Date: Sunday, February 28, 2021              Scripture: Mark 8:22-26

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Well, this morning, as Pete had mentioned, we are continuing our study in the Gospel of Mark and we're in Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. And so if you would open your Bibles to Mark chapter 8. And we're going to see a familiar story that many of us have probably heard in Sunday school, if you grew up in the church, and you attended the children's Sunday School program, you probably heard about Jesus healing a blind man. A familiar miracle to all of us. It's an amazing miracle.

Often times they would have you close your eyes, so that you were blind, and then the teachers would have you open them right? So you could understand what's going on with this blind man, and it was all about the miracle and it was all about the perspective of this blind man. But this morning what I want us to do is I want us to focus on Christ in this.

There's significance, great significance of Christ in this passage this morning. You can see the title of our sermon this morning is A Blind Man Receives Sight. A Blind Man Receives Sight. Mark 8:22. Will you read along as I read our passage for us this morning?

22 And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. 23 Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” 25 Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

LASIK surgery is popular today. Many people today are getting Lasik surgery to fix the vision of their eyes. Research shows that over 700,000 people get LASIK surgery a year, being one of the most common surgeries overall. But because it's one of the most common surgeries, there's one doctor who gives seven things that you need to know before getting LASIK surgery. I'm going to read them for you.

#7.  He says this… “is you need to Know the risks.” Know what the risks are. He says “You may hear statistics about 2 or 5% of people that have complications, but if it happens to you, it's 100%.”

#6. Number six, he says, is “Know the odds.” He says “Nobody guarantees 20/20, 20/25 or 20/30 vision.” You need to know the odds.

#5. Number five, he says “Know what happens. You'll be awake for the surgery.” Now myself, I've never had Lasik surgery, so I don't know what it's all about, but he says you'll be awake for the surgery so you don't want any surprises as you lay there awake.

#4. Number four, he says, “Know if you are eligible. If you have dry eyes or other conditions, you should probably not undergo this surgery.”

#3. Number three, “Know your refractive error. That is the more nearsighted you are, the more likely you may need a repeat procedure.” So know that if you're thinking about LASIK surgery.

#2. Number two, he says “Know your surgeon. Look for an experienced board-certified Ophthalmologist, ask direct questions regarding your surgeon’s experience and complication rate.” You probably don't want to be surprised about that, right?

#1- And number one, he says “Know yourself. You'll live with the results forever, so don't be caught up in a fad.” He says this “There are no guarantees.” Many LASIK patients are still wearing glasses. That's what he says. No guarantees.

In our passage this morning, we meet a blind man and his friends who knew that there was a guarantee of this blind man receiving his sight. Why? Because of the One in whom they bring their blind friend to. He's not just a random surgeon. He's not just a random guy, but He's the Creator of the world. They're bringing their friend to the One who created the eyes to be able to see. And so they come and bring him to Jesus.

And as we look at this amazing miracle this morning, we're going to look at three things that this miracle displays, or three things that it shows for us.

1. First, this miracle displays Jesus’ deity. It displays Jesus' deity.
2. Second, it displays Jesus as Messiah.
3. And then third, it displays Jesus’ divine judgment.

His deity, Jesus as Messiah, and His divine judgment.

But in order to better understand this miracle here, we need to set the scene. Look at verse 22 with me. Look what it says there:

“And they came to Bethsaida.”

They came to Bethsaida. Now, if you remember from last week, the disciples are with Jesus and they got in a boat to cross over to the other side of the sea, which would be this region, here in Galilee, where Bethsaida is, this region. That's where they have crossed over and when they get there.

Jesus is telling them to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.” (Mark 8:14) But they thought Jesus was talking about...what? Physical bread, right? It's physical bread. And what did Jesus question them with? Look at verse 18 -- look what He says there:

“HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR?”

And in Mark’s gospel, it sounds like they didn't get it. But as we looked at last week, we went over to Matthew’s account and we saw where they did understand it. (Matthew 16). All of a sudden they got what Jesus was teaching them. He wasn't telling them about physical bread, but he's talking about the teaching of the Pharisees. Beware of the teaching of the Pharisees.

And now they head into Bethsaida -- and look at verse 23 --it tells us that they were there in the village because it says:

 “Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village;”

Which means if Jesus brought him out of the village, they were... where? In the village. And so there they are in Bethsaida, in the village. Now, what's interesting is that this miracle of this blind man is not found in any other gospel. This is the only account that we have of this, the healing of this blind man. It's only found here in Mark. But there's another miracle in Mark, one that we've already looked at -- that is also only found in Mark -- back in Mark 7:32 -- we saw the miracle of the deaf and mute man. You remember that? Back in Mark chapter 7, the miracle of the deaf and mute man, and how Jesus healed that man. Both of these miracles, the deaf and the mute man, and the blind man, here in our passage are only found in this gospel, only found in the Gospel of Mark.

Now, if you remember our study all the way back at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, we talked about John Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark. And John Mark -- he wrote this gospel, but he was not an eyewitness of the accounts of Christ. Who is he writing for?

He's writing for Peter. He's writing on account of Peter. Mark's gospel is Peter's eyewitness account, and Peter remembers this miracle. Why? Why would Peter be the one to remember this miracle? Well, it's possibly, probably because Peter was originally from Bethsaida. This miracle happens in his hometown, in his home village.

Now, if you remember back to Mark chapter 1, we saw Peter's home there in Capernaum. Peter was living in Capernaum at that time back in Mark chapter 1, when Jesus arrives on the scene. But we know that that Peter had moved there to Capernaum sometime later, after he had gotten married. And we saw back in Mark chapter 1 where Peter healed his mother-in-law. Oh - excuse me where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law in Capernaum.

But John chapter 1 verse 44, says that “Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.” Andrew and Peter and Phillip. All three of these guys are from this city of Bethsaida, and so Peter knows this city. He knows this village where Jesus and the disciples and the blind man are. He knows what's going on here, and he's giving this account to Mark to write down as he remembers this miracle takes place in his hometown.

Now I also want to point out that this miracle, along with the miracle of the deaf and mute man, have a lot of similarities. If you were to take the miracle of the deaf and mute man and this miracle, this blind man, and put them side by side, you would see a lot of similarities between these two miracles.

• With the deaf man, his friends brought him to Jesus. With the blind man here in our passage, what do his friends do? Bring him to Jesus.
• With the deaf man, the friends come, and they implore Jesus to touch him. With this blind man here, what are the friends do” They implore Jesus to touch him.
• With the deaf man, Jesus took him away from the crowd. With this blind man, Jesus takes him outside of the village.
• With the deaf man, Jesus spit and touched the man's tongue. With this blind man, Jesus spit and touched the man's eyes.
• With the deaf man, Jesus gave him orders not to tell anyone. And here with this blind man, Jesus sent him home and told him not to go back into Bethsaida. Don't go back into the village.

And so you can see there's a lot of similarities between these two miracles that happen here in Mark chapter 7 and Mark 8. Now, if you remember also, they were in this region of Bethsaida, and this region here is the same exact region where Jesus fed... who? The 5,000.  Jesus fed the 5,000 in this same region...where Bethsaida is. This region here in Galilee. And so it's possible that these people who bring this blind man to Jesus had witnessed Jesus miracle of creating food and feeding the 5,000.

And so when Jesus arrives again on scene, they know and they understand He's got the power. We saw how He fed 5,000 -- and again that was only 5,000 men, then you add the women and the children -- and it was up to 20,000 people that Jesus feeds with five loaves and two fish. He's an amazing man. He's got power. And Jesus comes here in Bethsaida and they quickly bring their friend over to Jesus to be healed.

Now as we work our way through this passage, what I want to do for you this morning is I want to put Christ on display. A lot of times, as I said, we focus on the miracle itself. We think about being blind and then all of a sudden eyes are open. But I want us to put Christ on display. This is about Christ. He is our Savior. He is our King. He is the One in whom we worship and He's the One we want to be fixed on, right? That's who we want to see in our passage this morning.

And so as we see, Jesus healed this blind man. What He's doing here, first of all, is He's putting on display His deity. He's putting His deity on display. And so let's look at this miracle and we'll see point number one.

1.    The Display of Jesus’ Deity.

Look at verse 22.

“And they brought a blind man to Jesus, and implored Him to touch him.”

Now again we saw this with the deaf man. These friends want Jesus to touch him. Now, understanding the culture of the Jews of these days and especially the Pharisees. How would they have viewed a blind man? We talked about with the deaf man, how they viewed the deaf man. He's got a handicap and therefore he is...what? Unclean.

Do we touch unclean men? The Jews didn't. The Pharisees didn't. Right? What did they do? They stayed away from them, and that would have been the same thing with this blind man. He's got a handicap. He's unclean. Stay away from him. And they would have thought there was a teaching that was going on. They would have thought that he was cursed by God. The reason why this man is blind is because he is cursed by God... and so do we want to go near someone who is cursed by God? No, we're going to stay away from this guy. They wouldn't touch him.

But the touch didn't matter to Jesus. Because nothing could defile Him. Jesus was there to touch this man, to offer a touch to him. He's God in the flesh. He is the perfect God-man, and there is no sickness, no disease, no handicap that could defile Him. But as these friends come to Jesus, look at what they do.

They implore Him. They implore Jesus. It's a present active indicative in the Greek, which means they continuously are begging Jesus to heal their blind friend. It's a continuous action. And what does Jesus respond with? How does Jesus respond to them imploring Him to heal their blind friend? Look at what it says in verse 23.

“Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village;”

Now notice Jesus touches him here, right? What's the first thing He does? He takes the blind man by the... what? By the hand. He touches him. But that touch at that moment was not to heal him. It was to get him away from the village, away from the people.

Now remember what the people tried to do after Jesus had fed the 5,000 in this region. What did they try to do with Jesus at that point? They tried to make Him...what? King. They want to establish Him as the King. Look at the amazing miracle He's done. Let's make Him King.

And what does Jesus do? Nope. It's not My time. I'm not going to become your King.

So even with this miracle, He's compassionate towards this blind man, but He didn't want to make it public and have everyone come and try and make Him King again, right? If they saw Him there in the middle of this village, and now He heals this blind man, they're going to come and try and make Him King again. So He goes out of the village. And since this guy couldn't see, Jesus has to lead him outside of the village. And He leads him out there so that they could be alone.

And then Jesus does something unusual. But is probably a common way that He chose to heal people. Look what it says there:

“after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, “Do you see anything?”

Jesus spits on the guy’s eyes. He puts His saliva on the guy’s eyes, not because there's some magic potion that He's using to heal this man's eyes. That's not what's going on there. It's not that His saliva is some kind of magic potion. Jesus didn't need anything to heal this guy’s eyes. He could have just done...what? Spoken a word and the man is healed.

Remember, that's what He did with the Syrophoenician woman's daughter who was demon-possessed (Mark 7:26-30). She comes and begs Jesus to heal her daughter. And what does Jesus do? Your daughter is healed. Go home. How did He do it? By a word. The same thing with the Centurion slave (Mark 8:5-13)...just say the word and he will be healed. And what does Jesus do? He is healed. And he's healed, so Jesus doesn't need some kind of magic potion here. He's not using his saliva as some kind of potion to to heal this man. He didn't need some kind of medicine to heal this guy’s eyes. They didn't have Lasik surgery back then. That's not what is going on here. Jesus was assuring this man that He was the one who is healing his eyes.

Think about this, the guy can't see but he can...what? Feel. He can feel a touch. He could feel the touch, the saliva on his eyes, revealing that Jesus is the one who is there to heal this man. And after Jesus touches the man's eyes, Jesus asked him a question. Look at what it says there. He asked this question. “Do you see anything?”

Now, what's interesting is that Jesus would ask him a question like this. Does Jesus know the answer? Of course He does, of course He knows the answer. Is Jesus questioning His own power here...thinking “I wonder if it worked. Did my saliva do it? Did his eyes get opened?” Of course not. Of course Jesus isn't thinking that.

But He asked this question to this man and He gets a reply, and look at what the reply is in verse 24

 “and he looked up and he said, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.”

Now, what's interesting is that this man does see something. What does he see? He sees men. There are men there. Now we just talked about how Jesus had taken the blind man outside of the village to be with Him there to heal him. But then he opens in his eyes and who does he see? Men, plural. Multiple men that are there. Who are these men that he sees? The twelve disciples. He sees the twelve.

This is most likely the twelve that he sees, and since Peter is giving us this account here, Peter would have been there to witness this. As he opens his eyes and he sees men and he sees them blurred like trees, one of those men that he sees is... who? Peter. He sees him, but he doesn't see perfectly, he only sees these men look like trees. He notices some objects, but he can't see them clearly. So what does Jesus do again? Look at verse 25.

“Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was…”  (what?) “restored, and began to see everything clearly.”

This time Jesus touches his eyes again and now the man can see clearly. Jesus completely restores this man's eyes so that he could see clearly. Lasik can't promise you 20/20 vision. But when Jesus touches you, and when Jesus heals you, what happens? He's healed completely. Jesus touches this man, and it's a complete healing. And what Jesus is putting on display for this blind man and the disciples with Him is that He is God in the flesh. He is God in the flesh. Only God has the power to heal a blind man like this.

How do we know this? Hold your finger here in Mark chapter 8 we're going to do a little flipping through some pages here in our Bible this morning and I want you to turn over to Mark, excuse me, John chapter 9, John chapter 9. Look at John chapter 9. John gives us an account of a man who was blind and who was healed too, and in John chapter 9, beginning in verse 1 it says this

 9:1 As He…” (Jesus) “passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned...”

and remember the curse? This is where they get it, right? You see this curse of God

“...who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

Why is this man cursed like this? Who sinned? Did this guy sin or was it his parents? Look what Jesus answers. In verse 3,

Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of...”   Who?   “...God might be displayed...”

So that the works of God might be put on display in the life of this man who was born blind. And then look at what Jesus does in verses 4 through 7. He says

“4. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” 6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back…” (what?) “…seeing.”

Jesus healed this man. To do what? To put the works of who? God on display. Jesus by healing the man in our passage in Mark chapter 8, is putting the works of God on display.

But look what happens then over in verse 35, John chapter 9 and verse 35, look what it says over here.

35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Now what happens here is this blind man is brought before the Pharisees, and then his parents are brought before the Pharisees, and they're going ...How did this man see? What happened? And what does the blind man say? I don't know. All I know is I met Jesus. I was blind once and now I can see. And they question him. Who did this to you? How are you able to see? They brought the parents and the parents go I don't know how he's able to see, ask him.  I was blind, but now I can see. And then Jesus catches up with this guy.

Now they meet again. Jesus heard that they put him out and finding him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? What is this title, The Son of Man? It's a title of His deity.  That title, Son of Man, is a title of His deity. Oftentimes we look at this title, Son of Man, and we think that's His humanity...and while there is, encompassed within there is humanity, the title Son of Man is the title of His deity. And we could go on and on and talk about all that is packed into this title, Son of Man, but we don't have the time this morning. But one of the declarations that Jesus is making as He calls Himself the Son of Man is that He is God.

Do you believe in the Son of Man? Do you believe in Me, God? Referring to His deity here. What does the man do? Look at verse 36

36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.”

What is Jesus declaring? His deity. Often times we hear that Jesus never says that He's God in the scriptures. Yes, He does. Of course He claims His deity. He's telling him -- I am the Son of God. I'm the Son of Man. I am God in the flesh. And look at verse 38

“And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he...” did what? “worshipped Him.”

And he worshipped Him. He worshipped God. So the very fact that Jesus heals this blind man is proof of His deity. He is putting His deity on display.

2.   He is The Messiah

Our second point is that He puts on display that He is the Messiah.  Let's turn back to Mark chapter 8 and look at our account here in Mark chapter 8. Not only does this miracle of this blind man in Mark chapter 8 put on display Christ’s deity, but it displays that He is the Messiah. Now, if you notice in verse 25, what it says there it says

“...and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.”

Now when we looked at the miracle of the deaf and mute man, if you remember, we talked about how causing the deaf to hear and the mute to speak was a fulfillment of an Old Testament passage. You remember that? And we went back to Isaiah chapter 35 -- that's a fulfillment -- it's looking ahead to the Messianic Kingdom. It's pointing forward to the Millennial Kingdom where Christ will sit and rule and reign on His throne over His Kingdom. Let me just remind you of that in Isaiah 35:3-5 it says this

3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

4 Say to those with anxious heart,

“Take courage, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance;

The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you.”

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

The reference to the Messianic Kingdom that the Messiah is going to come and He's going to establish His Kingdom. And here's how you're going to know about His Kingdom. Because the blind will see and the deaf will be able to hear, and the mute they'll be able to speak. He's the Messiah. These two miracles here -- the healing of the deaf mute man, and the healing of the blind man here -- are previews of the Messianic Kingdom. And as Jesus heals this blind man He gives His disciples a preview of what His Messianic Kingdom is going to be like.  They're standing there watching this take place, and He's giving them a preview of what the Kingdom is going to look like. And He's showing them that He is the Messiah.

But there's another passage that I want us to turn to this morning that puts Jesus on display as the Messiah. In reference to the blind, turn over to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11.

Jesus said the greatest man to ever live born of a woman was who? John the Baptist. John the Baptist, the greatest man to ever live is John the Baptist, but even the great man John the Baptist had his doubts. There were doubts with him. John the Baptist has been imprisoned. If you remember, we talked about this, it was because he called out Herod for Herod's immorality. He called him to repent. So what did Herod do? Threw him in jail. He threw him in prison, and there's John, sitting in prison, and John has his doubts and look at Matthew chapter 11 and verse 1. Look at what it says there:

When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.   2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

Are you the Expected One? What does he mean by Expected One here? He's asking are You the Messiah? Are you the one that we have all been waiting for? We know our Old Testament scriptures and we know that there's a Messiah who is promised, the Prophet who would come. Are You Him? Are You the Expected One?

John had heard about all of the works that Jesus was doing. But what did he begin to believe about the Messiah? The same thing that the other Jews at that time were thinking about the Messiah. That the Messiah would come, and when the Messiah comes, He's going to take down...who? Rome. He's going to take down Rome, and He's going to end all sickness and disease, and He would deal with sin. But where is John at during this time? Where is he at? He's in prison. For what? Another man's sin. For calling him out Jesus, are you dealing with sin? Are You the Expected One? Why am I in prison still? Are You the Messiah?

He begins to question Jesus. And he sends word by his disciples to go ask Jesus if He's the Messiah. But look at how Jesus answers him. Jesus could have answered a number of ways. Think about this, He could have answered a number of ways. He could have said, “Hey John...go tell John, remember the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world? Remember when he pointed at Me and said that? Ya, I'm Him. Just go tell him that. Remind him I'm Him, I'm the Expected One.

But what does He say here? Look at verse 4.

“Jesus answered and said to them, go and report to John what you hear and see:”

Ready for this?

“5   the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.”

Look what He's saying to him. Are You the Messiah or You the Expected One? Go tell him this. The blind see. Their eyes are open. That was a display for John and for the world to know that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Promised One. He's the Expected One who would come and redeem Israel and redeem the entire world. He's Him. And so the very fact that Jesus heals this blind man back in Mark chapter 8, it is proof that not only Jesus is God in the flesh, but that Jesus is the Messiah.

3.   Displays Divine Judgment

But then there's a third thing that this healing of this blind man does point #3. It Displays Divine Judgment. It Displays Divine Judgment. Turn back to Mark chapter 8 with me. Now you might be thinking how do you connect a healing like this with judgment? You look at the healing of a blind man...how do you connect this healing with judgment? Look at Mark chapter 8 and verse 26.

“And He...” (Jesus) sent this man -- who can now see -- “He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Jesus did not let this guy go back through the village as a witness of Jesus power. Why? Why? Remember what Jesus said to this generation? What did this generation seek after? Looking back at verse 11,

11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. 12 Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

You don't get a sign. You don't get a sign anymore. They sought after a sign, and Jesus says you're not going to get it. They’re seeking for signs. But Jesus says you're not going to get it, why? Because you're spiritually blind. You and Bethsaida are spiritually blind. Think about this. Jesus had just done sign after sign after sign after sign and yet they would not believe. Do you think that this man walking back into the village -- all of a sudden he can see now -- and they would go...”Oh, we believe”? No, they're not going to.

They've already been given sign after sign after sign after sign and they won't believe. Their heart is hardened toward Christ. And look at what Jesus does. Look in verse 27, Mark chapter 8 in verse 27. This is sad.

27 Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi;

What did Jesus do? He left Bethsaida. And this miracle right here. This healing of this blind man is the last miracle that Jesus ever does in Bethsaida. That's it.

What did this miracle illustrate? The spiritual blindness of those in Bethsaida. They're spiritually blind. Sign after sign after sign were given to them of who Jesus is --His deity has been put on display. He is the promised one. He is the Messiah and yet, did they believe? No. They're still spiritually blind. And because of their spiritual blindness, there comes divine judgment.

Turn back over to Matthew chapter 11 with me. As you continue in Matthew 11 there are two cities that Jesus pronounces woes on. Two prominent cities that He spent a lot of time in, and did a lot of miracles in.  And look at Matthew chapter 11, verse 20. Look what it says here.

20 “Then He” (Jesus) “began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

What does Jesus do with Bethsaida here? He pronounces judgment upon them. When He says, woe to you Bethsaida, He's pronouncing judgment upon them. Why? Because Bethsaida was given the testimony of who Christ was through all of his miracles, but they didn't repent. And He says it will be more tolerable for these Pagan idolatrous cities of Tyre and Sidon. Remember we talked about them, Tyre and Sidon --they are Pagan cities full of idols. And He says, it's going to be more tolerable for those cities on the day of judgement than it will be for you

...who had all of these signs. I revealed it all to you. I told you who I was. Because you are spiritually blind, you have hardened your heart toward Christ. Judgment will come upon you.

Listen, if you're here this morning and your heart is hard towards Christ. You're like these in Bethsaida. Repent. Jesus calls you to repent of your sin and put your faith in Him. Because of your sin, you are under divine judgment right now, and the wrath of God abides upon you. And Judgment Day will be terrible for you. But Jesus came to offer you life. Spiritual life. He came to take the wrath of God upon Himself, so that you wouldn't have to. But He commands you to repent of your sin and put your faith in Him. And if you do that you will be saved. And you will no longer have the judgment of God upon you. Come to Christ today and be saved.

That's what He calls you to do. Well, some of you might be sitting here thinking about this miracle that Jesus has done with this blind man. You might be thinking, why does it take two tries for Jesus to heal this man? What's that all about? I mean, doesn't Jesus have the power the first time to heal the guy? Why does he open his eyes and not see clearly the first time? Why does he open his eyes and all of a sudden he sees men like trees? And then Jesus has to do a touch again, and that time then he is. Why?

You ready for the answer? I don't know. The text doesn't tell us. God hasn't revealed it to us. We don't know for sure. But I can take a guess. Remember when this man opened his eyes? Who did he see? The twelve. Men like trees. He saw the twelve. And they would have seen all of this play out right in front of their very own eyes.

But what had just happened to them earlier? Did they have full spiritual sight? They didn't, did they?

Remember when Jesus is talking about the leaven of the Pharisees? They didn't have spiritual sight. They're thinking about physical bread... Come on guys really? Don't you understand what's going on? They don't have full spiritual sight at this time. They have faith in Christ. They trust in Him. In fact, we're going to see next week what happens when they make a confession of Christ. Peter makes a confession and then he gets himself in big trouble, right?

But they don't have full spiritual sight yet. In fact, their eyes wouldn't even be open until later. There will be more things that will be continuously revealed to these guys. And so when do they get it? When do they get their full spiritual sight? Turn over to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. There are two instances here in Luke chapter 24 that I want to show you.

In Luke 24 we see the road to Emmaus. These are two disciples that Jesus meets on this road and He begins to teach them all the things concerning Himself in the Old Testament and the Old Testament scriptures. And look what happens in verse 31. This is after the resurrection of Christ. These guys are walking along. Jesus comes alongside them. He begins to teach them everything and look what happens in verse 31.

“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

All of a sudden these guys realize and they recognize who Jesus is. And then Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection, and look down in verse 44 and look what it says there. They have a little meal together and then verse 44:

Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,”

All of a sudden they got it. Jesus opened their minds so that they could see the truth. They understood it at that time. Why does Jesus heal this guy in two steps? Because He's telling them -- Look, you're going to slowly have things revealed to you. You're going to see some things, but you're not going to truly get it, until I come and open your eyes so that you can see the full truth of who I am. And He reveals it to them. And He opens their eyes to see.

What about us? What does this have to do with us? What can we take away from a miracle like this, seeing that Christ --His deity is put on display, seeing that Jesus is the Messiah, and that He brings divine judgment?  As we see this miracle of this blind man who is able to see. There's something that we can take away from this.

I want to read to you 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 12 through 16 and just listen to this as I read it. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 12 -- It says this:

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
    14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

We have spiritual insight. How? Through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Our minds have been open. Our heart has been opened. So that we can understand the Word of God. But how do we receive more spiritual insight? Through what? The Word of God. It's through the living Word of God. Do you know it? Do you know God's Word? Do you hunger for it? Do you thirst for it?

Realize you have been given the Spirit of God so that you might be able to see the things that He has revealed to us. And as God reveals Himself to us and says -- Here I am, the King of the universe, and I've given you everything that you need to know about Me.

And sadly we spent a lot of time doing a lot of other stuff. And then we wonder why don't I know God the way that I should know God. Why don't I know the things? Why don't I understand why the world is the way that the world is? You know why? Because we don't know His Word. He's revealed it to us in His Word, and He's given us the Holy Spirit. He has illuminated our mind so that we might understand and grasp the Word of God.

And then we go and spend all of our time on all of this other stuff...and we wonder why don't I know God?

Do you hunger for His Word? Do you thirst for His Word? Do you desire to know God more? Do you desire to grow in sanctification? We've talked about that. That's the life of a believer that we would be sanctified. Progressive sanctification that we would become more like the image of Christ. And how does that happen? Through the mind of Christ. Where is that? Right here in His Word. God calls us to know Him. And to know Him through His Word. He has given us everything that we need for life and godliness right here in the pages of our Bible. May we have eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts that hunger and thirst for God's Word more and more in our life.