6th April 25

On Friday evening, we had a wonderful concert here in the Sanctuary with the Glasgow Philharmonic Choir, as they came to us to celebrate their centenary year and it was an amazing evening of music and song led by Teejah and Valerie, both young women from Malaysia.

Valerie is a talented pianist from the Conservatoire and Teejah is a young enthusiastic conductor who has a great Scottish accent, after just 7 years in Glasgow.

This was their first professional concert together, and with the choir they blew us away, and the concert raised over £400 for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.

For me the most moving part of the concert was the beginning song when we sung,

I hear thy welcome voice,
  That calls me, Lord, to thee;
For cleansing in thy precious blood,
  That flow'd on Calvary.

Chorus
  I am coming, Lord!
     Coming now to Thee!
  Wash me, cleanse me, in the blood
     That flow'd on Calvary!

And then there was the encore, Morte Criste. Now in my ignorance I did not know that this was the name given to Isaac Watts’ beautiful and famous hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

After, I gave the vote of thanks, they asked for members of the congregation to join them in singing the encore,  and suddenly I found myself up with the male voice choir and in the bass section in the chancel.

I didn’t know what I was going to sing, I had no words in front of me, I thought that I would be miming, and after I heard the first few notes there was great relief for I knew the words to Morte Criste.

1 When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of glory died,

my richest gain I count but loss,

and pour contempt on all my pride.

2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

save in the death of Christ, my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them through his blood.

3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet,

sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

or thorns compose so rich a crown?

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were an offering far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

Now, I can say that I have sung with the Glasgow Philharmonic Choir!

Isaac Watts, in this great hymn, sees Christ on the cross dying for our sin, and that we fall before him in worship and say,

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were an offering far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

We are still in John chapter 9 and it’s the last part of the story of the blind man who received his sight.

What happened next for the blind man after he met Jesus?

Well, we know nothing of him, other than that he fell to the ground and worshipped Jesus. He fell at his feet and gave his all in praise.

He surveyed Christ, and what Jesus did for him, and his response was worship.

I would like to think that he was at the Cross when Jesus was crucified to again say thank you.

I would like to think that he would have surveyed the Cross and thought as with Isaac Watts,

3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet,

sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

or thorns compose so rich a crown?

At the beginning of the day he met Jesus, he was just a beggar on the streets of Jerusalem looking for help; at the end of the day, he knew that he was a beloved child of God and he was worshipping Christ.

All in a day!

John's Gospel is not a collection of nice stories about Jesus – no, its far more, it was written that you might believe. It was written that you might see yourself in the story of the blind man – that you might see Jesus as the light of the world. It was written so that you might welcome Jesus into your lives and into your hearts.

What is Jesus to you?

Is he just a man, a good man, a healer, someone with gifts?

Is he a prophet, a holy man, someone close to God?

Or is he your Lord and Saviour? Do you know he loves you and that He has died for your sin and has reconciled you to His Heavenly Father?

If you do, you can call him Lord and worship him.

Yes, this is a journey of faith and Jesus calls us to walk on it.

Jesus was no longer a voice to the man; he was no longer a prophet, he was now the living presence of God in this man's life; and this man realised that he encountered the living God.

It was his God moment.

God moments are special. I wonder if you have had God moments, when the works of God are displayed. You actually might have them more than you imagine.

I was speaking to someone this week who experienced a God moment and they shared it with me, their child was unwell and in hospital, and one can imagine the pressure and the stress that this brings to a parent, and as they were leaving the ward, another mum of a different ethnic group came up to her and spoke gently and graciously to her, and said I could see that you were upset, but I've prayed to Jesus that your child would be healed – what a beautiful God moment, just what that person needed to hear at that time.

God moments are so important, where we encounter Jesus, and it may come in all sorts of different ways, but very often it is when the chips are down and your back is to the wall, just like this blind man, and Jesus appears, and he may appear not as you imagine, but in a down-to-earth way, a fellow mum who feels your pain, a doctor who shows compassion, a teacher who patiently goes that extra mile.

Another God moment for me and Susan last week was sitting in the chair of the consultant at Stobhill hospital, waiting to hear news regarding Susan's lumpectomy surgery; you're sitting with no idea what you will hear, and as we entered the building, Susan met another woman, who had the same surgery on the same day, and her news wasn’t great.

I said, to Susan, “Not really what we need to hear at this moment in time”; we were taken quickly and the Dr. immediately said, in a conversational way as though he was speaking of a tooth that had been removed, “It has been removed, no more surgery required, lymph nodes are clear, course of chemo and radio therapy and yearly visits”, A God moment and the best outcome for us; perhaps we understood slightly what it was like for the blind man when his sight was restored and he was given a new lease of life.

Now, I don’t believe that we can get what we like from God just because we ask, however, Jesus did say, “Ask and it shall be given to you”, but he also taught us that must say, “Thy will be done”,  but what we do know and do believe, is that God was in the situation with us and that he would give us strength to face whatever challenge lay in our way, because he is our shepherd, he comes searching for us, he is the light of the world, he is the one who opens the blind man's eyes and does the miraculous. This is our God, why shouldn’t we trust Him!

I've been reading the amazing story of Nick Vujicic this week, Nick was born with no legs and no arms, only a small left foot; as a young lad he was suicidal but with wonderful support from his Christian parents and his own personal faith in Jesus, he has risen above those human challnges, to live a life without limits.

He has gone on to live his life to the full. He does far more than most able-bodied people. He experiences God moments every day of his life. He can swim, he can surf, he lives life to the full, he travels the world as a Christian motivational speaker, and the reason that he can do all this, is that he has put God into his disability and he can truly say that God is able to change lives, change hearts and minds.

As a young man, he prayed for legs and arms but he wasn’t answered. But God did something more profound, he used Nick to display his glory and Nick is married with the three children and he lives a life with no boundaries. What an inspiration!

American Christian song writer Don Francisco, penned the words of a beautiful song based on the words of John 9 about the blind man given sight by Jesus.

It’s a powerfully emotional song, and it takes us back to that moment in time when Jesus opened the eyes of a man born blind.

I remember hearing this song when I was a young Christian and it had a big impact on me then as it still does today.

These are the lyrics.

Now it's hard to describe what my life used to be
To someone who's always been able to see.
You know I wasn't unhappy or bitter that way,
But everything's changed since I met Him that day.

I was down at the corner just passing the time,
Sitting in the sunlight and feeling it shine,
When the sound of a crowd began to grow in my ear,
So I waited and I listened as I heard them draw near.

Then a man stepped up to me and He spat on the ground.
He put the mud on my eyes and then He smeared it around.
Sent me off to Siloam to wash off the clay,
And I opened my eyes and I looked at the day.

And I have no idea how He did it, I just know what happened to me.

Yesterday I was in darkness, but since I met Him I can see.

When the Pharisees heard it they put me on trial,
Even called in my parents and grilled them awhile,
And when, at the end, I defended the man,
Who had opened my eyes, the troubles began.

I said "Ever since the beginning of time
No one's opened the eyes of someone born blind.
This man's sent from God, it just can't be denied "
And they cursed me and grabbed me and threw me outside.

I really don't know how He found me. I just know He was talking to me.
It was easy to tell by the sound of His voice He was the reason I see.

And as soon as He spoke to me I couldn't hide
The emotion that welled up from deep down inside
And combined in the dreams that He made to come true, to kneel there and worship was all I could do

And I called Him my Lord and Messiah
For everything He'd done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,
But since I met Him I can see.

And I call Him my Lord and my Saviour
For everything He's done for me.
Yesterday I was in darkness,

But since I met Him,
Since I met Him,
Since I met Him I can see.
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him, Messiah
Since I met Him I can see

Jesus told the blind man to GO!

GO!

When we put GO on to the front of DISABLE what do we get…GOD IS ABLE.

Faith comes to those who are prepared to GO!

The blind man was told to GO and he went and washed in the pool of Siloam, ironically the word siloam means 'sent', and so the blind man was sent to the pool called 'sent' and he washed the mud from his eyes, and he was given back his sight.

Here is a step of faith, Jesus challenges him, does he really want his sight, how much does he want his sight, is he prepared to GO….to obey the voice of Christ; remember when he meets Jesus initially, he can't see Jesus, Jesus is invisible to him, all he hears is a voice, and so he goes and obeys the voice, just like Abraham who heard a voice and obeyed and God led him the land of milk and honey.

This is a story of both grace and faith. Jesus gives grace to this man, he reaches out and gives himself to heal this man; but the man also needs to respond, and he does this by and being obedient going to the pool of Siloam and washing.

This is the heart of the Gospel. Belief and faith go hand in hand. Belief leads this man to worship Jesus.

So, the man went and washed and came home seeing; we are told that it causes a stir in the neighbourhood; they asked him, “Who healed you” and he said “The man they call Jesus, he put mud on my eyes and told me to go to Siloam and wash the mud off and so I went and washed and then I could see”.

So, we see his healing brings glory to God – the works of God would be displayed in him!

Because of the healing and his testimony to Jesus, he was thrown out of the synagogue, rejected by the leaders and Jesus heard about this and came searching for the man who received his sight. It is no accident that the next chapter in John's Gospel is about the Good Shepherd. The shepherd who comes looking for his lost sheep. The shepherd who is prepared to lay down his life for the lost sheep.

You see, John is painting a picture for us of a God who loves us, who searches for us and enters our darkness, whatever that might be, a God who doesn’t give up but searches us out!

When he found the man, no doubt he was buzzing through his eyes being open; imagine if you have never seen anything and suddenly your eyes are opened, then the world is all new.

Jesus entered into conversation and said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” and so the healed man enquired, “Who is he”? And Jesus said, “You have now seen him and he is speaking to you”, and with that the man fell to the ground in worship and said “Lord, I believe”.

This is what the Gospel of John wants to show us, through belief in Christ we worship God.

I would like to finish the sermon and this amazing chapter of John 9 with us now listening to Don Francisco's song – Since I Met Him I Can See.