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Well, you can turn with me in 
your Bibles to the Gospel of John. We're in chapter 9. We've 
been looking at this man who was born blind. We come to the 
last section in verses 35 to 41, but I do want to read the 
chapter to remind us of what's going on. So basically you have 
the demonstration of Christ's power in verses one to 12. Secondly, 
the investigation of Christ's miracle in verses 13 to 34. And then this morning, the manifestation 
of Christ's glory in verses 35 to 41. So beginning in chapter 
nine at verse one. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw 
a man who was blind from birth and his disciples asked him saying, 
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born 
blind? Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned, 
but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work 
the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is 
coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, 
I am the light of the world. 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. And he said 
to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated 
scent. So he went and washed and came 
back seeing. Therefore, the neighbors and 
those who previously had seen that he was blind said, is not 
this he who sat and begged? Some said, this is he. Others 
said, he is like him. He said, I am he. Therefore, 
they said to him, how were your eyes opened? 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. Then they said to him, Where 
is he? He said, I do not know. They brought him who formerly 
was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus 
made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also 
asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, he 
put clay on my eyes and I washed and I see. Therefore, some of 
the Pharisees said, this man is not from God because he does 
not keep the Sabbath. Others said, how can a man who 
is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among 
them. Then they said to the blind man again, what do you say about 
him because he opened your eyes? He said, he is a prophet. But 
the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and 
received his sight until they called the parents of him who 
had received his sight. And they asked him saying, is 
this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he 
now see? His parents answered them and 
said, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But by what means he now sees, 
we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do 
not know. He is of age, ask him. He will speak for himself. His 
parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the 
Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was 
Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, his 
parents said, he is of age, ask him. So they again called the 
man who was blind and said to him, give God the glory. We know 
that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, whether 
he is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know, that 
though I was blind, now I see. Then they said to him again, 
what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He 
answered them, I told you already and you did not listen. Why do 
you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his 
disciples? Then they reviled him and said, 
You are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know 
that God spoke to Moses. As for this fellow, we do not 
know where he is from. 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 open the eyes of one who was born 
blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They 
answered and said to him, you were completely born in sins, 
and are you teaching us? And they cast him out. Jesus 
heard that they had cast him out. And when he had found him, 
he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He answered 
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus 
said to him, You have both seen him, and it is he who is talking 
with you. Then he said, Lord, I believe, 
and he worshiped him. And Jesus said, for judgment 
I have come into this world, that those who do not see may 
see, and that those who see may be made blind. 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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father 
in heaven, we thank you for this wonderful day. We thank you for 
the house of God, on the day of God, with the people of God, 
that we can come to the Father through the Son in the power 
of the Holy Spirit. And we pray that you would be 
glorified and honored and worshiped in our In this glad hour, we 
pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct 
us and lead us and enable us to worship you in spirit and 
in truth. We pray that you would forgive us and cleanse us from 
all sin and unrighteousness, and that we would know that blessed 
joy of our Savior, who sits enthroned at the right hand of God Most 
High, where He ever lives to make intercession for us, where 
He functions as an advocate with the Father, and the one who will 
come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And 
may it be the case, because of your grace and your mercy, that 
all of us would be ready on that day. We pray that you would open 
hearts and eyes to see and behold the horror of sin and the beauty 
of the Savior. And may you save sinners today 
through the preaching of the gospel here, throughout this 
city and this nation, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. 
And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, 
we've seen the Lord Jesus engage in this miracle or this sign 
with this particular fellow. He had a congenital defect. He 
was born blind. And so Christ comes and puts 
this clay made with his saliva upon his eyes, tells him to go 
wash in the pool of Siloam. He does that, and then his sight 
is restored. There's initially confusion among 
his neighbors, and they're wondering, is this him or is it somebody 
that's like him? Well, he identifies himself as 
being the man. Well, then he's brought to the 
Pharisees, the ungodly religious leaders in Israel at this particular 
time, and then they interrogate the man, they subpoena his parents, 
they badger them, they continue to badger him, and then in verse 
34 we read that they cast him out. So what we have in this 
particular instance is a miracle of healing, but the actual miracle 
that transcends that comes now in Jesus' further dealings with 
this particular fellow. Remember in Matthew chapter 9, 
Jesus is teaching and preaching, and he's in a very crowded place, 
and some men bring a paralytic, and instead of being able to 
walk in, they open up the roof and they drop the man down. Well, 
they don't drop him. They lower him gently and gingerly, 
and then Jesus says, son, your sins are forgiven you. Of course, 
all the persons in attendance, the religious leaders again, 
are sort of thinking to themselves, who but God alone could forgive 
sin? This man is a blasphemer. And 
so Jesus asks the simple question, what's easier, for me to say 
to the man that your sins are forgiven, or to take up your 
bed and walk? Well, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven 
because we can't see that. We can't demonstrate that. But 
he goes on to say, but that you may know that the son of man 
has power on earth to forgive sins. He says to the paralytic, 
take up your mat and walk. We come away from that passage 
celebrating the fact that a paralyzed man is able to walk and we should, 
but we ought to be more celebratory that that sinful man was saved 
by grace through faith in Jesus and had his sins forgiven. And 
that's the focus now that we find at the end of chapter 9. 
So I want to look at the manifestation of Christ's glory, and there's 
two specific things we need to see in verses 35 to 41. First, the salvation of the man 
in verses 34 to 39, and then secondly, the condemnation of 
the Pharisees in verses 40 to 41. Now notice, back to the salvation 
of the man, chapter 9 at verse 34. Just backing up a little 
bit, they answered and said to him, you were born, or completely 
born in sins, and are you teaching us? Remember that man's trajectory? 
He initially says, I don't know about this particular man. I 
don't know what he is. I don't know where he's from, 
ultimately. But what I do know is that I was blind, but now 
I see. Well, they get outraged by that, so he says, you keep 
asking me, do you also want to become his disciples? It's just 
tongue-in-cheek, brethren. He has gone from just this place 
of, you know, I was blind, but now I see. He goes to the state 
of then saying, do you also want to become his disciples? And 
then he goes on the offense. He goes on the offensive. He 
says, we know that God doesn't hear sinners, but God hears those 
who are worshippers of Him. He says, as well, the nature 
of this miracle is not anything that Moses ever did. The prophets 
never did it. It's never been told that a man 
born blind is now able to see. And then he summarizes his theology 
lesson to these Jews by saying, if this man were not from God, 
he'd not be able to do these things. So that's what causes 
the outrage. That's what causes this particular 
reaction. You were completely born in sins. It's evident. It's manifest. 
It's obvious. If you weren't, you wouldn't 
have been born blind. And as a result of that, being 
the sinner that you are, do you arrogate to yourself the authority 
to teach us?" And then they cast him out. And this confirms the 
fear that his parents had in verse 22. His parents said these 
things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed 
already that if anyone confessed that he was the Christ, they 
would be put out of the synagogue. As well, it is a result of their 
corruption. We considered this passage last 
week. We noted that they're bullies. In John chapter 8, instead of 
going after Jesus, they go after the woman caught in adultery. 
They don't care about the woman caught in adultery. It's obvious. 
They tell us, or John rather, tells us. They don't care about 
this blind man either. These are simply foils. They 
want Jesus. So they bully the blind man like 
they bullied the adulterous woman in John 8. And in their bullying, 
they demonstrate that they're cowards. And of course, they're 
full of sanctimony. We're not His disciples. We're 
Moses' disciples. And all throughout, they lie. 
All throughout, they deceive. All throughout, they tell a falsehood. And they rule by, or they lead 
by, intimidation and coercion. It's a vile and wretched display 
of the religious leadership in the first century. So notice 
what happens then on the heels of that. Jesus finds the man. 
Verses 35 to 37 he questions him. Notice verse 35, Jesus heard. Now brethren, let us not forget 
what the blind man, formerly blind man, had taught. We know 
that God does not hear sinners, but God does hear those who worship 
him, those who seek after him. I don't think it's accidental 
that the evangelist, John the Apostle, tells us Jesus heard 
that they had cast him out. Jesus knew and understood that 
they had cast him out. But then on the heels of having 
heard that they cast him out, notice it says, and when he had 
found him, And that is obscure. It's pretty small in terms of 
the flow of the narrative. It makes perfect sense. Jesus 
is in a different location. He hears about this man, and 
now he finds him. But in the larger context of 
our Bibles, the fact that Jesus finds this man, the fact that 
Jesus goes after this man, the fact that Jesus has saving dealings 
with this man, it alerts us to the blessed reality that the 
Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. When 
Adam and Eve sin, they run from God. It's God who comes after 
them. When the tower builders at Babel 
try to make a name for themselves and rise up into the heavens, 
God scatters them by confounding their lip. And then God comes 
after man in the call of Abram. It's out of Abram that all the 
nations will be blessed. It's the seed of Abraham that 
will bring that blessed salvation. And so we have a seeking, a hearing 
and a seeking and a finding God in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice, the Lord questions 
him very specifically in verse 35. It says, and when he had 
found him, he said to him, do you believe in the Son of God? There's a couple of lessons we 
should learn at this particular point. First, the providence 
of God does not save a man. The providence of God does not 
save a man. The providence of God has been 
alluded to in verse 3. Remember the disciples in verse 
2. Who sinned, this man or his parents? Jesus says neither of 
them sinned. Again, He's not denying original 
sin. He's not denying their actual 
transgressions. He's denying that their sin was 
directly responsible for this man's blindness. He says, essentially, 
that this man was created in this particular state for this 
particular day so that the Son of God could cure him and heal 
him. But up to this point, the physical 
sight restored doesn't mean he has everlasting life. The providence 
of God, being in the right place at the right time, doesn't necessarily 
save you. But then as well, secondly, notice 
that miracles don't save. The miracle itself did not bring 
to this man salvation. Now, miracles are blessed, miracles 
are great, miracles are wonderful, and miracles are glorious displays 
of the work and the mighty power of Jesus Christ. But as Matthew 
Poole says, miracles do not work faith, but confirm it. John says that in chapter 20 
verses 30 and 31. There's other signs that Jesus 
did, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is 
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing in his name you 
might have everlasting life. So providence doesn't save you. 
Miracles themselves don't save you. What saves you? Grace through 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the emphasis with this 
particular man. Just because he now can see, 
just because he's gone from this place of physical darkness to 
physical sight, doesn't mean he's heaven-bound. He's gotta 
have saving dealings with the Savior. He's gotta come to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He's gotta believe on Him. And 
again, this is consistent with the entirety of the gospel record. 
John 1, 12 to 13. But as many as received Him, 
to them He gave the right to become children of God. To those 
who, what? Believe in His name, who were 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man, but of God. Our confession of faith in the 
chapter of saving faith talks about faith. And it talks basically 
about faith being that willingness and that ability by God's grace 
to believe all that is written in the Word, to believe the commands, 
to believe the threatenings, to believe the law. But it says 
that the principal acts of saving faith have respect to our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Let me just read that. The principal 
acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ. accepting, 
receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, 
and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. So Jesus 
comes to this man, he hears that he's been cast out, he seeks 
him out, and he finds him, and he asks the question, do you 
believe in the Son of God? Now, just a bit of a, not a confession, 
a bit of autobiography. When I first came to Chilliwack, 
we had this church going, and there would be reports about 
our church. I imagine they still circulate. But one of those reports 
was, oh, they preach easy-believism there. They preach easy-believism 
there, which, if you know theology, typically means they're Arminians. 
Arminians bad. Don't ever preach Arminianism 
and easy-believism. Brethren, I oppose Arminianism 
with every fiber of my being. So that charge is not something 
that I took lightly. I mean, I didn't go out on the 
warpath and try to find everybody, whoever said anything bad. But 
I just thought, you know what? That's an odd charge. Easy-believism. If exhorting people to believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, or if asking persons if they believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ is easy believism or Arminianism, then 
our Lord is guilty. Do you believe in the Son of 
God? See, this is the biggest question 
any of us will ever have to deal with. Not, where are you going 
to live? How are you going to raise your 
kids? Where are you going to send them to college, or preferably 
to trade school? Where are you going to go for 
dinner? What are you going to do in terms 
of your future plans? All those are important at the 
temporal level, but there is nothing that will ever face you 
ever that is more important than this question. Do you believe 
in the Son of God? You see that? See, that's not 
easy believism. That is simply presenting the 
truth as it is in Jesus and then pressing that upon persons. Not easy believism. Asking the 
question, do you believe in the Son of God? That's not a bad 
theology. In 1 John, we read, specifically 
in chapter 3 at verse 23, this is His commandment, that we should 
believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another 
as He gave us commandment. So notice, the Lord Jesus Christ 
presses the man, but the Lord Jesus Christ also tips his own 
hand with his own high Christology. Do you believe in the Son of 
God? The Son of God, who is God the 
Son? Yes, we need to have a generic 
belief in God, but we come to the Father through the Son in 
the power of the Holy Spirit. We must believe in the Son of 
God. The persons who say, I'm religious, 
I'm spiritual, but I'm not a Christian, I don't need Jesus, are persons 
that are foolish. The scriptures are clear. Jesus 
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to 
the Father except through me. Whatever sort of religion you 
may think you have, or whatever spirituality you think you have, 
if it is not connected to our Lord Jesus Christ, if it is not 
rooted in him by faith, then it is false. It is spurious. 
It is not the real deal. Christ alone is the way of salvation, 
and Christ presses that upon the man. Now, notice the man's 
response. The man doesn't say, that sounds 
like Arminianism. That sounds like Pelagianism. 
How could you ever ask me a question that has to do with the internality 
of my soul? No, look, he first shows his 
ignorance, and then he shows his wisdom. Look at the ignorance. He answered and said, who is 
he, Lord, that I may believe in him? The ignorance is obvious. 
He had a messianic expectation. He was a Jew. We've already seen 
his theology in the previous section when he teaches the religious 
leaders. He understood that there was 
a Messiah that was coming, but up to this point he hadn't connected 
the dots. I don't know how. I mean, if somebody came along 
to me in the first century and healed me from my congenital 
defect, I might have started to think, hey, this might be 
the Messiah, but I don't want to get into this man's shoes. 
At any rate, he had this anticipation, he had this messianic expectation, 
but he didn't connect the dots relative to our Lord Jesus Christ. 
So that's his ignorance. Who is he? is his wisdom. Do you see that? Do you understand? He doesn't just say, well, it's 
too bad I don't know. It's too bad I don't have the 
answer. It's too bad none of us can ever know. He asks the 
question. He pursues the truth. He wants 
to know. He wants to understand. There 
is nothing wrong with asking questions about the Scripture. 
The Scripture is truth. It doesn't shy away from it. It's not the press secretary 
saying, oh well, I just don't. Ask the Bible. Who is Jesus? The Bible is very clear. Who 
is the Son of God? The Bible is very clear. This 
man is both foolish and wise because he seeks out the information 
that is absolutely crucial in terms of his everlasting life. 
He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I may believe 
in him? Now notice the declaration in 
verse 37 by the Savior. Jesus said to him, you have both 
seen him and it is he who is talking with you. Now, brethren, 
he hadn't seen him up to this point. Remember, he was born 
blind. He knew that somebody spat, or 
whether he knew the spat or not, he knew that somebody took the 
clay, put it on his eyes, and instructed him to go down to 
the pool of Siloam and wash. But at that point, he didn't 
see him, because when he got his seeing, or his sight back, 
rather, he's now on his own. He's with his neighbors. and 
then the neighbors bring him or trot him out before the Pharisees. 
So up to this point, he hasn't seen Jesus. This is the first 
time that he's seen him. And again, it's Jesus who heard 
of his malady or of his problem. And it's Jesus who sought him 
out. It's Jesus who found him. And it's now Jesus who's describing 
to him, for him, who the person of the son of God is. So he sees 
him physically. He now sees him or will now see 
him spiritually. So Jesus said to him, you have 
both seen him and it is he who is talking with you. So Jesus 
says, it's me, okay? I'm the one, I'm the son of God. 
In case you missed all that, just so you know, the one you're 
looking at right now and the one that you're talking to, it's 
me. Now, brethren, again, when you take the Bible as a whole 
and you start in the book of Genesis and you end in the book 
of Revelation, do you get a view of a God that just kind of saves 
a handful of people? you know, just this 10 or 12 
that might sorta, you know, shimmy in at the end. Again, Genesis 
1-3, God seeks after Adam and Eve. Who told you that you were 
naked? It's God who initiates. It's 
God who kills the animal. It's God who atones. It's God 
who gives them those coverings of skin. It's God who goes after 
Abram. It's God who goes after the nation 
of Israel. It's God who doesn't cut them 
off. We're going through the book of Exodus on our Wednesday 
night Bible study. And in Exodus chapter 24, the 
Israelites ratify the covenant with God most high. And twice 
they swear all that the Lord says we will do. We will obey 
it. But 40 days later, they're dancing 
around before a golden calf. They have completely abrogated. 
They have completely broken. They have completely desecrated 
the very covenant that God had made with them. So what's the 
appropriate response? God should obliterate them. He 
should decimate them. He should remove them from the 
face of the earth. He should be all done with them. But he's 
not. There's sanction. There's punishment. 
There's penalty. 3,000 do die. But God promises 
to Moses, I'm still sending the angel of the covenant before 
you to take you into the promised land. And then read the subsequent 
history of Israel. I mean, we see the judgment of 
God in the northern kingdom, and then we see the judgment 
of God in the southern kingdom, and we say, wow, that seems a bit severe. 
That seems a bit harsh. Are you kidding me? Do you know 
how many hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years God forbear 
with them? How long-suffering God was with 
them? And all of this had been prescribed 
in the Book of the Covenant, that if you go into the land 
and you sin, you break my covenant, you will be decimated. You will 
go into exile. You will be crushed. And yet, 
over and over and over again, God sends the prophets to them. 
And then, the sending of His Son. God so loved the world that 
he gave his only begotten son. And then we read through the 
pages of the New Testament. What do we see? Oh yeah, don't 
come to Jesus because he only saves like five or ten people. 
Don't ever think that God's actually merciful. Don't ever get it in 
your head that God is kind of like that father of the prodigal 
who runs from the porch and falls on the son and kisses him and 
puts a ring on his finger and puts a fatted calf on the table 
for him. If you read the scripture, you 
do not get the idea that God is against saving sinners. You get just the opposite. And 
then when you move to the book of Revelation, specifically chapter 
7, who populates Immanuel's land? Well, it's that faithful five 
to ten. It's a great multitude that no 
man can number from every tribe and every tongue and every people 
and every nation. How could the Apostle Paul say 
in 2 Corinthians 5 that God is in Christ, reconciling the world 
to himself? Not every man without exception, 
men without distinction, but men, women, boys, and girls from 
every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. The Lord Christ comes 
after this man. He not only heals him physically, 
but even more superior, in a superior fashion, he heals this man spiritually. He gives him life. He conveys 
it upon him. He gives him salvation. And notice 
what the man does. Verse 38, then he said, Lord, 
I believe. That's the proper response, by 
the way. If you're not sure about who 
the Son of God is, it's Jesus. If you're not sure what the proper 
response to Jesus is, it's faith. It's to say, I believe. It's to confess him as Lord and 
Savior. And then notice, not only does 
the confession occur, but the worship obtains. He not only 
confesses him as Lord, not only confesses him as Son of God, 
but he also recognizes him as God the Son. And as a result 
of that, he worships, he adores, he glorifies, he honors. This is similar to the central 
confession of Israel's faith in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 
6, 4, and 5. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. That's the confession. What happens 
on the heels of the confession? You shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other 
words, when we confess that Jesus is Lord, we want to worship Him. We want to praise Him. We want 
to live in light of His commandments. We want to do those things that 
are pleasing to Him. Do we do them perfectly? No. 
We invoke His advocacy when we sin, but there is that heartbeat 
in the people of God that they want to follow the Master. They 
want to do what he says. They want to please him. Not 
so that they can be saved, but as a result of them having been 
saved. It's a most blessed arrangement 
that we find in the Holy Scriptures. So the man confesses, and now 
the man worships. And then notice, Jesus speaks 
concerning his mission. There's a bit of a transition 
here. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to kid you. 
Verses 40 and 41 are enigmatic. Kids, that's a word that means 
puzzling, a little difficult, a little hard to get the melon 
wrapped around. So let's just kind of work our 
way through this, but notice what Jesus does in verse 39. 
He highlights his mission, and he does something similar in 
John 6. Remember in John chapter 6, he increases the food, he 
increases the bread and the fish so that everybody can eat. It's 
a beautiful thing. Everybody wanted to eat. They 
were hungry. They needed food. And of course, Jesus has the 
power over nature. So Jesus engages in this sign. 
Well, on the heels of that particular sign, Jesus uses the bread as 
somewhat of an analogy or an illustration of spiritual truth. So in other words, he goes on 
to say that he is the bread of life. Moses gave you bread in 
the wilderness, and your fathers ate it, and they died. But anyone 
who eats this bread, talking about Jesus Christ, will never 
die. So you see, the physical sign serves to be a spiritual 
illustration, and that's what he's doing here. He's moving 
from physical blindness to the arena of spiritual blindness. 
He's moving from the arena of the physical maladies associated 
with life in this world to the spiritual reality of being estranged 
from God. So that's kind of the first thing 
we ought to observe. Now notice what he does in terms 
of the description of his mission. Verse 39. He gives this declaration, 
for judgment, I have come into this world. For judgment, I have 
come into this world. Now he's spoken about judgment 
up to this point on a couple of occasions. In John chapter 
three, he says in verse 17, he did not come to judge or condemn 
the world. Now in that particular context, 
as verse 18 makes clear, it's because the world was already 
condemned, was already judged, was already opposite to God Most 
High. Jesus speaks of having the power 
conveyed by the Father to him in terms of judgment in John 
5, 27 to 29. There he's talking about the 
day of judgment. He's talking about when the graves 
are open and the people are assembled before that tribunal and the 
Son of God serves or functions in that capacity of judgment. 
Here I think he's talking about the reality that when he saves 
some, because he doesn't save all, when he saves some, there 
is judgment pronounced on the others. It's very simple. If 
he doesn't save everybody, if he saves some among the everybody, 
then it is as it were, the everybody is under judgment. It's kind 
of like a delineation. I almost used the word discrimination, 
but that's such a trigger word today, we can't use it anymore. 
Discrimination here doesn't mean ethnic, it doesn't mean black 
and white. It means in terms of discriminating. It's a real word, right? If he 
comes to save his people from their sins, what happens to his 
non-people and their sins? They're judged. There is that 
twin aspect of salvation and judgment. So I think that's where 
he's going with this particular pronouncement. John Gill says, 
either to fulfill the purpose and decree of God in revealing 
truth to some and hiding it from others, or in a way of judgment 
to inflict judicial blindness on some, whilst in a way of mercy, 
he illuminated others. So he makes this declaration 
in verse 39a, for judgment I have come into this world, and now 
he goes on to express it or explain it or amplify, that those who 
do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Again, this isn't a universal 
principle, and it's not strictly physical. Jesus, as far as I 
know, didn't heal every single physically blind person on the 
earth during his earthly ministry. He's not talking anymore about 
physical blindness. The physical blindness now serves 
to illustrate the spiritual point. So let's look back at that again. 
That those who do not see may see. the man that was born blind, 
the man that wasn't self-righteous, the man that wasn't full of himself, 
the man who didn't cast himself out of the synagogue because 
he was so vile and so horrific, so that those who do not see 
may see the blind man and that those who see may be made blind. In other words, the self-righteous, 
the Pharisees, the Jews, the unbelieving ones that served 
or functioned as the Sanhedrin in the first century. My mission 
is to save the sinner and my mission is to damn the self-righteous. Now, if you say, Pastor Butler, 
that sounds a bit absurd, Jesus does this in his ministry. Matthew 
chapter nine, again, he heals that man that had been paralyzed. And on the heels of the healing 
of that man that was paralyzed, he saves Matthew. He says to 
Matthew the tax collector, come follow me. Well, what does Matthew 
do? Well, you know, that sounds like 
easy believism, and I don't think that's legit, so I'm just going 
to sit here with my money and keep counting, and hopefully 
something happens somewhere along the line that will convince me 
otherwise. No, he got up from his money 
and he followed Jesus. So what else does Matthew do 
after he follows Jesus? He has a feast. Why does he have 
a feast? Because he had been dead in his 
trespasses and sins, and he's now been made alive. I think 
feasting is an appropriate response in that particular time. When 
you move from death to life, joy is perfectly appropriate, 
brethren. We can smile when we think about 
Jesus. We can smile when we sing the 
hymn, amazing love, how can it be that we've received this grace? So then Matthew not only calls 
for a feast, but he brings his friends. Who are his friends? Well, they're like him. Tax collectors, 
sinners, all the people that everybody in society looks down 
upon. Well, don't think the Pharisees 
missed that. The Pharisees saw that. The Pharisees, again, the 
bully cowards that they were, didn't come to Jesus and said, 
why are you having a feast with this rabble? They said to his 
disciples, why does your master, why does your rabbi, why does 
he eat with sinners and tax collectors? Well, Jesus gets wind of that. 
You know what he says? He says, I did not come to call 
who? the righteous, but sinners to 
repentance. Now brethren, in that context, 
the righteous are obviously the Pharisees, the scribes, the self-righteous 
people that think they don't need Jesus. And as well, Matthew 
chapter 11, Jesus says to his father, I thank you, Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst, that thou didst, 
let me just read the passage. It jumped out of my head there, 
just in, you know, the sign of being older than 30. Matthew 
chapter 11. Sorry about that. I don't wanna 
say it's a senior moment, because I don't think I'm quite there, 
but I'm on my way to senior moment. You never think that when you're 
a younger man, obviously. I just never did. Never thought 
about that stuff. But Matthew 11, 25. Who do you 
think the wise and the prudent are? Is there a class of people, Matthew 
9, 13, that are actually righteous, that don't need Jesus? Is there 
actually a people out there in Matthew 11, 25, that are wise 
and prudent, that don't need? He's talking about the self-righteous. 
He's talking about the people that don't see their need for 
Jesus. He's talking about the people that think everything 
is good because, you know, I've never killed anybody. I've never 
committed adultery. I've always tried to go to church. 
I fast, you know, a couple times a week. I pay my tithes. I do 
everything that I'm supposed to do. That's who he's talking 
about. He's talking to the people who trust in their own works. 
So notice, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 
you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent. And 
for it wells up in your heart saying, well, that doesn't seem 
fair to hide things. No, it's not fair. It's justice. It's righteousness. He's not 
dealing with a group of people that deserve anything. except 
for justice and judgment and righteousness and the infliction 
of God's wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is 
to come. So the fact that God hides gospel truth from the wise 
and the prudent, that's not unfair. That's not unloving. That is 
an expression of his holiness. It is an expression of his justice. 
It is an expression of his judgment and of his righteousness. And 
then Jesus goes on to say, you have hidden these things from 
the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even 
so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight." I submit 
that that's what Jesus is doing here in this enigmatic passage 
in John chapter 9. So in verse 39, for judgment 
I have come into this world that those who do not see may see. 
Wretches like this blind man who was born that way, and that 
those who see may be made blind. Wretches like the Pharisees. Wretches like the Sanhedrin. 
wretches who parade themselves as being the seers, as being 
the righteous, as being the ones who know God. We saw that in 
chapter 8. Well, Abraham is our father. 
No, he's not. If Abraham was your father, you 
wouldn't try to kill me. And then they move on to the 
point where they go, we have only one father and he's God. And Jesus says, no, you're of 
your father, the devil, and the deeds of your father you want 
to do. He was a liar. He's a murderer. And that is 
particularly what you are imitating. So now notice back in our text, 
just to kind of try and clarify here where we're at. Notice what 
happens in terms of the condemnation of the Pharisees in verses 40 
to 41. So in verse 40, then some of the Pharisees, John doesn't 
tell us why or how or when or, you know, Jesus comes back and 
he finds this man and here's these pesky Pharisees happen 
to be there with him. Well, they're there because they 
want to find him out. They want to catch him. They want to upbraid 
him. They don't like him. They're probably hanging on every 
word that he says so that they can say, well, see, there's the 
proof that he's a fake or he's a sham. So just incidentally, 
then some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words 
and said to him, are we blind also? Now, these weren't the 
brightest bulbs in the chandelier, but they knew enough to at least 
begin to think that he might be talking about them. When he 
uses that illustration about blindness and seeing, they ask 
this question, look it. He's already said in verse 39, 
those who do not see may see, and those who may see may be 
made blind. Then some of the Pharisees who 
were with him heard these words and said to him, are we blind 
also? Are we in the same position or 
posture as that particular man? Are we like him? Are we in the 
same arena? Will we get to know something 
of the saving grace of God Most High? Now notice how he explains 
it in verse 41. He assumes their blindness for 
the sake of argument. If you were blind, you would 
have no sin. Now again, that sounds pretty 
challenging for our reading at this particular time. So he says, 
if you were blind, you would have no sin. Again, the issue 
is spiritual blindness. And I think we should read it 
this way in context. If you were blind, like this 
man, you would have no sin. Now again, Jesus is not saying 
there's no original sin, there's no actual transgressions in this 
man. I think he's talking about no hope. If you were blind like 
this man, then you would not have sin. In other words, there 
would be hope, there would be access, there would be freedom 
for you, to the Father, through the Son, by the power of the 
Holy Spirit. He is leading them. He is teaching 
them. He is instructing them. He is 
countering their arguments. So they say, are we blind also? If you were blind in the way 
that I've commended blindness, then you would have no sin. John 
Gill says, Jesus said unto them, if you were blind and sensible 
of it, and knew yourselves to be blind, and were desirous of 
light and knowledge, you would have no sin. Again, it's not 
physical blindness we're talking about. We're talking about a 
self-righteous attitude that doesn't see its own spiritual 
blindness. We're talking about a self-righteous 
attitude that is described in Matthew 9.13 as righteousness, 
and in Matthew 11.25 as wisdom and prudence. That's neither 
of those things. He's using this by way of argument. He says, or your sin would not 
be so aggravated. It would not be imputed to you. 
It would be pardoned and taken away from you. For the sense 
cannot be that their blindness would not have been criminal 
or they should have no sin in them or any done by them, only 
that had this been barely their case, there would have been some 
hope of them that their sin might be forgiven and put away and 
be no more. So the point is not, you know, 
if you were spiritually blind, then you'd have no responsibility 
for sin. If you're spiritually blind and 
you understand that, and you see your need for the Savior, 
guess what? There's great hope for you! There 
is a welcome in heaven for you. There is blessing and abundant 
beatitude for you. But then notice what he says 
on the heels of that to them. If you were blind, you would 
have no sin. But now you say, we see. That's their problem. They're self-righteous. They 
don't see their need for Jesus. They think they're okay. They 
think they're all right. They think they're heaven-bound 
because they're Abraham's prodigy. Because they are the covenant 
people. They think they have a right 
entitlement to heaven. But now you say, we see, therefore 
your sin remains. Proverbs 26, 12, Solomon gets 
at this very clearly. Do you see a man wise in his 
own eyes? There is more hope for a fool 
than for him. You want good commentary on this 
section in 940-41? I feel like it wasn't as clear, 
at least in my head, as it came out. There may be questions, 
you may be a bit puzzled, but look at Solomon in this passage. I think he's bang on. Do you 
see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool 
than for him. This man born in Jerusalem. Blindness, 
this physical malady, Jesus heals him, and then on the heels of 
that, uses it as a spiritual illustration. This blindness, 
this recognition, this understanding that I can't do it on my own, 
that I can't save myself, that there is no remedy apart from 
God Most High and His gracious provision in Jesus Christ. That's 
the spirit and the attitude. Not the self-righteous, wise, 
prudent man who in Luke 18 stands and prays thus with himself, 
God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I thank you that 
I'm not an adulterer. I thank you that I'm not an extortioner. I thank you that I'm not like 
this publican. I thank you, God, that I pray 
all the time, and I fast all the time, and I give of all that 
I possess. I'm just such a great guy. Thank 
you, Father, that I'm such a great guy. You see the obvious problems 
there. And that's what Jesus is addressing 
here. And I think it's well said by 
John Gerstner. For those of you who don't know 
Gerstner, you know his protege. You know R.C. Sproul. I mean, 
you go to anywhere Reformed, or you think any thought Reformed, 
you've probably heard of R.C. Sproul. I mean, he was a godly, 
gifted brother who now is with Jesus in Emmanuel's land. But 
he had a mentor, and that mentor was John Gerstner. Listen to 
what Gerstner famously said. He said, the main thing between 
you and God is not so much your sins, it's your damnable good 
works. That's what Jesus is talking 
about. See, I think there might be a bit of recoil, and what 
do you mean it's not our sin? What's the mission, the purpose, 
the function, and the reality of Jesus? He will save his people 
from their sin. And such were some of you, Paul 
says. You were washed. You were justified. You were sanctified in the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not so much your sin that 
separates you from God. It's your damnable self-righteousness. It's the mindset that I don't 
need Jesus. I'm really pretty good. I'm not 
like everybody else. I'm just special. And because 
of that, I don't see my need, and I really don't even have 
a need, for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's talking about 
in this passage. He goes after them, he confronts 
them, he rebukes them, he reproves them, and all the while setting 
forth the reality that if they come to him in faith, they will 
have everlasting life. Well, by way of conclusion, the 
self-righteousness of the Pharisees didn't die in the first century. 
You know, there's a lot of things that didn't die when perhaps 
it should have. I always think of that contest 
at Carmel in 1 Kings 18. It's a God contest. Choose you this day. If Yahweh 
is God, then serve him. If Baal is God, then serve him. Well, what happens in the God 
contest? Yahweh wins, just in case you haven't read it. You 
know, the pagans in their frenzy put out their sacrifice. They 
put it on the altar, and what happens? Well, there's no Baal, 
so there's no consuming fire from Baal to take up their sacrifice. Pretty simple. No Baal, no fire. No Baal, no fire upon their sacrifice. What happens with Elijah? Simple 
prayer. I mean, you don't have to pray 
for hours, brethren. Just a brief prayer to our blessed God can 
avail much. Elijah puts the sacrifice on 
the altar, he prays to God, and what happens? Yahweh sends fire 
down to consume the offering, to lick up the water, everything 
that's around there, he shows and demonstrates. You would think 
that that would function in Israel's history, to say, no more Baal 
worship. No. Those idols are pesky things. The heart of man is a pesky thing. 
They keep going. They keep after. Well, with reference 
to self-righteousness, it didn't die with the Pharisees. It didn't 
die with the scribes. It didn't die with the Sanhedrin. 
Just a couple of thoughts with reference to self-righteousness. 
The self-righteous do not see their sin and their need for 
the Savior. It's pretty obvious. You're self-righteous. You don't need the Savior. You're 
okay. I'm okay. Everybody's okay. We're 
gonna fare just fine. A brother said in his prayer, 
after the reading of Revelation 9, to promote in us to consider 
the judgment of God from time to time. You know, there is a 
God who is love, but that does not divest him of all the other 
perfections that are true of him. The God who is love is a 
God who will condemn sinners. This is very horrifying in terms 
of the prospect concerning the future. And with reference to 
the self-righteous, they don't see their need for the Savior. As well, the self-righteous typically 
condemn others as a result. Do you know why Jesus told about 
those two men, the Pharisee and the publican, who went to the 
temple to pray? Do you know why? It was on the heels of an observation. Also, he spoke this parable to 
some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and 
despised others. Those are just, they go hand 
in hand. Self-righteousness does not usually 
yield in a very compassionate and charitable approach to others. 
I mean, I guess that's the general exception out there, but for 
the most part, the self-righteous are condemnatory of others. Well, 
I don't do that. I'm not like that publican. I'm 
not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. Why do 
they do that? Because they trust in themselves 
that they're righteous. So everybody else that doesn't 
meet their level or standard is rabble. They're the hoi polloi. 
They should be discountenced. Thirdly, the self-righteous are 
usually further from the kingdom. I mean, you ever thought about 
that? You know, we talk about the different 
types of sinners. You know, you got the crackheads, 
and the guys shooting up heroin, and you got the prostitutes, 
and oh boy, they're far from the kingdom. Is that what Jesus 
taught? No, Jesus taught that they come in before the self-righteous 
scribes and Pharisees. And if you doubt that, you can 
look at Matthew 21 this afternoon, verses 28 to 32. And I would 
submit, not finally in terms of the sermon, you're not going 
to get out that quick. We got another five minutes probably. 
The self-righteousness need to hear the gospel. They need to 
hear the gospel. They need to hear the good news 
that Jesus Christ came into this world, sinners to save. Jesus 
came to live in perfect obedience to the Father. Why? So that we 
might get that righteousness when we believe in Him. He also 
came to die. Why? So that we may be cleansed 
from our sin by His precious blood. And he came to be raised 
again the third day. Paul summarizes the whole blessed 
event in Romans 4.25. He was delivered up because of 
our offenses, and he was raised for our justification. So the 
self-righteous need to hear the gospel, but they also need to 
hear the law. See, we think Pharisee and we 
think law keeper. It's intriguing. The Pharisees 
and the Antinomians, that means no law people, have far more 
in common than you might think. They both hate God. They both 
hate God's law. They both despise the written 
word. And what is it that can hopefully shatter the self-righteous 
heart, but the reality of God's holy law? That's why in the Sermon 
on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says that the law forbids 
lusting in your heart. The seventh commandment does 
not simply transgress when you physically go into your neighbor's 
wife or husband. It is transgressed in the mind. It is transgressed in the heart. Just like the sixth commandment 
isn't just broken because you shot somebody in the head. If 
you hate your brother in your heart, if you have this unwarranted 
anger without cause, if you engage in character assassination, you've 
broken the sixth commandment. Now that wasn't new teaching, 
that's the way Moses always intended it, but the Pharisees capitalized 
on the external. As long as I don't go into the 
neighbor's wife, as long as I don't put a bullet in the neighbor's 
head, then I'm a fulfiller of the law. So what do you think? 
that the self-righteous needs. The self-righteous needs gospel. They also need law to hear why 
they need gospel. I think J. Gresham Machen put 
it well. He says, a new and more powerful 
proclamation of that law is perhaps the most pressing need of the 
hour. Men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only 
learned the lesson of the law. So it is always a low view of 
the law always brings legalism in religion. A high view of law 
makes a man a seeker after grace. Pray God that the high view may 
again prevail." He's right. And if there's one indictment 
we can level against churches in our age, it's at the level 
of law. not only a misunderstanding of 
the law, but an absence of preaching the law the way that God intended 
it to be preached. And in this regard, in terms 
of a pedagogue, a child tutor, to show us our need for Christ, 
to run through the commandments and make those simple applications 
for the person that says, well, I'm so good. I'm so holy. I'm 
so right. Oh, really? You don't have other 
gods before God? You don't blaspheme? You don't 
break the Sabbath? You're not dishonoring to your 
parents or other authority? You don't have murder in your 
heart? You don't have adultery in your heart? You don't have 
thievery in your heart? You don't have lies or covetousness? 
Everybody has that, brethren. And if you're managing to get 
through one to nine like the rich young ruler, remember the 
rich young ruler? Good teacher, what must I do 
to inherit eternal life? Jesus says, you know the commandments, 
go do it. What does he say? He says, all these I've kept 
from my youth. Wow, that's pride. That is horrible 
pride. So what does Jesus say to him? 
Jesus says, well, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, 
and then follow me. Is Jesus teaching a way of salvation 
according to works? Just get rid of everything in 
your garage and follow Jesus and you'll be safe? No, he's 
preaching the law to him. What was the man's biggest problem? 
Jesus cites several of the commandments, but not the 10th. So when Jesus 
says, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor and 
follow me, guess what he's doing? He's preaching the 10th commandment 
to the man. What happened to the man? He 
went away sorrowful. Why? Because he had lots of stuff. 
He didn't want to get rid of that stuff. He didn't want to 
divest himself of that stuff. He certainly didn't want to sell 
the stuff, give the proceeds to the poor, and then follow 
Jesus. Jesus is not prescribing salvation by getting rid of stuff 
and following him. Jesus is preaching the law to 
him. And if we do not do that, if 
we do not show sinners that their self-righteousness is completely 
unfounded, and that they need Jesus Christ, we're going to 
see little—I don't want to say it this way, but I've got to 
say it this way—success in terms of gospel preaching. He didn't 
come to call the righteous. He came to call the sinners to 
repentance. So men need to know that they're 
sinners. That's not a bad thing. I'm not picking on you. It's 
not like I'm Mr. Righteous Jimmy Boy that has 
never sinned. Salvation by grace through faith 
in Jesus Christ. I once was lost but now I'm found, 
was blind but now I see. Just like this man. I don't know 
who he is, I don't know where he came from, but I was blind 
and now I see. So the law and the gospel are 
absolutely crucial. And for any of you who are here 
this morning, the question of Jesus in verse 35, do you believe 
in the Son of God? And if you don't know who it 
is, ask. Ask your Bible. And when the Bible says it's 
Jesus of Nazareth, then believe in him, and you will be saved, 
and you will worship him in spirit and in truth. Well, let us pray. 
Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank You for Your Word, we 
thank You for this section of Scripture, and for our Lord's 
power and glory over nature, our Lord's power and glory over 
sin and depravity in the salvation of this particular man. We know 
that He still has the power. We know that there is still our 
sinners to be saved. So we pray for the proclamation 
of your truth today, that you would bless it, and that you 
would bring people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation 
out of their misery and darkness into that blessed light of Jesus 
Christ our Lord. And we ask in His most wonderful 
name. Amen. Well, we'll close our service 
this morning by singing 568 in our hymn books. Doxology of praise to our triune 
God will stand as we sing together. ♪ Praise God our Lord, all blessings 
flow ♪ ♪ Praise him all ye faithful ♪ Amen. The Lord make his face shine 
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance 
upon you and give you peace. Thank you for that peace of God 
that does surpass all understanding. And may you flood our hearts 
with it, Lord. And may you help us to glorify and to honor you 
and bless us in this day. Cause us to rest in you, to find 
our joy and delight in you. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation.