Services | I Was Blind, Now I See

Bulletin

Hymn # 263 “Revive Us Again”

SCRIPTURE READING – Psalms 9
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“Great Are You Lord”
“Love Is War”
“Home Coming”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“I Was Blind, Now I See”

“Amazing Grace”

Benediction “There Is Freedom”

Sermon Notes
John 9:1 & 2 Seeing a blind man the Disciples ask if he or his parents sinned
John 9:3 Jesus’ response that it was’t his parents or him, but that the works of God might be displayed
John 9:4 We must work the works of God
John 9:5 Jesus while He is in the world is the “Light of the World”
John 9:6 & 7 Jesus heals the blind man by making clay out of His spit
John 9:8 – 10 People are confused that the man sees
John 9:11 & 12 The blind man gives Jesus the credit for healing him
John 9:13 – 16 Man brought to the Pharisees who say Jesus can’t be from God because He healed on the Sabbath
John 9:17 The man when asked who Jesus is he says a Prophet
John 9:18 – 23 They didn’t believe the man so they brought in his parents. They confirm that he is their son and that he was blind, but because they were afraid they said ask him, he is of age
John 9:24 & 25 The Pharisees try a second time to get him to change his story, but he says “I was blind, now I see”
John 9:26 – 34 The argument continues between the man and the Pharisees, the Pharisees assert they are disciples of Moses and the man was born entirely in sin
John 9:35 -39 Jesus comes to the man and confirms who He is and the man worships Him
John 9:40 & 41 Jesus says the Pharisees are blind and still in their sins

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

Today we're going to take a look at Jesus who comes in contact with a man who is born blind. At this meeting, Jesus will heal this man. But there are other people who Jesus comes into contact that day who believe that they can see. Jesus will tell them, in fact, they're blind and there is consequences to their blindness. Come and let us take a look at what Jesus says about people who are blind in that context.

We are continuing on our search for faith and strengthening it therein. So we are going through the Gospel of John and if you have your Bibles, and it's each week I say, and you should turn to the Gospel of John chapter 9. I'm going to start with verse 1.

I have a lot of material to cover. Usually I try to break it down, but this whole chapter needs to be done in one sermon. And so we're going to take a look at it. So in the Gospel of John chapter 9 verse 1 it says, "As he that being Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth."

There's a key there.

"And his disciples asked him, Rabbi," which means teacher, "who sent this man or his parents that he would be born blind?" Now I find this question kind of interesting.

First off, it kind of shows how tradition overwhelms the Scriptures.

Or you see tradition and the general teaching of the Jews at the time, and kind of our own thinking in the world is, "Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people." And so if something bad happened, then you must be a bad person.

The Scriptures beg to differ with you. The whole book of Job is there for us to understand that righteous people oftentimes have bad things happening to them. So as I say, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to bad people. But I find this question interesting because how could this man be born blind and be the sinner since he was born blind and nevertheless he sinned in the womb?

And so the question kind of doesn't make a lot of sense, but everybody knows that this man was born blind.

And Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him."

I now have a rhetorical question that I don't, rhetorical means I don't want you to answer now. I want you to think about it. And if you quickly come to a positive answer, then maybe you haven't thought about it completely.

And my question is this.

Would you be willing to have been born blind or have some other tremendous disability or terrible circumstance

from the time that you were born until you were an adult, just for the purpose that God's works might be displayed?

Now if you look at most of the church testimonies and praise songs and whatever, it's God I have a problem, solve it right now.

But this man has been born blind and has been blind until adulthood at some period of time, we don't know how old he is,

not because he sinned and not because his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. "We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day, night is coming when no one can work." And so Jesus is saying there is an immediacy to what needs to be done, that the fields will not always be widened to harvest, there will not be always those who are seeking God. And so while it is day, in essence, while we have him and while he and the spirit is in the world, we must work because it's daytime, there's going to come a time when we can't work. So he's saying there should be an immediacy.

And while I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

So Jesus is saying and following up that he is the light of the world.

Now this is, kind of has several meanings. One, there is a kind of a literary kind of a concept of that he is an enlightened, that he enlightens us, that we have the aha moment because we see. But he's also the light because it doesn't matter whether you are blind or you have sight, if there is no light, you can't see.

You've heard it said that it was so dark that you can't see your hands in front of your face. It is necessary for the eyes to function to have light. And Jesus is saying you're going to be blind whether you think you can see or not, unless the light's there. And so he is both that who enlightens us to understand who we are and what we need, but he is also that which gives us the opportunity to be able to see.

And when he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and applied the clay to his eyes.

And said to him, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," which is translated "scent," so he went away and washed and came back seen.

Now Jesus is very interesting because he could have healed this man by saying, "You're healed."

He could have healed this man by saying nothing.

He could have healed this man by putting his eyes, his hands on his eyes, and said, "You're healed." He could have put his thumbs on his eyes and said, "You're healed."

But this time he decides to stoop down and then make some clay out of his spit and the dust of the ground.

I think, emphasis, I think he did it and took off the Pharisee, as they just can't stand him working on Saturday.

So he did this to give them consternation.

"Therefore the neighbors and those who had previously saw him as a beggar were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?"

So they're going, "Something's different here now. This guy now sees, but we've seen him and he's been blind and he begged for a living."

Another were saying, "This is he." Still others were saying, "No, but he is like him. He's a doppelganger. He looks like him, but he's not him because he can't be him because he now sees." "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." So he keeps re-establishing and testifying, "No, I'm the one who was blind and was a beggar, but now I see."

So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes open?"

When somebody has a healing experience, people want to know how and why.

Maybe when we come to Jesus, people should have that same question. How and why.

And he answered, "The man who was called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and he said to me, "Go to Salome and wash."

That's part of the story. "The boy went away and washed and I received my sight. He did this and he told me to do something and I followed his command and I was able to see."

Could you imagine if he had the clay on his eyes, but he decided, "That's stupid. I don't want to go there."

He'd be a blind guy with clay on his eye, but he did what Jesus told him to do and he was able to see.

So they said to him, "Where is he?" And he said, "I do not know because you see he sent me to go wash my eye."

And I think this is, and again, I think Jesus did this. I think Jesus did this because he wanted to create separation from the man and him for a later time.

So they do what they do. So they brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. So it's like, okay, we need, there was a miracle that happened. We need the religious leaders to see it. "Now was the Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes."

You're not supposed to quote unquote work on the Sabbath. Now I want you to know that Jesus, by bending down and putting dust and spit on the ground into his arms and making play, did not violate the law.

It violated their tradition. It did not violate the law.

Further, the law never prohibited anybody from healing anybody on the Sabbath. As a matter of fact, in other areas when Jesus does works, he says, "Well, wait a minute. When you guys lose an animal, a bird, a beast, a bird, you'll get them out on the Sabbath. Why can't I do a good thing to a person?" And so Jesus does not violate the law. He violates their tradition. And oftentimes, even in churches, you'll find people more upset because you violated tradition than it did because you violated some scripture.

People will be more upset because you sit in their pew than the fact that you're here.

It happened. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. Notice, people asked. He told them. Now he's being asked again by the religious leaders, how did he receive his sight? And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." He gave them a shorter version.

Because, you know, some people, when we tell a story, then we like to exaggerate.

He kind of gives us the Cliff Notes version to the Pharisees.

Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath."

Again, he doesn't keep their tradition because he does not keep the Sabbath. But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner beform such signs, and there was a division among them?"

Now, it's interesting that Jesus always seems to create division.

Even today, "Oh, he's a good man. Oh, he's a good teacher. Oh, he gets us.

Or he's the Son of God who came to save us from us."

And so, there's always this debate that always goes on about who Jesus is and what he does. And so, even then, there's this controversy about Jesus. Some were saying, "Wait a minute. He violated the Sabbath, but he didn't. Therefore, he must be a sinner, and he can't have done what he did and be a sinner."

So, they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about him since he opened your eye?"

He said, "He's a prophet."

Again, here are the Pharisees, the learned ones, who are supposed to know everything, asking this beggar,

this man born blind, what he said. Now, this beggar has it partially right. Yes, Jesus is a prophet, but he's so much more than that.

So, the blind man now has sight, but it's limited spiritual.

The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and he had received his sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight. So, wait a minute. This can't be. Because the guy violated the Sabbath, therefore he must be a sinner, so this guy couldn't have received his sight. He couldn't have been blind. This is all a fantasy.

So, we're going to call the parents to the stand and examine them, so that we might find out, it's all a ruse.

And question him saying, "Is this your son who you say was born blind, and how does he now see?"

And his parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son."

So, he's our son.

And that he was born blind. So, they confirmed, "Yes, he's our son, and yes, he was born blind." So, whatever you're worried about, yes, he was blind, now he sees.

But how he sees, we do not know. Or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him, "He is of age. He will speak for himself."

So, basically, the parents are saying, "We'll confirm he's our son. We'll confirm he's blind. That's it."

We don't want to say anything else, and there's a reason they won't say further, and it's this.

And his parents said to them this, because they were afraid of the Jews,

but the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him to be Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

They were going to be excommunicated if they said that Jesus was the Christ. And so, instead of saying that, they said, "We know nothing." And only those of you who are old enough as me to know this reference, they pulled a sergeant's soul. "I know nothing."

And so, they're afraid to be excommunicated. Now, in our world, so what? But in their world, you didn't get to go to synagogue, which meant you were going to be socially outcast.

And because you were socially outcast, any economic gain that you would do would be lost, because no one would do business with you.

You might as well move to a different country.

So, afraid of losing their status and their economic purity, they go, "I don't know. Ask him."

For this reason, his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him. He's an adult. He speaks for himself." So, a second time, they called the man who had been born blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner." So, in essence, they're trying to say, "Jesus had nothing to do with it. Give glory to God. Tell us that this man is a sinner.

You are to deny what Jesus did."

Interesting.

He then answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I speak."

Jesus has told us that we are to be his witness.

And churches, and properly so, will teach you how to witness and will give you ways to be an evangelist and all those things, and that's great.

But a lot of times, we tend to think that I need some training.

Right here is all the training needed. This thing I know, I was blind. Now I see.

I don't know all the philosophy and all the theology about who Jesus is. I told you I thought he was the prophet. You didn't accept that. That was my limited understanding.

So, I will tell you what Jesus did for me. I was blind. Now I see.

So, they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" So, now it's about the third or fourth time people have been asking him, "What happened?"

I identify with this guy. This guy is getting frustrated.

And he answered them, "I told you already."

And you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

If you're not paying attention, why do I want to go through it again?

You do not want to become his disciple too, do you? So, he sticks it to him.

Is this like the old hymn, "I love to tell the story"?

So, are you loving the story so much? You want me to repeat it, repeat it, repeat it?

Their answer is different. They rebiled him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses."

So, they said, "No, no. You're following Jesus. We follow Moses."

The sad statement is, they're not following Moses.

Because Jesus already said, "You examined the Scriptures, hoping to find life, and the Scriptures talk about the meaning."

So, if they were disciples of Moses, truly, they would be disciples of Jesus.

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.

Does it matter ultimately where he is from, other than the Scripture says the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem? Well, they got that wrong because they think he's from Nazareth. Well, they know where he is from, so they're lying here.

The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes."

You guys are supposed to be the theological ones. You're supposed to be the ones who have all of the knowledge and information. You're the expert.

And you don't know, but I know he opened my eyes.

We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God, fearing and does his will, he hears him.

Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born to him. He's stating that in all the recorded Scripture, of all the healings that were done, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, the dead being raised again, Elijah doing things, Elisha doing things, all of these things happening from all of that. The one miracle that had never been performed is someone that had been born blind, who is now like him.

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

So this one who was the one who was supposedly doing nothing, fools the Pharisees on what they don't know.

So when you tell somebody who's supposed to be an expert to shut up and sit down, they don't shut up and sit down.

They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins and you are teaching us?" Yes.

So they put him out, which means they excommunicated.

Jesus heard that they had put him out. And finding him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" And this is why I think Jesus did the healing, told him to go, because he was going to have this conversation with his name.

And he didn't want to have this conversation when everybody was all around about his sight and all the controversy and all the questioning.

So he noticed the man didn't go find Jesus. Jesus went and found him.

And the truth is, we don't go looking for Jesus. He just comes looking for us.

So he asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He goes, and he answered, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?" So Jesus has the information that this person needs because he understands what Jesus has done, that he can rely on what Jesus is now going to tell him. He asks, "Just tell me who that is, that I may believe in him." And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you."

He says, "You are blind, now you see you're looking at the Messiah. You're looking at the Son of Man. You're looking at the Son of God. You're looking at the Christ." Jesus tells this blind man who has now received his sight who Jesus is claiming.

And notice the response, and he said, "Lord, I believe."

See, this is what John has been seeking for us all this time, to have faith in Christ.

And this man who was once blind, is now sighted so that he may look upon the Christ.

But he did more than just believe, and he worshiped.

He didn't worship him when he received his sight.

He worshiped him because he was the Son of God.

The Son of Man. The Christ of Messiah.

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."

He says, "That's why I came. If you are blind, I come that you might see. If you think you see, you're going to be blind."

And those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, "We are not blind too, are we?"

So they're offended. They're thinking, "Wait a minute. We're the experts. We know the law. We keep the Sabbath. We're not blind."

And Jesus commented, and Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin.

You didn't know that I am the one, that I am the fight, and you would have no sin. But because you have seen and have rejected, you have sinned. But since you say we see, your sin remains."

I started the sermon by asking you a question. Would you have some disability so that the work of God may be accomplished?

I'm going to tell you, for those of you who believe that work of God has been accomplished in your life,

you were spiritually blind, but now you see.

God performed a work in your life. He granted to you grace and salvation, one who is blind but now blind.

And I really think that's the work of God. I think Jesus gave this man sight, and he healed the other blind, and he raised the dead, and he healed the lame, and he did all these things.

And yes, they were miracles, and yes, they were signs of wonder to validate who he is.

But his true work is for those of us who believe in him with the Father's sin. And so, while I would hope that I would be willing to experience some sort of disability,

or to have some terrible circumstance in my life that never seems to be remedied,

for one day, almost giving up that God would ever do anything to think that God would perform a work in my life.

But absent any miracle performed in my life, I know that because I understand that Jesus is the Son of God, he has already performed a work of God in my life.

All I know, like this man, I once was blind, but now I see.

I don't see because I deserve it. I don't see because I'm better than anybody else.

I see because he revealed himself to me and opened my spiritual eyes and performed a work of God in my life.

And to those who think they see, think that they're an expert, think that they know all philosophy and theology and all of that, and claim that they see, Jesus says two things.

They are still blind, and they're still in their sight.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.

Give glory to God, all of us.