What we saw last week as we studied the later part of Chapter 8 was Jesus attempting to plainly reveal the truth to the Jews there in the temple.  In Chapter 8 verses 14 – 59, Jesus refers to God Almighty as His very Father 9 times, and then fully discloses His identity to them by making the statement in verse 58, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”  That would clearly communicate to them that He Himself, Jesus was and is the same One who appeared to Moses and sent him to Pharaoh to free the children of Israel.  You can read this in Exodus 3, within one of the Books of the Torah.  (this chapter is also why I believe the Angel of the Lord is a Christophany)

 

Why?  Why would He continue to press?  I mean nine times in a span of maybe 5 or 10 minutes at most…it was just a conversation.  He was certainly, with righteous aggression and persistency, pressing the truth.  Why?  Simple.  He loves them!  He came so that man could be freed…freed from the lie of sin! 

 

He appeared to Abraham to free him from paganism.  He appeared to Gideon to free him from discouragement.  He appeared to Moses to free the people!  He appeared to Joshua to free the people.  He appeared to Elijah to free him from fear.  He appeared to Hezekiah to free him from his enemy Sennacherib.  He appeared to Peter to free him from guilt.  He appeared to Paul to free him from legalism.  He appeared to Thomas to free him from doubt.  The Lord is in the very business of freeing you and me!  It is His calling card…

 

And recall last week we heard Him say in Chapter 8 Verse 32, “know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  So why so pressing Jesus?  Why so firm in message and mission?  Because He LOVES!

 

But we saw that they would not hear Him.  They had no interest in laying down their self-righteousness and turning from death, turning from sin.  The mind of sin is enmity against God and even hates the Christ of God.  (Romans 8:7)  We saw that last week.  A man or woman may be very religious, and left to himself, he may appear to be quite pious.  But let the light of God be turned on him, let the bubble of his self-righteousness be punctured with the claims of Christ, and he is not only skeptical, but furious.

 

And so in Chapter 8 we see Jesus dealing with people that are “just fine.”  Who have no desire to be saved from anything and we see Jesus hide Himself and ultimately, going through the midst of them, pass by them.  But the scene of Chapter 9 opens with a man who is not “just fine.”  Who sorrowfully desires to be made well.  And Jesus, in His love, as He wills always to do, comes into the scene and heals.

 

Chapter 9, Verse 1.  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man of his parents, that he was born blind?”  We sometimes are so quick to judge by what we see aren’t we?  Rather than giving place for truth or effort for even investigation.  Or even asking….The disciples here they see this man down and out, blind and begging, and wrongfully assumed that his poverty was deserved.  In a word… cruel.  God’s heart is to take pity on us.  God’s way is to “see” us, to comfort us, to heal us!

 

Verse 3, Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  So not only does Jesus set them straight here but He also reveals to us something about suffering.  While much suffering can be directly caused by sin, and truly all suffering is remotely a product of sin (before the fall there was no suffering) God sometimes allows suffering for the purposes of revealing His glory.

 

Now there are books and books written on this subject but let me just say one thing.  If in this life we are made to suffer so that God’s glory may be revealed to us and/or others, then we are not to be pitied but rather envied.

 

To glorify God in this life will be a reason for rejoicing in the next.  We will not meet God, face to face, and have a word or two with Him.  In a moment, in an instant, the reason for our affliction and suffering will be revealed to us and we will not demand justice, we will see that justice was withheld, and we will not demand reconciliation but rather we will understand > and forever and forever we will be with Him whom saved us from eternal affliction and suffering and even counted us worthy to be used by Him to save others….to show forth His glory. 

 

And so Jesus said, “this man’s affliction is not caused by some specific sin by him or his parents, but he has been chosen to forever bring glory to God…so don’t judge, don’t pity…envy this man.”  And so today if you find yourself afflicted, rest child.  Your salvation is nearer today than ever before and keep this in mind, you have been chosen to show God’s goodness and love and grace to your world!  Or you can deny God’s goodness with complaints.  What do you mean? 

Recall Satan turning on Job in the presence of God saying, “Job is not your servant!  He does not prove your goodness at all.  All you do is bless him.  But let me touch him…and then we’ll see.”  Job’s wife, short-sided and evil…”curse God and die, look what He’s done”…Job, righteous and seeking to honor God, “Even though He slays me, yet still I will praise Him.”   

 

Verse 4, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  Interesting statements by Jesus because there will come a day of great falling away.  Where men will call bad good and good bad…where they will look to a man as god and worship him…and being deceived they will altogether deny the truth…and Jesus says as long as I am here, I am the light…but we know later He goes to the Father.  So who is the light now?  You are child!  Paul said “it is no longer I that lives but Christ in me.”  You are. – What does that mean?  Turn over to Ephesians 5 and look at verses 1 – 21. 

 

Verse 6, When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  You know, I’m not sure why Jesus decided to spit on the ground and put the clay on the this man’s eyes but what stands out to me, what speaks loudly to me here is that this man did not see, could not see what Christ was doing.  Jesus just did it…He was still as blind as ever yet Jesus touched him…and now Jesus gives him an order…

 

Verse 7, And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent).  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  Jesus gives him a commandment.  He says now that I’ve touched you, go to the water…and water in the Bible is a type of the Spirit, a type of the Word even.  Ephesians 5:26, “Husbands wash your wives in the water of the Word,” the water of the Word has a cleansing affect.  Also, recall John 7 when Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  This He spoke concerning the Spirit.

 

And so this is where so many fall down in their walks and remain in a form of spiritual blindness and/or infancy.  They’ve been touched by Jesus.  They believe in Jesus.  They have encountered Jesus.  Yet in order to be washed, in order to be filled with His Spirit, He has commanded us to draw near to Him and then told us where to find Him…in His word!

 

But this is where so many fall down in their quest for truth and power and purpose…Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  That’s it…that’s why we fall…that’s why we are so often clothed in violence…because we do not follow the simple command of the Lord but rather we look to ourselves and are ripped off completely…when Jesus said clearly to the woman at the well, “whoever drinks the water that I shall give, will never thirst.”  Will be free from thirst perpetually!  (Read article on the Bible from FoxNews)

 

So see this, Jesus came to this blind man.  Jesus touched this blind man.  And then Jesus gave an order to this blind man.  And He remained blind.  However, watch what happens when this man actually does what Jesus had told him to do…

 

The end of verse 7 there, So he went and washed, and came back seeing.  Must have been a tough walk.  We’re not told if it was ten yards or two miles…however we do know that the pool is located outside of the city walls to the southeast.  And I think this is unmistakably relevant because this man went without seeing at first to complete the command of the Lord and be healed.  So how did he make it?  He most likely had some help along the way, you see. 

 

Verse 8, Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged.”  People start to notice that he’s been healed…set free!  Even today this would be earth shaking, world changing.  (read the blindness email)

 

Verse 9, Some said, “this is he.”  Others said, “He is like him.”  He said, “I am he.”  Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”  It won’t be long before you get this question if indeed you have been touched by God’s grace and love and born again by His Spirit.  Notice, this is this man’s first test in His walk with God if you will.  He can say now…Jesus did it!  Jesus set me free!  Knowing good and well that the Jews and the leaders have all together rejected Him.  Or he could say, I washed in the Pool of Siloam.  And he could avoid having to stand for truth.  We all face this type of situation don’t we?

 

But what did Jesus say, “If you confess Me before men, I’ll confess you before the Father…”  So what does that mean at it’s very core?  That if you are walking in the Spirit and drawing close to God, you will stand for truth.  You won’t waver when the crowd presses you…because you’ve got THE truth, not a truth and that truth has made you free!  But Matt, didn’t Peter deny Jesus…and wasn’t he truly saved by grace…yes he was but notice what the Scripture says, Peter followed from afar…and so when the time of testing came, he was weak because He had denounced, howbeit momentarily, his discipleship unto Christ…and so again we come full circle, what did Jesus say back in Chapter 8, “if you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” 

 

Strength, boldness, courage, knowledge, grace, love…if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me Jesus says…if you want these attributes of victory and strength, you must grow in His Word!  Let’s see how he handled this test…

 

Verse 11, He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

 

Well done homes.  He hear, he obeyed, he was healed, he received his sight and now he is walking in the truth.  Well done bro…you’ve got a full life ahead of you and eternal life as your everlasting home.  So why not the Jews?  Jesus was with both, He gave commands to both, why did they remain in spiritual blindness? 

 

They rejected God’s Word.  Or better stated, they failed to obey…to accept the Word of God and so they remained in bondage…

 

Verse 12, Then they said to him, “Where is He?”  (Notice they didn’t say who is He…by now Jesus was becoming a superstar…His fame had reached throughout the region which increased the fury of the religious elite and the dry and the dead and the evil and the perishing and we’ll see next week their harsh reaction to this man who now espouses the name Jesus. 

 

And so we finish up right here, as this man said to them, “He said, I do not know.”  No doubt what he did know though…is that he is healed, set free by the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

 

One last thing before we break….something I heard this week with the Junior Seau tragedy…I heard his mom say to the press…well she really cried out…”God, not my son!  Take me, leave my son!”  You who have children, you share this heart don’t you?  You’d rather suffer, you’d rather die than your child.  Think of how much God loves you that He would send His only Son to die…for you and for me…meditate on that eternal, unsearchable love this week.  Why live for anything else…for anyone else?  When God, your Father has displayed His love for us, that while we were yet sinners, His enemies, he sent His Son and turned His face…