“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

That is John 3, 16 through 18. And that is exactly what we see playing out in the end of John 9. Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 9. We’ve already studied the story of the man who had been born blind. And we’re aware of that situation, and at this point, we’ve come all the way through all of the details of his story. The man had been healed by Jesus.

And as a result of his healing, and because of his testimony before the Pharisees, that man was rejected. He was rejected by his family. He was rejected by his friends. by his neighbors, by his spiritual leaders, and as we saw last time, they put him out of the synagogue, which means he’s rejected by his nation. Can you imagine what that feels like? Some of us don’t have to. Because that still happens even today. But this man, who was rejected by everyone else in his life, he was not rejected by the man they call Jesus.

And as we will see, Jesus, when he heard that man had been put out, he went and found him And not only does Jesus finally bring this man fully to himself in a saving and trusting relationship, Jesus also uses this opportunity to reveal the spiritual nature of this entire episode and to reveal the spiritual blindness of these Jews.

And this will be a launching point into one of the clearest and most undeniable process of salvation chapters in the whole Bible. John chapter 10 reveals God’s complete and utter sovereignty over salvation. Salvation belongs to the Lord. But first. We see that Jesus makes sure that these Jews and the readers of John’s gospel, us, he makes sure we don’t miss what God meant to show us in this blindness. And this spiritual illustration of blindness is nothing new throughout scripture. Blindness is used to represent fallen man’s inability to see or understand God or His Word. I read to open the service this morning from Isaiah 43, verse 8, which says, bring out the people who are blind even though they have eyes, and the deaf even though they have ears.

Later in Isaiah 56, we read, verse 10, His watchmen are blind. All of them know nothing. The very ones that God put in control in Israel, the ones who were supposed to be watching out for His sheep, they’re blind. They know nothing. It goes on in Isaiah 56, 10 to say, all of them are mute dogs unable to bark, dreamers lying down who love to slumber. These watchmen of Jesus’ day were the Pharisees, the spiritual leaders, the ones who were to be caring for God’s people.

We also see this illustration in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 5, verse 21, the prophet says, now hear this, O people, who are simple-minded fools. and without a heart of wisdom, who have eyes but do not see and ears but do not hear. This idea of being blind yet seeing is one of God’s favorites to show us what we are like without him. Even Jesus specifically rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 15 by saying, Matthew 15 verse 14, let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, they’ll both fall into a pit. And we heard from Matthew 13 earlier, says similar things. The reason why Jesus spoke in parables was to show them that they’re blind and they’re deaf without him. And later in the New Testament, this continues.

After his conversion in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul says he was sent by Christ to the Gentiles in Acts 26 verse 18, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. Without Christ, we don’t have eyes to see him. We need our eyes opened so that we can turn from darkness to light. Throughout the whole Bible, sinners without Christ are described as blind, walking in darkness.

And the only cure, the only cure for this spiritual blindness is Jesus. No one has ever given sight to a man born blind, as we heard last week. No one’s ever done it. And in the same way, no one has ever given sight to a man born spiritually blind, except Jesus.

Just like the scriptures said he would. Isaiah 42, speaking of the suffering servant that was coming to bring salvation to God’s people. Isaiah 42, starting in verse 6, says, “‘I am Yahweh. I have called you in righteousness. I will also take hold of you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nation’s two open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who inhabit darkness from the prison.’” This is what the Messiah was coming to do.

Open blind eyes. I could show you many other prophecies that say that very same thing, but this is why he came. Because the world was full of blind people. People who could not see him. He came to give sight to the blind. But, there’s another reason why he came. A reason that we see in this text today. He came to blind those who see. For judgment I came, he says.

In this text this morning, the conclusion of this monumental chapter of John’s gospel, John chapter 9. Again, Jesus wants to make sure we don’t miss the point. Because after he calls the man to himself and reveals himself, the chapter could just end there. But he turns to the Pharisees.

And he tells them what we see in our text this morning. So that they and we don’t miss the point. And it’s a point that we may not like to see. It’s not a comfortable point. And the point is that God works differently with different people when it comes to salvation. Some, yes, he opens their blind eyes.

Praise God. We call those people believers. And nobody’s got an issue with that. We like to hear that. We like to hear that God opened our eyes. But that’s not all Jesus tells us. The hard part that we don’t like to hear is that God actively blinds others. Those are unbelievers. And Jesus came for that very purpose. We’ll see in our text this truth is laid out very clearly in both cases of believers and unbelievers. We see that God acts first. And then people respond. Or we see divine initiation. On both cases. And then human response.

And the way that we’ll see this text lay out for us this morning is we’re going to have two bigger categories, believers and unbelievers. We’ll talk about believers first, because that’s what we see first in the text. But then Jesus turns and confronts the unbelievers. And in both cases, we see it laid out.

It begins with divine initiation, and then we see the human response, and they’re different. Because God works differently with different people. With believers, this divine initiation we see in verse 35 is effectual calling. Jesus goes and finds him. And we see the human response in verse 36. There’s a trusting pursuit of this truth. Verse 37, he’s given spiritual sight finally. In verse 38, he worships. That’s the human response of a believer. One whom God initiates and calls to himself.

But then we see unbelievers. And the divine initiation to unbelievers in verse 39 is in fact judgment. For judgment I came. And the human response by those he came to judge and to blind. In verse 40 we see skeptical unbelief. Verse 41 we see spiritual blindness. And at the end of verse 41, we see they remain in their sin. That’s how this text lays out for us this morning, and I’ll try to make those elements clear as we go, but allow me to read our text this morning. John chapter 9, verse 35 through 41. This is the word of the Lord.

Jesus heard that they had put him out. And after finding him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and he is the one who’s talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.

And Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, are we blind too? Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say we see, your sin remains.

First we see how God works with those he brings to himself. And he brings them to himself to be believers. That’s our first division this morning is believers. And as we will also see is the case with unbelievers, it starts with divine initiation, the divine initiative. God acts first.

Verse 35, Jesus heard that they had put him out, and after finding him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? After healing the blind man back in verse seven, Jesus disappears from the story. And the man is interrogated by everyone and eventually kicked out of the synagogue.

And when Jesus heard that they had put him out, he went to find him. Jesus didn’t just heal this man and go on his way. He was keeping tabs on this story. And when he heard that they put him out, he went to find him. And as we know, Jesus is good at finding this guy. He’s found him before. He found him again. Jesus is the good shepherd, as we’ll see in the next chapter. And good shepherds find their sheep.

And that’s the point. And as we’ve already seen in John’s gospel, the truth is that if God did not take that initiative in salvation, no one would be saved. No one would be saved. Remember what he said in chapter 6, verse 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. That’s that divine initiative. God acts first.

And then down in verses 64 and 65 of John chapter 6, Jesus explains it more clearly for them. He says, but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he was saying for this reason. I have said to you that no one can come to me. Unless it has been granted him from the father. This is why I told you that. Because I know there’s some of you who don’t believe and won’t believe.

And now we are seeing Jesus show us exactly what he means by that here in John chapter nine. He knew from the beginning who were his, and this man was one of them. And he went and he found him. And then he went and he found him again, because that’s one of his sheep. He takes the initiative to seek and find his sheep, and he has to.

Because sinners cannot seek him on their own. We see that in Romans 3. Verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. OK, we agree we’re all sinners. It keeps going. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. None, nobody seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless. There is none who does good, not even one. Blind people cannot seek or find Him. They don’t know what they’re looking for.

Salvation depends on God’s initiative. It depends on His power. It depends on His sovereign grace so that no one may boast. That’s what that means. You didn’t find Him. He found you. We love Him because He first loved us. This is all over the Bible. Remember back in John chapter one, as John is laying out the introduction, the framework he’s going to follow as he tells us about his friend, Jesus.

John chapter one, verse 12 and 13, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born, what, not of blood, It’s not about who your father is, it’s not about who you come from, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It’s not up to your will. It’s not up to the will of man, you were not born because you willed it to be so. You were not born because you chose right. But of God. who were born of God.

What does that look like? As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And when he heard that they had put him out, after finding him, that’s what this looks like. When God knows who are his, And he finds them. And he brings them to himself. This is what God’s sovereign grace and initiative in salvation look like. He finds us. And after finding this man, Jesus asked him, do you believe in the Son of Man? And the way this is written, it puts emphasis on the pronoun. Really, the pronoun is stated twice. So Jesus is saying to the man, you, do you believe in the Son of Man?

Don’t worry about what they think. I know they put you out of the synagogue. Don’t worry about what they believe. What do you believe? This man. This man has already done great things for Jesus. He stood before the angry interrogators. He gave his testimony of what he knew. But he still needed to answer this question.

Just like we all do. Every one of us. Do you believe in Him. Yeah, maybe you grew up in a Christian home and you’ve always gone to church. Maybe you’ve even been asked to give your testimony. And you’ve testified to the blessings of God in your life. You’ve told people about Jesus. Maybe you’ve even told other people that He died on the cross and that you are thankful that He loved you enough to do it. But do you believe right now? Do you believe in Him? Do you believe in Jesus?

This is a question for everyone. This is a question for our elders, for our deacons, for our Sunday school teachers, for grandparents, parents, and children. Do you believe in the Son of God? And Jesus sought out this man who’d already given testimony for him to ask him this question.

And if you are hearing this today, Jesus has sought you out to ask you this question. What is your answer? If you can say, yes, I do believe in the Son of God. you will have eternal life. But if you say anything else, anything else, if you qualify it, if you say, well, not quite yet, well, give me time, let me get things figured out in life, if you say anything other than yes, I believe in the Son of God, you will remain in your sin.

Jesus sought this man. That is what we see first in the way that God works with believers is his initiative. And next we see the human response. How does this man respond to Jesus seeking him? Verse 36, we see his trusting pursuit of him. Verse 36 says, he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? He didn’t doubt. He didn’t scoff. He didn’t mock. He’d already said that he was a prophet back in verse 17. He’d already said that he was sent from God, obviously, back in verse 33.

And he’d been healed by the man they call Jesus. And here, he trusts that this man they call Jesus can at least tell him who it is. Who is he, Lord? Who is he? And their Lord, he’s not yet recognizing that he is the Lord of the universe. That word also means sir. He’s being polite and saying, sir, yes, tell me who he is so I can believe.

He’s trusting that Jesus can tell him. And what you really see here is he’s trusting the word of God to tell him the truth. Jesus is the Word of God, and He is trusting what He has to say. And His trust shows that even though salvation is divinely initiated, it starts with God. Salvation never comes without a faith response. Yes, God works first, but we also must come to Him in faith.

Like we see in Acts 13, 48, when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, were saved? No, they believed. As many as had been appointed to eternal life, divine initiative, God’s work, believed. Man’s responsibility. Yes, they are appointed to eternal life. They are the elect. But they believed. And the only way that we know that they are elect is that they believe.

And what we see next in this man’s response, yes, he had a trusting search of the Word of God. But in verse 37 and 38, he’s given his spiritual sight. He was given his physical sight already. Here he’s given his spiritual sight because Jesus said to him, you have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. He finally sees who this man they call Jesus is. He is the son of man. He believed.

Several commenters point out how similar this account is with the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. Both of them were found by Jesus. They both believed what they knew, and they both called him a prophet. And when he revealed who he truly is to them, they believed. And not only that.

Both of them responded with the last part of the human response, which is worship. Verse 38 at the end, and he worshipped him. He worshipped him. This man they call Jesus, he worshipped him. Now as a side note, if anyone ever tells you that Jesus never claimed to be God, they’re wrong. He received this man’s worship.

Angels don’t do that. Apostles don’t do that. Any creature doesn’t do that if he knows what’s good for him. Just ask Herod. Kids, that’s a great story. You can read about that in Acts chapter 12. Don’t take worship from other people. Herod learned the hard way.

But this man worshipped Jesus and he received it. He accepted the worship. He didn’t tell him to stop because he ought to have worshipped. He should have worshipped. Dr. John MacArthur points to Charles Spurgeon’s comments on this verse. Listen to what Spurgeon says. He says, then further, he acted as a believer. for he worshipped him.

I should like to ask you who are the people of God, when are you the happiest? My happiest moments are when I am worshipping God, really adoring the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the nearest approach to what it will be in heaven, where day without night they offer perpetual adoration unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb. Hence, what a memorable moment it was for this man when he worshipped Christ. Now if Christ was not God, that man was an idolater, a man worshiper. If Christ was not God, we are not Christians. We are deceived dupes. We are idolaters. As bad as the heathen whom we now pity, it is making man into a god if Christ be not God.

But blessed be his holy name. He is God. And we feel that it is the supreme delight of our being to worship him. This man did what he ought to have done. He worshipped God standing before him in the flesh. He worshipped him because he believed in Jesus.

Up until now in this story, we can’t say that he was yet a believer, but now we can see that he believes. God, yes, was drawing him to himself through all of what happens in John chapter nine. He is drawing one of his sheep to himself, but now he believes and he worships. That is how God works in bringing believers to himself. He acts first, he calls them, and we respond by trusting in what we hear, in being given our spiritual sight to believe, and then worshiping him.

And wouldn’t it be great if the chapter ended there? But it doesn’t. That’s not all Jesus has to tell us. Because next we see how God works with unbelievers. And this is the same pattern, divine initiation and then human response. But this time the divine initiation is judgment. Verse 39, Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Now earlier in chapter 5 we saw, and he says it again in chapter 12, that he came not to judge, but to save. And that’s true. But here we see that that necessarily means that judgment comes. Saving some results in the judgment of others.

As one man put it, if you reject Jesus’ peace, you will receive his punishment. If you reject His grace, you receive His justice. If you reject His mercy, you receive His wrath. If you reject His love, you receive His anger. If you reject His forgiveness, you will receive His judgment. They are two sides of the same coin. It’s one or the other.

And what you need to see here is that Jesus says he is the cause of both. He is the means of divine initiation here. I came into this world so that those who do not see may see. and those who see may become blind. Yes, he came to give sight to the blind. We already saw that. He also came to blind the seeing. And I know you might be thinking, no, people blind themselves by rejecting him. God only saves, he doesn’t reject. That would be double predestination. Yes. God tells us that he does this.

Turn with me for a few moments to Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine, in verse 15. It’s the exact same struggle that Paul is helping explain here in Romans 9. The sovereignty of God and salvation and how that works both ways. Verse 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Okay, that’s the positive side. That’s what we like to focus on. Yes, God saves. He elects. He has mercy on whom he has mercy. We don’t like to keep reading. Because it continues, so then. It does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh for this very purpose, I raised you up in order to demonstrate my power in you. in order that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then, Paul clarifies, adds to what he said in verse 15, the other side of the coin.

So then, he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. And I know what you’re thinking, but, but, but, Keep reading. Paul says, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? Will the thing molded say to its molder, why did you make me like this?

Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, having been prepared for destruction.

God does this. And notice it’s not just that he chooses to act on believers and not act on unbelievers, as if this was all passive on His part. No, it says He hardens them. He hardens them. He makes vessels of wrath for the purpose of destruction. He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires. He does both.

Did you hear Paul’s answer to your objections? Who do you think that you are? You’re not the potter. You’re not God. What right do we even have to judge God for His decisions? God is the potter here. You are the clay. The famous saying goes, the same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. The same God who saves his people is the one who damns the wicked. I came into this world so that those who do not see may see salvation. And that those who see may become blind. Damnation. They’re both there. They’re both why he came. God does this. Jesus does this. This is God’s divine initiative with those who will remain unbelievers, which explains their response.

In John chapter nine, again, verse 40, we see skeptical unbelief. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, are we blind too? Now it’s important to realize here, don’t think this question is something like a believer struggling with assurance. As if they’re asking, oh no, am I saved? Those questions that we’ve all asked at one time or another. truly wrestling with our own eternal destiny and wanting to be saved by Christ.

That’s the difference. That’s not what this is. The way this question is framed in the Greek expects a negative answer. That’s the way it’s written. So it’s as if they’re saying, ha, surely you’re not suggesting that we’re blind, are you? As if that would be totally out of the question. There’s no way that that’s what you’re saying, right? After all, we’re the Pharisees. I mean, not only are we God’s people, we’re the special ones. Haven’t you heard? They were quite confident that they were seeing with 20-20 vision. But the reality is that they were completely blind.

They only confirmed the lost condition of their hearts and became more hardened in their hatred for the only one who could save them from their sin. And so Jesus reveals to them the next step in their human response is spiritual blindness. Verse 41, Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. Jesus’ point here is if only they would acknowledge their condition, then they would be able to see the cure. John Calvin helpfully explains this.

He says, this means that if you would acknowledge your disease, it would not be altogether incurable. But now, because you think that you’re in perfect health, you continue in a desperate state. You can’t be cured if you don’t go see the doctor, and the doctor’s standing in front of you. It’s often been said, the hardest person to save is the one who doesn’t know he’s lost.

That’s the issue here. That’s the issue with these Jews. They don’t believe they need saving. Why would they need a savior? And so Jesus reveals to them their eternal destiny. In the second half of the verse here, they will remain in sin. If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now that you say, we see, your sin remains.

Since they say, we’re not blind. We can see. What are you talking about? We’re fine. We’re all good here. We don’t need you. Yeah, we know you’re going around healing blind people, but we’re all set. Thanks, but no thanks. Since you don’t think you need saving from your sin, your sin remains. Right back to where we started today.

John 3.18, he who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already. Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

You see, God’s initiative in our salvation and in the damnation of unbelievers He’s been here the whole time. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son so that those who believe in him would not perish. That’s who he sent him for. His people who he was coming to seek out and save.

But verse 18, he who does not believe has been judged already. He’s already been judged, that’s why he doesn’t believe. Everyone who, like this blind beggar, recognizes their blindness, their spiritual blindness, and turns to the light of the world. As Jesus says in John chapter 8, as we saw in the last chapter, verse 12, he who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Everyone who, like this blind man, admits his condition and sees the Savior and follows Him and believes in Him will have the light of life, will have eternal life. But also, everyone who, like these Pharisees, would rather continue on in darkness rather than the light.

They will remain in their sin. That’s how God deals with those who are not his. Those who remain unbelievers. His divine initiation is judgment. They were judged already. And so they respond in skeptical unbelief, spiritual blindness, and remaining in their sin. So where are you this morning? Are you walking in the light of Christ? Or are you still in darkness? Thinking to yourself, sitting here this morning, yeah, I’m good. I like my life. I like it here. Get that bright light away from me. Where are you?

Tell me this, have you believed in Jesus? Do you believe in the Son of Man? Do you believe in Jesus right now? And maybe you’re saying, I don’t know. That sounds good, but I don’t know if I can believe that. I’m not sure if he’s the Son of God. If that’s the case, do what the blind man did. Do what the blind man did. Ask Jesus to help you. Ask him to show you the truth. That man was thrown out and disregarded and rejected. He had nobody. And Jesus came to him asking, do you believe? Do you believe? Don’t worry about anyone else. Don’t worry about anyone else has to say about the matter. Do you believe in him? And he didn’t know. He didn’t know if he believed or not. Because he didn’t know who he was.

But he asked him, show me. Show me who he is. Convince me. Lord, show me who he is. Can you do that much? And when Jesus told him, you have seen him and he’s the one talking to you, he believed and he worshiped. So turn to the one who helped the blind man. He already brought you this far. He brought you here this morning. Ask him, who is he, Lord? Who is this Jesus? that I may believe in him. You’ve seen him today on the pages of his word. This is that Jesus. He came and he lived and he died for sinners who believe in him. He came to give sight to the blind. He came so that lost people and blind people and dead people could be forgiven of their sin. Do you believe in the Son of Man? And say with a blind man, yes Lord, I do believe. I believe in Him. How can I not believe in Him? So if you’ve not yet believed, now is the time to do so. Don’t leave today. Don’t leave.

Talk to somebody about how you can know who Jesus is. If you do believe, If you have believed in him, if you can see him, if he has opened your eyes, let’s join the blind man and worship him. I once was blind, but now I see. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Stand with me as we close in a word of prayer. Our God in heaven. What can we say? What an incredible chapter of your word.

You show us that you seek out the blind. Those that are yours, you bring to yourself. And the terrifying reality that those who do not believe will remain in their sin and have been judged already. God, if there’s any blind here today, find them. Bring them to yourself. Help them to see this man they call Jesus, who he is, what he did, and what he offers to them in his name. Help them to see and believe in the son of man. God, we thank you. We praise you and glorify you because you are awesome. And your name is awesome and your word is awesome. Thank you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.