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John 9:39-41 THE JUDGMENT WHICH JESUS BROUGHT AT HIS FIRST COMING

 

Introduction:

 

      In this text we see a sharp contrast between the new

found spiritual eyesight which the former blind man gained

when he placed his faith in Jesus and the spiritual

blindness of the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus as the

Christ.

 

I.  A look back at some of the events which had already

      transpired

 

      You will recall that in our text last Sunday Jesus asked

the man to whom He had given physical sight if the man

believed on the Son of God.  The man didn't at that time,

but he asked Jesus who the Son of God is and expressed a

willingness to believe if Jesus would tell him who the Son

of God is.

      Jesus did tell him.  He told the man that the Son of God

who was talking to him right at that time.  The man believed

Jesus.  He believed that Jesus is the Son of God and he fell

down and worshipped Jesus as the Son of God.

      You will remember also that even before the Feast of

Tabernacles began, the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin

Council sat in judgment of Jesus without Him even being

present.  They decided that Jesus must be put to death.

They planned that as soon as Jesus would arrive at Jerusalem

to observe the Feast of the Tabernacles that they would

quietly arrest Him and quietly put Him to death.

      As you know, their plan did not work out.  The entire

week of the feast went by and they were unable to arrest

Jesus.  On the very next day after the feast ended, which

was a special sabbath, Jesus gave sight to a man who had

been born blind.  He had been blind all his life.

      After Jesus enabled the man to see, the Jewish leaders

tried to get him to say something which they could use

against Jesus.  They wanted an excuse to arrest Him and

charge Him with breaking the law of the sabbath, but the man

refused to say anything against Jesus.  He had come to think

of Jesus as a prophet of God and he had nothing but praise

for Jesus.  Therefore, just as the Jewish court had sat in

judgment of Jesus and condemned Him to death, even so they

now sat in judgment of the man and excommunicated him from

the Jewish synagogue.

      In our text last Sunday Jesus went to the man and

informed the man that He is more than just a prophet of God.

He is the very Son of God.  The man believed Jesus.  He

accepted Jesus as the Son of God.  He place his faith in

Jesus as the Son of God  and worshipped Him as God.

      In our text today Jesus continues His conversation with

the man after the man's faith in Jesus, He informed the man

that He had come into the world to bring judgment to the

world.

 

II.  The announcement of judgment

     

      V. 39, "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this

world..."  Now it is true that God the Father has committed

all judgment of men into the hands of Jesus, John 5:22.  In

the end-time before the millenniel reign Jesus will judge

the saved and give out rewards to the saved for the service

which they have rendered to God.  Then after the millenniel

is over, Jesus will judge the unsaved and sentence them to

everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.

      But in this statement Jesus is not talking about a

judgment that would take place during end-time events.  He

is talking about His first coming to earth.  He is talking

about the purpose of His first coming.

      Back in John 3:17 Jesus said that He had not come to the

world at that time to condemn the world.  He did not come to

judge and reward the saved.  Neither had He come to

pronounce the final judgment on the unsaved.  Rather at that

first coming He had come to save the world.  He had come to

give Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin so as to

make it possible for all men to be saved.

      Through the Old Testaments prophets God had promised the

coming of a Redeemer and pledged that it would be by His

stripes that the guilty sinner could be saved.  All of the

Old Testament blood sacrifices pictured the first coming of

the Christ when His blood would be shed on the cross.

      His first coming to the world was to fulfill those

promises and to fulfill the types and shadows of the Old

Testament blood sacrifices and to provide redemption for all

who would repent of sin and believe in the Christ.

      He had not at all come to pronounce sentence upon the

unsaved and to send them into the Lake of Fire and

Brimstone.  That kind judgment will take place in the

end-time and did not take place at His first coming.

      However, Jesus told this man that He had come to bring

judgment to the world.  That is, even in that first coming

He had come to bring judgment to the world.  What judgment

was He talking about?  What judgment did He bring to the

world at that first coming to the world?

      Let us allow Jesus Himself give us the answer to that

question (V. 39), "...that they which see not might see..."

Jesus had demonstrated one purpose of His coming by giving

sight to that blind man.  That man had been born blind even

as all men have been born in sin.  All men have inherited

the sin nature of Adam and have committed sin after sin

against God.  All have been spiritually blinded by Satan and

sin.  Jesus came to give Himself on the cross of Calvary and

to provide a way whereby all who were spiritually blind

could be made to see.  He came to die on the cross so that

all who are lost in sin can be saved and go to heaven when

they die.

      It is the judgement of God through Jesus that every man

who will place his faith in Jesus as the Son of God and as

his Savior is not condemned, but has everlasting life.  John

3:16 declares this truth.  It reads, "For God so loved the

world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever

believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting

life."  John 3:18 declares this truth.  It reads, "He that

believeth on Him is not condemned..."  This is the judgment

that God has already made and this is the judgment that will

stand throughout all eternity.

      Jesus came to bring a judgment to the world which would

bring spiritual eyesight to those who had been spiritually

blind.

      I said earlier, this very man who in our test stands

before Jesus is an example of this judgment.  The Sanhedrin

Council had passed judgment on Jesus and condemned Him to

death.  That same Jewish court had passed judgment on this

man who had received his sight from Jesus.  They had

condemned him to excommunication form the Jewish synagogue.

But Jesus had given him his physical eyesight.  More

important, because the man placed his faith in Jesus, Jesus

had given him spiritual eyesight enabling him to see the

great truths of God.  Jesus gave him a spiritual eyesight

that would continue into the life beyond.  It will continue

forever.  To put it simply, Jesus saved that man's soul and

that judgment will stand throughout all eternity.

      But that man is most certainly not the only one who is

judged by the Lord to have spiritual eyesight.  Everyone who

places his faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God to save his

soul gets that same kind of spiritual eyesight.  In John

5:34 Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that

heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me (that is,

he believes on Jesus as being the Savior sent from God),

hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;

but is passed from death unto life."  That is the judgment

of God through Jesus Christ and that judgment will stand.

Every believer in Jesus is saved and will remain saved

throughout all eternity.  He gets everlasting life and he

gets everlasting spiritual eyesight.

 

III.  The judgment which Jesus brought to those who reject

      Him and neglect to place their faith in Him

 

      (V. 39), "...and that they which see might be made

blind."  The scribes and Pharisees fit into this category.

They prided themselves on their spiritual understanding.

They thought that anyone who differed with them in anything

pertaining to religion was wrong.  They thought that the

only way for anybody to be right was to be in agreement with

them.  They saw themselves as the official teachers in

religion in Israel.  But they saw wrong.  Their spiritual

eyesight was distorted.  It was no good.  They were seeing

things that were not there.  The truth of God which was

there, they could not see at all.  Well, --- let me change

that.  It was not that they could not see the truth of God.

Rather, it was just that they would not see the truth of

God.  They chose to reject the truth of God.

      But the coming of the Son of God on the scene put them

to the test.  When the Son of God came on the scene, He did

not come to the and seek their approval on the things which

He taught.  He did not even attempt to do so.  He openly

differed with them.  He outright contradicted many of the

things which they taught.  You see, He is the Son of God and

He did not have to come around to their way of thinking in

order to be right.  It was the other way around.  If they

would be right, they must come around to His way of

thinking.

      His judgment was that because they refused to place

their faith in Him as the Son of God, they were still in the

darkness of sin.  They were lost.  Furthermore, unless until

they would come to Him and place their faith in Him as the

Son of God, they would continue to be in spiritual darkness.

They were spiritually blind and they would remain

spiritually blind unless they would repent of their sin and

trust in Him to be their Savior.  This was the judgment that

He brought to them.

      Therefore, by their rejection of Him as the Son of God

and as their Savior, they show themselves to be spiritually

blind.  They, of course, did not realize this at the time,

but surely they know it by now.  They are dead now and they

have surely found out by now that they have missed out on

heaven.  They were already born in sin.  They were already

lost in sin.  It was their rejection of Jesus which sealed

their judgment and sealed their destiny.

      The Bible does not teach that God picked out certain

ones to be lost forever and prohibits them from ever being

saved.  But the Bible does teach that those who reject Jesus

as the Son of God and as the Savior are already judged to be

spiritually blind because they have chosen not to believe in

Jesus.

 

IV.  The question which the Pharisees asked

 

      V. 40, "And some of the Pharisees which were with him

heard these words..."  Apparently some of the Pharisees were

either following the man who had been made blind or else

they had been following Jesus.  They were present to hear

Jesus identify Himself as the Son of God.  They heard the

man tell Jesus that he believed.  They saw him fall to his

knees before Jesus and saw him worship Jesus as the Son of

God.  They heard Jesus explain that His coming into the

world brought judgment to the world.  They heard Jesus

explain that He had come to give sight to those who had been

spiritually blind.  They heard Jesus explain that many

people who thought they had spiritual eyesight were judged

by Him to be spiritually blind.

      They did not understand.  Surely He could not be talking

about them!  Surely He did not think of the Pharisees as

being spiritually blind!  And so they ask Him:  (V. 40),

"...and said unto him, Are we blind also?"  That is, "Do

really think that we are spiritually blind?"

      V. 41, "Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye

should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your

sin remaineth."  Let me put this in East Texas terms.  Jesus

said, "Yes, you are spiritually blind, but you are not

totally blind.  You have the writings pertaining to the Old

Testament law and the writings of the Old Testament

prophets.  In those writings you have enough information to

enable you to trust in me if you would only open your eyes

to the truth.  Furthermore, you have the mental capability

to understand the message of God sufficiently well to know

how to be saved.  But you have closed your eyes to the truth

of God and, as a result, you have rejected the Son of God.

      If you were totally blind, if you did not have

sufficient information to know how to be saved, you would

not be held accountable for your sins.  But since you have

the word of God which informs you of the truth, you are

without excuse.  God will hold you accountable for your sin

and for your blindness."

      This gives us insight into God's dealings with all

mankind.  Those who never have sufficient mental capability

to understand that they are guilty of sin and to understand

how to be saved from their sin are never accountable to God

for their sin.  But those who are capable of understanding

and just will not believe the message are without excuse and

God will hold them accountable.  He will hold them

accountable for all their sin and He will hold them

accountable for rejecting the Christ.

 

Conclusion:

     

      Let me appeal to you not to make the same mistake which

the Pharisees made.  Do not reject the Christ.  Rather, do

as the man did to whom Jesus gave his sight.  Place your

faith in Jesus.  Accept Him as the Son of God.  Call upon

Him and trust Him to save your from your sin.  You will be

glad you did.

      Let me also appeal to you who are saved to live your

life in submission to the will of God.