May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of John, chapter nine, and we'll read verse 25. The
Gospel according to John, chapter nine, and reading verse 25. He answered and said, whether
he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now
I see. It is a great and wonderful testimony
of this man who was born blind that was able to give such a
wonderful answer. Of course the answer was One
thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. One thing. One thing he knew. We all know
many things, don't we? I'm sure. If I was to ask you
today, well, what do you know? You'd probably say, well, I know
this and I know that. And we know many things. But the great
question is and the great answer is as this blind man he came
and he said one thing I know whereas I was blind now I see
and you might say well of course I was not blind and I've always
seen and therefore what's the problem I don't understand the truth is very simply this people who receive the blessed
gift of natural sight, like this man, it's a wonderful blessing
and a wonderful favour and a glorious miracle. And of course, they
enjoy that, then probably, through their life. And those of us who
have not been born blind and who have sight are privileged
to be able to see all that goes on around us. And we can be thankful
for that. But we should always realise
that the Word of God is to give us an example of those things
which apply to our spiritual life. And of course, those things
which apply to our spiritual life do not end like our natural
life does. The things which apply to our
spiritual life go on. You say, well, for how long?
Forever. Forever. And so here was this
man who was blessed with sight. And he said, whereas I was blind,
now I see. And every one of us, without
any exception, need to be able to say, in a spiritual sense,
that means with regard to our spiritual eyes, that there was
a time when we did not see, we did not understand the truth
of God. But by his grace, by his wonderful
unmerited favour, we can say, now I see. Well, that's something
that only you can answer. And you need to answer it in
the sight of God, as to whether you are blessed with spiritual
sight. The question was put, really,
by this man's parents. You see, they'd been asked who
it was. And very sadly they were really
too embarrassed to say, because we're told these words spoke
his parents because they feared the Jews. Sometimes we fear people,
how sad that is. For the Jews had agreed already
that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put
out of the synagogue. The reality of that is today,
We're faced more and more with the situation that if we confess
Christ, the likelihood is that we will suffer for it. The likelihood is that we'll
be ostracised. That means we'll be separated
from. That means our friends won't want to speak to us. That
means perhaps our employers won't want to discuss things with us,
perhaps our teachers, perhaps our lecturers won't want to speak
to us, if we confess Christ. But the question surely must
be this, are we ashamed of Christ? And if we are, do we expect Christ
to be ashamed of us? When we stand before the judgment
seat, his judgment seat and he says I never knew you depart
from me into everlasting burnings we don't want to hear that do
we and yet you see these parents they'd seen the wonderful miracle
that had occurred they realized this man had been given sight
they knew who it was and yet you see they were not prepared
to confess that it was Jesus Christ, because they knew what
the consequence would be. So we have to be warned by these
things today, in a day which is increasingly more difficult
for true Christians. And you and I will be very tempted
to go along the same way that these parents went. You see,
they thought they could get out of the question. They said, well,
ask him. Ask him. It was really passing
the buck, wasn't it? They didn't want to nail their
colours to the mast. They didn't want to confess that
they knew who it was. Well, may God give us grace and
strength in this evil day to stand firm the glorious truth
of God and to confess he is our God our Savior the one who we
believe in wholeheartedly well the parents therefore try
to pass it off and say he is of age ask him and then of course
the The people that were there, they said, well, give God the
praise. We know this man is a sinner. But you see, this person, and
we're not told his name, are we? And it's not relevant, really. But we are told what he said
and how he reacted. And he reacted in a very wise
and very gracious and very good way. And he said, whether he
be a sinner or no, I know not. He'd just come in contact with
the Lord Jesus Christ. But he says, one thing I do know,
one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. And it's quite amazing how he
then goes on to give a very wonderful account of this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. They said to him again, what
did he to thee? How opened he thine mouth? And he said, I've told you already.
I've told you already. And you hear it again. Again you see he wasn't afraid,
he wasn't embarrassed to tell the truth. And then they reviled
him. And expect today, you young people,
Well, not only the young people, all of us expect to be reviled. Expect people to speak against
you. You may say, well why should
I expect that? I'll tell you why. Because if
you and I are a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
told that He was reviled. Why should therefore we be exempted? from such a path as that. This man was reviled. They reviled him and said, thou
art his disciple but we are Moses' disciple. And no doubt they thought
that was a good response and that would shut the man up. But
they got more than they bargained for. Because the man spoke very
faithfully and so very wonderfully, and the answer said unto them,
Why, hearing is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from
whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know
that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper
of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began,
Oh, that's a good believer, isn't it? He believes that the world
began. He believes there was a creation
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 a God, he
could do nothing. You see, that was a very clear
testimony, wasn't it? And it's a good thing when we
are prepared to stand up for what we believe. This man stood
firmly for what he had been cured, how he'd been cured, and who
it was that cured him. He didn't duck the issue. Now
the Word of God gives us therefore wonderful evidences for us today,
because We may be faced with such difficulties. We may think,
well, what shall I do? How shall I react? Well, let
us remember we always have a solution in the Word of God. As always,
a suitable account to encourage us. And you may say, well, I've
got a problem and I don't find any answer in the Bible. And
it's because you haven't read it carefully enough. And it's
because you haven't prayed enough. Because the Lord will show you
without any doubt. And the Bible tells us, James
tells us, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. who giveth
to all men liberally." Never think there's not an answer in
the Word of God. There is always an answer in
the Word of God. And the great blessing is this.
The answer is there, and you are able then to go in the strength
of the Lord God, and to make mention His righteousness even
of his only the Situation is you may be given an opportunity
to exalt the name of the Savior You may be given an opportunity
to speak for the things of God Which perhaps people in this
dark age have never heard of Many people today Know little
or nothing about the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
have that word in Esther, which is very appropriate, in Esther's
day, when Morikei told her that perhaps she had been born for
a specific situation for such a time as this. And don't think
that your life and my life, if we are God's children, is to
be one that is hidden away, so that nobody understands us or
knows who we are. And we're not to hide. The Word
of God tells us very clearly, if God has given us light, which
this man had been given, we're not to hide it. Not to hide it
at all. In actual fact, the very opposite. The Bible gives us the illustration
where to take it and put it as a candle on a candlestick so
that people can see it and not to pretend that we don't know
whose we are. Now, I know from personal experience
that it's very easy to opt out of a situation and it's very
easy to turn the conversation and to kind of be deaf. when
an opportunity presents itself to confess whose we are and whom
we serve. But let us remember, and this
is the great aspect, let us remember, if we are those who have received
spiritual sight, it's because that sight given to us has been
bought for us. And the Word of God tells us
this, you are bought with a price. And that was and is a tremendous
price. In order that you and I should
have our spiritual eyes opened, the price that was paid was the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The price paid was tremendous,
tremendous. Again, think of it. The Lord
Jesus Christ, very God. The second person in the Trinity,
the one who created the world, the one who condescended gloriously,
wonderfully, marvelously, to come into this sinful world and
to die that sin-atoning death that you and I might receive
spiritual life and that our eyes might be opened. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He came into this world to save sinners. Paul said, of
whom I am chief. Paul wasn't a little sinner in
his eyes. He was a great sinner. And what
a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit comes and shines into
our heart as our spiritual eyes are opened to see what we really
are. Until that happens, We might
think, well, I haven't done everything right. I've told a lie here and
a lie there, and I've done this wrong, and I've gone to that
wrong place, and seen that wrong thing, and et cetera, et cetera.
But when the Holy Spirit of God opens our spiritual eyes, then
it is that we see a mass of sin. We don't see it all at once.
It doesn't all happen at once. The
Holy Spirit reveals to us a bit at a time. Here a little, and
there a little. But the reality is this. The
Holy Spirit does reveal sin to such an extent that we are as
it were, bound down, bowed right down to the ground. The weight
of it. You know, I can't just shrug
it off. We do before the lights come, before our eyes have been
opened, we shrug off sin. It doesn't really matter. We
just go on our way and we forget about it. But when our eyes are
spiritually opened, you can't shrug it off. It's there. The Holy Spirit has
come. Blessed be God. It's not a very
pleasant experience. But it's a real experience, and
it's a God-given experience, and you'll bless God for it.
You may not at the time, you may not really understand what's
happening. You may try and change the situation. People may try and go out and
enjoy themselves and take the pleasure of the world and get
rid of sin. You can't. When the Holy Spirit opens our
spiritual eyes to see sin as it really is, well, we shake,
we tremble under it. Because we know we are condemned
before a holy God. We know that we've disobeyed
the truth of God. We know that because of it, that
condemnation condemns us to an eternity in hell. It's not a
light matter, is it? It's not trivial, is it? It's not something which is irrelevant,
is it? It's something which concerns
our eternal state. So what a blessing then, if the
Holy Spirit has come and opened our eyes, so that we can say,
One thing I know, I don't know very much. You may know very
little, it doesn't matter. Again, as I often tell you, the
Word of God tells us, a little that a righteous man hath is
better than the treasures of many wicked. And don't despise
the day of small things, and don't say, well, I don't know
very much. It's a good thing if you know
a little. It's a good thing if you know anything, and if you
know anything it'll be this, that your spiritual eyes will
have been opened. One thing I know, one thing I
know, do you know that this morning? Do you know that the Holy Spirit
has opened your eyes to observe what you're like inside? You see, your outside may be
very prim and proper. Oh yes, you may do all the right
things. But my friends, it's the inside
which counts. It's that which is within a man,
within our hearts. Don't rely on what you do outwardly. That's what the Pharisees did. Pharisees were very proud of
their religion. They thought how righteous they
were. They wanted people to think well
of them. And yet, their eyes had never
been opened. They were proud of their outward
religion. But it wasn't an inward religion. And it wasn't a God-given religion. And that's why We have that wonderful
simple parable of the Lord of the Pharisee and the Publican.
And the Pharisee, we're told, prayed with himself. He didn't
pray to God. He prayed with himself. How proud
he was of all the good things he did, all the way he lived. Didn't count with God. The Publican,
he was convicted by the Spirit of God. He didn't even lift up
his eyes, smoke upon his breast. He cried out, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. Well, his spiritual eyes had
been opened to know what he was inside. What a good thing that
is, when the Spirit of God opens our eyes to see what we are inside. It's not what other people see.
It's what God sees. Remember, God looks into our
heart. Man sees the outside, God sees
the inside. And when we have a right appreciation
of that, we'll know that we need a saviour. We'll realise that
we cannot save ourselves. We're lost, we're ruined, we're
held deserving. We need a Saviour. We need a Saviour to come and to
show to us as our spiritual eyes are opened, to lead us to none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. See this man here, he had some
view. He didn't really know who Jesus
was. But he had a view of what he
was and what he did. And don't expect to suddenly
become a Christian that knows everything. Because we don't. But the Lord comes and the Lord
opens our spiritual understanding. And the beginning must be to
show to us our need of a saviour. And that need comes by conviction
of sin. Conviction of sin. Because you
and I will never need a saviour unless we are convicted of sin.
Because there will be no need. We'll be satisfied with our lives.
when we become unsatisfied, not satisfied, when we find ourselves
in a time of want. You remember again that well-known
parable of the prodigal son. He ran away from home. You may
have run away from home in your heart. You may not have run away
perhaps physically, you may have run away in your heart. And yet,
you see, he thought he'd have a good time. Well, whatever good
time he had didn't last very long. Didn't last very long. But, you
see, the wonderful statement was this. There came a time when
by the Holy Spirit he began to be in want. That means A change
had occurred. No longer was he content to spend
his life in riotous living. No longer are we content to spend
our life in the things of time. We realise there's something
more important. And we're a needy sinner. And
how are we to escape the condemnation which is upon us? We feel as
though we're standing in a dock. We're standing in the court.
And there's the judge looking at us. And the eyes of the judge
are piercing into our heart. We realize we deserve a just
sentence to be condemned. Well, we will be condemned. And God will be righteous. And
we'll acknowledge He is righteous in condemnation. But then to realise, as we then
are directed, our eyes are opened to see there is a glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what comfort that brings!
to the needy sinner, to view by faith the Saviour. We don't see Jesus physically,
this man had done so, but by faith we come. We come by faith
and we believe then on the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the
only one who can save us. from eternal wrath. And we can come to the Saviour. The hymn writer has it right.
Very beautiful. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. Oh, my friends, we have such
a Saviour. You see, remember this. It's
the work of God to convince of sin. And he sees his work. And he sees what's happening.
And he's prepared the way of relief. He's prepared the way
of blessing. So he comes and opens our eyes
to see that in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ is all that
we need for our salvation. Because He has paid the price
to take away our sin. Come back to the situation with
a man in the dock, a man in court, condemned rightly, not wrongly,
condemned rightly, and you won't be able to make any excuses.
You won't come and say, well, I'm not too bad. You'll be condemned. How wonderful then to think of
a Savior who comes. And rather than you having to
pay the enormous price for your freedom, which you were not able
to, to have the revelation, when our eyes are opened to behold
the Word of God speaks it so beautifully. Behold the Lamb
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who taketh away the sin of the
world. all His people and to realise
that this blessed Saviour, the Lamb of God, has taken away our
sin. Our eyes are open. We behold
the glorious plan of salvation. We thank God for it and then
the truth is from fullness of heart, we can say very humbly, one thing I know, one thing I
know, whereas I was blind, now I see. Well, this morning, what
a wonderful blessing. If God has given us grace and
faith, to behold the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
to behold Him in that great work of salvation. And again you see
all these things don't happen instantly, but it's a wonderful
blessing when we are led to view the suffering Saviour and to
then have some appreciation of what the cost was to deliver
us from the condemnation. It will make Jesus Christ precious. He will become valuable to us. He will be someone who we love
to hear about. We love to speak about this great
and glorious Saviour. who amazingly has looked upon
such a wretch as me. What was there in me that could
merit esteem or give my Creator delight? Nothing in ourselves. You see, we ever must sing because
it seemed good in nigh sight. You know what will happen? This.
You will praise God for His grace, for His free unmerited favour
to you. You will praise God for sovereign
grace, as the hymn writer says, sovereign grace or sin abounding. His grace overcomes all of our sinful condition. However bad, however bad we are,
came to seek and to save that which was lost. And you see when
we're bowed down by sin, we sometimes think there's no hope for me.
Yes there is. The gospel is for sinners. What a mercy that is. And so
as we have this simple account this morning, it's very wonderful
isn't it? that Almighty God ordained, the
Scripture should be written. The many, many pages from Genesis
to Revelation, the complete Word of God, and we today are wonderfully
favoured to be able to read it and to have such an account as
this. And what the great blessing is that the Holy Spirit shows
us our condition, that we can come alongside this blind man
and say, yes, I know I can confirm, in a spiritual
sense, by the grace of God, and say, one thing I know, whereas
I was blind, now I see. Now the result of this blessed
knowledge is this, when you and I come to die, which
we will, we shall go to glory. We shall be eternally with Christ,
with the saints of God, in that sinless environment, forever
and ever. What a wonderful prospect that
is. You know, we need to weigh up
these things, don't we? In God's balances, and see the
weight of eternal life on one side, and on the other side the
lightness of the poor old things of this world, which perish. What a mercy when God comes and
gives us grace to set our hearts and our affections upon things
above and not on things on the earth, and to bless God for the
great plan of salvation, and to realise that we will then
be blessed with communion and fellowship with the Saviour as
you and I walk through life. We are no longer alone. God is
with us. He's taking us by our hand. He's
leading us on safely. And he will bring us, at last,
safe home to glory. No one who has their spiritual
eyes opened will ever have them closed. They will be open. And you and I will enter into
glory with our spiritual eyes. then see the blessed Son of God
who is seen by faith on earth, then we shall see him face to
face. What a prosper that is for the
living Church of God, those who've had their eyes open. So this
morning may you and I bless God for such a word as this and be
able to say one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now,
now I see. Amen.