Our scripture this evening comes to us from John, the Gospel of John, chapter 9. John chapter 9, verses 35 through 41. John 9, 35 through 41. Hear now the very words of God. Jesus heard that they had thrown Him out, and when He found Him, He said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is he, sir? the man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him. Jesus said, You have now seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, What are we blind to? Jesus said, If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. Here ends the reading of God's Word. People of God, in the secular world, Jesus is portrayed in a number of ways. He's seen as a moral teacher, one who taught do's and don'ts. He's thought of one who does good works. One who has done unto others as he would have done unto himself. He's even perceived as a loving person since he taught us to love our neighbor as ourself. One perception of Jesus that the world does not admit, however, is Jesus as a judge. But the passage before us presents Jesus in this light. Jesus states, for judgment, I came into this world. Now, such a statement, even among Christians, is surprising and stands out. If this passage actually means what it says, then why and how could other passages in Scripture say things that might seemingly be in contrast. For example, we could turn to John 3, 17, where Jesus says, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Now, initially, this passage seems to contradict the passage before us tonight. If, however, we continue to read this passage in John 3, If we were to read 18, we would see that these two passages actually complement each other. John 3.18 says, Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. In addition, John 5.21-22 reveals that all judgment has been entrusted to the Son and that He has authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. It is this judgment presented in the book of John and specifically in our passage tonight that I want to focus on. Jesus came to judge. And this judgment is executed in three ways. First, it is executed by a divine judge. First, it is executed by a divine judge. It is executed by a divine judge. Second, this judgment is executed by divine condemnation. By divine condemnation. Third and finally, this judgment is executed by divine grace. By divine grace. Our passage before us tonight comes at the end of a narrative. A story about a man who was born blind. Jesus is walking on the road with his disciples and they come across this man who was born blind. And his disciples ask him, Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus responds, neither. But this man was born this way so that the work of God may be displayed in his life. Jesus then reaches down, grabs some mud, places it in the man's eyes, tells the man to go and wash. The man does so, and the man can see. Now everybody around him was astonished. They were amazed by this miracle. He was a man who was born blind. His entire life he could not see. And now he was given sight. But since this miracle took place on the Sabbath, the man was brought before the Pharisees. And after the Pharisees questioned him and thoroughly examined him, and once they came to conclude that he was not going to give them what they wanted, he was not going to renounce Jesus, they hurled insults at him and casted him out. It is in response to that judgment of the Pharisees. It is in the context of that judgment that Christ here states that He has come for judgment. And so let's turn to our first point, that Christ has come for judgment and He does so as a divine judge. The first thing that this passage teaches us about Jesus is that He is the Son of Man. Now, the Son of Man was a messianic figure from Daniel 7. He was one who would come and establish His kingdom with authority and power. The Son of Man was known as one who would come and judge between the righteous and the unrighteous. In the hearts and minds of the Jewish people, He would judge between the Jews and the Gentiles. Certainly, the Son of Man will divide, and He does divide between the righteous and the unrighteous, but it's not the way the Jews believed. Jesus here is revealing Himself to the blind man as the Messiah, as one with authority to divide and to judge. And this authority is His and His alone. He does not share it with anyone, nor can He do so. Jesus judges righteously as a divine judge. And so, in this passage, Jesus' judgment is shown and displayed to be in contrast to that of human judgment and specifically that of the Pharisees. The text before us, as well as all of chapter 9, displays Jesus' judgment in opposition to that of the Pharisees. the Pharisees' judgment had developed from this general truth, this idea that suffering is the consequence of sin. Suffering is the consequence of sin. Now, we as Christians, we would agree with that. Suffering is the consequence of sin. However, where they went wrong is in their application of this truth. They applied this general truth to specific individuals and specific suffering. In the passage before us, the Pharisees applied this to the blind man. And they mistakenly claimed that he was blind because either his parents sinned or he sinned. Some commentators even state that people at that time would have believed that he sinned in a previous life, thus amounting to him now being born in sin, or born blind, I should say. And so we see that this idea of him being born blind is really important in their mind and in their view. He was born blind because either his parents sinned or he sinned. Whatever the reason the Pharisees had given for the blindness of the man, they're wrong in this application. This distortion of the truth is contradicted in a number of passages in Scripture, one only has to turn to Job and this whole idea is undermined. Specifically in our text, Jesus is correcting this misconception and He is doing so by displaying Himself as one who comes and judges divinely. One who comes and judges justly. Earlier in chapter 9, the disciples, influenced by this pharisaical principle, asked, Who sinned? this man or his parents, that he was born blind. Jesus corrects the disciples, stating that the blindness was a consequence of neither his sin nor the sin of his parents. But this happened so that the work of God may be displayed in his life. He does not pronounce judgment here over this man. Jesus knows that all men, All men are born under sin and equally are under condemnation. And so he doesn't judge here partially as the Pharisees judge, nor partially as all of mankind does. Though the Pharisees looked down upon this man, casted him out, hurled insults at him. They probably even wondered and questioned how Jesus could associate with this man. All this demonstrates that Jesus, as the divine judge, stands in opposition with His judgment to that of the Pharisees. Knowing that Jesus judges as a divine judge, this ought to bring comfort to our minds, people of God. We have a judge who judges us justly. Not one who judges partially as men would judge. We cannot judge or we cannot nor should attempt to trace back difficulties, trials, to some kind of judgment over us. Not all trials are specifically the consequence of judgment. Yes, certainly all difficulty is ultimately, ultimately the consequence of sin. But connecting specific difficulty with specific sin, we would be working completely counter to the way Scripture presents God's judgment. Well, in addition, Christ does not judge us as we often judge ourselves. I'm not sure if you do this, but oftentimes after sinning and confessing my sin, I still expect something bad to happen. I still expect judgment to come upon me. Or at times when something bad happens, I try to trace it back to something I may have done wrong, a sin that I may have partaken in. That's completely counter to scripture. Sure, there are consequences to sin, people of God, but God does not judge his people. He does not judge his children as a wrathful judge. He judges us as a, or he, he corrects He punishes us as a father, a loving father who wants to restore his children back to him. To be sure, there are those who are judged wrathfully according to the strict measure of the law. And this moves us to our second point. That Christ came to judge and this judgment is executed not only by a divine judge, but by divine condemnation. It is sad. It's sad, but all who claim to be righteous apart from Christ will be judged by the strict measure of the law and therefore condemned. In verse 40, some Pharisees overhear Jesus saying that for judgment He has come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. Upon hearing this, some Pharisees asked, what, are we blind too? Their question reveals their heart. This was a rhetorical question. A question that already implied an answer when it was presented. These men weren't looking for an answer from Christ. They weren't looking for anything from Christ. They were actually instead asserting their own ability over the ability of the blind man. And so in doing, they're asserting their own righteousness. They knew that they could see, and because of this, they didn't have a need for a healer or healing. They did not need Christ. They were the religious leaders, the Pharisees. They were the spiritual guides for the spiritual blind. Yet, what this question reveals is that though they claim to see, this claim is evidence of their sin. The first thing to note here is that though they claim to see, they're really blind. And this shows the irony of our passage. The irony is not found in the fact that a man who was born blind can now see. The irony is displayed in the fact that men their entire lives who could see are in fact blind. They cannot see their desperate state. These men who should have known better, who were supposed to be the ones who knew the law, the religious leaders of the day, how is it that they missed the whole point of the law? They missed the fact that they were no different than anyone else. No different than this blind man. That before a holy and perfect God, they too were broken, blind, crippled. We already considered the fact that they probably wondered why Christ even associated with this blind man. As it was, the Pharisees, they already stated how they felt about this man. They casted him out, excommunicated him, and hurled insults at him. If we were to go back to verses 13-34, and specifically in verse 28, we see that they insulted him and proclaimed their superiority over this man and Jesus, claiming to be disciples of Moses. Yet what they were really saying is that they do not need to know Jesus Christ because they knew Moses. They displayed their trust in their title, disciples of Moses. They displayed their trust and their interpretation of the law as Pharisees. We could even go back further to chapter 8 where they trusted in their own heritage as children of Abraham. All of this reveals that these men trusted in their own righteousness. Wherever they may derive it from, they thought that this was sufficient before God. But all this, in all this, these men were blind. They were blind to their guilt before God and blind to their guilt before the very One who could save them, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It is sad, but even people today, people today aren't very different from these Pharisees. They have no need for Christ, for they have no need of a Savior. They're perfectly fine in their situation. After all, they haven't done anything too bad. They may even have done good things. They've given to the poor. They've helped people out. They're friendly with their neighbors. They may even attend church. By everyone else's standards, they would be good people. But before God, before God, no human righteousness is righteous. Isaiah 64, 6 states, All our righteousness is as filthy rags before a holy and perfect God. Our righteousness is filthy rags because our claim of righteousness will be judged by God's holy and perfect law. And if it's shown, if it's shown to fail in any area of the law, then it's insufficient. This leads to the second thing we should note in this part of our passage. All self-righteousness will receive nothing but condemnation. There is no grace for those who claim to be self-righteous. Such work, again, must not fail to meet all the requirements. And since we know that our righteousness has failed. All men stand condemned before God. The Pharisees sadly illustrate this. They posed their question and expected Jesus to answer, yes, you are blind. But He doesn't answer this way. Jesus actually leads them to more condemning, into more condemnation. Instead of answering yes, he says, if you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But now that you claim to see, your guilt remains. The Pharisees' claim of sight was essentially a claim of self-sufficiency, of self-righteousness. And there's no grace for such people. Proverbs 26.12 says, Do you see a wise man in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than for him. Well, in our passage, the wise men are these Pharisees. They have no hope because they will receive nothing but condemnation, strict judgment by God's perfect law. These Pharisees are similar to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 who came before Christ and said, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus points him to the commandments of God. And do you remember what the young man says? All these I have done from birth. And so Christ gives him even more law, raising the bar. He says, sell all that you own and give to the poor and come and follow me. But the young man stops and turns away, sad, because he trusted in his own wealth. He trusted in his own righteousness. Paul poses some similar questions relating to this condemnation in Romans 2, 17. He asks, Now you, if you call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God, if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law, if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? These Pharisees did not teach themselves. They definitely taught the man born blind. He was beaten with the law. He was a blind beggar. One who was familiar with his sin. He depended on others to provide for him. Not these Pharisees. No, they needed nothing because they had it all in their own eyes. But in their self-righteousness, they will be condemned as Christ says. And what is true for these Pharisees is also true for us today. Anyone who trusts in his own righteousness, whether the average man or even us, especially us here in the church, if we trust in any work of our own apart from Christ, we too have nothing but expectation of judgment, condemnation by God's perfect law. We too need to be reminded that it is only by Christ's perfect, personal, and perpetual righteousness that we can stand before the Father, that we can have a relationship with Him, And so I call out to anyone tonight who is trusting in anything other than the work of Christ. Turn to Him. Turn to Him. For all who trust in Jesus' righteousness will receive grace. And this leads us to our third and final point. We've seen in this passage Jesus is a divine judge. He has come into this world with authority to judge. And He does so. He executes this judgment with divine condemnation. But He also executes this judgment with divine grace. Verse 35 reveals that Jesus had compassion on this blind man. Jesus had already had compassion on this man when he healed him physically. But now here, he's going to heal him spiritually. Dr. Birx once stated that whenever we see Christ healing somebody physically, it's a metaphor for him healing them spiritually. The first thing that we should note in this passage is that Jesus is the one who does the healing. It is Jesus who pursued this man. The text states that it was only after Jesus found this man that he asked him, that he questioned him. If it was only after Jesus found him, then Jesus must have been looking for him. The fact that Jesus sought after this man shows that Jesus had compassion on him. Jesus didn't have a need for this man. It wasn't like he needed to go after him. No, Jesus is the Messiah. He's God. He has all things. But, nevertheless, he went after this man. And this is similar to the scene in the beginning of our chapter, chapter 9, where Jesus was walking with his disciples and the man doesn't even initiate anything with Jesus. The disciples simply ask a question. Jesus could have answered it and moved on. But He doesn't. He goes to the man. He goes to him. He puts mud in his eyes. Tells him to wash and the man is healed. Now some may say that the man had to wash and that was his part in playing in this. But let me ask you, what's the natural thing that you would do if someone put mud in your eyes? You would want to wash. So it's not like this man played any part in this. This is all the work of Christ. And Jesus says that this happened. This man was blind so that the work of God may be done in his life. This is leading to that. So after pursuing the man, Jesus immediately reveals Himself to him. Notice that up until this point, The man knew very little of Jesus. Jesus simply placed mud in his eyes and told him to wash. That's all the man knew. If we were to go back and read all of chapter 9, we would see that even before the Pharisees when he's examined, he doesn't have much to say other than the fact that he can now see. So when Jesus finds him, he reveals himself to him. Jesus asks the man in verse 35 if he believes in the Son of Man. The blind man says, Who is he that I may believe in him? Now Jesus is there before him, but the man doesn't recognize Jesus as Lord. This only occurs after Jesus reveals that he was the one who healed him. He says, You have now seen him. In fact, he is now speaking with you. And the man bows down and worships Him. The real purpose of the gift of sight was that this man would believe. That this man would be given the gift of grace to see spiritually. Notice the contrast in the way that Jesus relates to this man as opposed to the way that He related to the Pharisees. Jesus treats this man very gently. He doesn't judge him or condemn him. The Pharisees, with their self-righteousness, are given nothing but strict judgment. They claim to see. They claim to be righteous. This is ultimately displayed in Christ, stating that He has come so that the blind will see. Christ has come for judgment, and this judgment towards this man, this blind man is divine grace. The sight which Jesus speaks of and which the blind man received is the product of grace. But grace has not only been given to this blind man, it has been given to all of us. And this is the gospel, people, of God. This is our joy, the wonder, That though we are just were and could be and would be just like this blind man. Broken, blind, crippled apart from Christ. But He has given us grace. Grace to believe. 1 Corinthians 1.26 reminds us. Paul is reminding here the church of Corinth of what they were apart from Christ. He says, brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are. so that no one may boast before Him. Yes, it is true. Apart from Christ, we too, spiritually, we're just like this man. Just like the Pharisees. But we have been given grace. Our eyes have been opened to see and know our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not look to our own righteousness to save us. We look to Him and Him alone. So in closing, we see that Christ in this passage is presented as one who came to judge and that this judgment is executed in three ways. As Christ is the Son of Man, He executes this judgment. As a divine figure, this judgment is executed divinely. And second, this judgment is executed by divine condemnation. To all who trust in themselves, there is nothing but condemnation. But to those who look to Him, who do not trust in themselves. He gives grace. He is a gracious judge. And so look to Him, people of God, your gracious Savior, who does not judge you as men judge you, does not judge you as you judge yourselves. He gives you grace. Amen. And let us pray. Father, we're reminded of Your grace and Your mercy upon Your people. And how wonderful that is for us who apart from that mercy deserve nothing but wrath, condemnation. But You, in Your mercy and grace, Your great love have given us grace through the work of Your Son, Christ. Continue to encourage us with that. Continue to encourage us and strengthen us by Your great Gospel. We thank You for Him and His work. And we pray these things in His name. Amen.