Was Blind and Now I See

Before I move into my sermon, I'll also mention, just in case anyone's wondering or if I cough, I came down with a little bit of a head cold about a week and a half ago, and it didn't affect me for very long, but it ravaged my voice. And so the health came back quickly, but the voice has been lagging, partly because I've been in the classroom either three or four hours a day, every day, during these first few weeks. So I haven't had a chance to let the voice rest very much.

But it seemed to be doing well enough, and I didn't come here to sing like the last group did.

But I didn't want to make a reference to music early on, and I know that brethren who were in Cincinnati for the feast were wondering if I'd bring my kilt with me, which it didn't even occur to me I could have, but it's hard to travel with that thing.

I'm wondering, though, how many people here like to listen to bagpipe music?

There's a few more than I get in most groups.

I've found for most people it's a rather, what we shall say, acquired taste.

And many people never acquire it. I've heard some people say it sounds like strangling cats.

But it's something I enjoy, and I don't know if it's because I have Scots-Irish ancestry, or because I spent several summers in older times visiting SCP Scotland, and I was able to serve on the staff there.

I think spending enough time on the Bonnie-Bonnie banks of Loch Lomond can make anybody feel Scottish inside.

But even I have to be honest and say, there are only a few songs that really sound good on bagpipes.

One, I think, of the upbeat one is Scotland the Brave, which I don't remember the words, but the tune goes... And you make sure you want to jump and shout.

But the other one that everybody loves is Amazing Grace.

And probably you've heard a recording. I didn't bring one, which if I were really as well-prepared as I should be, I would have.

But if you imagine when they start with the one pipe... And then a chorus of a bunch of pipes join in. As they're about to start, they blow up their bags and the drones start sounding.

And those are those pipes that stick up and you don't play, but they make this harmonic, deep sound.

So whenever the pipers are already sounding, there's this...

And then they all come in with the chorus. I know this doesn't sound like what a Piper band sounds like, but...

I'll mention they're surprisingly loud. One year when I was at camp, we met in a tent almost as big as this building for a lot of the activities and meals.

And Mr. Suckling hired two pipers to come in. When they came in the tent and started playing, you had to go like this.

Or go outside. It was so loud.

And I'm getting sidetracked. I want to think of... They come back to that and it makes you think of the lyrics.

You know, I said, the amazing grace. And then the closing line to one of the verses.

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Twas blind, but now I see.

It's a song about a man finding religion.

It was written by an Englishman, John Newton, in the 1700s.

And it was remarkable, a story of his life, because he was not religious for much of his life.

He was even involved in the international slave trade.

But later he found religion. I see some knowing looks. I have a feeling you've heard about this sometime recently.

But that's okay. He became a minister.

But today I don't want to focus on the song or its origins.

I want to come back to that particular metaphor.

I was blind, but now I see.

Newton, when he said that, didn't mean that he had lacked the actual ability to perceive light and see things.

He meant what I think almost everybody imagines he meant.

That he had been spiritually blind.

And then, to his thinking, he was not.

Meaning he had been unable to understand God's way.

Obviously he was caught up in the slave trade, living a selfish life.

And then he felt he understood God's way.

And I'm couching this because we feel that we understand God's way differently than many people do.

And I believe that as well.

But he was able to understand to a great degree.

And he noticed the difference.

I want to explore that metaphor today.

And I'll differ. It's interesting that Mr. Lambert thought he ought to be more scholarly.

And I felt bad because my sermon day isn't all that scholarly.

I had one prepared when I was going to come in May that I thought, well, if I'm coming with ABC, I'd better have Hebrew words and all this.

So I didn't have any of that, but maybe it will be a balance.

Because I found in the last year, especially last winter and spring, that that metaphor I once was blind but now I see took on a whole new meaning to me.

Because I found myself losing my ability to see.

Not spiritually. I still understood the truth.

But I mean that my eyes developed a physical problem. And for a while I faced what was a terrifying prospect of thinking that I was going blind.

Speaking of seeing, I just remembered I wanted to say hello to those in Elmira.

I appreciate having the video connection when I was pastoring Portsmouth.

We regularly had a web connection to our other congregation in Prestonsburg.

And since I'm breaking my thought anyways, I do want to say, you can see that I'm looking at all of you. I didn't go blind.

And if I speak a little lightly about it, I want to stop and say that I don't mean any disrespect to those who do have vision impairments, especially those who are blind.

More the opposite. I have developed a tremendous appreciation for people who have learned to adapt, live productive, valuable, fulfilling lives while lacking the ability to see. I'm impressed more than I ever was at how difficult that is.

What happened to me was far less dramatic. I developed cataracts in both of my eyes.

And I'm wondering, usually, if I speak about this in most groups, we'll see some people say, yeah, I've had cataracts. It's common with age.

And if any of you did, then you're probably thinking, it's not all that terrifying. What's so scary about it?

Well, for me, it was much more so than typical because it was a dramatic experience.

The cataracts developed very rapidly.

And I learned later from my ophthalmologist, and I say later because now it makes sense, but at the time I was rather frightened.

I had surgery done at the Cincinnati Eye Institute, which is a very busy place.

They do hundreds of surgeries every week. And he said, oh, we get somebody about your age about once a week.

So it's not unheard of, but it's uncommon.

And he said, when someone in their 40s or 50s gets a cataract, it often develops very quickly.

And that's the way it was for me. So it came on much faster.

And that's reassuring now, but I didn't always have that knowledge.

In fact, I first started having a problem with my eyes, and I said, okay, I had a laseic surgery a dozen times.

I had a laseic surgery a dozen or so years earlier and developed a dry eye condition.

I'd never heard of it, but now you see commercials on the television all the time for different treatments.

So I thought, well, I'm having a recurrence of that.

So I went to an ophthalmologist that I think I'm having dry eyes that's affecting my vision.

He examined me for that and gave me different treatments.

He said, well, you might have the beginnings of cataracts.

He said, on a scale of 1 to 10, you're at about a 0.5. I think it was 0.5. Looking back now, considering where I ended up, I wonder if he didn't say 5.

I should have pushed the issue a little further because he dealt only with treatment for dry eyes.

But even then, and this was, I believe, in March, my right eye was the worst one.

At that time, it was like I was looking through a sheer veil, you know, the kind of scarf women wear.

So it's like something's in front of it.

And it progressed from there to everything looking as though someone had smeared Vaseline in my eye.

The left eye wasn't as bad, so that's the one I relied on. But it was following that direction.

Well, since he said, all cataracts are way off, you know, I thought, well, it's not that.

I did something that I don't know how many of you do. I know my wife does, and I tell her, don't do that.

And I did it. I went online. I visited WebMD to find out what could cause these kind of things.

Cataracts. There are a lot of different types of corneal dystrophies, including one called Fuchs disease that seemed to fit my symptoms.

And the only way to treat those is a corneal transplant. And that's where I didn't look into exactly how it's done, but I think they cut away part of your eyeball and take one off of a donor and stitch it on.

And I decided I ought to get a second opinion, finally. I went to see a different ophthalmologist, and he examined my eyes very thoroughly.

I didn't say anything about dry eyes. I said, I'm having trouble seeing. It's bad. And he put the things in my pupils where your eyes get as big around as saucers, and you don't want to go out in the sunlight or you'll die.

And I asked him about Fuchs disease. And he said, Frank, you don't have Fuchs. Your corneas are healthy and strong, and your retinas are in good shape.

His diagnosis was simple and definite, and it put my mind somewhat at ease. Frank, you've got cataracts, and you need surgery.

Fortunately, in modern times, cataract surgery has become quick, relatively painless. It's an outpatient procedure.

Now I can see. I'm looking at all of you. Colors are bright. Lines are sharp. Boy, do I appreciate it. It's marvelous.

But during those times when I was afraid that I was going blind, and when I said, well, if it's not cataracts, it might be something horrible.

You know, my vision was getting worse, and I didn't know why. And I'll mention, even after, during the time after I got the correct diagnosis, because the doctor who told me, you need surgery told me also, I'm not a surgeon. I'll refer you to a surgeon, and then you'll go see him. So I had to wait a few weeks to see him. I was hoping he'd say, great, we'll do surgery tomorrow. It doesn't work that way with specialists.

Great, we'll try to fit you in sometime next month, which I found out was very rapid. So I had a lot of time to think about this.

And I thought, what spiritual lessons are there in this? I hope you don't mind me taking a long introduction, but I told you, not a very scholarly sermon.

One thing that came to mind immediately is those stories in the Old Testament of the men being dim of sight.

Remember when Isaac wanted to bless Esau? He said, go out and get me some venison and come in, and then Jacob comes in.

He said, who are you? I'm Jacob. Really? You sound kind of like Jacob? No, he said, I'm Esau. You sound kind of like Jacob, and he fools him. I can sympathize with that.

I remember sometimes coming in the classroom while other people were teaching, and I'd cover up my good eye and say, I can see an outline, but I can't tell who it is.

And I suspected I was going to be learning lessons from this later on. I'll look back and say, I'll learn something.

But I thought, there's got to be enough for a decent sermon on this. What's the point of going blind if you can't at least get a sermon out of it?

But the obvious analogy, I thought, I'm not sure if that's more than enough for a decent sermonette, maybe a split sermon.

But then there was some more thought, and it led me to see some lessons that we might gain from a cataract patient that I think are worth sharing.

But let's start with the obvious analogy. The Apostle Paul used this considerably, and we do so in the church without a second thought.

So if you'll turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, this is one that we often call a memory scripture. We use it so often.

But it's so important. And breaking into a thought, Paul is talking about people who don't understand the gospel to them. It's veiled.

And he says, whose minds the God of this age, meaning Satan the devil, has blinded. He's blinded them.

And not by giving them cataracts or taking away their vision. He's talking about spiritual blindness.

They do not believe, or who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, should shine on them.

Here we see the truth compared to light, and not understanding it compared to blindness.

In fact, I won't turn there, but Jesus said it as clearly as you could think of. In John 8 and verse 12, he simply said, I am the light of the world. Whenever I say something like that in class, that plain like I should say, not me.

It was Christ saying, I am the light of the world, not Frank Dunkel.

So those, though, who don't see the truth of God's Word are in darkness. They're blind spiritually.

And Satan eagerly puts mankind in that condition.

Let's look at one other scripture that says that very clearly over in Ephesians 4 and verse 18.

Ephesians 4, 18. I'll mention I'm breaking in a new Bible that I found slows down how quickly I can get to scriptures, and people have been thanking me ever since.

But here again, speaking of people who just don't understand, it says, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their heart. It's not physical blindness. It's spiritual.

Another scripture that fits with that is in 1 John.

1 John chapter 2, if you'll turn there, or just don't turn there, and I'll read it to you when I can find it.

1 John 2 verse 11.

Again, this analogy is one that we take for granted, but it's worth stopping to think about now and then.

And as I said, when I found myself not able to see clearly, I thought about it.

1 John 2, 11 says, He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, but he doesn't know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

This would describe anyone who's not guided by God's Holy Spirit.

They have a spiritual blindness darkening their eyes.

Fortunately, we know that when Christ returns, Satan is going to be bound.

As Revelation describes it as being bound by a chain and put into a bottomless pit.

He'll no longer be able to cause this spiritual blindness.

And knowing that gives an additional meaning to some millennial scriptures we like to turn to.

I want to turn to Isaiah chapter 35 to remind us of this.

Isaiah 35 verse 5.

And this is appropriate as we noted that the festival season is only a couple weeks away until we're approaching trumpets.

And it's hard to believe.

In just over a month, we'll be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.

And we'll read a lot of exciting scriptures about that time.

Isaiah has more than its share.

Isaiah 35 and verse 5, this is after Christ returns. It says, The eyes of the blind shall be opened, The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

It goes on to say, The lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb shall sing.

No doubt when Christ returns and God's kingdom is established, there will be literal healing of physical disabilities.

People who have gone blind or some who were born blind are going to see again or see for the first time.

Those who have difficulties with their walking or with their legs will be able to leap and run.

The deaf will be able to hear.

As the experience I'm discussing today has given me greater appreciation for sight.

I'll mention, we have a student at ABC this year who is deaf.

He lost his hearing when he was, I believe, seven years old.

Although now he's fluent in three languages, not able to speak and hear, but his native language was Spanish. He can speak and read English very well in American Sign Language, as a third language.

I'm just so impressed.

I think when Christ returns, he can discard at least one of those languages.

The American Sign Language won't be needed.

But along with that literal healing, during the millennium, all spiritual blindness is going to be put to an end.

The light will come up for people.

Satan will be bound and the Holy Spirit poured out.

That fits with a prophecy that's only a few pages earlier in this book, in Isaiah 9 and verse 2.

Isaiah 9, 2, says, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwell in the shadow of death. Upon them a light is shined.

And this is quoted in Matthew, in Matthew 4 and verse 16, showing that it was a direct prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ.

And I believe of both comings.

In his first coming, he did come to the land that's of...

Now, I'll stop looking. Well, later on it mentions, yeah, in the first prior, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali by Galilee.

And that territory is where Jesus began his ministry.

And when it says he brought a great light, it doesn't mean that he brought, you know, the brightest LED super flash light or he turned on the light switches. He brought spiritual understanding to those few whom God the Father opened up their minds to understand.

So it was fulfilled in that preliminary way when Jesus Christ came in the flesh. But so much more so when Christ comes back to this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, talk about a great light. The spiritual light is going to penetrate all darkness. All who have been spiritually blind will see.

It's going to enlighten the entire earth.

But I should stop and say, you know, I realize as important as it is, this is a common metaphor.

We don't have to spend a lot of time explaining it, and I'm thankful. It's incredibly useful.

And as I pondered that, I realized that the metaphor of using sight to explain understanding has permeated our language.

And I suspect it's permeated other languages that I don't speak. I can check with Mr. Lambert about Russian and Estonian later.

But something that became clear to me while I was suffering the spiritual loss and thinking about what was happening to me while I was pleading with God for intervention was how often the words that I used had this double meaning.

As I just said, it became clear.

That's the term we used to use when something comes into focus. You know, it wasn't clear, but now we can see it.

As a matter of fact, coming into focus, I just said it now. I used it in my introduction. When I said, I don't want to focus on the origins of the song, Amazing Grace.

So it means focusing our thoughts, but it's plain simple meaning. It's focusing light so that you can see something clearly.

And the opposite idea of that is something clouding your vision.

We say that when we can't understand something very clearly.

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I thought of this for my sermon is I would be praying.

I like to pray while I'm walking outside a lot of times.

And I found when you always have your vision obstructed, you tend to think about it. But I've got to pray about something else besides this. So I'd ask God, please help me to focus on something else. I realized I just said focus, and then I started thinking about being able to focus.

We use it for other things. If someone explains something, you say, oh, I see.

Or that opened my eyes.

Matter of fact, in the Garden of Eden, I won't turn there, but in Genesis 3, verse 7, when Adam and Eve took of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked.

Of course, it wasn't that they couldn't see before, that it was so dark they couldn't see their skin, but they came to an understanding.

On the other hand, a person who has a specific plan for the future is said to have what?

Vision, which is addressed in Proverbs 28, verse 18. Well, actually, it's so easy to quote. Proverbs 28, 18 reminds us, where there is no vision, the people perish.

We need to have spiritual vision.

And there's similar one more, and I think I could go on and on for a long time. But when a person wants to go experience something for themselves that someone told them about, I want to go see for myself. And sometimes it's not a matter of seeing, it's a matter of experiencing.

And as I said, this metaphor goes on and on.

And I thought, when it comes down to it, to not use that metaphor, if we're talking about thinking or understanding, we're forced to use very precise language, sometimes scientific terms that are very uncomfortable or unusual for us. You know, if we don't want to use a vision, a metaphor of sight related to understanding.

So our perception of the world and our place in it is shaped and guided by our sense of sight. And, pardon me, I go back and forth with the glasses. Actually, I was doing this before the cataracts. I could see things far away, okay, but not right in front of me. You know, so much of our description, our understanding of God's plan and purpose is there. I think God made us to be visually oriented. He made us sight our dominant sense. And again, that's one of the things that just makes me all the more amazed at the people who don't have sight, and they understand, they live lives, they are very functional. It's amazing. So even though I sometimes, I'll say it lightly, people ask me about doing something that time of year. I say, sorry I missed that. I was going blind at the time. You know, I might say it a little flippantly, but I don't mean disrespect to those who have gone blind. I'm, like I said, just amazed and impressed.

But it reminds me, as a matter of fact, there are some times when we were being in the house, I don't know if Sue ever caught me doing this, but you know, I realized my eyes were blurry, so I was thinking, what happens if I really do lose my vision? So I close my eyes or cover them up and try to get around the house, and I realized, oh, I was far from blind. I could see a lot for being someone who told people he was going blind. And I think there's something to that in the analogy. We're surrounded by people in the whole world who are like that. When Adam and Eve took of that fruit, it was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge, not only of evil, but of good and evil. A lot of people in the world who are not here with us on the Sabbath have some perception of God and of God's way. It's clouded. It's not clear, but it's not the same, you know, as somebody who's completely blind. And that's something we want to keep in mind when we deal with them, not look down or not presume they know nothing. But we also want to appreciate how much more clearly God has revealed things to us. It's not of our own doing. I'm pausing and I'm thinking, even with all that, I've just about used as much of this analogy as I could. I've been ringing it to get every drop out. And that's where I said, if I was going to get a sermon out of this, boy, you've got to have something else. Frank, and I was wondering.

And Aaron Dean said something to me that sparked another line of thoughts. You know, I'm privileged because there at the home office, Aaron Dean is in the office right next door. And with all his experience traveling with Mr. Armstrong, being in different countries, and yet being such a humble person, I've loved the opportunity to just talk to him about things. And he always has a great perspective. So I'll share some of what he said. And if you'll bear with me, I want to move from that primary analogy to some other lessons that we can learn from a cataract patient, spiritual lessons.

First, I should describe what it was Mr. Dean said and why. So the background, when I realized, okay, as I said, my doctor said, Frank, you've got cataracts. You need surgery. When someone tells you, you need surgery, a lot of times they go, and if you tell other people.

I expected a very different reaction than what I got. As a matter of fact, if you tell somebody, well, I've just learned from the doctor that I need heart bypass surgery, they say, Paul, I'm so sorry. I'll pray for you. So I spoke to Janet Treadway, who runs the mailroom, and I said, I found out I've got to have cataract surgery. And she said, that's wonderful! Oh, you're going to love it! I was surprised. Now, it turns out she had had cataract surgery.

In fact, she said, you've got to ask for my doctor. He's wonderful. And I had that not quite as ebullient reaction. Janet's a very loving, happy, outgoing person. But I never spoke to anyone who'd had the cataract surgery who was saying, oh, I'm sorry, it's going to be so tough. Most of them said, oh, yeah. And they said, you need to ask for my doctor. So I did. It turned out the same doctor that did my surgery has done that surgery for five or six other people at the home office or in the Cincinnati congregation.

They said, Mrs. Treadway, Mrs. Antion had the same doctor, John McClain, who was an elder in the area, and I could go on. No one said anything negative about it. And when I was discussing this with Mr. Dean, after talking to Janet, she was the first one. I said, wow, I'm surprised she's so happy about this. And he said, well, of course, people love their eye doctors or their eye surgeon. She said, you go to him and you're going blind. He works on you and you can see what's not to love.

And I said, well, yeah, of course, people love their eye doctor. You know, and I like the guy, too. He's sort of, well, he doesn't have this real warm bedside manner. He doesn't put his arm around you, but he's right down to business. And he gives this air of knowing what he's doing. And he did. He knew what he did, was doing, he got me fixed.

And I thought, in this analogy, can we portray that to our coming to know God and His law? Who is it that removes our spiritual blindness? Well, it's Jesus Christ and God the Father. And when that happens, we love God. We see Him in a whole new way. And it's so exciting.

And I say this especially, those of you who were adults when you came into the church, unlike some of us who were younger, you probably remember it in a different way than some of us. But it's still, it's astounding, and it's a good thing. I found a scripture, I think it applies not only to how we feel about God, but about His way and His laws. In Psalm 119, verse 18, David, speaking to God, says, Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from your law.

And so many people said, I didn't understand the word before, and now it's wondrous. They're so excited. That's why we've often used that term, first love. People are on fire and excited to finally know God and to be blessed by Him.

There's nothing like that. Now, one of the things I'll say, as a matter of fact, I can compare, because Psalm, again, if you grow up in the church and you sort of always had some understanding, you'll look and say, I don't remember being quite so excited. But, you know, I'm not as excited now about being able to see as I was a few months ago. I still remember, and Janet Treadway explained this.

She said, I drive to work sometimes. I'm looking around. And, you know, when my vision was fading, I started having Sue drive. That's going to be the safest thing. I look back and people said, well, how are you getting here to teach every day? Well, I'm driving those days. You know, I've made a joke. I'm driving by braille. If I feel something, I'll swerve back in. I never had an accident.

Luckily, the left eye stayed good enough. But the first Sabbath we went to service is after I had the first eye done. I was looking around and I said, I can see individual leaves on the trees. Before, it was just blurry things that I knew were trees. But now I can see. But, you know, I haven't done that for a while. It's sort of gotten to be normal. The excitement doesn't have to last. And if you don't feel as excited, doesn't mean it wasn't legitimate and isn't still.

There's a story in John 9 I'd like to look at. I'm not going to explore every word of it. But it describes a man to whom Jesus gave actual physical sight. And I believe also spiritual vision. There is a hint of that. It's not spelled out as clearly. But the reaction that he portrays, I think, holds up his joy at having his sight given to him. And also the spiritual healing. We'll see. Actually, it starts out, and I'll summarize part of it. The disciples are going, and there's a man who's been blind all of his life. He was born blind. And the disciples ask a reasonable question.

Hey, who sinned that this guy was born blind? Did he do something wrong to his parents? And Jesus said something that's valuable for all of us. Well, there wasn't sin involved. He was born this way that God's glories might be made known. So the works of God should be revealed in him. And he mentions, as long as I'm in the world, I'm in the light of the world.

So he has a guy come near, and he makes some clay on the ground, and wipes it on his eyes and says, Go wash in the pool of Siloam. And here we see, that's in verse 7, He went and washed, and he came back seeing. I'm sure he was excited in his neighbor. Isn't this guy who used to sit begging because he was blind? Someone said, well, maybe he looks like him.

No, it's him. And he said, yeah, I'm the one. I can see. The Pharisees weren't so excited about this, because it comes out that this guy named Jesus was the one who did it. And so they're trying to discredit him. They bring in his parents, and they sort of grill them, and they say, well, he's an adult. Let him speak for himself. So they bring him in. Oh, yeah. So I'm looking, deciding what I wanted to say. In verse 24, they called in the man who was blind, and said, Give God the glory. We know this man's a sinner. What he says is interesting. He says, Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know.

But one thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see. And they ask him some more. Eventually, in verse 29, they say, We know God spoke to Moses for this man. We don't know where he's from. The man said, well, this is a marvelous thing. You don't know where he's from. But he opened my eyes, and he says, We know God does not hear sinners. But if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, him he hears. Since the world began, it's unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this man weren't from God, he could do nothing.

The miracle convinced the man that Jesus had to be from God. And as I said, he loved him. He was excited. The next part isn't important to my point, but I've always found it kind of amusing. Because they say, well, I lost my place. Again, new Bible. No, I'm not seeing where it was. Well, I'm just going to sum it up, because I've always found it amusing. Because that's, well, where is he if he's so important? The guy says, I don't know. And I imagine, well, how should I know? Last time I saw him, I was blind.

I didn't see where he went. But he does meet up with him later, and that's where I was getting to. Because in verse 35, Jesus heard they cast him out. And this fellowship, him excommunicated him. He said, do you believe in the Son of God? He said, well, who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? You have both seen him, and saying that he saw him is no small thing, considering he was blind that morning. You've seen him, it's he who talks with you. And what do you say? Lord, I believe.

I think that exclamation mark does belong there. I believe. And I lost my place. And he worshiped him. He was excited about both the physical vision, but also the spiritual vision. He was on fire. And again, we can turn that back to us. The excitement, the thrill, the happiness of having spiritual vision. It's utter joy, something that we should remember and appreciate when we see it in others.

And of course, we want to pray that God will keep revealing his truth to more and more people, that the room will be full and you'll have to move into the other room and realize how happy they're going to be. And don't downplay that. Not that we do. But I want to pause and look at some other aspects of this analogy that I find to be instructive and more apropos directly to us. One thing I noticed is that obtaining clear vision from cataract surgery doesn't mean that the person is going to always see everything clearly. In particular, I noticed following the surgery to aid in healing, to reduce pain, a patient has to follow a very strict regimen of putting in these prescription eye drops.

Matter of fact, I'm curious now. I didn't ask for a show of hands. Did anybody here have the surgery? Not yet, so this is unusual. They gave me this. I had three different drops.

Something like this, showing there's a place for each day, morning, midday, and night. You check off when you put in a certain drop. There's a different color for a different drop. Because it's complex enough you can lose sight, lose track of what you've done. I had to take one of these to summer camp with me. I had the second eye done a few days before camp started. What's interesting, like any medicine, it has its effects and then side effects. You read the chart, and I find it ironic, one of the possible side effects is that it can cause blurry vision. It happens fairly often. Sometimes I put in the drops, and whereas I've been seen clearly, I find my vision somewhat blurring.

I like to use the term temporarily wavering, because it'd be blurry, it'd be clear, it'd be blurry. But it's important for us to realize, it was important for me to realize physically, okay, that's temporary. It's a possible side effect. It doesn't mean the surgery didn't work. We need to think of that spiritually.

I related that to what we can read in James 1, if you'll turn there. James 1, beginning in verse 5. And this is one of the few times I wish I had not the New King James, but the original one. I might sort of combine a little. James 1, in verse 5, says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally, and without reproach it'll be given to him.

But let him ask in faith with no wavering. That's the old King James. The New says, no doubting. But wavering sort of makes it similar to your vision getting blurry. For he who doubts or wavers is like a wave of the sea, tossed, driven by, tossed by the wind. At times when I'd put drops in, my vision would temporarily blur. I'd have to be calm. Remind myself, it's temporary. You know, this happens.

Actually, I look back and I'm like, well, you don't even have to be using prescription medicine. That happens if you've ever been working outside on a hot day, maybe cutting wood or mowing the lawn and sweat gets in your eye. And not blurry. It might sting, too.

But you know, if blink, blink, get it straight. We need to think that way whenever our spiritual vision might temporarily get blurry. We need to be calm, not lose faith. Trust that God is going to make things clear again. Trust that the truth is still the truth. And maybe I could explain, what might cause a temporary spiritual blurriness? Well, certainly various trials can. There's times when you're under something really tough. You might lose a loved one. You might suffer a bad injury or a sickness, and you ask God to heal you, and it's not happening.

What's going on? We might begin to waver, start wondering, is all this true? It doesn't have to be so traumatic. You might read a passage of Scripture, and you see it in a new light. Or someone tries to convince you of a different interpretation of it, and suddenly your spiritual vision seems a little bit blurry. Oh, I didn't see it that way. I wonder if that's right.

Again, those are times that we need to blink, maybe spiritually. Trust God. Don't give too much credit to a suddenly new blurry vision of things. That's most likely temporary. If you're willing to be calm and work through it, I said blink. You know, spiritually, I'm not sure how I would describe that as blinking. I could probably come up with a good analogy, but go back to the things that you do know are true. And then talk to God.

Pray to Him. Study the Bible, the things that you know. And have patience. Just like my eyes cleared up whenever they temporarily got blurry, so does spiritual understanding. The truth will always be the truth, and it always bears up to inspection.

Now let me tell you about something that I'd never heard of until I had cataracts. And that's secondary cataracts. And I heard, what? And it might help if I explain what cataracts are.

And many of you might know, but if nobody in the room has had them, you might not have studied it. Doctors are a little vague on exactly why they come and when, but it's caused by a clouding of the lens that's inside the eyeball. I've heard some describe it as a build-up of certain enzymes or proteins.

Some say it's because our cells regularly die, like on our skin, and they're replaced and slough off, but inside the eyeball there's no place to go. And that lens that's clear and focuses the light starts becoming opaque. So what they do in a cataract surgery, by the way, that lens is suspended right behind your pupil by a clear capsule. You know, a thin membrane that holds it in place. When they do the cataract surgery, they give you drugs to make you calm, and then they lay down and put a lot of drops to numb your eyeball. One thing they don't do is knock you out. They prop your eye open and they actually make a small incision, and they squirt something inside that dissolves your lens, which when I learned that, and then they suck it out.

And a new artificial lens is folded up real tiny and is put in the incision, and it unfolds, and these little, like, I'm not sure if they're wires, but these arms reach out and attach, and it's in place, and it's amazing. They don't even have to stitch up your eyeball. I guess the skin is thick enough. It's like a self-sealing tire or something. I was kind of amazed at that.

And so that works, and I'm astounded. It wasn't that long ago, even when I was a kid, and some of you were older than me, you know if you got cataracts, you were blinded. And the early surgeries, they took the lens out, but they didn't put anything else in. So you might wear glasses like Coke bottles, and maybe you could see something. I think how far we've come, it's off the subject, but you remember before God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel, when He said, nothing they can imagine will be withheld. Modern medical science is astounding. But in some cases, after the surgery is done, that clear capsule, the membrane starts to cloud up.

It gets the same thing as the lens, and so for the cataract patient, it looks the exact same. They couldn't tell the difference. Now, I'd like to think that once a person gained clear vision, they wouldn't stand by and just let it get cloudy again. But I wonder if there's the danger that if the secondary cataract develops very slowly and very gradually over time, could the person sort of forget what it had been like?

Or perhaps even think, well, that was a brief anomaly where I could see clearly, but this is the norm. That's hard to imagine on a physical basis, but could it happen spiritually? If so, that seems to be what Peter's referring to in 2 Peter 2 and verse 20. 2 Peter 2 and verse 20 is the Scripture we've looked at, I know a number of times, referring to those who lose their spiritual vision.

For if, after they've escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they're again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. Is this saying that it would be better to have stayed blind in the first place than to have been given sight but then go back to darkness? That seems to be what it's saying.

Now, the analogy to a cataract surgery doesn't match exactly, because in cataract, of course, a person has good vision, loses it, has it restored, but then might lose it again. But one part of the analogy does hold up, and that's the one I want to focus on, is that the person has to choose to ignore the process of going blind again when they could stop it. And I'll tell you, when I learned about secondary cataracts and I asked my doctor on a follow-up visit, what happens if I get that?

No big deal. It's easily corrected. There is a laser procedure that it's not... sorry, I didn't finish my sentence. It's not as difficult as the original. It's far easier. You don't go to the surgery center. You come to the doctor's office, sit down, zap, zap, zap.

They zap off part of the membrane that's blocking the lens, which still is kind of creepy and scary, but they say it's quick, easy, 100% effective, and you'll never have cataracts again. There might be secondary cataracts, but there's no tertiary cataracts. Now I made myself sound a little scholarly, if I get to use the word tertiary. And if a person seems to be losing sight of the truth, developing, say, a spiritual cataract, there is also a remedy. Go to God. Not to an eye surgeon, but God can easily restore spiritual vision, and it's easier to get an appointment with him. He's always available. Now, it might not be a matter of just making a phone call, because I don't have God's number.

It might be a matter of contacting him through more rigorous efforts, working on repentance, perhaps fasting, spending time in prayer. But the point is, God is available. The cure is available. We never have to lose our spiritual vision and just let it happen. To me, that makes it all the more incomprehensible. It's hard to believe that a person could lose their physical vision and tolerate that, but the spiritual would be even more so. I can't imagine losing that without doing something quickly. But I do wonder about the progress. I mentioned, if it happened very slowly over time, if I'd noticed the same.

Mine, I mentioned, happened very quickly. In January, last year, I had no thoughts of having vision problems, but by April, if I went like this, I couldn't read the E on an eye chart. So it was dramatic. If it's happened over years, I still find it hard to believe I would tolerate. And I'd like to say that spiritually. For physical, secondary cataracts, most people notice they call their doctor, they get it done. And I think that fits my analogy spiritually. Because all Christians make mistakes. We all sin. I wish we didn't, but we all lose sight of the truth momentarily.

And almost all of them, when they realize it, repent. I say, they, it's we. When we realize it, we repent. And I'll refer back to 2 Peter 2.20. It says, if after they've escaped the pollution of the world and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, they are again... It doesn't say if they again sin, it's a given we're going to sin.

But if they are again entangled and overcome, it's that they tolerate that accretion, that process that just drives you away. Entangled and overcome means going back to a life that's sin. And I think it even means consciously choosing to stay there. Saying, no, it's like a person losing their vision and the doctor calls and says, Hey, do you want me to fix that? No, I'd rather be blind. Can you imagine a person, if God is calling them and saying, no, I'd rather have eternal death. Hard to believe that anyone would choose that. The Bible indicates that some will.

But I share the belief of many in the church that it's going to be a very small number. I think it will be very few. Just like few people would ever choose to be blind. And as I said, looking back, I mentioned that when I thought I was losing my vision, it was terrifying. At times, very scared. At other times, it said, no, there's got to be a logical explanation. I'd like to think the thought of losing our spiritual understanding and deliberately moving towards the second death would be far more terrifying. We'll take action. We'll get an appointment with God as our spiritual ophthalmologist and get it fixed. I'm looking at the clock. I forgot to ask if you have 90-minute services or two hours.

And I'll get a minute. Okay, good. As a visiting speaker, I often forget to ask. You'd think I'd learn my lesson. So I often make it an hour and 45-minute services. So it might end up close to that today. Because I want to mention, of course, secondary cataracts are a rare occurrence, representing perhaps something even more rare spiritually. But I want to turn to another side effect that I learned is pretty common for cataract patients.

And I discovered it the morning after my first surgery. I had them both two weeks apart. But I got up that morning, and I can see, oh, it's great. But things over here, I'm not seeing as well over here. My peripheral vision was decreased. Is something wrong? Is my retina becoming detached? You know, you imagine all this other stuff. Luckily, I had a follow-up visit with the surgeon. So I had a chance to ask.

Now it's no big deal. It's common. And he explained why it happened. You know, they actually do an incision in your eye, and it's just outside of the iris. And so there's some swelling. There's inflammation, and it's not much, but it's right next to your eyeball. And so it blocks some of your vision. He said, be patient. You know, your vision will even out.

It'll come back. Thinking that analogy, I thought I could make a comparison to coming into God's church, into His truth and understanding. At first, upon being called and receiving the Holy Spirit, we see God's plan. We understand things. The seventh day is this habit. God doesn't want to put people in ever-burning hellfire. Oh, we've got these Holy Days that outline this great plan. But at the same time, there are always some things on the periphery we don't see as clearly. And we might think that minor questions that we're not sure what the answers are to.

We don't understand. That's normal. But some people just can't stand that not seeing. You know, I had to get used to it physically. In most cases, we can get along comfortably and wait for a resolution or decide if it never comes. It's all right. You know, just like I was able to get along not having that as good a peripheral vision. There are things about God's plan that we don't know. And I think we're not going to know until Christ returns. Actually, I've got a favorite thing in the Bible that I think God put there to understand. I don't have my notes, but if you studied the book of Revelation, you know at one point when all this stuff is going on, John says, seven thunders uttered my voice.

And I started to write it, and God said, Stop! Don't write down what they said. But He didn't tell them to not write down that they did say something. So it's like God saying, there's something there, and you're not going to know it. But I want you to know that you're not going to know it. And I think that fits with a lot of things about God's way. There are some things that we just have to accept that we don't know. And that's fine.

But there is a danger that we might start concentrating on that periphery, start paying so much attention and try to figure those things out, that we might start losing sight of the things that we do see clearly in front of us. We're still near the back of the Bible. If you turn to Titus 3 and verse 9, I think that's describing something similar to that.

That's just in front of the book of Hebrews. Titus 3 and verse 9, Paul is warning Titus. He says, Avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the law. They're unprofitable and useless. It's like he's saying, stick to the trunk of the tree. We've heard that before. If you get distracted and you're out on the twigs, you might put your weight down on a branch that won't hold your weight.

You'll come falling and crashing. And I wonder, do I need to list some of the trivial matters that we get caught up? I thought of some. Some people focus on aspects of prophecy. They've got to determine exactly when Christ will return. I know the day and the hour. Can I get the week and the month and the year? People have devoted many hours to mapping out the exact territory where each of the twelve tribes settled when they took the Promised Land.

And then, well, who are they today? Which nation is Naftali? Can I find them on a map? And where are they going to be in the millennium? Can I draw that? Similarly, people have worked on developing architectural, technical drawings of the temple. You know, the old one, the first one, the second one, the one that Ezekiel describes. And as it says in Titus, genealogies. Who in the Bible was related to who? And which of them am I related to? And we could add more.

And I want to make a disclaimer, because none of those are things that it's wrong to study or pay attention to. It's not that it's wrong. A person could focus on any one thing so much that they lose track of the rest. You know, I've actually benefited greatly from some people who have spent a lot of time studying that. I had a fellow in a congregation give me a really good drawing of the temple and how it would be laid out. And I said, thanks! I can use that. You know, but I didn't want to spend the amount of time on it he did.

What are the things we're supposed to focus on? Now, there's different ways of putting it, but one I think of is those two great commandments. What's the greatest commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might. And the second one is like to it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, on these, hang all the law and the prophets.

But it's worth also noting another danger. And actually, I'm on track. This is the last one I want to mention. But remember, I said that the blocked peripheral vision, the doctor said, almost always, that goes away. Eventually, the inflammation goes down, and things come into focus on the periphery. I've always had really good peripheral vision, so I noticed it a little bit more. Spiritually, there's a danger or possible danger of that happening.

A person might be focusing there, and things on the periphery do become clear, or something does. And now I see that differently. I might start expecting to see everything differently. Have we ever seen examples of people who appoint themselves teachers or call themselves prophets, because they've discovered some new understanding?

And it's usually a new understanding of some small peripheral thing, but they want to use that to reinterpret everything else, even the stuff that's clearly in front of us all along. Well, we're near...we can turn to 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 and 4, I think, somewhat can describe that. Because a lot of times, these people, once they get that new understanding, they don't want to hear anything otherwise. And if you don't understand it, or are not willing to listen, they figure something's wrong with you. 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they'll heap up for themselves teachers.

They turn their ears away from the truth to be turned aside from fables. And I really wish, instead of ears, Paul had said they have itching eyes and turned their eyes away. That would have fit this sermon so much better. But it's still worth us thinking, you know, just briefly, what are the main central points of Christianity that we need to focus on very clearly? Well, I mentioned, too, those two great laws. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your might. And while we're close to Hebrews, Hebrews 6, verses 1 and 2 list what are called the elementary principles of Christ.

These are things we should never lose sight of or get out of focus for us. And Hebrews 6 says, Leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let's go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith towards God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

So, let's not lay those again. It doesn't mean never study them again. They're important. We should visit them and spend time, but don't reinterpret them. And you'll notice there are six elementary principles. I like, when I was a student, Dr. Ward said, of these fundamental doctrines, the seventh is the going on to perfection. And that's a very important one, that we can spend a lot of time on the rest of our lives. We can see something, well, not quite the same, but another fundamental thing in Matthew 19. Matthew 19, beginning in verse 16.

Matthew 19 and verse 16. You know, one came and said to him, that is, to Jesus Christ, a good teacher. What good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? First, he said, don't call me good. One's good but God. And then he said, if you want to have eternal life, you've got to understand the 70 weeks' prophecy of Ezekiel. You've got to know exactly all the prophecies of Revelation and how they fit together. And I hope some of you are saying, he didn't say that. And that's what I say, he didn't say those things. Not to say that any of them are important, but if you want to have life, keep the commandments. Which ones? He starts listening to ten commandments. Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. And then he summarizes, love your neighbor as yourself. These things should keep us clearly focused on God's plan. The fundamental doctrines, the ten commandments, summarized as love God with everything you've got and love your neighbor as yourself. And if we want to look at God's overall plan, aside from our day-to-day life, we have the annual Holy Day festivals that walk us through. They typify Christ's sacrifice and overcoming sin, and how we put sin out of our lives, and how we have to have the Holy Spirit to do it. And then we turn in the fall to realizing that Jesus Christ is going to come to earth. God's kingdom will be established. Satan will be bound. All the world is going to have an opportunity. And what a wonderful thing that we know that every person who has ever lived will have an opportunity to lose spiritual blindness and see God's way clearly. That's the most exciting thing. That gets me excited and makes me feel happy. Of course, I'm thinking about the Feast of Tabernacles and planning for it now. With that in mind, we should never want to go back to being distracted by peripheral matters. Well, we want to study them and gain added insight, but we want to keep God's truth plainly in sight. So I stand here today, and I'm thrilled to be invited here, as a person who could be described by the song, Amazing Grace. I once was blind, well, sort of, but now I see. Thanks to the wonders of modern medical science, my vision has been corrected. And I'm not sure if I made it clear, of course. That's why I didn't come with the choir last year. I was going to drive, and I realized driving by braille with a van full of people across state lines wasn't a good idea. And Mr. Dean was very happy and gracious to step in. And, of course, I drove yesterday and could see just fine. More importantly, though, than that, all of us at one point have been spiritually blind, to some degree or another.

And God has miraculously granted us clear understanding of His plan, His way of life. He's given us vision. Let's commit ourselves to never lose sight of the truths He's shown us. Let's endure any temporary setbacks, any temporary blurriness or loss of clarity. Wait for things in the periphery to come into focus in God's good time.

And let's also keep something in mind that it's an analogy. I'm going to quote, remember what the Apostle Paul wrote. It's in 2 Corinthians 5, 7. Without turning there, we walk by faith, not by sight. So as much as we don't want clear spiritual vision, we walk by faith. Let's all make sure we continue that walk.