I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of John, chapter 6, verse 40. I'm going to speak
to you on this subject, seeing and believing, seeing and believing. Now, this just could be, I'm
hoping that it will be, the most important message you'll ever
hear. And I do covet your attention.
I covet God's Spirit to give me the power to preach the truth.
as it is in Christ Jesus and the gospel as it ought to be
preached, and that he'll give you a receptive heart and an
interest, an ear that can hear him speak who speaks through
his word, and as the apostle said, who speaks from heaven,
and eyes to behold the beauty and glory of the Son of God.
Will you listen? John 6, verse 40, and this is
the will of him that sent me. that everyone that seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I'll
raise him up at the last day." Everyone that seeth the Son,
and believeth on him, might have everlasting life, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Now, we hear statements like
this all the time. Now, just have faith, or like
this, keep the faith. Now, be sure and keep the faith,
or just believe. That's all, just believe. Well,
my friends, the Scriptures, and you listen to this statement,
the Word of God does not teach that men are saved simply by
having faith. Everybody has faith in something.
The man who flies an airplane has faith in the airplane. The
man who crosses a bridge has faith in the bridge. The man
who takes a prescription to the drugstore has faith both in the
doctor who wrote it and the druggist who puts it together. So the
Bible doesn't teach that men are saved by simply having faith. It is not just having faith that
saves, it's not just believing that saves, but it's faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the scripture is very clear
on that. Faith must have an object. And that one object of saving
faith is Jesus Christ, not faith in the church or faith in the
priest or faith in the pastor, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Philippian jailer came
trembling before Paul and Silas and said, what must I do to be
saved? Well, Paul didn't say keep the
faith, baby, or just have faith. He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Listen to this verse.
He that seeth the Son, and believeth on him. Listen to this verse.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath life. He that believeth
not the Son of God, whatever he believeth, hath not life. Listen to this verse, 1 John
5, 11. This is the record. God hath given us eternal life.
This life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life, whatever he hath.
You may have faith in theology, or faith in the law, or faith
in the denomination, but it's faith in Christ that saves. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. He didn't say, I know what I
believe, or I know when I believe. He said, I know whom I have believed. And what does the scripture say
about Abraham, who's the father of every believer? Abraham believed
God. Now, faith had an object. It's
not just Abraham believed, he believed God. Like the body without
the soul is dead. Here's a body standing before
you, preaching to you. The thing that makes me speak
is the soul in this body. The thing that enables me to
hear is my soul. The thing that enables me to
see is my soul. Man is a soul. He has a body. If the soul leaves this body,
the body will be just like it is for a while. There won't be
any changes, except I won't see or hear or feel or speak or talk
or anything. Because the life's gone, the
soul's gone. And as the body without the soul
is dead, faith without Jesus Christ is dead. Christ is the
life of faith. He that seeth the Son and believeth
on him. That's what we're talking about.
Or a study of faith. Now no man's going to repent,
listen to this, no man is going to repent toward God in genuine
godly sorrow and genuine repentance till he sees his sin. Until he
sees his sin, and I mean by that until he understands something
of his great guilt before God. He's got the, you know we use
the word see. Our Lord said no man, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now,
you don't see the kingdom of God as buildings and so forth. The word there is understand,
discern the kingdom of God. Except a man's born again, he
doesn't understand the kingdom of God. He doesn't discern the
kingdom of God. And no man's going to repent
until he sees his sins, that is, until he understands the
existence of them, and the guilt of them, and the corruption of
them, and the power of them, and the depravity of them, and
the person against whom he's sinning. He understands something
of the nature of sin. And you're not going to repent
until he does. Even so, no man is going to believe on Jesus
Christ. and receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior until
he sees or understands or discerns to some extent who Jesus Christ
is, who sent him, what he came to do, why he did it, that God
may be just and justify the ungodly, where he is now. You see, in
order to believe on Christ, you've got to understand to some extent,
you've got to see to some extent, you've got to discern to some
extent who he is, that he's the ordained Savior, that he's the
appointed Savior, that he's the Savior that God sent to accomplish
this purpose, the redemption of our souls. That's what Paul
is saying in Romans 10, 13. He said, "...whose service shall
call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved."
Now why would a man call on a person to save him unless he needed
saving? For example, if a fellow falls
in a river and he's drowning and he cries out for help, he
realizes his condition. He realizes his helplessness. He realizes the certainty of
death. He sees a man on the shore and
he says, George, save me. He knows George can do it. He
sees the man. He knows the man has a rope or
a life buoy in his hand. He can save him. And he calls
for help. And this is the way men will
not call on Christ to save them unless they have a sense of their
sin. Lord, save me or I perish. Save me from what? From the power
of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the penalty of sin, from
the practice of sin, from the presence of sin. Something I
cannot do for myself. A man who's a good swimmer, who's
not in trouble, he may be swimming around in the river, he'll never
cry for help. because he doesn't need help.
And the well do not need a physician, and righteous people do not need
a Savior. But whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Now listen to
Paul. But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Paul is saying the same thing
that our Lord is saying. Our Lord said, Verily I say unto
you, He that seeth the Son understandeth who he is, what he came to do,
why he came to do it, where he is now. He that seeth the Son
discerneth, understandeth the mission, the task, the power,
the merit of the Son of God, and believes on him has everlasting
life. He that seeth the Son. Now we're
not talking about a vision. I'm always afraid of folks that
have visions. I don't want to listen to one. No, I don't. There was a fellow in hell, and
he cried, Father Abraham, he said, send Lazarus back to the
earth to preach to my brothers. Send the fellow back from the
grave. Let him rise from the grave and appear the vision to
my brethren and warn them not to come to this awful place.
And Abraham said, they have the word of God. They have Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear the word of God.
Oh, he said, they won't believe the word of God. But he said,
they'll believe if a fellow appears to them from the dead. And Abraham
said, now you listen to me. If they hear not the word of
God, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
We're not talking about a vision of Christ. Christ is revealed
in the scriptures. Christ is pictured in the scriptures. Christ is presented and promised
in the scriptures. And he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. So
when I say he that seeth the Son, I'm not talking about a
physical manifestation. Plenty of people saw him in the
days of his flesh who didn't believe on him. Plenty of people
saw him. I'm not talking about a vision.
I'm not talking about a dream. I'm talking about Christ revealed
to the mind and to the heart and to the soul through the word
of God. How does faith come? It comes
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's how faith
comes. How do we enter into the mysteries
of God's mercy? By reading the scriptures. And
the reason most of us are so ignorant of the gospel and ignorant
of the mysteries of God's mercy and grace is that we're ignorant
of the word of God. Some folks came to our Lord one
day and asked him a question about the resurrection. They
said, now here a woman has had five or six different husbands
and each one died and finally she dies. Who's going to be her
husband in the resurrection?" And Christ told them their whole
problem. He said, you do err not knowing the power of God
or the scriptures. There's the two areas where people
err the most. They don't understand the power
of God and they don't understand the scriptures. They don't read
the scriptures. They don't have any faith in
the power of God. For example, I heard a program the other night
on television. They were debating whether or
not a fish could swallow Jonah, and Jonah could stay alive in
the fish's belly for three days and three nights. I don't even
believe the Bible says that Jonah stayed alive. Jonah was dead
in the belly of that fish. You say, if he's dead, how did
the fish cop him out alive? How did the grave give up Lazarus
alive? Lazarus was in the grave four
days. And the Scripture said, our Lord said, Lazarus, come
forth. And he walked out of that grave a living man. Jonah God
prepared a fish and that fish swallowed Jonah and Jonah was
as dead as a hammer in that fish's belly The Bible doesn't say he
was alive all that time He was a type of Christ and our Lord
was dead in the grave. He laid buried in the grave He
was dead a dead body and at the end of the third day the morning
of the of the third day He came forth out of that tomb but we
air not knowing the scriptures and not knowing the power of
God God's power is is able to bring a man forth from a fish's
belly as well as from a grave. Someday everybody's going to
hear the voice of God, and every grave's going to open, and every
dead body's going to live, some that have been dead for 6,000
years. But that's the power of God.
And we need to understand the power of God, and we need to
understand the Scriptures. And the only way to understand
either is get in the Bible and quit following pamphlets and
preachers and start following God's Word. I want you to listen
to five things about the object of faith, this thing of faith,
the study of faith, seeing and believing. Now, the Bible promises
this on the word of Christ our Lord, he that seeth the sun. And that's to discern, to understand,
to enter into by understanding by the grace of God, something
into the person of Christ, who he is, what he came to do, where
he is now. He that seeth the sun and believes
and believes. everlasting light and Christ
said I'm gonna raise him up at the last day. Now here's some
facts about faith, the object of faith. First of all, in the
gospel, Christ is presented personally. As I said a moment ago, faith
has got to have an object. And this is where most people
miss the gospel. This is where most people miss salvation. It's
not a plan that saves, it's a person who saves. My friends, it's not
a doctrine that saves, It's a person who redeemed us. It's not a code
of conduct that redeems a person before God and makes him holy
in God's presence. It's a person. For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He gave His Son
to death. He gave His Son to bear our sins. He gave His Son as a sin offering. He gave His Son as a sacrifice.
He gave His Son to the cross. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were born under the law. Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. It's a person who's saved. You
know, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and we're complete in him. Not a plan, a person. Not a doctrine,
a person. Not a code of conduct, a person.
First the person, then the privilege. You have the privilege because
you have the person. For example, if a woman marries a man and
she takes his name, then she has everything that he has. Being
one with him, whatever belongs to him belongs to her. He's then
responsible for her debts. He's then responsible for her
protection. He's then responsible for her
provision. He's responsible. She belongs
to him. So if we want the inheritance
of Christ Jesus, if we want the privileges and blessings that
God has given to Christ Jesus and invested in Christ Jesus
by God Almighty, we've got to know Christ. If you have Him,
you have everything. We're complete in Him. Christ
is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
First the person, then the privilege. First the person, and then the
redemption. First the bridegroom, then the
inheritance. That's where it all is. It's
in a person. The object of faith is a person,
Christ Jesus. And then the gospel presents
Christ undivided. Now listen to me. Paul said to
that Philippian jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Lord designates his
sovereignty, his kingship. He's king of kings and Lord of
lords. The word Jesus is his name of humiliation, his name
of suffering. It's the same word used in the
Old Testament, Joshua, deliverer, savior. Christ became a man and
became our savior. That's his name of humiliation.
Christ, Israel looked for the Christ, the consolation of Israel,
the prophet. Moses said, God will raise up
from among the brethren a prophet like unto myself. Listen to him,
prophet, priest, and king, Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody says,
well, can't I have Jesus to be my Savior and let Caesar be my
Lord? That's exactly what they wanted
back in those days. It can't be. If Jesus Christ
is not your Lord, well, my friend, He's not your Savior. It doesn't
matter who says He is. I know some outstanding evangelists
today are on record as saying that you can accept Jesus as
your Savior, and then later on, if it's convenient, if you're
so persuaded, you can make Jesus your Lord. It's not so. You can't
divide Christ. He's undivided in the scripture.
He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you call me Lord with
your lips, but your hearts are far from me. Some people want
his benefits and not his teaching. Some people want his teaching
and not his atonement. Some people want his atonement
and not his lordship. But the gospel does not divide
Christ, and neither does any sensible minister of the gospel.
If he's your Lord, then he's your Savior. He'll be Lord of
all, or he won't be Lord at all. Thirdly, I said I'd give you
five things about this object of faith. The Scripture, the
Word of God, the Gospel presents Christ personally. The Gospel
presents Christ undivided, prophet, priest, and king, Lord and Savior. And the Gospel presents Christ
exclusively. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now, that's as clear as words
can state anything. Men do not come to the Father
through the law. They do not come through the
church. They come through Christ, or they don't come at all. Or
the foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ
the Lord. There's none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved. To put one foot on Christ and
one foot on your church, or one foot on Christ and one foot on
the law, or one foot on Christ and one foot on your baptism,
is to have one foot on a rock and one foot in the quicksand.
You're finished. It's got to be Christ or nothing. It's all of grace or all of works.
It's not a mixture. He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, all I need. In his life, Christ
is my righteousness. In his death, he's my sin offering.
In his resurrection, he's my victory and triumph. In his intercession,
he's my mediator. He's everything, all I need.
Serving Christ and obeying Christ is a response to the love that
Christ has for us It's not in order to earn it or to gain it
as a reward or to merit it through some service We have Christ and
we serve him because we have him because we love him and Then
fourthly the gospel presents Christ freely freely the scripture
says in Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death now I've earned
my My wages. If I get death and destruction,
I deserve it. I've earned it. I've merited
it through my sins. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. It's a gift. It's called
the unspeakable gift. The believer does not receive
Christ as a reward, but as a free gift. The believer does not receive
Jesus Christ as a result of his works. He receives Christ through
the gracious mercy and love of God Almighty. The hymn writer
put it like this. Naked, I come to thee for dress. Helpless, I come to thee for
rest. Vile, I to the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die. In my hands, no price I bring.
The believer receives Christ with empty hands. Simply the
cross of Christ, I claim. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? These, for sin, could never atone. Christ must save. And Christ
alone. We have Christ freely. Freely. And then in the fifth place,
the gospel presents Christ sincerely. Now 1 Timothy 1.15 says this
is a true saying. It's not to be argued, it's not
to be debated, it's to be accepted. It's a true saying and it's worthy
of all acceptation or acceptation by all men. Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. You come
to Christ and you'll find rest. God says that. You receive Christ
as your Lord and Savior and you'll receive peace. My peace I give
unto you, Christ said, not as the world giveth, give I you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. I guarantee
this. I cannot guarantee God will save anybody because I do
not know men's hearts, but I guarantee this. If any person feels the
guilt and the weight and the burden of sin and feels his own
helplessness and inability to put away that guilt and that
burden and that load, and wants to know the living God, and wants
to be cleansed, and wants to be forgiven. And that person
sees that Jesus Christ is provided by God and given by God and ordained
of God to put away the guilt of sinners, and that person will
receive Christ. I don't know to what degree of
faith or to what extent of faith, but whatever faith he has, lay
hold on Christ, sue for mercy in the name of Christ, cast ourselves
at the feet of Christ, and say, Let Christ be my propitiation.
Be propitiated to me. Be merciful unto me. Be sinner.
I believe God saved that person. But you can't come with one hand
behind your back. And you can't come with your
fist doubled up in rebellion against God. And you can't come
saying, well, I'll do this and I'll do that, but I won't do
something else. And you can't come saying, I believe this scripture,
but I don't believe that scripture. And you can't come saying, God,
I'll do this, but I won't do something else. No, sir. You
come like the leper, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole,
like blind Bartimaeus, Lord, that I might see you, like the
thief on the cross. These people were helpless. They
weren't dictating terms to God. They were laying themselves open
to his terms of surrender, and his terms of unconditional surrender. Our generation has dictated terms
to God too long. And that's the reason God's done
nothing for us. That's the reason we got the
phoniest, most artificial, counterfeit religious revival going on in
this day that's ever plagued the mankind and all the generations
mankind's been on this earth. The power of God is missing.
The glory of God's missing. The presence of God is missing.
And people know what they believe, but they don't know whom they
believe. eternalized to know the living God and Jesus Christ
whom he had sent. Don't you get hungry for the
very presence and power and glory of God? We're not going to see
that glory until we shut up to God's mercy. Now, I'm going to
give you five things in close. You say, Preacher, how may I
know if I have saving faith? Well, there's some characteristics
with which faith is identified or evidenced. And they can't
be imitated, and they can't be denied. There are five evidences
of saving faith that cannot be denied, and they cannot be imitated.
I'll give them to you briefly. First of all, saving faith knows
who Christ is. He's not a superstar. He's not
sweet little Jesus boy. He's not poor little frustrated,
defeated, disappointed, disillusioned Jesus. He's the God He's the
very God of their God. He's the very image of God. He's
God manifested in human flesh. Faith knows that. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Faith knows who Christ is. I
know whom I have believed. The demons knew who he was. They
said, well, we know who you are. You're the Holy One of Israel.
Have you come to torment us before our time? The Father knew who
he was. He said, this is my son. Listen to him. Thomas knew who
he was. He fell at his feet and said,
my Lord and my God, do you know who he is? Faith knows who Christ
is. Secondly, faith rests totally
on the Word of God, not on anything else, not on a church catechism
or church creed or church confession of faith, but the Word of God.
We believe it because God said it, and that's why we believe
it. Well, faith is born of the Word of God. Of his own will
beget he us through the Word of truth. Faith grows on the
Word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow thereby. Faith's assurance is the word
of God. These things are written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal
life. Saving faith embraces Christ
with a sincere love to you that believe he's precious He's precious
and everything about him is precious. His words precious. His people
are precious His will is precious. His commandments are precious.
They're not grievous. Everything about Christ is precious
His day is precious. His people are precious. His
glory is precious. His world is precious. His Heaven's
precious everything about him precious his blood's precious
Saving faith embraces Christ with a sincere love Peter. Do
you love me? Lord, you know, I love you then
feed my sheep you will if you love him You don't have to pledge
people to give if they love Christ You don't have to beg people
to come to church if they love Christ You don't have to beg
people who read the Word of God if they love Christ Everything
about Christ is precious to them You don't have to have a quartet
to get people to come worship God on Sunday morning. If they
love Christ, they love to come to the house of God. Like David,
they said, I'm glad they said unto me, let's go to the house
of God. I'd rather be a janitor in the house of God than dwell
in the tents of the wicked as the Lord and master. Fourth,
the saving faith is the consent of the will. It's the agreement
and confession of the mouth. Yes, sir, our Lord has no secret
disciples. All his disciples stand up and
be counted. They raise the flag of Jesus
Christ the Lord right at the top of the masthead. They say,
I used to be in the Navy. I was a signalman. And we kept
our flag just high as shit go when we were over in enemy waters.
We wanted to know whose side we was on. And I believe every
believer wants everybody to know whose side he's on. Christ is
my Lord. And then last of all, saving faith justifies God, whether
in mercy or judgment. Job said, the Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away. Praise God. Can you do that?
Saving faith can't. Whether in mercy or judgment,
the Lord gave, thank God. But the Lord took it away, thank
God.