Good morning, church.
Glad to have you here on the live stream.
It's good to see you all and be seen by you all this morning.
Our sermon text today is John chapter 9.
John chapter 9.
Go ahead and turn there if you have a Bible with you.
I'm going to pray for us, and then I'll read John chapter 9.
Let's pray together.
Father, as the psalmist prayed, we pray this morning that you would open our eyes,
that we may behold wondrous things out of your word.
By your spirit, we pray that you would allow us to see with the eyes of faith
the wonder and truth of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in seeing him, Father, may we worship him this morning.
And in worshiping him, may we become more like him.
And in becoming like him, would we know true and lasting joy.
Father, we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, let me read for us John chapter 9.
And he, that is Jesus, passed by.
He saw a man blind from birth.
And the disciples asked him,
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered,
It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Having said these things, Jesus spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva.
Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him,
Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent.
So he went and washed and came back seeing.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying,
Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?
Some said, It is he.
Others said, No, but he is like him.
He kept saying, I am the man.
So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened?
He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me,
Go to Siloam and wash.
So I went and washed and received my sight.
They said to him, Where is he?
He said, I don't know.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight.
And he said to them, He put mud on my eyes and I washed and I see.
Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?
And there was a division among them.
So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes?
He said, He is a prophet.
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked him,
Is this your son who you say was born blind?
How then does he now see?
His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
But how he now sees, we do not know.
Nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him.
He is of age.
He will speak for himself.
His parents said these things because they feared the Jews.
For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
Therefore, his parents said, He is of age.
Ask him.
So for the 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.
He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know.
Now, one thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see.
They said to him, What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?
He answered them, I have told you already and you would not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you also want to become his disciples?
And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.
The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing.
You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.
They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?
And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?
Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.
He said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him.
Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world,
that those who do not see may see,
and those who see may become blind.
Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him,
Are we also blind?
Jesus said to them,
If you were blind, you would have no guilt.
But now that you say we see, your guilt remains.
So, there you are,
sleeping in comfortably on a Saturday morning,
when suddenly,
mom or dad,
or your spouse,
or your roommate,
walks into the room,
pulls back your Ikea room darkening curtains,
and says with a smile,
Time to get up!
And the light that comes flooding through the window
into your comfortable, sleepy Saturday morning
is so bright,
so sudden,
so overwhelming,
that for a moment,
you can't see a thing.
You are, as they say,
blinded by the light.
Jesus, again, in our passage,
calls himself, in verse 5,
the light of the world.
And as we see,
as this passage unfolds,
that this light that Jesus is
has a two-fold effect.
On the one hand,
Jesus causes the blind to see.
But on the other hand,
like the curtains being torn open
on your lazy Saturday,
Jesus also causes the seeing
to become blind.
And at the heart of the passage
is this question.
Coming face-to-face with Jesus,
will we humbly admit
our spiritual blindness
and receive sight?
Or will we proudly say
that we see just fine
without Him
and so remain blind?
So this is our outline.
This is our sermon today.
Jesus makes the blind to see,
and He makes the seeing blind.
So let's look at the first part
of that then.
Jesus being the light of the world,
because He's the light of the world,
the blind are made to see.
Now in the first seven verses
of the chapter,
John recounts Jesus' healing
of this man born blind.
But notice how the disciples,
notice how the disciples
want to explain
the man's disability.
How do they do that?
Well, they say there must be,
there must be some particular sin
that caused this.
Either this man himself
sinned in the womb,
which some Jews at the time
believed could be possible,
or maybe they think
his parents sinned in some way,
and that's why he's blind.
But notice that Jesus
rejects this line of thinking.
Now of course,
sickness and disability
and death
were not how God
created the world to be.
all of those things
flooded into God's good creation
because of the fall.
So in a very general sense,
we can say that sickness
and disability and death
and brokenness and decay,
all of those things in the world
are a result of sin in general,
capital S sin, the fall.
But to point to a particular
individual instance of sin
as a cause of a particular
individual instance of suffering,
Jesus says,
no,
that's not how this works.
Notice what he says.
He says,
it was not that this man sinned
or his parents,
but
that the works of God
might be displayed in him.
In other words,
this man's blindness
was not a sign
that he was a greater sinner
than other people.
No, in fact,
this man's blindness
was going to be
the very place
where God's glory
shone through his life.
Now, pause there
for a moment with me.
Do you hear what Jesus is saying?
Our places
of greatest weakness
and vulnerability,
that's where God's glory
just might shine
through our lives
the brightest.
I wonder,
where do you feel
weak
or vulnerable
or low
this morning?
Maybe like the man
in this passage,
it's a physical limitation
or disability,
or perhaps it's
an emotional weakness
or vulnerability.
Maybe it's something
in your history
or in your family.
Rather than ignoring
or denying
that reality
in your life,
rather than being
constantly afflicted
with the shame
because of it,
Jesus says,
that's where my glory
will shine through.
Right there.
Right where you know,
right in that place
where you admit
that you don't have
it all together,
right there
in your weakness.
That's where my beauty
will shine forth.
But at first,
it gets a little messy,
doesn't it?
Jesus heals this man
in a very curious way.
Now, think about it.
Jesus,
and we've seen this
in the gospel so far,
Jesus could have just
spoken a word
and this man could have seen.
But instead,
what does Jesus do?
He spits on the ground,
he makes some mud,
and then he smears it
in the man's closed eyes.
What is going on here?
Now, some have thought perhaps
that Jesus is intentionally
provoking another Sabbath
controversy with the Pharisees.
As we find out in a few verses,
all of this is happening
on the Sabbath day.
And again,
according to Jewish tradition,
things like kneading
or anointing or healing,
these things,
they weren't allowed
on the Sabbath
according to the passed down
sort of religious traditions.
So perhaps Jesus wants
to force the issue
of his identity
yet again
with the religious authorities
by healing this man
in this sort of strange way.
Or maybe the reason
Jesus heals this way,
some have thought,
is because he's actually
hearkening back
to the Genesis account.
Do you remember?
God created humanity
from what?
From the dust of the ground
in Genesis 2.
So perhaps here,
Jesus is sort of reenacting
this creation story
as if to say
that he is the creator
come to restore
and recreate
his fallen world.
He created humanity
out of the dirt
of the ground
and now he's going
to recreate us
out of the dirt
of the ground.
It's hard to know
exactly what Jesus
had in mind,
but I think two things
here are pretty certain.
What Jesus does here
first is very personal
and it's,
as we said,
a little messy.
in order for Jesus
to bring this man
from blindness to sight,
in order for this man's
place of greatest weakness
to be the place
where God's glory
flood through his life,
the man has to be open
to the uncomfortable touch
of his master's hand.
The man has to be willing
to humble himself.
And what we find
is he is.
Mud in his eyes,
he goes to the pool
and he washes
and he comes back seeing.
And the question put
before us, friends,
is the same thing.
Are we willing
to humble ourselves
before Jesus
even if it means
getting a little messy
in the process?
Even if the way
in which Jesus
wants to do
his unique work
in our life
isn't what we expected
and isn't quite
what we might explain.
Now, as we consider
what that might mean
for us to bring
even our deepest weakness
and vulnerability
to Jesus,
to see that those
are the places
where his glory
might shine
through the brightest,
notice two things
about this passage.
Notice two applications
here, as it were,
of our first big point.
First, notice,
notice the compassionate
urgency of Jesus here.
Look again at verses
four and five.
Jesus says,
we must work
the works of him
who sent me
while it is day.
Night is coming
when no one can work
as long as I am in the,
as long as I am in the world,
in the world,
I am the light of the world.
Now,
I want us to see
the heart
of the Savior
in these words.
He sees us
not just in our
physical blindness,
but in our
spiritual blindness.
He sees us
in our desperate need.
And what does
Jesus do?
Does he hesitate?
Now, think about it.
It would have been
very natural
for Jesus
to hesitate
here in chapter nine.
After all,
it is
Sabbath day.
And in John chapter seven
and eight,
right before this scene,
Jesus has just gone
another ten rounds
with the religious authorities.
And they literally
want to kill him.
And here he is,
still in Jerusalem
after the Feast of Booths,
having just gone
toe-to-toe
with the religious authorities
yet again.
And now,
the disciples,
you can almost feel them
looking at Jesus
and saying,
really, Jesus,
are you going to do this
on the Sabbath again?
Can we just let the dust
settle down a little bit?
Can we let things
cool off?
And come back,
like, tomorrow
and heal this guy?
But no.
Our Savior knows
that his mission
must, he says,
be performed.
His earthly ministry
was just a few
short years.
Soon, Jesus would face
betrayal,
arrest,
and execution.
The night
was coming,
he says.
Now, yes,
after that night
would come the new day
of his resurrection,
his ascension on high,
his outpouring of the Spirit,
yes,
his mission would advance
through the Spirit-filled church,
and we would do
even greater works
than these,
but even so,
we have to keep in mind,
brothers and sisters,
that the night is coming
when no one can work.
This age is not going
to last forever.
God will come
to judge his world
in perfect justice,
and the time for turning
will be no more.
And so,
Jesus,
knowing that the time
is short,
acts with compassionate
urgency.
And consider
what that cost him.
Another miracle of mercy
on the Sabbath day.
Another bold assertion
of his sovereign authority.
Another burst of light
into the darkness
of a world
that does not comprehend it.
Jesus knows
that doing works
like this
will lead him
straight to the cross.
And does he hesitate?
Does he let the dust settle?
No.
He spits in the dust,
picks it up,
and rubs it right
in the guy's eyes.
He opens his eyes
and the blind see.
You see, friends,
what will eventually happen
in the Gospel of John
is that Jesus
will let the darkness
of the world
fall on himself.
The darkness
of human hatred
and evil,
the darkness even
of divine wrath
for our sin.
He will let the darkness
fall on himself
so that we can step
into the light.
So that we,
the blind from birth,
can at last see.
Do you see now
that you can trust
this Savior?
trust him,
trust him even
with your weakness,
even with your vulnerability.
Do you see
that you can humble
yourself before him
and find yourself
humbled before
a loving,
strong,
and gentle Savior?
you can admit your need
and you can admit
your blindness
and you can let him
spread some proverbial mud
on your eyes
and you can hear him say,
wash,
and then you can come back
seeing.
Friends,
this is Jesus,
full of compassion,
full of urgency
to save the lost,
to save us,
to save you.
But notice second here,
as Jesus opens
the eyes of the blind,
notice,
notice the wonderful
boldness
of this man
who is so humble.
In verses 8 through 33,
the sort of long
middle section
of chapter 9,
notice all that
this healed man
has to face
from those around him.
Notice first,
notice first his boldness
or his assurance
through it all.
First,
as he faces
the confusion
of his neighbors.
Wait,
they say,
you can't really
be the same person.
Now,
you know,
people might say
the same of you
after you become
a Christian
or after the Lord
does a deep,
humbling,
healing,
changing work
in your life.
People will expect you
to be the same old person
you always were
with the same old habits
and the same old tendencies.
But the reality is,
is humbling yourself
before Jesus
means that you will change
and that will cause
confusion
to the people around you.
And yet,
notice how the man responds.
He says,
no,
it's really me.
Jesus did this.
Second,
the man overcomes
not just the confusion
of the neighbors
but the suspicion
of the religious authorities.
Now,
quite naturally,
the neighbors
take the healed man
to the local synagogue leaders.
That was a pretty common thing to do.
This seems like a big deal,
they think.
This guy just got healed.
Let's take him
to the people we trust
and know
and let's let them
sort this out.
This is kind of a big deal.
Let's go.
But,
all that many of them
are concerned about
is whether or not
the traditions
have been kept.
And in keeping
the traditions,
they're worried about
keeping their own power
in place.
But again,
the healed man
has this deep assurance
and deep boldness
that their suspicions
of him and of Jesus
can't shake.
He says,
Jesus must be a prophet.
He must be someone
sent from God.
And you can see
as this passage
is unfolding
that the healed man's
faith is deepening
as he undergoes testing.
It was Jesus,
he says.
Who is Jesus?
He must be a prophet.
He must be someone
sent from God.
Third,
the man overcomes
not just the confusion
of his neighbors,
not just the suspicion
of the authorities
in his life,
but he overcomes
even the fear
of his parents.
That is,
this man doesn't succumb
to the same fear
as his parents do.
And what is that fear?
It's a fear
of being cast out
or being excluded
or being excommunicated
from the synagogue.
The synagogue
was sort of the local place
of worship for Jews
in the town.
And why
were they afraid
of being excluded
or cast out
or excommunicated
from the synagogue?
Well, because
some synagogues
had already started
casting people out
if they confessed
that Jesus
is the Messiah.
Now, we know
that this wasn't
a widespread policy
during Jesus' lifetime.
It wasn't the fact
that every synagogue
had sort of instituted
this rule,
but it does seem like
some local congregations
in Jesus' day
had started
to take a definitive stand
on this man
from Nazareth.
Rumors were spreading
about him.
People were getting
enthusiastic.
Some local synagogues
had to draw a line
and they declared
that he is not
from God
and anyone
who thought otherwise
would be cast out,
excommunicated
from fellowship
in the synagogue.
Now,
that's no small thing.
Imagine being
cut off
from the sort of
locus of your community,
your family,
and your sense
of belonging
to God
and God's people.
Not being allowed
to come and participate
in the teaching
and the rituals
and the practices
and the songs
that really make you
who you are
as a Jewish person
in the first century.
It's hard for us
to find a good analogy
for that today,
you know.
If you can't come
to church on Sunday,
your whole world
doesn't fall apart,
right?
I think it would be
sort of like losing
our job today
as I thought about it.
Just think of how much
identity and belonging,
not to mention
financial provision,
we get from our jobs.
Now, if confessing
Jesus as the Messiah
meant an immediate
loss of your job,
you'd be afraid, right?
Well, if you can feel
a little bit of that fear,
then you can sympathize
a little with this guy's parents.
They're faced
with a really hard decision.
And so what do they do?
In fear,
they dodge the question.
Ask him.
He's of age.
We don't know
what happened.
And so they bring
the healed man back in.
And does he cave
to the fear?
No.
Something so profound
has happened
to this man
that even the fear
of being thrown out
of the synagogue
doesn't shake him.
You have to love
the moment when they
start interrogating him again.
And he says in verse 27,
I've told you already
how he healed me
and he would not listen.
Why do you want
to hear it again?
Do you want to become
his disciples?
I think that's the definition
of pluck, right?
Like having that kind
of audacity
and boldness
in the face
of what really is
a sort of devolving situation.
What would give this guy
such courage?
What would give him
such assurance?
Well, it was his life-changing
encounter with Jesus.
Verse 25,
One thing I do know,
that though I was blind,
now I see.
All the confusion,
all the suspicion,
all the fear
can't shake that one thing.
Though I was blind,
now I see.
J.C. Ryle,
an old pastor
from the 19th century,
writes this
in his reflection
on this passage.
He says,
There's no kind of evidence
so satisfactory as this
to the heart
of a real Christian.
His knowledge
may be small,
his faith
may be feeble,
his doctrinal views
may be confused
and indistinct
at present,
but Christ
has really
wrought
a work
of grace
in his heart
by the Spirit.
He feels
within him
something
that you cannot
overthrow.
I was dark
and now I have light.
I was afraid
of God
and now I love him.
I was fond of sin
and now I hate it.
I was blind
and now I see.
And then Ryle
goes on and he says,
Let us
never rest
till we know
and feel
within us
some real work
of the Holy Spirit.
Let us
not be content
with just the name
and the form
of Christianity.
Let us desire
to have true
experiential
acquaintance
with it.
Feelings
are no doubt
deceitful
and they're not
everything in religion,
but if we have
no inward feelings
about spiritual matters,
Ryle says,
it's a very bad sign.
The hungry man
eats
and feels strengthened.
The thirsty man
drinks
and feels refreshed.
Surely the man
who has within him
the grace of God
ought to be able
to say,
I feel its power.
And friends,
to the extent
that you humble yourself
before Jesus,
the light of the world,
bringing to him
not just your strengths,
but also your profound weakness,
admitting to him
and to others
not just your abilities,
but also your profound inability,
to that extent,
you will feel
his power
as you worship him,
as you pray to him,
as you walk with him
through your life
through trial and suffering.
And after the trial,
do you notice what happens
in verse 35?
After this guy
just gets put through
the wringer of confusion
and suspicion
and fear
and accusation
and cast out
of the synagogue himself,
what happens?
Jesus comes and finds him
and meets him again.
Jesus seeks him out,
has fellowship with him,
brings him into a fuller
and more robust faith.
brothers and sisters,
do not fear
adding your voice
to the voices of those
who are giving testimony
to the power
and the goodness of Jesus.
Like this man,
you don't need
all the right answers.
You don't need
years of training.
You simply need
to be able to give
joyful witness
to the work of grace
in your own life.
And the promise is
that through that trial,
Jesus himself
will meet you.
So this is the first
big idea of John 9.
The blind are made
to see.
If we admit
that we're in darkness,
Jesus will bring us
into the light.
But the second point
we see here in John 9
is this,
that those who think
they see
are blinded.
Friends,
spiritual pride
is a dangerous thing.
And we can actually
see it growing
throughout this passage
in the character
of the Pharisees.
First,
they sort of dispute
the healed man.
And perhaps
there's some openness.
You know,
we see that there's
some division
in their ranks.
And yet,
they refuse
to open their minds
and admit
that perhaps
they don't have
it all figured out.
Perhaps their traditions
aren't the last word.
Perhaps what God
desires
isn't a show
of great power
and skill
and learning.
Perhaps what God
desires most,
as the prophets
will say again
and again
and again,
is a humble
and contrite heart.
A humble admission
of weakness
and need
coming before
the God
of the universe.
Notice how
the interrogation
with this healed man
ends.
They say,
they answered him,
and they say,
you were born
in utter sin,
and would you
teach us?
You can just feel
the vitriol
coming out.
Would you teach us,
they say.
In other words,
they refuse
to be teachable.
What could
this uneducated,
until recently
disabled beggar
possibly teach us,
they think?
Friends,
beware
spiritual
pride.
Jesus said,
for judgment
I came into this world,
that those
who do not see
may see,
and those who see
may become blind.
Some of the Pharisees
near him
heard these things
and said to him,
are we also blind?
And Jesus said,
if you were blind,
you'd have no guilt.
In other words,
if you admitted
your blindness,
you'd be free.
But now that you say,
we see,
your guilt remains.
And that's where
the passage ends.
And that's where
we end.
At least our sermon.
With the coming of Jesus,
the curtains
have been flooding open.
The curtains
are being ripped open,
the light is pouring in,
and as the church
continues to proclaim
the message of Jesus,
the Spirit continues
to shine his light
into our darkness.
And the reality is,
is that we'll never
really see
until we admit
that we're blind,
until we become
humble
and teachable.
You know,
there's nothing wrong
with good education.
There's nothing wrong
with learning
and pursuing
religious knowledge
and pursuing
these types of things.
There's nothing wrong
with that.
In fact,
there's a lot of good
that comes of that.
And yet,
if that's the thing
that we're leaning on,
beware, friends,
that we don't become
just like the Pharisees,
unteachable,
hardened,
unable to admit
our vulnerability
and our weakness,
unable to confess
that we're not righteous,
but we're sinners.
You see, friends,
the cross of Jesus
levels us all,
does it not?
Before the cross,
we see that we are
all sinners.
That we are all
woefully short
of the glory of God.
Each and every one of us.
And yet,
what does the cross
also tell us?
That God loves
each and every one of us.
That we are all,
in His eyes,
precious,
valued,
loved.
And it's right there
in humility
before Jesus,
before the cross
and the resurrection.
It's right there
when we really
begin to see.
When we take hold
of Christ crucified
and risen,
that's when our weakness
becomes our strength.
Even if God
doesn't choose
to heal us.
That's when our foolishness
of worshiping
a crucified Savior
becomes real wisdom.
That's when our blindness
becomes sight.
when we take hold
of Him,
the light of the world.
Let's pray together.
O light of the world,
undimming
and unsetting,
O shine
each mist
away.
Banish the fear,
the falsehood,
and the fretting.
Be our
unchanging
day.
Spirit,
only you
can bring
true humility
to our hearts,
so we humbly ask
that you would do
that work this morning.
We are so proud.
We are so afraid
of admitting
weakness and need.
Please soften
our hearts.
Help us to see
our desperate
need of grace
and show us Christ.
Spirit,
let us see Him
standing even now
before our Father's throne,
looking upon us
in love,
ready to receive us,
bearing the wounds
of the cross for us,
casting out all fear.
Turn our hearts
to you, Lord,
this day,
this week,
and may we walk
in the boldness
that only humility
before you can give.
Amen.