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

The Gospel of John and the Theme of Spiritual Sight

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 enjoy the Acts series. 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 nine. We're going to consider verses one through five today. John chapter nine, verses one through five. Let me open us 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 nine, verses one through five. 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 an 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 nine, 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 nine.

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 one of this gospel, we have the incarnation.

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 of. 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 Nathaniel, and he tells Nathaniel to come and see the one who the prophets spoke about, and Nathaniel really doubted what they were saying to be true, and Jesus sees Nathaniel, and he says to Nathaniel, because you were, well, he says to Nathaniel, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, no, he says, excuse me, Jesus answered, before Philip called you when you were under the tree, I saw you, and Nathaniel 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 sun, 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 the bottom is on the earth, and its tops reaches heaven, and he sees angels are able to 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, and we could walk through that chapter, and we've done that, and I also did it at the conference this past month.

Then in chapter four, we have Jesus's 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 a 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 14, 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, and 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 of 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. And 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.

And 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, O 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 were no chapters and verse divisions 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. If 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 is 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.

Physical Blindness, Original Sin, and the Curse Passed to Children

Now let's compare and contrast physical blindness with spiritual blindness. Look at our text. Let's read verses one and two. John chapter nine, verse one and two. As he passed by, 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. So all of John nine 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 gonna read verses four through six. Exodus chapter 20, verse four. 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 six, 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 10 commandments, the 10 words and this commandment right here that we just read, verses four through six, 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 eight, 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.

First John chapter two, verse 23 says this, no one who denies the son, the Judaism, 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.

You had the Islamism, you can get to soul Christian religions, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, just name it, right? 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 one. John chapter nine, verse one. 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 wanna live moral lives. Now, 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.

What 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 wanna go there, and we're just gonna 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. 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. Oh, think about it, all this life, this man's 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's ministry.

Now, before I read it, I wanna tell you that these are some confusing verses, right? It's very confusing, so I'm gonna do my best to not muddy the water that hopefully calls you to be able to see what I discovered.

Look at verse four and five. Jesus will speak, and 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 10 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. And sometimes it could be just cleaning the house, doing the dishes, mowing the yard, right?

Being faithful with where you are at. It doesn't have to always be this big thing, right? As reformed people, I don't believe that I have any kind of power within me that can go out and heal blind people, right?

But if I see a blind person that drops his stick, whatever it is that he works with, it'll be a good thing if I walk over and help him get that stick. Like doing kind things, we're called to be kind to one another, right?

We need to, as we're living our lives, pay attention to what's around us and see where we can lend a hand. If you're parents, part of the work of God is 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 husband 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 failed to keep the law. Adam failed 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 3 1⁄2 years, well, excuse me, the daytime would have been the 3 1⁄2 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 3 1⁄2 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 gonna 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 gonna be crucified, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna 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 eight, verse 12, where he says that he is the light of the world.

Chapter nine, verse four, 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 five, 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 five. I'm assuming 1 John chapter one. We'll read verses four and five. Excuse me, we'll read verses five through seven. Let's grace for a second. So John chapter one, John writing, 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 two, that life, remember this eternal life, this life, this Jesus, this light was in, 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 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 four, we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete in you. Now to what I wanna show you, verses five through seven. 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 eight says, I am the light of the world. Verse six, 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.

You're saying, 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 first 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 seven, 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 eight. No, chapter five, verse eight, my dyslexia is kicking in really good here. Chapter five, verse eight, but let's look at verse seven first. It says, therefore do not, hold on, let's go to verse six.

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 the 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 one 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 five 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 the specific physically blind man, but also for the healing of specific spiritually blind people, right?

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 sins are, 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? Second Corinthians chapter five, 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 his father. Nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. Right here is what I want to show you.