In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of spiritual sight and understanding. He references Jesus' statement that he came into the world for judgment, explaining that this judgment involves discerning between truth and falsehood. The speaker highlights the story of the man born blind and how the Pharisees were divided in their judgment of Jesus' miraculous healing. He emphasizes that true sight and understanding come from the heart and not physical appearances. The sermon also touches on the significance of Jesus as the vine and the light of the world, connecting these concepts to the theme of spiritual sight and discernment.

Let's go on, beloved, shall we? Verse 13, they brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said of them, he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, this man's not a God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. Please note, I'll comment on that, that Jesus always causes division. He declared it quite plainly, when a man or a woman gets new life from God, he causes trouble, perhaps in his own family. Because, just divides sheep from goats, etc. That's what happens. But it's in order to make you a member of his new family, that he does so. Let's go on. There was a division among them. 17. They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents answered them, and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth, we know not. Or who hath opened his eyes, we know not. He is of age, ask him. He shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. The Greek word from which this is translated means excommunicated. Now to Jews that was the end. That was the end. Do you understand that? That's what they were afraid of, because they were bound up in the Jews religion. Then again called they the man that was blind. And said unto him, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner, I know not. One thing I know. Once, or whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? Now you will remember that I said, Christ created sight in that man. But see what these are saying. He opened thine eyes. So apparently, and this explains why Jesus took the method he took. Because you don't throw mud into the eyes of a man if his eyes are open. But his lids were down too. They had to be opened. I know a precious woman now. I think her, offer and honour her as a great woman of God. She's spoken in this church and in many churches, shall I say, of our connection. Somehow she doesn't know how. Doctors don't know how. She, her lids, they drop down. And she can't raise them. She has sight. The eyeball is there. She has sight. But the lids come down over. And that's it. And the only way and time that her eyes open is when she sings to worship God. What a marvellous thing. Some of you may know her, I expect God does. Wonderful. She's one of the most admired, in my heart, women missionaries that I know. For she's out there now, in Argentina. Translating the Bible, however does she do it. She must have a man's backbone in her. I mean a real man. Wonderful. Well anyway, this is how opened he thine eyes. They avoided saying, gave you sight. Because they knew that making sight, the ability to see from dust, proclaimed that he was God. They were an artful wicked crowd. Supposed to be worshipping God. The cream of the country. Pharisees. Oh beloved, how opened he thine eyes. Twenty-seven, he answered them, I told you already, and you did not hear. Wherefore would ye hear again? Will ye also be his disciples? Then they reviled him and said, thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke unto Moses. How did they know? How did they know? But you see, when it pleased them, they would talk about faith, you see. They would say, we know by faith, we believe the writings of the old scriptures and so on. And they should be believed, of course. But this is the truth. Getting down to what it's all about. Behind the verbiage and behind the writings, underneath it lies what you really are. Me too. Behind the preaching, teaching, whatever you want to say, it lies what you really are. And what you can say of I am. Bear these things in mind. Who are you? Well, we've introduced ourselves to you, you know our names. Sorry, I shall forget them. I forget all the important things these days, except scripture truth. Here's the thing, this is the wonder. Who are you? What are you underneath this facade? We wash so regularly and take showers and feed it and I don't know what. You are greater than your body or your face. You know that, don't you? Your face will never be eternal, but you can be. You can have this new, wonderful, eternal life up to overflowing. For you'll know that Jesus Christ was a manifestation of the overflowing God. That's why he said in chapter 7, we can't go back on it now, but it all coheres. Jordan's Gospel, it's very, very wonderful. In the temple, and a man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Not me, my doings, my sayings, my this, my that, but me, the person. Who am I? You don't know me. Behind what I am mouthing, the present. Who am I? What am I? Bear this in mind. It isn't just accepting the Christian religion. That's the great thing. But let me go on. You must excuse me when I go back like this, so it's not my age. I haven't come out of the ark. But the truth, the truth is one. It never varies. You can go back. What did you say in that chapter? What did he say? That's right, it's all one. It's got to be sound before you accept it. Under every test, scientific or what other word you want to use, it's got to be right. It's got to be true. It's got to be consistent. It's got the same thread, if you like to use the word thread, has to go through all. You cannot be one thing at home and another thing in company where God is concerned. As far as the devil is concerned, you can be that. But not where God's concerned. I read a thing when I was very young, in a paper that now has gone out of existence, used to be called the Daily Chronicle. It was the newspaper of the Liserals, for those of you who are English people. OK. But I used to put little quotes in. And I can remember, I don't know how young I was, but I read there one day, character is what a man is in the dark. Bear that in mind, never left me. I was quite a boy, getting on towards my teens, I think. I never struck right home. Hallelujah. At least they said we know that God spoke by Moses. Well, they didn't know. As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. The man answered and said, why, here is a marvellous thing, that you know not from whence he is, and he has opened mine eyes. You never heard of the devil opening anybody's eyes, did you? Only the inward eye to more and more sin and filthiness, as young people grow up into womanhood or manhood. That's what he'll do, until you have to cry out to God for mercy. Now we know God heareth not sinners, but if a man, any man, be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins. Dost thou teach us? And they excommunicated him. Jesus heard that they had excommunicated him, and when he found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Jesus said unto him, thou hath both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. After the first time he looked up upon Jesus, he'd heard him before. He only saw him once, that was sufficient. He'd heard him before. He'd been the subject of his activities, of the miracle if you like, but he'd never seen him. Can't you imagine it? If you don't lose yourself or find yourself, whichever way you want to say it, in these great things of the scripture, you're not going to get very far. You have to be activated by them. You'll never understand scripture unless you put yourself in it. They were written for you to do it. They are your dress, young sister, or your suit, young man. You've got to be in them. Now I know I have an advantage over you all, and it's called age, in that sense, but you've got to do it. You've got to soak up, absolutely soak yourself in this. There'll come a time, process in your life, when you will need to read books. Be careful what you read. I also have read books, but I hope it doesn't distress you when I tell you I've never been inside a college or university, save to lecture in them. You say, how did you get to lecture in a university or college? You've got to understand, beloved, it all depends on you. Now I put the charge to you, whether you will be a nuisance to God, getting in the way of his truth, or whether you will be a workman, workwoman of his. All depends on you. The Holy Ghost in you, of course, but here is the truth. He said, uh, Jesus said, I've seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. First time he saw him. Second time he'd heard him. He didn't have to go to meetings for 25 years before he got saved or born again. Second time of hearing. Oh, wasn't this wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? Oh, don't you wonder anymore at these lovely old bible stories. Are you one of these snide, cheap, modern youth or whatsoever? I don't hardly call everybody in the room a youth. But, hallelujah, bathe yourself, friend. You can't bathe in Ceylon, but there is a pool for you. Let me use the figure. He is called the Holy Ghost. You go, be filled with, wash yourselves. He's come to fill the atmosphere, fill the world in Jesus name. But listen, it all depended not just on belief but in obedience. Why didn't he send me to the pool in the sheep market? You can't choose where you go or what you do. I know you have to be discriminatory in your life. You expect to go to some other place like lock yourself up in a monastery or something like that. You have to see the truth. Jesus Christ was an out and about man where everybody could meet him. See him under all circumstances, stresses and all kinds of things through which he went and so have you. Be out there where people can see you and they can form their own judgments. Whether they are polite ones or complimentary ones, it doesn't matter a scrap. The thing is what Jesus sees, worshiped him. Hallelujah. I'll comment on that a little later. Listen, Jesus said in answer to that, for judgment I am come into this world. Now you might have been taught to sing a chorus. Many of the things you sing are simply not true. For instance, here's one. He did not come to judge the world. They taught me to sing this in the Sunday school. He did not come to blame. Don't you know it? Born too late, that's your trouble. He was not only, he did not come to see. He was to save. He came and when we call him saviour, when we call him saviour, when we call him saviour, we call him by his name. That's what his name means. She said, oh saviour, and she was saying, oh Jesus, help me. I was about, well I don't know what age was I, 13 when I learned that. We moved out of London, where I was born, into the country. A little like a country bumpkin taught me to sing that chorus. Too busy in London to learn the truth, I guess. You need to be out in God's sunshine sometimes. Jesus was often there, where the noise and the clamour and the modern inventions, what everybody worships, especially if it's a new computer thing. With this, Jesus, go away. It's what you are in secret, what you are in the dark, that's what you really are. What you are in bed in the night, what you are in the morning when you get up, what you are at midday, or what you are, shall we say, in a lecture. Well, that's it, that's you. Not that we don't thank God for modern inventions, a la the recording machine, but this, beloved, is so wonderful. Get along with God. I mustn't tell you too many stories, but a certain time in my life when I was in the church in Bradford, we used to have a saying, and it was David's. Here it is. Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say, on the Lord. I say that he used to teach me to sing. He did not come to judge the world, but there's a verse in scripture that says, Jesus says, for judgment I am come into this world. Not to condemn men to hell, don't misunderstand what he's saying. It's a judgment you make, perhaps, when you go to the market, you precious sisters or men, you judge between, this is a pear or an apple. That kind of judgment. You don't say, I want six pears, please. When you look, you've walked out with apples. You don't do that. You're exercising judgment every day, not condemnatory judgment. You have a faculty within you that makes you know right from wrong, and unless you sin so greatly, you no longer know the difference between right and wrong. Of course, that can forsake you. Beloved, you can be less than human, and yet look to be the most wonderful human creature that's ever breathed. Humanity doesn't depend upon the length of your body, or the length of your nose, or the slant of your eyes, or what cream you use, or what you don't rely on. It lies in, which all you know. What's in here in the dark, it's all in the dark. There's no lighting, no lamps burning inside. This daylight doesn't reach in there. How wonderful it is. All right, I've come into the world for judgment, he said. And the judgment is this, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Listen, we know that God spoke by Moses. How do they know? How did they know? They weren't of the burning bush, just Moses and God. You see, do you see, beloved, we use this word see so frequently. I mean, I'll tell you what, you won't see perfectly as God wants you to, unless you see with your understanding. And you are quite blind, unless you can do that. Quite blind. I've come to make you Pharisees, that say you see, you know, and I don't know what. I've come to make you see that you're quite blind, but they never did see it. And that's why John starts his gospel. It's all logical, John's gospel. He starts his gospel, well not quite at the start, but you go back to chapter 3 and you hear him saying, to the great teacher of Israel, a man named Nicodemus, he was the teacher of teachers, the professor of professors, teaching them the scriptures. Undoubtedly a Pharisee, they wouldn't have anybody else with that. He said to this man that saw everything, explained everything, got all the degrees that were possible, all right, you've got to be born again, Nicodemus. You haven't even begun. You don't see naturally, you don't see anything in your mother's womb. And afterwards, for a long time, you don't see anything, except if I may say your mother is your supplier of your milk and you'd rather go to her than your father. It's quite instinctive. Do not see, Goliath. You'll be useless in this world for God until you begin to see this. Though you may preach the gospel on every street corner, that's what these Pharisees did. They preached and prayed on the corners, in the marketplaces. Jesus came a little baby thing and made a woman cry and she laid him in a manger. That was the place God chose. He could have chosen the palace. That's where the so-called wise men went. They went to the palace. Didn't expect God's Son to be born in a stable. God's very surprising. He's real. And you all know, every one of you, that when you come to think that's it, look at the man that was born in a palace. He's called the Prince of Wales. Just look at him. A blatant, openly confessed adulterer. Here's the thing. I'm not here to call people names. I'm not trying to blame anybody. I'm only saying there should be some blame laid for his mother was brought up in a family where her mother used to take daily bible readings when she sat at breakfast with her father. There's blame attaching beloved. I want you to go out into this world a clean, pure, wonderful child of God. That's what I want. Not by a facility of the tongue or use of the English language or any language in which you happen to have been born or any country. Nothing to do with that. Although we in England have an advantage. There's responsibility for being an English person, I tell you, not for any so-called glory of things won by battle, and I don't know what, but the fact, and I believe this is why God preserved England in the war. Because it was really England that gave the bible to the nations. Not because we had a great man called Churchill. He was a foul-mouthed man. Not because of that. Not because we have the best professors in the world, and I don't know what. England virtually gave the bible to the world. The great evangelists, you would say they come from America, but they went from England. And you can say what you will. That's what I believe. Well, I don't believe him. Well, all right, as long as we agree to differ, that's fine. Did you know that Queen Victoria, when she was alive, as much as they sneer, I don't know, because they want to walk about undressed, and they would do as they could, people. She was once asked by an African chief who came to England, go right back, and he said, what was the secret of England's greatness to her? She said, this book. I guarantee the present queen or the next queen, if we ever have one, won't say that. Don't sneer at this heritage of ours. Don't sneer. Of course, Germany had it before us. You know that, don't you? Well, I can't give a history lesson, but you can soon find out. Here is the thing for us to get hold of. Jesus said, I've come into this world for judgment. Must have a standard of judgment for the purposes of God, when he's going to judge in the future, and in not so direct a way, even now in the present. They could make their judgments whether they believe the Pharisees or they believe the person that gave a man born blind his sight. What a marvelous thing. Are we blind also? They asked. Verse 40, Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remaineth. Now he's not talking about eyeballs here. He's talking about here. Whatever he did, whatever he said, wherever he went, these people had agreed that they would have him betrayed. They'd also already secured Judas with money to betray the Lord wherever he was. They didn't believe a thing. They wouldn't see a thing. The evidence that he showed, you will begin, you will know right at the beginning of John's gospel. I love this gospel more than any, you might as well know that. But here is the thing, he started off, the first miracle he did, and they're all there, and you're to follow that, trace it through. That's what the Bible is for, not to choose a few verses. The first miracle he did, you will know, was turn water into wine. Ah, that was wonderful, you know. No, it wasn't to him. Later, we shall take it together, I trust. I did say to Derek, before I started, I must finish John. He said, not necessarily. Not necessarily. But he, the first miracle he did, he preached about it or taught about it in John 15. Now if I said, now what does John 15 talk about? Oh, I can see one head nodding. All right, here it is. I am the vine, he said. Quite simple for a vine to turn water into wine, that's what it does. It takes water out of the ground in which it grows and it turns it into grapes and into wine. There you are. Not to get drunk on. See, that's the thing about it. You see, it's natural to him. You see, he bypassed all the process. They needed wine immediately. I am the vine. Only he didn't say it then. He kept some of the secrets of it all close until the, toward the end and he taught his disciples, only his disciples, everyone else excluded, some of the secrets. I am the vine, he said. The Bible makes common sense. All people who try to pull it to pieces never have read it properly and certainly never understood or entered into the spirit of it. You, if you were blind, he said, you would have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore you're sinful. You're lying. He didn't say that. And you won't be surprised if he says a little later, but I mustn't go too far ahead or keep that for some very future. He said, I am the truth. You see, you've got to be dead true when you come to Christ. You've got to be absolutely true. Never make excuses for yourself. Never. There are no excuses. Oh, if you knew my mother and father and the terrible background I come from. Well, we've all come from terrible backgrounds. Some worse than others. But you and I have to know the truth. Well done, brother. It's all right. Fine. So glad I've had you with us. We're nearly finished. Push the door to, please. That's right. Now, if you tell a lie about anything, you're sin. It's sin. You say, we see. But they had blinded themselves to what the earth's wild blind man had said. This man's a God. But they blinded themselves to that. And self-blindness is worse than any affliction that you can be cursed with on this earth. Now, may the Lord just open this all up to us. But let me say this very clearly. All this was preceded, I'm really praying, preparing you for tomorrow, actually. Yeah. All this was preceded by wonderful statements from the Lord. Remember what he said. As long as I am in the world, I am the light. But if any man or woman refuses to look at the light and walk in the light, we'll come across this as we go on, in John's Gospel, whose fault is it if he's falling all the time? My precious sister, who I've known for many years, won't mind me saying this, nobody could blame her if she blundered into a chair and was in the way. She's very graciously learned to live with her affliction. Praise God. But you see, if you blunder into a chair, which you can sit stuck in front of you, everyone says, well, it's your own fault. You wouldn't say it unkindly, but at least you've got to tell them the truth. You say, we see. But Jesus saw, and he, unlike them, did not make the blind man a stumbling block. They were all stumbling over the blind man. They were stumbling over him. They wouldn't see what was so plainly set forth by the Lord, and you're a culpable criminal if you do that. You have to go on with the Lord simply, lovingly. They say, are we blind? Are we blind also? Are we? Strangely enough, the Lord knew somehow, and Him, of course, by the wonderful way He lives, that the young, that the man could see. He only needs to be told the truth, so the man could also see. He saw that he had to go and wash in the pool of Ceylon. He just obeyed Jesus. That's the blessed sight that you get, to obey Jesus. Okay. And he started on that way, whether he felt groped, or somebody led him to the pool of Ceylon, I don't know. By the way, you may know that in the East, it was the practice then, that if a blind man needed leading, some other man, or some young man, a boy perhaps, would say, I am your eyes. Put your hand on me. And he led. They used to lead us. It was quite the practice in the East. I am the way. As you remember, he said that, I am the way. The Lord is so patently glorious. He takes up everything, every facet of human being. Not the soul of every human being. He's prepared to save that. But every facet uses Him. In the eighth chapter, you will remember, he dealt with hearing. My sheep hear my voice. Sheep don't understand what you say. Nor the cattle. You can say, a dolly, you might call a cow, say, come in and come home. But they don't know what you're saying. They tell by the timbre of your voice. That's how, you know, that's how I know you. If we met often and talked, I would know you. I would know you. Voice. Single voice. And you can't disguise it, unless you're a twice damned deceiver. What a marvellous thing. To be this thing. He says, yes, in the eighth chapter, sorry, in the chapter that follows, I meant, not preceded, he talks about the sheep. But that's for tomorrow. It's what, it's hearing. Then, today is sight. Now, I'm saying to you, what inward sight have you? You start by seeing that you are a sinner. An absolutely deep-dyed sinner because of training or protocol or what it may be. You may always talk nicely and you may do this, that and the other. But you're more deeply dyed the older you get, if you keep trying to deceive people to your, about your true inward state. This is God, the hidden God. Nobody's seen, no man has seen God at any time. He came and manifested himself in the world. So that Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Perfect. Wonderful. Ah, that's what it's got to be. Never make excuses for yourself. Never say, ah, this or ah, that or that. Mm-mm-mm. You don't do that, beloved. You won't let Jesus be himself and do what he alone can do for you all the time you lodge in a pretense. And that was the big thing. I'm speaking to myself, too. We're all included in this. These Pharisees, are we blind also? Are we? I don't know. Because in the preceding chapter, he had said some tremendous things. I'd like you to read it, this eighth chapter. Do you know how it started? Eh? With a woman taken in adultery. Now listen. The Jews, now you listen, the careful thought and plan of God was to bring his son into the world via a virgin. And they mocked him. We be not born of fornication, they said to him, implying that it's Joseph and Mary's fornication that produced Jesus. How about that? They never believed he could be born of a virgin. And neither would you believe, as we told you, the tale tomorrow or today. Do you know, my mother was a virgin always. Don't talk silly. Nobody would believe you. They mocked him. Fancy that. And Mary had to bear that. He had to bear that. Listen. And you've got to be born virgin, pure. You understand that? And the Holy Ghost, if you like, will be your mother, for he came on Mary that she should become the mother. Okay? All right? You've got to be virgin born, too. You say, why God? Oh, I'm talking about being born again. The newborn birth from above. But you see, in chapter, this chapter we looked at, he was telling them they were blind. All the lot were blind. He took that man to demonstrate it, and then they wouldn't believe it. What a tremendous thing. If you go into chapter 8, which I've already referred to, it was this precious woman. That's where it started. And note this. It's on the tapes where we preached the other two. Listen. When he said, he that was out, sit among you, cast the first stone, and then all the men that were listening went out, one by one, starting at the oldest to the least. His disciples were there, too. And they were men. He never had woman disciples, but not in the intimate ring of disciples. They were all men. And they went out. He wouldn't have needed to, but if you could have seen it, you'd have said, oh, where's Peter? Oh, he's gone out. Where's James? Oh, he's gone out. Where's Matthew? Gone out. The only one that could stand with the woman was Jesus. I love him. I absolutely love him. If you say admire him, admire's not the word. Your head over heels in love with him. And I'm not talking about romanticism, or else you're not. Hallelujah. And he dealt with them. Then as we've seen today, he dealt with the fact, real fact is this. You can't see the light. You're in total darkness. But after he dealt with the woman, listen to this. When she said, no man, Lord, no man condemns me. He said, neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. Now that must be possible, or else God, Jesus, was lying by implication. And if he's a liar, don't you have anything to do with him? Sin no more. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? No, he wasn't one of these persons that would say a thing. He only spoke the truth. Or else, chuck him over. Don't have anything to do with him. If you can't tell the truth, how can you believe the truth? He's coming back again. How can you believe that? Isn't he wonderful? And then he goes on to say this. Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. Then he went to demonstrate it into the ninth chapter. It's all logical. John's Gospel is the most logical of all. Follows on, step by step, right through. He's more concerned with teaching us the truth of God than just recording wonderful stories about Jesus. Goodbye.