Open your Bible tonight to John
chapter 9, the gospel of John chapter 9. This chapter, I just want us
to take it kindly verse by verse, these 41 verses here. I pray the Lord may be pleased
to speak to our heart. This chapter deals with that
blind man who was blind from birth. To me, I think it's ironic
if our Lord was pleased to put these many verses in our Bible
to deal with this subject. He had something for us to see.
He intended to show us something of His grace, His mercy, His
sovereignty, and to show us something of ourself. In chapter eight,
we won't look at it, but I was reading it the other day and
I thought it was ironic. You remember where they brought
the woman to our Lord, called him the act of adultery, and
they said, what Moses says that this woman ought to be stoned,
what do you say ought to happen to her? And he said, he was without
sin, let him cast the first stone. Then when you read to the end
of the chapter, you know what happens then? They're wanting
to stone him. They're wanting to stone him.
And it says in the last verse of chapter eight, it says, then
took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself. What judgment? He hid himself. And went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by. And as he passed
by, as he's leaving this temple, as he's leaving these self-righteous
religious people, as he's leaving them in their darkness, just
so happens he sees this man that was blind from his birth. When it seems like all is darkness,
here's great light. He passed by and saw this man,
which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him,
saying, well, master, who did sin, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind? Surely he's being punished for
somebody's sin. We know that all sickness and
everything is the result, indirect result, of sin, ours or Adam's
or somebody's. But they had this mentality that
most men have, and we have apart from God's graces, well, if you're
suffering, there must be sin somewhere. Isn't that how Job's
friends were? Look at you, Job. Just look at
it. The disciples were not exempt. They said, well, who has sinned? This man or his parents, that
he was born blind. He was born blind. Why? Jesus
said, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents. He's not saying
his parents never sinned. And he's not saying that this
man never sinned. He said, neither this man sinned, nor his parents.
But why is this man blind? He's gonna tell them. He's gonna
tell us. that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This man was here at this specific
time on purpose and he's blind on purpose. It's no accident
he's blind. It's no accident he was born
blind. He was born for this purpose and this particular time. God's getting ready to show mercy
to him. He's crossing his path. It says that Christ saw him.
Now in these verses, I don't see this man approaching Christ.
Christ approaches him. He's revealing his sovereignty. As he walked away from all those
religious people in John 8, he could have easily walked right
past this man and saw him and left him right where he saw him.
But he didn't. God knows exactly where we're
at tonight. He sees every one of us. He can
show us mercy, or he can leave us exactly where we are. He says,
neither hath this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works
of God should be made, what, manifest. He's going to reveal
something of his glory, manifest in him. He said, I must work
the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh
when no man can work. Well, you know what he said?
I have a work to do. I came to this earth on purpose. He knew
his time. Remember, they came many times
to take him. And he said, my hour's not yet
come. But eventually, his hour did come when he finished his
work. But he said, I must work the
works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when
no man can work. As long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world. You know what a man in darkness
needs? That's blind. He needs light. Man is blind. This is spiritual blindness.
He cannot see. He cannot comprehend. This man
has never saw anything. You imagine trying to describe
the sun to him, trying to describe the stars and the moon, trying
to describe anything to this man, and he doesn't have a clue.
It's like us trying to preach the gospel to sinners that are
dead in trespasses and sins, and they say, I don't have a
clue what you're talking about, and I understand that. It's just
foolishness to them. You know why? They cannot see.
They just can't see. But he said, as long as I'm in
the world, as long as he's in this world, he's the light of
the world. And when he leaves this world,
when he takes his gospel out, there's nothing but darkness.
He said in the book of Revelation, talked about the lay of the sea
and church heat, when he removes his candlestick, there's nothing
but darkness. As long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world. So you see the picture, and when
he had thus spoken, he sped on the ground. and made clay of
that spittle. He spit in the dry dust, picked
up that clay, and he formed it in his hands, and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay. You say, why would
he do that? He pleased to do so. You say, how in the world can
putting a clay on a man's eyes give a man sight? It can't. If anything, it would hinder
a man, if he could see, from seeing. His ways are not our
ways. They're not. So he does this,
and can you imagine the disciples going, what in the world is he
doing? Why is he doing this? And he looks at this man, and
he said unto him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is
by interpretation sent, And he went his way, therefore, and
washed, and came seeing. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Isn't
that pretty simple? That's pretty plain. What did
he tell this man to do? Go to the pool, wash, and you'll
see. You know what he did? That's
exactly what he did. He said, this man can't see. He may not
conceive his. He saw something or he'd have
never went. He went. And he came and he was. Now you imagine this. This man's
never saw. You imagine the first ray of
light he ever saw. Oh, the wonder, the astonishment. Is this what it's like to see?
Can I see? I can see. I can see. I want you to notice this. Then
verse 8, the first one he deals with, he deals with several different
groups of people. The neighbors, they knew this
man. They lived with this man. They
knew about this man. The neighbors therefore, and
they which before had seen him, that he was blind, they said,
is not this he that sat in bed? He's not only a blind man, he's
a beggar. What is a beggar? It's somebody
that has nothing. This is us. By nature, we are
not only blind, we are beggars. Men don't like to be told that
they have to beg. Is this him that sat and begged? Some said, well, this is he.
Others said, well, he is like him. It resembles them, but I
don't know if it's him or not. I tell you, when God does the
work of grace in a person's heart, they outwardly may look the same,
but there's something different about them. They said, it looks
like him. I don't really know if it's him
or not. Why? What's the difference? I'll tell
you exactly what's the difference. If this man sees, is that not a big difference? It's amazing how our Lord deals.
He just deals in simplicity, so plain a child could understand. He said, this is He. Others said, well, He's like
him. But you know what He said? I'm He. Hey, that's me. That same man that sat over our
bed? Yeah, that's me. That man that was blind? That's
me. You lived with me. You knew how I was. It's me. Therefore said they unto Him,
now I want you to notice this question. As I read this, it
just kept jumping out, the question that they ask. Out of all the
questions they could have asked this man, well, what is it like
to see? What is it like to be blind?
I don't know what it's like to be physically blind. I've never
been physically blind. I can tell you what it's like
to be spiritually blind. But they didn't ask him those questions.
They said, How were thine eyes opened? As I thought about this, you
know, and I've had a lot of people ask me this question, and it
has bothered me, and I felt sometimes bothered why I was bothered.
Well, how was you saved? What am I supposed to say? Well,
my, how God dealt with me may not be how God dealt with you. This is kind of different how
our Lord dealt with this man. He dealt with another man differently
in Mark chapter 8. And when he asked that man if
he saw, he said, well, I see me in his trees walking. But then he touched him again
and he said, now I see clearly. They said, how were thine eyes
opened? And he answered and said, a man
that is called Jesus made clay. in the eyes, and he said to me,
go to the pool of Salome and wash, and I went and washed and
I received my sign. And exactly what happened? That's
what happened. And then they said to him, well,
where is he? And he said, I know not. And
he didn't. He didn't know where he was at.
Not at this point he didn't. Verse 13. Well, what are they
going to do? What's his neighbors going to
do? They brought him to the Pharisees. They brought to the Pharisees
him that aforetime was blind. Well, why did they take him to
the Pharisees? Why did they take him to these
religions? Why? I just asked that question. Why
would they take him there? He must not have answered the
question the way they wanted it answered. How did you come to see? Surely
it wasn't that way. It had to be some other way.
Surely it wasn't that simple that he put clay on your eyes
and told you to go wash and you went and washed. Surely it can't
be that simple now. We're going to see their blindness.
They never could see that. This gospel is, we see that it's
simple. We that see know that it's simple. But a blind man can't see that
it's simple. He wants to make it complicated. It's not complicated. It's not hard to understand.
It's just hard to swallow. That's what was difficult. They
said, truly, really? Is that how he gave you sight? And it was the Sabbath day when
he made the clay and opened his eyes. Oh, that takes on a different
light now. Do you think he healed that man
on purpose on the Sabbath day? I know he did exactly. Yeah,
he did it on purpose. You know what? You can't be doing
that on a Sabbath day. Then, again, And it was the Sabbath day when
he made the clay, and he opened their eyes, verse 15. Then again,
the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. Now, are they not asking the
same question? How did you receive your sight?
And he said unto them, he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed,
and I do see. He never changed what he said,
because this is what happened. Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day,
speaking of Christ. Others said, well, how can a
man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division
among them. And they said unto the blind man,
what sayest thou of him that he hath opened thine eyes? And
he said, he's a prophet. He's a prophet. But the Jews
did not believe concerning him that he had even been blind.
You know what I see here? They're going to do everything
they can to discredit what Christ has done. They said, well, he
wasn't even blind to start with. You wasn't really lost. Jews did not believe concerning
him that he had been blind and received insight until they called
the parents of him that received his sight. I don't read here
that the parents, now they could have been there, but it's not,
I didn't read that here, but that they were there when he
touched his eyes with the clay. I don't read that the parents
were there when he went and washed. So they didn't witness it, they
didn't see it. This was between that man and
Christ. They said, well, we're going
to call his parents. We're going to ask them what happened. You
don't know what happened to me. My parents don't know what happened
to me. My wife may not know what happened to me. It's between
me and the Lord. They said, well, let's call his parents. Now,
this is a grown man. Now, how old is he? It doesn't
give his age, but they said he is of age, and Pink said he's
probably 30 years old. He's old enough to speak for
himself. They called his parents of him
that had received his sight, verse 19, and they asked him,
saying, is this your son, whom you say was born blind? And here
they ask the question again, well, how does he now see? Can't you just see in their voices,
is this your son that you say was born blind? Well, if you say he is born blind,
well, I can see now. There's no denying that he sees
now. How are we going to explain this
or explain it away? How does he see? Let us hear
your answer to that question. How does he see? But the parents answered and
said, we know that this is our son. That's my son. And he's born blind. There's
no question about it. But by what means he now sees,
we know not. Are they not ignorant too? They
don't, they don't, they do not understand what happened here. Salvation, the salvation of a
soul is a great mystery. You can be sitting here tonight,
be blind spiritually as a bat, and tonight could be the night
God gives you sight, and what a miracle. And the person dearest to you
have no clue what happened. I know this. You know what religion
will always try to do? Will try to explain it a way. What means By what means he now seeth we
know not, or who hath opened his eyes? We don't know the means,
and we don't know the who. We know not. He is of age. Ask
him. And that was a pretty good answer
they give right here. Why don't you ask him? But I think there's something
also here. they're scared to death. Because the next verse
it says, these words spake his spirits because they feared the
Jews. Now we don't know much about
this. We're going to see that they're
going to eventually kick him out. But for them to excommunicate
a Jew, It'd be like his whole family considering him for the
rest of his life as a dead man, and they would not even consider
him as their son. They feared the Jews. You know, our biggest fear, it's
men. It doesn't matter what men think. They were afraid. Well, what will they think? Well,
what does that matter? I don't want my son going down
there and hearing that gospel. What will my neighbors think?
Well, what does that matter? They feared the Jews, for the
Jews had already agreed that if any man did confess that he
was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. This is
what we're going to do to you. You can give anybody the glory.
Now why don't you just say that you did a little something. And
everything will be okay. We can deal with that and we
will accept that answer. But we ain't going to accept
that answer. Don't give any credit to Christ. Don't say Christ did
it. Say anything but Christ did it and everything will be fine.
You know how to get along with this world? Say anything they
want to hear. Christ saved me, but I made my
decision. Christ saved me when I let him. I made the first step,
and then he helped me make the other one. And everything would
be fine. But to stand and preach and proclaim
that salvation is of the Lord, they said, we won't have that. You know, the problem is they
don't want the true answer to the question. They don't want the answer. Therefore said his parents, he's
of age. You ask him. Then again, then again, called
they the man that was blind, and they 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. And he didn't. At this point, he didn't know.
But he said, one thing I do know, one thing I do know, I don't
know a whole lot, but I do know this. I was blind, and now I
see. I do know that. I'm thoroughly
convinced of that. You may not like the answer,
but that's what happened. I don't know a whole lot. I'm
pretty ignorant about a lot of things. But I'm not ignorant
about this. I was blind. Now I see. Standing before these self-righteous
and godly religious hypocrites. You know what our Lord did here?
He gave this man light and he exposed their darkness. I've seen whole families be religious. They've been playing religion
for a long time. And God, in his mercy, reached
down and snatched one out and give them light. And God spreads
light in that whole family. Man, they don't like it now.
They wanted him religious. They just didn't want him to
know God. And they called him again, the
man that was blind. And they said, give God the praise.
We know that this man's a sinner. And he answered and said, whether
he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know. But whereas
I was blind, but now I see. They cannot leave this question
alone. They ask it again in verse 28.
Then said they to him again, what did he to thee? How did he open thine eyes? It's not who. They keep asking
what. They won't leave it alone. because
that's what bothers them. Men like to trust in experiences.
That's exactly right. How'd God save you? Are you saved? How'd God save you? I was blind. In religion, we was big on dates. They told you, you write down
the date when you made your decision. Because you're going to doubt
it, and you need to go back to that to get some assurance. I
heard Rothbarnard say something one time on a tape, and bless
my heart, he said, if you have to go back one day to see if
you're saved, more than likely you don't know God. You're looking
somewhere else other than Christ. And that's what they want from
this man. Look somewhere else. Look to what he did. Look, it
ain't what he did, it's who that did it. That is the question, who saved
you? Everybody's experience is not
the same. He uses the very same means. He uses the gospel to
save sinners. The preaching of the gospel. One day, the light comes on. And I say, Larry, I can explain.
Try to explain that. You can't. You can't. That bothers me. People ask me,
well, how did God say it? I don't know. I know it was by
grace. And I wasn't looking for Him. Well, what did He do to
you? How did He open your eyes? How
did He? Tell you exactly how He did it. He
did it sovereignly. He did it on purpose. And he
did it to show you mercy, and he did it to reveal other men's
darkness. Won't you notice this in verse
27, I think he got a little aggravated with them asking him. Then he
answered them, I've told you already, and you did not hear. They didn't want to hear. They
have eyes and they see not. They have ears and they what?
They hear not. You know what he said? He said,
I told you and you didn't hear me. Wherefore would you hear
it again? Do you think you're going to
get me to change my story just to fit you and make you happy?
It ain't going to happen. It's not going to happen. It's
not going to happen. That's what he said. Did you
not hear me the first time? And then he says, well, why are
you really asking me? Do you really want to know? Do
you want to be one of his disciples? Will you be one of his disciples?
Then they revived him. They said, thou art his disciples,
but we're Moses' disciples. Now, they spoke right there. They are under the law and they
love it. Do you not hear the law? They
think they're justified by their works. They think they're justified
by their self-righteousness. And they admit it. And they confess
that right. You're a Christ disciple. You
know what he is? He's a follower of Christ. Read
on to chapter 10. He keeps dealing with this in
chapter 10. He said, my sheep hear my voice.
And they followed me. He said, do you know the reason
you won't hear and the reason you don't believe? Because you're not my
sheep. Will you also be his disciple?
Then they reviled him. And they said, thou art his disciple.
We're Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses.
But for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. Then the
man answered and said unto them, why herein is a marvelous thing,
that you know not whence he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes. This is a marvelous thing, and
you can't see it. And you want to explain it away
as though it never happened. What a marvelous, marvelous,
The miracle of grace when God gives a man sight. I believe
it broke this man's heart. No matter what he said, these
men could not see. Couldn't see. Just can't see. Now we know that God heareth
not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and doeth
his will, him he heareth. Look what he said. Since the
world began, it was not heard that any man opened the eyes
of one that was born blind. We don't have any record of this
ever happening. If this man were not of God,
he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him,
thou wast altogether born in sins, and doth thou teach us. What right do you think you have
to teach me? Because they're saying, we know
everything. And they cast him out. You won't worry about that. Worry
about them friends. They'll take care of you. They won't want
you in their company. But you see what our Lord has
done? He's exposed the neighbors and the parents and all these
Pharisees for who they are. They're dead and they're in darkness
and they love it. This is the condemnation that
Christ is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. But that's not the end of the
story. Jesus heard that they'd cast
him out. And when he had found him, who
found who? The Lord found this man. You imagine how he feels. I imagine
he's a little confused. Why wouldn't people rejoice in
what God done for me? And they're going to cast me
out. They're saying they won't have nothing to do with me. Nothing. And Jesus found him and he said
unto him, does thou believe on the Son of God? That's the question that needs
to be asked. Does thou believe on the Son
of God? And he answered and said, who
is he? He asked the right question. Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
hast both seen him, and it is he which talks with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him. That's that man's experience.
That's how God saved him. I want to ask you a question.
In this story, when was this man saved? Would you like to answer that
question? I don't know. I do know this. Would it please
God? Isn't it? And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, for this, for judgment
I'm coming to this world, that they which see not might see.
And they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words, and they said unto him,
Are we blind also? Jesus said unto him, If you were
blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, We see. Therefore
your sin remaineth.