Salvation in slow motion, John 9:8-41

Salvation in slow motion, John 9:8-41

Today’s message is the continuation of a story that we began looking at last week.  I realize some of you weren’t here, but you should be able to catch up quickly - it’s a simple story of a man born blind, that Jesus healed.  We looked at the first seven verses last week.  Today we are going to try to finish this chapter which is basically a narrative of the people who are affected by this miracle.

And so I have titled today’s message, “Salvation in slow motion.” The idea behind that title is that this passage illustrates salvation in an expanded way.   What I mean to show in this message is the progression of faith as illustrated by this blind man.  I believe that is why we have this very long narrative in the scriptures.  I believe, as I said last week, that every miracle in the gospel is presented to teach spiritual principles by spiritual parable.  So to just focus on the historical narrative here and miss the spiritual implications that are being taught would be a mistake.  I think the spiritual principle being taught here is the progressive nature of saving faith.  

Jesus said in the last chapter, chapter 8 vs.31, that “if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  So Jesus is saying that there is a necessity to continue in the truth, to continue to follow His word, and  when you do that, the truth will make you free.  

That truth finds support in Psalm 119:105  which says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  So to continue in the word indicates a desire to follow the truth as God reveals it, step by step, day by day.  When you do that, God will make you free.  It doesn’t say, set you free.  It says make you free.  It’s talking about not just being set free from the penalty of sin, but making you free from the power of sin.  That’s an important distinction.

In the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln declared all slaves to be free.  But the war was still going on between the North and the South.  And it did so for quite some time after that declaration.  Even after the cessation of hostilities, there were many slaves that continued to live as slaves.  They had been set free.  But though they might believe that fact,  they had not yet been made free.  Because they were still attached to the plantations, they had familiarity with that place.  To some extent, the plantation was all they knew.  They were made free when they acted on the declaration that set them free.  When they walked away from their home, walked away from their bondage, and started living as free men, then they were actually free.  

That’s the problem we still have today in the church.  Many people come to church and hear the good news that Jesus came to save them.  And so they believe in Jesus.  They believe that is true.  But effectively they are not made free.  They continue to live in enslavement to their sins.  They are comfortable in the world.  That is their home.  And as such, they are not made free.  The way that they will be made free will be the day that the power of sin is broken in their life and they can begin a new life being free from the power of sin.

So this blind man illustrates that continuance in the truth, and the freedom that comes through salvation.  And as we will see, there is a progression to his faith.  At the beginning, he doesn’t know very much.  But at each step of his journey, his faith grows, culminating in worshipping Jesus as Lord in vs.38.  So this man’s salvation was given to us as an example.  And John reveals that it is a sort of like slow motion, an expanded process for this guy.  We don’t know how long it took, but it likely took all day, maybe longer to come to the full realization of what happened in his life.

Well, let’s jump in.  There is a lot to cover in not a lot of time, so we won’t  exegete every word.  But I do want to highlight each step of his growing faith.  First by way of review, we see the beginning of his faith as the result of divine action by Christ who came to him and selected him, chose him to be the recipient of His grace.  This man wasn’t really seeking Christ.  He doesn’t even seem to be too familiar with who He was at first.  But one thing this man does know; he knows he was blind.  Nobody had to tell him he was blind.  And one thing we can be sure of as well; he didn’t want to be blind.  

Now that is the necessary precursor to salvation.  Blindness is analogous to being in darkness, spiritual darkness.  That is, you are dead in your trespasses and sins.  That is necessary to understand if you are going to receive salvation.  Salvation is not you’re a nice person, you are a good person, and if you believe in Jesus He is going to make your life really great.  That is no where taught in the Bible.  

Rather, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught that you had to come to God as a beggar, even as this blind man had been a beggar. Matt. 5:3 says "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Poor in spirit is to admit that you are a beggar spiritually.  You have no means to buy your way into the kingdom of God.  And then Jesus added in vs 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  That means that you must come to a place of mourning over your sin.  That’s repentance, and when you come to God in repentance you will be comforted.  And then Jesus said in vs 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  That’s the recognition that you need righteousness, and you desire to be made right with God.  You cannot supply that righteousness on your own.  That need is satisfied by Christ’s righteousness when He takes your sin upon Himself, and trades His righteousness to you.  

So Jesus made clay out of spittle and dirt and rubbed it in this man’s eyes, then telling him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  And in this we see symbolized the man’s faith and obedience, we see the application of the Savior, and we see the forgiveness of his sins illustrated in washing in the pool of Siloam. 

But that was just the beginning of this man’s progress of faith.  His eyes were opened to the truth, his sins were forgiven.  But he is still going to continue in the word of Christ and come to complete freedom.  Now in this process this man interacts with four groups of people.  We have the narrative before us, so I don’t need to belabor each part of the dialogue.  But each interaction brings this man further in his progression of faith.  

The first group he interacts with after having his eyes opened was his neighbors. Vs.8, “Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, ‘Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?’”  Listen, when you get saved, people are going to notice.  Your neighbors, your coworkers are going to notice that something about you has changed.  I remember when I got right with God 30 years ago, while living in California.  The next day I went by the restaurant where I worked to pick up my paycheck or something, and my coworkers thought I had been drinking.  I was sober.  I wasn’t acting strange.  But something about my demeanor was like a great burden that I had been under was taken away.  And so they noticed something different.  They didn’t know what it was, but it gave me the opportunity to tell them that I had gotten right with the Lord.

Well, that’s what we see happening here.  He has the opportunity right at the beginning to share what has happened to him.  And I will tell you an important principle here.  That is, the testimony of a changed life is the most effective testimony.  It’s not what you are like in church, it’s what you are like out of church that matters.  The testimony of a changed life is the most powerful sermon you will ever preach.

Now this is also the means of a step of faith for this man.  Jesus said, If you confess Me before men, I’ll confess you before My Father.  And when this man meets the skepticism, the questions of his neighbors, he confesses Jesus without wavering.  They could not help but notice that there was a tremendous change in him.  He had been blind, and now he could see.  So they ask him how were your eyes opened?  And his answer is “A man called Jesus anointed my eyes with clay and told me to go wash in the pool of Siloam, and I went and washed and received my sight.”  

Now that’s a good testimony.  Some of you say you don’t know how to witness for the Lord.  I would suggest starting by using this man’s testimony as a template.  You don’t have to know all scripture.  You can simply tell what Jesus did in your life.

Notice that at this point, this man only knows Jesus by name.  He doesn’t know all doctrine.  He does know more than a lot of people though as we will see from some of his other comments.  But at this point, his faith is elementary.  He knows Jesus gave him his sight.  Jesus was a popular name in that day to be sure.  But nevertheless, the meaning of that name was also well known.  Jesus means Jehovah is salvation.  So when this formerly blind man said Jesus was responsible for his healing, he is professing faith in the name of Jesus as the source of  salvation from Jehovah God. 

Well, his neighbors are not really sure what to make of his testimony, so they take him to their religious leaders, the Pharisees.  And of course, the Pharisees are very familiar with Jesus.  They have been plotting to kill Him for some time and in fact just that day they had picked up stones to stone Him to death but Jesus disappeared from their midst. This is the second group, the Pharisees.  And they are defiantly a hostile audience.  They see this as an opportunity to build a case against Jesus.

You know, if you were to try to condense all the error of Judaism in one practice or one tradition, then that error would be best illustrated by the Jew’s practice of keeping the Sabbath.  The Sabbath requirements were the best example of all that was wrong in Judaism.  And the greatest proponents of Judaism were the Pharisees.  I’m not going to give you a lesson concerning Pharisees this morning.  I’m going to assume you know all that means.  But perhaps what you haven’t thought of before is that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees was best illustrated in the observance of the Sabbath.  

So I think that is why Jesus deliberately healed on the Sabbath. There are seven miracles of healing recorded in the gospels that Jesus did on the Sabbath.  So I would say He did it deliberately.   This idea of a mild mannered, weak wristed Jesus is not Biblical.  I think Jesus was deliberately confrontational to those who taught a false doctrine.  And conversely, Jesus was deliberately sympathetic to those who were caught up in that false doctrine and as such were still trapped in their sin.  But He is deliberately offensive to those who heaped heavy loads on others, but figured out ways for themselves to wriggle out of any burden whatsoever.  That’s what false religions do.  That’s why the scriptures are so damning towards false teachers.  Because it keeps people in darkness, and it keeps people from being made free.  That’s why sometimes I name names, or call out certain false teachings.  I’m not trying to be mean spirited, but I hate to see people duped by self serving religious teachers. 

In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that the greatest opposition to true discipleship is often popular religion.  Because rather than continuing in the truth so that you become free, they teach traditions of men, which have no redemptive power, and those traditions end up enslaving people to repetitious ceremony that isn’t even founded on truth.

And that’s what the Pharisees did with the Sabbath.  Jesus said man wasn’t made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man.  It was to symbolize rest from your works, rest in what God has done for us through Christ.  But instead, they added ordinance upon ordinance until the Sabbath law had become this yoke that kept them in servitude to their religion.  

According to rabbinical law, there was a specific ordinance that prohibited using saliva to administer to a sick person on the Sabbath.  They had so defined every possible thing that it was just insane.  For instance, they prohibited healing on the Sabbath unless it was a life or death situation.  So if you weren’t about to die, they could make you comfortable but not try to make you well.  This had evolved into something far removed from the original fourth commandment.  So anyhow, Jesus healed on the Sabbath in order to confront their hypocrisy, and to expose their false teaching.  

So they confront the man about his healing, but the miraculous part of it goes right over their heads.  They aren’t interested in a man suffering blindness being healed.  They are interested in finding some way to convict Christ. So their deduction is that ““This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” vs.16.  So their reasoning is that their Sabbath law was true, but God’s Word was not true.  Listen, that is the hallmark of false doctrine.  Regardless of what denomination it is, or what a religion’s name is, the hallmark of false religion is that they subject the word of God to the traditions of men.  You see that all the time with cults.  They will claim to believe the Bible, but then they say that their prophet had a dream and received new revelation.  And angels or someone told them to write it down.  And then eventually, you find that their revelation ends up being the means by which they interpret the Bible.  And then finally, they ignore what the Bible says if their prophet or priest says something that is not supported or even refuted by the Bible.  They basically say their prophet or priest is right and the Bible is wrong. Many times they end up changing the Bible to fit their revelation. Now that’s the progression of false religion.  And that’s exactly what these Pharisees were doing.  They had added to the law, until their law superseded the law of God.

But notice the progression of faith of the man who was formerly blind.  Vs.17 the Pharisees ask him, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”  Now I don’t know if he was being obtuse or that simply was the limit of his knowledge.  But I will say  that even in the language of the ordinary people, the word “prophet” did not mean simply a predictor of events in the future, but one who was as the representative of God. He was not only  a “fore-teller,” but a “forth-teller,” declaring God’s truth, revealing His will and character, bearing the witness of divine works.  

Now that was a major claim of Christ Himself, that He spoke the words of God.  That His word was the truth of God.  At the beginning of the feast He said in John 7:16-18 "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

And as I said a few weeks ago, that is the way you can tell a true prophet of God, or a true preacher of the gospel, or a false teacher.  A true prophet speaks God’s word.  It’s just that simple.  That is why I preach verse by verse here.  It’s not that I couldn’t buy sermons online like a lot of guys do, complete with sappy illustrations and funny jokes.  That’s easy.  Anyone can do that.  But to preach the word of God is not always easy. It’s certainly not always popular.  But it’s what we are commissioned to do.  Not to tickle people’s ears.  But to teach the truth.  That’s the primary purpose for our service.  It’s to meditate on the word, to be taught the word.  Everything else is just icing on the cake.  The music is icing on the cake.  Too many churches today only offer whipped cream icing, and there’s nothing substantial underneath.  So you get a sugar rush on Sunday morning, and then crash on Monday.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if this man didn’t know a fair bit of theology.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t thinking of Moses when he said Jesus was a prophet.  Moses said in Deut. 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.”  Moses was talking about the Messiah.  So I wouldn’t be surprised if this former blind man realized at this point that Jesus was the Christ, that is the Messiah.

Now there is another group that we see in the text.  And that is his parents.  The Pharisees go after this man’s parents.  They probably were disgusted with the former blind man’s answers, so they go to his parents to try to discredit him somehow.  And this is where I get additional support for my idea that the blind man meant Messiah when he said prophet.  Because it says in vs.22, that they were aware that the Pharisees had stipulated that if anyone said Jesus was the Christ, they would be put out of the synagogue.  And so they avoid that question.  They answer in the affirmative the Pharisees first two questions concerning whether or not he was their son, and if he was indeed born blind.  But the third question, “How does he now see?”  They didn’t want to answer that question.  And the reason is there was a good possibility that the son had said that Jesus was the Christ.  They want to avoid having to confess that for fear of being kicked out of the synagogue.  So they say, “he is of age, ask him.”  So we can assume that this man’s faith is steadily progressing throughout the day.  He has grown from confessing the man Jesus, to the prophet, to the Christ, which is the Greek word for Messiah.  And all along he is steadfastly refusing to budge in his faith in Jesus regardless of the criticism and the mounting hostility. 

So having got nothing from his parents, the Pharisees call the man back in for questioning.  They are like a bull terrier, they won’t let go until they find something.  This time, they ratchet up the indictments from saying Jesus couldn’t be of God because He broke the Sabbath, to saying that He was a sinner.  

So the former blind man at this point turns the tables and starts to teach the teachers.  And he gives a really great rebuttal to these Pharisees.  His greatest point is made in vs 25, as he replies, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  This is the evidence that they were too blind to see.  This is the evidence that Jesus was who He said He was.  And this is the evidence that we need to show the world that does not know Christ.  Like the line of Amazing Grace, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”  

That is the testimony we need to tell the world.  The world can’t refute the testimony of a changed life.  When you were living in sin, when you were a drunkard, when you were a partier, an adulterer, a fornicator, a liar, a thief, whatever you were, by the grace of God you are not any more.  You are brand new.  You are remade.  You are different.  You were once blind, but now you can see.  That kind of testimony cannot be argued against.  We can have a debate until the cows come home about evolution versus creation.  We can argue about the existence of God, and the existence of evil.  And there may never be any agreement, and there will probably never be anyone saved as a result of your apologetics.  But the transformation of your life is indisputable.  That is the trophy of grace that God holds up to the world.  That is why sanctification is an essential part of your progression of faith.  That is why renunciation of sin is essential in the life of a believer.  That is why it’s essential that though you come to Christ as you are, you do not stay as you are.  If you are in Christ, you have become a new creature, you’ve been made free.  Act as free men and women.  Free from not only the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin.  Then you will be free indeed.  

So in vs. 33, this man makes yet another step in the progression of his faith, he says, “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  He’s teaching the teachers here.  And in the process, his own faith is growing exponentially.  That’s what happens when you start putting your faith in practice, by the way.  When you start teaching, or preaching, you start growing spiritually.  I don’t necessarily mean preaching professionally.  But when you start professing your faith to others, it serves to build your faith personally.  

Well, they kick this man out of the synagogue.  They excommunicate him. Listen, in that day that was a pretty serious deal.  That meant he might not be able to even find work in his community.  He was a social outcast.  His own family would not be able to communicate with him.  That was a very traumatic thing.  And I will just add that is something I see happen quite often.  Someone comes to Christ, and before the glow can start to fade off their face they end up getting sideswiped by someone.  They end up having to choose between a boyfriend or girlfriend or Christ.  They have to chose between family and Christ.  They have to choose between a career or following Christ.  And you know, we could blame that on the devil trying to trip them up.  But I think God wants us to make a decision for Him first, above everything else.  I think God may sometimes put a choice in front of you.  Are you going to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and will all your might?  Or are you going to love the world and the things of the world.  If you chose the world, the love of the Father is not in you.  Choose carefully ladies and gentlemen.  What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Listen, sometimes getting kicked out of your community is the best thing that can happen to you.  Like the slaves on the plantations, they weren’t really free until they left the place of their bondage.  Sometimes going back to what is familiar is just going back into bondage.  Jesus came to make you free.  And that was the case with this man.  He was excommunicated, and that was a good thing.  Because Jesus came and found him in his solitude.  And Jesus revealed Himself to him in a way that completed this man’s faith like very few had found.  Jesus said in vs.35, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.”And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.”

This blind man saw, and kept on seeing, until he saw the reality of the Son of God.  He saw Jesus for who He really was.  Lot’s of people in that day saw Jesus with their natural eyes.  But God gave this man spiritual vision.  He gave him the privilege of seeing who Jesus really was.  The Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord.  

That aspect of Christ’s divinity is one that is sorely lacking today.  Some think that Lord is a proper name of Jesus.  But actually it’s a title.  It means ruler, master, owner of all.  I believe in the necessity of the lordship of Jesus Christ. Where we bow our will to HIs will.  Where we stop serving ourselves and start serving Him.  This is an essential part of the progression of your faith.  You cannot stop with just believing.  You can’t stop with just forgiveness.  But if you continue in His word, then you are truly disciples.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.  You cannot be truly a disciple, you cannot be truly free, until you bow to Jesus as Lord of your life.  All your life submitted and in subjection to the Lord of the Universe.  The Lord of Creation.  This man understood that.  And so he worshipped Jesus.  I believe that indicates that he bowed on his knees before Christ, maybe even prostrated himself on the ground in front of Christ.  And notice that Christ did not reject that worship.  Because He is God, and worthy of our worship.  

Listen, worship is not just singing or listening to music.  Worship is bowing before the Lord and doing His will, renouncing your will, renouncing everything and everyone for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus as Lord.  

Finally, notice Jesus last statement.  John 9:39-41  "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.”

What judgment did Jesus render? I’ll let His words speak for themselves.  Jesus said in John 3:17-21  "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Today enough light has been revealed through Jesus Christ to expose your sin.  To show you your need for spiritual healing, to show you your need to be made free.  If you will but confess your sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  He is able to make you free.  If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.  What a great time to be made free.  We are celebrating our freedom as Americans this weekend.  But many of us are not really free. Many of us are still in bondage to our sin, still living under the power of sin. Today the invitation is given to be made free indeed.  Call upon Jesus today and He will make you free.