Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me

In light of the movie "Amazing Grace" yesterday, I thought this was amazingly coincidental with the song's lyrics. From the book The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur; ch.v: He Opens Blind Eyes. Sorry for the long "excerpt", but I think you have to read part of his exposition on John 9 to understand the last section about spiritual sight, which was my fave.

God truly has rescued me. He has been reaffirming this fact through MacArthur's book. What a militant, indignant Pharisee I was...! Even just a couple months ago, I daresay. But He has redeemed me and gave me sight. In the words of the first man ever to be put out of the synagogue because of Christ, "Was blind, but now I see."

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Introduction

Those who argue against lordship salvation have a tendency to identify the object of faith as a basic set of biblical facts. To them, the gospel is largely an academic issue, historical and doctrinal data about Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Trusting those things alone constitutes saving faith, they say. Everything else is peripheral. Any talk of obedience, submission, or Jesus' right to rule is refuted as adding to the gospel, an illegitimate attempt to turn a pagan into a theologian.

I reject that... True faith embraces not only the data of the gospel, but the Person of Christ as well. It comprehends not merely the truth that Jesus died and rose again, but also the corresponding implication: that he did this to deliver us from our sins in order to be the sovereign Master of our lives (Rom. 14:9).

The gospel is not a sterile set of facts; it is the dynamic through which God redeems sinners from the bondage of sin (Rom 1:16). It calls not simply for the acquiescence of the mind, but for the full surrender of the heart, soul, mind, and strength (cf. Mark 12:30). Its work is not to make a theologian of a heathen, but to open the eyes of the spiritually blind. (!)

Discussion of the blind man in John 9

Notice the man's theological naivete. They wanted an explanation, but all he could provide was a reciting of the events: "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam, and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight" (v.11). He was unsure of who Jesus was, did not know where he was, and had no logical or theological explanation for what had happened to him...

Suddenly the story turns nasty. When the formerly blind man told the Pharisees, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see" (v.15), they were indignant. Jesus had violated their Sabbath tradition.

What a contrast! The beggar, devoid of any theological explanation or rationale for what had happened, simply rejoiced in what Jesus had done. The Pharisees, fat with theological information, wanted only to deny what had obviously happened, because they could not harmonize it with their predetermined system. (!)

These Pharisees were militant unbelievers. They went back to the man again, and said to him, "Give glory to God, we know that this man [Jesus] is a sinner" (v.24). Of course they had no evidence that he had sinned -- for he was without sin (Heb. 4:15). But they had already passed judgment, using their artificial standards in an attempt to justify what they had already concluded. Exposed to all the evidence, unbelief always remains resolute. Their minds were made up, and they were not going to be confused with the facts. (Ouch.)

The Spiritual Miracle

When Jesus heard that the man had been put out of the synagogue, he sought him out. Again, the Lord made the overture; the beggar did not come looking for him. Though his trade was begging, neither of the two miracles he received from Christ -- the physical healing nor his subsequent salvation -- came in response to his asking.

This episode illustrates perfectly the working of divine sovereignty. Salvation always results because God first pursues sinners, not because sinners first seek God. In John 15:16 Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you." Luke 19:10 says, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." In Scripture, Christ is always portrayed as the seeking Savior. His divine initiative made redemption possible, and it is through his initiative that individuals are sought out and saved.

No one seeks God unless God has first sought that person (cf. Rom. 3:11). Salvation is first of all a work of God and in no sense the result of human enterprise or individual longing. A blind man has no capacity to give himself sight. Spiritual sight depends on God's initiative and God's power, offered in divine and sovereign grace.

Here is an important point. This blind man in John 9 did not gain his sight because he was exposed to the light. No amount of light affects blindness. A blind man in daylight is equally blind in the dark. All the light in the world will not make blind eyes see. The only things that can cure physical blindness are either surgery or a miracle. And the only thing that can change spiritual blindness is a divine miracle -- not mere exposure to light.

Teaching theology to a heathen will not bring him to faith in Christ. He may learn the evangelical vocabulary and verbally affirm the truth. He may intellectually accept a list of gospel facts. But without a divine miracle to open his blind eyes and give him a new heart, he will only be a theologically informed pagan, not a Christian.

If, on the other hand, salvation is truly a work of God, it cannot be deficient. It cannot fail to impact an individual's behavior. It cannot leave his desires unchanged or his conduct unaltered. It cannot result in a fruitless life. It is the work of God and will continue steadfastly from its inception to ultimate perfection (Phil. 1:6).

What did this man first see with his newly opened eyes of faith? He saw Christ as sovereign Lord. Verse 38 says, "He worshiped Him." He fell on his knees right there and worshiped. It is a beautiful climax to the story. It was not a question of "making" Christ his lord; when the scales fell off his spiritual eyes, he saw him for who he was, and the only possible response was to sink to his knees. (...)

The result of spiritual sight is a surrendered, worshiping heart. The result of spiritual blindness is more blindness, more sin, and ultimately certain doom. Mere doctrine is no help for spiritual blindness; light cannot cure blindness. The only hope for those locked in the darkness of spiritual sightlessness is a miracle of God to open their eyes. That is what God does through his Spirit in salvation (1 Cor. 2:9-10)... The believing person will see Christ for who he is -- sovereign Lord of all -- and that revelation, to one who formerly could not see, will inevitably provoke worship, adoration, and a heart that desires to do the will of God. None of that is the result of theological tutoring; it is the work of God's Spirit in the heart of the redeemed.

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Lord, what joy I have in knowing You more and more.