I Was Blind But Now I See

Order of Service

• Hymn — Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
• Call to Worship — Psalm 24
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Shorter Catechism
• Scripture Reading — Malachi 4
• Hymn — Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Amazing Grace
• Sermon
• Prayer
• Hymn — Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Doxology

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Sermon Title: I Was Blind But Now I See

Scripture: John 9

I. The Light of the World That Opens the Eyes of the Body

A. The blind man's condition — born blind, relegated to begging, with little support from parents or neighbors

B. Jesus heals the man by making mud with saliva, anointing his eyes, and sending him to wash in the Pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7)

C. Jesus's method of healing is not uniform throughout the Gospels

1. In Mark 8 he spits on a blind man's eyes
2. In Mark 10 he heals Bartimaeus with a word
3. In John 4 he heals the official's son from a distance
4. The variety of methods points away from mechanism or magic and toward Jesus's divine authority as the God-man

D. The mud carries theological significance within a passage about Jesus as the light of the world

1. John's prologue connects Christ as light with the original creation
2. Adam (adam) was made from the ground (adamah); after the Fall, the ground works against man
3. In Christ the reversal begins — as with lepers made clean by his touch, the ground now works to bring light out of darkness

E. The Pool of Siloam ("Sent") was part of Hezekiah's water system; its waters were used during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7–8) for the water-pouring ceremony at the altar

F. This physical healing is temporary — the man will die — but it is a foretaste of the complete and eternal healing Christ's people will experience at his return

1. Joni Eareckson Tada: "The best we can hope for in this life is a not-yet-whole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough."
2. This miracle is not a guarantee of physical healing today, but a guarantee that all physical maladies will be fully removed when Christ returns as the light who never leaves

II. The Light of the World That Closes the Eyes of the Heart

A. The physical miracle functions as a sign pointing to a deeper spiritual reality — the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees (John 9:13-41)

B. The Pharisees are concerned that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, breaking their man-made tradition — as in John 5 with the healing at the Pool of Bethesda

C. The formerly blind man proves to be a better theologian than the Pharisees

1. He reasons simply: no one born blind has ever been healed; God does not hear sinners; therefore this man must be from God
2. His famous words expose the Pharisees' failure: "Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know: though I was blind, now I see."

D. Jesus explains the judicial dimension of his coming (John 9:39-41)

1. "Those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind"
2. The Pharisees' guilt remains because they claim to see yet refuse the light
3. This is a special category of sin — eyes-wide-open rejection of God's clear display of glory — akin to the unforgivable sin in Mark 3 where the Pharisees attribute Christ's works to Satan

E. The root of the Pharisees' blindness is pride and self-made religion

1. They expect Messiah to confirm their traditions and validate their righteousness
2. They have become their own messiah; the true Messiah must look like them
3. Contrast: the blind man has been trained his whole life in utter dependence — the very posture Christ calls his people to

F. Application: It is easy for any believer to treat Christ as a confirming witness to one's own opinions rather than as Lord; we all have "a little Pharisee" within

III. The Light of the World That Opens the Eyes of the Heart

A. Jesus seeks the man out — the man does not cry out to Jesus as Bartimaeus does in Mark 10

B. Jesus corrects the disciples' assumption that suffering always results from specific sin (John 9:1-3)

1. In John 5 Jesus did attribute the paralyzed man's condition to his sin — sin can be a cause of suffering
2. Here, however, the man's blindness has a different purpose: "that the works of God might be displayed in him"
3. Unlike the Pharisaic schools, Jesus does not make this a hard-and-fast rule

C. The charge to work while it is day (John 9:4)

1. The days are short; believers are called to get busy doing the works of God
2. David in Psalm 6 pleads for deliverance, noting that in death there is no praise — the chief aim of life is to glorify God while breath remains

D. The progressive growth of the man's knowledge of Jesus is the climactic work of God on display

1. John 9:11 — "the man called Jesus"
2. John 9:17 — "He is a prophet"
3. John 9:38 — "Lord, I believe" — and he worships him
4. The opening of his physical eyes was ordained so that the eyes of his heart might be opened to see and worship Christ as Lord and King

E. God's sovereign purpose in suffering — Romans 8:28

1. "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose"
2. This blind man is one called according to God's purpose; his suffering was the instrument God used to bring him into the joy of salvation
3. For every child of God, physical, mental, and spiritual suffering is held in the sovereign hand of the Lord to draw his people into the blessed light of the Son

F. Illustration: Hymn writer Helen Lemmel was struck blind at the height of her fame; her husband left her; friends abandoned her — and out of that blindness and heartache she wrote Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, testifying that the light of Christ's glory causes the things of earth to grow strangely dim