John 9:8-17 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. I'm very cautious of how far I back up this morning, ain't I?

[0:10] Back in John chapter nine. We began this chapter last week and got through the first seven verses, which was a few verses short of where I wanted to get to, but that's okay.

[0:27] The first seven verses of John nine, well, backing up even further in John eight, just to recap real quick, past couple to few Sundays.

[0:40] In John eight, we see Jesus proclaimed that he is the light of the world, and then he goes on to explain through the rest of John eight how he is the light of the world.

[0:50] He exposes the darkness in men in that chapter. And we see the culmination of that exposure there at the end of chapter eight, when they took up stones to hurl at Jesus Christ to kill him.

[1:06] And then in John chapter nine, we see that Jesus says, as Jesus passed by, that he heapt upon this blind man, which we know now that there's nothing coincidental.

[1:21] As far as that goes, Jesus knew that blind man would be there. It was for a day before the world was ever found that that blind man would be there at that time, that day.

[1:33] And right after Jesus had made his proclamation that he was the light of the world. So here in John nine, we see Jesus Christ up through verse seven.

[1:45] He he we read last week that he spit on the ground and he made clay out of the spittle and the dirt there on the ground. And he anointed this man's eyes with this clay and told him to go wash the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation being sent.

[2:02] And the man did what Jesus said and the Bible says he came again seeing. So that's about as far as we got last week through verse seven and John chapter nine.

[2:15] So with all that being said, we'll pick up in verse eight. Now, John dime. It says the neighbors, therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind said is not this he that sat and begged.

[2:33] I told you all last week that, you know, not only was this man blind, but a little bit later, we learned that he was also a beggar. And what a what a horrible state that would be to be in that and to not only be blind, but but to depend on others for basically your living to take care of you.

[2:56] But it says the neighbors, therefore, and they which before it seen him that he was blind said is not this he. That said and begs of this man had the claim mud put on his eyes by Jesus Christ, went and watched where Jesus told him to go and wash and came again seeing.

[3:17] And the people that were around him, his neighbors, people that knew that he was blind, they said, is this not he that said and begged? So they noticed a change in this man.

[3:30] And this could be applied to our own lives as far as when Jesus Christ, a lot of the world, shown his life and our lives.

[3:41] And we came again seeing the world looks at us. Our neighbors look at us. Our family might look at us. The coworkers might look at us.

[3:52] Acquaintances may look at us. And they'll say, isn't this Spencer or isn't this Verne or isn't this whoever? You know, that was once this way, but now they're another way.

[4:05] And these people said, is this not he that said and begged? But they noticed the change in this man. And folks, let me tell you, if salvation has come to you, if Jesus Christ has opened your eyes, if the light of the world has shown in your life and has redeemed your soul, there will be not only a change in you, but it will be a noticeable change to those that are around you, to those whom you have been with, to those whom you hung out with and that you went places with and done things with.

[4:39] There will be a change that they notice about you. And these people here, they look at him and it's a curious look that they're giving him, though. They said, is this not he that said and begged?

[4:51] So it was still the same person. His garments hadn't changed, his physical features had not changed, he hadn't gotten any prettier, he hadn't gotten any uglier, nothing along those lines.

[5:04] But they noticed there was a change in him. And you might say, well, of course there was a change in him. He was blind and now he sees. And folks, that is the exact change that you and I had when Jesus Christ opened our eyes.

[5:19] We were all blind, we were all dead and our trespasses in sin. We couldn't find our way, we roamed around in the dark, we knew not at what we stumbled. All of these things that we can find examples of in the Scripture, but across a lot of the world came into our lives and opened our eyes.

[5:38] And therefore, people should notice a change about us. If we receive salvation, there's a change. People should notice that change. If there's been no change, it's because salvation never occurred.

[5:50] It's because your eyes were never opened by the light of the world. Verse nine, some said, this is he, others said he is like him, but he said, but he said, I am he.

[6:02] So some said, this is he, others said he is like him. So some people visually recognize the fellow. They said, this is he, this is the same, the same one.

[6:14] And others said, he is like him. He's like him, but I'm not positive that it's him. Why? Because there was such a dramatic and drastic change in this man.

[6:28] Folks, this is the only time through the Gospels. There's several times that blind people are healed throughout the Gospels, but this is the only time that it was a man that was blind from birth, that was healed by Jesus Christ.

[6:45] Other people were blind, some of them we know how long they were, some of them we don't. But this is the only one that the Bible specifies. He was blind from birth. And these days, and by these people, by the doctors, by philosophers, by everyone in this day, it was an incurable disease, whatever this man had, blindness from birth was incurable.

[7:08] There was nothing to be done about it. But these people here, some of them said, this is he, they recognized him, they said, this is the same guy. But other people noticed the change, they said, he is like him, but we're not positive that it's him.

[7:24] This is he, and others said, he is like him. But he said, I am he, very simple. I am he, I am the one that's set by the side here.

[7:36] I sat on the side of the road, I sat here just outside the temple, and I begged and I was blind. I am he, I'm the one that you think that I am.

[7:47] Verse 10, therefore said they unto him, how were thine eyes open? This is a natural question, I would say.

[7:58] How were thine eyes open? But notice, it's how were thine eyes open. It's not who opened thine eyes. They asked the question, how did this occur?

[8:08] And we find a little bit later, hopefully we'll get to it this morning, that the Jews, the Pharisees, they asked the same question. How did this occur? Not who did this.

[8:19] It's how did this occur? Verse 10, again, therefore said they unto him, how were thine eyes open? Verse 11, he entered and said, a man that is called Jesus, made clay and anointed thine eyes and said unto me, go to the pool of Solomon, wash and I went and washed and I received sight.

[8:40] Folks, this is a simple testimony of a brand new convert, of someone who crossed, has opened his blinded eyes. It's a very simple testimony that he gives.

[8:52] Folks, when we get saved, or even years after we are saved, there is no sense in going into a grand, great, enormous testimony.

[9:05] And I've heard people that have done this when giving testimony. But it's as simple as saying, I once was blind, but now I see. I once was lost, but now I'm found.

[9:17] I think it's a huge mistake and I think that it's degrading to a person to go into every deep, dark sin and every deep, dark detail of their lives within the congregation of a church, explaining just how much in sin they were, almost like they're bragging about their sin.

[9:41] When all it takes is someone to say, a man called Jesus, just like this man did. When he was asked, how did this happen? How were your eyes open?

[9:52] He began with the words of man called Jesus. When someone comes to us and they say, hey, look, I used to hang out with you. We used to go out and party. We'd go to the concerts.

[10:02] We'd drink. We'd drug. We'd do this and do that. But now you're a changed person. How did that happen? It's simply a man called Jesus.

[10:13] A man called Jesus, a man that is called Jesus, made clay and anointed my eyes. I want you to notice something here. And this verifies just how accurate Scripture is because there's a lot of contenders of the Bible out there.

[10:28] That'll say, well, these things were just made up. Or this may have started with an actual event, something that was real, but it became something that was unreal.

[10:40] This man, in his testimony, he left out a very fine detail. He left it out. He said, a man that is called Jesus, made clay and anointed my eyes. Nowhere does he say a man that is called Jesus spit on the ground.

[10:56] He says he made clay and he anointed my eyes. He wouldn't have known. He was truly blind. He would have had no idea how Jesus made that clay. He wouldn't have known if there was a puddle close by that he got around the edges of the puddle and got that clay.

[11:11] But this was a blind man. And blind people, their other senses are more keen. He could have smelled the clay. He could have felt the clay because I'm sure he'd felt wet dirt before.

[11:23] Just like deaf people, their other senses are more keen. This blind man, his other senses were more keen. All he knew was that a man that is called Jesus took clay and he anointed his eyes.

[11:36] And he told me to go and wash at the pool of Siloam. And I went and washed and now I see. This was the man's testimony. But he left out that one fine detail because he had no clue that Jesus had spit on the ground and made that clay.

[11:53] So that verifies to me, it may not to you, but it verifies to me the accuracy of the scriptures. He says, but again, something else here, I'm sorry, something else here.

[12:10] Notice he's focusing on the work of Jesus Christ. He just refers to him as a man called Jesus. Now, in the next few verses we see where he owns him as a prophet, but we haven't gotten that far yet.

[12:24] Here he's focusing on the work of Jesus Christ and this initial testimony that he gives. He says, a man that is called Jesus, he anointed my eyes.

[12:35] He told me to go, he told me to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. And I did. He said, and I went and I washed and I received sight. So it's the work of Jesus Christ.

[12:45] But also he's verifying the man commanded me what to do and I went and I did it and I received sight. And I said last week, if we simply do what the words of this blessed book that we all hold in our laps are in our hands right now, if we simply follow the words of this, there is blessing in store for us.

[13:06] It may not be blessing in the form of finances. It may not be blessing in the form of health. It may not be blessing in the form of anything that you've imagined.

[13:18] But I promise if we follow the words of this book, there are blessings for those that follow the commands that are given in the Scripture. Verse 12, then said they unto him, where is he?

[13:31] He said, I know not. This verse speaks volumes and it should speak volumes to you just as well as it does to me. It should speak volumes, especially to preachers and to teachers.

[13:44] He was asked a question and they said unto him, where is he? He said, I know not. Just tell me, don't expound on what you don't know.

[13:55] Don't try and go off. Don't go down a rabbit hole. Don't try and explain to people what you don't know. I told you all last week when we done the first seven verses here, I have no idea why Jesus Christ made clay.

[14:12] I have no idea why he made it out of his own spit. I have no idea why he had to make this mud or why he made this mud and put it on this man's eyes. And this was the route of healing that he took for this man.

[14:26] I cannot explain that to you, therefore I won't try to explain it to you. I told you one or two of the more far-fetched reasons that I've heard as far as an explanation of that goes.

[14:38] But me personally, I don't know why Jesus took this route. Therefore I won't try to explain to you why he did. Do not talk about that which we do not know.

[14:48] When God gives light, he gives it in his own time and he gives it in his own way and he gives us as much as he wants us to have at that time. But if we utilize that light and we utilize that light faithfully, God will increase that light as we go along.

[15:05] How do we get more of the light of God the best way is to keep your nose within the pages of this book? Our word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path.

[15:16] The word is light and if we keep our noses in the pages of this book, more light will be shown us. And more light will be granted us by Almighty God.

[15:28] But they asked him the question, where is he? And he simply answered, I know not. He didn't go off into a tangent or an explanation of something that he didn't know. They brought to the Pharisees, verse 13, they brought to the Pharisees, him that a foretime was blind.

[15:45] Boy, I like that word a foretime. They brought to the Pharisees, him that a foretime, him that had been blind, him that was blind. But now Jesus, this man that is called Jesus as he phrased it, has stepped in on the scene and he has healed him of this blindness.

[16:01] But they brought, they brought to the Pharisees, him that a foretime was blind. This was kind of one of the worst things that could have happened to this man.

[16:14] Why? I'll tell you why. Because the religious world, the religious world, are the worst opponents of new converts.

[16:26] What symbol? The religious world is. Now by religion, I'm saying like the people that were like the Pharisees were. And we're going to get into that here in just a few more verses where they're upset because it was the Sabbath day.

[16:41] The religious world are the biggest and the worst opponents of new converts in Christ. Why is that? Because you get the religious world, you get people, oh, Jesus Christ has saved you.

[16:55] You're a born again Christian. That's wonderful. Come over here with us, Baptist. Come over here with us, Pentecostals. Come over here with us, COG. Come over here with us, COC.

[17:06] Come over here with this denomination and with that denomination. Now that you've been saved, you must follow these rules. You must follow these guidelines. You must do this and you must do that.

[17:18] Folks, if we're saved, we must do what this book says, not a bunch of man-made ordinances. Come over here with us. You must be baptized now that you've been saved.

[17:31] I'm all for baptism. I'm all for water baptism. It's a wonderful thing. It's actually a commandment of Scripture, but that water baptism does not save me. I was saved in February.

[17:43] I wasn't baptized until I think September of that same year, and no one will ever, ever convince me that if I had died between February and September, that I would be in hell right now.

[17:55] I know when I got saved. I know who saved me. I know who's kept me saved up to this point, and it had nothing to do with the water that was in the Nolichoke River, which I was baptized in.

[18:06] It had to do with the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's all that my salvation had to do with. I came to God in faith and repentance. I came to God in faith in Jesus Christ, in faith that I was a sinner and that God was a Savior and that God would wash me clean with the blood of His Son.

[18:24] And I've continued in that faith ever since. That's what salvation is. Faith, you come to God in faith and repentance. That brought to the Pharisees Him that a four-time was blind, verse 14.

[18:39] And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened His eyes. It was the Sabbath day. So, folks, I promise you, Jesus knew that it was the Sabbath day.

[18:51] And I promise you that when He made clay and He opened this man's eyes, that He knew it was going to ruffle the feathers of the religious elite. I promise you, He knew all of these things.

[19:04] This wasn't news to Jesus. And it didn't come as a surprise to Jesus Christ. He'd actually already dealt with this. He'd already dealt with people upset that it was the Sabbath day.

[19:15] You remember the man at the pool of Bethesda, the one that Jesus went to, and He told him to take up thy bed and walk that man that had laid there lame. He could not walk for 38 years.

[19:26] He laid there in John chapter five at the pool of Bethesda. And Christ told him, take up thy bed and walk. And they weren't amazed by the miracle. They weren't saying what person is this.

[19:38] They weren't screaming, this is the Messiah worshiping. They were upset because they felt that Christ had broken the Sabbath, that went against the Sabbath and the Sabbath laws.

[19:50] Which now, don't get me wrong, I understand Exodus 20 says to observe the Sabbath. And it teaches us to observe it and to keep it holy. And that there's no work to be done therein.

[20:01] But folks, as I've said before, not only talking about Exodus 20, not only talking about this scripture, but many other scriptures, it is always time to do acts of good. And it is always time to do acts of mercy.

[20:14] And it is always time to love thy neighbor, regardless of the day or the week that it falls on. It is always time to do that. And Jesus Christ knew that as well.

[20:26] It was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened His eyes. Well, this tells me that on the Sabbath day, we can learn a lot from Jesus on this.

[20:40] On the Sabbath day, what had Jesus done? He had gone to the temple. We learned that in John chapter 8. That's where He was at when the woman that was brought to Him, caught in the act of adultery was.

[20:53] That's where He was when He said, I am the light of the world. He was in the temple. He was on the temple grounds. So on the Sabbath day, He was in the temple. What were they doing? He was on in the temple grounds.

[21:04] What did they do at the temple? They worshiped God. That was the whole purpose of the temple, was to go there and to worship God. So Christ was in the temple on the Sabbath day.

[21:17] Was at the temple on the Sabbath day. He was there to worship God. He was there to minister the Word. He was there to minister the works of God. But we see Him go to the temple to worship.

[21:29] And then He leaves the temple. That's where we find this blind man in John chapter 9. Remember I told you all, that's a huge contrast between John chapter 8 and 9.

[21:39] 8 was inside the temple or on the temple grounds where God was to be worshiped. And all this is taking place outside of the temple. So He leaves the temple and He goes and He ministers.

[21:51] Folks, that speaks volumes. That speaks all kinds to us. If we just come here within these four walls or go to any other church out there within those four walls.

[22:03] And that's the only place that we worship God. And that's the only place that we serve God. And that's the only place that we help people. We're not doing it right.

[22:14] That is not the correct way to do it. It must go outside the walls of this church. The world is not going to come here to see God or to meet God.

[22:25] Or anything else. We must take God out to the world. We must take the Word of God out to the world. We must take our testimony to the world and the testimony of the Bible to the world.

[22:36] Because they sure are not going to come here to find it. They're not going to go anywhere to find it. Because the Bible says there's none that seek it. After righteousness.

[22:46] There's none that seek after God. Not one. No, not one. The Bible says. So Christ was in the temple. Now he's outside the temple. But he's doing exactly as we should do.

[22:58] And this once again, it speaks volumes to us how we should do. We should gather with the saints and we should worship God together. We should worship in a local assembly of fellow believers.

[23:09] Those of a lack faith. But once we are finished with that worship, with corporate worship unto God, we must go to the world to minister. We must go to the world to minister.

[23:22] They brought to the Pharisees him that a four times blind. It was the seventh day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then again, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.

[23:35] He said unto them, he put clay upon my eyes and I washed and do see. Then again, the Pharisees also asked him how? How? How? Just like the people a few verses previous to this did.

[23:49] How were your eyes open? How were you made unblind? How is it that you were blind and you now see? But something else I want you to pay attention to here is the persistence of evil.

[24:05] The persistence of wrongdoing. This word in verse 15. Then again, the Pharisees also asked him again.

[24:16] You also find that word in verse 17. You also find it in verse 24. You also find it in verse 26. Again, again, against the persistence of evil.

[24:27] It's the persistence of evil to discredit the work of God. This wasn't just the work of Jesus Christ that we're talking about here, that opened this blind man's eyes.

[24:39] It was the work of God. Remember at the very beginning, those of you that were here last week, at the very beginning of chapter 9, the disciples asked Jesus Christ, why was this man born blind?

[24:50] Is it a sin that his parents committed or is it a sin that he committed? And Jesus answered them and said, it's not the sin that he committed or his parents. It's that the works of God might be manifest in him.

[25:04] And this shows this word again that is used these four, four times here in this passage of Scripture. It shows the persistence of evil, the persistence of demons, and the persistence of the devil himself to discredit the word of God.

[25:21] And we should be just as persistent to retain our testimony, by the way, to retain the testimony that we are indeed a child of God.

[25:31] Then again, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said, on them he put clay upon my nose and I washed, and I induced, therefore said some of the Pharisees, this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.

[25:46] Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. I say, praise God for the division that we read about here. But we'll get to that here in a moment.

[25:58] Therefore said some of the, I'm sorry, verse 15 again. Then again, the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said, on them he give him very simple testimony, a very truthful, very honest testimony.

[26:11] He gave them, he said unto them, he put clay upon my eyes, and I washed and do she. Again, very simple testimony this man gave, just as we should give.

[26:23] Therefore said some of the Pharisees, this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. And I just said it a little while ago. It is always time to do works of good.

[26:35] It is always time to do works of God, works that we are commanded in the Scripture. It is always time to be merciful. It is always time to feed the hungry, to feed the hungry.

[26:47] It is always time to clothe the naked. It is always time to do the things that we are commanded in Scripture to do. But these people here said, this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.

[26:59] But they were looking at their own rules. They were looking at what they considered to not be keeping the Sabbath day and not what God considered to not keep the Sabbath day.

[27:12] They had added so many rules and so many regulations, what you could do and what you could not do, what was allowed and what was disallowed. These Pharisees over time had added all these rules and regulations to where it was almost a sin to breathe on the Sabbath day.

[27:29] If you weren't careful. And that is what they were accusing him of. In verse 8 or in chapter 8, I am sorry, you remember those of you that were here.

[27:40] They accused Christ of having a devil or having demons. And then they went on to say, now we know that you have a demon. Now we know that you are of the devil. So this isn't the first time that Christ has been accused of not being of God.

[27:56] Folks, Christ was and is God right here in front of these people. But they refused to see it.

[28:08] It's not that they couldn't see it. They refused to see it. In other words, they rejected it. He was showing himself as God by healing a man that had been blind from birth.

[28:21] He was showing himself that he was God and they were rejecting the miracle. They were rejecting that it was a work of God. They were rejecting him as God. They're rejecting him as a man of God.

[28:35] This man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, praise God for these others. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?

[28:45] And there was a division among them. Now I ain't got a bit of Bible to back this up. But I'll tell you right now, I believe with all my heart, Nicodemus was part of this others. You remember in John chapter three, when Nicodemus come to Jesus Christ, and he said, Master, he said, we know, we know that you are come from God.

[29:07] For no other man could do these things. So I believe Nicodemus was part of these others that's being spoken of here in verse 16 of John 9.

[29:18] Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And it goes on to say, and there was a division among them. Praise God, there was a division among these religious elite, among these Pharisees.

[29:31] And this indicates to me that the side that was saying, how can a man that is not from God do such miracles was not giving in to the side that was saying, this man cannot be of God because he's broken the Sabbath day, because he's broken our laws.

[29:48] He says there was a division among them. Folks, I'll tell you right now, not all division is bad. But on the flip side of that coin, not all unity is good.

[30:02] Not all division is bad, but not all unity is good. We've got an enormous push right now in the evangelical world, in the ecclesiastical world, period.

[30:14] There's an enormous push for unity amongst all denominations. And that's a dangerous thing. That's a dangerous thing. Should there be unity between true, blue, born-again Christians?

[30:28] Absolutely, absolutely. But there's some folks out there, and there's some complete denominations out there that are so far out in left field and that believe in such a false theology and false doctrines that are completely contrary to what the word of God says.

[30:50] We have no business unifying with those people. No business unifying with them. There can be no unity in those cases.

[31:00] And the Bible backs that up. What communion has lot with darkness? What relation does good and evil have? None. And if there's people out there and there are that are claiming to be Christian, but they are denying the deity of Jesus Christ.

[31:17] If they are denying the virgin birth that Mary gave to our Savior, if they are denying any facet of Jesus Christ that we find within the Scriptures, if they deny that Jesus Christ is coming back as judge, even though the Bible plainly indicates that he is, if they deny any part of Jesus Christ that the Bible explicitly states, they're denying Christ, period.

[31:44] They can believe in the virgin birth and they can believe in the sinless life and the death, the birth of the resurrection and the ascension and all those other things. But if they deny that Christ is coming back as judge, they don't believe the same Christ that the Bible speaks of.

[32:01] And we have no reason to be in unity with people like that. Do we hate them? Absolutely not. Preach them the gospel.

[32:13] Preach them the gospel because it's obvious that they haven't accepted the gospel, that they haven't repented of their ways and trusted in the cross of the Bible. If they're denying anything that the Bible explicitly states, is of God or is of Christ, so there was a division among them.

[32:34] And again, I say praise God for that division because it shows me that some people were giving some recognition to Christ, if not to Christ to his works and those works were of God.

[32:49] So it shows me that Gears were turning in some of these religious folks and that they weren't turning so much in the others. They say unto the blind man again, verse 17, they said unto the blind man again, what sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes?

[33:05] He said, he is a prophet. Now, all this being said, you go back up to verse 11, when we get to what the neighbors were saying, therefore they said unto him, how were thine eyes open?

[33:16] And verse 11 says, a man that is called Jesus, made clay. He says it was a man that is called Jesus. Now, again, here in verse 11, this man might have been blind, but he wasn't deaf. I don't read nothing about him being deaf here.

[33:35] He'd heard of Jesus. He had heard the name at some point. And more than likely, him hanging out there right outside the temple, Jesus had made several entrances and exits, and he had heard of this man Jesus.

[33:48] He had heard of his miracles. He had heard these things. Once again, blind people, their hearing and every other sense about them is more keen because they have no sight. So he had heard of Jesus. He said, a man that is called Jesus, made clay. And down here in verse 17, these Pharisees, he said this, or it says, they say unto the blind man again, what sayest thou of him? In other words, what do you say of this man?

[34:11] What do you say of this man that you just told us, made clay, and he anointed your eyes, and you washed your eyes, and now you see. What do you say of him that he hath opened thy eyes? He said, he is a prophet. And this is such a huge statement for this man to make.

[34:28] What was a prophet in this day? I know that the Bible says the prophets were until John, but what was a prophet? Think of the Old Testament. What was a prophet? They were in mouthpiece for God. The words that they spoke were divine.

[34:43] And that's what this man was claiming to you. That's what he was claiming about Jesus Christ. He's saying every word that he spoke is divine. He said, this man was sent from God.

[34:54] He is a mouthpiece for God. When he said he is a prophet, that's precisely what he was saying. That's exactly what the woman at the will was saying. John chapter 4, those of you that were here then, remember when the woman at the will said, I perceive that they are the prophet. She understood that he was a prophet. She understood that what he was saying came from God, but she still didn't quite get it. But we're not going back to John chapter 4. This man here, and this shows a progression, and I'm not saying we're going to grow this quickly in God, but this shows a progression. Folks, when I got saved, I told you all before, when I got saved, my theology was so bad. My understanding of Scripture was so bad.

[35:41] Everything that I just about ever learned was so bad, but I knew that I was a sinner, and I knew that God had saved me, and that's all I needed to know.

[35:57] I learned about Christ being the Son of God later. I learned about his deity later. I learned about some of the more fine facts and details of Christ later. There's a lot of things in this Bible I can't explain to you. Once again, I can't explain to you why Christ made clay out of his own spit and the dirt and anointing this man's eyes. I can't explain the amount of transfiguration fully to you. I cannot explain the trinity to you fully. There's so many things in the Scripture that I cannot explain, but I can explain to you that you are a sinner and that God is a Savior, and he is able and willing to save your soul to the uttermost through his Son, Jesus Christ.

[36:42] I can explain that much, and that's all any of us needs to explain to a lost and dying world. We don't have to get into deep theology. We don't have to get into the gifts of the Spirit. We don't have to get into any of these things. Just tell people you are a sinner. Explain to them how they're a sinner and explain to them that God sent his only begotten Son to be a propitiation for their sin, to take their place, to be the substitutionary sacrifice in their place and in your place and in my place. That's all they need to know. They need to know they're a sinner and that God is a Savior. The man said he is a prophet. Verse 18, 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 him, 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 seeeth 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 speak his parents because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was cross, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, he is of age. I'm sorry, he is of age. Ask him. And I'm not going to expound any on that.

[38:24] I just wanted to read through that. That's how far I was wanting to get today, but it's not. But y'all chew on those few verses over the next week and Lord will and we'll pick back up in verse 18 and pick some on that next week. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[38:43] All right. God bless y'all. I appreciate you.