For those of you that don't know,
my father passed away Friday night. And Sherry, actually,
I saw him Thursday, and Sherry saw him Friday, and heard two
hours later. Talked to him, I talked to him,
and he passed into another life. And he had a difficult quality
of life. He couldn't move there at the
Veterans Center, so I'm thankful the Lord took him. I've been
asking that that would take place. Aaron Greenleaf is preaching
in Danville today, if everyone can remember him. And tonight,
Kevin Thacker is going to be preaching for us. He was in the
Bible conference in Hurricane Road, and he's coming here to
preach before he flies back to California tomorrow. I've entitled the message for
this morning, that you might believe. Wouldn't it be something? Wouldn't
it be a blessing of grace if you, who's the you? You. You. Everybody who responds to that
word. Wouldn't it be something if you
might believe? And that is my prayer that that
will take place. That everybody in this room might
leave this place believing. These things are written that
you, put yourself in there. These things are written that
you might believe. Verse 30, John chapter 20, and many other miracles truly
did Jesus in the presence of his disciples. Look in verse
25 of chapter 21, and there are also many other things which
Jesus did. The witch, if they should be
written, everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books that should be written. There's a lot of
stuff the Lord did that we don't know anything about, but he did
them. Look what he says in verse 30. Many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this
book, but these are written. They are recorded in sacred scripture
for this purpose, that you, not somebody else, that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. The inspiration of this scripture
or this message came from John chapter 4 if you would turn there
for a moment. It just struck me. Verse 54. This is again the second miracle
that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea into Galilee. The
thought occurred to me, these miracles are numbered. Look in
chapter two, this is the first miracle. Verse 11, this beginning or this
first miracle, and some would say this means this miracle of
first importance, but it was the first miracle. This first miracle did Jesus
in Canaan of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. And his disciples
believed on him. Now in the gospel of John, there
are seven miracles recorded. Now miracles are things that
only God can do. You can't duplicate a miracle. I can't, we can't
perform a miracle. This is God's work. And these
seven miracles are recorded that you might believe. Now I find that so encouraging.
I want to be one of these people that believe, don't you? These
are written that you might believe. Now the first miracle written
is the water turned to wine. Now, let me say before we make
any more comments, I'm going to make just a brief comment
really about each miracle. We're not going to look at them
all in detail. We're just going to make a comment
or two about each one of them. But I must say this. I need these
miracles for my salvation. I need these. I look in verse seven of chapter
two. Jesus saith unto them, fill the
water pots with water. And they filled them up to the
brim, these water pots filled with water. And he saith unto
them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And
they bear it. And when the ruler of the feast
had tasted the water, that was made wine. And knew not whence it was, but
the servants which drew the water knew. The governor of the feast
called the bridegroom and said unto him, every man at the beginning
does set forth good wine. And when men have well drunk,
then that which is worse, but thou has kept the good wine until
now. And I have no doubt that this
is the best wine ever tasted. No doubt in my mind about it.
But here is the point behind this miracle. This was not water that smelled
like wine. This was not water that tasted
like wine. This was not water that looked
like wine. This was not water that was just
as if it were wine. This water was made wine. It was made to be what it was
not before. Now this, my dear friends, is
what I need. I need to be made to be what
I was not. The scripture that comes to my
mind, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, for he hath made him to be
sin. He was made to be what he was
not. If you wanna know what sin is,
look at the cross. There you see it in all of its
ugly reality. When Christ was made to be sin. For he, God the Father, hath
made him to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Just as Christ was made to be
what he was not, every believer is made to be what they were
not. The righteousness of God. Now
that is the righteousness every believer possesses, just as truly
as Christ was made to be sin. And who knows what all that means?
Every believer is made to be the righteousness of God in him. I need that, don't you? I need
for God to make me to be what I was not by an act of his grace,
by an act of his power, by an act of his justice, the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second miracle in John
chapter four There was a nobleman whose son was sick and dying. And he came to the Lord and asked
the Lord, heal my son. And some conversation took place.
And at a point in time, the Lord said, go thy way, thy son liveth.
He lives. And that man started heading
back home. Now, where he was from was not
very far from Capernaum. But yet we read the next day
that he was walking back home. And he wasn't worried. It was
a leisurely walk back home. And then the servants of his
home came to him and said, thy son liveth. And he said, when
did he begin to heal? Look in chapter four, verse 50,
Jesus saith unto him, go thy way. thy son liveth. And the man believed the word
that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he
was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
thy son liveth. Then inquired he of them the hour, which he
began to amend. And they said unto him, yesterday
at the seventh hour, the fever left him. I mean, he was in this
great fever, and all of a sudden, immediately, it left him. He
was gone. So the father knew that it was
at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth. And himself believed in his whole
house. This is again the second miracle
that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea into Galilee. What did this man find out? That
healing came, that life came from the word of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what he found out. Your
son lives. When did he live? Well, the seventh
hour, the fever left him. And he knew that's exactly when
Christ said, thy son liveth. That is when he lived. Now this is inherent to faith.
If you believe, you know that you believe when he says you
believe. When you live, you know it's
because he said live. You know what that Roman centurion
knew when he said, speak the word only, and my servant shall
be healed. You know it's the same thing
the leper knew. Lord, if you will, You can make
me clean. My being clean is totally dependent
upon your will. Do you know that? Let me say
this. I need this. I need him. to will my salvation, because
I know I will not be saved unless he wills it. People talk about
free will and whose will and all that kind of stuff. Well,
I know whose will I need. I need his will to say, you live. You need that? These things are
written that you might believe. Look in John chapter 5, this
is the story of the impotent man. This is the third miracle.
This is the story of the impotent man being made whole. Now you
remember the story. They were sitting around the
pool of Siloam, a bunch of impotent people, blind, halt, withered,
crippled people waiting for the water to be moved. At a certain
time, once a year, an angel would trouble the pool and whoever
got in the water first would be made whole. Now that's the
recording of scripture. Somebody says, tell me something
about that. I don't know. I just read it and believe it.
I don't know how to explain that. But the Lord comes up and he
sees this certain man, impotent, powerless, Without strength,
it had been that way for 38 years. And the Lord said to him, wilt
thou be made whole? Are you willing to be made whole? And the other fella didn't understand
what the Lord said. He said, I don't have anybody
to get me into the water. It's not about your ability.
You didn't hear what he said. He said, I don't have anybody get
me in the water. When I'm trying to move, somebody comes past me
and gets in. He's healed. I'm left here just
the way I was. You didn't hear the question.
Are you willing? And I'm asking everybody in this
room that. I'm asking myself that. Are you willing to be made
whole? Now, if you're made whole, he's
got to do it. He's got to do it all. But are you willing?
Is this your desire? Is this what God sees when he
sees in your heart? Are you willing to be made whole? Now, this thing of being made
whole, that's what only he can do. Now,
I think it's interesting, our old buddies of Pharisees come
in after the Lord said, stand on your bed and walk, and he
was made whole. Our old buddies of Pharisees said, God can't
be in this because he did this on the Sabbath day. I mean, we're
supposed to, it's wrong for this guy to take up his bed and walk
around on the Sabbath day. They had no understanding of
the Sabbath. Now, they plotted to kill the
Lord over this. And in John 7, verse 23, with
regard to this miracle, he said, do you want to kill me because
I've made a man? Scripture says every wit holds
on the Sabbath. Now, understand this with regard
to God's salvation. If God saves you, you are made. This is his work, not your work.
You are made. every whit hole, nothing lacking. It looks like this, Colossians
chapter two, verse 10, you are complete in him. I've thought about this for a
couple of weeks now. I've said, a lot of things I've said I wish
I hadn't said. How about you? from the pulpit,
a lot of things I felt out of the pulpit, a lot of things I
wish I hadn't have said, wish I could take them back. One of the things
I think that I've said, which I wish I hadn't said, I'm a work
in progress. I'm a work in progress. And I
understand what people mean when they say that. I mean, I'm not,
you know, I'm, but I'm no work in progress according to the
scripture. I'm made whole, every whit, complete. That's what Jesus
Christ did. He put away all my sins and I'm
complete, I'm perfect, I'm full, I'm righteous in Him, nothing
lacking. Made whole every whit. Now is that what you need? I
need to be made whole every whit, and that happened by what Christ
did. Understand this, this thing of being made whole before God,
this is the work of Jesus Christ. And he makes whole every wit,
everybody he represented. You see, you don't have any sin
left, it's been put away. And you have a perfect righteousness,
perfect standing before God, made whole every wit. Now the fourth miracle is found
in John chapter six, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.
Now I don't have to go into much detail about this, when the Lord
fed 5,000 people with five biscuits and two sardines. And that 5,000
people is just the men, not counting women and children. That's a
lot of people. Five biscuits and two sardines. It kept coming, it kept coming.
He gave to all 12 of the disciples. They started feeding these people.
Everybody was filled because matter was brought into existence. Food was brought into existence,
which heretofore had not been there. This is the act of creation. The act of creation. ex nihilo, something brought
from nothing. Now only God can do that, you
know that. Something brought from nothing. Now in salvation that is what
takes place. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse
17. If any man be in Christ He is a new creation. Now you think of this thing of
creation. In creation, God didn't have anything to work with, did
he? There was nothing. No space, no time, no matter. There was nothing. All there
was was God. He didn't have anything to work with or to reform. He
simply spanked the world into existence. And there it was. In the new creation, God doesn't have anything to
work with. He never responds to something
you do, something you think. It's a new creation. That's why David said, create
in me. A clean heart, oh God. You know, David knew it wouldn't
do any good for God to change his heart because it was beyond
help. It was so evil. Give me one that
was not there. Create in me a clean heart, oh
God. Now, let's look at that scripture.
Hold your finger in chapter one, or chapter five, And let's go
to 2 Corinthians 5 for just a moment. I want you to see this scripture.
2 Corinthians 5. Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. A new creation. Old things are
passed away and behold, all things are become new. Now, generally
when a preacher deals with that, he'll say things like that. You
don't have the same desires you had before you were saved. You
know, you're different. Old things have passed away.
You don't have those. All things have become new. Now, when somebody
says that they're lying, I mean, that's a big, fat lie. That's
all it is. There's no truth to it. Somebody's lost all credibility
when they say something like that. You're a liar. Next time
I hear somebody say something like that, that's the first thing
I want to come out my mouth. You're a liar. Because it is a lie. Well, what's
this mean then? Well, I have a brand new standing
with God. Not guilty. Justification. I have a new history. I love thinking about this because
I think about my history. I think about, oh, all the things
that I wish had not taken place, and I can't change them. But God has given me, through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, a new history. It's all good, it's all perfect.
It's all without sin, because I have the righteousness of Jesus
Christ as my personal righteousness before God, and that is my history. That's my past. No skeletons
in my closet. It's all good. A new creation. He brought matter into existence
that was not there before. Now, in that same chapter, What
did he do? This is the fifth miracle recorded
in John. You can read about this in John
6, 15 through 21. He walked on the water. He walked on the water. He who made the laws of physics
suspends them as he pleases, and he walks on the water. Now, The gospel of Jesus Christ
is supernatural. And that's what I need. All these
miracles, all, I need him to create in me and bring into existence
that which was not there before. And I need the gospel to be utterly
supernatural. It's beyond, the gospel is beyond
scientific understanding. You can't use the scientific
method to prove it or disprove it. It's beyond the laws of nature. Now, I believe in science. I
do. I'm thankful for the advances
we've had because of science, but it's God's science. Don't
forget that. It's not in opposition to God.
God allows it. But it's not an opposition to
God. Science can't disprove God. Science can't prove God. Forget
it. You know, Paul speaks of oppositions
of science, falsely so-called, and there's plenty of that. You
know, science says this, science says that. You know, one of these
days, science is going to catch up with scriptures. I feel sure
of that. It's God's science. And anything
that disproves, supposedly, The truth of God, well, that's ridiculous. The Bible is utterly and completely
supernatural. And that's what I need. Something
above and beyond anything human. When Christ walked upon the water,
He said by that, I am God. Physical laws are mine. I can use them. I can suspend
them. I am God. That's precisely what
he said when he walked on the water. And that is what I need. In John chapter 9, we have one
of the most delightful stories of the Lord giving sight to one
that was born blind. If you have an opportunity this
week, read John chapter 9. It's such a blessed chapter where
the Lord gave sight to one who was born blind. And I think it's always Interesting
how the Pharisees get involved. This man couldn't be of God because
he did this on the Sabbath day. There they go again, the ridiculousness
of man's religion. And they cast this man that Christ
gave sight to, they excommunicated him from the church. I love it
when he said, will you also be his disciple? We're not his disciple,
we're Moses' disciple. Do you teach us? Do you think
you can teach us? They cast him out. And the Lord
came to him. Look in John chapter 9. Verse 34, they answered and said
unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach
us? And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. Jesus heard that they cast him
out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. That's what folks do who believe,
they worship. Verse 39, and Jesus said, for
judgment, I am coming to this world that they would see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Now the Lord said, here's why
I came. I came for judgment. And here's what is comprised
in that judgment. Those folks who see, they're
blinded. Those folks who cannot see are
given sight. Now what's the Lord mean by that? Somebody says, I can't see why God would save
me. I don't have one thing about
me that would draw out his salvation. That person is not sitting in
judgment on God saying, I think God should do this, or I think
God should do that, or this is wrong for God to do this. No,
I cannot see why God would ever look in favor toward me. I can
see why he'd send me to hell, but I can't see why he would
look in favor toward me. Christ saves that person. That's the person he saves. The
person who can't find one reason in himself that God would ever
look toward them. Here's somebody else who says,
I see why God would save me. Look at all the things I've done.
I mean, I have, fill in the blank. Sure, I can see why God would
save me. You know what the Lord says about that man? He's made
blind. That's why he says something
like that in the first place. He's made blind. Verse 40. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind
also? They knew what he was saying.
Jesus says unto them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. Now do
you hear that? If you're one of these people
who really looking at yourself, there's no reason why God would
look your way. You know what the Lord says?
You have no sin. None. I put it away. But now you say, verse 41, we
see, therefore your sin remaineth. What a horrible thing. to be
in your sins. Now the last miracle is John
chapter 11. That is where the Lord raised
Lazarus from the dead. Friday night Looked at my father's
dead corpse. I've known him all my life. Life
was no longer there. Everybody here has experienced
that. You've seen someone that you loved, that you knew, that
breathed and their heart pumped. They had personalities, they
had thoughts, they had aspirations. And now there's a dead corpse. No life. And when you see somebody
that is dead, you know no human activity can bring them back
to life. It's over. It's over. Nothing can be done. Well, Lazarus, somebody the Lord
loved, he'd been dead for four days. process of decay had already
began very strong. Well, your process of decay starts
as soon as you die. But this has been going on for
four days. Martha said, by this time, he now stinketh. Lazarus, come forth. Oh, I pray that the Lord says
that to somebody here, even right now. Lazarus, Come forth! He that was dead came forth. Now, the point of this, the gospel,
has something to do with the resurrection from the dead. Now
that's beyond human ability, but Jesus Christ was raised from
the dead. He lived, he died. That's a historical
fact. That's a glorious thing to think
about, the God-men dying. And the reason he died is because
the sins of God's elect became his. He became guilty of those
sins. The justice of God put him to
death. But God raised him from the dead.
He raised himself from the dead. Why? Because God was completely
satisfied with what he did. Oh, God couldn't find any more
satisfaction. He was so satisfied with what
his son did and satisfied with everybody his son did it for.
And the new birth is a resurrection from the dead. We're dead in
trespasses and sins, just as graveyard dead as far as spiritual
life, no life. He says, live, and we live. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and David
hear. shall live. And then there's
that final resurrection when the dead in Christ are raised
from the dead. Everybody will be raised, some
to everlasting life, some to everlasting condemnation, but
everybody will be raised from the dead. That is going to happen. Now, these, back to John chapter
20, Verse 30, and many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these are written, these seven miracles
are written for this purpose, that you might believe. That you might believe. Don't think about anybody else
right now. That you you personally might believe. Believe what? That Jesus is the Christ. That's the content of faith.
That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now here is the content of faith.
You believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, the son of Mary,
is God's Christ, God's prophet, the very word of God, God's priest.
If he represents you, you must be saved. God's king, the one
who rules and controls everything. You believe that He is the Son
of God. And somebody says, well, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Well, you should. That's
who He is. But remember what that means.
That means you believe He is equal with the Father, God the
Son, the Creator of the universe. the only Savior of sinners. Now, this is the content of faith.
It's not believing you're saved. Somebody says, well, I have struggled
with assurance. Forget yourself for just a moment.
Just forget it. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Now, do you? You can answer that with a yes
or no. Do you believe that he is God the Son? That is the content of faith. And that believing, that believing, you might have
life through his name. The life you have is for his
sake. It's through his name. And that
is realized in believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son
of the living God. Somebody says, that's just too
simple. Then do it. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, how we thank you for these glorious miracles that teach
us thy salvation. And Lord, this is exactly what
we need. And Lord, we ask in the high,
holy, powerful, glorious name of your son, that everybody in
this room might leave this place believing that Jesus is the Christ,
the son, of the living God. In Christ's name we pray, amen.