John 9, let's read from verse
1 so we can enter into the story of what's going on here. John
9, verse 1, it 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 hath
this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat
on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and 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. He went His way, therefore, and
washed, and came seeing. The neighbors, therefore, and
they which before had seen Him, that He was blind, said, Is not
this He that sat and begged? Some said, This is He. Others
said, He is like Him. But He said, I am He." Now our
Lord has just opened this man's eyes physically. He just healed
a blind man. And this man did not need his
eyes opened physically to enter into the kingdom of heaven. You
remember when our Lord said, If thine eye offend thee, pluck
it out. And He said that for spiritual
reasons. But He didn't need this physical healing to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. He opened this man's eyes so
that he might illustrate to all of his people what happens when
God spiritually opens blind eyes. Our Lord did this for a reason.
He could have saved this man and never healed his blindness,
his physical blindness. But He did this to illustrate
to us what happens when God spiritually opens blind eyes. Verse 1 says
that God passed by him. And God saw him. Right? He didn't see God. God
saw him. Verse 6 says that God made the
clay and God anointed His eyes. He didn't anoint His own eyes.
Verse 7 says that God told Him the only way to see is to be
immersed in the scent one, and then God opened His eyes. Spiritually
speaking, isn't that what happened to us? God came to us. We were just there. We were just
there. God came to us. God saw us. God sent His Spirit and anointed
us. God showed us. I've got to be
in Christ. God put me in Him and God opened
my eyes. That's what happened to me. This
man represents a brand new converted sinner. A newly converted sinner. A person who's just had his or
her eyes open. He was in the dark, now he sees
light. This is what happens to every
single one of God's people. This is the story, okay? If you
want to see what's going to happen to you and me and all of God's
people, this is what happens to us. Verse 8 says, The neighbors, therefore, and
they which before had seen him, that he was blind, said, Is not
this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he. Others said, He is like him. But he said, I am he." When God
moves on a heart, and when He performs a work of grace on a
heart, grace was never there before. And when God performs
a work of grace on a heart, it is impossible to hide it from
others. You know that? It's absolutely
impossible to hide it from others. Something is different. Something's different. Out of
the heart, the mouth cannot help but speak the things that it's
seeing. I'm seeing things. Have you ever
seen that? Seeing things in God's Word. I'm seeing things. For the first
time, it's becoming clear for the first time. When I was studying
this, I thought about when we were looking for a house, Hannah
went to every open house in the city of Kingsport. And there
was a man, a realtor, who asked, what did her husband do? And
she told him, well, then it was, let's talk about religion. And
he asked, what Bible do you use? And she said, King James. And
he said, you mean the new King James, right? She said, no, the
original King James. He said, no, you don't use that.
She said, yeah, we do. He said, no, you're talking about... She
said, no, I mean, it's the King James Bible. He said, you don't
use that, I'm telling you. He said, nobody can understand
that. Nobody. Well, something's becoming clear
for the first time. I'm seeing something for the
first time. And that sinner whom the Lord
opens his eyes is going to start talking to his neighbors. He
can't help it. He's going to talk to the people
that he goes to church with. He's going to talk to the people
that he works with. He's going to talk to his family.
And he's going to tell them, this is what God's Word says.
I see it right here. And everybody is going to start
saying, what in the world is going on with him? What is going on? Something is
different. Everything was the same all this
time and now something is different. When God works, men see it. When He moves, men and women
see it. If a dead body was laying in
a casket, and all of a sudden life was given to it, you would
know it. I mean, you would know it. Go
with me over to Luke 11. Hold your place in John 9 and
go to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11 and verse 33
says, No man, when he hath lighted
a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel,
but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. He doesn't hide it. Whoever sends
light, He doesn't hide it. He puts it on a candlestick that
those who come in may see the light. Back over in John 9, verse
9 says, Some said, This is He. Others said, He is like Him. But He said, I am He. A sinner is converted when the
Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ enters that person. That's what happens.
The Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ enters that person. And
the old man is still there. Boy, is he ever still there. But the new man, which is Christ,
has taken up a permanent residence in there. He's there too. There
was a little girl one time who was sitting in a worship service
next to her dad, and she heard the pastor say, Christ in you
is the hope of glory. And so she was riding home and
looking at her dad, how big her dad was. looking at herself,
how small she was, and she said, Dad? And he said, Yeah. She said,
Don't you think if Christ was in me, He would stick out? And he said, Yeah, honey, I believe
He would. I believe He would. When the
Spirit of Christ enters a person, it shows. It shows. The old man is still there. Verse
9, look at it, it says, some said, this is He. He acts just
like He always did. Yeah. Yeah. But the new man chose to. Verse
9 goes on to say, others said, He is like Him, but He's kinder. He's a little bit more forgiving
than He used to be. You know that? Have you noticed that? He's a little bit more loving
than he was. A little more patient. His pride seems to be a little
bit more in check. He seems a little bit more humble.
Why is that? Those are honest things that the Lord reveals
in His people. Why is that? The reason is because
for the first time He sees He sees. He sees how blind he really
was. Now that that man had sight,
can you imagine how much he saw, how blind he really was? He never
saw anything before. Probably people ask him, you
sure you're blind? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Can you
see this? I don't think so. As soon as he saw the sun, he
said, I was blind. Man, was I blind. For the first
time, he sees how ignorant and sinful he really was. For the first time, he sees how
great things Christ has done for him. For the first time,
when God opens eyes, spiritual eyes, he sees the suffering Christ
had to endure to redeem his wretched soul. He didn't see that before.
He sat in church all his life and he didn't see that before. He sees the precious blood of
the Lamb. He didn't see that before. He
talked about blood, but He didn't see the precious blood of the
Lamb. He sees how unworthy He is to receive it. He didn't see
that before. He thought, send it on to me. I'll take it. I'm worthy. He
sees that Christ was crucified for sinners like me. He sees
the love of Christ and that will make him love. And he sees the
forgiveness in Christ, that will make him forgive. He sees that
the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. That will make
him long-suffering. That will make him patient on
it. But as soon as he sees And as soon as others see this in
him, the very next thing to follow is opposition. The Lord opens
his eyes, he's seeing some things. I can't believe he's seeing some
things. He's telling everybody, the very
next thing to come is opposition. It's small and it's subtle at
first. Look at verse 10. Therefore said they unto him,
How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that
is 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. Then said they unto him, Where
is he? He said, I don't know." He doesn't know much. He doesn't
know much at all. And when he sees God's holiness
and when he sees his own sinfulness, he will not try to pretend that
he knows more than he does. He's going to immediately and
continually say, I don't know. I don't know. I used to know it all. Now I don't know. Anybody remember that experience?
I do. It is in the front of my mind.
I used to know it all. There came a precious point in
my life when the Lord showed me, I don't know. I don't know. The one thing He does know is
this, God did it. God did it. Verse 11 says, He
answered and said, A man that is 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. You want to get into the heavy
doctrine? You want to get into the mysterious Scriptures? I
don't know. I don't know. But there is one
thing I do know. What you see in me, God did it. God did it. Brother William and
I were talking one time about how blind the statement is. People
say, I got saved. I got saved. I didn't get saved. God saved me. God did it. I don't know much, but I do know
God did it. What's the answer to the question?
God did it. Well, if a sinner takes that
stance, those small and subtle oppositions are going to start
to become greater and greater oppositions. Look at verse 13.
It says, They brought to the Pharisees... First it was his
neighbors. Now it's the Pharisees. They
brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And
it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened His
eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked Him how He had received
His sight. He said unto them, He put clay
upon My eyes, and I washed, and you see." There is only one fact
that needs to be told. Just one fact. All the glory
goes to Jesus Christ. That's it. All the work was done
by Jesus Christ. That's all I know. When it comes
to everything else, I don't know. But I do know that all the work
was done by Jesus Christ. He did not debate with these
Pharisees. He just declared the truth. That's all He did. And we don't
have to debate this gospel. We don't have to get into debates
with anybody about this gospel. This gospel is not to be debated,
it is to be declared. He said, I was blind. Christ
did the work. Now I see. Verse 16 says, Therefore
said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he
keepeth not the Sabbath day. I love the fact that our Lord
healed so many people on the Sabbath day. You know He did
that on purpose. He kept healing people on the
Sabbath day. Always on the Sabbath day. And I love that for a couple
of reasons. Number one, You and I get our
healing on the Sabbath day. And what I mean is whatever day
God's Word is preached. That's the day set aside for
the preaching of God's Word. And that's when the healing comes. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching. That's what the Word says. In
hearing God's Word, we blind sinners are receiving sight through
hearing the Word. We deaf sinners are hearing for
the first time. We lame sinners are leaping through
the Word. And God does this for His people
through the preaching. He does it through the preaching.
In addition to that, the fact that He did these things on the
Sabbath day proves that all Scripture, especially the Ten Commandments,
All Scripture was given for one reason only, and that is to point
men and women to Jesus Christ. Our Lord was not telling us to
sit in a chair all day long on Sunday. He was not. He was telling us that Christ
is our Sabbath. Rest on Him. Don't do any work.
Don't add any of your works to salvation. You just rest on your
Sabbath. Verse 16 says, Therefore said
some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth
not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that
is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among
them. Author Pink made mention, there's a reference here back
to John 3 where Nicodemus was. He said that could have been
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. There was a division. Those men
were starting to see something too, and they were standing their
ground. It wasn't a little tiff. He said there was a division
among them. Some of those Pharisees, God had mercy on them. Not many
wise, not many noble in their own eyes, but some. There was a division among them.
Verse 17 says, They say unto the blind man again, they ask
him again, What sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine
eyes? He said, He's a prophet. They asked Him again. This time
they asked Him about the Lord's person. The first time they said,
How did you receive your sight? This time they said, What think
ye of Christ? That's what they were asking
Him. What sayest thou of Him? Verse 17, He said, He's a prophet. He is a prophet. He is sent of
God. I tell you, this man is sent
of God. And I thought about the fact
that when a person first comes to see the truth, he doesn't
always know exactly how to say things. He doesn't always know
exactly how to put things. We're not going to, but I looked
at a few Scriptures where Paul was saying, be patient and bear
the infirmities of the weak, and such on and so forth. Not
that anybody ought to think themselves strong in the faith, but nonetheless,
when the Lord newly converts people, they don't always know
how to put it into words. Somebody will ask you, you see
stuff, what do you believe now? What are they preaching over
there? How is it different? I don't know. I just know God
did it. But when the person sits and
hears God's message through God's Word, they say, that's what I
believe. And he's going to learn in time
exactly who Jesus Christ is and how to put it into words. Look
at verse 35. It says, Jesus heard that they had cast
him out. And when He had 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? 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 Him. Things take time, don't they?
They take time. Growth and maturity and grace,
it just takes time. So please give me some time.
I need a little bit of time. Be patient with me. John 9 verse
17 says, They say unto the blind man again,
What sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes? He
said, He is a prophet." Real soon he's going to say this is
the prophet. God manifest in the flesh. Verse
18, But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been
blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents
of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying,
Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then doth
he now see? His parents answered them and
said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind,
but by what means he now seeth, we know not. Or who hath opened
his eyes, we know not. He is of age, ask him, he shall
speak for himself. Now watch 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. Therefore said his parents, he
is of age, ask him." The Pharisees questioned his parents about
this. They of his own household. They said, what is your stance
on this? This is what he's saying, what
do you believe? They said, we don't know. Ask him. They knew. Everybody there knew
Jesus Christ healed this man. That boy told his parents, I'm
telling you, this is what happened. They knew. but they did not have
God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. A work
was not done to them. And they said, we don't know.
Ask him. Verse 22, 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 thought, we don't want to
be put out of the synagogue over this. They're going to kick us
out of the church for this. There's no reason for a split
over this. Oh yes, there is. God's glory is at stake right
here. Look at chapter 16, verse 1. John chapter 16. John 16 verse 1 says, These things have I spoken unto
you, that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service, whether
that's physically or in the heart. Verse 3 says, "...and these things
will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father,
nor Me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them." He said, that's what's going to happen. Proverbs
29.25 says, The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his
trust in the Lord shall be safe. It will be fine. Trust in the
Lord. It will be fine. Verse 24, back
over in John 9. John 9 verse 24 says, Then again called they the man
that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise." Quit
saying Jesus of Nazareth did it. Give God the praise. Clearly they're saying, He's
not God. He's not my God. I will not bow
to this man. They went on to say, we know
that this man is a sinner. Man, oh man. The ones telling
this blind man this were the leaders of religion. The leaders
of religion. And that is religion's main objective. It's to discredit Jesus Christ.
It really is. It is all of religion's objective. In the name of God. They will not honor God's Son,
and they will not give all the glory for all things to Jesus
Christ. Go with me over to John 5. John 5 verse 23 says, All men
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent
Him." If we don't give Jesus Christ all the glory for all
things, God the Father says, I will not have it. I will not
hear any of the praise. Back over in John 9, verse 24
says, Then again called they the man
that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise. We
know that this man is a sinner. 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." You know, that's all I need to know.
That's all I need to know. The gospel is so gloriously simple. He said, you've hid it from the
wise and the prudent and you've revealed it unto babes. It is
so gloriously simple. It's too simple for Pharisees.
It's just too simple. He said, you can keep all your
isms, you can keep all your schisms, you can keep all your religion.
One thing I know. David said, one thing have I
desired. Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you but one thing. Verse 25, this man said, one
thing I know. I know, he knew it. There was
no doubt in that man's mind. I was blind, now I see. No doubt in my mind. Is there
any doubt in your mind that Christ is all? Is there any doubt in
your mind that you are capable of getting yourself to glory?
Oh, yes. Is there any doubt in your mind
that if you're going to get there, Christ is going to do all the
work? No way. One thing I know, I know whom I have believed."
Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know He does. Paul
said, we know that all things work together for good. John
said, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know. We know. that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." One
thing every child of God knows, we were blind. Ephesians says,
but God, now we see. That's it. That's all I need
to know. Let's stand together.