Lesson #20

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John

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 13, 2010

Lesson #02

January 13, 2010

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

JOHN 9
Lesson #20
THE SIXTH SIGN: SPIRITUAL SIGHT VERSUS SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

• Memory verse: John 9:5

• John, the author of this gospel, has taken us through many object lessons from the books of Exodus explain to us about who Jesus is.

• In John 8, we learned that Jesus is the light of the world. In John 9, Jesus will demonstrate His character as the light of the world by healing a man born blind.
• The man born blind represents all humans who are born into spiritual blindness and beggars. No human can see spiritually without the light of Jesus Christ in his life.
• Read Rom 3:10-12
• When the light of Jesus Christ is revealed to a person, it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to open the spiritual eyes so that the person can see Jesus for who He really is.

• Read Joh 9:1-12 The sixth sign: The man born blind
• Notice it is Jesus that brings attention to this blind man. Therefore, He is setting the stage for a miraculous demonstration to verify that He is the light of the world. (1, 5)
• The critical question:

• “…Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

” (2) What was the cause of the illness?

• Common belief at that time was that sin caused blindness. This was partly due to Exo 34:7.
• Read Exo 34:7
• Some sinful habits are inherited and tend to run in families such as alcoholism, abuse, witchcraft, etc. The predominant reason that these types of sinful habits run in families is because they are taught and modeled to the children.
• Much blindness of babies in those days was caused when a pregnant mother, having the venereal disease of Gonorrhea, gave birth to a blind child.
• The Pharisees refer to this in verse 34.
• Even today many people that believe that extreme problems and illness is a result of some specific personal sin in the person’s life resulting from God’s punishment.
• We have previously discussed how all types of sickness entered into man’s experience beaus of Adam’s sin, and as a result we are born into a sinful world with a sinful nature. However, some personal sins can result in specific types of sickness such as AIDS, though not all AIDS is the result of personal sin.
• Therefore, as believers in Jesus Christ, we should always respond with love to people who have severe problems of chronic illness, and never with judgment and condemnation like Job’s friends in the book of Job.
• The critical answer:

• “…Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”

(3)

• The man was blind because of the sinful, fallen world in which he was born and not because of any specific personal sin either by his parents or by him.
• His healing was marked for a specific time and purpose.
• God was going to use this condition, that resulted from Satan’s entrance into this world, for a divine purpose.
• The disciples considered the cause of the man’s problem, while Jesus wanted them to consider God’s purpose.
• Therefore, instead of asking, “why me?”, we should ask, “how can God use it to demonstrate His power?”
• God can use it to encourage others who experience the same trial.
• God can use it to soften the heart of someone else.
• God can use to raise awareness of a universal need.
• God can use it as a test of endorsee that will encourage another person.
• Why did Jesus heal this man?
• Jesus had compassion for the man’s physical condition and compassion for the man’s spiritual condition.
• Jesus healed him as a demonstration of his character and purpose as the Light of the world.

• “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

(5)

• Because Jesus Christ is still in the world, He is forever the Light of it. (Heb 13:8)
• “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”

(4)

• What did Jesus mean by this verse?
• There are specific times and opportunities in God’s plan that are presented when God has something He wants to accomplish. Jesus accomplished the specific events that God had in mind during his 3 ½ years of physical ministry on the earth. The 3 ½ years was a period of light in the world.
• Satan always opposes God’s plan but without ultimate power. Satan brings darkness and spiritual blindness. The night when no man can work is prophetic of the coming tribulation period when spiritual darkness will prevail on earth.
• The strange method of healing:
• Why did Jesus use dirt and spit to perform the healing when He could have accomplished it without using anything?
• God created man from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7). Perhaps this man was born without eye balls. Therefore, this would be a creative miracle reminiscent of man’s creation.
• The making of clay with spit constituted work done on the Sabbath, which specifically provoked the religious leaders.
• “…Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”

(7)

• The pool of Siloam was the pool from which the priests drew all the water of life used in the Feast of Tabernacles that we discussed in Lesson #17.
• John clearly tells us that the name, Siloam, means = sent. Therefore, this fact must be important.
• Jesus continually told the Jews he was “sent” by God. Therefore, the man is “sent” to the pool to wash to indicate that this healing was “sent” to him by God through the “sent one”, Jesus Christ.
• Remember that water symbolically represents the Word of God. It is through the Word of God that man can see spiritually and be saved. (Psa 119:130)
• Faith and healing:
• Was faith and obedience involved in the healing? How?
• Because the man permitted Jesus to put clay on his eyes, and because he was obedient to go to the pool and wash his eyes, indicates the man’s obedience to believe

• Read Joh 9:13-34 The testimony
• The Pharisees:
• A person with such a disability as blindness was not permitted to worship inside the Jewish temple. Now that he was healed, the priests must give him approval to worship along with healthy people. He comes before the Pharisees for that purpose.
• There were two minor groups of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. They were courts with 23 assessors who decided matters of excommunication and to determine those who were ceremoniously clean and could worship in the temple.
• The division among the Pharisees:

• “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?…”

(16)

• The faulty logic of the religious leaders:
• All godly people keep the Sabbath. Jesus does not keep the Sabbath. Therefore, Jesus is not a godly person.
• From this verse, we can observe the attitude of some of the religious leaders. The only way to determine godliness was by both keeping the law and by the performance of some miracle.
• Jesus had violated the Sabbath when he made clay.
• Because of these temporal and external means by which they determined godliness, it is not a surprise that none of them had the spiritual light of God.
• Dealing with unbelief:
• Even with the testimony of the blind man, the religious leaders did not believe he had been blind and now could see. Therefore, they sent for the man’s parents.
• The cautious testimony of the man’s parents:
• The people feared the power of the Sanhedrin. They were afraid of excommunication from worship and religious life.
• A lower court could excommunicate a person for 30 days. He would be treated as a leper. No one would be allowed to eat, drink, or do business with him.
• “…that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.”

(22)

• It is ironic that confessing Jesus as Christ was God’s criteria of division between those who are saved and those who are not. (Joh 7 Lesson #17) The religious leaders have made Jesus the dividing line between those who could worship and those who could not.
• “…will ye also be his disciples?”

(27)

• The religious leaders continued to question the man healed of blindness even though they had heard the story from him and from his parents. Finally, he facetiously asks the religious leaders if they want to be Jesus’ disciples.
• “…Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.”

(28)

• The religious leaders accuse the man of being one of Jesus’ disciples.
• Notice how the man is being moved closer and closer to making a spiritual decision about Jesus.
• Moses’ disciples:
• The Jews considered Moses the greatest example to follow because he gave them the law.
• “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”

(31)

• The blind man’s testimony claimed that, because God does not hear the prayers of non-believers, his healing obviously came from God through Jesus.
• Does God hear the prayers of non-believers? (Luk 18:13)
• Consider the following scriptures:

• “But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.”

(Psa 4:3)

• “Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.”

(Psa 20:9)

• “

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” (Psa 66:18)

• “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.”

(Pro 15:29)

• Conclusion:
• From the preceding verses in the Psalms, we see that God always hears and heeds the prayers of believers who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ.
• God hears and knows everything, but generally God does not heed the prayers of non-believers because sin separates man from God.
• Sometimes God answers a prayer of a non-believer if the answer will bring him to know the Lord. (Act 10 specifically vs. 4)
• However, God always hears and heeds the prayer of repentance and the prayer of acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ.
• If God did not heed the prayer of repentance, no person would ever be saved and receive forgiveness of sin.
• “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.”

(32)

• The religious leaders knew the prophecies that the Messiah would come and give sight to the blind as His credential. (Psa 146:5-10 Isa 29:18-19 Isa 35:4-6 Isa 42:6-8)
• The healed man’s testimony of faith:

• “If this man were not of God, he could do nothing”

(33)

• Through this chapter, we see the development of the man’s faith. The believer in Jesus Christ is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. (2Pet 3:18)
• In verse 11, the man confessed, “A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes.”
• In verse 17, the man says, “He is a prophet.”
• In verse 31, the mans says, “…a worshipper of God, and doeth his will…”
• In verse 38, the man says to Jesus, “Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”
• The true logic of the man born blind:
• A sinner cannot do the miracles of God. He experienced a miracle. Jesus must not be a sinner, but He must be from God.
• The man’s faith developed gradually as the religious leaders questioned him about Jesus. As his faith developed, he became stronger and bolder in his faith to be able to stand up and finally say that he believed.

• Read Joh 9:35-41
• How did Jesus minister to the patient spiritually?
• Jesus heard that the religious leaders had excommunicated the healed man. This left the man adrift socially, materially, and spiritually. He finds the man in order to minister to him spiritually. This man still had not seen Jesus physically.
• “…Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

(35)

• The man’s faith had developed to the point of a personal commitment.
• “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.”

(39)

• What does this verse mean?

• “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

(Joh 3:17)

• “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

(Joh 12:47)

• These three statements by Jesus recorded in the gospel of John seem to conflict. However, to reconcile them is a matter of understanding the timing and the Greek words.
• Jesus came into the world at His first coming to save the world through His atoning death on the cross. At His second coming, He will come to judge.
• A confrontation with Jesus Christ divided men into two groups, those who are saved and those who are not. Those who are not are destined for judgment.
• Therefore, in one sense, Jesus’ presence in the world brings automatic judgment on those who reject Him.
• The words, “judge” and “discern” are slightly different words in Greek.
• The word “judgement” in Joh 9:39 refers to self-judgment through discernment as to what is truth and what is error. Jesus’ presence separates which indicates that a decision must be made.
• The word “condemn” in Joh 3:17 refers to a judgment at the end of age by Christ at His second coming. The word refers to a courtroom where a judgment is made and a punishment results.
• “they which see not might see”

(39)

• This is the blind man who could not see physically and gained physical sight and spiritual sight.
• “that they which see might be made blind.”

(39)

• These are the religious leaders that could see physically but were made blind spiritually because of their rejection of Jesus Christ.
• “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”

(41)

• If a person recognizes that he is spiritually blind and without spiritual light, he would know that he needs a savior to forgive his sins.
• The religious leaders claimed to have spiritual sight from God’s light, but their sins were not forgiven. Therefore, they did not see that they needed forgiveness. As a result, they could not spiritually see Jesus Christ, their savior.
• Application:
• What does this chapter teach about spiritual blindness?
• Jesus Christ divides those who have spiritual sight from those who are spiritually blind. (39)

The Development of Spiritual Blindness
#1 The person ignores the logical facts presented	The Pharisees ignored the neighbor’s testimony (8) They ignored the parent’s testimony (20) They ignored the man’s repeated testimony (16, 25) They ignored the man’s logical argument (31-33)
#2 The person ignores the physical evidence at hand	The Pharisees ignored the man’s ability to see (30)
#3 The person rationalizes an explanation	The Pharisees said the man was born in sin could not possibly see (34)
#4 The person rationalizes through lies one’s own position	The Pharisees lied about what they knew of Jesus (29)
#5 The person substitutes the pride of religion for the humility of faith	The Pharisees said, “Are we blind also?” (40)

• What does this chapter teach about unbelief?
• Unbelief is the result of spiritual blindness.
• What does this chapter teach about sin?
• Sin separates man from God.
• The spiritually blind do not recognize sin.
• God’s light reveals sin and gives spiritual sight to those who come to Christ.
• Jesus Christ forgives sin.
• Summary:

The Man Born Blind	The Non-believer Turning to Christ
He was outside the temple, shut out from God.	He is a stranger to God and a stranger to God’s covenant of promise. (Eph 2:12)
He was unable to see Jesus, the Savior.	He does not see Jesus as Savior.
He was blind from birth.	He is spiritually blind from birth having been born into sin.
He was beyond human help.	He has no human solution for his spiritual blindness.
He was a beggar.	He cannot buy his salvation, he must come to God and ask for salvation. (Isa 55:1)
He was not seeking Jesus.	He does not seek God.
No one showed him any compassion, only Christ.	Only Christ shows the sinner any compassion.
His testimony, “whereas I was blind, now I see..”(25)	His testimony as a new believer is, “Once I was blind (spiritually) but now I see.”
His testimony of faith, “Lord, I believe.” (38)	His testimony of faith, “Lord, I believe.”
People noticed the change in him.	Other people will see the change in the life of the new believer.

HOMEWORK
John 10
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Joh 9
• If you have received Jesus Christ into your heart and been born again, you have received spiritual sight. During this coming week, give your testimony of how you were once blind but now see.
• If you have never prayed to receive Jesus into your heart, you can do so today and He will give you spiritual light to see Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

• Preparation for Joh 10
• Read Joh 10:1-18
• Who is the “them” in verse 6?
• What is the pasture?
• Who does the wolf represent?
• Who do the “other sheep” represent?
• What is the central truth of Jesus’ teaching in Joh 10:1-18?
• Read Joh 10:19-42
• What is the meaning of verse 34? 

• Memory verse: John 10:11