Do You Believe in the Son of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter nine from verse 35. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man?

He answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, you have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. and he worshiped him. Jesus said, for judgment I have come into the world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see your guilt, remains, this is the word of our Lord. Our Lord himself said that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away. Let's come before our great God and commit this time to him in prayer.

Our Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening with reverential hearts, recognizing the great privilege that it is for your people to gather in one place, to gather in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, who was sent into this world to live a perfect life in complete and perfect obedience to you, Father. to willingly lay down his life on a cross and shed his blood for the sake of his people. Lord, it is because of his great sacrifice, because of his great life, because of his resurrection, now sitting at the right hand of the Father, that we're able to come here and meet in his name. And so we come before you, Father, and we ask, as you see us, but we see one another with clothing, You see us as we are. You know our hearts.

You know our souls. You know the longings of our hearts. You know our temptations. You know the state of our soul. You know where we are.

Lord, I ask this evening that you would meet us by the power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, do only what you can do. Edify our souls, oh Lord. Feed us. We wanna be removed from this place, different people, we wanna be changed from within.

Lord, our desire is to be more and more like Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you would grant us that because we know that your word teaches us that this is according to your will to make us more like the beloved. So we commit this time to you and we ask, Lord, that you'll help us. Lord, I pray that those who are listening would have faith to apprehend this wrong, trusting that you will bless. Pray that you would remove any distractions, whether they're physical, whether they're in the mind, thoughts that we've been thinking about through the week.

Lord, I pray that you would remove them. Lord, I pray that you would be with your servant as I speak, as I open my mouth, only that which corresponds to truth. Only that that corresponds to your word. May that be added and nothing else. Your people have not come to hear the opinion of a man.

Your people have come to hear the life-giving word of God. Feed us, we ask. We ask this in the name of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. in the gospel according to John 9 chapter in particular.

We've come to the climax of this chapter. We've come to the main point of this great chapter. We find that main point, beloved brothers and sisters, from verse 41, the text or the paragraph that we have already or just read. Now, admittedly, we're only going to find ourselves meditating upon and considering the content on verse 35. So this evening, we're not going to get very far, but we're there.

We're there. We're at the climax of the chapter. Now, we know what the story entails. We've read the narrative over and over again in the many months that we've been hearing the gospel according to John. in the ninth chapter, and we know one thing for sure from reading the narrative over and again, is that this man, who was previously born blind, will have two encounters with Jesus Christ.

Not the one, but two. His first encounter, we know of, has already taken place fairly early in the chapter. Back in chapter, back in verse 7, in fact. And in that encounter, the light of the world, the light in action, Jesus Christ, who had just declared himself in the previous chapter to be the light of the world, shone his light in the physical eyes of this man to give him physical sight. What a glorious thing.

He tells this man to go, or actually he sits on the ground, he makes some mud, and smears that paste on this man's eyes, and he commands him to go down to the pool or salon to wash. The man obeys, and he comes back seeing. His eyes have been made open. What a miracle. He'd never seen a single thing.

He'd never seen the light of day. He was born. He came out of his mother's womb. with eyes that were lifeless, dead eyes. He'd never seen a thing before.

And because of his encounter with the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, on that day, this man comes back from the pool, seen. How glorious. But as glorious as that miracle is, beloved, the best is yet. Because in his second encounter with our Lord, the light will be turned on again. But this time, this light will be turned on in his soul.

The thick moral darkness within will be pushed back and overcome by the light of Christ, the light of the world. Not in order for him to see the blue sky, or the towering trees, or the people in Jerusalem rustling by on the dusty paths. No, he's already seen these people because of his first encounter with Jesus Christ. Instead, when the lights get turned on, with his second encounter with Christ, his spiritual encounter with the Son of Man. This light will shine in his heart to reveal the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

What a glorious encounter this man will have with Christ as we continue to study this text, we'll see. So last week we left off somewhere in the middle, somewhere in between these two encounters. The man now can see But we know the story, before he had an opportunity to truly savour the joy of now being able to see for the very first time, he's going to feel the brunt of the religious leaders of the day. The fierce brunt of the Pharisees is upon him, because we know of the interrogations that have taken place. We've spent several weeks going through them.

They weren't satisfied with the testimony from his mouth. They weren't satisfied with what the neighbors had heard. That this Jesus Christ, this Jesus of Nazareth, this one who's proclaiming himself to be the Son of God and Messiah, is the one who's responsible for this great miracle. They did not want to hear that. Certainly did not want to give any credit to this Jesus.

So this man found himself in the firing line, not because the Pharisees hated him as such. They didn't have a real problem against him. They had a problem with Christ. Jesus was an offense to them. Everything Jesus stood for was offensive.

The system that they had built with the teachings of Christ, with the claims of Christ, has come down to break down everything that is man-made and only establish and keep that which is consistent. for this man found himself in the brunt of the firing line. And I'm not gonna go back and examine or recap on what we went through last few weeks, but it's needless to say, I think, that it's really well summed up in the last verse that we together considered last week, and that's verse 34. Because there we read, they answered him that they, he's the Pharisees, you were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.

You can see the arrogance, the pride oozing out of the mouths of these religious men. We're not going to take instruction from you. You're born in utter sin. The reason you were born in blindness is because you're a sinner. And we're not going to listen to you.

We're not going to take what you say. But beyond that, they cast him out. This man is now excommunicated. This man has now been cast out by the religious leaders or the rulers in the day there in Jerusalem. Why?

Why was he cast out? What did he do that was so heinous for him to be worthy of such a penalty of being cast out? And you might remember about four or five weeks ago, I explained to you just in brief detail what it meant to be cast out or excommunicated in the first century Jerusalem. Practically, your life had come to an end. It was not just only the fact that you were no longer engaging or allowed to engage in the religious activities of the day.

but rather being cast out, meaning the social aspects, your economic aspects, you finding a way to actually purchase food and speak to others, you couldn't do that anymore. You're treated as a leper, an outcast. So what did this man do to warrant that sort of reckoning, that sort of wrath from the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day? He simply repeated the facts. That's it.

He only repeated the fact, this is what has happened to me. I'm only saying what has happened to me. The Pharisees have come to him on two occasions, and both times he only says what he believes happened to him, his own experience. So the Pharisees, in their deep-rooted hostility and hatred towards Christ, cast him out. Now we've been told, back in verse 22 already, the Apostle John, an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that the Jews had already Christ he would be put out of the synagogue.

So we understand that these Jews, the Pharisees, didn't want to hear anyone confessing Christ to be Messiah. But this man hadn't confessed Jesus as Messiah yet. He will. But not yet. So what we see before us an excommunication by the religious leaders towards anyone who is sympathetic to this Jesus.

If you say a good word, if you affirm that this Jesus is who he is, and he did this miracle, in fact, and brought sight to a man born blind, then that would warrant for them to say, okay, we're going to destroy your life. You are out of here. The wrath of the Pharisees is now experienced, and this man, no doubt, is in a world of pain. That's the context. I wanted us to see that reality.

because finally after decades of being blind, finally after decades of feeling a sense of worthlessness in his own society, a burden to his community, only being able to go here and there properly if he had a handler. He couldn't contribute towards his community. He could only do pretty much what a first century blind person could do in these days, the demeaning activity of putting his hand out and begging for money to get through another day. He finally gets his eyes back. Finally he has an opportunity to actually make something of himself.

Finally he gets an opportunity now to start afresh, maybe to find some work, maybe to go and help others who had previously helped him. An opportunity to engage more fulfillingly, more engaged with the religious practices in the temple, with the festivals and the feasts. An opportunity to make something of himself. Finally, he's experiencing a little bit of self-worth, and then the staggering blow by the Pharisees. No, you don't.

You're an outcast. I have none of that. You're a stigma. Your privileges, which were religious and social and economical, that you once enjoyed, all for you without sight, have now come to an end. You'll be treated like a leper, an outcast, like a heretic.

You'll be treated as though you are under the judgment of God as quickly as his dignity had returned through the opening of his eyes, as quickly as it was swiftly removed from him. His options are so limited now. What's he to do? Think about it. What's this man to do?

If he remains in Jerusalem, there's not a great deal that he can do. So it's very likely someone like this who's been expelled and cast out in this way, it's very likely that he'll have to find a way out. Go to a neighboring region, start afresh somewhere else. The place that he'd likely call home walks away. So I ask you, maybe this is going through his mind.

What's worse, being blind, as I've experienced for decades, or is it worse to be excommunicated? To be cast out, to be treated as a stigma in this society, and to have practically all relationships broken. But all that to say, that once this reality had sunken in, it's likely that when Jesus encounters this man for a second time, he wasn't exactly leaping and jumping with joy, that his eyes were made open. Because all of a sudden, the cares of the world, the burdens of the world, how he's going to get through another day in that existence, would be weighing heavily upon his shoulders. And then Jesus comes along, and in verse 35, we hear these words, Jesus heard they had cast him out.

And having said to him, do you believe? Sorry, and cast him out. And having found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? Having found him, he said, There are no wasted words in the Scripture. None.

The Apostle John wants us to read with critical eyes, reading every word, thinking through in faith, trusting the parable of the Scripture to illuminate truths from His Word. And there are no empty words in Scripture. And here we have Him telling us, having found Him, This is not a coincidental bumping into the man that he had brought sight to earlier. This is not just a coincidence that he just come across the paths that just crossed once again. No, there is an intentional seeking here.

There's an intentional searching. Jesus sought out after this man, and the apostle John, the author of this book, he wants us to see it. The man didn't seek after Christ. Christ sought out after this man. Love that.

Jesus took the initiative. This man was going about his day, and Jesus took the initiative to seek after this man. He sought him out. After all, we're told in Luke chapter 19 that the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. The chapter in the gospel according to John that speaks about the good shepherd is yet to come, it's next, it's chapter 10, but you can see somewhat of the qualities of a good shepherd here, that he's the one who seeks after his own.

So let me ask you, was this man lost? Jesus came and the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. So is this man lost? Now you and I will all agree, if the man is still without his sight, then yes, on numerous occasions, he probably would have been lost there in Jerusalem, going down the wrong pathway, took a wrong turn and not being able to come back without assistance. He couldn't see, but now he can see.

Now his eyes have been made open. Could it be that even with his eyes open, This man was lost and in need of being found? Yes. That's the whole point of this chapter. The point of this chapter is this.

Although this man was born in darkness with his physical eyes and the Lord has opened his eyes and now he can see. He can see like the next sky. He can see the trees and the stars and the sky and the animals. He can see the temple before him in the foreground. He can see everything.

Though he can see, yet he remains in darkness. He remains blind. Apart from the intervention, apart from the initiative that Christ takes, this man will remain blind, even though he can see. As we worked our way through the previous section, how this man grew in his understanding of the whole event that had taken place in his life recently, with the opening of his eyes, as he was pressed further and further with the forcefulness of the Pharisees. You might remember me telling you that.

I made a point of it. This man was initially, he came back to his townspeople, to the neighborhood, and he said to them, this is what has taken place. My eyes had been made open, and I asked him, who was it? He said, the man named Jesus. I was, he knew he was just this man they called Jesus.

He gave me some instructions. He smeared something in my eyes, and I went, I washed, and I came back, and I could see. And then as he was pressed further and further with the forcefulness of the Pharisees who were hoping to break him, to make him bend, to somehow give them something to work with, a conscious distinction to the religious leaders who were before him, who weren't discreet on their objectives, by the way, this man began to see more and more light. Now, there's no doubt that the Holy Spirit has his hand in this, that light had come so this man could see more and more as he thought through what had happened to him, as he thought through saying that he's a sinner. We know he's a sinner.

We're the religious elites, and we're telling you this Jesus is a flagrant sinner. He's stamped and defined in sin. Over against the opposition, this man's thinking through what he understands, from what he understands in Scripture, and he experiences, and he's just experienced with the opening of his eyes. And in a short space of time, the Lord had opened his eyes slightly. see some truths.

Going from the point of this Jesus is man by the name of Jesus, it goes to, you know what? You Pharisees are saying he's a sinner. But as I think about this, how can he be a sinner? I know that God doesn't listen to sinners, and neither do you. You know that.

And if God doesn't listen to sinners, and what this Jesus has already done in this great and marvelous miracle, in opening the eyes of a man who was born blind, never since the creation of the world has this miracle ever been seen, we have to acknowledge it is the power of God. And if God is behind it, and God is listening to Jesus to perform this miracle at will, then it must be It must be that he was sent from God, and in those beautiful words, if he wasn't, he could do nothing. He's broke. And so he has this public debate with the Pharisees, and let's face it, the theologians of the day, he actually wins that debate. Practically, he loses, because they kick him out, and they've got the power to do so, but theologically, he wins the debate.

So was that enough? Was it enough that he had been illuminated to some knowledge about Christ? Was it enough for him, based on that knowledge, to put two and two together and recognize the same one who is Christ, who must be sent from God, who was not a prophet and now a piece of God? Is it enough for him to put all that together and say, okay, he's Christ, he opened my eyes, my physical eyes, I need him to open the eyes of my heart. Has he put it all together?

Has this man come to that sort of knowledge? Well, we don't know what he was doing on this day, but we know one thing. It was Christ who sorted him out. It wasn't the other way around. He wasn't seeking after Christ.

This man was yet in spiritual darkness. And as I said, if Christ wasn't the one taking the initiative to seek him out, then he would remain in darkness. Christ pursued this man because Christ was concerned for his soul. All that knowledge that he had, the knowledge that he had attained through the engagement with the Pharisees, the experiencing of that great miracle, it wasn't enough. Brothers and sisters, it's so important that we understand this point.

This is a critical point in true Christianity. Simply attaining or giving mental assent to particular knowledge or particular doctrines or particular truths, even if they are true, even if they are biblical, that does not equate to salvation. It doesn't equate to salvation. You may know, one may know much about Christ. One may declare him to be sent by God, even to say he's sinless, even to recognize that he did live a life according to the perfect will of God, that he did lay down his life, that he was hung on the cross, that he did resurrect, that he was resurrected powerfully, and that now he is at the right hand of the Father.

You may be able to declare those truths and yet not actually be saved. One may actually acknowledge him as Messiah, the one sent by God, the one anointed by God to save his people. You can even declare him as Lord with the mouth and still not be saved. Matthew 7, Jesus says, and many on that day will come to me and they'll say, Lord, Lord, Did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name?

Did we not do wonders in your name? And Jesus would say, what did Jesus say on that day? Depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. These people called him Lord, Lord, and yet, they weren't saved.

There are millions of people in our world today They confess with their mouths many truths, but they're still in darkness just like this man, Cornell. But salvation is more than merely mental ascent. It's in key doctrines. It's in key truths. Salvation is nothing less than an encounter with the living God, the only God of the universe, through his Son, Jesus Christ.

anything less than the power of the God of the universe in the heart, penetrating and invading the heart of a sinner to shine the light of truth, the light of Christ, anything less than that, and you don't have salvation. Jesus says, I will say to them, I never knew you. It's not as though I knew you once, I never knew you. For a sinful human being to know God requires the power of God inside a person. requires God to move and nothing less.

One can articulate biblical theology. One can also be able to recite the major themes of a systematic theology. You can memorize scripture. You can teach scripture. You can even go toe-to-toe with theologians and debate them and win, just like this man does.

But that doesn't mean that we're one iota closer to salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Only when God moves, and he moves through the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no boasting in that. Brothers and sisters, if we have come to know him, if we have truly come to be united into Christ by grace through faith that we have no leg to stand on to boast there is no justification in boasting at all because God moved because he decided to move Jesus pursued this man he searched him out and he found him verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him, he said Jesus heard that they had cast him out. Again, that's a detail we need to take hold of.

He came to know that the Pharisees had excommunicated this man. He came to know that the wrath and the injustice of the Pharisees had been applied upon this poor man who received grace from the Lord. Our Lord knew this. Our Lord knew that this man would have lost the spring in his step for this exact reason. As I said earlier, everything this man had known to be stable in his life, sure he had no sight, but everything he'd known to be stable, his family, his friends, his community, a place to go probably daily to bed.

He knew of the temple, he went to the synagogue, he sat on the teaching and the preaching of the word of God. We know he was well-versed in the word based on what we read in the previous paragraphs. Everything he felt comfortable with up until that point in time can now be taken away. Beloved, his world is being taken away. His world is being turned upside down.

If he was to remain in Jerusalem, he would remain in isolation and he would be removed from the community at large. It wasn't that long ago that I described briefly the serious consequences of being excommunicated from the first century. But it was a big deal. It would have changed one's life. And this is what this person is experiencing.

As far as others were concerned, they would see this person as stricken by God, under the judgment of God, a stigma, and they would avoid him at all costs. At all costs. All that to say, Now Christ comes with this man, or to this man, who's burdened by this decision of the Pharisees, who's uncertain about his future of being an outcast, going from the highest point, no doubt, of his life now to the low point of his life. And we need to take notice of this. It may not be the main point of the passage, But it's an important one that we need to take notice of.

Because what I want us to see this afternoon is how Jesus approaches this man who is deep in concern. How does Jesus approach this man who's possibly going through some form of depression within him? How does Jesus approach this man? He's contemplating the dire consequences and the impact to his life of this newfound reality of being expelled from the people that he had known and loved and grew up with. His self-esteem will be sinking, his courage will be deflated.

Perhaps this man is in despair at this point in time. No doubt he is in a fragile state. And then John tells us that Jesus knew that he was cast out. So how does Jesus deal with this calamity? At this stage, I can ask you the question.

How would you respond? How would you deal with a situation like this? What would you say? Brothers and sisters, being in the pastoral ministry, one becomes familiar with how delicate and fragile situations can be, people can be, difficulties that we go into. I'm always prayerful that the Lord will give faithfulness and the words to say that I remain faithful to the Scripture, faithful to Christ, to say the right things in the right times.

But this is not, counseling others is not simply only exclusively for pastors and elders and shepherds. I'm sure every one of you has been confronted with situations where you've had loved ones and friends, relatives, maybe wives or husbands, children, maybe colleagues who have come to you and sought counsel with you because of a calamity they have been going through. because of what they've been struggling with, the difficulties and the trials, the issues that they're going through, whether they're physical or spiritual, it matters not. I'm sure at times you felt the weight of the responsibility that would be on your shoulders at that point in time of providing answers, when they're looking to you to relieve some pain. This man, right now, is in a world of pain.

How does our Lord principally deal with him in the situation that he's in? Because, beloved, I want to tell you this evening that there is God's way and there is the world's way of counseling others. Of coming alongside a brother or a sister or a friend and speaking words with the intention to relieve whatever tension is in the soul. And if we're not careful in approaching these situations, it is so easy to slip into the world's way rather than God's way. Or maybe sometimes we mix the two together.

And let me tell you, brothers and sisters, that if we are ones to approach these situations to counsel and to be alongside and exhort our friends and our brothers and sisters or family members or whoever you may be, and if we choose to go down the path of the world, there is no substance there. It is empty there. What does the world say in a situation like this? What would the world say in a situation when confronted with someone who's going through so much pain and difficulty, contemplating these difficult circumstances as this man is right now before our Lord? Don't worry.

Things are going to get better. Trust me. It's all going to work out. It's okay. Just look up.

Maybe one leans towards hope, and it's okay, you've been excommunicated, but just give the Pharisees some time. They're probably just hot-tempered. I'm sure, give them a day or two. They'll come back, and they'll restore you back into the community. Just give them some time.

Don't worry about it. It may take a day or two or a week or three. You'll come back. Perhaps one is more of a realist. Okay, so you've been excommunicated.

That's a big deal. Don't worry. Don't worry. All you need to do is go to another town. I heard Samaria is lovely.

You just need to go over there and find a place there to live, and I'm sure you'll find work there, and then you'll find yourself a lovely lady to marry, get together, procreate, start a family. It's all gonna be great. You'll forget about Jerusalem altogether. It's gonna be tough, but you'll be okay. There's more examples I can give you.

But beloved, in a word, all those examples are fluff. They're empty. They have no substance to any of them. They're cotton candy. You put a little bit of water on them and they reduce down to nothing.

There's nothing to grip on. There's no substance in them. They're just mere words. And I get the temptation, beloved. I do get the temptation.

speak these things, because you come alongside someone who's hurting, and there's nothing more in your heart that you want to see than relief of that pain that they're going through. You don't want to be insensitive. There's pain, there's hurt, there's anguish, there's anxiety, there's stress, there's worry, and you love them, and you know the words of the Apostle Paul, who says that the whole law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor as yourself. And you want to come beside these people, and you want to show them the love, and you want to show them compassion, and you want to show them sympathy. You want to feel their pain.

And that's good, we ought to do these things. That ought to be our attitude. But if that's not met with truth, then it's empty. We're called to speak the truth in love. Truth in love.

And here's another one. You and I are not God. We don't know. We don't know what the future holds for these people. We don't know if the Pharisees are going to come down and calm down and then restore this man back into the community.

We don't know that if he finds his way to Samaria, that he'll find a good job and find a wife and get married and start a family and be productive and then forget completely about what took place in Jerusalem. We don't know. And if we don't know and we give the world's wisdom, And what we're doing is we're giving false hope. We're basing all our counsel on a whim or on a impulse. That's the world's way.

It gives false hope. It lifts self-esteem. It's a pep talk, and it's meaningless from the mouth of a person who doesn't even know what's going to happen in an hour, let alone the future of that person. Beloved, if that's what we're thinking, we would be better off, and let me submit to you, one would be far better off to approach the situation as Job's first of three friends approached the situation. when they first met with Job when he was entering through this horrendous suffering.

He had four friends, but initially three. And you might say, but brother, the book of Job is 42 chapters. The three friends said a lot in those 42 chapters. What do you mean? What did they say that was true?

Well, let me tell you what they said in the first week. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. For seven days they did not open their mouth. They simply came alongside Joe and they wept with him.

It showed him compassion. It showed him sympathy. But I submit to you that there is a better approach. There is the best approach, and the best approach is one that is emulated or exampled for us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we found here in verse 35. Now a few weeks ago I said from this exact pulpit that if you ever find yourself struggling with any difficulty, whether it's physical, Mental, spiritual, financial, it matters not.

If you find yourself struggling with any difficulty and you seek counsel through anyone, whether it's your pastor, or your friend, another brother, or whoever it is, and that person does not direct you to Christ, run away. Run away. There can be a place for practical considerations below it. But not before the heart of the matter is dealt with. And always, it's always a matter of the heart.

And the heart is only dealt with, or the remedy for the heart is always Jesus Christ. Every single time, no matter what you're going through, the remedy is Christ. Point them to Jesus. Point them to Christ. There's substance in Christ.

There's reality in Christ. There are promises in Christ. And in the promises of God, there's reality in Jesus Christ. Whether they're Christian or non-Christian, it matters not. Your job is easy, and so is mine.

You come alongside them, and you point them to Jesus. Point them to Christ. God, if they're in Christ, and you point them to Jesus, as Jesus is doing here, the example that our Lord has just given us, if you point them to Christ, and they're in Christ, and the tribulations they're going through, the difficulties and the hardships that they're going through, if the world is pressing them on all sides, and you honestly think a pep talk will satisfy the longings of their hearts, Do we honestly think that that's what they require? Self-esteem, uplifting self-esteem talk? Pep talk just to say, come back, she'll be right, mate.

No, if they're in Christ, they're looking for substance. They're looking for the only one who can satisfy the longings of the heart. If they're in Christ, they know the promises of God in Jesus Christ. They know that he's the bread of life and he's the only one who satisfies the longing of the soul. If they're in Christ, they know that he's the waters of life who says, come unto me, all who thirst, and he'll satisfy the longings of the heart, the thirst of the heart.

If they're in Christ, they know that Jesus is the one who says, um, all who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. If they're in Christ, I will find rest only in Christ. Point them. Point them to Jesus.

The world is pressing them in. And they're struggling They're going to be reminded of promises like in 1 John Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? What about if they're not in Christ? Like this man before us The answer is the same Point them to Jesus Point them to Jesus Point them to the one whom alone they're able to find eternal rest for the soul. Worldly wisdom will give them a sudden artificial psychosomatic boost.

But as I said earlier, there is no substance. It will deflate and leave them in despair, leave them empty. Don't do that. Point them to Christ. Do you believe in the Son of Man?

Do you believe in the Son of God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Point them to Christ. Because when you do point them to Christ, you're pointing them to the one who pleased the Father, the one who lives his life only in the pleasure of the Father. You're pointing to the one who is perfect in his compassion, the one who weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice.

The only one who ever truly and increasingly, or unceasingly, my apologies, loved God with all his heart, soul, and mind, and the only one who loved neither as himself. you're pointing to the one who even now has the world of words and vocabulary that he can use and he looks at this man in this moment who's in a world of pain and he looks at him and says, do you believe in the Son of Man? Do you believe in the Son of Man? Why would he ask that question? because eternity is in those words.

You see, our Lord is more concerned with the eternal than the temporal, although he doesn't neglect the latter. From a worldly point of view, the greatest need of the hour for this man is to navigate the horrific consequences of being excommunicated from the people there in Jerusalem. It was a catastrophe for the first century, we don't doubt that. but that's not the greatest need of the hour, and Jesus knows it. There's something far more terrifying to consider, one with greater urgency, with consequences that reach into eternity.

This chapter before us is meant to be seen on those two levels. What's seen with the eyes and is temporal, and what is unseen with the physical eyes, and with consequences that lead into all eternity. The former is a picture of the latter. The chapter is not simply about the removal of physical blindness from a man who has been born blind. So that he can spend the next 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years being able to see as glorious as that is.

This chapter is not about that. That was not his greatest need. But rather the light in action, the light of the world, Jesus Christ is removing, is removing, is more concerned in removing the spiritual blindness so that sight will be given for all eternity. Christ has eternity in view here of the temple. Not a pep talk to get them going for another day or two before they deflate.

But eternity in view, and he gives them substance, the only substance. That is Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. The greatest concern for this man in a world of pain is not being on the wrong side of the wrath of the religious leaders of the day.

It's a big deal, as I've said earlier when I'm downplaying it. And he'll endure it, he'll adjust his lifestyle for the next 50 years maybe, and he'll be removed from the old covenant people of God temporarily for a lifetime, but then that will come to an end. Greatest concern for this man is not to be on the wrong side of the wrath of the Pharisees, the religious leaders, but the greatest concern right now is to be on the wrong side of the wrath of God. the wrath of God that is rightfully and justly upon unrighteousness. The consequences of God's wrath is not excommunication from a temporal commune or temporal excommunication from a community in the first century Palestine, but the eternal separation from the presence of God, the eternal separation from the new covenant people of God, for all eternity whilst under the wrath of God, the righteous indignation of God that will be poured out upon sinners forever and ever and ever and it will not come to an end in a place called hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's the urgent need for the hour. to have his spiritual eyes open to recognize who it is that stands before him, to recognize that the light of the world has shone his light, to show him his sin, to show him his rebellion, to show him the depravity of his heart, to show him that the wrath of God is upon him, to show him that in and of himself he's unworthy, unworthy of the forgiveness of God. But then to turn his eyes upon Jesus Christ, the one in whom Jesus is declared, have you believed in the Son of Man? To see the beauty of Jesus Christ. Once he sees his absolute need through eyes that have been opened, the wretchedness of the soul in and of itself, he sees the beauty of Jesus Christ standing before him.

The only one, the only one who can propitiate for their sins or for his sin. The only one who lived a perfect righteous life. Our brother this afternoon, you've shared with us in the book of Deuteronomy about all the curses that will come upon people who break God's law. That is just. That is righteous.

You break one point of God's law and you've broken it all, the book of James tells us. Jesus is the only one who fulfilled the righteous law of God, not only in action, but in the heart. We don't know our hearts, they are just desperately wicked. and deceitful above all things. We know some, but we don't know it all.

He knows it all. We don't even know how much sin resides in our hearts. He illuminates. Sometimes, by the power of His Spirit, He does illuminate, and we can confess our sins and bring it to the one who's faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But until He reveals the deep sin that is within us, we don't even know how much sin we have in us.

We are so dependent upon Christ. We're so needy of Christ. We're so alone and under the judgment of God, apart from Jesus Christ. And Jesus looking upon this man, who's just received his eyesight, who's been excommunicated by the Jews, the Pharisees, and in everything he could say, he simply looks at this man and he says, have you believed or do you believe in the Son of Man? The turmoil, the calamity, the pain that you're going through now, it's real.

But let me tell you, your greatest need is to believe in me. Because apart from me, you'll be destroyed. Apart from me, there's no life. Apart from me, the wrath, the anger, the wickedness that you're seeing in these religious leaders who are supposed to be shepherds. The unrighteousness you see from their end and the recompense to what they think is lawful is nothing compared to what God is going to pour out on you if you don't believe.

Such gracious words. Such wonderful words. He's pointing this man to himself. He's the substance. He's the remedy.

There is no other remedy coming along some side, one who is experiencing all difficulty and hardship. Beloved, pointing that person to anyone other than Christ, and we're doing an injustice before the Lord. Because what the soul requires, whether they're in Christ or not, is Jesus. If you're not in Christ, like this man, he requires his eyes to be open to embrace Jesus in faith and say, Lord, I believe. Jesus becomes the Lord of his life.

All the promises of God, yes, and amen in Jesus Christ. All the blessings in the heavenly realm are found in Jesus Christ. Praise be to God when one looks upon Christ and says, Lord, Lord, I believe. And if you're a believer, then your eyes ought to be pointed to Christ daily. Because as our Lord said in John 15, I am the true vine, you are the branches.

And apart from me, you can do nothing. Those words are similar to what the words of this man said, apart from God, he can do nothing. He said to the Pharisees, this man who once was blind, to the interrogators that were before him. And Jesus is saying, I am the true vine, apart from me, you can do nothing. Do you believe in the Son of Man?

this man, he saw that the greatest need of the hour was to trust in him. The greatest need for this man standing before our Lord was not to be relieved in the moment of the difficulty he's suffering in that first century Palestine setting. Rather, the greatest need in the moment was to trust in Christ, to look upon Him in faith, and to say, Lord, I believe. And I submit to you, brothers and sisters and friends, that the greatest need of the hour is the same in the 21st century as it was in the 1st century. The greatest need, the single greatest need for everyone born in Adam is this.