Title: Are You Blind? (The Works of God Manifest in a Blind Sinner)
Text: John 9: 1-41
Date: November 4, 2010
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
John 9: 1: And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth. 2: And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3: Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ was sent to work the works of God:
1) To glorify the Father--"I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." The glory of God is seen in the face of Christ Jesus. The righteousness of God is manifest by the faith and fidelity of Jesus Christ.
2) To redeem those given him by the Father--By his death he paid the purchase price-- by willing being made sin and bearing the wrath of God in their place, Christ the Kinsman Redeemer bought each one of his brethren given him of the Father from the debt they owed. God is just and God is the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
3) To preach the gospel and thereby give spiritual sight to blind sinners.
Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19: To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. {jubilee}…21: And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
He finished the work. And this third work He continues through the preaching of the gospel.
Proposition: This third work is primarily the work being manifest in this blind sinner. The work the Lord performs through the Spirit, through the gospel, as he enters into spiritually blinds sinners is that he gives sight to the blind, spiritual life--the Light of Life.
· Christ is the Word
· Christ is the Light
· Christ is the Life
Christ stands here as THE PROPHET SENT OF GOD, THE WORD OF GOD, THE LIGHT, AND THE LIFE. He has been declaring to lost religious self-righteous men that he is Light and those in whom his Word abides shall not walk in darkness. After this chapter he declares the characteristics of the Good Shephered and his undershepherds. In this chapter, he not only declares what he does through the preaching of the gospel, but he shows us by giving sight to a blind a man. What the Lord did in this blind man, the Lord is doing now in spiritually blind sinners through the preaching of the gospel.
Jeremiah 3:15: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding…23:…they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Judge Not!
When religious folks hear that Christ is able:
· To send forth his pastors to feed in knowledge and understanding,
· That God saves in spirit and in truth,
· That no lie is of a truth
Men often respond by saying, "Are you saying that ______are blind? Judge not!"
That is exactly what the Pharisee's were saying to the Lord at the end of this chapter,
John 9: 40: Are WE blind also. (Referring to themselves and those in the synagogue.)
Notice what the Lord had said just before that in v39.
John 9: 39: And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40: And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
The word of God is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
John 12: 46: I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47: And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48: He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
John 15: 22: If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
The man who has a mere religious disguise is already condemned. When the gospel cuts to his heart, he has no more disguise. He boils over and rejects the word spoken. Thereby he judges himself unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13: 46). The word of God--the gospel of Christ and him crucifed--is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
John 9: 1: AND…
This word connects chapter 8, with what it taking place in chapter 9. Christ was leaving the treasury, in temple where he was just preaching to religious leaders and those who followed their words.
John 8: 12: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Christ merely set forth the gospel. Here is the Truth. Men either bow to Christ or reject him. The Gospel discovers the true thoughts and intents of our hearts. Here we see it, they questioned him and accused him.
John 8: 13: The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
Because they had no spiritual discernment, they could not believe on him. Because, they had not the Word in them, they--not Christ--they were the ones who judged him after the flesh.
John 8: 14: Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, [yet] my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. 15: Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
Their rejection of his word was judgment against themselves. Their own words condemned them, proved them, that they had no Light in them (Matthew 12: 37).
John 8: 30: As he spake these words, many believed on him. 31: Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; 32: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33: They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?...37: I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you….43: Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word….45 And because I tell [you] the truth, ye believe me not….47: He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear [them] not, because ye are not of God….51: Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death….54: Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying….58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59: Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. John 9:1: And as [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man which was blind from [his] birth.
The Lord himself from those men who thought they could see and revealed himself in this man blind from his birth. Both this man's parents and this man were sinner's by conception and practice. But this man was born blind for the same reason that every child whom God saves is born into this world spiritually blind. It is for the same reason Lazarus' sickness was unto death, "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (John 11: 4).
Be sure you get this: This man was blind both physically and spiritually. The Lord gave him sight both ways. Through giving him physical sight the Lord manifests in him what he is able to do--and does--for all those he saves through his gospel.
I. BLIND FROM BIRTH
Every child whom God saves is born into this world spiritually blind.
· Blind to true understanding and knowledge of God
· Blind to our own sin and ignorance
· Blind to the debt we owe to God's holy justice
· Blind to God's righteousness
· Blind to our need of the Savior.
We are as unable to do anything about it as this blind man was unable to do anything about his sight.
John 3:1: There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
John 3: 19: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20: For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
But Christ passed by this blind sinner. This blind man could not see Christ, but Christ saw him. Oh, Lord look upon us, have mercy on us blind sinners.
II. CHRIST IS THE LIGHT OF LIFE
John 9: 5: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Not that Christ is not the Light of the world now--he is. The meaning is: where Christ is, He is the Light.
The Lord's Illustration: John 11: 9-10
When the sun is in the sky there is no darkness, only light. Men walk in the light of the sun and do not stumble. When the sun is not in the sky, men walk in darkness and stumble.
Christ Jesus is the Daystar, the Sun of Righteousness. While in the world he was the Light of the world. When he enters a sinner by the Spirit of God, the Daystar arises in the heart, Christ is the Light of the believer wherein he walks and no longer stumbles in darkness as unregenerate sinners do. That is why the Lord calls his children "the light of the world."
John 8: 12:…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
III. CHRIST JESUS USES THAT WHICH MEN CALL FOOLISHNESS.
John 9: 6: When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7: And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
A. These things point to the gospel through which Christ gives spiritual Life and Light.
1. Christ anointed this man's eyes with an eyesalve--made of clay and spittle.
Revelation 3: 18: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
2. He said unto him "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation Sent)".
This is the same pool where Isaiah preached the gospel to Ahaz in Judah (Isaiah 7)--"the water's of Shiloah that go softly (Isaiah 8). A clay pool wherein water was held--a picture of the gospel of Christ in the earthen vessels he uses to preach it that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us (2 Corinthians 4: 7). "How shall they preach except they be "sent" (Romans 10: 15).
Ephesians 5: 25:…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Titus 3:5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
B. The means the Lord were both foolish and distasteful to the natural mind. They had no virtue or healing power in themselves. Without the Power of Christ they would done no good to him. So it is that the Pharisee's were only blinded more by the gospel. But in the hands of Christ this gospel is the Power of God unto salvation.
1 Corinthians 1:18-24) “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (19) For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (22) For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: (23) But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (24) But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
C. Our gospel is the good news of salvation accomplished by Christ the Lord.
· Righteousness is finished! Satisfaction is finished!
· Redemption is finished! Justification is finished!
· Forgiveness is finished! Salvation is finished!
· Sanctification is finished.
D. This means and message are absolutleyly foolish to the natural man, but when Christ passes by his blind, chosen, redeemed children then He enters into the sinner and we have the Light of Life. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, by the blood of Christ purging the conscious from dead works to serve the true and living God, he works effectual grace: Christ said, Go, wash! "He went HIS WAY {the Way of Christ} therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
IV. THIS LIGHT OF LIFE CAUSES A SINNER TO STAND WITH CHRIST WHEN ALL OPPOSE HIM.
Everyone opposed this man: V8: His neighbors…V13: The religious rulers…V18: His own parents. Still, this man took sides with Christ though all opposed him.
John 9: 26: Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear [it] again? will ye also be his disciples? 28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: [as for] this [fellow], we know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and [yet] he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
They excommunicated him. This was a cutting off that can only be likened in our day to being totally cut off from our own nation. He lost all rights and was to be treated as the offscouring of the earth by all in the temple. Now tell me, who does the judging when they hear the gospel of Christ? Only those in the flesh. Those in the flesh side with each other--though they are divided amongst themselves as these men were--but the born-again believer stands in the Light, in the Truth, in Christ, with Christ, though all oppose him.
If I find myself defending those who preach a lie, I need to be very careful that I am not standing with them against Christ because of an inordinate affection for my self, my neighbors, my religion, my dearest loved ones. I need to be careful to consider this because the Gospel Sword severes the vile from the righteous, it dispels the darkness from the Light, it makes those who hate the gospel to stand together against Christ and his sheep.
Mt 10:34: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes [shall be] they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
V. THOSE WHO BELIEVE ON CHRIST SHALL NEVER BE ASHAMED.
John 9: 35: Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39: And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Are you blind? Believer's never move from knowing that in ourselves we are blind. We need Christ the Light. Our desire is to know, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" And the Lord always answers those who are blind. He gives more sight to those who are blind. "And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it he that talketh with thee." In his Light we see Light. "And he said, "Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him."
Is Christ your Light? The Light offended these religious men, because it exposed their religion as a sham disguise. They reviled the Word, the Gospel himself, saying "Are we blind also." This is the judgment--those who are blind, helpless, worthless, blind nobodies are given sight by the Lord. But those who say they can see, are yet in the sin of absolute unbelief and inability, and shall be left there--"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."…"Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."
Has he passed by you in mercy tonight? Are you blind? Is Christ your Light. May he make you abide in the Light and no longer walk in darkness.