Seeing Clearly: Who Is Jesus

What if the real blindness isn’t in the eyes but in the heart that refuses light? We journey through John 9 with Pastor Carl as a man born blind receives sight and sets off a chain reaction—joy, investigation, legal debate, family fear, and finally worship. The moment Jesus kneads clay on the Sabbath exposes a tension as old as religion itself: when rules become a shield against mercy, the Lord of the Sabbath stands near and we still miss him. Yet the healed man’s voice cuts through the noise with the line that never grows old: “One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

We unpack how social pressure can muffle truth, why spiritual sight requires humility, and how common-sense faith often speaks louder than elite theories. The Pharisees insist they see, and Jesus names the danger: claiming sight while rejecting light leaves sin untouched. The man, once blind and now bold, moves from respecting a prophet to worshiping the Son of God when Jesus finds him after he’s cast out. That detail matters—grace seeks us when religion shuts the door. Along the way, we tie the story to the wider gospel—Romans 3:23, Mark 2:17, and 1 Corinthians 15:3–4—showing how the cross and resurrection answer our deepest need, and why only Jesus fills the void we try to stuff with purchases, idols, and escapes.

You’ll hear practical takeaways: confess need before God, anchor your faith in a clear testimony even when questions multiply, and remember the ways God has met you—provision, protection, healing, endurance. We celebrate the simple, saving clarity at the core of Christian faith: Jesus is the way, the giver of true sight, the one who turns outsiders into worshipers. 

If this moved you or helped you see Jesus more clearly, share the episode with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so others can find the message too.

Come On Up is the radio ministry of The Mountain Cross in Waynesville North Carolina. To learn more about us please visit: TheMountainCross.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Come On Up, the radio ministry of the Mountain Cross in Waynesville, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Who we judge Jesus to be will affect eternity in our lives. And if someone who is blind is now made to see, like us spiritually, before we came to the Lord, we are blind. We're built to worship, we're built to seek and to find God, but in our sin we don't seek after God, but we seek something to fill that void. And so we believe in a God, but we don't know his name.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Jesus created us as relational beings. When we don't choose him, there's a relational void that we try to fill. And often we do it with things that aren't satisfying in the long run. Whether it be buying things we don't need, or worshiping a certain music band, or drinking too much. We try to fill the void that was meant for Jesus. Only He can satisfy. Today, Pastor Carl reminds you that who Jesus is in your life shapes your entire existence and your eternity. And now, here's Pastor Carl.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

So I went and washed and I received my sight. That's all I know. And I stand before you now. And then they said to him, Where is he? And he says, I don't know. I haven't seen him. Isn't that funny? He hasn't seen Jesus yet. But he ran into Jesus and Jesus saw him. And I'm so thankful that even though I'm blind to the things of the Lord, he sees me and he gives me glimmers into who he is and what he's planning to do in our lives. So he's just being honest. You know, this is a new thing that's happened to me. I haven't seen before. This has been a miracle, and I'm standing before you, and you're asking me questions of how it happened. I'm telling you how it happened. I don't know where he is. And he's having a good time. Verse 13. They brought him, who formerly was blind, to the Pharisees. Now, this is something that you're supposed to do. If somebody is healed of, you know, a disease like that. I don't know if a blindness is a disease, but like that, they would come to the Pharisees and they would, actually, to they should bring them to the priests, right? And show them what had happened so God can get the glory. And so he brought them to the Pharisees. And then there's this interesting note. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. And then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight, and he said to them, Well, he put clay on my eyes, and I washed and I see. And therefore some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. And in one of their helps, all these extra laws that they wrote, to define the things that you can or can't do on the Sabbath, because they don't want anybody to get in trouble with the law and break it on the Sabbath day. So one of the things you can't do is you can't knead, like with bread and stuff, but that's what Jesus was doing with the clay. When you're making clay, that's work. You can't work on the Sabbath. And so we're going to get this man because this man is a sinner. Not the one who received the sight, but Jesus, the one who gave him the sight. The one who is described as our Sabbath rest. The one who made the Sabbath. He's the creator. You know, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was for our blessing, not for our cursing. And the Pharisees didn't seem to get that. Others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. So some are saying he's a sinner and he shouldn't be doing that because he did this work on the Sabbath, and others will be going, wait a minute. Can only God do those sorts of things? Or somebody who's used by God? The enemy could do a lot of false signs, but nothing like this. And so even amongst the Pharisees, there was an argument developing there. And then they said to the blind man again, What do you say about him because he opened your eyes? And he says, Ah, he's a prophet? Maybe. I mean, he did say, Go and wash yourself. And I did, and I and it was a miracle. But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And again, when John is using this term, the Jews, it's referring to the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees there. And uh they didn't believe him. He's making this up. He's always been seeing. And of course, with a man, a deceiver like this Jesus fellow, of course, he's going to get somebody to lie, to create this story, to just cause trouble. But they called the parents and they asked them, saying, Is this your son who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see? And that's interesting. And they they probably hadn't even noticed what happened yet. They were just brought into this scene and they were probably aghast. They were excited, but at the same time kind of fearing because they heard what was being said. If anybody comes against the Pharisees and kind of gives some credit to this Messiah fella, then they were going to be evicted, discommunicated from the synagogue. And that's more than just being kicked out. That's like this fellowship, you're out of the family. So they're taking very careful steps on how they would answer. They wanted to answer in a way that would glorify God, but they didn't want to be kicked out either, because I don't believe they were followers of Jesus, but they believe that they've heard things about Jesus and they were probably curious about him. So his parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but by what means he now sees, we don't know. I mean, this is the first we've heard of it. Or who opened his eyes? We don't know. We didn't see it. He's of age, ask him. He's an adult. Why do you need to ask us? He will speak for himself. And his parents said these things because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ, that he would be put out of the synagogue. And therefore his parents said, He is of age, ask him. So in verse 24, they called the man again who was blind and said to him, Give God the glory. We know that this man is a sinner. Give God the glory is if you lie, you're not glorifying God. You need to be truthful in this situation. Glorify God in the words that you use. Acknowledge that this Jesus fella is a sinner. And this is great. Verse 25. He answered and said, Whether he's a sinner or not, I do not know. But one thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see. There are people who know a whole lot more than I do theologically. On some Monday mornings I hang out with some local Southern Baptist pastors, and some of them are really down to earth. I mean, they're all great and they all love the Lord, but some have gone to seminary. I haven't gone to seminary. I just read the word and the Lord called me to teach, and so I teach, and I'm a simple guy, and so I teach simply. But some of these guys talk about all these different theologies and different ways of doing this and that, and that can't be this way because of that. And my head just hurts sometimes doing it. But all I know is the Lord died for me and he loves me, and the word is true, and I'm going to declare it. You know, that's that's what I know. And this man, what does he do? He quotes that great song, though I was blind, now I see amazing grace. You've heard of it, right? He's heard it back then. No, that song was written because of this instance, not the other way around. But still, it's like, look, I don't know. I'm not as smart as you guys. All that I know is I was blind for all my life, and now I see. You answer it for me. You are the representatives of God. And then they said to him again, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them, I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? A little snarky there. But that's great. You know, it's like, come on. And sometimes you got to use a little sarcasm to wake people up. It's like, look, I told you, why don't you believe it? I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you, I'm not making this up. This is just how it is. What you do with it is up to you. But look, it might be a good idea for you to follow him. It sure seems like he's from God to me. Verse 28. Then they reviled him and said, You are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses, and as for this fellow, we do not know where he comes from. And yet they do know where he came from. He came from Galilee, and they insulted him because of that. The man answered and said, Here he goes again. This is, you know, sometimes just common man, common sense makes so much more sense than the ivory towers, than the educated people. Listen to this. Why, this is a marvelous thing. That you do not know where he is from, yet he's opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he hears him. And since the world began, it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. All I know is it's never died had to happen before. And it's gotta be from God. You think about it. And they answered him and said, You are completely born in sins, and you are teaching us, and they cast him out. They cast him out like a demon. They cast him out because it was striking a cord in them. Maybe they were wrong. They put their confidence in the law, but they missed the law maker, they missed the law fulfiller. Jesus was the only man who completely fulfilled the law. And they point fingers at this man and say, You are completely born of sin, as if we're all partially born of sin. We're all completely born of sin. Are we not being honest? The Pharisees are pretending like they're sinless, but they're not. And because it messed with their way of seeing things, it messed with their agenda, it messed with their kingdom, their power, their authority. They insulted the man instead of really investigating the things that he said. And it's so easy for us to just insult other people to make ourselves look better. But that is not searching out the truth, is it? That is not seeking God and letting him be glorified in our lives. And sometimes being glorified in our lives, maybe most of the time, is admitting I'm wrong. Lord, I'm wrong. You're right. Thank you for revealing yourself to me. In verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? And the man doesn't really know who this Jesus is at this moment. He might have recognized his voice a little bit, but he answered and said to him, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him? And this Lord is master, or it's just a respectful tone to give to somebody. And he said, Who is this? I respect you and I want to hear what you have to say. And Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and it is he who is talking with you. You hear me, and now you see me. You heard me and you obeyed what I told you to do, and now you have sight, and now you can see me. And then he said, Lord, which is now this the same word, but it's were it's in a different context. It is, I'm worshiping you as Lord, as God, not just a respectful position, but you are the one to worship. You are the Son of God. I believe. And he worshipped him. And it isn't said here, but Jesus received the worship. Because it's not said that Jesus said, No, no, no, don't worship me. Man should only worship God. Because he is God, God in the flesh. And he received that worship from the man who was once blind, but now he sees. And Jesus said to him and the rest of his disciples, For judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see, and those who see may be made blind. And again, he's using these kind of like riddles, but if you understand what he's saying, it makes sense. If you don't want to understand what he says, it's not going to make sense, and it's just going to give you an excuse not to believe. May we have hearts to say, I want to understand what you're saying, Lord. What are you saying? You said you didn't come into the world to judge, but to save the world. But he's also been called the judge of this world, and when he comes back, he will be the judge. But for judgment I have come, he's not necessarily doing the judgment, but the people are judging him. Who is he? Who we judge Jesus to be will affect eternity in our lives. And if someone who is blind is now made to see, like us spiritually, before we came to the Lord, we are blind. We're built to worship, we're built to seek and to find God, but in our sin we don't seek after God, but we seek something to fill that void. And so we believe in a God, but we don't know his name. And when the Lord comes and reveals himself to us through his word, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and that faith in God changes us, and we're we're we're made to see, we're given vision of who Jesus is and what he has done and and why the cross is so important. And we're changed. But there are many others out there who think they see, who know everything, who are who are representatives of God to man. And we look at these Pharisees that were more into their tradition than really seeking God, they don't think that they're blind. They think that they can see, they're actually blind. The creator of all things, the Messiah himself, stands before them and they deny him. Then some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, Are we blind also? Are you calling us blind? Are you insulting us? Jesus isn't insulting them for the sake of insult, but he's just saying, that's a great term that I love in the South, just saying. Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains. In other words, you don't think you're blind when you're actually blind. If you would admit that you were blind, then you could have your sins forgiven. But now you say you're fine, you say you can see, you know what's right, you know what the truth is, and you say that you have no sin. Well, your sin is actually still there because you haven't had the opportunity for me to take it away. Right. The word see that's used there, there's two parts of it. The first part is the physical sight. The second part in the uh in the strong concordance is a metaphor to see with the mind's eye. You might see with your eyes, you might be able to read the law and uh interpret it and apply it to people and put a yoke on people all you want. But you need to have the the understanding of God's perspective on his word. Why did he use these words? What does it mean? What are the implications to my life? It's to have the power of understanding, to discern mentally, to observe, perceive, discover, understand, to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to have your your mind renewed, giving you the mind of Christ, giving you his perspective, because his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. To consider, to contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully, to examine what is Jesus actually saying here? How does it apply to me? Have I been off track all these years? Am I missing something? Now, those are uncomfortable places to be, but that's where God wants to take us in order to free us from the bondage that we're in, that if we think we're not in it, we're blind and we're stuck in it and don't even realize we are. Another way he put it is in the book of Mark, chapter 2, verse 17. He said to his disciples, Those who are well have no need for a physician. But those who are sick, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And there's again this implication of it's how you perceive it. If you perceive yourself to be righteous, then I can't help you. If you think you're alright with God, and you don't have a heart that's willing to see things from my perspective, then you're gonna be stuck in your sin and you're gonna think you're alright. I didn't come to call the righteous, so that the Pharisees say, well, we don't have anything to worry about. But the thing is, who is righteous? Who is without sin? Who in this world is not in need of repentance? No, not one, except Jesus, the God man who came and lived the perfect life. That's why he could be the sacrificial Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. Romans 3.23 says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We're all in need of a savior. And when that savior comes and he reveals himself to us, what do we do with him? Do we repent? Do our hearts break? Do our hearts realize the sin that has separated us from God? And do we fall at his feet and ask for mercy? Or do we say, huh? I don't think you are who you say you are, and I think I'm doing just fine. And that's where the the Pharisees were. At least some of them, most of them. They didn't realize who Jesus was, they didn't want to know who Jesus was. And of course, the answer, 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 4, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Jesus came and he died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried and he rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. And if you believe that, by faith, that's the message that saves. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. The blind man who was blind from birth was once blind, but now he sees. We were dead in our sins and trespasses since we were born into this world. And in his Grace and His mercy for us, the Lord revealed Himself to us and gave us spiritual eyes to see. So that we would be saved and recognize that now we are free from that sin. We're made right with God. Instead of being enemies of God, now we're friends of God. What a great place that is. And if people who seem to be smarter than us come and challenge us in our thinking and our theology, I always say is I don't know how to explain it. As best as I can, I'll explain it. The Lord has revealed himself to me. He is God, He is the creator of all things. The Word reveals it. He became one of us. He died on the cross for you and me. And he rose again. And if and if you believe that, like I believe it, your life will be changed because my life was changed. And you can't take that away from me. I know I've been changed. I know I see things differently than I used to. So let's stand bold for the gospel and reflect on the things that the Lord has done in our lives. First and foremost, He's brought us to Himself. But He's also provided, He's also protected, He's also healed, He's also given us the ability to sustain and to continue on in the midst of troubling times. You know, in this world you will have tribulation, the Lord says. But I'll be with you and fear not because I have overcome the world. What an amazing time we live in. We need to be encouraged and reminded that the Lord has put us on this path. The Lord has made us right with him. And the Lord has called, given us a message to share with the rest of the world. That Jesus is the way. We've fallen short, but he's made us right. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

That's Pastor Carl on Come On Up. You know, the Gospel of John was written by one of Jesus' original disciples. He's referred to as the disciple whom Jesus loved. What a sweet and intimate way to refer to the closeness and friendship that was had between John and Jesus. After all, so many of the events mentioned were witnessed firsthand by John. He was there for the transfiguration, and he was the only disciple of the twelve mentioned to be at the cross as Jesus died. He was also one of the first people to see that the grave was empty. John had an opportunity and a privilege to write about all the things that he saw and witnessed with his own eyes. He saw miracles. He was the recipient of Jesus' love and care, and he was eager for others to see and experience knowing Jesus too. That's why he wrote it all down in this wonderful book of John. Like the author, we hope that you'll take note of the ways that God has intersected your life and brought about amazing stories to tell. Write them down, share them with others, and don't be afraid to tell people about the greatest love of all, so that they can also claim that they are disciples whom Jesus loves. An easy way to share Jesus with people is by letting them know about this radio program. The Mountain Cross is a group of believers in Jesus who seek to grow in faith by simply teaching through the Bible. We meet on Sundays beginning at 10 a.m. To learn more, go to themountaincross.com. That's all for today. Come on up is sponsored by The Mountain Cross, a Calvary Chapel fellowship.