Keeping Yourself In The Dark | John 9:39–41

Opening Remarks:

Back in John 9 one more time. There’s great controversy because Jesus has healed a blindman on the Sabbath Day, which infuriated the religious leaders. The Pharisees are upset that Jesus broke their religious rules of legalism.

But rather thang going after Jesus again, this time they try to destroy the blind man’s credibility by questioning whether or not he was ever blind.

They even call his parents to the synagogue and question them. “Is this your son? Was he blind? How does he now see?”

His parents say, “Yes, this is our son and he was blind, but we don’t know what happened. Ask him.”

Then the man gives two incredible statements:

Vs. 25 - Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

Vs. 30 - Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he opened mine eyes.

But this passage isn’t really about his blindness. It’s about the blindness of the Pharisees. Even with all the evidence, they refuse to give credit to Jesus. And they’re so upset that they excommunicate this poor, former blind man from the synagogue. He’s no longer allowed. They basically kick him out of church because Jesus healed him.

So Jesus hears this and goes to find the man, and the result is the man places his faith in Jesus Christ to be saved. Come to find out, Jesus wasn’t nearly as interested as healing his eyes as He was saving His soul.

Our text will focus on verses 39-41. READ

Until the Pharisees saw their sin and their need for Jesus, they could not be saved.

This story is about two categories of people:

Those that were blind, but now see.

And those that are blind, and won’t see.

TITLE: Keeping Yourself In The Dark

Introduction: I’m sure most of you have heard this metaphor, “He buried his head in the sand.”

It’s a common phrase that means “avoiding a problem.” Like when our kids were little and we played hide and seek, they thought if they closed their eyes “dad can’t find me.”

The phrase comes from an Ostrich burying it’s head in the sand, which is actually not even true. It began as a myth in ancient Rome, probably because ostriches bury their eggs in shallows nests in the dirt and, at times, turn the eggs with their heads. So it created an illusion of burying their heads, but it wasn’t actually happening.

That didn’t keep it from becoming a common phrase, But the truth is, it became a metaphor because burying our heads in the sand may not be an “ostrich” thing, but it is a human thing.

We have a tendency to ignore things that we don’t want to deal with.

Balancing the checkbook

Guys, that honey-do list

Dealing with a confrontation

Paying the bills

Starting that diet

It’s easy to bury our heads and avoid problems. And while it seems like the easiest route, most of us have learned that avoiding a problem doesn’t fix it.

Burying your head in the sand may keep you in the dark, but it won’t get rid of the problem.

Transitional Statement: John 9 is about a group of people who were in the dark and they wanted to stay there.

Context: When Jesus came into this world, His primary reason was to sacrifice His life as the Lamb of God and take away the sins of the world.

That’s what John the Baptist said in John 1.

He came to offer salvation by dying, rising again and conquering sin and death.

In John 3, Jesus spoke with a man named Nicodemus and said, “Ye must be born again.” He also said “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)

In John 4, He spoke to a woman at a a well and said, “…the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

In John 6 He said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

He called Himself the bread of life saying, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger.”

He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Speaking of eternal life.

In John 8 He said, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Jesus came to do the will of His Father and offer eternal life to sinners through His own death on the cross.

And we say, “Praise the Lord for that!” We’re pretty happy about that.

But think about the idea of offering eternal life to sinners.

It means some are going to place their faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. Praise God.

But there are two sides to every coin. Because while many believe, Jesus said to others, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

The nature of salvation means some will believe and some will not.

Some will accept Jesus. Others will reject Him.

There are two categories of people in this world: Those that know Jesus and those that don’t.

Those that were blind and now see, and those that are blind and won’t see.

Jesus revealed Himself in the same way to both sides. They all saw Jesus doing the same things. But their responses were completely different.

It’s a similar idea to the sun. Think about the sun and its effect on different things:

The Sun Provides Light

Some people love it when the sun comes up in the morning.

Early birds. Morning people.

They’re the ones who make all the noise when the rest of the world is trying to sleep.

They wake up before their alarm clock goes off. Who does that?

Some people wake up with the sun.

There’s another category of people who want the sun to sleep as long as they do.

Night owls.

At 11pm they’re just catching their second wind.

Time change means nothing to them because the sun has nothing to do with their sleep patterns.

Same sun, different responses. Just like with Jesus.

The Sun Also Provides Heat

Some people are sensitive to the sun.

They don’t like to be in it.

Maybe their fair skin burns too easily.

Or maybe they just like cooler weather and clouds and such.

Their ideal vacation is in the mountains or on a snowmobile.

But some people love the sun and can’t get enough of it.

Their dream vacation is on the beach.

Their idea of a good time is fried to a crisp.

They like it hot. They like blue skies and ultraviolet rays.

The point is, same sun. Different impact on different people.

Think about this - The me sun melts ice hardens clay. Same sun, different results.

The Sun helps a seed to grow and bear fruit. But the same sun kills certain plants with too much exposure.

Same sun. Different responses.

And the idea is true spiritually. Because what we see in John 9 are contrasting responses to the Son.

Same Jesus. Same words. Same actions.

And some gladly received Him. Others angrily did not.

Some believed His teaching and followed Him.

Others bowed up and wanted Him dead.

Look at John 9:5, “I am the light of the world.”

Jesus shined His light equally for all to see. The whole world was exposed to His light. And some came away seeing. While others remained blind. Some allowed the light to expose them. But others kept their head in the sand.

It's interesting that the same spiritual light can shine and have a completely different effect on people’s lives.

Which leads to our first truth:

I. Jesus Is The Dividing Line Of All Humanity

Vs. 39a - “For judgment I am come into this world.”

I know that John 3:17 reads, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

It’s true that Jesus came to offer salvation. To reveal His love and offer peace.

But the point still remains, for those that don’t receive His offer, there is judgment.

“Judgment” means separation.

Division. Yes, Jesus came to offer salvation, but for the ones that reject it, there’s separation from those that accept it.

In essence, Jesus is saying, “I came to draw a line.”

Jesus is the dividing line for all of humanity.

Those that receive Him are on one side. Those that reject Him are on the other side.

Like the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. All the water that falls on the west side flows toward the Pacific. The water that falls on the east side of the line flows toward the Atlantic or (and I’ve been waiting to use this) the Gulf Of AMERICA.

That one line in the Rockies determines the fate of every drop of water that lands in our country.

And friend, your response to Jesus Christ is the dividing line that determines your future, whether it’s spent in Heaven or in Hell.

Same Jesus. Same message. Same words. Different responses.

Two people from the same family raised the same way by the same parents. One might receive Jesus but the other rejects Him.

Two young people raised in the same church and same SS classes hearing the same messages. But one receives and the other rejects.

Talking to someone about church this week and they said, “Church isn’t really my thing.” But it’s not really about church. It’s about Jesus. He’s everybody’s thing. Meaning, we all have to answer for our response to Jesus at a future point in our lives.

If you say Yes, you’re on this side. If you say No, you’re over here.

II. Our Response To Jesus Determines Whether We See Or Remain Blind

Vs. 39b - That they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What does this mean? Is he just talking about healing the blind man?

Well, that act was a picture of what Jesus was trying to do spiritually.

A. He was trying to do a work so that “They which see not might see”

This blind man didn’t see, but it wasn’t just physical

He didn’t see spiritually either

Sat blind with no hope

Most people passed him by

I’m sure most people never spoke with him

He probably thought his life would never get better

And even after Jesus healed him, he got his life back for about a day and everything fell apart again

Right after being healed he was questioned by the Pharisees

All he did was tell the truth and they kicked him out of the synagogue

Hours after being healed and thinking he finally had a life again, he lost it all just like that

They told him he could never come back

So he lost all he had, and it wasn’t much in the first place

This man was at the end of himself. He saw no hope for ever getting his life back. And then Jesus found him (vs. 35). Because this man is the kind of person Jesus came for.

The blind man represents the man, woman, or child who have no hope and can’t see how it’s ever going to get better.

Because of their past

Sin

Bad experiences

Wrong choices

Abuse

Feeling like they have no value

There is a world full of people who see not - they have no hope to get out of their present condition. NO HOPE.

They have nothing left, but when people are desperate, they are much more likely to hear the truth and respond with humility.

The sun shines its light, and while most people miss it, the ones with NO HOPE say, “I need you, Jesus.”

They see their sin and hopeless, they know they’re blind, but in humbling themselves they go from blind to seeing.

And it makes for one incredible story of God’s marvellous work after another.

From NO HOPE to seeing.

But there’s another type of person in this story that the sun doesn’t impact the same.

You see, while the blind man receives and responds with humility, the Pharisees does the opposite.

Unlike the blind man, the Pharisees had everything they needed in life.

They were part of the cool crowd. The big dogs in the synagogue.

They got all the attention.

They didn’t have to worry about not having friends.

The problem was, they didn’t need Jesus because they were self-sufficient and self-righteous.

Which means they weren’t desperate when Jesus showed up.

When the light came shining, instead of letting it shine, they closed their eyes to it.

They thought they saw and they didn’t.

They’re the ones Jesus was talking about when he said, “I’ve come that they which see might be made blind.”

Look at their response in Vs. 40, “Are we blind also.”

“Surely you’re not talking about us because we don’t have a problem with sin.”

The Pharisees thought they had it all together, but Jesus came trying to shine the light on the fact that they were just as lost in their sin as the NO HOPE.

But their situation is worse. They thought they saw, but they were blind.

They were blind to their need. Blind to their sin.

So while the desperate can’t see and know it, the religious crowd thinks they can see and they can’t.

The desperate are the NO HOPE crowd, but the Pharisees are the NO HELP crowd.

“We don’t need Jesus.”

So the light came and shined on everyone equally.

It shined so the blind could have HOPE and the Pharisees could see their sins.

But only side got it.

The desperate are humble when the light shines. But the self-righteous are proud.

And while the self-righteous seems most likely to see, it’s the humble sinner that actually sees.

The dividing line between spiritual sight and blindness is a humble response to the Gospel of Christ.

If you’re hopeless, you have no choice but to accept Christ. Humility comes easy because you have no other options. So when the light shines, you’re just thankful for a glimpse of hope.

Friend, only the humble can be saved. You must humble yourself.

But the real warning here is to the self-righteous. Because pride kept most of the Pharisees from seeing the truth.

They had it all together, but their pride and failure to admit their sin kept them out of Heaven.

It all comes down to having a humble response when the light of Jesus shines in our lives.

If we bow up in pride, we remain blind, no matter how good we are.

But if we humble ourselves, we see, no matter how bad we are.

Jesus is the dividing line of all humanity, and our response of humility determines whether or not we end up seeing.

APPLICATION:

We’re all in one category or another: NO HOPE, or NO HELP.

NO HOPE

1. If you’re at the end of yourself, you are who Jesus came for.

2. No hope? No problem. He died for your sins. He can overcome anything in your past.

3. You must see your sin and humble yourself.

NO HELP

1. You may think you’ve got it handled on your own, but you cannot save yourself.

2. Only Jesus, who died for your sins, can do it.

3. But you must see your sin and humble yourself before God.

NO HOPE? NO HELP? NO PROBLEM. JESUS IS THE ANSWER

Maybe you’re saved and you have a NO HOPE mindset.

1. If Jesus can save you in the first place, He can forgive your sin and give you victory. There is HOPE if you’ll see it.

2. Maybe your situation feels hopeless. If He can save, there’s nothing He can’t handle.

Saved, NO HELP mindset

1. I know plenty of Christians who are trying to live life apart from Christ’s strength. NO HELP.

2. John 15:5 says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” You have no strength without Him. You will fizzle and fade if you think you can handle life on your own.

3. Daily acknowledge your continued need for Christ.

Why? Because God responds to humility with grace.

Too often, we get into patterns of pride and don’t realize it.

Pride at home. Pride in the workplace. Pride with our spouse. Pride with our parents.

If you don’t see your need for Jesus, you’ll be blind to your pride and you’ll be without God’s grace.

Maybe we need to come to the end of ourselves today and admit, “I don’t always have it all together. I don’t always have all the answers. I don’t know as much as I think I do. I’m not always right. So Father, I humble myself so that I don’t become blinded to my actual condition. Please reveal it to me today.”

CONCLUSION:

If you’re in your 40’s, there’s a universal issue that everyone must come to terms with at some point.

It’s a problem everyone will eventually face, although if you’re in your 30’s and down, you might think you’ll never have this issue.

Reading Glasses.

It’s a rite of passage. You get to the place that small print is almost impossible to see.

When my wife and I sing together, I’m not sure our arms are long enough to hold the hymnal anymore.

The other day I was in a store trying to read a label and I had my phone out and zoomed in on it.

No one likes to admit they can’t see.

And a lot of people hold out on reading glasses as long as they possibly can.

“I can see good enough. I’ll be fine.”

I’m putting it off, but I can’t forever.

I don’t want to admit I can’t see.

It will eventually be a problem you have to deal with.

But how much greater a person that can’t see spiritually and doesn’t want to admit it.

You think you see, but you have to become so blind that you finally admit you need help.

It’s time to humble yourself and turn to Jesus and say, “I really need you.”

Either because of sin and desperation.

Or because you have been acting like you’ve got it all together and you know you don’t.

We must all admit we’re blind and we can’t see without Jesus.

1. Don’t Keep Yourself In The Dark.

2. Get your head out of the sand.

3. Admit you need some light.

4. Humble yourself and accept the light that Jesus is shining on you right now.