2017.02.26                             John 9: 1-12

          The Man Born Blind             part 1

Good morning everyone, I am glad that you are here…. I have Good News for you… His name is Jesus… We are on a great adventure… We are Experiencing the Life and ministry of Jesus… As we study  the Gospel of John… We learn the truth about Jesus… He was not just some great man… He wrote his gospel so that we would believe in Jesus… And through believing in Him…. That we would find life in His name… He is determined to make sure that we understand that Jesus is God in human flesh… and to prove that He is the Savior and Messiah… John was the theologian of the early church… 

John’s gospel is to demonstrate that God has provided redemption and forgiveness to all that are willing to repent and cry out to Him… The Gospel of John is much more than just true history… It is a presentation of The Lord Jesus Christ in all of His Glory… John reminds us that Jesus demonstrated His Authority and power in many ways… He openly proclaimed His equality with God the Father… HE offered Himself as the true bread come down from Heaven… John 6:32,33  …. He offered Life giving heart changing water to anyone who would come to Him… John 7: 37,38… And as we studied in john ch 8… He revealed Himself as the light of the world… John 8:12…

The Glorious light of the Gospel shines into our lives… The Word of God transforms our cold black hearts… Our entire lives are flooded with truth… With light…

The metaphor of Light and Darkness appears all through the Word of God…

This morning Jesus is going to perform a miracle of incredible power… It is an Exclamation point on the truth that Jesus is the light of the world… Jesus will heal a man who was born blind…

Jesus has been teaching daily in the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles…. His is proclaiming Himself as Messiah and God… Let´s start with the last verses of ch8…

John 8: 58,59                           NKJV   slt 2000

58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

58 Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch: Ehe Abraham war, bin ich! 59 Da hoben sie Steine auf, um sie auf ihn zu werfen. Jesus aber verbarg sich und ging zum Tempel hinaus, mitten durch sie hindurch, und entkam so.

They want to stone Him again at the end of the chapter… But They cannot… It is not yet time…

Remember… Jesus said no man takes my life from me…. I lay it down… John 10… v18…

Let´s continue now… Look with me at John 9: 1-12…

John 9: 1-12                     NKJV  slt 2000

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”He said, “I am he.” 10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”12 Then they said to him, “Where is He? ”He said, “I do not know.”

Wow… This man had never seen the light… He was in total darkness…

Then Jesus gives Him the gift of light and sight… It is a living illustration of the miracle of the new birth… This man begins his new life by seeing with His ears… He obeys Jesus simple instructions and goes to Siloam to wash… He returns seeing for the first time… What a miracle…

Everything that Jesus says and does… He does to fulfill all righteousness… He is fulfilling every promise that God has made… And He is accomplishing every Prophesy that has been given… When Jesus says… in v5… “I am the light of the world.” He is speaking to the exact circumstances of this moment… He is giving light to the desperate needs of this man… He has lived his entire life blind…. Not only born blind… but condemned to a life of darkness and hopelessness…

We are not left in the dark about the meaning of darkness… God’s light has come into the world… and it is shining into a sin filled world… A world of suffering and sorrow… A world of disabilities and devastating diseases… God has not left us to alone… The Light of the Gospel is filled with hope for everyone who cries out to him… No Matter what happens… The Word of God helps us to cope with the sorrows and disasters that confront everyone of us… It is all part of God´s redemptive plan… The light of the Gospel sheds light on every part of our lives…

 In the fifth gospel… Isaiah… We discover many of the wonderful promises of God to a sin filled and rebellious people…

Isaiah 42 is just one example… It is one of the Servant songs of the Messiah… In it The prophet points to The Messiah the giver of life and light to a lost and dying world… look with me at Isaiah 42… v5-7

Isaiah 42: 5-7                 NLT  Neues Leben

5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says, 6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

5 Gott, der Herr, hat den Himmel erschaffen und ausgespannt. Er hat die Erde und alles, was darauf wächst, gemacht. Er gibt allem, was auf der Welt ist, Leben und allem, was auf ihr geht, Atem. Er sagt:

6 »Ich, der Herr, habe dich in Gerechtigkeit berufen und dich bei deiner Hand erfasst. Ich beschütze dich und mache dich zu einem Bund für das Volk und zum Licht für die Völker.

7 Dadurch sollst du den Blinden die Augen öffnen, die Häftlinge aus dem Gefängnis befreien und die in der Dunkelheit Gefangenen ans Licht führen.

Beginning in Verse 1 we see God calling on the earth to look at His chosen one… then in v5…

v5… God the Creator of everything says… I give breath and life to everyone…  In Genesis we read…. God said let there be light and there was light… Genesis 1: 3…  That light was Jesus the Messiah… John describes Jesus as the true light that gives light  everyman who comes into the world… John 1:9…

In Isaiah in verses 6 and 7 we see the connection between light and blindness… and freedom from the darkness of prison… look at it with me…

v6b,7… And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons….

The Lord God said that the Messiah is given as a light to guide the nations… And that he will transform hearts and lives…. That the blind will see and be set free from prison…

This morning we will look at one of the tens of thousands of miracles that Jesus did… Why do I say tens of thousands? Because the scriptures tell us in several places… Jesus healed everyone that came to Him… John also reminds us that if he wrote down everything that Jesus did it would fill many books... Many of the same people who a day earlier… Heard Jesus say that He was the Light of the World… Will now witness this incredible miracle… The healing of a man born blind…

This miracle alone should have changed their view of Jesus… But instead of repenting and coming to genuine faith… instead of acknowledging that there was no human explanation for what they had seen… all it does is harden their hatred and anger… 

So Jesus begins to abandon the leaders to their rebellion and focus on the disciples… Remember it is only about 6 months before the cross and the resurrection…   The religious leaders are only looking to build their case against Jesus… It’s a sad  fulfillment of the first chapter of John… “He came into His own, and His own received Him not.” John 1: 11… There is  great danger of rejecting the truth and hardening our hearts…

Everytime we study the Bible… We need to ask God to open our ears and hearts… Look with me now at John 9… We will take a closer look… let’s walk with Jesus… in the light…    V1,2…

John 9: 1,2       NKJV  slt 2000

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?“

1 Und als er vorbeiging, sah er einen Menschen, der blind war von Geburt an. 2 Und seine Jünger fragten ihn und sprachen: Rabbi, wer hat gesündigt, so daß dieser blind geboren ist, er oder seine Eltern?

v1… blind from birth… who sinned…

Born blind… That means that according to the religious leaders he was cursed by God… Uli has a blind Paten Tante… One thing that you notice right away… Is that her hearing is spectacular… I think this poor man heard every horrible thing that was whispered about him all of his life… How sad… Even if the disciples whispered to Jesus… He heard them… Cursed by blindness and excellent hearing… The blind man is a picture of the lost sin-blinded man who has no capacity to see Jesus…    The analogy is perfect…

In fact, the gospels use this analogy over and over... Paul talks about spiritual blindness many times…   Blindness perfectly illustrates man’s spiritual darkness and lost-ness...  Helpless… this blind man is at the mercy of others who choose to help him...  He’s like the sinner…  In this passage… God reaches the blind man through Christ…  Just like God takes the initiative through Christ for us sinners…  That’s how grace operates…  We’re lost… we’re dead… we’re blind… We cannot see the truth of the gospel… But God sees us…  He comes to us… And in His in compassion… Gives us sight and pours grace and mercy out on our lives…

v2... Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? The disciples saw this man as a theological puzzle… The disciples say who sinned… By the way… there is no such thing as generational sins or generational curses…

Jesus saw him as a suffering young man needing a miracle...

John 9: 3-5   NKJV   slt 2000

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

3 Jesus antwortete: Weder dieser hat gesündigt noch seine Eltern; sondern an ihm sollten die Werke Gottes offenbar werden! 4 Ich muß die Werke dessen wirken, der mich gesandt hat, solange es Tag ist; es kommt die Nacht, da niemand wirken kann. 5 Solange ich in der Welt bin, bin ich das Licht der Welt.

v3… Neither this man nor his parents sinned… Jesus' response was neither this man… nor his parents sinned… Why do such bad things happen? Generally… because we live in a fallen world… Sometimes… So that the works of God can be revealed in him…

v4… while it is day… we must work…

while it is day… Jesus Points to our time here in this life… We do not know how much time we have… We need to use it for His Glory…  

Jesus knows that His own  Death is coming soon…  He has months…  Jesus is talking to the disciples… Some of them don’t have very long…  They have a few years…  Soon many are martyred for the sake of the Gospel… Jesus pulls us along with the disciples into ministry with the phrase we must work… What a calling… Staggering…     In the light of the fact that night is coming… We need to be careful not to waste our lives…  slide

My joy grows with every soul that seeks the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Remember, you have one life. That’s all. You were made for

God. Don’t waste it.”

― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

We don’t know how much time we have...    People at a bakery in Heidelberg yesterday…  One young… gone… We don’t know.  Months?  Years?  We don’t know…  Less time with every breath…   It’s time to get to work… 

I love that we’re in the “we” here…     listen Christian… We need to get the sin and worldliness out of our days…  

We need to Stop wasting time…  Stop flirting with the world... Get to work… back to v5… scroll down…

v5… “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”  But that’s only for a while longer…  He will always be the Light of the World…  But right now… He is shining in person in all of His Glory…  He’s going to give this man spiritual light… and He will start by seeing with his ears… v6,7…

John 9: 6,7                        NKJV   slt 2000

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

6 Als er dies gesagt hatte, spie er auf die Erde und machte einen Brei mit dem Speichel und strich den Brei auf die Augen des Blinden 7 und sprach zu ihm: Geh hin, wasche dich im Teich Siloah (das heißt übersetzt: »Der Gesandte«)! Da ging er hin und wusch sich und kam sehend wieder.

v6… He spat … and He anointed the eyes…   The blind man did not come to Jesus and ask to be healed… Jesus came to Him… Still, He expected the blind man to respond in faith and obedience… By the way… Faith and obedience are always connected…  As Jesus gave the man this simple task…  The blind man obediently went away and washed in the pool of Siloam…  And he came back seeing… His response to the Lord’s command symbolizes the obedience that marks genuine saving faith… note takers.. Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:26; Heb. 5:9…

v7… Go, wash in the pool of Siloam… Why the pool of Siloam?  All of this has taken place at Tabernacles… This is where they went every day during the Feast… It was during the great pouring out of Water on the altar… That Jesus said He was the living water…  We talked about that day a few weeks ago…

The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Siloam…. He was sent to offer living water to anyone who was willing to repent and believe the Good News of the Gospel… He has sent us… John ch 17…  So Jesus sent this man to wash…

This is a wonderful picture of salvation… Sovereign grace confronts a blind and hopeless sinner…  He can’t see Jesus…  But in His sovereign grace… Jesus  comes to him… He asks only a response of simple faith… Go and wash… Remember… He was still blind… It is a long way from the Temple to the pool of Siloam…  He finds his way to the cleansing waters… It is a symbol of Messianic salvation in Isaiah… and he comes back seeing… How wonderful… What a beautiful picture…

John 9: 8-12                   NKJV  slt 2000

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” 12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

8 Die Nachbarn nun, und die ihn zuvor als Blinden gesehen hatten, sprachen: Ist das nicht der, welcher dasaß und bettelte? 9 Etliche sagten: Er ist's! — andere aber: Er sieht ihm ähnlich! Er selbst sagte: Ich bin's! 10 Da sprachen sie zu ihm: Wie sind deine Augen geöffnet worden? 11 Er antwortete und sprach: Ein Mensch, der Jesus heißt, machte einen Brei und bestrich meine Augen und sprach zu mir: Geh hin zum Teich Siloah und wasche dich! Als ich aber hinging und mich wusch, wurde ich sehend. 12 Da sprachen sie zu ihm: Wo ist er? Er antwortete: Ich weiß es nicht!

v9… Others said, "He is like him. " He said, "I am he": It seems too amazing to believe… but the man convinced them that he was in fact healed from congenital blindness…

v11… A man called Jesus… At this point, the man knew very little about Jesus… He didn't know anything more about Jesus than His name… and that He healed him...

v12… where is He? Can you imagine the questions… Impossible who… what does he look like… no Idea… We need to stop for today… Next week Jesus will find Him the man born blind will demonstrate genuine faith and will testify to the religious leaders of Jesus the Messiah… Let´s pray