John 9:35-37 He Made the Blind to See 8/28/2016 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.