Introduction
I. When you read scripture, aren’t you sometimes just amazed at the miracles God has done.
II. I really enjoy reading the Old Testament,
A. About the battles that God led his people through.
B. About the victories of men like Moses, who though afraid to lead, and yet through faith led an entire nation out of bondage.
III. I enjoy reading the New Testament,
A. About how Christ performing miracles of healing and restoration,
B. About disciples that gained a new purpose for living through a relationship with Christ,
C. About thousands coming to faith in one day,
D. About how mere mortal men stood solidly proclaiming Christ, even though they would be beaten and even killed.
IV. What has happened to those miracles today?
V. If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, why don’t we experience more miracles today.
VI. How can we/I experience the works and power of God in my life.
VII. That is the lesson of John, chapter 9.
The Purpose of Trials (vs. 1-3)
9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work. 5 “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?” 9 Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.” 10 Therefore they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam, and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” 12 And they said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.”
I. In Exodus 34, Moses meets with God for the rewriting of the law.
A. Beginning with verse 5, “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’”
B. From this passage the Israel had built the theological concept that bad things happen to people because of sin; either theirs, their parents or even their grandparents.
1. If you are poor, you are poor because you sinned against God.
2. If you are sick, you are sick because you sinned against God.
C. The overall concept is true to this point, bad things, to include sickness and death are the general result of sin in the world, however, not every bad thing that happens in our lives is necessarily the result of our particular and individual sin.
II. The basic story is this,
A. Jesus and the disciples are passing through town, and happen upon a man blind from birth.
B. The disciples do not seem to be moved in inquire about the man’s plight based on compassion, but rather based on a TRADITIONAL theological belief.
1. This man is blind, even from birth.
2. His blindness must be the result of either his parents sin, or even some sin that he committed before he was even born; after all the Psalmist had written, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
C. The disciples therefore simply were holding fast to what they had been taught by the religious leaders of the day.
III. But more than this, can you imagine the pressure that this man must have felt and the thoughts that must have gone through his mind on occasion.
A. He had been taught this same belief, therefore his self-esteem must have been terrible.
1. Not only am I blind, but I was born blind, what a sinner I must have been.
2. Or perhaps he would reason that surely he couldn’t have sinned before birth, therefore,
a. “Why must I suffer because of what my parents did?
b. Why aren’t they suffering for their own sins?”
IV. How often do we allow those kinds of thoughts to mess with our minds, making us ineffective in life and ministry?
A. Maybe we waste time in wondering why God is mad at us for some perceived sin or shortcoming.
B. How many people give up on God because of bad things that happen in their lives?
C. I can recall spending time in the first church that I pastored, wondering where I had gone wrong.
1. Did God really call me to this ministry?
2. If He did, why isn’t He blessing the efforts that I have made.
3. Has He really brought me here to be beaten up by the congregation, and to toil away in a church that doesn’t want to see God work.
4. What sin have I committed that is so great?
D. It was actually on later that I realized that God had done some pretty incredible things in a church body where only a few people were actually all that negative.
V. There is a lot of power wrapped up in Jesus response to the disciples in verse 3 - Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
A. This verse actually reminded me of Job.
1. Here is Job, of whom scripture says, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
2. Just a man, living life and evidently honoring God with that life.
B. Then comes Satan, appearing before God, and God says to him,
1. “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth.”
2. And we all know the story,
a. Satan asks for permission to attack Job,
b. God gives him permission,
c. And Job stands the test of the assaults, and honors God.
C. Now here is a man born blind, and Jesus says, “He didn’t sin and neither did his parents, he was born this way so that the power of God could be made known to all that will come to the light.
VI. How often do we consider that what is taking place in our lives may be happening so that others can see God at work; probably not often, at least not in the midst of the trial.
VII. Sometimes, bad things are the result of sin, but sometimes, and this may not bring a lot of comfort, but sometimes trials serve the purpose of making the power of God known to those that will open their eyes, and come into the light.
VIII. So how might the works of God be made known?
Step One - Obedience (vs. 4-7)
4 “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work. 5 “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
I. In order to experience the power, that is the works of God we must be obedient.
A. That may seem rather obvious to you.
B. But consider this man for a moment.
1. He has been blind from birth,
2. He has probably heard the whispers all his life that he or someone in his family has sinned against God.
3. Now here comes this man named Jesus who says, “This is not the result of sin, but rather in order that the power of God would be made known.
C. Maybe he has heard of Jesus, and maybe he has even heard of the miracles that Jesus has been performing.
1. Get up and walk, your sins are forgiven, and a man walks, at the utterance of a few words.
2. I wonder if he was getting a bit excited that Jesus might say to him, “Open your eyes and see the world that you have been missing all these years?”
3. But that is not what Jesus did in this case.
II. The text says, Jesus make a mud pack out of earth and his spit.
III. Then he applies it to his eyes and says, “Go wash in the Sent pool”
IV. What might your response be to such a statement?
A. I probably would have gotten just a bit angry,
1. What in the world are you doing to me?
2. Haven’t I suffered enough.
3. Now you want to humiliate me by putting mud on my face, and not just mud, but mud made from your saliva!
4. Are you crazy?
5. And then you tell me to go wash it off.
B. Can you imagine how you would have felt, walking through town with mud on your face.
C. Many of us might well have just say right where we were, and missed out on a mighty miracle of God.
D. But this man got up, in obedience to the Word of God; went to the pool in obedience to the Word of God, washed in obedience to Word of God; regained his sight, making visible the works of God.
V. If we want to experience the works that is the power of God, we must be obedient to the Word of God.
VI. What is God asking of you?
A. Maybe you are involved in a relationship that you know God would not approve of, are you willing to stop.
B. Maybe you are involved in an activity that you know God would not approve of, are you willing to stop.
C. Maybe God is asking you to step out in faith and serve Him in an area that you never considered, are you will to start.
VII. Without obedience to the Word of God, we cannot experience the power of God in our lives.
VIII. But we must understand that sometimes obedience to the Word comes at a cost.
You Might Look A Little Foolish
I. Consider, Christ put some mud on this mans face, and said, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam.”
A. How silly did this guy look?
B. Here he is, walking through town with mud on his face,
C. Maybe he is stumbling along the road, asking, “Am I still going the right direction for the pool?”
D. People may have been laughing, “Look at that nut” probably not even realizing that he was only doing that which the Word of God had said to do.
II. But he was willing to do it.
III. Has God ever asked you to do something that might seem out of the norm?
IV. Maybe a better question might be,
A. “When was the last time God asked you to do something that others might consider a bit foolish?”
B. “How did you respond.”
1. I bet Joshua felt pretty silly walking around Jericho, waiting for the walls to fall down.
2. I bet Gideon felt just a bit strange sending everyone home except the 300 who lapped the water.
3. And how about David,
a. That armor is only going to weigh me down,
b. Just give me a couple of stones and a slingshot and I will be fine.
V. Obedience to whatever God asks is the key to experiencing His power in our lives.
You Might Have to Stand Against Religious Tradition
I. The Pharisee’s saw the man, stopped him for questioning, told him to renounce his faith in Christ or be put out, and then verse 34, - “...And they put him out.”
A. That is they put him out of fellowship from the Synagogue.
B. They put him out of his religious affiliation.
C. They put him out of his very identity.
D. And all because he did not go along with what the religious experts said was the right thing to do.
II. The religious folk may have put him out, but he found a new place in Christ.
A. Verse35 - Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
B. And in verse 38 the mans says, “I believe.”
III. Do you want to see the power of God?
A. In the eyes of the world, you might look a little foolish once in a while.
B. What’s more, in the eyes of the religious establishment you might look foolish enough that a change has to be made.
You Might Be Abandoned Even By Family
I. If there is anyone that you would expect to stand up for you, especially when you are in the right, it would be your family.
II. But notice what this FORMERLY blind mans family does.
A. The Pharisees, being unhappy with the answer of the blind man approach his father and mother for support.
B. Surely mom and dad will defend their son.
1. But beginning with verse 21, his parents respond, - Ask him; he is of age, he shall speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed, that if anyone should confess Him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
2. In other words,
a. “He’s a man. We’re not getting in the middle of this.
b. Throw him out if you have to, but leave us alone.”
III. It seems that following Christ, and his plan our lives should be something that draws families together.
A. And at times it can be.
1. Thank God for those that have descended from a godly heritage.
2. Thank God for parents that have consistently followed Christ, and for children that have followed the lead of their parents.
B. But we don’t all have that heritage in our background, and sometimes in order to see the works of God, we must make a decision as to whom we must ultimately answer.
IV. What does God want to do in your life?
V. Where do you need to see the works of God revealed?
VI. If we are to see the power of God in our lives we
A. Must be prepared to be obedient to His word,
B. We must be willing to stand out from the crowd, and sometimes even look a bit foolish in the sight of the world.
C. Sometimes we may have to stand against religious tradition
D. And unfortunately, sometimes we may even suffer a separation from family members.
E. But isn’t an eternity with God worth it?
