Do Not Be Blind

The Gospel of John  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  37:57
0 ratings
· 18 views
Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Introduction

Turn with me in your Bibles to John 9.
When I was in college, I took a class called Organic Chemistry. The professor frequently reminded us to wear our safety goggles, but we often took them off when he wasn’t looking. They weren’t the most comfortable things in the world, and they usually left a nice red ring around our face by the end of lab time.
One day during lab I had to use the UV light as part of an experiment, in order to see things which couldn’t be seen normally. Since the UV light was in an adjacent room, away from prying eyes, I decided to give my face a rest and take off my goggles. After all, I wasn’t using dangerous chemicals or anything, and I thought, “It’s not like these flimsy, clear goggles have UV protection or anything.” As it turns out, they DO have UV protection.
I went about my business, using the UV light for no more than a minute and never looking directly into the light. I went about my day and all was well.
Until about 3 am that next morning. I woke up and my eyes were on fire and extremely irritated. It felt like I had scales in my eyes. My first thought was that I must have eyelashes in both eyes. But I quickly realized that didn’t make sense. The pain and irritation was too much for just eyelashes. Remembering that I had been in Chemistry lab that day, I thought that I must have gotten acid on my hands and then rubbed my eyes while sleeping. But why weren’t my hands burned?
I crawled out of bed and staggered over to the sink and flipped on the light. I couldn’t see. The pain was intense. It was like looking through a glass of milk. I couldn’t see shapes and I could only vaguely see a hazy glow from the light. I started to panic. I was going blind. Would I ever see again? I woke up my roommate and he took me to the ER where they determined I had welder’s burn from exposure to UV light. I had to have salve put onto my eyes and wear bandages over my eyes the entire next day or so until they healed enough to remove the bandages. Now there is a permanent sign in my honor in the Chemistry lab which states “You must wear your goggles!” and the professor always starts the year off with a safety story about one student who sunburned his eyeballs because he didn’t wear his goggles when using the UV light.
My experience with blindness happened suddenly and lasted only a day or so. But it was enough for me to realize how awful a condition blindness is.
Scripture Introduction: In John chapter 9, we see Jesus healing a blind man. But we see another type of blindness that is even more awful than his physical blindness—spiritual blindness. John 9 is not really about physical blindness. In the preceding chapter, Jesus has just made his great ‘before Moses was, I AM’ statement and the Pharisees had tried to stone him. The point of John chapter 9 is to compare the physical blindness of the man who was blind from birth to the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees.
FCF: By nature we are all spiritually blind, unable to see or grasp spiritual truths.
Main Idea: But Jesus came to give us light, to open blind eyes and enable us to see and receive the truth of the Gospel into our lives.
Read John 9
Prayer for Illumination
Transition: As we have seen with all the miracles in John, Jesus’ healing of the blind man isn’t just a trick, it isn’t merely because he was compassionate (although he definitely was), but his healing of the blind man was done for a very specific purpose.

Jesus healed the blind man so that you might not be spiritually blind. (vv. 1-12)

Jesus’ act of healing was not just a parlor trick, it was a sign pointing to greater truths.

Jesus makes mud perhaps to symbolize an act of re-creation. Or maybe just because he could…Either way, the point is to demonstrate his power.
The Pool of Siloam (which means “the one who is sent”) connects Jesus’ act of healing the blind man to the One who sent Jesus, the Father. By having him wash in the Pool of Siloam, Jesus is showing that he is truly "the one who is sent” by the Father.

Sometimes suffering in our lives is given by God so that God might be glorified in you as he fixes the situation. (v. 3)

John 9:3 ESV
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
God allowed this man to be born blind and live his entire life up until this point—into adulthood—just so that God could be glorified in this moment.

Are you willing to suffer in order to be used by God to show his light to others?

To suffer physical ailments?
To suffer the loss of loved ones?
To suffer persecution?
When God’s people suffer with grace, it shows Christ to the world. The world is blind. They need the light of Christ.

Spiritual blindness prevents you from seeing the truth of who Christ is and what God’s Word requires. (vv. 13-17, 24-34)

Spiritual Blindness prevents you from seeing the truth—that Christ is the light of the world

A relationship with him enables you to see where you’re going and see things as they truly are.
The Pharisees didn’t have that and, therefore, couldn’t see Christ (or the blind man) as they truly were.
John 9:16 ESV
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.
John 9:24–34 ESV
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?” 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.
John 9:34 ESV
34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Blind people can’t see the light.

There’s a reason blind people can’t drive. They can’t read the road signs or see other cars approaching! The Pharisees, even though time and time again they witness Jesus performing signs that clearly point to his divine nature, can’t see the truth. They are blind. The light is shining, but they can’t see it.

When we try to reach people for Christ, we must recognize that we are trying to open blind eyes.

In our own power or clever reasoning, we simply can’t do that.
Evangelism is like trying to show a great painting to a blind person. “See how beautiful this is? Aren’t the brush strokes just perfect! Look how the artist has captured the light over here, and the colors!”

Spiritual blindness prevents you from seeing what God’s Word truly requires

The Pharisees had memorized God’s Word and his Law, yet seem oblivious to what it’s really about. They majored on the minors, and minored on the majors.
Spiritually blind people, when they look at God’s Word see a list of “do’s” and “don’ts”, a list of legal requirements to earn God’s satisfaction.
Are you living as though you believe you have to open your own eyes?
What God’s Word really requires is for you to humbly depend upon him:
Micah 6:6–8 ESV
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
But instead of walking humbly with God, those who are spiritually blind live in fear.

Spiritual blindness keeps you living in fear. (v. 22-23)

The parents reveal their spiritual state when they fearfully refuse to proclaim Christ.

They’re afraid of being excommunicated—put out of the synagogue.
Throughout the book of John, we see people living in fear, refusing to boldly proclaim Christ for fear of what other people will think or do.
But something changes between this point in John and the book of Acts—the Resurrection!

When Christ was resurrected, blind eyes were opened.

Christ’s disciples, instead of cowering in fear, boldly proclaimed him knowing that they would suffer.
Their perspective was changed—just like getting glasses or your sight for the first time! They realized that they didn’t need to fear being marginalized by other people. Christ himself had been marginalized! That just made them more like their Master. They realized that they didn’t have to fear death. Christ had overcome death!
When you gain spiritual sight, your perspective on life changes. You don’t have to live in fear.
Many people today are living in fear. People on the left, people on the right. They’re afraid of their rights being taken away. They’re afraid that their politician won’t get elected or will get ousted. And so they react. Fearful people are dangerous people. It is not courage that motivates people to riot in the streets and burn buildings—it’s fear and hate. It wasn’t courage that prompted people to storm the capitol the other day—it’s fear and hate. The source of the fear might be different, but the outcome is the same.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the Jews who claimed to be sons of Abraham in Jn 8?
John 8:39–41 ESV
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
Those who are sons and daughters of Christ will do as Christ did. What the angry mobs did on the streets of Atlanta, Minneapolis, and other cities around our nation in the name of “justice” and “equality”—the looting, burning buildings, and violent outbursts—that is not what Christ did. And the violence and lawlessness at the Capitol building last week—that is not what Christ did.
Let me remind you of a passage we read not that long ago:
1 Peter 2:13–17 ESV
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Spiritually blind people fear man and reject God. Don’t be like them. Fear God, and as an expression of that fear, obey his Word and respect the authorities and do not give approval to those who don’t.

Jesus opens blind eyes and blinds the eyes of those who think they see. (vv. 35-41)

The Pharisees thought they saw things clearly, and God left them in their unbelief.

God, in his sovereignty, allows the arrogant who think they see clearly to remain blind as a judgment upon them. This ought to make us pause and reflect.
Those who truly see humbly ask, “Lord, am I seeing things as they truly are?”
Those who are blind arrogantly say, “I see things the way they are.”
All of us have areas of our lives in which we are blind.
Have you given approval to those in the past week and in the past months who have done evil? Have you justified evil by claiming that the other side is worse or got away with it? Two wrongs don’t make a right. God says, “Be holy, as I am holy.”
Are you harboring sin in your life, turning a blind eye to it? Greed? Covetousness? Lust? Idolatry?
Are you living in fear?
Is God really first in your life?

Conclusion

Christ still opens blind eyes.

If you will humble yourself before him, Christ can give you sight.
He can grant you the perspective you need to see the world as it truly is.
He can help you love God the way that God requires.
You cannot open your own eyes. Only Christ can do that.
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more
Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.