The LIght of the World

Morning.

If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to please turn to John chapter 9. Gospel of John chapter 9.

Kind of a privilege to be with y'all. I have been here several times and this church has been a encouragement and a joy to know have fellowship with you and uh thank you for the opportunity. Pastor has been a blessing upon my life and my family's life for several several years now. Um, now we're going to be looking at the Gospel of John, chapter nine, but I'm going to back up a little bit and explain to you what's going on because sometimes our chapter breaks, I mean, they're not they're not original. You go to the Psalms, those are original, but the chapter breaks in the New Testament, somebody tried to put those in there to help us out to help find different places for us to reference to. If I had to tell you to go to the midpoint of the Gospel of John in such and such paragraph, starting in such and such line, that'd be difficult. So, we have these we have these chapter breaks and verse breaks to help us figure out where we want to start. But what goes on in chapter 8 continues on into chapter nine. What you have in eight is the setting for chapter nine. Um, and chapter 8 ends. Um, there's a bit of a debate going on between Jesus and the Pharisees. And it says verse 54, Jesus answered, "If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that honorth me, of whom ye say that he is your God. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you. But I know him and keep his sayings. Keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am." Then took they up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Jesus has been accused being a false teacher because he bears witness of himself. Now, this is kind of a bizarre thing to be arguing about, but yeah, it kind of makes sense. If a prophet says, "You should believe me because I'm telling you this," that's kind of circular. It's like, "You got to give me reason to to listen to you." And Jesus's reason was, "Well, first off, John the Baptist came and he was the forerunner promised by Malachi. That is a supernatural thing. You don't get fulfilled prophecy without God. That should have been enough. That didn't work. Jews did not believe on Jesus even though John had already been sent. Jesus bears witness of himself. He shows himself to be the Messiah. He is fulfilling what the Old Testament said he would do. That should be enough. Not they're not believing. So they're accusing him of saying, "You're bearing witness of yourself. You're not giving us what we need to believe in you. You are false." And Jesus tells them, "I am bearing witness. I am not honoring myself. I am honoring the father. It is the father that honorth me." And he tells them, "You think you know him? don't know him. I know him. Then he makes this statement that Abraham rejoiced in him, not just God. Abraham rejoiced in specifically Jesus Christ. And then they flip out and say, "That's whoa, whoa, whoa. Abraham lived nearly 2,000 years ago, and you're going to tell us he rejoiced to see you? You're not even 50 yet. You're not even close to being old enough for Abraham to know anything about you?" Then Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." He has claimed two things in that statement. He is greater than their father Abraham. Now, a Jew is going to be offended by that in and of itself. How could you say that you're greater than our forefather Abraham whom God chose out of the of the Cales and made this great nation out of? How are you greater than him? But on top of that, he says, "I am." That is the title that God delivered to Moses when he gave the law. When he delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, he said, "I am that I am hath sent thee." Moses is freaking out like, "Who do I who do I say sent me?" I tell them that it's the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. And God says, "That's true, but more. I am that I am hath sent thee." Jesus says, "That's me. He is claiming to be the God of Abraham. He is claiming to be the God that sent the 10 plagues in Egypt. He is claiming to be the God that parted the Red Sea. He is claiming to be the God that was in the tabernacle that spoke face to face with Moses. He's saying that's me. Since they're unbelievers, the Jews technically do the quote unquote right thing to do now, which is this man is lying. He's claiming to be God. We're going to stone him. They were wrong because he really is God. But like, okay, that's that's plain blasphemy right there. That's what's going on in their mind. And so Jesus, that's it. God who sent the 10 plagues of Egypt, the God who delivered Israel by destroying Pharaoh's army, the God that guided them in the wilderness, the God that led Joshua, the God that brought on captivity and freedom and captivity and freedom in the history of Israel, his people are trying to stone him. What does he do? He leaves, passes by them and said, "And so passed by and going on to chapter nine, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth."

God, God Almighty has just been men have just tried to kill him, to take his earthly body and destroy it. terrible, terrifying God in the Old Testament. That's the same God. What does he do? He here for judgment. He here to condemn. Is he here to destroy? He leaves. He goes to a man who was born blind. He goes to a man that no one thinks about. He goes to a man that has been begging at the temple for his entire life. He's blind. cannot function in society the way that everyone else does. That's who he goes to. And his disciples asked him, saying, "Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man and work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light world.

So, his disciples have this not so right idea about why this guy is born blind. We're going to find out that the Pharisees have the same idea that Jesus's own disciples do. Obviously, there's something very wrong with this man or very wrong with his parents that he would be born blind. That's their assumption. You know, they would say, "Well, we all, you know, have to follow God's law where none of us are perfect, but this guy's clearly worse than the rest of us. He was born blind." Or his parents messed up, so he's now born blind. That's what they're thinking. They ask Jesus very plainly, like, "What? What? Why is this the case? Why is this man born blind?" This goes to a question that, you know, sometimes I think about, and I know lots of other people think about. Why is it that the world that God made has things in it like this? Has people that are afflicted by something like blindness? Obviously, based on the way God made man, he's not supposed to be blind. Gave him two eyes for seeing, to take care of the earth. He gave Adam the ability to see and to work. This man's born blind. This is not a good thing. Why are there bad things in the world that God made? Why do bad things happen? Why are people afflicted with certain things? The very simple answer to that is man's sin. Now, it's not specifically this man's sin or his parents' sin. It's just sin in the world. Man messed up and he was cursed. The world that we live in, God did not make it this way. The errors of man made it this way. But that's usually not satisfactory for us. Like that's not really the question I'm asking when I say, "Why is there bad things in the world?" Most of the time when people ask you that question, that's not what they're after either. They don't want that answer because that's not really the question that they're asking. The real question they're asking is if your God knows everything and is all powerful, why is his creation this way now? Why didn't he do something? And biblical answer is he did do something. He just didn't do it the way that we might expect. Jesus answers that question to his disciples. He says, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents that the works of God should be made manifest in him." God allowed his creation to be corrupted. He did. But it is God who fixes it. It is the works of God that heal us. Why are we afflicted with this? Some You can name off things that go on in your life or in the lives of your friends or your family and wonder why does God do that? Sometimes I don't really have the full answer to that, but this part I do know. God heals. God is glorified in this kind of work, in doing this for his people. It is pleasing to him. It's a hard thing to think about sometimes, but it's true. This man is not born blind because he's so much worse than everyone else and his parents are so much worse than everyone else. He was born blind that Jesus could heal him. Again though, it's not a good thing that he's born blind. You got to understand that the things that are wrong in this world are not good things. God doesn't think that they're good things. That's why he does something about them. He doesn't leave us where we are. He doesn't say, "Well, you know, being limp or lame, blind or hurting or sickly is a good thing. That's fine." God doesn't say that. God fixes those things. Those are not good in his sight. Now, it is glorifying to him that he does fix them. That's why we deal with some of those things. But don't look at the world and say, "Yes, God likes that." That is wrong to say that. God doesn't like that. God did not make the world that way. He intends to change it.

Then he says

that as long as he is in the world, he is the light of the world. That is really and truly what this um passage is about. This story is about is about Jesus being the light of the world. You have a man born blind. He cannot see. Jesus is our light. Without him, we cannot see. Just like this blind man. Blind man is physically blind. Without Christ, we are all spiritually blind. Without the light, the light of the world. John chapter one. So this theme gets carried through the whole book. Jesus is the light of the world. There is no other light. There is nothing that can show us will and glory of God. There is nothing that enlightens us to our purpose in God except for the light of the world. There's nothing that can bring us out of darkness. There's no actions of man, no wisdom of man that brings us out of the darkness that we are in. It is Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ. Then what does he do? How does he heal this man? He said, you know, I'm that's my work, my works. That's what I'm coming to do. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle. He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay and said unto him, "Go wash in the pool of Silom, which is by interpretation scent." He went his way there there um therefore and washed and came seeing.

Gross. Little bit. That's a little gross. He spat on the ground and mixed it up and then stuck it on this guy's eyes.

That's gross. But also, why did he do it that way? That's that's that's something that I get into a bad habit of. Why did Jesus do something the way that he did? Why did he do it like this? Why did he anoint his eyes then have him go wash? Is there significance to that part? Why was it this pool, not something maybe closer? Why was it not just the next house over? Why did he do Stop that? Jesus just healed a guy. He gave a guy sight that was blind. We can't do that. God manifested himself in the flesh. showed himself to be God by doing something amazing. Yeah, he did it in a weird way. Don't get caught up on that. He just healed a guy who was blind.

Sometimes life may not make sense. Don't focus on that part. Focus on your God. Focus on the savior that has come into the world to deliver you from the things you don't understand and has done it in a way that maybe you don't understand. And there's a lot of people that don't understand the message that Christians have, that God was made flesh and died to save his people. A lot of people that are offended by that, that thought that God lower himself, be made man suffer like man, that he would lower himself that much to not only just die, but die a humiliating criminal death. That's what he chose to do. That's how he saved all of us. That's what he went through for you. The natural man, that's very confusing to the natural man spitting on the ground and rubbing it in someone's eyes is also a little confusing to me. What God chose to do and it is glorious. Again, Jesus just healed a guy. He just took someone who was blind and made him see. He sends him to the pool of Silom. The pool of Silom is mentioned in Nehemiah chapter 3:15 and then in a few other places I think mainly in Isaiah. The pool of Siloam is the pool that sits in the garden of the king of Israel, the king that reigns in Jerusalem. That is the pool that's in his garden. Jesus sends a man to the pool of the king. I don't think that's an accident. I think Jesus is claiming to be the king of Israel when he does this. Go wash in that which belongs to me. What's the significance of that other than Jesus saying he's the king? I think that's what it is. I think that's what he's pointing to. This is what the kings had in their palaces. What's next to them? He sends this man to go wash there. He gives what is his for this man. Again, guy's blind. Now he's not. Such were all of us. We were blind. Um Paul teaches us in first Corinthians that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God because those things are spiritually discerned. The entirety of God's revelation to man cannot be received by man unless that man has the gift of the spirit. We don't know what God is trying to say to us. We don't believe it. We don't accept it. We don't like it. It's impossible to be pleased with the things that the spirit has revealed unless we have that spirit. Like I mentioned, the natural man doesn't like what God chose to do for his people. They think it's repulsive. Even Peter himself, who was following the Lord, tried to change the Lord's mind about what he was going to do for his people. In um book of Matthew, Jesus tells him going to Jerusalem. I'm going to die and be raised again. I'm going to suffer and die, be raised again. And Peter tells him, "Not so, Lord. It's not supposed to be. It shouldn't be that way. That's not fitting. That's not right." And Jesus tells him, "Not, well, Peter, you just don't quite understand. Let me let me help you out, Peter. I understand where you're coming from, but let's let's try to fix." No, he didn't do that. He says, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He said, "What just came out of your mouth is the doctrine of the devil. What you just said is completely the opposite of my will. My will is to suffer for my people and to save them by that. Natural man doesn't like that. Natural thinking doesn't like that. Such were all of us. We were all blind. This being the case, what do blind people that can now see, what are they supposed to do? What should we be doing?

Man, come seeing the neighbors. Therefore, and they which before had seen him that was blind, said, "Is this not he that sat and begged?" Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." But he said, "I am he." I got all the neighbors arguing about this. Is this really that guy or is it just someone like him? Is it the same guy? Was he actually blind? Guy said, "Yes, it's me. I am the blind guy that y'all all know. It's me." Therefore said they unto him, "How were thine eyes opened?" And he answered and said, "A man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Silom, and wash." And I went and washed, and I received sight. Then said they unto him, "Where is he?" He said, "In

blind man just said, what happened?" All he did. Very simple. You think about it, like, "Yeah, okay. Just say what happened.

Do you say what happened to you? Do you talk about the fact that you were once blind and now you see? Do you have the ability to do what this man does to just plainly state what Christ has done for you?

Sometimes I don't. How do you not? How don't you don't you do this preaching thing? Don't you don't you talk? Yeah, I do. And sometimes I failed to do one of the most important things, which is to sit down, think about what did Jesus do for me? What did that man that was passing by do for me?

I explain it to them. Can I tell them of the riches of his grace in my own life?

This man doesn't have anything extra to give. He can't go to the scriptures and lay out fancy prophecies or something like that. He doesn't have that. He doesn't need to be doing that right now. He needs to be testifying what the Lord did for him. That's exactly what he does. He gives that details. The Lord, he didn't call him the Lord. He said, "This guy named Jesus came to me, anointed my eyes, play, told me to go wash. I washed. I came seeing. Have you reflected on your life to understand enough on your life to understand that you were blind? Some of you that may be kind of difficult. I know for me it it is a little difficult. I'm under no um uh delusion that um I have heard the gospel preached my entire life. There was I cannot find a time when I didn't understand part of it. I can't think of a time, but I need to understand what that word says about me. It's not because I was raised on it that I understand it. It's not because my family was raised on it that I understand it. It's not that I was born into a church that I get to understand these things. Reason I understand it such a young age is the same reason anyone understands it at any age. No matter what their life has looked like before, it is by the grace of God. is by his power and his power alone that my eyes are open under the things of the spirit of God. I need to tell people that. Who people? Which people? Just church people. Does this does this guy just tell church people?

So they asked where is he? He said I know not. Again, he's very honest. He said he doesn't make up something about Jesus. He doesn't try to explain away what happened to him. I said where is this Jesus? I don't know. That's it. That's all the story I got. I got no more. I can't give you anything else. They brought to uh they brought to the Pharisees him that a fourth time was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. That detail is mentioned because according to the Pharisees interpretation of the Old Testament, to put your finger in the dirt and mix it up was work. that is considered plowing the ground. Which you might be thinking, are you serious? Yeah, I'm serious. That's what they thought. I'm not giving Pharisees any, you know, leeway here. They're wrong. But let's think about it. What did Moses have to do that like the day after he got the law? Don't break the Sabbath. Y'all remember there's a man who goes out right after Moses gets that law and picks up sticks, burn for a fire. Moses is commanded, "Kill him." That's where these guys are coming from. But look, that's pretty simple. He just went out to get sticks. The Lord said he is dead. Again, though, they're wrong. They are interpreting this in a way that makes no sense because what is Jesus doing? Is he doing what that man was doing? He was literally told the day before, don't do work on the Sabbath. I don't like that. I'm going to go pick up sticks because I don't want to listen to Moses. Really, what that guy's doing is Jesus doing that. Is Jesus saying, I don't want to listen to the Pharisees. I'm going to do what I want. No. Jesus is healing a man. Jesus came to work the works of his father. He came to do the fulfillment of that law. He's not just trying to make them mad. He's trying to please his father. Gave that law. He's trying to fulfill that law because he understands it. So yes, the Pharisees are trying to take the law seriously. They take it the wrong way though because they have a misunderstanding. We're going to get to that just a minute. But the law should be taken seriously. God said this is the rules. Can't break them. You're not supposed to. It's bad if you do. They went way too far with it and they're not seeing in Jesus Christ the fulfillment all of that law. That's part of their that's that's the main problem the Pharisees had. They had the law. They took it seriously, but they didn't understand it. They interpreted it in their own way. They did not go back to the law and compare it to what Jesus was saying and doing. They did not go back to the prophets and see that yes, that man is doing exactly what Isaiah said. that man is doing and declaring what Isaiah said he would declare. Jesus right before this stands up in the middle of one of the feasts and quotes or at least references Isaiah 55. He is telling them, "This is it. This is what y'all should have been looking for." They don't like that have an interpretation. We should take the word of God seriously, but we should take it so seriously that we pay attention to everything that it says, not just some parts of it. pulling those out of context because they're not going to understand what's happening in this man's life either because of their interpretation of the law.

Then again the Pharisees, this is verse 15, also asked him how he had received them. He put clay upon my eyes and I washed and do see and didn't change his story. The man when he came face to face with people that could kick him out synagogue. Synagogue is where the Jews would gather to worship God on a regular basis. These men had the authority to remove people from that. These are the guys, I don't think this is biblical, but they had the authority to make it where you couldn't go to church. He comes to them, does not change his story, does not modify parts of it to make it sound a bit better. just says what Jesus did. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, "This man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day." Others said, "How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?" And there was a division among them. Some of these people are getting it. They're saying, "Look, you sit on the Sabbath. Can't work on the Sabbath. That's not right. This guy can't be of God because he doesn't keep our interpretation of the law. They said unto the blind man again, "What sayest thou of him that hath opened thine eyes?" He said, "He's a prophet."

This guy is doing his best. He's probably thinking, "All right, what little of the law I know, cuz even if I could read it, or even if I had a copy of it to read, I was blind. I can't read it at all. Doesn't really matter." what little he knows about the Old Testament. He knows guys who do what Jesus just did for me are prophets of God. Go back to the Old Testament. Who's able to do stuff like this? Moses. Moses was a prophet. Elijah. Elijah is a prophet. Elisha. Elisha is a prophet. These men worked miracles. They are prophets. Men that aren't miracles don't work prophets. Seems pretty plain to me. Jesus is a prophet. Um, and that's where brother Newton gets the one of the phrases in that hymn. Um, he is our prophet, priest, and king. Jesus was a prophet. He came declaring the things of God. He foretold future events. He had that kind of wisdom about him. He is the greatest of all prophets. But this guy's right. He's gotten it again. He just says what Jesus did. He compares Jesus to what he knows about the Old Testament. He goes back to the word, says, "Well, he matches the description of all the prophets I know about. That must be what he is." And he's right.

But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight until they called his parents that the parents of him that had received his sight. I like how John phrases that they don't just say, you know, they called the parents of this guy. John says they called the parents of the man who received his sight. John wants it to be plain wrong. This guy was blind. This guy can now see. They're saying, "Okay, all right. Jesus can't be a prophet. He can't be son of God. This guy must be lying. He can't have been born blind." That's what we're going to go with now. They call his parents. And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son who ye say was born blind? How then doth ye now see?" 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 seeth, we know not. For who hath opened his eyes? We know not. He is of age. Ask him. He shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews. For the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out the synagogue.

His parents were scared. Bad place to be. They're scared these people are going to kick them out of the synagogue because they knew they had already decided if anyone claims Jesus is the promised Messiah who name the title Christ means it means Messiah. Anyone claims that we're kicking them out. They're gone. That's what we're going to do. They're straight to the curb. They're out. They say, "Yes, this is our son. Yes, he was born blind. What happened to him? We don't know. Just go ask him. Leave us out of it.

When we hear testimony of someone explaining what Christ has done for them, do we react heresies react like parents of this man?

Pharisees didn't like it because it didn't fit with their thoughts on what the word of God said. Parents parents didn't even like what happened. They were scared. their son that was born blind can see. What are they doing?

Do we react that way? Do we do we look at what someone's saying and do we get worried about what other people are going to say about it? Why would you do that? Why why would you do that? Why are you not rejoicing in what the Lord has done for this person? That's what we should be doing. I am guilty of being like parents in this situation. I am. Someone will testify of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for them. I'm sitting over there thinking in my head, well, that wasn't phrased exactly like these people like, and that wasn't phrased exactly like what Paul says in Romans. It's close, but you know, you could fix it a little bit. Don't be doing that. There's a place for that. There's a place for explaining the word of God more perfectly. But when someone is trying to lay out their heart for what Christ has done for them, do not step on that. That's just wrong. Do not quench the spirit. Do not try to convince other people to quench the spirit. Christ has opened someone's eyes. We ought to rejoice. Now, does that mean we never talk about doctrine? We never talk about specificity. Of course, we do that. But we do that rejoicing in what God has done and what God has revealed. Not being Ebenezer Scrooge. Not right. Not being fearful what other people are going to say.

When you were learning things, natural things, you're in school. and you're scared what other people think, how other people are going to criticize you about trying to learn things. You're worried about making mistakes. Was it harder or easier to learn when you were worried about making mistakes? If you knew if you made a mistake, someone was going to help you. That made it a lot easier, didn't it? This man doesn't have that. His parents aren't even doing that. He has this testimony of this guy named Jesus and everyone is now either accusing him of not knowing anything about Jesus or accusing him of being a liar.

Don't be like that. Then again called they the man that was blind said unto him, "Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner." So close. So close to being correct. Give God the praise. Yes. Yes, you should. We're going to get to one of the reasons why you should do that. Then they followed up with this statement. We know that this man is a sinner. Ignore this man. Pay no attention to what he's doing. Just glorify God. Give God praise. Y'all already know the problem with that. Started with it. What did Jesus call himself? I am. You're going to give God the praise while accusing God of being a sinner. That's the problem. Can't do that. He answered and said, "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not. One thing I know that whereas I was blind, now I see." What does this guy do? Does he say, "Okay, I I'll listen to you. I'll call Jesus a sinner. I'll just I'll take your word for it." No. He says, "I don't know. I don't have any idea. I don't know nothing about Jesus. What I know is I was blind. This man came to me and now I see." You not have to have a extensive knowledge of theology. You don't have to be able to give a discourse on systematic theology to talk about Jesus. This guy really didn't have that. All he had literally all he's got is stories other people told him about the Old Testament and in this experience all he's got to go on. What does he do? Sticks with it. Important. If you do know something from the word of God, if you have learned something from what God spoke, do not let someone's unfounded tradition take that away from you. If they cannot defend what they are saying based on the word of God, they cannot clearly lay out for you how God has revealed something. Not listen. Not very complicated. Don't do that. If I say something and I don't back it up with scripture and you go and check and you find out, well, brother Jonah, this scripture says this and this scripture says this and that's not what you said. I'm wrong. Don't listen to me. Listen to the word of God. What does this guy know about the word of God? Jesus came and I received my sight. Know that Pharisees aren't giving him anything. They're not saying, "Well, the word of God says this. The word of God says this." It's not what they've got. They got nothing. They're not explaining to him what happened to him. They're not even recognizing the God who gave him sight. How can they explain what happened to him if they deny the God that did all of it? He says, "Whether this man be a sinner or no, I know not. He knows nothing about Jesus. The first time he met him, he hasn't even seen Jesus yet. Remember, he's blind. At the start of this, Jesus put mud on his eyes, sent him away. He doesn't even know what he looks like. He's heard the sound of his voice, and he knows his name. Scott.

Then said they unto him again, "What did he do to thee? How opened he thine eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and ye did not hear. Wherefore would you hear it again? We also be his disciples. And they reviled him and said, Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses's disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvel is a marvelous thing that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine? Now we know that God heareth not sinners. But if any man be a worshipper of God, he doeth his will, him he heareth? Since the world began, was it not heard that he Since the world began, was it not heard that any man open the eyes of one that was born blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

That's a statement there. First off, they say, so he answers them. He's explained it to them already. They're they're still agitated. They're annoyed, trying to figure this out. They go back to him and say, "Okay, okay, okay. Explain it to us one more time. Explain to us exactly what he did." He said, "I told you. I told you exactly what he did. I told you the whole thing already. Will ye be his disciples? are you wanting to follow this guy? Are you trying to learn more about him? They really didn't like that. They did not like that at all. They said they reviled him. This isn't again this is not a little soft statement. They are angry. They are livid with this man for daring to say that to them. Reviled him and said, "Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses's disciples." Another place Jesus is going to say, "If you had heard Moses, you would have heard me." Moses pointed to Jesus. Moses, here's what's really cool about the Old Testament law. Most of it is just types and shadows of Jesus Christ. Most of it is blurry images. You can't really tell what's happening, but you know the Messiah is going to be something like this. Then all of a sudden, Moses gets something more. He starts saying, "There is coming a prophet after me." Just a picture. He's saying, "There's an actual guy. I'm gonna tell you about him. I'm gonna tell you some details about him. There's a prophet coming after me, greater than me. You're going to hear him."

Moses spoke about Jesus. These guys missed it. Why? Because they were not using the word of God the way it was intended. took Moses and they read into Moses what their parents told them about Moses. They didn't change any of it. Those guys got it from their parents and their parents and their parents, I presume. I'm not real sure who all influenced them to be able to take the revelation of God and then use it to try to reject the incarnation of God. How do you get there? How do you get to the point where you have a virgin shall give birth to a son in Isaiah chapter 7 to not this guy, not this guy, not this guy that matches the description that Isaiah gave you, not him. How do you get there? I don't know. But obviously, they didn't get there by using the word of God. They got there by misusing the word of God. So he tells them, "Look, I've never heard of anyone able to do anything like this. I've never heard of anyone opening someone's eyes. And on top of that, I've never heard of God blessing someone that is, and by sinner here, what they're referring to is someone that does not worship God, does not honor God, does not recognize God, someone who's opposed to God. Why would God heal through a man that has no respect for him? That doesn't make any sense.

Good point. Doesn't make any sense. Why would God honor someone that despises him? Why would God give supernatural power to a man that is not of him? That's confusion. God is not the author of confusion. Jesus is God. This blind man knows it.

They answered. This is verse 34. They answered and said unto him, "Thou was altogether born in sins, and dust thou teach us?" And they cast him out. They go back what the disciples asked at the very beginning. Why was this man born blind? Was it for his sin? Sins of his parents. Pharisees do the same thing. You were born blind. Obviously, there's something wrong with you that is not wrong with us. You weren't born blind. You have something about you tells us God doesn't care about you. God does not give you wisdom that we don't have. God cares more about us. That is foreign to the New Testament, foreign to the Old Testament, too, but it's really foreign to the New Testament. God does not afflict people with things whereby we can now judge that we are holier than them. Before God, we are all sinners. We are all bad. There is none righteous, know not one. Why are we going to fight this game about who's the worst of the worst? You're all bad compared to God. You're all counted as wicked.

this guy's got something wrong with him. This guy comes from this family or this guy has these parents that did these things. This guy's done this in his past. This guy has this affliction. This guy has this wrong with him.

We all have something wrong with us. None of those things go away except by the power and grace of God through Jesus Christ. They all needed the same thing. They all needed Christ. blind man now had him. They're telling him we're born blind. Can't tell us where we're wrong. We are obviously more righteous than you. Again, can't do that. What do we use to understand what is truth revealed? God has said in his word what Christ, God in the flesh said. Pretty simple. You want to know what God said? God say Jesus is a man. Yes, but he is God in the flesh. He said words to us that we are to use. In another place, he chides the Sadducees and says, "Have you not read what God spoke to you?" Sadducees didn't say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, God said that to Moses a long, long time ago." That's not He didn't He's not talking to us. No, he's talking to you, too. What's in the word of God is written to you. God spoke it to you. Yes, he spoke it to Moses. That's how it got to you. But it's to everyone.

Do we use things we've made up in our own heads, things that we have not tested against scripture, or do we use scripture to understand what God is doing and what God has done for us and for others?

They cast him out.

He can't go to the place where for, you know, Around 1,400 years, people have been going to worship one true and living God. Moses brought them out of Egypt. They have been worshiping God together in the synagogue in the temple long time. There was period of time where they're in captivity. That's what they were supposed to be doing. These guys through this blind man who now sees out for his testimony Christ.

Don't misuse the word of God. It hurts other people.

misuse the word of God. How can you see Jesus? Jesus healed this man. They missed it. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. When he had found him, he said unto him, "Dust thou believe on the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talkth with thee." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped

place that he understood this is where he worshiped God. He got thrown out of God came. He still got to worship God because God came. They will be born of God. They are born of God. They shall not come into condemnation but are passed from death to life. Christ came that we might have life more abundant. Comes to this blind man tells them ask something very very simple. Do you believe God? Seems like a simple statement you know. Someone came and asked us that, we probably go, "Well, yeah." And not think twice about it. What does that mean? What does it mean to believe on the son of God? What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? Means past death means you're not dead in your sins. It means you are alive in Christ. Is it what got you there? John explained that the beginning of his of his gospel. Those that believe were born the spirit of God. They're already born by the will of God. They're not born of the will of the flesh or the will of man, nor of blood. You do not understand the things of God. You are not born again because you will to be born again. You are not born again because some other man willed to born again. You're not born again because of who you're related to. Born again the will of God. You believe.

is the evidence life. What does life mean? Means you will not condemnation. You will not be condemned sins you have committed because they have been laid on Christ. He was made to be sin for you that you might be made the righteousness of God. That's the blessing that each of you have in Jesus Christ. That's one of the things you should be able to tell people. Do you believe on the son of God? Yes, I believe because of his spirit in me. I can believe. That means I have passed from death and life. I am an object of God's love. I shall not come into condemnation because he has taken my sins upon himself and he put them away. Not some man. God himself, flesh, taken my sins away from me and has clothed me in his own righteousness, the righteousness of God. There's a phrase that's used in Romans. It is literally the righteousness of God that is imputed to you. Christ's righteousness is the righteousness of God because he is God.

I've mentioned to you, what do we do in response to what Christ has done for us? What do we do in response to having our eyes open to the wonders of God's grace? Tell people about it. Don't modify what you know. Don't change what you know unless you're changing according to scripture. Explain what Jesus has done for you. Tell people about it. Why is your identity? You know, when I was younger, it was was taught to me if you're going to speak to people about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're going to point out to him, point out to people what you believe, share with him what you believe. You need to have some kind of relationship with that person. You shouldn't just be going around, you know, demanding that people believe in Jesus. That people don't respond to that too well. Yes and no. I want someone to know who I am. I want to be close to other people to share with them what God has done for me. But who I am is what God has done for me. I am defined by what Christ has done for me. My identity is not something else. I am not this thing or that thing or that thing. That is not what makes me me. Makes me me is what Christ has done for me. I am a new creature, new creation in who? Christ. That's what you are. You should be honest about that. If you want to be close to someone and you want that person to be close to you. If you want to share the wonders of God's grace, you have to share the wonders of God's grace that made you who you are. You're not shy about that. Why would you shy about that?

I was

I was scared other people. Why should I care what other people think when I know what Jesus thinks about me? Why should I fear man when Christ does not fear man? He died for me. That's how much he cared about me. Don't you think other people should see that in God's children? Shouldn't they see God's other children loving their Lord that way? They just want to talk about No. put on this earth to glorify God. As children of God, we are redeemed by God. We ought to glorify him for that. Second thing this man does, he testifies God has done for him. Jesus has done for him who is God. Then what does he do?

There's another I don't know why some people get the idea other religions out there and I call them religions. I don't call them denominations religions that think less of who Jesus is than we do. Jesus is God. He said I am. He said before Abraham was past tense I am present tense am. He is the I am. He is God. We ought to honor him, uphold him and worship him as God. He created us, not we ourselves. He has given us natural life. He has given us beauty in this world. He has commanded us to live in a way that is taking care of his world and honoring him in that. On top of that, we fell and could not recover ourselves. He is not only our creator, he is our savior. He has delivered us from those things when we cannot deliver ourselves. We had not the will to deliver ourselves. He had the will to deliver us from them by his death and sending forth his spirit to our hearts. So we worship Jesus Christ for that. He is our God. He is our creator. Worship. And I don't think this man was scared. I don't think he was scared of other people or worshiping Jesus. I don't think he was scared of Jesus, but he worshiped. He rejoice. Notice what Jesus said to him. Thou hast both seen him. Is he that talkth with thee? Have you seen Jesus done for you? Have you seen his handiwork in your life? Are you paying enough attention? What has gone on in your life? What has gone on in your heart? Explain that to just yourself, much less other people. You ought to do that. What has Christ done for me? That should be filling your heart and your mind, not other things. You can think about other things, but what would be most important to you? My God, what he has done for me worshiped him. that

that Lord I believe

man has more than just his natural know that

anyone you meet that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ your brother there are other people multitudes of people that are also your brothers in Christ they haven't said that yet they haven't said Lord They don't have the same assurance that you do learned about Jesus Christ yet. They don't understand him this man does the way that we are. Our testimony is not just for us because it was never about us in the first place. Our testimony testimony of the glory of God in grace. When you think about what has God done for me, that is not a selfish thing of wow, I'm just so special. No, it's not. Not that it is how has God revealed his glory, his love, saving someone so wretched. That gives you something to talk to someone else about. What has God done for you? What has God done to glorify himself saving this person? Don't view people through you know what they are, what you think that they are. Pharisees are wrong about this blind man. Said, "You're born blind. You're a sinner. You're going to stay a sinner. Get out.

He was love for Jesus Christ. Christ gave him eyes to see naturally and gave him new heart that he may see spiritually as well and said we should encourage others believe why that is the assurance of their eternal life that they have through Jesus Christ. But they don't know what Jesus has done for them. If we just shut our mouths and talk about what Jesus has done for us. That is the application of the truth of Jesus being the light of the world. What do his children do in response to that? Worship him. That's this is how he is the light and this is the darkness I was in. He brought me out. The Lord bless you all.

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