I invite you to turn again with
me to John chapter 9. And let me just refresh your
memory with a short summary of what I read to you a few moments
ago. The day begins with our Lord
taking notice of a blind beggar. A man who was blind from birth. And taking notice of this man,
his disciples immediately asked the question, how come he is
blind? Who sinned? Did he sin or did his parents
sin that this man is a blind baker? Jesus answered them in verse
3, neither hath this man sin, nor his parents, but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. Now, our Lord is not
here suggesting that this man or his parents was without sin. He's not even suggesting that.
only that his sins or his parents' sins were not the cause of his
blindness. Now, I want to be careful here
because Adam's sin is the cause of our blindness. And our sins
can be the cause of our further blindness. But this man's blindness
was given to him, our Lord said, to manifest the work of God in
him. That's why he's a blind baker. This man was a child of God.
This man was chosen in Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings
before the world began. This man is one of whom David
sang about, saying, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven and whose sin is covered. All those chosen of
God in Christ will be taken notice of by Christ. And whatever their present state
is, it's not owing to their imputed sin, but to the end that the
work of God should be made manifest in them. God's elect are reconciled
to God by Jesus Christ, and that reconciliation is by virtue of
our union with Him. He will not impute our trespasses
unto us, but rather has laid them upon His Son. And I'll tell you something this
morning. I pray that God will today reveal this truth to your
heart. All of God's elect still possess
the effects of sin. They still live suffering from
the curse of it and the power of it. It still limits their
ability. It binds their natures and dictates
their actions. But their sins have been imputed
to another. It's not because of their sins
that they suffer these things, and it's not because of their
parents' sins that they suffer these things. Their sins have
been imputed to another. Their transgressions have been
forgiven by way of their substitute, and their sins are all under
the blood of Christ. The reason for their condition,
right now, is not their sins, nor the sins of their parents.
Their condition right now from their birth is to one end, and
that is that the work of God might be made manifest in them. Here was a man cursed from his
mother's womb. He lived every day of his life
as a beggar, and so do you, and so do I. Will you know it or
not? Will you know it or not? Lived
every day of his life in darkness and ignorance. Lived every day
of his life, depended upon the providence of God to provide
for him and preserve him and protect him. And then, when it pleased God,
he revealed his Son in him. And this miracle was not just
a show of compassion and charity, this miracle was applied by Christ
Himself to the condition and the salvation of God's elect
and the condition and results of all those who hear of this
work and write it off as the work of the dead. Both things
are manifest right here in this miracle. Our Lord said in verse
39, for judgment I am coming to this world, that they which
see, that they which see not, might see, and that they which
see might be made blind. Now if I have time this morning,
I have five things I want you to see in this miracle that picture
the work which our Lord does in the calling out of His elect. First of all, I want you to see
how this work begins. Jesus passed by. That's how it begins. He'll never
begin until He does. Never begin. He'll never have
a beginning. You may get religious. You might even get reformed. But there'll be no work of God
that begins in your hearts until He passes by. Now, I don't want
to go into a 20-minute dissertation on the preaching of the Gospel
and the work of the Holy Ghost, because I've majored on these
things now for months. But I do want you to hear what
our Lord said to His disciples as He sent them out to preach.
In Luke 10, verse 16. I want you to listen to what
he says here. He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. And then again over in Matthew
18, verse 20, For where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst. The work of God which shall be
manifest in a man's soul begins when the Lord is pleased to grant
him His presence. When Jesus passes by today, it
is not in the form of His bodily presence, but through the declaration
of His gospel and by the power of His Spirit. And nothing is
going to happen until it does. The Spirit of the Living God
doesn't come to make men babble when His presence comes. It's
not to make men babble in some unknown gibberish, but to make
them see the Lord Jesus Christ in His Gospel. To make them see
who He is. And to cause them to experience
the healing power of His presence. This blind beggar, was sitting
there begging like he'd done his whole life. He might not
even acknowledge himself as a beggar. I don't know. We're all beggars. We're all born beggars. Fully
dependent upon God to provide us with everything. And yet,
we didn't acknowledge it, did we? Not until Jesus passed by. That's when the acknowledging
comes. And this beggar would have gone on in his poverty and
blindness and insignificance for eternity. But for this divine
intervention of grace, Jesus passed by. When the people in
his day understood this, they brought out every sick, blind,
diseased, crippled person they knew, hoping he might take notice
of them. Huh? Oh, Bartimaeus, he took
notice of Bartimaeus. And Bartimaeus took notice of
him. And people seen that. They perceived
that. They understood what took place.
And they went back and they brought all the diseased out to him.
Every man that was diseased, blind, crippled, whatever the
problem was, they brought them out to him. And so will we when
we believe this. Oh, will we. It just might be
that Jesus might take notice of them. Now you think about
it, because many of you here, the Lord's already taken notice
of it, but you think back on that. He took notice of you. Huh? This blind beggar, he had to
be thinking in his own heart, who am I that this prophet of
God should take notice of me? Who am I? Who am I? Now this is how the work begins.
Jesus passed by. Old Fanny Crosby wrote the words
in that old hymn, Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. And then secondly, I want you
to see the reason for the work. The reason for our Lord's passing
by and His giving out this gift of sight to this man is the glory
of God's free grace. You can talk about circumstances,
and I'll go with you for a little while. Our Lord often pointed
to the opportunities that unbelieving Jews had to hear this gospel
and would not take advantage of it. He talks about it over
in Proverbs chapter 1. He talks about those very things. But I want you to hear me. The
calling out of God's saints and the work of God that is to be
manifest in them is an effectual work. It's an effectual work. There was no chance involved
in the healing of this blind man. This man was born blind
for this one event. That's what our Lord said, that
the work of God should be made manifest in him. This work of
grace is going to be made manifest in him. And it wasn't by chance. There was no chance involved
in it. He said to his disciples concerning
this blind beggar and the work which God had purposed to be
done in him, he said, I must work the works of him that sent
me. There again is that word. We
looked at that over in our Sunday school lesson. I must. I must
work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. Night cometh
when no man can work. As long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world. The reason for the work is that
God had chosen this man and his son and blessed him with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places and Christ. Christ didn't
heal every blind beggar. There was lots of blind beggars.
He even mentioned to the Jews on one occasion, he was talking
about the older prophets, he said there were a lot of blind
men back there, a lot of lepers back there in the day of Naaman.
All kinds of lepers in Israel. God didn't heal any of them.
He healed a Gentile king. Gentile king. And there was lots
of blind men, lots of blind beggars. We read about several of them
that he did heal. But he didn't heal all of them.
But he did heal some. He didn't heal every sick person
in the world, but certain individuals that he came to see or who were
providentially brought to him. And I'm going to tell you something,
bringing somebody to church doesn't guarantee that they're going
to be saved. But I guarantee you this, if they don't come,
they'll never be saved. I guarantee you that. This world is ignorant of the
curse under which we're now living. This world doesn't know they're
blind. Here's these Jews. There was a multitude of them
up there. They were asking questions. They were slandering Christ.
They were trying to turn that event around somehow to make
it seem phony. They wanted this man who was
obviously the Christ from the works that he did. You remember
when you get over there to chapter 10, they said, If thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly as I told you. I told you plainly. How many people you know can
change water into wine? How many people you know can
raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, give sight to the blind? How
many people you know like that? I told you plainly who I was. But you believe not because you're
not my sheep. This world ignorant of the curse
under which they are now living. These men were ignorant of their
blindness. They were the blind ones. They
were the blind ones. And this world doesn't know that
they are blind. This world is not aware of its bondage, of
its captivity. But some are made aware of it
and healed from it. And the work of God is manifested
in them. Alright, here's the third thing.
The kind of work. In this miracle, the Lord incorporates
means. He didn't do that in Bartimaeus.
He just commanded that he could see, and he saw. He didn't do
anything to it. But in this miracle, the Lord
incorporates a peculiar means. He spits upon the ground. And he makes a clay from the
spittle, and he puts this clay on this man's eyes, and then
he sends him to a certain pool to wash. He sent him to the scent waters,
the pool of Siloam, which by interpretation means scent. Those
waters were scent of God. And you can either look at it
in that respect as the And all the washing, as far as I know
in the New Testament, is all owing to the Holy Ghost. He washes
us in regeneration. We are washed in Him. All this
washing is owing to Him. And so you might look upon that
pool of waters, that scent waters, as the Holy Ghost who was scent
of Christ. But he anoints his eyes with
clay, and then he sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash. And I read all sorts of things
that this might mean. But what I'm getting from this
is that the means that he chose was not something natural men
would choose to use. That's what I'm getting out there. You might say it would be like
a common man being sent with the gospel of Christ. Peculiar
means. And you might say, well, what
good did the clay do? Well, that's all I am, clay. Isn't it? I don't know the clay did any
good. But I tell you, just like Naaman.
Naaman could have went back to those clear rivers in his country,
but he never got shed of his leprosy. He had to go in Jordan,
because that was his point of rebellion, and that's where the
Lord told him to go dip. And if he hadn't dipped in Jordan,
he'd never been here. And the Lord uses these means.
He anointed his eyes with the clay. We're anointed when we
hear the Gospel. Did you know that? Your eyes, your blind eyes is
anointed every time the gospel is preached. But you still can't
see until you are washed with the Holy Spirit. And He washes
us in regeneration and He causes us to perceive. He causes us
to see. And what you heard with these
ears, you see with your heart. And you see with your mind. And
you perceive it. And you understand it. The natural man, the Scripture
said, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. That's
what was going on here with these Jews. They were trying to find
some reason for their unbelief. They were trying to find some
reason to justify their accusations and doubt about this man. He
broke the law of Moses because he gave this man sight on the
Sabbath day. Our Lord is the Sabbath. He is
the rest. There's no other rest. But the natural man doesn't receive
these things. He don't like the idea of being
shut up to hearing the gospel. He don't like that idea. It offends
him. It offends his natural pride.
And I think that's why God purposed to use men to preach. Just for
that reason. You are going to submit to Him.
You are going to bow to Him whatever means He chooses to use. If this
man had not went to the pool of Siloam, the exact pool that
God sent him to wash those out, he would never have sought. He
would have never sought. His blindness was taken away
and his sight was restored both physically and spiritually. The kind of work our Lord performed
performed was a work involving means and involving obedience. Obedience. And the kind of work
our Lord performed caused ungodly men to accuse Him of being a
sinner, a fraud, and a servant of the devil. Men and women, now I want you
to hear me, men and women will tolerate anything which man's
fallen, depraved conscience and imagination can drum up. They'll
follow anything except the means that God ordains. And they'll take opposition against
it. The Lord Jesus Christ brings
the salvation of a soul to be in the same way He brought creation
into being. He spoke. And it was, and he
commanded, and it stood fast. Now that's how it comes. And
then fourthly, I want you to see the testimony of the object
of his work. This man didn't know a great
deal about the Lord, but this much he knew and insisted on.
Whatever he is and whoever he is, he said, this much I know.
Once I was blind, and now I see. And while these religious men
debated over their issues, and debated over the means, and debated
over the man, and debated over all these things, here was a
man who was born blind. It had never even been heard
of before that a man born blind could receive his sight. And
here he was, and everybody was talking about everything else
except that. I don't know who he is. I don't
know where he came from. I don't know a whole lot about
him. I know he's a prophet. I believe he's a prophet. But
this much I know. I was blind. And now I see. Now I see. Secondly, the ignorance of natural
men was apparent to him. Wasn't apparent to him before. He reverenced these men before.
Before they opened their mouth and started in with all their
opposition and all their debating, he respected these men. But now,
the ignorance of natural men was a pact to him. Why, he said,
herein is a marvelous thing. You know not from whence he is,
and yet he has opened my eyes. You don't know him. You don't know Him. Since the world began, He said,
it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind. If this man were not of God, he couldn't do anything. The object of God's saving grace, this object, this man, is what
I'm talking about. This object of God's saving grace
is aware that the work of God has been done in him, and he
cannot deny Him who did the work. He can't do it. He can't do it. They told him he was altogether
born in sins and had nothing. Well, you've got nothing to teach
us. You've got nothing to say to us. We're masters of theology. You've gone off your rocker.
You're all together born in sin. Let me tell you something. I
know preachers all over the country. And they cast this man out. Cast
him out. He was forbidden to be allowed
to go to the synagogue because of what he said to them. And
I know preachers all over the country, grace preachers, who
came out of every kind of religion under the sun. And their stories
are all the same. When those who once knew, they knew this man. Once they
heard their testimony concerning Christ, they cast him out. Every
one of them cast him out. You can believe what you want
to, but you're not coming here. You're not coming here, and you're
not going to preach here. But finding those whom the world
casts out, Our Lord continues to reveal Himself to him. And then lastly, I want you to
see how our Lord applies what's just taken place. In verse 39,
it says, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. This is not about a blind beggar.
This is about natural men in their blindness, and God, by
His sovereign grace, picking one from among them and giving
him sight. This is the condition of this
world. And then some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these
words, and they said unto him, Are we blind? Is that what you're
saying? We're blind? No, he said, That
ain't what I'm saying. Jesus said unto them, If you're
blind, you'd have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore,
your sin remaineth. The confession of the man in
whom God has purposed to do work is that he's blind. He's blind. He knows he's blind. He's experienced
his blindness. He's a blind man. He's a blind
man. He don't try to get out of it.
He's blind. Bartimaeus, what would you have to do? That I
might see, Lord. He's blind. Spiritually blind. He doesn't
understand. He can't perceive. The Word of
God is a mystery to him. He's helpless, hopeless, lost
sinner. He's left by his blindness to
be a beggar. And then the confession of a
religious man who don't know God is that there's nothing wrong
with him. There's nothing wrong with him.
He's not blind. He's not a beggar. He's not like
other men. He can see. And because of his
confession, his sin remains. His blindness is left a permanent
condition. How often, how often do I read
that in the Scriptures? They receive not the love of
the truth, Therefore the Lord sent them strong delusion to
believe a lie and be damned. Romans chapter 11, talking about
the remnant preserved by the election of God's grace. It said
in the very next verse, what then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it.
Are you listening? and the rest were blinded. And
Paul said, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to the lost, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine
unto them. O my soul, may the Lord be pleased
to enable us this morning to understand what this chapter
teaches. And pray that the Lord would
not only take notice of us, but take notice of our children,
and our neighbors, and those that we bring. Wouldn't it be
something if the Lord passed by and took notice of their blindness? Wouldn't that be something?