The Blind Made to See part 2

I'll take your Bible this morning, turn to John chapter 9, the Gospel of John. We're still in our series, Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. In each situation, in each miracle, in each encounter with the religious leaders, we are just seeing Christ teach and exemplify and proclaim Himself as the Son of God. So we're going to continue in this study as we are in chapter 9. Now last week we began a new portion of Scripture when we started chapter 9. Now these verses are new in two or three ways. First of all, it's a new setting, and then also it is a new situation. Now the new setting is somewhat mysterious.

We really don't know where these events took place. We talked about that last week. We believe, most Bible commentators believe, that Jesus has moved out of the temple complex, although He could have been very close to the temple complex. But we don't know where the actual setting is. But we do know this is a new situation. A new situation in that Jesus is performing a new miracle or a new sign, and that is He is healing the man who was born blind.

Now in last week's message, it was titled "The Blind Made to See." Now in that message we saw that Jesus is carrying the same theme that He had over in chapter 8, and that is Jesus is the light of the world. He is carrying this theme into the new setting and into this new situation. In chapter 9, verse 5, we see that Jesus made this self-descriptive statement, the same statement that He made in chapter 8, verse 12. Look with me over in the verse 5. He says to those people there, the disciples as well, and the blind man, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." I want us to see that this theme is carried on into this miracle.

Now you might not realize it, but it goes on past verse 5. Look at verse 6 with me. This is the beginning of verse 6. What does He say? When He had said this, what is that speaking of? Verse 5. When He had declared that He was the light of the world, and then verse 6 shows us that He goes into this miracle. What am I showing you? This theme is not just in verses 1 through 5, but it is on through the miracle itself. Now last week, in part of the introduction, we learned that light would be revealed in these verses in more than one way. First, the blind man was given the ability to see physical light.

That's what we're going to see this morning. Physical light. He was born blind, and he will be able to see physical light through the miracle. And then second, the blindness of the Jews will be revealed. Of course, this will not be seen in these verses. We're going to go on down to verse 12. But as we continue in this controversy, we will see that they reveal their blindness. Now before we get into our verses and the message this morning, I want us to see that last week's message and this morning's message are really one message. Last week we had the blind made to see, and this morning we will have the blind made to see part 2.

So a part 1 and a part 2, really one message, but we divided them because of time, and we wanted to take our time in these verses. Now a quick review. Last week in verses 1 through 5, we saw three truths. First of all, a probing question out of verse 2, God's sovereign purposes out of verse 3, and their kingdom responsibilities out of verses 4 and 5. Remember the probing question. The disciples came and they asked a question or a series of questions based on Jewish traditions. They assumed that someone was at fault. They were assuming, they were blaming, they were judging.

They were looking at the past while we will see that Jesus is looking at the future. Also we saw God's sovereign purposes. Remember that Jesus looked forward in what he was going to do. He stated that this seeming tragic situation was ordained of God and for God's purposes and for God's glory. And then in their kingdom responsibilities, we saw that Jesus taught the disciples that they had God's work to do while they had time. Jesus is teaching with the cross on his mind. If we know the scriptures, we know that the window of time that he had with those disciples was getting shorter by the day. And that's exactly what he is saying.

We have kingdom responsibilities and we must be busy while this short time as at hand. So we will continue through the verses on down to verse 12. And like I said earlier, we will have a part 2. This is the blind man is made to see, and we will look at two truths that cover the remaining verses. We will see the miracle is performed starting in verse 6, verse 6 and 7. And then we will see the people are perplexed. That will carry us from verse 8 all the way down to verse 12. The miracles performed and the people are perplexed. We're going to read all of the verses.

I will start in verse 1 because I want them to be in your mind before we begin to divide verses 6 through 12. Let's look at the verses together. And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, "Rabbi, that means teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" 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. We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day. Night is coming when no man can work.

While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world." Then verse 6, "When he had said this, he spat on the ground and he made clay from the spittle, and he applied the clay to his eyes. And then he said, 'Go wash in the pool of Siloam,' which translated or which in the Hebrew means 'sent.' And he went away and washed and came back seen.

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?' Others were saying, 'This is he.' Still others were saying, 'No, but he is like him.' He kept saying, 'I am the one.' Therefore, they were saying to him, 'How then were your eyes opened?' And he answered, 'The man who has 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.

And they said to him, 'Where is he?' He said, 'I do not know.'" Now we're going to finish up these verses that give us this miracle of Jesus healing the man born blind. And like I said earlier, this is a part two. I hope you're taking notes. Trust you're taking notes so that you can have these messages together so that you can get all that God wants us to get this morning. So truth number one, notice the miracle is performed. We see that in verses 6 through 7. And when he had said this, this is all that he had said, especially the phrase in verse 5, that he was the light of the world. He spat on the ground and he made clay from the spit.

And he applied the clay to the eyes and he said, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam." And he went away and washed and he came back seen. This is the miracle that is performed. Now as we get into this miracle, we must see that this is a continuation. We really must hold on to that. This is a continuation of what Jesus had been teaching. He had taught that he was the light of the world and now he is demonstrating his claim through the miracle. I ran across something that MacArthur says about this. He says this is a living parable. I like that.

I don't know if you know what a parable is, but a parable is an earthly story to communicate or teach spiritual truth. And that's exactly what we have here. Go back to the verse and when he had said this, what? He goes into action. He heals this man. And that is an example. That is the teaching exemplified right before their eyes. Now three things I want us to see out of this miracle. First Jesus touched the man. Look at verse 6. He spat on the ground. He made clay from the spit and he applied the clay to his eyes. Now in verse 6 we see Jesus do what would seem to us a very strange thing.

He made mud out of spit and dirt and he applied it to the man's eyes. Now this really demands a question and that question is why? Why did Jesus do such as this? Truthfully there are a lot of explanations given by a lot of different Bible commentators and theologians, but no explanation can be definitively given. I will touch on a few opinions. Some of the early church leaders said there was a connection or there was a connection to Genesis chapter 2 verse 7. That is where God formed man from the dust of the ground. Different Bible commentators note that in Greek culture in that day mud was used often in magical incantations.

Now I would hardly believe that Jesus would resort to those types of methods, but that is a philosophy of the day. Some Jewish rabbis considered the spit of the first born father to have healing powers so that they would have, so that this would have some medicinal powers here. Of course this is a Jewish tradition. Now in a case like this where there is no definitive reason, we must not continue in the wrong question. Let me explain what I mean. If we continue to ask the wrong question, we will never land anywhere and the wrong question would be why did he use spit and why did he use mud? Now that's really not the point.

The point is that Jesus touched the man. Jesus used ordinary mud, used his own spit, but the extraordinary thing is that Jesus touched the man. Remember the man's position in society. He was a beggar, he was an outcast. He would have been one that the populace would have ignored. Maybe they would have just dropped a coin in his pocket to rid him, rid them of this nuisance. He would have been stepped over and ignored by society. But what did Jesus do? Jesus reached down and he touched him. Second, we see Jesus commanded him. Look at the beginning of verse 7.

And he said, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," which is translated "sent." Notice in verse 7 that Jesus commanded him and he commands him to go to the pool of Siloam. Now in the New American Standard, out beside there in brackets, it is the word "sent." All of the translations have some form of that written. Now what do we see here? This word "sent" that John is giving us is the Hebrew translation of this word. Now this is a reference to how the pool originated. As I mentioned earlier, Hezekiah dug a tunnel, a shaft, a great distance to the pool of Siloam from a spring outside of the city.

The citizens of Jerusalem had a continual supply of water within the city walls even in the event of a siege. So again, another question. Why this washing at this location? There is not a definitive reason. The closest connection is that the water within this pool would have been used during the Feast of the Tabernacles and it would have been carried into the temple during that celebration. That could have been the background, but the main point here, the main truth that's being communicated is one simple word and that is obedience. Jesus commanded him and he was to obey what Jesus commanded.

It's kind of interesting to see sometimes how Bible commentators fall onto the same thing. One thing that I continuously ran across was the Old Testament reference to the Syrian man named Naaman who was a leper. Remember that story? Kings chapter 5 verse 10 and following tells us that Naaman came to Elijah the prophet seeking to be healed from leprosy. Now what did Elijah command him to do? Elijah told him to go to the Jordan and wash seven times to be healed of his leprosy. Now I don't know if you know the rest of the story, but Naaman left mad. Why would the prophet of God command him to go wash in that dirty, muddy river Jordan?

But what happened? Naaman's servant urged him to just obey what the man of God said and what happened? He was healed. And so Naaman had to be obedient to what the man of God said and the main point here is that this man had to be obedient to what Jesus commanded him to do. And then third, out of the second portion of verse seven, the man obeyed and was healed. Go back to the verse. And so he went away and he washed and he came back seeing. Through his obedience he was healed. I like what Matthew Henry the Puritan said of this healing. He said this man let Christ do what he pleased and he did what he appointed him to do and so he was cured.

Matthew Henry goes on to make a statement and application and he says those that would be healed by Christ must be ruled by Christ. That's exactly what this man was doing. He was allowing Christ to rule him and so we see that Jesus touched him. Jesus commanded him and he obeyed and he was healed. So here we have a miracle. We have a sign. Now remember that this sign was to point the people to Jesus. The point was not the mud. The point was not even the spit. The point was not even the pool. Not even the great miracle. The point was Jesus, Christ the son of God, had performed a great miracle to attest to his deity.

Now in moving towards application I want to share with you two of the main interpretations and application that you run across when you study this verse. First there are some who believe that this picture is true saving faith. Then there are also those who say that this cannot be anything more than what we have here on the paper. They say that this must be seen just as it is and that is it is a miracle of the blind man receiving sight. So there are two main ideas in applying and interpreting the meaning of this miracle. Some say it exemplifies salvation and some say it is just a miracle. Now for me, where do I fall in this interpretation?

Personally, I would side with those who say that this picture is true saving faith. Now what is the evidence that I would come to that conclusion? If we zoom on ahead to the end of the chapter in verses 35 through 41 we see that this man does come to faith in Christ. We see that he does come to the place where he does believe in Christ. The story comes full circle. He receives a physical healing and then he receives a spiritual healing. So this healing was a picture of what was to come spiritually for this man. So it is not a stretch for us to say that this miracle that was performed is a picture of those who receive true saving faith.

Now an application, we must see that people who are outside of Christ, people who are not true Christians are exactly like this blind man. They are blind to spiritual matters. Totally blind. They are helpless to change their condition. They are dependent on the only one who can cure them and they are waiting on his command to believe. That is the only way that this blind man was able to believe that Christ himself came and made himself known. And so we must see that there are people all around us who are exactly like the blind man.

They are blind to spiritual matters, helpless to change their condition, dependent on the only one that can cure them and waiting on his command to believe in him. Now truthfully, verses like this solidify my conviction that when people are converted it is a definite distinguishable time in their life. You've heard me communicate this time and time again. Salvation conversion is a historical event. It is one moves from being blind to being seen. They are dead and they are made alive in Christ. And it is stories and verses exactly like this that solidify that conviction. I'll give you another verse that will help us here.

I've referred to this time and time again. But in Acts chapter 26 when Paul is making his defense before King Agrippa, he does two things. First, he gives his personal testimony and second, he describes his calling from God. And it's amazing here, both his personal testimony and his calling line up. Another words, his testimony comes right out of his own personal theology in dealing with conversion. Let me explain what I mean. Let me read the text. While thus engaged, now he's speaking to King Agrippa, while thus engaged is I was journeying to Damascus. What is he talking about? He was lost and he was lashing out against true Christians.

What does it say? With the authority and commission of the chief priests at midday O king, I saw the way alight from heaven, brighter than the sun, shying all around me and those who were journeying with me. What is he describing? He is describing the fact that Christ came to him at a definitive time and a definitive place and Christ revealed himself to him. But if we go on down, we see Paul's ministry. When Jesus appeared to him, this is what he said.

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but arise and stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I appear to you, delivering you from the Jews the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light. So that's what Paul did. He led people from darkness to light, from a position and a condition of being blind to having their eyes open exactly like he had his eyes open to be converted. And this is a picture.

This man is a picture of biblical conversion. He went from being blind to having the ability to see all because Christ came to him. He was helpless in his position and condition and it was Christ who commanded him to believe. And see this right here just obliterates so many faults teaching, so much faults teaching and so many false ideas concerning conversion. I'll name just a few. First of all, we must understand that people are not born in the light. Did you know there are people that believe they've always been a Christian? Now I do understand that people can be born in a Christian home. They can be raised in the church.

They can never go out into the world and live out in the world like so many people do. But that does not mean that they're born in the light. You know, they are born in the image of Adam and they are sinners against God and even though they might be raised on the church pew, they are still lost in about Christ. They are not born in the light. That's exactly what the Jewish leaders tried to tell Jesus. They're saying, "We are descendants of Abraham. What are they saying? We are born in the light." That's not the case. Another false idea is people don't assimilate from darkness to light.

You know, there are a lot of people they try to assimilate. They try to just gradually assimilate from being lost to being saved. That's not biblical either. You know, as I was studying this and contemplating some of these erroneous ideas, did you know that's nothing more than a philosophy of works? Because someone really thinks that they can go from being darkness, in darkness, blind, and they can slowly assimilate into a place of being able to see and be in the light. Listen, when someone is in darkness, they need a miracle, the miracle of the new birth. That's nothing more than works.

The last false idea is that people don't make a decision to go from darkness into light. Now, let me explain what I mean. I don't want to absolve people from their responsibility. We see that he had a command to believe. He had a responsibility, and he had to exercise that responsibility. But we must see that a man can never believe on Christ until Christ first comes and makes himself known to Christ. The invitation is given by Christ, but the problem is a lot of people try to make that decision on their own. It's sad to say a lot of people do this because they are led by unskilled ministers, unskilled parents and Sunday school workers.

People don't make a decision to go from darkness to light. They are invited to go from darkness to light. What am I trying to show you? There are a lot of people that have erroneous ideas in dealing with conversion, and this is a picture of one who is blind. They are hopeless because they are blind to spiritual matters. They are helpless to change their condition. They are dependent on the only one who can come and cure them, and they are waiting on his command to believe. You see? And I want you to notice what the disciples looked down on Jesus touched. Isn't that beautiful? What did they say?

They looked down on him with scorn, they assumed, and they blamed, and they said, "Who sinned? Was it this man or his parents?" Jesus didn't do that. He touched him. What the world looks down on, which is the blind and lost people around us, Jesus wants to touch. But there's more. He wants us to touch them. Remember what we learned in verse 4 and verse 5? We have a responsibility. What does the scripture say? We must. When that language is clear, it is in the plural. Jesus says, "We." He is including those disciples, and that word must is key because that word must is used regularly in John's gospel to describe obedience.

And Jesus is saying, "We must do this work." And then what does he say? I'll show you what the work is. I'm going to touch this blind man. You see? What the disciples looked down on, Jesus touched. And what the world looks down on, which is blind and lost people, Jesus wants to touch. And he wants to use us to touch the blind people who are all around us. The second main truth I want us to see is the people are perplexed. They are perplexed. Verses 8 through 12. I want you to notice it changes here. The blind man comes on the scene, seen.

And the neighbors, therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?" Others were saying, "This is he." Still others were saying, "No." But he is like him. He kept saying, "I am the one." Notice "I am the one." "I am the one." "Therefore, they were saying to him, 'How then were your eyes opened?' And he answered, 'The man who is called Jesus may clay and anointed my eyes, and he said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight.

And they said to him, 'Where is he?' And he said, 'I do not know.'" Now when the blind man, this blind man suddenly comes back, seen, this really caused a big stir, a big scene with those who knew him. All of the translations that we have before us use the word "neighbors." And also all of the translations reference those who knew him as a beggar. So you see there, there are two different groups that knew him. These neighbors, we can understand that language, and those who saw him as a beggar. And although he was an outcast, he was at least known by a few.

But I want us to see in their confusion, they were perplexed, they asked three questions. So let's explore these questions. First they ask his identity. They ask his identity. Go back, what does it say? Is this not this, the one who used to sit and beg? This first question and the debate here in verse 8 and 9 speak to the level at which some of the people were perplexed. They all knew this man, but some were more willing to believe that this was a completely different person than to believe that he could have been healed. You see? But there were some who believed that this healed man was the man who was born blind.

So right here in this confusion, they ask about his identity. But notice his response in verse 9. What does he say? Others were saying, this is he, but still others were saying no, but he is like the one, but what does he say? Previously he says, "I am he." So what do we see? The construction of the language here tells us that this is emphatically stated. He is saying, "I am the one." And it says that this is repeated. He is saying, "I am the one. I am the one. I am the one." Because it says he kept saying. It does not seem that they asked the man, but that he heard them debating among themselves and he interjected into this debate.

Now you notice the debate, there is a debate over his identity. Some said, "Who is this man?" Some believed that this was the man, but yet he said, "I am the one." The second question, they question how this happened. Verse 10, "Therefore they were saying to him, 'How then were your eyes opened?'" See this next question seems to come from those who possibly did believe that this seeing man was the man who had been born blind. Now was this from the verse 9 group that said, "This is he?" Was this a group who believed because of his bold declaration? We do not know, but notice his response in verse 11.

"In verse 11, he answered, 'The man who was called Jesus, he made clay, anointing my eyes, and he said, 'Go to Siloam and wash.'" Notice that he does not try to explain how this happened. He clearly states two truths to the crowd. First that it was Jesus who had done the work, and second that through his obedience, he was definitely healed. Nothing was vague, nothing was left up in the air. This was definitively communicated. Although he had yet to see Jesus with physical eyes, he knew who had done this for him. So notice within this debate, they question how this happened.

And then the third question I want us to see, they question where Jesus was. Verse 12, "And they said to him, 'Where is he?'" This is the third question in these simple verses. "Simply they wanted to know where Jesus was." Of course at this point in the event, Jesus has not revealed himself to them, and we know that later on at the end of the chapter, he does circle back. But they are questioning where was Jesus. Now in observing this confusion, in looking at their perplexity, in looking at their questions, they're saying they're questioning his identity, they're questioning how this happened, and ultimately they're asking where he is.

I want us to make two observations concerning these people. The first observation comes in the form of a question from me. What were their intentions? Go back to the verse. "And they said to him, 'Where is he?'" And he said, "I do not know." But look at verse 13. "They brought to the Pharisees him who was formally blind." So my question, which might not be answered, is this, what were the crowd's intentions? Verse 13 says that they took him to the Pharisees. This would have been their efforts to seek help in this matter. They were going to the ones who should be able to offer answers.

They were seeking answers because they could not understand. So what were their intentions? It seems that they did not want to take the situation at face value. The second question, or the second observation, is their unbelief. You see, they did not believe the sign which was before them. What was the sign for? What was the purpose? It was to point them to Christ. And the second observation is their unbelief. They would have known all that Jesus had been doing. They would have known all that Jesus had done at the Feast of the Tabernacles. But what I want you to see is they were in a place of unbelief.

So we see that they brought the man to the Pharisees seeking help in this matter. We don't know their intentions. But the second observation is they were in a state of unbelief, not believing through the miracle. Now in application, I want us to remember that this miracle is illustrative of true faith, true belief in Christ. When Christ Jesus saves a lost sinner, I want us to see that there will be those who refuse to accept it and face value. Isn't that what happened here? Jesus heals the man. The man comes back, seeing.

One of the Bible commentators I read, I don't remember who it was, said no doubt he would have been coming back screaming, shouting, "Hallelujah!" But they didn't believe. And see, they didn't believe on the face value of the miracle which pointed to Christ. And I want us to see that when Christ saves a lost sinner today, there will be those people who refuse to accept that miracle at face value. I want to ask an important question. That question is why. If they accept and fully embrace what Christ has done, then they will have to fully accept who they are. You see?

When Christ saves a lost sinner, there will be those who refuse to accept that miracle at face value. And the reason is, if they accept that miracle of conversion right before them, they will have to accept fully who they are. They will have to face who they are and deal with who they are. Now let me give you two hypothetical examples that will help you in this. Example number one, God saves you, you're converted, and you go to an unbelieving family, a mother, a father, a brother or a sister. You go to an unbelieving friend. And listen, most all the time they will react exactly like the crowd. Why?

They cannot accept the miracle at face value because they will have to deal with who they are. That's exactly why they stayed in unbelief. They did not want to fully deal with who they were. Second example, God saves you and you go to believing family, you go to believing friends, and listen, they will just react exactly the way you did. They'll rejoice. They'll scream and shout, "Hallelujah!" They will rejoice and receive the miracle of the new birth at face value. You see? Now there are some of you here when you were truly saved, you had friends and you had family who reacted much like these people who were perplexed.

And listen, that should alarm you. Now I'm not saying that our friends and family shouldn't have questions. That's normal. But after a few questions, they should get down to the place where they can rejoice in the miracle and they accept the miracle and they can shout, "Hallelujah!" with you in the miracle of the new birth. And listen, there are some of you here when you were truly saved, you had family and friends and they reacted exactly like these crowds. They distanced themselves from you.

They could not understand what you were and what you said and what you had become and this should concern you because a lot of times, most all the time, they will distance themselves because they do not like what they see in themselves. There are some of you here when people are truly saved around you, you react just like the people. This should concern you. If you can't rejoice when someone is converted and experiences the new birth, when the miracle of the new birth is around you, if you cannot rejoice and celebrate, if you cannot get past a handful of questions, this should concern and alarm you.

And if you find yourself retreating from works such as this, you might need to see that you're exactly like the crowds. See? The people were perplexed. Now, as I move to the conclusion, remember that last week's message and this week's message are meant to be one message and understood as one message. Now as I study and I prepare and I preach, I try to divide the text and bring the text to us in a reasonable amount of time. So sometimes we have to take a part one and a part two so that we have the amount of time to devote to the text. But this is one message, verses one through twelve.

I want to pick up with the conclusion that we had last week. First, we must see that there are people all around us, some innocent victims of their circumstances and some responsible sinners, and we must not become like the disciples. We must not assume. We must not blame. And we must not judge. We must show compassion. Second, we must see that God ordains to work in these circumstances for his purposes and for his glory. It was the old Englishman, F.F. Bruce, that used the word overruled. God overruled the circumstances of this man being born blind and he overruled for his purposes and for his glory.

And we must see that the circumstances around us are there and God ordains to work and overruled those circumstances for his glory and honor and purposes. Third, we must see that our time is short. Our open door of ministry is open, but for a short time. And the only way we can see that our open door of ministry, our open door of opportunity, is short, is when we look at life circumstances and the work of the church in light of eternity. Eternity is moving faster and faster and faster. The day of the Lord is upon us quicker and quicker and we must see that this open door of ministry is here for only a short time.

And fourth, we must see that we are all called to engage in a work that we cannot do. Do we really believe that we can cause blind people to see? Listen, if we truly accept these truths as fact, it really puts us in a corner because there is no hope for us to do anything about the circumstances around us. And we must see that we are called to engage in a work that we cannot do. We cannot move people from their state of spiritual blindness to being in the light, in Christ, believing in Christ. No, it is only Christ and the power and the work of the Spirit of God working through us.

And fifth, we must see that the lost world will not understand or accept what we do. They may tolerate us, they may even acknowledge us, they may even compliment us for the good deeds that we do, but they will not embrace us. Because when they get close to us, much like the people, they will have to examine themselves as well. And no matter how others react, we need God to help us touch the blind who are all around us. Lord help us in this work. Lord, thank you for the truths here in this message.