Come, See Who the Light Is and Respond!

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to John's Gospel.

[0:11] Once again, we keep trekking through the Gospel of John. John chapter nine. John chapter nine, starting verse 35.

[0:27] John chapter nine, 935 and that black Bible in the chair in front of you, page 80 to the back of that black Bible, page 80. You'll find John chapter nine and we're starting in verse 35 going into chapter 10 verse six.

[0:43] It flows together these two sections here from chapter 935, excuse me, to the end of the chapter into chapter 10, 10 one through six.

[0:54] So then we'll stop there in chapter 10 verse six. But these go together, this section. So let's read chapter nine verse 35 to chapter 10 verse six.

[1:07] 935 of John's Gospel. Jesus heard that they throw him out. Remember the blind man. And finding him, he said, do you believe into the son of man?

[1:21] He answered and said, and who is he, sir, that I may believe into him? Jesus said to him, both you've seen him and he is the one speaking to you. And he said, I believe, Lord.

[1:34] And he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment, I myself came into this world that those who do not see may see and that those who see may become blind.

[1:48] Those are the Pharisees who were with him, heard these things and said to him, we're not also blind, are we? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin.

[2:01] But since you say we see, your sin remains. Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who does not enter, does not enter by the door into the courtyard of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he's a thief and a robber.

[2:19] But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

[2:32] When he leads out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger, he will never follow. But will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

[2:48] This illustration, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand the things which he had been speaking to them. I looked up on Google search, the worst rulers in the world, and I found this article by allocation.com.

[3:11] It's titled, The Top Ten Worst Dictators in History. Quite interesting. Quite nauseating when you read this.

[3:25] And the author, he would just do a short synopsis of each of these leaders. Top ten, starting with the ten, go to number one. Top ten, go to number one.

[3:37] Ivan the Terrible. Vlad the Impaler. Who's that? And he was known for impaling people.

[3:50] Idi Amin, from Africa. Saddam Hussein. Pol Pot. Leopold II.

[4:02] Who's that? Adolf Hitler, of course. Joseph Stalin. Genghis Khan, he was number two.

[4:14] And then, of course, Mao Zedong, from China. These men were responsible for the death of millions and millions of people.

[4:27] And as I said earlier, reading through this was nauseating. It was truly unbelievable reading about what these guys did.

[4:39] Though not as brutal as these top ten leaders. The leaders of Israel were horrible.

[4:51] These religious leaders were very bad leaders. And you see that, or I should say, you have seen that from chapter nine. And of course, the main reason why they were horrible leaders is because they rejected the light.

[5:09] So as we come here to John's gospel, where he's calling his readers, come receive Jesus. Trust Jesus. Know Jesus. Believe into Jesus. Today we'll see.

[5:21] Come. See who the light is and respond. Come. See who the light is. See who the light is and respond.

[5:46] The light, Jesus, reveals that he is the true ruler of God's people. So let's respond by worshiping him, trusting him, and following him.

[6:04] Jesus is the light and he reveals he is the true ruler, the real ruler, the authentic ruler of Israel, really, of God's people. So let's respond by worshiping Jesus, by trusting Jesus, by following Jesus, obeying Jesus.

[6:22] This is what you'll see from the text. So these Pharisees have rejected the light. We saw that in chapter nine. And we saw how, no pun intended, saw how this man, blind man, he was made to see physically.

[6:43] And then we saw he was made to see spiritually. And we see the Pharisees who thought they could see because they saw physically. They thought they could see spiritually, but it was very apparent they were blind spiritually.

[6:58] It was revealed to us because the light heals and he reveals. And the light opened the blind man's eyes to see light, but also to see the light, the truth, Jesus.

[7:14] And he responded, you'll see, by trusting him, worshiping him, following him. Did it go out? Oh, there you go.

[7:25] I've got a while. So we'll see, be revealed to us, Jesus is the true ruler.

[7:36] And he'll prove himself to be the door and the shepherd of the sheep. And so thinking of chapter 10, verse 1 through 6, as transition verses, because we will see how Jesus is connecting with this man and this man is responding to Jesus.

[7:56] And then Jesus is going to take this time and move into this relationship that he had with the Pharisees, where Jesus, he goes from being the light who heals and reveals who he is as the true ruler to being the door and the shepherd who provides access to God.

[8:15] Who's the true pastor of his people? That's why we read from Ezekiel chapter 34. Because one of the prophecies against the leaders of Israel from Ezekiel is how these shepherds from Israel were horrible leaders.

[8:33] You read that. They did not tend the flock. And Jesus accused the Pharisees of the very same thing. Ah, good, thank you.

[8:43] And this is the next one. So, first, the light reveals his identity. First, his identity. He's the ruler, dot, dot, dot, the son of man. He's the son of man.

[8:55] Look at chapter 9, verse 35. And notice the verbs. Jesus heard that they threw him out and finding him. Interesting.

[9:05] The man, back in chapter 9, verse 1 through 34, specifically verses 30 through 34, 30 through 33, excuse me. He just said that God only hears those who are God-fearing.

[9:21] In chapter 4, verse 23, God seeks out such who will worship him, really, give glory to his son. And notice how Jesus says he sought him out.

[9:32] But he was seeking him. Interesting. So he heard they threw him out. Finding him, he said, asked him, do you believe into the son of man?

[9:46] Interesting why he says son of man. Because son of man, oh, I didn't put that up there. He's the ruler, the son of man. Did I not do that? Sorry. Jesus is the ruler, dot, dot, dot, the son of man.

[9:59] Why would Jesus use the phrase son of man? Why not use the son? Why not use me? Why would he use this phrase son of man?

[10:13] Make more sense. Do you believe into me? Do you believe into me? Do you believe in the son? Why son of man?

[10:24] Well, because he's revealing his identity as a ruler, which is why he uses that phrase son of man. The son of man, it depicts God's power, glory, and his rule.

[10:36] All of that resides in Jesus. This goes back to Daniel chapter 7, where the son of man is given power, glory, and rulership.

[10:50] Jesus is the ultimate revelation, the final revelation of God. So he's saying, so do you see with eyes of faith who I am as the son of man?

[11:03] Have you placed your trust in me? Do I have that up there? I don't think I do, no. Do you place your trust in me?

[11:17] The one who has power, whose glory, rulership. The man, verse 36, who is he, sir? Lord is curious, but sir, because there's just respect.

[11:31] There's no understanding of who he is. He hasn't made the connection between son of man and Jesus yet. I mean, believe. So notice how belief recognizes Jesus' identity.

[11:46] Belief in Jesus is not just belief that he existed. I mean, you can talk to anybody. Do you believe Jesus? Oh yeah, sure, I believe. There's a man called Jesus, lived in the first century. People will believe that, of course.

[11:59] But true belief embraces the very claims of Jesus. That's true belief. And Jesus, verse 37, said to him both, you've seen him, and he's the one talking to you.

[12:17] He's the one speaking to you. Seen him not just physically, but spiritually. One cannot just see Jesus physically, but must also see him spiritually with eyes of faith.

[12:32] One sees the evidence of the truth of Jesus' true identity, who he truly is. We'll look at verse 38, how the man responds, I believe, Lord, in worship.

[12:45] We'll look at that in just a moment. I want to drop to verse 39 now. Verse 39, right? Because I told you, 36 to 37, then verse 39. Here's the purpose of Jesus' mission.

[13:01] He said, for judgment, I myself came into this world, that those who do not see may see, that those who see may become blind. Judgment, not in the sense of condemnation, because Jesus did not come to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.

[13:23] But with Jesus, there's one of two verdicts. So think of it. For a verdict, I myself have come into the world. Those who are blind are given sight.

[13:36] So those who think they see, they're blind. Only Jesus can reveal the heart. This was the purpose of Jesus' mission.

[13:47] Those who do not see may see. Those who think they see may become blind. They don't know. See, he gives blind ones the light, enabling them to see him.

[13:59] This is what he did for the blind man, remember? The blind man couldn't see. So he healed his eyes so he could see. That's what Jesus does. He heals our blind eyes so we can see him for all that he is, in his power, his glory, his rulership.

[14:14] That's what he does. He reveals his identity. Unfortunately, those who think they see are really blind because they think they have become God.

[14:28] Our world has been fooled. But only Jesus can open blind eyes because he is the son of man.

[14:40] That's who he is. Go to verse 41. Again, we're on this aspect, this point. The light reveals his identity.

[14:51] He's the ruler, the son of man. The Pharisees asked him, we're not blind too. Jesus said to them, if you're blind, you would have no sin. But since you say we see, your sin remains. I want to focus on the first part of verse 41.

[15:06] If you were blind, you would have no sin. Blind, in that these, they judge themselves as blind and completely destitute, but they have been illuminated by the light.

[15:20] What do you mean? You may ask. Chapter 9, verse 1 through 34. The blind man. That's what, that's what Jesus, that's who Jesus is talking about. This blind man. So they're the ones that are not guilty of sin.

[15:36] That's what Jesus is saying. Only those blind can be made to see by the sun. These have humbled themselves.

[15:47] They've admitted their desperate need and blindness. And they're crying out to Jesus to save them because Jesus had opened their eyes so they could finally see the truth.

[15:58] it's all grace. It's grace. Undeserved favor. So Jesus, he reveals his identity.

[16:14] The ruler, the son of man, and now he reveals his identity. Ruler, the sincere leader, or another way you could put it would be the real ruler.

[16:26] Put it that way. Chapter 10, verse 2 through 3. He's revealing his identity. He's the sincere or the authentic leader of God's people.

[16:39] Chapter 10, verse 2, and 3. Chapter 10, verse 2. The one who enters by the door as a shepherd of the sheep. We'll look at that in a moment, but the thief, the robber, they climb over the wall.

[16:51] But the one who's a true shepherd of the sheep, the sincere, authentic leader, enters the private courtyard through the door.

[17:02] The area belongs to the shepherd, so he enters through the door. So, Jesus is the true, real, authentic leader, a ruler of God's people.

[17:15] And Jesus will later transition to show he's the only one who can give access to God, and he's the true pastor or shepherd of God's people.

[17:25] We'll look at that in chapter 10, verse 7 through 21. Verse 3. To him, the shepherd of the sheep from verse 2, the doorkeeper opens.

[17:37] Only to this one, because he truly cares for the sheep. The doorkeeper will open the gates or the door. Not for the thief, not for the robber, not for the false one.

[17:51] It's this one to whom the doorkeeper opens the door. He's the true shepherd. We'll find out next week. Maybe the doorkeeper represents the father. Obviously, Jesus represents the shepherd.

[18:03] But this one's intentions were to care for the sheep. He says, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. We'll look at that more intensely. This one's intentions were to care for the sheep because the sheep already belong to him.

[18:21] So he was given authority to enter by the doorkeeper because these sheep belong to him as a shepherd. Notice, he leads them out. He's the one who's the true leader, not these thieves, not these robbers, not these strangers.

[18:37] So Jesus is the true leader of his people, people, not these religious leaders. He's the real ruler, the son of man.

[18:51] So now notice the contrast versus the false rulers, the robbers. Now look at chapter 9, verse 40. Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said, we're not also blind, are we?

[19:07] Like saying, no, we're not blind, come on. I mean, we can see. We're good. Apparently some were standing around Jesus. But their very question showed their blindness that was already there because they already rejected the light.

[19:26] They rejected Jesus. And this is where, now verse 41, the second part of verse 41, I want to look at that, look at the second part of verse 41.

[19:37] But since you say, we see, your sin remains, they were oblivious to the truth that they were blind. These Pharisees were enslaved, yet they thought they could see.

[19:56] If that's the case, Jesus says, your sin remains. What's the sin? Of unbelief. Unbelief rejects Jesus and his mission, so because they rejected Jesus, their guilt of sin remained.

[20:12] They were bad leaders. The Pharisees thought they could spiritually see. But since they rejected Jesus, they were blind, and they led others in that way.

[20:28] They led others. They led other people in that way. They were trying to lead this blind man in that way. They were trying to lead the parents in that way.

[20:41] They were leading the people in that way in the sense of, if you proclaim Christ as Messiah, we're going to throw you out of the synagogue. That's the kind of leadership they were. Look, Jesus didn't come to a world aware of their need to be saved.

[20:57] Jesus didn't come to a world aware of their blindness. The light has come into the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light.

[21:08] Don't expose me. And then notice what Jesus does. Chapter 10, verse 1. Truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, truly, authoritative statement, authoritative statement.

[21:20] Here it comes. How can one determine the difference between the true shepherds of God's people and false ones? Here's the transition. This is how you guys treated this blind man.

[21:33] The one who does not enter by the door into the courtyard of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. What's he calling these Pharisees?

[21:44] Thieves and robbers. Right there. Those are the kind of leaders you guys are. The blind man and the parents of the blind man were poorly shepherded by these false shepherds of Israel.

[22:01] They didn't care about them at all. And Jesus uses this illustration to show what he's talking about. The one who does not enter by the door into the, and it says fold in the New American Standard, another way to translate it is a courtyard.

[22:17] It was actually a private property and it was surrounded by buildings and even at some sections a wall. It was a large area of restricted property with only one point of entry.

[22:34] That was through a gate or door. Those who cared about their sheep that was inside this courtyard entered by the door to retrieve their sheep.

[22:46] notice by name. That's a true shepherd. Those who were selfish and self-seeking, he says, climbed up some other way.

[22:59] They would climb up over the wall. These were the thieves. These were the robbers. This one is a thief, robber, who comes to brutalize the sheep.

[23:13] These who don't care about the sheep are not true shepherds. They're not true rulers. They're not authentic leaders. He's talking about the Pharisees. That's why in verse 6, this illustration, by way of analogy or allegory, Jesus, in essence, was rebuking these religious leaders, calling them thieves and robbers.

[23:43] And yet, at the same time, he invitingly offered himself to the whole world and says, come, I will be a true shepherd to you. And when he says, come, here's three ways you can respond.

[24:02] Here are responses to this true leader. Three ways you can respond to this true leader, even today. Three ways you can respond to the true, authentic, real leader, ruler of God's people.

[24:17] First way, number one, of course, what is it? Worship him. Back to verse, chapter 9, verse 38. And he said, this blind, formerly blind man, I believe, Lord, and he worshipped him.

[24:39] He found the object of his faith, or rather, the object of his faith found him. And what would be the only response? Worship. He prostrated, himself, before Jesus.

[24:55] He gave adoration to Christ. This proves the deity of Jesus. Quite interesting, if you go to the book of Revelation, twice, in the book of Revelation, John bows down to the angel who's revealing all these things to him.

[25:13] And what does the angel do? Stop doing that. I'm just a messenger of God. I'm just telling you these things. Worship God.

[25:25] Jesus didn't say any of that stuff to this man. This proves. You worship no one but God and God alone. This proves the very deity of Jesus.

[25:38] He embraced this man responding to him in worship, prostrating himself to worship Jesus. One writer says this, quote, true confession finds expression only in one response, worship.

[25:56] So to believe Jesus is to worship Jesus. This is the gospel. God is a just God. We're sinners. Jesus came. He lived.

[26:07] He died. He rose. Repent and believe. Worship him. Respond in worship. That's the gospel. That's what should be central in everything we do here as a church.

[26:18] It's the gospel. Who Jesus is and what he's done. His identity and mission. So come if you don't know him and repent and trust him. Come respond to him and worship him.

[26:30] Prostrate yourself down and say, Jesus, I worship you. You are my Lord. So way number one to respond to Jesus. Worship him.

[26:40] Number two, listen to him or trust him or hear him. Chapter 10, verse 3.

[26:52] To him, the shepherd of the sheep from verse 2, the doorkeeper opens and notice, and the sheep hear his voice. They listen to him and they listen to him so much so that they trust him because he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

[27:09] They trust him. The doorkeeper knew the shepherd and the sheep. The sheep know his voice and hear or listen to him.

[27:22] They recognize his voice. Notice how this begs the doctrine of the truth, the truth of the doctrine of election. This is true, unconditional election.

[27:33] Jesus knows his own sheep. These are gifts from the Father given to the Son and they will hear. John chapter 6, verse 37. All that the Father gives to me will come to me.

[27:47] They hear and they respond. They listen. Notice, calls him by name. Calling by name signals two aspects, authority to intimacy.

[28:02] A shepherd, the shepherd has authority over the sheep and has a deep relationship with the sheep. Near Eastern shepherds, they would sound out their specific, peculiar calls to their sheep and the old sheep responded and gathered around him and you could try to mimic that shepherd's call.

[28:30] You try to mimic the sheep and be like, who's that guy? He wouldn't come around you. But there was a certain specific, distinct call from the shepherd and the sheep would immediately come to that shepherd.

[28:47] They already belonged to him. Notice this begs the doctrine of election. There's a way for you to respond. Listen to your shepherd.

[28:58] Listen to your leader. Listen to him. Trust him. Worship him. Listen to him. Trust him. Three, follow him.

[29:14] He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Verse 4. It says, when he puts forth all his own, literally, when he leads them out.

[29:27] When he leads them out, notice he goes ahead of them. And what do they do? They follow him because they know his voice and they belong to him.

[29:40] They know his voice. They belong to this ruler, this leader, this shepherd. The shepherd leads the sheep where he knows they should go.

[29:52] The others don't care. Dismisses the sheep because they're selfish. We'll see that in a second. So the idea is, he is our master.

[30:04] We're his disciples. And the shepherd's own sheep will follow their shepherd because they know his voice. The ones gifted from the father to the son will follow him.

[30:20] As D.A. Carson says, quote, Christ elect sheep inevitably follow him. They will follow him. They will obey him.

[30:30] That's the way we respond to Jesus. Worship. Hear. Follow. Worship him.

[30:43] Trust him. Obey him. That's how you respond. And notice the response to false rulers, false shepherds, the robber or the strangers.

[30:59] Notice this, chapter 10, verse 5. And the stranger, they'll never follow. Notice the true shepherd versus some unknown dude.

[31:17] He's a stranger. The sheep will never follow him but says, they run away. Run away. Those chosen by God will run into the arms of Jesus because Jesus knows them and they know Jesus.

[31:36] So why do they run away from him? Because Jesus says, they do not know the voice of strangers. That's how this blind man responded to the Pharisees.

[31:49] He nailed them to the wall, these religious leaders, and did not follow them. He blew them off so bad, this guy.

[32:03] He blew off these religious leaders and instead he followed Jesus, worshiped Jesus, listened to Jesus. and that's why verse 6, this illustration Jesus was speaking this but they didn't understand this allegorical symbolic language.

[32:21] They didn't understand what he was saying so what he's gonna do and then we'll look at that next week. He's gonna enhance it, kind of blow it up. Chapter 10, verse 7 into verse 21.

[32:32] He's gonna say, I am the door and I am the good shepherd. We'll see that next week. So, recap, the light, Jesus, reveals that he is the true ruler of God's people, Jews and Gentiles together.

[32:50] So let's respond by worshiping him, worshiping him, respond by trusting him, respond by following him, help and praying that God would help us to remain steadfast in our worship, steadfast in trusting Jesus, steadfast in following him.

[33:09] So let's pray for that. Father, we do pray in the midst of circumstances, whether they're pleasant circumstances or unpleasant circumstances, expected or unexpected.

[33:33] we pray, help us to remain steadfast in our worshiping you and trusting you and following you.

[33:50] Help us as your people. Work in us, we pray, by your spirit into deeper fellowship and union with Jesus and deeper fellowship and union with each other.

[34:09] We need you to do that in us, Father, because we cannot conjure this up in ourselves. Help us to submit ourselves to Jesus, yielding to him, worshiping him and listening to the word.

[34:30] Lord, I want to encourage you to take these few moments as we do each week to fill your mind with truth, fill your mind with what we've seen from God's word this morning and ponder it, meditate on it.

[35:00] Don't get distracted, try not to be distracted, even distracted by the silence. Don't let that distract you. Let your mind just be filled with truth. Maybe just what, like a minute, minute and a half or something like that.

[35:16] Short time period. Let this be a special time between you and the Lord, allowing his spirit to fill your mind with gospel truth.