Open your Bible to John chapter
9. Let's read verse 39 to begin
with. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am come into this world, that they which see not might see,
and they which see might be made blind. I received help from that
from someone, and they said, Christ came into this world that
those who are in the darkness of sin, ignorance and unbelief,
and who are conscious of that fact, and who desire spiritual
sight, may see the glory of God in him. Those that see not might
see. And they which see might be made
blind. Or those who profess themselves
to be wise, who fancy themselves to have the key of knowledge
and understanding, who deny their sin in the darkness of their
nature, they might be given up to judicial blindness and hardness
of heart. Sinners will be saved. He came
to this world to save sinners. And the self-righteous will be
hardened in their darkness. Here we're gonna look at this
chapter tonight, and I pray the Lord might open it to us. I tried
to speak from this a couple of weeks ago in Madisonville, and
I tried to do another message this past week for our radio
message. And every time I read this chapter, I just see something
more. To see him who came to this world
to save sinners, and save sinners. We see how he saves sinners in
this chapter. He singles out this blind man, this man who's
born blind from his birth, a picture of all men by nature who are
blind. And when we think about blind,
that means that they are ignorant. That means they can't see, they
have no understanding. Apart from God's grace, we cannot
see, understand anything. We can't understand anything
about God or understand anything about ourself. We think we can
see till we find out we can't. Till we find out we can't, beginning
in verse one. We find out from chapter eight,
our Lord is leaving the temple. They wanted to take up stones
and stone him. And as he goes out of the temple,
he goes through the midst of them and so passed by. And you know what he's doing?
He's leaving them alone. He's leaving them in their darkness. And as Jesus passed by, he saw
a man which was blind from his birth. As he's leaving, he sees
this man. This man does not approach our
Lord. Our Lord approaches him. And he sees him. Oh, what a blessed
day when he sees you in grace. He's leaving the temple. He's leaving the self-righteous
religious people, and he sees this man who's born blind, and
he's gonna show mercy to this man. Why? Because he will show
mercy to whom he will show mercy. But the first thing I see here
is in verse two. Now watch this. Then the disciples ask him, saying,
they also see this man that's born blind. You notice the question
they ask, master, who did sin? This man or his parent that was
born blind? What a stupid question to ask. What does that matter? What did
they see? Our Lord's seen a man who needed
mercy. And they're saying, well, who
did sin? This man or his parents said he's born blind. He must
be punished for someone's sins, either his or his parents. And
I thought, well, did they not see anything? What did they see? What doesn't that describe us?
Here's this man, poor blind man, blind from his birth. They said,
well, who did sin? Him or his parents said he's
born blind. And our Lord said in verse three, neither. We know
he's not saying that neither his parents or this man didn't
sin, they're not sinless, they both sinned. All sickness or
whatever it is is the result of sin. But he said neither. That ain't why this man was born
blind, but there was a reason he was born blind. There's a
reason that he was here the day that he was here. We're gonna
see there's a reason that our Lord healed him on a specific
day. He said neither had this man sinned nor his parents, but
that the works of God should be made manifest in this man,
that Christ is gonna reveal his glory, his great power. Why did our Lord do miracles?
These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ. He said, I must work the works
of him that sent me. Why, today the night comes when
no man can work. As long as I'm in the world,
I'm the light of the world. You know what blind men need? They
need light. They need light. He said, as long as I'm in the
world, I'm the light of the world. And he said, I've got a work that needs
to be done, and I'm gonna finish that work. 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. And he said unto him,
go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin,
And he went his way, therefore, and washed and came seeing. You say, what a strange way to
give a man sight. The miracle was not in the clay. Our Lord making clay from spittle
from dirt and putting it on this man's eyes. What good can that
do? That can't give him sight. And he says, go wash in the pool
of Siloam. And he went. He did exactly what
he was told to do. You know what he did? He acted
upon the light God gave him. If he'd have never went, he'd
have never received his sight. And he went. He said go and he
went. And he came back and this man
who never saw, he sees. You imagine for the first time
in your life, seeing. I'm talking about spiritually. I see. I can see him when he
goes there and puts his hand in the water and begins to wash
his eyes. And he said, what's that? I've never seen that. That's
a lot. And he sees. What an example of mercy and
grace. And he did exactly what he told him to do. What's gonna be the response?
We see in this chapter, we see he speaks of neighbors, Pharisees,
Then he's gonna speak about this man's parents. But the first
one it says, the neighbors. Verse eight, therefore when they,
and they which before had seen him that he was blind said, is
not this he that said and begged? He's not only a blind man, he's
a beggar. They know who he is. They saw him, they lived with
him, they lived near him, they're his neighbors. And they said,
is this not he? Something's different happened
about this man. There has been a drastic change
in this man. He sees. There's no denying he
sees. No question about it. And this
whole chapter is dealing, everybody wants to push it under the rug.
Everybody wants to deny the one who did the healing. That's what
they're trying to do. They're trying to discredit it.
And they said, is this not he? Some said, well, this is he.
Others said, well, it's like him. He resembles him. Yeah,
because he's different. You think he looks different?
He looks different. He sees. He sees. But you always said, I'm him.
I'm the man who said and begged. I'm the man that you saw that
was blind. He said, that's me. That's me. Therefore, they said unto him.
How were thine eyes opened? Now this is what unbelievable,
just how? How did this happen? It really
doesn't matter. It's who that did it. But everybody
wants to know how did this happen? How did this happen? And the
answer, and watch this. A man that is called Jesus made
clay and anointed my eyes and he said unto me, go to the pool
of Siloam and washed and I went and washed and I received my
sight. That's exactly how it happened.
A man that's called Jesus anointed my eyes with clay and told me
to go wash and I went and washed and I come and I see. That's
how it happened. That's how it happened. And they,
don't you see this? And they said unto him, where
is he at? And don't you notice this, in
the rest of this chapter, the word no, K-N-O-W, he said, I
know not, and he didn't. It's like our Lord put the clay
on his eyes, told him to go wash, and our Lord just goes off the
scene. He says, this man's never saw
him. You think about that, he's never
saw him. He said, I don't know where he is. He could walk up
in front of me and I don't know him and he'd be telling the truth.
You know what he's saying? He's telling what he does know
and he's not trying to pretend to know something that he doesn't
know. That's what we see in this chapter.
People try to pretend to know something that they don't even
know, they're ignorant to it. You reckon this man knows he
was blind? Oh yeah, he knows he's blind. He knows he was blind.
And now he knows he sees. And he knows what was told him
to do. He knows it. No question about it. Well, they're not done. They
bring him, verse 13, to the Pharisees, him that aforetime was blind.
Well, why do you think they're taking him to the Pharisees?
They think they're the ones that know. They think they're the ones who
have all the answers. Maybe they can unravel this mystery
of this man who stands before us that once was blind and now
he sees. Maybe they will know. In verse 14, and it was the Sabbath
day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. You think
he did that on purpose? The dem Pharisees, our Lord's
walking through the cornfield one day, and they just reach
out and get an ear of corn, and they criticize him for it. He
healed a man one day on the Sabbath day, and they said, well, there's
six other days during the week. Why don't you come one of them
six days? Don't come on the Sabbath day. He did it on purpose. And they don't like it. You know
why? They think they know better. Then again, the Pharisees also
ask him how he had received his sight. We want to know what's
going on here. How did you get your sight? He said unto them, watch how
he says it this time, he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed,
and I do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
this man is not of God. Now who are they speaking of?
They're speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're saying
this man is not of God. Why? Because he doesn't keep
the Sabbath day. Little do they know. Now who's
blind here? These are the people who they
could probably quote and recite to you the law They prided themselves
in knowing the law, but they didn't know the one that was
the satisfier of the law and the giver of the law. They said, this man's not a God
because he doesn't keep the commandments. Others said, well, how can a
man that is a sinner do such miracles? If he's such a sinner,
how could he do such a miracle? And there was a division among
them. And all this is over what? This
blind man. that sees there's a division
over who did the healing. Well, they said, oh, this man
can't be of God. Others said, well, how in the
world did he do this miracle? I think in the back of their
mind, everybody knows who did the miracle. They just don't
want to, they don't like it. I think that's it. They don't like it.
They're going to discredit him. They want to say he's an imposter. And they say unto the blind man
again, what sayest thou of him that he opened thine eyes? He
said, he's a prophet. He's a prophet. Verse 18, but
the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had ever even been
blind. They said, well, he's just never
been blind to start with. and that he had been blind and
received his sight until they called the parents of the man
that had received his sight. So we see the neighbors, they
take him to the Pharisees, and the Jews don't believe that he's
ever been, well, let's call his parents. They'll probably know.
They know some things, but they don't know what happened to him.
They don't know how it happened, and they don't know who did it. And they asked them saying, is
this your son whom you say was born blind? You see the sarcasm. Is this your son whom you say,
you just say he was born blind? Look what verse 21. But by what
means he now saith, we know not. And they didn't. They are ignorant to it. You
imagine this being their son. You picture this, this child's
in this family. They're all blind as bats. They're
all spiritually dead, dead and trespasses and in sins. And God
reaches down in his mercy and just picks up one of his worm
Jacobs. And he shows this man mercy and
gives him sight. And this man now sees everybody's
confused. Something's happened to this
man. God saved him. But what means he now sees, I
can't explain it. And they can't explain it. You
know what this is? This is the mystery of grace.
It's a mystery. It's a mystery how we can be
sitting in a building like this and God can bypass one and give
one sight and leave the other one blind. Isn't that a mystery? What a mystery. Or who hath opened
his eyes? We don't know. We don't know
how it happened, and we don't know who did it. We just don't know. He is of
age, ask him. He'll speak for himself. So some
say, you know, he's a grown man. He may have been 30 years old.
He'd been blind for 30 years. He said he's of age, ask him.
He probably knows. But you know another reason they
ask him? They said, you ask him? These words make his parents,
in verse 22, because they feared the Jews. Because the Jews had
already agreed already that if any man did confess that he was
Christ, that he would be put out of the synagogue. They're
gonna threaten him. I can see his parents standing
before these self-righteous religious men. And in their faces they
said, okay, how was your son healed and who healed him? And
the old time they're knowing, if we say it was Jesus Christ
that healed our son, they gonna kick us out of this church. And
that's exactly how it happens. That's exactly how it happens.
They'll take care of you. All this is happening because
our Lord showed this one man mercy. And he's also revealing
all the blindness of these other people who are blind. You know
what? They don't want to see. They
don't want to see. Therefore said his parents unto
him, he's of age. Then again they called the man
that was blind and they said unto him, give God the praise. Just in a general term, everybody
believes in God and everybody believes in a Jesus. Give God
the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. They said, what? We know this
man is a sinner? How did they know that? Where
did they come up with that idea? They're confessing what they
know. Give God the praise. Don't give
Christ, don't say that man healed you. Don't say that Jesus Christ
set you free. You can be in the midst of your
whole family, they can all be religious and self-righteous
and believe in their free wills, but you get in their midst and
you give Christ all the glory for setting you free and they
can't stand it. They cannot stand it. Don't you see what this man said?
This right here blesses my heart. You see this man, he's standing
before him. And he knows too, we're gonna see in a minute,
he knows that if he confesses Christ, they're gonna do the
same thing to him that they promised to do to his parents. They're
gonna throw him out. He answered and said, whether
he be a sinner or no, I know not. And he's stating the fact,
he doesn't know much about, at this point, he doesn't know much
about Christ. He said, whether he's a sinner
or not, I know not. But one thing I do know, one
thing I'm very certain of, one thing there's no question about,
I was blind and now I see. I know that. I know that. How it happened, I really, I'm
not sure. One day, God said, live. One
day, in the miracle of grace, Christ was born in the sinner's
heart, and they see. For the first time in their life,
they see. Say, preacher, I see what you're
talking about. I see who you're talking about.
That's what he said. I don't know much. I don't know
a whole lot. I know I was blind. And I couldn't
give myself sight. I could not save myself. But
now I see. I see. Isn't it a blessing to
be able to have spiritual eyes and see? Our Lord said, blessed
are your eyes. Blessed are your eyes. You see who Christ is. You see
that it's not a doctrine and it's a person. You see, and you
know, and you understand. And they said to him again, what
did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? Keep
going back to that issue. How did he open thine eyes? And he's answered them, I've
told you already. I've told you twice. I've told you twice and you didn't
hear. Why didn't they hear? They didn't
want to hear. Do they think if they ask this
man enough times he's going to change his story? I've told you already and you
did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again? Are you really interested in
hearing? Do you want to be one of his disciples? Is that why you're asking this
question? I wish they had been interested. Will you also be his disciple?
Will you be a follower of this man? Then they reviled him and they
said, thou art his disciple. But where Moses' disciple? Boy,
they answered that right, didn't they? You just try to give yourself
sight by your good works. See how that works out. But they'd
have been okay with that. that had been fine with it. We know that God spake unto Moses. Here they go speaking again.
We know that God spoke unto Moses. But as for this fellow, we know
not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto
them. Why, herein is a marvelous thing.
that you know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened
mine eyes. I don't care how ignorant. I
haven't seen him look at those men and said, I don't care how
ignorant you are. You want to stay in your blindness? There's
no denying the fact that God's done something miraculous here.
There's no denying it. There's no denying it. Yet you know not from whence
he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes. Now we know that God
heareth not sinners. But if any man be a worshipper
of God and doeth his will, he heareth. Since the world began,
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind? We have no record of anybody else eyes being opened
that were born blind. What are you going to do with
this? We can do it. I believe this
man is speaking in meekness and sincerity. His heart may be broken. I mean, don't you know he's thinking,
you would think everybody in the world would be tickled to
death if this man could see, but they're not. Religion wants you to play religion.
Religion wants you to be religious. They just don't want you to know
God. They want you to be blind just like they are. but your sight reveals and exposes
their darkness. Verse 33, if this man were not
of God, he could do nothing. It's like they came to our Lord,
that man came to our Lord one day, he said, good master. And
our Lord said, why'd you call me good? There's none good but one and
that's God. If I'm not God, I'm not good. And he's saying, if I'm good,
I'm God. You know what he's saying? He
said, if that man, I don't know much about him. He said, I don't
know a whole lot. But if he's not a God, he couldn't
do anything. Who is Jesus Christ? I tell you
exactly who he is, he's God. First and foremost, He's God. God manifests among us. Only
God can save a sinner. Only God can give sight to the
blind. Only God can do that. And you know what they got to
do? They got to deny that He's God. And they don't like it. They want somebody, they want
to be God. Oh, thank God for the day you
find out you're not God. And he's God. And you cannot give yourself
sight. Spirit, you can't do it. He said, if this man were not
of God, he could do nothing. Most people have no clue who
Christ is. That one that hung upon the cross,
he's God. That one that they put in the
tomb, he's God. That one that rose from the grave, he's God.
That one that must make himself known to you, he's God. He's
God. They answered and said unto him,
verse 34, thou wast altogether born in sins. Did they not think
they were? And thou gonna teach us? That's
what makes them upset. They've got their big degrees.
They've been to school and they think they're so smart. They
saw that Peter and John were unlearned and ignorant men and
they took knowledge that they'd been with Christ. This old poor
beggar's probably standing there in his rags and he said, you think you gonna teach us?
That's exactly how God will teach you. We have to find out we know nothing
apart from his grace. Nothing. He said, did thou thus
teach us? And they cast him out. And when they cast him out, they
cast out this man who has the truth and they don't want it. This man who's been healed, And
they said, we don't want it. We don't want it around here.
We won't have it. It makes us uncomfortable. Verse 35, and Jesus heard that
they'd cast him out. And when he found him, Christ
come looking for him. You imagine how low this man
feels. Lindsay, I would have thought everybody would have
been excited. I would have thought everybody would have been excited.
They knew I was an old beggar. Why'd God save me? Why would
he give me sight? Why would he do this for me?
And they just want to turn on me. They just want to hate me.
You know why they want to hate you? Because they hate him. You are a reminder to them that
only God can do what he did. When Jesus heard that they cast
him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, do you believe on the Son of
God? I'll ask you a question tonight.
Do you believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said,
who is he, Lord? He's standing right in front
of him, and at this point, he doesn't know. You know when you will find out
who he is? When he is pleased like he did Joseph's brethren
to make himself known. But what I say, he did not leave
this man alone. He said, who is he, Lord, that
I may believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, thou
hast both seen him, And it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. Why does this man believe? They
shall be all taught of God. This man believed. Isn't it so, I think sometimes
we read that word and it's, there's such, it's so full of meaning,
to believe. To believe. I believe, and he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am 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, they
begin to question, is he talking to us? Are we blind also? And Jesus said unto him, if you
were blind, you would have no sin. I would put your sin away.
I would make an atonement for your sin. But now you say, we
see. And if that's what your statement
is, if that's your confession, your sin remaineth. Men don't come to the light because
they hate the light, because their deeds are evil. But he has exposed, he has pierced
their darkness, and he's left them in darkness. What do I take
from this? God enabled us to act upon the
light that he's given us. as this man did, he walked in
the light. When Christ came to him, he said, who is he, Lord?
I don't know him. He said, I that speak unto you
am he. And he fell at his feet, and
that's when you worship. When he makes himself known.
And opens our eyes. You know, we come to this book,
and we desire to see. I wanna see Christ. And many times I come and it's
like the scales is on my eyes. But thank God for the times he
pulls it back and he says, there he is. There he is. And you know what
you do? You fold his feet and you worship him. May God enable
us to worship our great Lord and our Savior, who is God.