Our scripture reading this evening is from the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verses 26 through 41. Perhaps you recall that last Sunday morning, preparatory sermon, we read the first 25 verses of this chapter, and our text was verse 25, whether The blind man answering the Pharisees who were dialoguing with the blind man, whether he, that is Jesus, be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. And so we saw the beginnings of God's grace in this blind man last week, and tonight we want to look post-communion at how a sinner grows in grace once that beginning is there. So we pick up then on John 9, verse 26. Then said they to him again, what did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I've told you already, and you did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again? Will you also be his disciples? Then they reviled him and said, thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, Why, hearing is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners. But if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. 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? 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.' And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no sin. But now ye say, We see. Therefore, your sin remaineth. May God bless the reading of his sacred word. Our text this evening is John 9. We want to focus on verses 35-38. 35-38, 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? 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. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Our theme this evening is, How Does the Seed of Faith Grow? Last week, we saw the beginnings, the planting of that faith. Now we want to look post-communion at how that seed of faith grows. We'll look at three thoughts. First, faith desires Christ. Second, faith believes on Christ. And third, faith worships Christ. How does the seed of faith grow? Faith desires Christ. believes on Christ, and worships Christ. The Pharisees were not yet ready to let the blind man off the hook where we left him last Sabbath. They weren't happy with the answer, one thing I know, I was blind, but now I see. And so they challenged him. yet again, and he repeats himself again and tells them what he knows of Jesus. In fact, he gets a bit sarcastic with them and he says, why do you ask me again? Do you want to be his disciples as well? And he, in verses 30 through 33, engages in some impeccable logic, seeing, of course, that the Pharisees really were blind to the truth, even though he himself had only begun to see. And the Pharisees don't really know how to respond to him. This blind man who now sees has such profound logic in trapping them that the Pharisees get angry. That's the way people often get when they get cornered and trapped. They get angry and they abuse him. And they say in verse 34, you were all together born in sin. That was their conclusion for anyone born blind. And do you teach us? And they cast him out. Now the word for cast him out here in the Greek is actually the formal word for excommunication. They excommunicated him from the synagogue. They formally expelled him from the commonwealth of Israel. Now that was no small things, friends. To be cut off from the outward privileges of the Jewish church They made this man to be an object of scorn and suspicion among all true Israelites. And often it was said in those days that there is nothing beside death itself that a Jew so feared as excommunication. And so this healed man leaves their gathering as a rejected outcast, rejected by the church leaders, but not rejected by the head of the church. You see, man, even church leaders, can reject people, can even reject people who come to the Lord's Supper. But there is a church office, the office of all believers, which no earthly power can take away. And then we come to our text this evening, in verse 35, we read that Jesus heard they had excommunicated Him and found Him. It's so simple. The Bible is so simple, isn't it? He found Him. What a wealth, what a wealth of material here. There's a whole sermon just in these words. Jesus heard they cast Him out and found Him. found him after he's excommunicated, found him when he's in deep trouble. Doubtless, Jesus knows everything this man is going through. But he did nothing until the excommunication was publicly reported. Now in some ways, the Lord operates in a similar way today. Christ comes to us in a day of trouble. He finds his people often in the midst of trouble when they can't find him. Call upon me, he says, in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. You see, unknown to this man, Christ was close by all the while, closer than this man ever realized. And that's true of you too, dear child of God. When you came to the Lord's table this morning, You saw, I trust, through your five senses, how close Jesus Christ came to you. And yet, perhaps you've left the table, and perhaps you've had a troubled day. Perhaps you came for the first time, and you're going through some anxiety about it, and you feel distance from God, or He distance from you. Well, He's nearer than you think. Call upon Him in the day of your trouble. Now Jesus knew, of course, how deeply afflicted an excommunicated person would feel, and so he hastens to comfort this healed man with himself. And there's no comfort like the comfort of Christ himself, as we heard also this morning. The beauty of Jesus is that he keeps tabs on all the losses and crosses and persecutions of his people. He knows all your trials, dear child of God. He says in Psalm 66, are they not all written in my book? And so he knows how to come with consolation at the right time, to speak peace to you when you need it, when everything seems to be against you. When the waters come and the fires rage, he says, oh Jacob, Fear not, I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the rivers, I will be with thee, and through the waters they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Jesus found him. That's everything. You know the story's going to turn out well, don't you? As soon as you read those words, Jesus found him. Jesus is heaven for the poor, needy, persecuted believer. This man lost the synagogue, but he found the heavenly Savior. The Pharisees cast him out of the temple, but the Lord of the temple found him. He was dishonored by those around him who dishonored Christ, but he was honored by the Lord of glory. What a blessing. But Jesus does more than find him. Jesus speaks to him. Jesus causes that seed of faith to germinate. He says to him, look at verse 35, An interesting question, rather a surprising question. We'd expect immediately that Jesus would comfort this man for all the persecution he just endured, but instead, he says, dost thou believe on the Son of God? Why this question? Hadn't this man just been scrupulously obedient to Jesus' command to go and wash in a pool of Siloam? Had he not just passed through a remarkable experience of healing, a kind of confession of faith when he said, one thing I know, I was blind, but now I see? Hadn't he exercised some degree of faith in Jesus, even confessing to others that Jesus was a prophet? When the Pharisees confronted him back in verses 16 and 17, Hadn't he spoken out bravely for Christ? Yes, even suffered for Christ. Yes, even gotten excommunicated for confessing the name of Christ. And why would Jesus now say, just now believe in the Son of God? Well, this man actually needed this question. And this question must be raised with us as well. It must be raised repeatedly. It must be raised to everyone, to the saved, to the unsaved, because this is the most fundamental question of all of life. It must be asked to God's most advanced saints. It must be asked to office bearers and to ministers. No one's exempt from this question. This question determines our eternal destiny. He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. It's a critical question. It's a necessary question. It's a profitable question. What about you tonight? Those of you who came, those of you who didn't come, do you believe on the Son of God? Our word believe here, as you know, is from the Greek word pistis, which means to throw all your weight on, to surrender to. It's not just a quick five-minute fix, a quick Conversion. Oh, you admit you're a sinner? Yes, I admit I'm a sinner. Oh, you believe in the Son? Okay, I believe in the Son. Oh, you're saved. You're assured. No, no. This is not an Arminian word, or man in his own power believes. To believe on the Son of God means you surrender your whole life. to this Son of God. It suggests trust, and reliance, and dependence, and that Jesus is your only hope for salvation. You're all and in all, and you cast yourself completely on His active obedience to obey the law for you, and His passive obedience to pay for your sin. You trust alone in that suffering, resurrected, ascended Jesus Christ we heard about this morning. That's the question. Have you by grace cast your entire being for 100% upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation? Do you believe on the Son of God? You see what Jesus is doing. He has a real heart for this man's spiritual welfare, for his growth in grace. Jesus is going to introduce to this man more material about himself. He's going to make this man grow in his understanding of Jesus, in the depth of his heart as well. He's gonna bring him to a conscious faith in Jesus and unveil for him exactly who Jesus is. And so he asks him the question, is your faith fixed on me? You see, it's almost as if he said, My dear healed friend, it is not enough that you have strong impressions in favor of myself as the glorious one who healed you. It's not enough that you become a confessor of me to the Pharisees. It's not enough that you've become an advocate to defend my name. It's not enough even that you were driven out of the synagogue for my name's sake. You need more than impressions. It's not enough that you've manifest a kind of preparedness to believe in me. You must believe in me as more than a prophet. You must believe in me as the almighty son of God, as the Messiah's savior. You must be consciously united with me by saving faith. Thus thou believe on the son of God. What an interesting approach. This man seems to be getting it from both sides. Pharisees are attacking him with questions, but they mean to ruin him. Jesus questions him, but Jesus means to do him real good. That's the difference. Jesus goes to the heart of the issue. He takes this man immediately to his greatest need. And no matter who we are sitting here tonight or standing here, our greatest need is to believe on the Son of God, to throw all our weight upon God's glorious Son. There's no other way to live. There's no other way to die. No question more urgent, more poignant, more personal, more important. Now, how do you know, how do you know if you believe in the Son of God? Well, you know, of course, by the fruits. And one of the basic fruits is, if you believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ becomes exceedingly precious to you as Savior and as Lord, to save you from your sin, and you want to obey Him with all your heart and all your life. And so I need to ask you tonight, Is Jesus Christ your Savior? When you think of Jesus, does your heart just swell with love and gratitude? Or are you a stranger to Jesus? Or maybe you have only had knowledge of Jesus, but you don't understand what it means to really love Him and cherish Him. And if you can't say that, to desire to love Him and to desire to cherish Him. You see, a true Christian has his heart go out to Jesus, his affections go out to Jesus. He knows he doesn't love Jesus as he should, but he wants to love Him more. There's a Jesus direction. It's a God thing, this faith, and it focuses on Jesus. It's God-inspired, it's God-worked, it's God moving the sinner to Jesus. And you see, if you're not saved, you really don't know what I'm talking about right now. In fact, maybe you're thinking, I don't even know if I believe, even literally, even in my head, that Jesus is the Son of God, because if you really believe that, you see, that's got all kinds of consequences. That means if you believe just in your head and not your heart, you're on your way to hell. That's a very serious thing. But I want you to just think about one thing. There's been millions upon millions upon millions upon millions of people in this world, from Adam all the way until today, who believe by God's grace on the Son of God. And there's not one person in all those millions who has ever been sorry for doing so. Think about that. And there's not been one person in all those millions who've been rebuffed by Jesus. And if you're unsaved, may I suggest to you that you go to the people of God in this church, or wherever you find them, and say to them, talk to me about what Jesus means to you. Because if you're missing Jesus in your life, if you're not believing in Jesus, the Son of God, you're missing what life is all about. You're missing everything. What a tragedy that is. It's a tragedy, of course, to believe in Jesus in your head only and deceive yourself, but it's also a tragedy not to believe in Jesus and both people will end up in hell. You must believe on the Son of God by the grace of God. There is no other way to live. There's no other way to die. So the question is a very big one. If you believe on Jesus and the Son of God, He'll be precious to you. You'll see Him as your only Savior. You'll see Him as your only Lord. Sin will become bitter to you. Holiness will become sweet to you. You will come to love the Word of God. You will delight in worshiping God. You will know something about bowing in patience under the rod of God. And you know what it means to resort to Jesus for help in all situations. you will know what it means to go to Jesus for faith in Jesus. So let me ask you again. I want to ask you if you have any of these marks I just gave you, seven or eight marks, according to the degree you want to have them. I ask you, do you know something of them? Do you know these marks? Do you believe on the Son of God? This man wasn't quite sure how to answer. He knew something of Jesus, but very little. But he knew this much. He wanted to know Jesus better. And that's the most basic mark of all. An unsaved person is not moved to really strive to know Jesus better. You see, only those in whom the seed of faith is planted Say, I don't want to just talk about Him or talk of Him, but I want to believe on Him. I want to know Him better. I want Him to be my life and my salvation. But this man doesn't have a clear view of this yet. He doesn't understand that salvation comes through believing. And it's possible that there are those sitting here tonight that don't understand that yet as well. It's amazing, isn't it, that You can read, and some scholar has counted, 3,000 times in the Bible where it talks about salvation one way or another, being by faith alone, 3,000 times, and still not understand it. Or you can hear 3,000 sermons that stress it from sermon to sermon to sermon and still not understand it. And instead, we offer objections, don't we? I know, when I was a boy, I did the same thing. Yes, but. Yes, I know you trust the Savior alone, but well, what if you're not elected? Or yes, but what if, well, I can't give it to myself. And on and on and on it goes. But the point of the fact is, you must be born again. It's not a maybe. It's an absolute necessity. And when you're born again, you see, repentance and faith are the twin graces that immediately flow in. Repentance and faith. You can't be born again, not have believing on the Son of God. You see, we're masters, we're masters at using truth to escape truth. So we think to use the truth of our inability to escape the truth of our responsibility. We're no different than Adam, who hid behind a bush until God drew him out. We're bush hiders. You see, if you can't say tonight an unequivocal yes to the question, does thou believe on the Son of God? Can you at least say an unequivocal yes to the question, I desire to believe on the Son of God? That's what this man responds with. This is his heart cry. Who art thou, Lord, that I might believe on thee? Isn't that an interesting response? What is your response? Are you doing what this man did? Are you inquiring of Jesus himself how you might believe in Jesus? Do you see that Jesus is both the person and the place to go to for saving faith? He gives faith and repentance, Acts 5.31. Come to Him and say, Who art thou, Lord, if you don't know Him, that I might believe on thee? Show thyself, reveal thyself, make thyself known. A sinner inquiring of Jesus about Jesus will usually soon be a sinner brought to liberty in Jesus by Jesus. Let me repeat that for your encouragement. A sinner inquiring of Jesus, about Jesus, will usually soon be a sinner brought to liberty in Jesus by Jesus. So if you're under impressions, and you know, you know that you need Jesus, don't step on those impressions. Don't trample them under feet, keep coming to him. And believe that faith desiring Christ leads to faith unconditionally believing on Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit. That's exactly what Jesus is doing in this man, this very moment. And so Jesus responds in verse 37, that's my second thought, faith believes in Christ. It says, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee. Oh, what words of comfort, what words of truth, what words of love, what words of hope. Allow yourself, my friend, no rest until you see Christ in his word as favorably disposed to you and you hear his voice speaking to you through his word. The very next chapter, Jesus promises his sheep shall hear his voice, and they shall follow him. There's room for you as well. He says, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. There shall be one fold, one shepherd. What an encouragement it was this morning to see 10 or so of the new Confession of Faith class coming forward. God is declaring through them, I've got other sheep, other sheep I have, I need to bring them. It's wonderful. Could you be among them? Why not? Spurgeon said in a sermon, people often say, well, why would he ever look upon me? And Spurgeon said, You should come to Him and say, why would He not look upon me? Because He saves sinners, even great sinners, and I'm a great sinner. Pardon my iniquity, Lord, for it is great. No one's beyond the reach of Jesus Christ. And this man gets it. He gets it. It's applied to him. He believes it. He receives it. He says, Lord, I believe. What a profound confession this was. So simple, so profound, as we heard this morning. The totality of His person believes in the totality of Christ's person. The total man believes in the total Christ. That's the beauty of faith. Faith casts the whole person upon the whole Savior. You know, in the financial world today, we're told, well, if you've got some savings, don't put it all in one place. You've got to, well, invest in different categories, because if one thing goes belly up, well, then maybe something else will fare quite well. And so you diversify your investments, we're told. But when it comes to heavenly investment, you put it all in one place. It's all Jesus Christ. You cast yourself entirely upon him. That's what this man did. Lord, he says, I believe. I believe. He means it with all his heart. It's the whole man. Faith in Christ is an act of the mind by which we apprehend Him as He revealed in the word of truth. It's also an act of the heart and affections by which we heartily welcome Him into our souls. And it's an act of the will by which we cordially submit to Him and trust in Him and bow in obedience under His laws. Faith is a receiving. A receiving of a glorious Savior. The Puritans called it closing with Christ, laying hold in a warm and believing embrace, surrendering all of self, clinging to his word, relying on his promises, clasping Christ as a ring clasp its jewel. A shorter Westminster catechism says, what is faith in Jesus Christ? And the answer is so beautiful. faith in Jesus Christ as a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. And the Bible has so many ways of putting that John Brown of Haddington, a great Scottish divine, wrote a chapter on this in his Systematic Theology, and he divided what faith is into many sections. This is what he said, faith is believing in Christ, looking to Christ, coming to Christ, running to Christ, fleeing to Christ, flying to Christ, entering into Christ, receiving Christ, buying of Christ, leaning on Christ, trusting in Christ, living in Christ, walking in Christ, waiting on Christ, yielding to Christ, hungry and thirsting after Christ, eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. It all means the same thing. You see, when something's very, very important in life, human vocabulary makes up many different words for it. Our sight is very important. So we've got, in English language, about 40 different words that talk about looking, gazing, seeing, staring, a whole bunch of words, because it's very important. You see, faith is so important in the whole realm of religion because it focuses on Christ that the Bible has all these different ways of describing the activity of faith. Alexander Comrie has a whole book on it called the ABC of Faith. And he too has, every chapter is a different activity of faith. Putting on Christ, being joined to Christ, holding to Christ, cleaving to Christ, acquainting myself with Christ, hearing Christ, choosing Christ, kissing Christ, taking Christ, committing myself to Christ, abiding in Christ. Come, he says, this is so many ways of just saying, believing on Christ. This is something we experience. And once you experience it, you know you've hit the gold mine of what life is all about. Jesus Christ. So what's the difference then between just a head knowledge and a heart knowledge? Well, let me say it this way. I've told you this illustration years ago, but I was standing in an airport one time with a man. And there was a small fleet of planes. We were going to a place just maybe 100 miles away. And there was one plane in that small fleet that just seemed very, very shaky. Someone was trying to start the engine, and there was smoke coming out, and the thing looked like it was on its last legs. It really did. And the man looked at me and said, you think that thing will fly? I said, no. Yeah, I guess, I believe it will. I mean, it's running. I said that up here. But 10 minutes later, they called us to go board the plane, and we had to go on that plane. That's another thing to get on the plane. But you see, that's what faith does. Of course, the comparison here is a bad one in a sense, because there's no weakness in Jesus, but what faith does is it gets on Him. It believes on Him. It throws all my weight on Him. You have to fly with Him, as it were. You can't just be at a distance and say, oh yes, I believe in Jesus Christ. No, faith puts its all on Him. That's what people often don't get. That's why there's so many millions of false conversions in America today. People say, I believe in Jesus Christ, and they just do it with their head. It's not sufficient. True faith surrenders. That's what faith is all about. It's a believing, trusting on Him, not just as Savior, but also as Lord, so it takes up my whole life. Faith is not the door. Faith is not our Savior. Christ is the door. But faith is the hand that knocks at the door. Faith is not the sun, but it's the eye that looks to the sun. Faith saves because its object is Jesus Christ. That's it. And so the Holy Ghost works this faith in the heart of every believer. Through His power, it is quickening, and His regenerating grace. Our understanding is enlightened, and we're brought to know Jesus in His Godhead and manhood, in His love and mercy, and we cast ourselves upon Him by grace. And He becomes precious. He becomes everything to us. And we see that in Him alone, God's justice is satisfied. And we say, Lord, I believe. I believe. He's my hope. He's my salvation. He's my trust. Now that faith can be very weak. Very weak. I read recently of a shipwrecked sailor who managed to swim to a rock And it was a wonderful relief to him to lie on that rock in safety. And he lay there through the night, through the cold, through the waves swirling around the rock. And the following day he was rescued. One of the rescuers asked him this question, but weren't you shaking? He said, of course I was shaking, but the rock wasn't. You see, a sinner through fear may shake, even on the rock of ages, but he can't be shaken off the rock of ages. The rock itself will never shake. So whether you have weak faith or strong faith, the question is, am I on the rock? Does thou believe on Jesus Christ? Can you say, Lord? Whether you said weakly, whether you said strongly, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I believe. And how can you be sure that even then you're right? Well, our text tells us in the last four beautiful words, and he worshipped Him. That's the validation. This is real. What do you think is the most important activity a gathering of God's people could ever do on this earth? Probably you'll say get together to pray. That's very important, very close. But the answer's a bit broader. The answer is worship. Worship. To offer to Almighty God acceptable worship. That is the most critical thing of all. The constant activity of the church of Jesus Christ and its perfected and glorified state in heaven, which is worship, should be the chief business of the church of Jesus Christ awaiting glorification here on earth. That's why we gather this morning, why we gather tonight, to worship the triune God. And what a glorious thing that is. Worship is not only a peculiar joy, worship is a commanded universal obligation. God says, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Worship is the purpose for which God created us. Worship is the purpose for which God redeems us. Worship is the purpose for which he perseveres within us and brings us to glory. If we fail to worship God, we fail in everything. Everything. We can have outward worship, of course, just like Elijah in James 5.17, the King James Version says in its marginal notes, he prayed in his prayers. You can pray and not really pray. You can worship and not really worship. But I'm talking now about true worship, worship by the Holy Spirit. Worship in spirit and truth is the way that God forms His people to bring Him glory. And this is the highest activity you can engage in in this earth. But what does that mean, to worship God? It's one thing to say worship is the primary hallmark of grace. It's another thing to say worship is the missing jewel of the modern church, as has been said by others. But it's quite another to understand what worship really means. We have so many strange ideas about worship. To worship God is to bow down before his majestic glory, And in Jesus Christ, based on the Scriptures, to bring Him the honor and the praise which belong alone to Him, and to do that with our heart, our mind, our soul, our entire being, that's worship. And that worship is mediated by Christ. You can't worship Christ without Christ. That worship is controlled by the Scriptures. He wants to be worshipped by the Word of God. And that worship, such worship, brings him all the glory. That's the worship that pleases the Father. And that's the worship that this man, in all his simplicity, in his growing faith, gives to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he worshipped Him. That tells you the faith was real. He worshiped him. The word for worship in Greek is actually two words, it's pros and keneo. Pros means towards, and keneo means to kiss. And the idea is to kiss towards, that all my affections go out toward the object of worship. My mind is engaged, my heart is moved, my will is bent. I long to worship Him, and I do worship Him, and my whole being wants to worship Him more and worship Him better, to count everything but loss and dung, as Paul said, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. Oh, to worship Him. If that's not your greatest desire in life, you're not a Christian. A Christian is one who wants to worship Jesus Christ. That's what church is all about. That's what the Lord's Supper is all about. It's not all about us, it's all about God. It's all about worshiping God. The Puritan Stephen Sharnock said, when we believe that we should be satisfied rather than that God should be glorified, we put God below ourselves as though he had been made for us rather than we for him. You see, the true work of grace, God learns to make, God makes a God-centered people. We learn to worship God, not ourselves or our experiences of God. God's satisfaction and our satisfaction, of course, are not mutually exclusive. When our greatest satisfaction is in worshiping God, we will have our greatest personal satisfaction as well. But it doesn't begin with us, it begins with God. And so when God's people are in the right place, the only thing that gives them true satisfaction is God's glory. When He is glorified, they are satisfied. This man was being trained and molded by Jesus. Even as Jesus dialogued with him, Jesus was putting things into his heart by His Spirit to cause this faith, this seed of faith, to germinate more and to grow more. And now He worships Him. You know, if you didn't get much out of the Lord's Supper this morning, this could be your problem. That you were looking at yourself, or maybe at other people, and that you weren't focused on worshiping Him, centering on Him, how wonderful He is in His character, how wonderful He is as a Savior. It's when we focus on Him and worship Him and exalt Him and lift Him up, through faith and through prayer, that we receive the benefit for our own soul. So may I ask you tonight, is this the greatest joy of your life? To worship God in Jesus Christ, based on his word. You know what it means to have your mind and your soul and your will just soar with joy? And God is exalted within you, and you worship Him. There's nothing like it in the world, worshiping God, kissing towards Him, all my affections out to Him. Whom have I, Lord, in heaven but Thee? And there is none on earth I desire beside Thee. This is what life is all about. And all our troubles and trials in life are so many knocks of God upon the door of our heart, and so many strivings of His Spirit in our lives to move us into the direction of worship. This is God's goal with us. You know, if God never brought any trials or troubles into our life, we'd be self-satisfied, and we'd miss what life is all about. But God gives us our problems, our trials, our crosses, our sicknesses, you name it. He gives it to us to move us, to feel our emptiness, to see our sin, to convict us, to empty us of all our self-righteousness, and then to come and worship Him in Jesus Christ. Now this is a growing thing in the lives of God's people. This man worshiped Him. Now there's still so much about Jesus he didn't know, but his faith is growing. And maybe those of you who came to the Lord's Supper this morning, you know your faith is weak, you know you're small spiritually, you know that your only hope is in Christ, but you know there's so much you don't know. That's okay. That's good. But don't be content to stay there. Ask God for worshiping grace, that you might worship Him and know Him better, and use the means of grace to get to know Him better. The Holy Spirit will bless them. Not just coming to church, and not just searching the Scriptures, as precious as that is, but also read good, sound literature. Read the best things. Read those God-exalting books that have moved so many hundreds of thousands, yes, millions of people in ages past to worship God. Read the best things and meditate on these things and let your mind and your soul be filled with them. And always come back to this. It's all about believing on the triune God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. This is life eternal. Faith on Christ is the church's only source of life. Faith on Christ is the church's secret source of evangelism. It moves you to go out and bring the gospel to others. Faith on Christ is the church's beauty. It makes the church look lovely when she's centered upon Jesus Christ. This is the way to live. This is the way to die. And so, when you leave the table today, when you go back out into the world tomorrow, Seek out other people who are oppressed, perhaps, like the blind man, or people who are void of Christ, and bring them the gospel in all simplicity. Ask them questions like Christ did. Draw them out. Speak to them about the one thing needful. And then be ready, as best as you can, to answer their questions, and to pray with them that God would reveal His Son to them that they would know the way of faith, the way of salvation. And when you speak with them and you pray for faith, make sure that in your own mind, you are trusting that Savior yourself, that He can do for that person what He's done for you. Because if He can do it for you, He can do it for anyone. So as you speak to others, as you dialogue with them, let Christ be your pattern here, the way he draws out this man, the way he speaks to this man. And as you do so, worship Christ yourself. One of the beautiful things about evangelizing other people is that your own soul's fed in the very act of evangelizing. and you're telling people the very things you need to do yourself all the days of your life. And so, may you take energy from the Lord's Supper and bring it out into the marketplace of this world, into the neighborhood around you, perhaps into your own family, to evangelize those not yet saved. Don't be like the Pharisees. Don't challenge those newcomers. Don't dig them up by the roots right around and try to supplant them or try to undo the work of the Lord or question the work of the Lord. Give it a season to grow. Let it winter. Let's see what comes of it. But meanwhile, go out, not like a Pharisee, but like Jesus, to question others. Draw them out and bring them to this great question. Believest thou on the Son of God? Amen. Gracious God, we ask Thy benediction upon this sermon. Please forgive our shortcomings in preaching and use it for the well-being of the new converts, but also the the older ones who've been many, many years to the Lord's Supper, and so often, Lord, we can become so complacent and need to be quickened again, need to be revived again. Oh, do revive us, we pray, and do fill our hearts with zeal and love for thy name and for the gospel. and for faith in Jesus Christ. Come, Holy Spirit, and work that faith. We can't give it to ourselves, Lord. We know that, but our desire is to give it, and so we come. We come to Jesus for Jesus, and we look to Him to believe in Him. Help us now and bless us, we pray, and go with us into this week, and be especially, Lord, with young people, be with the teenagers, who are wrestling with these questions that we tried to stammer a little bit about tonight. Please don't let them go the wrong way. Please don't let them live for themselves. Please turn them back to Thee, O God, and give that even this day may be a life-transforming day for many of them. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.