The Light of the World: Part I (John 8:12-9:41)

It was also during that week that each evening they had a solemn ceremony of lights where the Priests came into the outer courts, especially the court of women. They would light the candle sticks that were in various places through out that court and they would be quoting scriptures having to do with light and the times that God had intervened in behalf of His people with light. When God Himself made light and said, “Let there be light.” When God led Israel with a pillar of fire by night. And all those times when the divine light of God intervened through the Word of the Lord. They would read such scriptures and remind themselves of the light that comes from God above.

I’m glad for the times when the Lord Jesus Christ reaches down into the affairs of men in this world even in religious circles and breaks in. He breaks in with His presence and breaks in with His power and breaks in with His claims and breaks in with His divine Word to upset us and disturb us and turn us up side down, so to speak. He let’s us know when we’re missing the mark and when we’re not on the beam and when we’re not in the full light and when we’re not really operating in the full power of His Spirit. Amen!
I’m glad that Jesus lets us know when we’re off track. Aren’t you? That’s one of the beautiful things about Pentecostal worship. Because the Lord has a way of letting us know when we hit the main stream and oh, thank God what a beautiful and wonderful thing it is in a miraculous way when we hit the main stream of where God is moving and where He is blessing and how His Holy Spirit is working and we just get in it and flow with it. Hallelujah! That’s when you get blessed and that’s when you get he lped. I’m glad He can teach us that and let us know that. A lot of people have never found that out and they sometimes miss it but oh, thank God when Jesus breaks in to set us straight.

The Bible said that Jesus saw a man. I’m glad that He looks upon us for what we are and not as other people see us. I can have all kinds of opinions and ideas about you and I can jump to the wrong conclusions and I can do all kinds of things as I think about you but Jesus knows you and me. He knows exactly what we are, who we are, and He sees us as men and women before Him. I’m glad Jesus saw a man.

The disciples only saw a subject for theological debate. They said, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he should be born blind.” They weren’t interested in his condition or his situation. Their main concern was to solve that age old eternal problem of good and evil in the universe. They wanted to explain why and perhaps to lay the blame where it was supposed to be as if that would do much good.
You can’t solve all the riddles in this universe and you can’t always understand why some things happen as they do. You can’t always interpret carefully the evil that’s in the world or the misfortunes that come or the trouble s that come. It’s not easy to look upon it theologically and understand it clearly. I don’t think the Lord wants us to waste a whole lot of time trying to figure so much out anyway.

That’s what these disciples wanted to do. “Who sinned,” they said, “his parents?” You see, the Rabbis in those days had such a mixture of teachings about these things until they thought that an unborn child could be mean. Perhaps he kicked too hard and was deformed. Or perhaps the mother would do some outlandish thing and the child would be deformed. So they were ready to lay the blame either on the child – the man who was blind – or else his mother.

But Jesus said it doesn’t matter who’s to blame. That’s not the point. I’m glad the Lord looks at things like He does. While we’re laboring and struggling over our hang-ups of what’s wrong, what caused it, and who’s to blame, some of us just steep ourselves in that kind of thinking day and night. We want to look at problems and we want to understand why it’s that way and who caused it – as if that would help. That doesn’t really help. You can understand the problem and who caused it and lay the blame all you want to but that won’t ease any pain, that won’t clear any confusion, and that won’t take away any stain or stigma of reproach. That won’t help a thing. It’s only when the grace of God and the power of God is put into operation that things begin to change that are worth while. Hallelujah!

Jesus does not want us to dwell in that whole cesspool of negativism and thinking that keeps us from seeing the works of God performed in our lives. So He rebuked them and said, “neither this man nor his parents but that the works of God could be made manifest in him.” You see Jesus saw a man who was a problem yet as a opportunity for the works of God to be manifested. Every problem that we face, every trouble we meet, every trial that comes, there lies within it the opportunity for God’s grace to abound.
Where sin does abound, God’s grace can much more abound. Where there is trouble, there is an opportunity for healing mercies of God to flow. Where there is condemnation and where there is failure, there is an opportunity for Christ Jesus to step in with power and authority to wash it away, hallelujah, and bring victory and grace by His glorious power. As far as Jesus is concerned, your problem is an opportunity for the power of God to be manifested and for the works of God to be wrought. Hallelujah.

Jesus took clay and made a mud poultice. He even spit on the clay and then just smeared it all over this man’s eyes and said, “Now, you go wash in the pool of Siloam.” Oh, hallelujah!
Ridiculous? Yes. Common place? Down to earth? Yes. But a miracle was about to take place. When that man acts upon what Jesus says, a miracle is going to take place no matter how foolish it may seem. When God tells you to do anything even if it seems silly or foolish, don’t argue with Him but obey Him and that’s when the miracle power of God is turned loose and put in operation. Hallelujah! Oh, praise His holy name.
I can just almost see that fellow as he went staggering off down through there toward that pool in a hurry and bumping into things. He wasn’t waiting and trying to feel his way this time. He was just a blundering and staggering on and people laughing at him and somebody hollering and saying, “Hey blind man. Where you going with that mud in your eye.” I can almost see him as he turns and says, “I’ll see you later.” He’s on his way to a miracle. Hallelujah! Would you say Amen? Oh hallelujah!

Let’s look first of all at the descent into darkness of the Jewish leaders. It’s a little bit sort of surprising because you see, three times in this chapter, they boast of their superior knowledge – Verses 16, 24 and 29. They say, “This man’s not of God,” as if they know it all and have the gift of discernment and all kinds of things you see. They say, “We know that this man is a sinner.” We know, we know, we know. Everybody that says I know or we know may not know what He’s talking about.
They said a third time, “We know that God spake to Moses, but as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.” So here they are with their superior knowledge claiming to know and understand and yet all the while sinking down into unbelief and darkness. It is sad. It is tragic that some people in this world who claim to know the most are blind and deceived. They don’t know God in reality.

But look at these levels of darkness and unbelief that they went through. In verse six as they put this young man on the spot, they disagreed among themselves about how Jesus was or who He was, what kind of man he was, whether He was a sinner or not. This led to division and led in verse 18, to doubt. It says, “…they did not agree considering Him.”
And that led in verse 24 to disapproval. They said, “we know that this man is a sinner. We don’t approve of him. He doesn’t have the right credentials.” And it led finally in verse 34 to disowning. They said, “You’re all together born in your sins. Do you teach us? We who know so much – do you dare to teach us?” And they cast him out. They just simply disowned the man and cast him out of the Synagogue.

Now look at those steps. If you want to find the royal road to backsliding and even blasphemy, that’s it. Start out with disagreement. Start out with an attitude of disagreeing with God and His Word and His Will and disagreeing with the Holy Spirit and disagreeing with the church and how it operates and how God works and moves and leads and that will le ad to division and backbiting and all kinds of things which in turn within that kind of environment and context will lead to doubt.
Soon your very faith and your very soul will be challenged. After a while you will start looking with disdain at what is right and at God’s holiness and His people and His church. Look on with disapproval – then pretty soon you throw up your hand, wash your hands of the whole thing and disown it, push it out of your life. That is the road to backsliding – steps that lead down in unbelief and darkness.