Sermon No. 2656: The Death of Christ for His People
Exposition: JOHN 9; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:15-33; 11:1.
We will first read about one of our Lord's miracles and then, as many of us will be coming to the Communion Table, we will read about the Lord's Supper.
John 9:1-3. 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 has this man sinned, nor his parents. That is, the sin of the man or of his parents was not the cause of his being blind.
3. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him. What a very blessed way of looking at evil—as an opportunity for God to manifest the power of His works of Grace by getting rid of it! I wish that everyone here would look upon the evil within his own heart in this very hopeful light and say, "There is something in me for God to conquer. There is some spiritual disease in me for the great Physician to heal. There is space in my poor soul for the Lord, Himself, to work some miracle of mercy."
4-7. I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day. The night comes 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 clay 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 Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came seeing. You notice, Brothers and Sisters, that the disciples wanted to know how the man became blind, but Christ removed his blindness and gave him sight. I have known a great many puzzle themselves about the origin of evil. Christ did not come to explain that mystery—He came to put an end to evil. That is an infinitely more practical objective than that of speculating about how evil first entered the world, or how it entered any individual soul! He will tell you how to get rid of it. What a blessed way of healing Christ used! He could have spoken and the man's eyes would have opened at once. He who said, "Let there be light," and there was light, in the first creation, could have said the same thing to this blind man—and light would at once have entered his eyes. Instead of that, He chose to use means, and the means did not appear to be very likely to effect the cure. Jesus covered the man's eyes with clay and bade him go and wash it off. Is this the way to give him sight? Yes, Our Lord often uses means that seem to be very unlikely to accomplish His purpose. But He always uses the right means. Often, when He is going to open a man's eyes, spiritually, He first makes him feel more blind than he ever was in all his life. A sense of deeper darkness hangs over him just before the dawn of eternal day! Perhaps even this very hour some words of mine, human and imperfect as they are, may, nevertheless, have the Truth of God in them, just as the clay was made efficacious by the spittle from the Savior's blessed mouth. And if so, there will be healing work worked among blind hearts tonight. God grant that it may be so!
8, 9. 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 he. But he said, I am he. There is an end of all question about the matter! He says, "I am the very man." No one knew this better than he did and, therefore, he was the one to say it.
10, 11. Therefore said they unto him, How were your eyes opened? He answered and said, A Man that 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 sight. A very plain story, very well told. It is the story of every soul that gets the eternal light. "Christ told me to believe in Him. I did believe in Him and I received the blessing." There are not many incidents in the narrative and there is nothing very romantic—it is a simple and plain declaration of what Christ had done for him. And, blessed be God, just as sight was given to the blind man, Christ still gives salvation to all who trust Him!—
And know, with assurance, you never can die, Since Jesus, your righteousness, lives."
12-14. Then said they unto him, Where is He? He said, I know not They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Oh, that He would do the same thing, in a spiritual sense, this Sabbath day! On another occasion, when He had worked a miracle on the Sabbath and the Jews, therefore, sought to persecute Him and slay Him, He said to them, "My Father works hitherto, and I work." The Sabbath day was often Christ's chief working day—may He make it to be so again now!
15-17. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight He said unto them, He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This Man is not of God because He keeps 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 said unto the blind man again, What do you say of Him, that He has opened your eyes? He said, He is a Prophet There was no mistake about that matter in the mind of the man whom he had healed—none but a Prophet, mighty in word and deed, could have worked such a miracle as that!
18-21. But the Jews didnot 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 them and said, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but by what means he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not He is of age, ask him: he shall speak for himself. And so he did. He was one of those people who can speak for themselves and it is greatly to be wished that many more of those who have been cured by Christ could do the same! He was a conscientious man, who, outside fear of offending or any desire to curry favor, spoke out honestly what he knew—nothing more.
22-27. These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had already agreed 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. Then 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 is a sinner or not, Iknownot. One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, nowI see. Then said they to him again, What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and you didnot hear: why would you hear it again? Will you also be His disciples?He was a sharp, ready-witted man who was not to be enticed into making any rash and unguarded statements. He knew what he did know and he kept to that. And whenever any of you are assailed by the enemies of Christ, you will do well to imitate this man and neither be abashed by their frowns and sneers, nor yet be too ready to cast your pearls before swine!
28. Then they reviled him. That is the usual way with the men of the world—when they cannot beat a man in argument, they begin to call him bad names. "They reviled him."
28-31. And said, You are His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke unto Moses: as for this Fellow, we know not from where He is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that you know not from where He is, and yet He has opened my eyes. Now we know that God hears not sinners. That is to say, He does not work miracles by them. He does not hear their prayers and give them the power to open blind men's eyes.
31-33. But if any man is a worshipper of God, and does His will, him He hears. Since the world began it was 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. Christ could not have given sight to the blind man if He had not, Himself, come from God. This was good reasoning and it would have been convincing if the objectors had been willing to be convinced by the truth.
34. They answered and said unto him, You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? ' 'Holy and learned people like us Pharisees—do you set up to be our teacher?"
34-38. And they casthim out Jesus heard that theyhadcast him out and when He had foundhim, He said unto him, Do you believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said unto him, You have both seen Him, and it is He that talks with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. Then was his cure, indeed, complete! He had seen Christ spiritually as well as naturally, and fell at His feet and worshipped Him as the Son of God.
39-41. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him,
Are we blind, also? Jesus said unto them, if you were blind, you would have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains.
1 Corinthians 10:15-19. I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? After they had offered the beasts as sacrifices to their idols, it was the custom to sell the carcasses in the shambles. Christian men, going into the market to buy meat, and asking no questions, bought and ate portions of these sacrifices, and they did no wrong whatever. But there were some in the Church who were very tender of conscience and who said, "If we eat meat which has been offered to idols, we thereby become partakers with the idolaters." Paul therefore writes:—
20, 21. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that you should have feelowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils. I t cannot be—there must be a separation between these two things. We cannot have any delight in idol-worship and yet worship the Christ of God.
21-28. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bidyou to a feast, andyou are disposed to go; whatever is set before you, eat, askingno question for conscience sake. But if any man says unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. So, you see, you may eat the meat if you like, for the idol is nothing at all. But still, if you are told that it is meat that has been offered to idols and that you, by eating of it, seem to join in the worship of idols, abstain from doing it—not for your own sake, but for the sake of the man who might be caused to stumble through you. This is a safe rule with regard to Christian behavior in many other things. There may be things lawful in drink as well as in meat which a man may take without sinning. But if he knows that his example leads others astray, then let him take heed that he does not set such an example! An example which is an excuse for drunkenness is not a good one. Therefore, let none of us set it before the eyes of men. If any man says to you, "This meat has been offered in sacrifice to idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."
29. Conscience, I say, not your own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? That man may not be able to do it without injury to himself, but I may, and I have liberty to do so. But yet, as a Christian, I am to consider his need of power, and I am not to use my liberty lest I do harm to my brother.
30, 31. For if I by Grace am a partaker, why am I evilly spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And if anything you might do would not glorify God, do not do it!
32, 33. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 11:1. Be you followers of me, even as I, also, am of Christ.