John 9:1-7

[0:00] The New Testament, Matt and the Gospel of John, chapter 9. The, uh, started the third John this morning in Sunday's sermon, so I guess I'll guess that was hanging out with John here for a little while. Gospel of John, chapter 9.

[0:30] Leading up to this, we have really the entire chapter, chapter 8. You can actually go back further than that as well. And chapter 8, I wish another thing.

[0:45] Chapter 8 is most famous for the woman that's brought to Jesus that was caught in the act of adultery. And we're all probably somewhat familiar with that account. There's a lot of other things that goes on John chapter 8 as well.

[1:01] Jesus, after that incident, after he's done told the woman to go and send no more, Jesus immediately tells the folks that are gathered around there that he is the light of the world, Beth. And he mentions that again here in John chapter 9 where we're going to be reading in just a few moments.

[1:22] A lot of things go on John chapter 8, but in a real small nutshell, he upsets the hierarchy of the Jews, upsets the Jews in general.

[1:34] And if you read the last verse of John chapter 8, he says that they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by. So all these folks that gathered around, they were ready to stone Jesus to death.

[1:53] This wasn't the first time that people were ready to kill Jesus Christ. But folks, his hour hadn't come for that just yet. And it wouldn't come for a little while after this as far as the scriptural account goes.

[2:09] But that's what leads into John chapter 9, is these folks had taken up stones against Jesus to cast at him. And it says that Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed by.

[2:26] So we'll pick up reading in John chapter 9 and beginning in verse 1. It says, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

[2:41] And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither had this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

[2:56] I must work the works of him that sent me while at his day, that not cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the lot of the world.

[3:07] When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he had anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash and the pool of saloon, which is by him interpretation sent.

[3:21] He went his way there for him, washed and came, see. And we'll stop reading right there and back up to verse 1 in John chapter 9.

[3:32] It says, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

[3:46] Jesus answered, neither had this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. So, Jesus crossed, keep in mind what we just said as far as the last verse of chapter 8 goes.

[4:00] The people had gathered around, they were ready to cast stones at him, they were ready to kill. Jesus crossed, they were ready to kill the promised Messiah that the Old Testament Scriptures had talked about.

[4:15] These are the very people that should have recognized Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They should have recognized him as the seed that was promised all throughout the Old Testament.

[4:27] But it said, just after Jesus crossed, it says that he hid himself and he went out. And just after these things, it says, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

[4:41] Jesus, pretty much what we would refer to nowadays as running for his life. But Jesus being God, he would have known that his time had not come.

[4:52] He would have known this was not the way that he was sent to die upon this earth. He knew that he would have to suffer the pain of the cross. He knew that he would have to carry a cross up dog off his hill.

[5:05] He knew all these things, but yet he hid himself from this crowd. And as he was running away from them, it says that he saw a blind man, a man that had been blind from his birth.

[5:18] A man that had never seen anything, a man that had something wrong with his vision, something wrong with his eyes. Obviously, it was no fault of his own. This man had been blind from his birth, but yet Jesus Christ, and the disturbance of the people that was seeking to stone him, Jesus Christ, and the event of running from these people, Jesus Christ still stopped.

[5:44] And he noticed this man that was sitting there. This man that was sitting there, not only was he blind, but if you drop on down to verse 8, you'll also see where this man was also a beggar. He was a blind beggar.

[5:57] Folks, I can't think of a much more pitiful state for anyone human being to be in than to be blind, and also be a beggar. But truth be known, every one of us were in that kind of shape spiritually before Jesus Christ passed by our way. Jesus Christ came by, and he saw this man sitting there to the side, and the disciples said, hey Lord, what a who-shan, was it this man, or was it his parents?

[6:27] This man has been blind from his birth. This man has been blind from the womb. Who committed this sin? Jesus Christ said, hey, he's not blind, but because of any sin.

[6:39] Now folks, I understand that every sickness that we suffer, every ailment that we have, every disease that's known to man is a direct result of sin.

[6:51] It's a direct result of the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, and I understand that. But Christ told them he's not blind because of any sin that his parents committed, or any sin that he has committed. He is blind that Almighty God may be glorified.

[7:10] He is blind that the works of Almighty God, my Father, can be manifest in him. Folks, we were blind, and we were beggars that the works of God to be manifest in us, and the glory of God to be given to him through the salvation that he works under wretched sins, is ourself. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Praise God.

[7:41] Thank you Lord. This wine man, he said there's wine and begging, and these disciples, they act so much like the church does nowadays. They say, Lord, sing this man in need, sing a man in need, sing that he's begging.

[7:57] Oh, Jesus, probably just scrape them by like some of us do sometimes or have in our lives. But he was begging, and he was blind, and the disciples, instead of helping him with what need that he needed, they start philosophizing, and they start their theology debates, and they say, Lord, who committed the sin?

[8:17] Hey folks, that's no different than the way the modern day church acts right now. We are surrounded by people in this community. We are surrounded by people in Bristol and in Johnson City in Kingsborough.

[8:30] We're surrounded by neighbors. We may have family that has needs, and instead of developing our philosophies about why they're in the shape that they're in, we should see their need, and we should care for that need.

[8:45] I'm not saying we need to make ourselves breakthrough to do so, but I'm saying as a child of God, we should be prompted by the Holy Spirit to show the kindness and the goodness of our God.

[8:59] Is that no other scripture tells us to do? That reminds me of a story over in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel, I believe it's around chapter 9.

[9:11] There's a man named Mephila Sheth. David calls for him. He says, hey, he's the one. Is there just one of Saul's family that I can show the kindness of God to?

[9:22] David was not obligated to do so. David was the king at this time, but he said, is there just one? And somebody said, hey, there's a boy named Mephila Sheth down there in the land of Lodobal, that was the glumiest and darkest place that you could live at that time.

[9:40] They said Mephila Sheth down there. David said, go fetch him. And Mephila Sheth came to the king and David said, hey, I know that you were laying on your feet. I know that you did do for yourself, but praise God, you're going to be eating good from here on out.

[9:57] You'll be eating from the king's table from now until the day that you die. That is a picture of salvation. Praise God. Glory to God. Thank you.

[10:09] This man here, he was in the same shape as Mephila Sheth was. Except Mephila Sheth went and lain from birth in 2nd and 9th where you read that account that I just gave you.

[10:22] You got to back up five chapters, the 2nd and the chapter 4, and you read where his nurse dropped him, and that's when he became lame on his feet. That's where his injury came from.

[10:33] But folks, either way, it wasn't Mephila Sheth's fault that he was laying on his feet. It wasn't this man's fault that he was blind. It wasn't his parents fault. It wasn't his fault.

[10:45] It wasn't Jesus' fault, and it wasn't the disciples fault, but I can promise you. Now, listen to me. There are certain things that sometimes we bring upon ourselves. There are certain bad times that we will bring upon ourselves, but I promise if there is something that falls in your lap, if there is something that knocks on your front door, now or in the future that is completely and totally out of your control, I promise that God has allowed it to happen, that his works might be metabased in your life. Hallelujah.

[11:19] Thank you Lord. God will make good out of that. God specializes in making good out of the bad situation. How was the bad situation? We were a bad situation. We were all bad. We were all wicked.

[11:33] We were all rich. We were all declared. And then the one sitting in here that deserves heaven, everybody in here deserves the flames of hell forever and forever. But the work of God was made manifest in us through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit of God.

[11:49] Through the washing of the Word and the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the work that was made manifest in my lap and every born again, child of God.

[12:01] Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. Amen. Jesus answered every of the disciples. Every of the disciples asked this question. Jesus answered, You heard this man send to her parents that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

[12:16] I must work the works of him that sent me while on his day and not cometh when no man can work. I must work these works while on his day.

[12:28] I must work these works in other words while I've got the time to do so. As I've already said, Jesus knew when his time would come. He knew when the time would come. He knew when he would be arrested no doubt.

[12:43] He knew that Judas Iscariot would betray him with a kiss. He already knew that he would be brought before a pilot. He already knew the suffering that he would entail. He knew the beating that he would take.

[12:55] He drank that bitter cup for you and I. He drank that bitter cup of sin. He took the beating you deserved. He took the cross that you deserved. He took everything that you and I deserve upon himself through the Bible.

[13:08] He says, Tarsus is every man that hangeth upon a tree. He hung upon that tree for you and for me. He hung upon that tree, upon that cross that cavalry in my place and in your place.

[13:21] I should have been the one that suffered. I should have been the one that bleed. And I should have been the one that died right there that day. Jesus Christ took that upon himself. Thank you Lord.

[13:32] Praise God. Hallelujah. I must work the works of him that sent me. Who sent him? The Father. The Father's room. I think that's got significance as far as the pool of sorrow goes.

[13:44] Because it plainly tells us in the Scripture. I think it's got a two-fold meaning there. It plainly tells us there in the Scripture that we read. So long as by interpretation sent.

[13:55] But we'll get to that one we knew. As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. I think Jesus is reflecting back to what had just happened.

[14:06] The last verse of chapter 8, these folks taking up stones to cast at Jesus Christ the people who are going to kill. And folks who, as I said, this ain't the first time that this ever happened.

[14:18] This isn't the first time in the Gospel of John that we read about this happening. But he says, as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of this world. Well folks, Jesus Christ ascended 2,000 or so years ago.

[14:30] So where's the light of the world now? Hey, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ said, Now ye are the light of the world. He was referring to his disciples. He was referring to those that followed him.

[14:42] He said, ye are the light of the world. And then he went on to talk about how a city that is set upon a hill, it cannot be here and how we are not to take our life and place it under our bed, nor hide it under our bushel, hey folks, whether we're lounging or in leisure, or whether we're out working, we are not to hide the life that Christ has put in us.

[15:05] We are to let our life shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Well, do we do that?

[15:18] Do we do that, Jesus said, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. And I said, he referred to himself in chapter 8 as the light of the world.

[15:29] When he had just spoken, he sat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and he adorned the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and sat under him, go and wash with the full sun, which is by interpretation sin.

[15:43] He went his way there for a wash, and can you see? When he had just spoken, he done these things. I've heard all kinds of tales and all kinds of theories as to why Jesus Christ spit on the ground, basically made mud, and anointed or rubbed this mud, made out of dirt and his own saliva in this man's eye.

[16:06] I've heard all kinds of explanations for it. I wasn't there, and I wasn't Jesus. I wouldn't dare tell you for sure exactly why he went about going this way. But I've got my theories.

[16:18] If we take this in the complete context that it's in, and especially if we go back to chapter 8, where the lawyers and the scribes, they had brought this woman called an adultery before him, and they had said, hey, the law of Moses, that which is written down the word of God, it says that we are supposed to stone this woman.

[16:37] It says that we can kill her. What say you, Jesus, about the matter? And we all know how that went. Then Jesus Christ later on, he says that he is the light of the world, and that if any man fall after him, he shall have that light.

[16:53] He shall have the light of Jesus Christ. And folks, we see these things all throughout the scriptures. Hey folks, in John chapter 5, we see Jesus Christ, he tells the Pharisees, he tells the hierarchy of the Jews, he says he searched the scriptures thinking that in them he had eternal life, but they are they which testify of me.

[17:15] Jesus is over and over directing the Jews back to the word of God, explaining the word of God, telling them the word of God is what you need. The word of God is what you should read, and that is what you should be basing your beliefs on.

[17:32] Amen. This man, this blind man, he showed the miserable state that Israel was in, but in the grander picture of things, he showed the miserable state that everyone who had ever been born was born and never will be born.

[17:49] We were in a sinful state and we were in a bad condition. This blind man, in the immediate context, he was showing the state that Israel was in. Yes, but in the grander scheme of things, it's the state that you were in in the dollars and before salvation came, before God came knocking on our hearts door, before God regenerated us with the Holy Spirit of God, before God convicted us of our sin, showed us we were on our way to hell, and showed us that he had a way prepared for us that we could get into heaven.

[18:21] God showed all these things, but Jesus here, it says, when he had the smoke and his pet on the ground, they clayed the spittle and annoyed the eyes of the blind man and said, and go wash in the pool of Solomon, which is by interpretation sin, and he went on, went his way there for him, washed, and came seeing folks, what is watering in the Bible?

[18:42] Oftentimes the water is the word of God. I understand the water is also the spirit, but hey, even Jesus Christ said, and so he said, he are clean of the words which I have spoken, we are cleansed by the word of God.

[18:56] Jesus Christ, I believe here in this scripture, he had been with the Jews, he had talked to the Jews, he had preached to the Jews, he had worked miracles in front of the Jews, and yet they were still blind by their own choice, they still have to fail over their heart, even though the light of God, the light of the gospel, the light of the very womb was standing there before them.

[19:23] Jesus did this to make a good point. He said, he is blind, he put mud over his eyes, he certainly couldn't see anymore, and he just waited on instruction, what was the instruction?

[19:39] Go and I will pull this down on the wall, which is by interpretation, sent. Yes, Jesus sent him to the pool of Siloam, but he which was sent is the one that told him to go there.

[19:52] Jesus Christ is the one who told him to go there, as I've already said, those Old Testament scriptures, they testify of Jesus Christ, and they testify of the Messiah. We read over and over, just in the Gospel of John, let alone the other Gospels, and even in some of the epistles that we read later on, in the New Testament, how stubborn the Jews were, and how hard-hearted and how hard-headed the Jews were.

[20:18] Jesus Christ here was showing the Jews just how hard-hearted they were, and he was at the same time, he said, if you will just do what I tell you to do, if you will go wash the way that I tell you to wash, if you will have faith, and you will put your trust in Almighty God, if you will read the Scriptures, and interpret them the way that God intended for them to be interpreted, instead of for your own honor, and for your own league, for your own satisfaction, then he can be made whole, and you can see.

[20:53] Amen. Thank you Lord. Hello, thank you Jesus. Go wash in the pool. You went his way there for him washed, and came to see him. Amen.

[21:04] We're going to read on just a little bit. The neighbors there for him, and they was before, had seen him that he was blind, said, it's not this he who sat in bed.

[21:15] Some said this is he, others said he is like him, but he said, I am he, amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Some people said, I don't think that's him, other people said, oh he's kind of like him, looks like him, talks like him, acts like him, but this man here can see, this man here can see, and he said, I am he, I'm the one that you're talking about, and he said, hey praise God, but salvation came out of him, when August saved, and had the training, so the Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, all things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new, and God made me a new creature, and Jesus Christ, he made me a new creature, through regeneration, and through the washing, and the cleansing, and the blood of the only begotten Son, of the Father, and there were people that said, he looks like Spencer, he even acts like Spencer to an extent, he talks like Spencer, and I said, I am Spencer, but this is a new creature, I am a new creation in Jesus Christ, I don't go the way that I once did,

[22:28] I don't act exactly the way I did, I don't say the things that I used to, I have new desires, because I'm the child of the King, praise God, I am he, I am he, witnessing, witnessing for Jesus Christ, and I didn't even know who Jesus was, I hope this is an incredible picture of the grace of God, this man, he ain't like Martin Barthelius, he ain't like Martin Barthelius that we read about in the Scriptures, Martin Barthelius is the one I sat by the roadside, and he heard that Jesus was coming down the way, and he said, Jesus, thou subjugated and mercy on me, he looked like him, this man never once cried out for help, this man never asked for any top of his hill, he never asked for a penny from Jesus, he never asked for hearing from Jesus, this was pure grace that Jesus trust to sow upon this man, this was pure grace, it is just as much grace what Christ did here, as what Almighty God did for Adam and Eve in the garden, after they had sinned, after they had fallen, and the Lord slew animals, and he covered them with the skin of said animals, that was an act of grace, he could have killed them right there, started a threat, but my God is full of grace, he is full of mercy, and they are renewed every morning, hallelujah.

[24:01] This is the God that I serve that we're talking about tonight, he is full of grace, this man didn't even ask for it, didn't make a hint as far as the scripture overcount, didn't make a hint that he wanted to be healed, but Jesus said, I've got work to do, and I've got to do it in the daytime, I've got to do it in my time here right now, for no man can work in the night, he said, I've got a job to do, that the works of God can be made manifest in this man's life, hallelujah.

[24:35] Thank you, Lord. Therefore said they unto him, how are you going to house him? He answered and said, a man that was called Jesus, made clay, and anointed my eyes and said, let me go to the full of saloam, and washed, and washed, and I went and washed, and I received salvation, and the scripture was that simple, and it's that simple for you, and it's that simple for me, it's that simple for you here lost, it's that simple if we're already saved, we obey Jesus, we obey Jesus, everything else go fall into place, it not seem like a wreck at the time, hey I got to tell you this man here, I don't know if he knew that clay mud was mixed with Jesus's saliva or not, I don't know exactly how much he knew about the situation, but he said, a man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, I don't know if he realized that Jesus Christ had spilt the dirt and made that clay or not, but folks that's not the point, the point of the night it is, when Christ said to go to the full of saloam, and Christ said to wash there, the man did as he was told, hey lost person, you do as you're told, in the scriptures you come to Jesus Christ, with a broken spirit, and a contrite heart, you come to Jesus Christ as you are, as a sinner in need of a saving, and you call out upon the Lord, you confess him with your mouth, and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and my Bible says thou shalt be saved, and it will not happen in the other way, it won't, it can't happen in the other way, you must believe that you are a sinner, you must believe that you are not capable of healing yourself, it's blind man, he doesn't say how long he had been there, how long he had been our third bag, he doesn't tell us his age, doesn't tell us anything about that as far as the account of what we've read here tonight, but we can assume, rightfully so, that it be on his Jesus' age or over, he'd been waiting around 30 years, 30 plus years actually, because this was well in Jesus' ministry, when this miracle took place, folks, when things come your way, when bad times arise and they will, when sickness comes, you may not be healed immediately, you may do it, you may get immediate healing, you may get immediate deliverance, and bless the Lord God if you do, but it might take a year, it might take five years, it might take 10 or 20, God only knows how long the deliverance may take, but you bless the name of the Lord in that time, you praise God during your termal, you praise God during your semen, you praise God during your time, you praise God through the good and through the bad, just to not that he's the God on the mountain, and he's the God in the valley, and Jesus is just as much God when everything's going right now, as it is when everything's falling all in pieces, and alive, this is the God of Scripture that I'm describing to you this season, hey, David didn't always have it easy, Solomon didn't always have it easy, Abraham didn't have it easy, the Apostle Paul didn't always have it easy, hey, there is nowhere in the Scripture that is promised to those that believe God that we will have an easy life, but bless the Lord God,

[28:20] Jesus Christ said in the world he shall have tribulation, but be a good cheer, ah, have overcome the world, hey, David, in the world we will have tribulation, for a be a good cheer, Christ has opened up the world, then said to him, where is he? He said, I know not, he knew his name, but he didn't really know who Jesus was, he said this man named Jesus, oh, if you're here lost, I don't know anybody's heart, but if you're here lost tonight, you don't have to know everything about Jesus, I'm saying going on 14 years, 14 years is February, I don't know everything about Jesus, and a lot of you have been saying longer than I have, you don't know everything about Jesus, we don't have to have a perfect knowledge of Jesus Christ to be saved, and I'll let you know after that, because for a finite mind to obtain perfect knowledge of an infinite being such as Jesus Christ, it's an impossibility that it will ever happen, all we need to realize is that we are sinners and that we are incapable of doing anything for ourselves, this blind man that's set by the side of the room begging, he was incapable of doing for himself, all he could do was sit there with a cup or a bowl and hope that people come by and pitch the corner to his way, but he was incapable of doing anything else for himself, and he was entirely incapable of doing anything spiritually for himself, and if we take this and we abide spiritually, as has already been said, we are all blind before we are saved, we have all got to veil over our hearts before we are saved, and it will take a lot of the world, it will take the gospel life of Jesus Christ to shine into our hearts, to shine into our very being, to the depths of our soul and expose what we are and God to expose to us who he is and what he has to offer us, and all he had to offer us is Jesus Christ, that's what he offers,

[30:26] Jesus Christ is the final word from God, he's it, you'll never save yourself, you can't save yourself, I couldn't save myself, Jesus Christ is the way and the truth, and the life, and no one will come to the Father but by Jesus Christ, it will only come through him, so if you like this beggar, sit on the side of the road blind, unable to do for yourself, I mentioned my Phoebus chapter earlier, maybe you're lame, either way it's not your fault, hey, you were born into sin, you're shaping in iniquity, hey folks, we were conceived in sin, according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures, hey folks, that is what we inherited from Adam and Eve, that's a nature that we inherited from them, you're not a sinner because of what you do, you're a sinner because of who you are, you're a sinner because it's in your very flesh, it's in your very being, that's what you do, you do what you are, and we are sinners, but God made a way that wretched sinners that couldn't help themselves could be helped through and by the Lord Jesus Christ, praise God, praise the Lord, you're like this beggar, you're like this beggar, you'll come to God by Jesus, you'll come to no salvation, you'll come to no forgiveness, only by Jesus Christ, and folks, those of you that are sitting here saved, we're not exempt, you obey Christ, if Christ puts spit in your eyes and tells you to go wash it out, go wash it out, there's a reason for it, there's a reason, as I've already said, for every sickness, every heartache, every sadness that comes our way, there's a reason for it, I said we bring a lot of that stuff upon ourselves, yes, but if it comes in a situation that we have no control over,

[32:19] I promise you, God allowed that into your life, that His words could be made manifest in your life, and how it would have been, how it would have been that God wouldn't have used it, God bless you, that's the message for this week.