Thank you, Winston, welcome to
all. Let me give a couple of plugs
here this morning before I get started in my message. I want
to plug our media director. I know he doesn't want any plugs,
but he's the one that puts these articles in our bulletin every
week, and you know these are good gospel articles. They always
bring a little short excerpt of the gospel, and we can thank
Mr. Casey for that. And I want to
give another plug this morning before I get started. An article
Winston wrote about three weeks ago now, I think it was in the
bulletin. It was entitled, A Sight to Behold. And it caused me to
think and to look a little. And I just expanded that article
a little into a message. So that's what we'll be hearing
this morning. As you can see, my text is John 9, 39 through
41. I'll be talking about most of
this chapter, summarizing a good part of it. And we're going to
concentrate on those last three verses. But you all know, you've
all heard the term a sight for sore eyes. You've heard that
all your life. That's something we're familiar
with. It's an expression describing an unexpected but a welcomed
experience. An oasis in the desert, for instance,
is a sight for sore eyes to a thirsty man. A son's face at the door
is a sight for sore eyes to a mother awaiting his return from the
war. A sight for sore eyes. John 9 is about Christ's encounter
with a man blind from birth. Look at John 9 in verse 1. It
says, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind
from birth. Now it doesn't say a certain
man here. You remember in Bill's text, it said a certain woman.
Well, this is a certain man, whether it says it or not. He's
a particular man. This Jewish man had heard of
the temple, probably sat in it. but he had never seen the majesty
and the splendor of that temple. He had heard of Jesus of Nazareth,
had no doubt been in the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, but he
had never beheld his face. He couldn't see. So when Jesus
healed him of his blindness, Jesus was no doubt to him a sight
for sore eyes, a sight to behold. Christ's encounter with this
particular man was no accident. There was a reason this man was
born blind. There was a reason why this man
and Christ would meet, had to meet. The disciples wondered
about the reason for his blindness. Did he or his parents sin that
he should be born blind? They asked Jesus. But Christ
told them the real reason. Look at John 9 in verse 3. Jesus
answered them, neither hath this man sin nor his parents, but
that the works of God should be made manifest in him. That's
the reason he was born blind, that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. Also, Christ's encounter with
this man had results. The first of which, of course,
was physical sight. Christ anointed his eyes with
clay. He sent him to the pool of Siloam
to wash. And it says in verse 7 that he
came seeing. But there's another result, a
greater result of this man's encounter with Christ. Uh, you
know, in Bill's message, he talked about miracles. It was timely
that he mentioned so many miracles in the Bible. This is a particular
one. And it was a miracle of that. This blind, this man blind from
birth was healed physically, but we're going to see on down
into this chapter a little further. He, he was also provided another
healing. Let me fill in the blanks before
we get down to that particular place I want to read here. After
this man was healed of his blindness, His neighbors asked him, he said,
how do you now see? We know you were born blind.
And he said, well, a man named Jesus put clay on my eyes and
told me to go wash and I see. And he had done this on the Sabbath
day. And so the neighbors took him
to the Pharisees and the Pharisees were of course offended that
Christ had performed a miracle on the Sabbath day. And so they
asked this man again, Now, how were you made to see? And so
he had to relate this story to them all over again. And they
didn't believe him, so they called his parents. They didn't believe
that he had been born blind. His parents said, yeah, I can
verify that he was born blind. Now, how he sees, I don't know.
He's of age. Just ask him. So they brought
the man back. And they asked him again, and
he related the story again. And they were trying to get him
to call Jesus a sinner because he had healed him on the Sabbath
day. He said, this man can't be of God. This is the Pharisees
talking. He can't be of God. because he
healed you on the Sabbath day. But this man said, I don't know
if he's a sinner or not. One thing I know, I was blind
and now I see. And another thing, If this man
were not of God, he could do nothing. So the Pharisees, because
this man took a stand with Christ against them, they cast him out.
Now, I don't know whether that means they just cast him out
of their midst or cast him, excommunicated him. I don't know, but they cast
him out. And so what we'll do here is pick up in John 9 in
verse 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? The man answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? One of
the best questions a man can ask in this world and get an
answer to. This man asked it. 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 worshipped him. Now Christ
was a sight to behold to this man when he was given physical
sight, but he was more so spiritually when he was enabled to see him,
to know him, and to understand him to be the Son of God and
to worship him as the Messiah, Son of God. This man in our context,
John 9 here, is a type. He's a type of those that God
has chosen unto salvation. These that are chosen along with
all others born in this world are born spiritually blind. Those chosen into salvation are
made to see. All others are exposed as those
who might think they see, but are made, that is, they're revealed
to be blind. Now that's what Christ summarizes
in the text here in our last three verses of this chapter.
Look at John 9, 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. So we're going
to consider two truths from this context. First, we're going to
consider the reason for Christ's coming. It says he came for judgment. And then we'll see the results
of his coming. Two results. That those who don't
see might see, and that those who see might be made blind. So the first truth we have is
the reason for Christ's coming. Look back at John 9 and verse
33a here, the first part of that verse. It says, for judgment
I am come into this world. Christ came for judgment. Now
in other places, Christ said that he did not come for judgment. He did not come to judge. Look
at John 12 and verse 4. It says, and 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. So Christ is saying there he
didn't come to judge. The scripture is clear that Christ's
first coming was not to condemn. It wasn't to condemn sinners.
Look at John 3, 17. We know John 3.16, for God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. Well, that's 17 right
there. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. The scriptures are clear on two points here.
Christ did not come to judge, but to save, but also that He
did come for judgment. Now that might seem like a contradiction
to you. It would be to those who aren't
familiar with the Scriptures, but that's why context, like
Bill was talking about in Job, context is so vitally important
when you interpret the Scriptures. Christ's first appearance in
the world was not to judge. In other words, He didn't come
to punish or condemn sinners. That wasn't the reason He came.
His first visit was not punitive in nature, but his first coming
was for judgment. That's what he says here in John
9, 39. He came for the judgment of his
people. This is not what's going to be
stated in 939. He came for judgment. And there
are two ways in which Christ came for judgment. First, He
came for the judgment of His people. Christ was given a people. They were chosen in Him before
the world began. He came to bear their judgment. He came to pay the price of their
redemption. Look at Matthew 20 and verse
28. It says, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. He came to ransom His people. He was delivered up to the cross
because of the offenses of His people. Look at Romans 4 and
verse 25. It says, talking about Christ, who was delivered for
our offenses and was raised again for our justification. He came
for those people. charged with their sins, and
he was raised because he had done everything required for
God to be just and justify those sinners. He came to answer all
charges against those his father had given him. God charged him
with their sins. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
21. For God hath made him, Christ, to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, Christ knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. God charged Christ
with the sins of his people, and he worked out a righteousness
by which God is just to justify sinners. That righteousness is
charged to his people. Christ came for the judgment
of His people. He was judged by His Father for
His people. He bore their sins in His body
on the cross and put them away. He answered all charges against
those He was given. He established the one righteousness
by which God justifies ungodly sinners. No sinner Christ died
for is facing any charges, any punishment from God's justice.
Not one. Christ, their surety, their substitute,
has answered and paid all charges against them. Christ's first
coming was not to judge, that is, not to condemn or punish
sinners. His first coming was to save
sinners. His first coming was to bear the judgment of his people.
But there's another sense in which Christ's first coming was
for judgment. I told you there are two senses
of that word judgment here. And that's the sense of our text
here today in John 9. Christ's first coming was also
to separate sinners. That's the judgment he speaks
of in this context, John 9. One meaning for the Greek word
interpreted judgment, wherever you find it in the scripture,
one meaning for it is to render a judgment. That's the meaning
we looked at in other scriptures. Christ's first coming was not
to render a judgment against sinners. He didn't come for that
reason. Another meaning of the word interpreted
judgment is to separate. This is a different kind of judgment. This judgment is not punitive
in nature. It's not for punishment. It's
not for condemnation. This judgment is to distinguish
between believers and non-believers. This judgment is to reveal who
is saved and who is lost. If we look at John 9 in verse
5, Christ said here in this context we're looking at, as long as
I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Christ didn't come
to judge. He came to bear the judgment
of his people and he came to be the light by which his people
would be distinguished in this world. Light has a predictable
influence on darkness. Wherever there's light, it drives
out the darkness. It exposes and reveals whatever
the darkness has been hiding. Christ is the light that comes
to sinners in the preaching of the true gospel. He is the light
of the world. And he's still in the world.
And as long as this gospel is preached, he'll be in the world
because he's the light that's revealed in the gospel. And when
he comes in the gospel, he distinguish distinguishes between those of
the light and those of darkness. When he comes, he finds all either
in a standing of condemnation or a standing of justification. There are no exceptions and no
exclusions to that statement. All are either justified in Christ
based on his righteousness imputed, or all are either condemned based
on their sin charged to their account, one or the other. Christ
coming in the gospel does not change a sinner's standing. He
doesn't justify and he doesn't condemn. The gospel doesn't.
It simply reveals what that standing is. Now, we've considered the
reason for Christ's coming here. He came for judgment, but it's
a specific kind of judgment. In the context, that judgment
is about separating the saved and the lost. It's about distinguishing
the justified from the condemned. Now, how is that accomplished?
Well, that's what we'll find out in our second point here,
the results of Christ's coming. The second truth we have is the
results of Christ's coming. If we look back at John 9, verse
39, we'll see this first result of Christ's coming. And Jesus
said, For judgment I am coming to this world, that they which
see not might see. Two results of Christ's coming.
The first of those results is that those who don't see will
be unable to see. Just like Christ came to this
man in John 9, He came to heal him of his physical blindness. He comes to those who are born
spiritually blind. Now who is that? It's all of
us by nature. Look at Isaiah 42 and verse 16. The scripture
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." Christ comes
only to the blind. That's the state of all of us
by nature. We're all born spiritually blind. And he comes to the blind that
those blind not abide in darkness. Look at John 12, 46. Christ said,
I am come a light into the world that whoever believeth on me
should not abide in darkness. He comes to deliver those that
are blind from darkness and from Satan. Look at Acts 26, 18. He comes to open their eyes and
to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance
among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Christ
came for judgment. In our context, the first result
of Christ's coming is that they which see not might see. The
scriptures are clear that all are born blind. All who are now
in the light were once in darkness. All who now see were those who
previously saw not. The question is, what is now
seen that was before not seen? By nature, we can see a lot.
We can see a lot in the scriptures. We can see a savior. We can see
his blood. We can see his death, his burial,
his resurrection. We can see that salvation is
somehow connected to Christ as he's revealed in the scriptures.
What none of us, though, see by nature is what is vitally
necessary for God to be glorified in our salvation. What we cannot
see is the redemptive glory of God. What none can see is how
God can remain just and yet justify ungodly sinners. We don't see
how God can show mercy to sinners. Sinners who deserve nothing but
his eternal wrath. What none of us can see is what
makes the gospel, the message of Christ, the gospel, what makes
it the power of God and to salvation. What none of us can see is the
righteousness of God. That's what we're all blind to
by nature. Look at Romans 1, 16 and 17.
Paul said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, The just shall live by faith. The gospel alone reveals
the righteousness of God, and the righteousness of God is what
makes the gospel alone the power of God and the salvation. There
are many messages preached in this world, but the only message
that's the power of God and the salvation is the true gospel,
the one that reveals the righteousness of God. In the gospel, what is
heretofore unknown to sinners is revealed to every sinner who's
justified. The justified will see how God
is both just and justifier. Until a sinner sees this, he
is one among many who sees not. In other words, he's just in
the state of nature we're all born in, spiritually blind. God's
people are not born seeing, but they will see. They must see,
and Christ will bring them to see. They will see the mystery
of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. They will see how
Jesus Christ enabled the Father to be a just God and Savior.
They will see how a holy and righteous God saves sinners by
the finished work, the imputed righteousness of Christ alone.
They will see that God must be just when He saves, and that
He must save all for whom Christ died. Christ's righteousness,
which is the merits of his obedience, suffering, and death, Christ's
righteousness imputed answers every demand of God's holy law
and justice against every sinner for whom he died. This alone,
this righteousness imputed alone enables God to be just when he
justifies sinners. The justified will see this because
Christ came into the world for judgment. He came to distinguish
his people. He came to separate them from
the unbelieving world. They will embrace the gospel.
They will look to a just God and Savior. They will look to
Christ, who alone enables God to be just and justifier. Their
walk in this world, in the gospel, will distinguish them and evidence
that they've been separated from the world on this issue. The
encouragement of the apostles is for those who've been delivered,
those who before saw not, but now see. The encouragement of
the apostles is for us to walk like it. Walk like those given
light. Walk like those delivered from
darkness. Walk like those who seeing not,
now see. Look at Ephesians 5 and verse
8. Paul writes, for you were sometimes darkness. You were
born spiritually blind. You were born alienated and enemy
in your mind by wicked works. But now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light. And
then look at 1 Peter 2 verses 9 and 10. Peter writes, but you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time
past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So how do
you walk as children of light? How do you show forth the praises
of him who has called you out of darkness? How do we do that?
We walk in the gospel. We preach, promote, and defend
the message that declares the righteousness of God. And we
do that because we see what before we did not see. We do that because
the true gospel changed our thinking about how God saves sinners.
Christ came for judgment. And the first result of that
judgment is that they would see not, they see not the righteousness
of God. They see not the value God puts
on the righteousness Christ worked out. They see not, but they are
made to see and value that righteousness. My last point is the second result
of that judgment. Look back at John 9, 39. And
Jesus said, for judgment I am coming to this world that they
which see not might see. And here's that second reason,
result, 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 righteousness of God embraced. 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 are blind. They think
they see, but they're revealed to be blind. These are they of
which Christ spoke in John 5 in verse 40. He said, and you will
not come to me that you might have life. When a sinner is brought
to the gospel, the true Christ is declared. The righteousness
of God is revealed. The redemptive glory of God is
made known. And it is that gospel which will
judge sinners in the last day. Look at John 12, 47 and 48. We already read 47, but we'll
read it again here, and he says, And 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 rejected me and receiveth
not my words hath one that judges him. The word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day. And look at John 3,
18 through 19. He that believeth on Christ is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. The light is the gospel. The
gospel reveals the justification of those who believe it. It reveals
it. It doesn't justify them, but
it reveals their justification. Those who embrace the God and
the Savior that it declares are revealed to be justified. Those
who rest in the righteousness that gospel reveals. But it also
exposes the condemnation of those who reject the gospel. Those
who refuse the God and Savior of the gospel, those who go on
trying to work out their own righteousness. Let me give you a little illustration
here. The light of day is a blessing to the eagle and the hawk. The
light gives them extraordinary vision that they might seek out
their prey. But that same light is shunned
by the owl and the bat. These are night creatures. They're
night predators. They hide from the light of day.
They stay away from it. They seek their prey by night.
In a similar way, the light of the gospel is welcomed and embraced
by some, but is shunned and rejected by others. Look at 2 Corinthians
2, 14 through 16. Paul says, now thanks be unto
God which always causes us. Now he's talking about in the
preaching of the gospel. He always causes us to triumph
in the preaching of the gospel. I can say my standing here today
is a victory. It's a triumph because I've delivered
the gospel to you. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ and maketh 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? We just preach the gospel. God separates and distinguishes
His people by that message. The gospel does not justify,
nor does it condemn, but it does confront those who hear it with
things that they've never seen, things that they've never even
considered. And it 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. Look at our last two verses here,
and I'll be closing. Look at John 9 in verse 40 and
41. When Christ said, for judgment
I am come, that some who see not might see, and that those
who see might be blind, the Pharisees, some of the Pharisees which were
with him, heard these words and said unto him, are we blind also? Are you saying that we're blind
too? Jesus said unto them, if you were blind, you should have
no sin, but now you say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. If you were blind, he says, In
other words, if you could admit your blindness, there's no sin
in blindness. All are born spiritually blind,
and all are born blind for a reason, remember? In order that the works
of God should be made manifest. The sin that remains is not admitting
this blindness. The sin that remains is not admitting
that when I was ignorant of God's righteousness, I didn't know
God. I didn't know the Savior He sent.
I didn't know the salvation of God. The sin that remains is
not coming to, not embracing the gospel, the light that exposes
and ends spiritual blindness. The only thing that can. The
grace of God in the gospel. The sinner who rejects the gospel
but thinks he's saved on any other basis but Christ's righteousness
imputed is the one made blind. He's revealed to be blind. Christ doesn't make him blind.
His blindness is already there. But the gospel reveals him to
be so. That's our point. Christ came
that those who see might be made blind. Anybody who thinks they
see salvation apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ
is really blind. although they think they see.
Christ came for judgment. He came to bear the judgment
of his chosen people. He also came to separate and
distinguish those people from the world. They are born not
seeing, but they're given light, their embrace of the gospel.
It's God, it's savior, it's righteousness, their embrace of that gospel.
reveals them to be true believers. The judicial blindness of all
others is exposed by their rejection of that same light, that same
gospel. The question for us in closing
is, do you see or do you seeing see not? What a sight to behold
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's like Bill
said, it's a miracle. If any of us do it, if any of
us embrace this Savior, it's a miracle of God, one of His
greatest miracles. I pray that the Lord will enable
all who sit here and all who hear this message to see Him
as the just God and Savior He is, based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ alone.