The Blind vs. Those Who Truly See

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern,

Minnesota We proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg The Holy Gospel according to st

John the ninth chapter as Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his

Disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind Jesus answered it was not that this man sinned or his parents

But that the works of God might be displayed in him For me must work the works of him who sent me while it is day night is coming

When no one can work as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world and having said these things he spit on the ground made mud with the saliva and Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him go wash in the pool of Siloam which means scent

So he went and washed and came back seeing The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

Some said it is he others said no But he is he is like him.

He kept saying I am the man So they said to him then how were your eyes opened?

He answered the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me go to Siloam and wash

So I went and I washed and I received my sight They said to him. Well, where is he?

He said I don't know They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind Now it was a

Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight and he said to them he put mud on my eyes

I washed and I see Some of the Pharisees said this man is not from God for he does not keep the

Sabbath others said well How could a man who's a sinner do such signs and there was division among them?

So they said again to the blind man. What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes?

He said he's a prophet The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had

Received his sight and they asked them. Is this your son who you say was born blind?

How then does he now see his parents answered? We know that this is our son and that he was born blind

But how he now sees we do not know nor do we know who opened his eyes ask him he is of age

He will speak for himself His parents said these things because they feared the Jews for the

Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus To be Christ. He was to be put out of the synagogue

Therefore his parents said he's of age ask him So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him give glory to God We know that this man's a sinner.

He answered whether he's a sinner. I don't know one thing I do know that though I was blind now

They said to him well, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them.

I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples and they reviled him saying you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses We know that God has spoken to Moses But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from the man answered why this is an amazing thing

You do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes We know that God does not listen to sinners

But if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will God listens to him Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing They answered him you were born in utter sin and you would teach us and they cast him out

Jesus heard that they cast him out and having found him. He said do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered and who is he sir that I may believe in him

Jesus said to him you have seen him it is he who is speaking to you and he said Lord I believe and he worshiped him

Jesus said for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him. Are we also blind?

And Jesus said to them if you were blind you would have no guilt But now that you say we see your guilt remains

This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus Amen Idolatry.

Yeah, that's our topic today It's an interesting phenomenon and you'll note that the first commandment is you will have no other gods before me

What does this mean that we should fear love and trust in God above all things? Unfortunately humanity has this propensity for creating idols and we need to pay close attention to our text today because there's a particular type of Idolatry that is being addressed here in our gospel text and it's the type of idolatry

Where you claim to believe in the God of the Bible? But you don't the

God you believe in has the same name as the God of the Bible You even have a high view of Scripture.

Oh, yes You believe that the Bible is the Word of God But the God you believe in is defined very differently

Than the way God has revealed himself in Holy Scripture And as a result of it what we're dealing with here is a form of spiritual

Blindness now a little bit of a background here. A lot of people like to think that those Pharisees Represent those who believe in sound doctrine and when somebody says that they show their ignorance

The Pharisees are rank heretics. That is the only way that you can describe them

They have created their own religion a religion of based on works You've got to obey the commands and here's the best part the

Pharisees are trying to convince everybody including themselves that they are pulling it off and they have a

Competing body of work they believe yes Moses wrote the Torah we believe in the

Tanakh we Acknowledge that the Old Testament scriptures that these are the Word of God, but they've added to the

Word of God Other revelation and it's called the tradition of the elders it was an oral tradition that they claim that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and and they are the keepers of the

Tradition of the elders and it's full of man -made doctrines Including this doctrine.

Are you ready that if you were born? with a Malady a physical handicap maybe like blindness

Well, the reason for that is because of a specific sin that you committed or maybe your parents committed

But see the thing is is that no scripture says that now granted every one of us is born dead in trespasses and sins and the suffering that we experience in this lifetime is a direct result of Our rebellion against God there are real consequences and they seem to attack us capriciously if you would

But the reality is this is what we've all earned But you're gonna note that just because you suffer from a malady or your suffering does not mean it as a result of sin at All it may be that God is going to be glorified as a result of it

So keep that in mind as we take a look at our text and so we'll watch how the themes work here

You've got blindness versus being able to see you've got light

Versus darkness and so you kind of get the idea. These are working themes here and it's more than just physical and whereas this

Gospel text of ours unfolds. We'll see that those who claim to be able to see are

Utterly blind and these are the religious leaders of Israel. And like I said, they are rank heretics we'll cover some some idolatry of Our modern day along the way as we work ourselves

Through our gospel text and so the gospel text begins with these words Jesus Passed by and he saw a man

Blind from birth. Well, alright, so we've got a man who's blind from birth and of course that his disciples are still on their learning journey a disciple is a learner and So they're trying to kind of figure out things and so they ask the pressing question of Jesus That's kind of on everybody's mind because this is what the

Pharisees teach Rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind

I mean apparently there's only one of two options here him or his parents, which is it Jesus and Jesus throws this stunner of an answer out

It was not that this man sinned or his parents but that the works of God might be displayed in him

Now let that one sink in for a little bit here That the that the works of God might be displayed in him.

I mean Imagine for yourself. I mean the difficulty that their parents experience the emotional trauma of having

Given birth to a child born blind the difficulty that went about in taking care of this child's needs and Him being relegated to a life of begging for alms, you know

You know for handouts for the rest of his life as a result of his ailment Let's just say that these are people who've been made to suffer greatly and yet God is working his glory

Through this so when we consider today's televangelists

Wackerdoodle charismatics NAR types who who like to somehow say that God doesn't send sickness or anything like that This is another one of those texts that absolutely

Devastates that false teaching and I would note that people who are saying such things

They're idolaters. They are teaching about there that the God they believe in is not the

God that is revealed in Scripture So Jesus said it was not that this man sinned or his parents

But that the works of God might be displayed in him and we must do work the works of him who sent me while it is

Day night is coming when no one can work and as long as I am the world in the world I am the light of the world light is an important bit here again.

So blindness is Darkness why Jesus is the light and so having said these things

Jesus spat on the ground made mud with a saliva then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and Said to him go wash in the pool of Siloam now a little bit of a note here.

Um, did this fellow? Work up within himself the proper and appropriate and necessary amount of faith necessary to be healed

No, not at all. And this is another bit of idolatry we need to tend to today because as the corona virus is making its way around the globe and Creeping into our communities and causing us to meet on the internet rather than in person

We we need to note that there are a bunch of people out there saying if you just have enough faith

You'll never get this virus if you just decree and command and control it it will flee from you

This again is idolatry And if you just have enough faith and you'll know one of the consequences of this doctrine is is well

What happens if you come down with the corona virus? Is it because you didn't have enough faith?

You didn't have enough faith field words. You didn't speak enough Positivity into the atmosphere in order to create a positive outlook for yourself

And what if you die as a result of the corona virus? So we just determined that God now has punished you for not having enough faith

Yeah, if I sound a little annoyed I am because the reality is is that people who teach such doctrines

They destroy people's faith and rather than teaching them to trust in the real promises that we have in Christ They are teaching them to put their faith in their faith and your faith if it's in your faith can't save you

Our faith as Christians is in the one who bled suffered died and rose again

The one who promises to race raise us from the grave on the when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead

Jesus has not promised us perfect health in this lifetime, nor has he promised that we won't die

He's promised to raise us from the dead And so faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and a right standing with God that's an important thing and that's what scripture calls us to but having faith in your faith and Working up enough faith in order to protect you from Invisible viruses nowhere in scripture.

We promise that God promises to save us through such things not necessarily from them.

So he anointed the man's eyes with mud Sent him to the pool of Siloam and he went and he washed

And he came back seeing Now note here. He hasn't seen Jesus yet Neither have you and neither have

I so he hasn't seen Jesus yet But he's come been completely healed by Jesus and we're gonna see from this text that not only did

Jesus give him his physical eyesight back But Jesus opened his spiritual eyes and I always like to think that man this guy what a rough day he had

Because how's the saying go? No good deed goes unpunished And so apparently he's committed a great sin at this point and the great sin that he's committed is being healed by Jesus and he's about to be facing the authorities and Excommunicated for it as well.

Yeah, let's keep reading again note the idolatry in play So the neighbors asked and those who had seen him before as a beggar.

They were saying Is this is is this not the man who used to sit in bay some said well, it's he others said no

But he is like him. So he kept saying I am the man. That's me I'm the guy who was born born blind.

I was a blind beggar. So they said to them Well, then how were your eyes opened and he answered the man called

Jesus made mud anointed my eyes and said to me go to Siloam And wash so I went

I washed and I received my sight Sounds like a type and shadow of baptism if you ask me, you know

We covered in the soil of our sin blind dead and trespasses and sins united with Christ and his death and his resurrection

We were given life light sight, yeah, it's it's all kind of pointing to baptism

Well now the the music score of this particular story starts to get dark It says they brought him to the

Pharisees now a little bit of a note here. The Pharisees are Not like I've said, they are not

Orthodox They are heretics and these are men and we'll see this in our Bible study today after the sermon after the service

These are men who jumped the fence These are people who have no authorization to be teaching

Israel In fact think of it this way if you know your Old Testament Then you know that God had set apart the tribe of Levi.

Not only was Levi set apart to engage in the temple Rituals the sacrifices and all the things necessary at the upkeep of the tabernacle which became the temple

But God strictly commanded that the Levites be the ones who instruct Israel in the

Word of God That was their task And if you know your holy convocations according to the

Old Testament the Shabbat the Sabbath was a holy convocation and this is why

Jews would come together on Saturday for the purpose of going to the synagogue and hearing from the

Levites The Word of God being instructed in the Torah in the in the in the writings of the prophets in the histories but you're gonna note here that The Pharisees come up and during the intertestamental period and they now seem to be running the show and not only that They're also the ones running the synagogues and they have no commission from God to do so And when we take a look at John 10 in the next part of the service in the

Bible study We're gonna see that One of the famous passages that people like to quote today that the thief comes to kill to kill to steal to kill and destroy

Jesus is referring to the heretics. He's referring to the Pharisees He's not referring to the devil.

The devil is not the one who's come to steal to kill and to destroy It's usurpers who have jumped the fence into the sheep pen

They're the ones who've come to steal to kill and to destroy. These are the Pharisees the Idolaters the ones who are really blind and so they brought to the

Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind That was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud it opened his eyes

So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight He said to them he put mud on my eyes.

I washed and I see And now this is going to create some real consternation because here's the issue

Jesus having the ability to heal to perform miraculous signs runs contrary to the overarching narrative of the

Pharisees false religion and so they've got a conundrum. They cannot deny at least

Really deny that this man was healed by Jesus, but they're going to attempt to try to do that But now they're faced with conundrum.

This guy says he was born blind. He says that Jesus opened his eyes Jesus Performed the healing on the

Sabbath, but that's not possible for him to do that because he's disobeying

God Question did Jesus ever sin? No, did

Jesus ever break one of the commands found in the written Word of God?

Never once he kept them Perfectly for you and for me if Jesus kept the commands perfectly then why are these guys?

so So upset what what's the conundrum here? The conundrum is is that Jesus is breaking some of the

Sabbath laws given in the Pharisees? body of work known as the tradition of the elders and when you if you were to read some of the commands regarding the

Sabbath that have been written down that used to be in the Tradition of the elders. All I can say is oy vey

It's really really a mess. And so the issue is is that according to their beliefs with their extra biblical

Revelation Jesus is a sinner, but Jesus isn't a sinner. The problem is what they've added to the scriptures so This man they say some of the

Pharisees says this man cannot be from God He does not keep the Sabbath, but others said well, how can a man who's a sinner do such signs?

So there was division among them. So they said again to the blind man What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes and no they're right.

Jesus did open his eyes Physically and spiritually so the guy now gives his well eyes open opinion regarding Jesus He's a prophet

Now it's Jesus is more than a prophet He is truly prophet priest and king, but he's not less than a prophet.

And so Jesus truly acts as a prophet so they don't like this confession of faith on their part big on his part because this flies in the face of their idolatrous religion

Which is a chameleon it uses the same words as as Judaism of the

Bible But it's not it's not Judaism. So the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and that he had received a sight

Until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight So basically this guy says

Jesus is a prophet there. I'll get out get out get out get out get out Here's plan B. Let's see if we can find out if that there's some kind of trickery going on here

You know, you know the guy says he's born blind But the Tanakh says that in order for something to be established

It has to be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses So, let's call in some more witnesses and maybe maybe just maybe this is some kind of a phony miracle, right

So they brought his parents in and this one's a little bit of an intense Interrogation they may as well put him down in a dark basement and shown a light right in their faces, you know

Maybe even offered him a cigarette or something because these questions come hard and they're not friendly at all.

And so Here's quest the questions is this your son who you say was blind how then does he now see

Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. This is a dangerous dangerous dangerous dangerous situation

And we're gonna find out what just how dangerous in a minute So as parents answered, we know that this is our son and he was born blind

That's true So there's your two to three witnesses to establish the fact

But how he now sees we don't know nor do we know who opened his eyes ask him he's of age

He'll speak for himself They want to get out of there as quick as possible and the text tells us why?

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess

Jesus to be Christ He was to be put out of the synagogue. I want you to think about that for a second

Standing in front of you is the God you claim to worship And anybody in the synagogue, which

God is established Anybody who's in the synagogue speaks the truth about Jesus They are to be excommunicated

Now we Lutherans know a thing or two about that There's this thing called the Council of Trent which the

Roman Catholic Church convened, you know after the death of Martin Luther and Council of Trent anathema ties the gospel if you confess that salvation is by grace through faith alone apart from works

You are anathema The Council of Trent says so if you speak the truth of what

Scripture says According to the Council of Trent you are to be put out of the Roman Catholic Church Is this any different if you confess that Jesus is the

Messiah you're gonna be put out of the synagogue. This is crazy I mean, what is driving this answer rank?

idolatry rank idolatry piously covered and dressed in something that looks like the real religion but isn't and The disconnects are huge.

I always like to kind of point this out nowadays of this past week One of the major NAR prophets a guy by the name of Sean Bowles He appears on TBN and and he travels the world with Bill Johnson of Bethel He was supposed to have two prophetic conferences this past week two of them in two different cities big events

They were advertised all over the place. And guess what? They had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances a prophetic conference postponed for an unforeseen circumstance

Hmm I do not think you are a prophet back on February 28th. Sean Bowl prophesied

Prophesied said the Lord told me that the the coronavirus would not turn into the pandemic that everybody fears

Well, it's turned into a pandemic. What does that make Sean Bowles a false prophet and Then I think of Bill Johnson.

Oh, I can't stop thinking about Bill Johnson Bill Johnson Who's famously said that I refuse to create a theology that allows for sickness and yet two weeks ago

They canceled their healing rooms at Bethel because of the coronavirus Hmm something's off here.

I smell yeah, that smells like idolatry to me so his parents said he's this is the reason why they said he's of age because the

Pharisees had threatened anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ was to be put out of the synagogue So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and they said to him give glory to God We know this man's a sinner.

That's not a question. That's a statement So you'll note here They this isn't they have no desire to really have a dialogue with this fellow anymore

They have given a statement and they want to see whether or not he's going to tow the line So the statement is give glory to God.

We know this man's a sinner But again this poor fellow who woke up that morning

Brushed his teeth had his coffee and went out to do his work as a beggar, you know, like any other day

What the thing he did wrong? He got healed by Jesus. How dare you so he stands his ground though Because Christ has opened his eyes.

He says Whether he's a sinner, I don't know. I don't know one thing.

I do know that though I was blind now I see So they said to him what did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes? He answered them. I told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become one of his disciples? Who man this guy's got guts.

Yeah So they reviled him and that's a strong word they reviled him and they said we are disciples of Moses and you are his disciple and We know that God has spoken to Moses.

But as for this man, we don't even know where he comes from And without even skipping a beat this fellow

Really throws down and he says why this is amazing You do not know where he comes from and yet he opened my eyes

We know that God does not listen to sinners Kind of taking the Pharisees theology and shoving it right back up their nose

We know that God doesn't listen to sinners but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does as well God listens to him and Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone open the eyes of a man born blind

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing and Who's right here who's right here?

I mean, how blind do you have to be to say that Jesus is a sinner?

How blind do you have to be? well This is blind as blind gets is it any wonder that Jesus says about the

Pharisees that they are blind guides That they are blind guides leading the blind and that they all together fall into a pit together right

How blind do you have to be to sit there and say we know that Jesus is a sinner? But that is the blindness of idolatry

So the man who was blind and now can see speaks the truth

And he says if Jesus were not from God, he could do nothing and he's right and he can see but apparently the

Pharisees Cannot so they answered him and now you can kind of see it they lose their minds and out comes the garbage theology the false doctrine and it's used to Put to put them up on a pedestal so that they can look down and just dismiss the truth that this man is saying

You were born in utter sin and you would teach us There it is

Who is but who who sinned that this man was born blind was it him or his parents the Pharisees have figured it out?

It this man is the one who sinned. That's why he was born blind and because he was born blind and he's a sinner

He can't lecture us. Stop telling us the truth about Jesus. We're not gonna listen to you. La la la la la la la la

We can't hear you So they cast him out

They excommunicated him excommunicated him for saying the truth to whom to the religious leaders of Israel Who had abandoned the one true

God and were worshiping a god of their own creation But this was a sneaky one because they claimed to be worshiping the

Lord when in fact they weren't because the Lord is the one who opened the eyes of this blind man and yet they just Cast him out.

They excommunicated him for confessing that Jesus is from God Scary, isn't it?

But the next part is beautiful and it's touching and I would remind you up to this point.

All of us are the same Christ has opened our eyes through the preaching of the gospel we have heard the good news of our salvation that although we were born blind and in darkness and under the dominion of darkness

God has had mercy on each and every one of us by sending his son to take our sin upon himself and he bled and died in your place and in mine so that we can be forgiven and Pardoned and brought out of darkness into the light the glorious light of Christ's eternal kingdom

He has opened our eyes to the truth of our sin He's also opened her eyes to the truth that Jesus is the

Messiah He is the Son of God in human flesh come to take away the sins of the world

And yet he's opened our eyes and yet we have not seen him, but now it gets interesting

So Jesus heard that they had excommunicated him that they had cast him out and Jesus sought him out and Having found him.

He said Do you believe in the Son of Man? And he answered well, who is he sir so that I might believe in him and Jesus said you've seen him.

It's he who's speaking to you and in whatever happened in that moment

The man recognizes that this is Jesus the one who opened his eyes the one whom by confessing him to be from God caused him to be excommunicated from the synagogue and There he was and he was looking at him and in this beautiful tender moment this man responds

I believe Lord I believe and Then the text says he worshipped

Jesus Because Jesus is not only from God He is

God the Son in human flesh So then

Jesus said it is for judgment that I came into this world that those who do not see do not see may see and Those who see may become blind now

It's important to note this doesn't contradict the passage where it says that God did not send his world Son into the world to condemn the world that the world might be saved through him salvation requires repentance

It is a call to recognize your sinfulness your ungodliness And so what Jesus is showing here is that the self -righteous false religion of the

Pharisees is a game They are pretending to be able to see

All the while they are still blind and Even worse in their pretend game of being able to see they are condemning everybody else

Who's blind yet? they are blind just like them and so it is for judgment that I came into the world so that those who do not see may see and Those who see may become blind now the

Pharisees always a little short on the trigger here They have a very very hair trigger when it comes to if they detect anybody

Challenging their narrative or challenging their false theology. They're kind of like today's SJWs So some of the

Pharisees near him heard these things and said are we also blind? Jesus said and this is the best part.

This is the best part of the punchline right here If you were blind you would have no guilt Taking their theology and just flipping it into the opposite if you were blind you would have no guilt

But now that you say we see your guilt remains you are idolaters and you are liars

And this is a call to repent and how does he judge them by showing mercy to the blind man and That's the way it is folks.

There's only two religions in the whole world There is there is the religion of works it is an idolatrous religion that takes on multiple different expressions

But at the end of the day, it's all about what you got to do in order to earn your salvation

Pray enough prayers exercise enough faith decree and declare Oh, maybe pray enough make sure to do indulgences and say the

Hail Mary and do the rosary and all that kind of nonsense Man, maybe just maybe you will have done enough to be saved

There's not there's not enough that you could ever do you cannot earn your salvation Then there's the humble road less travel religion the narrow path that says

I'm a sinner Lord have mercy on me and Receiving salvation as a gift won by our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ It's free it can't be earned and all expressions of earning and meriting

God's favor his Salvation his pardon his healing That's all from the other idolatrous religion the false one

It always takes on different forms, but it's always the same thing at the end of the day Have you done enough?

Have you believed enough? Have you tried hard enough? Have you enough enough enough and Jesus says about this false religion enough

I'm done it all for you. So note then this story really isn't about Them it's still about you.

It's about me and calls us during this season of the church year to reflect on all the different ways in which we have

Substituted what God has revealed in his holy word for doctrines that suit our

Passions suit our self -righteousness that we would just sooner dismiss the clear teachings of the

Word and God and instead embrace doctrines that we want to hear

But those doctrines cannot save you those doctrines deceive you and you deceive yourself by believing them

So examine your heart today brothers and sisters and ask yourself this in what way have

I have I? Committed idolatry and believed what is not true in what ways have

I been blind in? What ways have I walked in darkness? Recognize it for the sin that it is and cry out to Jesus The one who promises to open the eyes of the blind to give you sight

He is your light and your salvation. He is not blind like the Pharisees He is

The light and he will guide you and he does this all freely as a gift because of his great love and mercy for sinners like you and Like me in the name of Jesus Amen, if you would like to support the teaching ministry of kungsvinger lutheran church

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