Giving Sight to the Blind Man

Transcript

GR 369
8/31/1980
Giving Sight to the Blind Man
John 9:1-7
Gil Rugh

John chapter 9 in your Bibles. John's gospel and the 9th chapter. We resume our study of the Gospel of John this morning after having a break of a number of weeks. We've moved through the first eight chapters. You remember we are in a section of the Gospel of John which is focusing attention on the building opposition to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Both to His miracles and to His teaching there is increasing opposition from the Jewish leaders. We are within six months of the crucifixion. We'll have the healing reported in chapter 9 and the discourse following on that of the Good Shepherd. Chapters 11 and 12 where we are dealing with the resurrection of Lazarus which brings to a culmination of the hatred to Jesus Christ. That is the conclusion of the public ministry of Jesus Christ. Chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of John relate the events of the last night of Christ with His disciples, culminated by the betrayal in the Garden with Judas.

Now as we come to chapter 9, we have a very familiar and outstanding miracle. It seems like all the miracles in John are familiar because he has recorded so few. John has very selectively picked just a few miracles to zero in on to demonstrate that Jesus is indeed the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. The one in John chapter 9 relates to the healing of a man who was blind from birth. Giving sight to the blind occurs several times in Jesus' ministry. There are a half a dozen times approximately, seven or eight more exactly, times when Jesus does give sight to the blind during His earthly ministry. Now it's interesting that this miracle of healing, giving sight to the blind, occurs more often in the gospels than any other miracle of healing that Jesus performed. There are more people who received their sight than any other healing occurs, at least as we have it recorded. That's even more interesting when you consider that nowhere in Old or New Testament is it ever recorded that anyone else ever gave sight to the blind. It is a miracle that is unique to the ministry of Christ. Now it may be that the apostles did such miracles, but as far as the biblical record is concerned, it is never recorded that others gave sight to the blind aside from Christ. Saul or Paul lost his sight temporarily on the Damascus Road and then received it back, and that's as close as we come.

Old Testament background for giving sight to the blind is very clear. It is an activity of God, and particularly, it is an activity associated with the Messiah and the Kingdom that He will set up. Look at just a couple of passages in the Old Testament as background. Start with Exodus chapter 4.

We will see that giving sight to the blind is said to be something God does. It's an activity of God Himself. In Exodus chapter 4 as God speaks to Moses and Moses is concerned in verse 10 that he is not eloquent enough to be God's spokesman which is obviously to be the case. Who would be eloquent enough to be a spokesman for God? Yet God reminds Moses in verse 11, "The Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?'" God says, I am the one who gives sight; I am the one who withholds sight. I am the one who gives the ability to speak; I am the one who withholds the ability to speak. You don't need to tell Me about how you talk or don't talk. I am the One who is in total control of man's faculties.

Over in Psalm 146, verse 8. It states very simply, "The Lord opens the eyes of the blind." It's an activity of God Himself. He is the One who opens the eyes of the blind. This is something that needs to be confronted by the Jews as they see this great miracle of giving sight to the blind. Their Old Testament Scriptures say that it is God who opens the eyes of the blind. And even more particularly, move to the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah the 29th chapter. We're told that it is a ministry that the Messiah will carry on. That One sent from God to rule as King over Israel and over all the world. His coming, His rule will be marked by a ministry of healing. And in Isaiah 29:18, "And on that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see." It is at this time when the Kingdom is established, when the Messiah is present, bodily afflictions will be removed. The hearing, the speaking, the seeing, the lameness. Whatever the afflictions, the curse will be lifted from the earth and mankind will function without these ailments.

Look over in Isaiah 35. It’s a familiar chapter because it begins with that great statement that the desert is going to blossom like a rose when Messiah rules over the earth. Isaiah 35:1, "The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it will blossom profusely," etc. Then come down to verse 5. "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For the waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah." These are the characteristics that will be true when Messiah comes, when Messiah is present on earth, when Messiah rules and reigns.

One other passage—Isaiah 42. This great chapter on the servant of the Lord referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Begins, "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold..." Skip down to verse 7. He will come "To open blind eyes, to bring prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison." The ministry connected with the servant of the Lord who will bring forth justice to the nation, as the chapter opens up. It will be to give sight to the blind, so that when Jesus did these great miracles of healing, it was for the purpose of demonstrating that He was the Messiah of Israel. That He is the one who fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 53. That He bears our sicknesses. He has taken our sicknesses upon Him. He is the one who cures and heals. So as the Jews are confronted with this in John chapter 9, they should have stopped and considered in light of their Scriptures, here the blind receive sight. And the Old Testament says it is Jehovah who gives sight to the blind. The Old Testament says it is the ministry of the Messiah to restore the physically afflicted. But you know, it's amazing how obstinate sinful people are. You know what this chapter is going to conclude with? The man who had been born blind, blind in excess of 30 years of his life, is going to be excommunicated from Judaism for that miracle! Now you tell me that's not a state of confusion. Here is a man whose only sin is getting his eyesight back after over 30 years of blindness and they kick him out of the nation.
Because they are unwilling to confront reality, that Jesus Christ indeed fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies concerning Messiah. This attitude is not unique. By the time we get to the resurrection of Lazarus, after being in the grave and stinking dead for four days, come back to life you know what the Jews decide? We have to execute Jesus Christ and we've also got to get rid of Lazarus because as long as he's around, that's a testimony about Jesus Christ. They are unwilling to confront the truth of the word.

So as you come back to John chapter 9, the healing of this blind man has tremendous spiritual implications for the nation because the chapter will close on the note of the spiritual blindness of Israel. And just as Jesus Christ is the One who gives sight to the physically blind, He is the One who gives sight to the spiritually blind. But the nation Israel rejects Him. They are unwilling to recognize their spiritual blindness and thus to turn to Him for spiritual healing. This miracle fits in the pattern of John as expressed in John 20:30-31. That Jesus did many miracles, many signs but John has selectively picked out these few in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you might have life in His name.

We don't know what the time gap is between chapter 8 and chapter 9. We have approximately a six month period in these chapters 7-8-9-10, and up to the crucifixion. We’ll see a break of 2 months has occurred by the time we get to the middle of chapter 10. How this break occurs, we don’t know. Whether it’s a few days here and there, whether it’s a few weeks or what, we're not told. So there may be a break of a day or two between chapters 8 and 9, or three days, we don't know. The chapter simply opens up, "And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth." Now chapter 8 has ended with the Jews attempting to stone Him because He has claimed to be God in the flesh. The I AM of the Old Testament and for this they are going to stone Him, but in verse 59 at the end of chapter 8, "Jesus hid Himself, and went out..." Now if it was as He left He passed by this blind man, that would fit. We just don't know. But I think this contrast is striking from chapters 9 and chapter 8. That here, Jesus has been the object of the hatred and scorn and the abuse of the nation, and yet as He is passing through Jerusalem, the temple in Jerusalem, He takes notice of a man who was born blind. A blind beggar. Now of all the things pressing in upon Jesus Christ, it does not seem that a blind beggar has very much significance. His very life is at stake. He is the object of hatred. The desire of the Jews is to kill Him and here He is taking time to give attention to an insignificant, blind beggar. We are told this man was blind from birth. Only blind man healed in the Scripture that we are told he was blind from birth. He was born this way. He may have been a familiar beggar. The disciples may have been familiar with him. His face may have been familiar. We don't know. All we know is that he was blind from birth and that's what’s recorded here. And this is going to be an amazing fact as the events unfold. And his parents testify to the fact. 'Let me tell you, this man has been born blind.' So it's not as we see sometimes happen someone loses their sight temporarily and something happens and they receive it back. This man was born without the ability to see. "And His disciples asked Him saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?'" a striking contrast here to me as we consider the attitude of the disciples and Christ. Here they are passing by. Here's a blind beggar, and blind beggars were not uncommon sights, at least in biblical times. Eye afflictions resulting in blindness made the blind common, and begging being a common activity that they pursued. They walk by and here’s this blind beggar, and they think it’s a good occasion to raise a major theological question. What is the cause of his blindness? Jews wanted to take all physical affliction back to sin or specific sins more clearly. In other words, if this man is blind, someone had to sin to cause it. Either this man or his parents. Now it seems strange that we would be told that he was born blind and then the disciples ask, Who sinned, this man or his parents? How could this man sin when he was blind from birth. Well the Jews had an answer for that. In fact, they had two answers. One which was not very widespread, but some Jews did hold that there was a preexistent soul. So before you came into life you could have sinned. That wasn’t very popular in Judaism. Another more broadly held view was you could sin in the womb. In other words, while you were in your mother’s womb you could sin and for that, God might punish you. So you would be born with a certain affliction. And they had Scripture to back this up. We're familiar with the account of some twins that were born in the Old Testament, and one comes out holding onto the heel of the other. There had been some prior wrestling around in the womb. Now that indicates that there was some fighting going on, right? And the battle isn’t quite over because one is still holding onto the other when he comes out! Therefore, you could sin in the womb! You're laughing! That’s about as ridiculous as it is, but some believed that and we have some rabbinical writings that indicate that was the view that they taught. Or, the more probable view. His parents sinned. And Exodus indicates that the sin of the parents will be visited on the third and fourth generation. We see this today. Some kinds of venereal disease cause blindness in the children. We see a concern today for children born today where the mother has smoked or drank or taken dope, and that baby is born bearing the affliction or consequences of the parents’ sin. So children do suffer for the sins of the parents. So, did his parents sin?

Now you note. They are ready to become involved in a theological discussion of the problem. But there is something of a lack of compassion for the man and his need. Here are the disciples walking and following One whom they believe to be the Messiah of Israel, the One about whom the Old Testament prophets said He would give sight to the blind. Yet we don't find them moved with compassion for this blind man saying, Lord, as the Messiah would you give him his sight? But they are satisfied to engage in a theological discussion about the cause of the problem rather than moving to help resolve and meet the need.

You know it’s so easy to study the Scripture and say, Oh boy, they should have done this or they should have done that. It's amazing how we sometimes manifest the same characteristics. How easy it is for us as believers to sit and have great theological discussions about the depravity of man. Boy, there's nothing like getting your teeth into a good doctrinal discussion. We can debate and discuss the depravity of man and be relatively unmoved in presenting to depraved man the solution for his sin. We are more adept at debating with one another the doctrine of depravity than we are in presenting to depraved men the gospel of redemption. We can move among men and women who are lost in their sin, and turn to another believer and say, What do you think about this doctrine of depravity? What do you think about Romans 5 and our sin in Adam? I'm not saying that's not important, but I'm saying our understanding of these things ought to move us to compassion for those who have such needs. I love to study eschatology, the doctrine of future things. We really believe there is a heaven and a hell, that human beings are eternal and will spend eternity in heaven or in hell. And we are very adept at debating premillennial, amillennial, pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, and yet very much less proficient in presenting to these people who have an eternal destiny the message they must hear to prepare them for that destiny. And we're somewhat like the disciples. We get drawn in and focused in on the great theological discussion and pass by unmoved by the world that has such great need. We need to know the Word. We need to know the doctrines of the Word, but that ought to move us to share the truth that we know from the Word with those who have such tremendous need to hear it. That I walk by with the King of King and Lord of Lords who is the One who can meet every need of every person, and not be moved to tell them? Not be moved to share with them that the One who can cleanse you from your sin, the One who can meet your needs, the One who can prepare you for eternity is none other than Jesus Christ? But I am satisfied to sit down and debate the points of theology and be unconcerned and uncompassionate.

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" You know, I would love to have had Jesus' discourse on sin and its effect. We could certainly trace all bodily problems, all problems back to sin period. We'd be in a perfect environment in a perfect world if it were not for sin. But you know Jesus' answer is very simple in verse 3. "Jesus answered, 'It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents; but it was in order that the work of God might be manifested in him.'" He turns from the cause of his blindness to the purpose of his blindness. He doesn't enter in to a discussion of sin. Rather, He enters in to a discussion of God's purposes in this man's affliction. God wants to display, to make manifest, to unfold, to reveal His works in this person. You know, all of a sudden in that statement, this blind beggar is transformed from being one of the most insignificant people in Jerusalem to being perhaps one of the most significant. Because here we can say a blind beggar is a man now who in the eternal purpose of God is blind because it's going to please God to make manifest His work in him. Amazing! God Himself is going to reveal Himself in what He does in this man. That's the purpose of it. That's why he is blind. That's why he was born blind. So that some thirty plus years later the Son of God could pass by, take note of his affliction, heal him, and God's work would be manifest in Him. And you note, He ends verse 3 by saying, "that the works of God might be displayed in Him" and He has a comment on the works of God before He performs the healing.

"We must work the works of Him who sent Me." We must work the works of Him who sent Me. The disciples wanted to talk about sin and its impact upon physical conditions. Jesus wanted to talk about the work of God in a life, in being the remedy and cure for sin and its consequences. The works of God, and we must work the works of God. There is a necessity, a divine necessity implied in this word 'must.' It appears throughout the New Testament. Little three-letter word, d-e-i, (day). It denotes something of a divine imperative. It is essential in light of the purposes and plan of God. We must, because of God's plan for us, work the works of Him who sent Me. The disciples didn't have that sense of urgency. G. W. Peters in his book on Theology of World Missions likes the word 'emergency' better than 'urgency' because he says our service to God is more of an emergency than an urgency. An emergency is something we've got to do, there are no alternatives. Where if it's urgent, we say we ought to do it. If it's an emergency, we have to do it. If this building is on fire, it's an emergency. We've got to get out. It's not a good idea, it's a necessity. Well, that's the idea of this word. It's a divine necessity.

Just look at how it is used—a couple of times before John. Look in LUke chapter 2, verse 49. Remember the occasion at Jerusalem after the feast, the parents have left and Jesus has stayed behind. When they realize He is missing the come back and find Him in the temple. And in verse 49, "And He said to them, 'Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?'" 'Had to be' is the same word as we have in John 9. I MUST be in My Father's house. It was a divine necessity. This is what is imperative for Me--to be in My Father's house.

Look in chapter 4, verse 43. "But He said to them, 'I must (and there's our word) preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.'" It's the plan of God for Me, therefore, it is a must. Over in the Gospel of John this word is used repeatedly. Look in chapter 3 of John's Gospel. John 3:7, "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" That's a divine necessity. That is a requirement laid down by God. There are options, there are no alternatives. You MUST be born again. Still in chapter 3, verse 14. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was planned of God before the foundation of the world. It was a divine necessity.

Over in verse 30 of chapter 3. "He must increase, but I must decrease." It was the plan of God that John the Baptist fade and Jesus Christ come on in the fullness of His presence.

Over in chapter 4, verse 20. The woman speaks to Jesus, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Ought there is the word 'must.' Same word we're talking about. Men must worship. Where had God set down in the Old Testament Scripture that the focal point of worship be? Jerusalem.

Verse 24. "God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." Chapter 10, verse 16. "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I MUST bring them also." It's a divine necessity. I MUST bring them. It's God's purpose and plan.

Chapter 12, verse 34. "The multitude therefore answered Him, 'We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man MUST be lifted up'?'" It's a divine necessity.

One other passage in John. Chapter 20, verse 9. "For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He MUST rise again from the dead." Just as His crucifixion was a divine necessity in light of the plan and purposes of God, so was His
resurrection.

Now we’ve looked at all these verses. Come back to chapter 9. So we have something of the feeling of the impact of what Jesus is saying in John 9:4. ”We must work the works of Him who sent Me.” This is not just a good idea. This is not a recommendation—it's a divine necessity. It’s God plan to do His works in the life of this blind man, to manifest His works and we must be working His works. The disciples failed to have something of that sense of urgency that immediacy about what needed to be done. This was not the time to sit back and talk about the origin, the cause of this affliction in light of the sinfulness of man. This was a time to do the work of God in bringing about the remedy that God wanted to accomplish through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I think we ought to see in this statement before we move on that "we must work the works of Him" something of the urgency that is impressed upon us. It is so easy for us as believers to become easy-going. We proceed as if there were no urgency, no hurry. You know, don’t get in a dither. Be calm, take it easy. People are only going to hell for an eternity, there's nothing to be excited about. You know it's like I say, I don't think there's anything to be excited about but this building is on fire and the roof is probably going to cave in in about 25 seconds, but don't panic, don't take it seriously, I just wanted you to be aware of it as you read the bulletin. You say it's ridiculous. That's too urgent for that. But here we are, walking through a world with people going to hell. No hurry, no urgency. If I talk to my neighbor today, good; if I talk to them tomorrow, good; or next week. If we get the gospel out to the city this month or next month, let's not get in a panic. Whenever we do it, we do it and that's fine. You know, I don't think we ought to be in a dither getting ulcers over it, but I think there ought to be a sense of immediacy about it. Of urgency. That if people are really lost, people are really destined to hell, if we are those committed with the Gospel of Redemption there ought to be an urgency about it. John 6:29 Jesus said, "This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent." And II Corinthians chapter 6 and the opening verses, Paul said to the Corinthians that now is the accepted time. "Today is the day of salvation." For Paul there was a sense of urgency about it. If the work of God is that men might believe, we must be about the works of God. We must be doing those things to bring men to faith in Christ, I would think, in presenting the Good News of the Gospel to them. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We joke about min-yana—tomorrow, and don't do today what you can put off until tomorrow. But what God impresses upon us as a divine necessity, we do not have the liberty to put off. I must have the attitude of God. We must work the works of Him. We forget what James says, You do not know what your life will be tomorrow. You're just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. I realize I can't do everything today, but I think I need to have that sense of urgency and immediacy about me. Jesus Christ is the One I know to be the Savior of the world. The One who has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. The One who has promised He is with us always, even to the end of the age; and now I walk in the midst of a people who are lost, without hope, dying in sin, and there's no urgency for me to tell them? There's no urgency for me to share with them that there is an eternity? Well, you know, people don't want to hear it. You read chapter 9, come back for the rest of the study, and you know people didn't respond in a positive way to the healing of this blind man. The very fact that they put him out—the Jewish leaders cut him off. The very fact that the opposition builds to execution for Jesus Christ. That wasn't the controlling point—whether the people would like what Jesus did or not. The controlling factor is that I must work the works of Him who sent my Savior, regardless of what people think.
Regardless of how people react. I MUST work the works of Him.

I think Ephesians chapter 5 touches on this, and then we have to move on. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 and 16. "Therefore be careful how you walk, (your day by day, moment by moment living in this life) not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time (redeeming the time) because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish." We are to be wise. We KNOW the truth! We KNOW something of the facts something of the facts of eternity. We KNOW something about the facts of salvation, faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And we are to be redeeming the time, making the most of our opportunities.

Colossians is a parallel passage, chapter 4, verse 5. "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders (talking about unbelievers here), making the most of the opportunity." That’s what we need to be careful we're doing. With the outsiders, the unbelievers, are we making the most of our opportunities? How do my days count for eternity? As a believer in Jesus Christ, how is my day today different, how will I view the people that I see today differently than the unbeliever does? Tomorrow, how will I view the day differently than the unbeliever? Will I be making the most of the opportunity? Will there be a sense of urgency about what I do and those I confront?

Coming back to John chapter 9. "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work." That's what James is talking about. Your life is a vapor. It appears for a little time and vanishes away. You know, God has given us a space of time where we can work His work. We don't work His works in our own power. I'm familiar with that, Jesus was familiar with that. We work the works of Him in the power that He gives us. It is the Spirit of God who works in and through us to accomplish His purposes. So we work out our own salvation in fear and trembling because it is God who works in us to accomplish His good pleasure. But, we are to be working the works of Him. The night is coming, and work will be over. We put it off tomorrow I will, tomorrow I will. And we lose sight of it. It’s easy for me to preach this morning to three groups, the same thing; but to remind myself, they’re not the same group. And I'll not preach to the exact same group ever again. And it’ll be only opportunity to ever preach to some, so I must buy up the opportunity to do it as God would have it done so that He might use the Word in the lives of those He wants to work in.

Jesus shares, in verse 5, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” And John's gospel opened up in chapter 1, verse A, with a statement of Jesus as the light. It is reiterated again in chapter 8 and verse 12, chapter 12 and verse A6. That He is the light of the world. We see something here of the spiritual truth being conveyed. He gives light to people in spiritual darkness. Paul told the Ephesians in chapter 2 that they lived and walked in darkness before their salvation. It's the realm in which the unbeliever lives. Now Christ is going to demonstrate Himself as light by giving sight to a man who has been confined to physical darkness, but the giving physical light to him is a demonstration of a greater truth—that He is the One who gives spiritual light, spiritual sight. Now Jesus had a sense or urgency here because He knew the plan of God. There are less than six months where He can work the works of Him who had sent Him. The disciples could move along because they didn't know that in six months things were going to radically change. I wonder if we knew the future, if we knew we had six months, six weeks, six days, if our lives would be lived differently? I'm to be living as though Jesus Christ is coming today so there ought to be no changes if I'm living as God wants me to live. Doesn't matter if I have only six weeks or six months or six years or sixty years! I'm to be living every day in light of His coming, with that urgency about my activity.

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world" and with that He moves to perform this tremendous healing. And He did it in an unusual way. "When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes." Now that seems to us a little bit uncouth, yet in biblical times spittle was viewed as having medicinal purposes. So it's not so strange. Jesus used this in other healings—with the deaf man. But I don’t think the purpose is medicinal here. Obviously you could spit on eyes til you're blue in the face and the blind wouldn’t see. There's more to it than that. This man's been blind from birth. Why Jesus chose to do it this way, there are probably a couple of reasons. One, He deals with this man in the realm in which He can function. This man has a sense of hearing, and Jesus is going to give Him instructions He can feel and He is going to be able to feel the mud on His eyes. So Jesus operates from the realm. Secondly, He wants to send Him to the pool of Siloam—the pool of Siloam has special significance in light of its name. Thirdly, this will provide opportunity for Jesus to make a break with the man for a period of time. So this man could give his testimony and relate the events of what happened, and then later on (we'll see in chapter 9) Jesus will seek him out and this man will ultimately be converted. So following this procedure allows Jesus to break off that relationship. If He just spoke the word, and He could have, and the man would have seen, he would have attached himself to Christ immediately. But in the works of God being manifested in him it’s so that it makes an impact upon the whole nation, particularly upon the Jewish leaders. So He puts the mud on his eyes and then in verse 7 He says to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" and John gives the translation—"which means Sent." I think it's significant here that in verse 4 Jesus refers to Himself as the One who has been sent. We must work the works of the One who sent Me. Then He tells this one, this blind man, to go wash in the pool which means sent, or the sent one. The pool of Siloam was a pool formed by the Tunnel of Hezekiah, that tunnel that had been cut thru solid rock to supply water to the city during times of siege. So the water was sent to the pool. And I think there's the connection here, Jesus the Sent One. The cleansing comes from involvement with the One who is sent Himself.

Amazing! The blind man goes and does it. We don’t know anything about the background, all the interesting details we'd like to have. I mean, why did he believe that he would be healed? He does not believe in Jesus as the Messiah the King of Israel at this point. That will not happen until verse 38 of chapter 9. He is still an unsaved man at this point. Some today say you could be saved if you had greater faith, but that doesn't seem to fit chapter 9 too well. You could be healed if you had greater faith, but the purpose of God is building up to his conversion. But he goes! He may have heard enough about Christ to know it's a possibility. He doesn't argue—"Look, why should I go find my way to the Pool of Siloam with my face covered with mud and then jump in the pool? If you want to heal my eyes, heal my eyes. If not, let's forget it." No. He does what he's told. We can admire him for that. He goes. We have a song, "He went away and washed, and came back seeing." Amazing! You put mud on the eye, you go wash in the appointed place, and you come back and you're seeing You remember this happened with Nahum, the leper, from Syria when he came to the prophet in Israel and he was told to go wash in the Jordan seven times. He says "Look. There are a lot of rivers up where I came from. Why do I have to go wash in the dirty old Jordan?" You've got to go wash in the dirty old Jordan because that's what’s been said if you want to be cleansed from your leprosy. He goes and does it and he's cleansed.

So here the man does it, and he comes back seeing. Amazing! Isn't that an awesome miracle? Here's a man that has been blind from day one, and now he can see. Who else could do this but God? Who else but the Messiah, the King of Israel, the One about whom it was prophesied that He would give sight to the blind? But the leaders of the nation missed it. Just like people do today. We read the account and it's amazing, but you know what's amazing? That this One who is light gives light to those who are in spiritual darkness. The point that Jesus will conclude this chapter on is that those in darkness receive sight from Him. But you know, the Jewish leaders wouldn't even acknowledge their darkness. So He could not give them spiritual sight. And you and I ought to grasp the point today. You're here. You may be moral, you may be a good person, humanly speaking, but you have spiritual sight. Do you know and understand that Jesus is indeed the Son of God? That He died on a cross to pay the penalty for sin? He was raised from the dead because it was the divine plan of God. All for the accomplishing of your salvation. And if you will believe in Him as the One who died for you, God will cleanse you from all your sin. You will receive spiritual sight. And I don't understand that process. I still am amazed every time I see it happen, that a person hears the message concerning the person and work of Christ, believes it and an inner change takes place where now that person can see and know and understand the things of God. He's been made a totally different person. How can that be? That's mind-boggling, but it happens. I don't understand how this could happen, except it happens because that's the way the Almighty God works. And it'll work for you. You say, Well I don't know if I'm in spiritual darkness. In fact, I don't think I am. Well, if you're unwilling to have His healing, those who will not acknowledge their darkness at the end of chapter 9, Jesus says He can't help them. You're in a hopeless condition because you are unwilling to turn to Me as the One who can provide a remedy.

And for those of us who have believed in Him, how is our life lived? How do we live as believers? Are we moving through a world in a fog? Without compassion? Do we see those that we come in contact with day after day as those who are really lost, separated from God, lost in their sin? It's so easy to become aggravated and agitated with the sinful activity of human beings, and so hard to love them as Jesus Christ loved them. To recognize that Jesus Christ died for them, that He can make them a new creature. But they must hear the message of the Gospel that they might be able to believe. So you and I have that glorious privilege. I’d like for God to help us see the world as Jesus saw this blind man. Those we come in contact, not as just people but people for whom Christ died. People, hopeless and lost, and yet we have the glorious privilege of introducing them to the Savior that we know, that we are personally acquainted with. The One who is with us every moment of every day. We can tell them that He is sufficient for them and their need as well. Let's pray together.

Father, what a glorious privilege is ours to belong to You. Father, indeed we are trophies of your grace. That you've dealt with us according to mercy not according to our sins and we thank and praise you for it. Lord that we have received spiritual sight and have been removed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Father, as those who have experienced such great salvation may we be those who are truly manifesting your character. We move through a world that is lost, dying in sin, Father, give us the compassion of Christ. May we see the world as You see it. Lord, may we have the love for the lost that you demonstrated in the giving of Your Son. Lord, may we be a people who are not taken up with our theological discourses and discussions, that we be a people who are theologically correct. Father, a people whose theology, whose knowledge is transforming their lives and conduct. Lord that we might reach out to people with the message of Christ that they might experience the spiritual healing that only He can bring to a life. And I pray that for those who are here this morning. Father, those who are sitting here in spiritual darkness and spiritual blindness. Lord, what we've talked about goes right by them. May the Spirit open the eyes of their understand that they might too believe in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.