I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled this message, The
Blind See The Seeing Made Blind. Now as I read this passage of
scripture, I think you'll understand why I entitled this message like
that. Verse 39 of John chapter nine,
and Jesus said, for judgment, I am come into 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? I believe this was said with
sarcasm. even scornful, Jesus said unto
them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. Now think about what he says. If you were blind, you should
have no sin. I'd like to get in on that, wouldn't
you? where I would be described as one having no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Now, anytime The Lord Jesus Christ
tells us his purpose for coming into this world. It ought to
get our careful attention. And there are many scriptures
where he does tell us why he came into the world. Now, he
was before he came the eternal son of God, the uncreated second
person of the blessed Trinity. And he came into the world. God
was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Why did He come? The Creator
came into His creation. Why did He come? Let me give you some scriptures.
John 18.37 says, For this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth. The only way you and I
are going to know the truth is as He bears witness to us. He said in John 12, 46, I'm come
a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should
not walk in darkness. Now, the only light that you
and I will have concerning who God is and how He saves sinners
is the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in Matthew 9,
13, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, if you have any personal
righteousness, guess what? He didn't come for you. He came
for sinners, real, bona fide, guilty sinners, to bring them
to repentance, to a complete change of mind. He said in Luke
19, verse 10, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Have you ever been lost? Lost
so as you can't find your way back. And you see you're lost,
separated from God. You see that. Christ says he
came to seek you and to save you. He came to seek and to save
that which was lost. John 3.17 says, for God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, the world
already was condemned, but that the world through him might be
saved. 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul says, this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. This ought
to be the best thing you and I have ever heard, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He didn't come to save good people.
He didn't come to save righteous people. He came to save sinners. Paul says, of whom I am the chief. Now, if that's not my favorite
verse of scripture, it ought to be. In 1 John 4.10, here in
his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sin. Now that word propitiation
means a sin removing sacrifice. That's what the Lord did. He
removed the sin and made it not to be of everybody he died for. Now, in all of these verses that
I've just quoted, his reason for coming has something to do
with salvation. But in our text that I just read
at the beginning of this message in John 9, he said, for judgment,
I have come into the world. The verdict, the sentence that
the judge declares For judgment, I'm coming to this world. He
doesn't say anything about salvation here, but he says, I've come
as a judge. For judgment, have I come into
this world. The decision, the sentence, the
verdict of the judge with regard to those who are on trial. Now,
I want to remind you of something. God's not on trial. Me and you
are. You know, people are so quick
to judge God. How could God do this? How could
God do that? Watch out. God's not on trial. You are. I am. And the Lord says, this is the
judgment, this is the sentence that I have come to pass, that
those who see might be made blind. And that those who do not see
are given sight. And these ones who do not see,
they have no sin. And those ones who say they do
see, their sin remains. Now what in the world does all
of that mean? For judgment I am come into the
world. Now this is who Abraham referred
to when he said, shall not the judge of the earth do right? Now, men are born knowing that
God is. Now, I realize that a large percentage
of the population would say, well, I'm an atheist. Well, you
were not always an atheist. You perhaps have convinced yourself
that there is no God for whatever reason, but it's very unreasonable. Where does life come from? Where
does the universe come from? Men are born knowing that God
is, and that He is the judge of the earth, and that He will
reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Everyone is born
with the law written in their heart, knowing the difference
between good and evil, knowing it's wrong to kill, it's wrong
to steal, it's wrong to lie, it's wrong to commit adultery,
it's wrong to dishonor authority. Everybody's born with that knowledge. When John describes the Lord
Jesus Christ as the rider on the white horse, He says, he
that said upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war. Now, when he says, for judgment
I'm come, he gives this twofold judgment. I've come to give sight
to those who are blind. and I've come to blind those
who say they see. Now, who are these people who
are described as those who see not? These people are the people who
cannot see one reason in themselves as to why God would show them
favor. They cannot see one reason why
God would show them in themselves why God would show them favor. They see themselves as guilty
and sinful, and they have forfeited any right of having favor with
God because of their sin. They cannot see one reason why
God would save them. I wonder if anyone listening
feels that way about themselves. You do not see why God would
ever have mercy on you or save you or have favor toward you. Now, when people first hear the
gospel, their first objection with regard to hearing the gospel
is, that's not fair. Now, if you've never made that
objection yourself upon hearing the Gospel, it's because you've
probably never really heard the Gospel. Because when people hear
the true Gospel of what the Scripture teaches, their first reaction
is, that is not fair. Now, where does that response
come from? Now I'm going to be giving what the scripture teaches. This is not my thoughts. This
is not something that I came up with. This is not some denominational
distinctive or some church doctrine. This is what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that men are born dead in sins and come into
this world as evil people. You were born, I was born bad,
evil, sinful. And this is a result of their
fall in Adam. For by one man, Romans 5.12,
for by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
in that all sinned. Now the death that he's speaking
of, yes, physical death will be included, but he's talking
about spiritual death. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat thereof, in Genesis chapter two, in the day that you ate
thereof, you shall surely die. Now he didn't die physically
that day, but he died spiritually. He became an evil person. He became a sinful person. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 said,
God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And this
is what he sees in my heart and your heart the way we're born
into this world. And God saw the wickedness of man was great
in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. And that's what God sees when
he sees in my heart and your heart. And if you don't believe
that, that doesn't change the fact of the matter. That is what
God sees because that is what we are. Have you ever seen this
is the truth with regard to you? Completely sinful. Completely
sinful. Now, if God doesn't do something
for somebody like that, they will go to hell. And you know
that you're completely sinful. You've forfeited any rights with
God because of your sin. And if God doesn't do something
for you, you can't do anything for yourself. If God doesn't
do something for you, you will go to hell. Now, if that's all
I had to say, this would not be a very pleasant message, would
it? But let me go on speaking. According to the scriptures,
before time began, God elected a great multitude of Adam's race
in Christ to be saved. But we're bound to thank God
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, that's good
news, because if he didn't elect the people, no one would be saved
because we're all guilty. But thank God there is what Romans
11.5 calls the election of grace. Paul said in Romans 9.11, for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand. not of works, but of him that
calleth. God sovereignly chose a people
to be saved. Let me say this about election.
If you don't believe in election, you don't believe in grace. It
really is that simple. I can tell what somebody believes
about grace by what they believe about election. Election is God's
free, sovereign, unconditional choice of His people. He didn't
choose you because He saw you'd be good. He chose you because
He would. That was His reason. The reason
was not in you. It was in Him. If you're chosen
to be saved, oh, God elected a people to be saved. He didn't
elect everybody. He elected those he elected. Now, in time, Christ
came to save those people. Matthew 1.21 says, thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. from their sins. All that the Father giveth me,
he said, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." Now understand
this, on the cross, Christ wasn't making salvation available. He
wasn't making salvation possible. He was saving. He saved all the
Father gave him. He said, I give my life for the
sheep. Not everybody's a sheep. There are goats. But he gave
his life for the sheep and accomplished their salvation. Now it's very
important for me to understand that Christ died for the elect.
He didn't die for all men without exception. If He died for all
men without exception, then He failed if all men without exception
are not saved. But He saved everybody He died
for. And God the Holy Spirit, I've
talked about the work of God the Father in election, God the
Son in redemption, God the Holy Spirit comes and gives them life
in the new birth. What a work. Life from the dead. That's what being born again
is. It's being given spiritual life. You had no spiritual life,
dead in trespasses and sins. God gives you life, so you believe,
so you repent, so you hear the gospel, so you love the God of
Scripture. That's the work of God. It's the sovereign work of God
in salvation. Now, men, when they initially
hear that, they say, that's not fair. Why? Why didn't he elect
everybody if he could have? Why didn't Christ die for everybody
if he could have? That's not fair. It's not fair for God to
do something for one that he doesn't do for the other. That's
not fair. Now let me remind you what I said. God's not on trial.
Me and you are. And whatever God does is right.
And for a man to say God's not fair in being that way, all of
a sudden he's become God's judge and God's critic. That's no place
to be. Remember, God's not on trial.
Me and you are. Don't say God's not fair. Whatever
God does is right, and we bow to whatever He says. But let
me tell you when someone will quit saying, that's not fair. Now this is the natural reaction.
This was my reaction when I first heard the gospel. I didn't like
it. That's not fair. That's not fair. I couldn't bear the thought
of God electing a people and I couldn't get him to make me
one of them. Oh, I'm in the hands of a sovereign God. I saw no
safety there. Now I see that's the only place there is a safety
in his hand. Now I'll tell you when someone
quit saying, that's not fair. When they hear the gospel in
the power of the Holy Spirit, and they find out who God is. And when you find out, and if
I find out who God is, I will see myself as a sinner. And when I see myself as a sinner,
I see the only thing that's fair with regard to me is that God
sends me to hell. That is fair. I have no claims on Him. I understand
that I'm a sinner. I'm guilty before Him. My nature
is sinful. I was born that way. My will
is chained to sin. One of the biggest lies there
ever was was free will in the sense that your will is controlled
by your nature, an evil, sinful nature. Yes, you do what you
want to do. I'm not denying that. I do what I want to do, but our
wills are controlled by our nature. All I do in and of myself, if
I did it, it's sin. Because I did it. Because I'm
a sinful man. I love what Peter said. Depart
from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. He said, why
would you want to have anything to do with me? I'm a sinful man. I cannot not sin. All I do is
sin. That's my nature. That's my name.
It's all my fault. I'm doing what I want to do.
I can't blame the sovereignty of God for my sin. I'm sinning
because that's my nature. That's my practice. That's my
will. Sin. If you and I ever see ourselves
as we are, a sinner, guilty before God, deserving His wrath, deserving
to be cut off by Him, we're not going to say when we hear the
gospel, that's not fair. We're going to see this is the
only way I can be saved. The only way I can be saved is
if God chooses me to salvation. I can't be saved any other way.
The only way I can be saved is if Christ died for me and put
away my sins and gave me His righteousness. I can't be saved
any other way. The only way I can be saved is
if God the Holy Spirit gives me life, births me into the kingdom,
and gives me a new heart and a new nature. I can't be saved
apart from that. I can't be saved unless He preserves
me and keeps me saved. I am completely dependent on
Him to do something for me. Now understand this. Salvation
is not what the sinner does for God. Salvation is what God does
for the sinner. Now, if you and I ever learn
that we're sinners. We won't object to the gospel
as not being fair. We will say, this is the only
hope I have. I'm a sinner. I can't stand in
judgment on anybody for anything. I have no hope but God doing
something for me for Christ's sake. Now this is the person
who cannot see. He can't see why God would save
him because of his sinfulness. Now to that person, that's the
person that Christ gives sight to. He lets you know that salvation
doesn't have anything to do with being for your sake, for anything
you do. It's wholly for Christ's sake. Ephesians 4, verse 32 says, Be
ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake. has forgiven you. He didn't forgive
you because you're sorry. He didn't forgive you because
you promised you'll never do it again. His only reason for
forgiveness is for Christ's sake. And oh, how you rejoice when
you find that out. You see, these people are the
people, as Paul describes in Romans 3, verse 19, whose mouths
have been stopped, and they stand guilty before God. They don't
judge God. They don't criticize God. They don't say, how could
this be fair? These are the people who look to Christ only. Now, what about that group that
says, we see? We can see why God would save
us. Well, look what we've done. We've
believed. We've repented of our sins. Our
life has changed. We've become better people. We
do our best. We can see why God would save
us. I remember that experience I had. I remember the intentions
I have. I can remember when I went down to the front and confessed
Christ before the congregation. I can see why God would save
me. I filled in the boxes. I've done the right things. Let
me say this. If you say, I can see why God
saved me because I, whatever that fill in the blank is, because
I did this or I stopped doing that, you've been blinded. You've been blinded. You can't
see who God is, who you are, and it could be that God's already
turned the lights out. I pray that's not happened yet,
and I pray that you and I will both cry, Lord, give me light,
give me eyes so I can see. I can't see, I can't understand,
except you make yourself known to me. Would you be pleased to
do that for me? Now, Verse 39, for judgment I'm
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? And I have no doubt that they
were sarcastic in this way of asking the Lord this question.
Are we blind also? And listen to the Lord's reply.
Jesus said unto them, if you were blind, you should have no
sin. But now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Now that person who is blind,
and can't see why God would save them, why God would do anything
for them. They think they've forfeited
all rights because of their sin, and they stand guilty before
God. Here's what Christ said about
these people. They have no sin. Before God, they have no sin. You see, Christ put their sin
away. He made it not to be. He bore the punishment of it. Now there is no sin. In Him is
no sin. If I'm in Christ, I have no sin. When I stand before Him in judgment,
here's what I'm going to hear say, Well done, thou good and
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. How
can He say that to me? Because I have no sin. Christ
put that sin away, and I have his perfect, sinless righteousness
as my personal righteousness before God. The just for the
unjust. Listen to this scripture. 2 Corinthians
5.21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, if I'm the righteousness
of God in him because of what he did for me, I have no sin. If you'd say, we're blind, we
can't see, you'd have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore
your sin remaineth. And when you stand before God
in judgment, it's going to be in your sins. And that's not going to be a
good outcome because God is holy and God is just. And if you stand
before him in your sins, you must be condemned. Now, let me close with this thought.
God's going to meet us on the ground we want to be met on. If you want to be met on the
ground of, I can't see any reason why you'd save me. God's going
to save you. If you come on the ground, I
can see why it saved me because I've done this and I've done
that, you're still in your sin. Now you can come into his presence
on whatever ground you choose, in Christ alone or in your works. Can't be mixed, it's one or the
other. You come on the ground of Christ alone, you'll be received,
you have no sin. You come on the ground of what
you've done, and you will still be remaining in your sin. May God give you and I the grace
to come looking only to what Christ has done. Oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.