Let's see if we can take a look
at John chapter 9, and we'll try to get down through the 7
verses of John chapter 9. There's a whole lot here. I'm
entitling the message from the answer the Lord gives to His
disciples recorded in verse 4. And I just love this statement
here where the Lord says, I must work the works. I must work the
works. Salvation is His work. Salvation
is His doing. That's the same statement that
the Lord makes in the temple when he was just but 12 years
old. A young carpenter learning the
trade, but he had more important business at hand, for he said,
I must be about my father's Business. He wasn't talking about any kind
of earthly father, was he? He was talking about his heavenly
father. I must, must work the works of
Him that sent me. Now, we've seen this several
times. I would have you turn back to John chapter 4. The salvation that He has wrought
out for us makes salvation unto us the free gift of His grace. His work his doing you remember
in John chapter 4 verse 34 He said my me is to do the will
of him that sent me and to finish His work. I must work the works
of him that sent me then in John chapter 5 This is familiar ground
to you verse 36, but I have greater witness than that of John for
the works which my father have given me to finish the same works,
that's what I do. And they bear witness of me that
the Father has sent me. I must work the works. The salvation
that we enjoy by the free and sovereign eternal grace of God
is because of the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
of His obedience unto death. It's His work for us. I remind
you of this psalm in Psalm 92. Don't turn, let me just read
it for you. For thy Lord has made me glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works. And then one of my favorite scriptures
found in Psalm 57 verse 2 where it says the Lord has performed
all things for us. I must work the works of Him
that sent me." Now, in this chapter, we're going to see the Lord going
about His work, work of mercy. Showing mercy to sinners, sitting
in darkness. And in doing so, the Lord is
fulfilling the Scriptures that are written of Him. You remember,
I trust you do, from Isaiah 35? where it says, Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will
come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, then shall
the lame leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing. The Lord showing mercy to sinners
is fulfilling Scripture. Turn back to Luke chapter 4.
Hold your place there, John, and turn to Luke chapter 4. Our
Lord quotes from Isaiah 61, here in Luke chapter 4, verse 18,
when they gave him the Word of God and he found a place where
it was written, Luke 4, 18, it said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord, the year of jubilee." And he closed the book,
gave it to the minister, and sat down, and the eyes of all
them that were in the synagogue were fixed upon him, and he began
to say, This day is a scripture fulfilled in your ears. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
do the work of God Almighty, accomplishing our salvation.
Now remember from John chapter 8 verse 59, how the Jews rejected His message
that He is the Eternal I Am before Abraham was I Am, and they took
up stones to stone Him to death, and He simply passed by. You
see that in verse 59? He hid Himself. He hid Himself
from them and went out of their temple, went out of their religious
congregation, went out away from them, and went through the midst
of them, and so passed by. He left them to die in their
sin justly." They heard His message. They rejected His message. And
their condemnation is at their own feet. At their own feet. He passed them by. He hid Himself
from the wise and prudent and revealed Himself unto His blessed,
blessed children. He passed them by, and then chapter
9 begins with a and. And. He passed some by, but he
passed by and he saw. Now this is more than just a
glance. He beheld this man. He fixed
his eyes upon this man. He gazed upon him. with the eye
of omnipotence, with the eye of the Almighty God. He saw this
man, his need, and He saw this man also as one of His own, given
to Him in that covenant of grace. And the Lord passed by and He
saw this man, this certain man, which was blind, and he was blind
from His birth. You see, the Lord is always on
the trail of His sheep. The Lord is always on the lookout
for His sheep, and in time, He crosses their path with the gospel,
and He heals them. Now, we've seen this already.
You remember in John chapter 4, the woman at the well in the
city of Samaria, you remember what He said? Here's this word
again, too. I must, I must need go through
Samaria. Why? Well, there's a woman there,
a sinful woman in need of mercy. And He crossed her path and showed
mercy to her. Remember, she said, when the
Lord said, when she said, Messiah is coming and He'll tell us all
things. And the Lord said, I that speak
to thee am He. And she was granted faith. And
she looked to the Lord. And then again in John chapter
5, the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. and the Lord passed
by. There was a lot of crippled people
laying around that pool and the Lord singled out one man. Have
mercy upon one man. He told one man, rise up, take
up your bed, and walk. And he did. You see, God will
have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Now here in John chapter
9, we see the Story of this blind beggar. Blind from his birth. So let's take a close look at
this and see how the Lord deals in mercy. And again, this is
every sinner's story that's saved by the grace of God. First of
all, we see this. Jesus passed by him. This man
wasn't going anywhere. He was blind. He was sitting.
He was begging. And the Lord passed by. So what
does that tell us? What is that teaching us? Well,
salvation begins with God. Salvation starts with God, His
purpose, His grace, coming to us. It doesn't begin with us
coming to Him. Adam was hiding from God. God
sought him out. So salvation begins with God,
not with us. You remember the story of the
cast out infant in Ezekiel 16? The Lord says, when I saw you
in your blood polluted, I passed by thee, I covered thee, and
I said it was the time of love. When I saw thee in your blood,
I said unto you, live! God gives life. You see, the
point I'm making is, that salvation, again, we see is God's doing,
God's business. We love Him, and if we do, it's
only because He first loved us. If we're brought to believe the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's only because He chose
us, crossed our path, gave us life, we believe according to
the working of His mighty power. We read that in Ephesians chapter
1 this morning. So the Lord on purpose. This
is not an accident, is it? He just didn't bump into this
blind man. How long has he saw this blind
man? How long has he had his eye on this blind man? From eternity. From eternity. The Lord on purpose
passed by, saw this man in his filth, in his guilt, in his blindness,
in his deadness. He saw this sinner in need of
mercy and passed by and showed mercy. It is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed. This is his story, but it's my
story too. This is my testimony too. He
passed my soul. He passed by my soul in that
eternal election of grace and chose me unto salvation. Why
did he choose me? Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in your sight. He passed by my soul in predestinating
grace and arranged all things for my eternal salvation." It's
no accident that any of us bumped into the gospel. God crossed
our path with the truth. And He used the truth to set
us free. All things work together for
good to them who love God. who were called according to
His purpose. He passed by my soul at the appointed time of
love and He called me by His grace." Now, that's my testimony. I can say with Paul when he writes
to young Timothy, it's God who saved us. It's God who called
us and given us, He called us with a heavenly calling and He's
made us new creatures in Christ Jesus. This man could not see
the Lord. He had no ability, did he? He
had no ability to see the Lord, but the Lord had His eye on him.
The Lord had His eye on him, just not this day, but from that
eternal day of grace. The Lord has loved this man,
just not this day, and the next day, and for eternity, but the
Lord has loved this man with an everlasting love, and therefore
with love and kindness He does draw us to himself. Matter of fact, it says over
here in verse 38, when the Lord comes and finds him after he's
been cast out and gives him spiritual sight, he said, Lord, I believe,
and he worshiped him. Notice this man was born blind. This too is my story. I was born
in sin and shape and iniquity, and if you're a sinner saved
by God's grace, this is your story too. We are all, and Adam
all died, and Adam all have sinned. All of us by nature love darkness,
not the light. Matter of fact, by nature we
hate the light. And that's because of our fallen,
fallen depraved condition. Our understanding is darkened,
we're ignorant, And we stand in the blindness of our heart,
having no eyes to see His beauty, no eyes to see His glory. He passed by and saw us, saw
His people, and said, this is a time of love. Live. Now, look
at verse 2. The disciples, instead of being
eager for the Lord You think they would have said, Lord, show
mercy to this man. Let us see you work your mighty
power. They come with a judgmental spirit.
And the disciples, they said, Master, this man certainly must
be a great, vile sinner because he was born blind. And by the
way, it's either this man or his parents. They've really done
something bad. Instead of being concerned for
this man's well-being, being a blind beggar, rather they ask,
I think, a rather odd question. Don't you? Which really reveals
the self-righteousness and pride of our own wicked heart. I think
that's what we see here. I think that's the lesson for
us here. Our own wicked heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. They say, Who sinned? This man or his parents? Certainly
somebody did something terrible. This man and his parents are
sure sinful people. Just look at their condition.
Just look at this man's condition. Wasn't that the same problem
Job's three friends had? Job, what have you done? You
know what I hear and what I see right here? I hear the echo of
the Pharisee in the temple, don't you? Don't you? Don't you hear the echo of the
Pharisee in the temple? God, I thank you I'm not like
that man. I'm just a little bit better,
you know. Don't you see self-righteousness there? This man really done something
bad now. That's just the way we are. Still
full of self-righteous pride. I thank God I'm not like his
other man. I'm not like that old dirty publican.
But the blessed truth of the gospel is the Lord came to save
sinners. Now notice what the Lord is going
to do here. He could have said, you big ignorant
dummies. You guys are so stupid. The Lord
is so long-suffering and gracious. The Lord answered, neither hath
this man sinned. nor his parents." What does that
mean? But that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. Notice the Lord's wise and righteous
answer. Now he's not saying that this
blind man and his parents were not sinners. That's not what's
being said here. He's not saying that if they're
not guilty before God, that would be contrary to the whole body
of Holy Scripture. The Scriptures teach that there's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand
that they've all gone out of the way. The Scriptures teach
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All
suffering and death are a direct result of sin entering in. There would be no death, no sorrow,
no sickness among us, would there? Without sin entering in. There'd
be no suffering, no death. And the Lord is not saying these
folks are not sinners. But the Lord is saying that the
particular circumstance that came to pass in their lives,
in our lives, they just don't happen by accident. They rather
happen by the Lord's sovereign purpose and providence. This
man was blinded in birth by the sovereign purpose of God that
God might manifest His glory. You see that? but that the works
of God should be made manifest. Now we're going to see this again
in John chapter 11. Turn over there. John chapter
11. When Lazarus was sick and they
sent, Mary and Martha did, for the Lord and the Lord on purpose
delayed his coming and Lazarus died and the Lord said in verse
4, Jesus heard that When Jesus heard that, He said, this sickness
is not unto death, not unto final death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. This blind
man's blindness was not some freak accident of nature, was
it? But by the sovereign purpose
of God. that He might be glorified in
all things. The Lord always arranges all
events in human history to serve His greater purpose. That is
what we call the wise and sovereign and good providence of God. Of
Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory
both now and forever. The whole and soul and only reason
of Adam's sin, now listen, and his guilt was to magnify the
Lord's grace. Why did sin enter in? That he
might work the works of God, that he might be magnified. We
would know nothing of salvation apart from sin, wouldn't we?
We'd know nothing of redemption glory apart from our ruin. We
would know nothing of His sovereign mercy and sovereign love apart
from Adam's fall. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. God committed His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You see, God magnifies the jewel of His redeeming grace against
that black background of sin. guilt and depravity. Pastor Mahan used to illustrate
God's grace this way. When you go into a jewelry store
and the jeweler wants to show off those sparkly diamonds, what
does he put it on? He puts it on a black velvet
cloth. Why does he do that? that the
brilliance of the diamond might shine forth. And that's exactly
what God does with His grace. He takes that gem of His grace,
the jewel of His love, and it shines brightly against that
black sinful heart nature that we are. Let us never imagine
that anything comes to pass by accident or without His sovereign
purpose and design. Many think, seem to be terribly
confused about the fact of Adam's fall and sin entrance into this
world. They seem to think that Adam's
sin took God by surprise, and that the Creator lost control
of His creation when sin entered in. Is that the case? No! As I said this morning, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain, before the foundation of the
world, before sin entered in, God already was determined to
magnify His grace. Just as this man's blindness
made a way for God to display His works of mercy on him, the
sin and fall of Adam and the ruin of the human race in Adam's
fall were all designed by God to make way for the manifestation
of the work of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Do you understand
that? That's why he says in verse 4,
I must work the works of Him that sent me. While it is the
time, in the fullness of God's time, The night cometh when no
man can work work to be done during the day." The Lord said,
I must work the works of Him that sent me. The Lord came to
take care of business, didn't He? He came to take care of business. He came to take care of the Father's
business. He made that business, the Father's
business, His business. As the righteous servant of God,
it says of Him that He cannot fail. to magnify God in all things. The Lord was always about the
work that he must do. Now this word here, must, is
a powerful word. Turn back to Matthew 16. Must,
must, must. The Lord said, I must work the
works of him. Paul, thank God he did. Thank
God He glorified the Father in finishing the work the Father
gave Him to do. He must. Matthew 16 and verse
21, from that time forth, Jesus began to show unto His disciples
how He must go to Jerusalem. This is not optional. There's
no other way. I must go to Jerusalem, suffer
many things of the elders, the chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and be raised again the third day. And Peter began
to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall
not be. Boy, Peter. And the Lord turned and said
unto him, Get out of my way. You are lining yourself up with
Satan. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men. I must go to Jerusalem. I must
die. I must work the works of Him
that sent me." Turn back to John chapter 2 a minute. The Lord
Jesus Christ went about His Father's business with great zeal. Great enthusiasm. As a matter
of fact, so much so, some said he's eaten up with it. Remember
when he went to the temple and he found those in the temple
selling oxen and sheep and he drove them out in John chapter
2. And he said, verse 16, take these
things hence, make not my father's house a house of merchandise.
And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal
of thine house had eaten him up. He was eaten up with it,
doing the father's business. He set his face like a flint,
I think it says in Isaiah 50. No one can turn him, persuade
him. to doing, from doing the Father's
business, I must work the works of Him that sent me." And he
went about his work with great enthusiasm. Let me mention these
things to you. To fulfill all Scripture. He
went about the works of God to fulfill all Scripture, didn't
he? Turn back to Luke 24. Luke 24. He went about the works
of the Father in fulfilling all Scripture. When it says in John 19 or John
I think it's John 19 when he said all things were that were
written at him were fulfilled They took him down from the tree
All things must be fulfilled in Luke 24 look at verse 44 These
are the word which I spake unto you while I was with you that
all things there's that word again must be fulfilled which
are written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets concerning me."
They must be fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
every jot and tittle of God's Holy Word. Fulfilled every type,
every pattern, every picture of the Old Testament. The Lord
Jesus Christ, everything that was written of Him, He fulfilled
exactly and perfectly. So much so that the Father said,
I'm well pleased. He honored me in everything as
the righteous servant of God. He went about to fulfill all
Scripture with great zeal and enthusiasm. He went about to
do the works of Him that sent Him, Father, to fulfill all righteousness. He said that to John. When He
came to John to be baptized, He said, Suffer it be so for
us, for us to fulfill all righteousness. He fulfills righteousness for
us. He came to honor God's holy law for us. He said, I didn't
come to destroy the law, I came to magnify it, I came to honor
it. He came to redeem the sheep. Turn over here to John chapter
10. I must work the works of Him that sent me. John chapter 10. The father know with me verse
15 even so I know the father I lay down my life for the sheep
Other sheep I have was not of this fold them. I must bring
they shall hear my voice. They shall be one fold and one
shepherd Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my
life that I might take it again. I To redeem his sheep, no man
takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. And he came to
glorify the father in all things, in accomplishing this work. Find
John 17 verse 4. John 17 verse 4. I've glorified
thee on the earth. I finished the work you gave
me to do." And then in John 19, verse 30, he said, when he had
received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. In verse 28, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
he said, I thirst. And then he said, it's finished.
It's done. Aren't you glad that He came
to do the works of Him? To work the works? I like that.
That means salvation is by the grace of God to sinners. What could be more blessed? Redemption
work is finished. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is eternally saved. He saved them with everlasting
salvation. And God the Father, Jehovah,
Almighty is glorified. I must work the works of Him
that sent me. This is the good news of the
gospel. As I said on the radio broadcast
this morning, the gospel is not good advice. The gospel is good
news. Good news. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone. Everyone who believes it now
look verse 5 as long as I'm in the world verse 5 As long as I'm in the world I'm
the light of it I'm the light of it. You remember back in John
chapter 8 verse 12 John chapter 8 verse 12. I am the light of
the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness But shall have the light The light of life. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
light. Christ is the very light that
we need. He's the only light that we need. He's all the light
we need to enlighten us. And the only one who can command
the light to shine. Just as He did in that original
creation, God said, let there be light. And the light appeared. As Paul says in 2nd Corinthians
4, it's God who commanded the light to shine. He has shined
in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The last chapter in the Old Testament
tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ, unto you that fear my
name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Now look at verse 6. Verse 6
and verse 7. When he had thus spoken, what
did he speak? He spoke the truth. He spoke
the word. Every word he spoke was the truth.
He spoke the word the Father had given him to speak. And when
he had thus spoken, he spit on the ground, made clay. It's kind of a crude thing to
do, isn't it? I mean, if I was going to help
somebody see, I certainly wouldn't spit on the ground and make a
mud pie and stick mud in his eye. I mean, you would just kind
of insult the person, wouldn't you? Not when he does it. He spat
on the ground, got some dirt in his hand, made some clay, daubed it on his eyes. And when
he had thus spoke, he sped on the ground, made clay, anointed
the eyes of the blind man with this clay. Now the Lord could have, being
the sovereign Lord that He is, He could have cured this blind
man just by speaking the word. Right? As He did to others. He spoke the word to blind Bartimaeus
when Bartimaeus cried out for mercy. And the Lord said, what
do you need? He said, I'm blind. The Lord
said, receive your sight. He spoke a word and it was done.
He spake and it commanded fast. Or as the Lord said to the leper
who came down full of leprosy, and came to the Lord and fell
down in worship and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. And the Lord put forth His hand and touched him and
said, I will. Be thou clean. He spoke a word and it was done. But here the Lord uses what we
might consider something that would only worsen the problem,
yet the Lord chooses these as His means, and the Lord uses
what He will to bring more glory and honor unto Himself. You see, there is healing virtue
and power in everything that belongs to the Lord. You see,
it was His spit. It was His dirt. It was His clay. It was His own spit. He's the
one who made the clay. He's the one who anointed the
eye. He is the one that spoke the
word. Now, don't forget where it comes from. It wasn't the
clay. It was Christ who made the clay.
It was Christ who anointed the eyes. Well, let's go find some
blind men over in town and let's take some mud and throw it in
their eye. Wouldn't work, would it? Has to be His clay. His Spirit, His Word, His Power,
His Doing, His Anointed. Let us never exalt the means
and forget the power is in Christ Himself. Our Lord uses means
to accomplish His purpose, but let us never despise the means
either. God has determined to populate
heaven with the people. God in that eternal covenant
of grace chose a multitude of sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ
stood as a lamb slain. But in time, what happened? What
God purposed in eternity comes to pass in time. And God is chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to call out His covenant people. And that's what
I see here. Turn over here to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. God has ordained the means to
accomplish His purpose. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
to those who were perishing is foolishness, but unto us which
are saved is the power of God. Some despise the means. Some
despise the clay. I bet those Pharisees in that
day said, ah, clay in the eye? How foolish. Christ crucified? They'd say, oh, how foolish.
No, it's the power of God and the wisdom of God. Look at verse
21, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21. And after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching, it saved them that believed. God
had chosen the means. For the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews a stumbling block, under the Greeks foolishness,
but under them which are called." Don't forget that. Called. Jew or Greek, Jew or Gentile,
Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God. Let's not
discount the means that God has ordained. Preaching in the gospel
of Christ is to mean that God has ordained to call out His
people. However, let us never forget the Lord must bless His
Word. The Lord must apply His truth. The Lord must send His Word in
the power of the Holy Spirit to make it effectual. Yes, there
was clay. His clay. He anointed the eyes,
and God must anoint the preaching of the gospel. God must bless
the Word, send it forth to your heart in the power of God the
Holy Spirit. He must give us ears to hear
Him speak from heaven. And then, you know what happens? We show forth the praises of
Him who called us out of darkness unto His marvelous light. Then
we say, He translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of God's dear Son, the Son of His love. Let us understand
that the means used are useless without the blessing of God,
without the purpose of God. You see what I'm saying? I can
preach the truth, and preach the truth, and preach the truth,
and I can teach you the facts of the doctrine, line upon line,
line upon line, but God must quicken the Word to your heart. God must make application to
the heart. Now look at verse 7. Lord said unto him, now who speaks
here? Wasn't Peter. Wasn't John. Or James. The Lord said unto
this man, you go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Which by interpretation,
this pool means, sent. And he went his way, made his way therefore, washed,
received his sign. Here the wise and holy physician,
directs, yea rather let me change this, commands, he didn't say,
he didn't suggest, maybe you ought to go down there and wash.
You know it might be a good thing if you do that. No, he said,
go wash! And he went! You see, when the
Lord sends His Word in power, there's obedience that follows.
Here the wise and holy physician commands the patient where to
go and what to do. And the man did exactly what
he was told. He washed off the mud, came seeing,
and his sight was restored. And they kept asking him, how
did this happen? In verse 10 and verse 11. How
were the eyes opened? And he said, well, a man named
Jesus made clay and oiled my eyes. He said, go wash in this
pool. And I washed, I went, and I received
my sight. And the Pharisees asked him again,
how were you made whole? How did you receive your sign?
Verse 15. He put clay upon my eyes. I wash
and I do sin. He gives all the honor and glory
to the Lord alone. It's what he did to me. It's
not what I did for him. It's what he did for me. There was no healing power in
the pool of Siloam. Was there? any more than there
was any healing power of the waters of Jordan when Naaman,
the leper, was told by Elisha to go down in that muddy Jordan
River and dip seven times. The healing power was not in
the waters of muddy Jordan. The healing power was in God
Almighty who gave Elisha the instruction. Naaman dipped, and
you know what? He even complained about it.
Well, I've got some nice rivers back there. And he wants me,
I thought this prophet would come out and strike his hand
and do some great thing. And he tells me to go down and
dip in that old muddy creek. And he did. And he was healed. And this man washed and came
seeing. Now this is not, not in OT, not
teaching us that water baptism washes away our sin. Now I'm
sure that's been, this text has probably had been used to promote
that falsehood. This is not teaching that water
baptism washes away our sin, nor is it teaching that water
baptism regenerates a dead sinner to make him a new creature, not
for a second. Not for a second. It's the blood
of Christ that puts away our sin. But here is a lesson for
us as believers. And here's what I want us to
take away from this. It certainly is teaching us that
saving faith is obedient faith. That the faith of God's elect
is obedient to the command of Christ. Who told Him to go do
that? The Lord. You see, faith, the
faith of God's elect, Acts upon the Word of God. Faith, as Brother
Mahan used to always teach us, faith and conduct cannot be separated. Faith and conduct cannot be separated. There's an interesting story
over here. You remember in John chapter
2, when they were at the wedding and they ran out of wine, and
the Lord told them to fill the six water pots with water, and
then to serve it to the governor." And I like what the Lord's mother
says here, "'Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.' Whatever he
saith unto you, do it.'" You see, faith acts upon the Word
of God. This blind man didn't argue.
He did not argue. He did not reason in himself.
Now, let me think about this. He didn't reason. He didn't argue
with the Lord. He didn't seek a second opinion.
Joe, what do you think I ought to do? No, he heard the command
from Christ Himself and was obedient to the command of God. He simply
believed what the Lord told him, obeyed the Lord's Word, and received
His sight. What did we learn about Abraham
when he was called out of idolatry, 75 years old? Abraham, God said,
get out from thy kindred, from thy idols, to a land I'll show
you, and he went out, obedient to God's command. One old writer
named Matthew Henry said this, those that would be healed by
Christ, must be ruled by Him. Those who are brought to the
Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, willingly, lovingly, obediently
obey the Word of the Lord. Faith without obedience is not
genuine. Faith without works is dead.
Whatever He saith unto you, do, do it. This man was brought to
see. He said, I washed and came seeing. He'd seen some things he'd never
seen before. And this is exactly what happens to us when God does
that work of grace. He gives us faith in our heart
and the faith of God to let is obedient to the word of the Lord
and we believe and we see And we believe. And we believe, and
we see. And we see, and we believe. And
we're obedient to the Word of the Lord. We see who we are. We see things we've never seen
before. We see who we are. Sinners. And we see who He is. The only Savior of sinners. To you who believe, He is precious.
He is altogether lovely. Now, just by the way of closing.