05-13-2018 – Spiritual Blindness!
These are the sermon notes from the church bulletin insert:
05-13-2018
Spiritual Blindness!
John 9:13-41
Read John 9:13-16... The man says, “He put mud on
my eyes, I washed and now I see.”
The Pharisees say Jesus is not from God, for He didn’t keep the Sabbath. Jesus didn’t break any biblical commands concerning the Sabbath, although He violated religious rules, healing a man with a withered hand (Matthew 12:9-13), an invalid (John 5:1-9), making it clear (Mark 2:27), “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Read 9:17-23... The Jews don’t believe he was blind, so they call his parents in to testify. His parents don’t want to tangle with the Pharisees, so they say, ask him, he is an adult, he can answer for himself.
Read John 9:24-30... The Jews challenge the healed man to say Jesus is a sinner, and is not from God! His response was, “I was blind but now I can see!”
The Jews escalate, “How did He heal you?” “I told you already, do you want to become His disciples?
The all-knowing Jews don’t know where Jesus comes from, i.e., He is credentialed, we don’t acknowledge Him.
John 9:31-34... The ex-blind guy gives these Jews a lashing, “If this man [Jesus] is not from God, He could not do this miracle.”
The Pharisees release their vehemence, “you were born in sin,” they threw him out of the synagogue.
The Jews were spiritually dead (1Corinthians 2:14), “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Read John 9:35-38... The Lord finds the man and asks, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [Messiah, cf. Daniel 7:13-14), He has all power and dominion.
Jesus reveals Himself and the man responds, “Lord, I believe,” after which he worships the Lord.
Romans 5:12, “sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned,” 17-18, “death reigned through that one man [Adam], how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.”
John 9:39-41... Jesus tells the Pharisees they are guilty before God, unwilling to repent and be saved; they are lovers of darkness rather than light.
The blind beggar received sight and salvation.
John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
2Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel,” 6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2Corinthians 5:17-18, 21, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ.” 20-21, “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Herbert Spencer: time, force, action, space, matter. See Genesis 1:1...
“In the beginning” (that’s time)... “God” (that’s force)... “created” (that’s action)... “the heavens” (that’s space) ... “the earth” (that’s matter).
All who repent of sin, believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, are healed of spiritual blindness.