If you will, let's turn tonight
to John chapter 9. John chapter 9. I'll read these first 12 verses. And as Jesus passed by, he saw
a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked
him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath
this man sin, nor his parents, but 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. As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world. 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 said unto him, go,
wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin. He
went his way therefore and washed and came seeing. The neighbors
therefore and they which before had seen him that he was blind,
said, Is not this he that said and begged? Some said, This is
he. Others said, He's like him. But he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him,
How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that
is called Jesus made clay, and anointed thine eyes, and said
unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash and I went and washed
and I received sight. Then said they unto him, where
is he? He said, I know not. This is
the sixth miracle that the Apostle John was inspired by the Holy
Spirit to record in his gospel. And other than the next miracle,
that is the raising of Lazarus from the dead, more space is
given to this miracle than any of the others. And this particular miracle is
not recorded in any of the other Gospels. But there are many instances
of the Lord opening the eyes of the blind. In fact, If you
look at the physical infirmities that the Lord Jesus Christ healed,
those that are recorded in the Gospels, you will see that he
opened the eyes of the blind more than healing the lame, more
than opening the ears of the deaf, or loosing the tongue of
the dumb. This miracle of opening the eyes
of the blind. And as we look tonight at this
miracle, I would remind us of what John wrote at the very end,
or very near the end of this gospel. You're familiar with
it, with this statement, and I believe I've mentioned it each
time that we have looked at one of these miracles. John said
many things could have been written. In fact, if everything the Lord
did, the world itself could not contain the books. But he said
this, but these are written, this is written, that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. These things are written. That's the purpose, isn't it,
of the Gospel of John. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Do you believe? Do you tonight believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God? And John says, and believing
you might have life through his name. That is eternal life. It's a gift, isn't it? Eternal
life. When you think about eternal
life, it completely blows the idea of working to obtain eternal
life out of the water. Because how could you possibly
do something in time that would merit eternal life? That's an impossibility. If a
person worked from the very first instance of coming into this
world and he lived a long life, how could he possibly work enough
to merit, to earn eternal life? And eternal life is not just
a long existence, is it? It's forever. But eternal life
is to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Now there are
four things that I will call our attention to tonight as we
look at this passage. First of all, Christ saw a blind
man. Most of the commentators all
agree that this is just a continuation of what we had in chapter 8.
You notice our text begins with the word and. That connects it
to what went before, doesn't it? And we read in verse 59 of
chapter 8, Then took they 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 Jesus passed by, he saw a
man which was blind from his birth. The Lord Jesus Christ,
as he went out of the temple, as those who would have stoned
him, he went out of the temple and he saw this blind man. What a picture. What a picture
of God's sovereign grace, of his sovereign love. What a picture
here. of love and mercy incarnate in
the person of Jesus Christ. He saw a blind man. In verse 8 we read that this
particular blind man sat and begged. Now think of this, he
is going out of the temple and he saw a blind man. This blind man had his place. He had his place to beg at the
temple gate. Probably one of the best places
in all of Jerusalem to beg. Because as they came out of the
temple or went up into the temple, men would be inclined to give,
to help others. With this place, keep this place,
but look over into Acts chapter 3. We read here of another man. who sat at the temple gate to
beg. Acts chapter 3 and verse 1. We read, Now Peter
and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer,
being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from
his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate
of the temple, which is called Beautiful. to ask alms of them
that entered into the temple, who seeing Peter and John about
to go into the temple asked an alms. We see a big difference
between this blind man in our text tonight and this man who
was lame who sat there at the entrance to the temple and begged. We see a big difference. The
one in Acts, he saw Peter and John coming toward him. He saw
them coming toward him and he asked for their help. But the
one tonight that we are looking at in our text, he was blind. He couldn't see anyone. He couldn't
see the Lord Jesus Christ passing by. But here's the beautiful
thing, the Lord Jesus Christ saw him. He saw him. He saw Him, and I'm here to tell
you tonight, He knew that this is one that the Father in love
had given unto Him from all eternity. This is one who made up His bride,
one that He has loved with an everlasting love. And while this
blind man did not see Christ, Christ saw him. Someone recently,
after a message, told me this. I mentioned an illustration in
the sermon about Joseph and his position there in Egypt. And
this brother told me, he said, you know what I like about Joseph
in that story? He said, they didn't recognize
Joseph, his brothers, but Joseph recognized them. This man, he
couldn't see. He didn't see Jesus, but Jesus
saw him as he passed by. The scripture here says, he saw
a man which was blind from his birth. When you think about the
fact that he was blind from his birth, I have often wondered,
how old? How old was he when his parents
first suspected that he couldn't see? How old was he? A few weeks? A few months? And they knew something was wrong.
And I'm sure that they would do what every parent would do,
and that is they would rush their son to a doctor. To a doctor. And the doctor maybe would recommend
another doctor, a specialist. But it was all in vain. There was no doctor, no matter
how much money they could spend or not spend, there was no doctor
on the face of God's earth that could open the eyes of one who
was born blind. I've read the stories of some
surgeons who performed cataract surgery on children. that were
born from birth with cataracts, but they were not blind. Now
they couldn't see, but they could see light. And so at a certain
time, the surgeon removed the cataracts, and then they could
see. But this man, he could not see
even the light. He was born blind. He was sentenced, as far as they
knew, to a life of darkness. He would never know the beauty
of God's earth, of the colors, the beautiful colors in the rainbow. He was confined to a life of
darkness, to darkness. And what a picture is this of
all men spiritually as we come into this world, blind from birth. blind from birth. The Lord Jesus
declared to a man who was highly religious in the beginning of
this gospel. We studied that several months
ago. Nicodemus, you remember. A man very religious, and yet
our Lord told him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot, what? He cannot see. He cannot see. Now what he said about Nicodemus
is true of all men. What a picture here we have of
the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world on purpose, God's
purpose, to save sinners, to save those that God had given
unto Him in that eternal covenant of grace. In Romans chapter 10,
the Apostle Paul in verse 20, he quotes a verse from the book
of Isaiah. And it's a prophecy concerning
the Gentiles. It's in that part of the letter
of Romans where Paul is explaining to the Jews how this was nothing
new that God had foretold from old history that the Gentiles
would be called. But I looked at this verse and
it says this. This is what God prophesied. I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. What a picture of this man. He
didn't seek the Lord, but he was found of the Lord. He did
not ask after the Lord. You know, Bartimaeus, he was
another blind man. I love to preach about Bartimaeus.
He was a beggar also. That's all a blind person could
do, is beg. But he sought the Lord. When
he heard it was Jesus that was passing by, he cried out, Jesus,
thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And the people around
him said, Bartimaeus, calm down. Be quiet. You're going to embarrass
us. But he cried the louder, didn't
he? Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. And what
do we read? The Son of God stood still. We read of the Son standing still
in the book of Joshua, don't we? But this is the Son of God. He stood still when he heard
the voice of a sinner crying out for mercy. For mercy. This man, he didn't cry out. He didn't cry out. He was found,
or God was found by this man, even though he didn't seek him.
He was made manifest unto them that asked not after Him. What
a picture, what a picture of God's saving grace, of God's
sovereign grace, of God seeking and finding His own. The Son
of Man is come for to do what? To seek and to save that which
is lost. Here was one who was lost and
He came on purpose. to seek and to save him. He did
the same thing for you. If you have been saved, if you're
one of his children tonight, I want you to know from the word
of God, the time of your birth, the situation of your birth,
all the circumstances of your life were all ordered from before
the foundation of the world. And at the time of his appointment,
he found you. He saw you. And He didn't just
pass you on by. He has many people. He has many
people. He didn't pass this man by. The
Lord Jesus Christ saw a man that was blind. The second part of
my message is this. Christ answered a speculative
question. speculative question. Master,
notice this in verses 2 and 3. Master, who did sin, this man
or his parents, that he was born blind? Now before we look at
this question, I want us to see this. They knew, there's not
a doubt in their mind, they knew that this man's blindness was
the result of sin. They knew that. Do you? Do you recognize that? That when
our father Adam sinned, he not only brought death into this
world, yes he did, death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned, but he also brought into the human family all the sicknesses
which lead to death, all the disabilities which are common
to man. They knew this, that this man's
blindness was because of sin. Now when our Lord answered their
question, we'll get to that in just a moment, but there's three
possible theories. that are given, at least that
I've seen, that would cause them to ask such a question. Master,
who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
Well, there is a pagan teaching, a teaching from pagan religions,
which is called reincarnation. A teaching that is nowhere supported
in the Word of God, It is a pagan teaching. In fact, the Word of
God very clearly shows that it is not true, that it is false. There is no such thing as reincarnation. Yet, consider the passage we
read this morning there in Matthew chapter 16, when our Lord asked
His disciples, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? Well,
in their answer, they said, well, some say that they're John the
Baptist. John the Baptist had already been put to death. Some say that you're Elijah.
Elijah. Or some say that you're Jeremiah. They may have had that thought. They may have been tainted with
that false teaching of reincarnation. I don't know. Who did sin? Reincarnation would
tell us that this man in a previous life had been so wicked that
now in this life he's got to suffer. He's got to suffer. A second suggestion is the teaching
of hereditary punishment. And I'm told that the rabbis
They use this to explain suffering in this world for Jewish people
who were suffering. And they love to quote that passage
in the commandments. I think it's the third commandment
where the Lord forbid making images and bowing down under
them. And then he said that he would
visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of them that hate me." Who did sin, this
man or his parents? Were they guilty? Maybe his grandparents,
maybe his great-grandparents. And now he's suffering for their
sins that God has visited the iniquity of the parents upon
the children. And then according to Arthur
Pink, there's a third idea and that is that a child in the womb
could sin. That a child in the womb could
sin and therefore would be penalized or would suffer for the sin which
it had committed in the womb. Now, Arthur Pink, he brings out a
very helpful point at this very point. Let me quote. Let us beware of becoming so
occupied with the problems of theology that we fail to preach
the gospel to lost souls. It appears to me that these disciples,
they showed more interest in the cause than in the cure. They'd seen the Lord healed before,
but it seems they're more interested in the cause than in the cure.
And I've told you this before, but years ago I read an article
by a our friend, Pastor Joe Terrell. And Joe is an excellent writer. You know him. He's been here,
preached here several times. But he wrote this article and
it stuck in my mind. He said, if I came home one afternoon
and I saw that there was a lion in my house, a lion roaring in
my house, he said, I would first be more interested in getting
the lion out of the house than in determining how he got into
the house. Now let that sink in. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I know that. I cannot deny that. My interest
should be more in how to deal or how God deals with sin than
how I became a sinner. Did this man sin or did his parents? They should have showed more
interest in the cure than in the cause. Now the Lord Jesus
Christ, He answered their question. He said He was born blind. Here's the reason. Here's the
reason. He was born blind that the works
of God should be made manifest in him. That God had determined
from before the foundation of the world this boy would be born
blind, he would be begging, and the Lord Jesus Christ would come
by. He was born blind that the works
of God should be made manifest in him. Now the third thing I
want to mention is in verse 4 we see that Christ had a day in
which to work. In verse 4 he said, I must work
the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh
when no man can work. The day, the day that Christ
had in which to do the works of the Father was his life in
this world. The works which he had to do
were such as to fulfill the law, to establish righteousness, to
redeem his church, his mystical body. He had to satisfy justice. He had to preach the gospel to
the poor. He had to fulfill all the types,
all the prophecies that were written of him in the Old Testament. And don't you love there in this
gospel of John, when just before the Lord commended his spirit
unto the Lord while he was upon the cross. He said, I thirst. Why did he say that? That the
scriptures might be fulfilled. He had that work to do and his
day to do it was during his life. This miracle here of healing
this man, granting this man sight, this miracle was the work that
the Lord had given him to do. We know in John 17 in his prayer
at the end of his life in this world, he said, I have glorified
Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do. He finished the work. He finished
the work in his day. And I say this to all of us here
tonight, just as he had a day in which to work the works of
the Father, so do we. So do we. In Ephesians 5 and
verse 16, Paul encourages believers to redeem the time, to buy up
the time. We should use our day, and it's
just a little day, it's just a little time, and none of us
know how long it's going to last. We should use our day, our time,
to the best advantage of doing good, both to ourselves and to
others. Because the night cometh when
no man shall work. In the book of Ecclesiastes,
Solomon wrote, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there's
no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou goest. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do in this thy day, do it with all thy might. because in the
grave there is no work. And here's the last thing, the
fourth thing. Christ gave sight to a man born blind, six and
seven. When he had thus spoken, he sped
on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he anointed the
eyes of the blind man with the 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 seen. Now no one imagines that there
was any healing virtue, any healing power in the clay. To look at
this, if you had been there, and here's a man who cannot see,
The last thing you would think he would need is to put something
on his eyes. He can't see. How's it going
to help to cover his eyes up? But no one imagines that there
was any healing virtue or power in the clay. The power, the virtue
to open blind eyes is in Christ and in Him alone. The same is
true of salvation. It is not your faith that saves
you, but it's Christ. It's Christ and His work. It's
not your repentance that cleanses you from sin, but it is the blood
of Jesus Christ. Yet at the same time, we know
that no one is saved apart from faith and repentance, except
you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. Except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. But there's no merit,
there's no virtue in our faith and in our repentance. The saving
virtue, the saving efficacy is in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Paul testified in Ephesians,
he said this in the book of Acts, but he's talking about his time
in Ephesus. He said, I spent my time there
preaching repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, we see that this man believed. You say, how do you know he believed?
I know he believed because look, he obeyed. He obeyed. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. And he heard the word of the
Lord, Go and wash in the pool Siloam. And he obeyed. He believed. He believed. Go wash in the pool
of Siloam. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. He believed. He obeyed. And He came seen. He came seen. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Amen. Let's sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.