Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1393
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Evening, December 9, 1877
“He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” John 9:21
THOSE of you, dear Friends, who were present this morning, will remember that our subject was “Jesus Christ Himself.” [No. 1888, Vol. 23. “Jesus Christ Himself.”] We dwelt upon His blessed Person. Our faith is fixed on Him, our affections are drawn to Him, our hopes all bend toward Him. Though everything He said or did is precious, yet Jesus Himself stands first in our judgment. To know Him, to believe Him, to love Him is the very essence of our Christianity. Tonight we change our theme. There is an “himself in our text this evening—an “himself,” ‘tis true of a much humbler order. How do we each stand for himself?
Our individuality and the personal responsibilities which fall upon ourselves in reference to Christ must not be lost sight of. If, for instance, a spiritual miracle has been worked upon us and we are obliged to confess. No, if we are delighted to confess that He has opened our eyes—then we are bound, especially those of us who are of ripe understanding, who may be said to be of full age—we are bound to bear our own personal testimony for Him. The allegation and the appeal may alike apply to each one of us, “He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” Jesus Christ Himself bore our sins, as we heard this morning. He gave Himself for us. He served us, not by proxy, but by personal consecration.
He served us, not by alms doled out pitifully, but by His life surrendered as a Sacrifice to God cheerfully. If He has thus commended His love to us, what less can we do in return than bear our own brave, bold, personal testimony for Him? What a parallel there is between this man’s case and our own. He had suffered from a grievous, personal evil. He was born blind! So we were born in sin—sin had cast its blindness over our faculties from our very birth! We shall never forget the midnight of our nature. We could not see even the beauties of Christ Himself, though resplendent as the sun at noonday, so blind were we!
This man was personally delivered from his ailment and so have we been delivered, I trust. I know many here who can say that whereas they were blind, now they see! You have received, as the blind man did, a personal blessing, being endowed with sight. The blemish that blighted your life has been healed! It is not that somebody sees for you and tells you what he sees, but you see for yourself. It is not merely imputed to you that you see because you have been told what somebody else saw. No, you have no proxy in the matter, no sponsor in the business. You yourself are conscious that a work of Divine Grace has been worked upon you, whereas you were blind now you see—and you know it!
The blind man was cured through personal obedience to Christ’s command. He heard a special call addressed to him—“Go, wash in the pool.” He went and came back seeing! And many here present have heard the voice which says, “Believe and live,” and it has come to you, not as a general exhortation, but as a special direction. You have believed and you live! You have washed and you have come back seeing! Well now, all this is personal, therefore your Lord and Master has a right to expect a personal testimony from you of His power to save! You are of age. When any ask you, I trust you will speak for yourself. Speak up and speak out for your Master without hesitancy or fear!
I. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN SAVED MEN ARE POSITIVELY COMPELLED TO SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. They must of necessity bear their personal witness. What else can they do when friends desert them? Father and mother were quite willing to acknowledge this young man—that he was their son—quite willing to bear their witness that he was born blind. But they would not go any farther. They could have gone farther if they liked, but they were afraid of that sentence of excommunication which the Jews had already agreed upon—that if any man confessed that Jesus was the Christ he should be put out of the synagogue.
So, feeling very little compunction in declining to take any responsibility themselves, for they had great and probably well-founded confidence in their son’s power to take care of himself, they did, as it were, abandon him. They threw upon him the stress and burden of giving a plain answer which would have incurred such disgrace. They backed out of it. They had no wish whatever to become the subjects of persecution because their blind son had been blessed with sight. The young man who had been blind must, therefore, do battle, himself, for the good Lord who had bestowed so great a benefit on him. “Ask him,” said his parents, “he will speak for himself.”
There are times with many young people when their parents, if they do not frown upon their religion, at least turn the cold shoulder to them and show no sympathy with their faith or their feelings. Some of us are rejoiced when our sons are converted. We are not ashamed to stand by them and to defend them and to protect them whatever may come of it. But there are fathers and mothers who have no liking for the things of God and so their children, if they are converted, have a hard time of it. I have known even some who profess to be disciples of Christ hold back very suspiciously and leave others to champion the Master’s cause when it has come to a hard push.