Are Your Eyes Opened?
When Jesus came forth to do His Father’s Will; He proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)
He spoke to the people of the Father in heaven which wanted their good; and had given laws and commandments which reflected His holiness and their duty; which if they followed, would bring about their blessing.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. “(Matthew 5:3-4)
Simply, if you know that you are “poor” (without strength and power to do the law and commandments, because of your sin); and mourn over them….
Then….because you see and know your sin, you can be saved from them and enter the kingdom of heaven, now.
(“..theirs is”, not will be. Eternal life is a condition of life, here and now; and a life in heaven, hereafter.)
I am going to use a blind man, who gained his sight by Jesus; and seeing men, who refused to acknowledge Jesus and were blind; for an example:
John 9:1-3,5 “And Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
As long as I am in this world, I am the light of the world.”
Here was a blind man, from birth; and Jesus said that he was blind that the glory of God should be shown by him.
John 9:6-7 “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,
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.”
Making clay, Jesus puts it on the eyes of the blind man, and tells him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. (Notice, even mud is called “anointed” by the Holy Spirit, when Jesus does it.)
When the man does, he sees.
Now you would think, that it would be finished. But, not so.
This set in motion what Jesus had said: the works of God should be made manifest in him.
And it all started with the neighbors: it was a back and forth about whether he was really the blind man.
Yes, he was.
Then how did you get your sight?
A man called Jesus. And he told them how Jesus healed him. (John 9:8-11)
This lead to the neighbors to bring the blind man to the Pharisees.
(Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus spit upon the ground, made clay and put that on the eyes of the blind man.)
The Pharisees asked him how he got healed. And when he shared his testimony with them….some argued that Jesus had not kept the Sabbath because of the healing, and so was a sinner.
And some said that he could not be a sinner, and do such miracles.
Then they asked the blind/seeing man what he thought of Jesus: and he said, “He is a prophet.”
(See how Jesus separates people? Some see Him as He is; from God. Others will not see)
Then the Pharisees called this man’s parents: who did not want anything to do with the whole thing. They were afraid of being put out of the synagogue.
So they reinterviewed the blind/seeing man. They wanted him to say that he knew that Jesus was a sinner.
But he didn’t. Instead he took his faith in Jesus, a step further.
(Seeing always leads to more light)
John 9:25, 30-33 “he answered and said, Whither He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him will He heareth.
Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
If this man was not of God He could do nothing.”
So the Pharisees excommunicated him.
But Jesus “found him”. (Has He not said that He came to seek and to save that which was lost?)
John 9:35-38 “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him.”
“I believe.” True sight begins with believing obedience to Jesus Word…and leads to believing on Christ Jesus, Himself.
John 9:39-41 “And Jesus said, For judgement am I come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; Therefore your sin remaineth.”
If we truly “see” our sin, and mourn for it; we will obey Jesus Word and “wash”.
If we truly believe His Word, we will come to believe on Jesus Christ, Himself; and enter the kingdom.
We will be His people and servants; and manifest the works of God in our lives.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 