7/23/06                        The Blind Man: Salvation Testimony

John 9:1-41

    And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. [2] And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" [3] Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. [4] "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work. [5] "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [6] When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, [7] and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing. [8] The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?" [9] Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." [10] Therefore they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" [11] He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam, and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." [12] And they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."

    [13] They brought to the Pharisees him who was formerly blind. [14] Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. [15] Again, therefore, the Pharisees also were asking him how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." [16] Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them. [17] They said therefore to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." [18] The Jews therefore did not believe it of him, that he had been blind, and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, [19] and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" [20] His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; [21] but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he shall speak for himself." [22] His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed, that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. [23] For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

    [24] So a 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." [25] He therefore answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." [26] They said therefore to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" [27] He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" [28] And they reviled him, and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. [29] "We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." [30] The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. [31] "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him. [32] "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. [33] "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." [34] They answered and said to him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they put him out.

    [35] Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" [36] He answered and said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" [37] Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." [38] And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him. [39] And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind." [40] Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" [41] Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.   

I.           A Strong Teaching On Sin

            The Pharisees believed that physical deformities and afflictions were the result of sin.  Do you recall the

            friends of Job, Eliphaz  Bildad, and Zophar?  For thirty chapters, they argue against Job that the reason

            he lost his wealth, health and family is because of His sin.  The end of the story is that Job was not guilty

            of all the things his “friends” accused him  but rather, God opened his blinded eyes to see that his

            blinding sin was that of self-righteousness.   

            Notice the influence that the teachings of the Pharisees had on the people of Israel.  On this particular

            occasion, even the disciples brought up the subject of the sin of the blind man.  This was one of the

            many hindrances that Jesus had to overcome in order for His followers to become true disciples.  It was

            a terribly ridiculous belief that the blind man was born blind because of his sin! (This was a teaching out

            of the Talmud [the teachings from the Law] that a fetus could actually sin in his mother’s womb).  Oh

            yeah, back then they did not know that the fetus is not a living organism person.  How does a fetus sin? 

            It beats the heck out of me.  I don’t know of any statement made by the Pharisees that points to their

            total ignorance of what God considered sin more than that.

            The sin of the Pharisees can easily become that which heavily impacts us.  We are not accountable to

            another man, group or church.  We are accountable on to the “Righteous Judge.”  One of the greatest

            sins of the Pharisees was their self-righteous judging of others.  You will recall in our study on the

            “Sermon on the Mount” that Jesus said we are not to judge another.  

"Do not judge lest you be judged. [2] "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. [3] "And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and ehold, the log is in your own eye? [5] "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.  (Matthew 7:1-5)

"And do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. [38] "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

(Luke 6:37-38 )

II.        A Strong Witness From A New Believer.

            The testimony of the man revealed the salvation.  The physical condition of blindness was simply the

            means by which Jesus wrought the glory of God.  [3] Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man

            sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.  Is it fair

            for God to have kept this man in a state of blindness for so long just to prove a point to the Pharisees? 

            Fairness is an issue for a human being.  It is not for God.  His glory surpasses the human need for

            fairness a zillion times over.  What I think is fair is so subjective.  God’s glory is absolute! 

O Lord, what is man, that Thou dost take knowledge of him?  Or the son of man, that Thou dost think of him? (Psalm 144:3 )

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. [8] The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:7-8 )

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:14 )

This does not mean that God does not care for you, but He is more concerned about His glory.  God is

not really uptight when He “hears” that we are in disagreement with His ways.  He does not “stay

awake” at night wringing His hands because we are troubled with His decision making processes.  Oh,

He does care!  If the cross declares any message at all, it is that He cares…far beyond even our ability to

grasp His love.

The blind man understood this in a flash.  How long had he been a believer when he made his strong

declarations to the Pharisees?  A day?  A half day?  The blind man’s testimony proves that you don’t

have to be a seminarian or have majored in Bible in college.  The only thing one needs for a testimony

is THE EXPERIENCE of being born again.  Lets look again at verses 31 and following.  Here is a man

that is not prompted by fear.  He spoke with authority.  Not his own.  And even though he probably

could not have lasted long in a debate over scriptures with the Pharisees, he did know enough to know

the fact that there were no references in the Old Testament that spoke of a blind person being healed. 

III.     A Strong Instruction About Blindness.

            This situation presented a grand platform for the Lord to show through His teaching that one of the

            things He came to do, as the Messiah, was to separate the light from the darkness, the seeing-ones from

            the blinded eyes.  This encounter He had with the blind man reminds us of  Jesus’ teaching that

all would not accept Him.  There is strong evidence in this teaching of the Sovereignty of God…as Paul

asserts it in Romans 9.

               What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

               [15] For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have

               compassion on whom I have             compassion." [16] So then it does not depend on the man

               who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. [17] For the Scripture says

               to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you,

               and that My name might be proclaimed THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."

               [18] So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

               (Romans 9:14-18)

            Jesus came not to judge the world, as in the sense of condemnation judgment.  But He did come into the

            world to reveal the difference between the holiness and righteousness of God and man.  In verse 39,

            Jesus said that His judgment was so acute that those who think they see, know and understand God in

            their own sense, in their own way are actually worse off than those who are blind.  In 41, He says that

            they would have had an excuse if they had been blind.  When a person says, “I know all I need to know

            about the meaning and purpose of life; I don’t need a God I cannot see to rule over me; I have the ability

            to make choices that are in keeping with what I want to do with my life,” Jesus says that person is

            spiritually blind. 

            If a person has spiritual sight, it means only one thing: that person’s heart has been quickened by the

            Holy Spirit and, as such, that person has, because of the quickening, to “see” life as God has purposed it.

            Judgment: John 3:16 = pronouncing a final sentence

            Judgment: John 9:39 = distinguishing between; winnowing wheat (separating wheat from chaff), as

            Luke records Jesus’words, "And His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing

            floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

            Luke 3:17

            There should be a “this” with the word judgment = for this judgment, the setting apart of those who do

            not have the “eyes” of seeing faith and those who have “eyes” of faith to see.

     What is in this encounter for you and me? 

            First, Jesus does allow us to go through trials.  There is a definite portion of strength that comes to us in

            trials.  James 1 tells us that we are to “consider it all joy when you encounter various trials knowing that

            the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be

            perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  He had the blind man stand on his own before He went to him. 

            Second, we should not be intimidated by the “blind guides” of this world.  We have the One who has

            overcome the world living inside of us. There is far more evidence for the Christ than there is against

            Him.  I don’t mean to say that discussing the truth with the world is bad or good.  If the Lord puts you in

            a place to speak truth then do so, but with the understanding that discussing or debating will not, in and

            of itself, bring anyone to Christ.  The only thing that causes a man to come to Christ in faith is the power

            of God working through the Holy Spirit.

            Third, though the world is blind, there are the spiritually blind “ones” whom God has chosen for His

            kingdom.  We should always have a desire to be instruments that God would use to share the Good

            News and/or then to be “direction markers” for them when they become seekers.