Do You Believe On the Son of God?

Jesus heard that they had cast
him out. Now this is truly amazing. This
is truly amazing. Jesus heard or knew that they
had cast this man out of the synagogue, out of the temple.
This man who is really nothing to the world. You realize what
this man is. He is indeed, this man is indeed,
missed to nobody from nowhere. Now that's a fact. Yet the Lord
of glory has an interest in this man. Now you think about this.
This is truly amazing to me. I could camp here for the rest
of the night. There's no way that I can possibly
make clear in human words what is here. When David stood out
under the heavens considering the mighty power of God and the
wisdom of God and the majesty of God. He said, Lord, when I
consider the heavens, the work of Thy hands, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the things that Thou hast ordained, what in the world
is man? And he was talking about himself,
and yet he was a king. He was the king of Israel. He
was the ranking leader on the face of the earth. And he was
amazed and astounded that the God of heaven, the God of creation,
the Almighty God should have any interest in him at all. He
said, I'm amazed. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, that you even consider him, that you have any interest
in him? Or the Son of Man, that thou dost consider him. One day
he went into a room and sat down. The scripture said he just sat
down before the Lord. Not so much from being exhausted
as from being overwhelmed. He just sat down. He didn't kneel. He didn't fall prostrate. He
didn't bow his head. He just sat down. He said, Lord,
who am I? Who am I and what is my people
that you should show any interest in us? But here, here, the Lord
of glory has an interest in a poor, penniless, I read a while ago,
you notice when I emphasize begging, this is a beggar. This is truly
a straight person. This is truly a straight person. And yet the King of Kings, the
Lord of Lords, who ignored the Pharisees, who had very harsh
words for the Sanhedrin, yet the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords knows everything that's happening to this man. He heard. He knew about this man. They cast him out of the synagogue.
You know why? Because he was one of the Lord's
sheep. Are you one of His sheep? Charlie told me last night he
gave his son a Bible, his son John, a Bible. And he wrote in
the front of the Bible something to this effect. I don't
know whether I can quote it exactly, but he said to his son in that
inscription in the Bible, I'm your father and you know I love
you. But it's much more important that the Lord love you. For if
He loves you, then you're cared for if He loves you. That's what's
important. This was one of his sheep. This
was one of his sheep. If that's so, if He loves you,
now I don't subscribe, and you know this, and I repeat it again,
I do not subscribe to the emotional, groundless claim that a holy
God, that the King of glory is in love with all flesh. I don't
subscribe to that at all. I don't believe it. I don't believe
it. I don't believe that the Lord
of glory is in love with all flesh, And he's literally frustrated
in his purposes and in his will concerning them. I don't believe
that. I don't believe he's going to let those children of his
love slip away from him and be cast into hell. I don't believe
that. I believe he loves his sheep. This man was one of his
sheep. So if that's true, if I and you
here tonight, all over this congregation, whoever you are, You say, I'm
nobody. This man was nobody. He was more
of a nobody than you are. Much more of a nobody. You say,
I'm nothing. He was nothing. You're something. He was nothing. He was literally
nothing. He was a beggar. He was a blind, dirty beggar
who sat by the wayside begging. So I say, whoever you are and
wherever you are and whatever the circumstances, if you're
one of his sheep, You don't move a hand nor a hair that he's not
aware of it. Is that right, Bill? Whatever lies
ahead, he knows. And he cares. He said, you cast
your care on me, I care for you. And nobody cares for you like
he does. I know that. Your mama don't love you like
the Lord does. Your daddy never loved you like the Lord loves
you. Your children will never love you like the Lord loves
you. When Lazarus was sick and they sent word for Christ to
come, they didn't say, Lord, the one that loves you is sick.
They said, He whom thou lovest is sick. How in the world can
we talk about our love for Him in the light of His love for
us? It's unmistakable, isn't it? He whom thou lovest is sick. And so look over here right across
the page in John 10. beginning with verse 11, he said,
I'm the good shepherd. John 10, 11. I'm the good shepherd.
The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. He that's in hireling
and not the shepherd who's owned the sheep or not, they see the
wolf coming and leave it the sheep and flee it. And the wolf
scattereth them and catcheth them and scattereth them. The
hireling fleeeth because he's in hireling. He doesn't love
the sheep. I'm the good shepherd. I know
my sheep. I love my sheep. I'm known of
mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And
of the sheep I have which are not of this foal, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall be one
foal and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life. No man taketh it from me. It's
a gift of love. I lay it down for my sheep. He
loves his sheep. Alright, go back to the text,
verse 35. Jesus heard they'd cast him out.
He heard they'd cast him out. And I'm sure this is written
in the language of me and our Lord knew they'd cast him out.
He was aware of everything they ever charged they brought against
him and every word they used to trick him. Our Lord knew all
about him. He loved him. Traced his steps.
The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. What's
the next line? And when he found Him, when He
found Him, when who found whom? When He, capital H-E, when He
found Him. And He always will. If you're
His sheep, He'll find you. He'll find you. He said over here in Luke 15,
let's look at this a minute. Luke 15, verse 4 and 5. In Luke 15, 4 and 5 it says this,
this is the Lord Jesus speaking, Luke 15, 4, What man of you having
a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety
and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost?
How long does he look for him? Until he finds him. Until he
finds him. And when he finds him, he lays
him on his shoulder rejoicing and brings him home and says,
This sheep was lost, but I found it." He found him. The Lord Jesus
found this man. Now I know, wait a minute, hold
it, I know we find the truth. I've had people come here saying,
I've looked for the gospel for a long time. I've gone here and
there trying to find somebody preaching the gospel, and now
I've found somebody. We find the truth in a sense.
And there's a sense in which we find Christ. But in reality,
back of it all, He finds us. We find Him because He finds
us. That's right. I'll show you that
in John 1. Turn back to John 1. First chapter,
verse 43. John 1, 43. Listen. The day following,
Jesus would go forth into Galilee and He foundeth Philip. And He said to Philip, you follow
Me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter,
so Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him. What did Philip say? We found
the Christ. But Philip, he found you. He
found you. You found him because he found
you. You called on him because he called you. That's right.
Jesus found Philip. And our Lord found this man,
I'll tell you this. He finds us and He reveals Himself
to us, for He's not lost. We're the ones that are lost.
You say, I found the Lord. The Lord wasn't lost, you were.
And if you found Him, then you weren't lost. Isn't that right? You weren't lost if you found
Him. But you were lost and He found you. You didn't go where
He was. He came where you were. He left
heaven and came to the earth. No man had to send you up into
heaven, but He that came down from heaven. He found us. He
found us. You say, well, how does He find
His sheep? How does the Lord find His sheep? How are His elect
found? How are they revealed to be His
sheep? How are they revealed to be His
elect? Well, that's very simple. turned
to 1 Thessalonians 1, by his gospel. That's how he finds his
sheep. I'm telling you the truth. By
his gospel. By his gospel. He finds his sheep,
that's how his sheep find him, through the gospel. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. Listen to Paul writing to the
church of Thessalonica. He said in verse 4, Knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. God chose you. God elected you.
God loved you. God singled you out. God set
His love on you. I know that. How do you know
that, Paul? For our gospel came to you. God sent the gospel to
you. My gospel came to you. Not in
word only. But it came to you in power,
it came to you in the Holy Ghost, it came to you in much assurance.
That's how our gospel came to you, that's how he finds his
sheep, by his gospel. You want to know how you can
tell one of God's sheep? Well, he hears the gospel of
Christ, in whom you trusted after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, he hears it. He hears it not
with just these ears, he hears it with his heart, he hears it
in power. And how do you tell one of God's elect? He believes
it. He receives it. He bows to it. He submits to
it. He says, that's God's Word. I'll
take it. I'll take it. His sheep hear His Word. Look
at 2 Thessalonians 2.13. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Listen to this. Now it says in
verse 13, we're bound. We're just bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Beloved
of the Lord. Accepted in the Beloved of the
Lord too. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit,
belief of the truth. Whereunto He found you and called
you by our gospel. That's how. He calls you by our
gospel to the obtaining, to the laying hold of. to the realization
and understanding of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how he finds his elect for the gospel. Have you heard the gospel?
Have you heard it in power? I'm not talking about any gospel.
Paul said it's not but one. It's not but one. If any man preach any other gospel,
let him be accursed. It's not but one gospel. It's
the gospel of grace. It's the gospel of His glory.
It's the gospel of God. It's the gospel concerning His
Son. It's the gospel of the incarnation. It's the gospel of the atonement.
It's the gospel of the great high priest. It's the gospel
of the risen victorious conquering Lord. It's the gospel. It can't
be defeated. God said, my word won't return
unto me void as the rain comes down from heaven and waters the
earth and makes the plants to grow. My word goeth forth out
of my mouth. It won't return unto me void.
It'll accomplish that whereunto I send it. That was pleasing
to me. Don't tell me Almighty God, Almighty
Eternal God who created the world out of nothing and spake and
there was light. Don't tell me He's ever defeated,
confounded, or frustrated in anything He plans, wills, or
sets out to do. I won't have it. I don't believe
it. You take that God and play house
with Him or church or something. But this God does what He pleases,
when He pleases, with whom He pleases. That's exactly right. You find His sheep. I know what
I'm doing. I'm looking for the sheep. I'll
preach the gospel to anybody who will tune his ear my way.
Anybody. Like what that fellow said, praying
Romans and countrymen, lend me your ears. Well, lend me your
ears and I'll tell you the gospel. And I'll tell you whether or
not you're one of God's elect. If that gospel penetrates 18
inches below your ear and hits your heart and turns you to worship
Christ and bow to Him and love Him and receive Him, you're one
of God's elect. But if that gospel stops at that
ear and goes up here to this brain and makes an intellectual
Pharisee out of you, you're not one of God's elect. You're just
a religious hypocrite. To the world, He said, you won't
come to Me. You will not. But of his sheep,
he said, all that the Father giveth me will come to me. You
won't, they will. You know what he said? You will
not come to me, all that my Father giveth me will come to me. They
will. To the world, the preaching of the gospel is foolishness.
To those who are called, it's wisdom. The very wisdom of God. To the world, he said, no man
can come to me. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me drawing. But of His sheep, He said, they'll
be willing in the day of my power. When the rod of my strength goes
out of the hound, they'll be willing. The world says we'll
not have this man reign over us. Oh, he can be our valet,
he can be our servant, He can be our benefactor, but he will
not be our Lord. But his sheep fall at his feet
and say, my Lord and my God. That's the difference. That's
the difference. We preach the gospel to every
creature, but we know whom we seek. We seek whom he seeks.
He said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. Christ and his cross is all our
theme. The mysteries that we speak are
scandal in the Jewish esteem and folly to the Greek. But men
enlightened from above with joy receive his word. They see what
wisdom, power and might and love is in their risen Lord. All right, now watch this. Verse 35, again, Jesus heard
that cast him out. He's interested in this particular
man. So he found him. He always does. And he said to him, do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you believe on the Son of
God? He found this man. Isolated him. He isolated him, Tom. I believe
he got him off to the side. He certainly didn't have this
question for the crowd. He found him and he said to him,
Ronnie, he said to him, do you believe on the Son of God? Now,
that's an interesting question. And you know what makes it so
interesting to me? It makes it so interesting to
me in the light of what had transpired before this. Now, wait a minute.
Hold your seat now. Hang on. Hang on. This is the big dipper right
here. This man had been obedient to Christ. Our Lord told him. He came up on him. They had a
discussion about him. And he spit on the ground and
made spittle. And he anointed his eyes. This
man, born blind, covered his eyes with that mud and said to
him, he said, you go wash. in the pool of Siloam. And you
know what the man did? He did what the Lord told him
to do. He obeyed the Lord. He obeyed the Lord. He did what
Christ told him to do. And then secondly, this is an
interesting question, not only in the light of the fact that
he had been obedient to the Lord, but secondly, this man had had
an unusual experience. I heard last week about a man
who had an unusual experience He heard a voice. Well, this
gentleman here, he heard more than a voice. He said, I was
blind. I've heard a hundred sermons
on this. Well, as I was blind, yet I see. It was after that the Lord asked
him, do you believe? He said, I've had an experience.
He had one too, my brother. You think about it. I mean, cold mind, blind. And he could see 20-20. But my
Lord didn't do anything half way. Thirdly, he claimed to be
a disciple of Christ. He told his Pharisees, he said,
why do you want me to tell you this over and over again? Would
you also be his disciple? They said, you're his disciple. He said that I am. He said, I'm a Christian, a Christian,
a follower of Christ. You know what a disciple is,
a follower of Christ? So the man professed to be a Christian.
Thirdly, he had suffered for what he believed. He said, Preacher, I not only obeyed the Lord, I
not only had an experience, I not only claimed to be a Christian,
but I paid the price. He did too. They threw him out
of the synagogue. Do you know what this meant?
Do you know what this meant? This meant this man was no longer
in the kingdom of God. You see, the synagogue was synonymous
with the kingdom of God, even more than Catholicism. And this
man couldn't come to the Passover. This man couldn't come to the
sacrifice. This man had no prince. This
man was isolated from God. They cast him out. Nobody had
anything, and everybody else wasn't having anything to do
with him. Isn't that right? Man, he paid the price. And not only
that, but he witnessed to other people. I read over and over
again in John 10, they said, how were your eyes open? He said,
a man named Jesus! A man named Jesus! I hear everybody preaching Jesus.
They preach Jesus in Arminianism, Calvinism, Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism,
Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and everything else preaches
Jesus. And that's what he said. Jesus did it, praise God! He
didn't even know who they said was. He said, I don't know. Who
is he? I don't know. But Jesus did it,
bless God. That's what he said, verse 11.
Jesus did it. Jesus made clay. I nodded my
eyes. Jesus did it! Praise God! And He said, if He wasn't of
God, He could do nothing! Today, we pronounce people saved
who fit these requirements. Today, if a man obeys the Lord,
the Lord said to go to Siloam. Preachers say, come to church.
They come. Pay your tithe. They pay their tithe. Come to
Wednesday night prayer meeting. Come to Wednesday night prayer
meeting. Witness for Jesus. You're saved. That's what they
tell me. Come down to the front. Take my hand. Pray the prayer.
Take my book. Read your daily Bible reading.
Don't go to the show now. You're saved. This man was obedient. He did what he was told to do.
He not only did what he was told to do, he had an unusual experience.
He not only had an unusual experience, he said, I'm a Christian. He
not only said, I'm a Christian, he was kicked out of organized
religion. And then he went around telling
everybody, Jesus! Heal my eyes! And that's when the Lord said,
Do you believe on the Son of God? Now you think about that
a little bit. And here's His reply. Verse 36,
And He answered and said to him, Who is He? Who is this Son of
God? I know the name Jesus, because
He called that name in verse 10. He said, Jesus, a man named
Jesus. But who is this Son of God? Now,
we need to count here. I tell you, whether a man is
saved or not saved is not so much a matter of faith as the
object of his faith. I'm telling the truth. You say, I believe. What do you
believe? Whom do you believe? That's the
question. That's what he's asking this
man. This man believes something. This man had an experience. This
man witnessed. This man running up and down
the country, didn't know anything, and was talking about Jesus.
And that's when our Lord said, Do you believe on the Son of
God? And I tell you, it's not so much believing as it's, whom
do you believe? I know whom I have believed. Saul of Tarsus asked this question,
who art thou? Christ said, do you believe on
the Son of God? He said, who is he? Saul of Tarsus said, who
art thou? The Ethiopian eunuch sitting
in his chariot as Philip sat beside him. read the scriptures,
he said, of whom does the prophet speak? Who's this man of sovereigns?
Who's this suffering savior? Who's this silent lamb? Our Lord asked the Pharisees,
he said, what do you think of the Christ? Who is he? Whose
son is he? You see, there is only one Christ
who is appointed to save. There is only one Christ who
has access to the Father. There is only one Christ who
is the one mediator. You know what Scripture says?
There is only one great high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Who is he? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Who is he? Now this wasn't asked just out
of curiosity. He said, who is he that I might
believe? Do you want to know that you
might believe? Not that you might argue with
me. Not that you might compare it with other sermons or catechisms
or confessions of faith. But this man says, I want to
know who this Son of God is that I might believe on Him. That's
what I want to know. I want to know who He is that I might believe
on Him. Well, I tell you this, I know this, He's the Sovereign
Christ. Now, He's not the little frustrated
Jesus that we've heard so much about, but He said the Son quickeneth
whom He will. The Son quickeneth whom He will.
Not only that, He's the Suffering Christ. He shall see the travail
of his soul be satisfied. He is the suffering Christ. Not
only that, He is the obedient Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. Not only that, He is the crucified
Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. The atonement. Do we know what an atonement
is? He is the risen Christ, our justifier. He is the triumphant
Christ, sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. He is the prophet, priest, and
king. He is the coming line of the
tribe of Judah. That's who He is. And our Lord
looked at him, listen, and Jesus said, you have seen Him, you
have heard Him, and He now talks to you. And that can be said
right here tonight. We have seen Him. No, not with
these eyes. Not with these eyes. We've seen
Him in His Word. We've seen Him in His Word. He's
been declared here every Sunday, every service, every Wednesday
night when all these men preach, they're lifting up Christ. And
they're lifting up Christ. We're not lifting up men. We're
lifting up Christ. You've seen Him. You've seen
Him in His Word. You've seen Him in His Gospel.
You've heard Him in His Word. Hebrews 1 said, God, who at sundry
times and different manners spake to our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. This is my
beloved Son, Him, Him, who is the express image
of God, the exact likeness of God, by whom the world held together. And that's what our Lord asked
this man, do you believe on Him, the Son of God? It's not how
obedient you've been. It's not how much experience
you've had. It's not a claim to discipleship. It's not what you've suffered
for religion. It's not facts, the fact that
you have witnessed. But the question is, do you in
your heart genuinely, sincerely believe This man, Jesus Christ,
is the Son of God, do you? The Son of God. You see, in closing,
this is a most necessary question. It's a most necessary question.
What you believe about the Son of God determines your relationship
with the God of heaven. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. It's not only
necessary, but it's a very plain question. It has nothing to do
with what we call the doctrines of grace. It's not do you believe
in election, it's do you believe on the Son of God? He's the electing
Christ, but do you believe on Him? Him. It's not do you believe,
you know, that baptism is by immersion, that's fine, but it's
do you believe on the Son of God? It's a plain question. And thirdly, it's a personal
question. We can't look to anyone else.
Do you believe it? And I tell you, it can be answered
because Paul said, no, you're not your own self. How that Christ
dwelleth in you, except you be a reprobate. And also, it demands
an immediate answer. And this man gave it. Listen,
verse 38, and he said, Oh, I tell you, would to God
we were this responsive. Would to God we were this alert. Would to God that we were this
concerned. He said, you believe on the Son
of God? He said, who is He that I might believe? He said, you've
seen Him and you've heard Him and it's He that talks to you.
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he fell down and worshiped
Him. That's faith. That's the faith of a child.
And Jesus said, for the benefit of all around, for judgment,
I am coming to this world. In other words, He Himself is
the dividing point. He's the dividing point. He said,
I've come to divide. I've come to rend asunder. I've come to separate. I'm the
problem. There was a division because
of Him. I've come to this world for judgment. The split in religion and the
division in religion is as it ought to be. It's over Christ.
It's over Christ. Who He is, what He did, why He
did it, where He is now. That's the only division I'm
interested in. He said, I come for judgment.
Watch it. That they which see not might
see. What's that talking about? Those
that are born in sin might be saved. Those that are blinded
by sin might see. Those that are in darkness might
have the light. Those that are sick may be made
well. Those that are dead may be raised. Those that are in
trouble may be relieved. See, they're blind. And I've
come that they might see. And they would see! You say,
well, all men are blind. Ask them. They say, we see. We see. That's what they said
to this fellow here. They said, why, you're teaching
us? Who are you to teach us? We're
smart. We know everything. We've got
the answers. You can't tell us anything." See, they thought
they could see. They thought they had righteousness.
They thought they knew God. They didn't need anything. We're
rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Christ
said, you don't know your naked, miserable, wretched, poor and
blind. And I've come that those that are naked, wretched, miserable,
poor and blind might be made whole. And those that are rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing, might be
made blind. What's this? Judicial blindness. Reprobation. Well, then, surely
he won't be in reprobation. Oh, definitely. Oh, definitely. Oh, definitely. Yes, sir. He that being often reproved
and hardened at his heart shall be destroyed, God says. The Jews
are judicially blinded. They're under reprobation. There's
a veil over their eyes when Moses, in their ears when Moses is read.
They can't see it. Who put the veil there? God did.
You despise the Son of God, you put a veil on your eyes so that
you'll believe a lie and be damned for believing a lie and not even
know you're believing a lie. You read that in Thessalonians.
You say, that's hard. I know, but it's so. There's a lot of things that
are hard. Judgment's hard, but it's so. It's hard to come to
judgment without a mediator, but that's where people got to
stand. That's awful hard. We're not sent to entertain people,
we're sent to tell them the truth. And he said, I've come for judgment.
And some of the Pharisees which were there with him, these are
the fellas that got, you know, a lot of folks, they just like
them, you know. They heard these words and they
said, are we blind? Do you think we're blind? We're
theologians, we're teachers, we're rulers, we're high up in
religion, we wear our broad phylacteries, we keep the law, you're talking
about us, are we blind?" Jesus said, if you were blind, you'd
have no sin. If you really were blind, if
this man was blind, he wanted help. Who goes to the doctor? Sick
people. Who comes to the Lord? Sinners. Who needs sight? Blind people. So he said, if
you were sick, and if you were blind, and if you were in darkness,
I'd make you whole. But, now you say, we see. I'm alright. Don't bother me,
preacher. I'm alright. Don't worry about me. I'll be in heaven. I'm alright. Well, alright. But I ask you, do you believe
on the Son of God? That's what it's all about. Do
you believe on the Son of God? I'm talking about D. That's a
definite article. D. Not, is He a Son of God? Oh,
D, Son of God. You believe Him? Well, if you
do, like it's said of Abraham, it's
accounted to you for righteousness. But I tell you this, there's
no hedging about it. Lord, I believe." And he fell
down and worshipped. Alright. Mike, let's have a closing
hymn, and then we'll have prayer and go back to the back.

Do You Believe On the Son of God?

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Do You Believe On the Son of God?

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