in Jesus' name, for his sake, and all God's people said, Amen. Well, as we have been making our way through these chapters of the Gospel of Christ by John, we have been keeping company with him, and the previous chapter, displayed to us the hardness of men's heart. They have Jesus himself in front of them. And he reveals himself, he declares himself to be the light of the world. And he reveals to them the way of salvation by trusting in him and trusting in him alone we might have eternal life. Yet for all Jesus' patience and self-revelation, his every word only stirred them to greater malignity. And in the end, as we came to the end of the eighth chapter, we saw that they took up stones in order that they might stone him to death. They knew exactly what he was saying. And it was because he was declaring himself to be the son of God and belief in him was the only way of salvation that they would not yield to him or embrace him as the savior of the world. Indeed, in the eighth chapter of John, we see much of the revelation, the self-revelation of Jesus. And we might almost say it was as pearls cast before swine. So we hear the words, I am the light of the world. And in all honesty, I suppose most of us would say those words don't trouble us a whole lot. We've been introduced to them before. Supposing we had just started with the Gospel of Christ by John, our first reading of Scripture, we would have seen that how John in the opening verses of the Gospel that bears his name, points us to that Jesus was the light that came into the world. He has, in the opening verse, he's given us something of the game plan for how he is going to set out the ministry of the Lord Jesus. So we can say that we're familiar, but of course, as those who have attended upon the means of grace these many years, who have, I trust for many of us, if not all of us, made it our study to read through the word of God, not just overhear it being read on the Lord's Day, but in our private devotions, open it up and read it and meditate, reflect upon it. So we're familiar with these words, and perhaps because they are so familiar to us, they have lost the impact which they would have had upon their first hearers. We've heard it, and by the grace of God, we believe it. But if, just to convey something of the shock, if I said to you that I was the light of the world, then you would think that I'd taken leave of my senses. So although we do not excuse entirely the first hearers of these words in the temple, we can at least sympathize that these are shocking words, and either we need to receive them, understand them, And dare I say be willing to die for them? Or there is the reaction that we see in John chapter eight of despising the words and despising the one who spoke them. It certainly wasn't obvious to them that he was the light of the world. There was no, ah, that explains it, now I get it. It's all starting to make sense. The response, as we have seen, is rejection. Verbal abuse, insult calling, moving towards even murderous thoughts, wanting to kill the speaker. But just as we see their response, we've seen also something of Jesus' own response. And it does us good to reflect, even just as we rehearse what we have already examined, for our own confidence in the place of prayer when we come before God. Jesus' response is to reason with them. He reveals himself still further to men who do not wish to receive those words. He could not have been clearer. That was because he was so very clear that they took up those stones to stone him. But for those who believe, it is a saver of life unto life. Here is one who is sent by God. Now I want to remind you of what we've read in previous verses, just very briefly. 8, 29. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. You find an echo of that in verse four of chapter nine. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. We are to be free from sin, 835. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. Unless you believe, you will die, 824. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. So Jesus is making it very clean as he addresses those who are rejecting him. He seeks to argue with them, at least reason with them. Argue has too much of a negative connotation about it. And in his reasoning with them, he gives them further revelation. Now, what conclusion are we to draw from that apart from just recognizing that Jesus is tender of heart, even towards those that are rejecting him. Now he does warn, of course, that we do the works of God while it is day, but night is coming when no man can work. So there's a limit to that. But that day of lasting night for the unconverted has not yet come. While we draw breath in this world, the Lord has not returned. And so we still have a duty, a responsibility, a privilege, a joy to make known the excellency of Christ Jesus. But for all the fact they had Jesus standing before them, the light of the world, they were themselves in darkness. They couldn't see it. And so although we're introduced to this man who was born blind, born physically blind, we've already had to draw the conclusion from the reading of the eighth chapter, it's not the eyes of the body that need to be open so much as the eyes of the soul. And truly, though many would have passed by that man at the gate of the temple and perhaps had pity upon him, given a coin or two or a crust of bread or whatever else they might have been moved to give, truly those who were in far greater need were those angry Pharisees that wanted to stone Jesus. They were the ones that were truly blind. And then after we part company with these men who hated the message so much that they wanted to put Jesus to death, we have this encounter with a man born blind. And as we saw last Lord's Day, there were those who were seeking to make sense of the world around them. Well, who's responsible for the blindness of this man? Is it his own fault, his sin? Is it the sin of his parents? And Jesus opens up before them, however they are to make sense of this world. There's a simple solution, that the works of God might be displayed in him. to heal the blindness of the body and of the soul. So that's where we're brought to in this particular chapter. And at that point, Jesus spits on the ground. And that would seem to us to be Strange. He spits on the ground. He's not actually addressed any words to the blind man. The blind man hasn't actually asked for any assistance. He's been silent as Jesus is passing by. But Jesus has regard to the man that is born blind. He spits on the ground. It's a rather unusual thing for Jesus to do. And that prompts us to ask the question, why? Well, he takes the mud that he's just made by spitting on the dust of the earth and puts it across the eyes of Jesus. Are we to suppose that there's some sort of magical healing properties in the spittle of Jesus? Well, I think we should avoid such fantastical interpretations. I think there is a reason, which we'll come to in just a moment. But if Jesus didn't need to do anything particular, apart from say, to Lazarus, as the stone was rolled away from his tomb, Lazarus come forth, he didn't need anything extra, just simply by the power of his word. If Jesus could call the dead from the grave to come forward, simply by commanding them to do so, that it wasn't that he had need of some magical properties in his spittle in order that this man should be healed of his blindness. So why do it? And why does John record it? Calvin's explanation is simply, it is to intensify blindness to magnify the cure. Okay, I'm not one to dispute with John Calvin. He's a far, far greater exponent of scripture than I will ever be. But if the blind see nothing, I'm not sure how you can intensify nothing. So I just say to John Calvin, Bien, peut-être, because he didn't speak English. Perhaps, but I have to say, not really convinced. I think there's a simpler explanation. He was giving the blind man something to wash off. Yes, but why did he need something to wash off? It just puts the question back one further stage. And I think the clue to answering that question is to be found in the name of the place that Jesus is sending the blind man to, Siloam. And John very helpfully says, which means sent. So John is telling us, for the benefit of those who didn't know because it's not their language what Siloam meant, and that would be all of us, We're so thankful that he put that, or if not literally in brackets, at least in our translations in brackets, silo means scent. And you could almost hear John whispering under his voice, do you get it? Why is that significant? Well, I hope at this point you're really ahead of me and have made the connection for yourself. What has Jesus been pressing on his hearers? He's been talking about his relationship with the Father. And in 842 we read, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I come from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Well, if you have some time around the lunch table, you might read through chapter eight again, and on into chapter nine, just make a note every time that the word sent is used. And it becomes very obvious that Jesus is making this as part of his declaration, especially to those Pharisees who refused to receive his word. that he was sent from the Father. The Father has sent him. Now, we might say, for instance, that he came from the Father, and that would be true. But Jesus wants to say something more than just that he has come from the Father. He wants to make sure that he's hears and knows that he has come, as it were, with this commission from God the Father. God the Father has sent me. And therefore, when you come to me, you're coming to the one whom God has sent. the one whom God has sent to bring sight to the blind, to set at liberty the captive. Well, as we read in the opening verses of Exodus chapter 20, God's declaration to his people that they had been brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And Moses stands to us as something of a Christ-like figure, that here is one who is raised up, prepared for his task, commissioned, and then sent by God in order to set his people free. Well, the parallels in the life of Jesus can hardly escape our attention. The significance, then, is in the claim that is being made. Here in these verses, Jesus is revealing himself, and of course we know, if we're familiar with the book, or if you remember previous sermons that brought it to your attention, how John himself gives, towards the end of the book that bears his name, the reason for his writing. I've written these things down so that you might believe and believe believing have everlasting life. In Jesus' self-revelation, he is not just saying that he's come from the Father, but the Father has sent him. And those are astonishing claims. They made the hearers in the temple, those who rejected him, angry, angry enough to want to kill him. But it's more than just giving him something to wash away, but where he was to do it. Siloam. And then John tells us the significance of its name. It was not just, although how can we really use that word in this context, that Jesus came from God. He was sent. Now Jesus is saying to this man who was born blind, go to the pool that is called scent and wash off the clay. Jesus really has been urging upon his hearers in the previous conversation, that lengthy conversation with all its twists and turns, but Jesus has continually pressed upon his hearers that he is the one who is sent from God, and if they are to have eternal life, that they must believe in him, and that's the only way of salvation. He's been urging upon those who rejected him the gospel message, gently, graciously, patiently, and they received him not. And it's the same gospel message for us today and for all who have ears to hear. Go to the one who has been sent. and wash, and your eyes will be opened. Well, who is to go? We've been in the company of Jesus throughout these last few sermons, and now we come to one who is, in many ways, just the absolute opposite of those with whom Jesus has been speaking. He's been speaking to the Pharisees, and if you know your New Testament scriptures, you know that they are a byword for those who take the word of God seriously. They know the law, and in their own minds, though not in God's mind, it'd become apparent, they thought that they were keeping it and they were going to have eternal life. Why? Because they'd kept the law perfectly. But as a person who knows that he has needs, that comes to the great physician of souls. Certainly this man, as he had been there for who knows how many years, been blind from birth. He knew that he had needs. And perhaps he was thinking about the needs which are the obvious ones, the need for sight. Yes, it would be great if I could see. But he clearly, I think we can say, without disparaging him at all, he had perhaps but little conception of what Jesus was able to do for him. But he hears the gentle words of Jesus. He feels his fingertips, a plop on his eyes, and then he receives a command. It's a simple one. Go to the place that is called Scent. and wash off the clay. And though perhaps, and I think it's unlikely that he would have had a full-on theology in place with those words, yet the simplicity he was able to understand, and to that simplicity he was able to respond, go to the place called scent and wash your eyes. And so it is with the commands of Jesus to those whose hearts are open to the things of the Lord. Come all ye who labor and are heavy laden. Come unto me and I will give you rest. We could say that that does not require a full-orbed theology that would fill at least a few volumes on the shelves of the great institutions of learning, no more than the simple command given to the man born blind. So here's the simplicity of the gospel message. And I make no apology for declaring it to you yet again. We are to go to the one who was sent. And though I may not fully comprehend the greatness of our need, at least we're able to say, I know that I have needs, and I'll bring those needs to the one who was sent. Well, after the flesh, of course, everything in this passage is absolutely impossible. How can a man who was born blind be made to see again? And how is it possible that just the merest smearing of a clay from the spittle of Jesus, taken to the pool of Siloam and washed away, how could that possibly restore his vision? But as we continue to read in this chapter, we will see that not only were the eyes of the flesh opened, but the eyes of the soul. What had Jesus said? What had been his promise? Jesus made no commitment to this man in the sense of saying, if you do this, then I will do that. I promise you that you will see again. He simply says to the man, go and wash your eyes in the pool of Siloam. There was no promise on the part of Jesus. But there was trust and confidence in the part of the man born blind. Trust and obedience to the word of Christ. Trusting in the one who had been sent. He washed away the mud and he could see. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Let's pray together. Our gracious God, how we do thank Thee and praise Thee for sending Thy Son. We mark the words of Jesus in His self-revelation to the Pharisees, their hardness of heart, their rejection and refusal, even their hatred to the point of wanting to kill Him. But we thank thee that in this ordinary man, born blind, whose lot in life it seemed to have been was simply to sit at the gate of the temple and hope that those that pass by, either entering to or departing from worship, would spare a thought for him and give him just a few coins or some bread. And yet when he heard the command of Jesus, he immediately trusted in that word and fulfilled it. We thank Thee, Father, that Jesus is the one whom Thou didst send. and that he having been sent into the world, we hear his words. And though we lack truly all the knowledge and the depth of understanding, perhaps even of the pharisees, yet we can come to the one who was sent and wash away that which would obscure our vision. Father, we ask that in this new year now begun, that I would continue to keep our eyes open, that we may gaze upon Christ, that we may look upon him whom we have pierced and find salvation for our souls, that we might come to the one who was sent wash away our sins, and that our eyes would be opened. Hear us, we pray, in Jesus' name and for His sake, and all God's people said, Amen.