Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 18, 2011
Date Preached: March 20, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus
Sermon Title: Jesus – Healer
Sermon Text: John 9:1-7 [ESV]
1As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6Having said these things, He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Background:
Let’s set the stage for our passage this morning… at this time, Jesus had just forgiven the woman caught in adultery and made the proclamation that He was the ‘light of the world!’… A confrontation with the religious leaders ensued and Jesus revealed to the religious leaders that He was the Son of God… they boasted in being children of Abraham… Jesus told them that before Abraham was, I AM, which meant that He was God…
Jesus was proclaiming His ever present self…that He was BEFORE all things! This statement, along with other passages, confirms to us that Jesus was ONE with the Father, thus giving us a vivid picture of the Trinity! God the Father was the One who sent Jesus into the world… Jesus was God the Father wrapped in humanness who came to save His own creation…
The religious leaders become so angry at Jesus that they pick up stones to stone Jesus. Now, I find this act by the religious leaders rather ironic… they had just thrown down the stones because they all realized that NONE of them were worthy and without sin so as to stone the woman caught in adultery… but NOW they were willing to stone Jesus… it doesn’t make sense to me... their rage and anger had overcome their sensibility to the God.
However, because it was NOT yet His time…Jesus would not allow them to stone Him so He ‘hid’ Himself and went out to continue His ministry… and so it is HERE in this passage where we pick up the story of Jesus and His ministry… Jesus and His disciples are walking thru the city they come upon a man who is blind…
1As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
We are told he was blind from birth, but how they knew… is not revealed. I am sure that in His omniscience Jesus knew, but I can imagine Jesus or one of the disciples asking this him how long he had been blind…
Here in this passage we see how Jesus came to a man who was blind… today I want us to take a look at these first few verses and learn just what it means when Jesus comes into our lives… finally there are 2 principles that are exposed in the remaining parts of this chapter that I want us to take into our hearts and apply them in our lives. Before we get to that… the disciples had a burning question for Jesus… we see this in v.2:
2And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
The disciples ask Jesus to answer a question that had been debated for centuries among the religious leaders of Israel. It was commonly thought that if a malady or disease came to you in life, it was because of sin. Rabbinical teachings taught that… ‘suffering is directly related to the presence of sin…’ In other words, ‘any suffering in your life is directly proportional to the sinful life you have lived…’
I can remember a phrase I used to hear when I was growing up… when someone saw others experience something great in their life you would hear them say, “They must be living right!”
This phrase implies that the blessing they had just rec’d was directly proportional to the righteousness in their life. And which the opposite would be true… if malady or suffering came your way, there OBVIOUSLY was sin in your life!
Take the story of Job… Job’s friends pounded upon him relentlessly to submit and confess his sin so that this suffering would cease. Job knew he had no sin to confess, but he could not explain the suffering…
Today we see people taking the same approach to blessing and suffering… The disciples of Jesus’ day were NO different. When they walk by a man who had been born blind they ask Jesus a question, ‘Who sinned to cause this man’s blindness?’
You see long had the debate gone on among religious leaders… Many said that sin and suffering went hand in hand and that when you suffer… there is sin in your life! These people would have seen this situation as cut and dried… they would have said that this man, while in the womb’ committed sin… and was being punished for that womb-based sinful life.
There were others who did not believe that a fetus could sin in the womb, and held out that if it was NOT the baby that sinned in the womb, then it has to be the parents of the child… sins of the father visited on the children…
Many of us see this as fallacy and poor theology, but we must understand… this was what all the disciples had been taught from birth. They were following this man who had spoken like NO other and they wanted to see what He had to say about a subject where NO agreement could be reached…
The disciples ask Jesus the grand question of WHY… why was this man born blind? The ‘why’ question is one that burns in our hearts and minds when we face uncertainty and heartache. They wanted to know WHY this man was born blind…
How often do we find ourselves right there in their footsteps… seeing pain and suffering and wanting to know WHY.
The truth of the matter is that the answer to the ‘why’ question never satisfies the one asking… The disciples want to know procedure and point a finger of blame at someone for this man’s malady… but here is where we find our Savior to be very different. He shifts the ‘why’ focus into a ‘what’ focus… more specifically a WHO focus!
Look at v.3 with me one more time:
3Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Jesus hears their question about sin and suffering, but Jesus does not focus on the suffering and sin… but Jesus focuses on the salvation of the young man. The life-changing miracle of sight for this man! Jesus focused on changing his life!
Jesus take the action to change this man’s life forever… the man [born blind… had never seen ANYTHING in his entire life…] who possibly had given up on life. So Jesus takes this opportunity to teach the disciples a very wonderful lesson…
The first thing that Jesus taught his disciples was that our focus is not to be on the sin of a person… but on the soul of a person. We do not seek to condemn these people, but we come to share the Love of Christ.
Judgment day will come, but it is NOT ours to do… we are called to love, just as Jesus loved. Jesus wanted His disciples to know that their focus in the lives of others… no the sin of others.
Here is the FIRST thing we can learn… Jesus initiates the contact! Jesus cared enough to take that first step… a step that this blind man could NOT have taken… a step that was totally impossible for the blind man to take… Jesus takes the step of initiating actions… Jesus takes the initiative to save… Jesus comes to the sinner!
Likewise, today, Jesus comes to the sinner when they are MOST in need… The sinners can cry out… but we must understand that long before they cry out, Jesus is there knocking at their hearts door! On Calvary, Jesus came!
In our passage this morning we find that Jesus set this entire encounter in motion by His actions. Can you imagine how much we would have NOT known about Jesus had He not taken the initiative to make first contact!
Jesus initiates contact with us today… we don’t have to come TO Him, Jesus comes to us! In fact, if it were left to us to find Jesus… we would die hopeless and helpless. Praise God that Jesus initiates the contact… this blind man never knew what was headed his way… BUT today, the Savior of the world made a stop, just to see HIM.
The blind man was blind and knew he was blind and in the overwhelming awareness of his being blind did not change the fact he did NOT know how to see. Jesus came to bring what this blind man could never gain on his own…
What did Jesus bring? First we see that Jesus brought a physical touch! Jesus met the need of this man… a need that no one else could reach. Jesus touched his life in a way that radically changed who he was… and also how he was perceived in the Jewish community.
Today, if you call out to Jesus, you will realize that He has been there all the time, knocking and waiting patiently for you to answer. Jesus initiates the contact, but Jesus also brings physical touch to our hearts and for our souls!
Jesus can change us physically and in our health, but Jesus can change our physical nature by refocusing our hearts and desires! When Jesus comes He brings a physical touch that is unmistakable and unforgettable… Has Jesus touched you today?
But the 2nd item that Jesus brings when Jesus comes is Jesus brings dignity. This man had been blind and begging his entire life, he had ZERO dignity left… his life had been a dignity stripping event that happened each and every day… He had long ago lost all the shreds of dignity that he had earlier in life. His life led him to this point… broken and hurting… but we find Jesus bringing dignity!
Today, life has beaten so many of us down that our dignity has been stripped away so much so that we lay bare before the world… exposed and without any protection. But when Jesus comes into our lives, we are immediately clothed in His righteousness and clothed in HIS dignity.
No longer does the world make the rules for us, but we are redeemed by the Savior and our dignity is raised to eternal life and heir of all creation… When Jesus comes, Jesus brings dignity!
The 3rd items we find Jesus bringing is clarification and understanding. Jesus’ ministry is filled with moments just like v.4-5 [read verse here]
4We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
Jesus wanted His disciples to know and understand that this one healing did NOT define who He was… just as turning water into wine did not define Jesus… He wanted His disciples and the world to know that He was here on a mission…
Jesus wanted all to know that He had a solid and resolved mission to reveal God to the world. Jesus knew and understood that the darkness of sin had covered the world and that He was the only light that could drive away that darkness…
The world has ONE view of God and the world tries to force that view on us… we hear that God is dead, or that God is alive but does not care about us because if God cared there would be no sickness or disease or death…
When Jesus comes into our lives HE brings a revelation of HIS purpose. We then see Jesus for who He truly is and NOT what we ‘expect’ Him to be. Jesus performed many miracles in this life, and changed the physical condition of many people, but that was NOT His purpose…
His purpose was clear, to bring salvation to the lost! When Jesus comes into our lives… our view of Christ is clarified and made clear… Christ is about the salvation of souls… and although He works in and thru the physical, His focus in on the eternal!
So far we what seen that when Jesus comes… He brings physical touch, dignity and reveals HIS purpose, but we can see one more item that Jesus brings…Jesus brings direction and purpose into OUR lives.
6Having said these things, He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Here in the last part of our verse today… we find Jesus not only physically healing this man, but giving him direction! His direction was simple at first… go wash! So often God comes to us and gives us simple directions and we want to make them so much more complicated!
This reminds me of the story of Naaman who had leprosy and he was told that there was a Jewish prophet that could cure him… Naaman went to Elisha to be healed and Elisha gave Naaman a simple task to accomplish to be healed…he told him to go and wash in the Jordan!
Naaman was stubborn… why the muddy, dirty Jordan? Why not some of the majestic rivers of his own land? Why do I have to go wash at all? Can’t you just ‘heal’ me? Elisha did not budge… he told Naaman that until he goes and washes in the Jordan… he will never be healed.
Naaman relents and goes and washes in the Jordan and is miraculously healed. Naaman’s healing carried with it a sense of personal responsibility on the part of the one being healed. He was told to go wash in the Jordan river…
In our story today, this man was also given a task to perform… “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam”… do this and you will be healed. The man did what he was told and he was healed.
How many times do we cry out to Jesus for Him to move in our lives, but we are unwilling to be obedient when He speaks? God can do what He chooses and HOW he chooses… but what God has done historically and biblically in the past is miracles come at the end of obedience.
The water into wine could NOT have happened, if the servants had not been willing to fill the jugs with water…
The feeding of the 5000 could not have happened had the people refused to sit down…had the young boy refused to give his lunch…
Here Jesus instructs this man to ‘go wash’ and he is obedient, and the miracle happens for him as he receives his sight. What about you today? Are you crying out to God for a miracle in your life, but are not obedient to His calling on your life?
Jesus touched this man’s life and we can see from further reading that his life was NEVER the same again! People when Jesus comes into your life… your life is radically changed!
When Jesus comes… He brings direction and focus into your life… no longer do you have to be wandering aimlessly through this life. Christ brings instruction that gives direction and focus! Obedience to that instruction and focus leaves us without doubt and filled with excitement about the Kingdom work God has called us to… When Jesus comes into our lives, he brings a clarification of purpose!
But in the verses in the remaining part of this chapter we find that there is also a negative principle at work here that we have to look at and learn to avoid. I want us to notice the lack of belief by those around this man… Jesus had radically changed his life, but they had great difficultly or even flat out refused to believe that this man had REALLY been changed.
The people were wondering if this was the man who had been a blind beggar… some of them had possibly passed this man begging and blind just this very morning… and now here he is standing and talking to them… LOOKING them in the eye! Is it really him… it sure LOOKS like him, but I don’t know! All the while the man was saying… “It’s me…I’m changed! It’s me!”
The people don’t know what to make of it so they go to their spiritual mentors, the Pharisees… and they don’t know what to make of it either. They begin to downplay the miracle in this man’s life and eventually they shun him as someone they don’t want to be a part of their fellowship.
Let me ask you… how often does this happen in church today? A man or woman we know to be a reprobate… a sinner who is someone we think is beyond help or hope… they hear the gospel and Jesus brings a touch into their lives, a touch that radically changes them… and then they come ‘home’ because they want all to know their wonderful news!
Is this that strung out druggie Tommy? Is this really Susie… you know Susie… the loosest girl in the world… I don’t know if I can trust them… I don’t know if they have “REALLY” been saved! I bet they got saved at that church across the river… are they really even Christians?
People… when Jesus comes in with a touch… people are going to stand up and take notice because the change is going to be so radical it is unable to be UNNOTICED!
But there is always resistance… the question is where are YOU? Are you the type like these Pharisees who doubt the change, who don’t believe the change could be real, who don’t believe the change is for the good… who attack the one who is professing the change of God in their lives!
OR will you be like Barnabas of the NT church… a man known as the Encourager… the man who took John Mark under his wing, even when the great missionary Paul had thought there as NO hope for Mark…
Which are you going to be? Today you have read a story about a miracle of Jesus, and we have looked at what it means for us in our lives today. It lets us know that when Jesus comes into our lives, He brings certain items with Him…
Jesus brings a physical touch… to those who are hurting, Jesus brings a touch! Jesus always dealt with the physical as a means of getting TO the spiritual. When Jesus comes He always brings a physical touch…
Second we learned that when Jesus comes He brings dignity. This world strips us down bare and lays us out on the road to be bashed, bruised and battered. The enemy desires to sift us like wheat… the enemy and this world has NO care for our soul, only contempt and hatred. But today we learned that when Jesus comes, he brings dignity to our hearts and souls!
Jesus comes and lets us know that we have worth in the eyes of the Creator… worth so much that He was willing to die for our sin and provide an eternal plan of salvation for us… Jesus comes to bring physical touch and dignity.
We also learned from this paste that when Jesus comes, He brings clarity and understanding of purpose. Before we meet Jesus we are wandering aimless in this world without any sense of direction or purpose, but in Christ we find that God has a plan and purpose for our lives. We are all gifted and talented to be used by God in His kingdom… all for HIS purposes!
Suicide is rampant among the young today, and the main reason many decide to take their own life is a sense of nothingness in their lives… no sense of purpose in their life… no direction… and without it, what is the use in living! When Jesus comes… He brings purpose, direction and guidance to allow us to not only live our lives, but live them more abundant.
We also learned 2 important principles about human nature and God’s provision. 1st we learned that even in a miracle, God is going to call for our obedience. Before this man could be healed, he was told to go and wash… yes it was simple… but it was what Christ called him to do. What has Christ called you to do that you have NOT done… you are crying out for God to move mountains in your life… for God to bring about a miracle in your life, but yet what God has called you to do… you have NOT done!
It may be simple… but that does not mean it is not important… anything God has called you to do is important. Obedience to His calling is the most important thing you can do in your walk with Jesus!
Then we learned that change is something that we as humans do not accept with open arms. This man was OBVIOUSLY changed by Jesus… changed for the GOOD… it was a wonderful miracle, but look how many people doubt it and scoff at it and ridicule it!
When Jesus comes into our lives and makes a change it is going to be radical, but we have to understand that CHANGE like that is going to be met with great resistance, from both those in the world AND those who are in the church!
Today this altar is open…today I challenge ALL believers here today, to come forward and reconcile with God. He is convicting you right now of what you have done, what you have said, and He wants you to come and make things right with Him… I urge you believers to come and confess and be cleansed!
Today this altar is open to those of you here that have never known Jesus as savior… Today the HS is pulling on your heart’s door… it is drawing your spirit to come to this altar and to cry out to Jesus!
I want you to know… If you will step out and come… God can do a miracle in your life! He can save you and give you eternal life! Come and accept His great gift of life… come as Bro Ken comes to lead us in our hymn of Invitation…
