Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John 9. I'd like to consider as we are
going through this particular book, verses 26 to 30, We've been considering the healing
of a blind beggar. One that the Lord healed by taking some spit, mixing it
with some dirt, putting it on his eyes, telling him to go and
wash, and that he would see. And he did. And as we've been going through
this chapter, the Spirit of God was pleased to take that event
and has actually been set forth in one whole chapter of the Gospel
of John concerning this man's healing The arguments that followed by
those religious leaders of that time that refused to bow to the
sovereign pleasure of Almighty God. Now, this beggar, the Scripture
says, was born blind. I looked at that again. I was
reading this whole chapter again this morning, and I came to that first verse, the second verse,
and I looked at that again, and it says, He saw a man which was
blind from his birth. I stopped there and I thought
for just a moment, and I thought, you know, can you imagine? I can only imagine. I don't know
by experience. I can only imagine how his mom
and daddy felt when they realized our baby is blind. I don't know
whether it was the look. It could have been. Maybe the
way they could tell. He's not looking back. He's blind. What could be worse? Our baby
can't see. I know that naturally speaking,
when tragedy strikes, we usually look for answers everywhere,
but in the right place. I looked at that second verse
again this morning. Now listen, the baby was born
blind. He was born blind. And the disciples
asked the Lord, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents
that he was born blind? He was born blind. Whose fault is this? Did this
man do something that he would be born blind? I thought he was born blind. The effects of sin was there
from birth. He was born corrupt. Yesterday, I was asked about
a recent shooting in Connecticut. And 27 people, 27 people shot. And this person wanted to know
if I could give an answer to such tragedy. What's your thoughts on it? How
could this have happened? And you know, the only answer
that I could give that had any scriptural basis to it was this, and we know that all things, and this is
what I told the person, I said, now let me ask you this, how
many things does that include? All things. How many events are
included in that statement? All things. Work together for
good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. All things. Why did this happen? Why was
this man born blind? Why? Why was that shooting? Why did
that take place? I have no answer. except what
God has to say about it. Who did sin? This man or his
parents said he was born blind. Jesus answered, neither hath
this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. That's the only answer I have. Does my heart break? Yes. I'm a parent and a grandparent.
I cannot imagine. I cannot imagine the pain. I cannot. This person asked me,
would you be mad at God if it happened to you? I said, no.
No. How can I be mad at the potter? He's the potter. I'm the clay. Does the potter have the right?
Would my heart ache? Yes. Would I have the right to reply
against God? Who art thou? Oh man, that reply
is against God. This world always questions God's sovereignty. There's always going to be a
division. There's always going to be an
argument. There's always going to be that
heads up, budding. Darkness will not agree to give
God Almighty all the honor and the glory and the praise for
His sovereign will and purpose and glory. He's right. He's right. I can tell you this. Did good. We're coming up. I've been mentioning
it. The Lord's going to cross this man's path and going to
call him out of darkness. I've read that part already.
We haven't got there yet, but I know it's coming. Did good. Come out of that man being born
blind. Yes, sir. come out for the good of God's
people and the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will honor and
goodness come out of this shooting in Connecticut? Yes. Yes. How do you know? God said it
would. And there I sat. I prayed, Lord
have mercy and settle our hearts with tragedy. What we call tragedy. when these things come our way. Now, we're going to continue
for a few minutes this morning with the interrogation of the
Pharisees that they had with this heel beggar. And as I continued
to read, listen to what they were saying, I realized, the
Scripture says, not many wise men after the flesh Not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish
things of this world. Things that the world would call
foolish to confound the wise. Verse 26 of John chapter 9 says
this, Continue to ask him these questions. Then said they to him again,
What did he to thee, and how opened he thine eyes? Now they knew that. When they
said, What did he to thee? They knew that the Lord had taken
spittle, dirt, and made his mud? They knew that he put that on
his eyes. They knew that. What did he to thee, and how? But how? How? How does God do what He does
with everything? God, how did He open your eyes? How does God Almighty open the
eyes of blind men? How does God give a new heart?
He said He does. I will give you. I'll give you
a new heart. I'm going to take out. I'm going
to remove. I'm going to behead that heart
of stone. Oh, the presence of sin there.
But that old heart is not going to rule. That old heart of rebellion
is not the king anymore in a believer. The presence of sin is there.
But how does God give a man sight? How does God give a hearing ear?
He does. He does. Those Pharisees tried
to discredit the testimony of that beggar. Unbelievers always
do. They try to deal with anything
but God's Word. Anything but God's sovereignty. Faith, now listen, faith is based
on what God has to say. If it's not based on the Word
of God, it's not faith from above, If it's not according to God's
Word, it's not God's faith. God's people believe the Lord. Abraham believed God. It doesn't
matter how God does what He does. Not to a believer. That He did
it is right. Could he have given this man
sight without putting clay on his eyes? Sure. He could have
spoke it. He spoke this world into existence. Let there be light. Let there be. And God saw it
was good. He spoke everything into existence
by the word of His power. What did he do to you? Religion always wants explained
details. Where were you converted? When
were you converted? You've got to know that. You've
got to remember. What were you doing when you
were converted? Did you say the right words? Did you really feel
sincere? Were you sincere enough? It would
scare me to death if I thought that I had to think back on what
were you really thinking when the Lord, you know, liberty in
Christ is to know that I believe Him right now. Right now. Right now. True believers have
a settled reality in their hope of Christ. This is what He said. They ask him all these questions.
How did you do this? One thing I know, whereas I was
blind, now I see. Now I see. You that believe,
you see right now. I've told you, and I need to
hear this myself. Yesterday is gone. What we have
is right now. Now, I say right now, I know
this. I am a needy sinner. But I know right now that Christ
came into this world to save sinners. He sang that song just
a few moments ago. A sinner. Well, that's a precious thing.
God Almighty, the Spirit of God made A man, a woman, a sinner. God made them so. I see that
salvation right now, as we are speaking right now, I know, I
see that salvation is all of grace. I see right now. that I can have. I cannot have. Let me say it like that. I cannot
have any confidence in the flesh because in me, that is, in my
flesh, there dwells no good thing. What confidence can I have in
something that I did knowing that whatever it was, it was
defiled, it was not pure, I said, well, I gave my heart
to Jesus. Let me ask you this. Could you
do that with a perfect, perfect heart? Perfect obedience. Perfect righteousness. No deviation. None. Never have thought any
differently since then. I've been perfect ever since. Never deviated one time. I walked
down the aisle. I did this. I joined the church.
I was baptized. I said, whatever you did, I'm
going to tell you something, whatever you did. How did he
do this? One thing I know. One thing I
can see. Now I can see. A believer sees
that God Almighty is going to save his people.
I see right now. I know this. I'm convinced of
this. What we're doing right here,
listening to the preaching of the gospel, this is the power
of God unto salvation. I know this, if the Lord's pleased,
He's going to call out His own. Something's happening this morning.
God's people are being comforted. They're being assured. The Lord
is causing them to once again cast themselves upon His mercy.
Grace, Lord, have mercy. I pray that God bless this message
to the salvation of His eternally loved elect. I pray that God
save a sinner this morning. That God have mercy on sinners. What did He to thee? How opened
He thy eyes? Verse 27, He answered them, I
told you already, and you did not hear. Wherefore, would you
hear it again? Will you also be His disciples? It's obvious that the Pharisees
didn't want to hear. They didn't want to hear. Tell
us again. I told you already. The miracle that was performed
obviously exposed the blindness that they had to the glory of
Almighty God. But their heart was dead. Cold. No matter how plain the
Word of God is, until the Lord gives a new heart,
man will not believe. The Lord gives life first, then
you believe. You don't believe to get life.
Life is given first. Salvation is the Lord. God gives new heart. And then
faith. Our brother Henry said one time,
which comes first, life or faith? He said you can't separate them.
Life, faith. Fake life. When God gives life,
faith is there. That's the evidence of life.
Faith. Faith is the evidence of life. Someone continues pressing as
they did this man, blasphemously inquiring. There's only one scriptural
thing to do. Proverbs 26.5 says, Answer a
fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. I read that verse again this
morning and I went back and I looked at the literal. Find out what
was actually being said. Answer a fool according to his
folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Here's the literal.
Answer a fool with wisdom. Just tell them the truth. Tell them the truth. If they
don't understand, Tell them the truth. Let me tell
you, the only thing that's going to set a man free, the truth. The truth. Arguing with them. Telling them, ah, you're wrong.
Tell them the truth. I told you. Wherefore would you
hear it again? Will ye also be His disciples?
If I preach, The gospel again, and woe unto me if I don't preach
the gospel. If I preach it, will you believe?
If God gives you a heart, you will. If the Lord opens your
eyes, never leave a man an out in his rebellion. Tell him the
truth. Be honest with him. Verse 28,
then they reviled him. They said, Thou art His disciple. We're Moses' disciples. Listen to what men say when the
Scriptures expose them. And they have no answer. And
you'll know. You'll know what a man believes. They reviled him. They began
to speak with cutting and piercing words at him. and stating that
He was worthy. You are worthy of damnation because
of your association with this sinner that healed on the Sabbath
day. They reviled Him and said, You
are His disciple. We are Moses' disciple. But when
you find men resorting to name-calling and sarcasm It's a sign that
they have no recourse but the cutting of the tongue. I think
I told you what Brother Henry said one time. Someone came in
and asked him about a subject. And he said, well, let's see
what God has to say. But he said, I don't want to know what God
has to say. I want to know what you have to say about it. And
he closed his Bible. He said, I don't have anything
to say. I have nothing to say. This is God's Word. This is the
Word of the Lord. This is the Word that will endure
forever. Heaven and earth will pass away. The only thing that
is forever is what God has to say. Almighty God, they were
indignant that this lowly beggar would stand his ground against
them and insinuate That they were ignorant of God's Word. Do you realize how long we've
been going to church? Do you have any earthly idea
who we are? We're schooled in this. We went to school for this. We're
Pharisees. His disciple. We're Moses' disciple. This world has absolutely no
trouble seeing and detecting a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All false religions can go together. They'll mingle. Oh, there's a
few little differences here and there. But basically, it all
comes down It all comes down to you doing something. It all
comes down to man's ability. God wants to, man has to. Only
the gospel of God's grace is separate. Only God's Word. You're His disciple. We're Moses'
disciples. We're going to cling to the works
of the law. We're going to cling to what
we can do. All they did was expose that
they were ignorant of what Moses had to say. The Lord, when He
spoke to Moses out of the fiery bush, this is who He revealed
Himself to be. The covenant God of His people. This is what He said. Have you
not read Mark 12, 26, in the book of Moses, how in the bush
God spoke unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob. I'm a covenant God. Why did he
say that? Why didn't he just say, I'm the
God of everybody? I'm the God in mercy of everybody. No, this
is who he said he is. The Lord told them in John 5.46,
if you believed Moses, they said they did. If you believed Moses,
you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. He wrote of me. Verse 29, we know that God spoke
unto Moses. That's what this says. We know
that God spoke to Moses. Now there's a word of condemnation.
People that cling to Moses, cling to the Law. What does the Law
say? Paul asked them, have you not
read what the Law says? Do and live by the deeds of the
Law, shall no flesh be justified? Have you not read? Do you not
realize what it takes to stand before God Almighty accepted? Do you realize that just associating
with a certain church or associating or doing it, do you realize what
God Almighty demands? Be ye holy! Yes, He is holy. How? Only in Christ. I can't do that. I'm not able
to do that. We know that God spoke to Moses.
Well, then listen to what Moses said. Men may claim to believe the
Bible. I believe that Bible cover to
cover. But until they open it and read it, and find out who
God is. I was looking at the literal
here, verse 29. We know that God spake unto Moses. Here's the literal. As for and
fellow, the notice is italicized if you have italics in your Bible. Here's what it is. Here's what
they say. We know that God spake unto Moses this. We know not from whence He is. This. He is saying that He We know not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them,
Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence
he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Here's a marvelous
thing. Here's something to be held in
admiration. A man comes and takes clay. I can't see. I can't see. He tells me, you go wash. I go
wash. I see. Here is something marvelous. And you know not from whence
he is. This shows how the natural heart
is. A blind beggar has been healed. He gives a word of testimony
concerning its surety. And his parents vowed him to
have been born blind. Men see miracles. And they don't
believe until God Almighty gives them a heart. Listen. Almighty God calls men out of
darkness. I know that the Scripture says
that man by nature is proud, is arrogant, self-centered. come short of the glory of God.
And you find a sinner saved by the grace of God, one that has
heart to give the Lord Jesus Christ, to give God Almighty
all the honor and glory and praise. And he says of himself, I know
that in me, I know that in my flesh, I know there dwells no
good thing. I know that. I know that. I know that unless
the Lord save me, I perish. I don't want any honor. I don't want any praise. I don't
want any glory to myself. Look unto Him. Look unto Him.
There's life in Him. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. God gave me a heart to believe,
and eyes to see, and ears to hear, and feet to walk, following
after Him, led by His Spirit. I was in rebellion against God,
and God stopped me, crossed me with the gospel of God's grace. I was pleased to show mercy to
this sinner right here, this worm right here. Herein is a marvelous thing.
God has given life to dead, hopeless sinners. Hopeless in Himself. Here's a
marvelous thing. He's given me eyes to see, and
you that believe, you too. And you don't know whence He
is. Bless Your Word. Bless Your Word
for the salvation of Your people. Lord, comfort Your people. Lord,
reveal Yourself to us. Lord, would You stay here with
us. Lord, would You bless the Word
here at Katie Baptist Church. For Christ's sake, Amen.