Spiritual Blindness | Mark 8:22-26 | Expository Sermon!

Cheeta join me and open your Bibles to mark chapter 8 we'll be looking at verses 22 through 26 it has been a strange week to say the least and the world our world is quite different in just a matter of a few days I mean and this is odd in in light of the fact that you know this particular strain of virus has been in the world for a number of months we've read about it we've heard about it and now we are directly affected by it which is always far different and and so this this is new for all of us it's not new for the world but it's new a new reality for us too where you literally go to the stores and just common things that we take for granted they're no longer available and people are actually physically fighting over those types of things and to where even houses of worship you know they're closing their doors and I don't blame them for doing that by the way many brothers that have called me and I've called them looking for guidance and praying with one another trying to decide how do we step forward without succumbing to fear and yet leading ourselves our families and our congregations to be men and women of faith and so I just wanted to dress that upfront here real quickly you know we came to this decision to have worship it wasn't lightly it wasn't this defiant we don't care what the governor says or the Health Department I'm not like that at all it's it's not where we're at we just felt like hey and until they mandate it like you you cannot by law meet then we're gonna continue to meet the other kind of thing was like well if there's only two of us you know maybe we should just go online you know there's that and so we put some precautions out there of course and you know that we have the Perel or whatever that is everywhere literally everywhere and we need to buy more because I feel like we need to have it even more because you know we want to be reasonable yeah you have faith we trust in God but we also understand that this is a deadly virus and we could actually although it may not kill us it could actually we catch it and we give to somebody that's more susceptible and we caused that chain reaction and so we don't want to be a part of that so please avail yourself of those things if you're sick stay home if you're so you know if you cough by the way if somebody here coughs don't everybody stop and look at them like oh my goodness it's okay week off we sneeze it's allergy season all these things are going to happen and in Farah is handshaking I've come up with a new handshake it's one that I do quite often but in secret so here's my secret handshake you guys ready this is it here we go you can do that you know I'm not just jacking around but you know I do that for Ralph on occasion because he calls me father Aaron you know and Chris does as well although I've not done that for you anyway but in any case maybe not shake hands you know just be used common sense and all these things and Lord willing we won't ever have to stop you know worshipping gathering like this and it definitely we're not holding anybody else you know like oh you're of less faith if you go to that church that closed its doors no they have their reasons many of those churches by the way a much larger than we are and so they have that reasoning and so there's just a lot more risk involved so in any case to our text let's worship mark chapter 8 verse 22 through 26 they came to Bethsaida and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him and he took the blind man by the hand he led him out of the village and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him he asked him do you see anything and he looked up and he said I see men but they look like trees walking then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his eyes his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly and he sent him to his home saying do not even enter the village now I was born and raised right here in New Mexico Bloomfield to be exact and as native New Mexican I know how delicious and how dangerous green chili can be we all agree right everything's better with green chili you know burritos chocolate cake it's all much better with green chili but you have to handle it with caution case in point one night I was making a pot of beans and I chopped up some weed roasted some green chili and I was cleaning them out putting them in the beans and all that and I made like a rookie mistake you know 40-something years of being a New Mexican and I did this you know and it kind of you know did one of those know where I was like oh no and then it I just spaced it off and so I am totally just teared up in in hurting and I'm standing there and I hear somebody walk into the kitchen now I wish my son Josh was here because this is really his story so he walks in and here's his virgin version he says that I did this and I had my hands out like Frankenstein and I'm like my son my son I'm blind that's not what happened all right what happened is that I got in my eyes and he came in I was like son I touched me I was like green chile and I can't see and so could you help me get to the to the bedroom of course he laughed at me thought it was the best thing ever got the other brothers look at this guy and you know they took me to the bedroom got me a washcloth nice and cool and and I lay there and I'd literally was I I couldn't see for a little over two hours or so right and so as I was laying there I contemplated first of all that Josh was an extreme liar exaggerated or you know I knew that was going to happen and then to that what how horrible how horrible it is to really be blind not to do something stupid like I didn't rub chili in your eyes and and be without your sight for a few hours but to literally be blind because for those two hours I was just laying in bed I couldn't do anything now then here's the thing scripture speaks not only of this physical blindness but of a spiritual blindness as well and although there are countless statements we could make about this this ailment I want to limit myself to just this one upfront this spiritual blindness when you see nothing wrong with something God defines a sin you're spiritually blind when you see nothing wrong with something God defines in his Bible in the scriptures as sin then you are blind to your own sin some of you this morning have beliefs attitudes and lifestyles that are in direct conflict with God's Word and yet you see nothing wrong with what you believe nothing wrong with the words that come out of your mouth and you find nothing wrong with the way that you are currently living you find nothing wrong in yourself despite the fact that scripture and therefore God calls some of what you believe say and do sin and so this morning is is really a wake-up call it's time for you to open your eyes and see what you believe what you say and do for what it truly isn't man I'm I am filthy with sin and then open your eyes and look to the light that is found in Christ alone to see him now last Sunday we finished up with the three consequences of looking for signs and now this morning we're going to look at the three ways jesus heals you from spiritual blindness and my purpose here is to enable you to recognize and thank God alone for your spiritual sight in your growth you're maturing in the faith so let's get to it and look at these three ways jesus heals you from spiritual blindness here's the first one all of us are at one point in our lives completely totally spiritually blind let's go back to verse 22 and 23 and they came to Bethsaida and some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him and he took the blind man by the hand in let him out of the village now little historical background is in order at this point Bethsaida was a small fishing village located on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and you know this is where Mark predominantly keeps us at least at the front end of the book right we've been talking about the Sea of Galilee selling back and forth on it in just the vicinity around it and so now again we're at that North Eastern Shore and the name itself by seda what it means in Hebrew is House of the fishermen it was never a particularly prominent point of interest either economically or culturally but it is interesting note that three of the disciples called Masada home Phillip Andrew and Peter beyond that little is known with the exception that its residents were an amalgamation of both Jews and Gentiles alike non-jews so that was somewhat of an oddity that they lived in such close proximity to one another and it was this same group of people that brought this blind man to Jesus now you all know how much I love to point out the Greek or Hebrew meanings or definitions of our English translations but you know there are times when I'm tempted to ignore them because the English translation seems to be so obvious you know I don't know how much the Greek or Hebrew would add to it well here's a case in point verse 22 it says that some people brought to him a blind man I initially figured blind probably means the dude was blind he couldn't see anything right and why do a word study but I'm glad I dug a little deeper there that I took the time to do that because there is in fact something significant to be found in this word so here's the word in English blind or tooth loss in Greek yes it sounds like toothless but to floss whatever but there it is any case it does in fact literally refer to someone who is unable to see physical blindness but it also carries with it this idea of someone who is unable to understand or comprehend something nevermind the physical blindness they're blind to something that they need to know and they cannot ascertain it can't comprehend it so it implies something deeper than just mere physical blindness just this mention of the blind man there's a number of other words that he could have used to just describe specifically physical blindness but this one is nuanced toothless physically blind yes but also unable to comprehend truth he cannot get it all together now we're going to unpack that in its entirety here in just a moment but let's focus on the the man's physical condition his blindness first we know he was completely blind not only by the Greek definition of the word that we just looked at but also by the actions of the people that brought him to Jesus as you see there once again in verse 22 he wasn't able to make his way to Jesus himself a group of residents from Bethsaida guided him there secondly once they had him in front of Jesus they then proceeded to beg the Lord to touch him the idea being that by physical contact Jesus would be able to heal him of his blindness so you see this absolute dependence I'm blind maybe I know there's a guy named Jesus hanging out in the village but I don't know how to just simply walk to him because I I can't see him somebody had to take him there so both of these details of course lend evidence to the fact that he was physically blind but it also points to something about blindness as a condition in those times it was an ailment that had no known cure and it left you essentially powerless in countless ways the things that we take for granted by the way we can comprehend this now right because we have we have a sense of it right now in our immediate context as a nation perhaps even as a world I don't what's going on you know in other parts of the world but I know what's going on at Sam's Club down the road you can't find toilet paper to save your life right by the way is there but now I won't ask that question in any case what I'm getting at is you've seen the evidence you've felt it yourself like I never used to think about it I go in I buy bottled water I buy toilet paper it's no big deal now it's standing-room-only it's a big deal if you lose your sight the simplest thing like this that's a big deal that's something that you have to really expend energy and thought in mechanics just to do what I just did naturally but if I was to close my eyes just that simply it would be a whole different thing and we have experienced that that quickly in a matter of 48 hours we went from taking things to granted to now I'm dependent on someone I have to to really think about how I'm going to secure these items you know I used to take it for granted not any longer this blind man was completely dependent on his friends to bring him to Jesus again we see proof of his physical blindness back in verse 22 they guided him to Jesus because he couldn't see the Lord himself to get to him they then begged Jesus to touch him because he was powerless to cure himself now all that proves his physical blindness but as we learned earlier this also implies a spiritual component as well a spiritual blindness so here's the question does the Bible teach such a thing was this man and by extension are we all of us spiritually blind in our initial natural condition that is unable to see Jesus unable to see and comprehend the gospel in and of sells we'll just so happens that there is a multitude of evidence affirming our spiritual blindness here's just a few examples starting with the Old Testament Zephaniah a rare book yeah we don't typically hear this one Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 17 notice what it says there I will bring distress on mankind so that they shall walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord their blood shall be poured out like dust in their flesh like dung by the way is mankind is our world currently under distress absolutely do you feel the tension the weightiness of the moment do you feel like we're just lumbering around like blind men very dependent suddenly not taking things for granted extremely fearful to the point of hoarding to the point of selfishness to the point of being overly protective maybe even violent all of these things they're just below the surface we we feel this we we have this spiritual blindness and in this text Zephaniah 117 obviously there's there's a context here but nonetheless the idea is that mankind as a whole walks or lives as though they were blind due to sin in other words we are all at one point spiritually blind switching now to the New Testament in the writings of the Apostle Paul we're told in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 3 and 4 notice what it says there and even if our gospel is veiled or hidden if you will it is veiled only to those who are perishing in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God you'll see that right no pun intended but you get what Paul is saying the gospel that is the good news that Jesus is fully God and fully man and has come to live a sinless life for our righteousness died a sacrificial death for our forgiveness rise from the grave so that we can have eternal life that gospel is veiled it is hidden from our eyes we cannot we will not see it because the god of this world meaning Satan in his capacity to influence us in our natural normal state which as sinners has rendered sinful mankind spiritually blind to the truth and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ therefore we cannot we will not be saved without grace without mercy without God without Jesus healing us from our spiritual blindness we are groping around in the darkness spiritually and what's funny is that in our society in our culture we believe we are enlightened be it from our scientific method or education or be it from the multitude of false religions that we ascribe to all of that is evidence of spiritual blindness and groping around in the dark now then allow me just a moment here to show you how I think the devil and the powers of darkness go about hiding the gospel from us it's really a simple a matter of distracting you from what's essential and true by the way what is essential we're we're thinking about that now aren't we what's essential beans bullets toilet paper again you know these things this is what's on our mind now I'm not saying that it's bad to have extra food it's not I I have grandchildren I have little babies I don't want to see them starve to death so it's good to have extra beings it's alright you should but when that becomes our preoccupation we are definitely distracted from what's truly essential it's not beans it's not bullets not in the ultimate sense of the word what's truly essential is God a relationship with him your eternal salvation from your sins and the wrath of God that's all that really matters at the end of the day because if that's not true then the Bible's not true and we should not be here that's what I'm getting at secondly if that's what's essential your eternal salvation your relationship with God then what is true here's the truth your only hope of escaping the torments of Hell is found in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone that's it beans and bullets are not going to save you in the ultimate sense nor is any other false religion or scientific method it is only Jesus Christ but far too many of us far too many of you are even in the church are distracted from what's essential you are preoccupied with your addictions your careers your American materialism and consumerism let me think about it even now some of you are distracted for instance give me your eyes everybody just look up for a moment that piece of plastic the sounds the images that it portrays that's in your hand in your pocket that right there will distract you from what's essential your relationship with your father and what is true the only way to be saved from your sins an eternity in hell is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and yet you are preoccupied with that fantasy world that is projected in a piece of plastic this is how easy it is for the devil the god of this world to distract you from what is essential and what is true I believe a word of caution is needed first John 2 verses 15 and 17 because this is what distracts us look at what it says do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions I have to have this or I'm not complete or I won't be happy or it's unfair I'm not like everyone else be it in my school or at my job or the Joneses or what-have-you the pride in possession it is not from the father but is from the world in the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever what is essential your relationship with God what is true the only way to have that is by grace through faith in Christ alone that's all that matters at the end of the day and then there's this last piece of evidence of our spiritual blindness from the Lord Himself in the Gospel of Matthew look at it Matthew 13 13 through 15 this is why I speak to them in parables Jesus is saying this because seeing they do not see in hearing they do not hear nor do they understand indeed in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says you will indeed hear but never understand you will indeed see but never perceive for this people's heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear in their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand and with their heart turn and I would heal them look we could go on but I think we've proven our point the Bible definitively teaches that all of mankind in and of themselves before God graciously saves us in and of ourselves all of us are spiritually blind that is we are unable to see in comprehend the salvation found in the gospel of Jesus Christ for ourselves because we are sinners because we are distracted from what is essential and true and because Jesus teaches and preaches in parables to the point that when we are blind we can read our Bibles and go I don't get this therefore I don't believe it that is spiritual blindness look if the man at Bethsaida wasn't blind then why did Jesus heal him and give him the gift of physical sight and if we are not spiritually blind unable to see the person in the work of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the gospel then why did Jesus come in the first place let me put it to you like this if you deny that you were spiritually blind then you will never see Jesus if you have this attitude of I see my spiritual condition perfectly without the benefit of Jesus without the benefit of God's Word I know where I stand spiritually if that is your attitude I want you to understand that what we're discovering in Scripture is that you are spiritually blind and you were on the edge of an eternity in hell that's where you're at now then secondly Jesus enables you to gradually gain your spiritual sight Jesus enables you to gain spiritual sight look at verses 23 and 24 and he took the blind man by the hand and he led him out of the village and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him he asked him do you see anything and he looked up and he said I see men but they look like trees walking now yet again we're getting into some you know rather gross ways of healing Jesus has done this before the whole spitting and touching people thing but he did this because it was culturally relevant at the time folks back then believed that spit had some kind or saliva if you will nicer way of putting it of that it had some sort of healing properties right now I'm pretty sure you could hold up a bank by spitting in it you know you freak people out but back then they were good with it and I want you to keep this in perspective they had spit saliva or whatever we have essential oils you know and so what's the difference I loved lavender and cinnamon and whatever it is Stefanie rubs on my face from time to time it makes me blind for a season but I'm just kidding smells I love essential oils for all of you that are into that I'm so kidding I'm just Jack it's not spit any case the thing I'm gonna get in so much trouble for I'm sorry yeah the thing to remember is that Jesus he didn't need to spit or touch anyone in order to heal them he was doing this to condescend to this man's preconceived ideas about healing that's why he did I mean think about it Lazarus was dead and buried rotting in the tomb for four days and all Jesus did was command and get up Lazarus come forth he didn't have to go get oils he didn't have to spin on him he didn't even have to touch him they just rolled away the tomb he says Lazarus come forth and he did so he didn't need to touch this man he certainly didn't need to spit on him but these were culturally relevant this is the way people thought oh he's trying to heal me maybe it'll work this time so he understood it on those terms so I know it's subtle maybe even a stretch but I get the impression from from this account that when Jesus comes to heal you of your spiritual blindness he does so in ways that you understand that you can trust in that's all I'm really getting at that's what was happening for this blind man at basada there in the first century it was normal for people quote/unquote to heal to attempt to do so in these ways and so he understood that he could receive that the only difference in this instance is that Jesus actually heals him eventually now with all that said there's something relevant in the fact that Jesus laid his hands on him in the Old Testament there were two reasons for this first of all it was done to consecrate someone it was a picture of God himself laying his hands on the person to be directed according to his purposes and empowered by the Lord's hand to accomplish those purposes and so you see that with Kings prophets and otherwise somebody's laying hands on him and it was a picture God is laying his hands on you now you're going to be set aside by God for his glory for his purpose and by the way the hand of God is in you to empower you to go get it done that's it secondly and far less often in the Old Testament it was used to simply do what we see happening here to heal someone in the case of the blind man in our text both things are happening at the same time Jesus laid his hands on him he was physically healed of his blindness but bear in mind there is also a spiritual aspect to all of this when Jesus laid his hands on him he was also then from that point on this is what he does with all of us with our spiritual blindness he is setting this man apart he's empowering this man to fulfill God's purposes by the way he's done that with each and every one of you here that profess the name of Jesus Christ that he is your Lord and Savior yes he gay you his he gave you the gift of spiritual sight you can now see spiritually but he also did so but laying his hands on you and now he sets you aside for his purposes and has empowered you to go and accomplish it this isn't relegated just to prophets priests and kings this is all of us this is the way God has healed you set you apart and empowered you you are unique you are a son and a daughter or a daughter of the king and he would not only give you your sight he has given you a mission he has given you something to look forward to a goal to achieve and he's empowered you to walk towards it and accomplishment you accomplished it according to his purposes and for his glory it's not just preachers it's you and you know what it is if you think about it if you look hard enough if you open your spiritual eyes you know this is why he gave me sight this is what mission he has sent me out to accomplish and it will be done not by my strength but by the strength of God this is why he laid his hands on this man this is what he did to you when he gave you spiritual sight as well so he set his hands on there he laid his hands on this man he set him apart he empowered him so he's regaining his spiritual sight he would from that point onward be set aside for the purposes of God and empowered by the Lord to see it through now then back to verse 23 Jesus asked the man do you see anything and he looked up and he said I see men but they look like trees walking now in the Greek there are no less than eight different Greek words used for see sight or saw in our English translations eight different Greek words used just in verses 22 through 26 that's pretty amazing and when I when I read that I thought well I wonder if he's talking about sight I was like pretty sure because he's using synonyms for this word seeing over and over again and I'm not going to define each and every one of these but I do want to look at the one found in verse 24 which tells us that the blind man who's now regained or regaining his sight he looked up in its one Greek word on a blip oh and get this it means to regain your sight in the process of seeing as in I was totally blind just a moment before - now I see I see men but they look like trees walking in other words I can see but it's a bit blurry kind of like a Bigfoot photograph or something you know but I can tell I don't know if it's my Uncle Bob without a shirt or Bigfoot but somebody standing in front of me I'm regaining my sight now you all remember the green chile incident right you just talked about you know it wasn't as though I could suddenly open my eyes and see perfectly no it was a process initially I couldn't see anything in fact all I could do was lay there on the bed listen to Josh and the boys make fun of me eventually I was able to open my eyes see things but you know it was still very blurry because of the tears and all of that and at the end of it about an hour later two hours in whatever I was feeling much better and that's when I began threatening Josh with great bodily harm because I could see him and he left and so the point is this jesus healed the blind man and in this instance the healing took place in stages most instances it was automatic people are walking out of the grave lepers are suddenly perfectly clean you see what I'm getting at he did this one in stages intentionally and we're going to see why here in just a moment He healed him in stages blind partial sight he's regaining his sight in this serves as a picture of what all of us as Christians experience on this side of eternity it's called sanctification sanctification is the ongoing work of God in your life whereby you continue to walk away from sin and become more like Christ that's sanctification he saves you there's that initial break from sin you understand that's a sin what I used to justify what I used to enjoy and now I can see it for what it truly is and I am a sinner and so I'm going to reject that I'm changing my mind and my behavior in regards to that sin and I am walking away to it and looking to Christ I can see him he's fully God fully man sinless life died on the cross rose from the grave and I trust in him and that's whom I'm walking towards and so it's the simultaneous turning and trusting that is sanctification it happens this side of eternity and it's an ongoing process I don't care if you've been a Christian for one day or for 50 years you're in the process of regaining your spiritual sight you're growing and what you can see and you see things more clearly you understand and you're far more sensitive to sin than you were in the past and you long for Christ in things that are godly far more you can see them more clearly and they're more delightful to you than they ever were before this is sanctification and it is a process in which you cooperate with God you can grow in this sanctification you can't be perfect but you can grow in it well how how do you grow in this well you read your Bible and you listen for your father's voice you meditate on those scriptures and you pray through those scriptures and you grow in your fellowship with him you're communing with him because you're having an ongoing converse you come and you gather as Saints brothers and sisters in Christ and you worship together and you learn how to not only love God but to love one another because when you can do that then you can love people who are unlovable that is the lost world out there and you can be like Christ who was sent from his father to come to an unbelieving sinful world and sacrificially give his life for those sinners now you can be like Christ and go do likewise do you see you're being sanctified all of us could talk about this these experiences in our lives and by the way it's never this I wish you know like man I went like a rocket you know right into godliness sainthood whatever no mine is all Bloomfield you know d-minus B's and every now and then a an a but it doesn't last long right and so that's that's for most of us and so this is what salvation this is what sanctification looks like I had a conversation with a young brother the other day a new believer and I asked him how he was doing spiritually here's what he said and it was so powerful it was so insightful he confessed he's like you know Tim been a Christian for a very short period of time and I'm struggling I still struggle with a lot of the same old sins and that I have struggled with you know in the past and this is a very young guy you know and he says but here's what's different here's what I can tell you is definitely different I'm convicted about my sin I really feel them in a good way in a good way that makes me want to go to my father and ask him forgiveness and know that he has forgiven me that's what's changed but man I'm still strike dude you are so on the right that's the same page I'm on I've been at it like 30 years God saved me that's a saint I'm becoming more sensitive to my sin I see it for what it is and then I repent of it and I see the glorious forgiveness of my father and I rest there this is a daily ongoing thing for me brother we are on the same page this is good this is God restoring your spiritual sight and I trust this is what's going on in most of our lives now then lastly Jesus eventually will give you perfect spiritual sight look at the last two verses in our text in Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and he opened his eyes his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly and he sent him to his home saying do not even enter the village this man was blind now he sees a bit blurry but he's regaining his sight but notice what our Lord does he lays his hands on him a second time and the result is staggering life-changing his sight was restored Appa cough histamine is the greek word and i know i butchered it but who cares his sight is restored to its original state of being and then lastly he saw everything clearly Tyler go say to see with distinction the ability to see the fine details of something so for the first time the ones blind man could see perfectly and there before him was the face of the one that had healed him it's essential you get this point the blind man did nothing to restore his own sight his friends brought him to Jesus they even begged him touch him heal him and Jesus took over from there spit on his eyes he touched him not once but twice you could see a bit blurry but he could see which was miraculous in and of itself and then he could see perfectly clearly Jesus did all of this the point being your your ability to see Jesus and therefore God and your salvation is something God in His mercy and His grace gives you as a gift it is not an accomplishment of hard work it was not because you were able to see and navigate yourself to him by your list of rules like I've kept this I kept that I see what I've done clearly and now I've arrived no you were helpless you were blind you were groping in darkness and jesus healed you he gave you sight you have spiritual sight now and you were growing in your understanding of what sin is and your love and your delight and who Christ is because you can see him now and someday someday soon all of us will see him as he truly is and perfectly and completely so this is who in how we will see some day we will see Christ we will see him perfectly there are two final verses that I want to end with just as a meditation for us if you will first Corinthians 13:12 for now we see in a mirror dimly by the way the reason he says that you know when we think of mirrors it's real clear distinct and you can see yourself in it back then it was like polished brass and so is kind of look maybe I should put me it doesn't matter you know and just I can see an image but it's very blurry in but then face to face and how it's going to be distinct and clear now I know in part then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known and then there's first John 3:2 beloved we are God's children now in what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when he appears we will be like him because we shall see him as he is this is the promise this is who we get to behold Christ in all of his beauty all of his perfections and this is our great hope because then we will ultimately see sin for what it is not a temptation to be bargained with and disgust and like should I should I not will see it for what it is absolute rebellion towards we will see Jesus and we will see him perfectly and I want to give you a glimpse of that this morning we've already unpacked it a bit but for some of you who have not seen Christ if not seen your sins you need to do so this morning and I pray that God is even now opening your eyes giving you spiritual sight just enough this morning so that you can repent of your sins and turn and trust in Jesus Christ and see him for who he truly is so that you can be saved from your sins and eternity condemned in the torments of hell and some of you need to do that and the way you do it is simply to pray right now you don't have to have me lead you in a prayer God is listening you are broken and you finally see who you are bow your head any time at this at the end here and you cry out to him you converse with him Jesus will come and he will touch you he will lay hands on you and he will give you spiritual sight and you will be saved and for some of us who already believers and have continued walking around as though we are blind open your eyes and see and behold the beauty perfection of your Lord and Savior live your life especially in this context in this moment with your eyes wide open not in fear but in faith by the way did Jesus with lepers or even these blind man did he scorn them did he keep his social distance from them I know look I get it I'm rubbing some of you wrong like wait you don't understand no he didn't he embraced those that others ran from look there are people in our church people in your family I get it they are more susceptible than some of us isn't it a great thing you white why can't we go and check on them call them how can we serve you how we love you can I go get you this can I give you something that isn't on the shelf but it's in my cupboard I'm gonna I'm gonna give you that so that you can have that so you can see the love of Christ this is not a time for fear and isolation this is a time for faith and embracing those that are suffering and go out and show them so that they can see the love of Christ let's go be the hands and feet of Christ let's pray father we thank you Lord through the sight that you have given us initially it's hard because we have to look at ourselves we have to look at our own sin we have to acknowledge the filth that is in us but ultimately we get to see the beauty of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness the hope that we have in him and so Lord we just thank you we praise you for that we trust Lord that you will continuously give us sight father we pray for our community for our brothers and sisters and other churches we lift them up before you those that are unable to meet like we're meeting here this morning father Lord it's a it's a different world out there and they're doing things online I pray that that your word will still go forth in power and in your spirit souls will be saved brothers and sisters will be encouraged to go live a life of faith and that the world was blinded by their sin Lord would see Jesus Christ high and lifted up and so may you just bless us we thank you we praise you in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Grace Hill Church

Views: 1,818

Rating: 4.652174 out of 5

Keywords: spiritual blindness, blindness, spritual blindness, spiritual blindness sermon, causes of spiritual blindness, spiritual, what causes spiritual blindness, spiritual warfare, spiritual blindspots, jesus, spiritually blind, bible, spiritual sight, spiritual awakening, spiritual growth, spirit, christianity, spirituality, life, gospel, christ, spiritualblindness, sermon, religion, holy spirit, apostle joshua selman

Id: SgERozLD-2w

Length: 48min 24sec (2904 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 15 2020