Born Blind For The Glory of God

We're going to continue our study through the Gospel of John. And I titled this, and this is the part one of a series.

I think it's going to take some time. I don't know how long, how many parts this is going to be. But we definitely have a lot here in chapter 9.

You could turn there. There's a lot I want to speak to you about before we look into this.

There's 41 verses in this chapter. But we're speaking about the healing of the man born blind.

This is actually the sixth of Jesus' seven signs. There are seven signs.

And you know, God is interested in numbers as well.

I'm not a great mathematician, but seven always represents the number of perfection.

So there are seven signs. Just to refresh you a little bit, what direction we're heading into, let me speak to you about these signs.

The first sign is found in John chapter 2. We've already covered that quite some time ago.

When Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana of Galilee. Actually, John chapter 2 verse 11 says this.

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested

His glory and His disciples believed in Him. Keep in mind the term signs in verse 11 emphasizes the significance of the action rather than just the miracle itself.

There's an action. Keep in mind that Jesus' signs were not mere displays of supernatural power, which they were, but the signs conveyed always a spiritual truth behind what

Jesus did in the miracle. Spiritual truth.

That's what we need to keep in mind. There's always a metaphor. Jesus spoke of metaphors quite often.

And we're going to see another one here in John chapter 9. John the Apostle, which wrote this wonderful gospel, is the gospel of belief.

He's an evangelist. He's known from many commentators the evangelist. And he is an evangelist.

And the whole entire gospel of John is evangelistic. It ends evangelistic.

Honestly, the main verse of John's gospel is

John 20, 31. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. So he's evangelistic.

And it's not only a gospel of belief, but we also see parallel with that a gospel, not the gospel, but we see unbelief.

Unbelief. And we're going to be looking into that as well in chapter 9. So there's spiritual truth that's always conveyed.

Now John described seven signs in Jesus' public ministry.

Three years. We see this from John chapter 2, verse 1.

And all the way to John chapter 12, verse 50. John chapter 2.

From the first sign all the way to John chapter 12, verse 50. To refresh your memory a little bit, let me mention this.

The very first sign, as I already mentioned, was changing the water into wine. A little footnote here.

There were no other signs Jesus did before this miracle.

And why did I say this? Some other spurious writings, also that's included in the

Apocrypha and other writing books that they say are inspired of God, that's not inspired.

We believe in the 66 books, Genesis to Revelation, that are inspiration of God. Other so -called books speak about Jesus' miracles before His public ministry.

But that's not true. The very first miracle that Jesus did was turning the water into wine in Cana in Galilee.

That was His very first miracle. So He did no other miracles, signs, before that.

So that's why I mentioned a footnote there. In the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, again, this is

His very first, turning the water into wine. Second sign was the healing of the ruler's son in John 4, verse 54.

Let me move right along. The third sign was the healing of a disabled man in John 6, verse 2.

The fourth sign was the feeding over 5 ,000 people. It speaks of the feeding of the 5 ,000, but there was more.

It just speaks of the men. There was women and children. So it was way over 5 ,000.

In John 6, verse 14. So that speaks of that. The fifth sign was

Jesus walking on the water in John 6, verse 19. The sixth sign was the healing of a man born blind.

And that's where we are in our study here through the Gospel of John. And can someone guess what the final and last sign is?

Take a guess. It's not to make you... I'm not trying to put you on the spot and make you look ignorant.

I'm not doing that. I wouldn't do that. I thought you would maybe take a guess at it. Any guesses?

Okay, I'll answer it for you. The seventh sign was the raising

Lazarus from the dead. Interesting, isn't it? And as we go in that direction, head in that direction,

John 11, verse 44. In chapter 11, that is the seventh sign. And that was the final sign that Jesus gives.

And after that, there is total rejection. And Jesus is very close in going to the cross.

And judgment comes. And to Israel. Jesus...

Basically, they reject Jesus. They reject their Messiah. He came unto His own, His own received

Him not. So that is actually... That takes place in that point.

And if you look at it, that miracle... And these unbelieving

Jews do everything they can to just snuff out what

Jesus is doing. But they can't do it. They're unbelieving.

They're obstinate. They're unwilling to come to Him and believe. So, what takes people to hell is rejecting

Jesus Christ and unbelief. If you're sitting here today in unbelief toward Christ, this is why the

Scripture says, repent and believe the gospel. Folks, it is a matter of eternal life or eternal death.

That's how serious this is. So these are the seven signs

Jesus did that demonstrated and revealed His glory. So today we read the sixth sign that Jesus did.

The healing of a man born blind. Let's look at it, John chapter 9. If you're not already there,

I'm only going to read 12 verses today because there's so much in this chapter.

Again, we're going to have to break this up. But this is a story. This is a narrative.

It's a wonderful story in John chapter 9. And let me begin by reading to you the text.

The text of Scripture. That's why we're here, is to hear God's Word. To hear what thus says the

Lord says to us. Beginning at verse 1 to verse 12, hear the word of the living

God. And now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

And His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

And Jesus answered, verse 3, Neither did this man nor his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. And in verse 6,

Jesus, this is what happens. He demonstrates this. When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and He made clay with the saliva.

And He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him,

Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, scent. And he went and he washed and he came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said,

Is not this He who sat and begged? And some said,

This is He. Others said, He is like Him. He said, I am

He. Therefore they said to him, How were your eyes opened?

And he answered and said, A man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me,

Go to the pool of Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and I received sight.

Then they said to him, Where is He? And he said, I do not know. And we'll put a pause right there.

There's much more in the rest of this entire chapter. But may God bless the reading of His holy word from the hearing of our ears this morning to our hearts.

And may God open the eyes of our hearts that we may see wondrous truth from His law this morning.

Amen. Please bow with me in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank

You so much, Lord, for this great opportunity that we have this morning to come together to worship

You. Lord, Your name is holy. Holy, holy. And we pray,

Lord, that Your name be hallowed and we pray, Lord, that You be exalted above the heavens and that Jesus Christ, Your beloved

Son, will be lifted up. And Lord, as it says in the

Old Testament of little Samuel, here in Your word, Lord, speak for Your servant hears.

Speak to us. And we ask this for Your glory and honor in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, once again, the story of the healing of the man born blind is the sixth sign that Jesus gives out of seven signs.

So we have one more sign, and we see that in chapter 11 of raising

Lazarus from the dead. It's an illustration, though. It illustrates the differing effects of what it means that Jesus is the light and who

He is in His identity. And that's what we've been looking at. He is the light of the world. That's one of the

IMs. We looked at the seven IMs. There's another seven. You could study this in Scripture.

There's the seven IMs of Christ. And here in verse 5, Jesus says, As long as I am in the world,

I am the light of the world. And as this chapter progresses, the man here that's born blind, better yet, a beggar, he's a beggar.

He comes to have a clear understanding of who Jesus is,

His identity. And really, it's not this should be our heart's desire as a believer in Christ, that we have come to hear

God's Word, and we have come by hearing God's Word and by the blessed Holy Spirit teach us, which

He is the true teacher, to teach us more of who Jesus really is from Scripture.

It may, again, be this true for us as well. Now, as we look into this wonderful account of Jesus, our

Lord and Savior, and we behold His glory, may we have a clear understanding from the

Scriptures in our faith of who He really is.

The story unfolds for us as we read this narrative. On the one hand, we see the blind man, the poor beggar, receive physical sight from Jesus.

Now, let me say here as another footnote, the first half of this narrative, this story, is about physical blindness.

But as you read on, it goes into the metaphor of spiritual blindness.

It speaks to us of the spiritual blindness. So, more importantly, he received not only his physical sight, but he received spiritual sight as well.

And on the other hand, the religious leaders reject the light.

This blindness really illustrates to us how our condition is.

Mankind's condition is in darkness. Actually, you could say it's a double blindness.

It is a double blindness. The first blindness is we have inherited this from Adam's sin.

We are naturally blind, spiritually blind, and lost in our condition.

Brother Zach brought that Scripture out from Psalms 51.

In sin, I was conceived in iniquity. My mother conceived me.

I mentioned that to a lady one time in church. In church, a long -time member for years and years and years, and that was my first pastorate, and I remember speaking that verse to her, and she said, no way babies are in sin.

There's no way, not that cute little adorable baby. I said, oh no. I said, you're wrong, lady.

I said, you're arguing against God, not against my opinion. All through the Scriptures, you see, even blindness, spiritual blindness, we inherit man's inability, man's natural tendency to sin and disobey

God. It's Adamic nature, right? That's what it's called. Depravity.

She rejected it. Actually, she didn't like me from that point on.

I kept praying for her and so forth. She eventually left, but anyway.

But here you have the religious leaders. They rejected the light and were confirmed in their darkness.

How do we know this? Well, if you look at verse 40 to 41, listen to what the

Word of God says here. Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words and said to Him, Are we blind also?

Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains.

Deception. They were spiritually blind. And that's actually what it says.

And then verse 39, Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.

So what's Jesus saying here? For judgment? For judgment.

Let's look at this from the context. Jesus came into the world to save, right?

He came to seek and save the lost. His purpose, His mission was to come into this world, sent from the

Father to seek and save the lost. That's why He came. Not to condemn.

Actually, commentary on this is really packed out, given to us from John chapter 3.

And this is Jesus speaking to a very religious man by the name of Nicodemus. What does

He say to Nicodemus? Everybody is so familiar with John 3 .16, right? I'm sure the children can quote this.

Wonderful verse, right? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That's the good news. God so loved this world.

Verse 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

But beloved, we cannot stop right there, can we? So many would like to, but there's more said.

Listen to what Jesus says to Nicodemus. And then He says, He who believes in Him is not condemned.

So if you believe in Jesus, you're not under any condemnation. Is that what Paul says in Romans 8 .1?

Therefore, now there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

He says He's not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already.

He's condemned already because he's a non -believer. Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten

Son of God. Verse 19. This goes right along with everything that's being said here in chapter 9.

And this is the condemnation that the light has come in the world. And men loved darkness.

There's our inability to even love the light. No one loves the light. No one loves

God naturally. We are naturally bent to sin.

I've said it so many times. My wife and I, we've had five children. And all five, we never ever had to teach them to say no.

How many can testify that if you have children? They naturally say no against you.

It's teaching them the opposite, right? Well, Jesus says, men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light.

Lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light.

This is how true repentance looks like. We get exposed for our sin.

We should confess that we're sinners. Then we should repent that we're sinners and come to faith in Jesus Christ and receive

Christ. And then he goes on to say that they may be made manifest in God, be done in God.

So there's a commentary on that. So the purpose of Jesus coming into the world was not to condemn, but rather to save the lost.

Saving some, nevertheless, involves condemning others. Therefore, there's those who believe in Christ and those who disbelieve in Christ.

They reject Christ. Many disbelieve, right? As a matter of fact, the

Scripture says very clearly there will be more that will not believe in Jesus Christ than those who believe.

Jesus made that very clear, did he not? Straight and narrow is the gate. Few be there that enter in.

That gate. That way, straight and narrow. Isaiah calls it the highway of holiness.

It's straight, it's narrow. But those who will receive

Christ are those who believe Christ. Those who reject Christ, disbelieve

Christ. So we see Jesus along His way of three years of ministry, public ministry.

He's saving some. He's gathering souls as He goes. We see this through the Gospel. We see the

Samaritan woman was a believer. We see His healings. Actually, it's interesting.

Those He healed did not believe. They went away. They did not follow

Him. Some did. Some believed Him. Loving souls, saving souls.

Yet there are some who are not saved. Those that are unbelieving.

All the way to His cross, we see this. And even as Jesus dies on the cross, we see two examples of two thieves nailed between Him.

One on the right, one on the left. One believes Him, says,

Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. The other completely rejects

Jesus Christ. One slips into paradise with Jesus because Jesus promised

Him, to this day, You will be with me in paradise. And the other, right into eternal hell.

That's the illustration that we have. We have many unbelievers, unbelief.

Some believers. One embraces Christ, the other rejects

Him. Right in the very moments of their death, even on the cross. And then into eternity.

Beloved, can I say, this blindness in the Old Testament was much more than just a physical ailment. It was commonly used as a metaphor for spiritual blindness.

Isaiah 6, verse 9 and 10 says this. And this is as Isaiah the prophet sees

God in a vision, His holiness. He sees the King of kings, the

King of glory. And the year King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train of His robe filled the temple, and He seized the seraphim.

One had six wings, and two covered His face, and two covered His feet, and two He did flute.

And one cried to another, said, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord is the

Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And then later on, after all those great verses there, in verse 9, after He's cleansed, after He sees

His sin, after He sees the holiness of God, He's commissioned.

And what does He say after He's commissioned? He said, the Lord says, Go and tell this people.

Now this is after, again, His lips are cleansed because He had to have a hot burning coal put to His lips to purify

His lips, to speak the word of God. And this is what

God says. God tells Him, go and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes.

Notice, heart, ears, eyes. Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.

And that word return basically means it's an Old Testament way of saying repent, and be healed.

The heart, the ears, the eyes. Lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart.

Folks, that's exactly what is happening here in this chapter 9. The Messiah was to bring light and sight.

Isaiah 29 .18 says this, In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

Do you remember other scriptures in Isaiah? It's all over Isaiah. In great darkness, a great light has come.

That is a prophecy of the Messiah. That is the prophecy of Jesus coming into a dark world to give light and to give sight to the blind, physically, spiritually.

So Jesus addressed the ultimate purpose of man's affliction, did he not? Rather than just its cause,

Jesus used this opportunity to challenge his disciples, by the way, to join him in the work of God that sent him to do.

Now notice the disciples of Jesus reappear in this narrative. Once again, we see

Jesus teaching his disciples alongside of him. Before, in most of the chapters, we see the crowds and the

Pharisees, the religious leaders. But at this point in John chapter 6,

I should say, we see Jesus teaching the twelve. And from chapter 7 and chapter 8, as Jesus goes to the festival or the booths of tabernacles, we see

Jesus teaching the crowds. And then we see the opposition of the religious leaders against Jesus and his words.

They become hostile to the point, let's arrest him, and to the point of then, eventually, to pick up stones and to kill him.

Now, let's look at what happens here in John chapter 9. Now, for the sake of time, and time goes by so quick and it takes me a little while to get this out.

I'm not... I was telling the Roberts here, I said I'm not as fast as Brother Ben on this, but I'm a little slower, so I have to take more sermons to unpack it.

Ben can pack it out and say it all in probably 30 minutes. So, when

Ben and I get together, I said, you know, I need to learn to speed it up a little bit. Ben says, no, I need to learn to slow it down a little bit.

So, anyway. Well, because of the sake of time, I would like to break this up just today in two points and keep it very simple.

God willing, next Lord's Day, we'll have communion service and we'll just look at one point.

That'll be the third point of this series, of this message.

Like I said, we're just breaking ground today. But the two points I'd like to bring out with an application at the end is this.

It breaks down into three very simple parts. First, the disciples raise a theological question in verses 1 and 2.

Second, Jesus gives them a theological correction. So, there's a theological question.

Then there's a theological correction. And in verse 3, third, Lord willing, next Lord's Day, lastly,

Jesus gives them a theological demonstration. And we see that from verse 4 to 12.

So, we'll keep it very simple for the sake of time this morning. It's not exhaustive.

There's so much that could be said from this chapter. Like I said, I just basically gave you an overview a little bit, and a little bit what the signs mean and where we are.

But may we have ears to hear this morning, eyes to see, the awesome meaning of this wonderful narrative of what

Jesus is saying to us. You know, so many people look at the stories of Jesus and say, oh, it's just a wonderful story.

But when Jesus, there's a story and a narrative, there's always, again, there's always a spiritual truth

He desires to convey to us. So important. Now, in case you need to remember where we are in Gospel of John, speaking of location, geographically,

Jesus is probably still in Jerusalem here at this point. How do we know this?

Verse 59 of chapter 8 says this, Then they, speaking of the Jews, took up stones, this is where we left off, to throw at Him.

And we know why they want to do this, because Jesus just spoke to them about Him being before Abraham, I Am.

That was ultimately blasphemy to them. That's why they picked up the stones.

But Jesus hid Himself, the Scripture says, and went out of the temple. He went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

So why did they take up stones? As I said, obviously, they were going to stone Jesus to death because they understood

Jesus' claim. And they got that. And they basically said, He is a blasphemer.

So they thought they were doing, in their mindset, according to the law of Leviticus 24 -16, is to stone a blasphemer.

They thought they were going to be doing God's service, as far as they were concerned, because Jesus said He was

I Am. And He is I Am, isn't He? He's Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

He is the great I Am. As we studied, He is the angel of the

Lord throughout the Old Testament that makes those appearances, the Theophanies.

We looked at that. Christophanies. Jesus here, which indicates, any man who falsely claims to be

God should be stoned. Of course, that's what they thought, the

Jews. So what happens? Jesus hides Himself. He hid Himself going through the midst of them.

We see Jesus repeatedly. He escaped for His life.

He escaped death. Really, that's a miracle. Why does

He leave? Why does He hide? So many people would think, Was He afraid? No, He was not afraid by no means.

I could tell you the answer, and the answer comes from Scripture. Simply, He hid and went away simply because His hour had not yet come.

It was not time for Him to die. He would die as the Lamb of God in God's sovereign timetable.

So it wasn't time for Him to die yet. So He was in full control of this. So verse 59 most likely indicates that Jesus escapes by miraculous means going through the midst of them, and so He passed by.

So now, in verse 1 and 2 of chapter 9, there's a theological question.

Now, as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

Verse 1. Apparently, wherever they were in Jerusalem, we don't know exactly, but probably near the gate,

I would think. Now how do we know this? There's a beggar there. And you could go to the book of Acts, we see this.

I believe it's Acts 5, 4, 3. No, chapter 3, I believe. We see

Peter and John. There's a lame man there. Same thing.

Beggars tried to find a prominent place within the temple, so they were at the gate where people came in and out, in and out.

And of course, if you were a poor blind beggar, he's doing everything he can. He's been disowned, not taken care of by his relatives, his parents.

And here he is. He's a beggar. He's blind. He's near the gate. And they could be pretty much visibly seen by people, by the majority of people that's coming in and out, going to the temple.

In the temple. So this may have taken place as Jesus was leaving the temple.

We don't know exactly. That's what some commentators say.

We don't know exactly for sure. Or it may have occurred sometime after the events of chapter 8.

You could study that in your good time. Be a good Berean, right? Study that. But nevertheless, what's important is that the text tells us that Jesus passed by.

And as He passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. This man could not help himself whatsoever.

Jesus saw him. Jesus saw him. Don't you love that? He could not see

Jesus physically at that time. And spiritually speaking, that's the way we are.

We cannot see Jesus. When we're born in spiritual blindness, we cannot see

Jesus. But He sees us. And He loves us. And He loved this man.

You know, obviously, He had to show compassion and mercy to love this man.

He saw this man because at that point, think of it, Jesus was just threatened from the

Pharisees, the religious sects, the scribes. They picked up stones to kill

Jesus, to kill Him. And He takes time as He is probably going out the gate.

This man's here begging, blind from birth. The blind man could not see Jesus. But Jesus saw him.

And we don't know how they knew He was blind from birth. We don't know that. The text does not tell us.

But the text does tell us the Apostle John, through the inspiration of the Spirit of God, reveals to us from this passage that this man was born blind from birth.

The poor beggar is blind from birth to show us, again, the hopelessness of his condition and our condition and the wonder of the miracle that Jesus gives him sight.

He opens up blind eyes. We don't know. You know, many times, if this man...

There's a possibility that this man might have not even had eyeballs in his sockets.

But can Jesus create new eyeballs? Absolutely. And He does this.

Now, if there is eyes there in His sockets that He cannot see, Jesus actually made him to see.

Supernatural. When Jesus does miracles, it's creative. It's always creative because this is the

Creator in flesh. It's like when He multiplied the fish and He multiplied the bread, it was literally just creating in that sign.

It's a creative miracle. And verse 2 says, And His disciples asked

Him, saying, Rabbi... Means teacher there. As the disciples would walk along with the

Rabbi, they had a question for Jesus here. Who sinned? Who sinned?

This man or his parents? That he was born blind. That's the theological question.

In other words, the disciples are asking Jesus, Who's to blame for this man being blind like this?

This poor beggar that cannot help himself. Who's to blame for this man's blindness?

There's got to be some kind of sin involved here. Whose sin resulted in his blindness?

Let's go a little further. There was some rabbinic teaching actually in that day that taught an infant was capable of sinning even in his mother's womb.

Interesting, isn't it? So did he commit sin in his mother's womb? Or perhaps did his parents commit some sort of terrible sin, a heinous sin that resulted in his blindness?

After all, the Scriptures do say things like, Numbers 14, 18, notice what the

Word of God says here. The Lord is long -suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.

There was a legit reason they were asking this question, beloved. And we might have been right there with them asking the same question.

It's a good one, actually. It's a genuine theological question that they are raising. Whose sin caused this poor beggar's blindness?

That's a question. So they assume. Now, underscore that little word, assume.

They are assuming there is a particular sin that lies at the very root of this man's blindness.

So the disciples' mind, in their minds, that they just wanted to know whose sin it was.

Whose sin? The disciples are thinking, really displayed the

Jewish teaching that exaggerated the importance of the sins of the parents and the one's own personal sin in relation to their particular circumstances.

I think it's very important to read Old Testament books in context to this, especially the book of Job. Job is a great book.

Stay with it. You have the sovereignty of God and the suffering of man in that book. And folks, those two great doctrines are paramount for us to understand.

There's a lot that can be said about sin. There's a lot that can be said about the sovereignty of God. But the book of Job is full, it's pregnant of truth, of God's sovereignty.

And we see God's sovereign hand. And we see suffering. We see Job suffering.

His suffering was just... Actually, he was one that suffered more than any human being on this earth outside of Jesus.

Now, Jesus, now, He's the great sufferer. He took suffering much more than any man.

But Job suffered. Job loses everything he has. You know the story of the book.

Eventually, his friends, his so -called friends, show up. They try to grieve with him.

They demand that he repent because somehow, Job, you have sinned against God. All these bad things are happening to you.

You've lost your health. You've lost all ten of your children. You lost everything you had. And his wife even says,

Why don't you just curse God and die? She's talking like a foolish woman.

She's not wise. This is his wife. Could you imagine being in Job's condition there and his situation?

And yet, Job, in the darkness and in the pain and the suffering and in the afflictions and the trials that was coming upon him, which we see in Scripture that it was only for a season.

And she says, Why don't you just curse God and die? And he shaves his head and he falls on his face. And he basically says,

Naked, I come into this world. Naked, I'm going to leave this world. Blessed be the name of the

Lord. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. He understood the goodness of God and he did not charge

God with the sin. Folks, he passed the test. And later on, the hardest test was him to pray for his friends.

And everything was turned around then. So much in the book of Job. That's just a small preview, overview,

I should say. But as we know that what Scripture says about Job, he maintains his integrity to his friends, his innocence.

Job suffers. And basically, Job maintains he did no wrong. Why did

I bring up Job? Because we're talking about sin and suffering and people's questions.

Sin may cause suffering. How do we know this? Sometimes sin does cause suffering and affliction and sickness and disease.

Let's look at this a little bit, very quickly. In Scripture in John 5, 14, we already looked at this.

After Jesus healed the lame man on the Sabbath day, he healed him. What did the

Lord say to him? In verse 14, he said, See, you have been made well.

And Jesus gives him a warning. Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

James 5, 15, the Apostle James says this, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the

Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

And even the Apostle Paul speaks to the church of Corinth, to those who have sinned, and not discerning the body of the

Lord when they partake of the Lord's supper. In 1 Corinthians 11, 30, you hear it quite often from this pulpit.

I always give a warning to everyone before we partake. And it's a serious thing because Scripture says we're to judge ourselves, at least we be judged.

And when we don't discern the Lord's body, the Lord can make sickness come upon believers and discipline them.

And it says in verse 30, for this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep.

That means they died. So we know from Scripture there are times that sin does cause suffering, sickness.

As we see in Job's case, it's not the case. 2

Corinthians 12, 7, Paul even says this, at least

I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. God allowed him to see heaven.

He said, I saw it, and he said, these people, I'm telling you, they claim they've seen heaven, forget it.

Like a new revelation, Paul came back and says, I cannot even, I don't even have the words to utter.

It's unlawful for me to even speak of it. What I saw in the third heavens, and God had an antidote for that, lest he be lifted up in pride.

God gave a thorn in the flesh, given to me, he says. And then he says, even a messenger of Satan, God allowed this to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

God kept him humble. This was the apostle Paul. Again, the disciples, they are assuming this.

They are assuming, like most Jews of their day, that sin was primarily the cause of all suffering.

So that they come upon this poor blind beggar suffering and afflicted. He's blind from birth.

He's a beggar. He must have been in some terrible poor condition, of course.

And Jesus makes it very clear that personal sin was not the reason, folks, for this man's blindness.

Don't you love Jesus? How he makes it crystal clear. He speaks with clarity. So there's basically the question, the theological question.

Now, 2, we see the theological correction. Verse 3. Verse 3, the theological correction.

Jesus answered and said, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

Notice how Jesus answers and corrects their assumptions. If someone were to ask you today, am

I suffering? If someone is suffering a terrible affliction because they may ask you, am

I suffering because of sin I committed several years ago? Or whatever. What would you say to them?

What kind of answer would you have for them? Because I'm telling you, folks, suffering is not an easy thing, is it?

It's hard for us to relate unless we're in the shoes of the sufferer. I see this with my wife, my beloved wife now.

And I want to reach down so much and just help her in her suffering. But it's like I am totally helpless.

All I can do is just love her and serve her and minister her and pray for her.

And she adores that so much. And as a church, pray for her.

But as I see her suffering from this cancer, many times in my mind

I think this is a result of our condition, of that damning nature that has caused the curse upon all of the human race.

Disease, separation, sickness, death. But how would you answer somebody, beloved?

If someone were to ask you, would you answer them that question? How would you answer that?

Personally, let me give you my take on it. I say it's not necessary because of one particular sin.

This is what I would say. That you're suffering, it's rather because of the result of the fall of man and Adam's sin that's caused this.

Because sin has passed down in general and it's curse, that would be true, wouldn't it not?

Yes, it would. It's not your personal sin, but it's sin in general.

It's from the original sin. That's the way I would word it. It's caused this suffering, this sickness.

I see this horrible, it's not only my wife, but cancer. So many people die with cancer, folks, and it's a result of our sin.

It's a reminder of our sin. Yes, it is. But can I say this here, beloved? I say this and I'm correcting my own views here.

It's not what I said was wrong and what I just said. Jesus actually goes an entirely different direction.

And we're talking about Jesus. We're talking about perfect wisdom. We're talking about perfect clarity here.

He says, It was not that this man sinned or his parents. But, don't you love his answer?

That the works of God might be displayed in him. You know what he's saying?

This man is in this condition because God will show

His mercy and compassion through His Son and bring the healing and show other people by this sign that God is not only merciful,

He's good, He's kind, He's compassionate, but He's sovereign.

This is sovereign grace in display. And it's all for the glory of God.

God's glory. Interesting, Jesus did not deny the general connection between sin and suffering, did

He? He did not deny that. But He does refute the idea that personal acts of sin were the direct cause here.

We see the great truth of God's sovereign purposes play an important part in such matters as clear as we see in Job chapters 1 and chapter 2.

And I like what Matthew Henry says. I got a quote from Matthew Henry. Don't you love Matthew Henry? He helps shed a little light on a lot of things that are very difficult to understand.

And I tell you, suffering and sin, it's not an easy thing. But the Scriptures speak a lot about that.

And you'll never hear this kind of sermon from the Word of Faith folks. They're in the opposite direction.

It's like a sin to them to even speak about suffering. But this is what

Matthew Henry says about this text. He says this, quote, Afflictions are sometimes intended purely for the glory of God and the manifestation of His works.

And God has a sovereignty over all His creatures and an exclusive right in them and may make them serviceable to His glory.

And in such a way as He thinks fit in doing or suffering, and if God be glorified either by us or in us, we were not made in vain.

End quote. You know, that moves me. If you're suffering affliction, it's not in vain.

Especially if you're a believer. And God, if you're a non -believer and suffering,

God can even use that to humble a person to repent. And God can grant them repentance if He so desires.

But beloved, God uses affliction. You read this in Psalm 119 over and over and over again.

It was good that I was afflicted. It was good that I was afflicted. It was good that I was afflicted. Affliction and suffering is not wasted in God's economy.

Isn't that glorious? The healing of this poor blind beggar was for the glory of God.

That's what Jesus is saying. One more thought, that God's glory in the means of suffering.

I think about Deuteronomy 29 .29. That really says a lot to us and it humbles me that we don't know everything.

You say, why are people suffering? Well, we don't know the answers all the time. We can say for the glory of God, but we don't know the details, do we?

Honestly, we need to be honest and sincere enough to say, you know, we just don't know.

That's okay, but God knows. God knows all things, but He knows what's best.

And He chooses what's best for us. I'm telling you, affliction, as one

Puritan said, is God's university. And when He afflicts us and causes us to go on the road of affliction, folks,

I'm telling you, as a believer, you enter into the fellowship of Jesus' sufferings. And His nearness is like sweet perfume.

The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

I love that verse. We may not have all the answers. We may not have access, a secret line to God, the secret things of the

Lord. And we may not know until we get on the other side. But whatever

God does is well, and He does it good, for our good. I love 1

Corinthians 13, 12. Paul the apostle says this. Don't you love 1

Corinthians 13? Just reading that chapter always just fires my heart up every time, in all situations.

Not only in loving my wife, but loving one another. Because Paul speaks about you.

You can give your body to be burned. You can have all wisdom and all faith and all knowledge, but if you don't have charity, agape love, you're nothing.

Isn't that convicting? We better make sure we have the love of God in us. 1

Corinthians 13, 12. Listen to this. Notice the now and then. Now and then.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly. That's now.

But then, face to face. Now I know in part.

Paul's admitting, I don't know everything, but I only know in part. But then,

I shall know just as I am known. Things are going to be cleared up, folks, when we see

Jesus face to face. Trust His heart today.

We can trust our loving Heavenly Father, in the storm of affliction, and our

Lord Jesus Christ who loves us greatly. And He loves His own to the end.

And He does all things well for His glory. Romans 8, 28, of course, fits right there.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love

God. That's not for everybody. That verse is not for everybody. It's for those who love God.

And if you look in Romans 8, He's talking about suffering. God makes it right.

After all, Jesus is a man of sorrows. He knows what suffering is all about, right?

Oh, yes He does. Well, it serves God's glorious purpose.

And because it's directed by the unchangeable, loving, sovereign hand of God. And this is what happens here.

This is sovereign grace that reaches out to a man that's not able to do anything.

As Brother Zach said earlier, he's like the lame man. He's a blind man. He's dependent. He's totally helpless.

Suffering is not without eternal purpose and is never wasted. God receives glory even in the midst of trials and sufferings.

Let me bring this playing to an end. Let me land it. 1

Peter 4, 12 and 13. I love this. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you.

It could be speaking about whatever that trial may be, but most of the time when

Peter is speaking in 1 Peter, he's speaking about God's elect, God's people that are suffering.

They were being persecuted. And they were undergoing some serious suffering. It was a test.

It was a test of their faith. To purify them as though something, he says, and he encourages them as though something strange were happening to you.

But he says this, and he gets this from Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus says to rejoice. Be exceedingly glad when you're being persecuted and you're suffering, going through all that.

And he says, but rejoice so far as you share in Christ's sufferings.

There he says it. You're sharing in Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when

His glory is revealed. There you have it. So, final application.

If we look carefully for the spiritual lessons personally in this text, as we go through this text, you and I will see how we are so very much like this poor blind beggar.

In verses 1 to 3, this man was born blind for the glory of God.

That's already been said. Hardships, trials, sufferings, afflictions, all most of the difficult circumstances that God ordains are actually a blessing from His hand and are actually something good for us.

Why? Because these things led to His salvation.

We are like the blind man in his weakness. Verse 3, we are like the blind man in his weakness.

Let me read you something from Psalm 34 very quickly.

Notice what he says here in verse 11. There's so much here. There's so many good verses here.

Verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, who loves many days that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good and seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.

You notice the eyes, the ears. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

And then he says in verse 17, The righteous cry out and the

Lord hears. Aren't you glad of that? Delivers them out of all of their troubles.

And the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Notice what he says in verse 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.

Ultimately, how he does it is God's business, but honestly, heaven is an ultimate healing.

I remember my wife's mother when she was dying of cancer and she came to resolve, and she told

Teresa and myself every day, she had bone cancer. We saw her deteriorate to nothing and just trust the

Lord. And she said this every day. She says, if the Lord desires to heal me, that would be wonderful.

But she said, if He desires to take me home with Him, I'm okay with that too. Whatever His will is,

I'm okay with. And God did take her home. And she was not the victim.

She was the victor, folks. He guards all of his bones and not one of them broken.

That's verse 20. That's a prophecy of Jesus.

Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. But the

Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

We're back to condemnation. Those who trust in God, there is no condemnation, folks.

But if you not trust in Jesus here today, there's condemnation. You'll be sure of that, because the wrath of God is abiding on you.

That's why God says, repent or perish. It's a loving charge, because it's so serious.

We're like the blind man in his weakness. We're like the blind man in his blindness. And I like to pick that up,

God willing, later on. This man was born blind physically. Many of us are like that, might say, but we need to see, and we need to see spiritually speaking.

All of us are born blind. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This man's physical blindness is symbolic of spiritual blindness, and all of us are born with that.

That's why Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. And what did He say on the first time?

He said that in John 3, you must be born again to even see the kingdom of God.

Then He says in John 3, 5, to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again.

And Jesus says, truly, truly, He puts an emphasis there. What keeps you out of heaven?

What keeps you from Christ? Unbelief, pride, being blinded like these religious

Jews were. May it not be said of us, Jesus is the light of the world.

Look to Him this morning, the bright and the morning star. Let's pray. Father, we thank

You so much for this day. We thank You for this time of worship that we can gather together with Your people to assemble to praise

You for Your great salvation that You have given through the Lord Jesus Christ who died on that cross and took our sin, took the shame, and took the darkness within those three hours.

Father, we would never ever know this even as we're in heaven how great that darkness was, but He took

Your wrath that we may be accepted in the Beloved and be children of the living

God and have an inheritance forever with You. The great light,

Jesus Christ, that has shined in our hearts has visited us.

We thank You for this by Your grace. It's not something we have done. It's all He has done. And Father, we thank

You for sending Him. And it shows Your great love toward us in even sending

Him to this world, this dark world, in great darkness, a great light has shined.

So we thank You that He did Your will, Father, all the way to the very end and completed

Your work as He said, it is finished. May that be the victory cry for us as well as we trust in the

Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. And for those, Father, that has not come to Christ, I pray today would be the day of visitation for them in Your grace.