Okay, we're turning now to John
chapter 9, and I'm entitling the message from the answer that
the Lord gives unto His disciples that's recorded in verse 4 of
John 9, I must, I must, that's the key word in Scripture, M-U-S-T,
must, of necessity, I must work Now, I like that phrase. Our Lord said, I must work the
works. The works of God, Him, that sent
me while it is day. So the title of the message is,
The Works, Christ Must Work the Works of God. Now, that's repeated
many times in Scripture in different ways. beginning with the first
recorded words that the Lord speaks at the age of 12 there
in the temple. It's recorded in the book of
Luke. And he said, I must be about
my Father's business. The Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty,
manifests in the flesh. He knew exactly why he came. He knew exactly what he had to
do, and he went about his father's business with great enthusiasm. You remember it said in Isaiah
50, he set his face like a flint. No one could turn him from his
purpose. He said, I must go to Jerusalem. We see the determination of the
Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish this work of salvation that God
had given unto him. His Father had given unto him. Now, hold your place here in
John 9 and look back over here in John chapter 4. John chapter
4. Look at verse 34. Our Lord said,
My meat, my delight, my satisfaction is to do the will of him that
sent me and to finish, to finish his work. Now, look over here
in John chapter 5. John chapter 5, verse 36. He
said, I have greater witness than that of John. That is speaking
of John the Baptist. He said, behold the Lamb of God.
The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same
works that I do. They bear witness of me that
the Father sent me." These are the works that he must do. Christ must work the works of
God. The salvation that we enjoy by
the free and sovereign grace of God is only because of the
doing, dying, the obedience, and the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The righteous servant of God
made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore
God hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is above
every name. At that name every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Because
of the work the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us, His righteous
obedience to God's law, to God's justice, because He faithfully,
fully, eternally performed all things for us in salvation, therefore
we enjoy salvation by His free grace. Justified freely. I like that word, don't you?
freely, justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, for the last several years,
I've been preaching through the book of Psalms, 150 Psalms, and
this is a message all the way through the Psalms. Salvation
is of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. But this one particular Psalm,
Psalm 92, verse 4. Don't turn. Let me just quote
it to you. Jot it down here. Psalm 92, 4 says, For the Lord,
for Lord, thou hast made me glad. I will triumph. I will triumph. See, the Lord
Jesus Christ is not a defeated, frustrated reformer, as my dear
pastor would always tell us. He's not a defeated Lord. He's
a victorious Lord. I will triumph in the work of
His hand. Thanks be to God who has given
us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is a winner. I love that scripture. I think
it's the key verse in all the Revelation 22 chapters. Revelation
6, verse 2. He went forth conquering and
to conquer. He defeated every enemy. Sin? Put it away. Satan? He's broken. He's broken. He's condemned forever. Death? I'm He that liveth. I'm
He that liveth and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore. Because He ever lives to make
intercession for us, we have salvation. Think of it. Think
of it. The Lord Jesus Christ right now,
seated on the throne of glory, interceding for us right now,
making even our worship, bathing our worship, which is so frail,
isn't it? Oh, to worship God in spirit
and in truth. But even our frailty of our worship,
even the frailty of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ bathes
that in His blood and presents it to the Father as perfect worship. Oh, what a mediator we have. What an intercessor we have. I will triumph in the work of
thy hand, O Lord, how great are thy works." Psalm 92, 4. And
then another one of my favorite psalms, in Psalm 57, verse 2,
where it says there that He shall perform, He shall, He shall perform
all things for us. He shall perform all things for
us. Oh, I was so, so thankful. Our
blessed Savior accomplished salvation for His covenant people. None
for whom He died, none for whom He stood can perish. All that the Father hath given
to me, they will come to me. I now will in no wise cast them
out. Now, let's see if we can get
to John chapter 9 here for a minute or two. In this chapter, we see
the Lord Jesus Christ going about this business of the Father's
work. We see the Lord going about His
work, showing mercy to sinners, sinners sitting in darkness,
sinners who are in need of salvation. And in doing so, the Lord is
fulfilling the very scripture that's written of Him. It says
in Isaiah 35, don't turn, let me just quote it to you, Behold,
the Lord God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, he
will come and save you. And that's what he did. He saved
us from our sin with his own blood. Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as a
heart. And the tongue of the dumb shall
sing unto the Lord." You know the Song of Redemption, that
new song? There in the Revelation, "...unto him who loved us, and
washed us from our sin in his own blood, to him be all the
honor and glory, both now and forever." You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ came to accomplish salvation. Turn over here to, hold your
place there in John 9, and find Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter
4. And this, again, is a fulfilling
of the scripture that's recorded in Isaiah 61. Luke chapter 4. The Lord is reading from Isaiah
here in the synagogue in Nazareth, verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me. He has sent me. to heal the brokenhearted. He has sent me to preach deliverance,
liberty, freedom to the captives, those who are captive by sin,
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." He closed
the book, gave it again to the minister and sat down, and then
in verse 21 said, he said to them, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears." The Lord Jesus Christ came about
by the purpose of God to effect this business, the Father's business,
of salvation. Salvation to sinners. Now, you
remember from the last part of John chapter 8, When the Lord,
and you read John chapter 8, it's one of the most interesting
chapters. This conversation that goes on
between the Pharisees and the Jews. And he said, if God were
your Father, you would love me. If you were Abraham's children,
you'd do the works of Abraham. You'd be obedient unto God. And then they took up stones
to cast at him. Look what it says. The Lord declared
before Abraham was, I am. And look what their response
is. He's declaring unto them his eternality, his deity. Before Abraham was, I am. Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. Look
at their response. Then, then they took up stones
to cast at him. I mean, these just weren't dirt
clods. I mean, they just weren't going
to cast a few dirt plots. These were rocks. These were
rocks with the malicious intention of ending not only his ministry,
but ending his life. They had murder in their heart.
You see, the carnal mind is enmity, hatred against God. It's not
subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. Therefore,
by the deeds of the flesh shall no man be justified. By the deeds
of the flesh shall no man please God. They took up stones and
cast at him. But watch this. Now, here's the
point I want to make. The Lord hid himself. The Lord just left
them in their sin, in their blindness, in their rebellion. He hid Himself
and He went out of the temple, going through the midst of them
and passed them by. Left them in their rebellion,
in the hardness of their heart, in the blindness of their mind,
He passed them by. Now, that sets the table for
what's said in John 9, verse 1, and Jesus passed by and he
saw this man that was born blind, blind from his birth. Reminds me of this scripture
found in Matthew 11, 25, where our Lord said, Father, I thank
thee. You've hid these things from the wise and prudent. and
revealed them unto babes, even so, father, for so it seemed
good in your sight." These old Pharisees, they bragged, we're
Abraham's children, God is our father. You know what the Lord
tells them in that, I think it's the 44th verse of John chapter
8. He said, you are of your father
the devil. That's right. He left them in
the hardness of their sin, the blindness of their sin. He passed
them by judicially, rightly, justly. They got exactly what
they wanted, exactly what they deserved. And the Lord passed
by and saw a blind man and had mercy upon him. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, The Lord Jesus Christ is always
on the lookout for his sheep. He's always on the trail of his
sheep. And in time, he crosses their
path with the gospel, and he heals them completely. This man here didn't receive
just sight and one eye. He healed him completely, and
he worshiped the Lord, as it says later on in that chapter.
Here we see the Lord passing by this man on purpose. In John chapter 4, there was
a woman at the well, and the Lord sought her out, revealed
Himself unto her. She said, We know when the Messiah
is coming, He'll show us all things. And the Lord said, I
that speak to thee am He. And she worshiped Him. And then
in Matthew, or John chapter 5, you remember the crippled man
at the pool of Bethesda? Laid there for, what was it,
38 years? Couldn't get in the water. And
the Lord passed by and told him, rise up, take up your bed, and
walk. And immediately. He went, praising
God and walking. You see, the Lord crossed her
path. The Lord crossed that crippled
man's path. And here we see in John chapter
9, the Lord encountering this blind man. In all those stories
of God's healing, in all that we see a picture of God's mercy
to us. How was that notorious woman
at the well? I was that crippled man at the
pool. I was this blind man, we don't
even have his name, that was born blind. That's me. And the
Lord passed by one day and said, live, live, live. So let's take a look at this.
Verse 1. And the Lord passed by. And the Lord passed by. Salvation begins with the Savior,
God our Savior, coming to us. Salvation does not begin with
the sinner coming to God. Salvation begins with God coming
to us. We can maybe say it like this.
Salvation not from the bottom up. Salvation from the top down. Salvation is of the Lord. It
comes from Him. He initiates it. He plans it. He purposes it. He executes it. He brings it to pass. He sustains
it. Salvation is all of His doing. You remember the story in Ezekiel
16 about the cast out infant. And the Lord said, I pass by
thee, and I saw you polluted in your blood. And then he says,
and it was a time of love. And I said unto thee, live, when
you were in your blood, when you were in your guilt, it was
a time of love. And I said unto thee, live, and
I put my skirt upon you, and I clothed you, and I girded you,
and I blessed you with all blessings. That's salvation that we find
in the Word of God. If we love Him, And if we're
ever brought to believe him and to love him is because he first
loved us. We love him only because he first
loved us. We believe the gospel only by
the grace of God. We believe according, you remember
that scripture in Ephesians chapter one where it talks about Our
faith and believing, we believe according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in us. And the next verse tells
us and describes with us that power that it takes to raise
a dead sinner. It's that resurrection power.
Because the next verse talks about the resurrection of Christ. How much power did it take to
raise the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ? Almighty power. At the same exact power, that
it takes to raise a dead sinner to life, to enable him, to bless
him, to believe the gospel. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. We do not believe to be born.
We believe because we have been begotten of God by the power
of God. He crosses our path with the
true gospel and it's sent unto us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
He gives us ears to hear. He raises us from the dead. And
he gives us faith to believe him. You see, it's all of his
doing. The Lord on purpose. You can't
read this scripture and come away with anything else than
the Lord. This man wasn't seeking the Lord.
He was blind. I mean, he was it says here he
was a beggar. He was sitting around the temple
ground just begging for mercy. Or begging for alms, rather.
Begging for help. Somebody help me. He wasn't seeking
the Lord. He didn't know the Lord. The
Lord saw him. The Lord knew him. And the Lord
passed by. The Lord on purpose passed by
and saw this blind man, this sinner in need of mercy, and
He showed mercy to him. You know, that's my story. That's
my story. The Lord passed by my soul in
eternal election of grace and chose me in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. He passed by my soul in predestinating
grace and arranged all things for my eternal salvation. He
passed by my soul at the appointed time of love and called me by
His grace. Now I have the same testimony
as the Apostle Paul and young Timothy, and all of us have the
same testimony. to believe the gospel, it's God
who saved us. It's God who called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but, there's that
word again, but according to God's own purpose and grace.
Those two words, purpose, purpose and grace, given to us in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world. All these arrangements
that God has made in the lives of His elect. He arranges all
things to bring us to the point where He crosses our path with
the gospel. And we hear not in word only,
but in power and in the truth. This man could not see the Lord.
This man had no interest in the Lord, but the Lord had an interest
in him. The Lord had His eye upon him. You remember that scripture over
2 Timothy? I believe it's chapter 2, verse
19. The foundation of God stand assured,
having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. This is one
of his elect. This man at this time had no
interest in the gospel, had no interest in the true and living
Lord. He could not see the Lord. He was not seeking the Lord,
but the Lord had an interest in him. The Lord saw him, just
not lately, just not this day, the Lord had his eye on this
sinner from all eternity. The Lord had loved this man,
just not only this day, it was a time of love, but the Lord
loved this sinner from all eternity. He loved us with an everlasting
love. And therefore, with love and
kindness, he draws us. He draws us. unto himself. Thy people shall be willing,
willing, willing in the day of his power." Notice also, this
man was born blind. This is also our story. We're
born in sin, shaping in iniquity. Shapen in nickel. We're born
in Adam. All died in Adam. All have sinned. By nature we love darkness and
hate the light. By nature we have no understanding. Our heart is ignorant. We're
blinded to the mercy of God, to the grace of God, to the gospel
of God. Born blind. But the Lord does
not leave us there. Now look at verse 2. John 9,
verse 2. The disciples asked him, saying,
Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind? Now, I find this kind of an odd
question, an odd question. Instead of these disciples being
concerned with this beggar, blind, instead of them being concerned
with his condition, and knowing the Lord, has all power, all
authority. They've seen the Lord raise the
dead. These men have seen cripples
walk. These men have seen the Lord
feed the multitude with nothing and create a feast. These disciples have seen all
these things, and yet they seem unconcerned about this man's
condition, and they just wonder, well, this man They turn themselves
into judges, don't they? This man surely must be a vile
sinner, or certainly his parents, boy, they've really done something
bad for their son to be born blind. Don't you hear the echo
of the Pharisee in the temple? Lord, I thank you I'm not like
other men are. That's exactly what they're saying,
isn't it? For this man, for him to be born
blind, boy, his parents, oh, his parents, oh, they really
must have been something, something wicked. You know what I see here? I see the deceitfulness of our
own rotten nature. The self-righteousness. You know,
we're still plagued with this old self-judging nature, and
if we're not careful, If we're not careful, we'll be just like
that Pharisee. You know, Job's three friends.
Job, what have you done? To lose everything, and now you're
sitting on an ash heap scraping yourself with a piece of glass
because you're covered with... Well, Job, what have you done? Oh, that God may be magnified
in all things. In all things. You see, the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. Now,
notice how the Lord answers this question. Look at verse 3. And
the Lord answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents. But, here's this word again,
but that the works of God, the works of God, You see, all this
was arranged by the purpose of God, wasn't it? This man being
born blind, all this happened, not by accident, all this happened
by purpose that the works of God can be declared, manifest,
made known. Made known. In Him. In Him. Now, the Lord is not
saying that the blind man and his parents were not sinners.
He's not saying that. He's not saying that they're
not guilty before God. That would be contrary to the
record of Holy Scripture. The Holy Scriptures teach us
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The
Holy Scriptures teach us that there's none righteous, no, not
one. But all suffering and all death
are a direct result, a direct result of sin entering in. If
there were no sin, In this world, there would be no suffering. There would be no sickness. There
would be no death. There would be no murder. There
would be no bombings. But sin entered in that the purpose
of God might be made manifest. The Lord is saying that the particular
circumstance that came to pass And that do come to pass in our
lives don't happen just by accident, but rather by the Lord's wise
and sovereign providence that he might be glorified. He might be glorified. That the
works of God should be made manifest. Now, let me show you another
scripture. Turn over here to John chapter
11. You remember in the death of Lazarus, his sickness, And he died in
John chapter 11, verse 3, Therefore his sister sent unto him, saying,
Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that,
he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God. Lazarus died that he might be
raised up for the glory of God. You see that? That the glory
of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. The Lord in His wise and sovereign
providence arranges all things in human history to serve His
greater purpose and glory. All things. Romans 11, verse
36 says this, and through him, and to him,
for all things, to whom be glory, both now and forever. Amen."
You remember Isaiah 46? God said, I've spoken it. I'll
bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I will do it.
God arranges all things, the events of human history. The
fall of Adam was not an accident. Sin didn't sneak up on God. Before Adam ever sinned, the
Lord Jesus Christ stood as the surety of the everlasting covenant. Before Adam fell, the Lord Jesus
Christ was that Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Before there was ever a sinner, the Savior was already provided
in the purpose of God. You see, all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to God's purpose. The whole and sole reason, now
think about this, of Adam's sin and his guilt. The whole reason. Could God have prevented Adam
from sinning? Absolutely. It's Almighty God. The whole
reason of Adam's sin, the whole reason of Adam's fall was to
magnify the Lord's grace and mercy. We would know nothing
of salvation apart from sin, would we? We'd know nothing of
redemption apart from our ruin in Adam. We'd know nothing of
the love of God toward his covenant people apart from Adam's fall,
wouldn't we? And Adam all died, even so that
in Christ shall all be made alive. You read Ephesians chapter 1,
where it talks about the work of the Father, the work of the
Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit, God choosing a people
and electing grace, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, redeeming
them by His blood, and then the work of the Holy Spirit and calling
and quickening, and in all three cases, the work of the Father,
choosing, the Son redeeming, the Holy Spirit calling and quickening,
all to the praise of the glory of His grace. You see, God has
so arranged this in his wise and good and holy providence
so that he might have all the honor and glory, and rightly
so. Rightly so. God commended his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. When we were yet without strength,
the Lord Jesus Christ died for us. The ungodly. Now, I'm going
to borrow an illustration from Pastor Mahan that I heard him
give years ago on this very point of the blackness of Adam's fall
and the blackness of Adam's sin in the brilliant gem of God's
mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. When you ladies go into a jewelry
store and you pick out some of those precious stones that glitter,
those diamonds, And the jeweler comes forth and when he lays
out those precious stones, he doesn't take a white cloth, does
he? What does he take? He takes a
black cloth. And he takes that precious stone
and he lays it on that black cloth that the brilliance of
that stone, the facets of that diamond, the way it's polished
would glitter against the blackness of that cloth. And that's exactly
what God does in His mercy. We see the blackness of Adam's
sin, the blackness of Adam's ruin, the blackness of guilt,
and it shines the gem of God's saving mercy in Christ Jesus. It just glitters that much more
glorious. against the background of Adam's
ruin and Adam's sin. That's a good illustration, isn't
it? Well, I pray that the Lord will cause you to remember that.
Let us never imagine that anything comes to pass by accident. Everything that comes to pass,
comes to pass by His sovereign design, His sovereign purpose. Adam's fall was not an accident.
God brought it to pass on purpose that He might magnify His grace. Magnify His grace. Now, watch
this. Look at verse 4. Now, don't be anxious here. I'm not going down to verse 25.
I'm going to quit here at verse 7 or so. But our Lord said in
verse 4, I must work the works. I must
work the works. I like that phrase. I must. I must work the works. You remember over in John chapter
3, the Lord preaching the gospel to Nicodemus, and He said, the
Son of Man must be lifted up. Other sheep I have which are
not of this folk, them I must also bring. And then in Matthew
16, When the Lord told his disciples, I must go to Jerusalem, I must
be betrayed. I must be crucified. I must be
raised up again the third day. And Peter thought, well, I'm
going to I'm going to help you out here. Peter began to rebuke
him, saying, not so, Lord. These things must not happen.
Remember what the Lord said? You get out of my way. You savor
us, not the things that be of God. He said, you savor those
things that are of Satan. Get out of my way. I must die. I must go to Jerusalem. It's
a necessity. He must work the works of God
that sent him. The Lord came to take care of
business, didn't He? The Lord came to take care of
business. He came to take care of the Father's business. The
Heavenly Father's business. He made His business. He made
a business out of that which was His Father's business. He's
called the righteous servant of the Lord that cannot fail.
The Lord was all about the work that He must accomplish. He cannot
fail. He cannot be discouraged. I love
that scripture in Isaiah 42. Our blessed Lord knew exactly
what work He had to do and went about to do it with great passion. Great zeal. Let me show you something
over here. Turn to John chapter 2. When
the Lord came to the temple that day and found not people, He
found them not preaching the gospel. He found them not worshiping
God. He found them buying and selling. He found them committing idolatry
in the temple, the house of God. He found them at the Passover
in John chapter 2. Those that sold oxen and sheep
and doves and the money changers. And he made a whip of small cords
and he drove them all out of the temple. And the sheep and
the oxen poured out the changers, the money, over through the tables
and said, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a
house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house. had eaten him
up. Oh, he went about his work with
great passion, with great enthusiasm, with great zeal, with great love
in his heart, knowing that he must accomplish all things the
Father had given him to do. Remember in John 17, he prayed,
Father, I glorify Thee on the earth, I finish the work that
you've given to me, and now glorify thou me with thine own self with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Our Lord
came to fulfill all Scripture. He came to fulfill all righteousness.
He came to honor God's holy law for us. He said, I didn't come
to destroy the law, I came to honor it. He came to redeem His
sheep. He came to glorify His Father
in all things. What could be more blessed? What
could be more blessed? The gospel we believe and the
gospel we preach is a successful, victorious Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption work is finished.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is saved with an everlasting
salvation. And Jehovah, God our Father,
God our Savior, Jehovah is forever, forever glorified. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, and blessing. I must work the
works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh,
the night cometh with no man. You can't do any work in the
dark. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to do His Father's will while he was the God-man mediator in
this life, in his life, in his ministry, he accomplished all
that God gave him to do. Verse 5, as long as I'm in the
world, I'm the light of the world. Turn over here to John 8, verse
12. John 8, verse 12. I am the light
of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
very light and revelation we need. The glory of God shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the very light we need, the only light that will enlighten
us, and he's the only one that can command the light to shine
in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. I said all that to get to verse
6. I want to look at this for just
a few minutes. When he had thus spoken, now
he said a whole lot, didn't he? When he had thus spoken, the
Word, the eternal Word speaks in power with all authority.
You remember they said of him, no man ever spake like that man.
when they sent officers out to arrest the Lord, and those officers
from the Pharisees came back and they didn't have a prisoner.
They said, well, why didn't you bring him? This man speaks with
all authority and power. No man ever, we've never heard
anybody speak like he speaks. And he spoke. After he had spoken,
he did something quite unusual. He spit on the ground. And he made clay. He took some
dirt with his spit, and I kind of get the idea that he's kind
of mixing this up, put some dirt, kind of mixing this up in his
hand. It's his spit. It's his hand. And he's kind of mixing this
up, and he takes some of that, Spread it on the eyes. Now, just
looking at that naturally, we would be thinking, well, that's
the last thing that I do, make a mud ointment of some kind and
stick it on this man's eyes. I mean, that's going to make
it worse, right? Wrong. You see, who is this one
who spits? Who is this one who picks up
the clay and makes man out of the dust. Who is this one who
takes this paste that he makes and sticks it on his eye? You see, it wasn't the clay in
itself, was it? It wasn't the dirt in itself.
It's who spit. It's who anointed. And it's who said, Go wash in
the pool of Siloam. Now, I want you to notice something
here, and the first time I preached from this text, I missed this
point. I didn't see it. But I looked
at it again, and I saw this. Notice, he said, verse 7, go wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is, by interpretation, scent. That pool means scent. Well, who is a scent one? This
pool here even pictures the water of life in Christ Jesus. Now, here's what I want you to
see. He didn't say, go wash and you'll
be healed. He didn't say that. He said, you go wash. You go wash. And he went. He
didn't say, now, if you go down there and wash and you get everything
cleaned off, he said, now, and you will see. You will see. The Lord didn't say that. He said, you go wash. And he
went. Preacher, what are you getting
at? F-A-I-T-H. Faith. He heard the Word of the
Lord and he went. Not really knowing, he was not
told. He was not told that you would
see. He heard the Word of God and
with naked, bare faith believed God. Just like Abraham of old. Abraham, get out of your father's
house. What does it say? Abraham believed
God. He went out. You see, my friend,
the point I'm making is that faith and conduct cannot be separated. This man heard the Word of the
Lord and he went out. And he washed. And he came. He came seeing rather. He came
seeing. Now, our Lord could have healed
this man with a word. He could have spoke the word,
right? He did to blind Bartimaeus. Or as a leper, he said to the
leper, reached out and touched him, and he said, be thou clean.
But here our Lord uses what we might consider would only worsen
the problem, yet the Lord uses what means He sees fit to more
magnify and glorify Himself. There is healing virtue and power
in everything that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
it was His spit. It was His clay. It was His hand. Let us never exalt the means
that God has ordained and forget that the power of the gospel
is Christ himself. Our Lord uses means to accomplish
his purpose. Let us never despise the means. And one of the things we see
right here, the Lord has ordained the means of the preaching of
the gospel. Oh, ye dry bones! Hear the word
of the Lord." Well, why preach to a bunch of dry bones? Because
he said so. Let us not despise the mean.
Our Lord said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. Paul, when he writes to Timothy
his last word before they remove his head for the gospel, I command
you before God to go preach the Word, preach the Word, to preach
Him a gospel of the means that God has ordained to call out
His people. Let's not despise the means.
Let's use what God has given us. But remember this. Let us
never forget that the Lord must bless His Word. The Lord must
bless His Word. The Lord must apply His Word.
The Lord must send His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit
to make the Word effectual. We can preach and preach and
preach, and rightly so, preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it takes the power of God to raise a dead sinner. God uses those means of preaching
the gospel to call out His people. Let's not despise the means,
but let us not forget it's God who blesses His Word and raises
us up. You remember when Paul writes
to Thessalonians talking about the election of God, knowing,
brethren, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with
much understanding. God must make the word of the
gospel effectual to our heart. He must command the light to
shine. And when He does, we show forth
the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous
light. We give thanks unto God who has
translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's Dear Son." Now, in closing, here we see the wise physician,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has always healed everyone, every
patient, every patient he ever had. He's a wise and good physician. He says, go and wash. He gives these directions. Let me make it a little bit stronger.
He commands this man to go and wash. And he did. And he came by his own testimony. Down here they asked him several
times. They kept repeating this question.
How is it that you see now? I love his answer. Just so simple,
so direct. A man. named Jesus, made clay,
stuck it on my eyes. I went and washed him. Now I
see. I went and washed him. Now I
see. The blind man did exactly as he was told. He washed the
mud off and he came seeing. His sight was restored. Now, there was no healing power
in the Pool of Siloam in itself, was there? any more than there
was healing power in the waters of Jordan, when Naaman was told
to dip seven times in muddy Jordan, seven times, and your flesh would
be made like a child, that leper, Naaman. Naaman, what did he do? He obeyed. And he was healed. And this man washed in Canaan's
sea. Now, this is not teaching, this
is not teaching that water baptism saves. This is not teaching that
water baptism washes away sin. This is not teaching that water
baptism regenerates and makes us new creatures. No, not for
a second. But here's the lesson for us.
It is teaching us that saving faith, the faith of God's elect,
is obedient to the command of Christ. This man was commanded to go and wash. Sorry about that. This man was
commanded to go and wash, commanded of God, and he did. He was obedient
to the word of the Lord. This man, now notice this. This
man didn't argue. This man didn't ask for a second
opinion. This man didn't ask his friend,
well, Joe, what do you think I ought to do? He heard the command
of the Lord to go wash in the pool and he obeyed. And he was
blessed. He was blessed. He simply believed
what the Lord had told him. He obeyed the Lord's word and
was healed. One old writer said this, those
who would be healed by Christ must be ruled by Him. Those who are brought to the
Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, willingly, lovingly, obediently
obey the Word of the Lord, that's real faith. Now, let me give
you one example and I'm going to quit. Turn to Luke chapter
5. Luke chapter 5. I've preached too long. Luke chapter 5. Here's the point
I'm making. The faith of God the Lamb is
obedient to the command of God. The disciples had been out fishing
all night. These men were expert fishermen. I mean, they made their living
by fishing. They had been fishing all night. And it says in Luke
chapter 5, verse 4, Now when he had left speaking, he said
unto them, Simon, launch out in the deep and let down your
nets for a great catch. Simon, old Simon Peter. Anthony
said unto him, Master, we've toiled all night, and we've taken
nothing. I mean, our nets are empty. Our bellies are hungry. We're
not going to make any money at the fish market when we go to
the fish market. We're going to come up with zero.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll let down the net. Saving faith
is obedient faith. And when they had done this,
they closed a great multitude of fishes that their nets started
to break. This man heard the command. He
did what the Lord told him to do, not knowing what was going
to happen. The Lord didn't tell him. Now, he heard the Word. and he obeyed the Lord. God give
us grace in our heart. Saving faith is obedient faith. Faith, as I said earlier,