I want you to turn back with
me in your Bibles, if you will, to the 20th chapter of the book
of St. John. The 20th chapter of St. John. I want to read, beginning with
the 19th verse, and read down through verse 29. Verse 19 through
29. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, When the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my father has sent me Even so, send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciple therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again, His
disciples were within, Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that
have not seen. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. Let us pray. Father, in the name
of our lovely Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we love this
morning by the spirit and by the grace that you have shed
upon us. We pray that thou be pleased
to anoint our hearts with the Holy Spirit that we might speak
to the glory and praise of thy name to the edification of your
poor living family. I do ask this morning that all
of us might be strengthened and that we might be enabled to overcome
through him that loved us unto his death. Father, we do ask
that you will be pleased to lift the burdened hearts, encourage
downcast souls. Be pleased, O Lord, to put strength
in the weak. Be pleased, O Lord, to heal the
afflicted. Be pleased, Lord, to work in
our midst. I do ask today that thou be pleased,
our Father, to give in our hearts a time of real joy, a real peace
in believing today. Oh, might faith be greatly strengthened
and increased. Father, we do thank you that
you're able to give us strength in the inward man you have on
many occasions, and we definitely need it today. And I do pray
thou will strengthen us all with might by the spirit in the inward
man. Lord, we just ask that you'll
save the lost. Those that come in here in unbelief
this morning, they're in constant danger. They're in the death
of sin. And if they die, they'll surely
perish for all eternity. Be pleased, O Lord, to lay hold
of them today and bring them unto yourself. I do ask that
they might be lifted up, as the song said, lifted up, Father,
out of sin and lifted into the life and liberty of our glorious
Redeemer, in whose name this morning We pray, amen. I want to speak to you this morning
on the subject of faith without sight. Faith without sight. I do hope that you will listen
and that the Lord will give you hearing ears to hear what we
have to say. I was stricken the other day
as if by a bolt of lightning by what I saw here in verse 29. And I hope that the Lord will
be pleased to bless you with this truth that we want to bring
this morning. I believe it will give you a
different outlook. on your Christian life. It'll give you a different
view of faith, which probably you've never seen before. And
I hope today that the Lord will honor Himself by owning His Word
here in our midst, in our presence. May the Lord be glorified. Well,
let me begin by saying that we normally, as we read the Word
of God and as we consider those people who lived in our Savior's
day and saw Him, When he dwelt here among men, we count those
people to be blessed. We count them to be blessed indeed.
And truly blessed were their eyes, for they saw, we read here
in the 20th chapter of John, how that our Lord appeared on
that Lord's day, the day of his resurrection, and the disciples
were shut in. to that room for fear of the
Jews. Jesus came, stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace
be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
them his hands, and he sighed. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. They saw the Lord, and their
ears, they heard his word, as he spoke his word to them. And these words that they heard
and the various times when our Lord was revealed to them or
shown unto them, when he manifested himself to them, this is what
the old prophets and the kings desired to see and were never
privileged to see. So we count them blessed that
lived in the day when our Lord lived here among men in the world. But we who now believe in our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have a blessing superior to theirs. Now did you hear what I said?
Those of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in this very
day, this very hour, we have a blessing that is superior to
theirs for the benediction of the text which we read this morning,
verse 29, is not to those who saw and believed. The benediction
is not to those who looked upon the Lord Jesus Christ with physical
eyes and then believed, but the benediction was to those who
have not seen and yet have believed. those who never were privileged
to see our Lord in the body of flesh, those who were never privileged
to see His miracles, those who were never privileged to hear
His Word as it came directly from His mouth in the days of
His humiliation here in this world, these that believe having
not seen The Lord said, These are blessed. Now no doubt Thomas
was highly favored when his Lord said to him, Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and
thrust it into my side. This was an act, I think, of
remarkable condescension on Christ's part. Thomas had said, I will
not believe unless this happens, unless I'm able to feel the nail
prints in his hand and thrust my hand into his side, I will
not believe. I won't believe. This was an
act, I said, a very remarkable condescension on Christ's part.
He treated this doubting disciple with great tenderness. Nevertheless,
though Thomas was greatly privileged here to have our Lord say to
him, Here, Thomas, just feel these nail prints. Here, Thomas,
thrust your hand into my sight. Though he was thus privileged,
let me tell you, there is a superior blessing, as the Master told
him on that day, that belongs to those that believe and have
not seen and had not touched the prints of the nails in the
hand of the Master. or thrust their hand into his
side. The Lord Jesus said, blessed
are they that have not seen and yet have believed. I hope this
blessing this morning belongs to many of us here. I hope it
does. I hope we can believe. Oh, if
we can believe, having never seen, how wonderful that would
be. Now blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. So we must wait for the blessing
of sight till the by and by in the land of the hereafter. We
are not to expect that we're going to see anything with our
eyes here that's going to, in any measurable way, affect our
faith in our souls, our faith in the living God here. Now,
I recognize that for many that feel that they have seen some
things that have greatly assisted their souls in its effort to
believe on God. But I really believe that in
our day and time that we will recognize this truth laid out
by our Master as being the standard, and that is that in our day,
in our time, we are called upon to believe and not to see. But
may the Lord this morning bless us with joy as we endeavor to
take into our souls the message here of the Master. Now this
blessing does not belong to all here present. I recognize that
there are undoubtedly among us here this morning those who are
in a state of unbelief. Those who have never been brought
to believe in and to trust in, to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and the provisions that He made for the salvation of our souls.
I know there are unbelievers among us. And the Lord have mercy
on you this morning. The Lord have mercy on you this
morning. I know there is a hell that's prepared for the devil
and his angels. And I know that there will come
a time of casting away. There will come a time when the
Lord will cast those away into everlasting darkness, into everlasting
burning. those who do not know Him, those
who are not acquainted with His Son, those who are not joined
to Him in a living faith. And so may the Lord have mercy
upon you. Your sin is a deadly thing. Your sin unforgiven will
damn you forever. Your sin unforgiven will cause
you to be separated from God, from the holy angels, and from
all who love God and all who trust God forever and ever. And
I pray this morning that the Lord will show you your peril
and bring you by His mercy to faith and to confidence and hope
in the living God. Well, first of all this morning,
on this subject of faith without sight, I want to say to those
of you that are partakers of this blessedness, not ever to
try to diminish, don't ever try to diminish this blessedness
by wanting to see, thinking that seeing is profitable to faith
alone. Don't ever attempt to diminish
the blessing. Jesus said, Blessed, Thomas,
are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Well, how
can we do this? Well, first of all, we can do this by asking
maybe for some unusual providence. And you know, we're blessed every
day by the providence of God, every one of us. Some people
think, well, unless, you know, some very, very unusual thing
happens, then they've not experienced a good providence. Like, for
an example, if a man's out of work and God still provides his
needs, he thinks that's a very unusual providence. but i think
it's a as much the providence of god if a man's not out of
work and god's providing his needs i think that's the providence
of god too and i think that's a good property and if a man
gets sick and god heals him our brings him to a position that
knows his case and understands his case and helps him to get
back on his feet i think that's as much the providence of god
as if god were just simply do to heal the man in a moment i
i think it is And I think that when we are asking for a voice,
some people want to hear a voice. Some people are wanting a vision.
Somebody wants a vision. Somebody wants to see a miracle.
Somebody wants to see something very unusual. Something that
other folks haven't seen. To give them a corner on faith. Some people want a specific or
different revelation than what the scriptures has to give and
what it has to offer to their souls. Sometimes when living
by faith alone, We would like God to perhaps to reveal himself
to us in such a way that our very senses might assist our
faith. Our very physical senses might
assist our faith. Oh, somebody says, if I might
but see some miracle, then, oh, if I could just see the hand
of God. If I could see the hand of God, then I would be impressed
for life. If the Lord would just show me
something unusual and something special, then I would be impressed
for life and I'd never doubt again. I'd never doubt again
if God was just to, in some unusual way, make Himself known and impress
me. Well, beloved, don't ask for
this, as if seeing was better than faith. As if hearing a voice
was better than the Word of God alone. As if, somehow or other,
that if you just had something that you could point to and say,
well, I remember that, and that alone is what keeps me going. Well, my friend, don't ask for
that. We must be content as the people of God to swim in the
pure sea of faith. God's people must live by faith. The Bible says the just shall
live by faith. It says it four times over in
the Bible. The higher blessing, listen to
me, the cream of the blessings belongs to those who have not
seen and yet have been enabled of God to believe. Now, the second
thing I would say is this. Now we can diminish the blessing
and look down on and despise the very blessing which our Master
talked about here in verse 29, the blessedness which He pronounced
upon those who believe and have not seen by exalting the characters
of Scripture too highly. Now this is a very important
point of this message, and I want you to listen to me, and I want
you to pay attention to what I'm saying to you. Because sometimes
we overlook things that are very simple and very plain in the
Word of God, and we need to see this if we're going to be able
to appreciate what our Lord had to say. I'm talking about the
fact that those that are blessed as we stand here today, believing
and have not seen, listen to me, we can diminish this blessing
by looking down. We can look down on it and we
can despise this blessing by exalting the characters of Holy
Scripture too highly. Now let me try to explain what
I mean. Let me give you a few examples
here this morning. First of all, let us think about
old Thomas here. Thomas was absent on the first
Lord's Day when the disciples met together. Thomas came on
the second Lord's Day, and the church has been meeting on this
day ever since. The Lord's people meet together
on the first day of the week. And when the Lord's people met
together on this second Sunday, Thomas was there, and Thomas
had heard that the Lord had risen from the dead, but he had made
this statement. He said, I've got to see the
nail prints in his hands, and I've got to thrust my hand into
his side, or I'll not believe. And so our Lord gave him this
privilege. Now, whether or not Thomas ever
actually touched the nail prints, or whether he just looked upon
them, I don't know. The Scripture doesn't say. But
nevertheless, I believe, here as Thomas stands, here is a man,
and I've often just, you know, was greatly blessed by what Thomas
had to say when our Lord was standing in front of him. I just
would like to hear him say it. I really would. Can you imagine,
old Thomas, here he is standing in front of the resurrected Christ,
and here's those nail prints in his hands, and here's that
imprint of the spear in his side, the hole in his side, and Thomas
looks upon him and says, my Lord and my God. Yes, you're my Lord
and you're my God. You're the one that I saw walk
up and down in the land, doing all of the miracles, healing
the sick and raising the dead. You're the one that went to the
cross and died and you've been resurrected. You're a living
Christ and my Lord and my God. Can you imagine hearing Him say
that? But you know, I've thought about
it a great deal. And I just wonder how much credit
we ought to give old Thomas for making such a statement as that.
My soul, if you were to have stood in the midst here of the
Lord Jesus in that upper room, if you were to be there and to
see what he saw, would it not have in some way or another impressed
you? Well, I think he was a good man.
I think he was a saved man. He was one of the chosen twelve.
But look what he saw, look what he witnessed, look what he heard.
And I don't think that we ought to unduly exalt him as being
some special character, because after all, he was greatly privileged.
How could he help not to believe when the resurrected Christ was
standing right there in front of him? I think he was, as we
said, a saved man, and a great man maybe. But nevertheless,
my friend, He was a man who was highly privileged. I've never
seen the resurrected Christ in the sense that Thomas did, neither
have you. Now I know that we all have seen
him by faith. We've seen him by faith, but
we've never looked upon him standing in the same room with him as
Thomas did. And then, you know, I thought
about Paul. And I like old Paul. Paul was
that runt of a Jew, ball-headed man. And somebody said, well,
every ball-headed man is a great man. Every man's losing his hair.
Surely he will be a great man someday. Whether there's any
truth to that, I don't know. But I believe that Paul was a
great man. But the Bible says his speech was contemptible,
and his bodily presence was weak. He couldn't give a very good
speech, and his bodily presence was very weak. He wasn't much
to look at. He was a little frail sort of a man. But in his experience,
I want you to think with me now. You know, there was a day on
the road to Damascus when the light, the Shekinah glory of
God shined upon Osal of Tarsus, this young Jew, and struck him
blind. He was struck down on the road
to Damascus. He was going to Damascus to maybe
to martyr some of God's children, and God struck him down. Now,
we know that as he was struck down, there was a voice that
came to him out of the heavens and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And Saul said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. And so Saul became immediately
aware that Jesus was alive and that he was in heaven and that
Jesus was his Lord and that he was speaking to him there. Well,
you know the story. He was led into the city and
later recovered his sight and was baptized and he became one
of the greatest missionaries that ever lived. He turned the
heathen world toward God and pointed the gospel toward the
West, and we probably wouldn't be here this morning sitting
under the sound of the gospel if it had not been, humanly speaking,
for old Paul the Apostle, that great missionary. But wait a
minute, my friend. Should he get all the credit
we give him? Should he really be exalted and honored like we
honor him and exalt him? Listen, was it any of his goodness,
was it any of his merit that he was struck down on the road
to Damascus? Was he asking to see Jesus when Jesus was revealed
to him on that road? Was he asking? I say, no, he
was not asking. It was not any of his goodness.
It was none of his merit. It was not of his purpose that
he was struck down on the road to Damascus and that he saw the
living Christ. It had nothing to do with this
man and his goodness and his merit and the holiness of his
heart. No, it was all of sovereign grace. And Paul should not be exalted
because of that. And then too, does not the Bible
say that on one occasion, whether in the body or out of the body,
that old Paul was caught up into the third heavens and he saw
things that were unspeakable, things that he could not relate
to anybody else? things that he couldn't talk
about. Oh, my friend, when he was caught up into the third
heavens, he saw gates of pearl, and he undoubtedly saw streets
of gold. And Paul, only God knows who
he talked to when he was up there, but when he came back, oh, he
was humble forever. When he came back, he was no
longer the same. He experienced some experience
there that was so unusual, oh my friend, that it made him a
great servant of God. But should he get the credit
for that? Should he be honored because he was called up into
the third heavens and he experienced such an experience? Should he
be honored? Well, I think not. I think not. He did not request
this experience. God gave it to him. But I don't
think we ought to brag on Paul about this. I don't think so.
Because I think it was all of the grace of God. Now then, surely
Paul was a blessed man. Perhaps not one of the more blessed
ones. But he was a blessed man. And
I don't doubt that. Well, think with me of the Apostle
John who wrote this book that we've been reading from here
this morning. The one who leaned on Jesus'
breast. The one that Jesus loved. I want
you to look in the book of 1 John chapter 1. Turn there with me
if you will. The book of 1 John chapter 1.
And I want you to look here at what the scripture says. Listen
to John. He says, "...that which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
we've seen it, bear witness and show unto you that eternal life,
which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
which we've seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may
have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ." Now you take note
here that John actually, he said, I've heard, he said, I've seen
with our eyes, and he said, I've looked upon Him, and he said,
my hands have actually handled of the Word of Life. The hands
of John had actually touched our Lord Jesus Christ. And do
you know that the Lord Jesus Christ, that John had actually
felt, and along with Thomas and Peter and the other disciples,
actually had felt the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ upon their
dirty feet. They had felt the hands of the
Son of God when Jesus washed their feet. Yes, I'm telling
you the truth now. Now this is the one who leaned
on Jesus' breast and heard the heartbeat of the Lord Jesus Christ
in his ear. This is the disciple John whom
Jesus loved. Now listen to me, as we think
on this, he got to touch Jesus, he got to hear him, he got to
see him, and he heard him say, as he said, In John chapter 14,
in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for
you, and if I go and prepare a place, He said, I will come
again and receive you unto myself. All the things that this disciple
heard. And in Matthew chapter 17, turn
back there with me, in Matthew chapter 17, In the first few
verses here, listen to what it says. And after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them
up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white
as the light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elias. Here John is upon the Mount of
Transfiguration, and he sees the glorified body of the Lord
Jesus Christ while he's yet alive. He looks upon the glorified body
of the Lord Jesus as he is transfigured before him. And the face of Christ
shined as the sun, and his raiment was white as light. And while
they were up there on this mount, old Moses came, and Elijah came,
and talked with them. Talked with old John. And then
old Peter said, well, Jesus, he said, well, it's good for
us to be here. Bless God, it would be good to
be there. Would it not be? Well, he said, it is good for
us to be here. And he said, if thou wilt, then just let us build
three tabernacles here, one for you and one for Moses and one
for Elijah. Now, my friend, if you had been
there, I don't think it would be any problem for you to build
a church building either. If you would have saw and heard
what old John heard on that day, what Peter heard on that day,
oh, if you could have been there. My friend, you surely would have
been unusually blessed and be able to stand. Now, he was a
faithful child of God, John was, and I do not doubt this, but
surely we can see that we're not to elevate him above what
we should. My soul, my soul, if we could
experience what he experienced, surely we would have walked with
God as he walked with God. Surely we would have been as
faithful as John. Don't honor characters of scripture
above what you ought to. Our Lord said, if a man believes
and has not seen, he's blessed. He's blessed above those that
have seen. Now let me think a little bit
about Peter. I've got to talk a little bit
about old Peter, that loud-mouthed, cussing disciple. You remember
how that he cursed our Lord. It seems that God gave him two
tongues and one ear because he talked more than he listened.
Old Peter always was talking, you know, boisterous man. Now
he saw Jesus walk on the water, did he not? He saw the Lord Jesus
walk on the water. And then when he was bid to come,
you know, he lost faith and he sunk. But listen, he saw the
Lord Jesus do it. He saw his own mother-in-law
healed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody suggested that's the
reason why Peter denied the Lord was because he had healed his
mother-in-law. Well, I don't know anything about
that. I never read anything about that in the scripture, but nevertheless,
we see here that he did, if you read the Bible, that he saw this
miracle of his mother-in-law being healed. And he saw the
woman with the issue of blood healed. And he was on the mountain,
we mentioned a few minutes ago, and saw the body of the glorified
Jesus. I think we exaggerate the honor
that we give to Peter Now you turn with me to Matthew chapter
16 and look here at verses 16 through 17. And 18 here, well, listen to
what Peter said. Peter was a great Christian.
And listen to what he said. He saith unto him, Jesus did,
Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for
flesh and blood is not revealed unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Now, many, many people give Peter
great credit for making this statement. It is a tremendous
statement. He knew who Jesus was, and he's
been elevated, exalted as one who had a true witness and testimony
upon which the foundation of the church was laid. But I'll
tell you this, I want you to listen to what it says. Should
Peter be credited? Should Peter receive the glory? Should Peter be honored? Should
Peter be exalted and magnified as a great person here for having
made this statement? Well, listen to what our Lord
said unto him. Our Lord said, Blessed are you,
Simon. for flesh and blood not revealed it unto you. You didn't
come up with this yourself, Peter. You're not the source of this
information. This didn't come from you. You don't know who
I am because of who you are and because of your intellect. You
don't know who I am because somebody came along and taught you this
out of a book. No, no. He said, Peter, you know it's
been revealed to you by my Father which is in heaven. You got this
information from my Father. That's where you got it. No credit
to you, Peter. Oh, you're blessed, Peter, that
you know this, but the blessedness comes from God who revealed it
to you and made it known to you. And so, Peter, I'm sorry this
morning, but we cannot give you any more credit than what you're
due. You're indeed a great Christian, maybe one of the great Christians
among the twelve, but you're not to be honored and exalted
above what the Word of God states. Oh, blessed are those who have
believed and never seen. And so it's so with Peter. He
saw Jesus raise the dead. And I told you he felt his hands
on his feet. And he was, I think he was used of God. And
I think he was a blessed man. But he was not one of the more
blessed ones. Well, and then I thought about
old Elijah. And this is something that I think that you should
listen very carefully to. You know, most people think Elijah
was a great prophet, and I believe he was. But look how he was favored. Elijah, you know, saw fire fall
from heaven. Remember that time on Mount Carmel
and he was praying and the fire fell down from heaven and consumed
the altar and consumed the sacrifice and licked up the water that
they had poured on it so as to make sure that God had to do
it? And he saw the fire fall from heaven, and then he gathered
up the false prophets of Baal, and he cut their heads off. What
a man! This was a real prophet of God. And this man, Elijah,
saw at least seven miracles in his lifetime. At least seven
great miracles. But maybe we've exalted him too
much. If I were to pray right now and fire was to fall from
heaven, would anybody in this building have any trouble believing?
I think every one of you believe. Every one of you say, glory to
God, I believe that there's a God in heaven. Fire has fallen from
heaven this morning and I believe, I believe God, I believe the
Lord. Well listen to me, who wouldn't
believe? Who wouldn't? I like Elijah, and I appreciate
the truth that's revealed in the Bible about him. He was a
great man, indeed. But nevertheless, we don't want
to honor him above what the Scripture teaches. He was a man blessed
of God, and he saw great things. And I think that any man would
act likewise if he were to see these things. Another man I want
to mention in character of Scripture is old Moses. You know his birth
was a very special birth, and you remember that he was preserved
in his birth by the great providence of God. And you know that later
in his life he saw the burning bush. He also saw the rod, Aaron's
rod that budded. And you know that he led two
million, over two million Jews across the burning sands of the
desert, and God mightily blessed and helped him in that. He became
greatly discouraged, but nevertheless, he was blessed of God. He saw
the plagues that God poured out upon Egypt and Pharaoh, and they
were great plagues. And God made his power known,
and it was on display. And Moses saw all the power that
God poured out here upon the Egyptians. And then he went to
the Red Sea, and he smoked the Red Sea with his rod, and the
sea opened up. And he saw that dry land and
the armies of Israel or the people of Israel marched over on dry
ground. And then later you remember that
he smoked the rock and there was a river that flowed out of
the rock. That was enough water to stain over two million people
in that dry desert. Moses saw this. He looked upon
it and he saw it as this great gush of water came out of that
rock. And then, you remember later,
he went up on the mount, up on Mount Sinai, that mount that
quaked and burned with fire. And he went up on that mount,
and God gave him the two tablets of stone wherein contained the
holy law. And he came down, and you remember
the story. But I want you to think a little
bit at all of the experiences of this man. I want you to think
about what God showed him, what he saw with his eyes, what was
made known and clear to him in his lifetime. And I think, listen,
that we ought to recognize that if any man, if any man had those
kind of experiences, he'd surely walk with God. He'd surely have
fellowship with God. If you were to go up on the mount
and receive the tablets with the holy law of God, surely when
you come down, it would have made such an impression upon
you. Listen, nobody could approach
that mount. And this man would have been different. Wouldn't
he be different? Well, I'll tell you what, I don't
think that we should idolize this man. Maybe he's the greatest
man that ever lived outside of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he
was indeed a man. And I want you to know that it
was through his experiences that he I think I had the walk with
God. He was a great leader, a great
general, a man of prayer, a great intercessor. But my friend, it
was because of the work of God upon his soul and what God had
revealed to him and showed to him. Well, I advance to you this
morning, the more blessed ones, And if I were to advance to you,
the more blessed ones, I'll not take you to the upper room to
hear Thomas say, My Lord and my God. I'll not take you to
the Isle of Patmos where John was exiled and had the panoramic
view of the revelation given to him before his very eyes.
I'll not take you back to Matthew 16 and hear Peter say, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. I'll not take you to Mount
Carmel where the fire fell there from God. I'll not take you to
Sinai's Mount where the law was given. But listen to me. I want
to take you this morning in your mind, in your thinking, to some
of those humble children of God, some of those believers, some
of those people that have never seen a miracle. They never saw
anybody raised from the dead. They never saw anybody healed.
They were not at the beautiful gate of the temple and saw the
impotent man raised. They didn't see the man that
was raised. that had been afflicted for 38 years. They didn't see
the blind man who was born blind, healed, and made to see. I want
you to think with me. It'll help you if you'll just
think with me. Or you could go to a lonely grandma's room this
morning on the sixth floor of an apartment building in Great
Falls. A woman that strives to believe God, and she's an old
woman, and somewhat afflicted, but she believes God, she trusts
God, has a wayward son, but she believes God, she trusts God,
and she depends on God. Oh, listen, that's one of the
more blessed ones. Take you there, take you there. And then we have
some that are afflicted in our very number. They've never seen
a miracle. They never saw a miracle. They
never saw anybody healed. They never saw a fire fall from
heaven. But they're afflicted. They get up every day, take their
medicine, and they go to their jobs, and they work, and they
just keep right on. Day in and day out, they keep
going. They keep believing God. They keep trusting God. Keep
depending on God. Listen to me. Listen to me. I
tell you, that's where I'd take you this morning to see some
of the more blessed ones. They never saw anything. They
never saw anything, but they believe God. They trust God.
And then we have others here that we could mention. There's
some here that have buried their loved ones. Oh, there's some
that have buried their mothers and fathers. And then there's
a brother here that buried his mother and buried his brother
within the last four years. And they never saw anybody raised
from the dead. They weren't there when the widow
of Nain came out of the city with her only son in the casket,
and our Lord Jesus Christ raised him from the dead. They weren't
there. But they buried their loved ones, ensuring certain
hope for the resurrection from the dead. And they believed God
when they did so. They believed God, that God would
raise them, that there'd come a resurrection morning, and the
Lord would raise them up. They believed that. Now, beloved,
to me, I advance to you that those are the more blessed ones. They never saw anything. They
never have. All they've got to go on is what
they've read in the Word of God and what God has been pleased
to show them out of His Word, out of His book. But they believed,
they believed, and they say, all is well, and they trust God,
and they keep going day in and day out. Jesus said, blessed
are they that have not seen and have believed. Now my friend,
listen, if you can come to appreciate what our Lord had to say and
come to believe what this scripture really means, I think that it'll
be a great help to you in your struggle in this life to glorify
God. Now the next thing, I pass on
from that. So I'm telling you that don't
diminish the blessedness our Lord has passed upon you by exalting
the characters of Scripture unduly. Don't do that. Recognize what
they saw and the experiences they had and then put yourself
in the true light of your situation and continue on to struggle in
faith. Now listen to me, this blessedness
is attainable We must be convinced that it is possible for us to
believe, though we do not see. We must be convinced of this.
We must be convinced that we can have this blessedness that
Jesus was talking about. First of all, let me say that
God deserves to be believed. ...character is such that he
ought to be believed. God ought to be believed, whether
you see anything or not. You never see a miracle, you
never healed, you never see any fire fall, you never experience
a close touch of our Lord. Let me tell you something, he
ought to be believed. For our part, we must be determined
that if all of our senses were to contradict God, we must deny
every one of our senses and believe ourselves to be out of our minds,
rather than to believe that God would lie to us. God is to be
believed, and I desire to feel that in every emotion of my spirit.
in every throb of my heart, in every thought of my brain, and
if there is anything that is contrary, anything ever happens
that is contrary to the plainly revealed truth of God, I would
rather count myself to be mad, I'd rather count myself to be
a fool, I'd rather count myself to have lost all my marbles,
than to reckon that God is untrue. I believe that that's where every
believer ought to stand. The saints of old trusted in
God and was he true to them? Well, you can trace the record
from Noah to the present hour and see that God has always been
true to his people. Has he ever said anything that
he did not know? fulfilled that He did not bring
to pass? Has He failed in any way, in
any instance, to keep His Word? Has it ever been shown that it's
a foolish thing to believe God? Was there ever a man who truly
believed God, who by so doing was made a fool of? I asked those
questions this morning, and I say the answer is no! There's no
such case, and there shall never be one, as long as God is God,
and as long as he's on a throne. God is ever faithful, ever sure,
and he deserves to be trusted, although you cannot see him today. Now, the history of his whole
church proves that he's worthy to be trusted, and your own personal
history proves this truth also. Although you cannot see, you
can believe. He deserves to be trusted. Now lastly, I want you to get
me on this last point. Why is it blessed to believe
when you cannot see? Why is it blessed to believe
when you cannot see? I answer. First of all, it is
a sure mark of a spiritual and renewed mind. Well, there are
those who saw Him when He lived on earth. And you know what they
said? They said, crucify Him. Crucify Him! They saw Him with
their eyes. And there were others that saw Him, but yet did not
believe on Him. They did not believe. But if
any truly believes savingly, if any comes and has a spiritual
sight, and this is the Father's will, that if any man see the
Son, and believe on him, he shall have everlasting life. John 6.
If any man see the Son. Now, we all see him by faith.
We all see him by faith. But if any man truly believes
savingly, he has seen the Son. It's a sure mark and evidence
that you're a child of God. Look at the description of the
people of God which is given by Peter in 1 Peter chapter 1
in verses 8 and 9. whom having not seen ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice
with joy, unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls. So that the people
who have received the salvation of their souls are those who
love the one they have never seen. They love this one they've
never seen. You may conclude that you're
truly a child of God, that you make certain of your election
and your adoption into the Lord's family, if you can truly say,
I'm one of those who have not seen the Lord Jesus, and yet
I have believed in Him. We can say to Him, I love Thee,
dearest Lord, and will, unseen but not unknown. Next, this believer
is truly blessed because his faith is a proof that his heart
is right towards God. I do not know any better evidence
that two persons are agreed with one another than that they fully
trust each other. I doubt that any man on earth
is worthy of this trust. I doubt that anybody on earth
is worthy of absolute trust by another. But I know one who is
worthy of absolute trust. And if one, and when one trusts
God in spite of all outward appearances and surrounding circumstances,
it is proof to yourself that you're on good terms with a living
God. You trust God. You rely on God. He can't lie,
and He will not lie. And you can trust God. You can
depend upon Him. And listen to me now. It's also
an indication that you're walking in fellowship with Him, and it's
one of the most blessed facts. in the whole history of a child
of God if he just trusts the Lord in spite of the outward
appearance and surrounding circumstances. Now you may be chastened and
your heart may be heavy and you may have to say now and then
though he slay me yet will I trust him. But the Lord said in Hebrews
11 and 6 without faith it's impossible For you to please me, it's acceptable
with God for a man or a woman, regardless of their situation,
position in life, regardless of the struggles and the great
tests and trials that come upon them, it is acceptable with God
that they trust Him. That they believe on Him. That
they depend upon Him. They cast themselves upon Him.
They lean with all of their weight upon Him. Faith brings comfort
to our soul in this life. Most saints of God will tell
you that they were never happier in their whole life as when they
have had nothing to trust to but the living God. When all
props were knocked out and they didn't have anything to trust
but God. When we had been in the water and our feet couldn't
touch the bottom and we had to swim. There, my friend, There,
my friend, is when we were really comforted and happy. The best
hours of our life, the best hours of my life, are those times when
I may have been thought very rash and imprudent, but which
I've been enabled just to believe God and to leave everything in
His hands, just leave it all, leave Egypt behind, leave it
all, and just trust God. Those are the best times of a
person's life. We're very likely coming to a time, hear me now,
the last thing I want to say here, we're very likely coming
to a time when we shall need to believe without, without the
use of our eyes. If Christ does not come back,
we're going to die. We're going to go into the grave.
And if our faith depends on our sight, What are we going to do
when our eyes are in the grave? What are we going to do? If all
of our faith depends upon what we saw, seeing a miracle, seeing
this, seeing that, what are we going to do when our eyes... You can't take these eyes to
heaven with you. You're not going to take them with you. Everybody
that I ever buried, every funeral I ever preached, those people
who had died, their eyes went with them. Their eyes were in
their head when they were buried. We will commune with Christ in
a disembodied state without our senses, without the intervention of the
flesh. Hear me. We're going to commune with God
between the time we leave this world and resurrection morning
when we get our body back. We're going to commune with God
without our senses, without any of our senses, and without the
intervention of the flesh. Now you think about
that. And so we ought to do so now. God will believe without having
to see. You saw believe God without having
to see. Listen to me. There are angels
that are flying around here this morning in this building, flying
to and fro in this building while we're here listening to the Word
of God. I can't see them. You can't see him. You know why
you can't see him? Because you've got eyes. You've got eyes. When your eyes will be no more,
you'll be able to see them angels. You'll be able to see them. When
them eyes are closed in death, you'll be able to see angels. You'll be able to talk with them.
And our Lord is here today in this room. He said he'd be here
long ago. He made that promise, didn't
he? He said, were two or three are gathered together in my name,
I'll be there. I'll be there in the midst. I'll be right there.
But I can't see him this morning. I can't see the Lord here. But
as soon as his eyes are closed in death, I'll see him. I'll
see him. I'll look upon him. I'll see him. I'll see the Lord
Jesus Christ in his purity. I'll see him in his holiness.
I'll see him in his glorified body. I'll see him as soon as
his eyes are closed. And I think it's, I think we
need to see how true and how real this is. Now listen, these
eyes and ears are in many ways encumbrances to us. To see the
things that, you know Paul said, we don't look at things which
we see. Things seen, he said, we look on those things that
are not seen. And he said, the things that are seen, they're
temporal, but the things that are unseen, they're eternal.
They're eternal. And we're looking at things.
The poet said this, then shall I see and hear and know all I
desired or wished below. And every power finds sweet employ
in that eternal world of joy. We're going to see it by and
by. We're going to see it one of these days. We're going to
be able to see it all one of these days. We are soon to live
in a world where there will be no hands or eyes or ears until
the resurrection morning. And then we're going to get our
bodies back. But until then, if we're to be blessed, blessed
at all, it must be in the way our Lord says in the text, by
faith without sight. The first will be last. The last
will be first. We must be blessed, if blessed
at all, by faith without sight. Now those of you who are unconverted
don't know whether you're converted or not. Don't wait till you hear
a voice. Don't wait till you have a vision.
Don't wait till you dream a dream. Don't wait. Don't wait, saying,
well, something will happen one of these days. Something will
happen. Something will just happen and come out of the blue and
a bolder lightning strike me and I'll believe. No, my friend,
Acts 16, 31 says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved. Just believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, I don't know. Some of you
may shake your head and say, well, I don't know about what
the preacher had to say this morning. I have to study that. I have
to think about that. A great deal. Well, you go ahead
and think about it, but I believe that you will probably end up
agreeing with me that this blessedness that our Lord talked about is
a great encouragement to speak of it and to think of it, to
meditate upon it. It's a great encouragement to
everybody who is a true believer right now in the grace of God.
May the Lord bless you, may the Lord lift you, may the Lord encourage
you, may the Lord cause His face to shine upon you in a way spiritually
that you'll be helped and strengthened and blessed.