Good morning, all you non-secret rapture folks.
Delighted to have you still.
I hope you'll hang in there until the
real one takes place.
Let's turn, please, if you will, to the
Gospel by John, chapter 8.
John's Gospel, chapter 8, and we'll read from
verse 12.
Omitting the first paragraph of John, chapter 8,
coming down to verse 12.
I am the light of the world.
Now turn over to chapter 9, verse 1.
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 hath 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 cometh when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world.
Chapter 12, chapter 12, and reading
from verse 31.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out, and I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me.
This he said, signifying what death he should
die.
The people answered him, We have heard out
of the law that Christ divided forever, and
how sayest thou the Son of Man must
be lifted up?
Who is this Son of Man?
Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little
while is the light with you.
Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness
come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not
whither he goes.
While ye have light, believe in the light,
that ye may be the sons of light.
These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did
hide himself from them.
And then farther down now in the same
chapter, chapter 12, verse 46.
I am come a light into the world,
but whosoever believeth on me should not abide
in darkness.
Now, it's quite evident to you all, I'm
sure, that the Absolute that we're going to
consider this morning come from these words of
our Lord in chapters 8, 9, and 12,
when he said again, I am, another of
the I am's of the Absolute, and he
said, I am the light of the world.
Let me remind you, if I may, that
this again is in the eternal present tense.
Our Lord continues to be what he said
he was in those days, and he ever
shall be, even in the millennial age to
come, and for all the ages to come,
he will be the light of the world.
Not only will he be the light of
the world, but he will be the light
of the heavenly city, as you know, for
the Lamb is the lamp thereof, as we
read in our closing chapters.
I want to just look briefly with you
this morning, well, it's not going to be
so brief, it's going to be kind of
long, long for the, I don't know why
the poor morning congregation has to suffer more
time than the evening one, but that's the
way it is.
It's just the way it is.
And so please blame those who are in
the administrative capacity of arranging these things.
I'm just doing what I always do, I'm
just doing as I'm told.
Well, almost always.
Always when I'm home, anyway.
Sometimes I stray away from that when I
get away from home, but I want to
notice the circumstances, the setting under which the
Lord made this statement, I am the light
of the world.
In chapter 8, the story most of you
will know well, comes from chapter 7.
Chapter 7, when the Pharisees had got together
and they'd arranged for officers to go and
arrest Jesus of Nazareth.
And when they went to arrest him, as
you will recall, it was one of those
great feast days in the history of the
nation of Israel.
And the officers were standing around looking for
an opportunity to lay hands on Jesus of
Nazareth.
And as they came up to the close
of the feast activities, and they went down
the street of Jerusalem, pouring out the water
and saying, we are as water spilt upon
the ground that cannot be gathered up again.
You remember Jesus, it says in verse 37,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture
has said, out of his inward shall flow
rivers of living water.
This spake he of the Spirit, which they
that believed on him were to receive, for
the Spirit of God was not yet given
inasmuch as Christ was not yet glorified.
And the officers that had come from the
chief priests and the scribes, listening to these
words, were moved internally, moved emotionally, moved in
conscience as well, and they could not, they
did not find the strength either of will
or their arms to arrest the teacher.
He had done what he had done before,
and he was yet to do many times
again.
He was to sway his audience by the
power of his words.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture
has said, not will he be as water
spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered
up again, as the ritualistic ceremony of that
feast day prescribed, but he will be him
who will never thirst again, and we were
looking a little at that yesterday, weren't we,
at Syker's Well, and not only will he
not thirst again, but that which I shall
give him shall be in him, in him,
not taken upon him, but in him the
outflowing of rivers of water as generated and
compelled and carried on by the Spirit of
God himself.
Now, these words captured the imagination, evidently, of
the officers, and they could not take the
prisoner.
So they went back to the chief priests
and the scribes, and they said, Where's your
prisoner?
Why haven't you brought him?
Well, they said, Never a man spoke like
this man, and the chief priests and pharisees
were indignant.
They were disappointed, and they said, Are you
also deceived?
Why, these people that don't know the law,
they'd be deceived, but you should not have
been deceived, and in the council in the
Sanhedrin at that time, when they were arguing
thus, was the man who came to Jesus
by night.
Isn't it interesting how some of these early
characteristics carry on through one's life and one's
history, and we find that that which we
was, we are, and that which we determined
we would never be, we have continued to
be.
I remember my mother said about my father,
and my mother died at 86, and my
father died at 98, and my father had
little mannerisms at the table that my mother
did not appreciate at all, and she said
on one occasion she corrected him for something,
some little thing, rattling his fork against his
teeth, or some of those major infringements of
society and culture, you know.
So my mother said, I'll change him if
it's the last thing before I die.
Well, she died and didn't, and some of
these things, you know, that we are determined
ourselves to change before we die, we discover
they're cropping up, cropping up, and cropping up.
Here's a man who came to Jesus by
night, but that was some time ago, and
he's sitting in the Sanhedrin, and this is
Nicodemus, and Nicodemus steps into the arena, into
the ring, and he says, does our law
judge a man before he hears him?
Because they had never had an interview, you
understand, at this time with Jesus of Nazareth.
They were accusing him, they were indignant because
of his miracles and because of his sayings,
his words, and they were determined to kill
him if they possibly could, and they were
planning and scheming all kinds of ways in
which to do it.
And so Nicodemus comes to the defense, supposedly,
of the law, but as I understand it,
he's actually coming into the defense of him
whom he had visited by night, and who
had spoken to him concerning the new birth.
So they turned on him, and they said,
art thou also of Galilee?
Don't tell me that you, the teacher of
Israel, have now also been taken in by
this lowly Galilean prophet?
Arise and see, for out of Galilee arises
no prophet.
And the council was dismissed with that.
And then it says they went to their
own homes, and Jesus went to the Mount
of Olives.
But you know they didn't stay in their
own homes, as the subsequent passage regarding the
next morning early proves to us.
For the next morning early, as our Lord
goes to the temple, the people gather around
him, and he sits down to teach them.
And while he's teaching them, along come the
Pharisees, and they bring with them a woman
taken in adultery, and they set her in
the midst.
Now what is this?
This is a plot to succeed the previous
plot that was a failure.
This is another piece of strategy whereby they
are going to trap the Lord, take him
prisoner, and possibly accuse him, if they can,
under the sentence of death.
They have been scheming about this for some
time already, and this is the latest maneuver
in their strategy to kill him.
So when they went to their own homes,
I don't know how many of them did,
and I don't know how many of them
didn't, but I know some of them certainly
came out of their own homes afterwards, and
they got their heads together during the night,
and they planned this trap.
So they knew where to get this adulteress,
and they apprehended her in the morning, and
they brought her to the Lord, and they
said, now, Master, Moses in the law commanded
us this woman should be stoned because she
was taken in adultery.
What sayest thou?
Now, you see, it's one of those traps
which later on they laid for his feet
again, with a political overtones to it, but
this now is with legal overtones to it.
This is what Moses said in the law
we are to do.
We are to stone this woman to death,
but what sayest thou?
Had they heard his message before when he
said, You have read in the law this,
but I say unto you.
You have heard it said of the ancients
this, but I say unto you, and how
he added to, if not revoked at part,
that which their tradition had taught them concerning
the law.
So they said, well, this is what Moses
commanded us.
Now, what do you say?
They're looking for a way to trap him,
and they think they have something whereby he
cannot escape, but he said, what sayest thou?
And the Lord, if he were sitting at
the time that appears that he was, he
rises up off the seat where he's sitting,
and he stoops over, and he starts to
write on the ground.
Please, after the meeting, don't ask me what
he wrote.
I don't know.
I have heard a lot of speculations about
this, but what the scripture does not say,
I leave sometimes to a little bit of
hopefully sanctified imagination, but not in this case.
It's too touchy.
I remember I was having some messages at
one time with a large chart from the
Revelation, the book of Revelation, and I came
to the part of the seven thunders, and
we were reading about the seven thunders.
They uttered their voice, and John was going
to write the content of the message, the
voice of the seven thunders, and of course,
the angel said to him, seal it up
in the book and don't write it.
Leave it.
As Daniel was told to do with some
prophecies that he received, and don't write it.
So the voice of the seven thunders are
going to be left to be heard when
they are actually sounding.
So, would you know it, dear sister comes
along to me as a young lady.
She came along to me and she said,
Mr. Adams, please, I have a problem.
Would you please help me?
I said, yes, what is it?
Glad to do so.
She said, I want you to tell me,
what did the seven thunders say?
Yes, yes.
John wasn't allowed to write it, but I'm
supposed to know.
And that's the way it is, you see.
And this is what happens here.
This is what Moses said, but what do
you say?
And the Lord rose from his seat, stooped
over, and he wrote on the ground.
And I don't know what he wrote.
While he's writing on the ground, they see,
because you see, these judges of the woman,
the adulterous woman, are standing all around her
in a half-moon circle, just waiting to
thunder their condemnation.
And the Lord is writing on the ground,
and evidently they saw what he wrote, or
whether they did, I don't even know that
either, for that matter.
But when they saw him bypassing, they thought,
their question, and wouldn't answer it, then they
felt very smug about this.
You see, we have him in the trap.
He doesn't want to answer.
We know, as on previous occasion, he has
forgiven such things as this, and such women
as this woman.
And we know that in between, or amongst,
rather, his disciples, he has some such as
this woman is.
So, we have him trapped.
We know that he would like not to
have to answer this question, because he is
one who imparts forgiveness.
His words are words of grace.
They marveled, didn't they, in Nazareth, at the
words of grace that proceeded out of his
mouth.
So, they have him trapped, and he wants
to avoid it.
He won't face the issue, so he's facing
the ground, and they're looking at one another.
I can just see them, these long-robed,
long-bearded, long-faced Pharisees.
How else could they be?
And they're looking at one another across the
half circle, and they're very pleased, and there's
a twinkle in their eye, and there's a
knowing nod of the head, and so on
and so forth.
We're not going to let him out of
the trap this time.
So, they persist asking the Lord while he's
still writing on the ground, as though he
heard them not, but he did, of course.
So, when they persisted asking him, he rose
up, and he made a comment in a
very quiet, even, modulated voice, and he said,
He that is without sin among you is
going to be the first to cast a
stone at her.
And then he turned, and he continued writing
on the ground.
What happens?
It's what happens when light shines into a
dark cell.
That's what happens.
The light shining in.
What did he say?
He said, He that is without sin.
Did he say without the sin?
No.
He said, He that is without sin.
If you would be an executor of the
righteous law of God, make sure that you
are qualified to execute it.
You know, there's a difference between a sentence
being dictated and a sentence being executed.
That comes up in Hebrews chapter 2, doesn't
it?
Because the law that was given by Moses
was also given by angels.
And if the word spoken by angels was
steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a
just recompense of reward, how shall we escape?
But then, did every transgression receive the execution
of the sentence?
There's a difference between a sentence being dictated
and executed.
And if every transgression and disobedience of what
was spoken by angels, that sentence was dictated,
was it always executed?
You know, it wasn't.
It wasn't.
And if you're wondering what was actually what
was dictated by angels, you just have to
go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, and you'll
see there that when God gave the law
to Moses, he wrote with his finger, it
says, doesn't it, on the tables of stone
that he himself had carved and he wrote
the Ten Commandments, and he spoke these ten
words, and he added no more.
So, what Jehovah did with Moses the first
time on the mount, and there was another
time you recall, he gave Moses the Ten
Commandments on two tablets of stone carved by
the hand of omnipotence, and written upon them
by the finger of God were the Ten
Commandments.
These he spoke, says Deuteronomy, and added no
more.
Well, where did the rest of the law
come from?
It was given into the hands of angels,
as Galatians tells us, and as Hebrews also
indicates.
So, the moral code, the dietary code, the
social code that was given to the nation
of Israel, who spoke all that to Moses?
It was spoken by angels.
It was the administration of angels.
Now, the Lord is writing on the ground,
and as he's writing on the ground, they
persist in asking him until he made that
statement, and then he turned away from them.
He never looked at them, each in the
eye, when he said, he that is without
sin among you, let him first cast the
stone at her.
He merely spoke over again, and left the
light to shine in to the darkened consciences
of these who would be her executors as
they were her accusers.
So, one by one, was there any whispering
amongst them?
I don't know.
What did he say?
He said, he that is without sin among
you, let him be the first to cast
the stone at her.
Did he say, without sin?
He said, without sin.
Now, what happens?
The light that shines in to these hardened
consciences of these accusing Pharisees begins to work
in their souls, as the word is so
divinely inspired, and often works in our hearts,
doesn't it?
Particularly when some of it jumps out at
us by the Spirit of God, and he
applies it to us.
And so, they begin to get restless.
They look at one another, then they look
at the ground, and they look at the
woman, and then they look away, and then
they decide that the best thing is to
get out of here fast.
One by one, beginning at the eldest, they
leave.
The Lord's not even looking at them.
He's not paying any attention to them.
He's writing on the ground, and the woman
is standing there, and finally they're all gone.
The whole circle has disappeared from the eldest
to the least, to the youngest of them.
And they leave, and they left the woman
alone.
Jesus was there, and the woman in the
midst.
Her condition, her position hadn't changed in the
least.
Her sin was still stamped upon her history,
and the guilt of it upon her conscience.
And she's standing there, and she's not moved
an inch from where she was when they
stood behind her with their accusations.
So, the Lord rises up again from writing
on the ground, and he looks at the
woman, and there she is, disheveled, disturbed, agitated,
and guilty.
And he said to her, woman, where are
your accusers?
Has no man condemned you?
Oh, you see, there's a difference between an
accusation and a condemnation.
They had accused her, but they weren't qualified
to condemn her.
And that's a very nice distinction.
It's a clear distinction, isn't it?
How easy it is to accuse.
How easy it is to criticize.
How easy it is to bring somebody else
under the focus of attention and accusation.
Accusation is one thing.
Execution is another thing.
And not one of them was qualified to
execute and carry out the accusations that they
made.
They could accuse all right, but they could
not condemn.
So, our Lord put the two words together.
He said, woman, where are your accusers?
Has no one condemned you?
And she said, no one, Lord.
He said, neither do I condemn you.
Neither do I.
What's he saying?
I could have.
He was the only one under those conditions
that could have.
There was another one there that could have
carried out the sentence which they had tried
to apply by their accusation under the law
of Moses.
But he could have, couldn't he?
He was the only one there without sin.
And I think sometimes, my brethren, we must
be certainly very cautious, mustn't we?
It's far easier to accuse than to execute.
We can accuse without being qualified to execute.
The sentence may be there.
Make sure we are qualified to execute it
if we bring the accusation.
So, he said to her, neither do I
condemn thee.
Neither do I.
They couldn't.
I could, but I won't.
And you know, I've heard it said, well,
the Lord just passed lightly over the adultery.
No, he didn't.
He said, go and sin no more.
He classified it for what it was.
He gave her the energy and the ability
and the peace of heart and strength of
spirit to not sin anymore.
He didn't condone it.
He didn't pass over.
He didn't treat it lightly.
He said what it was.
He called it what it was.
It was sin, but he also granted forgiveness
for it.
And in addition to granting forgiveness for it,
he also empowered her to rise above it
and to sin no more.
Now, after that little episode, what happens?
Then the Lord comes out with a statement
that we read here in John 12.
I am the light of the world.
And if you stop and think of the
setting in which he made that statement, you
see there are two things about light.
The first is that light reveals.
It was the light that shone into the
hearts of the accusers.
It was light that made them feel uncomfortable
in the presence of him who is going
to say, I am the light of the
world.
This is absolute light.
This is one of the absolutes that we
have, for our Lord is the light of
the world.
And when that light shines into a dark
area, as the hearts of the Pharisees unquestionably
were, then what does it do?
It reveals what had been hidden, what had
been secreted, what was condoned, what was held
under, even when they were accusing another.
So, light always does that, doesn't it?
Light reveals.
Light reveals that which is not known or
seen before the light comes in.
But when the light comes in, you see
everything clearly.
You know what's in that dark closet, and
in the dark closet of our hearts so
often, that's the first thing light does.
And there's another thing about light, and it's
perhaps the only thing, you may question this,
and you're welcome to question it, but as
far as I'm concerned, as far as I
can see, light is the only element in
the universe you can't contaminate.
And you can't contaminate light.
You can have pure water, and you can
contaminate it, and then you have to put
it through some RO process or whatever, you
have to filter in order to make it
palatable.
You can do that with water.
You can do that with a number of
elements, but you can't contaminate light.
It shines into the darkest hovel, and it
remains clean.
It's not contaminated by the circumstances under which
it is brought.
Light is not contaminated.
And he said, I am the light of
the world.
And then he went on to say, in
addition to that, he that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life.
What's he referring to?
Well, of course, you'd say he's referring to
the adulteress.
Yes, undoubtedly, she was walking in darkness.
And the light of life, which our Lord
himself said he is, he not only represents
it, he is the light of the world.
And when he in his person comes into
anyone's life, spirit, or home, or business, or
assembly, wherever he is, he is the light.
Beyond him there is no light.
He that follows me, said the Master, shall
not walk in darkness.
Oh, but you say, that's the adulteress.
Just a minute.
We're not finished yet.
Who else was there?
The Pharisees.
They were there.
You remember at the close of chapter 9,
the Pharisees are going to question the Lord
if they were still walking in darkness.
Unquestionably, they were.
And the darkness that reveals what is there
shone into their hearts, and brought that uneasy
feeling in the presence of the light of
the world.
They will not walk in hypocrisy, who move
in the light of the world.
They will not walk in ungrounded criticism, who
company with him who is the light of
the world, because not only does he say,
I am the light of the world, but
he speaks about the light of life.
And he that follows me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.
Light reveals, and then the second thing is,
light heals.
And that's the woman, isn't it?
Neither do I condemn thee.
Who's saying this?
The light of the world.
Who's saying this?
The one who knows what adultery is.
The one who knows sin in all its
ramifications is.
The one who is going to be made
sin for us.
This is the light that comes into the
sore, to the leprous, cancerous condition of the
heart and soul of man.
What does it do?
It reveals, but it heals.
That's what it did in the case of
the woman.
You see the contrast, of course, between the
Pharisees, her accusers, and the woman who was
the accused.
They were exposed to light that they could
not stand, and she was healed by the
light that she so sorely needed.
Light reveals, and light heals.
And our Lord said, I am the light
of the world.
Then he spoke about the light of life.
What is the light of life, do you
suppose?
Without which light there is no life, of
course, but the light of life is when
we walk in the light of his person,
in the light of his presence.
It is life.
Do you remember the words from Leviticus, chapter
18, I think it is, in connection with
the giving of the law, how God said
from then on, I think it's quoted four
times in the New Testament, the man that
does these things will live by them.
The man that does these things will live
in them.
What's he saying?
What is life?
Life is to walk in the light of
the law.
What is life now?
Life is to walk in the light of
him who is the light of the world.
And if a man does these things, he
will live by them.
What does that mean?
It doesn't say he's going to have eternal
life if he keeps the law.
No, but it said very clearly, and the
Lord repeated it himself when he was here,
the man that does these things will live
by them.
What is life really in its essence?
It is the fulfillment of the requirements of
the law of God.
And you know that underwriting the law, the
basis, the whole basis of the law of
Moses was that four-letter word, love, because
the whole law is fulfilled in this one
word, thou shalt love the Lord thy God
and thy neighbor as thyself.
He that loves the Lord his God will
not violate his Sabbath under the law.
He that loves the Lord his God will
not make another God to go before him
and to worship.
He who loves with his whole heart and
soul that which God has been pleased to
give him will love and live in the
light of love.
And he who loves his neighbor certainly will
not lie against him.
He will not covet what he has.
He will not steal from him.
He will not provoke him to wrath.
No.
Love is the underlying basis of the whole
law.
It took me a long time to see
that, you know, but then I learned slowly.
It took me a long time to understand
that the essence of the law was love.
It's the fulfillment of the love of God.
Now, what the light did in this case
was the light revealed, and then the light
healed.
Now, let's move over in our thinking now
to chapter nine, and here's the Lord is
walking down the streets with his disciples in
the city of Jerusalem, and as they walk
down the streets of Jerusalem, they see a
man that was born blind, and then these
geneticists, can I call them that, from the
sea of Galilee, these rustic folks from the
north who were considered uncouth and unlettered and
unlearned and uncultured, and who were despised by
the Jews from Judea, they said to the
Lord as they're walking along, see this man
was blind from birth.
Master, who sinned, this man himself or his
parents, that he was born blind?
Have you ever figured that one out?
Ever come to the bottom of that kind
of genetics?
How can a man sin so that he
would be born blind?
Is there any such thing as prenatal sin?
Well, what are they saying?
Or is there such a thing that sin
in life could be retroactive to the pre
-birth state?
How do you figure it out?
Some of these fishermen, you know, could ask
you a question or two, keep you busy
thinking.
Lord, who did sin, this man or his
parents?
Now, that his parents had sinned, of course,
that's the logical thing, we see that often,
don't we?
Parents may sin with the result that the
children are born blind or born defective, born
dysfunctional, or whatever the word is they're using
today, maybe born blind, like Beethoven.
There are many cases of this, aren't there?
A parent sinned and as a result of
that the children are born defective.
I can understand that part, but did this
man sin, Lord, that he should be born
blind?
I have to wait and ask some of
these fishermen, geneticists, when I get to heaven,
what they were thinking about that day.
But anyway, that's what they asked the Lord,
and the Lord said no.
No, he said neither did this man sin
nor his parents.
This man was born blind 40 years ago
or whatever, in order that the works of
God might be manifest in him.
Now, I want you to go back in
your thinking.
When this child was born, how did the
parents react to the birth of a blind
baby?
You say you don't know.
Well, there might be something a little later
on in the story that indicates how they
felt.
I know if I were to have had
a blind child born in my home, I
would have had a strong reaction to it,
I'm sure.
And these parents, they must have been disappointed.
This child that's born blind in their home
is destined to be a beggar.
He's destined to sit by the wayside begging
for the rest of his life.
And this is my son.
And I have got to look forward in
those days as they had to a son
who would constantly and eternally be a beggar.
They must have had very strong feelings.
Don't you think?
You parents and grandparents, have you had someone
like this?
We had a little interesting case about this
up in the assembly at Waynesville.
Some of you know we're here.
And I recall when these two young folks
were married and they were both blind.
The one was born blind and the other
was blind early in life by an accident.
And this man and this woman, they were
married.
And of course you know how the conversation
went around.
Let's hope they never have any family.
Can't you hear the ladies?
Oh, this is going to be terrible.
Why did they ever get married?
Why did the parents let them?
Shouldn't they know better than that?
What were they thinking about?
Let these two blind people get married.
Well, these two blind people got married.
And not only did they get married, but
they had a little business of their own.
And the father told me on more than
one occasion, he told me, he says, you
know, Brother Dave, they run their business.
I said, Pete, how do they run your
business?
He said, just fine.
I said, they were selling furniture and chairs
and stuff.
And we were out to see their little
furniture place one time.
And he said, not only that, but they
are so independent that they don't want us
to put a finger to this business at
all.
They are running their own business.
I said, how do they handle money?
Because some places, some countries, you know, the
bills are smaller and larger and so on.
Some of them, like in my country, they're
of a different color, but that doesn't mean
the blind people does it.
But here in the United States, they're all
the same size, they're all the same color,
they're all the same field.
How can you tell a five from a
10 or a 50?
So I said to the father, how in
the world do they handle money?
Oh, he says, no problem at all.
They handle money.
I said, how do they do it?
By the feel of it?
Or just how do they know what the
one dollar?
No, he says, they trust everybody.
Everybody tells them that this is a 10
or this is a 20 and so on.
And they keep their bills straight in the
till and so on.
So they were running this business.
And then one day we all heard in
the assembly that she was pregnant.
All horrors.
Now what's gonna happen?
Can't you hear the ch-ch-ch-ch
going around the whole place?
Well, then of course then they came and
you of course, and the baby was born.
The ladies couldn't wait to see if that
child could see.
I wonder, would she be born blind?
Wouldn't it be born blind until they knew
it was a she?
It was a little girl.
And then I remember we were there, my
wife and I were there the day that
the first the first time they brought the
child to meet so sir and Everybody was
just so I can picture a few this
that the older lady standing around the door
now when they saw the car drive up
sure enough mother got out with the baby
all wrapped up in her arms and so
forth and that they're all waiting to See
well it's nice to be open or will
it be closed, you know, it will be
a child or a kitten They all wanted
to know and Sure enough the mother comes
through the door and three or four that
he's standing looking at and guess what the
baby's asleep And guess what more slept all
through the service and slept till they went
home and nobody knew How it was devastating
they didn't find out Well, of course that
could only last so long you understand and
later on We just we learned was sure
a little girl can see she feels fine
she's he's lying and and she grew up
to be a little talk running around and
Then of course the ladies one know how's
the mother gonna handle this the child can
see and she can't How she goes so
what happened was?
She put a little bell on her, you
know, hi little bell on her so when
she's running around now, she knew where the
child was and The child got pretty smart
about that, you know So she got so
she could hold the bell and it wouldn't
ring and then she just run around on
her own It was all because there was
no sight no sight in the child I'm
the parents rather but the child had all
all the sight that she needed and she
learned to play some tricks on it You
can be sure as children only can in
a situation like that They did not have
the light of life She had the light
of life.
You see she could see like she could
see things She knew where everything was and
and she was able to manipulate him to
her own Benefit to and and trick the
parents very well if she could say the
letter.
Well, they had different schemes That's a longer
story still going on But however, I've been
thought about this in connection with the Lord's
statement he that follow me shall not walk
in darkness But you'll have the light of
life.
Here's a blind beggar at the side of
the road.
Is this life?
Is this living?
You wouldn't think so If you were a
blind beggar, I'm sure Even if you had
never seen better you knew there were there
was better you knew there were other things
that you couldn't do there were things you
had never seen and so the Lord pauses
With this man who's been born blind.
What's he going to do?
Well watch what he does And let me
suggest something to you watch the Lord's miracles
how he performed them because he didn't perform
miracles the same way every time No Why
he gave a man blind a way up
there in the north and Bethsaida and he
had to do it in two stages There's
a reason for that Remember that one?
So in this case the man sitting by
the by the roadside here the Lord spits
on the ground He makes clay of the
saliva and he puts it on the blind
man's eyes Did he ever do anything?
unnecessarily Did he ever do anything just for
the sake of doing it?
No, well, he must have a reason for
doing this Wouldn't he?
So he anointed the blind man's eyes with
clay Clay what it was the product of
his own mouth And he put he put
this on the blind man's eyes He didn't
do that at Jericho and Bartimaeus got his
sight He didn't do that at Bethsaida and
the blind man of Bethsaida got his sight.
Why is he doing it in Jerusalem?
They must have a reason for what did
the clay do to the blind man's eyes
It certainly did not improve his sight at
all Why did he do it in Jerusalem?
What's the reason for this?
He says to the blind man now go
to the pool of Siloam and wash So
he sent him away to the pool of
Siloam And you remember that this is the
whole story the subsequent story the man goes
down and he washes the clay off his
eyes And he opens his eyes and he
can see perfectly and he comes back see
Remember what he said later one thing.
I know whereas I was blind now I
can see And they're looking at him and
they're marveling at this and I look at
him and I say Why did the Lord
do it this way?
And why did he do it this way
in Jerusalem?
He never did it that way anywhere else
And then I have discovered that and thinking
about this that when the Lord healed blind
people and sometimes lepers people as well He
healed them in direct Association with the place
where he did it Bethsaida the place where
he done many wonderful works the place where
25% of his Apostles came from and
yet he had to take the man by
the hand and lead him outside the town
Before he could give him his sight back
and then when he got him outside the
town He had to do it in a
two-stage miracle Before the man why because
it was in Bethsaida now in Jerusalem.
What's he doing here?
He's adding to the man's seeming blindness with
the clay What was the sin of Jerusalem
you might ask?
What was the sin of Bethsaida to?
You might ask what were the conditions of
Jericho and Bartimaeus got his sight.
What was the sin of Jerusalem?
What was the crowning sin of Jerusalem?
All they saw Was the prophet from Nazareth
was Jesus of Nazareth the carpenter's son This
man that has never learned How can he
perform these things?
Why should we listen to him the ignorant
people that don't know the law?
They're deceived but we rulers we chief priests
and we scribes who know the law of
God We are not deceived by him.
This is only the carpenter from Nazareth.
What's that?
That's clay and the blind man dies What
was his humanity?
But when they discovered that he was the
Christ the son of the Living God as
they said in chapter 6 To whom shall
we go thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure But
thou art the Christ the son of the
Living God the scent one The eyes are
open and that made the difference didn't it?
I Am the light of the world he
said The light of the world was the
one who came from the light of the
father's presence He came to bring light that
we you and I as well might walk
not in darkness But in the light of
life and this is life my friends Walk
in the light of him who said I
am Absolute I am light So we pray
Our father we thank thee for being able
to come together to meditate in thy presence
Meditate upon thy word and the glorious wonders
of this glorious person The absolute I am
We thank thee that he is the light
that reveals and he is the light that
heals He is the light that brings to
us the opened eyes and the vision of
that which came from the skies Blessed by
people and all the activities today.
We pray as we commence to thee in
his name Amen