Address—P.L. Johnson
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Let's turn to John's Gospel, Chapter 9.
I suppose we should read the entire chapter to have the story before us.
And Jesus passed, 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, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
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 spat on the ground and made play of the spittle. And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Salam, which is by interpretation sent. 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 not this 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 are thine eyes open?
He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Shalom and wash. And I went and washed, and I received sight.
Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
They broke 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 due 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 with him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
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 who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?
His parents answered to 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 know not.
He is of age. Ask him, he shall speak for himself.
These words make 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.
And 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 no, I know not one thing. I know that whereas I was blind, now I see.
Then said they to him again, What did he do thee? How open he thine eyes? He answered them, I've told you already, and you did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again? Will you also be his disciples? Then they reviled him and said, Thou 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 you know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God here is not sinners. But if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Since the world began, was not 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 hast altogether born in sins, 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?
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He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou has 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 fairest each which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, we see.
Therefore your sin remaineth.
You know the Gospel of John.
Is written for believers? Really.
It's written as we had before last evening.
That we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It's really written for believers. When I say believers, those who.
Have some knowledge of Christianity and of the Lord Jesus. It's not written.
As it were to the Sinner who knows nothing of these things, but it's really written for.
The believer to read lead him on into the knowledge of the truth of the Person of Christ as the one who brings in everything that is according to God and for God's mind, as well As for blessing for man.
That verse that we read last night, I just want to refer to it again and act in the 20th chapter.
Of John's Gospel.
Verse 30.
You'll notice how it emphasizes these signs that were done in the presence of his disciples.
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples. It's emphasized that it was done in the presence of his disciples. And you will find that on more than one occasion in John's Gospel that when the Lord did perform a miracle, it says then his disciples believed on him.
So you see, it's really written to those who take the ground of being disciples.
And it's written in order to lead one on to the full knowledge of the Son of God, and that showing that everything is connected with the Son of God.
Now for a moment, I'd like to just speak a little way in contrast of the ministry of John and in contrast with perhaps Paul, especially these two.
Now, I'm not going to say that John speaks of the Church as such in his writings. We know that the church, as far as I know, is never named by John in his gospel or his epistles.
He has brings before us the children of God, the family of God.
And yet he does really refer or allude to the Church.
In his writings.
Because He brings before us those who compose the Church, the family of God, the children of God. He brings them before us, as we have here in the ninth and 10th chapters of His gospel, as the flock.
The flock of God. And I believe in Chapter 11 and 12 of His gospel he brings before us the Church as the family of God. And then in the 20th chapter of his gospel, he brings before us the Church as his brethren.
Now, as I say, he doesn't formally speak of the Church as such, and he doesn't give us the order that pertains to the Church.
We find that in Paul's doctrine.
It was given to Paul.
To set forth.
At the order of the Church, it's Paul who has been given the light of the present dispensation.
Which is essentially the dispensation of the church.
But John does bring before us the Church, not in its, you might say, its outward character, or in its character is the house or the body. What he brings before us the Church in its moral character, that is, he brings before us the moral, moral characteristics.
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That characterize those of us who are members of the church.
The flock of God and the family of God, and as his brethren.
In other words, it's the same people John is speaking about, the same persons that Paul speaks about when he speaks of the body of Christ. He's talking about those who belong to the Lord. And as I say, though he doesn't speak up formally as the church, it's the same ones brought before us, but more the moral characteristics.
Now we find, too, that the Church is brought out in the Gospel of Matthew.
I don't think that Mark brings before us anything of the church or Luke especially, but but we find that Matthew does. Matthew brings before us the church.
And it's in connection with the ways of God, with man on the earth.
Showing that the assembly or the church replaces Israel as God's administrative center on the earth.
As in the Old Testament, Israel was the center of all of the divine operations, you might say, on the earth. God, as he worked in this world, worked through that nation. Now that in Matthew's Gospel we see that Israel is set aside because of their rejection of the Lord Jesus and the assembly, the church, which Christ says I will build.
Replaces Israel and becomes the divine center, the center of all operations. And that's really the.
Background of Matthew 18, where we have the place of the assembly as having authority, and then also that wonderful verse of Matthew 1820, for where two or three are gathered together into My name, there am I in the midst of them. It speaks of the assembly as the center of divine administration on the earth.
I do not believe that Matthew 1820 necessarily of itself is speaking from the standpoint of the Lord being in the midst to bless His people, though of course He does. I'm not saying there is no blessing connected with that word and Matthew 1820, but what I do believe is that the Lord might be in the midst of two or three gathered.
Two or three believers gathered to bless them wherever they're gathered or whatever ground they might be gathered on.
If there is a true state of heart and if there is a desire to honor the Lord and they're walking in the light that they have.
Now some may find it difficulty in that, but personally I do believe that the Lord does bless in the midst of those who are not gathered on scriptural ground, where there is, you might say, faithfulness to the life that they have received in the present broken state, not only of the church generally, but even the divided state of those professedly gathered to the name of the Lord.
Christ, I believe it would be wrong to say that the Lord does not bless.
Where they're gathered on unscriptural ground, if there is faithfulness to the life that they have, the Lord does bless their. But Matthew 1820 goes beyond just the fact of the Lord blessing souls through His Word or through ministry or something of that sort. It really delineates and sets out the divine center on earth that God recognizes as having authority.
So only those.
Who would be gathered truly to the name of the Lord Jesus on the ground of the assembly as the Body of Christ?
And not in connection with any divisions could we own that their acts are authoritative and binding. It really has to do with divine administration, that which is owned and recognized as being of God and has authority.
Well, I mentioned that because I think it's well that we see.
That while Paul is the one who gives us chiefly the Church as to its constitution and its order, its destiny, its calling.
And he is the one who sets it up, you might say, by his ministry in order.
It's in Paul's writings, in Paul's ministry, that we find the details of how the church functions.
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Not found in the other writers, John and in Matthew's Gospel we don't have the details as to the function of the church.
We find that chiefly in Corinthians, of course, where we have how the church functions when it comes together.
Well, yet we do find the church brought out as I've been speaking in Matthew's Gospel.
In connection with the ways of God, with man on the earth, administratively, and it's in connection in John's Gospel.
We might say that we have the Church in connection with the with the moral characteristics.
The moral features that characterize the Saints who compose the Church.
Well now with those introductory words, let us look at this 9th chapter that we read, and we must do so. Read chapter nine really in the light of chapter 10.
Because it's in chapter 10 that we have the flock brought before us and the sheep.
Before we touch on Chapter 9, let us just refer to chapter 10 for a moment. Verse.
16.
The Lord had been Speaking of the sheep that belonged to in the sheep food, and how that He comes to that sheepfold, and He leads His sheep out of that.
Sheepfold. He puts them out.
And they follow him. And now in verse 16 he says, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.
This fold of course, as we know was Israel. The sheep fold was, was the nation Israel and Judaism as the religion connected with it. And the sheep in the sheepfold were those who were the children of God there. You know, in the beginning of John's Gospel chapter one we read that he came into his own and his own received him not. That is, he came to Israel, his own people, and they received him not.
They knew from the prophecies who he was, but they received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he authority it should be to become the children of God, even to them that believe upon his name. Well, they're they're the sheep of Christ. His sheep were brought out into evidence.
You see, before He came, you might say that there was nothing to distinguish the true sheep from the rest of the nation. But when the Lord comes, the true sheep are distinguished because they receive Him.
And he owns them as my sheep. And those of Israel who rejected him, of course, were not his sheep. They were not of his sheep, as he tells them here in the 10th chapter. That's the sheep of this fold of Israel. But here in 16th verse of chapter 10, he says I have other sheep.
I have other sheep.
Now what he's saying here is that there are children of God.
Born of God's Spirit who were outside the nation Israel.
Well, the Jews didn't think about anything like this. And it's such a, it was such a unknown thing that, you know, Peter was astonished when he came to the House of Cornelius and saw the faith of that man.
And when he saw carnitas there, he says now I perceive of a truth that he that in every nation is a worshiper of God. He says is is accepted of God. He recognized that there were truly those outside of Israel in whose heart the Spirit of God had worked and they were born of God and they belong to God. When I what the Lord is saying here that he's going to bring them all together.
The sheep who were his sheep in Israel.
The sheep who were his sheep among the Gentiles. He says I'm going to bring them all together and notice he says there shall be one flock, not one fold, but one flock and one shepherd. It is a different word from the word fold in the beginning of this 16th verse.
And the King James we have the word fold twice in the Greek the first word is properly.
Fold. The last one is properly flocked.
And I'm sure that we understand the difference. As have been often pointed out, you see those who were in the fold, they are kept together.
They're maintained, you might say, in their unity by means of of a external surroundings. A fold is an enclosure, and they were kept together by means of an enclosure. But a flock is kept together by means of the shepherd, by being gathered around himself.
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Well, you can see how this speaks of the Church. Though the Church is not formally spoken of here, yet we know that the one flock is the Church. The Saints of God in the present age all gathered around the one shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church. I refer to this because for two reasons. One, I I wanted to show how that John does speak of the Church.
Though not formally calling it the Church, yet he speaks of those who compose it, and he gives its moral characteristic as being the sheep of Christ, and gathered around the one shepherd. The sheep of Christ will now, in the 10th chapter, or the 9th chapter rather, that we read, we have brought before us the way in which.
One is made to be a sheep of Christ.
In other words, in the 9th chapter we have the work of the Spirit of God, the work of God.
Through the Lord Jesus.
In making 1A sheep of Christ.
And giving him those moral features and characteristics that belong to a sheep of Christ, that really qualifies him to be a part of that one flock.
Where there will be the one Shepherd.
And you will notice the important thing that we have in the 9th chapter of John that we read.
It's not so much here a question or the point of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us.
But it's the work of God in US. Notice how that's brought out in verse.
3.
This is an answer to the question of the disciples.
Who were thinking of the government of God, the governmental ways of God, under which they as Jews, had been?
And their fathers had been, but we find that the characteristic feature of the Old Testament in God's ways with man in the Old Testament.
Was an exhibition of his ways in government. The nation Israel were under him governmentally, and we know of course that.
The Lord God did say in the Old Testament that He would visit the iniquity upon the Fathers even under the third generation.
In the governmental ways of God, often the children suffered for the sins of the Father.
Well, that was what was in the minds, no doubt of the disciples here, but the answer of the Lord in verse 3 is this.
Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God.
Should be made manifest in Him.
There's two things I want to point out here that we need to note carefully. First of all, it's the works. It's plural and not not singular. It's not the work of God, but the works of God.
And it's not the work of the works of God for him, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. In other words, it's the working of God within.
Producing a moral and spiritual result.
Now you know we we want to keep to two of the two aspects of God's work in relation to the believer in proper balance. We find in the Word of God the work of God for us. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross of Calvary when He suffered for our sins.
And our sins have been put away, we've been justified, and we've been forgiven. And that perfect work has brought us into a perfect standing before God in Christ, so that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
But there is also the fact of the works of God in us to produce in us a moral and spiritual result. I mean by that, you know, we are not just what we might say, machines. You know you can, you can take an inanimate machine.
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And you can make that machine do anything you want it to do.
You can. You can alter it. You can construct it in such a way that it just responds to whatever you wanted to do according to the way you have made it.
But in our salvation, it's not just something external and outside of us. God actually works in us as well to really produce a moral effect and result. And you'll notice here also the word manifest that the works of God should be made manifest.
And we find in the course of this chapter that this very thing occurs.
We see that there is a work of God in this man and it becomes manifest. There is an actual change in Him.
He sees things that he he says things that he would have never said before.
He believes things that he never believed before. He responded in a way that he never responded before.
Well, you see, these are these are moral things.
These are moral features and characteristics so that the children of God who are brought into the assembly, the Church of God, why they're not there just as, as I say, automats or something of that sort. There are, though, there as those who have actually had a moral effect produced in their souls by the work of God. It's not some psychological effect, but it's a true work of the Spirit of God.
Well, I thought that we might just trace through the history of this man in this chapter to see how this is produced and what they are. We know, of course, his condition was one of blindness.
Now I think the thought of blindness would bring before us the thought that one is not able to see things as he ought. It would speak of the moral condition in which man is found in this world, every one of us.
You see already that this chapter is not dealing so much with our sins.
It's true we're all sinners and we have to have our sins put away, but not only that, but we are morally blinded.
This is the condition of man in the flesh. This is the condition of man apart from the work of God in his soul.
To produce a moral result. He's morally and spiritually blind. I emphasize that I think it's important for us to ever keep this before us.
For, you know, we come into contact with men.
And others in this world who are very clever.
And they might be very intellectual and they might be able to present things very forcibly and in a dynamic way, but unless they are true sheep of Christ, they are morally and spiritually blind.
And if we listen to them and if we take up with their ideas or their philosophies in any way.
We're going to be following blind leaders.
The wonderful thing is that the child of God, the sheep of Christ, the one who's in the flock, those of us who are brought into the Assembly of God by God as he would build it up, all those who have their eyes opened, well, I notice how it's done.
The Lord comes to this man, and we see here his action in verse 6.
That he spat upon the ground and made clear of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man.
Well, I have no doubt but what we have here, symbolic actions of the Lord, as we have frequently in John's Gospel.
John uses a symbolic language and uses various.
Symbolic actions to bring before us moral and spiritual truths.
Well, perhaps here the Lord is the spittle would speak perhaps of the efficacy that is in Himself.
As the Son of God, the vitality that belongs to Himself is the Son of God.
And the clay, or the ground that he used to make the clay from, would speak, perhaps of his humanity.
Well, you'll notice here that this is all in connection with him as the sent one.
Sent one is the one who came down from heaven, as we had before us last evening.
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The Word become flesh, the Son of God come down as a man in manhood, and as such he was sent by God. Well here this is put upon the eyes of the blind man. And of course the that in itself did not produce sight. In fact, one might say that that would only add to the blindness.
Because putting this clay upon the eyes would, even if he was able to see what inhibits sight, and certainly it did not do anything to give the man's sight. So the point is.
That the Lord Jesus though he might be known and apprehended.
After some fashion.
Or at least in a certain degree, but not really apprehended as the scent one of the Father 1 does not really receive sight thereby. And so we find that there are those in the the profession and Christendom, we find that they have a certain apprehension of the Lord Jesus. And when I say certain, I mean by that they do not go on to embrace the truth of his person as the one sent down from above.
But they have.
At least an apprehension of the Lord Jesus to a certain degree. But they're still morally blind. They're not able to judge and to discern things according to the mind of God.
For they have not apprehended the Lord Jesus as the sent one. This is why he says to this man that he should go to the Pool of Siloam.
Which by interpretation is sent and it was only when he goes to that pool and washes.
That he receives his sight, that is, it's when he apprehends it has before his soul the Lord Jesus.
As the one sent from God into this world to accomplish the will of God and to bring that eternal life.
Down from above to our souls.
That he receives his sight.
Well, you know, I was thinking.
That it's really when we see the Lord Jesus in that character of the scent one. Now this involves perhaps more than what we've been accustomed to think.
I feel that receiving or apprehending the Lord Jesus as the sent one of God means.
That the 1St man.
And all of us are descendants of the first man. We are all a part of that class or that category called the 1St man.
The Lord Jesus was sent into this world because the 1St man is unacceptable to God. As God looks down, He said that the end of all flesh. Of course we know these were the very words uttered back in Genesis before the blood at the end of all flesh has come before me. Well, that was really what was in God's thoughts when He sent the Lord Jesus.
As a man, the 2nd man, the last Adam, because the 1St man is holy, inadequate.
We find it summed up in Romans 3. They are together become unprofitable. Well, I wonder if we really apprehended this as believers. Do you apprehend the fact that man in the flesh, man in his own human nature, in his human faults?
And in those ways that are according to nature that he is, as far as God is concerned, unprofitable, unprofitable. And so the Lord Jesus as the sent one displaces and takes the place of the first man in this world. Now that really I believe is the is the theme of the Gospel of John.
Is that all that of man, all that there is of the first man in his religion? Especially because we find the the Jews prominent in the Gospel of John, not not Israelites, but Jews. That's religious man, religious man. And the Lord Jesus as the sent one sets him aside and displaces him entirely.
And you know, we find here in this chapter how that this blind man, this man who was blind and whose eyes are open, is brought to apprehend that, and he's brought to enter into it in a very real and practical way. You see, when the Lord Jesus came into this world, not only did He displace the 1St man, but He stood apart from everything that was of man.
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You know when the Lord was born.
Where He was born, do you not? He was born in a Manger. There was number room for Him at the end. Now I know this has often been pointed out that it's his rejection, that is there was no room for Him in the end. But on the other hand, I believe it was fitting that the Lord Jesus should be born in that Manger as showing that when He comes into this world, He stands apart from all that man values.
You see, men value their standing in this world.
And an inn or a hotel is really sort of, you might say is a the measure of a man standing for we know, of course, if the president comes to a hotel, he doesn't get the the mage room, he gets the chief room. And if a very wealthy man comes, he's able to hire the the best room to the presidential suite if the president isn't there. But of course, if he's there.
If a man is in the presidential suite and the president comes to town, well, that man will have to leave.
And because a greater than he has come along, and is the place in which men standing in this world is measured.
While the Lord was apart from all of it, He was out there in the Manger. And I believe it shows that when the Lord was here and He was all the way through his life, he stood apart from all that the 1St man was pursuing. And the place that the 1St man might have all the other apart from it as the scent 1 not only rejected, but he himself was morally apart.
From all that man valued in this world.
When I will find this blind man ends up in the same place?
Just to anticipate a moment, we find that he was finally cast out.
So that he was outside his home, He was outside his religion, he was out of the synagogue. He didn't have a country, he didn't have a home, he didn't have a religion, he didn't have anything. He was just like the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was outside of all these things.
Now, I'm not saying now that we're not talking about the aspects of home life. We're talking about now the rejection and being outside of that that belongs to the first man in his world in his ways.
The Lord was apart from it all. And that's really where this man eventually ends up. And you know, an interesting thing is this. The Lord, after he opens the eyes of this blind man, he goes away and he doesn't return and really reveal himself to this blind man or this man who received his sight until he was cast out. You'll notice you remember that in verse.
End of verse 34. They cast him out. Then he says Jesus heard that they had cast him out. Then he comes to him. The Lord Jesus says, as it were. Now he's in moral correspondence with myself. He's just like I am. He's cast up. He's outside of it all. He's really apprehended me as the sent one. He's outside of man's religion. He's outside of man's ways.
And all that man values, he's outside of it all. And now he is a true sheep of mine. He's in the place of a true follower and and he's a candidate, you might say, for this flock that I'm going to farm. And he comes to him. He comes to him. He really takes that place. Well, I think that this is what is involved in the works of God being manifested in one that is that God works in our hearts to deliver us in a practical way from.
Ways of this world, its philosophies, its pursuits, its motives, its objects, its delights. To be outside of it all. Just like he was outside of it all, and just like he is outside of it all. Because that's where he leads his sheep. Outside of all this. That's where this man is found.
But there's a little process that he goes through here. Notice now when his eyes are opened.
After he apprehended, the first thing we might say is that this man is brought into the light. He was in darkness before the first thing he brought into the light.
And as I say, we want to apply this as it should be, a moral light. He's brought into the light morally. He's able now to see things in a light that he had never seen them before.
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And of course, This is why, as Paul says in First Corinthians 2, that.
He that is spiritual judgeth all things, or discerneth all things, and yet he is discerned of no man.
And also John in his epistle chapter 3 says therefore the world.
Knoweth us not because it knew not him.
Well, you see the world does not see things in the light that we see things, we see them in the light of of God. We have the light of light. You know, the Lord said earlier and I think John eight, he that followeth me shall have the light of life. When we have that divine life, that eternal life, there's light in connection, in connection with it. And so we're able to judge things round about. We come across something.
World and we say this does not comport with the life that I have in Christ. It doesn't fit. It doesn't answer to the life that I have. And so I judge it in the light of the life that I have in Christ and I say it doesn't fit. And so I reject it. It's darkness, it isn't light. And so this man, the first thing he's brought into the light, he's brought into the light. And I've often thought what a great mercy of God it is.
That we have the light of life.
Think of the terrible condition that we would be in this very evening. Suppose we, some as older ones, some as young people, suppose in your, in your, in your young life, that you had no more life.
Souls who are still in darkness without Christ, think of the think of the stumblings and the gropings about. Think of how they're tossed to and fro. Think of how they're frightened by this happening or by this. Think of how they're influenced under this movement and influenced under another movement. And they're just tossed to and fro because they're in the they're in that blindness. They're in that darkness. And the child of God has the light. He's been brought into the light and he can look at things and.
Says he says these things are not right, these things are not right, or this is the way I should walk. He has the light of life. Well, this man had light. This man had light. That's the first thing he's brought into the light. Then the next thing he's brought under the authority of the word of God. Notice how that's brought out.
When they came to him and wanted to know how he was, had his eyes open.
And he said to them in verse 11.
A man that is called Jesus, Well he says this man told me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash and I went and washed.
And they said unto him, Were easy. I said it all now.
And not only that, but later on when they questioned him again in verse 17.
They asked him, What do you say about this man, that he hath opened dynamics, and the man says he is a prophet.
Now how did he know he was a prophet? He didn't really know who Jesus was.
From this passage he said he's a prophet.
You know how you knew he was a prophet? Because he knew the effect of the word that Jesus spoke reached right down into his heart and conscience. It was the effect of the Word of God, and he received it as the Word of God. That's what a prophet means. See, a prophet is one who speaks on God's behalf.
A prophet in Scripture is not necessarily one who foretells future events, though.
That would be one part of the office of a prophet, but we find that primarily a prophet in Scripture is one who speaks for God.
And just like the woman in John 4, when the Lord's reached her conscience, she says, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Oh yes, the word of God reached. And she knew it was more than just the words of a man. It was the word of God. That's prophetic speaking. When he said he's a prophet, he was brought under the authority of that word. He recognized that's the word of God. And you know, I'd like to say, young people.
When it comes to this being the word of God.
I really believe that it is futile to try to prove to anyone.
Who asked us to prove that this is the word of God? I really cannot prove it to be the word of God by any external argument or means.
But to me, the proof of it being the Word of God is its effect on the heart and conscience. There is no other book or writing found in this world that affects the heart and conscience like this book that we have in our hands this evening.
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And This is why men hate the book.
There is no other reason if if one is rational, one will have to admit. Now really, if this were just the words of men, what reason would men have to be so strong and desperate to prove it not to be the word of God?
There is no other book that's ever been found in this world that has been the subject of such scrutiny.
In order to disprove it than the Bible, and that's an absolute fact. All one has to do is just look in the history of the thing and you'll find that there's no writings of any man or of any religious group that has been subjected to such scrutiny and such untiring opposition with the sole effort of proving it's not the word of God.
And what amazes me is this.
All of those men.
That have fought the word of God and blasphemed it, and men that have spent years and years. Maybe some are not aware of the fact that especially 150 or so years ago in Germany, they were men. I just mentioned one man, Julius Wellhausen. That man was a Hebrew scholar.
Probably without a peer in his generation.
That man spent a lifetime. He started, I knew something, read something of his life. He started studying Hebrew at the age of seven, and he mastered the language. He studied it. He knew practically every letter and every word of the whole Old Testament. And on the effect of all of this learning was an effort to try to disprove the Old Testament of being the word of God. Think of all of that. Well, where is that man today? He's gone.
And the Bible is still here.
And the Bible is still doing what it did in his day, that is saving souls, enlightening souls, liberating souls, bringing the light of God to soul, still doing the same thing with all of his attacks, with all of his erudition, with all of all of that that he did. And he was not the only one. There were many others. They've all passed off. And the thing, therefore fighting is still here and still working, still reaching hearts, still reaching conscience.
Still speaking to my heart, in your heart. Well, isn't it wonderful? Isn't that proof enough? Just like this man said. Well, I can't tell you about this man, but all what he said, how it reached my heart and look at the effects. My eyes are open. You see, we know the Word of God by its effects, morally and spiritually, the liberation that it brings. Well, so this man was. So the second thing is he's brought under the authority of the Word of God.
And you know, that's where God would bring us into the light.
And then under the authority of the Word of God, not just to know truth, but under the authority of the Word, so that we are governed by it, just like this man was.
Notice too, if you remember in our reading through this chapter, how that he was questioned not once, twice, but three times as to how his eyes were open and the man held his ground all the way through. He said the same thing every time. There was stability, there was steadfastness because he'd been brought into the light. Well, you know, that's a that's a real.
You might say moral result.
That there is produced in our souls that that stability.
That ability to stand one's ground as having been brought into the light and under the authority of the Word of God. Well, I know sometimes that there might be those who want to, who are disposed to argue, and maybe we're not able to answer them, but we know that we're in the light and we have the authority of the Word of God and we stand our ground. We hold our ground.
Even though we might be repeatedly questioned and sought to be stumbled as this man wants.
Not only that, I noticed, as I as I mentioned while ago, that he finally ends up outside. He's cast out.
He's cast out and he has nothing. He's out of his home. He's cast out, as it were, from his country.
And he's out of his religion. But then the Lord comes to him, and what does he say to him in verse 35?
When the Lord finds him, he says to him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
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And he answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
But I noticed here the attitude of this man. First of all, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
Now, in this sense, we can be seekers if we're seeking truth and the light of God with a genuine desire to embrace and to believe and to apprehend that which is presented. Why that's a good state.
But if it's not spiritual law of wanting to know something just as a matter of curiosity or to answer our curious questions, it's another matter. But he says, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? There was a desire to want to go further in the truth of God and to know more of Christ.
Well, you know, this is this is a real moral effect of being brought into the light and under the authority of the word of God.
Why? It is that we have a desire then to know more of the Lord Jesus, to know more of the revelations of God.
In order that we might embrace them. In order that we might embrace them.
That's the thought here, but it's remarkable. He says to him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? Just thou believe on the Son of God. Again, it's the the truth of the person, the Son of God. What does that bring before us? The Son of God brings before us the one who brings in the one, you might say, who brings in everything that is of God.
In blessing from man and for the glory of God.
Yet we find it all in him. He's the one who brings it all in. This in a way, would tie in somewhat with the with the ministry of Paul. We know that Paul was the one who preached Jesus as the Son of God in the book of Acts.
And he presents the Lord Jesus as the one in whom we have everything, and we don't have to go outside of Him for anything.
Well, I think that's the thought here. He's saying to this man, you've lost your religion, you've lost your home, you've lost your country, but all look at all that I bring in from God, the whole new world for you, a whole new world. Well, it's true. You know, God has a world of blessing. He has a world of light, and he has a world of glory, all in connection with the Son of God, all in connection with his beloved Son. And he says that you've lost.
Everything down here, but you have it all in me, everything now it's all that he brings in from God for men and for the glory of God. Well, that's what we have as being the sheep of Christ brought into this one flock with the one shepherd. It's it's the works of God in US. And so we're brought to believe on the Son of God. That is, we're actually engaged in our hearts and in our conscience and in our desires and in our.
We are engaged in pursuing and enjoying and being in the good and benefit.
Of all that's connected with the Lord Jesus.
Well, that doesn't mean, of course, that we have no nothing to do whatsoever with earning a livelihood and the practical things and the day by day things of this world. But it means that these are no longer an object for our heart. They're no longer the pursuit of our life. They're no longer that which really engages our attention and our affections. But it's what's in it's what's connected with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus and all that has been brought in with him and in this way.
Of practical deliverance.
We might hear of things going on in this world. We take note of them. It's sort of like those, you know, of Gideon's army that left up the water, by the way. They didn't kneel down and and come under the power of it. They partook of the water. They had that little refreshment, but they had their eyes toward the enemy. And it was, as it were, just a drink, by the way, so that we take up anything in this world in that way. It's just a sort of a temporary thing. We take it up in a passing way.
Because our true pursuits and objects is all in connection with the Son of God. I believe that's what's involved here.
In believing on him as the Son of God is being brought into practical connection with Himself.
The center of a whole new world that God has opened up to us now in connection.
With the Lord Jesus Christ, well we read here that he believed and he worshipped him. Well, it's, it's a sort of, as I say, we see here the works of God manifest in this man as a sheep of Christ. It's the works of God in him. This is what God would produce in US. And if there is not hindrance.
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By our wills, that will be produced and we will find ourselves enjoying that light.
We will find ourselves under the authority of the Word of God and thirsting Lord. Tell me about it so that I might believe the desire of going on and learning more, and we'll find ourselves in the enjoyment of that world in connection with the Son of God.
So it is that I'm presenting here what I believe the Scriptures would put before as the normal moral condition that belongs to those of us who are the sheep of Christ.