The Stages of Spiritual Sight
Notes
Transcript
(9:8–41) Introduction:
I know this will sound crazy since we just started it last week, but today we are going to finish the 9th chapter in our walk through the Gospel of John.
So we saw that Jesus just delivered this blind man and restored his sight… and what we will see today is how the stages of spiritual sight worked through the man, and through those who choose to follow him…
First today the man will be confronted by his neighbors, then he will be confronted by the pharisees, and finally he will be confronted by Jesus.
The first stage of our spiritual sight is seeing Jesus as a man, or just learning ABOUT him.
8 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.”
Notice here that the first thing he said was a man called Jesus had healed him. He at first recognizes him as being just a normal guy.
Go back to last week and remember what happened in the encounter with Jesus
Jesus leaves the temple and sees the blind man sitting outside
Jesus gave him stuff that he needed to do, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam”
He did what Jesus asked him to do
His sight was restored.
It is truly amazing, we see this man was healed and touched by Jesus and his sight was restored but one thing is clear is all of this happened before he even knew who Jesus was, he didn’t have a true understand as Jesus as the son of God in this moment. Instead he at this moment in the story is only seeing Jesus as a regular dude.
This shows that the first step is to learn about Jesus, we cannot truly understand who he is unless we have learned about him. It is impossible to know him as God and savior without first knowing who he is. It is how our story would go as well if you look back, we first learned of Jesus before we could ever truly know him on a personal level. And it will be important for this first step to know about him before he moves on to truly knowing him.
IF you think about this i terms of your dating your spouse you can understand this is the stage when you first meet and you are really excited because there are some interesting things about the person, you are enjoying hearing about them and learning what you can, and you want to learn more, but at this point its only been a date or so and you don’t truly know yet.
The good news for this man is he didn’t stop here. He didn’t just stop at knowing about Jesus he didn’t let his faith and his journey end there, he continued to take his walk, unfortunately there are tons of people today that this is as far as their faith takes them. They only know ABOUT Jesus, they’ve heard stories about him, they have understood him as a person and think he may be a good teacher.
They fail to understand what he teaches and claims to be, they dont understand his power and promises……
But they have not taken any steps to do anything else. So what is the next step we see in this man’s journey and ours?
The second stage is to see Jesus as a healer and helper.
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.
After being confronted by his neighbors we see he is now being confronted by the Pharisees, as he has been brought before them and we see in verse 14 the reason why is because once again Jesus is having the nerve to heal on a Sabbath which could have only been one of the deepest offenses to the Jewish leaders.
Now look at what the man responds to these guys
a John 9:15
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.”
Here we see progression, he is still seeing Jesus as a man but he is seeing him as a man that has done some things, he has a healer. He tells them He did these things to me and I could see, and he’s giving Jesus credit as the one who has healed him.
IT is also important to note here that this is a confession by this man, he is being questioned by authorities and he is giving a response so he is confessing to some truths that he knows and he is saying Jesus, the man is the healer.
We see many people in today’s society stopping right where this man has arrived. They know about Jesus and they recognize him a healer… or a great teacher… or a helper… or maybe a good example of how to live
But the problem is while all those things ARE true it falls short of the complete truth… When people get to this point much like the man they haven’t gotten to a place of personal relationship where they are worshipping him for who he is and place of true salvation…
Then we see the NEXT step in his faith journey.
The third step was/is seeing Jesus as a prophet
a John 9:16-17
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.
17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Now this is something we may not fully understand until we slow it down and slow our brain down in our reading to really grasp what is being said here by the man. This is a huge jump and progression in what he has seen Jesus as before
In their culture a prophet was the highest position a man could hold, the prophet was God’s chosen man, a voice of God to the people
They believed not only was he chosen by God to be a voice, but he was someone who walked close to God, who could demonstrate God’s power, who could proclaim the message of God, and could help the people by warning them and ministering to them
We have to understand how big of a jump this is, he has learned about him, he has seen him as helper, and now he is starting to recognize there is something of God going on here.
This idea while true still falls short of what is the actual truth, he is only seeing him in part, not for who he fully is. HE still hasn’t made a personal relationship with Jesus to see him as who he really is. ANd we can see a lot of this in today’s society there are tons of people that can even go to church and know Jesus as healer, teacher, prophet, but have never taken another step to see him as LORD. And you can see that because they haven’t given their lives… they are still living life their own way and not doing what Jesus has called them to… Sure they believe all of the right stuff, but they don’t live it out.
This is the trouble with a lot of people in the church in today’s society they know his power, but they are living as Craig Groschell calls it Christian Atheist…
So what is the next step in the journey?
The fourth step in the spiritual Journey is seeing Jesus as savior
18 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
19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
22 (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 was to be put out of the synagogue.)
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 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?”
We should just stop and admire the transition that is happening here, this man is starting to see him as Savior… did you see it? Look at verse 15 again…
a John 9:25
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.”
And this is a pretty famous verse that we like to sing about when we sing of his amazing grace…
Just think of what he has went through. He is being questioned by some of the most important people in society. They are really trying to get him to catch Jesus where he is and wrap him up so they can execute Him, and this man should have been fearful of this situation. but he isn’t scared, he just gives it straight to the leaders about how great Jesus is and I find it interesting, they keep wanting him to change his story… and I am guessing if he changes his story that would be the version he kept… and they keep giving him that opportunity but he is turning it down every chance he gets…
And this should teach us something, it should show us, as they are asking him these deep theological questions, he doesn’t even attempt to answer them John 9:24-25
24 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.”
and we should understand the power of our testimony… Do we know why good things happen to bad people… do we know why God allows whatever… Nope… but what I do know, is once I was blind, but now I see… Once I was a horrible lost person who lived entirely for myself and my ways and to benefit me, but then he changed me to care about others.
The point of this step is he has progressed in his view of JEsus, Jesus could be a man like everyone else, but he can’t say for sure… all he knows is Jesus was his savior that was able to deliver him from blindness…
It remind me of Pauls Words to Timothy…1 Ti 1:15
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
The fifth step we see here and in our own walk is seeing Jesus as being “of God”
Look at how The Blind man finally responds when they question his confession of Jesus.
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.
It just made sense to him that it would have to be God’s will to help a blind man… He tells them that God can’t listen to sinners, but he obviously had listened to Jesus so he can’t be a sinner there has to be something good from him… listen you can just see what he has done and know that he must be from God, because otherwise he would not have had the power to heal him, life experience shows him that is true……
To this man it was clear that the works of JEsus were a clear proof that he was from God, he wasn’t a liar or deceiver, he wasn’t evil, he was good. He had to be who he claimed he was.
The last stage is seeing Jesus as the Son of God
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.
Look at what is happening here, the religious, the leaders cast the man out… and Jesus again seeks and finds him… and he asks him a specific question….
and we can see that any person can be cast out… any of us can be a cast out from family or friends, or neighbors but Jesus is the one who seeks out the ones who have been cast out…………
What an epic wrap up in this story… the man comes finally to the realization that Jesus is the Son of God, and he casts his belief upon Jesus… he calls him Lord and says I BELIEVE!!!
He sees him as the Son of God and it all is put together
And it coincidentally goes with Mark 1:1
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And after he looks at all of this stuff look what it says it says in verse 38 HE WORSHIPPED HIM. Once he has a personal revelation and relationship with Jesus and knew who he was he worshipped him. The truth of the Gospel was so Good, that he knew that was the only option… to worship him…
And at the end we can see that Jesus mission on earth
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.
He Judges the man who is spiritually blind and wants to see and gives him sight…. SPIRITUALLY
ANd he judges the man that claims to see spiritually and claims to know God but is apart from Jesus to be blind… and we can see this in his words to the pharisees…
For us this means we must judge where w are on this path and continue moviign forward… some of you…if you have pronounced him as your Lord and savior then it is time to do what we said last week… and do the works of him who sent him…