THE JOY OF SEEING CLEARLY

 SUNDAY, 30TH APRIL, 2023.

Topic: THE JOY OF SEEING CLEARLY

(The Testimony Of The Man Born Blind)

MEMORIZE: “He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." John 9:25.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 9:1-11

  “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,  7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 ¶ The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.”

EXPOSITION:

1. The condition of this poor man was very sad. He was blind, and had been so from his birth. If the light is sweet, how melancholy must it needs be for a man, all his days, to eat in darkness! He that is blind has no enjoyment of the light, but he that is born blind has no idea of it.

On several occasions people are found concluding that the afflictions that some people around them are passing through were as result of their sins. They attribute the sufferings of other people to their isolation from God or to their prayerlessness. The disciples also asked Jesus whether this extraordinary calamity of blindness from birth was the punishment of some uncommon wickedness, and that this man was a sinner above all men that dwelt at Jerusalem? Jesus said, it was neither his sins nor his parents’ but that the glory of God be shown in him. 

2. The compassions of our Lord Jesus towards him were very tender. He saw him; that is, he took cognizance of his case, and looked upon him with concern. When God is about to work deliverance, he is said to see the affliction; so Christ saw this poor man. Others saw him, but not as he did. This poor man could not see Christ, but Christ saw him, and anticipated both his prayers and expectations with a surprising cure. Christ is often found of those that seek him not, nor see him, Isa 65:1 “"I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' To a nation that was not called by My name.” Jesus said, it was his Father's will: “I must work the works of him that sent me.”

3. The manner of the cure of the blind man, John 9:6-7. The circumstances of the miracle are singular, and no doubt significant. When he had thus spoken for the instruction of his disciples, and the opening of their understandings, he addressed himself to the opening of the blind man's eyes.

4. The preparation of the eye-salve. Christ spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle. He could have cured him with a word, as he did others, but he chose to do it in this way to show that he is not tied to any method. He made clay of his own spittle, because there was no water near.

5. The application of it to the place: He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Or, as the margin reads it, He spread, he daubed the clay upon the eyes of the blind man, like a tender physician; he did it himself with his own hand, though the patient was a beggar. 

6. The directions given to the patient, John 9:7. His physician said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Lessons to learn: (1.) Christ would hereby try his obedience, and whether he would with an implicit faith obey the orders of one he was so much a stranger to. 

7. The cure effected: He came seeing. There is more glory in this concise narrative, He went and washed, and came seeing. When the clay was washed off from his eyes, all the other impediments were removed with it; so when the pangs and struggles of the new birth are over, and the pains and terrors of conviction past, the bands of sin fly off with them, and a glorious light and liberty succeed.

8. The Testimony: I was once blind, but now I see. Some said, This is he, the very same man; and these are witnesses to the truth of the miracle, for they had long known him stone-blind. (2.) Others, who could not think it possible that a man born blind should thus on a sudden receive his sight, for that reason, and no other, said, He is not he, but is like him, and so, by their confession, if it be he, it is a great miracle that is wrought upon him.

9. This controversy was soon decided by the man himself: He said, I am he, the very man that so lately sat and begged; "I am he that was blind, and was an object of the charity of men, but now see, and am a monument of the mercy and grace of God." We do not find that the neighbours appealed to him in this matter, but he, hearing the debate, interposed, and put an end to it. It is a piece of justice we owe to our neighbours to rectify their mistakes, and to set things before them, as far as we are able, in a true light.  Applying it spiritually, it teaches us that those who are savingly enlightened by the grace of God should be ready to own what they were before that blessed change was wrought, 1Ti 1:13-14. 

What are you passing through that liken you to a blind? Call unto God for His touch of miracle to have a clear sight of the future and glorious destiny, He will have mercy on you and your life will no longer remain the same. There is joy in seeing clearly. Henceforth, your testimony will be: I was once blind, but now I see. Don’t forget, Only Jesus Christ can do it.

PRAYER POINT: Lord, let your healing power that do wonders make me whole in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  1 Chronicles 24-26.

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