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.
