Lesson 48: John 9:24-41 – Sometimes What You Know Just Isn’t So

by Pastor Ricky Kurth

You're listening to Lesson 48 from the sermon series "The Gospel of John" by Pastor Ricky Kurth. When you're done, explore more sermons from this series.

 

Summary:

The Pharisees knew the Lord was a sinner (9:24)—not because they’d seen Him sin, but because they’d seen Him heal on the Sabbath. But as the Lord told them, this was lawful (Luke 6:9; 14:3).

You may not be able to explain all the ins and outs of your salvation, but you can say with the blind man, “whereas I was blind, now I see” (9:25).

The Pharisees again ask the man how the Lord healed him (v.26), trying to get him to say He made the clay with which He anointed him, to have further proof He “worked” on the Sabbath, but he wouldn’t bite (v.27). Instead he gives them a bit of sarcasm. The blind man had not said he was a disciple of the Lord, but they figured it out from what he was saying (v.28). This will be true of you too!

Being a disciple of Moses (v.28) was good in the Old Tes-tament, but once God began to change the program to the kingdom program, the Pharisees needed to change too. Instead, they were stuck in the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy. Today, God has changed the kingdom pro-gram to the grace program, but most Christians are stuck in the kingdom books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Pharisees first boasted of their noble birth (John 8:33), and now they were boasting of their religious education under Moses. People today boast they were born Jewish, or Dutch, etc., then boast of their religious education. The word “fellow” (John 9:29) means equal, as in Zechariah 13:7, so in using this name for the Lord, the Pharisees were saying that He was no better than they were, and certainly no better than Moses!

Now when the Pharisees said of the Lord that they didn’t know “whence he is,” that didn’t mean they didn’t know where He was born and raised. Everyone knew that (John 7:27). What they were saying was that they knew that Moses was from God, but they didn’t know who’d been talking to Christ (9:29).

The blind man then serves up more sarcasm (v.30), then gives them a Bible lesson. He begins by pointing out that God “heareth not sinners” (v.31), i.e., doesn’t answer their prayers (cf. Gen.20:1-7). He is arguing that if Jesus was not of God, God would not have heard Him pray for his healing. Next, he reminds them that no one in the history of the world had ever healed a man born blind (v.32). Here he argues that the Lord was the greatest man who ever lived—greater even than Moses! He then rightly concludes if the Lord were not of God, He could do nothing (v.33).

We know the Pharisees could not refute his arguments, since they resorted to name-calling (v.34). When they told him he was “born in sins,” they weren’t talking about how he inherited Adam’s sin and condemnation (Romans 5). They were referring to the current thinking that when a man is born blind, either he sinned or his parents sinned (John 9:1,2). Either way, as a man born blind because of sin, he was in no position to teach them! Or so they argued. When they “cast him out” of the synagogue (9:34 cf. 9:22), I hope he knew Isaiah 66:5, which says that when men cast you out saying “Let God be glorified,” as they had done to him (John 9:30), the Lord will appear to your glory and their shame. Knowing this verse would bring the blind man much comfort, which knowing the Word always does!

The Lord “heard” they cast him out, meaning He didn’t know it happened. While He could tap into omniscience while He was here, this verse proves He was fully man.

You’d think the blind man would believe on the Son of God, but he was very cautious (John 9:35,36). Remember, he never saw who healed him, as the Lord had anointed his eyes, but he couldn’t see until later after he had washed in Siloam. In this, he was a type of the Tribulation saint, who will know he has been healed of his sins by someone he never saw. Of him it will be true: “whom having not seen, ye love” (I Peter 1:8).

While Peter and angels refused to be worshipped (Acts 10:25; Rev.19:10; 22:8,9), the Lord accepted worship from the blind man, proving He was God (John 9:38).

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