Greetings friends and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. I was in a meeting a couple weeks
ago and in reference to being made alive to be able to hear,
a preacher did this illustration.
Now it's kind of humorous, but yet it gets a point across about
how dead is a person by nature spiritually. If the Bible says,
ye who were dead in trespasses and sins had he now quickened
and made alive in Ephesians chapter 2, how dead is a person by nature? Well, this preacher from up in
the Virginia area was talking about how many times he'd preach
funerals in eastern Kentucky. I don't know whether many of
you have been around eastern Kentucky, but like the preacher
said, he said, there's some strange folks up there. Now, they do
things a little different. And he says, they're nice folks,
they're friendly folks, but they're different folks. And some of
the folks up in the hills of eastern Kentucky, they get a
hankering to do something, and they're going to do it. Well,
he said he was called upon to go down there to eastern Kentucky
from Virginia, because he was preached all through that region
of the Appalachian area up there. And he was a coal mining boy
himself, raised up there on the borders of Virginia, West Virginia,
and Kentucky. And so he went down there to
Kentucky, And he was called upon to preach his funeral to this
fellow. Well, this fellow, he had died and the family had determined
that when the funeral director had brought the casket and this
guy that had deceased into the house, because this preacher
said he preached more funerals inside of porches and in living
rooms of homes than he did in the funeral parks up in that
region. Well, he said he went in there
and he said that he was told a situation the day before where
the family had come to the conclusion that when the penal director
brought this old boy in the house there in the casket and set him
up, that they didn't have any pictures of this guy. When he
was a youngster, teenager, or middle-aged man or whatever.
I don't know how old he was when he died. But anyway, there are
many pictures of this man, and what they decided to do, a handful
of the family folks, was they said, look, we'll just take,
and we'll just take what, I'll put a name to him, we'll just
take old Homer, and we're going to take him out of the casket,
and we'll set him up in a chair, and we'll take a couple pictures
of him. Well, they did it. They took him out of the casket,
and they set him up there in a chair, put his arms up there,
and they took some pictures of him. Well, they wrestled him
back, and you can imagine how you're dealing with a dead corpse,
a dead weight, literally. Of course, I don't know how stiff
and rigid they may be, but anyway, they wrestled around, and they
got him back in the casket. And they got it halfway closed
up there, and they tried to get him as straightened up as they
could there. Well, the next morning was the
funeral. And the funeral director came
to the house, along with this brother preacher who was telling
this record. This ain't a story. I mean, this
is a real deal. Because the preacher that was
telling about his daughter was in the meeting, and she confirmed
it. That's a true thing. Well, anyway, the theater director
walks up and looks at old Homer sitting in there and the cat
laying there in the casket and said, what in the world happened
to him? In other words, his jacket was
all cockeyed and his tile was all slung around and these folks
tried to get him back in there the best they knew how. They
said, well, we didn't have any pictures of Homer. And so he
took him out of there and put him in a chair. He says, you
what? He said, we took him out of the casket, put him in a chair,
and took some pictures up. He said, look, folks. He said, I've been a funeral
director a long time. And he says, I've heard of folks
coming in and taking pictures of folks in the casket because
they wanted to send it on to a loved one who wasn't able to
be there at the funeral or the viewing or whatever it was. But
he said, I have never heard of somebody taking one out of a
casket and setting it up and taking a picture of it. I said,
well, we did it. And he said, well, you sure look
like he's been drugged around the ball of mulberry bushes.
Well, anyway, he fixed him up anyway, got him prepared for
the meeting, and they went on with the meeting. But what he
was trying to get across was, and make it his point in this
analogy, was how dead a person truly is spiritually when they're
lost in the depravity of their natures. by the original birth. We are so dead spiritually that
we can't perceive God. We can't understand anything
about Him. We have no revelation of Him. We cannot hear things about Him,
nor can we see and perceive and understand things about Him.
We have to be made alive. Just as old Homer was laying
there in that casket and was helpless to assist them, folks,
to help him get up and get over there to a chair to get a picture
of him, he could do nothing in himself. Neither can a lost sinner
that is dead by nature do anything himself or theirself to assist
or to go along with God to have a personal relationship with
him. They are dead! And unless one be quickened and
made alive by the Spirit of God and calls to see and believe
on the person of Jesus Christ by the operation of God's sovereign
free grace, they shall never, never be able to see or perceive
what salvation is all about. I wanted to share the story because
I thought that in a way it was kind of humorous, but it really
gets the point across. One spiritually dead can do nothing,
N-O-T-H-I-N-G, nothing to assist or to work towards coming to
know Christ by their own efforts or strength. Because we don't
have the faculties. You have to be tuned in to that
spirit of which God alone causes salvation to be wrought by. And
that is the Holy Spirit of God Almighty. If God permit, I want to read
to you from the Gospel of John this morning in chapter 9. John's Gospel, chapter 9. Now, we as Old Baptists, we believe
and hold strongly to the absolute sovereignty of God. And what
I mean by that is that there is no limits to God's sovereignty. And when I say sovereignty, I
define that by meaning one who has ultimate control. He has
supreme rule. There is no limits with the God
of the Bible. He is not a limited God in any
way. His ways and means and His will,
determined purposes and decrees are absolute. This is an absolute
book of which I preach from. Of all the books written of men,
there is no book more absolute in its content and its record
than the Holy Scriptures. And in saying that, and looking
at John chapter 9 this morning, I want to show you how that God
in His sovereign purpose can cause whatsoever He so desires
to come to pass in fulfilling His will for the praise of His
own glory, whether the creature, the man, the human creature can
understand it or not. For he is almighty. Now I'm reading
to you from the first verse of the chapter 9 of John's Gospel. If you have your Bibles, I encourage
you to follow me. And as Jesus passed by, he saw
a man which was blind from his birth. I don't want you to take
and try to picture this now. Jesus is passing by, he's going
down a way, and he's got folks that are following him. His disciples
and others that have followed Him that have seen signs and
wonders that Jesus has done. This miracle-working deity man,
the God-man Jesus Christ, has become very popular at this time.
Because He's raised the dead, He's caused those that had lame
limbs from their birth able to get up and walk. We're going
to find here where a man was blind from his birth. that he's
going to be made able to see. So Jesus had quite a following
because people were looking for signs and wonders. And the Bible
says that in verse 2, and his disciples ask him, saying, Master,
it says, and regarding this man who's blind and been blind since
his birth, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind? In other words, the disciple
said to the Lord Jesus, what is the reason this man is blind
and born this way? Did he do something that was
sinful, that God was displeased with, that he was cursed with
this blindness? Or was it something his parents
had done that caused this man to be born blind from his birth? and that it was passed on from
generation to generation. And the Bible says in verse 3,
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents,
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Now
let me explain to you one thing. Jesus told the disciples, he
said, it's not because this man had done wrong and had sinned. Now we know that all have sinned
that can show the glory of God. But there's none righteous, no
not one, the Bible says. So we know that the man is sinful
by nature. But it wasn't his sin that caused
his blindness. And it wasn't his parents' sin
that caused his blindness. Jesus said this, neither the
man nor the parents, that the work of God should be manifest
or should be revealed in him. It's that the work and the miracle
working power of God should be revealed in this man being blind,
is the reason why he is blind. God made him blind from his mother's
womb for a purpose. You say, God does that? Are you
reading the book? It says so right there. It wasn't
the man's fault that he's blind or his parents, but God. It says in verse 4, it says,
that I must work the works of him that sent me, which is God
the Father, while it is of day, for the night cometh when no
man can work. And as long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. When he hath thus spoken, he
spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him,
Go and wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent.
And he went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. He took, Jesus Christ took, a
little clay from the earth and he spit on it. And he made a
little paste on it. And he put it on the eyes of
this man who was blind from his birth. He had never seen the
blue mistletoe sky. He'd never seen a bird fly. He'd never seen the daylight. He had never seen anything in
his entire life. But Jesus took some spittle and
clay and mixed it up and put it on his eyes. And the Bible
says that he took it and he anointed his eyes with it. When the man
with clay, and he went down, and he washed it off, and he
washed it, and he came seeing. He went away blind, and he washed
it off, as he was commanded of God, and when he came back to
the presence of the people, he was able to see. And the Bible
says in verse 8, and the neighbors therefore, and they which before
had seen him, that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat
and begged? Isn't this the guy that's been
blind from the time he's born? That sat there by the gate and
had begged for money and for food and for things? Ain't this
him? And some said, this is he. And others have said, for he
is like him. But he said, I am he. I am the God that was blind from
my mother's womb and that I had sat there by the gate and I had
begged all the years that I had been born until this day. And
he was only saying verse 10. Therefore, said they unto him,
how were thine eyes opened? Oh, let me tell you something.
When Jesus Christ opens the eyes of one that is spiritually blind,
and they are able to see themselves as an undone, depraved, lost
sinner, and He has revealed to them as the only Savior of their
soul that is able to appease the Father and atone for their
sin, it is a miraculous thing. It is a sight that no man can
generate by the efforts of his own nature. It is a supernatural
work of God that one see Christ as one Savior, Lord, and Master. So it is in the physical realm
that Jesus Christ is bringing forth in this analogy. For he
answered and said, a man that is called Jesus made clay. He didn't say that it was the
Lord Jesus because this blind man, he didn't even really know
anything about Jesus. He may have heard about some
of the miracles and signs and wonders that was going on about
the region from just hearsay, but he didn't know who this man
Jesus was. He couldn't say him, first of
all. And so he said, all I know is that a man. It says that there's
a man that's called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes and
said unto me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash. And I went and washed and I received
sight. All it did was obey the Lord
Jesus Christ. to obey Him, and they look into
Jesus, they look into Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith, and they see Him for the first time. And they behold
the Lord our Lord as their Savior. And they are blessed in that
great gospel revelation that Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, put
there by the cruel hands of men, by the determined counsel of
God Himself. Just like God had caused this
man to be born blind from his mother's womb, God Almighty had
caused Jesus Christ to be taken by the wicked and cruel hands
of men, brother buddy, and carried up to Mount Calvary, and was
nailed to that cross, and hung there, and the display before
the world lifted us above the earth. with his feet away from
the ground as the blood run down his body and down his face from
the crown of thorns and had dripped upon the earth below. That atoning
blood was for those who are blessed to believe in time that that
blood was for you and for you alone. That blood cleanses you
from all unrighteousness. That blood redeems you from all
sin and wrongdoing, all wickedness and evil. It takes our transgressions,
the Bible says that they were blessed to believe it, and it
takes and removes our sin as far as the east is from the west.
Think about that a minute. How far is the east from the
west? It's so far you can never find the end of it. The Bible
says that the same blood that cleanses us from unrighteousness
not only cleanses us so far from the East and from the West, but
it says that God takes and takes our sin and puts them behind
him and casts them into the sea of forgiveness. forgetfulness
never to be remembered again. Let me tell you, dear saints
of God, dear child of Christ, if God has revealed to you Jesus
Christ as your Savior, take and have good cheer today. Be blessed
in the good news that Jesus Christ will never bring up to you again
your sinfulness. You have been redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb. You have been atoned for by the
Crucified One. Your sins have been removed from
you. You are cleansed by the perfect
blood of Christ once and for all. The Bible says that in verse 13 They brought to the Pharisees
him that afore was blind. They took this man that was blind
by his birth, who was made able to see, and the Pharisees, which
were the religious Jews of the day, they was overwhelmed by
this thing that happened, and they took him by hand, and they
took and they led him along, and in verse 14, and it was the
Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. And
then again the pharisees ask him how he had received his sight. And he said unto them, he put
clay upon mine eyes, I roarshed and do see. This is the third
time. Now actually the second time
he's just given an account of what happened. How many times
does he have to say what happened to him before they're going to
believe it? Again, unless God gives a man an understanding
of what has happened, they cannot believe it. Though a man see
that fourth man in that oven, he will not believe it, brother,
buddy. And Jesus said that even though
one be raised from the dead, which he was, they still shall
not believe upon me, because they are unable to by their own
natural intellect and ability. And so these Pharisees could
not perceive, could not believe, could not understand how this
man, who was blind by his birth, was able to see. And they kept
questioning him. They drug him around and asked
him over and over, who was it? What happened to you? And he
said, all I know is I put clay on my eyes and I washed and I
do see. Verse 16. Therefore said some
of the Pharisees, this man is This man is not of God because
he keepeth not the Sabbath day. In other words, they criticize
Jesus Christ for doing this miracle to this one who was blind by
birth because he did it on the Sabbath day. In other words,
there was to be no work to be done on the Sabbath day. You
were not to travel any distance of any length at all on the Sabbath
day. You were not to gather firewood
on the Sabbath day. You were not to do anything but
go and worship in the temple of God and return to your home
and spend the day in meditation and in consecration towards God. That was the Sabbath day works
of the common Jew. And they said, this man, he cannot
be a God, for he healed a man. He did this work on a Sabbath
day. Oh, let me tell you something. Who is it that can call the Lord
Jesus Christ one who is not of God? Who is it that can say that
Jesus who said, I, I am the Lord of the Sabbath, He is the Lord
of the Sabbath, brother Scott. He said, I, he says, who is this
guy? He says, others said, how can
this man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was
division among them. They got fighting amongst themselves
about how Jesus could have done such a thing. Verse 17, they
say unto the blind man again, what sayest thou to him that
he had opened thine eyes? And he said, he is a prophet. And they asked him again, what
was it you said to this man that caused you to be able to see?
And he said, he's a prophet. And yes, Jesus Christ is a prophet,
king, and priest, the Bible says. But he's not only a prophet,
king, and priest, he is God Almighty. Listen to me, he is deity. You
want me to prove it to you? Jesus said to Philip in the 14th
chapter of John, Philip said to him, he says, Lord, when are
you going to show us the Father? Jesus said unto Philip, he said,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. For I and the Father
are one. And the Bible says, Paul writes
in the epistle to the church of Colossae, he writes in Colossians
and he says, For Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And he writes further down in
the text and he says, And Jesus Christ is the very image of the
invisible God. If they saw Jesus, they saw God. Because God manifested himself
in the body of a man and his name was Jesus. When the Bible
says that Mary shall call his name Jesus, which in the Hebrew
is Immanuel, is interpreted God with us. The angel of God said,
Immanuel shall be with you, God shall be with you. The Bible
says, verse 18, but the Jews did not believe concerning him
that he had been blind and received this sight until they called
the parents of him that had received this sight. Listen, they still
didn't believe it. They saw this man able to see
and recognize people and see things around about him. And
they've seen him for years sitting at the gate. And they still questioned,
and they even say, let's call his parents and find out what
they've got to say about this here. And it says in verse 19,
and they ask them saying, is this your son who you say was
born blind? How then doth he now see? They
said to the parents, is this your boy that was born blind? How is it that he sees? Well
folks, he's done told them twice. This man Jesus made some spindle
from clay and put it in my eyes and I went to the pool of Siloam
and I washed it off and I was able to see. But they could not
and would not believe it. And the Bible says in verse 20,
his parents answered and said, we know that this is our son
and that he was born blind. In other words, we're testimonies
and witnesses that this is our son. And I can testify he was
born blind in a vat. In verse 21, by what means he
now seeth, we know not. Or, who opened his eyes? We know not. He is of age. Ask him. He shall speak for himself. In other words, the parents said,
we don't know who this was that did this work. We don't know
who this was that opened his eyes to see. He's of age. In other words, he's old enough
to say for himself what happened to him. Ask him. He's already
told them twice before. And the Bible goes on in verse
22. It says, These words spake his
parents, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed
already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should
be put out of the synagogue. They were concerned that they
were going to be riled upon, and there was going to be a riot
there, and they were going to be cast out of the synagogue
if they said any more than what they've already said. So in verse
23 it says, Therefore said his parents, He's a mage, ask him.
Verse 24, Then again called they the man that was blind, and said
unto him, Give God the praise, for we know that this man is
a sinner. And he answered and he said,
whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know,
that whereas I was blind, now I see. He says, you people can
say anything you want to say. You can complain all you want
to, and you can question me all the time you want to, by as many
people as you want to. You've asked me three times,
and you've asked my parents twice, and he says, it doesn't matter
what you say about it, one thing I know, that whereas I was blind,
now I see. So it doesn't matter what you
think about it. And you know, when a person gives a testimony
of having an experience of God's grace come upon them and giving
them a hope in Jesus Christ, and you hear these skeptics and
guys that you work around, neighbors and folks around about you, when
you tell them about the Lord and start talking about church
and about the Bible and they start being critical. They said,
oh well, you know, I don't know how you can believe that stuff.
It doesn't matter what they think or what they believe, you know
what's happened to you. And who is it that can take in
question and scrutinize a man's personal testimony when Christ
alone, by the operation of His Spirit, has operated upon the
heart and mind and soul of an individual? Oh, let me tell you
something. People can say, oh, I don't know
how so-and-so could be a Christian if they go over to Ebenezer Baptist
Church, or they go over to so-and-so Grace Missionary Baptist Church.
But let me tell you something. No man knoweth the heart of a
man, but God does. God knows the heart of a man.
And it's just the thing that we need to be aware of is what
truth and revelation God has given us. We need to be diligent
in sharing what God has shown us and preach the truth as we
know it. Now, that's all there is to it.
And it goes on to say in verse 26, Then said they to him again,
What did he say, or what did he do to thee? How did he open
thine eyes? They are still questioning him.
Verse 27, He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did
not hear. Wherefore, would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?"
In other words, you know, I've told you this thing three times
now. My parents have told y'all at
various times, and y'all still don't believe it. And anyway,
if you could believe it, would you be his disciples? And it
goes on to say in verse 28, and they reviled him. And they said,
Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. who were under the law and the
commandments of the Old Covenant, Old Testament, they was really
hot after this one called Jesus because he was stirring up the
masses with the signs and wonders and miracles that he was doing.
And they hated him. Because he was a threat to their
religious rituals and traditions. And they refused to accept that
it is he that is a deity. That's why they said he's not
of God. They even called him, he is of
the devil. What a terrible blasphemous thing.
What a terrible thing to say, but yet, in the blindness of
men's hearts, what else can they say? They know no different.
But it goes on in verse 28, as they reviled him, in verse 29,
we know that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, we know not
from whence he is. Let me tell you something. They
may not have known who it was that spoke to this man Jesus,
but I can tell you one thing, he was before Moses was. The Bible says that before Moses
was, I am. I am, Jesus said. I was with the Father in the
beginning. And all things were created by
me that have been created. For there would be nothing created
that is created except I had done it. Because the Father had
called me and commanded me to create all things. I'm the one
that called the earth to be put in this orbit. I'm the one that
called the sun to be the life I pay. I'm the one that called
the moon to be put in this place to be the reflection of the sun
by night. I'm the one that called the clouds
to bring forth the rain and the seas to take and be that that
floods two-thirds of the earth. I'm the one that does all things
and created all things that's ever been created. And the Bible
says in verse 30, the man answered and he said unto them, Why, wherein
herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence
he is. And he hath opened my eyes, verse 31. Now we know that
God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of
God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Now we know John
writes that this man said that we know that
God heareth not sinners. There's only one prayer that
God hears from a sinner. And that is a prayer of contrition
and repentance brought about by the Holy Spirit's work of
grace. That's the only prayer God hears
from a sinner is, Oh God, have mercy upon me, a sinner. And from that prayer comes the
evidence that they are no longer in a condition of being a sinner
before the holy God of glory, but they have been manifested
as a child of God, because repentance is a gift of grace. And apart
from grace granted a person to repent, they never will and neither
can they. The Bible says God granted repentance
to Israel. The Bible says in the book of
Acts that God had given repentance to the Gentiles. If God don't
grant and give repentance, you will never repent. And that's
the bottom line. Godly sorrow brings forth repentance,
and if God don't bring it, it ain't coming. For blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee.
If God don't cause a man, a woman, to approach unto God by godly
sorrow and repentance, they're not going to repent. They're
not going to be remorseful. Only God can make one sorry for
their sin and their life that they've lived. The Bible goes
on to say, as I conclude with just a few more verses in the
chapter. It says in verse 32, since the world began, Was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? In other words, from the beginning of the record of history,
has it ever been written down or anybody known of someone who
opened the eyes of a blind man? If this man, verse 33, were not
of God, he could do nothing. If this man Jesus is not of God,
he could not have done nothing, he could not have made the blind
man see. And verse 34, and they answered
and they said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins,
and doest thou teach us? And they cast him out. In other
words, who are you to tell us Pharisees, us Jews, about what
in the world God can do and what he can't do? And they cast him
out. They could not hear the truth
of the matter. And the Bible goes on to say
that Jesus heard that they cast him out, and he went and he found
him. Jesus went and found him. Oh, listen to me. He didn't only
make his eyes able to see, Jesus went and sought after him. He
went after him. You remember last meeting time
I preached about Zacchaeus, a man who wanted to see Jesus, and
he climbed up, he was such a short man, he climbed up in a sycamore
tree to see Jesus. And he was able to see him, and
Jesus said to Zacchaeus, he said, you come down from that tree,
and come with me. He says, for you are going to
be with me today, and I am going to dwell with thee in thy house.
Oh, let me tell you something, when Jesus Christ goes and he
takes and he seeks those of whom he has come to save, you ain't
getting away from him. You ain't getting away. Let me
tell you, when Christ comes and seeks and saves a sinner, of
which God the Father had given him before the foundation of
the world, and they have been given him. For the Bible says
that the elect of God have been given Jesus Christ before the
foundation of the world. And every one of those that are
the children of God by electing, appointed, ordained, determined,
decreed grace of God in time shall come. They're coming, folks. They're going to come, every
one of them. And when the last one comes that make up the sheepfold
and the bride of Jesus Christ in this time world, and we see
it winding down, then God Almighty is going to bring a climatic
close to the end of this place. And he's going to bring fire
down, and the elements of this earth shall be burnt with a fervent
heat, and everything be burned up. It ain't going to be flooded
again like Noah's day. It'll never happen again. The
rainbow was the promise of that covenant, but he's going to burn
next time. And oh, may God have mercy upon
those who God has passed over with his elective love. But to
those whom He has chosen in Christ Jesus, they shall come and they
shall honor Him and love Him and adore Him and worship Him
in spirit and in truth. And the Bible says in verse 36,
He answered and said, Who is He? A Lord that I might believe
on Him. Jesus said in verse 35, Jesus
heard they cast him out, and when he found him, he said unto
him, Doest thou believe on the Son of God? In other words, he
said, Do you believe on the Son of God? And then the man that
was made blind, he said, Who is he, Lord? He knew who it was
then. He said, Who is he, Lord? He
says, that I might believe on him. And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. O God, have mercy on his soul. What a revelation had flooded
his soul and his mind and heart upon that statement. Jesus Christ
said, he said, Thou hast both seen him. Oh, he who could not
see from his mother's womb is now able to see Jesus. in his
physical, personal body, and it is he that talketh to thee,
it is he that healeth thee. I am thee, Lord. I am Christ. I am the Savior. And it says
in verse 38, and he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped
him. That's all it takes is to say,
Lord, I believe. Do you believe this morning on
Jesus Christ? Do you believe? That's all it
takes. The Bible says, the man said,
I believe and he worshiped him. Because when one truly says from
the heart that you believe on Christ, the next step is that
you're caused to worship him because you are revealed he's
worthy. You have worship and praise and
honor to be adored. And then verse 39, 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. Now listen, did you hear what
he said? He's coming to the world, the blind, spiritually. would be made able to see. And
those who think they see, with the knowledge of Judaism, like
the Pharisees, they are made blind. They were unable to see
Christ as who he was. They rejected him. But the Bible
says, you recall when Isaiah said, he said, that there are
those, they are those that shall be the people of God who are
not a people of God. In other words, there's going
to be a people that will be God's people in time that are not the
people of God as they knew them then. It's not Israel. It's not natural Israel that
God is concerned with as a whole in this time realm we live in. It is out of every tongue-kindred
nation that God has chosen a people who were not a people in times
past to be his people. Out of every tongue-kindred nation,
every race, red and yellow, black and white, these are precious,
the left chosen heirs of grace in his sight. And the Bible says
in verse 40, And some of the Pharisees which were with him
heard these words, and they said unto him, Are we blind also? And listen, Jesus said unto them,
If ye were blind, ye should have no sin. But now ye say, We see,
therefore your sin remaineth. In other words, you say you see
and understand, you don't understand nothing. You're blinder than
a bat. You're nothing but just a hypocritical, pharisaical Jew
that cannot understand or see anything. Because the heaven
please need to reveal it to you. That's the bottom line. That's
the sovereignty of God. I preached to you this morning
the sovereignty of God. the ever ruling and reigning
God of heaven who has caused one to be blind from his mother's
womb and to be made able to see at an age which is undetermined
by the scriptures that God would be glorified in that he would
be made able to see by the miraculous power of Jesus Christ. And so
it is with everyone that is born of woman, that is spiritually
dead, that are brought to spiritual light and given spiritual eyes
to see. that Lord Jesus Christ is Savior.
It's a miracle of grace. It is just as much, if not more,
a miracle of God for a lost, alien, dead sinner to be brought
to the revelation of Jesus Christ as one Savior, as it is for a
man born from his mother's womb, blind by nature, physically,
and unable to see a thing. and be made able to see. It's
both a divine miracle that God alone can perform and has performed. And I'll say to you today, He's
worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our adoration
and our worship. And may He be glorified in all
that we do and we say. May God bless us as my prayer. May God bless us and take the
word of God and saturate it in our hearts and minds and souls
that we may leave this place today and go out here with a
more clear and sweet view of the person of Jesus Christ as
before we came into this place. May we go away from this place
with a new and a greater zeal to live looking unto Jesus Christ
who is soon to come back and take his glorious bright church
home with him in glory. Oh, may God bless us is our prayer. Pray with me as I close. Father,
in the blessed and holy name of your son Jesus, Lord, I thank
you for this day. I thank you for again the opportunity
to take and to look at thy precious Word. I thank you, Lord, for
the Holy Writ that's been preserved for us all these years, some
390 years, this version of the Bible has been preserved for
us, translated into a language which we can read and we can
perceive by the illumination of thy Holy Spirit. So God, we
pray that as we have been able to sing, that it was worshipful
to Thee. As we've been able to try to
proclaim the truths that sit within the pages of this holy
book, may it be profitable for all to be here this day. Bless
us, I pray, Father, as we continue, as we gather together in the
fellowship time and partake of food. May it, Lord, be a sweet
time, one with another, as we fellowship in the things of Christ
Jesus. For us to Him that we give all
the glory and all the praise and all the due honor. Amen. Amen.