When the Blind See

Good morning. Now the Sunday and the day that the Lord has given to us as we continue our study in the Gospel of John, and this morning we're looking at chapter 9 and I just want to make a comment here as I will be making throughout the sermon that chapters 8, 9 and 10 actually ought to be read together. They seem to sort of flow as one whole. So there's going to be things in here that you may want to recall chapter 8 as we will be doing that. So if you're able to stand, as we honor the reading of God's holy word, reading the whole chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was one blind? Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, night is coming when no one can work. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he's spent on the ground and made mud with this saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of salons which means sent. So he went and washed and came back seeing the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, it is he, others said no, but he's like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, then how were your eyes open? He answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed by eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, where is he? He said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. I was the Sabbath day when Jesus made mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received sight and he said to them, he put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, but he does not keep the Sabbath. Others said, how can a man who is a sinner do such a thing? And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, what do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? He said, he is a prophet. 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 and asked him, is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age. He would speak for himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, but the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, ask him. 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. He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them. I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled them saying, you are his disciples, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, why this is amazing thing? You do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eye. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began, has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man, one blind? If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, you were born in other sin and would you teach us and they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him said, he said, do you believe in the Son of man? He answered, and who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? Jesus said to them. If you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see your guilt remains. The Word of God this morning, though Jesus, you truly are the light of the world. You are the source of all light, and we come to you this morning asking you, who is the only one who can illumine our hearts and minds, will please illumine your word unto us. To come alive, so that we may see you, this in Jesus' name, amen, please be seated. So as I mentioned, this chapter is related to chapter 8, and I begin by reminding you that the lights are out. We saw last time that there were lights that were lit in the temple, floor lamps that were lighting the temple, and illuminating the whole city of Jerusalem that you could actually be able to see and oversee the whole city because of the face of the tabernacle that was going on, and the lights were just glaring and beaming, and you could see everything that you wanted to see. But now Jesus has left the temple, there's no more light. But remember what Jesus had declared in chapter 8, verse 8, he declared to the people, I am the light of the world. And so the question becomes, is Jesus still the light of the world, now that the light of the temple has ceased to be? The truth is, Jesus is the light of the world because we come face to face with the reality of those words that Jesus declared that I am the light of the world. Here we see a story of a man who was born blind, a man who lives in other darkness unable to see. The question is, is Jesus going to give him the light? Is Jesus going to be the light to this man? It would be so easy for us to basically focus on the physical aspect of this man who lives in other darkness and completely fail to see the spiritual aspect of what's going on here. The point is, Jesus has been pointing to the feast goers this reality, that you are living in darkness and unless I show up, you will not be able to see the light. But the reason I have come is also that you may light up this candle so that you're able to see Jerusalem, the reason I have come is so that you may be able to see, so that your eyes may be open, so that God through me, through Jesus may shine his light upon you. And the reason is because we're blinded by sin, Jesus has come to give us spiritual sight. The first thing I want us to look at here and see together in this verse is how God uses our trials to expose our spiritual needs. You hear how God uses our trials in our lives to expose our spiritual needs. And then we'll see how God uses our feeble faith to expose our constant need of Him. So first God uses our physical trials to expose our spiritual needs of Him. Again we're not given details in chapter 9 verses 1 as to this nameless blind man, if you will, how they found out that he was born blind. That's really not what John is trying to discover here, but the point that the John is making is this and Jesus through this word is making is that we are spiritually blind from birth. That's really the reality, right? We are born into sin, the blind man here is a representation of fallen humanity that is languishing in other darkness of ignorance and sin and without hope except Jesus' light. That's the truth here. And so this whole idea of this man being born blind initially just causes trouble for his disciples and the Jews and the question that they want to know is not, Jesus, can you be the light to this man? Can you heal this man? What is the question that they ask? We want to know how is it that this man was born blind, who's sinned? Who is being punished for sin here because the Jews and to the disciples suffering equals sin, or sin equals suffering, you sin, you suffer, they are intimately connected and so we may want to ask the same question as the disciples ask, right? What is the relationship between suffering and sin? And you know the truth is in one sense the disciples are right, in one sense the disciples are right because they are simply working out the entailments of Genesis chapter 3, the Paul that brings about sickness and death and sin and all this brokenness in the world and so for the disciples they are actually making this type of connection that either this man sinned in the womb as Jews actually believe that you could sin in your mother's womb or his parents committed sin when he was conceived and so that he is somehow implicated in their sin. The problem is the answers to that question the relationship between suffering and sin is much more complex than we would want to say it is yes or no. Again we studied the book of James and we saw how James speaks about trials, sometimes trials are meant to test our faith and material faith, sometimes trials do come because of our sin directly connected because we've sinned and fallen but here we see trials can also come to display God's glory, some trials are meant to display God's glory not simply the result of one man's or one person's sin and the reality again this is so clear for us here how sin has caused so much misery in our lives and in the world for men just imagine for men to be born blind just take one second and think about it for men never to have seen colors the color of rain before men not to have seen his own past for men not to have seen the beautiful ocean all the things that we take for granted that he fully depends on others to walk and to do things it's a horrible thing he's robbed of the joy of seeing and there's one commentator that says you know it is one thing for us to say it is a horrible thing to be blind but it is only after we've lost our sight that we could actually know the value of seeing only when we've lost our sight can we know the value of seeing this man is fully dependent on us he's helpless Jesus is yet dispelling the notion that Job's miserable comfortors came to him saying you must have done something wrong and that's why Jesus there must be a secret thing that you've committed that's why you're dying that's why you you're suffering he's dispelling the notion that we know so well come right in his religion that says that the immortal soul has to go on working out in the whole series of life the consequences of attraction so that the good is rewarded by a higher life in the next reincarnation and the evil punished by a lower life or as we may know it the whole ideology of the new age movement I do good I give to charity because if I do that I know that in my next life I'm going to gain something you know it's so hard for us sometimes to universalize suffering in all situations and and and make people think that because they've done something then God is really punishing them for what they've done and and we can fail to really recognize what is what is going on here in this particular chapter but also what goes on in our own life that sometimes our suffering is meant to display the works of God William Berkeley puts it this way says affliction sorrow pain disappointment and loss are always opportunities for displaying God's grace in our life it enables the one who is suffering to show God in action the one who is suffering to show God in action and it's interesting here that Jesus is in fact not interested in answering the people's question about what really happened to this man that he was wronged lying what is Jesus pointing them to in verse 3 he's actually verse 4 he's pointing them to his mission to why he came he's saying my mission is through the work of the Father there's no time for me to start answering your question and and and giving you the answers to all these all these things I am the one who was sent by God to shed light onto to the lives of people so that if they're living in darkness they may be able to see the light John wants us to see that the long-awaited Messiah has come that his coming would be the one that brings upon the light to his people and then he he goes on to actually address this man who is living in out of darkness and try to help him and help him see the light and so he uses an orthodox method of healing I mean Jesus could have easily said go back home son you are healed walk away he could have touched him and said be healed he could have gone what did he do you saliva mud then put it on his eye and then you don't even tell him you're healed he tells him no go watch up in the pool of sound you know it's interesting that when the Pharisees begin to investigation they're not curious about why Jesus healed the man what are they curious about it's the how how could you do this and then we we get a sense of it right so so let's let's do a little investigation you know we get a sense of why they're going there because Jesus is spitting and making mud and putting in his eyes and and John makes sure that he tells us that Jesus does this on a Sabbath oh boy on a Sabbath Jesus is doing work now people have talked about what saliva meant you know there's ancient belief that saliva was actually useful medicinal purposes I don't think that's where that's where John is going but it's possible again John doesn't explain to us and who Jesus does not even also explain to us what he does this but you know it's also believed that the Jews did not like people spitting on this habit because what if the spit ran downhill and made mud making a brick or something you're working you are doing work again I don't know speculation but it could be that the Jews are so offended that Jesus actually did work in order to heal this man he made mud on the Sabbath and so Jesus sent this man to to wash in this pool now don't disregard the fact that John takes great pains to tell us what this pool means or the name of it sent because there is a huge significance Jesus the Messiah is the one who is sent Jesus himself is the sentman and that granting of sight to this blind man is really symbolizing the spiritual illumination without which this man cannot see Jesus is the fountain of all healing he's the fountain or of life again we shouldn't miss the fact that this man obeys yes and does it installed yes but it's not because of his obedience that he is healed the power is not in his obedience the power lays in the fact that Jesus is the one who has come and healed the one who heals the blind man finds healing in Jesus both in the symbol that is represented by by salon but also in reality that Jesus is the great physician who is able to heal him notice Jesus great power no medicine just saliva and mud I mean I think this really should cause us to just take a pause and think about the great power that Jesus has in terms of him being a great Savior who is able to cure us from all of our disease all of our spiritual disease that is able to open our eyes even the most sinful person that we we think they're so blind that they cannot see that Jesus has the power to open their eyes so that they can see that he shed light into the darkest of all places and dispel darkness now can you please imagine how this man felt as Jesus put mud on his face and he started to work to walk can you imagine can you see him walking into the pool of salon with mud in his eyes and trying to find where it is and think about what he's thinking about himself he's like man what if this works I'm gonna be able to see what if this works and he starts walking and he goes and then he gets to the pool and he starts to wash his face and all of a sudden he starts seeing and the first thing he sees is his reflection on the water who is the who is that and then he looks up and he can see the water he looks up he sees the trees and he's like oh my goodness I can see I can see I can see I can see and he starts walking back into his home just think about it walking slowly thinking man I can actually see where I'm going and and his face picks up and he starts running and he starts going and he's thinking oh my goodness I can see do you hear the excitement from this man as he comes to his fans that he can see them man a man and a woman that he don't be known by their voice people speaking too many and he knows I know their voice but now I can put a face to it I can see

and then they ask him where is he that gave you sight the man has never seen Jesus because the last time he saw him he had mud in his eyes and he couldn't see but now he can see I have no idea what you're asking you know what's beautiful he may not know Jesus but Jesus already saw him he's been known by the healer by the one who gave him sight and that is enough

how is it possible that this beggar who is blind can now see see this easy for some to just say walk away wait a minute you must be a clone of some person but you cannot be the person that was you know heal see this man really points to us what faith looks like his pastor Eric was preaching last week about faith faith is a journey the looks towards Jesus faith is a journey that looks towards Jesus to up to the point of commitment to him as Lord and when that happens sight is born and when that happens we know that something has happened in our life let me ask your question what do you say about him who has opened your eyes what do you say about Jesus that has opened your eyes and you can see he has given you the light see the Jews are unable to see this miracle they are blinded by their own ignorance and whatever else is blinding their eyes to them Jesus has broken the law the Sabbath that's all they see why because the Jews are caught up in their own religion that's nice and tidy and rigid here are the rules that Moses gave to us this is what we do we see nothing else do you see where I'm getting at listen this man was able to allow his physical triage to see them as interruptions in interruptions in his life that Jesus was able to work in him to give him sight the Jews to them God lives in a box there are no interruptions that Jesus can bring in all lives to them the Sabbath the law that's all you got and you obey you keep it you live it like that and nothing else happens without their little tidy religion it is so easy for us to think the same way let me tell you how we think the same way when we go through trials in our life when we face pain and suffering sometimes we're just looking for that perfect answer that will tell us what's really going on in in our lives sometimes we're so blinded we don't see that as an interruption for us to actually face and expose our spiritual deprivation I have shared this story with you before about my hand this scar will always remind me of how easy it is for me to to be a pastor and to point people to the fountain of the living water and forget myself to follow the same place and I'm pointing people to go and so listen friends the next time the Jesus interrupts your life with some trial and some brokenness some blindness of some sort just know that he's using that to expose your spiritual need of him secondly God uses our feeble faith to expose our constant need of him the Pharisees again as I mentioned they cannot recognize the miracle that's before them why because they're preoccupied with the law the oral tradition this is how things are supposed to be and there's no way that God can be sovereign and over all things and come and kind of mess things up no way they also caught up in the whole idea of he must be a transgressor of the law he for crying out loud he broke the law the Sabbath and as I mentioned the inquiry lies or census on the fact that how did Jesus perform this miracle we want to know how this man that was born blind has gained sight again John shows us how even within the school of thought or the school of the Jews and the people that are watching they're kind of told they some say and there's no way that he could have done this if he's not from God another say well no that can't be polarizing character Jesus must be notice the trans just how the this blind man begins identifying Jesus his first recognition of Jesus is what Jesus is a man he says yeah the man they call Jesus he did this to me he wrecked and then secondly he recognized in Zebra as a prophet notice how his faith is slowly growing as his eyes are being opened but notice what's going on to the Pharisees they're becoming blinder to make up a word they are really becoming blind they continue to get blinded the thought they're seeing of Jesus is becoming even more clouded than before what a stark contrast the man the prophets and now Lord I believe these that goes from man to to a prophet to he is my Lord in verse 24 it's kind of hilarious the the Pharisees asking the man to do what to tell him give God the glory do you think that they're saying give Jesus the glory honor him praise him he's basically telling the man tell the truth and nothing but the truth but the truth according to them the way they see it basically they're telling the man conform to what we're telling you that this man who you claim as heals you is a sinner has broken the law and he's not from God a mighty act of mercy and kindness a miracle has happened and this man they cannot see it they are completely blinded by their own or a tradition they can't see the beauty of the miracle that is before them all they can see is the Sabbath and by getting them misunderstanding the whole idea of the Sabbath everything yes the Sabbath was a day of rest it was a holy day that was meant for God's people to worship him in spirit and in truth but spirit of Sabbath was also for name it was not meant to neglect the works of necessity and works of mercy their focus on the law shows their ignorance of it and what it means to fulfill the Sabbath and Jesus had come in order to fulfill the Sabbath so we can find or rest in him so they're failing to see the Sabbath the law from its covenant of framework here's the deal they knew Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 through 17 they knew it really well that's the 10 commandments but you know what they fell to read they fell to read the verse that comes before verse 3 verse 2 says I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery and then God gives them the law what am I getting into the law that God gave to his people was a law of grace it basically said this I am giving you the law but the law is not the means through which you secure you're standing with God you're standing with God is only by grace you don't earn you cannot earn it by being disobedient in fact your obedience is a show of your gratitude to God for what he has done to you he is the Lord your God who rescued you who took you from slavery so that you may be his people not the other way around again the law was for those who lived by the mercy for deliverance of God it's for the blind man in verse 25 he's still being called to tell the story I mean how many times do I have to tell the people the same story it's amazing right so the first time you was asked to tell how he gained sight he said yeah this man called Jesus he told me you know he takes a lot of lead mind put it on my eyes told me to go wash the second time you know the prophet he put mine on my eyes and I went to so long and I washed and I'm now he says I was blind now I see the story is getting shorter and shorter I mean you would be tied to by keeping and telling the same story over and over right but it's actually beautiful it's actually awesome but the man just recognized it listen it doesn't matter how he did it it doesn't matter how all those things what the what I know is I was blind and I'm not blind anymore and of story but again he will not be moved from his story from his personal witness of what Jesus has done to him to him is when he's asked to tell the story of what time I love this John is adding humor and he says hey you guys want it you want to know how this happened because you're secretly desiring to become Jesus disciples is that what's going on here but they're asking because they're trying to trip him right I love it do you notice that the blind man uses the very historical reasoning argument what did he say he lays it out to them he actually gives them a pretty nice your logical response he basically said listen God does not listen to sinners you guys know that right you're good yeah we're good so then if God does not listen to sinners then how come this man heal me Jesus is from God he can do nothing take that you Pharisees beating them at their own game humor John may have added but one thing is clear but the Pharisees have closed their eyes to the truth but they do not want to hear that their eyes are shut they cannot see and this is really John pointing us to the worst and most dangerous state of mind that state the basically says I know I can see and there's nothing that God and his word can teach me that's a horrible place to be and I think we are all added to this Christians but almost always be to ask the Lord to help us to have a childlike faith to be teachable in the things of God that he would open that God we would pray that Jesus would open the eyes of our hearts that we may see the beauty and the wonders of the gospel working in our lives even when that is coming from a place where we feel like man those guys are not reformed like we are

because sometimes we have this standard that we say do I believe that that person is really a Christian or that they're really following Jesus they don't go to a PCA church or they don't go to this kind of a church they may not meet or theological standards but God is able to open the eyes of those that are blind even with all the investigations and questioning the Jews are trying to convince the man that nothing happened to you brother that's really what they're getting to but he will not hear it he knows that he was blind he could not see and now he can see and he says whether this man that healed me was a sinner or not I do not know I cannot tell you that one thing I do know for sure I cannot explain it but it is real isn't that what the Christian life is all about I don't know about you but there are times when my knowledge of God becomes really small so small that I can't see the next step that I I can't even conceive air pastor Earth was teaching this morning at Sunday school class and he was only speaking of two verses that just made him sweat not just him but all of us because they're hard to understand sometimes the things of God are just hard to grasp it we can we can try to understand them but sometimes it's just too difficult for us there are times off our faith is feeble at best and all we can do is Lord help my unbelief all we can cry out is Lord please help my unbelief but if Christ has transformed our life if we've been transferred from death into life if we have experienced the mercy of God in our life we can say with certainty I was blind and now I see I may not be able to explain it but I was lost now I see I was dead now on my life that is true this poor man is able to see what the mighty man cannot see he says if this man or from God if this man were not from God he could do nothing I just love his humility I love his humility of coming to Jesus recognizing his need for him and that lands him in trouble he's kicked out of the synagogue kicked out of the church so to speak he's become a persona and grudder which I think is really what leads us to the to the miracle behind the miracle of what's what what happens to this man and the beauty of it to me is how this man is cast out of the temple basically cast out of the church of the Jewish people and yet they don't recognize they cannot cast him from Christ they can cast him out of the synagogue but not from Jesus they have no power to do that you know this morning we we think of the church as it's being persecuted all of the world the church in China and turkey in Nigeria and other parts of the world and those governments are using all kinds of ways to try and interrupt people's faith and persecute them

trying to force them to denounce Christ and many of them are stuck to it many of them are faithful following Christ and having church churches underground but you know the comfort for us while in Christ Jesus if we ever face anything like that in God forbid that we do but if we ever do to be comforted to know that there's absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ not even there and how beautiful is it that after this man has been cast out of the Jesus goes and finds him knowing that he had been cast out of the all out of the synagogue of Jesus goes and finds him remember he still hasn't seen Jesus Jesus comes through many says hey do you believe in the Son of Man and the guy's the hell who's that sir please show me who this man is so I mean do you hear do you see his people face I mean this man does not say you know what let me try and understand justification by faith let me try and understand the differences between inference superlapsionism let me try and even try to figure out what the Trinity looks like what does he say Jesus I've been figured you out yet I don't know everything about you I don't know everything proper in terms of theology and then and where you're from and what you can do and cannot do he basically says this Lord I believe the man of a simple faith first he's telling you were born in other sin and now you teaches and they hear Jesus word calling them blind and they are thinking how do you call this blind because of their pride because they were caught up in religion without Jesus because they were caught up in this attitude that says we see I can see the brokenness in the world I can see the Gentiles and now I'm clean and how sinful they are I can see how everybody else is so wrong but I'm okay see church when we get that attitude of we see and we see only what happens out there the darkness that's out there and failed to see the darkness in our own hearts that we are the ones who really need the light of Christ to shine in our lives it's a dangerous thing my grandfather just died last week he was about 102 grandfather was a Christian a pastor a hymn writer a singer my grandfather was an ashamed and apologetic about the gospel if you met my grandfather the first question he would ask you would what's your name then the second question would ask you is do you know is do you know Jesus and if you said yes you're in trouble because he would ask you a question that you couldn't answer who is Jesus to you and if you can't answer it he would take an hour to share the gospel with you whether it was in a marketplace in the middle of the street it did not matter because listen the one thing that I will always remember about my grandfather is this my grandfather knew that Jesus had shown his life in his heart and to him he was like nothing will ever matter in my life other than Jesus I will dance for him I will sing for him I will scream on top of the mountains about him I don't care what anybody says about it because Jesus is my life and I grow up I want to have just a smidge of my grandfather's faith that is right father we do thank you if you speak to us through our trials as we expose our spiritual need of you we do thank you that even though our faith may be feeble at times you use it to show us how much we need you every day of our life sometimes it's hard to explain sometimes we struggle to even believe it until we cry out Lord help our unbelief but through it all we know that you have brought a change in our hearts continue to work in our lives Lord that we may be the ones who cry out as blind beggars who keep on seeing that our emptiness will always become an occasion for you to fill us pray this in Christ's name Amen