Was Blind But Now I See (The Man Born Blind Part 1 - John Chapter 9)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

The title of this morning's message is I am the light of the world.

This is a popular phrase, especially around this time of year, around Christmastime. What does it mean?

Why did Jesus say it? What's the context surrounding this? I am the light of the world.

Well, Jesus makes this statement a few times in the Gospel of John, and I believe this is an important message and a timely message about Jesus being the light because number one, this is a dark time of year.

Not only is there less sunlight, there is often a lot of pain and suffering and heartache around the holidays that people experience.

Also, there's the growing spiritual darkness that we really can't ignore.

So, John chapter 9 opens up with this account of Jesus healing the man who was born blind.

He was living in darkness. He needed to see the light in more than one way.

So, Jesus starts out. This is interesting. We should all get right on this or make sure we're right on this.

Jesus starts out addressing a misunderstanding that his disciples had that pain and suffering they thought was always the result of sin.

So, if somebody is going through difficulty, if they are suffering, well, they must deserve it.

They must have sinned. It must be their fault. You know, that's not necessarily true. Look at John chapter 9.

We'll read verses 1 through 12. 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?

You can see the assumption there. Verse 3, Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned, 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 when he had said these things, he spat on the ground and 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.

So he went and washed and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, is this he or is not this he who sat and begged?

And some said, this is he. And others said, well, he looks like him. And 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 my sight. Then they said to him, where is he?

And he said, I do not know. All right, so it was common in the days of Christ, and I think it's still common to some extent, for people to assume that if someone is going through a time of suffering, if someone is sick, if bad things are happening in their life,

God must be punishing them. Now on the one hand, in Scripture, we definitely see a connection between sin and suffering.

I mean, that goes without saying. There is the principle that you reap what you sow, right?

What do unbelievers call this? The unbelievers have a different word that they use for this.

What is it? Karma, right. Hey, no born -again Christian should be using the word karma.

Let me explain why. And hey, if you have, I'm not mad at you. I'm just explaining to you why you shouldn't use it, okay?

But that's the idea. They think that, you know, what goes around comes around. That's karma.

You do bad things, it's going to come back to bite you. Well, that might be true to a certain degree. Here's the thing about karma.

Karma is a part of Eastern religion. And from what I understand, it has to do with reincarnation.

So people do bad things. They're storing up bad karma. It doesn't come back to you in this life.

It causes you in the next life, when you're reincarnated, to come back as a snail or a worm or something.

I mean, maybe not like that, but you understand karma has nothing to do with this life. It's for the next life in reincarnation.

So you shouldn't be using that term. That's not, that's not true, obviously. But yeah, it's true that you reap what you sow.

I mean, that's, that's valid. What goes around comes around. There's some truth to that.

Well, here's one point you can make, if you take notes. Here's one reason, there's many reasons, one reason we want to obey

Christ. It helps to minimize suffering. If you rebel against God and know his commandments and break them, and you do that on an ongoing basis, if you're a child of God, you're gonna be punished by God.

I mean, that, that's without question. That's what the Bible teaches. So we want to obey

Christ to minimize that kind of suffering. So when we understand about believing in Christ and turning to Christ, it's more than just the mental assent we have in our mind.

It's not just, well, I believe something about Jesus or I affirm something about Jesus. It's that we seek to obey

Christ, that we seek to follow Christ in all that he commanded.

So we can avoid God having to chasten us by obeying him. But to the point here in John chapter 9, this man who was born blind,

God was not punishing him. You saw that Jesus acknowledged that, right? That God was not punishing this man.

It was not his fault. It was not his parents' fault.

So the first lesson we see is that we need to be careful about assuming things.

And I'm not going to repeat what some of you, your mind just went somewhere. I'm not going to repeat that, but you know.

Forgive me, forgive me. Verse 2, they said to Jesus, you're putting unclean thoughts into people's mind, pastor.

So verse 2, move on, you're saying. Verse 2, rabbi, they said to Jesus, rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

What's Jesus' response? Neither this man nor his parents.

You know, it's not about him. That's a false assumption. So why was the man born blind?

So that one day the Lord could heal him. That's kind of an amazing thought. This man was born blind, spent his life up until that point blind, just so that one day

God could heal him. That would, number one, bring glory to God.

Number two, it would cause others to believe on Jesus. And number three, it would turn this man, maybe that's what this man needed.

This event would turn this man, born blind, into a believer. And not only that, it turns him, we're going to see later on, it turns him into a bold witness for Christ.

Because he is going to stand up to the Jewish Council, something 99 % of Israelites wouldn't dare to do.

So this all worked together for this man's good. But at this moment, the disciples have this false way of thinking that suffering is the result or always is the result of sin.

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. And you know, if you don't know for sure, and most of the time you won't know for sure, we don't need to kind of add that burden upon people.

If they're suffering, they don't need you to come along and say, well, you know, you kind of deserve this.

People don't need that. People that are suffering, they have it bad enough as it is.

They need mercy. They need our sympathy. They need our compassion.

Okay, if they did something wrong and they're suffering from their own actions, they probably know it. And they don't really need us to come along and tell them that.

We don't want to be like Job's friends, right? And of course, Job really didn't do anything wrong either.

So Jesus corrects his disciples, and then he uses this man who was born blind, who is literally living in darkness.

Jesus then began speaking about while it is day. So seeing a contrast of day and night, right?

Light and darkness. Jesus says, while it is day, I must work the works of God who sent me.

In other words, as long as Jesus was upon this earth, he was busy doing

God's will. Well, the application there is obvious, right? Hey, as long as you're alive, long as you have breath in you, you should be living, doing

God's will. Because Jesus says, night is coming when no man can work.

This should cause us to recognize that we need to be doing the work of the Lord while we have the opportunity.

Because we're all just given so much time on this earth, just as Jesus only had so much time on the earth.

Jesus then, after making these statements about light and darkness, in the context of the man born blind who saw nothing but darkness,

Jesus then makes another one of his I am statements from the Gospel of John.

He says, what? What's the, what's the title of the message? I am the light of the world.

Verse 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. The term

I am is the holy name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush.

So Jesus is taking that name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh. He's applying it to himself.

I am. I'm God. I'm the light, is one way you could understand that.

I am the light of the world. So I think this is a good time to preach a message like this, because you're gonna be hearing this phrase.

Try to spot it over the next month. You're gonna, you're gonna see it on postcards, Christmas cards, right? I am the light of the world.

But just ask yourself, do I understand that? What does that mean? Do other people understand it?

Because the world we're living in is very dark. It is.

It's very dark. Why? Because this world has rejected the light.

And this world and our nation is moving further and further ongoing rejecting the light.

I was thinking about this in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. Remember what he said?

Let there be what? Let there be light. And what's interesting is that when the

Lord said that, let there be light, that was before he created the sun, the moon, and the stars.

So what was that light? Where did that light come from? It didn't come from the sun.

Sun wasn't created yet. Well, I believe that light, let there be light, I believe that light was the glory of God.

And in Revelation chapter 21, in the new heavens and the new earth, the

Bible says there's no need of the sun because the glory of God will illuminate it.

And the Lamb, Jesus Christ, is its light. Jesus is the light of the world.

You could say he's the light of the universe. Now we may be reading about a man born blind here in John chapter 9, you know, a literal blindness, but the real issue is spiritual blindness.

That's the real issue here, and it's the real issue throughout all ages.

To not know Jesus is to not know God. That's the claim that Jesus is making.

And honestly, to not obey Jesus is to walk in darkness. And those who walk in darkness, the scripture says, practice evil.

Those who live in darkness, the Bible teaches, they have no hope.

And the worst thing of all is that when death finally comes, they, according to Christ himself, are then cast out into outer darkness, where Jesus says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We want to show people the light. We want people to see the light.

The only hope for this world is not the next election. The only hope for this world is not, hey, let's get the economy going again.

The only hope for this nation, the only hope for this world, is a return to faith in Christ.

Nothing short of that will change anything. You can improve little things here and there.

Nothing short of repentance and faith in Christ will solve it. Jesus is the light of the world.

You either believe that or you don't. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website morriscornickchurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.