From Blind to Believer

Body

John 9:1–7 (CSB)

1 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

1 - Responded in Obedience

When Jesus tells the man to go and wash, the man did.

We are often scared when it comes to taking that step of faith.

But this man recognized that Jesus was his only hope. He had been blind from birth, someone who was without hope in the ancient world.

But he responded to the call of Christ and was healed.

The first thing that often is a tell - tell sign of someone who has truly been changed for Christ is their obedient response to Christ and his call.

I was faithless, just a broken teenager without the hope of Christ but I faithfully responded to the call of Christ and was saved.

Have you faithfully responded to the call of Christ? Or have you just been sitting back in your wordly problems when the true source of Joy and salvation is right there?

John 9:8–24 (CSB)

8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?” 9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.” 10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.” 12 “Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said. 13 They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. 14 The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” “He’s a prophet,” he said. 18 The Jews did not believe this about him—that he was blind and received sight—until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 “We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered. 21 “But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as the Messiah, he would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.” 24 So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

2 - Appeared as a changed man

I want you all to notice this about the passage, that from the moment this man was healed by Christ he appeared as a different man.

There was great confusion by the people who had known him for all of his life as a bottom class begger.

When you came into relationship with Jesus, did people notice? Did you go back to the ways you were living before?

Cussing, lying, falling back into your fleshly desires?

I’m not saying you will ever be perfect, in fact there isn’t a person in this very room who isn’t flawed, however, the call of Christ is to live a new life that glorifies him.

We should hate the sinful desires that we had prior to salvation and trust in Christ and his eternal vision for our lives.

When I came to know Christ it was over the summer of my sophomore year in high school, I left school in May just like the rest of my friends.

I cussed, talked to my friends about things that no teenager should talk to their friends about, in fact I acted and spoke like nearly every other teenager in America today.

Over the course of the summer, Christ took over my life and I began to follow Jesus, I wanted to be different than the rest of the teenagers in America today.

When I got back to school, my friends were mind blown by the transformation, and not in the positive way that you would think, Slowly but surely I would lose friends that I probably never should have been friends with in the first place, however,

I would also gain friends that I believe will last a lifetime, I turned from seeking the temporary joys that as young people we so often pursue, and instead I turned to the eternal Joy that only Jesus offers.

Do you appear Changed or are you the same popular kid who is still living for the temporary?

Because the reality is if you aren’t appearing changed, if you made a decision and nothing changed then you have to genuinely ask yourself did I really put my faith in Christ or did I just like the idea?

John 9:25–41 CSB

25 He answered, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 “I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” 28 They ridiculed him: “You’re that man’s disciple, but we’re Moses’s disciples. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we don’t know where he’s from.” 30 “This is an amazing thing!” the man told them. “You don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him. 32 Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.” 34 “You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, Sir, that I may believe in him?” he asked. 37 Jesus answered, “You have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 “I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?” 41 “If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

3 - Shared the good news with others

When Jesus changes your life, he changes it in such a way that you feel an itch to tell others about the Joy that only he can provide.

This man, says the statement that radiated over my life when I came to know Jesus and that is that “I was blind, and now I can see!”

After Jesus took over my life I started to share that good news with people around me and I got to see some of my friends, that did the same stupid stuff that I used to do, come to know the same Joy that I knew, and that Joy was Jesus.

There were friends who thought it was crazy and others who couldn’t get enough of the gospel.

Our job, like this man in this story is simply to plant the seeds and make known the life change that only Christ can provide.

If you had the cure for cancer would you keep it to yourself?

I know that sounds cliche, however, even more important than the cure for cancer that can save someone’s life on the earth, we have in our hearts as Christians, the cure that can save someone’s eternity.

Will we keep that to ourselves?

Conclusion

Ask yourself these 3 Important questions as we conclude

1- Did I respond in Obedience

2- Did I appear as a changed person

3- Am I