John chapter 9, and we see these
four things. In verse 35, we see a question. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? That's a good question there.
Probably the single most important question anyone could ever be
asked. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Verse 36, we have another question. The blind man answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Do you
believe? Who is he that I may believe?
Two questions. And then in verse 37 we have
a revelation. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast
both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. The Son of
God revealed Himself to this man. And then we have two things,
two effects of this revelation. One, we have a confession. And
he said, Lord, I believe. Lord, I believe. Faith in Christ
is a direct result of a revelation of Christ to the heart. We cannot
believe on him until he reveals himself. We can do nothing but
believe on Him when He does. Who is He, Lord? I am He. And what was the effects? I believe.
There's His confession. And then He worshipped Him. He worshipped Him. Now, let's
look at the first question. Doest thou believe on the Son
of God? This is the most important question
that anybody could ever be asked. The cause of the blessedness
that is associated with faith in the Son of God. I want you
to take your Bibles this morning and look at some places with
me. I want you to turn back over to John chapter 3. The blessedness of believing
on the Son of God. The Lord was preaching here to
Nicodemus, the separatist Pharisee. And he sets forth the object
of faith. I want you to notice in verse
14. John chapter 3 and verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. You remember that, don't you?
All of us remember that. The children of Israel had murmured
The judgment of God had came upon many of them. Many had died. He sent these fiery serpents
among them. They bit the people. Many people
died. They cried unto the Lord. The
Lord told Moses to take this brass serpent and set it upon
a pole. And He said, It shall come to
pass that whosoever looks upon that serpent, he shall live. He shall live. Looking upon a
serpent. That may sound strange. Here
you're bitten by a serpent and you look to a serpent to live.
But that's the gospel. That's the gospel. That's Christ
and Him crucified. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. The object of faith is the Son
of God and Him crucified. It's amazing. That's the mystery
of the gospel. We're dead in trespasses and
sins, and we look to a man dying to live. We look to a man who is condemned
in our place, and all our condemnation is gone. What a mystery. What
a mystery. And here in verses 15 through
verses 18, our Lord Jesus sets forth the blessedness of believing
in Him, the Son of God. But look how He does it. He does
it with negatives. I never cease to be amazed, and
I've learned more by looking at negatives in the Scriptures
than I have looking at positives. Look how he describes the blessedness
of believing on the Son of God. In verse 15, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on
Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds are evil. He that does not believe in the
Son of God is condemned already. How is he condemned? He is condemned
in Adam's sin. By one man's disobedience, judgment
came upon all men to condemnation. This is when you and I come into
the world, we come into this world as condemned sinners. Not because we've done something
actually in our own self, but we were in Adam when he sinned
and when he came under God's condemnation. Already condemned. And then he tells us also here
in verse 18, he that believeth not is condemned already because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now you can look at the Jews and say this applied to the Jews.
That you fellas are condemned when I preach to you because
you don't believe me. You don't believe that I am who
I say that I am. Or we could look at it this way.
Not everybody's heard the gospel have they? Especially at this
time, very few outside the nation of Israel had heard of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So it wasn't faith or a lack
of that condemned them. But he's saying here the only
way this condemnation can be removed is you believing in me. You're condemned because you
have not believed. Who is condemned? Every unbeliever,
isn't he? And then he mentions another
condemnation there in verse 20. Look in verse 19. This is another
condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds are evil. That's the condemnation
by doing evil, by committing sins in our own person. So here
the Lord Jesus mentions this word several times, condemned,
condemned, condemned. Guilty in your conscience. Guilty
before God. Guilty before the law of God. Condemned. Judged. Accused. Ready to be cast out. But here's
the blessedness. And notice how he says it. In
verse 18. He that believeth on him, the
Son of God, is not condemned. Now that's a negative, but what
a blessedness! What a blessedness! He could
have said, He that believeth on the Son of God, He has all of these benefits.
Nothing can be laid to His charge. He could have said many things
that's positive. But He says this negative because
there's a blessing in this negative. We've all seen it. We've all
experienced it. If you've ever had to go to court
with some loved one, or maybe you've been there yourself, or
you've seen it on TV, and it's a solemn occasion, isn't it?
When someone has been accused of a crime, and he's arrested,
and the evidence is gathered against him, and it's weighed,
and it's presented to the jury, and the jury comes back. And
if they said, we find the defendant guilty as charged, boy, the heaviness. You can see the whole demeanor
of a person. Sometimes tears begin to flow. You can hear screams in the congregation
from his loved ones. He's guilty. But, oh, what a
blessing when the foreman gets up and he looks at the man standing
there and they say, we, the members of the jury, find this man Not
guilty. What happens then? The joy, isn't
it? The jubilation, the tears of
joy, freedom. Why? That simple little verdict,
not guilty, produces such joy. And here you and I, in our own
natures, as we come forth from our mother's womb, we're condemned
already. We spend our whole life, unconverted
life, against the Son of God, not believing on Him, living
in our wickedness, dead in trespasses and sins, and we're condemned,
we're guilty in every way. But now what happens? We have
this verdict comes down from heaven, and what is it? Not guilty. Not guilty. I just love that
negative part of that. I love the way he says that.
He says here is the blessedness of believing on the Son of God. The court of heaven sends this
verdict down and this is what it is. Not guilty. But how could that be? How could
that be when a man is guilty and he's not even attempting
to deny his guilt? He is condemned. And yet he gets
this verdict, not guilty. Here is the secret to that. Here's a man that's looked away
from his condemnation. Here's a man that's looked outside
of his depravity. His guilt before God. And he's
looking to the Son of God. He's believing on the Son of
God who was punished in His stead. Who was lifted up on Calvary's
tree. And immediately upon looking
to him, upon believing in him, this sentence is sent down from
the courts of heaven itself. Not guilty. Isn't that wonderful,
brothers and sisters? I just love the negative aspect
of some of these things. And he gives us another one.
He gives us another one here in verse 15. Look at this. Whosoever believeth on him, dost
thou believe the Son of God? But look at the blessedness to
them of believing on Him. He that believeth in Him shall
not perish. Well, there's another negative,
but what a blessing in that. Shall not perish. I think probably
of all the words, Wayne went through some of them this morning.
I think probably of all the words that describes What happens to
a lost man when he dies? This is one of the things that
grabs your soul more than anything else. What does it mean to perish? To perish? It's something that's
unending. It carries with it the eternal
weight of everlasting wrath and judgment. And boy, sometimes
the poor saint of God get such apprehensions of God's judgment. The poor saint can feel himself
so unworthy, more worthy of God's hot displeasure than mercy and
grace. And when he begins to comprehend
what's underneath this earth or somewhere where the wicked
are, he begins to realize and contemplate what is happening
to them He remembers the rich man in hell still lifting up
his eyes, being in torment. Do you ever think about perishing?
I think I would wonder about somebody that had no concern
about being condemned. And they could live their life
and it wouldn't keep them up. It wouldn't cause them to contemplate
the whole concept of being guilty. How could a man that had any
awakenings in his conscience live in this world and never
meditate upon what it means to perish? Oh, we've got it in the
Word of God, have we not? About men like Abiram and Dathan,
their families that went down alive into the pit. We've got it where the old world
perished under the awful wrath of God. And sometimes we begin
to think of these things and contemplate these things. And
I tell you, it can shake us in our very soul, and rightfully
so. But then this blessed sentence
comes. This blessed Word comes. He that
believeth in the Son of God shall not perish. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? He cannot
perish. He shall never perish. Why do
men perish? Because of sin. Because of their
guilt. But they have no condemnation.
It was laid upon Christ their substitute. Therefore, they cannot,
neither shall they, ever perish. Whatever happens to the wicked,
you can say to the righteous, it shall be well with him. He
shall not perish. Now, brothers and sisters, if
you contemplated what that means, you talk about a blessing. Dost
thou believe in the Son of God? Dost thou believe in the Son
of God? And here in verse 15 and verse 16, he also emphasizes
the positive. Look at this. That whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Lord emphasizes this
believing in Him, doesn't He? You notice how He guards this
truth. Where is life? It's in the Son,
isn't it? But look how He guards this.
Who has this life? Who does He give this life to?
Not everybody. Who does He give it to? Those
who believe in Him for it. Those who rely wholly upon Him
for it. Those who are dependent upon
Him. And what He does by this, He takes away the emphasis from
us. He puts us looking outside of
ourselves and our sin and our condemnation. And He puts us
looking to Him and to Him only. And then when we have this life,
who gets the glory for it? Christ does. Christ does. Nobody has life but those who
believe in the Son of God for it. That's the way He hedges
it about. It's precious, isn't it? Only those who believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Dost thou believe in the Son
of God? You know the strongest evidence
that you're not condemned. The strongest evidence that you're
sitting here this morning and you're not condemned is that
you believe you were condemned. The strongest evidence that you
have this life eternal in your heart, you believe there was
a time when you were dead. Condemnation was lifted. The
guilt was gone when you were given grace to believe in the
Son of God. You passed from death unto life
when you were given grace to believe in the Son of God. No
faith in Him? Condemnation. No faith in Him? Still dead in trespasses and
sins. Faith in the Son of God? You
are free. You are not condemned. You will
never perish. You have everlasting life. And I tell you, when you pass
from death to life, when you give you grace to look and to
believe in Him, this glorious person. Let me show you three
or four more passages of Scripture right quick if you'll turn there
with me. Look in Acts chapter 10. I'll just comment on these
because I want to get the second question. Look in Acts chapter
10. There are several of these. You
can look them up at your leisure. This is where Peter went down
to Cornelius's house to preach the gospel to him. And he was
preaching Christ, and he made this wonderful statement, and
it has to do with faith in the Son of God. Look in Acts chapter 10, verse
42. Peter says, The Lord commanded
us to preach unto the people. and to testify that it is he
which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
the dead. To him gave all the prophets witness that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of their sins." Oh, what a blessed thing. All who believe in the
Son of God shall receive forgiveness of their sins. What would it mean to you this
morning if you left here with all your sins forgiven? All the
sins of your youth. All the sins of your adult life.
That's Powelack Mountains on your head. What would it mean
to leave here this morning? And you could sing that blessed
old song, Did you hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken
away. You know how sins are taken away
from a man's conscience? Not by works. You can't be moral enough to
merit it. Not by praying. And we believe
in praying. Not by repentance. And we believe
in repentance. Here we are told that one thing
will remit the sins that are upon a man's conscience, wash
his conscience clean, and that is faith in the Son of God. All those who believe on Him
shall receive remission of their sins. You know this remission
of sins, it means more than just having our sins forgiven. Boy, it's a wonderful thing to
have your sins washed. But you know something? When
the Lord forgives us our sins, He delivers us from the dominion
of sin. You know why some of us couldn't
live the Christian life before the Lord made Christians out
of us? Sin had such a hold on us, didn't it? We loved it. We loved it. We lapped it up
like a thirsty dog lapping up water. But when He gives us grace
to believe on the Son of God, not only is the conscience clean,
sins lose its dominion over the conscience, and we fall out of
love with it. We fall out of love with sin.
And all of this comes through this channel of faith, of faith
in the Son of God. Look just over to your right,
a couple of pages in the thirteenth chapter. This is a blessed thing that
comes through faith in the Son of God. This was Paul preaching here
in Antioch in Pisidia. Speaking of Christ being crucified
and raised from the dead. Verse 37, God, Him whom God raised,
saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sin. And look at this. And by him
all that believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses." Paul makes a distinction
between forgiveness of sins and being justified. And here is
the difference in it. In forgiveness we are washed
from our sins. We stand there innocent. No charge
can be laid against us. But in justification, something
is given to us to give us a standing before the court of heaven. And
what is that? Righteousness. Righteousness. Before you and I can stand before
the law of God, we have to have a positive righteousness. We just can't stand before the
law and say, listen, I've not done anything. That's wonderful. But you know, the law requires
more than that. The law requires a continuance
in everything that it commands us to do. So how does God justify
us? You know what He does? He gives
us the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And when He gives us
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that gives us a perfect standing
before the court of heaven. before the holy law of God. It
can find no fault in us, because that righteousness is the righteousness
of one who has obeyed the law and kept it in every jot and
every tittle. The Bible says that God has made
Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. And how does this righteousness
become ours? By believing in the Son of God.
You can't work to get any of these things, can you? The more
you work, the more in debt you'll become. We need a righteousness
to justify us with. And, brothers and sisters, the
only way we can have such a righteousness is believing on the Son of God
for it. Paul said in Romans 4, What shall
we say that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has
found? If Abraham were justified by works, he could glory. But not before God. What saith
the Scriptures? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him. It was imputed to him for righteousness. Dear old John Bunyan, he wrote
a book on justification by imputed righteousness. And he said it
is a wonderful thing to think that I, a poor sinner upon this
earth, have the righteousness of one who is in heaven. Isn't
that amazing? That's the way God justifies
us. By giving us righteousness. And that don't come by works.
That comes by faith in Christ alone. Alone. And the Lord Jesus asked this
poor old man, do you have this righteousness? Isn't it a wonderful thing that
this poor miserable man that was blind all of his life, couldn't
read, didn't have a job, A beggar. He left here this day. Not condemned. Never to perish. To have everlasting life. Forgiven
of all his sins. Justified from everything. He
went that way through faith in the Son of God. And these poor
Pharisees perished in their sin. Isn't that amazing? He's chosen
foolish things, hasn't he? to confound the wise. He sent
these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babes. A couple of more places right
quickly. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. I want
you to see these. The blessedness, the blessedness
of faith in the Son of God. And I hope you ask yourself this
morning when you leave here, do I believe in Him? Do I believe
in Him? Look at this in verse 5, 1 John
chapter 5, in verse 5. Look at this. Faith in the Son
of God. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Who is he that overcometh the
world? What is it about this world that needs to be overcome? John said it's the lust of the
flesh, didn't he? The lust of our eyes. The pride
of life, pleasures, cares, burdens of
this world. Sometimes you feel like it's
almost swallowed you up. This world has just almost swallowed
you up. And you see so many that it's
swallowed up. We come down here almost every
Sunday. And there on each side of the road, so many Sundays.
Parents have got all their kids outside playing some kind of
ball. They should be here hearing the
gospel. Why aren't they? The world has overcome them.
It's swollen them up. How are we to overcome this world
but one way? Through faith in the Son of God. And what faith does, it gives
us another object. That is so attractive that when
we look at this world, we just see it as a fading thing. All of its lust, all of its temporal
pleasures, all of its toys, all of its snares is nothing. We've turned our back and we've
looked to Christ and Him crucified. And oh, we've found an object
worthy of our attention, haven't we? Faith in the Son of God.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. This is the witness which God has testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself." If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. What is this witness that we
have by faith in the Son of God? Well, I think in a nutshell,
it's the Holy Spirit. He bears witness with our spirit
that we're children of God. We have this witness. First of
all, we have this witness. of our need of Christ. Somebody may come around and
tell you that Christ is part of a Savior. They may try to tell you that
you have this merit in yourself. That you have the power of your
free will to affect something. You're not totally and wholly
depraved. And when they're finished with
their arguments, trying to convince you, what have they accomplished? Nothing. Why? Because there's a witness in
you. And that witness is what God
has taught you of yourself. And the witness is this, above
everything else, You need, you must have the Son of God to save
you. There's no sense in somebody
coming to this congregation and start talking about marriage.
It wouldn't do a bit of good, would it? We're like that poor old husker
that you couldn't shake out of these two things. I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all. And you couldn't move that man
from that. And Jesus Christ is my all in all. He witnesses our
need of Christ. And He witnesses to us the suitableness
of Christ. What do you think about the Son
of God? Haven't you found everything in Him that God requires and
you need? When you look to Him, do you
see anything that's lacking in Him? Aren't you completely satisfied
with the Son of God? And when somebody tries to talk
you out of bed and have him part of a Savior, you won't listen
to it. Why? Because you have the witness
in yourself. All faith in the Son of God.
Second question. Here's the question from this
poor old beggar. Look back over my text in John
chapter 9 again, and I'll hurry on. Here's the second question.
He says it in verse 36. He asked this question. Do you
believe on the Son of God? And he says in verse 36, Who
is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? I tell you, I don't know
of anybody in all the scriptures, the four Gospels, that was more
sincere and simple and honest than this man. He didn't exaggerate. He answered the question so simply.
He didn't embellish anything, not even his experience. They
came to him and they said, who is this fellow? And some of his
neighbors said, well, that's him. And others said, well, it's
like him. And he raised up his hand and said, can I say something?
I'm him. I'm the beggar. I'm the blind
man. That's me. And every time they examined
him. Well, there are verses 24 through 25. And again, they called
the man that was blind and said to him, give God the glory. We know that this man is a sinner,
and look how he answered it. He answered and said whether
he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I know, whereas
I was blind, now I see. He didn't know who Christ was,
and he didn't pretend to, did he? Sometimes don't we embellish
our experience? We'll begin to tell it, and before
you know it, it's got completely out of hand. Saul of Tarsus out
on the Damascus road. He gets so glorious and so blown
out. He said, I don't know who he
is. I don't know who he is. All I know is this. I once was
blind, and now I see. What a simple testimony. What
a simple man. What a plain, honest man this
was. And the Lord tells him here, He tells us something about faith
here, doesn't he? He tells us something about faith. It's necessary. Do you believe? Well, it's absolutely
necessary, isn't it? Brothers and sisters, don't downplay
faith. Don't ever downplay faith. It's
the only channel that Christ's benefits come to us. It's necessary. Who is He, Lord,
that I might believe? That I might believe on Him?
It tells us something else about
faith, too. Faith is impossible apart from a revelation of Christ
to our hearts. This poor old simple man knew
that, didn't he? Doesn't that make so much sense? Who is He,
Lord, that I might believe? In other words, he's saying,
Lord, how can I believe on the Son of God if I don't know who
He is? That makes sense, doesn't it? Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Not what. I'm sure he knew that,
too. But he said, I know whom I have
believed. Lord, who is this Son of God that I might believe?
And boy, verse 37. Here is this revelation. Thou
hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee. And notice this. This is so wonderful. Notice how easy this was. Notice
how simple Christ reveals Himself to this man's understanding. I say simple because He didn't
shout. He didn't get all emotional about
this. This was in the quietness. of this time when he was looking
at the Son of God and says, Lord, I don't know who He is. And the
Lord Jesus Christ just opened his understanding. And He said,
I'm He. I'm He. It's a divine revelation. It
is that. It's a glorious revelation. But
you know, is this so simple? The Lord may reveal Himself while
you're studying here this morning in this congregation. Jesus Christ
may open your heart for you to know Him. The first time in your
life. I don't look for you to shout.
I don't look for you to make some emotional scene. But here's what'll be evident.
Here's what'll be evident. You'll know Him. For the first
time in your life, you'll know Him. He's got a way of making
Himself known to people. He told that Samaritan woman,
I that speak unto you am He. That's all He said. And in those
words, she knew Him. She knew Him. Old John Bunyan again said, Jesus
Christ is so hid in the Father, in the Father's bosom. That no
sinner can know Him apart from revelation. And yet this revelation
comes so easy, so softly, so gently, so clearly. I don't know when the Lord Jesus
may reveal Himself to you. Maybe when you're going home
in the car. Maybe when you're praying beside your bed. I don't
know. But if you ever believe in Him
to the saving of your soul, He must reveal Himself to you. When He does these two things,
Lord, I believe, I believe. It seems like these two things
come at the same time, don't they? You can't put a time lapse
between them. You can't say that He revealed
Himself to this man this morning, and then tonight He says, I believe.
He didn't believe this morning the Lord would reveal Himself
tonight. They came at the same time. The Lord Jesus said, I'm
He. And immediately He said, Lord,
I believe. I believe. And what's the effects of faith?
He worshipped Him. He worshipped Him. Don't you
feel sorry for these people who make a profession of faith? And
you never see them again. Isn't that sad? They profess
Christ to be the Son of God and they don't seek Him, they don't
pray, they don't bow to Him, they don't worship Him. The evidence
that Christ has been revealed, we can't help but believe on
Him and we can't help but adore Him and praise Him and thank
Him and get down at His feet and worship this living Lord. May God bless this work. Let's
pray.