Chapter 9. John chapter 9. The title of my message is simply,
Another Look at John 9. Another look, because I remember
preaching from this chapter over 50 years ago, and I don't know
how many times in between. So another look at John chapter
9. The chapter begins with the Lord
Jesus passing by and seeing a man which was born blind, blind from
birth. Notice that in verse one. And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. You actually need to look back
to the last chapter, chapter eight, and the last two verses
to see where the Lord Jesus was passing from as he passed by. this man that was blind from
birth. In the temple, the Lord had begun
early in the morning teaching in the temple there in Jerusalem.
And he proclaimed himself to be the light of the world. And
he also proclaimed himself to be God, God manifest in the flesh. He told the religious leaders
in verse 58, verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am. And they knew exactly what he
was confessing. To be the everlasting God, I
am. The eternal, only, living, and
true God. Before Abraham was born, before
Abraham lived, Before Abraham had faith to believe in me, before
I called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and made a covenant
with him, before Abraham was, I am. And their reaction was,
as always, Never, never did the Jews seek to stone the Lord Jesus
Christ because of his good works, but always because he confessed
to be who he is, the only true and living God. I am that I am. And we see in verse 59, then
they took up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and
went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and
so passed by. And as he was passing by, the
scripture says, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. The providence of God. This was no accident. The timing. People say sometimes, well, it
happened at a perfect time. If it had happened any other
time, God's time is always perfect. He's always on time. He's never
early. He's never late. And right at the perfect time,
the Lord Jesus Christ is passing by, passing out of the temple,
because his time was not yet come. that is to die, so they
could not stone him. He passed through them and passing
by the temple, he saw a man that was born blind. Perfect timing, God's providence. This man who was born blind,
he was there that day to beg. That's a good place to be for
a beggar. to be when people are coming
out of a cathedral, or coming out of a church building, or
in this case, coming out of a temple, they may be inclined to give,
to give alms. And so that's why he was situated
here. He was here to beg. The Lord
Jesus Christ was here to bless. God's wonderful providence. I
want to bring out four very simple points. First, the Lord was asked a strange
question. The Lord was asked a strange
question. You say, what was it? Well, look
in verse two. And his disciples asked him,
saying, Master, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind? Now why, why would anyone ask
a question like that? Strange question. Who did sin,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Why would
anyone ever ask a question like that? Because men are superstitious. That's why. Because men are superstitious
and they accept things which do not come from the word of
God. If you want the truth, here it
is. The truth is a person. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He's
the living word and he's given us the written word. But man embrace and take in teachings
that come out of the mind of man, superstitious teaching. And there was a belief even among
some of the Jews at this time, that one who had acted badly,
wickedly in his life, Then when he was born again into this world,
he was punished in some way. He had acted wickedly in one
body, so when he was given another body, another life, then some
evil was passed upon him. Some punishment. Well, you know
that's not from the word of God. That's not from the word of God. The scripture is very clear.
Very clear. When a person leaves this world,
when I leave this world, when you leave this world, there's
only two places that we're going to go to one or the other. There's
not a third option. There's only two places. We will either be with the Lord
forever in untold, unimaginable bliss
and happiness and blessings with the Lord forever, or we will
be with Satan in untold and unimaginable suffering in the lake of fire. There's no second chance. You
know that old saying, as the tree lies, as the tree falls,
so it lies. Out in the forest, a tree, the
wind comes along and blows a tree over. And it blows towards the
north. That's where it's going to stay.
It's not going to move itself. It's not going to pick up and
go to the south or the west or the east. And as a person lives
and dies in this world, as he dies, so the tree will lie. He that is filthy, the scripture
says in the last book of the Bible, in the last chapter, he
that dies filthy, lost in his sin, he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. Never going to change. And he
that is righteous, Let him be righteous. Never going to change. Eternity. And people come along. I remember one of my uncles told
me one time he had joined this church downtown and the priest
of the church, you know, he had about 15 letters behind his name. And my uncle told me, he said,
Bob, Pastor, priest told me there's no place called hell. And he's
very intelligent, David. He's learned a lot. He studied
a lot. Yeah, no doubt. But he studied
the wrong thing. Rather than study the word of
God, he studied the words of man. But the scripture is very
clear that when people leave this world lost, unclean, not
washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, not justified in the
righteousness of Christ, there's a place of torment. And there's
no leaving that place. Our Lord, did you know the Lord
Jesus Christ, He spoke more about hell than any other person in
the Bible? He did. He spoke more about hell
as a place of torment than any other person in the scripture.
Fear not, he said, those who are able to destroy this body,
but fear him who's able to destroy the body and soul in hell. Yes, that's the Bible and the
truth of the word of God. in our country is more and more
being replaced by humanism. We see people turning to a false
religion, man-centered religion. The religion, if we can use that
word in a good sense, and the Bible uses it, pure religion
and undefiled before God and men, as James said. But if we
use that word religion in a good sense, true religion is God-centered. It begins with God and it's all
about God and God's glory. False religion begins with man. And it's all about man and what
pleases man. No, this was a strange question. Lord, came from his disciples. Who did sin? This man or his
parents that he was born blind. Think of how painful it must
have been for this man, not only to suffer blindness, not only
to be blind, but to be considered and thought by others to be the
object of God's special displeasure. He couldn't remember a sin that
he had committed that would cause him to be born blind because
he had not committed a sin that caused him to be born blind. How painful to suffer blindness
and then to live with that also. Well, my second point is the
Lord answered their question, verse three. Their question was,
Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind? And our Lord's answer is he was
born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in
him. You see that in verse three.
Jesus answered, neither hath this man sin, nor his parents,
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ
here in his answer said neither, Neither hath this man sin, nor
his parents. He's not saying, you recognize,
he's not saying that his parents and him somehow escaped original
sin. No one escapes original sin. For by one man sin entered into
the world, and so death passed upon all men. If a person was
born here without sin, he would not die. Yet everyone we know
who comes into this world does die. Why? Because all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. No, our Lord said he was born
blind that the powerful works, notice the works of God should
be made manifest in him. If you look down in verse 32
at what this man, this blind man, after he had received his
sight, what he says about this miracle, he's answering the Pharisees
and he said, since the world began, was it not heard that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? You think about this man as he
was a young boy and he began to realize, no doubt, his parents
and siblings, if he had any, they told him that there's such
a thing as sight. There's such a thing as being
able to see, not just feel, but see visually. Don't you think as soon as he
realized there was something he was missing, that he asked,
is there a cure for this? Is there help for someone like
me so that I might have sight? Don't you know that he did? And
don't you know that every time he asked someone, they told him
the same thing, son, I'm sorry to tell you, but as long as the
world has been, there's never been anyone who was born blind
who received their sight. You can be sure this man knew
what he said. He had investigated. He didn't have the internet to
do research like you do. But when you get sick, You have a disease nobody's ever
heard of. You get on the internet and you
start reading and investigating. This man didn't have that modern
technology, but everyone he asked told him the same thing. If no
one else in Jerusalem knew that there never had been a person
before who was born blind receive their sight. This man knew. He
knew. This was a great work. Never
been heard of it, even today, with all the medical advancement,
medical science that we have to help us, and I thank God for
it. But have you ever heard of a
person who was born blind? that there's some remedy, some
cure that that person received their sight? Of course not. This was a powerful work, powerful
work. Lord, master, who did sin, this
man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither, neither
one. No, here's the reason. that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him
that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. Take your concordance sometime,
your Bible concordance, and look up the must in relationship to
Christ. Notice he said, I must, I must
work the works of him that sent me. The first time you see that
is when he was 12 years old and his mother Mary and her husband
Joseph found him in the temple. And he said, I must, in his response
to them, he said, I must be about my father's business. I must. Lo, in the volume of the book
it is written of me, O God, I come to do thy will. I must be about
my Father's business. One day he told his disciples,
it is written, it is written, and the scriptures cannot be
broken. It is written, the Son of Man,
that he must suffer many things. You know, we think about the
Lord Jesus Christ suffering on the cross, suffering in the garden
of Gethsemane the night before he went to the cross, suffering
so great that he sweat great drops of blood. But listen, his
whole life, his whole life in this world was a life of suffering. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. You never read of the Lord Jesus
Christ laughing. You do read of him rejoicing. You do read of him weeping. The
Son of Man, he must suffer many things. To Nicodemus, He said,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. He must be lifted up on a cross
that he might redeem his people. Here, he said, I must work the
works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when
no man can work. Now, our Lord had a day. He had a day just like you have
a day, your lifespan, his lifespan, 32 years more or less. That was
his lifespan in this world. The night comes when he would
leave this world and no longer work as he had while he was here. You have a lifespan and I comes
when I have a life span and the night's going to come and we'll
work no more as we work now. I know heaven is a place of rest,
but it's a place also of constant serving him. The question is, have we taken
advantage today? Well, it's light. Look back in
John chapter six just a moment. Our Lord fed 5,000 men plus women
and children and he sent his disciples across the sea and
they went to Capernaum. The Lord that night walked on
the water came to the disciples and they
came to Capernaum. And notice in verse 27, our Lord
told those that, well, verse 26, some of these that had eaten
of the bread and fish the day before, they came seeking him. Jesus answered them and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you
saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and
were filled. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God
the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God. that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God. The night comes when no man can
work. This is the work of God while
it's day to believe on him whom the father has sent. Go back
to chapter nine, I see him Got to hurry along. The Lord wrought a great work,
in verses six and seven. 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 clay, and said unto him, go,
wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin. He
went his way, therefore, and washed, and came again. See, the works which the Father
hath given me to finish, the same works bear witness of me."
This is what he said when he was accused of bearing witness
to himself. He said that the works that he
did bore witness to him, and this work this great work of
opening the eyes of a man who was born blind. It bore witness
to the fact of who he is, and he's God. Notice these four things
hurriedly about this great work. The work was unasked. The work was unasked. Now, we
have examples of blind men in the gospels who asked that the
Lord would open their eyes. I like to read about blind Bartimaeus. Lived in the city of Jericho,
and the Lord was passing by, and he was sitting by the wayside
begging, and someone told him, said, it's Jesus. Jesus is passing by. And he began
to cry out. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. Be quiet. You're making too much
noise. What did he do? He cried out
the Lord. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy upon me. And the Lord stopped. He heard
the voice. He heard the cry, and he stopped,
and he commanded Bartimaeus to be brought to him. And as Bartimaeus
came, the Lord said, what would you that I do unto thee, that
I might see, that I might see? He asked that he might see. There's several examples like
this in the gospel. But this man, he didn't ask. This work was wrought unasked. The disciples didn't ask the
Lord to open this man's eyes. His parents didn't ask. The Lord
saw him. And unasked, he opened his eyes. Doesn't this emphasize how compassionate
and kind and gracious the Lord Jesus Christ is. Doesn't it? Unask. There's a verse in Romans
10 which tells us, I was found of them that sought me not. I
was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. This man
didn't ask. And yet the Lord graciously opened
his eyes. The second thing about this work,
it was peculiar. Now the Lord opening blind eyes
was not, I'm not saying that was peculiar because as I said,
we have other examples, but the way the Lord opened this man's
blind eyes is peculiar. He took some clay and put it
on his eyes. Well, you would think that would
be the opposite. of opening a person's eyes to
put something over his eyes. But you know the Lord, he shows
forth his power by using the most unlikely means, many times. When Israel was in the wilderness
and there was no water, and water is a necessity, There were over
a million people there. Needed water to drink? Where's
it going to come from? If someone had said, well, maybe
out of one of these rocks, they'd been laughed to death. Are you
crazy? Are you crazy? That out of a
rock, water's going to come? But it did. When the Lord told
Moses, take your staff and strike that rock. And water just came
gushing out of that rock. The Lord many times shows his
power by using unlikely means. And for performing his greatest
work of all, of reconciling sinners to himself through the crucifixion
of his son and the preaching of the gospel. It's a great wonder. It's a great wonder. How could the death, how could
the dying of a man, dying the death of a criminal, dying the
death of a slave, dying outside the walls of Jerusalem on a cross,
how could he shedding his blood, how could that possibly reconcile
a lost man to a holy God? But it does. Go into the world and preach
the gospel, and whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness unto them that perish, but unto them which are called,
it's the power of God and the salvation. The third thing, this work contained
a command, go. After he put the clay on his
eyes, he said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. Had he not obeyed
the command, he would not have received the blessing. Sinners
receive pardon when they obey the command to wash in the fountain. God said in the prophecy of Zachariah,
in that day there shall be a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was hanging there on that cross, what was happening? God opened
a fountain for sin and for uncleanness. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty state. Worse, you say, how do
you wash, preacher? You look to Christ. You trust
Him. You believe Him. And this work wrought a good
confession. In verse 25, these Jews accused
him He answered and said, whether
he be a sinner, that's what they said. The Pharisees said, that
man, that man, you say Jesus opened your eyes. Listen, he's
a sinner because he did that on the Sabbath day. He's a sinner. Well, I don't
know if he is or not, but I know one thing I couldn't see before. And now I see. And he walked
in the light, that light, until God gave him more light. He wouldn't
bow, he wouldn't bend. Not from this. No. I know. One thing I know. I was blind and now I can see. He walked in that light, he stayed
in that light, and then the Lord gave him more light. Look down
to verse 35. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, and when he found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast both seen him, and is he that talketh with thee?
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. I believe. God gave him more light. There's not a person in this
room this morning who can say what this man said. The Lord
asked him, does thou believe on the Son of God, and he said,
who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? There's not a
person here who hasn't heard from your childhood that Jesus
is the Son of God. You've heard that. The question is, do you believe?
And if you believe, you'll worship. One more point. Look in verse
16. I'll just hurry through this
one. Verse 16. At the very end we read, and
there was a division among them. All men are divided by Christ
today. That's always been the case.
Those in the kingdom of darkness and those who have been translated
into the kingdom of God's dear son. And at the final judgment,
those on his right hand and those on his left hand, those on his
left hand will hear him say, depart from me, you cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. To
those on his right hand, they will hear him say, come, You,
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. I want to be on his right hand,
don't you? I want to be on his right hand. I know this. If I don't believe
in him, I'm going to be on his left hand, and I'm going to hear
those words, curse it, are you? What about you? Will you be on
his right hand or his left hand? He divides. He divides a man. I pray that the Lord would bless
his word to all of us here today.