We're turning to John's Gospel, chapter 9. As we're looking through this wonderful chapter, so much teaching in it from this sign miracle, the Lord Jesus Christ, where we've reached verse 24. We're just going to deal with verses 24 and 25 here this morning of John's Gospel and chapter 9. So we have here, He answered and said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was flying, now I see. Well, we found here is a picture. of a new Christian, as it were, in the face of much opposition and being intimidated. We were thinking last week how much we need the Lord's help as believers in the Saviour in this world today with so much unbelief around us, how we need to stand for the Lord. Well, really, I want to show how these verses teach us somewhat more about our Christian witness and how they're the great proof. that we truly are the Lords. In verse 24, this verse shows us that the cured man was indeed standing before a formal court of representatives of the Sanhedrin. Now the Sanhedrin was the court, the highest court of the land of Israel. and though the Romans had taken over and of course they were the highest court above everything, these Jews still had their own council and in mostly civil things they were able to have their own way and to have a law and imprison people and punish them and have courts of law and this was comprised the whole of the Sanhedrin 70 elders of the people of Israel, well of the high priestly family mainly, and many of the Pharisees as well. Nicodemus was one of this council, though he's not on the scene in this situation. But this council often met in the temple And if there were enough of them, a quorum of this council, then they could decide certain things even by themselves. Well now in verse 34 of this chapter we see that they cast him out. And we just mentioned before that this is an excommunication from Jewish society, not just the synagogue, the Jewish church as it were, but they would now ostracize him from Jewish society. It would be hard to find a job. Hard to find a family that would take him in and accommodation. Things would get very difficult for him if you weren't a Jew and you were cast out of society by this Supreme Court. So you see they excommunicated him. We'll come to that in due time. Well they could not have done that unless they were a formal court in session. As we see in verse 13, they brought to the Pharisees him that before time was blind. Well, they didn't round up a few Pharisees, they were there in the temple and they went to them as if they were taking this man to a court to find out what they thought of what had happened, the Lord Jesus Christ giving this man sight, this man who had been born blind. This was not an accidental gathering of the Pharisees, It was a standing committee, as we would say, of that great court and they had legal authority to do certain things, certainly as we see here, to excommunicate him from Jewish society, which was a tremendous thing, of course. We know that this was in the temple vicinity. And the clue to this being a very formal legal Jewish setting is there in verse 24, as they call the man that was blind and say to him, give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. They want the man himself to come to a certain conclusion. The parents had been interviewed and the man was at that point excluded from the exchange of words. But you see here in verse 24 that he is called. He is called again into the formal setting of the court, if you like. Well, the word called here is used in just the same way as we speak today of a witness being called. called to give evidence, or even a person who's been tried for a crime being called to the bar of justice. So now he is called again. And then in answer to their question, he answers, verse 25, whether he be a sinner or no. I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. Now, the question itself is the biggest clue to us as to what is going on here, or rather the way the question is asked. And particularly the fact that, as you can see, they're not actually asking a question. They're not asking what we would call a question. They just say, give God the praise. and then they ask him to agree with them on a certain important aspect. So they say, give God the praise, and then expect an answer which the man knows is the case, he knows that he's being asked a question really, and so he gives his answer. Now, in being told to give God the praise, this is their way of putting him under a very solemn oath. It was their way of saying, we are duly by the living God to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, it's almost an exact equivalent in their law. They demanded that he forswear himself and join with them in some formal statement, which, of course, would be very detrimental to our saviour. in calling him a sinner, declaring him a sinner. Well, this form of placing a person under oath and forcing an answer, we're very familiar with in the Bible. We read that passage from Matthew chapter 26, when our Lord himself was under trial. And they, at one point, bring to the Saviour and put him under an ancient oath that bound a man to admit the truth. I just remind you of it. Jesus held his peace and the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. And it's only then that the Lord Jesus answered. He didn't answer anything before, but now the high priest puts him under this solemn oath. I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us And then the Lord says, well, thou hast said, and he said, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. And from then on, the Pharisees, on that occasion, at our Lord's trial, they say, we don't need any more witnesses. We've heard the blasphemy ourselves. He makes himself the Son of God. But friends, this is a very ancient way of working in Jewish judicial situations. You may remember way back in the time of the conquest of Cana and to Joshua. Do you remember the people? The first town that they went to was Jericho. And the Lord said, look, when you come to many of the towns in this new place, it will be for you. The spoils, the houses, The cities, they'll all be yours, but Jericho, this is mine. This first city that you enter into, everything's going to be mine. You mustn't touch anything. All the gold and silver, all the goodly things, they're to be kept and laid up in the tabernacle for the praise of God. No one is to take anything. And you know that there was one man that disobeyed, Achan. and he stole some silver and gold and some Babylonish garments and he hid them in his tent and then the Lord called the tribes together and by lot one tribe was found, Judah, and then a family of Judah and it came down to Achan. Achan, and listen to what Joshua says to Achan, he says, My son, I pray thee, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And as soon as he was put under that great and tremendous oath, even Achan who knew he was about to die for his very great wickedness and sin in this matter, Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done. When I saw the spoils, well I took them and I hid them. in my tent. Well, friends, you see how ancient is such a way of dealing with people so that they had to speak in those situations. And this is the situation this man finds himself in, in verse 24, when they say to him, give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. Well, it's not a formal question, is it? But they were asking a question. They were asking him to agree with them that Jesus of Nazareth was a sinner. This was a formal binding oath to tell the truth. I know you can see friends. the man is under tremendous pressure to concur with them in their declaration. But see also what the Lord was accused of, what he was accused of. Our Saviour was accused of being a sinner. Now, the word used here, a sinner, was a lot more than just someone of bad character or the fact that we are all sinners. Let me read again one or two verses so that we understand what these Pharisees were saying in trying to accuse the Lord Jesus Christ of being a sinner. Well, at one time the Saviour said in Luke 7, the Son of Man is come eating and drinking and you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But really what they were saying is that he was a friend of the tax collectors and the prostitutes. That's what they were saying in accusing him as being a sinner there. And then again in Luke 7, he was invited into a Pharisee's house and he sat down to dinner and a woman came along and washed his feet with a very precious ointment. We read it this, and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner. And I'll leave that to your own understanding as to what that meant. It wasn't just an ordinary sinner, she was a notorious sinner. An awful woman of very low behavior. When this woman, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. Now when the Pharisee, which had bidden him to lunch, saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner, probably a prostitute. And then also, in Luke 15, we have this, the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Of course, the Lord received all sorts of men, all sorts of sinners in the ordinary sense, but they were meaning something far worse than that. Even Zacchaeus, the chief of the tax collector, who was hated of the people, when they saw that the Lord Jesus Christ would spend the day with him, they say that he has gone to be the guest of a man that is a sinner. and in their eyes this sin of taking the taxes and in an extravagant way was notorious. So to accuse the Saviour of being a sinner in this sense was not the same thing as when we say that we're all sinners before the Lord and confess that that is so. They were saying that Christ was a blatant sinner, that he was an outrageous sinner. He was a notorious and incorrigible sinner. That's what they were saying. It wasn't just the fact that we're all sinners. No, here is a notorious sinner, say the Pharisees. Now notice that the man had been absent from the proceeding because in verse 24 they called him in again. It seems as if they were trying to say, listen, listen, we have found out a lot more about this Jesus of Nazareth. It's come to our knowledge, the knowledge of the court, that this one who you know next to nothing about is a blatant sinner of the worst kind and that he is an abuser of God's law. And this is an example. He's worked on the Sabbath day. Therefore, in the knowledge of that, that this man is obviously a notorious sinner, now give God the praise. Come and admit it to us. They seem to be saying, we place you under the most solemn oath to agree with us in the condemnation of this Jesus of Nazareth, that he is a sinner. This you must do, they say to him. And in this, you will give, in fact, praise to God. That's what they were saying, no doubt about it. So the man is under the most tremendous pressure, extreme intimidation. We're reminded here of a verse in Luke 12.48 where the Lord said, For whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Now last week we were thinking and speaking of the pressure that the Christian is often under. Well this was extreme. This is extreme as we can see. Now the Lord had done a tremendous thing for this man. That's almost an understatement, isn't it? Tremendous thing, given him his sight, he'd been born blind, he'd never ever seen before and he's given this sight, we also believe he's given him spiritual sight as the more and more this chapter goes through we see how he understood so much. God had done so much for him and now so much was required of him in this moment of extreme pressure. Any Christian, anyone for whom the Lord has done great things, anyone who has been given spiritual sight has obviously been given so much. Forgiveness is what we have received. Pardon for all our sin. Heaven to come. These are the tremendous things that the Lord has granted to us. New life in the Spirit. Christ himself dwells in our heart by the Holy Spirit. All these tremendous things God has given to us if we are his. And if Christ has given us all this, and so much more beside, then we can be sure that he requires much of us. That is the teaching of the Saviour and that is what we learn here in these couple of verses. What? Oh, so often we find that we're living in days when the teaching of so many is at such a low ebb. Preaching from the pulpit about what Christ requires of us is really next to nothing. So much teaching on Christian behaviour and service is so often what we might call the minimum of what is required by our Saviour. What is the minimum times that a person ought to go to church to be recognised as a Christian? What is the minimum amount of Bible reading and prayer so as not to be accused of backsliding? What is the minimum amount that we ought to give to the Lord's work to show that we are proper stewards of God's goodness to us? What is the minimum of service in the cause of Christ to show that we are at least willing to serve Him? What is the minimum of witness to those around us to show that our profession of faith is real? Well, look here. Here is a man who had only just come to see, only just come to believe, only just emerged from the darkness. Yet because so much had been given him, now much was required of him. If what some offer to God is a measure of what God has done for them, then it shows that it cannot have been very much at all, because they give to God so little. O friends, cannot we see that the Lord has done a marvellous thing for us, a tremendous thing? He has saved us. He has saved us from all the consequences of our sin and granted us heaven. Do not our very hearts tell us that our whole lives now belong to him? Not to do the minimum, but to do all that we can for him who loved us and gave himself for us. But at the very least, you hear me so often say this, at the least, at the least be loyal to the Lord's work here. At least come and support us in these things. Oh, do pray and stand with us and stand with those that are given special opportunities to serve the Lord, great things He has done for us. As we reflect on that, surely we should give ourselves the more to our God. It's a spiritually natural law for the Christian. The Lord had done so much for this man, and now with the mighty grace, the help that was given him within, well, much was required of him. Now we cannot pass from verse 24 without notice how those like these Pharisees that adhere to formal religion can on the one hand pretend to want God praised and yet at the same time have no real regard for the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? They say give God the praise and yet they want to castigate the Lord Jesus Christ and count him as naught. You see many like this in the high places of Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism and other denominations. All the talk, all the talk is of praise to God. But how little regard is paid to the Scriptures, to be truly obedient to the Son of God, the Head of the real Church. Many Christians believe that we're in the days of great apostasy, the love of many growing cold. the general indications that we're in the last day of this present evil world all around us and that soon the Lord Jesus Christ will come again in great glory. Isn't that seems about right? I'm no prophet. I think we should be very careful how we interpret international affairs in the light of the Bible. In many respects, since New Testament times, all that has happened has shown that the last 2,000 years are very much the same in terms of opposition to true Christianity, but if pressed, If pressed about all that is going on in the world today, we do have to say that the world has never known before such a widespread adherence to what we call pseudo-Christianity, false Christianity, to a form of religion without the power thereof. and our friends, the question we would ask in such days as this is, can we spot the difference? Can we tell the difference between real and vital biblical Christianity and all the false manifestations of it? So many things are called Christian, so many organisations, so many churches, so many people are called Christian, but can that be so? When we see the behaviour of what people are like in such situations and their leaders, well, can we spot the difference? Can it be seen? Well, here is a crucial test. Where people say they want God to have the praise, and we see that and hear that so often, even in many what are called formal Christian situations and churches, God is to be praised. You see all those smiling faces on hymns of praise, if you ever watch it, see all those people, a great crowd in some cathedral somewhere, all singing praise to God, but that's on the one hand. But do they pay true regard to Christ? On the other hand, that's the crucial test. How much of traditional Christianity in our country especially says we want to give praise to God, yet what notice is really taken of Christ and his word and obedience to him and real service for our saviour and true holiness for his sake? But not just a point the finger at others, what of our own hearts? Praise God, yes, but let's not forget loyalty and obedience and real love to the Saviour and desires for the Gospel and the advance of true churches. As Isaiah said of old, that so many in his day drew near to God with their lips, it was all outward praise, but their hearts were far from God. Let's be careful that we are truly for the Lord and not just have an outward formal religion that seems to praise God, but there is very little heart worship and devotion. Now let's quickly turn from the blindness and unbelief and enmity of the Pharisees to the simplicity and honesty of this newly sighted man who we're beginning to see also has inward light. As he says here in verse 25, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. Oh, glorious answer from this man, a grand answer. Now, the force of the man's answer is a little lost to us with our old version here, so I want to give you a little help. What he is saying is something like this. I don't believe he is a sinner. He's as strong as that. This comes out in the Greek. I do not believe he is a sinner. You have charged me solemnly on oath to tell the truth. Well, I will not charge him with being a sinner. You cannot get me to say that. One thing I do know, and that I affirm with all my heart, one thing is that I know I was blind, and now I see. He did it. He did it for me. The Pharisees adjure him. to join them in condemning the Saviour as a sinner, a notorious sinner. They order him under oath to do this, and this beggar flatly refused to do so, even under the most intense pressure, and intimidation, and even legal threat. What he is saying is most startling, especially, as he says it, to a standing committee of the Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land, apart from the Romans themselves. He is saying to them, whether this Jesus of Nazareth is a sinner, it's not the thing that we should be judging. It's not the thing that we should be assessing. What you Pharisees ought to be trying to assess and see the significance of is this. I was blind, but now I see. And if they did consider that and believe it, they could never believe for one moment that Jesus of Nazareth was a sinner. Do you see what this beggar was doing? He was waving aside all consideration of Christ being a sinner as preposterous in the extreme. He asserts that the Saviour had wonder, working power, and that he plainly manifested that as he cured this man, and that could not be denounced, and that that should be the basis of any objective view of the matter, especially of Christ's character. And this was a devastating argument to bring to these clever Pharisees. That should have ended all controversy concerning the miracle worker, except for the total blindness of these judges. And how true it is that down the ages, Real Christians have been persecuted, accused of being enemies of the state, subversive, breakers of civil law. But how often such people are judged and assessed on their character? Hardly ever. They're hardly ever assessed on that. They're called religious fanatics, obvious seducers of men, and especially children. And they must be dealt with. Well, friends, we're living in such a day when even the law and certainly the media is against Christian families. They don't care that they might come across a family where the children are loving and the parents are loving and there's a happy atmosphere in the home and all the children are obedient and they're growing up to fit into society in a good way and they would never cause any trouble and this family never causes the government any harm. or the local authorities, they look after themselves and care for themselves and all. What happens? There's a smack now and again for the littlest children, so they might learn, as the older ones already have, to be obedient and even with such a smack, well, there's still that love and repentance from those little ones and all. Friends, The character of the family and the children is just dismissed. The only thing that is considered is this smack, child abuse. And so all the authorities come down on such a family. This is what happens and it happens so often. Oh friends, this is a wretched thing. People do not assess character. People do not assess the happiness and the wonder of a family that lives in harmony. They don't think about that. They only think of the one thing. The one thing that we happen to find in our scripture tells us that we ought to do. And even people of ordinary understanding and knowledge and even a little psychological understanding know that this is the best thing that could happen. And yet, what do we find? Christians and Christian families are known as abusers of children. Oh how wretched when the very opposite is true. This is the same here with these Pharisees. accusing the Saviour of being a notorious sinner when he's given a man eyes on the Sabbath day. Well, here is a wretched thing. Well, the beggar tells the Pharisees, you're looking at entirely the wrong things. Healing on the Sabbath has got nothing to do with the case. This is really what he's implying by his simple words. Will you not look at me, says this man, Will you not look at me, you blind Pharisees? Look at me. Can you not see what this man, who you say is a sinner, has done for me? I was blind, born blind, totally blind, without a hope, in darkness. Read my lips. I was blind, but now I see. What a testimony. What a testimony. And in fact, this is the testimony of all true believers. It must be. And it is a testimony we must take to all unbelievers. It will not necessarily be believed, of course, just as with this man. And we know why. but we must have a testimony, we must bear testimony in this world that those around us might hear, that we testify to having been once spiritually blind, but now we see, and that to us it is obvious and real, and to us it is indisputable. We know what we once were and what we now are because of what Christ has done for our souls. Now of course the power of the man's argument was so strong so forceful, so overwhelming, because it was true. He was blind, and now he sees. And we see the application. The difference, of course, must be real. It must be demonstrable. Well, it must be self-evident that we are so far different to what we were before Christ changed our lives. We can have no real testimony if our lives are not really any different from the average unbeliever. That's clear, but even so, Even the most powerful testimony will not bring blind people to see unless Christ opens their eyes. The Pharisees did not believe. They did their best to discredit the Saviour. They brought a newly cured man under great pressure. Much was required of him in that hour. And where Christ has done so much for us, we must expect that much will be required of us to stand for Him. To own Him, to represent Him in this unbelieving world, we must maintain a testimony that shows that the Lord Jesus Christ has done so much for us, even though our Saviour will continue to be despised, our friends. How can I press this upon you? Much is required of us if we profess to know the Lord. The martyrs gave their lives Others lived in poverty rather than spoil their testimony. Some have gone to distant shores from family and loved ones. They gave so much. Some have endured cruel mocking and have been despised because they have lived as Christians. It's not necessarily the case that to give much means we'll end up miserable. Of course not. We think of someone like William Carey. that great forerunner of the modern missionary movement, beginning to make a name for himself in the Midlands as a preacher and a pastor, married with several children. But he was overwhelmed by God's grace to him, and he saw a vast population of the world that knew nothing of the Gospel, so he leaves home. And he goes on that trip with his wife and children. He knew that he might be sent back by the British authorities as he reached India. But he came there and he settled down. And he had to do the most awful jobs to keep body and soul together, living in the jungle with tigers all around and malaria and all sorts of other diseases. And he was on his own, more or less, with one helper that wasn't very competent at all, but seven years without a convert. His wife went mad after the death of one of his children. He had to look after her as well. But after a lifetime of missionary work, well, he had the New Testament translated into at least 36 languages, Indian languages, and many whole Bibles as well, a vast education program. Many churches set up, enormous respect from the government, the British government, at last, as to the work he was doing on so many wonderful conversions there in India. Well, the worldwide missionary movement took its cue from Carey, and there flourished many other missionary societies after the Baptist Missionary Society had been set up for Carey. It was as simple as this man. The Lord had done so much for him in salvation, so he gave everything to God. You know the famous saying of C.T. Studd, the great English cricketer and a wealthy man, the founder of the Heart of Africa mission, he said this, If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. And so he left all the fame as an English cricketer and all his wealth and he sunk himself into missionary endeavours for the rest of his life. But what's happened to that sort of thinking? It's still here in our Bibles. This man got the idea at very short notice. Oh, that we, in some measure, might have it in our hearts as well. We are not our own. We've been bought with a price. The Corinthians first gave themselves To the Lord, we are to offer up our bodies as living sacrifices to God. It is our reasonable service. We are to go and tell what great things the Lord has done for us. The Lord says, be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. To the world, As with these Pharisees, the Saviour is nothing, worthless to them. To us, who He has saved, He is everything. He is everything to us and we give ourselves up absolutely to His will and to His service. May His Spirit enable us to do so. Amen. Let's sing together hymn number 776. I'm not ashamed to own my Lord or to defend his cause, maintain the honour of his word, the glory of his cross. 776.