BLINDED TO THE TRUTH
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
-It is said that someone is legally blind when their eyesight is 20/200 or worse. That means that where a person with good eyesight can see an object at 20 feet, that same object would have to be 2 feet in front of the face of the blind person.
-While having physical blindness is definitely a problem, there are people in the world whose spiritual eyesight is 20/200 or worse—they are blind to the truths of Jesus Christ
-Now, there are many reasons for why people have physical eyesight problems—for example, my problem is astigmatism and near-sightedness, others might have might have far-sightedness, others might have problems with their retina, or they may have suffered disease or an injury to the eye
-Just as there are many reasons for physical blindness, there are also many reasons for spiritual blindness
~Thankfully, just as there are corrections and cures to physical blindness, there are corrections and cures to spiritual blindness
-In the passage we are looking at today, Jesus had just cured a physically blind man, and the crowds don’t know what to make of it—so they bring the man to the religious leaders to see if they can make sense of the whole thing
-And what we find is that those who had physical eyesight are spiritually blind to truths about Jesus Christ and His works—their hardened hearts kept them from the truth—The healing of a physically blind man revealed the spiritual blindness of those around him
-So, today I want to see four reasons that cause spiritual blindness to the truth, and hopefully it will give spiritual eyesight to some
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
-How, exactly, do people blind themselves to the truths about Jesus
I) People are blind to the truth through a lack of faith in Christ’s claims
I) People are blind to the truth through a lack of faith in Christ’s claims
-The man that had been cured by Jesus was blind from birth, and was well known in Jerusalem for having been in the streets begging
-After Jesus cured the man, the man obviously started to tell people about it—but there arose a great debate among the population about whether or not this was actually the guy who was blind or not, and, if so, what happened.
-They bring the man to the religious leaders, and again, a great debate ensued about whether or not this guy was ever actually blind, and if so, what happened to cure him
-What I notice in the reaction of the people is that they are looking all over the place for some other explanation other than the obvious—that a great miracle had occurred at the hands of Jesus Christ
-Why the debate? First, because they didn’t have any faith that such miracles could occur. And second, they didn’t like the implications of what it would mean if Jesus is the one who caused the miracle to happen.
-In the previous chapters the Jewish people as a whole were not too keen on what Jesus had been claiming for Himself. Sure, they accepted Him when He cured the sick and cast out demons—they wanted a Jesus who would give them what they wanted and give them a comfortable life.
~But when Jesus started claiming to be the Bread from Heaven and the Light of the World and claiming to be very God Himself, the people thought that went too far, and began to turn hostile toward Jesus
-The religious leaders definitely didn’t want Jesus to be who He claimed to be, so they were seeking opportunities to kill Him—why? Because they didn’t have faith that Jesus was who He claimed to be no matter what His teachings and works might actually bear witness to. They didn’t want it to be true.
-The people willfully did not want to believe in Jesus because of the implications of His claims—if He is who He says He is and if His works are telling the story of who He is, that means that you have to do something about Jesus
~That means you have to align your life with Jesus; that means you have to believe in Jesus; that means you have to obey Jesus—and people are just not willing to do that
-There are people out there that you can show them the historical evidence of Jesus and His miracles and His resurrection, you can give them the logical arguments that demonstrate that there has to be a God, you can even point out scientific evidence that there has to be a Creator and Designer to it all, but they still refuse to believe the truth because they love the darkness of the sin of their life rather than the light of truth
-People are willfully blind to the truths about Jesus because they want to be—they do not want to believe, because if they believe it changes everything
-And you know what, they’re right—I’ll tell you right now that if you believe in Jesus Christ it will change your life, but it will change for the better, it will change for eternity
-If you don’t want to believe because you love your sin more than the truth, I don’t know what to tell you—I just hope that you see the ridiculousness of your stance
~It’s like knowing that you’ve god some disease but refusing to believe in doctors because they might change your lifestyle—sure they can cure you, but you don’t want to change…
II) People are blind to the truth when their rules are more important than Christ’s revelation
II) People are blind to the truth when their rules are more important than Christ’s revelation
-The crowd brings the guy to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, who start to grill the guy. And in the midst of their interrogation they figure out that the man was cured by Jesus on the Sabbath day and that puts them in a frenzy.
-The Pharisees had made a lot of strict rules that they said were meant to keep the law of Moses. The law of Moses said that no work should be done on the Sabbath day—so the Pharisees made up 39 rules about what is and is not considered work on the Sabbath day. And, wouldn’t you know it, curing someone is considered work on the Sabbath, so it’s a big no no.
-So, instead of rejoicing that God had done a great miracle in their midst, all they concentrated on was the fact that Jesus broke their rules. It didn’t matter what Jesus said or did to the glory of God, He broke their rules. From their perspective, nobody who breaks their rules can be any good, and no good can come from breaking their manmade rules.
-And so, from a religious standpoint, there are churches and people out there who claim to be Christians, but they put Jesus in their little religious box, and they don’t think Jesus will do anything outside of their little box.
~They figure if you don’t dress like them, talk like them, walk like them, sing like them, read like them, recreate like them, etc. then Jesus is unable to do anything in anyone’s life. They are blind to the truth that Jesus revealed Himself and will work in His way, not their way. Jesus follows His rules as revealed in Scripture. Jesus does not have to follow your rules that you make up for yourself.
-Not to pick on our Independent Fundamentalist brothers and sisters, but I will:
~I have seen social media posts where they have claimed that no one can get saved except out of a King James bible. I have seen media posts where they claim that someone wearing jeans or shorts to a revival service hindered revival. They have made the gospel truths conditional on their own rules and regulations. For them, the gospel is not the power of God unto salvation, but suit-wearing, KJV-only theology is.
(By the way, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the KJV or wearing suits, but if that is your formula for spiritual truth and power, you’ve missed a Bible verse or two)
-Even worse than that, I had a preacher friend who told me a time of when he pastored a church in rural Arkansas that was all Caucasian. They had VBS and an African-American child was gloriously saved. My preacher friend wanted to baptize the child and make a big to-do about it because, guess what, somebody getting saved is a very big deal.
~I kid you not, my friend said that the deacons of the church came up to him and said that their “rule” was no blacks in their church. He can find him a church of his own kind. And my friend obviously resigned from that church.
-Their prejudices and their rules blinded them to who Christ is and what Christ can do. Jesus is the Savior of the World. The church is made up of people from every tribe, tongue and nation. And yet, still, no matter what the Bible says, that was their rule.
-Jesus revealed Himself and the truth in Scripture. If Jesus had wanted to make up all these other rules and somehow make them a condition of salvation or sanctification, He would have. But He didn’t. Jesus is the truth, and so you need to know His truth and follow His truth as He revealed it. When you add to it or take away from it, you are blind.
III) People are blind to the truth when their view of Christ is inadequate
III) People are blind to the truth when their view of Christ is inadequate
-The Pharisees ask the former blind man what His view of Jesus is, and the man says that Jesus is a prophet, which obviously doesn’t go far enough
~Now, to defend this man for a second, he was still trying to figure things out for himself, and in his mind the office of prophet was about as high up on the religious totem pole that you could get. He was trying to compliment Jesus, and as we find out later in the chapter he receives more revelation about Jesus later and places his trust in Christ as he truly is.
-But I want to consider for a moment that there are people who think Jesus is a prophet or a good teacher or a great moralist, but nothing else.
~There are people who love the Jesus that talked a lot about loving neighbors and not judging and all that, but they don’t want a Jesus that talks about a narrow road or the fires of hell or anything like that.
-You will never know the truth or cling to the truth or live the truth when your view of Jesus is inadequate—if your view of Jesus is anything less than that He is Almighty God in the flesh who died on the cross for sins and rose again in the flesh and now demands your faith and loyalty you are never going to have a grasp on the truth of reality
-Was Jesus a prophet? Yes. Was He a priest? Yes, after the order of Melchizedek. Was He a teacher? Obviously yes, because He taught some wonderful truths about the Kingdom of God. But, guess what, He is so much more than that. The problem is that people don’t want Him to be more than that. If Jesus is more than that, just like I talked about earlier, that means they’d be accountable to Him. But if your view of Jesus is inadequate, then you’re just not going to get it.
-It’s like if people were trying to describe me and they say HE IS A MAMMAL! Yeah, but I’m more than that. HE IS A HUMAN! Well, yeah, but I’m more than that. HE IS A MAN! Yeah, ever since birth (which sadly is something you have to qualify in our day and age). But guess what, I’m more than that.
~I’m a husband, a father, a son, a son-in-law, a pastor, a preacher, a teacher, and now a doctor (just not the kind that can help anybody).
~To get to know the truth about me you need to have a full picture of who I am
-If you want to know Jesus in truth, you need to know who He fully is. He is a prophet! He is a priest! He is a teacher!
~But He also is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! He is the Lion of Judah! He is the Branch of Jesse! He is Immanuel (God with us)! He is the Wonderful Counselor! He is the Mighty God! He is the Father of Eternity! He is the Prince of Peace! He is the Alpha and Omega! He is the Chief Cornerstone! He is the Bread of Life! He is the Light of the World! He is the Good Shepherd! He is Son of the Most High!
-But most importantly He is the Savior of the Whole World! He is our Resurrection and Life! And He is the King of all kings and Lord of all lords!
~There is no view of Jesus as Savior without Him also being Lord. You can’t pick and choose who you want Jesus to be. If you want sight, then see and accept Jesus for who He truly is. Anything less keeps you in blindness to the truth
IV) People are blind to the truth when they fear man more than they fear God
IV) People are blind to the truth when they fear man more than they fear God
-The religious leaders bring in the parents of the guy that Jesus cured and begin to interrogate them. But notice the description of this encounter. The Pharisees in Jerusalem had placed a rule that anyone who believed Jesus was the Messiah would be excommunicated from the synagogue.
~With that threat in back of their minds, the guy’s parents affirmed that the man was their son and that he was born blind. But when questioned about his being cured, the parents skirt around the issue. They tell the religious leaders to ask their son since he’s old enough.
-The parents were afraid of the Pharisees and what they might do to them instead of taking a stand on the truth about what happened. Now, sure, they were probably a little confused themselves; but instead of lauding the man who cured their son, they were more afraid of being kicked out of the synagogue than they were about knowing the truth.
-So, their fear of man blinded them from a chance of knowing the truth and accepting the truth. They would rather please the religious leaders than they would God.
-And I know that in our day and age the fear of man will keep many people from the truth. The very vocal liberals and Hollywood elite put pressure on people to accept abortion and accept LGBTQ lifestyles, and to be intolerant of those who have opposing views. And so, in order to please these people or to not bring ridicule upon themselves, people fall in line. They fear man rather than fearing God
~And when you allow the world system to dictate your views, you are blinded to the truths of Christ—you will never know the glories of His majesty and the greatness of His works
Conclusion
Conclusion
-In our modern day there are so many things that can help with physical blindness. There’re glasses, contacts, LASIK surgeries, cataract surgeries, and so much more.
-But the only way to cure spiritual blindness is to soften your heart to the truths of Jesus Christ
~Accept by faith the claims that He makes for Himself
~Accept His revelation in Scripture
~Accept a full view of His greatness
~Fear God instead of man
-Maybe you have been blind to the truths of Christ, but today you have been given sight finding that salvation is found in no other name than the name of Jesus. And maybe today you want to commit your life to Christ by faith and repentance, and receive Him as Lord and Savior. During the invitation, come up front…
-Christian, maybe you’ve been blinded to many different things, and you want to come and ask God for some sight and insight. Come to the altar and ask God to open your eyes to truth…
-Maybe you are looking for a church home that preaches and teaches truth, you’ve found it…