Let's open our Bibles to John chapter nine, the gospel of John chapter nine. I want to try to bring a message on the work of Christ, the work of Christ at four simple points in this message. the necessity of the work of Christ, the urgency of the work of Christ, the result of the work of Christ, and the means that the Lord uses to accomplish his work.

And lest I forget, speaking with somebody during the break, we were talking in light of the previous hour's message on how our God accomplishes his purpose through means. And all the variety of means that he employs, in no way, and all the choices that men make, in no way can thwart his purpose. He will accomplish his end.

And I was thinking, the cross is a means. We sing that hymn about clinging to the cross, but we don't cling to a cross. The cross doesn't save us. Christ saves us. The cross was a means to an end. The cross was the instrument of death that God used to provide for us the atoning sacrifice. But the cross itself is a means. And our God is so grand and so glorious that he employs all the different things that happened and things that are beyond our understanding, things that are beyond our control. And he uses them to accomplish his work, to accomplish his work.

Now in John chapter nine, we have the introduction as we saw last Sunday of the blind man that was born blind. There was a man there in Jerusalem that was born blind, been blind all his life. And he was an adult. How exactly old he was, we're not sure. The Pharisees went to his parents and asked him. He said, I don't know, ask him. He's an adult. Ask him for himself how he got his sight.

But the disciples wanted to know why he was blind. Was it because of? the sins of his parents or was it because of his sin? They wanted to draw a direct connection between some bad behavior and this affliction. And the Lord said, neither. Neither was it because of his sin or was it because of his parents' sin? The Lord didn't say he didn't sin or his parents didn't sin. but neither is he blind because of anyone's particular sin, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. I ordained him to be born blind. I purposed it, that I might come in this hour and heal him, that the works of God might be made manifest in him.

And that is the answer to everything that we are confused about in this world. It all serves the purpose of manifesting the glory of God and his work. Whatever it is, we often are comforted in our hearts by knowing this is for God's glory and this is for my good. But what we sometimes forget is that the greatest blessing that God ever gave to a sinner and the greatest need that a sinner ever had was the manifestation of his glory.

The glory of God is not for his benefit. God cannot be added to, he cannot be enlarged. Glory of God is for us. It's out of love that he would be pleased to share his glory with us. We don't enlarge God by glorifying him or by worshiping him. This is for us. So when we say, this is for the glory of God, that the works of God might be made manifest in my heart, that I might find by the grace of God the faith to trust him in what he's doing, in knowing that it will be for my good and for his glory. And my greatest good is his glory, is his glory.

Now look what the Lord Jesus says in verse four. I must work the works of God, the works of him that sent me, while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came see."

The first thing we see about the work of Christ is its necessity. I must. And for God to say, I must, is there anything God must do? Well, right here He's saying, I must. He must do what He's purposed to do. He's obligated himself, if you will. He's not obligated to us or to any other force outside of himself, but he is saying, I must do the works of him that sent me.

Now we ought to do the works of God, but how often we fail to do them as we ought. When the Lord Jesus said, I must do the works of him that sent me, what he was saying was, I am obligated to fulfill the purpose of my father perfectly. And I will. And I must. I must.

There was another time when the Lord Jesus said, I must needs go through Samaria. God has some elect of his saints there in Samaria, starting with that woman at the well and ending up being a large population of the city of Sychar. The disciples wanted to go around Samaria. The Lord Jesus said, I must needs go through Samaria. There's a woman waiting for me. And there's some lost sheep there that I'm going to save, and I must do it.

When the Lord spoke of us, the Gentile church, to his disciples, he said, I have other sheep that are not of this fold, speaking of the Jewish nation. them I must bring. Out of necessity, I will save every single one that my Father has chosen. My work is by necessity. My work is obligated to my Heavenly Father. My Father has chosen a particular people, and I must accomplish their salvation. And I will. I will do the will of my Father.

Again, in John chapter 4, when the Lord was with that woman at the well and the disciples came back with food, and the woman was walking away and the disciples said, Lord, take and eat. And the Lord Jesus said, I have meat to eat that you know not of. For my meat is to do the will of the Father which hath sent me. That's my meat. That's my sustenance. That's what keeps me living. That's what keeps me going. Everything I do is to do the will of my Father.

And in that, we know what God demands of us. God requires that from everyone. This is the requirement of the law. The rich young ruler came, what work can I do to work the works of God? Or what can I do to inherit eternal life is what he said. And the Lord Jesus said, well, you know the law. And the Lord recounted the law to him and he said, these things I've done since my youth. He thought he was a law keeper. What is it to keep the law? Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your mind and all of your soul all of the time. That's what the law requires and the law will settle for nothing less. And the law demands perfection. Well, I'm doing my best, your best is not good enough. God demands absolute perfection.

Here's what the Lord Jesus said, I must do the will of him that sent me. I must do it out of necessity. I must fulfill the will of my father perfectly and that I will do with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind all of the time. And the righteousness that I will establish by my perfect obedience I will give to my people. And on Calvary's cross, God will make me, who knew no sin of my own, made sin. He will charge me, impute to me, hold me guilty for, I will own the sins of my people and I will satisfy God's divine justice on Calvary's cross. And in return, they, will be made the righteousness of God in me." In me. That's the gospel, brethren. That's what our Lord's saying.

Out of necessity, I must work the works of him that sent me. In John chapter 17, when our Lord is praying to his Father for us, he says, Father, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou hast given me to do. I finished it. What have we ever finished before God? Oh, we have such good intentions, don't we? Never can get it done. Don't even come close. When our Lord bowed his head on Calvary's cross, what did he say? It is finished. Father, I came here to do thy will. I came to do the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

The second thing we see in our text about the work of Christ. Above its necessity, or beyond its necessity, is its urgency. Go back with me to our text. I must work the works of him that sent me, verse four, John chapter nine, while it is day. While it is day. Isaiah put it like this, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

Coming to Christ is never presented in the Bible as something that we should go home and think about. It's never presented as something that, well, you know, you learn some more and figure these things out, then maybe down the road you can work that out. No, it's always an urgent call to come. Come now. How do I come just like you are, just like you are, without one plea? That's all. I've got no claim on God. My only plea is that Jesus died for me. I'm looking to Christ and his righteousness for all my acceptance before God. It's an urgent call.

Turn with me, if you will, to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. Look at verse 24 of Luke chapter 13. Our Lord is speaking. Strive, strive to enter in at the straight gate. There's only one gate. The Lord Jesus is the gate into the sheepfold. The robbers and the thieves, they try to come in some other way. The men who want to rob God of his glory, steal from him his righteousness and ascribe it to themselves, they'll come in some other way. You strive to come in by the straight gate, one way, to come in by Christ and Christ alone. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able when once the master of the house has risen up and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and ye shall answer and say unto you, I know not from whence you are. Then shall you begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and have taught in our street, you have taught in our streets, But he shall say, I tell you, I know you're not from which you are. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.

This matter of salvation, my brethren, you know it. My friends, I hope that God will make you know it is the most urgent matter of our lives. There's nothing more pressing. There's nothing more important. Nothing.

then we strive to enter in. That's what our Lord's saying. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. For the night cometh when no man can work. The parable that our Lord told about the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom and When the bridegroom came at such an unexpected hour, five of the virgins didn't have any oil in their lamp. And they pleaded with the ones who did have oil to give them their oil. They couldn't. You know, you got to go buy for yourself. And after they went, the five went to get oil for themselves, came back, the wedding feast was closed. The door was shut. I don't know when that door is gonna be shut, but I know it will be shut. And I know just like the ark, God's gonna shut it. God shut the door on the ark. And when that door was shut and the rains began to fall and the floods came, don't you know that there were people wanting to get on that ark? No, it's too late. It's an urgent matter.

I must work the works of God while it is day." In another place, there was a group of Pharisees who asked the Lord, what work can we work that we might work the works of God? And the Lord Jesus said this, this is the work of God. Not this is your work for God, this is God's work for you. that you believe on him whom he has sent. That's the work of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The call to come, the call to believe is done in time of the light. And if there's any light to the gospel at all in our eyes, in our hearts, let us flee to that light. Let us come Let us not presume that God will send the light again.

I must work the works of God while it is day. Ryan, you read it, Ephesians chapter two, verse 10. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. that we should walk in them because he's ordained them for us. How do we walk in good works? We walk in faith. He's ordained that we should walk in faith. We are his workmanship. Come, come now in your heart. Come without lifting a finger. Come without taking a step. Come without doing anything. Lord, I come. Hebrews chapter three, the Lord tells us this, exhort one another while it is called day. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The darkness and deceitfulness of sin. It is sin that says, oh, you can come again another time. It is sin that entices us to forsake Christ, that we might indulge ourselves in whether the pleasures of this world or our own self-righteousness sets up. That's all sin. Exhort ye one another to come while it is day.

The spirit and the bride, that's the church, say, come. Come. You thirsty? Come. You hungry? Come. You willing? Come. Come. Strive to enter in. Well, thirdly, the necessity of His work is that the Lord Jesus would perform the work that we're not able to perform, that He would accomplish the will of His Father perfectly. The necessity, the urgency of coming is while it's day. The day's not going to last forever. Night is coming. It's coming. What is your life? It is a vapor. Don't know when the Lord is going to come. We don't know when he's going to come individually for each of us, but we know that the window is short. Come.

What is the result of the work of Christ? The blind see. The blind are made to see. Look at our text. Excuse me. In John chapter nine, the last part of verse seven, he went his way therefore as the Lord sent him to the pool of Shalom and he washed and he came seeing. The blind was made to see. This man never seen himself. He didn't know what he looked like. He didn't know what his hand looked like. He didn't know how sinful and wicked his hand was. He didn't know how his feet had taken him into iniquity. He didn't know what his countenance looked like. And now he sees himself for what he is for the first time in his life.

You know, the same's true, though we may physically know what our hand and our face and feet look like. We don't really have any concept of ourselves until the work of God is done in us. And then for the first time in our lives, we come to believe that we're vile. The world says, love yourself, you're good. The Bible says you will loathe yourselves because of your evil. Oh, what a difference. What a difference.

There's no way to see Christ for all of my righteousness until I come to conclude that I have none of my own. I have no righteousness whatsoever of my own. All of my righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. I am in need of Christ for all the hope of my salvation.

The Lord said this, he said, that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. What is it that's highly esteemed among men? All the things that men boast in. All the good things that men do. They boast in one another, they boast in themselves.

The result of his work is not only that we see ourselves, at least in part for what we are, sinners. Sinners in need of a savior. Sinners who can produce nothing and present nothing before God that will earn them favor or obligate God in any way to save them. one who is dependent upon a righteousness outside of themselves for all their acceptance before God.

Lord, I see. Lord, I see. Couldn't see God for who he was. This blind man didn't know what the Lord Jesus looked like, for the Lord, after he came back, the Lord had already gone away. He went into the crowd. He was teaching over here. Who healed you? I don't know. No way it looked like. I didn't see. When I came back seeing, he wasn't there. And the Lord came to him after the Pharisees excommunicated him. They put him out of the synagogue because he confessed Christ. And that's when the Lord Jesus came to him, appeared to him. and said, do you believe on Christ?

Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? I am speaketh unto thee. You've seen me. You know me. I'm the one that healed you. Oh Lord, I believe.

We see God in a way that we never saw him before. Before the miracle, before the work of Christ in our hearts, We thought God needed something from us. We thought that we could add to God. We thought that God was dependent upon something from us, a decision we had to make, a work we had to perform, a knowledge we had to achieve. We thought that we could add to the glory of God by our works. We didn't know that God was the self-existent, independent, self-contained, self-sufficient, glorious I am, who needed nothing, of whom we need everything. Everything. Amen? Everything.

My eyes have seen the king. Oh, I repent in dust and ashes, Job said. We couldn't see how it is that God could justify sinners, how God could remain just and justify sinners until the Lord revealed to us the successful work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary's cross, that he actually put away our sins. He actually accomplished the salvation of his people. He actually established a perfect righteousness before his father. Satisfied God's justice. Substitution and satisfaction means something to us now. I have a substitute who has satisfied what God requires of me.

The work of Christ is of necessity. The work of Christ was urgent. The result is that we see. Isaiah chapter 40, the scripture says, his reward is with him. and his work is before him.

The Bible speaks of dead works and how believers repent of their dead works. A dead work is a work that a sinner looks to in hopes of earning them Acceptance with God. That's a dead work. But Lord, we've done many wonderful works in thy name. That's a dead work. For the Lord says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Though what you think is a good work, I'm calling iniquity. I'm saying it falls short of my glory. I'm saying it's sin. Depart from me, for I never knew you.

And when God does a work in us, he gives us that spirit of repentance. Hebrews chapter six, we renounce, we repent of those dead works.

The Bible also speaks of a good work. This is the work of Christ. It's the work of faith. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will keep you in that faith. We'll grow in grace. We'll not ever be able to stop believing. He works in us, this is a good work. He works in us, causing us to will and to do of his good pleasure. That's a good work.

I said to someone one time, believers do good works. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath ordained that we should walk in them. But as soon as we look at a good work, thinking that we've done a good work, it becomes a dead work. And technically that's really not true. Because a believer can't do dead works. A dead work by the Bible definition is a work that man is trusting in for their acceptance before God. Believers don't do that. Believers all they have for their acceptance before God is Christ.

Do believers boast in their works sometimes, oftentimes? To some degree, perhaps every time. Wanting some credit? Do they? What becomes of that good work when that happens? It becomes wood, hay, and stubble. wood, hay, and stubble that will be burned up in the day of judgment that the soul might be saved. Oh, how much wood, hay, and stubble there is in our lives. How much wood, hay, and stubble there is in my preaching. Is preaching Christ a good work? I hope it is. The Lord might make us all to be just unprofitable servants.

So that when we stand before him in the day of judgment and he says to us, well done, thou good and faithful servant, come inherit the kingdom that's been prepared for you. For I was hungry and you fed me and I was thirsty and you gave me to drink and I was naked. Might we say with the saints of God, Lord, when did we do those things? When did we do those things?

Believers walk in good works. But when we look to Christ as the only work that is pleasing to God, we know that all of our works have got wood, hay, and stubble in them. Every one of them.

Now here's the good news, brethren. The wood, hay, and stubble's gonna be burned up. We're not gonna take it to heaven with us. The only thing going to heaven with us is the perfect work of Christ, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of Christ.

In Revelation chapter two and Revelation chapter three, the Lord speaks to seven churches. And a couple of the churches he commends, Smyrna and Philadelphia, the other five churches he rebukes. And his message of condemnation and rebuke is different for each one of the seven churches. And as I read those seven churches, I find that those things, every one of them, you know, people have said, well, the seven churches represent seven different periods of time in the church's age and come up with all sorts of, no, All scripture is profitable and everything that God says to all seven of the churches are necessary for each of us.

But there's one thing that God says to all seven churches, all seven churches, he says this, I know thy works. I know thy works. I know what you've done. I know why you did it. I know when you did it. I know thy works." And to the church at Sardis, he says this, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. For your works are not found perfect before me.

Now here we have a church that's boasting of its spirituality. You have a name that you're alive. All the other churches, Sardis was a prosperous city, probably one of the larger of the churches. All the other churches looked at the church at Sardis and thought, well, look at there. Wish we were like them. You have a name that you are alive, but you're dead, for your works are not found perfect.

The work of Christ is a work of grace done in the heart, causing us to not boast in anything that we've done, anything that we've brought. It's a humbling work. It's a work that gives to Christ all the glory. Lord, if my works are gonna be perfect before thee, it's not because I do more of them or I do them better. It's because I'm acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ for all of my righteousness before God. That's when my works will be made perfect.

And if I'm like the church at Sardis or like the church at Laodicea, they were, the Lord said, I would rather you be hot or cold, but you're lukewarm. You say you're rich and you're increased in needs and you're in need of nothing, but I say you're naked and miserable and poor and blind. I know your works. The work of Christ, the result of the work of Christ, the necessity of it is that Christ has to do it. The urgency of it is that it needs to be done now. Result of it is that blind men see that all of their perfection before God is in the person of their substitute, and that they can't boast in anything.

I know thy works. You have a reputation that you're alive, but I say you're dead. Strengthen that. He said to Sardis, he said, strengthen that which remains. In other words, if there's a shred of understanding, if there's a shred of light, that Christ is all of your righteousness, then flee to him again. Come to Christ.

In Mark chapter six, the Lord Jesus goes back to Nazareth, and he had already been performing miracles in other places. And the people of Nazareth said they were offended by him, the Bible says. And they said, he's the carpenter, we know him. He's Mary's son, we know his brothers and his sisters. And here's what the scripture says. He could do there no mighty work because of their unbelief. He could do there no mighty work because of their unbelief.

Faith is the work that God does, and faith is the work that God blesses. And if the work of God's going to be done in our hearts, it's going to be done through faith. Oh, how desperate we are that a mighty work be done in us. A mighty work. He could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief.

In closing, what did the Lord do for this man in John chapter nine? He took some dust of the earth and he spit on it. And he made clay of it. And he sent the man to the pool of Shalom, which by interpretation is sent. And he said, go wash. And he went, and he washed, and he came back seeing. Our God uses means to accomplish his work. He used the means of the cross. to accomplish redemption. He uses the means of preaching. How shall they call upon him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? God used the foolishness of preaching to save them which believe.

God used the means, as we saw in the previous hour, of our prayers to as we understood it in light of that hour, the first message, repent, change what he would do. And the fact that our God is so infinite that he would use an infinite amount of means in order to accomplish his purpose and nothing would change his divine purpose is just, well, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me," and that's what David said.

We have here in our story a picture of the means that God uses. This spittle that came out of our Lord's mouth. In the Old Testament, if an unclean man spit on a clean man, the clean man was made unclean by the spittle of the unclean man. Here we have a clean man spitting on an unclean man. and taking the dust of the earth. From dust you were, and to dust you shall return. But with that which comes out of the Savior's mouth, I'm gonna take that which is but dust, that which is but of this earth. And like with Adam in the garden, who God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, I'm going to give him life. The words that I speak unto you They are spirit and they are life. They are life.

That which comes out of our Lord's mouth is his word. It's his word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. We are washed by the water of his word. God sends us, you want the work of Christ to be done in you? God will say, go to my word. Go to my word, go to the pool of Shalom. There you'll be washed by the water of my word. There I will reveal myself to you in the breaking open of the word of life." Their eyes were opened and they saw. This is why we spend so much time in God's word. It is God's word that he blesses. It's not our stories or illustrations, it's the word of God.

Another means that the Lord uses is his Holy Spirit. He says to us, ask for my Holy Spirit. You need understanding? Ask for my Spirit. If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them than ask him? Without the Spirit of God, we have no understanding. These things are spiritually discerned. The spirit is that water.

And even at the cross, when that Roman soldier put that spear into our Lord's side, right into his heart. Now we know, physically speaking, that the sack around the heart, the pericardium, when a person is suffering from congestive heart failure, which is what the Lord Jesus had there on the cross, couldn't breathe, that sack fills up with water, the spear going into the heart, that Roman soldier knew exactly where it was, would go through the pericardium before it went to the heart. Physically speaking, the reason why water came out before blood.

Spiritually speaking, what is God saying to us? The water's the spirit, the water's the word. Before the sanctifying blood can work for you, I gotta send you to Shalom. I gotta send you by the power of the Holy Spirit to the word of God. And the spirit of God will open up the eyes of your understanding. And when the comforter comes, he will convince you that you're a sinner. He will convince you that all of your righteousness is in heaven in the person of your substitute. And he will convince you that sin has been put away, and Satan has been defeated, and the grave has been opened, and victory has been won. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.

I must work the works of him that sent me. While it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work, We have a necessity for Christ to do the work of salvation for us. We have an urgency to come right now.

The evidence that we've come is that we see. And the means that God uses to bring us is that which comes out of his very mouth, his own word,

Our Heavenly Father, thank you for the manifestation of the work of God in Christ. Lord, might it be manifested in our hearts. And might, through the eye of faith, it be manifested at your table. Lord, might we see this common bread being the precious, sinless body of Christ for all of our righteousness before Thee? And might we see this common wine as being the shed blood of our precious Savior as a covering for all of our sin? Lord, bless this table. to our encouragement and to our faith and to your glory. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.