Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-fitzpatrick/only-head-knowledge/
I'd like to begin reading a few portions found in the Word of God. Numbers chapter 21. Numbers 21 and verse 4. The Voyage of the Children of Israel. Numbers 21, verse 4. And they journeyed from Mount Horeb by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Eden.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. They spake against God and they spake against Moses. Verse 7. Wherefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord.
Verse 8. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a firing serpent and set it on a pole. And it shall come to pass that everyone is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole.
And it came to pass if the serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. Look at Jonah. Jonah, Micah, Nahum near the close of your Old Testament. Jonah chapter 2. I'm going to read about a man that's in a claustrophobia special.
Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1. They tell me don't start reading till none of the leaves are turning. Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1. And Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. And he cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord.
And he heard me. And out of the belly of hell cried I and thou hearest my voice. And thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas. The floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy ways passed over me.
And verse number 8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed and notice here. Salvation is of the Lord.
And the Lord spake unto the fish. And vomited Jonah out upon dry land. John's Gospel chapter 3. These are well-known portions perhaps to most if not all in the audience tonight. Jonah chapter 3 and verse 1.
John chapter 3, not Jonah chapter 3. Brother Frank almost fainted there. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. A ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art a teacher come from God.
For no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Notice verse 3. A key verse, a key truth, an unchanging truth. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, or it must be so, it must be so.
I say unto thee, Except a man, except you or I have the new birth, born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I know the Lord will bless the reading of the good word of God. What's on my mind tonight is circumstances of people through the years that have come up to me and said, you know, I am trying to be saved.
I am longing to be saved. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and they've never been saved. My mind goes to a young couple. We had a cottage meeting not too long ago. And the young fellow came up to me and he said, I need to be saved.
I asked him why he needs to be saved. He says, I am a wicked sinner and I need a Savior. The young lady sitting on the other side of the sofa there, I turned and I looked to her and I said, when are you going to get saved?
She says, I already am. Then she said, why did you ask me that question? I says, well, if I had to go to a court of law and stand before the judge, I cannot think of one thing at all that I could tell the judge that this girl has eternal life.
I can't think of one evidence in your life that would merit you knowing whom to know is life eternal. I could tell the judge you have told me that you are saved and you are a Christian. But I says, uniquely, you never want to come to meetings.
Uniquely, you run with all different boys on the streets and you're out at all different hours of the day. And I says, everything I can think of in your life is indicating outwardly you know about Him, but you have never personally come to know Him as your own personal Savior.
I think of my granddaughter. I don't know how many years we would have talked with her, explained the message to her, and she would say, Granddad, Grandpa, I'm all right. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm saved.
There is a vast difference between head knowledge about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done and finding out what He did personally for your sins. If you have never found out in the journey of life from the Holy Bible, book divine, precious treasure, yours and mine, that sin is your problem, let me help you get located tonight, you have never been saved.
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Many a younger one or an older one will tell me, or my preaching partner in different places through the years, I want to be saved. And why do you want to be saved?
I don't want to be in hell. That's interesting. That's a good desire. But the reason a person gets saved and the reason a person needs salvation, it's my sin. I have sinned against God. And so we read in the book of Numbers a well-known story, a well-known account of the journeys of the children of Israel, moaning and groaning, not liking the sufficient, satisfying, strengthening portion of the manna God was giving to them.
God sent in fiery serpents and they bit the people, and many of the people began to die. And they asked Moses, we have sinned. I want you to travel down memories lane from the front row all the way to the back of the hall tonight, we thank God that you're here.
And I won't ask you any questions at the door. You can ask if you want. But I want to ask you in the fear of God, has there ever been a time in your life when you were awakened by God? My sin is my problem.
And my sin is going to keep me out of heaven. And I need to have my sins forgiven. I want you to travel in the journey of life. I didn't have the Christian home. And the first time I heard the gospel was the end of the sixth grade, 1959, to locate myself.
And I was shook that the christening and the baptism and the joining the church was not going to bring me to heaven. And I was shook when I heard the words clear, you must be born again. And I said, how could I be born again if I don't even know what it means?
And I left those two weeks of children's meetings knowing. I am heading to hell. And I need my sins forgiven. And I am clueless how I can have Christ. We are praying in this meeting tonight for an awakening of God.
We're looking for God to work because salvation is of the Lord. We read those little verses in Jonah there. And I'm kind of a claustrophobic person, so I don't like to use elevators. So I decided one time when I had to go to an office three flights up.
This is John. This is absolutely ridiculous. And I pushed the buttons. And I got stuck in it. I couldn't believe it. Thankfully, it didn't last too long. Thankfully, the microphone was working and all.
But Jonah was in a claustrophobia condition. He's in this big fish seaweed around him, water splashing around. Maybe you can feel the anatomy of the whole fish or whatever it is. It must have been the darkest, the darkest, spookiest, the spookiest places he could find.
But there's a very interesting point. Jonah could not change his condition. And his condition did not change until he came to the point, salvations of the Lord. If you are trying to be saved, if you are working to be saved, if you go home and, Lord, I believe it more and I believe it more, you've missed the whole point.
Salvation is not what you do. Salvation is all what he did. And as you read these verses, they're clear and they're plain. And the God of this world wants to blind your mind. Lest you believe the light of the glorious gospel.
So John chapter 3 is a thrilling passage in the word of God. Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas in prison. And as you read these passages, there are details that are not in the lines written, that are taking place in the lines of the individual.
Nicodemus, the redoubler, not right with God, all the ramifications. Between the lines he realized, my sin is not forgiven. Between the lines there was a dawn of illumination from God. My sin is not taken care of.
Come to Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas. And a piercing, pulsing question from the jailer. What must I do to be saved? There was a realization in his life, though the scriptures don't mention it in the account.
Sin is my problem. Sin is my problem. I need my sins forgiven. The prodigal son could come home and he could say, I've sinned against God. And I've sinned against father and family. And I'm no more worthy to be called my son.
Nobody ever gets near the foot of the cross. By faith, until there is a work of the gracious Holy Spirit to illuminate, my sin is my problem. Many years ago in Eastern Oregon in a tent, door to door, knocking at the doors, I asked the lady to come to the Bible meeting.
She says, oh, sir, I wouldn't need anything like that. Well, why not? She says, I've never sinned. I says, that's quite a statement. But I see a man in the backyard in a shed. Is that your husband? It is.
Could I have your permission to go and ask him if that's a true statement, that you have never done anything wrong in your life? She says, well, really, there's no need for you to talk to him about that.
We may not want to admit we've sinned. And we may not want to swallow that big pill that I'm a guilty vile sinner heading down to hell. And if God doesn't save me, I'll never be saved. So as I weave in this account, I find people with a dilemma on the streets every day almost.
I find them in meetings like this or whether meetings in a Grange Hall or anywhere you want to call it. And you ask them, are you saved? Oh, yes, I'm saved. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You're believing never saved you.
And if you are resting in what you have done. You've never been saved. Plunk, plunk preaching. No sense beating around the bush because before us is heaven or hell. And the reality of some in this gathering could leave this scene for the great beyond.
And end up in the awful place for eternity. If you are resting in what you have done. And the believing you have tried to do. And maybe done it harder and maybe I didn't say it right and all the ramifications.
You've missed the whole thing. It's on what he did on the cross. It's believing in him and on him. Two words, one's a little more older English than the other, but they mean exactly the same thing. I am not resting on what I did.
I am not resting on my believing. I am resting completely on what he did. The holy spotless one, the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary for my sins. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
First Timothy 1 and 15 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If there's a sinner in the meeting tonight that wants to be saved and a sinner in the meeting tonight that knows you need to be saved.
The Lord Jesus is ready, willing and able to save. All you need for salvation has been completely paid. By the precious blood, by a life laid down. The just one for the holy one, the spotless one. On one of the seven cries of the cross.
Of the Lord Jesus on the cross. We come to a thrilling little statement. It is finished. What does that mean? All that you and I need to have our sins forgiven. All that you and I need to have the new birth or be saved.
Rescued or delivered by God. Ransomed and reconciled and brought in the family in the fold. Has taken place by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing more to add to it. God is not asking you to pay.
God is not asking you to say special prayers. God is not asking you to do good works. God is not asking you to turn over a new leaf. He is asking you by faith to come to the foot of the cross. And take God at his word.
That Christ died for the ungodly. And to realize I was the ungodly sinner. For whom he did die. Salvation is completely paid already. Unbelievable. That the son of God would love me and love us unto death.
Even the death of the cross. I can't grasp it. But I accept it and I bask in the sunshine of it if I can call it that way. Salvation is not in your believing. That's a work. It's simply in taking God at his word.
Of what he did on the cross at Calvary. Mr. McCandless could say, John. I'll take you in the plane and I'll bring you down to Kansas City Wednesday so you don't have to drive there. That sounds good. Would I believe him?
I would. Traveled with this little bird years ago. Capable. Knowledgeable. I wouldn't doubt him at all. Why is it we believe fellow mankind often. But we have difficulty believing God. What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel.
The gospel is a simple message. Christ Jesus. The son of God. Laid down his life. As a payment. As a substitute. I found out in 1959 for my sins. And I go free. I haven't got any more today. Many years later.
Then I went in the fall of 59. He died for me. He paid for my sins. I go free. And Nicodemus is scratching his head and he says, I don't understand it. It doesn't seem to make sense. And Moses said his Lord Jesus speaking to me.
This is Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so must the son of man be lifted up. What was he doing? He was pointing to the cross. Pointing to the Calvary. Pointing to the Messiah, the holy spotless one.
Foretold of years. 330 messianic prophecies. All with an accuracy. From 500 to 1100 years. Pointing to Calvary and the Christ and the crucifixion and the Messiah that came. He says he must be lifted up.
That whosoever believes in what he did on the cross for him. Not perish. Verse 15 and verse 16 are almost identical. And we often say a double mention is something doubly important here. For God so loved the world.
Who is that? And you'll all tell me that's me and you. That whosoever. You, me and anybody else. Believes. In what he did on the cross. For me. How do I find that out? It's written in the word of God.
It tells me Christ died for the ungodly. It tells me in the word of God that the son of God loved us unto death. Even the death of the cross. It is not your believing that saves you. But is an acceptance of what the Lord Jesus has done on the cross of Calvary.
So I like to call salvation. And illumination. From the God of heaven. To a lost perishing sinner. He paid for my sins. And I go free. My mind goes to Cedar Field, California, many years ago. A retired fighter fighter.
From Sacramento. One know what we're going to speak on and on. Second week of meetings when the tent came down out of the little park we were in. He says I got saved. I said how could you have gotten saved?
Because two weeks ago you didn't know anything and you almost mocked it. This is John. It was just like turning on the light switch. I found out. He paid for my sins. And I go free. I want to tell you.
God loves you. The Lord Jesus loved you unto death. Even the death of the cross. Wounded, bruised, beaten and battered. Treated in a barbaric manner. When they came to the place called Calvary. There they crucified him.
A little chorus. Why tell me why was he there? Jesus the helper, the healer, the friend. Why tell me why was he there? Have you ever found out? He was on the cross for your sins. That he paid it all. And you can go free.
God loves you. The Lord Jesus loves you. He gave himself for you. He is not asking you to believe harder and believe harder and read the Bible more and more. And he is not asking you to pray longer and all those things.
Nothing wrong. He is just asking you to take his word. Christ died for sinners as I read. And in my heart I find a need. For him to be my savior. He paid it all. No more to pay. Sounds too good to be true.
Every now and then. Somebody will see me at a store or something. Or I was at the dentist one time. And I went up to pay the bill. And the lady said, you won't believe this. But the customer before me gave me a blank check.
And said, fill in the amount. Your bill is paid in full, sir. I said, thank you. I contacted them and I said, thank you. Jesus paid for your sins. Wave after wave, billow after billow. Wounded, bruised.
Laid down his life. You can have everlasting life. He says the work is all done. I paid for your sins. Come to me. Take me at God's word. Salvation is taking God at his word. And you can pass from death unto life through what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross at Calvary.