[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John, entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] Oh, what a change in my life since Jesus passed by. And I'm thankful that he passed by in my life. I'm thankful he passed by in your life. For many of us that were in the church in the first year, that song brings back memories because that was probably one of the first specials that we had in our church.
[0:32] It was like the other day we were celebrating Michael Shane's 26th birthday, and now he's 42 this weekend. In six years, he's aged. You know, I was thinking about it, and this is Brother Lang's last night with us for several months.
[0:45] We see him again. I don't know if I remember his story correctly, but if my story sounds good, just leave me alone, okay? But I remember when Jesus passed by, when Lang came in here, and I believe we were calling it the Day of Atonement.
[0:56] We were having some special theme that day about the blood of Christ, and Lang came forward, went to the back, and Mark Tolson dealt with him to show the word. And that day, Jesus passed by in Lang's life, and oh, what a change he has made.
[1:10] Is that right, Lang? He's smiling like it is, all right? Either way, Jesus passed by at some time, and that's all that matters. I'm excited about that, to know that he passed by. And what a wonderful song as we look at John chapter number 9 tonight.
[1:22] I told you there's a division going on. There's always a division among believers and unbelievers. There's a division in our hearts. There's a division in our mind. And tonight, we will look at the heart of an unbeliever.
[1:35] A few people told me that went to the Judgment Day plays, Hell's Gate up in Dawsonville. How many of you went to that? Asked a lot of questions, okay? And so, many of you went to that, and you said, I don't like it when you wear a red tie, because it reminded me of the Antichrist that you played up in Dawsonville.
[1:50] Well, we saw in the book of Revelation up there that there's a real clear division, a real clear division. You had to make a decision. I'm on the Lord's side, or I will take the mark. And that's the book of Revelation for another day.
[2:02] But that division still exists today, even if it's not clear. There's no in-between. There is a real division of where you stand. And I know almost all of your profession of faith in here, except for a handful.
[2:13] I've heard your personal testimony. But if there's someone in here today that is not on the division, is not on the side of believing, I pray that today will be the night that you do become a believer, put your faith in total dependence on Jesus Christ for salvation.
[2:27] And I would personally love to tell you that and show you from God's Word. But for the remainder of you here on the same side of the division that I'm on, you say that you're a believer, that you come in the counter many times with people that are unbelievers.
[2:41] And sometimes you're astonished, as I've said before, because you can't remember, you don't know what it's like to think like that as an unbeliever. As I joke, there's no joking matter about being blind, but I have a much better idea what it's like to be blind than I remember what it's like to be an unbeliever, because it changed my mind, it changed my heart and insult doing it, it changed my life, because he passed by.
[3:03] So anytime you see in the New Testament the word division, except talking about the churches in the New Testament, the division's a good thing. Because, I mean, somebody got on the right side. So when there's a group of Pharisees arguing, like we'll see here, and there's a division among them, you say, praise the Lord, because some of them wised up and saw that Jesus was the Messiah.
[3:22] So John chapter number 9, verses 15, 16, 17, and 18, we will look there before we pray. Then again, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.
[3:32] He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.
[3:43] Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. That's the division we'll talk about tonight. They say unto the blind man again, What sayeth thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
[3:57] And he said, He is a prophet. Verse 18, But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
[4:10] Heavenly Father, I ask that you will be with us tonight, Lord, as people that have put their faith and trust in you, as a group of believers, Lord, give us understanding about the heart of an unbeliever, and give us a heart for those unbelievers, so that as we talk to them this week, Lord, we will talk to you about them.
[4:29] If there's one in here in the night, Lord, that is on the other side of this division, unbeliever, I ask that you will do the work that only you can do, to convict them and draw them to you tonight. In Jesus' name I pray.
[4:40] Amen. So we find a division here. Jesus asked the blind man that would show, Jesus asked the blind man that would show there's a division in washing on the Sabbath. So here in this story, as we had read earlier, verse 7, And he said unto them, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sint.
[4:55] He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. Depending on who you're reading, I don't read Jewish commentaries. I don't read their law. I have a new book, so I read that. And so, but many commentaries would say that Jesus broke six or seven laws here.
[5:11] He healed on the Sabbath. They even had a law that you're not supposed to put spit in somebody's eye. They had a law for everything. And so he broke that law. He made clay, which he wasn't supposed to be doing.
[5:21] And then he did several other things that could be argued were breaking of the law of religion. But when he told this blind man to get up and go wash, He was telling him, you get up and break.
[5:33] Not the law he gave to Moses, But the law that they had created, And creating a false religion. And this man had to make a decision that day, To leave all the merit of this false religion, That sitting in front of the synagogue, Or whatever he might have done.
[5:48] And as he walked there that day, And as he washed himself, He walked away from a false religion, Unto Jesus Christ, And a relationship. And you guys love that.
[5:59] Everybody loves that. This idea that we walk away from a false religion, And we walk to Jesus Christ, And we have a relationship. All of us love this. I know some of you won't have a clue what I'm talking about, But some of you will.
[6:10] Which is the majority of what happens as I'm talking. But as we're talking, Talking about a YouTube video that came out. Little short videos, brother John. You show me a couple. You know what I'm talking about. Alright, so there's a YouTube video that came out, And it's popular on Facebook.
[6:24] And it had a message that I would say amen to, But I would like to add some supplemental information to it. It was a man, And he was saying that he was, That Jesus came to abolish religion, And that he was, He hated religion.
[6:39] That he was a fan of Jesus. Well I say with no qualifiers, I don't know if I agree with him, But if he says he hates false religion, Then I say amen to that. Because in the Bible, We find that religion, That word, Is left neutral.
[6:52] When it refers to, It can refer to Judaism, In Acts chapter number 26, In Acts number 25, It talks about the Christian faith, Which I'm a part of. Religion can be a bad, When it's self-made.
[7:04] We see in Colossians chapter number 2, When it fails to tame the tongue, In James chapter number 1. But religion can also be good, When it cares for the widows, And orphans, And practices moral purity, In James chapter number 1, And number 27, Pure religion there.
[7:20] It has to have something that qualifies it. So did Jesus come here, To abolish religion? Well sure, If when he came here, To call people to him, It abolished all false religions.
[7:32] It creates a division. And I say this to tell you, That if you're going to confront, Unbelief in this community, You're going to have to confront, Religious people.
[7:43] If you're unwilling to share your faith, With religious people, You're going to find very few people, Here in the southeast, That ever share the message, Of Jesus Christ with.
[7:55] If you never have your eyes, If you never have your eyes open to the truth, You can never be able to share the wonderful work, Of bringing sight to the blind. The greatest miracle Jesus, Will do is seen here, With this blind man, Verses 35, And verse number 36, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, And when he had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
[8:15] And he answered and said, Who is he Lord, That I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, And it is he that talketh with thee. So when talking to him, He asked, He said, I'll believe, Who is this man?
[8:28] He says, I am the man, And that day he believed. So tonight we look at blind people, Who will stay blind. Earlier today we saw a blind man, Jesus passed by, He came, He had his eyes open, And that's something worth shouting about, Getting excited about.
[8:42] But tonight, As we look at the heart of these Pharisees, We look at a group of people that were blind, And when Jesus leaves, They stay blind. And that is way greater of a tragedy, Than going through life physically blind.
[8:55] We look at the unbelieving side of the vision, Asking God to give us a deeper concern, For the lost in our community. In Titus chapter number 1, Verse number 15, It tells us that, A believer and an unbeliever, Has a filter in which they see the world.
[9:10] Some people would call it a world view. Unto the pure all things are pure, But unto them that are defiled, And unbelieving is nothing pure, But even their mind and conscience is defiled.
[9:21] Meaning that an unbeliever, We'll look here, Regardless of the information being given to them, Regardless of the evidence being given, Regardless of the argument that's being made, If they do not decide to put their faith in Jesus Christ, And continue to be the unbeliever, All that they see will be filtered, Through this unbelief.
[9:38] It will be defiled, Because their hearts are defiled. We are surrounded by it. We've already been surrounded by it, In the book of John, When Jesus came to Nicodemus, He said, How are you going to believe me, If I tell you eternal things, If you can't believe earthly things?
[9:51] If I tell you you can be born again, You can be born again, Regardless of how I mention it. In John chapter number 6, Those disciples that left away from him, When he said, Eat my blood, Eat my flesh, And drink of my blood, And they walked away, And they just said, We don't understand you, We are not followers, We are not believers.
[10:08] And the Pharisees of John, John chapter number 5, We'll look at verse number 39, Then we'll look at 44, They didn't have the word in their heart, And they honored him not.
[10:20] John chapter number 5, And verse number 39, Let's look there. Search the scriptures, For in them you think you have eternal life, And they are which testify of me.
[10:33] He's saying, You don't have the word of God in your heart, And then there in verse number 44, But I receive not the testimony from man, But these things I say, That you might be saved.
[10:44] In the, There in verse number 44, We're going to find, If you'll turn with me, Patrick, If you'll help, I still know how to use this book though, I guess I should do that. You have to rely upon Patrick. John 5, 44, It says here, And you can believe which receive honor one of another, And seek not the honor that cometh from God only.
[11:01] What he was saying is, You guys are so busy, Patting yourself each other on the back, And believing one another, And giving honor to one another, That you seek not the honor that cometh from God, That you're just not believers.
[11:11] And he deals with this. The Galileans in John 8, 35, He says, You don't believe me, Because I tell the truth. But the reason you don't believe me, Is because I don't tell the truth.
[11:22] If I was to tell you a lie, You might be willing to believe it, But you're not going to believe the truth. I learned a word, As I was studying in John chapter number 9, That many of you may be familiar with, But it's the word syllogism.
[11:33] It is when you have a, A formal argument, Consisting of a major, And a minor premise, And a conclusion. I'll give you an illustration. This week on email, I told somebody, Not to swipe something.
[11:45] That means, Do not steal that from me. How many of you know what it means, To swipe something in here? Okay, Most people that watch cartoons, In here raise their hand. On Dora the Explorer, There is Swiper.
[11:57] He swipes things. Swiper, No, Unbelievable. Okay, Dora, If she only taught the Bible, Alright, I'd be out of, We'd be out of a job. Swiper, No swiping.
[12:07] Okay, And so somebody wrote on an email, And Kyle responded, And said, No, Swiper, No swiping. And somebody wrote back, And said, Kyle, I didn't know you had any kids. Major premise, If you know about Dora the Explorer, Then you must have kids.
[12:22] Minor premise, And then a conclusion, Kyle does not have kids, But he knows about Dora, Which just makes them weird. Okay, And so, That is how you look at it here. And all through the book of John, Chapter 9, You're going to see, Major premise, Minor premise, And conclusion.
[12:37] Believers have one set of major premises, Unbelievers have another set, And we see this here, The committed Pharisees, Verse number 24, Of John chapter number 9, Look at what these men say, John 9, 24, Then again, Call thy, They the man that was blind, And said to him, Give God the praise, We know that this man is a sinner.
[12:59] Major premise for these unbelieving Pharisees, If you break the Sabbath, Then you must be a sinner, And if he broke the Sabbath, Then he's a sinner, And he cannot be God.
[13:11] For some of you, This is going to start clicking back, The conversations, You've had with unbelievers, And they have created a test, Where Jesus does not pass the test, And he cannot be God.
[13:21] So there's the, There's the premise for them, Committed Pharisees, He broke the Sabbath, He must be a sinner, Verse number 29, They blaspheme here, Know that, We know that God spake unto Moses, As for this fellow, That's Jesus, We don't call him a fellow, We can say Jesus, It is not poison to us, Like the Pharisees here, Would not say his name, We can say Jesus, Say it with me, Jesus, And for this fellow, They said, We know not from whence, He is, Oh they're angry, And they are hostile, And they're about to get violent, And lay hands on the blind man, And throw him out, Because this is the last step, In an argument, With somebody, Who knows, That they are losing, Jesus told Nicod, As we looked here, As we looked at Nicodemus, The Galileans, And of that, We see Jesus answer for them, And these people are getting answers, But they still do not believe, It says, They didn't even believe, Before they even started questioning, Back to number, Verse number 18, But the Jews did not believe, Concerning him, That he had been blind, And received his sight,
[14:22] Until they called the parents of him, That received his sight, Before they even started questioning, They already didn't believe, That's a bad place to start, With somebody, That is not a person, Who is ready to come to the truth, That is a person, Who is ready for argument, So we have committed Pharisees, Major premise, He broke the Sabbath, He must be a sinner, He cannot be God, Verse number 16, The verse that, One of the verses I love in this passage, Where it says, There is a division, This man is not of God, Because he keepeth not the Sabbath, Others said, Those others are the Pharisees, On the other side of the vision, They are confused Pharisees, They are convicted Pharisees, They are people, That are starting to recognize, This man is not a sinner, He is not just your average man, How can a man, That is a sinner, Do such miracles, And there was a division, Among them, Major premise, If he can do miracles, Then he can't be a sinner, And God is beginning to do a work, In their lives, And then I love the blind man, He is where I, He has the premise, That I have here, He says,
[15:22] Very clearly, Verse number 30, The man answered, And said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, That you know not from whence he is, And yet he has opened mine eyes, He says, Guys, You don't know, You say you don't even know where he's at, And you're supposed to be so smart, He opened my eyes, Major premise, He opened my eyes, He must be God, He did a miracle, He must be God, You don't know who he is, But he has opened my eyes, And verse number 33, It says, If this man were not of God, He could do nothing, Since he was able to do miracles, He was God, And that, As we see here, You have probably experienced this type of unbelief, And a different world view, Personally in your family, And I saw it clearly, On two occasions, This week, As I was studying, Brother Robert took me on a visit with him, And a young man, That he was making a visit with, And I sat down across the room, Or sat across from the table, With this young man, And I did all the talking, Even though I didn't plan on it, Because I was blown away, At this kid's theological IQ, He knew the God,
[16:23] He knew verses, He knew there was division, He knew that there was believers, And unbelievers, And he could explain it, As well as any fifth grader, I'd ever met, And definitely as well as any fifth grader, Whose parents were not involved, In church, And at the end of the conversation, He said, I'm just not a believer, And I was floored by it, From a fifth grader, Second conversation I had this week, Was from, I'll just pause there a second, I would like to say, I want to thank God, For the children's workers, That we have here, In our church, And I'm so thankful, That we have people, That my son can be raised up in, That pray for them, That teach them the gospel, And then allow the Holy Spirit, To do only what the Holy Spirit, Would do in their lives, And Robert was heartbroken, For that kid, And I became that way, As I thought about it, But this kid, He did not put his faith, In Jesus Christ, And we'll pray for him, Second conversation, A young man came, That was a teenager, That came for a short time here, And he called me on the phone, And he asked a series of questions, He said, Trent, If a person didn't believe,
[17:24] The same way as you, Would you still love them? And I said, Well sure, And he said all these questions, So I want you to know, I'm a Christian agnostic, And I said, Well congratulations, You're the first one of those ever, In all the history of the world, It's impossible, To be a Christian believer, Agnostic, Unable to believe, In anything, Together, But he was just telling me, That he was confused, And he wanted somebody, To tell him, The word of God, Or that's what he got, Regardless of what he called for, But I shared the word of God with him, And he just had, He didn't want to believe, He just did not believe, It was a willful, Unbelieving, It's not what the majority, Of the three billion people in the world, Who've never heard the gospel, That when Ben and Chris would go to China, For six months, They are dealing with, Unbelievers, That had not had a chance, To respond to the gospel, But tonight we're looking here, At the heart, Of the willful unbelievers, So we look here, At the disbelieving, We first looked at the vision, Now we're looking at the disbelieving, The disbelieving, And chapter nine, Classifies in great detail,
[18:24] The characteristics, Of the willful, Ignorant, Unbeliever, First of all, They play, By their own rules, They said, That he broke the Sabbath, So he cannot be God, And so he is not the Messiah, We want nothing to do with him, Those of you, Who have had kids in here before, And you've ever played, A board game with them, You know, That in playing a board game, With a small child, Regardless of how the game goes, Who wins?
[18:49] The child, Regardless of how the game goes, Who writes the rules? The kid does, Everything is bent, To their advantage, But the problem here, In this illustration, Is that this is not a game, When we talk to unbelievers, That this is serious business, But when you have a conversation, With them, They are not competing with you, They are only celebrating, Winning, Like a child would, They thought Jesus, Failed the test, The new miracle, Happened on the Sabbath, And they brought him, As evidence, Against them, This Sabbath thing, Is a big deal, If you didn't catch it, And it was a Sabbath day, Verse 14, When Jesus made the clay, And opened his eyes, This is when, Verse 13, They brought to the Pharisees, Him that a four time, Was blind, So when these people came, And they got him, They brought him to him, And they made sure, These Pharisees knew, Might have been there, On the Sabbath day, Might have been the next day, But they made sure, That these Pharisees, These neighbors, That took Jesus, To the Pharisees, They wanted to make sure, That they knew, That Jesus had broken the law,
[19:50] On the Sabbath, Some said they were curious, Some of them said, That they were trying, To put evidence, And show the Pharisees, They were wrong, But it seems to be, Very clear here, And the fact that, They brought up the fact, That it happened on the Sabbath, They were just unbelievers, Like the Pharisees, That were bringing a man, To be tried before them, Jesus had confronted this before, We'll look at Luke chapter number 6, Verses 7, 8, And 9, But as we look in Luke chapter number 6, Verses 7, 8, And 9, We're going to find, That he had had this happen, Before, That it was not coincidental, That Jesus chose, To make this happen, On a Sabbath day, Luke chapter number 6, And verse number 7, And the scribes, And Pharisees watched him, Whether he would heal, On the Sabbath day, That they might find, An accusation, Against him, So on the Sabbath day, Jesus is there, They know that Jesus, Sees hurting people, They know Jesus, Helps hurting people, Unlike these dead religious people, That were fine with letting those people, Set at their doors, They knew Jesus, Would do something, And so they're watching him,
[20:52] To see what he, Would do, Verse number 8, Says, And he, Jesus, Knew their thoughts, And said to the man, Which had a withered hand, Rise up, And stand forth in the mist, And he rose, And stood forth, He heals this lame man, Knowing what the Pharisees thought, And he asked them, If they thought it would be evil, Or good, And verse number 9, Then Jesus said to them, I would ask you one thing, Is it lawful on the Sabbath day, To do good, Or to do evil, To save life, Or to destroy it, Verse number 10, Says, And looking round about, Upon them all, He said unto the man, Stretch forth the hand, And he did so, And his hand was restored, The whole as the other, And they were filled with madness, And communed with one another, That they might do, To Jesus, They were filled with madness, And to see what they would do, To Jesus, Because he did what?
[21:40] He healed a lame man, He didn't just heal a lame man, Though they broke, The man made rules, That they had given, That he had to follow, The Sabbath wasn't made for God, And he was God, He didn't play by their rules, And they did not like that, At all, He said, They set a false standard, For the proof of deity, He cannot be God, Because he broke our rules, An unbeliever, You must be God, If you must, You cannot be God, If you do not follow, Our rules, God cannot be God, The God of the Bible, Cannot be the God, If there's such suffering, In this world, Your Jesus, The God of the Bible, Cannot be true, If everybody, Doesn't get the gold of heaven, Your God cannot be true, If there's still poverty, In this world, Your God cannot be true, Because there's hypocrites, In the church, Your Jesus cannot be true, Because you are judgmental, Your Jesus cannot be true, For fill in the blank, They have created a test, For him, That was never supposed, To be given to him, He is God, He sets the rules,
[22:41] They see every move, Made as a support of the fact, That they are right, They are looking at it, As Titus 15, Through this unrighteous filter, And everything, Look at verse number 21, In these cowardly parents, Back in John chapter, Number 9, Verse number 21, It says, By what means he now seeth, We know not, Or hath opened his eyes, We know not, He is of age, Ask him, He shall speak, For himself, These parents here, When they were questioned, They were speaking there, In verse number 21, I guess I could do voices for you, That would help you know, Who is speaking, And in verse number 21, The parents here, Are speaking, And they said, Don't ask us, Ask him, Do you really believe, These parents did not know, What was happening, Do you really believe, That any parents, Had their son come home, That was once blind, Is now a scene, And they didn't ask, What the story was, These parents were afraid, Of being excommunicated, To being sent out,
[23:42] Of the synagogue, They were afraid of that, Because they, They could be thrown out, Of the synagogue, For seven days, They had a name for it, There was a name for it, Between seven and thirty days, Thirty days to a year, Or thirty days plus, You were thrown out, Of the synagogue, You were thrown out, Of the synagogue, You couldn't get married, You couldn't have a funeral, You were thrown out, Of those people, Which to them meant, When you died, You had no place, In paradise, In heaven, You were out of it, You were thrown out, And these people here, They were afraid, Of being separated, From their religion, And more so than not, They seem to be afraid, Of being excommunicated, From their social network, From their community, So the unbeliever, Rejects the facts, So they look for another story, They don't like the way, That one person told them, That they were a sinner, A native Jesus, So now they're looking, For another Christian, That can tell them, The testimony, Where it would be different, Truth is, I know I can, The truth is, I know I can see, I was a blind man, Their unbelief, We know we hate him,
[24:43] And so that's what, We're looking for, And they only saw evidence, To support their premise, Blind man, You said you once were blind, But now you can see, And you believe that Jesus did it, We don't like that story, So now we're going to go over, To the parents and say, Come on, Tell us what really happened, We don't like that, Can I tell you, This ought to hit our hearts, With such conviction, Because if you're in here, And people will come to you, And they went to another Christian, They went to another person, That was a witness, In John chapter 1 verse number 8, I am a witness, I know the gospel, I know what Jesus Christ did in me, I know who I was before the gospel, I know who I am now, And they don't like that story, So now that they don't like the witness, They don't like the testimony, They have heard from one man, They're going to go to another one, And they're going to say, So tell me, Is this really true, Do I really have to admit, That I'm a sinner, In need of a savior, Because they don't want the truth, So they're going to try to find, A witness of anything, But that, Many Christians live with the same fear, They fear being excommunicated, From their social network, They remain fully silent,
[25:43] About the truth they know, Nothing contributes to the confusion, Of the gospel in America, More than these people, Why is the gospel so misunderstood, It's because, You and I, Want to please the crowd, More than we want to praise, The Christ of the Bible, This is a very big deal, It happens around the water cooler at work, It happens over at lunch, It is a confusion, Over the gospel, And you and I, Sit there, As erroneous things are said, About the gospel, And about the Bible, And we sit there, Silently, As a testimony, Of the fact, That is true, Well I just don't believe, That a good God, Could ever send anybody, To hell, I just believe that, You know, I go to church, And I do good, And so that's, You know, I'm a good person, You hear these things, And you testify, That they are true, By your silence, Also the unbeliever, Believe that they always win, They always want more evidence, They continue, In verse number 8, They just ask again, And again the questions, Moses talked about,
[26:45] These apostates, Who see the truth, And they reject it, Willfully blind, And willfully, In chapter number 32, They say, They just do not, Have faith, Which is what's required, To believe the truth, Jesus did not play, These games with them, Look at John chapter number 7, Verses 42, And verse number 43, As we turn there, Tell me, What city was Jesus born in?
[27:06] Yeah, Okay, Thank you, What city was Jesus born in? Bethlehem, 5,000 points to this side, Okay, Bethlehem, John chapter number 7, And verse number 42, And verse number 43, Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh to the seed of David, And out of the town of Bethlehem, Verse 41, You didn't see that, Others said, This is the Christ, But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
[27:32] Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh to the seed of David, And out of the town of Bethlehem, Where David was? So there was a division, Among the people, Because of him, What's the problem with that story?
[27:44] Guys, Jesus, They said, Guys, This can't be the Messiah, He came, The Bible says, He's going to come out of Bethlehem, He's not going to come out of Galilee, What do you say, If you're in the room at that time?
[27:54] If you're one of the disciples, You're around, You would raise your hand and say, Well sir, He was born in Bethlehem, But you know what Jesus knew here? That there wasn't enough evidence, To give to an unbeliever, To get them to change their mind, Because the problem was not in their mind, But it was in their heart, So he allowed them to say that, Because he was not going to continue, To give further evidence, That they were going to ignore, When there were so many people, That are still, They haven't heard, And I'm not saying, For one minute, Please don't misunderstand me, That unbeliever that you know, In your workplace, Your friend, I'm not telling you, To give up on them at all, That is not part of our vocabulary, As a Christian, We do not give up on people, It's easy for me, To give up on my neighbor, But if that neighbor is your cousin, You're not going to give up on him, It's easy for me, To give up on the guy, At the end of my street, Unless it was your brother, Then I wouldn't want to give up on him, And we don't give up on people, But we do know, That if salvation is going to happen, It's going to be a work of God, In their heart, And so just talking to them about God, May is not going to do it, We have to talk to God,
[28:56] About them, And say God, This can't be done, Their hearts are unbelieving, Bring conviction, And so we see here, It's almost comical, Of what they said, Now there's a decision, That has to be made, You know there's only one thing, More amazing to me, Than the healing of the blind eyes, In this story, Is this kind of unbelief, The blind man had a choice to make, He was told to watch on the Sabbath, He was sitting in front of the synagogue, He had all of his merit, Of his old religion, But he walked, And he left, A false religion, And this divided the Pharisees, They had a choice to make, They hated him, For the choice he revealed, That they were making, They told them, We hate you so much, You were born in sin, We don't want to hear from you, And they cast him out of synagogue, And this was the same as, Chapter number seven, At the end of the chapter, When Stephen is preaching the truth, They close their eyes, And they bite on their, Teeth, And they make noise, They just don't want to hear the truth, Because they don't want to play, By the rules of the Bible, They just hate the truth, Unbelievers are willing to do anything, But repent, And acknowledge they are sinners, These Pharisees,
[29:57] Would have been glad, For another manual, They would have been glad, For another book of things to do, But the one thing, They were not going to do, Was repent, And say they were sinners, And he was a savior, Jesus does not meet, The religious qualifications, To be God, By an unbeliever, And I am glad, That he did not make, Himself to have to take that test, Have some application, Before I pray for the night, There are many in this world, That are not willfully unbelieving, But just have never heard, When they hear of Jesus, They will say like many, In verse number 12, Where is he, Before you get discouraged, In here and believe, That everybody out in this community, In the world, Around the world, Is an unbeliever, Like seen in the heart, Of the Pharisees, It's just not true, I remember at the age of nine, When my sister explained the gospel, I knew there was a hill, I said, Where is that man named Jesus, I need a savior, And there's people that you work with, And there's friends that you have, And they just need, To hear the gospel, On the other side of the line, Of the division of unbelievers, Those that are willfully unbelieving, There is the, We know that we must fast, And pray for them, And tonight should have been sobering to us,
[30:58] To the reality, Of the horrific nature, Of an unbelieving heart, I don't remember what it's like, Titus 1 15, My mind is made pure, My heart is made pure, By the gospel, I don't see the world, My major premise is, I was once blind, But now I see, He must be God, He's done a work in my life, And everything that I see, Says the gospel, Everything throughout the day, It says that God is good, And that he died for me, And I was unworthy, But the heart of an unbeliever, Is not so, And you and I know those people, And we have talked to them, And they did not want to play, By the rules of the Bible, They have wanted more evidence, And it's never been enough, They wanted to create a test for Jesus, That he will never pass, Because he never made that, As his test, And your heart is heavy for them, And you need to find a place, Here at the altar, In your seat, At your home, Throughout the week, And say God, Work in the heart of the unbeliever, And draw them to you, Heavenly Father, I ask that you will be, With all the prayers, That are going up to you tonight, In this room, And around the world, For the willful unbeliever, For those in our family, Our friends,
[31:59] And our co-workers, And wherever we may meet them, At a door, At a visitation, And they just say, They do not believe, I ask you to do, Only what you can do, In their heart, And to draw them, To you, Lord, I know that as I, Share the word tonight, Lord, That names came upon, The hearts of people, In this room, Because they, As believers, Hearts are heavy, For unbelievers, And I'm asking you, For those names, Lord, That are being sent up to you, In prayer, Lord, I'm asking that you, Will work in their hearts, Wherever, They are at, Lord, You know the names, That are upon my heart, And where they are at, And where they are sitting, And what they are thinking, And Lord, I've used every word, That I know, To try to explain to them, How wonderful the gospel is, But I'm asking God, Would you please, Bring conviction upon them, Would you please, Lord, Show him, That he is in need, Of the Savior, And you still love him, Regardless of what he has done, With his life, And do that, Lord, So many times, Throughout this room, With those that are being prayed for, You have been listening,
[33:02] To Trent Cornwell, Pastor at, Vision Baptist Church, In Alpharetta, Georgia, For more information, Log on to, www.visionbaptist.com www.visionbaptist.com you