with me to the gospel of John
chapter 9. John chapter 9. And I got very plain this morning
in the Bible study and intend to do so again during this hour. Very direct, very straightforward
and plain, very bold, I hope. But I thought, I asked myself,
are you being too hard? Well, the truth, the truth cuts. God's word is a two-edged sword. It pierces, it divides. It cuts. And I thought about this, that
when we go to a physician, we want the truth, don't we? We
want him to tell us the truth, whether it may hurt. If we need
to operate it on, we don't tell him, make sure it doesn't hurt
now. If it hurts, I'm not going to
go through that. No, he's got to cut. He's got to cut the and
there's much pain and suffering because of it. The scripture
talks about some people telling the prophets to prophesy unto
them smooth things. Don't tell us hard things. Don't
tell us the truth. It hurts. It offends us. It offends our dignity. It offends our pride and our
wisdom and so forth. Don't tell us. Prophesy smooth
things unto us. Tell us what we want to hear.
Make us feel good about ourselves. But that's not what true preachers
do. John the Baptist, Barnard said, this is the kind of preaching
that gets your head cut off. Bold, plain, straightforward
preaching. John the Baptist came preaching
straight from the hip, but shooting from the hip. And it's his only
way that God's true preachers preach. If I yet seek to please
men, I'm not the servant of Christ. I'm not an ambassador of God,
of the King, if I come and I fear anybody's faces. If I fear the
consequences, I need to sit down and let somebody else stand up
here who doesn't fear the consequences, who tells it like it is. It's
safe for us in the Henry. We need to hear the truth. Tell
me the truth. If I've got cancer, tell me,
so we can get to cutting on this thing, right? And every true
preacher tells it like it is. Like it is. Straightforward. Very direct. Very bold. Because the Scriptures speak
that way. The Scriptures don't mince words. They call black
black and white white, don't they? The Scriptures do. And
that's what I want to do. And in this passage of Scripture,
this is such a clear picture of religionists today and how
God really saves somebody so clear. So I ask you with an open
mind, Listen to this. Now, nearly every single professing
Christian, everybody in here professes to be a Christian.
I don't make fun of that word. It's a glorious title. Don't
let me. I don't want to appear to make fun of the word. I make
fun of what people call a Christian today. That's what I make fun
of. Nearly every professing Christian, quote, will tell you of some
salvation experience that they have had. Some have had them
as children. I had one, twelve years old,
weeping and crying and ran up front and made my profession.
I was baptized. Nearly everybody will tell you
of some religious saving or salvation experience. Some early, some
later on will tell you about it. It will go like this. Listen to this. They'll tell
you. Some people will say this. Well,
they were having a revival meeting down at the church, and some
friends invited me. Some friends that went to church
there, they invited me and begged me, really. So I just got tired
of getting on my back, so I went with them just to pacify them. I went down there. I went down
there. Well, I was a pretty hard drinker
at the time. I smoked a lot, smoked packs
of cigarettes a day. I was a pretty hard drinker at
the time. And I went down there to that
revival meeting with my friends, and the preacher preached real
hard that night. I remember he yelled a lot. He
preached real hard. I don't have the foggiest idea what he said,
but he preached real hard. Well, then they started singing
after the preaching was over. And then they started praying.
Oh, and the preacher prayed. He prayed so hard. And while
he was praying, he said, now, while everybody heads bowed,
don't everybody look up. He'll destroy the Spirit. Don't
everybody look up. While everybody heads bowed now,
somebody out there is in trouble. Somebody out there. Now, you
raise your hand if you need some help. So I thought, well, I raised
my hand. I raised my hand. I said, God
bless you. So after we got through praying,
And we start singing a little bit more. And I start crying. Because they sang so much. They
sang 120 verses. And I started crying. I was wore
out. They wore me out. Emotionally.
I started crying, though. And for some reason, I was compelled
to go down front. He said, anybody needs help,
come on down front. So I needed help. I went down
front. I went down there. And while they kept singing,
the preacher talked to me, and he said, he asked me if I was
a sinner. I said, yeah, I'm a sinner. Ain't everybody? Yeah, I'm a
sinner. He said, well, you believe in
Jesus? I said, well, I guess, yeah. Yeah, I believe in Jesus. Well,
you don't want to go to hell, do you? No, no, I don't want to
go to hell. Well, if you accept Jesus as
your personal Savior, He'll keep you out of hell. Is that right?
Yes, right. Well, that's good. That's what
I need. And he'll deliver you from your drinking and smoking
and all that. And you'll be safe. You'll get
born again. That sounds good to me. So after
he led me in the sinner's prayer, we sat there and I repeated after
him. He said, repeat after me. So I did. He said, God be merciful. God be merciful. Me a sinner.
Me a sinner. Let the blood of Christ. Let the blood of Christ.
I repeated after him. And after it was over, he said, now you're
safe. He said, now you've got to be baptized. Do I have to?
Yeah, you've got to be baptized. All right, I guess that's what
it takes, you know. Stay out of hell, I'll be baptized. So,
I made my confession. And he had me stand in front
of everybody just happy and rejoicing. Well, you know what? I quit my
drinking. I quit my smoking. I didn't quit my chewing. Two
out of three ain't bad. But I quit my drinking, quit
my smoking. Got born again. That's what happened
to me. Used to be a no-good. Now I'm
a Christian. Gave up my drinking and smoking
and started going to church. Everybody treated me so good.
Now I'm so happy. But just as lost, maybe more
so than he started, because he's deceived. false refuge. He's believed on Jesus. Scripture
says another Jesus. And that's who that man is believed
on. You see, outward reformation is not salvation. Believing some
facts in your head and reciting some words is not salvation. You mean to tell me that I can
be translated from darkness to light. from the flesh to the
spirit just by uttering some words, believing some facts,
confessing with my mouth some words? Oh, it's a lot deeper
than that. This thing of salvation is a
greater experience than that, much greater. Salvation is coming
to know, to understand, to bow to, to trust in, to follow after
a person. It's to come in contact with
a person. And it ain't the soul winner.
It ain't the preacher. It ain't the revivalist, the
evangelist. It's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is salvation. Now, look
with me over at this. Keep your place there. We'll
get right into this in a moment. Look over... I've got to get
into this. Romans chapter 10. I wrote an article in this morning's
bulletin about this, but I've got to touch on it. Everybody
likes to quote this verse of Scripture. Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10, these two verses of Scripture are the pet
verses. This passage of Scripture is
where they get the so-called Roman's road of salvation, that
people go through it. You go through these steps. Step
1, 2, 3, 4. It's saved, sold, sold a bargain like an auctioneer. Look at this. Romans 10, look
at verse 9. "...that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Now, that is true. But he didn't start there, did
he? This isn't Romans 10-1. That's
Romans 10-9. There's a lot of verses before
Romans 10-9. Look at verse 13. Oh, this is it. If they'd give
you one verse of Scripture that says how to be saved, this is
what they'd give you. For whosoever, verse 13, shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Period. But he didn't start there, and
he doesn't stop there, Henry, does he? The very next verse,
look at it. The very next verse says, How?
How? How what? How are they going
to call? How are they going to call on
Him who is the Him, this Lord, this name of the Lord? How are
they going to call on Him in whom they have not believed?
In other words, How? Nobody is ever saved by simply
believing in or accepting some Jesus. Nobody is saved just by
reciting some words. How are they going to call on
somebody that they don't know as Lord? Christ said, many will
say, many say with their mouths, Lord, Lord, but their hearts
are far from Him. And many people are calling on
somebody they don't believe is Lord. And they're calling for a salvation
they really don't feel like they need. I don't find any lost sinners
out there. I mean hell-bound, lost, corrupt,
perverted, wicked, vile sinners in need of mercy. I don't see.
Do you see in these revivals people running down the front,
weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth like the people of
Pentecost? Crying out, beating on their
breasts like the publican, Lord be merciful to me. Me and everybody,
what must we do to be saved? I don't see that. I see him popping
gum. You going? Yeah, I'm going. Let's
go. Let's see old Billy Graham down
front. Get a closer view of him here.
That's what I see going on. And they're not calling on the
Lord for salvation. They're calling on some Jesus
because some soul winner told them to do so. And they don't
need saved anyway. They just need to accept Jesus.
They don't have any sin to be saved from. It's drinking and
smoking if that's about it. Salvation is to all those that
truly trust in, come to know, and see the Lord Jesus Christ. And first of all, first and foremost,
he said, "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved." The Lord. It's first to bow down. Not stand up and be accounted
for Jesus. Bow down. before this sovereign
Lord in whose hands our soul is." That is the first step in
salvation. Bow down. Bow down before this
Lord and worship Him. Not accepting Him, but worshiping
Him. You look at every scriptural
conversion and compare it to today's conversion. What did the people of Pentecost
say? What did they say? What must we do to be saved?
They said, believe on Jesus. Except Jesus is your personal
Savior. Is that what they said? Is that what the apostles told
them? No. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, back then, they knew who
he was talking about, and they knew what it meant to be Lord.
Today, we've got some perverted definition of the term Lord. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now listen, Peter had just preached the whole message. He just preached
a whole message. Now, he didn't just say, and
the people heard what he preached. He had preached that this same
Jesus whom you have crucified, God hath made right, Lord and
Christ, and you're in his hands to do what he will with. He ain't
in your hands, you're in his hands. He just preached a long
message about that, right? And they heard. They were pricked
in their hearts about their sin and about who this was, this
Lord, this King. This glorious, sovereign being
in whose hands they were. And then they cried unto the
Lord. Then. And then on. And that's when
they said, Now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here in John, chapter 9,
is a very typical salvation experience. Look at it with me. I beg your
attention. John chapter 9, look at it. Let's
read verse 1 through 7 here. Now, Jesus passed by and saw
a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked
him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents? He said he was born blind. Jesus
answered, Neither. Neither hath this man sin, nor
his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him. Everything is according to the
purpose of God Almighty. Everything is working together
according to this divine purpose of God Almighty. Nothing catches
God by surprise. That's what we mean when God
is sovereign. That means He controls all things. Now he said, verse
4, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made spittle,
made a clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind
man with clay. And he said unto this blind man,
Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, sin. Well, he went his way therefore,
this blind man, man born blind from birth, he went his way,
and he washed, and he came seeing. Now here we have a man who was
born blind. Everybody knew it. Everybody
knew him, apparently. Most people. He probably sat
in a public place begging alms with a cup or whatever, like
most blind people did back then. And everybody knew him. Everybody
knew this was the town blind man. He was notorious for his
affliction. He sat begging. He was a bum
of sorts, a no-good. A blind man no good to anybody?
A bum. Now it could be that somebody
in here is somewhat like this, a notorious sinner who everybody
knows. Everybody knew you. This was
me. I was notorious. A notorious sinner. A bum. No
good to a blind bum at that. But like this man, one day something
happened to this blind man. This blind man met somebody,
and they told him to do something. And he went and washed in this
pool, and he came out a changed man. He went and washed his eyes. The Lord anointed his eyes, and
he went and washed in this pool and came out seeing. Seeing. He was a different man. an experience. This was a miraculous experience,
a salvation experience, if you will, an experience. And it could
be that like this man, somebody in here, probably most of us,
had some kind of experience at an early age, some kind of experience.
We so-called got saved and got baptized down in Pee Pee Creek
or somewhere. Everybody in here had some kind
of religious experience and got baptized. It was a miraculous
experience. Everybody probably took notice
of it, a religious experience. Now look at verse 7. It says,
"...he went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seen." Not only did he have a miraculous
experience, a religious experience, but he was outwardly reformed. He had an outward reformation. The neighbors look at verse 8.
The neighbors said unto him that they'd seen him before, that
he was blind. They said, Is this him? Is this him? Well, he's
different. He's a changed man. That can't
be old Bill. Ah, that's not him. Some of them
said that. This is him. It looks like him. That can't
be him. He's changed. What's happened? He's different.
There's a definite outward change in this man. He sure is changed.
But he can't be him. He's not the same man. And this happens to a lot of
people. It happened to this man. You're looking at one. Outward
reformation took place, but I was no more saved than my cat. Outward
reformation took place. A religious experience, an emotional
experience. Outward reformation. I quit my
this and that and the other. Outward reformation. And everybody
took notice of it. He's changed. Do you wonder at seemingly miraculous
changes in people, the so-called good religion? Do you ever wonder
about that? You say, well, there was a definite change in old
so-and-so. He doesn't seem to want this and that. Do you think that the devil is
only in the drinking business? Do we think that the devil is
only in the honky-tonks? The devil's in church. That's
where his chief work's going on. The devil's not only in the
drinking business, and he may be, but he's in the quit-drinking
business. He'll get you, he'll let you,
he'll enable you, he'll help you stop your drinking. Yeah,
he will. He'll help anybody outwardly
reform as long as there's no true inward change. Because,
you see, then you'll have a false refuge. Then you'll be—then you'll
have this refuge of lies, you'll be trusting in this outward reform,
this outward change. Well, something must have happened
because I'm a pretty good fellow now. I'm outwardly moral and
so forth. I must be saved. Right? And he'll let anybody
go to church, go to church regularly, be the most attended in Sunday
school. He'll let them go to church as
long as they don't go where they can hear the gospel preached. You can
go on down there to First Church of the Nazarene or whatever,
and you can hear all this practical religion about quitting your
evil ways and so forth and living a good Christian life. You can
hear all that you want to, but just don't go up there where
they preach the gospel, where a man can really find out where
salvation is and experience a real inward change. Don't do that.
Bunyan said this, John Bunyan. Satan is so crafty and subtle.
He's a lot wiser than people give him credit for. These preachers,
they don't know who they're talking. Peter said they speak evil of
dignities. He said they speak about somebody they don't know
anything about, the devil, Satan. He's a lot wiser than men give
him credit for. He's at work in religion. He knows where the
power of God is on the salvation. He knows it's in the gospel.
And his one area, his one greatest work is keep men from hearing
the gospel, the gospel I'm going to preach to you this morning,
the gospel I already have preached to you. Keep men from preaching,
hearing the gospel. Let them reform. Let them get
religious. Don't let them meet Christ, though.
Don't let them cross paths with Christ. Bunyan said this, the
devil is so subtle and trick, trickery, tricky, he'll take
somebody who's resting in their own self-righteousness, thinking
they're a good person and God must accept them. That's a refuge
of lies and self-righteousness. Religion. They're resting in
that false refuge. He'll take that person and leave
them alone. He's got them where he wants
them. Right? In the pew, thinking they're
just sure of God and as if they're out of there. And he'll withhold
evil thoughts He'll withhold all these desires and so forth
from them until they think, well, I'm so good, I've got to be a
Christian. I don't have problems like other
people. That's what David said in Psalm 73, wasn't it? They
don't have problems like I do. David was a man after God's own
heart. But he'll take, the devil is so crafty, he'll take that
old boy who's looking to Christ and Christ alone, trusting in
Christ, trying to follow Christ, looking to, bowing to, believing
in Christ alone, not trusting himself, and he'll bombard him
with evil thoughts, desires, wickedness, temptation, bombard
him, kill him, crush him over the head with it to make that
man think, I'm too bad to be saved. Did you hear what I said? That'd
be comfort to somebody. You'll take that person trusting
in Christ alone and bombard them with evil thoughts to where they
think, I'm too bad to be saved. And leave that religious Pharisee
and his Phariseeism, make him think, I'm too good not to be
saved. You feel that in your own experience? Well, this man,
what happened to old Bill? Old Bill, old blind Bill, got
saved here. Had a miraculous religious experience,
an outward reformation. Look at verse 10. And they said
unto him, How this happened, Bill? How were your eyes opened? Look at verse 11. And he answered
and said unto him, A man named Jesus. Jesus saved me. Hallelujah. Jesus. Preacher told me all about
a man named Jesus. A man! Note that. A man! Preacher told me all about a
man named Jesus, how he loved me and died for me and wanted
to save me from my beer and my cigarettes and so forth. So I
accepted him and was baptized, and now I am born again! I'm
tongue and tongue again! Spirit-filled Christian! Praise Jesus! So they said unto him, verse
12, Where is he? Where is this Jesus? He said,
I don't know. Where is Jesus? Tell me something
about this Jesus. I don't know. I don't know much about him.
Now, wait a minute. You're trusting your soul. You
claim this person saved you from your sin. And you don't know
anything about him? That you just up and accepted
some Jesus? Yeah. Tell me about it. I don't
know. I'm saved. Don't you bother me. I don't know. Well, look at this. He became
a witness for Jesus, a witness. They had him stand up and testify
at the local revival meeting, and he caused quite a stir. Caused
quite a stir. And somebody asked him again.
Somebody had the audacity to ask him again about this Jesus. And he'd learned something by
now. He got his Bible. He got him a Bible, and he started reading
his Bible. He'd learned something by now. He'd learned something.
He didn't know anything before. He didn't have the foggiest idea
of what the preacher would preach, but he just accepted something
of Jesus. He didn't have the foggiest notion of what the gospel
really was—who God was, who he was, a sinner, who Christ is,
what he did, why he came there, why God loves people, why Christ
died. He didn't have the foggiest notion. He just accepted some
Jesus and was so, quote, saved. And then he became a witness.
He got his Bible and started reading the scriptures, got real
zealous. Look at verse 17 with me. They said unto him again,
asked him again, unto the blind man, What do you say of this
Jesus again, that he hath opened your eye? And he said, He's a
prophet. He'd learned some things. He didn't learn nothing. First
he said he's a man. And he said he's a prophet. Right?
What do people say today about this Jesus? They say, He'll show
you the way. He'll show you the way. He came
to be the way. He ain't just a man. He's the
King. He's God in human flesh. He's
more than a prophet. He's that prophet, the Scripture
says, that'll come and show us all things and so many other
things. This Lord Jesus Christ is. That's
all this man knows. A man, a prophet, was he saved? We'll see in a minute here. He
said he's a prophet. He's a prophet. Well, some of
the older people, he got pretty zealous for this Jesus. And some
of the older people, established members, they got tired of old
Bill. They got tired of his zeal and
enthusiasm because they were living a lie. And young Bill
made them feel guilty. He was all zealous, you know,
and they thought, I don't feel this way. Why? And so they got
to persecuting Bill a little bit. And they talked, even talked
to his parents, saying, look, you're going to have to talk
to old Bill here. Old Bill here, he's raising a ruckus. He's just
getting too excited. He's just too caught up in this
thing. All he wants to talk about is
this Jesus. It's just not natural. It's just not right. You've got
to talk to him. And look at what his parents said. They said,
don't talk to us, you talk to him. Ask him, verse 23. Ask him. So they called him again,
and time went on, and Bill became a real witness for Jesus. But
he didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. Didn't know him. He was
religious. Now listen. He had had a miraculous
religious experience. He had had an evident outward
change. Everybody saw it. Everybody knew
it. He became a witness for Jesus. Everybody heard him speak it.
But he was lost. Lost. Look at verse 25. Verse
25 with me. And they asked him again about
this Jesus. Somebody else asked him. Now,
he said, whether he be a sinner or no. Now, you telling me that
this man was saved? He didn't even know if Jesus
Christ was the sinless one or not. He didn't know. He said,
whether he be a sinner or no, I don't know. One thing I know,
I was blind, now I see. That's not salvation. I've mistakenly
used that verse myself. That's not salvation, just realizing
you're a sinner. You've got to meet the Savior. Then they said unto him, What
did he do that he opened your eyes? He said, I told you. He
wants you to be his disciples. Y'all be his disciples, too.
He began witnessing to them. People began to grow tired of
this old boy and his mouth, and he began to suffer persecution.
They finally, look down here at verse 34, kicked him out of
the church. Kicked him out. The answer said, You're altogether
born in sin. You're ignorant. You're a mixed up, washed up,
no good. Get out of here. Get out of our
church. We don't want you anymore. Now listen now. He had had a
miraculous religious experience. Undeniable. Some experience,
some emotional experience. That experience that I had as
a twelve-year-old boy was undeniable. I went weeping and crying down
in front of the church. Because the singing and preaching
and whatever, the emotion, the atmosphere, something emotionally
disturbed me. I did not know who Christ was. I didn't know what the gospel
was. I didn't realize what I was,
who God is, and my meaning. I had not the foggiest idea and
notion what righteousness was about, what atonement was, what
the blood was for. I didn't know, and like this
man, he had a relationship with God. I had no desire for it. I can't
explain it. Just up and one day I quit and had no desire for
it. Will you explain that? Things
that I was head over heels in love with, no desire for. Overnight. He's undeniable. Change. He's
changed. He's different. There's something different about
him. Undeniable. Became a witness. I used to pound
people over the head with calvinists. Witnesses. Witness! Suffer persecution
because of it. There he is. There's one of those.
And this man did the same thing. So here he was. Here he was. But he didn't know the Lord.
He had never met the Lord Jesus Christ. Never. Didn't know the
Lord. But here's salvation. The Lord
knows him. This is salvation. The Lord knew
him and went looking for him. You see, if Bill wasn't looking
to be saved, he ought to have got saved. Right? He wasn't wanting to get saved.
He ought to have got saved. He needs to be saved. There's
a big difference between getting saved and being saved. You get
saved, it means something you do. When you be saved, it's something
somebody else told you. He already got saved. He wasn't
looking to be saved again. He already got saved. He wasn't
looking to know the Lord. He knew Jesus. He wasn't trying to be found.
He didn't know he was lost. But the Lord went looking for
him. Right? Look at it. The Lord went looking
for him. Look at verse 35. Jesus heard
they cast him out, and when he had found him, That's the reason his name's
called Savior. He's who does the saving. He's the one that
goes looking. He's the shepherd that goes looking
for the sheep. He ain't sitting around in heaven
waiting for the sheep to come to him. Boy, I hope old Sorenson
will come to me. I hope he'll accept me. No! The good shepherd
knows his sheep and goes looking for them. Is that what happened
to you? If it hadn't, you ain't saved. He comes to you. He finds you
in all your religion or your sin, your misery and all that
finds you. Look what he said to him. He
came and found him and said unto him, Do you believe on Jesus? No. Do you believe on the Son
of God? Now listen, this had a whole
lot more meaning back then than it does now. Everybody talked
about the Son of God. Everybody knew that the Son of
God was the one sent from God, the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah,
the Savior, the One from God, come down from heaven, God Himself
in human flesh to come down. That was to come upon this earth.
And Christ said, Do you believe on the Son of God? Do you? Not have you accepted me as your
personal Savior? No. Have you come to know and
bow to this sovereign Lord and King who ascended from heaven
itself and who has all authority and dominion over all things
and all people and places, including you and your soul? Have you? Do you believe on the Son of
God and all that that implies?" And look at this. Look at his
answer. This proves it. He answered and said, I don't know him. He wasn't saved. He didn't know
who the Son of God was. He knew a Jesus. And he said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might know him? Tell me about him.
And that's why you're here. That's why I'm here this morning,
to tell you about him. Not just to get you to repeat
after me, but to tell you about somebody. Tell you the truth
from God's Word. Tell you about somebody. And
right then and there, the Lord Jesus Christ said, unto him you've
seen him, and it's he that talketh with you. And if God ever reveals
to you the Lord Jesus, He reveals Himself to you and that man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, when you hear who Christ is and see Him
as He is, high and lifted up and holy, He's trained, filling
the temple, Lord and Savior. When God reveals to you that
God is just and holy and righteous and cannot have anything to do
with you as a sinner, except through a substitute, that the
Lord Jesus Christ had to come down here and establish a righteousness
as a man. That is, a man had to come down
here. This is why Christ came. This is the gospel. Now, I'll
say it again. I'll do it again. This is the
gospel, in case somebody hasn't heard it before. You've got to
know the gospel to be saved. You've got to! And this is concerning
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
cross of Christ. Why did Christ come? People, preachers, evangelists,
so-and-so, all kinds of people, God loves you and Christ died
for you. Be clear! What does that, what does that
do me? If God loves me, like St. Paul sure does say all the
time, God loves me and Christ died for me, well then I don't
have to worry about it. Well, it doesn't say in faith. Now,
wait a minute. If God Almighty, who controls
the universe, loves me... You love your children? Of course
you do. You gonna send them to heaven?
No way! A man's not that far better.
If God loves me, would He ever send me to heaven? A loving God
doesn't send people to hell. A holy God does. And that's His
first attribute. Holy, holy, holy. Everybody that comes to know
God first knows Him as holy. It cannot have anything to do
with unholiness. It hates iniquity, hates unrighteousness,
loves holiness. This holy God, though, just up
in one day said, I'm going to save some of these weakling men.
If it offends, I'm sorry. That's what the Scripture calls
us, warrants. He said, I'm just going to up and save them to
exalt my person. I'm going to set my love and
affection upon them. They don't love me. They haven't
done anything to be loved. Nothing. Should that be a sin,
God said, kill the son. Everybody's saying, I'm a conqueror,
I've done everything, I deserve that. That's the punishment,
right? But God said, one day, He said, I'm going to love them.
You see, that exalts His love. That doesn't exalt us. If there's
something we did that deserved that love, that would exalt us,
right? I'm somebody, I'm lovely. But no, we're unloved. And God's
accepting, one day, He said, I'm going to love this person.
They don't deserve it. I'm going to love them. And so
He set His affection on them. But that's not good enough. That's
not all. That's not the gospel. I've sinned
against the Son of God. I've broken His holy laws. He
cannot acquit, He cannot pay off one law unless He would be
God in the world. He's got to hold it off. It must
be fulfilled, to be sold at sin, not surely by the Spirit of Satan. And the scripture says, I have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, we've sinned
against this God. We've got to pay for it by death. Not physical death, spiritual
death. The soul of sin. You must hear
it again. Now how's God going to love me and save me and yet
punish me? How's He going to do that? If He sends me to hell,
He doesn't love me. He sent his son after him. God became a man, and he came
down on this earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He came down to live a life as a man, which man could not live. God said, it must be perfect.
Every man, every woman must be perfect to come to this system.
We can't do sin. God stood, he did, as a man. And he established this biblical
word that's used over 500 times called righteousness. Righteousness. Which means, as Paul said, people
are ignorant of in Romans 10. Romans 10, the very first, or
the very chapter we were looking at. People are ignorant of this
righteousness. I don't care if you're a Christian
or not. And he established this righteousness,
this perfect standing as a man, as a human being. And God looked
at this man. He looked at this man firmly.
He looked at Adam. Adam was seeing him. He looked
at Eve. She was seeing him. And how about up to you? He looked
at you. You were seeing him. And he looked
at this man, this Christ, this one. He was seeing him. And the
scripture says, A perfect man. God approved of this man. A perfect man. Now they say,
God loves you, and Christ died for you. Why did Christ die?
Who put him over the cross to let you know now that Christ
died for you? I've said this before. I've told
my wife, I love you. I love you. I love you. I love
you. I love you. How does that prove that I love
her? And how does it prove that He said, don't tell me that because
Jesus said that, doesn't, I'm going to go die, right? Because I've sinned. And the
Scripture says, I must die for my sin. But Christ died for me. He took my place. That's the
reason He didn't become a man. That's the reason God just stood
up and said, I forgive you. No, the soul of sin. And everybody
in Christ represented in him when he died on that tree. And everybody that he represented
on that tree, he comes to in time and reveals to them what
I'm telling you right now, the gospel. And they say, I see. Now I see the love of God. It's electing love. It's unworthy
love. We don't deserve it. It's free
love. It's sovereign love. He's holy. His holiness must be satisfied. His justice must be satisfied.
And I see why Christ had to die, to pay for my sins. Now, if He
paid for them, they're paid for. It's not up to me. It's up to
Him. And the Scriptures talk about a word named surety. Christ
became our surety. That is, He's got us in His hand,
and if He falls, we fall. If we fall, He picks us up. He's
the Savior. He said, I'll be a surety for
them. Covenant. That's a biblical word. Need
to know something about that. God and His Son made a covenant,
an agreement, before this thing ever started. Made an agreement.
And God said, I'll love them if you'll go die for them and
pay for their sins and make them holy. in my sight. Christ said, I'll do it. And
God loved him, and Christ died for him, and that's salvation.
But you've got to know why. And then when you see this, it
causes you to come to Christ by faith and say, Lord, I need
this. I need you. I need you to do
this for me. I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I'm done.
I need you to do this for me. And then, and then on, when you
see this person, not a concept, not an idea, A person, right? Not repeating after me, but seeing
this person in its work and understanding. That's salvation. When God saves
someone, He reveals the Lord to them. Sovereign King, ruling
monarch, Jesus. He reveals Jesus, the Lamb slain,
the blood on the altar, the atonement The righteousness we need, the
sin-atoning victim, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He reveals
Christ as the anointed one, the Messiah, the mediator, the man
who sits at God's right hand. I need to have, or else I'm lost. You see, Christ still sits at
the right hand of God, representing all these people. And He's got the keys. Scripture
says He's got the keys of hell and death at His side. And everybody
who enters through the pearly gates, He's the one at the side. We don't make that decision for
Jesus. This is worshiping the Lord. This is our demand. This is an
understanding of the gospel. Right? You that know it, right?
I never preach another message. I may not. This is the message. If you never hear another message,
if you've never heard a message, this is the gospel. I say it with all authority and
all assurance, this is it. It's able to make you wise unto
salvation. Hear it! Hear it! You need Christ. You need Christ. Not a religious
experience. Not outward reformation. You
need to know Jesus Christ. You need to know Him. And look
at this man's reaction when he met Him. Look at verse 38. He said, John, that's when a man, that's
when a man say, Lord, I believe. And he said,
well, look what he says, verse 30. And he worshiped him. What
do you reckon he worshiped him? He kissed him on the cheek? Oh,
no. He fell down at his feet and
grabbed him around the neck and worshiped him. Just like Mary. Just like Martha. Just like all of them. Peter.
When Peter said, Lord, save me or I'll perish, when he was going
down, Paul said, Lord, what will you have me to do? The thief
on the cross said, Lord, remember me. The publican said, Lord,
be merciful to me, a sinner. Thomas said, My Lord and my God. That and that only is salvation. And worship Him, not this petty
religious stuff. It's a stench in God's nostrils.
It's worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. Do away with all this
facade of religion, all this silly aisle walking and mourner's
bench and this and that and the other. Invitation. Let's bow down and worship this
Lord. That's salvation. That's salvation. And then that old boy went out
and had something to tell, man. Then he went out and had something
to tell. And you know something? He wasn't so rash with his mouth. Somebody and I were talking about
this yesterday. I know Brother Danny Blair, he won't mind me
using his. He used to be a singer in religion. And he used to sing
before hundreds, even thousands of people. He was a very talented
individual. I know other people, too, like him. He used to sing,
so he used to get up, you know, around the stage, you know, like
you know how to do, and look up and just go, Jesus! And the Lord saved him. See, he didn't sing for two years.
He shut his mouth. He stopped his mouth. He sat down on a pew. Start listening
to the gospel. He said, I don't know nothing.
I am nothing. I need to learn something. Jonah,
everybody that meets this Lord, they shut up. I ain't a good
Christian. I've had other ones. And they sit down. And they shut
up. And they hear this gospel. And
it rejoices their hearts. But it shuts their mouth. See,
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Believeth
what? Believeth who? That's what. Who? And whosoever, now you can say
this in Romans 10, 13. Whosoever shall call on the name of that
Lord, this sovereign person shall be saved. shall be saved." And
the only reason they come is because God already determined
to save them, because He came and found them. He said, Do you
believe? I don't know what to believe.
I don't know who to believe. And then He reveals Himself to you
in the gospel. He preaches the gospel to you.
Now do you believe? The Lord. And He worships the
Lord. And look at this in closing.
Look at verse 40. Some of the Pharisees that were with Him
heard these words. They heard with their ears, but
they didn't hear with their heart. He said in one place that they
have ears to hear, but they don't hear. Eyes see, but they don't
see. And some of them heard these
words, and they said unto him, Are we blind? And Jesus said unto them, If
you were blind, you wouldn't have any sin. You know what he's
saying there? Do some of you know what he's
saying there? He said, If you were blind, that
is, if you really felt, it was the heart that came to be righteous.
But the public in the temple came and God declared him to
be righteous. Why? Because he felt in his heart
that he was a no good, wicked sinner before this man of God.
And he needed God to do something for him. He knew that in his
heart. He knew he was blind, miserable,
poor, naked, sinful, wretched, undeserving, worthy of hell,
no good a sinner can do before God. He knew that. But he saw
he had perfect vision. He had perfect vision. He could
see himself. But the Pharisees are religious.
We'd be not as others. Sinners, they were blind. And Christ said, if you were
blind, if you thought you were blind, if you thought you couldn't
see, then you see. You see? If you thought, I don't
see, I don't know, I don't understand, I'm nothing, I'm nobody, you
see. Your sins are gone." That's what he came to say. That's who
he declares righteous. But, he said, since you say we
see, oh, we understand. We know Jesus. We don't need...
I talked to a man on the phone yesterday. Invited him to come
to the Bible study. He said, oh, I had all that when
I was a young boy growing up. I had all that Sunday school
stuff. Yeah, he got rammed down his
throat with some silly little stories, but we go verse by verse
through the Scriptures and study God's Word. He said, we see. We understand. Therefore, Christ
said, your sin remaineth. You're going to go to the judgment,
real moral, real upright, real righteous in your own eyes, and
God's going to send you to hell itself. You see, salvation is of the Lord. It ain't of the man in my decision
in a in the back system of water in a in the in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in
a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in a in uh... uh... uh... uh...