Well, as you can see, my text
is going to be John chapter 9. I'll be concentrating on those
three verses there, 39 through 41. But we're actually going
to cover most of this chapter, not verse by verse, because we
wouldn't have time to do that. But we will be talking about
a good portion of it here. Let me start out this way. A
sight for sore eyes is an expression describing an expected, yet a
welcomed experience. For instance, an oasis in the
desert is a sight for sore eyes for somebody who's getting pretty
thirsty. A son's face at the door is a
sight for sore eyes for a mother who's looking for a son to come
home from the war. And A, in algebra, is a sight
for sore eyes to a parent whose child has been struggling in
math. And we could just go on and on
about a sight for sore eyes. There's so many. But I took a
little diversion from that and entitled this message A Sight
for Blind Eyes, because as Randy was praying, see, that's what
God does for his people in regeneration. He takes those that are blind.
Dead, literally. Dead and blind, spiritually.
And he gives us eyes to see, to see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. So that's what this whole chapter
is about. It's about a Christ encounter
with a man who's born blind. Look at verse 1 of chapter 9
there. It says, And as Jesus passed
by, he saw a man which was blind from birth. Now this Jewish man
had heard of the temple. He probably sat in it. He probably
sat outside it begging for alms, but he had never seen the majesty. That temple was a majestic sight,
no doubt. He'd never seen that or the splendor
of that temple. And he had heard of Jesus of
Nazareth. He'd no doubt come in close proximity
to him. In fact, Christ just passed him
by on the road. But he had never beheld the face
of Christ. So when Jesus healed this man
of his blindness, Jesus was no doubt to him a sight for sore
eyes, literally a sight for blind eyes, previously blind eyes.
Now, Christ's encounter with this man here on the road is
no accident. You know there are no accidents
with God. There's nothing in this world that he hadn't preordained,
no matter how small or how large. So it wasn't an accident. There
was a reason this man was born blind, and the disciples wanted
to hear about that reason. They wondered, did his parents
sin, or did this man sin that he should be born blind? And
look at John 9 and verse 3. Jesus answered, neither has this
man sinned, nor his parents. But here's the reason that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. In other words, I'm about
to work a miracle here, a two-fold miracle. I'm going to deliver
him from physical blindness and spiritual blindness. That's why
he was born blind. Also, this Christ's encounter
with this man, not only was there a reason for it, but it had results. The first of which, of course,
was physical sight. Christ anointed his eyes with
clay. He sent him to wash in the pool
of Siloam. And verse 7 says, he came back
seeing. He hadn't seen before, but he
saw for the first time. But there's another result, a
greater result of this man's encounter with Christ. I'm going
to have to fill in a lot of blanks here because we don't have time
to read through all these verses. But after this man came back
seeing, Christ had healed him on the Sabbath day, which the
Pharisees said, wait a minute now. He's not supposed to be
doing work on the Sabbath day. So they came to this man and
they said, who healed you? And how did he do it? And of
course, the man told them. And they didn't believe him.
And they went to his parents, and they said, look, was this
man born blind or not? And his parents, they kind of
fudged a little bit, not on this part, but on the next. They said,
well, we know he's our son, and we know he was born blind, but
now how he was healed, we don't exactly know that. He's of age.
Why don't you just go ask him? So, he did. These Pharisees asked
this man, and this man gave a tremendous account. He said, this man, he
came to me, he put mud on my eyes, and I went to the Pool
of Siloam and washed in it and came back seeing. And they said,
give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.
And why they said that was because he did a work on the Sabbath
day, which they didn't think he should have done. The end
result was when they continued to question him, he said in verse,
I don't even have the verse listed here. The man whose eyes were
open said, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. In other words, now, he's risking
a lot right here, because they already told him, if any man
claims that Jesus is the Messiah, they're going to be cast out
of the temple. So he's risking a whole lot right here to tell
them, look, I know this man is from God. I know what he did. I know I witnessed the miracle.
And I know who he is. Now let's look on and see what
happened after they cast him out of the temple. That's where
we want to pick up the discourse here in John 9 in verse 35. Now 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? And the man
answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on
him? That's a good question for people
who are hearing the gospel for the first time especially, to
ask, Who is this Christ that you're talking about that I might
believe on him? Verse 37 said, And Jesus said
unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And the man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Now, Christ
was a sight for blind eyes to this man when he gave him physical
sight, but he was more so spiritually when he enabled to see him, to
know him, to believe him to be the son of God, and to worship
him as the Messiah sent from God. Now this blind man, this
man blind from birth, he's a type. He's a type of those that God
has chosen unto salvation. God chose a people in Christ
before the world began, unto salvation. And they, these people
that God has chosen along with all others, are born into this
world spiritually blind. We're blind from birth. Those
chosen unto salvation are made to see, and all others are exposed
as those who might think they see, but are revealed to be blind. That's what Christ summarizes
in our text here. When we look at John 9 and verse
39, Jesus said, For judgment I am come into the world, that
they which see not might see, and that they which see might
be made blind. Now we're going to consider two
truths from this context. First of all will be the reason
for Christ's coming. He said He came for judgment. And then we'll see the results
of His coming. And that'll be twofold. That those who don't
see might see, and that those who see might be made blind. So the first reason, the first
truth is the reason for Christ's coming. He said for judgment
I am coming to this world. Now Christ came for judgment,
and in other places it's said of Christ that he did not come
to judge. Look at John 12 in verse 4. He said, If any man hear my words
and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. The Scriptures make it clear
that Christ's first coming was not to condemn. John 3.17, a
very familiar verse to us. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. So the Scriptures are clear on
both points. Christ did not come to judge.
He came to save. but also that he did come for
judgment. Now that might seem like a contradiction
to you, and that's why when we're interpreting the scriptures,
the context in which we find a word is vitally important. We have to stay with the context.
Who's doing the talking? Who's he talking to? What's he
talking about? What's his subject? Christ's first appearance in
this world was not to judge. In other words, it wasn't to
punish or condemn sinners. His first visit, His incarnation,
was not punitive in nature, but His first coming was for judgment. He came for the judgment of His
people. You see, He was given a people.
They were chosen in Him before the world began, and He came
to bear their judgment. He came to pay the price of their
redemption. He came to work out a righteousness
in their place. Look at Matthew 20 and verse
28. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but
to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. And He was
delivered up to the cross because of the offenses of those He was
given. Look at Romans 4 and verse 25 as Brother Jim preached on
Romans 4 this morning in the 10 o'clock hour and that whole
chapter is about the justification of Abraham based on the imputed
righteousness of Christ. And so he ends the chapter this
way, that those who believe on that same God Abraham believed
on have the same righteousness imputed to them. Who was delivered? Christ, who was delivered for
our offenses. and was raised again because
of our justification. Christ came to answer all the
charges against those that his father had given him. God charged
him with their sins. That familiar passage in 2 Corinthians
5.21, God made him, Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin. He charged
the sins of his elect to Christ. that we, those He represented,
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You see, that's
that double exchange. Our sins were charged to Christ.
His righteousness was charged to us. Christ came for the judgment
of His people. He was judged by His Father for
them. He bore their sins and put them
away. He answered all the charges of
those He was given. He established the one righteousness
by which God declares those sinners forever, unchangeably righteous
in his sight. No sinner Christ died for is
facing any charges, any punishment from God's justice. Christ, their
surety and substitute, has answered their charges and paid their
debt of punishment in full. Christ's first coming was not
to judge. It was not to punish or condemn
sinners. His first coming was to save
sinners. Christ's first coming was not
to render a judgment against, but to bear the judgment of those
sinners He was given. Now that's one sense in which
Christ came for judgment. But there's another sense in
which Christ's first coming was for judgment, and that's the
sense we'll find in John 9 here. Christ's first coming was also
to separate sinners. That's the judgment he speaks
of in John 9. Another meaning of the word judgment
is to separate. Now that's a different kind of
judgment. This judgment is not punitive in nature. This judgment is to distinguish
between believers, true believers, and non-believers. This judgment
is to reveal in this world who's saved and who's lost. Look at
John 9 in verse 5 with me. As long as I'm in the world,
Christ said, I am the light of the world. Light has a predictable
influence on darkness. It overcomes it. It drives it
away. It exposes and reveals what that
darkness was previously hiding. Christ is the light that comes
to sinners in the preaching of the true gospel. And when he
comes, he distinguishes between those who are of the light and
those who are of darkness. When he comes to a sinner in
the gospel, he finds all either standing in condemnation or standing
in justification. Now that's true of all of us
without exception. No exceptions and no exclusions.
Christ coming in the gospel doesn't change a sinner's standing now.
It just reveals that standing to be one or the other, condemned
or justified. Now, that's the reason for Christ's
coming, when it says He came for judgment. In this context,
it means separating the saved from the lost. It's about distinguishing
the justified from the condemned. Now, how is that accomplished?
Well, we'll find that answer in our second point here. The
first one was the reason for Christ's coming, and here's the
second truth we have is the results of Christ's coming. That was
the first one, but here's the second. The results of Christ's
coming Look at John 9.39 again, and Jesus said, For judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see. Just like Christ came to this
man physically, this man who was born blind, he comes to those
who are born spiritually blind. Reading that I had Brother Randy
read over there in Isaiah 42 verse 16 says, and I will bring
the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in
paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. When Christ comes to a sinner
in the gospel, He only comes to blind sinners, spiritually
blind sinners. Why? It has to be because that's
the state of all of us by nature. It doesn't matter that we're
chosen of God. It doesn't matter that we're
justified from eternity the way Brother Jim taught us there from
Romans 4 this morning. It doesn't matter that we've
been redeemed. We're still spiritually blind until Christ comes to us
in the Gospel, until the Spirit comes to us in the power of the
Gospel and delivers us from that blindness. Look at John 12 and verse 46. Christ said, I
am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me
shall not abide in darkness. That's where we are. But His
coming is to deliver us from that darkness. He comes to deliver us from not
only the darkness, but from Satan. Look at Acts 26 and verse 18.
Now this is another recounting of Paul the Apostle's conversion
experience on the road to Damascus, and Christ is telling him what
he's going to be about. He says, you're going to go to
the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from the darkness
to the light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sin and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by that faith which is in me. Christ came for
judgment. He came for separation. In our
context, John 9, verse 39, the first result of Christ's separation
is that those who see not might see. The scriptures are clear
that all are born spiritually blind. All who are now in the
light were once in darkness. All who now see are those who
previously saw not. The question is, The question
is, what is now seen that was not seen before? If we were in
blindness, if we missed something, what did we miss? What didn't
we see? Now, by nature, we see a lot.
The natural man can see a lot of things, a lot of things about
Christ. We can see that He's a Savior. We can see that He
died. We can see that He died on the cross. We can see that
He died in Bethlehem. We can see that He was born of
a virgin. We can see a lot of things. We
can see his resurrection. We can see that salvation is
somehow connected to the one the scriptures say is the Lord
Jesus Christ. What none of us by nature can
see is what is vitally necessary for God to be glorified in salvation. What does that word mean, glorified?
To be honored. to be revealed to be the just
God and Savior he is. The just God and Savior he describes
himself to be in Isaiah 45 when he said, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I'm God and there's
none else. And this distinguishes a just
God and a Savior. We can't see that redemptive
glory of God by nature. None of us sees how God can remain
just and yet show mercy to sinners like us who deserve nothing but
his eternal wrath. What none of us sees is what
makes the gospel the power of God and salvation, because we
don't see the righteousness of God, which the gospel always
reveals. Now I'm talking to sinners that
haven't heard the gospel. or haven't been brought by the
power of the Spirit to submit to Christ's righteousness as
their only ground of salvation. Romans 1, 16 and 17, we look
at these verses often, but we do it because we need to. Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, that
gospel, is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that
believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in that gospel message, every time it's preached, every time
God sends a gospel preacher, this is always revealed, the
righteousness of God. From faith, from that body of
truth that declares it, and into that God-given faith that receives
it, lays hold of it, and rests in it for all of salvation. It
is as it is written, the justified shall live by faith. Now, like
I said, that gospel alone reveals the righteousness of God. And
it's what makes that gospel the power of God and the salvation. In the gospel, what is heretofore
unknown in a sinner is revealed to every justified sinner. The
justified must see, and they will see. They'll see how God
can be just and declare a sinner like them righteous in his sight. Until a sinner sees this, he
is one among many who sees not. God's chosen people are born
not born seeing, but God's chosen people will see. They'll see
the mystery of godliness. They'll see God manifest in the
flesh. They'll see how Jesus Christ
enabled the Father to be both just and justifier. They'll see
how a holy and righteous God saves sinners by Christ's finished
work, His imputed righteousness alone. They'll see that God must
be just. He must do what's right when
he shows mercy and saves those sinners for whom Christ died. The justified will see this because
Christ came into the world for judgment. He came to distinguish
his people. He came to separate his people
from the unbelieving world. His people in every generation
will embrace the gospel. They'll look to a just God and
Savior. They'll look to Christ and Christ
alone who enables God to be that just God and Savior. Their walk
in the gospel will distinguish them and evidence their separation. Look with me at Ephesians 5 and
verse 8. For you were sometimes darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And then on to 1 Peter 2 and
verse 9. He says, but you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar or
purchased people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but you're now the people of
God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The encouragement of the apostles
here in these verses is for those who've been delivered Those who
now see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Those who've now been delivered,
walk like you've been delivered. That's what he's encouraging
here. Walk like those given light. Walk like those delivered from
darkness. Walk like those who seeing not,
now see. It's good to walk like those. It is to walk like those once
spiritually blind, but who've been given eyes to behold the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And how do you do that? How do you do what these two
apostles command us to do? How do you walk as children of
light? How do you show forth the praises
of him who called you out of darkness unto his marvelous light? Well, you walk in the gospel.
You walk in this gospel message. You go with this gospel priest.
You preach this message. You promote this message. You
defend this message that declares the righteousness of God. And
you do so because you see what before you did not see. You do
so because the true gospel has changed your thinking about how
God saves sinners. Christ came for judgment, and
the first result of that judgment is that they which see not might
see. My last point is the second result
of that judgment. Look back at John 9 and verse
39 again now. And Jesus said, for judgment I'm coming to this
world that they which see not might see, and here it is, and
that they which see might be made blind. Christ came for judgment. He came to distinguish between
the saved and the lost. To those whom God enlightens
is the mystery of godliness made known. To those whom God enlightens
is the mystery of the righteousness of God, both revealed and embraced,
submitted to. All others are made blind. The
Greek for made blind is a word meaning to expose. Some which
see not, are made to see. The rest are exposed as those
who think they see, but really are exposed as those who see
not. When a sinner is brought to the
gospel, let me back up for just a second. These are they of which Christ
spoke in John 540, those which are exposed to be judicially
blind, spiritually blind, He said, you search the scriptures.
In them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which
testify of me. But then the last part of that
verse 40 says, and you will not come to me that you might have
life. I'm here. I'm standing before
you. I'm preaching the gospel. The
scriptures you study and say you understand and believe and
love, they're testifying to me, Christ said, but you won't come
to me. When a sinner is brought to the gospel, the true Christ
is declared, not a counterfeit, the true Christ. The righteousness
of God is revealed. The redemptive glory of God,
His honor in showing mercy to ungodly sinners is made known.
And it's that gospel which will judge sinners in that last day. Look at John 12 and verse 47. If any man hear my words and
believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world. He that rejects me and receive
not my words has one that judges him. The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day." Listen to John 3 in verse 18. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, on the Christ of this word, on the true Christ of the
scriptures. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation.
Light, the gospel, the glory of God in salvation has come
into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. The gospel is the light here,
and it's what reveals the justification of those who believe it, those
who hear the Christ it preaches and come to Him, submit to Him,
see His righteousness as the only ground of the sinner's salvation.
But it also exposes condemnation. It exposes the condemnation of
those who reject it, those who refuse The God it shows, the
Savior it reveals, and the righteousness it makes known. Let me give you
a little illustration here. He's talking about those who
think they see, but don't see. And the gospel, it reveals one
and exposes the other. The eagle and the hawk are daytime
predators. The light of day, that's a blessing
to them. It gives them extraordinary vision
to seek out their prey. But they're not good at night.
They stay on their roost at night. They hunt in the daytime. But
that same light that gives them extra vision in the daytime,
that same light is shunned by the owl and the bat. You see,
they're nighttime predators. They have night vision. They
can see better at night. In a similar way, the light of
the gospel is welcomed and embraced by some, but certainly not by
all. It's shunned and rejected by
others. Look at 2 Corinthians 2, verses
14 through 16. Paul writes, now, thanks be to
God, which always causes us. He's talking about us who preach
the true gospel now. causes us to triumph and make
it manifest, the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved
and in them that perish. To the one we are a savor of
death unto death, and to the other a savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? The gospel does not justify us,
nor does it condemn us. It does confront those who hear
these things that have never been heard before, that have
never been considered before. Also, the gospel does give evidence
of the standing of those who hear it. To those who embrace
it, it's the savor of life unto life. To those who reject it,
it's the savor of death unto death. Now, look at our last
two verses here in the text, John 9 and verse 40. He says, and some of the Pharisees,
which are listening to this discourse, this is a pretty long discourse
that Christ had here in John 9, but some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, are
we blind also? Are you saying that we, the pillars
of the Jewish faith, that we're blind also? Jesus said unto them,
if you were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say,
we see Therefore, your sin remains. If you were blind, in other words,
if you'd admit to your blindness, your blindness, not being able
to see who I am based on the Scriptures and the works that
identified Him to be the true Savior. If you'd admit to your
blindness, you'd have no sin. See, there's no sin in being
blind. We're all born spiritually blind. And we're all blind for
a reason in order that the works of God should be manifest. The
sin that remains here is not admitting to our blindness. See,
going through life and never seeing that by nature we didn't
know the Christ of this world. We didn't know the Savior of
this gospel. We didn't know of His salvation.
We didn't know the glory of God in salvation. The sin that remains
is not coming to, not embracing the gospel. the light that exposes
and ends spiritual blindness in everyone the Father chose
and gave to Christ before the world began. The sinner who rejects
the gospel but thinks he's saved on any other basis but Christ's
righteousness imputed is the one who is made, in other words,
revealed to be blind. That's our point here. Christ
came that those who see might be made blind. Their blindness
is exposed by the gospel. The evil of their thinkancy is
exposed by the gospel message. It's exposed by the savior they
reject. Christ came for judgment. He
came, first of all, to bear the judgment of His chosen people,
but He also came to separate and distinguish those chosen
people from the world. Come out from among them and
be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you. They're
born not seeing. But they're given spiritual sight.
They embrace the gospel. They embrace its God. They embrace
its Savior. They embrace the righteousness
revealed therein. And when they do that, that righteousness,
that Savior, that God reveals them to be true believers, true
children of God. But the judicial blindness of
all others is exposed by their rejection of that same gospel,
that same Savior, that same righteousness. Let me wrap it up here. Do you
see? Has God, under the light of the
gospel, enabled you to see what you never saw before? Has he
enabled you to see God honored as a just God and Savior based
on Christ's imputed righteousness alone? Has he enabled you to
repent of everything else that you ever thought recommended
you to God but that righteousness and that righteousness exclusively?
So do you see? Or do you seeing, see not? See? We're in one camp or the
other. There's only two camps to be
in here. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is truly
a sight for previously blind eyes. My prayer is that God will
enable us all, all that hear this message, to have that sight,
to see that glory, and to see it more clearly as we hear His
message proclaimed. May the Lord bless His word to
our understanding.