John 9:1-7
Notes
Transcript
Lets pray before we look at God’s Word this morning:
First thing I want to say is I want all of you to fall in love with studying God’s Word. It is the best book ever written. It has sold more copies than any other book (5 BILLION).
Most Dramatic
Most Mysterious
Most Adventurous
Best Love Story EVER TOLD...
It is shallow enough for a child to read and understand and it is deep enough for the greatest theologians to drown in...
Lets read 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 Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Did you see it? Did you see what God the Holy Spirit, through the writing of the Apostle John, wanted you to see in these 7 verses?
If not…I pray it becomes clear to you this morning…Ive been excited all week to tell you...
There is a reason God wrote the Bible in a specific order. He wrote it in a way for us to meditate and think about every word…every sentence.
Look at verse 1 with me:
John 9:1
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
I want to be more like Jesus don’t you?
What if you were at a gathering with a bunch of people and they all treated you like you were unwanted and rejected... how would you leave that place?
I think you would probably leave the same way I would…ticked off
feeling sorry for yourself…thinking about how things aren’t fair and never go your way.
the more you thought about it the more angry you got...
See, chapter 8 ends with the religious Jews picking up stones to throw at Jesus…they had rejected Him
How did he respond?
“As He passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.”
Christ always looked outward toward others…and we should do the same.
Look at verse 2:
And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The ancient Jews believed that birth defects in children happened because they sinned in the womb of their mother.
But, they also believed like many do today…that if something has happened to someone then they must have done something wrong.
Have you ever said, “they must have done something to deserve that”?
Have you ever felt that God is up in Heaven just waiting on you to mess up some way for him to drop the hammer on you?
Yes you have!
Have you ever been around people really believe this? They think that
bad things happen to them because they don’t have enough faith.
They aren’t healed because they have some “hidden sin”....
They aren’t blessed because they don’t trust God enough?
Believing like this makes you become so judgmental, arrogant, and unloving toward others because you think you are being blessed because you don’t have health problems…or because you make good money, etc.
It’s horrible theology! To think that if someone does something wrong God is going to strike them with some type of harm…think of all the wrong things you have done and nothing has happened to you.
God is a gracious God…He is patient. He is not waiting to strike a curse on you.
But, bad things do happen don’t they. Horrible, heart breaking things happen and they have happened to some of us in here.
Here is the wrong question: “Why does bad things happen to good people?”
no one righteous, not one
Christ is the only good person to have something bad happen to Him…and He offered it up willingly.
Here is a fair question: “Why does bad things happen?”
because we live in a fallen broken world
because sin has affected every aspect of our world
But here is the only good answer to that question, “why do bad things happen”
consider the end of it, “what good comes out of it?”, says JC Ryle.
Why did man fall? That God might save him. -
Why is evil permitted in the world? That God may be glorified in removing it. -
Why does the body of man die? That God may raise it up again.
Look at verse 2 and 3
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.
God had ordained that this man be born blind…and be blind for many many years…he is a man, not a boy…and He ordained it so that “the works of God might be displayed in him”.
Think about that for a second...
How many times do you think he questioned things? He was under the same influences as the disciples.
Don’t you think the same questions went through his mind a few times:
Why am I blind?
Did I do something wrong God in my mothers womb?
Did my parents cause this because of their sin?
For years he never had an answer until ONE day!…THIS DAY…God shows Him the why.
Whatever you have went through or whatever it is that you are going through…you may not know the “WHY” right now but a day is coming when it will all make sense and you will see that there was a Sovereign God working out his magnificent plan…for His Glory and for YOUR good...
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Just hold on tight to Christ and trust Him…and I know it is hard at times but that is why He gave us a church to belong to. To remind us of the promises so we can cling to them.
Look at verses 4 and 5
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.”
Jesus says, “we must work the works of him who sent me”…or “I must”...
It was no mistake that this blind man was here outside the temple.
Not only was his blindness ordained by God but where he was suppose to be on this very day as Jesus passed by.
God has a plan…and He will accomplish His plan.
Woman at the Well in John 4 .
I love that scene in The Chosen when Jesus says to her, “I came to Samaria just to meet you. Do you think it is an accident that I am here in the middle of the day?”
That scene comes from John 4:4.
Look at John 4:3-4
he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria.
LOOK BACK AT VERSES 4 AND 5
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.”
IN verse 4 where it says, “while it is day” …this is talking about Christs ministry on Earth while He was here with us in the flesh.
“NIGHT IS COMING”…Once He leaves in bodily form He will no longer be here doing the works that they have seen Him do is one understanding.
But this has an application for us as well doesn’t it? While it is day…WE MUST be doing the works of Him who has called us!
We MUST…not “should be” but we MUST work the works of Him who called and sent us while it is still day.
all we have is today
once this life is over there is nothing more you can do
and I promise…I’ve said this before...
When we see Jesus face to face…no one will say, “I did enough didn’t I”…When you see Christ face to face you and I will say “I wish I would have done more! Forgive me Lord, I wish I would have done more”.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Look at verse 5 again:
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
There is so much here but I only have time to make one point and it is this right here...
this is the bookend of when He said it last in chapter 8:12.
He said this John 8 12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
REMEMBER I TOLD YOU THE BIBLE IS WRITTEN IN A SPECIFIC ORDER TO TEACH US THINGS…watch this!
See…IN CHAPTER 8 Jesus tried to tell the Pharisees and the religious Jews who He was but they rejected Him.
HE told them that they didn’t understand the Scriptures correctly but they were convinced they did. They wouldn’t listen to THE WORD.
HE told them that they were slaves to sin but they said they were not slaves to anyone
He told them that it takes the Son to set you free but they rejected the thought that they needed to be set free…not by him or anyone else.
HE said that their will was to do their fathers desires and they were children of the devil but they rejected Him and continued arguing with The WORD right in front of them.
It was no accident that this blind man was sitting outside the temple when He left…He was ordained to be blind from birth and to be at this spot right here this day for the glory of God and to show those there, AND US TODAY, what Jesus meant by all that He told those who rejected the Word...
it takes the Son to set you free.
God ordained this meeting to show us the contrast of the religious and
Look back at verse 1:
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
You know who that blind man is?
It is you… and it is me.
We were blind from birth. We were born in sin and held captive by the evil one.
This man was BLIND. He wasn’t looking for Jesus.
He had no idea He was even near Him....He was blind.
So who noticed who? Christ noticed him.
So it was with you and me…Christ sought us out when we were spiritually blinded by the evil one.
An act of Sovereign Grace is about to be put on display by the Light of the World…
When He reminds them that He is the light of the world we read...
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 Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Why did He anoint the mans eye’s with mud (or clay)...
you may be thinking because He is the Creator and just like He made Adam out of Clay…he makes mans eyes new again.
But think of this…He was blind and He spits on the ground and makes some mud (clay) and presses it onto his blinded eyes and says go wash it off...
You know what He did to me when I always knew that I was a sinner…one day He saw it fit, by his gracious love, to press my sins even deeper in my heart to know without a shadow of a doubt that I was in a desperate need of a Savior.
And there was only one place I could go…to Christ.
And here is this blind man…who already couldn’t see … now with mud caked on his eyes and Jesus tells him to:
“Go, wash in the pool Siloam”
Listen to me…our God is Sovereign…in control of everything…He’s not a lucky God.
Just like in John 5 when he healed the man at Pool Bethesda…which means Mercy…no coincidence.
Just like the Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem…which means House of Bread...
Now…the Pool of SILOAM, which means “Sent”
This pool was there because a channel was cut in the rock of the Temple Mount during King Hezekiah (2 Kings20, and 2 Chronicles 32). It came from a water source outside the walls of Jerusalem and ran through the Temple into a garden area below.
The significance is that Jesus is the One who was SENT by the Father to give light to the world. All through chapter 8 Jesus tells the religious that the Father SENT Him…but they still rejected THE WORD!
Christ was “sent” and just like the water from where it came from runs through the Holy Temple where sacrifice was made…it is through the sacrifice of Christ where we find our healing…our sight.
HE tells the man to go to the Pool of Siloam, which means ‘Sent’)... and wash there.So guess what he did…he went and washed and came back seeing!
Christian....you should thank God Almighty for his grace He has shown you in so many ways.
it was Him who sought you out
It was Him who revealed Himself to you
It was Him who opened your eyes to see
And for you here who may not know Him…do what this blind man did...
GO TO THE WATER...
but not that “water”…this is not talking about baptismal waters…that is not where you find Jesus.
Christ is no longer in the flesh here on earth…His day here in the flesh is gone...
So where would you find Christ today?
In His Word...
In John 5 the religious refuse The Word and what does Christ tell them?
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Look for Him in the Scriptures...
ON SCREEN : IN John 10 the Religious Pharisees want to stone him and Jesus responds, “Is it not written
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Jesus told them in John 8…just above this in verse 31 and 32...
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.