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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (29-8-1999 Guisborough Evangelical Church)
This miracle story demonstrates the Lord’s power over
deformity and suffering in the physical world, but it is also full of spiritual
truth about Him and our response to Him. Whenever the Lord comes and takes
action, His presence has a divisive effect. It brings challenge. He points to a
crossroads and asks, “Which way will you take?”
Preliminary comment – there
are no Old Testament stories of the miracle of giving sight to the blind.
Nowhere do Jesus’ apostles work this miracle (the nearest is Ananias healing
of Paul’s temporary blindness of three days after his conversion). But in the
miracles of Jesus, there are more miracles of giving sight to the blind than any
other kind of healing. All miracles of giving sight to the blind are pointing to
the fact that, in a spiritual sense, Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
Going to look at this miracle, and beyond it, to the spiritual truth which it conveys. Especially concerned with man born blind and his response in faith. Then going to look at those who rejected Christ, who refused to believe in His power, and faced dread consequences.
As Jesus went along He met a very common sight by the
roadside – a blind man, the picture of helplessness. He was begging. Unlike
Jesus, who was concerned to show compassion and help, this man was a theological
problem to the disciples. Who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him
to be blind? Many still worry about the problem of the link between suffering
and sin. Even though the book of Job was written to deny suffering is in
proportion to sin, many still believe there is a link. Jews assumed that if
someone had suffered an affliction from birth, it must be because they sinned in
the mother’s womb, or in a previous existence. Either that, or it was caused
by the parent’s sin.
In all of this, none of these
ideas is right. In this particular case, it was to be the means whereby God’s
power and glory would be seen. And Jesus had urgency in helping the man. Our
opportunities will not last forever. He acted as the light of the world while He
was in the world. Do not keep delaying, or your last chance will have come and
gone before you know it.
So Jesus spat on the ground. He
made clay or mud with His spittle, and put it on the man’s eyes. He told him
to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. Jesus used a variety of means to perform
healing – His hands, fingers, a word (Mark 7:33). Here, and in the case of the
deaf and dumb man, He used spittle. Seems unhygienic and repulsive to us today,
but in the ancient world there was a belief that spittle had curative qualities.
He used it to gain the man’s confidence, so that raised expectations quickened
his faith. There was no power in the spittle or the clay, but in the Lord. C.f.
the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper – tangible things we can
handle, no power in them as such, but they strengthen our faith. They are
crutches so that we can get in touch with spiritual realities.
This whole episode was a
wonderful display of God’s compassion and power. The case was totally beyond
human skill. The blind man was defected from birth. There was no accidental
cause which might have yielded to human skill. So Jesus took the initiative and
worked a miracle on him. The whole incident began with the Lord. In all God’s
dealings with men and all experiences of Him, the first move is always with God.
It was He who sent His Son. Not that we loved God but He loved us and sent
His Son to be the atoning sacrifice (1 John 4:10).
So in our experience, the first
move is always with God. Spurgeon said, “One night I was sitting in the house
of God. I did not think much of the sermon, and did not believe it. Then the
thought struck me – How did you become a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how
did you come to seek the Lord? The thought flashed across my mind – I should
not have sought Him unless there had been a previous influence on my mind to
seek Him. I prayed. Then I asked myself, Why did I pray? I was induced to pray
by reading the Scriptures. What led me to do that? Then in a moment, I saw that
God was at the bottom of it all. He was the author of my faith. So the whole
doctrine of grace was opened up to me.”
So if men are saved, God has all
the glory. But hasten to add that if men are lost, it is their own fault. There
is sufficiency in Calvary’s Cross to save you. He gives you the warmest and
sincerest invitation to come. He will never cast you out. Here is something
above our minds, but it is the teaching of the Bible. I revealed myself to
those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah
65:1). He sought me long before I heard, before my sinful heart was stirred. But
when I took Him at His word, I was forgiven, and He lifted me.
All who are saved can trace God’s prior action in their lives – the Christian home, Christian witness, a book we read, a meeting we went to, a yearning and seeking within. It was not good luck or chance – it was the Lord. Yet there must be a response to His initiative. The man went, washed, and came home seeing. There has to be response to God’s revelation of Himself. There must be a forsaking of the way we were going, an about turn. There must be clinging to Christ. A crown has to be placed on His head. We repent once and trust Him as Saviour. Then there must be submission to His Lordship. He makes us see the issues of salvation. God sets before us life and death. We are brought to a crossroads. Left or right turn? Cannot drift into salvation. Already of the road to destruction – must make an active decision to get off that road. The faith of parents will not help. This must be a personal response.
The blind man soon discovered that responding to Christ
was not to walk a primrose path. Ahead was plenty of discouragement and
difficulty, ridicule and scorn. This man was faced with formidable opposition.
The Pharisees were religious and moral leaders, experts in Jewish law. They were
so zealous that they kept not only the written law, but also hundreds of extra
laws or their own traditions. They heaped scorn on him. Jesus was not from God;
He was a law-breaker, a rogue. He must have got it all wrong. They hurled
insults on him, and claimed to know what they were talking about, since they
were the experts, disciples of Moses. “You were steeped in sin at birth –
how dare you lecture us.” And they threw him out.
At once he discovered that
responding to God landed him in trouble from religious experts. He had only just
begun; he had no means of knowing what they knew. He had no support from his
parents. They were prepared to affirm he was their son, born blind, but that was
as far as they would go. They did not know how his eyes were opened. He was old
enough – ask him. They were scared of the Jews, and did not want to cross
their leaders in case they were excommunicated. If you were thrown out of the
synagogue, no one would speak to you or trade with you. You would be totally
ignored. They were not willing to risk that.
So the once-blind man stood all alone, bitterly opposed by the enemies of Christ, and unsupported by loved ones. But he stood, and would not give in. How was he able to stand? Where did his strength lie?
He heard the accusations. He
faced difficult questions, but his response was One thing I know. I was blind
but now I see (John 9:25). This one thing he could not doubt. He could see
now. There was no doubt in his mind, when he compared it to the total blindness
of a short time ago. Many things he did not know, but he was sure of what had
happened to him. He could not be challenged. He spoke from first-hand knowledge.
Nothing convinces so thoroughly as one’s own sense and feelings. No evidence is so satisfying and convincing. However, feelings and experience are not everything – it is possible to misinterpret experience. Faith has to rest on promises and statements of God’s word as well as experience. But experience of truth there must be, and it carries great weight. You may have little knowledge, feeble faith, confused doctrine, but if God has worked in your life, that is something which cannot be overthrown. You have gone from darkness into light, from being afraid of God to loving Him, from loving sin to hating it. Never rest till you know and feel and testify to God’s work in your soul. Never be content with empty profession and nominal Christianity. That personal experience brings conviction and confidence to us.
As we respond and obey the
light, more light will follow. Amazing to see how Christ became increasingly
real to this man. At the start of the story he describes Jesus as a man, The
man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes (John 9:11). Next he
calls him a prophet. What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he
opened. The man replied, ‘He is a prophet’ (John 9:17,18). Next he
confesses he is Jewish Messiah. Do you believe in the Son of Man (title
used in Daniel for the one who brought God’s kingdom to men)? Then the man
said, ‘Lord I believe’ (John 9:35-38). The man believes that Jesus is
the one who, through His death, would bring salvation and eternal life, and he
confesses Him as God. He worshipped Christ.
So his understanding grew as he
responded to the revelation, and continued to confess Christ before men. The
more we respond, God leads us on and teaches us. Then the more we understand and
the more precious Christ becomes. Some Christians start off well. Then they
cease to grow, their faith shrivels, and they merely go on repeating experience
of first years as a Christian, and get no further. The reason – failure to
respond to God’s voice. Failure to confess. This is a thoroughly
unsatisfactory and unhappy state.
“Trust and obey
For
there’s no other way
To
be happy in Jesus”
Here are the Pharisees with
their learning and religiosity and intellectual ability, but totally blind to
Christ, His importance, power and meaning and glory. They embodied a mixture of
bigotry, persecution, hatred and evil. When pride, prejudice and
self-righteousness grip a life, then no evidence will change the mind. No proof
will influence that will. They were determined not to believe. Like a man who
shuts his eyes, ties a blindfold over them, and refuses to have blindfold
removed. The same thing happened at the death of Stephen. At this they
covered their ears… (Acts 7:57ff). Later they refused to listen to Paul
when he was making his defence (Acts 22:22). So here, the Pharisees’ only
answer to this man and his simple testimony is abuse, insults, threats and
intimidation.
Many today have dismissed
Christianity as of no account and irrelevant. They have great knowledge and
education is some spheres, but are totally ignorant of the Gospel, the meaning
of Christ and why He came and died. They dare not examine the evidence in case
they are proved wrong and they would be compelled to eat their words and turn
from their way of life. To admit their sin and their need of a Saviour, to
humble themselves before Him and yield their lives to Him, is absolutely out of
the question. It is more than their flesh and blood could stand. Their excuse is
intellectual problems and difficulties. But real problem is a moral one. It is a
matter of will and not of intellect at all.
There is no more dangerous state for a man or woman to be in. As long as a person is candid, fair, honest-minded, like the Bereans prepared to search the Scriptures daily to find the truth, prepared to ask God for light, and willing to act on it, then there is ground for hope, however ignorant the person is. God will reveal Himself to the honest seeker, but he needs to be humble, childlike and teachable. While this is so, need never despair of a man’s soul. But if determined not to believe and examine and weigh facts, unwilling to alter and change, then he loses whatever light he has. Goes into total and irreversible darkness. What desperate lengths prejudice, bigotry and pride will take, even in religious men.
Here we are presented it with
the fact of Christ, the undoubted power, glory and greatness of His person and
character. Always has divisive effect whenever He is preached and offered. For
judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who
see will become blind (John 9:39). When man is confronted with Christ, he
passes judgment on himself. Like a magnet draws iron filings, and leaves the
brass, so the Light is torture to diseased eyes but brings gladness to sound
ones.
Welcome Christ – He will be light, shining more and more to the perfect day. Turn from Him – and you will have blindness and darkness which is total. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him (Mark 4:25).
