Gospel of John | Pt. 55 | John 9:1-41

We are back in the Gospel of John. This is the 55th message in the

Gospel of John. I can't express, I mean, I enjoyed the

Acts series, and I was looking forward to getting back into this

Gospel as well, at least until I opened it up and started reading it and realized, man, this is pretty tough.

So we're going to be in John chapter 9.

We're going to consider verses 1 through 5 today. John chapter 9, verses 1 through 5.

Let me open this up in prayer. Oh, glorious God, Lord, we are so thankful for your

Word. Lord, we are so thankful that where it seems to be confusing, you bring light to it through all of Scripture.

And Lord, we also stand on the shoulders of those that came before us. Lord, we just are so grateful that we have this great line of men who devoted themselves to your

Word, Lord, that we can, as we study the Scriptures, look to them and glean.

Lord, we pray that your presence is here and that, Lord, you are using me this day as I open your

Word to speak to your people and that you fill them with your Word. Lord, give us grace and give us mercy,

I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So let's begin with the text,

John chapter 9, verses 1 through 5.

And as he passed by, speaking of Jesus, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him,

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world,

I am the light of the world. Our theme for this

Lord's Day is the rejection of a miracle. And this will be the theme throughout this whole chapter.

This is a narrative chapter. So this chapter is about a man who was healed from being born blind at birth.

And my proposition is this, is that this chapter is not only a historical narrative, but it is also a spiritual narrative, one that we need to learn from in order to understand how it is that we are in Christ.

This has been a pattern that John has been laying out for us all throughout this gospel. We had the natural birth and the spiritual birth.

We had physical water and spiritual water. We had physical bread and spiritual bread, so on and so forth.

And in John chapter 9, we're going to compare and contrast in the same way that we have been concerning natural birth versus spiritual birth and physical water versus spiritual water as well as physical bread versus spiritual bread.

And the overarching theme of this book, if you remember, is evangelistic. John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31 says this.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, speaking of the gospel of John.

But these, the gospel of John, are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.

John wants those who read his book, the gospel of John, to believe in Jesus Christ.

John was an evangelist. John wanted nothing more than for the whole world, everyone, to be converted to believe in Jesus Christ.

And that was his hope for this gospel. This is one of the reasons why as evangelists, when we give away

Bibles, and if you don't know, we at this church have a, we give away Bibles when we go out and we witness to people.

And one of the books that we recommend people to read when they first open the Bible is the book of John for this purpose.

Because it tells you who Jesus is. And although it has these physical realities, in these physical realities is spiritual truth.

So in our outline today, we're going to compare and contrast, as well as however long it takes for us to get through this book, right,

I mean this chapter, we're going to compare and contrast John, what seems to be taking place here in John 9.

We will compare and contrast physical blindness with spiritual blindness, as well as physical sight with spiritual sight.

And as we transition, let's remember how we got here. In chapter 1 of this gospel, we have the incarnation, right?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God. Verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.

We have John the Baptist seeing Jesus and says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John sees Jesus and he knows that this is what was spoken of.

Whenever they would have to sacrifice a lamb and consume it and spread the blood on the doorpost and on the lentil,

John sees Jesus and says, all that is over. God himself has sent to us the

Lamb. We have the calling of the disciples, and we also have Jacob's ladder being spoken about.

I know that y 'all read a little bit of that in Sunday school, right? So as Jesus is calling his disciples, his disciples began to witness.

Philip is called. Philip speaks to Nathanael, and he tells Nathanael to come and see the one who the prophets spoke about.

And Nathanael really doubted what they were saying to be true, and Jesus sees

Nathanael. And he says to Nathanael, because you were, well, he says to Nathanael, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, now he says, excuse me,

Jesus answered, before Philip called you when you were under the tree, I saw you.

Nathanael answered him, rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.

And Jesus answered him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?

You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven open and the son and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man in Jacob's dream where he lays down on a rock and he sees a ladder and it's top and the bottom is on the earth and it's tops reaches heaven and he sees angels are able to descend and ascend and descend upon this and it has to do with this seed that's coming for this land promise.

Jesus is saying that he is this ladder by which angels, and if you notice in the beginning of the gospel, there is angels appearing everywhere because they were announcing to the people of Jerusalem that day that the

Messiah is here, he is coming. And what does

Jesus ultimately do? He fulfills the covenant and receives the land promise.

In chapter two we see the first sign being given, Jesus turning the water into wine and that he himself is the true temple, right?

He tells the Pharisees and all these religious leaders who were taking the temple of God and they had turned it into a den of thieves, they were turning it into a marketplace and he says to them, destroy this temple and in three days

I will raise it up. And he's speaking of his own body being the true temple pointing to his resurrection and then in chapter three we have the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus with Nicodemus and Jesus tells

Nicodemus that your first birth doesn't matter. You need to be born again.

Yes, you were born into the physical descendants of Abraham, but you need to be a spiritual descendant of Abraham.

You need to have the faith of Abraham. You see the contrast there between the physical and the spiritual.

We could walk through that chapter, we've done that and I also did it at the conference this past month.

In chapter four we have Jesus' conversation with the woman of Samaria and how men are not supposed to be associating with women, especially women of Samaria and not only did he have a conversation with her, but most all the people in her town and he spoke to them about her, especially about living water as she went to draw water from the well and he asked her for water and she was surprised that him being a

Jew would ask her Samaritan for water and he brings up the fact that if you would have asked me

I would have given you living water. Jesus makes mention in verse fourteen, but whoever drinks from the water that which

I will give him will never be thirsty again, that the water that I will give will become in him a spring welling up, a spring of water welling up to eternal life and this living water that he is speaking of is the

Holy Spirit. Then he also mentions upon the fact of how we are to worship him that there's coming a day that the people of God are going to worship

God in spirit and in truth and my interpretation of that was that those who have this living water in them, they have been filled with the

Holy Spirit, they're worshiping God with the Spirit of God in them in the truth of who

God is. Go back to chapter one, that one of the purposes of Jesus Christ's coming was to reveal to us who

God is. It starts out, when you get into Genesis, beginning with Adam and Abraham and as it goes on and so on and so forth,

Moses and all this other stuff, as this story begins to open up for us, we get little snippets about God, little things here and there about God, but never this full picture of who

God is until Jesus Christ. He came to reveal to us the

Father and in chapter five, Jesus heals a lame man on a Sabbath day at the pool of Bethesda and he's accused by the religious leaders of breaking the

Sabbath and making himself equal with the Father. Then in chapter six,

Jesus feeds 5 ,000 men plus women and children, walks on water, announces that he is the bread that came down from heaven.

He shows them physical bread and to them, he becomes this bread dispenser because he's able to take a sack lunch, five loaves, which would have probably been the size of biscuits and two fish and he multiplies them.

One boy's sack lunch and he feeds probably right at 20 ,000 people, so he becomes this fish and bread dispenser and he's able to point to physical bread and he calls himself the true bread that came down from heaven.

We also see that belief is the work of God in chapter six, that faith is the work of God, that faith is a work.

We also see that all that the Father gives to the

Son will come and that no one can come to the Son unless they're dragged by the Father. In chapter seven, we enter into a feast day called the

Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles and this was a feast that kind of basically they gathered together in booths as a way to remember what took place when

God led the Israelites through the wilderness and in this time of the

Feast of Booths, we see that Jesus calls himself the fountain of living water, the fountain by which you receive the living water.

Now what was the living water? The Holy Spirit. Jesus is the fountain by which we receive this

Holy Spirit and we saw that we receive it by belief in him.

If you believe in him, it is as if you are putting your lips to the fountain to receive the water which is the

Holy Spirit. Then in chapter eight begins with the woman who is caught in the very act of adultery and I pointed out

Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 13 which says, Oh Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame.

If you remember at this time when they brought this woman who was caught in the very act of adultery, they threw her down in front of Jesus and they were wanting to stone her and Jesus bends down and he writes on the ground, it says,

Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth for they have forsaken the

Lord, the fountain of living water and I gave my opinion that Jesus was probably writing on that ground

Jeremiah and he wrote that verse. Now of course there wasn't no chapters and verse division right there so he didn't write

Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 13 but he probably wrote the book of Jeremiah and wrote that verse and we know that at the end thereof they turn around and walk away forsaken the fountain of living water.

Jesus also during this feast identifies himself as the light of the world. You remember they would light these big torches as a way to remember how

God led them through the wilderness by way of a cloud by day and a fire by night and I've mentioned that this is one of the clearest passages in scripture of Jesus proclaiming himself to be

God. He's basically saying in verse 12,

I am the light of the world and whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. He is saying in the same way that the

Israelites would follow that cloud or that fire would never be in darkness if you follow me you will never be in darkness.

He's showing to us that in order to live we must believe because he tells us that unless you believe that about him you will die in your sins.

Now let's compare and contrast physical blindness with spiritual blindness. Look at our text, let's read verses 1 and 2.

John chapter 9 verse 1 and 2. As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him,

Rabbi whose sin? And this man or his parents that he was born blind.

So all of John 9 has to do with this narrative as I said earlier, this narrative of this man who was born blind.

The question was raised by his disciples that seems to be strange to us but trust me when

I say there is truth in what's being raised.

Turn with me to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 we're going to read verses 4 through 6.

Exodus chapter 20 verse 4. You shall not make for yourselves a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the

Lord your God am a jealous God visiting right here the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.

But if you're worshiping another God, an image, God's taken that as you're hating him.

Verse 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Now this is referring to the sin of adultery or if you do not recognize

Exodus chapter 20 this is where Moses is given the law of God, the ten commandments, the ten words and this commandment right here that we just read verses 4 through 6 is speaking about the second commandment and it is the worship of false gods.

The worship of false gods can still today affect our children. Let's take the religion of Judaism, it's a touchy subject.

When Jesus Christ came in the flesh the old covenant ended, it ended, it was no more.

And the new covenant, the covenant in his blood began. Jesus is the light of the world,

John chapter 8 verse 12, he is God and they the Jews were to follow him and if they did not follow him they would be left in darkness.

For the most part the Jewish people did not follow Jesus and therefore still today we have the religion of Judaism.

Listen to me when I tell you this, there should not be a religion of Judaism nor of Islam nor of any other religion.

Verse John chapter 2 verse 23 says this, no one who denies the son, those in Judaism do they deny the son?

No one who denies the son has the father, whoever confesses the son has the father also.

The rejection of Jesus Christ has affected their children because they keep on teaching their children to reject

Jesus Christ. To worship the one true God is to worship

Jesus Christ. We can look at this concerning other religions like I just mentioned earlier, the

Islamism, you can get to salt

Christian religions, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, just name it.

Any religion that denies that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living

God, who is God himself, the second person of the trinity, they're passing down this belief to their children and therefore they're worshiping a false

God and their children are suffering for it.

We can see this on a small scale, if a woman is on methamphetamines while being pregnant, when she has her baby, her baby can be hooked on methamphetamines, right?

So this woman is passing on her sin to her children, in such case the child suffers for the sin of the mother.

You can see this in the case of gonorrhea, which is a sexually transmitted disease,

I never thought I'd preach a sermon and say those words, which is a sexually transmitted disease, 48 % of infants born to women with gonorrhea are born with permanent blindness.

48 % of infants born to women with gonorrhea are born with permanent blindness.

The child suffers for the sin of the parent. In one sense, the disciples could be saying to Jesus, was this man's mother a prostitute?

The disciples equate this man's blindness with sin. To them it either had to be his sin or the sins of his parents.

Let's look back at verse 1, John chapter 9 verse 1.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, blind from birth.

Now as Reformed Christians, we believe in the biblical doctrine of original sin.

Original sin is speaking about the sin nature of Adam, listen, that we inherit from Adam.

As goes the king, so goes the kingdom. Are you picking up while I'm dropping? We're born in sin because of the sin of the first man.

Don't tell me that your sins cannot affect those around you, especially your children.

This right here should motivate parents to want to live moral lives.

Although we believe in original sin, we don't believe that an unborn baby can sin in the womb nor cause blindness or anything else to come upon them.

We believe concerning original sin is that the sin of Adam, but because of the sin of Adam, sin and death has entered into the world.

Therefore because that is true, we believe, excuse me, therefore because that is true, we are born,

Ephesians 2, spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, which is spiritual blindness.

We're born spiritually blind to the things of God and we are unable to please

God or come to God on our own. Now there's another portion of scripture that we should consider and it was the

Ezekiel 18, which was read in our hearing earlier. I want to go there and we're just going to read one verse just to kind of hopefully to cause your mind to remember what

Scott read to us. Look at verse 20, Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20.

The soul that sins shall die.

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself.

I hope you're thinking gospel here. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

When we die, we don't die because of the sin of our fathers. We die because of our own sin.

We, when we die, we die for our own sins. The wages of sin is death.

Why do we die? Because we sin. And when we die, this is as if God is handing us our paycheck.

This is what you deserve. You deserve death. Not because of the sin of your father, but because of your own sin.

Now Jesus steps in to clear up their misunderstanding in verse three. But let's read verse two and verse three together.

Verse two, and the disciples ask him, ask

Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, right here, listen, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

This man was born blind for the purpose of this miracle in this chapter to take place.

This man in our text was predetermined to be born blind in order for this miracle to take place at such a time.

Think about it, all this life, this man, his whole life, he suffered with blindness for this one moment to take place in the life of Jesus Christ.

You ever ask yourself, why me? Like name the disorder, name the whatever it may be, why me?

Ladies and gentlemen, we don't know the purposes of God. We must, as Christians, trust the purpose of God, the predetermined plan of God.

We must trust in the predetermined plan of God. Jesus, however, is not addressing every person that is born blind.

He is only addressing, right now, this man in chapter nine. Now in verses four and five, we see the purpose of Jesus' ministry.

Now before I read it, I want to tell you that these are some confusing verses, right, it's very confusing.

So I'm going to do my best to not muddy the water, but hopefully cause you to be able to see what

I discovered. Look at verse four and five. Jesus still speaking, we must work the works.

So what works was just previously spoke about in verse nine, and in verse three, the works of God.

Verse four, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world,

I am the light of the world. Here in verse four, we see that there is a predetermined plan, a predetermined work for both

Jesus as well as his disciples. Ephesians chapter two verse ten says this,

Paul writing, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ladies and gentlemen, God has a predetermined plan for each and every one of us, a work that he wants us to work, and we need to have that mind frame of Jesus.

We must work the works of God. We must work the works of him who sent

Christ. He has a predetermined work for all of us to do.

For some of those works for the disciples at that time, it had to do with them following Jesus.

It has to do with you also following Jesus. For them, they had to follow Jesus. They had to listen and obey

Jesus. You too have to follow Jesus. You have to listen and obey Jesus.

If Jesus tells you to do something, you say, I don't know, Jesus. I don't think that's for me.

No, he doesn't ask our permission. If you're his disciple, he has given us a work to do.

We are to accomplish the work that he has for us to do. Sometimes it could be just cleaning the house, doing the dishes, mowing the yard, being faithful with where you are at.

It doesn't have to always be this big thing. As reformed people,

I don't believe that I have any kind of power within me that can go out and heal blind people. But if I see a blind person that drops his stick, whatever it is that he works with, it would be a good thing if I walk over and help him get that stick.

Doing kind things, we're called to be kind to one another. As we're living our lives, we need to pay attention to what's around us and see where we can lend a hand.

If you're a parent, part of the work of God that he has given to you is raising your children.

Loving your wife, loving your husband, husbands to love their wives, and for wives to submit to their husbands, and for children to be obedient to their parents.

These are works that the Bible lays out for us that we are called to do. So at this time, these disciples were to follow

Jesus. They were to listen and obey what Jesus tells them to do. Jesus sent them out to heal the sick, to cast out the demons who were demonically depressed.

This was stuff that they were to do while it was still day. Jesus was to also heal the sick, cast out demons, as well as the hardest work, keeping the law, which his disciples could not do.

You cannot do. I cannot do. Jesus had to keep the law, because as goes the king, so goes the kingdom.

The reason why we fell in Adam is because Adam fell to keep the law. Adam fell to do what he was supposed to do, and therefore, as the first man sinned, his sin brought sin and death into the world, and we feel the effect today.

This daytime here would have been Jesus's three and a half years. Well, excuse me.

The daytime would have been the three and a half years of Jesus's ministry. So from Jesus's baptism to Jesus's death is what

I would say that this is speaking about. We must work the works of him who sent me, right here, while it is still day.

Night is coming when no one can work. When it says night is coming, this would be speaking about the crucifixion of Jesus, his three days and three nights in the tomb.

There was certain things, certain works that were predetermined by God that were to be done in this three and a half year ministry.

During this time, when he was in the grave, no work could be done by the disciples.

The Bible tells us that they scattered. They were afraid of their life. The one whom they thought was the

Messiah was nailed hands and feet to a Roman cross and died. They watched him bleed out, and they saw his body be placed in the tomb, the rock covered and sealed with guards guarding it.

Believe me, at this time they were unable to listen, they were unable to follow, they were unable to listen, and they were unable to obey.

They didn't go out healing the lame and healing the sick and casting out the demonic possessed.

No work could be done for them. We know from Hebrews that during this time

Jesus was still working. Jesus enters into the Holy of Holies in heaven, and he sprinkles his blood on the altar.

As long as Jesus was with them in the flesh, he was their light.

Turn back with me to chapter one of John. John chapter one, look at verses four and five.

John chapter one, verse four and five. In him, speaking of Jesus, was life.

This is where when the Bible talks about eternal life. Believing in Jesus and you'll have eternal life.

In him was life, and that life, this eternal life that he's going to give you, right here, listen, was the light of man.

Believing in Jesus, Jesus himself, believing in who he is, is the light of man. Verse five, for that light shines in darkness, and darkness has not overcome it.

This is that following the leader, right? Because Jesus is the light, his disciples are following him.

As long as they're following him, they're not walking in darkness. And yet, as they're following him, they're listening to him, they're obeying him, he gets crucified, dead and buried, and darkness strikes the earth.

Because the Holy Spirit has not revealed to them at this time, the fulfillment of the prophecies.

Jesus, all throughout the ministries, was telling them, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to die,

I'm going to be buried, but I'm coming back. For some reason, they did not understand what he was saying.

Now, this is not saying that Jesus is not the light of the world now. In John chapter 8, verse 12, where he says that he is the light of the world.

Chapter 9, verse 4, when he says,

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day. Night is coming when no one can work.

Verse 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

You might be thinking to yourself, Jesus is not in the world right now. How is he our light?

We don't see the visible representation of God. Do we have light? Well, that's not what's been spoken here.

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 1. We'll read verses 4 and 5.

Excuse me. We'll read verses 5 through 7. Let's grace for a second.

So, John chapter 1. John writes, and he says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, which we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

Verse 2, that life, remember this eternal life, this life, this Jesus, this light was made manifested and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim it to you, the eternal life, which was with the

Father and was made manifest to us, that which we have seen. They're speaking about they've seen him with their eyes.

They heard him. They also proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us, speaking of the disciples, and indeed our fellowship is with the

Father and his son, Jesus Christ. Verse 4, we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete in you.

Now to what I want to show you, verses 5 through 7. This is the message that we have heard from him, speaking of Jesus, and proclaim to you that God is light.

He is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

Jesus in John 8 says, I am the light of the world. Verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with him, if we say that we have fellowship with Jesus while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

That's just to say that you're following Jesus, Jesus is going somewhere, you're staying back, imagine the wilderness, right?

The cloud is moving, the pillar of fire is moving, but you stay back and you don't follow that light, you're in darkness.

John is telling us in 1 John, if we say that we're in him, and yet we walk in darkness, we're as if we're one of those

Israelites in the wilderness that didn't pack up his camp and leave with the fire. We're choosing sin over Christ.

Verse 7, but if we walk in the light, if we're following that light, if we walk in that light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8.

My dyslexia is kicking in really good here. Chapter 5, verse 8, but let's look at verse 7 first.

It says, let's go to verse 6. I hate starting at a therefore.

Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

These are those that are walking in darkness. Therefore, because the wrath of God is coming on those that are disobedient, therefore do not become partakers with them.

For at one time you were darkness, remember, born spiritually blind, but now you are the light of the

Lord. Walk as children of the light. So not only is

Jesus the light of the world, we are called children of the light.

What does Revelation chapter 1 refer to as the church? The lampstands.

What does a lampstand do? What? Gives light.

In the lampstands you have the fire, the light that represents God throughout the

Bible. We're called not only to follow the light, but the light is in us.

We, as the children of the light, are to give light to a darkened world.

Matthew chapter 5 says that, you know, don't hide your light under a basket, but put it on a hill for everyone to see.

Jesus is God. Jesus is God. One more time.

Jesus is God. God is light. So Jesus is the light of the world.

While Jesus was in the grave, darkness did not overcome the light.

You say, how do you know? The resurrection of the dead. The resurrection, right? Jesus rose from the grave, proven that darkness does not overcome the light.

As we come to a close, what do we do with this? Here's where we do a little comparing and contrasting.

Our text has laid out for us a man who was born physically blind from birth.

You and I, because of the sin of Adam, are born spiritually blind from birth.

The predetermined work that was to be accomplished during the ministry of Jesus was not only for the healing of specific physically blind people, but also for the healing of specific spiritually blind people.

This is where we talk about the doctrine of election. That man was predetermined to be born blind for the purpose of that day of being healed by God.

I'm sure there were many people at that time who were born physically blind.

But that day, Jesus reveals something that that man was born blind so that the work of God may be displayed.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's telling us that all of us who are born in Adam, we were born spiritually blind, being deceived by the devil.

One of the works that Jesus had to accomplish in the keeping of the law has to do with freeing us in that darkest moment on earth while Jesus was in that tomb.

As his disciples were fleeing, he enters into the tabernacle in heaven and sprinkles his blood, and so securing the healing of specific spiritual blind people.

In the same way that sins are passed down from parents to children, remember the worship of false gods, or that a person is to die for their own sin.

You're not supposed to die for someone else's sins, right? The soul that sins will die. The wages of sin is death.

So in the same way that our children can feel the curse of our sins or how we are to die for our own sins, our sins were passed on to Christ.

And Christ Jesus dies for our sins.

The Bible is clear. A person dies for their own sins.

And as parents, we can curse our children and cause them to be haters of God.

And when Christ came, he took haters of God and he placed their sins on Christ to where he would feel the curse.

And Christ did not die for his own sins because Christ did not sin, but he died for our sins.

Are you picking up what's being dropped here? 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.

For our sake he, speaking of God the Father, made him, Jesus Christ, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God.

Turn back to Ezekiel 18. Look at verse 20.

The soul that sins shall die.

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.

Right here is what I want to show you. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Those of us who are predetermined to be healed from spiritual blindness were born spiritually blind so that the work of God may be displayed in us.

The gospel is simply found in Ezekiel chapter 20, where it says, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

That's been our curse until Christ. Christ comes, and it's the righteous for the unrighteous, the righteous for the wicked, the one who kept the law versus the one who breaks the law, you and I.

And this is what's called substitutionary atonement. The one who kept the law is treated as if he's the wicked.

He's treated as if he's me. And the one who breaks the law, me,

I am treated as if I kept it. It flips this verse upside down.

The gospel flips this verse upside down. It's the righteousness for the wickedness, and the wickedness is laid upon the righteous.

That's how we should read this verse in Christ, that God so loved the world that he sent his son.

I'm sorry. And if we believe, if we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe that he is the

Christ, the son of the living God. I'm sorry.

If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, our wickedness is laid on Jesus, and his righteousness comes to us, and Christ sees me right now as if I left the life of Jesus Christ, the righteous for the unrighteous.

And what he's called us to do is to believe.

And to believe means to turn from yourself, and you turn from yourself, and you look to God by trusting in Jesus Christ.

We're called to believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he came down from heaven, that the life that he lived, he lived for me, and the death that he died, he died in my stead.

And repentance is for me to stop trusting in myself, and to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

And ladies and gentlemen, I don't, it doesn't matter what you believe about God, if you do not trust in the finished work of Christ, we get all uptight.

Listen, you have to believe that God is Trinity. You have to believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But you can believe in the Trinity and deny substitutionary atonement and be sent to hell.

You must believe in the righteous for the unrighteous. You must trust in him and not trust yourself.

You cannot think it's 99 % Christ and 1 % me.

There's gonna be a lot of people in hell who trusted in God 99 % of the time.

We must fully trust that Jesus Christ lived a life that we could not live, was buried, and on the third day rose again according to the scriptures.