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Most ViewedA Much Shrewder ManA Long Eye And A Short Eye He Thought The Lord Had Made A Mistake God Honored Her Faith Broke His Heart A Blank Check Faith The Man Born Blind And Joseph Of Arimathea Shot Up A Prayer No Physician Least ViewedHerod And John The BaptistThe Call Of Moses Needed Bolstering Up Mayor Of Sodom In The Very Act Of Obedience Joy Among The Saints In Heaven The Prophet Nehemiah Never Have Heard Of Not Able To Sleep Much What Is The Price |
Cost Them Too MuchThey represent those Christians who do not want to serve Christ if it is going to cost them anything; if they have to give up society, position, or worldly pleasures. They do not want to come out. This is what keeps hundreds and thousands from becoming Christians. It was a serious thing to be put out of the synagogue in those days. It does not amount to much now. If a man is put out of one church, another may receive him; but when he went out of the synagogue there was no other to take him in. It was the State church: it was the only one they had. If he were cast out of that, he was cast out of society, position, and everything else; and his business suffered also. Then again the Jews called the man that was blind, "and said unto him, 'Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.'" It looks now as if they were trying to prejudice him against Christ: but he "answered and said, 'Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.'" There were no infidels or philosophers there who could persuade him out of that. There were not men enough in Jerusalem to make him believe that his eyes were not opened. Did he not know that for over twenty years he had been feeling his way around Jerusalem; that he had been led by children and friends; and that during all those years he had not seen the sun in its glory, or any of the beauties of nature? Did he not know that he had been feeling his way through life up to that very day? And do we not know that we have been born of God, and that we have got the eyes of our souls opened? Do we not know that old things have passed away and all things have become new, and that the eternal light has dawned upon our souls? Do we not know that the chains that once bound us have snapped asunder, that the darkness is gone, and that the light has come? Have we not liberty where we once had bondage? Do we not know it? If so, then let us not hold our peace. Let us testify for the Son of God, and say, as the blind man did in Jerusalem, "ONE THING I KNOW, that whereas I was blind, now I see. I have a new power. I have a new light. I have a new love. I have a new nature. I have something that reaches out toward God. By the eye of faith I can see yonder heaven. I can see Christ standing at the right hand of God. By and by, when my journey is over, I am going to hear that voice saying, 'Come hither,' when I shall sit down in the kingdom of God." "Then said they to him again, 'What did He do to thee? how opened He thine eyes?' But he answered them, 'I have told you already, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be His disciples?'" This was a most extraordinary man. Here was a young convert in Jerusalem, not a day old, Next: Trying To Make Converts Previous: The Apostle Paul's Experience
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