't
just believe in the doctrine of that. Yeah, I believe in irresistible
grace, the Holy Spirit's sovereignty. When he makes himself irresistible
to you, When you don't just believe in
the perseverance of the saint, you persevere. I'm not leaving.
Like the disciples, will you go away? No. Where? It's life. Life is... I told you, you know, I changed. I lost some friends. I began
to witness. I remember sitting witnessing
to some of my old friends. arguing with him about the Bible,
about the truth. I stood toe-to-toe with a man
down. I worked construction and stood toe-to-toe with a man with
a shovel, arguing the truth. I wanted to hit him over the
head with my shovel. I believed it so strongly. Sovereignty of God. I wanted to hit him with a shovel.
I didn't know crap. I changed. I came to church.
I lost some friends. I was kicked out of circles. But one day, one day, I met the Son of God. And this man, our Lord came to
him. He found him. See that? Verse 35, the Lord
put him In this place, he was cast out, and where you're going
to find Christ, where he's going to find you is outside the camp
with a bunch of outcasts. That's where you're going to
be. Not mainstream religion, you're not going to find him.
In Southern Baptist religion, you're not going to find him.
In the Catholic cathedral, you're not going to find him. In all
these places, don't believe him. He's not there. You're going
to find him where there's a bunch of once blind, now to see dead,
live, lost, found sinners just like you, that Christ found and
spoke to. And he came to him and said to
him in verse 35, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? The Lord spoke
to him personally. As said, I heard message after
message, that's so, that's so, all men are sinners. It's so,
it's so. God's sovereign. I believe that.
Yes, God's sovereign. God, I'm a sinner. Yes. Yes,
Christ saves. When He spoke to me. God's sovereign
and you're in His hand. I don't know if He'll save you
or not. Christ died for sinners and you're
the worst, but I don't know if He died for me. God chose some
people. I don't know if He chose me. And he said, our Lord said to
him, does thou believe on the Son of God? He didn't say, do
you believe the truth? He didn't say that yet. Do you believe
the doctrine? Do you believe in grace? Do you
say that? Do you believe on the Son of
God, the express image of God, the only begotten Son of God,
the only one God accepts, the Son of God, the only man God
approves of, the only wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, the only mediator, the only priest, the high priest,
the only sacrifier, the only substitute, The only way, the
only truth, the only life that you believe on, the, the, not
a, the Son of God. You can't see God, never will.
He won't talk to you, He'll only talk to His Son. This is the
Son of God. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you? He said, who is it? What He's saying is, I want to
believe. I do want to believe. The Lord is speaking to him like
the woman at the well. If you knew the gift of God and
who it was that spoke unto you, you would ask and he would give.
She said, who is it? What is it? Give me a drink.
Yes, give me something to drink. What did he give her? Himself. A eunuch out there reading. A religious man. a devout man,
reading the Bible. He's reading Isaiah 53, reading
about Christ crucified. He doesn't know it. He says,
the man, the Lord sent a preacher, sent, out there to him, Philip. He said, do you understand what
you're reading, Mr. Enoch? Do you understand what
you're reading? He said, how can I? No. Show me. See, the Lord created an interest.
The Lord created a need. The Lord created a desire. The
Lord doesn't save theologians. He saves fools. He doesn't save
people. Oh, I know that. No, no, no.
He saves people who don't know anything. That's where you've
got to start. That's where He starts with you.
Who is He? He says you've seen Him, and
I'm talking to you. Didn't He say, this is the will
of the Father, everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, hath everlasting life. All right, here is what it means
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. With the heart, man believeth,
not the head. The heart. Out of the heart are
the issues of life. What we're talking about is life.
Life is creative. Love. Where there's life, there's
love. Heart. If the heart is beating, you're
alive. The heart is the seat of the
affection. The heart is the seat of desire. The heart is the seat
of love. Love. Life. We're talking about
life. Where there's life, there's hunger.
There's thirst. Where there's life, there's joy.
There's sorrow. Where there's life, there's laughter.
And there's mourning. Life. Love. Alright? To believe with the head, is
to believe in water. I believe water will meet your
need. I believe water will meet thirst.
Yes, I believe with all my head that water will meet your thirst.
To believe with a heart is to be thirsty and take a drink. And there's satisfaction. To believe with the head is to
believe that's a bench. That's a bench. Yeah, you can
sit on it, it'll hold you up. Yeah, you can sit on it. That's
a bench. To believe with the heart is
to be tired and want rest. And you go and you sit on it. You're not tired, you're sitting
there. I'm tired of standing there. If you've been in religion and
you've been working, working, working, working. You've been
trying, trying, trying, trying and you can't do it. And if you
ever hear of Christ, you're only at rest from your work. You'll say, I believe. To believe with the head, the
preacher has to convince you to confess Christ in believers'
baptism. He'll convince you. To believe
with the heart, you'll ask him. You'll beg him. Here's water, the eunuch said. Here's water, it doesn't matter
how you say it, we know who you are. Here's water, what does
it hinder me? Would you fill the pool, please,
preacher? I can't tell you how many people recently gave, somebody
wanted to be baptized and said, let's just wait a while. A preacher
tells them, let's wait. Yeah. Because if God's in it,
He'll keep coming back. And he did. Have people done
that? Is it time yet? Finally, I realized, you're serious,
aren't you? Like loving a woman. She won't
have to beg you to marry her. You beg her. Oh, with a head, you know, a preacher
will convince you to pray and to read your Bible. Boy, if it's
in your heart, you can't live without praying. It's like breathing. You've got to call on the Lord.
You're calling on the Lord. You're not just praying. You'll
quit saying grace, and you'll start pleading for grace. You
know that? With the head, you say grace.
With the heart, you plead for grace. With the head, you talk about
religion. With the heart, you believe Christ.
Christ is your religion. Preacher, if it's in your head,
he'll have to convince you that you need to keep coming to church.
If it's in your heart, you'll be there 30 minutes early. They
won't want to leave. That's life. Life, isn't it? Heart, desire, need, hunger,
thirst, love. If it's just in your head, Hmm. You'll talk about those people
down there. Those people down at the church.
It's in your heart. You'll say with Ruth, those people
are my people. And don't you be talking about
my people. If it's in your head, you'll
get mad at God and you'll defend yourself, justify yourself. If
it's in your heart, you'll get mad at yourself and defend God
and justify God. If it's in your head, you'll
find reasons not to come, excuses why you should leave. If it's
in your heart, you'll beg God not to let you leave. And you won't find a reason why
you should be allowed in that place. If it's in your head, you'll
get mad at the preacher. And you go back to your family
and things. If it's in your heart, you'll
leave your family and everybody and defend the
preacher. If it's in your head, you'll
say good sermon. If it's in your heart, you'll
say, what a Savior! If it's in your head, you'll
believe in Christ. If it's in your heart, you'll
believe on Him. Meaning, all your hope is built on Christ,
the Solid Rock. And to give you an illustration,
I'll close it. David's brothers were standing
there. All his brothers were standing
there, David's brothers. And out in front of them was a foe
named Goliath. And they were all scared to death. They heard him say, I'm going
to take you. I'm going to kill all of you.
I'm going to take your captain. I'm going to kill all of you. And they
were scared. There was nothing anybody could do. They were all
scared to death. And the son of Jesse came along.
He said, is there not a cause? And he went right out in front
of all of them. And every one of those brothers are standing
there. They can't do anything. They're scared to death. And
no match for this man. And you see, all their hope, all their fears, all their worries,
all their doubts, their life, their future, their everything
was riding on the shoulders of that one out there standing before
him, facing that giant. If he doesn't win, well, I'm
a goner. And Buddy, when they saw him
do what he did, they despised him before, they don't now. It
all depended on him. And Buddy, if you ever see that
you are the sinner, that you're the thief, that you're Mary Magdalene,
that you're the one, you won't just believe in depravity, you'll
thank the Lord. Could the Lord save a sinner like me? Would
He? A wretch like me? That's what
John Newton said. A wretch like me? Leave on Christ is for Christ
to be all to you, over all. For Christ to be all to you,
over everyone and everything. You must have Him. You must have
Him. And you value and you need and
you love and you follow Jesus Christ over everybody. You leave your family, you leave
everybody. You love Him above your husband, above your wife,
above your parents, above this world, above everything. He's
all. That's what that means. Believe on Him. Your whole life,
soul, depends on Him. Christ is your all. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Okay. John, you come and believe
the Son of God.