The Apostle Paul's Experience

has been recorded three times. I have no doubt that he told it
everywhere he went: how God had met him; how God had opened his eyes
and his heart; and how God had blessed him. Depend upon it,
experience has its place; the great mistake that is made now is in
the other extreme. In some places and at some periods there has been
too much of it--it has been all experience; and now we have let the
pendulum swing too far the other way.

I think it is not only right, but exceedingly useful, that we should
give our experience. This man bore testimony to what the Lord had
done for him.

"And it was the 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 unto them, 'He put clay upon 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.

They say unto the blind man again, 'What sayest thou of Him, that He
hath opened thine eyes?'"

What an opportunity he had for evading the questions! He might have
said: "Why, I have never seen Him. When He met me I was blind; I
could not see Him. When I came back I could not find Him; and I have
not formed any opinion yet." He might have put them off in that way,
but he said:

"He is a prophet."

He gave them his opinion. He was a man of backbone. He had moral
courage. He stood right up among the enemies of Jesus Christ, the
Pharisees, and told them what he thought of Him--

"He is a prophet."

If you can get young Christians to talk, not about themselves, but
about Christ, their testimony will have power. Many converts talk
altogether about their own experience--"I," "I," "I," "I." But this
blind man got away to the Master, and said, "He is a prophet." He
believed, and he told them what he believed.

"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 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
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. Therefore said his parents, 'He is of age; ask him.'"

I have always had great contempt for those parents. They had a noble
son, and their lack of moral courage then and there to confess what
the Lord Jesus Christ had done for their son, makes them unworthy of
him. They say, "We do not know how he got it," which looks as if
they did not believe their own son. "He is of age; ask him."

It is sorrowfully true to-day that we have hundreds and thousands of
people who are professed disciples of Jesus Christ, but when the
time comes that they ought to take their stand, and give a clear
testimony for Him, they testify against Him. You can always tell
those who are really converted to God. The new man always takes his
stand for God; and the old man takes his stand against Him. These
parents had an opportunity to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
do great things for Him; but they neglected their golden
opportunity.

If they had but stood up with their noble son, and said, "This is
our son. We have tried all the physicians, and used all the means in
our power, and were unable to do anything for him; but now, out of
gratitude, we confess that he received his sight from the prophet of
Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth," they might have led many to believe on
Him. But, instead of that, they said, "We know that this is our son,
and that he was born blind: but by what means he now seeth, we know
not."

Do you know why they did not want to tell how he got his sight?
Simply because it would

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The Apostle Paul's Experience