Alright, brethren, let's turn
to John chapter 9. John chapter 9. Verse 1 says, And as Jesus passed
by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him,
saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that
he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither had this
man sinned, nor his parents. Not that his parents weren't
conceived in sin, nor this man conceived in sin. They both were.
They both, therefore, came forth from the womb speaking lies and
sinning. Here's what our Lord meant by
that. This man was born blind that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I want to know that. I want to see that. Do you want
to see that? The works of God made manifest
in this man? That's something that I want
to see. And the Lord said, I must work
the works of Him that sent me. I must work the works of Him
that sent me while it is day. While I am here. That's what
He meant. The night cometh when no man
can work. The day of the Gospel will end
eventually. And no man can work. As long
as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Now the Lord
Jesus said here, I must work the works of Him that sent me.
God the Father sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to work
His works. He sent Him, number one, to glorify
God the Father. Whenever Moses asked the Lord
God to see his glory, God put him in the cleft of the rock,
and that's where Moses saw the glory of God. Christ is that
rock. That's where you're going to
behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. We have
to be made to see Christ. Remember what he told Nicodemus? No man can see the kingdom of
God. Christ is that king. unless he
be born of the Spirit of God. Well, the second thing is Christ
came to redeem those that the Father gave Him. Before the world
was ever made, God gave His Son brethren, children, the children
of God. And Christ is their kinsman-redeemer. He's the one who could come and
could pay the debt that they owed and purchased them out from
under the wages of sin, which is death. He purchased them out
from under the curse of the law, being made a curse for them and
dying the death that they owed to God for breaking His law. He did that and He bought them.
He purchased them. The third thing our Lord came
to do, and He glorified God in all of these, He said, Father,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work you
gave me to do. And the third thing is, is he
came to preach the gospel and thereby give spiritual sight
to blind sinners. In Luke 4, chapter 18, he said,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. And he said, He has sent me. This is the case of all who are
sent with the gospel. The Spirit of God is on them.
They've been anointed. They've been sent. And he said,
I am the preeminent one. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight. to the blind, to set at liberty,
free those that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. That means jubilee. That's the
acceptable year. During that year the jubilee
trumpet was blown and all debts were erased. How about this? How about if the jubilee trumpet
was blown and all your credit card debt, all your mortgage
debt, every debt you got, all your car payments, every debt
you got was erased today. That's what was supposed to happen
in the day of Jubilee. The man that was bound was supposed
to be set free. The man had fallen into debt
so badly that now he was in, he had to be indebted to his
creditors to just work for them as a servant. He was set free. Everything was clear. He said,
he sent me to declare to you the Jubilee. That was his gospel. That's who he is. And he sat
down and he said, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears. Now, this third work, just like the glorifying God and redeeming
those he sent, he performed these works, finished these works when
he was on this earth. But this third work of preaching
the gospel he continues to do right now from heaven's glory
through those that he sends, that he anoints, that he gives
eyes to see, that he causes to experience the power and wisdom
of God. He sends them forth just as God the Father sent him forth.
And just as He came forth and declared that which God the Father
sent Him to declare, glorifying the Father, declaring Christ
is all the redemption of His people, so those that He sends
forth go forth glorifying God and the Son of God, declaring
Christ is the redemption of all His people, that He accomplished
it. And He does this work through
the Spirit, through the Gospel. He does it. He gives sight to
blind sinners. Now Christ is the Word. That's how John begins the Gospel. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God and the Word was God. He is the Word.
Christ is the Light. He's the Life. Here He stands. He's the Prophet. He's the Prophet sent of God. anointed, the Spirit of God is
upon Him. Here He is, the Word of God,
not just the preacher of the gospel, He's the gospel priest.
He is the light that goes into the sinner and makes him alive. And here He is. He's everything.
He's everything. And here He is, standing here. And He's going to give sight
to a blind sinner. He's going to give him physical
sight and he's going to give him spiritual sight. But in giving
him physical sight, he's going to show us exactly what he does. How fully he sets at liberty
them that were bruised. How he opens the prison and delivers
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. And He's showing us that He does
it through the Gospel and He is the Word, the Life wherein
is this sight and this life. Now, the Lord said in Jeremiah
3.15, He said, I will give you pastors according to mine heart. That means He sent them. He sent
them. They have His heart, and He has
theirs. And He says, and they're going
to feed you the bread from heaven, the manna, Christ, the bread.
They're going to feed you with knowledge and understanding,
knowledge of God, knowledge of Christ, understanding of Him,
understanding of the Gospel, understanding of the truth of
God, and understanding of what they are and what you are. That
they're going to feed you. And then He said in Jeremiah
20, 23, he said, and when I do this, and when I make revealed
in them the Word, revealed in my people the Word and the Gospel
and bring them to life and give them spiritual sight, he said
this, they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, they're not
going to be confused any longer, neither shall they be lacking,
saith the Lord. That means What I'm going to
do through my pastors, through my gospel, means they're going
to have everything. They're going to know everything.
They're going to have all things. Now, when religious folks hear
something like that, and they hear that Christ is able to do
this, to send forth His pastors to feed in knowledge and truth,
that He saves in spirit, creating a new man, that He does it in
truth, He is the Word, the Light, the Life. He does this and He
brings them out of darkness into light. He makes them to behold
that He is the full accomplished Worker of God's works. He is
the Redeemer who redeemed His people. Everything is finished. Justification is finished. Righteousness
is finished. Sanctification is finished. He
is the Wisdom and the Power of God by which it is done. brings
them into this separation by the Word of Truth. And when men
hear this, men who don't believe this Gospel, men who don't believe
Christ is able to do as He says He will do, they often say things
like this. Are you saying that preachers
so-and-so and so-and-so don't preach the Gospel? Are you saying that that church
such-and-such place that they're blind, that they're not preaching
the gospel? And what they mean by that is
exactly what the Pharisees said to the Lord. Look here, verse
41. They said, well, we're going
to go through this, but I want you to see this. They said, are
we blind also? And they're referring to themselves
and to everybody in that synagogue that was in this synagogue here.
They said, Are we blind also? Now, I want you to notice what
the Lord said just before this in verse 39. Jesus said, For
judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Now,
what is this judgment? What is it that they which see
not might see and they which see might be made blind? What
is this judgment? The Word of God is the discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Turn to John 12. Look
at verse 46. Here is exactly, exactly What
did he say? John 12, verse 46. I am come
a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should
not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words,
that this is what I do. If any man hear my words and
believe not, he said, I judge him not. He just said, I came
for judgment. And here He says, I judge him
not. Watch now. For I came not to judge the world.
I didn't come to condemn them. They were already condemned.
He said, I came to save the world. Now watch what He says. He that
rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth
him, the word that I have spoken. The gospel. The gospel. The same shall judge him in the
last day. Look at John 15, verse 22. He said, they're going to persecute
you. He said, if they haven't kept my sin, they won't keep
yours. And he said, they're going to do this for my name's sake
because they don't know him that sent me. But here's why. the
judgment. He said, I've come far. If I
had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now, they have no cloak for
their sin. They got no covering. They got
no disguise. Now, back in our text, John 9-1
begins with the word AND. That connects it to the chapter
going before. In chapter 8, Christ was in the
treasury in the temple and he preached to these religious leaders,
to the scribes and the Pharisees and those who followed them.
And look what he said to them in John chapter 8 verse 12. Then
spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And this gospel
that he preached discovered what the real thoughts and intents
of their heart were. It pierced right to the very
heart. And this is what they answered
him. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, because he spoke
this truth, because he spoke this word, that he is the light
and those that follow him shall not walk in darkness but shall
have the light of life, they said. Thou barest record of thyself,
thy record's not true." Now all they see is a man. All they see
is just what every other man sees when he hears the gospel
go forth. It's just a man. That's all they see. That's all
they see. And they discern things by the
flesh, by looking at the natural appearance of things. And Christ
says Himself, You're the ones that are doing the judging. I'm
not judging. Watch. Verse 14, Jesus answered
and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record
is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go, but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go.
He's saying you don't have spiritual discernment. And he's saying,
this is why, verse 15, ye judge after the flesh. He said, I judge
no man. You know, men will hear this
and say, are you saying such and such don't believe? Don't
judge now. He's saying, I'm not. The Gospel just is light set
forth. It's truth set forth. Men either
believe or they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. That's what Paul said. That's
what the Lord's saying here. You're judging after the flesh.
He said, I didn't come to judge. The words I speak, they'll judge.
They'll judge whether or not you believe me or not. The Gospel
that goes forth will be the discerner of whether or not you believe
or you don't. Look down at verse 30. As he
spake these words, many believed on him. He preached the gospel
to them. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And they answered him, We be
Abraham's see, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free? Now listen to what Jesus answered
them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin... He's saying, whosoever can go
on not believing on the Son of God. That's the sin that we're
talking about here. He says, He's the servant of
sin. Whosoever is born of the Spirit
of God doth not sin, because his seed is in him. Christ's
seed is in him. He can't sin. His Word abides
in him. The incorruptible seed abides
in him. And he cannot not believe God. He can't turn to a lie anymore. He can't do that. He will abide
and continue in the Word, because the Word abides and continues
in him. The servant of sin, he doesn't abide in the house forever.
He's going to dive into the religious man that only has his house and
his religious house he's built. It's going to perish. But the
Son abided forever. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free. Before, he said, if the truth shall make you free.
Who's the truth? It's the Son. And he said, if
He'll make you free, you'll be free indeed. I know you're Abraham's
seed. He said, I know that. But you
seek to kill me Because my Word hath no place in you. It's the Word. It's the Gospel.
And it doesn't have any place in you. Now look here at verse
43. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear my Word. Look at verse 45. And because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. Look at verse 47. He that is
of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. That's the cause. Verse 51. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. The Jews said
unto him, We know thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead. The prophets
are dead. Thou sayest, if a man keep my sin, he shall never taste
death. Are thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets are dead? Whom makest
thou thyself? He said, If I honor myself, my
honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth
me, of whom you say that He is your God. You say He is your
God, yet ye have not known Him. But I know Him. And if I should
say I know Him not, I should be a liar like unto you. But
I know Him. and keep His saving. This is
what's going to happen. If you keep the man that has
Christ's Word abiding in him, he's going to keep Christ's saving.
He's going to keep His Word. He's going to abide in His Word,
continue in the doctrine of Christ, just as Christ kept the Father's saving. And he said, Your father Abraham
did that. He rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad.
And they said, You're not even fifty years old. What do you
mean he saw you? Have you seen Abraham? Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast
out at him, But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by. He hid Himself
from them and passed out of their midst. And as Jesus passed by,
He saw a man which was blind from his birth. Now, everything
Christ just declared about Himself about what He does through the
Gospel, through the Word, Him being the light, how that He
takes a sinner out of darkness and causes him to abide in His
Word when He puts His Word in him. He said, now I've told you
that. And He tells His disciples that
are with Him, He said, you see this blind man right here? This
man was born blind for one reason. for me to come to Him right now
and do for Him what I do for every child whom the Father has
given to me. And that is, through the gospel
of my grace, I'm going to create spiritual sight in Him, life
in Him, and He's going to follow me. He said, I told you what
I do, now I'm fixing to show you what I do. I'm fixing to
show you exactly what I do. It's for the same reason that
Lazarus was sick. Look over at John 11, verse 4.
This is why this man was born blind. He said, This sickness
is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of
God might be glorified thereby. That's why this man was born
blind. That's why every sinner that God saves is born spiritually
blind, that God might be glorified, that the Son of God might be
glorified. Now this is what we're going to see here in this. I
have a few things I'm going to show you and I'm going to show
them to you just to say a few things about them. The first
thing is, everyone God saves is blind from birth. Everyone Christ gives sight to
through this gospel is blind by birth. Blind to a true understanding
and a true knowledge of God. They're blind to our own sin
and ignorance. blind to God's righteousness,
blind to what holy justice is, blind to our need of a Savior. Blind. You know what it is if
you're blind. You're in darkness. You're totally
in darkness. Completely. We're as unable to do anything
to deliver ourselves out of this spiritual blindness that we're
born into as this blind man was unable to do anything about his
physical blindness. He couldn't do a thing about
it. Not a thing about it. But Christ passed by. Christ
came right where he was. And Christ saw him, though he
couldn't see Christ. And Christ said, now I'm going
to show you the works that I work in a sinner. This is the second
thing we see. Christ is the light of life. In verse 5 he said, as long as
I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Now look over at
John 11. John 11. What does he mean by
that? It's not that Christ is not the
light of the world now. He is. He is. What he means is,
wherever He is, wherever He is, He's the light. When he was in
this earth, he was the light of this earth. When he enters
into a center, he's the light of that center. He is the word,
the light, the life. Now watch this, John 11, 9, 10.
He gives this illustration. Jesus answered, Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But
if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no
light in him. Now you, that's real simple,
isn't it? When the sun comes up in the
morning, the light is shining, and when you look out your window,
you open up your window shades, what do you see? You see light,
don't you? And when you take off out through
the day, you're surrounded by light, and you walk in the light,
and you don't trip and fall and stumble because you have the
light. But if you go out there right now, here it is, 7.45 at
night, you go out there right now and try to walk, you're going
to fall and stumble because you're in darkness. Well, Christ said,
I'm the day star. I'm the sun of righteousness.
And wherever I am, there's light. When I'm in this earth, I'm the
light of it. When I enter into a center, I'm
the light of that center. I'm the life of that sinner.
I'm the sight of that sinner. I'm the one that caused him to
behold the glory of God and he beholds the glory of God in my
face. That's what Christ is telling
him. And he is that light. That's what he said in John 8,
12. I am the light of the world. He that followeth me, listen
to this now, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. He'll know the truth. He'll know
the Son. And the truth shall set him free.
The Son shall set him free. And he'll be free indeed. Now
that's what Christ the Word, Christ the Light, Christ the
Life, this is what He declares He does when He enters in. I've given you this illustration
before. These lights are shining. There's no darkness here, is
there? Turn the lights out, there's darkness. They can't coexist. Where there's light, there's
no darkness. Where there's darkness, there's no light. He said, if
they speak not according to this word, it's because there is no
light in them. Isn't that clear? Isn't that clear? Well, here's
the third thing. Everyone is born blind. Christ
is the light. And the way that He does give
this light is what men call absolute foolishness. You know why those
men in that synagogue, those religious, self-righteous, will-worshipping,
hellacious people, you know why they rejected Christ? Because
all He was to them was a preacher. And what he was doing to them
was absolutely absurd. It was absolute foolishness. It was absolutely beneath them. It absolutely offended what they
thought was their so-called dignity. But look what he does, what he
uses to give sight to this blind man, verse 6. When he had thus
spoken, when he said, He declared, I am showing you how I give the
light and how I am that light. When he had 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,
wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. And
he went his way therefore and washed and came seeing. tell us, they point to the Gospel. It's what all these things point
to, through which Christ gives spiritual life, light and life,
through which He gives sight. He took something that was, what
you would look at and say, would you say this, if you were with
Christ, if you saw Him spit into the dust, and take that and rub
it together and make a salve, and walk over this blind man
and put this plaster all over this blind man's face, would
you not scratch your head and say, what in the world is he
doing? That's the most foolish thing
I've ever seen in my life. It's foolishness. But you know,
Christ is. He is the eye salve. He is. Look at Revelation 3.18. Don't you see this? Revelation
3.18. He says, I counsel thee. Okay, let's begin in verse 17. He says, He's speaking of the
Laodiceans who are lukewarm. They won't go one way or the
other. Everybody's alright with them. He said, Because thou sayest,
I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked. He says, I counsel thee, this
is the gospel speaking. He says, I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire. He is that gold. You can build
something that looks like gold on him, But He'll burn it up
when He comes. He's the gold that's been dried
in the fire. And He ain't going to vanish away. That thou mayest
be rich. And white raiment that thou mayest
be clothed. He's the white raiment. His righteousness
is the white raiment. That the shame of thy nakedness
does not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve
that thou mayest see. He's the light. He's the Gospel. He's the Isaiah. He's the ointment.
That's what He's manifesting here in this thing of this clay
and this spittle. And He said unto this man, you
go and you wash in the pool of Siloam which is by interpretation
sent. Everything about that pool typifies
the Gospel. That was the pool that Isaiah
was sent to where he preached to Ahaz saying, the remnant shall
return. He said, Here's the sign. Here's the gospel that God's
going to bring to pass. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son and shall call his name Immanuel, God with
us. This was the gospel. This was
at the Pool of Shiloh. And the Lord said, the reason
I'm going to bring upon them a mighty river of destruction
is because they refused the waters of Shiloh that go softly. That message wasn't impressive
to them. That message wasn't a mighty
flowing river to them. That message didn't look like
it could save anybody to them. And so they went to others and
depended on others, the strength of their own hand, their own
covenant. And he said, and they refused the gospel. That's exactly
it. This word sent. How shall they preach except
they be sent? This is all a picture of the
gospel. This is what the Lord said. Christ
loved the church and he gave himself for it that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. What word? The word of what he's
accomplished. The word of his full accomplished
redemption. The word of his wisdom and his
power and his sanctifying work. That he's the one who does this
work. This is the very essence of our gospel. Not by works of
righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
That's what happens when the Gospel goes forth. It's like
the pool of Siloam. This Word, this Gospel. And He
said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam which is by interpretation
sin. Whenever this Gospel goes forth,
Christ speaks and gives a command in those in whom He plants the
Word, in whom He enters. And He says, Go! Go and wash. Go wash in this pool of Siloam. Go wash in the fountain of Christ's
blood. Wash yourself in Him. And you
know what happens when He does that? They go His way. That's what this man did. It
says here, he went his way therefore. Whose way? The way Christ said
go. He went Christ's way. He didn't
go his own way. He went Christ's way. And he came away, and he washed,
and he came seeing. That's what you'll do when Christ
enters in. You'll wash in the fountain of
blood, the fountain of life, and you'll come away seeing.
You'll have spiritual sight. Now there was nothing about this
method that anybody would look at and say, now that's going
to be impressive. There wasn't anything impressive
about this clay and this spittle. There was nothing impressive
about that pool of silo. And here Christ stands who has
just been rejected by everybody in the synagogue saying this
to him. Nothing impressive here, is it?
Oh, but when he does this, Christ is the power and wisdom of God. He is the power and wisdom of
God. You see Him. You know this power. You know this wisdom because
He's come into your heart and He abides there. And when He
does, your eyes are opened up and you behold the glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus and you behold everything God has
done is the way it should have been done. I'm miserable. I'm wretched. I'm undone. I haven't
been able to do a thing in the world. I've been blind beggars
all I've been. And He has done it all. I see. I see now. I see. Oh, this is the good news. You
behold, righteousness is finished. Justification is finished. Satisfaction
is finished. Redemption is finished. Forgiveness
is finished. Salvation is finished. I've been
called out of darkness, sanctified by the sanctifier into His marvelous
light. And I behold the light now. That's
what He does through this Gospel. Oh, look here now. When he does
this, he causes a sinner to stand with Christ, though everybody
opposes him. Look at verse 8. His neighbors
opposed him. They questioned him. They said,
therefore, they had seen him that was blind. They said, is
not this he that sat in a bag? Some said, well, he's like him.
He said, No, I am. I'm He. They said unto him, How
were thine eyes opened? He said, A man that is called
Jesus opened mine eyes, or 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. And they said, Where is he? He
said, I don't know where he is now. You know when God calls
you, you know what your friends are going to say? They're going
to say, that's the most outlandish thing I've ever heard. Show him
to me. I can't see him. Where is he?
Where is he? And you're going to say, I don't
know where he is. I don't know where he is. But I know what
he did. I know what he's done. Well, then the religious rulers
We won't have time to go through all of these. But verse 13, they
brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And
they accused him too. And he told them. He said that he had done this.
And verse 17, they said, What do you say about it? He said,
He's a prophet. Then in verse 18, they brought
his parents in. And they said, Is this your son
whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see? And
his parents answered them, verse 20, and said, We know that this
is our son, that he was born blind, but by what means he now
seeth, we don't know. Or who hath opened his eyes,
we know not. He is of age, ask him. Let him speak for himself.
And 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. Therefore
said his parents, He is of age, ask him. Now his neighbors have
laughed at him, the religious establishments laughed at him,
his own parents have denied him. And they called the man to them,
now, verse 24, and they set him there in the midst, and they
said, Give God the praise. Give God the praise. And this
man sat there, and he said, look at verse 26, They said, What did He do? How
did He open your eyes? He said, I've told you already. I've told
you exactly what He did. And you didn't hear Him. Why didn't they hear Him? They
didn't have Christ's Word abiding in them. The Lord said, You can't
hear Me. Why don't you understand My speeches?
Because you can't hear Me. You don't have My Word abiding
in you. He hadn't given them sight. And
He said here, Wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also
be his disciples? And they reviled him, and they
said, You're his disciple. We're Moses' disciples. We know
God spoke to Moses. Christ was the one who spoke
to Moses in the burning bush. And they said, We know not from
whence this man is. Isn't that what Christ just said
to him in the synagogue? He said, I've come from the Father.
I know from whence I've come, but you don't know from where
I've come. Why? Because you don't have sight,
you don't have life, you don't have a spiritual understanding.
My Word has no place in you. And they say here to this man,
we don't know where this fellow is from. They don't know that
they're confessing that they don't even know Christ. That's
what they're saying. We don't even know Christ. We
don't even know God. The man answered and said unto
them, while herein is a marvelous thing, this is amazing grace,
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was
blind, but now I see. You know not from whence he is,
yet he's opened mine eyes. You're the most pious, the most
holy people, the most religious people. You've got everybody
on your side, and you don't know who this one is, and yet he's
opened my eyes. And he said, Now we know that
God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of
God, and doeth his will, him God heareth. And he's speaking
of Christ. He says, Since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. And now they've already said
if anybody confesses that he is of God, that this man Jesus
is of God, he's out of here, he's out of the synagogue. This
man knew that. This man, Christ was preaching
in the treasury, in the temple, and this man was sitting right
outside that place because that's where the people came to make
their, to pay their tithes. And this man was blind and could
do no work, could do absolutely nothing, and he was sitting there
begging for a handout. And his parents were members
of the synagogue. He knew that if any man confessed
he was the Christ, he'd be kicked out. And he stood here anyway
and he said, Fellas, I know what he's done. I know this man is
of God. And what was the result? They
answered and said, Thou wast altogether born in sin, dost
thou teach us?" And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. They said, we're not having any
more communication with you whatsoever. You don't exist. We're not allowing
any handouts to go to you. You have lost all civil rights.
You have lost all privileges as a Jew. You're gone. You're
out of here completely. Our Lord said this, Turn to Matthew
10.34. Be very careful. Be very careful. If you find yourself asking questions,
if I find myself saying, now are you saying that so-and-so
is blind? Are you saying that those folks
are blind? Be careful. Be careful. This is what the Lord said. Verse 34, Think not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. That
was the problem with the neighbors and the scribes and the Pharisees
and his own parents. And the Lord said, He that taketh
not his cross, he that does not bear the reproach of men for
my name's sake, he that does not bear this sword that shall
come at the hands of men that think they are doing God's service
and follow after me, he is not worthy of me. Not worthy of me. But here's the fifth thing, and
this is the last, and we'll just be brief here. Those who believe
on Him, those who stand with Christ against all who oppose
them, shall never be ashamed. They won't be ashamed of Christ
to confess Him, and they won't be ashamed for confessing Him.
Christ said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Now this
is what men will do when they have, this is what it is to walk
in the light. And this is what it is to no
longer walk in the darkness. And this is what all men will
do when Christ abides in them. Look at John 9, verse 35. Jesus heard they had cast him
out. And when he found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? This man said, Tell me
who he is. I want to know who he is. You
see, when God gives a man a new heart and puts a new spirit in
him, He makes that man want to know everything there is to know
about Christ Jesus the Lord. I want to know more of Him. I
want to know more of Him. I want to know more of Him. And
Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that
talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped. You see, it's
not the believer that's judging anybody. It's not God's messenger
that's judging anybody. Just setting forth the truth.
Just set forth the Gospel. And if God abides in a man, if
Christ, the Word, the Light, the Life abides in him, he'll
say, that's the Gospel. That's the truth. That's the
truth. And if not, he'll say, now you
said that such and such and such is blind? And the Lord said this, verse
41, if you were blind, if you were like this man who had nothing
and nobody and just wanted to know Christ and all about Christ
and trust Christ, you wouldn't have any sin. And what he's really saying to
them is, you wouldn't have that sin of unbelief, and that sin
of rebellion, and that sin of trusting in your own will, and
your own righteousness, and your own gospel. You wouldn't have
it anymore, because you'd have the gospel. You'd have the Word.
You'd have the light. But, now you say, we see. You say, we know. We understand.
We know the gospel. Our gospel is totally different
from yours, but we know it. And he says, therefore, that's
proof that your sin remains. You don't have His Word abiding
in you. Alright, are you blind? I'm blind. But this man said, all I know
is that whereas I was blind, now I see. But when Christ came to him the
second time, he said, do you believe? And he said, Lord, I'm
blind. Make me see. Make me see Him. He constantly makes us say, Lord,
I'm blind. Make me see. Make me see. Make me see. Oh, is He your light? Is He your
only light? I pray that He'll enter in and
make Make you to walk in the day star. Make you to walk in
the sun of righteousness. In the beams of God the light. Amen.