Do Not Adjust to the Dark: Recovering Our Sight

Sermon outline

The Lord who made the seeing eye gives born-again people new lenses, so do not adjust to the darkness around you; put the lenses on and let Jesus restore your sight.

1. The Lord made the seeing eye

   She has researched sight: about 1.4 million visually impaired people in South Africa, and an eye with 274 million light-sensitive rods and cones sending a billion messages a second through the optic nerve. If one component fails, there is no sight at all. So every time Scripture records a blind person receiving sight, millions of working parts were repaired at once, which is why healing the blind was a sign of the Messiah.

   Illustration: Her grandmother, her mother's mother, was completely blind for as long as she could remember, and when the grandchildren visited and were not talking, she knew who they were by touching their faces.

   “This means your eye either works or it doesn't work at all because of one component.”

   • Proverbs 20:12
   • Genesis 1

2. Born again, we put on God's lenses

   In the new birth we remove the world's lenses and put on God's, and begin to see ourselves, people and circumstances from His perspective. It is brought about by the Holy Spirit, but it has to be by our faith.

   Illustration: On Sunday Pastor Wesley put on a newer pair of glasses and said what a relief it was to his eyes. That is what putting on God's lenses is like.

   “We remove the world's lenses, and we put on God's lenses, born-again lenses, and we start to see the world in a new way and a new light.”

3. Six things the new lenses give

   Number one, clarity of identity in Christ: forgiven, redeemed, a child of God, no longer defined by the past. Number two, a new way of thinking, seeking God's will rather than human reasoning alone. Number three, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, which sharpens discernment of the spiritual reality behind physical events. Number four, deeper compassion, seeing people as souls worthy of saving. Number five, an eternal perspective, where trials become opportunities for growth. Number six, empowered living, walking in boldness by faith rather than fear.

   “Our spiritual lenses allow born-again Christians to live by faith and not by sight.”

   • Galatians 4:7
   • Romans 12:2
   • John 16:13
   • Acts 1:8
   • 2 Corinthians 5:7

4. Do not adjust to the dark

   In the dark, after a while, the eye adjusts and you learn to live in it, as her grandmother adapted. Spiritually we must not do that. Physical blindness is debilitating, but spiritual blindness is tragic, and the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. Jesus came to bring recovery of sight, and the more we study the word with the Holy Spirit's interpretation, the more we see Him.

   Illustration: A prophet and his servant are surrounded in what looks like a hopeless situation; the prophet sees what the servant is blind to and asks God to open the servant's eyes, and God does.

   “Do not adjust to your obstacles and your circumstances.”

   • 2 Corinthians 4:4
   • Luke 4:18
   • 2 Timothy 2:15
   • 2 Corinthians 3:14

5. Saul's twofold blindness

   Saul of Tarsus was highly religious yet spiritually blind, persecuting Christians with a zeal rooted in legalism, a zeal for God not according to knowledge. On the road to Damascus he lost his physical sight for three days and neither ate nor drank. When Ananias laid hands on him, something like scales fell from his eyes, his spiritual eyes opened, and he immediately preached Jesus as the Son of God. True sight begins with an encounter with Jesus.

   “This moment marks the powerful truth that true sight begins with an encounter with Jesus.”

   • Acts 9:1-2
   • Philippians 3:4-6
   • Romans 10:2
   • Acts 9:8-9
   • Acts 9:18
   • Acts 9:20

In this message