John chapter 5, the Lord said
in verse 31, if I bear witness of myself, if I'm the only witness,
then the witness is not true. That's established throughout
scripture. Let every word be established by the mouth of two
or three witnesses. So even our Master, even our
Lord says, if I'm the only one that bears witness, to my person
and work, if my witness is not true." And then he gives us four
powerful, powerful witnesses, four great witnesses. Verse 32, he said, there is another
that bears witness of me. I know that the witness which
he witnesses of me is true. You sent unto John, he's talking
about John the Baptist. who was the last of a whole line
of prophets, a whole line of witnesses, from Moses to John
the Baptist. John the Baptist was the last
of the Old Testament prophets, prophesied of him in Isaiah,
declared in Malachi, Elijah, the prophet John the Baptist
will come. So John the Baptist is the last
of a whole line of prophets. And John, he said, bore witness
of me. And you know, I know, that the
witness which he witnesses of me is true. Now, you sent unto
John, and he bore witness unto the truth that all the Old Testament
prophets, you hold that right there, let me read you a scripture
over here. Don't turn to it, let me read it to you. In Acts
10, it says in verse 43, to him, to Christ, give all the Elijah, Jeremiah, all of the prophets, Isaiah,
Moses, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. And that's what he's saying here.
John came, the last of a whole line of prophets, bear witness
of me. But I received, and I don't need
the testimony from a man, but these things I say that you might
be saved. John was a burning and shining
light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his life.
Here is the second witness. I have greater witness than that
of John. For the works, that's where we're
talking about John 12, though he did many miracles, many miracles
before then, yet they didn't believe on him. which the Father
hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness
of me, that the Father hath sent me." These works that I do. Nicodemus
said, no man could do the works this man does, except God be
with him. No man. Then over here in Matthew chapter
11, turn over there a moment. I want you to look at this. When
John the Baptist was over there in prison, John the Baptist was
in prison. They were going to behead him.
He didn't have long to live. And he sent word, he sent two
disciples to the Lord Jesus. This was his question, Matthew
11, verse 3. And he said unto him, Art thou
he that should come? Are you the Messiah? Are you
the Christ? Are you the one for whom we look? Or do we look for
another? Our Lord answered and said, Now
you go and show John again those things which you do here and
see. The blind received their sight.
Now this is the physically blind, but he's talking about the spiritually
blind. When our Lord healed the blind and the lame and the deaf
and raised the dead, it was a picture of his spiritual ministry. in giving sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, strength to the lame, life to the dead. So he said, now you go tell John
that the blind receive their sight, physically and spiritually. The lame walk. Lepers. Leprosy is a type of sin. Lepers
are cleansed. Sinners are cleansed. The deaf
hear. The poor have the gospel preached
to them, and blessed is he who soever shall not be offended
in me." So, witnesses, the prophets, the works that he did. Then down
in verse 37, and the Father himself, the Father himself which has
sent me, he hath borne witness of me, when our Lord was going
to come to the earth. The Father sent angels down here. And the angels appeared to Mary
and said, Blessed art thou among women, highly favored of God,
your bare son, he'll be the Redeemer. To Joseph the angels appeared.
To the shepherds on the hillside the angels appeared. We bring
you good tidings. God's angels came down. A host
of heavenly angels came to the shepherds. He said, we bring
you good tidings. When he was born in Bethlehem,
God put a star over his birthplace. The Father bore witness of me
over his birthplace. When he was baptized with John
the Holy Spirit, the Father of the devil descended upon him
without measure. And the Father said, this is
my beloved son, hear ye him, in whom I am well pleased. He
raised our Lord from the dead. Listen to this scripture. Don't
turn to it. Let me just turn to it and find
it for you and read it to you. Acts 17, verse 31. Listen to
this scripture. It's talking about the witness of God. God
has appointed a day in which he will judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whom he hath given witness. assurance
unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead." The prophets, the miracles, the
works that he did, the Father. And then in verse 39, here's
another witness. He says to these religious fellows,
you search the scriptures. He's not commanding them to search
the scriptures. They do search the scriptures.
These fellows made their living searching the scriptures, transcribing
the scriptures, teaching the scriptures, quoting the scriptures. These were rulers of the synagogue.
You do search the scriptures. And the reason you search the
scriptures is you think you have in them eternal life. You think
by searching the scriptures and doing the laws and the ceremonies,
you're commanded keeping the traditions, going through the
washings, and baptisms, and duties, and fasting. That's what the
Pharisee said. He said, God, I frankly, I'm
not like other men. I fast twice a week. I give alms
to the poor. I tithe, mint, alice, cumin. I'm not all adultery. I'm not
unjust. I keep the law. I'm not like
this publican. I'm doing everything he said
do. You search the scriptures in them and in their traditions
and in their commands and in their laws and in their ceremonies,
you think you have life. What's that next line? They are
they which testify of thee. You don't have life in your commandments,
you have life in me. I have come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. turn back to John 12, is in the
same category with that generation, though he had done so many miracles,
so many witnesses, so many testimonies, yet they didn't believe on him. They don't believe on him. We
have testimonies all the way back to Eden's First thing that
happened in Eden's garden after the band's end, God slew an animal,
shed innocent blood to make a covering of skin to hide Adam's neck. That's Christ who died to cover
our necks. And then all the way through
from Noah's Ark to Abraham's Mount Moriah experience with
Isaac, to Melchizedek, the high priest, to Moses, Pytho, the
Lamb, to the serpent lifted up, to the tabernacle, to the priesthood,
to the sacrifices, to the blood atonement. We've got so many
witnesses and testimonies of who he is, what he did, why he
did it, where he is now, and yet, yet, yet, yet, they believe
not on him. And this is the cry of every
prophet of old, John 12, 38, not to sing of Isaiah. Isaiah, the prophet, might be
fulfilled when he spake, Lord, who hath believed our record,
our report, our testimony, our gospel? Who? Who believes it? To whom is the arm and the power
and the wisdom? The arm of God is the power of
God. My ear is not heavy, that I cannot
hear. My arm is not short, that I cannot
save." God said, My arm, the arm of the Lord is the power
of God. Christ is the arm of God, and the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. And yet, they do not believe. Verse 39 and 40 tells us why. Therefore, they could not believe
because Isaiah said again, he described their condition. They're
blind. Here's the problem. Natural men
are blind. They're blind to spiritual truth.
They're blind to the things of God. Paul wrote about it. He said the natural man does
not receive the things of God. They're foolishness to them.
Nonsense. Preaching of the cross is foolishness
to them that perish. Now look at this. He hath blinded
their eyes. and harden their hearts, that
they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
hearts, and be converted, that I should heal them." Several
factors involved here. What contributes to men's blindness,
the natural man's blindness? What is it? Four things. I do want you to turn to this
scripture, Romans 5. The first problem is this. In
Adam, in Adam he was blinded. In Adam he died, spiritually. In Adam. Adam's eyes when he sinned were
open to flesh and closed to God. Before Adam fell, he walked with
God and talked with God, and he did not know sin. Did he know
he was naked? When Sin died, his eyes were
opened, the scripture says. He saw he was naked. He saw flesh. He saw the things of this world.
He didn't see God anymore. He hid from God. He ran from
God. And men are blinded by Adam's
fall. Look at Romans 5.12. By one man,
Romans 5.12, Sin entered this world. and death by sin, spiritual death. And so death, this death, this
darkness, has to belong there, for all sin. And that's the problem. Death and trespasses in sin.
The child of darkness, even as others, child of wrath, even
as others, blinded by sin, blinded by the fall. But there's another
contributing factor. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. This is the business of Satan
to blind men. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, he's
the enemy of God, he's the enemy of Christ, he's the enemy of
righteousness. He's your enemy and my enemy. He's adversary. He's accuser
of the brethren. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse
4, "...in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them that believe not." He blinds them. "...the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose image of God,
should shine unto them." Paul said, I'm fearful. I'm fearful. that Satan, who deceived Eve,
will corrupt your minds from the simplicity of Christ. I know,
I'm not ignorant of his devices, who's settled in crackiness.
He blinds men, the God of this world. So natural men are blinded
by the fall, by spiritual death. They're blinded by Satan. And
here's a third, a third factor, in John chapter 9. Now if you
look at this carefully, John chapter 9. Our Lord is surrounded
by these Pharisees. The Pharisees were offended.
These are religious men. These are men who were rulers
of the synagogue, rulers of the Jews. They were steeped in religion. Our Lord said to them in verse
39 of John 9, Jesus said for judgment, I'm coming to this
world, that they which see not, might see. People who see not,
people who are fallen sinners, like from Adam. People who see
not and know they see not, and long to see, and walking in darkness,
and want to walk in the light. People who see not, I'm coming
to give them life, I'm the light of the world. I pray that they
might have life and life and truth. I pray that they that
see not might see. And they would see, or think
they do, or profess to. Nobody sees by nature. They're
all in act of blind. They're all in Satan to see.
But he's talking here about these fellows that think they see.
Those who claim to see. that they might be made even
blander." See what he's saying there? We get to the next verse,
and he says, I've come. I've come into this world that they
that see now, I've come to save sinners. Also he came to save
fetters of whom I'm chief. Christ said to the religious
fetters, I'm not come to call the righteous, I've come to call
sinners to the tent. I'm come that they that, the
blind might see, the deaf might hear. You see, these people knew
they were deaf, knew they were lame, knew they were blind, knew
they were sinners. They came to him for help for
most of the day, but forgiveness, these Pharisees wouldn't come.
They rejected the testimony of God yesterday. They said, we're
not sinners. I think you're a lot luckier than him, he said. I
do see it. Christ said, I've come to those
who think they see. might be even more blind. Our Lord said one time, if the
light in you is darkness, if all the light you've got is religious
light, ceremonial light, law light, I've created that darkness. What's the next verse? And some
of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and they
got upset. They said, you're saying we're
blind? Don't you say? Are we blind also? Don't you
say? Are you saying we're blind? And Christ said, if you were
blind, you'd have no sin. I forgive you. If you really
were blind, believed it, knew it, confessed it, asked for light,
asked for help, I'd give it to you. But now you say it. It's not true, but you say it.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say
we know Christ walked in darkness, we lie. If we say we have not
sinned, we make God a liar. If we say, but now he said, you
say, you say, we see. Therefore, the sin remains. You'll never get shut out of
it. It's double. It's judicial now. You see, Israel
was blind. But God judicially blinded them. They were all blind. Christ came
unto his own, his own received him not. But then God Almighty
put a veil over their eyes, judicially, isn't that right? Judicially
blinded them. That's devil blindness. And that's
the danger. You see, and all men are blind.
Satan has blinded their minds lest they see. traditions of religion. A man can make a profession of
religion and dynamite won't blow him out of it. He'll make a profession of religion,
he'll come down an aisle, shake a preacher's hand, get baptized,
get his name on a church roll, and you'll never ride him out.
Nothing but the power of heaven and God himself can ride a man
out of a false religious refuge. They said in Isaiah 28, we're
not afraid of death, we're not afraid of hell, we've made a
covenant with death and a covenant with hell, and when the overflowing
scourge of God's wrath comes over it, it will not touch us
because we have a covenant. We have a religion. But he said
you're in a false refuge and false religion. I'm going to
lay righteousness to the planet. and to the lion, and it'll watch
you out of your red seat, but it'll be too late. This judicial blindness is horrible
because the fourth thing, worldly attractions. Religion is a worldly
attraction. Religion is an emotion of man
just like anything else. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. God
said in verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. The truth
of Christ. For this cause God will send
them strong delusions that they believe a lie, and hold on to
it, that they might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness." Worldly attractions, worldly
connections, worldly relationships, covetousness. Turn to, look at
John 12 a minute. Write back to our text, go back
to our text, and look at verse 42. Here's what I'm talking about
right here, illustrate, John 12.42. Nevertheless, among the
chief rulers, also many believed on him. They believed on him? In their
heads anyway. Nicodemus, there Nicodemus said
you couldn't do what you did except God be with you. Nicodemus
took part in Christ's funeral, burial, that's right. But he
was still a Pharisee. Now watch it, many believed on
him. But because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they be put out of the sin of
God. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. That's an attraction. This world
has a strong hold on us. This flesh is so close to this
world. It's like the pull of gravity.
Gravity keeps us from falling off, doesn't it? Gravity holds
us down. And I'll tell you, this religious
tradition, relationships, connections, what I've always been taught,
what I've always believed, pure thoughts, I'm going to hold to
it like gravity holds me to this place. And they would not confess him.
They just couldn't give up their standings. They loved the praise
of men more than the praise of God. Well, verse 41, Isaiah said,
he said, they're blind. But verse 41, these things said
Isaiah, and when he saw his glory, when he saw his glory, he spake
of him. Isaiah saw his glory. When did he see his glory? That's
an interesting question. When did he see his glory? Well,
let's see if we can find out. In Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5. You say, Isaiah 6, when he saw
his glory. Why don't you look at Isaiah
5 just a minute? Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah was
pronouncing war on everybody. He was a religious fellow. Isaiah
prophesied during the reign of four kings. Four kings. The first one was Uzziah. The
second one was Jotham. The third one was Ahaz. And the
fourth one was Hezekiah. Old Isaiah was religious. Strong
religious man. And he was warring to everybody.
Look at verse 8. to them that join house to house,
that lay field to field, that there be no place, that they
may be placed alone in the midst of the earth." Verse 11, "...warned
to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow
strong dreams." Down here in verse 18, "...warned to them
that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, sin as if it were
with a cart-rope." Verse 20, "...warned to them called evil
good and good evil, that put darkness for light, light for
darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Verse 21. Woe
unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their
own sight. Verse 22. Woe unto them that are mighty
to drink wine, merely strength to mingle strong drinkers. All
right, chapter 6. There's a different song sung
here, verse 5. Woe is me. Tell me what happened to this
gentleman. First five or five or six days said I, woe is me. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm cut off. There's no hope for me. I'm undone. Because I'm a man of unclean
lips. He just went to them and everybody walked him. Except himself. And now he's
got the gun trained on himself. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm
a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. Far mine eyes have seen the King." Somebody said to me one time,
if you ever see your sins, you'll see the Lord. You got it backwards.
If you ever see the Lord, you'll see your sins. That's right. Let's go back to the verse 1
of Isaiah 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, that's when I saw the Lord. Old King Uzziah, that was the
first king under whose reign Isaiah prophesied. He loved Uzziah. He looked up to him. Uzziah was
a good king. Uzziah was a king who loved the
people, helped the people. Uzziah was a man of the people.
Great king. But Uzziah's heart was lifted
up with pride. And one day Isaiah decided that
he didn't need a priest anymore, that he'd go before God in his
own flesh and offer a sacrifice. So he just came. He went down
to the temple, walked in, told the priest, 87 of them, that
he would do the offering of the sacrifice. That's bypassing Christ. See, Christ is our priest. That's
a great thing. The prophet doesn't offer a sacrifice,
the king doesn't offer a sacrifice, only the priest, only our great
heart priest. And they said, it appertained
not to the old king to offer a sacrifice. You're talking to
the king, he said. And he went in and offered a
sacrifice. And God smote him with leprosy,
and he died. And Isaiah said, when that happened,
I saw the Lord. I saw the holiness of God. And
listen to this. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. High and lifted off his train
fell the temple. Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face
in the presence of the Lord God. This is Christ he's talking about,
the Lord Jehovah. With two he covered his feet.
With two he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole
universe is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
as the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. And then said I, woe is me, I'm cut off. Because I'm a man of unclean
lips. Why do you have unclean lips?
You got unclean heart. Out of the heart the lips speak. The lips don't have any control
over what the heart tells it to say. The lips just, they're
like the speaker here. That's right. I got unclean lips
because I got a wicked eye. And I dwell among a people who
have wicked hearts. Mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts." God didn't leave him in that condition,
as he won't leave any man or woman that's brought to that
place. Then through one of his seraphims unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, that's the gospel, which he had taken with
tongs, not with his hands, with tongs from the altar, from the
fire of the cross. with that burning coal. And he
came and he touched, laid it on my mouth, and he said, This
is touched by lips and not iniquities taken away, and by sin is purged. Purge me with hyssop. I'll be
clean. Wash me. I'll be whiter than
the snow. Isaiah saw the glory of God.
He saw his wicked heart and sins. He saw his need of grace. And
God Almighty sent the gospel to him from the cross of Christ
and touched his lips and purged him. And then the Lord said,
I heard the voice of the Lord say, Whom shall I send? Who will
go? Who will bear witness to this
glory of God, this glory of God, this glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this glory of the gospel? Isaiah said, You can send me
because I've got something to say. Here am I. You just send me. I got something
to say. Well, you know Hagar was out
there in the desert, and Ishmael was dying of thirst. Scripture
said God opened her eyes, and she saw the whale. It's there
all the time, but she couldn't see it, and God opened her eyes.
Lydia, seller of purple from Pall Power, was down in Philippi
on business. She went down to the river to
worship God with a group of ladies. And Paul came along, a priest. And God did what? Opened her
eyes. Opened her eyes. And she believed. Second Kings, Elijah's servant,
he was all upset. He said, we're going to perish.
We're surrounded by enemies. Elijah said, let her open his
eyes and let him see that Those that are for us are far more
than those against us. God has opened our eyes and shined
in our hearts to give us the glory, the sight of the glory
of God in the face of Christ. But the eyes have to be open.
Only God can do it. Spiritual death, Satan, religious
tradition, worldly connections, the pull of this gravity Only God can open their eyes.
And I'll tell you, when Isaiah says here, look at verse 41.
These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory. What did he do? He saw himself. And then he spake of Christ.
Who will go for us? Here am I. I've got something
to say. I've seen his glory. I've seen his glory. The common
thought is this. When a man sees the glory of
Christ, the glory, the glory of his majesty, his deity, his
divine nature, his glory that fills the universe, the glory
of his gospel, the glory of his sovereign power, the glory and
power of his name, when a man sees that, he sees two things.
Two things happen. He speaks of Him. He's committed
to Him. He worships Him. He's totally taken up with the
glorious personal work of Christ. Gloriously taken up. I've had
people write to me and say, they rejoice, they've seen the television
program, they rejoice that I preach the gospel of Christ, that I
glorify Christ in the message. I can't do otherwise. When you've
seen Him, and they follow this, Like a friend of mine said today,
I hope you'll keep on doing it. When you see Him, you speak of
Him. There's nothing so glorious.
There's nothing so wonderful. There's nothing so great. There's
nothing that'll satisfy the heart. There's nothing to cope with.
There's nothing to say. But Christ, there's nothing else
to preach. Like Peter said to him, shall
I go? That is the words of life. So
that's true. Secondly, you'll see yourself.
And the common thought is, when you see your sins, you'll see
his mercy, you'll see his grace. And in a way, in a sense, that
may be true, but that's not the heart of it. You can preach the
law, you can preach judgment, you can preach condemnation,
you can preach hell. And people have been doing it
for years. And little has come of it. That's exactly what little has
come of it. But I'll tell you, if this, if
preachers today get in the pulpit and preach Christ, His glory,
His majesty, His power, His greatness, what I've ever found, you'd see
some repentance. Some genuine repentance. You'd
see some sorrow, you'd see some conviction. You'd see some broken
eye. You'd see and hear people cry.
Oh, what must I do to be saved? That's what Peter preached to
Pentecost. He said, God has made this same Jesus whom you criticize,
Lord Christ. And they said, my soul, what
are we going to do? What are we going to do? Really,
Ben, what should we do? That's right, that's what broke
them. That's the experience of Job.
That's the experience of Job. Now let me give you these things
in closing. I felt this thing out, and now this is true. You know, Moses said, Lord, show
me your glory. Show me your glory. And God said,
all right, I'll make my glory pass before you. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'm God. Sovereign, omnipotent, almighty
God, who does what he will, when he will, with whom he will. That's
his glory, how I lift it up. When a man sees, number one,
when a man sees the glory of creation, he'll cry with David,
what is man that thou art mindful of him? When I consider the heavens,
the work of thy hands, the sun, the moon, the stars, what's man
that thou art mindful of? What is man? When we see the
glory of his holiness, we acquire what Isaiah wrote over here.
Listen. We are all as an unclean thing. That's what Isaiah said when
he saw his glory. Unclean lips. We are all as an
unclean thing. Our righteousness is a fluffy
rag in his sight. We do say it is the leaf. Our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. When we see the
glory of his law, we'll cry with pause. I was alive without the
law, but when it came, I died. O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from this body of death? When we see the glory
of his obedience, of his righteousness, like Paul in Philippians 3, we'll
lay down our righteousness and count it done. that we may win
Christ and be found in him. When we see the glory of his
righteousness, when we see the glory of his love, we'll cry
with John, here is love! Not that we love God. That's
what folks have been claiming through the years, I'm saved
because I love God. You say because he loved you.
That's sure, huh? Here is love, not that we love
God. He loved us and gave his son
to be a propitiation for our sins. That's what you say when
you see the glory of his love. His love makes you pale in their
insignificance. His love and his righteousness
makes yours to be filthy rags. When you see the glory of his
love, when you see the glory of his sovereign wish, you'll
stop talking about your will and fall at his feet like the
leper and say, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. When a man sees the glory of
his reign, he'll stop talking about letting God do anything. You don't let God do anything.
God does what he will, when he will, whatever he will. No one
can stay his hand or tell him, well, what are you doing? So
when a man sees the glory of God's sovereign grace, he stops
talking about his will and starts talking about God's will. It's
the Lord's will. Don't say you're going to town
tomorrow. It's the Lord's will you're going to town tomorrow
and do this and do that. When a man sees the glory of
his eternal covenant in Christ, That man will say whom he foreknew,
he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. Whom
he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. What shall we say to these things?
We say, if God be for us, who can be against us? Who can lay
his hand to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemns
it? It's Christ that died, no rather it's risen again, who
is even exalted at God's right hand, who works intercession
for us, who can separate me from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's what you cry when you
see the glory of his covenant. When you see the glory of his
death on the cross, you'll rest with a blessed hope of eternal
life and say with Apostle Peter, we're not redeemed. with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Jesus Christ as a lamb without livers or spines. That's what
happens. When Isaiah saw his glory, he
saw himself, and he spake of him, totally committed, totally
married to Christ. You see, when you see who he
is, You see who we are and what we are. When you see what he
did, you see what we can't do. It's impossible with man. When
you see why he did it, you understand how God can be just and justify
you and me. When you see where he is, it
gives you a good hope that you'll be there too. When I see the glory of God,
when I started out preaching way back yonder in 1947, right
here in this town, I hadn't seen His glory. And
I was preaching what we were and what we did and what we should
do and what we have to do to let God do whatever He does.
And then I saw His glory. Some of you have too, have seen
his glory. It's not that I didn't choose
thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart of mine will still
refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me, washed me, set me free. And to this end ordain me that
I should live and preach for thee. for father mercy to call
me and taught my open mind the world to see and enthrall me
to heaven's glory as I was blind my heart loved none above thee
for thy rich grace I thirst this knowing if I love thee you have
to love me first when you see his glory That's
as real as that is. A little more real, because that
has faded away this way. Now I'll show you one more point,
if you'll be patient. Somebody said, when I preach
too long one day, you shouldn't have quit. Okay, I won't. Here's
what I want you to think. Verse 44, Jesus cried and said,
verse 44, John 12, he that believes on me, believes not on me, that
is, not only on me, but he believes on him that sent me, God the
Father. He that seeth me, seeth him that
sent me. You can't believe in God unless
you believe in Christ, because God is in Christ. That concludes
the world, doesn't it? You see Christ, you see God.