The Man Blind from Birth — John 8-9

0:00 It's great to have the opportunity again to open God's word with you. We're continuing our series in the book of John. And this week brings us to John chapter nine, which is the story of the man healed of blindness. And what's different about this one is that it's very specific, that he was blind from birth. As we'll get into a little later on, as is discussed in this chapter, if I could loosely paraphrase, no one has ever heard of a man being healed from blindness from birth.

0:38 Okay? So, it it would seem at first glance that there's something we're supposed to get out of that. If you were here last week, Bruce Henning was in chapter eight, and he made a very interesting remark that I had actually been thinking about. The more I in the gospels, and I read things that involve the Pharisees, I've been coming to the realization myself that I don't think they're really that far off in a lot of respects. And I actually think to myself, if I was alive back then, would I have been one of them, or would I have been one of their followers?

1:28 Bruce, the terminology he used last week was that, really, if you think about it, the Pharisees were the right wing conservative bible thumpers. And it's really quite true. They they were the religious people. They were the ones who knew the scriptures. They were the ones that everybody looked up to for leadership.

1:48 And and if anyone knew anything about the Christ, knew anything about religion and everything, they were it. They were the right wing guys. They were the Bible thumpers. They were the ones who really knew their stuff. And we always put them aside as these these evildoers, which they were.

2:09 Christ criticized them so many times, for for their lack of hindsight in so many areas. But as I study this and as I read the rest of the gospels, I always think to myself, would I have been any different? And I don't know that I would have been. I don't know that I would have been. So I I get very convicted of of pushing them away and doing the, thank you, Lord, that I'm not like one of them.

2:39 And I think Abe made reference to that last time he spoke once. Let's bear that in mind. I really appreciated what Bruce had to say last week, giving a little bit of background about the Pharisees, and that it comes into play here. So while we look at them and can say, boy, they are really pathetic. Let's try not to forget where they're coming from.

3:03 I'm not trying to condone them or give them excuses, but, they they needed help, clearly. But, they they weren't quite so far off as as we might have been had had we been there. So let's read the first part of John nine. I'm gonna read, it it it's kind of split nicely at verse 12, and then we have another little section from verse 35 on. I am going to cover the whole chapter.

3:33 So let's read the first 12 verses, and then we'll get into it.

3:39 Just a little

3:40 background. This came just after Jesus had his big dissertation, argument, confrontation with the Pharisees in the temple. That's what just happened. They just picked up stones to throw him because he just claimed to be God. He said, before Abraham was, I am.

3:58 And they picked up stones to stone him, and he just slipped out. And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.

4:55 Others were saying, this is he. Still others were saying, no, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the one. Therefore, they were saying to him, how then were your eyes opened? He answered, the man who was called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash.

5:12 So I went away and washed, and I received sight. And they said to him, where is he? He said, I do not know. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again.

5:23 We thank you for who you are. We thank you for your son. We thank you for your word that we have that reveals your son to us. We thank you for the book of John we are studying, and we are reminded of John's purpose in writing his gospel is that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of god, and that believing we might have life through his name. We ask for your blessing as we open your word, ask that you would speak to us, that you would open our hearts, that that you would impart your spirit on us, and that we would hear the things that you would have us to say.

5:53 I pray that you would bless my fumbling lips, that that you would somehow work in the spirits of those here, that they might hear past me and hear the words that you have to say. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So Jesus is leaving the temple. And as he passed by, he sees a man blind from birth.

6:16 I assume John includes this miracle to somehow make it seem more miraculous. There was absolutely no way that he could have been healed from his blindness. We, even today, see instances of people who could see had some kind of trauma, some kind of head trauma or accident, and they're blind for a while, and then over time their sight returns. That kind of stuff happens, or people need glasses when they're young, and then you get older, and then you don't need glasses anymore. So that kind of stuff happens.

6:46 So I think John's indicating this to really drive a little point home. He was born blind. Okay? There's no way that that he's he's recovering from this. And so the disciples are with him, and they see this guy.

7:01 And so they go, who sinned? So their dialogue here really reminds me of Job and his friends. They they look at this man as some strange, unsolvable riddle. You show no interest in actually helping him, but let let's get to the the cause of his condition. You know, what can we learn from this guy?

7:28 You know, did he sin before he was born? Was it his parents' fault? You know, let's get into this. Of thinking about helping him or doing anything, they they get into the theological nitty gritty of it. And so Jesus goes right past that.

7:47 He says, neither this man nor his parents. That's not that's not what this is about. He wants to show a different way. Doesn't dwell on theological puzzle. He doesn't dwell on on on the background.

8:01 He doesn't speculate, but he wants to put his effort on helping him. Spurgeon said, it is ours not to speculate, but to perform acts of mercy and love according to the tenor of the gospel. Let us then be inquisitive... I'm sorry. Let us then be less inquisitive and more practical, less for cracking doctrinal nuts, and more for bringing forth the bread of life to the starving multitudes.

8:32 The disciples... And and sometimes we fall into this trap too. We often can think that the more... When there's an extraordinary sufferer, some kind of extraordinary sufferer, there must be some kind of extraordinary sin involved. And sometimes that is the case.

8:52 We know that God disciplines his sons. That's written in James, and I believe elsewhere. So that is true to a sense, but it doesn't necessarily mean that that must be the reason. Here we are, Job's friends. It must be because you sinned.

9:10 No, it isn't. The disciples believed this so heartedly that that the man must have been... He must have sinned before he was born, and that caused his blind condition. They were so thinking about divine retribution that they couldn't get past the same blindness that Job's friends had. So the real point that we can understand as we get through this passage is that God overruled this disaster of a child being born blind.

10:13 So, as was mentioned at the at the first meeting, why was pharaoh, the the pharaoh that was the ruler of Egypt, the pharaoh that enslaved the Egyptians, why was he brought up? Before the pharaoh that oppressed the Egyptians, there were pharaohs that were friends with the Israelites. And then God raised up this one and hardened his heart. Why? So that he could show himself.

10:41 That's what it's about. He doesn't want to oppress his children for no reason. It's not... He he he's not spiteful. We know that.

10:50 Yes, we are punished for sins. He disciplines us. He corrects us. But he allows things into our lives. He allows disasters to happen so that he can show himself to his children, the believers, but also to the unsaved.

11:08 So that you can see the face of God through his working it out at the end. We are so obsessed with the here and now. Everybody is. Our culture is. We as believers can often get way too tunnel vision about this is what's happening right now.

11:22 And it's it's so hard, even as believers, to remember that God's got this. There there's something way going on way in the future here, and I'm gonna trust. I'm gonna hang on because I know he's gonna show me something awesome. And the unbelievers can't see that. The unbelievers don't get that.

11:38 And so that's also why God allows this, is because even those who haven't accepted Christ yet, he wants them to see his glory. He wants them to see what he's capable of. The fact that he can allow something terrible to happen so that he can show something greater later. In verse six, when he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and applied the clay to his eyes and said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. This is undoubtedly one of Christ's more unusual methods leading up to a miracle.

12:19 And I think John's emphasis here is that he's he's trying to bring home the point of compassion rather than the creation here. I think he's including this in such a way that the... For the blind man, the touch of a friendly hand would be reassuring, and the weight of the clay being applied to his eyes would serve as an indicator that something had been done, something had happened, and also as an inducement to obey Jesus' command. It's worth it to note, as we go through the Gospels and we read about all the miracles and and the signs that Jesus did, that Jesus never used a single stereotyped approach. Every miracle is done in a different way, somehow either leading up to it, miracle itself, or the kinds of things that came after.

13:17 He dealt with each case differently because each one has to be tailored to the needs of the one who he was dealing with. He says, go wash in the pool of Siloam. So in this miracle, Jesus takes all the initiative. He's the one that came to the blind man. We don't really know how far away this man was from the temple.

14:01 The blind man did not come to him. But even still, Jesus expected the blind man to receive and obey his command with faith filled obedience. He still expected something from the man. It wasn't just heal, here you go. You don't have to do anything.

14:18 So we can see this a little bit as a picture, this process of salvation in the gospel and and being... The process of being born again. Jesus comes to us. Jesus does the initiative. So we understand that Christ has made our ultimate sacrifice.

14:37 He has paid for everything, all of our sins, past, present, and future. But then he, through the Holy Spirit, has to enact upon us. He calls us, but then it's not it. We still have to do something. We still have to accept that gift.

14:57 Not many people would appreciate having mud rubbed in their eyes, particularly that which was made from spit. It probably wasn't much. Okay? I don't know how much spit he sat there and wadded up and... It probably wasn't much.

15:14 Okay? But it was it was enough. And and not many people would have appreciated it. Of course, the man who was blind didn't really know what it was. Maybe he did.

15:23 Those people who were born blind have some really crazy... Their their other senses are super, super heightened for the lack of that. So I I I had a blind friend in college. Great, great friend, but you see the kind of stuff you... You know that.

15:38 Weird. But, anyway, so some people could look at how Jesus did this miracle and object. You could say it's offensive. It's inadequate. It's harmful to rub mud...

15:49 Dirt, first of all, and then the saliva with the bacteria from your mouth. Come on. This is not this is not a good thing to do. Okay? But in the same way, everybody feels...

16:00 I'm sorry. Not everybody. Many. And and the unsaved, the gospel is offensive or ineffective, inadequate. It is true that what offends man's pride and human wisdom is is the gospel.

16:21 The gospel offends man because we have to do something. We have to prove ourselves. We have to show ourselves. We have to make a name for ourselves. Okay?

16:31 We have to do certain things. And and the gospels throws away all of that and says, it's by grace. There are no works involved in this. There's there's nothing involved. It's a gift.

16:43 That that's it. You try so hard to not make it a gift anymore. You're making it a favor. You did all this, therefore, I'll give you this. And you try so hard because that helps us because then we get this really big gift because we did God this great favor.

16:59 And that's not what it is. First Corinthians one twenty one. You don't have to turn there. For since in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, that's almost sarcastic, did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. In the same way, those that feel that the gospel is inadequate have all the psychiatric and and social and political programs done any more good than the life changing truth of the gospel?

17:41 Absolutely not. So we can look both, in retrospect, looking at this method of miracle, but also try to enter the minds of those that were there and going, what in the world? You know, it was sufficient. It was perfect. God had a purpose in it.

18:23 We can't say for sure that this guy was at the temple wall. Like I said, we know that Jesus was leaving the temple and then saw this man, so I don't really have a distance. But from the nearest temple wall, the pool was a thousand yards. So they were somewhere within a thousand yards, could have

18:36 been less than that.

18:37 I don't know. But the blind man comes back, Jesus is gone at this point, and he sees his neighbors in verse eight. And those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying, is this not the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying, this is his. So others were saying, no, but he is like him.

18:55 He kept saying, I am the one. The neighbors somehow don't know who he is. I don't really get that because this... I like to paint a picture in my mind of some sort of tight, close knit community in each particular city. I could be totally wrong about this.

19:13 But I have this feeling that a lot of people would have known this guy. Not only because just as a as a neighbor, as as a family member, but also as the guy who used to sit and beg, as they say. So they would have seen this guy sitting all the time on their way to and from the temple or or wherever, and somehow they suddenly don't recognize him, which I don't get. I can only think of it as now that he can see, and he has his life's been turned around, you know, maybe he used to sit and was dusty and dirty. People kicked up dirt.

19:47 He just always kind of looked grungy. And maybe after this he showered and started running around and just like, his demeanor is so different. Maybe he cut his hair. I don't know. But somehow his neighbors don't recognize him anymore.

20:00 Some do. And some others are like, nah, can't be. Come on. Therefore, were saying to him, how old then were your eyes opened? The man who was called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash.

20:14 So I went away and washed, and I received sight. Now the man who was born blind does not know who Jesus is. Like I said, he hasn't seen Jesus after he received sight. He doesn't know who Jesus is. Somehow he knew that the man who was called Jesus did it, but he hasn't seen him.

20:31 He doesn't know anything else. He doesn't know where he went. He doesn't know anything about him. So we get to the next section. Verse 13.

20:40 They brought to the Pharisees him who was formerly blind. Now it was the Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Again, therefore, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received his sight. He said to them, He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed and I see. Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.

20:59 But others were saying, How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? Then there was a division among them. They said, therefore, to the blind man again, what do you say about him, since he opened your eyes? And he said, he is a prophet. The Jews, therefore, did not believe it of him that he had been aligned and had received sight, until they called his parents of the very one who had received the sight, and questioned them, saying, Is this your son who you say was born blind?

21:21 Then how does he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees, we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him.

21:32 He is of age. He can speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. For this reason, his parents said, he is of age. Ask him.

21:47 So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He therefore answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that whereas I was blind. Excuse me.

22:00 Now I see. They said, therefore, to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

22:10 You do not want to become his disciples too, do you? And they reviled him and said, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that god has spoken to Moses but as for this man, we do not know where he is from. The man answered and said to them, well, here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he hears him.

22:36 Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him and said to him, you were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us, and they put him out. So at the start of this section... So all the neighbors presumably bring them over to the Pharisees, because the Pharisees, of course, are gonna know what the heck.

23:04 Because they're the religious leaders, they're the ones who know all this stuff, they're the ones who know the scriptures, they can interpret all the hocus pocus and stuff. So, they take him to the Pharisees. And John makes a note that it was on the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and then we get a little further down the Pharisees say he can't be God because he broke the Sabbath. I wonder if it was very incredibly deliberate of Jesus to perform all of these miracles on Sabbaths. It's not just in the book of John, but you look in the other gospels too.

23:40 I should have done a count out of how many and done a percentage of how many of his miracles were done on Sabbath. And I would... I just... He must have had some humor. He must have had a little bit of humor.

23:54 He broke the Sabbath like at least four ways on this day. Okay? He... It was against the law to heal or or administer medicine of any kind if it was a non life threatening situation. The Jews were allowed to do something in the event that it was life threatening.

24:15 But if it wasn't, tough luck. Okay? So he did something. He healed a condition that was not life threatening. He made clay, mud.

24:26 So he made something. He created something. He had to kind of work it. He had to knead it together. You were not allowed to knead dough on the Sabbath day.

24:37 Like I said, the pool was about a thousand yards from the nearest temple wall. So if they were, in fact, somewhere near the temple, they weren't allowed to walk that far on the Sabbath. They weren't allowed to walk over a thousand yards. So the fact that Jesus told this man to walk further than the Pharisees said they were allowed to is another Sabbath breaking. Again, that's not I can't back that up.

25:03 It doesn't say that, but it's there anyway. So breaking the Sabbath in all these ways according to the Jews. Now, of course, we can read the law that they have. We have the law. It doesn't say anything about any of those things about the Sabbath.

25:20 So these are all things that they make up to further their own ends. So he's not aligning with all their traditions and and principles and breaking the Sabbath in all these ways and and and then determined that he can't be from God because he's not aligning with their principles. They're saying he's a sinner. Well, not because he actually broke anything in the law. And as we see all over the gospels, no one could ever actually accuse him of a single sin.

25:52 They could accuse him of breaking their own tradition. They do that all the time. But they couldn't actually accuse him of anything because he didn't actually break the law. I mean, how awful would it have been if he actually came breaking the law of Moses? I mean, if he was doing all this stuff that was strictly forbidden in the law, it would have completely changed his testimony.

26:11 But he doesn't. He never actually breaks the law. So we get to verse 18. I'm I'm kind of skipping a lot because we got time to work with, and I got a lot to get through. So in 18, we get to the point where the Jews therefore did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight.

27:20 And and and so they figure, nope. He must have never actually been blind. Let's call his parents in here, and we'll see if they're all part of this same conspiracy theory. So they call his parents in, and they question them. Now, we see a couple verses later that they call the son back in.

27:39 So, they sent the son out. You can't have the son and his parents in here together because that's tag teaming and they're gonna do something bad. So they send the son out and say, okay, bring the parents into the courtroom, whatever it was, and say, okay, we're we're gonna have this whole, you know, executive board of directors up here coming after two people, and you better tell the truth. Was this kid really blind from birth? And I say, yeah.

28:02 And they're petrified. And John goes into detail and explains it for us, I don't have to say it. Why? You know, but we do have to understand that the whole excommunication being put out of the temple, that was a really huge deal. It was.

28:16 The Jews... The Pharisees really had everybody wrapped around their finger. They really did because they create all of these little sub points underneath every single law. Everything that's in the book of the law, they create every little sub point. Section a, point one, letter b, Roman numeral two.

28:39 There it is. Can't do that. You know? So they they create all this stuff, and people are scared out of their wits, and they had already decided, as as we can see in here, that the Jews had said, anyone who confesses that Jesus is God will be put out. And that's like, it's that communication.

28:55 It's not just that you can't go to the temple. It's like you're supposed to be, you would be shunned by your own family. This was a really huge deal. So the parents didn't want to say anything about it. They said, yes, this is actually our son.

29:07 Yes, he was born blind. Now talk to him. We got nothing nothing to do with it because they didn't they did not wanna get involved. Now, this should have persuaded the pharisees. The testimony of the parents.

29:24 Yes. This is our son. This is. And, yes, he was born blind. That should have persuaded them that there was something going on, that there was something going on with Jesus, but it doesn't.

29:37 They didn't hear the answer they wanted, and so they continue this hostile interrogation. Verse 24. So a second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. Now that is a very strong admonition to tell the truth. We don't really have an equivalent in English as what this is in the Greek, and and what it was to a Hebrew, but it's it's a very it's a very strong admonition to tell the whole truth.

30:08 It's saying, okay. You're holding something back. Give it to us now. Give God the glory. We know this man is a sinner.

30:17 Okay. Not because he broke any law that was actually in the Hebrew scriptures, but because he didn't fit the little traditions. And they say this despite the evidence, not because of it. Give glory to god. We know that this man is a sinner.

30:34 And the man says, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. So they ask again. They ask again. What did he do to you?

30:48 How did he open your eyes? And this is interesting because this man who was born blind would have probably had no education at all. As we know that he used to sit by the road and beg. He had no formal education at all. He was not...

31:10 I don't know what his lineage was, what family he was from. He was not only not a Pharisee, but he didn't even know anything. And they would have known that. But in this little simple wisdom, he says, I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

31:34 He says, if you ask the same question, you'll get the same answer. You guys, I was blind. Now I see. They won't... The the pharisees refused to face the facts.

31:47 And of all the people who could interpret these facts, they're supposed to be the ones. And they can't help but display their contempt for Jesus. They reviled him and said, you are his disciple, but we are the disciples of Moses. How's that grab you? We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we don't know where he's from.

32:36 That has now eclipsed the fact that I was blind and now see. The fact that you are that thick. The little title that I put on my on my outline here is how thick can you get? And if anybody gets a movie reference, you get 10 points at the end. But how thick can you get?

33:01 The man's emphatic you, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. His you there is is so emphatic and carries this little bit of sly irony that you, the religious leaders, cannot figure this out. You can't work out this simple thing. This is so simple. I was blind.

33:29 I was born blind. Now I see. He told me... He put some on my eyes. He told me to wash it off.

33:33 And I came back seeing. You can't figure this out. And he goes on to say, gives a nice little... He gets up on on his little podium, and he gives this great little couple verses. We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he hears him.

33:54 Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. Now, let's be careful here because he says... Part part of what he says is is true. Part of it isn't.

34:13 We know that god does not hear sinners. Well, we do know for a fact that he does. God is not... God hears the prayers of all people. We know that he does.

34:27 He is not inclined to grant requests to unbelievers and doesn't... Isn't working in their lives, but he does hear them. And he can, if he chooses, hear a prayer, act upon it, and call out to someone through that means. So that little footnote aside, Spurgeon said, the man's statement was in one sense true and in another sense false. God is certainly under no obligation to hear the prayer of the man or woman in rebellion against him.

35:03 Yet, in his mercy and for his ultimate wise purpose, he may hear the unrepentant sinner. Yet the man's statement was completely true in this sense. If Christ had been an impostor, it is not possible to conceive that God would have listened to his prayer and given him the power to open the blind man's eyes. Well put. And so, the Pharisees, after the man gets off his little podium, they revile him and say, you were steeped in your sins from birth.

35:38 You were born in your sins as if they weren't. Whatever. They're they're so mad that they can't even think clearly or process. They refuse so hard. They refused so hard, and you teach us, and so they put him out.

36:17 Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, we are not blind too, are we? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin.

36:46 But since you say, we see, your sin remains. The religious leaders reject the man that Jesus healed. So Jesus makes it a point to go find him. We can deduce that Jesus found him in the first place and initiated this miracle. Jesus took whatever particular road it was to find him in the first place.

37:15 And now that he's been rejected, this man has actually bore testimony to God in front of the Pharisees, and he's been rejected. He's he's kind of endured some persecution. And now Jesus makes it a point to find him. Jesus calls on the man to fully believe, and he does. And when the healed man displays his loyalty to Jesus in front of the Pharisees and then fully believes, he says, Lord, I believe, Jesus reveals more of himself to the man.

37:54 So he's dealing with this man very differently than most. Jesus is dealing with this man born blind very differently. He meets the physical need. Then he allows him to endure persecution. And then he calls him to a specific belief.

38:12 Like I said at the beginning, Jesus uses different methods, different things leading up, a different actually type of miracle, and then different things after for for different people. And this was important to this man. And throughout this chapter, if I give you a little recap, this blind man shows this increasing awareness of Jesus that a lot of us might have have figured out by this point or at least seen. But he says, first, that Jesus is a man. That's in verse 11.

38:45 In verse 17, he admits that Jesus is a prophet. Okay? In 27, he's... He basically says, Jesus is my master, and I am his disciple. When he says, do you want to be his disciples too?

39:00 So he admits to being a disciple. Then he says in verse 33, Jesus is from God. He admits that Jesus is the son of God in 35 through 38. Then Jesus becomes he who I trust in verse 38. And then at the end of verse 38, it's the Jesus whom I worship.

40:01 But those who see see might be made blind. Those who claim to have spiritual sight but don't. Those who are conscious of their spiritual blindness and grieve by it can find relief in Christ. They can be healed of their spiritual blindness by accepting Christ. But those who are content with the spiritual light that they think they have will lose even that.

40:35 One more quote from Spurgeon. I like Spurgeon a lot, in case you didn't know. I always quote Spurgeon every time I'm up here. Spurgeon said, take a homely illustration from myself. I used to be very backward in using spectacles for some time because I could almost see without them, and I did not wish to be an old gentleman too soon.

40:56 But now that I cannot read my notes at all without wearing spectacles, I put them on without a moment's hesitation and do not care whether you think me old or not. So when a man comes to feel thoroughly guilty, he does not mind depending on God. There is a great difference between the one who is blind and knows it and the one who simply shuts his eyes. To be so self deceived as to shut one's eyes to the light is a desperate state to be in. The light is there, but if people refuse to avail themselves of it, but rather deliberately reject it, how can they be enlightened?

41:37 As Jesus said, their sin remains. Let's think about that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for this time that we've had to open your word. We ask that you would help us, The old, the young, we all need spiritual sight.

42:01 We all need your help. We need your spirit to show us the way. Forgive us for thinking that we can see the light when really we don't. We might not be able to see your full plan. We ask that you show us the way and that you give us the grace and the patience to see your way.

42:20 We ask that you heal us of our spiritual blindness and and help us in our walk to see your son, to see the lord Jesus Christ as the son of god and that in believing, we can have life through his name. We thank you for this time and ask that you bless us. In Christ's name, amen.