62

John 9:18-34 THE COST OF LOYALTY TO JESUS

Introduction:

I will not attempt to discuss all of the things which

are involved in being loyal to Jesus. The subject matter is

too big for one sermon --- or even two or three sermons. I

will confine my remarks chiefly to the passage of Scripture

which is before us.

In our text last Sunday we saw that it took a great deal

of courage for a blind man to whom Jesus had given his sight

to take a stand for Jesus. He proved to be loyal to Jesus,

who had given him his eyesight. In our text today, we see

that he had to pay a huge price for his loyalty to Jesus.

I. A look back to our text last Sunday

The man who had received his sight had been brought

before the Jewish court to answer questions about how he had

received his sight on a sabbath day. He testified that a

man called Jesus had anointed his eyes with clay and told

him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. He did and he

received his sight.

The Pharisees stated that Jesus was not from God. They

said that He could not be from God because Jesus had given

the man his sight on the sabbath day. They considered

healing on the sabbath day to be breaking the law of the

sabbath. They considered this act of healing to be work and

the law of Moses forbids work on the sabbath.

Some few of the men within the court itself voiced an

opposing view. They pointed out that it was obviously the

power of God which had performed this miracle and that if

God had been displeased with Jesus anointing the man's eyes

on the sabbath God would not have given sight to the man.

The leaders, who held the majority opinion, then turned

to the man who had been blind and asked his opinion about

Jesus. He replied emphatically that Jesus is a prophet of

God. He did not at this time realize that Jesus is the

Christ, but he did recognize that Jesus is a prophet and he

had the courage to stand up for Jesus even though he knew

that it would bring the anger of the Pharisees upon him.

II. The parents of the blind man called before the court

The leaders of the court did not believe him. They most

certainly did not believe him when he said that Jesus is the

Christ. They did not believe him when he said that his

eyesight had been miraculously given to him by Jesus. They

did not even believe him when he said that he had been

blind. V. 18, "But the Jews did not believe concerning

him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until

they called the parents of him that had received his sight."

They would not believe him until they located his

parents and questioned them. V. 19, "And they asked them,

saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how

then doth he now see?" They fired three questions in one at

the parents. They wanted to know if this man was really

their son. They wanted to know if it was really true that

he had been born blind. And they wanted to know how he had

received his sight.

V. 20, "His parents answered them and said, We know that

this is our son, and that he was born blind..." The parents

verified that this is their son and they verified that he

had been born blind. But they could not testify as to how

he had received his sight. They apparently had heard rumors

that Jesus had given sight to son, but they were not

witnesses and had no firsthand knowledge about it.

Therefore, they could not testify to this question before

the court. V. 21, "But by what means he now seeth, we know

not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not..."

They must have been glad that they did not know. They

were afraid of these men who sat on this court and they did

not want to give them an answer which might anger them. (V.

21), "...he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself."

They were glad that they were eyewitnesses when Jesus

anointed the eyes of their son. They apparently had heard

that Jesus was involved and they knew that the Jewish

leaders were after Jesus to kill Him. So they just did not

want to get involved. They washed their hands of the matter

by telling the court, "He is of age; ask him."

V. 22-23, "These words spake his parents, because they

feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if

any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out

of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age;

ask him." They showed no appreciation to Jesus for giving

sight to their blind son. They showed no concern that their

son might be cast out of the synagogue.

III. The man, himself, called back before the court

V. 24, "Then again called they the man that was

blind..." They had apparently put the man out while his

parents were being questioned. Now they let the parents go

and they call the man back in before the court.

(V. 24), "...and said unto him, Give God the praise: we

know that this man is a sinner." Just listen to those

hypocrites! They call upon the former blind man to tell the

truth before this court, when what they really wanted was

not the truth. They wanted him to tell a lie and tell them

something they could use against Jesus to put Him to death.

And they admonish him in the name of God to do this. They

say that they know for sure that Jesus is a sinner and they

call upon the blind man to verify that He is. They say that

if he will just verify that Jesus is a sinner that this will

be giving God praise.

V. 25, "He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or

no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind,

now I see." This man had already made it clear that he did

not think that Jesus is a man of bad character. He had

already said that he believes Jesus is a prophet of God.

Yet he had no way of knowing that Jesus is totally without

sin. He did not know whether or He was a sinner. The one

thing he did know is that God in heaven had used Jesus to

give him his eyesight. He knew that he had been blind, but

now he could see and it was Jesus who had given him his

sight.

V. 26, "Then said they to him again, What did he to

thee? how opened he thine eyes?" They repeat the question

which they had earlier asked him about how he was made to

see. They apparently think he will tell a different story

this time. You can tell by his answer that by this time he

was getting quite impatient with them. V. 27, "He answered

them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear:

wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his

disciples?"

You will note that he implied in his reply to them that

he is now a disciple of Jesus or at least desires to be. He

must have been thinking in terms of being a disciple of

Jesus as a prophet. He is not yet aware that Jesus is the

Christ. But he is now fully convinced that Jesus is a

prophet of God and he would like to sit at the feet of this

prophet of God and learn from him.

He was being sarcastic when he asked the Pharisees if

they, too, were desirous of becoming His disciple. He knew

full well that they did not want to be a disciple of Jesus.

He was just asking that question sarcastically to vent his

own displeasure at them for trying to get him to say

something they could use to press charges against Jesus.

V. 28, "Then they reviled him..." That is, they rebuked

him. They belittled him. (V. 28), "...and said, Thou art

his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples."

V. 29, "We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this

fellow, we know not from whence he is."

V. 30, "The man answered and said unto them, Why herein

is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is,

and yet he hath opened mine eyes." This man is astounded at

the Pharisees. He cannot believe that they are so stupid.

And in fact, they were not that stupid. They were just

bull-headedly stubborn. They just stubbornly refused to

believe that Jesus was sent from God and that He is a

prophet of God or maybe even the Christ of God! They were

not just ignorant. They were willingly ignorant. They were

deliberately ignorant. They were just too stubborn to

believe what was so obvious to this man who had received his

sight. The Jews repeat with emphasis what they had already

said that Jesus is a sinner. And they were not talking

about a prophet of God who just happened not to be perfect.

They were talking about the very worst kind of sinner --- a

complete reprobate --- a scandalous person.

V. 31, "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if

any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he

heareth." Let me paraphrase. He was saying that if Jesus

were the kind of scandalous sinner that the Pharisees seemed

to think He is that God would not have heard and answered

His prayers and given him his sight.

V. 32, "Since the world began was it not heard that any

man opened the eyes of one that was born blind." He said

that since the world began there was never any record of any

man giving sight to one who was born blind. Again let me

paraphrase. He said, "You talk about being disciples of

Moses. When did Moses ever do such a miracle as this? When

did any of God's prophets since the world began do such a

miracle as this? How is it that you fellows cannot see that

this man is from God? V. 33, "If this man were not of God,

he could do nothing."

Once again the Pharisees rebuke him. V. 34, "They

answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in

sins, and dost thou teach us?..." The Pharisees thought

this man had been altogether born in sin. That is, they,

like the disciples of Jesus, thought that it was either his

sins or the sins of his parents which had caused him to be

born blind. On the other hand, they thought of themselves

as being the very finest examples of godliness. They could

just not imagine a sinner like this man presuming to try to

teach such fine godly men as themselves .... as if they had

not been born in sin.

IV. The man cast out of the synagogue

(V. 34), "...And they cast him out." In these words we

see what it cost this man to be loyal to Jesus. They cast

him out. They did not just cast him out of the building.

They cast him out in the sense that is spoken of in the

latter part of verse 22. They cast him out of the Jewish

synagogue. They excommunicated him from the synagogue.

This meant that he could not enter a Jewish synagogue at

any time during the next month. He will not be allowed to

come near his family members nor friends.

If at the end of that month he has not changed his mind

about Jesus, then he will be banished forever from the

synagogue. He will never be allowed to enter into any

Jewish synagogue anywhere. He will never be allowed to come

near his family again. He will never be allowed to visit

with any of his friends nor buy nor sell. None of his

family nor friends will be allowed to provide food, clothing

nor shelter. They will not even be allowed to have

conversation with him. He will be totally cut off from the

Jewish society. What a terrible cost for loyalty to Jesus!

V. The price which Christians suffer for Jesus

This man is by no means the only one to suffer for

Jesus! In the years that followed thousands upon thousands

of Christians have lost their lives because of their loyalty

to Jesus. During the Dark Ages Christian were fed to the

lions just for entertainment. Many were burned at the

stake. Many died in prisons. In every generation

Christians have suffered some kind of persecution because of

their loyalty to Jesus.

I suppose that there is less persecution for Christians

in our present day than in any period of time since

Christianity began. Yet this still does not mean that

Christians are totally free from persecution even now.

Sometimes Christians on the job feel the sting of

persecution. Sometimes Christians within a family feel the

pressure of persecution from non-Christian family members.

Sometimes Christians in a neighborhood feel persecution from

non-Christians in the neighborhood. Sometimes Christian

young people at school feel the persecution at school.

Every Christian in every generation in every part of the

world will suffer in some way for Jesus if he is loyal to

the Lord. II Timothy 3:12 reads, "Yea, and all that will

live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." They

may not be killed as those in the dark ages. They may not

be excommunicated from the synagogue or excluded from the

society, but they will be frowned upon and looked down upon

at the very least. They will be persecuted in some way.

VI. The question I would like to ask that man

I would like to be able to call that man before you here

today and ask him a few questions myself. I would like to

ask him, "Sir, do you have any regrets? If you had it to do

all over again, would you still be loyal to Jesus?

I think I know what his answer would be. I do not know

the words he would use, but I think I do know basically what

he would say. I think he would say, "I have no regrets. I

would gladly do it all over again. Meeting Jesus is the

best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life."

The reason I am so sure of what his answer would be is

that this is the way I feel about Jesus. Meeting Jesus is

the best thing that could ever happen to any human being.

It is better than having one's eyesight. It is better than

material wealth. It is better than houses or lands or cars

or boats or planes. It is better than any other human

experience.

Conclusion:

Let me call upon you who are unsaved to get to know

Jesus as your Savior. You will be glad that you did. You

will never have any regrets.

Let me call upon you who are saved to be loyal to Jesus.

You will be glad you did. If necessary ---- suffer for

Jesus. You will be glad you did. You will never regret

if. Give your life in service to Jesus. You will be glad

you did. You will never regret it.