John 10:1-21 How To Listen To The Shepherd’s Voice - Part 1

26.07.09 John 10:1-21 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 10:1-10

Going Deeper: Study Guide

How To Listen To The Shepherd’s Voice - Part 1

With our economic recession, as most of you know a few of us are looking for work. Well today I will teach you a little bit about a job that has shifted to the background in our society…and that is the task of shepherding… I am not talking about pastoral ministry…but the job of working with sheep. Maybe some of you will consider this vocation. All joking aside, I want you to understand the task of a shepherd, because it will help you comprehend what is being said by Jesus to the Pharisees, and to the formerly blind man whom Jesus miraculously healed, and those who were around in chapter 9.

Shepherding in the Ancient Near East is vastly different from what we may be accustomed to seeing perhaps on TV, driving by some farms on the highway, or in a movie about livestock in New Zealand. Shepherding in Biblical times was a very normal part of everyday life in an agricultural based society. In Biblical times, a person’s wealth was not measured by the number of houses, money, or land one owned, but it was measured by livestock. For example Job of the OT was very wealthy having owned 14,000 sheep (Job 42:12). Other shepherd’s in the Bible included well know figures such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. David was also a shepherd, and when the giant Goliath of the Philistine army was challenging the armies of Israel, David was the one who rose to the challenge. When he did, King Saul questioned this youth’s ability. 1 Samuel 17:33ff states: 33 Then Saul said to David , "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are [but] a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep . When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued [it] from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized [him] by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." 37 And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

The shepherd’s job was difficult and varied which prepared David for his victory over his enemy Goliath.

There are hundreds of references to ‘sheep’ and ‘flocks’ in the Bible employing 12 different Hebrew words and 4 Greek. Of all the animals mentioned in the Bible, sheep are the most prominent. We know from historical records and Scriptural record, that a shepherd’s main tasks were to protect his sheep from robbers and wild predators, and to always be on the look-out for grazing land and a good water supply. If you wanted to be a shepherd, you had to be fairly tough. Because you often had to contend with the bullying of other shepherds for water supply. In addition it was known that sheep are helpless, defenseless, and straying animals. And that imagery is applied by God to His people. A shepherd also needed to take care of sick sheep. And even some of the young and newborns had to be carried until they were able to walk - so it was a tough, physical task.

Something else that we need to know so we can understand this Bible passage, is the different way that shepherd’s guided and cared for their sheep both now and back then. In modern days the shepherd/farmer would be driving his sheep from the rear and using sheep dogs to keep the sheep in order. But in Biblical times the shepherd would be seen leading the flock - going forward first. He would also have kept dogs, but they were primarily used to frighten predators and would be robbers.

The shepherd of Biblical times would name his sheep and the sheep would be able to recognize the shepherd’s voice. The shepherd loved his sheep and often the shepherd would count his flock one by one as they entered the sheep pen - this would give him peace of mind, knowing that they were all safe.

The metaphor of a shepherd was used extensively in the Bible to depict the duty of kings, priests, prophets, and leaders - that they were entrusted to faithful care for God’s people (God’s sheep as God is the Shepherd).

The spiritual overseers of a flock of people are referred to as shepherds. Did you know that the word pastor comes from the Greek which means a shepherd of sheep? So if I am a pastor (a spiritual overseer) - what does that make you?

In the Bible we can find the phrase such as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ (cf. Num. 27:7; Matt. 9:36, etc.). This pictured nations or individuals who had forgotten about God. The image of a shepherd and shepherding, is used of God in relationship to His people. Jesus is known as the Chief Shepherd - and today we will see some further references to Jesus being our Shepherd.
It is this very background that we understand that Jesus uses a metaphor (figure of speech - cf. v.6) to teach us the importance of knowing Him as the Shepherd of our lives, as He addresses the Pharisees, who failed as Israel’s shepherds for a multitude of reasons. One of these reasons was in the direct context of chapter 9, that they had failed in regards to the case of the blind man - in seeing the clear sign of who Jesus is - they rejected it and sadly also rejected Jesus, due to their own spiritual blindness. Today’s passage even though we begin a new chapter in this Gospel, it is a direct continuation of the events of chapter 9. So now Jesus continues His discourse - and as a note this is the last public address of Jesus that the Apostle John records.

Today we are not going to cover this whole passage right down to verse 21, but I am going to read the whole passage to give the proper context and also prepare you for - part 2 of this sermon:

10:1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. 7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have [it] abundantly.

11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters [them]. 13 ["He flees] because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock [with] one shepherd.

17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." 19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" 21 Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?"

There are 3 responses for us to make in response to God’s Word. If you want to know how we can listen to the Shepherd, Jesus - it is achieved through 3 areas:
1. You Can Know The Shepherd’s Voice By Knowing The Saviour (v.1-10)
2. You Can Know The Shepherd’s Voice Through Commitment (v.11-16)
3. You Can Know The Shepherd’s Voice Through Love And Obedience
(v.17-21)

Today we are going to cover only the first point…

You Can Know The Shepherd’s Voice by Knowing The Saviour (v.1-10)

v.1 - Once again Jesus uses the familiar phrase - Truly, truly, I say to you … which signifies that He is going say something that is important enough to stop, listen, and respond to. Jesus begins in this chapter to deal with the way that the people viewed the religious teachers and priests. That is that the people viewed the religious teachers and priests, as the shepherds of the people of Israel. But with this in mind Jesus goes on to distinguish those who claim to be shepherd’s but are not, against those who are indeed true shepherd’s that belong to Christ because they have a saving relationship with Him.

In Jesus’ time, sheep that were not out to pasture, were often kept in herds in an open sky enclosure that was enclosed usually with a stone wall. This was known as the fold of the sheep - or a sheep pen. It could be located alongside a house. There would be only one entrance to the fold of the sheep, which would be guarded by the shepherd or often by a hired hand. What the shepherd would do is to sit or lie down in the entrance. If a sheep wanted to leave the fold of the sheep he would know. More importantly if a wolf came the shepherd would serve to be a physical intimidation. It goes therefore with little explanation that anyone who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep - that is one who climbs over the wall - it is clear that they are up to no good. This is how the thief and a robber would enter to do evil, circumventing the normal entrance guarded by the shepherd.

v.2 - So if someone enters by the door - as Jesus states in verse 2, it would be the shepherd of the sheep, who has the right to go in.

v.3 - In our passage we find that the doorkeeper (under-shepherd who was a hired hand cf. v12) would open the gate for him, and because the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and they know their master’s voice, so they respond. Jesus’ imagery here tells of the human response to those whom He has saved to be His sheep, that they will follow Jesus, that the shepherd leads them out. In Biblical times it was possible, especially in small communities, that several smaller flocks shared the sheep pen, which just amplifies the recognition that exists between the shepherd and his own sheep.

v.4 - Now that he puts forth all his own - that is that all his sheep are brought out, the shepherd leads the flock by going ahead of them. When the shepherd used his voice his sheep follow him.
All throughout church history there have been those who have come to the church, or have arisen in the church who are the ones who ‘climb in over the fence’ - so they can avoid the detection of the shepherds of the church. These are false shepherds who have come with the intent to disrupt, to gain unauthorized authority, to steal, to cheat, manipulate, divide, and even destroy the church.

Jesus gave this warning in Matt. 7:15-16 - "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits (NASB). In Acts 20:28-31a, Paul stated to the Ephesian elders (shepherds) - 28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 "Therefore be on the alert… (NASB).

These false shepherds enter the church by various means, but never in a open and honest way. Then there are also those in the church that have lost their discernment over God’s Word and jump on the bandwagon of the latest Christian trends because they are popular even though they are not that Biblical. So we need to constantly be on guard against such a clear and present danger.

v.5 - Now if a stranger tried to lead the sheep, it is certain that the sheep would not follow that person - even if it was a shepherd of another flock. This illustrates the reality that true sheep, that is true believers will not abandon the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. They will not, as a normal pattern of their lives, will not follow false shepherds because they reject error and follow the truth of God’s Word.

Here are some more sheep facts - experiments have proven that you can’t fool the sheep. It has been observed that even if a person dressed up in the shepherd’s clothing, and even used the shepherd’s distinct call - the result was that the sheep would flee from him. The sheep are so in tune with their master’s voice and sound that the voice of strangers will scatter them, or at least they will not respond - since they love and trust their shepherd. This illustrates the reality that the person who is truly saved by Christ will persevere in the truth, because the Good Shepherd leads them.

v.6 - So Jesus used this figure of speech - you could say that it is similar to a parable - and had said all these things to the Pharisees, and because they were not true believers, and so the Apostle John notes - but they did not understand any of it. What was said was done so using this figure of speech for a purpose. It served to convey spiritually important truth if one were so inclined to spiritual truth as a result of Jesus’ call - His drawing of one’s soul for salvation. In contrast those who are not being called by Jesus, like the Pharisees, they could not understand it because they were spiritually blind and willfully rejected Christ. So once again it confirmed what Jesus had said to the Jews back at the end of chapter 9 - that they were indeed spiritually blind. And if you look in your Bibles at 9:39-41 it states - And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, `We see,' your sin remains. So Jesus in chapter 10 continues to address this issue.

v.7 - Since Jesus’ audience didn’t get the message, therefore Jesus said to them again - He repeats it, and this time He is more direct, and He uses a slightly different but related metaphor. Once again something important is being stated - Truly, truly, I say to you - and Jesus declares - I am the door of the sheep therefore applying these figures of speech to Himself. Once again we see Jesus using the emphatic I AM statement revealing His true identity that He is God, the Son. If you remember Jesus declared - I AM the bread of life (ch.6), then in chapter 8 - I AM the Light of the world so this is the third time out of seven of such open declarations of His deity.
So now, Jesus is the door that only the true disciples of Christ can go through to enter into His Kingdom. Jesus later in chapter 14:6 will state the same concept - I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The imagery here once again is from the sheep pen - as only the sheep and shepherd can gain entrance into the pen through the door - there is no other legitimate way to get in. Through these I AM statements Jesus expresses metaphorically His role in the salvation of those who would believe in Him. It is only by coming to Jesus in belief of His nature that He is the only Saviour from our sins that anyone can truly enter into His fold. Jesus is the true Shepherd, and that only His true sheep can enter into His saving grace from the penalty of their sins.

v.8 - In contrast all those who came before Jesus, whether false Messiahs, false teachers, false leaders - they are the ones who entered the fold by climbing over the wall - these are the thieves and robbers. These were - you could say, the wolves in shepherd’s clothing - those who had no interest in pointing others to Christ, but they were out for selfish gain. Jesus here in the direct context of His discourse is including the religious leaders that He spoke to. These false teachers and leaders are thieves and robbers because they appear to be bringing men into God’s fold but are leading them astray, and they themselves have not entered into it. Jesus in Matt. 23:13 had some harsh but true words about these thieves and robbers - stating: Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. They haven’t come to God through Christ, in fact they reject Him and even desire to kill Him, so they have marked themselves out to be fakes - spiritual hypocrites because they are dispensing a false gospel and therefore are self condemned.

But as earlier noted in verses 3 to 5, and now again in verse 8 - the sheep did not hear them - because they know and recognize the Master’s voice, the voice of the Saviour Jesus Christ - and through God’s gift of spiritual discernment they reject the stranger’s voice.

v.9 - Very plainly and simply Jesus is the door. This emphasizes the reality and truth that Jesus is the only way to enter into a saving relationship with God. Only Jesus is the One who can open our eyes to understand our sinful condition, awaken us to the knowledge of God, illuminate our heart to genuine saving faith, and grant us eternal life. If anyone enters through Jesus Christ, he will be saved - there is no other means of being saved from your sins - this is God’s ordained will and method… no ands…ifs…or buts. The way to a right relationship with God is exclusive and this flies right in the face of the postmodern world that we live in. If you enter through the door - that is Jesus Christ - then you are delivered from the wrath of God for your sins and brought inside to be a part of God’s flock. The true sheep will then be able to enjoy free access to the Lord’s providential care - to be able to enjoy the rich blessings of God’s pasture.

v.10 - Jesus now expands upon the character and motives of the thief. His interest is solely centered upon unrighteousness for the thief comes to do damage to the flock, and stays only to steal, but if necessary he is also prepared to kill and destroy. The false shepherd - the thief is inspired by Satan, on a mission to lead people astray. By emphatic contrast to the death and destruction of false teaching - Jesus has come to offer abundant life to His sheep…and not only that but that they may have it to the full. So we find that in Christ, true salvation can be found from the debt of our sin and the ensuing wrath of God, consummated by spending an eternity in hell. But when you repent from your sins and respond to Christ’s salvation then you are given life (quality) and we may have it to the full (quantity).

In our world there are many voices calling out to us trying to lead us away from the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ. It should go without saying that we must know the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, the only Saviour in order to have such immense and undeserved blessings. Many of us today have come to know the Saviour through His Word. And some of you will come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord through His written or preached Word as well. It is through God’s Word that God gives us the most intimate and accurate glimpse of who He is, who the Shepherd is, and the unfolding of His eternal plan to redeem us from our sins.

As Jesus tells us in our passage today - I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved (v.9). If God is drawing you to seek Him, the only proper response is to come in humble faith to Jesus, and you will be transformed by the Word, and will be given the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, upon being saved. The Holy Spirit is our resident truth discerner. This clear in 1 Cor. 2:14 - The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Without the Holy Spirit we will not know the Shepherd’s voice… we will not be able to interpret and apply God’s Word. If you don’t enter in at the right door your efforts at hearing the Shepherd’s voice will be derailed, ineffective, because in order to intimately know the voice of the Shepherd we must be disciples of Christ, we must be born again (Jn. 3:3, 7).

When we are able to know Him well through His Word, then we should not be deceived by the strange voices of this world. These strange voices as AT Robertson put it, are… ‘calling and leading us to - false philosophy, false psychology, false ethics, false religion, and false life.’ If we do not have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour then we cannot know how to discern His voice from the rest of all the other multitude of voices in this world.

If we do have Jesus as our Saviour then we can hear His voice through the objective standard and testimony laid out in the Bible. This is His way of communicating with us. A seminary dean wrote this - ‘Scripture is like a photo album of other family members, a diary of past events, a calendar of future plans, a letter from home, a revealing portrait of God, and descriptions of acceptable family behaviour…. Without Scripture, we would know relatively little about [the Shepherd]. Our level of intimacy would be extremely limited. To be specific, our praise would be incomplete, our lives lacking the Spirit’s power, our prayers aimless, and worship of Him would be misdirected since it should be based on walking in the light of His Word. Mankind’s original intimacy with God collapsed because Adam and Eve listened to another’s word and disobeyed God’s Word (Gen. 3:1-19).’ (R. Mayhue)

We Can Know The Shepherd’s Voice By Knowing The Saviour - through God’s Word. We can intimately recognize the Shepherd’s voice only if you -as Col. 3:16 states - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. The more you let the Word of Christ dwell in you the more you will be able to hear His voice.

Jesus Christ is the gate, He is the Good Shepherd who intensely loves His sheep, gathers them together, and demonstrates this through His sacrifice for His sheep …. upon the cross so that we might have eternal life. That is how much Jesus loves you…He wants you to know Him in a personal and intimate way - He wants you to be identified with Him - conformed to His image to the glory of God.
　
　

John 9:35-41 Lord, I Believe - Worship!

19.07.09 John 9:35-41 (NASB)

Sermon Audio File: John 9:35-41

Going Deeper: Study Guide

Lord, I Believe - Worship!

In the Bible, and in our passage - and in chapter 9 - is the topic of spiritual blindness which is a very important subject. Spiritual blindness is used to describe a person’s inability to see the truth of God. We have already met the man who was blind from birth in chapter 9… and because he was physically blind he could not see God’s visible revelation - like the sky, trees, animals, etc.

But being also spiritually blind, the man also could not see God’s invisible revelation. He could not ‘see’ God’s grace, blessing, forgiveness, mercy, love, holiness, etc. There was an immense portion of God’s person that he could not discern, most importantly the light of the world, Jesus Christ. Spiritual blindness causes a person to be in darkness, therefore he /she fails to see and recognize sin. We all meet people on a daily basis and it is a sad fact that spiritual blindness is the norm. Most likely you realize that we don’t meet a lot of Christians on a day to day basis. How many of your neighbours are believers? How many of your relatives are Christians? How many of the people that you observe on the Skytrain are acting out in righteousness and holiness? How many people do you meet refer to God and Christ - and I certainly don’t mean as a swear word?

I think it becomes quite obvious that there are only 2 groups in this world…. as the joke goes … in this world there are only the saints… and the ain’ts - those who belong to Christ, have spiritual sight, are in the light AND those who reject Christ, are spiritually blind, and are living in darkness. The reality is that you are in one group or the other. There is nothing in between, either you see or you don’t.

Our passage account is part of the sixth of seven signs that the Apostle John present’s in his gospel. If you think of what a sign is - what do you realize? A sign serves to warn, give information, point us in the right direction - all without words. The sign we have in chapter 9 is that Jesus heals a blind man who was born blind. This points to the fact that Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the only One who can grant spiritual light.
The signs are clear, and we must open our eyes to these signs and see Jesus for who He is. Allow me to read to you the first part of today’s passage. It can be divided into the 2 groups in this world… like I said earlier… the saints and the ain’ts:

Our first section of our text today gives us: Spiritual Sight Leads To Worship
35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 He answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." 38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him.

Spiritual Sight Leads To Worship - our first part of our passage challenges us this week to say to the Lord as a believer, as a follower of Jesus Christ, as a Christian - this…

1. Because I Have Spiritual Sight, Lord Help Me To Worship You (v.35-38)

Last time in chapter 9 we found that the man who was blind from birth which Jesus healed - that the Jews threw him out. The Jews were thoroughly fed up with the man because he did not give them what they wanted. Instead the man stuck it out by telling the truth, and as a result, he was harassed more and more. On the positive side we find that his testimony for Christ grew stronger and greater. In the face of being harassed by the Pharisees, he doesn’t compromise the truth. Because of this the Jew’s backs were up against the wall and they were cornered by the truth.

Continuing in their willful refusal to believe, they get verbally violent and lash out at the man….with curses, name calling, and insults - saying - You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us! (cf. 9:34). What they sharply insinuated was that the reason he was blind in the first place was due to his sin, which Jesus made clear that this was not the case. So they threw him out (9:34). It is quite possible that the man was roughed up being physically ejected from the synagogue.

v.35 - As we begin our passage today we find that Jesus heard about what happened to this man - that they had put him out of the synagogue. He was excommunicated simply because all this poor guy knows is that he has been healed by Jesus, and he comes to the conclusion that Jesus must have been sent from God. Being black listed by the Jewish religious authorities was a big deal. Now the man would have to face being shut out from the religious, economic, and social life of the country…that was how powerful and vicious these unbelieving Jewish leaders were.

The little that he probably had, and the future gain he could attain now that he could see, was about to be stripped away, just for being honest and being loyal to the one who gave him sight. In some senses you could say that he was under a living death sentence.

Now there is a very interesting observation that I don’t want you to miss in verse 35… it really amazing and speaks of God’s great love for us….look down in your Bibles and look at the words …. and finding him… do you see that? It was Jesus, who actually went and began to search for this guy. Jesus looks for the man. This is an act of divine initiative. It is always God’s initiative in offering sinners, the spiritually blind - salvation. Luke 19:10 tells us this - "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Jesus is the seeking Saviour, who goes and searches us out according to His will. When Jesus healed the man by spitting on the ground, making some mud with the saliva, and putting it on the man's eyes….and instructing the man to "Go," and "wash in the Pool of Siloam" and the man was healed. What does the man do? He doesn’t ask Jesus any questions… and after he can see, the man doesn’t go to seek Jesus out - right?

Jesus is the one who can grant us spiritual sight, by removing our spiritual blindness. It is totally not in our own control - but it is under the authority of a God who is sovereign, gracious, and powerful. When Jesus found him wandering outside the temple, Jesus goes to the man and offers him comfort, lifts up his countenance. Jesus has already dealt with his physical blindness, and now Jesus deals with the man’s soul by confronting the man with this question - Do you believe in the Son of Man? (The Son of Man title is something that Jesus used to refer to Himself in relation to His coming in the likeness of a man - it is a Messianic Title. Therefore Jesus is fully qualified to judge humanity because He fully understood and identified with people)

v.36 - The man didn’t know who the Son of God was. If you remember the man had been bold and courageous in dealing with the Pharisees. The man when asked earlier by the Pharisees, guessed that Jesus could be a prophet (v.17) because of what Jesus had done for him. And the man made the connection that Jesus was sent from God, and was doing God’s will - so the man remained true. But he was not certain who the Son of Man is. So he asks Jesus, because the man has developed his trust in Jesus - Who is He, Lord. And at this point we see that Jesus begins to take the divine initiative in granting the man spiritual sight.

So the man says - Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? In this man’s request to Jesus, we can see that he was ready to receive the revelation of who the Son of Man is. As I already mentioned this man trusts Jesus enough that He will take what Jesus says seriously and as being truthful. The man we could say is at the threshold of saving faith - he has been drawn by Christ and is ready to respond. So the man in other words is requesting of Jesus - hey, just point me in the right direction. The man is so prepared with faith that he is just waiting for the true object of faith to be revealed to him.

In these verses I hope that you can see that there are 2 sides of a coin in regards to saving faith. Firstly it is the Divine initiative - that is God through the Holy Spirit does a spiritual work in your life, and then being all prepared, there necessarily comes the other side of the coin. Secondly, you need to respond to the drawing of the Saviour - this is the human responsibility necessary for salvation ….and this is what we witness the man act upon. The man is essentially saying - tell me who the Messiah is, and I will follow Him… tell me what to do now.

v.37 - There is an amazing revelation that takes place in v.37. Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." Like I said, the man was prepared by God with faith. And when Jesus says to the guy that he is starring right into the eyes of the Son of God…you’re talking with Him…. What happens? Does the man say - are you sure Jesus? Does He say how can I trust you? Does the man say to Jesus - prove it to me? No the man says nothing like that.

v.38 - The man simply says - Lord, I believe. There was no hesitation…he embraced the knowledge of who the Saviour is…. Lord, I believe. Faith was granted to the man to believe and on the physical level, Jesus had granted physical sight which gave the man confidence in Jesus… and in so doing Jesus initiated spiritual sight. The only thing left was that the man needed the true object for his faith… and Jesus points him into belief in that also. The guy was ready to be a disciple of Christ. Anyone who is going to be given spiritual sight - ie: salvation from there sins - must recognize Christ for who He is, and the criteria and cost of genuine saving faith.

Even though the Bible tells us that God has elected, chosen, predestined - before the foundations of the world - that some of us are going to come to saving faith in Christ…. even though the Bible tells us that those who belong to God - that their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life….it is true that you need to make a response to Jesus Christ (human responsibility). You need to say to Christ that you repent of sin, and need Him to wash your sin away and to respond to Him in a personal way.

The man immediately recognizes Christ as the Lord - and then what? ... he worshiped Him. If we back track a little bit, Jesus claimed to be the Light of the world in chapter 8 and 9, and now He demonstrates this by giving sight to the blind. Jesus claimed to bring freedom to those who believe in Him (8:36) and now Jesus sets a sinner free from the bother of blindness (physical and more importantly spiritual). Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh, declaring that He is I AM, and now Jesus demonstrates this by receiving worship. The man that Jesus sought out worshiped Him.

Some of you may be thinking, ‘How did the man know all this?’ Was he just taking a big guess? Was he just making a ‘blind’ decision? (that was a pun). No. If we just go back in chapter 9, we can see the pattern of progress from faithlessness to faith. If we look back at the early verses, the man had no faith, didn’t know Jesus in any real way. In the sight of the Pharisees the man was just a useless blind beggar. But when Jesus, the Light of the world steps into the scene, things begin to happen.

The man is healed through a miracle, serving as a sign, and if we look at verse 11 - there is a progression of events (this is after the healing) the man says - ‘The man they call Jesus’ - now the man has met Jesus - and to him Jesus is just a man. Then later in verse 17 - even though the man was wrong - Jesus is now a prophet. Next in this guys growing faith - Jesus is from God (v.33). And then on top of this Jesus introduces ‘the Son of Man’ (v.35). Finally the man gets his spiritual sight - Jesus personally becomes his Lord. Only through divine initiative can this happen.

The man could personally affirm that Jesus is the Son of God, because, salvation is by divine initiative, and therefore is a miracle. It is the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit drawing you towards Christ. God opened the man’s spiritual sight, so that he would understand and accept the reality of Jesus’ nature and character as the Lord of all creation… and he worshiped Jesus as the Lord - his Lord. What a glorious picture of genuine true saving faith.

Our final section from v.39- 41 speaks about - Spiritual Blindness that Leads To Abandonment - this section is perhaps addressed to you….if you know that you are an unbeliever, or maybe you are sitting here this morning and you are not sure if you have a personal saving relation with Jesus Christ, I encourage you to respond to Jesus this week by saying….Because I Don’t Know You Lord, Give Me The Faith To See You

Our text concludes with:
39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." 40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, `We see,' your sin remains.

2. Because I Don’t Know You Lord, Give Me The Faith To See You

In our lives it is possible to be in a circumstance (and you probably may remember such circumstances) where we have totally been oblivious to something that is right before our eyes, and we miss it completely. And through this text it draws out how real - how possible it is to miss Jesus Christ, just like the Pharisees - that we are just too preoccupied with the status quo - we make wrong assumptions about our eternal destination - we couldn’t care less about God - we are too busy with less important things - until we discover that its too late. Perhaps you didn’t even know that Jesus was prodding you through a Christian friend, a radio program, or gospel tract.

v.39 - In contrast, the closing verses of chapter 9 seal the destiny of those who continue to reject Christ… those who are willingly clinging on to spiritual blindness. And for these very people - Jesus came into this world, not for blessing but for judgement. He has come as a judge to make the decision, to hand down the verdict upon those who would believe and upon those who will refuse to believe in Him.

The purpose behind Jesus’ mission here is that those who do not see may see. So Jesus is saying that those who spiritually do not see, like this formerly blind beggar, will be given spiritual sight - those who humble themselves before Christ will be granted salvation from their sins - they may see and will be able through Christ - continue seeing.

On the other hand, those who see - that is those who think that they see, like the Pharisees, may become blind. Jesus comes to confirm that those who think they can see are mistaken. Jesus as the judge tells them that they in reality are spiritually blind. Jesus says to them in effect…you may think you are belong to God, but you don’t….you don’t see God at all, and you don’t see Me….that is why you are spiritually blind.

Imagine this - if you go to a restaurant and you sit down and never tell the waiter that you are hungry and want a steak…what is going to happen…..you are not going to get any food, right? In the same way, if you don’t recognize that you are spiritually blind, then you can’t ask Christ to grant you spiritual sight, right? This was the Pharisees problem, because they believed that they had a direct connection to God, but in fact they outright rejected Christ and even desired to murder Him and do not admit to their blindness.

It is like those who are trapped in false religions. They think that they have a spiritual connection to God or a higher power, so often as it is - when they are introduced to Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven and a true relationship with the One True God….they say they don’t need Jesus…they have all that they need….they have at that point brought judgement upon themselves because they reject Christ. It is in this same way that Jesus comes and declares to the Pharisees that they are blind.

Jesus only gives sight to you when He opens your mind to admit your blindness and seek out the Son of God as your only solution to spiritual blindness caused by your chief problem - sin. Sin blinds.

v.40 - As Jesus was saying all of this, there were those of the Pharisees still hanging around and they heard this and asked Jesus - We are not blind too, are we? The Pharisees pick up on what Jesus was saying up to this point, and even to the implied statements that Jesus made about those who see will become blind. So they say - uhhh…excuse me…excuse me - What??? What did you just say?? Are You saying that we are blind too? Hey…we are the elite religious leaders of Israel….we know the Law ….we are in tune with God….so are you saying that we are blind too? The question in the Greek expects a negative answer - so the Pharisees are presuming that because of their authority and religious position, that Jesus could not be possibly be referring to them as being blind too.

v.41 - So Jesus in verse 40 says - Yes I am - that is exactly what I am saying…that you are blind. Jesus explains - If you were blind, you would have no sin. That is if you really had a grip on the reality that you are spiritually blind, then I could help you - just as that blind man did realize. That man asked to be pointed to the Saviour so that He would be saved. But you…you claim you can see, and because of your pride you have judged and condemned yourself. And so…your sin remains, so you are doomed.

Remember back to 8:24 - Jesus already said to these Pharisees - I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sin. These Pharisees were so hard to the truth - a truth which they claimed to live by… yet tragically they don’t know God, they continue in sin, refuse to come to Jesus for spiritual sight, think they know it all… so they have taken the path of eterrnal destruction.

A well known pastor wrote this - "if a man doesn't see in Jesus something to love, he's condemned himself. If a man doesn't see in Jesus something to desire, to trust, to put his faith in, he's condemned himself. If a man thinks that he knows it all and he doesn't recognize anything in Christ at all, he sees no purpose or rhyme or reason for Christ and denies His claims, that man has judged himself by his own willful blindness" (MacArthur).

Failing to see Jesus - to put it in another way, it is a failure to bring glory to Christ…and the ultimate failure of the Pharisees, is that they, and perhaps some of you who do not know Christ - fail to worship your Creator.

The Westminster Catechism gives this question - What is the chief end of man? The answer given is - Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

Whether you know the Lord OR you don’t know Jesus Christ, the bottom line - our chief end is to glorify God - we were created to worship. Worship is the bottom line. So if you are a Christian - ask the Lord to help you to worship Him OR if you are not a Christian or aren’t sure - ask the Lord to give you the faith to believe so that you enter into a worshipping relationship with Him. Ask me or your Christian friend what is Christ’s salvation.

Worship was the beggar’s response to saving faith - this is how he gave glory to God for the spiritual change in his life. Today I would like to focus on the man’s response to Jesus - in v. 38 - "Lord, I believe," said the man and immediately he worshiped him. I want to focus on this aspect of this passage because it is something that is so important for us to understand. One person wrote a book on worship and titled it - The Ultimate Priority (MacArthur) - the title expresses succinctly the Christians chief end. Worship is our ultimate priority because worship is eternal. We begin to worship at the moment that we are saved. When we are saved we become worshippers, and it continues on - and it never ends.

I also want to speak about worship so that you may be encouraged in understanding that you need to be consistent in your worship (addressing the aspect of corporate worship).

If you have been at this church since the beginning or for a while and know everyone coming and going, maybe you will see this pattern. You know which people will be here 99% of the time - and then there are some that you don’t know if they will be here or not- it is 50/50. There are some of you who are consistent - faithfully coming Sunday after Sunday. Then there are some who seem to be part-timers - worship may I dare to say - is not your ultimate priority. So the issue is the failure to fulfill your ultimate priority. As I said earlier we are saved to worship, therefore we need to make worship each and everyone’s priority. For the saints it is through sanctification - for the ain’ts it is through evangelism.

The Bible is clear that worship is to be our priority. One such passage is found in Hebrews 10:24-25 - And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I am going to read this verse again but paraphrasing it….
And let us consider, and keep on doing so, how we may provoke positively, that is to sharpen each other to love and good deeds. Do not leave behind our worshipping together, like some who have developed this dangerous habit, but instead let us encourage each other to worship - especially all the more since we know that the Day of Jesus’ return is coming closer with each passing day - and we will have to give an accounting to Him.

For the Hebrews there was the threat of persecution for their attraction to Christ. So there was the temptation to go back to Judaism because the cost of following Jesus was just too high. We may not be facing persecution for being a Christian, but we are under the constant assault of being drawn away from our ultimate priority. If you struggle with making worship a priority - ask yourself - what are some of the things that are keeping you from consistently attending worship each Sunday? Are they legitimate reasons, or are they just things which will draw you away, that make skipping worship a threatening habit?

Remember last time I talked about ‘radical amputations?’ The putting off of sin and the putting on of holiness and righteousness? Do some of your temptations come from being too tired? Do unbelieving family members want you to stay at home Sunday mornings? Are there other things like its exam time so I need the extra study hours. What about work schedules - even a commitment to ministry can overshadow the importance of worship - I call this the Martha Syndrome? These are all real everyday issues we need to struggle with, if we are to take worship seriously and claim that Jesus is our Lord. Maybe we need to consider some ‘radical amputations’ so we can make our corporate worship a priority. I am not talking about showing up on Sunday’s as a habit without the right spiritual heart attitude - because that would be the same as not coming for some of the possible reasons I mentioned. I am talking about the authentic, sincere worship - a heart and mind that is focused solely upon the Lord’s glory.

So let me end with some encouraging reasons you should consider why corporate worship is so important:
1. As I have already talked about - It is a Biblical exhortation and a fitting response to our salvation in Christ, and glorifies God.
2. It is the only time during the week that the all of us together can discern the heart and mind of the Lord through the receiving of His Word.
3. Corporate worship pictures and practices our relationship and communion with God.
4. It is the only time during the week that the larger body of believers can meet to encourage each other in love and good deeds, in the Lord.
5. It is the only time that we as a family can come in remembrance and celebration - at the Lord’s Table being reminded of our Lord’s life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return.
6. Corporate worship is the only time that young and old can share together in the common experience of praising God through singing, Scripture reading, cheerful and sacrificial giving, and prayer.
7. It is the only time that we as a local church can respond to God, and each other, before His divine presence, enjoying Him now and into eternity.
8. Corporate worship encourages us by confirming our faith.
9. Corporate worship establishes the community of God’s people.
10. Corporate worship sets the tone for the week where we can maintain a heavenly perspective in personal worship during the entire week. Worship doesn’t stop with our Benediction, but it is a way of life - permeating every area of our lives.

So let each one of us find our self, like the beggar saying Lord I believe and come to God with true worship. See all of you next Sunday.

John 9:13-34 Spiritual Blindness - Part 2

12.07.09 John 9:13-34 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 9:13-34

Going Deeper: Study Guide


Spiritual Blindness - Part 2

The issue at hand in our passage today, once again, is spiritual blindness. This is the theme through out the whole of chapter 9. Chapter 9 helps to reveal to us the nature of spiritual blindness and the nature of spiritual sight. The bottom line of spiritual blindness is that a person does not recognize sin and does not see God, therefore he or she is willfully resistant to Him.

Allow me to briefly lay down the context for our passage today. Jesus confronts the Jews in chapter 8 and as a result of Jesus’ truth claims - the Jews reached for stones to stone Him for claiming to be - I AM, that is God. Since it was not according to God’s will that Jesus should die such a death - He was able to slip away unharmed.

In the course of travel, Jesus spots a blind beggar. And Jesus through His sovereign divine will decides to heal the guy. Being healed was the greatest thing that ever happened to this guy so he told his neighbours and others also heard about this. The reaction was mixed and it will result in this man being taken to the Pharisees for an investigation. Our Bible text reveals:

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." 18 The Jews then did not believe [it] of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, 19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner." 25 He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26 So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear [it] again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28 They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." 30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and [yet] He opened my eyes. 31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.

Spiritual blindness causes all who are in its bondage to be stubborn and resistant to the Gospel. We will see this stubbornness in the unbelieving Jews. I guess the main question for us today is how stubborn are you towards Christ? There are at least 4 responses we can all make at the end of our study, that will open our eyes to Christ. You can see them in the bulletin.

1. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To God’s Standards (v.13-17)

v.13 - As we progress in chapter 9, things move from a personal healing, to public awareness, and now things get official - as the man who was formerly blind is taken to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were, if you remember, the ‘spiritual watchdogs’ of the religious scene who made themselves to be the arch enemies of Christ. Their hatred for Jesus had been made apparent on a number of occasions already.

v.14 - The Apostle John makes it known that the miracle took place on a Sabbath. Of course the Pharisees are jumping up and down about the case because the healing took place on the Sabbath, which was a no, no. And there were other piddley laws of theirs that had been broken. Scripture records that Jesus healed on this day seven different times. If you remember back to chapter five Jesus healed the invalid by the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. The reason the Apostle John focuses our attention on this is to draw out the heart attitude of the Pharisees.

The first thing that the Pharisees identify and start to pick on is the day the healing took place. I think for us we would look at the wonder of the miracle instead. Jesus deliberately chose the Sabbath to perform the miracle because it would serve to further His purposes in bringing glory to God. Jesus knew that this would infuriate the religious establishment, but Jesus does it anyway.

The Sabbath by the time that this healing took place, had been distorted and corrupted. God’s design for the Sabbath rule was to give people a time for rest. People were to get recharged physically and spiritually, and to specifically set a time apart to worship and enjoy fellowship with God. Instead, the Jewish authorities turned the simplicity of the Sabbath into a series of rules and regulations which put a damper on acts of kindness and compassion. The Rabbis turned the Sabbath into a heavy burden. In our passage the healing was not a crime, but ridiculous as it seems, the process that the healing took place was the offense. The Jews considered ‘kneading’ as work. So they considered Jesus’ act of making the clay for the man’s eyes was a violation of the Sabbath.

v.15 - When the man was brought to the Pharisees, they began asking him how he regained his sight - the inquest upon the man had now started and persisted. So the man once again gives a concise account of what Jesus did and commanded. This was staggering evidence from the man…facts too hard to ignore, but we shall see what happens next.

v.16 - In response, division arises among the Pharisees. There are two opinions expressed. The one group held that anyone who breaks the Sabbath is not from God - and Jesus did not keep the Sabbath - so their conclusion was that Jesus was not from God because He breaks their rules. Now the other group held that anyone who heals a blind man through such signs could not be a sinner - like the other group insinuated. But instead Jesus must be from God because of the miracle.

v.17 - With no consensus they spoke to the blind man - so this is another time that they are interrogating him. The Pharisees must have started to come to their senses and wanted to get the man’s perspective on who Jesus is. Without any sound evidence the man offered his own opinion, and stated that he believed Jesus to be a prophet.

He was not saying that Jesus was ‘The Prophet’ - the one spoken of by Moses (Deut. 18:15). Now the man was using the word prophet in the most general sense - that is one who is sent by God to deliver His message. The harder these Pharisees try to beat down the truth, the more that God’s truth shines. They turn to the man probably hoping that he would say what they wanted to hear - something that would give them ammunition to kill Jesus. Instead, even thought this man did not fully understand who Jesus was pronounces Jesus as a prophet.

Now let us just assume that if Jesus were merely a prophet, and not THE Prophet (the long awaited Messiah) - it would still mean that Jesus was sent by God to deliver His message. This then is an indictment against the unbelieving Jews, for they who claimed to have God as their only Father (8:41), in fact are denying His Fatherhood by denying and rejecting Jesus, the Son….God always triumphs even in the face of unsound reasons and illogical assaults.

In the end they held to no single standard. Their assumptions were just that….unfounded assumptions. Despite having the Law of God - they neglect the Scripture which was God’s standard that they should maintain. They should have known that the Messiah would come and give sight to the blind. In the end they decide that Jesus was a sinner… but what did they base it on? This was an arbitrary decision, not based on truth but self deception… and after all they figured that they knew everything anyway.

The Jews could of cared less about the wonderful and miraculous event that just took place in this man’s life. Being spiritually blind, all they cared about was carrying out ‘the letter of the law’ and not the original intent of the God’s standard. So they totally missed out on God’s purpose for the Sabbath and the beauty and purpose of this sign.

We learn from this man, that sometimes if we want to bring glory to God we will have to forget about what the spiritually blind think. Following Christ may call us to go against ‘the popular vote’ and do what is right and called for by God’s standard. If God has drawn us to Christ, we cannot make a compromise between the world and following Christ.

Today we have the standard of truth about Christ in the Bible, it never changes, and it will remain consistent and unchanging into eternity.

2. Ask God To Open Your Eyes So You Don’t Need Evidence (v.18-23)

v.18 - The Pharisees in their spiritual stubbornness convince themselves that the man had not been blind, and that there was no healing. On the other hand some of them thought the opposite. It seems that no matter what was said the Jews still did not believe, because they could not settle the conflict of opposing thoughts in their minds. They couldn’t think straight because their minds were poisoned by hate towards Christ. Paul writing to the Corinthians states a similar case - 2 Cor. 4:4 - The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Isn’t it true that sometimes we make choices which put a barrier between Christ and ourselves? We do things which intentionally block out the light of Christ, whether it be coming to faith in Christ or in matters of spiritual maturity or just the day to day precepts of living.

So what is the Jews next step? They called the parents of the very one who had received his sight …. surely they could shed some light on this issue. They already had the hard evidence - the man who Jesus healed. But strangely, that wasn’t enough…they in their spider web of self deception - spun the nest thread….we need more evidence! So off they go dragging the parents into this.

v.19 - The Pharisees fire off a barrage of questions at the parents in one shot. Some believe that they did this because they wanted to confuse the issue, since they were not really interested at getting at the truth which they consistently reject. (As a side note, the NIV incorrectly divides the questions into 3 separate ones - where the original text has only 2).

v.20 - Anyway the parents are not too keen on being questioned - knowing that their son’s new condition was not well received by the Jews. With wisdom they provide an answer to what they knew for certain - that is We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.

v.21 - The parents establish the reality that their son was blind from birth. They do not answer the issue of how their son now sees or who opened his eyes. Instead they want the Pharisees to ask their son.

Their son was of age - meaning that he was over thirteen years old - for you need to be this minimum age to act as a witness in a court - so we know that this guy was certainly older than this and as his parents replied - he will speak for himself.

Of course the Pharisees were not pleased with what they learned because once again, God’s glory is indirectly being exalted - since now it has been confirmed again that the man was blind from birth. The implication of this affirmation meant that the Jews were backed into a corner - since it would now be hard to discount this as a genuine miracle. Once again you cannot deny what God clearly wishes to demonstrate… yes you can reject it, and make up irrational theories and charges, but you can’t alter the truth.

v.22 - The Apostle John as he records this incident, gives us some insight as to why the parents were reluctant to give more details than necessary when answering the questions. The reason is that the man’s parents were afraid of the Jews and what might happen to themselves as a result of getting caught in the crossfire. At this point the parents knew that the Jews had already made the decision to excommunicate, that is to kick out anyone from participating in the synagogue if they confessed Him to be Christ. The Jews had three degrees of excommunication. These ranged from a temporal mild reproof, to a greater length of separation, to a full ban which could be of an indefinite time.

v.23 - Because of the serious prospect of being kicked out of the synagogue community, the parents referred the matter back to their son who was of age… getting the Pharisees to ask him.

The nature of spiritual blindness is that it calls for more evidence. We may already have the best evidence but it is just isn’t good enough. We all have the evidence of who Jesus is through the Word of God, but because we are spiritually blind we can’t recognize the source, we can’t see anything… despite having objective truth (written evidence). People today are still asking God for evidence … if you show me this and that then I will believe. Or, if you change these circumstances I will follow Jesus. Yes God may very well do that but we perhaps should be asking instead for faith… say to the Lord… I have enough evidence in the Bible, just give me faith.

Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us this - Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. And in verse 6 - And without faith it is impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

3. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To The Facts (v.24-34)

v.24 - Since the Pharisees felt that they were not getting what they wanted to hear… So a second time they called the man who had been blind. It was clear that all the evidence pointed to Jesus being the one who performed this miracle, but the Jews didn’t want to believe it. So they put some pressure on the man (we are talking about duress) and they say to the man - Give glory to God. The phrase Give glory to God as used by the Jews could be paraphrased in this way - come on, you can tell us the truth, we already believe that Jesus is a sinner, so there is no need to pretend that Jesus healed you… there is no need to hide the truth from us, we really know what happened - come on…help us out here.

v.25 - The man sticks to his guns and speaks about what is certain. He holds fast to the facts. He doesn’t get into an argument and speculate about whether Jesus is sinless or not. And by God’s grace he doesn’t get swept up into the trap that the Jews are trying to lay on him. Instead he is going to leave that debate to these unbelieving Jewish theologians and ‘technocrats,’ - but he is confident of one thing - which is what happened to him - that he received his sight - I was blind, now I see! Something great happened to this guy. The power of his personal testimony could not be denied.

v.26 - The Jews continue in their relentless prodding of the man. They weren’t satisfied with the truth because they were spiritually blind….and they are so bent on obscuring the miracle that they apply pressure to this poor guy …. What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes? Maybe they were trying to trip the man up by getting him to say something that he didn’t mean.

v.27 - Yet in all of this exchange, we are given a glimpse of the man’s developing faith. We also begin to see perhaps the man’s impatience with the inquisition upon him. What the man is saying to the Jews is - how many times do I have to tell you? Are you guys deaf? Don’t you get it? The facts are the facts. And then the man comes up with a good rebuttal, since they asked so many questions, he sarcastically quips - You do not want to become His disciples too, do you? His rhetorical question really stung.

v.28 - This really got the Pharisees upset and they retaliated they - reviled him through a flurry of insults directed against the man. Do you remember when you where a kid and when somebody said something negative about you? Do you remember the classic response and I used to use this line - ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ Do you remember that? And like little children the Jewish leaders engage in a similar exchange… and accuse the man - You are His disciple.

As for themselves they aligned themselves with Moses. [This was an emphatic contrast (original Greek - 28 b, is one statement not broken up by an exclamation mark after the word disciple)]. What they meant by this remark was that they accused the man of being a disciple of Jesus, which at this point this was not the case, the man did not come to a saving faith in Christ. In contrast these Jews prided themselves to be disciples of Moses and more importantly of the Law that they received through him.

v.29 - We see the pride of the Jews continuing to gloat as to how knowledgeable they are, that God has spoke to Moses, and that God’s Word’s are still on record, and that they follow them. In contrast they wanted to emphasize that this Jesus man…He is a nobody…. they do not recognize where He comes from …that is that they reject any thoughts that God sent Him. Now this was a plain outright denial of the facts. Jesus Himself told them about His heavenly origin in chapter 5 and 8.

Spiritual blindness covers up the facts by distorting them. The facts seem to be blurred when we don’t have the right prescription glasses on. The facts seem to dissipate when we place pride in the way. The person who is humble before God has the opportunity to see, and to come to the Bible (God’s standard) to discover the truth of who Jesus is - the facts of who Jesus is… and how he should respond to Him.

Let me read to you a story, I printed out, which is really a life testimony…it is quite rich in describing spiritual blindness and spiritual sight granted by God…

" The Greyhound had been thrashing about in the north Atlantic storm for over a week. Its canvas sails were ripped, and the wood on one side of the ship had been torn away and splintered. The sailors had little hope of survival, but they mechanically worked the pumps, trying to keep the vessel afloat. On the eleventh day of the storm, one particular sailor was too exhausted to pump, so he was tied to the helm and tried to hold the ship to its course. From one o'clock until midnight he was at the helm.

With the storm raging fiercely, he had time to think. His life seemed as ruined and wrecked as the battered ship he was trying to steer through the storm. Since the age of eleven he had lived a life at sea. Sailors were not noted for the refinement of their manners, but this particular sailor had a reputation for profanity, coarseness, and debauchery which even shocked many a sailor.

He was known as "The Great Blasphemer." He sank so low at one point that he was even a servant to slaves in Africa for a brief period. His mother had prayed he would become a minister and had early taught him the Scriptures and Isaac Watts' Divine Songs for Children. Some of those early childhood teachings came to mind now. He remembered Proverbs 1:24-31, and in the midst of that storm, those verses seemed to confirm him in his despair:

"Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel, And did not want my reproof; 26 I will even laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm, And your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, When distress [and] anguish come on you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge, And did not choose the fear of the Lord. 30 "They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 "So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, And be satiated with their own devices (NASB)

He had rejected his mother's teachings and had led other sailors into unbelief. Certainly he was beyond hope and beyond saving, even if the Scriptures were true. Yet, his thoughts began to turn to Christ. He found a New Testament and began to read. Luke 11:13 seemed to assure him that God might still hear him: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."

That day at the helm, March 21, 1748, was a day he remembered ever after, for "On that day the Lord sent from on high and delivered me out of deep waters." Many years later, as an old man, he wrote in his diary of March 21, 1805: "Not well able to write; but I endeavor to observe the return of this day with humiliation, prayer, and praise." Only God's amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God.

The man that God saved was no other than John Newton. Newton never ceased to stand in awe of God's work in his life. (www. gospel.net)

4. Ask God To Open Your Eyes To Be God-Centered (v.30-34)

v.30 - The man was rather taken aback - it was amazing - that these self declared ‘religious know it alls’ couldn’t figure out where Jesus is from. It seemed strange to the man that Jesus opened this guys eyes, yet these Pharisees could not see that a miracle had taken place and the magnitude of this sign.

v.31 - Once again we see the man’s understanding of God and Jesus growing. He begins to present to the Pharisees the logical conclusion to his healing. He begins by going to the OT (God’s standard), which is clear in establishing the principle that God has no obligation to listen to sinners. However - if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Proverbs 15:29 for example states - The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous (NIV). Those who have a life which is lived in accordance with the precepts of God will indeed be blessed.

v.32 - The healing of a person born blind was unheard of until Jesus came. In this case it is evident that there was not any fraud, or illusion, or mistake, that could be made about this man’s original condition. In addition in the OT the healing of a blind man from birth was also unheard of…so there must be something special about Jesus.

v.33 - Let me summarize his argument in the previous verses. The man logically presents these implications - 1. God is the One who can heal, and Jesus was able to heal my eyes 2. God listens to Jesus because He does God’s will, so Jesus is not a sinner 3. The opening of my eyes was a miracle, that only God could do….

The man makes his conclusion in verse 33 - If this man were not from God, He could do nothing. So the conclusion is… 4. This Jesus guy is from God, otherwise He would be powerless.

It was the reality of the miracle and the opening of this man’s physical and spiritual blindness that pointed to Jesus’ divine origin.

v.34 - These Pharisees were stubborn, and deep into spiritual blindness they were blind, so they persisted in unbelief. They certainly in their pride were not going to take any lesson from a menial beggar, and a recently blind one at that. So as any person who is cornered by the truth, and refuses to see, they get verbally violent and lash out at the man…. You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us? What they sharply insinuated was that the reason he was blind in the first place was due to his sins….. this brings us back to the very begging verses of chapter 9. And so they declare - since you are a sinner - what nerve you have in lecturing us - we have no obligation to listen to you. So they put him out - they threw him out.

As believers we should really admire this guy… even if he puts us to shame. He isn’t even a disciple of Christ yet, but he is so Christ centered. In the face of being harassed by the Pharisees, he doesn’t shift from the truth. All he knows is that he has been healed by Jesus, and he comes to the conclusion that Jesus must have been sent from God. Being black listed by the Jewish religious authorities was a big deal. It could amount to losing everything…even the little that he did have.

He could wind up being shut out from the religious, economic, and social life of the country…that was how powerful these Jews were. Everything that he had and could gain was to be taken away in the concluding verses of chapter 9 - just because he was Christ centered. This guy stood by the reality of truth that he was granted by experience, he had courage, was loyal, he didn’t compromise in order to honour the One who granted him sight - and I remind you again that he didn’t even know the Son of God yet.

When we think about ourselves as Christians, we probably are put to shame by this man. As Christians we perhaps have been raised in the church, or you have been a believer for a long time, maybe you are in leadership, perhaps you are a newer Christian … we have access to the truth, all the knowledge of Christ, but we dishonour Christ by not being fully Christ centered… we are often not even close to the level of commitment that this guy had - we are full of compromise… you sell out Christ and are not sold out for Him….so as we close ask God to make you more Christ centered, fully willing to count the cost of following our Lord. This formerly blind man, in the face of losing everything, chose to make a commitment to Christ, and as we see next time…the Lord will richly bless him with something greater than his sight.

Allow me to finish the story of John Newton, as we also conclude our time in God’s Word. Newton set an excellent example of what being Christ centered means:

"Though Newton continued in his profession of sailing and slave-trading for a time, his life was transformed. He began a disciplined schedule of Bible study, prayer, and Christian reading and tried to be a Christian example to the sailors under his command. Christian readings provided much spiritual comfort, and a fellow-Christian captain he met off the coast of Africa guided Newton further in his Christian faith.

Newton left slave-trading and took the job of tide surveyor at Liverpool, but he began to think he had been called to the ministry. His mother's prayers for her son were answered, and in 1764, at the age of thirty-nine, John Newton began forty-three years of preaching the Gospel of Christ.

Newton and his wife moved to the town of Olney, there he often composed a hymn which developed the lessons and Scripture for the evening worship service. In 1779, two hundred and eighty of these were collected and combined with sixty-eight hymns by Newton's friend and parishioner, William Cowper, and published as the Olney Hymns. The most famous of all the Olney Hymns, "Faith's Review and Expectation," grew out of David's exclamation in I Chronicles 17:16-17. We know it today as "Amazing Grace."

In 1779 Newton left Olney to become rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London. His ministry included not only the London poor and the merchant class but also the wealthy and influential. William Wilberforce, a member of Parliament and a prime mover in the abolition of slavery, was strongly influenced by John Newton's life and preaching. Newton's thoughts on the African Slave Trade, based on his own experiences as a slave trader, was very important in securing British abolition of slavery. Missionaries William Carey and Henry Martyn also gained strength from Newton's counsel.

Newton lived to be eighty-two years old and continued to preach and have an active ministry until beset by fading health in the last two or three years of his life. Even then, Newton never ceased to be amazed by God's grace and told his friends, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." " (www. gospelcom.net)

Newton wrote the well known words to the hymn - Amazing Grace:

Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!

Thru many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

John 9:1-12 Spiritual Blindness - Part 1

05.07.09 John 9:1-12 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 9:1-12

Going Deeper: Study Guide

Spiritual Blindness - Part 1

Today we are going to look at the topic of vision…we meet a man who was born totally blind he never had any opportunity to see…. until Jesus came along. This is the sixth, of seven signs, that the Apostle John present’s in his gospel to demonstrate who Jesus is. Jesus stated that He is the light of the world in chapter 8 and now too. Jesus demonstrates this by giving sight to a man who was born blind. Jesus has the power to create, and He will do that in this man. Here is our text:

9:1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "[It was] neither [that] this man sinned, nor his parents; but [it was] so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came [back] seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?" 9 Others were saying, "This is he," [still] others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

In our lives we are all impaired to differing degrees of blindness… I am not talking about having to wear eye glasses or contacts, or the need for laser eye surgery… Jesus is teaching us today, some things about spiritual blindness, and demonstrating His true nature. As we begin this passage may we seek God to ‘open our eyes’ so that we can come to Him and ….

1. Ask God To Open My Eyes To The Effects Of Sin

v.1 - As the account begins we are told that Jesus was traveling somewhere and on His way He saw a man. This was no ordinary man for this guy was blind. Not only was he blind but we are told that he was blind from birth. This is important because we then know, that in all the years of this man, no one could heal him. There was no cure available.

He was born with this permanent physical impairment. He never was able to see his parents, he never could see the town that he grew up in, he never was able to witness the magnificent landscape of the promised land, he never witnessed the beauty of God’s temple where he visited. There was a whole dimension to his life that he missed because he was blind. And then comes Jesus. Out of the hundreds, and thousands of people that were present Jesus takes note of this lone man. Isn’t it comforting to know that Jesus cares for those of us who think we are shut out, all alone, untouchable. Jesus knows each one of us, He understands our needs, He knows where we are, and He offers us hope.

v.2 - Alongside Jesus was His disciples. Jesus’ disciples see this guy and ask of Him - Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? It was a common belief in Jesus’ day that physical suffering was directly related to sin. The disciples make a bold assumption that this man’s blindness was due to sin originating from this man or his parents. I guess with their beliefs and the totality of the man’s blindness, they figured that someone must be to blame for this problem.

As Christians we easily fall into this trap also, by pronouncing that a fellow Christian’s physical problems must be a punishment from God. This may or may not be the actual case, since not all physical or even mental illness is a result of sin. We can look at Job of the OT as a classic example and there, it was a test of his righteous character, so that God could demonstrate that He is sovereign over suffering and that we need to trust Him even in this area of life. Yet on the other hand sometimes our medical problems do come about due to sin. Back in chapter 5 of our Gospel, after Jesus healed the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus said to the man - Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you (5:14). Jesus was aware that this man was continuing in the pattern of sin that originally caused his condition, so He commands the man to stop sinning.

Jesus’ command was a warning that if he continued in his sin then something more severe was going to happen. So it is also true that some of our sicknesses are directly related to sin, and are a result of sin.

David of the OT suffered, acknowledged and wrote about the effects of sin on the body - Psalm 38: 3 - There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. 1 Cor. 11:30 - Paul states the power and judgement of sin on the body - For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. We cannot eliminate the reality that there are physical consequences to sin.

Yet it is very important that we balance what is being taught here with other parts of Scripture - like what is being taught in our passage today.
It is easy to criticize someone and link their physical ailments to sin, but when it comes to our self….what do we do? We usually would overlook our sins, but instead, we should look at our self and all our own evil’s with a greater deal of scrutiny before diagnosing others.

Sometimes we tend to blame our self and think that because something negative happens - we may think that we are sinning. We sometimes are grasping for answers; asking why?….and we feel that we need to know the unknowable details which belong to God.

Sometimes we tend to want to find someone else to blame for our own sin, and this is what is sinful. We call this blameshifting.

The earliest example of blameshifting took place in the garden of Eden right after the fall. God goes to the man for an explanation of what happened and what does Adam do? He points his finger at God…the woman YOU gave me….and then proceeds to point the finger at his wife Eve…..she gave me of the tree and I ate. God then addressed the woman and what does she do? She points the finger at the serpent. Never do Adam or Eve look to their own responsibility for sin, and this pattern has continued to this very day. Blameshifting is passing on the responsibility for sin onto somebody or something else.

For a parent, blameshifting could take place when we say - if my son didn’t act that way then I wouldn’t have had to blow up at him all the time. For a husband - I know that if I had a better wife then I would have a happier life. For a student - I wouldn’t be in trouble, if so and so didn’t rat on me about my assignment. You get the picture….yes there may be an element of truth in each of these scenarios, but what we need to do is take responsibility for our own actions and the consequences.

There are consequences for blameshifting. For example you may lose friends because they get sick of you for blaming them for everything that goes wrong due to your own foolishness. On a personal level a blameshifter will not mature spiritually and become weak, because he/she never confronts them self. You increasingly reject circumstances that shape you into what God wants you to be, and you also become increasingly irresponsible. The greatest consequence is that you will reap God’s discipline, because you do not obey His precepts for living.

We need to be able to sort out the responsibility of each person involved. Once we have been able to do that it is not a matter of breaking a habit, but rather it is a matter of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind about sin and it involves replacing life patterns which are wrong, sinful patterns, wrong responses with right patterns that come from God’s Word.

One pastor calls it ‘radical amputations’ (J. Adams). What does he mean by that, well when Jesus talks about tearing out your right eye, cutting off your right hand so that it doesn’t cause you to stumble (Matt. 5:29-30) - He is talking about radical amputations. These are not literal physical amputations, but radical changes in the areas that tempt and cause us to sin. You are to make radical shifts in future things, and patterns… which if restructured will make it difficult for you to sin in that area again.

What does this look like? Well back to the student - I wouldn’t be in trouble if so and so didn’t rat on me about my assignment. Well the issue is that this student is too lazy to take class notes when the teacher requires it. Instead she goes into her older brothers room and takes his notes, re-copies them, and hands them in. Now that she got busted….she first must recognize that she is sinning… she is stealing, she is cheating, and lying - and these heart issues do not please a Holy God. She then confesses this to the Lord and to her brother, teacher, and friend and deals with the problem and seeks forgiveness on a Biblical level.

She even accepts any penalties that are levied against her. Now that everything has been done to please the Lord, there still exists the future temptation to fall again in this area. So she does some ‘radical amputations’ - she radically changes some things in her life. She goes to her brother and asks him to lock his desk. She may even ask him to hide the key. She gets to class and arranges with the teacher that she sits at the front, so that the teacher can see her writing her own notes. So you see that she is making all these radical shifts, which make it hard for her to sin in this way again, until a righteous pattern is solidly established in this area of her life.

The bottom line in regard to the link between sin and physical ailments is that we cannot always know what God is up to in these kinds of circumstances - but we need to be open and discerning of the work of the Spirit. We can’t always know all the reasons why, but we can know that He can demonstrate His glory through us. Therefore whatever the case, we can be instruments in the hands of God, if we willingly let Him work upon our life, and in so doing we can bring glory to Him.

v.3 - Jesus gives us the answer to the cause and purpose of this man’s blindness. In this case the man’s blindness was not in judgment for some sin that the guy did. It also was not related to any sin of his parents. Now you may be thinking this, can the judgement of sin be transmitted trans-generationally? That is can the sin of our parents be passed on to us? The simple answer is no. The Jews had misinterpreted the law where it states in the ten commandments: Exod. 20:4-6 - 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

What is being taught here is that a consequence of the sins of the previous generation would set a pattern of hate towards God. In other words patterns of sin can be taught or picked up / imitated by our children. Therefore if there is no turning away from sinful practices NOW… there inevitably will be punishment upon the following generations.

Moses makes it clear in Deuteronomy that judgement for sin is limited to the individual who commits them - Deut. 24:16 - Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. We are all individually responsible for our own sin.

Jesus does provide us with the purpose of the man’s blindness. In God’s sovereign plan for this man’s life, it gave way to an opportunity that the works of God might be displayed. God’s goodness and glorious power could be displayed through this man’s life. This opened the door for Jesus to perform a miracle, so that Christ, the Son of God, could be authenticated as the Messiah, through His ability to heal. As we see Jesus doing the work of the Father, we are to…..

2. Ask God To Make Me Zealous In His Work

v.4 - Jesus was the One who was sent by the Father to demonstrate to the world that God is gracious, and He does so by giving sight to the blind man. Jesus was on earth for a short period of time, and in our passage Jesus refers to it as day. He states - We must work the works of Him who sent Me. This work is not just for Jesus, for if you look down in your Bibles to verse 4, there are the words - we must - therefore Jesus includes His disciples in this great work for God. It was not meant to be a one man show, it is a reminder for all Christians that we all must get busy in doing God’s work.

It is just like in our life, we all have the day to complete the demands of our work. We go into work at a fixed time and the boss expects us to complete a certain amount of work, and then we go home for the evening. There is a general application that we can derive, and that is that our life here on earth is our day. The hours of each day are limited and so is our life, they are brief, so this should stir us up to good works which God has given to each one of us, so that we do not become dormant, unproductive, fruitless Christians. Instead we can live zealously for Christ making a great impact upon our world.

What I am going to read to you is about an everyday kid….perhaps not so normal because he was a handful, but none the less he serves for us as an example of what a ‘day’ - living for Christ can turn into.

This kid was born in a rural town of Massachusetts, February, 1837 to a trade a mason; he lived on a farm. His father died when he was 4 years old, leaving his wife 8 months pregnant with twins. (This next part I hope will encourage you mother’s her today to be faithful to the responsibility that the Lord has blessed you with) - His mother bore with a brave heart the weight of a household that would have crushed most women, and nurtured her flock of nine as best she could. She refused all offers to part with any of her children. She daily instilled into their minds a little teaching from the Scriptures, and took them regularly to church services and Sunday school.

Reared in poverty, labor and self-denial, the boy grew up sturdy, self-reliant, and strong in will. His pastor, paid him to work at the parsonage, but found him so full of mischief that he was glad to dismiss him to his home. The teacher of the district school did not find him a hopeful pupil. Fun pleased the boy better than study.
So, though he attended the sessions until almost seventeen years old, he progressed, but poorly in reading, writing, and spelling. (http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biomoody.html)

At age 17, being unemployed, his uncle, knowing his character, reluctantly took him on as a shoe clerk. This young man’s ambition was to make $100,000. Instead… the Lord saved him at the age of 18. In the hands of the Lord and with a willing heart, he uncovered hidden gold….gold that was in the hearts of millions for the next half-century in the gospel.

This boy, the young man is Dwight. L. Moody. He may be the greatest evangelist of all time. In a 40-year period he won a million souls, founded three Christian schools, launched a great Christian publishing business, established a world-renowned Christian conference center, and inspired literally thousands of preachers to win souls and conduct revivals.

He preached to 20,000 a day in Brooklyn and admitted only non-church members by ticket! He traveled across the American continent and through Great Britain in some of the greatest and most successful evangelistic meetings communities have ever known. His tour of the world with his musical counterpart Ira D. Sankey was considered the greatest evangelistic enterprise of the 19th century.

It was Moody’s good friend Henry Varley who said, "It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him." And Moody endeavored to be, under God, that man; and the world did marvel to see how wonderfully God used him. (www. swordofthelord.com/biographies/moody. htm) History of Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899.

We are reminded by the life testimony of D.L. Moody, and back in our text today - in verse 4 - of Jesus’ drive to complete His earthly mission, that we too have a mission to serve God for our life - and with our life - which needs to be completed. The moment that our day begins is when we have come into a saving personal relationship with Christ. And the night comes when we have gone from this world to be in the presence of Christ. So there is a sense of urgency - life is short, in which we must do the works that Christ has given each of us to do. And you must diligently foster this passion, even pray for it, if you find it too hard a wall to scale.

v.5 - Jesus once again declares as He did back in chapter 8 that He is the Light of the world - Jesus incarnate - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14). While Jesus is in the world, His light will shine for only a brief moment in human history. He knows that His day is short and His crucifixion is near, then the world will not be able to have the full benefits of His physical earthly presence. Yet His redemption of people from their sins will have been completed and His full glory will have been revealed. Jesus is the Light to us, so we benefit from this knowledge today as Christians and those who are drawn by God and respond through saving faith.

v.6 - After Jesus has explained and given the reasons surrounding this blind man, Jesus goes and heals him. We should note that in all of Scripture there are no cases where the permanently blind were healed. This is then an act of power brought about by God. Even though the disciples could miraculously heal people, it is never recorded that they healed anyone who was blind. It goes to say that this miracle by Jesus is to demonstrate His unique character and person - that He is indeed God the Son, the Messiah.

So how does Jesus go about performing this miracle? Needless to say it was in quite an unexpected way. It starts as Jesus spat on the ground. Then He makes some clay with His saliva, and then proceeds to place the mud on this blind man’s eyes. In Jewish thinking there were some who believed that saliva had curative powers. It is safe to say that no doctor or eye doctor today would endorse spit as a prescription for any eye problems. So I think we would all agree this is most unusual, especially since we know that Jesus could have simply healed this guy with out all of this.

v.7 - But of course there is a divine reason and purpose. We may not fully comprehend it, but we will see that it serves Christ’s purposes in drawing out this man’s faith and obedience to Jesus. And secondly that this act will play a part in the Pharisee’s confrontation with Jesus later on. But for now Jesus gives the blind man a simple command - Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam was a large pool located to the south of the temple (same pool that was used to draw water from during the Feast of Tabernacles).

The Apostle John notes that the word Siloam is translated, Sent, because the pools waters were fed or sent through a channel from a spring (Gihon spring through Hezekiah’s tunnel). Contextually, this is an important note by John, because he reinforces the theme that Jesus is the One sent by the Father. And now spiritual blindness is removed by the sent One. This man miraculously received new eyes and vision, he didn’t experience any disorders, for Jesus does all things perfectly.

The blind man responds with obedience and faith, he simply follows Jesus’ instruction - So he went away and washed, and came [back] seeing. Imagine the explosion of senses that was radiating in this man’s eyes. The most awesome image he would have beheld was the Lord, the Son of God. Jesus gave him physical sight and not only this, He would also water the seed of faith planted and watch it blossom. The man responded to Jesus’ Word. What an example of simple yet powerful display of the drawing power of the Father.

The blind man could have simply refused this seemingly foolish process by saying… there is no way are you going to put your spit mix on my eyes. In our day and age of high tech and medical break throughs, we know that there is no health benefit from spit, mud, or swimming pool water. When we think about it, doesn’t it seem ridiculous that a suggestion like this would even work for blindness that was present from birth? But what we can learn from this blind man is that he acted without doubting in the power of Jesus. He demonstrates for us a confident readiness in the Word of God. Jesus commands - and he immediately follows in faith…praise worthy obedience.

So this section of Scripture when applied, goes to challenge us to know that we have a mandate to do God’s work in this day. Are we ready and willing to come to the Scriptures and apply all that there is? Will you come to the Lord… and willingly without hesitation obey Him? And finally through our passage we ask, Are you willing to ….

3. Ask God To Open My Eyes To Spiritual Blindness

The people who knew this man, were also very blind. They could not see the reality that God could do such a miracle in a person.

v.8 - The healed and now fully sighted man, returned home and to his surprise he got a mixed reaction from his neighbours. This man was well known in his hometown because people previously saw him as a beggar. In those days if one were blind there would be no other means of support. All the people which were familiar with him could hardly believe that this was the same guy that they had often seen around town, so the news spread.

v.9 - Now that the man’s eyes were open and fully functional, some were saying rightly that this was the same man. Others denied it - and proposed - No, but he is like him - that is that this man only looks like him. Then amidst all the confusion the man himself - kept saying, "I am the one. After all, if anyone should know it was this man - it happened to him..

v.10 - Those around the man naturally and with great curiosity ask him - How then were your eyes opened?

v.11 - So he tells them what Jesus did and concisely recounts the whole simple story to them. Jesus spoke, I obeyed, and I was healed - it was an act of God - an undeserved gift. He refers to Jesus as - the man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash - which supports the fact that he didn’t know Jesus very well, nor did his neighbours. This man had signs of faith, like those people in chapter 8, yet faith had not blossomed as God was still drawing him to Christ.

We are reminded of our own call in Christ, as we learn of this man’s obedience and the blessing that came with his response to Jesus. It demonstrates to us that there is no obstacle too great if we do not doubt the power of the Lord, and most importantly we obey the Lord - wherever and in whatever way that He leads. Without doubt we can follow Christ’s commands and know that all will turn out according to His will.

v.12 - With all the interest surrounding this obvious miracle the people want to learn from the man where Jesus is - Where is He? Yet the man said - I do not know. These people begin to launch a public inquiry, just like we do today…. And so this ends our passage today.

Spiritual blindness is rampant in both Christian and non-Christians. For the unbeliever, like the man, you were born with spiritual blindness. For the Christian we have been saved from sin and are blind no more, but because we still live in this body of flesh - it is possible that we can fall into patterns of spiritual blindness when we entertain sin. Spiritual blindness causes people to reject God’s right to impose divine standards and the denial of His supremacy over mankind. By doing so, God’s right to be - is denied - and His Lordship diminished.

Spiritual blindness is the failure to live according to, and the failure to attain to, the divine standard, which may be pictured by an archer shooting an arrow - and because he is blind - he fails to hit the bull’s eye of God’s righteousness. The very Greek word for sin - hamartano is translated as ‘missing the mark.’ The reason this happens is that man has intentionally transgressed God’s bounds; therefore, deviating from His will, and producing a shortcoming that ultimately ends in eternal death for the unbeliever.

It should be noted that because man is born spiritually blind, that is people are born as sinners, they cannot achieve the divine standard. Man’s life is thus marked by his separation from God, rebellion against Him, and the chaos that ensues. Yet man lives in this state and even strives for it, and he does not acknowledge what sin really is…. until Jesus comes and gives us eyes that can see the glory of who He is…. and the depths of our own spiritual blindness.

Part of the impact of spiritual blindness is that we are blinded to our own sin. As we discussed one way that spiritual blindness can manifest itself is through blameshifting. Secondly spiritual blindness can cause you to become self centered and lose sight of all the blessing that comes with zealously doing the Lord’s work. So ask the Lord to open your heart to Him today…perhaps right now…right where your sitting….pour out your heart to the Lord.

If you are a Christian ask God to give you a clearer picture of what He wants to do through you by meditating upon His Word and applying it.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour - go to Christ and confess that you are a sinner and ask Him to open your eyes….your life… to His saving grace. Only Jesus can bring light into your life which is covered by spiritual darkness.

When we are spiritually blind we miss out on a whole dimension of life and blessing from God.