BLINDNESS OF THE HEART

 

John 9:1-41

 

Around the globe we see and hear that sickness is a universal problem and it affects all ages, all religions and all ethnic groups. No one on this planet is exempt from the possibilities of sickness, even from birth. Ever since the fall of man, all physical problems are a result of the fall, for Adam’s disobedience and rebellion has brought sin and death onto the world. Paul wrote “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Rom 5:12. Death is mankind’s end on this earth, and that includes all types of sickness, pain and suffering.

 

Massive outbreaks of disease have

destroyed the lives of millions.

 

In the fourteenth century the infamous Black Death (bubonic plague) killed an estimated one-third of Europe’s population. In the nineteenth century during the Civil War, that twice as many soldiers died of disease as were killed in combat. In the twentieth century the Influenza Epidemic of the 1918 to 1919 claimed 30 to 50 million lives. Even today with many diseases no longer a threat, the AIDS virus continues to kill thousands, now the Alphabet group has another virus to contend with and that is the “Monkey Pox”. But also, many continue to die due to injuries, cancer and heart problems.

 

We come to an event that God has ordained to produce many emotions that is filled with sadness, pity, happiness, anger, grace and worship of the glory of God. It’s a man who has been blinded from birth! Can you imagine being blind from birth? Medically speaking! Of the five senses in the human body, our sight may be the most important to us. Statistics say that in North America someone goes blind every 20 minutes. 

Many, like this man, blind from birth are unable to enjoy the blessings of……

A sunset or a sunrise

Witnessing the Northern Lights

The massive array of stars, or a falling star

Different types of and landscapes and mountain ranges

Driving an automobile, or to walk without some aid to help them.

Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup this year.

Watching the rain come down or the lighting that lights up the sky at night.

The simple expression of joy or sadness on someone’s face.

The beauty of a snowflake or the snow that covers the landscape after a storm.

The beauty of a flowered covered garden or field filled with wild flowers.

 

All these things are what we take for granted most of the time, for those who can see. And it’s for this reason, next to the prodigal son; the blind man is one of my favourite events in history recorded in the gospels. Why? It’s filled with spiritual truth about you, and me, and our desperate need to be able to see the gospel that saves. See, before Christ came into the believer’s life, the natural man and woman are just like these men Jesus confronted at the end of this story. “Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.” (v40-v41) Just like these men we were once ignorant to spiritual truth and the reality of eternal life, unable to see because we were spiritually blind. It has been told that Helen Keller, both deaf and blind, shortly before her 60th birthday, expressed pity for the real unseeing, for those who have eyes yet do not see. Her long years of physical blindness have given her a spiritual insight which enables her to enjoy life in all its fullness. She said, "If the blind put their hand in God, they find their way more surely than those who see but have not faith or purpose. See, we’re about to encounter another one of John’s recorded miracles that our precious Jesus performed for the world to see the gospel. Again, when Jesus performed miracles, it was always to display or prove He was the Messiah.

 

But, there another reason when he performed miracles…..so that He could teach or convey a spiritual truth. “but that the works of God should be revealed in Him.” (v3) What Jesus is saying is that, “In the providence of God, this man had been afflicted with blindness so that God might someday heal this man and thereby receive glory.” The blind man’s life is a concrete example of suffering that went on and on for year after year until it finally resulted in glory. This why Paul could write these words of encouragement in his sufferings. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Rom 8:18. Let me ask you as we look at this beautiful story of God’s sovereign grace to save a sinner not from physical death, but from spiritual death as well.

 

What's worse: Physical blindness or moral 

and spiritual darkness?

 

Sin will always cloud the mind in darkness, and closes the heart to God's love and truth. This is why Augustine suggests that "The blind man is the human race." This spiritual lesson for us to see in this passage is that we all need God’s divine transforming work in order for us to truly see properly. Augustine is right! Were all blind! What are some things we can observe in this passage?

 

SIN AS BROUGHT MUCH SORROW INTO THIS WORLD AND INTO OUR LIVES. (v1-v3)

 

The disciples’ question reflects the popular Jewish opinion of their day, that sickness is the result of sin. Like Job’s friends, they seem to reason, “This man is suffering, and it must be due to sin” It’s the idea that all affliction, pain, suffering is divine punishment from sin. People think this way because there has to be some kind of ratio between the degree of a person’s suffering and the degree of his sin. The Book of Job was written to refute these falsehoods by showing that Job’s suffering, had nothing to with sin on his part. Are there sins that God visits with afflictions when they disobey Him? Yes. What happened to the baby born of David and Bathsheba? The judgment of God came on the child, God took the baby’s life as judgement on David and Bathsheba. (2 Sam 12:15-23) What happened to Moses’ sister Miriam? She protested against Moses’ marriage, and rebelled against his leadership. God, we are told visited her and gave her leprosy, that is, a physical affliction came on her as a direct result of her sin. 

(Num 12:1-10)

 

So, there are times God disciplines His people by affliction. But we are never to rush to conclusions that every affliction is directly a result of God’s judgement. That is true with what is before us this morning. Such sin is either that of the man himself, or of his parents.” Ultimately all sickness is the result of Adam’s sin. The SIN that plunged mankind into sin was not murder, or some other gross sin, but a simple act of eating the fruit from a prohibited tree. The sin that caused everyone of us to be born sinful, was Adam’s disobedience. It shows that man was not capable of determining what was good, and evil, and that man must trust God in all matters. So, since the fall, sin has done some really terrible things to people around the globe; it’s not only caused the earth to decay, but it also affects you and me as well. Our physical bodies are dying and are prone to things of this world, and it’s all because of the fall. Even today, with many diseases like: aids, cancer, heart problems, diabetes, lyme disease and so on continue to wreak havoc on our culture. Meaning that sin itself has caused much pain; its not to say it’s your sin that is causing you grieve and heart, but that sin has tainted this world.

 

Think about it! If Adam had never fallen then we could assume that people would have never been blind or deaf and so on. But the sad reality is that he did and this act of disobedience has spread to each and every one of us. As Paul said “But the Scripture has confined all under sin,…” Gal 3:22 “all” meaning every individual: Jews and Gentiles alike are under the power and dominion of sin. And if you were to join the disciples in asking: Why? Who sinned that this man must suffer like this? God didn’t deliberately make this man blind, but God sovereignly chose to use this man’s affliction for His own glory. He is suffering that the works of God might be displayed in him. What works? The works of wrath-bearing, and curse-removing, and guilt-lifting, and righteousness-providing, and death-defeating, and life-giving, and in the end suffering-removing, totally removing found in Christ alone.

 

The blindness of this man is for the glory of God. Just as the thorn in the flesh is for the glory of God when Paul wrote, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:8-10

THE POWER THAT CHRIST HOLDS IN HIS HANDS. 

(v4-v7)

Its here Jesus reveals His strong sense of mission, He had a task to do during the limited of time on earth, and healing this man was one of them. (v4) This means that, “Jesus will turn from a ministry of healing to a ministry of dying. He will turn from the day-work of relieving suffering, and do the night-work of suffering Himself." Such a miracle displays that Jesus Christ has all power in heaven and on earth. In the cure of this blind man, we see nothing less the finger and providence of God. No medicine or doctors; just some simple clay and water, and the providence of a sovereign God. Jesus, giving sight to this man so the people could see the glory of God on display; and to witness the supernatural work of God in the life of a poor sinner. The same supernatural work that made this man see is the same God who revealed Himself to you in the written word in the gospel confession.

 

Think about it! There isn’t one spiritual disease that our Saviour cannot take away. (v5) He is the Light of the world. He can take an ignorant person like myself, and make me see things that I’ve never seen before. J C Ryle said “He can send light onto the darkest heart, and cause blindness and prejudice to pass away. Darkness was all this beggar had ever known. He could not conceive the beautiful array of colours; the glories of nature were hidden to him. But everything changed that day when he heard “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. (v5-v7) This man was seeing for the first time, how overwhelming it must have felt to him, he saw light, he saw people, he saw things he only heard about since his birth.

 

Can you imagine seeing the beauty of the sky and all of creation coming to life for the very first time in HD colour. Seeing things as you imagined it to be and to find out you were way off, but now it doesn’t matter anymore because he could see for the first time. This man’s response to obey the Lord’s commands symbolizes the obedience that marks genuine saving faith, which will see shortly. The people, “the neighbors” those who previously seen this man they were shocked in somewhat disbelief. (v8-12) And since the man didn’t know what He looked like he too was left without an answer to where He is. Jesus at this point since (v7) has left the area until we see Him back in (v35). Now this man who can see, is left on center stage to answer the skeptics and wondering people. (this is where we see the depravity of man’s heart)

THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN’S HEART AND THE GREAT LENGTHS THEY GO TO PROVE THEIR PREDISPOSITION. (v13-v18)

The Pharisee’s found fault which revealed how little the Jews of our Lord’s time understood the right use of the sabbath day. (v13-v16) The Pharisees found fault because a blind man was miraculously healed on the sabbath day. A good thing, or work, has been done to helpless fellow man, a burden of great magnitude has been lifted, a might act of mercy had been performed. And all they were concerned with was that Jesus breached the 4^th commandment. These would-be wise men completely missed or mistook the intention of the sabbath. The sabbath was made for man, set apart for the good of man’s body, mind, and soul. It was to be carefully sanctified and kept holy. But as J C Ryle said when speaking about the sabbath is for man. “Sanctification was never intended to prevent works of necessity and acts of mercy. To heal a sick man was no breach of the sabbath day. In finding fault with our Lord for so doing, the Jews only exposed their ignorance of their own law. They had forgotten it is a s great a sin to add to a commandment, as to take it away. We hold the 4^th commandment seriously as a day to keep it holy as long as the world stands. The sabbath isn’t an excuse, “to spending it on self-indulgences.” The sabbath reveals whether we are in tune with Heaven, whether we love communion with God, which reveals the secrets of our hearts. These men are not of God, because they keep not the sabbath day. What Jesus did was minister the works of mercy, in ministering to the sick, and doing good to the distressed. But these men didn’t believe, and they tried everything in their tool box to destroy the name of Christ, and this man’s testimony of mercy and grace. These men were blinded by their own self-righteous system, because they believed that Jesus was not from God because He broke the sabbath rule. 

These men were determined not to believe and would do whatever

it takes to keep it that way. As one writer said “They were like men who shut their eyes and tie a bandage over them, and refuse to have it untied.” We read that the same thing happens when Stephen preached to the Sandhedrin about Jesus and the precious gospel. They would hear no more of it so they had him stoned! This is by far the most damaging thing that could happen to an unconverted man; closing and refusing to hear the truth of God’s word. Again, as Jesus said earlier to the religious leaders. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.” John 5”39-42. 4 times this poor man had to explain himself about what happened on this what was “suppose to be glorious day”, a man who was once blind but now is able to see. But, their ignorance, and unwillingness to listen, was the root of their harden hearts.

HOW MUCH WISER ARE THE POOR ARE SOMETIMES OVER THE RICH AND SOPHISTICATED……(v24-v33)

 

A man who was once in a position the only thing he could do to survive was to beg for food or money. Was now a man who could see something the rich elite couldn’t see or desired to receive and that is God’s GRACE. This poor once blind beggar believed what had just occurred in his life because of the unanswerable divine proof [humanly speaking] our Lord did in his life. Its here we see how much wiser the poor sometimes are than the rich. This once blind man was a man of considerable humility, he saw in our Lord’s miracle an unanswerable proof of our Lord’s divine commission. Why? Look what this man says to the disbelieving Jews. “The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." (v30-v33)

 

He said all this because a simple poor man saw something that the rich and sophisticated didn’t and would not see….”the grace and mercy of God” The power of God on display which is foolishness to the hardness of man’s heart as the Apostle Paul said, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” 1 Cor 1:25-26 What we learn from this encounter is that the Christian poor man never needs to be ashamed of his or her poverty. It is a sin to be proud, and worldly-mined, and unbelieving; but it is not be poor in spirit. The riches this world has to offer at many times veils the eyes of men’s souls and prevent them from seeing Christ. This man exposes the hearts of these false teachers who refuse to rest in the Christ of the Sabbath by not rehashing his testimony again. (v25-v30)

WE SEE HOW WICKED A PERSON CAN BECOME OVER THE BLESSING OF ANOTHER. (v34)

 

A day that was supposed to the greatest day of his life, turned out to be the worst day in his life. These men, who rejected the Light of the world, excommunicated this young man and put him out into open shame. What do you mean “excommunicated him and put him out into open shame?” This means he would be treated as a “heathen man” [a wretched sinner] so he would be considered an outcast, or unclean to his own people. This would cut him off from the outward privileges of the Jewish church when it came to their festivals or forms of corporate worship. This also meant he would be separated from his own family and friends; they would not be unable to socialize with him, or do any dealings with him. This was the fear of his parents! This is why they didn’t answer the question from the religious leaders for the fear of this happening to them. (v20-22) We can find great encouragement from this passage; this man stood his ground on the facts, the truth, and did not cave to the power-hungry religious leaders scared tactics. Men can kill the body, but they cannot keep us from entering Heavens gates, as Jesus said “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt 10:28

 

HOW AMAZING IS THE GRACE AND KINDNESS THAT CHRIST SHOWS A LOST SINNER. (v35-v41)

 

No sooner was this poor man thrown out, cast out, of the Jewish Temple than to find Jesus, seeks him out and speaking words of comfort. (v35) Jesus knew full well how heavy an affliction; excommunication was to an Israelite. He speaks these words to encourage his heart, his faith. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “You” the use of personal pronoun, Jesus emphasized the man’s need to respond. The man responds with a heart that is divinely prepared to believe in Jesus. The dead has come to life, the blind spiritually are able to see for the first time. Those whom God effectually calls respond in awe and in worship of Him. (v38) The joy and delight this man must have felt at that moment is a prime example of a true follower of Christ. Remember the reason for this gospel letter that John wrote, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31

Why? Jesus came to save the outcast, the lost, and the destitute, from their sins. He comforts this man who has lost so much but has gained so much more and that is Eternal life in the Son of God. This true for all those who are His, despite not being physically blind, we were all blind spiritually until God gave us sight. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” Eph 2:8. For 30 years I was blind spiritually, walking in darkness living a life without hope or any care in this world, I came to get what I wanted and nothing was going to stop that. Until the greatest surgeon performed surgery on my heart and gave me a new one, so that I could see the beauty of His grace and the love He had for sinners to take my place on the cross of Calvary. He removed my heart of stone and replaced it with His, He washed me clean by His blood so that I could truly see for the first time, He removed the scales from eyes to see and taste the grace of the gospel that saves.

 

We all were once blind

 

Blind to the reality of sin and death, but praise be it to Jesus Christ who came, suffered and died so that I, could be saved by His grace and see for the very first time. As John Newton said in the famous hymn “Amazing Grace” “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”