I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Blind See, and The Seeing Made Blind. Verse 39 of John chapter 9, and Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world. And here's the judgment, that
they which see not might see, and that they which see might
be made blind. Now anytime Christ tells us his
purpose for coming into the world, it ought to get our careful attention. And the Lord tells us why he
came, for judgment. And he announces this twofold
judgment, and this word judgment is the verdict. the sentence
of the judge. And here is the sentence of the
judge. Those which see are made blind. And those who are blind are given
sight. And here's what he says with
regard to those who are blind, they have no sin. Now, I want
you to think about that. He didn't say their sin's forgiven,
although it is. It says they have no sin. Well, that's attractive to me.
I want to be one of those people, don't you? Somebody who before
God has no sin. And he says to those people who
claim to see, your sin remains. It's still there. Christ came into the world. The Creator came into his creation. The Word was made flesh. On numerous occasions, he tells
us why he came. John 18, 37, he said he came
to bear witness to the truth. And the only way you and I will
know the truth is if he himself bears witness to us of his truth. Won't know it without him. He
said in John 12, 46, I am come a light into the world, that
whosoever believeth in me should not walk in darkness." Now he's
the light. And if I don't have him as my
light, I am in darkness. He said in Matthew 9, 13, I came
not to call the righteous. Now think of these scriptures.
This is where he tells us why he came. He said, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now if you're
righteous, you cut your own throat. He didn't come from you. If you
have any personal righteousness, you will not be saved. He came
to call sinners to repentance. A complete change of mind. He said in Luke 19.10, the Son
of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Have you ever been lost? Have
you ever been lost? Well, if you have, he came to
save you. Somebody says, I've never been
lost. Well, he didn't come for you then. He came to seek and
save that which was lost. John 3, 17, for God sent not
his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved. You see, the world was already
condemned. He came for the purpose of salvation. 1 Timothy 1, 15. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world. There we have it again. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of whom Paul said, I am the chief.
Now, if that's not my favorite verse, it ought to be. First John 4, 10, here in this
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now in all of these
verses, his reason for coming has something to do with salvation,
doesn't it? But here, when he makes this statement, he says,
I've come for judgment. Judgment. the decision or the
verdict of the judge with regard to the one on trial. Now, God's
not on trial. We are. Don't forget that. Every one of us have been guilty
of judging God and disagreeing with God. God's not on trial.
We are. And he says for judgment, I'm
coming to this world. Now this word is also translated
condemnation and damnation. For judgment, I've come into
this world. And as usual, there are two people
described with regard to this judgment, those who see and those
who are blind. These are the two people, those
who see and those who are blind. And regarding those who see,
he says their sin remains. And regarding those who are blind,
he says they have no sin. Now that's such a glorious, mysterious
statement. He says regarding these people,
they have no sin. I wanna be one of those people,
don't you? Somebody who before God has no sin. Now the Lord says for judgment
I'm coming to this world and this is who Abraham referred
to when he said, shall not the judge of the earth do right?
Now with regard to his judgment, he's always right. Men are born knowing that God
is Somebody says, I'm an atheist.
Well, you haven't always been. You might've developed that way
of thinking over time, but you were born knowing that God is
and that God will, as the judge of the earth, reward the righteous
and punish the wicked. Everyone is born with that light. Everybody knows the difference
between right and wrong. Everybody has God's law written in their
hearts. You know it's wrong to lie. You know it's wrong to steal.
You know it's wrong to murder. You know it's wrong. You're born
with that knowledge. Nobody complete ignorance or
make any excuse. When John saw the rider on the
white horse, he that sat upon him was faithful and true, and
in righteousness he doth judge. and make war. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, for judgment I have
come. I want to read a passage from
Matthew chapter 25. You can turn there if you want, verse 31.
When the Son of Man, Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man,
the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, shall come in his glory and all
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations. Me and
you are in that group. Before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. The sheep and the
goats are the blind and those who see. They're the believers
and the unbelievers. They're the righteous and the
wicked. through the saved and the lost. Then shall the king
say unto them on the right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Verse 41, then shall he say unto
them on his left hand, the goats depart from me, ye cursed into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And the Lord says in our text,
in John chapter 9, for judgment. I have come into this world. Then he makes this twofold judgment. I've come to give sight to those
who are blind. And I've come to blind. those
who think they see. Now which group am I in? Which
group are you in? There are only two. Those who
are blind and those who say we see. Which one are you? Now who are these people who
are described as those who see not? Look back in our text, verse
39, John chapter nine, For judgment I'm coming to this world that
they would see not, might see. Who are these people who see
not? These are the people who cannot
see one reason in themselves as to why God would favor them. Let me repeat that. These are
the people who cannot see, they cannot find in themselves one
reason why God would ever look in favor toward them. I wonder
if anyone listening feels that way about themselves. Why would
he ever save me? What would ever give him a reason
to save me? When people first hear the gospel,
their first objection is, well, that's not fair. That's the first. If you've ever not made that
objection, it's because you've never heard the gospel. The initial
response of everybody when they first hear the gospel is, that's
not fair. Now, when I make that objection,
that's not fair. That means I'm sitting in judgment
on God. I'm giving him my take on things. This is not fair.
I don't like the way you are doing things. Now, why do people
make that objection? I hope you'll listen to me very
carefully or listen to the word of God very carefully. That's not fair. According to
the scriptures, Men, you and me, are born into
this world evil. That's strong language, evil. The wicked, the scripture says,
are estranged from the womb. They go about, as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. And this evil that we're born
with is a result of our first father's fall. By one man, sin
entered the world. That's talking about the fall
of Adam. By this one man, sin entered
the world and death by sin, so that death passed upon all men,
me and you. in that all have sinned. When Adam sinned, I sinned. Somebody says, well, that's not
fair that I should be held responsible for something somebody else did. When he did it, you did it. You
were united to him. You were in him so that when
he committed that sin, you personally committed that sin. And now you are, I am born into
this world, evil, wicked, without one drop of personal righteousness. God saw Genesis chapter six,
verse five, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth. That means your wickedness personally,
your wickedness is great before God. God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil, nonstop, continually,
all the time. Now how can somebody like that
be saved? I'm glad you asked. According to the scriptures, God, before time began, before
creation, chose or elected a great number of people to be saved. It's called in Romans 11, 5,
the election of grace. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians
2.13, but we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning,
before time began, chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now what that means is,
although everybody deserves to be damned and everybody's wicked,
God's gonna save the people. He elected a people before time
began. He didn't elect everybody. That's just the facts. He didn't
elect everybody. But he did elect a great number
of people before time began to be saved. Somebody says, that's not fair.
Wait a minute. Fair is you going to hell. Fair
is me going to hell. Thank God that he did elect a
people to salvage. Nobody would be saved if he didn't.
This is good news. There's nothing bad about this.
God sovereignly chose who he would save. Amen. Now, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
God the Son, These people were given to him before time began,
and he took full responsibility for their salvation. Matthew
121, the opening chapter of the Bible, it said, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's why Christ came. He came
to save his people from their sins. He said, I lay down my
life for the sheep, not for the goats, for the sheep. Now, why make an issue of this?
That Christ didn't die for everybody, but he only died for the elect.
Why make an issue of this? Well, let me give you two reasons.
Number one, because what the Bible teaches. We believe the
Bible is the word of God. And the only issue is what does
the Bible teach? And here's the second reason.
we make an issue of it, is because the only hope a sinner has is
that Christ died for him. That's it. The only hope I have
of being saved is that Jesus Christ died for me. Those God elected, those that
Christ died for, in time God the Holy Spirit's God the Holy
Spirit comes to invincibly and irresistibly give them life. Remember, I said we were wicked,
dead in sins. If you're dead in sins, you're
unable to believe, you're unable to repent, you're unable to love
God, you're dead. But God the Holy Spirit comes
to those that God the Father elected and those that Christ
redeemed, and he gives them life, life from the dead so that they
believe, so that they repent. And because of what God has done
for them, They persevere all the way to their dying breath. They do not depart looking to
Christ alone. Now you may be listening to this
and say, how can that be fair for God to do something for one
that he doesn't do for the other? I mean, if he could have saved
everybody, why didn't he save everybody? This doesn't seem
to be fair. This doesn't seem to be right.
And let me remind you what I said at the opening of this message. God's not on trial. For you and
I to say, well, that's not fair. You can't judge God. Whatever
he does is right. I'm the problem, not he. That's our reaction initially. It's called being God's judge,
being God's critic. I don't agree with that. I don't
think that's right. That's not fair. I'm not on board
with this. That is the initial reaction
of everyone who hears the gospel. But let me tell you when a man
will change his tune with regard to that. when God teaches that man through
hearing the gospel and the true character of God that he is a
sinner. When God gives you life for the
first time you understand that you are a sinner. You don't believe you're a sinner,
not in the scriptural sense of the term, until God teaches you
who you are. Now, when he teaches you that
you're a sinner, here's what you think. If I did it, it's
sin. Whatever action it is, whatever
motive it is, if I did it, it is sin. I do, all I am, all I can be
is sin. I cannot not sin. I'm a sinner by nature. I was born that way. I came out
of my mother's womb speaking lies. I'm a sinner by birth. I'm a sinner by choice. I choose
to be the way I am. I can't blame God. I can't blame
His sovereignty. I'm a sinner by choice. I'm a
sinner by practice. And because of my sinfulness,
I can't sit in judgment on anybody. I don't care what they've done
or how bad it is. I can't look at them and say,
I would not have done that. I can't judge anybody, and if
God passes me by and sends me to hell, I'm getting exactly
what I deserve. I cannot see one reason why God
would ever look in favor or mercy upon me. I have no claims on God. I can't say with regard to myself,
it's unfair for God to pass me by and not save me. I can't see
one reason in myself why I would. Now that's the person that's
blind. They cannot see in themselves
one reason as to why God would look in favor on them. Would that be you? He doesn't argue with God's fairness.
He's like those people we read of in Romans 3. where Paul says,
now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. No more, this is not fair. This
is not right. How could God do this? No more
of that. All the world stands guilty before God. You can't see one reason in yourself
as to why God would look in favor on you. Now these people who
are blind are made to see that salvation is for Christ's sake. What's that mean? That means
he'll have mercy on you and he'll have favor toward you altogether
because of what Christ did and it has nothing to do with what
you've done. Salvation for Christ's sake.
Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Not for your sake. Not because
of anything you've done. Holy for Christ's sake. He elected you for Christ's sake.
He redeemed you for Christ's sake. He regenerated you for
Christ's sake. He preserves you for Christ's
sake. There's only one reason God would
look in favor your way, for Christ's sake. Can you say amen to that?
Do you believe that? That person who cannot see, they're
given sight. They're made to see salvation
for Christ's sake. And then he says in verse 39
of our text, John 9, 39, And Jesus said, for judgment I am
coming to this world, that they which see not might see. You're
made to see that salvation comes to you for Christ's sake. And
that they which see might be made blind. Now this is his second
judgment. This is his verdict. If you say,
I can see why God could save me. I'm not that bad. I'm better
than others. I may not be perfect, but I'm
at least better than so-and-so. I can see why He'd saved me.
If you can say, I can see why He'd saved me because I, if that's
in it. I can see why He'd saved me because
I believed, I've repented, I've changed, I've done this, I've
done that, I've stopped doing this, I've stopped doing that.
I can see why God saved me because I. You've been blinded. You've been blinded. God blinded
you. as an act of his justice for
your sin. That's the person he blinds,
the person who says, I can see why God would save me. The light
has gone off so that you can't see that you're blind. Verse 40. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words. And I can feel the smart aleck
sarcasm dripping from their language. They said, are we blind also?
You're talking about being made blind and saying, are we blind
also? You talking about us? Verse 41, Jesus said unto them,
if you were blind, you should have no sin. Do you hear that? If you're someone
who can't see why God would ever look in favor on you, guess what? You have no sin. He doesn't simply say, now this
is what he says. I wouldn't dare say something
like this had not he said it. But with regard to every believer,
with regard to everybody who looks to Christ alone, that's
what a believer is. He looks only to Christ as everything
in his acceptance before God. I don't look to myself. I don't
look to my works. I don't look to my past experience.
I don't look to the future with regard to what I'm going to do.
The only hope I have is what he did for me. Here's my hope. When he had by himself purged
our sins, that means no contribution from me. He did it by himself
with no help from me. is blind and can't see why God
would save them. He saves you for Christ's sake.
And you have no sin. When you stand before God in
judgment, well, that sin was forgiven. That sin was forgiven.
That's not the way it is. You stand before God as one who
has never sinned. Ever. Not in thought, word, deed,
or motive. How can that be? Because Christ
made my sin not to be. He purged it. He put it away.
He took it away. It's non-existent. It's been
expunged from the universe. It's no more. That person who
can't see, here's the promise. You'd have no sin. But, verse 41, if you were blind,
you should have no sin. But now you say, we see. I can see why God would save me, I
did this. I experienced that. Your sin remains. That means when you stand before
God in judgment, You're gonna stand before God in all your
sin. And that's something you don't
want. That's something I do not want. God, listen to me real carefully,
every one of you, God commands you to trust His Son as your
everything in salvation. He commands you to. What if I'm
not elect? He commands you to. Remember,
you don't come to Christ because you're elect. You come to Christ
because you don't have anywhere else to go. And you're so sinful
that if God gives you what you deserve, you'll go to hell. That's
why you come to Christ. Now, somebody says, I'm not like
that. Well, don't come in. But if you're like that, you will
come. And God commands you to. God commands you to trust his
son alone. And in trusting his son alone,
and that's what faith is. It's trusting his son only to
save me. That's what faith is. And if
you trust his son to save you, you have no sin. None at all. And if you do not
trust him, your sin remaineth. May God give every one of us
the grace to trust him alone. In trusting him, we have no sin. Let's pray. Lord, in Christ's name, we ask
that you would take your word and apply it to the heart of
each person here And Lord, let us be of that number
who can see in ourselves no reason as to why you would have favor
on us. Lord, deliver us from our self-righteousness. Deliver
us from our pride. Deliver us from trusting ourselves. Strip us of all goodness and
righteousness that we think we possess. and cause us to rest
in what your son has done only to make us sinless and deliver
us from thinking we're in any way deserving of your
salvation. Bless this word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray.