Well, I'm taking a break from the Psalms because of the profession of faith this morning of Mark Veldkamp, and I am so thankful to have that opportunity this morning. First one here among you that I get to ask the questions of Mark and hear Mark profess. So I want to consider John chapter 9. And John chapter 9 is a wonderful chapter of understanding profession of faith, understanding what's going on, and hopefully we'll have a fresh appreciation of it this morning to see how great the Lord's working is among us when something like this happens. So let's consider John 9. It's a lengthy chapter. I'm going to read it, and we'll consider the whole of it this morning. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him while he sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and he made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg? Some said, It is he. Others said, No. But he's like him. He kept saying, I'm the man. So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened? He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. They said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. They brought him to the Pharisees, the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, He put mud on in my eyes and I washed and I see. Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such things? And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes? He said, He's a prophet. The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight. And they asked him, Is this your son who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he's of age. He will speak for Himself. His parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, His parents said, He is of age. Ask Him. So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind and said to Him, Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner. He answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. They said to him, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered, I've told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? And they reviled him, saying, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing. You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. They answered him, You were born in utter sin, Would you teach us? And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And having found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered, And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see and that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near Him heard these things and said to Him, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see, your guilt remains. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. This morning we hear a profession of faith. And I love moments like this in the life of a congregation because we really don't. We really don't appreciate things as we should. Do we really understand what has happened in the life of someone when they stand up and they say, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for my salvation. Do we understand what happened or what the Lord had to do to bring that to pass? We're kind of used to a process, aren't we? We train up our children or somebody comes in from maybe out of paganism and we trained them and we trained them in the basics of the Christian faith to know the Lord Jesus. But do we really understand how great a work is accomplished by our Lord when somebody birthed out of the heart says I want to say Jesus is my Lord and I believe in Him for my salvation. I trust Him. And then do we understand the kind of warfare that follows such a profession. I want everyone this morning to think about this as we look at John 9 because we have a shocking profession of faith. Shocking. In John 9, Jesus here is summarizing for us and He gives us a summary statement of everything that's happening. If you look down at verse 39, Jesus summarizes everything that's happening in this chapter when He says, for judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see and that those who see may be made blind. That's what everything's driving to this morning. Everything that has happened here in this text is showing us the great truth of the mercy of the Lord in opening the eyes of someone and what that looks like in somebody's life. But also, the other side of the coin that we don't like to think about a lot, that He is also blinding people. Hard for us today. He's blinding people. So my question is, what do you see this morning? How are your eyes? Are they good? Or are they bad? Have you been made to see or are you blind? How do we understand that? Let's look at this really powerful section of Scripture. I want everyone this morning, When you look back here in chapter 8 to the last verse, in chapter 8, the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees has climaxed, really. It climaxes in 9 here, but to the point where we see something happen. They have taken up stones in the very last verse. There stand the Jews with stones in their hands to throw at Him. And you read this really fascinating statement right at the end of chapter 8 that we pass over and we've not really understood. But it says that Jesus hid Himself as He went through the temple. Now, many translations will pick it up a little more woodenly and say, He went right through the midst of them. And you say, how in the world, boys and girls are thinking, how in the world did He do that? They have stones. He's standing there. The crowds are around Him. He's teaching them. And all of a sudden, He passes right through the midst of them and they didn't see Him. And I believe that you have the beginning of what verse 38 says in chapter 9, the beginning of this blinding that is happening in judgment. So, now you're going to see that unfold as he simultaneously opens up the eyes of someone. Look at verse 1. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was born blind from birth. Now, notice all the play on words here. It's really fascinating. Who saw who here? He saw. So Jesus has taken His eyes and laid them on a blind man. And His eyes had never in the whole course of His life seen one little sparkle of light. Can you imagine that for a minute? There are blind people. And it's a very big affliction. And do we minister to them and love them the way that we should. I find it fascinating that in the Gospels, this affliction is healed more than any other. Five times. On my count. If I'm wrong, you can correct me, but I believe it's five. Five cases of Jesus healing the blind telling us this has huge implications for understanding the Gospel. Now immediately the disciples see this blindness and they begin to speculate over the causation of this. They want to know what caused this. How did this guy get blind? What is the reason for this man's affliction? It's the great question of why. Jesus had obviously stopped and made a moment of this. He had laid his eyes on this man and the disciples want to know what caused this, Lord. What caused this man to have been born with this blindness? Is it his fault or is it his parents' fault? Now this man had obviously been like this for a long time. I'm guessing he was roughly 30 years old. They want to know, was it caused by some specific sin in his life or by his parents that he would have to endure this awful affliction for so long in the course of his life? And the reasoning behind it was a very common Jewish reasoning that basically said behind that defect has to be some kind of sin. But this one's a little more difficult to discern because he was born blind. So either he sinned in the womb or it's mom and dad's fault. And we know the laws of heredity and those sort of things were believed in the Jews and taken back from the Old Testament. I find it fascinating how Jesus answers this. And I could do a whole sermon on this. I wish I had the time. It says in verse 3, So Jesus here is avoiding the whole speculation of providence. He's completely leaving that alone. That is not their business. That is not what they are to look at. This sickness was specifically designed to be an opportunity, a special opportunity for the glory of God. And what a view of sickness. There are some people set apart for this. Now, this was no little suffering. 30 years probably. Jesus corrects their wrong view in verse 4. And He says a really powerful statement that we must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day because night is coming when no one can work. While I'm in the world, I am the light of the world, He says. I'm the light! And that's a crucial connection here to a man who was born blind. So, He's speaking of light. Here's a man born blind. I'm here. I'm the light. And what Jesus was saying was, this is not a time for theorizing or philosophizing about whys and causes. This is an opportunity for us to do what I was sent to do and that is to deliver and to save. What an opportunity it is, isn't it? So in other words, you could stand there and peg that guy with darts that he's a bad sinner or you could go help him. And I came to do that. I came to go after the weary. I came to help. I came to give sight to the blind, look for. I came to heal. So, This is the backdrop to the main event. At this point in verse 6, Jesus spits on the ground and he makes clay with his saliva. And you all say, Ugh, gross. And then he tells him, as he takes these cakes and he blasters them to his eyes, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, John picks up on this scent. So he went and He washed and He came back seen. You say, what a strange event. How many interpretations are there of this one? What is the meaning of all of this? Well, I believe we have to look back a little further to the beginning of John's Gospel where John said something about what they understood about Jesus when he said right at the beginning, the Word became flesh and He dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. We looked with our eyes and we gazed upon the glory that this is the One. This is the One. The only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. We saw it. Without eyes. With our eyes, we gazed upon it. And we saw that He is the One giving light to every man coming into this world. Now what's been the problem in John's Gospel? I know you've studied it in adult Sunday school and you're still studying it. The problem in John's Gospel is you've had a whole, and we've been dealing with this in Romans, so if you're not there, come. We've had a whole bunch of issues in John's Gospel of people refusing the light, hating the light, and trusting in Moses and the law. And this problem has a direct bearing on what's happening here because Jesus does something that John's Gospel also continues to show us. He is creating division and controversy everywhere He goes. And here's one of the greatest. This story is going to be told everywhere. And I want you to imagine how this story is going to be told from the Jewish Pharisee perspective. It's Saturday. He purposely chose this day. It's the Sabbath. One of the things that was forbidden by the Pharisees was kneading bread. you couldn't roll. And you couldn't get your hands dirty. Now, I know there's a million interpretations of this. But I can't get away from the fact that he puts his hands, spits on the ground. Another breaking of the Pharisee rule. Especially if it rolled, by the way. Did you know that? If the spit rolled, it's more work. And he puts his hand down in the dirt and he starts kneading. and then he takes the mud and he cakes it right on the man's eyes. I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm thinking that's not how you give sight. That's how you blind. Isn't it? If a blind man were here and I did that, you imagine the rage? It would be insulting. It would be insulting. I would be hated for the mockery of it. That's not why Jesus is being hated. Here's the point. Jesus is teaching He's the light of the world. His own people are spiritually blinded to Him. All these people are blinded to Him. They're not seeing their need for Him. They're not listening to His words. They're not receiving Him as sent by the Father. And for judgment, He has come. For what reason? That those who see may be made blind. and that those who are blind may see. And Jesus now has a sermon illustration for us. Greatest sermon illustration I've ever studied. Here's a man with filthy mud all over his eyes. Can you imagine the sight of that? Just black mud from his spit all over his eyes. And everyone's saying, how in the world can this man see? What is going on here? The disciples are looking at this and in front of them Jesus says, I want you to go to the pool Siloam and I want you to wash. And John says that means sent. Now everyone knew that there were waters there that flowed from the temple hill into this pool. Ezekiel, remember, you've heard the sermons I'm sure. Ezekiel described these waters as healing whoever it came to. And so John adds sent because he wants us to make the connection with what Jesus just said in verse 4. I have come to do the works of Him who sent me. So he's giving a visual of the Gospel. And the visual is this. All of us are spiritually blind from birth. And notice the emphasis of the text. We're born this way. We can't see from birth. Ephesians 4 tells us that our understanding has been darkened and we're alienated from the life of God because of the blindness that is in our hearts. Blind. Conceived in sin. Children of wrath. And Jesus says you must come to the One who is sent. And so He sends them to the waters. And you know in John's Gospel by now at this point water has huge significance. He had already dealt with a woman saying you need living water and when that water comes, it's going to burst out of your heart. And He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit who was to come. You need life, says Jesus. You need life. And so here it happens. He went to the waters and He's washed. I love this account because its faith is of a mustard seed. And what happens at this point is absolutely overwhelming. You have the truth of verse 38 and 39 now illustrated about blinding and seeing. And what happens now is this baby's eyes start to open. And I mean, it's a baby. And picture a baby coming out of the wombs and you clear it out and the baby's eyes start to go like this. And simultaneously in this text, the Pharisees' eyes start to go like this. And by the end of it, theirs are closed and this new Christians are wide open. it's a scene six conversations follow and they're progressing to the climax so notice what happens first is with the neighbors so immediately everyone sees this guy what in the world has happened to this guy and so they begin to ask him is this not he who begged and some said well this is him and others say well it's like him and he says it's me it's me I see And his neighbors begin to say, well, how did this all happen? And so notice the infant faith of this man, if you will. He says, well, this man called Jesus made mud and he anointed my eyes and said to me, go to Siloam and wash. What a testimony, huh? I see. I met a man. His name is Jesus. And it's amazing because everyone noticed the change in this man, didn't they? Everyone from the outside is looking, what in the world has happened to this guy? Round two. Now he's brought to the Pharisees. So immediately after this, this trial begins, which is really an examination of this man. And all of it has to do with his connection to Jesus, his profession to Jesus. And so, does he confess this Jesus? What does he say about Jesus? Does He give glory to Jesus for His sight? Notice the issue becomes, what is His profession? And so this examination begins and it's full of bullying and sectarianism and forced intimidation. It's an awful scene in the Gospels. I don't know if we realize reading it how awful this is. In verse 14, we read, Jesus did this on the Sabbath. So the Pharisees start the interrogation. How did He heal you? Tell the story. First charge from the Pharisees. Now think of their eyes here. This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. What a statement. What a statement, isn't it? What a charge. Here's their reasoning. All people who are truly from God keep the Sabbath. This man who healed you on the Sabbath doesn't keep the Sabbath. Therefore, conclusion, not of God. So, verse 17, you need to support our conclusion. What is your profession? Because He, this Sabbath breaker, can't be from God because He opened your eyes. Come clean. And this huge division now begins. Jesus creates this division through the Gospels. This huge division begins. And in verse 17, I love this. What does the man say? He's a prophet. I don't know if you feel what just came out. But I mean, that's an amazing statement, isn't it? He's a prophet. He's not from God. Eyes going closed. He's a prophet. Now, here's this brand new believer. Jesus is healed. Jesus gives sight to. Doesn't know much. Doesn't understand much. Boy, he believes. It's childlike, simple faith, isn't it? This is your baby Christian. Put on trial in front of the ugliest legalism that I see in Scripture, ugliest. And you think, how in the world is this guy going to stand? You admit you shouldn't have been healed on the Sabbath. There's no way. The whole healing is illegitimate because it's done by, we'll get there, a sinner. Now notice the complete lack of care for this man's spiritual and physical state. We find out in verse 18 that it begins to circulate among the Jews that this whole thing was a fake. It didn't even really happen. And so now they go in in another scene and they bring in mom and dad. And this is an interesting scene with mom and dad because the conversation is trying to get mom and dad to turn on their own son. Is this your son? Who you say was born blind? How does he now see? You tell us. And I believe the whole point of this little interjection at this point is to show everyone how beaten down, browbeaten the whole religious community was by the Pharisees. They couldn't do anything. It's an awful scene of legalism. It's an awful scene of what happens when God's people are put in bondage. Look at this. They can't even, and why can't they do it? Why can't they even mention the name of Jesus? Because if anyone, their Sanhedrin council had decided, if anyone even confessed the name of Jesus, he would be unsynagogued. You know what that is? Excommunicated. Now that doesn't have as much weight with us today because if you excommunicate somebody today, they can run down to another church and they can live a whole other life and no one has any consequences to it. But back then, you were booted right out of Judaism and you're lost. So this is a serious deal. They would expulse you from the synagogue. So verse 24, they bring them back in. They put them back on the stand. And I want you to know the reasoning they use here. Give God the glory. Ready? Their eyes just go shut right now. Verse 24. We know this man is a sinner. That is complete blasphemy. They've just done it. They have drawn their logical conclusion to try to catch this man and have him deny the Son of God. You give God the glory. This man's a Sabbath breaker, a sinner. Therefore, there's no way he could have opened your eyes. So if you're going to have this, you need to give glory to God. Notice that play there. Everyone's declaring who Jesus is and that's why the Jews are mad. You give glory to God. Jesus can't have that honor because He is a sinner. And I believe verse 25 is so powerful. I do believe it's a mockery, by the way. Calvin takes that position. I think it's right. When he says whether he's a sinner, I do not know. But the most beautiful, simple statement of faith comes out, doesn't it? Notice the simplicity. One thing I know that I was blind, but now I see. I love that. It's moving, isn't it? All I know is this man healed me. And I'm not going to validate that charge. No way I'm going to validate that charge. Look at what he did for me. Explain it again for us. How do you open your eyes? At this point, you see the Spirit. Boldness comes over this man like anything I've ever seen. and He handles them. I already told you, you don't listen. Notice it just changes here. You don't listen. Do you want to hear it? Listen. Do you want to secretly become His disciples? That's what you want, don't you? And I think, man, do you know what you just did? That's like saying Jesus is greater than Muhammad before a mob of Muslims with ropes in their hands. You're in trouble. And they begin to revile him. They heap up reproaches. We're Moses' disciples. Now Jesus had already said, if you were Moses' disciples, you do what Moses said. You don't do what Moses said. At this point, it comes to a conclusion. Their reasoning is that only people who are from God can give sight. This man, Jesus, is a Sabbath breaker. No way he could have opened eyes. I want you to think about how it ends. In verse 30, He silences them. Well, this is a marvelous thing that you don't know where He's from. In other words, you guys claim to have answers for everything. You are the lights to the blind, so you say. You're considered God's gift to men. You've got it all laid out for us. You're the spiritual authorities. No one dare question you. Yet, He's opened my eyes. Now, we know God doesn't hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He does hear Him. Now, since the beginning of the world, unheard of. When have you ever seen this? He opened my eyes. If he were not from God, he couldn't have done it. And he just unraveled them in their own reasoning. It's astonishing you guys claim to have answers. If this man were a sinner, God wouldn't have listened to him. But I'm healed. Look at the change of my life. I see. And with nothing else, they yell out, you're teaching us. You were born in your sins. And we read the tragedy that they cast him out. They excommunicated him. And the final thing you read is that. They were done with him. So here's this man thrust out of Israel and in comes verse 35. Jesus heard that they had cast Him out. Who found who? I love this. He found Him. You understand chapter 10 now? I'm the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I lay down my life for my sheep. I go get them and no one will pluck them out of my hand. No one. And finding Him, we come to this climax. Comes down to one great question, doesn't it? Do you believe in the Son of God? He says, Lord, who is He that I may believe in Him? Do you cast yourself completely upon the Son of God, trusting Him? Who is He, Lord? Jesus answered. Notice what just happened. Jesus says, you have seen Him. See the play? I just opened your eyes. And He says, Lord, I believe. And He worshiped Him. Drops on the knees. I believe you. And the whole thing climaxes to him prostrate, worshiping God. You know how great an act of grace is when somebody says, I believe. Mark, why don't you come forward? I'm thankful, the whole congregation is thankful for the grace that God has given you. But you're going to now profess faith. See what the weight of that is? Mark, do you heartily believe the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament and the articles of the Christian faith and taught in this Christian church to be the true and complete doctrine of salvation? And do you promise by the grace of God steadfastly to continue in this profession? Second, do you openly accept God's covenant promise which has been signified and sealed unto you in your baptism? And do you confess that you abhor and humble yourself before God because of your sins? And that you seek your life not in yourself but only in Jesus Christ, your Savior? Third, do you declare that you love the Lord and it's your heartfelt desire to worship and serve Him according to His Word, to forsake the world, to mortify your old nature and to lead a godly life? And finally, Mark, do you promise to submit to the government of the church and also you should become delinquent in doctrine or in life to submit to its admonition and discipline. Mark, what is your answer? I charge you, Mark, by the diligent use of the means of grace and with the assistance of your God, continue in the profession that you have just made. In the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, I welcome you to full communion with the people of God. Rest assured that all the privileges of such, now think of this statement, communion. Jesus has come, laid His eyes on you. He's pulled you out. And He said, you're in My communion. All the blessings of that communion are yours. And we give a Bible that you would continue to grow in grace and truth. But I want everyone to look at Mark today. There was a man born blind from birth. And he just stood up and said, I believe in the Son of God. And what a work. the Lord has done among us. Do you see it? You grow in grace and truth. Picture the scene. Jesus is looking at that man. Behind him are those with stones. And he opens his mouth and closes. For judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see. Here's one. And that those who see may be made blind. I've come that those who walk in darkness without the light may see the light and live. Feeling the sorrow of their sin, feeling their misery, knowing it, knowing they're blind, and I will give them sight. But I've come to blind those who think they see. Pharisees, Sam, Atkins. Disdain. They hear this in disdain, right? And they respond, are you speaking of us? If you were blind, Jesus says you would have no sin. But what does He say? Now you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remains. I don't know how much worse that could have ended. He just said, you'll never have atonement for your sins. If you saw your condition and you yearned for the Son of God to save you, I'll deal with your sin. I'll take it on myself. But since you go on in this awful presumption and trust in your own model life and think you're a well man who doesn't need a physician, your sin remains. Now Mark said, I believe today. And I want you to see now the big picture as we close. The healing happened on the Sabbath. For generations to read this and to understand that Jesus was working on the Sabbath, he said that in John 5, working to save, His Father working to save. And I believe He healed on the Sabbath and opened eyes today to show us the ultimate end of that changed life on the Sabbath, which is what? Worship. Worship. that all of us would bow the knee and worship the Son of God. If you were physically born blind today and Jesus came and did this for you, a man came and did this for you, would you tell someone about that? Oh, you'd tell someone. You'd tell someone about that. You'd be telling everyone about that. If you believe today that Jesus, you were born blind spiritually. Jesus has done something far greater for you. He opened up the blindness of your heart so that you see. You know where you could be? You could easily be just like these men and so could I. I speak to the young people in closing. Maybe there are some who have refused doing this. But Mark did. And I loved what Mark said to me. Mark said to me, he says, you know, there was the supper passing by me. Why in the world would I refuse grace? I say to the young people, are you blind or do you see? If the grace of Christ has opened your eyes, you can't help but tell others the very real thing that's happened in you. And how will you know? Where will it be most evident? You're going to want to come and worship. You're going to want to come and say, Thank you, Lord. I once was blind. But now I see. Amen. Oh Lord, our God, we praise You this morning for opening our eyes. We are blind from birth. and needs You to reach down and save us. I pray that what happened with Mark today would be something he never forgets, and that all of his days he would remember that You stopped and laid Your eyes on him, and that You came and sought him and brought him into Your communion and gave him the gift of faith that he today would say that he loves the Lord. In childlike faith, believing the promises, believing that You are the Son of God. Deeply touch us all today and open our eyes to see, Lord Jesus, how much we need You. In Your powerful name we pray, Amen.