Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 2, 1995
John 9:30-41
THE MAN BORN BLIND
I. What it would be like to be blind.
A. Worst handicap I can imagine.
The Seeing Eye was founded by Dorothy Harrison Eustis.
She wanted to restore good traits in German Shepherds and had
much success with it in Switzerland.
She wrote an article on Germans training dogs to guide the blind
and gave it the title,
"The seeing eye and the hearing ear, the Lord hath made even
both of them." (Prov 20:12, KJV).
The first American she trained was 20 year old Morris Frank.
He started The Seeing Eye institute in America in 1929.
In 1931 The Seeing Eye made its home in Morris county, New
Jersey.
In 1991 it had united 10,000 dogs with blind companions.
#1391
B. We would give anything to see again.
1) Many have heard about the dramatic operation for Sally
Collin.
This woman was legally blind since 1982 due to disease.
She had never seen two of her three children.
On March 20 her 15-year-old son Christopher was hit by a
car and died.
Among those getting transplants from his organs, his own
mother received a cornea which restored her sight.
A wonderful gift - but at what a price!
2) Sally Collins was only blind 13 years, but a man Jesus
met was blind from birth.
C. John 9 is about a man who was blind, and isn't, and those
who weren't, and are.
II. Why blind?
A. Jews associated suffering with sin. 9:2
1) Kids do suffer because of parents. (OT, experience)
2) We can suffer because of our own sin.
3) But is it automatic, even before birth?
B. No reasons, but a purpose.
1) Jesus says any handicap can show what God can do. 9:3
a) Sign of God's power when he heals.
b) Sign of God's grace when we endure.
Helen Keller once said: "I thank God for my handicaps,
for through them I have found myself, my work and
my God." #3108
2) In God's eyes, we're all handicapped. Exod 4:11
C. A "Messiah" miracle.
1) The power of spit. 9:6
a) Not medicine, but inducement to faith.
b) Important to have a part ("go") in our healing. 9:7
2) An unprecedented miracle.
a) There are no examples of the blind being healed in O.T.
b) There are only prophecies that the Messiah would do this.
c) Reason people were so skeptical, and became primary
symbol of Jesus' power in John.
III. The O.J. trial of the First Century.
A. Man undergoes four interrogations.
1) Neighbors wonder if he's same guy. 9:8
2) Pharisees question him three times.
a) What really happened?
b) Why would he violate the Sabbath? 9:16
1> Healing, kneading, anointing.
c) We KNOW Jesus is a sinner. Joshua 7:19
B. Basic convictions. 9:25
1) Blind man is not an expert in theology, but knows what he
has experienced. 9:25
2) We can know God is real before he answers all our questions.
3) What God has done for us is our most powerful testimony.
C. Rejecting Jesus, they reject the man. 9:34
IV. Two progressions.
A. The healed man grows in his perception of Jesus.
1) The man they call Jesus. 9:11
2) A prophet, a man from God. 9:17
3) Worshipping the Son. 9:38
B. The Pharisees shrink in their perception of Jesus.
1) At first they accept miracle.
2) At end they completely reject Jesus and his new disciple.
V. How well do you see?
A. Many are unaware of the will of God in their lives.
1) Even true of religious people.
2) Jesus doesn't say Pharisees are blind.
a) This would give them an excuse, ignorance.
b) But they claim to see (have spiritual knowledge)
therefore they sin.
3) Dangerous to claim to have sight.
B. Ask God for spiritual sight.
A television program preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics featured
blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as
that sounds.
Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the
flats how to make right and left turns.
When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope,
where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting,
"Left!" and "Right!"
As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the
course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the
sighted skiers' word.
It was either complete trust or catastrophe.
What a great picture of the Christian life!
In this world, we are in reality blind about what course to
take.
We must rely solely on the Word of the only One who is truly
sighted - God himself.
His Word gives us the direction we need to finish the course.
#2109
1) Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:18- may eyes of heart be opened.
2) Be open to God working in unexpected ways.
3) Perceive God working in your own life, and in others.
