I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. If you could get a Bible and
follow along with me, I think it would be helpful. We're going
to be looking at John chapter nine about the man the Lord gave
sight to who was born blind. Beginning in John chapter nine,
and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his
birth. This man was born blind. He had no concept of what anything
looked like. He had never seen colors or shapes. He'd never seen a face. I can't
imagine what would go through someone's mind that had never
seen, but this man was a man who was born blind. Now, this pictures you and I
by nature. We're born spiritually blind. As a blind man who's born blind
has no concept of what something really looks like, we are spiritually
blind with regard to who God is. We bring him down to our
level and we create a false concept of God. We have no idea who we
really are. We have inflated views of ourselves
and our own ability, and we don't see our sinfulness. We're blind
to it. We're blind to God's way of salvation
by grace. We're blind to God's way of salvation
in Christ. Spiritually blind. That's a fit emblem of you and
I. Born spiritually blind. Now let's go on reading. And
his disciples asked him, As they see this man who was born blind,
they ask this question, Master, who did sin, this man or his
parents that he was born blind? How many times have you seen
someone? How many times have I seen someone?
in a unfortunate situation, maybe a physical infirmity. And if
you thought, wonder what they did to bring that on themselves.
What kind of sin did they commit that brought this into their
life? That's what the disciples are doing at this time. And think
about the question, who sinned? This man or his parents? that he was born blind. Whose fault is this? Now, how could the man be born
blind for some sin he committed when he hadn't lived yet? That's
a ridiculous question. And then I guess, could this
be that his parents are being punished for some sin they committed,
therefore their child is born blind? You know, there are instances
where an STD, someone had it and it passed, when the child
goes through the birth canal, they're blinded by it. That has
happened. Is that punishment? Now, let
me say this. That kind of attitude is sanctimonious,
self-righteous stupidity. And that was the disciples acting
that way. And they were totally wrong in
saying this. They had no business saying this,
who did sin, this man or his parents that they were born by. What a self-righteous, judgmental
way of thinking, yet here they are. Now look at the Lord's answer,
verse three. Jesus answered, neither. Had
this man sin, nor his parents, but the works of God should be
made manifest in him. Now he's not saying his parents
never sinned. He's not saying this man never sinned. Both were
sinners, but God is in control of everything. And the reason
this man was born blind was so that God would show his glorious
works of grace and power in this man. You see, it's a terrible
thing to be born blind, but God brings good out of evil. Only God can do this. What's
the most evil thing to ever take place? When they nailed his son
to a cross. What's the most glorious good
thing to ever take place? Christ being nailed to a cross
to put away the sins of his people and to glorify every attribute
of his Father. God always brings good out of
evil, no matter what it is. I think of what Joseph said to
his brethren who sold him into slavery. He said, you meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good. And I don't know how this
works, he does. Everything will end up glorifying
God. And that's what the Lord says
about this event. And then he says in verse four,
I must work the works of him that sent me while it's day,
the night cometh when no man can work. As long as I'm in the
world, I'm the light of the world. He knew that his death was right
around the corner. And when he had thus spoken, he spat on the
ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the
blind man with the clay. Now, he took mud and put it in
the eyes of this man. Now, somebody says, how could
that heal somebody's sight? Well, what this teaches us is
that God does use means. And he works in spite of those
means he uses. He spit in the ground, made clay,
made some kind of mud, anointed it in the man's eyes, and he
said unto him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation,
scent. Christ is the scent one. He went
his way, therefore." Now, how did he get to that pool? I don't
know. Maybe he asked somebody to lead him by the hand. And
he washed that mud out of his eyes, and all of a sudden, he
sees. Can you imagine what that must
have been like all of a sudden for the first time in his life? He sees. He finds out all of
his conceptions were wrong. He sees the beauty of this world. Oh, he sees. And he washed and
came seeing. Now the Lord had departed at
this time. When we read in verse eight, the neighbors therefore,
and they which had seen him that was blind, said, is not this
he that sat and begged? And this man was a blind beggar,
like Bartimaeus was. And they look at him, they'd
seen him for many years sitting by the wayside begging. What's
this? Is this not the man who sat and
begged? Some said, this is he. Others said he's like him, but
he said, I am he. This is the first words that
come from his mouth. He said, I'm the one that sat
and begged, born blind, and now I see. Therefore said they unto
him, how are thine eyes opened? And he answered and said, a man
that is called Jesus. Made clay and anointed mine eyes
and said unto me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash. And I went
and washed and I received sight. And this is all he knew at this
time. He didn't know that Jesus Christ was the son of God. All
he knew was that he was a man called Jesus. Then said they
unto him, where is he? He said, I know not. They brought
to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. Now, why did they
bring him to the Pharisees? So we could have what takes place
after this. This is all according to the
Lord's purpose. They bring him to the Pharisees,
the religious leaders, the people that the Lord was so hard on.
He said, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation
of hell? This was the religious right,
the self-righteous. They brought him to the Pharisees.
And it was on the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and
opened his eyes. You know, most of the Lord's
miracles, he did on the Sabbath day. He who made the Sabbath
did his miracles on the Sabbath day. And he knew that this would
infuriate the Pharisees. Then again, The Pharisees also
asked him how he had received his sight, and he said unto them,
He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and do see. Therefore
said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he
keeps not the Sabbath day. How ridiculous that they would
say something like this. What a complete misunderstanding
of the Sabbath this is in the first place. Others said, How
can a man that's a sinner do such miracles? And there was
a division among them. Some said, he must be of God,
look what he did. Others, how could he be of God
if he broke the Sabbath and made that mud to put in his eye? They
said unto the blind man again, what sayest thou of him that
hath opened thine eyes? He said, he's a prophet. He's
a prophet. He must be. But the Jews did
not believe concerning him that had been blind and received his
sight. They looked at him and they said,
this didn't happen. They did not believe. Now understand
this unbelief is a choice. You choose to not believe the
truth. If you do not believe the truth,
you hear the truth and you say, I'm not going to believe that.
If you believe the truth, you don't choose to believe the truth.
You believe the truth because it's true. It's the truth. You
know the truth when you hear it. But unbelief is a choice.
And the Pharisees chose not to believe this mighty miracle. And they called the parents of
him that had received a sight, and they asked them, saying,
is this your son who you say was born blind? How then doth
he now see? And his parents answered him
and said, we know not. We know that this is our son
and that he was born blind. We know that. But by what means
he now seeth, we know not. Or who hath opened his eyes,
we know not. He's of age, ask him, he shall
speak for himself. These words spake his parents
because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed
that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he would be put
out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, he's
of age, ask him." Now isn't that sad? This fellow's mom and dad that
had been born blind, they see their son healed. They see their
son given sight. And they were so intimidated
by the Pharisees because the Pharisees said, anybody that
confesses anything about Christ, him being the Christ, they'll
be put out of the synagogue. They'll be excommunicated. And
they feared that so much, they wouldn't say, yes, this is our
son, he's been given sight and the Lord Jesus Christ did it.
They were afraid to say anything with regard to the person of
Christ. And they said, he's of age, ask him yourself. How sad that they were so intimidated
by the religious Pharisees. Verse 24. Then called they the
man that was blind and said unto him, give God the praise. We
know that this man's a sinner. This man who made clay and anointed
your eyes, they're calling the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, the one who knew no sin, the one who did no sin, the one
in whom there is no sin, the one who's holy. They said, we
know this man's a sinner. I mean, he made mud on the Sabbath
day to give sight to this man that was born blind. He must
be a sinner. What crazy reasoning. He says, give God the praise
as if they cared. All they cared about was their
rules being kept. Give God the praise. We know
that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, now this
is the blind man's answer. I love this answer. He said,
whether he'd be a sinner or no, I know not. Now, he did not yet
know the Lord Jesus Christ. He only saw him to be a man,
a prophet even. Probably highly respected him,
but he still didn't really know who he was. Because he said,
whether he'd be a sinner or not, I know not. But one thing I know,
that whereas I was blind, now I see. I know that. Then said
they to him again, what did he to thee? How opened he thine
eyes? Now he'd already told them, and
I love the, I can, I believe he was being sarcastic with them
at this time. He answered them, I've told you already, and you
didn't hear. Wherefore, will you hear it again?
Will you also be his disciples? And listen to their reply. Then
they reviled him. and said, thou art his disciple.
We're Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses.
As for this fella, this nobody, this nothing, and that's what
they mean when they refer to him. We know not from whence
he is. We don't know where he came from.
We don't know his mom and dad. We don't know where he went to
seminary. We don't know where he gets his authority. We're
from Moses. We don't know where this man's
from. Then this man answered them, I love his answer. The
man answered and said unto them, why herein is a marvelous thing, that you know not from whence
he is, and yet he opened mine eyes. Now, this man is saying
to these people, what's wrong with you? This man opened my
eyes. I was born blind and he opened
mine eyes. And he says in verse 31, now
we know that God heareth not sinners. Now he had some understanding
of the character of God. God's righteous. He doesn't just
up and hear sinners. Now let me say this, God saves
sinners. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. But the reason
God hears sinners is because they're in Christ. You call upon
His name, God hears you. I don't care how sinful you are,
but if you don't have Christ, God doesn't hear sinners. Now
we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a
worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he heareth. And that's
what a believer is. He's someone who worships God
and he does his will. He believes on Christ. That's
doing God's will is to trust his son. He's somebody that actually
does the will of God. 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. Now, the Pharisees give their
answer. They answered and said unto him,
thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. I feel quite sure it didn't bother
him. I felt quite sure that he saw that they had no authority.
He was beginning to get more light, God-given light, regarding
the one who healed him. Verse 35. Jesus heard that they'd cast
him out. And when he had found him, you
know, if you belong to the Lord, he's going to find you. Somebody
says, I found God. He wasn't lost. He found you. If you know who he is, it's because
he found you. Oh, I pray that God makes that
the case even now where he finds you. Jesus, when they had cast him
out, when he found him, he said unto him, does thou believe on
the son of God? What a question. Do you believe
on the Son of God? And here's how he answers. Who
is he, Lord? that I might believe on Him. Now you can't believe on someone
you don't know. The only way you're going to
believe on the Son of God is if He makes Himself known. And when He makes Himself known,
you'll know who He is. He's God the Son. God is one
God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And to believe on the Son of
God is to believe that He is the Creator of the universe.
He is God. He is one with His Father. He
is the only Savior, the successful Savior of sinners. You believe
who He is. Now, this is the content of faith.
It's believing who He is. Do you remember when the Ethiopian
eunuch said to Philip, after he heard him preach the gospel,
he said, see here's water, what doth hinder me from being baptized?
And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he replied, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the God man, the man Christ
Jesus. He's the only way a sinner can
be saved. You see, it's because of who
He is that they're saving efficacy in His death. If I died for you,
it wouldn't do you any good at all. Wouldn't do me any good
at all. But if He died for you because of who He is, it's Christ
that died. They're saving efficacy in His
death. He was able to bear my sins in
his own body and put them away and make him not to be and give
me his righteousness. Do you believe he's the son of
God? I'm not asking you if you believe
you're saved. I'm asking you if you believe
that he is God the son, the creator of the universe, the one who
controls everything, the sovereign of the universe, the mighty God,
the everlasting father, the prince of peace. Do you believe that
Jesus Christ is the son of God? He said, Lord, who is he that
I might believe on him? And the Lord said in verse 36,
and he answered, and Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen
him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord,
I believe. And he worshiped him. When does somebody believe? When
they worship Him. Now you only worship, and I will
only worship, an absolute sovereign. one who has complete control,
one I can't manipulate, one I can't get him to do something that
I, no, I'm in his hand. He can do with me whatsoever
he's pleased to do. Like the leper who came to him
and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He worshiped
him, the scripture says. The only way you worship is when
you worship an absolute sovereign. You worship Jesus Christ as Lord
of lords, King of kings, the absolute sovereign. He worshiped
him. And Jesus said, and this is the
conclusion of this story. 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. Now here our Lord tells us why
he came. Anytime you hear of a scripture where the Lord tells
us why it came, we ought to listen real carefully. He says, for
judgment, I've come in this world. I love what Abraham said, shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Christ is the judge of
the earth. I didn't come to condemn the
world. The world's already condemned. He said, I didn't, he said, God
sent on his son to condemn the world, but the world through
him might be saved. The world was already condemned. Now the
Lord says for judgment, I'm coming to this world. And remember the
cross is the great judgment of God. For judgment, I've come
into this world. that they which see not might
see, and they which see might be made blind. Now, there are
two kinds of people in this world, people who see not and people
who see. Now, what does that mean? What
is he talking about? Those who see not. are those
who cannot see in themselves one reason why God would save
them. The people who see are the people
who can see why God would save them. After all, I've done this,
I've done that, I've changed, my life's changed, I've quit
doing this, I've started doing that. I can see why, of course
God would save me. I have done what I'm supposed
to do. Christ said that person is made
blind. And the person who cannot see
why God would look in favor toward them, that's the person he gives
sight to. And he teaches them the gospel. Now when men hear the gospel, And when I'm speaking of the
gospel, I'm talking about God's electing grace, Christ's successful
work, the work of the Holy Spirit in giving life. God is three
God, one God in three persons, one God in three persons, and
all three persons of the Godhead have a work in salvation. The
Father elects, the Son redeems, the Holy Spirit regenerates.
Now, when men hear that, they think, well, why didn't he save
everybody? Why did he only come for the elect when he could have
saved everybody? That doesn't seem fair. That's men's natural
response because they think they can see why God would save them.
But when God reveals himself to you, you find out you're a
sinner. And you find out that there's nothing in you that would
move