And he is expressing just a common belief among the people, but not necessarily a Biblical doctrine and yet, many people have taken this and you hear often people say, "Well, God doesn't hear sinners when they pray." Nay, brethren, your eyes are at fault; it is a ray of light from Christ, and shines just where it should. We know that God does not hear sinners. Here are a couple aimed at me as a pastor (from cybersalt.org): Good News: The Womens Guild voted to send you a get-well card. Yet, in his case also, it appears that he cheerfully took up the cross which had been at the first forcibly laid upon him. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." Observe, dear friend, where Christ began with him; for it will show us where and how the blessing usually enters. Now he is declaring, "He is a prophet. Further, He was not only the door of the sheep, and then the door for others to enter in, but He says (verse John 10:11), "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Those who believe in him will see all the reason in the world to worship him. Upon hearing the request, "Siralways give us this bread," Jesus made his statement. Maybe He is trying to create further controversy with the religious leaders who were on His case for violating the Sabbath day by healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda months earlier. If he sees in Jesus something to wonder at, something to respond to, something to reach out to, then he is on the way to God. He was the Light that gives light to all who come into the world. God. Note the contrast between legal requirement and our Lord's action in this case. everlasting life and happiness: and it may be observed, that (VerseJohn 10:3; John 10:3) So we find in the gospels, particularly Luke's, from the beginning. He is risen from the dead and one day He will judge all the living and the dead (5:27). When asked his opinion of Jesus in view of the fact that he had given him his sight, his answer was: "He is a prophet" ( John 9:17). The ark must go first into Jordan, but we may follow then, as Peter did triumphantly afterwards. (v. 23) This is not a commandment, but His word a simple intimation of His mind or will; and, therefore, as a more thorough test, so followed by a fuller blessing. Then we have the wonderful interview with the sisters; and, finally, our Lord is at the grave, a consciously divine person, the Son of the Father, but in the perfectness of manhood, yet with such deep feeling as Deity alone could produce not only sympathy with sorrow, but, above all, the sense of what death is in this world. as such; and that, as such, he is the object of faith, and But since they insisted that they could see, they remained in their sins. Inspirational Bible Verses and Scripture Quotes, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Well, then, if you desire certainty about your bodily health, and about the safety of your house, and about the validity of your title-deeds, can you afford to go without certainty as to your soul's affairs? Another point of analogy is, that neither woman spoke; the heart of each expressed itself in deeds intelligible, at least, to Him who was the object of this homage, and He understood and vindicated both. Man decides that the Lord must die; their intolerance of Jesus becomes now more pronounced. What He utters in speech is what He is. Then they took up stones to cast at him because he said that he was the Son of God:; and, in this case of the blind man whom he had healed, he took pains to find him out that he might communicate to him in private the fact that he was himself the Son of God. Jesus found the man and made known to him that the one who healed him was indeed the Saviour sent by God. Jesus sent this man to wash in this pool; and the man washed and saw. The basic elements of a healing story are: 1) description of the ailment, 2) technique of the cure, and 3) evidence of the cure. The reason is, I suppose, that not merely is He so presented at the last, but all through in Matthew. 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? It is not the slave, but the Son, who abides in the house. What grace (save in Jesus all through) can be compared with this? Now I turn to the second part of our subject, which is, TRUE FAITH, HOW IT PROGRESSES. . here is probably to be traced to the fact that copyists substituted the title which our Lord more generally used for the rarer one. Does not Christ present Himself in discourse just after as the light of the world (so continually in John), as God's light by His word in Himself, infinitely superior even to law, and yet at the same time giving the law its fullest authority? Did they boast in the law? Seeing that all power is his, and that he is equal with God, he can and he will save all those who put their trust in him. there, and dwells in them by faith: he knows where they are, as This is the appropriate translation of Jesus' words, and this can be boiled down to the words "follower" "disciple" "servant" or "loving servant" because a servant or loving servant follows the one who is being served. You think, "Oh, he must mean something very different from what he says!" She did anoint His head, and other gospels speak of this; but John mentions what was peculiar. Then he died, and by that death he for ever put away the sin of his people. "Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus." Others said: "It is not he, but it is someone like him." He was, in addition to being sent of God, anointed of God, for the Spirit of God rested upon him without measure, qualifying him for his work. "Whether he is a sinner or not," the man answered, "I do not know. Our Lord does not say a word about it at the moment, but calmly leaves the truth to correct the error in due time. How is it that he can see? He was cursed in the presence of the people, and he was cut off from God and from man. Thus clearly we have in this case the rejection of Jesus viewed, not in open attack on His own person, as in the. Read through the Epistles of John, and mark with your pencil every time the word "know" is used. "All that ever came before me [such as Theudas and Judas] are thieves and robbers [they secretly or openly enriched themselves by the sheep]: but the sheep did not hear them.". We should follow the example of Jesus. He was more concerned with healing the man, and in this way he would bring glory to God. Others hate the light because they love their sin. This is one of two miracles in which Jesus is said to have used spittle to effect a cure. Even the proprieties of nature were never so made good as when the Lord manifested grace on the earth. Then, when the Pharisees were divided, and he was appealed to once more, "He is a prophet" was his distinct answer. And he said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? The title, Son of Man, could hardly have conveyed to him the same meaning. He walked in the sunshine of God. First, they resorted to abuse. Since the world began [he said,] was it not heard that if any man open the eyes of one that was born blind ( John 9:32 ). At its heart is the supreme truth that the glory of God lies in his compassion, and that he never so fully reveals his glory as when he reveals his pity. "A man may not fill a dish with oil and put it beside a lamp and put the end of the wick in it." That wrath abides even now upon him if the life of God is not in him. They thought that theirs was the only way of serving God. The Christian's duty is to fill the time he has--and no man knows how much that will be--with the service of God and of his fellow-men. You see, if God brought that kind of a direct cause/effect judgment upon people, then God would have to be fair in His justice system. He was the way to the Father, and therefore they ought to have known. As Chrysostom put it: "The Jews cast him out of the Temple; the Lord of the Temple found him." As man becomes more hardened in unbelief, Christ becomes more pointed and plain in the assertion of the truth. The Pharisees were so venomously embittered against Jesus that they were prepared to do what ecclesiastics at their worst have sometimes done--to use ecclesiastical procedure to further their own ends. But enter as He might, the people who broke the law refused the Shepherd; and the end of it was, that He leads His own sheep outside, Himself going before them. This, with many alleged verbal peculiarities, acted on the minds of a considerable number, and led them to question its title to a place in the genuine gospel of John. in the court of conscience, as well of God, and be everlastingly It was then understood that Jesus had a mission on earth to work the works of God. No theory is less reasonable than that this can be either a mere floating tradition stuck in here by some chance, or the work of a forger's mind. It seems as though the point of feeding the masses the day before was to lead up to this powerful, and life-giving statement. As we well know, an obedient child catches her mother's desire. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. Because he had, to the best of his knowledge, spoken so very well, so bravely, so boldly, in defence of the Lord Jesus. If this pass can be stormed and carried, we can capture the citadel of men's hearts; but if unbelief continues to guard that narrow passage to eternal life and to hold it against the gospel and its invitations, and exhortations, and promises, and threatenings, then nothing whatever can be done. as He knew the Father, and was known of the Father. Nevertheless, though all was really closed, God would manifest by a full and final testimony what was the glory of Christ, rejected as He was, and previous to His death. We do not find that Christ did thus expressly, and in so many words, reveal himself to any other as to this man here and to the woman of Samaria: I that speak unto thee am he. But if received, it is not merely that I have the truth, so to speak, as an expression of His mind, but of Himself of His person. Then, before the end of the chapter, the effect of all this divine testimony is shown. He is seen as the suffering Son of man, who takes the place of humiliation, instead of the kingdom which they wanted to force on Him. 32 Since the begi . Jesus is always true to the man who is true to him. Yes, and they were faithless to it; they broke the law; they were slaves of sin. If this man was not from God, he could not have done anything." This had been realized. He was a wise physician; he had to gain the confidence of his patient. And in the eighth chapter it records His conversations with them, with His declaring unto to them, "Before Abraham was I am." Hence, even before Lazarus was raised up at the grave, we do not see or hear of One coming with divine power and majesty, and doing the miracle, if I may so say, off-hand. They are like soldiers out upon the battlefield; they lie there, wounded, bleeding, dying. It came mainly from the Virgin's Fountain or the Spring Gihon, which was situated in the Kidron Valley. (iii) There were the Pharisees. * This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him." Then, in infinite mercy, he came and took upon himself our nature, and dwelt among men. He allowed them to think of the circumstances, of themselves, and of Him. JOHN 9:30-34 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, it's amazing that you do not know where He is from, yet He has opened my eyes! To this attaches the revelation of the resurrection, and the life in Him as a, present thing, superior to all questions of prophetic time, or dispensations. But Christ, that he might give us an idea of his kingdom, as purely spiritual and divine, calls himself the Son of God, and rather Son of man in general than of David in particular. But he made his statement and took his stand. God is a gracious God. Faith is only as good as its object. Was not this precisely what He had brought home to the conscience at the beginning of the chapter? There are other signs of new life in Christ, but this former blind man reveals these: He was blind, but now he saw (9:25). If this Man were not of God, He could do nothing (John 9:33), and this title was one of the theocratic names of the Messiah. A second time they called the man who used to be blind. They accused the man of being born in sin. "And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.". (v. John 8:9) The law had never done this. For, immediately after, we have doctrine unfolded which, no doubt, goes farther, but is intimately connected, as no other chapter is, with the story.. The voice of grace and truth was that of Christ come to die in shame, yet a sacrifice for sinners, however true also it was that in His own person He should continue for ever. To believe in Him means that you stop believing in your own good works as the way to heaven (as the Pharisees did). the other hand, . This was the same with, Dost thou believe on the Messiah? Away back in the days of Ezra we read of a decree that whosoever did not obey the command of the authorities "his property should be forfeited and he himself banned from the congregation" ( Ezra 10:8). It seems to me an analogous usage in connection with the Holy Ghost "He dwelleth with you." Note, The Greatest comfort of bodily eyesight is its serviceableness to our faith and the interests of our souls. "What did he do to you?" III. We know that God spoke unto Moses: but as for this fellow; we don't even know from whence he's coming. Jesus himself is the Word incarnate, the one who uniquely reveals God. Carson also points out that the term in John is connected with Jesus role as judge (5:27), which relates to John 9:39-41. 1-5. Walking accordingly in this world, He waited for the word of His Father. It is simply this: they cannot rest without the voice of Christ; and that which is not the voice of Christ they do not follow. When Jesus looked on the hungry crowd he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd ( Mark 6:34). This is the Thermopylae, of Christian experience. (i) There was the blind man himself. Unconsciously, however, this is really a strong confirmation; for morally John starts with the rejection of Jesus, and gives at the beginning even (as in the cleansing of the temple) similar truths to those which the rest attest at the close. It believes all that God has made known, and it is premiered to receive all that he will teach. Both facts are attested to this day, when falsehood can bring no reward, by those who were present on the occasion" (Tacitus, Histories 4: 8 1). The law has its just place; it is for servants, and deals with them justly. "You've both seen Him and He's talking to you now.". His death is in view: what will the sheep do then? He left others to find out by arguments who he was, but to these weak and foolish things of the world he chose to manifest himself, so as not to the wise and prudent. ( John 9:33-34 ). But all through the gospel of John Christ is setting aside these thoughts on every side, whether in enquirers outside, or more particularly in disciples, who were under this pernicious influence like other people. Nay, "they shall never perish" the sheep themselves. "I must work the works of him that sent me." Context Summary John 9:35-41 shows Jesus meeting with the man He has healed, formerly blind since birth. Before we leave this very wonderful chapter we would do well to read it again, this time straight through from start to finish. "Take thought of time before time is ended." Who will receive glory when "the works of God" are "manifested" (John 9:3) and the blind man is healed? Though persecutors may exclude good men from their communion, yet they cannot exclude them from communion with Christ, nor put them out of the way of his visits. That which gives such an appearance is capable of reasonable, unforced, and even of what seems almost to amount to an historical solution. What are some others (give biblical references). Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man? Mark 9:35. Rather, God chose you in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. He must die. You will find, as a rule, that the people who rail at the New Testament, have never read it. But what was all this, compared with what. "Well, a man who is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said unto me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' And I went and washed and I received my sight." It is not only that He is the light, and that there is no darkness in Him as there is none in God, so none in Him; but, as to the principle of His being, He is what He utters. And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" an evident allusion to what had befallen the blind man. They were in the unrelieved darkness of the world, they judged after the flesh. was soon to befall Himself when God entered into judgment with Him for our sins? Conversely they believed that the prayer of a good man was always heard. Hence, then, as one might expect from its character, the account is given with remarkable development in that gospel which is devoted to the personal glory of Jesus as the Son of God. Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day." Here am I, up in the pulpit, firing the gospel gun, and the shot flies where God directs it; but you, downstairs, who love the Lord, can, as it were, hold a pistol close to the sinner's head. The comfortable converse Christ had with him, wherein he brings him acquainted with the consolation of Israel. Let us give him the praise, who opened our eyes. He told them that they would be put out of the synagogues ( John 16:2). "Absolutely ( ) what I speak." These are the two truths which the Lord thus communicates to them. As weve seen, this miracle, which Jesus performed on the Sabbath, caused a division among the Pharisees: Some said (9:16), This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath. But others argued, How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? The prevailing group were those that contended that Jesus was not from God, who in a few months succeeded in crucifying Him. "Give the glory to God" they said. Our Lord does not refer to what He had said at or from any starting-point, but to what He speaks always, as then also. Who but He on earth could say, I am the resurrection and the life? John 9:39-41 is based on the interactions among Jesus, a physically blind man, and the Pharisees throughout John 9:1-38. They need personal attention, and it is your business, as an army surgeon, to go and put on the lint, and bind up the wounds. If he sees in Jesus nothing to desire, nothing to admire, nothing to love, then he has condemned himself. He lays clay upon the man's eyes; an extraordinary step at first sight. They were from beneath of this world; He from above, and not of this world. Dost thou expect his coming, and art thou ready to receive and embrace him when he is manifested to thee?" You may think, I grew up in the church. None but One could say, "I am what I speak." And so it was. They loved sin; they had God manifested in love, manifested in Christ. you say, "but that promise is good all the world over." It is not merely the Father's love for His children as such, but Father and Son loving them, because of having and keeping the commandments of Jesus. "He that. He said to the Master, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him." To this day, if we burn a finger our first instinct is to put it into our mouth; and there are many who believe that warts can be cured by licking them with fasting spittle. You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull. The worst possible news is: Jesus! See this exemplified in the once blind man. The whole chapter, from first to last, beams with light the light of God and of His word in the person of Jesus. Any other thing would not be comparable to the laying down of His life. "Ah!" Whatever we are to do must be done within it. He would abide for ever. This man went a step further on the right road, for he desired to believe. So Jesus is either good news or bad news for you, and I assure you, He is no joke! No doubt the man's thoughts were running on these things when he said that in his opinion Jesus was a prophet. Not that the external evidence is really weak, far from it. (ii) He went on to call Jesus a prophet. Further, they were well aware that the law recognized that a false prophet could produce false miracles for his own false purposes ( Deuteronomy 13:1-5 warns against the false prophet who produces false signs in order to lead people away after strange gods). This is followed by their unbelief in His proper glory, as much as in His sufferings. So, who was created to glorify God? He was going to bless them in an infinitely better way and place. ", And the Jews did not believe him, that he had been blind, until they called his parents. The portion He gives the sheep is a contrast with the law in another way; not as light simply, as in the beginning of John 8:1-59, in detecting all sin and every sinner. You, dear friend, may not be in exactly the same condition that this man was in; but, still, your case may be, in many respects, a parallel one. When he was asked his opinion of Jesus, he gave it without hesitation. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation, Steve served as the pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship from May, 1992 through his retirement in December, 2018. The law that responsibility is the other side of privilege is written into life. The idea that children inherit the consequences of their parents' sin is woven into the thought of the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles 16:9 a, 1 Peter 3:12. It is not miracles here, but the truth. The difference a little answers to what we have seen in John 5:1-47; John 6:1-71. They, on the contrary, felt he taught them. All is plain, and He go" forth promptly with the knowledge of all He is going to do. Indeed, our Lord did not raise up Lazarus from the dead, until His own spirit had just as thoroughly taken, as it were, the sense of death on His soul, as when, in the removal of any sickness, He habitually felt its burden (Matthew 8:1-34); not, of course, in a low, literal, physical manner, but weighing it all in His spirit with His Father. Brothers and sisters beloved, there are many of you who are constantly looking out for souls, and trying to bring them to Christ; you have here an example of what you may do in endeavoring to lead them to exercise faith in Jesus. A man will be held responsible for that knowledge that he has. It was the light of God cast on their thoughts, words, and life. And I think instead of a colon here they should have put a period. The effect was plain from the first; they preferred darkness to light. Shakespeare makes Mark Antony say of Brutus: So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up, And say to all the world, 'This was a man!'". As I mentioned, the Greek word in 9:38 should be translated, Lord, I believe. He confessed Jesus as Lord. (VerseJohn 10:17; John 10:17) That is to say, besides laying down His life for the sheep, He laid down His life to prove His perfect confidence in His Father. Nay; there again, as there was no internal source of weakness that could jeopard the life, so there should be no external power to cause anxiety. before the mother has uttered a word. And there were those who sort of held to this belief. i. Now he was made sensible, more than ever, what an unspeakable mercy it was to be cured of his blindness, that he might see the Son of God, a sight which rejoiced his heart more than that of the light of this world. It is precisely thus, only still more gloriously, with our Lord's conduct on this occasion; for He weakens not in the least either the law or its sanctions, but contrariwise sheds around divine light in His own words and ways, and even applies the law with convincing power, not merely to the convicted criminal, but to the more hidden guilt of her accusers. But the gospels only record this instance where Jesus healed a person of which the scripture declared his malady came from birth.Now in the Acts, there are a couple who had their conditions from birth, and no doubt Jesus healed many with congenital illtype of illnesses, but this is the only one in the gospel that is recorded distinctly as a condition that existed from birth. In the early part of verse 2 He says about Himself, "I go to Prepare a place for you." It was formed by collating some of those very manuscripts which are thrown together as a third text. In a word, there is here, as there, an indissoluble link of connected truth between the facts related and the communication our Lord makes afterwards in each instance respectively. And there was a division of opinion among them. stretching of that act; which only threatened with an ejection, They asked Him who He was. Our text gives us good news and bad news, but its not a joke. Case CNH AutoData Heavy equipment; Light 2040 - TRACTOR 60 STEERING AND BRAKES EPC John Deere 2040 - TRACTOR 60 STEERING AND BRAKES Parts group. object of faith, trust, and confidence, with respect to this being perhaps the first instance, of putting in execution He is the unique Son of Man, in Whom is eternal life, and that life was the Light of men, which shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overwhelm it. (The weight of the nails would have constituted a burden, and to carry a burden was to break the Sabbath.) (i) He began by calling Jesus a man. They were obviously uncooperative, but at the same time they were afraid. The washing, of regeneration is not by blood, though inseparable from redemption by blood, and neither the one nor the other is ever repeated. This was the effect of the presence of God's Son in this world. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. The concluding verses (25-31) bring before them the reason of the Lord's communication, and the confidence they may repose in the Spirit, both in His own teaching them all things, and in His recalling all things which Jesus said to them. "Lord, I believe there is a Christ to come; thou who hast given me bodily sight, tell me, O tell me, who and where this Son of God is." They had thus repeatedly sought to kill Him, and He abandons them for the place in which John first baptized. I apprehend that the object is simply to lay the stress on the dwelling. Both the truth and the word were not in them.
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