We'll have a meal together after
the Sunday morning services. I always enjoy that very much,
so remember that. I know most of you are aware
of the death of Joe Terrell, a dear friend, pastor who's preached
here many times, and everyone remember all the people associated
with that. There's so many. people and the
Lord's in control of it and the Lord ordained this and that's
really what gives us comfort in all things is that the Lord
is God and he brings good out of evil all the time and the
greatest illustration of that is the cross. That's the most
evil thing to take place when the Son of God was nailed to
a cross, brutally murdered. And what good came from that? I've entitled this message, A
Man Born Blind. I think this is so powerful in
this 59th verse. Then took they up stones to cast
at him. They were going to stone the
Lord. They hated what he said. They wanted him dead. They picked
up the rocks and were getting ready to throw them at him, to
put him to death. But Jesus hid himself. Now how all this took place,
I don't know. But they couldn't see him. Did he blind him? Did he just blind him with regard
to his person? I don't know. But he hid himself,
so that they could not see, and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by." I like to think,
what happened? These fellas holding the rocks,
where'd he go? What happened? They didn't have
a clue. He so passed by, and as Jesus
passed by, This happened right then. He saw a man which was blind from his birth. Now what I am so amazed by is
the sight of the Lord. Even at this time, he saw a man
that was blind from his birth. Now, being blind from birth,
this man had no concept of colors, of shapes. He'd never seen a
face blind from his birth. I can't even imagine that. This
man had never seen, he didn't have a concept of what anything
looked like blind from his birth. A fit emblem of you and me and
everybody else born spiritually blind. No concept as to who God
really is. Oh, we believe in God, but we
have such a small view of him. having never really seen Him. No concept, no concept, no sight
of who we really are. We have an inflated view of ourselves,
don't we? The smaller we view God, the bigger we view ourselves,
and it's a false concept. We really have no idea. Blind
concerning salvation. No true understanding of how
God saves sinners by Christ, by His grace. Spiritually blind. This man had never seen. Verse two, and his disciples asked him saying,
master, who did sin? This man or his
parents that he was born blind. What a question. Who do we blame this to? Was
it this man's fault that he was born blind? Did he commit a sin
in the womb? Was he just extra bad or is this
some kind of punishment God's meeting out on his parents that
he was born blind? You know, there are STDs that
cause the children to be born blind. Is that God's punishment
to the parents to have their children born blind? Who did
sin? This man or his parents? Somebody's to blame. Surely somebody
did something bad. Who's to blame? Now this question is a mixture
of sanctimonious self-righteousness and stupidity. That's all you
can call it. Nothing else. Every time you have seen someone
and thought, what did they do to bring this on? You've asked
the same question. I repeat, sanctimonious self-righteousness
and stupidity. Jesus answered, neither. I love this answer. Neither. At this man's sin nor his parents,
but that the works of God should be made manifest. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it's day. The night cometh when no man
can work as long as I'm in the world. I am the light of the
world. Now the Lord is not saying that
this man never sinned. He sinned in Adam. He was born
a sinner. He's not saying his parents never sinned. He's saying
this took place that God would be glorified. And do you know
that is true of every single event? God brings good out of
evil. Now you think of the tragic circumstances
of this man being born blind. He ended up being a beggar. What
a wretched existence this man experienced. How tragic! Who's
in? Neither. This took place that
God would be glorified. Now, I don't know how the Lord
is able to make everything work for his glory, but he does because
he's God. And I don't need to understand.
I just need to know he's God. This thing that took place with
Joe Terrell, God will be glorified. God is glorified. How? I don't
know. I don't need to know. I trust the character of the
living God. He is God. all sufficient, all powerful,
all wise. He brings good out of evil. Verse six, when he thus spoken,
he spat on the ground and made clay of the spindle and he anointed
the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Now picture this in
your mind. He makes some mud and he smears it in a man's eyes. in your eye? That's going to
give sight? What the Lord is teaching us
is He always uses means. This is the use of means. What about when He just healed
people without means? Well, I know He did that too,
but this is talking about the means of being able to see. He
always uses means. The preaching of the Gospel,
His Word, And what I think is so glorious about that is he
works in spite of the means. You see, I can't see how smearing
mud in somebody's eye would help them to see, but you know, the
Lord shows more power in the use of means than without the
use of means, because when he's using those means, it's in spite
of. If he uses my preaching, it's
in spite of me. Not because of me, it's in spite
of me. And that's the Lord's use of
means. He glorifies Himself through the use of these weak means.
He makes mud and He smears it on the guy's eyeballs. Verse 7, And He said unto him,
Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sinned.
Christ Jesus is the sinned one. He went his way, therefore, and
washed and came to see him. Now, I think of this. I go wash
in the pool of Siloam. How's he gonna get there? He's
blind. Did he ask somebody to lead him there? Perhaps. But
he got to this pool, bent over where the water was, washed his
eyes, and for the first time, he saw. Can you imagine that? All of his life, he'd been in
darkness, and he saw. How amazing must have that have
been for that man? He sees, he had no concept before. If you had tried to describe
something to him, he couldn't have understand it. But now he
sees for himself, he saw. And washed and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, verse
eight, And they which before had seen him that was blind said,
is not this he that sat in bed? Some said, this is he. Others
said, that's impossible. He's like him. But he said, I'm
he. This is the first words we hear
from this delightful man. I'm he. No, I'm not some other
man. I'm he. Verse 10. Therefore said they
unto him, how were thy eyes opened? He answered and said, a man that's
called Jesus. He didn't know him any more than
this at this time, a man. He didn't know he was the son
of God. A man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed
mine eyes and said unto me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash.
And I went and washed and I received sight. He gives a very accurate
description of what took place. Then, verse 12, said they unto
him, where is he? He said, I know not. I don't
suppose he'd ever seen the Lord, even after he was given sight.
He comes back, the Lord's not there. He doesn't know what he
looks like, but he knows a man called Jesus made mud, put it
in my eyes, and I was given sight. Verse 13. They brought to the
Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. Why'd they bring him to the Pharisees?
So all this would take place. And we're given this glorious
gospel message from this man born blind. That's why they brought
him to the Pharisees. And it was the Sabbath day when
Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. I love the way the
Lord did his, most of his miracles on the Sabbath day. It would
tick the Pharisees off so much, and I think he did it for that
reason. It was the Sabbath day when he made this mud and put
it in this man's eyes. That's working. That's working. He knew the Pharisees' response.
Verse 15. Then again, the Pharisees also
asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them,
he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and do see, what amazing
miracle. Therefore said some of the Pharisees,
this man's not of God because he keeps not the Sabbath day.
How ridiculous. How utterly ridiculous. He couldn't be of God, he's not
keeping the Sabbath day. He made the Sabbath day. He knew
what the Sabbath day was. They didn't. They didn't have
a clue. But all they can do is accuse him of law-breaking because
of their hatred of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
couldn't be of God. He's broken the Sabbath. Others said, how can a man that
is a sinner do such miracles? And really, they were still in
the dark, even though they said better things. Because all they
saw in him was a man. How can a man who's a sinner
do such miracles? And there was a division among
them. And you know the Lord always brings division, doesn't he?
He said, I came not to send peace, but a division. That was his
word. And there was a division among
them. Verse 17, they say unto the blind
man again, what sayest thou of him that hath opened thine eyes? He said, he's a prophet. He's
a prophet. I mean, he didn't know a lot,
but he knew this. He's a prophet. But the Jews, verse 18, did not
believe concerning him. They decided not to believe. Unbelief is a decision. If you don't believe the gospel,
You've decided not to believe the truth. The will is involved
in unbelief. They saw this miracle. They did not like what they saw.
So they decided to not believe. The Jews, verse 18, did not believe
concerning him. that he'd been blind and received
his sight until they called the parents of him that had received
his sight. And they asked them saying, is
this your son whom you say was born blind? How then does he
now see? Now this is so sad. His parents
answered them and said, now remember, these are the parents of this
man. This is their boy. He was born blind. I'm sure that
was a very tragic day for them when their child was born blind.
And now he's given sight. Instead of rejoicing and being
happy, look at their reaction. His parents answered them, verse
20. We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
But by what means he now seeth, we know not, or who hath opened
his eyes, we know not. He's of age, ask him, he shall
speak for himself. These words spake the parents
because they feared the Jews. They were so intimidated by these
religious people, they feared them, and they wouldn't come
out openly with regard to their son. Now this is the control
that human religion has over people. It's tragic. And you resent them for this,
but look what it says. Verse 22, these words make us
parents because they feared the Jews for the Jews had agreed
already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should
be put out of the synagogue. That means excommunicated. And that would make you a social
outcast, a pariah. There would be certain things
monetarily that you would lose out of that. You wouldn't be
allowed to trade with it. There's all kinds of horrible
things that happen if you get excommunicated. And these people
saw the effect that would have on their lives, and so they chickened
out. They said, we can't say anything
about him. You see the Pharisees had already
agreed that if anybody confessed that this is the Christ, he'd
be put out. Let me, as the Lord enables me, Jesus
is the Christ. What does that mean? Jesus is
the prophet. He is the Word from God. If you're
ever gonna hear from God, it's gonna be through Him, and you're
gonna hear that He is the Word of God. He is God's message. He's God's prophet. He's God's
priest. He's not like these human priests
who bring animal sacrifices. He brings the sacrifice of Himself.
And these men who call themselves priests and supposedly represent
other men to God, they can't represent Him. That man can't
do anything for me, but this man can. He's the priest after
the order of Melchizedek. What a king he is. He's not some
paper king with an empty title. He is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He is the Christ. He's God's
Messiah. He's God's Christ. Jesus is the
Christ. Has anybody confessed that? Never
kicked out. They wouldn't do it. Verse 23,
therefore said his parents, he's of age, ask him. Then again, called they the man
that was blind. This is the Pharisees. And they
said to him, give God the praise. We know that this man's a sinner.
They're real concerned about God getting the praise, aren't
they? Give God the praise. We know this man's a nobody.
He's a sinner. That's what he is. That's what
they thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this man's
answer. He answered and said, whether
he'd be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know, that whereas
I was blind, now I see. Now I've heard sermons on this
verse of scripture to let you know how little you need to know
to be saved. This guy, I know this, I might
not know anything else, but I know whereas I was blind, now I see.
He wasn't saved yet. He didn't know the Lord yet.
We're gonna see that as we, he was physically cured, but he
didn't know the Lord because the Lord asked him, do you believe
on the Son of God? He says, who is he, Lord, that I might believe?
He doesn't know yet. He'll come to know. But I love the simplicity
of his answer. You're all making all these accusations
against this man. I know this. I was blind, and
now I see. Verse 26. Then said they to him
again, What did he today? How open did he thine eyes? He
answered them, I've told you already, I've told you exactly
what took place. And you didn't hear. Wherefore
would you hear it again? Will you also be his disciples?"
I have no doubt that this man was using sarcasm at this time.
He'd had it up to his neck with these guys. He said, are you
wanting to be his disciples too? He knew they didn't, but he was
just kind of saying that to dig it in a little bit. I love this
guy, don't you? He's, will you be his disciples? Verse 28. Then they reviled him
and said, thou are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciple. We know that God's spoken to
Moses. As for this nobody, we know not
from whence he is. Where'd he go to seminary? Where
was he born? What's his credentials? We've
got Moses. We're disciples of Moses. We
don't know where this guy's from. Verse 30. The man answered and said unto
him, herein is a marvelous thing that you know not from whence
it is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now, and he makes a very powerfully
true statement. Now we know, everybody knows
this. Now we know that God heareth
not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and doeth
his will, him he heareth. Now, this man had an understanding
that God is just. Everybody's born with that knowledge.
He doesn't hear sinners. Now, I'm thankful when we learn
the gospel, we find out that's the only people he does hear
through Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom Paul said, I am the chief. That ought to be my favorite
verse. It ought to be your favorite verse in all the Bible. But this
man knew that God is righteous. Someone can't come into his presence
apart from being righteous, but somebody that, I love what he
says, worships him and does his will. Isn't that what a believer
does? He does God's will. He believes the gospel and he
worships God. Now, did he understand everything
he was saying? I don't think at this time, but what he said
was true. He said the only folks God hears are people who worship
him for who he is and actually do his will. And every believer
does his will. He believes the gospel. Now he
says in verse 32, since the world began, was it not heard that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? I guess
as far as he knew, and maybe this has never happened before.
This is unprecedented that somebody born blind, maybe he didn't have
eyeballs. I don't know. But he was born blind and God
opened his eyes. That's never been done before. He says, if this man were not
of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him,
thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they excommunicated him.
They cast him out. You know, for some reason, I
don't think it bothered that guy a bit. The Pope's excommunicated you. Oh. The most top Baptist preachers
cut you off. You're in trouble. Oh. I don't think I bothered him. Verse 35, Jesus heard that they
cast him out. You know, this man had not yet
seen the Lord. And someone came to the Lord and said, you know,
that fellow that you gave sight to, he was excommunicated. He was cast out. And I love the
way it says Jesus heard that they'd cast him out. And when
he'd found him, he went looking for him. The
shepherd going after the lost sheep. Somebody says, I found
God. No, he wasn't lost. He found
you. Aren't you thankful? He found
you. And the reason he found you is
he's looking for you. And he's not like me, of course. But when I start looking for
something, I never, I can't find it. You can ask Lynn about it. It's right in front of me. I
still don't see it. The Lord's not like that. He always finds who he's looking
for. 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? Now this question is asked to
me and to you this morning, right now. Believe on the Son of God. He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? He did not know. Who is he? You're the only time I'm going
to believe. is if he makes himself known.
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Now, do you believe that Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth, the man that lived here some 2,000 years ago,
died on a cross and was raised from the dead Do you believe
that He is the Son of God? Do you believe that He's the
Creator of the universe? Do you believe that He's the
only Savior of sinners? Do you believe He's the second
person of the Blessed Trinity? Do you believe that He is Lord? That He's God the Son? Now this
is the issue. This is the issue of faith. It's
not what you believe about yourself. It's what you believe concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that He is God
the Son? Do you believe that all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in His body? Do you believe He's the
sovereign of the universe? Do you believe He's all-powerful?
Do you believe He's all-wise? Do you believe He's independent,
having need of nothing, in absolute control of everybody and everything
and every event and the only Savior of sinners, the only way
to God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? He answered and said, who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? I hope somebody's saying that right
now. Who is the Son of God that I might believe on him? Verse 37, and Jesus said unto
him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with
thee. And he said, verse 38, Lord,
I believe. And he did what everybody who
believes does. He worshiped him. And let me say this about worship.
You will only worship an absolute sovereign over whom you have
no control. You know you're in his hand and
he can do with you whatever he is pleased to do. That's the
only one you'll worship. Now, if you think you can manipulate
him, if you think you can do it, that's not worship. You bow
down and worship like the leper did. The scripture says, behold,
the leper came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. That's worship. Lord, I believe, and he worshiped
him. Verse 39, and here's the Lord's
conclusion to this. 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. Now here's the Lord's conclusion
to this story. I've come for judgment. This
is talking about God's judgment. I've come for judgment. And he
gives a two-fold judgment. If you're blind, you see. If you see, you're made blind. Now what does that mean? When people first hear the gospel,
and I'm talking about the gospel of grace, I'm talking about the
gospel of God electing a people before time began, of Christ
dying for the elect and accomplishing their salvation, of God the Holy
Spirit coming invincibly and irresistibly and giving them
life, that's the gospel. Something without that, someone
says, well, is the gospel a more simple message? That is a simple
message. It's salvation by God. All three persons of the triune
God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. If you're saved, He must save
you. He came to save the elect, those the Father gave Him. God
the Holy Spirit gives them life. Why didn't He save everybody? If He could have, why didn't
He do it? That doesn't seem fair. That doesn't seem right. Why
didn't he save everybody? And what we mean when we say
that deep down is he ought to save me. There's something about
me. He ought to save me. We think
this is not right. But when God reveals himself
to a sinner, that sinner sees for the first time that there's
nothing about him that would recommend him to God. He sees
for the first time that he has nothing to bring to the table.
He sees for the first time that God would be utterly just if
he passed him by and let him go to hell. He can't see, he
cannot see any reason as to why God would save him. That's the person God saves. Somebody else disagrees. This is not right. And they can
see what God should save me because I fill in the blank, whatever
it is, God should save me because I, I could see why God would
save me. I did this and I stopped doing that. And I changed and
I fill in the blank. Christ says that person's blinded. under the judicial blindness
of God. The lights have gone out. If
they continue in that, for judgment, I've come into this world, that
they would see not. I can't see why God would save
me. You know, before God reveals Himself, everybody's God's judge
and God's critic. I don't think God should be this
way. I don't agree with this. Oh, but when you're given The
understanding that God would be just if he passed you by.
Oh, you see things differently, don't you? Verse 40. Some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and said unto him, are
we blind also? I think they said this sarcastically. Are we blind also? They heard
the Lord's words and the sarcasm just dripped from their language.
Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, you should have no sin. Wow, what a statement. If you were blind, you'd have
no sin because I took your sin away. That's the only way you
can have no sin. I took it away. Everybody that's
blind and can see no reason in themselves as to why God would
save them, listen to this. He saves for Christ's sake. No
other reason is needed. You have no sin. But now you
say, we see. Therefore, Your sin remains. It's there for good. If you can see why God would
save you, because you did this or you did that, your sin remains. God will meet you on the ground
you choose, Christ or your works. And there can be no mixture.
It's either all Christ or all your works. What ground do you want to come
on? I want to be like this blind
man. May God give us grace to be blind
that we might see. Let's pray. Lord, your word, we stand in
all of your word. We stand in all of your son. We stand in all of your gospel. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that we might be enabled by your spirit to say with this
man, I believe and worship your son. In His name we pray, amen.