Simple But Sound
(No. 2955)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1863.
"One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." John 9:25.
DID it ever strike you how wonderfully calm and collected our Lord must
have been at this time? He had been preaching in the Temple, talking to
a multitude of Jews. They grew furious with Him–a number of stones
which were used in repairing the temple were lying about on the floor
and they took up those stones to cast at Him. He, by some means, forced
a passage and escaped out of the midst of them–and when He came to the
gate of the Temple with His disciples–who seem to have followed Him in
the lane which He was able to make through the throng of His foes–He
saw this blind man and, as if there had been no bloodthirsty foes at
His heels, He stopped! He stopped as calmly as if an attentive audience
had been waiting upon His lips–to look at the blind man. The disciples
stopped, too, but they paused to ask questions.
How like ourselves! We are always ready to talk. How unlike the Master!
He was always ready to act. The disciples wanted to know how the man
came to be blind, but the Master meant to deliver the man from his
blindness. We are very apt to be entering into speculative theories
about the origin of sin or the cause of certain strange Providences,
but Christ is always for seeking out, not the cause, but the
remedy–not the reason of the disease, but the way by which the disease
can be cured! The blind man is brought to Him. Christ asks him no
questions, but, spitting upon the dust, He stoops down and works the
dust into mortar. And when He has done this, taking it up in His hands,
He applies it to what Bishop Hall calls the eye-holes of the man (for
there were no eyes there), and plasters them up so that the spectators
look on and see a man with clay upon his eyes. "Go," said Christ "to
the pool of Siloam and wash." Some kind friends led the man who was
only too glad to go! Unlike Naaman, who made an objection to wash in
Jordan and be clean, the blind man was glad enough to avail himself of
the Divine remedy. He went. He washed the clay from his eyes and he
received his sight–a blessing he had never known before! With what
rapture he gazed upon the trees! With what delight he lifted up his
face to the blue sky! With what pleasure he beheld the costly, stately
fabric of the Temple and, I think, afterwards, with what interest and
pleasure he would look into the face of Jesus–the Man who had given
him his sight!
It is not my objective to expound this miracle, tonight, but well it
sets forth, in sacred emblem, the state of human nature. Man is blind.
Father Adam put out our eyes. We cannot see spiritual things. We have
not the spiritual optic– that has gone–gone forever. We are born
without it–born blind! Christ comes into this world and His Gospel is
despicable in men's esteem even as spittle–the thought of it disgusts
most men. Gentility turns on its heel and says it will have nothing to
do with it. And pomp and glory all say that it is a contemptible and
base thing! Christ puts the Gospel on the blind eyes–a Gospel which,
like clay, seems as if it would make men more blind than before–but it
is through "the foolishness of preaching" that Christ saves them that
believe! The Holy Spirit is like Siloam's pool. We go to Him, or rather
He comes to us–the convictions of sin produced by the Gospel are
washed away by the cleansing influences of the Divine Comforter and,
behold–we who were once so blind that we could see no beauty in Divine
things and no excellence in the crown jewels of God, begin to see
things in a clear and Heavenly light–and rejoice exceedingly before
the Lord!
The man no sooner sees than he is brought before adversaries and our
text is a part of his testimony in defense of the "Prophet" who had
worked the miracle upon him, whom, not as yet did he understand to be
the Messiah.
"One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." Although the
parables would furnish us an admirable topic, we prefer to keep to this
verse and linger upon the various reflections it suggests. I. We have
before us, in these words, AN UNANSWERABLE ARGUMENT.
Every now and then you and I are called into a little debate. Persons
do not take things for granted in this age and it is quite as well that
they should not. There have been ages in which any impostor could lead
the public by the nose. Men would believe anything and any crazy
maniac, man or woman, who might stand up and pretend to be the Messiah,
would be sure to have some followers! I think this age, with all its
faults, is not so credulous as that which has gone by. There is a great
deal of questioning. You know that there is some questioning where
there should not be any. Men who stand high in official positions and
who ought long ago to have had their faith established, or to have
renounced their position, have ventured to question the very things
they have sworn to defend! There is questioning everywhere, but to my
mind it seems, Brothers and Sisters, that we need not be afraid. If the
Gospel of God is true, it can stand any quantity of questioning. I am
more afraid of the deadness and lethargy of the public mind about
religion than any sort of enquiry or controversy about it. As silver
tried in the furnace is purified seven times, so is the Word of
God–and the more it is put into the furnace, the more it will be
purified–and the more beauteously the pure ore of Revelation will
glitter in the sight of the faithful! Never be afraid of a debate.
Never go into it unless you are well armed and if you do go into it,
mind that you take with you the weapon I am giving you tonight. Though
you may be unarmed in every other respect, if you know how to wield
this, you may, through Grace, come off more than a conqueror! The
argument which this man used was this, "Whereas I was blind, now I
see."
It is forcible because it is a personal argument. I heard a person, the
other day, use a similar argument. I had been laughing at a certain
system of medicine–and really, it seems to me pardonable to laugh at
all the systems, for I believe they are all almost equally as good or
bad as the others. The person in question said, "Well, I can't laugh at
it." "Why?" I asked. "Because," he said, "it cured me." Of course I had
no further answer. If this person had really been cured by
such-and-such a remedy, it was to him an unanswerable argument! And to
me, could he produce many other cases, it would be one that I would not
wish to answer. The fact is, the personality of the thing gives it
power. People tell us that in the pulpit, the minister should always
say, "We," as editors do in writing. We would lose all our power if we
did! The minister of God is to use the first person singular and
constantly to say, "I bear eyewitness for God that, in my case,
such-and-such a thing has been true." I will not blush nor stammer to
say, "I bear my personal witness to the truth of Christ's Gospel in my
own case." Lifted up from sin, delivered from bondage, from doubt, from
fear, from despair, from an intolerable agony –lifted up to
unspeakable joys and into the service of my God–I bear my own
testimony and I believe, Christians, that your force in the world will
be mightily increased if you constantly make your witness for Christ a
personal one!
I daresay my neighbor over there can tell what Divine Grace has done
for him. Yes, but to me, to my own soul, what Grace has done for me
will be more of an establishment to me for my faith than what Christ
has done for him! And if I stand up and talk of what God's Grace has
done for this or that Brother, it may do very well. But if I can say,
"I myself have proved it," here is an argument which drives in the
nail–yes, and clinches it, too! I believe, Christians, if you would
prevail when you have to argue, you must do so by bearing a personal
testimony to the value of religion in your own case, for that which you
despise, you can never persuade others to value. "I believed, therefore
have I spoken," said the Psalmist. Luther was a man of strong faith
and, therefore, he kindled faith in others. That man will never move
the world who lets the world move him, but the man who stands firm and
says, "I know, I know, I know such-and-such a thing because it is burnt
in my own inner consciousness"–such a man's very appearance becomes an
argument to convince others!
Moreover, this man's argument was an appeal to men's senses and hardly
anything can be supposed more forcible than that. "I was blind," he
said, "you saw that I was. Some of you noticed me at the gate of the
Temple. I was blind, now I see! You can all see that I can look at
you–you perceive at once that I have eyes, or else I could not see you
in the way I do." He appealed to their senses. The argument which our
holy religion needs at the present moment is a new appeal to the senses
of men. You will ask me, "What is that?" The holy living of Christians!
The change which the Gospel works in men must be the Gospel's best
argument against all opposers! When the Gospel was first preached in
the Island of Jamaica, some of the planters objected grievously to it.
They thought it an evil thing to teach the Negroes, but a
missionary said, "What has been the effect of your Negro servant, Jack,
hearing the Gospel?" And the planter said, "Well, he was constantly
drunk before, but he is now sober. I could not trust him, he was a
great thief–but he is now honest. He swore like a trooper before, but
now I hear nothing objectionable come from his mouth." "Well," said the
missionary, "then I ask you if a Gospel that has made such a change as
that in the man must not be of God and whether you ought not rather to
put your influence into its scale than to work against it?" When we can
bring forward the harlot who has been made chaste. When we can also
show the drunk who has been made sober, or, better still, when we can
bring the careless, thoughtless man who has been made sedate and
steady–the man who cared not for God, nor Christ who has been made to
worship God with his whole heart and has put his confidence in
Jesus–we think we have, then, presented to the world an argument which
they will not soon answer!
If our religion does no more in the world than any other, well then,
despise it! Or if men can receive the Gospel of Christ and yet live as
they did before and be none the better for it, then tell us at once so
that we may be undeceived, for our Gospel is not needed. But we bring
forward proofs t3o you! I hope, my Brothers and Sisters, there are
scores and hundreds here who are yourselves the proofs of what the
living Gospel can do! Many and many a story could I tell of a man who
was a fiend in human shape, a man who, when he came home from work,
made it an hour of peril–for his wife and children fled to hide from
him! And now that man–see him when he goes home–how he is welcomed by
his wife, how the children run down to meet him! You shall now hear him
sing more loudly than ever he cursed before! And he who was once a
ringleader in the army of Satan has now become a ringleader in the army
of Christ! I shall not say where he is sitting tonight. I should need
many fingers if I had to point out all such who are here. The Lord's is
the Glory of it. That is the argument, "Whereas I was blind, now I
see." Do we not know of some who when they came to make their
profession before the Church, said, "If anyone had told me, three
months ago, that I should be here, I would have knocked him down! If
any man had said I would make a profession of faith in Jesus, I would
have called him all the names in the world. I, become a canting
Methodist? Not I!" But Grace has changed the man–his whole life is now
different. Those who hate the change cannot help observing it. They
hate religion, they say, but if religion does such things as these, the
more of it the better!
Now we need, dear Friends, in the dark lanes and alleys of London–yes
and in our great wide streets, too, where there are large shops and
places of businesses–we need to give the groveling world this argument
against which there is no disputing, that, whereas there were some men
blind, now they see! Whereas they were sinful, now they are virtuous!
Whereas they despised God, now they fear Him! We believe this is the
best answer for an infidel age. What a deal of writing there has been
lately about and against Dr. Colenso! You need not think of reading the
replies to his books, for most of them would be the best means of
sending people to sleep that have ever been invented! And, after all,
they don't answer the man–most of them leave the objections untouched,
for there is a speciousness in the objection which is not very easily
got over. I think we would be doing much better if, instead of running
after this heathenish bishop, we would be running after poor sinners!
If, instead of writing books of argument and entering into discussions,
we keep on, each in our own sphere, endeavoring to convert souls,
imploring the Spirit of God to come down upon us and make us spiritual
fathers in Israel, then we may say to the devil, "Well, Sir, you have
stolen a bishop. You have taken away a clergyman or so. You have robbed
us of a leader or two. But, by the help of God we have razed your
territories, we have stolen away whole bands–here they are, tens of
thousands of men and women who have been reclaimed from the paths of
vice, rescued from the destroyer and made servants of the Lord!" These
are your best arguments. There are no arguments like them–living
personal witnesses of what Divine Grace can do!
II. We will now change our view of the subject. Our text presents us
with A SATISFACTORY PIECE OF KNOWLEDGE–"One thing I know, that whereas
I was blind, now I see."
An affectation of knowledge is not uncommon. The desire for knowledge
is almost universal–the attainment of it, however, is rare. But if a
man shall attain the knowledge of Christ, he may take a high degree in
the Gospel, a satisfactory degree, a degree which shall land him safe
into Heaven! Put the palm branch in his hand and the eternal song in
his mouth–which is more than any worldly degrees will ever do. "One
thing I know." The skeptic will sometimes overwhelm you with his
knowledge. You simple minds that have read but little, and whose
business occupations take up so much of your time that you probably
never will be very profound students, are often in danger of being
attacked by men who can use long words, who profess to have read very
great books and to be very learned in sciences–the names of which you
have scarcely ever heard. Meet them, but be sure you meet them with a
knowledge that is better than theirs! Don't attempt to meet them on
their own ground–meet them with this knowledge. "Well," you can say,
"I know that you understand more than I do. I am only a poor unlettered
Christian, but I have a something in here that answers all your
arguments, whatever they may be. I do not know what geology says. I may
not understand all about history. I may not comprehend all the strange
things that are daily coming to light, but one thing I know–it is a
matter of absolute consciousness to me–that I, who was once blind,
have been made to see." Then just state the difference that the Gospel
made in you. Say that once, when you looked at the Bible, it was a
dull, dry book. That when you thought of prayer, it was a dreary piece
of work. Say that now the Bible seems to you a honeycomb full of honey
and that prayer is your vital breath! Say that once you tried to get
away from God and could see no excellence in the Divine Character, but
that now you are striving and struggling to get nearer to God. Say that
once you despised the Cross of Christ and thought it a vain thing for
you to flee to–but that now you love it and would sacrifice your all
for it! And this undoubted change in your own consciousness, this
supernatural work in your own innermost spirit shall stand you in the
stead of all the arguments that can be drawn from all the sciences!
Your one thing shall overthrow their thousand things if you can say,
"Whereas I was blind, now I see."
Says one, "I don't know how that can be." Let me suppose that someone
has just discovered galvanism [electric shock] and I have had a
galvanic shock. Now, 20 people come and say, "There is no such thing as
galvanism. We do not believe in it for a moment." And there is one
gentleman who proves by Latin that there cannot be such a thing as
galvanism. And another proves it mathematically to demonstration. And
20 others prove it in their different ways. I would say, "Well, I
cannot answer you in Latin, I cannot overthrow you in logic, I cannot
contradict that syllogism of yours, but one thing I know–I have had a
shock of it–that I do know." And I take it that my personal
consciousness of having experienced a galvanic shock will be a better
answer than all their learned sayings. And so, if you have ever felt
the Spirit of God come into contact with you, (and that is something
quite as much within the reach of our consciousness as even the shock
of electricity and galvanism), and if you can say of that, "One thing I
know, which cannot be beaten out of me, which cannot be hammered out of
my own consciousness, that whereas I was blind, now I see"–if you can
say that, it will be a quite sufficient reply to all that the skeptic
may bring against you!
How often, dear Brothers and Sisters, are you assailed, not only by the
skeptic, but by our very profound doctrinal brethren? I know some very
great doctrinal friends, who, because our experience may not tally with
theirs, will sit down and say, "Ah, you don't know the power of vital
godliness." And they will write very severe things against us and say
that we don't know the great secret, and don't understand the inner
life. You never need trouble yourself about these braggarts–let them
talk on till they are finished. But if you do want to answer them, do
it humbly by saying, "Well, you may be right and I may be mistaken, but
yet I think I can say, 'One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now
I see.'" And I have known them to sometimes go to the length of saying
if we don't hold all their points of Doctrine and go the whole 18
ounces to the pound, as they do–if we are content with 16 and keep to
God's weights and God's measures–"Ah, those people cannot be truly
converted Christians, they are not so high in Doctrine as we are."
Well, we can answer them with this, "One thing I know, that whereas I
was blind, now I see."
And you young Christians sometimes meet with older Believers, very good
people, too, and very wise, and they will put you into their sieves.
Some of our Brothers and Sisters always carry a sieve with them and if
they meet a young Brother, they will try to sift him and they will
often do it very unkindly–ask him knotty questions. I always compare
this to a man's trying a newborn child's health by putting nuts into
his mouth–and if he cannot crack them, he will say, "He is not
healthy." Well, I have known very difficult questions asked about such
things as sublapsarianism, or supralapsarianism, or about the exact
difference between justification and sanctification, or something of
that sort. Now, I advise you to get all that sort of knowledge you can
but, putting all of it together, it is not nearly equal in value to
this small bit of knowledge, "One thing I know, that whereas I was
blind, now I see."
I have studied many and many an old Puritan book and tried to enrich my
mind with the far-sought lore of the writers of them, but I tell you
there are times when I would give up everything I have ever learned, by
nights and days of study, if I could but say for a certainty, "One
thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." And even now,
though I have no doubt about my own acceptance in Christ and my having
been brought to see, yet, compared with this piece of knowledge, I
count all the excellency of human knowledge–yes, and all the rest of
Divine knowledge, too–to be but
dross and dung, for this is the one thing necessary, the one
soul-saving piece of knowledge, "One thing I know, that whereas I was
blind, now I see."
My dear Hearer, do you see a beauty in Christ? Do you see a loveliness
in the Gospel? Do you perceive an excellence in God, your Father? Can
you read your title clear to mansions in the skies? You could not do
this once. Once you were a stranger to these things–your soul was dark
as the darkest night without a star, without a ray of knowledge or of
comfort–but now you see seek after more knowledge but, if you still
cannot attain it, and if you tremble because you cannot grow as you
would, remember this is enough to know for all practical purposes, "One
thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see."
III. We will again change our view of the subject. This is a MODEL
CONFESSION OF FAITH.
This blind man did not do as some of you would have done. When he found
his eyes, he did not use them to go and hunt out a quiet corner so that
he might hide himself in it–he came out boldly before his neighbors
and then before Christ's enemies, and said, "One thing I know, that
whereas I was blind, now I see." Why, there are some of you who, I
hope, have Grace in your heart, but you have not courage to confess it!
You have not put on your regimentals. I suppose you call yourselves
members of the Church militant, but you are not dressed in the true
scarlet–you do not come forward and wear the Master's badge and openly
fight under His banner. I think it is very unkind of you and very
dishonoring to your Master. There are not many who speak for Him and it
is a shame that you should hold your tongue. If He has given you eyes,
I am sure you ought to give Him your tongue! If He has taught you to
see things in a new light, I am sure you ought not to be unwilling to
confess Him before men! After so much kindness in the past, it is cruel
ingratitude to be ashamed to confess Him. You do not know how much you
would comfort the minister–converts are our sheaves and you who are
not added to the Church, do, as it were, rob us of our reward! No doubt
you will be gathered into God's garner, but then we do not know
anything about that–we want to see you gathered into God's garner here
We want to hear you boldly say, "Whereas I was blind, now I see."
Besides, you cannot tell how much good you might do to others. Your
example would move your neighbors. Your confession would be valuable to
saints and might be a help to sinners. Your taking the decisive step
might lead others to take it. Your example might be just the last grain
cast into the scale and might lead others to decide for the Lord. I am
ashamed of you, who were once blind, yet now see, but do not like to
say so! I pray you lay the matter to heart and, before long come out
and say, "Yes, I cannot withhold it any longer. Whereas I was once
blind, now I see!"
"Well," says one, "I have often thought ofjoining the church, but I
can't be perfect." Now this man did not say, "I was once imperfect and
now I am perfect." Oh, no! If you were perfect, we could not receive
you into church fellowship because we are all, ourselves,
imperfect–and we would fall out with you if we took you in. We don't
want those perfect gentlemen–let them go to Heaven–that is the place
for perfect ones, not here!
"Well," says someone else, "I have not grown in religion as I should
like. I am afraid I am not as saintly as I would desire to be." Well,
Brother, strive after a high degree of holiness, but remember that a
high degree of holiness is not necessary to a profession of your faith!
You are to make a profession as soon as you have any holiness–the high
degree of it is to come afterwards.
"Ah," says another, "but I could not say much." Nobody asked you to say
much. If you can say, "Whereas I was blind, now I see," that is all we
want! If you can but let us know that there is a change in you, that
you are a new man, that you see things in a different light, that what
was once your joy is now your sorrow, and what was once a sorrow to you
is now your joy–if you can say, "All things have become new." If you
can say, "I feel a new life heaving within my bosom–there is a new
light shining in my eyes. I go to God's House now in a different
spirit. I read the Bible and engage in private prayer after quite a
different fashion. And I hope my life is different, I hope my language
is not what it used to be. I try to curb my temper. I endeavor to
provide things honest in the sight of all men. My nature is different.
I could no more live in sin as I once did than a fish could live on dry
land, or a man could live in the depths of the sea"–this is what we
want of you.
Suppose now a person getting up in the church meeting, (and there are
scores and hundreds here who attend church meetings), and saying,
"Brethren, I come to unite with you. I know the Greek Testament. I have
also read a good deal in Latin. I understand the Vulgate. I can now, if
you please, give you the 1st chapter of Mark in Greek, or the 2nd
chapter of Exodus in Hebrew, if you like. I have also, from my youth
up, given myself to the study of the natural and applied
sciences. I think I am master of rhetoric and I am able to reason
logically." Suppose he then went on to say what he knew about business,
what a skillful tradesman he had been and, after going through that
should say, "I have a great deal of theological knowledge. I have read
the Fathers, I have studied Augustine, I could talk about all the
ponderous tomes that were written in the ancient times, I am acquainted
with all the writers on the Reformation and I have studied the Puritans
through and through. I know the points of difference between the great
Reformed teachers and I know the distinction between Zwingli and
Calvin"? I am sure, dear Friends, if a man were to say all that, before
I put it to the vote whether he should be admitted to church
membership, I would say, "This dear brother has not any idea of what he
came here for. He came here to make a confession that he was a living
man in Christ Jesus and he has been only trying to prove to us that he
is a learnedman. That is not what we want." And I would begin to put to
him some pointed questions– something like this, "Did you ever feel
yourself a sinner? Did you ever feel that Christ was a precious Savior
and are you putting your trust in Him?"
And some of you would say, "Why, that's just what he asked poor Mary,
the servant girl, when she was in the meeting five minutes ago!" All
that learned lumber is good enough in its place. I do not depreciate
it. I wish you were all scholars. I love to see you great servants in
the Master's cause, but the whole of that put together is not worth a
straw compared with this, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind,
now I see." And this is all we ask of you–we only ask you, if you wish
to join the church, to be able to confess that you are a changed
character, that you are a new man, that you are willing to be obedient
to Christ and to His ordinances. And then we are only too glad to
receive you into our midst. Come out, come out, I pray you! You who are
hiding among the trees of the forest, come forth! Whoever is on the
Lord's side, let him come forth! It is a day of blasphemy and rebuke.
He that is not with Christ is against Him, and he that gathers not with
Him scatters abroad. Come forth, come forth, you that have any spark of
love for God, or else this shall be your doom, "Curse you Meroz, curse
you bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help
of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty."
IV. And now, to conclude, my text may be used in another way, for it
sets before us A VERY CLEAR AND MANIFEST DISTINCTION.
You cannot, everyone of you, say, "One thing I know, that whereas I was
blind, now I see." My Hearers, solemnly, as in the sight of God, I
speak to you. Lend me your ears and may these few words of the Truth of
God sink into your hearts! Are there not some of you who cannot even
say, "I was blind"? You do not know your own blindness. You have the
conceit to imagine that you are as good as most people and that if you
have same faults, yet certainly you are not irretrievably lost! You
have no idea that you are depraved, utterly depraved, saturated through
and through and rotten at the core. If I were to describe you in
Scriptural language and say, "You are the man," you would be shocked at
men for giving you so bad a character! You are amiable, your outward
carriage has always been decorous, you have been generous and
benevolent and, therefore, you think there is no need for you to be
born-again–no necessity for you to repent of sin! You think that the
Gospel is very suitable for those who have gone into foul, open sin,
but you are too good, rather than too bad! O my Hearers, you are
stone-blind and the proof that you are so is this–you do not know your
blindness! A man who is born blind does not know what it is to lose
sight! The bright beams of the sun never made his heart glad and,
therefore, he does not know his misery! And such is your state. You do
not understand what it is that you have lost. What it is that you need.
I pray God to do for you what you cannot do for yourselves–make you
feel now, once and for all, that you are blind! There is hope for the
man who knows his blindness–there is some light in the man who says he
is all darkness–there is some good thing in the man who says he is all
foul. If you can say–
"Vile and full of sin I am"–
God has begun a good work in you! You know that when the leper was
afflicted with leprosy from head to foot, the priest looked at him and
if there was a single spot where there was no leprosy, he was unclean,
but the moment the leprosy covered him everywhere, then he was made
clean–and so you, if you know your sin so as to feel you utterly
ruined, lost estate, God has begun a good work in you–and He will put
away your sin and save your soul. Alas, there are many who do not know
that they are blind.
And yet I know, to my sorrow, there are many of you who do know that
you are blind, but you don't yet see. I hope you may–I hope you may.
To know your blindness is well, but it is not enough. It would be a
dreadful thing for you to go from an awakened conscience on earth to a
tormenting conscience in Hell. There have been some who have begun to
find out that they are lost here and then have discovered that they are
lost hereafter as well. I pray you, do not tarry long in this state! If
God has convinced you of sin, I pray you do not linger! I prayed
tonight that the Lord would save us, and He is now waiting. The way of
salvation–oh, how many times I have preached this! And how many times
more will it be necessary to tell you over and over again the same
thing? The way of salvation is simply this–trust Christ and you are
saved! Just as you are, rely upon Him and you are saved. With no other
dependence, with no other shadow of a hope, Sinner, venture on Him.
Venture wholly, venture now! I hear the wheels of the Judge's chariot
behind you. He comes! He comes! He comes! Flee, Sinner, flee! I see
God's bow in His awful hand and He has drawn the arrow to its very
head. Flee, sinner! Flee while yet the wounds of Christ stand open!
Hide yourself there as in the cleft of the Rock of Ages. You have not a
lease of your life, you cannot tell that you shall ever see another
Sabbath to spend in pleasure! No more warnings may ever ring in your
ears. Perhaps you will never have even another week-day to spend in
drunkenness and blasphemy. Sinner, turn! God puts this alternative
before some of you tonight–turn or burn! "Turn you, turn you from your
evil ways, for why will you die?" One of the two it must be–die or
turn! Believe in Christ or perish with a great destruction. "He that
being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and
that without remedy." And you who are awakened and convicted tonight, I
pray you to trust Christ and live!
The whole matter is very simple, "Whereas I was blind, now I see." Do
you, tonight, see that Christ can save you? Do you believe that He will
save you if you will trust Him? Then trust Him and you are saved! The
moment you believe, you are saved, whether you feel the comfort of it
or not–yes, and the thought arising from the full belief that you are
saved will yield you the comfort which you will never find elsewhere!
Have I trust in Christ, O my Soul? You know, O Lord, I have! You know I
have–
"Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on You."
It is written, "He that believes on Him is not condemned." Then I am
not condemned. Perhaps I feel at this present moment no joy, but then
the thought that I am not condemned will make me feel joy, by-and-by.
Yet I must not build on my joy, I must not build on my feelings, but
simply on this–that God has said, "He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved." I, believing in Christ am saved. And that is true of
you, also–you in the aisle over yonder. You by that door there, and
you behind me here. It is true of every man, woman, or child in this
place who has now come to put trust in Christ! It is true of the man in
the smock frock who did not intend to come here tonight, but who,
seeing the people, strolled in and who has been saying in his heart, "I
will believe. I will trust Christ." Well, then, you are saved, your sin
is blotted out, your iniquity is forgiven, you are a child of God, the
Lord accepts you–if you have really trusted Christ– you are an heir
of Heaven! Go and sin no more! Go and rejoice in pardoning love. And
God bless you, for Jesus sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MARK10:46-52; JOHN 9:1-7.
We have several records of blind men being cured by the Lord Jesus
Christ. One of them is in Mark 10:46-52.
Mark 10:46. And they came to Jericho: and as He went out of Jericho
with His disciples and a great number of people. For now His march to
the battle was like a triumphal march, which was, by-and-by, to be
attended with the waving of palms and the shout of Hosannas–"as He
went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people."
46, 47. Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side
begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. That is all
that the crowd called Him–"Jesus of Nazareth."
47. He began to cry out, and say, Jesus, You son of David, have mercy
on me! He had advanced much further than the mass of the people. To him
it was not "Jesus of Nazareth," but it was "Jesus, You Son of David."
49-50. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried
the more a great deal, You son of David, have mercy on me! And Jesus
stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind
man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; He calls you. And he,
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. Blind as he was, he
found his way to the Savior–I suppose the ears directed by the voice
helped him to do so.
51. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What willyou, that Ishould do
unto you? The blindman said unto Him, Lord, that I might receive my
sight. His request was plainly put, but it was most respectfully and
even adoringly addressed to Christ.
52. And Jesus said unto him, Go your way; your faith has made you
whole. You will find that it is often the Savior's way to thus give the
credit of His own work to the patient's faith. "Your faith," He says,
"has made you whole." Whereas, you and I, if we do a good thing, are
very anxious that nobody else should take the credit for it. We are
very willing to have all the honor put upon ourselves, but Jesus does
not say, "I have made you whole," though that was true enough, but,
"Your faith has made you whole." And why is it, do you think, that
Christ takes the crown off His own head to put it on the head of Faith?
Why? Because He loves Faith and because Faith is quite certain not to
wear that crown, but to lay it at His feet! Of all the Graces, Faith is
the surest to deny herself and ascribe all to Him in whom she trusts.
52. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the
way. Another of these records is in John 9:1-7.
John 9:1-7. And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from
his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin,
this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered,
Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God
should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of Him that sent
Me, while it is day: the night comes when no man can work. As long as I
am in the world, I am the Light of the world. When He had thus spoken,
He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in
the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way
therefore, and washed, and came seeing. I will not say anything now
about this miracle, as it will form the subject of my sermon. [The
exposition was before the sermon.]