Blind Men’s Bluff │ Msg 6/14

2:54 Now, in the following verses, the neighbors take the beggar to the Pharisees who want to know who healed him on the Sabbath. They actually interrogate the man and then his parents, and then they call the beggar back in to the witness stand. We'll pick up the story at verse 24. So for the second time, they called in the man who had been blind and told him, God should get the glory for this because we know this man, Jesus, is a sinner. I don't know whether he is a sinner, the man replied, but I know this. I was blind and now I see. Verse 34.

3:38 You were born a total sinner, they answered. Are you trying to teach us? and they threw him out of the synagogue. When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, Do you believe in the Son of Man? The man answered, Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him. You have seen him, Jesus said, and he is speaking to you. Yes, Lord, I believe, the man said. and he worshiped Jesus.

4:16 The minister that I was once the assistant pastor under had a strange experience late one night. It happened a number of years ago. A man had come to the church where we were serving several times and had come under deep conviction concerning his life and his lifestyle. So he called up the pastor of the church and he talked with him in broken tones about his life. He said to the pastor, I have come several times and I have begun to realize that you're really talking to me. We've all had that experience at times, haven't we? This man went on to say, and then he broke and began to sob. I am in such great need. I need to know how Jesus Christ relates to knowing God.

5:16 I am, as you said last Sunday, lost. And I need to have life. I need to be found. I need to talk with you about it. Pastor quickly responded by saying, we need to set up a time and I'll come as quickly as possible. The man worked late each evening, so they planned a time around 9.30 or 10 o'clock one evening later that week. The pastor kept the promise and drove over to the home. He thought he found the right address, and he pulled up at the curb, and he looked, and the house that he looked at was dark. He decided that the man was either still at work, or there had been a mistake. He had gotten the wrong address or through some unusual circumstance, the man was called away.

6:10 Pastor sat there at the curb for a few minutes in his car and decided, well, he would come back later, later on that week. The next morning, very early, his phone rang again. It was the same man who said, where were you last night? The pastor said, well, I thought I was there, but maybe I wasn't. I'm sorry. I didn't see a light on, and I thought you were gone. Did I have the wrong address? There was a pause, and the man responded, I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you. I'm blind.

6:48 And I forgot to turn the light on for your sake. Because I'm blind, I don't need the light. With quick, careful wisdom, the pastor responded, Oh, yes, you do. I'd like to introduce you to real light.

7:11 Could we do that today? There was a popular song released some time ago entitled, Two Different Worlds. It's true not only in the romantic life, it's true in the physical life. We live in two different worlds on this earth. There is a world of sounds that our silent friends never hear. There is a world of activity that our crippled friends never enter into. And there is a world of sight that our blind friends never see. I was made wonderfully aware of that this morning when Kathy Ward, right after the first morning service, knocked on my door.

8:13 She's blind and comes to our church regularly with her four-footed set of eyes, as she calls him. She walked in and we just embraced for a few moments. She apologized that the dog's hair might get on my trousers. I said, forget about my trousers. Let's fellowship together. She just wanted me to know what the message had meant to her. Kathy was born blind. Or so they told her, three weeks after birth, they informed her parents, who immediately changed in their feelings toward Kathy. She felt her father never really cared for her, and perhaps her mother loved her. But at the age of 16, there was a parting of the ways. She went in one direction and her parents in another. Through a wonderful chain of events, She came to know real light, Jesus Christ.

9:21 She said to me, and I wrote it down, the hardest thing in the world to accept is being blind in a society that is oriented to sight. She said, at times I feel like a monkey in a cage. I feel eyes staring at me. don't know how to treat a blind person. She has a wonderful job, works for Biola, keeping the greenhouse green. Her companion with her that day, who helps drive her back and forth, said, you know, it's an interesting, curious humor that Kathy has. Someone will ask her how that plant is doing. She says, I don't know. I'll have to look at it and see how it's doing. Isn't that beautiful? What a tremendous attitude. It's an attitude like the fellow in his mother head in the doctor of optometry's office some time ago. They walked in together with a real sweet spirit, and they hadn't an appointment, actually, and they asked the doctor if he could give them a little bit of help and he said sure what could I do? She said well my son's plastic eye needs to be polished. There's a scratch on it. Could you take care of that? The doctor said certainly. Took it to the wheel and cleaned it up, honed it, brought it back and she said could I trouble you just with one more requests, sure. Could you do the other eyes well? It's also scratched.

11:08 And the doctor said when he went back to the back room, he uttered, Lord, I'll never complain again. He took the little ball back to the boy and he fitted it into his eye and they walked away with a cheerful spirit. Have you ever thought about living without sight? The man in John chapter 9 never knew what it was to see a sunset over the Middle East. He had never once in his life seen the crashing surf of the Mediterranean.

12:06 Never once, though he had smelled them, had he ever seen the blossomed trees in the spring surrounding Zion. I imagine there were times that he ran his hand up and down the little branches of the olive tree to feel those delicate little stub-like leaves. But never once had he ever seen an olive leaf. Never once. Until one day there came along someone who changed all that. The exciting story is found in John 9. I suppose if physicians in those days used the words they use today, someone had said to him at some time, you're suffering from congenital blindness.

13:09 This is the only time in all the record of God's word of the gospels where someone born with an affliction is healed from it. So it's a unique account. I think it is a spontaneous event that takes place because of the way the chapter begins. And as he passed by, I don't believe that Jesus had entered it into his mental journal that morning to give sight to the blind beggar. Rather, I believe it was a part of the day as they were on their way perhaps to meet a group of people or to have lunch together, and they stumbled upon a man begging alms, perhaps had a cup in his hand, sold little things, something of what he could call an occupation. Jesus and his disciples were brought up short, and they stared at the man together.

14:21 The disciples asked a question that might seem cruel to the casual reader. They asked, who sinned, this man or his parents. Let's not be too harsh with the disciples. After all, they had been taught most of their lives by rabbis that a fetus inside the womb could in fact sin. And often the kick of the unborn child revealed that sin was actually occurring. They cultivated the thought from a misunderstanding and a spiritualizing of a verse in Genesis chapter 4 which says, Sin lies at the door.

15:21 They taught that that meant the door of birth erroneously. But they were also taught from the Torah that God often visited the iniquity of fathers upon their children under the third and fourth generation. And we know that that's true. There are occasions where the sin of a mother or father is visited upon the child, yet unborn. Drug abuse, the abuse of alcohol, creates these problems among the newborn. Even the dreaded social diseases can occasionally cause blindness. So it's not that uncommon. But what bothers us, what troubles us here is that the disciples seem to view the man as nothing more than a case study.

16:21 They don't seem to be moved by the emotion of the passage. And I think we must to have the heart Jesus had. It is easy to read print on a page and never enter into the feelings between the lines. did not see the man as an object lesson for truth. He saw him as a man with feelings, with brokenness and hurt and bruises within. And deeper than that, he saw him with spiritual blindness, needing eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus. And that explains why the Lord says in answer, It was neither this man that sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.

17:20 Place in the margin of your Bible, if you are a parent of a child born with defects, Exodus 4, 10 and 11, or if you have a friend so born or with a child like that. Exodus 4, 10 and 11 will affirm the fact that God takes full responsibility. It is no mistake. It is no miserable circumstance when viewed from God's perspective. God says the man's blindness is for the purpose of displaying in himself God's works. The man's condition displays God's work.

18:17 That's anything but a harsh statement that brings answers where we have nothing but questions. But I freely and quickly admit I do not know beyond that point how to answer the problem today. Now the Lord Jesus sees this man and declares that the works of God are to be displayed in him, and then he does something about the condition. Verse 6. When he had said this, he spat on the ground one other place in the Gospels, The Lord used saliva in effecting a miracle. Mark 7.33, where he changes a man with an impediment of speech. And he does it by placing saliva on the man's ears and touching his tongue. Why does he do that? We're never told. No one knows for sure.

19:20 Why Jesus didn't go with the man to the pool, we're never told. Why the man wasn't allowed to wash it off there in front of the Lord, we don't know. All we know is that God, through the Lord Jesus, gave specific instructions. Just like you're coming to know Christ.

19:41 God says if you want to know what it is to have eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, his plan is very simple. Come to know Jesus Christ by personal faith and you will have forgiveness, eternal life once and for all. That's his plan. So he told the man in similar terms. Go, verse 7, wash in the pool. And it says, he came back, he went away and washed and came back seeing. Now in passing, let me have you note that the pool is translated sent in verse 7. This pool was connected by a conduit to a large reservoir of water, which was called the Virgin's Fountain.

20:39 The fountain was the source, and it sent water from itself to this little pool of Siloam and brought it to people in the city. That's why it was commonly called the scent pool. So he told the man to go to this pool and to wash the clay off his eyes. He did that. Now, I think it is justifiable to say at this point that the man did not quietly respond after seeing, my, isn't this nice? I have a feeling that when he saw for the first time, he shouted for joy. I don't believe he could contain himself. When it says he came back seeing, I want you to enter into that experience.

21:38 For the first time, he saw his own hands. He saw his own body. He saw what clay looks like, what water looks like, what people look like. He saw the trees and the clouds and the sky and could have uttered, had it been written, Oh, the beauty of the earth, as the hymn writer has described it. He looked around and he saw a world and panorama, and it must have simply sent him to his knees with ecstasy.

22:17 So he makes his way back and he looks for the first time at faces who now embody sounds he's been familiar with. They're called his neighbors. Verse 8, they're a strange lot. If I may be frank about it, neighbors are sometimes strange people. And this is maybe the strangest of all. Not one time does it say they were elated. Not one time does it say they smiled or they were happy. Look. They said to him, or they said to one another, Is not this the one who used to sit and beg? Others were saying, This is he.

23:14 Still others were saying, No, but he is like him. And he kept saying, I am the one. Put yourself in his shoes. he's been given sight he's dancing the jig he's so excited and they're over there in the corner saying is that really the one no it's not the guy it looks just like it beggars are dime a dozen you know how they are jump around like that probably faking it it's not the one you know and I'm the Why? That's the way he's saying it. So after they ask who, they ask how. Verse 10, just in cold, pedantic fashion. Just an inquisition. How then were your eyes opened? Well, he answered, the man who is called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes, and said to me, go to Siloam and wash.

24:13 so I went away and washed and I received sight where is he can you imagine that well sure you can if you have shared your salvation with an old Christian who's over the hill you know you share it with a Christian that's over the hill and you tell him how you just came to know the Lord Jesus He says, yes, uh-huh. You'll get over that excitement. It'll wear away. Or as a friend of mine said to me, well, I told my mother and dad I came to know Christ, and the thing they said to me was, don't become fanatical now. You heard that before? Sure have. You go to the office and you say, look, fellas, I want to tell you something. Something's revolutionized my life. Oh, really?

25:05 What is it? New car? No. New home? No. No! New God! Hmm, really? Watch out for him, you know. We have to put him away. He'll be a Jesus freak in a few days. That's the response. Very few rejoice. Let me tell you something. When somebody tells you they just came to know the Lord Jesus, rejoice with them. That is my delightful experience. Just this past week, it happened to several of our staff members. I was engaged in one phase of work, and Bill was with a couple, middle-aged, in their 50s. He led them both to the Lord Jesus, right there in his office. Man, Bill was higher than a kite.

25:55 Bemis had the same delightful experience. Just this past week, led a fellow to the Lord Jesus, rejoicing. Why not? That's where it's at. This fellow comes with sight and he says, look, I can see. Really? Who did it? I don't really know. Where is he? I don't know and I don't care. That seems to be the feeling here. Now at this point, if you think the neighbors were bad, you're in for a surprise because they took them next to the Pharisees. They were the chief prophets of the sour set, the Pharisees were. They hadn't smiled in so long. It was absolutely deplorable. When you lose your smile as a believer, you've lost three-fourths of your joy.

26:53 The rigid, hard-faced Christian attracts nobody. Thank you. This man came before the Pharisees with, I'm convinced, a grin from ear to ear. He was so elated. But he didn't know what he was in for. You see, he had been a beggar. And Pharisees didn't have time for beggars. But that makes it neat because he had nothing to lose with the Pharisees. Everybody else lived under the gun of being excommunicated. He didn't care. You know? He'd been given sight. So he waltzes in. Verse 14 says, it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

27:53 Why does it add that? Because that's the issue. The Pharisees got excited about nothing except breaking their tradition. And when that happened, they got very excited. You see, Moses had taught back in the law that you're not to work on the Sabbath. That means on Saturday, the devout Jew was not to be employed. But the Pharisees came along during the between-the-testament era, and they added hundreds of added things on the list to carry out that rule. The list was not inspired. It was, in fact, against the plan of God. Let me give you an example of what was on their list. Listen carefully. On the Sabbath day, if your lamp ran out of oil, you were not to bear new oil and put it in the lamp.

28:50 that means you sat in darkness if your lamp ran out of oil because carrying new oil was working. If your sandals were shod with nails, you couldn't wear those sandals because carrying nails was a burden. Isn't that dingy? Have you ever heard of anything before as ridiculous?

29:18 You could not cut your fingernails. you could not cut your toenails you could not cut your hair you couldn't trim your beard You were absolutely helpless on the Sabbath if you wanted to be a good Pharisaic follower. And they even had in their record that you were not to make clay. That's right. That's all they heard. How did this happen to you fellow? Well, he made clay and he, hold it. Wait a minute. Wait, I want to tell you what, no, he made clay. That's all they heard. Look at this list. Look at the passage. The Pharisees asked him, verse 15, how he received his sight. He said to them, he applied clay to, uh-oh, there it is. Clay to my eyes and I watched and I see. Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying, the man is not from God.

30:24 An instant condemnation. Verse 17, they said, therefore, to the blind man again, what do you say about him? Since he opened your eyes, he said, he is a prophet. Oh, wow. That was quite a statement. You see, the going thing in that day was whoever followed the Lord Jesus would be excommunicated. That's what it says down here in verse 22. That's why his parents responded with fear. 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 the Messiah, he should be put out of the synagogue. There you have it. Now the man came before the Pharisees and said, he's a prophet.

31:19 No question in my mind. They didn't like that. Verse 18 says, the Jews did not believe it of him that he had been blind. They expected a collusion between the two. So they called in witnesses, namely his parents. Verse 19, they questioned them saying, is this your son? Question number one. Was he born blind? Question number two. How does he see? Question number three. Look at the answers. They cop out because of fear. Parents answered question number one. We know this is our son. Question number two. He was born blind. Question number three. Well, we don't know.

32:13 Now, will you just pause a moment and consider the threat of the Pharisee? It was so intimidating a parent would turn against a child. His neck was in the noose and they did not get in with him. We have nothing to compare to that today except perhaps self-appointed Pharisees. And there are some in every religious organization I've ever been acquainted with. There are some in every church. Now here the Lord Jesus graciously gives this man the ability to stand up strong. Notice how he does it. Verse 24, the parents have put it back on him. They said, he is of age, ask him. So they come the second time to the man and they say, give glory to God.

33:20 we know this man is a sinner he answered therefore whether he is a sinner i do not know one thing i do know whereas i was blind now i see may i clarify at this point two things first he doesn't know the man who healed him personally and second therefore he is still spiritually blind.

33:47 Remember that. He does not know if Jesus was a sinner or a saint. He was a man who came, whose name was Jesus, and he gave him sight. And second, therefore, he was not what we would call born again at this point. So he honestly says, Look, I don't know anything except I was blind. Now I'm able to see. and they said therefore to him verse 26 what did he do to you how did he open your eyes now about this time you're getting weary of hearing the same question and the man was too so I want you to look at how he twists the sword 27 he answered them I already told you and you did not listen why do you want to hear it again you don't want to become one of his disciples too, do you? Twist, twist, twist. You get it? Are you interested? Come on.

34:48 And they didn't smile. Verse 28, they reviled him. You are his disciple. We are disciples of Moses. If my son were reading this, his favorite expression at this point would be, You could have fooled me. You could have fooled me you were a disciple of Moses. Meaning what? Your works don't show it.

35:15 As a matter of fact, the man answered them with very real sarcasm. Verse 30, my favorite verse in the passage. Well, here is an amazing thing. You do not know where he is from and yet he opened my eyes. You guys are supposed to know everything. He did something that's never been done since the start of time and you don't even know him.

35:51 Guys are not only blind, you're dumb. That's what he's implying. You're stupid. As if to say, Look, great religious people you are. You don't even know the one that's able to do something that's unique in history. Oh. That took courage. Listen to the writings of one man who says it like it is.

36:20 Everything the Pharisee touches turns to gall. Like Sunday, for instance, a dog doesn't dare scratch a flea on this holy day, lest he be indicted for Sabbath desecration. It seems that every flower stops blooming at midnight of the Pharisee's Sunday. The rooster rests his little larynx. Even Alka-Seltzer refuses to work. Nobody ever received a spiritual blessing while being bored. The severe Sabbath of stringency is the spoiled sport of happy Christianity. The fascism of the Pharisee causes him like the skunk to pollute the atmosphere. It is almost impossible to breathe there. Just hold your nose and plow straight into him. That's exactly what Jesus did.

37:14 The only people with whom Jesus was harsh were the Pharisees who had all the answers. The Lord refused to allow their oversimplification of issues. So must you. The Lord refused to be frightened into neutrality by their ingenious use of invective. So must you. The Lord stood up to them when they questioned his motives and loyalties. So must you. I want to say something at this point in which there is developed among many Christians this super incredible, unbelievable submission concept that we submit to everything and everyone for any reason.

37:59 Jesus never submitted to the Pharisees. There is not a believer of grace that will not have to stand nose to nose against Pharisees or they'll send you to a miserable silent grave, at least emotionally. Now don't misread that. I'm not saying grace means you live like the devil and God understands. Grace was never designed to create a life like that, but it is designed to free you so you can live in spontaneous worship without having to check it through man. Every minister I know who is a minister of grace does his greatest battles in the trenches with the Pharisees. Self-appointed, self-righteous people.

38:56 Now, this man was cast out. Verse 34, they put him out. Well, you'd expect that. That's the ultimate. They had no answer, so they put him out. It's like that illustration I heard, and it was a true one of a missionary who showed this group of people that the river where they were drawing their water was causing the infection in the community, in the colony. And he showed them in the microscope the germs to help explain to them that the river was the source of the problem. That night, they tore up his microscope. that was their way of saying that'll get rid of the problem. That answers nothing.

39:49 It just removes the evidence. That's what these men did. We don't have an answer, so we'll put him out. It's interesting that Pharisees usually resort to force when they run out of answers. Have you found that true? now he left but I love what Chrysostom says the Jews cast him out of the temple and the Lord of the temple found him isn't that good the Lord wasn't in that temple he was outside he'd been cast out a long time ago look at how Jesus dealt with him Jesus saw him still blind spiritually so he did business with eternity Jesus heard they had put him out see the word travels and finding him he said do you believe in the son of man by the way if you have come from a religious background chances are you have been booted out of that religion because you didn't keep the rules but do you know you may find Jesus Christ now that you're freed of that religion you may find a meaningful relationship with a person now that you're freed of the bondage that's what happened to this guy jesus found him says i hear you were kicked out yes i was jesus says now let's do real business do you believe that i that is do you believe that I am the son of man?

41:32 Lord, who is he? It is I, says the Savior. Lord, verse 38, I believe. And he worshiped him. That's real Christianity. No building, no church. In fact, no man-made legislation. Have you learned that true worship isn't connected with a building? You can worship behind the wheel of a car. You can worship at your study desk. You can worship in the kitchen. You can worship on a date.

42:10 You can worship with friends in a home. Oh, it's beautiful worship. Some of the most moving worship I've ever had is with a group of college kids sitting on a beach near a surf, enjoying communion together. Just fresh, vital worship. Do you see the progress in the man's thoughts? He first said, verse 11, he's Jesus who made clay. Verse 17, he's the prophet. And then verse 38, my Lord, and he worshiped him. He came to know Christ, didn't he? Isn't that marvelous. Not only was he given sight physically, but he was given sight spiritually. What a day in that man's life. And along came the Pharisees. Look at this. Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind, and those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and they said we're not blind too are we?

43:31 that's the thing they feared the most is exposure they were the blind men bluffing and the man with sight had nothing to hide and Jesus came back with a devastating remark because you say we see your sin remains you're not even willing to acknowledge that you're blind. Isn't that an irony? The man who was once blind now sees. And those who have never failed to see are still blind. That's true of people today. You may have seen all your life, but be blind. It happens in the office of Dr. Jack Cooper, a personal friend of mine from years past, who practices ophthalmology.

44:36 He's born again, this medical physician is, and he has often the delightful experience sub transplanting corneas, doing that microscopic, miraculous work on the eye and behind it so as to introduce sight to eyes that have either never seen or not seen for many, many years.

45:05 And he has said to me personally, Chuck, there is nothing like that experience. In the hospital room, the room is dark, and I go in to visit this patient who's recovering. He hasn't seen or she hasn't seen for years. Sometime, never. And I peel the bandage off the eyes, and they blink a time or two slowly. The room is dark. and then I crack the shade and light comes in and they say, I can see, I can see. And he says back, no, not completely, not completely. And then at that very moment, he introduces them to the light of the world. In fact, he favors the place called his office where he has people with bandages coming in for that first exposure to light.

46:09 And he has them read an eye chart. It doesn't read, Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country and other dumb statements. You know what it reads? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So here this person blinding, you know, the bandage comes off. down snaps the little scale, and he says, now read that for me. For God so loved the world, I am the light of the world. If any man comes to me, he will no longer be in blindness, but will have the light of life. And he says, words cannot describe the joy that comes over me when I introduce them not to physical sight only, but spiritual. Some of you are bandaged within, blind. You do not see. And the tragedy of it is you feel that because you're in a religion or because you're going through religious motions, somehow God will say to you, ah, you're an exception.

47:35 Whoever comes to the light comes through the same narrow way and it's through the one who can heal spiritual blindness. No medical doctor can do that. Only the physician of the soul, Jesus Christ. Will you bow this morning, please? Oh, it's just very possible in this service today. In fact, it is probable that some of you have come to this place having seen all your life, but you're blind. Your request ought to be what Margaret played in the offertory, Open my eyes that I may see.

48:33 Jesus Christ stands ready and available to change your darkness to light. It might very well be that some of you just don't want to wait another moment. I remember the day that happened to me. I couldn't step out fast enough to make that decision. It's a time for giving sight and the Spirit of God is ready to do that in some lives today.