Good morning. There's nothing
prettier than three-part harmony. But there's nothing prettier
than three-part harmony singing about the Savior. I need Thee every hour, every
second, every minute of every hour. Has God shown you that? That's what it's all about. You'll
never have a need of the Savior until you see your need. And
I'm thankful that God has been pleased to show some their need. It's a pleasure and an honor
to be with you this morning. I have been asking the Lord to
give me a message for you. I've been asking the Lord to
prepare me and enable me to declare the gospel plainly and clearly. If you would, turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Recently, I had cataracts. Cataracts aren't any fun. You
can't see at night to drive. The television becomes blurry. You can't see up close. You can't see far away. The procedure
is they do one eye. and then a month or so later
they do the other eye. The first procedure on the left
eye, there was an immediate improvement. I saw better, but I still saw
darkly and dimly. But after the second cataract
was removed, my depth perception drastically improved and everything
was brighter and clearer. I asked Teresa, I said, did you
put a different wattage bulb in this lamp? And she said, no.
And I was like, wow, everything's just so much brighter. On my
follow-up appointment, to the doctor, I just kept thanking
him over and over and over again for his skillful work and my
greatly improved vision. But isn't it amazing how regardless
of what they can do today with implants and all that, that doesn't
even compare to the spiritual sight that God gave me. Those
of you that know him, nothing can compare to that, can it? I now have the depth perception
of my sin, not like I want to. And I have some clarity now of
my Savior, who He is and what He's done for me. When God illuminated and enlightened
me, I was so thankful and I was so grateful for his skillful
work, I was ecstatic concerning his saving grace. I told him over and over and
over again. That's all I could talk about. Now, after my procedure, it was
a wonderful and blessed thing to be able to see naturally and
physically, but how much greater, I ask you, is it when God gives
a sinner spiritual sight? When you truly begin to see Christ
in the Scriptures, when you see your desperate need of Him, and
God begins to reveal Him to you. Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
look at verse 9. Writing to believers, the Apostle
Paul said, for we know in part, and we prophesy, or we preach
in part. You know, when God begins to
first open our eyes to the things of Christ, we still see things
a little dark, and a little fuzzy, and a little unclear. No believer
sees with complete clarity when God first saves them. Paul here
tells us about our spiritual eyesight both now and when Christ
comes back. And note the difference. Verse
10. But when that which is perfect
is come, and that being Christ, then that which is in part, that
which is dark and fuzzy and unclear, shall be done away. Look down
at verse 12. For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I shall know even also as I am known. You know, John wrote,
beloved, now we are the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear. Can't see it. What we shall be. We've got spiritual cataracts. And we don't see clearly, and
it does not yet appear what we will be, but notice this, but
we know that. We know that by divine revelation
when He, Christ, shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. We might not see clearly now,
but then when Christ comes, we're going to see. Now we see through
a glass darkly, but then, Jimmy, face to face, face to face with
Christ my Savior. Now we only see and know in part,
but then we shall see and know even as we're seen and known. We'll be given perfect sight.
We'll have perfect knowledge. We'll have perfect understanding. The mysteries of the kingdom
of God will be clearly seen. No more spiritual cataracts. As we grow in the grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we go on into spiritual maturity. Paul said here in verse 11, when
I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. You see, when God gives us sight,
we'll put away childish things. We'll put away adolescent thoughts
and behavior. That's something we can't do
for ourselves. I've tried. With men, it's impossible. You
know what impossible means? Impossible. But with God, all
things are possible. Christ is divine. We're the branches. He said, without me, divine,
you can do nothing. You know what nothing means?
Nothing. Now that won't mean anything
to you unless God has shown you that you're nothing. No, you can do nothing in order to be saved. He has
to save you. Turn with me to Mark chapter
8. This is where we'll land and stay a while. Mark chapter 8,
verse 22. We've got a wonderful story here
that very well illustrates what I'm endeavoring to say. Mark
8, 22. Mark chapter 8 and in verse 22
we read, And he, that being the Lord Jesus, cometh to Bethsaida,
and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch
him. Now the first thing we see here
is that some folks here bring a man who's blind to the Lord
Jesus and they're beseeching beseeching, that means pleading.
You know, when you plead with somebody, you earn it. And they're
pleading with the Lord to touch Him. Now, if we're ever going
to receive sight, the first thing that we need is a touch from
the Lord. A touch from the Lord. This man
was blind. That's what we all are by nature. Blind. Spiritually blind. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians,
but if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, you
see, to them who are blind. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest or lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. The only way we'll ever see is
if God is pleased to give us sight to see the light of the
glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to have light
to see it. There are two things that are
necessary for sight. A seeing eye and light. I don't care if you've got 20-20
vision and pitch dark, you can't see. You've got to have light. God has to give it. It's the
same with spiritual sight. God's got to give us eyes to
see. God has to give us the light of the gospel. Paul went on to
say in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5, where we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord and yourselves and ourselves, your
servants, for Christ's sake. We don't preach ourselves. That would be a sad message.
We don't preach man's will and work and way. Why? Because man's
dead and trespasses and sin and a man can do nothing. You ever
seen a dead man do anything? No. We preach Christ Jesus the
Lord. Apostle, we're servants. Preachers are servants for Christ's
sake. Nothing more. Preachers are bond
slaves that point sinners to Christ. Verse six, for God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Friends, if God doesn't give
you eyes to see, you'll forever be spiritually blind. The light that you and I must
have is found in the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. You know, lost men and women
are blind to God's choosing. You can talk to someone about
the five points of Calvinism until you're blue in the face.
Only God can show a man if he's totally depraved or not. You
go right on down the tulip line. Unless God commands the light
to shine out of darkness into your heart, to give you this
knowledge, this divine revelation, you'll be lost in your sin. I heard a so-called preacher
recently say, I believe that God is sovereign and in control
of everything, and it perked my attention. He said, I believe
that God predestinated everything in the world. I'm like, wow. And then he said this, God predestinated
everything, God purposed everything except, it doesn't fit, does it? Except for the sinner's salvation. He said, God leaves salvation
up to you. If he does, I'm in a heap of
trouble. If my hope of salvation was and
is left up to me, I'll be forever lost. Why? Because I will not
come to Christ that I might have life. I cannot come to Christ
that I might have life. I don't have the ability to come.
I don't have the will to come. God has to give you eyes to see.
But we still see darkly and dimly because darkness still lives
in us by seeing. Old wretched men and women that
we are, not old wretched men and women that we were. We still
are. We have spiritual cataracts.
We still don't see too good. You know, today men and women,
they put their hope and their confidence of redemption in themselves. Just about everybody you talk
to, it doesn't take very long in listening to them that that's
what they believe. I let go and I let God. I gave
Jesus my heart. I made Jesus Lord of my life. You know, it's called free will,
but if God ever shows a man or a woman what their free will
is capable of, they'll beg God to take it away. If you can save yourself by something
that you do, then you can be lost the same way. Isn't that
right? If salvation is given because
of something good that you do or something bad that you don't
do, then salvation can be lost by you not doing what you should
do and doing what you shouldn't do. I can't find any rest or peace
in that. None. We cannot and we will not do
that which the perfect law of God requires and that's perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted. But if salvation is totally Totally
100% dependent on what Christ has done? His finished work cannot
and will not ever be undone. And that's where we rest. Do you know when God rested?
When His work was finished. Our work's finished. Christ said
it was. He said it's finished. I don't
think it can be any plainer than that. It is finished and it was
the Lord Jesus Christ who finished it, not us. For men to claim
they had a part in salvation or cooperated with God in some
way are lost. God's elected and chosen people
were never goats. I hear men say, He was a goat
and then he was a sheep and then he turned back into a goat. God's people were always sheep.
They were born sheep. They didn't know that they belonged
to the shepherd. But they were still sheep, and
God revealed it to them. God took away their spiritual
cataracts, and now they see. And that's why the Lord, the
good shepherd, said, other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold, them I must bring. Why? Because they're sheep, and
he's the shepherd. He must bring them. He said,
they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one
shepherd. Our great shepherd don't have
goats that he makes sheep. They're already sheep. Born sheep. Lost sheep, yes. Some are already
in the fold and others he's going to bring into the fold. Some
have already heard his voice and others shall hear his voice. And all shall follow him. There'll be one fold and one
shepherd. And I wouldn't have it any other way. You know, I
have five children. They're all my children, all
five of them. Nothing can change that, no matter
what they do. Good or bad, they're still mine. I have a son who's had a troubled
life, troubled life. Paid some heavy consequences,
paying for some right now. But he's still my child. He's
still my son. Nothing he does, good or bad,
will ever change it. God's sheep are always his sheep. God's elect one saint, always
saint. One sheep, always sheep. Once the shepherds, always the
shepherds. Again, verse 23, and he, Christ
the good shepherd, took the blind man by the hand and led him out
of the tent. Well, what's the significance
of that? There's nothing in scripture
that's insignificant. Well, every child, excuse me,
every child of God is gonna be isolated with Christ. The Lord Jesus is going to take
God's children by the hand and He's going to give them alone. And every child of God is going
to be isolated with Christ. He's the one mediator between
God and man. Just one mediator. Not two, just
one. If you're going to mediate with
God, you're going to have to go through this one man. And
that's the man, Christ Jesus. If He's going to save chosen
wretched sinners, He's going to isolate them. I remember when
He isolated me. He's going to deal with the sinner,
the chosen sinner, one-on-one. You see, true conviction is personal. True repentance is personal. No one can repent for you. No
one can believe for you. I had a fellow one time tell
me if I had any lost relatives let him know and he could get
some hierarchy in their church to get into some baptismal pool
somewhere in Utah or wherever and repeat that loved one's name
and get them into heaven. No one can repent for you. No
one can be saved for you. It's personal. God's gonna show you the one
thing needful. The Lord said to Barnabas, what
can I do for you? He said, Lord, that I might receive
my sight. That's what I need. I can't see.
I'm a beggar. Why am I? Who wants sight? One that's blind. Who wants the great position?
One that's sick. You ever go to the doctor when
you're not sick and just say, hey, just thought I'd stop by
and say hello, you're a busy man, so, you know, I made an
appointment. No, we go to the doctor when
we're sick. You'll never come to Christ,
the great position, until you see that you're sick. That publican in the temple,
he stood alone, didn't he? The Pharisees saw him, but the
publican saw only himself. And God showed him what he was.
And that wretched publican said, God be merciful to me, thee sinner. I say that quite often. Under
my breath. God be merciful to me, thee sinner. The Pharisee saw everyone but
himself. He saw the publican. He thanked God he wasn't like
other men. He thanked God he wasn't like that publican. But
he didn't see what he was. You see, he couldn't. He was
blind. The thief on the cross, he was
isolated, wasn't he? He said, Lord, remember me. At
that hour, there was none but him and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There was none in that crowd that could help him. What was
he going to do? His feet are nailed to the cross. Is he going to go out and do
something to merit or earn salvation? No. He's isolated. He's hanging
on the cross. But look who he's hanging next
to. And the Lord Jesus said, I remember you. Today you'll
be with me in paradise. The one that hung next to him
could help him. How do I know that I'm saved?
Well, I know this much. If you're saved, Christ is going
to isolate you before He saves you. Salvation is between you
and your God. Salvation is between you and
the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else. He's the one thing needful. The
Lord got this blind man alone. He isolated him. Took him by
the hand. Got him alone. It's called divine
intervention. It brought about divine revelation
and Christ must deal with his blindness and he's going to do
it alone, along with him. It's the same for each and every
one here that can now see. Zacchaeus, he was up in that
tree, but he was up there alone. The Lord told him to come down.
Has the Lord taken you by the hand? Has the Lord gotten you
alone? Has the Lord called you down? Has the Lord told you, today
I must abide at your house? We need to get along with God. And Christ will see to it that
we do. He will take us by the hand. He'll lead us out. If that's
what we want. I can't find anywhere in the
scripture where any needful, wanting, desiring sinner was
ever declined mercy and grace from the Lord Jesus. Not one.
Not one single time. If you want the Lord Jesus Christ,
you can have Him. God will see to it. Actually,
God's already seen to it. God saw to it before the foundation
of the world. My, my. What love, mercy, and grace to
be taken by the hand. If we can get along with God. Turn back to Matthew chapter
7, so look at verse 32. And they brought unto him, again
the Lord Jesus, one that was deaf. And he had an impediment
in his speech and they beseeched him to put his hand upon him,
touch him. And he, Christ, took him aside
from the multitude, and he put his fingers into his ears, and
he spit, and he touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven, he
sighed, and he said, epithah, that is, be opened, and straightway
his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loose,
and he spake plain. Something happened. The Lord
Jesus took him aside. That's what happened. He got
along with the afflicted sinner. He put his fingers in his ears.
He touched him. He spit and touched the man's
tongue. And the man spoke correctly.
You know, if Christ touches us, we're going to see right, we're
going to hear right, and we're going to talk right. Now, back again in Mark chapter
8, verse 23, and he took the blind man by the hand and he
led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes
and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. Do
you see? And we can't pass by the spit
here without mentioning it. What's the significance of spit
here in the text? Well, you think about that with
me. I know this much. Spit is offensive. Men spit a lot. I don't know
why. I don't ever see women spit. We just spit. But it's offensive.
When you see somebody spit, you're like, oh, come on. And to spit on someone else,
that's disgusting. There's nothing more offensive
and disrespectful than to spit on someone. To spit in someone's
face, even more so. But they spit in the Lord's face. They showed their disgust and
their contempt for him by spitting on him. And the Lord here spit
on this man's eyes. And what a picture this is of
the gospel. The grace of God comes from Christ's
lips. In John chapter 9, the Lord gave
that blind man sight. He was born blind. And it was
there that the Lord spit on the ground and made clay out of his
spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man and that man
for the first time saw. The Lord made spittle. The Lord
made clay out of the dust of the ground. That's what God does
with preachers. The Lord made and raised up preachers. It's not the preacher that gives
life. We need life too. I'm a sinner
just like you. I've got to trust the Lord Jesus. The clay of spittle didn't give
that man sight. The clay the Lord made was just
a means that God used. That's all preachers are, just
a means that God uses. They're ministers of righteousness
by whom sinners hear and believe. And they're used in the anointing
of blind eyes. But the preacher doesn't do the
anointing. It's got to come from Christ's
gracious mouth. In our text, those who brought
the blind man to the Lord Jesus, as we've already said, said,
touch him. I don't know how much they knew, but they knew that
Christ must touch him. That's a good start. In order to have spiritual sight
and life, we've got to have a touch from God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in Mark chapter 8, verse
23 again, and he, Christ, took the blind man by the hand. Every
time I read that, that's what he did to me. And he led him
out of town, got him alone. And when he had spit on his eyes
and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he could see, and
the blind man looked up and he said, I see men as trees walking. I read that for years. I thought,
what's the spiritual significance of that? Well, again, this man
at first saw dimly and darkly. And when God gives us sight,
that's what we do. We see through a glass darkly.
We've got spiritual cataracts. We never see clearly at first.
This man saw men as trees walking. You know, trees are one of the
largest living things on Earth. And trees cannot walk. So that's
what this poor soul saw men to be. So what's the lesson here?
By nature we see man as too big. We do. And we see God as too
small. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
12 verse 3, by the grace of God I'm telling each of you not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think. It's
pride that goeth before a fall. Look at verse 25, and after that
he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored, and he saw
every man clearly. When God gives you sight to see,
you're going to see that man is too little, and God is too
big to fail. Man's too little to do anything
for himself, and God's too big not to save him if he's one of
his sheep. The first time this poor man
looked up, he didn't see clearly. The second time, the Lord made
him to look up. Every good and perfect gift is
from above, isn't it? Aren't you thankful that God
made you to look up? He made us to look to Christ
seated at the right hand of God on high. He makes us to lie down
in green pastures of the Gospel. He causes us to rest in His Word. He takes us by the hand and He
leads us beside the still waters of mercy and grace. He was made to be sin for us
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And when Christ took our sin
and gave us his righteousness, it's then that we begin to see
everything clearly. We see what men and women are.
We see our great need. We see who we need. We need that
one who's the one thing needful. And I'm so thankful that now
after my procedure I can physically and naturally see much better
than I could just A few weeks ago. But brothers and sisters,
I am eternally grateful that God has been pleased to give
me spiritual sight, to see Christ face to face, and to see that
He's made me just like Him. Well, you've taken that a little
far, aren't you, preacher? You can't take that too far. being conformed to the image
of Christ. And it was and it is God's purpose
to conform His people perfectly to the image of the Lord Jesus.
Do you know what that means? One of these days I'm going to
see Christ as He is. I see Him darkly and dimly and
a little fuzzy now. I see Him well enough to know
that He's all I need. But I still don't see clearly.
I've got spiritual cataracts. But after having my cataracts
removed, I can now see well from a distance, but you know what?
I can't read anything up close. I've got to have glasses for
it. These are clear at the top so
I can see with my natural eyes, but if I'm going to read, And
they gave you that choice up front. Do you want to be able
to see far off or up close? I want to be able to see far
off. I've been wearing these little cheaters for years. That
didn't bother me too bad. But you know I got to thinking
about that. When God removes our spiritual
cataracts, we can see far off. We can see Christ high and lifted
up. We can see Him seated at the
right hand of God the Father in all power and majesty forever
making intercession for us. I can see that. Not as clear
as I hoped to. But you know what? I can no longer
look close within and see any hope there. None. Absolutely none. Not a speck
of hope there. I can only see Christ who loved
me and gave himself for me. Do you have spiritual cataracts? Well, I can recommend a good
physician for you. So can these men that come each
week, Tuesday and Sunday, to preach for you. They can tell
you. They've been telling you. who that great physician is. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Amen. Thank you so much for having
me. It's so good to be with you.