And if you would now take your Bibles and open
up to John chapter 9. John chapter 9 and we're
going to look at all of the verses within that
chapter today as we continue in our sermon series
through some of the miracles of Jesus. And so
I ask you now, as you have those Bibles open
to John 9, that you would pay close attention,
because this is God's Word. 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,
which means scent. So he went, and he washed,
and he 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?
And 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? And 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
the eyes, 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 watched
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, and 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 and 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 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 and
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 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 are blind,
You would have no guilt, but now that you say
we see your guilt remains This is God's holy
word. Let's pray Father we praise you and we
thank you for this word And I ask that you would
open up our ears Open up our eyes and open up
our hearts to see Jesus this we pray in his name
Amen Some 2 ,000 years or so, give or take a
few years, before this man, before this man was
born blind, there was another man who suffered
terribly and also was accused of bringing affliction
on himself. The man I'm thinking of lost his
family. He lost his servants. He lost his wealth.
He lost his status. And he lost his health. The
man I'm thinking of, you may be thinking of,
is Job. The book of Job is called a theodicy.
And that's a big fancy term. But what it means
is the times when we try to make sense out of
pain and suffering and evil in this world that
is governed by God, we try to make sense of why
do these tragedies happen? Why is there evil
in the world? Another shooting happens, and we
say, why, Lord? Persecution happens to Christians
in Nigeria, and we say, how long, oh Lord? A
child dies, and we say, Lord, we don't get it.
Why do these things have to be this way? In those
ways, we're just like the psalmist in Psalm 13,
verse 1, who says, how long, oh Lord, will you
forget me? How long will you hide your face from
me? No doubt you've asked these questions, too.
You've tried to figure out why do these things
happen. Job's case is especially tragic, just
like this man in John 9. It's tragic because
he undergoes so much suffering, and what do his
friends say about him? They say, you did this
to yourself. Listen to this. From Job chapter
4 verse 8 one of Job's so -called friends Eliphaz
says this as I have seen Those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same In other words
you reap what you sow You did this to yourself
this kind of theodicy This kind of understanding
pain and suffering and evil by attributing it
all to a person's sin. This is very troubling.
This is what Job's friends did to him. And Jesus'
disciples, while they might not say it to the
man, these are the things that they say. Look
there in John 9 verse 2. His disciples asked
Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind. The only good thing I
want to say about this is at least the disciples
know where to go with the question. They go to
the rabbi, they go to the teacher, the master,
they go to Jesus. But their question is wrong.
It's incredibly wrong to say that if you suffer,
it must be, the emphasis on must, that it must
be because of your sin. It should also be noted
that the man was born blind. So in saying, did
he do this to himself? That seems rather impossible.
And so what the disciples are doing here is either
talking foolishly, accusing the man's parents,
or perpetuating bad theodicy. This sort of theodicy
is instructed. It is destructive. It amounts
to those who suffer the worst must be those who
sin the worst. And this is actually contrary
to what we might observe in this life. It's contrary
to what Solomon observed in this life. I want
to read this to you from Ecclesiastes chapter
seven, verse 15. This is what Solomon saw when
he looked around at suffering. He said, in my
vain life, I have seen everything. There is a
righteous man who perishes in his righteousness
and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life
in evil Doing and that may be our observation
as well that sometimes those who suffer the most
Are those who are the most faithful to God? We
also need to be careful we get ourselves into
trouble when we start answering questions And
we don't have the answers in Scripture. We don't
have the answers from Christ, right? Because
sometimes we just don't always know why a person
suffers the way that they do or the extent to
which they suffer. You might not know the reason
for your suffering. And this is where people
tend to muddy the waters of theodicy. We come
to hasty conclusions. We speak when we don't
know what we're talking about and we don't know
what God is doing. But here's the good news friends
in John chapter 9 We do know what God is doing
Because Jesus tells us we see three things at
least three things from Jesus in this passage
Firstly Jesus is going to give this man his sight
Secondly Jesus is going to teach everybody a
lesson and thirdly Jesus is going to point out
true blindness Ultimately, Jesus will display
the works of God and teach us that spiritual
blindness is worse than physical blindness. Let's
look at this here at the beginning of chapter
9. You can see that once again Jesus's compassion
is on display. Everybody is blaming this poor
blind man. for his own blindness. But Jesus destroys
that bad theology and he gives sight to the blind.
Look in verse 6. After he says these things,
he spits on the ground and he makes mud with
the saliva and he applies it. He anoints the
man's eyes with it. There is no objection from
this man, is there? We might say, ooh, what are
you doing? No objection from this man because
Blindness is all he has ever known. He probably
would have done just about anything to be able
to see. This man has never experienced a sunset.
This man has never even looked on the faces of
his parents. And so Jesus applies this to him,
but the miracle's not done until he washes. And
so he sends him to Siloam. And so your Bible
probably says that Siloam, the name means what?
The word scent. I believe there's a connection
with the name of Siloam in verse four. Go back
to verse four. Jesus says, we must work the works
of him who sent me. We are to be reminded that
Jesus is sent by the Father for the purposes
of doing this very thing and of saving people
from their sins. We are reminded that Jesus comes
to do the Father's will. But also, what he goes
to do is symbolic, this washing. Because we're
ultimately going to see that as he's told to
wash, we should be reminded that there is a greater
miracle that's going on. There's something greater
than being able to see physically. It's being
able to see who Jesus is in our hearts. The cleansing
of our hearts is what we all need. And so the
man is sent. He goes to the pool of Siloam. He
washes. And then he can see. And the people are
amazed. They cannot believe that this is the
same man. The neighbors, the people, they can't
believe it. So what do they do? They take this
man to the Pharisees. And when he gets there,
you see some of the Pharisees are less concerned
with the miracle and more concerned with when
the miracle is done. They are, according to verse
16, divided on this. There's, we might say, Pharisee
group A that says, no way is this man from God.
And Pharisee group B is saying, well, he did
do this incredible thing. They're just not sure
what to make of it. But some of these ones, group
A, they're accusing Jesus. They're saying, you
can't be from God. Why? Because you did this
on the Sabbath. Don't they know the Sabbath?
was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And
certainly, if it's acceptable according to Jewish
law to save the ox from the ditch, then it is
a good thing to give sight to the blind. It's
not really about the miracle anymore, though,
for the Pharisees. Look in verse 17. In verse
17. They said again to the blind man, what do
you say about him, since he's opened your eyes?
And he said, he is a prophet. Friends, we're
itching for the man to say more than that, aren't
we? We're itching to say, yes, this is the Christ.
But saying that he is a prophet is no small thing.
It's remarkable. There's only so many prophets.
The Pharisees could probably only dream of being
called prophets here. And so it's true that what
Jesus does is he's displaying the works of God
in this man who along the way is starting to
realize, I think, more and more who this Jesus
is. But the Jews don't believe this man. And
so what's the next step? Well, let's go to the
man's parents. They'll know. Maybe they're even
thinking, we'll go to the parents and the parents
will say, no, our son was never blind. And so
they interrogate the parents. Is this your son?
Was he born blind? And how is it possible that
he can see? And they say, yes, this is our son.
Yes, he was blind. How he can see right now?
No clue. We don't know. Why won't they admit
it? Why won't they admit that Jesus has done
this? Well, the text is very clear, though. They
fear excommunication. They fear getting kicked
out of the synagogue, right? And so what do they
say? He is of age. Go ask him there in verse
23. Now, we might be thinking, well, with a synagogue
like that, who wouldn't want to be kicked out,
right? With friends like these who needs enemies.
Additionally, this is their son we're talking
about. How many days, nights had they prayed?
or just long for their son to be able to see.
Remember what their son is doing with his time.
He is a beggar. He's sitting by the city gate
just hoping that somebody would give him some
money. Surely his good parents, they want something
better for their son. But they won't say it because
they're afraid of man, not afraid of God. We
must have a healthy fear of God. a respect, an
admiration. We must be in awe of God. But no,
they are in awe of the Pharisees. And so they
say, just go ask our son. Friends, anybody should
have been able to see this. This sort of thing
of giving sight to a person born blind, that
just doesn't happen. But the Jewish leaders are
too blind to see it. And so they utter this awful
statement. in verse 24. 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. Is there a more blasphemous
false statement than that? Here's a hint, there's
not. Calling Jesus a sinner is about the worst
thing you could possibly do. No doubt they're
remembering this healing that happened on the
Sabbath, right? But Jesus is the Lord of the
Sabbath. They have so much to learn. We have
so much to learn, too, don't we? We really do.
Because when we sin, we forget that Jesus has
come and He has lived perfectly for us to deliver
us from our slavery to sin. I already referenced
Ecclesiastes chapter 7. I'm going to go back
there again because Ecclesiastes 7 20 says something
important about Jesus. This is Solomon's observation.
He says, surely there is not a righteous man
on earth who does good and never sins. Yes, there
is. There is now. There is with Jesus, right?
Jesus is perfectly righteous. And when we believe
in Jesus, we have his righteousness. It is given
to us. It is credited to our account. The reason
that we can have salvation is because Jesus lived
for us perfectly. He kept the law, where Israel
did not. When Israel failed, Jesus was successful.
When we are not obedient, Jesus is. Jesus performs
miracles like this, but apart from Jesus, anything
that we do is nothing better than just a filthy
rag, according to Scripture. But here is where
the lesson comes in. Here is where we see that
Jesus is teaching all along, even when Jesus
isn't present yet in the story. We take some
time off from Jesus here, and yet what he has
been teaching is coming to fruition. Look at
verse 27. I love this verse. This is the man
speaking to the Pharisees. He answered them,
I've told you already. And you would not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also
want to become his disciples? Nothing about this
makes it sound like they want to be Jesus's disciples.
They have just called Jesus a sinner. And so
I think there's some humor in there. This man
is being bold in what he has to say, right? And
yet he doesn't know everything about Jesus. They're
saying that he's a sinner and the man's saying,
I don't know if he is. But I can tell you, I
can tell you what Jesus has done for me. And
so what do they do with the man? They don't want
to hear it. And so they excommunicate him. The
very thing that his parents feared is what they
do to this man. And yet here comes Jesus again
with great compassion to continue teaching the
lesson. Look in verse 35, Jesus heard that they
had cast him out. And having found him, he said,
do you believe in the Son of Man? The man born
blind, as I said, so far he's starting to understand
who Jesus is, but he doesn't fully get it. And
so he says, yes, but where is he? Where is the
Son of Man? And Jesus says, in effect, you're
looking at him. You are looking at him. Friends,
as we study the miracles of Jesus, I want us
to do more than look at the responses of people.
I want us to respond. And so when Jesus asked
the question, do you believe in the Son of Man,
I want you to ask that question of yourselves.
Do you believe in Christ Jesus? And the answer
must be yes. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. He is the way and the
truth and the life and the only way to the Father.
You see, ultimately, what's on the line in this
miracle is not just sight to see things, it's
eternal life. The man doesn't fully know it yet,
but he has been the object, a lesson for the
works of God. Verse three, the works are displayed
in this man. And so this man, while he doesn't
know everything about Jesus, when they question
him, he doesn't launch into a sermon. He doesn't...
He doesn't teach a systematic theology class.
What does this man do? He simply tells what Jesus
has done for him. That's what I want you to do.
Every single person in here who says that I believe
in Jesus, you need to have your story at the
ready. You need to have your testimony at the
ready. You need to be able to share what Jesus
has done for you. And then from that, launch
into the gospel. that Jesus saves sinners who
can't save themselves. This is the lesson for
us, that we would all be ready to share our story.
But I also know in a lot of ways we're weighed
down, aren't we? We are weighed down by all kinds
of pain and trouble and suffering. And so I want
to give you two pieces of encouragement here.
One, suffering is a result of sin. just not necessarily
your sin. Suffering is a result of sin, just
not necessarily your sin. All the trouble that
we experience comes from living in a fallen world.
Sickness, pain, death, these are products of
the fall. But while that's true, that doesn't
mean that every problem that we experience is
because of our sin. It could be that God does
punish for sin, and certainly there are consequences
for our actions. If you get behind the wheel
of a vehicle and you drive recklessly, you might
get in a crash and that might hurt. But that
doesn't mean that everything that we do brings
on punishment from God. D .A. Carson said this,
pain and suffering are not always or even usually
the immediate consequence of a particular sin.
That is a hideous piece of heresy. capable of
inflicting untold mental anguish. And so friends,
I know many of us, we've got these illnesses.
We've got these injuries. Or think about people
who are suffering in other parts of the world
for the sake of the gospel. They have not brought
this upon themselves. God is doing something
in our suffering. Consider Romans 828, how God
is working all things out for the good of those
who love him and are called according to his
purpose. The sovereignty of God necessitates
that whatever we go through, God is in charge
of that. And so remember, in your suffering,
remember the compassion of Jesus. Cry out to
him. Rest in what he did. And remember that he
is the righteous one who suffered in your place.
That even when you go through the valley of the
shadow of death, But he is with you. Perhaps
you remember Romans chapter 8, verse 18. Let
me read this for you. For I consider that the
sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
to us. But how can we have that? We must believe
in Jesus. In order to have our eyes dried and
the suffering gone, our hearts must be open to
Jesus. We must believe. Look back at our text
at verse 38. You've seen the question, what's
the answer from the man? He said, Lord, I believe
and he worshipped him. This needs to be our response
to believing in Jesus, to the grace of God saving
us from our sins, that we would worship Jesus.
That's really what this is all about. This is
really what the miracles are all about, bringing
people out of their sin to trust in Christ and
to worship Him. And this is very plain to see,
isn't it? Because our eyes have been opened.
But for the Pharisees, their eyes are not. They
have seen the plain evidence before them of Jesus
doing something that is completely astonishing,
that perhaps has never, ever been done, giving
sight to a man born blind. And yet they are the
ones who are truly blind. Friends, the worst
blindness you can have is refusing to see. The
worst blindness you can have is refusing to see.
Many of them, they see the works of Jesus and
yet their response is to call Jesus a sinner
and excommunicate his disciples. And so Jesus,
this whole saga ends with them overhearing Jesus
and they ask this question, are we also blind?
Of course they are. They can't see what's right
there before them. They are unwilling to examine
their hearts. Additionally, these are Jewish
leaders They should have been looking for the
Messiah Isaiah 42 7 that says that there is one
coming who opens the eyes of the blind and there
he was right before them They said this man must
be a sinner Friends the evidence is right before
us because we have the scriptures the very word
of God And so we must respond with faith. We
must respond in worship because God alone is
worthy of our praise. But as I begin to wrap
up, the lesson's not quite done. We have not
thought about the disciples for several minutes
here and their question. The way in which they
respond, when they see the man, they don't respond
in a very good way, do they? And so we need to
understand how we should respond to others who
are in suffering. And so just one point of application
here. Friends, we must listen to the suffering
and we must avoid assumptions. Think of the harm
done to this man throughout his lifetime by people
who would not stop to listen to him. They continued
to operate under the assumption that sin by the
man had somehow led him blindness all the times
that this poor beggar heard people whispering
about him or avoiding him or telling him to his
face you're a bad person and you did this to
yourself like like Job's friends just wearing
him down friends we must be people who listen
to one another in our suffering look at verse
34 they answered the man you were born in utter
sin And would you teach us? Isn't it funny how
much we care about what God teaches us, but how
little we care about what God teaches other people.
We must be willing to listen. Oh, that we would
learn to listen to those who are in suffering,
that we would learn how to persevere in suffering,
that we would be reminded of the glory that awaits
us as Christians to be good friends. We must
take time to listen to one another, to love one
another through our suffering, avoid assumptions,
and in doing so give glory to God as we love
our neighbor as ourselves, remembering that Jesus
suffered in our place.