I Once Was Blind But Now I See Rushing to Judgement John 9:1-7
Description: Challenging God’s people to see how their suffering can serve Jesus.
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Good morning! We are beginning a new series this morning that we are calling, “I Once Was Blind But Now I See” about a blind man in John Chapter Nine. And I’d like to introduce our series by having us watch this video of a colorblind dad seeing color for the first time! Let’s watch this video together. This is pretty cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTpCTDwjHZQ&feature=youtu.be
Do we have anyone here this morning who is colorblind? I can’t imagine what that would be like, to live in that kind of a black and white world. And then to have all the colors of the rainbow SUDDENLY BURST UPON YOU! But I thank God for the technology that makes that possible.
Now, imagine what it would be like TO BE BLIND ALL YOUR LIFE; and then, all of a sudden, TO BE ABLE TO SEE! That’s the miracle we read about in John Chapter Nine. And that’s what we plan to look at over the next four or five weeks as we make our way through John Nine together. But the part of the story we want to see this morning is…
➢ How This Blind Man Was Looked At ➢ How Jesus Looked At Him ➢ How That Man Substantiated The Way Jesus Looked At Him
I. Look At How This Man Was Looked At! 1-2
The Bible says…
1 2 As (Jesus) 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?” John 9:1-2
You talk about adding insult to injury! This man already had to endure being born blind. Something most of us can’t even imagine. But on top of that, now he has to endure being looked at AS A SINNER! Either him, or his parents! And great BIG sinners at that! The aorist tense in the Greek indicates that the disciples that someone must have committed a specific act, at a specific point and time, to have deserved such a severe punishment. And before we condemn Jesus’ disciples for thinking such a thing and “Rushing to that kind of a Judgement'' we need to acknowledge that such things did happen in the Bible. Specific sins
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were specifically punished. And sometimes children were affected by the sins of their parents. What happened to David and Bathsheba’s baby after David & Bathsheba’s sin? The Bible says the Lord sent His prophet to David to say…
14 ...because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” 2 Samuel 12:14
Something every one of us ought to struggle with. But something that happened just the same. And Jesus’ disciples would have been well acquainted with that happening. They would have been well acquainted with the fact that sometimes children suffer as a consequence of their parents’ decisions. After-all, is that what the Ten Commandments right up front says…
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, (and listen to this:) VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS ON THE CHILDREN TO THE THIRD AND THE FOURTH GENERATION... Exodus 20:2-5
Children suffering as a result of their parents’ decision; something that was not without precedence in the Bible. Think Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! Four FAITHFUL Hebrew boys who found themselves…
● torn from their moms and dads, ● and their home land, ● maybe never seeing it again, ● enslaved in a foreign land, ● tossed into a lions’ den, ● thrown into a fiery furnace;
...and for what reason? FOR THE SINS OF THEIR PARENTS! For the sins of their nation! But certainly not for any sin of their own.
“So is that it, Jesus? Is that the reason this man in John Chapter Nine was born blind? His parent’s sin?”
Now had the disciples been ex-rabbis and scholars instead of ex-fishermen and tax collectors they might have known how God had directed his OT prophets to announce an end to that sort of thing. God’s OT prophet Jeremiah prophesied of a coming day when…
Jeremiah 31:29 In those days they shall no longer say:
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“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’
Jeremiah 31:30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
And God’s prophet Ezekiel was told to announce that day had come. From now on, God’s prophet said...
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
“So if that wasn’t it, Jesus? For what reason was this man in John Chapter Nine born blind? Was it for some sin of his own?”
That’s what Eliphaz said to his friend Job. That’s how Eliphaz explained Job’s terrible suffering. Eliphaz said…
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. Job 4:8
“You reap what you sow, Job! That’s why you’re suffering all these woes!” Of course Eliphaz was wrong. That isn’t what was happening to Job at all. But isn’t that very nearly what the Apostle Paul says to the Galatian Christians as well?
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Some theologians call it, “The Law of the Harvest;” you reap what you sow.
● You plant corn, you get corn. ● You plant beans, you get beans. ● You sow your wild oats, and you reap the consequences!
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8
Is that what happened to this man in John Chapter Nine? Is that why he was born blind? He’s reaping what he sowed? This man sinned, and now he’s reaping the consequences? But when did he sin? Since he was BORN blind? Did he sin before he was born? How could that happen?
Believe it or not, there is actually a Jewish commentary on the Song of Solomon that goes so far as to say when a pregnant mother worships in a heathen temple the unborn child commits
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idolatry with her!1 Is that what Jesus’ disciples think happened? We don’t know. what we do know is that THEY WERE WRONG! On both counts. Neither this man, nor his parents sinned. This man was born blind so that he could be greatly used by God! That’s how Jesus saw him!
II. Look At How Jesus Looked At Him! 3-5
“Who sinned Jesus, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” That was the disciple’s question. Look at how Jesus answered them.
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, BUT THAT THE WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM. John 9:3 THIS MAN WAS GOING TO BE JESUS’ OWN PERSONAL FLANNEL GRAPH! How many of you remember the old flannel graphs? Where high-tech Sunday School teachers stuck all these felt figurines on flannel boards to teach Bible lessons to a classroom full of roudy kids? THAT’S WHAT THIS MAN WAS! That’s why this man was born blind. It had nothing to do with sin. His, or his parents! It had everything to do with how God was going to use him! SO THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD SEE JESUS DISPLAYED IN HIM! And we’re going to see in coming weeks just how well this man pulled that assignment off! But this morning we need to see this man the way Jesus did, and the way the disciples couldn’t. We need to see this man as the divinely appointed instrument in God’s Hand that he was, prepared from birth, to be the canvas UPON WHICH JESUS WOULD PAINT A MASTERPIECE! That the works of God might be DISPLAYED in him. For...
4 We must work the works of him who sent me (Everyone say, “WE.” Jesus said… “WE” not “ME”... But “WE”... “ME” and “HE” working together) while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. John 9:4
➢ That was true for Jesus, when it came to His earthly work, ➢ as well as for this blind man, Jesus’ divinely appointed instrument! ➢ And it was just as true for Jesus’ disciples who were just learning this lesson, ➢ and it is just as true for us with them, if we will listen!
Night is coming, when no one can work. And the night Jesus is talking about is not the night that comes along every evening when the sun goes down. The night Jesus is talking about is the night that comes around once in everyone’s lifetime. Including yours, and mine. And we get to decide what kind of flannel graphs, what kind of canvasses, we’re going to be in the Lord’s Hand while the sun still shines. What kind of light we’re going to shine in these dark times.
Jesus said…
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5
And this blind man in John Chapter Nine was used by Jesus to shine just a little brighter in dark Jerusalem! But Jesus also spoke of a time when you and I would be the light of our world. And He said when that time comes…
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16 ...let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16
Just like the man born blind, in John Chapter Nine! That’s how Jesus looked at this man. Now...
III. Look At How That Man Substantiated The Way Jesus Looked At Him! 6-7
The Bible says…
6 Having said these things, (Jesus) he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. John 9:6-7
He didn’t GO seeing-- he WENT, in faith, blind as a bat, blind as he had been all his life-- and WASHED, and CAME BACK seeing! And he became an incredible witness to the Lord Jesus Christ in the process.
He went without the slightest resistance or hesitancy, unlike Naaman, the Syrian in the OT, who travelled all the way to the land of Israel to be cured of his leprosy by the Lord God Jehovah. That took a lot of faith. And the Bible says…
2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.
But God’s prophet didn’t even come out of his house. Instead…
2 Kings 5:10 ...Elisha sent a messenger to (the Syrian commander) him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”
But instead of going, and washing, and coming back healed, like the blind man in John Chapter Nine did; Naaman became...
2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that (the prophet) he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.
And pridefully the Syrian said...
2 Kings 5:12
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Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
➢ The blind man WENT, and WASHED, and came back SEEING! ➢ While the Syrian TURNED, and WENT AWAY, in a RAGE.
Now fortunately…
2 Kings 5:13 ...his servants (who knew better) came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
And fortunately, THIS TIME, Naaman listened. And he gave in. And the Syrian...
2 Kings 5:14 ...he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
The blind man in John Chapter Nine skipped all that. And simply WENT, and WASHED, and came back SEEING! And exemplified not only “first time obedience” but, as we will see, he became an incredible witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to the highest echelons in Jerusalem in the process!
And that’s what I want us to SEE this morning. To not be so quick to go “Rushing to Judgement,” and deeming something to be a curse, that might actually be a blessing in disguise. Something that might be used by the Lord Jesus as His canvass upon which He can paint a masterpiece for all the world to see!
➢ I’ve seen extreme disabilities used that way to showcase the faith of one individual after another in the Lord Jesus Christ.
➢ I’ve seen widows and widowers exemplify A FAITH THAT IS ALMOST BEYOND COMPREHENSION after losing their loved one that they are certain they are going to see again.
➢ Fathers, mothers, who lovingly, trustingly lay their little one into the Hands of God for His safe keeping until they can be with them again.
➢ I’ve seen Christians, forgive the very people that took their little ones from them!
➢ Right now I’m thinking of Christians that I have seen bear up to cancer and diseases with such incredible grace and peace that you can’t help but see Jesus in the way they bear up to such suffering.
➢ Others who lost their homes, their businesses, their life savings without so much as a
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whimper!
Each becoming a blank canvas upon which Jesus has painted a masterpiece in my mind! Reinforcing my own faith in the Scripture that says...
Romans 8:28 NIV And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
One of them being the man born blind in John Chapter Nine.
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I don’t know when it happened; at dawn, or noon, or the middle of the night; when a mother’s final scream was exchanged by her baby’s cry. But it probably wasn’t long after it was announced, “It’s a boy!” that mom and dad became concerned, and their fears were confirmed; their baby boy had been born blind. It didn’t change how much they loved him or thanked the Lord for him, but it must have been a disappointment to them. Their hearts breaking every time they saw all the other baby girls and boys doing things their baby boy never would. And to watch their boy progress through childhood with such a disability. Reduced in adulthood to begging. What did they do wrong? What did their son, to deserve a life like that? They must have asked that question a thousand times.
But they ask it no more! Nor does their son. Who became a blank canvas for the Lord Jesus Christ to paint His masterpiece upon! And what a gem this man becomes! What an instrument in God’s Hands! Testifying to the “Amazing Grace” of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life! A living testimony, not only in his time, to his neighborhood, in his Jerusalem; but what a living testimony he continues to be in our time, and in our neck of the woods.
And I would ask this morning, “Who would join him?”
Would you stand and pray with me?
PRAYER:
Our Father, which art in heaven, thank you for your Son Jesus and the way He has touched our lives. Help us, like this blind man, become living testimonies to what He has done in our lives. May others see in us what Jesus can do for them, and may they join us in living for Him.
It’s in Jesus Name we pray…
And God’s people said? Amen.
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