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Pastor Mike will be speaking on Darkness to Light. He will be in John 9:35-41
The Gospel has an effect upon all who hear it, meaning this. Christ has not come to condemn you, but Christ has come that you must decide. Will you believe or reject Him? This is Hope Worth Having with your host, Pastor Mike Sanders.
Delighted to be with you today. Thankful that we have the honor to be together and learn God’s word together. We’re going to be back in the Gospel of John, chapter 9, and this time we’re going to be studying verses 35 through 41.
You know it’s possible to see without seeing. People see, but they always don’t see spiritually, and today that’s what we’re going to be learning about, going from darkness to light and how we can see spiritually.
So I want you to get your pen and your paper and let’s start taking notes as we learn together in the Gospel of John, chapter 9, beginning in verse 35. If you have your Bible, I want you to join me in John, the Gospel of John.
I want us to look at John, chapter 9, verse 35 through 41 is my text this morning. We have been studying the Gospel of John. John, chapter 9 is where we have been at, and I want to talk to you this morning about from darkness to light.
From darkness to light, you remember that Jesus at the outset of chapter 9, that he healed this blind man, and that this young man that was blind was born blind, and that from the beginning of his days, he was not able to see, and all of his In his life, he was a beggar, begging for help, begging for someone to give him money, to give him food, to give him something to help him out.
Wherever he went, someone had to guide him, someone had to help him. And finally, Jesus Christ intervenes in this blind man’s life. And the Bible tells us right at the outset in John chapter nine that Jesus Christ took some clay and dirt and he just mixed it all together and he spat upon it and mixed it again together and he touched this man’s eyes and he was healed.
He was healed when he gave him the command to go to the pool, to wash his face, God seeing the obedience in this young man’s life, not understanding, not completely grasping all that was taking place, but Jesus telling this young man to go to the pool he believed and he trusted and the Bible tells us that he could see.
You remember that as soon as he could see people began to question his legitimacy. They began to interrogate him. This man was interrogated by the Pharisees who were very hostile towards him and that even in this interrogation his own parents abandoned him and they said hey he can speak for himself.
They were living in fear of what other people would might think about them and the Bible tells us that the Pharisees began to ask a lot of questions and they were with the perspective of trying to discredit the ministry of Jesus Christ to discredit this miracle that had taken place and finally that they told the blind man who could now see that he would be excommunicated from the synagogue and when we come to verse 35 through 41 what Jesus does for us is to help us to see the testimony of this healed man and see how it is central to understanding how people come to spiritual insight and that they love God and live for God in contrast to the Pharisees who believed that they already saw but yet they were spiritually blind.
The Bible tells us this in Isaiah 43 verse 8 the invitation from the prophet is this bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. It’s interesting that the prophet would make this invitation because literally is what he is saying is that the people who acknowledge their blindness and their deafness they are You’re the ones that see and hear.
What I want you to see in this text this morning is that it is possible to see without seeing. It’s possible to see physically, but not see spiritually. Jeremiah the prophet said this, hear this, O foolish and senseless people who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.
Paul in describing those who did not know Christ said in Ephesians 4 18, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart.
And that is at the center and the crux of what we are encountering with people in this world is that their heart is blind, though they see, they do not see. They see physically, but they do not see spiritually.
We pick up in verse 35 of our text and we note what the Bible says to us that Jesus heard that they had cast Him out, meaning they had cast out the blind man from the synagogue. He was not allowed to show up.
And when He had found Him, He said unto Him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said unto Him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.
And He said, Lord, I believe, and He worshiped Him. And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words and said unto Him, Are we blind, Ocel?
Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. It is possible to see without seeing. That’s what you need to note. But how is it that we go from darkness to light?
How is it that people go from the darkness of the blindness of their hearts and of their minds and see the truth of Jesus Christ? Number one, that spiritual sight requires divine initiative. That if we are to see spiritually, not physically, we must have divine intervention.
we must have the initiative of God. The scripture says in verse 35 that Jesus heard that they cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? Though this man was rejected by religious leaders, he was sought out by the Redeemer.
He was sought out by a seeking savior. Jesus found him. And I want you to understand this about coming to spiritual insight, coming to spiritual understanding, and coming to the point where that you can see it is imperative that we realize that it is a work of God in our hearts, that it is a work of God that effectually works within us, and he takes the initiative that we might spiritually see.
That within our hearts, naturally, as people in this world, we do not. normally seek God, that on our own we do not seek God. Now, the Bible says there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Many years ago, I was preaching on this truth in our church and a lady was very upset with me and she was so upset with me, she waited for me after everybody had left, after the service and what they usually do is they sabotage me and they come up from the backside and they always try to disarm me by telling me how wonderful I am and what a great person.
They don’t even know me, but they already know that I’m this great person, but, and then there goes the attack. And she said, how can you say that no one seeks God? And I said, because the Bible says it and I just believe the Bible and I believe the word of God and she says, but people do seek God.
I said, people seek God after God has found them. In that God awakens them spiritually and God helps them to see that they need to pursue God and that they need to see God and that they need to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but on my own, me as a person, I do not seek after God.
God sovereignly initiates salvation in my life. He is the one that finds me. He is the one that has found me. It is wrong and I know people mean well when they say this, but it is theologically wrong when they say, I found Jesus.
You did not find Jesus, but Jesus found you. In your darkness, he found you. In your sinfulness, he found you. In your selfishness, he found you. We were pursuing our own desires. We were pursuing what we wanted, but God stepped into our lives and he shone the light of Christ upon us.
He may have done that through a friend. He may have done that through a pastor. He may have done that. That through a friend who was witnessing to us, he may have done that through the means of radio, television, whatever that might be.
God uses different things, but my point is that he pursues us and he intervenes and initiates the understanding of coming to Christ. John has already taught us this. In John 644, no man can come to me.
No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day from the beginning of being drawn by God to the point of the culmination of your salvation in that when you are fully glorified, standing in the presence of God at the day of resurrection unto the last day, I will raise him up, Jesus said.
So from beginning to end, God has it covered for your salvation. And what we must see is the Savior’s initiating work, not only in our life, but our His initiating work in the life of others. And it is God who first pursues us.
And long before I pursued God, He pursued me. And what this ought to bring me to is a point of humbleness, a point of humility, a point where I am certainly filled with great gratitude, that God would seek me, that God would pursue me, that He would draw me to salvation.
Why? Because I am unworthy, because I am not deserving, but yet God in His great love and mercy and grace has pursued me. Jesus said in John 6 verse 65, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto Him by My Father.
We did not initiate God’s providential love by our actions, by our thoughts, by our character. There was nothing in us that was lovely that God said, I am going to pursue them. But we were very unlovely in our selfishness and sinfulness that Christ left the portals of heaven.
And He came down the stairways of heaven and He was born into a sinful world. And Jesus Christ walked and lived a sinless life, qualifying Him to be on the cross for our sins. And on that cross, He bore your sins and my sins.
And the third day, He rose again. And for 40 days, He walked on the earth teaching His disciples, preparing them for the launching of the mighty church, that the gates of hell shall not prevail. And then He ascended into heaven.
And my friends, why did He do it? Because He loves you. For God so loved the world that He gave His all. only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus makes an interesting statement in John 9 verse 39.
He said, for judgment I came into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind. What a startling statement, one that causes us to think and wrestle with what did Jesus mean when He said this?
He said that He came. He came into this world sent from the Father to come into this world and Jesus says that He comes for judgment. That He came in His world to bring judgment. For judgment I came.
His purpose was never to condemn but rather to save. When Jesus makes this statement, He does not contradict what He has already said and taught us in Luke 19 .10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
His initiating love, His pursuant of you, is why He came. But the Bible reminds us in John 3 .17 that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
What does Jesus mean? On one hand, He says, I didn’t come to condemn the world, but I came to seek and to save that which was lost. I didn’t come to condemn the world, I came that people might be saved.
I came so that people might know me and have eternal life and believe in me. But yet Jesus says to all that can hear Him in verse 39, for judgment I am come. What is He saying? Jesus is teaching us that the gospel of Christ has an effect upon all who hear it.
The gospel has an effect upon all who hear it, meaning this. Christ has not come to condemn you, but Christ has come that you must decide, will you believe or reject Him? And in your response, you have brought your own judgment upon you.
For if you believe in Christ, He has already absorbed your judgment on the cross, and you are now standing before God, pure, righteous, because of what Christ did for you. But if you reject Him and do not believe in Him, then you definitely are judged.
You bear your own judgment. You must face the consequence of your sins. the judgment that awaits all those who will not believe in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul put it this way to maybe help clarify what Christ said in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 15 and 16.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Meaning that as a messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul says we are putting out the fragrance of Christ, the fragrance of the gospel, and it is going to all people.
It is going to every individual. It is going to those who are being saved and those who are perishing, those who refuse to believe. Listen, he explains it to one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life.
Who is sufficient for these things? What Paul is saying is that as the aroma of Christ is spread throughout the world, to those who believe, they go from physical life to spiritual life. To those who reject, they go from physical death to spiritual death.
That is the effect of the gospel upon every heart. This is what Jesus is saying, that there is no neutrality with the gospel, that with your response to the gospel, there is, my friends, either a judgment upon you that you must bear, or a judgment in which Christ has already born on your behalf.
For Jesus reminds us in Matthew 12, 30, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Here is the point, friends, there is no in between with Jesus. Yes, to make no decision this morning for Christ is to make a decision.
It is to say, I will not believe, I will not trust, and I’ve said it to you before that the same sun that melts the ice is the same sun that hardens the clay. It is not the sun’s fault, it is the response of the element’s fault.
And it is to you this morning that as Christ has proclaimed that he is the light of the world and willing to take all who believe in him from darkness to light, it is your response that determines whether the judgment of God has fallen on Christ on your behalf, or whether the judgment of God will fall upon you.
And that, my friends, is what Jesus means. I want you to take your Bible and just back up a little in John chapter three. For John has already given us the foundation. of the understanding of the coming of Christ in John chapter three and verse 19.
Jesus again trying to help people understand how people respond to this initiating love of God, this pursuant of God coming to you and bringing salvation and declaring it unto all the nations and all the people including yourself.
The Bible says in John 3 .19, and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light and neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth comes to the light that his deeds may. Be made manifest that they are wrought or originate from God. That is that God has brought them forth in his heart. My friends, it’s one or the other.
That’s where we stand. His love initiates towards us salvation. And this is how we have spiritual sight. The second point I want you to understand is that spiritual sight requires us to respond in faith.
Spiritual sight requires us to respond in faith. We go back to verse 36. The Bible tells us that Jesus said to the man in verse 35, do you believe that I’m the son of God? Some translations say the son of man, the point being, is that do you believe I’m from heaven?
Do you believe that I’m the one that was sent from God the Father on behalf of mankind to bring redemption, forgiveness, and salvation? And the blind man who could now see said, he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talks with you. It’s him that’s talking to you right now. Jesus declares himself to be the son of God, the son of man, declares himself to be the one who is to bring salvation, and look at the man’s response.
Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. Lord, I believe his heart was completely open. His heart was completely open to the revelation that Christ is God, and Christ brings forgiveness, and Christ brings salvation.
Was he a theologian? No. Did he understand all the dynamics of salvation? No. but he just believed in his heart as we taught you last week he was a man who said look this is all I know there’s only one thing I know I know that I was blind but now I see that’s what I know and God took that and built upon it and helped this man to have spiritual sight but it requires each of us to have spiritual sight to respond in faith and that our heart must be open to the Lord Jesus Christ if our heart is resistant if our heart is builds a wall if our heart is defiant and rebellious then we will not see oh we’ll see but we won’t see meaning we will not see spiritually there is a path of faith that we find that this man was on and I want you to see it this morning because it is the path of faith for all of us and I want to remind you as we will show you the contrast man who believes,
and the Pharisees who will not believe. What is this path of faith? Number one, it is to admit your blindness. It is to admit your blindness. I want to remind you, church, that you cannot change what you will not acknowledge.
You cannot change what you will not acknowledge as long as you live in denial in your life about whatever behavior, whatever addictions you have, whatever challenges you have, whatever problems you have.
You cannot change what you will not acknowledge, and that is true in your spiritual life. There’ll be no change in your spiritual life. You will not see what God has for you. You will not go deeper with God.
You will not be blessed with insight from God until you acknowledge your blindness. This man had to acknowledge his blindness. Again, he is not ashamed to say that he was blind. He wasn’t ashamed to say, hey, I cannot see.
He understood that he had to recognize this. This man is a picture of each one of us. He is a picture of each one of us that every one of us must come to that point in our life where we admit our sinfulness, that we admit our selfishness, that we admit our failures before God, and that until we come to grips with that, there can be no true spiritual sight in our life.
And let me say this to you, that not only is it relating to me coming to Christ, but it’s related to me growing in Christ. And that even as a believer and follower of Christ, you know what can put a lid on my life?
Life is pride. It’s an unwillingness to say, I have some flaws in my life that I need to work on. I have some areas that I need to get better at. I got someā¦ and things that I need to acknowledge in my life.
You know why some marriages flourish and why some marriages fail? Because one or both are unwilling to admit. The Bible says confess your faults one to another. There is no confession going on. That when they disagree, it’s just constantly digging in deeper and stronger in whatever their position is and constantly debating and constantly arguing and constantly taking their side.
But how blessed is the man and woman whose heart is humble enough to say, I am blind. I did not see that. I did not see that. I want you to note this great contrast with the Pharisees because unlike this blind man, they are unwilling.
We go back and look. we see in verse 40 some of the Pharisees which were with him they heard these words and said unto him are we aligned also? It’s a wonderful and amazing thought to know that God is pursuing us and that he takes those initial steps and this is what we see in the Gospel of John chapter 9 is that Jesus went after the heart of this man who was blind.
He not only healed him physically but he healed him spiritually and he helped him to not only go from darkness to light physically but darkness to light spiritually and that’s truly what has to happen in our life is that more than anything you and I need to see spiritually and we need to know that as we are living in this world that the gospel of Jesus Christ takes us from darkness to light and helps us to see and understand the truth of Jesus Christ and so we encourage you to make sure that each and every one of you knows Christ and that you have a relationship with him and that you truly have received Christ as your Lord and Savior.
If you’re out there listening today and you don’t know Christ feel free to contact us just go to hopeworthhaving .com hit the contact button and if you got any questions about the Bible any questions about salvation Christianity we’re glad to respond to you and so don’t be afraid to do that we’ll be honored to be able to do that.
I also want to encourage you to check out our Hope Worth Having app. Yes, Hope Worth Having has an app now. All you need to do is go to your Apple Play Store or your Google Play Store and type in the open door church PA and you can download the Hope Worth Having app.
It’ll be the church app but you just go under your settings and set it up for Hope Worth Having and all the notifications you’d like to receive and you’ll have access to everything that relates to Hope Worth Having ministry.
You can also check us out on HopeWorthHaving .com and we just are looking forward to you being able to be ministered more effectively through the app and I hope that you will enjoy that. This is Pastor Mike Sanders and I want to remind you that in Christ there is hope worth having.
Thank you so much for joining us.