THE BLIND MAN IN JOHN 9

Sermon of the week – April 8, 2005

John chapter nine is a chapter that is full of questions—twelve altogether. Here are some of the inquiries in this chapter of the healing of the man born blind.

WHO SINNED?

As Jesus passed by He saw a man blind from his birth it was not just a passing glance, He stopped and observed him. At this point the Apostles engaged the Lord in a theological discussion. “Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents that should be born blind?”

This is a popular explanation. Some are quick to point out a calamity that befell some people was God’s judgment for a sin they had committed. Actually such things can happen to anybody. Some of the best Christians I know have died early in life. I have known of very devout Christians who have died suddenly with a heart attack. How about the Apostle James? He died an untimely death by decapitation. How could the Lord spare an Apostle? The Lord can do without any of us. I have seen James die at twenty-two, twenty-six, forty, and forty-seven, Christians can get cancer and heart attacks just as much as the worst of sinners. God can do without any of us but we cannot do without God.

Did this man sin or his parents? How could a man sin before he was born? One way they may have thought this possible would be in the case of Esau and Jacob. In Genesis 25:22 Rebekah conceived and the children struggled together within her: and she said, “If it be so why am I thus?” And the Lord said unto her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels . . .” Again it may seem to some that they may have believed in reincarnation. This teaching finds no backing from the inspired word of God. Hebrews chapter nine tells us it is appointed for man once to die and after this the judgment. It would be bad enough to be tried for the sins done in one body without having to give account for the deeds done in thirty different life times. There is just one lifetime to a customer.

As far as the physical is concerned we can see how this man could have suffered because of his parents. How about the sin of Old Daddy Adam?  Paul tells us by one man sin came into the world and death by sin. Just one sin was all it took to kill the whole human race. Think of the power of one sin. If one sin could result in the death of all men how much damage can six of our sins do? We have no idea of the power of sin. It is so powerful that it took the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to pay the price of our redemption. 

 Then again we can look at their question from the standpoint of our own observation. The sins of the parents today have caused the children to sin. If the parents have set the example of no time for God, the Bible or the Lord’s church, the parents have prepared a greased toboggan slide for the kids to slide right in to hell.

Then again at the present time they might ask if the mother was a chain smoker, or did she snort cocaine? That might have done it. Did she have aids or syphilis that might result in blindness for the baby? Was the father drunk when the child was conceived? Was it the fault of the parents? They evidently connected his condition with sin one way or the other. That is a natural instinct as far as man is concerned. We always connect sin with judgment.

In this case while the apostles reasoned as to the cause of his blindness, Jesus was more concerned as how best to help him. He spit on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed his eyes with the clay and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, the man did and came seeing. Is there no eye salve for us today? Jesus made him some eye salve. Jesus wants to give us eye salve. The Church at Laodicea in Revelation three said they were rich and had need of nothing. That is the way they saw themselves. Jesus said you don’t know it but you are wretched, miserable, blind and naked. Then He told them to get some eye salve and anoint their eyes that thou mayest see.

There is no better eye salve than the word of God. Read the Great Commission in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and you will be able to see much better the need to evangelize the lost. The work of the church is not entertainment, and building bigger buildings. The main work of the church is saving souls. Put on some eye salve and you will be able to see that holy men spake from of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Put on some eye salve and you will be able to see that city that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Take a liberal dose of the eye salve of God’s word every day and you will be surprised how your vision will change. Here is the next question.

IS NOT THIS HE WHO SAT AND BEGGED?

The neighbors therefore saw him aforetime that he was blind and said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am he.” Those who had known him before wondered what happened? Evidently he looked like a different man. Anybody who meets Jesus as this man did is going to be a changed man. The tragedy is that many that we think have met the Lord have never been changed. They act the same way as before. There used to be a popular song many years ago, some of the words were:

My walk will be different, my talk and my name,

Nothing about me is going to be the same.

I’ll change my way of living and if that ain't enough,

I'll even change the way I strut my stuff.

Nobody wants you when you are old and grey.

There will be some changes made today.

There will be some chages made.

The Apostle Peter did not write that song, but he did write one like it. Here are the lyrics of the song he wrote in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle, He said, “The times past may have sufficed to have wrought the desire of the gentiles and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, carousing, revelling and abominable, idolatries wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you.” That is what Peter said, "They think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot." And now question number three.

HOW THEN WERE THINE EYES OPENED?

 When the neighbors and they that saw him aforetime were persuaded that he was indeed the man who had been healed they asked him, "HOW THEN WERE THINE EYES OPENED?" He told them what happened. The man that is called Jesus put clay upon mine eyes and told me to go wash in the Pool of Siloam and I went away and washed and received sight.

 Then they took him to the Pharisees for further questioning. They went over the same story again. Now if the Pharisses and the neighbors had been like some today the following conversation would have taken place.

 “What do you mean when you say you washed and received sight? You know there is no healing power in the water. Don't you mean that you went to the Pool of Siloam and on the way you received your sight and then you washed in the pool because you were already seeing? Don’t you see if you say you were not healed until after you washed that makes receiving your sight a matter of works and not by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The former blind man would have told it like it was. Jesus put clay on my eyes and told me to go wash in the pool of Siloam, and I went away and washed and received sight after I washed.

Actually there may have been no healing power in the salve Jesus made. There may have been no healing power in the water. Others had washed in that pool before and nothing happened. How was this time different?  The healing took place when the blind man obeyed the Lord, and the whole process was by the grace of God. Ladies and Gentlemen, I will leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions on the statement of Jesus: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” And now question number four.

IS THIS YOUR SON HOW THEN DOES HE SEE?

The Pharisees were still not convinced so they called the parents of the man born blind and put the question to them. “Is this your son who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see?” That is a good question. Try that one on for size. Is this your son? Is this your daughter? Is this your kid? How then doth he now see? What does he or she see at home? What does he or she see at the Church service? If your kid sees only fighting and bickering at home or in Church what kind of influence does that have? Many a person has been turned off regarding the Lord by what they see at home and in the services at the Church house. Many a promising prospect for the ministry in a preacher’s family as well as other families has been turned off by the Church fights. How then doth he now see? The parents said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he now seeth or who gave him his sight we know not ask him, he is of age, he shall speak for himself.”

Many there are today who never come of age as far as faith is concerned.  They can never speak for themselves. There seems to be sanctity in inherited faith in the minds of many. Religious faith is automatically inherited from their parents. Their parents have to speak for them. They accept without question the religion of their parents. They make up their own minds on everything else, but somehow they have no choice in the matter when it comes to matters of faith. Speak for yourself you are of age. These things said his parents because they feared the Pharisees. Now question number five.

DOST THOU TEACH US?

Again the Pharisees called the man born blind and told him give glory to God we know this man is a sinner. He said whether he is a sinner I know not one thing I know whereas I was blind now I see. There are many today that are spiritually blind and don’t know they can’t see. What did he do to thee how opened He thine eye? I told you even now ye did not hear, would ye also become His disciples? Thou art His disciple we are disciples of Moses. As for this man we know not whence he is.

The former blind man said herein is a marvel, we know that God heareth not sinners. This is a statement that is sometimes true and sometimes false. Does God hear the prayer of sinners? First I have to say God can hear the prayer of anybody He wants too. It is true that God heareth sinners. That is why Jesus asked us to pray, “Forgive us out debts even as we have forgiven our debtors.” I know that God forgiveth sinners because He forgives me. I pray for forgiveness every day and for good reason and I have God’s word for it. I don’t know any person who is of age who is not a sinner. John tells us as Christians if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

But sometimes God answers a sinner’s prayer by giving them what they ask for. The Israelites in the wilderness complained to God about their diet of manna from heaven. They longed for the food they used to eat in the land of Egypt. God gave them what they asked for. He sent quails and they ate and while the quail meat was still in their teeth He destroyed many of them. 

Then on the other hand God heareth not sinners. Actually God will not even hear Christians if they don’t talk to Him. Do we expect God to forgive a person for the sin of drunkenness, drugs, and fornication if there is no repentance? Many want to be Christians and bring their sins into the Church with them. Except you repent you shall all likewise perish. Then of course the final time that the sinner’s prayer will not be heard, will be the day when some will say, “Lord, Lord, Open to us.” His answer is, “I know you not!” 

As a result of this exchange they asked him,  “Dost thou teach us?” And they cast him out. We who have studied the law of Moses all of our lives; this reminds us of the first printing of the English Bible. William Tyndale told the priests when I get this Bible printed into the language of the common man the plowboy will know more of the word of God than you.

         For his work he was rewarded by being put into prison, and on October the sixth 1536 he was led out to be burned at the stake. His last words were, “0h Lord open the King of England eyes.” He was strangled and then burned to ashes at the stake. What a price some have paid to give us a Bible that most Church members do not have time to read. But because we have the Bible today in the language of the people many know more of the word than the some with a theological education.

        Jesus found him after they cast him out. The Lord outside of Judaism found him. The Lord can find you outside of any denomination. He can find you anywhere and when He finds you He can add you to His Church. The second chapter of Acts tells us that those who heard of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and were convicted that He indeed died for their sins; were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord added in that day those that were saved. And that brings us now to the last question.

ARE WE ALSO BLIND?

      The man born blind made a confession of faith and worshipped the Lord. Jesus said for judgment came I into the world that they that see may see not and they that see not may see. The message of Jesus is a message of judgment. Every time a person hears the word of God he passes judgment on himself. Paul told the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia in Acts 13, It was needful that the gospel be first preached to you, but since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life we turn to the Gentiles. When a person hears the Gospel he either thrusts God’s mercy from him or accepts it. For judgment I am come into the world that they that see may see not and they that see not may see. The Pharisees said they could see. They only thought they could see. They were still blind. Many are like this today. Paul tells of the spiritually blind in Second Corinthians 4 The god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving. And then again, hear Paul as he says in First Corinthians 2, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him.” So it is that many of those who reject the word of God think those who do believe the Bible belong in the looney bin. Paul informs us in First Corinthians one, “The wisdom of men is foolishness with God.” It pleased God by the folishness of preaching to save them that believe. The unbeliever only thinks he sees, Jesus says he is blind. I came that they that see may see not, and they that see not may see.

         I have told this event many times, it is one of my favorite. He lost his sight in the Vietnam Nam war. He attended services one time in a revival where I preached. He told me that when he had his physical sight he could not see the Lord. He said it was not until he lost his physical eyesight that he was able to see Jesus. That night as he left the services he told me he liked what I was doing. He pressed what I thought was two or three dollar bills in my hand. After the services were over I took them out of my pocket and found several hundred dollars.  He said that he was blind; you can’t prove it by me.  I THINK HE COULD SEE, because Jesus said, “I came that they that see not may see.”