In this sermon, the preacher discusses the fourth and fifth signs recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which are the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water. These signs demonstrate the deity and lordship of Christ. The number eight is highlighted as the number of resurrection and is significant in various aspects of creation and worship. The preacher then focuses on the healing of a man who was blind from birth, emphasizing the importance of knowing and practicing God's word. The sermon concludes with an invitation to accept Jesus as the Redeemer and find peace and assurance in Him.

You pick up the authorized version of Holy Scripture that you'll find in front of you in the pew and turn with me please to the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. John's Gospel at the chapter nine. We're reading from verse one to verse fourteen. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me. Why did his day? The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle. And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he. Others said, He is like him. But he said, I am. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash. And I went and washed, and I received sight. Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. God will stamp with his own divine approval this reading from his very own infallible book. Amen and Amen. John's Gospel at the chapter 9 and at the verse 7. He came seeing. He came seeing. And the title of my gospel message tonight is The Divine Eyewash. He came seeing. It has been well said that ignorance is a dealer that locks us up in a very frightful prison cell. There is only one key which can open the prison door for us and set us free. And that is the knowledge of the truth. Ye shall know the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ said. And the truth shall set you free. Christ alone is the truth. And it is the knowledge of him that will bring us spiritually into the enjoyment of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Someone has said very truly that a handful of knowledge is far more valuable than an ocean full of ignorance. One solitary thing you really know enough to die for is worth more than ignorance enough to jostle the stars in their courses as they roll over our head. On this question the apostle Paul was adamant. He said we know the truth. That was an unshakable and unchangeable conviction. But he had to limit the extent of that knowledge by adding that he knew in part. We can only succeed by exercising what we really know and not by experimenting in the realm of what we do not. Let me bring you to consider the experience of this divine eye wash that this blind man received. Each of us requires the divine eye wash if we are going to see. We require the divine ear wash if we are going to hear properly. We require the divine brain wash if we are going to really understand. And we require the divine mouth wash if we are going to declare effectively what we have experienced. Notice it carefully. The seeing man, our Lord Jesus Christ, saw the man who could not see and never had. Our Lord Jesus Christ is ever in pursuit of the blind. Blind sinner, in this service tonight, Christ searches for you and he sees you. Blind saint, in this meeting tonight, Christ is searching for you and he sees you. Listen to these blessed words. As Jesus passed that way, he saw only one thing. He saw a man which was born blind. The disciples saw him too, but they were only interested in diagnosis, not in healing. They had already passed their verdict. They said, Master, who did sin? Was it this man or was it his parents who had sinned to bring this affliction upon their offspring? How quickly our Lord Jesus Christ condemned and rebuked their hasty verdict. In verse 3, Jesus answered, Neither has this man or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. If you study the Gospel of John, you will discover there are eight signs or miracles in the Gospel of John. Seven are before the cross and one is after the cross. You have the marriage at Canaan, John chapter 2, verses 1-11. You have the healing of the ruler's son, John 4, verses 46-50. You have the healing of the impotent man, John 5, verses 1-47. You have the feeding of the five thousand, John 6, verses 1-14. You have Christ walking on the sea, John 6, verses 15-21. You have the miracle of this man that we are considering tonight, the man that was born blind. And you have the resurrection of the brother of the two sisters, Lazarus' resurrection in John chapter 11, verses 1-44. And then after the resurrection, you have the miraculous draft of fishes. These eight signs are in pairs. In the Scripture, when you have a list like that, you have to look at the first one and the last one. That forms the first pair and then the next in order. What was the first and last of these miracles? The first was the marriage in Canaan when they ran out of wine. And the second was the draft of fishes when they ran out of their breakfast. Both had to do with food. In the first one, Christ, we are told, revealed His glory. But in the second one, He revealed Himself. The first pair is connected with feasting. The second pair, the second and the seventh, dealt with healing. The healing of the ruler's son and the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. The ruler's son, we read, was on the point of death. Lazarus was already dead and in the tomb. And if you carefully read the two passages concerned, you will find that two days are mentioned in both these passages. And they bring us back to an Old Testament prophecy. Hosea 6, 1 to 3. Please mark that because the Bible is a book of unity. The third pair is the impotent man and the man born blind. Two healings, they took place in Jerusalem. They were both associated with a pool of water. And they are the only two of the eight signs which have any reference to sin. Water, of course, in the Scripture refers to, in the spiritual sense, cleansing from sin. The fourth pair is, of course, the fourth and the fifth. And they had to do with the feeding of the five thousand and the walking of the five thousand. And both was a demonstration of the deity and lordship of Christ. It took God to walk on the sea. It took God to feed the five thousand. That's the only signs, could I say, of all the signs that is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well. Christ controls all that he creates so he can walk upon the sea. Now, eight in Scripture is the number of resurrection. Christ arose on the eighth day. Eight, of course, is very important in the building of this world. It is the octave in music and in color and in the days of the week. It is a number especially related to Christ the Lord's day. And all the multiples in the whole Bible are all branded together with the Lord's name, with the Lord's people, and the Lord's work. Well, let us return to this man who was healed. Christ said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man cometh. And then he did a remarkable thing. He spat on the ground. Only twice in our Lord's life did he spit. I am not going to tell you the other reference, for if I did, you would not bother looking it up. So just find and start at Matthew 1 and keep reading until you find out the second place where the Lord spat. On this occasion he spat on the ground. He made clay of the spittle. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin. He went his way, therefore, and washed and came see. We might well ask the question, what is a Christian? A Christian is a person who obeys Christ. Even though it goes against his grain and what he thinks is his own common sense, the Christian still obeys his Lord. He does the Lord's will not because he likes to do it, but rather because it is Christ's will. So did this man. He permitted Christ to spit on the ground. To make the clay, to anoint his eyes from which he had no vision with the clay. And then he heard Christ saying, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash your eyes. Now every step that man took to the pool of Siloam, there was an evil spirit within him saying, Do you really think that some mud made from the dust of the ground and spat upon by this man Jesus can cure you? Stop trying in your blindness to find this pool of Siloam. Do you really think that by washing off this mud you will wash away the blindness you have? But this poor sightless man, he cried out within himself, I will, I will put Jesus to the test. I will obey Jesus. I will see what he has done for others he can surely do for me. So he staggered down, he washed the mud from off his eyes. And suddenly, triumphantly, miraculously for the first time, he saw. And he came back seeing. What a terrible uproar this caused. Notice the reaction from his neighbors at verse 8 in chapter 9. The neighbors there for a day which before had seen him that was blind said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some refused to acknowledge him. They cried, This is like him. But he testified, I am he. And if you look at verses 10 and 11, you will read, Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes open? I love this answer. He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus, Made clay, anointed mine eyes, And said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. And I went and I washed and I received. Next these unbelieving neighbors brought the man to the Pharisees. Then again the Pharisees, religious leaders of the day, Asked him, How did you receive at your sight? He said unto them, He put clay on mine eyes and I washed and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of 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. And then they said unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of this man who opened your eyes? He said he is a prophet. A prophet is a person who delivers to man the word of God and the command of God. And this man saw Christ as his prophet, Who had delivered to him the word of God and the will of God. And as a result he got his eyesight back. They then called the man's parents. 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, Is this your son who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son. And we know that he was born blind. But by what means he now seeth? We know not. For who hath opened his eyes? We know not. He is of age. Ask him, he shall speak for himself. So they called him back again. And they said, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. But one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. They did not stop there. They questioned him again. What did he tell you? How opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already. And ye did not hear. Wherefore should ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples? They then attacked the man. They reviled him. The word in the original Greek is, they abused him. And they said, Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. And the final testimony of the man is found in verses 30 to 33. The man answered and said, Why, herein is a marvellous thing. That ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners. But if 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. And their rage knew no bounds, and they put him out. But the Lord met him when he was cast out. And the Lord said to him, when he found 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 hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made blind. And then the Pharisees came again and said, Are we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin. But now ye say, We see. Therefore your sin. Let us learn from this miracle which our Lord did, and the opposition which the recipient of Christ's healing power came up against. Let us learn it is only by God's Word to be sure. For a man takes the first step, he knows. When he continues to learn to know the will of God and practice it, he is on his way to know more than in part. He has had a revelation. Study this passage of Scripture. And every time that man who was healed speaks, he is saying something more. He is committing more to the Lord. The infidel world tells us that whether or not a man keeps God's laws, he will go to heaven anyway. I was listening to one of those children's broadcasts of the religious world the other day. And a man was trying to explain away heaven and to tell us that everybody would be in heaven. Well, if everybody is going to be in heaven, that is not the kind of heaven that I want to be in. For myself, I love the redemption that is in Christ. And I pray God that heaven will be as it is. To bring me to the feet of Jesus, the Lord of heaven, is the first thing. And you must be brought to the feet of Jesus. And then one day you will walk amongst all the stars of glory undimmed. And you will say, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And heaven is the place where we see God. He who knows the way of Christ is on the way of knowledge. No wonder after twenty-five years of ministry and suffering, Paul said of Christ that I might know him. Paul, after twenty-five years, do you not know him? Oh, I want to know him more. For great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. Christ would not and could not be Christ if he was not a mystery. Christ, the Savior of sinners, must be a mystery, a great mystery, the mystery of godliness. Who is he? He is God, manifest. Jesus was born of a woman in a cattle store and wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid on the straw in the manger. He grew up, he walked about the streets of Nazareth. In latter years he worked in the carpenter's shop of Joseph, his mother's husband. He left home when he was thirty. He did not live and talk the language of other men. He was virgin born and lived a virgin life. He commanded the winds and the seas and they obeyed him. He healed the sick and he raised the dead. He made mind-boggling claims such as, I am the light of the world, I am life, I have all power, I am the resurrection. And he gave irresistible and infallible proofs of every claim he made. He raised the dead, he gave sight to the blind. He healed the sick, he cleansed the lepers, he cast out devils, he transformed the vilest of sinners. And he told those who heard him, he that has seen me has seen God. This message was, believe in God and believe also in me. The world says tonight to us all, explain this incarnation of God in the flesh. It is far beyond human. It is a miracle of miracles. Christ who was in the form of God became flesh and dwelt. He took the form of a man. If you took off your best suit and put on your most inferior suit, if you possessed such a thing, you would still be the same person. The Lord Jesus Christ took off his best suit and put on the rags of humanity. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. But he remained and continued to be God the Son, the second person of the undivided Trinity of God. Christ was never man alone. He was God alone. He became the God man alone. But he never was and never became man alone. He is God, whether he is in the Father's bosom in heaven or here on earth in the Virgin's bosom. He died and yet the world says, explain it. I say to the world, experience it. You can't explain it, but you can experience it. I can't explain my own personal salvation, but I have experienced it. And I know whom I have believed. The just for the unjust has died on the tree. That's my way to God and it's God's way to me. You know that truth. Believe it and then go out and declare it and tell others. Don't bother sinners with what you don't know. That will only darken your ignorance and theirs. Tell them the simple truth. Jesus died for sinful men and Jesus died for you. No wonder the great Dr. South said, the articles of the Bible faith are the depths which an elephant could swim in. But the principle of our simple practices are shallows for a lamb. Oh, blessed Jesus, I would say. Wondrous Redeemer, glorious Savior. You hold within you all the sounds of Eden. You hold within you all the mysteries of heaven. You hold within you all the truths proclaimed through the millennia of the ages. And when I lay my ears at your hearts, I hear the voice of eternity. The clear, assuring, increasing voice. The still, small voice of God. And I hear the words, blessed are those who know in part. For one day they shall know even as they are known. Do you know in part? Have you put your simple trust and faith in the Redeemer? Do you have a peace that passeth knowledge on all understanding? And can you look death in the face and say, Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grief, I trust if that's not your spiritual condition to mind, that before you leave this meeting house, you will call on the name of the Lord. And the promise is simple and the promise is sure. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. May you be saved through the precious blood of the Savior. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Oh God, our Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. Thy Word is truth. And we thank Thee for this man who went away and washed, and he came back seeing. And we thank Thee that every man that washes in the blood sees for both time and eternity. But he'll never see hell. He will never see the darkness of a lost eternity. For a sight will have saved him to see God and spend all eternity in the heaven of heavens. Speak to every heart and cause every heart here to turn from darkness to light and from the power of sin and Satan unto God. And the people of God said, Amen.