The Light in Action - Part 1..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So if you have your Bibles, we've got them open up over this stage to the Gospel according to John from chapter 9. Let's start reading from verse 1.

This is the inerrant word of God. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who's sinned? This man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day, night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 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 and said to him, go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, it is he. Others said, no, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. So they said to him, then how were your eyes opened?

He answered, the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, where is he? He said, I don't know. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened the eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, he put mud on my eyes and I washed and I sinned. Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, how can a man who is a sinner do such signs?

And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, what do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? He said, he is a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?

His parents answered, we know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he's of age, he'll speak for himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if someone should confess Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, he is of age, asked him. So the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God, we know that this man is a sinner.

He answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered him, I have told you already, and you would not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him, saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, why, this is an amazing thing.

You do not know where he comes from, and yet he has opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, They answered him, you were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.

And Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, and who is he so that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, you have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

Jesus said, for judgment I have come into the world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see, Your guilt remains. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

Jesus said that the heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. Brothers and sisters, let's come before our Lord one final time. Please bless him upon our time together. Lord, we thank you once again. for the opportunity you've given us even now, Lord, in this new place, new settings, to come and gather in this way, Lord, we recognize this is a blessing from you.

But Lord, once again, we want to put our hearts out there and acknowledge we don't want to do this in the flesh. Lord, we don't want to do this just because this is what we do on a Sunday. We found another venue and it's convenient. Lord, may that not be. We have come, Lord, because we believe We believe that by coming in this way, uniting in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, opening your word, that we accept a blessing from you.

And so we ask, Lord, that you'll presence yourself among us by your Holy Spirit. Please, Lord, we ask, press the truth of your word into our souls. Sanctify us, change us, purge us, and purify us in whichever way you choose to make us. Make us more like Jesus, please. We ask your blessing upon our time together, give us ears to hear.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. For brothers and sisters, friends, This is the first time in a very long time, in fact it's been over a year, that we find ourselves in our study in the fourth gospel, gospel according to John, in a new context. We're out of John chapter eight, we're out of the time of that feast, the feast of booths, and now we find ourselves here in John chapter nine. Beloved, this whole chapter, the whole chapter that is before us speaks to one miracle. from beginning to end, 41 verses speaks to the event that takes place in verse seven of this chapter before us, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ creates sight.

He brings eyes and sight to a man previously born blind. But I don't want us to think the fact that we're now out of the last chapter. Now that we're out of chapter eight, we've come into chapter nine, there is a new context to the narrative. I don't want us to think for even a moment that the things we learn and the things spoken in the declarations of our Lord in the previous chapter are left behind and we can open up this brand new leaf and a new theology. It is linked.

It is all the word of God. In fact, What is instrumental for us to understand what is before us in this narrative is what Jesus said back there in chapter eight in verse 12, that great I am statement. When Jesus says in verse 12 that I am what? I am the light of the world. Whoever follows after me will not walk in darkness but will be in the light, will have the light of life.

I am the light. of the world. You may remember as we work through our last chapter, chapter eight, you may remember I kept saying that verse needs to be in the forefront of your mind. That declaration of our Lord, that the profession that he is the light of the world needs to be in our hearts and in our minds to understand his dialogue with the Jews and the Pharisees, to understand what's going on, to understand what he has come to do, to reveal the light of God to sinful humanity. A dark world has now been pervaded by the light of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We must keep that in our hearts. And beloved, it is the same said here, that now, as we engage in this chapter, that the life of the world is to be the forefront of our mind to understand what is going on here in this miracle of our Lord in chapter 9. Back then, we know the response. They rejected them. It seemed like there was a glimmer of hope to some, but by the end of the chapter, those who were said to have believed in Christ, verse 30 and 31, turned out to be not true believers, not genuine in their faith.

It wasn't a genuine saving faith that they exercised. It wasn't a God-given faith. How do we know? Because they reject the Lord, and in the end, they carry stones to stone. That's how we know.

And that's how that chapter ended, carrying stones to stone our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. But here, here, a new chapter, but the same theology, the same Lord, the same light, we see expressed through this chapter, and we will see how this effectual light of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the one who claims to be the light of the world, how his light effectually shines upon a man born blind, To restore, no. No, no, to create sight. This man never saw anything before. But Jesus created sight.

Before us, beloved, we have a unique and powerful example of how the light of the world is now in action upon a double-blinded man. I think some of you already know what I'm getting to. It's true that this man was physically blind. It's true that he couldn't see. He wasn't like any of us.

He'd never seen the sun. He'd never seen the rustling trees. He heard them, never saw them. He'd never seen the rivers flow or the beasts of the field. He'd never come to see his father's face or his mother's face.

He'd heard their voices, he'd felt their form, but he'd never looked upon their face. That's a privilege he never enjoyed because this man came out of the womb blind. And in this chapter, we will see how the Lord creates sight for a man who was born blind. But not only in the physical sense, because we know that everyone who is born in Adam is also born blind in another sense. We're not speaking physically in morality, we're speaking spiritually.

And that's what I mean by this double-blinded man, not only physical, but spiritual, and a powerful example, a unique example to have in scripture to show us how the light of the world shines his light, to give light physically and to give light spiritually. It's an awesome, awesome example. Chapter nine, if I was going to put a title to it, it would be this. The light of the world in action. the light of the world in action.

Now I've said on multiple occasions in the fourth gospel, the gospel according to John is a unique gospel in so many ways. We know that the Apostle John, he wrote this gospel on the inspiration of the Spirit of God at a later stage in the first three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we know that for sure. And the Gospel of John is different in so many ways. The other three are very similar from different perspectives. The Gospel of John is so unique in so many ways.

You've heard me say this, especially when we began this Gospel some 300 years ago. Now for example, the other Gospels, the synoptic Gospels, they each record at least 20 of Jesus' miracles. Jesus performed many more than that. But they've chosen to include 20 of such miracles, yet the Apostle John only chooses to record seven. Now, of course, we're not speaking about the great miracle of the resurrection of Christ.

Apart from that, seven miracles are recorded for us in the Gospel of John, or according to how he would word it, seven signs he records for us. But just like a sign, the miracles or the signs, the seven signs that are recorded for us in the gospel according to John, all point, they all point and reveal a certain truth about the one performing that sign. More than a physical sign itself, there's a deeper spiritual reality in the view in every single one of them, and they are custom chosen. by the Apostle John, seven. And every one of the seven has a particular purpose.

And beloved, we know what that purpose is, do we not? I've mentioned it on many, many occasions. As we've worked our way through this gospel, the purpose is found in what you may call the purpose statement of the Apostle John in the fourth gospel, found in the 20th chapter, in verse 30 and 31. Let me read it to you. He says there, now, in summary, now Jesus did many other signs, that's the point I made before, in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written so that, now we have to be all hearers, he's giving us the purpose. These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and then by believing, we may have life in His name. Beloved, that means every single one of these signs has beyond the wow factor in mind. It has a purpose beyond the physical. They are signs pointing to something greater, more majestic, something deeper than the sign itself.

They are all pointing to, one, that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is Messiah, Jesus is the chosen one of God, and two, they're all pointing to Jesus being the Son of God, one in nature of God, divine. That means every time. We open up the Gospel according to John and we read a narrative of a sign, a majestic supernatural sign from the hands of our Lord. We need to recognize and realize that they've been recorded so that we recognize that this Christ is divine. That He is the Set One, the One in whom salvation is found and no one else, and that He is God Himself.

That God, the Triune God, God set forth His only Son. nature of God, who is co-eternal with God, that required God himself to come to this earth and to become Messiah, to become the Redeemer, as the chosen one of God, it required that and nothing less to purchase your salvation and mine, beloved brothers and sisters. Every time, every time we read and every time we come across one of the miracles, we need to see that it's pointing to this Jesus. And that church should just hit us in the face. We've already been through many of the miracles.

We've been through what? How many? How many miracles have we been through already? Five. Five of the seven, you may remember them.

Jesus turning the water into wine in Cana. Remember the wedding in Cana? First one. That's in chapter two. Chapter four, we remember that Jesus healing the royal official's son.

He was in Capernaum. Jesus was in Cana. And that was a miracle of business. Then we know the miracle that happened in John chapter six, if you remember. Jesus feeding the 5,000.

You remember that? And then right after that, what happened? Right after the people of 5,000, Jesus, He walks on water. And now, actually before that, in miracle number three, it was in chapter five, if you remember, the healing of the man of, of the invalid man of some four decades at the pool of Bethesda. And now, what we have before us is a miracle number six, which is Jesus creating sight for a man who's been warm-blond.

See, I felt it would be prudent for us to read the whole chapter. We don't normally do that. But I felt it would be prudent for us to do so because we have a tendency, or I should say, I have a tendency to creep through the chapters, taking our time. And I want to continue to go down that path in chapters nine. So having said that, I wanted the whole context to be in the back of our minds.

We won't do that every week, so don't worry. But I wanted the whole chapter to be in our hearts, in our minds. I wanted the whole narrative to be before you, so that at least this way we have a bit of a grasp of what we can expect in the coming weeks and in the coming months. But beloved, this evening, And the next, this period, this block of time that will be in the Gospel according to John, we'll be concentrating our efforts only on the first three verses. Only on the first three verses.

That means we will not quite get to the miracle, which happens in chapter seven. But I wanted us to do this because these three verses are jam-packed, loaded with deep theology that you and I need to have in our hearts, I believe. So what do these verses say? Verse one. As he passed by, he saw the man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Now we know that the feast of booths is now over. How much time has lapsed between the ending of chapter 8 to the beginning of chapter 9, we really cannot be sure. It's likely, I think, that the events of chapter nine didn't take place on the same day, because we remember how that chapter ended, right? The Pharisees were red-hot in fury, with stones in their hands, and Jews in fact, and they wanted to stone the Lord.

And Jesus went out of the temple precinct and probably found a place to go away from their wrath, giving them some time to cool down. So it's likely, I'm sure it's likely, that a few days have passed at least. But beyond that, We know that Jesus is still in Jerusalem. We'll get to that in a second. But we also know that he could not have been too close to his time of crucifixion, because that took place about six months after the Feast of Booths, because we know that from the Feast, the Passover is about six months.

The Passover is about May, and May, April, and the Feast of Booths is about September, October. There's six months between that time. So Jesus will be crucified in six months' time from the Feast of Booths. But we have another time stamp for us in John 10, verse 22, which still hasn't taken place. And there we were told that it was a time of the Feast of Dedication.

Now that Feast of Dedication is not something you'll find in your Bibles anywhere else. But we know from extra-biblical writing the Feast of Dedication takes place in around about November, December. November, December, that's the time when the temple's been rededicated because it was given over to pagan worship in the pre-BC century. So they come out with a feast, and that feast is around November, December. So we know two and a half, maybe three months have passed.

to the Feast of Dedication. So Jesus, what's happening here in chapter 9, is in that space somewhere. It could be a couple of days after the Feast of Beauty, or it could be further in, we just can't be sure completely. As I said earlier, the other thing we want to know, I want to give you some context, is that this is still taking place in Jerusalem. So Jesus hasn't gone back to Galilee.

How do we know that? How do we know that from the narrative? Well, there's a pool mentioned, the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam is on the southern eastern part of the valley there in Jerusalem. And we know that the Pool of Siloam actually, in the last 20 years, that pool was actually excavated by archaeologists and identified as the pool spoke of in these passages.

I think 2004 is when that excavation took place. So Jesus is still in Jerusalem. And the text begins, as he passed by, he saw a man blind and birthless. Now remember I said five of the seven signs that are listed for us in the gospels according to John, five of them are unique to this gospel, and two are shared by the others. And if you're very curious, I can tell you the ones that are shared by others, they both took place on the same day, the feeding of the 5,000, and Jesus walking through the water, which happened that evening.

But also we recognize that not only is this going to be a unique miracle, we also recognize that uniqueness isn't in the sense of the type of miracle that it is. Because if we're familiar with the Gospels, we would know that Jesus has already heal blind men before. You might even think of blind Bartimaeus, the one who called out, Jesus, son of David, have what? Have mercy on me. This is not the same Bartimaeus.

This is someone else. There's no indication at all, unlike Bartimaeus, there's no indication at all that this blind man There's no indication at all that he was seeking mercy. There's no indication at all that he even knew who Jesus was. None at all in this narrative. This man was a beggar, and his purpose to be where he was on that day wasn't to have an encounter with Christ, but simply to beg.

to beg. The best that he could hope for was that there would be some who walked by, who had mercy on him, to give him enough coins that he would eat his way through life, getting the very bare essentials to live out his life. That was the best he probably expected this day. No indication that he noticed Christ. No indication that he called out to Christ.

No indication that he was seeking help from Christ. But as we're told in verse one, as Jesus passed by, he, Jesus, saw a man blind from birth. I submit to you, no matter how great the crowds were, no matter how many people were pushing against our Lord, no matter how limited his vision was because of the shoulders and the head bobbing around the place. No matter what, there was not a chance in this world that Jesus would walk by and not notice this man born blind. You see, this blind man did not notice Christ.

But Christ noticed him. Jesus saw him. It's incredible to me, because as I said, Jesus looked for this man and saw him. Because although he was unknown to him, this man was known to Christ. But he wasn't known to Christ simply because Jesus had walked by there before.

He was known to Christ from before the foundation of the world. He was known to Christ because he, as we read on, became one of his own. And we know all that belong to Christ. are united in him from before the foundation of the world, there was no chance that Jesus was going to walk by that day and not notice this man, not only to give him spiritual, physical sight, but also to give him spiritual sight. Jesus noticed.

This divine encounter with this blind man had been preordained from eternity past. And now his disciples, having seen that Jesus noticed this blind man, thought it opportune to ask a very important question. What was on their mind? What was on the disciples' minds when they asked this question? Well, they've been hanging around our Lord for three plus years already, we know that for sure.

So they had a fairly good, robust theology, you would think. They've seen their fair share of miracles, they knew that Christ was able to heal this man, no doubt they've seen that. But having now seen this man, and knowing, we don't know how, but knowing that this man was born blind, they thought this presented a unique situation for them to expand on their theological views. So they're now asked a critical question. What was the question they asked?

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents? And he was born blind. You see, the critical question on the disciples' mind is this. They wanted to know the cause of his blindness. Jesus, whose fault?

Whose fault is it that this man is sitting on the side, begging daily, and we know he was born blind to this? Whose fault is it? Is it his fault because of his own sin? Or is it the sin of his parents? You see, they've already settled on some very important presuppositions that these questions are actually rooted in.

I hope you saw it. In their minds, just like it was common for most Jews in this day, behind every physical illness, every physical defect, every deformity, and even injury, you could trace a particular sin. cause and effect. The cause is the sin and the effect is the suffering or the affliction. Jesus, we know everyone gets what they deserve.

It must have been a doozy sin to warrant this man being blind. That's their thinking. The disciples aren't asking the question to confirm whether their understanding of these things are true or not. No, it's presupposed in their mind already. They're settled.

They believe that sin is the cause. It's settled in their mind. Look at the possibilities. Is it his sin or is it his parents' sin? Jesus, we're settled that it's sin, that particular sin, individual sin that's caused this man to be born blind and tell us whose sin is it.

Who's the cause? Who's at fault? Beloved, this type of thinking, this type of theology is called retribution. Theology, have you heard the term before? You may have heard it.

Essentially it teaches that in this age you get what you deserve. God gives you what you deserve. It's very sad. You're blind, you're lame, you're dumbed, you're ill, you've been struck with cancer, You are that way because you've sinned. You are that way because of particular individual sins in your life, and that's what you deserve.

This is such a dangerous theology. Making the ultimate now. Because in a sense, sin is the cause. cause of all the afflictions, of all suffering, of all sickness, of all disease. Sin is the cause of death.

We know Adam sinned before Adam sinned. His world was perfect. That's how God made it. He looked upon what he created in six days and he said, it is very good. No sin, no sickness, no disease, and certainly no death.

Sin came into the world, and with sin, the effects of sin, the corruption of sin, the defilement of sin, death, sickness, affliction, suffering, it all came through with sin. So in a sense, yes, sin is the cause. It's the true ultimate cause. But to have a theology that establishes that every infirmity in a fallen world, every affliction, every suffering in a fallen world is traced to a particular individual's sin. It's both dangerous and heretical.

But it seems that's the only two possibilities they gave the Lord, isn't it? They didn't have any other third possibility. It's either the man's sin or it's his parents' sin, as far as the disciples were concerned, of Jesus. How gracious is our Lord. He shows us a greater view for all suffering.

He shows us a greater view for the suffering of this man than the fact that he was born blind. Something greater than just asking what is, who's at fault or who's at the cause. Jesus wishes to teach his disciples the purpose of such affliction. But that's next week. So I ask you, What was the disciples thinking?

Was their question to our Lord rooted only in their fallen understanding of things? Or was it rooted in Scripture? Could they have got this information? Could they have got this theology from Scripture? Beloved, Scripture does speak.

to the cause of affliction, suffering, sickness and death being sin. But we have to be careful. And that's why I said earlier that the danger is to establish that every affliction is always rooted in a particular set of sins of the individual. That's what we need to be careful of. The danger is firstly in having a blanket theology that says all affliction and suffering is the cause of one's individual sin.

That's a very dangerous place to go. And the other danger is if you recognize that some of the afflictions that we see in this world are directly rooted or caused by one's individual sin, then the danger becomes that you are the person who's able to identify which ones belong to the Lord. So where do the disciples get this sort of thinking? Where do they get this retribution theology from? Where do they establish a sin and disobedience to God who will bring about direct illness and affliction?

Well there are many places we can go. Our brother mentioned one today in Deuteronomy chapter 11 where the person will come on disobedience and the blessing is on obedience. But Exodus 15, 26 might have been one place the Amorites had gone to. Listen to what's written there, speaking to Israel. It says, there the Lord made for them a statue and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and keep ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians.

For I am the Lord your healer. Obey and you won't experience the afflictions that are poured upon the Egyptians that come upon unrighteousness. That's what we're hearing, isn't it? Deuteronomy 28, 58 is another where there it's clear. It says, if you are not careful, speaking to Israel again, if you are not careful to do all the words of this Lord that are written in this book, that you may fear the glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring on you, hear this, It's there.

The disciples didn't pluck this out of thin air. It's there in Scripture. And you might say, well, hold on. The example we've given before us in John chapter 9 is of a blind man, individually, being born blind, and they say, you sin individually. These texts speak to the nation, right?

A covenant people. Are there any examples? Are there any specific examples in the text of Scripture that will show us an individual case whereby someone's direct individual sin has warranted from God? Numbers chapter 12, do you remember the story? You remember in Numbers chapter 12 where Miriam opposes, speaks out against Moses by speaking about his Cushite wife?

You remember? You remember what happened to Miriam? God played her with what? Leprosy! And we would not know for how long she would have had that leprosy if it wasn't for Moses who pleaded before the Lord, Lord, heal my sister.

And the Lord said, okay, seven. And on the seventh day, she was made better. Was there this theology presented in Scripture? Was there this Christian theology clearly portrayed in Scripture in another case? Well, there's many that go to it, right?

But what is the clearest case? Think with me. Let me just ask you a question. What is the clearest case where someone's suffering, someone's affliction, someone's pain was seen to be a direct judgment from God because he was deserving of you because of his own particular sin? Tell me where.

Tell me where should we go. How clear is the example of Job? You remember the story? I'm sure you remember the story of Job. Remember Elbaz and Bildad and Zobar, the three friends of Job, when they heard of what calamity came upon Job first, all his possessions, his family and his And his possessions and his servants had all been destroyed by Satan, we know.

And then the next time around, Royals from Kent are so painful. That's when Lucy's friends come. And they weren't good friends, but they had bad advice. In fact, the best advice they gave to Joe was on the very first week. Because the Bible tells us, for one full week, they remained silent.

Do you remember the advice they gave Job? One after the other, chapter after the chapter, they were expressing to Job, Job, you have given such good advice. Your advice has been for the health and goodness of other people. Your advice has been wonderful to others, but you have not kept your own advice, Job. You haven't.

And one after the other, they're saying, Job, you're the one. It's your sin that has brought this upon you. God does not punish the innocent. You've been punished. Clearly you've been punished.

Clearly this is judgment of God upon you. Joe, clearly you have sinned. Repent. You remember that? Everyone of the three friends spoke that way.

Not Elijah, that's the fourth, but these guys did. Listen to what Zophar says in chapter 11. He says, speaking directly to Joe, if iniquity is in your hand, Continue the sin. Put it far away and let no injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish.

You'll be secure and you will not fear." In other words, Job, put away that sin that you're engaging in. I can take you to many more instances to give you examples, but I think you get the picture. Job's friends, they had no other way of understanding how it is that someone would receive such calamity, such affliction, such suffering. The only category they had in their mind was, this must be sin.

You must have violated the God of the universe and what you receive must be your just. It deserves no other category. And so the disciples before our Lord at this stage, in their Christian maturity, they are at the stage of Job's friends in relation to sickness and suffering and affliction and the cause of it. Let's face it, sometimes it's true. Sometimes our sin does bring upon us, our particular individual sin does bring upon us direct judgment from God.

And it's not only in the Old Testament, we're talking in the New Covenant now. Can anyone think in your mind, just in your mind, what example we're given in Scripture, in the New Testament, where we see that direct sin, one's own individual sin, can be warranted with the direct judgment or discipline of God? How about 1 Corinthians 11, where the Apostle Paul is dealing with the church at Corinth, in particular, in a passage that speaks to the abuses and the sinful tendency of the church gathering together for the Lord's supper. Remember what the Apostle Paul said? Listen to his word, it says in verse 29 of that chapter, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

And then he goes on to say, verse 30, that is why, it is, that is why many of you are weak, ill, it is, and some have died. Apostates, some have died. This is not the hypothetical, this is the real deal in the new covenant of the church. This passage is suggesting that our city can in fact want this sort of discipline from God. Is that what the Apostle Paul is saying here, or have I misread it?

It's the Apostle Paul saying that even sin, particularly individual sin, can actually warrant not only affliction and suffering, but even death. Some of you have died in him. Two words, Ananos. It's a five. Remember the story?

Acts chapter five. Now it wasn't the Lord's supper then, but it was a brazen lie against the church of Jesus Christ. And we're told that immediately upon lying, professing the lie, Ananias dies. Three hours later, she comes, his wife, not knowing of her husband's fate, and she dies. even death can be the result of direct sin, let's not deny it, even our Lord himself said so.

In John chapter five, that third miracle that I spoke to you about earlier, that I mentioned earlier, where the man on the pool of Bethesda was healed of some 38 years, remember the invalid man? Jesus healed him. But then Jesus makes contact with this man. How much later, we're not sure, but he does. And when he does, listen to what he says.

He says to the man, see, you are well. I mean, he's walking. He picked up his ramp, rolled up his mat, put on his jumper, and he's happy as Larry could be, right? See, you are well, Jesus says. And then he says, sin is no more.

Nothing worse may happen to you. Is that simple? Don't sin, sin no more. If you sin more, something worse will happen to you. If you don't sin, something worse won't happen to you.

That's how we can understand the text of our Lord. So Jesus does confirm that in fact, our sin, our individual sin can warrant that sort of punishment, that sort of judgment, or that sort of discipline, if you want to say that, use that word, from the Lord. But then on the other hand, he said, how we need to take the whole of Scripture. We can't just go get one passage and bring it out and say, that's what Jesus says, this is my proof text, I'm going with that. We are people of the word.

That means from Genesis chapter one to Revelation 22, we either recognize the whole is the word of God or we don't. This is why we commit our lives, great brethren, to the word of God. This is so important that we understand and hold everything that the word says so that we can have a balanced view of what God says in his word. Otherwise, we will abuse his word. But so many have.

So many. Because here you have Jesus saying to this man in chapter 5 of the Gospel according to John that if you sin anymore something worse will happen to you. And then in Luke 13 you have people that come and present Jesus with two heartbreaking stories. One is that Pilate, this evil Pilate, had come into sins, the temple space, when the Galileans were offering sacrifice, and he bludgeoned them to death, and their blood was mixed with the blood of the sacrifice. That is something so defiling and so horrendous.

And they give you the second example, and they say, down near the pool, next to the pool of Siloam, where Jesus sends this man to clean his eyes once, he's put mud on his eyes, but that wasn't a pool, it was a tower there at Siloam. And he said that the tower had fallen on 18 people and they perished. And Jesus, knowing what they're thinking, asks the question, do you think? Do you think? So these Galileans are more serious than most.

Do you think that these people who died, the 18 who died because of the collapse of the tower so long, do you think that they are more wicked? Let me tell you, none, he says. They weren't any more sinful than all the Galileans and those people, those Jews who died in Jerusalem are no more sinful than all the people in Jerusalem. That's what Jesus is saying. If he looks at them and gives them a stern warning, he says, repent.

Don't try to figure it out. Don't try to link a particular sin to a particular judgment from what you see with your own eyes. Jesus looks at the category in the general sense and says, yes, there is calamities. Yes, there is affliction and there is suffering in this world and there is death. When you see it, be reminded of that sin and be reminded of how your soul is before the Holy God of the universe.

Don't ask questions. Don't point your finger. Ask the question, how am I with God? How's my soul with him? Have I repented?

Have I trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ? Or am I standing there pointing my finger at others? I'm trying to figure it all out. Which one is it? Adam sinned and he's responsible.

It's responsible for all sickness, all death, all affliction. It is. But don't try to correlate or trace back a particular sin to a particular suffering. That's not your business. That's not my business.

That's the Lord's business. If the Lord hasn't revealed, don't try to do the guesswork yourself. He is the God of justice. We're told that he sits on the throne of righteousness and justice. That is his end.

Justice will be made perfect in the end, but until then, let's leave it to him. It's not your call to make. So now these disciples, who at this stage in their Christian maturity have subscribed to this type had in their minds that this man born blind is blind because of sin. That's it. The two options didn't question whether sin was his sin.

That's it. So this is where they come up with the dilemma. He was born blind. When did he have a chance to sin? is that you don't look at it.

Jesus, this man born blind, we know he's born blind. Was it his sin or was it his parents? And we know every time a calamity or a deformity or injury happens, we know that it is judgment for both. God only gives people what they deserve. You can always get what they deserve.

He was born blind. Was it his sin or was it the sin of his parents? When he came out of the womb here, they couldn't see him. So either he sinned in his mother's womb, there was maybe enough evidence in a Talmudical-like writing to suggest that that was the thought of the day, one of them. We can't know whether the Psalter's were thinking that way or not.

But as far as they can see, he hadn't had a chance to sin. So therefore, maybe God has punished them, or punished him, because of his parents. Maybe that affliction can be traced back to his parents' sin. Again, as we saw before, particular individual sin can be the cause of judgment or affliction from God. And we say that is because we found that in scripture.

Is there any scripture that would evidence that maybe the parents' sin would be the cause of this man's affliction? Maybe their minds have gone back to passages like Exodus 34. Do you remember when Moses had said, Lord, show me your glory? Do you remember that text? It hasn't been that long since we've been, actually it has been, probably over a year, if time just wants to fly.

But Moses asked him to see the glory of God, and God says, I will show you my backboard cards. I will show you a glimpse of my glory. If you can't see the fullness of my glory, boy, you'll perish. Listen to what the Lord said as he passed by Moses. He said, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.

The day of maybe. Is this one of those cases? I don't want to put words in their mouths. But beloved, we have to look at something here which is very profound. This is God's Word.

The sin of the fathers, the sin of the mothers, the sin of the parents can impact future generations. Severely. Fathers, if you don't bring the word of God to bear upon your family, if you don't bring the righteous means that the Lord has entrusted you with as the head of your household, bringing the word, preaching the word, teaching the word, living according to the word of God, if you bring idolatrous practices into your households, if what your kids see is a father who has given over to the world, mothers, I speak to you as well, That's what we do then. Then that type of sin is removing the righteous means that the Lord uses to bring our children to salvation. The truth that is found in scripture, where our homes are devoid of that scripture.

It's a path we've broken, a path and example given our children is one of unrighteousness, one of idolatry, not one of true worship. Then what are we setting up our kids for in the next generation? in Jerusalem, when the kings who were supposed, the shepherds, the fathers of Israel, you see, when they allowed the foreign gods to come and they built shrines on high places, the Ashtoreths and the Baals and the Dagons and so forth, and they produced places of foreign worship against Yahweh, what happened? The whole nation plunged into darkness. Were there righteous people in the nations?

Let me ask you another question. Was there righteous people in Judah when Nebuchadnezzar came in and destroyed the temple and taken over three deportations, a whole bunch of people back into Babylon? Were there any righteous people? Come on, you can think of a couple. You can think of, you know, Chakrak, Misha, and the baby girl.

They lost their land, they lost their homes. It's difficult to take. Fathers, yes, yes, it is possible that the father's sin can affect the children. But does it affect the children on an individual level like is being spoken here? and can influence the child to go off the tracks of fathers and mothers, you and I, we will pay, we will give an account of how we live.

We will give an account of how we bring up our children. We will give an account to see whether we have actually tried to persist and look to Christ to follow him, or whether we walk after our own inclinations, the inclinations of our hearts. But is the child to pay directly for the father's sin? for the child to pay directly for the mother's sin. Will we stand before his holy throne, and then the Lord say to me.

Your father, this is his right shoulder, that's on you. Oh no, he's a just God, and he actually makes that clear. Because there was in this day, in the day, in the old, tested people of Israel, that they come to listen to this and misconstrue to what it really means, and then they began to have a saying in their mind, and that was, the fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on image. The dads did the sin and the children are playing for it. And they're hiding behind this excuse to say, oh, the fathers eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge.

They're hiding behind this and God said, that's not true. So the intention of my heart, ultimately, that's not the intention of my heart, nor will you be judged directly for your father's sins. In fact, in Jeremiah chapter 31, this is what the Lord says. He says here, in those days thou shalt no longer say, the father has eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge, but everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth.

Let's summarize quickly. The teaching of the Bible is that sin is ultimately the cause of all the afflictions we see today. The Bible is clear on that. Even death. And sometimes individual sin does warrant and can be traced to That individual's affliction, that is true also, but not always.

And if the Lord reveals, He reveals. If He doesn't, we don't inquire about those things, because those belong to the Lord. Such as the case of Job, for example. And also we know that parents' behaviors, their sinful lifestyles, their pushing away of unrighteousness and bringing over righteousness and bringing in the righteous, unrighteous practices, yes, that will affect the children, and even the children's children. And the children's children will engage in sinful activity themselves, which they will be accountable for, but that's because the fathers have brought that in, and the fathers will give an account to that sort of behavior.

You're responsible for your own sins, the Lord is saying. You'll give an account. You'll give an account for your own sins and the way you conducted yourself over those that he's given you authority over. That's briefly teaching scripture. There's so much more we can say, but that's not the point of the passage.

The disciples are keen to know the cause. And Jesus simply says, no, it's not here. And then he wants to reveal to them the purpose. The grand overarching purpose which is spoken of for this man, this particular example, this blind man, who was born blind. What was God's purpose for this man in particular, beloved?

I would suggest to you at least, I believe the scripture speaks that there is in that purpose a thread that runs throughout scripture and throughout all human history, and it is the same purpose that everything happens. But there's no way we can even begin to claim the richness of what Jesus says in verse three, which he says, it was not that the man sinned for his parents, but the works of God, that the works of God may be displayed without plumb, or begin to plumb the riches of those works in the moments we have left. So I'll address it next week. Let's go back on that cycle for a few moments. Remember how I said they only had two possibilities in their own minds about where the inscription came from?

the cause of suffering, the cause of pain and difficulty. Only two, they knew in their mind or they thought in their mind it must be directly traced to individuals, either the disciples or the parents. That's a faulty understanding and the Lord will correct that with his answer. I hope we see that but we'll look at it next week. But how dangerous is it for these disciples to remain where they are?

Think about those words for a minute. How dangerous would it be for the disciples to remain where they are in their thinking? What a dangerous place it is to think like that. Brothers and sisters and friends, do any of us think like that? It may not be always, but does that thinking sort of sometimes creep into our minds?

Do we sometimes make those assessments that we should never make? Those assessments that say, I know that's judgment of God. And I know that person's sick because of this reason. That person said these words three years ago, and look what he's going through now. That's direct judgment of God because of the words that he said.

We have a point of view like that. My question is, how do you know if he hasn't revealed it to you? And this is what he's revealed. This is what we live by. He gave us the right to take the throne of God and make those sort of decisions.

Those sort of assessments. But let me tell you, a heart like that is a heart that is proud. And it's a heart that will one day destroy your own face. Play it out with me just for a moment. Let's look at this whole thing from the size of this point of view.

Jesus, we know we have already established, we've been with you for three years, so we know, and we know our Old Testament scripture, so we know and we've established that what this man is going through, all suffering, all affirmatives, all sickness, all injuries, a direct result of punishment from God, because God is a God who gives what man deserves. Jesus would know. We know this for sure, and that's been settled in our minds. This man was born blind. Therefore, it must be the individual sin that was the result of his blindness.

We're not really sure whether it's his parents' sin or his own sin, and that's why we're engaging in conversation with you. Jesus is probably running through their mind, but we know. Whether it was parents or whether it was his, it's an individual sin that has caused this man to be born blind. And what a juicy thing, it must have been a pretty wicked thing that had taken place. For this man never to have seen the light of day, for this man never to have seen anything.

How much do you treasure your eyesight? This man had never seen anything with these two eyes. How bad must his sin of being, or the sin of his parents, must be for him to warrant this sort of punishment? Everyone gets what they deserve. We know that.

He can't see. But I can. See the danger? I mustn't be as bad as this guy. I mustn't be as bad as that guy, or that guy, or her, or her, or her.

He's blind and I can see. She's lame and I can walk. He's deaf and I can hear. He's lost a child. I have my kids.

I have a home over my head. These don't. I have money in the bank. He doesn't. I must be doing something right.

I must be doing something right. God must be pleased with me. I must be okay in a kid's eyes. After all, he only gives what you deserve. There are so many places I can take this and every single one is laced with a bit of wisdom.

Every. Last. One. The last thought I think absolutely feeds your pride and mine. This view is so prevalent.

So, so prevalent. Back in that day and even today, it's everywhere. Beloved, let me give you two titles. Word of Faith. health, wealth, prosperity, gospel.

If you don't have, it's because you don't have enough faith. Because God only intends to give you the absolute best. Physically speaking, if you don't have money in your bank, you need more faith. He has more money, He has more faith. with a one-to-one correlation between your prosperity, your health, the things, the stuff that you have, and the pleasure of God upon your life.

If you don't have it, then it's sin, or at least a lack of faith. Increase your faith and watch the things start to come. Watch the improvement to your life. If only you believed more. Oh, the heresy.

You lost a child because you didn't have faith. You've heard it all and it's sipping into the stomach. Do you think, do you think the disciples had something in their theology that Jesus so graciously knew to disavow them of? I think so. I've loved this sort of thinking.

I've given some very obvious examples. As I said earlier, it was prevalent. Maybe not always, we're not always thinking this way, you know, because we are reformed folk and we try to keep literally with the word, what the word says. And maybe we think, no, these categories don't belong to me or in my heart. But beloved, can I tell you, our flesh loves the idea that all good things come our way because we deserve it.

And then tell me, correct me if I'm wrong, but everyone in this room has the flesh. I can say that with absolute certainty. I don't know if you're all saved, and I hope you are, but I can say with absolute certainty that every one of us has the flesh because we were born with the flesh, and the flesh loves credit. You give me what I have because I deserve it, because I work for it, because God's favor is upon me. It's I deserve it.

God is pleased with me. That's what the flesh says. Even after the Lord speaks these words that seem to be so clear, you can still find yourself believing or acting in a way that is consistent. We are almost done. The disciples have asked the question, Jesus, there's only two possibilities.

We know it's sin. Whose sin is it? man's sin, or is it the parent's sin? Jesus straight out said neither. Nor the man has sinned, nor his parents.

Now be careful, Jesus is not saying they're sinless, but he's just pointing back to the question of saying the sin is not the direct cause of what has come upon them. Let's be careful of that. Jesus has given a clear answer to his disciples. Did they learn? Matthew 19 takes place after John chapter nine.

Listen to what we have from verse 23. We know the story is the story of the rich young ruler. You remember the rich young ruler that came to Christ. We'll take a time-line recap. But you know Jesus said, go and sell all your possessions, give it to Paul, and then come and follow after me.

The rich young ruler went away very sadly. Why? Because Paul said he had He had a lot of this. He had a lot of themes. Okay, so then we come down to verse 23.

Listen to what Jesus says to his disciples. And Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. And I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Verse 25, when the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, you then can be what? Jesus looked at them and said, man, then this is impossible.

But with God, all things are possible. This is a very, very interesting passage. This is an incredibly interesting passage. Because here you have Jesus saying to his disciples after this rich young ruler had walked away denying, saying, I'm saddened. I don't want to sell my things.

And then follow up. And the interesting thing to me is when Jesus says to these people, he says, it is so difficult for a rich man to enter into heaven because it is more likely that a camel goes with the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. And the response of the disciples to that to have us ask them the question, why did they respond this way? Because this is what they say, then you can be saved. Beloved, think about it.

Jesus doesn't say it's more difficult for a righteous man to go to heaven or more difficult than those who obey all the commandments or anything. He said rich men go into heaven. And the disciples were absolutely shocked when they say, I can go into heaven. Let me give you an example. You had a great 12 class, 30 students.

And then the final exam happens, and the end of year report columns come out, and you have the majority of the class getting a C and a C+, a few get a B, B-, B- something plus. Only one student, only one student, little Johnny. Little Johnny in Grade 12, he's the only one who gets an A++. Is there such a thing? Or do I just stop at the plus?

I don't know, let's go with the plus plus. An A++. And then you get word from an unnamed university that says, you know what? Even people like Johnny can't make it into our universities. Everyone's all going, what?

You mean Johnny, the brightest, the smartest, the most brilliant, can't make it into that university? That's the sort of shock. So these disciples are thinking that whatever is required to make in the heaven, the rich man has. And if they can't get it, then? Because this sort of thing was so prevalent in those days.

If you have things, that means God's favour is upon you. That's what it means. That if you have things, that God is the one who gives you health to create wealth, the Old Testament says. And if you have this wealth, you have more to give away, surely God's favour is upon you. If God's favour wasn't on you, then you would be sick and poor.

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if you have it, then you're thinking of people like Abraham who must be blessed by God. God's favour must be on you. And if the people whose God's favour is upon can't make it into heaven, then who can make it? You see? Do you see why?

That shock. This was months later. Love it, this sort of thinking. This sort of thinking can creep in and we can start to think that because someone has it all together from what we can see, that God's favour is upon them. We'll look at the purpose next week, we don't have time this week.

We'll look at the purpose next week. But I'm going to say one more thing before we finish. That's one side. That is, God favors upon me, I have good health, all the money, things are going well. But the other side of the story is what this guy's going through.

That is to say that if you suffer affliction, if you are struggling with your health, if you lose money or things go badly, tribulation comes, having this side Are you looking to God and saying, what have I done? Have you ever prayed that prayer? When things have gone badly, have you looked to God and said, God, what have I done to deserve this calamity? Have you ever cried out to God and said, God, what have I done? All this is happening around me.

What have I done to deserve this? Because in the mind you're starting to think, it's because I've done something that the Lord has allowed this difficulty to come my way. But had I not done that sin, then things would be airy and happy. Instead of coming before the God of the universe and recognising, it is good to introspect, it is good to examine your own heart. The Bible teaches us to do so.

There's a saying, come to the one who is righteous and just and he will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Praise be to his name. And when suffering comes our way, do we recognise that God is sovereign over it? That's giving and suffering, that Jesus gives his person to lead all of their needs. Do we recognize that God's sovereignty is all over there?

There is nothing that happens in this universe apart from the absolute sovereignty of God who knows all, who sees all. Nothing. And if you are one of his, then everything that comes your way, beloved brother and sister, of God for your absolute good. That's what I said on the Bible study. Remember on Thursday, one of the presuppositions of Christians is that this is the Word of God, and that we believe that only He has instructed it for our own good, because He's the God who has promised us good.

And if we aren't in Christ, that if we have come to believe upon Jesus Christ, that if we've been united in Christ, then the only attitude, the only disposition of God towards us is not one of wrath or judgment, but one of mercy and grace and absolute love. Love, love, love. So instead of crying out, what have I done? Surrender and say, Lord, this is it. You know, that's an easier said than done.

I think we're all afraid. But it's good to examine our hearts to see whether that is our attitude or whether we still have some of that lie that is in the world. You are where you are because of particular sins. And that's the reason why you are who you are. It could be.

But it may not be. But what is overarching all that is the sovereignty of knowing we are to trust. Yeah, trust in his goodness. Let's end it here. I do have a conclusion, but I'm not going to finish it here.

Let's just end here, brothers and sisters. Let's just be reminded that the only two options that the disciples presented to our Lord are not the only two options. The Lord corrects them. Because this is why. Can I just say one last thing?

There is a common denominator in both those. A common denominator in both those views. The first one is good things happen to me. You remember what I said earlier, it's because I what? Deserve those good things, right?

God's favour is upon me because I deserve it. And when bad things, let's call them bad for the example, affliction or suffering comes my way, then it's because It's pride. Pride gets your eyes looking upon self. One is pride in your face, and this one is self-pity, which is the other side of pride. Both scenarios you have.

Us looking to self, and beloved brothers and sisters, the way we began the Christian walk was looking to Christ. And how do we continue the Christian walk? Have we started with words or by faith? And will you continue with words, or will you continue with faith? Beloved, we began by looking to our Saviour, and the Bible teaches us that we are to continue to look to Him as the author and the perfecter of our faith who taught us how to suffer.

He's the example for us. You don't look at yourself, you look to Him.