Life in Light of Glory

John 9 : 1 - 7  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  49:21
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Being a parent of young kids, a certain group of people are always giving me advice as to how to handle being a parent of young kids...
• And it really is great advice...
• It's a great reminder for anyone who has young kids...
• Anyone who has kids knows that when you have younger kids...
◦ Life can be challenging.
◦ Something you don't really understand until you actually have kids..
◦ is the - CHALLENGE that it brings...
Sleepless nights...
• sickness
• decisions you have to make as a parent
• stress
• schooling
• friends
• television
• food
• stress
• AND YET - all of it - WORTH IT
• And so the great advice that I always hear...and NEED to hear is this...
◦ Enjoy them while you can!
• And the ESSENCE of that advice is this:
◦ While they are with you...embrace the fact that they're with you
◦ DON'T FOCUS on the stress
◦ DON'T FOCUS on the tiredness
◦ DON'T FOCUS on the HARD TIMES...
◦ DON'T LET those things HINDER you from - JOY in your Kids
• They won't ALWAYS be with you - therefore enjoy them while you have them.
• We're going to hear this same ADVICE from Jesus Christ today - in our text
• so let's get to it...
John 9:1–7 ESV
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
• The first thing we're going to look at today is this:
SLIDE: From Blindness to Sight: All Within Reach of Salvation

From Blindness to Sight

• If we were to just look at the bookends of our passage today, it would read like this...
John 9:1 ESV
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
John 9:7 ESV
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
• This man was blind from birth...and now - sees
• once blind but now can see
• One of the most debilitating impairments a person can walk through is BLINDNESS.
• Think of HOW MUCH we rely on our vision
▪ Every second of every day is PROCESSED in our minds...through what we SEE
• A lot of us have had to deal with our vision, over the years, getting worse...
• And even in that case, even though we can still see...
• ....just a small deterioration in our eyesight can result in a MAJOR adjustment in our lives
• And so in THIS CASE - think of all the aspects of life that this man had NO COMPREHENSION of!
• He was blind from birth...
▪ He had no idea what the sky looked like...
▪ What he himself looked like...
▪ What humans looked like...
▪ trees
▪ animals
▪ no concept of color
• And so - in a REAL SENSE - this man's EYESIGHT - was DEAD
◦ He would have been the last person you would have went to and asked - "Hey, did you see the sunset last night?"
◦ His VISION was - DEAD - non-existent
◦ BUT THEN...!
◦ LIFE!
◦ v7 (read again)
• His eyesight was - literally HOPELESS...
• But as we know -
SLIDE:
That which is hopeless apart from Christ, is possible with Christ
• Which takes us back to our 1st point.
• NO ONE is OUT OF REACH from the SAVING ARM of CHRIST
• This guy was BORN BLIND and now - after Jesus - He can see!
• That person who seems hopeless...
• That co-worker...that family member you think would NEVER turn to Jesus...
▪ It's POSSIBLE with Christ...
*John Piper: Story about construction guys vs. Female Lawyer...
• The guys was BLIND and now he could SEE...
• This should EMBOLDEN us....
• embolden our witness...
• Our CONFIDENCE in our Proclamation SHOULD RISE...BECAUSE he was blind but now could see!!
• The most pitiful around us...
• The most hopeless around us...
• the most RESISTANT around us...
• Listen - the most EVIL around us...
◦ CAN BE SAVED
No ONE - is hopeless in God's economy...!
• And i think one of the reasons we fail to obey Christ in proclaiming His truth to those around us is...
• ...because we judge the level of confidence the person has in his/her position...
• ...and if they're very confident in their unbelief....we'll avoid confronting that!
• WE need to be CONFIDENT in OUR message!
• **Think of the apostle Paul (from persecutor of the church/truth - to - proclaiming it and defending it)
What else do we see in our text?
SLIDE: From Blindness to Sight: God's Glory Will Have the Last Word

From Blindness to Sight

John 9:1–5 ESV
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
• let's go back to v2...
John 9:2 ESV
2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
• The disciples here - they look at this man's disability...
◦ ...his blindness from birth...
• And they look at his blindness as - the final answer
• They ask - who sinned? the man himself or his parents?
• SO on the one hand - they judged this situation rightly...
• They knew God was the one who ordained this man to be blind..
• Their logic was:
▪ SIN - either the man's sin...or his parents sin...
▪ RESULTED in God bringing judgment in the form of BLINDNESS
▪ AND THEREFORE - the blindness is the end of the story! (final answer)
• THAT was their logic...
• JESUS - shows them a different reality!
John 9:3 ESV
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
• Jesus here shows us that His Glory, NOT sin, will have the final word.
• What do I mean...
• We have to think through this one...
• When we look at this response of Christ, we see that Jesus admits, and not shockingly so, that the blind man, and his parents, were sinners.
• Jesus here doesn't respond by saying - No- they never SINNED!
• He says...
▪ "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.."
• Yes - they sinned...but his blindness isn't the end of the story...
• It WILL BE USED to display the work of God...
▪ For what reason?
Why does God work through His people?
Remember ...
Philippians 2:12–13 ESV
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Work it out Christian…BECAUSE God is working in you…
We display Christ to the world - Because God is working to display Himself through us to the world!
SO - Why do we pursue displaying Christ to the world?
▪ For the Glorification of God*
So - God does things so that He’ll be glorified!?
I contend - that God does ALL that He does so that He will be glorified!
We see in Scripture that...
God raised up Jesus...for His glory (Phil 2:9-11)
God forgives...for His glory (Isaiah 43:25)
God teaches us to pray...unto His glory (Matt. 6:9-10)
God supplies us with strength...for His glory (1 Peter 4:11)
God leads us...for His glory (Psalm 23:3)
God works all things...for His glory (Eph. 1:11-12)
God created us...for His glory (Isaiah 43:6-7)
So BACK to our text today - the man was born BLIND so that
GOD could display His own power in the man’s life.
SO THAT - God could be glorified!
In Man’s perspective….the blindness was an END in and of itself…(a punishment from God - a final judgment)
In reality….the blindness was ordained by God SO THAT through it - God would be glorifiedSo it wasn’t an END in and of itself - it was a SPRINGBOARD to the Glory of God!
NOW - how should this truth effect us?
If we’re thinking RIGHTLY….biblically…then this truth should cause us to LOOK at suffering in this life -
NOT AS an occasion to complain to God…But an occasion to WORSHIP God
Is that EASY?
No…
NOW - understand this too - This truth doesn’t mean that SIN should be viewed as an OCCASION to increase God’s glory…
We can’t PURSUE SIN - thinking that DOING that will glorify God…when He comes thru for us and rescues us from the trouble we find ourselves in.
Make no mistake - SIN does have practical consequences in our lives.
If i pursue the sin of gluttony, i will reap the consequences of that!
If I pursue sin - thinking that I’m helping God be glorified because after I make a mess of my life, God will TURN IT ALL AROUND…I’m OFF TRACK!
What we see in our text today is - a man who was born blind..BORN INTO SUFFERING…
And we see that after a lifetime dealing with Blindness…Jesus comes and USES that blindness to draw people to Himself!
SLIDE
QUESTION:
Has our suffering gotten the last word?
When we let our suffering get the last word - we draw people away from Christ.
We show SUFFERING to be more powerful than the God we claim to serve!
BUT LISTEN TO THIS....
Even DEATH ITSELF is meant to serve the Glory of God
You remember the story of Lazarus?
What happened to Lazarus?
He - - died!
And we see in the Bible that Jesus LET him die...
But listen to Jesus’ take on the whole situation!!
John 11:1–4 ESV
1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
DO YOU SEE HOW the GLORY of GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD!!
How empowering this is!! - When we can GRASP this - we will let the Light of Christ SHINE brightly to those around us...
Matthew 5:16 ESV
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
And this verse here actually points to our last point for today...
SLIDE: From Blindness to Sight: Those Who Now See Are Sent

From Blindness to Sight

John 9:4–7 ESV
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Should we think it’s a coincidence that the pool Jesus tells this man to go WASH in is known as the Pool of SENT?
Jesus just said in v4 - We must WORK the WORKS of Him who “SENT” me while it is DAY...
…I am the light of the world!!
Jesus CAME - working the works of God!
Jesus CAME - opening the eyes of the blind!!
This miracle we’ve seen today is a PHYSICAL representation of the Spiritual WORK Jesus came to perform!
Jesus didn’t come to earth to MERELY give sight to the blind!
He came to give SPIRITUAL SIGHT to the SPIRITUALLY BLIND...
So think thru it - Jesus is THE LIGHT (IN) those who believe!!
NOW
“Let your light SHINE before men...
Let CHRIST in you - SHINE before others....
so that GOD will be GLORIFIED!!”
Those who now SEE - Are themselves sent!!
Your call as a believer in Jesus Christ - is NOT to hide the SPIRITUAL miracle that has been done in your life!
Your call is to DISPLAY Jesus - to the world!
You - NOW Spiritually SEEING - are SENT into the world!!
And so think about this story today!!
This man born BLIND, receives SIGHT...
Let’s go read another story in the Bible that DIRECTLY correlates with our story today!
Acts 10:34–44 ESV
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
**Peter sent
What have we seen today?
We’ve seen throughout Scripture that the Glory of God will have the final Word!
We walked through the story of the man born blind from birth, and we saw many glorious truths that affect us today...
From Blindness to Sight
All Are Within Reach of Salvation
God’s Glory Will Have the Last Word
Those Who Now See Are Sent
Let the Glory of God have the last word!!
Let’s pray
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