The Death of Christ for His People
(No. 2656)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 7, 1900.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, IN THE
WINTER OF 1857.
"He laid down His life for us." 1 John 3:16.
Come, Believer, and contemplate this sublime Truth of God, thus
proclaimed to you in simple monosyllables–"He laid down His life for
us." There is not one long word in the sentence–it is all as simple as
it can be–and it is simple because it is sublime. Sublimity in thought
always needs simplicity in words to express itself. Little thoughts
require great words to explain them. Little preachers need Latin words
to convey their feeble ideas, but great thoughts and great expressers
of those thoughts are content with little words.
"He laid down His life for us." Here there is not much upon which any
man can display his eloquence. Here is little room for metaphysical
discussion or for deep thought–the text sets before us a simple yet
sublime Doctrine of God. What, then, shall I do with it? If I would
speak of it profitably to myself, since I need not employ my wit to
dissect it, nor my oratory to proclaim it, let me exercise my adoration
to worship it! Let me prostrate all my powers before the Throne of God
and, like an angel when his work is done and he has nowhere else to fly
at his Lord's command, let me fold the wings of my contemplation and
stand before the Throne of this great Truth and meekly bow and worship
Him who Was, and Is, and is to come–the great and glorious One who
"laid down His life for us."
It will be well for me, in commencing my discourse, to remind you that
there is no understanding the death of Christ unless we understand the
Person of Christ. If I were to tell you that God died for us, although
I might be telling you the truth and you might possibly not
misunderstand what I meant, yet I would be, at the same time, uttering
an error. God cannot die! It is, of course, impossible, from His very
Nature, that He could even for a moment cease to exist! God is
incapable of suffering. It is true that we sometimes use words to
express emotions on the part of God but, then, we speak after the
manner of men. He is impassive. He cannot suffer. It is not possible
for Him to endure anything, much less, then, is it possible for Him to
suffer death. Yet we are told, in the verse from which our text is
taken, "Hereby perceive we the love of God." You notice that the words,
"of God," are inserted by the translators. They are in italics because
they are not in the original. A better translation would be, "Hereby
perceive we love." But when we read, "of God," it might lead the
ignorant to fancy that God could die, whereas God could not.
We must always understand and constantly remember that our Lord Jesus
Christ was "very God of very God" and that, as God, He had all the
attributes of the Most High and could not, therefore, be capable either
of suffering or death. But then He was also Man, "Man of the substance
of His mother." Man, just like ourselves, sin alone excepted. And the
Lord Jesus died not as God–it was as Man that He gave up the ghost. As
Man, He was nailed to the Cross. As God, He was in Heaven, even when
His body was in the tomb. As God, He was swaying the scepter of all
worlds even when the mock scepter of reed was in His hand. And the
imperial robe of universal monarchy was on the eternal shoulders of His
Godhead when the soldier's old purple cloak was wrapped about His
Manhood. He did not cease to be God, He did not lose His Omnipotence
and His eternal dominion when He became Man–nor did He, as God, die or
suffer–it was as Man that He "laid down His life for us."
Come now, my Soul, and worship this Man, this God! Come, Believer, and
behold your Savior! Come to the innermost circle of all sanctity, the
circle that contains the Cross of Christ, and sit down and, while you
worship, learn three
lessons from the fact that "He laid down His life for us." The first
lesson should be–Did He lay down His life for us? Ah, then, my
Brothers and Sisters, how great must have been our sins that they could
not have been atoned for by any other price! Secondly, did He lay down
His life for us? Ah, then, Beloved, how great must have been His love!
He would not stop short anywhere until life, itself, had been resigned.
Thirdly, did He lay down His life for us? Ah, then, my Soul, be of good
cheer–how safe you are! If such an Atonement has been offered, if such
a sure satisfaction has been given to Almighty God, how secure you are!
Who is he that can destroy him who has been bought with the blood of
such a Redeemer?
I. Come, then, let me believingly meditate on the first sad fact. Did
Christ lay down His life for me? Then, HOW GREAT MUST HAVE BEEN MY
SINS!
Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, I will speak a little of my own experience
and, in so doing, I shall also be describing yours. I have seen my sins
in many different ways. I saw them once by the blazing light of Sinai
and, oh, my spirit shrank within me, for my sins seemed exceedingly
black! When the sound of the trumpet waxed loud and long, and the
lightning and fire flashed into my heart, I saw a very Hell of iniquity
within my soul–and I was ready to curse the day that I was born, that
I should have had such a heart so vile and so deceitful! I thought that
then I had seen the exceeding blackness of my sin. Alas, I had not seen
enough of sin to make me loathe it so as to leave it, for that
conviction passed away! Sinai was but a volcano and it was hushed to
silence–and I began to play with sin, again–and loved it as much as
ever.
I beheld another sight one day. I saw my sins by the light of Heaven. I
looked up and I considered the heavens, the work of God's fingers. I
perceived the purity of God's Character written on the sunbeams. I saw
His holiness engraved upon the wide world as well as revealed in
Scripture and, as I compared myself with Him, I thought I saw how black
I was. O God, I never knew the heinousness of my own guilt until I saw
the glory of Your Character! But now I see the brightness of Your
holiness, my whole soul is cast down at the thought of my sinfulness
and my great departure from the living God! I thought that, then, I had
seen enough. Ah, I had seen enough to make me worship for a moment, but
my gladness was as the early cloud and as the morning dew! Soon I went
my way and forgot what manner of man I was. When I had lost the sense
of the majesty of God, I also lost the consciousness of my own guilt!
Then there came to me another view. I beheld God's loving kindness to
me. I saw how He had dandled me upon the knee of Providence–how He had
carried me all my life–how He had strewn my path with plenty and given
me all things richly to enjoy. I remembered how He had been with me in
the hour of trial, how He had preserved me in the day of hurricane and
kept me safe at the moment of storm. I remembered all His goodness to
me and, struck with surprise at His mercy, I looked upon my sin in the
light of His Grace and I said, "O Sin, how base you are! What dire
ingratitude do you manifest against a God so profoundly kind!" I
thought, then, I had surely seen the worst of sin, when I had laid it
side by side, first, with the Character of God and afterwards with His
bounties. I cursed sin from my inmost heart and thought I had seen
enough of it. But, ah, my Brothers and Sisters, I had not! That sense
of gratitude passed away and I found myself still prone to sin–and
still loving it.
But, oh, there came a thrice-happy, yet thrice-mournful hour! One day,
in my wanderings, I heard a cry, a groan. I thought 'twas not a cry
such as came from mortal lips–it had in it such unutterable depths of
wondrous woe. I turned aside, expecting to see some great sight and it
was, indeed, a great sight that I saw. Lo, there, upon a tree, all
bleeding, hung a Man! I marked the misery that made His flesh all
quiver on His bones! I beheld the dark clouds come rolling down from
Heaven, like the chariots of misery–I saw them clothe His brow with
blackness! I saw even in the thick darkness, for my eyes were opened
and I perceived that His heart was as full of the gloom and horror of
grief as the sky was full of blackness. Then I seemed to look into His
soul and I saw torrents of unutterable anguish–wells of torment of
such an awful character that mortal lips dare not sip lest they should
be burned with scalding heat. I said, "Who is this mighty Sufferer? Why
does He suffer thus? Has He been the greatest of all sinners, the
basest of all blasphemers?" But a voice came forth from the excellent
Glory and it said, "This is My beloved Son, but He took the sinner's
sin upon Himself and He must bear its penalty." O God! I thought I
never saw sin till that hour, when I saw it tear Christ's glories from
His head–when it seemed, for a moment, even to withdraw the loving
kindness of God from Him–when I saw Him covered with His own blood and
plunged into the uttermost depths of oceans of grief! Then I said, "Now
shall I know what you are, O Sin, as never before I knew it!" Though
those other sights might teach me something of the dire character of
evil, yet never, till I saw the Savior on the Cross, did I understand
how base a traitor man's guilt was to man's God!
heir of Heaven, lift now your eyes and behold the scenes of suffering
through which your Lord passed for your sake! Come in the moonlight and
stand between those olives! See Him sweat great drops of blood. Go from
that garden and follow Him to Pilate's bar. See your Master subjected
to the grossest and filthiest insults! Gaze upon the face of spotless
Beauty defiled with the spit of soldiers! See His head pierced with
thorns! Mark His back, all torn, and scarred, and bruised and bleeding
beneath the terrible lash! And O Christian, see Him die! Go and stand
where His mother stood, and hear Him say to you, "Man, behold your
Savior!" Come you tonight and stand where John stood. Hear Him cry, "I
thirst," and find yourself unable either to relieve His griefs or to
comprehend their bitterness. Then, when you have wept there, lift your
hands and cry, "Revenge!" Bring out the traitors! Where are they? And
when your sins are brought forth as the murderers of Christ, let no
death be too painful for them! Though it should involve the cutting off
of right arms, or the quenching of right eyes and putting out their
light forever, do it! For if these murderers murdered Christ, then let
them die! Die terribly they may, but die they must! Oh that God the
Holy Spirit would teach you that first 1esson, my Brothers and
Sisters–the boundless wickedness of sin–for Christ had to lay down
His life before your sin could be wiped away!
II. Now we will come to the second head and here we will lift up our
hearts from the depths of sadness to the heights of affection. Did the
Savior lay down His life for me? We will read it, now, "He laid down
His life for me," and I pray the Lord to help each of you, by faith, to
read it so, because when we say, "us," that is dealing in
generalities–blessed generalities, it is true–but let us, at this
time, deal in specifics and say, each one of us who can do so
truthfully, "He laid down His life for me." Then, HOW GREATLY HE MUST
HAVE LOVED ME!
Ah, Lord Jesus! I never knew Your love till I understood the meaning of
Your death! Beloved, we, shall try again, if we can, to tell the story
of our own experience to let you see how God's love is to be learned.
Come, saint, sit down and meditate on your creation. Note how
marvelously you have been formed and all your bones fitted to one
another–and see love there. Mark next, that predestination which
placed you where you are, for the lines have fallen unto you in
pleasant places and, notwithstanding all your troubles, you have,
compared with many a poor soul, "a goodly heritage." Mark, then, the
love of God displayed in the predestination that has made you what you
are and placed you where you are. Then look back and see the loving
kindness of your Lord as displayed to you in all your journey up till
now. You are getting old and your hair is whitening above your brow,
but He has carried you all the days of old–not one good thing has
failed of all that the Lord your God has promised! Recall your life
story. Go back, now, and look at the tapestry of your life which God
has been working every day with the golden filament of His love–and
see what pictures of Grace there are upon it! Can you not say that
Jesus has loved you? Turn your eyes back and read the ancient rolls of
the Everlasting Covenant and see your name among the first-born, the
elect, the Church of the living God! Say, did He not love you when He
wrote your name there? Go and remember how the eternal settlements were
made and how God decreed and arranged all things so that your salvation
should come to pass! Say, was there not love there?
Pause at the remembrance of your convictions. Think of your conversion.
Remember your preservation and how God's Grace has been working upon
you in adoption, in justification and in every item of the New
Covenant. And when you have summed up all these things, let me ask you
this question–Do all these things produce in you such a sense of
gratitude as the one thing that I shall mention now, the Cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ? For, my Brothers and Sisters, if your mind is like
mine, although you will think highly enough of all these things that
God has given you, you will be obliged to confess that the thought of
the death of Christ upon the Cross swallows them all up! This I know,
my Brethren–I may look back, I may look forward–but whether I look
back to the decrees of eternity, or look forward to the pearl-gated
city and all the splendors that God has prepared for His own beloved
children, I can never see my Father's love so beaming forth, in all its
brilliance, as when I look at the Cross of Christ and see Him die
there!
1 can read the love of God in the rocky letters of the Eternal Covenant
and in the blazing letters of Heaven hereafter, but, my Brothers and
Sisters, in those crimson lines, those lines written in blood, there is
something more striking than there is anywhere else, for they say, "He
laid down His life for us." Ah, here it is you learn love! You know the
old story of Damon and Pythias–how the two friends struggled together
as to which should die for the other. There was love there. But, ah,
there is no comparison between Damon and Pythias, and a poor sinner and
his Savior! Christ laid down His life, His glorious life, for a poor
worm! He stripped Himself of all His splendors, then of all His
happiness, then of
His own righteousness, then of His own robes till He was naked to His
own shame! And then He laid down His life–that was all He had
left–for our Savior had not kept anything back.
Just think of that for a moment. He had a crown in Heaven, but He laid
that aside, that you and I might wear one forever. He had a belt of
brightness–brighter than the stars, about His loins, but He took it
off and laid it by–that you and I might eternally wear a belt of
righteousness. He had listened to the holy songs of the cherubim and
seraphim, but He left them all that we might forever dwell where angels
sing. And then He came to earth and He had many things, even in His
poverty, which might have tended to His comfort, but He laid down first
one glory, and then another, at love's demand. At last it came to
this–He had nothing left but one poor garment, woven from the top,
throughout, and that was clinging to His back with blood–and He laid
down that, also. Then there was nothing left. He had not kept back one
single thing. "There," He might have said, "take an inventory of all I
have, to the last farthing. I have given it all up for My people's
ransom." And there was nothing left now but His own life. O insatiable
Love, could you not stay there? He had given up one hand to cancel sin
and the other hand to reconcile us unto God. He had given up one foot
that we might have our sinful feet forever transfixed, and nailed, and
fastened–never to wander–and the other foot to be fastened to the
Cross that we might have our feet at liberty to run the heavenly race!
And there was nothing left but His poor heart–and He gave His heart
up, too–they ripped it apart with the spear and forthwith there came
out blood and water.
Ah, my Lord! What have I ever given You compared to what You have given
me? Some poor things, like some rusty farthings, I have given You, but
how little compared with what You have given me! Now and then, my Lord,
I have given You a poor song upon an ill-toned instrument. Sometimes,
my Lord, I have done some little service for You, but, alas, my fingers
were so dirty they spoiled what I intended to have presented to You
white as snow! It is nothing I have done for You, my Lord. No, though I
have been a missionary and surrendered home and friends. No, though I
have been a martyr and given my body to be burned, I will say, in the
last hour, "My Master, I have done nothingfor You, after all, in
comparison with what You have done for me! And yet, what can I do more?
How can I show my love to You, for Your love to me, so peerless, so
matchless? What shall I do? I will do nothing but–
"'Dissolved by Your goodness, I'll fall to the ground, And weep to the
praise of the mercy I've found!" That is all I can do, and that, by
Your Grace, I must and will do.
III. Now, Beloved, we will change the theme and go one note higher. We
have run a long way up the gamut and now we have reached the height of
the octave. But we have something else to get out of the text, "He laid
down His life for us." Did my Savior lay down His life for me? Then,
HOW SAFE I AM!
We will have no controversy, tonight, with those who do not see this
Truth of God–may the Lord open their blind eyes and show it to them!
That is all we will say. We, who know the Gospel, see, in the fact of
the death of Christ, a reason that no strength of logic can ever
shake–and no power of unbelief can remove why we should be saved.
There may be men with minds so distorted that they can conceive it
possible that Christ could die for a man who afterwards is lost. I say,
there may be such. I am sorry to say that there are still to be found
some such persons whose brains have been so addled, in their childhood,
that they cannot see that what they hold is both a preposterous lie and
a blasphemous libel! Christ dies for a man and then God punishes that
man again? Christ suffers in a sinner's stead and then God condemns
that sinner after all? Why, my Friends, I feel quite shocked in only
mentioning such an awful error! And were it not so current as it is, I
would certainly pass it over with the contempt that it deserves!
The Doctrine of Holy Scripture is this, that God is just, that Christ
died in the stead of His people and that, as God is just, He will never
punish one solitary soul of Adam's race for whom the Savior did thus
shed His blood! The Savior did, indeed, in a certain sense, die for
all–all men receive many a mercy through His blood–but that He was
the Substitute and Surety for all men is so inconsistent, both with
reason and Scripture, that we are obliged to reject the doctrine with
abhorrence! No, my Soul, how shall you be punished if your Lord endured
your punishment for you? Did He die for you? O my Soul, if Jesus was
not your Substitute and did not die in your very place, then He is no
Savior to you! But if He was your Substitute. If He suffered as your
Surety, in your place, then, my Soul, "Who is he that condemns?" Christ
has died, yes, rather, has risen again and sits at the right hand of
God, and makes intercession for us. There stands the
master-argument–Christ "laid down His life for us." And "if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by
His life." If the agonies of the Savior put our sins away, the
everlasting life of the Savior, with the merits of His death added
thereunto, must preserve His people, even unto the end!
This much I know–you may hear men stammer when they say it–but what I
preach is the old Lutheran, Calvinis-tic, Augustinian, Pauline,
Christian Truth of God–there is not one sin in the Book of God against
anyone that believes. Our sins were numbered on the Scapegoat's head
and there is not one sin that ever a Believer did commit that has any
power to damn him, for Christ has taken the damning power out of sin by
allowing it–to speak by a bold metaphor– to damn Himself, for sin did
condemn Him and, inasmuch as sin condemned Him, sin cannot condemn us!
O Believer, this is your security–that all your sin and guilt, all
your transgressions and your iniquities have been atoned for and were
atoned for before they were committed–so that you may come with
boldness, though red with all crimes, and black with every lust, and
lay your hand on that Scapegoat's head! And when you have put your hand
there and seen that Scapegoat driven into the wilderness, you may clap
your hands for joy, and say, "It is finished, sin is pardoned!"–
"Here's pardon for transgressions past,
It matters not how black their cast
And oh, my Soul, with wonder view,
For sins to come, here's pardon too!" This is all I need to know–did
the Savior die for me? Then I will not continue in sin that Grace may
abound, but nothing shall stop me of thus glorying, in all the Churches
of the Lord Jesus, that my sins are entirely removed from me and, in
God's sight, I may sing, as Hart did sing–
"With Christ's spotless vesture on,
Holy as the Holy One!"
O marvelous death of Christ, how securely do You set the feet of God's
people on the rocks of eternal love! And how securely do You keep them
there! Come, dear Brothers and Sisters, let us suck a little honey out
of this honeycomb! Was there ever anything so luscious and so sweet to
the Believer's taste as this all-glorious Truth that we are complete in
Him? That in and through His death and merits, we are accepted in the
Beloved? Oh, was there ever anything more sublime than this fact that
He has already raised us up together and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, far above all principalities and
powers, just where He sits? Surely there is nothing more sublime than
that, except it be that a master-thought stamps all these things with
more than their own value–that master-thought that, though the
mountains may depart and the hills be removed, the Covenant of His love
shall never depart from us! "For," says Jehovah, "I will never forget
you, O Zion." "I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; your
walls are continually before
Me."
O Christian, that is a firm foundation, cemented with blood, on which
you may build for eternity! Ah, my Soul! You need no other hope but
this–Jesus! Your mercy, my Savior, never dies! I will plead this Truth
of God when cast down with anguish–Your mercy never dies! I will plead
this when Satan hurls temptations at me and when conscience casts the
remembrance of my sin in my teeth! I will plead this always and I will
plead it now–
"Jesus, Your blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress." Yes, and after I die, and even when
I stand before Your eyes, You dread Supreme–
"When from the dust of death I rise,
To take my mansion in the skies,
Even then shall this be all my plea,
'Jesus has lived and died for me.'
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who anything to my charge shall lay?
While through Christ's blood absolved I am
From sin's tremendous curse and shame?" Ah, Brothers and Sisters, if
this is your experience, you may come to the Table of Communion now
right happily–it will not be coming to a funeral, but to a feast of
gladness! "He laid down His life for us."
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:
JOHN 9; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:15-33; 11:1.
We will first read about one of our Lord's miracles and then, as many
of us will be coming to the Communion Table, we will read about the
Lord's Supper.
John 9:1-3. 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. That is, the sin of the
man or of his parents was not the cause of his being blind.
3. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him. What a
very blessed way of looking at evil–as an opportunity for God to
manifest the power of His works of Grace by getting rid of it! I wish
that everyone here would look upon the evil within his own heart in
this very hopeful light and say, "There is something in me for God to
conquer. There is some spiritual disease in me for the great Physician
to heal. There is space in my poor soul for the Lord, Himself, to work
some miracle of mercy."
4-7. 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. You notice, Brothers and Sisters, that the
disciples wanted to know how the man became blind, but Christ removed
his blindness and gave him sight. I have known a great many puzzle
themselves about the origin of evil. Christ did not come to explain
that mystery–He came to put an end to evil. That is an infinitely more
practical objective than that of speculating about how evil first
entered the world, or how it entered any individual soul! He will tell
you how to get rid of it. What a blessed way of healing Christ used! He
could have spoken and the man's eyes would have opened at once. He who
said, "Let there be light," and there was light, in the first creation,
could have said the same thing to this blind man–and light would at
once have entered his eyes. Instead of that, He chose to use means, and
the means did not appear to be very likely to effect the cure. Jesus
covered the man's eyes with clay and bade him go and wash it off. Is
this the way to give him sight? Yes, Our Lord often uses means that
seem to be very unlikely to accomplish His purpose. But He always uses
the right means. Often, when He is going to open a man's eyes,
spiritually, He first makes him feel more blind than he ever was in all
his life. A sense of deeper darkness hangs over him just before the
dawn of eternal day! Perhaps even this very hour some words of mine,
human and imperfect as they are, may, nevertheless, have the Truth of
God in them, just as the clay was made efficacious by the spittle from
the Savior's blessed mouth. And if so, there will be healing work
worked among blind hearts tonight. God grant that it may be so!
8, 9. The neighbors, therefore, and they which before had seen him that
he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This
is he. Others said, He is like he. But he said, I am he. There is an
end of all question about the matter! He says, "I am the very man." No
one knew this better than he did and, therefore, he was the one to say
it.
10, 11. Therefore said they unto him, How were your eyes opened? He
answered and said, A Man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed
my eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash And I went
and washed, and I received sight. A very plain story, very well told.
It is the story of every soul that gets the eternal light. "Christ told
me to believe in Him. I did believe in Him and I received the
blessing." There are not many incidents in the narrative and there is
nothing very romantic–it is a simple and plain declaration of what
Christ had done for him. And, blessed be God, just as sight was given
to the blind man, Christ still gives salvation to all who trust Him!–
"There is life for a look at the Crucified One!
There is life at this moment for thee.
Then look, sinner–look unto Him and be saved–
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree!
It is not your tears of repentance or prayers,
But the blood that atones for the soul.
On Him, then, who shed it, believing at once,
Your weight of iniquities roll.
But take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once
The life everlasting He gives:
And know, with assurance, you never can die, Since Jesus, your
righteousness, lives."
12-14. Then said they unto him, Where is He? He said, I know not They
brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the
Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Oh, that He
would do the same thing, in a spiritual sense, this Sabbath day! On
another occasion, when He had worked a miracle on the Sabbath and the
Jews, therefore, sought to persecute Him and slay Him, He said to them,
"My Father works hitherto, and I work." The Sabbath day was often
Christ's chief working day–may He make it to be so again now!
15-17. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his
sight He said unto them, He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and do
see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This Man is not of God
because He keeps not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a Man that
is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They
said unto the blind man again, What do you say of Him, that He has
opened your eyes? He said, He is a Prophet There was no mistake about
that matter in the mind of the man whom he had healed–none but a
Prophet, mighty in word and deed, could have worked such a miracle as
that!
18-21. But the Jews didnot believe concerning him, that he had been
blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him
that had received his sight And they asked them, saying, Is this your
son, who you say was born blind? How, then, does he now see? His
parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son and that
he was born blind, but by what means he now sees, we know not; or who
has opened his eyes, we know not He is of age, ask him: he shall speak
for himself. And so he did. He was one of those people who can speak
for themselves and it is greatly to be wished that many more of those
who have been cured by Christ could do the same! He was a conscientious
man, who, outside fear of offending or any desire to curry favor, spoke
out honestly what he knew–nothing more.
22-27. These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jews: for
the Jews had already agreed that if any man did confess that He was
Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his
parents, He is of age; ask him. Then again called they the man that was
blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise; we know that this Man is
a sinner He answered and said, Whether He is a sinner or not, Iknownot.
One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, nowI see. Then said they
to him again, What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? He
answered them, I have told you already, and you didnot hear: why would
you hear it again? Will you also be His disciples?He was a sharp,
ready-witted man who was not to be enticed into making any rash and
unguarded statements. He knew what he did know and he kept to that. And
whenever any of you are assailed by the enemies of Christ, you will do
well to imitate this man and neither be abashed by their frowns and
sneers, nor yet be too ready to cast your pearls before swine!
28. Then they reviled him. That is the usual way with the men of the
world–when they cannot beat a man in argument, they begin to call him
bad names. "They reviled him."
28-31. And said, You are His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We
know that God spoke unto Moses: as for this Fellow, we know not from
where He is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a
marvelous thing, that you know not from where He is, and yet He has
opened my eyes. Now we know that God hears not sinners. That is to say,
He does not work miracles by them. He does not hear their prayers and
give them the power to open blind men's eyes.
31-33. But if any man is a worshipper of God, and does His will, him He
hears. Since the world began it was not heard that any man opened the
eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, He could
do nothing. Christ could not have given sight to the blind man if He
had not, Himself, come from God. This was good reasoning and it would
have been convincing if the objectors had been willing to be convinced
by the truth.
34. They answered and said unto him, You were altogether born in sins,
and do you teach us? ' 'Holy and learned people like us Pharisees–do
you set up to be our teacher?"
34-38. And they casthim out Jesus heard that theyhadcast him out and
when He had foundhim, He said unto him, Do you believe on the Son of
God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on
Him? And Jesus said unto him, You have both seen Him, and it is He that
talks with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him.
Then was his cure, indeed, complete! He had seen Christ spiritually as
well as naturally, and fell at His feet and worshipped Him as the Son
of God.
39-41. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that
they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made
blind. And some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words,
and said unto Him,
Are we blind, also? Jesus said unto them, if you were blind, you would
have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains.
1 Corinthians 10:15-19. I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of
the body of Christ?For we being many are one bread, and one body: for
we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh:
are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What
say I then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered in
sacrifice to idols is anything? After they had offered the beasts as
sacrifices to their idols, it was the custom to sell the carcasses in
the shambles. Christian men, going into the market to buy meat, and
asking no questions, bought and ate portions of these sacrifices, and
they did no wrong whatever. But there were some in the Church who were
very tender of conscience and who said, "If we eat meat which has been
offered to idols, we thereby become partakers with the idolaters." Paul
therefore writes:–
20, 21. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that you should
have feelowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and
the cup of devils. I t cannot be–there must be a separation between
these two things. We cannot have any delight in idol-worship and yet
worship the Christ of God.
21-28. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table, and of the table of
devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all
things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his
own, but every man another's wealth. Whatever is sold in the shambles,
that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: for the earth is the
Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not
bidyou to a feast, andyou are disposed to go; whatever is set before
you, eat, askingno question for conscience sake. But if any man says
unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake
that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof. So, you see, you may eat the meat if you
like, for the idol is nothing at all. But still, if you are told that
it is meat that has been offered to idols and that you, by eating of
it, seem to join in the worship of idols, abstain from doing it–not
for your own sake, but for the sake of the man who might be caused to
stumble through you. This is a safe rule with regard to Christian
behavior in many other things. There may be things lawful in drink as
well as in meat which a man may take without sinning. But if he knows
that his example leads others astray, then let him take heed that he
does not set such an example! An example which is an excuse for
drunkenness is not a good one. Therefore, let none of us set it before
the eyes of men. If any man says to you, "This meat has been offered in
sacrifice to idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for
conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness
thereof."
29. Conscience, I say, not your own, but of the other: for why is my
liberty judged of another man's conscience? That man may not be able to
do it without injury to himself, but I may, and I have liberty to do
so. But yet, as a Christian, I am to consider his need of power, and I
am not to use my liberty lest I do harm to my brother.
30, 31. For if I by Grace am a partaker, why am I evilly spoken of for
that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And if anything you might
do would not glorify God, do not do it!
32, 33. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles,
nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in all things, not
seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 11:1. Be you followers of me, even as I, also, am of
Christ.