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let’s pray together oh Lord Jesus it’s all about you even this service even this sermon so Jesus light of the world shine upon your people Lord for those that don’t know you that might be saved and those that do know you that they might be Sanctified and grow to love you even more help me Lord to be able to explain this word in Jesus name amen many of you know that I was visiting my father in Texas this past week my Dad’s health has not been very good lately it was a great trip good visit with him thank you for your prayers for that and for him and for our family in an ongoing way but while we were with my parents I heard my dad share his testimony I’ve heard it many times in my years with my father so I know it well and considering the passage I thought I would share that same testimony with you today to start our sermon my father Tony kosha he grew up fully invested in Roman Catholicism he came from a Italian family very Catholic so he was alter boy did all everything with the rosaries the prayers the confessions but his conclusion after living 25 years or so in the Roman Catholic system is that it was empty didn’t work had nothing to it so he left and he became a worldling he joined the Air Force pursued a career or pursued career alcohol women and cars that was his life In fact when a certain Christian Airman met my dad this Airman told his church my commander commander kosha is so ungodly if God can save him he can save anyone let’s pray for him that’s what he told his church and this Christian Airman soon found an opportunity to tell my dad the gospel the good news of salvation but my dad was dubious he said to himself being a Catholic for 25 years couldn’t save me how is something as simple as believing in Jesus ever going to do it he dismissed what his colleague told him yet was bothered Enough by the conversation that he pulled out a Bible that a stewardess had given him a year earlier and he began to read it for the next 30 days every night my dad poured himself a scotch on the rocks and read the New Testament odd combination I know and while he was doing this he also began attending this Christian airman’s Church finishing the New Testament My dad became convinced that the Bible was true and the gospel was for real he therefore wanted to pray a prayer of repentance and Faith to Jesus and get saved but when he tried he couldn’t he just felt like there was nothing there he just couldn’t give himself over to Jesus didn’t know what to do so he thought he would find out more information by going to this thing called Sunday school my dad showed up to the church he been going to to the to the Sunday school but when he arrived the head Deacon who greeted him instead of taking him to the class instead took him to the pastor’s office and the pastor then had a conversation with him there Tony I hear you’re having trouble believing in Jesus yes I am my dad replied don’t you know that you’re a sinner oh I know that I’m a sinner don’t you know that Jesus died to save sinners like you oh yes I know that too well then I think you’re ready to believe in Jesus no I am not not ready my dad said but the pastor and the head Deacon they both got on their knees and told my dad that they were going to start praying and they were going to have him pray to Jesus after them my dad felt a little bit bad to be the only one standing so he got his on his knees too at the whole time while the other two men were praying the pastor and the Deacon my dad kept saying to himself this is going to be so embarrassing I have nothing to say to God right now nothing when they stop praying and they expect me to pray it’s going to be really awkward because I’m just going to be silent I’ve got nothing to say however as soon as they stopped praying my dad did not stay silent at that very moment he poured forth a happy and heartfelt prayer of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ in fact his whole life change that day his desires his speech his behavior they suddenly started going the opposite direction from the way that he had lived before soon instead of being known for worldliness My dad became known for his Devotion to Jesus what happened how did a man disenchanted with religion and committed to worldly Treasures to sin and to his own way suddenly become a lover and follower of Jesus Christ and even more basically how did a man who wanted to repent and believe was convinced that he should repent and believe couldn’t do it until suddenly he found himself doing just that and expressing such an a passionate prayer to his Lord what brought about this change was it just peer pressure was it the Coos of power of the spoken prayers of two men in that pastor’s office no because that would not have resulted in lasting change so what’s the explanation how did my dad going go from not being able to believe to believing you know what the answer is it was a miracle it was a miracle God performed a miracle in the heart and then by Consequence the life of my father and saved his soul you think my dad was excited and thankful about that sure was and he began telling others about what Jesus had done for him but how did other people respond to my dad’s testimony some were modly enthusiastic well that’s good for him others were confused what happened to Tony others were disappointed Tony isn’t as fun as he used to be and still others were angry how dare Tony turn his back on his good Catholic upbringing indeed after my dad became a Christian his parents and his sister became very upset with him and most of his Catholic relatives no longer wanted anything to do with him which is kind of strange my dad’s religious family was not angry with him while he lived his worldly life his self-destructive path of sin but as soon as the miracle of Salvation became evident in his life and my dad actually began to walk in the Lord’s good way something that they ought to have rejoiced over that’s when their zealous anger was aroused house how do you explain that or how do you explain the similar experience of many other believers perhaps even you here how does the clear and gracious Miracle of Salvation from God in a person’s life how does it often seem to generate only confusion and anger to those who hear about it why is such a wonderful happening disbelieved and treated as evil and how should the new follower of Jesus respond when he experiences this well we’re shown the explanation in our Bible passage today and the answer really comes down to an understanding of two fundamental concepts and those are true blindness and true sight that’s the title of our message as we look at part two of True blindness and true sight please open your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 9 we returning to the passage that we began two weeks ago John 9: 1-41 we’re focusing on the second half of it today veres 24- 41 now here again is the account of the sixth sign of John’s gospel or the sixth sign Miracle Jesus heals a man born blind he’s always been blind he was born that way Jesus heals this man and I gave you the main idea of this section last time main idea is John the Apostle our writer he reports the healing of a man born blind so that you will no longer remain spiritually blind in self-righteous religion but instead see Jesus with true and saving spiritual sight don’t remain blind in your own way and in self-righteous religion but hear this account and see Jesus with true and saving spiritual sight now besides this main idea we also saw last time that this account pred seeds in seven parts or we could say seven scenes and I noted for you last time that these scenes all seem to have a pattern they all feature confusion a conclusion or both and we saw the first four scenes together last time I’m not going to reread that section for the sake of time but I will paraphrase it for you as we review what we’ve previously seen in verses 1 to 23 four scenes the first one is in verses 1 to 7 and that is scene one the disciples confusion the disciples confusion coming from John 8 nearly getting stoned in the temple for declaring himself to be The Great I Am Jesus passes by and sees a man blind from birth and his disciples asked Jesus to clarify for whose sin was this man obviously cursed by God was it his own sin in the womb or was it Sin from his parents Jesus clarifies that the man’s blindness blindness is not from sin but for the display of God’s glorious Works in his life Works which Jesus is Keen to remind his disciples that he and they are to be about fulfilling while they have the time and special opportunity Jesus then initiates the healing this blind man in a very unexpected way Jesus spits on the ground makes clay from the dirt and saliva smears the clay on the Man’s eyes and then tells the man to go to a certain pool in Jerusalem the pool of silom and wash the man born blind obeys and when he finished is washing he comes back from the pool seeing seeing for the first time in his life and that was scene one in verses 8 to 12 we saw scene two which is the neighbors confusion we had the disciples confusion now the neighbors confusion because when the formerly blind man returns home or returns to the spot he used to beg it’s not quite clear in the text the neighbors and those who used to see him beg cannot agree if this really is the same man or not the same blind beggar or not he keeps telling him that he’s the same guy so they keep asking him well how can you now see and he keeps responding well this is what the man Jesus said and did to me but unable to resolve their confusion the neighbors then bring this formerly blind man to the local synagogue leaders the local religious authorities I.E the Pharisees which leads us to what we saw in verses 13 to1 17 Scene Three Scene Three is the Pharisees confusion whole bunch of confusion here Scene Three is the Pharisees confusion when the Pharisees hear the formerly Blind Man’s testimony about what Jesus did how he was healed the Pharisees become divided for as part of the Pharisees contend if this man’s testimony is true then Jesus healed this man’s Eyes by doing work on the Sabbath turned out to be a Sabbath when this man was healed and the way Jesus did it constituted work and a violation of God’s law at least according to retical tradition not actually according to the script rures so they say this Jesus cannot be from God if he breaks God’s law and violates Sabbath that’s one part of the Pharisees but the other part of the Pharisees contend hey if this man’s testimony is true then regardless of whether Jesus violated Sabbath or Not Jesus healed this man’s eyes how could someone who’s not from God be given divine power to do signs like that how do you explain this healing if he indeed is not from God they’re divided and they cannot resolve their confusion in a last ditch attempt to do so they ask the formerly blind man what he thinks of Jesus and the blind man gives a thoroughly reasonable reply he says he’s a prophet Jesus is a prophet of God but the Pharisees do not want to admit this Truth for doing so would admit The Emptiness of their man-made Traditions their failure to achieve righteousness on their own so they think they have a way out of their conundrum and that is to prove that a supposedly healed man was never really blind at all or at least wasn’t born blind therefore they summon and interrogate the Man’s parents which is the last scene we saw together last time in verses 18 to 24 verses 18 to 23 scene 4 the parents confusion in quotes and conclusion the parents confusion and conclusion the Pharisees ask the man Man’s parents whether the formerly blind man was really their son really was born blind and how it is he can now see the parents own they admit that the man is their son and was born blind but they pretend total confusion as to how this man was made to see or who accomplished this healing for their son now assuredly the parents know from their son’s own testimony how it happened who healed him it was Jesus but they conclude that standing with their son and standing with Jesus is not worth it for verse 22 of chapter 9 John tells us that the local Jewish religious leaders have already agreed at this point that anybody who confesses or appears to confess that Jesus is the Christ is to be put out of the synagogue banned from synagogue which is to say cut off from local religious social and economic life you’re now a pariah the parents don’t want this for themselves so they play dumb and they say well why don’t you just ask our son for the answers of how and who he can answer for himself don’t ask us so this leads us to the final three scenes in our passage for today in verses 24 to 41 we’re going to now read and examine each section as we move along so not all at once but we’re going to read as we go along and examine each section the next scene that unfolds for us is a larger one goes from verses 24 to 34 and it is scene five the Pharisees conclusion right so we’re moving from the confusion we had in the beginning of this passage now to multiple conclusions the parents made their conclusion now the Pharisees established their conclusion we’re going to start by reading just verse 24 so a second time they that’s the Pharisees they called the man who had been blind and said to him give glory to God we know that this man is a sinner thed in their attempt to find an easy way to explain away Jesus Miracle by proving the man was never really blind to begin with the Pharisees now give up any pretense of honest investigation notice at the end of verse 24 the par the Pharisees present their definitive findings the conclusion that they have come to which of course in no way fits with the evidence that’s been presented thus far but nevertheless they are confident they say we know and the we is emphatic in the original Greek we are elves know that this man referring to Jesus they they don’t usually say his name probably contemptuously we know that this man is a sinner he’s a law breaker he’s an evildoer he’s not from God we know this we ourselves know this now we may ask how can you say that how can the Pharisees accept and put forth a conclusion that does not adequately explain the evidence you never dealt with the fact that this man was healed well they are doing what many people do when they really want something to be true or want something not to be true rather than objectively examining the evidence and forming a proper conclusion they start with the conclusion that they want to discover and then they just prej prejudicially search for all the evidence that’s going to fit and support that conclusion their pre-formed conclusion start with the conclusion look for the evidence rather than start with the evidence and form a conclusion and this is why they tell the man to do what they tell him in the first part of the statement have already established their conclusion so the man needs to give glory to God and that may seem like an odd and random imperative if you don’t understand what they’re implying by saying that most likely by using this phrase give glory to God the Pharisees are trying to get the man to do the same thing that Joshua and Joshua 7:19 was trying to get Ain to do you remember the story of Ain and Jericho Ain stole some of the Forbidden wealth of Jericho and brought a curse that resulted in Israel’s defeat while they were trying to conquer the land and in Joshua 7:19 Joshua says this to aen Joshua 7:19 my son I implore you give glory to the Lord the god of Israel and give praise to him and tell me now what you have done do not hide it from me if you were listening closer to that verse how was aen to give glory to God as Joshua was imploring him not by breaking out into song but by telling the truth and confessing aen sin as God is a god of Truth who hates all lying and all sinful deception you give glory to God when you are like him and you tell the truth you even confess sin as necessary and no longer lie or try and cover it up this is what the Pharisees are essentially telling this formerly blind man to do give glory to God by telling us the truth we know you’ve been holding back something until now something that clearly reveals that Jesus did not heal you the way that up to now you say he did we already know that this man is a sinner so come on fess up stop dishonoring God by suppressing the truth of course there’s a profound irony in that exhortation isn’t there to suppress the truth about Jesus and to confirm themselves their own self-righteous religion the Pharisees use this phrase about glorifying God by owning the truth to actually pressure this man to lie give go to God accept the lie that we want you to tell how can they do that this is the height of evil and hypocrisy and this pressure will be difficult to resist after all these Pharisees they are the religious authorities they’re the leaners of the synagogue they’re respected by all they have power to punish to expel you go against the Pharisees you could be condemned by them booted from society from normal life what’s this man going to do the Man’s parents have already caved under the pressure this is an evil thing the Pharisees are going to do but how’s he going to respond well let’s look verse 25 he then answered whether he is a sinner I do not know one thing I do know that though I was blind now I see here we begin to see see both the courage and the wit of this unnamed formerly blind beggar notice he does not bow to the pressure of the leaders but indeed does tell the truth and glorify God essentially says to them look if you’re searching for evidence for hard evidence that Jesus is a sinner I don’t know I got nothing but here’s what I do know here’s what I can tell you because of Jesus I used to be blind but now I see that’s my story and I’m sticking to it well how the phes going to respond to this when they see the beggar won’t Bend to their intimidation verse 26 so they said to him what did he do to you how did he open your eyes okay this is interesting the Pharisees now asked the man to recount again what Jesus supposedly did to heal him why would they do that now possibly the frustrated Pharisees simply cannot think of anything better to do they don’t want to admit the truth so let’s just go over it again more likely this is a scheme the Pharisees are looking to entrap the man through repeated testimony we know there’s something off about Jesus we know there’s something off about you Mr beggar man so we’re going to have you keep repeating your testimony until you inadvertently slip up you’re either going to reveal the details that confirmed Jesus to be the sinner that we knew him to be from all all along he’s not a prophet you’re going to end up revealing that eventually or you’re going to prove yourself inconsistent in your testimony and when you’re inconsistent your testimony can’t be believed and then we can just dismiss the whole thing nice so tell us again Mister how are you healed if this is indeed the Pharisees next play it is clever but it is evil once again but look at how the man responds in verse 27 he answered them I told you already and you did not listen why do you want to hear it again you do not want to become his disciples too do you sky is sharp once again he does not fall for the Pharisees Ploy instead the man calls them out for they’re needlessly asking his testimony again and I mean he’s got to be tired at this point he’s been saying the same testimony over and over and over and over and over again and now they want to hear it again he calls them out for needlessly asking because they’ve already demonstrated they didn’t really listen the first time he’s essentially telling them why should I tell you the details of the healing again when you’ve shown you’re not interested in the truth but only in seeing that man Jesus proven to be an evildoer now you may notice this question at the end and it’s a little odd you do not want to become his disciples too do you it’s possible to read this simply as a naive inquiry as the blind man asserts his own desire to become Jesus disciple that is to say oh perhaps you’re now looking to become Jesus disciples just as I am that’s why you want to keep on hearing it you just can’t get enough about this Jesus guy is this nav displayed by the blind man the formerly blind man I don’t think so his answers have already demonstrated his awareness of this Pharisees stubborn Prejudice so what is he doing this is better seen as sarcasm baiting the Pharisees to reveal their true colors excuse me I I can’t think of any reason that you wise and honest Pharisees could possibly want to hear this again when I told you plainly the first time except that may be secretly you want to join the ranks of all those others who want to become Jesus disciples but that can’t be it can it well if the man is indeed looking to ruffle the Pharisees feathers and expose their Hearts he succeeds verses 28 and 29 they reviled him and said you are his disciple but we are Disciples of Moses we know that God has spoken to Moses but as for this man we do not know where he is from so we see the miracle investigation continues to break down now they’re denigrating the witness notice how the conversation switches to actually being about the facts of the case now to the credentials of Jesus and the blind man versus the credentials of the Pharisees and the language is again noticeably emphatic in the original Greek they tell the formerly blind man you yourself are a disciple of this one but we ourselves are the Disciples of Moses so who has the greater Authority huh who’s more trustworthy we the Disciples of the great and universally recognized Moses prophet of God or you a no account new disciple of this wannabe Messiah who should be believed here and after all they continue we ourselves know that God has spoken through Moses he’s spoken to Moses God clearly validated Moses Authority as a prophet of God but as for this one we do not know where he’s from now that last statement might give you some pause because if you remember the previous chapters the Jews in Jerusalem m in the same Feast of booths they claim that whenever the Christ comes no one will know where he is from so are the Pharisees in John 9 then inadvertently confessing Jesus to be the Messiah perhaps there is a another overtone of irony here from our author that he wants us to think about but what the Pharisees mean when they say they don’t know where Jesus from is either or both of the following number one that Jesus unlike Moses is a nobody with no background worth mentioning and or number two that Jesus unlike Moses has nothing to demonstrate that Jesus is sent from God is Jesus teaching in Ministry from man from Insanity from the devil we don’t know where he gets it from the Pharisees say but it sure ain’t from God we know Moses is from God we don’t know where this guy’s from so you see again that rather than reason with the formerly blind man or listen to his reasoning they again try to browbeat him into submission this time with insults with reviling and with highlighting their own credentials how’s the man going to respond now verse 30 the man answered and said to them well here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes again you got to love this guy his bold piercing replies remember he’s a lifelong beggar he’s probably never received any formal education or training he’s always been on The Fringe of society yet he he can see and speak with more sense than all these supposedly well- credential heads of the synagogue he begins here by saying well here’s the amazing thing or we could say the wondrous thing the astounding thing what is that you do not know where he’s from even though he opened my eyes in other words guys seriously this man Jesus opened my eyes the eyes of a man born blind and you religious experts still can’t figure out where he comes from I’m not sure which is more remarkable the a man is essentially saying the fact that Jesus did this miracle for me or the fact that you the religious experts can’t figure out the implications of it so he helps them in verses 31- 33 the formerly blind man leads the Pharisees through a simple chain of biblical reasoning verse 31a we know that God does not hear sinners compare Psalm 6618 psalm 6618 if I regard wickedness in my heart the Lord will not hear we know that God does not hear sinners verse 31b but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will he hears him compare Proverbs 15:29 Proverbs 15:29 the Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous verse 32 since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone Open the Eyes of a person born blind and by the way that is not hyperbole that is factually true may surprise you to learn that there are very few miraculous healings in the Old Testament and there are no recorded healings in the Old Testament of anyone being healed from blindness except for an army temporarily blinded in 2 Kings 6 nevertheless Isaiah foretold that messiah’s coming and Kingdom Christ coming and Kingdom would coincide with the blind receiving sight and those in the Darkness seeing light you see this in Isaiah 9:2 Isaiah 355 and Isaiah 42:7 and though Psalm 146 which we read earlier in our service specifically notes opening blind eyes as something that only God does when Jesus arrives on the scene he’s not only accomplishing healings of various kinds the one type of healing that is noted more than any other is open opening the eyes of Blind Men opening the eyes of the blind still and all the other gospels there’s never a specific instance of Jesus opening the man uh the eyes of a man born blind it’s only here so the man is absolutely correct it has literally never been heard of that someone opened the eyes of a man born blind and yet Jesus just did it so again review the argument premise a God doesn’t hear sinners but only the righteous who do his will premise B Jesus did a miracle never done before and which only God can Empower someone to do conclusion verse 33 if this man were not from God he could do nothing this is sound reasoning and it is not rocket science only someone from God who pleases God could do the kind of miracle that Jesus did therefore Jesus is not a wicked law breaker he’s from God phes can’t you see this truly our author is forcing us to ask ourselves by watching this conversation unfold how is it that this uneducated Begg who has lived in darkness literal Darkness all his life can see the situation more clearly and speak with more plain sense than the religious Elite than the religious leaders of Israel we’re going to get the answer to that in just a a little bit but will the Pharisees be convinced by this simple man’s basic but sound argument verse 34 they answered him you were born entirely in sins and and are you teaching us so they put him out well considering how the conversation was trending this response was almost to be expected see here the Pharisees they first slur and condemn the man in the most vicious way they can think of you yourself were born completely in sins you were cursed of God sent your wicked birth which goes back to the thinking that was in the disciples question in verse 2 right who send this man or his parents all sin all Calamity is the result of personal sin you obviously were born in wickedness they go back to that line of reasoning but it doesn’t really make sense anymore does it because man can now see he’s healed how can you say he’s born entirely in sins the the evidence totally contradicts that how are you able to say that now but again you know insults don’t have to make sense we’ve already seen this with Jesus they called him a Samaritan that didn’t make any sense but that was just the insult they wanted to say so they insult this man too and they condemn him and they second Express their extreme offense that this man this unprosperous beggar of no standing apparently a new disciple of Jesus should attempt to teach and reprove them correct them who are the Blessed of God the righteous the experts of God’s law the Pharisees how dare you who do you think you are we will not suffer this indignity so far from listening to him they kick him out third they put him out we can actually translate the verb they threw him out I imagine it was not very gently we could also translate it they expelled him and that probably doesn’t mean they simply removed him from the building now this man likely experienced or was beginning to experience what the Jews had already agreed on and threatened in verse 22 this man was now barred from synagogue he was to be treated as a pariah by all good Jews from now on and for what telling the plain truth and how sad for the man he had been an outcast as a blind beggar all his life and on the first day or on the first days of his being allowed back into the community he’s kicked out again well so much for the objective investigation and pronouncement on the reported Miracle right the Pharisees at this point have overwhelmingly proved that they are not interested in the truth they only interested in seeing their own previously cherished and pride ful beliefs Vindicated so when reason failed against this witness who was um contradicting their preconceived ideas when reason failed with him they settled for intimidation and when intimidation failed they settled for personal attacks and when personal attacks failed they simply removed him people have tried to do the same with Jesus already in this book it’s one way to win an argument but to destroy your own soul well what happens to the blind man well he comes to his own conclusion and we see this in verses 35 to 38 and it’s the opposite of the Pharisees conclusion we leave scene five and go to scene six scene six the man’s conclusion the man’s conclusion look at verse 35 Jesus heard that they had put him out and finding him he said do you believe in the son of man and that’s intriguing that Jesus had been in the background for most of this account he suddenly reappears and what do you know Jesus once again is taking the initiative and he finds this ostracized man and Jesus asked the man if the man believes in the son of man now who’s the son of man well we’ve encountered that term before in John’s gospel that’s Jesus favorite and most commonly used title for himself it’s a title that traces back to Daniel 7 that clearly denotes the Glorious Messiah who’s going to receive a kingdom from the father it is a title that connotes both Jesus full and true Humanity but also his full and true deity Jesus loves to use this title for himself and embodies so much of what he is who he is as the Messiah that the Jews don’t usually know what to make of this title Jesus uses this title with the man and says do you believe in the son of man and how does the man respond we see in verse 36 he answered who is he Lord that I may believe in him this is a striking reply it may not be what you expected somebody comes up to you and says do you believe in the son of man you you respond like this why is that well remember that the formerly blind man has never actually seen Jesus before because last time they interacted the man interacted the man was still blind but the man has heard jesus’ voice before and therefore he may and I would even say probably realizes that here is that same man again here is the healing Prophet who knows the truth of God and the way of Salvation if there is a son of man to believe in the man thinks to himself I can trust this Prophet to tell me remember he’s come a long way in the very beginning of this passage he says the Man Called Jesus and then in the middle of the passage he’s a prophet 3/4s to the passage this man is definitely from God so he trusts Jesus even though he’s never seen him and he knows that Jesus has the answer so if Jesus says there’s a son of man to believe in I can trust him to point him out to me so either for that reason or some other reason the man responds with respect and readiness Lord he says and that’s curios it can often be translated simply as sir it’s a respectful respectful way to address someone Lord who is he then I may believe in him I trust you I’m ready to believe just show me who it is and Jesus responds with gracious salvation Revelation in verse 37 Jesus said to him you have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you kind of a beautiful way for Jesus to declare his messiahship to this to this man Jesus evidently wants to allude to how he in fact healed the man it’s like Jesus is saying my friend since the time you miraculously received your sight and even more so since you discovered the bankrupcy of the Pharisees system of Judaism you’ve been eager to find the Messiah and see him for yourself but the Messiah has actually found you and now you see him and he’s the one talking to you this exchange might remind you a little bit of John 4 and the Samaritan woman at the well remember how that conversation proceeded first Jesus demonstrates something that causes her to confess that he’s a prophet then she expresses her desire to know the Messiah who’s going to reveal everything that we need to know and then Jesus tells her plainly I the one speaking to you am he when Jesus did that in John 4 do you remember how the woman reacted she immediately believed and she ran into the village to go tell other people what’s going to happen here back at verse 38 and he said Lord I believe and he worshiped him I me amazing we see the response of the man here is the same as it was for the let’s face it another Outcast the woman in John 4 immediate Faith immediate Faith occurs is evident in the man when Jesus reveals himself to the man and no longer does the man use the term Lord curios as a mere title of respect now it is a proper theological title you are the Lord the Lord of all the Great I Am The Eternal God I believe he affirms I trust I put my faith in you as the son of man actually the verb the verb tense for the word translated said in our passage is the Greek imperfect which usually indicates repeated action so the man likely keeps on saying he keeps on affirming I believe Lord I believe Lord I believe and the end of the verse says that the man bows down and worships Jesus now that may make you pause for a second because nobody’s done that yet in this gospel wait whoa whoa whoa whoa worship you’re you’re going to worship this guy right here right now yes now I should tell you though the Greek word translated worship which is prosano preto I’m sorry it can technically refer to some instances where someone wants to show deep respect deep submission to another human being it can technically refer it can technically describe that while that’s true that cannot be the case here for consider every other time this verb is used in the Gospel of John proin it is actually describing worship to God go back to John 4 go to other sections of John every other time it’s describing worship to God why should this be the one exception in the author’s usage where he means it to mean something else consider also going outside of John’s gospel when the god-fearer Cornelius meets the Apostle Peter who’s going to bring the message of Salvation this is in Acts 10: 25 to 26 when Cornelius tries to prueter when he tries to bow down and Pruno Peter Peter won’t let him and he raises up Cornelius and says stand up I too am just a man and also when we go to Revelation which is also written by the Apostle John when John himself tries to pretto God’s revelatory angel and re Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 229 and I’m sure this was a glorious being and entrusted with an amazing responsibility give the revelation of Jesus to the Apostle it it was very overwhelming for John he wanted to proano this Angel when he tries to do it twice both times the angel forbids John to do so he says do not Pruno me I am a fellow servant of you of God Pruno God Alone all this to say we can be confident that this translation worship as it is in our English Bibles is appropriate this man is not merely showing deep respect for a great human teacher or an exalted uh Angelic being from God this is worship worship that God demands for himself exclusively I will not give my glory to another God says yet God is totally fine with people proning worshiping his son it’s because the son is God now how did this man understand all that I don’t doubt that his understanding is still only in its infancy at this point but this as we’re going to see this is the power of God’s revelation when you see Jesus when you hear Jesus when you are the recipient of a powerful Miracle at his hands you see just like this man does this is no ordinary man this is the power the Majesty the authority of the Son of God of one who deserves My Worship so even if he didn’t understand it all the way he knows this is someone who deserves the worship that normally you would say is reserved for God Alone that’s because he is God so we must have none of this Jesus was just a man and his disciples misunderstood and thought he was God or Jesus was an exalted created being just used by God for our Salvation no Jesus is the one true God mysteriously a member of the godhead of the Trinity one God in three persons he deserved this man’s worship and he deserves yours do you give it to him now this is already pretty powerful this might seem like a good spot to end the narrative but it’s not the end because perhaps you may be wondering this is an amazing Miracle neat story glad to see this guy converted to believe in Jesus but why tell this miracle as opposed to some other Miracle because remember John doesn’t tell us all the Miracles that Jesus did he only picks out seven seven signs that he wants to feature in this book so why this one why this particular Miracle why this particular account of the miracle and what happened afterwards well the reason is as we’re going to see proof shortly is because this miracle is indeed a sign it’s a picture it’s a proper symbol yes this is an historical occurrence it does fundamentally reveal that Jesus is God he has power he has compassion but even more than that this miracle reveals a fundamental truth about salvation and Jesus role in Salvation see how this is explained as we come to the final scene in verses 39 to 41 verses 39- 41 scene 7 Jesus conclusion so we had a whole bunch of confusion in the beginning then the parents conclusion fy’s conclusion the man’s conclusion now Jesus conclusion verse 39 and Jesus said for judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and that those who see may become blind ah with that statement we see now that there is is a greater purpose in the unfolding of this miracle even in the reporting of it by John just as the blind man was born blind and was incapable of ever seeing light ever changing his own blindness so Jesus is beginning to indicate for us here every sinner saved by faith in Jesus starts out spiritually blind helpless totally unable to see God’s salvation or repent and believe in Jesus but just as Jesus did what this blind man could never do for himself physically and granting him literal sight so Jesus also it was part of the purpose of his coming to Open the Eyes of all the Sinners that God has mercifully chosen I came to open blind eyes Not Mere physical blindness he does a lot of that but more importantly spiritual blindness not only so that these Sinners can actually see their own sinfulness they can see the uselessness of their attempts to satisfy God by works of the law they can see the glory of Jesus and the goodness of his gospel not only that but also in the presence of all those realities Jesus came also to act cause Sinners to repent and believe in him not merely show them the truth but to cause them to believe the truth haven’t we been hearing about this truth multiple times already in the Gospel of John Nicodemus chapter 3 I tell you the truth you must be born from above to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you need God to do something for you that you could never do for yourself Jesus in John 6 and other places all that the father comes to or all that the father gives me will come to me and unless the father draws him they will not come so it is unless God gives you life opens your heart opens your spiritual eyes you will never believe in Jesus you are obligated to believe you have every reason to believe you will be held fully accountable by God’s judgment if you don’t believe but your sinfulness is so great your blindness is so complete that without God’s powerful intervention you will never believe you need a miracle you need a miracle but when God provides this miracle you cannot help but believe when your eyes are opened and you see the light you can’t help but recognize it Jesus says this is what I came to do and this is what Jesus is still doing by his word by his Spirit by his church you and I have been enlisted in the ministry of opening blind eyes it’s Jesus working through us but he’s still doing now what he was doing while he was on the earth literally he’s opening blind eyes people who could never open their own eyes never see the truth never believe the truth Jesus is causing that to happen even through our own witness but that’s not all Jesus is doing that’s not all Jesus was doing because Jesus reveals that there is another purpose that he had in coming and it’s the one that’s actually highlighted more in these final verses Jesus says for judgment I came into this world which may make you scratch your head for just a second because doesn’t that seem to contradict what Jesus said before in John 3:17 I did not can’t come to judge the world but to save the world and John 12:47 he says the same thing again we got a contradiction here oh no for though Jesus first coming was indeed primarily for salvation the revelation of that salvation necessarily brought judgment to those who rejected it as even John 3:18 says he who believes is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already he’s already been judged because he’s not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God in fact and this is kind of profound the very presentation of the Glorious Light of Christ with which God is pleased to use to heal the spiritual eyes of some unto salvation that very same light is also used by God to Blind and Harden others who are already committed to their own way of Darkness so that they will never come to the truth you see the phrase those who see at the end of verse 39 this phrase is not referring to those who are already genuinely righteous those who are already genuinely saved as if Jesus was saying I came to make those who see become blind I came to make all those people who were in God’s good books and I I just overturn that and now now they’re doomed that’s not what he’s talking about when he refers to those who see at the end of verse 39 he’s talking about those who only seem like they see who actually have false righteousness dead relig religion empty Faith how do we know that’s what he means well because of the final two verses let’s look at those now too verses 40 and 41 those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him we are not blind too are we Jesus said to them if you were blind you would have no sin but since you say we see your sin remains now don’t be confused by the appearance of the Pharisees here like wait I thought we got away from the Pharisees weren’t they just trying to kill Jesus didn’t they just kick this guy out well they must be in some other public space where there happened to be Pharisees there and they overheard Jesus we don’t know how they got there or what they’re doing but they’re there and they become suspicious about this pronouncement from Jesus about his reason for coming into the world in verse 39 and so they ask expecting a negative answer that they are surely not also blind ones are they but Jesus Affirmed terms that the Pharisees culpable sinfulness remains but in a way the way he explains it might be confusing at first glance if you if you were blind you would have no sin what understand that Jesus is not saying that those who are spiritually blind in fact have no sin or that if a spiritually blind person just admits that he’s blind that then he will have no sin because you got to take the first half of that statement with the second half because what really is spiritual blindness not the fact that you have sin it’s not even that you see your sin spiritual blindness is insisting that you can see when really you cannot or insisting that you are righteous when you really are not or insisting that your sins aren’t aren’t actually that bad when really they are that bad spiritual blindness is not merely not knowing the truth or having sin it’s insisting that you’re still fine regardless of the way you are this is why spiritual blindness is so deadly to the soul because it causes a person to believe wrongly that he does not need Jesus so whether that person can see his sinfulness or not he thinks he’s doing just fine thus he never comes to the only one who can save him he never comes to Jesus who is God’s only remedy who’s God’s only way of Salvation God’s only means of cleansing and forgiveness thus as Jesus says these Pharisees and all like them their sin remains it’s not the fact that they had had sin it’s the fact that they would not recognize that they are desperate without Jesus so that their sin is never covered therefore their sin like a great weight it sinks them in the sea of God’s Wrath forever because it was never released it never placed on Jesus in fact connecting back to verse 41 now when Jesus salvation light shines on the spiritually blind they not only manifest that they were truly blind all along but they actually become more blind they become further entrenched in their wicked self-righteousness this is exactly what we see in this account right with the Pharisees this is exactly what we will see with the Jewish Nation as a whole when they crucify their Messiah and this is what explains the otherwise inexplicable persecution that Christians endure when we testify of the miracle of God’s salvation in our lives to our friends our family our neighbors Jesus says in John 3:20 John 3:20 we’ve already seen this for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed it’s not merely that one the light shines on them it has no effect no it does have an effect it drives them away from God it hardens them in their sin they become even more blind that’s why that’s why their Zeal is aroused against Believers even against the testimony of God’s salvation in believers they hate that light and they manifest not only that they were blind but they’re becoming more blind this is actually a just judgment from God Jesus says it’s part of the reason why he came into the world to summarize Jesus concluding pronouncement at the end of this account is that his light bringing Ministry of the Gospel is one that results both in Salvation and judgment to the called to Those whom God himself draws to repentance and faith in Jesus Jesus light is or Jesus Revelation is salvation it is truth it is light it is freedom it is life forever but to the rest to those who willfully culpably will not own up to their own sins who think they are just fine without Jesus without Christ without his gospel to those who would rather seek the approval of men and the Treasures of the world rather than Jesus Christ and God well Jesus Revelation Jesus coming it brings judgment it brings blindness it brings Darkness it brings bondage it brings death forever so what are the takeaways what are the takeaways from this sobering account on the one hand it’s marvelous here’s a man who saved and show such courage and standing with Jesus even against their religious Elites putting such pressure on him persecuting him on the other hand Jesus manifests do you know what all of this is depicting what my coming is doing as a whole to the human race it’s drawing some blind so that they can see according to God’s mercy but for others it is judging them in their blindness with further blindness what are the takeaways from this I’ll give you three just briefly number one you should see from this passage that you need to give up dead and blinding false religion and you need to repent and believe in Jesus for real if God is working in you you will and maybe he is but you know what your responsibility is from this passage dead religion your own ideas religious systems that are inaugurated and made up by man they will not save you all they will do is blind you for the sake of your worldly Comfort don’t accept accept that rather for the sake of life eternal for the sake of knowing god and gaining God refuse to stay in blindness and recognize and follow the light as you ought believe repent and believe in Jesus turn from your sins turn from your own way trust in Jesus life death and Resurrection as the only thing that can make you acceptable to God and you will be saved number two we see from this passage that you and I we must be prepared to endure suffering with Jesus as the blind react against the light of the world they hated Jesus when his light shined on them they hated his Witnesses when indirectly Jesus light shined through them and they’re going to do the same with us we not to be surprised by that this is what Jesus said his coming would do we need be we need to be prepared and yet not be afraid let us not be afraid to be outcast for Jesus because what does Jesus sh himself to be again and again he loves the outcasts he loves to call them Brethren be with them where they are and bring them into his kingdom and you know what that’s what the church is in a sense we’re a Brotherhood we’re a family of outcasts from the world but we are the Beloved children of God now we need to be ready for that reality to play itself out and then number three you must remember that God will use your faithful gospel witness also to Open the Eyes of some and to Blind the eyes of others God’s purposes are going to be worked out through you of course our desire is to seee siners saved but we know that God’s purposes will never be thwarted so don’t be surprised when you see hardening in response to the message you go out and be faithful and let God glorify himself as he chooses uses I should also say this understanding all these realities together it should cause us to rever God for his just judgment and it should cause us to worship God like this blind man for opening our eyes think about this God would have been entirely just when he Shine the Light of Christ on you to Blind you with that light because that’s how simp sin ful you were in your own heart against the Lord but he didn’t do that he didn’t do that for you if you believe in Jesus he instead opened your eyes so that the light Christ’s light became for you salvation and joy why did he do that for you when he hasn’t done it for everybody only God knows but praise him for his Mercy praise him for his kindness towards you let’s go in prayer Lord we thank you for your word as we recognize again your sovereignty and we recognize our depravity God we do indeed call your name blessed you are just in all that you do we are the wicked ones that you had mercy on us and you’re still having Mercy on many in the world world who have not yet been brought into your Sheepfold and yet God we have the privilege being part of the ministry of drawing those people to you or rather you drawing those people through us God so that they too might be saved L thank you what you’ve done in our lives but help us to be your faithful Witnesses not afraid of the Raging of the blind God you will take care of us you will protect us there’s no harm that anyone can do to US unless you’re going to work it for our good and your glory and when we suffer with you you say we are blessed and we have a reward that can never fade away so God help us not to be afraid but to love you and to be obedient to you and to Faithfully