Why did you see, Lord, for Lord
that could not be? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I've entitled the message for
this morning. Faith is better than sight. Faith is better than
sight. Our text is John chapter 21.
We read beginning in verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called
Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came The other disciples
therefore said unto him, We've seen the Lord. But he said unto
them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger in the print of the nails, and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe." Now Thomas says, I will not believe
until I first see. I have to see before I can believe. Now let's go on reading, verse
26, And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
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 in 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. And indeed, Thomas
did believe at this time. He says, My Lord and my God. He knew exactly who Jesus Christ
was, and he believed. But then our Lord says, blessed
are they that have not seen and yet believed. Faith is better than sight. Now, if you're anything like
me, I know there are times when you have thought it would be
so much easier to believe if I could see some things. It would
be so much easier for me to believe if I could personally see my
name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If I could have seen
with my own eyes the miracles of the Lord. If I could have
seen when He controlled the weather, when He raised people from the
dead. If I could hear a voice from
heaven. If I could hear God speak my
name from heaven, it would be so much easier to believe. If I could see more victory in
my life, if I could see more things that God is doing in my
life, it would be easier for me to believe. If I could see
my prayers answered more clearly, it would be easier for me to
believe. If I could see more success against
sin in my life, I could believe. If I could see more success in
the gospel message, more people being brought to a knowledge
of God, and more lives transformed through the preaching of the
gospel, it would be easier to believe. If I could see God turning
the events of providence for me, If I could see these special
acts of God in my life where He changes circumstances in order
to benefit me, it would be easier for me to believe. Yet the Lord says, blessed are
they which have not seen. They've not seen any of these
things of which I've spoken and yet have believed. To believe What you cannot see
is called faith. To not believe until you can
see is called failure to trust. Now let me repeat that. I want
you to think about what I just said. To believe what you cannot
see is called faith. To not believe until you can
see, is called a failure to trust. And beloved, the living God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, deserves to be trusted, even if we have
to trust Him in the dark. And we're called upon to walk
by faith and not by sight. And the fact of the matter is,
what we see is deceiving anyway. Things are never as they appear. How things appear never tell
how they really are. People can put up a good front
of peace and happiness and religiousness and underneath it all. There's rage and chaos that you
cannot see. We would be far wiser to say
with the Apostle Paul, we look not on things which are seen,
but things which are not seen. For the things that are seen
are temporal, temporary. We can't even tell what's going
on. But the things that are not seen
are eternal. In Hebrews chapter 11, verse
1, the writer to the Hebrews defined faith like this. Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen. Let's take that apart. Faith
is the substance of things hoped for. Now, when the Bible uses
the word hope, it doesn't use the word the way we use it. Like,
I'll say, I hope it doesn't rain today. That's not what the Bible
means. You know, I hope it doesn't,
but it may. In the Scriptures, the word hope
means a confident expectation. Not just, I hope it won't rain,
or I hope I'm saved, but I might not be. That's not what hope
is at all, it's a confident expectation. I have a hope. I have a confident
expectation that I am saved by the grace of God. I have a hope
that God loves me. I have a hope that all of my
sins, past, present, and ones I haven't even committed yet,
have all been forgiven and washed away. I have a hope that I stand
before God justified, not guilty. When He looks at me, He looks
at someone who has no sin. I have a hope that I'm sanctified,
that I am holy. I have a hope that I'm glorified,
that if Christ is in glory, I'm there with Him. And if He's glorified,
I am too, because I'm united to Him. I have a hope that all
things, are working together for my good and for his glory. Now remember, when you hope for
something, you do not see it. Paul put it this way, if a man
sees, why does he yet hope? The fact of the matter is, if
it's something you can see, hope and faith is no longer there. But faith hopes it. Now, faith
is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence, he said,
of things not seen. Did you hear that? Faith is the
evidence of things not seen. Now, I cannot see my eternal
union with Christ, how I've always been one with Him. There's nothing
that I can see that tells me that that's so. But I believe
it is. I have faith. Faith is the evidence
that it is so. I can't see my name in the Lamb's
Book of Life, but the evidence that it is, is I believe Christ.
And if I believe the gospel, my name is written in the Lamb's
Book of Life, even though I can't see that. I can't see by looking
at myself that I'm justified, that I am without guilt before
God. But faith is the evidence, believing
the gospel is the evidence that I am. I cannot see by looking
at myself that I have a perfectly holy nature. But the fact that
I believe tells me that I do. That faith comes from that perfectly
holy nature. I cannot see these things. What
is the evidence that I have been? Faith. In Acts chapter 13, we
have Paul's first recorded sermon to the Gentiles. And at the end
of that sermon, It says in verse 48 of Acts chapter 13, And when
the Gentiles heard these things, they were glad, and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. What was the evidence that they
were ordained to eternal life? They believed. Faith is believing. what you cannot see. Now the
first time that this is mentioned in the scriptures is in Genesis
chapter 15 with regard to Abraham. We read in verse 5 of Genesis
chapter 15 where God brought Abraham out and he brought him
forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven and tell the stars
if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall
thy seed be. Now, Abraham had a wife at this
time who had already gone through menopause. She was incapable
of bearing children. She'd been bearing all her life,
and now she's actually gone through menopause. And there's no way
she can bear a child. Abraham is an old man. Now, as
far as what he could see, he couldn't see any of this. He
didn't see any descendants. When God says your descendants
are going to be as the stars of heaven, he couldn't see this.
All he could see was his own deadness and Sarah's deadness.
He couldn't see how this could take place. But the scripture
says in verse 6, and he believed in the Lord. He believed what
God said, and it was talent to him for righteousness. He believed what God said. The
only evidence that he had that he would have all these descendants
came from nothing which he could see. simply God's promise. He believed what God said. Now, my mind was brought to a
story in John chapter 4 that I believe will help us to understand
how faith is better than sight. In John chapter 4, beginning
in verse 45, then when he was coming to Galilee, the Galileans
received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem
at the feast, for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came
again into Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now,
that's an important detail. He comes back to that place where
he took water and made it into wine. And this is actually called
the beginning of miracles, the most important miracle. He made
something to be what it was not. He took water and made it wine,
which illustrates what God does when He saves a sinner. He makes
him to be something he was not. I was not holy. I was not righteous. He makes me to be holy and righteous
by virtue of what He did for me. He makes me to be what I
was not. What a beautiful illustration
we have of the Gospel. That water was not made into
something that tasted like wine. It was made into real wine. It
was not made into something that looked like wine. It was made
real wine. Every believer is made righteous,
is made holy by what Christ did for them on the cross, having
put away their sins and giving them His righteousness. So, we
go on reading, and there was in this place he went to a certain
nobleman, and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at
Capernaum. Now remember, he had left Capernaum
to go to Cana. And there was a 15-mile difference
between these two places, Capernaum and Canaan. So this man who had
a sick son lived in Capernaum. He was going to go those 15 miles
to tell the Lord about his sick son. So he's going to Canaan.
Now, when he had heard that Jesus was come out of Judea unto Galilee,
and this is where faith begins. It begins with hearing. When
he'd heard that Jesus was come out of Judea unto Galilee, he
went unto Him. and besought him, that he would
come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death."
Now, in this passage of Scripture, we see some problems with this
man's faith. Two problems. First, it says he besought the
Lord. You say, well, that sounds good.
Well, there are two Greek words translated to beseech or to ask. One is someone asking someone
who is on an equal level with him, and the other one is an
inferior asking a superior. And when this nobleman, I guess
he thought he was somebody, when he came to Christ, he came on
an equal footing with someone asking someone who was on the
same level. In other words, he had far too high an opinion of
himself. and far too low an opinion of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see he had some problems
with his faith. And he said come down and hear
him as if the Lord had to move a geographical distance to where
his son was before he could heal him. So he didn't have a proper
understanding of who Christ was. He'd only heard that Christ could
heal, so he was going to come. And so he comes to the Lord,
and he's met with a rebuke. He says, Sir, come down here,
my child died. Come down and do something for
my boy. Then Jesus said unto him, Except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Remember, if
I've got to see something in order for me to believe, that's
mistrust, isn't it? Except you see signs and wonders,
you will not believe. He rebuked this man for that.
Verse 49, the nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere
my child die. You see, that rebuke did not
deter this man. Rebukes never deter one who has
a great need. And he had a great need, so he
just pleaded with the Lord once again, Come down, e'er my child
die. And look how our Lord replied
to him. Verse 50, Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy son
liveth. And notice what he didn't say.
He didn't say if you have enough faith and if you can believe
enough, your son will live. But if your faith fails, your
son won't live. No, he didn't say anything like
that. He said, go your way, your son lives. Not he will live if,
but he lives. It's the announcement of something
that has already been done. He lives. Now, the gospel begins
where false religion ends. False religion says if you do
this, this, this, and this, you'll have life. The gospel begins
with, He lives. Oh, I love that. And what happened? Verse 50, And 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. He believed. Now could he see
that his son was healed? No. All he had was the naked
word of Christ. Go your way, your son lives. And he believed. Now this is what faith is. It's
believing what God has said. That's so simple. It's believing what God has said. Can you see He's healed? No,
I can't see it, but Christ said He was, and I believe His Word.
I believe He is. Now, what I thought about when
I thought about that is what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12.
He said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him against that great day.
Talking about the day of judgment. Now, I can look to the Day of
Judgment and I believe that I'm going to stand before God without
guilt. That He's going to say to me,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord. I believe I'm going to hear that.
Can I believe that because looking at myself and thinking, boy,
you're a really good guy, of course He's going to say that
to you. Of course not. No, I see in and of myself I'm nothing
but sin because Christ died for my sins. Because He gave me His
righteousness. Because I am what He is. The
Scripture says as He is, so are we in this world regarding everybody
He died for. Because of His promise, I believe
when I stand before God on Judgment Day, I will be justified. I believe what He said. Now let's go on reading. Verse
51, And as He was now going down, His servants met Him and told
Him, saying, Thy Son liveth. Now, evidently, remember, Cana
and Capernaum were 15 miles apart. This nobleman had come to the
Lord and got there by one o'clock in the afternoon to ask him this
question. Evidently, he left early that
morning. Now, when he was going home, he spent the night somewhere. He only had 15 miles to walk,
and if I thought my child was dying and somebody said, go your
way, he lives, I'd want to go and find out if he did. But this
man was so assured that his son lived that he stopped somewhere
and spent the night. And now it's the next day. He's
calm. He's secure. He knows his son
lives. There's nothing to worry about
because the Lord said he lives. So he was fine with that. He spends the night somewhere,
and now this is the next day. Verse 51, And as he was now going
down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Then he inquired of them the hour which he began to amend.
When was it when he was healed? And they said unto him, Yesterday
at the seventh hour, at one o'clock, the fever left him. And that
man knew that was the exact time, at one o'clock in the afternoon.
when the Lord said, Go your way, your son lives. Verse 53, So the father knew
that it was at that same hour in which Jesus said unto him,
Thy son liveth, and himself believed, and his whole house. The father knew. He had full
assurance of faith. when he knew the time when his
son was healed. Now I want you to listen to me
real carefully. You will have no assurance of
your salvation until you know exactly when you were saved. Now when I say that I'm not talking
about a date in time. I'm not talking about April the
23rd, 1979 or March 5th, 1998. I'm not talking about a date
in time when you knew you were born again. You see, my first birth, I don't
remember. I don't remember when I was born.
Does that mean I was not born? No. I don't remember when I was
born, but I can tell you when I was born because my birth certificate
gives the exact minute and hour and date when I was born. So
I know when I was born, and I know when I was born the second time
because the Bible tells me when I was born the second time. But
listen to me. You won't have assurance until
you know exactly when you were saved. Now somebody says, well,
you're contradicting yourself because you're saying you don't
know the date when you're saved, but you know when you were saved?
Yes, I know when I was saved. I was saved when the Lord Jesus
Christ, before time began, agreed to be my surety and bear complete
responsibility for me. Listen to this scripture in 2
Timothy 1.9. It says, He saved us and called us." Which came
first, the saving or the calling? The saving. He saved us and He
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace which were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. When Christ agreed to
be my surety and my representative and to save me, everything God
requires of me, He looked to Christ for. And I was saved then
in the mind and purpose of God. I was saved before the foundation
of the world. That's when I was saved. But I'm not going to stop
there. I was saved when in time Christ
lived for me and died for me. And when he bowed his mighty
head and said, it is finished, he is saying the salvation of
all my elect is accomplished. Luke 9, 31, it says they speak
of the deceased or the death which he should accomplish. When
he died, all the sins of all God's elect were put away. I
was saved before I was ever born when Christ died on the cross
and said, it is finished. When he said it is finished,
my sin was blotted out. My salvation was accomplished.
Hebrews 10, 14 says, Wherefore, by one offering, He, talking
about His death, hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. By that one offering, His death
on the cross, I was perfected forever. I was saved when Christ
died for me and when He was raised for me. Now, I was saved before
time began. I was saved when Christ died
for me. But thirdly, I was saved when I heard and when I believed
the gospel, and not before then. I was saved when I heard the
true gospel of how God saves sinners by Christ. when I heard
the gospel of the Father electing, the Son redeeming, and the Holy
Spirit regenerating, when I heard the true gospel of grace. Not
when I heard some false message and had some kind of religious
experience, but when I heard the true gospel and believed
and trusted this as my only salvation. That's when I was saved, when
I heard the gospel and believed, and not before then. And if I
try to argue that I was saved before I believed what the Bible
teaches regarding salvation, then I'm on a limb the Scripture
will never hold up. No, I was saved when I heard
the gospel of Christ being my righteousness before God, and
not before then. And beloved, I'm saved right
now. I'm looking to Christ right now
as everything in my salvation. I am looking to Him. When did this man have full assurance
that he was saved? When he knew the hour when his
son began to amend. And I have full assurance of
my salvation when I see that my salvation was accomplished
when Christ became my surety before time began, outside of
my experience. I have full assurance when I
see my salvation was accomplished by what Christ did on the cross
before I was ever around. That gives me assurance. I have
assurance when I hear the gospel of what I've been talking about.
What I've been talking about is the gospel and I believe it, and I have
assurance. Right now, I'm looking to Christ. I'm not looking to
an experience from yesterday. I'm looking right now to Christ
as everything in my salvation. Now, we read, so the father knew,
verse 53, that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said
unto him, thy son liveth. And what's it say next? Himself
believed with his whole house. It goes right back to faith.
It doesn't say at this time he had full assurance. At this time
he believed. He simply believed the gospel.
Now, if you're looking for assurance, you won't have any. You look
to Christ and rest in Him and you'll have full assurance of
faith in knowing when you were saved. And if you're cloudy on
this issue of when you were saved, you're going to lack assurance.
Probably the problem is you lack faith itself. So may God open
our hearts to understand what His Word says about this. Now
we have this message on cassette, CD and DVD. If you call the church,
we'll send you coffee. As Todd and I refrain, God will
make Himself known to you. Amen.