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John 9:35-38  THE NUMBER ONE QUESTION OF A LIFETIME

 

Introduction:

 

      Jesus had given sight to a man who had been born blind.

He had done this on a sabbath day.  The leaders of the

Jewish Sanhedrin Court questioned the man and tried to get

him to testify against Jesus in such a way that they could

formally charge Jesus with breaking the law of the sabbath.

They wanted to use his testimony as an excuse for arresting

Jesus and putting Him to death.

      However, instead of speaking against Jesus, the man had

spoken for Him.  He testified before the court that he

believed Jesus to be a prophet of God and challenged the

leaders of the court for saying that Jesus is not a prophet

of God.  He challenged them for saying Jesus had broken the

law of the sabbath and was an evil man worthy of death.  The

result was that the Jewish court excommunicated the man from

the Jewish synagogue.

      In our text today Jesus finds the man after he had been

excommunicated and directs a question to him which is the

most important question of a lifetime.  It is a question

which every man, woman, boy and girl should ponder.

 

I.  The question as it was directed to the man in our text

 

      Let us first consider the question as it was directed to

the man in the text.  V. 35, "Jesus heard that they had cast

him out..."  That is, He heard that the Jewish court had

excommunicated him from the synagogue.

      John does not tell us how Jesus heard the news, but it

is almost certain that the leaders of the court, themselves

were the first to spread the news.  They wanted to make an

example out of this man who spoke so fervently for Jesus.

They wanted to sound a warning to all the people that a

similar penalty would fall upon others if they should speak

openly in favor of Jesus.

      We can be equally as certain that it was some of the

disciples of Jesus who heard the sad news and hurried to

Jesus to tell Him about it.  It must have saddened their

hearts that the man had been so severely punished for his

defense of Jesus before the court.

      Furthermore, we can be sure that Jesus actually knew

about the excommunication even before they came to Him with

the news.  But even though He already knew about it, Jesus

waited for them to bring Him the news before He set out to

find the man and lead him to a stronger faith than he

already had.

      The man already had faith in Jesus to a certain degree,

but he did not have saving faith.  He already believed that

Jesus had been used of God the Father to give him his sight.

He knew that Jesus was the one who had anointed his eyes and

told him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam.  Therefore, he

knew that Jesus gets the credit for giving him his eyesight.

      He was already convinced that Jesus was a prophet of

God.  He most certainly did not agree with the Jewish

leaders who said that by healing this man's eyes on the

sabbath day, Jesus had proven Himself to be an evil man and

could not be sent from God.  To the contrary, he believed

that this proved that Jesus is from God.  He said that if

God had not been pleased to heal him at the word of Jesus,

then God would not have healed him.  The fact that God

healed him on the sabbath day was all the proof that he need

to be convinced that Jesus was within the will of God and,

indeed, is a God-sent prophet of God.

      This is all well and good, but it is not good enough.

He needed to come to a saving knowledge and a saving faith

in Jesus Christ.  He still needed to be saved and that was

what Jesus was especially interested in.

      (V. 35), "...and when he had found him, he said unto

him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"  Upon hearing the

news that the man had been excommunicated from the Jewish

religion He went looking for the man.  I am sure that He had

no trouble finding him.  When He did find the man Jesus did

not waste any time getting to the point.  He asked him, "Do

you believe on the Son of God?"  That is, "Do you believe in

the promised Messiah?  Do you believe in the promised Christ

of God?"

      In the original language there is an emphasis on the

word "you" which we do not see in the English translations.

Jesus is making the question very personal.  He is saying,

in effect, "No matter what the members of the Jewish court

may think, do you personally believe on the Son of God?"

      There has been some question in the minds of Bible

students as to whether or not at this point of time the man

recognized Jesus as the man who had anointed his eyes and

told him to wash in the pool.  Some are convinced that he

didn't recognize Jesus at this time because he did not

actually see Jesus when Jesus anointed his eyes.  Personally

I am convinced that he did recognize Jesus.  The reason I

think that he did is because he had heard the voice of Jesus

when Jesus anointed his eyes and he now hears the voice of

Jesus when Jesus asked him this question.  Blind people are

exceptionally keen at recognizing voices.  Even those of us

who are not blind are able to recognize people by their

voice and blind folks are much better at it than we are.

      So now Jesus has asked him this question if he has

believed on the Son of God and the man seems to recognize

that it the man called Jesus who anointed his eyes and gave

him his eyesight.  That is, he recognizes that it is the

prophet of God who has given him his eyesight and he very

anxious for this prophet of God to teach him and to inform

him who the Son of God is.

      Note his answer to Jesus.  V. 36, "He answered and said,

Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?"  He did not

yet know that Jesus is the Son of God, but believing Him to

be a prophet of God, he was willing to believe Him and

accept His word, if only He would point out who the Son of

God is.  If he had not recognized Jesus as the man who had

healed his eyes, he would not have been so willing to accept

His word on the matter.

      Again, Jesus gets right to the point.  V. 37, "And Jesus

said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that

talketh with thee."  Now the first question that comes to my

mind right here is:  What did Jesus mean that the man had

already seen the Son of God?  Was Jesus taking about the man

seeing Him already as He approached and asked the question?

This is the first time for him to literally see Jesus with

his eyes.  Or, was Jesus using the word "see" in a

figurative sense and was referring to the time when He

anointed his eyes?

      I am not sure that I can answer that question at all.

But it makes no real difference.  At this point of time the

man has now already seen Jesus and he is hearing the voice

of Jesus.  Jesus just clearly tells the man that he has seen

the Son of God and that it is the Son of God who is talking

to him right now.  In other words, Jesus as much as said, "I

am the Son of God."

      But now this man is put to the test once again.  He has

said that he believes that Jesus is a God-sent prophet of

God.  He has said that if this prophet of God would tell him

who the Son of God is, then he would accept His word and

believe on that person as the Son of God.  Now Jesus has

clearly identified Himself as the Son of God.  Will the man

accept the word of Jesus?  Will he accept Jesus as the Son

of God as He claims to be?

      He does!  Without any hesitancy he does!  V. 38, "And he

said, Lord, I believe..."  Just that quickly he became a

full-fledged believer in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of

God.

      (V. 38),  "...And he worshipped him."  That is, he fell

down before Jesus and worshipped Him.  He worshipped Him as

God.  He worshipped Him as the very Son of God.

 

II.  The question as it is directed to us

 

      We have examined this question as it was directed to the

man in the text.  Let us now examine the question as it is

directed to us.

      We were not around when Jesus asked the man if he

believed in the Son of God, but God had this whole incident

recorded in the Bible.  God now uses the record which we

have in the Bible to direct this same question to our own

hearts as we read and hear this question.

      Each one of us should take this question personally:  Do

you believe in the Son of God?  This question actually

involves several different things.  For instance, it

involves this question?  Do you believe in the existence of

God?  You would not believe in Jesus as the Son of God if

you did not believe in the existence of God.  So let me

direct that question to you:  Do you believe in the

existence of God?

      Let me tell you that I do.  I very firmly believe in the

existence of the God of heaven and earth.  I believe that

this world in which we live did not just accidently happen

to evolve into it's present condition.  I believe that God

created the Heavens and the earth.  I believe that God

created matter, the substances from which the universe is

made.  I believe that God created both the material

substances and that He formed the heavens and the earth.  I

do not believe that the universe could exist without matter

and I do not believe that matter could have existed unless

God made it.  I do not believe that the universe could exist

with all its great and wondrous laws of nature unless an

intelligent and powerful Being brought it into existence.

      I do believe in the existence of God and I am persuaded

that most of you, probably all of you, do the same.  You do

believe in the existence of God, do you not?

      So that part of the question is answered.  But that does

not fully answer the original question in its entirety.  Do

you believe in the Son of God?  In other words, do you

believe that God is a Trinity and that One of the Persons in

the Holy Trinity is the Son of God?

      The Bible teaches that God is a Trinity and, therefore,

all who believe that the Bible has been written by the

inspiration of God must believe that God is a Trinity.

There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy

Spirit.  There is no way to accept the Bible as being

inspired of God and reject the Trinity of the Godhead.

      I think it is a safe to assume that most of you believe

that the Bible is inspired of God and that you do believe

that the Holy Trinity consists of God the Father, God the

Son and God the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.  In fact, I think

it is save to believe that you all believe that.

      But even that does not fully answer the original

question.  The question still stands:  Do you believe in the

Son of God.  Now since the Bible teaches that Jesus of

Nazareth is the Son of God, born in human flesh, the

question narrows down to this:  Do you believe that Jesus of

Nazareth, the son of Mary, is also the Divine Son of God?

      In our text Jesus of Nazareth told the man who had been

born blind and to whom Jesus had given his sight that He is

the Son of God.  The man asked, "Who is He?" and Jesus

answered, "It is He that speaketh to thee."  Jesus

identified himself to the man as The Son of God.  This is

also what the Bible clearly teaches throughout the New

Testament scripture.  Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus who was born

to Mary, Jesus who was born into the family of Joseph is

identified by New Testament writers as the Son of God.

      But let me carry the question further:  Do you believe

that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God is the Savior of the

world?  Let me put it another way:  Do you believe that the

only hope of heaven which a lost sinner has in this world is

for him to repent of his sin and place his faith in Jesus to

save his soul and take him to heaven?

      Let me again cite you to the Bible.  The Bible teaches

that very thing.  Jesus said, "No man cometh to the Father,

but by me."  That is, no man can go to heaven where God the

Father is without placing his faith in Jesus Christ, the Son

of God.  In John 3:18 we read, "He that believeth on the Son

is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned

already."  In John 3:16 we read, "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."

      So a man can believe about Jesus and still be lost and

on his road to everlasting destruction.  He can believe

about Jesus without believing on Jesus.  But if a man wants

to go to heaven, he must do more than belive about Jesus.

He must believe on Jesus.  He must place his personal

trusting faith in Jesus to take care of his soul when he

dies and to carry him to heaven.

      There is another aspect of this question that we need to

consider.  Jesus did not ask the man if his father believed

on the Son of God.  Neither did He ask the man if his mother

believed on the Son of God.  He did not ask him if the

scribes and Pharisees believe on the Son of God.  He asked

the man: Do you believe on the Son of God?

      It is just that personal with each one of us.  The

question is not, "Do your parents believe on the Son of

God?"  Neither is , "Do you live in a country where people

believe on the Son of God?"  Nor is it, "Do you attend a

church which believes on the Son of God?"  The question is

very personal.  Do you, y-o-u, -- do you believe on the Son

of God?  Have you ever trusted Him to be your Savior and to

save you from your sin?  Have called upon Him and placed

your eternal destiny in His hands?

      Listen!  Until you do that you have not believed on the

Son of God.  You may believe about Him, but you have not

believed on Him.

      But now I want you to fully understand that this

question is not asked just out of idle curiosity.  Jesus

asked the man in our text this question because his eternal

destiny hinged on his answer.  Earlier I mentioned John

3:18.  It says, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned,

but he that believeth not is condemned already."

      Now apply that averse of Scripture to you.  If you have

believed on Jesus --- if you have believed more than just

about Jesus --- if you have fully believed on Jesus --- then

you are not condemned and you are on your road to heaven.

However, if yoold him that the Son of God was person

talking to him, he believed on Jesus right then.  Right at

that very moment he did believe on the Son of God.  He

believed that Jesus is the Son of God.  He put his faith

fully in Jesus as the Christ, the very Son of the living

God.

      I say that to say this. It could be that I am talking to

somebody this morning who up to this point of time had

merely believed about Jesus and you have never believed

fully in Him.  Will you this morning call upon Jesus and

place your faith and your trust in Him to be your Savior?

Will you trust in Him to the save your soul so that you will

no longer be condemned and on the road to hell?  Will you

trust Jesus as the Son of God to take care of your eternal

destiny and take you to heaven?

 

Conclusion:

 

      If so, would you come forward and profess Jesus

publicly?  If there are people here who are already saved

who wish to unite with this church, would you also come

forward at this time?