If you turn back again to John
chapter 9, I want to finish the chapter, but
before we do, I would like to point out just two or three or
four things that just have to be mentioned. The Lord Jesus said in verse
3, neither has this man sinned nor
his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. Now you can make the Bible say
just about anything. And you can say that the Lord
Jesus said that these people weren't sinners. But that ain't
what He said. And that's not what it means.
You cannot just take the literal statement out of Scripture. You
must interpret what it means by what the rest of the Word
of God has to say. There ain't no such thing as
a human being without being a sinner except our Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly, in verse 5, The Lord Jesus declares himself again,
if I remember right, he did so back in chapter 8 at verse 12,
and now he does so again in John chapter 9, I am, not I was, not
I will be, I am the light of the world. And John chapter 9
is a running commentary on that fact. Here's a glorious picture
of what Christ is as the light of the world. And He must be
made that to you and me if we are indeed to be saved. All right,
the third thing. This man whom our Savior healed
from being born blind, which very likely means he did not
even have eyeballs in his socket. But whether he did or didn't
is immaterial. The fact is that when our Lord Jesus healed the
man, he still is lost as lost can be. He does not know. Can you be saved and not know
who Christ is, Tom? I don't think so. But you see, there's another
healing to take place, and that's the healing of the man's soul,
which is infinitely more important and glorious than the first. It's like the Lord Jesus raised
those people from the dead, but they're still going to die again. But to be raised to life in Christ
is to live forever and ever and ever. I forget what number I'm on,
but the next thing I want to point out to you is this man's
absolute candor. He tells what he knows. And he's still an unconverted
man. And what he knows grows. But when you get toward the end
of the chapter and the Lord Jesus puts the question to him, I think
in verse 35, Do you believe on the Son of God? He's still an
honest man. He says, who is he, Lord, that
I might believe on him? And that's how it is with you
and me. We cannot believe a Christ that we do not know. Cannot do
it. Just cannot be done. One other
little thing that I just ought to pass by it, but I can't. You
probably know this, but just in case. Verse 14. And it was the Sabbath day when
Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes." Now, do you know this
or not? The Lord Jesus deliberately performed
multiple things on the Sabbath just to stick it in the craw
of the Pharisees. I mean, he just set their field
on fire. And I wish I had counted up to
find out how many, but it is a bunch of times in the four
Gospels. And the man's knowledge of Christ
is steadily growing. In verse 11, all he could tell
you was that a man named Jesus. But in verse 17, he goes above
that. He's a prophet. And then they try to tell him
that Christ is a sinner. And the man answers in verse
27, I've told you already when they wanted to know how he opened
your eyes. False religion triumphs on the
word how. The most ridiculous one is Billy
Graham's book, How to be Born Again. Pretty much like you were
born the first time. You had nothing to do with it. So the man answers in verse 27,
"'I've told you already, and you did not hear.'" Now watch
his boldness now. This man's... He's not there yet, but he's
getting awful close. "'I've told you already, and
you did not hear. Why would you hear it again?
Will you also be His disciples?' And then they reviled him and
said, you are his disciple. We're Moses' disciple. Moses
don't have any disciples. They thought they were Moses'
disciples. They had handled his law in such
a twisted fashion that they made it say exactly what they wanted
it to mean and say. And then finally, They said,
we know that God spoke to Moses in verse 29. As for this fellow,
we know not from where he is. And yet other places in the Gospels,
they declare they do know where he is. That is, where he's from,
the word winds. Where he comes from. Can any
good thing come out of Galilee? Not in their estimation. The
man answered and said in verse 30, while herein is a marvelous
thing, that you know not from where he is, and yet he has opened
my eyes. Now we know that God hears not
sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and does his will, him
he hears. Well, thankfully, he's a little
bit off on that statement. We'll just look right over it.
Verse 32, "...since the world began, was it not heard that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this
man," here's this bold man, "...if this man were not of God, he
could do nothing." And now they revert to the beginning of the
chapter in verse 34, and they said, you were altogether born
in sins, and they attribute that because of his blindness, being
born blind. You were altogether born in sin,
and do you teach us? And they cast him out, out of
the temple, out of the synagogue, out of the Jewish religion. Now,
let's pay careful attention. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, and when our Lord had found this man..." Now, who is
it that finds whom? The Lord Jesus finds us. We ain't
even looking for Him. Oh, we might be looking for someone
called Jesus, but it's not the Christ of the Bible. He said,
he came, Luke 19.10, he came to seek and save that which was
lost. And today's religion will not
allow the crown of Christ the seeker to sit on his head. They
want to give that to the sinner. Our Lord heard they had cast
him out and when he had found him he said, now look at this
simple statement, do you believe? on the Son of God." And if I
remember right, John only uses that expression, the Son of God,
but four times. Just four times. Everybody believes on the Son
of God, don't they? Not like our Lord's talking about. This man actually doesn't know
it yet, But grace is not only making
him bold, it makes him honest, particularly about himself. If our estimation of Christ is
not growing, and our estimation of ourselves is not decreasing,
We've missed something somewhere. We've missed it. Verse 36, the man answered and
said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And you will not find this statement
but in very few places in this whole book. The one that comes
to mind, there may be one or two others. In John chapter 4,
the Samaritan woman, oh she said, I believe that Messiah comes
and when he comes he'll tell us all things. And the Lord Jesus
has already told her all things about herself. And he said, I
that speak unto you am he. And here he said, verse 37, "...you
have both seen him, and it is he that talks with you." Now
that, my friend, is Christ revealing himself to this man. And that's
how every man is saved. It takes a revelation from God. And the man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. He worshipped
Him. And I believe there's a statement
in I John chapter 5 and verse 1 that says, Whosoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And that's the only new birth
there is. And that's it. And the chapter has a strange
ending. It's almost like it ought to
be someplace else. But it shouldn't. It's right
where it's supposed to be. There's an aspect to the gospel
of Christ that's difficult for us to learn. Let me read it to you. Verse 39, 40, and 41. And this
is absolutely tied to the first
38 verses. To separate them would be an
absolute crime against God in His grace and mercy in Christ.
And Jesus said, for judgment I am come into this world. Yet you can find statements in
the Gospels where He said, I came not to judge the world. So this is almost a judgment
that is unintentional but automatic. Everywhere the gospel is preached,
this takes place. It must. It must. While it's up here, things don't
stay up here like you guys, I'm telling you. It just takes a
vacation. But while this scripture is on
my mind, let's just turn and look at one, will we? You thought I forgot it, didn't
you? 2 Corinthians chapter 2, I believe. Let's see if it's still there. Oh yes, that's right, brother.
Starting at verse 14. Here it is. The very same thing
that we're going to look at in John chapter 9. Now thanks, 2
Corinthians 2.14, now thanks be unto God, which always, and
if you went to the book of Acts and traced the apostle Paul's
journey in his preaching, you wouldn't think he always triumphed,
but he said he did. And therefore, our experience
ought to correspond to his. Sometimes people hear and sometimes
they don't. Sometimes they love you for what
you say and sometimes they hate you. And if people could, they'd
shoot you. Now thanks be unto God which
always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the
savor, the aroma, the perfume of His knowledge by us in every
place. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ." Surely these words shouldn't
be in that 15th verse. In them that are saved, or perhaps
better being saved, and in them that are perishing. The glory,
the honor, the majesty of the Lord Jesus. has nothing to do
with our results, whether they be slim or none or few or many. To the one, verse 16, we, Christ,
Paul, I'm sorry, Paul and his gospel, the gospel of Christ,
we, to them, To the one, I can't even read, to the one we are
the saver of death unto death, and to the other the saver of
life unto life. Now that, my friend, is sobering. So the apostle adds, And who
is sufficient for these things? And then verse 17, For we are not as many, some
render that we are not as thee many, who corrupt the word of
God, the word corrupt has all kind of synonyms, to hawk, to
be a huckster of, a tavern keeper, to make merchandise out of, which
is exactly how the gospel is being prostituted in our generation.
We're not as the many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity,
but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. Now verse 39 in chapter 9 of
the Gospel of John We take our Savior's words. I
cannot begin to tell you how far-reaching, how many generations
are yet to live on the face of this earth for this to be so
in every single one, whether Christ is the preacher or Paul
or you and me. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am come into this world." Now this is a strange judgment,
but here it is, in one single statement, that they which see
not might see, and they which see might be made
blind. You cannot hear the gospel of
Christ with immunity. It must affect us for good or
bad, that they which see not might
see. and that they which see might
be made blind." Now you and I are in one of those categories right
now. Had a fellow on the closing hymn of a Sunday
morning service many, many, many almost all those 28 years ago,
not quite, but a whole lot of them. I was still standing in
the pulpit leading the song. So I went down front to see what
he wanted. He said, I want to join the church. I said, well,
why would you want to do that? He said, because I love Jesus.
Well, that ain't a bad reason now. But I said, how long have
you loved Him? And he said, I've always loved
Him. I said, that's too long. It's
too long. Can't do that. Now verses 40 and 41. And some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard these words. I mean the
ones that our Lord has just now said. And they said to him, are we
blind also? I mean, in this connection, blindness
is not a bad thing. It's desirable. It's necessary. It cannot be dispensed with.
The Savior only saves the blind. because His grace makes us blind,
conscious of our blindness. Are we blind also? Jesus said,
here's the judgment of the gospel in a single verse. Jesus said
unto them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. If you can honestly before God,
truly, honestly, really, confess to Him that you are totally spiritually
blind, you may not know it yet, but your sin is gone. The worst sin we have, my friend,
and the damning sin of all sin is self-righteousness. If you were blind, you would
have no sin. But now, you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remains. Tom, I got about a half a dozen
pages of notes, but I think that's a good place to stop.