Cost Them Too Much

They 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,