Tabor Baptist Church

• Exam times for students
• With some subjects you might partially understand but not fully understand
• Perhaps a friend comes along to explain it to you and open your eyes
• The disciples were slow learners
• Their thinking was blurred
• Their vision was hazy
• They understood something about Jesus Christ
• The disciples worshiped Jesus when He calmed the storm, but doubted at other times
• They did not understand about the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000
• They were not seeing spiritual realities but were taken up with earthly matters
• They were thinking about the teaching of the pharisees and Herod
• Jesus taught them (Matt 16:12) and the disciples did understand
• Jesus heals a blind man
• Jesus challenges the disciples on who He is
• Peter comes to an understanding and proclaims that Jesus is the Christ
• To date nobody has confessed that Jesus is the Christ, even though He has done many miracles
• Peter now has clear sight
• This revelation came from God the Father - Matt 16:17
• Jesus goes on to teach the disciples about His death and resurrection but their vision is hazy again
• Are we like this in our spiritual life?

A blind man is healed

• This healing is only recorded by Mark - not recorded by Matthew, Luke and John
• The only record of one person being healed in two stages
• Jesus' healing is usually instantaneous
• This healing was different
• Jesus spat on the ground and touched his eyes, then Jesus asked 'what can you see'
• Jesus touches his eyes again and his sight is totally restored
• Why did Jesus heal in two stages?
• Because He had a lesson to teach
• The miracles are a picture of spiritual realities
• People would often see in part - People don't often have a road to Damascas experience but a gradual drawing
• This is encouraging for believers - we are all slow learners and learn in part, for we will know fully when we are with Him

Private Encounter

• He was visiting Bethsaida
• The family brought out a blind man to Jesus and begged Him to touch him
• Jesus takes him by the hand and leads him out of the town
• Personal contact with the Saviour
• Kind, gentle, tender, loving
• Why did Jesus take him out of the town and make this a private encounter?
• Jesus understood his need - some of us do not like public situations
• Jesus respects his dignity, his fears and his needs
• His primary work was never miracles
• He did not want people to follow Jesus because of the miracles
• He did not want people to follow Him because they wanted something from Him
• He did not want people to follow Him for false reasons
• Why have we come to church this morning?
• Have we come to worship
• We need to realise that Jesus wants a private encounter with each one of us
• If you are not a Christian, realise that people have been praying earnestly for you
• The Lord Jesus doesn't come to embarrass anybody
• He comes quietly to your own soul
• You can meet with Jesus in the place where you sit

Personal Encounter

• The word in Greek means spit into His eyes
• This seems quite crude to us
• To be blind is a terrible thing, but we could hear
• What if we could see but couldn't hear?
• This man couldn't see, he was cut off from society, he was in darkness
• Jesus was saying that He was going to do something, that He was going to heal him
• There was vital contact with the living Saviour
• Becoming a Christian is not just learning a set of doctrines
• Becoming a Christian is to know God
• We must receive Him personally
• Has He changed our life?
• Examples of Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC
• You must be born again

Two-fold healing method

• There was an initial healing
• Previously he could not see anything but afterwards he could see something (but not detail)
• Then he was restored and saw everyone clearly (v25)
• This implies he wasn't blind from birth, but lost his sight and now received it again
• He could recognize what a tree was
• This was a gradual, slow, two-stage process
• The blind man would never forget it
• The disciples would never forget it
• Do you believe that God has to work in a particular way?
• This two-fold miracle is a picture of what it means to understand
• We often understand gradually - not all at once
• One of the signs of the coming Messiah was that He would open the eyes of the blind
• Isa 35:4-5
• Luke 4:18
• Matt 11:3
• The messiah would heal the blind - yet the disciples did not understand, taking so long for the penny to drop
• This should teach us to be patient with one another
• Why are they not a Christian yet?
• Why don't they believe?
• When we believe, how should we go on
• 2 Pet 1:5-9
• Add virtue to faith
• Add knowledge
• Add self-control
• Add godliness
• Add brotherly kindness
• Add love
• If we lack these things we are short sighted
• As Christians lets go on, lets make progression