Nearly every professing Christian
claims to have had a saving experience, and it usually goes something
like this. They were having a revival meeting
at the local Free Will Baptist Church or Pentecostal Holiness
Church, and some friends of mine invited me to go. Well, I was
drinking pretty bad. at the time, having just gone
through a divorce. So I went down to the meeting,
and after the preacher got up and preached a little bit, I
really don't remember what he said, but they started singing
a song, Just As I Am, or something, and the preacher was calling
out to anyone who needed help or to raise their hand and to
come down front, and so I went. I just felt compelled to go down
there, and I was crying real hard, and we prayed, and I repeated
a prayer after him, and he told me that if I would accept Jesus
as my personal Savior, if I would let Him into my heart and make
Him Lord of my life, then I would be saved. And so I did. And a warm feeling came over
me, and something happened. I was a changed man, and I quit
my drinking and quit my smoking and got baptized and joined the
church, and I've been living for Jesus ever since. That's
a very typical situation right there, but that is not salvation. That is just a religious experience. Salvation is not accepting Jesus. You won't find that anywhere
in the Bible. You won't find any preacher,
any prophet, any apostle, anybody telling people to accept Jesus. You won't find anybody, any experience
like that in all of the Scripture. And salvation is not quitting
this or quitting that. That's just reformation. is to know the true God and Jesus
Christ whom he has sent. That's what Christ said in John
17, verse 3. It's to know the true God. Not
a God you let do anything. No, that's not God at all. Salvation
is to know the true God who does what he will, with whom he will,
when he will. Salvation is to know the true
Jesus Christ, not the one that you let or accept or receive
into your heart. No, no, but the one, the sovereign
Lord who comes to you and where you are and reveals himself to
you. Now here in John chapter 9, if
you have a Bible, the gospel of John chapter 9 is a story
of a man who, like many today, had a saving experience, but
he was lost. He didn't know Christ. And I'm
reading from John 9, verse 1. It says, As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And down in verse
6 and 7, it says that Christ spoke and spat on the ground
and made clay and anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay
and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. And he went his
way, therefore, and washed, and he came to see. he received his
sight. Now, this was a miracle. Something miraculous had happened
to this man. He was born blind, and everybody
knew him. Perhaps they saw him begging
or saw him on the street corner. And then one day, all of a sudden,
he could see. He was a changed man. Everybody
recognized that something wonderful had happened to this man. Look
at verse 8 and 9. It says, "...the neighbors therefore,
and they which before had seen him that was blind, said, is
not this he that sat and begged? Some said, well, this is he.
Others said, well, he's like him. Well, they said, this can't
be. Let's just call this fellow Bill
to remember him by. They said, this can't be old
Bill. Why, he's so different. He used to be so wild, but he's
changed now. You know that many notorious
sinners get religion to the amazement of many. I once had a friend
who played football at the University of Georgia, and he was a wild
partying fellow, and he got religion. He got saved, so to speak, and
he was so notoriously wild that when he so to speak, got saved. You know, they put that in the
headlines of the local newspaper in the town he was from. And
he began to preach, even. And he told me later on, after
we talked, he said, I got saved, but I was lost, he said. Well,
this fellow here in John 9, he was different. Something happened.
He was changed. And he told the people that Jesus
did it. Look at verse 10 and 11. They
said, ìHow were your eyes opened?î And he said, ìA man that is called
Jesus.î He did it. He anointed my eyes, told me
to go wash, and I washed and I received my sight. And the
same thing can be asked of some people, ìHow did you get saved,
Bill? How did you get saved?î Well,
the preacher told me about a man named Jesus. who loved me and
died for me. And so I accepted him as my personal
Savior and was baptized, or got washed, and now I'm a born-again,
Spirit-filled, tongue-talking Christian." Well, they said to
this fellow, they said, Well, tell us more about him. Verse
12. They said, Where is he? Tell us more about Jesus. Where
is he? And the man said, I know not. He didn't even know where
Jesus Christ was. Well, this fellow, even began
to witness for Jesus. Even though he didn't know who
He was, really, he began to witness for Him. Look at verse 15 through
17. The Pharisees asked Him how He
received His sight, and He said, Well, He put clay on my eyes,
and I washed and do see. And they said, Well, He can't
be of God. He broke the Sabbath day. And
verse 17, they said, How is it that He opened your eye? And
He said, He's a prophet. The man said, He's a prophet.
He didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't know who He
was, didn't know why He came. Down in verse 25, look at it
there. The man answered them and says,
I don't know whether He's a sinner or not. One thing I know, I was
blind and now I see. I don't know much about Jesus.
I don't know where He came from or where He is now or what He
is. I think He's a prophet. Whether
he's a sinner or not, I don't know. I just know that I'm a
changed man. Something happened to me, and
I'm changed. My, my. Well, this fellow had an experience,
and it was a real one. Something definitely had happened
to him. He had an outward change. He was not the same. He became
a witness, and he even suffered some persecution for his religion.
Look at verse 34. It says in verse 34 that they
cast him out. They cast him out of their church.
He was just too zealous for them. The old guard there, he just
put them to shame and he was just too zealous and they just
cast him out. Well, do you see what all can
happen to someone and they still not be saved? Salvation. is when the Lord God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, finds you. Not you finding Him. He's not
lost. Salvation is when He opens your
eyes to know Him, who He is, and causes you to worship Him.
Let's see that here in this story. Verse 35, Jesus there heard that
they had cast Him out, and when He had found Him. When Christ found this man, let
me ask you, who chose who? Did you choose Him or did He
choose you? Who finds who? Who is the one who is lost here?
Someone says, I found Jesus. Well, I didn't know He was lost.
I thought we were the ones that are lost. Who is looking for
whom? This man wasn't looking for Jesus.
He had already had an experience. He wasn't looking for anything
or anyone. But Christ came looking for him. Who accepted who? Well, Christ had accepted this
man, had chosen to come and reveal Himself to this man. And look
at what He asked this man. He said, Does thou believe on
the Son of God? He didn't ask him, Would you
accept me as your personal Savior? He didn't ask him, Would you
let me save you? He didn't ask him, Do you believe
on Jesus? No. He said, Does thou believe
on the Son of God? And the man answered and said,
Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? Who is He? How I wish more people would
ask this question. Who is He? Who is God? What is God really like? Who
is Jesus Christ? Why did He come? Where is He
from? Where is He now? What is salvation? How can a man be just with God?
It's sad to say most folks who have had an experience, who have
accepted Jesus, who now read their Bibles a little bit, they
now have all the answers. Though they can only quote maybe
part of one verse, John 3,16 or Romans 8,28, now they have
all the answers and you can't tell them anything. That's so
sad. But in verse 37, it says that
Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that
talketh with thee. Now, this man had saw the Lord
before, but he just saw Him as a man. He saw Jesus before. That's who he said. He said,
A man named Jesus healed me. But now, after Christ spoke with
him, after hearing him speak, he saw Him as more than a man.
And verse 38 says, The man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. Evidently,
he fell down at His feet and worshipped Him. Lord, I believe. Do you remember the story of
the thief on the cross? There were two men hanging on
the cross, one on each side of the Lord Jesus Christ. And at
first, both of them, it says, began to talk and make fun of
Christ. And one of them, who thought
he was just a man named Jesus, well, when the Lord looked on
him, or when the Lord decided to reveal Himself to that man,
the man all of a sudden said, Lord, remember me. Lord, accept me. Not, I've decided
to accept you. No, Lord, remember me. Lord,
accept me. Lord, would you have mercy on
me? Lord, would you do something for me? Lord, would you let me?"
Not, I've decided to do this or I've decided to do that, but,
Lord, would you? Would you save me? The same thing
happened to Saul of Tarsus, whom the Lord later named Paul, the
apostle. He was religious, but he was
lost until the Lord brought him down off his high horse, until
the Lord destroyed all his religion, And the Lord revealed Himself
to Paul as more than Jesus. And when He did, Saul of Tarsus
or Paul said, Lord, what would You have me to do? Not, I've
decided to serve You, but Lord, what would You have me do? See,
salvation is not you or me accepting Him, but it's Him accepting us. Salvation is not us doing something
for Jesus, but it's Him doing something for us. And in verse
39, Christ said, judgment, for judgment I am come into this
world, for judgment, that they which see not might see, and
they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are
we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, If
you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, we see,
therefore your sin remaineth. My, my, do you know and worship
the Sovereign Lord, or have you just accepted a Savior named
Jesus? May the Lord reveal Himself to
you, His true self. Well, if you would like this
message on cassette tape, write to us. We'll send it to you free
of charge. Until next Sunday, good day. you