Iím always thankful for that.
Always, always thankful for that. John chapter 9. The week before
last I brought a message from here and Iím going to continue
it. Lord willing. Maybe weíll get the girls to
sing here in a little bit. Could you all do that for us? Iím going to start reading. down
in verse 8. The neighbors, therefore, and
they which before had seen him that 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. 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 know not. 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 mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 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. They say unto the blind man again,
what sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes? He
said, he is a prophet. 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 doeth 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. Who hath opened his eyes, we
know not. He is of age, ask him, he shall
speak for himself. 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." John chapter 9. The last time I preached from
here, I showed you how Christ was rejected all the way through
John 8, and then how he was received. and believed on in John 9. And
we saw how this sovereign grace, our Lord Jesus Christ in sovereign
grace, came to this blind sinner, this blind beggar, and done something
for him that only he could do. And what He done for him is just
what He does for us. What He does for us. It's just
an illustration of God's sovereign grace and free grace towards
His elect. And the question, I'm going to
ask a question. What a question. Look here in
verse 10. This is going to be where I'm going to start if I
can. Therefore said they unto him, how were thine eyes opened?
What a question. How were your eyes opened? John
Newton said, I once was blind, now I see. How did it happen? That's what
they want to know. How in the world were your eyes
opened? That's what they ask. And this
blind beggar, he portrays our spiritual condition, the condition
we're in when our Lord begins His work of sovereign mercy on
him, and that's the way He does on us. Oh, and He began this
sovereign mercy on us. He portrays our spiritual condition.
And there are seven things, I want to give you quickly, seven things
about this man, upon whom the Lord Jesus Christ shows his pity,
shows his grace, shows his compassion, shows his power, shows not only
that this man's desperate condition, but Christ is the only one can
do anything about it. And this is every man's condition,
if Christ doesn't do it. He's just setting by the way,
you know, last Tuesday or Wednesday, Monday, maybe, we passed by a
blind man in New York City sitting by a subway station, blind as
a bat, films over his eyes with a cup, sitting in a little box,
sitting beside him there, sighing, blind, blind, blind, would you
help, would you help, would you help? That's what he kept saying.
You can give him money, but you can't open his eyes. You can
have all the pity and compassion you want towards that man, but
you can't open his eyes. And that's what this, that's
the condition we're in. The first thing about this man
was he has found this blind beggar was he was found outside the
temple, found outside the temple, alienated from God, alienated
from the life of God, alienated from anything that God about
God. The second thing about him was
he was blind. He was blind. He was unable to
see the Lord even when the Lord approached him. He couldn't see
Him. And how many times are we in a service in the Lord's presence
and somebody is blind and says, I don't see it. I don't see it. And not only that, the third
thing was he had been blind from his birth. And that's the way
we were. We were born blind. Born blind,
blind to the things of God, blind to ourselves, blind to our condition,
blind to our sinfulness, blindfolded to our need, and we'd have all
our family members that are still blind, no matter what we say
to them, they can't see it. They can't see it. And I'll tell
you the fourth thing about this man was that he was beyond the
help of man. Man couldn't do anything for
him. He was helpless, he was hopeless, unless God intervened. Helpless, hopeless, and beyond
the help of any man, unless God intervened. And the fifth thing
about this man was, he was a beggar. He was a beggar. He had to beg
for his money. His parents evidently was poor.
They couldn't support him, take care of him. He was a beggar.
And if there had been a remedy or a doctor, some work that could
have fixed him, he couldn't have paid for it. He couldn't have
purchased the remedy. He was entirely and utterly dependent
upon charity, on somebody else doing something for him. And
here's the sixth thing about this man. He didn't see the Savior,
never sought the Savior, didn't appeal to the Savior, didn't
cry out to the Savior, made no cry for mercy, just like us before
God began a worker great in us. We never cried for mercy until
God started. He called on us before we called
on Him. He showed us mercy before we
ever cried out for mercy. Now that's the way it is. He
called on us before we ever called on Him. And that's the way. We
never sought the Savior. He sought us. But the girl sang,
My name knew my name before the world was. He knew who I was. He knew where I was. And that's
the same way of this. And then the seventh thing about
this is, look at the reasoning of the disciples. They showed
the sad fact that no human eye pitted this poor blind sinner. Look what it says in verse two. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that
he was born blind. They didn't have no pity on him.
They didn't care anything about him. No human eye, no human eye,
no, even the disciples that knew Christ felt no pity. All they
want to know was what caused this man to be born blind? Did
his parents sin or he sin? Something happened. There had
to be something bad wrong that this man was born blind. And
in our Lord's dealing with this poor, poor man shows his gracious,
gracious work in us even today. First was he looked in pity upon
one who desperately, desperately needing his healing touch. Amazing
love, how can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? For
me, him who death pursued? Oh, he looked in pity upon him
who desperately needed his healing touch. And people say, I don't
want your pity. I want God to pity me. I'm a
pitiful man. The Lord looketh on us with pity.
As a father pitieth his children. David said, Oh Lord, pity me.
I'm poor and needy. People say, I don't want pity.
I want all the pity God's got towards me because I'm pitiful. What can I do for myself? What
can I do for anybody else? And then he declared this man
had been created just created for this reason, born blind for
one reason, that God might manifest His power and grace in him. Ain't
that what our Lord Jesus Christ said in verse three? Our Lord
answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but
the works of God should be made manifest in him. God's work's
gonna be made manifest. If this man was born blind, that
God might get glory and give it him sight. And that's what
God does. That's the only thing we got
the glory in is what God did for us. And then all mine. And it said necessity was laid
upon Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is what I talk about His gracious work in us today. Look what our
Lord said in verse 4. Here's one of His eternal must.
Necessity is laid upon Christ to do this for us. The eternal
must here. I must work the works of Him
that sent me while it's day. This is one of them eternal must.
And His work must be accomplished. God's work's gonna be accomplished.
You mark it down. If Christ died for you, if Christ
died for you, and the Gospels drove home to your heart, I tell
you what, it's because the work of God must be manifest in you,
and His work's gonna be accomplished. And listen, this is what's so
wonderful about the Gospel. And this is what's so wonderful
about the work of God. If God began the work in you,
marker down, He said, He which begot a good work in you shall
perform it until that day. He ain't fixing to let us go.
He's going to keep working and working and working. And I thank
God for that. And oh, listen, and our Lord
Jesus Christ, this shows you how it's like a work of grace
in us, even how he works in us today. He said in verse five,
he was the one who had the power to give light to those that are
in darkness. He said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the
light of the world. And this man's sitting here in
darkness, and if this fellow's gonna have any light, Christ's
gotta turn it on. God, Christ's gotta turn it on.
And oh, and he stood, and he pressed upon this blind man his
desperate need. by emphasizing his sad condition. Look what he did in verse 6.
And he, when he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, made clay
of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the man born blind. Oh listen, do you know, This
is one of the most mysterious things in the Scriptures. You'd
think that the Lord, and He did to Barnabas, He did to other
men, He just says, as it be, as you desire, give it to you.
But this fellow here, He put mud in his eyes. Put mud in his
eyes. And then He done Paul. Paul was
good to see, and then God put scales on his eyes, so he was
blind for three days. But here's a man, He put mud
in his eye. Why didn't he whirl? All our Lord had to do was say,
But our Lord Jesus wants to show us that He works, that you can't
pigeonhole Him and say this is the only way He works and He
only works this way over here or that way over there. He works
the way He wants to work and opens eyes the way He wants to
open eyes. If He wants to put clay on your eyes, as long as
He takes the clay off, And look what he said here. And
he said, go to the pool of Siloam. Now, there wasn't no magical
power in that water. People went over there and washed
all the time. And he said, you go wash and wash that mud off
your eyes. And then he did. He washed that mud off his eyes.
Our Lord just showing that his will and his work and his ways
are past finding out. He does something this way for
another fellow, does something for, and that's why people say,
well, this way he dealt with me, so he must have to deal with
everybody the same way. I do know one thing. He going
to let you understand something about being blind and he's the
one that does it. And then he told him to go wash. The means
of blessing put his faith to the test. And this old beggar,
this old blind beggar obeyed and obtained evidence, evidence
of the miracle that Christ had done for him and had worked upon
him. And beloved, we can see our own spiritual history in
this man's trials and growth. Now let's go down here in verse
eight, where I started reading this morning. The neighbors therefore,
and they which before had seen him, that he was blind, said,
is not this he, is not this he that sat and begged? The neighbor
said, is not this the blind boy? Is not this the man? Is not this
the man that sat and begged? Is not this the, he before was
blind, and is not he that sat and begged? Now they knew that
something had happened. They knew who this man was. And I tell you what, and the
neighbors began to ask, ìWhat took place here? What happened
here? Whatís going on?î And where a genuine work of grace has been
wrought in the soul, it becomes obvious. It becomes obvious. I'm telling you what. That's
why when they took Peter and John after they had opened that
beggar and healed him that was born lame, they said they took
notice that this ignorant and unlearned man had been with Jesus. And here this fellow, that's
what they said, this man's born blind. What happened here? What's going on? And they talked
among themselves. They said, is not this he that
was blind? Is not this the same one that
said begging? Oh, look what it says. And they
talked among themselves. They never talked, and they talked
among themselves. Some said, well, this is the
one. Yeah, he was born blind. This was the beggar. Others said,
he's like him. He looks like him. But you know
what he said? He said, I'm the one. He said,
I am He. I am He. He talked among Himself. And I tell you what, I don't
know about you all, but this is one of the strangest things. You'd be preaching to people.
You'd be preaching to people. And you can see when the light
goes on. You can see. Over the years, I've seen when
the light's going on. And people sit, and they listen,
and they listen, and they listen. There's a time that they don't
listen, and there's a time they start listening. There's a time
that they don't hear and then there's a time that they do hear.
And while you're observing them and you're preaching and you
see that they start listening and more listening and more listening.
And then one of these days, they say, oh, listen, I'm the one. People start seeing the difference
in them. Start seeing the difference in
them. And I tell you, the unconverted are always, always skeptical
of God's miracles. The unconverted, the unbelievers
are always skeptical of God's miracle. They know something
has happened, but what it is, they just don't know. They just
don't know. They said, He's like him. He's
like that old man. Then He said, I am He. There's
the old man, there's the new man. And we see these two natures
in this. He was blind, now he sees. He
was a beggar, now he don't have to beg anymore. And you see this
new, they said, He's like him. That's his old nature. And he
said, I am he. That's his new nature. And some
recognized the one they'd known before his eyes were open, and
others saw altogether a different personality when they watched
him and seen what was going on. But now here's the question.
Here's the question. And I tell you what, can you
answer this question here? Verse 10, therefore said they
unto him, how were thine eyes open? What happened? How'd this happen? Oh, His faith is put to the test. His loyalty to our Lord Jesus
Christ. His courage. Here's a man, just,
I mean, just to meet, I mean, he ain't been, he ain't seen
for just a short, short time. And people wanted to talk to
him, talk about him, and try to figure out what's going on.
And they said, how were thine eyes opened? Oh, how is he going
to be loyal? What's his courage going to do?
Is he going to say, you know, no. Here's an opportunity, an
opportunity for him to confess Christ, to bear witness of the
things that Christ had done for him. And then he said, how? They asked how? They didn't ask
who opened your eyes. How did it happen? They didn't
ask anything about the person who did it. Now, I'll tell you
what, that's what folks said. They were interested in how it
happened. They were curious, but they weren't curious about
Christ. They weren't curious about His work. They weren't
curious about His person. And there was no desire to hear
about who did it, how. They wanted to know how. And
His answer, look what He said. His answer in verse 11. 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 Sodom, and wash. And I went and washed,
and I received sight." He just had a very simple, very simple
answer. He never went into a long diatribe. No, no. His witness was simple. It was honest. He was right straight
to the point. He didn't have much light. He
didn't have much light at all. But he was faithful to the light
he had. He didn't speculate. He didn't philosophize. He just
told simply what Christ had done to him. That's all he told. He told just exactly what happened
and who did it. And I asked two things about
the witness of a newly converted soul. There's two things, and
I'll tell you what, and see if this ain't true about you. Two
things about the witness of a soul that's newly converted to Christ.
First of all, it was the work of Christ rather than the person
of Christ which impressed us the most. It's what he did more
than who he was that did it. When he first began to work in
us, we're just taken up with what he did. What he did. Oh, I was lost, now I'm found. I was blind, now I see. I was
dead, now I'm alive. And that's what he was interested
in. That's all he knew anything about, was about what Christ
had did for him. He didn't know anything about
the person of Christ. And most of us, when Christ began
to work in us, we didn't know anything about Him. We were interested
in what He did to us. And we told folks, listen, listen,
what happened? And in talking about the work,
it was Christ and His humanity that he was impressed about.
And that's all he knew about. He just knew about Christ. He
said it was a man called Jesus. He didn't know nothing about
the deity of Christ. He said it was a man. He knew
him only in his humanity. And I tell you what, it was a
man that did open his eyes. It was a man that put clay on
his eyes. He was the God man, but he didn't
know him as the God man. And that's all we're interested
in, what Christ done for us. And listen, that's why I called
him a man called Jesus, because that's all they know about him.
He didn't go beyond what Christ had done for him. And our Lord
Jesus was hated among the Jews. Hated among them. And yet he
boldly confessed. He said unto me, go. And I went. And I come back looking. I come
back seeing. Come back seeing. And all they
ask him this, he said, in verse 12, they say unto him, where
is he now? Where is he? Where is, they said
unto him, where is he? Where is this Jesus that opened
your eyes and made the clay and anointed your eyes? Where is
he that opened thine eyes? Where is he? He said, I don't
know. I don't know where he's at. Oh, listen, listen, you're talking
about a lesson for us. He acted up to the light that
he had. He didn't go beyond it. He didn't
go beyond it. He never told things that hadn't
taken place. He didn't make it bigger and
better and greater than it was. He acted on the light he had,
didn't go beyond it. He didn't pretend to have a knowledge
he didn't possess. And there's so many people do
that. You know how many people ask questions to let you know
what they know instead of wanting to know what you know? A lot
of people ask questions only to let you know what they know. He said, oh my, that boy would
ask a question because you really want an answer. And he didn't
pretend to have a knowledge he didn't possess. The babe in Christ
is guileless. He isn't afraid to admit his
ignorance. Most of us are afraid to admit
how ignorant we are. How little we know, how little
we know. I'll tell you something that
happened a few months ago or probably a year ago. I made a
statement. in preaching out of 2 Corinthians
5.21, God made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And I made this statement. I said, there's mystery here
that we'll never really understand. God made Christ to be sin. And
that is, you know, how many times has that been preached on? Spurgeon's
probably got 25 sermons on it. Don Fortner's probably preached
more than that. And yet we've never began to plumb the depths
of that one verse of Scripture. And I've made that statement,
and the next thing I know, This preacher said, that's a very
simple, simple verse of scripture to explain. It's so simple to
explain. He said, it's obvious that God
imputed sin to Christ and imputed righteousness to us. That's how
simple it is. You reckon it's that simple?
Huh? If that's all there is to it, then why in the world, let's
just, we won't use 2 Corinthians 5 21 ever again if that's all
there is to it. Had that God made Christ to be sin? There's
a question. Try to find the answer to it.
Try to find out what sin is, and how God views it, and what
God will do with it when He finds it. And even what He did to His
own son when He found sin on him. Oh, listen, you can make
a lot of that stuff all you want to and that's the way this, but
the babe in Christ, I'll tell you people who don't, you know,
we're not afraid to admit what we don't know. People ask me
questions, say, I'll try to find out for you. There was a time
I thought I knew everything. I found out, you know, I tell
you about the time I was at Carter Brown's house, and he worked
at IBM, and he had a book on his mantel that says, with his
name on it, Carter Brown, IBM, all that I know about IBM. And
I pulled it down and opened it up, and every page on it was
blank. He had that book, and that's
the way, you know, we're not afraid to admit what we don't
know. Oh my, how many times have I
thought, oh, why did I act like I knew that? And I didn't. Oh
my, but look what the enemies of Christ. Now let's look at
the enemies of Christ. They said, where is he? He said,
I don't know. I don't know where he's at. I don't know. And then
they brought him, the neighbors brought him to the Pharisees
that aforetime that was blind. And, O mine, it was the Sabbath
day when Jesus made the clay. Then again the Pharisees also
asked him how he had received his sight. He said, Under them
he put clay upon my eyes, I washed, and do see. They therefore said,
some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth
not the Sabbath. Others said, How can a man that
is a sinner that don't keep the Sabbath? And there was a division
among them. And all he became an object of
the notice of the Pharisees. And no doubt before this miracle
took place in this man, before Christ opened his eyes, them
Pharisees didn't give a flip about him. They never, probably
didn't give him any money. They probably didn't tell the
church, you know, when they got him in the synagogue, there's
a blind beggar over here. And we need to take some money
and take over and give to him. We need to help his parents.
They didn't say anything. They didn't know him, didn't
care anything about him, wasn't interested in him. Until he got
his sight. Until he got his sight. They
passed by him absolutely unnoticed. Their interest in him was to
only discredit and shame and show their hatred for the Lord
Jesus Christ. There was no wonder they never
stood back and said, Oh my, a man born blind and now he sees? This
is incredible. This is wonderful. This is the
most amazing thing that's ever happened in the history of the
human race. They never said that. What'd they want to do? They
wanted to show their hatred for Christ, their hatred for God,
their hatred for what Christ does. And they brought him to
the Pharisees. This is the most severe trial
that this man's going to go through. These men oppose the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they were going to excommunicate
anybody who confessed it. And this is an ordeal. Look what
they said down in verse 22. They're going to ask you, they
done made up their mind that if you confess Christ had anything
to do with them, we're going to put you out of the synagogue.
And for a Jew, it's just like being put out of the Catholic
church. With salvations of the Jews and salvations in the synagogue
and salvations in the law, they put you out of it. There ain't
no hope for you. They won't even bury you in their
cemeteries. These were his parents because they feared the Jews.
For the Jews had agreed already that if any did confess that
he was the Christ, gotta put you out. Gonna put you out of
the church. Gonna put you out of the church.
Just for confessing Christ. And oh, and that's what they
said in verse four. And it was the Sabbath day, verse 14, when
Jesus made the claim. And oh my. They had took the
Sabbath day and they deified it. They made it to be their
God. They made it to be their measure of holiness, their measure
of righteousness, their measure of dedication was the Sabbath
day. They deified it. And oh, let
them deify it. But I tell you what, and I know
people today that would deify the Sabbath day. You know, there's
places where these reformed people and some people that hold to
the law and all that, they won't let their kids bounce a basketball
on Sunday afternoon. They don't want them getting
into swinging, swinging. You got to go home, sit, and look
at your mom and daddy. Don't do anything. Don't have
any fun. That's what the law do for you. I woke up this morning
preaching to somebody that just absolutely was wrapped up in the law, and
I was quoting every scripture in the New Testament talking
about how that the law cursed you, and that Christ had to redeem
you from the curse of the law. Christ fulfilled the law. He's
the end of the law. And oh, listen, then they deified
the Sabbath day. And then again, look what it
says here in verse 17. Oh, they said, this man's not
of God. They said in verse 16, they said, this man's not of
God. Not of God? Why is he not of God? Because
he doesn't keep the Sabbath day. He done a work on the Sabbath
day. It was a miracle. Oh, he opened the eyes of the
blind. What difference does it make what day of the week it
is when the Lord saves you? What difference does it make
what day of the week it is when the Lord gives you sight? I've
been arrested in sin, not what day it is. People say, well,
the Lord can only save you on Sunday. Well, if he did, the
lovers would never be. Listen, that's what people's
gotta have a day. And there was a day when this
happened. There was a day when, listen,
it don't make difference what the day is. Do you trust Christ
today? Do you see Christ today? And
oh, then again, it's said in verse 17. And they say unto the
blind man again, what sayest thou of him? What have you got
to say about Christ? It doesn't say, if you confess
him, we're gonna put you out of the synagogue. What sayest
thou of him that opened thine eyes? He said, he's a prophet.
Well, he went from the man, Jesus, to calling him a prophet. He's
a prophet. Another question, a searching
one. Faith put to the test. What are
you gonna say about him now? He's a prophet. God's grace didn't
fail this man. God put words in his mouth. He
didn't flinch. He was bold. These Pharisees
didn't intimidate him whatsoever. He's advancing from man to prophet. And when he calls him a prophet,
he said, he's God's voice. He's God's spokesman. God all
speaks through this man. God's using this man. He's God's
spokesman when he calls him a prophet. And this is the first time that
Christ is owned as a prophet in this gospel. First time he's
owned as a prophet. And then look in verse 18, look,
oh, how his parents failed. How his parents failed. But the
Jews did not believe concerning him that had been blind. They
just said, we ain't gonna believe that you was born blind. We're
just not gonna do it. We despise Christ so much that we ain't
gonna admit that there was a miracle performed. They did not believe
him that had received his sight until they called his parents
of him that had received his sight. That's, you're talking
about animosity and hatred and enmity. Oh my. and Of course, if you're unconverted,
you'll do anything, but you just imagine, if God done this for
one of your children, done this for your son, or your daughter,
and you're sitting here, and God opened their eyes, and you're
sitting right beside them, your heart would leap for joy. You
would stand up and bless God no matter what happened. My son's
been blind all his life, and now he sees. Oh, bless the Lord. They should have just went to
rejoice him. But oh, listen. His parents in verse 20 answered
them and said, We know that this is our son. Yes, this is our
son. And we know that he was born blind. We know that. Yes,
we know that this is him. But oh, the fear of man bringeth
a snare. His parents answered them and
said, Yes, we know this our son, that he is born blind. But now
listen to what they say. But by what means, he now saith,
we don't know. We just don't know. And who opened
his eyes? We don't know that either. We
just don't know. We don't know. And this is what
they said. He's of age. you ask him. We're not going to commit to
anything. We're not going to commit to standing by our son.
We're not going to commit to what God's done for him. I'll
tell you what, beloved, this shows you, this shows you how
desperately lost and sinful the human heart is, that a man, a
mother and a father won't even stand up for their own children.
And look what it says, why they did it. We know not, in verse
21, he is of age, ask him, and look what they said, he shall
speak for himself. he shall speak for himself."
Well, I tell you what, he spoke for himself. Spoke very well
for himself. And these were Specky's parents
and look what happened. They feared the Jews. They feared
the Jews more than they feared God. They feared the Jews more
than they feared losing their own souls. They feared the Jews
more than they rejoiced in seeing their son have any sight. 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. And you know when it
comes, turn with me to Philippians 3. When it comes to standing
and witnessing for Christ, we have to stand alone. And this
young man, this man, this blind man, he stood alone. Philippians
3. And I will close with this. We stand alone in our witness
for Christ. We stand alone. And this is the
thing about it. The Pharisees were the most strict
religious sect that there was probably in the history of mankind.
You think the Mennonites and the Amish, you think they're
strict? They ain't nothing like these
guys. Oh, nothing like these guys. And oh, but look what it
says in verse three. We have to stand alone. For we
are the circumcision. We're the true Jews, circumcised
to the heart, circumcised ears. God's took the veil off of our
ears, took the veil off our hearts. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. And listen to this, rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, mommies, daddies,
or anybody else's. We're going to confess our Lord
Jesus Christ like that man did. Lord willing, I'll finish that
up next week. Our Father, thank you for the
gospel. Thank you for what you do for poor sinners like ourselves.
Lord, I remember when I was blind. I was blind to Christ, blind
to grace, blind to mercy. But I could see works. I could see self-righteousness. I could see dedication and commitment. I could see an outward holiness.
I could see what I thought sin was. But, O Lord, You opened
my eyes, and now I see. I see the Lord Jesus Christ.
I see that You in grace came to where I was. met me where
I was, gave me sight, and when you gave me sight, I remember
what it was not to see. And oh Lord Jesus, by your grace,
regardless where we're at and who we're with, if we get opportunity,
Lord, we'll witness, we'll witness to your faithfulness and your
grace and your pity and your power and your compassion. And
may your pity, power, compassion, grace, and mercy be shown today. We ask these things in Christ's
name, amen.