John 9:30-41 (Teaching)

[0:00] We just missed for Sunday school and those of you up here in the adult class, we can turn back to John chapter nine and Lord willing, we should finish up John chapter nine today and that being said, if I try to go into John chapter 10, somebody jump up and stop me.

[0:24] I don't really want to, or let me rephrase, I want to get into chapter 10.

[0:34] I don't think we'll really have time, but I wouldn't get nearly as far in chapter 10 as I would like to if we did start it. But to recap on John chapter nine, those of you that have been here and those of you that may not have been here, John chapter nine begins with Jesus Christ leaving the temple grounds.

[0:56] After the Jews, as the scripture calls them, it's the higher up the elite Jews, the religious leaders of the days, and those surrounding them and taking up stones to kill Jesus Christ.

[1:12] They're at the end of John chapter eight. So in the beginning of John chapter nine, we have Jesus leaving the temple grounds and says as he passed by, that he saw this blind man and he healed this blind man.

[1:28] In short, he healed him. If you've been here, you know the account that John gives here, how Jesus made the clay out of his spittle and some dirt that was on the ground, and he anointed the man's eyes and told him to go wash at the pool of Siloam.

[1:45] The man did and he came again seeing. So Jesus heals this man, then it turns into a big fiasco between Jesus and the religious rulers, because the man was brought to the Jews, and it turns into a work on the Sabbath day, it turns into this and that with them.

[2:03] They're arguing with Jesus and going back and forth. We've been through all that last week. If I'm not horribly mistaken, we ended with verse, if I can get to John chapter nine, we ended with verse 29, where these Pharisees said, we know that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

[2:31] I said last week that Jesus has told them over and over from whence he is. He's told them that he's from above.

[2:43] He's told them that he's from God. He's told them that he is the light of the world. He's made it clear to them from whence he is, but not only that, but in John chapter seven, we actually see the same group of the Jews or of the Pharisees, of the elite, we see them saying that they know whence he is.

[3:06] That indicates an inconsistency of their unbelief, because we have in John chapter seven them saying, we know whence he is, which they were talking about the natural form there, but here they're saying, we know not whence he is.

[3:24] We don't know where he came from. That's a very inconsistent statement that they make here. But they were relying on the fact that they know, where they knew that God spoke unto Moses.

[3:39] Says, as for this fellow in verse 29, we know not from whence he is. So with all that being said, verse 30 in John chapter nine, says, the man answered and said unto them, why herein is a marvelous thing that you know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes.

[3:59] So they've said, we know that God spoke to Moses, but we don't know where this man is from, or from whence he is.

[4:10] And he answers and says, why herein is a marvelous thing? In other words, why is this so hard for you to comprehend? Why is this such a marvelous thing to you?

[4:20] Why is this so incredible? And he goes on, that you know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened my eyes. So not only was this man's personal testimony of what Jesus Christ had done for him, because they had asked him a couple of Sundays we read about, they said, how did this thing happen?

[4:44] He says this man called Jesus, he anointed my eyes, he told me to go wash, and I did, and now I see. And he's already told them, we covered it last week.

[4:55] He said, whether this man is a sinner or no, I know not. But this I know, I was blind, and now I see. So this man has given his testimony several times over by this point, not only that, but his parents have also somewhat testified.

[5:13] I talked about it last week, how his parents had also kinda thrown him under the bus for fear of the Jews. And the Bible plainly tells us that, that they gave the answer that they did for fear of the Jews, but you read in verse 20, his parents answered them and said, we know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.

[5:35] So they've given testimony that this is indeed our son, and yes, he was indeed born blind, and it's obvious that the miraculous has happened to this man here in the scripture, and he's given his testimony over and over, but the thing is in verse 30, he's asking, why herein is a marvelous thing that you know not from whence he is, and yet he has opened my eyes.

[6:00] So his testimony and his parents' testimony has gone unheeded by the Jews, or by these religious elite, by the Pharisees that are grilling him at this point.

[6:14] They basically got this man on a mini trial here, but they're not heeding the word of testimony that has come from his lips, nor the testimony that has come from the lips of his parents.

[6:30] Verse 31, now we know, this is still the man speaking here, now we know that God here hath not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he hath.

[6:43] Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind? Back to verse 31, now we know that God here hath not sinners, now this verse has been taken and used out of context many times by the church.

[7:01] We know that God here hath not sinners, and I understand that in the Psalms, I believe it's Psalm 66, it says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me, but we must keep this in the context that we are reading this in, just to say that God here is not sinners.

[7:23] Folks, that puts all of us in jeopardy, that puts all of us in trouble, because even though I'm saved, I'm still a sinner, I'm a sinner saved by grace, I don't sin perpetually, I don't sin constantly, I don't wake up in the morning thinking how I'm gonna sin or go throughout my day, wondering how I can sin or what sin I can commit the next day, like I once did, and like you all once did before, you were saved, every one of us were like that, but nevertheless, to say that God does not hear sinners, period, that jeopardizes every one of us, not only us born again Christians, but it jeopardizes those that are still in a lost state that are unregenerate, because if he doesn't hear sinners, he'll never hear them cry out for forgiveness, he'll never hear them cry out in repentance, so we must keep this in the context that it's in, what is the context that this is in?

[8:26] The context is these Pharisees grilling this man and they've grilled his parents as well, they put them on this mini trial here, and this man is saying we know that God here is not sinners.

[8:39] This was one of the pet things that Pharisees held on to, and this is actually carried over into the Roman Catholic Church that God does not hear sinners, that's why the confession is needed in Catholicism.

[9:00] They say you've got to go to this booth, you've got to confess it to this priest, this priest is your representative between you and God, no folks, no.

[9:11] Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, the Bible makes that abundantly and very plainly clear, in black and white there is but one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.

[9:25] But him saying we know, when he says here, we know that God here is not sinners, but if any man be a worse part of God, and do with his will, him he heareth.

[9:36] He was calling these Pharisees out in this belief that they have. Remember up here in verse 24, these Pharisees, these elites said, then again called the man that was blind, said unto him, give God the praise, we know that this man is a sinner.

[9:57] They said we know that this man is a sinner, and all of us know sitting here in this sanctuary, right now, that Jesus Christ was not a sinner, the man never committed one sin at all.

[10:11] So he's calling these Pharisees out here, he says we know that God here is not sinners, but if any man be a worse part of God, and do with his will, him he heareth. Verse 32, couples with that, since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind?

[10:29] So he says, if this man is a sinner, if this man is a sinner, as you say, then how can he do the work of God that he has done in my life, that he has performed on my eyes?

[10:42] How was I blind from birth? How have I never seen up until the time that this man touched me, up until the time this man anointed my eyes and told me to go wash, and I came seeing.

[10:56] How is that possible, folks? Nowhere, nowhere else in scripture, not Moses, remember these people said, we know that God spoke to Moses, but this man, we know not whence he is, not Moses, not Elijah, not Daniel, none of the Old Testament prophets ever, do you read about them healing a blind man that had been blind from birth?

[11:22] The only one in scripture that done that, that man who bears a record of is Jesus Christ. And that is exactly what this man here is getting at.

[11:33] He says that God here is not sinners, and in the very next verse, he says, since the world began, was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind?

[11:47] So verse 33, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. So he is owning that this man was from God, that Jesus Christ was from God, and we have seen this procession take place from the very beginning, and we've covered that over the past two or three Sundays, when he was first healed, and he talked to his neighbors, he says, the neighbors there for him, verse 8, and they which before had seen him that was blind, and he said, it's not this he that sat and begged.

[12:22] So the neighbors came to him, but he said in verse 11, a man that is called Jesus made clay. So he just refers to him as a man, and he referred to him by name, a man that is called Jesus.

[12:37] Then down in verse 17, they say unto the blind men again, what sayest thou of him? And he hath opened thine eyes. He said he is a prophet, and he was owning this man as someone that was sent from God, someone that was of God.

[12:56] And here we have him saying in verse 33, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. He is calling these Pharisees out in their hypocrisy.

[13:08] He's calling them out in their unbelief. He's calling them out all over the field, as far as how they were treating Jesus, how they were treating this man, how they were reacting to his parents' testimonies.

[13:22] He's calling all of this out. He says, if this man weren't from God, how in the world could he have performed this miraculous act upon me? If he weren't from God, he could do nothing.

[13:33] And folks, that applies to you and I nowadays. It applies to us just as much now, 2,000 years later, as it applied here. Without God, you and I can do nothing.

[13:45] We can't breathe, we can't walk, we can't talk, we can't function, can't sleep, can't wake up. We can't do anything without the grace and without the blessing of Almighty God.

[14:00] And that goes for the saved, that goes for the lost, that goes for everybody. It is purely by God's grace that lost people are still out here wandering around this planet.

[14:12] And that's the grace that I spent 33 years lost and then got saved. It was by God's grace that he kept me alive all that time that I could be saved. We can do nothing without God.

[14:26] This man here says, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. So verse 34, they answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us, and they cast him out.

[14:41] Thou, excuse me, they answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins. Well, they've gone back, plunge to verse 2 in this same chapter.

[14:53] Those of you that were here when we started this chapter, remember what happened there? The disciples, when they first left the temple grounds, he says, Jesus passed by and he saw this blind man.

[15:04] And what did the disciples do? They said, Lord, is this man a sinner or was his parent's sinner that he was born blind? And here they're saying to this man, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us, and they cast him out.

[15:22] Folks, he was calling them out and he was doing it rightfully. He was doing it correctly. And he was using nothing but pure and true testimony to do it.

[15:37] He hadn't recanted anything that he had said. He hadn't bolted at anything that he said, nor had he contradicted himself in anything that he said.

[15:48] He offered them the truth. I was blind and now I see. And the only thing they said was, Thou wast altogether born in sins.

[16:00] Going back to his blindness and he's no longer blind. They said, Thou wast altogether born in blindness, and dost thou teach us, or Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us, and they cast him out.

[16:16] Arthur Pink, in his exposition of the Gospel of John, in this very verse here, and I'll never forget reading it, Arthur Pink says, happy man, thrice, happy man.

[16:29] Talking about this man that was born blind and now saw. But he speaks it about this verse here. Happy man, why? I agree with A.W. Pink on that. I'll say praise God, amen, and hallelujah.

[16:42] They cast him out. They accuse him. They say, Thou wast altogether born in sin. And that's not a lie. Every one of us are altogether born in sin.

[16:55] Every one of us are in that shape. They ask the question, and dost thou teach us? Folks, this does good for a lot of preachers, a lot of Sunday school teachers, a lot of officers of the church, a lot of people that have been saved for 50 years.

[17:12] There is a great lesson in this, and that is the fact that a lay member may just have some light about the Scripture that's never crossed your mind, that God hasn't granted you.

[17:27] So for these Pharisees to say this, to say this to this man, you were altogether born in sin and dost thou teach us? Yes, that's exactly what this man was doing.

[17:40] He was teaching them, but they did not heed to the teaching. They did not heed to his word. They did not heed to his testimony, and they cast him out. And folks, this was one of the best things they could have done, was cast him out.

[17:54] They cast him out of the synagogue. They cast him out of the religion and the tradition of Judaism, and that's all Judaism had become at this point.

[18:06] It had become a religion. It had become a tradition. It had become something that they had just done because they thought or they knew that they were supposed to do it, but it was nothing to do with the relationship with God.

[18:20] So praise God that they cast this man out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe on the Son of God?

[18:33] So we go from one verse, they cast him out, to the very next verse. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he found him, he said, do you believe on the Son of God?

[18:45] Dust thou believe on the Son of God? Folks, this shows the compassion of Jesus Christ. Jesus knew and God knew the weight of this, as I've said, many trial that this man had been on, and it would have been a weight that had been laid upon him.

[19:04] He knew the weight of it. He knew the severity of it. He knew just how hard these Pharisees were coming after this man, and after they cast him out, after they cast him out, Jesus comes to them.

[19:19] And folks, he's been cast out. Once again, of the synagogue, he's been cast out. He's been cut off from his people at this point. He's exactly what they did. He's been excommunicated from then.

[19:31] That means, according to the Old Testament, if he was cast out, then in these Pharisees' minds, he was cut off from his people.

[19:42] He was cut off from the blessings of his people. He was cut off from all kinds of different things that we read about in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers, especially of those books. But folks, Jesus came to them when he was cast out.

[19:56] And I'm here to tell you, it is better to be outside of the world, outside of the realm of the world, with Jesus Christ than it is to be inside with a whole group and a whole slew of professors of Jesus Christ.

[20:18] But they have no relationship with Him. It is 10 times, 100 times, 1,000 times better to be outside, to feel like you're by yourself, but Jesus Christ is right there with you.

[20:30] It is so many times better to be outside with Christ than it is to be inside with people who merely have a profession of religiosity or a profession of tradition or a profession of Christ, but no relationship with Christ.

[20:47] So Jesus asked the question, does thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee.

[21:02] So this shows kind of a completion of this process that we've seen building up here. In the beginning, the man referred to Jesus Christ as a man and then he calls him a prophet and then he says that he is of God and here Jesus fully reveals himself to this man as fully as he would as far as this account goes.

[21:30] The man says, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Showing that there was still a part of him that didn't quite understand and folks, when I got saved, I told you all before, I didn't understand at all, but I knew that I was blind and now I see.

[21:49] I knew that I was lost and now I'm saved. I knew I was hell bound, now I'm heaven bound. And that's what this man knew up to this point, but he asked the question, who is he, Lord?

[22:03] He says, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? He said, and Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee.

[22:15] So this man has been cast out from his people. He's been thrown out and Jesus Christ came to him. The Bible says that he's a refuge.

[22:27] He's our strength, I believe it's Psalms 46 says he's a refuge. He's our strength. He is a very present help in trouble. And that's exactly what Jesus was here to this man, a very present help in trouble and he reveals himself.

[22:43] He says, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee. Verse 38, and he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. And folks, this should be our reaction.

[22:54] This should be how we respond to such a thing. We might come under an attack from our family, from our friends, from our place of work, from religious zealots, from unbelievers.

[23:09] It's unending how many different types of people or groups of people we might come under attack from. But when we do, Jesus Christ will be right there with us.

[23:21] He will be right there and our reaction should be just like this man, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. We should worship Christ. Before the crosses happens, we should worship Christ during the crosses and we should worship Christ after the crosses.

[23:39] We should praise Christ in all three of those segments of any crosses. We should praise Christ for anything good that's going on in our life or that we anticipate may happen in our life. We can praise Christ for anything good that has happened in our life.

[23:53] But either way, we should worship Jesus Christ as this man did. And Jesus said for judgment, I am coming to this world that they would see, that they would see not might see, that they would see and that they would see might be made blind.

[24:12] So Jesus tells us to this man. It says this man worshiped Jesus Christ and Christ says these words for judgment. I am coming to this world.

[24:23] Well, what happened to Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost? What happened to that? If for judgment he came into the world.

[24:35] Folks, the very life that Jesus Christ lived and the very death that Jesus Christ suffered judges every man because it is what we do with that information.

[24:53] It is what we do with the information that we find in this book. It is how we react and how we respond to that information that Christ did indeed come into the world to save sinners that Christ did indeed die for your sins and die for mine.

[25:08] It is how we react to that and how we respond to that when the Holy Spirit is dealing with us. How we respond to that depends on whether we receive judgment from God or if we receive reconciliation from God.

[25:26] So Christ to tell this man for judgment I come into the world that they would see not might see. He says for judgment I am coming into the world that he tells us why that they would see not might see.

[25:39] That is this man here. He did not see. He was blind and he was born blind. But now he sees. But then there is a continuation of that and that they which see might be made blind.

[25:55] So he says for judgment I am coming into the world for these two things. That they which don't see can see and those which do see might be made blind.

[26:07] And we get to verse 40 and some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto him are we blind also? Now what did he just say? That judgment would come into the world, that he would come into the world, that those which did not see could see and those which saw might be made blind.

[26:24] And so the Pharisees ask him this question are we blind also? Jesus gives them a very short but very upfront reply. Verse 41 Jesus said unto them if you were blind you should have no sin.

[26:39] But now you say we see therefore your sin remain. If you were blind you should have no sin. Now again we can go back to the very beginning of this chapter when the disciples said ask Jesus why is this man born blind?

[26:58] Is it a sin that he is committed or is it a sin that his parents committed? And what was Jesus's reply? He said it has nothing to do with sin. Not the sin of this man, not the sin of his parents.

[27:11] This man is afflicted in this way. This man was born blind. He is suffering this ailment that the glory of God may be manifest in his life.

[27:23] So for Jesus here to say if you were blind you should have no sin. Remember he told his disciples it has nothing to do with sin. Why he was born blind?

[27:35] If you were blind you should have no sin. But now you say we see therefore your sin remain. In other words folks if we know that we're blind we should desire a cure for that.

[27:52] Ray Comfort has a wonderful illustration that he uses. I don't know if any of you watch his YouTube videos or not but he does a lot of street evangelism. He has a wonderful illustration that he uses.

[28:03] He says there's a man that goes to the doctor and the doctor's seen the x-rays and he knows that this man has got a horrible disease, a horrible affliction of some kind inside his body.

[28:14] But he's got those x-rays in one hand and he's got the cure for this disease or whatever it is in his other hand. And the man standing there before him and the doctor knows that this man's going to be dead in two weeks or a month or however long it's going to be.

[28:29] And the man standing there he says I work out, I'm healthy, I feel great, blah blah blah. If you're the doctor do you show him the x-rays or do you give him the cure?

[28:41] And most people will respond you give him the cure because you know that he's sick. The problem is he doesn't know that he's sick. He doesn't know that he's blind.

[28:53] Just like these folks here we see therefore he says but now you say we see therefore your sin remaineth. And back to that illustration the ray comfort uses so often.

[29:05] If you just give the man the cure and he's healthy and he feels great he's not going to want to take it because he doesn't think that he needs it. But if you show him those x-rays and you show him the problem then he's going to ask for the cure.

[29:19] Then he'll ask for what's going to make him healthy what's going to help him out. But without knowing, without knowing he's not going to multi-curry. He's not going to think there's any need for the cure.

[29:34] So the realization of our blindness should drive us to Jesus Christ.

[29:45] If you're here and you're born again it did. When the Holy Spirit showed you you were blind the Holy Spirit showed you that you were lost. The Holy Spirit showed you that you were without hope outside of Jesus Christ.

[30:00] And that realization should drive us to do exactly as this man did. When he already knew that he was blind he knew he was in bad shape did he not?

[30:12] But when Jesus offered the cure and he anointed his eyes and he told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. The man obeyed the word of God the man obeyed the word of Jesus Christ and he came again seeing.

[30:28] Folks, I said then when I taught that a couple of Sundays ago and I'll say it again now. If we will do what the word of God tells us to. When the word of God tells us to and how the Holy Spirit may move us to.

[30:43] We will be in a whole lot better shape as Christians. We'll be in a whole lot better shape as people. As brothers and sisters and Christ's husbands and wives and as neighbors and as friends.

[30:55] If we just do what this book tells us to do. That wraps up John chapter 9. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that?

[31:06] Alright God bless y'all. I appreciate you.