If you want to turn in your Bibles
to my text, you'll find it in John chapter 8. I have a rather
lengthy text. I want to begin in John chapter
8 and verse 56 and read the whole chapter of John chapter 9. I love these incidents that took
place in our Lord's life when He was here. One of the things
that makes it interesting for me is to know these things really
happen. These are not fairy tales. These really happen. And I love
to just bring myself and become a spectator to hear what's said
and to see what is done in these passages. So if you don't get
anything out of what I got to say tonight, this is a wonderful
passage just to read and rejoice in that is truth. So let's begin
here in John chapter 8 and look in verse 56. John chapter 8 and
verse 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews
unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen
Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast
at him, But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by. 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. It wasn't because of his parents'
personal sin or even his personal sin that he was born blind, but
that the works of God should be made manifest in him. The
Lord's going to do something for this man. He's going to do
something in him, and he calls it the works of God. 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 sped
on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed
the eyes of the man with clay, and said unto him, Go wash in
the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sinned. 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 this not 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 open? He answered and said, A man that
is called Jesus made clay, anointing my 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? And 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? And
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, whom 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 cannot tell, we don't know. 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. 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 not, I don't know. One thing I know, that
whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again,
what did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? He
answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear. Wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples? Then they reviled him and said,
They aren't His disciples, but we are Moses' disciples. We know
that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, we know not
from whence he is. The man answered and said unto
them, Why, herein is a marvelous 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,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind? If this man were not of God,
he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him,
Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. 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? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see. and that they which see might
be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Jesus said unto them, If you
were blind, you shall not have sin. But now you say we see,
therefore your sin remains. What a happy ending to this story. What a happy ending, a glorious
ending to this incident here. The Lord Jesus was in this temple
and He gives us some hints right here at the beginning what He
had planned to do all along. He had planned to show this man
mercy. He had planned to open this man's eyes. But not only
his physical eyes, but his spiritual eyes, the eyes of his understanding,
and he planned to reveal the truth to him. We know that now
from reading the story, don't we? Why was this man born blind? The works of God is going to
be manifested in this man. The opening of his physical eyes,
that's the work of God. Nobody else can do that. It's
never been done before, he said himself. But not just the opening
of his physical eyes, but the opening of his understanding
to know the Son of God. That's what he purposed to do
all along. But boy, there was opposition.
There's opposition, wasn't there? You shall know the truth, but
everywhere the truth is, it's always facing opposition. I doubt if it's the truth if
it's not facing opposition. We sometimes are surprised, aren't
we not? When we have the truth and we
know the truth and it begins to suffer such opposition, we're
shocked by it, aren't we? We think, well, what's wrong?
You know that's the way it's supposed to be, brothers and
sisters. The truth is lacked. And this
world is nothing but darkness. Darkness is always attempting
to resist the light. It always is that way. Ever since
the fall of man. Light must be irresistible. And it is irresistible. And it
finds a little kink in the armor of darkness. And it shines and
where it shines. Oh my, what a great work it does.
There was total darkness in this whole area. Spiritual darkness
and physical darkness. But in the end, in the end, light
reigned. Light reigned. Truth is a stubborn
thing, isn't it? It's a stubborn thing, boy. You
hear it and you don't like it, but it won't leave you alone.
You go home when you're mad and you lay down to sleep and the
truth just keeps on shining in this little crack and shining
in that little crack and it won't leave you alone until it's shined
into your heart and give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the way truth
is. It's always attempted by man
to resist the truth. But here's what the Lord God
said, My word shall not return void unto me, it shall accomplish
that whereunto I sent it. Ever since the fall of man, the
truth has been resisted. Started with Cain, resisting
the truth, hated Abel, going to stomp out the truth. Came
right on down through the Jewish nation, hating the truth. And
now it's in the Gentile world, men hating the truth. But light
is irresistible. I'm gonna give this man light.
And that's what he did. The Lord Jesus here was rejected
in the temple. Ain't it amazing here, he said
he was in the temple, and when he told them that he was before
Abraham, that he was I Am, they took up these stones in the temple,
Isn't it amazing that they had stones in the temple? You ever
think about that? He was in the temple and they
took up stones. They had piles of stones in the
temple. I've always thought that's amazing. I don't know what all will go
on tomorrow. Are they having a race up here at the racetrack
tomorrow? There's a lot of things going
on in this carnal world tomorrow. They'll have all their games,
their football games, and a lot of people will be getting drunk
at the football games and using God's holy name in vain. But
you know where most stones will be thrown? At the Lord Jesus
Christ of tomorrow. In the temples. Behind the pulpits. While men mock Him and hate Him
and want to kill Him simply because of who He is. But does that hinder
him? Will that hinder him no more
today than it did here? He had a purpose and it said
here in the verses that I read to you that he hid himself from
them and passed by, but as he passed by, he saw a man blind
from his birth. I was reading that today and
I thought of that passage of scripture that I read to you
last night. My father, my father, he said, You have hid these things
from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes. Isn't
this a prime example of what He means? Here these Pharisees
and scribes were, man, they knew everything, they thought. We
can see everything. We got it all figured out. We're
Moses' disciples. We're so wise and prudent. And
here the Lord just hides Himself He doesn't reveal himself to
them at all. And he passes by them and finds
this poor, miserable, blind beggar. And finally reveals himself to
them. And that was his purpose all
along. Because he tells us in the last
part of this, for judgment I am coming to this world that they
which see not might see. And those who say we see, those
who think they see. and bragging about it, that you
might be made blind. That was his purpose all along.
He passed by these wise and prudent and revealed himself to this
poor man. Truth, it's a stubborn thing. It's a stubborn thing. Aren't
you glad it never would let you along? Truth come to you in your
darkness and never would let you along with it. They were confused here about
the plainest truth. You're in verse 16. The Pharisee
said, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath.
The other says, How can a man that is a sinner do such things?
And there was a division among them, and it was because of him. You know why there's so many
different denominations. It's because of him. You know
why there's Catholicism and Protestantism and all the isms? It's because
of Him. You know why the Jehovah Witness
and Mormons can't even get along? It's because of Him. The ungodly
unbelievers that don't know Jesus Christ and who He is, the division
between them is because of Him. All the anger in the world, the
bitterness in all the religions, it's because of Him. It's because
of Him. Well, one sees Him this way.
No, that's not. I see Him this way. And all of
this confusion is because of Him, the Son of God. If it wasn't for Him, there'd
be no confusion. Everybody could get together
and agree. But it's because of Him. You go to the Universalist Unitarians
tomorrow, and ask them why don't they join the Methodists, and
they'll tell you why. It's because of Him. You go to the masters,
why don't you go down and join the fundamentalist Baptist? It's
because of Him. It's because of Him. Opposition to Him. And these fellows said if we
don't stop Him, boy, if we don't stop this Jesus of Nazareth,
the Romans are going to come and take away our place and our
position, and we're going to lose all interest from these
people. And his parents, here in verses
18 through verse 22, because of their fear, they suppressed
the truth because of their fear of man going to be put out of
the synagogue. That didn't stop the truth either,
did it? I'm telling you, the truth is a stubborn thing, ain't
it? They tried to suppress the truth. Men do that all the time. But when the Lord is purposed
to reveal the truth, that won't stop the truth. All the suppression
in the world will not stop the truth. The ignorance of this
poor man, he said, and he didn't know very much about Jesus Christ
at all, did he? He said, I don't know if he's
a sinner or not. There was a time when I knew
some things about Jesus Christ, I just didn't know him. And I'd
have probably made the same statement this poor man made. That was
an ignorant statement, wasn't it? He was so ignorant about
Jesus Christ. He's not a sinner. He's the Son
of God, but he said, I don't know if he's a sinner or not.
But I tell you, that's not going to stop the truth. The truth
is a stubborn thing, ain't it? My weakness in preaching, Don's
weakness in preaching is not gonna stop the truth from prevailing
and coming to your heart if that's his purpose to do it. Spurgeon was telling about a
silly preacher, he called him a silly preacher. And he was
reading the Bible about the new birth, you must be born again.
And he said he looked out over the congregation and said, that's
what it says, you must be born again. And he finished his message
and stepped down and some fella come out of the congregation
and said, Oh my, I'm lost, I've not been born again. And the
poor man said, Oh don't worry about that, I don't know why
I said it that way, you're a fine fella. Truth. It's a stubborn thing. Even when
an ignorant preacher preaches it, it'll make its way to your
heart if that's God's purpose. In spite of everything. Finally,
they cast this poor man out. The Lord Jesus finds him and
He asks him this question, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Oh my goodness, what a question.
Isn't that a question? Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? What a searching question this
is. Some people say, well, of course I do. I believed that
all my life. When did you first believe that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God? I believed when I was a baby.
How long have you been saved? One man said, I was saved when
I was a baby. He said, that's too long. A man can be saved
too long. Some people just take it for
granted, do they not? Why, of course I believe on the
Son of God. But what a searching question
This is, do you believe on the Son of God? This is the most important question
anybody ever ask anybody. And I tell you, how man answers
it truthfully in his heart will determine so many things. Doth
thou believe on the Son of God? What a precious object faith
has. The Son of God? Some people believe
in their faith. He's not saying, do you believe
in your faith? The object of faith is the eternal
Son of God. Not a little weak Jesus. The
Son of God who created the worlds. The Son of God who hung the moon
and the stars in the sky. The Son of God upholds all things
by the Word of His power. It's by Him that we live and
move and have our being. He is possessed of that righteousness
you and I must have to be justified before God. That's the Son of
God. Do you believe in the Son of
God? What a question! What a question
that must be asked and answered of every last individual here
this afternoon. Asked from the very lips of the
Son of God Himself. Doest thou believe in the Son
of God? I think the more we realize of
the object of faith, who He is, the more this question deserves
an honest answer. The preciousness, the Son of
God, do I believe on Him? What about the benefits of believing
on the Son of God? Oh my, the benefits! Listen to
this! What must I do to be saved? What
must I do to be saved? I'm lost. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Go thy way, thy faith
has saved thee. Thy faith in Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, will save you. Those who believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God are saved. Those who don't aren't. Do we live? Am I alive? The life which I now live, I
live by faith in the Son of God. Do I walk with God? It's by this
faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Do we stand against
hell and this world and flesh? By faith we stand. Do we conquer? Somebody talks about the victorious
life. Well, here it is. Who is he that
overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Are we justified from all things? We have believed in Christ that
we might be justified. Are we sanctified being sanctified
by faith that is in Him? Are we forgiven? It's only through
faith in the Son of God that our sins are remitted. What an
all-important question then! Dost thou believe in the Son
of God? What if I don't? Oh, the joy
of believing in Him! But what if I say, no, I don't?
Well, listen to this. Unbelief exposes a man to the
greatest of curses. He that believeth not is condemned
already. He that believeth not shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. He that believeth
not shall be damned. He that believeth not is made
God a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his son. Unbelief is the most terrible
sin between the eternities. It ties a man's feet, his hands,
it blinds his eyes, it stops his ears. And faith, faith opens the heart. Faith embraces the Son of God
and all the benefits that's in Him. My neighbor used to tell
me, Bruce, you make too much of faith. You can't make too
much of faith. when the Son of God said, Do
you believe in the Son of God? He made a lot of faith, didn't
he? What a surprising question when
we consider to whom it was asked. It wasn't asked of an angel or
some prophet or an apostle. Surely not of the Pharisees,
but it was asked of this poor beggar who had lived in physical
darkness and spiritual darkness all of his life. His parents
just exposed him to this awful persecution. And he was an ignorant
and confused man. And the Lord Jesus asked this
man this question. Dost thou believe in the Son
of God? And that's what I'm asking you.
You poor people, you poor dying people. I'm asking you. Isn't that a wonderful thing
for me to ask you? Do you believe in the Son of
God? He comes to each of us and asks
us this, does he not? Dost thou believe in the Son
of God? Oh, what a question. What a question. Let us answer
that, brothers and sisters. Let us answer it for ourselves
and let us answer it to the extent that God will bear witness to
it. Do I believe in the Son of God? Oh, how amazing, if I can
say yes, I believe. What amazing that he should ask
me that. A poor, wretched, miserable Bruce. That I could say, died
he for me? Who caused his pain? Me? Do I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? We want to put everything out
there on the other people, don't we? No, let's ask ourselves this. How does such faith come? How does such faith come? That's
a good question too, isn't it? How do you get such faith? There's
one way that this faith comes. Only one way it comes, by revelation. of the person was to believe
in. Dost thou believe the Son of
God? Listen to what this man says. Lord, who is he that I
may believe on him? And what's he saying? I can't
believe on somebody I don't know. I don't know him. Who is he? The only way to believe in the
Son of God is for him to make his self known to your heart. We cannot believe on an unrevealed
Christ. We cannot believe on a Christ
we've never heard of, that we don't know. Who is He, Lord? That I may believe on Him. And
then this amazing thing happened. And here's what's so amazing
about this. There wasn't a big stir. There wasn't a big bunch
of emotion. The Lord Jesus simply said this
to him. Thou hast both seen him and it
is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, now I believe. What happened? Jesus Christ revealed
himself to this man. And he said, yes, Lord, I believe
you. You are indeed the Son of God. And I love how that came
so easy, don't you? Sometimes when the Lord convicts
a person of sin, it's so emotional. When He makes Himself known to
them, it's so emotional. Remember Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus? Man, how emotional! How emotional
all that, how intense! The Philippian jailer came and
fell down trembling. What must I do to be saved? And
that was so emotional and intense when the Lord saved him. And
he went into his house and Paul preached Christ to him and Christ
was made known to him and he just rejoiced. But we don't see
any of that here, do we? We don't see any of that. Here
was this man, and he said, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe
on him? And Christ said, I am he. And there it was. There it was. He didn't start
shouting. He didn't start praising the
Lord. But he said, Lord, I believe. That happens all the time in
a congregation just like this while the preacher is preaching.
And the Holy Spirit comes to a heart in the silence of your
heart. And He reveals Jesus Christ.
And you know Him and you believe on Him. And it happens that way. You don't jump up. You don't
begin to shout. And sometimes, to be honest with
you, you have to examine yourself to make sure, yes, He has. That's how easy sometimes He
reveals Himself to people. John Mitchell, a friend of mine
and brother Don's out in Montana, Great Falls of Montana. He pastored
the church there until he died. He told me one time, he said,
you know, he said, Christ's been revealed to men's hearts. He
said, sometimes it's like going in a dark room and you flip the
switch and there it is! Light just shines in and you
see everything so clearly. But he said, sometimes it's like
the slow rising of the sun. It rises slowly and the sun burns
away the mist and the fog. And then you can see. Paul's conversion may have been
like a light being flipped on. But this man was so calm, the
Son of God was revealed to him. And he said, I believe, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Remember that happened
so many times, didn't it? Remember in John chapter 4 of
this book where the Samaritan woman came to draw water and
the Lord Jesus was talking to her about her sin? Go call your
husband. He said, you've had five husbands.
I know all about you woman. I know who you are, I know how
you've lived. I know how ignorant you are. You've never worshipped
God a day in your life. She said, you must be a prophet.
We know that the Messiah is coming. He said, I that speak unto you
am He. And there He was. There He was. The Son of God revealed. Just
that simple. The Lord called Philip to go
down and preach to that man who was an Ethiopian that had been
up to Jerusalem to worship with these silly Pharisees. They never
taught him a thing about Christ and the gospel. He was going
back home and the Lord sent Philip. Was it Philip? To preach to him
and join himself to the chariot. And he preached from Isaiah chapter
53. He was wounded for our transgressions.
That man said, is he speaking of himself or another man? I know it's a man. And he preached
to him Jesus, the Son of God. The Son of God took our humanity
and He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With His stripes we're healed.
God saw the travail of His soul and was satisfied. That was the
Son of God in our humanity. And sometime between when Philip
began to preach and quit preaching, Christ was revealed to that man's
heart. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Yeah, He comes by the Spirit,
doesn't He? Flesh and blood can't reveal Christ. My soul, He's
in heaven in the bosom of the Father. It takes the Spirit to
reveal Him. But He always does it through
the Gospel, doesn't He? Through the Gospel. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We know Him by revelation. He reveals Himself. And when
we believe on Him, what happens? What did this man do when he
said, I believe that you're the Son of God? He worshipped Him. He worshipped Him. Faith is always
known by its fruits. If God has begun a work of faith
in your heart, it'll be known this way. From its very conception,
you'll worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God. You worship Him. You worship
Him in your closet, you worship Him in your house, and you worship
Him in public. And people that don't worship
Him don't believe on Him. They don't believe on Him. What an excellent knowledge it
is, is it not? You cannot not worship Him. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? That's what you're doing here
tonight, is it not? That's why you drove up here. That's why
you're all here this evening in public worship. Worship in
the Son of God. That's why you'll be here next
Sunday or someplace worshiping publicly. And you'll go home. You'll get in your closet or
your bedroom. You'll get your Bible out. And you'll say, Lord,
let me see it. Let me see your beauty and your
glory. Just thou believe in the Son
of God. Thank God if you do. He's given
you that faith. And through all of its trials
and difficulty, He'll uphold what He's given until your faith
ends in sight. God bless His Word.