Sermon Notes + 6.18.2023 | Northpoint Church

6.18.2023

SERMON NOTES

Though I Was Blind, Now I See
John 9:8-41
Dr. Tony Chute, Lead Pastor

Overview: Jesus’s healing of the man born blind was such a dramatic miracle that people who knew the man could hardly believe he was the one who used to sit and beg, while those who opposed Jesus’s ministry could hardly come to terms with its drastic implications. When asked to confirm his identity, the man testified that he had been blind but received his sight by following Jesus’ instructions, thus leading him to conclude that Jesus was a prophet. The Pharisees sought to discredit his claim by questioning whether he had been born blind and challenged his conclusion by accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. Their persistent questioning became so threatening that the man’s parents refused to support him, leaving him to answer for himself and resulting in his dismissal from the synagogue. Jesus later found the man and revealed Himself to be more than a prophet, whereupon the man confessed his faith. The man who was born blind was now able to see, and his refusal to retract his faith in the face of hostility encourages us to confess our faith in Jesus before a spiritually blind world that refuses to see Him as the Son of God.

01. Our confidence in the gospel is grounded in the works Jesus performed in his lifetime and includes the work of Jesus in our lives today.

02. Our confidence in the gospel is weakened when we fear man rather than God and when we focus on side issues rather than the central issue.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & DISCOVERY

1. Why did people question the identity of the man born blind? How does their confusion add to our appreciation of the miraculous work performed by Jesus? Have you ever seen someone’s life so transformed by Jesus that you hardly recognized them?

2. How did the healing of the blind man on the Sabbath provide an opportunity for the Pharisees to question Jesus’s identity as the Messiah? Jesus also healed a man on the Sabbath in John 5:9. How does Jesus’s healing on the Sabbath actually point us to, and not away from, the Lord and His mercy? In what ways do we find healing and hope for our souls on the Lord’s Day?

3. Why did the parents refuse to answer for their son in 9:18-23? What do their fears suggest about the difficulty of believing in Jesus in a hostile environment? See also a similar situation in John 12:42-43. Have you ever been hesitant to make a stand for Jesus in a hostile environment? See Matthew 10:26-33 for encouragement to confess Jesus even in a hostile environment.

4. The man first confesses that Jesus is a prophet (verse 7) but later confesses that Jesus is the Son of Man (verses 36-38) without any additional miracle being performed. What is the significance of confessing that Jesus is our Savior and not just a good man or a miracle worker? How does the phrase “and he worshiped him” (verse 38) add to our understanding of the man’s true spiritual sight? Pray that God would open the eyes of many to see Jesus for who He truly is, namely, the Son of God who saves all who believe.

5. Why do you suppose the Pharisees and others continued to deny that the works of Jesus were evidence of His claims to be the Son of God? In what ways have you seen people deny the claims of Jesus by focusing on side issues, such as the sins of the church in the past? How can you share the gospel without allowing side issues to detract from the claims of Jesus?

For Further Reading: William Taylor, The Miracles of Jesus (first published, 1890; Counted Faithful edition, 2016)