The Gospel of John

The Sign of Truth

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 29- 70

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Track: 029

Dictation Name: RR197R31

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Year:

Let us worship God. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desires of them that fear Him, He also will hear their cry and will save them. Oh Thou that hearest prayer unto Thee shall all flesh come. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we come again rejoicing in Thy mercies, knowing that to live in an evil time means more than ever that we need Thee every hour. We thank Thee that Thou art closer to us than we are to ourselves, that by Thy grace and mercy Thou wilt undertake for us all the days of our life, Thou wilt go before us to prepare the way and to make certain that our victory in Christ is assured. Oh God our God how great Thou art, we thank Thee, we praise Thee, we worship Thee. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is John 9:8-16. John 9:8-16 and our subject: The Sign of Truth.

“The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

11 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.

12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

15 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.

16 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.”

Like all the miracles reported by John in His gospel this is first a sign, of that more later. Second this was a miracle which occurred on the Sabbath. The Gospel tells us of seven miracles of healing wrought by our Lord on the Sabbath. The First, the withered hand in Matthew 12:9, the second the demoniac at Capernaum recorded in Mark 1:21, third the healing of Simon’s mother in law in Mark 1:29, fourth the crippled woman, Luke 13:14, fifth the man with dropsy again recorded in in Luke 14:2-4, sixth the paralytic at Bethesda recorded in John 5:1-9 and this one, the man born blind recorded in the first part of our chapter, verses one through seven. Each of these miracles violated the Sabbath rules of the Pharisees and each was a challenge to false religion. Not a compromise but a challenge. Too often in our time people feel that they can get further by compromise and this is wrong. This healing of the man born blind coming as it did when the Pharisees planned his death was especially an affront to the Pharisees because it was a very deliberate condemnation of their stand. Is true religion made up of a handful of pious manmade rules or is it obedient faithfulness to God? We cannot relegate the application of this stand to the religious leaders of Jerusalem. It applies equally to the church men of our time.

The Pharisees then and too often churchmen now demand conformity over faith. But conformity is commonly to men and to institutions whereas our faith and primary obedience must to be to the triune God. It is not that the rules that men make are always necessarily evil but they become evil when men insist on giving them a priority over the word of God. Among other things this miracle is a sign of what counts with God. Our self-centered piety is of no value, His truth alone matters and His truth must command us. The whole of our being must be under his command. We cannot try to govern ourselves by our own will, we must be governed by God, by His word, by His spirit. This miracle is a sign of truth, are we ruled by our own will or by the truth of God? Is what we want that which governs us or is it the word of God? The religious leaders had made their decision, the man born blind now had to decide whom to follow. After the miracle the former blind man was the subject of comment, was this the former blind beggar, some said this is he. Others said he resembles the blind beggar but this one can see. The man said I am he, his neighbors asked how is it that you can now see? For a blind man blind from birth to gain his sight was a startling thing. The man recounted what had happened to him, he also identified his healer, a man that is called Jesus.

The next question asked him is where is he? This is important. They did not ask who is he, everyone knew. Jesus was a mighty healer, perhaps the great prophet, perhaps even the Messiah. It was unnecessary to ask more. The answer was I know not. A man born blind comes into vision in a strange world, everything is unfamiliar and strange. Suddenly this man found that he was expected to know much more than he could know. Word of this miracle spread and the once blind man found himself taken to the Pharisees perhaps by officers, perhaps by concerned persons. In verse fourteen we are told the critical fact that the miracle was performed on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath had always been God’s ordained day. The temple, the synagogue, and too often the church had made it their day. But our Lord had earlier told certain Pharisees the son of man is lord also of the Sabbath. The full context is given in Mark 2:23-28. This important statement precedes Jesus’ declaration that He is lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is intended as a blessing for man, not as a burden, as a freedom not as a bondage. The stand of the seventeenth century puritans of England against Sabbath labor won the working people to their side. Their condition in so called merry England had been one of enslavement while the wealthy made merry. Sabbath rules meant liberation for them. The Pharisees wanted to preserve their Sabbath rules and regulations, the liberation of a man born blind meant nothing to them. Matthew 12:9-14 is important.

We see the issue joined, we read:

“And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:

10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.

13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.

14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.”

The argument of the Pharisees against this position would have as its premise first no work of any kind on the Sabbath, second this man’s condition is not new, the healing can therefore wait until another day, third it is therefore lawless to heal on the Sabbath when the healing can wait until tomorrow. A sheep in a pit is an emergency, a man with a withered hand like a man born blind are not emergencies. Well this is a logical argument but is an immoral one. The Sabbath is the Lord’s Day, to do good on the Lord’s day is not a sin. It is always lawful to do good, to serve God on the Sabbath and healing is an act of restoration. I’m sure that then as now the Pharisees if they had a medical emergency would want a doctor to come to them on the Sabbath. The Pharisees persisted in questioning the former blind beggar who was now capable of work and a life of freedom and usefulness. How did he gain sight? Again they were told of Jesus’ healing power. Some of the Pharisees refused to associate the miracle with Jesus and His mission. This man is not of God because He keepeth not the Sabbath day they said. Of course our Lord observed the Sabbath as God’s law requires. Not as the rules of the Pharisees stipulated. Some apparently a minority asked ‘how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?’ the result was a division in the meeting. It is important to remember that the early church for a few generations apparently was predominantly Jewish. There were many on all levels who believed in Him. In fact well into the middle ages many churchmen and some popes were Jewish. In Acts 6:7 we are told that a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

At this point the minority insisted that the starting point of the discussion should be the miracle Jesus performed whereas most began with the priority of their manmade rules. Their starting point or their presupposition determined their conclusion in either case. If our presupposition is not the triune God and His inscriptured word we will presuppose that our own will rules or conclusions are the truth. A variety of humanistic premises are routinely established as the ground for truth. But a Christian must maintain the truth is not in us. We are not the source of truth because God alone is. Therefore, we must begin with the God of the bible and His infallible word if we want to know the truth. False premises, false starting points, lead to false conclusions and man is a false premise in and of himself. Man’s essential premise, his presupposition is set forth in Genesis 3:5:

“ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

The Pharisees were honest and moral men as compared with other men of their time. But their false premise led them to reinterpret and in effect alter God’s law to make themselves the law givers. This practice is still with us. In too many instances the church takes priority with many, many people over Jesus Christ and this is always dangerous. It always leads to humanism but if we begin with the Lord, proceed on that premise, and conclude in terms of God’s word we are preserved from humanism and become faithful to our Lord in all things. Let us pray.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee that Thy truth is plain and readily available because it is given in Thy word and written on the tables of our hearts even though we suppress it in unrighteousness. We pray therefore Lord that by Thy grace we may always begin and end with Thee. That in all things we may be faithful unto Thee. That we may not make our requirements, our rules, or the rules of our groups the law in place of Thy word. Guide us into the freedom of Thy word, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] I can’t quite hear you.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. We can try to implement the word of God at times to make it more understandable because the context of our culture sometimes obscures the plain word of God. But if we try to implement it by laying down certain premises as though what we say constitutes part of the word of God then we are in trouble. Because then we have given equal weight to the word of God. I feel the same way not only about trying to implement God’s word with our own rules and regulations about Bibles with notes. Now I know some very fine editions of the Bible have been produced with all kinds of notes, all the same I feel uneasy about that because I’ve seen too many people and I’ve had too many admit to me that for example the notes in the Scofield Bible became for them as binding as the word of God.

So it is dangerous when we make any rules and regulations to be sure that they do no more than to clarify for our culture something in the word of God always with a proviso that we’re not adding to it or making our interpretation more important than the plain word. Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Well, you have to back up and say that much earlier when in Virginia they broke with the word of God after abiding with it for some time in that they did not accept the blacks that were aboard a ship that drifted from the Indies to Virginia, they simply said we can purchase them as bondservants and we’ll free them when they have worked off their cost. They began then. Now once you begin in the tradition of supplanting God’s law word then you supplant one thing with something else. So so much of our legislation has had to do with bad legislation before and it confounds it with equally man-made rules. We may like one set more than another but they’re all manmade rules and they have nothing to do with the word of God. Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. Calvin regarded it primarily as a day of rest, that was the law for him. Worship was not the primary aspect for the Sabbath. We are to worship God every day; we are not to forsake the assembling of our selves together as we are told in Hebrews because we need to worship together. But the basic commandment for the Sabbath which is the law is to rest and to rest in the Lord. Now, we need one another, we need to hear the preaching of the word but the basic law there is rest. And the Sabbath observant of Calvin who preached morning and evening, in fact he preached every day of the week, because the people needed so much instruction they were so ignorant, but what Calvin did which was quite remarkable, was to treat it as a day of rest.

Here he was at his desk or in the pulpit every day of the week, that took its toll. So how did he rest on the Lord’s day, he bowled. You don’t read that about Calvin very often but he did. It was the best break he could have physically. Now, are we to say that is wrong because our rules today prohibit it? It was not a professional bowling league it was just his way of getting a little change of pace, of resting. So Calvin’s attitude today was that he law commanded rest. The rest of the observances were to worship God but that was a commandment for every day of the week. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Well, at one time houses in this country were built with a little chapel for the family where as a group or as individuals they could go there for a moment of worship. Houses no longer are built on the same scale and size that once made such chapels possible and in fact in many of the older homes the chapel has been converted into some other kind of room.

However one thing we can all do is to be in prayer all day long. Sentence prayers, I’ve referred to this before and I don’t think it can be mentioned too often, that as you start work you say ‘Lord help me to see what I need to do and to do it properly’. When you deal with someone, Lord give me the wisdom to deal with this person and to avoid the pitfalls that are likely to occur with him. Or to cope with his hostilities. Whatever it is throughout the day a sentence prayer to ourselves silently, a hundred times a day, is one of the best ways to worship because what it does is to mean t at your mind is continually open to God and it’s a great help in coping with one’s problems. Any other questions or comments?

Well if not let us conclude with prayer. Our Father, we beseech Thee that even as this man born blind was healed the blindness of those round about us may be healed. That the scales may fall from their eyes and they may see that Thou art the Lord. Their creator and redeemer. Use us to this purpose. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.