John 9:35-37                      He Made the Blind to See                         6/20/2004     ßŕ   

 

 

 

 

#1.       I Was Blind, But Now I See (John 9:25,33, Luke 16:31, 2Tim 1:12, Job 19:26,1John 3:14, 3:2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2.       Jesus Found Him (John 9:35, Rom 3:11, 2Cor 6:17-18, Rev 20:3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#3.       For Judgment I Am Come Into This World (John 9:39, Luke 19:10, 1Cor 1:18)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please open your Bibles to the prophesy of 1Sam 2:8 (2X). The title of the sermon today is, He Made the Blind to See (2X). Today we are going to have the third and final installment of the story of the blind beggar in the Gospel According to John, chapter 9. The Lord Jesus was not attracted to this beggar because of his poverty, or because he was blind. The Lord Jesus sought out this beggar, as He said in John 9:3, in order “that the works of God should be made manifest in him”. Today we shall see how the works of God were made manifest in him. But before we turn to John, let us take some time out to see what God says about beggars in 1Sam 2:8. Here again we have an unnamed beggar, which means he represents a group of people, namely the people whom God has elected unto salvation. God is addressing not all beggars in 1Sam 2:8, but God is addressing only:

1Sa 2:8  He (the LORD) raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.

What is this verse saying? Our God delights in mercy, and His gifts of grace are unbelievably great. Those whom He loves He gives the grace to realize that we are sinners on the way to Hell. But He saves every one of those sinners. He makes us realize that we are poor in spirit, and that we have nothing to offer to Him as payment for His favors. He makes us realize that we are beggars on the dunghill, begging for His favors. We were those beggars on the dunghill, where the dunghill refers to this sin-cursed world. But when He saved us He also raised us up with Christ and we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, waiting for the blessed moment of Christ’s return. Presently He calls us “pillars in the temple of God”, (Rev 3:12) and God has set the course of this world for the revealing of His pillars. Pillars! From beggars to “pillars in the house of God”! What an incredible gift that God has given us! And when this world ends He will make us inherit the throne of glory in the world hereafter. That is why I said, God’s gifts of grace are unbelievably great. Please turn now to the Gospel of John 9:24 (2X). Here we are meeting another beggar, who is also representing God’s elect. We have spent the previous two Sundays on this chapter, and there we saw how this man, who was blind from birth, was made seeing by the Lord Jesus. It was an act of creation, where Christ had to give the man new eyes and a new brain to process the images formed on his retina. This miracle of healing the blind man by the Lord Jesus Christ was a type or a picture of the salvation of every one of His elect. We all were spiritually blind, children of wrath, but now we can see clearly, and we can see how others remain in their blindness, because we have been there. God wrote here in John 9:24-41,

Joh 9:24-25  Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.       He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Joh 9:26  Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes?

Joh 9:27  He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?

Joh 9:28  Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.

Joh 9:29  We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

Joh 9:30-31  The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.      Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Joh 9:32-33  Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.      If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

Joh 9:34  They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Joh 9:35 ¶ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

Joh 9:36  He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

Joh 9:37  And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

Joh 9:38  And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

Joh 9:39 ¶ And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

Joh 9:40-41  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?      Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

We see here astounding contrasts. On the one hand we see in the Pharisees the ugliness of the carnal mind. God says that “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed CAN be” (Rom 8:7). They refused to believe that Christ performed a miracle, and that this miracle was from God. On the other hand we see the blessed fruit of Divine grace in the formerly blind beggar. The first fruit of this grace was his unwavering faith in the One who opened his eyes. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). On the one hand we see how the wickedness of the Pharisees reached their climax when they excommunicated the formerly blind beggar. And this forecasted their treatment of the Lord Jesus Christ about 6 months later. And think about this: Their hatred of Jesus was rooted in their envy of Him. It shows us what envy in a carnal mind can do. And this tells us that we can expect a similar treatment today from those who pride themselves in their degrees from prestigious seminaries. They were graduates from honored seats of learning, and so it is far beneath their dignity to be instructed by an unsophisticated disciple of Christ. They claim to have all the answers because they are the experts in theology. Glorying in their seminary education they cannot allow that an ignorant layman has light on the Scriptures which they do not possess. And on the other hand we see what Divine grace can do: It brings the beggar to the feet of the Savior. It brings him to realize who his great Benefactor is, who has lifted up similar beggars from the dunghill and has made them sons of God. The story of this beggar also anticipated the history of the Lord’s disciples, and how they too had to suffer under the hostility of their church leaders. But what was the single evidence the formerly blind beggar held on to tenaciously? He said, “I was blind, but now I see”. Look here at verse 25,

#1.       I Was Blind, But Now I See (John 9:25,33, Luke 16:31, 2Tim 1:12, Job 19:26,1John 3:14, 3:2)

John 9:25, He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or not, I know not: One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Look again here at the contrasts between the Pharisees and the man who was blind from birth. The Pharisees called again the man that was blind, and tried to intimidate him. They pretended to have discovered that the man Jesus was a sinner. The word they used for “sinner” is not the one that we use to indicate that we are born sinners like everyone else. The word for “sinner” that they used is the same as in the expression “publicans and sinners”. It is the same word as used for harlots, and thieves, and murderers, and blasphemers. In other words, it is a title used for people who deserve to die because they are so sinful. The Pharisees were so blinded by their conviction that Jesus was from Satan that nothing could convince them otherwise. But they have not owned the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 16:31, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead”. And when Jesus rose from the dead they still believed that this too was a work of Satan. On the other hand, when we see the simplicity and the honesty of the beggar, we realize that this was a child of God. He refused to join the Pharisees in putting down Jesus. He refused to be intimidated by his church authorities. He believed that Jesus was sent from God. He said in verse 33, “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing”. Clearly, a miracle of grace has been done in him. Clearly, he showed all the signs to have been “Born Again”. Clearly, he defended the name of Jesus, and held high the name of Jesus, even if he thereby inherited the wrath of his church leaders. Clearly, he knew what Christ has done for him, and he was not letting anyone take this away from him. “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”. These are words which every saint must apply to himself. God converts every one of His elect from a sinner to a saint. This man had become a saint. There are many things of which a young believer has little knowledge. But one thing a young believer does know: He knows that the eyes of his understanding have been opened. He knows this, because he has discovered that he was a sinner, on a slippery slide into Hell. And he has seen that God made a way out of his terrible predicament. God appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue us from the wrath to come. God appointed our refuge in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. God appointed John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ with the same message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Can a man repent and not know it? Can a man believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and not know it? Can a man pass from death unto life and be delivered from the stranglehold of sin and not know it? Can a man be delivered from the power of darkness and be translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, and not know it? Absolutely not! The saints of God are a people that know. We know whom we have believed (2Tim 1:12). We know that our Redeemer liveth (Job 19:26). We know that we have passed from death unto life (1John 3:14). We know that all things work together for our good (Rom 8:28). We know that when the Lord Jesus shall appear we shall be like Him (1John 3:2). The Christian Gospel is not a set of theories and hypotheses, but it is of certainties and realities. And therefore we join this formerly blind beggar in the words, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”. Then they reviled this beggar and they tried to shake his faith. Look in verse 28. They said, “Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples”. This was a severe test for this man. Do we obey:

This was a hard choice for this man, because he did not have the NT. All he knew were the OT Scriptures. But he did not back down. The Pharisees clearly saw that this man was a genuine disciple of Jesus. This man had not claimed to be Jesus’ disciple, but he was easily recognized as such. His entire attitude was so different from the other Jews who looked up to the Pharisees as their masters. And therefore they drew back into their shell of expert religionists. We see this a whole lot these days. There are many who claim to be Calvinists, but Calvin would be ashamed of them. There are many who call themselves Lutherans, but they do not any more believe what the great Reformer had to say about election and Christ’s atonement. There are many who call themselves Baptists, but if John the Baptist would be here today he would say to them, “Flee from he wrath to come”. There are many who call themselves “Reformed”, but they barely know what the term implies, or what the Reformers stood for. Many hide themselves in their shell of religionists, giving themselves a cloak of legitimacy. But God is not fooled by orthodox creeds. God looks at the heart. Is our heart changed, and has our new heart affected our lives? That is the real test of whose disciple we are. We may claim that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, but if we allow women to be Deacons and Elders and Pastors in our church, then the Bible does not seem so infallible any more. We may claim that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but if we believe in the theory of evolution then the first 11 chapters of Genesis do not seem to be so inspired any more. We may claim that we give God all the glory, but if we claim to have a part in the process of our salvation, or if we believe that we must work together with God to get us saved, then God does not seem to get all the credit and all the glory any more. What we claim is not important, but what God has done in our hearts and lives that is important. Do we know what it means to tremble at His Word? Do we know what it means to have our worship service and our walk of life regulated by His commands, both from the OT and from the NT? Do we know what it means to do those things that are pleasing in His sight? If we do not know these things, because God has not put these things in our heart, then the intellectual things we learn in church will only increase our condemnation. If we do not know how to discern between Moses or Christ, then we have learned nothing in church. What is the difference between Moses and Christ? We read in John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. What does this mean? It means, if the Law is foremost in our mind, and we are always worried about breaking the Law, and we are counting how many times we broke the Law this week, then it means that we are no better off than the orthodox Jews of these days. Then it means that we are still under the Law, and it means that God’s grace has not touched our heart. “But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. God’s unmerited favor was bestowed upon us, and the truth of the Gospel of grace was communicated to us. Yes this is found also in the OT, but the atonement of Christ on the cross made it all much clearer. If we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ then what is foremost in our mind is the love of God for us, and our love for God as it is manifested by our constant striving to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. But we know that the Pharisees had no love for God, because they had murder in their heart. They claimed to be disciples of Moses. They claimed to have searched the Scriptures so that they would obey Moses. But we know that they have not searched the Scriptures with a learning eye, but with a prejudiced eye. The Lord Jesus hit the nail on the head when He said in John 5:45-47,

Joh 5:45-46  Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

Joh 5:46  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

Joh 5:47  But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

And so, since in their carnal minds they had judged the Lord Jesus already, they cast out the formerly blind beggar. It means his church excommunicated him. Happy man! These Pharisees, though they knew it not, had done him a real service. They had thrust him out into the most honored position of identification with Christ as the despised and the rejected One. But the Lord Jesus promised that He would not leave us as orphans, and He would never leave us nor forsake us. So,

#2.       Jesus Found Him (John 9:35, Rom 3:11, 2Cor 6:17-18, Rev 20:3)

Joh 9:35 ¶ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

As soon as the Pharisees had cast out the beggar, Jesus sought him out. The compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ is great. Christ knew full well the trial of this newly born soul, and Christ proved to be a very present help in trouble. The Lord Jesus comforted this man, and He revealed Himself to this man as “the Son of God”. We need to remember that this beggar was cast out before he knew Christ as “the Son of God”. Now he was on the outside of organized Judaism. While he was on the inside of organized Judaism Jesus did not reveal Himself to him. Can we see, this tells us where Jesus finds us and reveals Himself to us. It is necessary for our salvation that Jesus finds us, and not that we find Him. We will not search for Him. God says in Rom 3:11, “There is NONE that seeketh after God”. But where did Jesus find this beggar? In the world! He was kicked out of his church and was now in the world. The providence of God dictated that these Pharisees would kick him out. God did not commit that sin. This sin was fully of the Pharisees. But God set the stage, and then the Pharisees performed their evil work according to their evil nature, and everything fell in place according to God’s plan. You see, there is a message here for those people who are inside so called churches, which have drifted into another gospel, and where much of the truth of the Word of God is denied. Christ will not reveal Himself to them while they are in a position that is dishonoring to Him. Nowhere in Scripture has God promised to honor those who dishonor Him in a false gospel. Our God is very jealous of the honor of His Son, and He withholds many spiritual blessings from those who fellowship with a religion that is an offense to Him. Therefore, it is far better to be cast out of such a false church, or to come out when we see how unfaithful that church has become. God says in 2Cor 6:17-18, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean (thing); and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. God commands us to leave unscriptural and worldly churches. We do not serve God when we attend such churches where God is not present. When we are on vacation, and we are tempted to worship in such false churches, be aware that God is not pleased with our presence there. We do not serve Jehovah in a temple of Baal. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate”! The beggar was kicked out and was in the world when Jesus found him. Where did the Lord Jesus find us? We too were in the world, outside the mainline denominations, when Jesus found us and drew us into this church, which is His church. God is not honored when His elect are wandering in this world. This world is a sin cursed world. This world is mostly under the dominion of Satan, except for a few places where there are saints. In Rev 20:3 God calls this world “the Bottomless Pit”, where Satan dwells. God designed it this way. The Lord Jesus Christ saved us out of this Bottomless Pit, so that we cannot claim we had anything to do with it. It was 100% the work of God. And although we presently still reside in this world, we do not dwell in the darkness of this Bottomless Pit. We dwell in the light because Christ gives us light. We must use our light to give light to our church and to give light to people in the world through our witness. But we too must be on our guard that we do not become a lukewarm church, and from there drift into apostasy, which seems to be the direction every church in history has drifted into. And so, what was the response of the beggar to Christ revealing Himself?

The Lord Jesus asked him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God”? A wonderful sensation went through the beggar when he heard this voice. He heard this voice before when he was still blind. It was the voice of Him who made clay and anointed his eyes. It was the voice he obeyed, because there was such an authority in that voice that he had to obey. We understand this, because the Bible tells us that He heard the voice of God. And is it not true that we are thrilled to hear this voice, because it is the voice of our Bridegroom. Be careful now. We do not hear His voice in our ears. Only those who believe that God is still bringing revelations today will imagine that they hear someone speaking in their ears. But God said in Rev 22:18 that God finished His revelation to mankind, and from that point in time on God will not bring any further revelations. All those who claim to have additional revelations from God, after the Apostle John received this message from God, are liars whose end shall be in the Lake of Fire. All those who follow the teachings of those who end up in the Lake of Fire, shall also end up in the Lake of Fire. Presently they have the time of their life listening to others who claim to have this revelation and that revelation from God, and who claim to have received messages in a dream, or in a vision, or in an angel visitation, or in a tongue. These are not messages from God, but they are messages from Satan, who comes disguised as an angel of light. Near the end of time when Satan is being loosed for a while, Satan is allowed to break the barrier between the natural and the supernatural. Therefore we are on our guard for supernatural messages because they cannot be from God. But we hear the voice of our Bridegroom when we read and study the Bible. We hear His messages not in our ears, but in our hearts and in our minds. We hear His messages clearly, without confusing gibberish, and we can relay those messages to other people without fear that we are adding to the Word of God. Jesus communicated with the beggar in clearly understandable words. Jesus asked the beggar, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God”?

Joh 9:36  He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

Joh 9:37  And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

Joh 9:38  And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

And he worshipped Jesus the Christ. Did Jesus know that we must worship God alone? Of course He did. Jesus did not say, “please do not do that; you must worship God alone”. Jesus did not stop him. Jesus admitted hereby that He was fully God. What a lovely climax is this in the spiritual history of the man who was born blind. God has begun a good work in him, God continues it through the process of sanctification and God will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. The story of this blind beggar is the story of almost every soul that is saved by grace. At first a wretched and helpless man is sought out by the Lord; then God operates supernaturally on the man’s soul and gives him faith and an understanding of God’s Word. The next phase is when the man testifies to his acquaintances of the merciful work of God that has been wrought upon him. Then he is severely tested by the Lord’s enemies, which gives him the opportunity to grow in his faith, and to witness to them a good confession. He is denied the support of his parents, arraigned by the religious authorities, boldly telling them of the miracle wrought in him, and they revile him. When he confessed that Christ was of Divine origin he was cast out of the religious systems of his day. Then he is sought out again by the Savior, he is taught the excellency of Christ, and as a result he takes his place at the feet of his Savior as a devoted worshipper, and there he will be forever. This is the historical narrative of almost every elect soul saved by grace, God’s irresistible grace. Then Jesus said:

#3.     For Judgment I Am Come Into This World (John 9:39, Luke 19:10, 1Cor 1:18)

Joh 9:39 ¶ And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What does this mean? I thought that Jesus did not come to Judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him? Is that not so? Did He not come “to seek and to save that which was lost”? (Luke 19:10). Why then does Jesus speak of Judgment? How can we understand this? You see, the message of the cross is both that of salvation and of judgment. The objective of His mission was atonement unto salvation for all His elect. And when Christ completed His atonement, God committed Himself to save each one of His elect; not one could be added and not one could be forgotten. Therefore the consequence of this atonement was judgment on all those who were not elect. When Christ atoned for His elect He judged no one, and yet He judged every one.

God says in 1Cor 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”. From the human point of view the cross reflected weakness and foolishness. But looked at from God’s point of view it was a display of power and of wisdom. The display of Christ crucified was to the Jew a stumbling block. And to the Greek, from the fancied heights of philosophy, the cross was a contemptible thing. But from he vantage point of a poor sinner, looking at the cross from the depths of enormous guilt and need for a Savior, found in the cross a Divine answer to every question, and a Divine supply for every need. Therefore from our vantage point we can easily understand why Jesus said, “I am come that they which see not might see”. We were those who did not see. We were those who were spiritually blind. By God’s grace He made us see our need for a Savior and He made us see Christ on the cross, who suffered and died in our place that we might be saved. But why did Jesus say, “and that they which see might be made blind”? It means that they, who in their self-righteousness claimed that they could see, would be made blind for the work of salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. They who do not need a Savior shall die in their sins, and they shall most certainly be removed to a terrible place called Hell. But those who have been hardened in their unbelief do not know that they are on the way to Hell. Those who are blind do not know that they are blind. So if Christ has hardened them in their unbelief, they do not know that they are perishing, until it is too late. Then the question arises: What is the difference between these two groups of people? The difference is God’s mercy and grace. One group, those who have been saved, have received the mercy of God for their sins; Christ has satisfied the righteousness of God for all their sins. Moreover they have received the unmerited favor of God, who lifted up the beggars from the dunghill and set them on high as sons of God. The other group of people has not received any mercy or grace from God. Only God knows why. But they do not know that they are outside the mercy and grace of God. Then the next question is: How do we know to which group we belong? How do we know if we are among those who have been made to see by Jesus? This is a fearful question. Legitimately the Pharisees asked:

Joh 9:40-41  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?      Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

The Lord Jesus explained this answer in John 15. Please turn to John 15:22 (2X). Jesus gave His farewell speech to the disciples in John 14, 15 and 16. Since Jesus was departing from them He packed together in these three chapters the most important principles for them to remember. He said,

Joh 15:22-23  If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.      He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

Joh 15:24  If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

The simple meaning then of these words of Christ to the Pharisees is this: “If you were sensible of your blindness and really desired light, salvation would be yours and no condemnation would rest upon you. But because of your pride and self-righteousness you refuse to acknowledge your wretched condition and your guilt remaineth”.

If we would leave it at that, it sounds like a “Do it yourself salvation”. However, we know that it is only by the grace of God that anyone might be sensible of their blindness and really desire light. Only God the Holy Spirit can make anyone see that they are in need of salvation.

Therefore, how do we know if we are among those who have been made to see? We have to be honest and see what the desires are that are in our heart. God says in Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. What are the desires of our heart? If we are children of the Most High, and if we truly love God with all our heart, then we desire to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Do we have that desire every day, not only on Sunday? We always look for things to do that are pleasing in God’s sight. It is not something that we impose on ourselves, but it comes naturally. And if we see this blessed sign within our heart, then we know “that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

AMEN.                 Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.