Seeing Clearly
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Visible God which is about seeing God through the life of Jesus. We’re studying a book of the bible called the Gospel of John which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus, and today Jesus is gonna teach us about a kind of blindness that’s hard to recognize. A kind of blindness that’s easy to recognize is physical blindness. You don’t need an eye exam to figure out your blind if you walk in a dark cavern, a dark house, or hit a pinata blindfolded. You know you’re blind the very moment you can’t see anything. So our physical blindness is easy to recognize, but there’s a different kind of blindness that isn’t easy to recognize, and it’s called reality blindness.
Reality blindness is where you view the world a certain way, but that view isn’t reality. You think it’s reality, but it isn’t. For example some kids have a flawed reality thinking they’re old enough to make certain decisions. But parents have to say “no” sometimes to protect them from dangers their kids are blind to, dangers their kids don’t even realize exist...I personally used to have a flawed reality, when it came to 4Rivers BBQ. I didn’t like it at first, I was blind to all the hype. But then I ordered their brisket moist with extra bark, and had a conversion experience, I became a 4Rivers believer...My point is your view of reality is sometimes flawed, because there’s things in your life you haven’t been exposed to yet. There’s certain parts of reality you’re still blind to, which makes reality blindness hard to recognize. Physical blindness you recognize right away, but with reality blindness you don’t even realize your blind. You don’t realize your blind until you’re exposed to a different reality, which is what Jesus does in today’s text. Today he’ll teach us about a reality blindness that exists in our world today, so let’s turn to John 9:8-41 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn a few books to the right you’ll find John. We’ll be in John 9:8-41. Title of today’s message is Seeing Clearly, and here’s the big idea. Jesus can open the eyes, of the spiritually blind...Jesus can open the eyes, of the spiritually blind.
Context:
Here’s your context. Last week in vs 1-7 we learned that Jesus heals a man who was born blind, and in that study we learned 3 different ways people tend to respond to pain. We tend to respond with karmic guilt, with blaming others, or with using our pain for a purpose. We tend to respond with ‘I hate me,’ ‘I hate thee,’ or ‘God use me. God use my suffering for a purpose, for the good of others, for the glory of Jesus.” That’s what we learned last week, but today we’ll learn the main point of ch 9 isn’t about a physical healing. It isn’t about a physical healing from physical blindness. It’s about a spiritual healing from spiritual blindness, so let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 9:8-41 states, “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?’ 9 Some said, ‘It is he.’ Others said, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ 10 So they said to him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ 11 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.’ 12 They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’” So the neighbors are giving some credibility to this miracle’s validity. I mean they wouldn’t be asking these questions if it didn’t happen, but they’re asking because they’ve never seen a miracle like this before. They’re blind to this reality, and they’re trying to make sense of things. If you study history you’ll notice this kind of thing happens a lot around the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus often causes questions and even debates. Jesus says something, there’s debate. Jesus does something, there’s debate. Jesus heals a guy born blind, there’s more questions and debate. The life of Jesus causes questions and debates, even today.
There’s a great book a lot of colleges use for their world religions courses, it’s called The World’s Religions by Huston Smith. In the book Smith mentions there’s only been 2 people in history whose lives were so influential and extraordinary, it caused people around them to ask not who are you, but what are you? Those 2 people are Buddha and Jesus. Smith then explains that the difference between Buddha and Jesus, is their claims to deity. Buddha didn’t claim to be God, but Jesus did. So that leaves Jesus being the only person in history who was asked what are you, and responded by claiming to be God. Now there’s been a lot of people throughout history who’ve claimed to be god, some even convinced a few people to follow them. But in the end they were all proven wrong after drinking the Kool-Aid, except for Jesus. Jesus is the only one in history whose made such a claim, and backed it up in such a way, that it caused a multitude of people to believe him...It caused a multitude of people to believe he really is God...So you can question him and his actions all you want like the people in the text. But in the end your options are to either deny his claim and reject him as God...or accept his claim and worship him as God. The people in the text can’t figure things out, so they bring this man to their religious leaders.
Vs. 13, “They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.’ 16 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 signs?’ And there was a division among them.” Okay so now we have the Pharisees, the religious leaders debating over Jesus and this miracle. The neighbors recognize something miraculous has happened, they can’t figure it out, so they bring the guy to their religious leaders. But now the religious leaders are debating and they want more proof. So they go to interrogate the guy’s parents in vs 18.
Vs. 18 states, “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.” Notice it says the Pharisees didn’t believe the miracle was true, ‘until’ they called the parents, meaning the parents confirm it’s true. The parents confirm their son was born blind, but now he’s healed. So both the neighbors and the parents give credibility to this miracle’s validity. But here’s where the spiritual blindness comes in, and it’s the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. The text says they believed the miracle happened after talking with the parents, but they still don’t believe in Jesus. It’s because they have a biased hatred against Jesus just like some people today, maybe even some of you listening now. They have a biased hatred against Jesus that’s causing them to have a flawed view of Jesus. They’re spiritually blind, and they don’t even realize it. Let’s pick it up in vs 24.
Vs. 24 states, “So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ‘Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.’ 25 He answered, ‘Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ 26 They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ 27 He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’” I like this guy, he has a little snarkyness to him. They’re trying to coerce him by threatening to cast him out of the synagogue, if he doesn’t slander Jesus in their support. But he doesn’t do it, instead he’s like “Why are you asking me the same questions? I already told you I was blind, but now I see. There’s nothing you can say that can change that fact. So why do you keep asking the same questions? Oooh I get it, you want to be his disciples too!” This causes them to erupt in anger, revealing just how much biased hatred they really have against Jesus.
Vs. 28, “And they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ 30 The man answered, ‘Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 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. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ 34 They answered him, ‘You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?’ And they cast him out.” Notice the guy says “this is an amazing thing,” meaning their unbelief is more amazing than the miracle. Their unbelief, their spiritual blindness, is more amazing than him being healed from physical blindness. They have such a biased hatred against Jesus, that they can’t even see true reality. They don’t like he says this, so they cast him out.
Vs. 35, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ 36 He answered, ‘And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?’ 37
Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.’ 38 He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.” So after all the debates Jesus says “I’m the one who healed you,” and he worships Jesus. He worships Jesus, and this is how we’re healed from spiritual blindness. It’s by turning to Jesus, worshiping Jesus, loving Jesus, and the deeper your love for Jesus, the deeper your spiritual clarity will be. You’ll start to see your sin as the real depravity it is, and enjoy his grace for the real beauty it is. You won’t appreciate the beauty of grace, until you’ve felt the depravity of sin. You won’t appreciate the beauty of his grace on the cross, until you’ve felt the depravity of sin in your heart. To be spiritually blind is to be like these Pharisees. It’s to ignore the depravity of your sin and your need for Jesus. Some of you listening right now may believe you sin in general like the Pharisees, but not in a way that causes you to turn to Jesus in particular like the blind man. The Pharisees don’t admit their sinful depravity against Jesus, they don’t worship Jesus, and so they remain spiritually blind, which Jesus says next.
Vs. 39, “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.’ 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ‘Are we also blind?’ 41 Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.’” Jesus is saying it’s the Pharisees who are spiritually blind, not the blind man. They’re saying the blind man sees incorrectly, but they’re the ones seeing incorrectly. They’re saying we see, but Jesus is saying their biased hatred against him, is making them spiritually blind and guilty of judgement, thus their guilt remains.
Now here’s what makes this entire event so interesting to me. It’s that here we have a guy who’s born physically blind, walked his entire life without sight, which in that society meant he had to beg every day for food, money, and help just to survive. So you’d think he would’ve started worshiping Jesus at the very moment he was physically healed, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t start worshiping Jesus until after he realizes who Jesus is. He doesn’t start worshiping until after he realizes the answer to the historical what are you question, which is that Jesus is God. He realizes Jesus didn’t just claim to be God, he actually backed it up by physically healing him. So he responds by worshiping Jesus as God, and the fact he celebrates more over knowing Jesus is God than he does over being healed from physical blindness is telling. It tells us the greater healing isn’t in physical healing, it’s spiritual healing. It tells us the greater joy for our souls isn’t in the physical things we’re seeking, it’s in a deepening relationship with Jesus. It tells us there’s something really special about getting to know Jesus like this man did. He’s so special, that knowing him was worth more to this man, than being healed from physical blindness. May we crave to know Jesus like this man did. May we crave to know and see Jesus so clearly, that it causes our souls to rejoice greater over Jesus, than even our greatest physical needs being met.
The Big Idea:
Look the big idea is that Jesus can open the eyes of the spiritually blind. City Awakening if you believe that’s true, then respond to this message by inviting others to watch our Easter service next week. Let’s invite others to watch our Easter service because it’s invitations, that’ll lead to real life transformations like the blind man...You can also respond to this message by repenting of your sins and believing Jesus died for your sins on the cross. If you don’t want to walk in spiritual blindness then ask Jesus to open your eyes right now wherever you’re at...Ask him to open your eyes to see him for who he really is, to see the depravity of your sins, and to see the beauty of his grace poured out for you on the cross...Let all of us respond to this message by asking Jesus to help us see him more clearly, and know him more joyfully, like the blind man.