The Traits of the Blind & the Seeing | Sermon 07/02/2023

Apologia Utah

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

All right, if you would, please turn with me and your Bibles to the Gospel according to John, chapter 9.

00:06

We've been in a series for the last 10 months in the Gospel according to John. And I am going to be honest with you, this is a huge stretch of scripture today.

00:22

We're going to be in verses 13 through 41. We're going to finish out all of chapter 9 today.

00:28

And then I'm excited as we enter into John chapter 10, because, of course, that's the

00:34

Good Shepherd passages and things like that. It's going to be glorious. All of it is glorious.

00:40

But we're going to be in verses 13 through 41. The title of the sermon today, church, is

00:46

The Traits of the Blind and the Seeing. The Traits of the

00:52

Blind and the Seeing. So, starting in verse 13 of the

00:59

Gospel according to John, chapter 9. Hear now the holy and magnificent word of the living and true

01:07

God. They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.

01:13

Now, it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the

01:18

Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, he applied clay to my eyes and I washed and I see.

01:28

Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying, this man is not from God because he does not keep the

01:34

Sabbath. But others were saying, how can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?

01:41

And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, what do you say about him since he opened your eyes?

01:50

And he said, he is a prophet. The Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight.

01:58

Until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight. And questioned them saying, is this your son who you say was born blind?

02:06

Then how does he now see? His parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

02:16

But how he now sees, we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know.

02:21

Ask him. He is of age, he will speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the

02:28

Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him to be

02:34

Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason, his parents said, he is of age, ask him.

02:42

So a second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.

02:51

He then answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now

02:58

I see. So they said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?

03:04

He answered them, I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you?

03:14

And they reviled him and said, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

03:20

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as far as for this man, we do not know where he is from.

03:28

The man answered and said to them, well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes.

03:37

We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God -fearing and does his will, he hears him.

03:43

Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

03:49

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, you were born entirely in sins and are you teaching us?

03:59

So they put him out. Jesus heard that they had put him out and finding him, he said, do you believe in the son of man?

04:08

He answered, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you.

04:17

And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment,

04:25

I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.

04:33

Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, we are not blind too, are we?

04:39

Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say we see, your sin remains.

04:47

Thus ending the reading of God's glorious word. Let's pray, church. God, I ask that you would speak today through the proclamation of your word.

04:58

Lord, I pray that you would illuminate the scriptures in such a way to teach your people. Lord, to encourage your people, to edify your people.

05:06

And Lord, that it would be even a warning to those who don't know you yet. God, I pray that you would illuminate the scripture by your

05:14

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who inspired each and every single word in this sacred scripture.

05:23

So God, please speak through me today. Lord, help your church to receive all that they need to receive.

05:32

I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, church, I am reminded of when

05:40

Pastor Jeff Durbin and his wife Candy had determined that God called them to adopt a little boy who had been spared from abortion.

05:52

He, according to the doctors, had one of the worst cases of spina bifida.

05:59

And when little Augustine came out and they saw no signs of this condition, it was clear.

06:06

God had miraculously healed this little boy. And you know, there are some people, no doubt a lot of medical personnel, who look at something like that and they're looking for reasons.

06:19

They're trying to find out and understand and make logical sense of how something like that can happen.

06:25

Everything pointed to this child having this great malady. Then there are those who take it for what it is and they simply praise

06:35

God. I'm sure in the text that we just read, you've already started to see who the investigators are and who are the ones who are praising

06:45

God. But I want to draw back even your memory to John chapter 8.

06:53

It was the torch lighting ceremony of the Feast of Booths. The whole night sky was lit up with these large menorahs, these huge torches, and the light emanated from all of Jerusalem.

07:08

It was this golden light beaming in the middle of the desert in Jerusalem at the

07:13

Feast of Tabernacles, the lighting ceremony. It was magnificent, brilliant light everywhere.

07:20

And it was at that moment that, if you remember, Jesus stands up and He says,

07:25

I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

07:34

It was at that amazing moment Jesus said that. And as the final torch blew out, smoldered, the light,

07:47

Jesus, departed from the temple when He was rejected. And it's like the light has been following Him.

07:54

He left from that moment. The light is following Jesus. And then it shined again in John chapter 9, our chapter today.

08:04

And we saw Jesus healing the man born blind. And we saw even the purpose behind this man's blindness.

08:12

Jesus said that the purpose behind it was so that the works of God would be displayed through Him, through the man.

08:21

And of course, that we would see and understand that Jesus is the

08:27

Christ, the long prophesied One, who would do these very things.

08:33

It's been said for hundreds of years that a Messiah is coming. He's going to heal the leper. He's going to heal the paralytic.

08:40

He's going to remove demons. He's going to give sight to the blind and give hearing to the deaf.

08:45

And He's going to loose the mouth of those who are mute. This is the Messiah. He's here.

08:51

All the signs point to it. And after the now seeing man was contending with his astonished neighbors, if you remember, he washes in the pool of Siloam.

09:02

He's seeing now. And he's in his neighborhood. It says his neighbors come out. And he's probably all excited.

09:07

And he's like, oh, that's what you look like. Okay, wow, this is incredible. And he's seeing all these things that he's never seen before.

09:15

He was born blind. And his neighbors know him as only the man that was blind who sat by the temple and begged for alms.

09:24

A beggar. So now it says in verse 13 that those neighbors, whoever, these people, they brought this man to the

09:35

Pharisees. I don't think this was a malevolent thing.

09:41

I happen to think that they didn't believe that so much interrogation and abuse would take place.

09:50

I think his neighbors or whoever escorted him to the Pharisees had good intentions.

09:56

I'm sure it's kind of like if we witness a miracle here and all of a sudden someone was healed.

10:02

And we might want to go show other religious authorities, right?

10:08

This is incredible. You know, maybe if that happened to you, you'd want to come to your pastors. Pastor, what do you make of this?

10:15

And so they likely wanted them to give a word on that healing. But John in his narration, however, is going to set up the conflict.

10:25

The conflict is going to start here. Verse 14. And you have that little printout.

10:31

You could follow along in your Bibles or in your phone or in the printout there in your bulletin. But it says that it was the

10:39

Sabbath day that the Lord Jesus made the clay and opened the man's eyes.

10:44

It was the Sabbath. Emphasis on the word made.

10:50

That is the Greek word poieo. That is to do something, to make something, to perform a work.

10:56

And so Jesus made clay. He spat on the ground. He scooped it up and he mixed with his fingers clay with his saliva and dirt.

11:10

And these actions go against what's called the tradition of the elders. Rabbinical law.

11:18

In fact, we've talked about this. Something called the Mishnah. The Mishnah has 39 major categories of labor that are forbidden on the

11:26

Sabbath. And beyond that, the Mishnah has hundreds of subcategories under those 39 major categories of what you can't do on the

11:37

Sabbath. And what's crazy is in the Mishnah, healing is forbidden on the

11:45

Sabbath. You cannot heal anyone. No healing must be done. God, don't work that day. No healing.

11:54

It was only allowed except in cases of someone's life was in danger. But that's it.

12:00

You couldn't do any other healing. Mixing of the clay was forbidden. Jesus was doing a work in their eyes.

12:06

And of course, anointing the eyes of the blind man was also illegal on the

12:13

Sabbath. And if you remember, we established in John chapter 7,

12:19

Jesus spoke about circumcision. Do you remember this? He spoke about circumcision when a boy was born.

12:27

What on what day did a boy have to be circumcised? The eighth day. The eighth day the boy had to be circumcised.

12:34

And sometimes in God's providence, a little boy was born and the eighth day landed on what?

12:40

Landed on the Sabbath. So what are you supposed to do? Am I supposed to obey the law to circumcise the lad?

12:47

Or am I supposed to obey the Sabbath law? And Jesus is like, you guys have this all wrong.

12:54

And he talks about how circumcision was something that pointed to the whole wellness of a person.

13:02

In fact, that God would one day circumcise our hearts and full wellness and wholeness would come to us.

13:11

That impurity and sin would be removed from us. So they still perform that work.

13:23

Jesus said there's a greater law of love. He said in that chapter, why are you angry with me when

13:31

I made an entire man well and not just part of him? Similar principle here.

13:38

There's a greater law of love here. Then the

13:43

Pharisees investigate on how the healing took place. The man recounts the instructions that Jesus gave him.

13:51

And if you notice anything throughout the sermon, throughout the text, you're going to notice that there's less of an emphasis on the miracle and more emphasis on the miracle maker.

14:02

You'll begin to notice that. But the man says in verse 15, he applied clay to my eyes,

14:08

I washed and I see. And so in verse 16, the

14:13

Pharisees completely overlook and bypass a real miracle of God.

14:19

A man born blind has gained his sight and all they can see is the transgression of the law.

14:28

However, as I said, this is not God's law. This is the Mishnah. This is man's law.

14:35

God does not prohibit good on the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus states that the

14:41

Sabbath was made for man and not the Sabbath made for God. God doesn't need rest.

14:47

We do. How can healing a man in any way be in opposition to God's character and law?

14:57

It isn't. It goes against what man has made. What man has made.

15:04

Therefore, because they see it this way, they believe that Jesus is not from God. He's done this healing.

15:11

He's done this miracle. But Jesus isn't from God. And then other leaders were saying, how can a man perform such signs as a sinner?

15:21

And there was a division among them because the second group saw a true miracle from God and could not imagine that a transgressor would be able to perform such a work unless he was not a sinner and was from God.

15:38

And so the word here for division is schisma. That is where we get the word schism.

15:45

That is to tear something, to split something down with no middle in between.

15:54

In the first group's mind, Jesus is like the prophet of Deuteronomy 13, who performed signs and wonders, but leads people after other gods because he didn't obey the

16:08

Sabbath rules that they made. And God would not use a sinful agent to carry out such a thing.

16:16

The first group has a decent argument if that was actually in the scripture.

16:23

The second group comes up with the truth that this man is from God, but they come to that truth,

16:30

I think, in a weak way. The reason being is signs in the

16:37

Bible have even been done by evildoers. Not often, but some.

16:43

Think of Pharaoh's magicians in a way and the power they used to do what they did there in Exodus.

16:50

But what we're seeing is, and what we've seen from the beginning, is that signs or miracles continue to be downplayed in the gospel according to John, and it all is going to come back to the sign maker.

17:06

He wants all focus. He wants all the focus. So in verse 17, they ask the man what his impression is of Jesus since he opened his eyes.

17:18

What do you take this man to be? Seeing as how you were the one who interacted with him.

17:25

And what does he respond with? Jesus is a prophet. He's a prophet.

17:33

Now remember, the people have been without a prophet of God, a spokesman for God for, what, hundreds of years now.

17:42

So to say that there was a prophet on the earth again is a big deal. Although this is a low estimate of Jesus, he's not fully off track.

17:54

Not completely right, but not completely wrong. What this man does recognize is that Jesus is from God.

18:02

That's clear to him. And I think that that statement reflects some sort of infant faith.

18:10

He's starting to have a small infant faith despite his lack of understanding.

18:18

His eyes are getting wider, in a sense, now that he's not blind anymore.

18:24

So they interrogated the healed man. And now the investigation will switch to new witnesses.

18:31

They've gotten what they need out of this man. They're going to switch to new witnesses. And so after making this confession of Jesus, the

18:40

Jewish leaders simply disregard him. He says he is a prophet.

18:45

They're like, hoax. Come on, a prophet? Are you kidding me?

18:53

And then they just say what? They say, you weren't blind before. You're lying.

19:00

You weren't healed by this man, Jesus. And so they want to continue their investigation.

19:05

They want to find holes in this situation. They question his parents.

19:13

Maybe the neighbors have gotten his identity wrong. The man is seeing.

19:20

Wouldn't that be a little difficult, by the way, if you didn't have other witnesses? You're like, I swear I was blind all my life.

19:26

And it's like, show me evidence. And it's like, what can you do? How frustrating.

19:33

But his parents come into the picture now. Let's read verses 18 through 21.

19:41

It says, The Jews then did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight and questioned them, saying, is this your son who you say was born blind?

19:57

Then how does he now see? His parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

20:05

But how he now sees, we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know.

20:11

Ask him. He is of age. He will speak for himself. And then we have

20:18

John do what he always does. And he pulls us out of the narrative. In verse 22, he gives us some much needed detail to this context.

20:30

I think this wasn't the first time that the man's parents have seen him completely healed, seeing with his own eyes.

20:38

I think they know of the miracle. Whether they walked out of the house when the neighbors walked out and saw their son leaping around seeing people, or whether the son came into the house later and said, mom, dad, it's me, your son.

20:55

We don't know. But I think they knew before they were brought to give testimony, they knew of this miracle.

21:04

But the parents only acknowledge the seeing man as their son. They don't want anything to do with this situation.

21:15

Why? John says, if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the person or persons would be put out of the synagogue.

21:26

And that word, put out of the synagogue, that whole phrase is actually only one word in the

21:32

Greek. Apasunagagos. Now, this is not meaning that they're going to, you know, kind of escort him out of the synagogue, physically remove him.

21:43

It's beyond that. This word has the same prefix as apostate.

21:50

That is to lose all membership from the synagogue. In other words, they promised excommunication from that local assembly if one confessed

22:01

Jesus as the Christ. No doubt that was happening to synagogues all over Judea.

22:07

Probably even in the Galilee region. Local assembly is saying, if anyone comes in here and says,

22:14

Jesus is the Messiah, excommunication. The very places that should convert to churches and worship

22:24

Jesus Christ are the places that will throw one out if you confess

22:29

Him. It's unreal. And so this man's parents felt like they had a lot to lose.

22:37

Fear of men overcame them, and they did not want to have any part in confessing

22:44

Jesus as the Christ. They saw a complete miracle from God. They heard the testimony of their own son, but the cost was too high.

22:55

Too high. Maybe that's why Jesus says, count the cost.

23:01

Count the cost. Discipleship. They don't realize to lose now means to gain infinitely more later.

23:12

So they deflect, in verse 23, and point the Jewish leaders back to their son.

23:19

He's of age, ask him. He's an adult now, don't ask us.

23:27

It's interesting, the man had to have people caring for him his whole life.

23:33

His parents spoke for him. This is our son. Yes, we know he begs. We bring him food. He's had people lead him by the hand everywhere he went.

23:43

And when it comes down to this amazing thing, it's like he's on his own. It's incredible.

23:50

Ask him. We're not really with him. They distanced themselves from him.

23:55

And so verse 24 says, So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God.

24:09

We know that this man is a sinner. But this man won't budge from his confession of Jesus.

24:18

It's amazing. They say, give glory to God. Do you know what that means? That's a Jewish idiom, a

24:24

Jewish saying. Give glory to God means, come on, just tell us the truth. Tell us the truth before God.

24:33

Tell us what we want to hear. Jesus is a transgressor of the law. Just go ahead and say it.

24:39

From the man who received the miracle himself. Just go ahead, tell us. Tell us the man who did this to you is a sinner.

24:46

In fact, they say, we know that this man is a sinner. And so to the

24:51

Pharisees, to not confess Jesus as the Christ and to call him a sinner instead is to give glory to God.

24:59

They believe that's going to give glory to God. That could not be more of an oxymoronic statement.

25:08

Emphasis on the moronic, right? It's unbelievable. This would, in fact, not glorify

25:15

God, but would offend him. The father has sent the son. The son is perfect, impeccable, and sinless.

25:24

Even Jesus acknowledged that about himself. Remember, in the last chapter, he invited everyone to find fault in him.

25:31

Go ahead, find sin in me with this perfect confidence. Because there is no sin in him.

25:39

The son is performing the works that the father has willed for him to do, including this healing of the man born blind.

25:46

And to say then that this is a sinful act is to blaspheme the name of the

25:53

Lord God. And so when they say with this Jewish idiom, tell us the truth, the man goes, yeah, sure,

26:02

I'll tell you the truth. And he refrains from being pulled into their devices.

26:10

In fact, in the face of those whom many fear, many people feared the

26:16

Pharisees. Many people didn't want to go before these men. In the face of those whom many feared, faces he's only seen for the first time in his life, he will not capitulate.

26:28

He will not bow down. He confessed Jesus as at least a prophet.

26:36

And he will not rescind that. He will not take that away. He's not going to say, you're right.

26:42

I can see now because of a sinner. In verse 25, he points to the glory of the miracle.

26:51

He says this, though I was blind, now I see. And that's powerful.

26:58

That statement alone carries so much weight. Though I was blind, now I see.

27:06

Faith in his religious leaders is waning, and faith in Jesus is increasing.

27:16

In verse 26, they continue to ask him the same questions. What did he do to you?

27:22

How did he open your eyes? They're looking for more holes in his testimony.

27:27

How can we disregard this as a true miracle? That's their aim. Because they don't want to admit it.

27:35

They don't want to admit that this is a real miracle of God. However, in verse 27, the man says,

27:43

I told you already. I told you already, and you do not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

27:50

You do not want to become his disciples too, do you? Man, the guy sees for one day, he gets snappy.

27:57

I like it. Amazing. He begins to see they're not impartial in their investigation.

28:06

They have an agenda, and they mean to carry it out. A miracle has been performed, and these so -called men of God won't give glory to God.

28:18

They can't see. They are blind to what God did. He says, you did not listen.

28:26

They're even deaf. They couldn't hear him before. How will they hear him now? And he says, do you want to follow this rabbi too?

28:36

Do you want to follow Jesus too? Is that what it is? And so what does the man's question do?

28:43

It sets them aflame. The Pharisees are so upset with this. They know that they've been found out, that they're not impartial, that they have an agenda.

28:53

And it offends them. And for this, verse 28 says, they reviled him.

29:00

They reviled him. That word also means to strongly insult someone, or even to verbally abuse them.

29:09

They slander him. And they think they're slandering him when they say, you are his disciple.

29:16

You're with him. They think that's a slander. It's like when the world mocks, oh, look at all the self -righteous

29:24

Christians. But I can tell you now, brothers and sisters, to be associated with Christ and the name of Christ is the greatest honor one can possess in this life.

29:37

The name of Christ upon a sinner is like the gold shining in the midst of mud.

29:44

It is the brightest star on the darkest night. It is the yellow sun crowning over a black peak.

29:52

It's a silver badge on the filthiest garment. That is the name of Christ upon undeserving and unworthy people.

30:00

So when they believe their slander hits the spot, it actually bounces back onto them.

30:08

They deny the Messiah, but uphold an idolatry of Moses.

30:15

We follow Moses. Oh, you mean the one who looked forward to the coming of the

30:21

Messiah? The one who even prophesied of it? You remember in John chapter 5,

30:30

Jesus said, for if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote about me.

30:37

But if you do not believe Moses' writings, how will you believe what I say? Oh, you're followers of Moses?

30:46

Then you would be followers of me. But they're not. They've completely missed the mark.

30:53

It's kind of like they're saying, I don't follow God, but I follow prophets of God.

31:00

It's redundant. It's absurd. They hold men in too high of a regard.

31:08

God is lightly esteemed versus highly esteemed by these man -pleasers, these self -praise seekers.

31:19

Yes, God has spoken to Moses. Yes, God has spoken to the prophets.

31:27

But all of these testify to the one who is standing in front of them,

31:33

Jesus. They have not believed Jesus despite on numerous occasions.

31:39

We're talking many occasions in the Gospel of John. Jesus has either plainly spoken or indicated to being from heaven, sent from the

31:48

Father. And He's done the works to demonstrate that. And He's fulfilled the prophecy that would indicate that.

31:56

But they continue to deny it. I love this man. This man,

32:02

I can't wait to meet him one day. I hope you can't wait to meet the man born blind too. You're going to get to hug him.

32:08

You're going to get to see him. And he's going to get to see you. And it's going to be a glorious day.

32:14

Of course, nothing will beat seeing Jesus Christ face -to -face and embracing our

32:21

Lord. But this man is full of remarkable yet common sense.

32:29

He has the most amazing logic. It's basic, but it's profound.

32:36

His confidence in his confession continues to grow with boldness. Let's look at this simple yet powerful statement from the healed man.

32:45

Verses 30 through 33. Look in your Bible there. This is the man born blind. The healed man.

32:52

I'm sorry. Well, here is an amazing thing. That you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.

33:00

We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God -fearing and does His will,

33:06

He hears him. Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

33:13

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. I love that last sentence.

33:21

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. So you get a sense of the shock of this man's reaction and his response.

33:33

I bet he was a bit incredulous. These are the religious and spiritual men of Judea.

33:42

These men boast that they are the closest out of everyone in Israel to God.

33:49

They have the closest relationship to the Almighty, and yet they cannot see this heavenly connection of this miracle.

33:59

You don't know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. You know, all growing up,

34:06

Jewish boys and Jewish girls would sing the Psalms. The Psalms are meant to be sung, actually.

34:14

So Dusty, next week, if you could sing the Psalm, that would be great. It would be beautiful.

34:21

But these little children, even through the teenage years and adults, they sang these

34:26

Psalms, and Psalm 77 verse 14 said, You are the God who performs miracles, and you have made your power known among the people.

34:36

They know that. The Lord's done it. Where do miracles come from? They come from God. Is a man blind from birth, receiving sight in adulthood a miracle?

34:47

Absolutely, yes. Obviously. So now, connect the dots.

34:59

The man says, here is an amazing thing. They don't see it. Then the man proves a point about Jesus' character.

35:07

If you do a cross -reference, by the way, with verse 31, cross -reference search in your

35:13

Bible to verse 31, that God doesn't hear sinners, you will get a lot of results.

35:20

There are many, many, many verses in the Old Testament that talk about God not hearing sinners.

35:26

It doesn't say necessarily, it doesn't mean necessarily that He can't hear sinners.

35:33

It means He chooses not to hear some of them. Okay? In the

35:39

Psalms and the Proverbs, it says that the Lord turns His face away from those who practice evil.

35:46

He turns His face away from those who make a practice of lawlessness, and He will not hear their cry, though they plead many, many times.

35:54

In Isaiah 1, when Israel had been sinning greatly, the Lord said, although the people multiply their prayers,

36:04

He will not hear them. He will not listen, for blood is on their hands. So you see that all throughout the

36:12

Old Testament. This is not to say, though, that some are sinners and some are not, right?

36:19

We can kind of get that the wrong way. We are all sinners.

36:26

We are all fallen. It's that what those verses mean is

36:31

God will listen, though, to the kind of sinner who humbles himself before God, who realizes only the

36:39

Lord can remedy his situation, who comes in a contrite and low manner. God will not reject the contrite sinner, the one who recognizes their need.

36:51

How do they recognize their need? I would say the Holy Spirit has to show them their need, no doubt.

36:58

The Scriptures attest to that. God -fearing, seeking

37:04

God's will, as the man says. And the point is, he doesn't yet know that Jesus is the sinless

37:10

Son of God, but he argues to the Pharisees that Jesus could not be a lawless sinner if He was able to call upon God and heal.

37:19

That's his point. He couldn't be a lawless sinner and call upon God and heal.

37:27

They just don't go together. Little did he know that the one who healed him is the sinless one, and that the power came from within Jesus.

37:39

The man then brings a crucial fact to bear on their unwarranted conviction of Jesus. He says, since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone open the eyes of a person born blind.

37:54

And he knows it. He knows it better than anyone. He's been praying for this day for a very, very long time.

38:03

He's had no previous account of a miracle like this to hope for, to hold on to.

38:11

If you search the Old Testament, there are accounts of the blind and things happen with God.

38:18

But there's nothing like this, where a man who was born blind was healed.

38:24

He had nothing to grab on to. All that this man could ever hope for his whole life were the messianic prophecies of the one who will come and heal the blind.

38:34

That's it. Those are the only ones. And what's interesting,

38:45

I've come to find, it seems that this man's focus is not so much on the miracle as I said before.

38:54

He doesn't say, it's never been heard that the eyes of a person born blind were open. He doesn't say that.

39:00

He doesn't speak of the act, and he doesn't speak of the person who received the miracle.

39:06

He says this, it has never been heard that someone was able to open the eyes of a person born blind.

39:14

His focus is on someone who has the power to do this, not on the miracle itself.

39:21

That's significant. You guys, you got to understand, in first century

39:27

Judea, blindness was only a little bit better than death.

39:34

Blindness was only a little bit better than death. That's how difficult this was. This is almost like bringing a person back from the grave back to life, which we're going to see in John 11.

39:50

But his focus is on Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the only one in history who has ever performed this.

39:57

This is unprecedented in the history of creation. And the Pharisees should be in awe.

40:04

And then the man makes his final statement to the Jewish leaders in a modest but devastating way.

40:11

He makes a statement of logic. If A is true and B is true, then C is true sort of thing.

40:17

He comes to his conclusion. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

40:25

Because God doesn't listen to reprobate lawless sinners. Because God only listens to the

40:32

God -fearing, those who do his wonders. Because according to Scripture, only

40:41

God can work these attesting miracles. Because this has never happened before.

40:50

Jesus could do nothing if he weren't from God. Psalm 72, 18 says,

40:56

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders.

41:03

And this is the point where the man really comes to find that they are more blind than he's ever been.

41:12

They are in darkness and they cannot see. They cannot see properly.

41:18

They cannot see the light of the world, Jesus. They can't even see good and righteous things.

41:25

And it's going to take an act of God to change that. It takes an act of God for any of us to see that.

41:34

So how do they respond? Verse 34, You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?

41:41

So they put him out. They can't stand that this man's argumentation is better than their own.

41:48

How can this untrained man teach us? Isn't that such a pattern in Scripture?

41:54

That these unlearned, untrained men oppose the proud, the humble oppose the proud, confounding the wise.

42:05

But did you catch that? Remember from last week the false assumption of the disciples?

42:13

What did they think? When they passed by the man born blind, they said, What did he do?

42:19

How did this man sin to receive this blindness? Or how did his parents sin to receive this blindness?

42:27

We went over that last week. What did this man do? And Jesus corrected them.

42:34

He corrected all of us. Not all sickness. In fact, most of the sickness in this world is not a result of personal individual sin.

42:45

It's from the fall. And Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the Lagos.

42:52

He is the one who is the monogamist theos, comes from the bosom of the Father who has explained

42:58

Him. And so the Son has the authority to speak the truth into this situation.

43:03

And here the Pharisees demonstrate their continued ignorance of the truth. They say to the man,

43:10

You were born entirely in sin. And so this isn't a theological statement, a doctrinal statement about the about original sin or the fallenness of man.

43:23

This is pointing back to the beginning of the chapter. We've come full circle. Jesus corrected the disciples.

43:32

And now these men show they believe he was born blind. When they say this, they're affirming,

43:40

Yep, you were born blind. Because that word, that phrase, you were born entirely in sin is related to that.

43:50

They're finally admitting he was born blind. The very thing that they wouldn't admit earlier, they admit now.

44:01

They accept a miracle has happened, but they do not accept the one who gave it or the one who received it.

44:08

And so they falsely accuse the man. They slander him in such a way to discredit him and what he just said.

44:16

They have no way to argue it against it or counter it. And what they resort to is personal attack.

44:24

This man just taught them, but they refuse to be taught. So they cast him out.

44:30

This points back to the threat of excommunication. The irony is thick.

44:36

A man attesting to the miracles of God, a walking example of the grace of God.

44:45

And he is kicked out, kicked out from God's covenant community.

44:55

So now we hit the final scene in chapter 9. Jesus enters back into the narrative.

45:02

Verse 35, Jesus heard that they put the man out and finding him, he said, do you believe in the

45:09

Son of Man? I love how once again, Jesus takes the initiative.

45:16

Remember, it was Jesus who saw the man born blind first. Jesus was the one who approached the man.

45:24

And once again, Jesus will take the initiative and approach him again. He walks up to him, he finds him.

45:33

Psalm 27, verse 10 says, For my father and my mother have forsaken me.

45:39

And you could even say, even my religious leaders have forsaken me, along with my father and my mother.

45:46

But then the psalm says, but the Lord will take me up. The Lord will take me up.

45:52

And that's Jesus. Father and mother have forsaken me. Religious leaders have forsaken me.

45:59

The Lord will take me up. Remember, the man never saw

46:04

Jesus when he healed him. So he put the clay on his eyes, and he told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

46:11

And by that time, when the man washed his eyes and looked up, Jesus was already gone. He's never seen

46:17

Jesus. He doesn't know what the man looks like, the one who healed him until now, we're about to see.

46:27

Jesus will lose none that the Father has given him. So Jesus asks, do you believe in the

46:33

Son of Man? This is not a question of existence, but trust.

46:39

Do you believe in the Son of Man? We've talked about, in John's Gospel, how every time that phrase, the

46:48

Son of Man, is used, it's used in some sort of revelatory way, something that's pointing to heaven, or something that's pointing to Christ's divinity.

46:58

And this is no exception. Jesus is the divine self -disclosure of God.

47:06

Jesus is the manifestation of Yahweh on earth, God walking among them.

47:13

And so to believe in Jesus is to believe in God. And it seems the man understands the connotations carried with Son of Man.

47:28

In verse 36, he doesn't say, why should I believe in the Son of Man? He says, who is he,

47:36

Lord, that I may believe in him? Who is he? There is no desire for explanation, but for identification.

47:45

Who is he that I may believe? And the man uses the word kuri here.

47:53

It's more of a sign of respect, rather than a confession of lordship.

47:59

Some translations say, sir. I think sir is appropriate here, versus Lord.

48:06

Your translation may have Lord. The NASB 95 says Lord. But I think he's saying, sir.

48:12

Who is he, sir, that I may believe? But things are progressing. The man is eager to believe.

48:20

God has put a thirst in him that even physical sight cannot satisfy. He received his sight for the first time that day, and he's not done.

48:30

He wants more. He wants to see more. This isn't enough. Jesus says, you have both seen him, and he's the one who's talking with you now.

48:44

The Lord is alluding to the fact that he healed the man born blind, not only to give him physical sight, but spiritual sight.

48:54

And so with that, his eyes would see Christ. You have seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you.

49:03

In other words, this man has eyes to see and ears to hear. That is the formula that Jesus uses all throughout the synoptic

49:11

Gospels, does he not? The formula that shows real faith, ears to hear, eyes to see, that is wrought from the

49:21

Spirit of God in a person. That's what this man has now. And I truly think it's a privilege.

49:31

Jesus saved this man by his grace. And I think what's amazing is, this man will only get to see

49:39

Jesus as he is, as the Son of Man, as the Messiah. You see, a lot of us grow up seeing

49:46

Jesus as less than. Before I was saved, I saw Jesus as less than. But this man, the first time he gets to see

49:53

Jesus, he gets to see him the right way, the way that Jesus deserves.

49:59

That's a privilege. So now look in verse 38. The man responds,

50:07

Lord, I believe. And this time, the word kurios is stepped up.

50:14

I don't think he's saying sir here again. He's saying Lord. This isn't a statement of respect.

50:20

This is a statement of belief. Lord, I believe. You are the

50:26

Son of Man. You are the Messiah. Every time he listened in synagogue as a child, he would hear of the promises of God restoring sight to the blind.

50:41

And it would spark a bit of hope in him. If only, if only when this

50:48

Messiah would come, he would heal me of my blindness. And all the scriptures that promise

50:55

God would strike those who trespass his standards with blindness would paralyze him at the same time.

51:02

He'd have this great hope. He'd hear of a Messiah coming who would take away blindness. Then he'd hear in the same synagogue that God strikes those with blindness who sin against him.

51:14

And then he would examine himself. What have I done? Lord, what have

51:20

I done to receive this blindness? How have I trespassed your law?

51:25

I know I can't see, but I'm doing my best. And it would paralyze him. What evil have

51:30

I done? But today was the day of salvation for this man. He sees physically and he sees spiritually.

51:40

His blindness is gone in total. Jesus is the one he's been waiting for his whole life.

51:48

So the only appropriate thing to do, the only appropriate thing to do when

51:53

Jesus saves you and opens your eyes, worship. It says he fell down and worshipped

52:00

Jesus. And what's remarkable is the Lord receives it. And Jesus knows the law.

52:07

Jesus knows that no man ought to be worshipped, that only Yahweh the

52:12

Lord ought to be worshipped. But Jesus doesn't stop him. Why? Because Jesus is the

52:18

Lord. Jesus is the Lord. Stops none of it. The word is proscuneo.

52:24

Proscuneo, that is literally a contraction, two words. It literally means towards the ground, kissing.

52:33

Towards the ground, kiss. To kiss downward, to go low, recognizing the far superior one before you, kissing towards their feet to pay homage.

52:47

You see, it's a recognition that the worth of this person in front of you makes even the lowest and typically dirtiest part of them worth kissing.

52:58

It's a prostrating. And you can't do this to anyone else but God. This is none other than the

53:07

Holy Messiah of God. So we come to our final verses. Verse 39 through 41.

53:16

Verse 39 is a summary of all that has taken place in John 9. Jesus says, for judgment

53:23

I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.

53:33

Remember in John 5, all judgment was given to the Son by the Father. Jesus calls for righteous judgment in John 7 and John 3.

53:44

He said, this is my judgment, that men love the darkness rather than the light.

53:50

And so Jesus' primary mission, get this, is to save.

53:59

It's to save people. But when there are those who believe, there are those who are saved, and those who don't believe, and those who are not saved, there is an inevitable judgment.

54:16

That's what he's saying. There's an inevitable judgment. That's what happens when

54:23

God in the flesh comes into the world. Those who reject

54:29

Him are condemned. He said they're condemned already in John chapter 3. And what he's saying here is that those who think they can see, can you hear this?

54:41

Those who think they can see and don't need God's help to see, they'll be blind.

54:49

Spiritually blind, spiritual darkness. But those who acknowledge they cannot see, those who acknowledge they're blind and they need

55:02

God's help to see, they will see. They will spiritually see. They will come into spiritual light.

55:10

They will see Jesus as the Christ. And that's the thing. The Pharisees in their pride believe that they see very, very well.

55:22

They see well. They think they have the truth. A word of caution.

55:30

Be careful when you think you're right in a matter, and be very careful when you always think you're right.

55:37

If you're one of those people who's always right, I think this is a good example. Be willing to be corrected if wrong.

55:48

Be willing to ask God, Lord, I may not see this right. Help me to see it.

55:53

That's humility. But Jesus's words are very parabolic here.

55:59

They're very much like Isaiah chapter 6 with that judgment language when Yahweh says, render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull and their eyes dim.

56:10

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, return and be healed.

56:17

Judgment. We see that played out later even in Jesus's ministry in Matthew 23.

56:25

You have the famous woes to the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus performs in Matthew 23.

56:32

He says, woe to you. You shut off the kingdom of heaven from the people. Woe to you, blind guides.

56:39

You fools and blind men. He says again, you blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

56:47

You are blind. He says, they make the law so weighty for people, but they don't perform the heart of it.

56:54

Justice, mercy and faith. They appear outwardly as righteous. They appear outwardly as if they can see.

57:01

But inwardly, he says, they're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, dead things.

57:06

In other words, it may seem on the outside that these men can see 20 -20 vision, but they are blind.

57:19

They are blind. So verse 40 says there were some

57:24

Pharisees there. They heard Jesus in this last scene in John chapter 9.

57:30

And it says that they were with Jesus. I don't think that the

57:36

Greek means that they were with Jesus. I think they were just simply with Jesus.

57:41

How can I say that right? They were not with him like in an allegiance form. They were just simply with him, near him.

57:50

He must have approached this man in public so as the Pharisees could overhear.

57:55

But they didn't understand the heart of it at all. Their self -centeredness causes them to what?

58:03

Focus on themselves. Are we blind? Are we blind? They don't say, sir, we're blind.

58:11

Help us to see. They say, are we blind? Verse 41, Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin.

58:20

But since you say, we see, your sin remains. And so he's not saying that all blind people have no sin, okay?

58:32

This is a figure of speech. Jesus responds in such a way where he affirms that one must acknowledge their inability to see, to seek the

58:44

Son of Man, the one who can make a person see, and then their sin would be no more.

58:51

And we know that promise is solidified at the cross but those who say they see without the help of the

58:58

Son of Man, their sin remains. You see, there is a basic admission in which one must see the need for Christ's sin removal.

59:10

In fact, one must see their sin, and then a need for sin removal, and finally a need for Christ to perform that, to have it removed.

59:20

Now, I don't want to get you wrong in a different category. This is not a divine formula on how one is saved, okay?

59:30

In fact, we saw in John chapter 6 that the way someone is saved, what we saw behind the veil, behind the scenes, is that the

59:39

Father must draw all men to himself. And then Jesus said, then all the men and women that God the

59:46

Father draws will be given to Jesus. And that's what's behind the scenes. You see, what we see here, the recognition of blindness, the need for Jesus, that's what we get to see on the outside.

01:00:01

That's the veil, that's what we get to see. So we got to see the glimpse behind the eternal veil of how we're saved, and now we get to see what it would look like for us.

01:00:14

I thought I was saved my whole life. And honestly, it was that. I always thought

01:00:19

I was a righteous guy. I was such a good guy. I do my best. I try my hardest.

01:00:24

I'm a good old boy. I gave myself a pat on the back. But it was the day that Jesus gave me

01:00:30

His gospel. He gave me eyes to see. And the big difference that day was, I finally saw myself for who

01:00:37

I was, and I finally saw God for who He was. Holy, sinless, perfect, and me, rotten, wretched, in need of Christ.

01:00:46

That's the thing. See, do you and I believe we're blind?

01:00:57

Or maybe some here have yet to believe in Christ, but finally recognize their blindness.

01:01:03

In Christ you will see, friends. If you ask Him, He will make you see, and He will remove your sin.

01:01:11

I think the sin, especially being addressed here, is the sin of unbelief. He can remove unbelief.

01:01:18

Now here's the truth. The true and shining light of Christ will either light the way to salvation, or the light of Christ will blind someone further and keep them continued in darkness.

01:01:32

So one of the two. There's no middle ground. You know, when

01:01:40

God listed the curses that would be given to Israel for any disobedience to Him, you know what it said?

01:01:48

In Deuteronomy 28, it says that He would strike the people with blindness and that they would grope in darkness for their sin.

01:01:57

What we didn't realize is that happened to everyone that sinned. That happened to everyone.

01:02:03

Sin brought this awful state of spiritual blindness to all of us.

01:02:10

And this account of Jesus' ministry in John 9 wasn't selected by the apostle to merely show that Jesus can heal people.

01:02:21

It was included out of all the miracles that Jesus had did to show that He reverses the effects of such curses.

01:02:32

He reverses the curses of our disobedience. He will take the curse upon Himself.

01:02:40

He'll take what should make us blind and He'll put it on His shoulders. He'll pay the penalty.

01:02:47

And you and I finally get to see. So let me wrap this up.

01:02:52

I'm concluding now, church. I titled this sermon, The Traits of the

01:02:59

Blind and the Seeing. Let me summarize these real quick from our text today.

01:03:05

From what we can see, the spiritually blind do not hold to the truth. They reject it even when it's right in front of them.

01:03:13

They participate in a works -based system for God's forgiveness.

01:03:19

As we saw, the Pharisees were upset about the healing on the Sabbath, that Jesus didn't keep the law.

01:03:26

The spiritually blind are prone to worship men. They hold Moses up over God far too often.

01:03:36

Then the spiritually blind fear other men over God, especially when we saw the parents feared the

01:03:43

Pharisees over giving the truth of Jesus. Then the spiritually blind often oppose those who can see, wanting the seeing to act willfully blind.

01:03:57

They want them as blind as they are. And finally, the spiritually blind remain in unbelief.

01:04:04

The spiritually seeing are opposite of this. The spiritually seeing abide in the truth no matter what.

01:04:11

Like this man who was healed, he stuck to the truth. The spiritually seeing acknowledge the need of grace given by God as their works continuously fail them.

01:04:28

They need grace, not works. The spiritually seeing don't worship men, but worship

01:04:33

Christ as the man fell down and worshiped him. The spiritually seeing fear

01:04:39

God over a man and they stick with what is true rather than what's going to save their neck.

01:04:45

The man was excommunicated. The seeing can expect to receive opposition from the blind and the spiritually seeing have their sin and the sin of unbelief removed, resulting in eternal life.

01:05:02

With that said, here's one word of caution to us as Christians as we see from the

01:05:08

Pharisees. You see, the ability to see sin and blindness in yourself is being more like the man who was healed than the

01:05:22

Pharisees. The ability to see sin and blindness in yourself is more like the man who was healed.

01:05:30

It cuts pride. It makes one lowly and dependent on Christ. But listen to this.

01:05:37

The ability to see sin and blindness in other people more than yourself is more like being like blind

01:05:45

Pharisees than the man who was healed. You see, if only we could judge ourselves better than we could judge the people around us.

01:05:57

That's what we need to remember as Christians. And so here's the reality.

01:06:04

The heart of it all as a Christian, when you spiritually see, you can see things the way they really are, the way that God sees them.

01:06:13

You can see the truth and know it. You can see the Bible and know it. You can see the world for what it is.

01:06:20

Things are no longer backwards. You're flipped right side up. Your whole world reverses now as you receive spiritual sight.

01:06:30

What was once good to you when you were a sinner, you recognize as evil. And what people call evil now that God shows as good, you call it good too.

01:06:42

You won't go to a place of darkness, but you'll go to a place of light. What sin you loved, you now hate.

01:06:50

You were full of the world's foolish thought, but now you're filled with the knowledge that God gives by His Spirit.

01:06:57

Church, if this is you today, you are no longer blind. And that's the point of this account.

01:07:06

John wanted you and I to know we were all blind from birth. Do you get that?

01:07:11

That's why this was shared. It wasn't because this was just some healing to show that Jesus is powerful.

01:07:19

This was a story that you were supposed to see yourself in. You were born blind from birth.

01:07:27

But like this man, we can now all say through Christ, though I was blind, now

01:07:35

I see. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, please bless the message that went out today for your glory and for your name.

01:07:47

God, we were like the blind man from birth. We didn't deserve for you to see us.

01:07:54

Although we multiplied prayers, the only way you could hear us, Lord, was by your spirit.

01:08:02

You didn't turn your face away from us. You saw our need and you met it.

01:08:08

You came to us. You found us. And in our sin and in our muck and in our blindness, you picked us up.

01:08:19

So, Lord, we thank you for that. We bless your name, O Lord. Thank you for allowing us to see what is right and what is true.

01:08:30

God, thank you for helping us to see the world for what it really is. We're not blind to these things anymore.

01:08:38

People of the world say that we are ignorant, that we are bigots, that we don't believe in things like science, that we don't understand the way the world works.

01:08:49

But it's quite the opposite, God. We see more clearly than we ever have before. We see things through your eyes.

01:08:57

We thank you for that. But we thank you, Lord, that you've done even more than this.

01:09:04

With this spiritual sight, we're now going to get to see you for all eternity. And that's our prize.