[0:00] I would like to see you for a few moments with your attention to words in the gospel according to John. The ninth chapter, the 23th verse.
[0:16] These words in verse 25. One thing I know, that where I, I was blind.
[0:28] Now I see you. Without waiting to say anything by way of introduction to these words, we might consider the sad state of these moments.
[0:49] He was, according to the narrative, born blind. All this life he had lived in a dark, united world.
[1:04] He never saw the loveliness of the nature or of the universe. He never saw the sunrise of the sun.
[1:16] He never saw the flow of the field. He never saw the stars. He never saw his mother face. And because he was blind, he finally died in poverty and inability.
[1:36] On a whole earth, they have been gay with that poor hand of his, stretched forth toward his fellow men, for some relief, some pain.
[1:51] But he never obtained a gift, any help, that would raise him hurt of his misery, his impoverishment and inability.
[2:06] You may be saying, you see, well, I should be very thankful that I am suffering from these physical disabilities and from that natural impoverishment.
[2:23] But my dear friend, I want to suggest to you, I want to tell you, that the word of God tells us that you and I, all men, are in a worse state, spiritual world, than this man was.
[2:41] Because, oh, blight, and dull and polish, are spiritual world. We were born into the world spiritually blind.
[2:56] You know that when man sinned, when he lost communion with God, when he left, the light of God says, And I fell on his soul.
[3:09] Darkness came into his heart. The God of this world, blighted his eyes. And the Bible tells us that we are born in sin, and sin is spiritual darkness, and heaven in a duty.
[3:32] We are born in the land of the shadow of death, without a glimmer of light in our eyes. And God tells us that not only are we in darkness, but we are in darkness ourselves.
[3:49] That is what the apostle teaches in the Episodal Ephesians. When you go to those men who have been newly converted by the gospel of Jesus Christ, ye were sometimes darkness.
[4:04] Not in darkness, but ye were sometimes darkness. But know as the light in the Lord. Walk as the children of light.
[4:19] And because we are blind, we are coughing in the dark. We are strained. And the enemy is leading us, unconsciously perhaps, towards the precipice of eternal destruction.
[4:37] The darkness is calling you, and treats more and more. Until we reach, without the intervention of God, the place where there is smithy, but eternal darkness and impoverishment.
[4:55] No one is smithy in the world that can't take that darkness away from the mind, from the sword, but the hand of God.
[5:07] You remember how it is written in the prophecy of Messiah, on this mountain. That is, on the gospel mountain. The hand of the Lord shall take away the veil of the covenant which is over the eyes of all men.
[5:25] It does not matter how high you may attain through intellectuality or even religiously.
[5:37] What you are saying is, may be intellectuality or culturally or religiously. Nothing comes from whom that blindness, but the power of God's Spirit.
[5:56] The power of God is not only being able to be. And so, it is written by Christ in the word. It is said by Christ in the word. It is said by Christ in the word. It is the light which is seen through me darkness. How great is that darkness.
[6:11] You remember the apostle himself and the visions and the Bible and in the lives of many men and women. He has intellectual attain, cursed morality, religion, intense religion.
[6:33] And yet, he knew that when the power of God touched him, that he had been blind of his life. And the greatest tact of being associated with his completion of this, his own uttered consciousness of it, we refuse to believe that we are blind.
[6:58] Because we see, we say we see, O darkness, Obedenness. You remember the church of Laodicea?
[7:09] The Lord looked upon her and she looked upon herself as absolutely perfect as it was. She had need of nothing. And the Lord exposed the impoverishment and the blindness of her life.
[7:26] The Lord thought that they were poor and wretched and blind and nip. No, this man was naturally blind.
[7:42] And with that blindness, as I said to him, the Lord was blind. He couldn't see and therefore he couldn't work. And therefore he had to lie down there on the ground, in that permanent world in which we lived, in which he lived, to receive any little purpose that might come his way.
[8:06] And the Bible teaches and Christian experience confirms that. That with old blindness, there is a spirit of destitution.
[8:18] It does not matter how much we possess, of absolutely, goals, or wretched. And the Bible teaches and spiritual experiences.
[8:30] These have nothing to do with this impoverishment of soul. You remember the story of Solomon, for example? He was the richest man who ever lived.
[8:44] Among the middle age. He wouldn't touch silver. He wouldn't understand who handled it. He had palaces. He had serbots. He had every kind of pleasure and comfort, which this world would afford.
[9:02] And one day, his sad girl, and made a little son. He began to add a bar that he had, within the material field.
[9:14] I knew all the answers he gave to that. He had some nothing. All that he had, he felt nothing. He was even less than nothing.
[9:26] He was emptiness of emptiness. All is empty. That is the meaning of that phrase. Vanity of vanity.
[9:38] All is vanity. All is vanity. You get that in the group of the Kashiachis. And that is only ends that book.
[9:50] And then if you turn over the leaf, you come to the song of song. You say, man, I'm in a different subject. See, in a different dimension.
[10:04] See, you have different experience. A different enjoyment. And there, instead of a lament. He has a song.
[10:16] The song of song. Which is a song. And he goes on to tell us, why he so has. Why do you so enjoy spiritual decor, spiritual decor, and spiritual hat.
[10:32] I sat under his shadow. Not under the shadow of material wealth, or riches. But under the shadow of history of life.
[10:44] Under the shadow of traffic. And his fruit was sweet to my taste. Very rested.
[10:56] Very firm. Something that satisfied eternally. His heart, his mind, and his conscience.
[11:10] You know that. Scholars will speak about. Human personality. As made about. The volition of the emotional. And the intellectual life.
[11:22] Is the emotional life. The volition of life. And the intellectual life. And those who know Christ. Those who have embraced him.
[11:34] Who have received him into their hearts. And he touches every aspect. Of personality. We live in a new dimension. Oh don't you let you alive.
[11:46] And satisfied. Oh volition of life. That deep wishful thinking. In oh deep ourselves. Is satisfied.
[11:58] And oh remorse of life. You know how complicated oh remorse of life. Well when he gets trapped. Your emotional life. Your emotional life.
[12:10] Like the other aspect of the nature. Is untreated. You are happy. I. Saddam of his child. Poverty gone.
[12:22] Sadness gone. Blindness gone. And you remember Moses in Egypt. The devil. Put everything on his face. Worship.
[12:33] Pleasure. And honor. You know that I'm sermon. They can't live without pleasure. There must be around dancing every week. Or. Attending the cinema. Or. Something of that kind.
[12:45] Even something worse than that. They cannot live without pleasure. And there are others. And. That sort of thing makes no appeal to them. They want money. Riches. They want security as they call it. And others again they want to put themselves on the map.
[12:57] They want to have a day in the community. And the impossible. To have a day in the community. And be positive. In the kingdom. While Moses had all these things offered. He could be a king in Egypt. He could have all the pleasure forgets. portents. Who able to understand.
[13:08] and all Burden. Jesus. And SALT andbetri, Hmm. The son and Her preedge. They are the lots of Isaacgi. понял. And he has a whole universe. Sand swoodez.
[13:31] and he said no out of hand without any hesitation not when he was that boy and thinking for an old man but at the very height of his power when he could weigh the pros and cons of the situation and he rejected out of hand all these things why? because his eyes were opened he saw another kingdom he saw another another king he saw witches eternal and let you shut God through his hand forevermore well my dear young friend I don't know whether you converted or not but it doesn't matter what you receive you may be thinking that if you receive a certain something that well you are going to be happy but you remember what God said and I said to the woman of some man whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give it shall be in me springing up unto life everlasting and I want to say this
[15:00] I believe in the doctrine of heaven all Christians do Christ preacheth and if you don't believe in the doctrine of eternal punishment you don't believe in Christ you don't believe in what he says and heaven is a state of darkness and a state of deprivation in hell people weep because they are hungry there is a family there there is nothing there no water no bread and nothing but darkness I know that God created this heart of mine and that heart of you for himself and it does not matter what you give the heart of man unless God comes into his heart he is in darkness and he is in a state of destitution our hearts will be for thee and they shall never rest to the rest in thee no notice of the miracle that Christ brought in this man's life he passed by and he opened his eyes we don't know the background of this miracle perhaps this poor man heard of Jesus of Nazareth perhaps somebody who had been blind toward him that he himself had his eyes opened and this man would be praying that one day he might enjoy a similar blessing now here you are in the act of Lewis and you have been among perhaps you were brought up in a Christian home and among our people who tell you of the miracle of conversion of spiritual enlightenment that has taken place in their life you listen and you wonder well my friend you should be praying as they tell you of what Christ did for them that he might pass by you and that you might be given the prayer
[17:27] Lord open mine eyes that of thy law the wonder I may see now that is conversion it is entering a new world you know that man whenever Christ opened his eyes he found himself in a new world nor do I do he often paid you in his dumb and perfect imagination what kind of world he lived in what color it was like but when he did receive his sight oh how different it was a world beyond his comprehension something he had never dreamt of and the spiritual world that we enter when we are converted when the power of God touches our life is a wonderful world you remember the story of the Queen of Sheba she was up there in her own country and she was drawing a picture of
[18:36] Solomon's glory and she dismissed the whole thing largely as a fairy tale she said it can't be it is all nonsense there is no such a man no such glory in this world and then she went and saw for herself and you remember what happened she said the half has not been told the half has never yet been told of love so great so free and when we come into the world the spiritual world of glory and grace we realize so dumb our perceptions we have in the earth that we knew nothing about it and we cannot know anything about it unless we are born to it I want to tell you a little story of what happened to me one day in the city of Glasgow
[19:38] I sat down in the Botanic Gardens on a lovely summer day a man came and sat beside me I didn't know him but he saw that I had on this collar and because he knew I was a clergyman he thought he would talk about religion and he put forward the idea that you get from men and women without grace that if you do your best and love your neighbor and live the good life well you pave a way for yourself to heaven I asked him a few questions I said do you see these flowers and he said yes and you see this guy yes you see those trees yes and you know I said why you see them well I suppose I see them just because I'm here well I said you see these things because you were born into this world of nature if you hadn't been born into this world you could see nothing you would have no existence you wouldn't be and what do you mean by that
[20:50] I mean this that you cannot know no spiritual existence no spiritual perception no knowledge of God of His kingdom of His grace or of His glory till you are born into it that the soul must be born into the world of grace and the world of glory before it can have any knowledge just as the body was born into this world and you see these things from above you in the physical world and that is how Christ said to Nicodemus Nicodemus wanted to know something about God's kingdom and he said to Christ we know that there was a teacher and Christ said to him you must be born again if you want to know anything about my kingdom you must be born into it there can be no knowledge of my passion of my way of my kingdom of my world until you are born into it and my dear friend if you are unconverted you have no conception of what the kingdom of grace is what we enjoy those of us who live in this dimension of communion with God
[22:17] I have not seen either have not heard neither have it entered the heart of man what God has prepared for them who love it you know that people who are outside the Christian religion they judge it they think they know something about it and they are you with those who are Christians but you can never know the Christian life until you are inside you can never know it outside we know you weren't we lived in it you who are unconverted we know you weren't we were dancing we lived as you lived we were doing all these things but you do know our world and you shall never know it until you enter it and that is how we enter it he must be born again and it is when we are born into this world that we begin to see and the first thing we see is the loveliness of Christ himself thy eyes shall see the king's beauty and the land of our distance the first one that this man saw when his eyes were opened was Christ and when we are converted when we are given spiritual illumination the first one we see is Christ the son of righteousness arising upon whose souls with healing in his wings
[24:08] I think that is the proof of our conversion that we see another open loveliness in Christ what do we read the Bible you know the Bible is embarrassed nature is embarrassed in trying to find something that can't describe Christ he is the bright and warm star the voice of shame the lily of the vice the pearl of great prize everything that is no but naked is brought into this Christ and yet we know that all these figures are defective for he is all to done lovely and if your eyes are open you have seen the loveliness of Christ and no one ever saw Christ but loved him you know there are some who for another first sight they can't tell how it happens but it is something instinctive and everybody in the kingdom of heaven all the people of God love Christ at first sight the moment we see as he really is in the measure in which we can see him here in that moment we fall in love with him my beloved is mine and I and this and we see the wonder of his word how free is the bible when we are in a state of nature but how marvelous is this mirror when we are brought into the kingdom when our eyes are open we see the wonders of his law you remember you remember what the two were with him on the way to Emmaus he opened their understanding and he showed them himself in the word in his sufferings in his glory and they said that not our hearts burn within us but he walked with us in the way and opened it to us the scripture and we see more than that we see heaven do you mean to say that you can see heaven while you are still on earth well you can heaven comes into your heart just as Christ comes into your heart heaven comes into your heart heaven is this oh family with the Father and with the Son
[27:04] Jesus Christ we endure as seen him who is a disciple whom have you not seen we love and now though he is seen he not yet believe he rejoice with joy and speak of him and full of glory and not only do we see but we enjoy as I said if you turn to the Son of Solomon you will find the Church of Christ there described as having milk and honey under her tongue she was still in wilderness and she she possessed in wilderness on the way to heaven the food of heaven and if you and I are God's children we have a taste of the bad things that we are going to enjoy in heaven here all taste and see that God is good that wonderful thing comes into a heart
[28:12] Christ within you the hope of glory now see the absolute certainty of this man how certain he was that this thing had happened to him there is no there is no there is no there is no perhaps it is a hundred percent certain one thing I know a personal testament that whereas I was blind now I see I remember during my Glasgow ministry there was a man there from Lewis he had he had lived a certain life throughout many years and was converted and he used to preach on the streets to reserve sinners and one evening a man turned and he said how do you know that you are converted and the answer he gave was
[29:21] I happened to be there when it happened I was there when it happened and you may remember the earth the moment the wonderful earth where this blissful thing this great experience took place in your heart and no one can introduce a government into your mind but that you are enlightened from above and in possession of eternal life you know there are so many speak about convertion as a piece of imagination they just imagine that these things happen they call it an emotional crisis or something of that chapter but if you read books by men like C.S.
[30:21] Lewis and William James great scholar perhaps the greatest scholar in the modern world they tell you this that the Christian graces in the heart of man are mere ultimate reality than any other thing that is the law of Christ in the heart the joy of the Lord the peace of the blood of Christ the hope of eternal life these are aspects of reality deeper more solid than anything belonging to this world of nature we know and assure that this is the true God and this is eternal life though this was a miracle that everybody could see he was there standing a few hours ago he lay down in the gutter with his empty hands stretched towards his her man and now he was in a new world man could see and my dear young friend see that the friends in the hospital your colleagues in the profession the patients and also in the community in which you live that they see a difference in your life that they see the beauty and the power of the
[32:00] Lord resting on your life I know that this is different in the lives of some to the lives of others some whose background has been shortened and disrecutively there are others who lived a clean moral life on which the earth but change is not so obvious but the change is there the beauty of the Lord resting on the world so conversation our content well there it is one thing I know I fear as I was blind now I see when you say I can convert myself that is what you are saying you remember the story of Spurge it was 199 church and on the commission of sin it ought that something terrific must happen before he deconverted that he would have to pass through a whole series of experiences and he listened to this man and this man said to him young man look to
[33:24] Christ that Spurgeon saw at once the way of salvation look look to me and be saved for I am God and besides me there is none else I want to use an illustration you know that if you go outside climb a little hill in the early morning and look at the sun rise look at the sun rise the image of the sun will come into your eye the life of the sun will come into your eye and the life of the sun will come into your eye and you know that sun that is in the eye is as real as the big sun that is rising over there in the advantage the same sun and although there is only one Christ there is a little
[34:25] Christ all in the souls of everyone who looked over you Christ in you the hope of glory and if you were to Jesus tonight give it to yourself look it by faith simply by faith embrace him as your personal savior that lovely thing would come into your heart and little Christ would come into your heart with the joy of the Lord there was amongst the congregation I belonged to and the old days and one he there was a girl there a servant and he told her to pray and this is the prayer he left with her Lord show me myself show me that I am blind that I am destitute and the next time he called he found her in distress always said
[35:39] I am blind I am poor and he gave her another prayer Lord show me thyself and she began to pray and the next time he saw she had Christ in her heart and his life in her soul oh my dear friends I don't know how many of you have come to Christ just as you are don't try to make an impression on him you cannot do it I came to Jesus as I was weary and weary and worn and sad I found in him a resting place and he hath made me glad you know Mary Magdalene came to him with seven devils and many weaknesses and that is all he had and that is all he wants
[36:49] Mary hath chosen the good power that shall never be taken from us and may God help you this evening to look to Christ the Son of Righteousness that that blissful thing may come into your heart and that you may be able to say I love the Lord I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him to who will be very happy in leaving you this tomorrow if I knew that someone who has not tasted that the Lord describes has been led to look and to learn there is love for a look in the crucified one who has done so I wish to thank for asking me to very glad to come along and say these few words to you and I wish to thank yourselves for listening to me so patient may the
[38:12] Lord bless us all let us pray God grant thy blessing upon thine own word be with us and bless us with all spirit blessings in heavenly presence in Christ all bless thy word these precious souls who have turned to listen we remember how thou didst speak to the one at the well of Samaria if thou knewest the guilt of God and who it is who sailed unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have lost of him and he would have given me to live water hear us for Jesus saying Amen Psalm 146
[39:15] President Honest this change she with peaceful this oh because There we go.
[40:02] We go to lls on our side and face the Güte. This beautiful sky ultimately by now we will be part of the door where we are.
[40:18] The wrong joy is coming to our heart. So here we join us. Thank you.
[40:53] Thank you.
[41:23] Thank you.
[41:53] Thank you.
[42:23] Thank you.
[42:53] Thank you.
[43:23] Thank you.
[43:53] Amen. Thank you.