I will begin today’s message with a biblical truism, in fact a universal biblical truism. For the children, a truism is something that is true universally. Everyone accepts it. So a biblical trusim then is something accepted as biblical truth, universally.
Now this biblical truism is the fact that all human beings are sinners. Everyone, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ who has ever walked on the earth, is on the earth now and will be born in future is a sinner. David said in Psalm 51:5 “ . Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” Some have argued that David is saying he was born out of an illicit relationship. But that will not be consistent with the text. Because in Psalm 51, David is confessing his sins with Bathsheba. Paul in Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The consequence of our sinful state is that it has separated us from God. A big gulf exists between and us God. And sinners cannot by themselves reach out to God. God will have to take an initiative to reach out to sinful humanity, to reconcile sinners to himself. And he has. He has taken that initiative in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to reconcile sinners unto himself. God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for sinners on the cross so that they will believe.
This morning, I want us to look at a sermon title “God’s Initiative In Saving Sinners” I want you to take note of some words in the Chapter which will help us look at the title. Look at v.1. Take note of the word saw. Look also at v.8. Consider the word seen. Now back to the verse we read, look at the word heard, found in verse 35. Then seen in verse 37. As we go on, it will be clear why I have asked you to pay special attention to those words.
Jesus Seeks The Lost
We saw last week how the man healed of his blindness defended Jesus. And the consequence is that he was thrown out of the synagogue. Casting people out of the synagogue is akin to ex-communication where people who have fallen into unrepentant sin are disciplined and excluded from the church. In the synagogue, it is believed casting out people was excluding them from the community of Jewish worshippers. And it has ramification for a person’s social and economic life. You are not only barred from the worshipping community, you are cut off from the whole community in terms of interaction with people. What was the reason for casting out people? It is meant to purge the community of worshippers of sin and to prevent false teachings and heresy into the synagogue. The religious leaders here have put confessing Jesus as the Christ into a heresy category. They have agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ was to be thrown out (v.22).
And the man was thrown out because he had taken a stance for Jesus (v.35a). Having been cast out, this man possibly will be shun by the community, he will have difficulty integrating into society, he is an outcast. He has been thrown out. But Jesus heard it. We are not told how Jesus heard it. It is possible his disciples told him. It is possible it was the talk of town. But the important thing is that Jesus heard it. Friends, we can take some comfort from this. Jesus is not oblivious to our suffering. His ears are not closed to what you go through and experience. He knows your plight.
Now most importantly, Jesus didn’t only hear of them casting the man out. But he looked out for him. He searched for him. Observe carefully the phrase “having found him.” in the text. It doesn’t tell us the man found Jesus, but rather Jesus found him. Obviously, when Jesus heard of the man’s predicament, he went looking for him. Jesus seeks out the lost. He seeks out the oppressed. He seeks out the sinner. See, if you are a believer, you didn’t find Jesus. Jesus found you. He picked you out of the lot. He saved you from the world of sin.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood (Come thou fount of every blessing)
Dear friends, we don’t find Jesus. He is not lost. We are lost. Therefore it is Jesus who finds us. It is Jesus who finds the sinner. When Jesus found him, what did he do? He revealed himself to him:
…Do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
Jesus Reveals Himself To Sinners
Note carefully that the context of this Chapter is a blind man whose eyes has been opened by Jesus. He was born blind, but Jesus opened his eyes. Dear friends, this is very important for us. This man couldn’t have seen Jesus until Jesus had opened his eyes (v.37). Like this man, all sinners are spiritually blind. They cannot see Jesus until Jesus has revealed himself to them. That is to say, they cannot believe in Jesus until Jesus has opened their eyes. In their natural state, sinners are blind to the truth.
Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3)
Unless Jesus has opened the eye of the spiritually blind, they cannot see the Kingdom of God. Why? Because the Kingdom of God is seen spiritually. Paul making a distinction between the natural man (one who is not born again) and the spiritual man (one who is born again) said The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God (1 Conrinthians 2:14). Dear friends, the man was unable to see Jesus until Jesus had set his eyes upon him. “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth” (v.1).
He paid attention to the man
He cast his gaze upon the man
He focused on the man…..!
Everything at that period stopped for that man
Jesus pays attention to the misery of sinners. He was passing by. But he stopped for this man to attend to him. Note carefully that it wasn’t a random passing by. He didn’t see this man by accident. It is within God’s Sovereignty to save that man. When a question arose about the cause of the man’s blindness, Jesus pointed to God’s Sovereignty: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” In the gospel accounts we see many times Jesus attending to people as individuals. There is another account in John 5 where Jesus healed a blind man. The same language of Jesus saw is used.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
When Jesus saw him. This narrative is interesting because there were multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralysed. But Jesus singled out only one of them for healing. We could see the doctrine of election at work here. Jesus finds out his own and saves them. The point of all these is that the man couldn’t see Jesus until Jesus revealed himself to him (vv.35-37) . There is another interesting thing in the text. When the man narrated his story and the people asked him where is he, he said he doesn’t know (v.12). This is a clear picture of spiritual ignorance.
I want you to compare also v.1 and v.8. The neighbhours in v.8 had seen him all his life, but they couldn’t help him. Jesus saw him once and he was healed. This is a clear contrast between between divine ability and human inability. No man could help him though they had seen him in his state. Brethren, only Jesus can help sinners. Only Jesus can save sinners. And we have to look to Jesus alone. But until Jesus has opened our spiritually blind eye, we cannot see him.
Now finally,
Jesus Calls Sinners To Faith In Him
Look again at the latter part of v.35. Jesus asked the man “Do you believe in the Son of Man” This is a call to have faith in Jesus. The man’s eye has been opened. But that doesn’t automatically save him. You can receive a miracle. You can receive material blessing. But whatever you get, if you haven’t believed in Jesus you are not saved. So Jesus ensures the work he has started is completed. So he offers himself to the man to be believed on: “Do you believe in the Son of Man”
The term Son of Man is noted as Jesus’ most used designation of himself. It points to his humanity and his divinity together. But most importantly, it points to God’s promise of a saviour in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament God promised a Messiah and in many places in the Old Testament, this points to Jesus (Isaiah 53, Daniel 7:13-14).
Sinners will have to believe in Jesus to be saved. Sinners have to place their trust in Jesus as the one who died to save them. And this man finally believed in Jesus.
He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
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