Sermon: Faith Forged: Man Born Blind

Let's take a moment and let's pray before we open God's word together.

Our Father, we are thankful that you are a God who chooses to reveal himself in the midst of a dark world. We're thankful this morning that as we sit and stand in this place, or even join over the live stream, that we get to hear your word, a voice from heaven today. We pray indeed that that is what we would hear. Stir us with it, conform us to it, and lift our eyes on high, we pray. In the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

John 9:1-41. This is the holy, inerrant, sufficient word of God. "As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his 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, he 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' . 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 do not 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 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 them, '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 he was born blind. But now how he 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. One thing I do know, that 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 the 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 worshiped 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.'" Though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever. Thanks be to God.

Amen.

We had four weeks before students return, and so we thought what we would do is for these four weeks do four quick encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John that center on the idea of personal saving faith. You'll remember the first week, two weeks ago, we looked at the fact that regeneration precedes faith. Last week, we looked at the free offer of the gospel and the extension of faith. And this week, what I want to do is a facet of faith.

I want to look at the elements of faith. There is that bumper sticker that you will see on the back of people's cars here in East Lansing that says Coexist, and it uses different signs that are representative of different religions, and so you will see a crescent moon for Islam, and a pentagram for paganism, and the Star of David for Judaism, and the yin and yang for Taoism, and of course, you will see a cross for Christianity.

But what the bumper sticker doesn't understand is that pluralism is in itself an exclusive claim. In fact, one that every single religion represented on that bumper sticker would reject. Whereas Christianity invites all, though it is exclusive, because Jesus is exclusive. The cross is exclusive.

In our passage, Christ proclaims himself to be the light, and the darkness hates the light. But when you see as the blind man sees in this passage, and we'll see it in our passage, the light becomes brilliant, it becomes absolutely beautiful, and you all of a sudden realize it is available gloriously to all.

We're going to see that this morning. This is a long passage, so we can't explore every detail, but I want us to see three things. The light gives sight, the light divides, and the light saves and judges. So our first point, the light gives sight, verses one through seven. The passage begins with a question from the disciples, and it is a right question. It's not a bad question. They walk past a blind man, a man who has been blind from

birth, and knowing that sickness and knowing that disability and knowing that death itself was not God's intended purpose for creation, but rather a result of the fall, they ask Jesus, "Who sinned?" This man or his parents, that he was born blind. It's an either/or question, but Jesus' answer is neither. Neither is the cause. He doesn't actually answer the cause question, rather, he answers with the results. The works of God will be displayed in this man.

His blindness is going to be a means by which God receives glory. He says to his disciples, "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming, when no one can work." Time is limited. Christ has come into the world for a very brief time, and he's clear: "I am the light of the world." The world has been shrouded in darkness. I am the very revelation from God, the truth of God to men, that men might be brought out of darkness into the light.

And this miracle testifies to his work. Out of darkness so that men might see. It's a miracle that stands out, doesn't it? It's unique among all of the different miracles that Jesus does. It's quite picturesque. He takes dirt, he spits into the dirt, and then he mushes it all together, and he takes that clay that he has formed, and he puts it on the eyes of the blind man, touching him, and then tells him to go wash in the pools of Siloam.

What's interesting is we know that there was nothing special about that clay. What was special was the authority of Jesus. He's working the works of him who sent him, and when Jesus wills to give sight, there is sight. You remember at the feast of Cana in Galilee, when his mother says that more wine is needed, he doesn't go and touch the vessels of water. He doesn't do anything but simply command, wills, that the water become wine.

When he raises Lazarus from the grave, he didn't anoint his body or even take 30 minutes to go off and to pray by himself. He simply commanded, "Lazarus, come out," and Lazarus came out. Jesus has authority over nature. He has authority over demons. He has authority over death. He has authority over maladies. He has authority over all.

Here, he chooses to use clay. Why? I don't know. He doesn't tell us. The scriptures don't tell us. I speculate it points to the formation of man from the dust. It's an object lesson that the one who made us from the dust has authority over every malady that clings to our dust.

So, like Naaman, the leper commanded by Elisha, the blind man is sent to wash, and like Naaman, he obeys, and his malady is washed away. The man born blind, never having taken in a sunset, never having seen the whiteness of clouds, never having seen a flower blow in the wind, never having seen hot, burning coals in a fire pit. Now, all of a sudden, this man who has only known darkness, who has only known blindness, sees.

He sees.

His life was changed by the authority of Jesus.

One of the few things I love on social media are the little videos of children that receive hearing for the first time. They've been given the implant, and it's turned on, and usually, the doctor or the nurse will signal to the mother to talk to the child, and it's the first sound that the child hears.

She speaks to her child who has not heard anything, ever. Nothing.

And you watch that child's face as he or she hears their mother for the very first time, and their face will just light up, and sometimes they just begin laughing hysterically because they can't control their joy. It's just bliss. "That's my mom."

That's so poetic. The one that gave them life and brought them into the world is the first voice that they hear. How much more beautiful to have your eyes open for the first time to gaze upon the beauty of your maker?

I was blind, but now I see.

What rapturous delight. You don't know what you're missing when you're blind until you see.

The blind man's sight is only physical in the moment, but it points him to the spiritual blindness that he has endured. He needs to see Christ spiritually. He needs saving faith.

I remember coming to saving faith when I was in college. This was my experience. It's not everybody's experience, but I remember coming to saving faith and walking outside, and I remember looking up at the sky and thinking, "The sky, I've never seen it that blue.

The clouds are whiter than I ever remember them being." I remember walking and seeing this grassy knoll next to the sidewalk I was walking on, and I thought, "That is a greener green than I've ever seen before," and I literally had to go and I had to sit on it because it looked so soft, and I just wanted to run my fingers through the grass, and I thought, "I've never touched anything so soft in my life." And I remember having the distinct thought, "This creation is so beautiful.

I've never actually seen it before." How much more beautiful must this creator be

to see? Oh, to see him.

John, who wrote this gospel, begins this book with calling Jesus the light, the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, and then he says this, he says, "We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." We've seen him.

If there's one dominant picture of faith throughout the scriptures, it may well be sight.

We're born blind. Nicodemus comes in the dark. Saul is blinded until the scales fall from his eyes. John will write, "We shall see him as he is." The great blessing of heaven is the promise of seeing Christ. Right now, we see through a mirror dimly, Paul says, but then face to face. There were two different families that stopped me this morning saying this is the week they believe their loved one in Christ is going to die.

And I could say to them, "Do you know what happens the moment they die? They see him," what we call the beatific vision. They get to see him.

There's one thing worth seeing above all else, Jesus.

And yet some refuse to see him

It leads to our second point, verses eight through 34. The light divides. First, his neighbors, people who have known him from his birth and know him to have been born blind, are wrestling with how does this former blind man now see? Some couldn't believe it was him, and he kept pleading, "No, no, it's me. It's me in flesh and blood." And they want to know how. How does this happen? And he simply answers in verse 11, "The man

called Jesus gave me sight." That man did it, Jesus. Then we're introduced to a second group in verses 13 through 17. More are added to the scene, this time the Pharisees, who also refuse to see. They also asked him how did he receive his sight, and he gives them the same account about the mud and the washing in the Pool of Siloam, and he says, "And I received sight." Jesus did it.

But the Pharisees, they have a hang-up. They've noticed that Jesus did this miracle, this healing of this blind man, on the Sabbath day. You'll notice that the Pharisees have knowledge. They have knowledge that the miracle occurred. They have knowledge that is undeniable that Jesus did it. They know that, so the only thing they can do is discredit the one who did it.

They accuse Jesus with breaking the Sabbath. But it's only breaking the Sabbath according to their own rules.

By the time that the Mishnah, which is being written during this time, by the time that it is finalized, the Jewish case law is written down, there were thousands of rules for keeping the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath alone had 24 chapters dedicated to it, with 138 individual paragraphs covering everything from which oils and wicks you could use to burn your lights on the Sabbath day to what it meant to actually carry something on the Sabbath day.

Most commentators would point out about John nine that probably what they are referencing about Jesus violating the Sabbath is circling around the idea of kneading dough. There were four distinct subcategories of discussion surrounding the rules regarding kneading bread on the Sabbath day, and Jesus no doubt had to knead. He spit into the dirt and then he had to mush it together. He had to knead it to create that clay to put it on that man's eyes, and thus, in

their view, he broke the Sabbath.

But their understanding of the Sabbath was burdensome. Their understanding of mercy on the Sabbath was absolutely void. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, and their man-made rules were so far afield that they even prohibited the extending of mercy on the Sabbath day. Some of the Pharisees in verse 16, based upon their own self-righteousness, declare, "This man is not from God." Others call him a sinner in that

same verse, but Jesus was no sinner. He was like us in every respect except with regards to sin. He's not a sinner, but he is a rule breaker.

But he was breaking their self-righteous man-made rules, not God's rules.

The blind man who now sees, who earlier said to his neighbors that his eyes were opened by, quote, "a man called Jesus," now progresses in his thought. After hearing these foolish, self-righteous Pharisees, he declares in verse 17, "Jesus is a prophet." He comes to recognize that Jesus's authority came not from man, but from God. They had their man-made authority, their man-made rules, their man-made self-righteousness.

The previously blind man, though, recognizes only one with authority from God could open eyes. Jesus has God-given authority, and so from a man called Jesus, he moves to he's a prophet. He's recognizing that Jesus speaks on behalf of God.

Then we're introduced to a third set of people. In the next scene, another party is introduced, the blind man's parents. John tells us that the Pharisees had determined that anyone who confessed that Jesus is the Christ would be thrown out of the synagogue. This was a community-shaming action. You were put away from all of the God-fearing Jews, no longer allowed to come to corporate worship, barred from all the ceremonies, barred from all the ordinances.

And so when they ask the man's parents, these parents with this knowledge, they refuse to answer what they believe about Jesus. They simply state what they know about their son. He was blind, but now he sees. And they return the Pharisees to their son. Go ask him. He's of age.

Some of you this week, this very week, will face something, a version of what these parents face, maybe not to this extreme, something less than next communication,

but an awkward conversation at work. Will you laugh at that joke that your friends told and be met with cold silence

by not laughing? Will you bring up the name of Jesus in a conversation?

Maybe your family distances themselves from you because of it.

The parents had knowledge, but they shrunk back in fear and they stayed silent.

The man who had been born blind had not even seen Christ yet with his eyes. And yet his testimony was sure, it was true, it was courageous. You've seen Christ, Christian.

You've seen him.

So don't let there be a moment this week in which you choose to play the part of the parents rather than play the part of the man.

These parents were not there. They send these Pharisees back to their son, so back we go to the man. But the man moves now further along than he's just a prophet. The Pharisees approach him, take an oath, verse 24, give glory to God. We know that this man, meaning Jesus, is a sinner. And the blind man, he confesses what he knows. He was blind, but now he sees, and they continue to cross-examine him, and he continues to uphold what happened.

And the Pharisees, they say, "We don't know where Jesus is from." And that opens up the door wide open for the man who was previously blind. He sees his opportunity to share a full-throated testimony. And so he begins in verse 30, "This is an amazing thing," as he's pointing out their folly. 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. And then he hits them upside the head with, do you also want to become his disciples?

They have no knowledge of where Jesus comes from. But the blind man now sees. He does. His confession grows from this man Jesus, to Jesus the prophet, to Jesus from God.

And their response, we're told in verse 28, they reviled him, and then in verse 34 that the Pharisees immediately cast him out. Why?

Because the darkness hates the light.

It's a good reminder to yourself that they're not rejecting the blind man. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting Christ. The light divides, and darkness hates the light. Following Jesus costs something. His parents were not willing to bear the cost of being thrown out of the synagogue. Following Jesus was too costly in their minds, whereas the blind man knew that it was too costly not to follow Jesus.

It's fascinating. In this entire account, all of these different people that are moving in and out of John, chapter nine, it is the man who is blind who sees clearly.

The cost to follow Jesus, he who now sees would say the cost is worth it. He would say, "I see Him. I see Him."

So leads to our final point, the light saves and judges.

His seeing becomes even more clear, truly saving sight in the next section, verses 35 through 41. It's a wonderfully tender picture.

Verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him.

Jesus is the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, even as I know the Father, and the Father knows me, and I lay my life down for the sheep. It's not a mistake that John 10 follows John 9, where Jesus portrays himself in the parable of the good shepherd. And immediately at the end of John 10:20-21, after He tells this parable of Him being the good shepherd, it says, "Many of them said He has a demon," meaning Jesus, "and is insane. Why listen to Him?" And others said, "These are not

the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

He's the good shepherd. He heard one of His own sheep had been abused and thrown out and was being maligned and being cast out, and He goes and He finds him.

Jesus goes and gets him.

Red Boss said, a reformed theologian said about this passage, he said, "He sees," Jesus, "He sees all that His people go through for His sake and feels for all, from the highest to the lowest. He keeps account of all their losses, crosses, and persecutions. Are they not all written in His book?" Psalm 56:8. He knows how to come to their hearts with consolation in their time of need and to speak peace to them when all men seem to hate them.

He goes to him, and He finds him,

and He comes to him with that peace.

And He asks the man, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Jesus' favorite self-designation from Daniel 7. "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" Who is He, sir, that I might believe in Him?

And Jesus in tenderness

says, You have seen Him.

It is He who is speaking to you.

And the blind man who now sees, moves from confessing this man Jesus, this man Jesus the prophet, this man Jesus from God, to this man Jesus is Lord.

Lord, I believe.

And he bows down and worships Him.

And Jesus rightly and readily receives the worship.

In this way, the story comes full circle. The blind man's condition gives glory to God in the worship of His only begotten Son, the light of the world, the Savior of sinners from darkness. He worships Him, and the Father receives glory.

I want you to notice the elements of faith. There are three things. There's knowledge, there's assent, and there is trust.

Knowledge, assent, trust.

The Pharisees had knowledge. They saw what Jesus did. They saw and knew Jesus. They had knowledge, but they did not assent to that knowledge. They did not believe that knowledge, and they did not trust themselves to Jesus. Knowledge is not enough.

The parents seem to have not only knowledge, they know what was done for their son. They know who did it. They know about Jesus, but they even seem to take it a step further and seem to assent to it. They believe this about Jesus.

But they don't trust Jesus.

They don't believe personally in Jesus. Trust and assent is not enough, or knowledge and assent is not enough. One must trust.

The blind man, he alone evidences knowledge, assent, and trust. Thus, he's no longer blind spiritually. He has personal saving faith. Knowledge, true knowledge of who Jesus is, assent to that knowledge, he believed it, and finally, he trusted in the subject of that knowledge, the person of Jesus. John will say in First John 5, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Now here's the reality. There are only two options in this world with eternal

ramifications. Once the light has come into the world, there's only two possibilities Verses 39 through 41 give a summary of the effect of Jesus' coming into the world. When he says, "For judgment I came into the world," He's not speaking about His action, He's speaking about the effect. That is, with the Son of Man coming into the world, every single individual in the world is divided upon their either trusting in this one who came, accepting the light,

or rejecting it and remaining in darkness.

How does one respond to the light which has come into the darkness? How have you responded to the light which has come into the darkness?

This is the great watershed of history.

One either accepts the light or one remains in darkness. One either runs to the Savior for life or one is self-reliant and remains in death. One either sees Him in faith and lives or chooses darkness and dies.

When a raindrop hits the Rocky Mountain range, what is often called the great continental divide, if it hits just east of the crest of the Rocky Mountains, it will go into the soil and it will filter down into the earth, and it will make its way to the Mississippi River, and then it will flow down to New Orleans and out to the Atlantic Ocean. If a raindrop falls just west of the Rocky Mountain ridge, it goes into the soil.

It either goes into the Colorado or the Columbia River, and it makes its way to the Pacific Ocean.

Great continental divide. What is a seemingly insignificant difference of just a few feet

has vastly different ends, totally different destinies. What is seemingly an insignificant difference, I have knowledge. Knowledge is not enough. Well, I have knowledge and ascent. Knowledge and ascent is not enough. Is it really that different from trusting? It is a destiny of difference.

A response to the coming of light in the person of Jesus sets us on one side or another of that divide. There's no in-between. The Pharisees in verse four hear these words and they ask, "Are we so blind?" And Jesus is clear, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt." That is, if you were simply destitute without the ability to see, they would not be covered with the guilt of their sin. But since they think they see because they are self-righteous, because they think

they are fine in and of themselves, they need no light outside of themselves, they need no Christ.

Because of that, their self-sufficiency, He says their guilt remains.

They've chosen darkness over the light. They've chosen one side of the continental divide. They've chosen to fall on the side of darkness, so their simple guilt remains.

You'll notice the blind man did not have more knowledge than the Pharisees. You'll notice that in many ways he lacked, he had disadvantages, he had less standing, he had less status, he had less biblical knowledge. He was different, though, in that he was simply willing to say, "Lord, I believe."

And received the light shone upon him,

the same light that shines upon you this morning,

Christ.

You've seen it this morning

because you've heard His word this morning.

You've sung it this morning.

You've heard the testimony of the blind man this morning.

The light has shined into this darkness this morning.

The only question left is the one Jesus asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

Do you believe in the Son of Man?

Don't leave this room the way the Pharisees left the temple, clinging to your own sight. That's blindness.

You leave like this man did, on your knees worshiping, saying, "Lord, I believe." And the sight is glorious,

beautiful, rapturous, and not just today, but day after day after day, growing for all of eternity. I was blind, but now I see.

What a Christ. What a salvation. Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful that You

chose to shed light in the midst of this darkness in the person of Your Son. And oh, how we would each see Jesus.

We would say, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, for how we would love to see You no longer through a mirror dimly lit, but face to face, knowing that we are the Father's children now, but we are not what we shall be. But when You appear, we shall see You as You are, and we shall be like You." And we long for that day, and so we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray all this in His strong name. Amen.