Sermon Notes of Guest Speaker Jim Petty's Sermon on June 3, 2018: "Blind from Birth John 9:1-7" [In today's sermon, Guest Speaker Jim Petty shows that Jesus' healing of the man born blind is more than just physical healing but also shows the giving of spiritual sight and eternal life.] Notes Introduction: Track runners story o The picture here was taken on the Ambassador Campus 30 years ago. o There are two runners on the track the lead runner is Tom Dunn. o The one by the track giving encouragement to Tom is Ed, his brother. o Now the runners have a baton in their hand, which indicates it s a relay race. Blind from birth: o The team with the two Dunn brothers won the race and then stood on a podium and received the first place reward the glory. o But to achieve this reward, there were many stressful speed workouts that had to be done. o This often caused stress and afflictions to the runners. o These afflictions tie into the sermon today because many of us suffer from afflictions some have suffered afflictionsfor years and even some have suffered afflictions for decades. o The story today is about a blind beggar who suffered affliction for a long, long time. o Even though those of us who are suffering afflictions, we are still on the road to glory. o This is the path Jesus has taken mankind on, but there is a sweet reward at the end. This is the historical account of the stunning and incomprehensible healing of a man born blind. It s hard to imagine that this man had never seen anything at all for his whole life. But this story is far more than an act of compassion and love when Jesus healed him. This man is a representative of the human race. So this is really a story of mankind being afflicted. Up to this point in time, there is affliction that is connected to a divine plan of bringing mankind into eternal glory. This account in John 9 is far more than just the giving of physical sight.
2 It also includes the giving of spiritual sight. This is a two-part message and we ll only get as far as physical sight today. John 9:1, (NASB) As He (Jesus) passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. The Greek word here for passed by is paragon, which doesn t refer to a geographical positioning. It means motion away from a certain philosophical direction and towards another. What Jesus is doing is fulfilling His purpose. Jesus is moving away from the religious system of that day and going away from the Pharisaical type religion and starting the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God will heal both physical and spiritual blindness, This same Greek word is also used when it says that Jesus passed by certain men, like Matthew it s the calling of His various disciples. This blind man representing mankind is in darkness physically and spiritually. In order for a physical change to take place or a spiritual transformation to take place in this man s life, Jesus must take the initiative because the man can t see Jesus. Likewise, Jesus has to take the initiative with mankind to bring us into the Kingdom of God. The blind man is utterly helpless, but Jesus, in his love and mercy, will not allow this condition to continue. Also Jesus is not going to allow mankind to continue to suffer, but will intervene with everyone. Context of this healing: Let s get into our time machine, set the dial to approximately 30 AD. We need to understand what took place just before this miraculous healing takes place. The Feast of Tabernacles of the Jews is nearing its end. On the last Great Day of the Feast, Jesus will deliver three important messages to the huge crowd of people. But let s go back a little further. This is Jesus 4 th trip to Judea (Jerusalem) from Galilee. This is the final Feast of Tabernacles kept by Jesus. There are only six months remaining in His earthly ministry, before He dies. And it was so dangerous for Him to appear publically in Judea because the Jewish leaders were trying to arrest Him and to kill Him. John 7:1, After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2) Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), was near. Now Jesus own family brothers, who didn t believe in Him, challenged Him to go to Jerusalem and put on a display of power there (verses 3-5). Jesus didn t oblige their request but went up to Jerusalem secretly some days later. Thus, he was able to elude the authorities who were looking for Him.
3 Jesus waits until the final day of the Feast because He knows what he s going to say will bring great hostility. Because it s near the end of His ministry, Jesus will speak words that he has never spoken before words directly identifying Himself as God. Two great Festival ceremonies: During the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jews had two great ceremonies. The first one was called the Illumination Ceremony. Each night four great candelabras 75 feet high were lit in front of the Temple for a total of 16 sources of light since each candelabrum had four bowls. There was dancing and much celebration in front of the candelabras each night. The light could be seen for miles and miles away. This brought the Jews into remembrance when God s light at night the pillar of fire led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. The other great ceremony was the Water Drawing Ceremony from the Pool of Siloam. As the people drew water into basins, the Levites played lyres, trumpets, harps, cymbals and other instruments while the other Levites sang. He that has never seen the joy of the water drawing has never in his life seen joy. Thousands participated in this Ceremony of the Water Drawing. To the Jewish people, the pouring of the water each morning on the altar was symbolic of the time when God provided water for Israel after they came out of Egypt. It was also looking forward to the future when the wells of salvation will provide the Spirit for them. These are significant reference points for Jesus to comment on. John 7:37, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, lf anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38) He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Jesus is saying that he is the real thing. He will provide the Spirit to humanity. Now, let s notice the progression of the Holy Spirit. o First it rests upon us. o Then on the Day of Pentecost, people had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. o And now Jesus said the Holy Spirit will flow from us. 39) But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus is saying here, in effect, I am the reality that the water in this ceremony symbolizes. Jesus is the true life giver.
4 Jesus is saying that He will now give water for eternal life not just physical life. John 8:12, Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life. Notice that Jesus is not just the light to Israel, but to the entire world. Because of Jesus, no one has to continue to live in darkness or bondage to sin anymore. Jesus is now making available the tree of life, the Spirit of God, that was cut off from humanity. 13) So the Pharisees said to Him, You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true. The Pharisees refused to believe Jesus words. So, they mock him, throwing His own words back at Him when He said, If I alone testify about myself, my testimony is not true (John 5:31). The Pharisees were ignoring the testimony of others about Jesus including John the Baptist. Next Jesus is going to give this important third message to the crowd. First was that Jesus is the Living Water and secondly He is the Light of the world. John 8:58, Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Jesus directly tells them that He is the Lord of the Old Testament, He is God. 59) Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. Jesus has reached out to the Jews with the truth, but they have refused to believe Him. Summary of Jesus teaching: Jesus will provide the true living water, which is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the light that gives eternal life. Jesus can do this because He is God. John 9:1, As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. The blind man is located outside the gate to the Temple where thousands of people enter into the court yard of the Temple. We need to also notice the poise and the calmness of Jesus after the religious leaders have tried to kill Him. The word birth here is genetes in the Greek. Genetes is only used once in the New Testament. It is to be distinguished from the normal word for birth in the Greek odina which is the act of travail and pain a woman experiences in giving birth.
So, in essence from the Greek, what this verse is telling us is that from birth, humanity has dwelt in darkness. 2) And His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? The Rabbis of Jesus day taught that suffering and defects were always the result of sin being committed. They also taught that one could even sin in the womb. Jesus obliterates that false teaching in one sentence It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents. Yes, sin does cause suffering but not all suffering. One example Jesus gave was when the tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people, He asked, Do you think they were the worst sinners? He answered, No, it s not true. 3) Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. So, this whole account is going to show the works of God, in other words what God will ultimately do for all of mankind. The works of God are: 1. The Physical Creation 2. The Spiritual Creation, which brings about God s nature within us. 3. The miracles performed proving His identity. 4) We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. Jesus had only 6 more months to complete His earthly ministry. This is a kind of proverbial saying in that all of us are allotted so much time in our lives. 5) While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world. The reality of light: There are two types of light just as there are two types of creation. There s a physical creation and a spiritual creation. In the physical creation, Jesus (Creator of all things) provided life giving light through the Spirit. In Genesis 1, it says that darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. So the Spirit provided light to the physical world. Light is certainly the most important element of the creation. Then God created the human eye to receive the light. The eye is the most complex organ in the human body. 5
6 There are over 2 million moving parts to the eye, which is staggering. The iris controls the amount of light we see by adjusting the pupil. Light then sensitizes the lining in the back of the eye. The optic nerve transmits this electronic signal to the brain. So Jesus gives us the ability to see the light. Now Jesus will provide not just physical light but also spiritual light. And Scripture shows us that the Spirit of God reveals the light of Jesus Christ to us. It s physically impossible to see anything physical without light. For example, in the depths of Carlsbad Caverns, they take you down 200 feet into the cavern and then turn out the lights and you can t see anything, not even your hand you place right in front of your eyes. Here s a quote from Paul Kroll to sum this up: It s impossible to see spiritual truth (such as who Christ is) without the Spiritual light (the Holy Spirit) that Christ gives us so we can see Him for who He is in Himself and for us. The blind man (representing mankind as well) is totally helpless and hopeless. So, God takes the initiative in his grace and mercy to deliver him. John 9:6 (NET), Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man s eyes. Isaiah 44:18, (NASB), They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. Isaiah 29:10, For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers. Jesus was continuing to identify Himself. In the Garden of Eden, mankind was given the opportunity of receiving God s Spirit the tree of life and living eternally by obeying the command of God. But mankind chose not to follow the way set before him. And then God cut off access to the tree of life, His Spirit. So the world has remained in spiritual darkness. John 9:6 (KJV), When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, This condition of spiritual blindness was to last until the Light of this world came to make allow the spiritual insight to be available again by following Jesus instruction. Now this verb in the Greek has a dual meaning. Smeared (Greek: Epichrio) To place salve on the eyes with ultimate purpose of healing the eyes after a period of time. Root word of Epichrio is Chrio. In the New Testament, Chrio is always an anointing performed by God. This anointing is connected with the reception of the Holy Spirit.
So God is using this man as an example of how God is going to fulfill His purpose and have a spiritual creation. Jesus is anointing this blind man and the Holy Spirit is swinging into action in giving faith to the man to place his trust in Jesus and to do what Jesus says to do. 7) and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. The Pool of Siloam represents the government of God and its king Jesus. The blind man obediently carries out the command of Jesus and goes to the pool of Siloam. Isa. 8:5, The Lord spoke to me further, saying, 6) these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah. So back in the Jewish history when they were in trouble from the threat from the Assyrian army, they rejected the protection of God and sought protection from a physical kingdom. The waters of Siloam were the symbols of God and His government. 7b) So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. What a tremendous miracle has taken place. Can you imagine what it s like not to be able to see for 30 to 40 years and then all of sudden you can see? It must have been a time of great rejoicing and tremendous happiness. Now the story continues as Jesus will give spiritual sight to the man, which will be given in another sermon. Closing prayer Communion: Elder Laura Urista On May 28, 2018, at 4 o clock in the morning, West Coast time, the Royal wedding the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle occurred. You can go on YouTube and see it and also listen to the sermon given by Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church, which was about the power of love. The power of love will change the world, which is the redemptive power of God. Imagine what it would be like to be invited to a royal wedding and a royal banquet afterward! But you know what we are invited to the greatest royal banquet of all time according to the book of Revelation. Revelation 19:7-9, Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come and His Bride has made herself ready. 8) Fine linen, bright and clean was given her to wear. 9) Then the angel said to me 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! And he added, 'These are the true words of God. 7
8 Yes, we're all invited, and not only that, but WE ARE the Bride, the bride of Christ! We are the church and the church is the bride of Christ. So, think about this royal banquet as we are coming into this Communion with Christ, this intimate relationship to be one with Him. And every time we take Communion, we symbolically participate in that royal wedding banquet. We depict the spiritual reality with a small piece of bread symbolizing Christ's body and either grape juice or wine symbolizing the blood of the New Covenant. And so we come to this banquet table embracing Christ in the intimate relationship of that wedding feast and royal banquet. So let s think about this as we come forward to receive the elements of Communion which symbolizes this royal wedding banquet as the bride of Christ. This bread we take represents the physical body of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, becoming Incarnate as one of us. Indeed, Jesus Christ is the Bread of life. And so, let us together receive the body of our Lord. And this wine or grape juice symbolizes our salvation. We've been purchased with the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, and as we drink of Him we receive eternal life, for He lives yesterday, today and forever. So, as we drink this wine, give thanks for the good news of Christ's victory over sin and that His risen life resides in each one of us today. Let s receive the cup of the New Covenant. Prayer