John 9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus [1] to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
And so they say, ask him, verse 23, you see it again, “Therefore said his parents, he is of age, ask him…ask him.” Now they’ve got evidence. They know it’s the right child. They know he can see. They know Jesus put the clay on his eyes. He went to the pool, he washed his eyes. He came out of there and he could see. They know all the evidence there is to know. And they’re going to take all those facts and do their research.
Now watch the conclusion. Verse 24, “Then again called they the man that was blind and said unto him, Give God the praise, God did it. We know that this man…who?…Jesus is a sinner.” Listen, we’ve taken all the facts into account, we’ve done all our research, give God the praise, we know Jesus is a sinner.
How do you know? It’s innate. See…stupid. What kind of research is that? All the evidence…He’s a sinner, we know it, evidence aside, witnesses aside, seeing eyes aside, we know…hmmph. Boy, that’s hard to believe. That’s unbelievable unbelief. And Moses was right, they were children in whom there was no faith. All the evidence in the world and we know…that’s like the math student, you know. The math student who decides that four and four is not eight, four and four is thirteen and a quarter. And then spends all his life researching it and every research project comes out eight, but he is unmoved. It is thirteen and a quarter. How do you know? I know…
And that’s the way unbelief is, see. Unbelief exposed to all the facts and all the evidence comes up with unbelief, that’s the way it is. That’s subjective research. That’s the worst kind of research there is. Start with some great big conclusion and then disregard the facts. Personal statement that then does research to confirm that statement is backwards. Objective research is the only kind that starts with nothing, takes the evidence and comes to a conclusion. But the Pharisees did their bias subjective research to find evidence to support their preclusion. And even though they couldn’t support it it didn’t change them cause they didn’t believe it anyway. That’s the way unbelief is.
J.C. Ryle: A Most Perilous Possession
Posted: November 10, 2010 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, John, NovemberTags: Bible, Bible daily, Bible reading, Bible study, daily Bible, God's sovereignty, head knowledge v heart knowledge, J.C. Ryle: A Most Perilous Possession, J.C.Ryle, John, Scripture, spiritual understanding, unbelief, Unbelievable unbelief
John 9:39-41 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; [2] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
J.C.Ryle comments:
We see, lastly, in these verses, how dangerous it is to possess knowledge, if we do not make a good use of it. The rulers of the Jews were fully persuaded that they knew all religious truth. They were indignant at the very idea of being ignorant and devoid of spiritual eyesight. “Are we blind also?” they cried. And then came the mighty sentence, “If you were blind, you should have no sin–but now you say, ‘We see’; therefore your sin remains.”
Knowledge undoubtedly is a very great blessing. The man who cannot read, and is utterly ignorant of Scripture, is in a pitiable condition. He is at the mercy of any false teacher who comes across him, and may be taught to take up any absurd creed, or to follow any vicious practice. Almost any education is better than no education at all.
But when knowledge only sticks in a man’s head, and has no influence over his heart and life, it becomes a most perilous possession. And when, in addition to this, its possessor is self-conceited and self-satisfied, and imagines he knows everything, the result is one of the worst states of soul into which man can fall. There is far more hope about him who says, “I am a poor blind sinner and want God to teach me,” than about him who is ever saying, “I know it, I know it, I am not ignorant,” and yet cleaves to his sins. The sin of that man “remains.”
Let us use diligently whatever religious knowledge we possess, and ask continually that God would give us more. Let us never forget that the devil himself is a creature of vast head-knowledge, and yet none the better for it, because it is not rightly used. Let our constant prayer be that which David so often sent up in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm. “Lord, teach me your statutes give me understanding–unite my heart to fear Your name.”