Stand Up for Jesus! John 9:26-34

Text:  “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.  If this man were not of God, He could do nothing.”

John 9:32-33.

Good morning, totally convinced Christian!  Christ has redeemed your soul and you know it.  Christ has redeemed your soul and you seek to show it.  Only the Son of God could do what Christ Jesus has done within you and within me - should we not, therefore, be willing to stand up and tell the world all around us of His great Salvation?  Amen, let us stand up for Jesus today.

‘Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross.  Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer lose…Ye that are brave now serve Him, against unnumbered foes.  Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.’  (Old Gospel hymn by George Duffield Jr 1858)

George Duffield (1818-1888)

Words: George Duf­field, Jr., 1858. Music: Webb, George J. Webb, 1830

George J. Webb (1803-1887)

“‘Stand Up for Jesus’ was the dying message of the Reverend Dudley A. Tyng to the Young Men’s Christian Association…

The Sabbath before his death he preached in the immense edifice known as Jaynes’ Hall, one of the most successful sermons of modern times. Of the five thousand men there assembled, at least one thousand, it was believed were ‘the slain of the Lord’… (Saved)

The following Wednesday, leaving his study for a moment, he went to the barn floor, where a mule was at work on a horse-power, shelling corn. Patting him on the neck, the sleeve of his silk study gown caught in the cogs of the wheel, and his arm was torn out by the roots! His death occurred in a few hours…

The author of the hymn, George Duffield Jr, preached from Eph. 6:14, and the…verses were written simply as the concluding exhortation. The superintendent of the Sabbath school had a fly-leaf printed for the children—a stray copy found its way into a Baptist newspaper, from that paper it has gone…all over the world.” (© Copyright NetHymnal 2008. All rights reserved)

Wow!  What a testimony to leave behind to encourage others!  Praise God for totally convinced Christians like the above mentioned Dudley A. Tyng!  Praise God for totally convinced Christian writers, like the above mentioned George Duffield, who have penned for our singing such wonderful hymns of praise and worship!  Praise God for the blind man healed in today’s Bible Lesson, who took on all oppositions and yet still stood up for Christ Jesus!

“Whosoever therefore shall confess Me (Christ Jesus) before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in Heaven.  But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven.”  (Matthew 10:32-33)

In John Chapter 9: we learn of the miraculous healing of a man born blind.  We also learn of the oppositions the healed man immediately had to face as a result of Christ’s healing.  Taking this concept into the Spiritual realm, we can clearly identify the various sources of such opposition and we know from our own experiences in life as Christians how relevant these examples are, and profitable to our learning of how we too must handle similar oppositions.

Many will stand up and call us ‘SINNERS’; many will try to detract from our Christian witness by focusing on our ever-present weaknesses, failures and sins.  Even our brothers and sisters in the Lord - in perceived self-righteousness - might seek to detract from us in an unforgiving spirit.  Yet, like the man Christ healed from physical blindness, we must stand up and tell all that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living Lord God, has redeemed our sin-prone souls.  Hallelujah!  Salvation is of the Lord!  Thank you, Lord Jesus!

“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but SINNERS to repentance.”  (Matthew 9:11-13) (1 John 1:8-9|)

Thought: If Christ has forgiven us, we must also forgive each other.  ‘Stand up, stand up, for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross!’