Let's go to John chapter 9. We began looking at this chapter
last time I preached before you looked at one verse here. And
I'll remind you what that said. But let me introduce this lesson
this way. First, the title of this message is, Born Blind But
Not Forgotten. And you'll appreciate that title
by the time I get through with this message because it's going
to prove to us that all of us, although this man in this story
was born physically blind, all of us are born spiritually blind.
And thankfully God has not forgotten us all. He's delivered some of
us out of that blindness and to His glorious light. In John chapter 14, Christ's
disciples were understandably anxious about His imminent departure.
He had told them that He was going to the cross. He had told
them that He was leaving them. And He wanted them to know that
although He was going to His Father, that they would not be
left alone in this world. The Holy Spirit would be sent
to them to give them spiritual life and sight and to guide them
into all truth. Listen to this prophetic statement
Jesus made to his disciples just prior to his departure. You can
just flip over there to John 14.9 if you want to. It's right
just a couple of pages over. I said John 14.9. John 14 verse
15 is what I'm reading from. He's encouraging his disciples
here. He said, If you love me, keep
my commandments, and I will pray to the Father, and he will give
you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit
of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
him nor knows him. But you know him, for he dwells
with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans.
I will come to you a little while longer, and the world will see
me no more. But you will see me, because I live. You will
live also." He is promising his disciples here. He is promising
them spiritual birth, which will lead to spiritual sight. And
spiritual sight is what the discourse in John 9 and 10 is all about. Now look back at John chapter
9 at this verse we looked at last time, John 9 and verse 39. And Jesus said, For judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not may see, and
that they which C. May become blind. Christ's first
coming, we learned last time, was not for judgment. It was not to judge the world,
but to bear the judgment that His elect were facing because
of imputed sin. He came for judgment, as He said
in this verse. But he didn't come in order to
judge, but with a view to bearing away the judgment that his elect
were facing. And he came in order that those
not seeing might or would see. We'll see this story that we're
going to study here in chapters 9 and 10. A man born blind, but
given both physical and spiritual sight. Typifying God's elect,
born spiritually blind, but given spiritual sight. And Christ said
He came for a third reason. He came in order that those seeing
might or would be made blind. These are typified throughout
this discourse by the Pharisees who, although they have physical
sight, are never delivered from their spiritual blindness. And
therefore, even though they heard Christ's words, and even though
they saw His works, they saw them physically, they saw them
mentally, but they continued to reject Him. and salvation
conditioned on him alone. So there will be those who seeming
to see, they will be revealed to be blind. Now there is a lot
to be considered in this passage of scripture we are going to
look at over these next few messages that I have, but rather than
read the entire chapter, I am going to give you a little outline
of chapter 9 here as we are going to be looking at it in future
weeks. five verses here, which is what I'll be dealing with
today. We have the reason for spiritual blindness, and that
reason is summed up there at the end of verse 3, that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. And remember, him is
typified, all of us, spiritually blind by nature. In verses 4
through 7, we're going to have the receiving of spiritual sight.
It's summed up at the end of verse 7. This man that Jesus
came to and put clay on his eyes, at the end of verse 7 there,
he said he went his way, therefore, doing what Christ told him, and
washed, and came seeing. That's the receiving of spiritual
sight. And then verses 8 through 34, we're going to have the reaction
of the world. Now, the world here will be those who think
they see, but really, they're blind. The reaction of the world. to the work of Christ done in
this center and done in each of us as God brings us to spiritual
life and life. We'll see it in the man's casual
acquaintances. They wash their hands of this
man. They take him to the Pharisees there in verse 13. They really
didn't have much to say to him. They brought him to the Pharisees,
him that aforetime was blind. And then we'll see the reaction
of the world in the man's parents. What they want to do is separate
themselves from the son's insistence that Christ is a prophet. And
we see that in verse 20 and 21. His parents answered the Pharisees
and said, We know that this is our son. We know that he was
born blind. But by what means he now seeth?
We don't know. Or who hath opened his eyes?
We don't know. He is of age. Ask him. He shall
speak for himself. And they're just trying to wrangle
around being entangled with this man's enthusiasm over the one
who gave him sight. Okay, and then the next reaction
to the world will be the Pharisees themselves who demonstrate throughout
this discourse a blatant rejection of Christ and His finished work.
And then in verse 17 and 24 and 33 we'll see another point concerning
the response of those who are given sight to those who refuse
to see. The man whose eyes were opened
defends the one who opened them in verse 25. We can see that
summed up. This man answered the Pharisees
and said, whether he's a sinner or not, I know not. One thing
I know is that whereas as I was blind, now I see. And then in verse 35-38 we'll
see the results of spiritual sight. Now, this man was born
in a seemingly, well, not a seemingly, it would be very terrible to
be born and blind in this world without any ability to see whatsoever. That was his beginning. And he
spent many of his years in blindness, at least 20, because he was of
age, and that would be, I think, around the age of 20. But he
was enabled to behold, to believe in, and to worship the very Son
of God. In verse 38, he said, Christ had asked him, do you
believe in the Son of God? And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped Him. And then 39, last time we studied
this verse, it's Christ's statement of His purpose for His first
coming. And then verses 40 and 41 and on into chapter 10, we'll
see the rejection of spiritual sight. Those God has not purposed
to see, to bring to spiritual light. Those are not given eyes
to see. Those will remain in spiritual
darkness and never bow to the true Savior and the salvation
that's in Him alone. And we'll see that. See, this
world thinks God is out here in the world trying to save as
many sinners as He can. But we can see throughout the
Scriptures that there are those who have been purposed to be
delivered and those who have been purposed to be left in their
blindness. In verse 41, Jesus said to the
Pharisees, if you were blind, you should have no sin. But now
you say we see, therefore your sin remains. These are those
that won't be delivered. Now obviously I think this is
a very important passage of Scripture and lots to be understood here,
and I hope by the time we get through with it you might join
me in that conclusion. But today we're going to look
at just the first five verses under this heading, The Reason
for Spiritual Blindness. Although God has chosen a people
unto salvation in Christ, chosen before the world began, picked
out who would be saved, for no reason found in them whatsoever,
like Bill said in the back, a reason known only to Him, it seemed
good in His sight. Although He has chosen a people,
and although Christ has died for, redeemed, and justified
all those that the Father chose, yet All without exception, including
those chosen, including those redeemed and justified, are born
spiritually blind. Why are these sinners, just like
those not chosen, born spiritually blind? Now that's the question
I'm going to try to answer in this lesson. My first point,
the reason for spiritual blindness. Let's read verse 1 here. John
9 and verse 1. And as Jesus passed by, He saw
a man which was blind from his birth. Now, let's stop right
here for just a second. Was this man seeking Jesus? Was he out on the road trying
to flag Him down? Was he running after him? Was he even calling his name?
You know, there are instances where Christ healed blind men,
and they did cry out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
But this man, he wasn't doing any of those things. Jesus saw
him, it says, as he passed by. Did this man ask Jesus to help
him? No, he didn't ask Him for help.
Why? Because although this man was
indeed healed physically, that's not all there is to this story
we've got before us here. See, we want to be like Paul
Harvey says. We want to hear the rest of this
story. It's not just about a physical healing. It's also about a spiritual
healing as well. Everything about this man born
blind is typifying the giving of spiritual sight to God's elect. This man could not see Jesus
He was blind. He couldn't see anything. He
couldn't see Jesus any more than any one of us, by nature, could
see the Jesus set forth in this Word. We had a Jesus in our mind,
but not the one revealed in the pages of this book. For years,
I was in a religion that called on Jesus. But it was a Jesus
who died for all men. It was a Jesus who wanted to
save everybody. It wasn't the Jesus who died
for specific people and by His death saved them and ensured
their final glory in heaven by His work alone. So this man didn't see Jesus. He could not see until God gave
him sight, physical sight. None of us see the Jesus of this
Word until God gives us spiritual sight. This man did not ask Jesus
to help him. Just like no one of God's chosen
born into this world is seeking help for their blindness until
Christ provides the help that we don't even know we need. See,
we've got to be given sight before we can see what we even need.
We've got to see what Christ has accomplished before we can
see what saved us, what delivered us from God's wrath and put us
in His unchangeable favor. This man was born void of any
ability to see, just like all are born blind spiritually, without
any ability to see or discern spiritual things. Listen to 1
Corinthians 2, verse 14. But the natural man, now that's
all of us by nature. That's all of us before we're
delivered into a spiritual realm. We're natural men. The natural
man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. This man was delivered from his
physical blindness, but he's typifying a much greater work
of God. He's a type of God's elect. Not
all without exception, but God's elect. He's a type of God's elect
being delivered from spiritual blindness. Spiritual sight is
never given to those who are seeking it. Why is that? Because
none of us by nature are seeking it from the God who has purpose
to give it. None know we need it. All think
we already have it. Do you all remember a little
statement Bill used to say about salvation? We all think we're
saved before we're saved, until we're saved. Well, that same
statement is true right here. We all think we see. We think
we see God. We think we see His way of salvation
before we see it. until we see it. Then and only
then do we see that we were blind. Spiritual sight alone reveals
that spiritual blindness. That's why those who see, seeing
will be made blind. They'll never be brought to spiritual
sight, so they'll never see their spiritual blindness. And you
and I who have been given eyes to see, we can see the blindness
in them before God saved us and in us before God saved us and
in them. Now, this spiritual blindness I'm talking about here
is what we read over there in Romans 3 and verse 10. If you
mark that place, let's just look at that again. It's describing
all of us by nature. The bottom line being on all
of us, verse 18, there is no fear of God before our eyes.
By nature, none of us know We're not even concerned about
the glory of God in salvation. We're not even concerned about
whether God is just when He justifies a sinner. We're not even concerned
about whether all His attributes are honored in that salvation
or not. And that's what that verse 18 means. There's no fear,
there's no reverence for God's character before our eyes by
nature. And there won't be until God
opens those eyes, until He gives us spiritual sight. That's why
Christ said to Nicodemus in John 3, Marvel not that I said unto
you, you must be born from above. And this birth will take place
in each of Christ's sheep. And it will take place in each
of Christ's sheep just like our natural birth took place. without
us having one thing to do with it. What did you have to do with
your natural birth? Did you choose your parents?
Did you choose where you'd be born? What country? Did you choose
what city you'd live in? What did you have to do with
it? Not one thing. And that's the same thing you
have to do with your spiritual birth. Not one thing. Spiritual
sight will be given to sinners who do not see their need of
it and are not seeking it from the only Savior who can give
it. It will be given to those chosen by God the Father, redeemed
and justified by Christ, by His blood at the cross. All right,
let's look on to verse 2 here. John 9, 2. And his disciples
asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind? The disciples are asking, what's
the cause? What's the reason for this man
being born blind? And you can tell by their question,
they think I've got it narrowed down to two possibilities. But
when Christ answers it, you won't see even one of those possibilities.
They don't have a clue. Just like you and I didn't have
a clue before God brought us to the Gospel why anyone is born
spiritually blind. Look on to verse 3 here. Jesus
answered, neither had this man sin, nor his parents. but that
the works of God should be made manifest in him. Now, he's not
saying they're sinlessly perfect here. He's just saying that sin,
their sin, neither one of their particular sins, is not the reason
for this man being born blind. He was born blind that the works
of God should be made manifest in him. Now, when were the works
of God made manifest in this blind man? When God providentially
ended his blindness, when he gave him sight. down in verse
7, when he came seeing. That's when he was providentially
delivered from that physical ailment. If the story ended right
here, this would be nothing more than
God showing His providential mercy to one of His creation. In other words, if all there
was to this story was just Christ healing a man of his physical
blindness and giving him physical sight, that would be the end
of the story. It would be showing the same mercy that God shows
to all without exception in this world continuously. The same
mercy we hear stated here in Matthew 5 and verse 45. Listen
to this. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate
you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you, that you
may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes
his sun to rise on evil and on the good, and sends the rain
on the just and on the unjust." That's God's providential mercy
doll. The sun shining, the rain falling. He doesn't take his
rain shower and say, well, this is one of my elect's fields,
I'll just rain on him today, and right next to him not rain
on the unchosen. He makes it to rain on the just
as well as the unjust. Everyone in this universe in
any given moment is experiencing God's providential mercy. Every
breath we take. Every healing we enjoy. Every
success in this world. Every good thing James said comes
down to us from the Father of life. That's God's providence.
is providential mercy. Whenever there's any good, it
can only be attributed to the providential mercy and goodness
of God. And that's on anybody. That's
on all of us without exception. The chosen and the unchosen.
Now, most are attributing the good in their lives to a God
of their imagination. But that doesn't stop the good
from coming. You and I who know and worship the true and living
God would be no different than this. than attributing all this
good to a god of our imagination. We'd be no different in this,
but for one reason. God's mercy and grace in Christ. He chose us in Christ. He sent
Christ to meet and satisfy all the conditions necessary for
Him to be just and justify us. And then He sends the Spirit
of God in time to give us life and give us spiritual light to
see this glorious Savior and this glorious salvation that
He's already worked out for us. And the only reason we're any
different from anybody else in this world is because of God's
eternal mercy and grace. He chose to give us mercy. We
did nothing to earn it. And we are no more deserving
that mercy in ourselves, based on anything found in us, than
the worst of those who have never been chosen. No more deserving
of God's mercy. That's why this story doesn't
end with physical heathen. Because it's not just about God's
providential mercy. It's also about His eternal mercy.
The providential mercy of God was made manifest in this blind
man when he came seeing, when he was given physical sight.
When are the works of God made manifest in His elect? When they
are enabled to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When God shines in our hearts
the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. In other words, when He brings
us to spiritual sight, to behold how He is just and justifier
of ungodly sinners. But this work of spiritual sight
can only be done in us, within us, because of the work of Christ
for us in His life and in His death. Look on to verse 4 in
this discourse here. Christ said, I must work the
works of Him that sent Me while it is day, the night coming when
no man can work. He said, I must work here. He
didn't say I must enable sinners to work. He didn't say I must
work in sinners. Jonah said salvation is of the
Lord. And that's from one end to the
other. That's from our election in eternity before the world
began all the way to final glory in heaven and everything in between
that God brings us into. Salvation is the Lord's work. It's the work assigned to Christ
alone. And it's the work accomplished by Christ alone. In this story,
Christ's work is giving physical and spiritual sight to this blind
man. But we know that Christ's ultimate
work was to lay down His life for this blind man and all His
sheep in order that God might be just and justify. Look at
John chapter 10 and verse 11. I think this is in your bulletin
as well, but let's read it here in John 10 and verse 11. Christ
said, I'm the good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. And in the giving of that life,
he gives them eternal life. God's work in sinners is the
result of Christ's work for sinners. God's work in sinners is to reveal
that salvation worked out for them in Christ's life and in
His death. That salvation that is the result
of the righteousness Christ earned being imputed to our account.
And it's that salvation that the Holy Spirit reveals in the
heart in regeneration. It's that salvation our eyes
are turned to when we're given spiritual sight. Those given
spiritual sight are given eyes to see and hearts to respond
and wills to rest in that salvation that Christ Himself alone has
worked out. Read verse 5 here. As long as
I am in the world, Christ said, I am the light of the world.
Well, how long is Christ in the world? Is He still in the world?
Physically, He's not in the world. He's gone to be at the right
hand of His Father. Ascended. Having finished the
work, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So, is
He in the world or not? He's in the world. He's in the
world in His Word. He's in the world in the Gospel
that sets Him forth in this world, and will be as long as that Gospel
remains. He'll be in the world. Look over
at 2 Peter 3.10. How long will Christ be in the
world? This will tell us that. 2 Peter 3.10. Now, before I read
this verse, let me tell you about one of the churches in town,
and I won't necessarily mention which one, but on their marquee
out front, they've got this statement. God is not willing that any should
perish. Is that the truth? That's what
they've got on their marquee. And they're setting that before
men as truth. Let's see, according to this
verse, if that is the truth. That's not what he says right
here. It's going to be verse 9 instead of verse 10. I said
verse 10. 2 Peter 3 and verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. Somebody specific here. He's
longsuffering. not willing that any of usward
should perish, but that all should come to repentance." In other
words, the ones Christ has already redeemed and justified by his
blood there at the cross, those are not going to leave this world
in spiritual blindness. They are going to be brought
to repent. of thinking that they had anything to do with recommending
them to God. Anything to do with the righteousness
that gives him a just standing before God. They're going to
be brought to understand that their standing before God is
based on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
And they're going to do that before they leave this world.
He's not willing that any of us were those that He's chosen
to be delivered from their spiritual darkness and to be brought to
spiritual light. He's not willing that any of
us should perish. And Christ is in this world until the last
one of those has been brought to repentance. He'll be here
as long as this gospel is being preached. Christ would be just
as negligent in failing to give one of His sheep spiritual sight,
sending the Spirit of God to bring them to spiritual sight,
as He would have been not to have done everything necessary
for them to stand holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in the sight
of His Father. And that's why every one of Christ's
sheep, not one of them will be left in spiritual blindness.
All will be brought to spiritual sight. Look back in our text
over here to John. John 10 and verse 16. Christ
said here, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. He's
talking about this Jewish fold of which His disciples were members.
Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I
must bring. The glory of God is at stake
in Him bringing all of them, all of them to spiritual sight.
And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Okay, let me summarize what I
think we've seen here in these verses. I've had a week or two
to study these. You'll have to take a moment
to think about them if you want to understand them well. But let me summarize
what I've said here. We've seen three important things,
I think, in these five verses. First, the reason this man in
this story was born blind, as well as the reason those chosen
by God are born spiritually blind, we see back in verse 3, in order
that the works of God should be or would be made manifest
in them. God's work. His work in salvation,
His declaration of salvation, the salvation Christ has already
accomplished is going to be made known. In other words, I'm going
to know who my Savior is. I'm going to know what He's done
that enables me to stand before God and be declared just in His
sight. I'm not going to be at the judgment
saying, Lord, have an eye. I'm going to be at the judgment
saying, Lord, I have no hope but to be found in Him, not having
a righteousness of my own, but in His righteousness reckoned
to my account. All right, that's the first thing we learned. The
second thing, that God's providential mercy is continually being manifested
to all men. He makes the rain to fall and
the sun to shine. But His eternal mercy is manifested
only in those who are delivered from spiritual blindness, to
see the Savior who has saved them by His work alone and is
keeping them by that same work unto final glory. And the third
thing, we learned here is that the works of God in His elect
are the fruit and result of Christ's work for them in His obedient
life and sacrificial death. The only ones enabled to behold
God's redemptive glory in the personal work of Christ are those
sheep Christ laid down His life for. In other words, there are
some in this world that are never going to be brought to this life.
They're never going to be delivered from their spiritual blindness.
Should that discourage anyone from seeking? No, because all
who seek will find, God says. All who seek this Savior, all
who seek life in His finished work alone, shall be saved. What's taking place in this world
is not what most people think. Most think that God is trying
to get as many sinners saved as He can. They see the gospel
as an invitation toward that end. Walk this aisle or accept
Christ and you will be saved. But the gospel is not an invitation.
The gospel is a declaration of what Christ has already done
to deliver a multitude of sinners out from under God's wrath and
into God's eternal favor by the imputation of His righteousness
alone. Now we are going to see in this
story as we continue to study it, all will not be given spiritual
sight. God is not purposed for all to
see, but thank God He has purpose that some will see. And they
are certain to see. Christ won't come again or they
won't die without this sight. He's chosen a multitude of every
kindred, tribe, and nation. And Christ has redeemed and justified
those who were chosen. And all those without exception
will be given spiritual sight. That's when the works of God
will be manifest in them. And that's my first point. The
reason this man and each of Christ's sheep are born blind is in order
that the works of God might be made manifest in their deliverance
from spiritual blindness. Well, I hope that's given you
something to think about.